Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Life and Chemical Engg

Ironically the only subject i loved in my engg was the one everyone seemed to hate. somehow. i mean Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics.

There are two fundamental concepts in Thermodynamics. they are equilibrium and entropy.

lets define both in a very simple manner;

equilibrium is a state in which a body does not a have a tendency to move on either side on which forces are acting on it. some level of order prevails.

entropy is the degree of randomness of a system. disorderliness.

the chemical funda is that a system at equilibrium will tend to have a low level of entropy. entropy is basically a waste of energy.

just a thought abt entropy. most ppl say that u need passion to do a task well. which is a very wrong notion. atleast Swami Vivekananda says so. and i completely agree ( well, he is a genius, there is no point of my agreeing or disagreeing with him). this is so because, passion is a feeling. feelings means energy is spent and dissipated on them. so loss of energy does not result in good work. all that is needed is focus. less of excitement. silence. concentration. stillness. peace. that will only deliver results.

coming back to our discussion, from definitions of equilibrium , it seems as though equilibrium will decrease entropy. atleast thats the impression i get.

the contradiction

lets look at life. Mr. A is unemployed. he finally gets a nice job. i mean good pay, job roles etc. initially he was desperate for a job. after he got the job, there was an expectation or desire level.
so i can say he was at level 1 initially. his expectation from the job causes his mental state to desire a higher state level 2. as he works on, his state changes continuously from level 1 to level 2. when he reaches level 2 we can say that he has reached an equilibrium wrt to this expectation levels.

now this equilibrium brings a stagnation. he feels unsatisfied. the feelings start showing up. the entropy of his mental system starts to increase.

so equilibrium is infact leading to entropy.

remember the equilibrium is also in the mental system and the entropy is also in the mental system.
isn't that funny?

i dont think there is a flaw in my reasoning.

anyway floor is open to debate.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Bombay to Madras - Flight to fantasy - Part 2

A big relief. all credit courses exams over.height of obscene mugging! now Just ITPM audit left day after.that too open book exam. no need to mug. Thank GOD. and yeah i shd purchase the book first without forgetting....well then lemme free my mind of all kachdaas i had accumulated as a result of hard core mugging.

where did i leave? yeah. i was waiting at the airport.......five PM. slowly i went thro the security checks. it was smooth. unlike my return journey from madras to bbay . during my return journey, i was finishing my security checks and moved to the last counter just before the flight. as luck wd have it, the security sticker (or types) they attach to the bags had fallen down. and the security wd not let me go further. 10 mins left. and i had to get back and find out the place where i had to get that sticker again. i did not want to miss the flight yet again. all projects and quizzes that was waiting for me back at college made me run harder for that sticker. murphy says the worst is yet to come. boarding was frm first floor. and the damn lift was not coming at all. and i am really afraid of escalators ( just as afraid as i am of these diwali flower pots....i manage to bomb one almost everytime i try) . so had to run down the stairs. somehow, intercepted a security guy, managed a thrown away sticker. luckily not marked. and raced to the counter. and was just in time for the boarding. somehow i have a strange liking to this japanese manufacturing concept. phew!!!!
EASHWARO RAKSHATHU!

back to the original bombay to madras journey.

i uncovered the real picture of airlines industry that day.
one as i mentioned earlier are the hostess who much to my disappointment were more like powder puffed dolls. i bet these ranganathan street figures are a million times better ( havent been there for a long time though;)

just as ppl enter the cabin, these ppl greet with a sweeeeeeeet smile. well the falsest smile one can ever hope. i dont really blame them. thats their job. they gotta do that. but i cant stand false smiles. i just walked in.

and boy, welcome to the economy class. the aisle space was so cramped. literally they had made the best use of the word economy. An AC chaircar in brindavan exp was much better i thought! i took my seat. luckily my seat was just ahead of the wings. so i cud actually feel how much the plane angles up and down. and CFD was written on the wings ( computational fluid dynamics for short). ahaa. chemical engg made me feel nostalgic.

okay now the most awaited moment. refreshments ofcourse!!!! some orange coloured juice. havent still figured wat that was. atleast the taste ws not gud. bad luck. there were two more types which i ditched for this one. the lady serving was coming back. here is my chance i thought. i decided to give her a sweet smile and take another glass stealthily. the lady was too sweet for me as she gave me 'jagaa' and took my cup without giving me a chance to try another. then usual samosa, cutlet types. how less they gave. okay i dont mean i want sth of a kind u expect at a marriage reception. still, 4000 odd bucks. they sure can give more. anyway who cares. and they write in bold letters - customer satisfaction - value delivery and other stupid jargons. i hate jargons. what to do. jargons are the only organs of the average MBA. if they are not there, how will philip kotler survive?

at the least i thought i wd get a 'delightful' companion to spend 1.5 hrs. and a guy who all his life had rigged oil ( not elections) abroad was destined to be my journey partner. he told abt his exploits abroad and bored me to death. if a chemical engineer who worked in oil industry can get bored with this guy, u shd imagine how he shd have bored me. and i dont care a damn abt oil drilling!

the airline girls up there in the flight enact all safety procedures to teh whole crew. actually i felt very sorry for them. i mean, these ppl have to do this acting stuff day in and day out in front of 3oo ppl. they might get paid. but still. probably i felt more uncomfortable than they were. but someone has to do the job. and doing sth for ensuring safety of passengers was a noble job at that. but then we always think why me? and i thought why them! life is so unfair. on one hand, u find ppl ensconced in their positions enjoying the flight journey. and on the other hand, some ppl need to be there , do that, all for livelihood. maybe life is a zero sum game. some ppl have to do errand jobs because others do 'decent' jobs. its a difficult situation. maybe life is meant to be that way. i lost the whole spirit of flying. just waited to land up in madras. and now again i feel bad thinking of such inequities in life. for example asia's largest slum is in bbay - dharaavi. its too bad too frustrating. it really is. why do these things happen? will i make a difference to atleast some one some day? i dont feel like writing anymore.

i m stopping here.




Saturday, February 18, 2006

Jack or King

I wanted to stay from writing a post atleast till my exams get over which will be next saturday. but then things dont happen they way they are planned out to be. infact just before i was to leave for the exam, this post struck me. anyway i thought i will post after exams. but after todays pathetic ops exam, i wanted to break free. only PERUMAL can bail me out. not that the exam was tough or sth. yeah it was well set though. but i have my own ways of collapsing in the main game. simple problems. but poor application. every problem, screwed the later half . reaffirming the fact that academically i seem to have hit rock bottom and digging deeper. anyway thats my own misery. my own.

well what actually struck me (today morning) was this concept of jacks and kings! we often hear phrases - jack of all trades- master of none.

which is better? jack or master ? tough Q? or is it just that it is subjective?

first, some ppl are extremely gifted! they are really gud at certain things. i mean across a wide spectrum of competitors, they will have their winning their ways. they have formal training in their disciplines. their areas will be limited. but they are the masters in those areas. and so they stick to their core competences. sounds nice and trim.

then, there are ppl, who try doing a lot of things. but their sphere of influence is limited. limited versatility if u can call it. dabbling into a bit of variety. by limited i mean, certain places they are known for sth. other places they are known for being good at other activities. and they are never known for being gud at sth at all the places.

now primarily ppl say unless one is extremely gud at sth there is no use doing many things.

i dont actually do a lot of things. but i atleast tried a few. and mediocre at everything. for example, in my seventh std, my first tryst with music started with veena. i actually wanted to learn singing. but the music teacher told that i was not gud enough for that. so veena started. just when i was picking pace, i ditched it for exams. actually i was not interested in it much.


even after the initial singing fiasco, in 1oth i was lucky to be a part of AIR all india grp competition troupe. so i took it from there. and tried singing at cultural gatherings at college and reliance. luckily i was not thrown out. but still i can never try very high pitches. so there are limitations. and i am a zero at carnatic stuff, though i listen to some selectively. so thats another handicap ( particularly while trying composing)


then in 11th and 12th, i was forced to learn tabla (as part of school curriculam, in that grt school jaigopal gaodia hindu vidyalaya) . i attend the first class of every new lesson.practise for a couple of classes then bunk rest of the classes. and so went on two years. at this stage, though i can try tabla , i might never make it so good.

then after joining engg, started dabbling with small keyboards. though i can try playing or composing, i just cannot use both hands. actually in reliance, i joined a formal keyboard instruction class. but i was bored to learn right from start. all those lil notes and all. so i ditched it as well. so even now playing base as well as lead simultaneously in the keyboard is impossible ( atleast for now)

i had bought a mouth organ, which i tht i wd learn by myself. i did start decently. but now its 6 months since i dusted it. but the good news is its still there. safe and sound.

this is not the case with music. but with sports and other stuff i started in school.

now the crux starts. i sometimes feel that in trying a lot of things ( some involuntary as well, like veena for instance), i had actually lost out in being gud atleast in one thing.

but actually i never wanted to learn any of these things for becoming an exponent. just wanted some fun. and actually in trying out so many instruments (pathetic though) , my ears became more attentive to the nuances of music. and i never set goals for myself. i simply cannot. many a times, i feel there is no point in anything. we just need to live along. try to embrace the spirit of life in a holistic manner rather than doing everything for a purpose. life is too beautiful in narrowing our perceptions to a particular activity.

satisfaction is a process. not a point. when we sing our heart out, it is not the acknowledgement by others that makes us feel good. but the process of singing itself does. that voice within that keeps telling us. life is a journey not a destination. and journey means making new acquaintances. and relishing those memories.

purposive life is the last option that i wd think of falling back on.

but then there is the opposite school of thought. that being the master is the wiser one.

i am not sure. well atleast my school is different.



Friday, February 10, 2006

Bombay to Madras

I dunked it ! I missed it !! I screwed it !!!

It was a monday evening. suddenly athimber (sis's husband) rang up. some urgent work. i had to leave for madras. he said he was booking the Jet Airways for tuesday afti at 3.20 PM. fine. but had some work to be completed before i could catch the flight.

Let me tell u frankly. a trip to home is itself a pleasant surprise. and going by air was like adding sugar to honey. moreover, it has taken 25 years of my life to make my first sail through the skies. so i was kind of thrilled! whats more, the first picture that flashed through my mind at the thought of going by air was....slurrrppppppp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brahmanaa Bhojana priyaaaa. father tells often. he could not have been wrong. atleast my case was perfect.

I left pretty early from SOM. at around 10.45 AM. had to get some immigration docs and then proceed to santa cruz for catching the flight. as there was enough time, i decided to kill time by waiting at the bus stop without any attempt whatsoever to get into any bus. after 45 mins, i decided it will get too crunchy coz of teh passport thing. so i finally entered one.

after all that traffic ( believe me, bbay is the only place on earth which could be crowded like hell even in aftis) , i did manage to get to that doc collection place ( also at santa cruz) pretty early....around 1.00 pm. now i was waiting for the concerned party to get the documents to me. i was left waiting for two hrs before the guy came there.

and i was supposed to catch the flight at 3.20. what kind of time keeping is this? anyway i was not at fault ( for the first time)....and moreoever this last minute thing was breathing around my neck. does it occur to me so naturally? every time. now i seriously wondered if i had to consult an astrologer abt what was technically wrong abt my jathakam ( horoscope) . this is getting a bit too much for comfort. well, managed to catch an auto at 3.10.

i reached the airport soon enough. at 3.15 pm. i hurried to the check in area where i was told that the boarding was over. and technically i had missed the flight!

what next ? had to wait for the 5.30 pm flight. and i had to get a fresh ticket ( ofcourse a discounted one). moved to the ticket counters. all teh counters wore long Qs. so decided to check out the counter with the prettiest face. alas, i cd not find any. all the 'faces' were puffed up with powder upto 10 mm of thickness. nothing notable abt them. natural beauty seemed just too impossible. sad for such an airlines company. and I thought airlines attracted pretty females. and my first assumption abt this airlines industry had just gone down the drain!

stood in a Q relatively small with some guy processing the tickets. he checked my ticket and said 3050 bucks xtra. WHAT? i bought a ticket for 400o bucks. and after discounted fare, he means i have to shell out 3000 bucks. he sure was joking. or completely ignorant.

and the latter was true as i later found out. the guy was completely confused ( but i was not amused) . after a lot of fighting up over the figures, i was told i had to pay out 1500 bucks.

The next bombshell. maestro cards are not accepted. i reached out for my credit card. and boy, i never had a clue that it had expired a year back!!!!

now i had to get cash. to get the ticket. reached for my wallet. 700 bucks only. i asked them to freeze my ticket. and that i wd get back in 10 mins. atleast they acceded to this request.

now i was frantically searching for an ATM. cud not find any nearby. i appraoched a person standing near a Corrola to ask abt any ATM that cud be there. he said it was not nearby though. however he said he was also moving out of the airport and offered to take me to the ATM.

in the car, i was talking to athimber abt the screw up ( in tamil). then this person addressed me in tamil. aha. somehow it felt so sweet. and he said that the car was actually the car of the chairman of JP morgan stanley and that he had come to drop the chairman's daughter and was on his way back. ( was the dad teh same guy who gave us dikshaa?....i was lost in thoughts)

we drove to what was actually the " first floor" of teh airport through a tortuous route.
i cud find a icici atm from wher i was able to with draw the money. the gentle man dropped me back at the ticket counter and made his way back.

this is where PERUMAL is there i stood thinking ( and thanking) !

got the tickets. completed teh check in formalities and waited in teh lobby watching the ongoing ind-pak test. awaiting my first flight journey. ( technically it is the second flight. my first flight never existed:)

as i was waiting to board , i was just sinking into a thought......

i got the car trip to the ATM right. but....

did i just miss the chairman's daughter perhaps......hehehe.......

PART 2 of flight journey after exams.



Saturday, February 04, 2006

Tagged!!! - My eight point someone

Its time for celebrations (though no bumps pls). Its official. Both hands r working:))

Nearly three weeks since i ve written blogs using both hands....lol....so its really sweet typing with both hands finally !!!

okay so i ve been tagged( whoever brought this taggin culture)

and the culprit? kulveer

The rules:

1. The tagged victim has to come up with 8 different points of their perfect lover.
2. Need to mention the sex of the target.
3. Tag 8 victims to join this game & leave a comment on their comments saying they ve been tagged.
4. If tagged the 2nd time, theres no need to post again ( atleast i am not a 'kenai')

(all this tamaashaa as if i m going to reveal my opposing side....kuch bhi yaar....anyway for ur satisfaction)

First few ground rules -
  • Lover??? whats that? . i will use the term 'partner' instead
  • 'perfect' is vague as well. so removed.

Sex of partner: Female

okay, my Eight point someone comes somewhere close to the following ;)

  1. She will take care of my parents much more than I can. (its sooo long since i stayed with amma and daddy)
  2. She will look elegant in saree and churidhar (in that order). bindi in forehead is a must. so is long flowing hair. jeans is a big no no.
  3. She WILL NOT ask me to go shopping with her for bindi and stub kammal. GRT jewellery, Chennai silks, Nalli silks is highly unimaginable. (had enough of it with mom and sis). 'Intha colour promise' absolutely chance less!!!! and importantly she will not 'pester' me....hehehe....
  4. She will be cool headed and have a natural ability to react to situations ( and should teach me how to....i am poor at PR)
  5. She will have lesser romantic notions and so shall not be disappointed with me. (i cant romance, for nuts)
  6. She will not have big aspirations for abroad life or even for flying to places. My life funda is very simple. circle around Adambakkam (my place in chennai) and hv my daily cuppa curd rice. and will put up the swing (in the centre of the hall) as well once i settle in chennai. and watch damn old tamil movies in ktv with that cup of filter coffee (swinging in the meanwhile).
  7. She will have complete faith in me.
  8. and boy, the order qualifier - She will have deep striking eyes !!!!

Phew!!!! i am bored. whos left? nobody.......

yeah....amrutaunshu, ravi, is that all......?

ashok, keshav hope u wd setup ur blogs in a day or two...... so aaraambathuliyee maateneenga!!!!

i tag u both as well!!!!

(and when is our semmavetti.blog....goin to start? ). illa verum vetti pechu thaanaa as usual?