Earthing your PC to prevent shocks

                   Sometimes, if the power line of the house is not connected to earth properly, we might get shock on touching electronic devices. I used to get shock whenever I insert pen drive to my system. So, whenever I insert a pen drive to my system, I kept my feet in the air so that there is no physical contact between my body and the ground. Though this solved the problem temporarily, I needed a permanent solution. As we (my parents and I) were staying in a rent house (in the first floor of the building), I couldn't do the conventional earthing.

                             When I consulted the situation to an electrician, the solution given by him was so simple. "Fill a small pot/jug with sand, connect one of the USB ports with the sand by means of any wire and keep the sand wet all the time". This was the suggestion given by him. I tried the same and now, everything is fine and there are no more shocks.

"For every big problem, there is a simple solution"

Education system

               This post is just to share my sufferings and not to complaint about the education system. 

My HSC (12th std) exam:

                       I usually love Mathematics since my school days. But, during my 12th standard public exam, though I had a good preparation, I couldn't write the Mathematics exam properly, because of the tension as the question paper was bit lengthy and was not according to the blue print. So, I scored just 182 in Mathematics. Mathematics score plays a very important role in getting seats in Engineering colleges as 50% of the cut-off is Mathematics mark.

How I suffered?

                          I concentrated equally on all the subjects and had obtained a total score of 1137, whereas my cut-off was just 189.75 (because of Maths, as I scored 197 in Physics and 198 in Chemistry). Students who mainly focused on PCM (Physics, Chemistry and Maths) subjects had good cut-off, but less total score. They got seats in reputed colleges and government colleges, whereas I worried a lot. But, I don't mean that Sona College is not a reputed college. What I mean is "Why do people give more importance to only three subjects rather than the total score?". This is not only my question. It's the question of many people, who suffered and are suffering like me.

"The 3 hour examination is more important than the 1 year preparation!"

Mounting

What is mounting?

                       In modern computing, mounting plays an important role. In layman terms, mounting is making a drive/archive to act as a directory or making a directory to act as a drive, though that is not the exact/right definition.

Where is mounting used?

                             Mounting is used in several places like looking for the contents of an iso image without burning them to a CD, using Windows partitions from Linux OS, etc. Let's discuss a few applications of mounting and how to use the mounting facility.

Running Turbo C from Dosbox:

                               Many novice C programmers, especially those who use Windows 7 platform for programming, make use of a third party software called Dosbox. To run Turbo C from dosbox, the very first command is mounting, which goes as

mount c: <directory_path>

Here, the entire directory acts as the C: drive and for any action that is being performed within Turbo C, the <directory_path> has to be considered as C: drive. Here as you can see, the directory is treated as drive.

Mounting devices in Ubuntu:

                        Ubuntu, one of the famous operating systems of Linux, uses auto-mount concept. Once you click on a Windows drive icon, Ubuntu automatically mounts that drive in the /media/<directory_label>/ directory. If the directory already exists, then an '_' is added as a suffix to the <directory_label>. Even when you insert pen drive, it is auto-mounted in the /media/<pendrive_label>/ directory. Here, a drive is treated as a directory. Though Ubuntu supports auto-mounting, sometimes we might need manual mounting also.

Manual mounting in Ubuntu using Terminal:

                          To manually mount a device in Ubuntu, we first create an empty directory in the required directory, by using the command

mkdir <dir_name>

To know the list of available devices, run the command

sudo fdisk -l

Now, mount the required device, using the command

sudo mount <device_name> <dir_name>

Now, you can see the contents of the device, in the <dir_name> directory. To unmount, use the command

sudo umount <dir_name>

Note: The spelling is umount (no 'n') and not unmount.

Mounting with permissions:

                                 If we normally mount pen drives (either auto-mount or manual mount), then we won't be able to run any application from pen drive. To mount a device with permission to run applications, use the command.

sudo mount -o umask=0 <device_name> <dir_name>

"Mounting is a powerful feature, if you know how to use it"

My visit to Golconda fort

Preparation:                  
                      I had booked train ticket to return on 11th July, to Salem from Hyderabad (where I went for my summer research fellowship). I had completed my project and report work on 9th July. So, I decided to visit Golconda fort on 10th July. As usual, I noted down the guidelines to reach the fort from IIIT, where I was doing my fellowship project, by seeing google maps.

Travel:
                   There was no direct but to Golconda. Since, the buses were much crowded, I reached a place called 'Shekpet Nala' through mini taxi, which is one of the famous modes of transport in Hyderabad. I was charged Rs. 10. Then, when I inquired auto to go to Golconda from Shekpet, they asked for Rs. 70. Neglecting them, I started walking towards the bus stop. Then, an auto-man asked me whether I was going to Golconda fort. When I replied in positive, he said that he would take me there for Rs. 20. I accepted. He dropped me in a place called Tolichowki, got Rs. 10 and asked me to get another auto from there, which will cost another 10 rupees. I did as he said and reached Golconda finally.

The fort:
                By paying the entry fee of Rs. 5, I entered the fort. The fort is like a big city, with many ups and downs, rocks and building structures. I could see a temple, olden day jail, etc. When I was walking alone, I saw a long, but thin, snake crawling in the walls. Though the snake was at a distance, I was a bit scared and vacated that place instantly. On one side of the fort, the people are doing poojas by killing goats and cocks.

Departure:
                    The fort consists of several steps to reach on to the top for enjoying the city's beauty. I couldn't go all along the top at a stretch, as it was panting. So, I sat on the rocks in between several times. After enjoying the olden structures, I boarded a bus to reach Mehdipatnam (one of the famous bus stands in Hyderabad) and from there, I reached IIIT at 2:30 pm, as I had to pack my things for returning to Salem, the next day.

"Whatever may be the modern structures, people still like olden structures also"

My Charminar visit

                 During my stay at Hyderabad for Summer Research Fellowship, I went to Charminar. This blog is about my visit to Charminar.

Departure:

                       On the previous day of my visit, with the help of Google Maps, I found that there is no direct bus for Charminar from IIIT(Gachibowli). I had to go to a place called Lakdikapul first and from there I should go to Charminar in another bus. After having my breakfast in the IIIT bus stop, I boarded a bus for going to Lakdikapul. In the first bus, after buying the ticket, I told the conductor in Hindi that I don't know the stopping. He said that he would intimate me on reaching Lakdikapul.

Me at Lakdikapul:

                           After reaching Lakdikapul, I asked so many people, where would the bus towards Charminar stop. But, everyone replied that they don't know. With some assumptions (from the Google Maps), I reached a bus stop. I was stopping there so long. But, the bus towards Charminar didn't come for a long time. After inquiring many people, I was said that I was standing in the right stopping only. Moreover, the language was also a problem for me. மொழி தெரியாமல், வழி தெரியாமல், விழி பிதுங்கி நின்றிருந்தேன். At last the bus came when it was about 45 minutes since I reached the stop.

Charminar:

                            Somehow, I reached Charminar around 10 am. The entry fee was Rs. 5 per head. Charminar is like a multi-storied building with steps having spiral structure. Each step differs in size. Thank God, we were not restricted to take photographs there. After going to the top, one could see all the 4 sides surrounded by streets. A security person was explaining about the architecture in Telugu to a family. Even I listened to him, but I couldn't understand much as I didn't know Telugu.

Mecca Masjid:
                           My mom had asked me to buy a pair of pearl bangles. So, after having my lunch, I inquired about the bangles in 3 to 4 shops and then bought a pair. Then, I went to Bhaghyalakshmi temple, which is immediately next to Charminar. Later, I went to Mecca Masjid, which is just opposite to Charminar. I had been into a Mosque for the first time in my life, on this day. I could see many doves coming to eat the grains that are being spilled in the Masjid by the pilgrims.

Golconda fort:
                           It was just 3 pm, by the time I see all these. Then, I decided to go to Golconda fort. After waiting for more than an hour, a bus towards Golconda came. After reaching Golconda, it was 5 pm and I was really very shocked to see the crowd and the traffic jam. Since, I need to travel a long to IIIT, I didn't enter Golconda fort. I reached Mehdipatnam (One of the famous bus stands at Hyderabad) in an auto and then reached IIIT through a bus from Mehdipatnam.

"It's always better to go out by knowing a language which is familiar to the people living there"