Tushar Ghosh's Blog

Monday…

Tushar — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 07:24:36 +0000

Disclaimer: The following post in now way intends to glorify the incident. If any reader feels so, he can consider this article as an attempt at a satirical take on our day-to-day ramblings.

A new week starts every Monday. Each person gearing up for the grind that is to follow. Me being no different set out for the same. College is over. Got bored of movies, sitcoms, documentaries, discovery, natgeo, news, ipl, scandals, politics, Manmohan-madamji (yes it is a single phrase), Didi, Amma, Behnji, hollywood, bollywood, iit-iim, and I can ramble on and on. So whats the point? Umm, I actually don’t know. Ignorance is bliss. Its rightly said. But partial ignorance is lethal, something which I am sure many of us would have realised in their Science classes. So, here I am now standing in the rain on a Monday morning – my hands bruised, some part of me numb and confused. After regaining sense, you look around, pain visible in the faces of people. You get down the bus. Walk to the other end of the road, away from the crowd that has gathered. Holy crap, the bus just rammed into a car. And then you realise, an accident occurred. You move towards the bus, hands paining. Passengers more or less fine, most of them leaving it to face the daily grind on some other “bus”. The driver of the bus is the centre of attention, a situation where nobody would like to get into. Thankfully, the car just had a driver whose arm is dislocated. He calls his gang and humiliates and threatens the bus-driver. He is quiet and calm to all the curses that he is being subjected to. I for a moment look down the road. And what do I see, the Dakshineshwar bridge over the Hooghly starting in a few yards.
Flashback: You get up the bus. As usual you are accustomed to stand. You luckily get your favourite spot. The disadvantage of a big frame is that people would curse you for no fault of yours. So, you have to always adjust and make way for others (literally). And since, you can never entrust the support of your whole frame on one arm, you tend to hold the bars strongly with both hands especially during rush hour. The monotonous journey begins over the once mighty Grand Trunk Road. People get down and get up. You try to fast-forward the travel part thinking how nice would it be to sit under the AC and this too shall pass (atleast today). Well the Mumbai local experience always helps . And suddenly, as you can recollect, there is a screeching sound and your whole frame moves ahead rapidly. The person sitting behind you has his face smashed into your bag. Targus bags are soft (lucky chap). You hand gets bruised by the sharp edge of the window. People fall from their seats. Whilst you are absorbed into these thoughts, the next bus comes. And you move on. As one of my senior says, “Whats the use crying over split milk, you can make all the Bengali sweets from it”. Day ends and you come back to where it started. In a certain way, you feel it is something extraordinary. How can such a thing be extraordinary ? You think of relaxing and switch on TV – A bus carrying people for a marriage meets with an accident around 500 miles from here.

The week that was

Tushar — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 08:57:48 +0000

Probably one of those times, where people have got a reason to smile. India won the cup that mattered. An entire generation celebrated with pomp and vigour, after all rare are the occasions when we get to have positive energy surrounding us for the same reason. I couldn’t see the match, but I guess that shouldn’t matter as the most important thing was that somebody was rightly given his due, and in a way that would always be revered. I still distinctly remember the ground across Ruia College in Dadar. I was told of how Gavaskar, Vengsarkar and the whole of the Mumbai team used to practice there. There were quite a few of them practising there, some of them like Rohit Sharma ( by the way his primary school was near to mine ) who go on to become a part of the current team. I still remember the question that came to my mind, “Did Sachin practice here?”. I never got a clear answer, but I guess he might have come there with Coach Ramakant Achrekar, when not shaping his blade at Shivaji Park. I had seen this documentary where he said that he used to commute from Bandra to Churchgate whenever going to the Wankhede. Made me wonder how he used to carry the whole kit with a short frame like his in the fierce (and I mean really fierce) office hours of the Mumbai local. May be, that speaks a lot about his determination. Wankhede is another marvel of sorts. It lies on borrowed land, standing in front of the ocean, in one of the costliest places on the planet. Not the conventional stadium, in one way it encroaches the Western railways in Churchgate (lack of space). Perhaps destiny has its own ways – the most conventional script was written for the unconventional cricketer (and I mean in a different way) at an unconventional location. Its probably time that Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar be given a Bharat Ratna. Doing so, while he is playing will be one of the most remarkable ways by which the nation can acknowledge what he has done for his motherland (and I mean India, bad luck Matoshree).

Not to play spoilsport, it was a special week for me too. Fulfilled my childhood dream of meeting Dr. Kalam. I was in the second row in front of the dias. One of those days, about which you can sit back, think and be happy. Too inspirational and sentimental was the air, and he didn’t disappoint the audience:

Don’t keep forever on the public road, going only where others have gone. Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods. You will be certain to find something you have never seen before. It will be a little thing, but do not ignore it. Follow it up, explore all around it; one discovery will lead to another, and before you know it, you will have something worth thinking about – Alexander Graham Bell

PS – By the way, Sir Tim Berners-Lee talks too fast and LogiComix rocks .

The village

Tushar — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 04:08:39 +0000

No, I am not talking about the film . We had gone for helping out folks in Katwa (four hours from bus by college) with their internet connection. Although, I think we ended up helping ourselves on that pretext. Anyways, we also got an opportunity to visit Biswabandhu mission, an initiative started by Dr. Bishwanath Bala. More about the sojourn, was written by Kushagra, and which I shall shamelessly copy here because of my laziness:

It’s not often you come across a man who demands no respect and yet commands it like no other. The day before yesterday was one such day for me. Tushar, Praveen and myself were tasked with visiting a small facility in Srikhand – a small village near Katwa, Burdwan district of West Bengal. The facility is basically a school-cum-hostel run by Dr. Biswanath Bala. The man runs this facility for homeless or orphaned children, or children from underprivileged families – he provides for them with his own salary and currently does so for 65 such kids.

So, how’d we wind up here? Well, Dr. Bala was among those who were invited for the IOTA Teacher’s Training classes – classes conducted by students from NIT Durgapur’s GNU/Linux Users’ Group (GLUG) in association with IOTA (Institute for Open Technology and Applications – a West Bengal Government initiative), to teach teachers from rural areas how to run and work with computers – what we do different is we work and teach on linux which means all they pay for is hardware and they certainly learn much more, using a kernel that truly believes in giving power to the user. Also, in this case, IOTA provides these schools in rural areas with computers to ensure that these children also have access to technology and are not left behind in this day and age of the internet. A few weeks ago, Dr. Bala had called up one of our teachers enquiring whether some students from GLUG could come down because he needed some help running BSNL’s broadband on Ubuntu along with some help checking the functionality of the printer, scanner and the projector. Praveen volunteered for the same and Tushar and me chose to accompany him. The journey was uneventful (mainly because I slept through most of it!). After getting there, we were treated to a large set of sweets which we couldn’t finish! Then, it was down to work. Some frustration, then lunch – we took a lot of time trying to get the internet working – had to resort to calling one of my oldest friends, Atish (the only person I ever fall back upon when I have issues with anything related to tech!), to help me get the settings for the modem such that it would function regardless of changes on the OS (of course, the IP settings had to be set to DHCP). Then, the scanner was easy – except that the spring was faulty and after one scan, it failed to run – we obviously couldn’t fix the mechanical fault – even if we’d dared to try, that would void the warranty. The projector was plug-and-play. The printer gave us some trouble and after Tushar had installed CUPS, it was supposed to function fine. However, we forgot that the OS needed to reboot to ensure that the driver was loaded with the kernel. A restart can always do wonders when you’re working with peripherals!

Having finished that, we proceeded to check out the facility – and at the place, we had some wholesome and natural snacks – and quite a bit of that too. Thereafter, we saw the kids in music lessons conducted by Dr. Bala himself (he plays the harmonium and sings classical Bengali songs). It was really a humbling experience, all in all. To imagine the hardships Dr. Bala goes through to maintain and run this facility is truly remarkable. We returned after that as it was getting late, although he offered to let us stay for the night so we’d have a convenient trip back. However, we were too ashamed to inconvenience him any further and also wanted to leave soon. The entire trip crashed on to us as guilt for our ignorance and inaction. The journey back left me slightly more satisfied though. In our own small way, we’d made a contribution to the lives of these children – but in comparison to Dr. Bala’s efforts, they feel like mere drops in the ocean.

Yet, it’s nice to know that while GNU/Linux Users’ Group, NIT Durgapur does not attract the masses, isn’t the most liked or most popular club on campus, we have something to be truly proud of. We contribute to society in our own minuscule way (the teachers’ training programs). That, and the fact that our existence is driven by a principle far more global than the trivialities of campus. We exist, not to please students, not to conduct activities but to spread knowledge – to spread the use of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software). And in this age, computers are impacting everyone’s lives so the scope of our efforts are nothing short of colossal. To successfully spread the use of FOSS is our obligation by virtue of our very existence. These two things differentiate us from any other club in college and I’m frankly proud to be a member!

The Motto

Tushar — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:54:06 +0000

उद्योग: पुरुषस्य लक्षणं ||

This is our college motto. I often wonder how many of us have ever pondered about it. The meaning of this sanskrit verse according to me, in archaic english implies as “Work maketh a man”. It more or less reiterates what is written in Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, stanza 25:

अनुबन्धं क्षयं हिन्सामनवेक्षय च पौरुशम |
मोहादारभ्यते कर्म यत्ततामसमुच्यते ||

My interpretation – “Oh Lord!!! is it right to run behind the fruit (symbolizing ignorance), for it is just a mere consequence of actions; Actions which wouldn’t have existed in the first place, without the knowledge to execute them (loss due to Tamasika)”.

Work is what binds us. It defines who we are. In this journey, if there is any possibility of companionship, it can be rendered by Karma and karma alone. So, why be afraid to work, afterall it is that friend which shapes us into the \[y|bh|r]ogi\.

On the shoulders of giants

Tushar — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 04:00:36 +0000

Sir Isaac Newton had written a letter to Sir Robert Hooke that was dated on 5^th Feb, 1675 or 1676 ^#

What Descartes did was a good step. You have added much several ways, and especially in taking the colours of thin plates into philosophical consideration. If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.

Though many argue if the letter was really as humble as it looks or if it was aimed at something else (I would like a discussion on it). The line that strikes my mind is “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. A little bit of Mr. G provides an insight on the 12^th century quote attributed to French philosopher Bernard of Chartres, which he probably derived from mythology where a blind giant carries a dwarf on his shoulders ^$.

The most popular argument behind the quote (and which is affirmed by Mr. Scholar) is how the future gets shaped up by holding the guiding hand of contemporaries of the past. Afterall, without the giant, the dwarf would never be able to see through the obstacles that come in the path that he has taken.

What would have happened if the blind old giant refused to take help from the dwarf and would have prefered not to travel? The dwarf would have wandered around probably losing himself in the pursuit. The unfortunate tragedy being the path would never have been explored.

The argument that acts as a pacifier is:

The dwarf sees farther, when he has the old giant’s shoulder to mount on, with the former serving him in his most difficult of times

PS: Sir Hooke and Sir Newton were never the best of friends.