Freezing Thoughts

Closure is an important aspect of human life. Just like how some yoghurt or ice cream completes a hearty meal, it is necessary to add the finishing touch to everything with grace. End of calendar year surely is time for a relaxed look at our lives; some introspection, soften few rough edges, hope for things to improve in all walks of life and get ready for a new beginning. New year is a useful catalyst to propel our lives better, but we should not forget the right ingredients, hard work and faith, to keep things moving and achieve whatever we desire. It is important to understand the beautiful mystery of life, every next instant is full of surprises and the only way to progress is to believe that it is possible to convert those surprises in our favour. Let us recollect all the wonderful moments we've had, people who made those moments special and hold them close to the heart always. Also, remember every toughening and difficult experience that made you grow as a person, s

[I was recently interviewed for the business magazine of my university, KTH&Co. It was an added surprise to find myself on the cover page ! This is an English translation of the interview (originally in Swedish).]                                                 Better insulation and durable transformers Computer simulation, design, construction and electrical power. Arun Venkataraman's thesis on insulation of transformers has a wide span. The work is carried out in collaboration with a researcher in chemistry. Depth and interdisciplinarity appeal to Arun, "That's where the future lies", he says. It was precisely interdisciplinarity that attracted Arun Subramanian Venkataraman to Sweden, Stockholm and KTH. In his hometown Chennai in South India, he studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering, an education that covers a wide range of topics. He wanted to complete his education with a Master's program that had a broad spectrum, 'Systems, Con

Listening to Rahul Dravid's Bradman Oration brought back memories of my own childhood days spent playing street cricket. Browsing through the internet, found some amazing collections of street cricket terms. Thought will make a glossary and contribute some of my own.  I dedicate this to every Indian who played (and is playing) street cricket. No wonder we produce world's best batsmen (really sad we also produced Arun Lal), considering all the street cricket played on 'the asphalt beauties' in India, Lord's and Perth are just cakewalks. Right then, here we go. And yea, don't forget to do as mentioned in the last line of this post. Atitail  Etymology English - Refers to a batsman being 'Retired' (hurt or not). Probably a corruption of 'Add at tail' or 'Hurt Retired'. Normally in a limited overs (say, 8 overs) match to give everyone a chance to bat, a batsman calls 'Atitail' and gives way for the next person.  A

It all started with what looked like a small insect bite. I was having a hectic day in university and totally ignored a slight uncomfortable feeling just above the upper lip. By evening, it was a noticeable little red patch that looked like bed-bug bite. Hoping it to subside overnight, I just went to sleep. By next day, my lip was swollen and I felt feverish. Since I had an important deadline coming up, I decided to stop being sick by being awesome (Pfff) and went ahead with the day. But by afternoon, even my Barney Stinson-ish unwavering optimism couldn't stop my head pounding with pain and rising temperature. I noticed that my face looked like a cross between Sharad Pawar and Vernon Dursley, decided it best to return home. I believed 'it is just getting worse before getting better' and decided to let it heal overnight (bad bad decision). When I could hardly get out of bed next morning and saw that the swelling was nowhere near subsiding, decided it was time

அதிகாலை மூன்று மணிக்கு எழுந்து தலை நனைய எண்ணெய் தேய்த்து குளித்து ஆசை ஆசையாய் புத்தாடை அணிந்து முகம் சுளித்து லேகியம் சாப்பிட்டு சரவெடி, லக்ஷ்மி வெடி, குருவி வெடி, பிஜிலி வெடி,  ராக்கெட், தர-சக்கரம், புஸ்வானம் என்று  வாங்கிய பாட்டாசு ஒன்றும் மிஞ்சாமல் திட்டம் போட்டபடி வெடித்து தீர்த்து  பிறகு என்ன செய்வது என்று தெரியாமல் பொழுது விளைவது ஏன் என்று புரியாமல்  நண்பர் உறவினர் எல்லோருக்கும்  தீபாவளி வாழ்த்து கூவி சொல்லி குடும்பத்துடன் அமர்ந்து விருந்துண்டு  'உண்ட களைப்பு' என்று விழுந்து உருண்டு  ஒரு சின்ன தூக்கம் போட்டு எழுந்து  இனிப்பு பலகாரம் கொறித்து  "விடிய விடிய தீபாவளி, அதுக்கு அப்புறம் கோமாளி" என்று பாட்டி சொல்வதை கேட்டு அடுத்த தீபாவளி எப்பொழுது வரும் என்று  ஆவலோடு  எதிர்பார்த்த  அந்த பள்ளி நாட்களின் அருமை இன்று உலகத்தின் ஒரு எல்லையில்  வீடும் நாடும் எட்டா தூரத்தில்  தனிமையில் ஒரு அறையில் இருக்கும்போதுதான் புரிகிறது. சில கேள்விகளுக்கு பதில் தெரிந்தாலும் அவைகளை கேட்காமல் இருக்க முடியாது. அப்ப

(I wrote this short story when I was in 9th standard, for a competition. This is not a real life incident.) "Arun, wake up. It's six-thirty.", my mother's voice from kitchen woke me up from sleep. Hoping to continue a pleasant dream I was having, I tried to bury myself deep into the bed and mumbled, "Five minutes mom." "Hmm, it's first of November. Remember you promised to start regular yoga from today ?", her words made me forget all about sleep and I was immediately wide awake. 'First of November', I thought. 'India versus Australia Pepsi Cup ODI series starts today. Man, after the humiliating defeat in World Cup, it's pay-back time, got to pack-off these Aussie batsmen with spinning tracks...' My thoughts were interrupted by the realization that I had to go to school. 'Maybe I can watch the match in library', I continued thinking. 'The librarian is a very nice guy, he will surely let me watch. The tr

I've always enjoyed autumn in Stockholm. The aged red walls of KTH (my university) buildings are adorned with climbers getting ready to shed their last leaves. Over a fortnight, one could observe the leaves going from green to many beautiful shades of yellow to deep red. In evenings, a bright golden sunshine illuminates the surroundings in a yellowish glow; just sitting outside and taking in the surroundings is an awesome time-pass. We in Stockholm know that in a few days, once final traces of autumn vanish and a white blanket of snow engulf the whole city, there will be no evenings to enjoy the sun (thinking about that, there will be no sun most days !). But then winter also brings festive mood and holiday season with it, so I guess there is not much to complain about. Talking about festive mood, I was lucky to be in Munich on the final day of Oktoberfest. The whole city was filled with people in traditional Bavarian attire; music, dance and beer everywhere. Even thoug

One of the good things about living in Munich is the ease with which one can travel to most of Europe's top tourist destinations. Last week, I had been to Amsterdam. It was Queen's Day, a day-long party festival in Amsterdam. Knowing what is legal there and how people party, I knew I was going to meet some "interesting" people. But the turn events took was far from my wildest imaginations! I reached Amsterdam on 30th April morning, after a bus journey I will remember for life. The route was wonderful with beautiful mustard fields, green mountains, slight rain and overcast skies that made me feel I was in Kerala traveling from Palghat to Cochin. :) I straight away went to Keukenhof tulip garden, which was the main agenda of my Amsterdam trip. With eighty acres of tulip gardens and miles of tulip fields outside, it was a colorful spectacle. After walking around for more than six hours, I finally gave up trying to cover the entire place and decided to go back to the city

India's impressive World Cup victory is the result of a thoroughly professional approach from a team, which is blessed with a wonderful captain and an amazingly committed coach. M.S.Dhoni and Gary Kirsten started plotting 'Operation World Cup' about 18 months ago, making sure that the right players for different roles were identified, carefully groomed and exposed them to some good cricket so that they are ready for the big stage. Everything went as per the plan, India started as favorites to win the cup, played very good cricket and won it in style. Strictly from a sport point of view, there is nothing more to say. But in India, cricket is not just a sport. Indian cricket team is an alter ego of every Indian fan. We all wish we were the captain, the coach, the selector and every Indian player playing there in the middle. When we see Sachin play a creamy cover drive or Sehwag nonchalantly stroke the ball around, we feel the same sense of achievement the batsman experiences

During the winter of 2009, when M.S.Dhoni was asked about some curious team selections that were made then, he replied, "We have the World Cup in one year, we want to have a squad of players who have an experience of 50-plus ODIs, so that we can pick a suitable playing eleven from them." The fact that India has marched into the finals of World Cup is not surprising, it is no miracle or an overnight transformation. It is the result of some carefully planned strategies and team selection. It is great to see all that effort paying off and Indian team lifting the game (when it really mattered !) with some disciplined cricket. Having the world's best batting line up, a score of 260 in a not-so-bad pitch in Mohali was not something an Indian fan would have expected. It is true that India finished 20-30 runs short of a competitive total, but then from 205 for 6 in 42 overs, it was Raina's cool head and uncomplicated cricket that made 260 possible. The bowlers had a tough job

Yesterday's Pacific tsunami and Indonesian volcanic activity has made 'Supermoon' a hot topic. On 19th Match 2011, the moon will make its closest approach to Earth (called lunar perigee) in 18 years. A new or full moon at 90% or greater of its closest perigee to Earth is called a 'SuperMoon'. An 'Extreme SuperMoon' (the one we are going to have on 19th) is when the moon is full or new as well as at its 100% greater mean perigee (closest) distance to earth. The effect of moon on earth and earthlings is nothing new. Ever wondered about the word 'lunatic' ? It refers to abnormal mental activity due to the impact of lunar cycle (different phases of moon). For example, on full moon and new moon days, the effect of moon's gravitation on earth is more than normal. This causes mood swings and mentally unstable people tend to be more sensitive and prone to aggressiveness. Apart from gravitational force, there is also the effect of moon's wave energy o

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the 13th zodiac sign Ophiuchus; whether it should be included into the current system, whether it changes everything someone has been believing (or ridiculing) all these days and importantly, is it going to change something. As a person with a lot of curiosity in astrophysics, I will attempt to answer some of these questions. Earth's elliptical orbit around the sun can be divided into 12 different energy zones. People born under the influence of one particular energy zone tend to have similar characteristics and behavioral aspects. To distinguish the different set of personalities, they were identified with the constellation that portrayed their characteristics. For example, people born under the 7th energy level were mostly observed to be very diplomatic, these people keep a good balance in whatever they do in life. So they are identified by the constellation 'Libra' (The Scales). Each constellation is just a portrayal of a set o

Happy New Year everyone. My hearty wishes and prayers for the coming days to bring us the best of everything. It was fun time at New Year midnight in Stockholm, standing in the city-centre in spite of a heavy snowfall and watching the fireworks with friends. After all that fun, it was an amazing experience to walk home on fresh snow with stray fireworks illuminating the sky at random. I noticed the very distinct footprints I left on snow and started thinking: 'Nice. Ooh, are my tracks straight ? Perhaps too straight for someone to think an army person walked by ? Ok, should I make it a bit zig-zag so that it appears natural ? No, people may think these are a drunken guy's tracks. Lemme stop and look back how my tracks are. Aargh, it shows that I stopped here and turned back. Damn, people will think I carefully orchestred my tracks....' Why was I so concerned about my foot-prints on snow ? Come another snowfall, those tracks will vanish. But how about impressions that last f