Atwood's Adventures

I came accross Jeff Atwood's blog last night. I would like to share two of his posts : Choosing my Own Adventure and Farewell StackExchange (yes, Atwood is leaving StackExchange).

Flight of Pigeons

Lucky Takes - 2

Another of my casual shots ... 

Anju, trying to cover up her face with her hair after I had pestered her all day, clicking my camera randomly, trying to get a perfect shot. Needless to say, I got my wish!

Winter Morning

From somewhere far off I can hear faint sound of a guitar.

It seems so familiar, yet I cannot quite place the tune. My head doesn't seem to be working.

The music grows louder.

"No, not again!"

The song starts.

I cannot make out the words but I suddenly remember what they mean. There was a time when I had enjoyed listening to that song. Now, its just a painful reminder of a cold morning.

My alarm is ringing.

I am lying on my bed covered head to toe in a warm cozy blanket. Its 6:30am. I somehow manage to get hold of phone without having to change my posture much.

"You should get up. If you don't turn on the pump, you'll be out of water. That means you'll not be able to bathe today, or wash your clothes. You'll stink!"

Oh, damn these touch phones, now I actually have to open my eyes to switch off the alarm.
I gather enough courage to drag one of my eyelids open. The light almost blinds me. The alarm is still ringing.

I have two options, "Snooze" or "Dismiss".

But, wait. What is that above those two options?
Apparently my smartphone is smart enough to provide me with temperature information.

6°C.

"Man! Its too cold out there. No way I am getting out of this blanket. I can live without bathing or washing my clothes for another day."

Decision is made.
"Dismiss"
Throw away the phone. Shut out the little bit of guilt you are feeling. Turn over. Fall asleep. Everything else can wait till tomorrow.

I am lying with my eyes wide open.

I take a moment to realize whats happening.
It's morning.
But not early (I can hear the sound of the cars on the road).

Where is my phone?

Sit up. Look around.

Not on my table.

Not being charged.

What time is it?

I need to know the time!

Where is the goddamn phone!

Make a mental note to buy a wall clock when returning from work today.

Oh! There is my phone, right next to my left ankle (wonder how it got there).

Press the side button.
Draw the unlocking pattern.

Shit! I am late for work!

1729

You might have noticed that the url of my blog in aki1729.blogspot.com. In case you are wondering what 1729 stands for - it is the Hardy-Ramanujan's number. I do not remember how I came across this number, but it is indeed a very interesting number.

After a famous anecdote of the British mathematician G. H. Hardy regarding a hospital visit to the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. In Hardy's words:

"I remember once going to see him when he was ill at Putney. I had ridden in taxi cab number 1729 and remarked that the number seemed to me rather a dull one, and that I hoped it was not an unfavorable omen. "No," he replied, "it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways."

~ source - wikipedia

What Ramanujan meant by  - "the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways" is:

1729 = 1³ + 12³ = 9³ + 10³

Another interesting property of the number is this:

By adding all its digits we get : 1 + 7 + 2 + 9 = 19
By multiplying the sum with its reverse we get : 19 * 91 = 1729. Voila!

Just in case you are wondering, a mathematician named Masahiko Fujiwara found that property, not me.
There are other interesting properties of this number, but I am afraid things might get a little too mathematical, so I'll leave it here.

Lucky Takes

The best photographs are taken when you are experimenting and most of the times you don't expect it to be good. I have been an infrequent photographer, but have had my lucky moments.

 

This is one of my favorites. Its a photo of a weed growing out of the stairs of the auditorium at my college.

Writing and Me

I was never much of a writer.

... it has been about half an hour since I wrote the last line. Now I am just staring at this large white space which I am supposed to paint with words but have no idea what-so-ever as how to do it. I wonder if that happens with every writer / blogger, or is it just me? 

... why is it so hard to find the right words! Maybe my vocabulary is just too weak!

I enjoyed writing though. Once back in school I had written a nonsense poem in Bangla titled Dekh Re Dekh Re Dekh. It had something to do with looking at things more closely, but unfortunately I have forgotten the poem entirely. That might have been my only complete and original piece of writing.

Throughout school I tried writing short pieces, essays sometimes even stories but gradually I let go. I was in company of very talented friends and fact is I felt kind of tiny in their company (not through any fault of theirs. They are perfectly nice people). Slowly I just lost all hope.

I took up the pen again when I started college. I bought a diary. Writing in a diary seemed less intimidating as I had no one to compare myself to. I could write crap and pretend that I was as good as Hemingway. Slowly, I started enjoying it again. The great thing about writing a diary is that you can preserve the tiniest details of the day which you would have otherwise forgotten. I actually enjoyed reading my diary more than writing it. It was a really novel experience (sometimes I could not believe that it was me who had written that stuff).

... oh crap! I am out of words again!

This is my first blog post. Frankly speaking I don't know why I wanted to start a blog. Most probably just because it has something to do with computers (I find anything related to computers mighty hard to resist). Hopefully this blog will help me take up writing again and to make new friends.

PS : A Very Happy New Year to all my readers.