Public Works

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!

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

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

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!

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 others)!! 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

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!

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!

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

1. Students don't really like the way lectures are held!
2. Students seldom realise where epsilons & delta will take them!
3. Its usually the first end-sem and subsequently the first grade of your IIT life!
4. 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!

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!

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

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

Got this here .

Action Verbs & In-action silences

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

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!

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.

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

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 ...

• 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!

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

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