Non Conformities to Standards and its genealogy

Rules and regulations, law and order, another 'n' number of standards and all the other collectively denominating factors seeking to bring order amidst the natural chaos in society are, by virtue of their existence ineffective and irrelevant. There can be nothing on this earth that can be imposed absolutely on people by people, and further seeking their compliance to it is absurd.

All the uniformities observed amongst us is instilled in our nature by Mother Nature. One such important trait present in our nature is the definite tendency not to conform to any artificially induced attempts of collective and common groundings.

Yet, another irony of the system called civilized society is, it incessantly is engaged in a counter-effective manner trying to bring repelling dissimilarities of individuals together.

Chaos is the only Universal law, and we being a part of this chaos, cannot strive against the 'whole' of which we are a part of. And,if we do try bringing together people of varied levels of skills and talents to conform and comply with a common axiom, it is similar to the net effect of resistances in parallel: The effective quality of such a herd would be lesser than the least;)

We are at full throttle of our potentials when left untamed and uninfluenced by the frivolous etiquette of the society...

Comfortable confusions...

Okay !!!

Don't worry people, you can relax and mellow down, let those frowns on your forehead go.This ain't another deep analysis post, or a post hoping for reformation in society(although those are the ones which naturally emanate out of me;)

This post is about the sudden periods of euphoria around me because of chaotic confusions...

Off late, things are getting worse in a small way, ultimately yielding bigger benefits. There's a lot of confusion in and around me. 

An air of inordinance incessantly keeps me adhered to intimate incoherence 

(Don't ask me what I meant here, but, it some what expresses what i am going through!)

Sometimes,being happy, ignoring the causes behind it, is the best way to savor the surprises in life. Consequently, me and myself are already busily engaged in practicing the principles preached by a pragmatist I know called 'me'. 

Feeling comfortable on a Cloud of Confusions :)

Getting Reliance Netconnect USB modem on Ubuntu

Finally,the first Technical post on my blog, for, there seems to be lot of demand for this particular tweak.

Reliance Netconnect CDMA1x USB modems - ZTE MG880, manufactured by ZTE, "supposedly" come supported only for M$ Windows , but, I have got it working on GNU/Linux OS - Ubuntu with help from various online forums.


Additional Prerequisites in Ubuntu (I'm running 9.04):

• modprobe - program which intelligently adds and removes modules from the Linux Kernel. To get this program,generic kernel modules have to be added to the kernel by running the following command in the terminal.

          sudo apt-get install linux-generic

•  wvdial -It is a PPP dialer with built-in intelligence (Previous distros of Ubuntu used to have this packaged). To get this program do an apt-get

          sudo apt-get install wvdial

The following steps will help you get connected to internet using a ZTE mg880 USB modem. 

1. Plug in the USB modem, and manually mount it

$mount -t usbfs usbmodem /proc/bus/usb

2. Run a dmesg (dmesg is used to examine the kernel ring buffer,here, we check if the modem has been detected by the kernel)

$dmesg (don't bother about the elaborate o/p after executing this command)
3.Now, execute the next command and look for ZTE and the corresponding device id and vendor id.
$cat /proc/bus/usb/devices
I found these for my modem(it's the same for most ZTE mg880) -vendor id:0x19d2; product id: 0xfffd
4. Next, perform a modprobe to make the kernel aware of the modem
$sudo modprobe usbserial vendor=0x19d2 product=0xfffd
5. After modprobe, run a dmesg again,and if  the modem has been detected there will be a message saying that the USB core driver has been registered
6.Next, comes configuring the wvdial. To do this, run the following command
$sudo wvdialconf
To detect the modem wvdial will scan through all the serial ports, check the baud rates and give a message with the optimum baud rate and the port on which modem has been detected.
7. Now comes editing the wvdial config. 
$sudo gedit /etc/wvdial.conf
Edit the contents to:


[Dialer zte]
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Modem Type = Analog Modem
Phone = #777
Username =
Password =
#username and password is your modem's phone number
ISDN = 0
SetVolume = 0
FlowControl = Hardware (CRTSCTS)
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
Dial Command = ATDT
Baud = 9600
#Baud rate might vary
Stupid Mode = 1 

8. Finally, run the following command to set up the ppp connection. You are connected if the prompt acquires Local IP, remote IP, primary and secondary DNS. 

$sudo wvdial zte

Firefox will be in Offline mode, uncheck the option in the File menu,and happy browsing :)

wvdial.conf configuration is lost after reboot. A simple shell script can automate the process, which I leave it to you to work on ;)

PS: I tried the same on Fedora 11, but could not connect to the internet even after acquiring IP and DNS. I read in a forum that the ppp daemon was bugged. So, I tried compiling older ppp daemons from FC6 through to FC10,but with no use. 

Anyways, I'm more of a debian guy than an 'rpm-er' ;)

So, happy that it's up and running on Ubuntu. 

Happy Hacking ;)

Keep it Obscure Stupid>>>>

If I were to tell you, when things are told in a simple manner they actually lose out the aura they deserve, and are perceived to be something mediocre. And if the same presented in a manner which people would remotely understand, the content is considered to be of high intellectual caliber.Wouldn't you agree with me?

The natural tendency of our minds is to believe that complicated is clever and simple is stupid!
'Complicated is Clever' might be true only when done intentionally, and not to mention that it takes immense effort to keep things plain simple, and it is the anything but being stupid.

Complications,when voluntarily invoked to make things seem obscure by the presenter to manipulate the naive receptors is 'simply' effective. This is the best possible manner to convey a thing,but at the same time not conveying it ;)
Having experimented this successfully many times in several sensitive situations, I seem to be getting cleverer (at least in this regard;)

Obscurity is a skill; As in,not about being lost in the obscurity of ignorance,but to draw the required into your realm in a convincing but obscure manner to make things go favorable to you....It does take skill....

Obsessions:A Human privilege

Like intellect and thought, another privilege bestowed on us by Nature is the ability to get obsessed with few special things. Obsession is the deepest human trait, and is one of the most intriguing attributes of us.

I believe that, being able to get inspired by any special thing, and to pursue it with immense passion is a privilege. Obsession is one of the things which has driven people to create history and make a mark on all our lives.

At personal levels, each one of us would definitely have few precious things to be obsessed about, and which would channelize our thoughts, efforts and actions converge to the perpetuation of these obsessions. And, this is is one of the most basic traits we as humans should exhibit.

But, while conversing with people, regularly and quite often, I get to hear almost a remorseful confession-

I don't remember anything that I have been deeply passionate about in my life...


This is a ubiquitous scenario in today's world of haste and hate, where people seldom find time or the patience to pursue something they really love. This is unnatural and by the virtue of this anomaly it deteriorates the quality of life we live....

So,
Find time, inculcate patience and grow passion to do what you really want to do.

And, this is the only thing you are obliged to do for being born as a human :)

PS: The image above- The Old Guitarist is one of my favorite paintings by Pablo Picasso. A legend, obsessed by his creativity pursued the same. Look at the mark he's left behind on all of us :)

"The Surpise Politics": A book review

Politics by Adam Thirlwell is the latest book I have completed reading. It has been a surprise read for me, all the way starting from why I bought it, to how it culminated into one intriguing but entertaining novel.

I was at the Book Festival for the second consecutive day in Bangalore, and was looking for some political literature. Then I spotted this book – “Politics”. I was in a hurry then, so I quickly read the cover page reviews and the gist, which had mentions of Stalin, Lenin, Mao and Hitler. Then I thought, it must be a political comedy. So, I bought it.

When I started reading the novel, I was taken aback by the first chapter with its meticulous details of the complex sexual act two of the protagonists were engaged in. But, what surprised me more was the minds of the persons involved in the act, which the author effortlessly and convincingly projects to the readers.

The novel is like watching a Woodey Allen type Ménage à trios, with certain extra details ;) It is an interesting read, for, the author also brings out the most subtle and most deeply hidden emotions onto paper by his witty articulation. I liked the book for its freshness and innovative writing, apart from feeling that all the three characters are bits and pieces of us, which each of us can relate to.

 The title if interpreted after reading the book would be "Politics of Love and the intricate dependencies"

Competition, Recognition and Pressure of Sustenance

We are always trying to stand out as someone special amongst the rest of the world.  This, I consider to be one of the prime objective which drives most of us in trying to do something beyond our routine. Although, this shouldn't be the instigator, it does help in churning out specialties from us.

Ideally, it should be our own personal ideas, convictions and principles  which should drive us at doing what we do, and not the recognition to be gained in a herd-like competition.Even if recognition is what we seek, it will certainly follow when we pursue our ideas with convictions.

A competition for the sake of recognition, and not for accomplishment is by itself a counter-force acting on us. When we are consciously pursuing recognition instead of ideas,the journey becomes futile.

Another, negative aspect of such a recognition is its non-permanency and the extra worry followed by it. A well deserved recognition will always be a force which encourages us, otherwise it will become a haunting threat making us feel insecure. This pressure to sustain a recognition which is not well deserved will further deteriorate our abilities.

Competition, recognition and sustenance are the aspects which you needn't bother about if you are following your ideas with conviction, as these three will be inherently taken care of .

de l'amour à faire l'amour

The post title is in French,presuming that I'm picking up the words quick it would translate to "From Love to Making love". This post is only about all the amorous love in the world.

I've always felt the words "I love you" being highly inappropriate, or at least misleading. I really haven't been able to interpret this phrase, both the context and premise of its use. It is more of a euphemism to all the natural/basic instincts within us and the dependencies we seek to satisfy from others.


The term love in today's world is a fusion of "need and commitment".  When i say that I love a person or someone else says it to me- it implies that each would be committed to the needs of the other. Replace all the uses of "I love you" by 
"I need you, so I need a commitment from you". It would fit in exactly, except that the flavor of hypocrisy would be lost. 


If there are a lot many of you who do not agree with me, it is because you do not want to. Just introspect and analyze, it all comes down to a dependency of need and commitment. When i say 'needs', making love would be one major aspect, but there are other essential needs as well, which I leave it to you people to ponder over. 


Going one step further the institution of marriage is an agreement or a Memorandum of Understanding for this dependency to be secure. 


Anyways, on this Valentine's Day lets hope there'll be love, lots of love which helps people fulfill their needs with voluntary commitment. 

Disclaimer: These views of mine are personal, and I am not trying it impose it on you, except that I wanted to give some food for your thought ;)
Further, let me make it clear that I am not affiliated to any sene or sena. Ironically, even if I were affiliated to them they could have never instigated me to write a post which is well above their soft-headed abilities....

Are we really a knowledge society?

This is one of the questions we at FSMK are trying to ask ourselves and throw the same at others. This question is of prime importance in today's scenario of socio-economic disparity. Genuine answers with pragmatic solutions have to be discussed and implemented to bring equality in the society.

When we talk about breaking the Digital divide prevalent in the society, it forms a subset of a bigger problem, i.e.,of Knowledge divide. In today's world the process of gaining knowledge by education is undergoing a perilous metamorphosis to become a precious commodity accessible only to a minor section of circumstantially favored people.

Most of the talks about reforms in education are being done in a manner irrelevant to the ground reality,ignoring the majority of the people who need it the most. The problem here is more ghastly and widespread.

When there is a major chunk of the population starving without adequate food and struggling to survive, there is no question of providing them with education in such circumstances.
Education does provide empowerment to individuals. But, the process of gaining that education is again an affair which can be pursued only if the daily basic needs of people are met. Unless these - the basic necessities of people are not met, there is no hope of seeing an equal society with the concept of Knowledge Commons.

These points were yet again debated and discussed in the FSMK meeting today. Propagating Swatantra software forms a small but important means to accomplishing a bigger task.

The ultimate goal is to make knowledge accessible to everyone for self empowerment.

Changing perceptions about changing people....

I sometimes wonder how that a person who made me happy once antagonizes me now, or,how that I am in real good terms with people I've had adamant friction initially...

Changing perceptions occurring as ramifications to changing people form an intriguing correlation. A correlation which I'd like to call,from an individual's perspective as "Acquired taste/distaste", for, our opinions in this regard ain't,and shouldn't be spontaneous. 

Now, talking about persons who have had polarizing relations with me, I can attribute this kind of polarization to their changing sensibility. Either they've assimilated a good amount of it or have shown drastic deficit of the same over the period of interaction with me. And, I am me, so I have my own terms for the perpetuation of any relation with me,and have rewarded them accordingly... It is unfortunate though that many of them have been disappointments! 

We need to realize that it is quintessential to change our perceptions based on the changes observed in people, else we as individuals will be miraged with obsolete opinions and will be lost in a hoax. 

A small delay and the Escape from memory....

The post title hints at a famous syndrome which many of us go through. The tendency to forget some bubbling brain activity because you are not in a position to record it out from memory.

This happens mostly while engaged in churning out something creative from the mind. This manifests the typical obscurity of brain's functioning,as to how it refuses to recollect the exact thoughts after a delayed attempt of recollection.

And once you lose them, the anxiety which follows immediately is distinctive and very personal,as no one else will be able to comprehend or empathize it.

I have had many such instances, wherein I haven't been able to reproduce an idea,an article, a pattern, and lot other things which I miss even now. So, you shouldn't be surprised if you find lot of scribblings of notes in my wallet or in my bag. I have salvaged a lot many personally precious thoughts by resorting to quick reclamation processes.

The gist of this post before I lose it can be articulated as:

Flowing thoughts if fettered are the last of things which can be retrieved back!

The obsolete malice...

Wondering what I'm talking about?

The very ubiquitous nuisance of linguistic chauvinism and regionalism morphed into a single sectarian group in the west of India, and the closest word I found to affiliate them is malicious.

The silliness of the claims and protests by this group definitely does not fit in today's world where the general perception of people has elevated from being sharply acute to at least slightly broad, so i call them obsolete.

If there are people in today's world,who feel passionately inclined towards such a group or it's principles, they are living in a fictitious world.I can't resist to think when such soft-heads would realize the futility of protests and agitations of such trivial causes like language and regionalism, or that they are being used as pawns in a lucrative game of Quest to Power and Monopoly. Not to mention the group by itself is a pinnacle of conservatism and an effigy of regression. 

These native terrorists must be curbed, else the hindrance they would cause to our growth by the virtue of their insensible reasons would bring disgrace to the entire nation!

The word is "Indulgence"

Off late, English has become the most convenient language to express my emotions, thoughts and ideas-both in literature and articulation. This being the case, I have few words which are special to me, Words which I love the most.

Talking about the goodness in English apart from the ease of conveyance,and as the post title suggests, my favorite word in English happens to be "Indulgence", for  all it stands for.

I just love the quality the word Indulgence represents -A profound word representing the gratification of personal desires and tastes. It talks of something very intimately private,and that which pleases oneself, consequently preaching the Road to Salvation.

Moving on, the next few favorite words would be bliss, solitude, obsession, vanity, proactive,ideas,music.....for the traits they attribute.


Impromptu use yielded this,


Solitude is bliss.
Vanity in my obsession of ideas.
Be proactive.
Music is sublime.


Indulgence in everything that makes me me.