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 topic...

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 ...