learning new alphaets

These are the new alphabets that came to mind these days..
algorithms
bayes
C++
dijkstara
euler
fibonacci
google ;)
hamiltanion
ieee
jsp
k-means
linux
map-reduce
neural network
os
python
quicksort
random numbers
svm
top k
ubuntu
vc dimension
www
xml
youtube
zombie

मशीद

मला रस्त्यावरुन चालत / गाडी चालवत जाताना आजुबाजुला दिसणार्या देवळांकडे पाहुन नमस्कार करायची सवय आहे. हो, सवयच म्हणावं लागेल! म्हणजे कित्येकदा तर ते मंदीर नक्की कुठल्या देवाचं आहे हे ही माहित नसतं पण सवयीनं हात कपाळाकडे जातो किंवा मान झुकतेच. रोज ऑफिसला जाता येता मला किमान १५ देवळं तरी दिसतात. आणि हो.. एक मशीद सुद्धा दिसते. खरतर मशीदीमधली प्रार्थना (हो, नमाजच. पण इथं आधी लिहिल्याप्रमाणे खरच दोन्ही सारखंच तर आहे!) खूप वेळा कानावर पडते. कित्येकदा आत जावसंसुद्धा वाटतं पण नाहीच गेले कधी! असो!

तर  ही रोज दिसणारी मशीद. अगदी सिग्नलच्या चौकात आहे. त्यामुळे गर्दीच्या वेळेला तर हमखास मी सिग्नलला थांबलेली असताना सगळं लक्ष मशीदीकडेच जातं. बुरखाधारी बायका त्यांच्या चिल्ल्यापिल्ल्यांना घेवून लगबगीनं आत जात असतात. एखादा भिकारी मशीदिच्या दारात लोकांकडे आशेने बघत बसलेला असतो. बाईकवरुन आलेला एखादा तरूण आत जाताना मात्र डोक्यावर पांढरी टोपी घालत असतो. कुठल्याही देवळाबाहेर असेल असंच दॄश्य!

एक दिवस सिग्नलला थांबलेली असताना अचानकच मी नमस्कार केला. मशीदीकडे पाहुन. मग ती हि सवय लागली. काल त्या सिग्नलला आल्यावर ब्रेक लावणार गाडीला इतक्यात समोरच्या गाडीवर मागे बसलेल्या एक खेडवळ बाईकडे लक्ष गेलं. ती - साधंसं सुती लुगडं, कपळावर लाल कूंकू, सावळा रंग - ती हात जोडत होती - मशीदीकडे पाहुन. का कुणास ठावुक, पण फारच भारी वाटलं!

नापास (न झालेल्या) मुलीची गोष्ट

"नापास होणं" यात चर्चा करण्यासारखं काय असतं - ते मला अजुन समजलेलं नाही! एखाद्या दिवशी आईनं केलेल्या पोळ्या चिवट झाल्या किंवा एखाद्या कोकणातल्या मुलीनं "मकई की रोटि, सरसोंका साग" वगैरे पहिल्यांदाच बनवलं आणि ते पुर्णपणे फसलं - तर आई आणि ती मुलगी नापास की काय?! नाहीच! कारण पोळ्या चिवट व्हायला नीट न दळलेल्या कणकेपासुन ते बर्नरची आच नीट न असणं अशा कित्येक गोष्टी कारणीभूत असू शकतात. तसचं त्या बिचार्या कोकणकन्येला आमसुलाच्या साराची सवय, तीला कसं लगेच "मकई की रोटि, सरसोंका साग" जमणार? तसंच आहे! १०० पैकी मार्क द्यायचे ठरवले तर त्या चिवट पोळ्यांनाही कदाचित ३५ मिळायचे नाहीत! after all, in the world of relative grading...! :)

आमच्या घरात मात्र "पास"/"नापास" ह्यावर इतर बर्याचशा घरांप्रमाणेच चविष्ट चर्चा मी नेहमीच बघत आले आहे. मग ती मी शाळेत असतानाची असो किंवा माझी भाची आत्ता शाळेत असतानाची असो! विषय आणि मुद्दे तेच! पास/नापास एकवेळ समजु शकतो माणुस कारण असे टप्पे माणसाच्या आयुष्यातली प्रगती (नक्की कसली?) दर्शवितात (म्हणे!). पण, साडे नव्याण्णव मार्क का मिळाले (अहो, म्हणजे १०० का नाहीत)? - अशा गोष्टी म्हणजे जरा जास्तच नाही का? या आणि अशा कित्येक प्रश्नांच्या सरबत्तीला मी तोंड दिलेलं आहे आणि माझी भाचीसुद्धा तोंड द्यायला हळुहळु शिकत आहे! असो!

माझ्या सुदैवाने(च म्हणावं लागेल), मला "पास/नापास" ला कधी तोंड द्यावं लागलं नाही. माझं शिकत असताना एक तत्व .. आरे बापरे.. नाही म्हणजे साधाच नियम म्हणा.. होता. तो म्हणजे - "परिक्षेचा फडशा पाडायचा". मला अभ्यास करायला, पेपर लिहायला, उत्तरं अधोरेखित करायला वगैरे वगैरे इतकं प्रचंड आवडायचं की ठरवूनदेखील मी शाळा-कॉलेज च्या परिक्षामध्ये कधी नापास झाले नसतेच बहुतेक! त्यामुळे एका प्रकारच्या प्रश्नांच्या सरबत्तीमधुन माझी सुटका झाली! पण त्यामुळे असं व्हायचं की - "एव्हढा चांगला अभ्यास करतेस, आणि काय ग आयत्या वेळेस अशा चुका करतेस - थोडं अजुन वाचलं असतंस, पाठ केलं असतंस, तर पैकीच्या पैकी मिळाले असते" अशा कॉमेंट्सना मात्र सामोरं जावं लागायचं. कोणी विशेषतः गणिताच्या बाबतीत मला असं म्हणालं की - "गणित बरोबर आहे पण मधल्या २ स्टेप्स खाल्यास! नाहीतर पैकीच्या पैकी मिळाले असते" - की मला एव्हढा प्रचंड राग यायचा! मला वाटायचं - त्या स्टेप्स काय लिहयच्या! - किती सोप्प्या आहेत त्या! शिक्षकांना तर कळेलही तेवढं!! अशा न आवडण्यार्या गोष्टी न केल्यामुळे जे काही मार्क्स जायचे तेवढ्याची बोलणी मात्र यायची वाट्याला!

पण "नापास" या शब्दाने खरंतर माझ्या आयुष्यात प्रवेश केला होता. पण तो खोटा-खोटा! म्हणजे - चौथीत असताना, शिष्यवृत्तीच्या सराव परिक्षेत, मी एकदा मजाच केली होती! म्हणजे बाईंनी सांगितलं पेपर-अ सोडवा आणि मी (झोपेत!) सोडवला पेपर-ब! झालं! MCQ असल्यामुळे पेपर चेक करताना फक्त पर्याय तपासले गेले आणि मी १०० पैकी २० मार्क्स मिळवुन चक्क नापास झाले! एकदम "नापास" असा मानसिक धक्का बसल्यामुळे (किंवा लोकांनी दिल्यामुळे) मी भोकाड पसरलं आणि नंतर माझ्या बाईंनाच शंका आली आणि सगळा उलगडा झाला!

असं एकमेव खोटं "नापास" सोडलं तर लोकांच्या दृष्टीनं महत्वाच्या अशा कुठल्या परिक्षेत नापास झाले नाही मी. मला नेहमी वाटायचं, कसं वाटत असेल नापास झालं तर? खरंच का ती आयुष्य संपवण्याइतकी लाजिरवाणी गोष्ट आहे? हळुहळु मला जाणवलं की लोकांकडुन नेहमीच "नापास" ही जाणीव करुन दिली जाणारच! आपण १०० % दिले असतील तर कुठलीच गोष्ट मनावर घ्यायची गरज नसते!

मजा म्हणजे - या कधीच नापास न झालेल्या मुलीबद्दल सगळ्यांना भारीच विश्वास निर्माण झाला होता आणि दुर्दैवानं तो "अभ्यास / शिक्षण" या पलिकडे गेला होता! म्हणजे ही "नापास" न झालेली मुलगी सगळीकडेच पास च होत राहणार असा दुर्दम्य (उगिच!) विश्वास! आणि त्यातच ती नापास झाली! कशात माहितिए? - चारचाकी गाडी चालवण्याच्या परिक्षेत! आणि तिथच तिला कळलं - की - ती आजवर कधी नापास झाली नाही कारण आजवर तिनं तिच्या मनासारखं केलं - मनाविरुद्ध केलेली / शिकलेली ही एकच गोष्ट - चारचाकी चालवायला शिकणं! अजुनही कोणी मला म्हटलं की घे आता चारचाकी आणि त्यातुन जा ऑफिसला - की मला ऐकुनच कंटाळा येतो.

theoretically मात्र आई.आई.टी. मध्ये कित्येक वेळा आम्ही "नापास" झालेलो आहोत! मग ते CS601 मधले 17/70 असोत किंवा अतिप्रसिद्ध CS636 मधले 5.5/35 असोत! ते मार्क्स घरी सांगायची वेळ आली नाही म्हणुन ठीक, नाहितर बोलणी अटळ होती! पण त्या 5.5 किंवा 17 मध्ये प्रचंड मजा होती! कधी कधी तर 5.5 हेच सर्वोत्तम मार्क्स असायचे! तेव्हा तर आनंद गगनात मावत नसे! :D अशा वेळी तर "नापास" हे गावीही नसायचं कोणाच्या!

पण जवळ्जवळ १२-१४ वर्षांनीदेखील माझ्या भाचीला त्या आणि तशाच प्रकारच्या प्रश्नांना तोंड द्यावं लागतंय म्हणजे खरंच कठीण आहे! "परिक्षा" आणि 'मार्क्स" या जगात हरवलेल्या लोकांमध्ये राहणारया एखाद्याला, ज्याचं/जिचं माझ्यासारखं परिक्षेवर प्रेम नाही आहे - अशांसाठी हे किती त्रासदायक ठरेल!

"मतकरी", "दुनियादारी" आणि "दुर्दम्य"

पोस्टच नाव वाचून तुम्ही काय विचार केला असेल, खरंच माहीत नाही. पण हे पोस्ट आहे, माझ्या एका अत्यंत आवडत्या लेखकाबद्दल आणि आवडत्या २ पुस्तकांबद्दल...

खरं तर मी "पुस्तक वेडी" / "वाचन प्रेमी" वगैरे कधीच नव्हते... शाळेत क्रमिक मराठी पुस्तकांशिवाय मी फ़क्त दररोज येणारा "सकाळ", त्यासोबत येणार्या पुरवण्या आणि दिवाळीत येणारी "पाडवा विशेष" पुरवणी किंवा फार फार तर "साप्ताहिक सकाळ" या पलिकडे काही वाचलं नाही... नाही म्हणायला, पु. लं. चं थोडं फार दहावीच्या सुट्टीत वगैरे वाचलं असेल, इतकच... मराठीची ही तर्हा, तर हिंदी आणि इंग्रजी बद्दल तर बोलायलाच नको... हिंदी वाचनाचा मला खूप कंटाळा यायचा... अजूनही येतो... माझं खरं "वाचन" सुरु झालं ते वयाच्या एकविसाव्या वर्षी... तेव्हा मी बंगळूरात कामानिमित्त, घरापासून दूर अशी होते... घरी, पुण्यात कधीच केल्या नाहित अशा गोष्टी मी तिकडे पहिल्यांदा केल्या... जसं की "स्वयंपाक" :D तसंच एक "वाचन"... सुरुवात झाली ती इंग्रजी पुस्तकांपासून... मग हळुहळु कल मराठी पुस्तकांकड़े वळला...

पूर्वी कधी तरी "झी मराठी" वर एक मालिका लागायची... "गहिरे पाणी" - मी ही मालिका अतिशय आवडीने पहायचे... जेव्हा मराठी वाचन सुरु केलं तेव्हा पहिलं पुस्तक वाचावंस वाटलं, ते "रत्नाकर मतकरीं" चं... काही पुस्तकं वाचल्यावर लक्षात आलं की मतकरी सगळच काही रहस्यमय लिहित नाहित... उदाहरणच द्यायचं झालं... तर त्यांचच "माणसांच्या गोष्टी" हे पुस्तक... एका वाक्यात सांगायचं तर - माणूस एकच पण त्याचा  दोन प्रसंगापरत्वे बदलणारा स्वभाव - तो बदल किती अतर्क्य असतो कधी कधी, याच्या गोष्टी... हे पुस्तक मला खूप आवडलं.. आणि ते ही रहस्यप्रधान नसून देखिल! परवाच घरी मतकरींचचं अजुन एक छानसं पुस्तक वाचायला मिळालं... "शांततेचा आवाज" - खरं सांगायचं तर हे पुस्तक मी नावावरून "रहस्यमय" असेल असं वाटल्यामुळे घेतलं पण नंतर कळलं की या सुद्धा साध्याच गोष्टी आहेत... काही लेखकांच्या लिहिण्याच्या पद्धतीमुळेच आपण त्यांच्या प्रेमात पडतो. मतकरींच्या बाबतीतही हेच आहे. रहस्यमय असो किंवा नाही, त्यांचं पुस्तक हातात घेतलं की ठेवावसच वाटत नाही!

व. पु. - नाही! त्यांचं लिखाण मला कधीच आकर्षक वाटलं नाही. सर्वात पहिलं वाचलं ते "पार्टनर" - खरच खूप बोअर झालं! अशातच एक दिवस - शनिवारी लायब्ररीमधुन "दुनियादारी" आणलं. रविवार कसा गेला, समजलच नाही! एका बैठकीत संपवलेलं हे एकमेव पुस्तक असावं! त्यातलं काय आवडलं हे सांगणं खरच कठीण आहे कारण जेव्हा दुनियादारी पुस्तकावर बेतलेली मालिका झी मराठीवर लागायची तेव्हा मला ती अशक्य बोअर झाली! असो! :)

आय.आय.टी मध्ये असताना रुपालीकडुन "दुर्दम्य" बद्दल ऐकलं होतं. खूप दिवसांपासुन इच्छा होती की वाचावं. टिळक म्हणजे माझे आदर्श - दैवत म्हटलं तरी योग्य! गंगाधर गाडगीळ लिखित या चरित्राने अतिशय सुन्दर अनुभव दिला. यामधल्या एका उतार्याबद्दल मी इथे आधी लिहिलं आहेच. या पुस्तकाच्या वाचनाबद्दलच्या २ मस्त आठवणी आहेत. एक म्हणजे मला एरवी बस मध्ये पुस्तक वाचताना प्रचंड झोप येते पण या पुस्तकाचं अर्ध्याहून अधिक वाचन माझं बस मध्येच झालंय! पुणे-मुम्बई एशिआड मध्ये! :) आणि उरलेलं KReSIT च्या SIC 312 मध्ये! त्याची मजा म्हणजे - हे पुस्तक मे लॅबमध्येच नेऊन ठेवलं होतं. प्रोजेक्ट करून बोअर झालं की वीस एक पानं वाचुन काढायचे मी. मागल्या वर्षी डिसेंबर-जानेवारी च्या सुमारास vldb deadline च्या वेळेस असंच एकदा वाचत होते आणि माझ्या गाईड vldb संबंधी काही बोलायला लॅबमध्ये आल्या. त्यांनी पुस्तक पाहुन त्याबद्दल विचारलं. मी लगेच टिळकांबद्दल भरभरुन बोलायचा आणि पुस्तकाची जाहिरात करायचा चांस मारला! :D vldb सोडुन आम्ही "दुर्दम्य" वरच बोलत बसलो! इतका की त्यांनी (त्या बेंगाली आहेत, पण टिळक बेंगाल मध्येही कमालीचे लोकप्रिय होते!) मला "मी ते नंतर वाचायला घेइन" असं सांगितलं! मगच मी माझी बडबड थांबवली! ;) पण मराठीत असल्यामुळे त्यांनी ते वाचलं नाही ती गोष्ट वेगळी!!

"Rules"!

A small (made_huge) incidence happened today morning. It's my Day-9 at Sybase and Day-7 to park in the company parking. As usual, I drove in at the parking security area anticipating usual sequence of security check - I will open my bag, the security lady will check it, then she will check pep+'s dickie and then I'll flash my campus access card and I'll go in and park pep+. But, as soon as I entered the area, the security guy stopped me. It went on like this-
He: "You don't have sticker for cybercity. You can't park in here."
I: "Which sticker?"
He: "Sticker that every vehicle has. You don't have it. You can't park in here."
I: "How am I supposed to know about the sticker?"
He: "Everyone knows about it. Didn't you get the mail?"
I: "No, I did not. And I don't know anything about it. Let me park in."
He: "Take your vehicle on one side. It's blocking other vehicles."

I did as he said. By the time I moved, the other lady (who checks my bag and all, every day) started.
She: "You can't park. You don't have sticker."
I: "Right you are. But, Nobody gave me sticker. Tell me whom to collect it from. I'll do that asap."
She: "No, it's been 4-5 months now, you should have had it on your vehicle by now."

This sentence hit me.
I: "What! I joined last Monday! Which 4-5 months you are talking about?"

But, somehow I could not stand there. May be, I felt insulted. I don't know. Without speaking a word, I took my pep+ off the security area; Crossed the road and parked in Pay_and_Park area.

Later I felt like crying. I probably did.

I decided to complain about those two security guards when I'm going to collect the sticker. Only then I could feel better.

But, the Q still remains. Was it my fault? No. I was not aware of it. Neither I got any mail about it. Was it their fault? No. They were doing their assigned duty. But, probably yes. Is that a way to talk? What was insulting to me? Of course NOT that I had to park in Pay_and_Park. Those 5 bucks don't cost me much. But, the way they interacted. But, what if say, instead of me, there was a terrorist who had stolen the access card from someone and is trying to park a vehicle, say with a bomb? Not very surprising, these days. Then, in that scenario, what they did - was right.

My morning was spoiled; (Or did I myself spoil it by thinking too much?)

So, to keep myself cool, I decided as follows-
1. May be I have similar looks as that of a terrorist. So, they did not trust me.
2. I will complain about them when I'll go collect sticker.
3. Next time I won't cry.
4. I am strong enough. I should have stood there itself to prove my point. But, don't I have work? Why should I prove myself to those security guards? huh!
5. Write a blog post. Clear my mind and start working.

the city to which I share some unknwon bond..

My first face_to_face with this city was in 2005. Like many others who join Software companies after their B.E., I too went to this city for my first ever job. Within a couple of weeks, I was wandering on its streets, crossing hallis_and_pallis, walking through n-th mains and m-th crosses, passing juice centers and all_in_one restaurants ending with "sagara". Yeah, that's Bengaluru for me! The way I see it and the way I like it! Kannadigas might still be calling it Bangalore but I love calling it Bengaluru only!

The first thing I liked the moment I entered the city was its climate. It was all good, can't explain or compare it with my native, but it was pleasant and it is always! The next striking thing was - this place is not crowded, like say Mumbai! You can easily walk on streets and get into buses! Next I loved these juice centers at almost every corner of each road! I remember, during my stay there I had continued my fast on Chaturthi every month by relying on these Juice_walas. We used to have 2 fruit juices and a fruit plate on fast_day! :) It's not just that the quality of juice is good at these places but the way they keep the juice center clean and neat, all racks filled with fresh fruits, professional way of handling customer orders, ones in a while the workers wearing uniform as well.. anyone would feel like entering it just like that! And not just juices, one gets all varieties of sandwiches and sometimes pizza also at these junctions. I recently saw an advertisement in front of one such juice center in Koramangala, with a mcDonald's style "Combo meal" that contained sandwich, fruit plate or juice and chips! :)

Our initial stay in Bengaluru was quite pleasant as we were provided with Company accommodation. Real thing started when we had to search for house. I still remember my friend and I going on C.M.H road and 100 ft. road and other areas around Indira Nagar in search of so_called Paying Guest accommodation! We were taking down contacts of agents and calling them at the same time we were trying to find n-th main and m-th cross near some xyz showroom! It was all fun! The houses - all of them - had kind of a similar shape and structure in general. On ground floor, mostly the owner would stay and on first (and sometimes second) floor would be given to the PG girls on sharing. We always wondered the way these houses were almost touching each other and one could easily peek into say the hall of another house and tell which channel they are watching! Initially I was kind of scared by this, seeing it's very easy for thieves for enter the house as they have all connected terraces and balconies! :D Looks like, IT was the main reason that such PGs came into existence. As this was probably not anticipated, all the houses were kind of given extension after years of their construction! We also wondered like how could one shift the luggage in or out of the house where even walking up or down those tiny_width stairs was a tricky thing!?!

I stayed in Bengaluru for almost an year but always felt sad that I missed an opportunity to learn another language! I could not learn kannada partially because I met very few kannadigas (like Mumbai, there are many non-kannadigas here - probably more than the number of kannadigas?!?) and partially because I already had many acquaintances so that I hardly needed to interact with native people. The motivation behind learning kannada definitely came from the fact that BMTC buses would have the route / destination written in kannada script and only numbers mentioned in English. But the sad part is - bus 201 and bus 201D might go in totally different directions! :( So, one has to remember not just the number but also digits after that. So, finally I made some attempts at learning at least the script and ended up learning only "k", "g", and "r' ;) Sometimes, one may luckily get route details put up nicely near the bus stop, but I have found it rarely!

BMTC journey in Bengaluru is fun as I've already stated because it is comparatively easy for one to get into the bus :D I have been traveling by bus in Pune for almost 10 years of my life and have seen people complaining that it's tough to get into the crowded buses in Pune, but I always felt more than tough, it was tricky. But this trick, I never got to use in Bengaluru! :D This was some 5 years back! But, now given that the airport has shifted 40+_km away from the center of city, Vayu vajra shuttles from and to airport is a real pleasant surprise for someone like me who makes plans to visit Pune for GaNapati just 5 days in advance!!

Each encounter that I had with the native people, be they bus drivers / conductors or juice_walas, I felt that they all are dedicated to their job and they do it to their best. Sometimes, I feel motivated looking at them! Specially when I see "vayu vajra" bus conductor giving a royal treatment to someone new to Bengaluru and giving him almost a virtual map of how should he go to his destination! This "Aaha!" feeling is hard to get these days.

Okay, let me stop now and probably share an experience which I had. I got into 201D from domlur to get down at Sony world and gave Rs. 10 to the conductor. She (yes, she!) kept the note inside her pocket (and not the usual money_bag conductor carries) and did not give me the ticket either! Being my first trip to Sony world, I did not know the fare either! After waiting for a couple of minutes, I asked her again for the ticket and she gave me one worth Rs. 6. I again waited for some time to get Rs. 4 back and she did not! I then said - "ticket diya hai, chaar rupaye baaki hai" - to this not she but the driver replied - "ticket diya hai na, bas ho gaya!" Later while discussing with a group of friends, I realized that many had some such similar experience. Then onwards I decided to give Rs. 6 change and get the ticket worth that (to save my money!!) But, one day this funny thing happened! Unfortunately I did not have change and I again gave the conductor a note of 10 on my way back to Dumlur. I told him I wanted to get down at "Dell". He said something in kanaada. Assuming he did not get the stop name (as it is probably not a standard name, Dell company is around so we call the stop "Dell") - thus I tried to explain to him which stop I want to get down at - in Hindi. Then he again said some (other) sentence in kannada. I said - "kya?" to which he replied - "how much?" (:)) I said - 6 and to my surprise, he replied "very good!" and returned Rs. 4! :) It was really a funny experience as he kind of took my test!

:)

Here comes another weekend and I start my journey in this beautiful city! Be it army area near HAL airport or be it residential area like Indiraganar / Koramangala or be it some IT park like EGL or even shopping area like Forum / Garuda - Bengaluru is all the same and special in its own way!! This feeling I somehow (and unfortunately) do not get in my Pune, as I feel it totally different in say Sadashiv Peth against Koregaon Park or Senapati Bapat Road. I like roaming in the city.. just like that!!

I'm sure I'm going to miss Bengaluru when I'm about to leave!

affair of the heart :)

Let's see if this can collectively be taken as a definition of marriage --
- u have to be very good friends, first of all
- u have to have a very good understanding of each others' nature and respect for each and every facet of that nature. A person could be short-tempered, but one has to love that aspect as well and not criticize on that, That is rather than expecting the other one to learn to be calm and not be short-tempered, one should be adapting to other one's nature as one has accepted it with respect
- u have to have marriage as a way to achieve something else, that is marriage itself is not your final objective
- u have to have a set of things A which are important for both of u, a set of things B, which u both consider redundant and set of things C which u both can tolerate
- u have to have things in your life which are important for you - outside marriage. u have to have respect for these things in each others' life.
- u should not be dependent on each other financially / socially or whatever. in fact, u should be totally independent, yet after forming a bond, each one will see benefit of relationship
- u need not have kids. i believe that there is lot within us, yet hidden. Rather than giving it a chance and freedom to become visible, why restrict ourselves by age and say that now it's time to raise next generation? - as in why not make ur life / ur career than building ur kids'? if u think, u have reached a limit in ur life, in a sense that u cannot achieve more / all ur capabilities are already utilized - may be, thinking about kid makes sense - otherwise, is this what is expected to be followed just like that? over the years? over the generations? birth-eduction-job-marriage-kids-their education-and so on...?
I completely agree that right from tolerating the pain of child birth, to the point you feed ur kid, raise him/her, see to their progress, make them good people, make them aware of what is important/good and what is not - is entirely a good learning experience, but still I feel that unless you are uself sure that u are wise enough that u can take someone else's responsibility, one should not jump into it
- marriage is a way two people take a pledge that they will help each other to achieve the goals in each others' lives - as long as those don't conflict with the goals in their own life. and this makes it completely optional thing - if u have ur parents supporting u in whatever u do, u may not even need to get married! with this, why do u need anyone to support u for that matter? fine, if u need, why just one enough? why not a group of people? or may be different people at different periods of time? One may argue that in a conventional marriage institution, multiple physical relationships are discouraged and so it is important that one has just single partner. But in this new definition / concept put, that aspect is assumed to be taken out. This is not something called platonic love - as it more refers to a couple who have same (spiritual?) objective in mind and they help each other achieve it. This is totally different.

now, with this point, i feel - why then the marriage only across genders? from whatever has been said so far, if the physical relationship is completely taken out of the relationship, how does it matter whether its within the same gender or across the gender? with the new concept / definition of marriage (which is already stated), i really don't see this difference. but my experience says that - of course i have many male friends and i don't feel any physical attraction for them, still i tend to share more with a male friend than a female friend. so even if sex_aspect is taken out, still there is something more to a relation between male-female than male-male or female-female, at the level of mind / brain (which i don't know exactly what is what)

When confused, ask Google! :P Found something like 'marriage of convenience' - though they refer to something totally different in that wikipedia article, I guess, the concept stated above can be considered as 'marriage of convenience' (probably)