The Exam Feeling(s)

Finally a blog post. It has been almost a semi-year or semester since i have written something. At last i find time to sit before this magical-notebook, establishing connection to a server about whose location i barely have any idea, through a magical wireless internet service. And in this magical world i find more magical things happening. And the magic doesn't end here. At the present moment i am supposed to be writing my mid-semester exams. Just before the exam i find i have magically got 19 on 20 in the previous mid-sem. Even more magical is the fact that i got exactly the same mark in the first mid-sem, an exam which reminded me of the deadly maths exam of the first year (in which i got 10 on 50!). Of course there is a lot of difference between this magic and the previous one. So this gives me pretty good internals and and technically reaching the optimum threshold level of 45. So i bunk the exam!

So instead of writing exam i writing about exams. Well, i have been writing exams for the past 16 years. I have written all types of exams: ranging from the normal Q&A exam, the one in which we have to fill the answers in question paper, the one in which i make some meaningless design by shading on a special sheet ,which a computer reads and decides my fate and finally the one in which i sit in an AC room and keep selecting various options given by the computer and after 3 hours of playing this game the computer displays a random number(and that is supposed to be my score!).

So many types of exam but the one i have been doing for 'looooong' time is the normal question-paper-and-answer-sheet exam. So how do i write exams? Anyone who knows me would say i am a slow writer. In most cases i finish the paper at T-ZERO and in some unfortunate cases i helplessly try to complete the paper only for the invigilator grab the answer sheet from me. I hardly remember any instance in which i had finished the exam very early and left the exam hall before my class mates.

So does it mean i am a slow writer? Well lets see. There have been instance in which i had finished the paper. Note the phrase 'finished the paper'. For instance i had my social studied quarterly exam and first-grade keyboard exam conducted by Trinity college of London on same day. Obviously I couldn't miss either of exams, so I had to complete the keyboard exam first then travel from Mount road to Adyar to the write my school exam. I managed to enter the exam hall but i was already late by 45min. Though i was granted some extra time to compensate my delayed start, i managed to finish before most of my friends.

The second instance is when i was writing Basic electronics III mid semester exam. I had to score marks cos i managed to screw up the first 2 mid-sems. I started the exam and as usual i took my own time to write the first 10 mark question. Suddenly i realized that there was just a fraction over half an hour left and i had to answer question worth 40 marks. It was a do or die situation. For a second i thought i was doomed but managed regroup myself and in the end finished the exam.

Third instance was when i was writing the III midsem of Electrical Machines paper. Same do or die situation. I was sitting happily and writing the exam. Half an hour gone, I completed half of the first 10 mark question. Then the invigilator asks for my I D card. I open my purse, petrified to find that the I D card is missing. I go to the ppl in-charge of exam-wing, they say i cant write unless i have my I D card. Surprisingly, i was allowed run back to my hostel, get the card. I showed it to the ppl in exam-wing, magically got their permission to continue the exam, came back to my class. The equation was more than 50 min over, still around 45 marks worth questions to be answered. And i complete the paper.

So lets get back to the question. Am i a slow writer? Well i find my writing speed as a function of time. Usually i start with a big-question, keep writing with for almost 45 min, then realize that half of the time is over, then speed up things. Some how i am automatically tuned to the available time and manage to complete the exam on-the-dot. But as long as i complete the exam i am happy and there is nothing to worry about.

Some of the exams are really interesting in which you enjoy writing the exam. You really feel the question and answering that question makes you content. There are some question that really tests you and answering it makes you really proud and knowing that others were scratching their head for the question you have answered, you feel happier.And while writing such a exam i get so involved in answering them that i even fail to notice even the basic things like who is the person next to me or how many of my classmates are writing the exam.

But there are some questions that are really boring. It may either be because the subject is boring or because you do not know anything. In such a situation i suddenly start thing about some crazy things, something like 'why am i writing this exam...'. Sometimes i wish i could throw away the exam sheets, and just go away from everything as Swami Sivananda did, but i hope i at least become a doctor like him... well i can become a Phd type doctor na!(for those of you who do not know, he was a Dr in Malaysia before he became a monk.) But i feel god has given me lot of creativity and i prefer to use them first. Well thoughts are thoughts and they come and go within a fraction of second. And such thoughts gives you a nice little break. And after this i "wake up", i look at my watch and i continue to do what i am supposed to do: answer the questions.

By this time i should have completed the last technical mid-sem exam of my bachelor degree because next semester we will be studying only management papers. Nice way to bid adieu na:-)

[Well this blog should have been published on 31/09, but i wasn't able to do it because of some Wi-Fi problem. Well today was the penultimate Lab of my B-Tech program and i'll be wearing khaki for the last time tomorrow i.e my last lab.... well what shall i say.]

Behind RED

Yesterday i wore my new RED colored tracks and went for jogging. While jogging i started thinking about RED color and realized there were so many things behind the color RED.

The first thing that comes to the mind when talking about RED color is bull fight (Remember the Padayappa seen in which a the color RED angers a bull!!). Well it is a big misconception that bulls get angry by looking at color RED. In fact bulls are color blind! The torero (the main performer of bull fight) uses a RED cloth to attract the bull in a series of passes and the reason for choosing a RED color is to mask the bull`s blood.

RED is also considered as communist color.The Soviet Union, China and all communist countries have RED colored flags. In India too the communist parties of India have RED colored flags. The color RED relates to "blood of workers" or sufferings during the period they were suppressed by wealthy nobles( period before the revolutions). (I`m still jogging)

RED is considered to be the most attractive of all colors. That is why RED is often used either in a negative way to indicate danger and emergency, or in a positive way in advertising to gain more viewers(Vodafone whoes advertisements are very famous are all in RED), or in nature, as a ripe fruit announces its readiness. RED light can be viewed from longer distance hence signal use RED light to indicate stop. One of my friends hates RED colored dress, not because he hates the color but for a reason that every time he wears a RED dress he gets hurt someway or other.(That is really strange)
Recently i read in news paper that team with RED Jersey has higher probability of winning.

Even after returning to home, i was still stuck with RED. So searched in net about RED and got a few interesting info.First the basics :RED is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 625–740 nanometer .Next a bit of history and tradition: The word RED is said to be derived from Sanskrit word RUDRA meaning RED. In India RED is associated with wealth, beauty and goddess Lakshmi. Finally in human color psychology, the color RED is associated with emotions like anger, passion and love that "stir the blood".( I really liked the info abt the relationship between red and India... i meant the RUDRA part)

Auto-Interview

This is a world of imagination. So imagine someone interviews me(It might be too much but still try to imagine).In this case that someone is also myself. So here we go...

Q)First things first. Congrats for getting 5-STAR rating for your latest release the GTA-Coolcity.
A) Thank you. I really enjoyed working on it and the rating is a big reward for my efforts.

Q)Tell us more about the making of this short film?
A)Well it has been year since I made a short film. There were many ideas but nothing worked out really. So I decided to utilise this "study" holidays to put an end to this long drought. But bad luck followed me. I made my plans depending on my uncle`s camera, but i found that it was with my cousin. I got the cam just 2 days before i returned to college. So i didn`t have time to plan the story and had to shoot with just the theme in my mind. And that created problems when i was editing. I was stuck at one point and didn`t know how to proceed. To proceed further, i had to go to my uncle`s house and had to quickly shoot few more shots. And i had one more problem. As i did not have any pen drive like device i had to transfer some files from my PC to laptop through Internet. First i mailed it to my account from my system ;then i downloaded those files to my laptop.When i thought everything was over, the editing software stopped working and i had to redo at least half of the work again. Finally i finished everything just hours before i started for college.

Q)Though the storyline is better compared to Marmayuddha, it still remains too complicated. Why is it so?
A)As i told you this movie was planned, shot and edited in less than 2 days. Due to the limited time availability i were unable to take the required shots. Thus i were forced to squeeze out a story out of the limited shots available. This project required extensive detailing work, but the output does not reveal the amount of work involved. It was the same case with marmayuddha , which is why both the short films have complicated story. Ppl who are interested more in technical part of film, have really liked the film. Hopefully the next work will have better story.

Q)Your movie remains more of an editor`s movie?
A)Editing is what that brought me into this field and it is what that drives me to make movies. But i am sure other departments will catch up with experience.

Q)How did u enter this field of film making?
A)Well it was in 12std holidays when our computer got the Windows XP and it had something called movie maker. As i usually have lot of free time, at home, i tend to exploit all the resources around me. As i was exploring the windows XP, i found this movie maker software interesting.
At that time i just had 4 photos (sample photos that come with XP); i could not do much with it.
Two years later i got a Sony Ericsson mobile and it had something called Video DJ. I experimented with it and the result of this experimentation was Saba-1&2. Then i came across the god-The Premiere Pro 2. And it helped me to do whole lot new thing which i only could have imagined.

Q)You seem to have grown at tremendous pace: from video making using cell phones to member of SASTRA Fotohub in less than a year?
A)First of all i would like to thank god for providing me so much opportunities. Secondly i would like my friend VeDa. My association with him has helped me in a great way.

Q)Last year there was lots of buzz about some mega project of yours?
A)There are lots of technical issues involved in it. Once they are sorted out the project might become reality. Things seem to be getting in order. Hopefully the project will be completed soon.

Q)Thanks for spending time with us. Wishing you all the best for your future.
A)My pleasure.

Thanks for travelling in the world of imagination with me. SAYONORA

The "vegetarian" thing...

Once I had an argument with my schoolmate(a close friend of mine). He asked me why was I a vegetarian. I told that non-vegetarian food involves killing of the poor animals. "What about plants? Are they not having life, why do people cut them during harvesting" he asked. I did not know what to say. So let us try to figure it out.

To start with, a person who eats only 'plant-derived' foods are generally referred to as a vegetarian. Then what about milk?(this is important point which people use during such arguments). To every rule there is an exception. Just as Hydrogen is grouped with metals in periodic table(even though it is a non metal) due to its electron accepting nature(formation of H+ ion similar to Na+ ,K+...) milk is more a vegetarian item. It has a cooling effect to body unlike any non-veg item. It also does not involve any killing of animals. Above all milk is the first food every mammal tastes in its life!!

The next most ambiguous item is egg. I have met many people who say 'I`m a veggi + egg guy'. Many of them even argue that egg is a vegetarian item, though it is generally not accepted as veggie! So who decides what is what?

It is all relative, relative to ones mind. There is a permissible limit which is set in every human being. People decide with respect to this limit which is purely personal and decide what to eat. Now let us try to understand who or what sets these limits?
The primary factor is the geographic location. For example people in the cold countries generally prefer more of meat and stuff to keep them warm. The next major factor is the culture one follows. . As my father says" If I were born in the cannibal family, I would be eating humans!! ", Every family has its own distinct culture.

Scientifically human`s digestive system resembles more that of herbivores. Human intestines are long similar to that of herbivores. This is because meat go bad very quickly compared to plants. That is the reason why carnivores have small intestinal track and the food that they eat are digested before they go bad. One motivation for a vegetarian diet is better health, and it seems to work, according to Paul Williams, Ph.D., at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. Comparing 351 vegetarian runners to 8,891 omnivorous runners revealed the following: 1) Vegetarians run an average of 13% to 14% more miles per week than non-vegetarians. 2) Vegetarian runners have slimmer waists than omnivorous runners; men by almost two centimeters and women by nearly one centimeter. The waistlines of the omnivorous runners increase with increases in the amounts of red meat they eat. But this association was weaker among higher mileage runners. 3) Vegetarians have lower total and LDL cholesterol, by about 3% to 5%, which lowers their risk of cardiovascular disease.

But the problem occurs when a person tends to go beyond the "lakshman reka" of their family tradition( he might be thinking his ancestors are idiots, missing out one most delicious thing) . With that move he might end up changing the food habits( in most cases the change will be permanent) of his future generation. Let us take the case of the brahmins, who are assumed to be strict veggies. Many of my friends eat non veg either because their parents eat them or they do not want to miss the delicious range of foods( its pathetic to note that most of the people fall in the later category). The veg rule was part of brahmin culture because non veg food is THAMASIC in nature i.e. takes more time to digest causing more body heat, more laziness and sleep. And such stuffs would reduce the concentrating power(which are very much important in reciting vedic hymns especially in GHANAM format, doing meditation and ultimately reach the final destination). And today most of them don`t even believe in these stuffs. If a boy drops out of school, his school uniforms are of no use to him. In the same way people who do not want to be "the brahmins" are not expected to follow these rules. Its all up to an individual to choose his path i.e. remain brahmin or otherwise....

The traditions which we follow, are just the guidelines, which can be altered according to our convenience, if we know what we are doing.If a person goes to foreign country and dies of starvation because he did not get vegetarian food( for the same reason it is recommended that brahmins do not go to foreign countries but still in case...) he is allowed go beyond the rules in such circumstances(where life is more important).

Rules are always there. In the end it drops down to an individual and its up to him to decide what he wants to do. But it would be better if one understands why these rules are made before making the final decision

ElectroMagnetic Engine

"A small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind"
Those were the words I remembered when my lone attempt to publicize my dream-project fetched me the maximum result. Being an eco-freak, my quest for developing an alternate energy powered vehicle dates back to last millennium. I was in 4th grade when I designed a logo for my company named GPSN ( Ganga-Pavanesh-Sharada-Narayanan). I don't remember where the word "Ganga" came from, but I considered (still consider) Ganga as the sacred river and lifeline for many people. And the other 3 names - mine, my mom`s and my dad`s. But I didn`t stop with the company thing. My first decent idea: a compressed air powered car, got designed soon.
I still remember the day. I was in 7th grade and it was the chemistry hour. A sudden spark ignited my mind, giving birth to my first creation. I was so happy that I wanted to run about shouting "eureka eureka...." :-) I made a large diagram of my creation so that I can show it to the friends and relatives who came to my house. But my hopes of developing it died out when one of my cousins told that it would be too under powered to be used in a car. But do you want to know how feasible my idea was? Last year I was surprised and shocked to see in the pages of The Hindu : CAT or compressed air technology to power the future cars ( being co-developed by TATA motors ). I felt like shouting "Oh my god"! I told the news to everyone around me but their reactions.......... they were like.... listening to some kind of ordinary news and they went back to their work as if nothing significant happened. (either their interest on the subject was too shallow or probably I expected a bit too much).
Anyway, two or three years later I again struck gold. This time a method more organized and with better design ( by the time I had some idea about how engines work). That was the birth of EMBE(electromagnetic-buoyant engine) utilizing electromagnets and buyant forces to power the engine.
The idea remained dormant, except for some drawings of car model featuring GPSN-EMBE tag on it ( later changed to banc-EMBE, banc for Baarath Automobile Nirman Company, name changed because I somehow started disliking the old one), until Mr Mofi suddenly called me and invited me for a paper presentation. I was initially vague about such presentation; but his persuasion and encouragement to present a paper helped me to get over the "inertia"(many other friends have invited me earlier for doing papers but they couldn`t succeed making me to get over my inertia). The idea, locked in archives for the past 5 years or so, was given a new lease of life. With more knowledge, I changed EMBE to EME.
I discussed about my idea with one of my lecturers, who immediately gave a positive response. But there was one big hurdle. My design meant magnetizing and demagnetizing the core a lot of times per second. But another flash of idea struck me. This time in the micro controller class( I was so charged up that couldn`t stop myself telling it to my friend sitting nearby-the same old eureka feeling- and I was sent out for talking in the class!!!)
Finally we presented it and ours was selected as the best paper!!

Taste the Thunder

Last week i went to Chennai to take part in some culturals. Though we dint taste success(which we should have?!?), we had the chance to experience one of the best bus travel ever made. The recently introduced AC buses MTC :- the Volvo B7R -8400 low-floor bus. It made us feel the effect of traveling in any foreign transport system.

The floor is really low and rises at the rear(where the euro III 290 hp, 7-liter, 6-cylinder, diesel engine is mounted with a top speed of 121 kmph!).More than this it the first bus to have true bus chassis (in India). Surprisingly the bus has automatic gears-it does not even have the gear nob, just 3 buttons : one for forward, one for reverse and the other for neutral!!!(its surprising cos it is bus so it must have low mileage, still lower because it an AC bus and a automatic gear would further reduce the mileage!!!). Anyway it still feels great. The automatic gear and combined with the 290hp engine give the bus a car-like-drive feel(great pick-up). And the air suspensions complements the powerful engine to give a great feel.

With 18 rs of min ticket fare it might be on costlier side, but for long intercity travel especially after a "long working day" , it is more than worth the money you pay. Travel in it and "get VOLVOfied"( to put in our college terms).

World of Misnomers

An 8-year old kid in the heart of urbs prima of India searching for a correct word. There were 3 different spelling used in the locality :XEROX, ZEROX, ZEROH(the last one used by one shops in a slum area).He dint ask anyone ,rather he wanted to find it out all by himself(as he usually does). After analyzing various possibility he thought it would be ZEROX(as it was how the word was pronounced).

Few years later i find that none of them meant what it was supposed to mean . The correct spell ling was XEROX but it was not the actual word after all. The word photocopy has been completely replaced by the word XEROX. In fact most ppl don't even understand if we use the word photocopy. XEROX was probably one of the 1st companies to introduce the photocopying machine. But before the word photocopy became famous, the company`s name became famous. That is why ppl started calling it a XEROX machine rather than a photocopying machine. The word is so famous that some local dealers advertise like this
"10% off on HP xerox machines" or "with every CANNON xerox machine get 5MP digicam free!"
In India Parle argo`s "Kaccha Mango Bite" candy ran a tagline claiming "Kacche Aam Ka Xerox" which means "Xerox of the raw mango". The tag was later modified to "Kacche Aam Ka Copy", which means "Copy of the Raw Mango." Many dictionaries mention the use of "xerox" as a verb!!

XEROX is not the only company to have done it. JCB is another common misnomer. And it worse than the previous one. In India 99% of ppl refer to it as JCB(because JCB sells 2 out of 3 backhoes sold in India!). And the term is so popular that one of my friend said JCB is actually "jammer cum bulldozer"!!(Oh my god). JCB stands fo Joseph Cyril Bamford ,who founded this company which produces distinctive yellow-and-black-coloured excavators. The actual term "backhoe loader" is used very rarely.

Some of the commonly used misnomers are :
BISLERI for packed drinking water(Bisleri is a product of Parle Agro ltd)
METADOR for travel van(Metador is a product of Bajaj Tempoo ltd)
TEMPOO for Light commercial vehicle(Tempoo originates from the company name Bajaj-Tempoo ltd)
JEEP for off-road/police vehicle(Jeep is an american company belonging to Chrysler group)
cable channels were earlier called as SUN TV in many parts of Tamil nadu.
VOLVO BUS for Luxury buses in India
AIRBUS for any luxury buses(Airbus is a European aircraft company)
PARKER PEN for any costly pen
CADBURY for chocolates
i-POD for music player with display
WALKMAN for audio cassette player(Walkman is a trademark Sony corp.,Japan)
DISCMAN for CD Player(discman is a trademark Sony corp.,Japan)
and so on.....

Are Medicines really making us healthier?

The world is developing at rapid pace and the field of medicine is no
exception.We have medicines for almost all the health problems. But
are we really healthier? Comparing ourselves with people who lived,
say 100 years ago, we get a big NO as an answer.

The first thing a person does when he has a slightest hint of body
disorder is taking a medicine. He does not know which bacteria or
virus is causing the disorder. He assumes to have a disease and takes
medicine for it. If he is lucky the medicine works and he recovers
(else the story is totally different!!). But he is prone to get the same
disease again(as it was the medicine which cured him). There
after,the person constantly depends on medicines, even for the
simplest of disease. Moreover most of the common drugs have
side-effects (especially in the case of developing countries where
many drugs available in market are banned in developed countries
for their dangerous side effects).

In one way,the situation is similar to Afghan war. The U.S led
troops came and completely destroyed the Al-Qaeda. Now we find
the rebirth of Al-Qaeda and the local govt is asking for outside
help again. This would not have happened if the local government
was strong enough to counter the Al-Qaeda by itself.

Human health is not how quickly one recovers from any disorder
by taking various medicines, but how well one’s body is able to
fight the disorder by itself. Does anyone care to remember
that we have something called immune system in our body???
Our immune system has enough strength to fight against the
bacteria or viruses causing the deadliest diseases provided we give
the system time to fight the foreign organisms. But people don’t
even believe the existence of immune system, leave alone giving
time for it to fight the disease.If you don’t believe in the powers of
your body, who else will?

In those days when the medicines were not easily available people
were completely depending on their immune system. And their
immune system was strong enough to combat the common
diseases. With the development of science and technology our
dependence on medicines increased the role of immune system
decreased, which in turn decreased its strength.
By Charles Darwin`s `On the Origin of Species':

“….while individuals more suited to the environment are more
likely to survive and more likely to reproduce. The individuals
that survive are most likely to leave their inheritable traits to
future generations.”
for more details see The Origin of Species

This means that if we keep using the medicines, our immune
system becomes weaker. And this “inheritable trail” i.e. weaker
immune system will be transmitted to future generations.
This may lead to a vicious circle i.e. humans dependence on
medicines weakens the immune system which in turn increases
the dependence on medicine!! Such events can lead to
dangerous results.

This doesn`t mean that we should close all the drug companies.
There are deadly diseases (most of them created by “the
extraordinary Human intelligence”) which require medicines.
Medicines should be used only when it is beyond the human
powers to recover automatically. It should support immune
system, not take over its job. For example, If you have
a fever, give a day or two to your immune system and take
complete rest. If you are cured all by yourself, I bet you won’t
be affected by the same disease again. If it still doesn`t
cure, you need a doctor. Health is Wealth.
So take it seriously.

Is soft drink really "soft"?

The most common phrase in our college ,when some one goes to canteen is "lets have a goldcup"(goldcup is a local soft drink brand). It is probably the most sold item in our college. Does it really deserve to be a "best-seller" ?

Basically i dont prefer drinking carbonated drinks.The reason is simple: why should one consume CO2 when it is the most expelled compound from the human body. The only positive point is u are reducing the CO2 level in atmosphere thereby reducing greenhouse effect(Though it sounds good most of the CO2 which we take in is released again to the atmosphere).It sounds worse when people buy "the most expelled compound from human body" at almost 10 times the production cost!! And I am not done yet. Soft drinks are linked to lots of health related problems like obesity, diabetes, dental decay,weaker bones etc. It is also found that some soft drinks contain high levels of Carcinogen or cancer causing agents like benzene(some samples contained levels as high as 11 times the maximum allowed level during testing)
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_drink for more information

But the first time(when I was about 5 years old) I tasted a soft drink I dint like its taste. This was the main reason i dint like carbonated drinks.Probably my 'taste sensors' detected these harmful effects of carbonated drink when I first tasted it!!

The main reason people give for drinking soft drinks is that they feel great specially in a hot day. I dont drink it so I cant comment on it but even chain smokers say that they feel great when they smoke!!
So the next time you are buying a soft drink just think about it!!