Siddhartha and I built a Modern House in Minecraft.

We got the idea and followed this Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LcdpQ2LLK0 for building the house.

It was a fun project!

I setup a kubernetes cluster using Raspberry pi. It was much easier than I had imagined.

I used a Raspberry 4 for the master, and an agent. And I used two Raspberry B for two agents.

I setup using mhausenblas tutorial, which uses k3s for setting up of kubernetes on raspberry pis. I used k3sup tool for installation of packages, which worked well.

My overall goal ran into some challenges.

• I was not able to setup the kubernetes dashboard via helm package, and I had to use instructions from github.

• I was not able to setup minecraft using the available helm package: https://github.com/itzg/docker-minecraft-server/issues/433

• I used k3sup to install packages, but I do not know how to uninstall the package using k3sup https://github.com/alexellis/k3sup/issues/179

Givem all these, I still have the my local kubernetes cluster up and running and I am excited about the possiblities of using kubernetes on raspberry pis.

The Manga Guide to Calculus by Hiroyuki Kojima
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I tried to pick up some high-level intuition on the basics of calculus with this book, but I failed. Unlike, other Manga guides on electricity, and linear algebra, I found this book not very strong on the plot and I felt it did not present the story in a cohesive manner.

The concepts were introduced randomly, and I could not see how one built upon the previously introduced concept.

On the positive note, it did introduce very basics of calculus well, and I am eager to pick up other books on calculus with that foundation.

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Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a science-fiction adventure book. If you are a science-fiction fan like me, then you are in for a treat reading this book.

I really loved this book and the narration. It started as a simple story but quickly turned into an adventure plot, and before I realized it, excellent science was mixed into every element of this fictitious story. It has references to Fourier and Poisson, calculations for measuring distances based on sound lag, adventures of an Icelandic hiker, a cave explorer, a climber, and even biologists encountering a trilobite! Yes, a trilobite! You will also find all the pre-historic animals and references to famous explorers, biologists, and taxonomists—all present in a single story.

When I chose the book and read the plot, I wondered, "How is this possible?" But when I read it, I was taken on a real adventure by the author.

I read this book in the "Kindle-In-Motion" format, and the illustrator, Killian Eng, is in a class of his own. He did excellent work and did justice to Jules Verne's timeless work.

Here are some of my notes and highlights from this book:

Here is something about Fourier:

Was it not always believed until Fourier that the temperature of the interplanetary spaces decreased perpetually?

About Poisson:

“Well, I will tell you that true savants, among them Poisson, have demonstrated that if a heat of 360,000 degrees existed in the interior of the globe.”

A trilobite!

“Very well,” said he quietly, “it is the shell of a crustacean, of an extinct species called a trilobite. Nothing more.”

All these pre-historic animals:

leptotheria, mericotheria, lophiodia, anoplotheria, megatheria, mastodons, protopitheci, pterodactyls, and all sorts of extinct monsters here assembled together for his special satisfaction.

And the adventurers:

“Mr. Milne-Edwards! Ah! Mr. de Quatrefages, how I wish you were standing here at the side of Otto Liedenbrock!”

This book was a thorough adventure, with so many references to explore further!

Sita's Ramayana by Samhita Arni
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading Samhita Arni's take on Ramayana, Sita's Ramayana, the story of Ramayana entirely narrated by Sita. It gives a new perspective to the entire story, while not-at-all deviating from the plot and details of the story.

As a reader who is familiar with the story, I picked up this book with a notion of what I can expect. However, I was still surprised and thoroughly enjoyed reading this story presented by an excellent writer (Samhita) and a fantastic illustration (Moyna Chitrakar).

Following this book, I became eager to check out other works of this author, and I found that her writings bring a freshness to the Indian mythology genre, and I am highly eager to read her next work "The Prince".



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Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age by Paul Graham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Enjoyed reading Paul Graham's essays. It is quite dated, for example, with lots of references to the Web in the 1990s and 2000s, a time when Yahoo was a prominent .com company. Some of his opinions on wealth creation are still applicable in 2020. However, we have to read his essays with plenty of skepticism. He sings praise for Lisp and instills some desire in the reader to study Lisp and start a startup.

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There There by Tommy Orange
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is one of it's kind. I had never come across a topic like this one. It reads like a monologue but dwells a lot into History and societal norms. It dwells in Native American history because the author is a native American, and explains his life story and story of his friends in a compelling manner. The incidents take place in Oakland, ca, and the reader familiar with the region can relate to many incidents narrated in the story. The story is an eye-opener for many to perceive the native American culture a little broadly and in a practical manner.

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I came across a translated work of Rabindranath Tagore's Poem: Dialogue Between Karna and Kunti The poem, even the translation captures the emotions between Karna and Kunti very well. We all know about this episode of Mahabharata. In every critical interaction, Karna comes out as a highly ethical character.

I graduated from OMSCS, the Online Master's in Computer Science Program at Georgia Tech. I achieved my personal goal of earning a Master's degree in Computer Science from a prestigious university. I was admitted to this program in 2014 and continued to take one class per 15-week term. I decided to go beyond the requirements by taking three additional classes and graduated with specializations in "Computational Perception and Robotics" and "Software Systems."

My Journey

Pursuing a master's degree in computer science has been one of my long-standing aspirations.

I completed my schooling and college in India but missed the opportunity to attend a prestigious institution. Determined to pursue a Master's in Computer Science, I made my first attempt in 2002 but failed. I started working and earning money while continuing to take courses. I tried again in 2003 and failed, and once more in 2004 with the same result. Despite these setbacks, my passion for learning Computer Science kept me motivated to continue taking courses and improving my understanding of the subjects.

I enrolled in Continuing Education Proficiency Courses at IISc, which were offered on Wednesday evenings. These courses eventually paved the way for me to contribute to CPython development through the Google Summer of Code program.

However, I still had not achieved my ultimate goal. In 2007, I decided to try again.

With work experience, four patents from my job, and part-time courses under my belt, I applied to US universities in 2007. I applied to 10 universities but was rejected by all of them.

In 2008, I applied to 5 universities and faced rejection again. I repeated the process in 2009, applying to another 5 universities, but was unsuccessful.

In 2010, I received one admission offer through a referral, but I decided not to pursue it as it was not a good fit for me.

In 2012, I almost enrolled in a part-time master's program, but I chose not to continue because it was not in Computer Science.

In 2014, the OMSCS program was launched, and it looked very promising. I applied and was admitted in its second offering. I started my classes in January 2015, and after taking 13 courses, I completed the program in December 2019 with a GPA of 3.21.

One of my most important lessons during this course was my failure, getting grade C, in Computational Photography due to a mistake I made. I could have been removed from the program, but I became more careful, corrected myself, and retook the course to earn a B grade.

The experience has shaped me well as a person. The journey was fun and eventful. My family, especially my wife, Shalini, supported me a lot. She would regularly check in with my plans and adjust our social outings accordingly.

We celebrated our first child, Siddhartha's first birthday, when I started this program. We had our second child, Saharsha, while I was taking the courses. Keeping them entertained while pursuing a master's degree was challenging. I used to put them to sleep and then return to my computer to complete assignments.

In terms of work, I lost a job, got a new one, and then changed jobs again during this timeframe. I struggled a bit to balance work and study but managed to focus on work without letting one interfere with the other. I also got promoted twice in the same organization during this period. Overcoming this long-pending desire and mental block was a significant achievement for me.

Finally, we celebrated my graduation with a family trip to Atlanta, and my wife Shalini organized a party with our friends. She also requested me to give a short speech. Here is the speech that I shared with my friends.

We can celebrate anything. My wife, Shalini, is organizing this party as she wanted to celebrate my graduation.

I feel a little awkward and embarrassed to be honest, but I am supporting her just as she helped me throughout this journey. And I want to thank my friends for coming.

For sharing things that I have learned, I want to talk about the quality of honesty because I think about it a lot.

It is challenging to keep up with the changes; it is challenging when our desires fail; it becomes challenging to lose opportunities every day. Given all these, I still think that our time and the journey is enjoyable, if on any task we dedicate our time to, we do so with honesty. There is a lot of value in doing things with our bent of mind. Learning, understanding, and then doing things that we like to do. Failing is okay, and the number of attempts overtime does not matter. The result might be enjoyable, just as I realized that with my graduation.

The Great Scientists in Bite-sized Chunks by Meredith MacArdle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A simple book gives an overview of many scientists and explains their achievements within a page. The book is divided into categories such as Astronomy, Physics, Biology, Environment, etc, and goes from the earliest changemaker in this field to the latest. It is very easy to see how each of the scientists stood on top of the research done by the previous one, sometimes in a different field. The personal characteristics and the challenges faced by these scientists in their respective eras were entertaining to read.

In terms of personal characteristics, Roentgen, after discovering X-rays, had refused to benefit financially from his discovery believing that it should be freely available to all.

I wanted to note down Rudolf Virchow's view, wherein he believes: "Medicine is a social science, and politics is nothing else but medicine on a large scale".