Confused Soul

Don’t get confused, I am not going to confess about my mistakes in past. It’s is just the name of the book, I finished yesterday. “The three mistakes of my life” is the 3rd book of IIT-IIMian author Chetan Bhagat. But if anyone will ask me about the book, I will simply suggest a big NO. It will be nothing but sheer waste of time to read this.

Though Mr. Bhagat is claiming this as a true story, once you read it, you will find out how fictitious it is. In this book, the author has put everything, which sells it India…CRICKET… POLITICS… RELIGION… LOVE… EMOTIONS… all the horrible things of that time frame like Earthquake in Gujrat, Twin tower collapse… everything you can imagine. This book is no better than a low budget, loose script Bollywood flick.

Some things which look good to me in the book are:

1) The AIS (Austrailan Institute of Sports) funda of distributing scholarships to make great sportsman.

2) Some Australian lingo like MOZZIE, SIPHON the PYTHON, NCR (i.e. number of cans required) and some more...

3) The stages in love: WE-JUST-LOOK, WE-JUST-WALK, HOLD-HAND and …

4) Ish’s passion for cricket and for Ali…

And that’s all; everything other than this is just rubbish. The only other thing which is good that it doesn’t make you bankrupt, it’s available only for 95 bucks. But my advice is to add 50 more and go for a good movie rather than reading this pile of around 300 pages (including prologue and epilogue).

That’s all from me, not it’s your choice to go for it or not.

Hmm...Finally I got time to write a new entry for my blog. This entry is dedicated to all the community work and will remain stuck to the Adobe punchline "Giving back to Community".

You must have noticed the image at the top. What is this all about? Is it an painting illustrating the rich usage of color by an well known artist or an example shown by an art instructor? No, it is nothing like this but this is the creation of a girl, who won the first prize in an art competition hold by Adobe for the children of an orphanage. This event was hold on 8th May 2k8 in Adobe Campus and I volunteered for this event. But thanks to loose scruples of some people, I could not be there for a longer time :(... BTW, when I saw this painting I felt very embarrassed as I am not very good in using colors and this painting for sure deserves a award. Though I wanted the same little girl to win who won when our team hold the event over Diwali and we decorated our work area using those paintings.

Though it's a bit late (around 2 days), it's my original thought and creation. (I copied the picture from somewhere and changed the content)

Gmail labs is one of the best things I discovered in different mail services. It allows you to do lots of things. After logging in Gmail, just click at the "lab" tab in settings or click on the "lab" icon just after your email ID on top-right corner of your browser window and you can see the numerous features offered to you by gmail. These google guys always do out-of-the-box things...

I personally liked some of the features provided by Gmail labs:

1) Signature tweaks: I personally liked this one. Places your signature before the quoted text in a reply, and removes the "--" line that appears before signatures. But beware, you can't use this and the "Random signature" Labs feature at the same time.

2) Quick Links: Bookmarks common Gmail views. it adds a box to the left column that gives you 1-click access to any bookmarkable URL (mails) in Gmail. You can use it for saving frequent searches, important individual messages, and more.


3) Superstars: Adds new star designs to better differentiate important email. After enabling Superstars, simply click on the star icon repeatedly to rotate through new star options. you can also choose which icons you wish to use in the "General" Settings page.


4) Email Addict: Lets you take a break from email and chat by blocking the screen for fifteen minutes and making you invisible in chat.

Now a days, I am not getting enough time to write something serious because of the increased workload in office. Though I was busy for the complete day, I created a favicon for my blog. it's easy and just 2 minute process. For those who don't know what a favicon is... favicons are defined as tiny pieces of art you’ll usually find in your browser’s address bar or when searching through your bookmarks. Favicons are important as they provide visual indicators to visitors and help them to easily associate the content with a bookmark in their browser. Besides, favicons are just nice to look at and there are way too many sites which don’t make use of them. We like to change things. Creating favicons is easy; I created a favicon on my own using a tool.

Please notice the light blue tiny icon before URL in the address bar. Here is a bigger version of the favicon I created...

If you want to create a favicon and add to your site or blog, it's easy. Please go to http://www.favicon.cc/, spend 2 minutes and a favicon of your choice is ready :-)

Note: These favicons (created like this) work in all browsers except Internet Explorer 7.0.

I was turning pages of newspaper today morning and stumbled upon this particular advertisement. Read this ad and imagine about an house which is on Ist floor, has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, one D/D and a kitchen near DPS school. Every time you want to grab something to eat, you have to drive 4-5 miles to DPS school and drive back to your home :D

While working today, I came to know about an interesting fact about Gmail. I had sent a mail to my Gmail account from my office ID and made a TYPO. I had misplaced the dot(.) in my mail-id and realized this only after I sent the mail. But on checking my Gmail, I got surprised by seeing that mail there. On researching I got this interesting fact about Gmail. It is possible that many of you might already know this but for others it may prove very helpful.

Below is what I got from google description of that mail address and some interesting add-ons are following that:

From Google:

There are three common reasons why Gmail users think they're receiving someone else's mail. Please select the description that matches your situation below.

Your address is similar but has more or fewer dots (.) or different capitalization.

Sometimes you may receive a message intended for someone whose address resembles yours but has a different number or placement of dots. For example, your address might be homerjsimpson@gmail.com, but the message was sent to a Homer.J.Simpson@gmail.com. What's going on?

Gmail allows only one registration for any given username. Once you sign up for a particular username, any dot or capitalization variations are made permanently unavailable for new registration. If you created yourusername@gmail.com, no one can ever register your.username@gmail.com, or Your.user.name@gmail.com. Furthermore, because Gmail doesn't recognize dots as characters within usernames, adding or removing dots from a Gmail address won’t change the actual destination address. Messages sent to yourusername@gmail.com, your.username@gmail.com, and y.o.u.r.u.s.e.r.n.a.m.e@gmail.com are all delivered to your inbox, and only yours.

If you're homerjsimpson@gmail.com, no one owns Homer.J.Simpson@gmail.com, except for you. Sending mail to Homer.J.Simpson@gmail.com is the same as sending mail to homerjsimpson@gmail.com, or even HOMERJSIMPSON@GMAIL.COM. If you're getting mail addressed to Homer.J.Simpson@gmail.com, most likely someone was trying to send a message to Homer.J.Sampson@gmail.com, or Homer.J.Simpson1@gmail.com, and made a mistake. You might even get messages from mailing lists or website registrations because the intended recipient accidentally provided the wrong email address. In these cases, we suggest contacting the original sender or website when possible to alert them to the mistake.

But beware, this doesn't apply when you login. You have to login with your original username as Gmail recognizes dot(.)s.

Add-ons:

1. One email for every purpose

Instead of using different email addresses for various purposes (work, school, friends, etc.) you can use different variations of your Gmail and filter incoming mails by ’sent to’ address. For instance, all incoming mail sent to ‘Name.Surname@gmail.com’ can be put to folder ‘work’, messages sent to ‘NameSurname@gmail.com’ can be put to ‘friends’, ‘N.ameSurname@gmail.com’ can be used for newsletters, and so on.

2. Track/Block spammers

When signing up for some website, say thatwebsite.com, you can add thatwebsite to your Gmail User ID (eg. GeorgeBush+thatwebsite@gmail.com). This way you can block your subscription whenever you want and even identify those websites that distribute your email address to spammers.

Now a days, I am reading THE KITE RUNNER by KHALID HOSSEINI. Though I have just completed the 3rd chapter yesterday, I want to share something, which I realized very true.

In a scene, the protagonist (in his childhood) was with his father while he was drinking. "If what he(Mullah) said is true then does it make you a sinner, Baba?" The child asked. He was clearly questioning on the drinking habits of his fatter. "Hmm" the father said, "Do you want to know what your father thinks about sin?"... and the answer was obviously a nod in yes. That answer was all, why I'm writing this.

“Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that?”

Note: Mullah is a title given to some Islamic Clergy.

The reasons in support of the argument were something, which mesmerized me a lot.

“When you kill a man, you steal a life,”Baba said. “You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?”

Isn't it very true? True in every possible sense that every sin is a variation of theft. Name a sin and relate what it steals from the victim??? Theft doesn't only mean to steal your money or materialistic possessions; it also means to lose your trust, your rights, your dear ones and anything you can think of.

Look at the above video and you will witness the most amazing shot of cricket history. Though cricket books haven't include a shot like this, this has already stolen a lot of attention from cricket pundits all over the world. Some were mesmerized, some scandalized and some repulsed on this very controversial one. Many cricket gurus worldwide made their comment on this shot. Though there is nothing wrong or against the rule, still it's drawing a lot of comments.

Personally, I admire this shot a lot. The shot, which is termed as SWITCH HIT, may become the most playing shot in T20 format. All the fuss is there because this wasn't a part of a T20 clash but of an ODI between NZL and ENG. Many people have criticized this one saying that this is unfair to the bowling team as they have no choice to set the field (for a Right Hand Betsman of a Lefty one). Also some comments came in the form that how the LBW decision will be taken in this case.

Following are the comments/views/justificatins came from every corner of the world about this shot:

"I covered my eyes as soon as he turned his body around. I was quite surprised and went 'Oh no', but he smashed it. In fact, he smashed it twice. He did actually come up the wicket and say, 'I was thinking about that in bed last night.' So at least we know the visualisation was there."
Paul Collingwood was there

"I just take my hat off to him and say 'nice shot'. All it's done is make me go back and change and get better and come up with a new tactic."
Scott Styris, the unfortunate bowler, takes it on the chin

"To even it up, bowlers should be able to bowl down both sides of the wide line. Then it brings your skill into play...

"It's one of those freakish things, and if it happens again it might go straight up in the air. It's a difficult shot, so we'd almost encourage it."
Daniel Vettori another bowler, and the opposing captain, sees both sides

"That's ridiculous. Absolutely stupid. The reverse sweep has been part of the game for however long. I am just fortunate that I am able to hit it a bit further."
Talk of the stroke being unfair did not please Kevin Pietersen

"Funnily enough, Chris Benham and I were practising KP's new shot in the nets a few days before he pulled it out of the bag.

"The right-hander's left-handed hit over long-on is the natural progression from a reverse-slogsweep."
Hampshire's Nic Pothas creates an intellectual property-rights issue

"Now that he has played that shot against Styris, I can finish off what I tried to say so many years ago. The argument is, if the batsman can change from being right-handed to left-handed, there shouldn't be a problem with a bowler changing from being right-handed to left-handed, either, without having to tell the umpire, nor should he have to tell the umpire if he is going over or round the wicket."
Michael Holding sums up the bowlers' predicament

"A bowler must advise a batsman when he's changing direction, why should the batsmen not; given that where the bowler's aiming will depend on the placement of the off stump."
Gideon Haigh seconds Holding

"It just should be outlawed straightaway. If you want to hit to one side of the field, you've got to do it in a cross fashion, and not swap the way you're facing or your grip. Otherwise you are going to start to allow the bowlers to go round the wicket, over the wicket, and keep swapping during their run-ups."
We know which side Ian Healy is on

"The lawmakers have to be mindful of innovation versus convention, potentially what is good and entertaining and what is prejudicial to the game... He has just set a standard at the moment that no one else has been prepared to try in a game. Others might have been prepared to practise it, but he has actually taken the next step, had the courage to take that risk."
John Buchanan respects innovation when he sees it

"As a cynical old bowler myself, I can see bowlers just stopping in their run-up. I am amazed that Styris didn't do that on Sunday, at least the second time. One way of doing it would be to get rid of the whole idea of leg side if the batsman switches his stance. So the bowler has a reasonable amount of latitude on wides on both sides of the wicket. And it doesn't matter where the ball pitches when you go up for lbw."
Dickie Bird is in the bowlers' corner too

"The truth of the matter is that there is a thing called flair in cricket... As far as I am concerned there has got to be a bit of flair in cricket. The more the merrier, as far as I'm concerned, is the way they should go."
Tony Greig is all for experimentation

"I wasn't working on that game. I was watching it on television and I nearly jumped out of my seat. I thought he was absolutely brilliant, and it was a stroke of genius."
The ever-excitable David Lloyd manages to get even more excited

"That was outrageous. I hope he tries it on me. I might have more chance of getting him out."
Shane Warne, KP's former Hampshire team-mate, seems to indicate that he may yet come out of retirement if this is the way cricket is headed

"If he [the batsman] is going to do that then you tell your bowler to bowl short into his ribs - and we have three leg slips and a gully [in case you have three slips and a gully to begin with]. If the batsmen is being so cute and clever, then I am going to say, 'Right, you are having a bit of Bodyline son'."
Nasser Hussain speaks with his Jardine cap on

"It incurs a great deal of risk for the batsman. It also offers bowlers a good chance of taking a wicket and therefore MCC believes that the shot is fair to both batsman and bowlers."
The MCC, after much deliberation, rules in favour of Pietersen

It was on the last weekend, I was waiting for the green signal on one of the crossings in my way. Suddenly a hand appeared inside the car and a voice came out "BHOOKH LAGI HAI, KUCH PAISE DEDO". I turned my head towards the soound and saw a small kid about 4-5 years old in clothes full of dirt. Though I never want to give money to a beggar on the road but I couldn't resist myself for giving something to that kid. I always discourage people for begging and ask them to work and earn but noticing his age and strength, I couldn't say no to that child.

Working in an MNC, I participated in many social service drives (sponsored by the company) to help the poor and needy. We visited many orphanages also to donate the material, money, clothes, food grains and many other things, to organize competitions and to spend time with children. But I have seen, I can say that we donate in these places only to increase their already unused piles of everything. We have their stores full of everything: Food grains, books, clothes, and every other thing we can think to donate. Does social service only mean to help those who are getting help from many places and not in the actual requirement or to help the actual needy? Is our responsibility over after identifying some orphanages and old age homes and donate them? Does doing only this make a real difference? Though it's not easy to make donation or to help these street children but did we ever think to find a way to solve this problem?

More important than helping them or donating them is to spend time with these children. Actually spare some time from your not-so-busy schedule for these children can make a big difference to their life. Are they not supposed to be treated equally like other children? Okay, let me narrow down the scope and put it like that at least they shouldn't be treated less than the children in orphanages. If we can open our hands to children in orphanages, who stops us to behave in similar manner with these street children.

Many of you may argue that everything for these street children is planned, they have a network of beggars and begging is more of a profession for them. But how does it make a difference even if it is true? They still don't have that privilege to play with toys instead of debris or to eat good enough food or to have enough number of clothes in winters or to have a shelter in rains or... or... Though sometimes I also encountered with shocking experience with these kids, I still feel that more or less it is we, who are responsible to the not-so-good condition of these guys.

I appeal everyone of you to do something to help these kids, who are actual needy and living a life worse than we can think of. Please spare a moment from your life for these kids or at least don't treat them like the waste of the country as most of us do.

This is an entry stolen from the blog of one of my very dear friend. She had written some poetry on her blog and instantly some lines came in mind. I didn't take a moment in showing my poetic talent and scribbling in the comments. Here I present the original entry as well as my poetic answer to that:

Blog: http://searchforrandomness.blogspot.com
Original entry:

Koi fariyaad is dil se nikalti hai
Us dil tak nahin pahunchti
Is dil ke toot jaane ke darr se
Ye zubaan bhi nahin khulti

Paas reh kar bhi
Ehsaas hai door hone ka
Jo ab tak apna hua hi nahin
Jaane kyon darr hai uske khone ka

My Reply:

Use kho kar kahan jaayoge tum,
Jitna door jaayoge, utni paas use payoge tum,
Na kehna behtar hai use khone se,
Kam se kam paas hone ka ehsaas to hai...

You can find the original blog post here...

Yesterday night, I was in a mood of early sleep but I cudn't. I tried hard to put myself to sleep ASAP but cudn't succeed. So at around 12:30 AM, I opened my laptop and typed down the hardest year (200-2001) of my life. I thought of posting it here but later I felt that it was to personal to be here. Today I saw an utility on the web to create wordles of your text and I converted that text in a wordle. I am posting that wordle here as it was injustice to myself if I don't put anything here regarding that. Though it's a very difficult job to make anything out of that but still I can console myself for not posting that post here. Those, who know me well and are aware of struggle, can certainly make things out of it. So here it is:

Other than this I also generated a Text Statistics for that text which is here:

I did also generate a word cloud but it will be too bulky to put here as reflected from Text Statistics shown above.

My brother got married exactly four months back in Feb. It was a love marriage and Bhai-Bhabhi share a strong bond for each-other. On some random day, Bhai had set the photo of a girl in his Gtalk and the girl was nothing less than beautiful. My notorious mind came up with an idea to tease Bhabhi and following was the short discussion between me and Bhabhi:

3:05 PM me: Dekho bhaia ne kisi ladki ka photo laga rakha hai :|
3:06 PM Bhabhi: haan yuvika naam hai
actress hai
ab tv mein bhi aa rahi hai
:)
hehehehehe
3:07 PM me: Poori enquiry rakhti ho aap :)
Bhabhi: dekha
:)

And all of you can imagine that how my brother would have been enquired before this discussion. So guys, if you are among those whose marriage bells are going to ring soon, be prepare for a life like this :)

PS: Kya aaj ghar par khana milega :P

It is just a tribute for World Day Against Child Labour on June 12, 2008... Below is a picture of school children, wearing ‘Stop Child Labour’ masks, participate in an awareness run in Hyderabad on Thursday to draw attention to child labour issues. You can also read it in continuation of the post "Is there any future for these children?" on June 10th, 2008.



Courtesy: The Times of India, New Delhi

It came like a gift for me when my bro send me the link of Sachin's first ever interview (as it is claimed by the Youtube user, who posted it). I liked it and I'm sure that you will also like it a lot. We can see that how the GOD-OF-CRICKET has started and how he was when he was stepping in the world of cricket to set record over records and to modify the cricket books.

One of the bad things about this post is that on youtube, there was a lot of Indo-Pak abusive statement as the comments made by the viewers. I doubt if youtube will continue with this video after these comments. I'm posting it here and if you are lucky enough you will get a look of it:

Though it may sound a bit different from my regular posts, I just want to post it. It is pure technical and those who don't want to give their brain muscles a workout may skip this. It was related to 64 bit porting and negative array indices.

I was porting an application from 32-bit windows to 64-bit windows and found an interesting result. Actually in our code we use negative array indexes very frequently, these things work fine on a 32 bit M/C but meet some horrible results on 64 bit machine. I am explaining here what the problem was:

Many books define that negative array indices show indefinite behavior but what I investigated is as follows. Actually on any system (32 bit or 64 bit) array indices are taken as integer (4 bytes). When we give any negative indices to the array, 2's complement of the index is added to base address of the array. It generally overflows the 32 bit limits and since in 32 bit systems address space is limited to 32 bit we ignore all the bits more than 31st bit and basically got a value "Base - index". But in 64 bits we can't ignore that overflowed value as that makes a validbut junk location and in turn refer to a junk location.

Example:

For example I take an array "akash" and found it's base address as 0x4162b654 while debugging.

&akash[0] = 0x4162b654

On 32 bit machine, while performing following operation it was giving me following result:

&akash[ 0 - 3 - 1 ] = 0x4162b650

Explanation:

&akash[0] = 0x4162b654

&akash[ 0 - 3 - 1 ] = 0x4162b654 - 3 - 1 = 0x4162b654 - 0x00000003 - 0x00000001

= 0x4162b654 + 0xfffffffd + 0xffffffff (converted in 2's complements)

= 0x24162b650

= 0x4162b650 (After ignoring bits more than 31st)

But in 64 bit system, if we take the same address for array 'akash', we can't ignore '2' and got to the address 0x24162b650., which is the reason for all the problems.

So this was the reason that for 64 bit system why I got unexpected crashes in the same code. The solution to avoid these situation is to type cast array indexes as ptrdiff_t like akash[ptrdiff_t(0-3-1)].

Also I want to give some more observations and information to the readers. I was using visualstudio8 on both 32 and 64 bit machines. OSes installed were 'win-xp professional' and 'win-xp professional 64-bit' respectively. I have also caught one bug for visual studio. When watch the address of akash[0-3-1] on 64 bit machines then it shows 0x000000004162b650 but program crashes as it can not access memory location 0x000000024162b650. This is actually a bug and need to be resolved by Microsoft coz what you are seeing while debugging, your EXE should follow the same. I am going to log a bug against visual studio in this regard.

1400 Hrs, it was the time for another lecture... it was raining out, so gently that one would always want to be out and drenching in the rain, a group of friends would always like to go on a bike ride, a group of boys always want to have a game of football and a happy family would always like to enjoy Mumma's hot-hot pakoras while sitting in the courtyard... Mistlike raindrops were falling on ground and were looking so beautiful that U never want to miss them out and above all the sweetest smell, smell of Mother Earth, which never feels so good unless it rains (and rain is supposed to be gentle). But unfortunately, we cannot enjoy this as it was Tinu(HOD of EL deptt)...'s lecture [:(], so we dragged ourselves in to the classroom and get imprisoned for next 2 and half hrs...

Hurray, it was just 1600 hrs and Tinu was in a jolly mood to leave us early and everybody is running out from the class as we, a group of 4, rushed towards Jai Singh's shop to grab some Tea and Somasas. As we called Chhotu to bring some samosa's and tea but today he was looking a bit different... he was looking as if he was tired a lot he was ill and still he has to work. He has to work to earn food for himself, to get food for his sister, to earn money for daily liquor of his father. We asked him what happened and he said nothing but asked for our order. It always hurts me to see these small kids working anywhere. Whether it’s home or restaurant, factory or any other place, it always hurts. If I can’t do anything, I always encourage people about the study and schooling of these small hard working humans. At all these small tea-stalls and at other places, when I see these small kids working, I do always used to go to them and share some time with them. But life runs fast and now days I am not able to do all this. May be because, I don’t go to have tea outside or I don’t find anyone out here.

It has been one-and-a-half years since the government banned the hiring of children as domestic helps or for employing in restaurants and eateries. The worst thing is to see the Police constables talking in the rudest manner to these kids in place of suing the owner. The ban was merely an extension of the Child Labour Act, 1986, under which children are prohibited from working in hazardous industrial units. India, home to the world's largest number of child labourers (the official estimate is 11 million though the actual figure is estimated at over 100 million), is indeed keeping its dubious record intact.

But the question is not to save these children from the lobor imposed on them but to decide what to do with them. Some actions have been taken by the law-enforcing agencies but they have mostly remained just a farce. About 550 boys aged between 5 and 15 were rescued from these shops, but no one could decide what to do with the children. Also the interesting thing is to know about the wages they get. Take the beedi industry for example. The average number of beedies a child laborer rolls in a day is 1,500, for an average daily wage of Rs 9. In this Rs 9, he has to do all the things I have mentioned earlier and think if any day he get victimized of working in these hazardous situation in only this age of 7 or 8 or 9.

This reminds me a cartoon of R.K.Laxman from the recent book, I read. Though it was for women’s empowerment but very relevant in the context.

If we can’t do anything like adopting someone or get someone educated or joining an NGO, which work for same reason. At least we can spread awareness about this; we can spend some time with them. Whenever we stop at an roadside Dhaba and see small hands in work, we can have a talk with the owner. Also if we can’t help them financially, we can help them emotionally. Also, if you are donating money or something, please make sure that your help is getting to the place where it is actually needed. Choose right NGO’s and orphanage to make donations. Help the needy, not the greedy. Last but not the least, these children need your emotional support more than financial one. So, if possible please plan to spend some time with them and that will really make a difference to them.

Do you ever get the feeling that time is just dragging on? You might be working in the office, sitting at your desk at school during a long lecture or waiting for the doctor to see you, but when you look up at the clock, you could swear the 15 minutes it took for the long hand to move a quarter of an hour were really twice as long. No matter how much you squirm and fidget, time is taking its sweet time in getting to the future. On the other hand, sometimes it can feel like time moves too quickly. Deep, engaging conversations with friends and loved ones can last for several hours but make you feel like time swept by in minutes. You can wake up right when the alarm goes off in the morning but somehow still end up running late for work. You're left throwing your hands up, wondering what happened to all of that lost time.

Does time really change its speed depend on the situation or it is just a feeling? Do we only feel that time is lasting longer than usual or actually it is? There are several theories which describing how time changes and how can we make up with it. You may have heard from elders in your family that a day in Heaven is equal to 100 years on earth or something like this. Is it true? Ok, lets find out the truth behind it...

I am presenting two theories "Time Dilation" and "Twin Paradox" from Einstein and Paul Langevin respectively.

Time Dilation: You must have known to the Einstein's theory of relativity, where he associate time with space and call it space-time. Einstein suggested that space-time wasn't flat, but curved or "warped" by the existence of matter and energy. Large bodies in space-time, like the Earth, aren't just floating in orbit. Instead, imagine an apple resting on a stretched out blanket -- the weight of the apple warps the sheet. If the Earth is an apple, then we can imagine the Earth's blanket as space-time.

This means that someone moving through space-time will experience it differently at various points. Time will actually appear to move slower near massive objects, because space-time is warped by the weight. These predictions have actually been proven. In 1962, scientists placed two atomic clocks at the bottom and top of a water tower. The clock at the bottom, the one closer to the massive center of the Earth, was running slower than the clock at the top.

Twin Paradox: A further explanation of the bending of space-time and time dilation came in the form of a thought experiment called the twin paradox, devised in 1911 by French physicist Paul Langevin. If one twin lives at the foot of a mountain and the other lives at the top, the twin closer to the Earth will age more slowly. He or she would turn out younger than the other twin, though by a very small amount. If you sent one twin in a spaceship accelerating close to the speed of light, however, he or she would return much younger than the other twin, because high acceleration and large gravitational masses are the same in relativity. Of course, no one's gone so far as to send somebody's twin into high-speed orbit, but scientists proved the hypothesis true in the '70s by sending an atomic clock into orbit. It returned to Earth having run much slower than grounded atomic clocks.

So here it confirms that at high altitudes time passes slower than it does near earth. Since Heaven is supposed to be at very high altitudes so it can be said that time doesn't pass at the same speed there but much slower than on earth. So it is confirmed that a day in Heaven is equal to 100 years on earth. :) So now onwards, whenever you're late for work or want the weekends to last longer, make sure you stay close to the ground and accelerate as much as possible. Boring lectures and waiting areas in doctor's offices, on the other hand, should be spent in the topmost room of high towers.

Yesterday I finished a book featuring R.K.Laxman’s cartoon’s: BRUSHIING UP THE YEARS, A CARTOONIST'S HISTORY OF INDIA 1947-2004. Did I say that I read the book? Actually I saw the book, I enjoyed the book and I wish to have that book as it is not a book which you read once and it’s over, U want to refer it again and again it really looks and feels good. The owner of the book told me that it’s the only Coffee table book which he can afford; I really liked the term Coffee table book.

This book only features some selected cartoons of R.K.Laxman; the cartoons, which were published in ‘The Times of India’. It features those cartoons also which were banned to publish in the time of emergency. It mainly attacks on the contemporary Indian politics. Every cartoon has a small side note with it describing the cartoon. G. Swaminathan did a great job in arranging and selecting the cartoons so that one doesn’t feel the gap while reading. The chronological order of the cartoons paints a complete picture of the development on Indian political scenario after independence in the views of R.K.Laxman. But I personally felt that there must be some more cartoons which are missed especially from past ten years. I didn’t feel the gap because I know the scene in past ten years but if someone will refer this book 10 or 20 years down the line, he will not get a complete picture of this time frame. I personally learned a lot of ancient Indian politics about which I didn’t know much. I wish to post some cartoons from the book but couldn’t find a scanner on due to weekend. I will do the same when I’ll find one and the binding of the book allows me to do so.

I liked the common man’s expressions and his appearance in the cartoons. I googled and here are some more facts about Laxman’s common man:

• The Common Man featured in a commemorative postage stamp released by the Indian Postal Service on the 150th anniversary of the Times of India in 1988.
• A 10-feet high bronze statue of "The Common Man" has been erected at the Symbiosis Institute, Pune.The Common Man has a wisp of white hair that is perpetually standing, leaving him with a bewildered look.
• The Common Man has been used since 2005 as the mascot for newly launched low budget airline Air Deccan.