This can usually be found on Twitter.
There's a very chirpy article about Mr. Singh, recently re-elected Prime Minister of India. Incredibly optimistic, it's very heartening at a time when India is slowly climbing up my list of countries-I-want-to-end-up-in.
Since I'm oh-so Indopolitical tonight, I might as well mention my concern at a BBC article on dynastic politics in India, jumping off from Ms. Sangma's entry into politics (her father was once Speaker of the national Parliament). Newsweek suggests that perhaps Mr. Gandhi (the Congress prince expectant) does not mean to lead the party himself, but is try to engage the people to join in. Remember that he has also repeatedly said during the last couple of years that in his view one of the most important tasks before him is to democratise the Congress and hold internal elections
(so sayth the BBC). Perhaps — and I say this entirely in my post-chirpy-article mood, mind — maybe perhaps he will never be Prime Minister; instead, he is trying to replicate within the country's oldest political party what has sort-of been achieved in the country itself: thriving, crazy, beautiful, dangerous, shiny, shining democracy.
I'd be skeptical; there's that thing about power corrupting to contend with, and lighting a flame under the monstrous Indian political juggernaut would be hard in the best of cases. But? Maybe that's all hope is, the ability to ask "But?" in the face of all opposition. I think I will assume the worse, but I'd deeply, deeply love to be wrong.
Labels: congress, india, manmohan singh, politics, rahul gandhi
This post was posted by Gaurav at 11:08 PM | 0 comments | Post a Comment
I woke up to the strangest dream this morning: my mum, dad, and sister were "in a house" (which house? Somehow I assumed it was somewhere in Singapore, but it couldn't be, could it?), and we were moving to Australia. It was a pretty abstract dream about moving, running around, packing this, anticipating that (including sage advice like "eat lightly *before* flying somewhere new, but then eat heaving *once* you get there, preferably at localtime lunchtime"), and generally a whole lot of packing boxes and an impressive number of possessions (mm, possessions).
But the reason I woke up confused was two-fold: firstly, because I have a very dim memory of moves at all (it was usually done by movers while I was at school, except for the last one, which was Bangalore to Bangalore. That one I remember); in fact, it's likely that the dream was an extrapolation of my moves within Singapore. And secondly, because I'd clean forgotten just how much fun moving somewhere was. I remember reading a book as a kid which had a very pretty description of someone moving from one place to another, and I was nervous enough as a kid that moving elsewhere always seemed a fine opportunity to leave all my worries behind, so it had that going for it.
But there's also all the other fantastic stuff about being a kid moving from one home to another. There's so much to get done: you have to careful denude the house down to its whitewashed walls and barefooted floors, exactly as you found it when you first moved in; all the memories have to be carefully sifted through and brought along to your new home; everything has to be in a box or in its shoes and ready to move out when the call goes out. Then it's a cab ride, airport trip - eat lightly! - hop on a plane, and - before you have time to miss what you've left - you'll be somewhere you've never been before.
Labels: moving, reminisces
This post was posted by Gaurav at 7:50 AM | 0 comments | Post a Comment
The contradiction in the title is easily explained: it was a fantastically good weekend on all counts, except in terms of "things I should have got done", of which basically none were done at all (arguably, I slept in for ages on Friday and Saturday because I stayed up late Wednesday and Thursday to push the first release of Graphics-Magick-Object, my first CPAN module). But the fact remains that, of the things I wanted to get out of the way this weekend, basically none got done. Botheration.
What did get done: much hanging out with friends, much minor exercise (walking about, playing squash, and suchlike), some meeting of new people (thanks to Logic Mills' excellent monthly boardgame get-togethers), much chatting and laughing and having fun, and a pile of shopping (including the surprisingly cute Corrine, Corrina). The food eaten was generally excellent too. So it was a truly fantastic weekend, except for the bits which weren't.
I'm going to forgive this excess (hey, anything which promotes socializing for me is probably better for my long-term happiness than any of this study-worky stuff), and - having paid restitution by publishing something on my programming blog - I'll get back to TaxonDNA/CITPM tomorrow.
Labels: good weekend
This post was posted by Gaurav at 11:39 PM | 0 comments | Post a Comment
Okay, this is about the first time I've filled up a quiz without someone tagging me directly or any such, but it was just too much fun to pass up! It was a challenge, so how could I resist?
Here are the instructions:
Using only song titles from ONE ARTIST to answer these questions. Pass it on to 15 people you like and include me. Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think.
'Dyu see? Such fun! As expected I picked the greatest band of all time. Here are the questions:
I'm not going to tag anyone, but please let me know if you fill up this quiz yourself, so I get a chance to read yours. And have fun with it!
Labels: music, quiz, random, song titles, the beatles
This post was posted by Gaurav at 12:19 AM | 0 comments | Post a Comment
I hate 'em. So stressful! E-mail's so much better, if not quite as quick. Ah, well. We suffer in the silence we're forced to break when the ringing stops.
Had a strange idea last night; how about computer science teacher as a career move? A more interesting (and possibly less stressful) life than project management, probably better paying than startup-programming-junkie, a whole lot more interesting than code monkey-ing and a whole lot less dangerous than sysad-ing. I suppose it plops into the list.
Okay, phone calls can be procrastinated no longer. And once they're done - GTA4! Hooray, etc.
Labels: computer science teacher, phone calls
This post was posted by Gaurav at 10:40 PM | 0 comments | Post a Comment
Hmm. It's almost two a.m., I'm procrastinating this last bit of homework I've got and a bunch of lecture slides I should go through before the workshop tomorrow; stuff's all printed out, but I don't know how I'm going to get up in time and find a cab and then rush down with everything I need ...
Yep, that's it. This is exactly like being an undergrad again.
Updated 4:15am 2009-04-04: And once again, spreadsheets - this time, the lovely Numbers - to the rescue. Hooray. Time for bed.
This post was posted by Gaurav at 1:50 AM | 0 comments | Post a Comment
Gong xi fa cai! This Chinese New Year finds me in good spirits: things are going pretty well workwise, I'm starting on a short-term course in a week which could change my life in interesting ways, and I've got semi-viable plans through mid-2010. Which means 2009 is - in the gross - fairly decided. Pretty unusual!
It's also January 26, and - apart from hoping that nothing untoward happens in India today and remembering my Grandmum's birthday - my mind floats back a couple of years. Most of January tends to be quite loaded for me, emotionally speaking; it's nice, you get your emotional complexities out of the way first, and can then take on the year with clear heart, fresh mind, and fish.
Worry-wrinkles on the horizon? Naught but the usual: managing money, managing life, managing expectations. To say nothing of my weight, which also needs managing. And time, and friendships, and and and. Well, hey, nobody said life was easy.
One hope for 2009 is that I either get further away from family or closer to it :-). How that will be managed remains to be seen, but - oh, hey. Nobody said ... no, wait, I've said that already.
Oh, hey, congratulations might soon be in order too! Found out Jan 26, 2009, 11pm SGT, from someone who found out last night at 2am. Such excitement and happiness :-). I think it's a very promising thing, to happen so soon to the start of the year and all.
I ramble (my favourite Goon Show episode is on iTunes! And why not?), so I'll shut up now with another heartfelt have-a-great-2009-and-all-the-best-in-the-year-of-the-ox to everybody reading. See you all tomorrow.
Labels: happy new year, looking back
This post was posted by Gaurav at 3:10 AM | 3 comments | Post a Comment
"A beach house," he said, "doesn't even have to be on the beach. Though the best ones are. We all like to congregate," he went on, "at boundary conditions". "Really?" said Arthur. "Where land meets water. Where earth meets air. Where body meets mind. Where space meets time. We like to be on one side, and look at the other."