As a new year is about to dawn on us and a portion of city is on the streets in the name of "party", I sit here in the tranquility of my house along with my family feeling a mixture of amusement and confusion at this uncanny behavior shown towards the concept of New Year for I cannot quite fathom what a change in the third column of date can quite possibly bring.
Yes I understand what New Year means. Scientifically, it denotes the completion of the Earth's rotation around the Sun (neglecting of course the 1/4th extra distance); teenagically another chance to have great fun with friends; parentically it denotes a sudden increase in the expenditure column and the hopes of better fortune come the new year; grandparentically it means calls from their children; commercially, time to cash in.
Though every New Year is welcomed with a bang, all the party and merriment ends as quickly as it "bang" and finally ceases into a quiet, calm day - just like any other. Come Jan 2nd, we all return to the everyday routine - the same commute, the same job, the same everything. Two consecutive days, two totally different ways of living it. How human.
Of course that's only one view of seeing things. And every coin has two sides to it right?
Every one makes mistakes. It is only human to do so. And we need a fresh start more than once to properly sort things out. New Year is one way of mentally giving ourselves that "fresh start". For doesn't New Year indicate the wonderful beginning of another set of 365 days with a clean slate? It fills people with hope, joy and above all a sense of togetherness.
Jan 1st is the day when we both look back on the past while contemplating the future, all being done in the present. It gives us that all important chance of analyzing what we have done, what we are doing and what we are going to do.
As the fire crackers begin to fly, channels showing people jumping around i come to the end of this year now. And I as I want this to be the last thing I do, I have only one more thing to say.
Cheers, ppl.
The Story As Hero
One fine evening ( I know this sounds like such a cliche, but still...) my friends call me to see some movie called Bommalatam. I hadn't seen much movies lately and as my interests in movies have been steadily falling I had no idea what the movie was about. I actually thought I was going for a Telugu movie or something :)
Ten minutes into the movie i got the feeling that this was no hero-falls-in-love-with-heroine-and-fights-the-villain kinda movie. This surprised me. Cos, for almost a year most of the films have had love as the story's core and I am fed up with them.
I admit the first half was bit confusing but still by no measure boring. It was little hard to keep up with what exactly was going on. And before i knew, it was interval. Another odd thing for a tamil movie for it seemed it was a 1 hr 45 min movie. In that intermission gap i learn the movie was supposed to be a thriller. The first half agreed with that.
Second half is the part where the movie kept me guessing. Having seen few weird english movies, i thought of all kinds of possible story lines. And when the plot was revealed, I admit not in a thousand years could I have guessed it. There is also few other twists that catches the viewers off-guard.
But all this doesn't mean the movie was a perfect one. Far from it. It had it's own share of loop holes and drawbacks. But the story more than makes up for it.
Finally a movie with a superb story. I left the theater with a satisfied feeling. Forty rupees well spent.
Ten minutes into the movie i got the feeling that this was no hero-falls-in-love-with-heroine-and-fights-the-villain kinda movie. This surprised me. Cos, for almost a year most of the films have had love as the story's core and I am fed up with them.
I admit the first half was bit confusing but still by no measure boring. It was little hard to keep up with what exactly was going on. And before i knew, it was interval. Another odd thing for a tamil movie for it seemed it was a 1 hr 45 min movie. In that intermission gap i learn the movie was supposed to be a thriller. The first half agreed with that.
Second half is the part where the movie kept me guessing. Having seen few weird english movies, i thought of all kinds of possible story lines. And when the plot was revealed, I admit not in a thousand years could I have guessed it. There is also few other twists that catches the viewers off-guard.
But all this doesn't mean the movie was a perfect one. Far from it. It had it's own share of loop holes and drawbacks. But the story more than makes up for it.
Finally a movie with a superb story. I left the theater with a satisfied feeling. Forty rupees well spent.
Prog - Private Members in Java/C++
Well as we all know private members of a class cannot be accessed directly by objects. We need to use member functions to access them. This is true for all cases. Or so I thought until I encountered few cases where this ain't true.
For the first, one thing has to be understood. Memory for the member variables are arranged in a sequential manner. So by performing arithmetic calculations on the address of the public variables we can get the address of the private members and hence access them.
Second. I found this when i was looking at copy constructors. A sample copy constructor would look something like this.
class sample
{
private : int i,j;
public:
sample(sample A)
{
i=A.i;
j=A.j;
}
...
...
};
Here the object A seems to access it s private members without calling any of it's own member functions(the constructor it is present is not called by that object). Now look at the following code.
class sample
{
private: int i,j;
public:
void well( )
{
sample test;
test.i = 5; //test accessing it s private members without
test.j = 10; // use of any objects
}
...
...
}
So the point is an object created inside a member function of the same class can access the private members directly. Note that the member function should be from the same class. For eg if the well( ) func had been in another class it would show error that object trying to access private members.
There is of course another, much simpler way of accessing these private members. By simply changing the "private" keyword to "public" keyword :)
Note : The above logics are applicable in both C++ and Java.
For the first, one thing has to be understood. Memory for the member variables are arranged in a sequential manner. So by performing arithmetic calculations on the address of the public variables we can get the address of the private members and hence access them.
Second. I found this when i was looking at copy constructors. A sample copy constructor would look something like this.
class sample
{
private : int i,j;
public:
sample(sample A)
{
i=A.i;
j=A.j;
}
...
...
};
Here the object A seems to access it s private members without calling any of it's own member functions(the constructor it is present is not called by that object). Now look at the following code.
class sample
{
private: int i,j;
public:
void well( )
{
sample test;
test.i = 5; //test accessing it s private members without
test.j = 10; // use of any objects
}
...
...
}
So the point is an object created inside a member function of the same class can access the private members directly. Note that the member function should be from the same class. For eg if the well( ) func had been in another class it would show error that object trying to access private members.
There is of course another, much simpler way of accessing these private members. By simply changing the "private" keyword to "public" keyword :)
Note : The above logics are applicable in both C++ and Java.
Revelations out of Sickness To A Friend
If you are wondering what exactly i mean just refer this :)
- If it is starting of a semester, staff will be see you as a calm student in class.
- Sleeping is just not fun anymore.
- You will find yourself writing notes simply due to boredom.
- Going to the canteen alone :(
- Break and lunch time turns from "free time" to "class-like time".
- Lying to your parents about seeing him. They wont allow it because you would get the sickness from him.
- Sudden prayers to God(?)
- More than usual amount of Fifa :)
- Sudden increase in messages from him/her.
- No need to worry about cricket score update.
- Sudden increase of people in your class.
- Telling your friend size of the needle does matter.
-Lying to him that "The Machinist" was a good movie.
-And after he returns, more place in the bench for me to sit :P
- If it is starting of a semester, staff will be see you as a calm student in class.
- Sleeping is just not fun anymore.
- You will find yourself writing notes simply due to boredom.
- Going to the canteen alone :(
- Break and lunch time turns from "free time" to "class-like time".
- Lying to your parents about seeing him. They wont allow it because you would get the sickness from him.
- Sudden prayers to God(?)
- More than usual amount of Fifa :)
- Sudden increase in messages from him/her.
- No need to worry about cricket score update.
- Sudden increase of people in your class.
- Telling your friend size of the needle does matter.
-Lying to him that "The Machinist" was a good movie.
-And after he returns, more place in the bench for me to sit :P
10 Things Parents Must Know About Their Younger Child
Being a younger brother, I know how things go with parents and the "big" brother. But whatever happens most parents don't seem to get few things like...
-> We are not a smaller version of our brother.
-> Big brothers are physically stronger than us. So we re not stupid enough to have started a fight with him, whatever he says.
-> We do not appreciate being told how good our big brother was.
-> We and they do not face the same competition. Ours is more tougher.
-> When we do something, like telling a lie, we are not doing it exactly like our brother. We are doing it like a billion other people.
->We do not exactly enjoy when someone says "You will maybe one day become like your brother".
-> Just because they are bit older than us does not mean we have to take his share of the beatings.
-> It is not technically possible for me to score more marks in 10th than he did in 12th. I write for 1100, he writes for 1200.
-> We are not responsible for his low marks in his Board exam.
-> It is not my fault I am not as tall as my brother. It is not, in most cases, biologically possible.
-> We are not a smaller version of our brother.
-> Big brothers are physically stronger than us. So we re not stupid enough to have started a fight with him, whatever he says.
-> We do not appreciate being told how good our big brother was.
-> We and they do not face the same competition. Ours is more tougher.
-> When we do something, like telling a lie, we are not doing it exactly like our brother. We are doing it like a billion other people.
->We do not exactly enjoy when someone says "You will maybe one day become like your brother".
-> Just because they are bit older than us does not mean we have to take his share of the beatings.
-> It is not technically possible for me to score more marks in 10th than he did in 12th. I write for 1100, he writes for 1200.
-> We are not responsible for his low marks in his Board exam.
-> It is not my fault I am not as tall as my brother. It is not, in most cases, biologically possible.
The SUPERstitious Beliefs
Well it's a Friday night and I am sitting in the front of my house just looking at passing by vehicles. Then I notice something weird. The shopkeeper near my house sets fire to something outside his shop. When I asked my Grandmother she explains that it improves his buisness. Hmmm.
We have so many superstitious beliefs that sound stupid but are very very true. Don't believe me? Here are the proofs for some :)
First. The burning before the shop. Well this is a very good tactic if any other shopkeeper near your house has any breathing problems. If you continue to burn stuff that guy s gonna get irritated and vacate the place. Another good thing is if you add some nice ingredients into that fire the horrible odor it emits can effectively keep away thieves at night. Last and finally watching something burn gives some people personal satisfaction.
Second. Remember when you bought your first new bike and your parents made you ride it over a lemon first? Trust me it has it's uses. If your bike skids and falls at that time you will remember that the next time you drive near a market. More importantly lemons are good Antibacterials. So you are cleaning up the floor! And let's face it, we all like the smell of fresh lemon juice.
Third. The concept of "ave kannu vachita". Now if we think properly when do we say "ave onna pathu kannu vachita" huh? When initially we have been acting like a jerk and showing off stuff when we should have kept our mouths shut. So basically when something bad happens the next time and someone says this, you are gonna become the most modest person ever right?
Fourth. Going to the temple at the wake of dawn and going round some God for 9 times(someone said the no. of times must be a multiple of 3). It s the perfect solution to get people out of their beds early and the "walking around" gives us the physical exercise we all so need and so not care about. The idea of keeping to multiples of 9 simply helps you get better at counting.
Fifth. The idea of something wrong going to happen when a cat walks across your path. Now if a cat does cross your path you are gonna be extra careful right? That s something no amount of advice can achieve. Also we marry donkeys to get rain right? Well that s done during the dry summer season when even the animals are all out of food. In the name of marriage we are doing the job of the Blue Cross.
There are many such explanations for all the so-called "Superstitious" beliefs. So next time you see someone doing anything like this, think before you speak.
I am not saying these superstitions are right. I am merely saying that behind these seemingly crazy stuffs there might be a sensible person trying to reach out to a not-so-sensible crowd.
We have so many superstitious beliefs that sound stupid but are very very true. Don't believe me? Here are the proofs for some :)
First. The burning before the shop. Well this is a very good tactic if any other shopkeeper near your house has any breathing problems. If you continue to burn stuff that guy s gonna get irritated and vacate the place. Another good thing is if you add some nice ingredients into that fire the horrible odor it emits can effectively keep away thieves at night. Last and finally watching something burn gives some people personal satisfaction.
Second. Remember when you bought your first new bike and your parents made you ride it over a lemon first? Trust me it has it's uses. If your bike skids and falls at that time you will remember that the next time you drive near a market. More importantly lemons are good Antibacterials. So you are cleaning up the floor! And let's face it, we all like the smell of fresh lemon juice.
Third. The concept of "ave kannu vachita". Now if we think properly when do we say "ave onna pathu kannu vachita" huh? When initially we have been acting like a jerk and showing off stuff when we should have kept our mouths shut. So basically when something bad happens the next time and someone says this, you are gonna become the most modest person ever right?
Fourth. Going to the temple at the wake of dawn and going round some God for 9 times(someone said the no. of times must be a multiple of 3). It s the perfect solution to get people out of their beds early and the "walking around" gives us the physical exercise we all so need and so not care about. The idea of keeping to multiples of 9 simply helps you get better at counting.
Fifth. The idea of something wrong going to happen when a cat walks across your path. Now if a cat does cross your path you are gonna be extra careful right? That s something no amount of advice can achieve. Also we marry donkeys to get rain right? Well that s done during the dry summer season when even the animals are all out of food. In the name of marriage we are doing the job of the Blue Cross.
There are many such explanations for all the so-called "Superstitious" beliefs. So next time you see someone doing anything like this, think before you speak.
I am not saying these superstitions are right. I am merely saying that behind these seemingly crazy stuffs there might be a sensible person trying to reach out to a not-so-sensible crowd.
THE Duel
Ever since my childhood i have wondered about God and science and the conflicts between them. This poem is based on this ever debated topic.
"Only God can save you", said my heart,
My brain to that replied "that's rubbish";
Between these two voices was I caught,
For I did not know which was gibberish.
My heart said that God really existed,
A proof my brain immediately demanded;
"Look around you, the things He has created!"
"Evolution and time are the true creator".
"If God did exist, tell me why,
Why are there thieves and killers?
And why so many innocent die
When God is indeed a true lover?"
"It is a test that we all must take,
For only to live is our duty and
Leave the rest to Him for our sake
As He created this life and this sand"
Thus raged the battle within me forever,
And I knew not which one to trust,
For both were filled with power;
I will know only when I go to dust.
Sai
"Only God can save you", said my heart,
My brain to that replied "that's rubbish";
Between these two voices was I caught,
For I did not know which was gibberish.
My heart said that God really existed,
A proof my brain immediately demanded;
"Look around you, the things He has created!"
"Evolution and time are the true creator".
"If God did exist, tell me why,
Why are there thieves and killers?
And why so many innocent die
When God is indeed a true lover?"
"It is a test that we all must take,
For only to live is our duty and
Leave the rest to Him for our sake
As He created this life and this sand"
Thus raged the battle within me forever,
And I knew not which one to trust,
For both were filled with power;
I will know only when I go to dust.
Sai