Of Trolleys and Bowls

Yesterday:
Location : Los Angeles
I walk down the road on my way to college and spot a person moving along a trolley. Its a woman, about 5' 6" wearing a green-checked shirt and worn out jeans. She wears brown boots that have four stitches in them. She is rummaging the trash can looking for plastic bottles and cardboard boxes. The only thing protecting her from the cold is her withered sweater and an olive green jacket that she has tied around her waist for now. As she collects each box, she places it carefully in her trolley so as to create maximum space for impending items. As I walk across she smiles at me and says good morning. And just as I cross her a face pops up from under the boxes in the trolley, its a kid, perhaps 5 or 6 years old. His face is all dirty betraying his lack of bath for the day (at least). He has a cookie in his hand and waves it at me showing his half-broken teeth. I wave back at him, smiling, and show a thumbs up as I walk across.

One Year Ago:
Location : Chennai
I walk from the Besant Nagar bus stand back home after escaping my classes for the day. Right opposite my house, near the school, there is (and has always been for as long as I can remember it) a green trash can. As I cross it, I see a woman with a wrinkled face and natted brown hair probing it hoping to find some plastic packets and cornflakes boxes that the people would have thrown. She is about 4'5". She has two bags, a dirty greased sling on her left shoulder into which she puts each box or dabba and the other bigger bag on her right shoulder from which an infant peers out looking wonder-eyed at the world around him. I can't help but smile that in this world there are still innocent faces that are goodness personified. The woman gives me a cold stare, I walk on.

Of Gestures and Robots

Here's what I did for my class project in Sensing and Planning in Robotics . This was done as part of a 5 member team. The gesture recognition is tracked with an Inertial Measurement Unit that I hacked up. We use Hidden Markov Models to identify gestures. The robots actually track the leader through a pair of Wiimotes on each robot that track a Sensor bar on the leader. This is one project that uses 5 different languages on the same framework. :P



Oh and for those who might have questions feel free to comment. :)

Berhael

Of Daminis and Dosas

Siiigh.. Why can't they have franchise outlets like these....

Of CMs and Dogs

Why calling a politician a dog is a compliment:
1. A dog is a honest and hard working animal, a poitician is a scoundrel, a thief and a hardly working animal.
2. A dog guards his territory no matter what; a politician sells his territory if the price is right.
3. You can always trust a dog not to bite the hand that feeds him, you can expect the politician to always bite.
4. A dog looks cute and good while a politician .....

Copied and pasted by Berhael