As I see myself

Portugal

2010-11-10T02:23:00.003+05:30

Porto: October 20/21 2010
Wine, Wine, Wine
Christine & wine
Stefanie & the Canadian
The Belgian Portuguese
Lucia y el sexo a Argentina
WTF is wrong with the French
ViniPortugal!!!

Coimbra: October 22 2010
Hogwarts comes alive!
The Hermione look alike
PHD!

Lisbon: October 23-24 2010
Catarina & her Polaroid
Josepe ki bakshish
Joanna & Joanna & Joanna & Joanna
Julia, like the Roberts
Alex and his life saving car
Hazings
Show them to me
Tunak Tunak Tun! WTF!
Biarro Alto & Alfama
Catarina again
Vasco Da Gama
Fun Fun Fun
Waterfall

Sintra: October 26 2010
Brad Pitt & Jenifer Aniston
Aladdin
The missed bus..damn!

Scotland

2010-11-10T02:12:00.003+05:30

Edinburgh: December 4 2009
The bagpipe
Castle & the rock
Bobby!
Christmas market

Rosslyn: December 5 2009
Da Vinci
Knights Templar
The Holy Grail

St Andrews: December 6 2009
Pathivada & the Chinese
The illad Barney
Lizard!
Golf!
kalalo kuda anukoledu Scotland vasthanani :P

Aberdeen: August 18 2010
The Regent Center
The long drive to nowhere

Edinburgh: September 17/18 2010
Pathivada & the Bulgarians
Jaegermeijster + RedBull
Is she hot or what?
The Fringe festival

Boddam, Peterhead, Fraserburgh, St Fergus: September 19-October 8 2010
Middle of nowhere
Nazma Tandoori
Buchan Braes
Mimi!
Tiny Tim & his Jag
Tiny Tim & the Champagne
Madam Rosy and her Latvians
The Latvian Scot
Sanjay the new Scot
Ray has the answer to everything
James the cool dude
Tony the dirty old man
The Palace and its cougars
Whiskey
etc etc etc

Aberdeen: October 9 2010
Union Square
Union Street
Ram..finally!
Hurray for home cooked Indian meal

England

2010-11-10T02:07:00.002+05:30

Manchester: September 12/20 2009
Man Utd
Theater of dreams!
The Mall!
Pakistanis!

London: September 26/27
Finally!
Centre of the world
British Museum
Deepak after all these years!
Ao, Ao, Ao, Ao
Chicken Tikka Masala
the big ben!
Wimbledon!
Its elementary my dear Watson

Chester: Almost a month..phew!
The walls
Adi & his penthouse
The goofy Irish Pakistani
Movie with Anti-Piracy technology
The soldier from Delhi
My stylist
Hilton!
The Barn and the waitress
Chimneys & Smoke

Switzerland

2010-11-10T02:03:00.002+05:30

Bern: April 1/3 2010
Unforgettable
Einstein
Reto & Leticia

Pilatus: April 2 2010
Unforgettable
On top of the world!

Lucerne: April 2 2010
Unforgettable

Interlaken: April 3 2010
The lakes, the mountain, the train!

Geneva: April 4 2010
UNO

Lausanne: April 1/4 2010
Unforgettable
Thanks to Raja & his friends

Basel: April 5 2010
Unforgettable

Spain

2010-11-10T02:00:00.003+05:30

Madrid: February 27/28 2010
Leticia, Madori, Raja and the gardener!
Tapas y Canas
Batatas Bravias
The zombies on the streets
Raja & his Ramayana

Barcelona: March 1/3 2010
Gaudi
Vicky & Christina
FCB! ofcourse!
Columbus!

Majorca: May 11-15 2010
Rejuvenation
Happy Happy birthday!
Get around the ASH!
Cacao

Monaco

2010-11-10T01:58:00.002+05:30

Monaco: March 6 2009
Monte Carlo
Raja!
Casino Royale!
The 100% profit :-)
Million $ citizens

Italy

2010-11-10T01:53:00.003+05:30

Pisa: December 16 2009
The leaning tower ofcourse!

Florence: December 17 2009
Nanga David!
Santa Maria Novella
Top of the hill!
Are you Australians??

Rome: December 21/24 2009
La Citta Eterna
It definetly was not built in a day!
A lifetime is not enough for Rome
Racists!

Vatican: December 23 2009
The Pope!!
German Shepherd
Da Vinci!

Napoli: December 25 2009
Merry Christmas!
The Vesuvius
Ultimate rip-off

Venice: December 26/27 2009
Four blokes and a gondola
The boat pass

Hungary

2010-11-10T01:51:00.003+05:30

Budapest: September 4/5 2010
Noemi & Nora!
BHMB!
Mexican night
The random guy on the street
The random bride on the street
The French dog biscuit maker
Barbie

Greece

2010-11-10T01:48:00.002+05:30

Athens: December 18/19 2009
This is not Sparta!
The Parthenon!
alpha, beta gamma
Olympics
The octopus

Piraeus: December 20 2009
The night by the sea!
Multi-Hand Ekansh

Germany

2010-11-10T01:44:00.002+05:30

Cologne: October 10 2009
Venky, Hemant & Bharat
Pascha!
Bharat & the bouncer!
Roadtrip to Gummersbach

Koblenz: October 11 2009
Roadtrippin along the Rhine

Berlin: October 30/31 2009
Hitler ahoj!
The 5star Hostel

Berlin: May 25th 2010
Amazing day with Parents

Cologne: Unforgettable days
Sadly don't remember the dates now :P

Munich: Twice at the train station

France

2010-11-10T01:40:00.002+05:30

Paris: April 18/19 2010
Unforgettable!!!

Paris: July 25/26 2010
La tour de France!!!
Natali & her 10 square meters!

Marseille: March 7 2010
Amar & his chicken
The Africans!
Raja

Nice: March 8 2010
Raja & the shaking hostel bed!
The friggin blue Mediterranean

Czech Republic

2010-11-10T01:38:00.002+05:30

Prague: October 28/29 2009
Ramy the nude model, mostly on my own
As a child you read fairytales, the city with a river and a bridge across it by the side of a hill and a castle on top of the hill with a princess inside...that City is Prague!

Prague: May 25 2010
Amazing day spent with Parents

Belgium

2010-11-10T01:34:00.002+05:30

Brussels: Aug 24/25 2009
Met Ailean, Antonello & Amy
DP & his friends in a Mansion!
The pissing boy, chocolates & fries

Antwerp: October 4 2009
Roadtrippin with Vivek, Venky & Hemant
Beer & waffles!

Brugge : May 22 2010
Amazing trip with parents

Austria

2010-11-10T01:32:00.002+05:30

Vienna: December 29/30 2009
With Bharat, Ekansh & Amar
Basically a beautiful & boring cultural city :P

Salzburg: December 31 2009 - January 1 2010
Has to be the most musical city ever!
Happy new decade party!

Poland

2010-11-10T01:22:00.002+05:30

Warsaw : October 23/24 2009
Met Coco,Piotr, Bartek, Sylwia and others
Chilled out city
Highlight: The Warsaw Rising Museum

Krakow : October 25/27 2009
Met Joanna (Awesome!), Charlotte, Vanessa, Nicole,Maciek
Party, history, Vegemite and a dragon

Auschwitz: October 26 2009
Day trip with Charlotte
The most depressing place in the world, everyone should go!

Gdansk, Sopot & Hel: August 15-17 2010
Awesome weekend with Aga, Leticia, Fred, Reto & Luuk
Pierogi, Mandarynka & cocktails!

Warszawa (Poland Part: 1)

2009-11-12T01:44:00.004+05:30

As a child I always though that Warsaw was called so because it saw the big war!

Before travelling to any new place I read about it in Wikipedia, buy a lonely planet and if really really interested about it, I download documentaries, movies, buy popular books about it and get myself so high about the place that when I reach it I can tell you better than a local what to do and where to go and how to get there!

But Warsaw was different, and so was Poland. The only thing I ever knew about Warsaw was that a popular pianist gave his last live performance on Polish radio before the Germans moved into the city. I never knew that Oskar Schindler was from Poland and the movie that is based on his life and bears his name was shot on the streets of Krakow, that Madam Curie is from Poland and that her second discovery Polonium is a dedication to her motherland, that the first man ever to say that the sun was the center and not the earth is also Polish, Nicholas Copernicus!

And thus armed with no prejudices and a brief intro to the city and the country I landed in Frederic Chopin Airport of Warsaw (named after the pianist).The first surprise was that an all inclusive 3-day public transport card costs just 16 Polish Zloty, that’s 4 Euros!

After getting high on War history watching the WWII Specials on History Channel all month, my 1st stop in Warsaw was the Warsaw Rising Museum (Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego)

The Warsaw Uprising of 1944 was a heroic and tragic 63-day struggle to liberate WWII Warsaw from Nazi occupation. Undertaken by the Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK), the Polish resistance group, at the time Allied troops were breaking through the Normandy defences and the Red Army was standing at the line of the Vistula River. Warsaw could have been one of the first European capitals liberated; however, various military and political miscalculations, as well as global politics — played among Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt — turned the dice against it.

This museum is dedicated to all those who fought for their freedom in the Warsaw Uprising as well as all those who, as civilians, perished in the effort.
A fantastic effort to recreate the days of the uprising, inform in a simple way what happened, how it happened and why it happened, ghastly videos, amazing exhibits and the centrepiece: A wall with a heartbeat which also recounts the experience of those who lived through it! The best part of the museum was a huge movie screening unedited clips from the uprising. It had to be counted as one of the best museums’ I’ve ever been in!

As a result of the uprising, Le fuhrer ordered complete destruction of Warsaw, all inhabitants to be exterminated, and the city razed to the ground, left as a dot on the map! Thus the beautiful city of Warsaw was destroyed.
With this background, I walked into the newly re-built old Warsaw expecting some Art Deco buildings, a few cafes and a bunch of tourists. What I saw there completely blew my myths!

Plac Zamkowy is the first glimpse that anyone would get of the Old Town but it’s the Rynek Starego Miasta which is the true heart of Warsaw. Dominated by the Zygmunt's Column, which towers over the beautiful Old town houses and the brick red Royal Castle, the castle square is steeped in history. Here was the gateway leading into the city called the Krakow Gate (Brama Krakowska).It became to develop in the 14th century and continued to be a defensive area for the kings. The square was in its glory in the 17th century when Warsaw became to country capital. And it was here that in 1644 King Władysław IV erected the column to glorify his father Sigismund III Vasa, who is best known for moving the capital of Poland from Kraków to Warsaw.

The Old Town in autumn is a marvelous place, and I really mean it. There are no crowds of tourists; in fact, there are no people whatsoever, and it all seems so empty, so unhampered. I walked around the Statue of Zygmunt and spent a few minutes contemplating the Royal Castle in the rain pelting down. I wandered around the cathedral plastered to the adjacent building until I reach the Old Town Market. The place is totally devoid of people and traffic, there are no beer gardens or drunken youth. I took the liberty of approaching the monument of 'Syrenka', a symbol of Warszawa.

For the gourmet in me, eating at a "bar mleczny" -- or "milk bar" -- is an essential Polish experience. These super-cheap cafeterias are a cheap way to get a meal, and, with the right attitude, a fun cultural adventure.

In the communist era, the government subsidized the food at milk bars. The idea was to allow lowly workers to afford a meal out. The tradition continues.
Milk bars offer many of Poland's traditional favorites. Common items are delicious soups, a variety of cabbage-based salads, fried pork chops, and pancakes. At the milk bar, you'll often see glasses of watery juice and -- of course -- milk. My favourite was Pierogi Ruske!

At milk bars, the service is aimed at locals. You're unlikely to find an English menu. If the milk-bar lady asks you any questions, you have three options: nod stupidly until she just gives you something; repeat one of the things she just said; or be one of those rude “pointers” who point at text in the menu randomly. If nothing else, ordering at a milk bar is a fiesta of gestures. Always remember, smile and the whole world smiles with you! I was lucky to have a list of Polish food written down on a sheet of paper before I left for Poland.

My milk-bar dialogue usually went like this:
Milk Bar lady: "Prosze?" (Can I help you, please?)
Me: "toe" (while pointing)... "i to" (pointing again) ... "i to" (pointing once more). It means, "That ... and that ... and that." (Or atleast that’s what I think it means!)

After three days in Warsaw, there is but one striking memory. A young Polish girl on Nowy Swiat (new world street) was telling me how great the city of Warsaw is and how great a man Pope John Paul II was. Almost as if to prove her argument, she took out her iPhone and showed me the video of a young pope, on his first papal pilgrimage to Warsaw, towering over a millions in the crowd talking with passion about the city:

"It is impossible to understand this city, Warsaw, the capital of Poland, that undertook in 1944 an unequal battle against the aggressor, a battle in which it was abandoned by the allied powers, a battle in which it was buried under its own ruins—if it is not remembered that under those same ruins there was also the statue of Christ the Saviour with his cross that is in front of the church at Krakowskie Przedmiescie. It is impossible to understand the history of Poland from Stanislaus in Skalka to Maximilian Kolbe at Oswiecim unless we apply to them that same single fundamental criterion!
We are before the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. In the ancient and contemporary history of Poland this tomb has a special basis, a special reason for its existence. In how many places in our native land has that soldier fallen! In how many places in Europe and the world has he cried with his death that there can be no just Europe without the independence of Poland marked on its map! On how many battlefields has that solider given witness to the rights of man, indelibly inscribed in the inviolable rights of the people, by falling for "our freedom and yours"!
"Where are their tombs, O Poland? Where are they not! You know better than anyone—and God knows it in heaven".
I wish to kneel before this tomb to venerate every seed that falls into the earth and dies and thus bears fruit. It may be the seed of the blood of a soldier shed on the battlefield, or the sacrifice of martyrdom in concentration camps or in prisons. It may be the seed of hard daily toil, with the sweat of one's brow, in the fields, the workshop, the mine, the foundries and the factories. It may be the seed of the love of parents who do not refuse to give life to a new human being and undertake the whole of the task of bringing him up. It may be the seed of creative work in the universities, the higher institutes, the libraries and the places where the national culture is built. It may be the seed of prayer, of service of the sick, the suffering, the abandoned—"all that of which Poland is made".
All that in the hands of the Mother of God—at the foot of the cross on Calvary and in the Upper Room of Pentecost!
All that—the history of the motherland shaped for a thousand years by the succession of the generations and by each son and daughter of the motherland, even if they are anonymous and unknown like the Soldier before whose tomb we are now.
All that—including the history of the peoples that have lived with us and among us, such as those who died in their hundreds of thousands within the walls of the Warsaw ghetto.
All that I embrace in thought and in my heart during this Eucharist and I include it in this unique most holy Sacrifice of Christ, on Victory Square.
And I cry—I who am a Son of the land of Poland and who am also Pope John Paul II—I cry from all the depths of this Millennium, I cry on the vigil of Pentecost:
Let your Spirit descend.
Let your Spirit descend.
and renew the face of the earth,
the face of this land."

10 things I did in Poland

2009-11-01T23:58:00.000+05:30

1. Checked out the capital Warsaw
2. Understood Warsovian pain during the uprising
3. Saw Pope John Paul II's speech in an iphone
4. Ate Pierogi & drank Zabrowska
5. Made new Polish friends
6. Visited Krakow, Poland's biggest tourist draw
7. Paid homage to the millions of Jews who perished in Auschwitz
8. Rolled with the crowd in Polish Airforce open day
9. Spent lots and lots of Zlotysch
10. Ate all many meals in Bar Mleczny

Flying to Europe (Part 1: CDG)

2009-08-06T00:02:00.007+05:30

For the average Indian (yours truly) who has grown up watching Indian films; BigB and Rekha creating magic walking across the Dutch Tulips in Silsila, Rahul traveling to Switzerland in Darr, Guddu and Raj bonding in London in K3G, Raj romancing Simran in DDLJ all across Europe; For him, America may be the land of opportunities but Europe is where any Indian would love to live, for it is the land of dreams to him!

The chaos and excitement (for the most part Chaos really, I had less than 45days to prepare for this!) that I had built up for this trip made me believe I would have that "Ooooooooh" moment the minute I land in Europe.

So I took the 10hour flight from Benguluru International Airport and landed in Paris. Charles De Gaulle airport is a synonym for Chaos! My first experience off Europe is people running around like madmen. Curses in French, some babbling in Afrikaan, weird looking sheiks from the Middle East, some Israelis, a Polish family that looked like they were escaping a Nazi camp, hundreds of backpackers sitting under every pillar of the terminal! Oh my God! Amidst all this I walk past all queues (I was a privileged business class traveler :-) ) straight to the business lounge. A quick nap later I walked across the terminal hoping to try the premiere degree in French that I got 6 years ago! "Bon Jour Mademeoiselle, comment allez-vous?" was replied with a curt bon jour and I am guessing a scorned look on her face! Oh yeah, the French are xenophobic. I found a computer with internet and struggled with the french keyboard for 1hour before finally giving up.

I walked up to the terminal from where my connecting flight was to take off to Amsterdam. I was totally surprised by the number of Indonesians, South Americans and Africans who were traveling to Amsterdam. Apparently their Dutch connections from the Imperial era still continues.

I walk in and sit in my flight to Amsterdam and realise that I had spent 5hours in Europe and felt nothing different from being in Rajiv gandhi airport of India. Maybe it was that overhyping the Europe experience, maybe all airports are the same, probably France is not a good place to start from, or even worse, maybe it is not that awesome after all! Brooding over these thoughts I sit in my flight preparing for takeoff.

And then....

"OOooooooh Eiffel tower!!!!!"

The future belongs to India

2009-06-11T21:21:00.000+05:30

In preparing for a much publicised debate in London on the motion ‘The future belongs to India, not China’, I was reminded of a conversation with my mother. She had asked, what is the difference between China growing at a rate of 10% and India at 8%? I replied that the difference was, indeed, very significant. If we were to grow at 10% we could save twenty years. This is almost a generation. We could lift a whole generation into the middle class twenty years sooner. She thought for a while and then said gently, ‘we have waited 3000 years for this moment. Why don’t we wait another twenty and do it the Indian way?’

She had understood that the cost of democracy is the price the poor pay in the delay of their entry into the middle class. She did not elaborate the ‘Indian way’ but it must include taking a holiday on half a dozen New Years Days! It is easy to get mesmerized by China’s amazing progress and feel frustrated by India’s chaotic democracy, but I think she had expressed the sentiments of most Indians who will not trade off democracy for two per cent higher growth.

In referring to the ‘Indian way’, my mother meant that a nation must be true to itself. Democracy comes easily to us because India has historically ‘accumulated’ its diverse groups who retain their distinctiveness while identifying themselves as Indian. China has ‘assimilated’ its people into a common, homogeneous Confucian society. China is a melting pot in which differences disappear while India is a salad bowl in which the constituents retain their identity. Hence, China has always been governed by a hierarchical, centralized state-a tradition that has carried into the present era of reform communism. China resembles a business corporation today. Each mayor and party secretary has objectives relating to investment, output and growth, which are aligned to national goals. Those who exceed their goals rise quickly. The main problem in running a country as a business is that many people get left out.

India, on the other hand, can only manage itself by accommodating vocal and varied interest groups in its salad bowl. This leads to a million negotiations daily and we call this system ‘democracy’. It slows us down–we take five years to build a highway versus one in China. Those who are disgruntled go to court. But our politicians are forced to worry about abuses of human rights, whereas my search on Google on ‘human rights abuses in China’ yielded 47.8 million entries in 13 seconds! Democracies have a safety valve-it allows the disgruntled to let off steam before slowly co-opting them.

Both India and China have accepted the capitalist road to prosperity. But capitalism is more comfortable in a democracy, which fosters entrepreneurs naturally. A state enterprise can never be as innovative or nimble and this is why the Chinese envy some of our private companies. Democracy respects property rights. As both nations urbanize, peasants in India are able to sell or borrow against their land, but the Chinese peasants are at the mercy of local party bosses. Because India has the rule of law, entrepreneurs can enforce contracts. If someone takes away your property in China, you have no recourse. Hence, it is the party bosses who are accumulating wealth in China. The rule of law slows us down but it also protects us (and our environment, as the NGOs have discovered).

We take freedom for granted in India but it was not always so. When General Reginald Dyer opened fire in 1919 in Jallianwala Bagh killing 379 people, Indians realised they could only have dignity when they were free from British rule. The massacre at Tiananmen Square in 1989, where 300 students were killed, was China’s Jallianwala Bagh. China today may have become richer than India but the poorest Chinese yearns for the same freedom.

Because the Indian state is inefficient, millions of entrepreneurs have stepped into the vacuum. When government schools fail, people start private schools in the slums, and the result is millions of ’slumdog millionaires’. You cannot do this in China. Our free society forces us to solve our own problems, making us self-reliant. Hence, the Indian way is likely to be more enduring because the people have scripted India’s success while China’s state has crafted its success. This worries China’s leaders who ask, if India can become the world’s second fastest economy despite the state, what will happen when the Indian state begins to perform? India’s path may be slower but it is surer, and the Indian way of life is also more likely to survive. This is why when I am reborn I would prefer it to be in India.

—-
The writer is speaking in a debate in London on 12 May 2009 in support of the motion ‘ The future belongs to India, not China’. The original post can be read here
—–

My 3POD!

2009-05-19T19:11:00.003+05:30

Oh, yeah! I finally got a tripod, a good one year after I bought my camera!
Better late than never I say. :)

The Journey

2009-04-17T17:50:00.002+05:30

Tibetan Flavour in Karnataka

2009-03-31T19:55:00.002+05:30

I finally get over my 140 character limitation

The greatest wonder about Bylakuppe is not that a place like this exists but where it exists. Thousands of miles from Tibet, the last thing you would expect in a nondescript interior Karnataka village is to find the largest Tibetan settlement outside of Tibet!

Hemant is a great chap and shares by passion for travel. The destination is for the tourist. For travelers like me and hemant, its the journey that matters. Thus on new year's day, me and Hemant set out on a journey in pursuit of peace and tranquility in times of uncertainty. We boarded a Kushalnagar bound bus at Kempegowda bus stand and at 250 bucks for both of us we were well in sync with the economy! After a nice bumpy ride in the back seat of Karnataka Sarige for five interesting hours of travel/china/adult art/Tibet/religion/honchos at shell/doomed politicians/photography we got off at Koppa.

Soaring inflation seems to have given this village a miss. 8km auto ride cost us 30INR. 5 minutes into the ride the landscape changed abruptly. Roadside hawkers, cows, garbage, and ramshackle huts disappeared. These were replaced by prayer flags, stupas and monasteries of the Sakhya, Kagyur, Nyingmapa and the yellow-hat Gelguppa sects of Vajrayana Buddhism. The statutory Kannada sign boards were replaced by prayer signs in Tibetan. It was as if both of us were teleported into a foreign territory.

We reached our first stop, Sera Jey Health Care Committee (SJHCC) guest house, a small and beautiful location. The monk in the reception was happy to see us. It was already late in the evening. Thus, after a quick chowmien we decided to wander around in the bylanes. Just as we stepped onto the road, a sea of burgundy robed monks swamped the route. Like the Ganges gushing through a delta, the monks came in from all sides onto the main road. It was unbelievable to watch 4000 monks fill in the voids between the buildings.

We followed them to the Sera Jey University for Adavnced Buddhist Studies. and obsereved them for quite some time, puzzled and bewildered at the constant jumping and clapping they were doing. An elderly monk from the examination board explained to us that they were actually debating. The monk who was sitting was asking questions and the monk standing would answer, always ending it with a clap!

Day 2 started with yet another hot chowmien. We realised after a quick chat with the monks that there were bigger treasures hidden behind the rustic buildings of the Sera Jey village, territory usually left unexplored by the banal tourists! We meandered through the unusually clean village gallis and landed in front of Sera Mey University for Monastic Studies. The Sera monastery was originally founded in 1419 in Tibet. Historical records indicate that the Monastery's total population of monks in 1959 before the communist Chinese troops destruction & persecution of Monastery & monks,was around 5629 monks! The event of 1959, that witnessed the invasion of Tibet by the communist China, was the darkest period in the History of Tibet and its religious faith - Buddhism. It brought the near end of centuries old Monastic Culture and Practice, by the indiscriminate destruction of monasteries and persecution of monks. Sera Mey Monastery was one of the most severely affected from this spiritual & cultural genocide. The Tibetan government in exile then re-instituted this holy institution in Bylakuppe.

After a breezy clicking session and prayer we decided to visit the golden temple, the biggest monastery in the region and also the most visited by tourists. It is quite some distance away from Sera village and we were lucky to be offered a lift by an army major and his wife driving by a car en route Mysore. They were pleasantly surprised to find two young engineers spending an extended weekend in a Buddhist Monastery of all places. The old man was very curious to know our last names! The old lady generously gave us some fruits and they dropped us off a km away from the Golden Temple.

If you think a Buddhist temple would be filled with smoke, reeking of butter, throbbing with the chants of the monks and perhaps a gong or two sound in the distance, think again! The entrance to the main temple comprised of two gigantic red doors with handles and carvings in gold, intricate murals based on Tantric Buddhism adorn the walls. A profusion of color hits you once you eneter the temple. Silly tourists asking their companions to pose in myriad dance forms, despite a board stating "this is a temple and a religious place"! Three larger than life giant statues, once again gold plated, took centre stage; these were placed on a platform. Buddha around 60 feet tall held prominent place, flanked by Guru Padmasambhava and Amitayush.
It was here that we came to know that Penor Rinpoche, The former head of the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism, breathed his last at his residence the previous night. The monks held a condolence ceremony followed by prayer for the holy departed soul. After a whole day of clicking and peace in the temple, we made our way back to Sera Jey to sit and observe the debating session.

Day 3 began with the best pooris I ever had (Best because it was the cheapest!!!). I topped it up with some original momos from the Tibetan Kitchen. Most of the shops were closed as a mark of respect to the Rinpoche. We were initially disappointed, but later saw this as an opportunity to explore the entire settlement. We walked around aimlessly, clicking randomly, windmills, basketball courts, future Tibetan rebels. Monks carrying mobile phones, wearing Reebok shoes, or even sipping Pepsi did not surprise us now. After all, as Thomas Friedman said, "The world is flat". Unfortunately we couldn't find any monks who were putting up their Ferraris on sale!

After a really tiring walk back to SJHCC, we packed our bags and headed towards Kushalnagar where we boarded a bus to Bangalore, thus ending a really fruitful weekend.

Soltitude

2008-11-25T19:05:00.001+05:30

Angkor Wat
Originally uploaded by Sandeep R Sekharamantri

Putrajaya

2008-11-06T18:17:00.002+05:30

Wikipedia says that Putrajaya is the federal capital of Malaysia, the hub of all administration activity, the center of politics in thiHoping to bump into some famous and powerful malaysians, me rashi and rohit took the long drive out of KL one weekend. The prime motivation was to witness the Malaysian International Fireworks Competitoin (MIFC08)!

The buildings were huge and mighty at Putrajaya, and they are all mostly government offices. They look new, design was nice, roads were spacious, lamppost and traffic lights had new designs too. Cool! I shall not however mention how much each lamppost cost….as to what i heard about it.

But once you get over the awe of looking at eye-popping designs of bridges (there are 9 bridges built over an artifical lake thats 600acres) and start looking around you feel a sense of eeriness. The federal capital has no population on a weekend!!!.

Yes, for a town that was designed to hold 5million people, only 50000 stay there.

K-Lites

2008-10-22T17:16:00.001+05:30

K-Lites
Originally uploaded by Sandeep R Sekharamantri

Its easy to see why I love KL!

Pulau Pangkor

2008-09-14T10:34:00.003+05:30

I finally went off the beaten track here in Malaysia. After 40 days amongst buildings, buildings and more buildings, I decided I have had enough of concrete.

And thus I set off on a journey to Pulau Pangkor. I took a bus costing just 18ringgets to Lumut, the place where jetties leave for Pangkor regularly. the journey through Selangor and Perak by bus took more than 4hrs as the driver was not breaking even on his investment with only one passenger going to Lumut. He stopped at every damn bus stop to pick up people for short rides! I didn't complain though. I was mesmerized by the occasional waterfall, and some really HUGE cave temples on the way to Ipoh, the capital of Perak.

I finally reached Lumut in the afternoon. Lumut is a nice small town with a beautiful water front and chinese temples and a clark quayish beach road with KFC, pizza huts and numerous pubs. I walked from the bus stand to the main dock and booked a return ticket to Pangkor on a small boat. The boat ride was for about 30minutes with a stop in between at Sungai Pinang Basil, the fishing village on Pangkor island. I got of the Pangkor town jetty and was instantly surrounded by the taxi drivers. And the taxis were infact minivans, painted PINK!

A thing of beauty is joy forever

2008-09-05T21:24:00.001+05:30

A thing of beauty is joy forever
Originally uploaded by Sandeep R Sekharamantri

Remember 126

2008-08-18T18:25:00.003+05:30

This weekend was really thrilling, and enlightening. Thrilling because we went to Genting, the city of entertainment in Malaysia. And enlightening as we spent a nice and quiet evening with an elderly malay-chinese.

Thrill

The theme park in Genting led me to do some of the things I have always dreamt of. Falling freely and feeling the power of gravity on the space shot, corkscrwed and going through loops of a roller coaster and what not! Some things are best said in pictures. Check my flickr stream for more.

Enlightenment

Sean-Lok was the chinese colleague who drove us to Genting in his car. We met his father, a 40yr veteran of Exxon. The evening spent with them in the "126 restaurant" was great.It was my first real interaction with a chinese family. I had authentic chinese food, not the Indian chinese, but chinese chinese! Rice and prawns with soya sauce and chillies washed down with a cup full of chinese tea.

During the course of our conversation, I realised vegetarianism was an alien concept to Malaysia. Sean's dad was surprised to see "healthy" Indians (my friends) who were veggies. He always believed veggies are lean and skinny and very frail. They were further surprised to realise that my friends family had been veggies from times immemorial. A tradition, a lineage of veggies! That was simply incomprehensible. He felt impressed and inspired by them and decided to learn cooking pure veggie food.

By the way, 126 in chinese means "no less, no more"

Batumalai Sri Subramaniar Swamy Devasthanam

2008-08-12T19:21:00.001+05:30

Batumalai Sri Subramaniar Swamy Devasthanam
Originally uploaded by Sandeep R Sekharamantri

Skybridge Walk

2008-08-09T08:56:00.002+05:30

08:08:08 08/08/08

2008-08-08T18:06:00.011+05:30

And it has finally happened! The moment the whole world was waiting for the past four years atleast! LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!

I am back in my hotel witnessing the live coverage of the inauguration ceremony with Chinese commentary.

A pretty eventful day today. An early morning walk to the office with a bunch of Malaysian kids is a complete stress buster. I realised that today. Most of the office day, as usual, was spent indulging in the pursuit of excellence in furnace design! Sigh! Mid way during the day Su Be came up to me and asked what date it was. And then I realised, it was the day whole of Malaysia was looking forward to. For a country that has won a sum total of three medals in all the Olympics it has taken part in the past, that is quite unique. It reinforces the Dutch proverb that says " Wining is great, but its the spirit of participation that counts!" Brilliant.

Evening arrived, and with it awoke the epicurean in me. I decided to indulge myself by treating myself to a 7* meal. I walked into Hotel Nikko and went straight to the buffet table. HUGE is a small word to describe the length of the buffet! I counted 18 different animals in the food, and I was still half way through the line! 90++ ringgits for a a dinner made me feel slightly jittery. I finally decided against it and walked out. On my way out I bumped into a pack of photographers running helter skelter trying to get the picture of a Malay celeb. I decided to join in and ran along with them! A Silver-Grey Bentley slowly made its way through the crowd towards the entrance. The nameplate read "SUPERSTAR" and I half expected Rajini to walk out. Heavy expectations! Out popped an obese lady. The locals were shouting out something strange and a few shook hands with her as she briskly made her way into the hotel. I still do not know who she is!

After this slight detour, I walked into Shin Nichin on Jln Ampang. Cuisine for today: JAPANESE!

I walked in very gingerly. The hostess, who understood that it was my first time in a traditional Japanese restaurant, walked up to me and wished me. She escorted me to a nice spot in the middle of the room and offered me some snails which she informed were appetisers. She then served me some mango juice and a green colour fluid that was supposed to be a substitute for water in a Japanese meal.

I found a fancy name on the menu and pointed it to her. She smiled and was back in a jiffy with a small pot with white jelly like material in it. I hesitated to ask her the contents and fiddled with the spoon. She walked over to me, mumbled something that sounded like "stem ekk" and at the same time pointing towards my spoon and mouth. I fished out some of the jelly from the pot and dumped it into my mouth. EGG EGG EGG!!! It was steamed egg in some weird translucent sauce. Tasted as much weird.

Finally my main course came in and the look of it was worth the wait. Some Japanese soup that I drank straight out of the bowl and another weird sauce. Grilled chicken on a side plate that was marvelous, just the correct smell, the correct colour and the perfect taste!Beside it were two huge prawns, golden fried, dipped in another white sauce that resembled mayonnaise. And finally some fruits to finish it off. Japanese food was a revelation. It had rice, it was spicy, and it was mouth watering (except for the snails part)

On my return to the hotel I found a Malaysian Government vehicle waiting with 20 police bikers as a convoy. I rushed in and found an important Malay minister (whose name I forgot!!Damn!) escort his old mother into the car. I was too late to get his picture :(

I could get the royal car.

I pretty tiring day. Lots of running across the roads involved! An hours swimming with a bunch of kids from Kuwait! Japanese food! Chinese Celeb! and a Malay minister!

Tomorrow is my first weekend in KL and I hope to take complete advantage of it.

KLing

2008-08-07T19:22:00.003+05:30

I attended the Lifestyle Expo'08 in KLCC today. Highlight of the day: The world's largest LCD at 108" priced at a modest RM388,888 + taxes!!!

After an eventful day of culinary pursuits I realised two awkward truths.

Awkward truth 1: If I am going to stay in a foreign country and not be with foreign food, then what's the whole point of living here.

Awkward truth 2: I cannot survive with malaysian food.

A logical derivation from both the statements would be that I can survive with a foreign food other than malay in KL :)

And thus I made a list of restaurants with varied cusines. Thai, Indonesian, Sundanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Burmese (even they have a cuisine :O ), Lebanese, Syrian and basically every Asian country other than India. No wonder they say Malaysia is truly Asia. Its hard to kill the gourmet in me you see. You can suffocate and strangle it, but it always re-emerges like a phoenix. And thus I began my culinary adventures with Al-Marjan, the taste of Lebanon. Some chicken cooked in various sauces, some fish (I never knew Lebanon had a coast!!) in white sauce, Lebanese Coffee, meat in eggplant stew, some cookies and deserts to finish it off.

Tomorrow Vietnamese!!!

With the man who saved UPA

2008-08-06T19:00:00.002+05:30

Nasi saves the day

2008-08-05T18:30:00.002+05:30

It took me just 30 minutes into KL to realise that my famous tummy wasn't invincible after all. The gourmet in me was laid to rest on my first breakfast in KL. The look made it shiver, the smell suffocated it and finally the feel killed it. I had to suffice with chocos and some strange blanche fluid which they called low fat milk.

I rushed to my office and looked forward to eat something more sane during lunch. After all it was Shell. Another horrible truth dawned on me. Offices in Petronas towers aren't allowed to have their own canteens. To top it all, my team mates took me out to have a proper malay meal. Char Kua Teow, that is what I had. A concoction of noodles, prawns and cockels in vinegar and thai sauce. I gulped it down with some coke. I decided I have had enough of malay splendour and decided to treat myself to some good old crispy chicken in KFC. But as all things malay, even that had a sweety slimy touch to it.

Breakfast today was also like yesterday. Some chocos and low fat milk. I resigned myself to the fact that malay food is not for me. And just when hope hit rock bottom, I discovered Nasi! Malay for Rice!

I found two restaurants, nasi penang and nasi blah blah blah, both within a kilometer of my hotel. I gorged on Nasi and chicken for lunch and dinner today for as cheap as RM6.5 = 80 INR!!! :)

Loong live Nasi!!!

Where Eagles Dare

2008-07-01T13:51:00.001+05:30

Where Eagles Dare
Originally uploaded by Sandeep R Sekharamantri

Somehow this pic and the caption seem to be perfect for the next few weeks of my life!

From the last week as a student and a free citizen on India, I now move onto bonded labour with a Dutch Oil company. They promised me to take places where only eagles dare!!!

That has me scared and excited at the same moment!

Phoney stuff

2008-06-16T12:36:00.000+05:30

Since i am nw laptop deprived most of my online presence is due 2 my amazing motorokr! This is my first blog from my phone! Helomoto!

Goodbye to a faithful servant!

2008-06-13T13:47:00.003+05:30

My dear old lappy, the ever faithful IBM Lenovo T-60 bids a tearful farewell to me

It has served me relentlessly and sincerely for over eleven months,

It never gave up, never ever in rain, nor when the sun shone bright,

It smiled in glee when I copied series after series

It laughed in joy when I saw movie after movie

And it danced in ecstasy when I installed software after software

In the end all that was left were my nimble fingerprints on its oil and curry stained monitor and faded keystrokes on its tiny little keyboard.

My dear old lappy will always remember me, even if the IT guy formats and re-installs windows!

Bye Bye Bye!

Logging Off

Divinity

2008-06-12T23:59:00.001+05:30

Guests @ the wedding!
Originally uploaded by Sandeep R Sekharamantri

Saddugunta Palya, a lesser known locality of koramangla, sprung a surprise last month when the Lord Rama came out to in all his glory to meet his mortal devotees on his way to marry his divine consort Sitadevi!

Yes We Can!!!

2008-06-11T19:28:00.003+05:30

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama - New Hampshire Primary
(January 8th, 2008)

I want to congratulate Senator Clinton on a hard-fought victory here in New Hampshire.

A few weeks ago, no one imagined that we'd have accomplished what we did here tonight. For most of this campaign, we were far behind, and we always knew our climb would be steep. But in record numbers, you came out and spoke up for change. And with your voices and your votes, you made it clear that at this moment – in this election – there is something happening in America.

There is something happening when men and women in Des Moines and Davenport; in Lebanon and Concord come out in the snows of January to wait in lines that stretch block after block because they believe in what this country can be.

There is something happening when Americans who are young in age and in spirit – who have never before participated in politics – turn out in numbers we've never seen because they know in their hearts that this time must be different.

There is something happening when people vote not just for the party they belong to but the hopes they hold in common – that whether we are rich or poor; black or white; Latino or Asian; whether we hail from Iowa or New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina, we are ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction. That is what's happening in America right now. Change is what's happening in America.

You can be the new majority who can lead this nation out of a long political darkness – Democrats, Independents and Republicans who are tired of the division and distraction that has clouded Washington; who know that we can disagree without being disagreeable; who understand that if we mobilize our voices to challenge the money and influence that's stood in our way and challenge ourselves to reach for something better, there's no problem we can't solve – no destiny we cannot fulfill.

Our new American majority can end the outrage of unaffordable, unavailable health care in our time. We can bring doctors and patients; workers and businesses, Democrats and Republicans together; and we can tell the drug and insurance industry that while they'll get a seat at the table, they don't get to buy every chair. Not this time. Not now. Our new majority can end the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of the working Americans who deserve it.

We can stop sending our children to schools with corridors of shame and start putting them on a pathway to success. We can stop talking about how great teachers are and start rewarding them for their greatness. We can do this with our new majority.

We can harness the ingenuity of farmers and scientists; citizens and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil and save our planet from a point of no return. And when I am President, we will end this war in Iraq and bring our troops home; we will finish the job against al Qaeda in Afghanistan; we will care for our veterans; we will restore our moral standing in the world; and we will never use 9/11 as a way to scare up votes, because it is not a tactic to win an election, it is a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the twenty-first century: terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease.

All of the candidates in this race share these goals. All have good ideas. And all are patriots who serve this country honorably.

But the reason our campaign has always been different is because it's not just about what I will do as President, it's also about what you, the people who love this country, can do to change it.

That's why tonight belongs to you.

It belongs to the organizers and the volunteers and the staff who believed in our improbable journey and rallied so many others to join.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change. We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come.

We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.

Yes we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this world. Yes we can.

And so tomorrow, as we take this campaign South and West; as we learn that the struggles of the textile worker in Spartanburg are not so different than the plight of the dishwasher in Las Vegas; that the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in America's story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea – Yes. We. Can.

BITS Pilani

2008-06-08T20:23:00.001+05:30

Heaven on earth, Oasis in a desert, paradise for students...call it what you may,

BITS Pilani, my second home, my alma mater! :)

CHANGE

2008-06-08T00:27:00.005+05:30

Four years ago, in 2004, a nondescript young black politician was called on by the Democrats to present a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention to proclaim John Kerry as their undisputed Presidential Nominee. This afro-american guy was himself hoping to run for Senator of Illinois.

"My presence on this stage is pretty unlikely," --he said

Check the following two videos of that speech

A little over four years from then, he's running for president!!!

People like this are rarely found in this country. It is guys like OBAMA that truly are the harbringers of CHANGE!!!

Travel!!!

2008-06-07T22:58:00.001+05:30

Travel!!!
Originally uploaded by Sandeep R Sekharamantri

Finally a snap to depict everything that has happened in my life over the past few months.

I have been traveling recklessly with an eye on whatever has been happening around me...just like the rear view mirror

Mighty Kaveri

2008-06-04T14:40:00.001+05:30

Mighty Kaveri
Originally uploaded by Sandeep R Sekharamantri

Last week I was in Hogenakkal, which literally means Smoking Rocks. The mighty falls create a smoky smog over the rocks and hence the name. But what interested me most was the turbulence after the falls. It was serene and dangerous at the same time. I sooo wanted to walk through this shallow part of the river, but my dad prevented me from doing so!

More snaps @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/s_r_sandeep/

No Title

2008-05-22T22:23:00.002+05:30

Its 10:30 in the night. Usually I would be watching a TV series that I so dutifully download from one of those piracyKing websites. These days I am watching scrubs season 3. But things got very boring and I decided to update my blog. Not that anyone would miss it, but still.....

I wanted to do some live blogging last night from a super cool football match. But the on-field action was so nerve-wracking that I couldn't think of sentences to write. I did twitter a bit in the middle and almost dropped my laptop once when Drogba hit the goal-post. As i pointed out before, I never expected Chelsea to win the match...but so close...hooof! Screw you John Terry!

Well, something cool just started on NatGEo. I will watch it for sometime and hit the sack. I have no idea why I started this blog. It leads no where and If you have come reading this far...THANK YOU :)

Back on Blogger

2008-05-21T17:47:00.002+05:30

The only reason why I am back on blogger is because every other blogging site disallows javascript. And I sooooo wanted to have my google reader stuff on this right sidebar that I switched back from wordpress to blogger.

Hail the googlers who make blogger a better place to write in.

Talking of user friendly space, I have a major issue with the gang@twitter. I always dump in whatever I feel in twitter hoping someone will read it and send something back to me. But last night twitter had its own tweet "We are temporarily disabled". The same happened even last week. If these guys do not have the right skills to get their act straight soon, I , and other frustrated users like me ( I am sure there are millions of them), will shift to something else. Facebook's own status message isn't a bad idea (Though it carries the weight of a bloated social network).

Office has been pretty much crappy this week since the research paper went out. Last week was like the most hectic week of PS (put in 20hours of work, OMG). Its like the whole PS2 work was done in those 6 days (yes, dropped in even on a saturday, and again OMG). At least now I spend more time on Google reader and trying to figure out which of those blogospheres is best for a newbie like me.

Tonight is a special night. The aunty of all football matches, the Champions league finals, takes place. Of course the mother of them all is the World Cup finale. Let the whole world cheer for manU, I dont care. I love the chelskis and their blue! I don't mind even if they lose (Which has a pretty high probability). I still get to shout *&@#$^@#&*$^*(@ at the united players. Yes, the chelsea fans have been rated as the worst supporters.

I also have my new cam with me now. A scintillating peice of technical marvel. The Canon Powershot S5 IS. So expect more of my flickr updates and subscribe to the feeds if you love them. Flickr page will be updated starting this monday.

Will try and do some live blogging from 2nite's match (just for the heck of it)

Status Message Gyan

2008-05-21T16:36:00.001+05:30

OUT

DND

If i had known what i was doing, it would never been called research

Rockin…. Liberty City

If you do NOT have a Girl Friend - You are missing SOME thing in your life. If you HAVE a Girl Friend - You are missing EVERY thing in your life.

I do not think much. I do not think often. But when i think, I think of YOU!

My Dreams Are tied to a horse that will never “TIRE”

Follow…Follow…Follow…United are going to Moscow!!

Mera Number Kab Aayega

Jangli DP senti is going to be married

food?!

will miss BITS…

Tuesday Rains !!

It is the rolling stone..again..

yaadoon se unki thak ke main lauta to ye pata chala…pairoon mein the chale pade..mushkil tha kitna faasla…

often in life, you “ll be wat u r not to become wat u want to be

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.

kabhi kisike saath aise ashyiane ki umeed na karna ki,apna sab kuch luta baitho…unse saugath aise na mil jaaye ,ki tinke tinke ko taraste raho……

సాయంకాలం నారింజల్లో సాయం కోరే నీరెండల్లో నా ఈడు జోడు తోడు నీడా నీవే…

Positive Husband, Sadist Wives,Jealous Judge

iM on A fAstTracK dude!!!

Information Communication Technologies for Development

“Let your light shine. Shine within you so that it can shine on someone else. Let your light shine.”

Intuition (male, female or mathematical) has been greatly overrated. Intuition is the root of all superstition.

There are three sides to any argument: your side, my side and the right side.

When u feel sad … To cheer up just go to the mirror and say … “damn I am really so cute” u will overcome your sadness … But don’t make this a habit .. Coz liars go to hell !!!!

Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.

Nothing in life comes without struggle…True!!

Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.

It’s funny how from simple things The best things begin

I am back!

2008-05-17T13:40:00.000+05:30

I thought I would sound like Sylar or Spidy when they said it. Not quite so dramatic :(

Watching an old Telugu film full of special effects (Ref: Bhairava Dweepam) and listening to a failed pop singer (Ref: Smita) while blogging is not exactly a great set up. But when it is spiced up with some good food (Courtesy: CISCO mess) and a cranky roommate who specializes in pouranika geetalu and knows by heart all the dialogues in an old film things become so much more interesting.

Lots of things churning in my head now. Will think about what to write and how to write and will come back soon.

Atleast the first hurdle of getting back to my blog is crossed!

The Bayesian Approach

2007-08-31T13:48:00.000+05:30

For the people, who are unaware of , there are two approaches to Probability. I studied about these in the math courses in my Undergrad, but was never told of these being two different approaches to probability theory. Alas!!

1) The Classical Approach (also called the frequentist view)

2) The Bayesian Approach (also called the subjectivist view)

I shall be talking about the latter.. (as it is the one used in Machine Learning! and also my personal favourite )

The essence of the Bayesian approach to Probability:

You believe that you like a person. You don’t know how much you like him/her. The actions of the person towards you affect your liking or the belief (your belief that you like the person) you have towards him/her. This is common-sense. The beauty of the Bayesian principle lies in, encoding/representing the above common-sense fact using math.

An important thing one should be keeping in mind is that the Bayesian approach to Probability talks about ‘your’ beliefs on a subject. My belief about the Tajmahal is great. Another person’s might not be the same. This is the main difference when compared with the classical approach.

A simple example to explain the difference between the classical and the bayesian view is: Let us take the usual coin-tossing experiment. I toss a coin a 100 times, and then set out to estimate the probability of getting a heads when i toss it the 101th time.

1) Classical approach: You take a note of the number of times heads has appeared in all these 100 flips and then find the probability of getting heads by using: (No.of heads appeared)/(Total times the coin has tossed). You use this value for your future experiments saying that, in my first 100 coin tosses, i got heads 60 times (say), so the 101th time when I toss a coin, there is chance of getting a head than a tail!

2) Bayesian approach: Your aim of this experiment is not to know the probability of a coin showing heads in your first 100 tosses, but to know what might the coin show on the 101th toss or on the tosses later. Well, in this case the probability as obtained by these 2 methods might be the same, but your approach of seeing things is what that matters most.

Say, you have a belief that the coin shows tails. Now with every toss of the coin showing tails, you increase this belief or yours, and with every occurrence of a head, you decrease your belief. (You increase your likeliness about a person, for every nice thing he/she does towards you…isn’t it?) This is the Bayesian view of seeing things.

P(coin = tails|E) = P(E|coin = tails) * P(coin = tails)/P(E) <– the bayes theorem.

P(coin = tails) — Your initial belief that the coin shows tails.

P(E|coin = tails) — Now, given you believe that the coin shows tails, you test that against the Experiment, E. If in this test of yours, if you notice that the coin is infact showing tails, then your belief, P(coin = tails|E) gets increased.

(because, P(coin=tails | E) is proportional to P(E|coin = tails)*P(coin = tails) , from the above equation.)

You obtain the final value after completing the experiment. Now, based on this value you might take decisions on the future tosses.

Remember the word ‘belief’ is synonymous with ‘probability’ when u see things in bayesian perspective.

The coin-tossing experiment might not be a very good example to differentiate the bayesian and classical approaches.. I’ll try to give a better insight into this issue sometime later when it is being discussed with some machine learning problem. Just know that there are different views of seeing things, and the latter is the convenient one. It is convenient because it represents a common-sense/reality fact.

The Bayesian view is very very useful when dealing with Machine Learning stuff. and I’m a Bayesian.

#A good explanation on Bayesian philosophy. And there are many more!

(Abridged contents from "The Bayesian" by Vinay Gryffindor)

Random Rambling

2007-08-27T22:49:00.000+05:30

Life seems to be on the run. Just a month ago I used hog like a horse and slumber like a sloth all through the lovely week and go out to explore the countryside (or whatever was left of it in coimbatore) on the weekends. Now I lead a friday to monday life. The rest of the time just flies by.

Wake up on a monday morning with those legendary monday blues at about 8am. Get ready and go through the rush hour to office. The next thing worth mentioning is the beer bash on friday. The missing pieces in between are filled by me sitting in front of a computer, me drinking coffee and me banging my head all the time trying to figure out how in pluto's name do these software professionals survive, let alone make millions by just kutting all day long!!!

I had had enough of the software life. One full year filled with copied codes, reproduced assignments and sloppy professors. I expected the industry to be a lot better considering that we Indians make a lot of dollars doing IT development. And the industry was an awesome experience, at least in the beginning. I walked into NetApp to a great welcome. My manager walked with me upto my cubicle which already had my name plate on it. I had a free laptop with internet. New found friends took me to the pantry where food was free. I was told that on fridays beer was served, free ofcourse. The software industry employs some of the best looking girls too. And for a rough and hardened mechite like me this was paradise. I totally freaked out the first few days utilising every freebie that I could get. But suddenly I realised that I missed something amidst the partying. THE WORK!. What exactly do these software guys do to live that way? Well, they just code and code and code and more code!

In BITS I heard my computer science 'engineering' friends talk about development work happening in the MNC's in the nation and felt that they would be working at the fore-front of cutting edge computer science technology someday soon. They also talked about something called "testing" in a much demeaning way and I got the impression that it was just people putting in x=1 and x=0 to test whether a code is working or not.

Indeed even within the industry I found 'engineers' talk the same way about development and testing jobs. But soon I realised that these so called engineers do the same things, whether its development or testing, whether he's a fresher or a manager with 30years experience. They all do the same things. They all code and code and code! The interface might change, the exterior might change, the pay package might change, their timings can change, but their core work does not. They just code.

Well, 1 month into my internship and I have firmly decided never to go back to a pure software industry and work with software 'engineers' (they love that term in these companies!)

Engineering, in my opinion, is the useful manipulation of the laws of nature. Engineering has physics as its most fundamental building block. And that is how we were taught in school. If you are good in physics you can become an engineer. A computer science problem, even in its most primitive basic format cannot be remotely related to physics and hence it cannot be related to engineering.

I got into a little trouble when I started discussing this angle with my manager and asked him why he was not called a computer scientist instead of a software engineer!!

I am happy that I made a job with a core manufacturing firm where they have real engineers who practice engineering in the real sense of the term.

The trouble with living life from friday to monday is that you get these niggling seconds in between your orkut and free juices where you let your thoughts ramble randomly. And when you sit down to write a blog at the first chance you get, you are lost and those random sentiments desist to form a chorus. What results is this aphrodisiac poop that you have just read.

My first instruction!!

2007-07-05T16:44:00.000+05:30

Getting settled in your cube or office
If there is no chair, borrow one from a conference room. Then contact the Workplace Resources people; they will get you a less fancy but more adjustable one. It may take them several days though. If your conference room chair disappears in the meantime, just go borrow another one. You have the right to sit down.
If you don't have a computer yet, twiddle your thumbs a few times, then go to lunch. In NB, there is the food court, but it's kind of doubtful, although the restaurants on the upper floors are ok. Better yet, wherever you are, just ask your co-workers to suggest a place to eat. Or look for write-ups of local eateries on the web. If all else fails, get in your car and drive around aimlessly.
If there is no name tag on your cubicle, just wait. One will show up in a week or two. If you just can't wait, ask your manager to ping the process.

I guess working in a new company has its advantages!

A wonder!

2007-06-22T17:46:00.000+05:30

A blind boy is walking down the street distributing small yellow pamphlets shounting out loudly " मुझे वोट दो".

My first impression was that it was an ad-film made to create awareness about the blind and their ascendency to normal life.

The boy slowly moves his hand over the eaflet and it shows a pencil sketch of the Taj Mahal.

सुना है कि बहुत सुंदर है।

please वोट दिजियेना।

What is it about this national craze, even international media frenzy, that is creating such moving ads? Can a monument made by a lover in memory of his love capture the imagination of a nation like never before? Is it really a national symbol?

A national symbol unites the people in a way that no other can. It is a solidarity, constituted by the feeling of the sacrifices one has made in the past and of those that one is prepared to make in the future.

Take national anthem, for example, sung on national holidays. No matter how banal the words and the tune we sing it in, there is in this singing an experience of simultaneity. At precisely such moments, people completely unkown to each other utter the same verses to the same melody. The image: resonance, the echoed physical realisation of the one community. How selfless this resonance feels.

Can a monument like the Taj achieve something remotely similar to such a feeling?

Whenever a foriegner thinks of India, he thinks of snake charmers, elephants and the Taj. An international dignitary always takes time off his busy schedule to visit the taj. Its globally acknowledged that the Taj is considered the symbol of love, the ultimate tribute to any human emotion. An edifice that epitomises an expression that is natural to every human being. It is this poignant intercourse of sentiment with marble that sets the Taj apart from any other monument.

The world is in its awe. Poets are praising it, minstrels singing of it, psychologists getting deep about it, boys and girls dreaming of it. Billboards selling it, industries built on it, kings and queens and streetsweepers hot in its pursuit.

This country has one chance to make all this sustain forever. It is this chance to enlist the Taj as one of the new seven wonders of the world. If voting is required to prove its worth, then so be it. We as a nation of a billion should be happy to see the Taj i a place where it actualy belongs.

These are the exact feelings one gets when he thinks of the new seven wonders campaign. This is another such moment when a person wholly unkown to you ponders over the same feelings. He wants his national sysmbol to be respected by the international community.

I have never seen the Taj for real in my life so far.

सुना है कि बहुत सुंदर है।
please वोट दिजियेना

Vote here

or sms TAJ to 4567

The moments that defined me

2007-04-26T17:43:00.000+05:30

This is where it all begins.....my BITSian life!

A trip of epic proportions A trip that brought out more stories in a single fortnight than the rest of my BITSian life put together. The credit goes to Maddy and MLM travels.

The "Kukka" posh b'days!!!

Few of the best B'day celebs happened in this hallowed wing.

The last trip with the wing as a WHOLE!

A generation awakens

The most amazing assoc grubs

The festivals

Diwali in 2nd year , Rakhi in 3rd year

The one thing that I truly LEARNED in BITS....CATIAv5R14

The BEST thing that ever happened in my BITSian life, my wingies!!!

My most favourite place in BITS

A thousand memories!!!

TORQUE- Bend your minds for a Moment

Times, when they were good!

Times, when they got better!

My BITSian life at its ZENITH!

One day I shall lead them all!

The best juniors a senior can ever hope for

Psenti-SEM!!!

The Pillars of my BITSian Life

The fruits of my four year labour

Presenting

Sekharamantri Ratna Sandeep

BE (Hons) Mechanical

BE (Hons) Computer Science

गूगल हिंदी

2007-04-15T12:57:00.000+05:30

मैंने देखा कि ये गूगल का नया अविष्कार है।

ये तो बढिया है।

ये नयी यन्त्र machine learning कि सहायता से काम कर्ता है।

मैंने इसे अभी अभी देखा है और सोचा क्यों ना इसे मैं आजमा के देखू ।

इस चीज़ ने थो मुझे बहोत खुश कर दिया है ।

गूगल हिंदी रोक्ज़!!!

When the end is near, why do I crave for the begining

2007-04-12T18:41:00.000+05:30

Sandy's one line status message sums it up aptly. The end is approaching, and I hope to wake up from my dream in my first year and start all over again!

This what I see in the status messages everyday in my gtalk. Ofcourse, there is that occassional "Last one month in this God forsaken place" and a little more of blasphemy, but that is just an expresion of anguish at the system which is stubborn enough to test us even in the ultimate month of our union at BITS Pilani.

I have no idea why I felt like this today, but if I had a chance to go back and start from the begining, I would love to go back in time and do it exactly the same as I had done in the past four years.

Lots of meomries......I guess i shall organise them one day soon !

PhD blues

2007-04-06T17:03:00.000+05:30

I am not even done with my undergraduation and the title seems very outlandish for my position.

BITSians are very popular for their laid back inquisitiveness, but there was this guest lecture by Dr.P.Anandan from Microsoft Research India that even the most fair-minded BITSian looked forward to.

The man talked about every computer science related subject that we could concieve of. He spoke of computer vision, geometry tranfer in networks, image processing, power savings, processor designs, languge processing and even technology for the meagre.

His main aim though was to encourage more BITSians to pursue a PhD. He motivated us to do a lot of things in ways that normal BISians would not even think of. A truly talented induvidual, he did get me thinking on what to do with my future.

I definetly see some PhD blues!

Permission Denied

2007-04-02T22:17:00.000+05:30

Four years of BITSian life has made a man out of me. I do not get desolate when my favourite team loses a match. I do not get hysterical with emotions when I do something out of the ordinary. Hell, I do not feel even a dimunitive smidgen of remorse when I do not complete my assignment.

There was a time, a bygone era which few highbrows love to call their "wonder years", whenI used to shudder and even holler in dread at the very thought of missing a deadline for my homework. But now I am a man. I do not despair when I do not complete my work. I brazenly reproduce the work of my comrades, notwithstanding some skillful morphing.

Today, as usual, I was least bothered about submitting my PLCC assignmnet II until my groupie turned up, as always in a chop-chop fashion. So I sat down and morphed the code of a prodigy who still lives in his "wonder years". After four excruciating hours of strenous labour I pressed the "enter" key to submit my assignment. The screen immediately flashd a message :

Permission Denied

Four hours of precious time wasted, hope shattered, morale hit rockbottom.

This I take as a message from the almighty himself. I am a man and to show the right path to a faithful soldier of humanity like me The Lord himself has transmuted into the prithvi server.
I take the word of lord as my command.

Thou shalt not submit thy assignments

The contrast

2007-03-31T17:53:00.000+05:30

Yesterday was a stirring day that progressed with a frenetic promptness. It started with a normal BITSian supT. The aftenoon came and along with it brought the president of india with it. The evening was possessed by Oracle and its representatives making a very lucid allocution on the work they were carrying out at Oracle IDC at Bangalore. The evening sun set and setup a rendezvous with yet another powerful citizen, albeit of USA, Vivek Paul, the richest BITSian alumni.

After all this excitement in a single day one would hope that the next day would be set apart for rest. Well, it definetly was and it turned out to be one big boring day. I spent the whole day lazing around and sleeping.

But I found these amazing activities that people could do on a boring day. Read on!

Ride the bus for one block.
Bring a camcorder to a funeral.
Have a staring contest with a baby.
Pay your apartment rent short by 10paisa.
Ask the Akshay bakery if they have urinal cakes.
Return to work the day after you've been fired.
Call work on your day off and say you aren't going.
When the phone rings, pick it up and ask for somebody.
When ordering a pizza, emphasize the this order is "to go".
Hire a bodyguard and then start as many fights as possible.
Conduct a telephone call while you're straining on the toilet.
As the bus comes, hold out your thumb as if you're hitchhiking.
Watch a movie with the volume muted and speak for the characters.
Call a furniture store and ask if they have a swimming pool table.
While driving, smile and wave at every driver that gets mad at you.
Say to somebody in the bogz, "So, takin' a ______, huh?"
Find a construction site and tell them you're bored and offer to help out.
File a restraining order against your pets. ("Tommy, quit following me!")
Call the library and speak quietly so you don't disturb anybody there.
Name your pet God. "Come here, God, come here! God wanna go outside?"
Donate your old, worn socks and dirty underwear to NSS or MY India.
Send someone an invitation to your party, and write in it that they're not invited.
Call the phone number on a "Lost Dog" sign and tell them you haven't found it yet.
Enter a room full of people, and ask them all to leave because you need time alone.
When you enter a movie theater containing very few people, sit next to one of them.
Guys: Announce "Whoa, that was a close one!" after zipping up at a restoom urinal.
For an answering machine message, just say that "you called to leave a message. Bye."
When someone on the phone says you have the wrong number, ask what the right one is.
Get on an elevator full of people and push all the number buttons so it stops at every floor.
In a movie theater, constantly whisper to the person beside you, "Here comes the next part."
When you see a crime scene, approach the officer in charge and ask, "So, what do we got?"
Mail your Christmas packages a few days late. On the box, write, "Do not open 'til Christmas."
While driving, ask someone for directions in a heavy foreign accent. Afterwards, thank them in perfect English.

Have a perfectly boring day!

He came, He waved, He conquered!!

2007-03-30T16:51:00.000+05:30

The most awaited moment of recent BITSian history happened today, and it was worth the wait.

Even though we could not get the audi pases, we made most of what we had.

At 2:30PM a BIG gang of students stood outside the library, under the scorching sun, jubiliating at every sound of a passing automobile in anticipation of the most powerful man in the country.

The moment finally arrived at 2:48PM.

A short, frail looking old man, extremely healthy for his 76 summers, walked out of a small ambasador car (which was followed by a long fleet of other vehicles) under the shade of a blue umbrella. He hopped up the library stairs and into the shade of the library roof. Then as if an afterthought, he walked straight back into the sun, sending his security men into a tizzy. An old man with white flowing silvery hair, stood on the library stairs and waved at us!

The President of India had arrived!!!

After a short 3 minute walk inside the library he walked out and straight into his car. This time he ordered his driver to drive slow. The entire convoy of 27 cars went past us at less than 10kmph. Dr.Kalam unfolded his blinds of the car and watched all of us shouting and waving in exhilaration of having the first citizen of the nation wave back and smile at us.

Once inside the audi, after the initial formalities of the welcome speech by the VC, the most awaited "invited lecture" in BITSian history began. Dr.Kalam talked about "Convergence of Technology". He felt BITS, with all its multidisciplinary approach and flexibilities was the right venue to broach such a discussion. The man started with World-Class systems, drifted into nano-technology and carbon nano-tubes. He talked about bioSciences and its culmination with information technology to form bio-informatics. He spoke of design and manufacturing and the strides our nation was taking in these fields. He then spoke of INdia's commitment to global development by citing an example of our support in helping in wiring the 53 african nations in one BIG wired network. He sought active BITSian support in this initiative.

Then there was a small QnA session. The normal questions regarding poverty level in india, multi-cultural affects on students in 21st century, moon mission etc were asked and answered with aplomb by his excellency.
KrishnaHasa from my-india gave a small intro about my india and asked Dr.Kalam about how
students could channelise their forces for better utilisation of communities like my-india. The president promptly replied that the most important goal of a student is excellence in education. The activities like social service, my-india etc can be carried out in your liesure time as on sundays and holidays, but he again emphasised that the foremost aim of a student is excellence in academics and nothing else.
Sindu Anand was the last to ask the question. She asked something related to righteousness.
His excellency ended his speech in BITS by answering this question with the following words and made us repaet them after him.

"When there is righteousness in the hearts, there is beauty of character

When there is beauty of character, there is harmony in the home
When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation
When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world"

After this he left the auditorium and proceeded on his journey to jaipur.

The much awaited visit had come to an end and we were fortunate to be a part of it.

Day 2

2007-02-23T18:10:00.000+05:30

It is amazing how many people reminded me about blogging today.
My day started on a lazy note, a normal BITSian starting to yet another lousy day. The first thing that caught my eye in the paper was about someone's blog being closed by Google. I reminded myself to fill in Day 2........ya..there was still time for that to be done as the day progressed.

Today was the day when I promised myself that I would attend classes, yes all three of them, one after another. Sometimes these dashes of testosterone , or the lack of them, lead humans to take terrific decisions whose conseqences they are not really ready to be responsible for. I somehow managed to wade through the tides of boredome, frustration and utter despair that were thrown at me in the compnet and PLCC classes. Then in MSD class, there was again this faint hint of sticking your duties....attend clases regularly, study religioulsy,blog daily....BLOG daily??!!, now when did MSD start teaching about blogs??...somehow that came out of his wise mouth today.

And then, Dt prodded me to write a blog of my own. I havent told him till now that I did open an account with BLOGGER, but I will tel him in good time....and he will be happy to see himself in these records!

Day 1

2007-02-22T14:58:00.000+05:30

Ok, this is the fifth blog that I am using. I will make sure this will be the last one and I will stick with this for sometime. :)