Death on Noetic Nought

Talks at PyCon India 2012

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0530

PyCon is back to Bangalore for the 4th edition. I’ve been to all the previous three editions, and I’m looking forward to this one.

I haven’t spoken at any of the previous editions, and hadn’t even really considered speaking at the previous editions. But, this time, I proposed a couple of talks, and both of them have been accepted! Woot! Lots of work ahead of me, but I’m really looking forward to give good talks. I’ll be talking about Enaml, and showing a brief demo of all the wonderful things it makes possible. In the other talk, I’ll give a brief overview of the latest happenings in the SciPy community and the projects to look forward to and contribute to. Pankaj and I will be talking together on this.

Also, Kenneth (lawgon) will be deeply missed at this edition of PyCon.

Sadly, John Hunter, the lead author of matplotlib, also passed away last week. RIP. :(

Gone!

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0530

In memory of two gems, Koteshwar Rao Sir and Madhusudhan.

This, surely is a tremendous loss for the world, especially the world of Math. I pray, from the bottom of my heart, May your Souls rest in peace.

I got to know both of them at the same place, IIT Study Circle, Hyderabad. Its not for long that I’ve been there and known them, but both of them definitely have a special place in my heart.

Koti, as we lovingly called him, will always remain an inspiration for me. ( and hundreds of others who’ve had the fortune to be his students ) An Inspiration to thoroughly love and enjoy what I am doing… to dedicate my life to something worthwhile… to be uncompromising on the quality of work I do. Though I’ve failed miserably in learning any amount of Math from him, I feel privileged to have been his student.

and Madhusudhan was my bench-mate in there! I didn’t speak much to him there, [speaking to your neighbors was a sin at that place] but I’ll never forget the Ratna days; Sanskrit/English classes once in a while, Chemistry Labs, Cycle rides/Walks back from college along with Veeru and Srinu discussing everything under the sun and the Krotov solving session in the park. Memories are all, that remain…

The Journey minus "The Man!"

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0530

I am back Home!! After one more ordinary semester, (academically, otherwise quite a dramatic one actually) finally i’m back home! On my way back home……

It was 3:30 am. After about half an hour’s struggle to put myself to sleep, I gave up. I don’t know if it was the chill of the night, the stink of the urinals or the shared berth that I slept on, I couldn’t sleep. I decided to get up and have a stroll around. After some random walks, I sat down at the TTE’s seat and waited and waited and waited….

My last journey home, at the end of second sem was also quite similar. I spent a lot of time at the TTE’s seat…unable to sleep… waiting, waiting and waiting.. but it was quite different…. I was in the elite company of Hari (Hari Charan a.k.a Prongs… his nick in CS)

That journey is still very fresh in my memory… I spent most of it with him; The morning was busy and lively with DumbC’s n stuff like that. In the afternoon while the others were enjoying a good nap, we tried studying some C programming. [ he just loved programming and was excited about doing a lotta cool stuff during the summer] But the afternoon heat got the better of me and eventually i fell asleep…{I think, I induced a bit of sleep to him too ;-) }

That night is a most unforgettable one… after all our guys went to sleep, both of us decided to spend some time listening to songs and try to put ourselves to sleep. [ The songs of RDB aren’t lullabies by any measure! and the train was running too fast: we couldn’t hear clearly with just one earphone each, even if we were on the top berth]

So, we ended up discussing matters of common interest… we chatted on topics ranging from Movies to Religion and Culture to Dan Brown [he told me the whole story of Deception point in his trademark style!] to Games and Programming. I spoke my heart out… {and so did he; as he always did} [haven’t had any other discussion which comes close to it] After a couple of hours, we decided to get down and move around, to enjoy the cool breeze, to look at the villages and the fields going past… We shared the seat of the TTE for about an hour [that was the only window where we could sit : all the others had ppl sleeping beside them] … looking out of the window… enjoying the breeze.. [and each other’s company : I thoroughly enjoyed his.. hope it was the same with him too] and waiting, waiting and waiting…

We had already spent three nights waiting for him, but still didn’t lose hope. We hoped he would some how return or would be found safe somewhere under the sun. But that was not to be. He never returned… and all that was ever found was his body : lifeless… The rough seas had him their victim… “There’s no more Hari Charan, ra!”. Those were the words of nine.

Yes he is no more.Yet he is always here, immortal within our hearts… his memories we cherish with pride… proud to have known him and known by him… with awe and reverence we think of him… we just love him! But I’ll always miss that call of his, “Chogni!”

Luka Chuppi bahut hui…
saamne aa ja naa…
kahan kahan dhoonda tujhe…
thak gai hai ab teri maa…

Edit: 1. 9’s Post on Hari is here 2. Arunodai’s Post on Hari is here