#(I dont care anymore) The entropy and the reality

Sometimes, I feel that both of them are actually very synonymous. If anything is going to be real, its going to be so full of entropy.

Anyway, that discussion aside, this semester is heating up pretty fast, I think it already has. I have a Machine Learning assignment due on the 24th, gave a quiz day before, turned in an assignment today, graded two different classes (oh, I need a separate post to rant about that ) and along with these, the part-time venture which I totally relish, and a job search (sigh, are you panting too? )

Being busy is good, its something I like, and my mind is happier that way. Now, what's mind and how its different from brain is for some other day to talk about. So, life is ok, if not for that element of entropy I need to deal with - the future prospect. This is getting onto my nerves, I wouldn't have minded 10 more courses but the uncertainty is killing! Only because its not just me involved in the whole process, there are so many more minds and hearts that went into me being able to be here and doing what I am doing, believing in all of what I believed in. And that induced responsibility needs to meet a certainty whose existence I'm not really very certain of right now. I want to be, although I personally adore this world for its randomness. But personally comes always later.

That was as obtuse as I could get, huh.

Leaving that as is, there was a Google tech talk here @USC and they showed off some of their GoogleX projects and blah. The showstopper of the whole event was the number of students that turned up. The room was overflowing by 5:30 with the event starting at 6, (I think about 500 could fit in) and there were about 150 of them waiting outside. And it wasn't even a recruiting fair! What's with the craze!
I dont know what it's like or how it is to be there, but if there is such competition for whatever that is, then it brings a lot of questions to my mind. It takes me to Page & Brin. They are like the superstars of this web-tech cinema that we are envisaging.
Well, it had to be done eventually, if not by them, by someone else.
But what's commendable is them keeping that bar raised so high even after almost two decades, and driving the monopoly. Well, what can I say. I'm an avid googler and I enjoy every minute of it. So, am just thankful I've witnessed something like this. A story to tell the generations, eh? But somewhere inside, there is someone who whispers, 'Thats not urs, make one for urself.' And that's when thoughts break bonds and bounds.

They say its about following your dreams. I do have mine, and I want to see where they take me. We'll see.

Meanwhile, on another side of the universe, the moon's caught white and gay (sadly by a low-res camera), with the USC globe searing high and high.

#15 (?) A break, a change, a need

I've always tried to write my blog posts such that they be well-written, well-versed and well-behaved. But I think I've had enough of that. I'm going to start using my blog more as a blog from today on. Lets see how that goes, no promises yet.

So recently, I've seen the movie, 'Rajneeti' and it made me see 'The Dynasty: Nehru-Gandhi Story' and 'Operation blue star' back to back with the film. What amazes me is how we are so young in terms of the amount of freedom, we've got. We, referring to Indians. Its been half a decade, and so much has changed. Ofcourse, there are still parts that showcase the novelty but yet, it kept me wondering about how India was transformed  through the years, to the good and to the bad.

Mr.Nehru, or Chacha Nehru, when I read about him, seems like a hero - one who led the new-born country on a road that later took so many turns but still managed to mark its presence in the global traffic. Anyway, he as a person, and in my opinion, was certainly a hero, and he is going to stay in my thoughts for a real long time, irrespective of anything.

I read that he loved these of Frost's lines a lot:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep

This is the complete poem written by Robert Frost, they were taken from:

Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

I've known another of Frost's poems that was taught in one of my English classes, about the Road Less Traveled by, which probably is more popular. I'm gonna look out for more of his works.

Its thrilling when you look back and see that these people like Nehru were just a generation away, and they've truly lived over. I'm still trying to figure out my road, as the woods seem lovely, dark and deep. Will I ever find a way out? I'm not sure but somehow there is a small ray of hope that keeps me going, and I'm hopeful.

Miles to go.

#14: A lil of hike and a lil of haiku

It’s been more than 6 months since life has re-begun. So much has changed both in and around, that its getting difficult to even recollect all of it. Well, not all of it was welcome, but if all of it was indeed welcome, it’d just be another monotone. So, its fine the way it is.

Rewinding…
Aug 8, 2013. The day I landed here in the ‘mighty’ states after an yearlong hustle-bustle of running around – sbi branches, passport office, loans, visa, tons of shopping and not to forget the shed of tears as I was sent off. It was weird.

I’d no idea what I was set out to do. Yes, there were new horizons, new colors and new traffic rules but what of these do I absorb and what do I adsorb. Clueless, I just plunged in.

Current day…
Past few months, I’ve seen, studied and perhaps, understood people, life and dsp from different angles.

Ofcourse, my dsp endeavours with speech, image and graph brought a much sought out solace after a year of separation. Uh la la baby! (Though the job scenario does give creeps at times. [read most of the time.])

People. Roommates, neighbors, friends and friends of friends coupled with fried rice, Sāmbhar and a cup of tea. That I was still fresh to bind, that I was still ripe to bond, that co-existence is beautiful and that it defines life – I never knew.

Life. Oh, don’t get me started on this. One of the many realizations I had was how powerful a few lines of poetry (also termed ‘haiku’) could get. This was my first.

'To not do what you don’t want to
To work and not judge
To love and not lie
To live and not die.'

Its supposed to define what it means 'to be' – that one shouldn’t let any force external or internal, make him do what he does not want to, that one should allow himself to enjoy his work, without any comparisons be it social, financial or whatever, that one shouldn’t let himself go so low to cheat the ones he loves, that one shouldn’t grow so weak to commit a suicide, but instead just live.

Well, it was an eventful few months. But among all of them, the most eventful was the winter break last month - unexpected, and with a lil bit of exaggeration, unreal. With a few road trips and a few roadies. I’ll end it here with another haiku.
I call it ‘the winter break’.

'Of towers and the night
Of shivers in the white
Of blur and the bur
Of love and its err...

Are tales untold
Too rigged and bold...'

Till time calls dibs next,
Shampoo