This blog is purely written in my own words without any obligation or compulsion. It is only a medium to express my thoughts.

Friday, May 30, 2008

need a break

Something big struct in mind. Yes , I was in a midst of a traffic jam. 9:30 in the morning and it was Tuesday. It was nothing gr8 but only a way to accommodate a nibble (half a byte) into the register. Well these being computer language but then its my bread and butter. All these days dealing with packets, frames has made me certainly byte oriented. Everything comes in packets. Now I see things in packets. I need a break...
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Sunday, May 25, 2008

Counterfeiters had a nice time with Prince Caspian while Harold and Kumar go to White Castle,The Mongols had already conquered The Forbidden Kingdom

Another week has gone and I m ready with a pile of movies again. The best part of being a Software Engineer is the fact that you always have time to watch a movie everyday no matter at what time you are back from office :-).

The Counterfeiters(German: Die Fälscher) :It takes a clever man to make money, it takes a genius to stay alive.When I read this tagline in http://www.imdb.com/ ,it killed me. Truely deserve the Oscar for the best foreign movie 2008.It is based on the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history.If you have not watched it.. jst go and watch..

Prince Caspian:- Being a gr8 fan of its previous sequel the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I would not complain anything.But, I loved the first one. Although lots of efforts has been put in to make this movie, the outcome has been disapointing. Anyway Prince Caspian can be a nice name for someone looking a name for his newly born baby ;)

Mongol:Greatness comes to those who take it. It depics the early life of Temudgin and the hardship to become a gr8 conqueror whom the world knew as Genghis Khan.The movie is filled with good action scenes. Mongol portrait Genghis khan not as a ruth and brutal conqueror but as an inspiring and fearless leader.

Harold and Kumar go to WhiteCastle:-This movie was recommended by a fren. Its a 2004 movie but its never late to watch a movie. The movie rekindled my love for a good meal. Its about the misadventures of these two frens in their pursuit for a fast food restaurant "White Castle". I loved the final scene before the credit wherein Harold and Kumar were portrait as a Squinting Asian and a Sikh man with a turban.

The forbidden Kingdom:- Finally the forbidden kingdom. Lots of fight and fly. Jackie Chan and Jet Li flies, kicks in the air and move as fast as a lighning. Why the Monkey King leaves only a single hair... how that stick(magic staff) find its way to America. ... still its worth watching.. but only once.
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Gandhiji's Talisman - Applying Thoughts

"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."
Source: Mahatma Gandhi [Last Phase, Vol. II (1958), P. 65].
Going through this quote again and again made me feel uneasy. The reason being the very deep meaning of this Talisman. Honestly speaking, it does make no relevance of my deeds to those hungry and starving millions. It keeps asking question to me if I m not contributing anything for the gain of these people.But then, we do have our own responsibilies and problems to be addressed. I feel things should begin from the environment you are in. First see the people who are close around you. Take one thing at a time.Help those who are near to you.Help can be in many form. Grab the opportunity to do something for others.And then the boundary of your helping hand would surely spread. The only problem being that Good things are not that infectious as its counterpart is.
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Friday, May 23, 2008

Draining off.......passwords!!

Our mind can be made to store many things. We use it to remember infinite things. I have to remember numerous passwords(how I hate it). Work-station password,office confidential passwords,e-mail passwords(personal,official),net-banking passwords... Have you ever imagined what would happen if all the passwords are suddenly erased from ur memory! !..chaos........
One of the things that I hate most is to create a new password when it got expired. Sometimes few applications would say "Password too short" "Password not complex enough " "should be combination of numerals and special character"..... "!@#$%^&*()" -phew! and my new password is created. But how do I remember it??
Well, there are many ways one can create a perfect password and at the same time easy to remember too.
1.Think of a sentence that you can remember .e.g "my girlfriend's name is alizee and she is beautiful". Make sure the computer or application supports such passwords (with spaces in between).
2.If it doesn't support, don't worry , take the first letter of each word of the sentence that you've created to create a new, nonsensical word. Using the example above, you'd get:"mgniaasib" - wow!
3.Add complexity by by mixing uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers. It is valuable to use some letter swapping or misspellings as well.Your phrase might become "My g1rlfr1end's Name 1s Al1zee and She 1s beaut1ful".This might yield a password "MgN1AaS1b".
4.Substitute some special characters.You can use symbols that look like letters, combine words (remove spaces) and other ways to make the password more complex. Ur phrase becomes "My g1rlfr1end'$ N@me 1$ @l1zee @nd $he 1$ be@ut1ful" and the password "MgN1@@$1b"
5.And finally don't reveal it to anyone.

PS:  www.bestvpn.com/password-strength-checker/
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Saturday, May 17, 2008

"There is a way to be good again."

"There is a way to be good again." This is a quote from the book "The Kite Runner"- Khaled Hosseini. I found the quote very interesting and meaningful. Well, it carries a wonderful message . In our life(I m not here to preach :-) ), we come across many situations wherein we could have done things differently which could have led to a different consequence. There are times when you have to choose among many things...and you end up choosing the one in your own interest. But, in a long run, we always get a chance to be good again. What we need is to grab the chance... there is always a way to be good again.
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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Holidays ....oh! those summer vacations


Summer has a reason to be remembered. There was a time when this particular season of the year used to be an awaited one. It is the time of the year when the schools are closed and you have lots of time to share with friends and family. This privilege continued during my college days too. We used to book the train tickets for home months before. With eager feet we use to follow the easterly winds. But then those are memories and memories are meant to be cherish...
Things are different now.

Its summer time but no vacation :( I m here in a crowded city far from home and the near ones. No more leisure summer afternoons in the cherry tree shades. But then, I have become tougher. Now I can tolerate more than 40 degrees Celsius temperature even in the midst of a traffic jam. Rookies complain.I have stopped complaining, believe me. .
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Sunday, May 11, 2008

"Ema (mother)" - the word which means everthing

Ever imagined yourself when your moral is not so high, things around you are tumbling, then you turn up to someone for warmth and comfort.I always knew "Ema" is always there to provide that solace. "Ema" - is a common word meaning "mother" in my mother tongue "Manipuri". As a child, whenever I m not happy, I would cry out aloud calling "Ema".When someone tries to bully me, "Ema" is the word you would utter. Ema is always there to protect you. Whenever I m hurt, it may be just my toe kicking a stone accidentally, as a reflex action I would cry out "Ema"..... So, its a kind of bond most of us have with our mothers. So deep and tender , yet so beautiful.
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Friday, May 9, 2008

A tribute to those primary teachers...


Its very hard to teach someone learn Alphabets. Yes A,B,C,D,E......................X,Y,Z. Teaching something is not as easy as it seems to be. I was struggling to teach an illiterate guy learn the basic building blocks of English language. I found that its a very hard job to teach someone understand the english alphabets.
How my teachers would have taught me to read, to write?? They would have answered to my stupid endless questions..Their patience would have been tested. Hats off to their quality of being able to remain patient when a child fails to recognize the alphabet "A" after being taught numerous times. I still remember a Nursery rhyme..
"Hush-a-bye, baby,
in the tree top.
When the wind blows,
the cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks,
the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby,
cradle and all. "
I remember I struggled like anything to learn by-heart this particular Rhyme. So my teacher didn't allow me to go home until I learned the rhyme.Even today, I haven't forgotten the Rhyme. Thanks a lot for those efforts and guidance. Primary teachers do have a major role in making our careers...
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Thursday, May 8, 2008

DLF IPL Twenty20 - An image of present India

The summer season is on with the mercury rising above 40 degree Celsius but the energy levels are also high. One could only visualize it with the way the DLF IPL Twenty20 tournament is on its course. Cricket is more than a sport in India. Everyone in India seems to be involved with this sport in one way or another. This avatar of cricket is enormous in the sense the amount of money that has been put into it. People who are associated with each team are no ordinary individuals. They include successful film stars and industrialists who have excelled in their respective fields. The way the tournament has been conducted has to be appreciated. The auction of the players was one of its kind in India.
But one question pops up "Will this format of the game going to dilute the original essence of Cricket?". Well, the gurus of cricket always felt that Test Cricket would retain its place what so ever happens.Only time will tell us the answer to this question. It would be hard for someone to watch a One day match or even worse a Test match after this IPL revolution. One cannot simply forget the amount of enjoyment in a Twenty20 match. In almost 4 hrs of the match, you could experience everything from good cricket being displayed to the dancing tunes being played. The Cheerleaders add glamour and encouragement to the viewers. There is hardly any dull moment in the whole match.
Truly speaking, there has also been a good amount of Cricket being played. The players have taken it seriously which has made the tournament successful.The DLF IPL Twenty20 is truly an image of present India. A country with immense resources of youth and energy.The World is taking keen interests in the developments happening in India... IPL Twenty20 is just the beginning...................
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