Inception via recursion.

If you had no clue what the movie was all about, below is a simplified complicated explanation in Java that you probably will have no clue about unless you are an engineer and a geek !

 public static void main(String[] args) {
  int initialDreamLength = 300; // 5 minutes
  boolean success = Inception(teamSize, initialDreamLength); 
 }
  
 public boolean Inception(int noOfPeopleLeft, int timeLeft){
   timeLeft = timeLeft * 12 ;
     while(timeLeft > 0){
       if(ideaImplanted)
         return true;
      
       if(subjectRealizesHeIsInADream)
         return false;      
     
       if(noOfPeopleLeft <= 1)
         return false;
      
       if(personDies)
         noOfPeopleLeft--;
      
       if(sharingADream)
         return Inception(noOfPeopleLeft - 1, timeLeft);
      
       timeLeft--;
     }
   // Time's up !
   return false;  
 }

Crash

Still reeling from shock after seeing a guy on a motorbike nearly crash to his death. Lucky he survived the crash. His sports bike was in tatters, but the important thing is that he is okay. He smelt of weed. I've hardly driven a bike before and after seeing today's accident, I don't regret it too much. The risk is too much for the speed-thrill.

Let's talk about the Weather

"Mind-numbingly Crazily-Fluctuating Bizarre" is a subtle term for describing the weather in Troy, NY. Yesterday I was sweating in my shorts and today i'm freezing with my sweater on.

It's mid-May and I've still got a sweater on! Even the it's-so-bloody-hot-every-freaking-day weather of Mumbai would be comparatively enjoyable.

I should have clicked photos of Spring while the flowers were "In Bloom".
The weather outside now has an ominous gloom.

End of the Spring Semester

A 'highly emotional' spring semester swooshed past by before you could say antidisestablishmentarianism. I'm thankful for the great learning opportunities I've had this semester and for some great people I've had a chance to work with. Although no matter how much I try, I'm still not a team player :(

A couple of possible summer internships at sight. Mixed feelings at possibly having to abandon outlandish plans of starting my own website. It would have been undoubtedly exciting to attempt to convert a few cunning plans into business plans alas my cunning plans would have to wait to see the light of another day. There surely is something about the US that lets the naive mind think of the possibility of entrepreneurship. This something cannot easily be expressed in words. I'll leave that as an exercise for others !

I still can't believe i pulled off the hectic TA smoothly (or so I think !) Hope I get another opportunity next semester.

Spring Break

Spring Break came and spring break went, without me doing a single productive thing. Frustration has reached it's limits. I used to be hard-working, dedicated and perpetually motivated.....Until I saw the real world.

Aaaaargh !

10 Things about the USA that are novelties to me !

1) How everybody is absolutely comfortable in their shorts, wherever they are, irrespective of their age, whatever the occasion !

2) How "bad light" is not the reason to stop playing Cricket at 8 o'clock in the evening !

3) How 70-year olds shop, drive and live independently. They really are very sweet people.

4) How Not Saying "You're Welcome" after somebody thanks you is misunderstood as curt behavior.

5) How Random people on the road wish you "How are you doing?"

6) How a Ducati or a Ford Mustang totally gets ignored... and how staring at one would look as bizarre as ogling at a Hero Honda Splendor or Maruti Esteem back in India.

7) How every male only wears boring plain t-shirts. My wardrobe contents totally don't fit here!

8) How thin these people actually are.. All false notions back home of "These Americans are huge!" turn out to be false. My guess is that hardly 10-15% of Americans are over-weight.

9) How much the people here love their music and sports. One of the local F.M stations in Troy plays all my favorite numbers, which were never played by the stations back in India.

10) How even the USA has a Dharwad. And how i'm living in an American Dharwad again.

By Rote

I hate giving exams! No matter how simple they are, I always succumb to the numbing tension. The Teradata Certification Course I gave today is a perfect example ! Even though i knew I "mugged" enough to pass, I still felt the fear of failing creeping up!( 75% required to Pass!) I guess an exam is supposed to test your knowledge, not your mugging skills. guilty for not taking the time to "learn" the subject even though I had the material with me. For a change, I actually felt guilty being satisfied with my score of 746/800, knowing I hadn't read half the course material.

I've always preferred to gain knowledge and just about pass rather than just remember gibberish by rote and vomit it out on the day-of-the-exam and score great marks. Some people might say that the problem with that attitude is that the only way somebody else is going to judge you is by your marks, because theoretically your marks are an indication of how much you know. But what if the examination system itself is faulty and is more suited for muggers rather than learners? If you've studied in a Maharashtra State Board School, you probably would already be familiar with this. (Or if you've done your engineering in Karnataka off late) I myself remember mugging up Hindi and Marathi answers from non-didactic "Guides". The only way these books guided you were towards the path of becoming a vacuous memorizing machine.

I sucked in languages in school, and because I neither had material nor teachers that would help me learn them well, the only way I could pass is memorize answers by rote. The end result - After "studying" Marathi for 8 years, I can't talk to my 5 year old Maharashtrian neighbour in Marathi ! Sure I can understand most of what he says, but I can only reply in Hindi to Calvin (This kid totally fits the Calvin and Hobbes character with his violently grand malice and stories)

Our education system (or atleast a part of it) needs a revamp, before we produce a generation of empty-headed specious morons.