Hopelessly Bored :((

The past one month has been very hectic with exam preparations and interviews. I was praying all these days for the exams to get over because i hate studying for exams.. its not as interesting as studying for knowledge. Today, i realize that i have actually grown “workaholic”.. Now, dont imagine me studying late nights, coding all day and doing other geeky stuff.. “work” according to me includes ssoo many things be it sleeping, singing, listening to music, dancing, talking on the phone or chatting online.. its all WORK

Some strange things happen during exam time

* the urge to sleep increases with the study load

* the interest in reading general books and solving programming problems shoots up as exams approach

* the last exam is the hardest to prepare for.. most of time is spent on (fruitless) planning for the vacation and stupid dreaming

Life seems tooo rosy on the day i finish my exams.. but the excitement soon dies out. Morning naps are no longer so enjoyable, spending time with loved ones in spite of busy schedule is no longer a problem.. Well, exams really bring out the BEST out of me. I tend to compete with myself each time to accomplish more n more n more, to read more in lesser time, to keep up with the challenges thrown at me by life

Its been only one day since exams got over and i feel ssssssooo bored.. no mood to read books. I tried listening to songs, chatting online, chatting with mom for one hour on phone, sleeping but still dont seem to be satisfied with all these. I want to go on a looooooooong vacation to a calm and quiet place. A place free from differences, a place where peace and harmony prevail, a place free from jealousy and arguments.. a place full of love and faith, a place which makes me feel that “I AM ALIVE”!!!

“Random” between limits

Many algorithm correctness and performance tests, games and others require random number generation. Here is a way to generate a random number between two limits min and max.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<time.h>
int main()

{

int randomnum;
int min=1;  /* lower limit */
int max=7; /*upper limit */

time_t seconds;
time(&seconds);
srand((unsigned int) seconds);  /*seed for rand() */

randomnum = rand() % (max-min+1) + min; /*generate random number within limits*/

printf(“random number=%d\n”,randomnum);

return 0;

}

The idea behind the solution is very simple.

• rand() generates a random integer between 0 and RAND_MAX. The number generated depends on the seed
• rand()%max+1 generates an integer between 1 and max
• On the same lines, rand()%(max-min+1) generates a random number between 0 and (max-min) thereby randomizing the difference between the two limits. To this random difference, we can add a lower limit min to generate the random integer between min and max

Incredible Inspiration!!!

“If you think you are beaten, you are
If you think you dare not, you dont.
If you like to win, but you think you cant,
It is almost certain you wont.

If you think you’ll lose, you are lost,
For out in the world we find,
Success begins in a fellow’s will
Its all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You’ve got to think high to rise,
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles dont always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!”

“He” is my happiness

I still remember the stories told by my grand mother which typically begin with “In a distant land, lived a beautiful princess… loved by a handsome prince ” and end with “and they lived happily ever after “. Before i could even know the meaning of love, i was crazy about my dream boy ( following simran’s foot steps in DDLJ!!! ) and thoroughly believed that “my prince” would take me away one day

After some years, this fantasy world seemed to be too unrealistic.. I grew busy with my studies, caring for family etc.. My world revolved around them I have always believed in the quote — “If u desire for something with all ur mind n heart, the whole universe wil conspire in helping u achieve it”. I have always loved the feeling that I wil be in LOVE one day.

“He” walked into my life in the most unexpected manner possible. Calm, composed, warm, friendly, intelligent, cute.. everything that i ever wanted in “my” boy.. We have had a journey which has a stronger story line than most of the superhits in bollywood. Well, it definitely took some time for me to realize that “he” is THE ONE for me. But one point has always been significant ever since we have met each other and that is “happiness”. He came into my life as happiness, the journey of happiness continued each time we met and now “he” is my definition of happiness!! “He” is the greatest gift to me from GOD. Nothing seems more important than him.. not even my life. Thank u “my boy” for making me realize that love is ssssssoooooo beautiful. “He” changed my world by being my world.

All the moments we spend together.. chatting for long hrs, thinking about each other, planning our meets and those very special meets.. steal my heart, as though i am falling in love with “him” all over again!!! A smile on “his” face wipes out all my sadness and worries, and makes me feel glad that i am alive. My heart dances with joy when I realize how lucky I am to have “him”. I want to live for “him”, ensure that he is happy always, work towards realizing all his dreams. My life is the smallest gift i can ever give “him”. Puranas say that two persons become friends for life after walking seven steps together. I want to walk a million steps with “him”, hand-in-hand, so that “he” is mine for the entire spiritual journey.

His questions like “Why do u love me?” drive me to feel and think hard because every time i discover a reason to love “him”, it seems tooooo weak to express my love.. “My boy”, do i need any reason to love u? His sweetness, care, support make me crazy about “him”. I ponder over “his” naughty questions and romantic descriptions for hours together. Words fall short to express “his” importance to me. I hope and pray GOD that our “love story” will resemble a fairy tale and v ll be happy together forever.

My boy, since you love simplicity, here are the last few words ONLY for you .. “I LOVE YOU more than myself“.

-”Yours” forever Netra

P.S: No comments enquiring about “him” are encouraged

Life at its BEST

I received an internship offer from Yahoo! Research and Developement, India in last November. Since then, I have always cherished the idea of meeting people at Yahoo!, seeing their work culture and the ambiance at Y!.

Prasanna invited me to join them on Interns’ Day on 11-4-2008.. Luckily, I got permission from our HOD to attend the function. Rama, my classmate, and me first went to M.G. Road office. Pavan, our senior, who is working in Y! took us inside the office and GOSH!! Its a different world. Great place to work.

Then we went to the EGL office. I was told that I ll be doing my internship at that office.. The office carves a niche of its own Its simply superb. A huge mood chart welcomes u at the entrance. The most wonderful aspect is that each floor has a theme.. like historic monuments, music, sports etc. Whats makes Y! most special is its people. EVERYBODY is ssssssssooooo humble and sweet!! I was astonished at their simplicity. The work place also offers good food in LARGE quantities. I hope to put on weight during my internship Pavan explained that the work is tooooo good and stressful situations are rare. We interacted with Sushma, our HR, also.

I met Prasanna. He is a really nice person… very humble, down to earth and a genius ( He is the one who took my interview for the internship .. his approach to optimization is amazing). We attended the interns’ day function. It was very very funny . Great performances and it was a very good stress reliever. It was a pleasure to meet all the seniors from my college interning @ Y!.

Prasanna did a great help by dropping me home.. For the first time, I experienced Bangalore’s traffic at its worst. Well, it took us 3 flat hrs to drive home I must admire Prasanna’s patience for tolerating my unending questions for 3 hrs.. Prasanna, Rama and me discussed about lots and lots of topics ranging from movies to tech. Prasanna even gave a treat at Coffee Day.. GOD!! If the higher-ups of everyone is so sweet and caring.. life would be so comfortable..

Thank God. it was a PERFECT DAY.

Open source tools for children!!!

Yesterday, I searched for open source tools for my 9 year old brother.. The results were amazing.

Tux Paint is a wonderful program for painting. In particular I liked the magic and stamp section. The happiness on my bro’s face after seeing this tool was priceless The features like sparkle, drip, shades, rainbow, grass, stamps etc are very good.

Pingus is a game involving penguins (well, u can term it as a strategic game ). The best part is its UI and the ease with with which u can create a level.. I designed a level for my bro and he enjoyed it very much. The game stimulates children to think about the necessary actions to be taken to reach the goal..

So.. If u have small kids at home, try exposing them to these tools and i bet they wil enjoy!!!

Signing off,

-Netra