cout << my->thoughts();

Ahawaan

2009-05-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

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Ahawaan
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Naujawaan navyuvak, yeh hai samay chunao ka.

Utaar lena hai tujhe, mukhauta in netaon ka.

Jo maangte hai aaj tujhse mat tumhara bheekh mein.
Bhool jaayenge tujhe yeh kal hi ki tareekh mein.

Bhrashtachaari, durvichaari, paap inke ghor hai.
Maatrabhoomi ke looteere, yeh nirlajj chor hai.

Saintalis ke varsha tak, mai auron ke aadheen thi.
Meri garva-lalima ghulaami mein vileen thi.

Putra mere mar mitey, mili mujhe swatantrata.
Rakta baha kar kiya aarambha prajatantra ka.

Vartaman sthiti dekh, hriday mein vichaar hai.
Putron ka mere jo balidaan tha bekaar hai?

Mai aaj bhi daridra hoon, mai aaj bhi beemar hoon.
Nirakshar mai aaj bhi, mai aaj bhi lachaar hoon.

Kisaan apni bhoomi seechney mein asamarth hai.
"India Shining" ka jaane kaunsa yeh arth hai!

Hotelon mein goliyan, visphoton ki kataar hai.
Dharma ki bisaat pe, jalte jano hazaar hai.

Durdasha aseem, samay hai nahi vishram ka.
Naujawaan navyuvak, yeh hai samay matdaan ka.

Yuva shakti, josh naya sab tumhare paas hai.
Rashtra ka bhavishya tu, tujhpe mujhe vishwas hai.

Alasya-vash tu aaj yadi, ghar mein hi ruk jaayega.
Yeh desh apni durdasha ka mool tujh mein paayega.

Aa chun le putra is ghadi, sansad ke us sadasya ko.
Nishkapat udaar ho, hridaya mein jiske satya ho.

Tu chhod jaati dharma ko, bas yogyata pe dhyaan de.
Jo ho sadasya karmasheel, usko hi matdaan de.

Ek ek mat ko jod, samriddhi jutayenge.
Bin teri sahayata, asafalta paayenge.

Bhoomi ki kritagyata, yeh punya hai matdaan ka.
Naujawaan navyuak, yehi samay sangram ka!

Update

2004-10-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Have been trying to write something in for quite some time. But classes and all have started and it has just not been possible. For a change this quarter I am ACTUALLY attending classes :-) For many this may be the routine thing to do, but given my past history of bunking them, attending classes gives me an immense sense of satisfaction!

So what else ... well, my search for a job is on. Lets hope and pray that I land up in a reasonable place!

And yeah, my buddy Asim Shankar just got a cool job offer from Amazon.com. Hurray and congrats to him!

About postings on this blog, I will try to be as regular as possible. But my hunch is that with my busy schedule and all, it will prove to be really difficult!

Decision Tension

2004-09-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

I composed this poem about half an year ago. Most of my friends have perhaps already read it. For those who haven't, have a look! My Sikh friends, please accept my humble apologies for the joke ahead. Its all in jest and no offence intended!

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It was a warm Sunday noon, a day of relaxation,
When the Patiala bus stand saw a strange congregation.
A few Sardars - eighty in enumeration,
Each wishing a long, happy vacation,
But none sure of the holiday destination!

One said, "Oye! Mussourie, the famous hill station!"
Could be Ooty as well, said another with hesitation.
And so they went on causing great commotion.
Foreseeing a quarrel of great proportion,
The wise bus-conductor attempted mediation.

My friends, said he, with great affection,
The audience listened on, in rapt attention.
The trouble, it seems is our indecision,
Which inexorably leads to this confusion.
So why not sit down and come to a decision!

All eighty Sardars sat down in synchronization,
And when the clock struck one, began discussion,
By two, they had already given much consideration.
If three was the hour of heated deliberation
By God, four brought with it harder negotiation!
Five PM witnessed a violent altercation,
To fray the tempers, followed a bhangra session.
As the clock chimed seven times in succession
Baljit bellowed, "Pappe take some action!"
At eight, all the Sardars bordered on desperation.
By nine, they felt 'twas a lost situation!

Ten however brought Bhupinder in excitation,
What happened, asked others by way of investigation
And thus the man replied with great concentration,
"'Deci' in decision, is for ten a substitution,
And in this hour of ten, must lie our solution!"

His wisdom earned him a standing ovation,
But their frantic search showed no signs of termination.
It soon was twelve o' clock in very little duration,
When Gurmeet, the youngest cried in exclamation,
"If 'deci' in decision is for ten a substitution,
Isn't decision just another name for tension?"

Amazed and astounded, they stared in adoration
Wasn't their youngest the pride of their nation!
It pained them to think that so much perspiration,
Went in finding something as worthless as decision!
Rid of concerns, they broke in celebration
While the conductor looked on in confusion,
And sighed aloud, "Barah bajne ka confirmation!"

===========================================

Bhagat Singh

2004-09-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

I recently came across this website that has a number of letters and writings of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Needlessly to say I was very inspired and moved by what he had to say. But two facts really caught me by surprise:

(1) That he was only 24 years old when he was murdered. Reading his writings and from whatever I had heard of him, I can only marvel at the immense maturity his thought had attained at such a young age. Its not that people do not get famous while young. Sports persons and other celebrities routinely strike gold in early twenties. But Bhagat Singh was different. He was a leader in the truest meaning of the word. As is clear from his writings, he held clear ideas of what he meant by revolution. Of what he intended to achieve by revolution. Rarely do we come across so young a man whose ideas and deeds inspire an entire nation. I read somewhere that the day he was hanged, a significant number of households in Punjab and other parts of India refrained from lighting chulhas.

(2) That he was completely devoid of the fear of death. Somehow, I have never been able to understand how a person can overcome the fear of death. Examples of military valor abound - but I have always tried to convince myself that most of these acts of bravery are in reality reflex actions under the influence of years of military training. Or in other words, I try to convince myself that most of these acts are rush-of-adrenaline affairs and a number of heroes may perhaps have chosen to act differently had they had the time to carefully think through the consequences of their actions. I am sure this inability to accept the bravery of people springs from my own weakness and cowardice. However, reading what Bhagat Singh had to say laid all my doubts to rest. Consider this letter in which he discusses his impending execution,

---
[On March 22, the Second Lahore Conspiracy Case convicts, who were locked up in Ward Number 14 (near condemned cells), sent a slip to Bhagat Singh asking if he would like to live. This letter was in reply to that slip.]

COMRADES
The desire to live is natural. It is in me also. I do not want to conceal it. But it is conditional. I don’t want to live as a prisoner or under restrictions. My name has become a symbol of India revolution. The ideal and the sacrifices of the revolutionary party have elevated me to a height beyond which I will never be able to rise if I live.
Today people do not know my weaknesses. If I escape gallows those weaknesses will come before them and the symbol of revolution will get tarnished or perhaps it may vanish altogether. On the other hand, if I mount the gallows boldly and with a smile, that will inspire Indian mothers and they will aspire that their children should also become Bhagat Singh. Thus the number of persons ready to sacrifice their lives for the freedom of our country will increase enormously. It will then become impossible for imperialism to face the tide of the revolution, and all their might and their satanic efforts will not be able to stop its onward march.
Yes, one thing pricks me even today. My heart nurtured some ambitions for doing something for humanity and for my country. I have not been able to fulfil even one thousand parts of those ambitions. If I live I might perhaps get a chance to fulfil them. If ever it came to my mind that I should not die, it came from this end only.
I am proud of myself these days and I am anxiously waiting for the final test. I wish the day may come nearer soon.
Your comrade
Bhagat Singh
---

and this,

---
Letter to B.K. Dutt
[This letter gives an idea as to what Bhagat Singh expected from those comrades who would escape capital punishment.]

Central Jail, Lahore
November, 1930

DEAR BROTHER,
The judgement has been delivered. I am condemned to death. In these cells, besides myself, there are many others prisoners who are waiting to be hanged. The only prayer of these people is that somehow or other they may escape the moose. Perhaps I am the only man amongst them who is anxiously waiting for the day when I will be fortunate enough to embrace the gallows for my ideal.
I will climb the gallows gladly and show to the world as to how bravely the revolutionaries can sacrifice themselves for the cause.
I will condemned to death, but you are sentenced to transportation for life. You will live and, while living, you will have to show to the world that the revolutionaries not only die for their ideals but can face every calamity. Death should not be a means to escape the worldly difficulties. Those revolutionaries who have by chance escaped the gallows for the ideal but also bear the worst type of tortures in the dark dingy prison cells.

Yours
Bhagat Singh
---

This was clearly a man who carefully evaluated what he wanted and chose death for a just cause over life. And that is why people still chant Long Live Bhagat Singh while no one really cares a damn about Lord Irwin, the then British Viceroy.

Long Live Bhagat Singh!

Ganguly ka Andaaz!

2004-09-03T02:52:00.000-07:00

Of late more and more people have started wondering what has happened to the Indian cricket team. Only a few months ago, India were THE side to beat and Ganguly talked about challenging Australia's pre-eminent position in world cricket. Today that same team is finding it difficult to win matches - leave aside series and tournaments!

Something must have happened and I feel I know exactly what! As the pic below shows, our captain has more on his hands than he can handle!!

[PS] - Sourav da, in case you happen to read this, no offence intended. Please do not sue me! For others who are packing their bags for Kolkata to pelt Dadda's house with tarcoal and stones, please relax! The image's a fake I just created in PaintShop Pro.

Veer Savarkar and ultra-veer Aiyyar

2004-09-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

For many years now, an atrocity of terrifying magnitude had been quietly perptrated within the confines of a mostly-forgotten Andaman island. This island was once home to the infamous Cellular Jail when the British ruled India. And it was on this island that former Petroleum Minister Ram Naik had a monument installed which extolled the lifes of a few freedom fighters - Veer Savarkar being one among them. The others were Bhagat Singh, Madanlal Dhingra and Bahadur Shah Zafar. So what's so atrocious about such a setup? Well, it seems your eyes are also blinded by NDA propaganda like mine and everyone else's in the nation. Only a messiah like Mani Shanker Aiyyar could see through the haze and notice that the plaque did not mention Gandhiji and hence was an insult to the great man! Surely the situation demanded rectification. In Aiyar's own words,

"Why did you remove the plaque dedicated to his memory?
The Swatantra Jyot is mounted on a plinth that has four sides. On all four sides are plaques dedicated to the freedom struggle. Two of the plaques commemorate Madanlal Dhingra and Bhagat Singh, both renowned shahids. A third plaque contains several stirring patriotic sayings. Bizarrely, there was no mention at all of Gandhiji.

I thought it essential that we had a plaque recording Gandhiji's contribution to the freedom struggle. But there was no fifth side to put a plaque.

The only way we could have accommodated this plaque was by removing one of the existing plaques. The fourth plaque remembered Bahadur Shah Zafar and Savarkar and that was the one I removed.

Do you regret that?
Certainly not. As a patriotic Indian I was appalled to find a representation of our freedom struggle that completely ignored Gandhiji. As a responsible citizen, it was my duty to undo the insult to the father of the nation.

I'm proud to have done that."

God I am so relieved! I never suspected even once that the NDA government was guilty of such henious crimes as casting insults upon the Father of the Nation. And I must remain forever indebted to that ultra-veer Mani Shankar Aiyyar, who bravely sacrificed his own political well-being, to set the record straight. May more amongst us be blessed with his determination and grit.

So what's up next? Well, one can imagine that every monument that stands as a symbol of free India and that does not extoll Gandhiji would be "corrected". I remember reading somewhere that the India Gate extolls the 70,000 Indians who fought in the First World War. It seems difficult to give Gandhiji a place among them, doesn't it? Try explaining that to Aiyyar though.

When asked whether the public campaign against him in Maharashtra has a potential of diminishing Congress' chances in the upcoming Assembly elections, Aiyyar appeared confident that the storm would weather away. He even said that it was the NDA that would lose votes because of the joote-maro campaign because the effigy being used looked more like Ram Naik than him! And no, this wasn't a joke. HA HA! He even claimed that the campaign is an insult to Madrasis because the effigy has been dressed in a traditional Tamil costume. More HA HAs!

While Aiyyar's comments dragging Gandhiji into the issue have surely added a new angle to the controversy, I suspect it worsens the Congress' situation even further. Earlier the Congress had conveniently distanced itself from Aiyyar's remarks. However, now that Gandhiji's been brought into the equation, it seems the Congress will find it difficult to stay quiet and uninvolved. Does the Congress agree that the earlier plaques constituted an insult to Gandhiji? If yes, then why did they distance themselves from Aiyyar's actions and remarks? If not, then why has the Congress high command not taken any action against Aiyyar for so obviously and needlessly insulting a freedom fighter? These are questions the Congress will have no easy answers for. With this drama sure to continue at least till Maharashtra elections, it promises to be a really exciting time indeed. Stay tuned!

WWW = Wierd Wild World

2004-08-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

Much's been happening. And almost all of it is quite hilarious. For instance, that ultra-secular obsessively-casteist party, otherwise known as the RJD has decided to field a rather deserving candidate in the upcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra. Ladies and gentlemen, would you please welcome ... Mohammed Afroze. What! Never heard of him? C'mon! Here we have a man of such impressive credentials and you claim you haven't even heard of him? Mohammed Afroze, an erstwhile Mumbai slum-dweller, is a brilliant pilot, tutored at the very best and costliest flying schools in US and Australia. Since then, Afroze has been charged by law enforcement agencies with planning a conspiracy to use his newly obtained flying skills to crash aircrafts into prominent buildings across the world.

Here's what BBC had to say in an earlier report about our MLA wannabe,

"Detectives from Scotland Yard in London and the Australian police are currently in Bombay to discuss the case of an alleged member of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda organisation, Mohammad Afroze.

Mr Afroze offered to make a confession in a city court here on Friday that he was part of a conspiracy to blow up the House of Commons in London, the Indian parliament and the Rialto Tower in Australia."

But if you think real deep, you'll hardly take a minute to get to the bottom of this puzzling affair. See, Afroze is an al-Qaeda member and al-Qaeda is not part of the Sangh Parivar. So according to the de facto law of the land, Afroze represents the secular forces. The RJD of course is another secular force, one which has for years been making commendable sacrifices in its fight against the communal forces. So isn't it but natural that these two join hands?

While the above may be humorous, another even funnier fiasco has come to light in the Delhi University campuses. As HT reports here, this July's payslip of all Delhi University employees has a curious item under 'deductions'. It says: Sexual Harrassment: Rs 10. Understandably, it's become something of a joke in DU circles. The truth behind the matter being that amidst rising cases of teacher to student sexual harrassment, the university has decided to set up a complaints division and is charging its employees for the expenses incurred for the division's operation. The least they could have done is come up with a less accusatory, more benign name for that innocent ten rupee deduction on employee payslips.

And while Delhites laugh themselves to nuts at the DU's fumble, residents of Hubli have a strikingly different trouble on their hands - a woman in red! Or rather a woman in saffron who is wreaking havoc on that otherwise peaceful place. Uma Bharati, the erstwhile Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, has decided to extract every ounce of media sympathy from the unexpected turn of events around her. So we get quotes like, "I smell the revenge of Sonia Gandhi. By seeking revenge against me, she forgot she is insulting the tricolour. To protect the honour of the tricolour, I am ready to face any consequence."

Revenge for what? is a reasonable follow-up question. Here's what Miss Uma says to that, "[because] I was the person who blocked Sonia Gandhi from becoming prime minister." Some ego that!

Political pundits are understandably confused as to who's come out on tops in this your-party-is-more-corrupt-than-mine game. First the Congress targets the NDA government for having George Fernandes as Defence Minister while his name was not cleared in the Tehelka scandal. The NDA returns the favor by creating unprecedented furore in the Parliament over tainted ministers in the current cabinet. Much hublaboo is heard about a guy named Sibhu Soren. Advantage NDA, it seems. But the NDA's jubiliance dies a quick death when an arrest warrant is issued against Uma Bharati in a decade old case about hoisting the tricolor at a disputed site. Advantage UPA! But in a brilliant last minute flourish, Uma Bharati turns the tables on her opponents by squawking phrases like "tirange ka samman" and stuff. Add to that the age-old Bofors scam, the millions of charge-sheets filed during Narsimha Rao's times, cases relating to Ayodhya and the coffin scam during Kargil and no one can say for sure who has the better of whom!

And to top it all, here's a classic soundbyte from the director of the film Julie, "Sexy films need not be sleazy!" I must say that the above quote raises some rather grave questions about Deepak Shivdasani's mental health. Surely, anyone who's managed to survive Julie will testify that the lesson to be learnt from the movie is, "Sleazy films need not be sexy!" But then Bollywood's the land where even hyper-liberated women like Mallika Sherawat shy away conservatively from discussing their past broken marriages. Hypocrisy's just not an issue here!

Ab bus bhi karo!

2004-08-23T01:43:00.000-07:00

Santa was visiting Chandigarh for the first time. He wanted to see the Rock Garden.

Unfortunately, he couldn't find it, so he asked a police officer for directions, "Excuse me, officer, how do I get to the Rock Garden?"

The officer replied, "Wait here at this bus stop for the number 46 bus. It'll take you right there."

He thanked the officer and the officer drove off. Three hours later the police officer returned to the same area and, sure enough, Santa is still waiting at the same bus stop.

The officer got out of his car and said, "Excuse me, but to get to the Rock Garden, I said to wait here for the number 46 bus. That was three hours ago. Why are you still waiting?"

Santa replied, "Don't worry, officer, it won't be long now. The 43rd bus just went by!"

Taken from SantaBanta.com

A hanging in public glare

2004-08-22T17:18:00.000-07:00

When I had read media reports describing the last moments of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, in vivid microscopic detail, I remember feeling strangely uneasy. At the time I had assumed the reaction sprang from the sympathy I felt for the man and his family. But this confused me. All along I had maintained that people who commit such henious crimes should be liable for death punishment. Why then did his hanging make me uneasy? Exams and other committments forced me to put the thought aside. Yesterday, while reading this article by Karan Thapar, I understood the answer.

As Thapar says,

I did not need to know that Dhananjoy Chatterjee was depressed or cried the day before he was hanged. Nor what clothes he wore or what food he ate for his last meal. Those were personal details. More importantly, they were moments of anguish. Moments that should have remained his and his alone.

May be we had a right to kill him. But not in a fish bowl. Not as entertainment. Not as spectacle. And we definitely did not have a right to commercialise his death"

Bull's eye!

Not-War Singh

2004-08-21T16:39:00.000-07:00

I was reading this article on rediff about what Natwar Singh, India's foreign minister, had to say at the AICC annual meet held recently. I was quite amused by his comments. Mr. Natwar Singh claims that,

- The Simla accord in 1972 ensured peace for 27 years.
- The NDA government replaced Simla with Lahore and that amounted to a sell-off on Kashmir
- The credit for warm relations with China goes to Rajiv Gandhi's efforts while the credit for the recent warmth in Indo-Pak relations does not go to Vajpayee.
- The NDA government was ready to sign the CTBT but the Congress presured it to not do so.
- The NDA government was ready to send troops to Iraq but the Congress pressured it to not do so.

The truth on the other hand, is quite different.

- The Simla accord never maintained peace and friendship. A measure of the tensions can be had from the fact that when Rajiv visited Pakistan in the late eighties, it was the first visit by an India prime minister to Pakistan in 25 years. In my opinion, happy and peaceful neighbors visit each other much more often.
- There has been no bigger sell-off on Kashmir than the Simla pact. Everyone says that Indira Gandhi, negotiating from a position of strength after having just won the war, could have settled the Kashmir dispute for good. But Zulfikar Bhutto managed to fool her and got away just by giving hollow promises on resolving the issue. So if Lahore was a sell-off, Simla could perhaps be better described as charity.
- It was a Congress gvernment which was pressured by the US in 1994 to not conduct a nuclear test. What use is not signing the CTBT if you aren't gonna test anyway? In hindi we have this saying - ulta chor kotwal to daante!, which basically means the guilty have no right to accuse the innocent.
- The sender of the IPKF talks about how our troops would have suffered in Iraq!! Natwar Singh was Minister of State for External Affairs when the Indian Peace Keeping Force was sent to Sri Lanka. The contingent suffered heavy losses primarily because no one in the army knew for sure whom they were fighting against. Identifying the enemy in a war is a political function and the Congress leadership failed miserably at the job.

An aside: When the first of the IPKF contingents were returning from Sri Lanka, battered and bruised, they were supposed to make a pit-stop in Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu. The people of Tamil Nadu were unhappy with the central government's decision to send in troops to fight against fellow Sri Lankan Tamils. Sensing the sentiment, M. Karunanidhi (leader of the DMK) who was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu at the time, did not even recieve the Indian troops at the airport. Under his express orders, not a single administration official was present to recieve the IPKF jawans and officers returning from duty!

From Shri Sameer Vinayak Kar's Diary

2004-08-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

Maybe there's something wrong with me. Perhaps I am not made for politics. Yeah! I am sure I am not made for politics. As a law graduate, I could have made mincemeat of these Jaitleys who rule over Supreme Court!

But I gave up my ambitions for the service of the people. Twenty years of my life I gave to them, and what did I get? Zilch! Precisely zilch if you disregard the hundred odd crores I milked off that Mirage deal. And even that would be a distant dream had that Sodhi guy gotten defence. It was amazing how Dawoodbhai set that thing up. Even the IB report said Sodhi died in a highway accident! It's a pity Dawoodbhai ain't here anymore. Things were so much better with him around.

Aah, the good old days. When politics was a civilized game. Today's MPs are more goons than leaders. Corrupt minds, criminal connections, nefarious intentions - I hate them all! And most of all, I hate their hypocrisy when they call themselves janta ka sevak!

I think India needs me today. Perhaps it needs me even more than it needed me twenty years ago when I stood from Midnapore. It was amazing how easily I won my first election. I would dress in Bengali costumes, read Roman transliterations of Bengali speeches and whenever the crowd became dull, I would loudly proclaim Ami tomay bhaalobaashi! And before I knew, Midnapore was rooting for me. To be fair, the party high-command did arrange for a few poll booths to be captured - but I think I would have won anyway.

My troubles started the day I entered Parliament. I was to be sworn in that day. People advised me that my electorate will love it if I took my oath in Bengali. By now I considered myself an expert in reading romanized Bengali and I confidently agreed. I felt the oath went quite well. Ignoring the smirks and giggles in the audience, I regained my seat. Gosh! Even parliamentarians rag newcomers!, I thought. It was only later that I realized I had goofed up when that Calcutta West MP told me, "Tumko maloom, amaar Bengali maa constitution nahi shongbidhan bolte hai!"

Trust Bengalis to be sentimental about their language. The next day's newspapers in Midnapore all carried cartoons poking fun at my faux pas. How I wish I could have strangled the editors!

I guess that is the problem with me. I can't stand it when people joke at my expense. And politicians all need a bit of humor. I am not made for politics.

As an opposition MP, I quickly learnt how to get noticed by the top leaders. Whenever I felt that the ruling party was gaining an upper hand, I would shout "Tanashahi nahi chalegi" and wait to see if my war cry gathered momentum. And if some number of MPs showed interest, I would take off, faster than a 747, and land straight in the well of the house. I learnt then that not allowing the other guy to speak was the best way to debate!

The party realized my potential and within ten years I was an important party leader. I did not win many elections initially. But then politics is never about people - its about the people who matter. The party top brass, contacts like Dawoodbhai, relations with leaders in other parties. And I had enough connections to ensure I remained vital to my party.

Time flew on. In the meantime, I got the honor to be India's defence minister. Now my words carried weight! I made headlines day in and day out. Once I said "Poora Kashmir 2025 tak humara hoga!". It had seemed like a cool thing to say. A tough defence minister - I liked the image. And no liabilities attached for I would surely not be defence minister in 2025!

But the media fried my ass! I hate the media because they hate me. Whatever I do, those Pak-loving-bastards see red. Even when I bought those wonderful Mirages for our Air Force, not one newspaper praised me! All reports focussed on kickbacks and scandals and what not. Is it so difficult to see the good side of things? If only I could have strangled the editors!

I guess that is the problem with me. I can't stand criticism. And in politics, one must learn to be thick-skinned. I am not made for politics.

Our government did not last long and my office was snatched before I could even learn the name of my peon! Elections followed and I won from Purulia - after all, incumbent Cabinet Ministers rarely lose! Our party decided to support Rathi jee's givernment from outside. As quid pro quo, I was appointed Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Shri Sameer Vinayak Kar, Speaker - the name plate looked so good!

But it wasn't good at all. On my first day itself, I saw how unruly and indisciplined the MPs had become. At the slightest issue or provocation, every backbencher would troop to the well of the house and shout slogans. They never even let the other guy speak! Each day the story was repeated. The media labelled me a weak Speaker - one incapable of controlling the members. If only I could have strangled the editors!

It was August 28th when I blew it up. The week before had been immensely productive for the House when we clocked more than twenty hours of sustained debate and only twenty-three adjournments! That day, the House was scheduled to discuss Ayodhya and a bill relating to renumerations of MPs. Easy, I thought. I had surely not bargained for what followed.

As soon as the debate on Ayodhya began, the entire house was on its feet. I felt completely lost! Shouts, allegations, denials, dramatics - I could see it all, but could follow nothing! I failed to understand why someone would discuss an obscure has-been mosque in Ayodhya when important items like MP's renumerations were on the agenda. Lost in these thoughts, I looked on as the Hon'ble Home Minister made his speech. Suddenly, while the Home Minister was talking of secular forces and communal forces, one member decided to test the gravitational forces. Using his microphone as a projectile, he took aim and the misslie landed on the poor Minister's nose! The Home Minister literally turned red - from blood that is! Everyone was stunned and I quickly decided to adjourn the House, but not before I had suspended the guilty member and asked the Marshals to take him out.

The House reconvened two hours later. I noticed the Home Minister's face was now white - with bandages! Emboldened by my success at dealing with the truant member, I decided to make a speech to consolidate my authority.

"Fellow Members of Parliament", I began. "The standards of behavior in this august House are rapidly deteriorating."

From the corner of my eye, I could notice a junior member creating some pandemomium among the ruling party benches. Feigning ignorance, I continued, "This is the same House that has seen the likes of ..."

"Yeh speaker kisi kaam ka nahi hai!", a voice rang clearly in the House.

Stunned into silence, my brain instructed me to shift my gaze to the source of the sound. I saw a member pointing at me with his headphones. The human brain is the fastest computer ever made. In a fraction of a second my brain registered the member's pock-marked face, retrieved his name, verified he was not from my party, verified he was not from my caste, verified he did not belong to any minority, instructed my legs to stand and ordered my lungs to explode. I had had enough!

"Would you repeat that, please?", I asked.

"Yeh speaker kisi kaam ka nahi hai!"

"How dare you?", my voice cracking, "You dare to challenge the Speaker of the House? You question my authority? Tere jaise do kaudi ke MP ki mujhe bekaar kehne ki himmat kaise hui!"

I went on for about a minute or two. The MP looked stunned - his gaze oscillating between my fiery eyes and those pathetic headphones he clutched as though they'll save his life.

"Marshals, throw this idiot out right away!"

"But Speaker Sir ..."

"You are expelled from this House at this very ..."

"Sir aap bekaar mein naraaz ..."

"Ab tu mujhe gussa hona sikhayega!"

"Par Sir, mein aapki nahi inki baat kar raha tha. Yeh kaan wale speaker ... woh kya kehte hai .. haan, walkman ... yeh kisi kaam ke nahi hai. Mujhe angrezi aati nahi, aur hindi anuvaad inmein sunayi nahi de raha hai!"

My brain again took just a fraction of a second to assess the situation and give me its appraisal - You blew this one big time, sucker! I had committed the one blunder a politician is not allowed to commit. I had lost my cool. After a hasty apology I adjourned the house for the day.

The incident was of course manna for the damned media. The Punjab Kesri screamed, "Sameer bana toofan". NDTV reported, "The Lok Sabha witnessed unruly scenes today when Shri Kar, the Speaker, turned shrieker and needlessly censured Shri Gir Mahajan Nanda, an MP from Maharashtra. The incident assumes significance amidst increased dissent concerning Kar's autocratic style of functioning. Let us take you over for an exclusive interview with Mr. Nanda ..."

If only I could have strangled these editors!

Happy Independence Day

2004-08-15T04:33:00.000-07:00

To friends and foes alike, Jai Hind!

2004-08-14T17:03:00.000-07:00

On The Existence of God

Priyendra Deshwal
deshwal [at] stanford [dot] edu

(To appear in the XXXth Annual Cerebral Mines Journal)

ABSTRACT

We demonstrate the existence of God using the well-known principle of Mathematical Induction. While many approaches to answering this most profound question have appeared in literature, our argument, based on a universally accepted mathematical truism, offers a kind of deductive certainity that none of these other methods can provide. Our main contribution lies in irrefutably resolving this centuries old debate in favor of the existential stance.

SECTION I - INTRODUCTION

The existence of God ranks among the most vexing questions the human race has attempted to answer. A number of approaches have been put forward which purport to settle the question. Section II begins with a brief review of previous work in the area and pinpoints the shortcomings of some significant attempts to answer the question. Section III details the inductive proof we propose. Section IV concludes by presenting a few noteworthy points.

SECTION II - RELATED WORK

The most oft-cited arguments for the existence of God are the Cosmological and Ontological arguments. As we shall see, both of these are based on imperfect logical reasoning which leaves their conclusions open to serious challenge.

SECTION II(a) - THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

A commonly stated version of the argument is as follows:

(1) Everything that exists has a cause of its existence.
(2) The universe exists.
Therefore:
(3) The universe has a cause of its existence.
(4) Nothing can cause itself to exist
Therefore,
(5) A being exterior to the universe caused it to exist
(6) Such a being can aptly be called the Creator or God
Therefore:
(7) God exists.

The argument is easily breached by the obvious follow-up question of what caused the existence of God. If we were to assume that God is a "caused" being, then clearly the argument serves no purpose as it settles one problem, the cause of the existence of the universe, but raises another problem, the cause of the existence of God. On the other hand, if God were to be an "uncaused" being, it would stand in direct violation of Premise (1) used in the proof. Therefore, the argument is unsound.

SECTION II(b) - THE ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

The Ontological argument however, proves to be a much worthier opponent. One of the several forms of the argument is presented below:

(1) God is greater than anything that can be imagined.
(2) God exists as an idea in the mind.
(3) All other things being equal, a being that exists as an idea in the mind and also in reality is greater than a being that exists only as an idea in the mind.
(4) Assume that God exists only as an idea in the mind
(5) Then we can imagine a being greater than God (namely, a being which is equal in all respects to God, but which has the additional quality of existence in reality)
(6) The conclusions of STEP (5) and STEP (1) contradict
Therefore,
(7) Our assumption is wrong and God must exist in reality as well

This argument too has a fallacy, though subtly hidden. Kant was the first to point out its flaws when he noted that while using the existence of beings as a criteria for ordering them according to their greatness, the argument implicitly assumes that existence is a property of the beings. According to Kant, existence is not a property that a being can either possess or lack. When one asserts that God exists, he is not saying that there is a God and he possesses the property of existence. If that were the case, then when one wishes to assert that God does not exist one would say that there is a God and he lacks the property of existence, or in other words, the existence of God would be both affirmed and denied by the same assertion! This again leads us to a contradiction, proving that the Ontological Argument is also invalid.

SECTION III - THE INDUCTIVE ARGUMENT

Most arguments concerning the existence of God fall apart as they are primarily based on premises (explicit or implicit) that are either debatable or downright invalid. Our approach was to base our proofs on a premise whose truth was inviolable. The principle of Mathematical Induction is a universally accepted truism and as we shall shortly see, our argument derives the existence of God directly from the validity of the mathematical principle.

Theorem: God exists

Assumption: God is the master of the universe

Proof: We shall derive the result by induction on B_U, the number of beings in our universe.

Basis: B_U = 1
If the universe has exactly one being, then the universe could truly be said to belong to that being. In other words, the being would then be the master of the universe. Therefore, by our assumption, the being would be God. Hence, God exists

Inductive Step: Assume for B_U = n, God exists i.e. in a universe with exactly n beings, God exists. Now consider a universe with B_U = (n + 1). Clearly, for there to be (n + 1) beings, there must have been an earlier point in time, when there were just n beings and the (n + 1)th being was being born. Since in such a universe, B_U = n, God must exist. Now the birth of a new being cannot by itself be a cause for the death of another being - except of course, in unfortunate cases when a pregnant mother dies due to complications arising out of childbirth. So we have the following three cases:

(CASE A) The birth had no complications
Clearly, since no one died as a result of the birth, if God existed earlier, God must exist now too. Hence, God exists.
(CASE B) The mother dies and she was not God
Clearly, since the mother was not God and no other being died as a result of the birth, if a God existed earlier, it must exist now too. Hence, God exists.
(CASE C) The mother dies and she was God
In such a case, the new being is the child of God and hence, he can rightfully be called God himself. Hence, God exists.

(Q. E. D)

SECTION IV - CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we note the following:

(1) That God's existence has been established as a fact serves as a reminder to all atheists (Aldous Huxley included) that their posteriors shall soon be subjected to intense thermal treatment over the fires of Hell.
(2) The truth about God's existence also brings to attention claims by a certain friend of mine who says he is God himself. (Yep, that's you Asim!)
(3) The questions about God's sex and about the plurality vs. singularity of God are in no way resolved by the above argument or its straight-forward extensions. It is our intention to expand our mathematical framework to deal with these questions next.

----

India's darkest days

2004-08-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

Whenever I read about events in India in the late eighties and the early nineties, I am convinced that those were the worst times India has witnessed ever since we gained independence. Given the number of grave problems our country faced, it is nothing short of a miracle that not only did we survive intact, we went on to become one of the world's rising economic stars! This post is intended as a reminder of the tough times we came through - a reminder that at times we must pause to pat our backs for our collective achievements rather than just pointing fingers for whatever faults still remain.

Perhaps it all began with Indira Gandhi's assasination. She had ruled India for more than a decade with an iron hand. Her toughness was legendary, as was her talent for checkmating potential political challengers. Whatever be the goods and bads of her reign, one significant outcome of her over-arching dominance was that there was no leader capable enough to fill up the political vaccum created by her death. Consequently, the country's reins had to be handed over to Rajiv Gandhi who could at best be called a political amateur. Then followed prime ministers VP Singh and Chandrashekar who were also widely percieved to be weak-minded leaders. Such weakness and instability no doubt hampered our ability to respond to crises and emboldened India's enemies to launch attacks against us.

Another most unfortunate side-effect of Indira's assasination were the anti-Sikh riots that followed. Over the centuries, the brave Sikhs have time and again fought off invaders at India's western borders. Inspite of being a relatively small minority, they comprised a significant percentage of the Indian army. A fourth of the sixteen Param Vir Chakras awarded before '84 had been won by Sikhs. Not only as soldiers, Sikh and other Punjabi farmers contributed a handsome amount to India's GDP (Punjab was and is India's richest state). As a nation, we owe so much to the Sikhs. And instead of being grateful, we hunted them down like rabbits! Rajiv Gandhi, in his infamous words, justified the killings saying, "When a mighty tree falls, the earth around is bound to shake". Such insensitivity must have only added fuel to the fires of alienation and disenchantement that the ISI had sparked among the Sikhs. Punjab burned for years thereafter.

In 1986-87 came another tremendous blow to national security when Pakistan covertly turned nuclear. Rajiv Gandhi's advisors advised him to remind Pakistan of our conventional superiority by showcasing India's military might in an army exercise named Operation Brass Tacks. The exercise was held in Rajasthan, a few hundred kilometers from the India-Pak border, deployed 400,000 troops, was bigger than any NATO exercise ever and everything about it smacked of preparation for a future strike into Pakistan. In short, it was a mistake! Pakistan called India's bluff and isssued thinly veiled nuclear threats aimed at us. The tension reached unbearable levels and it was only after a hastily-arranged visit by General Zia-ul-Haq (purportedly for watching a cricket match!) that all-out war was averted. But the subcontinent's nuclear threshold was lowered for all time to come.

Come 1989 and two other major problems were waiting to pounce on a hapless India. Pakistan initiated the insurgency in Kashmir around that time. The first two three years of the Kashmir insurgency saw a brutal and violent campaign of ethnic cleansing in the Kashmir valley when some 600,000 Kashmiri Hindus were forced to flee from their homeland. Such was the scale of the violence in Jammu and Kashmir that President's Rule had to be imposed and the Army deployed to control the situation. The second problem was the youth protests against the Mandal Commission Report which recommended granting reservations to OBCs. Many students found their future jobs snatched away overnight and a number of them took to the streets. Some of them even undertook extreme steps like self-immolation. The youth of a nation is what drives it forward, and India's youth had lost all faith in the system and sat hopelessly dejected.

There was more to come. In 1991 India was plunged into its worst ever financial crisis. Our forex reserves fell below the critical billion dollar mark and the country was dangerously close to becoming bankrupt. While the crisis was precipitated by the rising oil prices during the Gulf War and lack of investor confidence given India's gloomy overall scenario, its roots lay in the faulty economic policies practised over the years by the previous Congress governments. (To the Congress' credit however, it later almost single-handedly lifted India out of its economic morass)

And then there was Ayodhya. Hindus and Muslims clashed in late '92 over the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Widespread riots ensued and left thousands dead. Mutual hatred between Hindus and Muslims peaked to insane levels and the country's population was hopelessly polarized along communal lines. The ISI also played its role to perfection and engineered the worst-ever terrorist attack on Indian soil - the Bombay blasts of 1993, to take revenge for the demolition of the mosque. Almost 250 people were killed within a span of hours and many more injured.

So there you have the full picture. A country caught between two potentially nation-breaking insurgencies, led by ineffective leaders, bordered by a malicious neighbor with an itchy nuclear finger, poor financial conditions, a disenchanted youth and widespread communal tension. A recipe for disaster isn't it? No sir! We overcame most of the troubles that came our way.

Today, Punjab is happily integrated with the rest of India. True, many Sikhs still bear huge suspicions - but would you fault them after what happened in '84?

Today, the situation in Kashmir is as close to normal as I ever recall. We have an elected government in place, tourism is picking up, filmmakers are returning. Even the notorious Special Operations Group which was commissioned to crush the insurgency in Kashmir has been disbanded. Though much still needs to be done to redress the wrongs committed against the Kashmiri Hindus, we can draw solace from the fact that atleast the level of violence in the state has come down markedly.

Today, the Indian economy is booming. Far from being disenchanted, our youth today are excited at the opportunities around them. People all over the world are beginning to get curious about cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad. Public statements nothwithstanding, no finance minister since Dr. Manmohan Singh has reversed the historic course of reforms Dr. Singh initiated. Our forex reserves stood at $118 billion the last time I checked. Our currency is strong. We successfully weathered the Asian meltdown of the late nineties.

In short, today, our country is stronger than it ever was in the last two decades. And we accomplished this in the face of an incessant stream of problems that mercilessly pounded India and its people. As an Indian, this makes me immensely proud. And more than that, this makes me immensely optimistic that given time, we shall overcome the seemingly insurmountable problems of today and become the greatest nation of tomorrow.

Jai Hind!

A beautiful mind!

2004-08-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

A man walks into a bank in New York City and asks for the loan officer. He tells the loan officer that he is going on a business trip for two weeks and needs to borrow $5,000. The bank officer tells him that the bank will need some form of security for the loan, so the man hands over the keys to a new Ferrari parked on the street in front of the bank. He produces the title and everything checks out. The loan officer agrees to accept the car as collateral for the loan. The bank's president and its officers all enjoy a good laugh at the man for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral against a $5,000 loan. An employee of the bank then drives the Ferrari into the bank's underground garage and parks it there. Two weeks later, the man returns, repays the $5,000 and the interest, which comes to $15.41. The loan officer says, "Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multi-millionaire. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000'"

The man replies: "Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return'"

Now this is funny!

2004-08-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

In a recent interview, Salman Khursheed was asked about Congress' prospects in the 2006 Assembly elections in West Bengal. When he appeared quite upbeat, he was asked the following question:

Q. Why will people dethrone the Left Front when it is supporting you at the Centre?
A. Because the Congress will provide stable governance.

Someody should tell this guy that my becoming India's next prime minister is a safer bet than the Congress providing a more stable government than the Left.

Nothing to hide

2004-08-08T01:48:00.000-07:00

During World War II, Winston Churchill, desperate for the support of American forces, went to the US to meet President Roosevelt. The president opened the door of Churchill’s hotel room without knocking, only to find Churchill standing naked. Roosevelt withdrew apologising profusely, to which Churchill said, “Never mind, the prime minister of Great Britain has nothing to hide from the president of the USA.”

(Taken from the Hindustan Times)

Of likes and dislikes!

2004-08-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

Ten months in America and I am convinced that most people in this country can be classified into three broad categories - the normal people, the like-minded people and the desis. Now normal, by its very meaning, doesn't need elaboration. Normal people are those who are ... umm how to say this - well they are the ones who seem the most normal guys around! And I won't waste your time ranting about desis because in all probability, if you are reading my blog, you yourself are one. So this post shall honor the hitherto unsung class - the class of the like-minded!

But before I start, I'd like to add a note of appreciation for the many many other communities that had lobbied over the past few days to get listed in this post. Just yesterday, I received this email signed by over twenty-three hundred people, who claimed they belong to a separate group. They say, and I quote, "Our unique identity derives from the fact that all of us have had our tonsils removed." Other claims included a solicitation from the Possessive and Obsessive American Mothers Association. Now while these people indeed represent legitimate communities, they must understand that my principled political position over the years has consistently hovered around twelve degrees left of the centre-rightist point of view. And no sane minded person who shares my beliefs, would ever classify people by the presence or absence of tonsils! So much for others, on to the like-minded now ...

My first introduction to like-minded people was rather accidental. While on a trip, I was in this terrible hurry to go visit the Cathedral of St. Bazooka. But as my trip was rather hastily planned, I did not have clear directions to the place. So when I saw this guy practicing baseball swings, I went up and asked, "Hiya! You know of the Bazooka's Cathedral?"

Whooshh! The bat swung, missing my nose by a not more than two inches.

"Oh! Ya mean da big church?"

Bigger than what? I wanted to ask, but one look at his bat and better sense prevailed. "Yeah, the big one!", I replied. After all who'd ever heard of a tiny church! More to the point, who'd ever heard of a tiny church named after Bazooka!!

He began, "Well, if you'd ask me", clearly oblivious of the fact that I had already done so, "my guess would be ... ummm lets see. So if you like travel down this road, turn left and move like a hundred paces or somethin' you get to the Main Square. Take the street that's like a li'l to the left of the theatre there. Keep goin' till you like hit the end, go right and walk down the footway until you come against a chapel."

"And is that the Bazooka's Cathedral?"

"Oh no man no! Bazooka's like da big church here. This place I got you to is a pretty small one, but Father Freddy's like the coolest man in the galaxy and he'll tell you how to reach da big church."

"Ah! So you don't know the way to er.. da big church?"

"No man no, I don't. But Father Freddy sure does ... I'd bet my ass he'll get you going on like the coolest possible route to Bazooka's."

I stood silenced. Seven "like"s and I still had no idea of how to reach the place! Ladies and gentlemen, this guy was the first person whom I could positively identify as like-minded.

Let me give a few traits of the people in this category. Like-minded people are characterized by their divine ability to insert the word like into the most unseemly grammatical contexts and still carry off their speech with elan. Though extensive studies are yet to be performed, preliminary analyses suggest a clear and positive correlation of like-mindedness with a high Yo-coefficient. Other traits include knee-length t-shirts, fluorescent bandanas, beaded hair, pierced nipples and the like!

Did you ever notice a funky sports car churning out 4000 Watts of hip hop? Then surely you must have also noticed the driver inside, frantically bobbing his head majorly off-sync with the beat. Did you notice his lips moving, apparently singing along with the rapper? Ever wondered what he was actually saying? Suppressed under the cacophonous music were his words, "Hey man! If I could like get one chance to like sing this shit, I could be like famous in like two days or somethin'"

Like-minded people can also be identified by their unwavering and uniform hatred for that horrendously curved, desperately grotesque punctuation symbol, otherwise known as the 'comma'. Where normal people like you and me would pause each time Wren and Martin said there should be a comma, like-minded people's hatred for the symbol compels them to replace every occurence of the comma with a like. In simple cases the strategy works fine, but English was not designed to withstand such large scale systematic abuse. So once in a while we have cases when simple sentences like "Me and Jimmy, the neighbor's dog who bit Mary ..." become "Me and Jimmy like the neighbor's dog who bit Mary ...". No wonder there's something about Mary!

And to bring my ungainly blabbering to a graceful end, here's a succint definition of what I feel is to be like-minded: "If you kinda like the word like, and if its like you can't say even three syllables without like popping in between, and if you like dislike the comma as if its the crappiest thing ever, and if you like like this post a lot, then you are one helluva like-minded person!"

A few PJs

2004-08-06T04:30:00.000-07:00

Now that The Matrix is the flavor of the moment, here's some PJs I just invented. The answers are immediately after each question, writen in the background color. You can view them by highlighting them using your mouse.

Q: What would have been the film's title if Agent Smith had won and Neo lost?
A: The Matrix Inverse!

Q: What would The Matrix be called had Shakespeare been the writer?
A: The Matrix In-Verse!

Q: How will Dell sell laptops when the machines take over?
A: They'll say, "Our computers come with The Matrix preloaded!"

Q: What would Matrix Revolutions be called if remade in Hindi?
A: Matrix Translations!
(revolution ... rotation ... translation ... in case the point was lost!)

Me's Neo!

2004-08-06T04:29:00.000-07:00

My quest to explore my inner self continues. I chanced upon this online test that identifies the character from “The Matrix” whose personality most closely matches yours.

As part of the test, I was asked six (yeah, only six!) questions – each with ten possible answers. Now even a goner like me can tell ya there’ll be 6^10 ways of answering the quiz! And if you exclude the Burly Brawl (remember when Neo fights about a zillion Smiths?), obviously there’s far fewer Matrix characters than number of ways of answering the test. So here’s the deal – there must be a multitude of ways of answering the test which would lead to the same result. Or simply put, there’s a multitude of routes for me to be crowned Neo! Yipee!!

First question: Describe yourself in one word?

I was like … what the f***?? The utter senselessness of the question left me confounded! Wasn't yourself a single word already! How in Apocalyptic Hell do I re-describe it? Is this a trick question? Confused and not knowing what to click, I scanned the choices – frustrating seemed a good option given my current condition and I selected it.

But the torture did not end there. The bloody test-maker had some weird fetish for the word yourself. Up came questions like: "Often, you find yourself questioning _____ ?" & "How confident are you in yourself?" Now, maybe I am abnormal – but NEVER in my life have I seen or heard a word (and that too as simple a word as yourself) question ANYTHING! And for God's sake, of all things, why would I need to repose confidence in a mere word!!

But I was determined. I duly answered the remaining questions - all the time wondering why I always screwed up these personality tests. Upon finishing the test, as I was clicking “Submit”, a rumble of excitement had already started to swell deep inside my stomach. The rumble died down as soon as I had seen the result.

"You are Mr. Rhineheart, from The Matrix. You wear glasses and lecturing people is your hobby."

Now who's this Rhineheart guy? A quick Google search for Rhineheart + Matrix revealed that Rhineheart was actually the name of Neo's boss at the software firm where Neo worked! Okay, so let me see - I am Neo's boss ... and Neo is The One. So what does that make me? Heyyy, I am The Zero! While the mathematician inside me rejoiced at the realization, the rest of me rebelled at the horrible sobriquet I had just earned. Eager to undo the damage ASAP, I decided to take the test again. Result - the manservant in Oracle's house!

I tried again and again and again, but I just couldn't seem to qualify to be Neo! Finally, my patience broke down when that lousy-excuse-for-a-trodden-banana-peel test called me the punk who was with Trinity when she meets Neo for the first time. Gosh - the damned guy had some weird named like Choi or something! Livid in anger, I reacted only as a Computer Scientist could - I decided to brute force the bugger. It had to work! And at the 2171th try, I got my prize which is proudly displayed below for all to see.

You are Neo, from "The Matrix." You
display a perfect fusion of heroism and
compassion.

The end of a dream?

2004-08-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

As a child, I got interested in cricket around 1991 when India were playing in Australia for the Benson and Hedges series. The third team was West Indies. I vividly remember the first cricket match I watched. It was a cold December morning when Dad and I sat down to watch India play West Indies. India made a paltry 126 runs with most batsmen falling cheaply. West Indies made a mess of the chase and were nine wickets down with just 113 on the board. The last wicket partnership however added 13 more runs to equal India's tally. Dismayed that India was going to lose, I forlornly waited for the last ball of the over being bowled by a short man with a stock of curly hair. Dad told me that he had already given away five runs in five balls and most probably we shall lose on the next ball itself. He added that if we could get a wicket now, we shall tie or draw the match. Drawing the match seemed an awful lot better than losing - so I prayed fervently and willed the bowler to get a wicket. As the ball was bowled, suddenly everyone around myself and on the field erupted with joy! Not understanding but sensing the mood, I asked "Hum jeet gaye kya?".

"Beta, Sachin just got us a wicket!", was Dad's reply.

And realizing that the match was tied, I rejoiced. Sachin was the first name I knew in cricket. Sachin was the name of the protagonist of my first memorable cricketing moment. And Sachin was the name of my only hero for the next thirteen years!

A day or two after India lost 2-0 in the finals to Australia, Dad asked me during a math lesson to bring all newspaper reports of India's matches and to calculate batting averages for all Indian batsmen. Sachin's was again the highest!

On came the '92 World Cup in which India played quite poorly in most games. But there's one image from the tournament that I shall never forget. I think it was the match against New Zealand in which Sachin was caught in the deep when on a score of 84. Angry and frustrated at having missed a century, he wept on his way back to the pavilion. I remember weeping with him on that day!

My interest in cricket grew in direct proportion to my admiration and love for Sachin's performances on the field. Soon I realized that Sachin was not only India's best player - there were people who dared call him the world's best batsman! My heart swelled with pride. Soon enough, I was watching cricket only so I could see Sachin win.

I doubt if anyone outside my family has given me more reasons and occasions to be happy than Sachin Tendulkar. The memorable last over in the Hero Cup final - the brutal 82 in New Zealand in his first innings as opener - his first ODI century after six remarkable years of international cricket - the thiry-six that have follwed since then - his exploits in the '96 World Cup - the mauling Shane Warne received in '98 - single-handedly winning the tournament in Sharjah - the superhuman 140 against Kenya when just the day before he had cremated his father - the succulent six of Shoaib Akhtar in the last World Cup. These are a few images that flash through my mind when I think of Sachin's career. These are moments I grew up with. And these are moments that make up the dream that began on that wintry December day when Sachin dismissed Andrew Cummins to tie the match.

Unfortunately, I fear that the dream may be coming to an end. The Sachin of today seems to be a pale shadow of the dominating figure he was four years ago. The first major reverse he suffered in his career was the back injury he sustained after Australia toured India. No longer could Sachin pull or drive with abandon as he used to. His back was at a risk while playing any lofted shot, more so with the hooks and the lofted straight drives. Sachin practically deleted the shots from his repertoire and continued tormenting bowlers. A more significant setback was soon to follow. Soon after, he was appointed India's captain for a second time and India performed miserably while he was at the helm. Whatever be the reasons, I feel his failure as India's captain had a tremendous impact on his confidence. He has never been the same again.

True, we are still fortunate enough to see occasional flashes of brilliance. But when I think of Sachin, I do not think of brilliant flashes. Rather, I think of a continuous stream of brilliance that started over a decade ago. He makes enough runs today, but his runs do not give me the kind of happiness they used to. Today when he scores runs, he toils hard like any normal batsman, much different from the child prodigy who used to effortlessly smash bowlers all over the park. The arrogance in his batting has gone and with it has gone the aura of invincibility that surrounded the man.

This post was sparked off because I had this discussion with a friend on whether Sachin was responsible for India's recent defeat in the Asia Cup final. No he wasn't. In fact he was the best Indian batsman on display in the final. While India's loss might be the team's collective fault, Sachin's fault lies elsewhere. I remember a Sachin who would not only win us matches, but win us entire tournaments on his batting prowess alone! In this tournament he got two tailor-made opportunities to bail his team out of trouble (against Pakistan and in the final). Both were crucial matches and in both he was the best Indian batsman on display. And in both India lost. And in both these matches I got the distinct feeling that Sachin cracked under pressure! The man who could win a match alone, now needs a team to support him! Should I be faulted if I think that somewhere along the line, he changed from an out-and-out legend to just a great batsman?

Legend he may still become. But not all cricketing legends are my heroes. My hero was someone who was the world's most attractive, most attacking and most productive batsman - all at the same time. Today his batting is neither as attractive nor as attacking, just productive. Nothing saddens me more than this realization and nothing would make me happier than if Sachin were to regain his old self.

Typically American

2004-07-31T03:12:00.000-07:00

A Swiss guy, looking for directions, pulls up at a bus stop where two Americans are waiting. "Entschuldigung, koennen Sie Deutsch sprechen?" he asks.
The two Americans just stare at him.
"Excusez-moi, parlez vous Francais?" he tries.
The two continue to stare.
"Parlare Italiano?" No response.
"Hablan ustedes Espanol?" Still nothing.
The Swiss guy drives off, extremely disgusted.
The first American turns to the second and says, "Y'know, maybe we should learn a foreign language."
"Why?" says the other. "That guy knew four languages, and it didn't do him any good."

Reservations continued ...

2004-07-31T00:10:00.000-07:00

One of my recent posts talked about reservations for Muslims in Andhra Pradesh. This article discusses the same issue and points out some very relevant logistical problems with the scheme. These problems of course, only serve to highlight the impromptu nature of the promise and are a reminder that rigorous planning is needed before making poll promises.

Deja Vu

2004-07-29T15:52:00.000-07:00

Dontcha feel you've been 'ere before? Well, you actually have! I decided to switch back from my brand new template Harbor to the good old No. 897. But not before I had "fixed" it to suit my tastes. Being the HTML guru that I am, I delved right in midst of the labyrinthine miles of tags and stylesheets that make up a blogger.com template. Tearing my way through loads of ASCII gibberish with knight-like speed, I came across an innocuous inscription which read:

#content { ... width=744px ...}

With the consummate grace of a high-flying eagle and the dainty elegance of a ballet dancer, I changed the width to 844 and the job was done!

Two template changes in two days. Many would call me fickle. But O Revered Critic, what more is fickle, but a mere synonym of adaptive. I have always maintained that Jesus was misquoted when he said that the meek shall inherit the earth. Jesus' actual quote was noted down by an obscure historian named Idios. The writings of Idios later became known as the "Idiotic Scrolls" and were placed at a secure and unknown location to hide their existence from the Church. Not much was heard about these documents until a little known British naturalist by the name of Charles stumbled upon the hiding place. One can imagine his amazement when he read that Jesus had actually declared: "Those who adapt, shall inherit the earth"!

Feeling disoriented and despaired at being so suddenly deprived of the shelter his religion and its teachings offered, Charles decided he needed to get away from it all. Soon enough a ship by the name of HMS Beagle was to sail on a scientific expedition across the Atlantic and our British friend decided to hop on. Sailing in the ocean is a perfect time for introspection and Charles did just that. Soon enough, he was convinced of the truth behind the Idiotic Scrolls and by the time HMS Beagle turned around for the journey back home, Charles had decided that the world must know the Truth. Upon his return, the man wrote a treatise called "On the Origin of Species" and the rest is history! Ladies and gentlemen, the British naturalist was none other than Charles Robert Darwin and it is a carefully suppressed fact that his theories on natural selection and adaptation were in fact inspired by what he read in the Idiotic Scrolls.

And I told you all this because ...

All ye men, who call me fickle,
Your poor souls, shan't get a nickle,
Nor dime, nor quarter,
Nor anything shorter!
While I shall have all the mirth,
'Coz I adapt, and shall inherit the earth!

By the way, did I tell you that I have this impossible deadline coming up tonight?? Gotta run now ...

f : Human --> OperatingSystem, f(Priyendra) = SlackwareLinux

2004-07-29T00:59:00.000-07:00

Just came across this cool website which provides a function to map humans to operating systems. The website's asks a number of personality-test style questions - the answers to which serve to guide the iterative mapping algorithm implemented by the website's creators to the OS that most closely resembles you. In my case, here's the answer I obtained.

So what'll come next? Well, maybe some smartass will come up with a way to identify which is the microwave that you most closely resemble. And then maybe some smarter-ass will come up with a book titled, "I, microwave!"

New and shining!

2004-07-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

Notice something different? I decided to change the blog template for two reasons:

- I was bored with the earlier one
- I noticed my posts were getting longer and I needed a bit more width on the lines - otherwise the posts just kept scrolling

So here you are. Cerebral Mines just got a brand new makeover!!

Among other things, I have been following the Democrat convention in Boston with some interest. A must see is Bill Clinton's speech he delivered on Monday. I particularly liked the humorous manner in which chose to attack Republican policies by presenting himself as a member of the super-rich elite that George W. Bush supposedly serves.

Of bikinis and Lord Rama

2004-07-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

If you feel that the heading's been lifted straight out of TOI, I would not blame you because I actually lifted it from there :-) About a month ago, there was a controversy about some UK company which had released a line of bikinis which had been imprinted with pictures of Lord Rama (or maybe Lord Krishna). Nowadays, since several Hindu organzations act as watchdogs against such debasement of Hindu religious symbols, a swift protest was lodged and the line was quickly removed from market. This however was not the only incident. More recently, a line of slippers has been spotted with the sacred symbol Om on them. Before this, there have been toilet seats featuring Lord Shiva and recital of sholkas from the Holy Gita at inopportune settings like the orgy filmed in Eyes Wide Shut.

So why does the West insist of taking our religious symbols and putting them on the strangest (that was the only adjective I could think of) things? One explanation of course could be that they are not aware of the myriad religious symbols us Hindus possess. Everything from the cow to the much defamed Swastika is holy! But I do not think this is the reason. After all, it does not take a rocket scientist to comprehend that Lord Rama is a God worshipped by most Hindus. Why then this insensitivity to Hindus? After all, no Indian company would even think of releasing underwear bearing images of Christ. Or even images of a God with no followers in India.

I think the reason for this difference in attitude lies in the way Hindus think about God and holiness. In India the concept of God comes attached with many preconcieved notions. Footwear is unclean - so no footwear inside temples. Meat is unholy - so no meat inside most Indian temples, no meat on holy festivals etc. And it is because of this that when we see a pair of slippers with Om imprinted on it, many of us feel hurt. On the other hand, to someone who is not aware of these prejudices, our sensitivities to such things would most probably appear childish! The other day, I dropped a book on the floor of my office while my officemate was there. Just to see her reaction, I made a great show of touching the book on my forehead as many Hindus do. She looked quite amused by the entire ritual and even when I explained her about how Hindus consider Knowledge holy, I could see that she hadn't got the point!

So rather than labelling the West "insensitive", we should be calling them "ignorant" of our culture. And we should try to actively educate them about how we feel about and treat things that are holy to us.

The perils of democracy?

2004-07-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

The Congress campaign in the recently concluded assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, was based, among others, on a promise to provide reservations to the Muslim community in government jobs etc. Since then, the Congress has won the election and hence, it has both a moral authority and obligation to implement its pre-poll promises. And right away, it started making noises about introducing a bill granting the reservation. So why am I uneasy? Aren't people supposed to get what they want in a democracy? But what if the thing they want is in direct contradiction to overall national interests? Or against the spirit of the constitution?

I ask these questions because I feel the concept of reservations is flawed in a number of ways. Reservations were introduced during the early days of independent India, as a device for bringing about social equality. Though I am not aware of any formal connections, the idea of reservations does seem very marxist in character. Initially, it was estimated that social equality shall be attained by the 60s and reservations will be abolished thereafter. And we all know what has happened since then!

So what are the problems I see with reservations? First and foremost, I have my doubts whether the gains of reservations reach the under-privileged at all. For instance, we shall soon have 5% reservation for Muslims in AP. However, there are any number of affluent Muslims there and I feel it is these upper class Muslims who will reap the benefits. Were they the intended targets of the largesse? No. This is a general problem with caste/community based reservations. It is clear that always the stronger members of the caste/community shall be the principal beneficiaries.

In this context, the idea of reservations based on economic well-being has some appeal. After all, doesn't an utterly poor upper caste youth need help more than a relatively well-off lower caste citizen does? I can never understand why the communal angle had to be added to reservations. If the objective was to help weaker sections of the society, then wouldn't the first most obvious solution be to help all who are poor. Our leaders must have had good reasons for introducing reservations as they are, but I'd sure love to hear about them.

The second problem I feel is that reservations tend to segment a society and go against the aim of overall national integration. When people have to wear their caste/religion on their sleeves to get jobs, it sends a strong message: Being an Indian does not get you a job, but being a Yadav does. Would you then fault a person if he feels he is a Yadav first and an Indian second? The more number of times a person is forced to explicitly think about his caste/religion, the farther he goes from being a mainstream Indian.

The last problem with reservations is that they directly contradict India's secular character. In India's context, secularism does not only mean equality of all religions. In a country like India which has so many castes, the definition of secularism should naturally be extended to equality of all religions, castes, ethnic groups alike. And when the state favors a particular caste, this spirit of secularism is dealt a serious blow. As a result, the utterly poor upper caste youth is left languishing because the state actively discriminates against him - much like a theocratic state would have discriminated against citizens adhering to a different religion.

And that is why I feel communal reservations are bad. And this leads me to ask the question - is plain democracy the best political system for a developing country? We give each one of our citizens a chance to nudge our country in the direction (s)he wants it to go. At the other end of the spectrum are countries like China where a few leaders decide the fate of millions. At times I feel our system is too vulnerable to the irrational decisions taken by huge, ignorant sections of the electorate. It is too vulnerable to politicians who use schemes like reservations as weapons in their vote-bank politics. Wouldn't it be good if only responsible people got to vote! And then I notice the inherent arrogance of the statement wherein I label myself knowledgeable, rational and responsible. What if someone better than me were to suggest that I was not rational enough. And what if he were to say that even I did not make the grade for being a responsible voter? And these ifs then leave me confused ...

Drowsy Dissertations - VOL III

2004-07-21T05:54:00.000-07:00

Top ranked American engineering schools are generally perceived to be far better than most engineering universities across the world. I myself have witnessed at close quarters the education here and the one we got back home. This post is an attempt to contrast the two and understand what a university like IITK could do to improve the quality of its students.

The first thing that distinguishes an American university from IITK is the enormous amount of research output these places have. Most professors here are regular publishers in quality international conferences/journals. Of course, that cannot be counted as a shortcoming of Indian universities. It is simply a natural and expected effect of the fact that India is not at the cutting edge of technology while the US is. Also, the insane amounts of R&D dollars that float around in America automatically act to drive researchers forward - a facility that Indian researchers do not have!

My second point concerns the quality and motivation of students. While the quality of students we get in IITs is exceptional, often their motivation levels are not. For example, I know batchmates who were not really interested in Computer Science but since they bagged rank so-and-so in JEE, they enrolled in it nevertheless. In the US, the choice of stream is often dominated by the interests of the individual. As a result, most students here are very highly motivated to do well in the field they have chosen. Once the interest is there, work seems like play and the effect on performance is clearly visible.

These of course are issues about which nothing can be done. For instance, IITK cannot increase its research output overnight or even over the period of an year. Similarly, social attitudes in India regarding career choices will also not change anytime soon. Even then, I feel there are a number of other small improvements that IIT Kanpur can make to improve the quality of education it provides to its students.

For one, I feel that following a textbook while teaching a course is a big plus. Textbooks serve to make the concepts presented in class concrete. Also, the written word is a more precise medium of expression. Verbal communication is good for imparting intuitions, but it is only when an idea is precisely written down that it is conveyed in its entirety. Most professors at IITK refuse to follow books. The most common reason cited is that the stuff they plan to teach is not part of any single textbook. However, my impression is that at least for the basic undergrad level introductory courses in OS, Databases, Compilers etc, the course content is fairly standard and well covered in many books. Even in a course like OS which is taught very well at IITK, following a textbook has the advantage that long after when the course is over, the student has something to refer to!

The other thing which I feel has a great impact on the understanding of students is the use of assignments as learning aids. In most courses at IITK, generally only programming assignments are emphasized and written ones are only handed out in a few courses. Most Stanford courses however, have weekly assignments which test the understanding of the concepts presented in class. In almost all these courses, assignments comprise a significant percentage of a person's final grade. This has two advantages: the student is forced to be up-to-date as the assignments have to be submitted on a regular basis, and assignments are good places to ask questions which are difficult to ask in exams. For example, given an algorithm, perform a dry run on a particular input. Such mundane questions are rarely posed in exams. However, doing two or three dry runs is often critical to understanding the quirks of the algorithm. Then, there may be questions which are too difficult to ask in a timed exam. They also are ideal candidates to be posed as assignments.

I guess these two things shall go a significant way in improving the calibre of IITK students. Of course there are potential concerns. Following a textbook might lead to a further fall in attendance in classes. Take-home written assignments might fuel more incidents of cheating and academic fraud. However, my take is that these are mostly orthogonal issues which need to be tackled separately.

Ironical Tyranny? Tyrannical Irony? Whatever ...

2004-07-20T14:16:00.000-07:00

India faces a cruel irony right now. Even as Assam and Bihar struggle with a flood of gigantic proportions, much of the rest of the country is saddled with the prospects of drought!

Assam is no stranger to floods around this time. India's mightiest river, the Brahmaputra, has an unfortunate tendency to overflow during the monsoons. This time around, the situation was exacerbated by a breach in a water resorvoir in Bhutan. As a result, both Bihar and Assam have been victims of a flood far more terrible than anyone expected.

In stark contrast, the rest of India has by now realized that the monsoon is going to be a cropper. Pre-drought preparations are on and the Meterological Department has already warned farmers not to grow long lifecycle crops. Though I do not understand the specifics, I guess the general idea is that farmers are advised to grow crops which have a decent chance of maturing before the meagre rainfall runs out.

It is in this context that the proposal for linking rivers in India assumes significance. I am no expert in the area and from what I have read, there are conflicting views on whether the idea is feasible or not. As an engineer, I see no reason for the plan to not work. Of course, as a few friends of mine say, computer scientists hardly qualify as engineers ;-) Coming back to the point, of course there are issues which need to be sorted out regarding the sharing of waters between states, the actual maintenance of the linkage network etc. But all these issues are, in my opinion, stymied by the one tremendous promise the scheme holds - the promise to decouple the fortunes of our farmers from the lottery that monsoons are! Agriculture accounts for around 27% of the Gross National Product and is by far the most fickle of our three major economic sectors (manufacturing & services being the other two). Last year, with exceptional monsoons our GDP growth clocked an impressive 8.2%. The year before, with average monsoons, our growth languished below 5%. If anything at all could be done to alleviate this uncertainity, I feel our government should eagerly pursue the option.

Historical Hysteria

2004-07-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

Ever since the NDA govt rose to power, there have been quibbles about the saffronization of the history curriculum. Supposedly apex bodies like NCERT were "inflitrated" by RSS pracharaks who were hellbent on mutating the history of this land. Now that the "secular" UPA is in power, these concerns have been laid to rest. However, to correct the wrongs of the previous governnment, a review of the history curriculum had been ordered to be undertaken by the NCERT. And what has the erudite NCERT committee decided? That from the next academic session, the older rightful version of history shall be restored. Okay - what about the current session? Hold your breath! Ladies and gentlemen, it was decided that for the nine remaining months of the current session, Indian students will be told that India has two histories - the one in the "doctored" books and the one in the earlier pristine books! Yes, you heard it right. Both versions are part of the curriculum as reported by an HT report here. India can amaze you in ways more than one!

Ha ha!

2004-07-19T00:47:00.000-07:00

Lets see if you have heard this one:

A first grade teacher explains to her class that she is an American.
She asks her students to raise their hands if they
were American too.
Not really knowing why but wanting to be like their
teacher, their hands explode into the air like flashy
fireworks.

There is, however, one exception.
A girl named Gita has not gone along with the crowd.
The teacher asks her why she has decided to be
different.

"Because I am not an American." replied Gita.
"Then", asks the teacher, "What are you?"
"I'm a proud Indian," boasts the little girl.
The teacher is a little perturbed now, her face
slightly red. She asks Gita why she is an Indian.
"Well", my mom and dad are Indians, "so I'm an Indian too."

The teacher is now angry. "That's no reason", she
says loudly "if your mom was an idiot, and your dad
was an idiot, what would you be then?"

A pause, and a smile.

"Then" says Gita, "I'd be an American."

:-)

Enough is enough!

2004-07-18T15:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess that is enough blogging for a day. Got a midterm (Compilers) tomorrow and need to study some for that! See ya laters ...

The Da Vinci Code

2004-07-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

Written by Dan Brown, this is absolutely the most amazing book I ever read! An intricate web of historical intrigue woven with modern events to produce a thriller far better than any other I saw. The book's blurb may be found here. Anyone who hasn't yet read the book is advised to go straight to the market, buy the book, telephone Boss to say you will be late for office next morning, snuggle in bed and start on an unforgettable quest for an explosive ancient secret!

Saddened

2004-07-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I read about the following incident reported in newspapers: Hannah Foster, a British citizen was raped and killed by Maninder Pal Singh Kohli who later fled to India and hid somewhere. After months of inaction, Trevor and Hillary Foster, parents of the unfortunate victim, came to India to appeal to the press etc to help in the search for their daughter's killer. And as luck would have it, the criminal was found even before they had returned back to England. The Punjab Chief Minister who was earlier slated to meet with the Fosters to discuss the manhunt has now promised his full cooperation in the extradition process.

On reading the report at first, I felt happy for the family. I still feel happy for the family, but now I also feel troubled by a number of questions that haunt my mind:

- Had a UK citizen (or any Western country) been guilty of a crime against an Indian, would the UK embassy have even issued a visa to the distraught parents? I have my doubts!

- Had he been nabbed, would the UK citizen have been extradited to face charges in a third world country? Given the qualms Western countries have in extraditing far more culpable offenders and terrorists, people who aren't even their own citizens, I am sure the answer to this question has to be a 'no' as well!

- Would the Chief Minister of Punjab have granted a personal meeting to an Indian couple trying to find justice for their deceased daughter? Of course not!

The answer to each one of the above questions is 'no'! And it is this realization that we still bend our backs to please our erstwhile colonial masters that leaves me saddened!

Drowsy Dissertations - VOL II

2004-07-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

There are few constants in Indian politics. Governments change, allies switch camps, ministers change positions, leaders switch idealogies and everyone changes statements. However, amidst all this chaos, there have been two things which have been remarkably steady - the Left in Bengal and Lalu in Bihar. The Left has held on to the chief ministership of Bengal for an astonishing 30+ years, while Lalu (or his wife Rabri) has been ruling over Bihar since 1990. And I utterly fail to understand why the electorate repeatedly rewards them, while at the same time much more competent governments (NDA at the center for instance) are summarily rejected.

Let us begin with Lalu. I would really like to understand the socio-political forces that have kept someone as disgusting as Lalu Yadav in political prominence for so long. He portrays himself as the messiah of the poor Bihar population. In fact, there are books taught in schools in Bihar which have entire chapters devoted to Lalu Yadav and his greatness! And then he has the spunk to talk about history being altered by the RSS! As Railway Minister, Lalu Yadav undertakes a slew of populist measures - kullahrs instead of plastic cups, khadi being worn by railway staff among a host of others. Without going into the merits of the proposals, I have no doubt in my mind that it is these clever ploys that Lalu uses to manipulate his electorate back home. To project the image of an earthen Bihari villager. To assure them that he is one of them. When will the poor Bihar population realize that he ceased to be one among them a long time ago? Why is it so difficult to see that there has been virtually no developmental activity around them since 1990 (not me, the Planning Commision says this!)? Whatever happened to the Indian voter who is hailed as intelligent and preceptive? How can just having a chief minister of your caste be adequate compensation for all the basic amneties that the average Bihari villager's life lacks? There has to be something more here which I do not understand. I realize that elections can be rigged, but surely not all seats across Bihar! There is something else behind the phenomenal appeal Lalu Yadav holds for his rural electorate - something that holds even after the decade long rape that Bihar has endured. Its a puzzle beyond my wits and I wish someone could tell me the answer.

About the Left now - for 30 years the Left has been implementing their retro-Communist policies in its backyard. Bengal was a progressive state, a state that had been at the forefront of achievement during the British and post-British days. Not so today! People are fearful of setting up businesses in West Bengal. Why? Well, simply because the miles of red tape involved, the arcane labour laws, the attitude of the government towards entrepreneurs and almost everything else screams to say: "You are not welcome!" One of my friends, the son of a Calcutta industrialist, tells me that he does not know of a single factory being set up in Bengal in the recent past. I am stupefied! How can the Indian Left cling to the age-old Marxist ideals which even die-hard communist countries like China have abandoned? And how can the public be so gullible as to support them in such a misguided quest? Ah yes, the farmers know nothing of economics you would say. Well, are they so indoctrinated that they no longer feel outraged that they need a license in Bengal for everything - including one for selling the rice grown on their own fields!! It is nothing short of a mystery that a government that bottles the progressive instincts of its own citizens has been able to survive so comfortably and for so long.

But this was not the reason I wrote this post. I apprehend a far greater danger looming over India than the one posed by these incompetent state governments. Look at the central government in power today. Its two main pillars are Lalu and the Left! Lalu makes no secret of his ambition to be India's prime minister one day. The Left makes no qualms about its desires to reverse all progress India has made as a free economy in the nineties. And they stand united with their clout increasing every year. Lalu rose from being a regional leader to a leader of unmistakeable national importance. The Left has bagged an unprecedented 60 seats inn the previos general elections. I am immediately reminded of the book The Fourth Protocol by Forsythe. The thriller, set in UK, included a subplot which described a devious plan by the Soviet Communist party to gradually strengthen the communist support base in UK and finally convert it over to Communism. Though nothing as scandalous is expected in the forseeable future, the least we can do is to be catious of the dangers that a team of misguided idealogues and corrupt politicians can pose to our country.

Drowsy Dissertations - VOL I

2004-07-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

Fifteen days is a long time. Long enough that in these last fifteen days, I have lined up a number of blogworthy thoughts (atleast three) inside my cranium. So instead of putting them as unrelated posts, I thought of making a series. So I created one and named it "Drowsy Dissertations". Why? Well, most of the things that I am gonna say occured to me last week. And if you read my previous post, you'd know that most of the time last week I was doing just two things - sleeping or feeling sleepy! So much for small talk - on to the main show now...

---------

On Wednesday last, one of my non-Indian friends (Kaan) and I were chit-chatting about things in general when the conversation veered towards Indian food. Kaan is a great fan of Indian food and soon enough, he started talking about kebabs and the various other non-vegetarian delicacies that are part of what one may call Mughlai cuisine. When I told him that I was a vegetarian, Kaan said, "Oh, you too! Hey man, what's it about India that about half the country is vegetarian there?"

My response was: "Well, maybe its just a matter of following what people around you do. I was born and brought up in a family where no one ate meat. So neither do I. I guess its the same for all those half a billion Indians who are vegetarians."

"C'mon! There's gotta be a better reason for giving up all the delicious non-veg stuff you guys cook in India!"

I suggested maybe its because our economy is agriculture based and so it makes sense to be a vegetarian. But Kaan countered that an agriculture based economy might actually be an effect of a vegetarian population rather than its cause. And the debate continued and I kept losing.

The truth is that I did not know why so many Indians choose to be vegetarians. Worse, I did not know why I am a vegetarian. And so I decided to do a bit of introspection. Strong animals eat weak animals all over the world. Why is it okay for a lion to eat a deer and not for a me to eat chicken?

When I tried to uncover the differences in the two situations, I came up with the following - a lion is not morally aware, while I am. In other words, a lion has no choice but to eat the deer. In fact it never explicitly chooses to be a non-vegetarian. It just is a non-vegetarian - a being that is genetically programmed to be so. However, we humans have the ability to choose what we think is correct. Hence, the moral question applies only to us and not to lions or any other creatures. Moreover most of these creatures cannot survive without meat, while we humans have a demonstrated ability to live comfortably off a vegetarian diet.

However, this only answers the question of why it is okay for lions to eat meat. It still does not answer the other half about why I shouldn't. The answer to that was tougher to find. I could not find any fault in the simple process of eating meat. The predator-prey model has infact survived millions of years of Darwinian selection and is still the prevalent ecological relationship in the wild. However, what disturbs me is the complete impersonalization of the process that humans have brought about. If I decide to become a non-vegetarian, I would not go out there to find and kill the chicken I need. Instead, the chicken would be taken out of a coop by someone I don't know, would be mercilessly hacked to death and handed to me in a plastic bag in return for some cash. And all of this would take place in a slaughter-house where hundreds of other chickens do nothing but wait ... just wait for the day when the door of their coop would open and their life would close.

A prey in the wild has a life of its own. It runs, sleeps, mates, fights and maybe someday, it falls prey to a stronger creature. Not them poor chickens! The sole purpose of their existence is to get killed. It is not meat eating that I abhor, it is this idea that a particular animal is doomed to be a piece of meat on someone's plate before it has even hatched out of its egg. Immediately, I am reminded of the movie The Matrix in which humans were subjected to a similar regime - they were reared solely to provide power to the machines. That the chicken gets killed is just incidental. It is the oppression it undergoes while it is alive that bothers me. And as far as possible, I will try my best to not to do anything that supports the meat industry which is guilty of inflicting such oppression.

Longer time no see ...

2004-07-15T13:11:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well. No updates for about two weeks. Ain't I regular! Well there were a few reasons for my absence:

-> Last week I did not feel inspired enough to post.
-> This week I was crazily busy. Hence no time to blog!

But now that I am here, let me begin from where I left off.

July Fourth Weekend:

We (Asim and I) spent the weekend in San Diego with Diwaker and Rajaji. The trip was great fun. It included many firsts for me incuding kayaking, camping, attempts to climb a mountain, cooking out in the open etc. IMHO, this kind of an adventure trip sure beats the hell out of the normal sight seeing excursions that I am used to. Extremely enjoyable, tiring and something that I would like to do again and again.

The week that followed:

Call it the July 4th Hangover, or the San Diego Hangover or heck .. just The Hangover, but something happened to me last week. I could not focus on any task at all. So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I just killed time. Now many people find it hard to understand how can someone kill time for 4 consecutive days. I can't fault them. I myself had trouble imagining someone do that a few years ago. However, with age and maturity, I have grown into an expert, experienced and excellent executioner (killer) of time. Here's the technique I follow:
1) Wake up late
2) Do not brush your teeth - otherwise you immediately freshen up and start thinking about what to do now
3) Get laptop without rising from bed (this may require use of foresight and advanced positioning skills)
4) Check email, delete spam, curse humanity
5) Read every damn news website in the world. Wait ... leave out the Mozambique Daily and the Times of India!
6) Solve all online crosswords
7) Go off to sleep after a good day's work :-)
8) Repeat

See - anyone can do it! The weekend however was a bit more productive since I had to submit a few assignments (compilers + databases) and I worked on them. All in all, a week best forgotten.

Current week:

The contrast could not have been starker. Last week I did nothing. This week I ended up doing an entire week's worth of work in two days! Paulo had given me a job to finish by next Monday. However, due to some urgent changes in schedule, he informed me that the deadline has been preponed to this Wednesday. Oops! With assignments for both my courses looming large and this extra workload, I knew I had to kick some serious ass if I am to finish all in time. As it turned out, after a Herculean effort spread over 53 hours, I managed to get all three things wrapped up. And no I wasn't finished yet. I also read some 50 pages of the Da Vinci Code after all this! And then I slept - from ten in the night to twelve in the morning today.

That was the update guys! Have a whole bunch of other interesting thoughts to share. Will be posting them soon enough.

More movies, more mazaa!

2004-06-29T23:13:00.000-07:00

As promised, I watched both Deewar and Fahrenheit 9/11. Guys - don't put so much pressure on me!!

Deewar was okay - a Bollywood movie with an interesting concept, one which I think could have been made better. Its about a group of Indian POWs held in Pakistani prisons since the 1971 war. They have tried umpteen times to escape and failed - until the son of one of the prisoners, Major Ranvir Kaur (played by Amitabha Bachchan), reaches Pakistan to rescue his father. Far-fetched? C'mon, its a Hindi movie! But then, who said James Bond was realistic anyway :-)

Fahrenheit 9/11 was an interesting movie, rather an interesting documentary. I read somewhere that the movie does not contain a single planned scene or dialogue - its all made out of previously shot news footage or real life interviews etc. It seeks to provide a conspiratorial angle to the reaction of the Bush administration to the events on and after September 11. Michael Moore has a few things to say about Bush and his administration:

(a) Bush is an idiot - yeah, he almost says it point blank!
(b) The administration is controlled by powerful corporations which have significant economic interests in Middle East oil - hence the war on Iraq on flimsy grounds.
(c) The terror hysteria which has been perpetuated on the public since 9/11 is the govt's ploy to ensure that the public blindly supports the govt in its immoral wars.

Michael Moore presents a number of facts and interviews with former govt officials to prove his claims. I won't put them here since it might spoil someone's plan to watch the film. However, at the end of the day, I was left with this nagging feeling that this is after all election year in the US and you cannot trust all you hear. After all, if the kind of power play he hints at can take place, coming out with a movie to sully the other camps reputation is a pretty small move. As always, the truth must lie somewhere in between what Moore says and the official view of the Bush administration.

But yeah, it is admirable that a film that is so scathing in its criticism of the govt could actually be screened in this country. There were troubles, and quite a few people tried their best to prevent it from being shown. However, the fact that it was ultimately screened shows that there are some very remarkable things about this country - free speech being one. Can one imagine a movie supporting Kashmiri separatists in India? I am not saying that such a movie should be made or anything. Just trying to say that the kind of freedom of speech Americans enjoy is truly awesome!

You gotta read this!

2004-06-28T23:51:00.000-07:00

Just read an anti-Congress slogan. Maybe its well known but I heard it for the first time - Congress party ka ek hi rasta, bolo Italian, khao pasta!

Also, I just came to know of our prime minister's email address - manmohan@sansad.nic.in. So next time you have a problem, you know what to do :-)

Atal?

2004-06-27T05:09:00.000-07:00

Atal - the name means one who cannot be stopped. For six years, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was our prime minister, the tallest leader of India and the darling of everyone in the NDA. Today when the NDA has failed to return to power, Vajpayee's fall from grace has been heart-breaking to watch.

It all began during his annual Manali retreat when Vajpayee hinted that the happenings in Gujrat may have contributed to the NDA's fall. Vajpayee has always been a moderate - the so called right man in the wrong party, so such a view comes as no surprise. In fact, even at the time of the riots, it is said that Vajpayee wanted to take action against Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujrat. However, hawks in BJP and its sister organizations prevailed on him. At the time, Vajpayee was indispensable - he was the glue that held the remarkable 22 party coalition together by the sheer force of his persona. Today, the BJP does not need a coalition. What use then for the glue? As a result, Vajpayee is suddenly the lone moderate in an organization yearning to rewind to the Hindu nationalist agenda of the early nineties which resulted in the party's stupendous growth. However there are a few reasons why I feel the move is ill-advised:

(a) By unceremoniously dumping a leader of the stature of Vajpayee, they will alienate a large chunk of people who vote for the BJP just because it is Vajpayee's party. However much of an organization based party the BJP may claim to be, elections are best fought around personalities. Vajpayee's role could prove to be crucial if elections were forced upon the country within an year or two! Also, Atal Bihari is the only leader around whom the NDA can rally. It would be interesting to note how many NDA constituents choose to associate with the alliance once Vajpayee is sidelined.

(b) The BJP is now looking to consolidate its voter base. However, most people who identify with the BJP's hindu nationalist vision already vote for the BJP. The percentage gains to be had in this group by enhancing its pro-Hindu image are pretty limited. Substantial gains can only come about by convincing other demographic groups to vote for the BJP.

(c) As a national party, I feel the BJP is obliged to cater to the aspirations of all Indians and not any particular group in particular. Small parties can get away by looking after the interests of a particular community/region. National parties have more responsibility and having a strictly pro-Hindu agenda overlooks this responsibility.

Although I hate to admit this (since I am myself a BJP supporter), I have been disappointed with the way the BJP has conducted itself ever since the election results were declared. First the histrionics against Sonia becoming PM (Sushma Swaraj vowed to have her head shaved!), then boycotts of charge-sheeted cabinet ministers in the ministry. The issue was dragged on for quite some time causing Parliament proceedings to be adjourned a number of times. I should clarify that I am absolutely against tainted people becoming ministers. However, boycotting ministers and walking out of the Parliament on every occasion is not a solution. In a democratic setup, a walkout is a strong statement that you consider the other person unworthy of debate. Our political parties have reduced the step to a caricature - so much so that today it is rare for the Opposotion to contest bills in the Lok Sabha. Either the Opposition supports it, or it walks out! That apart, I always thought the BJP was a mature organization. The way it has reacted to its defeat has left me in some doubt.

Coming back to Vajpayee, I think there are enough indications now that Vajpayee's role in Indian politics has begun to diminish. Undoubtedly, he is one of the few, genuinely brilliant and committed politicians India has produced. Politics is a strange profession - its supposedly all about ideals, but just ideals get you nowhere in politics! To reach a position of prominence, a position from where you can make a difference, you need to have a subtle balance of idealism and pragmatism. Needless to say Vajpayee excelled in this respect. Legendary oratorial skills ensured he was always the darling of the masses. A moderate image meant that he had immense political acceptability. It is a paniful irony that today he is perhaps not feeling acceptable in his own party! I guess it is time Vajpayee should finally retire and bring down the curtains on one of the most remarkable careers in Indian politics. Atal, the unstoppable, it perhaps is time for you to stop.

Sonia Gandhi - Super PM?

2004-06-27T04:21:00.000-07:00

Ever since Dr. Manmohan Singh took over the reins of India, speculation has raged over the role Sonia Gandhi will be playing. A senior Congress member, widely tipped to become a minister even commented at the time that as the Chairman of the Congress Legislative Party, Sonia would have access to confidential government files! Maybe the statement was just an indirect way of testing waters or something. Predictably, a huge outcry from the opposition followed and the Congress had to clarify its position.

However, the debate has hardly been settled. Inspite of not being the leader of India, Sonia has recieved official, semi-official and unofficial invitations from 20 countries! Strange, and to some degree unacceptable. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is the executive head of India and it is he who should be projected and seen as the foremost leader - the man at the helm of affairs. Any percieved or real confusion about the chain of command can only have adverse consequences.

That apart, I have to admire Dr. Manmohan Singh. From what I have read, the man is the exact antithesis of the typical Indian politician. No airs, no ego, no frills! Hardworking - he finds it difficult to give time to journalists for interviews. And clean to a fault - he shines out among the corrupt people his ministry is packed with! India needs more politicians like him!

The budget is expected to be out in July. Dr. Manmohan Singh, the magical economist who bailed India out of its financial morass in 1991, is expected to cater to everyone's expectations! The Left wants something, the industrialists want something else while the common man wants something entirely different. And all of them believe Dr. Manmohan Singh is the man capable of bringing deliverance. Guys, get ready! I have a hunch we have an excellent economic soap opera lined up!

Long time no see!

2004-06-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I can pretend that I was busy but I was not :-) Procrastination is perhaps the single biggest bug in this otherwise beautiful piece of code called the Matrix!

Speaking of the matrix, as usual I have been watching a few movies. Latest in the sequence have been Forrest Gump (never watched it before!!) which was breathtaking and Lakshya which was average. The judgement on Lakshya though is a bit controversial since some of my friends liked the movie a lot. I did not - I cannot say the actors performed poorly or the direction was shoddy. Just that the movie did not strike a chord with me. Hota hai :-)

Deewar (the new one) is the next hindi movie on the agenda. Tomorrow - in fact late in the day today - we shall go to watch Fahrenheit 9/11. The movie must rank among the all time most eagerly awaited movies in the US. It is okay for movies/books etc to be banned in India and other countries. However, the US prides itself on being a "free" country. It is surprising that even in such an admirably free society, at times people have to strive so hard to have their voice heard. More on the movie tomorrow after I have seen it.

Speaking of America, I was amazed, astounded, amused (and a lot of other superlative verbs) on reading that recently, Richard B. Cheney, the Vice President of the United States of America told Senator Patrick Leahy to f*** off during one of their arguments in the Senate Chamber! Man - these people can make Mulayam Singh look good :-)

Among other things, I have been on a customization drive of late. I have COMPLETELY customized the look of my computer with
(a) custom created wallpapers with a uniform look in both Linux and Windows
(b) matching themes (downloaded!)
(c) matching GRUB bootscreen, plus a host of other tiny tiny things that I feel make my computer look slicker :-)

Basically I am all excited about my laptop's new look since for the first time it boasts of wallpapers signed Priyendra :-)

On the research front, things are progressing steadily. Summer quarter has started and I have decided to take two courses - databases and compilers. I guess I need to brush up my knowledge in these. Or in IIT lingo, bikkon ke kalank ko dhona hai :-)

Today I plan to do what I dread most - clean up my room. Its been ages since I did that and Manu has been sugesting since quite some time that we do it. Today is the day!

Being an avid internet news buff, I think I should point out the falling journalistic standards of TOI. It is fast descending into a cheap tabloid. During my IIT days, TOI was the website I religiously returned to for news - at times even visiting the site more than maybe 10-15 times a day. Now, my visits only serve to amplify my already substantial disappointment with the publication. Consider some of the headlines on the TOI front page right now:

- Call girls in your neighborhood!
- Desi lingo paints London streets
- Indian junkies' ande ka funda
- Bollywood: Romancing in the rain
- Two mile walk better than Viagra

One would think something more important than all this must be happening around the world right now. Rediff.com is now my preferred source for news from India. May they never walk the TOI route!

Phew - this is what happens when you don't post for a long time!

Weekend Joys

2004-06-21T14:01:00.001-07:00

The past weekend was unusually enjoyable. Asim had come over, Manu (Chhabra) was in town for his Xerox internship and Madhur had planned to come over for the weekend from his internship at LA. We started on Friday evening with a trip to Passage to India. Picked up two DVDs on our way back - Eurotrip & Shanghai Noon. Eurotrip was had some extremely hilarious moments while Shanghai Noon seemed so boring that we decided to stop in the middle!

Saturday, we went to San Francisco and took a tour of Alcatraz - perhaps the world's most famous prison and also the world's most disappointing tourist spot! We were bored right from the beginning. One problem with Americans is that these people lack a history! So they highlight small events in a way to make them seem big. But to people like me, whose country has a history of 5000+ years, some of these seem somewhat trivial :-) My opinion was the Alcatraz is one big hyped-up boring tourist destination. Anyone wishing to see something similar to what we saw in The Rock is highly discouraged from visiting the prison.

Next on the agenda was a San Francisco city tour in a bus with a guide called Tony Love. Boy the man was interesting! The tour guides are distinctly different from the ones back home - we decided that these people have a lot more flair. They try to go out of their way to crack jokes and constantly keep entertaining you. The bus ride was a nice experience. It took us to the golden Gate bridge, the Palace of Fine Arts (no, it ain't a palace!) plus a few other places.

After the tour was over, we lolled around in SFO on Market Street, China Town etc. By evening we decided that we are going to watch a movie. The consensus candidate was The Terminal. Excellent movie - Victor Naborski, a Krakozhian citizen, comes over to the US in search for an autograph of a Jazz artist his father was very fond of. However, while he was in air, a coup happens in his country and a military government takes over. As a result his passport is invalidated and thus he cannot enter the US. Moreover, because of some reasons, he is also not allowed to return to his own country. In short, the only place where he can legally stay is the terminal!! Victor, played by Tom Hanks, is shown to be a really nice hearted person. As it turns out, he waits in the terminal for more than 9 months before he is able to enter the US and get the autograph that was so precious to his father. A really well-made movie. After the movie, we hitched onto the last train back from SFO and reached home. On reaching California Avenue, Asim and I decided we needed to each something. Well, the only place open was a drive-through burger place and we had no cars. So we joined a queue of cars where the only people on foot were Asim and me :-) A very funny situation to be in!

Next day, we decided to visit Muir Woods and the Mystery Spot. Muir Woods is a preserved forest with Giant sequoia trees and Redwoods. Beautiful and serene, the woods were in short awesome! Mystery Spot was also interesting - its a place where gravity is supposedly messed up. You get to see all kinds of weird things with balls rolling up incline to pendulums swinging in strange ways. I thought I was a physics guru :-) But I could not find fault with some of the genuinely amazing experiments that these guys had prepared. After Mystery Spot, I gave a short tour of Stanford to these guys followed by dinner at Cheesecake Factory.

Why can't all weekends be like this :-)

Brain drain from India

2004-06-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

I read this post on Diwaker's blog which discussed whether bright people from India are justified in moving to America. Somehow I did not agree with his conclusions and so I tried to respond to his arguments. My thoughts are available on the same page below as a comment to his post.

However, I guess Diwaker has been arguing on why people should not be forced to stay back in India while I am arguing for why people should voluntarily stay back in India. I see no harm in going abroad to further your education, expand your horizons, gain work experience in international settings etc. However, I feel that one should reserve the meat of his life, the period from late twenties to early forties to doing something that directly strengthens our nation. It is hard to measure the enormous debt one owes to the society one was brought up in. The food you ate as a child, your education, your security and your entertainment was all possible only because numerous people were actively working to make it happen. And today, when its our turn to work and make lives of other children better, we move over to America. Not correct!

Hurray!

2004-06-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

I just came to know that Gauri has secured an all India rank of 111 in the Manipal B.Arch. entrance examination. Well, frankly I never imagined that she will secure such a good position and now I have to eat my own words. I assure you, my words never tasted this good before :-) God bless her!

Apart from Manipal, she has also secured a rank of 5196 in DCE. Plus since I am an NRI, she also has the option of enrolling in NIFT as an NRI sponsored candidate. As of now, she is gunning for NIFT and I also feel that it is the best option for her.

Among other things, I watched Dev yesterday. Well, a pretty poorly made movie I must say. Weird screenplay, bad acting, weak storyline, inept direction :-) The only part of the movie that I enjoyed was when Kareena and Fardeen kiss each other :-) HA HA HA!

Total Timepass!

2004-06-14T06:15:00.000-07:00

Of late I have developed an uncanny ability to waste time! I have been asked to document a body of code written by someone at my office. Of course, I am finding the job boring - so boring that I haven't written a line of documentation in the last 10 hours! So what do I do when I have to waste time? Well, I basically cycle between timesofindia, rediff, cnn, nytimes, cricket.org, slashdot, wired, orkut, hindustantimes and bbc! No wonder I am always so busy :-) To add to my woes, blogging has also been added to my already overpopulated list of web chores! The moot point is that if I am to achieve something substantial in these summer holidays, I better get some discipline going.

Cinema Streak!

2004-06-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

This has to be a first - three movies in the last 6 hours or so! It all started with The Butterfly Effect. I must say it was a very interesting movie - about how small things in your past have such HUGE effects on your later lives. The hero tries to set things right in his life by travelling to his past and making corrections. But the result is never perfect. It goes on until the hero finally realises that he is not God and he has to compromise somewhere!

Next on the agenda was Hum Tum, a light Bollywood movie focussing on the fundamental differences between the natures of boys and girls. Cute I must say! Saif Ali Khan has matured tremendously as an actor. Compare today's Saif with the one who danced to Ole Ole and you'll immediately see the difference.

The last one was Pinjar. Its a movie set around the time of the Partition of India - about a girl named Puro who was kidnapped to settle scores in a feudal Hindu-Muslim rivalry. She was later forced to marry the person who kidnapped her. Her husband however, played by Manoj Bajpai, is good at heart and was pressurized into committing this dastardly act. Hence, throughout his life he is miserable for having caused so much suffering to her wife. The ending is quite interesting as well.

The Partition of India must surely rank among the most horrific human tragedies of modern times. Who knows, had it not been for the bloodshed and the bitterness created in those times, maybe India and Pakistan would have been cooperative neighbors instead of bitter enemies.

Leisurely holidays

2004-06-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Have been involved in a mini-email-war on our wing newsgroup with Nishant since morning. He has been pulling my leg about a certain girl who has added me to her Orkut friends list and I have been trying to counter the damage. So far I have been losing badly :-) Guess the situation calls for a phonecall to Awasthi - lets spread some dirt about NR!

Work has been progressing at a leisurely pace. Paulo has given some grunt work of documenting code for the next two days. But I guess its important since I plan to modify large sections of that code during these summers and having done the documentation will help me understand the code a lot.

Plan to start Harry Potter tonight. Till then I shall be working on Adderenaline. Its been quite some time since we cooked dinner/lunch at home. Lets see, maybe today!

MS&E339 Mini Conference

2004-06-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

Ha ha! This was interesting. We had this mini conference in one of my courses to discuss projects done by the class. The salient features of the event are listed below:

- Starts 10:30 AM
- Ends 6:00 PM (oops!)
- Average talk length - 40 mins (oops oops!)
- Hardcore theory & math for 7 hours and eigteen minutes
- Simple implementation stuff for exactly 12 mins (during my talk, of course!)
- Pizza at 12 noon (easily the worst I ever had)
- Slept a total of five times during the conference

In an apricot case (or may I use the generic nutshell?), I can say that inspite of being a regular student of the course, I could NOT understand a single one of the projects presented in the mini-conference. So much for my math! Hah, who knows about POMDPs anyway ... :-)

Since then, life has been okay. Went to this Chinese joint yesterday. Food wasn't good but I think I was the only one with that opinion as none of my friends complained even once :-) Had ice cream at Hagen-Daaz after that and came back. Since the night before had been "out" (i.e. night out), I decided this particular night was going to be completely "in". So slept straight after coming back and woke up some time back.

Lets get ready to go to office now!

Five Years Ago ...

2004-06-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

We are nearing the 5th anniversary of the Kargil dispute. Five years ago, intruders from across the Line of Control occupied Indian positions in Kashmir while the Indian Army had retreated for the winters. This apparently was Phase One of a Pakistani Army plan hatched way back in 1989 which envisioned Pakistani troops wresting strategic control of the Jammu-Srinagar-Leh highway and by extension a major chunk of Kashmir.

I just read an article on Rediff extolling the valor of six soldiers, one among them Amar Shaheed Lt. Saurabh Kalia - the first Indian Army officer to be martyred in the conflict. He and his men were brutally tortured for 22 days before their hideously mutilated bodies were returned to the Indian Army. His father has since then been trying to bring to public attention this gross violation of human rights (see his appeal) by the Pakistani Army. However, considerations of real politik have prevented the Indian Govt. from taking a strong stand on the matter. I wonder what message this sends to our soldiers. That apart, there was tremendous outpouring of support for the family of Lt. Kalia. Thousands of letters, many written in blood are today displayed in a museum dedicated to the memory of Lt. Kalia. Another Indian, who would have celebrated his birthday on the day Lt. Kalia met his fate, decided not to ever celebrate his birthday in honor of Lt. Kalia's memory. Such support must have surely helped Lt. Kalia's family wade through its gravest hour. The sad truth, however is that Lt. Kalia's father is still trying to get justice for his son's death. At the very least, some of the so called human rights organizations in India should take this cause up and highlight it at a national and international level.

Operation Vijay was nothing but a two month long story of bravery and sacrifices of Indian soldiers. As many as four armymen were awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest gallantry award. Nine Mahavir Chakras were also awarded along with 56 Vir Chakras and 106 Sena Medals, making this the most decorated operation in Indian military history. I doubt any military campaign, with the possible exception of Normandy during WWII was fought against such extreme odds. The Indian soldiers had to ascend 60 degree slopes - often with direct enemy fire above them and 5-6 feet of snow below them. May God bless their souls!

I don't remember where I picked these from, but the following lines almost made me cry when I first read them: "They died for a stranger ... and that stranger is you!"

Jai Hind!

Night gone, morning on!

2004-06-07T07:35:00.001-07:00

Just watched Company for the second time. Its a Hindi film based on the Mumbai underworld. Each time I watch any of Ram Gopal Varma's films, I am thoroughly impressed by his film-making acumen. His films have this certain slickness which most directors can only hope to achieve. The film is quite engaging and the ending in particular is extremely sudden and ... well .. its strange! Makes you think some.

Am listening to this song Fanaa by AR Rahman for the film Yuva. Fanaa is supposedly Urdu for destruction. Great song - grows on you like typical Rahman music. There is another song in the movie titled Dhakka Laga Bukaa which is good too. The movie itself is also not that bad. Surely does not deserve the extreme negative reviews it has been recieving in the press. No wonder Mani Ratnam turned up at a press conference to clear things up!

The cuisine king!

2004-06-07T00:21:00.000-07:00

Cooked besan ka halwa today. This time it was much better than last time. The success formula turned out to be "The more the merrier!". More water, more ghee, more sugar, more fun! Last time water was clearly insufficient. This time I flooded the kadhai and just let the damn thing evaporate. Okay, maybe this is not THE best technique out there but it sure got the job done and it was good enough for me.

Wonderful piece of music

2004-06-06T16:46:00.000-07:00

Have been listening to this song "Turn the Page - Bob Seger" for quite some time now. Great song I must say! Asim used to listen to it sometimes during our IIT days. The song sure brought back some good memories.

Other than that, report writing is going on. We finally settled on creating a one card poker player for the MSE339 project and work will start from tomorrow. Hopefully Ben van Roy will find that to be sufficient. I can't wait for summer holidays to arrive. Have a long TODO list:

- Paulo has plans for my RA-ship
- Work on Adderenaline
- Read up Harry Potten, Lord of the Rings, Foundation series by Asimov
- Squeeze a San Diego trip in between

Lets see what all I am able to achieve.

Home sweet home

2004-06-06T04:34:00.000-07:00

Just called home. There is a bit of uncertainty there about Gauri's future plans. No one is really sure of what she should be doing next. She herself is sort of undecided between engineering (which she knows will be taxing) and some simple graduation type course (which will be much easier but potentially less rewarding). Lets see what happens. Amma's operation went fine and she is well on the road to recovery. Had this long discussion with Dad on what he plans to do after he retires (well, its still a long time before that!). Mummy seemed quite happy and asked me to cook besan ka halwa again - I think I will be doing that tomorrow. Johnnie is fine too. He got a bath today.

I always feel strange after I call home. It makes me think why would someone want to leave the place he was born and brought up to live in this strange country. I completely agree when someone says that the quality of work and life here is tonnes better than that in India. But then, will that ever change if all good people from India end up here?

Done and over with!

2004-06-06T00:57:00.000-07:00

We managed to finish the CS226 project in time! It was like crazy ... this has been one of those quarters I haven't liked at all. The courses just didn't turn me on. I still have two more things to go: a report for the CS226 project and another project for MSE339. Lets see.

Slept right after the presentations were done with (around 3 PM) and woke up at 11 PM. Feel fresh now - will probably spend the night working on the report and will start the next project from tomorrow.

Former American president Reagan passed away today. The man is widely credited for bringing a premature end to the Cold War. Some credentials these ...

Rediff is carrying an article series about "Operation BlueStar - Twenty Years Later". Have been following that and doing some research on the background of the dispute. I was really surprised to read about the insane levels to which the situation in Punjab had deteriorated. Kashmir seems trivial (relatively) when you have articles talking about how Punjab was days away from declaring independence. I read up a few Sikh websites as well and they paint a completely different picture - of how the Indian Army brutally murdered so many of their brethren under the pretext of the operation. In fact most of these websites portray Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale as a martyr. Who knows ...

The good thing is that in spite of such a troubled past, Punjab today seems to be happily integrated with the rest of India. This gives me hope that maybe someday the other pressing problems of my country may also be solved.

T -23 hours

2004-06-04T12:15:00.000-07:00

Well, things are really hot here right now. How I wish the quarter would end! My CS226 project is due in about 23 hours and I haven't been able to accomplish much :-( Plus my project partner has an exam today. So the onus lies squarely on me. Dear God ... assistance would be gladly appreciated :-)

Finally!

2004-06-04T00:25:00.000-07:00

Been thinking of starting my own blog since quite some time now. Quite some time = 2 years! God sure made a bad design choice when (s)he added inertia to our universe! :-)

The first order of business was to come up with a URL for the blog. I had this mental image of "digging out thoughts from one's mind" - much like one would dig out precious jewels from the earth. Hence the URL: http://cerebral-mines.blogspot.com

Next, the name of the blog - for the uninitiated, I am a Computer Scientist by profession and "cout << my->thoughts();" is the C++ equivalent of "Display my thoughts".

That's it for now. Back to CS226 project!