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Learnings from the book of James

2011-10-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

The main idea of this post is to share with you my reflections on the book of James and how it taught me few most important lessons. In our sunday school at Church, we studied the book of James and today we were reflecting on what each one of us have learnt through this study.

First of all, I want to write the things which were given in the prologue of this book in my study bible.

1. Putting faith into action through words and deeds.

2. Submitting to God under God's care.

3. Prayer needs to be a priority in our lives.

For me I found the book of James as a great instructory blessing. The words written are very simple and gives a clear instruction on how to be our walk with Christ as a Christian in everyday life. Few verses have become my favorites.

"Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness"

It taught me that having no faith in God is a sin. Also, believing God brings blessing into our lives. Trust in him makes us righteous. Abraham was called God's friend. How amazing it is to be a friend of God - who is the almighty!

"Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,"

It taught me to be more patient to listen than to speak quickly. I feel that there is a great gain in listening. It makes the other person happy that we are giving him/her attention to what she is speaking and also, we can learn and improve our understanding about different things. Also, the verse says slow to become angry. In this modern world, I feel it is one of the toughest things. But surrendering ourselves to God and lean on him will help us able to follow HIS instructions through HIS word.

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble"

This teaches us to be humble to gain the grace of God in our lives. Also, as we see in the book of Proverbs, "pride walketh before fall", if the grace of God is not in our lives, our lives will be shattered and meaningless.

"Is anyone in trouble? He should pray"

Gives us an instruction that prayer is an important tool to face the troubles of everyday life. Taught me the importance of prayer to survive in this competent world.

Hope these verses are a blessing to you too.

Thanks,

A sinner saved by grace.

Tips on Time Management and Writing E-mails

2011-01-27T04:59:00.001-08:00

Found it interesting!

Tips on Time Management and Writing E-mails

IN GRADUATE STUDY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005),
Gregory Colon Semenza notes that “poor time management and inadequate organization skills” often create the major barrier to a successful graduate school experience. To help you manage your time and your work materials, we’ve summarized some of his suggestions.

DATE BOOKS may be out of date (or style) but...it’s important to have something that will help you keep track of your appointments and deadlines. Here’s a great tip: create a one- page weekly TO-DO listing of your deadlines, appointments and tasks, and post it somewhere that’s
easily accessible.

USE YOUR COMPUTER AS AN ORGANIZATIONAL TOOL. Create a folder for each area of your work: research, teaching, coursework and your academic portfolio. In your research folder, begin developing your list of references and keep copies of any papers you’ve written for any seminar you’ve taken. Bookmark important websites and electronic databases like Academic Search Premier available on the UNL Libraries resources page. In your teaching folder, keep copies of your syllabi and lesson plans for every course you teach. Begin developing your teaching statement and save each draft (you never know when you’ll want to return to an earlier
version). Save future job search materials like your CV and other documentation materials in your academic portfolio folder. The time you put into organizing these materials now will save you a great deal of time later.

ESTABLISH A ROUTINE. As much as possible try to follow a regular daily schedule so that by the time you are ready to write your dissertation your work habits will be well established. Doing so will allow you to coordinate your activities with those of your adviser, graduate
colleagues, and family and friends, and will alleviate the feeling that someone is always demanding your time.

PRIORITIZE. PRIORITIZE. PRIORITIZE. In graduate school, you need to be very protective of your research and writing time. It doesn’t matter when you set aside time to write or plan your next teaching lecture. It DOES matter that you recognize that these tasks are more important than some of your other tasks, like checking e-mail. Save the more mundane tasks for low energy times. If you’re a doctoral or master’s student who is expected to complete a thesis, spend the bulk of your day on research-related activities. And learn to say “no” — to friends, family, maybe even your graduate adviserJ. Managing your time in one area of your professional life will help you do it in other areas, too.

Having said that, BE REASONABLE ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN DO AND WHEN. If you have to work at night or on weekends, try to choose a time thatminimizes disruptions of your personal and family time.

USE HOLIDAY BREAKS TO FOCUS ON RESEARCH. Stay near the university during the summer. If you stay on campus and spend time on your research and writing, you’ll have a much better chance of finishing in a timely manner.

MAINTAIN SOME SORT OF DAILY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY during graduate school. Exercise can help you structure your day and release stress, contributes to greater confidence, keeps you healthy and clears a space in your mind for those “aha” moments that help you break through barriers in your thinking. Hobbies are good, too. Go to a UNL basketball game. Attend a
show at the Lied Center. Learn to knit (yes, there are health benefits to knitting). Like people who exercise regularly, people who take time to enjoy their favorite hobbies tend to experience less stress.

BEGIN WORKING ON YOUR CURRICULUM VITAE NOW. By building your vita early in your graduate career, you’ll be able to track your accomplishments while noting the gaps in your experience.

FIVE QUICK TIPS FOR WRITING EFFECTIVE E-MAILS

E-MAIL IS AN INCREASINGLY PREFERRED TOOL FOR COMMUNICATION between students and faculty. When communicating with your professors via e-mail, it’s important to remember that many faculty view an e-mail message as a letter that was delivered quickly rather than a quick conversation. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when writing e-mail
messages to your professors.

USE APPROPRIATE SALUTATIONS AND TITLES.
Like letters, e-mails should begin with a proper salutation. If “Dear Dr. Smith” seems too formal, begin your message with “Hello Dr. Smith,” but avoid the kinds of casual greetings you would use with friends (e.g., “Hey”) or no greeting at all. When in doubt about using Dr. or the professor’s first name, use Dr.; the faculty member will let you know when it’s okay to use his or her first name.

IDENTIFY YOURSELF.
Faculty interact with a large number of students every semester. At the beginning of your message, refer to the class you’re taking with the faculty member or how the faculty member knows you, especially when you’re contacting someone who doesn’t know you very well. Conclude your message with more than just your first name. Provide your full name and NUID number.

AVOID TEXT ACRONYMS.
If you’re responding to e-mails on a Blackberry or smart phone, it’s tempting to abbreviate or shorten words and phrases (e.g., u instead of you). However, abbreviations are easy to misinterpret or may be completely misunderstood.

BEWARE OF YOUR TONE.
Perhaps the most difficult part of writing an e-mail is achieving the right tone. If you’re writing an especially sensitive e-mail, let your final draft sit overnight and reread it before sending to make sure the message is appropriate. You also can ask a colleague or friend to read your message and offer feedback about how the message might be perceived. Remember, e-mail creates a permanent record of your communication that you have no control over after you click the send button. So if you’re worried about the tone of your e-mail, you might want to skip the message altogether and ask for a meeting with the faculty member.

KEEP IT SIMPLE.
Long e-mails with too many questions can get confusing. If your message is more than one or two paragraphs, rethink the purpose of the message. You may want to start with the most important question or topic. A lengthy e-mail may be a signal that the subject warrants a meeting rather than a written communication. E-mail communication is an important part of building positive relationships with your professors. It’s always worthwhile to take the time to make sure your messages are clear and appropriate.

RESOURCES
Jerz, D. & Bauer, J. (2000, December 12). Writing effective e- mail: Top
10 tips. Retrieved October 7, 2010 from
http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/etext/e-mail.htm#message. Toth, E.
(2009, April 28). Don’t e-mail me this way. The Chronicle of Higher
Education. Retrieved October 8, 2010, from
http://chronicle.com/article/Dont-E-Mail-Me-This- Way/44818/.

I was carried

2010-12-29T23:20:00.000-08:00

From morning I was just humming Roma Waterman's tune... beautiful lyrics describing the love of Jesus who always carries us in his arms...

If you ask me how I'm feeling
I broke to pieces
Now I'm healing
If you wonder
How I get through
Something stronger than me and you
As I look back I keep smiling
Coz through the heartache I kept fighting
I'm not perfect, some days I fall
I don't give up through it all

There has been a kiss of grace on
my weary tearstained face
And I cannot walk away
From this truth I know

I was carried in the arms of a stronger man
I was lifted by the angel's gentle hand
I was rescued from the eye of a raging storm
I was given wings to fly over it all
There's no other way to say it
Oh I was carried

I had given, life had taken
Till I had nothing but my aching
But in the desert, a river flowed
Until freedom had all I owned
There has been a kiss of grace on
my weary tearstained face
And I cannot walk away
From this truth I know

I was carried in the arms of a stronger man
I was lifted by the angel's gentle hand
I was rescued from the eye of a raging storm
I was given wings to fly over it all
There's no other way to say it
Oh I was carried....

My fav chapter from Bible - Psalm 34.

2010-09-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

¹ I will extol the LORD at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.

² My soul will boast in the LORD;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

³ Glorify the LORD with me;
let us exalt his name together.

⁴ I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.

⁵ Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.

⁶ This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.

⁷ The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.

⁸ Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

⁹ Fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.

¹⁰ The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

¹¹ Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

¹² Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,

¹³ keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking lies.

¹⁴ Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their cry;

¹⁶ the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.

¹⁸ The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

¹⁹ A righteous man may have many troubles,
but the LORD delivers him from them all;

²⁰ he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.

²¹ Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.

²² The LORD redeems his servants;
no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.

When a women lies... good one...

2010-09-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

One day, when a seamstress was sewing while sitting close to a river, her thimble fell into the river.

When she cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, 'My dear child, why are you crying?' The seamstress replied that her thimble had fallen into the water and that she needed it to help her husband in making a living for their family. The Lord dipped His hand into the water and pulled up a golden thimble set with sapphires.

'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked .

The seamstress replied, 'No.'

The Lord again dipped into the river. He held out a golden thimble studded with rubies.

'Is this your thimble?' t he Lord asked. Again, the seamstress replied, 'No.'

The Lord reached down again and came up with a leather thimble.

'Is this your thimble ?' the Lord asked.

The seamstress replied, 'Yes.'

The Lord was pleased with the woman's honesty and gave her all three thimbles to keep, and the seamstress went home happy.

Some years later, the seamstress was walking with her husband along the riverbank, and her husband fell into the river and disappeared under the water. When she cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked her, 'Why are you crying?'
'Oh Lord, my husband has fallen into the river!'

The Lord went down into the water and came up with George Clooney.

'Is this your husband?' the Lord asked.

'Yes,' cried the seamstress.

The Lord was furious. 'You lied! That is an untruth!'

The seamstress replied, 'Oh, forgive me, my Lord. It is a misunderstanding. You see, if I had said 'no' to George Clooney, you would have come up with Brad Pitt. Then if I said 'no' to him, you would have come up with my husband. Had I then said 'yes,' you would have given me all three. Lord, I'm not in the best of health and would not be able to take care of all three husbands, so THAT'S why I said 'yes' to George Clooney.

And so the Lord let her keep him.

The moral of this story is: "Whenever a woman lies, it's for a good and honorable reason, and in the best interest of others."

Disclaimer: I strongly believe that is wrong to lie under any circumstance. Btw I'm not the writer of this story and this post is just intended as a subtle humour.

Dedicated to all my friends in research :D :D :D

2010-09-26T08:57:00.000-07:00

One politician, One thief & One Scientist died and went straight to hell.

Politician said "I miss my country. I want to call my country and see how everybody is doing there." She called and talked for about 5 minutes, then she asked "Well, devil how much do I need to pay for the call????

The devil says "Five million dollars". The Politician wrote him a cheque and went to sit back on her chair.

Thief was so jealous, he starts screaming, "My turn! I wanna call the my group members, I want to see how everybody is doing there too". He called and talked for about 2 minutes, then he asked "Well, devil, how much do I need to pay for the call????

The devil says "Ten million dollars". With a smug look on his face, he made a cheque and went to sit back on his chair.

The scientist was even more jealous & starts screaming, "I want to call my institute and talk to my fellow Scientists, Project Leaders, Research fellows, Project fellows/assistants. He called all those people and talked for twenty hours about promotions, publications, impact factor, CRs, inter-departmental and intra-departmental politics. He talked & talked & talked,
then he asked "Well, devil how much do I need to pay for the call????

The devil says "Ten dollars". The Scientist is stunned & says "Ten dollars??? Only ??"

Devil says "Hell to Hell is a Local Call " :D :D :D

Study tips for GRE-CBT

2010-09-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

Few tips based on my personal experience which are useful for acing gre..

1. For verbal, Barrons is more than enough. But make sure you are acquainted with the synonyms for the words over there. An easy way to learn the synonyms is to install softwares like WordWeb on your computer. While reading the word lists it is good to follow this website to measure your ability.
http://learnwordlist.com/tests/gre-word-list-test-letter-a/2 -> This is for 'a'. For all the alphabets, tests are available.

2. For maths, Novas material is good and should suffice. If you are from Maths background, you will not find any difficulty in answering the questions.

3. Check the above(learnwordlist.com) website for different other practice tests like Synonyms, Antonyms, sentence completions, etc.

4. Check online communities of gre for more info about recently appeared questions n other suggestions from the past test takers.

5. Once u r done with wordlists, for practice:
5.1. Install GreBible on ur system.Contains numerous tests and are very helpful.
5.2. Kaplan tests are a bit tough but you can give them a try.
5.3. While doing these tests, you should practice BIG BOOK. This book was compiled by ETS guys.

6. For revision of important words you can go through this website: http://majortests.com/gre/wordlist.php

7. One or two days before the actual GRE exam, install powerprep by ETS and practice the 2 tests. They are helpful in predicting your score( by +/- 100 marks).

8. Last but not the least tip: "STAY CALM!"

Good luck!

Add a folder to the windows path

2010-07-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

Modifying the path statement will enable an MS-DOS window as well as older programs to locate files that may be required to run the program.

TO set the path, follow these steps:

1. From the desktop, right-click "My Computer" and click "Properties".
2. In the System Properties window, click on the "Advanced" tab.
3. In the "Advanced" section, click the "Environment Variables" button.
4. Finally, in the Environment Variables window, highlight the Path variable in the Systems Variable section and click the Edit button.
5. Add or modify the path lines with the paths you wish the computer to access.
6. Each different directory is separated with a semicolon as shown as:-
C:\Program Files\MiKTeX2.7\miktex\bin;C:\Python25\PyQt4\bin;

You can now able to run your program.

using SCREEN command in Linux

2010-06-28T06:34:00.000-07:00

There are times when you want to log off your system, but you want the programs to be executed on the server machine which you've initiated from your system. You can use screen command which serves this purpose. It starts a session within the session that you have logged in. Even if you logout from your system, the screen will keep on running until the server stops or you forcefully exit.

Here are the commands which you should use.

$screen //starts a new session in the logged session

$./a.out > output //some command which you want to get it executed

$ CTRL + a + d //closes the screen and brings you back to the original session

$screen -r //displays the screens running on your machine

Hope this is helpful :-)

View, Start, Stop, Pause, Restart a service in Windows

2010-06-28T06:28:00.001-07:00

Hi here I am giving you the commands which you should use them from the command line prompt in windows.

There are many a times when you want to know what are the services running while you have logged in to your computer.

Use this command which display a list of services that are running on your computer:

net start

To start a new service, use:

net start

To stop a running service, use:

net stop

To pause a service, use:

net pause

To restart a service, use:

net continue

Hope this is helpful :-)

Installing gnuplot on windows

2010-06-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

You can install gnuplot on windows easily to plot the graphs.

Download gnuplot from this

There is no need to run any exe file but directly copy them to some directory on your system and then make a shortcut to wgnuplot.

It is also useful to install ghostview which allows you to view postscript graphs made with gnuplot. You need gs860w32.exe and gs49w32.exe (or higher?).

Instructions for installing ghostview can be found here;

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/

Identify the ports in linux

2010-06-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

For socket programming, you need to use the port. If you want to identify the ports which are active, you can use the following commands. Generally in linux, the ports from 0 to 1023 are reserved and can be accessed only as a root user.

For checking the information about the port, you can use netstat

If you want to know more about this command, you can check its man page
$ man netstat

But for quick reference, you can use any of these for the appropriate purpose.

For finding the open ports:
$ netstat --listen

For finding the open ports and established TCP connections:
$ netstat -vatn

For checking information about a port,
$ netstat -anp | grep <port>

For identifying the ports already in use:
$ netstat -atnp | grep LISTEN

How to mount Windows[NTFS] from Linux

2010-03-09T02:05:00.000-08:00

Initially login as the root user.

Then type this command on the console:-

$ fdisk -l

This command shows what are the different disks present on our machine. They generally follow this particular format: /dev/sda[number]

$ mount -t ntfs /dev/sda[number of the disk which you want to mount] [directory on the root from which you will access the mounted disk files say for ex: mountedDir]

Then for viewing the mounted files just type as usual,

$ cd mountedDir

You will be able to access the files of the disk which was mounted.

For unmounting the disk, just simply type this on the console:

$ unmount mountedDir

Hope this will be helpful.

Finding the system information in Linux

2010-03-09T02:00:00.000-08:00

These days am using Fedora more than Windows so trying to learn more about that. For finding out the details related to your system, you can use the following commands.

First login in to the root account.

Then, you can run these commands:

%  /usr/sbin/dmidecode -t baseboard

This will give details of the motherboard

% /usr/sbin/dmidecode -t processor

This will dump the information about the processor.

Other keywords which are available which can be used as options for ‘t’ are

bios
system
chassis
memory
cache
connector
slot

A easy method to find all the information abuot your cpu, you can execute this command:

$ cat /proc/cpuinfo

Hope this will be helpful.

Summer'09

2009-06-17T03:16:00.000-07:00

After saying a tearful gudbye to my buddies, life in the hostel became so boring and gloomy. Always someone used to visit me atleast once a day for some reason. But now in the morning when some one knocks on the door, I eagerly go and open it dreaming if my friends are back to the hostel to surprise me, but when I open Aayamma comes and asks like "amma room cleaning..." huh..Poor me!

So these summer days began with many memories. Being converted from 4-yr course to Dual degree course with a purpose, I sometimes encourage myself not to lost in thoughts and not get discouraged. Afterall this is part and parcel of life. But certainly we do have many emotions. Really miss my BTech days. Hoping for a brightful year to come my way and all my friends.

Miss you all.

Time to say gud bye to all my friends....

2009-05-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

I was enjoying the music and suddenly this song was on the track -- "Friends are Friends Forever" song by Michael W Smith. I really enjoyed this song and I wanted to dedicate this song to all my wonderful buddies.... The lyrics were written by Deborah D Smith.
The song goes like this...

Packing up the dreams God planted
In the fertile soil of you
I can't believe the hopes He's granted
Means a chapter of your life is through

But we'll keep you close as always
It won't even seem you've gone
'Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong

And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends

And with the faith and love God's given
Springing from the hope we know
We will pray the joy you live in
Is the strength that now you show

We'll keep you close as always
It won't even seem you've gone
'Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong

And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends

And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends

To live as friends

Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends

No a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends

Will miss you all :( :( :(

అమ్మ

2008-11-10T06:32:00.000-08:00

I felt like posting the same post which I've written in my other blog here also. It is all about mother. A wonderful description in Telugu.

ఎందుకో ఈ రోజు అమ్మ గురించి రాయాలనపడింధి. అందుకే అది కూడా తెలుగులో మొదలు పెట్టాను. నేను వై యస్ జయమ్మ గారి కుమార్తె రాసిన పుస్తకం ఆడియో వింటున్నాను. దాని ప్రారంభంలో అమ్మ గురించి చెప్పారు. కనిపించని దెవునికి కనిపించే ప్రతిరూపమే అమ్మ. దేవునికి తన బిడ్డలపై ఉండే ప్రేమను అమ్మ ప్రేమ ద్వారా చూపిస్తున్నాడు. అమ్మ అన్నది ఒక కమ్మని మాట. మధురాగానురాగాల తరగని మాట.

Swimming trance

2008-09-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

After Olympics and especially after my trip to Sydney, I've finally decided to take Swimming classes because I've realized the importance of swimming in Sydney. I've shown much interest in taking swimming classes. Since my childhood every summer my dad used to force us(my brother n me) to join the swimming classes but we never did what he asked us to do. We normally don't take elders words seriously until we experience the bad consequences in our life which they asked us to take care of. I think I'm exceeding my boundaries in teaching philosophy [:D] Anyways with the inspiration of Michael Phelps [:D], went to the stadium for registration. Unluckily the registrations for that month (August) were closed. Again a hinderance :( I made a strong decision that I should join swimming from September. Waited desperately for the 1st of September. As usual I've lost completely in my work :( Forgot about swimming and it was already 7th of September. So on Monday which was 8th I decided to get myself registered. (The dates are not sure which I'm mentioning) Successfully registered for swimming. Guess what happened, again an obstacle on my way. Then it was a weird obstacle. Doctors in our college asked students of IIIT not to attend swimming classes. I was so angry and I thought eventhough I get anything, I loose my skin color or anything I decided not to stop joining. Just before I was planning to join that next day, few hours before going for the swimming class, we received a mail mentioning that. Finally with a great inspiration from Phelps who won 8 Gold medals in Beijing Olympics [:D] of course I cannot ever think about acheiving, I wanted to learn swimming at least. Got addicted to the swimming videos of major events like Olympics especially videos of Phelps. Really am a biggest fan of Phelps. Even am a fan of Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe who took retirement. Ian Thorpe was the first youngest male ever to represent Australia at an age of 14. Phelps declared once that Thorpe was his inspiration . When I was watching the videos of Beijing Olympics, how cool Phelps was. I suggest you to watch those clips if you ever get a chance. In every event he was so cool without any tension on his face and every time he was listening to music and coolly he takes his position and the way he swims was so amazing. The way he rolls back by hitting the other side of the pool was a very very interesting one. Anyways I'm going out of the topic I guess [:D]. After joining swimming, getting dreams that I was drowning and suddenly waking up in the middle of night. It was so terrible and now I am confident that at least I will learn well and am learning slowly. I feel that everyone should learn swimming. In foreign countries almost everyone knows how to swim. I encourage each and everyone to learn swimming which is a very helpful one and is also a good relaxation for the body. No one knows, it may save your life someday!!!

He is Michael Phelps who won eight gold medals in a single Olympics who set the world records in almost all the different events of swimming. He is an exceptional swimmer I've ever seen in my life. You can read more about him in wiki :)

6th sem

2008-08-25T05:24:00.000-07:00

This sem I took WDKM..and crop production...and some other courses...but the most funniest time I had is in crop class. I don't know what happened but when some of my seniors asked how the crop course is, I told them that it was very gud. Most of my seniors registered for this course [:D]. Did I became very [popular/stupid] because of this because whenever someone wanted to know who Lydia was, then the immediate answer was the one who listens lectures of crop course [:D] which was very funny. Coming to WDKM, it reminded me of my boring social studies class in my highschool which needs all memorization and byhearting. The Quiz and the way how this course was taught to us, I didn't find it as interesting as DWDM. Basically I've fallen sick during this sem and it affected me very badly because for checkups, I was missing classes and was getting scared of attendance and all the time roaming around the hospital and waiting for the doctor's appointment and with all these things, I've lost my patience but learnt how to be patient. Sometimes I got vexed because of my critical health conditions which I've never seen in my life. It was both mental and physical agony too. One night I was so ill that immediately my uncle and aunty came from Sec'Bad and took me to a doctor. All these things if I sit alone and think, I thank GOD for helping me to get out of all those miserable and grievous situations..
coming to the second phase of my semester...got a mail from Australia confirming my internship.. ..it was an exciting and also a shocking news for me bcz I totally have no hope... anyways, I started applying for visa and I think no one has gone through such a tedious process.. have filled my application wrongly and it I kept on calling the Delhi High Commission to inform them about this, they kept on asking me to submit few documents. It was so irritating but for my dreams to come true, I should submit whatever they ask me to provide. I'm supposed to be there in Aus by April 1st week. One side regular appointments with my doctor, the other side visa process and the other side end sem exams.. I've never undergone such a pressure. Unexpectedly the visa consulate asked me to submit my medical reports. Since I was affected with slight bronchitis type infection in lungs, I've lost my hope. I've told my doctor about Aus trip and he gave me assurance that my health conditions won't have any effect and also he gave me a very strong medication. The consulate asked me to go through a lung x-ray, my nerves were swollen because of tension and exactly at that time, my uncle left for my granny's place and I have no idea how to go to the hospital and have a medical checkup. My cousin was with me and we both went. I've undergone the x-ray but since because of my sickness am not very sure whether the reports were positive or not. Australia is very particular about the medical reports. Friday they took the xray and immediately on monday they called from the hospital asking me to come to the hospital for another xray. Next day was my endsem exam, what to do?? I was like a football and all the situations were playing with me....neways I was able to go there and had an x-ray again in another angle and they've sent the reports to the High Commission. Days are passing by and it was almost one month for me when I applied for visa. And the date on which I shud be there in the Uni was approaching fast. What to do, no reply from the High Commission. Called them and explained my situation. One side I'm praying and GOD promised me but I don't have enough faith and I started getting tensed. The day of registering myself in the Uni finally came but no response from the High Commission. I've decided that I should not get panic. My mother used to tell me to be an optimist. Slowly I've decided to forget about Australia and my dreams. I stopped calling the commission too. But my father forced me to call the office in Delhi. So, I've talked to the concerned visa officer and told her the entire situation. She understood my situation and assured me of getting visa but asked me to be patient. She consulted the immigration office in Australia. My Uni people were mailing me and I've requested them to shift my internship period. By god's grace they've accepted my proposal and their permission was even approved by the commission in Sydney. But what about the process here in India?? Finally the day came when my visa officer mailed me telling that my health reports were good and told that soon the passport will be asked for visa stamping. I was so happy. I was spellbound. No bounds for my joy. I've told my friends and family. My visa officer next day called me again and asked me to send the passport. So, we started for Delhi. Reached Delhi, met my Visa officer and handed her my passport and that day also she was not sure whether the same day she can finish the stamping of visa. I've requested her. We were outside the Australian High commission office where the UK commission is just opposite to this building. People were coming out of the office with a big grin on their faces. I was so sad and I really experienced agony in my heart, why everything is going bad with me. Because the flight tickets from Hyderabad were available only on 30th April and after that 23rd May only which was too late. I've thought to be patient. Everything was for my own goodness only. Finally the call came and my visa officer asked me to come inside and collect my passport. Vow am so happy and we flew back the same day evening and started packing things for Sydney!!! Learnt in my Life that GOD's promises are always true and he will never fail you!! I really thank GOD for teaching me many lessons...sometimes we keep running after things desperately and don't wait for the correct time for a particular thing. We will be in a hurry to gain what we expect without waiting for God's time. HIS plans are higher than our own plans!!!
will be continued in the next post...

My 5th sem

2007-11-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

After a long long time, I'm posting a new one. Completed my 5th sem successfully by GOD's grace :) I don't know how I've changed means my way of relationship with GOD, my way of studying and many many things. GOD gave me a great realization that I should do the work which he has assigned me with my whole heart. Two years I've wasted my precious time :( I don't know what is the mistake but I didn't find myself satisfied with my work and study. This sem really enjoyed a lot with almost all the subjects which I've opted for. DWDM is a little hectic course but it now became my favorite course and I've learnt a lot about Data Mining and all that stuff. Even remaining courses also enjoyed a lot especially LP class with Navatha. Every week Sunday night we dint sleep early because monday morning DWDM assignment submission... dint find much time to spend with friends or even family members too. Really really enjoyed a lot in my work. First time in my life, wholeheartedly worked and not even caring about the grades and all the remaining stuff because GOD has seen me working and it is his wish now. Whatever he wants me to be, I need to accept it and I will accept :) Don't know where we'll go finally in our life... thinking of my fourth year, I'm having fear of missing my friends here :( but life has to go like that only... It is very sad to leave this campus, Friends, Profs and all these late-night assignments, exams, project submissions, blah blah blah....
Its sure that I'll miss IIIT.

cooking expertise

2007-05-26T01:15:00.000-07:00

Since these are my vacation days and I've only little work of doing my summer project, I wanted to cook food myself...I told this idea to my mom and immediately she felt very happy. As usually about mothers it is common if we ask something related to kitchen stuff, they'll provide us the necessary requirements for our comfort, when I'm returning to college, she packed luggage which consists mainly of kitchen related stuff and even gave me many suggestions in cooking.

Now starts the important part [:D]. Initially for a few days it was really a great excitement to do cooking. But later on I came to know how difficult it was. Neways that's the other side of having less interest. As of now, with my friends I'm trying a lotta stuff. Main item which we do is maggi (as usual for every hostel student's fav stuff) and vegetable pulav. Everyone like the taste of the food which I prepare. To know this I think you can see the comments for this post[:D].

I feel that Pulav was the tastiest one and yummiest item which we've prepared till now. As usually I always take the part of cooking, where bringing requirements for the preparation was taken by Anups, Shalz and Spandy(Spandy u always go to violin class and skip no??[x(]). Remember the easiest work which we do is preparing pulav with egg fry. One should see how we really work during the preparation [:)].I dont think we do any work with such a concentration even our assignments :) because experience is that some times if we dont put concentration during making fry, they'll become as black as a charcoal[:D]. Neways had a great experience in cooking and hope I won't cook like a novice after such a great experiences and experiments in the future.

ohh srry I forgot one thing......I donno who got the idea of taking a snap during cooking.see the pic and u can judge now, whether ours will be tasty or not if we cook like this.Btw the snap is not ours [:P] scroll down to see the snap

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ThE fAvOrItE dAy WhIcH I AlWaYs LoNg FoR..........

2007-05-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

I always wish for this beautiful, fair-haired, hallowed,......day. That is Sunday. "Vow!!!!It's sunday....phew!!! the whole week's burden is released" I always feel like this.
When I'm very young, I love those days and I wish such days again come in my life. Sunday means most of the day, we used to spend in the Church. We lived far away..approx 5Kms from the Church and so to utilise the time we used to pack our food and stayed there till evening.
When I'm young means in my high-school days, GOD gave us a beautiful house which is somewhat near compared to the old rented house. School days were amazing...and if I ever think about that I feel I'm really missing them alot. Even if I want them we can't go to the history :( Time once passed, is passed. In those days our schedule was morning waking up early, having some breakfast and riding our bicycles going to sunday school. I LoVe SuNdAy ScHoOl. It has played alot, in transforming me and was a great blessing to me. We had many competitions like singing, memory verse telling,etc. It was a great fun. Apart from fun as I've mentioned a great blessing for all, whoever have attended.After SuNdAy ScHoOl, along with my parents, my brother and myself used to go to church.Sunday evening was a great fun. My brother and I used to play Cricket!!!(I play cricket well [:)] in such a way that my brother sometimes din't allow me to play because my batting was such a terrific one that ball always bounced on to other's terrace[:D])
When I'm in college(pre-university)....I went to Nellore. No fun nothing....A new place...New environment...New members in church and everything NeW. I made myself adjusted to all that and very soon I became habituated with all those. Sunday was my favorite. When I went to Church I feel at home. We were not allowed to go out without incharge's permission and should go with our hostel warden. God helped in such a way that it is a shock to tell....our college principal, who can also give permission, sometimes informed the driver of our college vehicle to help us to drive to church and return. Thank you LORD for putting grace in the eyes of those people. I sometimes missed church on sundays and so we used to have prayer in the hostel itself. I came to know the importance of prayer and church in an individual's life when I was in Nellore and I suffered from the feeling of missing Church on sundays. Because none other day I enjoyed myself in the week, more than sunday and if I lost that also......it was very pitiable. After two yrs my brother got admission in the same college and then all happies. We both used to go together.It was gr8.
When I'm in university means now.....It's all happy. No permissions, nothing from anyone. We have such a freedom here. Every week I enjoy in the presence of my LORD, my Friend. Whole week busy wid assignments, deadlines, projects, blah blah blah.....I sleep very early on sundays. Monday, again routine busy life starts...So..today is saturday and enough for now.... tomorrow I should wake up early to go to Church in time.Gud nite!!!!

Buggered TV in GH

2007-05-08T00:16:00.000-07:00

Actually I thought of posting this a longtime back. Since time was not sufficient, I couldn't do that. Now I've got the oppurtunity to write about our GH(Girls Hostel)'s wonderfully buggered Television.

Once upon a time I was addicted to this idiotic box. God gave me victory over that. Thank you dear LORD.Whenever I get bored I read newspaper or I watch television that too my favourites are Discovery, National Geographic, BBC, TV9 channels. If ever I watch TV, I only watch these channels.

Now coming to the main part, when I'm in 1st yr, remote was not working properly. So, everyone started using the buttons of the TV. Whoever wants to operate them, sits next to it and operates it. Sometimes there were quarrels too because the girl who sits beside it and operates, watches her favourite channel and all should watch only that. If she watches for a long time and if somebody gets irritated with it, then ask her to change the channel.If she refuses, then quarrel will start or simply they'll walk off the TV lounge.

After somedays means, I dont remember the exact sem in which I'm in... may be during the 3rd sem, volume button was damaged and we couldn't adjust the volume. Later channel buttons were also damaged and funny thing was that if we were watching 23rd number channel and want to go to 15th or even 22th, then we need to go on till 100th and from 100th again 1,2,......finally whatever channel we wanted. This was too funny. At this moment not only the buttons are not working but also the picture is not visible and the TV lounge is deserted with no one over there. Many students mailed BLN(our hostel caretaker), but it was of no use.

Everytime I pass by the TV lounge, I remember the days when TV lounge was full and most of the students watched the programmes standing. In these holidays since most of us are staying here to do summer projects, whenever we get bored, we don't have that option to watch TV for atleast sometime. I donno when that will be repaired. Hope that it will be repaired soon.

Fruits

2007-04-11T23:59:00.000-07:00

Hey Girls I’m bac again with a new post which is very useful to you especially who r doing “dieting”. This is all about the benefits of fruits. So stop eating that panipuri and all that chat stuff and concentrate on your health. Read this and you’ll know what the wonderful resources GOD has given us. He created fruit for our own benefit which helps us in many ways regarding our health. So, don’t take it lite and stop reading. Go thrugh this once.This is not my own research but I’ve come across this somewhr I don’t remember properly. Go thrugh this.

Fruit is one of the most healthy and natural foods in existence. There are thousands of different types of fruit available to eat, all of which provide us with strong health benefits. Fruit contains a large number of naturally occurring vitamins, minerals and plant phytochemicals that help benefit health. It has also been shown that eating the whole fruit or juice is best to gain the benefits rather than taking supplements to provide each nutrient separately.

It has been recommended that we should be eating at least 5 pieces of fruit every day in order to gain the Full health benefits of eating FRUIT.

Fruit can also benefit many people wanting to lose weight. Energy consumption is thought to be mainly influenced by the palatability, fiber content, density of energy and the variety of foods. Eating fruit has the benefit of affecting some these factors. Fruit is also low in sodium so they help reduce the chance of gaining water weight.

Providing you are eating about one-third of the diet as fruits & vegetables, you should notice rapid weight loss because the ample fruit consumption helps fill the stomach faster encouraging less high calorie foods to be consumed. The total calorie consumption will automatically reduce even if we are eating plenty of fruit and vegetables. There is such a variety of fruits available that many can be freely eaten without consuming too many calories thereby controlling weight more effectively.

Overweight and at risk for stroke?

Fruit and vegetables may be what you need say researchers. In a recent study researchers say they found antioxidants in fruits and vegetables which may reduce the risk of ischemic strokes, the most common type of stroke caused when blood clots cut off oxygen supply to the brain. Carotenoids are the antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables. For the study researchers measured the levels in blood samples of nearly 22,000 men. The results showed patients who had higher carotenoid levels were at a 40-percent lower risk of having a stroke. Based on these findings, researchers suggest a diet high in fruits and vegetables which may reduce stroke risk

Keep it in Balance

Like dieting, exercise should not be taken to an extreme. Studies show that athletes who work out excessively often suffer from an increased number of colds and other respiratory illnesses, and have an increased risk of musculoskeletal injuries. Also, regardless of what sort of exercise program you decide to take on, you need to make sure that you are getting enough calories to keep going. An extreme low-calorie diet combined with a dose of unaccustomed exercise is a prescription for exhaustion. Not many people will keep up with an exercise regime if it feels akin to torture and is making them feel ill.

The Weight Loss Formula

Decide how much weight you would like to lose. Then, keeping in mind that it takes a deficit of approximately 3500 calories to lose one pound, decide how many calories you must both burn through exercise and cut from your diet. A safe guideline is no more than two to two and a half pounds per week. So, if you would like to lose two pounds a week, you will need to cut and burn 7000 more calories than normal. That amounts to 1000 lost calories each day. Instead of crash dieting, or over exercising, simply cut 500 calories from your diet, and add in 500 calories worth of exercise. If you are more than a few pounds overweight, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can burn 500 calories through exercise. There are exercises that burn fat quickly and efficiently.

Xam fever

2007-03-24T00:13:00.000-07:00

As the summer is near approaching,its time for xams too.......
So,I wanna spend more time on my study and decided not to do some particular things among them, taking a short break 4 writing blogs is also included......
After my xams are over, I'll resume writing blogs which will be from the next month.So....dear frends............dont worry I'll be back soon with some new posts later :)
Wish Lydi--all the best and hope Lydi will do well :)

My Favourite place in my college :)

2007-03-20T04:36:00.000-07:00

May be this is a very different choice of mine but I'm happy with wat I'm doing and about all my choices.If you ask somebody here(campus) which place they like most in this campus different people have different choices.My favourite place is Library.

May be this is a very different choice but I feel very happy when I spend time over there. I love reading books and I love spending time with them. When I go to library mostly first thing I do is reading that day's paper. I feel that the effect of reading paper outside library doesn't give much feeling of reading it[:D].I think if u really want to experience it, go to library and read paper and then see the difference[:p].

From magazines section I like National Geographic,Scientific American,Inside Outside, PC World, msdn. After entering library sometimes even if there are exams, if I find any of these magazines interesting I don't leave without reading atleast one among these. I'm not a fast reader but I love reading the articles in them. They are really good.If I find extra time then I'll open the subject books and start reading them.(Very bad no???? ofcourse, but I cant avoid this).

Sometimes it is a very good place for taking a little nap in the afternoon since it is very cool there especially during summer-time.As summer is near approaching I think in the afternoons may be I may spend my time over there. But whatever it is, Library is the best place in my opinion.

Sometimes when I can't access internet from my room, then Library is the best place to go because internet works properly there.[:)] It is very pleasant to do coding in library or simultaneously reading and working on computer. It is a real fun, seriously believe me. Not only for coding for browsing or watever it may be....net works very well there but pity is that always systems are not available.So sad [:(].

I get lot of inspiration to study well and do like this or like that....after reading all those articles and seeing people in the magazines but don't know whats God's wonderful plan is in store for me in my life.

If we see both the +ve and -ve sides, +ve sides are pummelling -ve ones and so logically my conclusion is that:- It is an extra-ordinary place for one to spend time there instead of chatting(plz excuse me friends for this.It's my opinion).

PLURAL(Walk) to remember.........

2007-03-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

I'm very happy to write about the evening walks.First ofall I thank my GOD for giving me a best place on this earth, where I'm happy.Surely GOD has a purpose in everyone's life.My campus is not very big but when we want to go for PT in the morning then we'll know that it is a little big compared to our expectation[:D].

During the evenings all of us gals, we go out for a walk around the campus and spend sometime near the main building steps and have a lill chat.....I dont go regularly for walk in the evening but mostly Shalda,Anups,Nams go for a regular walk in the evening......Nams is an excellent orator and she tells anything in a very intresting manner.She starts with some story anything it may be and we eagerly listens to each and everything she narrates.After our walk as usual we sit near the main building steps and chat for sometime.Nams will continue her story if it is incomplete or else there'll be some other topic.Spandy sometimes joins us.

After the hectic schedule the whole day, evening is the best time for us to go anywhere wherever it may be.....Sometimes when we were going to eat panipuri(I dont eat panipuri.Health concious naa:) ) beside the campus, we suddenly decide to hang out somewhere else which will be really exciting and we really enjoy.After 6'o clock in the evening if we go out of the campus as we need to write our name and roomno, blah, blah, blah....in the register near the maingate.Then comes the real thing whose name should be entered into the register.Shalda or Nams or Anups manages something.

After we enter the campus we stroll for sometime and then we'll remember to do assignment or some work and leave to our respective rooms.Those walks with Shalda, Anups, Nams, Spandy, Rams are really awesome and fun.We discuss many issues apart from study.I feel that these are great PLURAL( walk to remember ) and I dont feel like missing them.........U gals really rock!!!!!

Campus during nights...........

2007-03-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

You can see people still walking in the campus even in the midst of night.Some people masthi karthe hei with simply chatting or celebrating b'day parties,some people going to labs,some people going to hostel from labs,,some people come 4m outside the campus (I think u'll understand).......and like this it'll be going on.......during the nights even the time is 1 or 2 nobody cares....
Especially during summer the wind keep blowing mildly and it is simply superb to come outside the hostel room n enjoy the outside breeze. Since our campus has many trees it adds much more to this kind of amazing environment.