Chasing Comets... (Just one, really...)

TL;DR: Anam and I missed shooting the comet NEOWISE in 2020 on our first attempt (on a weekend) due to clouds and the monsoon in general. Led to a crazy roadtrip on a weekday night in the following week and finally capturing the comet - some of my self-proclaimed best astro work. See photos below.

P.S.: Just like my innovation with Pre-Scripts, TL;DR here means you are "Too Lazy; Didn't Read" :)

2020 did have a silver lining - all the time spent with loved ones was not something any one of us imagined. It was fun to work from home - with all your favorite TV shows or movies playing in the background (if you're wondering, that is my usual work-flow - I like having some familiar show/movie playing in the background - helps me keep focused, I guess - feel free to share more WFH tips and tricks in the comments :))

Like I have mentioned in my recent post, I started a photography hobby sometime in 2018 (around my birthday, when I made my parents gift me a semi-pro camera - Sony A6000). Now, photography has its ups and downs - making time for shoots amidst a busy work schedule and home life can be a challenge, but of course, the satisfaction of taking and publishing (read as posting on Instagram - @artbymunaf) the photo is a rush (the likes and comments help, obviously). This post is about one of our (my and Anam's) most tiring experiences with my laborious hobby - there are several of these stories, which I plan to share going forward.

Living in Southern Arizona has its perks for a photographer - especially the astro-inclined ones. Part of the reason I got into astrophotography was visits to this observatory - Kitts Peak and reading about the dark sky locations nearby. Having spent most of 2019 driving around Arizona, Utah, and California for some of the best dark skies and making some investment in equipment like a star tracker (allows you to take longer exposures for light objects in the night sky by compensating for the Earth's rotation - that was a mouthful!), 2020 offered very few travelling opportunities, what with travel restrictions, hectic work, and school.

July 2020 rolled around as normally as you can imagine - we had all been stuck at home for a few months already and I was itching to get out and shoot some more night skies (having already captured some Milky Way shots that I loved). That was about when the Comet NEOWISE started showing up in our night skies - seeing NEOWISE behind basically all the landmarks in the world wasn't helping with the lockdown syndrome. As luck would have it, Tucson has a monsoon season which decided to start around this time as well. In terms of things that disappoint astrophotographers the most, it goes - full moon, light pollution, cloudy skies, in no particular order. After waiting a few weeks for the skies to clear near home, I decided to take things into my own hands and drive around in search of dark and clear skies.

It all started Saturday, the 18th of July - as I was keeping an eye on RADAR weather maps for the past few weeks, I noticed that there was a chance (yes, just a 20% chance) that there would be clear skies at Picacho State Park (about a 50 minute drive from home). This was my cue to load up the car with all of my gear and some snacks to spend the night at Picacho State Park - we were all excited and reached there around 7pm (an hour and a half before sunset). Getting there was easy enough. After paying for the park entry with basically all the quarters in the car, we settled at a picnic area with some shade and a view in the direction of where NEOWISE was, it was now time to wait. The view from this spot had a few saguaro cacti and the highway (I-10) which I was already planning in terms of composing the shot with the comet (high hopes, I know). This is where we settled down and waited for darkness to arrive so I could do polar alignment (I was going all the way with my gear - NEOWISE was likely a once-in-a-lifetime thing). That is when the clouds started rolling in - it wasn't properly dark yet, so I was still cautiously optimistic. I did make use of the sunset colors and the subjects around to get some nice deserty shots like this one.. I know, the clouds here seem flimsy, but, trust me, it almost seemed like they knew where the comet was and were trying to hide it!

Anyway, after several hours of waiting there (NEOWISE would already set by 10pm or so - about an hour and a half after sunset) and not seeing event a faint glimpse of the comet (either with our eyes or the cameras'), we decided to call it quits for the night. This of course, wasn't our first rodeo - I have had several such experiences with clouds, equipment failures, and in one instance, Coyotes (this is a long story and warrants its own post). By 9:30 or 10pm, we packed up our gear and headed back home. As disappointing as it was, I was more determined to capture the comet in the next few days.

Thankfully, from a work standpoint, I had completed a tape-out a couple of months back and was working on new projects which kept me occupied during the workday, but affording some time off in the evenings. Anam hadn't started grad school yet, so we were okay with trying something out on a weekday. The weather forecasts weren't looking promising - and NEOWISE was going away real fast! Desperate times call for desperate measures, as they say, so I expanded my weather map radius to a couple of hours away from home. I did not want to go and stay at a hotel (it was still the early-ish COVID days, so we did not want to risk it), so it had to be a there-and-back trip.

A small note about dark sky spots in general - they are usually isolated with very few people frequenting them. This makes them a bit - for want of a better word - creepy, to say the least. They are invariably away from cities and off the beaten path. Now, I have come to terms with having astrophotography for a hobby, but Anam is still getting used to the isolated nights under the dark night skies.

Back to Wednesday, July 22nd. After extensive research (read Google maps and weather searches), I had a plan in my head - to use a small rest area on I-8 (actually just a pull-out from the highway, called (aptly, I might add), Table top Roadside Tables - about 90 minutes from home to finally capture NEOWISE. Being ever the engineer, I did have a psuedo-back-up plan (which is what ended up being). We started from home about 5:30pm after work to allow for dinner and petrol breaks. Picked up dinner from our favorite Italian place and off we were! Here's a map for reference, in case you are interested:

The skies did not look promising where we were, yet. Even as we were reaching the first planned spot (the roadside tables), cloud cover was about 50% of the sky (very scientific data here, from the driver's seat) and mostly still covering N/NW (where NEOWISE should be visible). As we approached the pullout on to the "road-side" tables, the cloud cover did reduce, but N/NW was still covered. The pullout was but just a glorified parking lot - presumably for highway drivers to park and rest for a few hours if needed. There was enough room for setting up our gear, but then, clouds. There was one truck parked there, but nothing else - it was also open to the highway without any separators. I pulled out my trusty cloud cover app and noticed that there was no way the N/NW cloud cover was going away anytime soon. Time for decisions had arrived. We knew I would beat myself up if I don't get another chance in the next couple of days to capture NEOWISE. We had already spent a couple of hours into this pursuit, so we figured, what is another 4-5 hours?

This is where the back-up plan comes in - to drive all the way to Dateland, AZ - which is a total of about 2.5 hours from home (one way). Thus started our adventure - to the hospitable sounding "Sentinel Rest Area, Westbound". This one was a fully equipped rest area in its own right - with amenities like rest rooms, concrete cabanas with benches (for resting, presumably), and vending machines. There was also excellent lighting for the night - which made us feel safer. The deal with Anam and I is to always listen to our guts - if it doesn't feel right, we don't pitch our gear there. This place felt OK, there was some activity - several trucks parked and resting and several cars and drivers using the amenities. The best thing was, the cabanas faced N/NW. After appropriate amount of stretching and resting, we started to setup the gear around 9pm. Timing was really perfect - the moon was new, so the chances of NEOWISE capture looked great!

We picked the cabana farthest away from the parking area (but still in line-of-sight, to feel safe), and started setup. Facing N/NW is great for polar alignment AND capturing NEOWISE, so, the setup was up and running in a few minutes! In preparation for this night, I had watched all YouTube videos I could find on capture tips and processing ideas as well. Especially useful was this chap called Peter Zelinka (excellent channel for astro gear) and I ended up using his suggested flow. I can give a long-winded description of the photos, but a picture speaks a 1000 words, so:

And a photo of gear (I will do a post about the gear someday..):

Once I had my fill of the comet, we stayed there until about 10:40pm and started the long and arduous journey back home. Reached home around 3am and the first thing I did was to copy the photos from the SD card to my computer - I was NOT going to tempt fate and risk losing these RAW photos. Once copied, we just crashed and fell asleep.

The next morning, we were up and running by 9am, but caught up with sleep after work. The editing had to wait for next night when I followed the tutorials to the "T" and got these photos and posted them. This took a few hours, but, boy, was it worth it!

All in all - a great late night roadtrip to the best of Americana - the rest areas and highways that define this country. The infrastructure that allows people like me to go nuts and make these trips is something I am always amazed by!

We did survive this ordeal, but I told Anam that I should probably look for a less arduous hobby. Glad she was up to being a partner in crime with my nuts hobbies! :)

Do see me on my pages on Facebook and Instagram @artbymunaf (of course, I'm gonna shamelessly plug my pages - what'd you expect!? :P)

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!!

De-what??

Well, long time since the last post, but then, I'm a busy man :P : I gotta maintain my farm on Farmville, maintain my Mafia in Mafia Wars and of course, complete my quota of everyday's TV Series episodes (South park, Frasier, Numb3rs) and updating myself with all the bond films (right from the 60's). Yeah, I know what you are thinking. And yes, this is what people do when they have too much time to waste. In other related note, another semester has gone by and man! Are they fast! Never saw this semester come and go at all and miraculously, my attendance is not short!! You know, writing a blog is tough, take my word for it : for the past few days, every time I sit to write, I end up deferring in favor of other things. Why, just yesterday, I was about to start and I ended up going to a 2nd show movie (for the first time in my life, for all practical purposes) and thus denying my friends' claim that I was either (A) a studious guy or (B) I was something like Cinderella or something :P (midnight - magic dress etc...on those lines...). Anyway, in other unrelated notes, check out "She" by Elvis Costello (which I first heard recently) and "Woman" by John Lennon, they really inspire my feminist side. Anyway, seems like this semester's weird and abrupt end has brought out the philosopher in me and of course, you guessed it right, this is what this post is all about.Alright then, here goes.


Did you notice that sometimes, when you don't get what you want, you feel real bad. Yes, that's me, just stating the obvious (sometimes I feel I'm turning into one of my favorite words - cliché, I'm sure you'd have noticed this if you interact with me regularly.. :P). Alright, after stating the obvious, let's get to the less often occurring thing. Just reflect, how many of us think before wanting things - whether we deserve them or not. This occurs very often: one is carried away by the delusions of things around them and start to put a lot to one's store. If one were to think before hand, before wanting that is, if or not one deserves the thing they are wanting, it saves a lot of depression. I seem to have no good examples (bad ones, a lot...) for this up my sleeve, but I'm sure you'd understand. Anyway, succinctly put, what I'm trying to say is simple 

Desire only for what you deserve.

Now, let me biopsy the statement for you.First things first : the "you" reference. You see, you are the only person who would be able to decide this. Who better to decide what you deserve than yourself? Like Paulo Coelho says : "We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation." and someone else says "Don't judge me, because we're two different people, living in different worlds." No one knows you better than yourself and this is what I'm trying to put forth. Then let's get to the desire part. It is but human, to desire but then, it is also the root cause of all of man's problems. That was a bit too much of a funda, right? :P Anyway, this method of desiring only what you deserve is a completely tried and tested one (by me, of course...I don't go around collecting stats from people around me... ;)). Thing is, abstinence is what you could call stopping desiring unlimitedly. So, like I already mentioned, make your own example. And the pluses?? There are many, you don't get depressed for one thing. And whatever people might say, Life is fair and believe me, you only get what you deserve. Just like in Entanglement theories in Quantum Physics, even things you cannot connect at any level one can comprehend might be related and cause the equations to topple. Anyway, just had to put forth this thought of mine. And anyway, this comes mainly because of the marks I'm about to get in the internal examinations and I'm certainly keeping fingers crossed. I know what I deserve, do you??


Think about it. And I wish you all the best for you exams coming up, although there will be another post dedicated for that sometime this week :P.


G'Night, Sweet Dreams!!


P.S.: Please comment on my Philosopher side :P.


P.P.S.: Happy Halloween!! :)

We don't need no EDUCATION!!!

Not my usual "posting" time, but then it is a weekend and thus, new rules :). Thing is, "Dead Poets' Society" aired on Star Movies in the afternoon and I ended up speculating how much the current education system in India (not to sound too *blah*, but our education system!!) is similar to that shown in the movie (Hell-ton Academy, as the students call it... :)). Seriously, on a totally related note, everyone must watch this movie at least once, it is an awesomely inspiring movie.


Anyway, let me paint you a word picture of what happens in our education system. Classes 1-7, you are taught to learn things (literally everything) by heart. You are taught to follow text books, never question new things (at least some of the teachers I had/have did that, although it was just because they were not so good at answering questions...). You are taught to remember things which you might end up never, ever using in your future and even if you do, you'll end up finding that, you did not need to remember it at all. (This post also draws from "Surely, You're joking, Mr. Feynman", Dick Feynman, my most favorite physicist...). Next, class 7-10, you are taught that marks are the things that are the most important things you could pursue. And that is not the worst part, the worst part is that people manage to believe it up until later in their lives and some never grow up. Anyway, the picture is quite changing and now, what was a priority of our generation during our 10+2, is now right since the 1st grade. Today, you find schools which apparently give you "IIT Foundation" right from the 1st standard.


Anyway, after everyone leaves the 10th std with flying colors, all start thinking 'all right, now what, IIT, AIEEE, EAMCET??' Seriously, same questions all the time and some of us didn't even know what other options they have. Anyway, here, you are taught that life always comes with four options and as long as you manage to get the right answer by hook or crook, it doesn't matter whether you know about it (like Shakespeare says: All's well that ends well or rather, ends justify the means, which is pretty much a flawed argument...). One more thing is, when you get a good percentage in your 10th standard, you are tagged to the IIT sections and you end up having nightmares about what your life is gonna be. Of course, this was the decision (of taking IIT as the optional in Intermediate) that changed my life a lot; for good or bad, is yet to be seen.


Then comes Engineering (I'm just taking up my own case...). You just care about not having any backlogs and care about percentages. And end up being just as confused as you ever were. Now, that was the picture of the current education system, and what is missing?? Go ahead and read the rest...


Where is the originality? Ever heard of a different and more profound (from other ones...) definition of the Newton's Laws? Or a new perception of Frost or Kipling in the English text book?? Or a different view of the Covalent Bond??? Never are you gonna come across these things, not in our education system, at least. And you know why that is? People (esp. parents) prefer looking at straight 'A's in a report card rather than come to know that their ward is doing something new and you know what get straight 'A's? Reproducing what is given in your texts or notes as it is, pathetic!!


Then comes the question of what you need to remember. Do you really think you need to remember the Periodic Table back and forth? Or the values of Sines and Cosines of odd values (any values, at that...)? Or the height of Mt.Everest, length of Nile?? I'll tell you what the thing is: You don't need to remember these things. And why? Because you can always look up the things you need for your work (no, it is not cheating...). There's this story in the book I mentioned earlier by Mr Feynman: Map of a Cat (or, something like that...) which I'd urge you to read if you ever happen to lay your hands on that book. Anyway, the point of education is not to improve your memory, it is indeed the exact opposite: don't remember things when you can get to them by using your mind. I have this nice analogy to this: Your memory is like the RAM of your computer and your brain obviously is the CPU. All I'm saying is that, when you can process data you already have to get what you want, why waste your memory? Anyway, education is not about testing about how much you can remember; it is about how much you can perceive: Education is perception.


Then there is this thing about judging people by their grades. How can you know about everyone by just a number? This is especially for teachers (none of whom, I'm sure, is reading this...). Grades do not show what kind of person you are. No more comments about this, though. I can't say much about it :).


Then there is the pressure. Especially from parents (your peers are in as much water as you are, right? :P). Get good marks, get a good Software job, get a 5 digit salary, HELL!! It doesn't matter what we want. It doesn't matter even if the thing they want you to do is something you hate. Like Keating says to Neil in Dead Poets' Society: 'You are just playing the role of a dutiful son'. Neil is so much the representation of what we face in our lives from our parents (not since, we grew up, in my case, thankfully...).


I'm kinda done with this system and feel like screaming out the Pink Floyd lyrics in my classes:

We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control, no dark sarcasm in the classroom...

So, let's all do this!! And try to do this and change our system for ever and hoping the coming generations not have to salvage any of this fury.

One more thing from Dead Poets' Society: CARPE DIEM!! (Seize the day!!). Stop following your precursors and let icons be bygones...

CARPE DIEM!!!!

Three years, a CAT and one heck of an internal!!

Well, end of internals and here I am, back again, wasting my time without guilt!! Well, it has been a wonderful experience though, because of many event that took place during the internals. Well, it has been more like a discovering myself even more...Well, thing is, this internal marked my first bunk-of-an-internal. Well, it took 3 years, and the commencement of application forms for one of the most popular exam in the country. Well, it also made me realize what I really wanna do (not do, more like) and then about how good I was in some of the exams I didn't bunk...

So, the story...It all started with the sad demise of the CM of AP, Dr. YSR (please pay homage by staying silent for about a minute...). Well, it was also sad for another reason: our internals got postponed. We had all this plan lined up to bunk the first 2 classes today and get to the bank and get the application process over with. Well, anyway, our plans were dampened by the announcement of the postponement. Anyway, I wonder why we have become so...I can't find words...that we absolutely have  to write tests and have  to study for them. Well, I had to lose the test today. I just wanna change myself to be more...I still cant find the word, but it is the opposite of the previous one :P, and bunk more internals ahead! Well, anyway it is surprising and revolting (not so much, but a little..) that I haven't done this before (even this time, somehow, it was with the permission from the faculty member who gave the test, though he didn't promise much compensation...), it is fun, I tell you!! So, finally, it took me 4 years and a CAT to bunk one internal in all the time of my engineering life...

And the second part, I had this exam in the afternoon, it's called IAFM (Industrial Administration and Financial Management). Well, it is, to be frank, BORING!! So, I was all prepared to prepare for the test, although tired from the ordeal of standing in a queue for 2 hours on top of fasting (really draws the line). Anyway, i realized, this is not for me! Come on, do I really look like a guy who cares about how an industry is to be organized or whether I'd buy 10000 bags of wheat for my biscuit factory in installments. Anyway, I had fun with the paper. An example, I was asked the major definitions in Break-even Analysis and I literally defined break, even and analysis :). So, what I realized was, this kind of subjects are not, no, definitely not for people like me. Ironical really, because it happens on the same day as I apply to the entrance test for some of the best B-schools in the country.

Anyway, hope you all did well in your internals...CHEERS!!

P.S.: If you haven't applied for the CAT yet, please do read the application instructions thoroughly before starting and don't forget to mark SSC, HSC and Bachelor's degree in the educational qualifications column...ROCK ON!!

P.P.S.: Can someone please explain to me why my name is not on the shortage-of-attendance list? Not that I wanna be on it, but I should be on it technically... :P

Against All Odds

Just a couple of days into the holidays and I'm already burned out being bored. This has been a long time coming. Someone has to say it. This is about the batch of students who faced virtually every academic change of this generation for the first time. My batch (mostly with the friends of mine at Krishnaveni...). We were the most daring academics in the recent times. Let me explain why...chronologically...

First, we entered our school in the 8th standard. Our school, apparently, was not recognized by that time. We all had to take a public examination in our 8th class, just imagine, apart from the rough times of 7th and 10th, we had to endure an extra year of public exams, even if we never cared about the results, neither did the school.

Then, in our 10th standard, there was a major change in the pattern (had to take 2 papers for each subject.). Believe me, that was a major pain in the neck, having to take twice the number of papers than was required.

As we entered Intermediate, it was more changes we were about to face. I dunno about the IPE exam pattern, but there was a major change in the AIEEE and IIT(JEE) pattern. Man, did those changes change our lives!! But we all came through all these quite alive :P, we enjoyed it, I assure you.

Then there was the change of patterns and syllabi in Engineering courses. Especially, the guys from JNTU can assure you that, it was not so easy. Then, of course there is this recession which has decimated the number of prospective jobs we could've gotten otherwise.

Now, the icing on the cake. A big splash of water on our future plans and especially for those who planned and prepared for the paper and pencil CAT. Now, we have the Online CAT and hell, we are ready to face it!!

This post is not meant to generate any kind of sympathy among people, this is just gloating that we were the best and hence, we were able to succeed - Against All Odds...

I'm sure we'll be able to keep this winning streak going even with anything that we face.

Let's ROCK!!!

Me v/s Ignorance

People tell me 'Ignorance is bliss', and for once, I would like to take their word for it. Ignorance indeed seems to be bliss. I am the kind of person who believes in knowledge for the sake of knowledge. That is, the only reason you can have knowledge is to have it. A bit confusing, I know, but it's easy to get over. Why do we study? (Study, as in, acquire knowledge...) You may have several reasons, but, for me, it's just one... I want to be knowledgable. Period. Let me give you examples. I am very knowledgable about medicine (thanks to Robin Cook and Michael Crichton, besides that, if I'm interested about something, I look it up on the Internet...). So much so that, I could get into a decent level of talk with a doctor about any kind of medical procedure. Then, there is law. I can reel off legal procedures in the US in my sleep (thanks to John Grisham and the Internet again...). Not that I'm compaining or bragging, but it certainly is discomfiting.

Recently, I've made an important observation (for me at least). Everything I know, seems to have some use ater some time. I can easily elate after the event that, I needed to know that thing because of this! I can't remember them off-hand, but happens pretty often with me. Some are pretty trivial, but still, my intuition seems to know what I need to know. What disconcerts me is, is it really a good idea to have so much knowledge? I don't know in what kind of situations this knowledge is gonna help me. If I were to guess wildly, I'd say they'll help me in writing a book :). Still, as long as I'm playing "what if", I'd indeed like to have all the knowledge I can get, for the sake of being knowledgable.

I'd like to believe that Ignorance is bliss, but knowledge according to me is more blissful and powerful.

I rest my case :).

D.I.Y.!!

Fine, I'm back... Not that I'm cool with spending time this way during my exams, but this seems far  more enjoyable than my preparation :).

So, what's this all about? DIY stands for Do It Yourself, as most of you might have guessed. This according to me is the philosophy of our generation. Everyday, we face people who complain about, well, everything. Be it the pollution, the traffic or the education system in our case :). But, what are we doing to change it? Let's be honest, virtually nothing. And why? because we are lazy? No, sir, that's because we've been brought up that way. As Mahatma Gandhi rightly puts,

"We need to be the change we wish to see in the world."

Let me put it this way, we prefer complaining, hemming and hawing (That reminds me of Who Moved my Cheese by Dr.Spencer Johnson), to doing something towards changing the things that irritate, or rather cause discomfort to, us. 

Why is it that, in our social setting (guys, I'm talking purely about India), the first thing we are taught is to "adjust". 

If someone is irritating you, just get along with it, don't punch him in the nose. Control your emotions blah blah.. 

If you find that something wrong is going on around you, ignore it, "It's none of your business!". 

Now, that phrase strikes me to be odd. C'mon guys, if it's happening around me, it damn well is my business, me being the quintessential citizen I try to be :). Don't you think it is the concern for everyone of us? So, where's this fit in with "DIY"? Simple guys, you might as well have gotten the point by now, don't depend on others. If you got something to get done, try and do it yourself. The instrumental word here being try, as opposed to do. If you don't like people using plastic bags, initiate the movement, start using paper or cloth bags, I'm sure you can get the drift..

Instead of saying, "Something has to be done about it.", we could use the more optimistic "I/We gotta do something about it.". Sounds loads better to me anyways. Then there's this common issue of people commenting us. Seriously, guys, we are more sophisticated than that, as in, we don't need to acknowledge the comments so long as we believe in what we are doing.

Let's not digress...

So, DIY is the cult among people of our generation. The reasons? Simple, we prefer being independent, we like to try new things, we like "getting our hands dirty". Then there also is the massive ego of ours :), if an expert can do it, why can't I? Well, worth mention here is my belief that an amateur can be more creative and successful in any field than the professionals. Simple logic, a professional is taught all the rules of working and the human mind is such, that once you know the result of some mistake, we presume it to be true, without ever trying to test for the truth. A person who is self taught can definitely view things in excellent perspective, as compared to a person who's been taught. Also, there's this satisfactory feeling you get after you have accomplished something by yourself. You actually feel on top of the world. Your mind becomes freeeeeee, you don't need to depend on others. So, essentially, it's important to try and DIY (sounds poetic, eh? :)). Now, I know this gotta end now - not DIY, but this post. :)

Adieu,

Try and DIY :) :)

Is anything impossible??

Fine, here I am with another post, in spite of having exams. :)

First of all I'd like to wish all my friends, having exams, luck. Give it your best shot. Don't take any pressure. :)

So, what is impossible??

Is it when something that cannot be done within the boundaries of common sense? Or, is it a situation where we give up all hope and try to get away from it with an excuse??

I'll give you my views... These are mine alone and most importantly, in case you don't like them, no offence...

Well, according to me, Nothing is Impossible (and in case I can't do something, it means "nothing" to me :), just kidding..). So, why is it that I took up such a deep topic? I've met people. As many people as there are around me. What I've noticed is, most people are so prejudiced that, you cannot make them believe anything that's even slightly out of the ordinary (now that's a perception issue, I agree..). 

Why do people have trouble believing in fantastic stuff? (No, I'm not talking about Magic Wands and Spells. :)) Had this been the case with old people (I consider even middle-aged people old..), I wouldn't have minded (and WHOOOSSHHH.. this post wouldn't even exist...). But, I've met people who are young who don't like to believe in stuff. For instance, if I go and tell the fellow that, "Hey, did you know, Intel has developed a 80 core processor for research purposes?", the first reply I get is, "C'mon, that's impossible... Someone bluffed you..". On the other hand, I who have seen the news release on the very web-site of Intel, feel.. I dunno..wierd... Let me describe the feeling to you... I'll try my best, you start to hate the person so much and at the same time, feel pity on them. It's a pretty complicated feeling see.. Now, the reasons. It's a simple truth that most of us fail to acknowledge, We are afraid of change. Here we are, in a world where things change every hour, every minute, every second, and yet, some of us find it hard to believe in those changes? I leave you guys to plough out the reasons(Let me know if you find some credible ones..). I read this beautiful thing from Through the Looking Glass.. (not again, huh?? :)). It's an exchange between Alice and the Red Queen...

"I'm just one hundred and one, five months and a day."

"I can't believe that!" said Alice.

"Can't you?" the Queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes."

Alice laughed. "There's not use trying," she said: "one can't believe impossible things."

"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

Isn't it just wonderful, the way you start beliveing things which seem impossible? Doesn't mean you make dreams your masters though (as Rudyard Kipling beautifully puts in his poem If ). So, here's the deal guys, let's start doing this ASAP. Let's start believing in what defies common sense.. Because, we are the ones who're gonna shape the future, and we are the only ones who can make it as beautiful and wonderful. Simple, keep dreaming and work for it (Now, that's important too! :)). Who knows, may be you(or may be I, :)) could be the next great scientist to put forward some theory that defies common sense! Let's all start believing that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!! And let's rock the future... It's all our's see...

All The Best for your Exams once again :).

Keep Running..

I was looking through this great work of Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass". It's a sequel to "Alice in Wonderland". There I noticed the observation of the Red Queen..

"In this place, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

It struck to me, how true it is even in today's lifestyle. Seriously, guys, that supposedly is actually a theory (from what I gathered over the Internet.). It's called the "Red Queen Hypothesis", though it is completely a different perspective that it deals with. I'll try and keep it as simple as possible.. I'm certainly not dealing with what's in that article now.

Let's discuss this from our own perspective, most of us being students...

What we usually do is - study, study and more study... More so if you don't live in a hostel :). Why do we study? Simple, we've got a reputation to keep. There were time when we were in school and our grades were out o this universe (Face it, we actually used to get 95% or sometimes even 98% :), our happiest hours :)). Now, this false rep, sets your parents', friends and acquaintances minds in such a way that, any grade that you get less than 90% looks like blasphemy. So, what we try is "keep running". This happens especially when you grow up and are doing your bachelors or something... It's pretty much evident to most of us.

Let's go into the reasons... We face this ruthless competitive world around us. And we simply have gotta keep up with it (sounds like Taare Zameen Par, right? I feel the same too :)). For example, if you stand at a certain place in your class (whichever class, math, guitar or whatever), you gotta work hard to keep that place - you can run but you can't hide - see. So, you keep running, you stay where you are (you start wondering if you are on a treadmill :)). Eventually, what happens is, you are depressed like anyone would be - c'mon guys, your hard work doesn't seem to be paying, right? So, here's my message, don't be disheartened, period. See, look at it this way, if it's taking you so much hard work to stay where you are, what might it take to improve? Just keep that in mind, and work for it. Like Joel Hawes says,

Aim at the sun, and you may not reach it; but your 

arrow will fly far higher than if aimed at an object on a 

level with yourself.

So, it makes sense really to keep running to stay there, yes, it certainly is worth the trouble guys. But running faster gets you to be the best, or at least better than yourself. Set aims for yourself, actually, don't let others put words in your mouth. It's as simple as that!

That's all... Keep Running :)

P.S. : Thanks for your response to this blog, guys. :). Means a lot to me, really.

Fear...

fear

—n.

1 a panic or distress caused by a sense of impending danger, pain, etc. b cause of this. c state of alarm (in fear).

2 (often foll. by of) dread, awe (towards) (fear of heights).

3 danger (little fear of failure).

—v.

1 feel fear about or towards.

2 (foll. by for) feel anxiety about (feared for my life).

3 (often foll. by that) foresee or expect with unease, fear, or regret (fear the worst; I fear that you are wrong).

4 (foll. by verbal noun) shrink from (feared meeting his ex-wife).

5 revere (esp. God).  for fear of (or that) to avoid the risk of (or that). no fear colloq. certainly not! [Old English]

That, my friends is what the Oxford dictionary says about the topic - fear.

Just think about it,

What's the thing you fear the most?

Hmmm, lemme guess... Snakes? Ghosts? Darkness? Talking to a group?

Let me explore the reasons... Why, exactly, are we afraid of things??

Let's face it guys, we live in a kind of social setting where everyone scares each other... Be it about asking a doubt in class or going out in the dark... (Remember, when you were a kid, parents scare you saying "Don't go to that place, you'll be caught by the old man.."). Whoever that old man is, we were scared to the core. I feel that, this is pretty bad... Don't scare children yaar, they're gonna live with those fears for the rest of their lives... Try to be positive :) ..

If childhood experiences are one of the reasons for being so gullible to fear, ignorance is another...

Ignorance, the state of not having the complete knowledge about something, plays an important role in creating the "fear factor". I've seen people who are afraid of things which they don't even understand.. I've got some tips for you guys.. Try to understand what you are afraid of.. Because, I believe, fear of the unknown is the worst of all fears..

Then, there's this class of people who are afraid of silly things... I've got a couple of friends, who are so much concerned about their marks that, they don't understand the subject, nor do they care for what the subject is about.. The worst part is that, they are afraid of the consequences of their grades... C'mon guys, grow up, in a couple of years, no one is going to give a damn about your grades, try living today! Most of us are afraid of the future, though we don't acknowledge it.. There's this saying I heard..

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why we call it the present.

Simple message guys, don't be afraid of anything.. Believe in yourself..

Knowledge is the best way to fight your fears... Do it..

Now, coming to my case, I'm afraid of a couple of things... one of which is reptiles, and I intend to change that...

Nobody's perfect, neither is it possible to remove your fears completely, try to attenuate them to the maximum possible extent...

That's it guys, I'm done..

Don't fear.. Stay Happy :)

Why do I hurry?? :)

Well, I had a practical exam today. And as always, mine was the last number to be called in for the day. Usually, what happens is, the batches divided to perform experiments overlap, so that, the overall time spent in the lab for the day decreases substantially. Today, however, the exam was conducted as per the actual schedule, which meant I had to wait for about 2 hours more than what I usually do. 

Naturally for me, I was not so comfy about waiting all the time. People around me, my classmates of course, were in some different world, trying to remember all the stuff for the exam at the last moment. I, eventually, was the only one in a hurry to enter the lab and get done with the exam. 

Then, a friend of mine asked me: "Why are you always in a hurry, dude??".

I was not expecting such a question from him, actually. He paused his preparation for a moment and explained to me the following things:

• I always finish my exams long before the prescribed time.
• I cannot wait to enter the theatre when the usher doesn't allow people to enter still.
• I always hurry to the labs, even when it is just to practice

Then I decided, let's discuss this. I hurry because I hate wasting time, period. I hate to wait to get into exam hall, even to get out of the same. Simple thing, guys, I like to finish things as fast as possible, who doesn't?? I faced some glares from people about it, 

"How can you perceive exams as waste of time??". was the question. I said, 

"Well, look at it this way, I don't give a damn about the grades I get, only as long as I'm enjoying the exam."

After this conversation, we were called in for the exam and it went well.

Then I started thinking, does this habit of mine - hurry - have any serious consequence in my life?? The answer, I'm not clear yet, is may be, a yes.

Here I am, trying to save time and getting grades I get now (my classmates are well aware of my grades.), and at the other end, people try to "utilise" all the time available and getting better grades :) (Not that I care about it...).

Besides that, I never found anything wrong with it. It actually makes you stand apart from the crowd :).

So, I decided, I'm going to hurry wherever and whenever possible for the rest of my life and keep rocking.

Gotta hurry guys, Keep Hurrying up!!