Seriously, whats with these announcements...?

I am literally laughing out loud at the pitiable state that I am in now. You might ask, "what's with these announcements? They seem to pop up every now and then!". I am neither going to stop you there nor am I going to cry foul. I am going to let it be, because that is that- an announcement- and when one is to be made, it HAS to be made. Or that's what I think- I am pretty sure that everyone else does too.

So, what it is about this time? Well, it so happens that my that internet is down.

To put it in broader terms and to "break it down",
1. Google.com  takes  around 45 minutes to load and it does so in basic html format.

Psst! Facts for non-nerds- The basic html format is the simplest format of any webpage that loads or can be used when someone's internet isn't up to the mark.

2. Twitter takes ages to load and it doesn't at most times.
3.  Gmail has smartly found a way to deal with this problem--->  "oops! Something's not right". Yeah right, like I didn't know that.

"So did you post this?" If that's your question, then allow me to introduce to you about something known as a mobile data. It is at times like these when I realize the usefulness of the mobile network's "hot-spot" feature.
This announcement wasn't to inform you that my server is down, but if you had read my previous post, you might have been waiting for that "interesting post" that was supposed to have taken THIS space. I am afraid that you will have to wait for another week or so for that to happen. Very unfortunate, yes. I regret to say this and to be honest, didn't actually believe that it would come to this. But again, I cannot blame the internet completely now, can I?
Uhm... I think you just did!
Sshhh! Somethings are best left untold.
Also guys, if you are an avid follower of this blog (to which I am honoured and I thank you for that and hope for your continued support), you might have known that I won't be available for the next full week till the new year begins. So I cannot guarantee any new posts published on any day in the coming weeks. I'll however try my best to do that. If any of you are on twitter, do follow me to get early updates on the happenings. I am almost always posting something or the other over there- believe me, its entertaining.
Until next time everyone! Happy Christmas holidays, have an amazing weekend!

It's announcement time..!

Hello everyone..! Before starting off, here's wishing you all a very happy, gift-loaded Christmas and for those who look forward to the bunch of holidays during this time, here's wishing you all a very happy winter holidays... Alright, now that I have stood on ceremony, onto the more pressing matters at hand.

You know, he really did mean it there. Believe me, I am inside his head... all the time.

The first announcement that I would like to make is to request you all to keep watching this space for the next few days. I am planning on posting something that I think is interesting.
Finally! Back to posting interesting stuff! It has been quite some time since we did that, right?
Yeah... It has been a while.
Sigh... This blog has seen better days! Hyped to know that we are getting back into business!

To be honest, I need some form of motivation to maintain a regular blogging schedule and hence the announcement. But again, that isn't the only reason. I am pretty sure that the coming post would be something that everyone would enjoy, or at least I hope so.

The second, big announcement that I would like to make is that I won't be available from the 24th of this month till the start of next year. I'll however try my best to at least post short "update posts" whenever possible. So, I suppose that's about it for now.

Until next time...

I dedicate this post to...

Ms.J.Jayalalithaa- 
CM, Tamilnadu

(the last iconic CM of Tamilnadu)

Born- February 24, 1948

Demise- December 5th, 2016

Titled- People's CM (or Amma- Tamil word for "mother")

And there she lies,

 Under the ground and in our hearts

For eternity....

A light fades....

This post is something special, kind of like a tribute. I won't say much. All I am going to do is give you a glimpse from the past and quote a few eminent people's thoughts about this "iron lady of politics".

Jayalalitha Ji's connect with citizens, concern for welfare of the poor, the women & marginalized will always be a source of inspiration

                                                          - The Prime Minister of India- Narendra Modi

I knew her when she was 10 years old. I was 8. She was quite, dignified and studious.

She stood 2nd in the state matriculation exams and I borrowed her notes and came 3rd two years later.

During my wedding in 1975, she received the guests at the gate even though she was the top actress then.

                                                        

                                          - Y Gee Mahendra, Actor, Co-star

She had a phenomenal memory power. She would observe what the choreographer or 

their assistants did and go for the take.

                               - Sivakumar , Actor, Co-star

Jayalalitha ji the only CM of a state that celeberated 100 years of Indian cinema...from all regions...most admirable!

                                                   -  (via twitter) Amitabh Bachchan, Actor

And here are a few interviews worth watching a second time. It's the way she confidently approaches every question and almost always seems to have answers at the ready. Do spend some time and watch it.

If you are up for more, then do check this video too. I should caution you though that it is around 20 minutes long, but despite this and the occasional intervals in the form of blacked out screens, I would say that this was a video worth the time. It gives an insight into her personal life- something that many are unaware of.  

As a closing statement, I would like to stress upon the fact that she was indeed an "iron lady", sharp-witted, straightforward, highly determined and simple. Her loss is indeed a void created in the web of politics and she definitely did set a trend into an otherwise patriarchal politics... 

May she rest in peace.

It sure is an Art..!

 Ani speaks

Every time I resolve to be a regular blogger, I am met with incidents in my life that seem to draw me away from the task at hand. No, this isn't another post on procrastination and its effects. I have already done that two times (Do check my previous posts if you have missed it). This one is something different. It's about something that's mandatory in everyday life- the exact opposite to Algebra or calculus, for which I am yet to figure out their true purpose. This is about something that quite a lot of them are devoid of and a gifted few are born with it. It's not just a talent that develops along with the embryo during pregnancy. It grows along with the person and strengthens with practice. It's what I would call, an ART.

There are general questions that are yet to be given a definitive answer that cements their actual purpose of having been asked in the first place. What makes people tick? What makes people BE the way they are? What makes them different from the second guy? Well, if you ask me, at this point in my life, I would kindly request you to discard the above mentioned questions for the time being and focus on the actual problem at hand.

What makes people to fail miserably at managing stuff, at managing the task at hand? Now this may come as a bolt out of the blue for those "gifted" few who are yet to learn much of the outside world, having grown with the mainstream thought that humans have well evolved into perfectly managing things thrown at them, irrespective the order or the priority of the task. Well guess what, this isn't entirely true. So coming back to the question, is it a sheer lack of responsibility that makes them so vulnerable to fail at task management and prioritization? Maybe. Because being responsible is no easy feat, especially at a workplace where we represent a commanding position. It is alacrity towards the problem or situation being faced that is important, rather than a bankruptcy of responsibility in actions towards clients. One irresponsible behaviour towards a major client is enough to tarnish the name of the company and bring it to a downward spiral. But then, does it only occur at work places where values are highly regarded? If so, then is irresponsibility the only factor that causes a catastrophe such as the above mentioned? I fear not. If my past experiences with prioritizing things have taught me anything, it is to never believe your heart completely. Trust me. While faced with a situation wherein you are forced to decide on which task to do first and there lies among the list of tasks in front of you, your most loved and desirable task, never pick that task as the starting point. Keep parroting this yourself till it literally gets etched in your brains. Unfortunately, I found this the hard way. Failure to do this equals the perfect recipe to become your boss's least favorite- goodbye to that idea of learning golf just so that you can partner with your boss to defeat his rival (But again, that's not how pleasing your boss works. It's a complicated answer that has stumped men since the Stone Age!). 

So, if it's not responsibility that's the only root cause, then is it a sheer lethargic attitude? Of all the possible answers that I think is true, this might be my most favorite. Being a final year engineering student in India, I have come to the point of realization of the relation between lethargy and engineering. It's (lethargy) is more like an added bonus that one gets as one proceeds through the 8 semesters of engineering, progressively getting stronger at the passing of each semester. On a rather off note, it is here where I say my obligatory apologies to those staunch engineering bigots (zealots, fanatics) with a thought that I have hurt them in some way by those lines above- albeit I cannot come up with a single reason to have hurt them. 

Lethargy is something that is dissolved in our bloods since we were apes, scratching each other’s backs for a living. I am someone who does something only when I have the mood to do so and strive as I may, I would never be able to complete, nay begin the work when not in the mood. This naturally puts me in the category of "lethargic people"- I still wonder if the person who categorized this was lethargic. But is lethargy bad? I would say no, because despite this disorder (should I say?), I manage to complete the task completely. Slowly, yes, but completely and thoroughly. I suppose the tale of the hare and tortoise did after all prove to be useful- slow and steady wins the race. But as always, lethargy isn't always the "cool guy" in the room. He's not fun at all the parties and has to be kicked out by the bouncer. Imagine a deadline looming just around the corner, ready to pounce on you the minute you come into its vicinity, then a lethargic will take you places, I can assure you of that. Not to promotion, college or success, but to the worse end of the road- and hey, that's a place. 

Then if not lethargy either that's the root cause, then is it a display of disinterest towards the work? This is another of my favorites. A simple disinterest towards anything in life is sure to put me off then and there. Believe me, I have spent countless days of my "engineering life" completely disinterested in putting my bum to the chair and begin studying for the next day's test. It's quite a late realization, agreed, but it is as they, "it's never too late". What have I gained by doing this, you ask me? Well, it's mostly loss that I encountered, but the little gains that I had faced would last me a lifetime and maybe more. The moment I realized that all I have been competing for with my classmates was for a mere fraction written on a white piece of paper that gave value to my knowledge poured onto that paper, I wanted to make up my mind that a fraction with 100 as it's denominator shouldn't tell me who I was. At the end of that day, the 3 to 6 months time you spend locked up in your room, almost bereft of entertainment from the outside world and mugging away complex theorems and technical definitions only to end up pouring all that knowledge onto sheets of paper within 3 hours of time and getting it evaluated by some person irrespective of whether they are qualified in that subject or even qualified enough to evaluate a professional paper such as an engineering paper, disinterests me- and yes, this is the situation in India, this is how poor education is here. It's not that I don't like engineering; I just dislike the way things are here. But again, here I am, almost at the end of my engineering journey. Graduation is one project away and it is now that having said all of the above, I can say that despite my irresponsibility, lethargy and disinterest exhibited in certain parts of this "massive", "spiritually enlightening" voyage (not by sea or air though) through engineering, there isn't much that we can do now that this system has become a part and parcel of everyone's lives, so much so that I fear that babies born in the future might simply evolve with superhuman abilities to withstand high stress and tension and with the excellent ability to compete with their peers on all aspects of life. So what has this got to do with prioritizing and management you ask me? Well, in my opinion, a degree in medicine and engineering are the two toughest "ways of life" that a student can live through- Of course, I am pretty sure all the other streams are equally tougher too, but then, the amount of papers and workload that we encounter, surpasses human ability. I do respect other streams too, like CA. The amount of math that they do is godly- So naturally, when someone is put through such workload, there comes a point in everyone's lives where we have to start prioritizing our works to maximize efficiency and reduce time. But then again, despite all these, there are a few who are simply not capable of categorizing things. This doesn't mean that they are different from us-I don't want to send out wrong signals. This simply means that they have to buckle up, drop the clutch and press that throttle to the maximum. No pressure.

 As a concluding statement, I simply hope that I wasn't faffing about too much on mundane things. That never was the point in the first place. God..! Prioritizing and managing things is truly an ART..!

...And tomorrow never did come!

Yeah, you read it right. Tomorrow never did come. And it possibly never will (Or has it?). It is at times like these that I begin to doubt my sheer existence. The instant I decide to start doing something a minute later than the actual planned time, I end up with an unfinished task and a feeling of guilt in my mind- or is it my heart… I am not sure. I eventually feel the guilt dispersing throughout my body like an acrid gas filling an entire room within seconds of gaining its freedom from a container.  The task at hand, however, remains as such. A “minute later” turns to “fifteen minutes” that turns to “half an hour” and somehow reshapes to “an hour” and before I know it, voila! The starting time flies beyond reach.

This has happened one too many times.

Hey, come to think of it. You (not me) decided to blog this a week back didn’t you?

Ah, apparently, yes. And that time never came. That “task” never happened, thanks to you.

Oh! So now you fancy playing the blame game eh? How am I responsible for what happened-or what didn’t happen in this case?

Alright. Let me put this in a broader perspective for you. The moment I decided to put my bottom on the chair and finally blog the pending posts saved as draft, who was the one who diverted me into watching YouTube videos of drone technology?

Well, that was informative right? I was trying to educate you, broaden your knowledge!

If you had stayed on with that video, I would have gladly agreed to what you are saying. But then you HAD to jump to watching videos that showed how often cows farted. Seriously, how is that educational?

Next time you stand beside a cow, you will know when to move away.

Thank me later.

*Sigh*. It’s tough talking with that guy. I am pretty sure that I am not alone and the fact that a majority of the people suffer from something I call “habitual procrastination” puts a broad smile on my face that lasts for a full minute or two. It IS true. Admit it, you SHOULD have, nay MUST have put off some task for a later time and then got yourself completely engrossed in doing something completely unrelated to the task at hand.  There are some phrases that have such deep meanings, I often wonder if the person who first came up with that actually experienced it in real life. One such phrase is this- “Time and Tide wait for none”. Yes, I had used this in my previous post and as this is its continuation, I would love to stress upon this yet again. I wonder sometimes as to HOW LONG the particular person took to come up with a phrase such as this…

And now we interrupt this program to bring you something extremely enlightening-

Time and Tide wait for none

    That’s what they said in days of yore son,

               So complete your tasks and say that you are done

Even if they weigh a ton.

I know that it’s no fun,

     They are almost upon you, you can’t run!

Do that task and your future becomes bright as the sun,

       Japan’s currency is Yen… (What…?)

As you can see here, I am not trying to make a pun,

It should be pretty obvious,

           That I am running out of words to rhyme.

I should confess that I am no poet,

  If you observe I only try to make the last words rhyme.

By this point if you are still reading,

      You should have realized that these are just paragraphs,

Split in a “poetic” way.

I am not even sure if I can use “ ” in a poem,

        And now I have stalled and can’t think anymore.

Oh god! Save me from this wrath,

I seem to have been caught in a loop!

Roses are red,

Violets are red,

Grass is red, flowers are red,

Everything’s dead,

Oh god! My garden is on fire!

    I am going to have to end this now,

     Because this just doesn’t make any sense any more.

P.S- No. I haven’t watched videos of cows farting. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure if there were videos that showed cows doing it, until I searched the net. Hmm… The results I got were pretty convincing. I also happened to find an article and a video embedded into it that showed how a cow farted and burned the entire barn down. I wouldn’t suggest you to watch that, because one thing is for sure. The internet is a weird place.

Tomorrow never comes...

"Time and tide wait for none...." - Anonymous

 That IS true right? Alright, I am going to have to ask you all to play ball with me. How many of you have completely wasted an entire day doing nothing and later regretted it? If not now, then you must have, back when you were in school (or college for the much older readers of my blog). I am going to be down right honest here and confess to doing that not once, twice nor thrice; Let's just say that I have lost count. All I am asking you all to do is to follow suite. Let me know in the comments below the different ways you managed to superbly waste an entire day.

Bonus combo:- Imagine that you have tons of work to do. The deadline is just round the corner. You can literally see it peeking at you every now and then, sniggering every time it does. The deadline is confident that you will definitely fail. You just proved it right. Now let me know your story in the comments below. 
Adding some spice to people's lives eh...? 
It's a little something to benefit the welfare of our community.

Well, I suppose it all boils down to this-
Procrastination. One word, 15 letters, one contextual meaning and one reason enough to make our higher officials (professors or teachers for the rest) lose their cool. One single word that has played havoc in the lives of many students and IT & Software technicians alike, still exists and will continue to do so as long as humanity thrives on the face of the Earth. With a smug smile across its face, it dances, gambols and definitely knows how to party hard in times of distress. Procrastination. It's not a word. It's an emotion.

Well, to be honest, we had planned on posting something related to this and then going off-topic for no reason, but hey.... Guess we will do it "tomorrow..."

P.S- Until then, take a look at this video from one of my most favorite channels in Youtube- Ted talks. Perfectly sums up what I want to say. 
Alright guys. Honesty is something that I like. It's something that has been molded into me right from my birth. So, I am going to be honest yet again and say that I was just too lazy to write what I wanted to say and hence, the video.
Love your honesty Rudha. Love it. 

 

A rather black week-2

Anirudh speaks

part two

Ever since the inception of the world's most feared militant group, things have been downhill for many. Countries are being rebuilt after an economic downfall, markets have lost huge shares, companies are drawing straws on whom to retrench unable to pay for the losses, employment is going for a toss, psychologists are in demand owing to an emotional break down for those having lived through what they say was a nightmare, governments are being questioned at every step they take and at every measure taken to curb the lack of safety and security.

Albeit the aftermath doesn't imitate a war-torn place- which is a very good thing- it has shown us how a country might look like when its government is at it's brink and clutching at the last threads of it's economy. Now explaining how terrorism and economy are related shouldn't be a difficult task owing to the fact that they indeed go hand in hand.

(Before I move on further, let me just confess that I am not bussiness-literate. So any ambiguities encountered while reading this post is due to my sheer lack of knowledge in the ''bussiness and markets studies''. Throughout this article, I survive solely beacause of the facts that are at my disposal, though scattered everywhere in the internet. Also, in a lot of instances while talking from an economic point of view, I would have explained the concepts involved by keeping the Indian Economy as my base because, it is after all, the biggest economy and as the old saying goes- "Indian economy is the best economy". So, if there are any corrections or ambuguities that catch your eye, kindly bring it to my notice via the comments below ). 

It has been estimated that the death toll from terrorism has risen from a meagre 3K to a staggering 32K in a span of a decade. Like I had said in part one of this post, the world IS falling apart, piece by piece. Every time a city is hit by terrorism, in addition to accounting for the losses in the precious and innocent lives, the government has to compensate for the loss in property and thus occurs an economic crisis when that government gasps out of lack of funds to repair the damages caused. If the country has a proven track record of a poor GDP, then in my opinion, it's close to 'game over' for that country unless drastic measures are taken. These can be in the form of inceasing the taxes levied on the commodities, in the prices of public trasportation and the like. It is a well known fact that markets detest uncertainty and when it comes to shares and stock, uncertainty may be your worst enemy. However, it has been observed that these markets, though experience an intial downward phase, have risen up from the depths quickly despite a glum economy. This is where effective advertsing comes into play. For example, post a terrorist attack, a certain brand of band-aids may experience an increase in the number of orders by hospitals, or a certain brand of packaged bottled water might begin selling with a promise that a majority of the money spent on this product goes to support the affected parties. So, that brand, in addition to selling their product, have managed to advertise for the cause with a minimal expense. Now this seems like what I would call- "opportunist marketing in a negative way"  (slick name, yes, but this is the best I could come up with). It may seem like taking advantage of a situation such as this, but I guess that is how markets work. On the other hand, effective advertising has some good to it too- it helps the affected through charities and donations- so hasn't this balanced out the negative?

Stock has always been a form to gauge a country's economy. However, attacks by lone-wolves (a single person executing an act of terror under no one's orders or command but by a sheer personal thought to cause harm to others) have not proven to literally bring down the stock and eventually the economy- they merely cause a dent or at the least, a scratch that is quite easily recoverable. But consider a well coordinated attack by a jihadist militant group, like the 26/11 in India or the 9/11 in the US. The following are the most plausible steps that would be taken post the attack-

Exchanges would be closed  for the next forthcming days post a curfew being instated resulting in a quick loss for a lot of companies. The worst affected would be the emerging companies and the start-ups. The giants in the bussiness would encounter a loss of a few billion dollars. Many of them would begin playing the safe game by selling the majority of their stock holdings and seeking safe haven. The shares on sale might hit a dead-end when no one is willing to take the risk. The curfew instated would result in thousands of workers refusing to leave the safety of their homes eventually causing a massive decline in product manufacturing. Thus, that company encounters a loss because of the raw materials bought that are now stored for an uncertain time period. The company would have probably bought them on loan from banks, but without a ''demand ad supply", their revenue goes down and they re consider paying off the debt to the bank. In addition to this, they have to shell out money to merely store the raw materials and protect them from destruction, as purchase of fresh materials seems next to impossible. Banks would face a huge crisis what with the companies refusing to pay off their debts, because of a looming economic slow down and  the insurers, concern on the insurance claims. But all is not gloomy. With companies selling their stocks in an attempt to save themselves from sinking into the abyss, the national treasury would prove to be the ultimate safe haven and their appeal simply increases. If this economy spirals further downward, then that country's currency banks down and begins losing it's value, thus affecting the imports and exports. Allies would refuse to export their products citing low profits. The general economy of the country would however depend on the scale and magnitude of the attack. The sectors that would be the worst affected would be the entertainent, restaurants (food & dining), travel and tourism, airlines and the automobile sectors. The general consumer staples and pharma industries would observe a good increase in their profits and their "demand and supply" would sky-rocket. In the end, the worst case scenario would lead to an eventual, impending global recession. This in turn affects the education and employment sector too.

Wow! One act of terror! One... the result is a Domino effect. It is things like these which initially caught my attention. While trying to find a pattern in the attacks of the now famous jihadist militant group, I could come up with just one possible pattern and it seems a bit too obvious. They specialised in attacking only those places that are most crowded. That is enough to make it to the internationl headlines. It was at this moment that it hit me, What if they wanted just this? What if all they wanted was to be known? Everyone wants to be seen, to be heard. What if their plan to excecute their caliphate ideology was by first making themselves well known to the people and second by striking fear into their hearts? A fear so deep and chilling, it brings thoughts of an impending death when encountered first hand. What if their method to excecute this plan was by bringing down a government first and then turning the people against themselves and the governments? Maybe the only method with a high success rate to collapse a government is by creating an economic famine! It all sounds a bit too cinematic, agreed. The attack in Paris however, did not fit this pattern. That seemed more like an attack of vengeance. You see, when you turn back the pages of Paris's history, you will find that France used to appease a few jihadist groups much to everyone's shock. This however did not last long and France soon realised the true face of these militant groups and paid the price of their stupidity. It was at this moment when they were backstabbed or rather, betrayed, did France resolve to have one of the most powerful army and defence forces. And they did just that. However, the society at that time was against expressing the jihadist religion in public and this also included an aversion to women's clothing (as per their religion). Thus, this attack in Paris on Nov 2015, seemed more like an act of vengeance for creating a society as mentioned. Nothing has been completely proved, however, and these are just theories.

Well, these are just my thoughts, my opinions and my take on this topic. Feel free to comment on what you think, in the comments below. As a closing statement, I would like to say that I am not against any religion or country for the society that they have. I have merely used the facts already found in the internet and added my take rearding this theme. Seriously, hell was literally unleashed on Earth in the Paris attack and in other instances around the world. No one would want the Devil to walk the Earth again...

A rather black week- 1

Anirudh speaks
Part one

When I was a child I have read various stories that spoke about mighty heroes fending off evil-doers in  highly illutrious battles. It wasn't long before I realized that whatever be the situation the story was set in-be it saving the damsel in distress, claiming one's birthright or winning the throne to rule a mighty empire- the foundation or the basic concept that eventually lead to the battle at the end was the same- Good vs Evil. It was around this time when I realized that this world is balanced by two opposites. It is balanced by two extremes required for the fundamental existence of life on Earth. Stories depitcting mighty weapons of mass destruction meeting their counterparts wielded by the people representing the two opposite sides had one thing in common irrespective of whether the side is good or bad- they all had their own moral rules of conduct and ethics.

I have come across translations of vedas that speak of the very birth of our universe. They even speak about the 'big bang' which is the most plausible theory proposed to date. The vedas tell that the 'big bang' is one violent form of force balanced ultimtely by the force that created the solar system and life as we know it. I realized over time that a balance is necessary to hold this world in place no matter what happens and that if this balance tips over, then all hell breaks loose. Initially, I was astounded at the accuracy at which the vedas were able to describe the birth of our universe. Now, I am shocked at how this very 'balace' is slowly being lost in a rather one-sided battle. Over the past few weeks, I have come across not one, not two, but 6 reports of terrorist attacks all over the world. The world IS being destroyed piece by piece, slowly but in a very scary way. In june 2014, a rather notorious group of jihadist militants formed a group with one mission in their lives. They ultimately made themselves the most feared militant group in the entire world. Though reports suggest that this group was formed in 2014, it is believed by many that they have been working in the backround for the past decade or so, silently, yet very much in the thick of the action (remind yourselves of the various other terrorist groups). 

This newly formed group considered themselves caliphates and their ideology was to unite the world under a one-world government. Sounds simple enough right? True. Their only aim was (and still is) to unite all the people following the religion that they "say" they follow and form a single governement with their people at the top of the rung... always. It is here where I take a slight diversion to explain the reason for stressing upon the word 'say' in the line above -Honestly, in my opinion, Terrorism has no religion.

I should say, the past few months has been one amazing ride for the newspapers. They were bubbling with excitement proudly displaying headlines of the latest terror attack. There is a point in everyone's lives where they begin wondering whats wrong with the world they are in. I suppose I reached mine sooner than I thought. Day after day and week after week of morose-toned news articles describing every moment of the attack and how the attacker managed to pull it off deftly, literally bogged me down. Thoughts of whether the 'balance' will ultimately tip over and whether humanity might reach a point wherein they slowly start to give in to the diabolical scheme of the jihadi militants were floating in my head. But then my curiosity got the better of me. A curiosity to find out a pattern in their attacks, if at all it exists and to my own surprise, I did find two things. One, a rather obvious pattern with one case being an exception and two, a rather startling doubt that I asked myself again and again but failed to come up with an answer. I still haven't come up with one. The first obvious pattern I found was that they seemed to like attacking places that are the most crowded. They seemed to be the lackeys of the phrase- "Hit them where it hurts the most and hit them hard". This seemed way too obvious as mentioned earlier probably because it is a jihadist militant group that is the primary subject here. The second startling (in my opinion) discovery that I made was to doubt if all they wanted was an audience, fame, popularity and stardom for all the wrong reasons so as to quickly climb up the rungs of the 'success' ladder and ultimately achieve their one goal in their lives- a worlwide caliphate. Well, if you ask me, everyone wants to be seen, to be heard. I would just argue that this was another such group with the only difference that they ruthlessly massacred and ushered in their idealogy into this world through sheer violence and blunt force...

(to be continued...)

An announcement...!

Hello everyone! 

After months of thinking it through, I have finally decided to introduce a new feature in this blog. 

(I had talked about this in my previous post, so do check it out.) 

Henceforth, I will also be posting content related to 'tech&gizmos', but only on Fridays. The content will include reviews of the latest gadgets and gizmos, news pertaining to information and technology and maybe even some videos. Initially, I have planned on doing this every week on friday and see where it takes me and how much traffic these posts garner. Well, the actual plan was to create an entirely new website solely dedicated for posts of the above mentioned genre- like a tech blog- but then I decided to start small...

Also, I have planned on expanding the views on my blog, increase the traffic and eventually the number of readers. A good friend of mine suggested that I move my blog from the 'blogspot' domain to the 'wordpress' domain claiming that the latter is more versatile and user friendly. Well, thank you for the suggestion made and know that it has duly been noted, but for now, I am going to focus on turning up the heat in this blog and excecute the above mentioned in a near-perfect manner. Let me do that first and then I will think about it. And as always, let me know what you guys think about introducing this new feature in the comments section.

Hope everyone's on board.

The empty text boxes at the bottom

Hello everyone!
 This is simply a small announcement I would like to make regarding this blog. A few changes are in the pipeline and I am also planning to introduce a new feature- posts about the latest tech news and a few reactions pertaining to that. I am yet to make up my mind on this one and this might take a while to actually put into practice. I am yet to decide on the day of the week that these posts will be published on every week or two weeks.

Like I said, wavering thoughts.

 Well, the main reason for this short post is to raise awareness about a certain feature found in almost all the websites now-a-days. It looks like a text box, and is usually found at the bottom of every article or post. Using that and replying to that leads to the creation of what nerds would love to call "threads" or "comment threads". It doesn't usually require people to log into their account to access this feature, but if it does, I kindly request you to do that. This feature is called the "comments section" or as called in my blog "feedback/comments".

If you observe closely, you can actually notice Ani literally pleading for you all to use it. But joke's apart, use them people. As much as I(we) appreciate you all giving me a feedback or appreciating my work through whatsapp and twitter texts, I(we) would love it if the same happened via comments instead of through watsapp, twitter or other such platforms. 
Yes! It can be anything. If you like my way of writing, or if you dislike it and are plotting to murder me in my bed, if you hate the way I look at things or my point of views (POVs), if you love the feature of the two-minds on which this blog is based on, if you find an error in a recent post, be it grammatical or factual, or if you would like to add something to my post ( a fact that I might have missed out, probably because I was unaware of it) or if you would like me to change something about this blog- Do so via the comment section.

The features mentioned above that are in the pipeline would depend on the comments I get. Do you want that to happen? Let me know what you all think in the comments.

Post your views so I would at least feel that this blog is alive in a literal manner. I don't want mute readers. I want critics and reactions. Speaking of which, there is also a feature termed "reactions" with a number of check boxes in a straight line at the bottom of each post. Check the required after reading my post. I am trying to maximize the posts in this blog- trying to make it regular, at least not daily. I also want to increase the page views and the viewers of my blog. So, if you like it, try mentioning it to your known acquaintances, friends, etc.
Thank you for spending your time reading this post and I appreciate the support.
B-)  

Lessons from another world: 5 senses

Rudha speaks

A 'hiatus', as mentioned earlier is something like a break from a daily routine. There are actually various words that closely resemble its actual meaning. However, I must tell you that is not to be confused with the word 'sabbatical'; it is used more formally. You can imagine both these words resembling us- Ani and myself. As much as I hate it when he calls me a 'crazy troll', I should agree with him on one point- he is definitely less than half crazy as I am. So, sabbatical is a more polished, formal and an elite type of a hiatus, but enough of that for now. I don't want to wander off to distant lands where people speak the unknown literary tongue mastered by the masters of literature and poetry themselves- then I have to call Ani, and I don't want that to happen. 
(Oh and let's just keep this to ourselves, but I have helped him one too many times when it comes to creating sentences that stuns it's readers and make them seriously applaud his vocabulary and the command he has over the language, but try telling this to him and he downright refuses. The blush on his face speaks for itself, though. On a rather hopeful note, I do believe that I have managed to actually bring about the aforementioned feeling when you read my posts now, haven't I? Eh..? Alright, forget it and let's just move on.)

People on a long break are generally of two types. There is the group that always makes sure that most of the activities on their bucket-list are struck off and then there is the group that actually sits down to compile their list often drifting off to a utopian world where all of their dreams turn to reality and thus exhausting most of their break. I, belong to the second category, but with a twist to the tale. I happen to observe quite a lot of things with the time that I got. While surfing the internet, I happen to come across posts like the one above. Yes. Humans are extraordinary creatures. Posts like these actually make me think if God really created humans for a purpose or just to entertain themselves when they are bored, like the one below.

Well, God sure seems to have His priorities set straight...! If that isn't the case and if the real situation here is the fact that humans have actually learned to believe in God in a different way, mirroring the modern trends, then I call it 100% crazy- and I like it. 

I mean, even I dream of a perfect physique, so why should the laws be any different? (Just saying).

But again, I must stress upon the fact that we do tend to get bored rather easily. It's as easy as eating a cake. We, however have the intelligence to actually learn quite a lot of things from the animal world. Parenting for example, is done much better by creatures with 5 senses than the Homo-sapiens. Its the consistency that I am talking about over here. If a gorilla takes care of her young by constantly keeping the little one in close proximity, then I say that you can find the same pattern throughout the troop ( a troop is a group/family of Gorillas). 

We, on the other hand have started a few things like day-care centers which is nothing but an arbitrary, paid foster home for our kids. Sooner or later we are going to come across an article that tells the story of how a mother happened to finally find her kid hidden in the closet while playing hide 'n' seek after 7 whole years ( exaggeration, I know...!). Sure, I would award that kid the champion of stealth, hiding and the winner of the hide 'n' seek game, but imagine the conversation that would ensue :-

Mom: My son! Where have you been? Oh lord! Thank you! *tears in her eyes*

Son:  Stop it woman! Who are you? You do look familiar, yes. But do meet my imaginary friend who has been giving me company all these years..! 

Alright, I agree. The above scenario might not happen. Still, all I am saying is that we are losing that precious feature of communication that is bestowed only upon us and not to any other creature in this planet- at least, not through words. Communication is something that is unique to humans and by things like these, well, we are simply losing the grip on it. Then again, I would also argue that our priorities have changed dramatically since evolution from apes. I mean, where have you seen an ape slogging it's life in front of a computer screen typing in lines of code and debugging it, only to achieve an even more number of errors? That amazing job, my friends, can only be done by trained, evolved beings called humans. Apart from parenting, I did come across a few amazing posts that really made me think. One of them was this- 

That tortoise, is wiser than the wisest man on Earth! Though I came across more than two dozen posts like these, I am afraid I cannot share everything with you all- apologies for that. With that, I would like to say this to all of you- Look out and observe. In fact, quite a lot of technological and scientific inventions have been inspired from nature and animals. It's not like there is a law that bans us from imitating nature- that would be too tough on us. This imitation game is called by a special technical term- Bio Mimicry ( A common example would be an aircraft, inspired by the birds). As a concluding statement, I would like to say this. 

The more you debug a program, the more errors you are bound to meet. Quit the job already... !

Ha! You heard it first from rudha!