| A Movie A Day |
[Apr. 7th, 2007|12:15 am] |
So, I've been watching a lot of movies over the last year. And this final quarter at Stanford, with an effort to take it easy, I want to take this movie watching an extra step. I've decided to try to average and watch atleast one move a day.
I've just started maintaining another blog: http://one-movie-a-day.blogspot.com/ where i'll be adding details about each of the movies i see. Lets see how many I can get done.
/ajay
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| Feeded? |
[Apr. 21st, 2006|11:19 pm] |
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Does anybody still really feed on this feed of mine? |
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| god does answer prayers, albeit a little late |
[Jul. 15th, 2005|12:00 am] |
Long ago, when I was a kid, it doesn’t matter how old a kid I really was, I saw the rest of my family – bro, dad and mom wearing spectacles and looked at myself in the mirror and so wished that I had one of those things on my nose. Maybe it was an acceptance issue, I’ll never know, but I do faintly remember asking Him why I couldn’t have one.
Yes, you could say it’s silly to wish for glasses; but you have to forgive the innocence of a small kid. I vividly remember going to the doc and saying things like, ‘but seriously, I can’t see things that are far away’ and the doc would very wryly retort back: ‘you really don’t need to see that far’.
Like he knew better!
Many years later, and many doctors later, I come to today. The message might have reached Him late, or maybe my dietary habits went southwards, either way, with a quirk of fate, I got my eyes tested today. It wasn’t a childhood dream come true per se this time round, but the statement that I could not see farther objects clearly was finally certified true by the doctor. I don’t feel exactly on top of the world, but I do feel vindicated in front of all those previous doctors. A pair of prescription lenses to rectify the optical defect of 1.25 on both of my eyes is the word of the day to share with my friends (and restart my blogging?).
Truly speaking, it may be due to the many years added onto my hairline, or just plain realization and shared wisdom, I’m not looking forward to my face playing host to extra gear. Life turns its wheels in circles, or He just loves looking at this melodrama on earth. Forgive this question of a 23 year old young man, but I looked at him in near disbelief and say, ‘but seriously, do I really need to see that far away?’ and to think that when I heard the final statement that he was to make, even the child in me was not jumping in glee: ‘oh, you really need to wear spectacles!’
Sigh! Like he knew better!
So there it stands: I can testify.
God does listen to your prayers. He just has a huge backlog of things to handle before he can get to yours.
Not timely, but time for another ice age?
/ajay |
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| whats cooking? |
[Feb. 12th, 2005|04:46 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Whitesnake - Here i go again | ] |
first there was nothing, then there was an electric cooker cum heater, an LPG single valve stove, a microwave oven, a non stick Teflon pan, 1lt cooking oil, a thousand grammes of rice and packets of instant mixes. A couple of hours back, out from the erstwhile clothes dump room of my apartment: the kitchen, came freshly cooked hot rice that fed three mouths!! ladies and gentlemen; a momentous day indeed!! i ate what i cooked for the first time after coming to bangalore !!
while i'm gloating in this a-oh-so proud moment, plug that thought of asking why plunging into this exercise took 18 months in gestation. some things are better left as an unsolved mystery and relegated as another testimony of erratic human behaviour. most philosophers would attribute it as a toast to our laziness; i wouldn't want to contest or commit.
but what is true, is that the kitchen was left in a slight mess. but strangely, while i was contently walking out of it, i thought i heard a voice, a very kitcheny one, pronounce that it was craving to get messier. now, i wouldn't want to disappoint it would i? wonder if my maid will ask for a raise...
in the midst of satiated stomachs, my room mates very eloquently declared me the cook of the house. but i do believe there is a conspiracy underway there to delegate all the cooking to me :-)
either way, its rice and dal for lunch 'morrow. for tonite, theres this paneer makhani instant mix packet that i'm waiting to try. anyone care to join in?
/ajay
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| Feels like forever.. |
[Feb. 11th, 2005|08:11 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Heart - Alone | ] |
Feels like forever. forever since history happened. forever since i'm here, forever since i've been there, forever since i remember, forever since i blogged.
And since forever, the miles have kept rolling.
The guitar has called me back again. Got a couple of songs in, and a couple more tunes are brewing in the mind. Am looking ahead with an aim of getting half an hour of a stamp of my identity into music. At work, theres another effort to get a band together - just heard that a drummer has joined in at work ! boy! just cant wait to jam.
So whats been happening over a month except the guitar? numbers and abbrevations rule:
* 100 years of solitude, will be a book that i will grade as one of the best reads i've had in many a year.
* M5 completion was just announced;
* 60% optimization in download size of my feature with a sinking feeling that i wouldnt forget for a long time: sun spots of work for the last month
* 1Kg of rice that I bought for the first time in 18 months, which will be cooked today.(So, why dont we cook at home? Ahh.. it has been such a toast to our laziness, that we very energetically pursue to keep it that way)
* 1 friend whose learning the rope and is surely to be affected by events of last month more than he realizes,
* 903MB of music added to my collection which brings my pi hdd collection to 16.8 GB
* 0 night outs. (hmm.. the first month since a long time since this happened)
otherwise eventless :-)
/ajay
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| Research In India |
[Jan. 12th, 2005|01:21 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Dream Theater - Through Her Eyes | ] |
Just came back from the inaguration of Microsoft's 6th MSR (MS Research) unit to be housed in Bangalore. Taj West End hosted MS and Kapil Sibal who inagurated it. The research wing, third outside the US will focus initially on multilinugual systems, technologies for emerging markets, GIS systems, and physical sensor systems. Interesting work many of them.
Btw, they are looking out for good researchers. Apparently the only criterea is that you must be Good - with a very good IQ level. What you then do in the unit, is upto you. And your interest is nurtured... You get to work on anything that you want. The entire team seemed extremely academically interested, and the delegations and guests included many profs from IISc, IIT D,B and C.
Will be great to see how this picks up. It is nice to see a trend of good research happening in India. Many researchers seem to be heading back to India, and Industires are setting up units here too. A very promising trend. But does India have the academic infrastructure to encourage and sustain good research? I would still have to believe that there is a way to go before India can 'train' and nurture young researchers. Steps like what MS, GE and HP are taking in investing in the minds of India, will of course be a good step in this process. Encourage and step up research and invest in quality human resources is what i would say to the Govt and global industries.
India has been and is producing talented and smart graduates. And India has made a mark in great researches around the globe. The missing link is the process in the middle in creating researchers of note and findings of quality. Even today, many of us would love to go to places that have the best atmosphere for reasearch. It would be nice to see a change in this area in India. Self sufficiency has never harmed any country.
/ajay |
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| the trite ringing in of the year |
[Jan. 5th, 2005|09:59 am] |
'tis been a long time, AD2005 rings in and its just another year in the vast ocean of uncounted years gone by.
aldous huxley portrayed a 'brave new world' in 1932, and i'm surprised that we havent reached half way into his visionary thoughts.
we have a long way to go my fellow earthlings.
31'st was just like the one of the previous year: in kerala.
but the week before the year ended signaled the way majority of last year has been: 15 hour parties and hang outs that just seem to come every other day of the week.
a social life thats rejuvenated, kicked itself in the butt and propelled itself to newer highs. No ones complaining except my purse ;-)
my phraseology of the year gone by would talk about a long and eventful year, a lost love, a gained new life, switched jobs, rewards, parties coupling the social life and reunions of friends of yore.
happy to know that i am still reinventing and discovering myself. it keeps one alive...
and am not starting anything 'new' this year. just keeping things going the way they are!!!
/ajay |
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| Foot Massage... |
[Nov. 15th, 2004|03:08 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Beatles - Michelle | ] |
Got my foot run over by a car yesterday evening. Its a lot less dramatic than you might imagine it to be, but its not a walk in the park either.
If you ride a bike you'll know that when you reach a speed close to overtaking an ant on his way to get an evening snack (with the added conditional that you are not one of those adventure sports enthusiasts we watch on tv) then you have to put your feet down to get balance. And thats just what i did - while on the way to church, i stopped for a traffic light and I habitually and innocently put my right leg down to gain my standing.
Thats when i felt a very warm feeling on my right foot. A quick look down gave me this pretty sight of a bridgestone tire promptly riding over my foot. The scene and the tire were running at .5X frames per second; just like in the movies.
It was weird, i dont remember it feeling very nice, but i'm sure that that was because my brain took lodging in my foot for a while and was not doing much of it usual role of interpreting and feeling. I didnt have time enough to give my thanks to the driver of the car, but i did reach down to my foot to feel if it was actually there. And thats when it officially started to hurt. I went to the side and wriggled my toes. I was happy when they cried in pain: I could feel them: they weren't broken.
Managed to get to church, with the thoughts of how'd i'd forgotten what bangalore traffic was all about. And right now am nursing the swollen metacarpel equivalent on the foot and a sweet spot on it that will keep my sneakers on the shelf for more than a couple of days.
As kamath says, its a momentous event to be blogged :-)
/ajay |
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| browser slide shows that dont suck |
[Oct. 31st, 2004|11:33 am] |
just look at what css can do to your brwoser presentation, and take a peek at the source, its fairly simple. and practical.
i did think its a little heavy though.
/ajay |
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