More the merrier ...

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

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

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!

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!?

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 ?!

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

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)!

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!!

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 :-)

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!

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 ..

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 ...

... 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 ..."

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 ...

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 !

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.

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 ..

.. & 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.

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

Corny!

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".