WanderLost

Brickbats and bouquets

2011-04-10T15:08:00.004+05:30

In response to whatiswrongwith.me/gangal I have received the following - posting them unedited.

kiti goshti sangu ani kiti vela sangu?!

tumhi faarach bekaar maanoos aahaat

Dude, why do you need this?!

Just keep communicating more about everything good bad fear failure success.

Your a GULT ;)

you have been a great mentor in college. we still discuss your studness in our friend circles. One thing however, I felt is that you do not give negative feedback too easily. If the other person is able to perceive this, then that leads to some distancing.. I dont know if you can change this, or whether changing this would be good, but was an opinion I had.

Speaking in mythological terms...your state is similar to that of Hanuman when he was a kid, irresistible strength but doesn't realise it.....someone needs to make you realize that. Or you can do it by yourself...wander...wander off and come to face with it.
That is your problem, the lack of knowledge about self and as Sun Tzu has said...one who doesn't know his own power is bound to lose the war.

The thing is you are extremely good .. so much of awesomeness is not possible and cannot be faced by all. you need to turn it down a bit :)

You are not fluffy anymore. Playing with your tummy isn't that much fun now :(

u nvr said the correct things,,else today would have been so diffrnt for us

Why do you need feedback ?

lolfag

Allah hates you!

You are arrogant

It is surprising that you would rate public opinion higher than your own sense of right and wrong . Why did you need to make this page?

Non-committal behaviour.

Flirting is a great skill, however its a double edged sword...beware of the sword falling on you

well you disappear from my life at regular intervals and I hate it. Really. Also, life was much simpler in school.

Throw a Shoe

2011-03-28T21:47:00.002+05:30

http://whatiswrongwith.me

1. Strongly invite feedback
2. Anonymity drives a different behavior. :-)

2010-10-02T23:29:00.003+05:30

Engineering semesters typically started with the prof. asking you to be regular and sincere. But the euphoria of a new semester soon dies down and one is back to ones' ways.

The prof remindingly reprimands you with 4 weeks to exams that you have in fact been lagging on all fronts.

With a week to the exam, the prof gives a final warning on all fronts dangling every thing from XX to FR to sem drop. At that point, the naked terror hits home. Friends are confided in, the profs' pets are pataoed, the jugaad tendencies kick in and herculean forces are summoned to clean up the mess that a little vigilance would have avoided. The material falls in place with a day for the exam to start and by overextending yourself one manages to pass.

In an amazing display of short memory - we start praising ourselves for our efficiency of getting things in the nick of time.

2 weeks from now - I see the CWG committee doing something very similar and Kalmadi crowing in glory.

Till then - get used to a daily dose of names of boxers', weightlifters and shooters' who will win medals - only to be forgotten before the Australian cricket team has left.

Views

2010-08-31T18:09:00.002+05:30

Life has been a bit less hectic, the past few weeks which get me here. Won't stay long but will share a few quick thoughts!

ET went to B-school to ask people what they thought of women possibly losing their tax benefit. Aren't B-schools the last place where one should be wondering about this? Clearly, tax breaks aren't for women who earn 7-figure salaries.
However, learnt that 2001 census classified housewives in the same bracket as prostitutes / beggars. Nothing could be more appalling! Hope they correct it this time around (though I wonder how they could prostitutes [the normal ones, who are forced into the trade] in the same category as beggars in the first place)
I might be having the best non-corner room view in Mumbai! Can't count my blessings enough each time I see the rain in the distance (and clear foreground) and count seconds before the rain hits coast.

Celebrate the celebrated!

2010-08-09T20:27:00.003+05:30

Over the weekend I heard more than a couple of graduating students complain of being short changed by IIT Bombay in getting a not-so-famous, only-a-professor as their Chief Guest!

Random thoughts:
a. Indians swell in pride while celebrating those who have already been celebrated, esp. if celebrated by foreigners

b. Lets face it - We would have had the identical comments if Vinay D was the Chief Guest (of course, before his now widespread fame)

c. Surprisingly not only the students but also IIT B seems ashamed of the Chief Guests name. The official release highlights Kiran Shaw but has no mention of this Prof.

d. On a similar note, the selective amnesia surrounding the award of Khel Ratna is disturbing. All kudos to Saina Nehwal but Gagan Narang has been at the very pinnacle of the game for a few years now.

Friends forever...

2010-06-21T23:48:00.003+05:30

Reasons why I still watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S. whenever its showing :-)

The NY attraction
Because ppl. eat, drink coffee and sit around but don't put on any weight!
Rachel looks hot from Season 1 thru 10!
The jokes bring a smile to my face each time
But most importantly, it takes my back to H3#268 - the Maggi, the Coffee, the Pure Magic!

Ground-shattering revealations!

2010-04-27T14:01:00.007+05:30

1. April 13 : Cleric puts forth an hypothesis on the origin on earthquakes.

2. April 26 : Women in universities across US, Canada expose data in an attempt to scientifically disprove the above.

3. April 27: A 6.5 earthquake strikes Taiwan.

One conclusion from the above sequence of events :
The rest of Asia gets hurt whenever an Islamic fundamentalist offends US.

Let me know if you can think of any others ;-)

Epic takeaways

2010-01-25T09:40:00.005+05:30

कई साल पुरानी बात है !

... around the time when Pandavas were about. Given the peculiar situation they found themselves in, Pandavas (smart that they were) devised a method to signal when they wanted private time with the lovely Draupadi.

Each time a Pandava found her alone, they escorted her to the royal chambers leaving their footwear at the door. Lets just say, two pair of footwear were the ancient equivalent of a DND.

So it was one of these days when the sharp Arjun bid his time with the Draupadi. Following a filling lunch, Arjun & Draupadi sought higher levels of Maslowian comforts. However, a dog suffering from the very basic hunger pangs, decided that leather, kept outside a room full of passion is no good. He instead took it as a things to chew on & draged a pair to another corner of the palace.

On this afternoon, Yudhisthir too hurriedly got done with his ~~flies~~ files & rushed to the royal adobe. Seeing the lone footwear, he rushed right upto the bedside. Much to his dismay not only did he see the bed occupied but also more than he would have liked. In anger he stormed out & invoked a family meeting to discuss this break in protocol. It was soon revealed that dog had been the one to hide the hide.

At this vital juncture, Yudhisthir invoked another of his celestial favors. The dog knows only public display of affection since!

Take-away: If you are a dog, don't even look at royal designs. Theres no respite from doggy style puns!

Networks Takeaway: An encrypted signal without integrity can lay your privates bare.

[Note: The author, thats me, has found no reference to this story. However, the oral narration he heard was so convincing that he generally believes it to be true]

The Year That Was!

2009-12-02T01:04:00.005+05:30

In the end - it was a good year.
And the nostalgia caught up with me; as IIT Bombay placements happened 2000 kms away & I re had vivid recollection of the entire 365 days.

01/12/08: Got placed!
24/12/08: Married my brother off :D
09/01/09: CAT results
08/03/09: Memorable Goa Trip
09/04/09: IIM Calls
1stWeek/04/09: Org Citation + Hostel Cult Citation
April-May 09: DDP
25/06/09: Finally, AA in DDP. Ended a 9 Pointer :->
05/08/09: Convocation
27/09/09: Diveagar trip
16/11/09: KL Trip

Spl. thanks to DDP Stipend
Memorable tribute: Nipun's Car

मुंबई मार्केट - Marathi votes at discounted prices*

2009-11-22T02:52:00.006+05:30

After a week in KL, I switch on the National TV & following are the successive ticker reads:

BSE to launch their website in Marathi as well.
Congress CM Ashok Chavan wants more railway recruitment for locals
NCP demands a train to be named after Marathi icon Sachin Tendulkar

The Marathi man residing in decrepit buildings in Vikhroli, Dahisar, Virar and Badlapur hasn't felt this important ever!!
And between them they span the entire spectrum of aspirations from working as a laborer in the Indian Railways to having pockets, deep enough for the money to spill-over to the markets.

*: Offer valid till another party stakes claim

2009-11-13T22:05:00.002+05:30

Excel CoP KualaLumpur airports CCR Madurai aisle cab timesheet Chennai creditCard outlook thinkPad caseTeam powerpoint hotels Tuticorin Powerpoint leatherShoes Avis deck IITB CTM Sivlasasa KL

Life is a whirlwind....

Vote-it-eez?

2009-10-24T03:43:00.003+05:30

It seems come elections and I get a sudden urge to blog :)

Some preliminary observations on Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha elections.

1. Hansel D'Souza contested elections as citizens' candidate.
While things would have been better had he won - he nonetheless got 10000 votes. The results have to be seen in the right perspective.
Convincing 10000 of your merit without a personality or party backing is tough. Most other candidates who win elections as independents - are local goons or like.
This should give a fillip to all who wish to contest from urban middle class pockets in BMC, TMC, PMC elections in a few years' time.

A1. Dr. Mona Shah / Meera Sanyal finished 5th & 4th respectively in Mumbai South constituency in LS '09
A2. Dr Vidyadhar Laxman Joshi - a 'true' PhD - polled 12000 odd votes. Finished 5th.

In conclusion, a sizable candidates who don't get media coverage but are good are sought out and voted for. :)

2. A not-to-be-missed trend this election - is MNS stepping out of also-ran shoes esp. in Mumbai city. MNS gets more seats than SHS, BJP, NCP to finish as the second largest representation from the city.

It has 23% of Mumbai vote share - second only to 28% of the INC. It has replaced SHS as the main alternative to Congress in the city.

My first estimate is that - it returns better figures in Nashik, Pune, Thane.

Probability

2009-08-22T01:23:00.005+05:30

This is a solution to a problem posed in Probability by Salim Dewani (H#3 02-06), mainly because blogspot comments don't allow insertion of images.

[I shall hope to post something interesting soon. In the meantime, I wrote something.]

If you have had your try, I present a solution.

Consider a rectangle with the horizontal axis representing the time the dad leaves work and the vertical axis the time you leave home. Each point in the rectangle has an equi-probability of occurring. The points in the rightmost region represent starting times of the duo in which they can't meet Similarly in the left most triangle, the father has crossed D before the son, hence the path chosen after D doesn't matter.

Net probability = 0.5(Fraction of area covered by leftmost triangle - ADEFC route)
                                   + 0.5(Fraction of area covered by the leftmost triangle and the middle area - ADGFC route)
                                   = 0.5(32/300) + 0.5(210/300)
                                   = 342/600 = 0.57

[It feels so nice to be doing maths :) ]

Girls Talk ...

2009-07-25T22:08:00.001+05:30

... a lot!

Theres Priyanka Chopra joining in the conversation somewhere below. Note that I am following 151 other people :-|

2009-07-02T22:09:00.002+05:30

1. An eyelash landed right in front of me and for the first time in my stay at IIT, I didn't know what to wish for.

2. Absence of short-term goals makes one acutely aware that you never had any long-term ones as well.

3. I hate rationalizing. It takes the sharp bite of emotions away and how-much-so-ever you nibble, you feel emotionally hungry.

4. Haven't had a near-death experience, but before graduating I have my entire 5 years flashing before my eyes - in exquisite detail. The detail amazes me. Its like I knew this day would come - when my sins / mistakes would have to be accounted for.

All of 22

2009-06-16T02:03:00.006+05:30

As someone born in 1986, most of my family / society values were put in place by the time I was 10. (While these values will always be in a state of theoretical flux,) the concrete had set before waves of multi-cultural learnings lapped the Indian shores.

As a result on a host of issues, I find my innate values and new age wisdom to be clashing with one another. Do I believe in the virtues of liberal, rational and (seemingly) Utopian rule set that may fail in the future? Or do I persist with (possibly?) archaic, conservative values that will keep me safe in the past?

A boy has his first quarter-life crisis!

Branching Out!

2009-06-07T21:33:00.004+05:30

Below is a mail my brother wrote out to a freshie-to-be. I found it extremely well balanced and (5 yrs after counseling) made me realize that this is what the profs. were trying to tell me back then.
[Produced verbatim, without his permission :P]
----------------------------
Some ground rules that one should know before you make this decision:

- JEE AIR is just a number. It just says how better you are over someone else to solve some types of problems that appear in the JEE exam. Many people in IIT have that intellect. Many. And that is irrespective of what their JEE ranks are. There are some (many) utterly dumb people crowding the double-digit ranks.. and there are some brilliant people inter spread in the lower ranks.. even 1000+
- The "stardom" that you get with your JEE rank either single digit or double digit will last you well till the end of the first semester and will vanish completely by the end of the first year. A completely new magic number called "CPI" takes over and it decides the amount of respect (a.k.a. 'bhaav') you will receive amongst your IIT peers. At that point, AIR and department become inconsequential.
- The intelligence required to succeed in IIT (and beyond) in the true way is much different than that is required to succeed as a student. (more on this later)

Conclusion: Try not to confuse your AIR with department just because everyone else is doing so.

Q1: What IIT Engineering Branch to select?

1) Follow your gut approach:

All wise people say this. And in many ways I can see how they are right. All engineering fields and sciences are quite similar at the core. Either people invent or they discover. But "the process" and "the media" is what makes some people click in some field over other. To truly succeed in any field (be in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical, Aerospace, Civil or Metallurgy) one requires the same qualities - hard work, understanding of the fundamentals, patience and passion to pursuit challenging problems.

Everyone has some ideas in mind about what one wants to do in life. A good strategy is to look at all these departments w/o bias and select one that will get the best in you. (By bias, I mean "what fields others are chosing","Where is the latest trend?", "What is most paying" etc). I will explain all the departments in short and explain with examples how some people have made the best of the opportunities in their specific fields and how so many others have "wasted" their chances.

Moral of the story: If you chose something that you like, you will likely innovate and thus excel and shine irrespective of what the rest 50 in your class are doing. If you are passionate enough, there is a treasure everywhere in IIT. 95% of your batch mates will not mine it. But you can - if you want to!

Metallurgy: For some reasons, this department closes the last. 95% of the people are disenchanted and are more eager to get out of IIT even before they get in. However, there are exceptions. Every year about 5-6 of these Metallurgy students do stellar work. In Materials, Plastics, Silicons, and in so many technological items of day to day use. I have some friends who are in Stanford and are working on SUPER-EXCITING problems. Their work also affects Genetics - a field that might be the next HOT thing. So essentially, people who have made the best of the opportunities are doing exceedingly well. People who did not study at all in 4-5 years have left Metallurgy. Unfortunately 95% of the batch is such. The reason is that there are no "regular" jobs in this field. Either there are 5-6 PhD positions in top US universities or nothing! So the reason why this department lags in "AIR ranking" is because of lack of regular "MUNDANE DAY-to-DAY jobs". Ironically, most of the people from this department are pursuing "MUCH MORE BORING" and "MUNDANE" jobs in Software and IT.

Civil: You know what Civil engineers do. A couple of my colleagues have started construction contracts. May be earning in crores. Some of them have joined large construction firms and are managing huge business. Again almost 90% of IIT students who didn't chose to make the best of this opportunity are either doing mundane but well paying jobs in IT, Software or Finance.

Aerospace: This department has let down many of my friends though. Despite lack of jobs in this department, many students join this with high ranks too, because of the glamour of airspace. Again, lack of regular stock jobs. Hence almost 80% people are dis-interested from day 1. Some people have got disappointed with DRDO and ISRO in the past. Haven't heard many people doing PhDs, probably that is because US doesn't encourage Indians in this field (?)

Mechanical: Many mechanical people remain in Mechanical Engineering. There are many jobs in India too. This field is of course pretty exciting too. Involves a lot of physical hard-work as most of the people work in Car Manufacturing units and other factories.
Characteristics:
- Huge opportunities for people who want to make it. Esp. in the field of Robotics, Autos and even Aerospace.
- Starting salaries are low (but there is a huge potential if you prove yourself)
- As a mechanical engineer (even from IIT) you are likely to join at the bottom of the pyramid. This is because most of the companies in this field are old and orthrodox. (This is different to what happens in IT, CS, Finance or business). However, a good candidate is likely to grow very fast and manage HUGE responsibilities at a young age. Something that his/her colleagues in CS, Finance can't even imagine. A friend of mine who did his MS from UT Austin is managing a complete product end-to-end of his company (something related to robotics).
- Another friend did a PhD from Stanford and works on a close start-up in Bangalore. Very intelligent fellow. Says the work is pretty exciting. I can get you in touch with him.
- Another friend has started his own robotics company and is helping set up some Birla plant. (I am unsure of the details).

Moral of the story: Difficult for all the class to succeed, but some dedicated folks have done much better than even most of the CS batchmates

Electrical Engineering: Much more jobs, huge opportunities everywhere. Communications technology is still booming and will continue to do so for a while, I guess. Microelectronics will never exhaust. The machine is getting faster and faster and smaller and smaller. Many people remain Electrical Engineers. Good jobs and exciting start-up and research opportunities.

Computer Hardware Engineering: Strong Industry. Many jobs.
Computer Software Engineering: Strong industry and likely to remain so. Abundant jobs. And the Boom is still continuing. Look at Facebook, Twitter. and I am sure there will be something else.
Computer Science: Computer Science is the mathematics/science behind computers. When I took up CS, I was only partially aware of how exciting this was. Very theoretical and conceptual. Less practical and difficult to see the immediate impact of these theories. I was lucky to be in this department and I loved it.

So on one hand, you have so many people who have done brilliant things in all fields and on the other hand there are many people who have not made use of their Computer Science & Engineering education too (although it is supposedly so sought-after).

So PLEASE think what you would LIKE to do.... more than what opportunities are available.

2) Follow the people approach: For many people and most of the times, this approach makes sense. People know what thing is good on an average and they are good at predicting it. There is absolutely no doubt that the % jobs are in exact order of the AIR based rankings that departments get. Eg. There are abundant Computer Engineering jobs, there are many Electrical Engg. Jobs. There are fairly large Mechanical engg. Jobs and there are dwindling Civil, Chemical, Metallurgy jobs.

This is the reason why most of the people from Civil, Meta, Chemical want their IIT degree as a stamp and then get out into consulting or management or finance. For most of them, their IIT education is a waste.

Due to this, one merit in following the AIR based department choice is that if you chose a department what is well sought after, you are likely to be surrounded by more number of sincere and motivated people. Eg. Whereas almost 20-25 people in my Computer Science class were really good, only about 3-5 people in Civil, Meta, Chemical will be really interested in their fields of engineering.

But trust me: Everyone who was motivated enough, is doing very well.

Q2: IIT education: A General Bachelor of Business Administration OR an Engineering Degree

Today most of the IITans, are not doing engineering at all. They are either into consulting or finance or other forms of general management. They either go straight to IIMs or spend couple of years and do an MBA either IIM or International.

The best and the brightest of the lot who pursue this option also have excellent academic record and either a PhD offer from US univ or a good Job in their respective fields (Civil, Meta, etc). However, you will find that this route is occasionally followed by everyone to 'wipe out' the years spent away at IIT.

Anyways, for this reason it is good that you are chosing IIT Bombay. IITB and IITD give more wholesome education than any other IITs.

Q3: 4 yrs B.Tech or 5 years Dual Degree
Some facts to dispel certain Dual Degree conceptions:
1) Will I not be an IIT B.Tech?
- Of Course. You have 2 separate degrees. B.Tech and M.Tech. The B.Tech degree is "the same" in all forms and features to the B.Tech degree that a 4-yr student gets
2) Are Dual Degree students treated differently at the campus?
- This might have been a valid question 10 years ago. Today, with 60% of the students as Dual Degree students, the question is moot. The Dual Degree students are only clubbed together with Roll-Number. Rest everything is same at least for the first 3 years. Same courses, same instructors, same grading scale. Occasionally these days, it is the Dual Degree student who is the class topper despite his/her "low AIR rank"

Con: The only negative of the Dual degree is that you will graduate 1 year later than everyone else. So suppose, you plan to do IIM straight out of IIT or you want to do anything other than engineering straight out of IIT, then you are better off doing 4 yrs. instead of 5 yrs.

Pros:
- You get to spend one more year at IIT and make use of the Dual Degree program to learn more about your specific field of interest.
- Much more course flexibility offered. You can tailor your degree to your requirements. Eg. I specialized in Computer Science Theory. A Electrical Engineering friend of mine was interested in Physics. He used his last 2 years to do dedicated research in Physics despite being from EE. Now he is doing his PhD from Berkeley in Physics!
- 2 year Dual Degree project instead of a rushed 8 month B.Tech Project. B.Tech project gives you 8 months to work on something. Dual degree project however, is designed so that the student can explore, research and innovate in 2 years with complete attention of the faculty.
- I am not trying to market this program :D but during my Dual Degree Project, I have seen my guide move aside other students waiting in queue to meet him, so that I could meet him! Most Dual Degree students enjoyed this privilege.

If one is not in a hurry to graduate (or pay off loans or start earning) AND one wants to really give justice to the science/engineering aspect of the IIT education, I would strongly recommend the Dual Degree program.

2009-05-25T03:35:00.003+05:30

On GDP:

.. does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our courage, nor our wisdom, not our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile, and it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans

-- Robert Kennedy

on the campaign trail in '68.

Yet four decades later, it continues to be the most watched number each quarter.

MNS!

2009-05-17T18:10:00.009+05:30

On a lazy Sunday afternoon, I did some number crunching to try and figure out the MNS effect.
MNS put up a candidate in 11 constituencies - 6 in Bombay District, 3 in Thane District (Thane, Kalyan, Bhivandi) and one each in Pune and Nashik. Other than the Kalyan PC, the NDA (SHS+BJP) couldn't manage any other seat - a fact obviously attributed to the fact that Raj Thackrey had some issues with his cousin.
Some numbers are shown below:

Quick Observations:
The NDA was massively affected in the PCs in which MNS contested.
MNS contested 11. Won 0. Second in 2. Third in 9.
SHS contested 06. Won 1. Second in 3. Third in 2.
BJP contested 05. Won 0. Second in 5.

The margins of defeat for Kirit Somaiya (Mum NE) and Ram Naik (Mum N) [both BJP] were heart wrenching. Infact, in 7 of the 10 seats the NDA lost, the margin of defeat was less than the votes polled for MNS. (Combined voteshare is the 2nd last column). Hence the following questions arise:
Q1. Did the MNS solely eat from the Sena BJP vote bank?
Q2. Would the absence of the MNS candidate have resulted in NDA taking these 7 seats?
Q3. How did the MNS become such a force to reckon with? Is its Son of the Soil movement find takers across the urban landscape?

Fact: In the Municipal Elections in Mumbai, Thane and Pune about an year back MNS showed no dent in the Sena votes. All wards together about 400k votes went the MNS way in BMC polls '08. However this election MNS managed 800k votes in the 6 Mumbai Seats.

Fact: The semi-urban seats of Palghar, Maval, Raigad, Baramati, Shirur and Shirdi (seen above) in the Mumbai-Pune-Nashik triangle, where the MNS had no candidate - were dominated by NDA. (Other than the fiefdom of Baramati, ALL the other 5 were bagged by Sena + 1 Indp)

Q4. Raj Thackrey claims Sena should be satisfied that he didn't have candidates in other parts of the state, else a similar fate awaited them. How true would this claim be?

Remarks:
1. There is little to substitute good work. Priya Dutt, Milind Deora and Eknath Gaikwad were known to have worked well. They romped home clear - MNS or no MNS.
South Mumbai (Lalbaug, Parel, Dadar, Matunga - all supposed Sena / MNS strangleholds - lie in their domain. Though Assembly wise splits aren't available yet, I suspect each Assembly seat has to be favorable to win by wide margins.)

2. I defined a rough metric for a good candidate. I prefer a

Younger Candidate,
A more educated candidate and
One with less Criminal Cases against him.

These were chosen since they were easily available on the affidavits submitted by the candidates. Of the UPA, NDA and MNS candidates the one scoring highest on any metric got 2, the second got 1 and the last one got 0. The net scores (out of a maximum of 6 and sum of 9) are seen in the last column of the above table.

An interesting observation is seen:
In 10 of the 11 constituencies, MNS candidate were atleast as good as the NDA one. In 6 cases the difference was significant (2 or more). Again, in 6 seats the MNS candidate fared better than even the UPA candidate - on this metric.
A lot of people around me voted MNS looking at the individuals.

Raj's choice of candidates, IMO, was a significant reason for votes going to MNS way. Explains the meteoric rise of MNS from the BMC elections an year ago - where Sena and MNS had similar candidates.

3. Although I don't have handy data to prove this, I have a hunch that the NDA + MNS vote share this election is significantly higher than the NDA share in the last election. Which means that people came to the MNS fold from places other than the NDA. Given that, both SP and BSP had a poorer showing in Mah. this time around, it would seem that those votes would fall to UPA. They mostly did - but maybe some voted MNS.

My Conclusion:

It was a smart choice of candidates that helped Raj more than anything else. Sena giving tickets to equally notorious fellas didn't help them. Both could learn a lesson.
In atleast 3 places though UPA vote share is far less than their wins reflect. Given that UPA otherwise crumbled in the Pune Nashik Mumbai triangle, they should thank their stars.

Fix-it!

2009-05-15T00:28:00.004+05:30

Did ToI know something that Lalit Modi didn't want us to know?!
The time stamp says - 3 Hrs ago, when the match ended some 20 mins back :P :P

But Mumbai Indians lost again :(

Train Spotting

2009-05-01T04:47:00.007+05:30

Hey all,

For the past 15 days, we have been trying to get our coding skills polished and shining before we possibly put them away for some time.

The idea is to map the trains in India every minute for an entire day and watch the video :D
A sneak peak video can be found at:

However, we never realized how intricate the railways network in the country was until this threw up locations that Google couldn't locate or wrongly located. In order to improve the video, we require 5 minutes of your time:
1. Here you'll find the trains that have behave erratically (due to a mistake in the raw data) and the corresponding approximate times at which they do so.
2. Pick some random entry that you want to correct.
3. Go here and enter the train number of the corresponding train. A train schedule shows up.
[If it throws an error, blame the government website and try again in a few hrs! Thanks already!!]
4. The train will be between some two stations at that time (Step 1, 2). The data of one of the stations is most likely to be wrong.
5. Open Google Maps. Use common sense and basic knowledge of India's geography to locate the Latitude and Longitude of the stations. This spreadsheet will guide you to current values of the co-ordinates.
(A -1 in the spreadsheet indicates data currently unavailable).
6. In case, you locate an error in the 2nd spreadsheet values of Latitude or Longitude - do kindly mail me at shantanugangal at gmail.

I really hope that this cooperative effort will help us quickly get our data sanitised. You have no idea how thankful I would be, since checking all the error prone entries is tough for a single guy :D

Example:
1, 2. I want to fix the fifth row -- 1007 10 20
3, 4. Train is between Talegaon Station and Khadki Station, at 10h20 for the Train number 1007.
5. The co-ordinates of Khadki (19.88, 75.32) in the second spreadsheet are wrong because they are hardly near the train way from Lonavala to Pune.
6. The correct co-ordinates of Khadki are (18.566527,73.84203). Do mail me such errors in the 2nd spreadsheet.

Finger-ing

2009-04-30T15:57:00.006+05:30

Thane was among the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra that went to polls today. And after missing out on the Corporation elections an year after turning 18, I was determined to vote this time around.

However, the party positions and choice of candidates led to an interesting predicament.

History: For the last 2 decades, Thane has been consistently with the BJP-SS combine. The rise of Anand Dighe thru 90's ensured that the Late Prakash Paranjpe won Thane comfortably in '96, '98, '99 and '04 (until his demise in Feb. 2008).

A few factors have completely altered the political equations this time.
1. The (engineered?) accident of Dighe, means Thane has no single organizational center.
2. Prakash Paranjpe was very loved for being a cultured and clean person in a populace dominated by Middle Class Maharashtrians. (He died due to Cancer in Feb. '08).
3. Following delimitation, the middle class voters of Dombivili, Kalyan were moved to Kalyan LS Seat. These were staunch BJP supporters but did vote for the SS candidate (given Paranjpe's image and so on.)
4. Raj Thackrey commands sizable youth loyalties.
5.

Come '09: I would expected to be dictated by Family, Social traditions to vote BJP-SS. However, I am largely satisfied by the UPA performance in the last 5 years and very happy that they had balls in the N-Deal faceoff!! The only major disappointment was Affirmative action.

However, I am not of the opinion that party affiliations should override the candidate's suitability when voting. And you too wouldn't want Dr.Sanjeev Naik to be your MP. His affidavit says he is 12th pass, but has no qualms about attaching a Dr. before his name. (Some unaccredited US group has conferred this degree.)

I don't even want to get started on the SS candidate.

The only gentle~~man~~-politician candidate with a real chance of winning was Mr. Rajan Raje from the Mahrashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).
1. He is LLB from Bombay University - a farcry from both.
2. He figured 16th in the SSC Merit List (unconfirmed)
3. He has no criminal cases against his name - unlike Naik and Chaugule.

The clinching reason for me was the fact that while he might agree with the MNS philosophy he has never been associated with any rioting, vagrancy. So for me it came down to choosing between:

1. A good candidate belonging to a party with a off stream agenda or
2. A candidate with questionable character who would most likely bring the UPA to power.

Party vs Individual : What would you do? Let me know

--
Edit:-

The panwalla shop gossip indicates that MNS might play spoilsport and even trump SS in the Thane Assembly Constituency!

Pulp Fiction!

2009-04-28T01:14:00.004+05:30

1. Notice the excitement run through your body
2. Feel the firmness of the pulp
3. Pull off the shirt in a single motion
4. Use plastic protection
5. Squeeze in rhythmic motions until;
6. Liquid froths at the tip
7. Lick the liquid and enjoy the experience!!

This is how a good boy has his virgin Alphonso :-)

A for Apple

2009-04-16T01:06:00.003+05:30

The following was posted as a comparative analogy in the debate involving IIM A vs. IIM B vs. IIM C. Smashing read eventhough it might not make too much sense nor help anyone take a decision on the ground :) [Donno who the original author is .. but what the heck!!]

An MBA is like a marriage. You're happy and excited when you're getting married, but it doesn't take much time to realize you were better off as a bachelor.
So in that sense the institute is like your wife. You are stuck with it once you're married.
In this case... your spouse is always going to be more famous than you and as much as I hate to say this "you shall be using your wife to further your career!"

Continuing this analogy a little further... since most of you have met your wives not more than once or twice, this essentially is an arranged marriage for you. (The smart ones ofcourse believe in love at first sight),

So the people in this group are lucky enough to have the option of marrying A or B or C. My friend from IIMC compared these to Aishwarya Rai (A), Bipasha Basu (B) and Celina Jaitley(C). The choice is yours whom you want to marry. However there are a couple of small little issues:
1. You have to share your wife with 300 other people.
2. You can't marry all three of them,

But that essentially is the choice between A, B or C. You could marry Ms. A and introduce your wife as being world famous in India. One who is undoubtedly "the most beautiful woman in the world". One whose face is recognised throughout the world. Essentially she represents the Indian woman to the world. Or... you could marry a certain Ms. Basu with whom you could have a lot of fun! But you'd often end up saying "Well.. she's beautiful in her own way." Or... you could marry Ms. Celina. No doubt she's beautiful but one for whom you would have to say "So what if she can't act. She has the potential!"

WIMWI

2009-04-10T10:32:00.002+05:30

My blog followers (all 4 of them) are treated to the good news that I converted my IIM-A PI call into an admission offer.

[ok! I know the above is too flashy for the usual me, but what the heck]

Series

2009-03-04T18:40:00.004+05:30

Find the next number in the series:

a) 10001, 122, 101, 32, 25, __ ?

b) 10³, 10⁹, 10²⁷, 10², 10⁰, __ ?

First should be routine, the second is nice. Post answers in comments!
(Courtesy Jose.)

Public Works

2009-02-24T03:22:00.004+05:30

Work on the IIT section of the Vikroli Jogeshwari link road has been on at full throttle the past few months. Any public infrastructure project in this region has taken thrice the sanctioned schedule time but right from the outset the Gandhinagar - Y Point stretch has been different.

The moment the Gurudwara was moved the intent to get stuff moving was apparent. And within 4 months, I am happy to say that I have travelled on the newly laid lanes on either side of the old road. (A guiding map can be seen here.) However the way the lanes are laid out is inefficient, atleast to a passerby. The new lanes are completely disjoint from the old ones and (in places) at a different elevation too. From Gandhinagar to YP, there is a huge chasm between lanes flowing in the same direction. As a result the roads have taken up a greater area than the area usable to traffic. However I am positive that the planners had an excellent reason to design it such.

But to be frank, I have felt (and been telling it to anyone who lent me an ear) that the traffic scene had shown a significant improvement since the same time last year even before the new lanes were opened. Frankly, the situation (beyond YP) on the downhill was never really too bad. It was the other lane that posed an uphill task. The reasons were clear to see:
1. Bad state of roads leading to slowing down of traffic.
2. Frequent breakdown of heavy vehicles that found it hard to negotiate the stall-start-move a couple of feet-stall routine on that stretch.
3. A signal at YP that was adhered too 30 secs. too late, coupled with
4. traffic streaming in from the Maddu Mess lane leading to general indiscipline.

In the last year, they managed to (howsoever temporarily) fix the roads.
But the turning point was the closing of traffic from inside IIT-thru YP-towards Andheri and in parallel preventing the traffic from maddu lane to move towards Gandhinagar. With 1 fixed and 3 & 4 eliminated, things in the past few months were genuinely good. If I experienced traffic on the uphill (near Suncity / Vodafone), I routinely bet with myself that a tempo or larger vehicle would have broken down right in the middle of the lane somewhere ahead - which it what it almost always used to be.

Point being that I am genuinely satisfied with the BMC, MMRDA on these fronts - [1. Improving existing road conditions; 2. Getting 2 new lanes up and running] - and would like to pause to applaud them.

However, in the last few weeks I noticed a really disturbing trend. Since vehicles exiting IIT through YP can't take an immediate right towards Andheri, they move a hundred feet left and take a U-turn in front of Phule Nagar (BEST bus stop). A passenger vehicle exiting IIT is likely to be in the left-most lane. Hence the U is neither quick nor clean. An Alto can cause significant disruption in both directions.
Similarly, the exit of the Maddu mess lane into the Gandhinagar direction is blocked using simple concrete bricks. Persistent nudging at them by Bikes and Autos creates a breach. All it takes is 4 bikers to wiggle through over and around the bricks, and before your eyes the break is big enough for a rickshaw to pass. Santros, Boleros and tempos follow within minutes.

Its really disheartening to see people (either campusities or visitors), and I can cite a few other examples of we behaving such. How hard is it to realise that there was a reason the police didn't want you to go towards Andheri after exiting IIT through YP. Ditto for those wanting to go from Powai market towards Gandhinagar?

How does the Police (given the weak dividers that fall apart in 15 nudges and the unruly traffic) maintain any flow on the road?! If at the end of the day people in Powai (both IIT campusities or those living near the Market) are experiencing incessant honking, layers of dust and smoke it is likely to be thanks to someone they know, rather than the government.

I will try and get some pics. or maps to make the point more visual. Also, the condition of the roads will only be tested in the monsoons. On that front the MMRDA isn't off the hook yet. There is a lot the government can do, but the locals too need to stand up and act sensibly.
In the mean time, this article compares Indian Urban Roads (in New Delhi) to London and Tokyo.

Fundae!

2009-02-17T00:34:00.000+05:30

Well with the CAT results, I am surprisingly being sought out to dish out CAT Fundae. I happened to write a couple of articles for a web portal - Test Funda.

The articles can be found:
1. 10 months to CAT ’09
2. Verbal Ability

If you happen to reach the end of the articles, do let me know how you find them.

The IIM A PI

2009-02-16T13:07:00.007+05:30

Unlike the other 6 calls that are scheduled in Bombay, my WIMWI Personal Interview doesn't give you that choice. Its held in Ahmedabad itself. My date with the interview panel was on 14th February at 1:45 pm. However the panel seemed in no mood to spread the love.

I flew to Ahmedabad on the morning of the interview itself. (In retrospect, a bad idea since I was counting on airlines to deliver on time.) Many people in my panel had reached the night before. Ahmedabad also gives you campus accommodation at a reasonable price, something I didn't known off! I was on the same flight as Ameya Muley (CSE BTech 05) and Glenn (who was with me at IIM K). As a result the rickshaw fare was split 3 ways :D Yay!!

14th Morning was (apparently) the first slot for IIM A calls this year. So the essay / no-essay mystery wasn't resolved until we actually reached the campus and spoke to people in the morning slot. The waiting area too was definitely better. We reached around 10 am, giving us ample time to kill and ample cookies to eat. The interviews of people in the morning slot were a mixed bag - which told me that second guessing the panel was an utter waste of time. However given the number of people (from IITB / CSE) that I knew, it turned out to be a good killer of time.

Our proceedings began with an on-time attendance at 1:45, in which we were slotted in 3 panels of 9 each. I was the 8th fellow in the 3rd panel which meant that their love would test my patience. However, we were called in a room and asked to write on Whether Nehru's temples of learning should remain elitist? 10 minutes is definitely less for the essay and most of us barely finished it. I wrote a few lines about why IITs/IIMs were set up and how elitism is a natural outcome of the engendering factors. We left our grade card copies behind along with the essay. This round was done with by 2:15 pm and I settled in for a long wait. The coffee, cookies and chatter helped a great deal.

Finally at around 5:20pm I was called in. While I was pretty relaxed all afternoon, I got a bit nervous just before entering the room. I handed over my file to one of them (L) , while the other (R) had had a good look at my courses and began spreading the love.

L: So tell me something about yourself?
M: blah fart blah fart fart!
L: But everything that you said is already here (in the form). Tell me something more.
M: some more blah. (In retrospect, should have capitalized on this)!

R: So I see you have taken a course in Convex Optimization?
M: Yes
R: Can you tell me what a convex function is?
M: (excited at knowing what the exact answer was, started blurting out inexact terminology...) the graph of f(x) at a midpoint of x and y is lower than midpoint of the function values.
R: (with a wtf???!! on his face) Can you be more clear?
M: The value a function takes at the midpoint of x and y is less than the average value of f(x) and f(y).
R: (Goes to the board and draws a sinusoidal wave) f(0) = f(2pi) = 1. f(pi) = -1.
M: blah blah blah ..
R: (hurling mental expletives my way) Wait take a paper and let me know once and for the last time.
M: (finally clearing up the air) For 0 <= m <= 1, f(mx + (1- m)y) <= mf(x) + (1-m)f(y). R: So what do you know abt the derivatives of f(x)? M: 2nd derivative is +ve R: and first? M: +ve .. no wait .. can be -ve R: So is it -ve? Take a katori.
M: sorry -- It can be +ve and -ve but it is an increasing function.
R: Increasing??
M: Non-decreasing (pulling at my split hair!!)
R: ok.. so what is a convex Set?
M: If X, Y \in S then mX + (1-m)Y \in S, for 0<=m<=1.
R: So you call such a combination of X and Y as,
M: Convex Combination
R: What would you call it if you removed the bounds on l?
M: Linear combination
R: What is a Linear Transform?
M: told
R: What is an Affine Transform?
M: said something which was eerily similar to Linear Transform
R: Isn't it the same as Lin. T?
M: (mumbles) I am not sure what an Affine Transform is.
R: (fuming) and you say that degree project is in Optimization.
M: (It wasn't) No sir, its in Theory (and explained the confusion)

R: So tell me whats NP?
M: (roll of eyes, mentally) told. Proof verification etc.
R: So can you check primes in polynomial time?
M: Yes
R: Are you sure?
M: I think so (but was mentally in unfamiliar territory)!
R: How?
M: not sure..
R: Can you check composites in poly time?
M: Yes. We can ...
R: So what is NP-hard?
M: I think, it is ...
R: No that is NP-complete.
M: Sir, to the best of my knowledge. NP is ..., NP-hard is .... and NP-complete is their intersection
R: ok. So are their problems which aren't solvable?
M: Yes
R: Like
M: PCP - Post's correspondence problem
R: What is it?
M: Explained what I remembered. I think it was correct.
R: Can you prove that PCP is not solvable.
M: Outside the scope of the syllabus :P
R: Any other problem?
M: umm..
R: Halting problem
M: Yes, the Halting Problem is ....
R: ok.
L: So what are your hobbies?
M: (They were listed in the form) Reiterated.
L: You cycle in Bombay?
M: Try to but have been from .. to .. in Himachal.
L: What do you read?
M: Named a few
L: Thats it? :-o
When Was the last novel that you read?
M: White Tiger, 2 weeks ago.
L: Before that?
M: Hungry tide, around Aug.
L: (complete smirk) Is that what your top-hobby is? Reading 1 novel in 6 months
M: shrug
L: so trekking would mean going to Matheran a couple of times!!
M: No sir. Did this did that..
L: hmmph!
R: So tell me why do you want to do an MBA?
M: Sir, in college I did th (cuts)
R: you know, we really hate this answer. This seems to be the stock answer they teach in classes or something. Do you have any idea what real life management is about or what you'll learn in classes?!! Its not the same as Event Management. If you want to organise Mood Indigo or Saraang, so join an Event Management company. (kya samaj ke kahaan kahaan se aa jaate hain!!) Any IIM call you attend, ye answer mat dena. Humein bol diya to thik hai (.. anyway shayad hi lenge)
M: Sir, that was only part of the reason. But I really want to learn, network and other default reasons.
R: (giveup)
L: (core dump)
L: So you seem to have taken a course with Management school. What was it about?
M: Game Theory to various sectors
L: What can you say about the Infrastructure industry in India.
M: (stumped!) Slowdown, demand bottoming out and chug chug .. stall
L: ok.. What was the major event wrt. Public Transport recently?
M: Railway Budget was presented yest. (13th Feb.)
L: How was this yr. different from others?
M: Interim. The details of the budget new schemes etc. can be changed by the next govt.
L: What new schemes?
M: New trains. New coach factory in Bihar.
L: What about Bombay? Anything for Bombay?
M: Not that I could catch
L: What about A'bad?
M: umm..
L: Anything that Bombay-Ahmedabad have in common in the budget?
M: umm..
L: Was initially Bom-Ahm and now might be extended to Pune
M: Sir, had I read about it, I would have recollected it by now. x-(
L: hmm... They plan to run the first bullet train from Bombay to Ahmedabad.

(look at each other) L: thats ok! Take a toffee and your file.

(as I rise)
R: So tell me, Do you celebrate Valentines' Day?
M: If I had a girl-friend, I definitely would.
L (to R): IIT-ian hai yaar.

All Laugh and curtains!!

It went on for about 20-22 minutes. In retrospect, that I got hassled up at the start was my undoing. Had I taken a short breath before each answer more of what I said would have made sense in much less time. The panel was much better. After a long day, I was just happy it was over.

The IIM K GD - PI

2009-02-13T22:26:00.000+05:30

The IIM Kozhikode Group Discussions were the first to start. Apparently they hand out a number of calls and hence their rounds last a while. Mine was on the 12th of February in the afternoon. The venue for the IIM K calls is Dadar Catering College also known by some freakish long official name.
I had a quiz in the morning, which meant that I had to rush to Dadar thereafter. The cab was pricy and I ended up paying through my nose. The K call letter had a set of 4 questions to be answered. Due to quiz mugging I could only manage 2 until I landed inside a cab. I never appreciated the smoothness of the Eastern Express highway as much as ever before nor did I realize how much could be written in a minute of red signal stillness. I reached just in time for the attendance. They had 3 panels of about 9 each. I was the 4th in the panel 3. They started delta late and called our panel to a room.
We were to be watched over by 2 profs. P1 - wearing denims and sneakers, who did most of the talking and P2 - who seemed very observant. The GD topic was given on a paper and wanted us to discuss whether UGC should introduce Astrology as a subject in universities. I made half a dozen good points. The GD went on well with most points being covered. At the end of it I was satisfied :-) They asked us to leave our forms behind and step outside. So far so good.

The waiting area was a corridor with a single file of chairs. I felt stuffy and had a walk around the college. The interviews before mine were turning out to be a mixed bag of acads + workEx. I made a few conversations but largely kept to myself. Each of the first 3 guys took an average of 20-25 minutes.
I went in with my file and an unusual perkiness. They didn't ask for file and the other thing put them off!!

P1: How do you calculate the distance between 2 points?
S: In what dimensional space [...]
P1: Choose something
S: under root of square of blah blah
P1: So if I give you a distance matrix between 20 points can you determine their co-ordinates?
S: If there is a solution, there are infinite.
P1: many questions abt. the same thing. It seemed like a favorite questions with him. He had asked a few other people the same question. I don't know what he was trying to get to - but I seemed pretty confident that it was a simple question and not much could be different. Went over the basics of co-ordinate geometry, whether translation / rotation happens and how.

P1: Moving on. If I want to host a website how do I do it?
S: blah blah abt. buying webspace, setting up server etc.
Each time I didn't say something - he would prompt me for it and I would with time figure out what he wanted. I said everything (right and wrong) that I knew about hosting web pages, internet connectivity, DNS, Apache servers, IP addresses and allocations etc.

Having spoken about these main headings he abruptly said I could go. I was surprised since he hadn't had a look at my form while that was the only thing P2 did. P2 didn't say a single word. They didn't ask for my file - which I presumed was a routine. The overall experience lasted barely 10-12 minutes so I really don't know what to make of it. Either they have a strong reason to take me or they thought I was too arrogant and anyway wouldn't join and hence have a strong reason not to take me.

However I did meet a few people who I think am gonna be meeting often in the coming few weeks. The indepth knowledge of the procedures and technicalities that they have awed me. To sum up, it was a decent experience but not as much a preparation for IIM A as I had hoped. Thankfully, the return ride fare was shared !!

Debate!

2009-02-08T17:40:00.006+05:30

Life is general has been good to me in the last few months. (I hope I don't have to regret it though .. )
NLS Quarters, Bro came, Mihir got married, Got placed, Dada got married a few times over :P and to top it off - CAT results (Here and o t h e r s)!! Eventhough just before the results came out, I had realized that my performance was better than I earlier thought, the actual result was unexpected.
The past month (****!! Its a month already) has been a blur. It was heartening to know that so many people genuinely care about you and take efforts to wish you well. While a thank you is definitely called for (and procrastinated) this post isn't about that.
Its about:

BCG	IIMs
+ Great Job	+ Good Formal Education now
+ Firang MBA later	+ Relatively cheap (fees)
+ Job in otherwise bad times	+ Land a job when the good times return
- Have to continue education when times turn	- Lose out on Intl. exposure

I have left it at even keel at the moment though I have a few reasons on either side :D but (to the few people who read this) I want to hear from you - What according to you is the best course of action?!

9:00

2009-02-02T08:52:00.003+05:30

6:59 by Shane Koyczan starts

I’ve been told
that people in the army
do more by 7:00 am than I do
in an entire day ...

While, 9:00 am isn't quite the same as 7, still when you are in time for a 8:30 class only to realise it got cancelled - a surge of happiness floods you that the entire day lies ahead of you. :-)

Until, you open e-mail, reader, blogs, and before you know it'll be lunch time!!

BCG, it is!

2008-12-05T18:12:00.004+05:30

After much wondering, contemplating, suspense and tension - I landed a job with The Boston Consulting Group as an Associate. So in about 6 months time, I shall be in thick of the action!

But on the whole the scene is not good this year, with shadows of both the global slowdown and local blasts resulting in many firms pulling out and hiring less. I wish more of my batchmates get placed real quick, so that the party can begin.

MAssacre!

2008-11-22T00:52:00.002+05:30

Every year - the MA 1st sem. course has a few things in common!

Students don't really like the way lectures are held!
Students seldom realise where epsilons & delta will take them!
Its usually the first end-sem and subsequently the first grade of your IIT life!
and Most unfortunately, the grades come out before the end of papers!

This year, only 1 in 5 got a BB or above. 1 in 10 flunked the course!
Institute rules suggest that top 1% may be awarded an AP grade - this year than 2% got an AA.

The freshie wings had happiness sucked out of them tonight, with an occasional sob. Students who entered the hostel head and ambitions high, called their parents and got quite an earful! Phew!

Change!

2008-11-06T16:12:00.003+05:30

The widget on iGoogle that spouts daily Bush-isms, today underwent a change. While it hardly affects me - in any direct way - am really positive abt. the Obama guy :D !

But amidst all the change, Sachin scores yet another Hundred! His 10th against Australia, alone.

Freudian!

2008-10-16T07:40:00.001+05:30

The night is done,
all through which I've been coding;
As a Mtech leaves,
he asks me a really simple thing,
Why should I,
reflexively state third as my year;
Repressed memories,
are something I've begun to fear!!

Ok! Lousy rhyme, but I am terrified as to what is happening to me :((
For the stupid, I am in the fifth year!

Post-Hoc Fallacy

2008-10-10T14:45:00.004+05:30

Fact 1: Sangram & SMS have stopped living in the hostel since July
Fact 2: I drained a ball point refill, for the first time in 4 years!

Wall St. Arena

2008-10-03T14:38:00.002+05:30

Got this here .

Action Verbs & In-action silences

2008-08-27T06:20:00.002+05:30

For all the criticisms heaped on our exam systems, they are pretty objective & unambiguous on what they are looking to grade you on! As a result, every exam (right from Std. 1 to Middle School Scholarship to 10th to JEE) was algorithmic. At worst it was intractable but never was it infeasible.

Real world or as it appears from this juncture, isn't so! Hence I have to Innovate, Initiate, Assess, Execute & otherwise navigate my way through the jungle of Action Verbs - so that I sell to people. Every action in the last few years is looked at, commented upon, evaluated back and forth so often that I wonder whether my entire existence was to stand in good stead on 2 A4 sheets.

I never felt so sold before.

Profit from Enterprise

2008-08-24T04:10:00.006+05:30

As the business awareness of my batch rises sharply with every passing day, its worth the time to read Fred L. Kent's engaging letter about Profit from Enterprise. Although a bit long, the letter has an easy flow to it so shouldn't take too long.

I was always pro-profit so the letter just reinforced my thoughts, though I now wonder whether one can generate profit in the 100 person society by:
a) Confidently predicting the availability of water from mathematical models based on reliable factors like rain tomorrow, ground water level etc.,
b) Brokering deals between the cobbler & the tailor on the ratio of the number of good to be exchanged (between the two) as a function of the water in the reservoir 6 months from today,

and so on.

Point being that, it is easy to see the profits as a cut of the common good for the society resulting from a person's enterprise.

I honestly find it hard to see societal good emanating from a & b (futures trading / derivatives etc.)!
Someone enlighten me :D

Disclaimer: Kindly excuse the author for half-baked knowledge and ambitious generalisations.

Blue!

2008-08-22T16:52:00.002+05:30

Some times it takes all of 5 mins. for a person to suddenly go from happy to crappy.
I wonder which of the following happened to me today :
1. Vijendar getting only bronze!
2. An evil thing I did, getting undone :P
3. Not meeting a prof. I wanted to meet :-|
4. Not meeting a prof. I didn't want to meet, but should have :(
5. Being forgotten by someone close.
6. Being excluded by someone not-so-close.

2008-08-12T15:44:00.000+05:30

Often there is no rationale for telling the truth;
but we still believe in the virtues of virtue & keep fingers crossed for the best!

2008-07-31T00:39:00.003+05:30

The first paragraph on Macroeconomics by Gregory Mankiw starts:

When you finish school and start looking for a full-time job, your experience will, to a large extent, be shaped by prevailing economic conditions. In some years, firms throughout the economy are expanding their production of goods and services, employment is rising, and jobs are easy to find. In other years, firms are cutting back production, employment is declining, and finding a good job takes a long time. Not surprisingly, any college graduate would rather enter the labor force in a year of economic expansion than in a year of economic contraction.

With RBI reining growth estimates -- so much so for the placement season this year!!

Anyway, in another interesting read the authors predict that the reason China, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh (inspite of having 43% of global population) won only 6% of the Sydney Olympic Medals has a strong corelation to the fact that the these 4 countries contribute 5% of the Global GDP.
Times have changed: India alone contributes about 2.15% of Global GDP (World Bank 2007 est.), will we win the ~18 medals expected of us?!

I will miss ...

2008-07-23T00:32:00.004+05:30

Waking up with Sangram
Going to classes with Boss
Chattering with Ankit
Lukkha with Chingi / Jhantu
Sardar ka drama
Cheema ke Fundae
Mohta ka kyun
Bhotica ki cheenkh

As classes start tomorrow, I am at a never before loss of comprehension here. Life might move on, but a part of me is left behind forever....

One Vote!

2008-07-08T02:32:00.004+05:30

For all the Pre-JEE single-mindedness; 13th May 2004 is vividly etched in my memory.

Walking down from StarCity Theatre (not that I was watching a movie, thats just where my class was), I passed the returning office of Mumbai Central LokSabha Constituency - Ruparel College. The buzz of LokSabha results was everywhere & by the time, I reached home - I was happy that it was to be the last election I wouldn't vote in.
It wasn't to be. I didn't vote in the Corporation Elections & find all the roads digged up for no apparent reason. No direct implication here but it was high time, ''One Vote Doesn't Count" refrain to stop!

The past 4 years have given me & hordes of students ample reason to cheer and boo the Government of India - be it the YFE Movement regarding reservations in IITs, the recent faculty reservations in IITs, indiscriminate opening of IITs themselves or (on the other side) bold steps to further the cause of (what I believe is) a good Nuclear agreement, a bursting economy that is dishing out some meaty stuff, pretty peaceful & secular 4 years, an aviation sector, a telecom boom, & so on ...

While, all these issues primarily concern the urban middle class - thats the only set of people I expect to be reading this and most unfortunately, thats the set of people I expect to be only reading this. Blogging, lakeside chatter is all good but its high time we take up the only constitutional right that we have - Vote!

Consider this -
Thane is the second largest LS constituency in the country but had a 40.53% voter turnout. Thats like bottom-20 (excluding J & K) among the 543 LS Seats. (Source: Election Commission - LS 2004 - report). If it wasn't good enough, in the 2008 by-polls the turnout was estimated at 26%.
The turnout was equally bad for most other urban centers of this country - Mumbai South (44.2%), Nagpur(48.59%), Pune (47.82%), New Delhi(44.59%), Bangalore(54.26, 49.42%), Madras(45%,47%,49%).
As a result, it is possible to win a LS seat when less than 1 in 4 of the electorate supports your candidature. No wonder we think that the government barely listens to us.

Whatever be your personal agenda - coming LS elections are a good way to get started! But since, we might have them anytime from October 2008 to May 2009, atleast get your self registered as a voter. All it requires is to have a permanent home - I guess we all manage that.

For Maharashtra - This is a good way. Fill out the details & a postman will come to your doorstep to get your signature. [Honestly, I don't know how successfully does this translate into getting your name onto the voters' list - but lets have a little faith.]
Other states would have something similar is my guess.
Whoever reads this, do take this effort for your own self & then for the nation. Do urge others to register as voters asap, the government takes a while :P to get things done.

With my DDP written, I seriously plan to follow up on ways of getting oneself registered & will post back - but in a democracy everyone needs to pitch in. If you know something / someone that can help, do mail me.

A few Links in public interest:
1. http://mumbaicity.gov.in/htmldocs/elintro.htm
2. http://www.agnimumbai.org/ew1.asp

Monsoon Primer

2008-07-01T11:00:00.001+05:30

Once a season, rains decides that the city should have a day in. July was ushered with one such.
Its been raining like, well, Bombay - for the past 10 hours or so. (I was warmly tucked in for the 1st 6, though). So after two cups of Coffee, one Bhutta & plenty of getting wet - heres what I did :).

Take a square bit of paper & fold it into a quarter. Well, simple enough.

Take the end with 4 leaves and fold 1 of them to a side and 3 to the other to get something as seen in the second image!

Open up the central region of the design to get a diamond with vertical creases as seen in the next image. Pull the creases to have a boat - that does floats!

Well, while what I might have heaped on you might be KG stuff, its good to practice ones' skills once in a while :P & make your own boat. Once that is done; its great joy to watch your creations go down the drain!:D

Allah ke Bande

2008-06-02T11:07:00.000+05:30

I am as secular as the come in a Sena Heartland. Hence, for any pre-IPL cricket fan brought up on the Inzamam-Waqar staple lines of "Inshallah the boys played well!!", it was expected (even if out of place) to hear Kamran Akmal and Sohail Tanvir mouth the standard invocations.

What was an ear-sore was Yusuf Pathan too lauding Allah for everything that went Jaipur's way for the past 5 weeks!! In all honestly, I believe that Yusuf (& bro, Irfan) are lauded and loved by every Indian as much as Yuvraj & Dhoni, in a complete nationalistic passion. I ask anyone who reminds me of the brothers' religion to shut up (it felt pretty much the same for Azhar as well), so I would really like it if they themselves don't remind others of what religion they belong to!

Personal freedom is completely granted, but in view of their home-state and the fact that Jaipur was blasted just a few weeks ago -- it kinda creeped me out!

As an aside, this was really good to hear!

ManU ManU!!

2008-05-22T15:35:00.000+05:30

I don't really follow European Football, but somehow end up supporting the Red Devils in each game of theirs I watch. So staying up till this hour was totally worth it, that ManU won at Moscow :-)
But I really feel for John Terry

Clear hai!

2008-05-19T01:05:00.000+05:30

I don't know if anyone else noticed it as well, but the air in Bombay was exceptionally clear this weekend. Sprinklings of clouds on the horizon didn't hamper the pleasant sunshine, which along with the clear air made Bombay seem extremely delectable as we could see a long way off. From the IIT - Gandhinagar slope, one could see the whole of New Bombay and much of the mountain ranges beyond.
Pre-monsoon showers eased temperatures as well, making a very comfortable weekend

More the merrier ...

2008-04-28T03:00:00.000+05:30

One of the many populists measures of Union Budget 2008 - was the setup another 8 new IITs in states like Bihar, Orrisa, Andhra Pradesh etc...
In another related measure, aiming to provide the IIT education to a wider section of the society; the government also plans to implement the OBC Quota starting this very year.
While the issue of reservations is something I am pretty skeptical about;
unlike many of my friends, I really don't mind setting up more IITs on the pattern of the existing ones.

A simple fact check:
In 1961, when the country had 5 IITs (Kharagpur, Bombay, Chennai, Delhi and Kanpur) its population was 0.44 billion. In 2011, the country's projected population is 1.19 billion. Assuming the same percentage of IITians are as intelligent today as back then, we have a problem.
To guarantee linear increase we need atleast 14 IITs by 2011. Add to that the fact that more people want to graduate as IIT engineers - we need even more IITs.

Its pretty clear that the governments helps IITs much more than any other engineering college. IITs are provided with much better infrastructure implying that every thing else remaining constant - IITs are a better place to learn for an average student than say Dyanba Moje College of Engineering Pune and realistically, a Somaiyya etc.

Now we have to answer a few important questions for ourselves...
1. Are the issues that dog the current IIT system (dedication of students / finding good faculty / students toeing the technical line / serving the country etc.) really just pangs of scaling stuff up?
2. Are insufficiency of seats good enough grounds for denying an AIR ~1000 a degree in CSE B.Tech in any IIT?
3. What is the IIT brand anyway?

I think the answer to first 2 questions a pretty clear NO!!

IIT brand : With 7 IITs at the moment, I hardly think any one rates IITB close to IITG, be it prospective employers or faculty in foreign universities. And just like every market driven phenomenon that corrects itself, if CSE IITG closes higher than Aero IITB on the average -- it means that the prospects after graduating from CSE, IITG are better than those of Aero IITB. Period.

If the overall brand of IITs as we perceive it today goes down, as is pretty possible, it would be time for the older / better IITs to dissociate itself from the others. There is only as much IIT Bombay can / should hope to gain from the IIT brand. Since, it is at the top of the heap now, it makes sense for IITB to make a planned forge of the IITBombay brand. Good foreign companies make a intelligent queue for graduates of only certain IITs (or more specifically - certain departments of certain IITs), even now. They are less driven by the IIT brand created largely by the batches of the 70's (who are big names in '08) and more by their IIT employees in the last decade.
Honestly, in the University of California brand there are 10 distinct identities and while Berkeley is by far the most famous, I genuinely doubt anyone speaks of UC Merced (if you have heard of it) in the same breath as UCB. [UCB was founded way back in 1868, while Merced was founded in 2005 and the others sometime in between.] Something similar can soon happen to IITs as well.

So almost the only thing we lose are the claims of statistically exclusivity / lowest acceptance rates, that newspapers / Asok / CBS love to trump about a lot.
While I agree that there might have been political motivation to pass such resolutions, its still a decently positive move.

Juno

2008-03-09T12:07:00.000+05:30

Ever since reading about the movie in this review, I was pretty decided about watching it someday.
The basic setting of the movie (16 yr./8 grade girl gets pregnant after having unprotected sex with a friend) is foreign to us (since 16yr. olds aren't sexually active here). However, its a matter of years before such issues start cropping up around here.
Since whats best about the movie and what made me fall so in love with the movie's easy flow is aptly summed up by the above article, I'll just share the title song. Not only did I catch the lyrics in the very 1st go (which is rare with English numbers) they kinda appealed to me as well ...

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall,
The rumble of your water would be my call.
If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow
Just as long as you were with me, let the cold winds blow

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were the wood, I'd be the fire.
If you were the love, I'd be the desire.
If you were a castle, I'd be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

The Rat Race - III

2008-03-07T12:30:00.000+05:30

Its been sometime now -
abt. 2 Yrs. since I spoke of The Rat Race, making it my first blog post.
abt. 100 blog posts since, chronicling the 700+ days.
abt. an yr. since 'An year gone by...'
but its still pretty much a Rat Race - I guess some bloody things never change.

Lord of the Rings!

2008-02-17T09:20:00.000+05:30

Sohoni Sir says,

Its so amazing that its almost theology.

about rings.

Studying didn't help, I hope praying will (in today's midsem).

Can a guy & girl be just friends!?

2008-02-01T14:30:00.000+05:30

They were strange post-midnight discussions between friends - when we stumbled on the Ladder Theory. Google for it or check out www.intellectualwhores.com .
2 ladders diverged at the first look,
I took one .... & that has made all the difference.

Becky vs Robin ?!

2008-01-12T15:21:00.000+05:30

Its not like my life's boring when I don't post on the blog;
but its worth mentioning when half-asleep realization dawns that you have a cute thing in your heart for women newscasters ...
While Melissa Theuriau is a global favorite & Barkha Dutt inspires national awe;
I can't figure out whether I like Rebecca Donaldson or Robin Scherbatsky more.

CAGD Project

2007-12-09T05:14:00.000+05:30

Our CAGD project this semester was quite a pleasant exercise. While I shall not bitch about the other course projects, this one took us back to appreciating the aesthetics (something we would have otherwise abstracted out) and designing a simple everyday object in a 3D modeller.
While I shall be strutting around after getting some good marks in that project; I enjoyed doing something totally novel and creative after a long time. Hats off to Sohoni Sir for injecting so much life into things we otherwise take for granted.

Here are a few snap shots of my mobile - that I promised a few people.
Guess which cell-phone model I was aiming to ape in the comments .. First 3 correct entries get a treat (assuming that you didn't know of it before hand)!

2007-12-08T02:38:00.000+05:30

Apparently, its not like all my 21 years have been wasted ...
While she was sure I was no where close to 21, my mom did wonder which of the two I resembled more - a 2 yr. old or a 1 yr. old!!

2007-12-07T18:51:00.000+05:30

I might not have done much in my nearly 21 yrs. of existence;
but I take joy in the fact that I am / was often regarded as a capable friend or a worthy adversary by those who have!

My good deed of the day :-)

2007-12-05T22:29:00.000+05:30

I donated 4000 grains of rice at www.freerice.com . Now I have no idea where the rice comes from & where it goes, but was a pleasant post-GRE exercise nonetheless. Have been swinging between a low of 31 & a high of 43!

1 साल बाद!

2007-11-27T16:47:00.000+05:30

Its been an year, since my Goa trip;
& just like Goa, the memories are ageless; as are the wounds! Ouch!

Another year, when the "Har saal .. " resolution has failed.

The globe turns a full circle ..

2007-11-18T17:26:00.000+05:30

as a 10 year old boy (circa 1995), I distinctly remember hearing time and again, why globalisation is bad for India, its economy, its people & more dramatically, for the survival of the country at large.
12 years later, things have come a full circle - Americans / Europeans are dreading the same globalisation.

Many Europeans, like many Americans, feel threatened by globalization. But the challenge cannot be met with Mr. Sarkozy’s misconceived ideas, including designating threatened European companies as nationally backed contenders, and giving them special legal and economic privileges. That approach will see sheltered European firms fall even further behind newer and more efficient competitors from India, China and elsewhere.

While much more can be said - it was amply felt during our time in France and reading articles otherwise. Indians are riding the wave, better than the Chinese apparently. Pepsi / Coke which were often the target of anti-economic-imperialism screams, finds an Indian lady at the helm. Ditto with Adobe.
Too inexperienced to comment more -- but :-)

You are in CSE, IIT Bombay when ...

2007-11-14T01:50:00.000+05:30

... the following exchange pleasantly lands in your inbox!!

Dear Ram, Your leadership in piloting this bold initiative through Tata Sons is finally paying off - and how superbly! My congratulations and compliments. I am glad that IIT Bombay has contributed in the effort, not only via its past students (who are also past faculty), but also a little through our on-going research collaboration. With best regards, Sincerely, - Deepak

and just when you wonder who Ram is --

Thanks Deepak. You have been a great supporter and a source of strength. Warm regards S Ramadorai Tata Consultancy Services Mailto: s.ramadorai@tcs.com Website: http://www.tcs.com

"आरे!! हमारे ज़माने में ..."

2007-11-12T07:57:00.000+05:30

Anti, Calvin and the above line are intricately linked.
However, if there was one thing I would say was truly unique to people of my age, it would have to be the taking down messages for others, for the calls they miss.
If you aren't figuring what I am talking about, remember the times, when a phone number had a one-to-one correspondence with a particular address (or worse, there was the funda of 'शेजार्यांचा फ़ोन नम्बर'). As a result, we answered phones (which were seldom for us) and we were supposed to take down hurriedly pronounced names / numbers & remember them for delivery to the correct person. I particularly sucked at this art & was sufficiently chided for the same!!

Anyway, since our parents never had phones in their childhood & the concept of a घरचा phone number is fast on the decline - it truly qualifies for a "आरे!! हमारे ज़माने में ..."
Aah! Those were the times ;-)
A Calvin to spread the cheer ...

A few times over ...

2007-11-09T05:06:00.000+05:30

Some years ago, statisticians predicted that by the time He retired, Sachin would hold every batting record - well, they were only partially right.
He has records, by a decent margin as well.
A list of his Batting records :-
1. Most Runs (15800s) in Career (yeah.. yeah -- we all knew that)[Next best 12200s]
2. 5^th highest innings score.
3. 2^nd highest runs in a series.
4. 1^st (4^th and few more) highest runs in a calendar year.
5. More than 1000 runs in a calendar year - 7 times
6. 2^nd highest batting average among batsmen with 7000 runs or more.
7. Most hundreds in Career. (41 + 5 times this yr. that he has been out in 90s :-|) [Next Best :- 25]
8. Most hundreds in a calendar year. (Also, the 4th spot.)
9. Most 100's by a batsman against Australia, Srilanka, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, West Indies, South Africa & Kenya.
10. Most (14) 90s scores .. arrgh!! [Next best:- 9]
11. Most (3) dismissals at 99. [Pulling my hair.]
12. Most 50+ scores in career.
12a. Most 50-99 scores in career.
13. 50s in 5 successive matches [Highest by an Indian.]
14. 4^th highest number of career sixes.
15. Highest number of 4s. [1720 to 2nd best 1348]

Anyway, He has set the stage for a decent onslaught. So back to the match.

Mornings !

2007-11-02T19:07:00.000+05:30

Mornings in IITB are little appreciated,
because like many other things here (read: lectures, labs, ...) people sleep through them!
However, once in the rising sun, when I happen to chance upon them --I do miss not meeting them more often.

2007-10-26T14:39:00.000+05:30

Quoting Sushant :-

To Kanpur ...
I shall not harp again on the (un)justifiable reasons for my long absence. Some updates:

1. Leaving early morning tomorrow for ACM regionals at IITK. Have never been to kanpur, it might also be my east-most indian city since i am self-aware :)
It should be a nice experience, this time being the best in the year to visit kanpur. Their cultural festival is also scheduled on this weekend. We should have a gala time, an inviting break from the semester.
I guess quite a few expectations rest on us but I am quite pessimistic this time around, we have not practiced at all :(

2. Met Tejas and Sonal after a long time yesterday, had dinner together. Good fun.

So long

Won't bother to add much - have been to Hyderabad, so the eastern city and a few other things might not hold, but what the heck saved me a lot of typing :-)

Universe, Solar System ..

2007-10-08T17:27:00.000+05:30

.. & life have been reasonably good to me, over the past month upto last weekend !
Quick Notes :-
1. GRE went w/o major calamity!
1'. Back to Nightouts
2. Midsems weren't as terrible as I thought they would be.
3. ~~Ranade Sir didn't appear as angry as my laziness called for.~~
4. Ganapati Rocks !!
4.1 : Ameya, Anish, Pallavi Tai, Anand Dada were the icing on a real hectic but enjoyable day 1
4.2 : Delhi trip beckoned.
5. Delhi Trip -- Priya will finally rest in peace. Short trip, sweet girls ;-), sweeter memories. Nightout with Aman & co. Meeting Teemish after 3.5 long yrs. Exchanging notes on IITB / IITD Elections, MI / Rendezvous, Insti. Poltu., life, girls, photography etc.. Spoke to Eesha at length after quite a while. India Gate, RajPath walk, Delhi Metro :-), Delhi Traffic :-|, Richshaw fares :-(, Airport, and oops!! coming 2nd <:-P!
6. Google CA!
7. Qualified for IITK Onsite :D
8. Entering knee deep into the Arabian Sea, and feeling responsible for the 18' idol.
9. Biding Sept. adios
9'. Trek to Naneghat, again.
10. Thinking lots about the Pune trip - HawkEye is brainy stuff :-P
11. Going to Pune - 15.4 sec., a paper presentation & lotsa chicken!!

Burp .. Content.

2007-09-13T00:06:00.000+05:30

When you think you have run out of time,
prolly its time to turn the clock on its head!

Corny!

2007-09-07T11:24:00.000+05:30

Quoting this article,

V. Raghunathan writes about a farmer whose corn won top awards year after year. When a reporter asked about the secret of his success, the farmer attributed it to the fact that he shared his corn with his neighbors. Why, the reporter wondered, would the farmer want to share his seed when those neighbors also competed with him for the prize? The farmer's reply was, "The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grew inferior corn, cross-pollination would steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors do the same."

That Indians often fail to act like this farmer is the principal theme of Raghunathan's book.

V. Raghunathan concludes "Indians are privately smart and publicly dumb".

:-ss

2007-09-03T11:23:00.000+05:30

GRE Tomo.
Nothing more to say :-|

---
Edit:-
I 1430'd :-|

2007-08-18T00:45:00.000+05:30

Watched Rang de Basanti again, today! & much like my other posts, I am confused :)
India, celebrated 60 yrs. of Independence, earlier this week!
My earliest memories of Independence Day, were those of painting Flag Hoisting every August - in the painting class - year after year, an incremental number being the only change. Clearly, as a 6 yr. old, the country as an entity didn't mean much to me, other than - it inspired a lot of fervor.
Over the years, it tickled something... but no sooner had I stopped drawing tricolors (about the time when the number touched the golden 50), than the cynicism largely set in. The past years, have meant an additional holiday, mandatory school parades, additional JEE / Agarwals' classes, or possibly a Malhar - as the case may be. I got perturbed this Wednesday, as I went on some errand to a slum in Thane. Lying in the only square feet - those kids would call a playground - the faith persisted. Some kids had put their ingenuity to test, and had laid out a rangoli in the shape of India - on an extremely uneven ground.
Why was it, that I felt the strongest for my land, when it gave me nothing more than air to breathe (in the years '89-'94, which were among the bleakest in nationalistic history), yet when the country spends a great deal on educating me - I take the midweek break to sneak in a few extra word-lists [& :P] , so that I GRE well!

Earlier today, we watched 3 laborers cut their way through the LT lawns, with an almost medieval lawnmower. It was then, that Sangram brought up the topic of relevance of IITs, Engineers, IITian Engineers to India and so on.
Till before Paris, I was of the opinion that any great innovation made by NRIs in USA would eventually tickle down to Indians & make their life more comfortable. Clearly, I was wrong.
India - has her own set of problems. And, obviously grant commissions in Firang Lands, wouldn't pay to find solutions to our problems. With the case at hand - probably a good automated lawnmower is not an answer, we are looking for in India. Where would the 2, who fed themselves and their families, from their daily wages go? - if we replaced them with a mower than needed just 1 man to man. While, it would clearly be in vogue to have ultramodern devices all over IIT, just like in INRIA, in aping western countries we have missed the point. As sangram pointed out, unfortunately many corporate houses, probably have already purged their payrolls - in order to keep up with 'global' standards.
In the same vein, CTARA (at IITB) is probably the most relevant center / department of IIT Bombay.

And at 60, (coincidentally the age at which Government employees retire) India needs a fresh look at the problems facing us. & A generation needs to reawaken! I have no idea, where the winds of change will flow from (or for that matter - if they will). The easy way out seems like the very easy way out! Just forget that the problem exists, and its existence will stop paining you.
But I guess, things have to change.

Koi bhi desh perfect nahin hota, use perfect banana hota hai.

I have no idea, whether I will have the guts to be a young gun of India or whether

Yahaan pe system ko badal ne ki koshish karo, to system khud tumhe badalta hai.

But, among the best part of the movie, was its touch of realism - each of the hero dies a non-heroic death. Revolutions apparently make no promises & the Satyandra Dubey's die .... but they give no arrival notices either.

But then, political revolution (which might be around the corner) might not come just yet. Yet, the technological needs need addressing as well. The generation can come up with solutions - that address real problems. With thrice as many people per area as France, India's problems are plenty & I don't even know where to start!

2007-08-12T13:14:00.000+05:30

Its almost become an annual trend now!
Another student, committed suicide on IITB Campus, sometime yesterday, making it the 2nd suicide in about 7 months and 4th on Campus, in as many years.

While, suicides are an extreme step altogether & a problem in its own right, only a few students end up taking that extreme step. What is a more prevalent problem in the institute, is the desire to quit the system!
In excess, of half the students are in the mood to quit the system & things surrounding them - at the halfway mark! The desire manifests itself, in many ways. Those who actually, quit the system, earlier than stipulated - by leaving the institute dead or otherwise, are a few.

But most, unfortunately, a larger number just wait for time to pass-by and them to honorably graduate from IITB. In the mean time, they sleep through courses, take up easy courses, and so on, so forth.
The general discontent, with the system - is something that has to be addressed at some level.

'Matrimonial websites losing out to dating websites'

2007-08-09T20:18:00.000+05:30

Its interesting to note what the country is coming to, when you read a news item, as above.
Its a perfect reflection, of the mindset of people all around, where the generation - taking a definite break from marriage-centric view. While, breakdown of the current structure - is not what I am betting on - the thought process has set in.

Keyword Hunting and web Mining!

2007-08-05T02:12:00.000+05:30

Trust Soumen to come up (well - webmine to be frank), with

Claiming "IIT=Cornell+MIT+..." is like demanding that Mumbai local trains are superior to the Paris subway because it's much harder to get into a Mumbai local train.

While, it would be wholly disrespectful and way out of my aukaat to refer to Prof. Soumen Chakrabarti, as a plain Soumen, since it is how he is referred to in student circles, I shall do so & pray that he doesn't come across this.
On an academic note, I am mostly taking the Statistical Foundations of Machine Learning course by him this semester.
Soumen as a person, prof., researcher is an enigma alrite. While, I have always been an ardent fan of his newsgroup postings, never did I realise the extensive amount of general writings that he has come up with in the past few years. Most of them are linked here. He speaks of pollution, lawlessness, and more general topics, in such a simple language and persuasive logic, that it leaves you wondering where has all the common sense gone.
His witty one-liners or clever anagraming, I recently realised is just a part of the story. Clearly, people better equipped at humoring english are abundantly distributed (priori hypothesis) all over the web.
What I believe is unmatched is the through professionalism! He was as good as an IIT student can get. A President's Gold Medalist during his IITKgp days, he went on to UCB and so on...
As a researcher, I guess he is good, because a list of people in DataMining, throws up his name in the same league as Sergey Brin and others.
But what is truly fascinating is the amount of professionalism he brings to class. He has a clear handwriting, even more clear ways of sketching out complex fundaes and diagrams. He overloads you with information and expects you to imbibe it at that rate. You are mentally exhausted and bamboozled after attending his class, yet you know that you want to come back for more.
& if all this, made you picturise a jet-setting Capitalist, he says a lot for cycles, environment, making IITs relevant in the larger picture, and the other India - in general.

Still in the meantime, for those who aren't attending his classes - enjoy his sharings and posts. Watching him, have a go at IITB MB egg heads and Can't read but will applys, is something definitely not to be missed.

Water

2007-07-27T01:14:00.000+05:30

Watched the movie, Water, last night.
Its one of the Deepa Mehta, element n-ologies, that was nominated for an Oscar for the best foreign film, as a Canadian Entry.
While I had specifically decided to enjoy the movie, as it unfolded and not be critical of it, a few themes got me thinking over and over again.
So, I shall attempt to pass this off as a GRE practice essay, since I am desperate to pen down my thoughts, lest they get lost in the jungles of IIT thoughts.

The movie deals with, the widows of Benaras and their oppression, in the late 1930s. The whole setting is wonderfully reconstructed, though I didn't really figure out what Water had to do with it.
It no doubt had a commanding screen presence and makes an appearance in many scenes. It probably also symbolises, the Hindu religion, that although expansive and well-defined in its flow, can be skillfully shaped up, to the needs of those who read the scriptures - the Brahmins.
It might represent the time-frame of a widow's life from the instant, her husband's ashes meet the waters till the time she (or her ashes) drown themselves.
It could stand for innumerous tears that are suppressed.
Or it could be something different altogether.

While, female oppression, is something I have already blogged on, in this movie, its much more potent. Unlike, Dor where, the widow did love her husband & missed him, Water speaks of girls, not even in their teens, widowed before they met their husbands, for whom they could have no possible affection. Also, while we feel sad for Meera, what happens to the playful Chuhiya, only about 7 yrs. old, is graphicaly brutal. The setting of the ashram, with the same grief multiplied in each inmate, is gripping. (That Chuhiya constantly reminded me of a niece, I absolutely adore, didn't make it any easier.)
But, I shall give my feminist rantings a rest.
A smaller but visible undercurrent, is the Gandhi effect. Gandhiji is still remembered largely, as a leader who catalysed Indian independence. With, independence being a 2 generation old thing, and Gandhiji's relevance in present day India, almost forgotten (except, for the rib-tickling Lage Raho...Munnabhai), Water atleast reminds us, of the kind of impact Gandhiji made in a social context, then. With a miniscule screen time for the person himself, the director still manages to talk about Gandhi as a harbinger for change. All along, we are reminded, that a messiah will alleviate the pain, that we see the lead actors suffer.
One of the lines, that the character actually delivers is

For long, I thought that God is the ultimate truth. But now I know, Truth is the ultimate God.

While, one may routinely pass the above as another of Gandhi sayings, it is in the context of the movie, (with Holy Texts being used as tools for discrimination) that you realise the substance. The movie, with a central character searching for herself, as she is lost in the crowds milling for a look at Gandhi, is the most realistic picturisation of his mass popularity. Seema Biswas's acting in the closing minutes is amazing. Her confusion, desperation, will, yet uncertainty are beautifully potrayed.

Eventhough, the above themes, hurt me, for the discrimination was brutal, it never got personal. Thankfully, my family and I, have been fairly modern in their viewpoint. Widow oppression, is wholly detested. 1 UP! My both maternal grandparents, have been Gandhian in their thoughts and actions, for their whole life. My grandmother, continues to stick to his principles till today, and we have imbibed some of the easier ones from her. 2 UP!
But, what bothered me most, was the Brahminical angle to it. While, I am a non-practising Hindu and have at best vague ideas, as to what it means to be one, I have always been proud to be one. I prided my brahminical roots, for their intelligence and awareness. I dismissed anti-Brahminical movements as mere jealousy, that was mostly based on medivial happenings. This movie shook, some of them to the core.
Water, starts with a quote from Manusmriti, that screams of discrimination. The movie ends with stats, that refer to him. The movie is littered with things, he has setup! While, each refers to some distinction, a look beneath the surface, doesn't paint as bad a picture.
Lets take, a case in point. We learn, during the course of the movie, that Manu allows, a widow only 3 forms of life. A Sati (death in the pyre of her husband), or a life devoid of earthly pleasures, or (subject to consent of the family) a marriage to the younger brother of the dead husband. While it seemingly, subjects the widow to the mercy of others, it also ensures that she is not left uncared for. In a male-hounding society, it gave the widow a slight immunity against being subject to humiliation. So in principle, the laws of Manu, seem considerate, if not fair.
What has over the years, (and repeatedly so) gone wrong, is the interpretation of the laws. I never thought, that the learned men (read - Brahmins) would skew the vedas to mean things diametrically opposite, of the original intentions. As one of them says, in the movie "It is a blessing for the widow, that she gets to sleep with a brahmin. A Brahmin can sleep with any woman." This is clearly, not what Manu had in mind, while setting down the basic rules that govern Hinduism.
Over centuries, such traditions would have amounted to the most blatant and widespread misuse of power, that ever has been.
And as per Hinduism, there is no action that ever goes unaccounted for. Each action has to be redeemed and its fruits (bitter or sweet) to be consumed. Hence, in light of such atrocities, the overwhelming anti-brahminical sentiments that are running amok all over the country start to appear just. Suddenly, I feel the collective guilt weighing me down and a black smear spread all across my ancestry. The current domestic situation, doesn't really allow me to talk about this to my parents :P and clearly, its not something that my extended family will take kindly to. But, as my senses open to an outside world, I realize that the quiet manner in which all brahmin bashing is endured, doesn't reflect a strength of character but rather an attempt to passively accept the conviction for ancestral deeds.
In an ever-shrinking world, where you require every possible support to make you stand up for what you are, and carve a niche for yourself, a fundamental constituent gone rotten, is very disturbing.

To Book or Not too Book ...

2007-07-17T15:51:00.000+05:30

is the Million Dollar (well, atleast 15$) Question, hounding me for the last month or so!
Well, the book in question is (the only book, being talked about) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows & the book in the title, refers to the verb - 'To book'!
The Harry Potter frenzy has whipped up to such a cresendo, that not buying the book on the first day, or not racing your friends to its end, is not an option. To all the true fans, it will just be a matter of shielding yourself, from the effects of a spilled out suspence - which hits you from all possible media. While I have already accepted, that some nasty (who shall thereafter not continue to be my) friend, will message me the ending, I wouldn't surprise me if some tabloid or Times of India (same difference, really) screams out "XYZ dead", to sell a few more sunday editions.
As bad luck would have it, the book releases, about 6 hours before I am due at the Airport. As worse luck, would have it, these are 01h00 to 07h00, on a Saturday Morning. (For, Paris on a Saturday Morning, read my posting about Amsterdam .) Also, stuck in an Economy Class seatee, is not how I wanted to be glued to the book, as such. Hence, I am forced to read the book, after landing in India. This puts me at a major disadvantage compared, to others, who will have a clear day's 'work' behind them, by the time I land.
Now, comes the critical evaluation of either sides of the above question :-
Even if I manage to lay my hands on the book, the instant I land & start ploughing through it, that very instant (which, will clearly annoy my parents no end. It isn't a pretty site, when you emerge from the terminals and jump into the arms of Harry & Hermione, instead of Mom & Dad), I shall have known the suspence latest by Sunday night. I shall, be left with the glory of reading through the climax, as others are chewing through every detail of it, in a indefinite loop. By the time, I climb out of the Deathly Hallows, my mom will wanna send me to the Gallows & no one will want to hear anything, I wanna say about the book either. It will be a Catch 22July, alrite.
If I manage to calm my excited self and restrain it from preplacing an order for the book, I shall manage to get one for myself, a few days late. While the person who lends me the book, shall have his/her sadism by forcing me to ingest every detail of the suspence, before I can start, I get the book alrite. As I predict, once the initial cheer surrouding the Hallows, dies down, the book prices shall dive. Good Chance, that I can buy the same book in a proper shop, for as less as 300Bucks or better buy the entire 7 book set, for something like 1500 bucks.
How much, am I willing to pay to live through the Hallows, a day after everyone else & thereafter look at annoyed parents and no cheer?
How many loud suspences and intended hints, am I going to ignore, willing to endure and for how long, till I finally manage to read the book a week or so, late?

... is the question?

Another Teen Movie

2007-07-12T12:26:00.000+05:30

[The following has been written with a viewpoint of someone who has read the book -- For the rest, its a college adventure movie :D]
While making a movie out of a massively successful storyline & compressing the largest Harry Potter novel so far, into 2 Hours and 17 minutes, is no mean task but (inspite of knowing all this,) I am more than mildly disappointed.
In case, you wondered, I watched Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, 1^stDay Last Show in Paris. A big Yeah to that!
To those, who think HP is abra-ca-dabra go take a hike!
To those, I promised to see the movie with, apologies, but will see it again with you anyway.
Also, incidentally, after giving Goblet a skip in the theaters, I have watched each of the others in different city - Pune, Bangalore, Bombay & now, Paris :D
I can't stop gloating :)
So basically, in an effort of squishing 800 pages of the book - the director ends up practically nowhere. One thing that the movie stands out for, is the measure of growth that the Daniel Radcliffe, as Harry & Emma Watson, as you-know-who ;) , have shown. Unlike, Goblet, where Miss Watson, had everyone from Krum to Me to many others floored, she is much more subdued. Except for a scene, where she applies a bit too much of lipstick, she's back into the mould of a best friend, who looks averagely good & not the school beauty, who sits besides you in class, but is being asked out by International Quidditch Heroes. I miss her bushy hair, though (No Pun intended - its how JKR describes her).
Among the other cast, Uncle Vernon looks hugely comical, Gwarp is fitting, Bellatrix is unnaturally loud ...
... & is part of a bigger problem, that I think the movie suffers from. All characters in the movie, have gone overboard to fit exactly into the mould JKR designed. Dumbledore, as I saw him in the movie, wasn't the same as I had mentally pictured him to be while reading, but that was OK!
This movie, has Umbridge having all the associated imagery to recreate the toad visualisation that JKR creates in the book. In a movie hard pressed for time, panning her obscenely pink office a couple of times, is a huge waste. While she might have exactly imitated the book, the added visualisations with her toadiness overdoes it. While her characteristic, 'Hem, hem' is perfectly timed and astutely executed, its an irritant as the movie progresses. Among the most frequent complaints about HP5, has been her time-consuming character. The movie doesn't help itself, by coping this part.
Similarly, with Bellatrix! It is necessary to speak of her evil laughter a few times over to get the message across, it is sufficient to display her laugh just once or twice.
While, the reason Order, as a book is vastly different from its predecessors (also, among the reasons it is complicated), is that it speaks of the Gray areas between the Dark and the Light. It shows James, in a nasty light. It speaks of Umbridge as a misguided but loyal follower. It speaks of Aunt Petunia, doing more than just feeding Harry on leftovers.
The movie blunders each time.
We are never given a chance to like Umbridge. James' arrogance as a 15 yr. old is portrayed as Harry's strength in repelling Snape. The Howler sent to Petunia is still an unexplained element. In case, JKR resolves it in Hallows, the movie HP7 will have a null pointer.
In the concluding minutes, Harry's anguish at learning the prophecy was done with, in a snap. It speaks, of Dark Lord marking him as an equal & neither surviving while the other lives. While, picturising it would no way have been an easy task, Harry's contemplations by the Great Lake, bring out the man in the boy.
What the movie succeeds in doing, however is capture the difficult scenes, well. Fudge's tinkering with the Daily Prophet uses nice techniques. The Department of Mysteries creates an aura of the unknown. Characters of Lupin, Sirius, Tonks, McGonnagal, Ron and Hagrid are self-assured. Voldemort is unnecessarily disfigured. We hear that Tom was a pretty handsome boy. Luna Lovegood, is a revelation as McDreamy. Ginny isn't positioned to be Harry's love interest in the next. Quidditch is sorely missed. But the lack of too many outdoor scenes, create a nice Dark tinge to the whole movie.
What we are left with, is our jock, with a couple of great pals, in a school with an evil teacher imposed on them. They decide, that something secret is cool and rebellious, since they have a point to prove to the world. He manages to snog a girl, in the meantime. They goof up and land in a soup. But our friendly neighbourhood jock, has to star in subsequent movies & with a little help, saves the world alrite. The evil teacher was wrong, all throughout & is duly punished. Another Teen Movie - a few JKR details, don't hurt!

s-Pam

2007-07-05T20:32:00.000+05:30

Almost everyone who has a email id receives an email as below

Hello! I am tired this evening. I am nice girl that would like to chat with you. Email me at pam@docmaildirect.info only. If you would like to see some of my pictures.

If she is 'tired', 'nice' and would just want to 'chat', why would I want anything to do with her #-o. I have more than enough pictures to see >:P

Allo !

2007-07-03T05:35:00.000+05:30

MapLoco, says someone from:

La Celle-Saint-Cloud, France Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:39:18 -0500

visited this blog.
Now La Celle-Saint Cloud, is a pretty nearby place, infact just a few kms from INRIA. But there is noone, from that area whom I know. In case, you happen to be a person, I am talking of or similar, kindly leave a message :D

DubyaMan

2007-06-27T19:41:00.000+05:30

Either George W. Bush has no ideas, how HUGE poodles are,
or, he thinks that (like the supposed WMD) the rest of the world, doesnt know the truth about them.

For an unflinching ally, Tony Blair, he remarked the following to The Sun

I’ve heard he’s been called Bush’s poodle. He’s bigger than that.

As Tony Blair, leaves office, I feel for him for unknown reasons, but then like everything else, Bushisms steal the limelight.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

2007-06-26T18:22:00.000+05:30

I am neither the 1^st person, nor will I be the last person, talking about it - but Steve Jobs' commencement address at Stanford titled - Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish, inspires me everytime.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Heres the video :

Advice

2007-06-25T22:59:00.001+05:30

Never hand out, unsolicited advice. Doesnt work :D

Calvin - again!

2007-06-18T22:21:00.000+05:30

Extremely interested in seeing where this goes tomorrow ;)

--
Edit :- Dated 19.06.07
Nothing related to this, the following day.

S'il Vous Pee

2007-06-11T10:36:00.000+05:30

This post of mine, is another of my attempts at elongating a weekend, fast coming to a close. Anyway, the following mail forwarded by Sudeep, caused a genuine chuckle. Read on...

Seems God was just about done creating the universe, had a couple of left-over things left in his bag of creations, so he stopped by to visit Adam and Eve in the Garden. He told the couple that one of the things he had to give away was the ability to stand up and pee. "It's a very handy thing," God told the couple who he found hanging around under an apple tree. "I was wondering if either one of you wanted that ability." Adam popped a cork!! He jumped up and begged,
"Oh, give that to me! I'd love to be able to do that! It seems the sort of thing a Man should do. Oh please, oh please, oh please, let me have that ability. I'd be so great! When I'm working in the garden or naming the animals, I could just let it rip, I'd be sooooo cool. Oh please, God, let it be me who you give that gift to, let me stand and pee, oh please."
On and on he went like an excited little boy (who had to pee ).
Eve just smiled and shook her head at the display. She told God that if Adam really wanted it so badly, and it sure seemed to be the sort of thing that would make him happy, she really wouldn't mind if Adam were the one given the ability to stand up and pee. And so it was. And it was...........well, good.
"Fine," God said, looking back into his bag of left-over gifts.
"What's left here? Oh yes, multiple orgasms..."

Basically, while the recent tell-it-all streak, shall not extend to multiple orgasms, I shall contain myself well within the 1st 85% of the mail, of which I have experience, and in spite of the sting in the tail (read: kick in the balls) of the mail, I found the 1st Adam part of it pretty hilarious.
The mail made me pretty vividly imagine, a excited Adam all gung-pee about his new powers that he could spray about. Think about a 5 year old, jumping with joy at a new water-gun gifted to him & you know what I exactly mean.
The mail also brings out, Eve's reticent nature and her ability to grin in joy (or helplessness) at how relieved (pun intended) Adam is at the power to stand up for himself and express himself. Everyone has experience, at their moms/sisters/daughters sitting tight in the car while we merrily pop out of the car and pop back in minutes later.

On a lateral note, the following picture sums up how evil I feel, each time I can use my Adam-inherited powers. Can you possibly, imagine Susie in place of Calvin, doing the same? Hell NO!
Calvin might not be able to hit Susie with a single snowball, but when it comes to matters that matter, he is bang on target!
Similarly, I was intrigued & interested at the public urinals, I found at street crossings in Amsterdam (seen below). So simple, minimalistic yet efficient and complete, they exactly sum what standing up and peeing is!
While, I hadn't seen something like this before, Deepak D. aka DudDa, interjected saying they can be found in Bihar - Surely! DudDa, we had no idea Bihar had open urinals :P

Thought for the day!

2007-05-25T12:02:00.000+05:30

If your feet stink, you are forewarned before a Foot in Mouth experience!

Don't know why I came up with this one!

Sold Out!

2007-05-23T05:18:00.000+05:30

Falling in line, with Deja News (Google Groups), Blogger, Picasa, del.icio.us, Orkut and some more, I have sold my Blog and hence my Soul to the coffers of Google!
Henceforth, a couple of Google Ads will feature on this blog, and Google promises to pay me some loose change, in case people click on them.
So its an earnest request, that you view the sites that Google thinks are relevant to my blog, links of which appear on the top banner of this blog.
While I had made a deliberate attempt to veer clear of Google running my life, at every instant from GMail to GTalk to Orkut to Picasa to Blogspot ... Sangram told me how lucrative the whole thing is. And since Google is privy to all my mail, [orkut] Crushes ;), and so on, I might as well, get paid for it.

Pata nahi - Frankly it was a very tough mental choice, though trivial.

On a hand, this Blog although publicly readable, is something that I regard as a pretty personal notepad. I often take pains, to change the template of the blog to suit my taste. As a result, granting the machines at Google, the access to decide what goes on my blog, was like splattering fliers for Dog Biscuits, on a lovingly designed kennel (France effect - Dogs abound).
On similar lines, I never ask someone to explicitly visit my blog, don't publicize it (other than a 1 line mention on my homepage & Orkut profile), don't send out new post notifications. Everyone who comes here, does so with free will and implicitly asking them to visit the Google Ads, seems worse than doing the above things, which I don't.

Anyway, very humanly, the greed for supplementing my Intern Income ;) got over me at that instant and hence, if you may, please visit the advertisements linked above and help share Google's wealth among the less fortunate, who religiously practice the religion called Googling and more so, turn more people faithful, everyday.
If Jesus can provide for the Bread and Wine, so can Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Cheers to it!

New Age Information Sharing!

2007-05-22T17:16:00.000+05:30

Technology hasn’t eliminated the desire for rules about who tells what, when and how. You don’t want your wife or girlfriend to tell you she’s pregnant by sending an e-mail message. A close friend could be miffed if he found about your hot date on Friday not from you, but from a casual acquaintance who had already seen pictures of it on your Facebook page.

I fail to find time to actually write something on this blog, though there are tons of thoughts about France, India, Life etc. running through my head.
Till then, sharing another interesting article from NYTimes :- about information and grapevines in new age!

ahh..

2007-05-19T03:09:00.000+05:30

Even if you are 'Lakhon mein Ek' there are still 60,000 of you. That I think, is the major problem in this world :-< !

2007-05-07T19:23:00.000+05:30

Knowledge in ancient India was protected by ... not legal or economic ones. The term “intellectual property” was an oxymoron: the intellect could not be anybody’s property. ... Perhaps it is for this reason that Indians do not feel obligated to pay for knowledge. Pirated copies of my book are openly sold on the Bombay streets, for a fourth of its official price.

-Suketu Mehta

On patent laws and heritage wisdom, this makes a good read.

Afghan Girl

2007-05-07T18:41:00.000+05:30

Some images live with us, forever.

Google for 'Afghan Girl' to know more, in case you don't.

Summer Migration

2007-05-04T18:04:00.000+05:30

While I intended to post about my French internship - on this blog itself, following Sudeep's cue (Its always a good idea, to do that), I shall now be writing on another blog - http://jenepeuxpasparlerfrancais.blogspot.com/ . So please check out that as well.

Adios!

Blame the Stars !

2007-04-23T01:35:00.000+05:30

This is what Peter Vidal had to say about Sagittarius, today :

This is an ambitious period but, first of all, you must satisfy your emotional goals. It’s time to mend fences if there have been any arguments. Romantic hopes may call you away from home before long. The people you’re attracted to at the moment may be from very different backgrounds.

Of all the things - Sangram had to read this out to me, 1^st thing today morning!
Thankfully, I don't believe in Inter Planetary misalignments ruining my week - I am more than capable of doing it myself.

I have noticed that as(s)trologers - have 4 prime areas of concern : Romance, Career, Health, Financial Health. They choose one of the 16 subsets generated by permuting the success / failure in each of these and assign a zodiac sign to it. Good chance that every man thinks - that Bingo! his week had been well-predicted.

& coming to "The people you’re attracted to at the moment may be from very different backgrounds." .. I think I might just start eyeing French Chicks ;)

2007-04-19T02:19:00.000+05:30

Seminar Elections Networks Eurotrip Love orkut Eurail Embassy Friendship Scrubs rsl-34 Presentation Compilers Relationships Senti Visa Kile Career Manifesto AI kpdf Cell-phone HIMYM Endsem Coffee Frankie Finger Schengen Term-Paper Elixir INRIA Campaigning StaffC Report Sweat Nat-Comp Sleep nsl-31 Yahoo Ranade Bike ISIC Break Life Google LAN Vivas Thunderbird Syllabus Porn Fuzzy-Logic Slippers Tears Latex Carte-Orange RyanAir mplayer CheatSheets

Stopping in the Labs on a Shady Night

2007-04-06T00:57:00.001+05:30

Stopping in the Labs on a Shady Night
--Shantanu Gangal ;)
Whose labs this is, I think I know.
He lives with his LAN, though;
He will not see me stopping here
As his wards squirm around in fear.

All my wingmates think it queer
As they miss my effervescent cheer
Between the courses and labs around
My room PC, is rarely working found.

I take a break from a dull screen
As I recall my passed away teen.
I think of them Miss; I miss,
All for a bright careers' sheen.
The labs are hot, humid, and bleak,
But I have deadlines to meet,
And loads to code before I sleep,
And loads to code before I sleep.

For best results, hum it to the tune of Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening .[If It wasnt obvious yet!]

Seminar

2007-04-05T12:54:00.000+05:30

For all those, who wondered what was keeping me busy these days [I know that isnt a large number - but still I like to smart around a bit :P], its the final stages of the Seminar, with report and all.

While I dont have any time to delve into more details, at the moment - you can check out my seminar report - as complete as it till now .

--
Edit :- dated 10.4.2007
Seminar report ~~done~~. submitted.

--
Edit :- dated 19.4.2007
Seminar presentation slides -- here.

Yay !

2007-03-26T13:47:00.000+05:30

Hot on the heels of completing an year on the blog - it has recorded over 1000 hits in less than 6 months :D
Noticed this : Just now. Yay !

Not all those who Wander are lost !

2007-03-24T16:12:00.000+05:30

All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring;

Renenwed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king.
: J.R.R. Tolkien

Needless to say - I derive the title of my blog from this poem!
Stumbled on this, today.
Since its a great poem, might as well share it :)

Why I left the LT at 44/3 ...

2007-03-24T12:18:00.000+05:30

Over the years, I have come to realise that India cant win when Sachin doesnt play.

Obviously, like any fan of Sachin, I have heard a lot of things about how, no longer can he win matches, how he hasnt played any inning of importance for long. how he is a ghost of what he was and is highly over-rated and tons of other things you had to say to me!

But I knew the instant that Tendulkar was out - this was to be script that i had often seen in the past.
Indian cricket team- other than one lucky Lords' evening - cant win a match [especially while chasing] when Sachin doesnt play atleast a supporting role.
My heart breaks for this man , if this turns out to be his last match in a World Cup!

Thus I knew it the instant, that he was out, India isnt winning this match & the irony of the situation will be that Sachin will be blamed for non-performance and the team's failure.

Hate the 10 other woMen in Blue !

2007-03-24T02:55:00.000+05:30

11 mein se 15 bekaar,
fir bhi mera Bharaat mahaan!

The anguish doesnt stop at 1 blog post !

Americans on Cricket :D

2007-03-23T21:48:00.000+05:30

“You mean people actually pay to watch this?” exclaimed one American I tried to interest in the game. “It’s about as exciting as measuring global warming.”

“And just as vital to the rest of the planet,” I retorted.
: Shashi Tharoor

In an editorial to NY Times - Shashi Tharoor, whom I long suspected to be as Indian as say, V S Naipaul, actually makes a good stand for cricket !

I really hope India wins today - Tendulkar might have another chance at lifting the Cup
I really hope India loses today - I will spend much less time hereforth till 28th April.
Till then - I head out to LT to watch the screening :)