Parallel Spirals

Standing on the shores of space-time…

Blog

  • March 28, 2007

    My brother’s first exam is done. My cousin’s last exam in SSC is tomorrow.

    Well, now back to me.

    The day started off with me calling JLT to claim my prize for some local contest. Spent the morning on that.

    Watched ‘House’ in the afternnon. It’s a story of an eccentric MD who solves medical cases using seemingly crazy methods. Statement from the series: Men have wives, kids and girlfriends just because they don’t have any passions to follow. In that sens, we’re same, you and I.  Not an exact quote.

    The brain then began hitting strange ideas – scaffoldings inside satellites and sending a wooden stool into space. Titled and filed under “odd structural thoughts” in the left centre of the brain.

    Had my first meeting today. There was no one from Systems I could get hold of. And I found out that someone was a girl. That makes it two girls and a guy in structures. Another general pointer: names ending with an a in Italian are girls.

    I finish the day exhausted. Returning home my feet gets down on Earth and get some studies packed away.

    Have asked my advisor for some help with some of the crazy iedas that I’m having. This is what ensures that hot metal becomes a sharp, cold sword.

    Going to HBCSE and JLT tomorrow and take a peep at Asiatic.

  • March 27, 2007

    Yesterday’s note was short. No particular reason for that.

    If you have really read the notes till date there is hardly any mention of my academics. I just skipped it, I guess. Well, there’s nothing fascinating about it other than the fact that it’s the most time consuming thing. All for that degree which really does not ensure secure knowledge, only a secure job.

    Odd thought: The world was wired and then it became weird.

    My brother’s exams start tommorrow. Best of luck!

    Kathy Siera (of Creating Passionate Users), whose blog I was introduced to by Scoble, has been getting death threats. Just shows how we’re still savages inside, doesn’t it? The blogosphere has been abuzz with the story.

    The above is something, I guess that the Indian bloggers might face. If you wanna kill me, go ahead.

    Rahul and others have gone to Kerala for an Industrial Visit.

    Things are finally moving ahead vis-a-vis SEDSAT 2. Our first meeting will be at 8 pm local time. I really doubt myself as a team leader but I have the best team and support that I could’ve asked for. Though, things were beginning to get crazy in between. In such times, I just do things that you can’t live without – bathing, eating etc…- and things, generally go back to normal, as it did today.

    I put together my webpage today at http://pradeep.mohandas.googlepages.com/home. Quite a mouthful isn’t it?

    I am beginning to design and think simple. It helps.

  • March 25, 2007

    It’s 1 AM in the morning on March 26, 2007.

    My morning started with a much needed hair cut and shave. I was beginning to look like a savage, which was fun upto a point. Cycled both ways and enjoyed it.

    Finished ‘The Google Story’ yesterday. The second part is about more recent events (circa 2005) in Google.

    Read an article by Sunil Mukhi on the lighter side of Physics. That is a difficult job.

    Finally loaded the “Meet the Team” page on the SEDSAT 2 blog. Have sent an email asking people to submit their personal bios written in third persons. Will add them as they come in.

    Have to begin work on the structure sub-system. Parshati and Giuditta are the two people on my team. Will ask them to go through a design book – mechanical design of course. Getting things done will be much simpler with a smaller team.

    I have been thinking about whether I should load my notes with more stuff that I read evveryday. But I decided against it.

    As time ticks, I am coming closer and closer to examinations.

    I would want more stuff like Burning Man, Glastonbury Festival etc. happening in India. I also wish that we had Universities rather than colleges. And I go on wishing. I observed more examples of how we take more negatives than positives from the ‘West’.

    My web design/Indian satellites project will also come up soon. Will link to it. Google is the company that made links hot and Technorati did it for blogs. I wonder what will be the next big thing.

  • Sound Advice

    Priority-wise, it simply makes sense to take care of yourself before you start searching for a higher meaning. You aren’t much good to anyone else if you’re unhealthy, a financial burden, or an emotional basket case. Fix yourself before you turn outward. It’s best for everyone.

    The Dilbert Blog

  • March 26, 2007

    It’s been a long time sine I’ve been thinking about joining HBCSE library to get more books to refer for the SEDSAT 2 Project. I haven’t gotten around to doing it yet.

    I am thinking about starting the next big start up. No, not on the Internet, though it can have a website. I am just not getting around to thinking about it since I am doing some crazy thinking for SEDSAT 2.

    I want to make my team enjoy the stuff that they’re doing. Make them innovate a few things that would help in mass budgeting. The thing looks so un-do-able (is there a word like that?) that my resolve for doing it is just sky-rocketing (what a word to use!)

    I am thinking several things together but doing nothing, or so I feel.

    I used Google Co-op search to build my “Outer Space Search” engine.

  • What’s in a name?

    Note: I wrote this on my earlier blog, The Tranquil Eye for which I do not remember the domain name. I recovered the text from my email. This post appeared on March 2, 2007 as per the time stamp on my email. I’m trying to collect here again all my old writings spread on various blogs.

    The name, “The Tranquil Eye” comes from Aubrey Menen’s book, The Space Within the Heart. Here’s what the necessary paragraph says:

    I was there. I. Not the person weighing 72 kilograms and whom my mother and father named Aubrey Clarence: not the writer of this book: not the person whose life, when he is dead, will be displayed in a glass case one day by Mr. Gottlieb (or so he promises me). Another person.

    I gave it a name. I called it the Tranquil Eye. The play on words amused me, and it was near the truth. I found I could retreat into the space within the heart whenever I wished. For a time, I needed the quiet and loneliness of my room to do it. Later, when I gave up my room and returned to normal life, I found that I could retreat into the space anywhere, even in company, for the sheer of pleasure of doing it. The Tranquil Eye had seen an unforgettable sight. It had seen the whole of my life lying around it: and it was comical. For it saw that my life had been the laborious construct of other people, some well-intentioned, some malign, some just interfering.
    ,

  • of Accidents

    My friend, Shirin was recently in an accident. Hope you get well soon! She says she was passionate about driving her own car.

    Now, come to my point, my passion for cars increases only when I put a dummy in it and crash it against a wall. Have been doing it, since I was a kid.  Hopefully, there is no ‘Prevention of Cruelty against Dummies’ yet. I also like it when you take a plunger and just destroy the car. After all, destruction is the apex of creation.

    What really drives me are airplane. My way of taking interest in them is to not learn about them at all. It’s all strange. After all, I am from a strange land – India. A land where a group of snake charmers managed to take over industry and give a 9.2% GDP growth p.a. Cool no?

  • Communicating Science and what not…I’m sick

    Two posts have made me write this. This one and this one.

    The first one deals with science writing. Communicating science to people. The second one deals with, well in a tangent sort of way the old rivalry between science and religion.

    On the first point, there is one site which you shout visit, The Institute for Figuring. The first post deals with the fact – how do you cover science or rather how do you communicate science? Do you do it with a beautiful girl of 21 wearing a bikini saying,”The effect that you had when you saw me was similar to the impact of a nuclear bomb”, which makes you want nuclear bombs fall or do you do it with a much more official way. The Director of the Institute explaining how the neutrons are bombarded into the nucleus etc. and all the rest of it in style.

    My friend once said to me he believed that the Indian epics were way to communicate science. I would add to it by saying, it was also the way to communicate some common sense. Some of the descriptions actually tell you of the development of science in India. Quotes like – “I will beat you just as surely as the sun rises in the east”. It’s a cool way to tell the kid that the sun rises in the east. Try telling that to him more directly and he would say, “What the hell for?” More on this when I’m feeling better.

    The second one….just read both.

    I’m sick right now. I have what doctors call – “viral diarrhea”. But, I describe it more unscientifically as going to the bathroom hundreds of time….er, have to rush.

  • Nothing is Permanent but Change

    I’m trying to reflect this philosophy in my blog. How? I’m changing the theme everyday.

    I understand it’s not a very intelligent way of doing a blog, but who says it has to be intelligent? The thing is – even if I don’t post anything on my blog, I change the themes. So, there’s something to watch out for everytime you’re here.

    We all face problems because we need security – we need to return to the same space again and again. Remove that security and you’ll realise that half the problems of the world dissolve. Think about that.

    The “b” key of my keyboard isn’t working too well.

  • Tragedies and Safety

    India faced two tragedies back to back. One, with the twin explosions in Samjhauta Express, run between India and Pakistan. The second happened when a boat capsized killing about 19 10 year-olds.

    The first incident is getting national coverage since it involves an international dimension – most of the victims were Pakistani nationals.

    The second happened because the boat carrying the children was not water-fit. This is not the first time. Will it take the death of these 19 children for the administration to act?

    What further action will be taken? Will the administration atleast act now? Accidents are almost an everyday event in Kerala. Safety is requireed in land, water and air. I was wondering what sort of a catastrophe will it take to move the administration to implement safety laws?