Reading this week: 1

So here we are with the first installment!

Recently finished reading A Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith. A new detective, Cormoran Strike, makes a debut, investigating the death of a celebrity model. While the book is a bit rambling in places, Strike manages to carve out a place for himself and I really enjoyed it. There is less 'deduction' than I would have liked, but maybe it is the lot of 'real' detectives to do more travel and questioning than armchair theorizing. This was contemporary fiction after a long gap, and it gave me a strangely liberating feeling. The Silkworm by the same author is going to appear in June and most likely I will go for it. Last thing, Robert Galbraith is actually just a pseudonym used by J.K.Rowling. (but given the liberal use of b, c and f words, this one is definitely not for kids).

Recently I have also started reading Mathematical Thought by Morris Kline, which is a multi volume history of mathematics. On the rare chance that I stick with it, it could very well be a multi-year (but quite fruitful, going by the one chapter I read) project. The chapter I read, first one of the first volume, deals with the most ancient mathematics known, the Babylonian. While I had encountered this history before, Kline's account was quite refreshing. The term Babylonian comprises a number of civilizations living successively and concurrently in Mesopotamia for about four thousand years before Christ. Babylonians did not practice mathematics as an independent discipline yet, always approaching it in the context of practical problems, but their knowledge was quite sophisticated. They knew Pythagoras' theorem, how to solve quadratic equations and could predict eclipses to within a few minutes. Their economics was sophisticated, problems such calculating taxes, interests, areas of fields and buildings and shares of agriculture, money exchange and so on inspired many mathematical developments. 

The next chapter deals with Egyptian mathematics, hopefully I will report on it soon.

Also, here is an (as usual) excellent review of Our mathematical universe, which I was considering buying. This review is much more positive than others I read, and gives a good idea of what the books says, but for now I have decided to postpone buying it.

So that's all for now.

Reading this week: 0

Back here after quite a while! So hello there! And hopefully it is not just the web crawlers who visit these pages these days.

So yes, it seems there is less and less to write. The so called 'real world' has been throwing all kinds of things at me, and it seems it is only getting better in speed, accuracy and frequency. Not one to submit so easily (bwahaha), I keep reminding myself to blog more often, but have inevitably stumbled into the wall of 'what to write'.

So here is an idea. The model that I have followed (as far as books are concerned) upto this point is of a writing a post after finishing the book. It has two flaws. First, it requires actually finishing a book; and second, there is often more to say about a book than what can be put into a single post. So to kill two birds with a single stone (or to close two bugs with a single fix), it seems a better idea to report on current work in progress periodically. As the title suggests, the plan is to do it weekly. Where and how far it goes, of course, remains to be seen.

Year end wrap up

I did not read as much I should have. That is my biggest quibble for 2013. The usual suspects of work and laziness are there, but inside me the feeling of my time running out continues to grow, and I hope (and the signs are good) that it will solidify in some kind of resolve. 

The early morning winter journey I alluded to last year continues, but I was not able to come up with a better metaphor this whole year. So early morning winter journey will have to do, again. Sorry about that ;-).

On the personal front this was an eventful year. I am not exaggerating when I say that both unbelievably good and unspeakably bad came my way. Neither killed me, so hopefully I am stronger as a result. There was a fair amount of indisputably idiotic mixed in too, but (it seems) my sense of humor did survive.

The mid year journey down south, with its vast expanse of Kottayam backwater, twin cliffs of Kodaikanal, and the tea valley in Munnar is still vivid in my mind, and it will likely remain so for some time (and maybe all time). I plan to create more memories like that this upcoming year.

Lastly, I find myself feeling excited about the new year. I even feel like making resolutions. This is New. My earlier reactions to new year used to be much more stoical. Why it should be different this time I cannot fathom. Nonetheless it is a Good Feeling. I wish you a happy new year (yes it is quite early) and hope that it brings forth the best in you.

अवधाने

१. दोन दिवे लुकलुकणारा सिग्नल
२. समोर नागमोडी डोलणारी बस
३. ज्याना डोह म्हणता येईल असे खड्डे
४. उलट्या दिशेने येणारी चारचाकी
५. आपल्या तीर्थरूपांचा रस्ता समजून दुचाकी चालवणारा कार्टा 
६. स्वतःला पी टी उषा समजून दुचाकी पळवणारी कार्टी
७. डोक्यावर कोसळणारा पाउस
८. आपल्याच तंद्रीत फिरणारा पादचारी

आणि या सर्वाना एकत्र सांभाळत गाडी हाकणारा मी गाडीवान….

सामान्य माणूस अष्टावधानी बनतो तो असा….

Myths

From time to time, one feels the need for a mythology. I prefer Tolkien's because

a. It's rich, unlike most others.
and
b. No one has killed in the name of it, again, unlike most others.

New developments

It's happening again. Just like my engg. folks, now with M and C moving, except for one minor (haha) exception, the entire old office gang will now be residing in US/Canada. While I feel good that the members are moving on to better things and was never great with keeping in touch anyway, the loss of the occasional meeting to bring me out of accumulated lethargy is something to miss. The time with the gang was certainly one of the happiest periods of my life (see towards the end). Apart from the outings, books, blogs and puns united us. I hope the members will go on to more bashes there if not here. People, if you are reading this, Thanks and may you all live long and prosper \\ //.

The partial bash list:

Birthday party

Tekadi

Diveagar

Water Kingdom

Vapi

Kaas valley

Sinhgad

Existence

Breathe in.
Breathe out.

Painfully simple.

Two new detectives

Z recently introduced me, by way of the DVD section of the British Council library, to Agatha Christie's Poirot and Jeremy Brett's Holmes. I had found the recent Sherlock movies and the TV series to be quite good, and am eagerly waiting for the third season of the latter, so was not that keen on Jeremy Brett's Holmes, to be honest. But I gave it a try and it turns out to be very worth the while. This series follows the book much more closely, and the Sherlock pretty much looks like the description in the book (except that he wears a felt hat in place of a dearstalker). The most remarkable thing I found was Jeremy Brett's effective use of a maniacal twinkle in the eye. Simply superb. As for Poirot, I had heard his name, but had never met him before, through books or movies. I liked David Suchet as Poirot even better. Poirot provides a good contrast to Holmes, and as I was unfamiliar with the stories beforehand, the watching was even more enjoyable. So far, these two detectives have turned quite a few dinners more pleasant, and it looks like it will stay that way for a while.

The big vacation begins

My current state is hard to define. And because I am not able to find the words, taking a cue from Wittgenstein, I pass it in silence.

In praise of manual labour

I washed half-a-rin-bar worth of clothes today. Now that is nothing unusual in itself, I have a been a hostelite for close to 13 years now, and I am not noted for my punctuality. But before today (and maybe yesterday, when also I washed half-a-rin-bar worth of clothes) I always looked at these chores as a pain in the behind. This was a tax to be paid, in order to live a life. I had read before about manual labour of this kind being held in high esteem by many great thinkers (names of Gandhiji and Tolstoy immediately come to mind), I think I saw the point this weekend. I tried to think why this should be so and give pleasure, here is what it seems to be

a. It gives a sense of new beginning, of washing away the old crud that has accumulated, and starting afresh. 

b. The flow from chaos to order, the apparent expansion in space as you collect and put scattered things in their place has symbolic value for the unconscious mind.

c. Doing these small thing manually gives a sense of accomplishment (that might seem absurd).

I don't think I will be switching to doing everything manually right away, but I will certainly try to consciously preserve an element of manual labor in my life.

Demons of old

In our modern, cozy lifestyles it is easy to forget the troubles our predecessors had to put up with. Some did not have cooked food, others lacked clothing, still others had to huddle under trees when rains came pouring down (which was not a wise thing to do anyway). I had to live through one such horror recently. Namely, the lack of autocompletion in a command shell. A remote access tool that I am currently living "inside" of, uses "tab" to switch context and I had to feed carefully prepared command lines to this ancient demon all the time. I cannot be too grateful that I was not born 30 years ago.

My version history

The name of my upcoming autobiography.

[But apparently I am 19 hours too late].

We are here

In Dark Eden there is a character named Jeff, a boy really, whose response to all kinds of new, strange situations is to say, "We are here, We really are here". Soon others have enough of this, and ask him why he keeps saying it when everyone knows it. I really liked Jeff's answer to this, "To remind myself, or otherwise I will forget". That is a problem. I forget, and This is it (which is another way of saying Journey is the Reward) is a fact too important to be forgotten. It seems I will be making this chant my own.

OO

Java: Everything is an object.
Java Developer: Object to everything. (OK, one Java developer :p).

Update

Ring: A circular doubly linked list.

Ring: One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them, One ring to bring them all, And in the darkness bind them. The LOTR chant.

Ring: A field without multiplicative inverses. eg. Integers form a commutative ring.

Ring: A science fiction novel by Stephen Baxter. I encountered the idea of the world-as-a-flying-spaceship here first.

This list can be extended, but that is not the point. In human affairs there is a ring which is more concrete, more fundamental and more far reaching; it made its appearance today. In a small, happy, family function Zarin and me were engaged. The life is entering a new phase and let me add that I am not unaware of, in addition to the happiness, the responsibility this represents. Like all new things this will take some getting used to, the first I can point to is typing with an actual ring in the ring finger.

Personal

Though not necessary that it happens, sometimes something comes along that shakes your very roots. What is one to do? My words have deserted me, so by the time they make up their mind to return, I call upon Wordsworth for help.

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;--
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

The Rainbow comes and goes,
And lovely is the Rose,
The Moon doth with delight
Look round her when the heavens are bare;
Waters on a starry night
Are beautiful and fair;
The sunshine is a glorious birth;
But yet I know, where'er I go,
That there hath past away a glory from the earth.

Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song,
And while the young lambs bound
As to the tabor's sound,
To me alone there came a thought of grief:
A timely utterance gave that thought relief,
And I again am strong:
The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep;
No more shall grief of mine the season wrong;
I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng,
The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep,
And all the earth is gay;
Land and sea
Give themselves up to jollity,
And with the heart of May
Doth every Beast keep holiday;--
Thou Child of Joy,
Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy Shepherd-boy!

And O, ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves,
Forebode not any severing of our loves!
Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might;
I only have relinquished one delight
To live beneath your more habitual sway.
I love the Brooks which down their channels fret,
Even more than when I tripped lightly as they;
The innocent brightness of a new-born Day
Is lovely yet;
The Clouds that gather round the setting sun
Do take a sober colouring from an eye
That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality;
Another race hath been, and other palms are won.
Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.

--William Wordsworth, Intimations of Immortality.

A little known place

 

And a cherished memory.

Gift story

There are gifts and then there are gifts. A kindle that recently came into my our possession certainly fits the latter. As it happens my books have eaten a lot of space already, and even the accelerated expansion of universe has failed to add much space to my current 1BHK. So space saver it is. But apart from that, there are also quite a few books that I had wanted but couldn't find in any bookstores or on flipkart. That problem is also solved now. I am also impressed by the kindle app integration, this might be the first real integrated service I have used. Though it has never been a problem before, having the same book available on the device, phone and desktop adds a lot of flexibility. Here are the books I have added so far. And to end the list, the my vs our thing has already sparked some rows, so if the gift-givers harbored any evil intentions in that direction, they have come to fruition too :p.In short, and including this one, things are looking good.

आत्ता समजलं

माणूस मरायला टेकला की त्याला 'घर घर' लागली अस का म्हणतात :p 

More music (and dance too)

The new year parties at office went musical in the recent past. This was occasioned by the arrival of some actual musical talent, and it is a change we all welcomed. Today was the second iteration of this recent tradition, and only better because in addition to singing and music, there was dancing too. I tend to be a little in awe of those with musical talents (because I have none) and the cadre did not fail to impress this time too. But in the end, it also makes one feel like an ingrate. I mean these guys did all the hard work, while I just sat back and enjoyed. This is my Thank You note.