Swimming Alone...

It was the last day of our 4 day trip to Shantiniketan. The day was gloomy from the time the very first rays of the sun hit our house. First of all, the night before had not gone as expected. I was not able to spend much time with my sister or my parents. It was mostly boring, apart from the period between 9:30 pm to 10:00 pm, when I strolled around in the compound of Aamar Bari, listening to music, and occasionally talking to my friends. Thus, the next day, I was  thinking of how to spend the remaining 3 hours. Then, my parents suggested to go swimming! I was already a bit tired, but still I took my towel, clothes on my bicycle, and cycled off towards the swimming people...from a distance, I realized the water was absolutely calm, and NO ONE WAS THERE!!! I parked my cycle near the pool, took off my shirt, and just jumped in. It was a wee bit colder than the normal temperature, whereas the previous day it was probably perfect because we had gone swimming in the evening, and the sun had already warmed the waters by then. I took a deep breathe, and started a free style stroke. After completing four rounds, I stopped. Then, I was acclimatized! :) I then frog-styled and moved about the whole pool for relaxing. For perhaps the next 30 minuted, I did the various strokes I know. I practiced underwater from one end of the pool to the other as well. Then, the weather came to my favour...

The sun came out of the clouds, and sparkled the water! This was my all-time dream while swimming, something I couldn't enjoy in the city. I immediately took a deep breathe and moved below the surface of the water. The sight immediately pleased me and made me forget about all other worries. The floor of the swimming pool was shining with the rays of the sun, and beautiful patterns were forming. Mostly they were rhombuses with curved sides, and in motion. It was really magical, as it had always been...the power of the sun was reduced to beautiful shapes which soothed and amazed us! I touched the floor with three fingers and tried to trace out the patterns. However, soon out of breathe, I had to come up to the surface again. Now, the pool isn't too deep. Maybe 1.5 metres or so. But, that helped to move fast from surface to surface. The water surface was sparkling as well. Then, I had an idea...something I had tried out only once during my swimming classes, where the pool is perhaps 2.5 metres deep. I used to go deep underwater, and turn about to face the surface of the water from below. This pool was not that deep, but still, it was manageable. I again took a deep breathe, and sank, and turned about, in a flat posture, like we do while we sleep. 

The surface was glowing. Actually, I could see the rays of the sun pouring in from the top! Now, goggles usually give a clearer sight of the water, but this was equally nice. The streaks of light were just penetrating the surface like laser beams. I was holding my nose with my fingers, because under that pressure, and in a reversed position, water easily go into my nose. After a few seconds of eye-satisfying sights, I came to the surface again, to find that my sister had come to tell me that my parents were calling me to get up and get ready for returning back home. It was time to end the wonderful experience...

You see, in a normal swimming pool, there several other swimmers wading about in the waters. Alone in a pool, the waters around you are completely calm. It feels like staying below forever. In a movie, one of the main actors had described this as addiction. He had been corrected: this is purely meditation! :) I realized the truth from that day's experience...my mind had really gone completely blank. It was only absorbing what my eyes saw. Not many days have passed, but I think this sight will always be alive in my mind. It's absolutely vivid and clear. Maybe I'll be able to experience this once again when I go back, but that won't be happening for the next one year. This was the best form of refreshment I had had since a long time...

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Escape to Shantiniketan!

Yep! For another four days, I enjoyed life to the fullest at that place. Nothing new, but yet refreshing.
Actually, something was new: a swimming pool!

The compound that encloses the 150 houses, of which one is ours, contains many modern facilities, and yet the looks are rustic, once you enter into the area where the houses are placed. After entering through the main gate, you can see the parking lot to your left, and a wide expanse of a field on your right. I don't know what that expanse will ultimately become, but currently, it's a playground. And beside it, is the swimming pool! Earlier, that is seven months back, it was nothing but a cemented pit. But this time, it was totally different...but I am getting ahead of myself. Let me first describe how we arrived this time...

It was three o' clock in the afternoon. We started off during the hot daytime. We picked up my mother, and then my father drove on continuously for three hours, and arrived at Shantiniketan! After seven months, I truly had a fresh feeling to be there. We shared the bags we had brought and walked through the red soil, towards our house. The area in front of our house is quite large. This time, it was even better: the grasses had been trimmed and small plants of three colours had been planted-purple, fresh green, and dark green. It looked amazing! Even in the diffused rays of the sun, the door glowed with it's new colour: golden. Then we stepped into the house. After that, we had a great disappointing sight: the whole house was covered in a huge amount of dust! We took two hours to clean the whole mess up, and when it was finally done, we relaxed outside, and waited for another family to arrive: my father's friend's family. Each of their members made a good match with us. Their son is four years younger than me, but he is a great friend! And their daughter is an old school friend of my sister.

That night, we chatted on for a long time! The two of us, me and my brother-friend...:D, bicycled in the night time and played badminton, and at 11:00 o' clock, we had our dinner of chicken bharta and rotis. At midnight, we went to sleep. We two slept on the floor, on a nice and comfy mattress. That was how the first day ended...

The next day was even more fun filled. In fact that was the most memorable day of the small vacation. It was the day of holi. Now, I must tell you this before you understand anything else. Holi, the festival of colours in India is usually spent with water colours(I mean buckets of them, used for spraying at other people...:D) and abirs (powdery colours that are usually applied to the face and are much more peaceful). In Shantiniketan, the tradition that was started since Rabindranath Tagore's time was simple: In the central part of Shantiniketan, the university - Bishwabharati - students start a musical event by singing and dancing through a fixed route in yellow traditional dresses. This starts the start of the cultural event. After one hour, the main anushthan starts onstage, with various students, artists displaying their talents through singing, dancing, plays, etc. At around 9:00 AM, the function ends, and the audience throws abir into the air, making the air above them more colourful than ever! That was the memory I had, in fact, most people have had, until this year...their was a chance of a STAMPEDE! Hundreds of people had arrived to the function in an unorganized manner, and more importantly, the venue had been moved to a bigger area. The original flavour was absolutely lost. I could not see any part of the function...no one could, in fact. Later, while returning to our home, we stopped on the way, and played Holi in a small fashion with abirs. That was quite memorable. At home, we bathed, and then played a bit, after which we went to have lunch in the most popular ashram that also serves food to 'guests': Banalakshmi. A scrumptious meal inside our tummies, we moved towards a small dried up lake, and then at home, I watched a movie with my brother. And, also played a few games on my laptop....now for the main event.

Swimming: 

Splash! We jumped into the swimming pool. Even better? There was NO ONE ELSE IN IT!!! Only four of us: the two sisters, and we two! For two hours, we enjoyed and made ourselves dog-tired: Frisbee, underwater races, 'running', and splashing on and on...well I can't really describe the fun in a swimming pool, that to all to ourselves, in words. All you need to know is that it was LEGENDARY!

During the next two days, it was normal nature-enjoyment-protocol. I cycled 16 km roughly, and this time I took videos too! Then the amar-kutir photography...:D And, finally swimming again, on the day we were about to leave, only this time I WAS SWIMMING ALL BY MYSELF!!!

That was how I spent my 4 days trip to Shantiniketan...blog you again later! :)

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Creating ebooks

You know that my ebook reader had almost been damaged permanently. My friend Tanmoy fixed it and made the software as good as new. My target for rooting the device was to use ad-hoc WiFi connections(from my laptop). Along with that I also had a plan of installing a calendar app. Now it functions as a normal Sony Reader PRS T1 does. I still had the desire for a calendar...so that I would be able to set reminders and stuff like that, or atleast memos. That's why I started to search the net for various ways on how to make ebooks. My idea was this: to create an ebook that have the calendar of 2013 in tabulated form, just like a normal calendar is. Each page would be a separate month.
        The only softwares that I found for free or which had a small size were small editors and did not support tables or stuff like that. They just allowed the creation of ebooks in writing. Then I came across Adobe InDesign. Another software from the world renowned company that makes heavy duty professional applications like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc., this one let's us create professional ebooks! And yes, that includes the calendar making thing too.
        So, for two hours continuously, I went on making (actually trying) calendars, and finally got one optimized for my Reader. Now, at last I have fulfilled my dream of having a calendar 'app' for my Reader...:D After that, I made another ebook for my friend Anish, who is actually one of the best young writers of our time. Now, I have asked several other friends to give me their writings so that I can make ebooks out of them and send it back to them with professional formatting styles like good headers, contents, hyper links, and foot notes...:D :) Well, that's it for now. And, oh yes! I'll be going to Shantiniketan again during the festival of colours - Holi, that is on the 26th. I'll describe Holi in that post later...bye for now!

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My current happenings

Right! Let's move into the topic directly. First of all I must tell you that LOTS AND LOTS have happened to me since I had last blogged on 'Common yet my own 2012'.

        I had my excursion in January. Earlier it had a synonym: 'education tour'.
Now, it was actually a fun tour with my friends. We all went to an amusement park, Rose Valley Amusement Park in Barasat. The bus journey was HORRIBLE! The roof was really low and dancing in such a cramped space was almost impossible. However, we managed to somehow start up a song in the bus' defective audio system and had a fun time. When we reached the spot, we were taken to a spot for having breakfast. That was truly delicious. Inside the amusement park we got free tickets for awesome rides! Actually, we were about to ride most of them for the first time, because most of us hadn't rode on such thrilling rides before...at least that was the case for me. There was a rotating wheel with sitting arrangements for two each. That was truly thrilling. I went on with a friend of mine and before it started to move in full speed, we were petrified! We didn't know what it would be like, whether we become nausea-tic or would feel scared. It would all be solved within minutes...that's all we knew. But when the thing started, and we got accustomed to it, we started to enjoy it in full swing! Apart from that, the other ride we had was on frogs...we would sit on a frog and it would jump and move at the same time! I almost got knocked out of my sit! There were 4 other rides but they weren't as thrilling as those. Inside a scary house, we were the ones who were actually scaring the others...:D Overall, the rides were good, and so was the delicious lunch! But, while we were returning it was not fun at all...:'( There was no audio system, no one to dance, and everyone was sleepy. This was certainly not the best tour for us. The one in 9th standard had been much more enjoyable.

        After that, January was somewhat exciting because I learnt to play Fifa 13...the game. I now support a football club (at last)...in fact I support two clubs. FC Barcelona and Manchester City. That apart, I also modified the blog a bit (as you can see). Apart from these two new improvements, the latest thing I learnt about desktops is that they can be heavily modified using a software called 'Rainmeter', which is going viral in our school nowadays. My current desktop is quite awesome. I have started using Google Drive, a free cloud storage service giving the user 5GB of storage! There I have uploaded some screenshots of my desktop.

        Right...now for the main NEWS that I want to share with you. It's about my ebook reader. You know that my Sony Reader PRS T1 runs on the Android OS 2.2 'Gingerbread'. Well, you must also be knowing, if you are an android user or programmer or have interest in computers, that Android devices can be hacked, or in the best term - rooted. It's kind of unlocking the full capacities of the device. My ebook reader has no Android capabilities. Only certain apps like the browser or the notes app, or the audio app can be used. Others have been stripped down by Sony. Well, they can be run but only on by rooting and unlocking a third home screen that allows me to run the Android goodies from Google. I did do that in the month of February. I rooted my device.
Now I knew what consequences I would have to face if the rooting would not work. My device had a chance of becoming a brick...yes, it would no other function other than a brick. That's called a bricked android device. But I read the stats and found that the cases of bricking are extremely rare. Thus I took the chance. And oh yes! My warranty would become void. I didn't mind that because anyway, the warranty would not work outside the USA. Thus, I downloaded a rooting package by rupor and rooted it. My main target was actually to enable ad-hoc WiFi connection capabilities. Oh! And I also learnt how to make my laptop a WiFi hotspot using the broadband connection that I already have. Anyway, that was my main interest. All was going well. I added quite a number of apps from Google to my device. But, I wanted the WiFi. For that, I would have to write a small amount of code in an ADB and use it for the Sony Reader. That bricked my device. For weeks, I had no option but to continue searching the internet on how to fix it. Well actually what had happened was that the Reader would not connect to the computer, and it could not detect it's own internal memory! The case was hopeless. However I had a friend in my school who was a real expert in the field of Android rooting and flashing devices to fix them. He fixed it within one half of a day!!!! And that too really easily! Now I can again read my books for free and have learnt that before knowing adequately on something as advanced as Android, and getting ample amount of experience, I should never experiment with anything...:P Anyway, now my annual exams are going on, and I have two more theory test left and three practicals. 

That's it for now! Bye!

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Common yet my own 2012

The year that left us...a common topic.
        This was the most common topic in Facebook. Everyone posted their own collection of memories in Facebook through status updates, pictures, notes, etc. That's why blogging is kind of useful to me. One thing I know for certain. My list might go too long, and no one will care to read through the entire post. That's why blogging is much better. I can freely list myself here. Anyway, let's move on...
        January: I won't go on listing like this, but still, it's a good option for starting. The year started with our class 10 selection tests. Only one term can describe our school's selection tests for both class 10 and 12: horrible. No description needed for that.
        Then, the rest of January and February was spent in preparing for our first board examinations: the ICSEs. It was truly a tough time. People say that scoring is easy in ICSE, but those two months require some amount of hard work. Anyway, after that, in the end of February, the exams started. In January many of use had given mock tests in different centres, although I hardly know how much that helped us...:D
        The month of April was a unique one. Right after my boards ended on the 26th of March, I escaped to our house in Shantiketan with my parents. A five day trip, it is still the longest stay that we have had. On returning, I started heavy practice for playing with the presentation that I had made for my father's 50th birthday anniversary. That was my first stage experience. And, it was quite satisfactory.
        April was quite eventful. Our ICSE results would come out on the 19th. That day was the most tense and yet enjoyable day. At first it was filled with tension. When the results came out at 3pm, tension was replaced with joy!
        Then started the class 11 rush. Although it had already started I didn't pay much attention at first. Then, as the humongous syllabus slowly unwrapped itself, I came to know that I had start studying. However, the half yearly examinations were really poor for most of me and my friends. The effect quickly wore off (temporarily) as the pujas arrived, and so did our trip to Kedarnath. Photography was quite satisfactory, although I believed it wasn't really good enough. When we had went to Mandarmoni or Shantiniketan, I had been more satisfied. Anyway, after that in the month of December came the best experience - website designing!
        Christmas wasn't really special, and neither was New year. However, dryly said, this was my list of memorable events that took place during the year 2012. Oh! And I forgot to mention doomsday...:D The biggest hoax of the year. And also the Delhi rape case...something that shook us from our very insides and showed us what we 'civilized' people could create. A memory that will haunt most Indians forever...
        So sum up like an essay, this was my list of 2012 events. It wasn't a really enjoyable read, but this was supposed to be a 'list'. The detailed versions are included in other blogs...:) Enjoy reading those! :D :)

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