‘Ya We No’ and What It Means!

You might be wondering what this ‘Ya We No’ refers to. It is a random expression which a few of us in college used very frequently. It was generally used in a humorous context and it meant exactly the same – ‘Yeah, We Know!’. It was slowly morphed into what it is on the top of my blog.

But going beyond the humor part of it, I consider ‘Ya We No’  to refer to the collective wisdom of people. It refers to the power of the internet. When each one of us contribute something, and encourage others to do so, then we get an ocean of knowledge. Wikipedia is the best example of collective wisdom of the internet junta. There are millions of people interacting every instant on the Internet. Be it twitter, facebook or any other social networking site. With the internet at our disposal, there is nothing that ‘we cannot know’.

There is a new phenomenon emerging. Its called crowdsourcing. It refers to the trend of mass collaboration enabled by the Web 2.0 technologies. It is so because, ‘Yeah! We Know’ it all.

I’m just reiterating the same with the title of my blog. You and I, together we know it all. Ya We No.

Update – I’ve changed my Blog Title again. Its no longer Ya We No. So you might actually find this post pointless.

Solving the Rubik’s Cube

Am a beginner at solving the original 3x3x3 Rubik’s cube. Its the world’s top selling puzzle having sold over 350 millions cubes. I started about a couple of week backs and I have already solved it over a hundred times. Each time I see a solved cube, I have that uncontrollable urge to scramble it and start solving it all over again. Believe me, its really addictive.

If you are a beginner, it can be really frustrating and may seem next to impossible to solve the cube. However if you learn a few simple algorithms, it is very easy to solve. You too can learn to solve a Rubik’s cube by watching this wonderful two part video tutorial by Dan Brown.  Part 1. Part 2. These two videos should be sufficient. If you want more, there is also a tutorial on wH giving you all the details that you might need.

Wayanad

We went the capital of God’s Own Country, Wayanad for a three-day trip. Ten of us. This is a big travel log of our trip.

*Warning* You’ll be damn bored by the time you finish reading this. I was. Thats why you can see that the size of each day’s description keeps on decreasing.

Day -0

We left NITT Campus at around 6.30. After dinner at Pushpam’s we boarded the tea garden express which left Trichy station at 8.20. We went through our original itinerary and made a few changes to it based on the distances and the approximate time we’d spend at each of the places. We dropped Chembra Peak from our list of places to be covered. Then Arun spoke to a few people in order to arrange for a cab and for accommodation. We reached Erode station at around 11. Since our train from Erode to Calicut was scheduled at 2 am we roamed around the erode station for about an hour before returning to the station to charge our mobiles.

Day -1

Once we boarded the Mangalore mail we directly went to our berths and fell asleep soon enough. I got up at around 6 and got freshened up in the train itself and i was looking forward to reach the station. We reached Kozhikode station at around 8 and had breakfast at one of the refreshment rooms available in the station. Those who woke up late went to the waiting rooms and got ready. Meanwhile a tempo traveller was waiting for us outside the station. Once everyone was ready we commenced our journey to Wayanad.

At around 11 we stopped at a hotel a few kms before Lakkidi. We drank something called Elaneer juice, which is a juice made up of smashed coconuts and is much differnet from tender coconuts. After buying some more snacks to fill our stomachs, we resumed our journey.

We temporarily halted at a small viewpoint from where there was an amazing view of the mountains and the valleys. After a few minutes travel we reached Pookot lake. It was an amazing lake but the only negative side was the unbearable heat. We hired three pedal boats and went for boating in the lake for about 20 minutes. Just as we were about to get down from our boats a huge group of girls came to the lake. As luck would have it the same group followed us to all the places we visited for the next two days. Coming back to the lake part, there was a beautiful path made around the perimeter of the lake. We walked some distance and clicked a few pics before returning to our van.

Our next stop was the Soochipara falls. One turn at Chundale and we could see numerous tea gardens. It was an amazing sight with so many small mountains covered with tea plantations.

Balki conveniently captured the window seats by threatening to vomit if not given one. It was around this time that most of the guys started talking about kalakkis an half boils from the stomach. But it was Smok who first made the half boil, a few kms before Soochipara.

It was somewhere here that I had a glimpse of the mighty Chembra peak. It was an amazing sight and i totally wanted to be at the top of the peak. but the other guys still preferred not to waste an entire day there. I still have a strong desire to scale the peak and i hope it’ll come true one day.

We reached Soochipara falls at around 2. We placed orders for lunch so that it’ll be ready by the time we return from the falls. Soochipara falls was about 1.5 to 2 kilometres away from the parking location. We had a climb down a bit in the path provided to reach the falls. It was during the same time that a shooting for an Ayurveda product was going on at the falls. Thankfully it didn’t stop us from having some quality time at the falls. We got ourselves all wet at the falls and soaked ourselves in the fresh water there for sometime. Then we started clicking pics at various locations each of us seated on one of the rocks.
After climbing back to the top we ate some fruits and drank some juices before proceeding to the van. After having lunch a few guys did some shopping buying hats, chocolates and tea.

We had originally planned to go to the Karapuzha dam in the evening. but it was almost 5 by the time we left Soochipara. So we stopped at one of the numerous tea gardens on the way to click a few pics.

Since the dam was on our way to the accommodation we thought of giving it a try. Luckily it wasn’t dark by the time we reached the dam. There wasn’t much to see at the dam except for the vast stretch of water and mountains.It was a great spot for landscape pics. I went to a clicking spree taking quite a few pics during sunset.

After it was quite dark we started to our accommodation. It was some Mor Ignatius Nagar, a lodging maintained by the cathedral of Meenangadi which is around 12 kms from Kalpetta. Accommodation was quite cheap there and it was very much comfortable. The same girls gang had followed us to the accomodation too.

We played a few games of bluff before going to sleep.

Day – 2

The next day we got up at around 6 and went for having tea at a nearby tea stall. We also ate the so called banana roast made of nendarampalam. Then after all of us took bath and had breakfast we went to the Edakkal Caves.  It was about a km climb up to reach the caves and after the ticket counter the climb was more steeper. Once at the top the view of the mountains and valleys was spectacular. Inside the caves we found thousands of years old carvings. After more pics clicked there we returned to the van.

We started for our journey to the Kuruva islands. We had lunch at a small hotel in Mananthavady. And we reached kuruva at around 2. Kuruva islands were located between the tributaries of the Kabini river. we had to cross the river to reach the islands. Once inside the islands we clicked a few pics at the seats made of bamboo.
Then we began our walk inside the islands. After walking for a while a few of us wanted to go for rafting. It was just still water rafting where the raft took us across the river! It was nothing like the white water rafting I went in Himachal in 2003.
After roaming around the island for some more time we started to walk back. On our way back we saw the Ayurveda ad shooting with some Saamiyars carrying some herbal stuff. What nonsense! After returning to the van we spent sometime eating before our return to the dormitory.

Day – 3

Next day we got up around the same time and left for the Meenmutty falls. Similar to Soojipara falls, here too we had to climb down the hills to reach the falls. But this was much more exciting and fun since it was peripheral trekking which gave us a spectacular view of the mountains and valleys. We spent quite some time inside the pool of water at the feet of the falls. It was fun.

After filling our stomachs with ice creams and soft drinks we started on our journey to the Calicut beach. We reached Calicut at around 4 and we dranks some milkshakes. It was extremely crowded just like any other place in India on a sunday. At the beach we spent sometime waiting for the sunset. But we had to leave early since our train departed at around 7 from the station. We travelled  till Tirussur in an open ticket. Then we switched trains and we moved on to our berths and slept till Trichy. Had breakfast again at Pushpam’s and reached college at around 9.30.

Overall it was a fun trip which could have been much better if only the climate had been better.

Forums or Blogs

Communication on the internet takes place in two ways. Public and Private. Private is through chatting email etc, whereas public is through forums and blogs.

Blogs

When it comes to blogs the emphasis is only on the post and the author. People generally don’t bother to go through the comments from other readers of the blog. Take for example this post on 3 idiots by Sagarika Ghose. [ Just a blog post which I read recently ]  Here the author of the post is a professional journalist and shares her view on some topic which here happens to be the recently released movie 3 idiots.

If you look at the comments section of this blog post almost all the comments are about the views she has expressed and are directed to her. We do have a reply to this post option for all the comments here, but despite that the discussion is limited to the actual blog post. Not many responses are directed at other readers.

Forums

In an online forum, the emphasis is on the discussion. People from a specific group actively take part in a discussion here. An example which can be given here is the Pagalguy Forum which is the meeting place of hundreds of MBA students and MBA Aspirants of India.

A forum essentially allows you to post messages and comment on other messages. It is in structure similar to that of a blog, but the difference here lies in the fact that the discussion which takes place is not solely based on the orignial post. One essential requirement of all online forums is the presence of a large number of active contributors which you can clearly see in forums like Pagalguy. By the term active we mean contributors who create queries and respond to other queries.

In order to find peace among the chaos called forums one has to monitor it constantly.Every forum has a set of rules and structure which its users have to follow. A group of moderators and administrators have to regularly go through the contents of the forums and ensure that the forum rules are being followed.

Forums or Blogs?

Forums are an example of many-to-many mode of online communication whereas blogs are one-to-many mode of online communication. Both these are essential ingredients of the internet today and one cannot do without either of these. Judicial use of such sites has to be done to get the best out of each.

The Change

Its hard to imagine that barely ten years ago we didn’t have any Wikipedia, Facebook, YouTube,  iPhone or even a phone for that matter. Much of the decade has been shaped by the internet and the next decade too will see the same sort of enormous change.

It was in 2001 when we got our first phone. A landline phone connection for which we had to wait for weeks. Within the next few years we have had a much greater number of mobile phones. Computers and other gadgets have become essential. Times are changing. And we got keep up with the speed at which everything is happening.

What people generally consider is that change will occur at the same pace it happened. Technology changes exponentially. There is a great pace at which everything grows now and what happened in the first decade of the millenium might happen in just a few years.

The rate of adopting new ideas is doubling each day. Both biology and technology are similar. They are both evolutionary processes.  They create a capability and use that capability to bring on the next stage. With better interaction and communication this growth is bound to accelerate.

It was barely a few years ago when I first sent an e-mail. Now mail, instant messages etc are a part of life. A few days ago I made a list of the trends which I’d like to see in the year 2010. These are impending changes. Even if they don’t occur in 2010, they eventually will…

Goodbye 2009. Welcome 2010.

Time is a continuous passage of time and it is we who divide it into years, months and so on. And  New Year too is nothing but just a noting of the passage of time. But the significance of this day is that is probably the only such occasion where all of us forget all barriers and come together in the hope that the year ahead would bring us joy and happiness.

The same time every year we look back at the year that was, how quickly the year has passed, all the good things, wonderful things, bad things and awful things we did throughout the year. However the past year was, we always look forward to a great year ahead. That is the special thing about this day.

As one of my college senior says – “This day symbolizes hope. Hope that there will be a refreshing change in our lives starting today. Hope that all the sorrow that had encircled us till now would vanish and joy will fill the lacunae that exist in their lives. It is with this hope that we coin various resolutions; the ones that cater to the actions we feel are wrong or unhealthy.”

Putting the past behind, I look forward to a great year for me, my family, my friends, for my country and the entire world in the new year and the new decade. Wishing you all a Happy New Year and a New Decade.

Christmas 2009 at Marina and Ampa Skywalk

Travelling to the Marina on Christmas day indeed was a bad decision. There was a huge crowd of people who like me wished to get a glimpse of the newly beautified Marina. Even with the supposedly modified Parking arrangement, it took about 15-20 minutes to take my car from the parking slot. But I did get to see the beach with some leisure as I reached the place a bit early before the rest of the crowd could come.

The marina now has a glossy touch with good marble flooring where we can sit leisurely and enjoy the scenic beauty of the magnificent beach. The entire stretch of about 3.5 km from the Port to the Light House has been beautified and has a wide path suitable for walking and jogging. I didn’t get to see the lightings in their full glory, but it is said to be exceptional.

The use of Plastic has been banned and attempt is being made to clean the beaches. But you just can’t help noticing the amount of plastic bags strewn all around. Another major part of the renovation funds went into the Parking arrangements. And I’d say the parking arrangement is  very poor. They have just made space for parking of ‘n’ number of cars with no proper management of cars entering and leaving the lot. Ideally they should employ a few personnel to monitor it.

Our next destination was Ampa Skywalk, the newly opened mall on Ponnamallee High Road, near Aminjikarai and Anna Arch. This location too wasn’t spared by the crowd. Construction of this mall has taken a very long time and it is still not fully complete. The cineplex by PVR Cinemas and quite a few stores like Landmark, Spencer’s Hypermarket etc are yet to open.

The food court on the third floor with a variety of shops is fully operational and thats where the crowd was focussed on, apart from McDonald’s and KFC on the so called, ‘Upper Ground Floor’. The food court has something call the ‘Fcube’ Debit Card, which every diner has to obtain in order to place his order at any of the stalls. The card comes with a security deposit of Rs.10 refundable on return of the card. Valid for 365 days from the previous usage day, it can be ‘recharged’ in multiples of 10 based on how much you need to spend at the food court. The sad part though is that this card is not applicable for McD and KFC which aren’t a part of the food court.

Apart from the food court, there is nothing much in the mall right now. Once a few stores like Landmark, Spencer’s etc open there’ll be purpose to visit the mall. For now its just the satisfaction of having a look at the newly constructed mall which is going to have the city’s largest cineplex.

The one major difference in the two major places that I visited on Christmas 2009, was the way they manage their parking. The Ampa Skywalk has a multi stoery car parking where you can park your car with ease, while the beach has a 3.5 km stretch with a large area alloted for parking, but still it is difficult to park a car. But since the mall being a private place, their parking charges are exorbitant compared to other locations. I was charged 30 rupees for just over 2 hrs. At the marina it was free parking. But I wouldn’t mind to pay some nominal amount as long as I don’t have to suffer in such utter chaos.

PS: This PVR Cineplex will be the largest just for a couple of years I guess. Sathyam Cinemas plans to open another cineplex at the new Express Avenue Mall which is gonna come soon near Spencer Plaza. For details on the Express Avenue mall, click here.

PS: Few pics of the beautified Marina Beach can be found here - http://goo.gl/3KmH

Update – After 3 months.

I’ve been neglecting my supposedly ‘new’ blog for such a long time that Google still ranks my old blogspot blog ahead of the new one. The reason for the neglect might have been because of my busy schedule throughout the semester and may also be because I’ve been posting regularly at my twitter profile – @alagappanr and my facebook profile = fb/alagappanr.

My blog was crying for some fresh content. So I guess its time I start posting content on this new blog and get its ‘page rank’ up.

So by the time I’m typing this post 7 semesters of my college life are over and I’m now just a few months away from being a full engineer. For all those curious guys who want to know about NITT Placements – I’m not yet placed and I don’t intend to talk about it here.

In the past few months hundreds of things happened and that includes me writing my CAT Exam, The Great Chennai Run, a trip to Ooty+Coonoor, supposedly an agitation against the college mess, watching all seasons of 24 and TBBT, reading a lot of books among other stuff. I just feel this semester could have been a lot better and I hope the next one is.

Mobiles and Me

It all started with the entry of Nokia’s 1100 mobile. Since it was very cheap and affordable I got a chance to own a mobile when I was in school. Didn’t use it much those days since most of my friends didn’t have a mobile.

When I entered NIT Trichy, I still used 1100 for almost a full semester before shifting to Motorola L7 also called as the SLVR. This mobile was slim and chic and was worth showing off. But one fateful day my roommate, Aditya, pounced on me and phone slipped off my hands and the glass screen had broken. Luckily the mobile was working. I used it without bothering to change the broken glass for more than a year.

During the early fifth semester I had a felt like changing the display. (Ya.! I did change the display after one and a half years) But sometime during Festember 08, the mobile took its revenge on me for not changing the display for a long time by disappearing from my desk in my department. After frantically searching for it for more than a couple of days I had to give up. I got a duplicate sim card and reverted back to my 1100.

After a couple of months, my bro went to the US leaving behind his Samsung E250 mobile. So I was granted another chance to use a multimedia mobile. After losing all the contacts I had in my old mobile I started gathering them again. Though it wasn’t as great looking as my L7 it was still good to use. But then bad luck returned. During one of my regular beach visits a few weeks back, I forgot the presence of the E250 inside my pockets and got myself completely wet. It was only after a few minutes I realized that it was shouting all the time for help. But it was too late. It had stopped working.

Luckily, I still have that good old 1100 with me. After making a few minor repairs here and there I’ve made it look as good as a new 1100 mobile and I thank Nokia for making such rugged and long lasting mobiles especially for people like me. Not surprisingly, the 1100 is not just the world’s best-selling cellular phone model, but also the best-selling consumer electronics device, having sold some 200 million units since 2003. This clearly shows that many people emphasize on durability more than looks.

The one thing I’m glad about is that I’ve had the same mobile number all these days even though I’ve changed my mobile quite a few times. So even though I lose contact numbers of others they still have mine and anyday I can use the ‘Can I know who this is?’ SMS to get back all my lost contacts. I hope the Mobile Number Portability option is implemented as planned (that is by around Sept 2009) so that I can keep using the same number even though I change service providers.

Seven Reasons I’ve Started Washing My Clothes On My Own

Washing clothes has been one of the most painful activities a person has to do when in hostel. Of course there are other alternatives to avoid doing this work. But postponing the ‘Washing Ceremony’ often results in the accumulation of a lot of clothes, which are then carried all the way to Chennai. I recently decided to start washing my clothes on my own by finding suitable time for it between the busy schedule which I have.

Here are a few reasons why I’ll do it regularly from now on. \m/

7. It’ll please my roommate.!
If you divide my room into two my part of the room would be full of papers, clothes and books lying throughout and it’ll take more than a minute to even find my mobile from this mess. And Rachit’s half would be clean and neatly maintained. So it’ll be a relief for him to see my part of the room becoming more clean.

6. Keeps my room clean.
It’ll make my room a better place to live.

5. Reduces Luggage when traveling to Chennai.
Every NITTian who is from Chennai travels home at least once in a month. And it is during such trips that we take all our dirty clothes and give it for washing at home. It’ll please my Mom and will also reduce the luggage that I got to carry home each time.

4. Saving Laundry Charges.
I see a lot of guys giving their clothes in the laundry shop located within the campus. Washing one’s own clothes saves these laundry charges.

3. Preventing formation of Bacteria and Viruses.
Not washing clothes for a long time makes it a suitable dwelling place for various bacteria and viruses. So i’m now on a mission to kill all these organisms.

2. Finding Old Question Papers, Bills etc.
Finding such papers stuffed inside the pant pocket’s is common at least for me. Once I start washing clothes I find all these old cycle test question papers, CPC papers etc neatly stuffed inside my pockets.

1. Finding Money..!! $$$$$$
It had been a habit for me to keep coins and currency notes in my pant pockets instead of the wallet. Once removed I often forget to take the money out of it. And it is upon occasions like these that I discover such treasures from my pockets.