The Showcase
18th July 2007A glimpse at what I do, how I do and why I do.
Programming - My Profession
As a school boy, I wanted to become a Robotics Engineer. When I did get a seat in engineering, I chose Electronics and Communication as I had decided to become a Mechatronics Engineer by then. However, all this was just going to remain a dream.
Dad got home an HP Pavilion 8639 Desktop PC on the 1st of November 2000. Little did I know then that this was going to be a colossal turning point in my career. There was something magical about the machine. No matter what you did, things could've been set right and made to work all over again! A true Miracle Machine. I developed an insatiable thirst for doing more on the computer. And incidentally, the more I worked over it, the more intimate I got with it. I can quite confidently declare that there hasn't been a single day since 1st November 2000 that I haven't used it, provided I was home and there was electricity!
Now that my career path was already deflected, a concrete foundation was laid on the 7th of March, 2004 when an IT Services company recruited me as a Software Engineer. It's there that I learnt how to spell the word Java.
Today, I still bask as a Programmer.
Visit the Warehouse for a collection of my salient works in this field.
Music - My Pastime
They say, music has no language. I add, music is divine and lyrics are but aids of remembrance. Music can influence anyone. The genres that appeal me the most are Trance and Electronica, both derivatives of the pure, lyric-devoid form of music.
The word Trance means "A psychological state induced by (or as if induced by) a magical incantation". The same applies to Trance Music. It's more intoxicating than any drug and more soothing than any feeling. It can get you depressed if you are elated. It can make you ecstatic when you are blue.
I forget all my worries by listening to music. I gain concentration while programming or thinking deeply by listening to trance. It is analogous to meditation for me. It frees the soul and lets it dance in mid air while the body relaxes. Divine, indeed.
Photography - My Passion
I always wanted to capture frames of life; to freeze rare and relishable moments. As a kid, the only photography I was aware of was the traditional film photography - one that was a clumsy and expensive business. As I grew up, 2 Megapixel digital cameras were the first to arrive followed by a quantum jump towards what we have today, upto 12 Megapixels! It was not until the 1st of December, 2006 that I finally did own one for myself.
It's an obsession I must narrate here. Canon PowerShot G7 was announced on 14th September 2006 and just a week after that, I decided it was going to be mine. I had to wait for three full months for it to be available on Amazon before asking one of my uncles to get it from USA. For cameras to be launched in India, it takes atleast six months from the date of announcement and I was not ready to wait that long.
During these three impatient months, I used to check out reviews, sample pictures and specifications of the camera. I had even read the entire operations manual online! I found a few videos of the camera itself and by watching them ever so periodically and sketching diagrams of the camera from the dimensions, I had almost felt it, virtually!
When I finally did lay my hands on the real camera on the morning of 1st December 2006, I frankly felt nothing unusual!
Having talked about my obsession, here are some of the pictures I would like to present:
You can find more of these at http://www.flickr.com/photos/adarshr
