July in FB status

Happiness is in being happy. And love is in loving. If you decide to be happy come what may....you'll be happy. If you decide to love, come who may, you can...Its the sheer power of will... Pratibha Vellanki, are you convinced of the logic now?
July 3, 2010 at 9:55pm

Weddings always remind me that time's running out!
July 4, 2010 at 4:30pm

The Spanish rompage at wimbledon...hope it contiues to football too!
July 5, 2010 at 7:26am

For new beginnings, there have to be smooth endings too!
July 8, 2010 at 8:47pm

has had two consecutive fun filled days! Thank you Apeksha Shingari, Richa Khemani, Amruta Deshmukh, Disha Dudhane, Susheela Vedula. And special thanks to Pratibha Vellanki.
July 14, 2010 at 8:26am

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning,middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.
July 18, 2010 at 12:04pm

am going to miss all the fun that I had in office. You know you are in good 'company' when you look forward to going to office even on a monday Morning!
July 20, 2010 at 7:38pm

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard!
July 20, 2010 at 9:24pm

Inception...dreaming to design, dreaming within dreams within dreams, being caught in a dream, dreaming so real, that lines between reality and dreams start blurring...and one can't tell reality from a dream..is life real or we're just living a dream...Christopher Nolan takes fiction to a new level. Kudos to him!
July 21, 2010 at 7:16pm

For the love of God~ Stop making it rain!!
July 25, 2010 at 10:09am

Why are keys so small and so difficult to find when they are lost! Damn!
July 26, 2010 at 8:39pm

A good tester has the heart of a developer.......in a jar on the desk. May the reign of terror continue :)
July 27, 2010 at 9:32pm

200 Again?! If he put his mind to it he could even make a 500! :)
July 29, 2010 at 6:21pm

Almost a year at Persistent comes to an end....Missing 'em all already :( No good morning to e1 every morning, No coffee breaks every 2 hrs, No ragging sessions, No developers who would have palpitations knowing I found a P1 in there code, No conferences on communicator for no reason at all, No lunches that would last for an hr, No 'KT' sessions about life ka gyaan in my cubicle after 6:30 P.M.! :(
July 30, 2010 at 7:01pm

I am not always easy to get along with, or humble, or polite, or dependable or understanding, or caring or loving, but to all of you who still put up with me even when I am at my worst......Thank you, I am so lucky to have friends like you. Love you all :)
July 31, 2010 at 11:04pm

Inception...Dreams and Realities redefined....

Inception...dreaming to design, dreaming within dreams within dreams, being caught in a dream, dreaming so real, that lines between reality and dreams start blurring...and one can't tell reality from a dream..is life real or we're just living a dream...Christopher Nolan takes fiction to a new level. Kudos to him!

He makes you wonder what it would be like to wake up and find that everything you've been living is a dream...what it would be like to live a dream or live in a dream...what if you were in a dream and you could never break free....an entangled web of reality and dreams...What if life was just an Inception?......

The end of the movie has its ambiguities too...

Dom goes to limbo state to rescue Seiko, and returns waking up in the plane where it all started...He finally goes home to his kids...and just to test if he is in a dream or reality he spins his top....(Cobb carries a spinning top to test whether he is dreaming or awake, which keeps spinning or topples respectively.)The clever thing Nolan has done here is when the top starts to wobble the screen blanks out and the word "Inception" flashes....Leaving the viewer with a question....Is Cobb's long sought homecoming a reality or a dream?

I have never seen such a powerful movie! One that does not leave your sub conscious even after you've seen it!

Christopher Nolan has succeeded in his one goal, to make the viewer wonder if...if it were all really possible...the idea has taken hold Mr. Nolan....You've succeeded in ...

"Inception"

June in FB status

Rajneet is Mahabharat with touches of the "Godfather". Kudos to Prakash Jha, only he could do it! Superb casting. And superb acting even by small time stars like Shruti Seth, Kiran Karmarkar, Chetan Pandit and Darshan Jariwala! Nana, Ajay and Manoj wonderful as always. Arjun and Katrina..not bad :) Ranbir...you've got to improve!
June 6, 2010 at 3:21am

Living is 1% about what life does to you and 99% about what you do about it.
June 9, 2010 at 9:44am

Looking forward to watching Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Klose, Podolski take the field today and Loew take the dugout! If only Ballack was playing.......
June 13, 2010 at 2:25am

Getting stuck in traffic, dragging an Activa through almost waist high water, starting it up again, driving another km. to find almost waist high water again. Finally parking the bike someplace, removing the high heels that you were stupid enough to wear in the 1st place, wading through water and walking barefoot for a couple of kms. to reach home! Welcome to Indian Monsoons!
June 14, 2010 at 8:38am

Madre de Dios! Help them win!
June 21, 2010

David Villa's a hero!
June 25, 2010 at 7:11pm

May in FB status'

Rakat Desha Kankhar Desha Dagadanchya Desha, pranam majha ghyava hey shree maharashtra desha! Maharashtra dinachya hardik shubhechha.
April 30, 2010 at 11:45pm

When I say, "I love you," it's not because I want you or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a hell of a guy!
May 1, 2010 at 9:56pm

When mothers were offering their daughters shoulders to lean on, mine was teaching me how leaning is unnecessary. Thank you mama, today I would not be "me" if you weren't "you". I love you!
May 8, 2010 at 1:18pm

Of all Shakespeare's heroes Hamlet is my favorite....he exudes passion like no other Shakespearen character...which perhaps could be because he fuelled by the desire for revenge! But he is Shakespeare's best work!
May 11, 2010 at 7:18am

I want England to win the world cup! If Aus were to win it would be 'jala', if SL were to win it would be 'jale pe namak' and if Pak were to win it would be 'jale pe garam masala'
May 12, 2010 at 2:28am

When you look at a problem from afar, you take a third person's view of the situation and you say to yourself, I have got this one covered, I will handle it just fiine, but when you actually become a first or second person in the problem, you say "Hell! How could I've thought I would be able to do this?!!"
May 17, 2010 at 9:44am

Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can - there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.
May 22, 2010 at 11:39pm

The process is as important as the end goal.
May 25, 2010 at 10:50am

Bangles....

Bangles…..

What triggers off this ‘discourse’ on Bangles, is the fact that one of my friends asked me today why a bangle is called a bangle…and thinking…and some ‘google - ing’ about it gave rise to the following line of thought….

The word bangle comes from the hindi word ‘bangri’ which literally means a ring for the arm or leg…literally….culturally bangles mean a thousand different things….

Bangles have a different interpretation in every culture. …

Hindu unmarried girls always wear some bangles round both their wrists as it is considered inauspicious to be bare armed. Bare hands are symbolically associated with widows who have been denied the right to wear bangles or any kind of adornment. Generally, they are worn after marriage to signify matrimony. It is tradition that the bride will try to wear as many small glass bangles as possible at her wedding and the honeymoon will end when the last bangle breaks.

Not only this there is diversity n bangles too all over India……

The Kashmiris have the most exquisitely painted papier mache bangles.

A bride from Punjab is traditionally given slender lac and plastic choodas (bangles) in white and red. These bangles are given only in multiples of four. The bride wears these bangles for a period of three to six months and as long as the bangles are on she is generally pampered as the new bride and not given and kitchen duties to perform. The day she enters the kitchen to work she takes off her chooda and gifts them to a priest or to the local shrine.

In Gujarat and Rajasthan, the bride's mother will gift a pair of ivory bangles. With these ivory bangles, a young couple performs the 'Saptapati;' without these ornaments, the ritual cannot occur. The Saptapati consists of seven steps around the fire. Without this ritual, a Hindu marriage is considered incomplete.
When the Gujarati bride conceives, her sister-in-law gifts her a silver chain bracelet. In the seventh month she is also asked to wear a bracelet made of black thread and five kowdis (a kind of shell). This bracelet is unknotted only when the woman goes into labour pains to symbolically help in an easy delivery.

The Ahirs of Rajasthan and Rabaris of Gujarat, the pastoral tribes cover their entire hand with broad plain bangles made of bone. The unmarried wear them only from the wrist to the elbow whereas the married wear them from the elbow upwards as far up as the underarm. Since these tribes are nomadic and they cannot keep their assets under safe keeping they wear their saving in the form of jewellery on their person. When struck by any natural calamity like draught or famine, bands of the tribes flock to the closest town to sell their bone bangles.

In Bengal, woman wear 'lohas' to symbolize their marriage; they are bangles that are alternately known as the iron 'kada.' Brides are also presented with beautifully crafted, white conch bangles and red lac bangles.

The Bastar tribe of Madhya Pradesh wear bangles made of coconut shell. Intricate patterns designed on white metal are screwed firmly onto the coconut shell. The Gonds and Bhils wear bangles made out of brass or beads.

The Maharashtrians give a woman green glass bangles when she is pregnant. But then green is the auspicious colour for a married woman in Maharashtra and they are given green bungles to mark all occasions. A couple of days before the wedding they perform a ceremony called the lagna chooda when a bangle seller comes home and firs stacks the bride’s hand with green bangles onto the wrists of every married woman present. The unmarried girls wear dozens of coloured glass bangles that match their clothes.

The Lambadis of Andhra Pradesh wear these graded bone bangles only upto their elbows.

In the south they practice a similar ceremony called valaikapu when the woman is in her seventh month of pregnancy and comes to stay oat her mother’s home. All varieties and colours of glass bangles are literally stacked on her hands with 21 valay (bangles) on one hand and 22 on the other. She is also given a silver kapu, a thin silver bangle with clasps. This is unclasped only when the labour pains begin. The glass bangles are also taken off then.

The tradition of bangles has been in India for centuries….Ornaments on the arms and wrists were worn in India from the days of the Indus Valley Civilization (2300-1000 B.C.) as is evident from the bronze figurine found in Mohenjodaro. Bangles cover the entire arm of this figures display bangles as do the cave paintings in the Ajanta and Ellora. Armlets are rarely worn nowadays except as fashion statements…but once upon a time these coiled snake like ornaments adorned the arms of every person who could affored them. They came in various designs like sinh (lion), sarp (snake), keyur (peacock) etc.

Even the devi (Goddess) is offered glass bangles. In the south she is offered black ones, in Maharashtra green and in Calcutta red. In the northern belt of India red glass bangles are considered auspicious for the married as green ones are in Maharashtra.

Even the color has different interpretations. Red and Green are symbols of marriage, Yellow and orange for happiness, white for new beginnings, black for power, silver for strength and gold for fortune.

Each area crafts bangles using the materials available locally. Wood in Kashmir, the rhino horn bangles in Assam, lac in Rajasthan. There are many fashionable bangle in metals, plastics, silk threads etc. the variety is seemingly endless.

Call it chudi, kangan, bangdi, Valaya, Kada, Gajulu, Choodla whatever you want…bangles have a special place in every Indian girl’s heart, two simple bangles everyday may mean simplicity, practicality, a subtle expression of feminity….two bangles that match the dress everyday may mean I like bangles or someone likes bangles on me….lots of bangles on wedding like ceremony means I just like the sound or look of it…. To add a foolishly romantic thought on top of it all…The jingling musical sound from the bangles on the hands of the newly married woman is a tickling call to her husband. It is the silent laughter of the wedded girl that adds a special charm to her movements….Whatever be your interpretation of it….go ahead girl…dangle that bangle

I know it was very long….but thanks for reading.

Battle of the Sexes - game theory

“Battle of the sexes” has always been one of my favorite topics for FB, gtalk status messages….and when I actually came across the scientific proof for this…Well you cannot imagine how overjoyed I was…so here goes the formal description…

The Battle of the Sexes is a two-player coordination game used in game theory. Imagine a couple that agreed to meet this evening, but cannot recall if they will be attending the opera or a football match. The husband would most of all like to go to the football game. The wife would like to go to the opera. Both would prefer to go to the same place rather than different ones. If they cannot communicate, where should they go?

Pointers to the above that are in sync with the real time battle of the sexes –
1. They agreed to meet but cannot recall the location…very typical of the husband I’d say
2. The husband would like to go to the football game….typical
3. The wife would like to go to the opera….typical
4. Both would prefer to go to the same place rather than different ones…of course! Don’t we all agree that we should all agree!
5. They cannot communicate…..of course they can’t we wouldn’t be here if they could!

Game theory solves this problem using the pay off matrix…which I am still trying to understand! ….Watch out this space for more interpretation once I understand that…

There can be four cases –
1. Both go to the Opera
2. Wife goes to the opera and husband to the football game
3. Husband goes to the opera and wife to the football game
4. Both go to the football game.

But in event 3, additional harm may occur!! He goes to the opera while she goes to the football game, satisfying neither…and both of them come back and have a nice fight!

Another aspect that can occur in this game is called “burning money”, sounds very realistic doesn’t it? When the husband agrees to go to the opera, he is “burning money” when the wife goes to the football game she is burning money….So now there are additional conditions to the game, the player can choose to burn or not burn money!

The scenario where the wife agrees to go to the football game, she is achieving the objective of going with the husband, but she is choosing to “burn money”! How very foolish of her to choose what Game theory calls the “weakly dominated strategy” where she dominates at the cost of choosing to burn money! Had the wife been smart, she would have known that Game theory suggests that if one iteratively deletes weakly dominated strategies then one arrives at a unique solution where the wife does not burn the money and chooses Opera and where the husband has to choose Opera. The odd thing about this result is that by simply having the opportunity to burn money (but not actually using it), the wife is able to secure her favored equilibrium. Smart, ain’t it?

Another way of attaining equilibrium according to game theory involves the use of a correlated equilibrium. Using a randomized event we can reach a decision. In simple words, this is like flipping a coin…before choosing their strategies, they might agree to correlate their strategies based on the coin flip by, say, choosing football in the event of heads and opera in the event of tails. Notice that once the results of the coin flip are revealed neither the husband nor wife have any incentives to alter their proposed actions – that would result in miscoordination and a lower payoff than simply adhering to the agreed upon strategies. So nothing’s fair when everything’s fair!!

If you’re still confused, don’t worry so am I! But the only point of writing so much about it is to tell you that this is interesting ain’t it?

April 2010 in facebook status messages

April 1, Tata Maruti :(

April 2, Microsoft does not innovate...It buys an innovated product packages it with an existing Microsoft OS so that it cannot be unplugged and sells it at a higher price! Thats innovation for you....ala Microsoft!

April 3, Male mind functions on the principle of differential calculus, the female mind functions on the principles of integral calculus. Though both the things are diametrically opposite, they are very much complementary. One is incomplete without the other.

April 4, Behind every sucessful engineer, there is a substantial amount of coffee.

April 5, I am not anti-man, I am just pro-woman. Really, is it that difficult to understand?

April 6, To tell somebody that he is wrong is called criticism. To do so officially is called software testing.

April 7, Love is....giving someone the ability to destroy you but trusting them not to.....

April 8, Developer: There is no I in TEAM. Tester: BUGS cannot be spelt without U.

April 9, Lionel Messi....God's gift to football.

April 10, The most frustrating thing a developer can say to a tester...."It works on my machine"! Arey mag mee kay karu!

April 11, Project Manager mathematics....If one woman delivers a baby in 9 months, 9 women should deliver a baby in a month!

April 12, If pro is opposite of con, then what is the opposite of progress?

April 13, I don't believe in love because love doesn't believe in me.

April 14, To the comment " I wish there was a machine that could wash clothes, dry them, iron them and hang them in a cupboard." who replies "Get a husband!" :)

April 15, If you think I am rude, you are absolutely right.

April 17, I have just realized how easy it is to give advice to others and yet so difficult to follow one's own advice!

April 18, After watching both phoonk1 and phoonk 2 I still don't get it why Ram Gopal Verma decided to call them Phoonk!!??

April 20, Before asking me if your smoking is bothering me....take a look at yourself, Dude! it's killing you.

April 24, All the people in this world can be classified into 4 categories - dumb playing dumb, dumb playing smart, smart playing smart and smart playing dumb. The question is ... Are you smart enough to play dumb?

April 27, I am missing konkanatla unhala, ambyacha, fansacha vaas, anganatli vihir,mogryache paat, mhashincha gotha, jambhul karvandachya baga, bagan madhe divas bhar khelna, dagdaani kairya padna, cycle varun firna, roz sandhyakali samudravar firayla jaana, mogra-aboli cha gajra laavun bazaraat basnarya kolini, amboli, laal maath, pej, maasli cha jevan, jevana nantar aangnaatlya khaati var padun chandra chandane pahana.....

April 28, Linda Goodman's first observation about Scorpio women goes like "She's magnetic, proud and totally confident. But she has one secret regret. She was not born a man" I so agree :)

April 29, Summer rain and the smell of water touching the parched earth! Heaven!

April 30, I wish there was a beach in Pune!