Thursday, October 26, 2006

Me back

Just got back from a very very tiring whirlwind tour of Rajasthan : not really complete , but still pretty good one.
Parents have this habit of jamming any tour choke full , with time barely enough to sleep and eat :-) And this one was not really much different : we spent 1500 km on the road (which included quite a bit of ghat road) - which translated to travelling about 12 hours or more per day !

Will write up more about it later - when I have more time and patience (maybe post a few pics too !).
The one place which still stands in my mind is the fort at chittor. It is extremely moving ... and you can almost visualise the events , battles , intrigues which happened there.
The fort looks impregnible even now ! And when you stand facing the front enterance - looking down on the main battlefield - you can almost "see" the invaders and the defenders.
The place seems to have been filled with romantics ... and I was left deeply touched.

Will post more later ... save to say , Rajasthan is an awesome place to visit : it is one thing to read about it , and totally different to actually visit the legendery places.

3 Comments:

Blogger Unawoken said...

Good man! Happy to hear about your trip! I crave to visit Rajasthan, and some more of the fabulous places up north :(

10/26/2006 03:54:00 AM  
Blogger emanish said...

everyone i know seems to be rushing for rajathan these days :).

I love that place jaipur, udaypur, pushkar, amazing. It was long long time ago i visited that place. But im sure its as colourful as ever as they call it 'rangeelo rajasthan'. you have snaps at flickr ?

10/29/2006 11:07:00 PM  
Blogger Mridul said...

@ vinay
It is pretty nice place to visit - but when you do , pace the trip properly : and dont cram it like what my parents end up doing :-)

@manish

Yep , about 160 odd pics in flickr : all substandard though - I just cant use camera properly :-(
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98058584@N00/sets/

10/30/2006 01:20:00 AM  

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Friday, October 20, 2006

Don "remixed"

Since I have got home yesterday , the one thing which has kept on going on in a loop in the news channel is comparison between the new 'Don' movie to be released today and the old one.

Frankly , I consider Amitabh Bachan a vastly superior actor to Shah Rukh Khan - the former can act , the latter can perform antics : inspite of popularity of both of these 'styles' , it is a fundamental difference.
Being a chocolate hero (as mom puts it) will get SRK a fan following of juvenile imbeciles - but that cant be mistaken for talent.

Not to glorify the old movie (was watching it just now on TV btw) , but Amitabh Bachan had the charisma to wear the persona of the don ... SRK will make a mockery of it : yes I am yet to see the movie , but the trailers speak volumes !
And that stupid female Kareena Kapoor has to be told that wearing scanty clothing and acting like a bitch does not make her 'sexy' ... you need a minimum amount of class and should appeal to others , she is totally devoid of both.

The only movie of SRK that I have found moderately tolerable has been Swades ... that too largely cos of the performances of the rest of the cast (SRK does not do a bad job to be fair).

This new trend of mutilating old movies which were hits is a sad practise which has gripped Bollywood ...
You see a lot of old Malayalam classics being poorly remade - largely cos of the lack of talent of the newer breed of actors. (I am sure movies from other langauages are also being targetted : just that I can identify the mallu ones !)
Just like you have remix of old classic songs , which kill the soul of the song for the same of (supposedly trendy) "beats" , you will have cheap stunts and stupid gadgets in the 'remix movies' - both of which leave you feeling empty , cheated and with a sense of violation of something you used to love.


Hopefully , the trend will die a miserable death ...

5 Comments:

Blogger Unawoken said...

Wow man! You have some harsh stuff to say about SRK and Kareena! You're tearing them apart :)

Yeah Amitabh in his prime had a lot of raw appeal, but these days he produces very predictable and mediocre stuff. Kinda disappointing actually.

Have good fun in the north west. I wish I could visit Rajasthan sometime :(

10/20/2006 12:57:00 PM  
Blogger Unawoken said...

comment showed up with my name instead of my handle..
hmm..

10/20/2006 01:03:00 PM  
Blogger cRaY3 said...

what is the point in remaking a film with some mi-2 like stunts and funny FX? there is lack of originality everywhere and i really feel irritated when morons talk as though they are directing a film for winning Oscar awards...so cheap...

btw Happy Diwali :)

10/20/2006 11:45:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hmm it is 175 anyway

10/23/2006 03:39:00 PM  
Blogger Mridul said...

@ vinay

Nope , my actual 'feelings' for SRK and Kareena Kapoor is much stronger ;-) Just that you have not seen me go on and on and on about them !!
Amitabh Bachaan nowadays is boring - though he was really good at some point of time in distant history.

@ cray3
Exactly my point !
Remake with some gloss added , mess up the essential idea behind the movie (similar to hindi remix albums) and think you have dont a 'great job' cos you have 'worked hard on the project' (the words that srk mouths in the interviews - idiot).
Belated happy Diwali to you too :-)

@ aparup

NO (that wala) , no abuses here :-P

10/26/2006 02:52:00 AM  

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Happy Diwali !

First off , wish you and your family a very happy and prosperous Diwali !

For us , 20th , 23rd and 24th are off - took leave for the next three days and made it into a 10 day vacation :-D Currently in Bombay with parents - we plan to go to Jaipur tomorrow (21st) : and roam around Rajasthan for next 4 days : should be fun !
Parents always liked the place - they used to frequent it from Indore where dad was posted after marriage ... even I am supposed to have visited the place allegedly : I was 1- years old :-P

1 Comments:

Blogger Paras Shah said...

Happy Diwali !

10/21/2006 11:02:00 PM  

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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Project blackbox !

Check this out - project blackbox is finally out !
Yep, they mean it literally :-)
Check out the pics here - what they call "scenarios" : I like the last one ;-)

Man , this is totally cool engineering ! And very wacky when you think about it - which makes it more awesome :-D

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice. I'm not a business person so I can't say how good it will do i the market but it definitely has hack value.

How long was this in development?

10/18/2006 03:34:00 PM  
Blogger Mridul said...

@ Anonymous

I am not sure of the business angle too ... but I can imagine it being terribly useful to have - and we are told that customers are already lined up for this !

How long ? I am not really sure - GregP mentions that he has been thinking about it for 2 years .... not sure when it was actually concieved and pulled into action.

10/18/2006 07:00:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Since you're working at Sun, you'd definitely be told that the whole world is just dying to buy the product. :)

Anyway... These sort of complexes suck a lot of power. Don't they? If you're transporting it to a relief station (like what was shown in the picture), you'd have to tug along a pretty heavy generator too. Wouldn't you?

10/19/2006 02:10:00 PM  
Blogger Mridul said...

As a general note about product development : the process of productising something is a much more involved than a simple matter of selling the idea to people within ...
Due diligence is done and you have to establish the viability of the investment to be made. The possibility of (other) technological advances , alternatives , risks (too long to list) that exists are factored in while making a decision.
Does not make the process foolproof - but it is not a case of people telling me that whole world is dying to buy it :-)

Btw , most of the info I provided here was from public sites ... I would definitely not post anything which is not public !

The reason I posted it was for the hack value - I dont work in marketting ;-)
To me , it has amazing hack value - I would love to think up something along these lines : it is an amazing engineering problem , and the solution is as innovative as it is simple !
And more importantly , there is a real pressing need for solutions like this - I would be really impressed if more products which keep environmental considerations in mind come out into the market !

Even if this had been done by any other company , I would have posted it !!

10/20/2006 10:47:00 AM  
Blogger Mridul said...

About power - dont go by everything you see in the pics : under scenarios , there is also one about project blackbox being run on mars ;-) (http://www.sun.com/emrkt/blackbox/images/zot_bb_scenario_2.jpg)

You will need cooling , network connectivity and power : and I would assume all of them have to be moderately reliable.
Ofcourse you should contrast it with existing level of infrastructure and investment required for running a datacenter !
At the end of the day , this is a datacenter : not the PC in my basement :-)

10/20/2006 10:52:00 AM  

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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Loosing the drive ?!

The past few months - almost the past one year actually , has been extremely hectic.
Well , after all that - from mid of last week I have been surprisingly free : I was not directly involved in anything 'burning' for the first time in like ages :-)
And , to add to my surprise , it was extremely distracting - almost felt that I was loosing my drive.
(Actually there is another reason for becoming demotivated - but that is another issue)

Dusted up my chess program and started hacking on it ... anything to get back into a furious mode of writing code (I think I seriously compromised its strength in the process : test/tune/test/repeat rigourously before introducing changes - old chess programming maxim was violated massively).
I think I should learn to relax more with my life ... imbalance is not good.
And to illustrate the point - I am writing this at 6 am , and I have not yet slept while friends are trying to make me sleep :-)

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Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Much hilarity !

A friend messaged me this.
Enjoy the laugh :-))
What is really really ironical is this is sadly true !

BTW , this fortune quote cracked me up totally :
"
Abstainer, n.:
A weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a
pleasure.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
"

hehehehehe

1 Comments:

Blogger Unawoken said...

Speaking of Ambrose Bierce, check out this short story: http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=35547

10/11/2006 12:03:00 AM  

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Chess in India

No one here gives a shit about chess ... to put it mildly.
Which is really really sad - if you look at the quality of players India boasts about , and the training and preparation that they (dont) get , it is a remarkable achievement.
You have kids getting trained from age 4 or so in most of the former soviet republics - in a very disciplined way , you have innumerable clubs , tournaments , events across Europe ditto for US.
And India ? Almost no one seems to be interested !
Can you ever imagine our president or prime minister raising an issue like this for any of our players ?
It will be 'xyz who ?' where xyz == Anand/Humpy/Deepan/Sasikiran/etc.

You have to really give it to the chess players in India - they succeed inspite of their circumstances , not 'cos of it !
Here is a blog I found which gives news about chess in India : http://indiangm.blogspot.com/

The most popular game in this country is one which is played by least number of counteries , is a colonial hangover , and even at which we suck in comparison with the best !
Ok , that rant about cricket might be uncalled for ... but I find it really frustrating when people are so obsessed with it even when we are so lousy at it in comparison !

4 Comments:

Blogger Unawoken said...

I totally agree. I think that Vishy Anand is greatly under-represented in the Indian media, govt. et al. His performance has been phenomenal.

On the other hand we have these paper tigers, pilers of multiple records in cricket, but can't win games that matter, but are lionized by the media.

10/10/2006 12:57:00 PM  
Blogger Moonjungle said...

For the love of chess lets form a 'Chess Terrorist' outfit. We'll vioalte the countries pitches with checkered markings. This should give the cricket players a tough time in concentrating on their game.

Cricket bats are a waste of willow, just imagine the armies we could carve out of one bat!

viva la revolucion!

10/10/2006 02:38:00 PM  
Blogger Mridul said...

@ Vinay

Very very true , this is a point I repeatedly raise in most of my discussions with cricket fanatic friends.
It is not that I hate the game (well , the scams did leave a very bad taste in the mouth inspite of the coverups) , but there is no sense of propotion when it comes to it.
Sports where we are remarkable in , like chess - we dont even get too much attention in the media !
As a simple example , just look at the sponsership of most of the international cricket team members from India , and vishy anand (I guess just a couple or so !)
It is sad state indeed.

@ guru

Interesting idea - we will checker their pitches and mate them :-P
Poda poda :-)

10/10/2006 08:23:00 PM  
Blogger Unawoken said...

The "problem" with chess, of course, is that it does not have the visual appeal of a sport. There is nothing visually different between a bad move and a great move. This naturally subtracts from it's potential as a spectator "sport". And eyeballs and spectators are what the media and sponsors care for.

It is somewhat harder to explain why hockey is not raved about for example (of course, it's partly because the hockey team isn't going anywhere.)

10/10/2006 10:18:00 PM  

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Saturday, October 07, 2006

Kick in the balls

Really really painful to watch - do at your own risk ! http://www.glumbert.com/media/tonguetwister : bloody sadistic game show people !!

2 Comments:

Blogger Unawoken said...

Eeeeeek! You are into some really weird stuff!

10/07/2006 09:32:00 AM  
Blogger Mridul said...

Friend of mine sent this across : man , it looked so sooo painful !
I wanted to spread the pain :-P

10/08/2006 09:25:00 PM  

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Thursday, October 05, 2006

"Ok go"

Found this from Chris Melissinos's blog - very innovative and awesome choreography !
Check it out :

1 Comments:

Blogger V said...

Really very innovative!

10/05/2006 07:14:00 PM  

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Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Dont ever trust a woman ...

"Dont ever trust a woman , the prettier she is - the more deadly" ... pearls of wisdom from "The Evil Cult" ? ;-)

2 Comments:

Blogger Unawoken said...

Eh? Where did that come from?

10/03/2006 10:12:00 AM  
Blogger Mridul said...

You seen the movie ?
I found this dialogue really unexpected and strangely hilarious (note to self , dont watch movies at 5am ;-) ).
The context and circumstances in which it was said make it even more so :-D

10/05/2006 05:00:00 AM  

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Sunday, October 01, 2006

London Underground

Very explict lyrics - so listen if you are up to it : http://www.backingblair.co.uk/london_underground/ amazingly funny , a very catchy tune and the flash video is funny :-) ... thanks to a friend of mine.


In other rants, I am finding that most of what I want to blog does to make it here (including a post today) for a simple reason : combination of linux x64 , firefox 64 bit and Xorg.
I am not sure which of these is to blame - but firefox is insanely unstable in this combination and crashes on the drop of a hat as soon as you have about 15 sites open.
And no , cpu load is not high and memory usage is low (it is my desktop at work : athlon 4200 , 2 gig ram) ....

And to top it all , blogger beta is insanely stupid in not even having something elementary like periodically saving the post as drafts until published !

So crash , restart -> post lost : I am not going to sit and type all that elsewhere or even retry.

It is pretty sad when win xp 64 I have at home is much more stable than linux ...

1 Comments:

Blogger V said...

ROFL... good flash!

10/02/2006 01:13:00 PM  

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