There is no free lunch!!

I couldnt help posting this here!!

Maybe it is my ignorance or what ever…. But I seriously don’t know why is Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver so simple and easy to use eventhough Linux counterparts are all open-source and has worldwide support from the opensource community!! (Or atleast that is what you guys claim!!) From my little experience with Linux, I learned – “There is no free lunch”!!

A little boy I met once

I really like certain type of English short stories. And only after browsing through the Guttenberg Archive I mentioned in the previous post, that I came to know that more than half of the stories I love are by O.Henry. Thanks to the NCERT syllabus. I still cherish those short stories in the ‘Read for Pleasure’ reader as well as the text book. And that is why I bought “Great Works of O Henry: 157 Stories’ at a Book Fair at Ernakulam yesterday.

Reading a few stories from that book reminded me of a little boy I met once. And I want to tell you about him.

And it is after sitting down to write something here that I realize how poor I am in writing. So many things strike me and I think “Why don’t I write that?!” but then, even before switching the computer on, I give up the idea due to sheer laziness.

It was during the monsoons in 2001 or 2002. I was a school going boy. And near to that junction that always smelled of freshly ground coffee, stand a girl and her two younger brothers waiting to board the school bus, everyday. Even though I will be running to catch my bus, we used to wish each other a good morning. I don’t remember when did it start, but I remember that it had become a routine.

I never realized that this was so much a part of my routine until one day when they were absent – all three of them. As I was nearing the junction I could see that they were not there. I looked at my watch. No I was not early (; nor late.). I felt as if I was unable to do something which I should have done.

But as I was passing the street light under which they used to stand, I heard a “Good Morning”. I turned back. No. they were not there. But I was sure that I heard it. And then from a group of boys which just passed me and going in the opposite direction, a smart one turned back and smiled. I smiled too. He wished me by bowing his head a little and smiled. I wished him too.

It was then that I realized that wishing that girl and her brothers a good morning was something I did daily. And this little boy who was in his fifth standard then noticed it everyday. From that day onwards I think I was eager to meet this little one with so much charisma. He had a radiating personality. Though we never talked anything except a good morning for the next 7-8 months, we had developed a kind of rapport. (At least that is what I think). And then I asked him his name. He told some name I had never heard before (and after). I remember that it sounded something like … or I’m not posting it here. And next year I changed school and had different bus timing. And I never met him again. I asked a student of his age from that school once if he knew this guy. He remembers that there was someone who fits my description who studied there, but he changed school and they have no idea where is he now.

I wish he read this some day and send me a mail telling how to spell his name. I seriously hope to find him some day. To be frank I still miss him when I pass that junction.
Any of you have similar experiences?

How do you stop thinking?

Today I went to an ophthalmologist. Though not a computer geek, I am having that problem of forgetting to blink my eyes when looking at a computer. (Yeah believe me!! I’m not joking!!) That makes my eyes reddish. My eyes were blood red today. But surprisingly I’ve not been at my computer for past 2-3 days coz of my busy schedule! That left me baffled!! I had always thought that this poor computer had been giving my eyes all the trouble. (Yeah agreed. Not ALL). Now it seems that this computer had almost nothing to do with my eye problem.

I went to the doctor. And guess what he told me. He told that I’m thinking too much!! That’s giving my eyes all the trouble. Priiinngggg!!

That gave me another thing to think about.

Since this is not the first time I’m being told that I think too much, I think I must seriously think about how to stop thinking!!!

I had been told this last time by Dr. when I consulted him for a skin allergy. Being a homeo doctor, he took a complete psychological profile. That’s when he commented so.

The most dramatic one was by Mr.Ganesh Iyer when he was giving us counseling during the placement training. Ha ha ha. The incident was so funny and he said this with a red face!! And with some recent developments I think what he said is coming true… but I’m not ready to give up yet!! Ok leave that. I know you are not getting a word of what I’m saying.

Once when I was attending a Yoga Training Camp, our trainer asked us not think of monkeys or grapes just before the bedtime. And as you can guess, that was the only thing we did that night. We have been thinking of that incident even to this day, especially when we meet anyone from that camp. May be you should try this. Decide on something that you are not going to think about tonight. And try not to think about it.

Well. Getting back to what I was thinking. How to stop thinking when you want to? It is not that I decide on topics on which I have to think about. It just happens. Even when I am doing something I’ll have something to think about. It is not anything big. I’m not trying to solve any problem nor inventing new theories. I am not thinking about anything I really have to think about… like my career… future….or anything of that sort. But I realize that I’m thinking all the time. On things that might look very trivial to most people. My eyes get locked on small small things.

I’ve always heard this answer from many people all the time, especially from Jithin Mathew.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing”
“What were you doing?”
“Nothing”
“What do you think about this?”
“Nothing”

And from Meera
“I didn’t get that. What was that?”
“Nothing”
“What?”
“Nothing”

And you know who had asked readers to define blankness here.

So my question is how do you get to that blankness in thought? How do you stop thinking when you want to?

If there is anyone out there who knows how to stop thinking, please help me. Pleaseeeeeeeeeee… I beg you….. Please help me control my thoughts.

And obviously I don’t want to die.

More Literature

After posting the previous entry I thought, “Why don’t download some good novels and start reading them instead of reading blogs for a change?” But reading novels onscreen may not as interesting as it is on paper. So i decided to go for short stories.

I browsed and found a few clutter free sites…. I copied the link and was wondering where do I paste it! And decided to paste it here so that someone can remind me where did I save it even when I forget (Which I do very often!)

Ok… So here it is :

http://meandliterature.googlepages.com/home
http://meandliterature.googlepages.com/classicnovels

It link says novels but the home page says “Now more than 145 classic short-story titles, and growing…”

If you are a O.Henry Fan : http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/h#a634

Oh the Project Gutenberg is also great!!
They claim to be the first producer of free ebooks. Go there for free ebooks and catalog. If it is Engineering text books for CS, ask Minu Balan or Anupa J

An interesting thing about Project Gutenberg is quoted below
“Did you know that you can help us produce ebooks by proof-reading just one page a day? Go to: Distributed Proofreaders“

Distributed Proofreaders says “Preserving History one page at a time”. There you can help make e-books…. They will give a scanned copy of a book and the OCR converted text. You can compare and make corrections if required. This proceeds in rounds and is finally made into an ebook and submitted to the Project Gutenberg Archive.

A great concept!!! People like Lynn, Aswathy, Rishy, Ananthi Miss and others MUST help.

The Last Leaf

I woke up today morning thinking of this story I’ve been cherishing ever since I read it in my younger classes…. So for all others who remember this and for those who forgot… and ofcourse for those who never read this wonderful story by O.Henry

The Last Leaf

by O. Henry (1862-1910)

In a little district west of Washington Square the streets have run crazy and broken themselves into small strips called “places.” These “places” make strange angles and curves. One Street crosses itself a time or two. An artist once discovered a valuable possibility in this street. Suppose a collector with a bill for paints, paper and canvas should, in traversing this route, suddenly meet himself coming back, without a cent having been paid on account!

So, to quaint old Greenwich Village the art people soon came prowling, hunting for north windows and eighteenth-century gables and Dutch attics and low rents. Then they imported some pewter mugs and a chafing dish or two from Sixth Avenue, and became a “colony.”

At the top of a squatty, three-story brick Sue and Johnsy had their studio. “Johnsy” was familiar for Joanna. One was from Maine; the other from California. They had met at the table d’hôte of an Eighth Street “Delmonico’s,” and found their tastes in art, chicory salad and bishop sleeves so congenial that the joint studio resulted.

That was in May. In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the colony, touching one here and there with his icy fingers. Over on the east side this ravager strode boldly, smiting his victims by scores, but his feet trod slowly through the maze of the narrow and moss-grown “places.”

Mr. Pneumonia was not what you would call a chivalric old gentleman. A mite of a little woman with blood thinned by California zephyrs was hardly fair game for the red-fisted, short-breathed old duffer. But Johnsy he smote; and she lay, scarcely moving, on her painted iron bedstead, looking through the small Dutch window-panes at the blank side of the next brick house.

One morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway with a shaggy, gray eyebrow.

“She has one chance in – let us say, ten,” he said, as he shook down the mercury in his clinical thermometer. ” And that chance is for her to want to live. This way people have of lining-u on the side of the undertaker makes the entire pharmacopoeia look silly. Your little lady has made up her mind that she’s not going to get well. Has she anything on her mind?”

100 random things about me!

I know it is customary to do this post as the 100th post in a blog. As I’m not sure that this blog will live that long, let me post it now.

1. I’m from the sweet little town of Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad district of Kerala.
2. Deadlines amuse me!
3. I once had a Pomeranian dog Ricky and a few birds and fishes. Now I hate pets.
4. And few of those birds were hens and cocks.
5. I did my schooling from Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir, Wayand Kendra (till 10th) and WMO English Academy, Muttil (11th and 12th) and Joined MES Engineering College, Kuttippuram and finally got higher option to College of Engineering, Munnar in Computer Science Department.
6. I wanted the previous point to be 4 points!
7. The first reason why I joined engineering was because it was the easiest course to get an admission to and had reasonable chance to get a job. And second reason – I couldn’t find a course I like more!
8. I love photography.
9. I’m stuck here and just sent an SMS to many to help me with this.
10. Becoming a social reformer was my childhood dream.
11. Becoming a radio jockey was the best profession I could think of for a long time.
12. Later someone told me that it required reading newspapers everyday.
13. I’ll buy the first copy if something like “Beginners guide to Indian Politics” or “Indian Politics for dummies” is published.
14. That will include any booklet of “Contemporary Indian Political Parties, Their Leaders and Symbols[or emblems or logos or whatever it is]”
15. I dream a lot. So much that I think I start dreaming right when I lie on bed until I wake up.
16. And I remember most of them!!
17. I write my personal diary in crypt.
18. Later I forget how to decrypt it. Then I’ll use a different method of encryption.

Major Project

Just wanted to show off my Major Project Report!!

View this document on Scribd

My Valentines Day thoughts

Today – another 14th of the February-Valentines Day – A day when world get into heated arguments once again – “Do love and lovers need a day to be dedicated to them?” As in every year this year also no one would have reached a conclusion. Well now let us bury those thoughts once again until the calendar shows another year.

I know that you actually got interested in the title and you are probably expecting my Valentines Day confessions. Then I am forced to leave you waiting indefinitely. If red roses, hearts, flashy cards and sentimental love messages are not in my mind, why did I entitle this post ‘Valentines Day thoughts’? It is because 14th of February had been a landmark in the history of College Of Engineering, Munnar.

There had been four Februarys after I joined this college and all of them had the good old 14th in them. If we connect last three dots with the narrow string of events between 14/02/2007 and 14/02/2009, we get the changing face of our college. I am sure that the plethora of events that happened between these dates will surely leave you thinking about your own college life.

To begin with let us consider the 14th of February 2007. Can anyone remember what was so special about that Valentines Day? Anyone? I know that what happened then is not a big deal now. Just turn to page number 70 of our First college magazine – Ripples ’07. [I know it is still disputed if it is the First College magazine. Let’s discuss that later.] Page no. 70 starts like this:

Pranayaleghana Malsaram

Yes. It was the day when everyone was greeted with a Valentines Day special Love Letter box in the entrance lobby! Yes, it is the same day you found Valentines Day posters adoring the mighty walls of our college! It was that day when we heard our teachers read out a notice in the class announcing the love letter competition! Anyone in the then S4 CSE (I know. Not everyone….but at least someone in S4 CSE) would remember that we decorated our class and even planned some Valentines Day special programs in our class on the 13th Feb.

Along with that we may remember that the next day morning we found that all decorations were gone and none of the plans for the Valentines Day came out of paper. What had happened? Yes. You guessed it right. We had some staff coming and telling us that it was not allowed in the college and if we continued the celebration, we will face disciplinary action. We had to undo all the decorations and tear away all the plans. Painful but true. Then? Then how did that love letter box come in the entrance lobby? How did that poster come up in the canteen? What made our teachers read out that notice? What kept all of us waiting outside the graphics hall for the results?

Am I adding drama to this or is it because I’m sleepy? Anyway…you have no other choice….keep waiting. Bye…

To the man [/men] blinded by vision

I know that you might wonder at the end of this post… “Why [the hell] am I reading this!” I have very little to do about it. This is solely intended to be read by those who feel that they should have read this earlier. I am not sure if I should hope that you are not one of them. If you don’t understand the incidents and feelings described here, I can safely conclude that you are not from the college described here. There is no point in reading further. And now that you ARE reading further, I assume that you know what you are going to read.
If you feel that it was long ago when MPC sir wrote the “From the chief editors desk…” in the college magazine Ripples – The rhythm of change… [Which of course did not make any {lasting} change] let me remind you those lines:

“Management experts classify people into three categories: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder how things happen. I would like to add a fourth category: those who do not care if anything happens at all. College of Engineering Munnar, albeit its miniature size has this fourth category in abundance.”

When he handed over that message to us, we could at least try to defend the student community. But time has proven that we have our mouths shut now. I must admit that College of Engineering Munnar has finally succeeded after four years of tireless efforts to add me to the fourth category. I don’t blame the faculty or the students for that. [If you find that I have a boring style of writing, let me remind you that the close button is not yet disabled!!]
I am sitting here at this computer for past few hours thinking not about what to write, but about what to write first and how to word them. After the end of write-rewrite cycles like those crap [read records and assignments], I finally decided to write them just as they come to my mind. After all I am not writing this to make someone read, I am writing this just because I want to.
ഒരു പക്ഷെ മനുഷ്യന്‌ ആദ്യമായി മത്സരിച്ചപ്പോള്‍ തന്നെ തോന്നിയിരിക്കാം പരാജയം സമ്മതിക്കാന്‍ എനിക്കിപ്പോള്‍ തോന്നുന്ന ഈ ജാള്യത. [Oru pakshe manushyanu aadhyamaayi malsarichappol thane thonniyirikkam paraajayam sammathikkan enikkippol thonnunna e jalyatha. ]
I feel embarrassed to admit that I failed miserably. Finally I admit that you were right when you said that I cannot do anything in this college. Sorry Jithin Mathew. I did not hear you when you warned infinite times that I will end up regretting what ever I did. I couldn’t foresee as much as you did. I agree that no team can do anything that can break the shackles of monotony in this college. I couldn’t believe you Shamzetta when you introduced this college as a bunch of students and staff who just go on doing what ever they are supposed to do as programmed devices. Sorry Sharoon, I did not get you when you said this should not be my domain. Sorry Swaroop, for arguing with you telling that it is your problem that you cannot love this college. Sorry Subin, I mislead you by telling you that at the end of the day they will understand your efforts. Sorry Meera that I made fun of you when you were going home at every chance you got. NOW I’m sorry Rhea that I couldn’t even wish you on your birthday as I was busy with the magazine. And, Sorry dear teachers that I had to cut your classes to do something for the college [All those things which I derived pleasure doing it excluded]

Et enfin

And at last….

So I started blogging as Jithin V Mohan!!

Today I don’t intend to post anything anyway…. But I this article from Wikipedia is worth reading because it is about a word that can describe me the best – “OXYMORON” (This is for all those who don’t know me)