Shocked!!!

Shocked beyond comprehension.

Exactly as i had thought before....i have a great nack of knowing the bad things coming at me. It happened on the day of laxman's demise. And well, its not that bad but it happened again so many times & I have been ignoring the signals.

Well...today i had experienced a scene, that i had already imagined a few months back. Precisely the reason why i was worried to leave India at this point in my life.

At some point, probably, i would have had to leave anyway. So why not now??

was what i thought! I don't know if i am wrong.....But what i have imagined is absolutely right now. I was right in being worried about leaving Hyderabad(read 'Heaven') and moving to helsinki(read 'no less than heaven').
I was worried about people, and their behavior, and the change in behavior towards me. I am talking about my people back in India(to be precise Hyderabad) and not people in Finland.

And, Now i find in just less than 45 days That every thing has changed.

Only thing i can say, I'm Shocked
Well to say that.... it wasn't all that an unexpected shocking news either!

I really don't know what this post means to u guys reading this....u invariably can't make any sense of it anyway. !!

Raul's Theorem on Indo-European Spending!!

Abstract
When people go abroad, especially students, There is a special problem that we face when we need to spend money. During this trip to finland, and ofcourse my first trip abroad! I have realized very early a little economics lessons and i thought this would be helpful and may be funny too!


Introduction
When i was packing things up for this trip, i also happened to purchase a few euro's. It wasn't a very comfortable feeling to buy out a € for 56+ Indian Rupees. I was thinking while travelling whether this was really that expensive or was i over estimating. Initially i thought, how worse it would be if 1€ in finland = 1Rs in india. Oh! this might be a bit confusing but what i mean was " Lets say if a pen costs Rs.10 in India Then €10 in Finland". Phew!! Amazing numbers, and if things were so, none of us could ever live here. But, what i have found here ( and also proven empirically ) is that if you are earning a little money here, then things are much better than worse.

Theory

Some Theorical standpoints before i mention other things.
Axiom 1: Assume that you are an Indian. And are very comfortable about Indian Rupee. (Notes on Indian Rupee)
Axiom 2: 1 € = Rs. 57 (for latest figures Click Here)

And here comes, the (yet to be famous) Raul's theorem (aka Rahul's Theorem) for Indo-Eorupean Spending!

Theorem 1:
When buying some article in €'s, lets say "X €" then buy the article if you would have been willing to buy the same article in india for Rs. 10*X.

Proof (Empirical):

The following is a small empirical proof what has been laid out in the theorem. Please look at the figures carefully.

Article --------------Cost in € (X) --------------10 * X --------------In India (Rs.) (comments)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bread(Big Pack) -------------- 1.59 --------------~ 16 -------------- 20-25

Jam -------------- -------------- 2.2 -------------- ~ 22 --------------50

Coke -------------- -------------- 2 --------------~ 20 -------------- 20

Beer -------------- -------------- 1-3 --------------~ 10 -30 -------------- 50-70

Room Rent --------------640 -------------- 6400 -------------- 4500-7000 ( Yeah! I really live in an expensive place, something like Single Room apartment near Ameerpet or lets say Abids Main Road)




Conclusion:
So with these little figures and of course with many more to cite. I conclude that if you find anything in Euro's and ofcourse if you have to buy it. Make sure that its 10*X price is less than the corresponding price in indian Rupee. Also, if you are earning a bit here, then you can live pretty well, ofcourse it will always be at the back of your mind that if you save a few € 's they would become Hundreds & Thousands of Indian Rupees. But, well i have realized that it really is worth spending, atleast on food. And, for those who don't earn here, and are depending entirely on money comming all the way from india, You will Starve!!

Hyderabad 2 Helsinki... The Journey & Beyond

It has been a week now that i am here in Helsinki. Quite a beautiful place i must say in first place. I am only unfortunate not to have a camera with me for such a trip. Some poor planning for the trip, surfaced with some very well known Laziness to do some shopping, that i missed out on some crucial shopping such as these!!

Anyways things will be so, if we keep up things for the last moment.(Same old lesson, Learnt again! ;) )

The Journey & Rendezvous with Mr. Chukka Ramaiah ( AKA. IIT Ramaiah )

The Journey has been as much a pleasant endeavour as expected. People told me that Lufthansa is a Wonderful plane, I really don't know much of a reason why they told so, probably in comparision with other airways. But my flight of lufthansa was really good.
If i were to buy the tickets myself, i would have never bought Lufthansa, considering the price shift. FinnAir cost around 30 K & Lufthansa Cost me 58 K. Almost double if i say so.

I had a glimpse of Mr. Ramiah at the Airport, when i was getting my security check done. Ofcourse, as i was nervous, i almost put him aside away from sight. Later as i entered the flight i saw him to my right . I greeted him and he welcomed instantly. What happened could almost be guessed, i said... "I'm a student of CVR"
He smiled and said " ya, i came to your college". Well CVR'ians know what it means!! :P At Dinner & during the breakfast next morning, he gave away his meals to me. ( I still wonder why!! may be he wanted to share a single meal with his wife....WoW!! So Romantic ;) )

Got Down at FrankFurt & headed away towards the next terminal for the flight to helsinki. I was Walking, Walking, Walking & Walking, Walking......
Truly as my pal Suman Kumar had warned me This definitely had to be One of the Biggest Airports that were ever built. Exactly as he said, i must have walked over 2 Kms to get to the place where i had to board the next flight.

Got to Helsinki, a wonderful city, clean, beautiful, scenic, and ofcourse peaceful as any other city in this country!
Saurabh, another student from IIT Roorkee, working as an intern in HUT(Helsinki University of Technology) was waiting there for me. A good sight to see someone waiting for you, even though you don't actually know him. I actually know him through Orkut. Anyways he was waiting for his ciggerettes that i got for him.

Kumpula Campus @ University of Helsinki (UoH)

When the Taxi driver took me to the Campus, My first look at the Campus and i said " sorry dude, you got me to Nokia Research Center, or may be something else, this can't be a university.
Well it was that cool. Buildings that we rarely see in india, security systems that we don't even have for Governament Head's Departments. I can't say more. I'l put up pics when possible!

My WorkPlace & The Culture

My Workplace is amazing, though temporary. I have been promised a workbench to be shared with atmost 2 others, in a week from now. My current workbench could be described this way :
Monitor in front of me, space double as much as we had for a computer at SIEL. A Phone to the left of my monitor. To the left of the Bench there's a Rack...as are at so many other places...in the rooms. And Filled are the space over the Racks with Energy Drink Tins , Wine & Beer Bottles.

(I'l remember 2 put this pic too! )

My Boss here If i may say so!!

Inherently a cool guy, Prof. Petri Myllymäki has been as much a friend as a professor. The very next day i was here, i was told that i was enrolled to a Cruize at the local ferry that day. I cherished some beer with him and had one of the most informal chat i had with any prof. (include Prasad in that list!). At almost the end of the Cruize while he was getting down, he offered me the best Finnish-Vodka Shot his personal favorite choice. Could i deny it ?? Naah!! And then what it went straight down my throat.... Cheers!!.

Note: By the way... he gave me a Nokia 6610 the very day i came here...and he asked me to return it back...i was surprised. He said, take this instead... It looked like a N70. If thats the case i wouldn't miss the Camera that badly!!


Comming up...Hopefully with Pics!!

Moi Moi ! (Bye Bye)

A Journey in time!

Journey in time ??


Yes, its been quite a journey. And now worth mentioning too!
Had a whole lot of things happening in my life, and as always for some reason or other, i haven't bogged for long now!

Here are some of the latest Updates.
It was an amazing academic semester.... with following grades. ( B-, C, F)
The F above indicates that i flunked in a subject...(Yeah! yet again..)
Subject is ANN(Artificial Neural Networks). I can complain about the professor, but well i don't want to.
Now that doesn't mean that i deserved to Fail.
I went to Microsoft Research India for a summer school on NLP.
Anyways next,
I have got a publication, meanwhile. And that was the single most important thing that i have done during the last semester. Also, partly responsible for my poor grades in coursework.

The next good thing(probably) that i had done during this time, was to hang on to an internship offer that came my way, ofcourse via my professor.
I'l be going to University of Helsinki, Finland. on 6th June. I am still waiting for the arrival of my passport from the embassy, but am hopeful of its arrival tommrow.

Graceful Disgrace or a Saturday Nightmare !!

Back to present for a few moments....

Just Reffering to the INDIA Vs Bangladesh Cricket Match in ICC WC'07.
U said something ??
Oh! its ok, man!!
Come...Come out of it...
Leave it i say.

Well don't we know...How badly our team Sucks!!
Oh c'mon leave patriotism behind, and just think for one moment, if there was any disciipline in which India hasn't lost to Bangladesh in yesterday's match ??

Well...They played well & they deserved the win didn't they ??
I Think its high time that we leave all our patriotism for the past generation, Lets live in the present.

Well I'm a Fan of the Indian team too...but only if they win or if atleast they play well. But, This time I'm Backing Teams like Bangladesh, Ireland, etc. See the positive side of supporting them, you don't have to be dissapointed if they lose...well they were brought in because they lose...But if they win. Man...its Awesome.

The way yesterday Mortaza bowled was Rocking...The impeccable line and length that he bowled was something of Training Kit for the Indian Quickies (the so called Quickies, mind you mortaza bowled 140Kmph Consistantly).

The composure of the batsman, the efforts they put in the field....everything...They won the match part by part not just innings by innings. The whole day was theirs.

Look at Ireland for eg.; God knows who their Coach is ?? Look at the commitment they had when they got into bat. The responsibility to play a safe innings, in spite of being on the top of th e opposition.

Who ever the Coach is....Please Teach Dhoni how to play Cricket!!
He is just a hitter, he must have been in the Indian Baseball team....unfortunately we don't have one. So, he is in Cricket team. He either must convert himself to a Cricketer from a hitter or else must quit. Please fans Don't fight by showing statistics!! Remember "Statistics are like Mini-Skirts, what they reveal is suggestive but what they hide is Vital"


Luckily I'm not hurt this time, that the indian's have disappointed. I was expecting this for long, and expecting the same from bangla's too. But not at this level, not in the worldcup ofcourse!

Well done UnderDogs.... ( are they UnderDogs anymore ??)

well now that PAK is out of the Tournament & India is getting ready for an early exit. Looks like this world cup is gonna be filled with much more Juice in it than ever before.

How about a finals between Bangladesh & Ireland ???

I would personally Love it.

IJCAI '07 The First Big thing

Probably not the biggest conference that i would attend in my life....or may be it is!!
Who cares...when i have been lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time. International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, or IJCAI as it is read as.


huh!!
I just can't explain the grand feeling that i feel.... I remember that.... I have more Esteem than U :D

Life was really Big during those few days...a week full of tired evenings yet rejuvenated selves by the early morning, Back to work...Back to people who really are changing the way we perceive the field of AI. Ofcourse, the platform really setup, and i also got a lot of confidence feeling that i am no less than them. And the kind of work i am doing is worth a mention here.


So many people that i have met....Some very big...some pretty small (as small as iam).....Size measured in Experience here.

People as big as Roman De' Lopez, Manuela Veloso, Fritz, Peter Stone(he's a Gem), Prof. Raj Reddy.....
As small as our friends from Spain Salim Kannaan, J'ose' or even the chineese friend Ricardo...


The moments during the week were really one of the most unbelievable & Unforgettable.


I'm Feeling Lucky.


Following are a few pics...



Language Technologies Research Center, IIIT Hyd along with Manuela Veloso












Himanshu at the left, Myself to the Right & our friend Ricardo of China in the center















Fritz, thats all i know about her... along with me is my friend Karthik ( Karthik et al., 2006,2007) :D









Note: This should have been here on Jan 15th... :D
it is as old as that!

Bad Habbits Creep in as Laziness starts its endeavour

19th December 2006 it was, when i last posted here. I feel quite sad to say this. I thought i had got a good enough habit to blog out what all i had to...what all i felt from inside...so many things...that nearly go un-said, un-attended...

Now, it still is the same.....
Hence i have realised the importance of this blog...( well ...i mean i have realised yet again )

I am thinking to update it frequently from now on.
For a start i probably should get back to over 3 months now.... Start finding things that are worth mentioning.

I am Expecting a huge amount of posting for the next 2 days!

Cheers!


Note : I know there isn't much common in what the title says and what i have mentioned here. Believe me, i have developed no New Bad Habbit in the last 3 months. For all the Bad Habbits i have had for so many years.... I'm not able to do justice to them itself...where do i get time for new ones! :D

Black Day..........In Loving Memories Of Laxman

From my childhood days i have always been very Questioning. Anything i do not understand, i immediately ask about it. It didn't happen so with Studies but otherwise, in general i was always very Questioning!

Apparently, during my pre-school days!! when i was in KG classes, I regularly haunted my parents with few straight Questions......

చావతమ్ ఎన్దుకు ?? ( why do v die ?? )
చచిపోవతమ్ ఎన్దుకు ?? (why should v die ??)
చమ్పెస్కోవతమ్ ఎన్దుకు ?? (why do ppl kill each other ??)
చావు అన్తె ఎన్తి ?? (what is death ??)
ఎల చస్తారు ?? (how do v die ?)

These are a few of those Questions that i regularly asked those days.....My parents couldn't answer me, that time....All they could do was Record my Voice....And show me as i grew up!

I was surprised to know that i was so thoughtful at such an early age.

But since then, i never thought about those questions....almost never would have until.....


19th December 2005, a Black day in my Life.... The day in my life, that had taught me probably the best lesson of life! "Nothing is permanent"
A Day of Misfortune, sorrow , Betrayal for some!
a day that had gloomed in many a life...
An accident that Shock our lives out of grounds!
An incident that changed my attitude towards life! A depressing End as we understand life....

much unlike the Dimensions i realized till that point.... a new dimension had blown up! 1 that i never dared to understand! the one that would stretch my imagination...

An experience that led me realize that "Life is never a Bed of Roses"


Miss you Laxman.... Love you


Last year on this day.....I cried a "cry" of my lifetime...... I had no one to share this feeling...except just 1 friend..sundu....to whom im thankfull for being there for me just when i needed...thanks ra.. Thanks for being my support in the most troubled times of my life...

For the first time i had experienced Death....as close as it gets....a friend of mine....who was my classmate....Bench mate....& a member of a gang of 5 ! Four years of solid Friendship......

But, in the game of life....u had to knw the rules of d game first...n then play it!
This probably was part of the rules....

There is another very important thing i recollect, which till today only 2 ppl knew...
me & sundu...
as always...even on that day...18th dec'05 Nite v were chatting...after about 1 AM(i.e 19th Dec) ... i told her... " I sense something weird Going to happen tommorow"

Next day morning i get a message....
A morning greeting doesn't just mean 'good morning'....It has a silent message saying "I Remembered you when i woke up"

-----Laxman



Never before, did he send a message with his name tagged to it.....
I donno y he did so this time......no body will ever know!


This message shall live in my inbox.....almost forever!
A mystery that shall remain unsolved (for me).




I Think god is telling me to shut-up !!
I will go on & on & on......until .......


The Emotional Battles are the most difficult ones.....U Never know if there is a victory or failure......u just keep going.....


In Loving memories of laxman.......