The First day of the conference.....

The first day !!

Rain in Summer !!

Although the weather web site had mentioned that there wont be any rain till Thursday the first thing around 8ish in the morning to happen was rain. And I hadn't packed an umbrella ! Well it had rained the previous afternoon too and my Prof and me had to share 1 umbrella as we tried getting back dry to the dorm from our afternoon visit to the nearby marketplace. Anyways, today morn it was heavy. While I ate a sumptuous breakfast in the canteen, the rain picked up intensity.

the dining area needs more explanation. It was a place of contrasts. The entry was very mundane, it was through the kitchen where we had to show our passes for free breakfast. The chefs were making nice stuff while the manager served us onto our plates. After filling the all the plates that could hold in the tray, we moved to the dining area which is a big room with a huge glass wall overlooking a green patch, while the rooms interiors are predominantly made of wood. Pretty round tables with nice chairs around. There was also on a platform a special grand chair with the emblem and such stuff on it which perhaps was for the president. The walls were adorned with the paintings of people whom we assumed were presidents or men of such high posts. It was indeed a very pretty place. There was also a large keyboad there, perhaps to play music on special dining days.

A quick hurried breakfast got us back to the rain. We had not much idea as to where the conference centre was. I had seen a sign earlier in the morning and so we went that way. The rain was pretty bad now, and as we were sharing an umbrella, one sleeve of mine and of Prof. started getting wet. It was a 5min or so walk, and pretty soon enough we were joined by other people going to the conference venue. All of us had not much clue which way to go. The signs stopped after the first 2 or 3 boards !! Asking people here and there, we managed to get to the centre. Then we realised that the registration desk was in another building!! So again in the rain (a drizzle now though) we managed to register ourselves. And then back to the conference center again.

The conference center was more like an Indian auditorium. Nothing much special about it. That was where we spent the rest of the day listening to some nice and some boring talks.

Lunch and short tea breaks were served in the registration area and we would every time walk to that place and then walk back.

Till evening there was nothing much interesting. The first part of the evening saw us attending the reception. It was a dull affair. A few eats and a few drinks. Perhaps I enlivened it up a bit, by making the interesting observation that the Australian glasses are quite strong and bounce atleast 2 times before shattering to pieces !! The multitude of bags that I have, ensured that one of them tipped off a glass placed on the edge of the table. In the evening, my Prof another Prof, a student from Finland and myself decided to go to the city area. Things started happening now. We made our way across to the riverside where a boat was to take us to our destination. The boat was a good means of public transport here as a river runs by. The river itself was quite broad and seemed deep. Hopped into the the boat, and the river cruise began. The lady manning the ticketing counter was quite a personality. She spoke a lot with us and then also gladly referred us to the best sea food hotel in the place where we were going. That done, we took pictures of the city from the boat. As the evening got darker the city looked prettier and prettier. There were these skyscrapers with lots of glass windows because of which each of them was very much lighted up.

The stop we got down at was called the "riverside"!! Well, all the stops could be called that I thought !!

It was a beautiful place. There were nice buildings, lots of lights and a loud party going on in a club. We made our way to the hotel we were in search of. We got ourselves a table for 4 and settled down. The lady/girl serving us was called Amanda. She turned out to be quite a personality. She would get angry at our questions !! It seemed to us that our normal routine questions were not the routine in Australia. Anyway after a lot of "that is also excellent, this is also excellent" the rest settled for the dish of the day while for me she asked the chef what could be prepared as I would eat only a vegetarian dish. I was offered some potato based dish without the fish ingredient in it.

The salads arrived, then the main course, then the desserts and then the bill. All the while we enjoyed a conversation with Amanda who was actually from Melbourne and had been in Brisbane only for the last 5 weeks and was working full time here. She was of the opinion that Brisbane was not mature enough, was a fast city and was nice.

Late in the night it started raining again and again I put my Prof. to discomfort. We got to the ferry place and then after a ride back got to our stop while it rained heavily now. We managed to walk for some time in that heavy rain. A gym which was open at that time (10ish) made me try to get an umbrella. The girl behind the counter turned out to be not so helpful. She only would recount the notes in the cash box and that seemed to be on her mind. Just a few paces ahead was a campus security car. I tried my luck again and this time just after a little explanation of our situation the gentleman asked "Are u trying to get a ride from me?" A quick yes to that question ensured us a ride back to Emanuel college, which is actually a dorm.

that was it. End of the day. I hit bed straight after realising that my laptop would not recognize the camera straight away from the USB port and needed some software. Luckily I was carrying the CD with me. Installed the software, started copying and hit the bed.

Now at 6am, it is raining again. Today we intend to skip some lectures and go a little sight seeing. Imagine the Profs suggested this !! A Prof could suggest skipping lectures and visiting places instead...I thought that wouldn't happen...but I am not complaining :)

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Brisbane Australia - FPT conference !!!

7:38 am dec-6-2004 Brisbane, Australia

Its just wonderful here in Australia. All that I wanted seems to be here. Got up at around 4am due to the jet lag. Had the exam still pending so worked on if for an hour or so and then it became just impossible to sit inside while many many birds called out from outside. Had to go out!! The exam could wait.

The birds perhaps knew that I was interested in seeing them and so called so often. I walked out into the open with my camera and binoculars. Professor was still sleeping. He didn't seem to be jet lagged and was following the time of this place. But I was sure feeling good about being jet lagged which enabled me to get up at such early morning hours. Given my life style I surely wouldn't have got up at 5am.

Anyway, as I stepped out of the guest house, the first bird was a white and black bird, slightly larger than a Myna. It allowed me some nice snaps. Further ahead, I saw some beautiful parrots/parakeets (?) lush green with red and yellow, to match them, there were a few red all over!! A few ibis like birds, a sure yellow wattled lapwing cousin, many crow like birds, with different eye ring colours and a few other birds kept me busy.

The other nice thing was that now a group of cyclists would pass me by. That was so cool! This is what I wish to do, watch birds, cycle a lot and be in an academic setting. Queensland Univ of Technology was offering me all this ! A little water body some steps ahead had rowers rowing furiously in sync. People having walks in the morning, pretty gals running by, oh this is heaven on earth I suppose :)

The conference starts today. Its around 7:45am. Hope to get some breakfast before we leave for it. Will carry my camera and the binoculars along so that I can make more use of this great opportunity. Already I have more than 10 new birds in my list :)

Yesterday, on a nice sunday afternoon had lunch on the street ! Wel, not on the street, the hotel extended upto the street. A tiny place called "Tidy". Had some long named veg dishes which I ordered while my Prof. thoroughly enjoyed a fish. The setting was nice, a drizzling afternoon, good food, hot coffee, on the street watching life, people around..yes this is how sunday afternoons are meant to be.

And.....the exam, yes, gotta work on it too. Perhaps the best time would be night, when the world outside does not beckon me any longer to come and explore its charms.

Australia at this point of time seems great !!!

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Thanksgiving sale...

This is the Thanksgiving weekend. Loads of deals are gonna be out.

BUT......

either

1> one must have a car to go to the stores to buy products
2> have a lot of time so that the items bought through the web can arrive and lots of time to follow up the mail in rebates.

Unfortunately, this Thanksgiving I have none of these.

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VHDL assignment.....

2:15Am...feeling drowsy...but there is still so much more to code before the project deadline is reached at 4pm.

Most of my classmates are also awake in the neighbouring lab.

Before it was "Another day in the lab"...now it also is "Another night in the lab".

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Photos in an exhibiton !!!

:) this was the first time hopefully there will be many many more.

In our school the Phi Beta Delta association are holding a week long photograph exhibition. The asked for entries from international candidates. I submitted a few from which 3 were selected for the exhibition.

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VHDL late nights....

Come thursday and the late night sessions start. Its already 12:10am and I dont see any line of code yet in my .vhd file.

Still working on the diagrams. Well, guess if the design is great there wont be much problems in coding, well hope so............

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"What are those drawings on ur website?"

After seeing my newly renovated website, most of my friends are asking me the question:
"What are those drawings on ur website?"

The popular opinion is that they have something to do with Cryptography.

Honestly when I was making them with Gimp I had not much of a theme in mind. Was just creating something which perhaps would look good. But then there is always a theme running in the sub-conscious mind and so perhaps there was something running in common between the first set of images.

Balaji came up with an extended explanation as to what that could be and here are some parts of his analysis:

--whats that pattern on ur page?
--XXYX...
--the next line has alternate horizontal 3 dash and vertical 3 dash patterns
--hmm...looks like u try to extract the hidden "natural beauty(art)" from the paraphernalia used in the area of science.....like in the misc page, it looks like a picture of chromosomes viewed thru a microcope....so guess the first page is also inspired by X and Y chromosomes...
--the other two,,,i could not make out much
-- perhaps the one used for "me" page....that is more abt u...rather than any topic(science)....the brown figues in the picture look like old paper pieces(scroll) ....so maybe u like to read and wite a lot.....u seem to consider urself as more of a creative writer and u like literature...rest of the picture is just some colored patterns....perhaps ur favourite color is blue......Thats all for me


On retrospection I think that there was a Biological theme running in my mind when I made those images. Hope to make better ones.


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Tag: Miscellaneous

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Rennovated my website..

Although, this is the last month of the semester, there are numerous assignments due, life is hectic, just for the heck, took time off and worked on my official web site. Finished with that after some time and now I guess it is ready :)

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Joys of reading...

Reading was fun, yes, those glad afternoons I recall when coiled up cosily in a chair or on the bed, I would be with a book in hands, fighting it every time I had to turn the page, yes, those days were fun. I could pick up any book that caught my fancy, or read the author who had caught my fancy and then hungrily devour the books one after another as fast as possible. Life would come to an end and the only things that would matter would be either the secret seven's latest adventures or Timmy's hurt ear in the Famous Five or some other Enid Blyton work. As time progressed so did the type of books that would enthrall me in my voluminous spare time. Ruskin Bond's hill stations, Ghalib's poetry, Gulzaar's lyrics, a re-re-read of Asterix series or be it the Tintin series, the list changed. A dedicated effort to read Indian writers and especially NON-NRI writers took me down a nice lane with the writings of RK Narayan, Ruskin Bond, Tagore, rediscovering Jim Corbett (NON-NRI ?) among a "few" others. Oh "those were the best days of mine".

We had a Mango tree in the backyard. A nice green backyard that was, always green and always full of life. Even now when I call up home, I am sure to hear a Koel or a Crow in the background, probably singing some new tunes from a perch on that Mango tree. Underneath that Mango tree, though not in complete rustic style as being stretched on the grass, but seated on the cement platform I did read a few good books. But I guess by the time I had come to this house, I had grown up and was some way in the "growth part" when my reading was getting concentrated around a few subjects only. So I need to go back farther in time to be able to really recollect the good old reading days.

And going back so, I go back to the days when I was younger and more voracious in reading. I recollect the afternoons and the evenings spent with books with comics and all the times when I would burst out laughing and my little Sister would come running to me, standing innocently, would wonder why I laughed out like that, remember my Mother shouting something at me from the kitchen to the effect that "there u go again". Remember going to the library and picking up any book that caught my fancy and then spending a good few hours with it. How the evenings would stretch into the nights then!! oh it was marvelous.

Along with age then came the need to read stuff which would be helpful to me in some way. There started a filtering of the books that I spent time with. So starting it got worse and worse. Novels I seldom picked up, classics I did pick up, a few recommended books now and then and nothing much more than that.It was the time when I discovered the joys of Dickens! Went on a buying spree which lasted a few years while it was my endeavour to buy all Dickens' works with the paltry money that I could afford being a student.

Bangalore and the new software job gave me ample ample opportunity to get back to the "long lost" style of picking up any book that caught my fancy. Strand on Dickenson road was a favourite haunt. Go there, browse through the books and "buy" any that seemed good. The new economic freedom was fully made use of. I also around this time discovered the joys of buying books at far far cheaper prices in second hand stores, discovered the joys of getting access to books that only second hand stores would have, like the collection of a few good British poets which somebody in Mysore as was relocating sold to the second hand shop. Again growing up had taken its toll. Though I bought a lot of books, this was the time when I seldom was able to complete the book. A few still to this day haven't seen me getting started with them. I sadly realised that I could buy the books, but could not read them.

Then came US. Its been worse here. Neither can I buy the books nor do I have the time to read them. Reading apart than what I have to, took an exponential decline and is going down and down. At least vicariously I enjoyed others reading books through the Booknut club, but that started hibernating long ago even before the winter had arrived.

Now, on a Saturday morning, the ideal time to think which book to pick up so that the day could be spent with it, I worry about the coming RA meeting on Sunday, worry about technical matters far far away from the innocence of reading just for fun, without any selfish interests attached. Will I ever get that quality back? Will I ever be able to pick up a novel, will I ever be able to read something just because it caught my fancy, will I be able to read widely and enjoy the process without being strained for time, a lot of questions.

Somewhere I grew, somewhere I didn't. The pleasures of reading haunt me sometimes now as a forgotten blurred dream.

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Hi.......

Thought that it would be a nice way to keep in touch through the blog so this attempt !!

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