Singularity

A Tamil Poem from the past

prunthaban — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:30:35 +0000

This is a Tamil poem I wrote some 7 or 8 years back. That was the time when Tamil Nadu government was trying to bring in Tamil as a compulsory medium for some subjects, and the Matriculation board went to court to obtain a stay on its implementation. Subsequently the court said something along the lines of “everyone should have the freedom to choose their medium of instruction and government cannot mandate it” and ruled out the plan. I do agree with the verdict. But the sad situation is that people are nowadays ready to go to court to make their kids study in a non-native medium. I have always been a firm believer that if your medium of instruction is same as what your environment speaks (which is mostly the mother tongue with minor exceptions), the learning will be better.

So that was the time this poem was written.

[Sorry. This post is only for people who can read Tamil]

தாய்மொழியை நேசிப்போம்!

சந்தமுடன் வந்தெனது சிந்தையுடன் கொஞ்சும்

நிந்தனைசெய் கின்றபிற மொழிகளையே விஞ்சும்

செந்தமிழின் மீதுசிலர் கொண்டனரே வஞ்சம்

நொந்துநிதம் வேதனையில் வேகுதடா நெஞ்சம்

செந்தமிழில் சொல்வளமும் இல்லைஎன அஞ்சி

சிந்தையினைச் சொல்லிடவே பிறமொழியில் தஞ்சம்

விந்தையடா! நம்மொழியில் எங்குளது பஞ்சம்?

சிந்துமிசை தூக்கம்தரும் பஞ்சுடைய மஞ்சம்!

உள்ளமதில் வெள்ளமெனத் தமிழருவி பாயும்

உள்ளேயுள கள்ளமெலாம் நொடியினிலே தீயும்

தெள்ளுதமிழ் கடலொக்கும், கடலைலையா ஓயும்?

எள்ளிநகை யாடுகின்ற பிறமொழிகள் சாயும்!

ஆண்டவனை அனுதினமும் தமிழ்பாடி நின்றார்

மாண்டபினும் ஆண்டவனின் அடிதழுவி நின்றார்.

ஆண்ட(அ)வனோ ஆங்கிலமே ஆட்சிமொழி என்றான்

தாண்டவந டம்புரிந்து தமிழர்களைக் கொன்றான்.

தாய்த்தமிழில் கற்கவொரு தடைபோடும் தேசம்

தேய்ந்துதினம் வளங்குறைய அடையுமடா நாசம்.

வேய்ங்குழலின் கானமடா செந்தமிழின் ஓசை.

நாய்க்குலமே என்றறிவாய் எம்மொழியின் வாசம்.

மீன்குஞ்சு நதிநீரில் கொஞ்சிவிளை யாடும்

மான்குட்டி மண்மீது தாவிநடை போடும்.

தானுள்ள இடம்மாறிப் போயின்தடு மாறும்.

தேனனைய தாய்மொழியே நாவில்நட மாடும்.

What Next?

prunthaban — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:55:14 +0000

I am 25 years old! That is around 1/3 of my life time. What I have done all these years? Quarter century has passed in my life and I don’t see even one concrete achievement in my resume. Well, I don’t want to sound like a lazy fellow or a overly modest guy. I know I went through so many tough patches in my life and each time I managed to come out of it unburnt! I did manage learn a lot of things which is enough to distinguish me from an average person.

I am in a company which is admired by people (especially of my interest – algorithms). So what next? Sit and relax for the rest of the life (of course work is there ) and die a normal death? My heart fails to accept this plan! I want to look forward and aim high. At this moment, I realize the importance of setting a goal for myself which will help me improve myself. What that goal can be? I want a goal which will be there for my lifetime! I want to ‘run a race’ which might not end… I can think of only one highly ambitious goal which can keep me going.

The goal is to ‘leave something to this world so that I will be remembered even after my death’.

If I say ‘this goal came to me only now’, then I am lying. This idea was there for a long time. Now it is time to ‘try’ to give a shape for this. Since I spent a good chunk of my adulthood with Algorithms, Computability and Maths, is there something I can do in this field which can help me to achieve my goal? There are plenty of things in thid field. But am I capable of doing them? For example can I set unrealistic goals like ‘Solving Riemann Hypothesis’? There is nothing wrong in that. How much ever unrealistic the goal is, every step I make towards it (like a man climbing the mount Everest by foot) takes me one step nearer to the goal! But if I don’t reach the goal, what is the use? A person running in a 100m race, managed to reach only the 99th meter and not the 100th! Don’t you call him a loser? So am I supposed to consider myself a loser if I don’t reach my goal? Or can I feel happy for crossing all the 99 meters (which in itself is a big achievement if your goal is high) and ‘rest in peace’? The answer to these questions are ‘psychological’ and differs from person to person.

So after contemplating all these points, I came to one conclusion – “I am still not matured enough to single out a goal” (What a pity! ). But I can narrow down the ‘area’ where my goal will be in the end. The area covers my interests and I call it ‘Interest cloud’. My interest cloud currently contains,

‘Algorithms, Number Theory, Artificial Intelligence, Theory of Computation, Calculus, Riemann Hypothesis, Work related to prime numbers, Graph Theory, Unsolved problems in CS, Cosmology (relativity, string theory included), Quantum Theory, Research”

I have decided to concentrate on this cloud and learn stuff. I want to set myself short term goals and see what percentage of them are going to be achieved by me within the deadline.

So I came out with a rough plan and some tight (unrealistic) deadlines,

Practice Algorithm problems (SPOJ, TC, etc) – Solve (50 TC problems + 15 on SPOJ) before 17-Oct-2008
Read algorithm books (Graph theory, String algorithms, Number theory) – Finish Enumerative combinatorics + Elementary Number theory before 1-Nov-2008
Finish Godel-Escher-Bach book (Before September 15th)
Expand my maths knowledge (Try to understand RH – complex calculus) – Understand Zeros of Zeta before 1-Oct-2008
Finish all 4 volumes of Art of Computer Programming (before 17-July-2010)

I set the goal in such a way that, I will not achieve them within the given deadlines That will keep me motivated to improve.

PS: With reference to my earlier post even after 1.5 months, I still say the free food here rocks (though I have started missing my mom’s cooking)

3rd Innings starts…

prunthaban — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:10:30 +0000

My blog is titled ‘Singularity’ and it means (in physics) ‘a point where all known laws break down’. When I think about it I always feel I can relate it to my life easily. I often run into problems for which even the concerned authorities have no solution! Singularity also means (in mathematics) a point where a curve shoots upto infinity. A point which troubles mathematicians when they are doing some calculations. Probably that fits me too. Visa officers and even my employers faced difficulties in dealing with my case. Even now I have no clue what will happen in my life after couple of years!

People who know me well know that this was my 3rd innings in India. My first innings started on 1996 and lasted for 9 years upto 2005. That was my ‘learning’ phase. That was followed by a enjoyable first job phase from 2005 to 2008. Now in 2008 I am back here to work for the Big G!

This blog is to register some of my first impressions about the Big G! First impressions are always worth recording. So let me start,

First thing first – Food! It looks like Google has chosen food to impress employees. Starting from snacks to lunch they are really good (Someone please ask me about food after 2 months )
Informal work environment – This is something I like a lot. No dress code! The cubicle arrangements, toys kept in cubicles, etc also emphasizes this informal appearance.
Bigger monitors – I am fan of bigger monitors. I personally own a 22″ monitor. But 30″ monitors I am seeing only here for the first time! Many people use dual monitors too.
We know it first feeling – I think this is the most important part of working in any (globally used) product based company. You see the products first! Then only customers (who are none other than your relatives and friends) see it.
Elite group – Being a TopCoder member and regular contestant over there, seeing 3 names out of TopCoder’s top 4 contestants (global ranking) in Google gives a great feeling.
Friendly atmosphere – All the managers and employees I have met so far are very friendly. I know, nowadays being friendly is part of all IT companies’ culture. But judging from the way, Google approached my visa issue, I would say, Google stands a bit ahead of others in being employee friendly.
Flexible timings – Google seems to be following flexible work timings. As long as the work is done and you attend your scheduled meetings, there seems to be no problems. Probably every team has its own timings.

These are the initial impressions I got today. Let me see how things are going to turn out in future and how my 3rd innings is going to be shaped…