2017 – Mid Year Resolutions Review

I had started this year with a set of resolutions (for the first time, else never believed in them!) with some targets per month as stated in the Reboot, Restart and Resume. Its 2017.  Its been six months and here is how things stand/sleep!

1. Read atleast 10 research papers per month
Yes. I have 60 papers read so far and the summary of each neatly stacked up in the form of a presentation. Things are pretty systematically organized into categories and as well the print versions filed (Was way too geeky).

2. Complete reading atleast one novel per month
Here goes the list. Jan and June was my favorite!
Jan: The Great Gatsby
Feb: The Martian
Mar: Before the Fall
Apr: When Breath Becomes Air
May: Mock, Stalk and Quarrel
June: The Forty Rules of Love

3. Write and publish one ebook per month (technical or non technical)
Here is the list of published ebooks:
Jan: 100 Haiku
Feb: See, Say, Market Recommendations
Mar: Poem Shop
Apr: A to Z – Poem for an Idiom
May: The Web Circular
June: The Void

4. Exactly 10 blog posts per month on my technical blog: PH Bytes
I have been loving this Archive. It’s been ten per month. Exactly. This far.

5. Finish 10 more courses on Coursera
Completed 3 so far. 7 more to go. One was 3 months long and ate a lot of my stamina!

6. Make a significant progress in research
Had three releases of the work this year already.  Progress has been much better. It’s atleast 50% complete.
– Ver. 0.3
– Ver. 0.2
– Ver. 0.1

7.  Try to work on technology to bring the actual social life in society order
My whole of research work is on that. Working towards it. Maybe.

8. Be open to do something new and interesting
I am not sure how many would qualify but there were many new things and first times that happened: Entering competitions, Camp NaNoWriMo April, A to Z Challenge, Submitted first novel draft to publisher which is still under review, Anthology publications, Reading challenges, Cooking inventions etc.

9. Complete the text book being written on “Data Structures” 
Progress is good. Hope to complete by year end.

10. At least 10 blog posts per month on this blog
Yes. April had highest because of A to Z Challenge. This month, I finish my 10th post with this one!

There I go, with smiles!
We have completed six months of 2017. That went pretty quick.

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IBMC Challengers – June 2017

This is a summary post of challengers who have completed or on-going with the Incredible Blogger Marathon Challenge for the month of June 2017. The challenge was instantiated in the early second week of April 2016 and a part of WordPress Event which can be found HERE.

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kp from the blog My First Blog is the Thirty Eighth blogger to complete the challenge. Reach out for the blog to read ten thought provoking posts. The first one can be read here: The Perfect match.

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‘Thank you’ to all who have taken/been taking the challenge and to all who have liked them. Feel free to take up the challenge if it excites you!

A list of all the completed challengers can be found HERE. 

The Bookish Connection

This post is written for Three Line Tales Week 74 hosted by Sonya. The challenge is to write a three line tale for the supplied image.

Photo by Daniel von Appen on Unsplash

 

They said society was a complex system.

They said something about crowd dynamics.

Happiness was in chairs, tables and a huge hall of organized books.

 

When You Do-Dont

I saw this beautiful painting done by Praful Managoli and felt to pen down some thoughts for it. Praful was kind enough to allow me to use this on my blog. Many thanks for the painting and providing this wonderful piece.

Painting by Praful Managoli

When you walk,
You make a lane,
When you don’t,
Bushes insane!

When you see,
Nature dynamite,
When you don’t,
Sky infinite!

When you believe,
Life lives,
When you don’t,
Life leaves!

When you love,
Alone clones,
When u don’t,
Messy cyclone!

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Note: Praful is a software engineer by profession and no questions on his paintings!

The Table of Merits

“I am mess. So will be my table. My plate. My eat. My see. ”

How cluttered is your work table?
That is where the happiness is. In the mess. We need worries coming from many ends of the table to keep our self productive. How much of those clutters smile? How many stories those clutters hold? Does it have the laughs and cries?

An organized table is an organized table. A cluttered table is a creative chaos. Whenever I organize my study table, I really don’t know how and when, in a shot span of time, the table gets cluttered itself. “Is it some messy ghost?” Sometimes I wonder. Then I feel may be it just works that way.

An organized table is an organized table. A cluttered table is a search-me puzzle. Amongst all misplace and disorganization, I exactly know where to search for the missing. That is the best part of a cluttered table. When I feel I have lost it, I get a new one. New is happiness.

An organized table is an organized table. A cluttered table is an identity. I don’t believe in showing off clean when I am really not. When things shine and some catch dust, which is who I am. I have my favorites and they change from time to time. I know when to clean my thing!

An organized table is an organized table. A cluttered table is a space for invention. Ahhh, I see a void. Don’t you?

A table should invoke some inventive voids. It should allow one to think beyond the table. It should allow one to dream. Clutter or organized are just some medium. Just because I favor clutter and speak about it, it does not mean it will work for all. We need to go with what works the best in us.

Oh, you don’t have a table? You got a bed? Happy sleeping!

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Note: This is a chapter from the ebook The Void. The book can be downloaded HERE.

The Void – Free Ebook

Behind most kind of ‘nothing’, we all have a story that was once ‘everything’. The beauty of nothingness is that we get completely submerged into it. That is what the feeling of Void is. The V in Void silently says that it encompasses the ‘we’ in it. One is not alone and there is something else with it. May be another person, expectation, object, etc, that kind of else thing.

It’s a short and quick read. It can be downloaded here: The Void.

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I am attaching the contents here hoping it would call for a read! If you find it tedious and boring and felt like dropping it in the middle, Let me know! 🙂 I am in the process of learning and that is very much welcome! 

01.The We of V
“I occasionally become nothing; because then I get to be something, every time”

02.Void, Just That!
“Have you ever tried to define ‘Nothing’?”

 03.The Two Ends of Infinity
“I see the ends, that there are no ends!”

04.The Backfire Theory
“Void echoes. What did you put in?”

05.We Don’t know, What We Know!
“Is it Blue? Or Sky? Or Water? Or a Painting? Okay, let’s ask!”

 06.Voids of Detachment
“The thin lines of thick happiness between attach and detach”

07.Happiness is ‘Happiness’
“Self sacrifices are soulful satisfactions! Ehh?”

 08.The Drama of Dreams
“Talking about Dreams, Dreams don’t talk!”

09.Like That. A little by Little.
“Curiosity calls Curiosity”

10.It’s Not Like That!
“Like u say, like they think, like I know, like that is!”

11.Failures? What’s That?
“Failures are only a filthy people’s gossip”

12.The Thoughts That Weigh
“There is no free Lunch. There is no free thought as well.”

13.While I had a Chance
“To Not-To-Do something, If I have a reason today, there will be something stronger tomorrow”

14.The Story of the Broken
“The beauty of fallen is that, It is now rising!”

15.The Dance of the Void
“Can you dance to imaginary beats of time?”

16.The Life Days
“Polish for bright. Not to get blind.”

17.The Table of Merits
“I am mess. So will be my table. My plate. My eat. My see. ”

18.The Duty Call
“I do it as I do. You see it as you do.”

19.Not All Stories Are Told
“We all have stories. The common struggles are told.”

20.The Absurdity
“I love abstractions. It can have addition and subtractions. Okay, A lot of math.”

 

The Forty Rules of Love – Review

I would like to start this post by thanking MM from the blog “Accidental Learning’s and other things” for recommending this Novel – “The Forty Rules of Love” by the Turkish author Elif Shafak.

This one was a pure bliss from page beginning to page end.  I could have easily read a hundred or two hundred more pages. There were some ‘plots’ or ‘decisions per say’ in the book which can call for a discussion but considering the message the book carries, they can easily be ignored.

A must read for all those who prefer to read love genre. This one will be in my favorites.

It talks deeply bout immensely needed element of life called – Love! One of the few books that I have finished reading in two days time ignoring all other works!

Stamp – Spit? or Lick?

On a random day, I met a fool,
I stand there, see random rules.
Then I say,
That’s not, what was said,
That’s not, what was done,
That’s not, how it looks!
That’s not, how it happened.

I hear pointless laughs and mocks,
I feel like my own dirty socks,
Then I think,
And certainly understood,
For I opened my mouth,
I was the fool, on a random day!

Love, In and Out – Haiku

 

love, changes the in,
perfects with pain and pleasures,
love, changes the out.

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This haiku was originally posted as a guest blog post on Jyotirmoy’s blog – Racing Against Time.

 

All That And All That!

That’s how it goes, it-seems!

Too messed up at times, too delayed in catching up the blogs, too late in replying to comments, too tired to write and post something, too too for something too! It’s late, but never that late!

It’s been long and while I progressed with my research works that came with necessary immediate deadlines, I lagged and missed my writing. I did write. I have been writing my new ebook called – “The Void” when I found some quick refreshment time and it will come out soon. It’s in half cut and I can ‘throw-this-out-anytime’ shape!

Here is a poem from the ebook “The Void”. I leave it half said and done as that is what makes much sense for now.

We cannot heal every pain,
We cannot erase every stain,
We cannot chase every shadow,
We cannot uplift every low,

 There is a shadow,
While there is a light,
There is a friend,
While there is a foe,

 When there is a friend,
There is a light,
There is a pain,
And still there is bright,

 I stand at start,
I feel infinite,
I do my finest,
Calms down my sight!

Keeping that aside, speaking about life and things, more than a fortnight ago, I completed my 31. Ahh, growing old is so mandatory, atleast in the number game. Being in a joint family with ten people, I had planned to cook for people at home for the day and spend the rest of the day reading something. As planned, it did happen that way. I cooked. It turned out delicious, as complimented by all who ate it (There were no recorded health issues after eating, so I have certain things assured. LOL).

My remaining day went in reading a heart soothing book – “The Forty Rules of Love.” I am going to make a review post for this soon, sometime really soon! The best part of the day was receiving and reading the letters sent by dear ones. It felt incredible! It feels good to know when people care and they write the expressions out taking time from life exhausting schedules.

After all that, it has been work and mostly that. I have this feeling that yesterday was May 31, when I cooked and read, and today is just the start of June. It was a gooey, velvety rush.  “Happy Sunday Everyone”, that I wish with smiles and glee, where my near-two-year-old son is trying to wish me a ‘Happy father’s day!’ in gibberish blabber.