Know your Nature

Small touch of ingenuity can bring out a real nice expression from a picture. I present here another couple of photos, where the the background supports the subject, rather than merely acting inert. The first one is shown above. The white background, above, is dry cow-dung, along the side of the footpath. Secondly, how does there appear to be such a stark contrast of the leaf against the white background? It is because of the use of flash, despite the day-light. I used it to brighten the composition, and also to do away with shadows associated with the usual day-light.


The second picture shown above, has a distinctive green background, that looks like minute grass. I dont know whether it gets across to you, but to me, it looks like a massive grassland, with a very huge dry peepal leaf lying in it. (Yeah, I need to appreciate my photos). Well, the background is actually fresh moss, the stuff you come across right after rains.

The thumb rule: Your subject stands out better, if your background co-operates! :D

A composite composition

You never chance upon a good picture-composition. You find one right next to you. I believe it is the trickiest part of photography.


What is so interesting about this picture ? (I do hope you've noticed it already :P). There are lots of straight lines that are all converging into a solitary singularity in the centre of the picture. And ofcourse, there is the toppings by tall trees and sodium-lights and painted-sidewalks and what-nots, all coming together to bring out a beautiful picture. I rock, dont I :D

The picture is a standard "night-shot", with each entity effectively lit up by yellow sodium vapor lamps. (Which is why the darn yellow coloring). Certain pointers that may come in handy, when trying pictures such as these:

• you WILL need a tripod or something you can rest your camera upon. This picture here, required 30 second exposure.
  
• Always try and orient your picture composition along the horizontal/vertical (eg, the horizon line, or the sea-coast-line) as closesly as possible. A tilt here leaves a sour under-taste.
• Zoom out. A good wide-angle picture always does justice to a land-scape kind of image.
  
• Try to ensure that your picture is "undisturbed". I had to wait for three cyclists to get out of the street, before I could shoot this picture. Any distraction can kill the effect of the photo.
  

If you notice carefully, a small cute moon can also be found towards the top of the image! The image stats:

• ISO: 100
• Exposure: 30.0 sec
• Aperture: f/6.3
• Focal Length: 18mm
  
• Flash Used: No

I took a few more shots that evening. Notice how a firm horizontal alignment has been adhered to, in both images.

Do post your feedback. Ciao!

Watch out for the watch!

There is more you can do with a watch that use it to keep your time -- you can use it to create photographs, ones that people will appreciate.

I took some guidelines from a learned friend recently, in particular on "product photography".

The following were the guidelines I was issued --

• In product photography, your prime concern is to capture every feature of the product.
• Next, the picture should concentrate on highlighting your product. A disturbing background is always unwelcome.
• And finally, the product must look good, aesthetically.

The watch shown above was an attempt to put the aforementioned into practice. The background is white A4 sheet, to keep in tune with the steel body. The shadows (which can offer a distraction) have been minimized by neutral and uniform lighting (achieved using "reflector" A4 sheets). The f-number has been kept low enough to blur out the clasp, leaving a sharp focus on the dial. The white-balance adjust hasn't been touched.
Picture specifications:

• Exposure -- 3.2 sec (tripod stabilized)
• Depth-of-field -- f/5.6
• ISO -- 100
• focal length -- 55mm on an 18-55mm EF lens.
  

This is my first try to formalize my hobby-pursuit of photography. I'll try putting up more such readables in the near future... do put your feedback :)

Bell thy CAT

NOTE: The methodology suggested below works. I have had to take cat twice (the second time, owing to some freaky stuff I did during interviews after first attempt.). However, the fact that I followed the methodology written below to secure a good set of iim calls again should prove that it all has some element of truth in it. :P

My CAT '07 performance: 99.6%ile with 99.73 in english, 96.5 in DI and 96.3 in Math

My CAT '08 performance: 99.91%ile with 99.56 in english, 99.1 in DI and 98.1 in Math

The following ingredients are NOT required.

• An IQ > 150
• Super fast Number crunching
• An Absolute fetish for bar graphs and charts
• English sweeter than that of an Elizabethan Courtier
• Atleast 12000 words in your vocabulary
• Tables upto 99 by heart

Rule Number One. CAT's way easier than what they make it look like. All your coaching institutes, every one of those, without exception, have the intention of mortifying you. Not their mistake. They make money out of those who dont clear the test, than those who actually do. Sad state of affairs I must say!

If you're seriously serious about cat, think it over. Are you really game for letting go of all that you have learnt during undergraduate days, to get a formal training in selling shampoo? If you're really convinced, then half the game is won. You can continue reading below. Else, if you've suddenly realized the parody behind your decision, you can happily navigate away from this page.

The CAT examination is a test of how you can keep your head straight. There are three sections, Data interpretation, mathematics, and english. Data interpretation tests your comfort levels with graphs, charts, and puzzles. Mathematics simply sees whether you really deserve those 80-85 odd marks you scored in your high-school board exams. And English is all about habit.

So how should you go about it? Lets look at each section in a bit more detail:

English: Read your newspaper regularly for 30 days, (if you haven't been doing it already, its high time you wake up). How much of it? Well, read the bits you find interesting. Start with one article a day, and gradually go upto 5-6 perhaps... Just follow a few simple rules while reading.

• Never, ever, let a word go by, without knowing its meaning.
  
• For a new word, always look up a few synonyms, and if possible, jot it down somewhere.
• Try to recapitulate all that you read, analytically.
  
• Enjoy it.

Mathematics: How to tackle numbers? Well, you already have. You wouldn't be approaching graduation if you hadn't. What's more, the level of proficiency you need for math in CAT is very very elementary. You dont need to memorize a plethora of tables and tricks. The CAT exam that I gave, never posed a single mathematics question that required a memorized formula. Every single question could be tackled with bare minimum common sense.

Data Interpretation: There are broadly two kinds of questions you can be pitted against. Puzzles, and Charts. This section of your paper, I believe, is one that can be improvised upon by practice. Spend a fortnite prior to cat, touching upon puzzles and charts. Try locating charts such as these, and spend time analyzing them. See what you can derive out of these.

Can you tell me, in the above chart, which commodity's import into China registered the sharpest increase, between 2001 and 2006? And how much more was it than the runner-up?

Key indicators	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Real GDP growth (%)	11.4	9.8	9.0	9.0	8.6	8.4
Consumer price inflation (%; av)	4.8	4.5	3.9	3.7	3.8	3.8
Budget balance (% of GDP)	0.1	0.2	-0.2	-0.3	-0.3	-0.3
Current-account bal. (% of GDP)	11.6	10.4	10.0	9.8	8.9	7.6
Bank prime rate (%; yr end)	7.6	8.0	7.8	7.6	7.8	7.8
Exchange rate Rmb:US$	7.61	7.05	6.77	6.50	6.25	6.03
Exchange rate Rmb:¥100 (av)	6.46	6.78	7.05	6.95	6.81	6.57

See the table above. You have some Rmb's, which can buy you a Broc-Chocolate in China in 2007. However, you exchanged all your Rmb's for dollars. Three years later, you exchange back those dollars for Rmb's. If your Broc-Chocolate's price increased as per the Consumer Price Inflation, how many more Rmb's will you need to buy the chocolate?

To conclude, do not get intimidated by the test. Its very much possible, and very much do-able. I scored a 43 percent of the maximum marks, and was comfortably in the top 0.4 percent of all appearing candidates. While taking the test, my suggestion is that you spend your time evenly on each section, since you need to put up a good performance in each of them independently too. However, if you feel you're rather dicey in one particular section, I would recommend you start with it, and spend more time on it compared to the other two sections.

All you need a cool-head, and do remember to relieve yourself before you enter the exam hall ;)

Curtail the creative power of thinking by guiding it towards the creation of concepts

Let us analyse the grammatical implications of the title itself. Put aside the implied meaning, and concentrate on the words. "Curtail the creative power of thinking by guiding it towards the creation of concepts." The ever-authoritative dictionary will place 'concept' in the same pool of words that are destined to describe an abstract or symbolic tag meant to capture the essence of 'reality' or a 'perspective'. Lets look at 'creativity'. Our word lord, the dictionary, will once again curtail the word's freedom of expression, chaining it down to a non-descript 'ability to create, think originally and out of the box'.


What do we have here? Why do the words imply only what they have been required to imply? Why does one need to have a collossal vocabulary to write a piece of outstanding literature? Why not an intelligent interplay of words? I will pause here, for I fear I might begin sounding like a bickering old woman. Lets leave the English language to its own miseries and the ever-burgeoning stack of words.

What I am trying to drive at, is that a mere assignment of meaning or tagging of something leads to death of innovation on its front. A spade is a spade and that's that. Not very long ago, a haggard man who claimed that you can move in time and get energy out of mass and other such things; also said something that was an eyeopener of sorts. He said that thethe reason why progress on science (not technology) is slowing down is because the scientist is not reading enough of philosophy and literature. He is getting too much into the habit of sticking to pre-conceived notions, texts and theorems.

Very right indeed. In the crayon-scribbled sky you will find in a six-year old's drawing book, you'll find birds flying around. There is however, a stark difference between that bird and its counterpart in God's sky. God's sky allows birds to fly. Back and forth, in and out. The boy's bird stays in there, in the drawing book. The boy shot the bird out of the sky and into his drawing book, the moment he assigned a set of colors and strokes to it. Not that I am against the kid's attempt to capture god's creation in color. But why use the same colors as did god? Why depict the wings, the beak, the feathers in the same fashion? How about trying to color the wings with terquoise rather than the usual black. How about giving the bird a chance to evolve in the dimension of art too?

The warmth in a morning knock

He rode a 1927 model atlas goldline super bicycle. As Navjot, our old Hall president had said, he had been allowed to come to the hall to collect newspapers only on compassionate grounds. He was around 70 years of age. He was a sikh by religion. The little hair he had on his head, were coiffured suggesting so. The old man had arthristis, with swollen joints. He would cycle from somewhere in gol bazaar, each weekend, to our campus. (Which would be around 5 kilometres one sided).

Each saturday morning, you could hear the same familiar knock on your door, and in the feeblest of tones, he requested you to sell your used newspapers to him. With the limited vision that he had, he could barely see beyond a couple of metres. (You could often see him talking through an open door, to the room's owner. Only that the room's owner wasn't in there). He would, mind you, never, ever, ever ask you to give your newspapers to him for free. He always offered to pay. And, some of my worthy friends, I distinctly remember, would almost always receive that meagre 20 rupees from him, in liu of their old newspapers. I wonder where their conscience would go.

Having collected a minor bulk of newspapers, he would head to a corner of the hall, deposit them there and head to the next block. Born to a benevolent mother and a social worker father, I would, apart from my usual stock of newspapers, also give him a small amount of money. Why? Not because he was poor. Not because he was in need of help. But because, despite his pain, his lack of eyesight, his aging muscles, he would still work. He would earn his living, buying old newspapers from future leaders of the world -- IITians. And those IITians would be on record of having sold off their conscience and philanthropy for a meagre 20 rupees... but lets not discuss them. They're far worse than you can imagine.

So, I would pay my homage to the grit and determination of this old man. One who would earn his living, at an age, when we'd be retired and playing with grandchildren... feasting off the interest of barrow-loads of money.

Its been five weekends since I last saw the old man. I asked some hall staff to find out about what happened to him, and was told that he was taken away by Lord Almighty. He was at work then, selling off newspapers to a buyer somewhere in the market, when the Lord called him off.

Quick Presentation Tips

Disclaimer: BeeTeaPee Presentation is entirely a hypothetical construct. Any resemblance whatsoever with any real-life incident/person/event is purely co-incidental and unintentional. But yeah, these tips can come in handy. :P

CoolTip#1: Before presentation, ask the panel if they would prefer to have you face them, or the wall.

CoolTip#2: You have the right to request the panel to wear protection before they begin.

CoolTip#3: Never, ever let the panel know that you've done it before.

CoolTip#4: Try to get your btp-ppt rescheduled if it clashes with those five days. (A messy deal will leave the panel unsatiated, and your grades compromised)

CoolTip#5: Tell the panel that you abstain from fellatio on that very day of the week.

CoolTip#6: A one-man-panel's a breeze; two's exhausting; three's an orgy; four's a pain; five... you had better paid a visit to your surgeon

Corollary to CoolTip#6: The age old saying "more the merrier" doesn't hold in the context of the BeeTeaPee-Presentation.

CoolTip#7: If the panel is bi-curious, you've had it.

CoolTip#8: Do not doubt the panel's ability to do it again... and again... and again....

CoolTip#9: See if you can convince the panel that you're underage. (Caution: in certain cases, this can backfire)

CoolTip#10: If the panel fails to get it up, you can't be luckier.

CoolTip#11: Take the pills regularly for atleast a week, after the presentation.

CoolTip#12: It will hurt less if you try to enjoy it.

CoolTip#13: Tell the panel that you like to play with 'toys'. It'll be a neat workaround if they agree.

CoolTip#14: When asked "what was your contribution", dont exclaim "I played the victim, m*****f***r". It can be detrimental.

Valentine's Day Notice

Owing to the unruly crowd behaviour and the mad rush observed at my doorstep over the past few Valentine-Days, the following security measures have been decided upon, for the forthcoming edition of the V-Day. They shall be enforced upon every interested applicant without exception. Any candidate found attempting to bend/break away from the security norms mentioned below shall be summarily rejected from the selection procedure.

The norms:

• The selection procedure shall be carried out at the Insitute's Open Air Theatre to avoid conjestion.
• The procedure shall commence at 6.00 PM sharp, on February the 13th, 2007.
• Only the first 800 applicants will be allowed into the theatre, after which the gates shall be sealed. (Entry is strictly of first come first serve basis)
  
• There shall be seventeen parallel counters catering to the applicants, and the applicants are to form single-threaded queues at each counter.
• Candidates can belong to either of the sexes (sex no bar)
• Each applicant is required to be in possession of the following, failing which he/she will be immediately rejected:
  
• proof of age (candidate shouldn't me more than 1.5 times my age)
  
• proof of identity
• an attested proof of NOT having an IQ of more than 138
• proof of devotion (can be a proof of an attempt to suicide, or a proof of resortment to drugs etc.)
• a rose
• a self-composed poem
  
• If female, the candidate must bring certification to the effect of NOT HAVING CLEARED JEE, OR EVEN SECURING A RANK WITHIN 200000
• Candidates will first be required to register at one of the registration desks following which a shortlist will be put up.
• Shortlisted candidateS will be guided to one of the interview panels. (for a max. 30 minutes interview)
  
• Selection will be solely depend upon the interview.
• Clarification for female candidates: brains will NOT be a criteria marked upon (qualification no bar)
• A maximum of 1 (one) male valentine will be accepted.
  
• A minimum of 37 (thirty-seven) female valentine(s) will be accepted.
  
• Candidates must refrain from killing other candidates (though desirable, this norm is not mandatory)
• All candidates must behave in an orderly fashion when His Highness Sir Hansraj arrives.
• Any queries will be answered at the help desk at the theatre

For any clarifications, kindly contact me @
(+91)9932681216