Sampling Life!

Come On…

2012-02-11T13:29:00.001-05:00

Be Consistent!

That’s what I wanted to shout out in someone’s ears after the following happened! [Again, no words needed but due to complaints from one reader, will sneak in a few words this time… ]

Shot 10 photos in Panorama mode from the bridge part of Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA:

Back at home, imported them in MICE and it gave me this preview of the stitched panorama:

Look at the photos numbered II & III above and compare those to the left side of the stitched MICE preview! Do you see that? MICE removed the ‘spurious’ cars from the panorama and put the railings there. This sort of advanced retouching is expected of Photoshop but what MICE has done here on its own is simply amazing, brilliant, cool, damn-e-f-good or whatever adjective you wish to use.

Also, I just noticed that Windows Live Writer automatically hyperlinked the first occurrence of MICE (which I’ve instructed it to do) but not the repeats (that would be ridiculous) of the word, which is again some nice adjective worthy job! I want to say “Keep it up!” to the programmers at Microsoft but not just yet as this topic was a digression. Let’s get back to the photo-job.

So after seeing the nice preview, I obviously wanted to flaunt MICE’s ability to stitch a panorama intelligently and hit “Export to disk…”. After about 20 minutes of saving the file, I was presented with this:

Now you are welcome to utter some foul adjectives at the MS programmers on my behalf. But, let’s not go overboard; MICE did do a good job for another set of photos:

Skyline Panorama

In Sync?

2012-02-03T21:17:00.001-05:00

No words needed!

Recently, people landed on one of my posts searching for how to set table for Indian food! Amusing, was there some sort of Indian food appreciation day in Europe or something? Who knows and who cares?

Sophisticated

2012-01-28T16:24:00.001-05:00

Someone from India landed on my blog searching for “why life is so bad shayari”:

How ridiculous is that? (S)He should have searched for “why life is shayari”. An example sher to illustrate this point (have a look at the tab titled ‘Shayari’ above before reading further!):

तुम्हारी सोच के साँचे में ढल भी सकता था,
वो आदमी ही था इक दिन बदल भी सकता था।

Tumhari soch ke saanche mein dhal bhi sakta tha,
wo aadmi hi tha ik din badal bhi sakta tha.

Could have shaped in the mould of your thoughts,
Being a human, he could have been eventually cast.

-राजीव भरोल (Rajeev Bharol)

Sorry for pretending to be sophisticated. If you want to witness real sophistication, watch Sora as she teaches Natsumi what it means to be highly sophisticated!

HAHAHAHA

Volume 8

2012-01-25T21:42:00.001-05:00

of Sketchbook is now in my possession. More specifically, Sketchbook 8 [Limited Edition] w/ Illustrated Tote. YOO0000000_{°°°°°……}

Let me take you through the unpacking of the package worth $(24.04 → 24.42 → 24.79 →)25.04, which arrived from Japan in 15 days:

I was expecting Kate to be on the cover of this volume and she indeed is! Next would be the President and then finally, we’ll see Ooba as the Cover-girl. Wait, the two Sensei’s could have their turn before her… Well, we’ll have to wait.

I was expecting the whole Art Club to be here… Oh well, next time!

Now let me take a sneak peek inside the volume. Since I don’t understand the script, I will have to wait (to fully understand the strips) till the Scanlators get started on this volume (or I could bug my Superpartner to translate for me… should definitely give it a try!). But the beauty of Sketchbook is its simplicity and all this ‘tension’ is almost unnecessary as the following pages illustrate:

Sora tries to suppress a whirlpool… Natsumi is confounded as usual.

Natsumi & Daichi let their Kuro & Inuo meet… and hilarity ensues?

Nagisa is trying macro photography… with not so great results!

Best of Luck to You, anyway!

Numbers, Numbers Everywhere!

2012-01-10T17:39:00.001-05:00

Today, someone from Mexico landed on my blog after searching for… Wait for it:

Yes, can you believe that? Someone actually searched ‘solution for the sudoku from beelzebub’ and landed on this blog! Brilliant… I want to thank Ryuuhei Tamura for screwing up!

Coincidentally, I also saw a report in Nature on an article about the minimum number of entries required for a Sudoku to have a unique solution. The answer turns out to be 17 and a sample Sudoku is provided there. Guess what? A story similar to Beelzebub repeats here!

First of all, this Sudoku can not be solved logically:

Moreover, my Superpartner was able to fill-in the 16 red numbers on her own (as expected)! Second of all, it does not have a unique solution; it has a hell lot of solutions (>500!):

I feel a little bad that I’ve been giving her ‘invalid’ Sudokus to solve. Maybe I should give her a valid Sudoku for once like this one (taken from some YouTube video; don’t remember which one!):

Anyway, talking about traffic on my blog, this post has the highest number of hits; more than double the number of hits on the post below it:

Curiously, people do some quite explicit searches to end up here:

A New Year

2012-01-01T12:12:00.001-05:00

So what?

Apparently, some people don’t say, “So What?” and go along with others to parties, uh… I don’t know what else they do. But another ridiculous thing they indulge in is making resolutions:

Like eating less sweets or snacks or both as if that’ll save them from listening to others’ comments about their health;
Like exercising as if there’s no next year;
Like being polite as if the world-peace depended on just that;
Like learning something new everyday as if that’ll make them more appealing to others;
Like being more secretive as if people cared in the first place;
Like being less secretive as if people cared in the first place;
Like trying to overcome one’s phobias as if it were a life-or-death issue;
Like ranting about day-to-day stuff as if that’ll increase blog traffic.

Before I start to get self-aware, let me just wish you a very Happy New Year and point you to the photos of my recent

NYC trip

Anonymous

2011-12-25T12:31:00.001-05:00

If Nature is not Supersymmetric, then it is not as elegant as it is made out to be. –(paraphrasing) PvN

Having found my Superpartner (glossary of this paper might help), wish my name started with ‘N’… Eh… I’ll have you know, on second thought, it sort of does: it’s the name that my father uses to call me. I also remember (one of) his elder brother(s) (he, my uncle, also has a son with the same name as mine!) once telling him to stop calling me that because I was (apparently) no longer a kid. So my father, for a while, started using my ‘official’ name, which sounded weird to both of us and so he’s back to using the N-word! Anyway, enough with such trivial personal stories, I do like my current name is the moral of the story.

So, what else can I rant about in this post? Let me remind myself of one of her Superpowers: She can solve Sudokus without needing a program. In other words, She is in very friendly terms with the numbers 1-9. You may ask: How is that a superpower? I may reply: (ignoring my first reaction – I can call it whatever I like!) I gave her a Sudoku from Beelzebub Chapter 135 to solve:

Between us, this Sudoku is invalid, i.e. it doesn’t have a solution as told me by my program :

After having a go at it, she claimed to have solved it and I (obviously) did NOT believe her. She elaborated then that the Sudoku as I gave her couldn’t be solved but if one changes just the number ‘9’ in Squ.[1,3] to ‘2’, it can be solved and she showed me her solution:

I checked her solution to the modified Sudoku in my program, which told me that this new Sudoku doesn’t have a unique solution due to 3 occurrences of a (1,9) doublet (which made me think it had 3 solutions):

So I told her that her solution is one of many (just to annoy her a bit; She was already annoyed when I ‘doubted’ her ability to solve a Sudoku!) and She replied: “Yes, there are two solutions, flip 1 ⇔ 9…”.

My jaws dropped:

Merry NEWTONmas

BeLIEve…

2011-12-16T22:59:00.001-05:00

…has a lie in it!

This statement is inspired by the title of chapter 474 of Bleach. This chapter raises a lots of questions: When does a situation become too ridiculous even to witness? When does a question become irrelevant to answer? When does a person become immaterial to one’s existence? When does a cliché become too cliché to consider seriously?

“To be or not to be… That is the cliché.” -David Tenant

I’m not going to answer any of these questions but will urge you to read the above chapter of Bleach to get a glimpse of how people get excited over irrelevant, immaterial gobbledygook! If reading a manga is not your cup of tea, read this Soul Mate story for similar sentiments. This story leads to an additional question: When / Why does ‘love’ turn to ‘hate’ or more importantly, Did the author loose track of her thoughts as this story progressed? Anyway, not all of her stories are this ‘bad’! After all, she’s a publishing writer and I’m just an incoherent blogger. Here is one of her better stories: Outsourced.

IMM 6

I went to shopping today with a friend (let’s call him SM) believing in the weather forecast that Sunday will have sub-zero temperatures during the day. After I’d paid for my grocery, I stood near the gate waiting for SM to pay his grocery bill. While there, I noticed a sort of blue iridescence from the hairs of the ‘cashier’ at his check-out counter. Not having specs can fool the eyes (and brain) into believing anything but I realized after a moment that only the ends (~1-2") of her hairs were dyed blue (or dark blue) that blended ‘seamlessly’ into the blackness of the rest of her hairs. An interesting sight like this

Butterfly

Mass Photography

2011-12-03T11:29:00.001-05:00

This is not a Physics post because if it were, it wouldn’t be here, it would be on WordPress. This is actually a photography post since I’ve not written any in quite a while. But first let me rant about the fact that I don’t like writing ‘E=mc²’; I prefer ‘E=γmc²’, where γ=1/√1-β² and β=v/c. Why so? You might ask… Read this expository article here.

Now, let me get back to photography. This post contains a few tricks that I’d like to learn myself! That statement doesn’t sound OK so let me rephrase it: What I want to learn is how to capture snapshots of things behind glass-panes or plastic-panes or any transparent material for that matter when there are a lot of bulbs / tube-lights being reflected in them (including me) such that these reflections are highly minimized. See for example the photo above! And here are some more (do learn about alt texts… that’ll make my posts more enjoyable!):

From what I can tell, choosing proper angle to take the photos and carefully placed flashes can do the trick. But I neither have extra flashes nor a 3D orientation sensor with ray-tracing capabilities so I’ve got to do with just one tiny flash on my E-PL1. Standing right next to the transparent material (Why the hell would I do that? You may ask after seeing that huge bright overexposed spot at the bottom center of the photo above… How the hell am I supposed to know about that beforehand? That’s how it happened… I even adjusted the flash strength to 1/4 or lower) and positioning the camera on the ledge to stabilize it, I took the 3 shots above and as you can see, the flash screwed up the white balance in the last one (could be corrected if I’d paid a bit more attention to whatever I needed to pay more attention). Though, it did decrease the brightness of the tube-lights a bit and the shadows / reflections are also less sharp, which is a nice thing. But still the ‘navel’ bit is irritating, isn’t it? So that’s a nice trick: to combat light with light! Who could’ve thought? Well, whatever… this post is getting too full of clichés! Let’s move on… before someone gets a split.

Some more Flash Photography:

What else can I share? Oh ya… the Moon-Shots: Check this tutorial and forget what it told you to do as that advice didn’t work for me. The shutter speed of 1/200 for ISO 200 at f/16 aperture gave an underexposed spot over a black background. What worked for me was:

Finally a photo not shot by me but it features my hand so I guess I can put it up here. It was shot by him (let’s call him SjD) with his iPhone 4S:

Care for some colourful photos of

Autumn

Scorebook

2011-11-26T15:46:00.001-05:00

It’s for keeping scores obviously. But right now, I’m talking about Sketchbook’s author’s one volume endeavour: Scorebook. A new scanlator has appeared and its 6^th chapter has been uploaded here.

There is nothing much to say about this chapter. A new ‘rude’ guy appears, who also wants to be a baseball team manager but there’s no actual game of baseball to be seen anywhere. That’s because it has been already established that the author doesn’t know any rules of baseball! HaHa... hahaha… *cough*

Anyway, I just wanted to post my (5^th) new sketch of one of the Sketchbook characters. This time it’s Nagisa Kurihara with her cute cat-mouth-smile:

This sketch has been the most easiest to draw. It still took more than an hour, though! But somewhy I didn’t use the usual ‘Natural Pencil’ drawing tool in MS Paint as it didn’t feel right; instead I used the ‘Brush’ tool. That’s why the lines are much darker than earlier sketches (search for them if you like by clicking on the ‘Sketchbook’ label below) and so overall this sketch has a different feel to it. A warm & fluffy feeling! Basically, the word / phrase Minamo uses to describe Sora’s sketches in 8th episode of the Anime. I’m definitely not claiming to be as good as Sora… When you start feeling inferior to fictional characters, you know you’ve hit rock-bottom! Anyway, find the original photo

here to compare.

Physics & Lyrics

2011-11-13T11:13:00.001-05:00

How many times have you read a poem (or listened to a song) about Scientific terms and concepts? Maybe 2 or 3 or for some, it may even be a negative number. So, this post is dedicated to making that number increase by 1.

You must know about Initial Value Problems (IVP) & Boundary Value Problems (BVP), right? You don’t? Ohh… then the following sher will define these for you:

वो अंजाम की इब्तिदा चाहता है
मैं आग़ाज़ का इर्तिक़ा चाहता हूँ

Wo anjaam ki ibtida chaahata hai
Main aagaaz ka irtika chaahata hun

(S)He wants the beginning of the end
I want an evolution of the beginning

-शीन काफ़ 'निज़ाम' (Sheen Kaaf ‘Nizaam’)

For Urdu-illiterate people like me, the main four words appearing in the above sher need to be translated to simpler terms, which I do now:

अंजाम = अन्त (End)
इब्तिदा = प्रारम्भ (Beginning)
आग़ाज़ = प्रारम्भ (Beginning)
इर्तिक़ा = विकास, प्रगति (Development, Progress)

Everything above in Hindi is reproduced from the following book, which has inspired a few posts (actually, this cover image should have already appeared in earlier ones!):

Now it should be obvious that those two lines define IVP & BVP. IVP is defined by the second line, which basically means give me the initial conditions of the system and I’ll predict what happens next or in passive voice: how does a system evolve given its starting configuration? That means BVP is defined by the first line, which tells you to give me the initial and final conditions and I’ll find a ‘path’ which connects those two or in passive voice: how does a system go from a given starting configuration to a given final configuration?

Isn’t the sher beautiful & profoundly deep? Wait… What? You want real, physical examples of such problems now? Oh come on, don’t ask a theoretical physicist for physical examples, I’m not a phenomenologist! Anyway, that was just a joke I’ve been trying to get out of my system for a long time. Then, let me give a very simple example… IVP: You earn X amount of money, so what will you do with it? BVP: You earn X amount of money per unit time and you want to buy something that costs Y(~3X), so how’ll you go about the purchase? Hope that helps!

The eternal question a human faces over the duration of his lifetime (or even after-lifetime) is “What does one want?”. And in my view, the following (un-translate-able) sher captures that emotion very well:

दुआ को उठा तो दिये हाथ लेकिन
ख़ुदा जाने क्या मांगना चाहता हूँ
-शीन काफ़ 'निज़ाम'

The answer simply is “Nobody knows!”. If someone wants to give the above Sher’s translation a try, be my guest and comment. I leave you with another beautiful Ghazal regarding

Love, Pain & the Likes

End of a Lifetime…

2011-11-12T06:57:00.001-05:00

…or so it seems. Yes, the last chapter of volume 7 of Sketchbook has been finally scanlated and it is a collection of usual themes with Asakura-Sensei in focus.

We start with a thumbs-up by Asakura-Sensei and a panel with Sora about Imitation. Then we move on to Frugality of Hazuki (a typo on that page: ‘on’ → ‘one’), Strength of Asaka (Hilarious reaction of Kokage’s), Magic of Asakura-Sensei (& Kasugano-Sensei just being herself over 2½ pages), ‘Analytic abilities’ of Kate (with help from Juju, Nagisa, Negishi, Kokage & Natsumi over 1½ pages), Revelation of Negishi (that Asaka dislikes peas ~~Spoiler Alert~~) and Ryou & Fuu being the ever-wonderful SuzuKaze Combo!

Since volume 8 will be released in Jan’12, it will most probably reach the scanlators in Feb’12 and they will probably start in March’12 to do their ‘job’ and if I’m lucky, we may be able to see the new chapter(s) in April’12… Wow, ≥5 months wait! Not that bad, considering there are authors who go on hiatus for months / years like Hayao Miyazaki did with his manga ‘Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind’! A personal translator would also be not that bad! Anyway, here’s the full chapter:

Sketchbook V7Ch101

It’s That Time Again!

2011-10-25T22:58:00.001-04:00

Happy Diwali / Tihar to whoever’s reading this. To those who want a native expression, here it is:

तिहारको उपलक्ष्यमा तपाईंलाई हार्दिक मंगलमय शुभकामना!

दीवाली के अवसर पर आपको हार्दिक शुभकामनाएँ!

or in short:

शुभ दीपावली

Unlike last year, I’m not at Home. So, I neither have access to Sweets not fire-crackers. Which is when Sketchbook comes handy; not so much for Sweets but definitely for fire-crackers. “Why?”, I hear you ask. To figure out the reason, you’ll have to watch Sketchbook ~Full Color’s~ Episode 3 and Episode 6 till the end! Do that and come back to read the rest of this post. Go on, I’ll wait…

.·˙
˙·.
.·˙
˙·.

Now that you understand the reason, let us move on to some heart-warming poetry in these cold times. As always, first check out the “Shayari” tab located above. This sher is dedicated to those who’ve partners to worry about:

ये सोचना गलत है की तुम पर नज़र नहीं
मशरूफ़ हम बहुत हैं मगर बेखबर नहीं

Ye sochna galat hai ki tum par nazar nahin
Mashroof ham bahut hai magar bekhabar nahin

It is wrong to think I don’t notice you
I am definitely busy but not unaware

-आलोक श्रीवास्तव (Aalok Shrivastav)

“Unaware” as in unaware of your existence! Okay, now let’s move on to some commentary on politics:

अड़े थे ज़िद पे की सूरज बना के छोड़ेंगे
पसीने छुट गए एक दिया बनाने में

Ade the zid pe ki sooraj bana ke chhodenge
Paseene chhut gaye ek diya banane mein

They iterated stubbornly that a Sun will be created
They’re bathed in sweat while creating a mere lamp

ये चंद लोग जो बस्ती में सबसे अच्छे हैं
इन्ही का हाथ है मुझको बुरा बनाने में

Ye chand log jo basti mein sabse achhe hain
Inhi ka haath hai mujhko bura banane mein

These few good people in village
Are the reason I turned out bad

-राहत इंदोरी (Raahat Indori)

Lastly, remembering some lost love(s):

मुझे वो छोड़ गया, ये कमाल है उसका
इरादा मैंने किया था की छोड़ दूंगा उसे

Mujhe wo chhod gaya, ye kamaal hai uska
Iraada maine kiya tha ki chhod dunga use

(S)He left me, which is a miracle
I had decided to do the same

पसीने बांटता फिरता है हर तरफ सूरज
कभी जो हाथ लगा तो निचोड़ दूंगा उसे

Paseene baant.ta phirta hai har taraf sooraj
Kabhi jo haath laga to nichod dunga use

The Sun keeps dispensing sweat all over the world
If I ever get my hands on it, I’ll surely wring it dry

-राहत इंदोरी (Raahat Indori)

Let me end this post with more Fireworks:

Sketchbook V1 Ch09

Leave Us Be

2011-10-21T19:40:00.001-04:00

Bill Bailey dedicates a song to Rats

Rats! Rats! Will you forgive us for treating your brethren so cruelly

Rats! Rats! Please will you give us a sign to say you’ll leave us be

You scurry through cellar and Lofoten Green Gables

You gnaw at my conscience and you gnaw through my … cables

You brought us typhus and bubonic plague

But you’re still more welcome than William Hague

Rats! Rats! Our closest companions

Scurrying beneath us with hate in your eyes

Rats! Rats! In these urban canyons

Our fates are entwined like Chaka Demus and Pliers

Twangggg

-Bill Bailey

Since the most visited post of my blog of all time is a poem by Bill Bailey, I thought I’d put up more of his work! As of this post, that poem has 233 hits and the second most popular post has 120 hits! Anyway, here’s one more song by him:

The Devil’s Chord

Interpretation

2011-10-08T17:25:00.001-04:00

[Warning: This post contains Shayari. Read on only after you’ve read the page contained in the tab titled “Shayari” above.]

How do you interpret things? Obviously, that’s a very vague & dumb question but here’s a global example of varied interpretations of the ‘same thing’:

सामने है जो उसे लोग बुरा कहते हैं
जिसको देखा ही नहीं उसको खुदा कहते हैं

Saamne hai jo use log bura kahte hain
Jisko dekha hi nahin usko khuda kahte hain

Physical presence is dubbed Bad by them
Notion of invisibility is dubbed God by them

-सुदर्शन 'फ़ाकीर' (Sudarshan 'Faaqir')

Such global things are not that interesting so let’s analyze things at a local level. People tend to go on about friendship, relationship, ship-in-trouble, etc. So here’s a Sher depicting such stuff:

दोस्तों से न गिला है न शिकायत है ‘सिया’
क्यों के मैं अपनों से उम्मीद ही कम रखती हूँ

Doston se na gila hai na shikaayat hai ‘Siya’
Kyon ke main apnon se ummeed hi kam rakhti hun

No regrets or complaints to register with friends, ‘Siya’
Because I do not have high expectations from them

-सिया सचदेव (Siya Sachdev)

Now, many of you may disagree with the interpretation of ‘friendship’ depicted in this Sher. Maybe because you’ve been disappointed and thinking of beating the crap out of one of your ‘friends’ as (s)he forgot to congratulate you on an important day in your life – the day when you successfully added the integer ‘1’ with units ‘year’ to your existence!

However, I don’t interpret this Sher in such a pessimistic view. I rather take on an optimistic (or realistic) view which is: Those that can be labelled as ‘friends’ don’t leave much in the realm of unexpected and hence no need for regret and / or complaints to bog you down for the rest of your life. Projecting the earlier example on this view tells you that most probably one of your ‘friends’ did not want to remind you of your helpless mortality. Think about that… It’s deep!

Now that I’ve alienated most of my readers and those of you who at least will finish this post before never coming back, let me dedicate the following beautiful Ghazal by Nawaaz Deobandi (even the translation follows most of the rhyming rules of a Ghazal and hence is almost a Ghazal) to you:

तुम नज़र से नज़र मिलाते तो
बात करते न मुस्कुराते तो

Tum nazar se nazar milaate to
Baat karte na muskuraate to

Had you looked into my eyes then
Spent not a word, just a smile then

इख्तलाफ़ात होते रहते हैं
आना जाना था आते जाते तो

Ikhtalaafaat hote rahte hain
Aana jaana tha aate jaate to

Differences do pop up once in a while
As in the past, visit once in a while then

दोस्ती में अना नहीं चलती
खुद न आते कभी बुलाते तो

Dosti mein ana nahin chalti
Khud na aate kabhi bulaate to

Arrogance doesn’t go far in friendship
If you refuse to visit, maybe I’ll then

चाँदनी रात सिसकियाँ भरतीं
तुम ज़रा अपनी छत पे आते तो

Chaandni raat siskiyaan bharteen
Tum zara apni chhat pe aate to

The moonlit night would have sighed
At your arrival on roof for a while then

भूलते शौक से हमें लेकिन
भूलने का हुनर बताते तो

Bhoolte shauk se hamein lekin
Bhoolne ka hunar bataate to

Feel free forgetting me but
Teach me this life style then

आ भी जाओ की हम बुलाते हैं
तुम बुलाते जो हम न आते तो

Aa bhi jaao ki hum bulaate hain
Tum bulaate jo ham na aate to

Do come as I am at least calling you
If you called ’n I didn’t compile then

-नवाज़ देवबन्दी (Nawaaz Deobandi)

As always, I thank DQ for spending about an hour on phone to help me get the translations correct and be meaningful. I am also grateful to him in indulging my whim to get the translation qualify as a Ghazal too but in the process stopping me using the word ‘(be)guile’ in the very first line of the Ghazal! After I told him that there’s a site where one can find rhyming words, he remarked that now ‘Internet’ allows any ‘dum-bass’ to become a poet! He also made me realize that I shouldn’t be using the words ‘daughters’ & ‘dogs’ with the same level of priority in the same sentence.

This post was inspired by (& is full of) Sketchbook-inspired anecdote(s) from my life but don’t let that bother you. Instead, I’ll let you hear the

Full Ghazal

Centurium

2011-09-30T20:30:00.001-04:00

The title of this post is a portmanteau word made up of Century + Millennium because it feels like a millennium has passed before the appearance of the 100^th chapter of Sketchbook.

This chapter of Sketchbook did not feature the usual Art Club members at all! It featured the unusual (last but not the least kind) Art Club member Ooba Tsukiyo & Outsiders. Ooba starts the chapter with a cool & proud pose, which reminds me of Dante from Sket Dance:

Then, over a handful of pages, outsiders gather and some are rather proud of it:

On the last page of the chapter, we’re given a summary of the whole chapter by “our beloved” Kasugano-Sensei:

The last panel includes another strikingly cool pose by

Ooba Tsukiyo

Lucu Lucu

2011-09-25T20:07:00.001-04:00

is Lucifer. I finally figured that out at the very end of the manga. When only 2 or 3 chapters were left to read, ‘that’ page (I’ve forgotten which one now!) reminded me of Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” and the name “Lucifer” popped up in my mind. Anyway, the manga got a little fast-paced towards the end (after 6^th volume) and a lot of (or few) questions were deliberately left unanswered while the author (or Lucu Lucu) ‘kept winking’ at the reader to figure it out by themselves! Not a bad ending for a series that had a ‘Slice of Life’ feel.

Speaking of endings, Nichijou (the anime) also ended yesterday after 26 hilarious episodes. It’s ending was a pure ‘Slice of Life’ ending and the fourth wall was never broken in an attempt to convey the end of series, which was done in Sketchbook with too many blatant cues that I felt like crying (metaphorically, not literally). This means I’ve to update my Anime/Manga list once again…

Speaking of reminiscences, here are four lines (most probably they qualify as Shers) cooked up by my (cousin?) sister (identified as R in this post):

हर लम्हा हर पल एक याद बन जाता है
खुली किताब में एक किस्सा बन जाता है

Har lamha har pal ek yaad ban jaata hai
Khuli kitaab mein ek kissa ban jaata hai

Every moment gets memorized
As an anecdote in an open book

जीने को तो हरदम जीते हैं इस एक पल में
ये पल यकीनन उसका हिस्सा बन जाता है

Jeene ko to hardam jeete hain is ek pal mein
Ye pal yakinan uska hissa ban jaata hai

Lives are spent in this one moment
Each moment is trapped in its nook

-विषालिका (Vishalika)

The last line in her original version of the second ‘sher’ was too long along with an explicit mention of the ‘book’. I replaced it with the pronoun ‘its (उसका)’ and removed other ‘clutter’ to shorten the line. Since she ‘liked’ the ‘mutilated sher’, the meaning must have not been lost in transition. (At least in the Hindi version; I didn’t show her my English translations!)

If you want to read ‘pure & high-quality’ Shers, check out the

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Sheen Kaaf Nizaam’s Shayari–II

2011-09-23T19:46:00.001-04:00

As foretold in the previous installment, here’s a second one. Also as mentioned there, do go through the tab titled “Shayari” before reading any further and this translation too requires mentioning Thanks to DQ.

I’ve removed two Shers from the following translated Ghazal because I don’t know a word’s meaning in one sher and the other one being “Urdu-heavy” was not very “translator-friendly”! So let’s enjoy the rest of the Ghazal:

मकानों के थे या ज़मानों के थे
अजब फ़ासले दर्मियानों के थे

Makaanon ke the ya jamaanon ke the
Ajab faasle darmiyaanon ke the

Were they space-like or were they time-like
Weird separations of the intervals, they were

This particular translation will be appreciated by physicists more than other mere mortals.

थे वहमों के कुछ, कुछ गुमानों के थे
सभी अपने अपने ठिकानों के थे

The wahamon ke kuch, kuch gumaanon ke the
Sabhi apne apne thikaanon ke the

Some due to doubts, some due to pride
All of their very own abodes, they were

खुली आँख तो सामने कुछ न था
वो मंज़र तो सारे उड़ानों के थे

Khuli aankh to saamne kuch na tha
Wo manzar to saare udaanon ke the

Nothing before the now open eyes
The scenery of all flights, they were

मुसाफ़िर की नज़रें बुलन्दी प' थीं
मगर रास्ते सब ढलानों के थे

Musaafir ki nazaren bulandi pa’ theen
Magar raaste sab dhalaanon ke the

The traveller had eyes on his ascent
The roads but of descent, they were

पकड़ना उन्हें कुछ ज़रूरी न था
परिंदे सभी आशियानों के थे

Pakadna unhen kuch zaroori na tha
Parinde sabhi aashiyaanon ke the

It was not necessary to bind them
All birds were residents, they were

उन्हें ढूंढ़ने तुम कहां चल दिये
वो किरदार तो दास्तानों के थे

Unhen dhoondhne tum kahan chal diye
Wo kirdaar to daastaanon ke the

Where will you go search for them
The characters of fiction, they were

-शीन काफ़ ‘निज़ाम’ (Sheen Kaaf ‘Nizaam’)

One sher on Anubhuti-Hindi.org has sentiments ‘similar’ to the fourth sher above! So I present a translation of that sher also:

हैं निगाहें बुलन्दियों पे मेरी,
क्या हुआ पाँव गर ढलान पे है

Hain nigaahen bulandiyon pe meri,
kya hua paanv gar dhalaan pe hai

My eyes are focussed on ascent,
Who cares if my feet are on descent

-नीरज गोस्वामी (Neeraj Goswaami)

Bold words there… Very Bold!

Recitation

Beginning of the End

2011-09-10T17:11:00.001-04:00

How can it be correct if it isn’t even consistent.

–Warren Siegel

That title may feel a bit odd at first but by the end of this post, it will still feel so. Anyway, I’ll be talking about beginnings of a few shows/series in this post:

First of all, I started to read a new ‘Slice of Life’ manga (like Sketchbook) titled “Lucu Lucu”. It has a weird theme but if you ignore that, it is quite enjoyable. Well, even if you don’t ignore the theme (where demons are the ‘good guys’ & angels are the ‘bad’ ones), it is still relaxing & calming very much like another SoL manga titled “Yotsuba&!”.

Second of all, new episodes of two British panel shows have started airing again: “QI” Series I (‘I’ as in 9) featuring Stephen Fry & Alan Davies and “Would I Lie to You?” Series 5 featuring David Mitchell, Lee Mack & Rob Brydon. These series basically point to the beginning of the end of this year (if you are too picky in wanting to connect the body of this post to the title!).

Third of all and the most important one that gave me the idea for this post is the beginning of the scanlation of a ‘Samurai-based action comedy’ manga (the genre which includes gems like Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Samurai Champloo) titled “Samurai Usagi”. The scanlation stopped in 2008 and a new group picked it up nearly a month ago after more or less 3 years as seen on this page, which makes me happy that there are some ‘kind’ souls existing even today. [But, where are they when it concerns “Embalming”? Though, I think the absence of new chapters may be due to some other factors too!]

So, there you have it: a list of things that can keep you occupied till the end of (and beyond) this year. You may as well start with

Lucu Lucu

Coercion

2011-08-27T14:38:00.001-04:00

So you are sitting there peacefully waiting for the sweets to arrive but when they arrive they aren’t put in the plate, instead a hand supports the back of your head and the other hand shoves the sweet(s) in your face. When you refuse to let the sweet(s) be delivered in your mouth like that, the person asks, “What’s Your Problem?”. [This scenario is pretty much common in Indian weddings or at least those few that I’ve had the misfortune to attend.] Thus, proving the said person (‘it’ will be substituted from now on) has no concept of irony.

Similar situations arise when it asks you to sing or dance or play or participate in any such activity you loathe or are, in the very least, disinterested in exerting yourself. Obviously, such irrelevant trivialities are not really worth anyone’s time apart from a few eloquent professionals, who sometimes choose to speak on other people’s behalf. For example, Surendra Sharma does so on behalf of all the husbands! That’s why, I fill the following space with a David Mitchell Rant:

DM’s Refusal Rant

More of his Rants

Sheen Kaaf Nizaam’s Shayari–I

2011-08-20T19:59:00.001-04:00

I recently got hold of two Ghazal collections by Sheen Kaaf ‘Nizaam’: “रास्ता ये कहीं नहीं जाता (Raasta ye Kahin Nahin Jaata) [This Road Leads Nowhere]” and “सायों के साए में (Saayon ke Saaé mein) [In Shadows’ Shadow]”. Both of them have more or less the same set of Ghazals apart from the 25 or so that appear only in the former. Also, the extra materials in them are different; former has दोहे (Dohe) and the latter has नज़्में (Nazmein). So, it doesn’t feel like a total rip-off!

I’ve thought of compiling the most beautiful Shers (to me) in a few posts along with my English translations of them in the upcoming months. But today I present a full Ghazal. This Ghazal (in my opinion) is about small, almost insignificant things happening around you that when noticed (consciously or unconsciously) give you pleasure. This is very much the spirit & essence of Sketchbook and so I dedicate the following Ghazal to fellow Sketchbook readers specifically Louie W.

In the translation below, I’ve used “he” & its derivatives as implied in the original Shers. But if you’re ‘picky’ like PJ, you are free to substitute “she” & its derivatives as you read along. But before you read it, go through this disclaimer for your own good, which is also accessible by clicking on the tab marked “Shayari” on the top of this page.

Let’s Start Now (with thanks to DQ for proofreading the translations):

रास्ते में वो मिला अच्छा लगा
सूना-सूना रास्ता अच्छा लगा

Raaste mein wo mila achha laga
Soona-soona raasta achha laga

Met him on the road, Felt so good
The solitary lonely road Felt so good

उस ने जाने क्या कहा अच्छा लगा
रूकते रूकते बोलना अच्छा लगा

Us ne jaane kya kaha achha laga
Rukte rukte bolna achha laga

What did he really say? Felt so good
The slow stammering talk Felt so good

अपना चेहरा आज क्या अच्छा लगा
बादे-मुद्दत आईना अच्छा लगा

Apna chehra aaj kya achha laga
Baade-muddat aaeena achha laga

My face today, how it Felt so good
After ages the mirror Felt so good

कितने शिकवे थे मुझे तक़दीर से
आज किस्मत का लिखा अच्छा लगा

Kitne shikwe the mujhe taqdeer se
Aaj kismat ka likha achha laga

I had endless gripes with fate
Today destiny’s writ Felt so good

मुझ में क्या है मुझ को कब मालूम है
उस से पूछो उस को क्या अच्छा लगा

Mujh mein kya hai mujh ko kab maloom hai
Us se pucho us ko kya achha laga

When do I know what lies in me
Ask him about what he Felt so good

उस की सूरत से लगा मुझ को 'निज़ाम'
उस को मेरा देखना अच्छा लगा

Us ki soorat se laga mujh ko ‘Nizaam’
Us ko mera dekhna achha laga

His face hints me, ‘O! Nizaam’
To him, my glance Felt so good

-शीन काफ़ 'निज़ाम' (Sheen Kaaf ‘Nizaam’)

Here’s a video with SKN’s recital of first $3$ Shers, which are technically called मतला (Matla), of the above Ghazal (they are at the very end):

SKN’s Shayari

More of His Shayari

(Mis)Adventure

2011-08-13T13:43:00.001-04:00

As some of you might know, I went to Mathematica Summer School held at Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Here are the photos to prove that. Getting there was an adventure but not as much as getting back to Stony Brook, which was more of a misadventure.

Here’s how that fated day started: My room mate & fellow school attendee & fellow traveller & colleague & batch mate & etc. – Lets call him PILC – asked me (at 7AM) if we are taking the 8AM bus to the airport. I said I thought we agreed to take 11AM bus (which would reach the airport at noon) since our flight is at 2PM. He agreed and went back to sleep.

That’s that. Fast forward to 11AM. The bus is not here. 11:15AM, Bus Not Here. 11:30AM, Bus Still Not Here. There were about a dozen people waiting for the bus, none had any serious issues with bus being late apart from us (me & PL). We (I mean he) phoned the bus company – no answer, Perimeter (they’d organized the bus service) – no answer; Because it was a Sunday. Hunt for the emails/phone numbers of the organizers started. Hunt was successful, Connection established by 11:45AM.

PL is now in full-on chatting mode with the organizers and they are in full-on info-gathering mode from the secretary who arranged the buses. And we learn that the bus company claims, “The bus was there from 10:45-11:05AM. Nobody showed up. The bus left.” How the Hell is that possible when I (& others) had a full-view of the parking space since 10AM and a Yellow bus standing there for 20 minutes is not at all possible to miss. (The same parking space where the bus at 8AM parked!) This reminds me of this anecdote:

Confusion, Misunderstanding and so on…

Sorry for the interruption. So, PL ‘convinces’ them to send another bus for others who didn’t have much to worry about and to take care of our taxi fare. By this time, it’s more or less noon. Let me remind you of something. This (noon) was the time we were supposed to be at the airport or to put this in PL’s words: “We board the bus at 11. We reach the airport by 12. We check-in and I eat a hot dog there while waiting for the flight. This was the plan I made in my head in the morning!”

Anyway, I (by this, I really mean ‘I’) ask the guy (A) at the reception desk (of Ron Eydt Village; you’d recognize this name if you’d watched the photos linked above) to call a taxi and he does. A taxi arrives in 5 minutes (~12:05) and someone gets in. OK, Let’s wait for our taxi… We’ll get in another taxi… Hell, there’s no taxi coming; It’s 12:12 already. I ask A to call a taxi again; he does and one more taxi arrives by 12:20. We get in, PL swipes his card and by 12:24 we are moving towards the airport. Let me repeat something: A taxi arrived within 5 minutes of our calling one and SOMEBODY ELSE got in! (In PL’s words: “What an ***####!”)

Now, by a straightforward calculation, we’ll reach the airport around 1:25PM (if the ‘traffic cooperates’), a mere half-an-hour before the flight’s STD – to put this in perspective, I once again use PL’s words: “Mission Impossible”!

The driver was ‘fearlessly’ driving the taxi at 120 Km/hr. As we were nearing the airport, We had to choose the terminal: 1 or 3. We missed the boards that displayed the terminals corresponding to the departing airlines. We (by that I mean me) chose 3 (that’s where we’d landed a week earlier) and that was the right choice. We did make it to the airport terminal in an hour. We got out of the taxi, ran inside the terminal and in a dazed search for the check-in counter, fell flat on the floor (just me not PL).

After a quick recovery, we break in a line and ask a lady ‘officer’ to let us in for a flight departing in 33 minutes. We are bluntly refused with a ‘fact’ about 1-hour cut-off and are asked to get in another queue for a later flight. This is the sort of time & place where an Indian can complain to no end and I’ll just put in PL’s sentiments (which may sound very much Indian to those who’ve never met PL): “We could’ve definitely made it to the flight in half an hour. If I’d talked to the lady in Spanish, we’d definitely have boarded that plane. But, what can we do now? Just complain!”

So, we stood in another queue to get on another plane. This queue had all sorts of people trying to get to all sorts of places, like Dallas & Miami. The line was shrinking faster with everyone in front of us & behind us taking a flight. Just Not Us. After an eternity or so, we landed on the check-in counter (wo)manned by the same ‘officer’ and she put us on another flight at 5:40PM (by giving us seat-less boarding passes) without asking any ‘dumb’ questions. We filled the forms, security checked and immigration checked and sat down to wait for our second flight. It was ~3PM now.

Fast Forward again to 4:30PM, we rose from our seats and went towards the Gate B6. PL got some food for himself and after finishing his sandwich (I guess he didn’t like the hot dogs there), he went and asked what should we do with our seat-less boarding passes. The lady officer there asked us to wait for a moment while she checked for empty seats. After ~15 minutes, she came back and called us to say that the 5:40 flight to JFK, NY seems full but the flight going to LaGuardia Airport, NY at 5:29 has at least two seats available. PL without losing a moment said we’ll take that offer. His reasoning: Once we get to NY, we can figure out how to get to Stony Brook.

But (there’s always a but) he had a checked-in baggage so he asked her about it and she said she knows about it. She asked someone from her walkie-talkie to locate a green bag (How did she know the colour of the bag? I can not get my head around that!) with a tag number, which she recited on the phone. Then we moved nearer to the gate for the 5:29 flight and they gave us new boarding passes.Over the walkie-talkie, they confirmed that PL’s bag was located and transferred from one flight to another. We were asked to hurry and get on the (third) flight (of the day). This transition went smoothly and we were headed to LGA. As PL pointed out, we were impressed with the coordination of American Airlines’ Ground Personnel: “Do you have the bag? Yes. Get it to another Plane. Done. Hurry & Board the plane.” YOOO…

The LGA is bordered by water (on some sides, see the map below) so it felt like the plane was going to land on water until the last moment when it hit the runway on land. A great scene to remember. Since we had already went through Immigration in Canada, we were headed directly to the baggage claim and outside the airport after deplaning the plane. PL had been at this airport earlier and knew that we’d to take a taxi to Jamaica train station – the same station connected by AirTrain to JFK, which would cost $ \$ 5 $ each but the taxi cost us $ \$ 10 $ each. So overall, we lost 3½ hours and $ \$ 5$. Not bad for jumping two flights! We took the taxi and it seemed like we were on another mission impossible in trying to catch the 7:46 train to Stony Brook. This taxi driver was also good and we were at the station by 7:42.

We ran around trying to figure out the platform, went a little too far, traced our steps back: It’s platform #7. We ran up the stairs and saw a train whizzing past us. It was 7:44. We sighed and saw another train slowly coming in the platform with words ‘Huntington’ lighting up on its side. PL exclaimed ‘YES!’ and that word resounded deeply in my brain too as we had made it… we’d made the Mission Impossible Possible. (Huntington is the station where we change to another train to SB) It was 7:45 when the train stopped, 7:46 when we settled on the seats and 7:47 when the train started moving. At that moment, PL said, “We could’ve been 1 minute late!”. Well, that (being late) is something I’d had enough for a day and am never repeating it in the near future.

LaGuardia Airport

Stag Beetle

2011-08-03T10:42:00.001-04:00

Ready to Wrestle!!!

I don’t know how small is the Stag Beetle in the first photo but you can start by searching Wikipedia for

Rhinoceros Beetle

P-chan

2011-07-28T17:48:00.001-04:00

I was reminded of this Sketchbook strip:

after having glanced at this video’s title:

Ooba’s Experiment in ‘Real Life’

Get Smarter…

×××Holic

2011-07-23T13:05:00.001-04:00

I just noticed that this manga has ended (it ended in Feb’11) with the most open-ended end of any story I’ve had ever read, watched or heard including some of the Pakistani shows broadcast on Nepal’s only TV channel in the early 90s and that is saying something about the open-ended-ness of this manga!

So should you read it (or watch it as anime adaptations are also available)? Definitely, it is a nice story (obviously, I’d say that otherwise I’ve to admit I ‘wasted’ years reading this manga!) even with the open-ended end. Actually, now that I think about it, Stephen Fry’s Kingdom comes very close to such open-ended-ness but you can get over, “Who is Peter Kingdom?”, after a minute of the end of the last episode. However, you cannot get over, “What is Watanuki going to do now?” or “When is the right time for Doumeki to use the egg?” or “What the hell is that egg in the first place?”, even after months of reading the last chapter!

Nothing is a coincidence. It’s Hitsuzen! –Yuuko Ichihara

Sunset

2011-07-23T11:28:00.001-04:00

Two of the Sunset photos I shot at West Meadow Beach were published.

There’s also a small poem about sunset on that page:

SUNSET
I wonder why when you say goodbye
beautiful colours paint the sky.
Shades of orange, yellow and pink too
all come out because of you.
And although I hate to see you go,
I really do enjoy the show.
I've seen you leave so many times
and still it's a favourite sight of mine.
There'll be no sadness, be no sorrow
because my sun, you'll come out tomorrow.
I won't feel hurt, I'll feel no pain
because on your way down, your colours will reign.
– Adoni Marcano

BTW, Who is Adoni Marcano?

Dreams

2011-07-10T14:10:00.001-04:00

I thought I was the only one having weird dreams, like the one I had yesterday in which Prof. Siegel (finally?) bought an iPhone! Here’s a proof that others also have equally weird dreams:

Call Me…

2011-07-08T23:13:00.001-04:00

So Sketchbook Vol7 Ch98 is dedicated to Minamo’s visit to the Art Club! Conspicuously missing characters are Natsumi, Hazuki (these two appeared in the last chapter, though), Kate, Asaka & President (what’s his name again? just kidding!) Ujou; considering that Tsukiyo makes an appearance:

The usual theme of her forget-ability is being exploited here but the beginning of this chapter has that theme applied to Minamo too! That sheds some new light on Juju’s character, which apparently even Nagisa was unaware of. As in the anime, Daichi questions his sister’s presence here too. RyouFuu combo take hold of ‘easily-scared-by-ghosts’ Kokage’s favourite place and even succeed in sneaking their own signature strip.

As you might have noticed by now, I’ve written the names of all the Art Club members except one. Yes, you guessed it… it’s the most important name but instead of me writing her name down, I’ll let her speak for herself:

Timing is Everything…

2011-07-04T14:00:00.001-04:00

…or so they say! And most probably, they are right. It is also fair to say that my timing is pathetic (my mother is too ‘happy’ to confirm that) as seen in some of the events last year. I bring this subject up today because of the release of Sketchbook Vol7 Ch97 in which there are two jokes so deep that it took me considerable amount of time to understand them completely.

One of them is about “Timing” itself on P98 involving Minamo Negishi. Yes, you read that right! She ‘finally’ appears in the Manga after two years (as the author points out in Notes at the end of this chapter!) of her appearance in the Anime (Wiki, as of this post’s posting time, says she is original to the anime):

Another one is a (very deep) pun on P104 involving Kokage Kuga. Oh boy! She can be quite abstract, while using the same theme, in full contrast to Kate! Read the left one (Glasses) first:

Speaking of timing, I was photographing Sunset, day before yesterday and yesterday I went to

West Meadow Beach

Change(s)

2011-07-02T11:40:00.001-04:00

It seems Sora is spending a lot of time with Kuga-Senpai!

Flashing Flash

2011-06-25T18:42:00.001-04:00

Before we start ‘learning’ about ‘flash photography’, let me say that my blog now supports $\LaTeX$, which is even better than that at wordpress! Here’s an example: “I‘ve bought the Panasonic $μ\frac{4}{3}$ Lens mentioned in my earlier post.” You may ask how is this better than WP? Well, apart from the obvious background issue, I just typed ‘μ\frac{4}{3}’ between two dollar signs here whereas at WP, I’d have to type ‘latex \mu\frac{4}{3}’ between the dollars!

Now, lets get back to flash photography. So when should you use it? …How the hell would I know that? It’s your flash and they’re your photos… you choose when to use it! But I’m in a good mood today so here are some general guidelines, if you like theoretical knowledge as much as I do.

So how does flash alter photographs? Obviously, it increases the light input to the sensor (in right conditions) and accentuates certain ‘reflective’ elements of the scene. (For those technologically-challenged souls who don’t know about ‘Alt Texts’: Hover the cursor on the photos to uncover hidden truths!)

OR, it can also hide ‘background’ elements of the scenery!

More example shots taken with the new lens follow after a small Panasonic sponsored rant: This lens is virtually distortion free and the focusing is almost silent & too damn fast – It feels like the lens focuses even before the shutter button gets to the half-way point! During my first few shots, I kept ending up pressing the shutter button fully thinking that the lens was mal-functioning but was actually taking properly focused shots. However, switching from the Olympus kit lens to the new Panasonic lens is literally a burden as (it feels like) it alone weighs (380g) almost as much as the combined weight (473g) of the camera body (340g) + the kit lens (133g)!

As you can see, the images have negligible (if any) distortion. At this point, in-Camera IS not able to keep up so zoomed out a bit and turned off the flash to see the background:

This photo is again a proof of the lens being virtually distortion free as straight lines appear straight without any ‘post-straightening’. Finally, I end this post with what it means to zoom from 45mm to 200mm:

Latex on Blogger

Teasing…

2011-06-18T16:44:00.001-04:00

Even Sora does it, Yooooo!!! Disclaimer: Teasing is strictly discouraged on this blog.

Incomplete…

2011-06-04T16:17:00.001-04:00

The usual Disclaimers about my translations of shers apply here also.

The following sher is part of the first ghazal in this post!

मैं उसका हो नहीं सकता बता न देना उसे
सुनेगा तो लकीरें हाथ की अपनी जला लेगा

Main uska ho nahin sakta bata na dena use
Sunega to lakirein haath ki apni jala lega

Don’t tell him of my inability to be with him
He may burn his palm-lines in its aftermath!

– वसीम बरेलवी (Waseem Barelvi)

I translated the following sher because it feels grand as it has an instance of यमक अलंकार (Yamak Alankaar) in it. It is a figure of speech in (at least, Hindi) poetry where a phonetically same word [पर (par)] is used with different meanings [‘on’ & ‘wings’] in the same line or so. I have tried to retain this effect by using the idiom ‘to take wing’ for ‘flight’ in my translation below. Irrespective of my ‘grand’ knowledge of Alankaars, I don’t know the exact meaning of the (most likely, Urdu) word ‘ताइर (Taair)’ as of yet!

हौसला मुझ को भी थोड़ा उस ताइर जैसा दे दाता
उड़ने से पहले धरती पर जो अपने पर छोड़ गया

Hausala mujh ko bhi thoda us taair jaisa de daata
Udne se pahle dharti par jo apne par chhod gaya

Grant me a bit of that arrow’s courage, O Lord,
Who left its wings on Earth before it took wings!

– दिनेश ठाकुर (Dinesh Thakur)

As expected, the translation does not feel that grand. Anyway, there you have it, me crossing the h’s and dotting the ι’s: Here are…

More Ghazals of DT

Spot the Seams…

2011-05-27T22:09:00.001-04:00

Here are some more poloramas. All the poloramas in this post are created by me but I do not own the originals for some of them. These exceptions are highlighted by an absence of the copyright watermark on them. These polorama derivatives are for illustration purposes only and no copyright infringement is intended.

Having blurted out that last statement, let us continue with the spotting game. Here’s an advise: Some seams are conspicuous, some are discreet / discrete while some redefine invisibility. Heed the advise and GO:

That’s it for now! Enjoy some other

Brilliant Shots

An Anime Ends.

2011-05-27T18:04:00.001-04:00

InuYasha took a long hiatus of ~5 years after 167 episodes had aired in 2004. The series resumed in 2009 with a new title “InuYasha: The Final Act” and ended with 26 episodes covering faithfully the rest of the manga.

Apart from the number 167 in above paragraph, I knew nothing else until 3 weeks ago. Then, I wondered if the anime of InuYasha was ever going to be completed or will it be left incomplete forever like Rurouni Kenshin? The obvious source to satisfy this sort of curiosity is Wikipedia. So, I wandered there and rest of the numbers came to be filled above, as you might have guessed! After that, a search for the videos began and I finished watching the last episode of the Final Act of InuYasha this Wednesday evening. A moment to remember & cherish.

The most hilarious moment in the last chapter of the manga is faithfully reproduced in the anime. Here are the screenshots:

Would you like to watch / read this story?

Black & White

2011-05-21T11:27:00.001-04:00

When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and White, you photograph their souls! – Ted Grant

So I thought let me do some soul-searching too. Since I didn’t have any people around and it was too early to stalk them, I just pointed my camera out of the ‘meshed’ window. To do B&W photography in-camera, ‘Picture Mode’ has to be changed to ‘Monotone’. Here are the results:

Stitch these two images to get a panoramic view of the streetlight:

And then turn this ‘panorama’ into a polorama:

Setting aside the polorama business for a while, I also tried out recording RAW Images along with the usual .jpg images to figure out what the fuss is all about. First of all, let me tell you that when people say that the jpeg files are compressed, they mean this: JPEG image of ~5MB comes from a Raw image of ~11MB!

Second of all, let me tell you what I figured out at the end of the day about raw images: If you are too lazy to change settings while shooting photos or some unfavourable / unavoidable circumstances don’t let you choose optimum settings, then having raw images is useful as you can apply those settings to the photos later, when you are being favoured by circumstances and / or not being lazy!

Anyway, here are my raw endeavours:

Raw Monotone Image (obviously the .jpg is shown here!)

Vivid Image shot in Program mode

Raw Image processed with Pop Art Filter

So there you have it, the usefulness of raw images. Obviously, they are not for ‘daily’ use.

I leave you with a famous B&W street photographer:

Henri Cartier-Bresson

My Yahoo!-chosen Status Messages

2011-05-14T20:48:00.001-04:00

(collected over a span of months.) Nothing more to say:

A shrimp's heart is in its head!
Now’s a great time to yodel!
Chat with your Windows Live friends too.
Be creative! Change IM colors and fonts.
A sneeze can travel up to 100 mph.
Cat got your tongue? Say it with Audibles.
A yawn lasts for approximately 6 seconds.
Stealth setting – like a cloak of invisibility.
A crocodile can't stick its tongue out.
Dr. Jekyll’s first name is Henry.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
About 10 million people share your birthday.
850 peanuts go in to 18 oz. of peanut butter.
Our eyes are the same size from birth.
It's five o'clock somewhere.
Phobophobia is a fear of fearing.
Get Messenger for your iPhone.
Keep up with us on the Y! Messenger Blog.
Save trees, send your presentations on IM.
Note to self: chat with friends today.
You look fabulous! IM a pic and flaunt it.
Get tips & tricks on the Messenger blog.
You can't sneeze with your eyes open.
Sinking in quicksand? Lie on your back.
A cricket's ears are on its front legs.
Meet new people - add Pingbox to your blog.
Life is a box of emoticons.
Don't miss it, forward IMs to your mobile.
You blink about 4,200,000 times a year.
Text friends for free with Messenger.
Sound travels 4x faster in water than air.
Purple is your favorite color, right?
There are no poisonous snakes in Maine.
Chat is better with Emoticons!.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Moths have no stomachs.
Only "J" isn't on the Periodic Table.

Some Photography Quotes

Spot the Dumbledore(s) and Tricks

2011-05-07T21:10:00.001-04:00

First of all, lets play a spotting game like last time and you know what you are looking for this time from the title. So plough ahead (If you need higher resolution images, head over to my Flickr Photostream!):

Post your answers in the comments and if there are more than ‘n’ answers, I’ll post the correct answers in a later post!

Finally, let me show some more tricks – a continuation of last post – concerning physical properties of the lens and different camera settings.

Firstly, as ‘shown’ in the last post, aperture size controls depth of field:

Secondly, focal length controls the extent of view:

Thirdly, different exposures for the same scene can be taken by choosing Exposure Bracketing and continuous shooting mode:

so that they can be combined to give a HDR (High Dynamic Range) image using one of the many available softwares (I believe some DSLRs can do HDR processing even in situ!):

Fourthly, Image Stabilization is very important and every little bit of stabilization helps. In the following image, I held the tulip’s stem in my hand but the wind was still able to sway the tulip. However, the shot proves that in-camera IS does work:

Lastly, shooting the same shot with different camera settings tells you what works and what does not:

From the above images, it seems like the iAuto mode gives the best image but from another angle (literally) such that the sunlight falling on the umbrella is directly reflected towards the camera, the Beach & Snow setting works best (deleted the others so can not ‘provide’ the comparison!):

BTW, what does dumbledore mean exactly?

Here’s the Answer!

(Re)Learning Forgotten Tricks

2011-04-30T16:53:00.001-04:00

This post is sort of a continuation of this post about my ‘new’ camera.

So what have I learnt in all these past months? I’ve gotten some hang on the use of Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, Exposure Compensation, Flash, Art filter effects, Histogram, etc. My post title refers to the fact that I learn the ‘trick’ in the morning and forget it when I’m shooting photos in the evening and realize at night that I should have used the trick I learnt earlier in the morning to shoot those photos I shot in the evening. That’s why, I don’t think I'll ever be able to achieve everything just right manually! I’ve also started appreciating the need for a telephoto zoom lens so am thinking of buying a Panasonic 45-200mm μ4/3 Lens. These are all the practical stuffs that have been keeping me busy.

One of the theoretical aspect of photography I finally understood was: Why do smaller apertures (larger f-numbers) give greater field of depth and larger apertures (smaller f-numbers) give shallower field of depth? [First of all let me rant: Why the hell are f-numbers inversely related to aperture sizes? Couldn’t they come up with a proportionality scheme? This scheme confuses the hell out of me! OK, now let’s get back on track…] I’m not going to spell out the answer but will give a hint: Make a ray diagram with different aperture sizes, you’ll get it and when it clicks (maybe after a μsec or a week) you’ll be the happiest person alive at that moment!

Anyway, lets start with the photo show for which we’ve all gathered here (at least I’ve!). First of all, let me demonstrate the 6 Art Filters of E-PL1 [I should’ve done this in the last post already but better date than fever!]:

Today’s post is basically devoted to Springtime, specifically Sakura (not a girl). So lets start with an iAuto Photo:

Lets cool this photo:

Different exposure settings:

As SD expected Histograms in such posts, here they are:

A pretty artistic shot:

bent into a 180° polorama:

A grazing goose:

Shot 14 photos in continuous burst mode [I guess the theoretical speed is 3 fps but in reality it would be somewhere between 2 & 3 (maybe ‘e’) and if you keep on pressing the shutter, it will definitely get below 1 fps due to the simple fact that writing on the memory card does take finite amount of time.] and combined them into a panorama [MICE is too damn fast in showing up the stitched result but took nearly 5 minutes in saving the file! PoloramaG is better in this respect as it takes most of the time in transformation stage only. ]:

Lastly, a nod to childhood memories:

For these & more photos with higher resolution, go to my

Flickr PhotoStream

Entanglement

2011-04-23T10:06:00.001-04:00

Read the 5^th & 4^th line, ignore the 3^rd line and read the 2^nd & 1^st line:

If you get it, you’ll most likely think of it as things getting

Tangled

Ambidextrous…

2011-04-10T19:51:00.001-04:00

…Who the hell truly is???

I think I’m ambidextrous… well, excluding writing (R), erasing (L), playing badminton (L), throwing / catching things (L)… OK, it seems I’m more of a left-handed person but still ambidextrous for purposes of this post.

But something happened today involving my perception of my ambidexterity, which flipped my top. After an hour or so, I was still struggling to get the correct outline of Kokage Kuga, a ‘dark’ character in Sketchbook:

Guess what was the reason for this pathetic display of my artistic ‘prowess’? Yes, you guessed it right… I was trying to draw her facing RIGHT!

After that revelation, I fished for a different picture in which she’s facing left and found one here. After one more hour, I completed my 4^th portrait of a character from Sketchbook. I present Kokage Kuga:

Ok, granted it is not as great as Hazuki’s portrait, in that the chin needs a little more work but after two hours of erasing completed outlines at least 7 times, it looks pretty decent to me right now. Also, the background color scheme may feel a little weird compared to the other 3 portraits. The reason is that her signature look is her black eyes & hair (single ponytail) so if I don’t colour them, the portrait may as well be of Natsumi with an altered hairstyle:

Anyway, that’s enough of Sketchbook for this post. I leave you with a ‘unique’ take of Dylan Moran on ‘vegetarianism’ in this

Short Interview

Yahooooooooo, woḩ maara̅ paapadwaalé ko̊!!!

2011-04-04T21:40:00.001-04:00

India has… whatever…

What I’m more excited about is the beginning of scanlation of Sketchbook Volume 7!

This volume introduces at least two new human characters (not in the first chapter, though)! “How do I know that?”, I hear you ask… Well, I’ve seen raws (originals) of first few chapters of this volume! Anyway, this volume started out with a bang, without any words:

If you get this strip in less than 3 ‘going throughs’, you’re better than me at ‘getting’ physical / visual comedy! Speaking of physical / visual comedy, how can we not bow our feet, bring together our heads and fall at his hands: the ultimate physical comedian extraordinaire of all times to have walked this planet gracing us with his ennobling existence (that’s all the clichés I can think of right now), the indestructible

Mr. Bean

Happy Fool’s Month

2011-04-01T20:05:00.001-04:00

This photo was on Bing.com today with one of the four ‘squares’ showing, “What in the world could be tickling this guy’s funny bone today?”

Anyway, here’s a prank to pull on one’s God (as usual, first read the disclaimers regarding my translations of shayaris here or browse other related posts from the tab titled ‘Shayari’ above on this page just below my blog-title & image to get used to what follows!):

भीड़ इतनी थी कि दर्शन पास से सम्भव न था
दूर से ही देख आए हम उछल के देवता
-ओम प्रकाश यती

Bheed itni thi ki darshan paas se sambhav na tha
Door se hi dekh aaye hum uchhal ke devta
–Om Prakash Yati

It was too crowded to get blessings from up close
I returned after a jump with a faraway glimpse of God
–Om Prakash Yati

Now, let me show off some of my polorama creations:

That’s too much showing off… I’ll stop now and let you get back to

the full Ghazal

Rock-Bottom

2011-03-23T06:39:00.001-04:00

When your eyes & brain start emulating your camera’s colour reproduction system, you’ve hit rock-bottom!

When forgotten fictional characters start trying to cheer you up, you’ve hit rock-bottom!

When you realize in the morning that the chirping birds sound beautiful, you’ve hit rock-bottom!

When you remember them saying, “The only way you can go after hitting rock-bottom is UP…”, you’ve hit rock-bottom!

When you no longer want to provide an end-of-the-post-link, you’ve hit

rock-bottom

The Final Release

2011-03-19T10:17:00.001-04:00

Internet Explorer 9 Final Release became available for download this week. Here are some demos of what IE9 is capable of rendering. I’ll show my own demo of how the following HTML code:

<div align="center">[T(u)+]·[T(u)-] = [T(u)|→]·[←|T(u)]+
<table style="text-align: center; display: inline; vertical-align: middle">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="line-height: 0.9; font-size: 20px" rowspan="2">⌈<br>⌊</td>
<td style="text-align: center">↑</td>
<td style="line-height: 0.9; font-size: 20px" rowspan="2">⌉<br>⌋</td></tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-bottom-color: black; border-right-color: black; border-left-color: black; border-top: black 2px solid">T(u)</td></tr></tbody></table>·
<table style="text-align: center; display: inline; vertical-align: middle">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="line-height: 0.9; font-size: 20px" rowspan="2">⌈<br>⌊</td>
<td>T(u)</td>
<td style="line-height: 0.9; font-size: 20px" rowspan="2">⌉<br>⌋</td></tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-bottom-color: black; text-align: center; border-right-color: black; border-left-color: black; border-top: black 2px solid">↓</td></tr></tbody></table>          (2.1)</div>

renders in 5 ‘common’ browsers here. Let’s order them from worst to best:

You might have recognized this equation from my last year’s parody paper which is also available here.

HAPPY HOLI

Cautionary Tale?

2011-03-05T20:43:00.001-05:00

Last week, I finished reading the last (7^th) volume of the manga: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. It is an amazingly beautiful story penned & illustrated by Hayao Miyazaki. It took more than a decade to come to its ‘conclusion’ and I’m pleased that, like Nobuhiro Watsuki of Rurouni Kenshin, HM also decided to end it while it was still going strong and no one would have been surprised if it had continued unlike Bleach!

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic ‘polluted’ world where a war is imminent (again!) between two powerful empires, which is supposed to be pre-destined. It is expected to annihilate all humans and most of the other life-forms to give way to a ‘purified’ world! It is also prophesized that “a blue-clad one walking across a golden field” would emerge as the savior. As is expected, the title character – Nausicaä – is the blue-clad one but what is unexpected is that the prophesy ‘comes true’ twice – first at the beginning and second at the end of the story! Brilliant coincidences…

The story more or less follows (Princess) Nausicaä as she leaves her small (autonomous) village at the periphery of one of the powerful empires to help avoid the apocalypse, which is going to happen (and does happen) due to the other empire’s ‘actions’. Her quest has allies in all forms imaginable: enormous insects (Ohmus), forest people, dead people / spirits, even enemies including Princess / Princes of her own empire, priests of the ‘rival’ empire, people belonging to different tribes / races, God Warrior... Intriguing, isn’t it? So you might be wondering who is her enemy and I’ll quote Nausicaä on this one: “If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you’ll end up destroying everything!” (This reminded me of Princess Mononoke.)

So, that is the gist of the story but what is the title character like? Here is the answer by the creator HiMself:

I created Nausicaä as a certain kind of girl, and I had her react to various situations as that kind of girl would, but she didn't act on her own. There was one thing that did change, however. I had intended, at the start, to draw her as a more physical person. I thought I'd draw her forcefully, with large breasts. But then, if a nude scene came up, I wouldn't have been able to draw it without apologizing. That was the one thing I was sure of. Really. Not because I would be ashamed, or anything like that, but because I'd feel like drawing things that can't be published. [laughs] So I didn't want to draw her like that. That's the only thing that I can say, without a doubt, that I felt. So that was a change. Of course, if I'd started drawing her like that, I would have had no trouble with it-I don't think that I'm the kind of person who embarrasses easily at things like that. In any case, having now reached this point, I can see that there was no need to have drawn her that way. I think that the only thing that changed there at the end was my desire to depict a more spiritual story.

This answer was given by HiM in 1995 after the manga had ended in 1994 and a nude scene does appear in the last volume, which seemed a little forced but not at all fanservice-y. I guess HM’s take on bath scene here is more or less like Totan Kobako’s (author of Sketchbook), who ‘refuses’ fanservice in “Sketchbook Picture Drama” even in a fanservice setting!

Anyway, head over to bn.com and buy all the 7 volumes of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind or at least buy the movie’s DVD, which covers roughly the first two manga volumes or do yourself a favour by buying all of them! You’ll be proud for all eternity that you did. In the meantime, get to know Hayao Miyazaki’s opinions on other aspects of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind in this rather

Long Interview

Secrets…

2011-02-26T12:16:00.001-05:00

Sora (of Sketchbook) has a Secret Skill:

Recently, I stumbled on to an anime trailer on YouTube that I’d watched ages ago:

Scrapped Princess Trailer

I’d call it a beautiful anime based on the vague memories of it that remain in my brain and am deeply amused at the words of ‘Scrapped Princess’ at the end of the trailer:

Apparently, the world would be a lot better off without me. … Never mind that! Let’s have tea…

Now that is some great combination of Inferiority & Superiority complexes. Anyway, want to know more names of amusing, brilliant, charming, delightful, engaging, fantastic, great, humorous, incredible, joyous, kinky, lovely, macabre, nice, outstanding, pointless, quirky, remarkable, serene, tasteful, unique, valuable, whimsical, xenophobic, youthful and zestful Manga / Anime? Head over to

My Hobbies

Splitting and Joining

2011-02-21T18:48:00.001-05:00

There is a popular phrase describing hairs: split ends. But I guess they are referring only to the free-flowing ends of the hairs, which is what most people are worried about! Well, I say they should worry about both ends of their hairs:

That takes care of the first half of the title. Now, on to the second half where I will rant about

POLORAMA GENERATOR

, its origin and so on. As you might have noticed, ‘Polorama’ is a portmanteau constructed from ‘Polar’ & ‘Panorama’. So, the origin of this program is simple enough to imagine: I saw one of these and wanted to make one myself! That was about two years ago. An attempt at that time got me to something GUIless like

v0.0 Release 0 (2009) which produced images with interesting fractal patterns:

Obviously, I was doing something wrong [(x,y)⇒(r,θ)] and thought I’d need to come up with an algorithm to average surrounding colors and put those on the ‘remaining’ white pixels to get a ‘proper’ image. Let me just say that this strategy is for morons. I realized this fact (thanks to an ‘out-of-context’ statement from PJ) which has led us now to

v1.0 Release 1 (2011) where I use a much simpler algorithm of just mapping (r,θ)⇒(x,y)! This gives us a proper polorama of galaxy M83:

Also, here are some of the poloramas I made. Oh! I should also show you how the GUI of this version looks here, right? Wrong. For that, visit

POLORAMA GENERATOR 1.0.π Release 1

Straightening

2011-02-18T22:01:00.001-05:00

Don’t you just love it when something does more than what it is supposed to do? Well, obviously, not in all cases or contexts but definitely in the one being discussed here!

This is what has happened above! Find out what else is possible at

Hugin – Panorama Photo Stitcher

Since You’ve been Gone, I’ve been Alone

2011-02-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

Since you’ve been gone, I’ve been alone
Like an arm without a bone
Dangling limply like a phone that’s out of charge
Like Homer without Marge
Like an egg without a spoon
Like a dugong on the Moon
Like a clownfish without Nemo
Like Twilight without Emo
Like Hardy without Laurel
Like high ground without the moral
Like Disney without Walt
Like battery without assault
Like a pet shop without gerbils
Like Hitler without Göbbels
Running naked through a wedding
Driving fast, way out past Reading
~~Children slaughter kittens, playing with a nail~~ ~~gun~~…
Children’s laughter, kittens playing, Withnail and I, gone are these pleasures
Like a dilemma without the di
Just a lemma and a sigh
Like déjà without vu
I am nothing without you
Till the day that you come back
I’m like Whitney without crack.
-Bill Bailey (Dandelion Mind)

More Ramblings

Moving on…

2011-02-06T13:35:00.001-05:00

In this post, I’m going to rant about

SUDOKU SOLVER

, its origin, appearance and functionalities. The idea for SS originated in my head after Shantanu tried to teach me (well, I did ask him!) how to solve a Sudoku. It was during one of the CMP Lab hours of Autumn’05 before Puja holidays. He taught me a ‘human’ variant of the logic ‘Deduction & Reduction’ apart from looking for ‘Single Possibilities’ as described later.

It seemed to me that these ‘Logics’ could be coded and a logical Sudoku Solver made, which would mimic how ‘I’ would solve one! I thought about this quite a lot over the holidays and even came up with two more Logics ‘Deduction from doublets’ & ‘Reduction to doublets’. Later, these were generalized to ‘Deduction from Multi-sets’ & ‘Reduction to Multi-sets’. Two more logics ‘Deduction from Num-Grids’ & ‘Deduction from Num-Chains’ were added subsequently. Each Logic is assigned a number (like 3 for SP) which are summed, depending on ‘how much’ Logic goes into solving, to give a Sudoku its numerical score and assign one of the ten difficulty levels: ‘Easiest’, ‘V. Easy’, ’Easy’, ‘Below Average’, ‘Average’, ‘Above Average’, ‘Hard’, ‘V. Hard’, ‘Hardest’ & ‘Out of the World’.

I decided that the major version number should reflect the number of Logics coded and the minor version should reflect… my Whim! The GUI for SS has remained the same since its inception. Though, the three menus (‘File’, ‘Tools’ & ‘Help’) have gained a few additions over time. Have a look at the oldest & the newest GUI:

You can obviously Solve a Sudoku Completely but even Partially, which basically displays all the possibilities of individual (≤ 81) cells! However, there is no option of interrupting the (complete) solver and demanding the ‘partial’ results. (It is a Solver not a Trainer!) At first, I thought of not adding a Brute Force Algorithm but the graphics aspect of updating numbers while the recursive algorithm ran led me to include it! I also included an option ‘Use Logic’ but it can not be unchecked by usual means! The most latest addition is Speech Recognition, which allows one to input numbers by speaking them out loud as seen in this video:

SS 6.6 Demo

SS features a silly ‘security’ feature which supposedly prevents one from running the executable file of one computer on another! SS also asks for your name on the very first start to ‘license’ the program to you, which is displayed in ‘About SS’. It also saves the last Sudoku you solved for easy retrieval apart from providing usual functions like ‘Import’ & ‘Save’. You can also ‘Print’ the current screen to a .jpg file or a MATLAB figure. A Help file (accessible via ‘SS Know-How’) is included with the program along with a link to this post via ‘Learn SS Logic’. The latest release also has ‘Update’ & ‘Uninstall’ options!

This blog post will take place of the earlier Logic.pdf file as I link to the Site, which has an extensive collection of Logics used in Solving a Sudoku. The names (& possibly the implementation) of the ‘Strategies’ on that site differ from the names of the Logics in my Solver! In what follows, I’ll point out the many-to-one correspondence of the Strategies (30 excluding the Uniqueness & Trial and Error strategies) and Logics (6) below in [square brackets].

v1.0; Release 0 (2005) Single Possibilities [1, 2]

The simplest logic: Fill-in the single possibility for the particular cell! It can be represented in 4 ways:

Cell(R,C):N => Only no. (Abs. [Row, Col., Squ.])

R stands for Row (vertical numbers), C stands for Column (horizontal numbers) & N stands for the number filled in the specified cell.

v2.0; Release 0 (2005) Deduction & Reduction [6, 7]

Again 4 representations are possible here:

Squ.[sR,sC] & Row [Col.] R [C]: N =>
N removed from Row [Col.] R [C]

Row [Col.] R [C] & Squ.[sR,sC]: N =>
N removed from Squ.[sR,sC]

v3.0; Release 1 (2005) Reduction to Multi-sets [4]

3 representations are possible corresponding to 2, 3 or 4-sets. Sample shown for a 2-sets (doublet):

Cell(R₁,C₁) Cell(R₂,C₂): D₁ D₂ =>
N₁[N₂…] removed from Cell(R₁,C₁)
[M₁… removed from Cell(R₂,C₂)]

v4.x(0≤x≤9); Release 2-4 (2005-06) Deduction from Multi-sets [3, 5]

9 representations are possible ([2,3,4-sets]x[R,C,S]) here. A sample for doublet x R looks like:

Cell(R,C₁) Cell(R,C₂): D₁ D₂ =>
D₁ removed from Row R
[D₂ removed from Row R]

v5.x(0≤x≤5); Release 5-9 (2006-09) Deduction from Num-Grids [8, 11, 15]

6 representations are possible ([2,3,4-grids]x[R,C]) here. A sample for 2-grids x C looks like:

Cols(C₁,C₂) & Rows(R₁,R₂): G =>
G removed from Col.C₁ & Row(s):R₃[R₄…]
[G removed from Col.C₂ & Row(s):R₃…]

v6.x(2≤x≤7); Release 10-15 (2009-∞) Deduction from Num-Chains [9, 14]

4 representations are possible here:

NC – Type Ia:
N in Cells:(,) (,) […] &
N removed from Cells:(,) (,) […]

NC – Type Ib:
N in Cells:(,) (,) […] &
(,) […] =>
N removed from Cell(s):(,) […]

NC – Type IIa:
N in Cells:(,) (,) […] &
(,) […] with
N in Cell(s):(,) […] &
N removed from Cell(s):(,) […]

NC – Type IIb:
N in Cells:(,) (,) […] &
(,) […] with
N in Cells:(,) […] &
(,) […] =>
N removed from Cell(s):(,) […]

That makes a total of 12 out of 30 Strategies in SS, not bad, not bad at all! I’ve wanted to implement Y-Wing [10] & its generalizations [13, 18], which overlap with APE [19] for a long time but I guess that won’t happen in the near future. Anyway, I end this rather long post with

SUDOKU SOLVER 6.7.η Release 15

Time to Move On…

2011-01-30T18:53:00.001-05:00

You do whatever you can and then it’s time to move on!

-Warren Siegel

… or something like that! I’m going to rant about

ACBOOK

in this post. Specifically, its origin, evolution, appearance, functionalities and current status. Let us begin the journey with

v1.0; Release 1 (2002-04: 3 Semesters at IITKGP) This was coded in C++, probably my last extensive programming endeavour in C++ (apart from the programming done for the ‘Programming & Data Structures’ course in second semester). It included 9 very basic functional choices (I don’t remember if this number included ‘Exit’ or not!) like Adding / Editing / Deleting Data (includes Date, Particulars & Amount); Selecting Accounts / Categories; Showing all Data; Viewing Balance Sheet (name changed later in v3 to Balance Summary!), etc. There may have been one or two functions associated with physical file manipulation but I don’t remember them as indicated by the shaded part below:

The source filename was hard-coded and the data was automatically loaded from it when the program was run. There may have been a Save to File function if Data manipulation was not done directly on the file (like in later versions!), which would make 9 choices (including Exit). However, if saving was direct then I’ve no clue what could have been the last (two) choice(s).

Anyway, there were 9 or so different .cpp files compiled to give their own executable file and selecting a choice would run that particular .exe (heavy use of global & extern variables)! This ran all right on Windows XP for some time but – as is well-known to those (like Shantanu) who know it well – my programs have an inherent expiry date! After an year or so that started to show as the coordination between some of these executable files was lost. Fortunately by that time, I’d met MATLAB® and We were ready for

v2.x(0≤x≤9); Release 2-3 (2004-07: 7 Semesters at IITKGP) These were coded in MATLAB v6.0 & v6.5. I don’t remember what features were added in which minor version and release. But I’ll give what all was available at the end of v2’s lifetime! First of all, there was a cosmetic Password dialog box,

which accepted ‘jkmsmkj’ only! After that, we got to see the relevant GUI:

Let me confess that all the figures shown for v2.x are modified from those of v3.5&9! The ‘advanced’ panel features (i.e. boundaries) were not present in v2.x. The buttons are shaded above as there were 8 buttons in a 4x2 grid (not 7 as hidden above). Most probably they were arranged like: [LOAD, ADD; CLEAR, SHOW; EDIT, DELETE; (Save), (Exit)]. ‘Load’ loaded Data from ‘data.mat’. ‘Clear’ just cleared the Data fields. ‘Show’ showed ALL the data of the selected Account & Category in the Display Box sorted in chronological order. Both the Accounts & Category were hard-coded. The Accounts included Earning & Expenditure, which is still the case. The categories included ‘In Pocket-IC’, ‘PNB’, ‘In Pocket-NC’, etc.

The File menu must have included New, Open, Close, Save, Save As & Exit, which have quite obvious functions. The Tools menu would have included View Balance, Sort by, Search for & Generate File. ‘View Balance’ showed a bland pop-up window containing the ‘Balance Sheet’:

‘Sort by’ is just a placeholder: Data is ALWAYS sorted chronologically! ‘Search for’ may have been introduced in v3 (definitely not in Release 2) but as the name suggests, it searches for date, particulars & amount depending on which option is chosen. ‘Generate File’ (definitely in Release 3) gets a bit technical and hence beyond the scope of this post. The Help menu (even in v3) included ACBOOK Disclosed (opened help file) & About ACBOOK (showed version info as seen above).

This set of functionalities served me well till the end of my life at IITKGP but then in Summer’07, I started thinking of my future needs and that led us to

v3.x(0≤x≤9); Release 4-9 (2007-11: 3½ Years at SUNYSB) These were coded in MATLAB v6.5 & v7.9. Let me try to relate the minor version & release numbers: v3.0 R4; v3.5 R5-6; v3.9 R7-9! Let us now see how the program evolved. The major change in v3.0 R4 was the ability to have user-defined categories that led to a new Category menu, which becomes active only after a file has been opened. It had 3 sub-items: Add, Delete, Rename. The next revision was given a higher minor version (which seems a bit weird to me now!): v3.5 Release 5 and was the first to be recognized as an equal to the SuDoKu Solver and put online:

As seen above, a cosmetic blue Login bar was added and 8 buttons were reduced to 7 and their positions rearranged. The missing ‘LOAD’ button was moved to the File menu and its accelerator ‘Ctrl+L’ took the place of clicking the button! After this, I got MATLAB v7.9 and added a toolbar containing icons for ‘Load’, ‘Close’, ‘Open’, ‘Save’ & ‘Exit’ which marked release 6. Obviously, the number of buttons in the buttons’ panel was now reduced to 5 with (Save) & (Exit) moved to the toolbar.

Another major change occurred in the next version v3.9 R7 when the Balance Sheet dialog was removed along with the ‘View Balance’ item from the ‘Tools’ menu. A table titled ‘Balance Summary’ was added at the bottom of the GUI which showed the ‘balance sheet’ all the time. One more item was added to the Category menu: Set Currency. In v3.9 R8, one more item was added to the Category menu: Reorder and one more to Tools: Combine Files. Speech functionality (as in the messages written in the Display box are spoken) was added in v3.9 R9.

It now included java-based executable .jar file instead of an executable .exe file! This seemed like a good idea back then as the black DOS window didn’t pop-up before the GUI did which confused all the ‘users’! But then I realized that I had to bundle MATLAB’s javabuilder.jar file (~550KB) also in the installer. This led me to a lot of soul (& net)-searching and I found a way to suppress the DOS window and go back to the lovable .exe files in the latest

v4.2; Release 10 (2011-∞) This is a major revision (which makes me think why is its minor version only +3 compared to the last one!) and it has a proper ‘multi-user’ login functionality:

The passwords are stored after encryption so you can be rest assured that your password is that much safer to being cracked but your Data can be tinkered via MATLAB, though! Having this login functionality spawns a whole host of other features: Change Password [Tools], (Dis)Associate Users [Tools], Set as Default [File] & Lock [File]. In this new version, every file you create or save is associated with you exclusively. To allow others to access your files, you must select their usernames to be associated with your files via ‘(Dis)Associate Users’ option in the Tools menu. ‘Set as Default’ gives you an option to set your most frequently used file to be accessible with 1-click via ‘Load’ button (earlier it was hard-coded to be data.mat!). ‘Lock’ just locks AcBook screen analogous to Windows Lock!

File menu gets one more addition: Export, which exports currently loaded file to an MS Excel (.xls) file! Category menu also gets one more (hesitant) addition: Transfer, which basically transfers a specific amount between two categories. Most unusual additions are in the Help menu: Update & Uninstall which do whatever they are supposed to do!

Since the clicks on ‘Balance Summary’ table control the data shown in the Display box, the ‘SHOW’ button from the buttons’ panel was removed. The ‘ADD’ button was made larger to cover its absence, reducing the total number of buttons to 4 (half of what we started with in v2.0!). Also, only 50 Data items are shown in the Display box at a time now! The toolbar also gets a new look & buttons, which you can see in a snapshot of the program at work below:

I’d like to thank Sn (younger brother of S from a couple of posts back) for giving me some ideas & feedback which led to

ACBOOK 4.2.o Release 10

Learning New Tricks…

2011-01-12T13:45:00.001-05:00

…on Olympus PEN E-PL1.

Here’s the ad which removes all doubt about buying one!

Olympus PEN E-PL1 Ad

Here’s what the camera looks like in ‘my hands’. Believe me, it is very hard to make a ‘free-hand select region’ even on a tablet. I know it’s going too far to remove my hand and bearded chin around the camera but then who in their sane mind would not try this at least once in their lifetime!

Here are two photos of a 'butterfly’ taken at different ‘Color Temperatures’ or as the technical jargon goes: different ‘White Balance’ (WB) reference. In fact, the latter one has WB reference set to the wall of my apartment and is almost the same ‘white’ which is seen by my eyes! Anyway, the colors are as bright as the real thing and as good as the former one shot using the Pop Art Scene (A1) mode which is supposed to pop out the colors.

This one was shot with flash on to remove the shadows. The flash has screwed up the WB, I guess.

Two shots of a cloudy day with different WB: (Which one do you think is more pleasing to the eyes?)

Two shots of snow-covered leaves. First with iAuto mode and Second with A1 mode (The colors do pop out!):

Snowy Night Scene

iAuto mode with tweaked WB:

iAuto (Brighten the bright areas):

iAuto (Darken the dark areas):

Flash on in iAuto / Shutter Priority modes (with different WB) to show that snow is actually falling (which is also visible in shots above only if you stare at them long enough till you eyes start glazing over):

A clear night shot just after sunset where blue (or what is left of it) of the sky looks as good here as it looked to the eyes! Also, the Image Stabilization (IS) works well and couple it with the 2s lag between pressing the shutter button and the picture actually being taken, it’s theoretically brilliant. But it didn’t make much difference in practice!

Anyway, I leave you with the

Actual-size Photos

Old Year’s Accomplishments

2011-01-01T13:43:00.001-05:00

People talk about New Year’s Resolutions, let me talk about my Old Year’s Accomplishments. I thought I’d make a list ordered by month like this one. But then I realized I do not have so many ‘accomplishments’ to boast about in this post! Well, what the hell? I’ll do it anyway…

January: Don’t remember any…

February: Don’t remember any… (Maybe I completed the 50^th level of Microsoft Blackboard game in this month!)

March: It was a rainy day. I wasn’t expecting it would last 10, no 15, well make it 20 minutes! That conversation makes for some memorable moments. [?]

April: It was a cold day. I wasn’t expecting it would be fun! Searching for a restroom in the Central Park… Seeing fossils up-close for the first time... Eating south-Indian dish after walking miles… Having a couple think we’re making fun of them when we’re talking Physics just because ‘someone’ couldn’t stop giggling! On a lighter note, I wrote my first Parody Paper. [Picasa, Publications, Extras]

May: It was a sunny day. I wasn’t expecting it would last so long! Completed my first Time-Lapse Video. And also changed my room, which is definitely an accomplishment. [YouTube]

June: Don’t remember any…

July: It was a boring day. I wasn’t expecting it would be so immersing! Made a 2D surface visualizing program. [iCPPs, YouTube]

August: It was an exciting day. I wasn’t expecting it would work out so smoothly! Converted the compilation of my Sudoku Solver 6.5 & AcBook 3.9 from .exe to .jar and got it zeta-tested successfully. [AB3.9]

September: Don’t remember any…

October: (Going to meet family members and roaming around India & Nepal most probably does not count as an accomplishment… definitely NOT!) It was a busy day. I wasn’t expecting it would be so cumbersome. I completed my own Unicode-based Keyboard Layout to input Greek characters, Mathematical symbols and various accents directly from the physical keyboard. It is mostly based on my advisor’s keyboard layout shown below: [Extras, Flickr, Picasa]

November: (Celebrating Diwali with family also does not count as an accomplishment.) It was an enlightening day. I wasn’t expecting it would be so simple! Realized what I was doing wrong and also the correct way to do it almost simultaneously. The trick was to concentrate on one hoop even if there were more and let symmetry take care of everything else! Also, upgraded SS 6.5 to SS 6.6 and made it ready for consumption. (Nobody consumes it is another matter!) [Research, SS6.6, YouTube]

December: It was an exhausting day. I wasn’t expecting it would be such a great learning experience. Figured out the differences between bitmap & vector graphics formats. The difference is seen at 800% zoom. My grammar & sentence construction skills leave a lot to be desired. After umpteenth corrections, my 1^st (& 2^nd & 3^rd & 4^th & 5^th) paper of this year was put on arXiv. [Preprints, Publications]

As you’ve noticed, I haven’t linked to the ‘proofs’ of my accomplishments above. It’s just that it is an incomplete list and I’ve certainly missed some. So, instead of linking specifically to those mentioned above, I’ll post ‘categorical’ links below where even my future accomplishments would more or less appear now & then. Enjoy and Happy New Year 2011!!! (If you squint just right, you can see the Number 23 appearing here also.)

Anyway, here are numerous end-of-the-post-links which appeared above in [You’re wondering about these, weren’t you?]:

Preprints; Publications; Research; Extras;

YouTube; Picasa; Flickr;

SS6.6; AB3.9; iCPPs.

True Love

2010-12-30T20:18:00.001-05:00

I was reading a story by Anton Chekov titled “Three Years”. In it, there’s a line that reads: “...before I was in love I, too, knew quite well what love was.” And I reflexively nodded in agreement, uttering “True, Indeed!” And then I heard someone shouting at me, “What the hell are you talking about?”, from within…

Anyway, what I want to draw (no pun intended!) your attention towards, in this post, is the fact that the following picture (which appeared on this blog in August this year) is a sketch hand-drawn by me in MS Paint on my Fujitsu T4410 Tablet.

And so are these two:

Now, just because I sketch shoddy pictures on paper

does not mean I only sketch shoddy pictures! The above three copyrighted pictures of Sora, Natsumi & Hazuki are testament of my decent sketching skills! Well, ignoring Natsumi’s sketch, the sketches of Sora & Hazuki are indeed pretty… decent.

Even though this is a link-devoid post, I’ll as usual add an

end-of-the-post-link.

Spot the Shuttlecock!

2010-12-19T18:30:00.001-05:00

In this post, let’s play a game. All you have to do is to spot the shuttlecock in the following photos, as simple as that! Come on, have a go:

So, what are your answers? Post them as comments and I’ll verify them for you. The first one to spot them all receives a happy-new-year-wishing-call from me!

For those who don’t know , this game is called

Badminton

Wait, WHAT??? Wow!!!

2010-12-11T12:32:00.001-05:00

This was all I could muster when one of my sisters (R from the previous post) recently said that Sudoku Solver 6.6 runs on her laptop but AcBook 3.9 does not!

So this post is going to be about MATLAB and Miscellany. Recently, I saw this guest post on Loren Shure’s blog at “The MathWorks”. That post talks about using Speech Synthesis (among other things) functions from .NET library. (You probably know where I’m heading!) So, I commented on the post regarding my own encounter with .NET and its Speech Recognition functions.

My .m files are useless to others as I don’t include comments in them and often I myself (after a respectable span of time) don’t remember how they do whatever they do (one of the many reasons why SS 6.x has not yet become at least SS 7.0!). For example, I don’t understand anymore how the brute force algorithm for solving a Sudoku is implemented in the corresponding .m file. (The full arsenal of SS 6.6 consists of 11 .m files totaling ~2000 lines and yes, ‘end’ takes one line and there are almost no blank lines!)

Anyway, enough boasting! So, I’ll present here (with comments) the code snippet I use in my ‘full-fledged’ SS 6.6 for recognizing the spoken numbers:

%% Import Speech Classes
NET.addAssembly('System.Speech');
import System.Speech.Recognition.*;
%% Initialize SRE
SpRec=SpeechRecognitionEngine;
SetInputToDefaultAudioDevice(SpRec);
ts=System.TimeSpan(0,0,3); %Don’t ask what this does!
SpRec.InitialSilenceTimeout=ts;
%% Create Grammar
words={'one','two','three','four','five','six','seven','eight','nine'};
str=NET.createArray('System.String',9);
for n=1:9
str.SetValue(words{n},n-1);
end
choices=Choices(str);
GB=GrammarBuilder(choices);
grammar=Grammar(GB);
LoadGrammar(SpRec,grammar);
%% Test the Words
%rec=EmulateRecognize(SpRec,'ONE');
%% Real Speech Recognition
disp('Speak Now...');
rec=Recognize(SpRec);
%% Result
Speaker=System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeechSynthesizer;
Speak(Speaker,rec.Text);

The success of the above code depends mainly on your PC and you’ll find that out pretty soon (or maybe not)!

Now, let’s talk about miscellany. Recently, (note to self: used this word too many times, increase vocab) I realized that I’ve nudged many people (over the past few years) to do certain things and statistically speaking, none have done so! Let me give you some details:

I’ve asked a lot of people (friends & family) to use SS 6.x and AcBook 3.x (new releases of both will be made public by the start of new year) over a span of more than 5 years. Here are some disheartening (for a programmer) and funny (for a Sketchbook reader) ‘results’: Shantanu switched from Windows to Linux after I ‘presented’ AcBook to him on his Birthday! R wanted to use it till she developed her own program using .NET, VisualBasic, etc. but her PC won’t run it as mentioned above! S (my brother from last post) will not install Java on his PC! (ohh! Spoiler Alert!) DQ quite reluctantly agrees to beta-test every new version but then forgets they are even installed on his PC! and the list continues…

I’ve asked a lot of people to watch / read Sketchbook but all of them say (in one way or other): “What the hell is this?”

I’ve asked a lot of people to watch / read Rurouni Kenshin following ‘my sequence’ and none of them have ever successfully done it! Shantanu did come close to doing that but then he ‘lost interest’ around VizBig Vol. 2!

I’ve asked a lot of people to read Hindi poems, whose links I post on Google Buzz and most of them do read them. I feel really glad about that especially when Shantanu ‘thanked’ me for sharing those links!

अनुभूति

COME and GONE… (III)

2010-12-04T13:15:00.001-05:00

Biratnagar (1-night stay over): We were joined by ‘them’. They were my father’s nieces (father’s sister’s daughters), i.e. two of my ‘many’ sisters (let’s call them B & R). I find it quite irritating that in Hindi (or Nepali), almost everyone (at least of your own generation-al level) can be referred to as your brothers & sisters with a prefix (specifying whose sons or daughters they are) if needed but in English, they are cousins, nephews, nieces, etc. and you’ve got no clue what the relation is at the higher generation-al level. I don’t think that made any sense and that’s precisely my point! Anyway, the following day, we (after an ‘expected’ delay) boarded the smallest plane, I’ve ever had the fortune of boarding, and landed after half-an-hour or so at

Kathmandu (13-days stay): The first week was the week leading up to Diwali / Deepawali, about which I’ve talked about in an earlier post. I also met one of my brothers (father’s brother’s son, let’s call him S) after a long time. He pointed out that I’m fat and I pointed out that it needn’t be pointed out! We obviously went to Pashupatinath temple and also to Panchmukhi Balaji temple* (Google maps can now show the exact location of this temple. You get near it by searching for ‘tinpiple’ and zooming on a 360° turn in the ‘Arniko Highway’.) like last time but did not go to the Garden of Dreams, which I do regret.

Apparently, B & R were lucky enough to visit it after I (& S) left. I’m also told that in their 3-weeks stay at KTM, they took nearly 750 photos which is quite astonishing but when I think about it, it’s not that impressive. They are wasting a lot of ‘time’ & space on the memory card! Here’s why: After their 2-weeks stay, they had nearly 420 photos, which I brought with me. As I’m ‘fond’ of organizing my photos on ‘Windows Live Photo Gallery’ (or ‘wasting time’ as B & R put it!), I started sorting through their ‘mess’ and after I was done with that, I was left with 253 photos ‘only’! This huge reduction is due to two reasons: (i) Their Sony Cyber-shot takes dual shots if it ‘realizes’ that the lighting conditions are unfavorable like when indoors which was most of the time and when there is strong backlight outdoors which was also most of the time at KTM while we’re there! So one can safely delete one of those two snaps; (ii) One of them (R) does not press the shutter-release button half-way to check if the ‘subject’ is in focus! She just presses the button all the way taking the phrase ‘point-and-shoot’ a little too literally! So some of the snaps she ‘shot’ were out of focus and ‘had’ to be ‘pointed out’ of my laptop(s)!

So, to summarize my stay at KTM: I got some shopping done, ate sweets, met with other relatives, got my eyes checked, ate sweets, postponed my wedding, celebrated Diwali @ Home, watched Sketchbook with B & R (they were neither impressed nor repulsed by it!), ate (pieces of) a huge heart-shaped cake that somehow reminded me of sweet potatoes, attended a picnic, played badminton, tweaked AcBook & Sudoku Solver, ate sweets, taught something new (like how to convert feet to inches and there are 8 planets now!) to a kid, gave my mother ‘golden jewellery’ as a gift for the first time and ate ice cream labelled ‘Blind Love’ after a long time. After having so much fun, I had to leave KTM due to my ‘doctor’s’ advice: “Too much fun is injurious to my well-being”. So I left for

New Delhi (in transit): This is the last one at least on this trip! I came up from the Arrivals Terminal to Departures Terminal and stayed for nearly 6 hours in an enclosure named ‘Visitors’ Lounge’ just besides the check-in counters. But I had to go out of the building and come back in through a different gate for check-in! Anyway, no hassles this time around when I boarded the flight to

Abu Dhabi (in transit): “Wow! Didn’t we take our shoes off when we entered this terminal?” exclaimed a guy when we were asked to take them off once more to enter the waiting area for gate xx, from which we were supposed to board the plane. He seemed pissed but I just found it amusing! We boarded the flight to JFK and after 14 hours in-flight, the ordeal was not over yet. We had to stand in a queue so long that it took us nearly 90 minutes just to enter the immigration area (we’re still in queue) and then it took me half an hour more to get to a counter and get cleared. After that, I fished around for my luggage and made a beeline to the AirTrain, to LIRR Train (in spite of two faulty ticket machines: one didn’t let me select my destination and the other didn’t accept cash!) to

Stony Brook (14^th Nov): Railroad Route bus to Chapin Apartments was running on that (Sun)day and I’m back safely and soundly to tell you about whatever I’ve told you in the last three posts! I present to you now the final album that captures almost every aspect of my

Nepal Tour 2010

*Two albums linked in this post are not accessible to / by everyone. If you don’t see the photos, try logging into Picasa using your Gmail ID. If you don’t see them even then, tell me and I’ll send you a personalized link after assessing your eligibility! Thank you for your understanding…

BACK and FORTH… (II)

2010-11-27T14:23:00.001-05:00

Amet (5 days over): After 5 days of neck-high ‘spirituality’, where I realized that the main ingredient of Jainism is ‘inevitability’ similar to the concept of ‘hitsuzen’ in xxxHolic(!), we left for our hometown,

Shri Dungargarh (7-days stay): It was hot here. My definition of hot is that temperature where spontaneous sweating occurs!

CAH (Charbhuja Road, Railway Station for Amet) to Shri Dungargarh

A simple question: When does a car cruising at 120 Km/hr starts moving at a snail’s pace of 20 Km/hr? A complicated answer: When you switch from a national highway at Bidasar to a state highway connecting Bidasar to SDGH. Now, when I say state highway, I might have given you a image of a road with ‘frequent’ potholes but no, the reality was that there was no road there, just loose gravel! The driver was really pissed at my father’s choice of the route but my father’s (valid) excuse was that it was OK just 6 months ago! It is also worth-mentioning that Nokia / Ovi Maps do a good job at (re-)calculating highway routes (while offline) in India. Had a nice time playing around with its navigational features. Well, after taking at least an hour more than necessary, we finally reached our hometown. I met a lot of relatives here after a span of at least 3 years. The stay here was ‘interrupted’ by two one-day trips to

Lunkaransar & Sardarshahar (1-day each): These were also trips ‘to get blessed’ but on the latter one, someone stole my sandals so it was more of a ‘cursed’ trip!

SDGH to Lunkaransar(L) & Sardarshahar(R)

When we got down from the bus at SDGH, I was wearing my father’s sandals and he was walking barefoot. Our house was 5 minutes walk from the spot we de-boarded the bus. Two minutes later, someone (from behind us) shot a wisecrack at him (paraphrased): “So you are also training to be a Sadhu?” The general reference is to sadhu’s barefoot walking and the specific reference (highlighted by the use of ‘also’) is to the fact that my mother’s only nephew is also going to become one next year! My father shot back almost instantly (in Marwari, as was the original question), “के Ke कराँ karaan, कोई koi भावना bhaawana भायाँ bhaayaan बिना bina ही hi बैरा baira ली li!” This is hilarious in a Sketchbook-ish way, let me explain why. The humour comes from the facts that a explicit reference to the sandals was never made and his reply (which basically means, ‘someone stole them!’) is brimming with sadhu references! ‘भावना भाना’ is a verb meaning to inform the sadhus what one is going to offer them and ‘बैरा लेना’ refers to the physical act of accepting by the sadhus. So literally, the reply translates to, “…, someone accepted without us offering!” (I never quite ‘believed’ my mother telling me once in a while that my father is a good writer but after this short exchange, that has changed to: I quite ‘believe’ her now!) Anyway, after two more days, we left for

Bikaner (in transit): Had never seen ‘so many’ foreigners / tourists in this part of India(?).

SDGH to Bikaner

New Delhi (in transit:) Once more but not the last yet! This time also (like last year), I was summoned by the Customs Office but the one interviewing me was confused when I said I was going to

Kathmandu (2-days stay): This was more of a transit than a stay because we were not done with visiting India yet! So after two days, we left for

BKN to DEL to Kathmandu

Biratnagar (in transit): ‘Fearing’ the land customs officers, I did not take my laptop with me on this trip to

KTM to Biratnagar

Forbesganj (4-days stay): Amazingly, no one bothered us on both sides of the border and the trip!

BIR to Forbesganj

This was also a ‘spiritual’ trip and by the end of it, I was starting to get bored. But there were a few distractions that helped me to carry on like meeting a few relatives that I’d never met before (or had met ages ago) but had only heard of. Also, there was a debate (topic is irrelevant) organized by the ‘जैन Jain महिला Mahila मण्डल Mandal (Jain Women Council?)’ where there were quite a few ‘good’ participants. But listening to them throwing in ‘common’ English words in a ‘formal’ Hindi event, irritated and embarrassed me so much (was referring to their oratory skills earlier, not their vocabulary!) that I came to a ‘profound’ conclusion: “Uttering English words every now and then in a formal Hindi event, doesn’t show you know English; it shows you do not know Hindi!” Apparently, my mother disagrees… We started our journey back with a resounding flat tyre (once-in-a-lifetime event!) to

Biratnagar (1-night stay!): We were back in Biratnagar at my (eldest) uncle’s house and we were joined by ‘them’. They will be introduced in the next (and last) part of this series! For now, check out all the photos (or a carefully sampled set) of my India Tour 2010.

To be continued…

TO and FRO… (I)

2010-11-26T18:06:00.001-05:00

Stony Brook (3^rd Oct): This is going to be more or less a geography lesson but I’ll throw in some interesting stuff as we move along!

Abu Dhabi (in transit): The airport’s terminal 3 has 60-something PC terminals with free internet access!

SB to Abu Dhabi

New Delhi (in transit): There’s a free shuttle service from international (T3) to domestic terminals and vice versa!

AUH to New Delhi

Nagpur (4-days stay): Stayed with my Didi; ate lots of sweets every single day; bought some clothes; slept more than necessary; enjoyed the time but did not take any photos!

DEL to Nagpur

Back to New Delhi: Rendezvous with my parents (who arrived from Kathmandu) at the domestic terminal to go to

Bhilwara (in transit): I did not know that we were now in Rajasthan!

NAG to DEL to Bhilwara

Amet (5-days stay): Surprisingly, it was not that hot even when the temperatures were supposed to be between 30-35°C!

BHL to Amet

As an appetizer to what happened here and what will happen next, check these out.

To be continued…

Happy Diwali / Deepawali

2010-11-05T21:51:00.001-04:00

It has been 8 years since I’ve been at home for Diwali – the festival of Sweets & Fireworks (for me at least, others usually say festival of lights & sounds!).

Now, people may ask: “So how was this year’s Diwali like?” and I’ve one word for them: ‘Lackluster’! This word should rightly convey the message that I did not get to light any fireworks! They are quite rightly ‘banned’ in Nepal but this year (compared to 8 years ago) was ridiculous. I could only rarely hear fireworks exploding around me after sunset. Even at night, when all the rites / rituals / prayers (associated with the goddess of wealth – Lakshmi) were done with (around 8PM), I could hear only the sounds of a few ‘harmless’ crackers going off here and there and could see the lights of a few ‘flower pots’ blooming once in a while from my house’s roof. I did not see any aerial displays of fireworks during my stay on the roof for about half an hour. I really wanted to test out the ‘Fireworks’ mode of the camera! Lastly, when I tried to sleep (after 10PM), I could actually sleep without the ‘sounds’ of Diwali’10 ‘piercing’ my ears!

Due to such a shortage of real fireworks, I had to make myself content with burning Camphor on a betel leaf in the ‘Aarti Plate’ shown in the picture above and the virtual fireworks of

Sketchbook ~Full Color’s~ Ep-03

Bugs, Bugs Everywhere!

2010-10-13T12:19:00.001-04:00

Once more, walking in the footsteps of Nagisa Kurihara,

I bring you three snapshots of different (species? of) bugs!

Disclaimer: I assume no responsibility for your humiliation arising from the serious use of the bugs’ identification I’ve provided as a tooltip text (the text which appears when you hover over the photos).

For better identification, you should indulge in some

Study of Bugs

What is !Love?

2010-10-02T21:56:00.001-04:00

The correct way to read the title is, “What Is NOT Love? !!!”. The title is inspired by the third sher (couplet) below. It is mandatory for me to include a link to this post here for those who are reading posts like these for the first time. This ensures that they get used to the format incorporated in these ‘special’ posts dedicated to (translated) Sher(s) / Ghazal(s). (Who am I kidding? But at least such ramblings increase the word count of my posts! )

Here’s a Ghazal by none other than the greatest of them all (modulo the degeneracies!), the Great Dr. Waseem Barelvi:

जीते हैं किरदार नहीं है,

नाव तो है, पतवार नहीं है!

Jeete hain kirdaar nahin hai,

Naav to hai, patwaar nahin hai!

Alive with no character,

Boat’s here, but no oars!

I may have misunderstood the sher or in my attempt to keep the translation brief, I may have distorted the original meaning beyond recognition!

कोई नज़र पे भार नहीं है,

राह में अब दीवार नहीं है|

Koi nazar pe bhaar nahin hai,

Raah mein ab diwaar nahin hai|

Sight is no longer muddled,

Road has no more walls.

I’m not sure even of the original sher (actually the word ‘भार bhaar’ in the first line), forget the translation… though, the second line is accurate!

खोना पाना मैं क्या जानूँ?

प्यार है, कारोबार नहीं है!

Khona paana main kya jaanun?

Pyaar hai, kaarobaar nahin hai!

Why consider gain or loss?

It’s Love, not a Business!

This is the sher I love (and understand) the most in this Ghazal and I’m proud of its translation. However, I would like to insert ‘I’ in the translated version since the original one has ‘मैं main’!

सजदा वहाँ एक सर की वर्जिश,

सर पे जहां तलवार नहीं है|

Sajda wahaan ek sar ki warjish,

Sar pe jahaan talwaar nahin hai|

Exercising mind bows down,

Without swords over heads.

Ignore this translation… I am not even sure I can explain the meaning of this sher in one full paragraph! (If you understand Hindi, watch the video below and form your own opinion about its meaning!)

जहनों में दीवार ना हो तो,

मिलना कोई दूसवार नहीं है|

Jahanon mein diwaar na ho to,

Milna koi duswaar nahin hai|

If consciousness is not walled,

It’s not difficult to rendezvous.

मैं भी कुछ ऐसी दूर नहीं हूँ,

तू भी समंदर पार नहीं है!

Main bhi kuch aisi dur nahin hun,

Tu bhi samandar paar nahin hai!

Neither am I that distant,

Nor you across the seas!

These last two shers are to be read together since WB recited them together. I love these shers as much as the third one and am also somewhat proud of their translations!

-वसीम बरेलवी (Waseem Barelvi)

वसीम बरेलवी (Waseem Barelvi)

I also acknowledge some help in translating these shers from a friend who goes by the name DQ in our coterie. So now that you know what is NOT Love, make yourself ‘worldly wise’ by indulging in some of DQ’s

HYPERBOLE

Revelation!

2010-09-23T21:40:00.001-04:00

Charming, Amazing are not examples of continuous verbs! In fact ,they are not even verbs. The sentence – She is Charming – would take on a whole different meaning if that were true… it would be in the middle… oh, shut the hell up… ok, forget it!

Anyway, read some words seen on the license plates around here:

2GRLS1BY,

4TIMES,

ALE-*,

BBN-*, BEC-*, BROTAC,

CAN-*,

EGL-*, EMU-*, ENV-*, ETB-*, ETC-*, ETY-*, EVE-*, EVL-*, EXA-*, EYE-*,

FAL-*, FAN-*, FAR-*, FAV-*, FBA-*,

HAL 7, HECK 1,

ITSAS1X,

JADE 1,

NOIKNOW,

PARVAZ, PRINTSOF5, PUGMOMA,

RISASDAD,

SHAYMLSS, SLAMD3, SUZETTES, SW33T3ST,

TOOSWEDE,

WHIPLASH,

and the likes. I leave you with some information on:

License Plates

Once More! Once More!! Once More!!!

2010-09-11T12:54:00.001-04:00

~~On popular demand, …wait a minute! no one demanded this… ok, then scratch that!~~

One of my ex-room-mates (let us call him SD) enquired of me a couple of days ago if I knew how to embed videos in PDFs using L^AT_EX! I responded (and I’m paraphrasing here) I‘d be highly high if such a thing was possible! And then he said, “Apparently, it can be done by using the package called movie15…” Holy smoly (what the hell does that mean?), I had to try that and yesterday I was so high that I did try that. I had to be high because I see no reason whatsoever why I would’ve done what I did whose outcome is no more thrilling than comparing a poem to a walk on a narrow dirt-trail and which results in just another repeated end-of-the-post-link!

Anyway, the video embedding is pretty simple (no spaces after '\'):
\ begin{figure}[h]
\ includemovie[poster,text={Movie}]{5cm}{5cm}{mov.mp4}
\ end{figure}

It seems to me that any sort of movie (like .avi, .mp4, .mpg, .wmv) can be embedded in the .pdf file. Moreover, the actual video files do not need to tag along with the .pdf file. The only thing that is required is that you open it using Adobe^® Reader and the system you are running has the ability to decode that particular embedded video format. And voila! You’ve got your hands on a dynamic, self-contained, portable document in a file (this sentence construction leaves much to be desired!). Who’d’ve thought that one would live to see this day? Well, fortunately, you have lived to see this day and the proof is:

Dedicated to SG

Awkwardness Glorified!

2010-09-04T22:15:00.000-04:00

I had wondered once in a while, why are there so few videos of Surendra Sharma reciting poems on YouTube? But then I realized that I know the most probable answer. He does not like being ‘recorded’ as evidenced from his ‘strong’ words (which resulted in a thunderous applause) to someone in the audience recording the event: “मेरी meri कविता kavita सुनने sunne का ka हक hak उन्ही unhi लोगों logon को ko है, hai, जो jo यहाँ yahaan पर par अपनी apni रात raat खराब kharab कर kar के ke बैठे baithe हैं! hain!” (Only those people, who are wasting their night by sitting here, have the right to listen to my poems!) After that, the camera was lowered but recording continued. After a minute or so, He (visibly irritated) pointed at the camera and said, “मैं Main पागल paagal हूँ, hun, बेवकूफ bewkoof नहीं! nahin!” (I am ‘crazy’ but not stupid!) and a roar of laughter erupted that led to the camera being turned off (as far as I know!).

I had also thought once in a while that it would be nice if there were some interviews of him as I do not recall ever seeing one on TV during my younger years. Though, I did miss one such opportunity at IITKGP in my 5^th year. There was supposed to be a ‘live panel discussion’ with 2-3 poets, including Surendra Sharma (of course!) but it was delayed by more than 3 hours. I did stand around the venue for more than an hour but lost my patience when the event kept getting postponed half-an-hour by half-an-hour by half-an-hour…

So, I was quite elated when I found one interview of him on YouTube today! Here are the two parts:

Interview with Surendra Sharma–Part 1

Interview with Surendra Sharma–Part 2

Now, I think I know why there are not many interviews of him. Apart from the usual reasons, He is like Dirac regarding this aspect – the aspect of giving & evading interviews!

Let us now talk about this particular interview itself. First of all, they should spell the name of the poet right. Second of all, it seemed to me that the host(ess) was too overwhelmed by his presence, was over-prepared & under-prepared simultaneously (like I’m when talking to WS) and did not ‘practice’ her Hindi beforehand. Third of all, some of the answers were just out of the blue for her and instead of ‘adjusting’ to that ‘blow’, kept on asking (pre-prepared) questions that had more or less been already answered! Fourth of all, why the hell am I ranting about all this here on my blog?

Anyway, ignoring the ‘embarrassing’ aspects of this interview, I got to hear Surendra Sharma after quite a long time and am indeed happy about that.

I’ll leave you with this video of Surendra Sharma reciting his much-talked about (in the interview above and in general) ever-green, ever-popular, ever-four lines:

चार लाईनाँ

I am in Love?

2010-09-03T18:30:00.000-04:00

A slice of ‘my’ life in Sketchbook ‘format’:

जरूरी काम है, रोजाना भूल जाता हूँ,
मुझे तुमसे मोहब्बत है, बताना भूल जाता हूँ!

Jaroori kaam hai, rojaana bhool jata hun,
Mujhe tumse mohabbat hai, bataana bhool jata hun!

Something important, always gets forgotten,
I'm in love with you, the proposals forgotten.

तेरी गलियों में फिरना इतना अच्छा लगता है,
मैं रास्ता याद रखता हूँ, ठिकाना भूल जाता हूँ!

Teri galiyon mein firna itna achha lagta hai,
Main raasta yaad rakhta hun, thikana bhool jata hun!

I really enjoy wandering around your streets,
Ways memorized, the destination forgotten.

बस इतनी बात पर मैं लोगों को अच्छा नहीं लगता,
मैं नेकी कर तो देता हूँ, जताना भूल जाता हूँ!

Bas itni baat par main logon ko achha nahi lagta,
Main neki kar to deta hun, jataana bhool jata hun!

I am not liked by others, due to just the fact
That I do good, but the reminders forgotten.

मोहब्बत कब हुई कैसे हुई, सब याद है मुझको,
मैं कर के मोहब्बत को भूलाना भूल जाता हूँ!

Mohabbat kab hui kaise hui, sab yaad hai mujhko,
Main kar ke mohabbat ko bhoolana bhool jata hun!

When ‘n How I fell in love, I do remember,
To fall in love and then to forget, forgotten.

I leave you with the source of these shers:

Sadique’s Notebook

Words of Kindness

2010-08-29T10:52:00.001-04:00

Words of Praise

Happy SavingBonds!!!

2010-08-24T20:29:00.001-04:00

or as should be properly said: रक्षाबंधन की शुभकामनाएँ!!!

It is the festival where sisters tie ‘Rucky Charm(s)’ on their brothers’ wrists. And so on the story continues… just wanted to share the PUN!

To those, who think the posts based on Sketchbook and Sketchbook-like jokes have lasted way too long, I’d just like to say: Don’t worry! …Some more are in the sketchbook!

DeFest

To Learn is to Live…

2010-08-21T16:53:00.001-04:00

…or something like that!

I learnt a new word: ~~Proso…, Propa…, Prospa…, …pagnosia~~. Hell with that, have a look at this video to learn the new word:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Chuck Close
www.colbertnation.com

So, the word is: Prosopagnosia meaning ‘Face-blindness’!

After I heard the explanation by Mr. Close, I almost instinctively remembered Sora, from the now ‘infamous’ manga Sketchbook (here at my blog), who also has some version of it as is evident from these panels:

Just so you know, Asou(-san) usually keeps her hair tied into two ponytails like this:

Hope you enjoyed these. If yes, then also check out

TDS

Keeping Score

2010-08-15T13:50:00.000-04:00

So how many times have I made Sketchbook references in my blog posts? Too many times, you’d say; but to be precise, I’ve lost count!

Yesterday, I found another manga, written by Sketchbook’s author “Totan Kobako”, titled ‘Scorebook’. Do you see the pattern here?

It’s not in the ‘famous’ 4-panel style; it’s in the usual free-style. Though, I think people would still assign Sketchbook’s genre of ‘Slice of life’ to Scorebook. It is pitched as ‘a collection of the author’s works’! But still, what is it about? Roughly speaking, it’s about Baseball – high school level baseball – played by Animals including a cow, a rabbit, a box turtle (does it jolt your memory, huh? huuuh???), a cat (named Miké, sounds familiar? doesn’t it???) and Pii-chan (the chicken, anyone? anyone at all??? )...

Now, you may be thinking there go the Sketchbook-like arbitrary characters & themes, but you’ll be surprised how wrong you are (or maybe not!!)! Find out for yourself by reading the first few pages of the first volume:

Scorebook

Prices of Spices

2010-08-07T16:20:00.001-04:00

I have to spend too much time during summer months in PathMark for grocery shopping because of Mall Route Bus’ reduced frequency. To pass the aforementioned ‘too much time’, I like reading the names & prices of spices. Here are some of the interesting stand-outs:

Which is the most expensive Spice?

If you thought ‘Saffron’, let the QI-style forfeit alarm go off! It cost something between $400-500 per pound sometime ago. I’ve not seen it in the aisle this summer, so can’t guarantee the price.

If you say ‘Turkish Bay Leaves’, you are close – It costs around $750/lb.

The winner is ‘Chopped Chives’. If you said this out loud, you are also eligible to shout out ‘Bingo’ right about now. It costs around $800/lb!

Which is the cheapest Spice?

If you said ‘Salt’, congratulate yourself. More specifically, it is ‘Sicilian Sea Salt’ ($17/lb!).

Now for some weird ones (all prices are $/lb if you’ve not gotten used to it by now!):

Ground Cumin (63) & Roasted Ground Cumin (53). Roasted one is cheaper? How the hell did they do that?

Ground Coriander (74) & Roasted Ground Coriander (76). Almost no price difference! OK!

Ground Ginger (72) & Roasted Ground Ginger (85). Roasted one is costlier, makes sense…

Ground Saigon Cinnamon (50) & Roasted Saigon Cinnamon (77). Roasted is way too costly, dammit!#%

Mediterranean Spiced Sea Salt (24) is the most weird one! Don’t you think so? Not because of its cost but because of its name! What the hell does one mean by spiced salt? Don’t you mean salted spices! Because all I see in the bottle are brownish, reddish flakes. I don’t see any white ‘particles’ in the bottle and trust me, I can compare ‘white’ with the bottle of ‘Sicilian Sea Salt’ kept next to it.

Spices

Too Much Sketchbook?

2010-07-19T21:17:00.000-04:00

I skipped a couple of heartbeats when I saw this ‘photo’:

(Also Musashi Quality is still in business! YOOOO!!!)

This happened early morning today and then I took the bus to YITP. In the bus, I noticed dark clouds adorning the otherwise usual blue sky. This made me remember the fourth episode of Sketchbook ~Full Color’s~ titled A Sketch Competition between Three People. Specifically, the moment when Sora (the heroine) is sketching the cloudy skyline and it gets difficult for her to draw because of humidity. This leads her to think, “I can’t draw a distinct line, and the sky can’t distinctly rain. I feel like we are similar… not a bad feeling at all.”

Indeed, not a bad feeling at all. When you can’t distinctly accept or refuse; can’t distinctly agree or disagree; can’t distinctly cry or laugh; can’t distinctly feel happy or sad; can’t distinctly hate or love; can’t distinctly lose or win; …! Distinct lines are very rare, aren’t they? How do you draw a distinct line between chaos & randomness, collaborators & competitors, defense & offense, dream & reality, enemies & friends, following & stalking, …

It is as if a distinct line

never exists!

Search for Killer Baby…

2010-07-17T22:26:00.001-04:00

As of now, people have arrived on my blog post titled Baby, Please Kill Me! from Australia(1), Germany(1), Malaysia(1), Singapore(1), UK(1) and US(2) by searching for or about it. I’m really happy about that! About both the facts that people want to read more of this manga and that they end up on my blog but have to leave in disappointment!

People are mostly led to my blog when they search for Khamakha Hyderabadi. It usually appears as the second (or third or fourth) search result depending on Google’s mood. These people come mostly from India, Middle East, Pakistan and US. In minority, people also end up here if they are searching about Saba Balrampuri. The ‘searchers’ for her have more or less the same demographics as earlier. Though, one difference is that people like to ‘listen’ to Him but ‘talk’ to Her!

Searches for the camera named Casio Exilim Z2000 have also brought some people to my exposition of that magnificent piece of technology! Recently, they have come from European countries such as Bulgaria, Finland & Germany!

However, some have come here searching for weird phrases like “funny botanists sampling” and “first sextubel”, go figure! I’m pretty sure these people did not find what they were looking for, here at my blog. In fact, I doubt the latter search (with that spelling for what I guess should be ‘sextuple’) did any good for the ‘researcher’ at all!

One guy (I’m pretty sure, it’s a guy!) even searched for

“jksmskj”…

How do you do?

2010-07-10T21:15:00.000-04:00

Dear Reader, How do You do?

Lost in thoughts for a fitting reply, watch this tutorial(?) video:

QI: Series E; Episode 10 - Part 1 of 3

This video is a great segue to the fact that one of my friends here at SUNYSB (let’s call him MEI-G) is getting married today…

Happy (most probably belated) Wedding Day (and beyond) to him!!! (If you are MI-G, then replace ‘him’ with ‘you’.)

Here’s a ‘funny’ (It’s funny to those who find it funny!) card I’d like to dedicate to MI (read the earlier ones and the story behind these here):

Card M

1^st Page: Experts say that the key to a Happy Marriage is for each of the partners to clearly define and declare their roles in the relationship.

3^rd Page: ⇐ Hope this Helps.

2^nd Page (has two circular red stickers in a column):

I’m the BOSS around here.

I’m the BOSS around here when she’s not around.

Altogether four weddings have been the subject of two of my rather short posts recently. So in an attempt to make my posts feel rather lengthy, the most I could do is to give you some info about what the earlier three might have looked like…

…in general!

Magic: MATLAB® Makes Movies!

2010-07-04T17:15:00.000-04:00

The Pledge: Let me say that ‘this is not a revelation’, so that we are on the same page. The exclamation mark(!) is present for entirely different reasons. For quite some time, I had been having some troubles making movies using 'getframe' & 'addframe' functions in MATLAB^®. The .avi file would have a botched up initial frame which would drag on forever, i.e. no changing frames and hence no movie! (Did you know that Pigeons would see our movies as a slideshow?)

The Turn: I realized that this has to be due to some conflict with the graphics renderer. So, I explicitly chose the 'zbuffer' renderer and the .avi file now actually contained changing frames and hence a movie. You might think it worked out but not so soon... (If it had, this would have been a pretty ‘lame’ post!) 'zbuffer' does not support transparency but I needed that as you will see below. After digging here & there for a while, I came to the conclusion that I needed to use 'OpenGL' renderer and this was also the cause of ‘improper’ movies being made till now! (OpenGL is chosen as the default renderer if available.)

The Prestige: Digging some more in MATLAB's Help (THE BEST HELP EVER WRITTEN, just wanted to get that off my chest ), I found the magic line: feature('UseGenericOpenGL',1); The problem was that OpenGL supports Hardware Acceleration and it is used by default when available but somehow MATLAB couldn't keep up(?)! So the above line forces OpenGL to use software acceleration instead, which as MATLAB's Help points out rarely causes problems. (If the problem still persists, just restart MATLAB^®!)

That did it for me and here are the proofs:

Umbilic Torus

Werner Boy’s Surface

Here are some more well-made animations in MATLAB^®:

Surfaces

Wedding Season

2010-06-27T21:30:00.001-04:00

Three of my friends from IITKGP are getting married. These discrete events started yesterday and will end by the ninth day of next month. I thought of sending them a card (to each one not one for all!) but then decided against it. Though I did read a few cards available in Greeting Cards’ aisle at PathMark. Here is the proof:

Card J

Front: Listening, Caring, Loving, Supporting…

Inside: …Geez, People will do anything to stay together!!!

I guess I’ll dedicate this ‘card’ to JD… Happy (belated) Wedding to you and an enjoyable life ahead. OK, now I need to bring up two more cards for consistency… Here is one:

Card C

Front: Marriage is based on Compromise and Trust…

Inside: Compromise is when you drop whatever you are working on to help your partner hang up a picture on the wall… Trust is when you say, ‘I will hold the nail, you swing the hammer.’!

I guess this gets dedicated to CD… Happy Wedding to you too! Finally, the last one:

Card I

Front: Why should a physicist have both a wife and a mistress?

Inside: So that when your wife thinks you are with the mistress and the mistress believes you are with the wife, you can be happy in the lab, doing physics.

This one was not quite a card as you might have guessed, it’s picked from here such that it can be quite appropriately dedicated to ID… Happy (advanced) Wedding to you!!!

Lastly but not the leastly, I dedicate the following essay to all three of you which starts with the line, “Human is a marital animal”.

Wedding Invitation

How Many Triangles?

2010-06-19T17:31:00.001-04:00

Here’s a question: Take an equilateral triangle ( △) and make 4 (and only 4; 5 or more should be impossible!) triangles out of it by drawing a few lines in its interior such that at least one edge is common to each pair of these 4 triangles!

This problem has two solutions: One has a trick to it and the other one is straightforward. The tricky one is easy to find but finding the straightforward one requires thinking out of the box as one of my friends put it!

Here’s the thought process that leads to both of these solutions:

This video is ‘inspired’ by this video titled Metamorphosis of the Cube.

During the making of my ‘trigon’ video, I started thinking about 3D rotations and found a very concise (and hence, beautiful!) solution to a problem. A ‘problem’ which I had encountered while going through the chapter ‘Spinors’ in Misner, Thorne & Wheeler’s Gravitation about 3 years back! That chapter does have the solution but somewhy I never got comfortable with it! To get to know the problem and the solution, head to the post on my Physics’ blog:

3D Rotations