What is rare?

I was in this class on communication systems sometime back , and while describing how mobile companies decide on the capacity of each link , Our professor mentioned "What is rare?".(these companies go by some expectation probability of calls arriving in a certain duration-they want at the maximum only one call to be set up in that duration so that it an be analyzed using Poisson distributions.)

I was lost at this question.Do we really know what is rare?
IITians are rare - at my college ,everyone is an IITian.
Its rare to see a monkey operating the tap at the basin as well as a human-I see it almost everyday!!!
Its rare for me to spot a female(of the Homosapien species) - But I know for sure that almost half the population in this world is theirs.

So our perception of rarity depends on the context.More specifically , it depends on the past registered data.We forget things too!! But somehow , we tend to remember odd or i should rather say rare events.That is because we subconsciously check the newly acquired data with the ones previously registered ones.If we see a connect , it reinforces both the data.But something totally out of the ordinary ,something that has not been registered in the past say 2 592 000 frames (one month, assuming one frame per second) will b3 registered with a flag!!! -And now I bet most of you noticed the '3' which replaced the 'e' but not the 125 of its prior instances on this post.

The illusion of rarity is also used to create value for a certain product which inherently does not have any value ,Eg - diamond.These are mostly of ornamental use and dont satisfy any of the owner's needs except that of possession of something not commonplace.Come to think of it , those De Beers guys must have had the greatest marketing guru decide their policy.

So ultimately I think everything is rare and nothing is.One just needs to "look at things in proper prospective"(Like the secretaries in the series "Yes Minister" would say).

Food-ological

I am generally ready to accompany people if they want to eat out.
Since the beginning of this semester, I have decided to explore the different places to eat in Chennai.The staple food here is so depressing(that served in the mess) that initially I had thought that Chennai wont have any proper eat-out at fair prices.

Alas, I was wrong .And I couldnt be happier for being proved wrong!! Tonight we had been to Dawat, Me and another friend of mine.What wonderful meal !!! Awesome is an understatement.

Dawat is one of those no frills restaurants.Small place, no flashy signboard and food cooked outside.I guess it would have developed to its present state through a street stall.
We had to wait for some 20 minutes before we got a chance to get in , as there was a rush.But once we were in , the order was delivered in no time , and from there on , it was a feast for the taste buds.


After eating enough to fill our stomachs for an entire day , the bill turned out to be Rs 330 only!
Man this is a place to go , If you are a non-vegetarian .

A few recommendations if you are going there- do try out "reshmi kabab" and "mutton angara".

Random thoughts

First things first - Holi Hai !!! I wish all of you, a joyful and colorful Holi.

Quizzes are almost over , and I am back to one of those phases when my thoughts develop a philosophical overtones (and foodological too !!).

The below mentioned thoughts tried to occupy the same space-time coordinates as my brain .So these had to enter it.The list is in the order of me recollecting them.


Everyone lives for a fixed number of steps from start to end.
The step size is equal to the capability of the individual * his or her lifetime /No of steps.
I postulate that the no of steps would be fixed to 7 , for it the only number that all religions hold sacred.And since these claim to be a link to God, I think , 7 will be "THE CHOSEN ONE".
A person who works hard will go on increasing his capability.so when i mentioned capability in step size, i meant the instantaneous capability.


These cute things with yellow tops and long legs drive me crazy.
No You pervert, I wasnt referring to one of those hot females u hear all to often but get to see equally rare.
I was in fact thinking about capacitors . Those little things that come with long legs and a yellow top never function as we want them to , and then the circuit doesnt function properly , and then we break our head over it repeatedly.Though as a matter of fact , capacitors work better that some of the other components we use, like ICs .You will have absolutely no clue if an IC is working fine until you get the desired response. If it does behave properly, IC is fine.Else it could be a million of reasons u dint get the desired output, of which IC cupping is one.


After finishing a good meal , You know what is heaven.
Food is the basic reason for everything a human does.No one can work hard if one does not get proper food.In fact until you know what good food tastes like , you will not know what you are missing .Like after coming to IIT , I roamed around nearby and then decided that one doesnt get very good food in Chennai . So I was kind of ok eating at mess.But 3 years and numerous treats hence, I realize that one indeed gets good food at this place, One just need to know about the right restaurant .Since we are physically close to Besant Nagar area , I definitely know that you can get good food at fair price at at least two places there.One is Dawat - a small shop specializing in non -veg items. and other is Eden - a veg restaurant.Both being mind blowing !!! Any one in Chennai , who hasnt visited any of these places, you have missed something.