Most important PNG of my life

The first time I saw this diagram was almost three years back and still to this day each time I look at it I find it interesting and fascinating. In the last three years this picture has taught me more than a few things related to my academic and professional life. Unexpectedly it has also solved some of my moral and personal dilemmas at times, which I feel is a equally important contribution if not more important than the academic knowledge it has imparted to me.

This picture has provided me more clarity about systems in general than any other book has managed to in several readings. The picture is so clear in what it is trying to say, precise and so neatly and lovingly drawn, by lovingly I mean the person/people behind this diagram must really know and love Linux and Computer systems inside out. If only half the books out there were half as good as this diagram we would have more real and interested "Computer Science" engineers and scientists.

Someday I intend to get it framed and hang it somewhere in my home or office.

Ciao

Copyright Disclaimer: All images are owned by their respective copyright owners.

Lost

I am so damn lost in life that I was reading tweets from Neha Dhupia, shame on me. :(

Ciao

Liar Liar

I hate to realize that people are lying to me, and since people wont stop lying I need to isolate myself from the realization phenomena.

English Hons, anybody?

I am looking for a English or any other Language student/scholar to critique some of my writing assignments. Anybody want to help me?

I can pay in cash or kind if you are good at it. E-mail me at mishra.shantanu1 at the rate gnail dot com if interested.

Ciao

It's time ....

It will be two years in March since I joined my current company. I gave up on a lot of materialistic things, friends and a part of my heart (the part which wanted to avoid all the changes) to get to this job. Somewhere during my Master's degree program I started to love registers, memory and CPU way too much and this love was my sole motivation to take up a job in the field of mobile devices.

Alright on paper I got my dream job, I work with the Camera firmware team for the company's hottest and most important platform. But like most marriages the honeymoon ended in the first two months and by the end of third I was having thoughts of switching jobs. But then I decided to change things around me, try to make it more logical from a scientific and engineering perspective. I discussed issues with my team leader and to a great extent he agreed on my inputs about improving processes and regaining some control over the getting out of hand situations. Anyways after this trying phase of six months I realized corporations are a big machine in themselves, one faulty part leads to a drastic decrease of efficiency in the whole setup and having multiple inefficient parts is a definite disaster. So despite my resolute to do things the logical and stable way I was soon lost in a world of incompetence and technical disgrace. To this day I fight for the right principles and methodologies at work but deep down in my heart I know I am fighting a lost battle, in the end it is only going to hurt me. And more often than not it does.

In all these years what I have learnt about this industry is that genuine science and engineering really don't have a place here, they are just mere side props which big corporations use to play bigger games, the biggest game being "making money". I have worked personally with three of the five biggest (by volume) smartphone companies and all three have had the same ugly practices. Utter disrespect for any and every engineering principle, lazy and selfish employees, deceit to their customers and making money being the sole motivation. I am not against making money but I am definitely against uncontrolled greed for money. If I have to work like an greedy idiot then I may as well work for a bank, at least my paycheck would be fatter.

THE BAD NEWS is I have given up trying to make things better at work, in my current setup I think it is not a gamble I would like to play, I have been trying for the last 1.5 years and things have only got worse so it's time that I try something else. Maybe I am not so good at it or maybe it is not possible for one small guy to change hundred other people around him in a corporate setup.

THE GOOD NEWS is I have decided once and for all to get out of this waste of life lifestyle and pursue science for the rest of my life. Hopefully in the next six-eight months I would be able to realize this dream and feel better about me and my future.

Ciao

Don't give up !!

I don't know how many have you heard this song but it is from Bryan Adams and I like it a lot, the Chicane mix is good too but the sweetest version is from the Bryan Adams Slane castle concert which also features Chicane. Nevertheless I like it more for its lyrics.

don't worry if the sun don't shine
you've seen it before you don't have to worry
everyday's an uphill climb - nothing has changed
believe me when i tell ya

don't give it up - don't give it up...

don't give up - ya know it's true
gotta do what you wanna do
don't give up - you don't have to
gotta do what you wanna do
don't give up - ya know it's true
gotta do what you wanna do

don't worry if the sun don't shine
you've seen it before you don't have to worry
everyday's an uphill climb - nothing has changed
believe me when i tell ya

don't give it up - don't give it up...

don't give up - ya know it's true
gotta do what you wanna do
don't give up - you don't have to
gotta do what you wanna do
don't give up - ya know it's true
gotta do what you wanna do

Source of the lyrics : LINK



Ciao

How do I describe myself ?

A very intriguing thought came to my mind just now, "I am twenty seven years old and who am I at twenty seven? What have i made of myself in all these years". So I will write it down and along the way think to find the answers for the question. My defining characteristics would probably be something like this thought not in any order of importance,

1. Student of Maths, Science and Technology, I work with Technology and love to read about anything that requires/d reason and logic.
2. Audiophile, I just cannot tolerate bad earphones or speakers, music from bad earphones is like looking at Monalisa drawn by Hitler, for those of you who don't know, Hitler was an aspiring painter before he turned to politics.
3. Reader of astrology, I read and observe and take notes but I don't consider it as science as there are no mathematical proofs in favor of the predictions, however I do not discard it either, the legend which has persisted for thousand of years must have some mettle to it.
4. Friend to fifteen or so human beings.
5. Soccer Enthusiast, I follow major football (Soccer for the yanks) competitions around the world with passion and regularity.
6. Somewhat lazy.
7. Peace lover, nobody really wins a war, there are just survivors.
8. The only kind of girls I would want to see are the well cultured, well kept, neat and tidy ones.


[Added 23rd Aug] 9. I like to take care of my health and body even if that means saying FU to my boss for work he expects out of me outside of the usual 45 hours/week. I don't mind spending any amount of hours at work as long as it leaves me sufficient time for an hour and a half of gym in a day and at least 6 hours of sleep.

Maybe I will add to this list before I turn 28. :)

Ciao

Lost in Time

Found some memorabilia while cleaning my closet.


The key chain to my bike, I gave this up voluntarily around five years back.



The key chain to my car, I gave this up rather involuntarily around one and a half years back.

Ciao

Homecoming

I am going home this Saturday after two long months of business trips. :)

Finally I will get some good Indian food, I have not had a Indian meal in last 8 weeks.
Finally I can get to my PS3 and speakers.
Finally I will get to see my family and friends.
Finally I will get to sleep in my own bed.

Yayyyyyyyy!!!


Ciao

P.S. "Europe Sucks"

Missing a few things in life ...

Recap of the week

1. Work is nice and finally up to speed after a panic Friday and Saturday.
2. I am so missing my Playstation and my Z5500s
3. Awesome weather
4. Reminiscing some female folks from my past. :(
5. Pasta + Wine + Loneliness at dinner table
6. No GYM :(
7. Internet made me realize almost half of my acquaintances/friends/accomplices are either married or have kids and that brought the much needed humor of the week. :)
8. Life could be better with some friends from back home.

Ciao

Mexico my Savior, at least for today ...

A lot of my Indian friends in Graduate School used to like Mexican food a lot, according to them it was the closest any cuisine came to Indian food. Well that being said in the 3-4 countries that I have tried Mexican food I have never liked it, I always found it lacking anything concrete, most of the times its just like 5-6 barely palatable ingredients just thrown together. Maybe I have always tried it at bad places, but what really are Nachos, people are eating Nachos for the Salsa sauce that comes with it and do not even get me started on Tortillas.

But all that changed today, for first time in eight days I liked my meal in Poland, it is not a certificate to Mexican food or anything but its just that rest of everything that I have tried here was so damn not in agreement with my taste buds and food aesthetics.

Here is a picture of the "Meal of the week" ....




Oh yeah I had already eaten most of it by the time the thought of capturing the frame came to my hungry mind.

Ciao

Sculptured by Education, butchered by profession...

Life seems to be at absolute standstill, each day starts and ends without any aim or a target. In fact there is neither a horizon nor a hope of seeing the horizon in the near future of one year. I am lost and out of control and I don't like this idle and wastefulness. If some one could just show me that horizon I would be more than happy to run for it even if I never reach it.

Due to unnecessary work obligations I am also not able to attend the gym regularly which is the first reason that makes me feel bad every morning in the shower, second is the reminder that a Outlook mailbox is awaiting my attention where I have to read/write messages regarding something as trivial as poor network speeds which are hampering my downloads of company source code which I just need to pass on to others. Why the F88k should I waste my time or my eyesight or my energy on keystrokes for something like that, that is not what I signed for when I took this job or for that matter when I chose this field. I had science in mind and not cost-cutting measures, I had solutions to problems in mind and not workarounds to poor solutions, I had design in mind and not patches, I had satisfaction in mind and not this aimless idle life.

In short I am bored and unchallenged.

I know getting out of anything detrimental takes time and Of course I have a plan to get out of this uselessness once and for all but what till then? That is the question haunting me and I need a answer quickly even if it is the wrong one. How can I keep myself happy or at least occupied till I get out of this rout, any beautiful girls around? :D

Ciao for now !!!

My Latest Acquisition

Got it a month back in Taipei and oh yeah I am in love with it. I work with Android everyday as part of my job and I find Android way less intuitive and ugly.

Ciao

2011 : Check-In

Yeah I have been that busy in 2011 that my first post of the year is coming in the month of April. 2011 has started with a bang, since the first day of work in 2011 I have been involved with one of the most demanding as well as successful companies in my industry. The result of the assosciation has taken a toll on my life in every possible way, I have produced 90 hour work weeks, yes it is ninety :P, I have read no new book, I have been to the gym less than 25 times in three months and my PS3 probably has a thick layer of dust on it but at the end of it I still feel it was very well worth it. It reminded me of MS days when weekends had no meaning, when my blood groups was caffeine+ and deadlines were the only dimension of life that mattered.

In the last three and a half months I have seen four different countries and four differenct cities, so life has been full of action to be precise. But all of it has been for work so I have not been able to absorb the culture( and the food ;) ) of these countries as much as I would have liked to. But nevertheless something is better than nothing.

Will make a picture post when I get back to India.

Ciao