Do I know??

"If we knew what we were doing,it wont be called Research"-Albert Einstein.
I saw it one fine day, walking down the road in 2010 in NIT Rourkela , one of the many quotes that are on the painted placards,a thing that always pleased.
Initially it was met with a bit of laughter,as often happened in company of Kamaljeet Singh,Vivek Bhatt and Ankur Samantara,in fact it turned into a joke on Kamaljeet.And as it happens with us,it was forgotten and lost in the sands of time.
 It was 2012,I had been an intern in CISCO for quite some time, posted picture on Facebook, with some code running in the background,about which I had no idea,so when someone asked about it, in a sudden flash of mind,came the answer, an improvised version of Einstein's quote.I felt I had finally understood why he had said it.

Cut to 2013,a few days back, working on my Masters project, with Prabal Ghosh,on a problem that we got a week before,but as engineers it is a crime to work before submission date,as work went into the night,doubts crept in,got reworked,before all of a sudden he commented out "Why the hell are we doing this? I cant see how all this models and mathematics is leading us to the solution",a statement made in complete consciousness, by a nocturnal creature,Einstein's quote came back flashing.I had got a new meaning of it,probably he was also flustered by the lack of progress.

Why I made this post,mostly because the quote seems to come back to me,after seemingly long periods of time,partly because I am free on a sunday morning, and in a slight grain of mind I dont know why?

PS:- If you all have seen this post,feel ill at ease with the number of commas,long sentences,that is due to me reading Mortimer Adler last night.

The Wall Departs

This blog is becoming more of a tribute to great cricketers and continuing this is next in line about Rahul Dravid. In an era where classical batsmanship is losing out to attractive strokeplay,maybe he was the last of cricket's true worshipers. In the days before the cable tv era at my house, with a transistor under the pillow, listening to the commentary on AIR, repetitive tone of "Dravid defends and no run" used to be the music of the theatrical called test cricket,dotted with ecstatic "ye Dabur Chawanprash Chowka". And if you think he was dour,we have seen his 22 ball 50 that would give Shewag a run for his money.

"The Wall" as he was called but we must remember he didn't like it. His best knocks have come in overseas tests where he built famous victories.Who can forget Headinglay(2002),Adeliade(2003),Rawalpindi(2004), Kingston(2010)? Who can forget the Kolkatta turnaround(2001)?

His calming influence in the middle allowed the more attacking batsmen to express themselves even in onedayers. Remember Sachin's 186, Ganguly's 183,Sachin's 140,Shewag(108),Gauti(103)  and Sanjay Bangar's amazing 57 overshadowing centuries by Dravid.

A complete team man who opened batting,kept wickets for team balance will be remembered through history as the man who played the most number of balls in test cricket. With the number of test matches not increasing and strike rates going high it may be a figure like Bradman's Average, no one might surpass.
To Quote him verbatim "I wouldn't like to name one Indian player. I think there is a huge group of players that can be better than Rahul Dravid. I'm sure in 16-17 years' time you will be attending a press conference of a player who has probably done a lot more than I have.". 
For India's sake we hope it is true. 

Back to Blogspot

It has been two years since my last post,amazing it seems as my online footprint has increased a lot over the past 2 years. As such this return to blogging is more of an delayed inevitable. I do not have a theme in mind for this post and maybe the return can be kept just short and simple.
 

The World goes open Source

As the days in NITR's spring semester roll on,we get more and more engulfed in the thrill-a-minute ride of tech fest and spring fest,we rarely get the time to think and retrospect about the days that fly so fast.
We rarely keep in touch with the advance of technology,especially the field of computing that takes rapid strides. The past month has seen quite a few breathtaking events in the computing world.
The open source movement continues on its momentum and is pushing hard for its share in the computing world, the last few months have shown some great prospects. Firstly the Intrepid Ibex of Ubuntu allowed installing Linux on a NTFS file system as a program in windows,making it a lucrative option for people who have so far not installed Linux for the sole reason of having to format a hard disk with ext2/3 and such people are quite a few.
Secondly, another open source movement KDE has made it's footholds stronger in windows with a latest stable release for windows,on the 13 th of January,2009.Now Windows has completion inside it.
Next up in open source is Brittanica, who have now allowed the users to edit the materials on their encyclopadea due to the growing competition from Wikipadea .
The hardware industry saw a great phenomenon as AMD's Phenom II became the first quad core to break into the 6.5 GHz domain in real world performance,making it the fastest processor on earth.
On the other end in software industry, Microsoft Windows 7 beta has evolved unprecedented response as downloads are in record numbers. However the report Windows is being infected by the Vista viruses has also taken the community by storm.
The next few weeks are going to be really exciting, in the computing world and and we wait as the next generation of computing unfolds right in front of our eyes

Adiew Debonair DADA

On Monday ,the 10th of November,2008 was the swan song of Saurav Ganguly,India's most famous cricketer. I am not saying popular,for no he was not popular, he was famous. You may love him or hate him ,but one thing was for sure ,you could not ignore him. His career reflects a typical roller coaster but Ganguly was more than just success and failure. He was a cult, a cut above the rest.....

As aptly put by Rahul Dravid “On the Off side,there is God,then there is Ganguly”.He has been the Lord of the Off Side. It was indeed apt hat he stared his career at the LORDS ,the mecca of cricket.
A century on debut at LORDS is something very few in cricket can boast off. However it was the 1999 world cup in England that saw Ganguly emerge as India prominent batsman. His 183 against Sri Lanka
remains a special treat to those who have seen it. But Ganguly's fame is not in being the great player he was,he had been earmarked for greater glories.

It was the season of 2000 ,when India at the turn of the millennium had seemed to lost the plot to win.A whitewash at home by South Africa had put in doubt India's position in World Cricket. And the crown of thorns,Captaincy went to Ganguly. He made immediate impact as India beat South Africa in a unbelievable series 3-2. And India was never the same again.................nor was Ganguly,inarguably India's most successful Captain.

Ganguly might have lost 15 months of cricket due to his spat with Greg Chappel , but he could not have scripted a better comeback. The Bengal Tiger roared his loudest at adversity and has made a legacy that will be insurmountable. His absence will be felt, and then may be his detractors will understand........................................

His career can be summarized in the following line:-

“Century on Debut, Golden duck on Swan song , a rainbow in between”

Batting and fielding averages
Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 Ct St
Tests 112 186 17 7127 239 42.17 13916 51.21 16 34 71 0
ODIs 311 300 23 11363 183 41.02 15416 73.70 22 72 100 0

Bowling averages
Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 4w 5w
Tests 112 99 3117 1681 32 3/28 3/37 52.53 3.23 97.4 0 0
ODIs 311 171 4561 3849 100 5/16 5/16 38.49 5.06 45.6 1 2

Ode To Kumble

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The elements of this blog goes back to the day of Diwali,1996. that year world cup was held in India and I got my first tryst with Cricket.that time I felt india had only two good players, Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble. As I used to haunt my cousin as to why Azharuddin didnot give Kumble the ball from the word go,and other such silly questions and he explained all the answers i could not but be overwhelmed at his knowledge.However one question among them that he never answered with conviction was what would happen when Sachin and Anil would retire? So that Diwali when I again pestered him with the same question he said that I need not worry for They would play for the next 10 years. The answer satisfied me and I never asked it again. However this Diwali as India won the 2nd test and talks of Kumble's retirement came up,it was deja-vu for me.Suddenly I remembered my cousin's 10 year deadline and realised it has been past by a good long 2 years.It seemed that India will easily cope up with the loss of Kumble. Or will it........................

Well it's kind of a question that will be debated overe and over in all news channerls of India so no use spending my time over it,but is surely the dawn of a new era. Jumbo was inarguably the best Indian spinner ever,a fierce competitor and a man who can be the Dictioary meaning of the word Relentless. Always been downplayed by people who wrote him off by saying that he was not a good spinner of the ball.But Spin's golden Era sees the end of it's Second Great Warrior.Kumble the legend won india many matches but finally as he leaves the game we can only hope that the great man's shoes can be filled by somone who can atleast live up to his illustrious predesessor.

We ,Indians bid farewell to Anil Kuble with a heavy heart for the relentless but gentleman approch of the man will never again be seen in the India cap.

Anil Kumble Statistics:-

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50	Ct	St
Tests	132	173	32	2506	110*	17.77	38.82	1	5	60	0
ODIs	271	136	47	938	26	10.53	61.06	0	0	85	0

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Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	132	236	40850	18355	619	10/74	14/149	29.65	2.69	65.9	31	35	8
ODIs	271	265	14496	10412	337	6/12	6/12	30.89	4.30	43.0	8	2	0

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Test debutEngland v India at Manchester, Aug 9-14, 1990

Last TestIndia v Australia at Delhi, Oct 29-Nov 2, 2008

ODI debutIndia v Sri Lanka at Sharjah, Apr 25, 1990

Last ODIBermuda v India at Port of Spain, Mar 19, 2007

ETHNIC VIOLENCE –THE ASSAM STORY

Ethnic violence, a term often predominantly framed rhetorically by causes and issues related to ethnic hatred, though ethnic violence is often related to political violence. But the situation is of much graver consequences if ethnic violence is put off in the pretext of terrorism; although it ethnic violence accounts up as right-wing extremism.

The same can be learnt from the recent ethnic clashes in Assam. The violence has been between Bodo tribe’s people and immigrant Muslims has raised some indelible questions about the in the minds of the people. Why was no action taken by the government when the same districts had been under violence in August? The Government failed to take adequate measures like deployment of additional forces to prevent recurrence of such incidents and the same areas faced violent ethnic clashes once again. The Government has been claiming that members of the National Democratic Front Boroland (NDFB); a terrorist organization were involved in the incident. The fact that four cadres of the NDFB were arrested in the area only highlights the issue. The Government should take up the issue with the leadership of the NDFB strongly as NDFB is with a ceasefire with the government.

The clashes of such a large magnitude between the ethnic groups had an official death toll of over 60 and rendered over a lakh homeless. With the situation under control due to strong action under the army; the Government must institute a thorough probe to find out the persons responsible for instigating the miscreants to indulge in killing of innocents as cross sections of people, who were living peacefully in the area for years would not have indulged in such clashes without any instigation.

The contrivance of ethnic violence has been the most potent weapon in the hands of the militants for years now and they are now moving into places earlier unknown in the realms of ethnic violence. The Assam incident should be an eye-opener for the government as well as the Indian citizens. It is upon us that we ensure communal harmony in the testing times and also thwart the extremists to ensure India is secular both in body and spirit.