February 21, 2005

Ergo, I'm noodles

But why noodles???That's a query i come across many a time and which i have always avoided to answer or at most give a completely irrelevant(read fart) answer. This is an honest attempt to answer the question.
I don't believe in fate or should i say, i don't want to believe in fate. After all, who wants to live under the impression that u r under the control of someone-be it God, even. There's nothing like being in control of urself, being able to dictate the way ur life shapes up, being ur own master. I, for one, would definitely want to be devoid of any chains tied to me.
But sometimes, things happen. You do feel that it is under ur control but still let it go. The end is, but, the same. Someone once told me, "Things happen when u least expect them". True. So very true. Perchance happenings may change the way u live, or even who u r. Or ur perception of urself and people around u.
Noodles, a perchance happening/affair/term/experience that changed me and my life. Well, almost. When feelings that i've never experienced before came tumbling down, as if they have been waiting for this one signal for ages. As if they had prior knowledge through Fate. And, i, as a silent spectator, kept on enjoying the ride, thrilled at the enchanting, enthralling sceneries i'd one dreamt of witnessing.
But, dreams r meant to mean what they r- dreams. How could i be so green as to harbour thoughts about them becoming a reality? Foolish me.Tchhh tchh.
Messed up, tangled in dreams. Nonetheless, dreams that got assimilated in my being. Gave me a direction. Became a part of me. A word that depicts a lesson well learnt. Something that signifies a loss and a gain at the same time. A paradox.
That signifies someone. And everything pertaining to her - and me.
Noodles.

February 15, 2005

A quizzical state of mind

Well, there are times like this when I try real hard to stop myself from cursing the profs. Tough indeed, it is. We are grateful to them for whatever they have done and all but when they start defying reason and sanity, students do get pained and well, I am not an exception.

Yes, I am talking about today's quiz. What's the whole point of setting a paper which no one can complete in the stipulated time? Is it a test of how much useful knowledge one has earned or a test of speed to look up some outdated steam tables? Isn’t it high time we came up with an efficient sieve for the students to pass through?

It sure doesn’t take much on the part of the individuals concerned (you do know whom I am referring to). A majority of the students have lost faith in the system, and not without reason. They have been exposed to the inherent inadequacies of the system for too long. It is pitiable to see such talented students (read US) sailing on the high seas without an apt sail.
I am, of course, not saying that all the profs are ‘give-up’; some of them still instill the confidence in us that good tidings will arrive one day. But the day seems too distant as of now. Hope we will.

P.S. As you might have seen, it is mandatory for some people to blame others when something horrifying has happened, such as today’s Power Plants’ paper. This may drive the reader into believing that the above writings have been distorted to this end. Well, that’s up to you to decide. But I still maintain that I have tried to be truthful as far as possible .

February 14, 2005

42

My hostel jersey number 42. Was wondering why it was offered to me when I found out that i had indeed come up with "The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything"!!
Thus started my journey for the answer to the Ultimate question.In wikipedia,

The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is a concept taken from Douglas Adams's science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In the story, the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is sought from the supercomputer Deep Thought. The answer given by Deep Thought leads the protagonists on a quest to discover the question which provides this answer.


Thus, i had to travel a perilous journey through such excruciating terms as Metasyntactic variables, Golgafrinchans, deep thoughts etcetera. But then, i came across...
The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk,stared into the garden and thought '42 will do' I typed it out. End of story.
Best,

Douglas Adams
Instant enlightenment!!!

"Six by nine. Forty-two."
"That's it. That's all there is."