Biking – A Metaphor for Life

‘Life is like a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving’ – Albert Einstein.

Riding a bicycle is one of the greatest metaphors for living life. Every simple living characteristics can be metaphorically connected to riding a bike whose passenger is it’s engine. A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step, similarly a bicycle ride around the world begins with a single pedal stroke.

I always find joy and inner peace in exploring different forms of nature in varied forms of environmental and climatic conditions to appreciate beautiful aspects of nature to realize the real definition of humanity. Cycling around is one of the ways to get closer to your inner soul while exploring beautiful forms of nature which brings one close to his own self. One such instance is while driving across Neckartalradweg this weekend (http://www.fahrrad-tour.de/Neckar/UebNecka.htm), I experienced this sensation of joy after biking for almost 200 Kms in more than 12 Hours. The 4D: Desire, Direction, Dedication and Discipline what I consider to be the basic foundation and principles of my life hold true during every pedal stroke of biking towards your destination and goal.

When the spirits are low, the darkness mounts, the work becomes monotonous, no shadows of hope, just mount a bike and go for a spin on the road without a thought about anything else but the ride you are taking and you will start seeing the thin beam of light brightening the dark world around you with new hopes and new desires. Success is not a destination, it’s a journey and that applies to every segment of both life and biking.

Geek & Poke

A few excerpts from Geek and Poke related to the life of coders, testers, project management and simplifying the logic of some basic principles such as ‘Hell0 World’ !

It’s Compiling…

Another post in last 24 hours which leaves me wondering from where I can gather so much spare time from amidst such a busy work schedule. I googled myself today morning and found an interesting explanation regarding a directly propotional relationship between my profession and time.

Now if you are already working on computers busy having piles of code to execute or developing a website or hacking into servers, you can categorize yourself where actually you can gather such free time from. Damn, I gotto work now but hey,my code is still compliling…what the heck,let’s grab a beer!!

WTFs / Minute !!

I was all tangled up with the series of cables connecting microcontroller units and embedded modules today morning while trying to understand the concepts of API (Application Programming Interface) to integrate a control unit into a network when suddenly on experiencing a glitch in a piece of code on which I have been working upon, I uttered unknowingly, ”Dude, Wtf is this shit ??’

To take a break and get some more caffeine concentration running in my nerves, when I got up to grab a cup of Cappuccino, I bumped across one of the many interesting geek webcomics which have been placed at random locations and notice boards in office premises. This one was quite interesting stating about the only valid measurement of a code quality.

So now I have set a measurement criterio to actually analyse the quality of my code. Coincidently ‘WTF’ has been getting a grip over me since yesterday when I noticed my manager wearing a black T-Shirt with the slogan ‘WTF ??’ !! I was quite surprised when I came across him wearing such such a T-Shirt in the office premises but straightaway I passed him a compliment : ‘ Nice T-Shirt Boss’ . He started laughing and replied, ‘When I bought this T-shirt I didn’t know actually what is the meaning of Wtf’ !!’ Are you kidding me ?? Atleast now this gives me freedom to wear my binary finger T-Shirt at work and say I know how to count only in decimals !!

Malamanteau: Factoids and Realities

Every morning one comes across a ‘word of the day’ either at a coffee shop or newspapers, sometimes one wonders what the heck does that actually mean.

One such word which is counfounding many people is ‘Malamanteau‘. There are many reasons why new words are created, but “malamanteau” is unique. Malamanteau is an extremely cromulent word. ‘Malamanteau’ has left even financial industry creative types and English professors both saying “Huh?”

 

According to XKCD webcomic, ‘A malamanteau is a neologism for a portmanteau created by incorrectly combining a malapropism with a neologism. It is itself a portmanteau of malapropism and neologism (of malapropism and portmanteau). In a less strict definition, a portmanteau of a malapropism with another word can also be considered a malamanteau’. Confused??  The definition of malamanteau makes a lot more sense when you break down the basic parts of the definition. Ok, let me break it down into simpler pieces:

Defnitions:

Neologism: A neologism is a newly coined word or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language.

Portmanteau: A portmanteau is used to describe a linguistic blend, namely a word formed by blending sounds from two or more distinct words and combining their meanings in one new word. In linguistics, a portmanteau is defined as a single morph which represents two or more morphemes.

Malapropism: Malapropism means to use a word in place of another word that makes the same sound, but doesn’t deliver an appropriate meaning, for example, odorous for odious, comprehended for apprehended, auspicious for suspicious and benefactors for malefactors. All these are Malapropos of each other.

Hence, combining the definitions of the above defined words, malamanteau is a portmanteau of portmanteau and Malapropism, whereas malamanteau is also a Malapropos of portmanteau.

Examples: 

• Somebody describes his misunderstanding of what someone was saying by stating, “I misconscrewed it up.”
• Someone explains his inability to talk while being upset by saying he was “flustrated.”
• George W. Bush’s inadvertent malamanteau “misunderestimated” has entered common usage.
• Someone describes being misinformed as “being miscommunicado”, a mixture of miscommunicate and incommunicado.

Neologistic Factoids:

• Every time you say, Malamanteau, God kills a Wikipedia editor.
• If you say a malamanteau three times in a row, Bloody Malamary will appear and link you to the Wikipedia page on portmanteaus.
• Bloody Malamary wears a Mala Manteau jacket, and enjoys sandwiches made with a specific mix of marmalade and marmite, known as Pacifimite.
• During 2010, investigators managed to make significant breakthroughs in their attempts to track down and apprehend Bloody Malamary, due to reference information about malamanteaus that was published on Wikipedia.

The wikipedia page for such a word doesn’t exist and redirects the reader to the XKCD webcomic page at Wiki. Wanna try, google Malamanteau !!

Spring Rains

“In our lives there is bound to come some pain, surely as there are storms and falling rain. Just believe the one who holds the storm will bring the sun”.

Human thoughts, actions and thinking is widely influenced and characterized by the nature and the seasons around them. Gone are those days of depressing winters and let the sun shine above bringing joy and smiles all around. This was a thought among the people couple of days back when suddenly the sounds of thunderstorm, chilly winds and falling raindrops shattered all their dreams and emotions bringing life to rest and smiles to the halt. I was baffled looking around at the intensive expressions of darkness getting deeper and deeper with the raindrop falling down. Why do you need to blame nature for one of it’s blessings to earth in one of the purest form of seasons? Life is like a rainbow, you need both the sun and the rain to make it’s colors appear someday.

Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never heard the sounds of raindrops falling down, never smelled the earth when it rains and never felt the feelings of joy and happiness of dancing in the rain. I was sitting next to the window having my coffee, watching the raindrop dripping down of tree leaves, hearing the birds chirping, looking at the changing wave patterns at the surface of river, watching the covers of clouds covering the hills beyond, hearing to the sounds of thunderstorm and tuning my guitar to the sounds of nature when I realized that the best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain…

There are always clouds carrying rain and storms which flow into our lives but they also add colors to our sunset sky making it more spectrally beautiful and adding more diversity and brightness to our lives bringing new hopes and new aspirations.

Geeks and Nerds Demystified

“My idea is to present an image to children that it is good to be intellectual, and not to care about the peer pressures to be anti-intellectual. I want every child to turn into a nerd – where that means someone who prefers studying and learning to competing for social dominance, which can unfortunately cause the downward spiral into social rejection.” -  New York Times

I have been boggled down into the world of nerds and geeks for quite a while now and how to unleash the one within your own self. This is an insight into the life patterns in general of a geeks daily life and an overview into a Nerd’s brainstorming thoughts. There is a subtle difference in a “Geek” and a “Nerd” even though the two terms are being used in similar contexts. Nerd is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, out of the world knowledge and technical and scientific endeavors rather than engaging in social activities. Geek is a term defining a peculiar person, especially one who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics, technical computing, scientific phenomenas etc.

A stereotypical Nerd is intelligent, a mastermind but socially awkward and are generally considered to be physically unattractive. Typically nerds don’t engage in much of social activities which is a consequence of lack of confidence and the negative perceptions and ridicule received by the peers and the society around them. They show pronounced interest in the fields of study which others find dull, boring, complicated to comprehend and over-mature for their age such as topics related to Mathematics, Quantum Mechanics, Science and Technology which comprises out of the box thinking. There is also a different side of the spectrum which involves showing interests towards activities which society might find quite immature for their age and mind such as playing cards, comic books, science fiction serials and movies, video games etc. Two most common physical awkwardness and symptoms noticed in a stereotypical Nerd are Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Asperger Syndrome.

OCD is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produces anxiety by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing anxiety, or by a combination of such thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions). Asperger syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder, and people with it therefore show significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. – Source: Wikipedia. Nerds normally stand apart from the rest of the crowd and are unwilling or are unable to become a part of the community having a spectrum of thoughts beyond natural human thought trends. It’s a pride to be considered a part of a “Nerd” community in one respect even though the term is used in derogatory sense in society.

A geek is normally referred to a person obsessed by the intellectual interests for it’s own sake and looking for knowledge outside the world of books in an academic scenario visualizing things in a real practical world. They often lack some physical and social attributes essential in a modern day living but thirst and passion for knowledge beyond boundaries of normal human perception is what matters the most. Have you ever tried applying stochastic and random processes and probability to predict the stocks and shares? Have you tried applying multi-variable calculus or Gaussian distribution function to understand the traffic density on roads? Or while looking at the movement of pigeons or hearing the chirping of birds, have you tried to figure an algorithm to develop patterns of movement or sounds of nature to develop a symmetry of thoughts? Well, if you think in the same dimentions then you can categorize yourself as a “Geek” in certain respects.

I have got few open questions for the reader here before ending this article for self-evaluation. Have you ever programmed and build a computer or an electronic gadget using micro controllers ? Do you possess microscope, telescope or oscilloscope? Do you know Maxwell’s, Schroedinger’s, Gaussian Equations and fundamentals behind Einstein’s theory of relativity? Can you solve a Rubik’s cube? Do you wear t-shirts with mathematical symbols and equations inscribed or geeky quotations ? How many functions does your wrist watch have or do you wear a scientific calculator? Have you ever interpolated or extrapolated? Have you ever reached sexual climax while programming a computer? Did you hack into any of the government official portal or bank/e-mail accounts? Have you read “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy”?……Well, it’s an endless list of questions but the idea behind every question is the same. Can you unleash the Geek within??

Fade to Black

” Life it seems will fade away drifting further every day. Getting lost within myself nothing matters no one else…”

One of the reasons why some of the songs become so close to your soul and mind is because if you explore deep inside the meaning of it, there are connections being linked directly to the human life in general based on one’s real life experiences.  I am trying to develop and analogy of thoughts between such words and human life in general.

Every physical soul existing in this planet goes through the stages of depression and agony in life looking for solutions to set him free from all the troubles of life.  Some people try to run away from those hardships ultimately getting trapped at later stages again in the viscous circle of troubles circling them around and some try to fight hard and eliminate them from the roots setting themselves free to face new challenges with more determination, courage and self-confidence. During the time of hardships,  life just seems to drift away everyday tearing you apart and making you feel alone and lonely and you get lost in your own self.  What surrounds is the world of darkness having no ray of light towards any will to live further and you seek an end to eliminate all the troubles.

The human life follows a mathematical curve in “n” dimensional space having maximums and minimums at different intervals of time. There are several ups and downs in a continuous range of values defining the function of the curve of life.  But analyzing every point, each phase in this curve is a stage of instability which gradually lifts you up to a stable zone after an interval of tough time. During that stage emptiness fills into the soul to the point of agony and darkness takes over the dawn. The natural human self is lost in this transition which causes depression and human soul can’t stand the hell looking for alternative measures to rejuvenate the soul which is lost in the empty world of darkness.

The bottomline lies in the fact that it’s no one else but just you who can save your own self without losing any hopes with time and circumstances. There could be stages when you feel time gone past long back and no rays of hopes leaving you crippled with the lack of determination and courage to try to search the lost self. Yesterday might seem as it never existed and only possible alternative remains to say good-bye to the self-posed cruel world around. Human beings forget that their inner strength to face such hardships lies looking things from an optimistic point of view and living in the present leaving all the troubles behind, dreaming of a better sunny future awaiting. Like every season in nature has a new beginning, every tree sheds it’s leaves and get the new one’s bringing new colors to the nature around, in a similar perspective every human life passes through several seasons of dullness, depression with the sunshine waiting and bringing new colors and rays of hopes to the life.

Definition of Music

“Music is the mediator between the spiritual and sensual life” – Beethoven

Is there any real meaning to “Music” ? Well, I would say “Yes” but if you ask me to define the true meaning of it, I would rather say “No”, it cannot be described, it can only be felt within. Some thoughts and expressions can neither be put into words nor kept into silence and those thoughts define Music as a whole entity in it’s purest form. Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it peace, heals the heart and makes it flow from heaven to the soul.

As quoted, words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel the feeling and a song makes you feel the thought. A human mind is the most powerful thought processing machine existing in this planet. The thoughts are shaped and developed over a long period of time and it has direct link to the notes of the music which one is linked to throughout his/her lifetime. Every individual has a different taste of music which throws a direct impression of one’s personality, character traits and behavior in real time. Music is an outburst of one’s soul. It is a universal language of mankind which every human knows how to speak, understand and think. A perfect way to end a day is to listen to the words which washes away all the pain and dust from one’s soul accumulated in everyday life.

I have come across several individuals over a period of time having a diversified interest in the field of Music and have realized that it’s the common mode to fill the infinity between any two distant souls. It doesn’t matter what genre of music one is linked to, what matters more how it is linked to his personality and how he feels the thoughts and gain the inner peace and happiness out of that feeling. Looking from a music compositors mind which is always lost in the deep ocean of silence, you can feel all the essential elements of this universe in it’s true from such as misery, happiness and sorrow while composing and framing your own words describing the world around you in the form of music.

There was a time when I used to wonder the craziness behind hanging your head like a mad person to the tunes of Metallica and Megadeath till the time I myself became the member of such a head banging community after realizing the essential and true feeling of happiness gained out of such craziness. Similar is the case with a rapper walking across a road or a doper lost in the ecstasy of Psychedelic Trance. Such are the thoughts which can take your soul closer to heaven and feel you forget the world around you. As observed, empty vessels make more noise, similar is the case with some hypocrites who tend to have a good music sense to be a part of a community of intellects and thoughtful souls around them but are generically termed as losers in the path of inner fulfillment. If you can’t feel the words, if you can’t implement the thoughts compiled from the words, you can’t fulfill the inner desire to achieve something in life beyond the reach of others as actions always speak louder than words.

Flipping through the pages of my own life, my hands start feeling the chords of the guitar with fingers moving across virtual frets by default while listening to the sounds of Led Zeppelin or GnR which travelling, my legs start tapping with the beats in accordance with the rhythm of the music plugged in my ears by my iPod and my thoughts start flowing in the direction of the composition of the song lost in a deep ocean. I consider a day to be auspicious if it opens with the chords from Pink Floyd and ends with the notes of Kurt Cobain, essentially my soul attaining the spirit of “Nirvana”. I have always visualized a world of “Moksha” from an artistic view when there is a dim lamp glowing on the table amidst the darkness around casting the shadow of my guitar pegs on the wall next to my bed giving me an inspiration for a new beginning and a new start to life. Under the influence of the thoughts and feelings imparted to my soul from the music around me late at night, I have always visualized myself a shining star among thousands of scattered stars in the moonlit sky above when the world around is deep asleep and is lost in the transition of their own thoughts.

Music is a god’s gift to man, the only art of heaven given to earth and the only art of earth which we take back to heaven.

Coming Back to Life

You are born, you learn to crawl, you fall, rise and then you crawl again. After a while, you learn to walk and later you start to run. Life keeps on pacing and you have to keep running with time, no matter how many times you fall during the course of this race of life. During the whole phase, you come across different souls around you and it’s natural human characteristic to adapt itself to the surroundings around it and get influenced by the people around you.

Since I have begun to realize the importance of the people around me who matters to me the most and on the other hand who all have been source of negative energy in my path of success, I have tried to filter the virus out of myself which has been creeping in me for a long time now and draining out the positive energy from my soul. I have been influenced at times from many positive and influential souls which have been the idol for many, which actually is quite obvious because external motivation is the biggest source to strengthen one’s internal motivation. But at the same time, one side of your brain always tries to maintain a negative balance by bringing you closer to the people who in simple terms I term as “Assholes”.

I won’t particularly term and specify the list and category of Assholes who I have come across in my life till now, but I want to generically mention some of the character traits of such category of people and how they have influenced the course of movement in my life. I have fucked up things which were not meant to be and I was the sufferer of the consequences for obvious reasons. But over a course of time, I have learned how to identify such people, judge them with their behaviour and how worth they are. Moral values, traditions and upbringing, family and cultural values and society and neighbourhood are the major elements to shape one’s characters and behaviour in a nutshell. When I see some people around me here, I don’t feel angry, but now I feel pity and depressed about them that even though they keep on falling, they don’t learn from their mistakes, even they commit them at the cost of their own self-esteem. I used to blame myself and my fate initially which has got me to this position but now I take such situations and people as stepping stones and try to keep moving forward.

I simply hate people who are Hypocrites and have Egoistic attitude in life. Their pessimistic viewpoint towards every thing around them spreads the negative energy around the people. They just look for situations for their own benefit and bitch around with the closest friends. Such people never grow mentally in life and their personality development is close to null even though there is a beautiful world around them because of their narrow thinking and thoughts confined to some negative sources. Don’t pretend to be who you are not, just be yourself, no matter what the world thinks of you. I have encountered and been influenced for a while with such Assholes and I am proud to filter them out of my life now after realizing they are just born to be fucking dickheads and deserve no importance in life. The categorisation is solely based on the natural human traits rather than focus on any academic or extra-curricular fields of activities.

I don’t give a damn to what those Assholes think about me, if you try to show unnecessary attitude towards me, then just go and fuck yourself and shove your attitude up your own ass because I have better things to do in life rather than giving a thought to your fucking attitude. Grow up or else life will fuck you to the core and you would be lost in the darkness of your own soul not able to find the way out again.