Just do it!

Tips

originalaby — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:27:48 +0000

Common set operations using shell:

http://www.catonmat.net/blog/set-operations-in-unix-shell/

Set intersection:
————————
comm -12 <(sort set1) <(sort set2)
grep -xF -f set1 set2
sort set1 set2 | uniq -d (-d prints only duplicates)
join <(sort -n A) <(sort -n B)

Preparing for my first date with the mighty Himalayas

originalaby — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 04:09:04 +0000

“You are kidding!” ”You are nuts!” ”Awesome!” ”Do you plan to come back?” ”Thank god! peace for one week!” My friends responded with fear, surprise and confusion when I told them that I am going to Himalayas… Well, I guess I might be nuts but I am not kidding. Getting ready for a seven day trek, including a visit to Roopkund

A moon-light trek @Savandurga

originalaby — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:08:21 +0000

Savandurga is one of the world’s largest monolith hills, just about 60km from Bangalore. Situated near Ramanagaram, its a wonderful place for rock climbing, trekking and doing crazy things. If you like the game of figuring out the way to the top of a hill through thick jungle and huge rocks, you shouldn’t miss this place.

How will it be like doing it at night? I just wanted to experience that, and we – a team of 18 people – gave it a try.

TBD

My experiments with Cha cha!

originalaby — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:00:31 +0000

Hmm.. Not only Cha cha, but Rumba and Tango as well. I am sure that my friends will pinch themselves when they see me dancing I couldn’t believe it myself…

More to come…

Power of post processing

originalaby — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 04:29:28 +0000

Lets accept it – even the most advanced camera available today is not capable of mimicking human eye. Many a times I have seen some wonderful scene and wished that I could just capture it just like my eyes see it… If I have a camera, I take a shot. But, somehow it never turns out to be satisfactory. (Not a surprice, because I am no photography expert.). When that photo is given a retouch using Photoshop or GIMP, its amazing to see the transformation. I can change the white balance, sharpen it, change the tone, change the color of my shirt, can fade disturbing backgrounds, change backgrounds, and even warp objects!!

A photographer doesn’t have all the time in the world when he clicks a photo. And there’s a limit to what he can do with his camera. For example, consider HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging – even the best DSLR can’t produce it. But our eyes perceive real world in HDR. Check this out: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/10/35-fantastic-hdr-pictures/. Similarly, if you check out the best photos in flickr, you can see that almost all of them are post-processed to achieve the best effects. Post-processing is not evil

Have a look at the result of some simple post-processing steps: (sharpening + blur + level adjustment)

So, what I expect from a camera is not fancy effects – but its real capability to capture details. Effects are best handled by computers. Once a detailed picture is available, it can be transformed into stunning one using post-processing. Well, even if you have just a point-and-shoot camera, post-processing can do wonders…

Most of the model photos are either the result of a costly equipments and a world-class photographer, or the result of professional post-processing. The latter is more common. Post-processing helps you make a bad photograph good, and a good photograph great!

Two wishes granted in one week

originalaby — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:55:11 +0000

This was a wonderful week! It started with a deadly challenge… On Monday morning, Robert, the president of Bangalore Toastmasters club, called me up and said “Be the MC (Master of Ceremonies) for this Friday’s meeting”! My mouth went dry… I “knew” that it was a challenge beyond my reach. I asked him whether he thinks I am ready for it. He said “You can do it. Just do it!”. That was really encouraging. And I knew from within, that I want to try impossible challenges. What’s a better chance? I said “Sure Robert, I will give it a shot!”. He explained to me very clearly what was expected of me. Yeah, its easy to list down the responsibilities…

The next day, my senior architect caught me and asked “Can you present Zookeeper in INHUG conference in Noida?” My first response was “Count me in!”. Had he asked me to do it about two months back, I would have managed to find an excuse.

As far as I know, this is the largest TM club in the world, with around 90 active members. And there are many veteran speakers in the club, some of them even participating in world champ contests. How am I, a two month old baby, supposed to do MC in that club???

What best can I do? I prepared thoroughly. Called up the members and assigned the roles. Made sure that everything was in order. There were quite a few last minute surprises, but those were handled. Couldn’t even sleep well for a couple of days – busy @office, and busy preparing for my D-Day. Ah, and another tension – Robert said that I HAVE to wear a tie. That’s something that I have never done in my entire life! By wednesday, the speech was prepared and sent to SAA & President to ensure that we won’t end up telling the same stories. That day I started getting headaches. My body signals that I need rest and relaxation.

For the next two days, I took a break from my regular routine of a “planned day”. Got plenty of sleep, didn’t stretch myself in office at work, went to gym and had good food. By Friday, I was back in good condition.

Dressed neatly, I arrived at the meeting place 1.30 hrs in advance, to give a demo speech in front of Robert. He brought a tie for me, and helped me wear it. That scene was really funny – the president teaching a member how to wear a tie, just before the meeting I wish I had taken a photo wearing it. Always had an aversion for tie, because somehow I associated tie with a salesman selling from door to door. But in the club, wearing a tie creates a special positive impression. I guess it has to do with the person wearing it I guess somebody waved that magic wand again, for I started getting more confidence. Getting ready for my turn…

The president delivered an impressive speech, and gave a wonderful introduction about me. Then he invited the MC of the day! Time stood still… I walked on to the stage… all the hands clapping… shook hands with the president, and stood behind the lectern. Clocks started ticking again. Thanked the president for his wonderful introduction and slowly proceeded with my speech. Cracked a joke and that made people laugh out loud… Aha! That boosted my confidence. I was in cloud nine… then I was at my best… In my friend’s opinion, I appeared very confident, energetic and enthusiastic. Wow. And, not everything went as planned – a cancelled project, a last minute dropout, power cuts and delay in serving the tea. I guess it was a test. Managed to handle those. During the meeting I realized that being in such a supportive environment, I don’t have to be afraid at all…

During the break, I met Sheenappa – the person who pushed me on to the stage for the first time (two months back). He wrote a comment “I am very proud to see you as a confident speaker today. Way to go!”. He was so happy that he came and hugged me.

It went much better than I expected. (I forgot to say a few lines that I had prepared. However, came up with better statements on the spot). During the evaluation session and after the end of the meeting, there were showers of praises

However, I wanted critical feedbacks as well. I approached Watson and Pradeep with the request for critical feedbacks, and they were very happy to provide me valuable inputs. Working on those suggestions, to become a better speaker…

Following were the best parts of the entire experience:

The help, support and encouragement from senior toastmasters.
The fact that I took up the challenge and gave my best to it.
The fact that it went very well.

I guess, its the president’s tie that did the trick Now, getting ready for the INHUG presentation… Should I ask Robert for his shirt?

My experiments with teaching…

originalaby — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:41:55 +0000

I have always been excited about teaching… of course, not in a traditional way. Wanted to incorporate my own ideas into teaching, to get really close the children, to understand them and to help them grow. Hmm.. but there was always some excuse or other for not doing it. The primary reason was my fear of standing in front of a group of students and speaking!

I have quite a few highly respected senior members in Bangalore Toastmasters club. They stay true to the oath they take during the swearing in ceremony, that they will help others in improving their communication skills. Oh no, they go far beyond that. One fine day, one of those members, TM Karthik, called me up in the morning and said that they are conducing a “Youth Leadership Program” in a high school. He asked whether I can take a session – to give a demo of an ice breaker. Immediately the fear gripped me. But I knew that this fear is something that I wanted to get rid of, for a long time. I just said “Count me in!”. Of course, these were the train of thoughts in my mind – “will the students like me? will I say something stupid? will I be able to impress them? will they listen to me?”…

The organizer had informed me that I have to come in formals. God! I didn’t even have a formal trouser. For the first time in the last five years, I bought a formal pair. Always used to feel very conscious in formal wear…

The day came. The organizer himself, TM Sumitra and I were the presenters on the first day. The school had made nice arrangements to welcome us Meeting started and my heart started beating faster… managed to keep an artificial smile… Seeing that the students are very smart and interested in the presentations, I was very relaxed. Then came my turn. I think somebody waved a magic wand, for I could instantly connect with them. Then I was very confident to try some jokes, and it worked very well. It went really well… I was supposed to speak for about four minutes, but it went up to about 8 mins. I got so involved in the session, that I forgot I had to stop (btw, I forgot to mention that it was a girl’s high school). Some of the students were as afraid as me when I was a kid. Some of them cried, some of them experienced shivers, and some of them had their brains crash!

It was a great experience! I gave myself a good treat that day, for taking up that challenge and surpassing my own expectations.

Next week, I was invited again to be a Table Topic Master. This time it was even better. The atmosphere was so friendly and encouraging that as I conducted the session, students were so much involved in it. They gave me some chocolates in the middle of the session. They forgot that they have to be afraid, that they started asking me whether they can speak on certain topics! I don’t know who waved the magic wand again…

Boy! I can’t express what a pleasure it was to spend time with them and encouraging them by sharing our experiences. And, I feel that most of the students love to have a good teacher. Its is such a bad state of affairs that in most of the cases students are not connected to teachers at all. Karthik suggested that one reason could be generation gap. He said “New generation students need new generation teachers!” That was pearl of wisdom! Another reason could be the lack of dedication from the teacher’s side. I wish someday I could start a school, incorporating all the new ideas in education & training… What’s a greater pleasure than shaping up promising souls!!

Holy cow

originalaby — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:34:24 +0000

Just for fun, I searched “holy cow” in google image search.. Couldn’t help but share some of the pictures!

Wikipedia says “”Holy cow!” is an exclamation of surprise used in American and Canadian English“

Rediscovering myself…

originalaby — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:37:29 +0000

Rediscovering oneself? Its a life-long journey. And, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

I am glad that I took that single step. With every step, the climb seems to be getting easier. Or, is it just an illusion??

Places to visit around Bangalore

originalaby — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:27:06 +0000

This is a work in progress… This is not a “Complete Reference”. I list down only the places that I and my gang visited.

Shivanasamudram
Pearl valley
Bannerghatta national park
Nandi hills