Galactic Gibberish

Living Green

2009-03-17T15:14:00.007+05:30

We seldom think about how little actions of ours are harmful for the environment. It does not need big changes, only a slight thought before we just do things the way we have been doing them. I was able to figure out a few:

Keep a handkerchief, as we used to do in the old days. Instead of just asking for a tissue wherever you eat, take out your handkerchief, just as you used to back in school!
In office, just keep a tumbler or coffee mug to get your coffee and water instead of using the million disposable cups.
Take bath the Indian way, bucket and a mug. It saves water.
Fix all the taps that drip.
Take the stairs. Save electricity and get some much-needed exercise.
Run a full load while doing laundry. Saves electricity and water.
Use a detergent such as Surf Excel Quickwash, takes less water.
Turn off the charger once you disconnect your phone or laptop. It keeps using electricity even after the phone or laptop is charged.
Use an insulated electric kettle to boil water. It is designed to be more energy efficient.
Use rechargeable batteries.
Install an economy flush system in your loo. It saves a lot of water.
Use the back of your printouts for rough work. Or take two-sided printouts.
Hibernate your computer before leaving work.
Turn off the power of electronic devices when not in use. The standby mode consumes power.
Turn off the lights when leaving the room.

Oh and throw trash in the bin. It helps trash from not ending up buried in the soil, clogged in a drain and keeps your surroundings clean too!

Rotting here

2008-12-11T21:20:00.004+05:30

This institute leaves a lot to be desired, and that is just putting it mildly. Here are some data points to support my "hypothesis":

We have been charged mammoth fees in the name of facilities and hostel. Facilities such as computer and phone. The document said that there would be a phone in every room. Nada! Nothing at all like that! On top of it, the condition of the hostel is filthy. The paint chips off the walls and ceilings. The lift does not work. In fact the warden and programme director have themselves told us to refrain from using the lift. It is supposed to be replaced and they are aware that it is dangerous. Yet, batches after batches pass out without seeing any real action.
The placements are entirely the business of the students. Students must go out, get companies, entertain them without even so much as cooperation from the powers responsible. The director can be caught unawares... wouldn't even know that a process is going on! Unique!
The course scheduling is horrible. Perhaps they need to take some lessons from the OR guy on project scheduling. For one course, we were supposed to have only five classes. Can anybody guess when those happen? No, wrong. They take place all in the last week of the term when we have a hundred other submissions lined up and we are actually supposed to wind up everything and study for a couple of days before the exams begin, instead of just sitting in one class, learning alien concepts and analyzing cases, pretending that we have nothing better to do in life.
The mess sucks. Unlike all NORMAL places, there is no system of pay-as-you-consume. You have to pay an astronomical amount regardless of whether you eat once a day or once a month. And then you find cockroaches in the food. Of course, the caterer cannot change. There is a tender to be floated and I am sure you can figure out why they like only this one caterer for years and years.
The infrastructure is poor, to say the least. There is no place to entertain companies, play sports. There is an area near the canteen that stinks as though there are some remains decomposing there. God help! Maybe we need to call Dr. Brennan to figure out what it is.
There will be random guest lectures scheduled. Each person coming and talking about the same thing, sometimes. I understand, sometimes it is needed for networking. But imagine this, some guy coming and telling you how he hasn't fallen ill for 40 years and how you must use his methodology in your life.

The only savior of this place are the students perhaps. Perhaps their spirit is breaking as well. Mine certainly is. And to think, what all I gave up to come to this place. Sigh.

Worst Rooms at IIFT

2008-12-04T20:50:00.003+05:30

The x7-x8 series of door-less rooms at IIFT are probably the worst ones. Let me explain the architecture of the rooms here in the old hostel. There are two adjacent rooms separated by a gallery that houses a bathroom and a restroom. Usually, each of the two rooms has an independent entrance and a second door that opens into the gallery with the bathroom. This gives a reasonable sense of separation from the washing area and the so-called adjacent room.

However, on each floor the 7-8 pair of rooms are an anomaly. There is only one entrance that goes in via the x8 room. There are no doors between the two rooms and washing area. It is like living in a noisy dormitory with little privacy or peace. Everyone who goes into x7 has to go via x8. The x8 people have to act as doorkeepers all the time. All this becomes much worse when the people in x7 have a proliferating social life and absence of paraphernelia that enables people to speak in a normal human low tone.

Living in x8 is tiring and irritating, especially for someone who needs some quiet time during the day, needs peace to study or sleep. This is extremely testing. Why don't they just put all noisy people in such rooms and let them enjoy each others' company? Why torture peace-loving souls?!

Lastly, exams are around the corner. I hope the noisy events in the adjacent room go down or I might have to resort to some tough talking. I hope it doesn't come to that.

Pain

2008-11-24T03:02:00.002+05:30

On Pain
Kahlil Gibran

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.

Much of your pain is self-chosen.
It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.
Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:
For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,
And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.

Love Thyself

2008-10-06T18:27:00.004+05:30

Carrie Bradshaw in final scene of Sex and the City:

"Later that day, I got to thinking about relationships - there are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started, and those that bring you back; But the most exciting, challenging, and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself, and if you find someone to love the you that you love, well, that's just fabulous!"

Use Browser URL History to Estimate Gender

2008-08-15T23:36:00.002+05:30

An interesting tool to estimate gender based on your browser history. Go here to analyze yours.

My results were:

Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 47%
Likelihood of you being MALE is 53%

:P

Hotel Monarch Mussoorie

2008-06-18T10:27:00.002+05:30

I went to Mussorie last weekend with family. We had reservations at Hotel Monarch. Apparently some friend's relative's relative owns the hotel so my parents had booked two rooms there for backup, in case we didn't find any other hotel. The room cost was Rs. 2200. They said that they would give a ten percent discount and breakfast free. On our way, we started getting calls from the hotel to check whether we would be staying at the hotel indeed. My dad bought some time, he thought we could look at couple of other hotels too. We should have really figured that something is wrong with Hotel Monarch, given their desperation.

Anyhow, we reached on the Landour side of Mussoorie and checked the Jain Dharamshala. It is supposed to be good. My aunt is a Jain so she could have gotten rooms but the place was completely full. The rooms cost about Rs. 200 a day. After this, we found a sort of agent who took us to the Himalayan Club. He showed us two kinds of rooms, one kind was for Rs. 1320, but it was small; the other was huge and great and it was for Rs. 1800. However, only one of the bigger rooms was available for two nights, the other one was available for just one night. At that time we thought that we'd stay for two nights. My dad tried to bargain but they wouldn't agree so finally we thought we might as well go to the "good" hotel we had reservations in and take advatage of the free breakfast. Bad decision.

We reached the other side of the Mall Road, climbed a steep slope to get to the hotel and the rooms turn out to be smaller than the small rooms at the Himalayan Club that we were getting for Rs. 1320. The breakfast was not free, apparently he said that they had never said anything like that! Unfortunately, we were way too tired to go back to Landour so we just took those rooms.

Hotel Monarch is probably the WORST hotel in Mussoorie. The rooms are tiny and suffocating. The room service is pathetic. The sheets were dirty. The bathrooms were dirtier. There were no blankets. After much argument, we got a torn blanket. After we checked in, instead of asking if we would like tea or water, their receptionist kept calling to ask us to go and give the advance as though we would just run away. Alas! We should have run away! When we asked for an extra bed in a room, we got a tiny dirty mattress that we sent back. We ended up with three people sleeping on their tiny double bed that so damp, it could have been wet. The next morning, the hotel ran out of hot water. There was no hot water for an entire hour! Our trip got delayed because of this. Worst hotel. Worst infrastructure. Worst service. It doesn't even have 24 hours room service.

Because of the suffocating and discomfort, we decided to check out the next morning, do some tourist things and head back home. So on Saturday night, we were back home after a trip to Mussoorie in less than 24 hours.

My advice - stay clear of this hotel if you ever go to Mussoorie. They have other hotels too - Landour Manor is one of them. It would probably be as bad.

P.S. - I asked them for a feedback book. Obviously, they didn't have this either.

Short and Refreshing Weekend Break!

2008-06-08T23:34:00.002+05:30

I had a great weekend visiting Shakumbhri Devi and Haridwar. It was a nearly flawless trip with the best of weather, traffic, and fortunate setting. We didn't have to wait much anywhere. The air was fresh, the Ganges even better! I took a dip in the Ganga after about 15 years or so. It was extremely refreshing and I feel like my batteries have been recharged and a lot of negativity, including my sins, has literally been washed away. Took two dips in the Ganga. One of those was a very quick one and it was raining! So there was rain from the top and water water everywhere! Amazing experience. Rain water actually felt lukewarm because the water of the Ganga was chilled!

I had two early mornings. Woke up at 4 am on Saturday and 6.30 am on Sunday. I did not mind it at all though. I guess that as long as I have something to do and something to look forward to, I can manage to wake up early. Now I suppose the only thing I need to work out is to find something amazing to do every single day of my life! ;)

Justine Henin announces shock retirement

2008-05-15T14:08:00.003+05:30

After the retirement of Steffi Graf, Justine Henin has been my favourite player in women's tennis. Yesterday she announced her shocking retirement with immediate effect.

In the day and age of modern tennis, she was the only player who not only had power but a great amount of technique in her game. That is precisely why I enjoyed watching her play. Her formidable slice backhand almost reminded me of Steffi.

Women's tennis lost its charm for me. I am not interested in watching over-dressed powerhouses banging away the ball.

Irreparable loss to women's tennis, indeed.

Quotes from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

2008-05-08T19:55:00.002+05:30

Not all who wander are lost. - J.R.R. Tolkien
Luck never gives; it only lends. - Ancient Chinese proverb
Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday. - Anonymous
Can you make yourself love? Can you make yourself be loved? - Lena Kaligaris
There is no such thing as fun for the whole family. - Jerry Seinfield
Love is like war: easy to begin, hard to end. - Proverb
Rule#1: The customer is always right. Rule#2: If the customer is wrong, please refer to rule#1. - Duncan Howe
When life hands you a lemon, say, "Oh yeah, I like lemons. What else ya got?" - Henry Rollins
I have seen the future and it's like the present, only longer. - Den Quisenberry
Sometimes you're the windshield; sometimes you're the bug. - Mark Knopfler
If you feel like you're under control, you're just not going fast enough. - Mario Andretti
The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Got that? - Coach Brevin
If you don't find it in the index, look very carefully throughout the entire catalog. - Sears Roebuck catalog
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes. - Frieda Norris
Time tells the truth. - Fortune Cookie
Of the thirty six ways of avoiding disaster, running away is best. - Anonymous
Life is so... whatever. - Kelly Marquette
You will make all kinds of mistakes: but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her. - Winston Churchill
Wish for what you want. Work for what you need. - Carmen's grandmother
My karma ran over my dogma. - Bumper sticker
You can take a road that gets you to the stars. I can take a road that will see me through. - Nick Drake
What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
All Moanday, Tearday, Wailsday, Thumpsday, Frightday, Shatterday. - James Joyce
Is there world enough for me? - Jane Frances
In your eyes I am complete. - Peter Gabriel

Friendship and Fiction

2008-05-08T19:39:00.005+05:30

I read a book today - The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. A story of four friends Tibby, Carmen, Bridget, and Lena. It is a gripping and well-written book about how close-knit friendship can be, how people who are so different can come to care so much about each other and be bound by the unsaid solemn vow of friendship.

Another of my favourite friendship series is Sex and The City. Samantha, Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte are as different as four people can be, they disagree and yet, they stick around and be there for each other.

The more I watch and read such books and stories, I wonder where has friendship disappeared from real life. I don't have any close friends in the same city. They've moved, gotten married, moved on, grown out of friendship, stopped caring, or all of the above! The only friends I seem to have now are in distant cities. Thankfully there are a few who are still around (in cyber space or over the phone) and bother if I call them in distress. The rest make me wonder how soon before these ones become scarce too? Is this a quarter-life crisis, friends reduced to pleasant acquaintances? If yes, what is the mid-life crisis?

Is modern friendship just limited to a guest appearance in fiction?

Pleasure

2008-04-18T01:01:00.005+05:30

On Pleasure
Kahlil Gibran

Pleasure is a freedom-song, But it is not freedom.
It is the blossoming of your desires,
But it is not their fruit.
It is a depth calling unto a height, But it is not the deep nor the high. It is the caged taking wing,
But it is not space encompassed.
Ay, in very truth, pleasure is a freedom song.
And I fain would have you sing it with fullness of heart; yet I would not have you lose your hearts in the singing.

Some of your youth seek pleasure as if it were all, and they are judged and rebuked.
I would not judge nor rebuke them. I would have them seek.
For they shall find pleasure, but not her alone;
Seven are her sisters, and the least of them is more beautiful than pleasure.
Have you not heard of the man who was digging in the earth for roots and found a treasure?

And some of your elders remember pleasures with regret like wrongs committed in drunkenness.
But regret is the beclouding of the mind and not its chastisement.
They should remember their pleasures with gratitude, as they would the harvest of a summer.
Yet if it comforts them to regret, let them be comforted.

And there are among you those who are neither young to seek nor old to remember;
And in their fear of seeking and remembering they shun all pleasures, lest they neglect the spirit or offend against it.
But even in their foregoing is their pleasure.
And thus they too find a treasure though they dig for roots with quivering hands.
But tell me, who is he that can offend the spirit?
Shall the nightingale offend the stillness of the night, or the firefly the stars?
And shall your flame or your smoke burden the wind?
Think you the spirit is a still pool which you can trouble with a staff?

Oftentimes in denying yourself pleasure you do but store the desire in the recesses of your being.
Who knows but that which seems omitted today, waits for tomorrow?
Even your body knows its heritage and its rightful need and will not be deceived.
And your body is the harp of your soul,
And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds.

And now you ask in your heart, "How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?"
Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower,
But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee.
For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,
And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,
And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.

People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.

Calvin's quotes

2008-03-24T00:52:00.002+05:30

This is the most remarkable thing about life. It is never so bad that it can't get worse.
It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept.
I let my mind wander and it didn't come back.
My life needs a rewind/erase button.
Do I need to have an explanation for everything I do?
Life's disappointments are harder to take when you don't know any swear words!
I have got loads of common sense, I just choose not to use it!
There is never enough time to do all the nothing you want.
I've decided to stop caring about things. If you care, you just get disappointed all the time. If you DON'T care, nothing matters, so you're never upset. From now on my rallying cry is 'So WHAT?!'
Calvin: "Why can't I stay up late? You guys can! IT'S NOT FAIR!"
Dad: "The WORLD isn't fair, Calvin."
Calvin: "I know, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor?"
Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.
The strange thing about the past is that it keeps coming back.

Personalized Menstrual Calendar

2008-03-24T00:24:00.002+05:30

The Cycles Page is a personalized online fertility tracking site. It is quite useful even for women who just want to keep track of their menstrual cycles and not necessarily track fertility. Earlier there used to be paid features but now all of their features are open to free users.

The features I find useful are date tracking, reminder of next menstrual date, and ability to download past data to a CSV or excel file.

Joy and Sorrow

2008-03-15T18:46:00.001+05:30

On Joy and Sorrow
Kahlil Gibran

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

Iced Tea Recipe

2008-03-15T18:39:00.001+05:30

Now that the summer is around the corner, it is time to revisit the cool and refreshing beverages. Here is one of my favourites...

Lemon Iced Tea
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups water
2 tea bags
2 cups orange juice
5 tsp lemon juice
3-4 mint leaves
Lots of ice

Method:
1. Blend the sugar, mint leaves, orange juice and lemon juice till the sugar dissolves.
2. Boil the water and add the two tea bags and let it stand for a couple of minutes.
3. Let the tea-water cool.
4. Mix the tea water with the orange juice mixture and blend again.
5. Serve chilled with lots of ice.

IT Job Interview Preparation

2008-03-15T16:08:00.008+05:30

A few links:

Data Structures FAQ
JSP Tutorial
Data Structures and Algorithms
Data Structures and Algorithms in Java
Programming Puzzles
Common Interview Questions
C Interview Questions
Free Puzzle Collection
Heaps
Java FAQ
JSP Interview Questions
Microsoft Interview Questions
General Interview Questions
Algorithm Complexity
Binary Trees
Technical Interview Questions

IT Job Interview Questions

2008-03-15T00:20:00.002+05:30

A few of my ex-teammates and I prepared this when we were looking for jobs. C++ and general IT questions. Feel free to add answers below.

What are enumerations?
What are unions?
What do you know about byte alignment in structs?
How can you create objects on the heap?
What are virtual classes?
Find the number of 1's in a number.
There is an array of numbers from 1 to 1000 in which one of the numbers is duplicated. Find the duplicated number.
Create a queue using two stacks.
Write a one-line check for checking whether a given number is a power of 2.
Difference between new and malloc.
What happens on mixing free and new?
What is name mangling?
What is the usage of volatile and mutable keywords?
What happens when you delete a null pointer?
How can you delete void*?
Casting in C++
Safe dynamic casting using static cast.
Are static members allowed in a local class?
What all do threads share?
Difference between thread communication and process communication.
How to construct a tree, given its traversals?
What are smart pointers?
What is Thread Local storage?
How can you get to common ancestors of two nodes in a tree?
What are named constructors?
What is placement new?
What is the difference between char* and char[]?
Delete a node from a linked list, given the pointer to the node.
For a good design, what all should be implemented in a C++ class? E.g. Copy constructor, assignment operator, etc.
Should a constructor throw an exception?
Should a destructor throw an exception?
What are virtual destructors?
Difference between Thread synchronization and process synchronization.
Write code to detect loops in a list.
How to find complexity of recursive functions?
Named parameter idiom.
Design patterns - singleton, factory, visitor, observer.

Educated Ignorants!

2008-03-05T11:55:00.003+05:30

There is a new breed of people around me - every one of them is highly educated, most having professional degrees, some graduates of premier institutes of India. Yet, when it comes to common courtesy, decency, and common sense, I think an uneducated person may sometimes have more sense than them. I call this breed - "Educated Ignorants".

Here are a few symptoms of the people of this species:

They don't throw garbage in the dust bin. For them, if a lot of other people have strewn garbage at a place, it is a legitimate reason for them to not use a dust bin. If you try to educate them about general civic sense, they would mock you or dismiss you as being dumb, idealistic, and purist.
They throw garbage outside their car window. Obviously, the car is not to be dirtied even if it means only keeping an empty wrapper until they get out of the car and throw it in the dustbin. Some of them argue that God has created wind to sweep the garbage away from the roads. Some others contend that if they don't throw garbage out, a lot of cleaning personnel will lose their jobs or worse, it is the job of the municipal authority to keep the roads clean and they will be damned if they do that job.
They do not even blink at jumping red traffic signals or going on the wrong side of the road. If there is a traffic light, it is the police's problem that they installed it and they can't be bothered to respect it. If there is no cut in the median, they have every right to take a shortcut by simply going on the wrong side.
They burp and sneeze unapologetically, without putting a hand on their mouth. Their argument - it is a natural process and they should feel proud at burping loudly in public, it only means that they had a good meal.
They have poor personal hygiene and see nothing wrong with it. Of course, they probably cannot smell their own body odour.
They have no respect for the rights of non-smokers and would simply go and smoke in a public area even when it clearly says "NO SMOKING". It is after all the other people's problem that they don't smoke.
They jump queues without even saying excuse me.
They would bump into you and not even say sorry.
They spit chewing gum without wrapping it in a paper.
They spit on the street without a pause.
They pee by the roadside.

I am sure there are more symptoms but these are all I can think of at the moment. Anybody got any suggestions?

Caution: Do not try to educate this species about anything. You will only fall flat in your face or you may even be converted into one of them!

Friendship

2008-02-29T00:51:00.001+05:30

On Friendship
Kahlil Gibran

Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay."
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

Selected Columns - Taslima Nasreen

2008-02-27T12:28:00.003+05:30

I just finished reading Selected Columns by Taslima Nasreen. This is the first time I read a book by the author. The book is a collection of some of her columns that appeared in a Bangladeshi newspaper. The columns were translated from Bengali to English by Debjani Sengupta.

Though I haven't read Taslima's controversial book - Lajja, after reading this book, I could not understand why there is such hue and cry about her writing. From my experiences, her writings accurately depict what every woman in the Indian subcontinent feels and faces in her life. Taslima raises questions that perhaps every educated woman tries to ignore everyday. She transcribes what perhaps every woman felt and felt ashamed to share. I suppose she is right, in a patriarchal society, even the voice of a woman needs to squashed for the men to continue to "rule", especially the voice against these very men.

The book makes me wonder once again why I still stay in this region and put up with all this. Perhaps one day I shall be free.

GMAT AWA Analysis of IssueTemplate

2008-02-12T23:55:00.000+05:30

The template I used for my GMAT AWA Analysis of Issue essay is below. Another one that played a part in my getting a 6 on AWA. :)

*****************

Para 1:

The issue of..... provides number of contentious areas. An examination of it provides many positive aspects such as .... Though these are counter-pointed by negatives as well which include... . My personal position is that.....

Para 2:
In support of my thesis (argument/position), .....

Para 3:
Furthermore I am confident that....

Para 4:
Equally important....

Para 5:

In a nutshell ..... (List what ever is in paras 2 3 4 and link them)

GMAT AWA Analysis of Argument Template

2008-02-12T23:51:00.000+05:30

Here is the template I used for my GMAT AWA. It worked well and I got a 6 on AWA :)

*****************

The argument concludes that... (restate the conclusion of the statement)... . However, on analysis this is not altogether persuasive since it ignores substantive conjectures.

First the author gratuitously presumes that....

Second the argument (superfluously assumes)/(ignores) that...

Finally the argument overlooks that...

Hence, the argument is not completely sound. The facts in supports of the conclusion x,y,z fail to account for the aforementioned assumptions. Accordingly, the argument might have been bolstered by... . With these facts, the argument might actually have been convincing.

Love

2008-02-07T01:33:00.000+05:30

Kahlil Gibran on Love

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

The Prophet

2008-02-07T01:19:00.000+05:30

The Prophet is a collection of poems written by Kahlil Gibran. It was first published in 1923. I first heard about this book in 2004. A couple of quotations and I decided it does warrant a reading.

Luckily, I was not disappointed. The book is a collection of poems each of which can be taken as spiritual guides in corresponding situations. I forgot all about the book and how powerful it could be. Couple of days ago, one of my friends mentioned Kahlil Gibran and I found her the URL of a web-based version of the book. It took five minutes and she and I were both utterly involved in the book, pasting excerpts back and forth. Words that made sense, words that calmed us, words that seemed to justify our lives.

When you feel lost, I'd recommend reading this book and it would fill you with enough thoughts that you would probably be able to find your way. When you are happy, you would be able to appreciate the simplicity of this book. The best part is that though it is poetry, it is very easily understandable. One may not even realise that he or she is reading poetry.

Tomorrow onwards I would begin a series where I would post each chapter of this book one by one. I hope it helps me remember to use the book when I feel lost again. I hope it helps find others find themselves.