Wedding Vows - Poetry for my love!

सुगंधित पुष्प वर्षण

हे सुगंध! तुम दिव्य वस्त्रालंकृता ।

साथ देने को में तत्पर हूँ खड़ा ।।

हो कमल नयनी औ' कोमल सुरूपा ।

आओ तुम तो फैल जाती उषा पुंजित लालिमा ।।

कुलबुलाता हृदय यह जो तुमसे कहना चाह रहा ।

इस मुग्ध केशी स्पर्श से है अंजु को ठहरा रहा ।।

मग्न हो इसने दिया है सौंप खुदको बस तुम्हे ।

हो युक्त अनंतानंद से मेरी शिरायें चेतना ।।

दीप्त स्वाभिमान उठ उठकर बोलता है फिर यही ।

स्वार्थ मेरा हो तुम्ही उन्माद हो इस प्यार का ।।

असहिष्णुता उपेक्षा औ’ व्यंग्य-वचनावेग से ।

रह सकें हम सरल निर्मल ईश का वरदान लें ।।

इस विभा ऐश्वर्य को रख मैं सकूँ स्मृति में सदा ।

जो पास मेरे प्रियतमा तो कुछ नहीं फिर चाहना ।।

स्नेहित रखूँगा हर्ष और निनाद से मैं कह रहा ।

हो प्रेम का वर्धन हमेशा यह है मेरी कामना ।।

Travel Musings & Learnings from Bhagwad Geeta

Way back when I was a bachelor, I did have some opportunities for solo travelling, which I still ponder about. Be it walking through Inverness, sojourning in London, navigating Edinburgh, exploring Kovalam or touring magnificent Phuket; I always felt unerringly happy and charmingly energized at the end of it. 

A base sense of security, a detailed directional plan, some new cuisines to try and beautiful places to explore are just the only things I absolutely needed! I realised, when I travel alone or in a reasonably small group, I retain absolutely no judgmental bindings and certainly no subconscious forces marking my behavior. I remain free to try any new experiences that I desire or revel in whatever information, titbits, facts or details I possess. I could avoid feeling drained and overwhelmed with extraneous energy at a dynamically self-aligned pace.

Of course it is not always optimum travelling or exploring alone or with your loved ones, but the heartwarming benefits around easing mental stress, being unadulteratedly happy and detoxing is priceless! Travelling in large company usually tends towards a feeling of helplessness in expectation management and inevitably leads to a very deep sense of anguish towards your mates for causes true and imagined. 

I tried to understand this feeling taking a cue from my favourite Bhagwad Geeta shlokas in Chapter 2: 

ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंस: सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते |

सङ्गात्सञ्जायते काम: कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते || 62||

क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोह: सम्मोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रम: |

स्मृतिभ्रंशाद् बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति || 63||

(While contemplating on the objects of the senses, one develops attachment to them. Attachment leads to desire, and from desire arises anger. Anger leads to clouding of judgment, which results in bewilderment of the memory. When the memory is bewildered, the intellect gets destroyed; and when the intellect is destroyed, one is ruined.)

In a large group, everyone has a set of expectations and behavioral patterns defined by their personality traits which lead to a deep sense of personal engagement with their ideas. They lustfully try to stick to their own notional engagements and their non-fulfillment causes emergence of anger and deep seated anguish and frustration. People can then very easily get illusioned with a derived sense of right and wrong attributing acerbic alterations to memory leading to a violated wisdom, affecting friendships & relationships in both short & long terms. This is all a play of contexts, capabilities and expectations, quite synonymously like ID, Self & Ego.

Even today, I duly try sometimes to travel alone or with wife whenever the opportunity arises in between work, play and conferences, and re-discover the soothing calm of the inner self.

Swarupankha - A Poem

I saw this article a few days ago on Facebook titled "The ‘dirt’ in the Dirty Picture" which inspired me to write a poem about Shoorpankha who had been called 'Swaroop-nakha' in those days. A philosophical poem, it talks about how this famous story could well have had some really different origins and how apt the considerations are in modern world. So here goes the poem, please let me know how you like it...

स्वरुपण्खा

दंडक में रहने वाली थी वो उत्तम मंजू सुरूपा थी

वो असुर जाती की ज्योति थी और मीनाक्षी कहलाती थी

यौवन में होकर बेवा उसका दुनिया से परित्याग हुआ

फिर राजपुरुष आया एक दिन जीवन में उसके गाज हुआ

क्यूँ स्वरुपण्खा ही इस जग में हर पल लक्ष्मण से हारी है

क्या नहीं समझ पाई दुनिया सौमित्र ही अत्याचारी है

एक नीची जात की अबला के संग उसने ऐसा काण्ड किया

वन की कन्या का अंग भंग करके उसने प्रस्थान किया

जब जग में फैली बात भाई के सम्मुख वो दौड़ी आई

लक्ष्मण नें कहलाया की वो कामुक थी जिसकी सजा पाई

क्यूँ उच्च समाजी सीता ही भारत में पूजी जाती है

क्यूँ स्वरुपण्खा ही इस जग में हर पल हर क्षण क्षति पाती है

Taste vs Texture

Which should be the most important criteria for Food Quality - Taste or Texture?

I always ask people, what is more important in checking quality of food: Taste or Texture. Taste of course!! Spat comes the reply.

Texture according to me is the first thing that comes to mind when evaluating any food product. It is one of the most important attributes used by consumers to assess food quality. Taste always comes secondary. When a person evaluates the quality of food, the first thing that makes an impression on his psyche is the externality professed by the item. Texture of food items also called "Mouthfeel" is a product's physical feel in the mouth and even outside it, when you look at it, smell it or even envision it. Sometimes perception of taste is even disguised by its texture e.g. Wines, which are usually graded on its quality more by texture than taste.

It has been researched that when consumers eat, the quality is more subtly defined by how the food feels outside and inside the mouth. Cohesiveness, gumminess, crispiness, mouth-coating, graininess, smoothness, uniformity etc. are some of its manifestations which the people analyse sub-consciously when eating.

Taste is more often than not, dependent on the no. of taste buds you have. A person may like a particular food's taste and the other may darn well reject it as filth. There cannot be a consistent taste quality assurance criteria related to food. However, regarding texture, it is more of feel of food that comes out which is sub-conscious in nature along with numerous testing methodologies like NMR, Spectroscopy etc.

I would take two examples for my point. First is regarding 5 star hotels. Whenever you go to a 5 star hotel, you always find it wanting on taste of food. Invariably, the taste of road-side vendors' food is much better than the 5 star food. What than sets it apart?? Yes, its quality manifested in its world class texture and aesthetic appeal. The best thing there is the food looks way better and feels way better than the one you see on road side. And do you say the quality of food is better in hotels or road-side?

Second example is regarding health-foods and regionally abundant food items. Typical example is bland food items like chauli, gawarfali, lauki etc. These don't provide taste per say and are often advised to be eaten without enhancements. Now, how do you choose between different vendors providing the same item: Great, How the food feels and looks! That is the first impression of food you get, which you associate with quality, however, taste comes in picture now, because it’s like a brand which you consciously develop in your own pretty mind, but it never should be a criteria for quality (There however are few differentiated food item categories where the tastes are so well standardized that it evolves as quality criterion).

In conclusion I would say that when you prepare a dish, make sure it looks good and feels good, coz' even if it tastes divine but looks horrible, people just won't touch it!

Microsoft Experience

Heya!
So am all sitting in Microsoft IDC, Hyerabad and just Loving It....The place is awesome and the ambiance is pretty great. I still can't actually believe that I got through Microsoft remembering the placement day! As I have already written that after 7 rejects Cisco was a breather and I left every prep thing for a month until the fateful evening I suddenly got a mail stating that against all odds I am Eligible to sit for Microsoft...Whoa!!! Until 1 Am I was fully prepared to forfeit the Microsoft Test as I had practically zero hope in getting through MICROSOFT, but papa made me go just for going sake and trying. The day went luckily all according to my wishes and was asked no programming question and was grilled on my favourite topic Game design and C++ :) Unbielievably I got passed and so......am sitting in Microsoft as an FTE Intern (Full-time Employee) and writing this post!

I am in RFID team of Biztalk server and currently am like no work and all play :) Pretty Nice Luck I would say, seeing some friends doing strenuously continuous work from morning till night!! Maybe I would get some work some day :) till then I can play TT, Pool, Carrom, Lawn Tennis, Foosball etc. whole day or even start Gymming :P The food here is pretty good too, saying all possible cuisines are there (Hmmm....Barring Thai) and have tried mostly all of them. We get evening snacks here free of costs which are really Cooool and rocking!


The Hyderabad area is pretty Rocky which is quite a terrain change from Delhi and the temperature is pretty nice too :) Currently I have got a whole room to myself in a hotel suite like guesthouse which is pretty fantastic and I am spending nights watching movies and reading "The Bourne Identity"!

Well I think am forgetting something....Yeah!! We went out yesterday doing masti on Christmas and went to a pretty nicely decorated Mall, which was quite fun :)




Well, that is enough for now, am off to Gym, थोड़ा होदा पतला होना है यहाँ :) Adios!!!

EPIC Fantasy

High fantasy or Epic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is set in invented or parallel worlds. And I must say its my most favorite form of entertainment and relaxation; have been reading fantasy novels from 7 years now :)

When you say of Epic Fantasy what comes to your mind first is a real sense of adventure and the ubiquitous fight between good and evil...What it really is capable of is infact transferring your whole self to an altogether different world, you get relieved of all your tensions and feel yourself just breezing past the parallel world with your heroes and heroines and feel yourself taking part in the story. Just reading Epic Fantasy novels or even watching the fantasy films acts like stimulant which forces your mind out of static and pushes it into the realms of incredibility. It not only helps in getting out of the pressures of the daily lives but also helps bolster your absolute imagination and comprehension of the intricacies :)

Any fantasy writer who delves into epic fantasy thus has a great responsibility to keep the reader hooked on by creating ever complicated but yet so amusing worlds and their intricately delicate laws. And when these parallel worlds in any sense touch even a figment of memory of some knowledge about the modern world in the mind of the reader, it creates a beautiful tingling which is so refreshing and incredible!

Some of my most favorite High Fantasy series, would I would really recommend you to get your hands on are:

• The Inheritance Cycle: Christopher Paolini (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr....)
• The Lord of the Rings: J.R.R. Tolkien (Movies as well as the classic novel)
• Harry Potter: J.K.Rowling (My Most favorite :D)
• His Dark Materials Trilogy: Phillip Pullman (Northern Lights, Subtle Knife & Amber Spyglass, another of my most favorite)
• Artemis Fowl Series: Eoin Colfer (Good Enough for starters)
• The Bartimaeus Trilogy: Jonathan Stroud (Just started it, and seems nice)
• The Wheel of Time Series: Robert Jordan (Am overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of it, will start soon :))

The real test of a fantasy novel is whether it makes you think about it and contemplate the story and the fate of characters much after you finished the novel and whether it lets you detach yourself easily from the story after it finishes or proudly makes it extremely difficult for you to even imagine the story being finished and you spending hours at least just thinking about the end ;) And I can say safely, all the above ones at the least do all this :)

-----------------------
Well, all this discourse on fantasy novels, just because am free from exams after a lot of time (CAT, Mid Sems, End Sems etc. etc.) and just spending my days pursuing my ever expanding thirst of awsome fantasy novels and films alike :) Will be going to Microsoft for internship starting from 22nd December for 2 months and thought its a great time to finish 2-3 great texts :)

Atra du evarínya ono varda

The Anupras

Hi!

Well I promised long back to post my other poem, and here it is :)

THE ANUPRAS

Variant violet vas                     had the

Gruesome green grass    in which the

Beauteous burly boy                put the

Soggy sauce soy      which turned the

Gruesome gallant grass         in to the

Bruised beaten brass               so then

Jived jubilant joy                   with the

Beefy bulky boy                          so he

Cut cute cake               and dipped in

Lovely large lake            and then the

Grimy galling goon             became a

Lovely little loon

The Imminent World

Hi, Well I thought to post a couple of my favourite poems (which I have composed ofcourse), which have already been published in the famous children's magazine "Children's World" or CW. I had written these during my school days and very amusingly during Monday Tests as we had it :) after I happily finished the test 1/2 hour before :D

THE IMMINENT WORLD

The world is sitting on a mount,

That may not be safe and sound.

It’s the atom bomb that lay,

Makes the world grieve and gray.

 

People do not have feelings,

Never ever in their dealings.

Everybody of this kind,

Serves the Mammon in his mind.

 

People love to kill and slay,

Thinking no God will come to play.

But when their end comes near,

They swear to God and swear.

 

Greed is so much in the man,

He will destroy his social LAN.

And when need arouse in him,

He will go from kin to kin.

 

The world is starry night sky,

The stars are spiritual guys.

And the Moon is God of all,

Who may give deserved to all.

 

At last when end is gonna come,

The world light is gonna shun.

It’s the God, who will prevail,

Leaving his mighty trail………………

Nica naa!!!! Well, I'll post the second one in my next post.....

Why are US Banks Failing??

Well, Hi Friends!
You all must be pretty acquainted with how the Wall Street fell down this week! Three out of the four pillars of Wall Street are no more.....Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanly, Merrill Lynch all have been doomed and the still standing tall Goldman Sachs is in no good shape either. But what has triggered all this crisis and why is it specifically aiming American Banks???

I have one reasonable proposition which explains the root cause. You see that US has a rule which says that If a Bank is investing in your business and supporting you with a loan regarding your property, business, capital etc., It owns the full responsibility for it. That means, lets say, You as an individual, wants to start a company and go to a US Bank and give your proposal and ask for a loan. The bank studies your idea and the market situation and the property rates and stuff like that and finally decides to accept your request. Suppose you take an approved loan of $10 Million.

Now, After running your business successful for say 2 years, you see that the property rates have fallen drastically and you are facing grave loss in your business due to global economic crisis. You calculate that your assets now stand at total of just say $2 Million. Now, You obviously can't run the business and are doomed. You go to the Bank with your keys and have grant them the responsibility saying, "I don't want to continue the business and am forfeiting any control, now its your responsibility!!". Now the bank is in a fix.

The customer, gets free from any responsibility after facing the loss as is and getting no more hassles. But the bank, according to law, must have given the loan with proper consideration and responsibility but now it cannot recover its loan value as the net value of the business (including property rates, assets etc.) itself have reduced.... So, the banks actually are facing this crisis, popularly called Sub-Prime Crisis and have substantially, eroded their capital and assets and are thus getting Bankrupt due to an over burgeoning effect vicious cycle of Global Economic Crisis!

Its nice of US to bail them out by giving whopping amounts of Money, but till when???? Well, as a matter of fact, you may be having a question, that why are Indian Banks immune to this! It actually has two reasons:-
1. Indian PSU Banks have no whatsoever relationship with any of the US Banks and thus are completely autonomous.
2. The other reason is the non-existence of any such, "Bank's Responsibility" rule in India :)
Indian Banks as a matter of fact, will keep asking you for the remaining $8 Million for your entire life and you would have to sell/mortgage your other properties against it, thereby securing the banks. But here, you don't have any security for yourself; This is just a dichotomy of the Coin which we need to handle!

So, Enough Economics, Bye for now :)

Sweety Pie

I have been writing this poem intermittently for few months now and it is finally completed in the humor genre :)

Sweety Pie

The Tingle in the Sky,

The Jingle in the Air.

I wanna eat a Pie,

But don’t let it Smear.

The jest lo’Behold,

Has filled my Life.

The pie is so Cold,

It makes me Strife.

Thou art my Love,

In the words of Shakespeare.

Flew away a Dove,

When the pie cut ma’Dear.

We’ll meet at the Cross,

And don’t be Discreet.

The blueberry pie Was,

A super tasty Treat.

Let’s tingle every Day,

Let’s jingle all Nights.

Let’s make a pie Tray,

Let’s have it all Sprites.

Up and Running

Am back after a sabbatical! Just wasn't feeling like writing anything these 5 months. A lot of things have happened. I have got a job in CISCO and another backup one in Aricent and hopefully C-DOT also. The one thing left for me now is probably Google where I may apply Off-Campus next year!

MBA preps are going on in full force and the Mocks have been going grrrr8 till recently. Screwed up my last two Mocks :( Just imagine, couldn't even clear English and DI.....Overall, I think the next few months will require humongous effort on my part and hopefully am ready for it :) The two weeks of strenuous placement preps had sucked life out of me, didnt even sleep more than 3 hours daily on average. But all's well that ends well. Best of Luck to friends who are still to be placed!

Finished the 'His Dark Materials' Trilogy by Phillip Pullman recently and I must say it was completely fantabulous. The fantasy just kept me absorbed the whole time and even made me ponder for a few days. I must recommend this to anyone who loves Fantasies; The Vocab is great too...

Hmm, I visited Melting Pot this week with my best friend Ketan, he wanted placement party! Musst say, the place is awsome, great rates and fantastic cuisines, loved the Basil & Pesto sauce Pasta (Had never made and tasted any Pesto sauce before). Planning to visit GOLA in Metro Walk soon for Mouth Watering Sizzlers.....

Well, FYI, I could not clear the second round of Google Phone Interview and after that didn't feel like writing. I had a great streak of 7 Rejects before getting Cisco :)

Adios, Amigos!

Google Phone Interview

I had my first Phone Interview for Internship with Google yesterday. I was shortlisted for the Interview by Google, based on my CV and aggregate percentage. I was pleasantly surprised 4 days back when I received a call from Google Bangalore Office informing me of the Interview. So I started preparing for the Technical Phone Interview by revising the fundas of Data Structures, Algorithms and Language subtleties.

I came across a very good resource for coding and programming practice: TopCoder which helped me a lot in getting the fundas right practically.

Finally yesterday evening the phone came, and I was a hell lot nervous. The interviewer was checking my Resume and exclaimed about my Internship Project at NEC HCL (last summer). He asked me about the details of the project, like what enhancements I did and how it helped, which I could very happily explain.....

Then to programming stuff, I was given a problem where I had a large Integer Array and a given sum 'k'. I had to determine whether any two numbers from the Array would add up to k. He gave me various scenarios like the Array is sorted, unsorted and lot of extra storage space or not etc. I used Hash Table for the extra storage space case. I tried using Binary Search method for the In-Place case but could not optimize it for sorted Array, so I asked a teeny weeny bit of Hint and then the "Two Pointers Method" struck. He seemed satisfied with the responses.

I had to write all the above stuff in terms of code and read it out to him, which was pretty exciting :)

Next came another Question, I had a Binary Search Tree, given two nodes, I had to find the Nearest Common Ancestor. It seemed easy and I came up with the solution in just a Minute. He then Twisted the question a bit and generalized the Tree to a General Binary Tree. I asked for availability of parent pointer and he gave me choice. I came up with a recursive O((lg N)^2) algorithm if parent pointer was available. (Just after the Interview, when I was discussing with my Friend, I just got a better optimum O(lg N) algo (See Comments); I better hope these divine thought come during Interviews).
Then as it was obvious, he asked for the general case of no parent pointer. Just few minutes of thinking and a recursive solution was there. (Which I again had to code and read out to him :) ) After his call for optimization, I just applied some Dynamic Programming ideas and Voila!!

So, this was my 1 Hour 13 mins. long Interview which I enjoyed every bit of. Hoping for Selection into Round 2!!!
Now my Mid Sems are just 2 days away and I have not even read a word....So, I better go and start with some DataBases......

Á la procháine, Au Revoir!