Chronicles of Nikhil Baliga

Swami Gulagulaananda quoted: " Only the paranoid survive " 'In these unprecedented times' may sound like a cliche, but it appears to be true in the context of this pandemic. Every single day, we are bombarded with statistical data quoting the number of deaths and active cases, infographics that discuss the spread of the disease, posts shared by people lamenting the deaths of their loved ones and how the healthcare and associated services are overwhelmed by the sheer scale of afflicted people, in addition to multiple forwards that discuss cures - some useful while others balderdash. Considering that a large number of my near and dear ones came in contact with the disease, I thought of putting together a note that may benefit others. It is important to continuously educate ourselves and make sure that we are protecting ourselves and those around us. As the old adage goes, ' Prevention is better than cure '. Intellectually, we understand this; and though a few pe...

 Swami Gulagulaananda said: " When pitching your ideas doesn't pan out, go for a drive and pitch a tent " The spread of Coronavirus and the associated lockdown has been a frustrating experience for most of us. While working from home has a great many advantages, not everyone is a homebody all the time. Sometimes the spirit of adventure beckons us to step into the sunlight and walk amongst tall grass to be bitten by bugs. In this post, I wanted to share my experience of spending a day in the woods in the bosom of nature, lulled to sleep by the gentle breeze - Actually, it wasn't all that rosy, but it was definitely a great experience. We are first-time campers, and yet we wanted to experience it all - Setting up our tent, cooking our own food and generally enjoy being in the midst of open nature. Our search for a good camping spot around Bangalore culminated when we discovered Camper's Creek on Camp Monk . There are multiple suitable plans depending on your temper...

 Swami Gulagulaananda said: " He who competes in a cooperative game is but surely a fool " When I watched the movie A Beautiful Mind , I liked the idea of Game Theory - And being a fan of all kinds of games, I thought Game Theory would be useful in some video game that I played (apparently I wasn't very smart). It was only later when I read about it, I found it to be something totally different. Game Theory is an interesting concept, and it helps us to choose the best move based on the outcomes that we desire. Let us look at the nature of games that we typically play - whether it is chess, carrom, football or cricket - Our objective is to win and ensure that the opponent loses. In these games, there is always a winner and a loser (Let's ignore ties), and such games are called Zero-sum games . Participants in such games play to win, to ensure their victory and the defeat of the opponent. On the other hand, there is a second type of games called Co-operative games , and...

 Swami Gulagulaananda said: " Situations are almost always more complex than they appear at the outset. Unless we dive deep to fully understand it, we are most likely going to err in our judgements " Social media has resulted in the democratisation of media. Before the advent of Facebook and Twitter, we had to consume what was fed to us, and it was nearly impossible for our voices to be shared and to check the pulse of the nation. We consumed information from newspapers and news channels, and they could project information in any manner they wished. Social media has largely remedied the situation. At the same time, this has come with its own share of issues. The handy mobile devices are prompting people to blurt things out as soon as thoughts form in our minds without due consideration. And this is also resulting in several simplistic thoughts being put out. One would be wise to remember that situations are always complex with multiple factors playing their roles, and it is n...

 Swami Gulagulaananda said: " Not all card games are hard games " Card games are a popular pastime worldwide, and there are numerous games and variations like poker, rummy and others. With the Coronavirus pandemic, people often have some time to kill. In this post, I wanted to share an old card game that I used to play during my childhood - The game is called 'Mongoose' Mongoose is a good game for 3-4 players but can be played by any number of people. The objective in Mongoose is to ensure that you are not left with any cards by the end of the game. No jokers are used in the game. A single deck is used in the game. To start off with, the deck is shuffled and a random card is picked from the lot. Then, pick other cards of the same type. For example, if the first card is 2 of hearts, also pick 2s of spade, club and diamond. These four cards have to placed next to one another on the table. The remaining cards are to be distributed among the players. None of the cards is ...

Swami Gulagulaananda said: " I know what you did last summer... And thus can predict what you will do this summer. " In the popular TV series "Person of Interest", a genius software programmer writes an incredible piece of software that penetrates all networked devices, accesses data, compiles it to create profiles, connections and predict future events. The series shows the ease with which hackers can penetrate our handheld devices like cellphones and laptops to access even the camera and microphone. Considering the rate at which Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are advancing, the story is not necessarily far-fetched. There is an old saying that talks about the business models of free software service providers like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and others - If you are not paying for it, you are the payment. In other words, the data that you are supplying is substantial enough. If you think hard about it, the amount of data that you h...