Profile
The Dissection I Promised
An Introduction to My
Immediate Family
Name: Rahul Pratap Maddimsetty
Date of Birth: 6th January, 1983
Languages Known: English, Hindi, Telugu
Height, Weight (like you care!): 6'2", 69±3 kg (just in case I'm wanted or lost, and you do care!)
Contact:
A * marks outdated information retained for sentimental reasons!
In India
* 360, Godavari Hostel, IIT Madras, Chennai 600036.
23, Mithila Nagar, Road No. 12 Banjara Hills, Hyderabad 500034.
* 6, 4th Avenue, Harrington Road, Chennai 600031.
Microsoft India Development Center, Microsoft Campus, Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500046.
In the US:
* 721 Eastgate Ave, Apt 2N, Saint Louis, Missouri 63130.
* Department of Computer Science, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, Saint Louis, Missouri 63130.
Email: rahul@rpmduplex.net
And this is a very big part of my
profile!
Favourite Musicians in alphabetical order: (Last Updated - September 26th, 2006!)
AC/DC, Aerosmith, Alice in Chains, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Coldplay, Creed,
Deep Purple, Def Leppard, Del Amitri, Dio, Dire Straits, The Doors, Dream Theater, Eagles, Europe, The Goo Goo Dolls, Guns N' Roses, Iron Maiden, Jethro Tull, Joe Satriani, Judas Priest, Meat Loaf,
Megadeth, Metallica, Michael Jackson, Mr. Big, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Pink
Floyd, Oasis, Queensryche, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Richard Marx, Rush, Savage Garden,
Scorpions, Simon and Garfunkel, Steve Vai, Sting and the Police, U2, Van Halen, The Verve, Whitesnake, Yngwie Malmsteen.
I end up liking practically all the music that I decide (after a rigorous screening process) to listen to, strictly (with the honourable exception of MJJ) provided it has a standard rock quartet at its core. I am not, however, too blinded by heavy metal, unlike many IITM rock freaks, to refuse admission to rock-pop and soft rock into my list.
This was composed when I was still in IIT Madras. I prefer not to change the body. I'll only mention that I went on to study at Washington University in St. Louis, in the state of Missouri, USA. Aspiration took me there too. And something much greater brought me back to India! Read on anyway. In growing as a person, I haven't deviated much from what is written here.
My life has passively followed a lot of factors to a number of
places. Custom led me to be born in Vizag. My father's Insistence led me
to be called Rahul (thus saving me from two fearsome names my mother had
in mind!). Two months later, Normal Life took me back home to Delhi.
Three years later, Circumstance brought us to Hyderabad. Goodness kept
me there for fourteen years. Aspiration brought me to IIT Madras. Now
I'm a Hyderabadi studying in Madras, going home to Cochin in his
vacations. (Actually, my family now lives in Madras, but at least for
variety, and the charm that Kerala holds, I prefer to leave the previous
sentence unchanged!)
My literary and artistic inclinations have sufficient coverage in
the rest of the site. What is Rahul Pratap (or if you're from IITM,
you'd know me by that infernal nickname!) as a person? If one day he
became really really famous, what would I have to know to be considered
his fan - What is it that the trivia books don't carry? (My! That's a
good one!)
Here I am. Perfectionist - over the most trivial issues. You may
call it an obsessive compulsive disorder of sorts.
Case Study #1: My CD collection
All CDs run from right to left (Damn! Did I screw up? Should I
change it to l-r?!)
i. In alphabetical order of artist name. All 'Various Artists' Albums
go to the end.
ii. In chronological order of album release for CDs of the same artist.
iii. In alphabetical order of Album Title for 'Various Artists' Albums.
The text on the spine must run top-bottom. I have dismantled the cd
covers, cut the spine off the back cover, turned it around, reattached
it, and reassembled six cds that didn't align themselves with the rest.
Ah! And all cds are put in their cases, with the label text parallel to
the length!
Case Study #1 Ends.
Case Study #2: My MP3 folders and
files
Since for some strange reason, the titles of albums and songs are
not usually written in Title Case on most audio CDs (i.e. all words in
the title are initially capitalised irrespective of whether they are
prepositions or articles. In Title Case, functional words, such as
articles, and prepositions of less than five letters are left in
lowercase), the files corresponding to songs, and the folders
corresponding to albums and artists are not in Title Case either.
i. Song filenames are obtained by prefixing a two-digit track number
(for the position of the song on the audio cd of the same album)
followed by a period, followed by a space, to the song name as specified
in the ID3 tag.
ii. As a corollary of (i) above, songs from double disc or multiple
disc albums are stored in separate folders, since the track numbers in a
folder must be unique.
Case Study #2 Ends.
Mail conclusions!
I have a terrific memory, for the wrong things. I remember the date
of practically every insignificant event in my life (Think! Have I ever
said or written to you, "...the date isn't important, I just happen to
remember..."?). If I could have used it to memorise the vast expanse of
anomalies, exceptions, and inconsistencies that Chemistry is ridden
with, not to mention those damn reactions and conversions, I wouldn't
have been a chemical engineer! (no that isn't funny, because I insist
Chemical Engineering is not Chemistry!)
At one time, my life was given to electronics and technology - I
worshipped Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, and a host of other giants. I can
tuck that phase into the past, with the comfort that the only way they
could have been present and future, is the cold, dark, stormy, hostile
Electrical Engineering Department of IIT Madras! (Did someone describe
Elec in M as 'Riding The Lightning'?!!)
Then, finally, I'm this guy who thinks too much about things that
won't help him later in life. But then why does 'wisdom' always advocate
living for the future and doing for self-enrichment? Why can't we let
some inconsequential acts into our lives? (here I go again!)
Closing note, for the trivia hunters. I love to write words in
triads. Count the number of times (I doubt it's 3!) that I've used three
consecutive, often redundant nouns or adjectives in the whole site,
including featured articles. You'll see!
An Introduction to My Immediate Family
Amma is how I (like a good Telugu speaking person ought to) address
my mother. Her name is Vijaya Pratap, and I find it extremely hard to
tie down her interests to any one given field. A broad outline would be
classical music (both Carnatic and Hindustani), dance, literature, art,
and social issues. She has been a freelance journalist and is now a
documentary filmmaker. In both forms of association with the media, she
has particularly concentrated on the themes I have enumerated. Amma has
done a wonderful job of sensitising both Ravi and I to her interests
and our cultural roots. I wonder if we can ever thank her enough for
providing all the ingredients to supplement our innate technical
outlook, and help us become more than just engineers.
Nanna is how I (again, like a good Telugu speaking person ought to)
address my father. His name is M.S. Pratap, and he is now the Insurance Ombudsman for the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand (he retired as General
Manager and Executive Director, United India Insurance Co. Ltd. - what shall always remain in my mind "my father's company".) Nanna shares Amma's
enthusiasm for Hindustani Classical music. He has been a very great
influence on both Ravi and me, in that he has taught us to think,
philosophise and intellectualise for ourselves, independent of tradition
or anything else that one may be given as unquestionable. And it is due
largely to him that we developed an interest in Science too.
Ravi Pratap M. is my elder brother, and unlike a good Telugu
speaking person, I do not address him as Anna any more! Ravi has
undoubtedly been the greatest influence in my life, and as it turns out,
we have done many of the same things in remarkably identical ways! I
cannot ever dream of summarising what he has meant to me in so laughably
small a paragraph. So see his
website for yourselves!
Silvi, or Silivas Daniela , if you please, (named by Amma, after a Rumanian gymnast at the Seoul Olympics, 1988) is the dog that graced our midst for ten and a half years. She remains the best behaved and most affectionate pet I have ever seen and known. Too bad the purest forms of life only live so long.