What alphabet do you hate?

Do you have any special alphabet that you hate and you want to disable that in your keyboard? It's easy to do. Of course, you must be using Fedora. All you need to do is the following.

1. Log in as super user.
2. Open the file /etc/inputrc. You will see the following two lines.

#do not bell on tab-completion
#set bell-style none

3. Uncomment the first line and put the specific alphabet at the starting of that line.
4. Save the file and restart your machine.
5. Now, try typing that letter.

We, at our office, have found this accidentally. All this happened because one of my colleague wants to disable those annoying system beeps. To do that, one has to uncomment the second line in the above file. Accidentally, she has uncommented the first line too, and the letter 'd' stopped working on her keyboard. Our system administrator had a tough time to figure it out, but yours truly has cracked it using his instincts ;-)

Man woman make love ;-)

Wait a minute... this post is nowhere related to man, or woman, or for that matter, love making! A while ago, when we met for a short discussion, one of my colleague told about these funny commands in linux!

1. man woman
result: No manual entry for woman

2. make love
result: *** No rule to make target `love'. Stop.

yes, that made our day ;-)

what else?

On phone...

A: hi B!
B: how are you man?
A: I am fine, how about you?
B: cool, going good!
A: what else?
B: nothing much!
A: OK.
B: what else?
A: nothing new!
B: hmmm...
A: and?
B: you have to tell...
A: hmmm... nothing new!
B: OK. what else?
A: as usual, nothing... Just life is going on!
B: OK then!
A: Yup, bye
B: bye!

This is how my conversations are going on these days! Does that mean, nothing is happening in life? Or does that mean, I/people forgot to converse? Or is life simply that monotonous?

PS: I am about to start one more boring day at office ;-)

Mission 'amla fruits'

Today, while we were having post-lunch walk. We saw one amla tree and we want to pluck some, but there was no route to climb up the tree. I asked for permission from the house (tree) owners. Mario has planned for this pyramid. Sivaram and myself have formed the base. Suvarna has taken the photos. All of us have relished them while continuing our post-lunch walk. Had fun!

hOLi है!

This was made with collective effort of our team members on the day of HOLI. Thanks to all of them for getting their hands colorfully dirty to materialize my crazy thought!

Rubiks cube family... expanding!

I have been friends with this wonderful puzzle game since mid 1999. During those days this simple fact, that it can be rotated in all 3 directions without breaking, has made me so fascinated towards this game. I remember how desperately I've played with this on the very first day. It took almost a month for me to completely solve this. Huh, what a joy that I've felt when I've completely solved this. Mathematically, the total permutations of a solvable (3×3×3) original cube is given by: or 43 quintillion, in short. Highly unimaginable to list all those configurations by hand. The facts and figures of this game are always interesting. When I read that there are people who can solve this game just in 7.08 seconds I couldn't believe it. There is an extensive mathematical research that has taken place on how to solve Rubik's cube. It was found that any random configuration of the cube can be solved in just 26 steps. You can read the article here, quite mathlicated though! Well... that's just the tip an iceberg.

One fine day, when I was browsing for information on Rubik's cube, I came to know that there are 4X4X4 and 5X5X5 versions are available with fully functional models. Recently I have seen videos of 7X7X7 and 9X9X9 version of the game in fully functional form. What an amazing design. Just try to imagine its internal design. You'll surely come out with an expression of wow.

No... that's not all of it. There are softwares available to play the game online. If you are too bored and have already solved the smaller versions like say 9X9X9 manually, you can play the higher versions virtually. I was dumbstruck to see the videos of how people have solved up to 100X100X100. Checkout here to see how 20X20X20 is solved.

No... that's not all of it yet! There is a whole family of twisty games which come in various shapes (see the video of dodecahedron here, and read about Pyraminx here), sizes and complexities. I feel like buying all of those and try solving one by one! Huh, too high an ambition for an amateur like me!

Bottom line is... we humans, though very lazy, though very arrogant, though very egoistic and blah blah blah, are blessed with this powerful brute force. I guess, that's what is making us understand this mother nature step by step. If nature is not this beautiful and complicated, all our research efforts, and life in general, will lack motivation.

when caste, religion's no bar, register here!

the search for a life-partner... how important and necessary in life! rather, how uninteresting life would be, if there isn't somebody to share with? huh... we, as human beings, like many other animals around, share life with somebody of opposite sex... but, the basic difference is that animals find their mates with instinct, while we crave for so many factors to match before finalizing our mate... how pathetic? unlike in the olden days, the average age of a male or female to get married has come up to twenty five years now... that means, a quarter century... in this long period, with so many interactions and acquaintances, it's quite natural to like somebody to the extent of having confidence of sharing life with! but, is this all? are we respecting our instincts? i guess, NO!

a decent job... nice appearance... good family background... influential circle... fixed assets... color... caste... religion... location... the list never ends... the most sickening thing when it comes to human relationships is: why the hell the girl and the guy should be of same caste/religion to share their lives? i've come upon this interesting news today... somebody out has taken initiative to encourage junta to go ahead with their partner-search beyond the societal boundaries! something really good is happening out here!

wonder why???

On this lousy office hour on a weekend, I came upon this thought provocating post by Anjali, about the growing incompatibility between the brides and grooms in arranged marriages!!! May god help us, poor souls who can't break those barriers, and just can't sit comfortably inside the barriers mourning for the broken hearts!!!

this is how one can kill time (of others)!!!

nimoi thai, kal blaz surm dianz!!! plai triu kloptambas lalab?? moshi kalai surmi vebli grai dol... wina kolpi mentdz indei :-) u kibr tiy, thal sum grani slay? nil kolpi thai triu kloptambas vebli.

anybody knows what this means? even I don't know... on one of those boring occasions, I got this idea through aprilslady and thought that I should give it a try... I have typed whatever I feel like... but, I have taken care to include punctuation marks here and there to deceive people... Out of 16 people I sent this mail, eight people have replied... in different ways!!!

Surya: baboi .......... entidhi emi ardham kaledhu :D (Oy my god... what is this? I didn't understand anything!!!) ha hha, it seems he didn't understand that this is a joke...

Girish: what is this? what happened? he is always too bothered about my mental health :-(

Deepika: eee baasha enti babu?????? (what's this language dude?) that's typical Deepika's response!!!

Arun: Hai Gopal, I tried to crack this but not at all useful. First thru Google translater and then second after rearranging... What is this first anyway?? Tell me some hint to crack this... that's how IISc scientists try to solve everything under the earth, no matter whether the solution exists or not!!!

Uday: entidi?? (what is this?) looks like he is annoyed with this confusing message!!!

Sivaram: this is too good!!! Siva always takes any new thing with a positive attitude!!!

Deepa: didnt understand anything :( tell me which language Deepa is too keen in learning foreign languages these days... looks like my experiment has aroused some enthusiasm in her!!!

Aarthi: helo.. what language is this?something wrong with u!! huh, yet another person who is suspecting my mental health!!!

I think the rest of the people might have thought it was one of those junk mails they receive every day... or they are too busy to give it a try... or they are too scared to ask for what it really means :-)

a cup of coffee with "my fair lady"

I have been dining in the same A-mess of our institute since last 22 months... It is always fun to eat that so called food, which is actually like a dried grass, while doing all sorts of blabbering... and bird-watching too... here is where I found this girl (with short curly hair, cat eyes, head always turning all sides as if there is no steering control, a charming smile always on her face, and of course, that hasty walk)... i refer to her as 'my fair lady'... so, there i am watching her since my first semester... that means, almost from 22 months... many times, i wanted to go to her and tell "you are the most energetic girl i have ever seen"... but, no good luck :-(

we are left with only a months period to stay here at iisc... i am scared i will never be able to tell her those words... the other night, i was walking from my department to the hostels, where i found her walking ahead of me... i thought of asking her for a coffee... oh god, she is so cute... i started walking faster so as to reduce the distance between us... we reached the F&H coffee shop near the hostels... just when i was about to ask her, she turned around and found me... (she knew that i was looking at her since so many days... every time she catches me red-handed, she kills me with a tinge of smile... making me more and more dumb)... those words have stopped inside myself... all i could do was to pretend as if i was looking this side and that... oops! i screwed that chance...

can somebody tell me how to ask her for a cup of coffee :-)

a puzzle that haunted me!!!

here is a puzzle that haunted me for a while today... finally, i solved it after struggling for a couple of hours... try this out!!! if you get the solution, you are intelligent... if you don't get it and seriously interested in knowing the solution, mail me for the same... otherwise, you can wait for few days so that i will post the solution too!!!

here it goes: there are twelve balls looking identical (shape, size and color)... but, only one of them is weighing differently (it is not given whether lighter or heavier than the rest)... the puzzle is to find that odd one using a simple balance (without any weights) for only three times!!! also, you should be able to tell whether the odd one is lighter or heavier than the rest!!!

just for fun, i am giving you a c-program below to check whether your logic is correct or not!!! make sure that you change those square brackets to include header files to angular brackets... try it... all the best!

the program

#include[stdlib.h]
#include[math.h]
#include[ctype.h]
#include[stdio.h]
void balance(int, int []);
main()
{
int V[13];
int n,i,k;
int choice,correct,weight,weighed;
float dummy;

for(i=1;i<=12;i++) V[i]=3;
srand(time(NULL));
dummy=rand();
correct=(int)((dummy/RAND_MAX)*12)+1;
dummy=(float)rand()/RAND_MAX;
if(dummy<=0.5) { V[correct]=V[correct]-2; weight=0;}
else { V[correct]=V[correct]+2; weight=1;}
printf("program to find odd man out from a group of 12\n");
printf("you are allowed to use the balance for 3 times\n");
for(k=1;k<=3;k++) { printf("\nyour chance number %d\n",k);
err1: printf("enter the number of objects in each plate:");
scanf("%d",&n);
if(n>6) {printf("\ninvalid choice\n");goto err1;}
else
balance(n,V);
}
printf("\n\nenter the index of odd man:");
scanf("%d",&choice);
if(choice==correct)
{
printf("\nis it heavier or lighter?");
err2: printf("\n1:heavier\t\t0:lighter");
scanf("%d",&weighed);
if((weighed!=0)&&(weighed!=1))
{ printf("\ninvalid choice!"); goto err2;}
if(weighed==weight)
printf("\n\ncongrats! your logic is correct");
else printf("\n\noops! you got it wrong!");
}
else printf("\n\noops! you got it wrong!");
}

void balance(int n,int V[])
{
int i,sumL,sumR,L[6],R[6];
sumL=sumR=0;
for(i=1;i<=n;i++)
{
printf("\nenter L[%d]:",i);
scanf("%d",&L[i]); sumL=sumL+V[L[i]];
}
for(i=1;i<=n;i++)
{
printf("\nenter R[%d]:",i);
scanf("%d",&R[i]); sumR=sumR+V[R[i]];
}
if(sumL==sumR) printf("both sides equal\n");
else if(sumL > sumR) printf("left pan heavier\n");
else printf("right pan heavier");
}

In honor of all those who forward chain mails...

I want to thank all my friends and other unknown people who have forwarded chain letters to me in 2003, 2004 & 2005 and 2006.

Because of your kindness:

1. I stopped drinking Coca-Cola after I found out that it's good only for removing toilet stains!!!
2. I stopped going to the movies for fear of sitting on a needle infected with AIDS!!!
3. I smell like a wet dog in a mud puddle since I stopped using deodorants because they cause cancer!!!
4. I stopped answering the phone for fear that they may ask me to dial a stupid number and then I get a phone bill from hell with calls to places like Uganda, Singapore and Tokyo!!!
5. I stopped drinking water outside for fear that I will get sick from the rat poop and urine!!!
6. When I go to parties, I don't look at any girl, no matter how hot she is, for fear that she will take me to a hotel, drug me, then take my kidneys and leave me taking a nap in a bathtub full of ice!!!
7. I also donated all my savings to the Amy Bruce account. A sick girl that was about to die in the hospital about 7,000 times. (Poor girl! she's been 7 since 1993...)!!!
8. My free Nokia phone never arrived and neither did the free passes for a paid vacation to Disneyland!!!
9. Made hundreds of wishes before forwarding pics of Dalai Lama, Ganesh Vandana, Tirupathi Balaji et al. Now, most of those "wishes" are already married (to someone else)!!!
10. If ORKUT deletes my account, it's okay and it's MY business. PLEASE DON'T SEND ME "Orkut is deleting accounts: Due to sudden rush..." messages. That makes me NOT want to have an account with friends like you in the first place!!!

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you do not forward this to at least 913760 people in the next 10 seconds, a thousand birds will poop on your head today at 10:30 a.m!!!

Give me a break! And GROW UP!

PS: I got this nice mail from one of my good friends, Lalloo... good job Mr.Lallit!!!

wanted girlfriend!!!

wanted girlfriend!!! i am looking for a girl who can be my girlfriend... somebody who is happy with my prifile (given below) and has the following qualities can contact me!!!

about meeeeee........
age: 23 years + 28 months + some days...
height: 3 feet 30 inch...
weight: 45 kg 45 pounds...
fairness: around 7 in a scale of 10...
hobbies: reading, singing, brain-eating, playing (blowing) flute, blogging, etc.
ambition: to become a nutty-professor after crossing the phase of absent-minded scientist...
positives: extremely frank, caring, loyal, artistic, and practical...
negatives: idealistic, demanding, sometimes moody...
can offer: good company, unconditional love, and loyalty...

expected qualities from my girlfriend...
age: anywhere between 22 to 26 years as of date...
height: anywhere between 5 feet to 6 feet...
weight: not more than my weight...
fairness: anywhere between 5 to 8 in a scale of 10, but should wear a healthy smile...
hobbies: anything under the earth... even sky-diving is invited...
qualities needed: should be open, little possessive, little caring, can sing, should able to talk about anything ranging from science to sex, shoule be comfortable in any dress ranging from knickers to sarees, humorous and practical!!!

somebody who can meet the above qualities and really interested are guaranteed a life-time friendship, love, and something more...

this is how to capture huuuuuge objects ;-)

photographer: krishnababu
object: kalyan

my first police complaint!!!

I have never been to a police station before... Yesterday, I went for the first time to register a complaint about loss of my mobile... We went there not with a hope of tracing my mobile but just to get acknoeledgement receipt so that i can get the same number from AIRTEL people...

It was a painful experience, I must say... I went along with kalyan who happened to be omniscient regarding whereabout's and howabout's... We have chosen Yeshwantapura police station as it is next to our institute... As soon as we entered the police station, the very sight is unfriendly and people there in khakhi dress look like 'yama dootha's... The SI over there handed me over a feeble piece of paper to write down the complaint... when i wrote subject as 'theft of mobile', he has immediately taken that paper and torn it out, while giving a look as if he is looking at some uncivilized people... then, he started questioning like 'who are you?', 'where do you reside?', etc... when we told that we are residing in indian institute of science, he was inquiring about which part of IISc are we staying? regardless of the answers given by us, he says our insti. doesn't come under their police station range... later, he wanted me to draw the road map to my place from the police station... meanwhile, he ignores us and counts the money(unofficial) he has earned that day... then, he went to Inspector and explained the situation... Inspector too has asked all the same questions and gave similar conclusions... finally, when i have shown my ID card, (i don't know what changed his mind... whether he thought that he should not collect any amount from us or felt sympathy for poor educated souls), he has given me another feeble piece of paper and asked me to write 'loss of mobile' rather than 'theft of mobile'...

finally, he has given us the acknowledgement(which is obviously another feeble piece of paper) and my job done (may god bless this SI)... but, what really pained me is the way they treated us... if this is how they are treating people who are sufficiently educated, what might be the situation with innocent, ignorant, and poor people? I cannot imagine... It seems it is highly futile exercise to seek help from police station unless there is no other way!!!

a tribute to my mobile!

After a long companionship with my mobile phone, i lost it yesterday when i forgot it in lab... I have searched it everywhere i can, and asked everyone around... But, it is lost... Though the worth of the piece in terms of rupees is not more than a sum of two thousand rupees, it was a precious item in my life... It brought so many good friends into life... Used to wake me up in time... It brought smile on my face... Most of the times, I used to keep it next to me when I sleep or just lie on the bed and waiting for a call from dear ones... Though many new models have come with attractive features and affordable prices, I couldn't discard this one because of the intimacy I had with it... Most importantly, this is one big item I've bought with my own money for the first time... The joy I had when I talked through this for the first time is ineffable... It had become almost an integral part of my body, keeping me happy, healthier, and connected with my loved ones... I cannot imagine myself without a mobile in hand... But, fact is fact... It was lost... Goodbye my dear friend!!!

ideality versus reality...

many times, i use to prepare a strict and disciplined timetable for the day and always (mind you... it is not sometimes... always) fail to execute it at least half through it... here is how it goes ... just for fun!!!

Time		scheduled plan		Reality
6:00		wake up and go for jogging		alarm is buzzing… (but no use!!)
6:00 - 7:00		physical exercises		alarm is kept in snooze.. (Still sleeping)
7:00 - 7:30		breakfast and newspaper		the hell with alarm… (it is already thrown into the corner of the room)
7:30 - 9:00		sit with books and start to work place		finally got up at 9… (god!!! Why did u give very less time to sleep?)
9:00 - 10:30		seriously work.. Don’t waste time…		breakfast, check mails, orkut etc.. (let boss not notice me)
10:30 - 11:00		coffee break..		coffee break.. (only this is done as per schedule!!!)
11:00 - 12:30		back to work and discuss with boss		continue to orkut, blogging etc.. (boss was in some meeting!!)
12:30 - 01:30		lunch break		unwillingly leaves orkut etc. and head towards mess!!
1:30 - 3:30		another work session..		back from lunch at 2:30.. (And straight to tea board)
3:30 - 4:30		discussion with boss…		finally think for a while about pending work.. (a deep sigh!!)
4:30 - 5:00		snacks		still repenting for not working!! (just repenting, not doing work ;-)
5:00 - 6:30		library, gym and other physical activities..		endless chat with frens.. (about movies, girls, styles…)
6:30 - 7:00		refreshing and start to mess..		tea at gymcafe.. (chat is continued)
7:00 - 7:30		dinner and some fine time with friends		oh god… I have to take bath again?? (skips bath)
7:30 - 9:00		listening music.. And some useful stuff..		yeah… finally done with dinner.. (what to do next??)
9:00 - 10:30		another work session..		still not decided… (but wanted to something different..)
10:30 - 11:00		tea at tea board.. It's awsome..		no need to say… already at tea board.. (discussing about some movie)
11:00 - 12:00		finalisation of the day's work.. And back to room		browsing for online movies and finally caught a poor one to go with!!
12:30 - 12:30		write diary while listening to songs		who will write diary… poor sentimentalists!!! (still with the movie..)
12:30 - 6:00		sleep healthily..		returns to room late.. Try hard to get sleep… finally to bed at 2 or 3AM

love meets confusion meets the disaster...

recently, one of my friend's close friend has committed suicide. it was really a sad news. though it is common these days to hear that somebody has committed here or there, i feel it strongly appropriate to write a few lines about the incident.

the story goes like this... this boy is in love with his classmate since long time. the pair always say that they cannot live without each other. they proved that they are made for each other. they got married in the first year of graduation without disclosing it to their parents. girl belongs to some upper caste and boy to a backward. it is now one year after they have finished their graduation and started living with their parents. boy used to tell everything to his mother who used to be his best friend always. the problem started a few months back when the girl's parents started looking for some match for her. she couldn't convey them properly that she cannot live without the boy and that she has got married already. but, somehow, her parents sensed that something is wrong. as usual, in a cinematic fashion, they started black mailing her. her agile mind accepted their order in a confused state and got engaged with the boy(bridegroom) brought by parents. and stopped talking with her loved one. the boy somehow knew the news and approached the girl and tried his level best to convince her. he even talked to the bridegroom. but no use!!! the girl said that she dont know this boy and bridegroom said he wont object if she is willing to go with the boy. imagine the situation of this boy!!! and think of the girl's state of depressed and given up mind!!! few days after that incident, the girl has committed suicide. hearing this, the boy couldn't wait and he followed the girl's path.

the question comes here!! once we die, there is no question of how we are or whom we like or how we wanted to live... but, what happens to others who are so closely related to the died? what is the situation of the parents? how depressing it is for the friends? isn't there any solution for this? why dont people realise that there are so many good things than just love? why parents dont understand their children's feelings? the real beauty of life can be seen only through gaining experience through failures and getting mentally strong everyday... oh god! please give us the courage to face the reality!!!

somewhere, something went terribly wrong...

when the truth hurts!!!

One day while a family sat in the den, the youngest son who had just turned two, took a plastic child's bowling pin, turned it upside down and hit his two older brothers in the head with it.

Both his mother and father were in the room at the time, mother chose to handle this one and father chose to let her.

She took little son and had a talk with him.
Father listened in, intrigued at how this was going to go.

His mother asked him, "What were you thinking hitting your brothers in the head with that pin?"

"Were you trying to get in trouble?"
He answered "No."

"Did they do something to you that you were trying to get back at them for?"
He answered, "No."

"Are you playing some kind of game that requires you to hit them in the head?"
He answered, "No."

"Do you just need some attention?"
He answered, "No."

Frustrated and tired mother had given up on her questions and the father's curiosity was just about to explode.

She figured she had better let him say why so she asked him, "Well why did you hit your brothers in the head with a bowling pin?"

Father had already made up in his mind, honey this is a waste of time, maybe daddy should have handled this one. A child barely two doesn't understand all of these questions and can't give you an intelligent answer.
Just then the little son looked at his mother with the astuteness of a Ph.D. and answered the question as honestly as anyone have ever heard a two-year-old answer.

"Because I like it."

*****

PS : We as adults many times make all kinds of excuses of why we behave the way we do. Sometimes we just need to be honest with ourselves and admit that we do some things in life simply because we like it.

~Source Unknown (cut-copy-paste ;~)