Beyond candles: Towards Real Awakening

The Google India homepage, as I saw it this morning, carried a little candle lit in the memory of the Delhi brave heart. I hovered the cursor over it hoping for a hyperlink, as happens with most Google displays. But the candle didn’t lead you anywhere. Similar is the case with the massive angry protests on. Yes the rapists deserve severe punishments.

I’m no patriarch. And there’s nothing wrong with paying tribute. But the very next morning, as I sit looking at the headlines there has been a consistency in the news I’m informed of. One, the protest are still on in delhi, says the reporter and I’m glad that no one’s forgotten the case but then there’s another bit of news, the channel informs me of new rape cases across the country .

Ten rupees?

Manohar pours water overloaded tea in a dust stained glass and brings it to me, humming a tune from a new bollywood movie starring his worshiped hero Shahrukh Khan. He hands the glass to me and sits down  next to me, close enough to initiate a homosexual relation, "Bhaiya ji, tell me na bhaiya ji, when shall I become Super-Ishtar ''.

“It’s a long wait Manohar. Continue at your efforts. You would definitely shine one day, like a real Ishtar. Ok?” He walks back to his cooking vessels.

Poli-ticks

“Na thakenge, na rukenge, aur na jhukenge (We will not get tired, we will not stop and we will not bend),” says Narendra Modi in the latest advertisement followed by blowing of a conch shell.

Politicians are opportunists. They are characterized by a quest of power and desire to manipulate the majority. In the Great Indian Context, the most talked about politician, by the day is Mr. Modi!

As the people of Gujarat cast their vote there stands a dilemma in the mind of Mr. Narendra Modi. He knows, the time is right. And that his party stands in a dilemma today. They and everyone of us knows the Congress vote percentage would fall in 2014, thanks to 2G,CWG and RahulG .The BJP realizes that its chances lie in providing an alternative. And Modi knows that within the infighting, he would emerge the PM candidate. But in this very set-up hovers his dilemma.

'Testing' times

The God gets down low but fails to stop the ball rattle his woodwork. I felt sorry for him. Not angry.

Jadeja bowls probably the worst ball of his test debut and Trott steps out before it bounces for the third time, unperturbed how his sportsmanship will make it to the headlines and hits the ball mercilessly to the fence. I laughed it off.

The Pursuit of Happiness

The old man sat on the woody bench in the corner of the City Park. Wait! he did not prefer being called an old man. So a middle aged man he was, but wait! That won’t be true. He was an old man after all.

So an old man sat on the wooden bench all alone with a black bag beside him. He was lost watching a game. His eyes looked at the children, playing hide and seek. The excited seeker running around trying to find the hiders. The hiders silently hidden below the benches and behind the trees. The seeker walked around, as serious as Sherlock, but he couldn’t spot anyone. Soon, too soon the seekers enthusiasm faded.

Coursera - Gamification by Kevin Werbach

Melissa Gena

A Bachelor's of Business Administration (SCL) graduate from Golden Gate University and an MA from Gonzaga University she is an avid learner, almost always taking one course or another (especially with the advent of Coursera and Udacity) and studying technology, leadership, and innovation through the words of a variety of authors both online and in print. Since 2002, She has co-founded and sold a web hosting company, and has worked primarily for small technology start-ups. She also has a blog on which she writes about a variety of things.

For the past few months, I have been happily experimenting with (and occasionally writing about) Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). I was thrilled to recently receive a message on my blog from Soumabha, inviting me to write a guest post about my experiences!

The first course I signed up for was Gamification, taught by Kevin Werbach, of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. This course was particularly interesting to me because it addresses my loves of both technology and psychology – in particular, motivation. We see examples of gamification popping up all over the Internet these days, but as I learned in Professor Werbach’s course, many of them are ineffective. Before I get into the course details, though, I’ll share my thoughts on some of the other elements that I have found to make my experience with MOOCs better or worse.

#7: Superman vs Thor

It is the Kryptonian vs the Norse God, both invincible in their own right. Let us fight it out and see who wins the laser-eyed Superman or the god of lightning Thor...

Name : Clark Kent
Affiliation : One of the founding members and leader of The Justice League Of America
Background : Cast away from the impending doom on his planet Kryptonite, he crash landed on planet Earth ( much like Dragonball Z fame Goku) and has been living there since. In his teens he finally got the hang of his awesome superpowers and chose to use them to protect earth from the wrath of the villains. He dawned his trademark suit so as to avoid being identified which was designed by his foster mother Martha Kent. He is the leader of the Justice League by his own right and protects the Earth from treacherous villains like Doomsday , Braniac and his biggest foe Lex Luthor.

Name : Thor Odinson
Affiliation : The Avengers
Background : Thor is the Norse God of Lightning and is the son of Odin , the ruler of Asgard. Being banished after defying his father he comes and falls in love with Jane Foster. Being robbed of his mighty hammer Mjolnir Thor loses all power and becomes the common man Donald Blake. Even after learning humility Thor refuses to go back to Asgard and makes Midgard (Earth) his home. He joins the Avengers and has on several occasions saved them from aliens, his brother Loki and other frost and fire giants.

LET THE FIGHT BEGIN!!!!

The FDI debate

I promised myself and my family I won't do a post during my exams, but then there are some things I can't resist,like eating too much, playing FIFA or writing something that bugs my mind, so I couldn't resist penning this one.

So to begin with I made a mistake today. A mistake of following the Parliament debate on allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail. Honestly I was confused about the  pros and cons of FDI and so I wasted time listening the speeches from the parliament. While people from the parliament were supposed to be wise men ,with all due respect I must say, they all turned out to be jokers - each one of them Sushma Swaraj, Kapil Sibal, Mulayam Singh etc. What these jokers conducted wasn't a debate it turned out to be a circus, of stupid speeches and statements.

Coursera - Greek and Roman Mythology by Peter Struck

Having played Age Of Mythology in 9th class I grew a strong liking to the Greek, Egyptian and Norse Gods. Odin and Zeus especially fascinated me. So when I took the course with a minor game mythology background I had no idea how wonderful it would be.

The lectures were spread out into 10 weeks, 8 for Greek Mythology and 2 for Roman (I thought they had similar cultures and history but the course taught me different as we learnt that Romans don't even want to be associated with the Greeks). The major books and topics covered were -

Doomsday - the Gangnam Style

Well most of us have seen this meme and all of us have heard 'Gangnam Style'. So what if this is true??!!! What if the Gangnam Style is our undoing and brings about the apocalypse.There have already been talks of how Gangnam Style was the ancient rain dance and the Gods were so furious that they sent Hurricane Sandy to devastate the East Coast of America. Few people also claim that the presence of  'PSY' in 'Apocalypse' actually gives them the jitters. (Pathetic !!! They bested even the worst PJ masters).

A Dialogue In The Dark

What amazes me most is the practicality of the approach and the experience it provides to the gen folks. A must visit for everyone, this is a new step (actually they started out in 2010, I just visited recently) towards empowering the differently-abled people.

To those of you who have no idea about what I am ranting -  'Dialogue In The Dark' is an initiative to make a gen  person experience how it feels to step into a blind man's shoes.

The Hyderabad 'Dialogue In The Dark' (the only 1 in India) provides 2 modes of enlightening the public - 'The Exhibition' and 'The Taste Of Darkness'. I was so amazed by 'The Exhibition' that I decided to  go for the 'Taste Of Darkness' too.

That Awesome Journey ;)

Train journeys are all about possibilities. There are a variety of things you could go through on a train journey. You could get robbed by a group of psycho dacoits on the way. You could end up getting food poisoning or constipation from a samsosa. You could make new friends; meet old enemies. Or if you were me you could be all alone in an empty berth planning to spend the night reading Khushwant Singh’s selected short stories.

Indian Avengers

After so many posts illustrating 'The Justice League vs Avengers', my friends talked me into discussing what would happen if there was an Indian version of Avengers made...

So who would be the members?? My guesses are -


G-One (Jeevan meaning life) - Shah Rukh Khan almost sealed the deal by copying almost all body parts of Tony Stark when he acted in the blockbuster Ra-One. He has a fake and detachable heart, can shoot laser bolts and has cyborg like strength ( He destroys the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, as if Kasab and his friends hadn't done enough).
 



Krrish - Superhuman body reflexes, strength, stamina... this reaks of Captain America. Krrish is played by Hrithik Roshan, who inherited some powers from his father ( His father was in turn given powers by an E.T. named Jaadoo ). Krrish is also said ( and seen in movies ) to have a huge leaping capability, maybe equivalent to the Hulk. Wikipedia says he can cross 1/8th of a mile in a single jump.

From BITS with hope

He took out his ID card and stared at the cheesy face, he could not contain but wear the same sorry look as his lips slowly started curving into a smile.  Perhaps the smile that drew him towards a chemistry lecture when he was scribbling in his friend’s book, which was the obvious option when plated up against a ‘chemistry’ lecture that was putting the weak minds to bed and teasing the bright ones. The lecture brought him to a senior’s room, filled with grins and guffawing while an ‘Illad’ was singing a ‘gult’ song. That very smile ignited the most flammable of his thoughts that was waiting to burn all the travail that took his wit and sweat for the past four years, and let the holy smoke reach his soul as he started to sense the heat and shed a tear acknowledging his journey. That cathartic moment brought him back his college days......... a timeless timeline......

 

Towards a better Diwali !

Festivals,they say are about joy,happiness and similar shit. How I wish they were true..

So, I'm back home for Diwali (if anyone cares) and the other day was planning to catch up with one of my chaddi buddies. "R u in town?" I text-ed him. "Abhi mushkil hai. Mum-Dad fight. Badi mushkil se silent kiya hai". Today morning even my "home-sweet-home" became witness to a similar fight. Not that fights didn't happen earlier, but I kept myself distracted with JEE preparations. Now that I'm jobless , I can't help but think about why our senior generations fight so much ?

Compare home with Hostel life.There weren't such bicker-backers. Yes, we do consistently abuse each other, but all that's not from the heart! Why we, Junior generation have to play the sensible middlemen when senior generations fight? I've no clue about the answers, for I'm no philosopher or psychiatrist. I'm just a blogger-cum-Engineering student. And like any ideal engineering student ,I can at least optimize the problem.

Coursera - Learn To Program : The Fundamentals by Paul Gries and Jennifer Campbell

After taking the CS101: Building a Search Engine course in Udacity I grew a special fondness for Pythonscripting. It seemed much easier and less complicated than the other two languages I had learnt - Java and C, but as I didn't have any formal education I decided to take up Learn To Program : The Fundamentals class by Paul Gries and Jennifer Campbell.

The course was spread across 7 weeks with lecture videos, weekly quizzes, biweekly assignments and a final exam. To get a certificate one needs to clear the coursework with a minimum of 70%. This, I felt was much easier than the other courses as the final exam was of only 25% and the quiz questions didn't change much so by the 3rd try, one generally knew all the correct answers or atleast enough to get a 70% in that.

#6: Scarlet Witch vs Zatanna Zatara

The conjurers who have many a times saved the Earth from the brink of destruction now meet to decide who is the alpha - conjurer...

Name : Wanda Maximoff
Affiliation : Avengers
Background : Wanda is the daughter of Magneto and twin sister of Quicksilver. The twins were initially inducted into the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants but were later recruited into the Avengers team by Iron Man ( after the X-Men captured Magneto and Toad ). In the Avengers team, Wanda found her love, the robot Vision and they got married with blessings of their team-mates. Wanda had two kids with Vision   ( Don't ask me how !!!) Thomas and William.





Name : Zatanna Zatara
Affiliation : Justice League of America
Background : Zatanna is the daughter of Giovani Zatara of the mystical Homo Magi class of humans. Along with her brother Zachary, she makes her living as a stage illusionist prior to discovering her magical powers. She then meets Batman and Robin disguised as a witch under control of a terrible villain The Outsider. She later helps Justice League in resolving many cases before formally becoming a part of it.

LET THE FIGHT BEGIN!!!!

Where's our Obama ?

The newspapers today morning were full with the news of Barack Obama's re-election in the World's Largest Economy. I've always fancied Obama'a Oratory skills. He seems like a man, who would lead the Nation through any storm; or at least that's what his facial expressions suggest . As I read  Obama's victory speech ,this morning I compared our leader’s speeches. Our guys won’t talk about issues, problems and solutions. They would rather choose to play with the listener’s emotions. As I looked back at Obama’s image in the newspaper I asked myself Where’s our Obama?

Well my mind retorted back, our country leaders won’t stand up to lead the country; they would rather prefer pitting casts and communities against each other, fighting over silly issues and planning new scams.
I had to rush to my class, but the question ball kept hitting the walls of my mind...Who’s our charismatic Obama? Yeah one could crack a joke, someone as brilliant as Sachin ! But on a serious note we do need a leader who can lead the nation from front . How long can we survive with a Prime Minister, who lacks backbone, no matter how good an economist he is …

Anticipation of the Execution of a Reinvention

You're waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter ...

Oasis 2012 ,my first Oasis, seems like that Train riddle from Inception.You know where you hope the train will take you,towards fun and ecstasy ; but you don't know for sure....

#5: Batman vs Capt. America

After the sidekicks Winter Soldier and Nightwing faced off it is time for the masters to battle it out.

Name: Bruce Wayne
Affiliation: Founding member of Justice League Of America
Background: Orphaned at the age of 14, Bruce Wane's life changed totally with the death of his parents. He vowed to take revenge on the criminal world. After completing his education in US, he went far-east to learn new fighting styles and criminal psychology. He initially fought as a plain-clothed vigilante but was so badly beaten up that he realised that he must wear a cowl to actually strike fear into the hearts of the villains. So he adorned his Batman armour and became the Dark Knight who protected Gotham.


Name: Steve Rogers
Affiliation: Leader of the Avengers for some time
Background: Steve Rogers was a thin and weak Arts student who failed in passing the physical examination test for enrolling into the US Army. So he took part in Operation Rebirth and thus emerged as a super-soldier. Defeating the Nazis along with his side-kick Bucky Barnes made him a hero in the US. Unfortunately on one of his missions, he and Bucky were presumed to be dead after they diffused a bomb in mid-air which caused the plane to explode in mid-air and threw the two of them into the depths of the sea. He was later recovered by the US forces and came to be an important member of the Avengers Initiative.

LET THE FIGHT BEGIN!!!!

Ouch that heart !

“A feeling of ecstasy beheld me, as I entered BITS Pilani “. Ideally that’s what I should say. But saying so would not be sincere. Frankly speaking,fatigue, and just fatigue is all I felt. “Why wasn’t GD Birla born in some Metropolis? “. I asked myself as my parents looked around at the Neem trees.

Anyways, did I introduce myself? No, I didn't. I’m Madhav Shrivastav. Like most BITSians, I screwed my IITJEE. How I remember every bit of 18^th May. “Congrats, you have cleared IITJEE” read the screen .It were the words “AIR 12188” that spat on my face .Then BITSAT happened . I wonder if it was the online pattern or the Air conditioned rooms or perhaps a BITSAT computation error,that I got a decent BITSAT score. In retrospect it was perhaps dad’s numb face expression that made me clear BITSAT. In short, that’show I got into BITS Pilani.

Coursera - Introduction To Finance by Gautam Kaul

Wan Kong Yew

Wan Kong Yew is a Malaysian national living in Kota Kinabalu. His concept of consciousness, in the vein of Denett, Egan and Marvin Minsky leads him to be interested in Computer Science and Information Theory. He maintains 2 blogs, his personal one  - Call To Reason and the other being a gaming one  - Knights of the Cardboard Castle.

My own professional career is in accounting but I have never formally studied finance. As such the Introduction to Finance course conducted by Professor Gautam Kaul of the Ross Business School of the University of Michigan was a natural choice. It ran for 10 weeks, among the longest of any course offered on the Coursera platform.

Let Me Live Some More

Sushma Sharma

Sushma Sharma is a graduate from BITS Pilani. She presently works in Ernst and Young and loves drawing cartoons and writing poems. A fun-loving character, she is deeply intrigued by the mysteries of life, her recent favourite being 'The need of X-factor in life'.

Let me live it long, let me live it loud..

So that even if I die I make someone proud..

Please give a sip of life more, or just spillings of the bowl...

So that when I become air, I touch their soul..

To be or not to be Non-Vegetarian..

Some people 'live to eat' and others 'eat to live'. I being a bong ( a bengali ), feature primarily in the first category though, sometimes when my lunch / dinner is purely vegetarian I tend to migrate to the second one (Tuesdays in BITS Pilani and when my mom cooks spinach and other bong veg delicacies).

Food to me is not just 'food' it is more of an 'art'. It is less about cooking and more about how the taste and style blend in with the mood. When I used to study for the dreaded 'IITJEE' my mother used to make my favourite dishes to keep me changa (healthy) and in the best of my moods. It was then that I found out that food could actually make my mood lighter and swing it from bad to good.

Coursera- Internet History, Technology, and Security by Dr. Charles Severance

Flarnie Marchan

Flarnie Marchan is a technology enthusiast, web developer, and advocate of open education. When not working or playing with all things web, she enjoys the sun and palm trees of Southern Florida. You can read her blog for information on technology and design.

Soumabha and Manoj have given me the wonderful chance to share my experience of Internet History, Technology, and Security, one of the free classes available on Coursera. This course provides an accessible overview of the history and workings of the world wide web. Guiding this tour of the web is Professor Charles Severance, a.k.a. "Dr. Chuck", of the University of Michigan.

Coursera - Algorithms, Part 1 by Sedgewick and Wayne

Wan Kong Yew

Wan Kong Yew is a Malaysian national living in Kota Kinabalu. His concept of consciousness, in the vein of Denett, Egan and Marvin Minsky leads him to be interested in Computer Science and Information Theory. He maintains 2 blogs, his personal one  - Call To Reason and the other being a gaming one  - Knights of the Cardboard Castle.

As someone with no formal education in programming and treats the subject only as a hobby, I approached the Algorithms, Part 1 by Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne of Princeton University with apprehension. As it turned out, I was right to be afraid but it also ended up being one of best learning experiences I have ever had.

Possible Villains for the Avengers 2

The Pit is a film fan and a filmmaker. You can read his thoughts over on My Hollywood Dream or watch his debut feature film, a horror/thriller titled The Eve, in the near future.

The Avengers set a high bar for future sequels and superhero movies in general. Loki leading an army into the heart of New York City made for a pretty epic battle and will be hard to top. I’d like to take a look at three possible villains that The Avengers could face off against in the sequel, all of which would make for a very different movie than the first one. I’m excluding a certain villain cameo from the credits of the original movie to avoid spoilers.

Coursera - Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World by Eric Rabkin

La Graciada

La Graciada is a perpetual student, doing part-time graduate work alongside Coursera offerings on a number of subjects, but mainly literature! She lives, works and writes in London, but has also studied and worked on the East Coast in times gone by. She blogs about all these things in a site named as LaGraciada .

Soumabha and Manoj have very kindly invited me to review a slightly different course for this blog: Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World. This literature course has just finished and was provided by Professor Eric Rabkin of the University of Michigan.

The course traces the influences of fantasy and fairy-tale into science fiction. The syllabus goes out of its way to ensure that the bulk of the writings are available as free downloads, although a few of the texts are not available for free (legal) download, so there is a small financial outlay. In total, the course takes in a very wide range of authors, including the Brothers Grimm, Mary Shelley, and Ursula Le Guin.

London Dreams

Aritra Jyoti Chakraborty

Working as a Software Developer for Intergraph consulting, he has done his Masters in Computer Science from the prestigious Rutgers University Of New Jersey. An avid reader, he reads both fiction and non-fiction and whenever anything catches his eye he makes it a point to pen down his thoughts about it. His hobbies include running and supporting Manchester City, whose matches he follows judiciously.

Vijay Kumar, Gagan Narang, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Saina Nehwal and MC Mary Kom.

Do these names ring a bell? Well, if it doesn’t, you have been seriously ill informed over the past month’s affairs. These athletes have all represented India in the London Olympics 2012 which culminated last month and have all returned home with a medal that they will cherish throughout their lifetime.

How Paris Caused the Trojan War

Almost every single book or post on the Trojan War blames Helen for causing the war between the Greeks and the Trojans. They call her 'the face that launched a thousand ships'. I do not disagree that she played a major part but I strongly believe that if it had not been for that nincompoop Paris then none of this would have ever happened.

The Destruction of Troy

Future Imperfect

This weekend Bytes and Banter and the website OverGeeking.com are proud to present this international, cross cultural blog collaboration. We present this post made by Anthony Curtis, the blog admin of OverGeeking.com.

Anthony Curtis

Anthony Curtis is a member of Mensa as well as a blogger, originally from Jacksonville,FL now living in Great Falls, MT. When not debating on Star Wars or getting lost on TVTropes.org, he can be found writing for OverGeeking.com and working on his serial novel Spark Of Tyranny.

OverGeeking.com is about over thinking about Geek culture - movies,  video games, technology etc... It is a place where whether Luke Skywalker's lighsaber can cut Superman can be discussed.

#4: Iron Man vs Green Lantern

As Green Lantern had a huge advantage over Iron Man with his normal armour , we compare him with Iron Man wearing his Bleeding Edge armour for this fight.

Name: Tony Stark

Affiliation: The Avengers

Background:  Son of the famous scientist Howard Stark, Anthony (or better known as Tony) Stark inherited his father’s company Stark Industries after his parents died. Making weapons he grew into a “ Genius, Millionaire, Playboy ” and supplied new and high technology weapons to the US Govt. Going to supervise a field test in the Gulf ( previously Vietnam) he tripped a booby trap which caused a piece of shrapnel to be loaded into his chest. Building the arc reactor and a suit to keep him alive and fight evil he became Iron Man.

Name: Hal Jordan

Affiliation: The Justice League

Background: He was the first human-being to be inducted into the Green Lantern Corps when he was chosen by the dying Abin Sur’s ring. Acting as a galactic police officer he was to take care of everyone who lived in Sector 2814 of the universe. He fought his own mentor Sinestro and defeated him to save the universe. He later became one of the founding members of Justice League along with Superman, Batman , Wonder Woman and a few others.

LET THE FIGHT BEGIN!!!!

Beyond Messi and Ronaldo

Watched by over two-thirds the world’s population, it wouldn’t demand brains to guess its football (not the American version). Its activity and market has made it noticeable while it’s past and the superstars that it never fails to nurture, has made it all the more enticing. But one thing certainly managed to pull my grey matter out of its comfort zone and keep it guessing.......... 

Why only RONALDO or MESSI?

Drunken Revelry

Disclaimer - This story is semi-fabricated, a part of it is true, the rest is the masala for the readers :P. The characters in it are not real but are moulded from my office colleagues.

"Wake up yaar! We are already late for the office party, all the others are waiting for us neeche (down)". I still remember Rajnee's voice which had brought an end to my blissful sleep. After 10 hours of journey from Hyderabad to Bangalore, I was so tired that I fell asleep even before my head had hit the pillow. I quickly woke my room-partners Padnees and Gutter ( He threw 6 gutters in a row while bowling... what else should we call him ). We suited up and headed downstairs where Gajan and Shakmil were waiting for us. Rajnee and Daniel were the last to come. Rajnee wore a blazer on top of his T-shirt, clearly aiming to compete for the 'Best Dressed Male' in the office party (which he did win later ). We drove away quickly, aiming not to be late for the party .

The Hindi Serial 'Killers'

I was more than excited to start watching serials which glued my grandma and the other housewives in my building to the Idiot box. The intermediate studies for IITJEE gave me no time to enjoy, so I only decided to give it a try when I came home after my first year. Little did I know that I would learn such a great deal of stuff from them –

#3: Winter Soldier vs Nightwing

One of the most interesting matchups ever… It is one sidekick vs another. They also shared a similar history and in the future both take up the position of their hero after the original characters die or are presumed to be dead.

Name : James Buchanan Barnes

Affiliated To : The Avengers

Background : Formerly known as Bucky Barnes, he was the sidekick of Captain America. He was believed to be dead after The Captain’s face off with the Red Skull, but later returned as Winter Soldier. He shared the same fate as the captain and was frozen in the ice only to be discovered by the Russian instead of the American forces. Removing his lost arm they replaced him with a new bionic arm and became a lethal assassin under the Russians. He remained in stasis in between the Russian assigned missions and so hasn’t aged much. After meeting Capt. America he came back to senses and joined Avengers.

Name : Richard Grayson

Affiliated To: The Justice League

Background : Formerly known as Robin, he assisted Batman in many of the missions. After coming of age when he could no longer be Robin he emerged as Nightwing and tested his detective skills by taking unsolvable cases.  He too follows Batman’s policy of not killing people, be it friends or foes. He uses a utility belt like his trainer and knocks out his foes with his agility and power.

LET THE FIGHT BEGIN!!!!

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Not many days ago, a friend of mine told me it was fresh to find me reading literature. May be just the compliment I needed to buy myself a jewel. Probably the cheapest one I’d ever imagine. As flipkart keeps its word and delivers it in 4 working days (even to places far away), I ripped of the package and there it sat. Nearly 200 pages, paper-bound with brown letters shining when light knocked them at an obtuse angle.  Unlike many, who would lock up their jewels in a cast iron safe, I decided to keep it with me till I’m done with it. So, there I was, walking, tossing, turning and twisting my body as my eyes and mind refused to unlock themselves  from the bold letters of the book.

One Day Diary

21 years in the bag and time never seemed more hot footed and hostile.  Clock couldn’t move faster than now as I was trying to organize myself and tend to the immediate task of getting on with the selection process.

 

Interview With The Man Of The Hour

Shivangi Singh

A student of Information Technology from GBTU, Noida (formerly known as UPTU, Lucknow), she is a gizmo freak... She is head-over-heels about astrology and not the everything-is-planned kind of freak, a firm believer of the many unique and wonderful qualities of the different zodiac signs and many other stuff.. Her likes and dislikes are as wide as the amplitude of a pendulum from English classical literature to rock music. She is the blog admin for the blog Let Me Know 

It was a moment every Indian dreams about. (Though I confess it does get quirky with random thoughts in quick succession of you punching the fake smile out of the khadi-clad). Never in my long 20 years have I felt so committed to a task. The fact that I was going to be face-to-face with the ex-CM felt like my moral responsibility towards the nation. I would be shamelessly honest; I had deep respect for the man. After several monumental scams and myriad acquisitions of the gravest intensity, if there was a man who could still walk like he blessed Mother Earth by the virtue of being born it was just this VVIP. Hence, I had no qualms about waiting for four hours for having an “early” morning breakfast with the man; I have nothing better to do, you see.

Coursera - Design and Analysis of Algorithms Course by Tim Roughgarden

I learnt Data Structures and Algorithms in my third year of engineering and scored a modest B, so when I took Prof Roughgarden's Algorithms class just to revise the concepts for the upcoming placements in college. I expected it to be a walkover as generally all the courses I took in Coursera were simpler than BITS in classroom learning.

Noose or loose !!! Just take the decision

Landing on the shores of Mumbai on 26/11, they planned to shake the will and courage of the Indian population . Those who saw the news of what 10 terrorists could do in Inda's most populated city ( also the financial capital of India) were appalled. Lady Eowyn's Lord Of the Rings dialogue " Courage!! Courage for our friends!!!" sounded in most of the houses as they waited for the police ( they were shell-shocked too) to take charge and arrest or kill the terrorists. Finally at 8:00 am on 29th Novemeber, the final attack was quelled by the NSG (National Security Guard) commandos killing 3 attackers who were holed out in the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.

#2: Black Widow vs Hawkgirl

Well most of my friends had told me that it would be an uneven matchup but it’s the closest pair I got... so let’s begin!!

Name: Natasha Romanova (Romanoff)

Affiliated To: Avengers (Leader for a brief period), S.H.I.E.L.D.

Background: Orphaned at a young age, Natasha was inducted into the Black Widow program and given training in espionage. This was during the World War II when U.S.S.R. and US was busy fighting the Germans. She later manipulated and romanced Hawkeye into fighting against IronMan. After realizing her mistake, she broke ties with her villainous employer and joined S.H.I.E.L.D. becoming an unofficial part of the Avengers.

Name: Shayara Hol

Affiliated To: The Justice League, The Birds Of Prey

Background: A law enforcement officer of the planet Thanagar, she is the wife of Hawkman. She was initially assigned to capture the Rainbow Robbers where she met her partner and later husband Katar Hol ( Hawkman). After the case, in Silver Age , the duo were sent to Earth in pursuit of Byth Rok. On reaching Earth they soon became friends with and later joined The Justice League.

LET THE FIGHT BEGIN !!!!