Victory over ns2

So many updates, so many packages, so many hit and trials, 5 days, 2 systems, one software: NS2.34 !!! Tried to installed the software on my lab computer with Ubuntu 8.10 and lappy with Ubuntu 9.10 but both failed with the error:

tcl8.3.2 configuration failed! Exiting ...
Tcl is not part of the ns project. Please see www.Scriptics.com
to see if they have a fix for your platform.

The two standard methods given on the site:
http://www.isi.edu/nsnam/ns/ns-build.html
didn't work either... neither did! :(

Also the site:
http://www.mannasim.dcc.ufmg.br/index.htm

If these work for you right away, do tellme what did! :) thanks.

...then some issues came to light like

1. " you need to install the X libraries (to compile xgraph, nam, tk and otcl):
$ sudo apt-get install xlibs-dev
"

but "Package xlibs-dev is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package xlibs-dev has no installation candidate
"

2. " If your ubuntu version is 9.10, you must change the variable of environment CC
$ export CC=gcc-4.3
"

3. A blog wrote: " Firstly otcl doesn't compile with the latest gcc-4.4 (available with ubuntu 9.10). You need to compile it with gcc -4.3. If you get through this then also your problem is not solved, the ns-allinone-2.3x skips installing nam & xgraph as ubuntu 9.10 is not friendly with these packages available in ns-allinone-2.3x package.


Following are the simple steps to install ns2 on Ubuntu 9.10 through launchpad ppa.
A> Firstly remove all ns-allinone-2.3x directory (if you put it anywhere to install ns2) and revert back all the path changes you made in ~/.bashrc related to ns2.

B> Now export the Wouter Horré's ppa repository key by typing the following command on terminal and enter:
$ sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys B3F3334F

C> Now add the following ppa repository to source list [?]
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/wouterh/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/wouterh/ppa/ubuntu karmic main

Reload repository information when prompted by "The information about available software is out-of-date" notification or reload it manually by following command on terminal:
$ sudo apt-get update

D> Now type the following command on terminal to install ns from the launchpad ppa repository:
$ sudo apt-get install ns nam xgraph
"

Don't know if that worked magic for me or not, though i doubt it could have as i got the message:
$ sudo apt-get install nam
[sudo] password for gurmeet:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package nam

May be the package xgraph did!!!?

4. Yet another hit and trial... during which i discovered
A)
$ yum install autoconf
can be used in ubuntu after
$ sudo apt-get install yum
but obviously not before that... i thought yum is for fedora!?!
B)
PATH variable is not defined in /etc/profile or .profile... its .bashrc ! :)

" STEP 1

From terminal login as super user and do the following.(internet must also be connected in order to install the package dependencies.

yum install autoconf
yum install automake
yum install gcc-c++
yum install libX11-devel
yum install xorg-x11-proto-devel
yum install libXt-devel
And for nam installation (optional):
yum install libXmu-devel

STEP 2

From terminal go to the folder where the ns-allinone patch is placed and type the following to extract
$ tar -xzf ns-allinone-2.31.tar.gz
$ cd ns-allinone-2.29
$. /install

STEP 3

Now go to /etc folder and type

gedit ~/.bashrc

Add the following lines to the end of it. Remember replace "/your/path" by something like "/home/kazim". And accordingly also change the version numbers. This is for ns 2.31.
"

I stopped after STEP 1 only to look for ns 2.3x package for fresh download as some of the tarred files i had showed:
"gzip: stdin: unexpected end of file
tar: Unexpected EOF in archive
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
"
Meanwhile i found:

5. Finally the saviour:
http://nsnam.isi.edu/nsnam/index.php/Installing_ns2.31_on_Ubuntu7.04
worked for me on 9.10 :)

Following this i immidiately had everything in place! :)

just ONE word

hey!

Its late at night, may be not for most of you guys, but surely for me...still i'm banging my head against the lappy, as i'm hardly able to get over the busy tiring day amidst which i had many a weird and oft repeated thoughts, some which can be mentioned here but are a taboo from my family and some, reading which even you guys might be shocked!!!

It was just the beginning of a long day shopping at the Lajpath Nagar Central Market (donno if its correctly called so) when the endless chain of anxiety, anger, frustration, irritation and so many other feelings which I don't even have words for, started... it was when i was getting ready for the BIG day... i was about to visit my grandma's place after the shopping, and expectedly I was supposed to wear a turban there...

Its not that I have never worn the Big one earlier in my life, its just that the very idea of flauting it on my head, in the crowd where not none are like me, but none like me (that's completely my own point of view...you may find me the smartest surd ever, but my eyes beg to differ) except expectedly my mom among other family members...

So finally with my eyes closed...yes... Literally closed and my dad haven decorated the so-called sacred piece of cloth on my little little head... and then tied my well gelled beard to a neat one!!! (well, if this much neatness is allowed, then why not to the extent i want?) we left the house without me being reassured by the answer of "Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the most HIDEOUS of them all"!

If all this was not enough, this guy had to enter the Koutons showroom with his father exactly the same time as our shopping there... naah... i dont't have a crush on the guy (really?)... the guy was actually a sikh with his hair cut and was clean shaven too... and thankfully unlike many other hair-cut sikh guys he was not wearing a cap to hide/cover/whatever his head!

How does it affect me??? i was already fighting myself through my innermost largely unacceptable feelings, and suddenly someone comes and yells out at my face "LOOK... I HAVE ALL YOU WANT!!!"

Not shopping a single thing for myself was just one part of the story, but facing my family with a looOOoong face the entire day, saying a NO to whatever they offer to buy me, and ultimately ending the day with no results, just a blog entry is what I gained!!! Once my toungue went over to the extent of blurting out "jo chahiye wo to milta nahi hai" which earned as skeptical ears as eyes does my face!

Its not that I never talked about this with my family, but its that they consider it to be a topic of "Teaching Gurmeet" rather than a topic of "gurmeet's happiness" that I didn't discuss it today, even when they were making wild guesses of my dull mood; note... not very much asking me the same, except at my grandma's place in front of half a dozen other people ready to alienate me and my family upon a mention of something like that from any of us... listening this end most of my discussions with my parents about my happiness and perhaps self-confidence!

SO FAR

Much has changed since i last posted...

1) no tree as a background image, that lonely tree too found a good company and left me alone, but i think its only when we are all alone that we get most encouraging inner voices and most constructive feelings.

2) haven't brushed since morning, but ya, breakfast was good...when is the bathroom being vacated btw?

3) bathroom reminds me of soaps, yeah daily soaps on TV, man... they are so damn addictive!!! this addiction seems to be heredity to me... from my dadi to my mom and from my mom by trickle down effect to me too...

4) at the end of the day i have no choice but to watch Adult TV Show on Channel V... Dare 2 Date, where the most daring person would be the one who dares 2 date the host of the show... watch it to know more ;-)

5) the only thing adult in the show was perhaps mother of the guy... Abhishek who was made to interfere with the kids' date... when he and Sakshi were keenly (Abhishek not so keenly) talking about ex-BFs of the lady and their...

sex) life, which actually Mr. Delhi didn't have... oOOops...did i say lady, naah....she was a baby, wearing as small clothes as my maid's 3 month old...

7) finally, close-up in my mouth feels so better...bring on the breakfast once again :)

8) the show along with my house was screeming to donate some clothes to Sakshi in winter rather than my maid!

9) Intern Blues... IIT kind of forcing me to stay Googlish but who won't like to live life France way!!! now France needs some time to think about considering my application when my institute says it does not recommend me...more on that shortly

10) is google still interested in me? has my IIT asked google too to dump the not-so-loyal Gurmeet?

11) Academia.edu: someone just searched for you on Google!!!
Me: who is it?
Academia.edu: someone from the United Kingdom searched Gurmeet Singh IIT
Me: excuse me... what is Google? and where is France? i live life the UK way!!!

12) Weekly HT-City message: be sincere, not serious.... and i realize that i was missing this during my 1st year of IIT... too serious? must be Gurmeet....ye newspaper me tab kyu nahi aya???

13) is it actually an unlucky number? i didn't think so when both google and France offered me intern on Friday the 13th November, but now when both are virtually fighting over (read 'with') me, i realize that may be its got something to do with the Super Combo of Friday+13th...!!!

{14) 14 in hindi... after world AIDS day celebration with my GF yesterday (this reminds me of the 'bhabhiji' incident) i feel too sleepy today! }

15) wonder why the above point is in braces? well.. { XXX } is a condom!

16) 'bhabhiji' incident...no its not some savita bhabhi like incident... those are on my underground blog site, mail me to subscribe...

17) well, a freind of mine from insti scrapped me "gurmeet tu hume bataya nahi bhabhiji ke baare me? yahan sab tujhse kaafii naraz hain" i wonder how this spread at the insti...shayad sach hai... pyaar aur pimple chhupaye nahi chhupta... where's the my anti-pimple lotion btw?

An anklet on the seashore

The sun rises, long night had it been;
I see you here, right in front of me;
I feel your love, emanating bright;
And touch your heart, with my eyes...

The color of morning, a numbness of dusk;
The crowd of people, a lonely bus;
The thousand tears, a million smiles;
You are in me a zillion miles...

The night so long, never ending I wished;
That brought us close with the changing time;
The time stood still, left me there;
But my body yet, yearns you here...

The moments of love, spent with you;
Trust me dear, my heart was true;
The love we had, the stars had seen;
Closed in the closet, my tears have been...

The melodious flute the sea had played;
The beautiful memories that never could fade;
The touch of night, the kiss of time;
Your heart may bury, mine is sublime...

Dancing the wind, were my heart and spirit;
Lost in the dreamland, never came out of it;
I'll be yours, you'll be mine;
Said my lips, and your eyes' shine...

The twinkle in your eyes, this heart still owns;
The twinkles of my eyes are wiped out and thrown;
An anklet you thought for me was enough?
And took my heart for this heart-shaped stuff?

Wherever you are, wherever you may go;
Your heart has mine, and that's for sure;
The night i miss, will make you cry;
You'll search me on the shore I'll never pass by.

NEXT TIME...

The heart wrinkles, and dream twinkles;
When heart brims, my soul shrinks;
Open the door, let me in;
The love if true, is never a sin;
World may laugh, world may LOL;
Nothing but you matters at all;
Words too common, not words too lame;

The three if i say, then please don't blame...

I look in your eyes, you know that i love;
You do care about me, matters all above;
The words unflown, the unquenched thirst;
I fear the secret may tear, twist or burst;
U realize y i don't say, the pain of my heart;
Ki keh na saka tumse main wo chhoti si baat...

You stopped me from writing you,
I stopped self from meeting you;
If you hear me my dear angel,
Let me say my heart is true;
If you know the "you" is YOU, do me a favor;
No need to write anything with keyboard, cell or paper;
Stop my pinching pain with a simple yes or no...
NEXT TIME I SEE YOU, JUST TURN BACK AND GO...

MORE ANG ANG

my body plays melodious flute...
the remembrance of your memories...
slowly my heart dances the wind...
like on a river a boat waving...
i will lose self in the city of dreams...
i will be my mine today...
i will lose self in the city of dreams...
i will be by my mine today...
fire is the the color of my hand...
fire is the the color on my hand...
like fire in the dusky sun...
fire in the the color of my hand...
fire in the the color on my hand...
fire is the the color of my hand...
like dusky sun in the fire...

O dear...
long have i been wanting...
like eyes am i waiting...
O dear, O dear...
long have i been yearning...
like open eyes am i waiting...
my heart is long lit...
lit is the heart of my heart...
yet moon may not be lit...
my body is the melodious flute...
playing the remembrance of the memories...



COURTESY: "More ang ang" from "Charkha" by "Rahat Fateh Ali Khan"

You beside me...

Then i look beside me, you are there no more...
And then i look behind, all this while i'd been alone...
Long had it been, my soul that could feel you...
Living a lie, i love you, you hurt me, i heal you...
Lazy summer evenings lost in your heavens...
The river stood still, when overflew my heart...
Sun poured the rains, on desert's thunderstorm...
And i am beside you, caressing and warm...
And then i look beside me...

WE, THE PEOPLE

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC... frankly speaking, i never paid any heed to these BIG words (BIG because they are pasted from wikipedia, i didn't make them CAPITAL), at least after the class tenth exams, until asked to write a blog entry on this, and a deeper look at these words makes me wonder if we are any of these words?

For instance how many of us in IIT do not indulge in kind of any discrimination on the basis of region, like calling the South-Indians aintra when they do not like it; on the basis of religion, calling others katua when none can ever like it; on the linguistic grounds, for instance not talking to one's neighbor if he can't speak good hindi...??? The list goes endless... and yes, more or less, WE THE PEOPLE, are ALL a part of it.

India, in my eyes, i may contradict many here though, has never been SECULAR. Yet i can guarantee to say that if the same neighbor falls ill, or that aintra needs help, then not many would turn skeptical towards the needy... So why is it that we find fun in momentary pleasures of senseless, needless, pointless, rather unacceptable form of humor which touches sensitive nerves of some sensitive others???

Remaining silent about the other four BIG words, i can't forget the denial of entry to a German Disco a couple of months back purely on the grounds of my religion, when my Indian friends, even after my genuine request, refused to leave me alone outside and we had to settle for a Coffee Bar instead of the Dance Bar ;) Did i mention these are the guys who used to LOL around when i washed my long hair??? Did i mention that while writing this, even i feel i contradict myself...

Well... keeping in mind the experiences of being in minority since the childhood, i'm bound to hold the stand on the, so to say, non-secular India... but somewhere inside me the INDIAN shouts back and says... "chhod na yaar, jaise bhi hain mere apne hain...CHILL dude, so are we... WE THE PEOPLE"

Know Your True Self

Know your true self... realize the mysterious difference between what you want to say and what you say, what you think and what you actually do...

Not very seldom do we find ourselves in situations when we wonder why can we not follow our hearts, why is it that we have to live life the others' way, why can't we just say whats in our mind, why words at our lips don't flow and those knocking at the beholder's ears are told?

Do we fear hurting them? Do we fear revealing our true identity? But the most important question is do we ourself realize this? Do we know when last time we had a conflict between whether to hurt selves by not listening to our heart or not...

So lets all do one thing in the near future for ourselves which we would not have done otherwise... If you do, please post here...

Self Respect vs Selfishness

          I still remember Raghu (no, Rajiv, or...whatever) asking Roop, if some girls on the show bitch about you on your face, will you take the shit.... and she said-- after politically mentioning that if she needs to maintain good relations with them, she can let them go-- "no i wont take the shit ON MY FACE"! And this takes me back to my doubt, should i do the same? I was never among those who would stand infinite humiliation and laugh along with the jokers.

          Should i break all fake relations and give them a piece of my anger, long accumulated, and ready to erupt? Should i say, "Hey, stop acting, i know what you are on my back...."? Should i turn my face when once more they look at me and when i'm gone... laugh? Should they not know that me, whom they know for so long, if needed can be more evil than anyone can imagine? Should i show them that when i punch someone on his face, its not so easy to open the eye for next few days?

          But as they say, every action has an equal and opposite reaction... In this case the reaction is obvious... So here comes my Selfishness, standing tall and confident in front of my self respect. Fear of dying a lonely death gives me strength to carry the corpse of these relations on my shoulders, flaunting them to the heartless, soulless wood and fire of the cemetery? Now i truly realize why when returning from my equally (or may be less) bad intern, my heart wrote "from hell to Hell" as status message on Orkut. Somewhere deep inside i knew i don't have anyone (pardon me if you are not among them) waiting for me here.

          I wished that some day everyone would behave with me as if i'm a regular guy like them... but now the wish to wish has vanished. I wanted that i too hang around with someone who accepts me the way i am... but now their rejection took over My acceptance to anyone. I needed a friend to know my heart and stand by me in the tough times... but now time has stood against me and the thing called friendship.

          Is it my selfishness that stops me from turning into a rebel? Or do i still have faith the in over-rated virtue known as Humanism, which i usually completely disagree with, animals being more sensitive to such humanistic problems? If former, then is my act justified? Am i not being as wicked a guy as them? But my act is just to pretend i don't know anything and actually... not act!!! So this does no harm to them at least (as if i care). If latter, is it possible that the snow which didn't fall in IIT Guwahati in years, will fall this summer? Huh...

          Those who think they don't fall in above described category, what would you do if, God forbid, you were in my shoes? And those who do (i made this blog public for you guys), here you have another thing about me to discuss in your chat sessions...

A relation called Smile...

Quite a few semesters have passed at my institute and i still wonder why is it that i gel very well with some people and know i can get along well with some others, but above all know that i would never be able to befriend the rest...? Took me an effortless realization to find out that the answer lies in one of the most beautiful gifts of the Creator to the creation, and that is Smile.

A pure simple smile travels across the room, over the windows, the greens , the roads, hostels and cities... Even the slightest of the smiles can be felt across boundaries on telephone calls. The heavy heart lightens and enlightens the mind to start over reconsidering the difficulties again... for the sake of those who care about us, and are not aware of what goes inside us when we listen to their smile when no ray of hope was seen...

But then what is it that stops those few others to spread this gesture of warmth and comfort to the people around? Or is it me who has closed myself to the restricted 'some' and turn a skeptical eye to the smiling others? While the former seems to be convincingly true, the latter gives a completely new turn to this blog... ;) On a second thought, i recall myself trying to commence the conversation with the same old bad smile of mine, today itself, but obviously knocking on the doors closed permanently for me...

Continuing my good experiences with the golden smile, what surprises me is how A wrinkles his lips to bring a smile on my face while B can smile at me as many times in the day as we pass by... no words are exchanged, no handshake is holding the bond upright, but the thread of smile connects us to a relation beyond words. Then comes a thought that who is, pardon me for this, a better friend of mine? Is it A, who struggles his unwillingness to acknowledge looking at me, but still has a soft corner in his heart for me to finally share his happiness with me? Or B who has been a smilingly boring friend of mine since ever?

I think me writing all this is itself explaining my feelings towards both... but i wish the C could see that my heart is still open for him...

Beginning of the end

After i walked down from the office to my apartment all alone; not willing to look back even once, still i did twice, to see if someone's coming running behind me in a rather filmy style saying that i have forgot something in there, or may be they forgot to say something to me, but no one did; i said to myself "...and so it ends" and thereby decided to post something with that title, but then i thought that i have not reached home yet, so it is actually just a Beginning of the end.

The little postcards i gave to all my colleagues, some who deserved and others who did not, and a gift i received from my most recent friend here, from whom i least expected a gift (yes, being the most recent one...he was here just a week back, still the bonding we share is just next to what i share(d) with Bettina) made my day more than complete and gave me a true feeling how a departure feels like.

The ever-so-happy-go-lucky guy Hamed, unaware of what i went through in the morning while going to the office for the last time, wanted to have a Last Game of pool before i leave, and destroy me and Alexey (another colleague, with whom i usually team up during the game, the team which today got a name too, the Golden Team Of Gurmeet and Alexey, thanks to Hamed) and "DESTROY us and BRING TEARS TO OUR EYES"... well the capitalization tries to imitate the way he says these words :D Actually this time he changed his usual dialogue to "BRING PRE-DEPARTURE TEARS to his eyes", which i got, but not during the last pool game, which we never played...

On one hand i'm sad that i could not meet Bettina on my last day to the office, and on the other, i'm glad that i didn't burst into emotions in front of her today. Her sudden "bye forever" to me a week ago when she went for her vacations, left me with no time to get emotional on her farewell, which was actually my farewell... Had it been this day, i don't know how would i react to saying a Bye to her... Luckily enough, i had made the postcards for everyone the night before Bettina's farewell and took them to office and had them clicked, in order to have their memories with me, but surely not knowing that i'd be needing one of them so soon...

Well... now all i'm waiting for is the End of this end, and i reach back home to see the happy faces whom i've kept waiting ever since i left them... but i want the time between End of this end and the Beginning of the beginning to go smoothly, may be i should watch some movie in the flight, to keep my emotions at a par, but largely i believe that i'm strong enough to walk away from people whom i've known for just two months, especially when it is about walking towards those who've known me since years...

Bettina is here today???

Long after the poetry left my life (defeat in poetry competitions sometimes leads to discouragement to write at all...), after India left my life, i thot y not share a funny incident at Germany. Wonder what can be the difference between "Bettina is HERE today???" and "today BETTINA is here???"

Well...Bettina is the administrative incharge of institute where im having my intern. A nice simple lady describing whom would take me a few more posts though.. Apart from her, the office has this Irani guy named Hamed, a really funny guy, not only by his words and actions, but also by the look at his face when he hits the pool balls hard and says "AGGRESSION....HABIBI!!!!" ohh....by the way, habibi means dear friend :)

The other day there was a lull at our institute, everyone so busy with their work that no one even knows if the other person is in Lab or not. Then comes our lunch time when the whole office goes to the canteen to grap hot food like a big happy family... But before we leave, there's the trend of attending the call of nature among the office people...

And like any other place in the world, at Max Plank Institute too we have a Gents (Herren) toilet and a Ladies (Damen) toilet. Wonder why im mentioning it??? yeah... Hamed arrives from his office walking down the corridor to pay a visit to the washwroom before the lunch, and as he opens the door, he shouts (like he always is at a higher scale of volume) "Bettina is here today???"

I wonder what he meant by "here"... was it "the office", as i said it was too quite to know if the other person is around... or did he actually see something inside the Damen washroom when he opened the door??? ohh....Damen = ladies

And the next sound we all hear is "OOOOhhhhh Shitttt..." as Hamed slams the door realizing that he opened the ladis toilet's door instead of a gents' one (if he intended to at all) and quickly runs to the Herren WC (Gents toilet)

Moments later Hamed is back from his job and repeats again (i didnt say SHOUTS again) "Bettina is here today???" NOW it seems he wants to know if she has come to office or not... assuming he didn't see ANYthing in there, i giggle and tell him at a lower tone "She was in the toilet when u opened the door" , and then after the pause of a moment or so, "Didn't u see her???"

"Lunch With God"

A little boy wanted to meet GOD. He knew it was a long trip to where GOD lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer. When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman. She was sitting in the park just staring at the pigeons. The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her a Twinkie. She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Again, she smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.

As it grew dark, the boy realised how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around ran back to the old woman, and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever. When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later; his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?" He replied, "I had lunch with GOD. " But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what?" She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!

Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home. Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and he asked, "Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy?" She replied, "I ate Twinkies in the park with GOD." However, before her son responded, she added, "You know, he's much younger than I expected.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Embrace all equally!