Crossed Criss-crossed

Never been so worked up in like about something so trivial as RJ-45 cable, NETBUI protocol and DNS config. If that sounds more latin to you lemme clear the fog. Was trying to connect my Toshiba notebook to my faithful desktop workhorse and was unsuccessful. Didn't give up until almost every muscle in my body was aching aloud. I think the problelies with Norton Systemworks 2005 which has been installed with its inbuilt firewall. Some how the ping packets were lost in desolate euclidean space leaving me to wander where the chink actually lied and belied.
So much for an attrocious waste of an otherwise pretty much usable weekend. Remind me of the lines :
It starts with one thing
I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try keep that in mind
I designed this rhyme
To explain in due time
All I know
Time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down to the end of the day
The clock ticks life away
It's so unreal..
"In the End" by Linking Park.

Apart from that life has been largely uneventful with no major messups or goofups for a change. Went to see "15 Park Avenue". Was quiteprim and proper. Konkona, Rahul and Shabana have done quite nice work in this movie. But the character which really stood out in my mind was that played by Dhritiman Chatterjee. Incidentally that is one person I had really hated after watching "Agantuk" by Satyajit Ray. Incidentally watched Agantuk as a part of post lunch matinee masala on home VCD. Mamata Shankar and Utpal Dutta make a formidable pair. Every time I see this movie I feel the compulsive desire to shun any forms of Egotistic sense of achievement that I may have acquired over a period of time. Makes me wonder to what extent am I cocooned in my own world to be unable to appreciate the vastness or the variety all around me much like 'Kupamanduk" or the frog inside the dark dingy well.
A couple of other things also surface out and those are the amount of Home Work that Satyajit used to do while creating the script of any movie. Whether it is Armadillo or a Altamira Cave Dweller's Painting of Bison or Floccinaucinihilipilification or most profoundly and prophetically the magic of sun-earth-moon sizes. His movies always had dollops to learn from and to acquire and inspire to learn.
Anyways with all praise floating arounf for "15 Park Avenue" can't help but wonder the difference in League between Satyajit and even someone as talented as Aparna Sen.
~ Cheetos

INDIA TODAY article on Lal Krishna Advani

L.K. Advani - Makeover Man

With the handing over of power to Rajnath Singh ends the era of Advani-Vajpayee Regime. Quite the opposites in nature and yet they seemed to be just the perfect team. Politicians always have dirty linen, which their opponents wash in public. I will not dwell on the appropriateness or lack of it on the political doings of this person. I would rather probe a little deeper into the person per se to find out what differentiates this person from Mayawati, Mulayam and the other rag-picker-jabbers of UP Politics.
Lal Krishna Advani, sometimes called the iron man of modern India, has always been very candid and forthcoming in his interviews. The one covered in the cover story of India Today is no different. Speaking to Arun Poorie about his views and opinions about M.A.Jinnah, the gandhi-nehru family among others.

"I made two mistakes. I should not have agreed to take over as party chief from Naidu and I should not have withdrawn my resignation after they passed a resolution asking me to continue".

Apart from many other things he has told one thing very clearly, one is that there were certain facts about Jinnah that interestingly vanished much to the comfort of the Nehru-Gandhi leadership, and secondly that he has changed as a person after his stint in power. According to him he has begun to understand the nuances of governance and the various constraints which are applicable to it better.
This is quite interesting, especially the way he justifies the change, taking the example of the Tories and the Labour parties in UK. Gradually in governance the more you come to power the lesser remain the differences. This actually is quite true as the long term poolicies that any government pursues cannot be abandoned or overhauled by the new government which comes to power, because of social, political, economic and legal implications. It basically has no alternative than to pusue them with minor tailoring if so desired.
For example the case of De-regulation. Once the Narsimharao government initiated the process they set the wheel rolling. There was no way to stop it. A highly disgrunted government could at best slow it down, like the JD government did. But it was only a matter of time before it would follow its due course, as it did.
In this same context Advani echoes expected voices on being asked "Is UPA similar to NDA"; he says that UPA can never be similar to NDA with the Red bastion firmly entrenched in the center.
He goes on to say that congress and its alies have a concept of secularity which he is alien to, calling it vote-bank religion. I would put my two cents on this one. If reserving 5 % for Muslims or Government funding Haj yatra for poor Muslims is Secularism then maybe the term in itself needs a 180 degree phase shift. Comfort to minority does not and should not imply undue and unfair favours to them at the cost of marginalizing the majority. After all what is the fault of a Hindu child when he is preferred over a Muslim kid in any educational institution or governement office, only the fact that he is a Hindu ?
~ Cheetos

Sabbatical Chronicle

December & January Updates
Been out of circulation for a while. Every single day I relegiously felt ill at ease about not blogging and then religiously chose the convenient route to 'shift focus'. Anyways lots of things happened even as the previous year was drawing to a close, as chronologically listed below.
1.) Spent Christmas with parents who had come over
2.) Had a college re-union of sorts with folks comming over from all over.
3.) Performed as Pathetic as possible in CAT
4.) Topped the distaste with being congratulated all around for belling it.
5.) Preparing for K, taking frequent plunges in Computer Sc books. This interestingly is bringing back lots and lots of memories and reminded me that I was actually quite good at this, while I was at it!
Makes my Resolve all the more stronger!
"But you can Johnathan, for you have learnt.
One school is finished and the time has come for another to begin."
- Johnathan Livingston
The seagull story

Incidently the link in the title bar takes you to some snaps of our re-union.

~ Cheers ~
Cheetos

Silicon Genesis

Silicon Genesis
The above is a link to Stanford University site which contains video recordings and transcripts of some of the pioneers of Semiconductor industry. A Must for all Silicon Buffs !

By the way I am back after a small Hiatus.