Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Random thoughts

1) I think its about time I find an alternative title for posts to pen down random thoughts:-) This is getting way too repetitive.But I am feeling uttterly dim at the moment, so I'll do it next time :-)

2)In his otherwise wonderful talk "You and your research", Richard Hamming openly claims that he had to neglect his wife at times in order to get his work done. To be neglecting his wife is bad enough, but to have the audacity to say that in public- I think it makes him a bit of a jerk in my opinion. If his work was so important to him, he probably shouldn't have got married in the first place. While I have my ambitions, I am clear that I don't want to get so 'successful' that I will need to sacrifice my personal life in order to get there.

3) A touching incident I came across in the papers that speaks of Tendulkar's daughter's innocence, and the way he's brought up his children... I find my respect for him growing.

Even my father’s name is Sachin Tendulkar.”
    -Tendulkar’s daughter, Sara, tells her class her father’s name after the teacher informs them of a restaurant of the same name in Mumbai.

4) Inspite of the many crashes my Microsoft windows has caused, I've developed tremendous repect for Bill Gates on reading his commencement speech at Harvard. Rowling had also given a wonderful talk at Harvard, which you can find here.

5) There's a new movie titled 'Megamind' that's just released, and I'm looking forward to watching it ! It's by the makers of  'Kungfu Panda' and I absolutely loved Kungfu Panda !!

5 comments:

Neeraja said...

Kudos to you for aiming for a work-life balance with point 2. And I loooved Kungfu Panda too and look fwd to watching Mega Mind :). I am a sucker for fun animations :)

Rafiki said...

5) I loved Kungfu Panda too. I watched it in an IMAX theater. It was colourful to say the least. :) I have seen the trailers of Mega Mind. I hope I can catch it when it is in the theaters. Did you watch Despicable me?

4) I really liked Rowling's speech. Thanks for sharing.

3) Sachin Tendulkar is an inspiration on and off the field.

2) One of the many reasons I want to be in academia is so I can balance my career and personal life. Family first always.

1) Reiterating what Rowling said in her speech ;) use your imagination.

Karthik said...

Neeraja - Ya, I strive for work life balance. And I love animations too in general:-)

Rafiki - No, I haven't watched despicable me, but I want to ! I thought academics can be as much if not more hectic than the industry! I guess it depends on the way we approach it! Ya I want to use my imagination too, but sometimes I don't get ideas:-)

Rafiki said...

@Karthik: It is interesting what you say about academics being more hectic. I have meant to ask for awhile now about a few things about PhD life in IISc. hmm... I see your e-mail address is on your blog. Do you think it would be OK if I sent you an e-mail with my queries? The questions are more on the lines of how the advisor student relationship is? How people go about applying for postdoctoral positions there and the sort. Let me know. I don't want to impose on your time though.

Karthik said...

Rafiki - You are welcome to mail in, and I'll try to answer your questions. I guess there are no generic answers to those questions but I'll share what I know. I am away from 31st afternoon to 8th Jan, so you might get a late reply if you mail in that span.