Moments

Incredible India (or Atulya Bharat) is a slogan of Indian Tourism Department. Well the thought of a blog about it occurred because of this blog . "The government is promoting this campaign of Incredible India or 'Atulya Bharat'. But, what is incredible about this country. When my friends from Europe or US come to India for a visit, all they find is dusty roads, animals on the streets, poor facilities etc. etc." This was the point of discussion and I was also one of the listeners of this comment. Some people argue that this is a bull shit statement and India is really incredible because of the diverse cultural heritage and the quality of Indians to keep up with our traditions even though we were subjected to so many foreign invasions. Others may say that boasting of traditions is a farce. Metros of our country is under a huge influence of western culture and even small towns are jumping on the bandwagon. And their justification is that it is personal freedom. Fine. I ...

Yesterday I finished three years in the blogger's space, each year ending in a distinct anniversary. On my last anniversary post , I had promised to give my readers more poems and better travelogues. But the year seemed to give a new turn to my blog. I ventured into short stories and wrote two of them. I had started another one based on my college life which I left in between. The number two seems to have some strong connection with me. I wrote 2 poems on the blog before the last anniversary and this time the number of stories again comes to TWO.. Numerologists may say it is becoz I am born under the number 2 (My birth date is 20). Last year, the number of trips were plenty but just one of them was a sight seeing tour. Hence just one travelogue. There were a couple of posts on cricket along with the usual reporting from IIT Delhi. In December, I decided to start documenting some of the ideas regarding my research topic and that led to the tech blog . Though the response to that it ...

Creating abstract art with mathematics. Here are some of the images from the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest 2007. Star Dust (Manu Martin) Immortelles (Sylvie Gallet) Air (Ewa Stryza) La Sylphide ( Anna de Vries-Eickhoff) Edenesque (Helen Grainge) Rose (Keith Mackay) Matsuoka (Daniel Kuzmenka) For more images from the contest visit this link . All images are Copyright © 2007 Damien M. Jones.

When I had written a post on how Sachin missed all his centuries in the last year, how can I refrain from writing something today. A day that will be remembered by all the fans all over the world who consider "Cricket is RELIGION, Sachin Tendulkar is GOD. It was a day when Sachin started off very carefully with Ganguly blasting at the other end (Something has seriously happened to our Dada. He is in such a terrific form), and then allowing all the tail-enders an extended session of batting practice, in the meantime getting that ever elusive golden figures of 100. As Cricinfo editor Siddharth Vaidyanathan (he shares his last name with me) describes, I would also put it as one of the greatest knocks of the little Master. An innings of such precision and measure and such flawless execution that even the aussies had left hope of finishing the Indian innings at his end. A banner at the ground summed up everything. "Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting," it read. ...

As per the tradition of updating the blog once in a year, here I present to you my blog with a new look. A look with a complete rework on the template and the colours. Here is a snapshot of the new template Isn't that colourful! Well the description says so. A few more experimentation with words all around the template. The headings are translated into Spanish (thanks to google translate) and a few keywords to make it more informal. Hey, did anybody say my blog is too serious???? May be. But isn't it true that humour lies in the minds of the reader (That sounds familiar to some other proverb). So with the new look on the blog and lots of colours all around (Does colour mean something else?) the blog from here on changes to a different genre. No more serious babble. I should probably start a new blog for that and not publicise it. No more of fundas. I have started a tech blog for that. Welcome to the world of VIBGYOR Tail: When I started the blogging, my blog title was "A ...

After a wonderful year 2007, here we are into yet another year of fun and frolic. The year that went by was a little different from the ones earlier. I had the maximum number of trips, almost one in every month, starting with a trip to Kolkata for the marriage of two of my best friends. One trip to Renukoot during Holi. Three trips to Kerala - one for cousin's marriage, one for teaching in a college in Cochin and one just for a holiday to home. One to Mumbai for a cousin's engagement. A vacation to Jodhpur, Udaipur and Mount Abu in June. Unfortunately, there were no trips to the Himalayas. There were two of them planned but got postponed to 2008. One was a trek in Manali under YHAI and another was Manali-Leh-Ladakh. Hope that it materialises this year. The new year is also full of trips. The first 3 are for marriages. Aur ek bhi mera nahi.. Last January, I wrote my comprehensive exams which meant that I am officially registered for my PhD and my research proposal was accepted. ...

A time of the year when most people in the world are enjoying holidays, IIT is also in a holiday mood. The winter vacations have begun and hostels are empty. Placements season is going on and there has been parties all around from those who got placed. Many final years are still working hard to prove themselves to the companies coming on campus for recruitments. We Phds, are not at all bothered by this struggle or by these little celebrations. We live in a life of perennial bliss with moments moving on and on and on. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.. May the Lord show you the path that you cherish to take.. And may the Santa shower you with whatever you want at any every moment.. For the research scholars, here is a quote that I coined. ' Phd is a journey in a tunnel. You never find the end till the last bend.'