A good quote by me

"Time is the ultimate independent variable. Everything we see, including ourselves are just functions of it"

- Goutham Sharma

Information deluge

Hello!

Happy new year!(If you didn't think it's too late to wish now). I have lot of hopes from this year. I posted just five times last year and it may be worse this time. Reason being this year is crucial for me (B.tech final year = final project + placements + higher studies) and I will not have time to think about stuff to be written here. You can conclude that sporadic postings here will be a result of deep thought or frustration.

I recently came across this strange case in newspaper where a person got addicted to Wikipedia and spent weeks just reading while ignoring basic needs. He was diagnosed with serious compulsion disorder. It was reported that he didn't step out of his home for a long time and had social anxiety issues.

I had issues similar to the above with online forum Quora, which was meant to be a great Q/A resource but disturbing and frivolous stuff started getting into the feed like these:

• What are some great random facts?
• What are some amazing pictures?
• What are some awesome movie facts and details?
• What are some interesting campus recruitment stories?
• What are the most amazing facts about "xxxxxxxx"?
• What is it that we Indians do wrong collectively?
• What is sad about yourself?

All these were entered here as I see my feed in tab next to the blog editor. Answers for these questions have 10k-20k upvotes. Worst thing is the feed in this forum does not end as you scroll downwards (Just like any social networking site). You keep reading all the nonsense till your mind gets jammed. I prefer a clean mind to a cluttered one. I am starting to doubt if it is necessary to read newspaper every morning. All extra information that gets poured into the mind everyday is simply not worth it. I wonder how people could keep scrolling down their Facebook feed endlessly to 'keep up' with what's happening. Survival is the most basic instinct of man and he need not waste time in knowing stuff which does not serve this.

Back when I was in my secondary school, Facebook entered Indian cyberspace and we adolescents were excited to be always connected. It felt great chatting with a cousin staying abroad. It felt good when my posted picture got 10 likes. Things aren't the same now. This 'keeping up' turned into an obsession when people took 'Facebook friends' seriously. Real relations are just one thing: 'friend' or 'not a friend'. A guy is considered friend of another when his request for 'friendship' got accepted. This is not a marriage proposal! This is about feeling there's something common in between.

Gone are the days when we played, sang and danced. Compulsion to check and reply to a WhatsApp text message now predominates curiosity to converse with a stranger. This was well explained in The Hindu open page article well: The 'death' of conversation. We are living in age of information. Big data and data science are today's buzzwords. News got more disturbing as 2016 passed. Unrest and chaos were two words which can describe my state of mind after I bought my first smartphone (somewhere in July). I was not used to high inflow of data ever before and it made me feel that this world is much more complex than I assumed. Being intimidated is the worst feeling, believe me.

Information is power. But our control and perception about it is what that shapes us. I prefer texting only vital info over WhatsApp. It helps me save the thrill of meeting someone again after long time.

Goutham

Musings about life

Hello!

I am posting after a long time.

Every now and then I have views popping up to few hundreds per week. I still doubt if the 'viewers' read the stuff here. Whatever you are about to read in this post, please bear with me. I am going to expel all my feelings accumulated ever since I got placed in that 'mass recruiter' named Cognizant technology solutions.

If you are mature enough, this thought must have kindled in your mind at some point: "What is the purpose behind all this struggle?". Sorry for reminding, I do not mean to disturb your feelings. Struggle can be at college, workplace, home or in relationships. Now I will share my insights about life and well being.

Ego
We all have our ego, right at the center of our body i.e at center of mass (b/w chest and abdomen). At this position a person is believed to be in equilibrium. If he/she is disturbed/depressed ego sinks to bottom i.e. towards feet and rises up to head if he/she is haughty/proud.

Happiness is a different aspect. It leads to a brighter ego i.e. ego shines more in a happier person. All conflicts in this world are intimately related to status of ego. Life is all about maintaining equilibrium as well as brightness of ego.

Life and Purpose

"No pain, no gain"

This is what I believe as the ultimate truth. Success needs hard work, victory needs sacrifices. Nothing is free in this world. You get for what you pay.

Life is all about purpose. One purpose. 

That is it!

Just another post

Hello!

As mentioned above this is 'just another post' to ruminate on recent happenings.

Things are not going fine...
Life is becoming unfair...

When all those computer science graduates are turning into hotcakes of
the market, I am lead into identity crisis i.e. not sure what I am
going to become in future. Yes, I accept making computer do your
bidding is today's need but we are forgetting the basics. Every now
and then I get intimidated as when I get a recruiting company of my
choice.

Forget recruitment... lets talk about my bygone wish of getting into
IISc/IIT i.e. GATE, I have close to five months left which also
include the semester final exams and other obligatory stuff like lab
work, mini-project and assignments. How much did I progress in these
two months? Well, Just attending weekend classes and glancing
glossaries isn't helping me cope with the huge syllabus.

I have many things in my mind and not able to do them at all.
Thanks to my new smartphone. Now its easier for a friend to
disturb me (and even for me to get so).

I promised you that the next post would only surface after first month
of 2017. Now I send a distress signal en route my destination(which
still stays unknown).

Goutham

Anouncement: No posts for a while

Dear Readers

I would like to ignore this blog for a while as I am preoccupied with other works to which I give more priority. No posts will be published till the first week of February, 2017. All events that will happen meanwhile will be shared later.

Thank you for visiting this site and I am ending this post by sharing a video which I often watch for some inspiration. 

Click here

Regards
Goutham

PS: Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration

Bhim Nirula - Next post teaser

Next post discusses about this guy:

 

BTW this is the 100th post of this blog. Hurray!
Watch out for it
Goutham

New year bash!

Hey!

Lately I found this advertisement in a reputed newspaper a week prior the start of new year:

Its showing a telugu movie star called 'DSP'. That means Digital Signal Processing to me and to someone not aware of this guy, it means he is probably going to take classes on this subject at
Gachibowli stadium in Hyderabad. That is funny!

I know I am posting this too late to wish you a very happy new year. I was engaged with exams and laziness for a week(they don't mix well). Now that I have three more to write and there is a lot more to experience this semester like
*Tight schedule
*Minor project
*GATE preparation
*Cold nights
*Pillow assisted sleep(Yes, I bought one)
*No Android phone & WhatsApp


I never made a new year resolution before. This year I made three
*Ordered behaviour
*Delayed gratification
*Avoid comfort zone

I feel these three will make this year surely a great one. First let me share how I started the year.

It was my cousin's wedding on 1st January(nice date to have wedding anniversary) and we all cousins cut a cake at strike of midnight. We murdered(stabbed it many times) the cake and few faces even got cream-smeared.

Foreground: Abhilash; Middle(from left): Vasista, Bharadwaj, Goutham, Vaishnavi, Anusha, Divya(seated); Behind: Abhishek

Its been two years since I deleted my Facebook account and Macbook Abhisek today made me feel good in LinkedIn(started using six months ago). He became the first person to endorse my skills and recommend me by saying this:

"One of the most calmest and the patient person I've ever worked with. I don't think I've met anyone more able than him when it comes to electronics and soldering. He is always my electronics guy. "

I felt great reading these words in a email today evening. Thank you Abhisek! You can have a look at my LinkedIn profile here.

Last week I've decided to do away with my Android phone as its tending to go crazy at times. It switches off without my notice and even enters command mode out of blue. This may even go to the extent of self-destruction someday in my pocket. So I have planned a fitting 'goodbye' for it this week. Kritin, Biswadip* and myself will dissect it for technical knowledge purpose. Hah :-D I will not forget to cover the autopsy here.

This is the notice released by my college regarding the upcoming even semester I was talking about:

You can conceive how hard it is for someone used to having lot of free time to blog his heart(sarcastic mention..... I know)

Now it is time for some random pictures:

 

Alan V Oppenheim: Confused

Captain Price(Retd.) speaking at a conference

* = I never mentioned Biswadip before. I will focus a post on him sometime later.

That's all
Goutham

Filler vacation

Hello!

Let me describe how the vacation went, like I do every time. The title gives you some idea... it says "Filler vacation". So it was not so exciting, 'twas just a filler between two semesters.

I have four days to catch my train and a week for the exams to catch me. Speaking frankly, I had two months of full free time. Academically lot of time was lost and it was up to me to use it wisely. Did I or did I not? Hmm... Let me come back to this one later.

Lately I was emphasizing on interpersonal relations. I went and met people this time for I was feeling isolated from the world all the semester. I talked like never before(I suppose). I had habit of keeping mum in front of others most of the time. I always feared the future without living in present. I often regretted for my past. Timescale being plus/minus 4 years(Phew! That is a lot to fear/regret). But this comic from Zen pencils: The Dalai Lama answers a question changed me. Please read the comic to understand what I mean.

"Living in present"... I still have no idea how it feels to live like that because when all lights go off and I lie on bed at the end of day, I cannot mentally stay still. Instead I dance to the music of never fading fears inside my heart. When will this stop? When will I stop regretting for what I didn't do? Concentrating for weeks couldn't be possible as I had to take break for a while. I had an "agenda" for this vacation as well which included MATLAB programming, Antenna theory, Signals and Systems, LaTex and transmission lines. Apart from some of these I learned how television, radar, binaural recording and sound surround system work(thanks to the newly bought 5.1 channel home theater at home). Although I focus for short periods on different things, I find it difficult to pursue just one for days.

Things done this vacation:
Newspaper- Did not miss the national politics this time(was a morning addiction)
Milk- Glass full Horlicks every morning
Youtube- Stand up comedies and fun videos
Email- not to miss
WhatsApp- Every morning and evening
Teasing my younger brother!
Reading- Art of electronics, Signals and Systems and Wikipedia
Over usage of WiFi- crossed data limit many times
School visit- Met my teachers and old friends
That's it!

Now I am bracing myself for exams and the next half of third year at college(Winter is coming.... so is even semester). Now you got a picture of how I did this vacation.

Goutham

My brother's golden words - Scientists are Gods

Hi!

I have one younger brother, 14 yrs old. His name is Bharadwaj. I call him Baby. The following words were written by him when he took my laptop and started typing in Word. I feel this has got much deeper meaning(if you ignore his erratic grammar)...

"Hello, my name is Bharadwaj. My regular activities are going to school, going to Sharma(extra tuition), coming back to home eating supper and going to bed but this time I want to do something that no one does. Believing in god and I believe what some priest says this is my ideology. I used to belief that god helps us to do become what we wish to become but according to the 21st century scientists there is no god but that is all our belief. As per my ideology god is there but I cannot show them the proof so what I meant to say is that scientists are nothing but GOD. The similarities between god and scientists is that of same kind i.e help. Now I can show the proof with my simple hands with no papers in my pocket when any one asks that show me the god I can hover my hands towards that person as people are nothing but scientists"

Thanks for reading!

Rain rain go away.... come again never(atleast for a few months)

Hey fellow citizens!

I am writing this sitting comfortably on sofa in my home. This post got here because I am safe and connected at all times. Because I got away in time to escape the hell downpour and swift floods of Chennai and surrounding districts. The previous post was written as we were asked to vacate the hostels asap and holidays declared for atleast a month. Me and many of my friends got tickets booked in time, enough in time to be well out of the cyclone's reach. We are now feeling lucky and safe.

But what about others? There are people in my college as I write, stranded in hostels and waiting to go home with neither electricity nor healthy food. They are helping each other for basics like food, water and medicine. Some of them have showed their struggle through whatsapp by sharing pictures and distress messages. News reports poured in this evening saying that northern Tamil Nadu will get heavy rain for next 3 days. This is terrible! All those whom I have blamed, sorry. Its not your fault.

This is a natural disaster! All India Radio news reported all the three armed forces along with NDRF(National disaster response force) are working tirelessly to move residents in city to safety. Army is distributing food near my college. This has never happened ever before. In a city like Chennai, where monsoon just reminded heavy traffic and overflowing drainage. Now we are talking about overflowing rivers and lakes. This was never expected.

I have no idea how this is going to end with few more days of heavy rain warning. I pray for the people of the submerged areas. I pray for their health and comfort. Lets be hopeful... lets stay strong...
#Chennaifloods
#Chennairains

Goutham

Good news and bad news

Hey folks!

Let me share. There is good as well as bad news.

Good news is my winter holidays start from now, highly unexpected.
Bad news is all end semester exams are postponed to post-vacation i.e. exams to be written after returning from home.

All this happened because the city near my college, Chennai was drowned since two weeks and situation is still very bad. The next semester will be the worse because time will get wasted up in conducting exams and lessons are to be rushed up in short duration. Even semesters are shorter than odd ones.

So whom to blame?

It is certainly not my college. Lets not blame it this time...

Two culprits:

1. Chennai metropolitan development board (CMDB): key people didn't take care much about desilting the city's drainage pipes and lied that the underground network is 'fit' to take heavy downpours to gut inspite of being warned from meterology department.

2. Climate change: This time weekend rainfall broke all previous ten years' record(to 243mm) flooding all streets of Chennai and other cities in Tamil Nadu. This unusual pattern can be attributed to climate change(my opinion).

All of us at hostel have got mixed feelings. Exams being postponed made us a bit relieved and also angry at same time. We waited for three weeks, preparing ourselves mentally to face all exams but only to know that we have to leave for home without writing even one.

As I write Kritin is pressing his fungus filled clothes while Tanishq is watching some hollywood movie. We three will clear in next 48 hours. Home awaits us, our next asylum.

Read me then
Goutham

Quotes that I stuck around

Hi!

Everyone likes staying motivated rather than doing something motivating. Either way, motivation comes first. These are quotes I have been sticking around since two months to help myself stay motivated.

Top motivator nowadays is Call of Duty. Yes! Call of Duty! The game says it all.

>The only easy day was yesterday
>Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of light!
>Hey Goutham! You have all the time on this planet to do anything you wish. Just do it!
>Start the ground work
>The life you knew before is gone. Today, we fight to bring it back - Captain Price
>All it takes to change the course of  of history is the will of a single man - Vladimir Makarov

A word about Captain Price:
He has become my new inspiration.