Planet Manipal

Almost two months went by since my last post… I presume many of you must be wondering what happened to Kartik  ?? Don’t worry guys. I am back with a bang !!!!

January – A new Year, a new Semester. It started with great news from my employer at Dulcet Solutions in the form a nice letter. I completed my first industrial exposure successfully. I boarded the Rajdhani( bunked the first day) to reach on 4th. Train journey as usual was great fun. I had confused feelings in the train, was both happy and sad. Happy because I was going back to the place I loved most and sad for the reason of getting away from my family. Manipal was the same, no noticeable changes were there. I had three half days . The tiring 7pm classes were no longer there. Within a week of arriving in Manipal, I was back to work. Editorial Board work was going on full swing. We overhauled the entire design of MAGMIT and implemented a forum for MITians with great plans but alas, many of those plans are yet to be implemented. The first two weeks were pretty hectic owing to the enormous workload of the website. Needless to say, I enjoyed the work and learned a lot. This sem I came with a firm mind to shape up my body. In that direction, I joined a gym. Yes guys, you read it right.Even I had never expected that I would join a gym. Many of friends were pretty much shocked to hear, many laughed, teased but none could stop me from what I wanted to do. The first few days were tiring and then I enjoyed it. For the record, I still go thrice a week, if not more. I had my german exam this month, was pretty scared. This is the second time I have been this afraid of a exam( the first was Engineering Graphics).  I studied pretty hard in the last week of Jan and understood German properly. I regret not giving more attention earlier. There are plenty of nice websites available on the net which are a awesome help. Needless to say, I passed with a ‘B’ grade which was far more than I expected.

February: IAESTE offers were about to be released and I was ready armed with letters, certificates etc. I had been dreaming of this since my first year. The first two weeks went pretty fast( IAESTE and Sessionals). I scored pretty badly in the sessionals, it was one of my lowest. Maybe partly because of IAESTE and partly because of ‘not in a mood‘. Feb 14th, as usual was a dull affair for me. I had candlelight dinner with around 10 seniors(all males). I was pretty much free in the evenings, started playing Badminton and TT and developed a bad habit of sleeping in the evenings. I was not in a mood to do something new as I needed some kind of a push which I was not getting. This is also one of the many reasons for the delay in a post. In the end of month, I went to Bombay, Shirdi, Aurangabad  with my family. This was one of the best trips I had.  Maybe, I would write a complete post on my trip. Ah!! I forgot to mention that I got nominated for KOREA for a internship at ETRI. Though, it is yet to be confirmed by the employer, I had already started my celebrations as this was what I always wanted. I would like to mention the enormous wishes I could got from all my near and dear ones. For almost a week, I had developed a habit of saying ‘Thanks’ to anyone whom I met.

March: March brought Revels and for the first time, I did not take part nor organised  any event. I was busy with sending my nomination to Korea. Too much work preparing your CV, LOR and cover letter.Once again, sessionals have arrived.

Overall, this semester has been going pretty well though I had planned a lot more. I have further strengthened my friendships, made enemies( not my mistake ). Hope the rest of the semester goes well and my internship at Korea gets confirmed.

Here's a small piece of code i wrote ages ago, never really published it anywhere. Get it from here https://code.google.com/p/albumtagger/

Run the script externally with amarok running in the background. Download all the modules required, especially the ID3 module which can be found on sf. This script uses last.fm api. Keep it rocking with Amarok.

# albumtagger_amarok by kunal kerkar (aka tsudot)
#
# simple script which fetches album tag and inserts in the ID3 metadata

__module_name__ = "albumtagger_amarok"
__module_version__ = "0.1"

import urllib
import time
import commands
from ID3 import *
from xml.dom import minidom

basic_url = "http://ws.audioscrobbler.com/2.0/?"
method = "track.getinfo"
api_key = "1895a6ef7a8783052dc011f6ed747964"

def isPlaying():
return commands.getoutput('dcop amarok player isPlaying')

def countDown(seconds):
sleep(seconds)

def getTrackDetails():
global artist
global track
artist = commands.getoutput('dcop amarok player artist')
track = commands.getoutput('dcop amarok player title')

def getAlbum():
global artist
global track
global method
global api_key
global basic_url

url = 'http://ws.audioscrobbler.com/2.0/?method=track.getinfo&api_key=1895a6ef7a8783052dc011f6ed747964&artist='+artist+'&track='+track
feed = urllib.urlopen(url)
xml = minidom.parse(feed)
lfm = xml.childNodes[0]
track = lfm.childNodes[1]
album = track.childNodes[19]
album_title = album.childNodes[3]
album_title_data = album_title.firstChild.data
putid3tag(album_title_data)

def putid3tag(album_title):
if(album_title== 0):
return 0
else:
path = commands.getoutput('dcop amarok player path')
print "Album: "+album_title+ " has been appended to the track"
id3info = ID3(path)
id3info.album = album_title

def findTime():
totalTime = commands.getoutput('dcop amarok player trackTotalTime')
currentTime = commands.getoutput('dcop amarok player trackCurrentTime')
leftTime = int(totalTime) - int(currentTime)
print "Time left for the next check: "+leftTime
return leftTime

if __name__ == "__main__":

while True:
if(isPlaying()):
getTrackDetails()
getAlbum()
countDown(findTime())

else:

print "No tracks playing"
countDown()

*sniff

That scent…where was it coming from?
I could recognise it anywhere…that sweet, bitter aroma that hit every nerve on my body and made me tingle.
He was near…very near. What could I do? I looked around me to see if there was anywhere I could hide. Maybe I should just turn around quickly and walk away…
No.
I should continue walking calmly and just pretend that I hadn’t noticed. Yes…I should do that. I can do that. I had done it before…just moved on.

---- ---- ---- ----
It had been three long years since our last rendezvous. The affair…yes, I call it an affair…had kept me bound for five years. Those five years in which I had spent every waking minute trapped in his rapture. I was young, naïve, and eagerly ready for new discoveries. I thought I was in control, but oh how I overestimated myself. The moment my lips were touched on that cold winter night, I knew there was no looking back. The taste consumed me…my tongue was on fire…the ecstasy seeped down deep into my body and into my veins until I felt something like never before. What was this feeling? This sudden rush…my head felt light…and I felt alive.

After that night there was no looking back. I would crave for more…at all times of the day…In the corner of the classroom…or even sneaking out of my room in the middle of the night. I was suddenly happier, more energetic. People noticed a different side of me...told me I looked radiant, and everyone was happy for me. I was glad, but craved for more.

As time passed, our relationship got rocky. I became too dependant and couldn’t function normally on my own anymore. It had come to a point where the sparks were barely flaring…there was no more exhilaration…no more erotic intensity…just mundane routine; a routine that had consumed me and taken control over every one of my decisions and actions. Mornings were spent in an air of strenuous silence, no eye contact, no intimacy; just a chronic sketch. I didn’t know what had happened…what had changed? He seemed indifferent to everything…perhaps it was me…
I needed out. I needed to end it. And I did.

---- ---- ---- ----
I look up as I hear the clinking of a spoon. That familiar clinking as the sugar dissolves and blends into the flavour of his dark and alluring presence. I close my eyes and take a deep breath…I breathe in and savour that warm, creamy, zealous fragrance. It’s been such a long time…a tiny peck wouldn’t hurt… after all, I am much stronger than I used to be.
I spit out the two-hour old gum from my mouth and drink some water…if I was going to do it, I as going to do it right. I march up to the counter, look directly into the handsome barista’s eyes and say, “One caramel espresso macchiato please”.

It was time for chai to step aside for a bit, so that I could rekindle my first flame: Coffee.

Day before, 7th of March, 2010, was a very lazy day. I slept through the entire day and when I could not force myself to sleep anymore; I finally decided to rise from my slumber. There used to be a time when the thought of going online used to make you happy; but I tried even that and got bored after thirty minutes. Its then that I met a friend online and we decided to go out somewhere for supper. As we were getting out of the lift, we met another of our friend who decided to give us company.

So three of us debated for sometime, deciding where to go. Finally we could pick a place from the very limited options we had. Oh, but am not writing this blog to tell you how boring my day was, or to complain about the very few eating options that we have here. My purpose to write this blog is something totally different.

We sat down, placed our order and started talking. Initially it was mostly random stuff, how someone hooked up with someone, how the college fest was, or the new hot girl that someone had spotted (lol), but I don't remember how it came up but it hit us suddenly that in another eight to ten months our college life will be over! Trust me when I say this, there was literally a moment's silence as if we were mourning!

Lot of things started to come back to me. People say that college life is one of the best part of your life and to think that it was going to get over was something big. I still remember the day my class twelfth board results had come. I was still deciding that time which college to join. The whole idea about finally going to college was very exciting and I was looking forward to enter a life which everyone has spoken very highly of. I am pretty sure that towards the end of our high school all of us have thought about college life and it has always brought nice good images to us. We have always looked forward to it. Though we have been really sad about the fact that we were leaving school; but still all of us have looked forward to see what college holds in store for us.

I still very clearly remember the first day of my college life. I had just left my parents in Udupi and along with another friend of mine was taking a rickshaw back to Manipal when we got a call from another friend warning us that seniors were looking out for freshers and ragging them (which turned out to be a false warning). The call did scare us and I remember getting out of the rick and just running away! Those initial days when we kept asking each other names cause we were still trying to remember them, or getting lost in place as small as Manipal, still discovering something new everyday, those times when we shouted out of frustration cause we had not been given our laptop yet, still trying to find our drinking buddies! It all seems like yesterday!

Its really hard to believe that time flew by so fast. There we were, all new faces, wondering how the place is going to be, how people are going to be, will be manage surviving here; and now we have almost reached the end of our course and I can't even believe that in another year we won't be here. We saw people going from very happy state to sad state; we became a family; shared our happiness and sadness; saw our friends really excited about a girl/guy to those bad break-ups; someone scoring A+ to people getting F; we saw buildings coming up; we saw the entire face of the campus changing and am sure all of us at one point or other cursed this place for being really boring or monotonous or sad. Now, today I want to ask everyone, each and everyone of you if you disagree with me when I say that these have been one of the best three years of our lives! Did anyone of you realize how time just passed by? We cursed the administration for making it so hectic for us; one sessional after the other, then those assignments and lab exams, now all we can think of is, we din't even realize and  it all just went by!

While there is a part of me which is really excited to enter the 'real' world out there, the world that exists on the other side of those college gates, and to experience first hand various things; there is a very big part of me which asks me if I really want this to be over? The various changes, so many of them that we will have to adapt ourselves to, do we really want all that? Changes which are going to be really hard! People who really matter to you, who you really care for, they will go, trying to make a place for themselves. I am in dilemma, should I be happy that finally I will be graduating (hopefully) and will be earning; getting my chance to conquer the world, to make a place for myself out there or should I be sad cause none of this is ever going to come back. Life is never going to be so simple and relaxed! It will always be a race from here if it wasn't already!

Time flies by and those of us who adapt to the changes around us manage to survive and the rest of us just perish. I just hope that while adapting to these changes I don't change, I don't lose my identity and I don't lose the people who matter so much to me. I am lost, I am confused, I don't know what to do, I don't know where to go. All I can do is hope that everyone, each and everyone of you, make a place for yourself out there and we are still together and I still have you and am sure with you by my side, rest of my life will also be like my college life.

Good luck to all of you!!! Cheers!!!

As a Tithonus, waking joyfully in lustTo see the golden sunI choose, humbly, to greet youMy love.The air shimmers as you moveMaking space, Paying homageTo your passingBowing and scraping on its heels.What joys are concealed within that smile?It curves easily upon your faceLike a rose in full bloom's springResting.What infinite grace is in your swayThe swish and flick of the ends of your

When I look back at my college days, the only two distros on which I can count on for simplicity was Fedora and Ubuntu. I used the latter just because it suited me and for exercising my right of freedom. Let me jot down the biggest problems I faced whenever I wanted to propagate Ubuntu in my college days under the LUG Manipal banner:

• People disliked the dark brown theme
• It didn’t look professional
• The graphics card didn’t work (The ATI ones)
• Atheros wireless driver has it’s own share of problems
• It wasn’t windows
• …..list continues

The change in branding

This is what I actually wanted from Ubuntu. Just making things doesn’t work. Normal people don’t want advanced things like GIMP or a desktop mail client. All they need is basic things should just work and an eye-candy. Everything should look cool and pleasant.

This font looks better and more professional than the earlier one. The one before this looked someone like Comic Sans.

Improvements

• The re-branding brings in much needed boot-screen change. A simple boot-screen is a lot better than a constantly animating one. Remember, the blink tags and marquees for HTML. They do nothing more than distraction.
• I liked the light theme more than the dark. The reason being that it looks better to my eyes and not because it remotely looks like Mac OSX.
• Read Mark’s view on this whole saga. Orange will represent Community and Aubergine would represent Canonical. Every branding should be looked with three parameters: Community <=> Commercial, Consumer <=> Enterprise and End-User <=> Engineer. Aubergine with white dots means it is more Commercial and Enterprise based branding.
• The newer website is a lot better than the previous one. Hope they are not moving away from Drupal.

The Roadblocks

Ubuntu has many roadblocks in becoming a major Operating System. Many of them are from within the Open Source community itself. Probably Ubuntu is growing quite fast, but when compared to overall OS market, it is stagnant.

• Wireless driver problems need to be fixed. Many people just give up because they cannot make Wireless to work on it.
• The graphics support is still quite weak. People with ATI cards report more problems with NVidia ones. This is one of the places where everyone has been bitten one or the other time. Since I have Intel 945GM graphics chipset on my laptop, those bad days have not struck on me yet.
• Another roadblock is that Ubuntu has to face a lot of hate from within the OSS community itself. People bash it because it brings in non-technical people into the Linux worlds who don’t want to compile their drivers or don’t want to use the command line.  Some of them go even one step ahead and claim that Linux isn’t meant for people who can’t understand computers. My situation would be the same if I was asked to open the BMW engine(Linux kernel) and fix something deep inside by pulling some random wires(typing commands)
• Linux in particular was designed to run on ever goddamn architecture on this world. Even though it is a good thing, the effort is split up.

Solution

• OEM tie-ups: To me, this is the only left to fix the current mess. If you buy a system, the people supplying the hardware will make sure that everything works fine with the OS they provide.  In this case, graphics and wireless drivers can be pre-installed. Depending on patent jurisdictions, even codecs can be pre-installed.
• Focus on Looks and Usability: Many of the GNOME apps have such horrible looks that I feel it was hacked overnight by devs in half-sleepy state. Some apps like gnome-system-monitor eat up 50% CPU and report the CPU usage to be 50%+.

Finally I am thinking of shifting to Lucid once it comes out.

He is United’s main man. He is England’s new hope. He is 1 of the most feared players at the moment. He is none other than Wayne Mark ROONEY. After C.Ronaldo left United for a world record transfer all the goalscoring burden fell on Rooney with most of the pundits predicting United to have an indifferent season. But Rooney had other ideas.

Rooney exploded into the premier league scene at the age of 16 becoming the youngest scorer in the premier league (at that time). A wonder goal against Arsenal had all pundits quacking about the next big thing in England. Rooney’s brilliance didn’t go unnoticed as after 2 years a host of clubs were behind his signature. He finally ended speculation by putting pen to paper for Manchester United. His work rate & overall contribution was never in doubt but as a striker he scored fewer goals. C.Ronaldo grabbed all the headlines when he was at United & Rooney had to share the limelight. All has changed this season , United fans chant 1 name all the time – ROONEY ROONEY ROONEY!!!.

28 goals already this season, Wazza is heading the goal scoring charts in the premier league with the last 6 goals coming from his head. With CR gone & a stage all to himself Rooney has finally begun to show what the fuss was all about. With a possible 17-18 games for United (if they reach the UCL final) & a goal per game Rooney can reach upto 45 goals for the season.After 8 years or so in the top flight Wazza has arrived. England have their new golden boy.With his form at the moment he is a nightmare for any defender. If Rooney can maintain his hot form n weave his magic in South Africa, England have a major chance of getting their hands on some major silverware since 1966.

Aamer Aslam

The Xavier Institute of Communications was busy with its everyday activities as usual; classes, assignments, tests, a packed timetable and the usual peripheral activities. We were all lost in our own respective little worlds when reality dawned upon us- The Public Relations & Corporate Communication batch placement phase was soon to start.

The course coordinator was at his diplomatic best trying to rope in the top PR agencies to recruit and take in all 53 of his ‘lovely and bright’ students- they were, after all, “the future of the PR industry”. Administration and staff was at its peak of efficiency; all e-mails on time, no phone calls missed and timely company allotments. Faculty members were trying to be as supportive as they could, guiding and advising. The campus suddenly went abuzz like never before with contemplation, speculation, apprehension. Everyone had just one thing on their minds- I need to get that job!!!

As each one of us tried deciding on what we want to do, which company we would like to join, which domains we wished to work in, which clients excited us, almost to the extent of mapping our entire careers as though all the agencies had a red carpet rolled out for us! Our class being our class, me included, had a zillion questions doing cart wheels in the brain. They fluttered over our heads like mosquitoes do in the dark, round and round in circles, with no purpose whatsoever! We had a few classics as well... “Oh God, what do I do, I just can’t decide yaaaa... should I sit for Perfect or no? Are you sure Hanmer is coming only for internships, are they coming at all???” As one ended his/her dilemma about this near life and death situation, the other one started as if the sky was going to collapse any moment, “Listen... I heard CMCG wants only 3 people. It’s true or what, oh my God, how will I ever make it man??? ”, “No I don’t think I’m sitting for BL, it has only IT clients and apparently they’re not paying very well, you know!” blah blah blah...

The week finally arrived. Everyone’s hitherto neatly folded formals with the naphthalene balls were all out in full grandeur, or the newly bought clothes were in full display. A smile on the face, laden with a line of nervousness, yet laced with a streak of confidence, armed with files, folders, certificates and resumes, we were ready; ready to take the challenge, ready to overcome and ready to conquer.

My phone chain messages were on in full swing... “The ENTIRE class has to be there for the presentation tomorrow. Rajeev Sir’s strict orders. Attendance will be taken.” Websites were researched in the computer labs and discussions went on in the canteen over chai. People religiously asked me every day, “So, you’re sitting for any of the companies today?” And my answer would be the same throughout, “Errr... no.” I was elated as my friends and classmates got their jobs one by one. ‘All the best’ & ‘Congratulations’ were the favourites of the season. I was sooooooooo happy for everyone, and at the same time I was freaked out. As companies came and went, day in and day out, I waited, waited and then waited a little more. What was I doing, what was I thinking, I let go of 6 companies! Damn it, why did Genesis Burson-Marsteller have to come right towards the end?

But I managed to hang in there, show some courage and not have a nervous breakdown. D day was here. After my CR work that day, it finally struck me, “Ok, this is it!” We patiently sat through the presentation, we asked our questions and everything was done with. I realized I had to say something important to Rajeev Sir. I got up to do so and............................. flat! Before I knew it, I had blacked out and fallen. I could see stars, was too weak to get up on my own and my heels added to the drama. And then, I fell again, and again. After my entertaining act, people finally realized that they needed to attend to me! The rigmarole was driving me mad, not to add making me dizzier. Soon everyone crowded around me, helped me up on my feet, made me swallow chocolate and sour punk, stripped me off my jacket, massaged my back, and brushed my hair. And I thought to myself, wow, after waiting all this while, I make an utter fool of myself right in front of the people whose hands my career is in! However, I politely composed myself and with a subtle smile I said, “I’m perfectly fine ma’am. I shall see you in the interview room.” Tamasha khatam.

The rest of the evening was spent in mixed emotions-relief, happiness, anxiety and what not. Finally, the results were out, and I was in! What an adrenalin rush. All of a sudden, nothing else mattered. The wait, the fall, the tension-it all seemed so small and trivial. I had made it and I was ecstatic. Congratulatory hugs, calls and messages followed. I was happy, but what next? I didn’t want to go home at 6 in the evening, that too when I had just earned myself a career launching job.

I guess God had his own celebrations planned for me. I can almost envision the omnipresent up there in the heavens looking down at me with an evil grin and saying, “Who said the adventure was over darling, let the night unfold...”
So what happened? I got lost. Surprised? Don’t be.

TO BE CONTINUED...

I found a digital copy of Williard C. Brinton’s 1939 book “Graphic Presentation” via twitter and as I read through the book, it amazed me how little our data visualization techniques have evolved since Brinton wrote the book 70+ years ago. What was even more fascinating was this quote from the preface to the book by Henry D. Hubbard who worked for the U.S, National Bureau of Standards …

“There is a magic in graphs. The profile of a curve reveals in a flash a whole situation —the life history of an epidemic, a panic, or an era of prosperity. The curve informs the mind, awakens the imagination, convinces.”

– Henry D. Hubbard

These words so aptly describe the power of visualizing data.

Here are some interesting snapshots from the book, which I highly recommend checking out …