| Waiting to surrender? |
[25 Jun 2009|05:35pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 amused |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
O Soniyo - Raaz 2 OST |
] |
Check mate,
check mate
soulmate?
checkmate.
(check. met.)
|
|
| Roger Federer - words are not enough |
[07 Jun 2009|09:28pm] |
|
Kudos to Roger Federer for becoming only the sixth man to win all 4 grand slam tournaments, as well as equalling Pete Sampras' record of 14 grand slam titles - the guy is beyond mind-boggling!
There are sportspeople that one feels privileged to have seen in action - people like Sampras, Sachin, Lara, Akram, Zidane, Maradona, and so on - players of unquestionable genius. Federer belongs in that category, and comes across as a wonderful human being to boot, making him a favourite of many, yours truly included.
I wonder what sort of tally he'll end up with. For now, it's wonderful to see him silence the naysayers who thought he was past it, and time to congratulate him on his historic twin achievements! Long may you carry on , Roger.
|
|
| On a bit of a roll .......... |
[26 Mar 2009|09:47pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 optimistic |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Maula - Delhi-6 |
] |
The weekend of March 14-15 was one to remember. It's not every weekend that one sings at 2 Holi functions (in 2 cities, too). Rarer yet would be a weekend where the real highlight is something else - great as the Holi celebrations in Heidelberg and Freiburg were, the biggest thing was that a paper got accepted after a lot of work. This now means that I'm definitely going to finish my Ph.D work in the second half of this year as planned - work is going rather well at the moment :-)
Finally watched "Ghajini" - quite good, and wasn't Asin lovely! Aamir was great as one would expect him to be - and the work he must have put in to get that physique is truly inspiring. But the climax could have been a bit more imaginative/intelligent. All in all, I liked it, and "Luck by chance" was good too, albeit in a very different way. The movie made a lot of points without getting too dramatic. Lots of good performances, too. Zoya Akhtar has made a rather promising beginning, let's see where she goes from here.
They say there's a recession going on, but frankly I don't see much evidence of it when I go out. Joints are packed even on weekdays, and the cost of living hasn't changed much either. In fact, a few things are even cheaper of late, e.g milk (and hence some milk based products). I read an interesting exchange between 2 prominent German Economists (at http://www.spiegel.de/international/), where one of them was saying that basically there's no big problem, it's just a ploy by some big companies and banks to get a bailout. Makes you wonder .......
Personally, I'm all settled in Freiburg by now. For most of the last three years, I was based in Jena, and a frequent visitor in Freiburg. This month I made the first trip in the "reverse direction", so to say. It was nice to meet my friends and colleagues, but rather weird to stay in a hotel. Going back to a place can be weird anyway, but going back so soon, so that it appeared that nothing had changed but for my circumstances, was funny indeed. This being week before Holi, and one where I also went to Leipzig with colleagues to attend the Ph.D defense of one of our friends, meant that all in all, the first half of March was very eventful indeed.
And now the month is nearing an end, and I must say, 2009 has begun well, a very nice first quarter indeed. 2008 will take some beating, but 2009 may just do it :-)
गुढ़ीपाडव्याच्या हार्दिक शुभेच्छा to all my Marathi friends, Happy Ugadi wishes to the Telugu and Kannadiga friends , and have a nice weekend, everybody! :-)
|
|
| Ode to a dying word .... |
[17 Feb 2009|10:58pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 calm |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Tu hi to meri dost hai - Yuvvraaj OST |
] |
I was just talking to a friend about how nobody uses the word "genii" anymore, when this came to me:
Genii, genii
is this how words die? Drowned by a variant suddenly dominant?
|
|
| 25 things (x-posted from Facebook) |
[30 Jan 2009|03:51pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
calm |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Guzaarish - Ghajini OST |
] |
1. Lyrics are important to me – if I like a song, I’ll likely learn its lyrics too. I must know the lyrics of hundreds, possibly over a thousand, songs in Hindi and English. There was a time when people singing the wrong lyrics used to pain me quite a bit. But I’ve grown up :-)
2. I also play around with lyrics, often changing a few lines and occasionally coming up with more detailed parodies. Sometime one can simply exchange lines between stanzas to hilarious effect, eg:
Main agar kahoon, humsafar meri
Hain nahi kahin, na hogi kabhi
3. There was a time when I used to cycle in a “hands free” manner – the most interesting part of this phase was when the brakes weren’t working. I came to my senses when I nearly crashed into two innocent bystanders. This period also saw one of the most hilarious moments with my family when a loving elder cousin chided me for me being so reckless and promised that in case I had an accident, she would come to the hospital and beat me up :-p
4. I turned a vegetarian (of the “Ovo lacto” kind) in my late twenties after a slow process which started with witnessing the butcher killing chicken by simply twisting their necks. Ironically, in less than 8 months I was in Europe – talk about bad timing! But then, C’est la vie ……
5. Possibly because of having lived away from home for a long long time, I’ve reached a stage where I usually don’t know what I’m missing, until it’s brought to my attention by some chance event, e.g. being mentioned by someone.
6. I’m quite the geek when it comes to some things, e.g. loving numbers. I inherited this from my parents, especially my Ma. We love prime numbers, and my favourite number is 7. I usually wash my eyes 7 times each morning!
7. On the other hand, I can’t be bothered with a lot of supposedly geeky stuff. For example, I’m not particularly into electronic gadgets, and I can barely remember which model my mobile phone is. Works properly, is rugged enough to not conk out too soon, and looking at it doesn’t make me wince – enough.
8. I learned playing the Tabla for a brief period when I was around 10 years old. My Guru was very pleased with my aptitude, but my attitude was another matter. Playing 3 different taals for 15 minutes each would have been fine by me, but playing the same one for 45, that too while my friends played outside …….. looking back, it would’ve been nice if I had persisted, but it was natural not to.
9. Chandrashekhar Azad was my big hero during my childhood. At one stage I even wanted to change my surname to Azad, but was persuaded by the school authorities that it wasn’t possible. I did burn an entire box of matches once, though :-)
10. As a kid, I was overzealous about greeting people everytime I met them, even if multiple times during the same day. My grandfather said “jaise Namaste phenk ke maarna”!
11. I was also super sincere about bowing to every picture or statue of any god/goddess – a rickshaw ride through the markets in Varanasi meant little Riju bobbing up and down, registering with all the gods in all the calendars in all the shops!
12. And yet by the time I was a teenager, it was hard to believe that there could be any supreme deity responsible for everything, and looking out for us. I’ve been a non-believer ever since.
13. I love sports, but especially cricket. As a kid, I could play all day long, and on holidays, used to as well. Even on schooldays, we’d always play in the evenings, not stopping even after it got dark – playing improvised versions on the verandahs instead.
14. When it comes to being impressed and having favourites, I tend to have a broad range. I’m loathe to absolutely rubbish something, but equally loathe to use superlatives – I rarely find anyone ugly, but it’s also very rare for me to think of anyone as an absolute stunner.
15. I have a strong tendency to be precise/exact about things, even if I’ve managed to tone it down a bit. I can understand why it bothers people in some cases, but hey – I have no idea what you mean when you ask me for “2 heaped teaspoons” of sugar in your coffee. Tell me “about 2.5 level teaspoons” (or 2.75, if that be the case), and you’ll get the right thing.
16. This tendency, along with the accompanying one of debating/arguing, meant that elders often used to say “bada ho ke vakeel banega” (He’ll be lawyer when he grows up). But I was uncomfortable with the idea that my goal should be to save my client even if he/she may be guilty, and other such aspects, which is why I ruled that career out. Things are so much easier while you’re still thinking mostly in black and white :-p
17. I have a strange record when it comes to public performances. As a shy kid, I wasn’t that keen on them but was often pushed onto the stage by teachers who either were fond of me or needed someone to represent their “house”. Then came a period where I was the one making the decisions, so I stayed at a comfortable distance from the stage until my mid-20s, when I started singing, and by some strange mechanism, I’d worked out how to avoid the dreaded stage-fear that I used to have. But after several performances in a short space in IISc/B’lore, I came away to Europe, and taking to the stage became a sporadic event once again.
18. The aforementioned geekiness with numbers is also manifested as a fondness for mental arithmetic. There was a time when shopkeepers who knew me well used to just ask me for the total, and accept that amount, instead of adding up the numbers.
19. Given the love for numbers as well as cricket, it is hardly surprising that I also developed a fondness for cricket statistics which continues to this day. It isn’t as strong as it used to be, though – there was a time when you could have bet serious money on me knowing all sorts of arcane stuff like the number of ducks Gavaskar had “scored” in his test career (Off the top of my head, I reckon he played 212 innings in 125 tests, remaining not out in 14 of them, scoring 10,122 runs, which would give him an average of 51.12. 34 tons, 45 fifties. But I wouldn’t bet on the number of ducks anymore).
20. Reciprocity in relationships is very important to me. Give and take, it’s got to be. I’m usually quite conscious of keeping my end of any friendship or relationship, and also don’t really fuss over the small things, but at the end of the day, if it’s a bit one-sided, you just know it. And then something’s got to give.
21. When it comes to sharing secrets, I don’t. As I once told someone “Jinke raazdaar bahut se hote hain, unke raaz bahut kam hote hain” (The more the keepers of the secrets, the lesser the secrets you have). This even led to quarrels with an ex-girlfriend, who took it to mean that I didn’t trust her enough!
22. Batman was always my favourite superhero, because he had no superpowers and was a “self made” superhero. But I liked a lot of the others, too – possibly the quickest bath I’ve ever had was when I was told that an unbathed boy would not be allowed to watch the episode of Spiderman which was just about begin.
23. I tend to let my hair grow for a long time. Nowadays it’s also for other reasons, such as covering bald patches (as long it isn’t windy!), but the main reason has always been that I get bored of seeing the same image in the mirror. Even if I get compliments for a newly neat appearance, they’re outweighed by the sheer boredom of looking exactly the same. So I let it grow, and then the hair often decides what it’s gonna do today.
24. Another reason for delaying haircuts is that I’m bad at saying goodbye. Always have been. I’m exactly the sort that has never-ending conversations at the gate.
25. Family is very important to me. I keep in regular touch with my immediate family via phone, email, Skype etc., and even a lot of my extended family, and of course my “family of choice”, that is my closest friends. I also go home at least once every 1-1.5 years – I can’t relate to people going home once in 5 years or even longer. I can be fiercely individualistic, but my family does mean a lot to me.
|
|
| Pappu can't dance saala! (or Happy New Year!) |
[01 Jan 2009|08:53pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
optimistic |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Guzaarish - Ghajini OST |
] |
I never could dance.
The few occasions that I did dance on, were always under special circumstances. To put it simply, I simply had no talent. It just didn't come naturally to me, and the fear of looking ridiculous was ..... overpowering. Plus there were the easy cliches to resort to, like "Tough guys don't dance", or the self-improvised "It is better to remain in a corner and be thought a fool, than to dance and remove all doubt" (ok, I made that one up just now). It is only now that I look back and think maybe I should've been less uptight, just tried to have fun. Not that I didn't have any, looking at those who looked like what I imagined myself as dancing would - but a less negative kind of fun would have been much better.
But why am I talking about dancing? Because it's related to my "novel experience of the year". As my friends were daring me to do something earlier this month, saying that "each year, you must do one thing you have never done before", I gently reminded them that I already was, just by being there - there being Hochzillertal, a skiing resort in the Austrian Alps. As I coped with the sheer uncertainty of not knowing how exactly to start or stop, with the latter being especially disconcerting, I reflected on how I hadn't been so utterly out of control for a long, long time. The one-hour lesson with the very nice instructor was great, but there were a few moments where I was accelerating with no other means of stopping other than deliberately falling - luckily, the instructor grabbed me on some of those. Still, fall I did, and it wasn't all that bad. Gradually, I learned how to stop with a reasonable amount of control. Once you know that you can stop, everything else gets much easier. By the fourth day, the gentle slope for beginners was no problem, and going up the lift where you have to "tuck a puck" between your legs and stand straight, was no problem either. The take home lesson for me was that in you need to be open to new sorts of failures in order to have a shot at achieving new sorts of success.
Of course, we all know this. Yet most of us seldom act upon it. As adults, we have too many doubts, and too many thoughts. And people like me, who've grown up "winning" most arguments and always "having an answer for everything", can be particularly bad at going in for activities where making mistakes is guaranteed. Which is why I still don't speak German as much as I should. That's one thing I really must do more of in 2009. The understanding part is pretty decent now - I managed to clear an exam meant for people with "800 hours" of experience of learning German, and am now officially certified to attend courses taught in German (not that I need or intend to). Given the sort of time pressure I was operating under, what with various deadlines, trips, and many missed classes, all of which made me seriously consider not giving the exam, this is actually the one achievement in 2008, in which I take the most pride.
But 2008 was quite a year anyway, the "year of years", even. Hard to say if it was the best ever (having someone to share it would definitely have made it even better), but it is easily one of the best few. As posted earlier, I travelled a lot, including covering 4 continents in the first 7 months, and 8 countries in all. I was really fortunate that way.
I also got to catch with up some old friends, while some relatively new friendships grew stronger. And of course I made some new friends as well. Many goodbyes were said too, but we shall come to that in a moment. It would be amiss not to count a return to public singing among the memorable experiences in 2008 - I sang in front of a sizable (250-ish) crowd after a gap of few years, at a Diwali function in Heidelberg, for which I have ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) rashmiprasad to thank. And then I surprised my research group here by singing at the time of the farewell - only one of them had any idea I could sing a bit! :-)
However, a lot happened on the academic/work front, too - I managed to publish 2 papers, and with a few others submitted or in the pipeline, the Ph.D is well on track towards a 2009 finish. Along the way, I also managed to get scooped - hard to take, but part of the game - and was extremely lucky in landing several new collaborators. The short term future looks very interesting indeed.
Making it even more interesting, I shall be moving in less than 4 days, to take up a position in my co-supervisor's group in Freiburg. I shall first wrap up the Ph.D, and then continue for a short postdoc, before moving somewhere, perhaps in the second half of 2010. I don't really feel like leaving, as the work environment - work, boss, colleagues - in Jena is the best I've ever had. But it's time, and go I must. And I am in the fortunate position of knowing that the new work environment will be great, too. And as a city - not that there's anything wrong with Jena - Freiburg wins quite easily. It's a vibrant, beautiful city - neither too small, nor too big and crowded. Plus the location is amazing - 45 mins to Switzerland, slightly less to France, and half an hour to the Black Forest. Plus it's the sunniest town in Germany :-)
So Happy New Year, everybody - here's to an year of expected and unexpected joys. I have several aims, including finishing the Ph.D successfully, publishing several papers, making several new friends and also remaining in touch with the old ones (family included), losing weight etc. etc. But above all, I want to remember the skiing experience, and try out new things, fighting the urge to remain in control as best as I can. Fall you must, before you can walk in new dimensions.
Heck, I might even shake a leg.
|
|
| Mr. Never-in-one-place ....... |
[22 Oct 2008|06:17pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 tired |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Ain't no sunshine - Lighthouse Family |
] |
Even for someone who's been moving around a bit in the recent years, 2008 has been absolutely crazy. It seems like I'm never in one place.
January: I welcomed the new year in Bangalore, and spent some days in Banaras and Delhi before flying back to Germany (I'd been to Agra and Belpahar in the last fortnight of 2007, by the way).
February-March: After spending about 6 weeks in Jena - my longest stay there this year, as it turns out - I went off to Australia (a day trip to Berlin was required for the visa), spending most of a fortnight in Kioloa, and a bit in Sydney. Almost immediately after returning to Germany, off I went to Trieste, Italy, to see off one of my closest friends, who was leaving for the U.S.
April: Barely 10 days later, I was in Würzburg, visiting another good friend. Then came a "regular" trip to my "home away from home away from home", i.e Freiburg, where my second research group is.
May-June: Come the fourth week of May, I was off to Krakow, Poland, followed by another trip to Freiburg (and a weekend trip to Basle from there), and a brief stay in Mannheim, visiting another good friend on my way back to Jena.
July: I managed a little over 4 weeks in Jena this time around (in the middle of which our entire group visited Weimar - a bicycle ride of ~25 kms), and then it was time for Toronto. So in a little over 6 months, I'd been to 4 continents - friends joked that I should round it off with a vacation in Africa, but I guess we'll have to leave that one for another year.
August: Two more weeks, and I was joined by the friend from Würzburg in visiting Erfurt, and Dresden. Then I was off to Freiburg again, and also visited Basle, to say goodbye to another friend who was leaving Switzerland. On my way back from Freiburg, I visited a research group in Tübingen.
September: I had family visiting Hamburg, so I finally saw that city :-)
October: I've been in Freiburg for over a fortnight. Going back to Jena tomorrow, shall be back here in 3 weeks or so. Might be visiting some city for Diwali next week/weekend :-p
Add to this the fact that I've only taken 3 days off all year, and you begin to see why I've been posting so infrequently. I've got tons of pics from all these places (and from two hikes around Jena, and one in Switzerland), and wanted to at least post about the trips to Australia and Canada, but it just hasn't happened. Maybe I'll just post a bunch of photos :-)
|
|
| Oh oh jaane jaana ........ |
[26 Sep 2008|10:28pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 crazy |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Oh oh jaane jaana :-p |
] |
Friend : Oh oh jaane jaana,
khaata rahoonga khaana ........
Rileen : Kha kha ke phat jaoon to,
maiyyat mein meri aana
|
|
| Bindra bhai, badhaai! |
[11 Aug 2008|10:16pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
Inspired |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Tera mujhse hai pehle ka nata koi - Both OSTs :-p |
] |
Am a bit surprised to not see even one post on my friends' page mentioning this :
Kudos to Abhinav Bindra, and here's hoping that the day shall come when an individual gold medal for India is not an amazing one-off, but another - albeit priceless - contribution towards a healthy tally.
|
|
| 08.08.08 |
[08 Aug 2008|08:31am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
optimistic |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Main hoo na - Main hoo na OST |
] |
Liike a digital display,
before it's come into play -
today's date
08.08.08
Have a nice weekend :-) !
|
|
| Back! |
[22 Jun 2008|04:43pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
relaxed |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Ajnabi shehar hai - "Jaaneman" OST |
] |
Here's my punishment for asking pratibha75 questions :-p :
_______________________________________________________________
Last movie you saw in a theater – "Taare zameen par". What a movie.
What book are you reading – Terry Pratchett's "Wintersmith".
Favourite board game – Is it during a cruise ;-) ?
Favourite smells – Ma's cooking. Petrichor.
Favourite sound – Silence at bedtime.
What is the first thing you think of when you wake up – "Why on earth do I use an alarm?", and slightly later "You really should keep that far enough to really wake you up".
Favourite fast food place – None in particular. Used to have a few in Bangalore.
Future child's name - Asambhav.
Finish this statement. "If I had a lot of money, I'd" – Set a chunk aside, build myself a library, donate and speculate.
Do you drive fast - Nah.
Do you sleep with a stuffed animal – You mean like an out of body experience?
Storms - Cool or scary – Cool on screen, scary if it affects anyone.
What was your first car? - Had a bunch of dinky cars as a kid.
Favourite drink – Coffee in the morning, Mango lassi on a hot day, Orange juice at most times.
Finish this statement. "If I had the time, I would..." - Make more LJ posts.
Do you eat the stems on broccoli? – Yup.
If you could dye your hair any colour, what would be your choice? - I can, but I don't want to.
Name all the different cities/towns you have lived in – Pittsburgh, Roorkee, Varanasi, Bangalore, London, Bielefeld, Cologne, Jena. And I've spent the equivalent of a few years in Mumbai and Delhi.
Favourite sports to watch – Cricket, Football, Tennis, ..... but it depends a lot on the match and participants.
One nice thing about the person who sent this to you – She's a good sport.
What's under your bed? – Miscellaneous stuff.
Would you like to be born as yourself again? – Can I have a life twice as long instead?
Morning person or night owl – Ullu round-the-clock - jo khara hai kabhi nahi badalta.
Over easy or sunny side up - Why be so fussy? I like it both ways, but it's the latter more often, simply because it saves time.
Favourite place to relax - Still waiting for her.
Favourite pie – See previous question.
Favourite ice cream flavour – Anything with chocolate, even better if with nuts (or other crunchy things) as well.
Of all the people you tagged this to, who is most likely to respond first? - Let's not get ahead of ourselves, I haven't tagged anyone yet.
Who gets tagged next - Koi zabardasti hai kya?
_______________________________________________________________
Have a nice week ahead!
|
|
| Shubho Nobo Borsho! |
[14 Apr 2008|12:00pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
calm |
] |
May this new year bring you many happy dawns.
Shubho Nobo Borsho!
Putandu Vazthukal!
Vishu Ashamsakal!
Happy Bihu!
Navin varshacha shubheccha!
Naya saal mubaarak ho!
and a belated
Ugadiya haardik shubhashayagalu.
If your language isn't included above but it is new year for you as well, let me wish you a Happy New Year as well :-)
|
|
| Mini update from Australia ...... |
[11 Mar 2008|02:20pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
amused |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Piano Man - Billy Joel |
] |
Rileen's Random Observation :
It's the leech that does the sucking, but it's the person who's the sucker.
Seen on a t-shirt :
Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense
Refrigerator.
|
|
| Mobile coverage, kangaroos, and resolutions ....... |
[28 Feb 2008|12:11pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 energetic |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Feeling Groovy - Simon and Garfunkel |
] |
When was the last time you stayed somewhere without any mobile network coverage? That too for two whole weeks?
Thanks to a stroke of exceptional good luck - being in the right place at the right time (and not entirely unresponsive to opportunity), I'll be in such a place for the next two weeks (March 2-14). And what a place, too - right by the sea, with opportunities for a tete-a-tete with a Kangaroo, if you like :-)
I'm really looking forward to this summer school, on Machine Learning (and no, this won't help me fix your car) - it's going to be an intense fortnight, with lectures from 8:30 a.m until 7 p.m. I hope to learn a lot, and to put at least some of it to good use in the coming last year or so of my Ph.D.
And in the breaks, I look forward to walking by the beach, and exploring the area. Plus there are social events planned for the weekend, including a boat cruise and a trip to a national park. No wonder my colleagues insist I'm going on vacation :-p
Lastly, I have one extra day in Australia after the summer school - maybe I can do a whirlwind tour of Sydney :-)
Did I mention that one of my resolutions this year is to visit at least 5 countries (hmm, should Germany and India be included)? Or maybe 10 cities/towns?
There's a 10 hours' stopover in Abu-Dhabi, and it will be only 8 hours after landing in Sydney that I'll finally reach Kioloa - so, come Sunday morning, I'll surely be all out of sorts.
But boy, seldom have I so looked forward to being out of sorts :-)
|
|
| Scary thought! |
[14 Feb 2008|09:24am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
amused |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Don't cry daddy - Elvis Presley |
] |
What if life gave you every opportunity to know what your favourite songs really mean?
That thought came to me as I was singing "Don't cry Daddy", and scared the heck out of me.
|
|
| Happy New Year! |
[06 Jan 2008|11:31am] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
happy |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Jab se mere naina - Saanwariya OST |
] |
Happy New Year, everyone!
The 6th of January might seem a tad late for new year wishes, but then as some of you know, my new year starts on the 6th as well. Maybe it's nicer to have one's birthday somewhat later in the year - another chance to be wished a great year ahead, resolve to do great things, and what not.
Many Indians, including my (mother's side of the) family celebrate New Year in April. I think I should find another new year to celebrate in August or September, then one could fantasize about a great year ahead 3 times a year - 3-4 months should be time enough to need to do it all over again ;-)
As for resolutions, I usually make them whenever I feel like, not to mark the new year. But this year, I'm going to do something different - I've decided to have 12 resolutions, and to divulge one each month. The idea is to have them in such a way that each passing month could see the fulfillment of another resolution, but it's getting a little complicated - got to work on it.
Anyway, here's the first, and probably the most important resolution :
I resolve to get to the stage of either having started, or at least be ready to shortly start, writing my Ph.D thesis by the end of 2008.
As I'm telling everyone, if there's one short-term wish you want to make for me, wish me this, or the publication of a few research papers this year, which would be more or less equivalent.
For now, I'm extremely fortunate to be home for my birthday, and am enjoying every bit of it :-D
Thanks for the wishes you're about to make, and have a super 2008!
|
|
| Days flying by, yet not fast enough ..... |
[27 Nov 2007|07:13pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
chipper |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Aankhon mein teri - Om Shanti Om OST |
] |
Well, I'm going to say a bunch of more or less random stuff before justifying the title :
Today we learned (in the German class!) that "the human soul weighs 1.74 grams" !!
Some speakers are so soporific, they could announce the cure for cancer, or the next world war, and one might well sleep right through it.
Be careful about contracts which "renew by default" - very careful.
Very glad about India's win in the first test. Hopefully, people on Laxman/Ganguly/Karthik's case, just to somehow get Yuvraj in, will now cool down a bit, and let the team play (yeah, right).
Watched "The Bourne Identity", which was a fast paced thriller, enjoyable as expected; and "The butterfly effect", which was interesting and disturbing, and ultimately didn't quite add up.
I've been quite busy, loads of work, the more you do, the more piles up - but have not been stressed, since I'm enjoying the work. Thus, the days have been flying - yet not fast enough. Much as I love coming into work, and much as a part of me will miss this, I've been counting days for a while, because :
I'm going home! 
Having saved up holidays all year, I'm taking off this Saturday, for a whopping six weeks - just thinking about it makes my day.
|
|
| Do men lie more than women? |
[21 Nov 2007|11:31pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
relaxed |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Spider Pig - Hans Zimmer |
] |
My Deutschkurs (German course) is a source of much fun and learning. Twice a week, we learn about various aspects of Germany, and then the teacher asks us how it is in our country, and we get to learn about various countries while picking up some German. Over the last 8 months or so, I've picked up interesting tidbits about China, Iran, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand, Italy, Poland and Spain, and thought about India in ways I may have not in quite a while, or ever.
Anyway, the topic of the last two classes was rather unexpected : lies. Yes, lies. The different sorts of lies that people tell, and the German words for them, and so on. We heard an interview with a "lie researcher", who shared his findings - the truth about lies, so to say. The most provocative statement was the following :
Men lie more than women.
That took people by surprise - some, because they thought it was the other way, and others, like me, because they simply hadn't thought there was any sex-specific difference. What do you think?
He then went on to say that the two sexes indulged in different sorts of lying to different extents - apparently, men tend to lie a lot more about things which pertain to "status symbols", e.g their physiques, cars ... (this was based on a study of people in Germany and Austria), and of course paying insincere cimpliments, while women tend to tell more "self-lies", e.g fantasizing about a future rather out of tune with reality, covering up their men's infidelity, and so on.
The one area where they lie equally, apparently, is in the workplace, where hardly anyone owns up to mistakes, preferring to pass the buck on. This was explained as a result of women in the workplace having gradually adopted men's behaviour.
We also discussed "social lies", many of which are again of the status symbol type, or the insincere compliment type. Since many, possibly most people indulge in these, they are thereby deemed somewhat acceptable, as are lies delivered under extreme pressure.
I thought about how these things are influenced by the society in which one lives - for example, women may be forced to lie more in societies where they have little freedom of expression, and are expected to keep everyone happy. Interestingly, in the next class, this turned out to be part of the researcher's explanation - that women lie less now because of greater freedom and financial independence.
All in all, a surprising and thought provoking topic, which could make for many future conversations, don't you think?
***************************************************************
Watched Bhool Bhulaiyya, the title song of which is firmly lodged in my head - yours, too? Every now and then something goes ta ta thaiyya in my head, though - bet not in yours :-)
The movie itself is watchable, but I would recommend two other recent Hindi movies over it :
Om Shanti Om is good fun - of course, if you go in for a Farah Khan film expecting anything other than "fultoo timepass", well, you'd be the one to blame. Given that, the movie is good fun, especially if you've seen plenty of hindi movies from the 70s onwards. The best thing is that they make fun of almost everyone, themselves included. Watch it for some laughs, and a celebration of Hindi movies, warts and all.
Johnny Gaddar is almost surprisingly good - not so surprising, actually, if you liked Ek Hasina Thi and knew that it's the same director. Sriram Raghavan looks like a name to keep an eye out for. The film was very well made, a thriller which never slackened - and plenty of good performances. Nitin Neil Mukesh was pretty good for a debutant, and might choose interesting roles, if this one is anything to go by.
And I finally watched The Simpsons Movie, and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you happen to like the Simpsons but haven't seen the movie, you must check this out :
Spider Pig
and the "real song" version :
Spider Pig - the full song
Funny in a ridiculous sort of way - my kind of way :-)
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
|
|
|
|
![](<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v445/rileen/?action=view¤t=WeatherGod.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v445/rileen/WeatherGod.png" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>)