"Mulla poompodi eettukidakkum kallinumundoru saurabhyam....."

Spring is finally here..

I haven't written anything this month.. I didn't have any photos for a while. Now I have too many and need time to process.. :D

So yeah.. its spring.. and that brings a lot of cheer.. might be the sunshine and vitamin D production.. :D.. Anyway.. it feels good to see the flowers bloom.. trees getting new leaves.. colours around.. other than black grey and red.. and nice pleasant temperatures (mostly)... And yes... I do have a lot of pictures of flowers and leaves.. :D

This one is the tree outside my room.. the same one from an earlier post.. but it looks very different now.. :D..

It would be nice to have two more photos to complete it.. lets see if I manage.. :D...

Happy Spring...

dance till you drop..

Dancing is very relaxing.. you let yourself go.. and move to the music the way you feel.. I love dancing specially when no one is watching.. :D..or at least not care too much.. salsa music is nice.. very lively.. amazing beats.. went to a salsa club with Rajee .. was fun.. I cant dance.. dont have much of a balance.. but its definitely fun to watch people who can really dance.. to some people its all about technique.. to some.. the flow comes naturally.. to me.. they are better dancers.. specially in salsa .. the men who dont spin the girl too much.. are usually better.. :D..

Salsa is very male dominant.. unless the guy knows how to dance.. its not fun.. doesnt suit my personality tho..used to have fights with my dance partner when I was learning long ago.. I would want to do something else when he wanted to practice.. :D.. oh well.. :D.. poor dude.. :D..

So here are some shots from sunday..

"Go with the flow.."

"Her dancing shoes.."

"I see though you.. "

"Full swing.."

"Resting before the next round.."

"Glass.."

"The red skirt.."

Sendlinger tor.. at night..

Here are some shots for an U-Bahn station at 9 pm.. on a saturday... quite empty... very unusual for Sendlinger Tor..

"Running for the last U-bahn.. "

"Where are you guys?... I'm waiting... "

"The ticket machines.. "

"Here I am... this is me...now where do I go?.."

"Bakery.. empty and closed.."

"Whats news?"

Narcissism

Here is to the narcissist in me..

"I..Me..Myself.."


"More of me.."

was studying.. the morning sunshine coming though my window.. why not try a self-portait ?.. I hardly like pictures of me.. specially when I'm posing.. always the first picture has the most natural smile.. and it shows in your eyes.. cant fake there.. :)..

playing ....

"The Blue Van"

Woke up and saw this through window.. bright blue van in a grey background..

"Blue Man"

sad and thoughtful..

"Proximity Effect"

Reminded me of this effect .. http://www.aip.de/groups/cosmology/im.html

"When a door closes somewhere another one opens..if we stare too long at the closed one. we dont see the open one.. "

Below are the flowers in a different color and contrast.. just playing.. :)... different point of view..

"Purple Birds"

"Shadows and the silver lining.."

Some times the sunlight escapes the clouds and comes through the window.. just right to make a that beautiful shadow and the silver lining.. just perfect for a second.. and then disappears for ever...

creative urge...

"See though.. "

Creative urge.. I guess we all have them sometimes.. just want to make something fun and interesting.. a painting.. a poem.. music.. food.. a blog post... a piece of code.. scientific idea.. and it doesn't go away till we do it.. just goes on in the head.. feel the need to get it out..

Today it was this necklace for me.. learnt how to knot last week.. and today suddenly I wanted to knot these beads.. couldnt do anything till I finished them.. its a pretty necklace.. dont know if I will wear it sometime.. but I enjoyed making it.. I enjoy making jewellery more than wearing them.. also owning pieces.. sometimes I see something and just want it.. even though I probably would never wear it.. like my mom says.. I have an 'akrantham' (craving) for jewellery.. this one.. again I had the bead for ages.. and this way I like it.. the beads are beautiful.. specially with the light going thru them.. the colors.. the transparency.. :)... also what I liked in my earlier pic with the waitress.. the drinks on her tray were see-though..

talking about creative urges... I was recently searching for a new proj and talked to a few people.. but I have time to do only 1 more coz I already have 2 more to finish.. and I liked 2 projects.. :D... then I decided to take the one from which I would learn more.. a slightly different topic that the one I am currently working on.. but then the other proj I heard about set me thinking.. I got stuck in my head.. after after I decided what I wanted to do.. this proj didnt get out of my head.. and I can feel it going on in my head.. :D.. like a background process.. anyway.. finally told myself that I can work on it may be after a few months.. :D.. its a bit like cheating myself.. to stop myself thinking.. but I have to say I do enjoy it.. thats one of the fun things about doing research..

today read an article about a guy quitting his research (http://blog.devicerandom.org/2011/02/18/getting-a-life/).. seems like he finshed his phd at cambridge.. and was quitting coz he did like the science but not the problems with the lifestyle.. bad pay.. shiffting jobs every few years.. and the cut throat competion.. he also had a link to an article in the economic times which said that it was not worth getting a phd.. considering the number of job u get after doing that and the mild increase in pay than a masters student.. quite true... its really hard to get a postdoc.. even harder to get a tenured position.. the competition is fierce... no stability in the job.. but the stimulation in ur brain.. which u get during the research.. hard to get outside..ok.. not all the time.. probably only a few weeks a year. a nice conference.. or a summer school.. but its all worth it for me... all the frustration.. of course different people want different things.. and now I understand it is good.. lesser competition.. ;)... well I do feel bad thinking that way... but that how life is.. natural selection..

to get something.. one has to fight.. persistence pays.. depends on what you want and how much you want it.. and competition.. being Indian.. I used to it.. one has to compete for everything.. so might as well hv fun too.. :)..

Back after a hectic week..

"Blooming.."

This is the first bloom of the season.. 'kanakambaram'.. one of the flowers you tie with jasmine.. I used to love jasmine on my hair and wanted to wear a string every day.. Once made my grandfather buy me '1 mozham'.. every day of Onam.. but then I got a headache from pesticides on the flowers.. :(.. hmm... last year.. this plant had so many flowers that could see the green stalk.. so waiting for this season's flowers..

I love plants more than animals.. I talk to them.. kiss them.. photograph them.. they are like kids to me.. good thing this is even if you forget to water them a few days.. they dont die.. even better than kids or pets.. may be that is why I don't agree with vegetarianism.. its mean to kill plants to eat.. :D.. plants have feelings too.. but then it is fine to kill something to eat.. just eat enough... not kill and then waste..

The second picture is the bead string I made.. got these beads as a b'day present from my friends about 2 years ago.. that's when I started making jewellery.. recently I got a string of white pearls from my mom to knot. She got it from an old friend of hers from college.. so she is a bit emotional about it every time she speaks.. which is cute.. guess it must be nice to meet an old friend after 25 years.. then I look up videos from youtube to learn how to string them and tested them on these.. not perfect but I loved it.. and beads are so beautiful... hmm but the string is a bit too small to make a necklace.. may be another trial the next time I feel like being creative.. :)..

"Round and colourful.."

Started my German class a week back and it has been fun until now.. very hectic though.. and didn't get out last week.. but starting to exhaust my indoor models.. time to explore.. :)..

people watching..

"Relaxed Saturday Afternoon"

Here is the second part of the photographs from yesterday.. this post is about people.. sunny afternoon in the park.. people are just happy and relaxed.. unlike the usual winter weekdays.. It is interesting how much the general mood changes with the weather.. thats when you value tropical sunshine.. there are days when I miss the 'Sun'.. such a wierd concept when I was back in Kerala.. Back to pictures now..

"Quiet reading.."

Both the pictures above give the same feeling.. something I have been wanting to do for a

while.. but it is always too cold for me.. may be this summer.. :) .. well other than reading ..

sitting or lying down.. one could also just watch people.. :D.. like the bunch below..

"People Watching"

Since it was cold.. decided to get some coffee.. the cafe had a cool spot close to the big glass window... from where I could watch more people..

"More people watching"

"The Busy Waitress"

Finally on the way back home.. I watched a few more people..

"The Red and the Green Men"

That was a fun day.. I should take my best buddy around more often... :) ... that was a good advice.. :).. today.. it is going to be a quiet one instead...

fire and ice..

It was a sunny day with 10 degrees in feb.. and that is weird for Munich.. but it was good.. we had snow the last week and now its like spring.. one of those days which makes winter bearable and beautiful.. since I read somewhere that I should take my camera around like my best friend and only then would I start noticing things differently.. I took my camera out for a walk in the English Garten.. and it was fun.. :)..
Firstly, a few shots of the iced lake.. it was pretty to see lake so iced that one could walk on it.. well.. no other human being was walking on it.. so I didnt try.. but it did look cool.. :)..
"Sun-bathing"

"Man's Best Friend"

"Walking on Io"

(notice the interesting cracks on the ice.. )

"textures"

(I think it is Horse Dung.. :D ..)

Enough of pictures for today.. rest will come tomorrow.. :)... off to sleep.. :)..

stable or unstable..

I couldn't write a post yesterday as I didnt fell like it..my yoga teacher told me.. that one should not be obsessed about anything..even about not being obsessed.. if you do it..it is good.. if you dont do it.. it is also fine.. so even tho I did want to write a post everyday.. I dont want to get obsessed about it.. :D..

so here is the next post.. the title comes from two things.. One is the picture below.. the drop on the leaf.. will it stay there or will it flow down and drop.. :).. it might be stable now.. but the slightest change will send it plunging down.. the life of that drop..

Another thing that inspired this was a game I played.. "http://eterna.cmu.edu/".. which is about designing stable RNAs in the shapes they want.. throught this game we are helping scientists in designing new RNAs which can create new drugs and treatments.. (at least that is what I understood).. there again.. the some of the designs are so unstable and it is so interesting to make it stable..

This whole stable-unstable thing can be extended to so many areas of life.. how stable is life?.. can we make it stable?.. if it is stable, would it be fun any more?.. as far as I have seen, the minute you think it is stable, it starts rolling down.. :D..

time to go off and sleep.. I feel much better today.. no fever.. just a mild cold.. that was a good break.. :).. till tomorrow..

I'm ill today.. so stayed home and watch house the whole day.. ;D.. so here is my pic for today.. not a great one.. but something i always notice.. I like reflections.. In here I just liked how we can see the light in my room on this side of the window and the lights in the next apartment building on the other side.. in a single view.. the fuzziness of the lampshade is caused by the thickness of the window..

'On the other side.. '

Since I did put a pic of a reflection.. here is another one .. this one I took in my train to florence.. loved the way the paper bag made the reflection on the train window.. especially the reflection in 2 colors caused by the thickness/coating of the glass... :)

simple things which make life more fun.. now back to watching house.. :D..

learning photography..

I bought a new camera recently.. something I have been wanting for a while now.. but for some wierd reason, I dont take enough pics.. even if I do.. I'm not happy enough with them.. so I decided to force myself to take pics.. pick one or two everyday.. see and think about it.. and learn this way.. I'm going to put it here so that I keep a standard as to what I pick..

"ready to fly"

just stretching it wings.. ready to fly..from its flowery world... into the harsh reality..

"Contrasting beauty of chaos and order"

Well I do like these today.. lets see how I feel tomorrow.. :D..

an intersting and thought provoking forward...

A Mail sent by Narayan Murthy to all Infosys staff:

It's half past 8 in the office but the lights are still on...
PCs still running, coffee machines still buzzing...
And who's at work? Most of them??? Take a closer look...

All or most specimens are ??
Something male species of the human race...

Look closer... again all or most of them are bachelors...

And why are they sitting late? Working hard? No way!!!
Any guesses???
Let's ask one of them...
Here's what he says... 'What's there 2 do after going home...Here we get to surf, AC, phone, food, coffee that is why I am working late...Importantly no bossssssss!!!!!!!!!!!'

This is the scene in most research centers and software companies and other off-shore offices.

Bachelors 'Passing-Time' during late hours in the office just bcoz they say they've nothing else to do...
Now what r the consequences...

'Working' (for the record only) late hours soon becomes part of the institute or company culture.

With bosses more than eager to provide support to those 'working' late in the form of taxi vouchers, food vouchers and of course good feedback, (oh, he's a hard worker... goes home only to change..!!).
They aren't helping things too...

To hell with bosses who don't understand the difference between 'sitting' late and 'working' late!!!

Very soon, the boss start expecting all employees to put in extra working hours.

So, My dear Bachelors let me tell you, life changes when u get married and start having a family... office is no longer a priority, family is... and
That's when the problem starts... b'coz u start having commitments at home too.

For your boss, the earlier 'hardworking' guy suddenly seems to become a 'early leaver' even if u leave an hour after regular time... after doing the same amount of work.

People leaving on time after doing their tasks for the day are labelled as work-shirkers...

Girls who thankfully always (its changing nowadays... though) leave on time are labelled as 'not up to it'. All the while, the bachelors pat their own backs and carry on 'working' not realizing that they r spoiling the work culture at their own place and never realize that they would have to regret at one point of time.

So what's the moral of the story??
* Very clear, LEAVE ON TIME!!!
* Never put in extra time ' unless really needed '
* Don't stay back unnecessarily and spoil your company work culture which will in turn cause inconvenience to you and your colleagues.

There are hundred other things to do in the evening..

Learn music...

Learn a foreign language...

Try a sport... TT, cricket.........

Importantly,get a girl friend or boy friend, take him/her around town...

* And for heaven's sake, net cafe rates have dropped to an all-time low (plus, no fire-walls) and try cooking for a change.

Take a tip from the Smirnoff ad: *'Life's calling, where are you??'*

Please pass on this message to all those colleagues and please do it before leaving time, don't stay back till midnight to forward this!!!

IT'S A TYPICAL INDIAN MENTALITY THAT WORKING FOR LONG HOURS MEANS VERY HARD WORKING & 100% COMMITMENT ETC.

PEOPLE WHO REGULARLY SIT LATE IN THE OFFICE DON'T KNOW TO MANAGE THEIR TIME. SIMPLE !

Regards,
NARAYAN MURTHY.



Now back to me.. just wanted to post something after ages.. :)..

Life is but a dream.. :)..

At the moment.. I am waiitng for my code to finish running.. a stupid bug somewhere.. annoying me.. :D.. so i thought y now write a blog post.. :D.. about pretty much nothing.. So people.. dont waste ur time reading this.. :)..

now what if u write a code assuming that u'll find something from the file. But now I dont find anything.. which means i have rewrite the whole thing???? ah well .. part of phd... well guess cant complain..

Really feel bad for the poor people of Haiti... Already a small poor country.. political unrest.. natural clalmities.. poor people.. hopefully they'll find peace soon..

well off to lunch...

might be my quarter life crisis (already??? )

But are we all doomed to be stuck with what we hate for the rest of our lives or is there hope????

Mistakes

Your mistake is my life.. when you correct it.. I'm gone.. (words that touched me a lot from Raks poem.. )..

Men and Women.. who is better?..

Well the answer depends on who gives it.. for men.. of course they are better.. for women.. of course they are better.. and of course both the answers are biased.. we should ask someone/something as to which side is better.. but who can give a completely unbiased answer.. unluckily no-one... May be artificial intelligence.. but would/n't the opinions of the robot be skewed towards the opinions of the creator.. or the trainer..

I guess everyone thinks they are better than the rest because only they know their real strengths and they can easily see the weakness of others..

Men rule the world.. that is usually the argument they give when they cant say anything more.. what they forget is that women created it.. nurtured it.. there is no world without people and none could have come into this planet without the women.. so its a bit like asking who is more important -- the owner of a company .. or the CEO.. [:D] .. Again.. it seems that men have better spatial abilities and women have better management skills.. so then aren't the current CEOs inadequately skilled..[ :D]..

Then they complain that women can't do anything right.. the fault also lies with those inefficient stupid women who don't do what they are supposed to do properly.. but then do u blame the women or the men who employed them looking at not their skills but something else.. so there is a selection bias.. then do you blame the society for keeping a lot of women at home who have the right skills but are not allowed to work.. or do you blame those women for accepting what the society tells them to do instead of rebelling.. or do you blame the parents of those women who trained them to be so submissive since the time they were born.. or the generation before that..

At the end if a girl is successful, the men around her would say.. she is an exception.. I guess even when 50% of the female population becomes successful, the men would still call them anomalies..[:D].. But then again.. why should the women care as to what men think?.. why should we be good at what they think is important?.. we should just be good at what we enjoy doing.. [:D].. if we enjoy having kids and raising them well instead of building a bridge or setting up a computer.. why cant we just do that.. at the end of the day.. we can build a bridge or make a computer if we really want to.. but then the men can't really have kids.. even if they want to.. [:D].. so may be we should just enjoy our privilege..[ :D].. and let them think what ever they want..[:D]..

Men are physically stronger.. thts true.. and its good.. means we have someone to shift our furniture when we have to move.. but if there weren't any men around to help us out.. wouldn't we move by ourselves?... but its good to have someone strong around.. to open jars and bottles.. and then decision making.. men make it quicker.... doesn't mean they do it right.. [:D].. they just make a decision and stick to it and are ready to face the consequences.. don't the women also do that when they have to.. if you have to choose between A and B and you have no other go.. everyone can do that.. and when the consequences come.. you just have to face it.. there is no other go.. most of the time.. if there is a man around.. he just assumes that the women wouldn't want to take the decision and imposes what he thinks.. and since the women are trained to be submissive.. they hardly rebel .. or even if they rebel.. the guy doesn't care.. coz the guy is trained to make decisions and believe in his decisions and where as the women are trained to doubt their decisions even if they are allowed to make any.. training of the society..

Then there are hormonal differences.. of course testosterone helps you handle physical/mental stress better.. and estrogen apparently makes your more vulnerable to stress... But men and women have different hormones for reasons.. evolution just looks at what is needed for successful production of the next generation.. and the truth is that .. that is the only reason for which the two groups need each other.. :D.. and they both are equally important.. one can't do without the other.. for everything else.. they are fine without the other side.. and its true.. the other side makes life more fun and entertaining..[:D]...

talking of entertainment.. my friend asked me a question long back.. If I were to choose between men and computers.. I'm allowed to have only one for the rest of my life.. what would I choose? .. I said computers of course.. and I asked the question back to him.. women or computers.. and he said computers.. [:D].. so yeah.. men dont need women and women dont need men.. we just need computers.. [:D]...

Life is good.. and people are funny.. [:D]..

Ps1:.. This is a completely biased post.. of course.. and my views might change with time.. depending on my experiences and knowledge.. anyway.. this is what I think at the moment..

Ps2:.. I'm not a Feminist..

What you you do if you had only a .... more to live?

What would I do if I had only a second more to live?.. smile.. :)
What would I do if I had only a minute more to live?.. pray..
What would I do if I had only an hour more to live?.. talk to my family..
What would I do if I had only a day more to live?.. walk around the city and feel everything..
What would I do if I had only a year more to live?.. see the planet..
What would I do if I had only a decade more to live?.. do some science..
More than that.. thats a lot of time to live.. :D.. and if you don't know how much longer you have.. do what you think is right and feel like doing and enjoy life.. :)..

The other side...

We have been hearing about the increased rate of piracy near Somalian coast for a while now.. A lot of countries have sent their Navy to protect the sea route.. Two days back, a massive Saudi Arabian oil tanker was hijacked, for which apparently they are asking a ransom of $25m.. The pirates also hijacked a Ukrainian ship with military cargo (MV Faina) about 1.5 months back... Russia, Somalia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and NATO are trying to recover the ship...

Reading this makes you think about why these people became pirates.. And here is an interesting post I found about it..

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,582513,00.html

I am not supporting piracy.. but I guess.. when there is too much poverty, corruption and other trying to make use of your terrible situation.. even normal people turn into "criminals"..

Another interesting part of the story was the illegal arms deal.. which just shows as to how the rest of the world makes use of the unstable situation in Africa.. which through one direction they support and provide aid.. they also supply weapons to keep the war going.. I guess Africa is going to see the light only when they stop killing each other and cheating their own people to help the richer nations and finally start helping themselves..

On a lighter side.. I thought that the whole story would make a good movie plot.. action, thriller..

Enough for today..

Ciao,
Akila..

Ps: Sorry.. not exactly in a mood to write.. but this story has been in my mind for the past few days.. so just wanted to make you read it..