Riding through the rain - a day in Kolkata

This particular day I was in Kolkata on a weekday, taking a leave from NIT Durgapur, to obtain my migration certificate from WBUT. So it was pretty crucial that I complete the task that day only. And the rain started, as if to spoil my plans only.

However, regardless of the rain, I started, and got my work done. This post is to describe that day with special reference to the refreshing ride through the empty rain slashed streets of Kolkata. I am careful of my gear when it comes to riding, specially the shoes. It might sound wise to use a pair of floaters in heavy rain, but my all time favourite are the canvas, which, even if drenched completely, gets dry quite quickly. Similarly importatnt are the waterproof coats, and a full covering helmet.

Once armed completely, comes the enjoyment part. I really don't care whether another car is splashing on me or not. It is part of the game. On the contrary, I take special interest to glide through the pool of stagnent water, fast enough so that the gay onlooker from the rear seat of the sideby SUV also gets a proper feel of the splash.

The feel of the rain pinching on the bare hand is awesome. Adds to it the spray of water from the bike ahead. When it comes to a under-construction flyover, there will be huge gush of water draining out from some outlet on the road itself. You will see most vehicles taking a stop and avoiding the fall, but believe me, a direct shot through that flow of water makes my day.

The policemen are specially considerate to the riders. I often get invited to wait in a shelter, specially under the flyovers, even if that means crossing the stop line in a red signal.

Am I running away?

I had read this story many days back, where an interesting phenomena was described along with eternity of the Tibetan monks or lamas. The long lives are associated with oscillation of growth and decay. Take a normal persons life, concatenate to it the life of Benjamin Button, and repeat this pair in a loop, that is how a eternal/long life is described upon in the book.

Keeping apart the authenticity of this logic, life can be viewed from another angle. Was watching this film on one of the popular mutants. The advantage of having an eternal hero is manifold. Bring him back from exile anytime, solo or team, to fight evil, and send him back. But what captures my interest is the repetition of the cycle, redoing things, again and again, with possible perfection added. Is it better to have life this way? With chances to correct things, learn again, share again, love again, hate again, befriend again, fight again?

It might be good to have that chance when one is eternal. But when eternity is kept aside, and one keeps repeating a certain phase, doesn't that mean missing out the complementary phases? It is like redrawing one arc of a circle, when the whole circle is still incomplete. It might happen that this arc is the best part of life, but what is best without the worst to complement it?

The thought keeps repeating. A gloomy day with incessant rains. Few concerns, inability to anything about it. Or to be exact, inability to bring out the will to do anything about it. And a major decision. Going back to that day 8 years back, the onset of the college days. I should be feeling happy to get the chance to redraw the arc. But am I? Am I not missing something that could be complementing the phase already completed?

Am I running away?

What is important to bag a job - syntax, or domain knowledge?

Tonight I was being interviewed by a US based product development start-up company. It was an overseas call, and after it was over, this thought was even more profound in my mind. My sense of interview is a interactive discussion, might often be an debate on some topic, but it's never a set of questions and answers around the syntax of a certain language or database or tool. Lucky me, 75% of my past job interviews consists of the former type; and I feel sad for myself as well as for the interviewer for the rest 25%.

Once, in a face-to-face interview, I was provided a laptop, and asked to code a concept, using any kind of online help I need. It was getting boring on the initial 10 minutes of coding, but the next 1 hour discussion on the code (from conceptual angle, not at all syntax related stuff) went on in a really encouraging and interesting note. In another one, this one telephonic, the interviewer and myself decided upon a research paper (available online), which would be the topic of discussion and analysis in the second round.

But this is my experience, whereas the surrounding IT world majorly stands on the other pattern. Here I see people revising syntax before an interview, and jobs being offered on basis of how one has mugged up the bits and pieces of a language or a tool. Is this the normal way, and am I making a fuss over a silly issue?

in search of the perfect gadget

Let me first list down what all things I do with my mobile.

1) Calling and Messaging.
2) Browsing and downloads.
3) Music Player / Radio.
4) Torch
5) Camera
6) Watch
7) Calculator
8) e-book reader.

Now I want to configure my ultimate device.

I want the sturdiness, and ease of use, from Nokia. I want the music clarity of Sony Ericsson. I want the display clarity and camera quality of Samsung. I want the mobile to support dual sim, in dual active mode. I want 3g, wi-fi, and GPS. I want my phone equipped with 3.2 mp camera, and a torch !!! But with it I want my mobile NOT to be a touchscreen, but in old bar form, easy to operate with a single hand.

Why don't mobile phones come as assembled/configurable device, like the good old configurable personal computers?