Steps to Serenity

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Raj Comics : Part 2 … Indian Comics

I was pleased to see the interest the readers have shown on my previous post titled ‘Indian Comics : an intro’
As promised earlier,here I am with a lil info on other characters from the RC universe.

PARMANU:
Vinay was traumatized when he saw his classmate being murdered by none other than the Head of Police.Accidently he found the murder weapon,a police revolver. The wicked Policeman came after his life to save his reputation in the society

His family was brutally murdered but Vinay was saved by his maternal uncle-Prof.K.K – who is a nuclear scientist,Vinay calls him Professor.

The need to talk about Educational Loans

I am extremely grateful to Aamir and the entire team of Satyamev Jayate for spreading awareness on various topics concerning us, the common Janata of India.

As a student from a middle-class family, my immediate concerns are very disconnected from the many issues that have been raised in Satyamev Jayate till now. After four years of engineering studies, now a huge task is glaring on my face- repaying the education loan that my parents took from a National bank for my education.

In a nation where car and home loans are cheaper than an educational loan, I would request the SMJ team to take up this issue. I can assure you that you would be spell-bound by the magnitude of support that you would get for this as this a problem that directly affects the youth of India irrespective of the gender, caste or color.

We should learn from a nation like Singapore which bases its development on the grounds of sound education. I am not very proud when I mention that I have received a full scholarship and S$ 2000 monthly stipend in a Singaporean National University for my PhD studies while I am yet to repay the huge interests that have piled up back here in my own country for an educational loan. Though I understand that India can't afford that much, but at least the Govt. should ensure an interest free moratorium period to encourage the students and their parents.

This is despite the fact that the Govt. of India has directed the National banks to waive the interests during the moratorium period. But every time I have gone to my bank to inquire on this, the send me back with a bland answer: " We don't know, we have not been directed anything yet!" (It should be noted that this announcement filled the newspapers as early as in 2009). Check this PIB link: Press Information Bureau .

 Lets hope for a better tomorrow, where we Indians work for our own India in an environment that is conducive for burden less education, so that we don't have to go abroad to get us a better future.

Checklist for International Travel- Done by a group of NTU students, who wrote, re-wrote and finally have this up here!

    Its a highly comprehensive list of items that you would like to pack your bags with. Although many things are optional, you can be sure that at least you won't miss out on anything if you follow this.

Clothes

• Three to Five pairs of jeans/Cargoes/Capris/pants
• Five t-shirts
• Three formal shirts ( for guys).
• One or two formal skirts or pants ( for girls)
• Ten sets of inner wear
• Four sets of casual wear - for sports, night wear. Carry tracks, pyjamas etc. If you live on campus, you will practically live on these.
• Hand kerchiefs
• A light weight travel jacket (optional, need not be too thick nor heavy, it is not for cold climate)

Girls - Salwars are fine to wear to college. Kurtas, Jeans, Leggings are mostly preferred. It is really hot here, so carry cottons. A saree can be bought, if you have space. Nice to have. Purely optional.
Guys - Most of them lived on jeans, and t-shirts. Cargoes are great too. Formals only for interviews, in the end of course. If you plan to go to India in between - you can skip it.

Got Admit in NTU and 3 other Universities overseas :)

Hi friends,

   I am happy to let you all know that I have been granted admit at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore for a PhD in the School of Computer Engineering. NTU is ranked the 26th best University in the QS International University rankings 2011. I can not thank enough for the support provided by my parents and especially my mentor Asst. Prof. Rajesh Kannan who was instrumental in all my achievements.

     Earlier, I applied for 3 other Universities as well and with God's grace I got admits in all of them. I applied in University of Eindhoven, Netherlands, University of Cincinnati, USA and TUMunich, Germany.

    I chose NTU as it was the best option for me. NTU is the best among the 4. I have been offered full scholarship and a monthly stipend of S$ 2000. I was particularly not very interested in USA for various reasons though I was offered Graduate Research Scolarship at Cincinnati. The next best option was the University of Eindhoven that I obtained through a program called ERASMUS IDEAS which is sponsored by the European Union. Its a Masters program in Embedded Systems and offers complete tuition fee waiver and a one-time round trip traveling expense and a monthly stipend of 1000 euros.

   I have a lot of people to thank for whatever I have had in my life so far. Especially my parents and my mentor for the extreme belief in me and my abilities. Then my friends, the PICInc. who have stood by my through all the good and bad times. All my teachers whose dedication has provided the base for me to grow and be bold enough to dream. And finally God, for answering my prayers.

sCTF 2012 : National Level “Capture the Flag” style ethical hacking contest

Not a day passes when several machines are compromised and infections spread rampantly in the world today. The cyber world has witnessed several dangerous attacks including the Stuxnet virus and it’s successor Duqu.

The most recent such attack is the Flame infection, in which the malware managed to disguise itself as a legitimate Windows software. It exploited a bug in Windows to obtain a fake certificate which allowed itself to

authenticate that is was from Windows.

Indian websites too offer little or no resistance to such security intrusions. The Computer Emergency Response Team, India(Cert-In) has been tracking de-facements of Indian websites and more. Their report can be viewed here . It’s really sad that with so much talent and skill, Indian websites are compromised frequently and nothing can be done to stand this wave of attacks on them.

5 most creative iPad wallpaper websites

Ever since I got my hands on my brand new iPad, I had been searching for unique and creative wallpapers for my iPad that would reflect my personality. Even though the bundled wallpapers are there, but I find them outright boring and plain. So, I went ahead and dug out some really cool websites that offer incredibly creative and fun filled iPad apps. I hope you would find one that matches your personal taste :)

1. Mantia

Mantia is a simple website featuring iPad, iPod and Mac wallpapers created by US based designer by Louie Mantiais. I simply fell in love with the simplicity and character of the featured designs.

2. Vlad Studio

Vlad studio has a whole gamut of wallpapers for everything Apple! Filled with colorful and extremely attractive wallpapers, Vlad is one of my favorites. Apart from wallpapers, the site also features some small games and apps for iPad.

3. Iconpaper

Dedicated to making awesome artwork for your Apple devices, Iconpaper is a dedicated Mac/iOS customization website that will definitely blow your mind away. With designer docks, icons, wallpapers and lockscreens, you are good to go!

4. Dizorb

Dizorb aims at compiling an extensive wallpaper library using user-contributed content. Dizorb features a wide range of gorgeous HD wallpapers for your iPad. You would really appreciate the variety and quality of the content that is shared.

5. The Desktop Wallpaper Project

This is a really special one. The Desktop Wallpaper Project is a great initiative of The Fox Is Black, an art and design blog. The blog's endeavor is "share the most interesting and inspiring parts of contemporary life and culture". I personally find it one of the best source to choose your pick if you are in love with contemporary art. The website offers wallpapers in many different resolutions and off course, it supports your favorite Apple devices.

Lets hope that you enjoyed the compilation and found a perfect match for your homescreen on your loved iPad/iPhone. Please share your comments.

Some time off work ...

Smart Traffic Controller in Deccan Chronicles

Hi friends,

Here's the snippet of the press release in Deccan Chronicles of my team's achievement in Accenture Innovation Jockeys contest :)

Btw, I am the guy in Black shirt who is dumbstruck watching the awesome trophy :)

The World Outside

MANCHESTER UNITED – WHAT I FEAR

What first comes to your mind when you read or hear Man Utd..??.......the awesome Old Trafford stadium, the legends it has produced, the classic red jersey,…….or simply the legendary coach Sir Alex Ferguson……..

Well  I am not going to write about him. Simply because I don’t have to. People with great track records, cranky critics, and even opposition players and managers have said and written about him and what he has done for Man Utd. We all know that for the past 25 years he really has been the father of the United club, achieving almost everything within his grasp and more. The club is still doing great under him, performing well on the field and behaving well off the pitch and am sure that they will clinch their 20^th Premier league (Can’t resist myself from saying at least a sentence of praise).

But the real worry is that how long can he carry on??... He is now 70 years old & is not getting any younger. He expressed his desire to coach United for the next three seasons also. Okay, well and good. But we all fear what’s gonna happen to this club next??... No ‘any other’ coach will do!!

Men with the Dreaded Finger: Top 5 Cricket Umpires of all times

Cricket has been the most inventive sport of all time. The game has changed by leaps and bounds over the years and its latest version of the twenty overs format promises to take it to even greater heights. One thing that has not changed since the time I started watching cricket at the age of 10, is that the fate of a game is decided based on batting, bowling, fielding captaincy and the umpiring.

How many times have we seen one wrong decision swing the entire match off the balance? Umpiring errors have always added a lot of controversies and flavor to the game of cricket. However, the history of the game has seen a lot of gritty characters who have donned the hat of an Umpire with great passion and pride and have won the respect of the followers of the game with their acumen.

Tusker and the Man

The Chariot in Stone

Saurav Ganguly - Dadagiri Reloaded

IPL match number 3 between Pune Warriors India and the Mumbai Indians was reminiscent of the good old days when Indian Cricket was lead by a flamboyant captain in Saurav Ganguly. Dada was seen busy on the field right from the word go, trying to articulate the strategy to the bowlers, setting the field up and maintaining the momentum in Pune’s favor.

Ganguly was quick to realize at the start of the game that the pitch would feature a lot of turn. The toss didn’t favor him but he maintained that he would have opted to bat anyway. I doubt how much of that is true considering his early observations, but that is the typical Dada for you- always confident and intimidating.

Sadhu

Silence is within you

Where can I find my ETS ID?

I was asked to provide my ETS ID in order to complete my application process for the TOEFL Scholarship. However, I could not find it anywhere in my score sheet or TOEFL iBT account.  Finally, I contacted the TOEFL support center by email. They responded within 24 hours and I got my ETS ID. If you are also facing the same problem, then I advise you to send an email to the TOEFL support center mentioning your problem. You also need to provide the following personal details to help the support center people quickly locate your profile:

Name:
Address (include country):
Date of birth:
Test Date:
Format of TOEFL (Paper based or iBT):
Registration Number:
Email ID:

for test takers in India, support center email id is: TOEFLSupport4India@ets.org
others please refer to the TOEFL website: www.ets.org/toefl/contact 

I hope this helps.

Virat Kohli - When a Maverick hits a century

For quite some time now, we all would have been noticing one very common thing – every time Virat Kohli hits a century, he would let himself cut loose and celebrate it in a way that an Indian fan would not have seen ever before from anyone else.

 Suddenly we see that the commentators who were till then banking on Kohli to win the match for India suddenly start cornering him for his attitude. They cite Sachin, Laxman and Dravid who keep their composure and go on to make a century in a dignified way.

Read more on this in my article at sportskeeda.com