tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65623012026-02-25T00:58:51.174+05:30Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muß man schweigenLudwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.comBlogger267125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-38965032500616749752014-10-23T11:00:00.001+05:302014-10-23T11:02:26.224+05:30

Yes he's imperialist, and racist, and jingoistic, and... Yes, yes, yes! Butbutbut... This is from Kipling Sahib: India and the Making of Rudyard Kipling. Reviews: (1), (2), (3). Ruddy is describing his childhood in Bombay. The garden within the School's compound where Ruddy and the sister who followed him played was afterwards remembered by both children as a lush Eden before the Fall, with

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-73998607867280386742014-06-06T17:40:00.003+05:302014-06-06T17:44:21.724+05:30

I've spent the last day or two mucking around our codebase after what seems like ages. The peace, the peace... IDE Fever (with apologies to John Masefield) I must go down to the IDEs again, to the lonely Eclipse and vi, And all I ask is a version control and a scrum to steer it by; And the code's kick and the keys' song and the algorithm making, And a small class in the correct package, and a

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-10889884784012632792014-01-01T22:19:00.000+05:302014-01-01T22:22:16.702+05:30

A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.                                                    &

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-45292085605742713802013-03-01T16:24:00.001+05:302013-03-01T16:24:22.372+05:30

A somewhat odd bunch of them: saras97: Hostel mailing list. And my oldest one. Easy enough to explain. putscheme: This one flickered for one glorious New England summer (of 2001). Bunch of us used to hang out day in and day out, was used to plan trips to Cape Cod, Gloucester, parties and so on. Now defunct. siripuram: Childhood Andhra University quarters gang. The people on this know me since I

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-62629444182800539112012-12-31T20:25:00.002+05:302012-12-31T20:25:41.166+05:30

The Lake Isle of Innisfree by W. B. Yeats I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made: Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee; And live alone in the bee-loud glade. And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; There midnight's

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-37371094112170703292012-10-16T12:32:00.000+05:302012-10-16T12:32:46.263+05:30

I boiled a packet of milk a few days too late. It failed. So I strained the thing and ended up with a handful of paneer. So I thought to myself, "When life hands you a lemon, make paneer bhurji." While making it, I ended up melting a little bit of the cutting board into the frying pan. Like so: Which reminds me of this: The bhurji was OK.

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-90266035356337233422012-10-15T09:55:00.001+05:302012-10-15T09:55:29.096+05:30

It was OK.

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-21653233998046743182012-10-14T12:42:00.000+05:302012-10-14T12:42:38.972+05:30

I shall write again. Something. Every day. Now I am going to eat biryani.

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-71096760724804315612012-05-28T00:10:00.000+05:302012-05-28T00:10:33.688+05:30

I can't believe that of all the things in the world, a completely pointless cricket match is making me post after so long. But this stupid, utterly inconsequential IPL final has made blissfully happy. It is the only match I've seen in this IPL and I am supremely kicked at the way things turned it.  The thing is, basically, I hate the Chennai Super Kings. Really hate them, their whole "

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-46376960839303417412012-02-13T10:17:00.003+05:302012-02-13T10:30:53.282+05:30

Back in the day, we used to have a blog on Livemint, now deceased. Recently, vox populi (and a dolphin) have been asking for certain posts, now long forgotten and dead. We are reproducing.The Saga of the Side Middle BerthWhich was provoked by disturbing goings-on on the Charminar Express last night [Note: This is circa July 2009.]Long, long ago in a land far, far away, there lived a dairy farmer.

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-10658805515637811232011-11-04T19:22:00.000+05:302011-11-04T19:23:13.255+05:30

This passage somehow manages to mentally split me neatly into 50-50, the one half filled with Vizag, and the other with New England.One of my most vivid memories is of coming back West from prep school and later from college at Christmas time. Those who went farther than Chicago would gather in the old dim Union Station at six o’clock of a December evening, with a few Chicago friends, already

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-82184372872028614382011-09-04T21:51:00.003+05:302011-09-04T22:15:19.312+05:30

The last 5 weeks of enforced eating at home has resulted in the (re)discovery of possibly the tastiest dish in the world. Recipe follows. Prepare, order or get invited to a proper South Indian meal. It doesn't matter which state it is from, I have verified that the AP, TN and Kerala versions all suffice, and unless our Kannadiga brethren and cistern are children of a different culinary god,

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-55568576631493782912011-08-26T22:17:00.002+05:302011-08-26T22:30:48.505+05:30

Quiet Night Thoughts         -Li Po Before my bed there is bright moonlight So that it seems like frost on the ground: Lifting my head I watch the bright moon, Lowering my head I dream that I'm home. Untitled         -Hafiz I have a thousand brilliant lies For the question: How are you? I have a thousand

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-4723891193952954132011-08-21T12:39:00.004+05:302011-08-21T12:46:38.306+05:30

In November 1942, General der Panzertruppe Wilhelm Josef Ritter von Thoma was ordered by his commander Generlfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (who was relaying a Fuhrerbefehl) to fight to the last man and tank. The Deutsches Afrikakorps ground itself to pieces around him and virtually bereft of tanks, he mounted one the tanks attached to his HQ guard unit and drove to the apex of the battle. With his

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-26530012606538816692011-08-19T22:04:00.003+05:302011-08-19T22:07:24.073+05:30

Inspired by a Facebook update from the Mami "If Anna Hazare were blue, he'd look like a Smurf."

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-92113800482603160392011-08-12T17:20:00.008+05:302011-08-12T18:22:41.429+05:30

This one goes out to everyone I've ever run with. It wasn't until early one chill New Hampshire morning when my nipples started gently bleeding into my nice new white "wick" enable running T-shirt on my third leg of the 200 mile Reach The Beach relay race that it began to dawn on me that things may have gotten out of hand. It seemed like a very hurried and surreal path from sitting on a couch

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-73747472174543562422011-07-02T09:42:00.003+05:302011-07-02T09:47:24.648+05:30

In the process of backing up various online email accounts to disk, several old emails/forwards with poetry content have been discovered, and are now presented without comment.Prandial Plaint        - Vikram SethMy love, I love your breasts. I love your nose.I love your accent and I love your toes.I am your slave. One word and I obey.But please don't slurp

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-45229849901226468652011-05-10T08:47:00.003+05:302011-05-10T08:56:45.385+05:30

Wonder if any of you caught the announcement of the most breathtaking, path-breaking advance in 2D geometry since the day the Elements were a gleam in Euclid's eye? This headline in today's Hindu spills the beans:Five-nation triangular axis mootedAuslin, having done to geometry roughly what Jael (Heber's wife) did to Sisera, is surely a shoo-in for the next Fields Medal.

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-79713872696362787812011-05-09T17:48:00.004+05:302011-05-09T17:52:48.395+05:30

This may just be me, but the way I pronounce "Hon'ble Supreme Court of India" (as it is often written) in my head, the image that comes to mind is this:Very weird, no?In other news the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India may have at least temporarily undone one stinking pile of poo. Bravo.

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-47878604718772314992011-04-28T10:16:00.002+05:302011-04-28T10:24:54.940+05:30

I have bought 2 Dell laptops. One was in 2004, for a princely $2k types, in the US. Inspiron 8600. Lovely screen for writing code. Another was for the sibling, a couple of years later, also from the US.Both turned out to be pretty delicate physically. Keys pop off, battery dies, power adapter stops working, something or the other gets fried. Dell is reputed for super-efficient customer service in

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-45838141263274567962011-04-26T21:46:00.002+05:302011-04-26T23:21:51.335+05:30

Exhibit A2:22-2:36Payyan: gundu malli rendu rubai, un koonthal eri uthirum poo kodi rubaiPen: panchu mittai anju rubai, nee paathi thindru thantetal latche rubaiTranslation (mine, bear with me)Guy: Jasmine flowers, market price Rs. 2; if they are from your locks, Rs. 10,000,000.Girl: Some kind of candy, Rs. 5; you eat half and give me, Rs. 100,000A brief calculation shows that the boy derives joy

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-48849047411825741572011-04-23T00:58:00.002+05:302011-04-23T01:18:08.194+05:30

Sean Carroll skims over many, many thought provoking questions in Avignon Day 3: ReductionismOf course it’s difficult to describe people using Schrodinger’s equation, but that’s not evidence that our behavior is actually incompatible with a reductionist description. To believe otherwise you have to believe that somewhere along the progression from particles to atoms to molecules to proteins to

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-75279044569999428162011-04-19T13:50:00.002+05:302011-04-19T13:51:41.170+05:30

This occurred to me once on a train.If you take DE JUNC out of ERODE JUNCTION, you're left with EROTION.Go on, say it out loud, like this, "If you take the junk out of Erode Junction, you're left with erosion."Ugh.

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-64214433530973695352011-04-18T20:39:00.005+05:302011-04-18T20:53:10.326+05:30

Via Facebook via Salil Tripathi via Patrick French, comes this spreadsheet. The important extract is the following:In a convenient graphical form, it is like so:Special mention goes out to Krishnamurthi R Rao, Garbini and Dantavakra for asking an Irom Sharmila question at a quiz, and special mention goes out to Spacebar for being one of the literal handful in the audience who knew the answer.

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6562301.post-44105616161041517152011-04-09T08:35:00.003+05:302011-04-09T12:40:16.885+05:30

An abridged version appears here.A QUIZ IS JUST A QUIZ?The first time I realized that QED was not just an ordinary quiz team any more was at the national finals of the massively popular Landmark Quiz in 2009. The quizmaster, Chennai’s very own Navin Jayakumar, was calling the finalists on stage and the audience didn’t seem to care beyond some desultory clapping. That is, until QED were announced.

Ludwighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03710107146505111876noreply@blogger.com0