Iyer Log

Hey folks,

Yes, I have finally decided to grace my blog with a post!

Although it has been a long time (to put it mildly) since I last posted, there is not much that I wish to share. So in this blog I will simply be updating people with some broad facts of my life.

I passed out of.. the Mess shall we call it? more commonly known as 11th and 12th standard, and finished up with my board exams, (I mean, BOARD EXAMS). And I did surprisingly well too (if I may say so myself).

So right now, I am a happy, chirpy student of Fergusson College. I am studying for a bachelor’s degree. Currently, I have four subjects: Physics, Chemistry, Zoology and Geology. Yes, interesting combination, isn’t it? .

A few interesting facts about my course:
As a part of my Geology course, my college took us to Nighog and Kanhur Pathar, for some geology field work. We saw some geological features like giant potholes in the Kukadi River, stalactites and stalagmites. We also saw a red bole/horizon, some examples of spheroidal weathering and silica veins.
We also had a physics study visit, where we went to IUCAA in the University of Pune. We were shown some simple experiments on some physics concepts. One thing which I guess I learned from this visit is that physics concepts can be demonstrated quite easily. So I definitely have ideas for if I ever become a physics teacher! (You see, I used to watch some MIT physics lectures on Youtube. These are basically videos of lectures conducted in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that have been put up on Youtube, by I think MIT itself. I won’t provide further information here because I wouldn’t be sure of its correctness. For those who are interested, I advise them to google ‘MIT Open Courseware’. I think the same videos are available on MIT’s website. The point of mentioning this at all is that the MIT physics lecturer used to demonstrate everything he spoke about IN the class. His demonstrations however can’t be so easily performed in all schools. But I guess you can perform simple ones, like what I saw in my study visit.)

And that’s about all for now. Maybe I’ll put up some pictures of my geology field work trip.

Until then,
Mallika

These are our first mangos. Hoping that they are the right varieties as promised by the seller. The picture with 4 mangos are supposedly Aapus and the lone mango is kesar.

Aapus:

Kesar:

Here is a typical punekari traffic violation. ITI Road Shirine Garden Aundh 12.20pm 23-4-2011, motorcyclist driving on pavement to beat the traffic

Wow. I cannot imagine that we are just 20 days from the end of 2010 and I have put up even a single post on the blog … yet I call this a VERY eventful year. The last time I wrote was Nov 22, 2009.

Boy was I ever wrong. I never knew what “full” means … now I know better. 2010 has been gut wrenching. I will keep it short.

It all began during Diwali of 2009. Mother took ill with alternating UTI and low-sugar hypoglycemic conditions. On December 15th 2009 when we brought her home we felt she was on her way to recovery. However on December 18th early in the morning she had another hypoglycemic attack. The look of “terror” in her face at 5am that morning will remain etched in my memories for ever. We rushed her to the hospital. The ICU at the regular hospital was full. The staff administered her many bottles of glucose to pump up her sugar levels. After battling for 30 minutes there was some semblance of improvement. But the damage had been done by then. She had slipped into coma. In the course of the next 6~7 days I had lost hope she would every recover out of coma. Miraculously on 25th she showed signs of improvement. She could start recognizing people and events. There was on occasional smile on her face. Her short term memory had been severely impaired. Her bodily chemical level control system had started to go haywire. For the next two weeks we fought for her life in the hospitals. Slowly we started getting hopes that she would recover. Finally on Jan 10th or 12th we felt there was nothing more that we could do for her in the hospital and the rest of the recovery would happen gradually under home treatment. We brought her home. In the meantime her brothers and sisters came and visited her. My sister was with us through out this traumatic period. Finally she had to leave with a heavy heart. Over the the next two ~ three weeks there was gradual progress. She could sit and walk with help from her bed to the toilet. BUT things went downhill all of a sudden towards the last week of January. Her sugar levels and chemical levels started fluctuating wildly once again. Her UTI recurred. Fearing the worst is close at hand I called by daughter Kruthika to come and visit grandma. She could find a few days of slack period in college and visited grandma. Grandma could recognize her. On February 10th I felt terrible when I looked at mother in the morning. I called my sister and asked her to come back as soon as she could. My cousin had dropped in for a quick visit the previous evening. That night when I returned back from work I felt mother would not see the night through. At 9.15pm Vasanthi and I attempted to feed her some liquid soup and medicine. Mother gurgled some of it back. As we were cleaning her up Mother breather her last at 9.30pm that night. She lost her battle with UTI, Diabetes and other Diabetes induced complications.

The rituals followed. Father took all this in his stride praying for his own deliverance.

Immediately following this incident we ran into a serious problem with the water supply system for our society. The regular municipal supply system never had adequate pressure to deliver water to the houses located on the higher terrain in the society. Fortunately we could get the builder/promoter to build a water tank as per the clause he had put in the agreement. The water tank project took 8 months to complete and was operational from January 2010. However during the time mother was going through her last sufferance Vasanthi noticed a sudden drop in the pumping pressure. But conditions at home were not conducive to any investigations. After the rituals were over she forced me to look into the matter. 4~5 weeks of hectic study and investigations followed. Finally we had to take a guess that there was a major pipe breakage at the very end of the pipe network. Our guess turned out to be right and we could get the problem fixed with some deep digging and fairly major pipe repair work.

To take my mind off all these I decided to take short holiday in the peak of summer to visit Kanha National Park and also decided to implement a long overdue Solar power project for the home. The visit to Kanha was very very memorable. We could see a wide variety of birds and we also had face to face encounters with Mr. Stripes. Photos are here.

For the solar project I had been scouting for an appropriate supplier who would supply the panel and the electronics to fit with my existing inverter and battery bank at a reasonable price. Finally I found my answers with Megatech – the company that supplied my original inverter. The project got completed in 8 weeks and by August end we had a 1560 WattPeak solar power system up and running. I had estimated we would save between 5 and 7 units of power on a daily basis. During the monsoon period we could see approx 3~4 units of saving. Gradually we tweaked the timer settings as we started getting used to the pattern of solar charge and household discharge. Today after the system has stabilized I can say confidently that we are saving anywhere from 6~7 units of power depending on the external conditions.

As the year went own, work pressures slowly erased some of the pain. We secured a few important and big orders for our NAC product. But pressure at work was always high. I was looking for relief and peace.

That relief was never to come. Instead there was more pain in the waiting. On September 1st our dear CEO and my friend of many years Ajit Shelat, met with a tragic and fatal car accident on the Mumbai Pune expressway just outside Bhatan tunnel on his way back from Mumbai at 6pm. Ajit was on the road many days in the month. He was on the road almost every alternate day. That accident changed lives for his family and me substantially. The responsibility Ajit was carrying on his shoulders was unknown. Suddenly all of that descended upon me. Thankfully his wife Radha Shelat joined the company to shoulder part of the responsibility. Since then there has been a sea change in what is in store for all of us. Both Radha and I are working harder than every before to keep the company on track for achieving the goals Ajit set out.

It is now December 11th and hardly 20 more days to go before the curtains are drawn on 2010. What a year it has been.

Hey there everyone! The last time I posted was in 4th semester and now I am in the beginning of 6th semester. Been quite a while! Well, let me bring you up to date on everything. After the Murudeshwar trip, I made a small visit to Palakkad where my mami and her son, Gopal were staying. My mami was expecting a second child. After that trip, it was time for the final exams. After lots of complaining and staying up late, Plant biology and Biomedical Engineering exams got over(a terror for all my classmates, including me). Then it was HOLIDAYS! I went back to Pune of course. And this time my roommate accompanied me. She was planning on taking the flight from Bombay to Patna. So for the two days she stayed at my house, I showed her around Pune, took her shopping and generally started enjoying my one month May vacation. I made a short visit to my maternal grandparents house after dropping off my roommate at the Mumbai Airport. Soon after that my cousin brother Harish came over for 2 days from Chennai. He is getting married next year! That was a hot topic of discussion during his visit. After his visit, the usual meeting of friends, having lunch and dinner around the city, roaming around took place. Towards the end of my vacation my parents had planned a nature trip to Kanha National Park to spot the elusive, fast-disappearing tiger. And, our good luck, we saw two! Along with many other wild animals. That was one hot place! Around 46 degrees celcius.

My 5th semester at Manipal started on June 1st. It looked like it was going to be a better semester. We had the toughest subject yet, Pharmacology. As my friend rightly put it, the father of all other horrible subjects. The reason it is such a dreaded subject is that it is full of medicine names. I mean, who can remember all that? But we had to, along with their mechanisms of action! And we learnt and wrote the finals on it too. Other subjects were comparatively easy: Molecular Biology, Computers, Bioinformatics(a big joke of a subject because half of us felt that the teachers themselves didn’t know anything and none of us could understand what they taught us), Cell Biology and Immunology. As I had predicted, 5th semester was a fun semester. I slowly and finally became more comfortable in Manipal and drew a nice group of friends around myself. After my second sessional, my friends and I made a two day trip to Mysore, planned and executed by us! We had a nice time and a good break from Manipal.

5th semester included a mini-project. In the project, we were assigned teachers who would be our guide and give us our topics. My topic was Steroid Drugs: Pathways, Molecular Mechanisms and Pharmacogenomics. We had to give two powerpoint presentations. One around the middle of the semester and one after the second sessional(after my Mysore trip). So, soon after the trip, I had to get on with my project and get my final presentation ready. It was not too much of a success and I felt that my guide was slightly disappointed in me. But it got over and I submitted my thesis on the topic along with everyone else. The semester was coming to an end and we had our study leave for the finals. I went home for this study leave. But just before leaving, I became the General Secretary of my college student council. This meant I was part of the core committee that made many important decisions in the college, especially regarding the cultural festivals. Anyway, the study leave and finals went by(by this time we were all quite used to exams).

The following end of semester holiday was much like the summer one. Meeting friends, eating out, driving the car(loved it!). At the beginning of the holidays, my mom, sister and I went to Hyderabad to visit my mama, mami, Gopal and my 6 month old cousin, Anagha! I had the time of my life! Anagha is so cute and I spent all my time with her. It was a lot of fun. Of course, we went around Hyderabad a bit. We visited the Salarjung museum, Charminar, and chudi bazaar but for me the best time was the time spent with Anagha!

I had initiated my passport application process during my study leave and I was running around this vacation trying to find out where the process had reached exactly. I was told to go to the Chatushringi Police Department to find out information. When I reached there, I was told to make more inquiries at the Commissioner’s office which I did. Finally the status shows that the passport will be despatched December 13 after it passes scrutiny. So I am keeping all my fingers and toes crossed! This vacation, I went to Barbeque Nation with my parents. It was really nice, especially the starters and the pasta. Come November 30th and it was time to leave for Manipal. I was starting my 6th semester and this semester is fully devoted to project work. On December 1st, my classmates and I got our topics. I was assigned to Stempeutics Research Private Limited. This is a company that specializes in bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cell research. They produce stem cells on a large scale to use as therapy in certain diseases like Alzheimer’s, myocardial infarction, osteo arthritis and many more. I was accepted for doing my project with them and started my work on the 9th. As of now, work basically includes reading all the basics of stem cells. Entering the lab and doing the more “exciting” stuff is going to take a while. Meanwhile, I am just trying to enjoy my last semester with my friends!

On Sunday the 14th of March, my friends from college and I decided to go to this coastal place called Murudeshwar, north of Manipal. The guys in our class booked an AC van, which was such a brilliant idea! We left at around 8:30 in the morning. On the way we stopped at a beach called Turtle Bay, which I had already seen two times. However, it was a nice place to take pictures.

taken by a friend

taken by a friend- at turtle bay

Then we were back again on our way to Murudeshwar, which was two hours from Manipal. As soon as we reached, we headed towards the Shiva temple which had a huge Shiva statue behind it. We could go up the temple gopuram in an elevator to see the Shiva statue at eye level and to see the surrounding beach and greenery. Under the Shiva statue there was a Shivaling and cave, inside which there were small statues depicting why the temple was built there. We were generally roaming about looking at everything and taking pictures. Here are a few.

outside the temple

looking up at the gopuram

under the gopuram

inside the temple grounds

going up the gopuram

from the top of the gopuram

the beach from the top of the gopuram

outside and behind the temple

taken by a friend

inside the caves

taken by a friend- outside the caves going around the statue

After seeing the statue and everything around it, we climbed back down to eat something at a restaurant. After eating, we went to the beach to have some fun in the water. We rode on water bikes and then spent an hour or so in the sea. Then we came back out and went on a motor boat to see the back of the statue.

taken by a friend- going down to the restaurant near the beach

taken by a friend

After all this, we were, of course, feeling very sticky and dirty. So my friend booked a room in a hotel and all the girls took bath and changed and basically refreshed ourselves.

from the hotel room balcony

It was around 4:30 by the time we finished everything. We then climbed aboard the van to go back to Manipal. On the way, we stopped at a small restaurant to eat a hearty meal. We reached Manipal at around 8:30pm. It was a good Sunday.

It’s time to update my blog! So, after the trip to Agumbe and Sringeri, it was time to settle down for the last leg of third semester. That mainly included a cultural festival held by our department. That was fun as I was in the cultural committee(I still am) and was involved in setting up things for the event. The 2 day event went off as smoothly as possible. Needless to say that there were a few glitches here and there. On the second day I left for Pune to spend Diwali at home. Just before I left however my college called me and told me that I had not submitted the University exam form on time and so I had to pay Rs 500 as fine. Which was so unfair because I had not been in Manipal on the day of submission of the form. But trying to convince the college was like trying to move Mount Everest. So I paid up and went home. The week home was fun! I dreaded coming back to Manipal, though, because I knew it was going to be hot and my room was going to be uncomfortable. Plus, my University exams were going to start. And it was just the way I had imagined. I soon became quite unhappy because my room was giving me troubles and affecting my sleep. But thankfully I was able to spend most nights in my friend, Priya’s room. For two weeks my whole class, including me, studied for the coming exams. The exams were finally a great disappointment. The papers were unexpected and questions came out of syllabus. But that was all behind us and we had a month to enjoy at home (actually around 15 days of enjoyment until our exams results came out and doomed us all). I left for home on the 16th of November, if I remember correctly. I reached Mumbai on the 17th, spent one day with my maternal grandparents, aunt and cousin, and went to Pune on the 18th with my grandparents. The vacation was mostly spend at home. I did go to Chennai in the middle, for a relative’s wedding(pictures have already been put up in my previous post), but the rest of it was spent at home, meeting a few friends and eating ghar ka khaana. Actually, my paternal grandmother was not keeping good health, as she had UTI and was in and out of hospital. So my parents were quite busy with that. I am happy to say that I helped them quite a bit, even though I complained now and then.

All too soon, it was time for me to return to Manipal for my 4th semester. I wasn’t too happy about that because I knew that the weather was just going to become worse and there was nothing but studies waiting for me in Manipal. After coming here I soon realized that I would not be able to bear my hot room on the third floor. So around the end of January, I shifted in with Priya into a double room on the 2nd floor(which is comparatively cooler). But other than the room problem, it was actually fun being back in Manipal. We had a lot of birthdays to celebrate. We planned out surprises for our friends. We also had our 1st sessionals which was held at the end of January(not so fun). Right after exams, however, my dad requested that I come home and visit my grandmother who was not recovering. So I did that. I went home, and saw that she really was not in a good condition. She was just able to recognize me on the day I reached. I sang for her, and helped my mom out a bit. I left for Manipal again on the 10th of January in the evening, and my grandmother passed away that night. It was really sad but I am very happy that I visited her then.

After that, we had our second sessionals just recently on the 8th of March. And on the 14th of March, a Sunday, the day after the exams, my friends and I went to a place two hours away from Manipal called Murudeshwar. I will write about Murudeshwar in my next post and will add some pictures too.

  PUCHU!!!!

!st day…. Morning

!st day in the night…. Reception

2nd day…. Marriage

That’s it…. I will be writing a post soon….

I had promised myself I would not write any techy stuff. However my experiences with Wordpress and NextGEN may help other poor souls and so – here goes. I had decided to start using NextGEN having read many good things about it. As I tried to get it to work the way it was promised I ran into five problems worth documenting.

Problem 1: NextGEN would not allow me to edit my thumbnails. I would get the thumbnail editor dialog – but no image on the editor pane. I saw a few other posts in the forums about similar problems. After much digging it turned out to be a problem in another plugin. PHP has a bad habit of injecting “html” text when you least expect it. The most common culprit is an extra linefeed right after the ?> (php closing bracket). I got the hint by doing some packet captures and searching through PHP forums. The mime-encoded response to a request for the preview image jpeg was always prefixed with a hex “0a”. That set me off hunting.

Problem 2: There was another bug that prevented the display of preview images. In version 1.3.5 in line 68 of file nextgen-gallery/admin/manage-thumbnail.php – variable $WidthtHtmlPrev has a typo error. There is an extra ‘t’. It should have read $WidthHtmlPrevl.

Problem 3: Whenever thumbnails were being created as part of the image import workflow to create a gallery, NextGEN would always show Error for each thumbnail it processed. The error was a cryptic “more 1 – a failure occurred” even though the thumbnails were getting created. Could I ignore the errors? The NextGEN forum helped in this case. In one of the posts I found a suggestion to edit some code in “nggajax.js” to convert text to integer using the ParseInt function and use the resultant integer in a subsequent Switch-case statement instead of the “text”.

Problem 4: I could not get the slideshows to display the alt text/description. Despite doing exactly as Alex Rabe wrote. There were others who were complaining too. I found the size of the image in the “object tag code” and the actual image source were the same. In firebug by playing with these sizes I found that keeping the size in the object tag larger by 20 pixels allowed the “text to show up”. I have modified lib/swfobject.php  where it deciphers the height and width of the image. I added two new variables this->heightxtra and this->widthxtra

Problem 5: This was the worst. The tag functionality in NextGEN would not work. I found I could set up tags for images in the Manage-Gallery section. However the tags never showed up in the UI after saving them the first time. I was not sure if the tags were saved or not. I later found the tags were being saved. Accidentally if I happened to hit another save with the tag fields empty, the old tags would be lost. I could use the tags to show pictures/galleries/albums by tag. Yet I could never see the tags. This was really annoying. Digging through the code and putting echo var_dump($var), I found the culprit. The code in some places in taxonomy.php was referring to table columns that did not exist in by DB schema. I was foxed. How come Wordpress had such a fundamental bug. Some more digging and I found that my DB had never been upgraded even though I had gone through two upgrade cycles. So how come the schema was not upgraded. It then dawned on me that probably the username registered with Wordpress to access the DB may not have some permissions. Wordpress documentation is rather cryptic in their upgrade notes. They should list all the permissions required. I granted “all” privileges to this user and forced another upgrade by lowering the DB version in wp_options. The schemas were correctly modified and the rest of the tag functionality started working.

Whew!

In March 2009 I had posted about my discoveries with Allergic Rhinitis – see here. It is time again for the Rhinitis season. I have been waiting to see how my learning from the last year would help me. In mid-October as the temperature and humidity dropped I could see the typical reactions in my body. I started sniffling quite regularly. My bouts with sneezing began. I applied moisturizing lotions in my nostrils. But the impact was not much. I knew I was missing something. Then I thought long and hard what about what I was missing. Eureka – the overhead fan. I switched it off and turned on a fan further away from me. I had instant relief. Next day I woke up with clear sinuses and no sniffling/sneezing. Since the day I switched off the overhead fan I am living a charmed life. Upon re-reading my post I felt angry that I had forgotten the most profound discovery.