Nature gives to man, gentle reminders of what its fury can look like.
Dear mankind, don’t mess with nature.
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
An experiment in the spirit of science
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Afternoon Music
The sleek, delta-winged LCA does a real low fly-by, creating an earth-shattering sound. Invigorating music to the ears. "Go back to sleep", whispers the spook and I lie unaffected hence.
Monday, December 06, 2004
The Twilight Break
Sometimes I think, during our best times at work, productivity varies exponentially with the number of breaks you take. During not-so-good times, the variance may be linear. Sometimes, nothing can vary your state of misery; you simply stick around like those fat-leaden Sea lions during winter, doing nothing. Well, this was not what I wanted to talk about actually. Let me describe that small break of ten minutes, during twilight, which I think is one of the best parts of my day.
Its winter and the sun goes down in a hurry, setting the stage for a long, cold night ahead. As the night slowly sets in, the western sky flaunts resplendent shades of red. But, that is not what I am interested in; I turn towards the East, towards the rear side of my office building, which opens into a vast area of barren, uninhabited land, extending all the way to the Bangalore Airport, a few miles away. The airport area forms the horizon, the place where miles of darkness ends abruptly. The bright halogen lamps seem to twinkle, possibly due to the refraction through the polluted evening air. The cold evening breeze creates gentle ripples on a lake, which lies in the vicinity of the airport, thereby reflecting a wavering image of yellow lights. While I gaze at this picturesque sight, airplanes take off, airplanes land.
"Beautiful", I say to myself and get back to work.
Its winter and the sun goes down in a hurry, setting the stage for a long, cold night ahead. As the night slowly sets in, the western sky flaunts resplendent shades of red. But, that is not what I am interested in; I turn towards the East, towards the rear side of my office building, which opens into a vast area of barren, uninhabited land, extending all the way to the Bangalore Airport, a few miles away. The airport area forms the horizon, the place where miles of darkness ends abruptly. The bright halogen lamps seem to twinkle, possibly due to the refraction through the polluted evening air. The cold evening breeze creates gentle ripples on a lake, which lies in the vicinity of the airport, thereby reflecting a wavering image of yellow lights. While I gaze at this picturesque sight, airplanes take off, airplanes land.
"Beautiful", I say to myself and get back to work.
Monday, November 29, 2004
The Spirit of Community
This Saturday was a unusual day for me; a day filled with a rare blend of excitement, anxiousness and vivid memories of a not so distant past. It was to be a day of special significance for me, as a software professional. I had been invited to give a presentation on the fundamentals of .NET, as a part of the inauguration of the RVCE .NET User Group. As we reached the gates of RVCE on Saturday, old memories started to unfold. Coming to the place where I graduated from after many years, also added to the level of excitement. Something I least expected at the event was to be called upon the stage as a "Dignitary". I know, and you know, that I don’t deserve that kind of respect, just yet ! The event then started in a traditional way, with Lamp Lighting and invocation. It was really encouraging to see such a huge crowd for the inauguration, thereby exceeding all our expectations.
I had delivered sessions in the past, but to peer professionals. Presenting it to a set of enthusiastic students, willing to jump on to the .NET technology bandwagon, was a totally different ball game. Adding the fact that I was an RVCE alumnus, probably added a bit more to the pressure. It was the first time that I had given a presentation to students. Not too long ago, I was in their place and hence, I did have a idea of what the level of expectation would be like. I had prepared more on the way the session was structured rather than the content itself, knowing that most of the crowd would be new to .NET. But, during the course of the presentation, I veered off into depths and probably lost the audience in the process. Nonetheless, it was a great learning avenue for me and I definitely would be looking forward to more such opportunities and to contribute to the growing .NET community.
I would like to end this note by mentioning why I think community is important, not just to a professional, but also to a student. Community is all about sharing knowledge selflessly. It is about building a strong network of people, perhaps beyond the premises of an individual's organization or institution, and which could cut across geographical boundaries too. Community also adds a new dimension to your image of a professional or student - it helps broaden your perspectives on things, be it technology, problem solving, etc.
Community has definitely changed the way I look at technology, for the good, and perhaps fuelled what I really aspire to become. I wouldn’t say I have been a exuberant image in the community thus far, but I shall always try to give the best I can.
I had delivered sessions in the past, but to peer professionals. Presenting it to a set of enthusiastic students, willing to jump on to the .NET technology bandwagon, was a totally different ball game. Adding the fact that I was an RVCE alumnus, probably added a bit more to the pressure. It was the first time that I had given a presentation to students. Not too long ago, I was in their place and hence, I did have a idea of what the level of expectation would be like. I had prepared more on the way the session was structured rather than the content itself, knowing that most of the crowd would be new to .NET. But, during the course of the presentation, I veered off into depths and probably lost the audience in the process. Nonetheless, it was a great learning avenue for me and I definitely would be looking forward to more such opportunities and to contribute to the growing .NET community.
I would like to end this note by mentioning why I think community is important, not just to a professional, but also to a student. Community is all about sharing knowledge selflessly. It is about building a strong network of people, perhaps beyond the premises of an individual's organization or institution, and which could cut across geographical boundaries too. Community also adds a new dimension to your image of a professional or student - it helps broaden your perspectives on things, be it technology, problem solving, etc.
Community has definitely changed the way I look at technology, for the good, and perhaps fuelled what I really aspire to become. I wouldn’t say I have been a exuberant image in the community thus far, but I shall always try to give the best I can.
Bye Rediff, Hello Blogger !
A new day, another new blog. This time, its blogger. I was contemplating on bidding adieu to Rediff for quite a while now and finally decided to make the transition on a sunny Monday afternoon while being half awake. As I am enjoying typing out this entry in a cool wysiwyg HTML editor, at the same time, I am feeling a bit uncomfortable to leave behind an old friend, whose birthday, we celebrated just the other day. Goodbye Rediff, I will miss you.
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