root 3

Disclaimer: Taken from a post, who in turn took it from some other source. But worth it. No IPRs attached.

i fear that i will always be
a lonely number like root 3
a 3 is all that's good and right
why must my 3 keep out of sight
beneath a vicious square root sign
i wish instead i were a 9
for 9 could thwart this evil trick
with just some quick arithmetic
i know i'll never see the sun
as 1.7321
such is my reality
a sad irrationality
when hark! what is this i see
another square root of a 3
has quietly come waltzing by
together now we multiply
to form a number we prefer
rejoicing as an integer
we break free from our mortal bonds
and with a wave of magic wands
our square root signs become unglued
and love for me has been renewed.

Here and there

Its only when you sit down to write, that you tend to realize how(if) things are going wrong somewhere... So, I have this small list of people who I don't (can't) get into fights with. Oh boy! I can fight the world alone, but when it's with one of them the world seems to fall apart.

How do you spend time when things aren't going that well?

I read. And since books were never made for me, I read blogs!

Phul Singh One of the links i came across on my random blog run. This one is about English, and perhaps our obsession with complicated words ;)

and not to forget the track running in the background right now, its called 'iktara' from Wake up Sid. The song goes something like this -

Orey manva tu to bavra hai
Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai
Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai bavre
Kyun dikhaye sapne tu sote jaagte

I realize that i tend to like a lot more movies these days, and a lot more lyrics...i actually listen to them :)

To end this one, let's have a rapid fire bests and one-liner why's (they keep changing every now and then, where now and then would mean about 10 years, i stick to my favorites)

1. Cricketer - Kevin Pieterson (for being as crazy as he is, and for walking down the pitch)

2. Driver - Raikkonen (yun hi!)

3. Tennis player - Djokovic (for his 'come on's and coz he is 6'2'' ...well, so was 1)

4. City - Delhi (for the traffic and the crowd, and the dil of the city)

5. Font - Georgia (for the simplicity of it)

6. Pastime - blogging (my blog's with me, no matter what!)

7. number - 7 (no reasons....)

Wishing you all a happy diwali (the return of Ram, my favorite super hero, just coz he was so amazingly talented that he could do things all wrong and still get away with a win each time)

rm -r *.*

As always, ignore the title of the post.

Why don't you write more often?
Hmmm...I like to leave people at peace ;)

Then why do you write today?
Multiple reasons -

1. It has rained, so IIT is cooler, i am happier.
2. 6'am start today, big shift from my 1pm schedule, kinda tired.
3. Some people like jaipur more than delhi. why? i dont know
4. Next big thing is dinner at the mess!
5. writing is something i love - after driving, sleeping and IIT
6. why 3!! i still dont know
7. IIT's so good, jst coz it has two i's in the name ;)

But, are you going to write something now?
Nah! I'll do that kabhi aur, free time mein.

So, what now?
Bye

(P.S. - no matter how beautiful the :) smile is... :P is and will remain the best smiley...now common :P is the tongue, the strongest muscle in the human body, also the softest)

I am the Best!

'I need to talk', she said, in a voice that wasn't quite hers. What was alarming was the tone, it wasn't the usual one, it had an air of dominance about it. And yes, something i realized later...she said 'I need to talk' and not 'we need to talk'. It was all my fault, having spent a week to convince her to go for a morning walk, I finally succeeded...can't say if succeeded turned out to be the right word though.

'So, why are you so impressed with yourself?' sweet bomb exploded. She put it in very simple words, just like she always does. My situation was tricky. I have always had this attitude problem (it's getting reduced i am sure, i have at least started sending friend requests on social networks rather than just accepting them). Yeah, so i was sure about my (undue) arrogance. And so was she. The worst part, i could not lie to her (have tried it in the past - never worked so i gave up). Haan, so my answer!

'i don't know, maybe i am that good'

'See, that's where the problem lies...ok, tell me why?'

'Multiple reasons, can't be counting all' (shouldn't have said this)

'Multiple reasons, I know your reasons. You have run them over so many times. You think the average person around is dumb. You think 90% of drivers in Delhi can't drive properly, the politicians are all fraud, your professors can't teach, the lady over there does not know how to jog (she did look funny, but i could not risk pointing it out then), cricketers don't use their brains, policemen are corrupt, the world is full of people not doing their jobs properly...tell me this, are you perfect?

'No, i am not (wanted to say 'i am close to it'). But I have you, and you are perfect. I know you will make me perfect someday'

Flattery always works! Didn't work this time. What followed was pure disaster. Some minutes later, she was the only one speaking. I don't generally allow people to dominate arguments, but against her my situation is kind of helpless. I did manage a few haans and hmmms in between (even that was tough).

So, the talk had everything i had ever got wrong in life (again my fault, i always share everything with her, hopelessly honest). Yeah, she also said something about the way i write 'You are so complicated, it is impossible to read your stuff and you intentionally make it tough for others. Even your blog posts are so 'forcing opinions' type, no room for comments.'

It was about then that i was beginning to realize how pathetic i have been all this while.

'So, what do you suggest' (In hope of an escape, i know she can't be so cruel to me)

She laughed, the laugh I have been in love with, for i don't know how long. And then a kiss on the forehead, always works and she knows it.

'Jokes aside, you are doing fine. Just focus less on proving things to others, respect people more, and give up your 'I am the best' attitude. Why don't you try and relax in life' (Ah hun, her favorite style of explaining things to people who fly - crush the other person's confidence, bring him back to ground level where he can listen, put your point across, and then let him go again)

I knew all along i was doing fine ;)

While leaving, she concluded 'so, ankit you were right. Morning walks are not that bad'

'Yeah mom, they aren't. But I will probably sleep longer tomorrow'

Dil Se

"You cannot write an 'un'romantic post on the heart", she said. And I absolutely hate such comments from an elder cousin(call it the cousin rivalry, if you like). Ok madam, so here it is then...

THE HEART

The human heart is a mass of dense muscle that work with high efficiency. It has two arteries, two veins and four valves. The only little boring job it has is that of pumping blood in two independent circuits(one is the heart-kidney circuit and the other is our body). Without getting into a lot of biology, it is just another organ, doing what it is supposed to do.

And 4 ridiculous lines told me what she meant by 'you cannot'...

THE HEART

The human heart is the one little body part that works day in and day out, just for you. It asks no difficult questions, demands no answers, expects nothing great from you, but still stays with you, all the time. Ideal love, or very close to it. The heart beats when you are happy, it beats when you are sad. It beats, without conditions. Heart symbolizes hope, it stands for optimism. No matter what, you can always put your hand on your chest and be really sure you'll hear that same 'dhak dhak!'. Sitting in a crowded bus, you know your heart's there...sitting alone under the night sky, you know it's still there. I don't care how many valves it has, what it does or how it does it, I just love my heart.

And yes, thank you for the little challenge, never enjoyed losing so much.

1,2,3,zero

Ok, ignore the title!

Its the end of an eventful two weeks at IIT, and I finally get some time off for myself. So, I sit down to 'update' my blog.

POLTU - The politics at IIT is great fun(could not find a better word for it), however it could have been better if there was allowance for a little more sleep time, a little more of stick to your word, and a little less of the 'kicking celebrations'. Haan, so I am the secretary for Indoor Sports Club...the first and the last time I am saying it... saying ISC Secy takes less time, and I am happy for it.

ASSIGNMENTS - The most adventurous part of a CS B.Tech. No more should be said about them, lets leave it here.

DRAMA - My hukka(in iit, it stands for a course in the humanities department) finally grabbed my attention, and so did the professor. And even though, I always believed a hukka teacher can never be sharp I am happy she gave me an exception to the rule(took her 2 months though). Saurabh continues with his poor HQ(humanities quotient) and I continue to have a lot of fun talking about it.

FINALLY I found myself an explanation of why I tend to have very few close friends. Its the definition of what I call good(being so even when you know there is no one watching you) that perhaps makes it difficult for people to fit in. Amazingly, some of them still do...

Signing off, hoping to get my sleep cycle corrected (or maybe not, late nights are fun).

The Egg Story

One of my favorites...

- An egg jumped from the top floor of a really tall building, but he did not break. Why?
- Beginners luck! The guy was really talented.

- Then he jumped again...did not break this time either. Why?
- Confidence! The guy's talented and he knows his talent.

- He jumped again, this time with eyes closed...and landed safe once more. Why?
- Experience! He'd done it so many times...didn't need to see to do it.

- Then he jumped a fourth time, and broke a leg. Why?
- Overconfidence! Eyes closed, ears closed, full of 'i am the best' crap in his head, maybe he deserved it, lol.

- He did not try the jump for a very long time after that, afraid of breaking body parts. But then he tried again one day, a little inspiration from a good friend...
- What happened, well! wait for it :)

From the main gate to the bharti building!

During my three and a half semesters at IIT, I had never seen a more beautiful evening. It wasn't that I was walking the path for the first time, nor did I have anything great to look forward to (except a stupid assignment once I reached my lab). But somehow, things added up quite wonderfully. The wind blowing across my face, the goldenish-red sky(goldenish-red is a beautiful color, if you agree its a color), the one rupee coin flipping constantly in my hand (my friends call my flips the loves me or loves me not tosses), a man telling his son, 'beta, yeh IIT hai'... and yeah, I realized just then, yeh IIT hai.

Dad had warned me of this before, "Dont fall in love with people or places you cannot always keep with you". And I knew quite instantly, what he meant. The last time he said, "zyaada mat padhna, if you clear JEE you will have a tough 4 years", I somehow managed to study enough to clear the entrance. Now, I knew I was falling in love...falling in love with this place.

Coming back to my walk, every step was full of joy. A dalmation walked past me(sniffing my jeans), a kingfisher jet passed overhead(somehow the noise it made was no longer noise), an old couple walked on the footpath(chatting enthusiastically), my phone rang (sorry, i'll call later)...just can't miss the moment. Then came the cheat, I do this all the time...close my eyes and get besides me, the exact person I want to be with, that very moment. I have always believed my imagination power is incomparable(arrogance).

Life was something different. The people I loved, I loved them more...and the people I hated, they seemed not so bad. I could not let the technical details out(typical engineer's mind), why was it a dalmation and not a dog, why did it have to be a kingfisher and not just an aeroplane, why 1 rupee and not 'a coin'... but its fine, thats the way I am.

Assignment, yes I know....gtg

HHMMM......

I have always liked to 'think'. No matter how big a hole I get myself into, a couple of hours of dedicated brain storming, and I am out of it. Great ability, I had believed. But nah! there are situations where it doesn't work. That is where my friends are so important. They might not get me out of trouble each time, but they do teach me how to enjoy it. A small observation I have made in the very recent past is that there are some people who will never match your frequency of thinking (this is not about having different opinions, it's something deeper), while there are others whose brain waves are in perfect resonance with yours. So, you don't actually chose friends, the choice is automatic. Basically, you... or definitely I don't 'make' friends, I just happen to meet them.

The amazing thing thats happening to me this semester is....I'll come back to that by the end of this post. So, the boring part, I have six lecture courses with a total of 25.5 credits. There are people with more as well (27.5 is the highest bid I know), but it seems that even a 25.5 is not going to be easy, especially if I take my course advisor's words seriously(which I don't...sorry, just a force of habit. I don't take a lot of people seriously) Not that I don't hear them, but I chose not to listen, and even though it sounds foolish(definitely in the short term), I know its not... so I continue on the same line of thought.

There has been a lot of 'I' stuff in the two paragraphs above, no more of it now in the remaining portion, its a promise (and not 'I promise', precious thing this 'I promise', can't use it everywhere). The amazing part... yes of course. Seven 8 am classes in the current semester, and Ankit(thats me) hasn't missed a single one of them. Having talked a lot about general stuff on my blog, its now time to come up with more technical things next time. My next post.... probably on computer science, maybe some hacking.

Love you all!