APS -> Annual Progress Seminar
In IIT, all the PhD students need to present their work once a year, and its called APS.
APS time is never cool in IIT. At least was not till last three years but this time I had totally different experience.
It was as usual,10 days before my APS, nothing ready with me. Yet to start the report. APS scheduled on 20th and on 10th morning I was yet to start the report. The emergency was declared and I had to option but to get down to the reality and work hard. Ya, work hard, easy work not done on time. And this is the perfect definition in such situations. I guess in IIT, we all do hard work :).
I also rememberd Gandhiji's statment "Today I am so busy that I need to meditate for two hours instead of 1 hour". I had heard of this so many times and that you need to be cool when it matters and all that but never could experience it. As I was all f***ed up, I thought of going the cool way and decided to meditate at least twice daily. I do mediate daily, with out fail, for about 30 mins. I increased it to regular 30 mins once, and added 20 mins each twice daily and what I saw was Gandhiji's statement coming into reality.
I was cool and calm throughout the day. Inspite of not having made much progress in the report, I could remain silent in the mind and all this resulted in a much better first draft which I submitted to my guide. Unfortunately, it was too late for him to review and hence I was my own reviewer and to my great surprize, it was not at all a bad draft. In the past, my first draft used to be really really bad and used to get lot of (bad) comments.
With my own review I improved the APS report. Even changed the way I presented my results and again submitted the second draft to my guide and the same result, no review by my guide. He even gave me a go ahead to submit the report. Again, I had to review my own report, and correct it. This time also, the quality of the writing was much better than I though I could write. One of my RPC members reads the report completely and had no negative comment ( as was last year) and the report was also send to my collaborator in Denmark who has commented that the report is well written. So, I am happy that it was read by some one :) compared to many cases where no one even opens it, forget about reading it.
Looking back, I thought its the way I could keep my mind so stable even during the tense period. The quality of the work/output improves if the mind is at rest and I was able to do that. As a preparation for this I attened the Art of Living advanced course in the first week of August and that paid off more than what I could expect.
The second aspect was blogging. When I write the blog, no one reviews it for me. I have to read it so many times and make sure that I am able to convey what I want to convey and that to precisely the same idea/concept. This has improved my writing skills and now I am scanning my blogs just once, to correct a few things. In all my writing skills are improving and the same is also visible in my technical writing.
So, if not doing already, start meditating and blogging :). Need any help, contact me for the first and google for the second.
Thanks to BAWA, who's blog inspired me to start my own blog. Those inpsired by my blog, chain goes up to BAWA :).
Contribute to the society, e-way.
You can contribute, sitting on the comp. Just do the needful, explained below.
Cross positing from BAWA's blog: AMEX and Art of Living
Here is the post, reproduced for you.
Hi everyone
Jai Gurudeva!
All of us could potentially see to it that a nice partnership can be formed between AMEX and Art of Living... read on...
AMEX (American Express) has offered USD$2.5 million for a Service project that will be chosen among many that people all over have put up on their website... The process of choosing is simple... people vote, the top 25 projects will be reviewed and considered for the grant... There are many interesting projects out there... AND Art of Living has 2 projects, who need votes to get into the top 25 (about 600 votes away)... i would prefer them to get into the top 5 :) (about 4000 votes away)
Could whoever reading this please goto their site and vote for these 2 projects?
You can sign in as a card member if you own an AMEX card, or you can sign in as a guest as well... and you can do so anonymously too!
So please, take a few minutes out and go vote for these projects... btw, you can vote for multiple projects, so if any other catches your eye, feel free to vote for those as well :)
Voting stops on Monday the 1st of September, so PLEASE do it now!! :)
here is what you do:
1. Click the links below
2. SIGN in either using your American Express Card Membership or as a guest. (When u click the link below, a window opens and bottom right there's guest signup, go signup and assign yourself a screen name)
3. Once you have registered,window automatically opens to the project selected. Click the Nomination Button. Thats it!
Jharkhand Tribal Project
End Gang and Youth violence in California
Once you have done it, PLEASE leave a comment here to let me know that you did it :)
Also get friends, relatives, family, etc to do it... It will be great if Art of Living can have a partnership with AMEX to do the fantastic work that it is anyways doing!
Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa
Cross positing from BAWA's blog: AMEX and Art of Living
Here is the post, reproduced for you.
Hi everyone
Jai Gurudeva!
All of us could potentially see to it that a nice partnership can be formed between AMEX and Art of Living... read on...
AMEX (American Express) has offered USD$2.5 million for a Service project that will be chosen among many that people all over have put up on their website... The process of choosing is simple... people vote, the top 25 projects will be reviewed and considered for the grant... There are many interesting projects out there... AND Art of Living has 2 projects, who need votes to get into the top 25 (about 600 votes away)... i would prefer them to get into the top 5 :) (about 4000 votes away)
Could whoever reading this please goto their site and vote for these 2 projects?
You can sign in as a card member if you own an AMEX card, or you can sign in as a guest as well... and you can do so anonymously too!
So please, take a few minutes out and go vote for these projects... btw, you can vote for multiple projects, so if any other catches your eye, feel free to vote for those as well :)
Voting stops on Monday the 1st of September, so PLEASE do it now!! :)
here is what you do:
1. Click the links below
2. SIGN in either using your American Express Card Membership or as a guest. (When u click the link below, a window opens and bottom right there's guest signup, go signup and assign yourself a screen name)
3. Once you have registered,window automatically opens to the project selected. Click the Nomination Button. Thats it!
Jharkhand Tribal Project
End Gang and Youth violence in California
Once you have done it, PLEASE leave a comment here to let me know that you did it :)
Also get friends, relatives, family, etc to do it... It will be great if Art of Living can have a partnership with AMEX to do the fantastic work that it is anyways doing!
Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa
BlogDay
Today, August 31, is the blog day. So, this blog. I will put my blogging experiences here.
My blogging started one Sunday morning when I woke up and felt like writing some thing. And here is the results, my first blog. That is one of my best blogs. This blog inspired many people to write/restart their blogs and I am happy that I could be some where part of it. I am not sure what exactly inspired them but as long as the results are positive I need not worry.
Then came Life is a template , another blog which I personally liked very much. This was read and explained to my parents by my brother and sister in a family get-together. This also gave a hint to my parents that I may not follow the template and hence they might be better prepared for whats coming up to them soon. I hope this will ease my work during my Diwali vacation.
On the blog day, do post some thing :). Visit: http://www.blogday.org/
My blogging started one Sunday morning when I woke up and felt like writing some thing. And here is the results, my first blog. That is one of my best blogs. This blog inspired many people to write/restart their blogs and I am happy that I could be some where part of it. I am not sure what exactly inspired them but as long as the results are positive I need not worry.
Then came Life is a template , another blog which I personally liked very much. This was read and explained to my parents by my brother and sister in a family get-together. This also gave a hint to my parents that I may not follow the template and hence they might be better prepared for whats coming up to them soon. I hope this will ease my work during my Diwali vacation.
On the blog day, do post some thing :). Visit: http://www.blogday.org/
Are these in your fruit basket yet?
We all know that fruits are good for health. Fruits provide vitamins, minerals and energy. Fruits have to be a part of your daily diet. But do you know what fruits are absolute must-haves in your fruit basket? Experts have listed the following five as the 'best' in terms of health benefits.
By Sugatha Menon
Guava: (Amrud in Hindi. Peru in Marathi): This is the uncrowned king of the fruit basket. We are lucky that being a tropical fruit, guavas are available almost throughout the year in our country. A guava tree is one of the most common fruit tress growing in many a backyard. Even in a concrete jungle like Mumbai, one frequently comes across guava trees. Why is guava the star? Recent reports suggest that guavas are packed with anti-oxidant properties and are abundant in Vitamin C. In fact it is said that it beats other fruits hollow when it comes to Vitamin C. Guavas are also the richest in fibre and have age and inflammation fighting properties. Not surprising then that this fruit is the top chartbuster here!
Lychee: Lychees are beautiful to look at, and taste great too. But did you know that just three lychees can meet a third of your Vitamin C requirement of the day? 100 gms of fresh lychees gives you 72 mg of Vitamin C. Other good points of lychees include copper, potassium and riboflavin. Avoid lychee juices and stick to the whole fruit.
Papaya: Another one from the wonder fruits stable. Papayas are wonderful for your skin as they help you fight wrinkles. Vitamin C, folate and potassium are present in papayas. Papayas contain papain, a natural digestive aid, which helps to cleanses the digestive track. Other nutrients include Vitamin A, E and carotenoids and lycopene. In comparison to an orange papaya has 13 times more Vitamin C and 50 times more potassium and four times more Vitamin E than oranges and apples. All this at a lower calorie count.
Banana: Easy to afford and easily available, bananas are a universal favourite. Quick to digest, bananas come with a host of vitamins, A, B, C and also calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and zinc. Experts say that the fiber in a banana is good for your heart. People suffering from acidity are often asked to consume bananas, as they are said to protect from stomach ulcers. Raw bananas are also used in Indian cooking and are high in iron content.
Pomegranate: Red wine and green tea are said to be high in anti-oxidants. But did you know that the content of anti-oxidants in pomegranates are almost three times higher! So next time say 'cheers' with pomegranate juice. Also indulging in this juice frequently is extremely beneficial for your heart and it cuts down the risk of artery clogging. Additionally they contain Vitamin B, C, calcium and phosphorous. It also contains a powerful agent that helps fight against prostrate cancer. It is also said to be effective against anaemia, intestinal parasite irritation, piles, asthma, diarrhoea, morning sickness and poor appetite.
By Sugatha Menon
Guava: (Amrud in Hindi. Peru in Marathi): This is the uncrowned king of the fruit basket. We are lucky that being a tropical fruit, guavas are available almost throughout the year in our country. A guava tree is one of the most common fruit tress growing in many a backyard. Even in a concrete jungle like Mumbai, one frequently comes across guava trees. Why is guava the star? Recent reports suggest that guavas are packed with anti-oxidant properties and are abundant in Vitamin C. In fact it is said that it beats other fruits hollow when it comes to Vitamin C. Guavas are also the richest in fibre and have age and inflammation fighting properties. Not surprising then that this fruit is the top chartbuster here!
Lychee: Lychees are beautiful to look at, and taste great too. But did you know that just three lychees can meet a third of your Vitamin C requirement of the day? 100 gms of fresh lychees gives you 72 mg of Vitamin C. Other good points of lychees include copper, potassium and riboflavin. Avoid lychee juices and stick to the whole fruit.
Papaya: Another one from the wonder fruits stable. Papayas are wonderful for your skin as they help you fight wrinkles. Vitamin C, folate and potassium are present in papayas. Papayas contain papain, a natural digestive aid, which helps to cleanses the digestive track. Other nutrients include Vitamin A, E and carotenoids and lycopene. In comparison to an orange papaya has 13 times more Vitamin C and 50 times more potassium and four times more Vitamin E than oranges and apples. All this at a lower calorie count.
Banana: Easy to afford and easily available, bananas are a universal favourite. Quick to digest, bananas come with a host of vitamins, A, B, C and also calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and zinc. Experts say that the fiber in a banana is good for your heart. People suffering from acidity are often asked to consume bananas, as they are said to protect from stomach ulcers. Raw bananas are also used in Indian cooking and are high in iron content.
Pomegranate: Red wine and green tea are said to be high in anti-oxidants. But did you know that the content of anti-oxidants in pomegranates are almost three times higher! So next time say 'cheers' with pomegranate juice. Also indulging in this juice frequently is extremely beneficial for your heart and it cuts down the risk of artery clogging. Additionally they contain Vitamin B, C, calcium and phosphorous. It also contains a powerful agent that helps fight against prostrate cancer. It is also said to be effective against anaemia, intestinal parasite irritation, piles, asthma, diarrhoea, morning sickness and poor appetite.
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