Port Forwarding with HAProxy
I recently acquired a beefy bare-metal server and wanted to run a bunch of services within VMs based on KVM managed by libvirt. Only ports 80 and 443 for these VMs would be exposed and the rest of the ports (say SSH) visible only from the internal network.
Initially, I …
read moreShantaram
Looks can be deceptive. Very deceptive. When some villagers name the protagonist "Shantaram" after his calm nature, little idea did they have of his fierce past. Shantaram tries hard to melt into his surroundings and maintain a low-key but keeps getting into trouble.
Gregory David Roberts, the author, embellishes his …
read moreWhen breath becomes air
What would you do if you are informed that you are dying (no timeline provided)? Would you continue working towards your dream? Or give up and spend the rest of the time cursing your fate?
Paul Kalanithi is close to completing his neurosurgeon residency at Stanford. He has worked hard …
read moreMahashweta
Dr.Anand falls in love with Anupama and it appears to be progressing like a fairy tale. After marriage, her husband leaves to England for higher studies and she is expected to follow him shortly. But she is diagnosed with Vitiligo and is shunted out of her in-laws and parents …
read moreOn the Origin of Species
I have heard of the phrase "Survival of the fittest" since childhood in contexts unrelated to Charles Darwin's (this phrase was added in a later edition) usage. It always piqued my curiousity on how he (and some people before him) proposed this revolutionary idea. They didn't observe the evolution of …
read morePakistan; or the partition of India
Every person in the Indian subcontinent is aware of the misery caused by the partition of India. A lot of people believe that the Indian Congress Party and the first Prime Minister of India were responsible. They insist that the partition could have been avoided and history would've been kinder …
read moreThe Bourne Identity
Countless number of times people have recommended this book but I pushed back by claiming that this book didn't fit my interests. Recently I realised that my reading has been wide-ranging and I don't have a favourite genre.
A man is found almost dead by fishermen in the middle of …
read moreMein Kampf
Sometimes one just needs to read history without being judgemental to appreciate the context. It puts certain things into perspective. You don't necessarily have to take a stand but only use it to expand your realm.
Mein Kampf is Adolf Hitler's autobiography. The book traces his journey from his childhood …
read moreAurangzeb: The man and the myth
History shouldn't be used to judge even though a lot of people claim that history should be the best judge. To judge a historical period, one must also factor in the context then. Without appreciating the context, one may end up distorting history. Aurangzeb is probably the most hated Mughal …
read moreThe Great Gatsby
When the going is good, everyone is 'friends' with you. But when the first signs of trouble appear, only the true friends remain. "The Great Gatsby" is a novel by Scott Fitzgerald that mashes friendship, love and betrayal in a story set in America in the 1920s (post the World …
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