My New Year Resolutions

2011 is about to end and the much hyped 2012 is knocking at my doorstep. It's time to flow with the flow. But, to ensure that next year is as fruitful and prosperous as it can be, the universe demands a little preparation. Ladies and gentleman, with great pleasure I present to you - My New Year Resolutions

All resolutions invariably mean leaving privileges and comforts. What privilege and comfort should I forgo this time? It doesn't make sense to promise something I cannot fulfill nor does it make sense to undertake something with no positive returns.

So, my carefully chosen new year resolutions for 2012:

#1. I promise to be more productive. May be I'll try my hand in art history, humanities & the social sciences, cooking, etc.
#2. A little less hypocriticism. 

#3. Will try to get into some kind of a relationship.

#4. And decrease my waist to a less humiliating size. 

Only time will tell whether I shall be able to accomplish these or not. Number-3 definitely looks insurmountable and so does number-4. Lets see. I'll let you know on this same occasion next year.

What's your new year resolution?

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Cooking - the ChemE way

As I have told you before, I was learning to cook from my mother these days. Today, I went a little further ahead in my education and cooked dinner independently, i.e., without any help from my guru. It was a simple affair – rice and some cabbage; the end effect was witnessed by my sister, mother and me. From the perspective of a first time cook, I would say it exceeded expectation (EE).

The utensils remain to be scrubbed but as I had to tell you folks this little exuberant news, I excused myself of the duty and let mother handle it (after all, I had apprenticed to become a cook and not a dish-washer :).

As is the case with any initial venture, I made a few mistakes and I learned quite a lot about the nitty-gritty of cooking. The engineer in me could not help but make a few observations that popped up in my head during the enterprise.

Cooking is an art. However, I think it will bloom fantastically if the rigours of engineering laws are applied to it. For instance, a knowledge of chemistry behind the addition of various ingredients should be drawn up. It is really frustrating when you have to rely on someone else’s recipe which are, most of the time, a result of the primitive approach of trial and error method. How can you be sure an X amount of this substance and Y amount of that substance will give the most optimum result? I apologize, Sir, I cannot take your word for this when I know that your conclusion is the outcome of a very poor and inefficient scientific endeavour, namely, the trial and error method.

Also, if I want to substitute one ingredient with the other when the former is unavailable, how will I calculate the deviation of my new dish from the original? What about substitution brought about by necessities like allergies(such as peanut allergy), diseases like diabetes, etc.?

The molecular level of chemistry might be too mind-boggling for non-chemists and at the reaction level, it might be too humungous. If that is the case, some simpler empirical relations can be developed to guide the composition of everyday dishes.

Notwithstanding, we must refrain from creating equations that are computationally extensive to solve, as resources of the homemaker are somewhat limited. A more prudent solution would be to develop pictorial graphs on the lines of Mollier diagram and Moody’s chart.

I believe that it is only a matter of time before somebody achieves the points I have elucidated above. Only then will the homemaker be worthy of the name –‘the domestic engineer’.

Quality Time not the quantity of it

Choti mu, badi baat...................

When I was in my tenth standard, my science teacher once told me this, "Spend time with your parents. It is the quality time that matters not the quantity". She was scolding us for some reason and somehow, I don't remember why, she said that. Probably, life had thought her that. Her good-willed advice fell on my deaf ears. I said to myself, "I shall have plenty of time later on. Let me handle my boards first."

A year later, my father passed away after a sudden stroke. Even though my most beautiful moments with dad was in the period after my tenth(we had a lot of common passions and habits :-) ), had I paid a little heed to my science teacher's advice I would have tried much harder to make those moments count.

Now that I am still studying...what can I tell you...I did handle my tenth boards(boy! that result day was the happiest moment in my life)....then I handled my JEE(somehow! ;) )...and now I am handling my Engineering studies.

Trying not to make the same mistake twice. However, I cannot say that I have performed as best as I could. I mean I am trying, and trying a lot harder. These days, my favourite past times - learning cooking with my mom....accompanying her in bazaar runs...etc, etc. ..and on the way, discussing all the ways how this world is going to the doom. Also, spending time with my younger sister, teaching her a little this and a little that about a little this here and a little that there.

I learnt my lesson the hard way - possibly, the same way my teacher had.So, I'll give you the same advice that was for me - "start spending 'quality' time with your parents". Learn cooking, as I did. The effort your mother puts into making your dinner will surprise you. Or try any of her hobbies, be it gardening, knitting, painting....
Discuss with dad his works, his job, etc....and if he has a technical mind, tell him about your engineering studies(or lack of it), about Techniche..... Share some small works with him...fixing the bulbs, washing the car, etc... If you have a small brother/sister, talk about their school....(for me, it was like re-living those school days again...) and yes! share some anecdotes from Alcheringa...(please, don't encourage them to join IIT yet....)

Do anything, except wasting times looking at your laptop....and reading my blog......!!!!

Discriminated

An absurd view of the world as I see it. Nothing in this writing is meant to be true neither is any meaning/view implied. It is, at best, my attempt to be humorous and should be read only in that context.

For eons men have dominated our society, they have exerted domination over the downtrodden female class. Although existence of exceptions to this rule are rumored, but have not been validated(i.e, to the best of my knowledge). For instance, I have been told that there is a certain society in our country where women/mothers are the heads of the family. In this society, when people marry it's not the bride who is bidden farewell from home but it's the bridegroom who is forced to move to his in-laws' house.(Note: If this were to happen to me, I would only marry Bill Gates' daughter. An afterthought: I think I might be able to make it work even with the Tata's or the Ambani's !).

Before I go any further, I would like to state here, for the record, that I am a total egalitarian. I believe in the equality of all people. So, when I see discrimination, be it anywhere, my blood boils within me. Lets take the case of queues in public places. You must have noticed there are always two of them - one for the ladies and another for the gents. So far, so good. But imagine this, you are in a queue and there are no ladies. You wait for about an hour for your turn and still there are no ladies, which is bad because you have nothing to stare at. And as you just get to the front, a girl walks in. Naturally,it's her turn. You'll say to yourself, "I have waited for an hour, I suppose I can wait another minute. In the meantime, I can look at her pretty pretty face". She finishes her business and as you are about to be serviced, the window is shut closed on your face with a sign-board "Lunch time". And the 'another minute' becomes another hour. Please tell me, who's the victim of discrimination here?

Have you ever taken a city bus in Guwahati? Have you seen the price of JEE forms this year? Did you know about the women's reservation bill in parliament and other state legislatures? Have you seen faces of your friend when they were dumped by their girlfriends? Have you seen the laboratory marks of your female friends?....etc, etc.

I could keep rambling on and on, but I'll save it for other (useful)issues. I'll say this though, 'the biggest discriminator of all is nature itself. ' Do you know what happens when you eat more food then required? Your body turns it into fat and stores it for future use. In case of men, they are all stored around your tummy, making you fat and disgusting. Whereas, in women they get stored in all the right places(if you know what I mean), making them more beautiful and Angelina Jolie like. F***ing unfair, man! , f***ing unfair!