I Have a Cold in this Biting Cold

It's winter!

Yes, my semester is over and it is time again for holidays (by which I mean the time when I can work from home). December has set in. The sunlight is weak. The winds are chilly. The mercury is dropping lower and lower. The perfect time to curl up in the armchair in front of the fireplace and read a Victorian ghost story. Or perhaps write a poem about the icy weather outside. Or wear a travel cloak and walk through the snow storm.

Imagination is sweet. This is Delhi, cold enough to be irritating and yet not cold enough that it could fit my imagination of the "cold winter days". And to cap it all, I have a bad cold. With a sore throat and running nose (and not to forget the tons of pending work), I no longer want to look at winter from the poetic view. I'm dreaming of some place in the tropics where I can look at the azure sky and enjoy the sun and sand. Possibly sitting on the beach and reading a novel about sea adventures and shipwrecks. Taking a boat and going to some uninhabited island and spending some time alone there fishing. And then cooking the catch in a fire when darkness falls. What a life!

I just had a look at a recent Google Easter egg. To see it, just go to www.google.com and type "let it snow" in the search box. And see what happens. Snow starts falling and frost forms on the window. After a while the search button changes to "Defrost".

The thing is, I generally like exploring these Easter eggs a lot. They add a nice touch of fun to technology. But I somehow didn't like the timing of this particular one. Google can really be insensitive sometimes!

If I Searched for the Hallows

Excerpt from "Ankit Sarkar and the Digital Hallows"

Ever since the net was discovered, the have been people who have sought to control it.

The evil person can split his presence on the net. The more evil he is, the more horcrux-bots will he create. To fully exterminate his control of the net, all horcrux-bots need to be destroyed. Only a truly evil person can achieve this much control.

I'm not evil. Yet, I too sought out a way to become master of the internet. Hallows not horcruxes.

The Elder Comp is the most powerful computer on earth. The Resurrection Hard Disk has the ability to fetch any data from anywhere, even if it has been shredded. The Invisibility Encoding makes a person literally invisible on the net. These three digital-hallows combined makes a person master of the internet. No one can know who he is, no firewall can stop him, no data download limits exist for him. He is invincible.

I however do not recommend you to go search for it. I have wasted countless hours. My CGPA has come down a lot. I still do not know what to do after this year. And I still haven't found any of them till now.

Every time I think I have found the fastest computer, there appears one more faster that it. Every time I lose data, some of it remains lost for ever. And every time I think I have found the perfect way to be invisible, I get caught by "Cyberoam".

The hallows are a fool's lure. Do not go after it.

Explanation for the random piece of writing above:

Today is the first day of my last year of undergraduate life at IIIT-D. Hence I had put up this status

Today is the beginning of the end (first day of the last year at IIIT-D)

This was a comment I got (from Tuhinanshu, my batch-mate).

this part should be named Ankit Sarkar and IIITD's hallows.....part 4

To continue the fun I posted a comment which you just read above. Initially I wrote it and then deleted it. Later I modified it a bit and posted it again. It seems people really liked it a lot. I'm not sure if you'll fully understand it though (unless you're a IIIT-Dian) since many references are local to IIIT Delhi.

And I gotta credit Ujjwal Gupta for his suggestion of posting it and preserving it for posterity.

I only regret that I have but one 'like' to give to the above post.
You should totally have this in your notes section. Or on your blog. This message needs to be spread to every nook and cranny of the internet!

Since he wanted to give many likes, it is only fair that I give many thanks. But then I don't feel like typing it over here. Here's the next best thing.

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
  while(1)
  printf("Thank You Ujjwal\n");
}

The Last Summer Holiday at IIIT-D

"The holidays are about to end."

Those are the 6 words I'm literally dreading for the first time. It's 27th today and my institute reopens on the 1st of August. That leaves 4 days. 4 days to switch from the relaxed holiday routine to the strict demanding life of a student. 4 days to complete all the sleep I want and some extra for the next 4 months. 4 days to decide which subjects I have to take next semester. 4 days to think and finalize my B.Tech Project (BTP). 4 days to go over the entire summer once again in my mind...

This summer was so much different than the previous two of my college life. I did not do multiple projects like the previous summers. I tended to sit at home most of the time and remain online. I didn't go to IIIT-D as frequently as in the previous summers. Yet whenever I went, I made sure to have a glass of Nestea (Nescafe's Lemon Iced Tea). This was my last summer of undergraduate life and it is painful to accept the fact that there might not be anything called "Summer Holidays" ever again.

I tried out some things this summer which I hadn't done for a while or which were completely new. Web designing and image editing was something I had last done in school. That time I had used Dreamweaver and Photoshop. This time it was Microsoft Expression Studio and GIMP. It was a different feeling to do something like this, when all I had ever done here was programming and making presentations. A new thing which I started was learning the Japanese language. I had a keen interest in all things Japanese since a long time, and decided to learn the language on the suggestion of a friend. Hopefully I will not be needing subtitles for watching anime in the near future.

One of the best experiences was volunteering for the B.Tech counselling. This time it was done over two days. It was fun advising the parents and students who had mixed opinions about IIIT Delhi. Once again, I realize painfully that this is something which I will miss next year. I also applied to be a mentor to the first years (another last time). The orientation is tomorrow and unfortunately I have a bad cold since yesterday. I'm not sure if I will be able to attend. I hope I can.

I had a lot of sleep this summer too. Well, next 4 months are going to be pretty heavy. Might as well stock up on some sleep. And I loved this slow and relaxed way of life and wished I had spent the previous summers like this too. That's a regret I have. I wish I hadn't been a workaholic.

There were lots of things I couldn't figure out even in these 3 months. I still don't know what to do after this year when I pass out. Should I go for higher studies or do a job? I haven't yet figured out my true area of interest in computer science. There are a group of areas I like but none as of now which I can say is my true interest. I haven't yet finalized my BTP. More important, I couldn't decide which courses to take the coming semester. For the time being though I have decided to stop thinking of all these. This summer I had to face a lot of disappointments (other than the ones above). Thinking about them constantly makes it worse. I don't want to do that. I just want to forget it.

Overall, this summer was far from being a perfect summer. There were islands of happiness surrounded by the sea of gloom all around. It can hardly be called productive (in the workaholic sense of the word). Yet I still think it was the best I have had. I learnt lots of important lessons which I wouldn't have had otherwise. Some of it was painful though and I still mentally wince when I think about it.

I'm reminded of a quote (and the main theme) of an anime called Kino no Tabi (Kino's Journey). It says, "The world is not beautiful, therefore it is". I can apply the same here.

This summer was not beautiful, and therefore it was.

Search using Images is now a Reality

(This post was written some weeks earlier but somehow I never published it and it remained in the drafts. Some references might be a bit outdated)

Finally it has happened! We can now search for an image using another image. Yes, Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) has finally been rolled out by Google. You can try it out on Google Image Search.

I can't express how it felt when I saw it has been released. Indeed, it was like a dream come true. A new and long awaited dimension has been added to search. No longer are we constrained by words. Indeed, a picture is worth a thousand words.
I was (and still am) fascinated with this idea. So I thought of writing about it

Since my fourth semester (around Jan 2010) I had been fascinated with this idea. At that time it was something new to me, something I had never thought about. Basically it was this - "how would it be, if we could search using images?". Now what got me into thinking this? At that time I was taking a course named Research Methods. Our instructor (Dr. PK) had created a mailing list for discussing about interesting research. One day, he posted a link. 

Picture-driven computing: New research could enable computer programming based on screen shots, not just code.

This got me thinking. If they could program using images, then why not search using images? That's when I started getting excited about this topic. I replied enthusiastically to this post and I described CBIR in brief. At that time however I didn't know much. On searching more I found out about Google Goggles and Tineye. During the summer holidays, I devoted my spare time to find out more about this topic. The ACM Chapter at IIIT Delhi releases a half yearly newsletter called Kaleidoscope. I was part of the editorial board and wrote an article on CBIR. (You can download it here)

After going through some research papers, I felt like creating a working prototype. The Next Semester (5th sem Aug-Dec 2010) I took the Image Analysis course. That's when I thought of doing this. I and my friend Vibhas took up this as our course project.

Needless to say, we did not even aim for creating a web image search engine with CBIR. Our aim was only to create a working prototype with somewhat good accuracy. The image would be stored locally in the computer. We worked on it throughout the semester (and gradually realized that CBIR is not an easy thing to implement). Every research paper we read, gave us a new idea but at the same time pointed out the problem with another. We decided to focus only on colour, shape and texture out of which only the colour based algorithms worked with a relatively good accuracy. Even then there were problems - a search with red apple turned up images of a red Ferrari.

A Screenshot of our Image Search Engine using CBIR

Even though our implementation did not use any sophisticated algorithms, it was a wonder for many. When it was showcased in the Research Showcase, lots of people were excited to try it.

Now that I understand how difficult it is to implement on a large scale, I give me heartiest congratulations to the Google Team. You guys did what I could only dream of!

It's Summer!

It's summer in New Delhi again. The third week of May is about to end. The days are characterized by the early rising and late setting sun. No longer is it pleasant to go outside after 10 in the morning or before 8 in the night. The afternoons are particularly unbearable. In the evening, a warm breeze blows.

Yes, summers are oppressive, particularly in Delhi. I remember how India had the system of summer capitals during the days of British rule and wish we could have the system again now. I don't ask for shifting the entire government machinery to a new city...it would be too costly. All I want is that the government declare a new capital for the summers. The seat of the government can still stay here, but I would move out. It's just wishful thinking and impractical - that's what most would say. But for me, the summer capital reminds me of the old world which I can only experience through the words of Kipling and Ruskin Bond. A world in which life is about enjoying the cool breeze of the hills, reading novels, meeting with interesting people and writing about them...

But then there's a part of Delhi summer life which I can't live without. It is the afternoon (ironically) - which according to me is the best time of the day. There's a sense of comfort in being in a room with curtains drawn, the sun-rays outside lighting up the curtains, the dim light in the room, the fan on full speed above and lying down on a soft bed. For passing the long summer afternoon, a siesta is a must. Nothing beats it. And I look forward to it a lot. Sometimes I take a book to read and slowly immerse myself into another world, till I can stay awake no longer. Then I slowly fall asleep, the book still in my hands. I love the ambience of the room. I love the pleasure of reading a book. I love the siesta.

More than anything I love the dreamy atmosphere. And the pleasure of doing nothing.

I Want to See the Sun Again

The past few weeks have been dark. Spring has ended, without me enjoying it. All the time I was wrapped up in some work or the other.

Endless hours are spent either in my room or the class room 1 in IIIT-D, in front of a laptop. I long to get out and see the world. But I know I can't. Why? Just because I have no time. Homeworks and Assignments occupy the entire time I have. Even when I'm not doing them, my brain is sub-consciously worrying over them.

I'm gradually becoming out of touch with the world. I haven't read the newspaper since ages. I'm losing the ability to talk to "normal" people. In fact, if there is no Computer Science in the discussion, I make known my displeasure and go back to my work. I get angry very easily these days and am regularly stressed out. And as for human relationships, I've started analyzing them in a "Gradgrindian" type of way.

But what is much more disturbing to me is that I feel I'm losing my motivation to learn. I have always cared more about learning and applying the knowledge for the betterment of the world. I have always enjoyed learning something new. And whenever an assignment was given, I always thought about what I could do beyond that. But recently, in the last one month, I'm having doubts about my attitude to learning. The huge amount of pressure and stress leaves no time for thinking beyond the assignments. Studies has become limited to ultra-short term goals - finish this assignment or write this code. And in some courses I've given up trying to understand the bigger picture and have decided to focus on maximizing the amount of marks I can get.

I start from home in the morning and come back in the evening. I sit and work in the darkened classrooms most part of the day. At night I am awake most of the time and work by the light of my laptop. And next day, the pattern will repeat like an infinite loop.

I want to see the sun again.

Celebrating Holi Online

Since I have so much work this weekend, it leaves me precious little time to actually celebrate Holi. We didn't even celebrate Holi in college this time. So I'm longing to go out tomorrow and enjoy like a child, mixing colours in the water, preparing water balloons, pelting unsuspecting people with them....

Back to reality. I know it won't happen. I mean I might go out, but enjoying like a child is out of question. So here the Holi sms I sent to my friends this time. In fact I was searching for a geeky/nerdy Holi sms (or even something connected with Image Processing), but couldn't find one. So had to compose one myself. Here's it.

#FF00FF, #FFFF00, #00FF00, #000800, #0000FF, #FF00FF, #800080, #C0C0C0, #FFA500 ...and millions others. They add colour to our computer screen (and indirectly to our lives). Let's dedicate tomorrow to them. Wishing you a very Happy Holi.

PS- If you still haven't got it, these are the hexadecimal colour codes for HTML. And there are 16 million colours.

This probably shows that I now consider working on the computer as my life. And this is a message that is geeky/nerdy and has references to Image Processing too. I guess this Holi will be spent online, but that doesn't mean it cannot be fun!

A very Happy Holi to all of you!

A Tale of Feelings

(Recently I read a story written by a student of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). The uniqueness of the story was that it was written entirely using questions. I had never come across anything like this before. It made a profound impact on me - both the style of writing and the story. Unfortunately, I didn't save a copy, and the Google group where I read it no longer exists. Not wanting it to be forgotten, I am writing it down here, to the best of my efforts, in the same style. If anybody can locate the original story, please leave a comment)



(Plagiarism Clarification - In short, this story is not my original. I'm posting it because I liked it. Full credit to the original poster. For those who would accuse me of plagiarism: I couldn't cite the link because the source doesn't exist anymore.)

How bad would you feel is you missed a test? How bad would you feel if you missed it because you came 15 minutes late? How much more bad would it be, if you were there in the institute all day long (and had come specially for this class), and then came late? And that you were late not because it took time to travel from home, but because you were a bit careless?

How nervous would you be if you woke up and realized that you are not at home but in the lab? How much more, if you realized that the class had started 15 minutes before? How stupid would you feel descending the steps to the floor below and walking up to the door of the class? How ashamed would you feel pushing open the door, facing the course instructor, looking up at his face and asking permission to come in?

How sad would you feel when you saw his tired and disappointed face? How shocking would it be to find out that he had planned a surprise test for that class, on which he had spent so much effort designing? And a kind of test which you yourself liked very much? How hurting it would be to hear the fact that you wouldn't be allowed to give the test? That you would have to leave it this time?

How angry would you feel on hearing this? How mad would you be at the whole world? How fed up would you be with yourself for missing something you loved? And that too just because you were working hard last night and didn't get a chance to sleep?

How sorry would you feel meeting him after the class is over? How surprised would you be to see that he is not angry with you at all? That despite your own mistake, he is ready to forgive you and forget this incident as if it never happened? And he encourages you to think ahead and not give much importance to that which is past?

How reassured would you feel when he suggests you to try all the questions (even though it would not be graded)? And he smiles at you and gives you a printed copy of the test when you merely requested a soft copy?

How glad would you feel to find out that he is a rare person who cares so much about you and your future? One who feels that it is more important to learn and know the subject than merely perform? One who understands your passion and commitment to learn and encourages you to stick to it? And finally, one who realizes how much you would have loved giving the test and lets you do so (although officially it would be ungraded)?

How happy would you feel to realize that he is the rare person who believes in you and appreciates you as you are?

How lucky and fortunate would you consider yourself to have an instructor like him?

And Here's to You, Mrs. Robinson

The title is a bit misleading. But this was the first thought that came to my mind when this incident happened.

Yesterday I had a double DCF (Digital and Cyber Forensics) Class. The first one from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM. And the second one from 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM. Now DCF is a course which I really like. Don't mistake it for the fact that I get the top marks in the course; I am just average. But still I really like the course. It is just one of the rare things you like even if you are not the best in it. One of the other reasons might be the kick I get out of fancying myself a "Computer Forensic Scientist".

Anyway, during the second class, a discussion on recovering data from file systems was going on. The subject was no doubt interesting to me, but then I didn't have any sleep last night. And inevitably I started the downward slide to the sleepy state. Had I not been interested in the topic discussed, I might have fallen asleep immediately. Thankfully though, interest can fight sleep to some extent. And thus, I floated in and out of sleep.

I vaguely remember something on file carving was going on. And then a discussion on the difference between file recovery and file carving. And then when I opened my eyes, a Wikipedia page on file carving was projected on the white-board. That's when it all happened. Something seemed to catch my eye. Near the bottom of the page, in the references section, it was written "Simon & Garfunkel". Wow! All of a sudden I had forgotten how tired and sleepy I was. I couldn't believe that Simon & Garfunkel were forensic scientists. There had to be an explanation for it. Maybe they had worked on it while in university and later moved on to being full time musicians. Or maybe, just maybe, Mrs. Robinson did have some sort of forensic connection. I mentally made up a note to check out the popular culture section of the forensics article.

Sadly this was not to be. It seemed I had made a mistake. Unable to read through my blurry eyes, my brain had assumed the best prediction. What was actually written was Simson Garfinkel. And thus, I came crashing down to reality.

What an anticlimax it was. It would have been so much better and interesting had the duo turned out to be forensic scientists. It's little things like these that make studying anything interesting. It's things like these that can make a person come out of sleep. Anyhow, right now I am back to reality. But I am still wondering how Mrs. Robinson would have reacted had she read this...

Still No Rest

This week is now about to ends. Mid-sems are now a long forgotten event. That is excluding the times when I received the checked answer sheets back. Classes are on in full swing.

Last week I was sick of all the work. There seemed no end to it. Well, the situation is still the same now (assignments, projects, research etc). Except that I no longer worry about the situation in the past week. New worries have overwritten the old worries. The human brain can only handle a limited amount of worries I guess. And this makes me wonder...if only I had a computer where I could siphon out all my worries and enjoy life.

Wishful thinking aside, I have decided to challenge the coming week head on. There's seriously no use of ranting about such stuff. They will keep on coming. So I have taken this opportunity to test my efficiency. This coming week, I will try to maximize the efficiency in my work. If efficiency is low, then I'll work for as long as necessary. The ultimate goal is to finish all tasks by Saturday, so that I can get a well deserved rest on Sunday.

In fifteen minutes the race is scheduled to start. "On your your mark! Get set! Go!"

And I'll be running a race to win!

No Rest

My mid-semester exams got over last week (on Thursday). On Friday I had a Machine Learning class, on Saturday I had to correct exam papers for the DSA course I am a TA of, on Sunday I had to do the reviews for Technical Writing and code the first deliverable for the Information Retrieval project. And now some work or the other is arriving in a steady line.

Once upon a time, I used to long for work. I remember working all the time in the summers and winters on some project or the other. And somehow, I never felt it was tedious. I guess it was because I really loved to do it. In that sense, it was not work but fun. Most people I know spent their vacations having fun too. But yeah, their definition of fun was different from mine. For me fun meant working as many hours a day as possible in front of a computer screen and trying to solve some research problem in computer science.

That was then. Somehow the situation is different now. It seems there is too much work everyday. I don't find time to do anything other than coursework. I spend a lot of time trying to optimize time usage, but sadly nothing works. I regularly stay awake late nights to work and consequently fall asleep during the class (and by that, I mean when a lecture is going on). Concentration in class is at an all time low. And all this results in me struggling to understand concepts taught in class. And add to this the extra TA duties I have to perform.

Is handling so much work going to help? What good will it do ultimately? I have always desired to do something new and innovative. But I'm afraid this workload is gradually pushing out this desire from me. If all the time is spent on coursework, it leaves no time to pursue one's interests. How can we even think of innovation then? Yet sadly, this is what seems to be happening. In fact I feel as if I am losing interest in computer science as a whole.

I don't want to lose my faith in the system. I still remember the words "If you can't respect the system which you are a part of, how can you respect yourself?". But it is not really about respecting or not respecting. It is more about "can we make it better? can we have some change?"

Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!
And I sincerely believe in it.

Work Work Work

This week is one of the most hectic I have faced since the beginning of this semester. I know that being in the sixth semester, I really shouldn't be surprised with so much work. The last 5 semesters at IIIT-Delhi (which I shall henceforth refer as IIIT-D) have taught me that too much work is the rule rather than the exception. And I know that it is ultimately for the best. But still, this week has much more work than usual.

I have some homework or assignment left in each of the 5 subjects I am taking. Add to that the research projects I am currently pursuing. And then I am also a TA for DSA(Data Structures and Algorithms), which means that I need to grade lab tests too. This much is considered "manageable" by me. What makes this week "hectic" is the fact that next week I have mid-semester exams.

Midsem Schedule

The courses I took up this semester are Information Retrieval (IR), Machine Learning (ML), Pattern Recognition (PR), Digital and Cyber Forensics (DCF, although due to some strange reason it is almost always shortened to DSF, including in this datesheet) and Technical Writing (TW). TW being a Communication Skills course doesn't have any written midsem. So effectively I have 4 exams coming up of which 2 are on Monday itself.

I wish I could say that I have revised everything twice over, that I know all the concepts by heart, that I can relax and confidently go and give the exam...but I can't. This time (just like all the times before) I couldn't manage time. I didn't put in more effort when I had some free time. I didn't realize that ultimately it would get this busy. I didn't realize a lot of things.

Once this is over I guess I'll laugh about it. But right now it is making me mad.

I'm Nobody

I have a second hand copy of this book

A short while ago (during a break from finding out "how to trace source of an email"), I came upon this post "If I be the Antagonist" in Dr. Debajyoti Bera's blog. While the first part of the post was interesting to read, it was the latter part which I read with much more enthusiasm. It contained some verses by Emily Dickinson.

Emily Dickinson is one of my favourite poets. The first time I heard about her I don't remember where but it was definitely not more than a year ago. Most probably I read about her on a website. At that time, I didn't pay too much attention. It was while out seeking something interesting (in a second hand book market) that I saw a book of her poems. It was quite cheap - about Rs. 25 I guess. I opened the first page and read the verse "I'm nobody! Who are you?". In no time I had bought it.

I didn't get any more chance to read it. I brought it to my hostel room in my fourth semester - the last time I lived in a hostel - so that I would spend my free time reading. No such opportunities arrived and I carried it home again after the end of semester. It was during the summer vacations that I happened to read it properly. The summer of 2010 (like all summers before) I was doing a project at my institute (IIIT-Delhi). It required me to travel to IIIT-D which took almost 90 minutes by bus (one way). Although I have never found bus journeys to be boring (especially at that time, when AC and low-floor buses were a rare sight), I yearned for a better way to spend the time during the hot and uncomfortable journey. One day I randomly picked this book to read on the bus and thus began my 90 minutes journey to a different world.

I can't properly describe why I like Miss Dickinson's style of writing so much. Her poems have a haunting feeling. Perhaps what makes it so attractive are the references to those small truths of everyday life which we are generally too busy to notice but smile when shown to us. That is what appeals to me so much. And also I sometimes tend to identify with her poems. I often think about her reclusive and melancholy life at Amherst. Was it this which inspired her to write? Loneliness is definitely a key theme in her writings.

The verse I liked best is of course "I'm Nobody! Who are you?". The author knows that she is not really a well known and popular figure and thus delights in meeting another person who is similar. Furthermore, she hates to be public about herself. In a world, where everybody is racing one another in advertising their skills, I find it heartening to believe that there were (and definitely are) some people who tried to preserve their independence and not follow the crowd.

I have put up these verses in the "about me" section. I guess this is what truly defines me.

I'm nobody. Who are you?

Napping in Class

Yesterday night I was doing a literature survey for an upcoming course project. As literature surveys often take a lot of time and I don't feel like stopping in between, I decided to continue into the wee hours of the night. The effect was visible today. Thankfully though, I didn't have any heavy classes in the morning. And since project ideas were being discussed, the interest managed to keep me awake.

After lunch I went back to the empty class room, switched on my laptop and started downloading the list of papers I would have to study. It was around 3 PM I guess, when my mind started to flash the danger signal - urgent sleep wanted. At the same time, using my laptop on high performance had the effect of a mild heater in a chilly room. In short, perfect conditions for sleeping (except for a bed). I don't know when exactly I fell asleep, but the next time I looked at the time, it was 3:45. I had fallen asleep while browsing the internet. With my head on the arm rest of another chair! Disoriented for a while, I went and had a cup of coffee. Caffeine finally restored my thinking abilities to normal and I hurried to attend the Machine Learning class.

Looking back at this incident, I wonder what would have happened if a class had been going on? What excuse would I have given? I remembered this particular comic.

I won't go on to explore the detailed reasons why I fell asleep or find out the probability of falling asleep in class though. Truthfully speaking, I am extremely thankful that I had that nap. I had Machine Learning next (the last class of the day) and somehow, felt more active in class than ever before.

All I can say is, having a nap in (an empty) classroom helps a lot!!!

Background

I am still wondering what kind of background I should use for this blog. If someone would have suggested me one, I would have perhaps accepted the suggestion. If it didn't look good, it would have been so easy to accept that after all it was not my choice. But now that the choice is entirely mine, it feels so difficult.

I chose a white and brownish background first. Then switched to a green one. Then again to a sky blue one. The sheer amount of options is proving to be a bane. It reminded me of the situation some years ago...when blogger would have few templates and you had to use them. Less options actually seemed more friendly. Finally after trying out lots of options, I decided on a minimalist design.

While trying out backgrounds, I had initially decided to use an image as a background.

It was the image of an empty road from the movie "5 Centimeters per Second" (I really advise you to watch it). Fields stretching out on both sides of the road. Electric poles lining one side. And the road just going ahead towards the horizon, finally meeting the blue. Beautiful.

Sometimes, when I read about some research about Computational Photography, I wonder if it is really possible to make a computer draw these kind of images. If it ever happens in the future, will they be comparable to the work done by humans? More importantly, will such a computer appreciate the beauty in this scene? I can only wonder.