Almost...

Back, as y'all can see! (read this in a southern accent.. :P). No, it's okay if you haven't, really! I don't want to be imposing such silly things on my blog's readers, I respect y'all. Anyway, as a few of you might know, my birthday is just round the corner, and the most important thing about this b'day of mine, is that, I'm gonna turn 21 tomorrow! If you are not able to get the picure to the right, think Blackjack. :P.


People tell me 21 is an important age to cross. I don't see why, though. Thing is, I believe that, birthdays are over-rated. True, it is a red-letter day in many people's life, but then, it's not like you have personally achieved something by being born. anyway, 21 s a bit different, you are completely considered an adult once you become 21, and people expect some maturity from you. It's kinda like a stream, once you cross it, the things you've left behind seem too far away and you start finding new avenues altogether. Wow, I never knew I could make such metaphors - maturity, see :P. Be practical, celebrate the day you indeed achieve something. Alright, let me indulge myself a little before my birthday. If life were a game of Blackjack, I would be hitting the spot tomorrow :P. And it's gonna be all bust after that, no? :P Anyway, it has been fun to be on the winning side of Blackjack. And now, I'm off the eplore what's good after 21! I would like to put in words what I have been for the past almost 21 years.


Let me start off with something I am good at. 


I am almost versatile with computers.
I am almost a good orator.
I am almost the best in thinking.
I am almost good at writing.
I can understand almost everything. (as in concepts, not languages.)
I can spend almost all my time on social networking site.
I almost have a job.
I have almost made it to some of the good universities in the US.
I have almost completed my graduation.
I have almost achieved Ubuntu (not the Linux distro, the African philosophy.)
I have almost understood the inner workings of human minds..
I have almost understood social ethics and cultures.
I have almost a good understanding of the current zeitgeist around me.
I have almost found out the secret of happiness. (I have understood it, but am unable to put it in words. :))
I have almost mastered Linux.
I have almost done nothing.
On the other hand, I have almost done everything.
I have been almost the best person I can be.




Finally, I am now, Almost 21!




P.S.: First things first, i don't mind if people don't wish me on my birthday (even I don't so much care about wishing others on theirs...). Please don't make it a big deal about calling me up and wishing me. Another thing, if you were to call me, don't durng 9:30 to 13:00, I have an exam tomorrow (ironic, I know :P). All the best to me! :D :D

G for Genius!

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.    - Arthur Schopenhauer

Alright! Call it the effect of the bloggers' meet yesterday or something, I suddenly get the mood to write regularly (yeah, I call two posts in 2 consequent days regular :P). Anyway, it's been nice - going through peoples' blogs and finding some excellent work done by each of them. Kudos to y'all!! And of course, keep the good work going!!

So, another post. The title might suggest something about Parle-G biscuits, but no! This ain't got anything to do with any confectionery or something on those lines. I literally mean G for Genius as the title. Well, this is about Genius. Have you ever wondered how generously we use the adjective? I've been thinking for a while now and the answer is not good. Let me illustrate what I'm trying to say here. If a person gets more marks than you - genius. If someone can answer something esoteric you have no idea about - genius. If someone discovers something, however insignificant, - genius. B the W, I'm watching the DC match and hope we recover soon and make like a 180 runs. Fingers Xed on that area. :).  OK, genius, huh?? I simply don't like people call just anyone that. This post is where I try to describe what genius actually means to me. So, when you're around me, try to adhere to these rules before tagging someone a genius :P.

I draw upon a little bit of tutelage from Roger Penrose (author of A Road to Reality). I believe that, some things simply exist - in kind of a Platonic sense of existence (please don't ask me more about this. :P). Well, anyway, the thing about such things is, they are just there. It is not like the person who uncovers them is doing a great act in trying to find something that is already there. (Refer Mandelbrot plots here, they simply existed, like forever and Mandelbrot was just he person to uncover the underlying beauty...) With all due respect to all the great inventors and discoverers, most of them aren't anything close to genius. They might have been intelligent and persevering hard-workers, but genius, I don't think so! 

Let me give you some examples of people who are in my view, tagged genius rather liberally. The first, may be the oldest - the wheel. We all larn that the wheel was tone of the most ingenious inventions. But, on second thought, it is kind of obvious. Let us say Mr.X (or may be Ms. X, for all non-sexists like me...) invented the wheel. The fact of the matter remains that, eventually, someone would stumble upon the idea to make a circular thing. Same goes for Aryabhatta, who is credited with the "invention" of zero. Come on people! Definitely, i wouldn;t tag Aryabhatta a genius, if not him, someone, somewhere might definitely have stumbled upon the idea of having a number which had no value (tell me about it, Indians have a knack at these things - we like getting things for free, right?) Then there is the probably the biggest speculator of all time - Sir Newton. Gravity, they tell me, makes him a genius. But think about it twice,the idea of gravity can be attributed mainly to his being in the right place at the right time. So, I'm sure I made my point clear here, as to what kind of people do not qualify for the tag of genius.

Now, the obvious question. Who is a genius? I'll try my best to put my idea in good words here. A genius is a person, whose ideas and maybe inventions affect the world in such a way that - when the later generations look at the ideas, they go like what the heck was this fellow thinking? How the hell could anyone get this vague an idea. In simple words, the idea should be simple but so out-of-the-world that, no one would think about it unless they go mad. Like someone says, Genius is just another level of insanity, :P. Anyway, time for examples. The first one that comes to mind is Nikola Tesla. The man single-handedly formulated wireless communication (you might say Marconi did that, but the patent for Radio was later corrected to Tesla's name in 1943), the AC motor, Alternating Current itself and wireless electricity (not one of his successful ventures, I'd say...). Da Vinci is another. Then there are several authors who get into this category of genius-ness. Shakespeare, Tolkein, Milton, Crichton, Clarke and many others. Then there are mathematicians - Hawking, Penrose, Feynman, and how can I forget Einstein. Then there is the person who got the idea of a microprocessor - there wasn't anything analogous to that in earlier times, was there? Also on the list would be Page/Brin for Google and Zuckerberg for Facebook. And of course, Tim Berners Lee for the Internet!

Alright then, I take leave! Please don;t call undeserving people genius, for me at least. :P. And for any disputes, please refer to the disclaimer under the title of the blog. :D. Finally, i think it is important to draw a proper line between genius and geek.

Keep Rocking!!

Hyderabad IndiBlogger Meet!

Finally, I found some kind of inspiration to get back to blogging. Each time I've been trying to post something, I was getting bored and started doing something else. It was the interaction I had with about 150 bloggers that gave me the get-go again. Thanks you all!!

Coming to the bloggers' meet, well, this was my first one ever!! I was kind of stylishly late :P. I arrived like half an hour late and people had already started introducing themselves (30 Seconds of Fame). I went on and sat down in one of the back rows. There were several interesting people whose blogs I'm surely gonna visit (some I've already done...). The response was really overwhelming. And yeah, why was I late, again? I had to blow my farewell party thrown by my Juniors. But, I'm sure, that couldn't have been better than this. Now, coming to my 30 Seconds of Fame, as usual, i was the same old afraid-of-the-crowd Munaf. I blabbered off something and later realized I hadn't said anything I had planned to :D. Alright next came the funny part of the meet.

We were all handed a chart and a sketch pen (we weren't told why, at first). This part was called Live and Let Comment. Weel, we were asked to hang the sheet around our necks and go around socializing with people and let them comment, give their blog address etc on the sheet of paper. It was fun! Foound and met a lot of interesting people here. Then came the quiz.

Well, let me be honest! Despite the quiz-master's saying that the questions would not be esoteric, I felt them to be. It was probably because I have been active on the Internet only for about 3 years now. (There were people very much older than me, internet wise :P). No, I wont touch upon the questions! I simply cannot recollect them as of now.

Then there was the exciting part - food! Just kidding. It was a decent enough tea and some time fo mingling with the co-bloggers (in search of a better term).

Then there was this session to discuss about forming a Hyderabad Bloggers Forum and it went pretty well with some people offering to host the website and everyone coming up with names. 

Then, there was a group photo session - which was great fun in itself. :).

What I observed there was, there were people literally from every walk of life. Of course, the majority were students/IT Professionals. There were many IT Professionals from biggie companies like ex-Google/IBM, Microsoft, TCS, Satyam and some even had their own firms.

All in all, it was a real fetching experience for me!! If you ever get a chance to attend one, don't ever leave it!!!

Thank you all for making my day!!

P.S.: For more details on the meet, go to http://www.indiblogger.in/bloggermeet.php?id=70