I dont give damn to scars.

Name : Om Prakash Yadav,
Age : 11
State: Uttar Pradesh, India
Award : Sanjay Chopra Award for saving children out of a burning van

Yadav has burn marks all over his face. On September 4, 2010, he was going to school along with other students in a Maruti van. But all of a sudden, the van caught fire because of a short circuit in the gas kit.

The driver immediately opened his door and fled. But not Yadav.

He broke open the van door and pulled out the others, caring little about the flames that had spread to his face, back and arms.

"I could feel fire burn my body but then I could hear the cries of my friends who were still caught inside the van. I threw my bag and entered to pull them out," he says.

He saved eight children.

Source : Internet.
====

Fools

Some get love too easily to realize how Big Fool they are to just let it go after all the years of commitments over demanding parents. Fools.

The child is grown, the dream is gone.

A friend of mine posted on facebook

"The child is grown, the dream is gone."

 It means a lot.

A Plan is a Plan only if it is thorough & written

I thought, "Well I know what I am going to do in next 7 days, I don't need to spend time on writing that on a piece of paper with hourly target, that's waste of time. I would rather spend that time on achieving my target".

I was so wrong. I drifted. There was no clear goal. I felt I could easily achieve what I am set out for in few hours of day and wont require full 24 hours.

Let me confess friends, I didn't utilize last 3 days. It went wastefully. I had no target to motivate me. I spent time leisurely. Now I am doubtful if I will be able to achieve what I wanted as the no. of days have suddenly shortened.

Every time I miss on plan, I remember an incident from my job days where I was in the committee of people arranging for business event for the employees and I saw my manager going by nanoseconds( OK, I exaggerated but it was surely in seconds), on each event timing and execution. Initially I thought, what a fool he is to be so pricking but after the wonderful success of the event I realized how right he was and what role his thorough plan played.

Unless I change myself it is going to happen repeatedly. As said in one quote "Life will keep repeating the lessons until you learn from it".

Why Start Early

Recently I learned the importance of "starting early". One morning I woke up at my first alarm and not waited for second alarm which was due 15 mins later. I told myself, "Amit, it is good to start early" and I was up and got myself ready for the conference I had to attend in Boston.

After I got ready, I waited for public transport but none were in sight and when I looked up their website, it was day off for them. Little anxious, I called up campus police for escort service and they were not servicing either. The lady police suggested if she could get me cab but I said "No, it will be very expensive. Thank You." Now, I decided to walk to railway station as it would take 45 mins which means I will be reaching 3 mins before my train departs from my station.

The good part was, I was not anxious but very calm and steady. With confidence to catch the train, I was walking briskly and kept my GPS on to help me correct in case I was going in wrong direction or path which was not shortest. On the way I asked a lady (who was about to enter her car) for directions to train station just to be doubly sure. My mental directions got confirmed and I resumed my journey. After sometime, while walking down the street I saw the same lady waving and asking if I need ride and I said "Only if you are going in same direction" and hopped inside she car. A small talk followed where she said "I still believe in giving lift to people even though the world has become a big crime place now". I nodded but at the same time got into thinking, "The problems are the same be it India or US. US is 100 times safer than India in terms of police response to crime but look here I am meeting someone who is bothered with the exact same thing what people back home are bothered with. Isn't life problems are similar(if not same) everywhere." Anyways we reached the station and I bid he goodby and thanked her. Next I had to wait for half and hour for my train. In the mean time I spent time reading a conference paper my professor asked me to read and give my opinion.

Coming back to the motivation of this blog, I realized that this control over the situation is due to the fact that I woke up in the first alarm and not waited for final alarm to buzz. This gave me lot of time and I was capable of absorbing any unforeseen situation. Doing things early could be boring and its benefits are mostly unnoticed until we start cramming in last moment which results in stress and anger and frustration and god knows what not.

P.S. It takes me more than one experience to change and hence I am not sure if this will change me.

I Dare

Let the New Year Begin with many Dares...

P.S : NYE = New Year Eve.

When High Priority ≠ First Thing to Do

Like a rational mind, I had my plans in order of priority for this ongoing vacation. Things which I thought of high-priority were put on top and things with medium put on bottom. Sounds perfect, right? Well, I don't know about you but I have discovered that vacations are not same as regular days. Vacations are time when if you pick up boring stuff, you could go on and on w/o coming to any conclusion until it becomes dire need. It needs lot of discipline to do boring stuff early in time and no pressure. I have yet to reach that level but for now let's consider I am normal normal.

I started reading a subject (Let's call it S-2) which I like, in the beginning of the holidays and I thought, wow, I am actually utilizing my vacation. I was able to utilize around 50% of the time. One day my roommate suggested that I should rather focus on subject S-1, considering that is higher priority than subject, S-2. That put me into thinking and I started loosing time. I thought that my roomie has a point and I should indeed do S-1 before S-2 at the start of vacation. But there is a caveat. None of them have deadline before start of college so I could play around the schedule and still reach in time. (S-1 is connected with college course while S-2 is an independent study )

I took his advise, moved S-1 on top and kept S-2 away. S-1 didn't had great start and I was fine with it. Slowly I was loosing interest in S-1 and eventually I was dragging myself, losing days. Simple reason, I don't enjoy S-1 as much as S-2 but to take up S-2 over S-1 was tough. You see, I invested time in S-1 and couldn't go back to S-2 just because I like it. But, today I should say, during vacation its better to start with things we like to do than things we don't enjoy. That way we would not waste time on some mundane thoughts of priority as it hardly matters when in vacation. I have decided to record what I have learned & explored in S-1, keep it handy so that when I resume it after finishing S-2, I will have a background and not clear puzzled head.

So, after all this, the plan of action is, I am going to spend coming two days preparing myself for upcoming conference in computational geometry and after I am done, start with S-2, finish that up and then take up S-1, since I will be pushed not by interest but by deadline to finish S-1. As always, don't know if this is going to work but let's try it out and I will come back with how it went.

Giving an example of a sailor who doesn't have modern compass, its only with time he will know where did he go wrong and the sooner he change his direction, the better are chances he will not be laughed at through generations for his foolishness.

What do you think could have helped me realize that before or how do you think I should have drawn my initial plan? Do let me know.

Take Care.

Happy Holidays with Video Podcast.

Do let me know if you liked it. Not sure how it came out as I can see the image blurred :P.

Bbye.

Waiting for Holy Onsite Opportunity for Years.

If you don't understand what the title means, possibly you wont understand what I am going to speak below, but if you wish, read on.

ONSITE, chance to work on client position which is usually US, UK or other developed countries, is portrayed as the coveted Champions Cup which each IT Professional needs to win. For many first timers, the lure is of visiting these so-called developed nations where the general perception is, that robots will be seen flying in sky and everyone is super happy as shown on Hollywood movies and it is easy to hook up with the opposite sex and then a small interest in some corner of the heart is to save some money(1$=50). From 2nd timer and above, it is the lure of money.

For both 1st & 2nd timer their bosses use this lure of ONSITE as golden pot which he or she is promised of either in the interview process or after slogging in job for months. Interestingly the distance between the gold pot never seems to increase. It is intelligently placed either the same distance or brought in close proximity to raise goosebumps and Managers will pronounce "You were too close this time, never mind keep trying".

You might observe that some of your friends are indeed getting the gold pot which bolster your confidence in the words of your manager and you keep going round and round and round in some infinite loop until one day you are awaken by a slap on your face. The figure could be rejections in marriage proposal due to low salary, your wife (lucky you.), your mirror reflections when you toothbrush sitting on toilet seat and in no hurry. For many, the realization is painful because it has costed them more Time than the goodness the ONSITE would have brought. As a result of which the employee is disgruntled, will get into arguments with boss and management and finally leave the company.

I am not going to talk about how much he is missed and managers eye opening experience but from the perspective of candidate. Now, coming back to our protagonist, he fails to understand many things like how not every manager is your father like and why he don't give damn to your career progress but is just interested in his/her own which means he would like to go Onsite before he gives you the opportunity (for reason read above). Second, the novice fails to realize that if the manager is dilly dallying ONSITE, then probably he is not worth the company's money which should actually ring a loud speaker to his ears that his skill knife has gone blunt and needs sharpening. He need to seriously look towards taking more challenging projects and move on with life. Getting too comfortable in one chair is understandable but even the chair is tired of your butt marks and wish to get some change. Take chance at least once in Life and you won't regret your cowardly self.

To me, Life is not "A Risk, A Success" but "Series of Risk, Series of Success".

Yatri (Traveller)

मंजिलें तोह मिल ही जाएँगी, भटक कर ही सही

गुमराह तो वोह है जो घर से निकले ही नहीं

-   Shivani Raina Facebook Feed.

From Homeless to Harvard

I am just moved by this movie called From Homeless to Harvard. It talks about Liz Murray, child to drug addicted parents and homeless but determined. She changed her life from nothing to something.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Murray

It is just big dream and she is perfect example of "Nothing is Impossible if you work Hard".

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

For past few days I was going downhill with my studies. Not focusing right. Loosing the big goal. All this because I didn't do right in one mid-term paper. Before that, I was all charged up ready to take on the world but later that incident, things changed. I started sleeping late, under utilizing my time and was thinking of easy aims and finding fault with US education system(Will talk about it in detail sometime later).

I spoke to him few minutes ago and explained him my situation. He said, If subject XYZ is causing all the pain and making you loose focus, let it go to waste. Don't let one subject ruin your aspiration and life. He gave eg. of a painter (He himself is a wonderful cartoonist), and said, "In Painting, if you are painting one with utmost care but happen to make one mistake, it ruin your all hard work and many a times people just give up because of this failure. Let this not happen to you. You should not get discouraged with one subject but you should keep working towards other subjects and do well in them". He said, if I could cross the threshold and get admission to MIT/Harvard/Stanford for my PhD., my life will become wonderful and worthwhile. Also, I should not entertain the thoughts of "Should I really do PhD?" but do all my preparation as though I really want to be at such elite university for my PhD and then I will see the difference of attitude.

America could be a lonely place for someone who comes from country like India where there are social linkages even between neighbors and you could just go to them and talk without being bothered of invading personal space. There are times I miss such wonderful friends who would just know what I need when I am down. As said, I have some true friends indeed.

Good Night.

Left high paying MNC Job for Civil Service Exam Preparation

A friend of mine recently left high paying job in an MNC with annual salary more than INR 10 Lakh (approx USD 25K), which is quite high as per Indian Standard to pursue his goal of serving society by appearing in India's one of most tough civil services exam. He has taken a big leap of faith and confidence. I know his journey is not going to be easy but I wish him good luck in all he does. Over the chat I asked how he feels about his decision and he says "

i m happy dude, no regrets"

He inspires me. He tell me what it means to follow your heart. He gives me strength to follow mine. I promised him that I will make him proud one day too by accomplishing something worthwhile in life. Remember, I am still toiling with the Idea of PhD/Startup after MS. I need to make a good choice for myself and do something worthwhile.

To have such friends who gives you strength to aim high is a blessing and I am few blessed ones. My best wishes to my dear friend and pray all his tough times don't last long and his effort pays off well.

Unstoppable

If your dog doesn't get the bone you are hanging high enough for him to get, chances are he will loose interest and stray away. Contrary to this, if a man is faced with a similar challenge, he can innovate/improve upon his strategy and try a little more long. .....Hmm..I just lost my train of thoughts after the guy in the lab started howling. I will still go ahead and post it as I think I still have a point.

Fire : It can be Controlled.

I got to share with you all some wonderful research done by one of my friend and his research group at UMASS Lowell titled "Non-Toxic Flame Retardants". It has to do with inventing new coating substance which retards the spread of fire and even prevent burning. US Army has shown keen interest to this project. The coating is made using organic waste. I am excited about his research and may even get you more details after talking to him but at the moment I would urge you all to go to the site and post comments/feedback and spread the word. It is crucial that large number of people know about it to create momentum for its fruition.

Thank You.

Connecting the future dots

Remember me talking about connecting dots in general and connecting the future dots and how sometimes I have intuition about what's going to happen next by looking at what's happening today. Well I just had a moment yesterday which I would like to share.

For past one year, I am struggling with a questions, "Should I pursue PhD and become Professor after MS or should I start a business after MS?". I am exploring each of these two options by talking with Professors, reading about latest research, and by participating in forthcoming Boston Startup Weekend etc. Yesterday I just happen to attend a technical colloquium at my Computer Science Department on topic based on Forensic analysis of P2P system for Child Pornography. It was interesting topic and the speaker Swagatika Prusty presented it well and handled the questions clearly. I liked it. I learned something new. After the presentation, the usual practice of few audiences forming a circle around the speaker and participating in the discussion happened and I joined the league. There were random topics mostly concentrated around what was presented and then we moved on to career. One from the audience was a Professor from my department and asked the speaker (which if you have noticed is only a second year Master's student at UMASS Amherst) whether she would like to pursue PhD? To which she responded that she is yet not decided but would prefer to be a doctorate student only to be interrupted by the Professor "unless you land a fat paying job" to everyone's humor. Then he spoke about his life, how he was in Israeli army at young age, then went on to start a business where he made good money and told his mother that he doesn't see why he should attend college considering he is already earning quite well. To which her mother responded "You are stupid" which mentally tormented him and he joined college obtaining his bachelors degree and realized that "it is so much fun" and enrolled for Masters degree which again he realized "This is so much fun" and rest all is history.

Now, the story part is over. Next phase that went into my head is, why is the professor speaking about his career decisions, why did I meet another student who is in dilemma of doing PhD or not, why am I here amongst all the infinite possibility and how come each of these things are happening when I am suppose to go for a startup event on coming weekend. Well, Steve Jobs said you can connect the dots by only looking backward and he is absolutely right because connecting the future dots is only probabilistic in nature. Getting obsessed about connecting future dots can make someone dogmatic but I would recommend that he/she should just take it as some form of information and continue doing their daily routines and when the final day of making a choice comes, use these pointers along with regular pros & cons rationality. Making future look like the way you want will disturb the natural order making the future connections only fraud.

Do share your story if you happen to experience the same.

Have a wonderful future

Amit

P.S. I feel so relaxed after writing this topic because I was waiting for a long time for an event to happen naturally where I can make future connections and talk to my readers about it.

How to be smart.

"It's not that I'm so smart , it's just that I stay with problems longer." Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Steve Jobs , The Entrepreneur.

At this moment, I have a mixed feeling because I am extremely sad for demise of Steve Jobs. He has taught me valuable lessons of life through his Stanford Commencement Speech.

He was a great entrepreneur, someone whom I listened live or heard in my life span. He will be remembered by millions.

The second feeling I have today is of accomplishment. I am able to execute a program for which I have been working for more than 1 month as part of my college assignment in Operating System Graduate Course at UMASS Lowell. The Professor has been kind enough to give me flexibility and not penalize me heavily for delay of 2 weeks which I have already done. I made lot of mistakes, I asked for help at places I couldn't find a way out but I kept trying just to make sure I learn in the honest way.

I give credit to my today's success to Steve Jobs  for lessons in perseverance.

Thank You Steve. May you rest in peace.

Randomness

Right now, I have an assignment to choose 1 out of first 15 sections in the book of "The Society of Mind" by Marvin Minsky and write a one page summary of it as homework assignment for Artificial Intelligence Course in my graduate studies.

Since it was not an easy choice where all parts are good topics, I decided to generate a random number using RANDOM.org website between 1 to 15. It may sound lot of unnecessary work for just a number but if you might have faced or heard that some of the best things happens by chance and I thought that if I choose a random chapter rather than going by my bias, it will give me an opportunity to explore something new and who knows it might hold my attention for entire life. 

The stage is set.

Get Set Go.

So my random number is 11 and so it is. The section name is "The Shape of Space". Wow, I surely wouldn't have picked this one thinking "What has space got to do with Artificial Intelligence?". Let's see how it works out. Don't let too much intelligence ruin the chance of discovering something new by loosening yourself and giving randomness a chance.

Have  Nice Weekend.
Cheers.

Quote Unquote

A quote from my senior colleague while at Fidelity Investment
"Fire is fire.. there is no small or big in it. As long as it is alive, when the conditions are ripe, it'd burn down even a great forest"

Vasu Palaniandi