Anushka

18 • Curious learner

CS Undergrad by day, exploring philosophy by night

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

@itsHimanshu_01 There was a 3 day bootcamp in which there were sessions like debugging, hard problems solving

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

So, in a 1-hour+ discussion at IIT Bombay with a CSE professor, I realized nobody actually knows what's going to happen. People fake a lot about AI, and I’ve met so many of them in real life. I loved how honest he was and just admitted, "I don't know!"

​3 DAYS VISIT AT IITB CHANGED ME COMPLETELY. The main reason? The lectures I attended there and interacting 1-on-1 with one of the best profs, literally across a dining table, with arguments as well!!

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

@sarsij I’ve asked a lot of people this exact same question and never got a satisfying answer. The main things that kept coming up were math, language, and basic survival skills.

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

@debuglol There was a 3-day C++ bootcamp. On the second day, we had dinner and got the opportunity for a 1-on-1 discussion with them! It’s arranged every year.

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

All queries successfully executed in the DBMS practical. Now onto DS!

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

कोजागिरी 🌕

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

After a month of tabla classes, I can play Bhajani, Dadra, Keherwa, and Rupak thekas in ekpat and duppat.

​The most challenging part has been mastering the sound of 'Naa' as my sir insists on a very crisp, resonant tone reminiscent of Ustad Zakir Hussain. Online tutorials often show it played at middle of the Kinaar, but he says it's 'sampradayik' used in bhajan.

​Unfortunately, I’ll be taking a month long break now due to the upcoming holidays!

[Raghunath Mashelkar @rameshmashelkar]

MATTER OF GREAT PRIDE FOR INDIAN SCIENCE!

Ashoke Sen becomes the first Indian to win the prestigious Oskar Klein Medal (2026), jointly  awarded by Stockholm University and the Nobel Committee for Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for his pioneering work in String theory.

https://t.co/dCJ1D9DVDs

String theory gives a unified description of all matter and the forces between them based on the postulate that the elementary constituents of matter are tiny one dimensional (string-like) objects instead of point particles. Sen’s breakthrough work has shown that multiple string theories are all different versions of a single underlying theory.

Incidentally, I met Ashok Sen for the first time, when both of us were elected  as FRS (Fellows of Royal Society) in 1998. Ashoke ( nominated by Stephen Hawking himself) was young 42 yrs and
I was an oldie - 55 yrs though!

What struck me was Ashoke’s  incredible simplicity. His wife Sumathi Rao has reportedly said that Ashoke bought his first suit and needed some assistance to wear his first tie for that prestigious 1998 FRS ceremony in London, when one signs in the same book that Sir Isaac Newton has signed.

A film made on the life and work of Ashoke Sen, when we at the
H K Firodia Award in Science & Technology honoured him in 2005 in Pune, will inspire all our budding scientists - showing how science & simplicity goes together.
https://t.co/XeCl4s35d6

We all feel so so proud Ashoke!

@PMOIndia @NITIAayog @PrinSciAdvOff @IndiaDST @CSIR_IND @ictstifr @PuneIntCentre @kvijayraghavan

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

The best roomies I could have ever asked for!! I still remember the day when I came to hostel in FY and got to know that my roomies are from TY, I was so so nervous. From that day till today, I never felt alone! As half of the academic year is done, we went for shopping and dinner!
Idk how both of you listened to my everyday rant about college and people out here🙃 You guys have seen the most raw version of me and still backed me every time. Whenever I used to have an argument with anyone, "Dekh le kya usko?" was the standard response I got!
I am gonna miss both of you so much!
@nosebleedmaxxin

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

The best roomies I could have ever asked for!! I still remember the day when I came to hostel in FY and got to know that my roomies are from TY, I was so so nervous. From that day till today, I never felt alone! As half of the academic year is done, we went for shopping and dinner!
Idk how both of you listened to my everyday rant about college and people out here🙃 You guys have seen the most raw version of me and still backed me every time. Whenever I used to have an argument with anyone, "Dekh le kya usko?" was the standard response I got!
I am gonna miss both of you so much!
@nosebleedmaxxin

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

Bought shrikhand goli after so manyy years🫶🏻

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

The deeper failure is that we have become accustomed to measuring our ability to accumulate knowledge instead of developing our ability to use it to create value.

Perhaps the future will belong less exclusively to those who know the most answers and more to those who know which questions deserve to be asked.

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

Today, while memorizing the syntax for a JDBC driver, I had a thought that made me question almost everything I have been doing for the past fifteen years.

What exactly have I been learning all these years?

Since the first standard, the process has remained remarkably consistent. We attend school, memorize concepts, reproduce them in examinations, score marks, and move on to the next grade. We become proficient at understanding what is expected of us and delivering it within a predefined framework. And when we perform well, we are rewarded. Good marks become evidence of intelligence, academic success becomes evidence of competence, and eventually, we begin to confuse our ability to perform in an examination with our ability to understand the world.
Somewhere along the way, I began to believe that learning meant acquiring information and that intelligence meant being able to reproduce or apply it when required.

Perhaps the problem isn't entirely rote learning. Perhaps it is something more subtle: we have spent years training ourselves to operate within established frameworks, but very little time learning how to question, build, or transcend them.

In India, competitive examinations such as JEE and NEET take this process a step further. They demand more than straightforward memorization; they reward pattern recognition, speed, conceptual recall, and the ability to identify the right approach to a familiar category of problems. These are valuable skills. But the larger question remains: does becoming exceptionally good at solving problems with predetermined answers necessarily prepare us to solve problems that have never been defined?

Even our professional journeys often follow a similar pattern. There is a roadmap for almost everything: learn a programming language, master a framework, complete a set of projects, prepare for interviews, secure a job, and climb the corporate ladder. We become accustomed to following instructions because, for most of our lives, following the right instructions has worked.

And then, suddenly, the world changes.

Artificial intelligence enters the picture, and the very abilities we spent years cultivating begin to lose some of their exclusivity. AI can generate code, explain theories, recognize patterns, write essays, and perform countless tasks that once required considerable human effort. It

And I think this is where a profound sense of restlessness begins to emerge. We are anxious about the future, uncertain about our careers, and increasingly unsure of what it means to be competent. Perhaps this uncertainty exists because we have spent so little time learning how to function in ambiguity. We have grown accustomed to problems with known solutions, evaluation criteria, and clearly defined expectations. We know how to prepare when the syllabus is available. But what happens when there is no syllabus, no answer key, no established roadmap, and no guarantee that the effort we invest will produce a desirable outcome?

We have learned how to succeed when the rules are given to us. We have barely learned how to act when the rules themselves are unclear.

And this limitation extends far beyond our careers.

Consider everything that contributes to building a good life. Can we identify a genuine problem in society and develop a practical solution for it? Can we understand what people need, rather than simply build what we think they need? Do we know how to market an idea, communicate its value, persuade others, negotiate, manage money, build relationships, or turn an uncertain idea into a sustainable business?

Do we understand human behaviour, incentives, institutions, or the economics that shape our everyday lives? Can we make sound decisions when information is incomplete? Can we take responsibility for something that has no model answer?

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

Today, while memorizing the syntax for a JDBC driver, I had a thought that made me question almost everything I have been doing for the past fifteen years.

What exactly have I been learning all these years?

Since the first standard, the process has remained remarkably consistent. We attend school, memorize concepts, reproduce them in examinations, score marks, and move on to the next grade. We become proficient at understanding what is expected of us and delivering it within a predefined framework. And when we perform well, we are rewarded. Good marks become evidence of intelligence, academic success becomes evidence of competence, and eventually, we begin to confuse our ability to perform in an examination with our ability to understand the world.
Somewhere along the way, I began to believe that learning meant acquiring information and that intelligence meant being able to reproduce or apply it when required.

Perhaps the problem isn't entirely rote learning. Perhaps it is something more subtle: we have spent years training ourselves to operate within established frameworks, but very little time learning how to question, build, or transcend them.

In India, competitive examinations such as JEE and NEET take this process a step further. They demand more than straightforward memorization; they reward pattern recognition, speed, conceptual recall, and the ability to identify the right approach to a familiar category of problems. These are valuable skills. But the larger question remains: does becoming exceptionally good at solving problems with predetermined answers necessarily prepare us to solve problems that have never been defined?

Even our professional journeys often follow a similar pattern. There is a roadmap for almost everything: learn a programming language, master a framework, complete a set of projects, prepare for interviews, secure a job, and climb the corporate ladder. We become accustomed to following instructions because, for most of our lives, following the right instructions has worked.

And then, suddenly, the world changes.

Artificial intelligence enters the picture, and the very abilities we spent years cultivating begin to lose some of their exclusivity. AI can generate code, explain theories, recognize patterns, write essays, and perform countless tasks that once required considerable human effort. It

And I think this is where a profound sense of restlessness begins to emerge. We are anxious about the future, uncertain about our careers, and increasingly unsure of what it means to be competent. Perhaps this uncertainty exists because we have spent so little time learning how to function in ambiguity. We have grown accustomed to problems with known solutions, evaluation criteria, and clearly defined expectations. We know how to prepare when the syllabus is available. But what happens when there is no syllabus, no answer key, no established roadmap, and no guarantee that the effort we invest will produce a desirable outcome?

We have learned how to succeed when the rules are given to us. We have barely learned how to act when the rules themselves are unclear.

And this limitation extends far beyond our careers.

Consider everything that contributes to building a good life. Can we identify a genuine problem in society and develop a practical solution for it? Can we understand what people need, rather than simply build what we think they need? Do we know how to market an idea, communicate its value, persuade others, negotiate, manage money, build relationships, or turn an uncertain idea into a sustainable business?

Do we understand human behaviour, incentives, institutions, or the economics that shape our everyday lives? Can we make sound decisions when information is incomplete? Can we take responsibility for something that has no model answer?

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

Maybe goodness has its own way of finding us. I didn't make it to a competition I'd registered for, yet my classmates were searching the corridors, just to know I was alright. In a world that can make kindness feel rare, there is something extraordinary about being cared for without having to ask.

[Ritiii @ayoitsritii]

opposing bjp is not anti-national, but supporting anti-nationals to oppose bjp is very anti-national.

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

The variety of flowers on campus is insane

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

@samosa_vibes O Narayani, who is the most auspicious among all that is auspicious, who grants all desires, who offers refuge, and who is known as Tryambaka (the three-eyed Goddess) and Gauri, I bow to you.

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके।
शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तुते॥

[Anushka @middayMonologue]

Just a coincidence, or a deliberate distraction right when FCRA decisions happen?