Food-ological

On the time dependance of Ethics

2010-09-08T15:36:00.000-07:00

Imagine this, a village child is hungry and has a big chunk of cake kept next to her. But she is not havng it - because it does not belong to her. Thats seems like the right thing to do, right? Not taking something that does not belong to you seems correct.

Now, imagine if a few hours have gone by and still no one has come to claim it. Would you call it morally correct that she does not take the cake? Now consider if a day has passed and no one claims it. Would you now call her descision to not take it, moral? Now, if the cake is about to get spoilt and wasted, would you still call it moral correct to not take it?

The only thing that changes in this example is the time frame and it affects our sense of right and wrong.

This is not just a case with perishable goods, it goes for non-perishables as well. If a house is not being used for long enough, its ok to use it, right? But who decides long enough? Is one day enough to decide that the house owner is not going to come back? One month? One year? A decade? Fourteen years? Fifty years? A hundred years? The question is where do you draw the line. Time increases in continous fashion. And our sense of morally acceptable and not acceptable is dependant on two discreet (and ambiguisly defined) lengths of time - Long and Not-so-long.

Our inherent sense of right and wrong is based on our understanding of timeframes and it seems to change with it.

On the ownership of Ethics

2010-09-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

Arent there days when you really want to do some good to the society? When you feel the pain of the people around you and want to contribute to the society? I am sure everyone of us has been in such a state before.

Now, imagine yourself to be in such a situation. You see a hungry beggar sitting on the pavment, two steps from you. You offer him the sandwich that you were about to eat. Good deed done, right?

If you had paid for it, indeed. But consider if someone else had paid for it. Then, would it be morally correct for you to give away the sandwich? If you did not have a mandate to give off something you did not own, isnt that wrong on your part to transfer it to someone else?

If you think that its ok to give the sandwich even when you did not own it, think how this can be extended. I could give off anything to anyone even if I dont have a thing. So potentially I could transfer all of Mukesh Ambani's wealth and give it off to my friendly neighbourhood beggar and feel happy for myself that I did a good job today. Or, I could give off all his money to the poor guy that I am, and feel proud of myself.

Charity makes sense only when you can own it up to youself.

Btw, all this money transfers should statestically lead to an equilibrium where every member has the same amount of money. Though this would be extremely unstable as people will like to have a bit more than others which would give them some advantage. Hence to maintain that equilibrium, an external force has to be applied. And now it appears that I am talking about communist governments. Ah, the digressions mind takes, from charity to communism!

Mandated - Too important to fail

2010-09-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

Recently, I visited Scotland and the first thing that I noticed (apart from the breathtaking view, that is) was the fact that currency notes were guaranteed by the Royal Bank of Scotland. It was extremely surprising given the fact that most banks that guarantee the payments of the amounts denominated are central banks. And central banks do not operate as commercial or investment banks (which RBS does).

And the fact that RBS was indeed rescued by the British taxpayer during the last crisis, gives more weight to my suspicion that it is mandated by the government to be too important to fail. A vast majority of the notes in circulation in Scotland are RBS guaranteed and hence the government can just not afford it collapsing.

Some thing even more surprising was the fact that England was one of the first countries to have a central bank and almost all of world's central banks are based on its model. Central banks operate in accordance to the government's fiscal policy and since they do not have any financial arms, they are immune to shocks from market crashes. This typically gives more credibility to a country's economic system. So if tomorrow the markets crash down, and RBS looses so much money that people lose trust in RBS's promise to pay the bearer an amount equal to the denominated pound value, a run on the bank occurs and all of the country's financial system stops working. To me that is a very scary thought. The only was the government can stop a run on the bank is such a case, is by mandating that RBS is too big and important to fail. So whatever happens, government will have to provide assets to back up all the banks that issue notes on its behalf.

As I later realised, "Clydesdale Bank" also issues currency notes. Now what is not clear to me is if all banks in Scotland are mandated to issue notes on their own or not. Though entirely possible, this does not strike me as particularly prudent. Essentially the government then risks having the credit rating of the worst credit rating of the bank issuing notes.

It is possible that the government has only allowed banks to issue notes in return of some highly under valued collateral so that it can withstand the shocks, but I am not sure about it. Anyone who can enlighten me on that? Also I would really like to know how such a sytem evolved in Scotland when England had a central bank system. Any guesses?

Communication gap - His and Her

2010-07-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

Anokhi : We are not going to need this ever, why even bother drafting and signing it?
Ishan : Its just a contingency document.

Anokhi : But you think it might happen.
Ishan : I just want to be sure that we dont have hard feelings, in case.

Anokhi : In case? Incase of what Ishan? Divorce, right? I dont think there can be any divorce if there are no hard feelings. Adding some more would not really hurt then.
Ishan: But I just wanted to be sure.

Anokhi : Sure that you dont lose anything when you get a divorce?
Ishan : I was thinking of if rather than when.

Anokhi : Ishan, thinking of a pre-nuptial agreement is thinking of a divorce even before you get married.
Ishan : I once heard a maxim - Dont get in unless you know the way out.

Anokhi : Then maybe you hould not get in at all.

And Mars and Venus need to know about each other to understand them.

Chatting - His and Hers

2010-04-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Hi

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Hey, Hi

How are you?

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Hope you remember me, we met last night

Cool

I am fine. was just sitting and thinking how awesome yesterday was.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : yes, it was good. DJ Raunak does infuse life in a party.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: .Yes, he most certainly does.

Btw, the music wasn't the only thing that awesome yesterday.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : is it? I did not notice anything else being cool.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Hmm, ah well, hmm ya , as in

ya, there weren't too many things happening also.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Though I was asked on the dance floor by an OK type guy. :)

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: It was small gathering anyway

I am sure that guy would be awfully flattered at being considered OK :)

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Hmm, I do try to bring smiles to people, you know.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: You know, I was scared that I might forget your email id - after all we had had enough booze to sedate an entire army :)

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : You had had a lot more than me.

and why do you think I wrote my id down and gave it to you? :)

Btw, totally love these expressions you come up with.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: You have read such expressions before?

:( I was hoping to impress you with these :(

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Yes, I read them on your blog.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: And you have read my blog too. So its like I dont have an iota of chance to impress you.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : You really are as naive as you sounded yesterday.

First up, I would like to know more about the guy I was dancing with last night. - Atleast more than his name is Ankit and works at an Investment bank.

And if I were you, I would try to capitalize on the fact that girl has read my blog - rather than ruing how I could have lifted things from there. :P

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Being verbose is not something that comes naturally to me

I typically need a lot of alcohol in my system before that happens :)

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : :)

I can at least vouch for you being verbose when inebriated :)

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Anyway, if I remember correct, you are a Mexican food specialist chef at a five star hotel.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : I like that you could manage to remember so much from last night.

Yes, I am chef (you could guess that from the id itself :) )

Let me see if you remember something not-so-obvious

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Hmm, not-so-obvious .. Telling you that you have an extremely pretty smile would be extremely obvious, so thats ruled out.

And that the way that you remove those hair strands from in front of your face - it makes my knees go weak. - but even that might be obvious

Something that might not be so obvious to you is that to muster the courage to talk to you, I had to gulp down much more beer than I normally do.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : I like it when flirting is concealed under a sheath of "ah-so-obvious" ramblings :)

And btw, it WAS obvious to me :)

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Now, thats interesting ..

btw, you mentioned that you were moved by the plight that regionalism has brought and the hinderance it creates for national growth.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Yes, it sad, isn't it?

National integration is indeed a burning problem right now. Whats the point of the country growing if all the people do not get some benefit out of it.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Yes, and stopping people from working at certain areas, just reduces the economic efficiency of operation. If the leaders see this nation as a single entity, they would try to distribute resources as to develop the entire nation rather than parts of it.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Though we definitely dont a China-type communist rule - The government deciding where and what to invest. It would probably be best to frame policies to allow for growth everywhere and let economics take over from there on.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Bingo ! If you were not a chef, you could have been an economist.

Though I doubt if they dont automatically disqualify girls over a certain level of beauty.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : What amazes me is that you can get to flirting from any topic. Don't you get bored of it?

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Someone once quipped about quitting smoking - "I have quit smoking many a times, but to be unnatural and not appreciate the beauty in front, its a insult to both the beauty and its maker."

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Too much of cheesy lines can expand your waistline, you know?

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Is it?

So do you leave calories count note of the kind "Without any chessy lines - 300. With a bit of flattery - 375. With pure and unabridged adulation - 550"?

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : :)

I haven't done that yet, but now I have a mind to do that :)

But before that I will have to ask my manager if he would be fine with such explanatory notes :)

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Good work ethos dictate that you do that.

would you need some help in convincing your manager, do call in the (free) services of the author.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Hmm, I don't think it would be a good thing to take someone to pitch an idea for me.

Maybe I can get more details sorted out about this idea before I meet him.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Ya, that makes sense. How about tomorrow night, at 8?

We can have a nice dinner and maybe discuss things there.

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Seems good to me.

See you tomorrow. And we will discuss only this idea then :)

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Yes, sure we will :)

Chama.Chef@gmail.com : Anyway, good night. got to get to work early to leave early.

Ankit.iBanker@gmail.com: Good night.

And Mars and Venus continue to find excuses to bump into each other

His and Hers

2010-04-05T05:24:00.000-07:00

How can buying a pair of shoes be such a big deal? Why is Amrita making such a fuss about me not accompanying her shoe-shopping? Maybe she is really tired, but then she shouldn't go - I don't understand this fixation with shopping! Bah, women!

How can Rahul not want to join me for shopping! We should now start doing things together. Just the other day he said he likes my shoes. Now that I want him to come and suggest things to me - not that I will allow him to choose, he has terrible sense of clothing and everything else associated with it. But still, we must spend time doing things as couples now. The way he seems to be avoiding such stuff gets me worried - is he not committed to make this work?

Its not as if I am going to choose shoes - or that she will let me do that. So whats the point of me going there?

I bet he has one of those stupid matches coming up. I just hate it when he does that. Everytime, everytime that we have to go somewhere - one of those cricket or football matches will be airing. And he will make some stupid excuses and abscond from whatever we were supposed to be doing. He does not even listen to me while the match is at "interesting" stage. Games are so passive! His, or for that matter anyone's viewing is not going to affect anything on the ground, so why bother watching. But who is to drill this logic in his head? That's why I have put the remote in a "safe" place so that he does not waste his time watching stupid things.

There is nothing to do now, I don't even seem to find the stupid remote. God knows where I kept it the last time. Amrita still expects me to go for that stupid shoe shop. Maybe I should go. Then after coming back, I can ask her to search for the remote. She is pretty good at finding things that get lost around here. She even found that Mumbai Indians t-shirt that I wore almost everyday before it was lost somewhere in the house itself. I love my wife!

Rahul has agreed to come shoe shopping with me! I am so fortunate to have such a caring husband. He is not the kind who professes his love, but he could not stand me going alone - and it gladdens me to no end. I will return the remote as soon as we get back here. I love my husband!

And Mars and Venus coexist.

Iran, Pakistan ink the gas pipeline deal without India

2010-03-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

Pakistan signed a deal for the supply of natural gas 750 million metric cubic units a day to 1 billion cubic units a day. This deal was worth 7.5 billion USD. Though I really don't know the pricing of the gas.

The pipeline that was to come to India was to be 2700 Kms and now they have settled at only 900 Kms. Had India joined the deal, despite Pakistan's assurance that it will try to safeguard the pipeline, India can never be sure of the safety of the two-thirds of the pipeline that is non-critical to Pakistan.

Earlier India had made a statement saying that the transit tariff demanded by Pakistan is very high. It was speculated that this tariff would mean that Pakistan would have a significantly shorter investment recovery time than India.

And with the recent oil field investments by ONGC in Venezuela and Russia, and gas field discovery by RIL, India does not feel so pressed for energy as it once was.

Facebook surpasses Google in the number of hits

2010-03-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

Facebook had more number of hits than Google for the first time (in US) last week (ending March 13th 2010).This marks a huge shift in the internet usage pattern from the past.
Going by the usage, now connection seems to be more important than information.

Though Google owned sites, Youtube, Gmail and Picassa are widely visited, most of Google's revenues are from its sponsored search results.
Such usage changes could mean that companies looking for online advertisement might first look at Facebook than Google. Since Facebook allows one to join many special interest groups, the chances of landing a relevant ad is higher there. In the world of internet marketing, making the ad relevant is as important as anything else.
Though Gmail also has better targeted ads, based on your email content.

Be that as it may, the market leader has been displaced, and in the time to come, we can be sure of heightened war for the eyeballs.

From being an engineer to a media guy

2010-03-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

This is a query (and my response to it) that came on my school's alumni association site(www.chinmayasmileys.org) about a guy who wants to go into media related role rather than being an engineer. I thought it might be of use to someone else who is reading this blog.
The text in green is the query.

Hari Om everyone,

Ah well m doin b.tech in comp science From NMIMS university.
So the thing is that i don like engg a lot..

I mean though i understand wat they teach here but i don like solving problems based on the things they teach.

And i have always been very keenly interested in media and communication,

So is there something i can do ..after graduation that would get me into my desired field...

Hope u reply soon....and i am gonna complete my graduation next year may...

Hi Rituraj,

I see two parts in your query,

1) Doing something based on your engineering skill is not about "solving problems". you have to build things based on the principles you learn in your classroom. It is not the same (and not as boring) as solving problems in an exam.

2) And about your desire to work in the field of media and communication I am not very sure what you mean by that, are you talking about

2.1) Journalism (print/ news channels)

2.2) Advertising

2.3) Compering

2.4) Publishing house support and proof reading

I don't know too much about you, so I am giving general pointers maybe you can see for yourself where you fit well and we can discuss that in greater detail.

Given the fact that you have an engineering background, you are at a disadvantage vis-a-vis your competitors on two counts

1) They have more "domain knowledge", and are typically good at articulating.

2) Engineers are stereotyped as being bad at communication skills. And the fact that you dont have very many people from your background who have broken into this field certainly reinforces the stereotype.

But, all is not lost You do have a few positives.

1) Being an engineer, you can bring to the table a much needed skill of structured thinking.

2) You will have a better understanding of products and businesses, So you can work well in a field that lets you analyse them. Maybe like a gadget guide thing, or a column on new trends in technology, or on stocks and share markets.

All said, breaking into this world will take a lot of dedicated effort, for

1) Prima facia, you dont have the specific skill set that such a job requires. 2)Its not glamorous - atleast not at the junior levels.

Sure you can blabber an hour on how you actually do have those skills, but none of it is going to help you if you cant prove it.

So my advice would be to go out there and make yourself known.

1) Fish for events that need a compere - at college fests, products promotion events etc.

2) Look for FM radio stations that call for guest jockey.

3) Look out for competitions that ask for marketing ideas.

4) Try and get a marketing internship.

These will help you in two ways, one this will get you some experience, and more importantly, it will help you build a network of people who know that you are talented. The latter will help you a lot in getting you the proverbial foot-in-the-door.

If, however you feel that structured learning is the way to go for you, There is this college called Mudra Institute of communications - Ahmedabad. This, I have heard is the best B-School to go to if want a career in advertising.

I hope this helps you. Do get back to me here on this forum or at ankit.ashok@gmail.com if you want to discuss something specific.

All the very best. You have more than a year at your college. Make the best use of it.

Cheers

Ankit

Book review : if god was a banker : dont buy, dont even read even when offered for free.

2010-02-26T22:07:00.001-08:00

I normally dont write book reviews, and thats mainly because almost all books I read, lead me to thoughts I enjoy more that writing a book review.

If there was one book that I felt that I wasted my money by buying it, it was this book.
Surely, 'There was a good guy and there was a bad guy. The bad used wrong methods to get ahead. But at the end the good guy won' such an story would probably seem inviting to a 10 year old, but not a mature audience.

And that brings me to another point that irritated me about the book. Who would do readers like me a favour and tell the author that mentioning sleaze does not make a book fit for a mature reader. The content should be such that one does not feel like being treated like a kid.

Amazon allows Macmillan ebooks to be priced higher after Apple row

2010-02-01T18:33:00.000-08:00

Just read this news, that Amazon will increase the prices offered for Macmillan books from USD 9.99 currently to 14.99 and 12.99.

This is significant because Amazon had long been a sort of monopoly in the ebook business ( With all due respect Sony - your Reader did not make a dent), and had the power to arm twist publishers. But with Apple getting into the foray with its iPad, Kindle (Amazon's ebook reader) expects some serious competition.

The publishing houses long believed they were not making enough profit through the ebook business. This emergance of competition will help them get better money for their products. Maybe things will improve for them from now on.

The train station

2010-01-18T00:46:00.000-08:00

My tryst with fiction continues.

Renuka looked around. No, Neel was not to be seen. The train had started leaving the station. It was now or never. If she had to ever leave this place, it had to be now. But how could she leave without Neel? How could she live without Neel. He was her knight in shinning armour. Her very own boy toy. A smile crept on her face as she remembered something about the boy toy.

But where was he? They were supposed to meet at the railway station half an hour ago. How can he be so careless?

Oh, the train is picking up speed. Should I stay onboard and wait for him to come to Delhi, or disembark here itself and wait for him to get to the station? I - I am eloping because I want to be with him. Whats the point of going alone. I would rather stay here.

As she set down her luggage, all of one college bag and an airbag, she was wondering - what could have kept Neel from coming down to the station. Had he got caught? But in that case She would have been hunted down too. So atleast he has not been caught. Thats a positive. Or is it? Because it means that worse things could be true.

To take her my off the other (seemingly worse) possibilities, Renuka turned her attention towards other people waiting at the station. A playful five year girl was running all over the place. Her parents would calm her and force her to sit down every few minutes. In response she would flee to places that would be difficult to spot. Amused at this game for sometime, Renuka drew an immediate parallel with her own life. Though she was not fleeing in a childish reaction - Or was she? A lot of her actions now seemed to be more reactionary than otherwise. Like the time she bought a scooty pep even though she did not like it very much. Or when she increased the intensity of her "friendship" with Neel after her father reminded her that she was only 16. Oh, My God! Would I have loved Neel the way I do if it were not for father's opposition?

Just then a local train stopped at the station. hoards of school and college students got down. There were samples of every type of student in the motley group. From the "serious" students who seem focused and took long swift strides as if to reduce time wastage, to the carefree group who cared more about chatting than anything else. Then there were couples who seemed oblivious to the world around them. Renuka evaluated herself against the people rushing past her.

I am definitely prettier than her. Look at the handsome guy she is with. Dont know what he sees in her.

Her earrings are so cute. Wonder where she got them from. Maybe it is from the new shop on Valabh Road. If I stay here, the first thing that I will do is check that shop out. Hold it, why am I thinking of staying here? I was supposed to have fled from this place an hour ago. Cant fathom what happened to Neel. What could have..

Hey, that girl is wearing the same shoes as mine. Bet she has a good taste. Somehow she looks nerdy, very career focused and all.

These focused people would probably have a good career. Hold it, I can focus hard - Why am I not thinking about my career? I have decent score in my 12th boards. Its been about an year into economics college - and granted that I havent done all too well till now, but that does not mean I cant make up for it. I heard there are good jobs for an economics graduate in Delhi. Hey, Sheela is in Delhi, doing economics - I should call her and ask ... I can actually ask her for colleges and admissions too actually. I can continue/ start over my studies, once in Delhi.

Why would I be in Delhi? Oh, Neel ! That stupid guy. I bet he did not have the guts to elope. He just wasn't man enough. Man! Dad. He has always been such an image of strength. But we havent talked for a long time - dont know what happened... Maybe I should call him.

Hey Dad, how are you?
- Hi, Beta, everything ok?
Haan papa, everything is fine. Just that we havent talked in some while now, so I thought that maybe we can talk.
- Sure Beta, tell me whats going on?
Papa, I want to BE someone. I want to build and live an independent life, have my own world.
- Great, My beta is growing up ! great! Beta, we are always there for you. We always wanted you make your own choices. Just that as a parent, we are a bit worried for you. So that you dont make wrong choices.
(Long Pause) Can you come and get me at Railway station, platform number 5? I have thoughts about moving to Delhi. There are better colleges and job opportunities there. I would like to discuss it in detail with you and mummy.
- (slightly startled) Yes beta, I am coming over. Just wait for me.

Wanderer

2010-01-16T23:31:00.000-08:00

My first attempt at fiction, so if you feel terribly uncharitable, this might not be the best read.

He was not mad. Atleast he dint think so.

He just lived differently. He did not believe in the societal definition of good and bad. He wanted to feel the bliss, the excitement, the energy. And he couldnt find them in ways that the society found great. Not that he dint try - He had being trying for 17 odd years when he enrolled in the best engineering college of the country. It took him 2 years to realize that he did not want to do engineering afterall.

He dropped out of college voluntarily. It created a furor in his friends and family circles. He tried his best to explain that he wanted to "live" life, but to no avail. He gave up on them.

He got fascinated by the numbers on the stock market, and took up stock trading. He was good at it - Made a lot of money. There were silent words of praise for the "madman" who had left an institution that many are ready to die to get into.

One fine spring morning, He abandoned this too. By now, he had got bored of this work. Again, for sometime he had no clue what he wanted to do. Again, there were sounds of what a fool he is to relinquish such a well paying "career".

He then took up writing as his "vocation". It pleased him to write - about humans, about fantasies, about nature. But pretty soon, he was bored of it too. He wanted to break free, again. And break-free he did!

He took up wild life photography next. At least thats what he told people the last time he met them. He is untraceable for more than a year now. No one knows what he is doing right now. Maybe he is too engrossed in the beauty of the wild to wish to come back to the "civilized" life which has never failed to disappoint him in keeping him interested.

Banks deserting Mutual Funds?

2010-01-16T01:28:00.000-08:00

Last fortnight of 2009 saw Indian banks pulling out as much as INR 104K crore from mutual funds - the largest in any fortnight.

It could be due to the fact that RBI had been urging banks to lend rather than park money in mutual fund investments. The central bank's advice is warranted because such activity adversely affects small sector industries and personal loans are undertaken by the banks.

But whether this change is for real or an eyewash remains to be seen. Banks could have taken such steps to improve their results for the quarter ending in dec. By investing this money in short term loans, banks can appear more compliant than they actually are.

Another reason for this act could be a fear of a W-shaped recession.

But I think that a major incentive to pull out could be their plans for the road ahead.
There have been news of SBI looking for some merchant acquisition joint ventures and Union bank looking for some acquisitions in Indonesia. Canara bank has been trying to acquire the state-run Dena bank. Country's biggest bank, SBI's Chairman has openly stated that to provide world class services, Indian banks will have to go on the consolidation route. This pile of money, freed up in the last few days can be an indicator to the big things these guys are planning.

Adam Smith on academia

2010-01-15T11:11:00.000-08:00

Below are some excerpts. Text in black is my own.

In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith developed an incisive criticism
of academia (pp. 758-81). He at least touches on all of the following familiar
criticism of academia:

• Academic societies are organized “not for the benefit of the
students, but for the interest, or more properly speaking, for the
ease of the masters” (764). In other words, an industry where customer is not the king but the people working in the industry. So this industry has incentive to produce goods that conform to ideals of the people in the industry rather than the ones paying for it.
• They self-organize as self-validating societies, in which members
indulge each other’s conveniences (761). By mutual indulgence and appreciation, they stand to gain in stature. Trading thoroughly replenish-able resources they can increase their "value" - which is based only on trade volumes. Read trade can make everyone better off.
• Academics tend toward an esoteric language that excludes
outsider participation (765). The esoteric language is one of the most potent arsenals available to project and protect an image of elitism.
• Democratic decision making by professional units fails to make
individuals accountable for their actions within the process of
collective decision making (779). It wasn't ME !
• The clubs are prone to groupthink and the lock-in of foolishness.
They were sometimes “the sanctuaries in which exploded systems
and obsolete prejudices found shelter and protection, after they
had been hunted out of every other corner of the world” (772). I belong to this special group of people, I know what to believe.
They have generated sciences that are “a mere useless and
pedantick heap of sophistry and nonsense” (781). Knowledge and thinking are important goals in themselves. How are ordinary mortals to fathom the importance of figuring out the number of angels that can dance on a pinhead?

Twitter buys Mixer labs

2009-12-24T21:19:00.000-08:00

Just read that Twitter bought Mixer labs for an undisclosed amount. This company helped developers create products that cater to specific locations. These things help in delivering local ads to its residents. It will help both the customers in finding the right service/store, and the seller in finding its customers.

Looks like after so much talk of its potential, finally Twitter is taking concrete steps towards ad revenues.

Tell me about yourself

2009-12-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

The past one month or so saw so many events and buildup to those events that it seemed like an entire year.
One of the reasons for this misaligned time length perception was the dreaded HR interview. From the hallowed area of placement office, word seemed to spread that preparation for the HR interview would be crucial during the placement season.

The more meticulous (and jobless) inhabitants now sought "suitable" answers to more than 100 possible HR questions. The ones with more diversified activities, though primarily directed at finding a "good" job - chose to work on a set of two or three questions. Then there were others for whom job was a backup plan, so they just tried to answer the single most difficult question - "Tell me about yourself."

When I heard this question for the first time, I was amused. Why should such a innocuous question be dreaded so wildly. But, as it turns out, there is more waves associated with this question than the acoustic ones.

Few pointers to let you know why this question is important:
1) The interviewer needs sometime to go through the resume. If you point at things that (s)he needs, then the work of both you and the interviewer are simplified.
2) Will you fit well into the company culture?
3) How are your past experiences relevant to the job you have applied for.

But most importantly, the interviewer wants to know DO YOU KNOW ABOUT YOURSELF!
When people are self aware and take conscious decisions to pursue something - they are more likely to succeed and do well. And at a place where there is little to choose between the caliber of different applicants, the interest in the pursued field determines the chances of success.

Its easy to believe that one could say that one is passionate about something despite not being so. But the trouble here is that passion is transparent. Unless you are George Clooney, you will not be able to demonstrate the passion as well as someone who is genuinely interested.

Being self aware also helps in answering unexpected questions, then you have to answer honestly, simply because you haven't prepared any answer. Here your true interest will be reflected.

So if you are sitting for placements in the coming days, then please do ask yourself about yourself - why you chose what you did, why you want to do what you are choosing and how will what you did help you in what you are choosing now.

In the response to this question, you just have to convey two things:
1) Your passion
2) How your past will help you perform better at the position applied for.

Best of luck to everyone reading this post. May the force be with you.

Cricket as an educator in India

2009-11-09T05:07:00.000-08:00

Cricket is by far the most followed game in India. While watching the game last week, I realised how much learning can and is imbibed (though unintentionally).

When the game is well balanced, the whole nation is busy dividing numbers by six, substracting numbers, finding the number of ways to get to a certain sum in atmost certain number of variables - which are constrained by being non-negative and less than equal to 6. Even problems like assigning weights to different players and devising ways to maximise the rewards (runs) in a set of discreet steps.

Other than improving our mathematical skills, It is also responsible for improving our language skills. It accustoms us to "foreign" accent. (Who does not like to enjoy Geoffrey Boycott describe events in his wonderful style) Besides, there is our own homegrown Navjot Singh Sidhu - with his wonderfully crafted one-liners, He has added more of the creative imagination to the Indian masses than any other single source.

Cricket in itself adds to one and a half of the three R's (Read, wRite, aRithmetic). It helps people come up with things to say - hence the half of writing. Maybe its time government introduced cricket watching and playing programs in its schools. It will both help kids learn and keep them interested in school.

PS - The idea for this post came to me when I was talking to my friend Abhishek Gandhi.

Express your disgust at child abuse

2009-11-07T09:42:00.000-08:00

Tulir is organising a rally against Child Sexual Abuse. Join us at Marina beach, 4:00 pm on 15th Nov.

Here is their post.

Join us at a Rally against Child Sexual Abuse

Nov 15, 2009

Gandhi statue to Labour staue, Marina Beach, Chennai

4.oo pm.

Sexual abuse of children is frightening, often unimaginable & an abhorrent crime. Deafening silence is the hallmark. While it's the moral obligation for adults to ensure children are protected, we remain silent. More often than not for plain selfish reasons. The discomfort caused if acknowledged, the denial that our children can be sexually abused, family reputation at stake, sheer naiveté. Then there’s the quietness of the children. Because of the manipulation, ignorance, fear.

A silenced vulnerable child & a silent non-protective environment-working to an abuser’s advantage. Since usually victims are their relatives, neighbors, students, friends etc.

While in India we are just beginning to acknowledge the existence of abuse, Tulir has the belief & audacity of hope that it won't be long that larger community realizes the prevalence, dynamics & subsequent impact. The sabotage of a child’s right to a childhood. The often less than optimally led lives as adults.

A a society’s integrity & worth is not based on whether cases of sexual abuse exist. Instead it's based on the acceptance of the possibilities & proactive steps taken to respond in a timely & appropriate way to ensure that its children may benefit from its caring & foresight to truly have the right to be safe all the time, everywhere. After all, there is no excuse for child sexual abuse!

Artificial markets are just that

2009-10-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

First up, Asterix (and Obelix) turned fifty this week - and this line goes out to its creators for giving us such a wonderful hero to look up to. If its not known to the reader (or is not conspicuous by the name of the blog) I am a fan of Obelix. So I was re-reading their series and read this particular story "Obelix and Co."

In this story, Caesar send one of his economists to the Gaulish village to disrupt normal life there. This chap goes and buys Obelix's menhirs at exponentially rising prices and turns the village into a unit producing menhirs and hunting boars. The menhirs don't have an existing market so extensive marketing and brand building is used to create a market for them. But competition lowers the prices and trade unions force policy changes for even more entrants. The profits decline while menhirs are being bought at exorbitant prices. It causes a credit crunch at Caesar's.

Lessons to be learnt from the story -
1) Artificial Markets are Artificial. Only if you serve a genuine want of the customer, do you have a chance when the novelty of the product/idea goes out.
2) Relaying on predictions when the artificiality of the market is not recognised can be dangerous. Augmenting your inventory on rose-colored predictions which don't take into account competition and customer sentiments is as huge a folly as any one else.
3) If you don't have a niche, you wont survive. The competition will always catch up. the head start that you had might not be good enough in most cases - more so in the manufacturing sector than the services sector. The customer must be able to look at the product and say - hey, I want this brand. Not I want this product -any brand will do.

Fascinating how much one can notice when one is not looking!

Reader's digest files for bankruptcy

2009-08-25T23:18:00.000-07:00

A sad news indeed.
I remember being a fan of RD as a kid. But it has succumbed, to the rise of internet, more than recession. Print media has been struck real bad by the free content on th enet.

And there is no looking back. I dont think there is anyway that people can be coaxed into reading, and paying for, something that they can read on the internet for free.

The younger generation, the ones who have seen computer from an early age, are often more comfortable reading off the screen than from a printed version. Add to that the ubiquitous nature of free content, you know that the print media is fighting a losing battle.
The only way print media can tide over to the profit side is by providing content on the net. Right now, most media houses have free content on the net.

But this is not sustainable - because it requires the same amount of effort to produce content for the net, as it does for printing. The first thing that media houses must realize s that popularity is not revenue. You might be the most popular news agency on the internet - but that does not give you anything. Sure, you can find some advertiser on the web - but arent there too many websites vying for the same set of advertisers? The law of diminishing returns sets in very soon in such a market.

The only way out for the media houses is to have a free and a premium section, where the free section drives the masses . And the premium section catering to specialized news requirements.

A just society

2009-08-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

I have heard a lot of noises about people not getting enough opportunities, someone getting an edge due to his/her parentage, division of society based on caste and religion. I hereby proposed a different setting of a society where everyone eats what (s)he earns.

1) Every kid - no matter what so ever - is taken into a state-run residential school. This school is funded by the taxpayer, and has caretakers besides teachers and support staff as employees.

2) Every kid goes to a fully funded (by the taxpayer, again) college. The entrance to which is by a test. The discipline of study is chosen by the kid him/her self.

3) Everyone works for a living. and all the money accessible to him/her is that what the person and his/her spouse has earned.

4) Invalids, and too-old-to-work people are taken care of by the society.

5) All the money after the death of the couple goes to the society. The only inheritance of money is after the demise of a spouse, it goes to the other person.

I wonder why such a society has not been institutionalized yet.

Energy services companies and financing energy efficiency initiatives

2009-08-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

Here is another one for the NERD magazine.

An Energy services company (ESCO) is “a company that provides energy-efficiency-related and other value-added services and for which performance contracting is a core part of its energy-efficiency services business”.

The revenues of these ESCOs are tied to the amount of energy they help their client to save. Most of the ESCO projects have a payback period of two years and typically they help reduce the energy costs by about 20 to 25%.

As an estimate, India's potential energy savings are in the tune of 180 Billion kWh annually. That is about 36% of our total consumption now.

ESCOs have a big role to play in the BRIC countries by increasing the economic viability of accelerated growth. In 2007-2008, Indian ESCOs had an annual revenue of US $ 18 million while during the same time, Brazil had an annual revenue of US $ 280 million - about 15 times larger.

ESCOs take up energy efficiency projects where they take up the charge of a plant, invest in the required infrastructure and charge the client according to the energy savings achieved. They act as a energy efficiency consultants as in they find ways to streamline the operations to reduce energy costs.

One problem that EE projects face is their financing. The fact that these projects are auxillary to the strategic plans of the institutions. In contrast Industrial restructuring projects are more planned and tend to have a higher thrust from the managers as they are directed towards the company's long term goals.

These energy efficiency projects are distinguished from industrial restructuring projects because most of the IR projects are aimed at improving the units' overall market competitiveness by process changes and product modifications. These often need larger investments and have longer payback periods. These projects need a strategic thinking by the managers about the the units' competitiveness in the changing market conditions. Improving energy efficiency is not the major reason for this activity and neither is it the most desired outcome.

EE projects on the other hand, don't change the process, neither do they change the product. It only concentrates on increasing the energy cash savings and not about the impact on future market growth of the product.

Of late, IFC has taken up some initiatives to fund purely EE projects. As banks have started understanding the short payback time that these projects tend to have, a lot of tailor-made funding options are coming up.

Random signals and parameterization

2009-07-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

During my internship at IBM, I was working on a process of verification of hardware implementations by injecting signals into the design under test. Here the verification engineer has to be smart enough to guess the potential breakdown points of the hardware and inject those signals. To further test for robustness, random signals are injected. For another level of robustness, partialy random signals - biased towards the "guessed" potential breakdown points.

The whole idea when applied to life, seems to make so much sense that I was startled when I first thought about it. To test other persons' reaction, dont we drop hints suggesting things that we are not sure of the reaction from the other person?

This same thing, in a different setting sounds so much like a pre-product launch market survey. "Have a look at the need to be catered to(hardware) - Guess the ways which the market may respond in the way we want it to(guess the potential breakdown signals) - Give the market some products that hover around the previous guesses, see how the market reacts(Random signals biased towards the guessed potential breakdown points) - All this is done before the final product (chip) is launched into the market"

Fascinating, how concepts learnt in one sphere of life can be used in other spheres as well.

Smart grids and the concept of Distributed Generation

2009-07-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

Here is something I wrote for the NERD (Notes on Engineering Research and Development) magazine. This magazine aims to motivate Indian students to write about their field of interest and research. It has got contributions form all the IITs plus a few from Indians outside India.

Distributed Energy generation typically refers to a multitude of small generators instead of having one huge generator that takes care of the entire load.

A smart grid is defined as one which integrates advanced sensing technologies, control methods and integrated communications into the current electricity grid.

So whats so different about these modern grids as compared to older grids? - The major difference is the fact that it is designed to deal with both ways power, rather than the traditional design where the grid just gives out power.

Comparing only the power delivering part, at the transmission level today’s grid is efficient, smart, intelligent. Its at the distribution level that there is a difference. At the distribution level and at the customer level, there are opportunities for automation, intelligent appliances, advanced data collection networks. This in part is because there was no need previously as there was little demand matching done. The Smart Grid makes it possible to integrate large scale intermittent generation through demand response.

The typical components of a smart grid are :-

1) SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), PMUs (Power Management Units), FACTs (Flexible AC transmission systems), Advanced Conductors - At the generation, transmission, substation levels. These things help in maintaining the power quality, reliability and efficiency .

2) Substation Automation. - Helps in resource utilization and demand matching.

3) Distribution Automation, MicroGrid. - Enables synchronization of distributed generators.

4) Advanced metering, Demand response, and distributed resources - at the customer end.
- Helps in demand matching at the consumer level. Ensures correct pricing as there is power both in and out of a building.(As the building also has a generator, when it is producing more than it needs, it sells power to the grid and when in deficit, it buys from the grid.)

So what does it achieve?

1) Reduce peak demand by actively managing consumer demand: The ratio of available appliances and equipment that can respond to both consumer and grid operator priorities continues to grow. Because these grids can manage power both out and in the grid, it will reduce the need for power, especially during high-use periods. like hot summer afternoons when the cost of producing and delivering power is extremely high.

2) Balance consumer reliability and power quality needs: Although some uses of electricity require near perfect reliability and quality, others are almost insensitive to these needs.
For eg- A device working on a resistor heating up or a motor rotating, does not really care a lot about the quality. But a device using electronics, needs to care more about the quality of power in. It cant afford to have a lot of frequency changes or voltage sags or swells.

Similarly, there can be some critical loads that need a very reliable power - Like a server or some central controller type thing cant afford to go off.

A smart grid will be able to distinguish the difference and adjust power reliability and quality accordingly at an appropriate cost.

3) Mine energy efficiency opportunities proactively: A smart grid will furnish consumers and utilities with accurate, timely, and detailed information about energy use. Armed with this information, one can identify ways to reduce energy consumption with no impact on our safety, comfort, and security.
This would mean that just be managing our demand and supply better, we can reduce the total amount of energy required. This will help us gain some understanding and insight into how our energy use affects our environment, and economy.

4) Improve overall operational efficiency: A smart grid is automated, and smart sensors and controls are integral to its design and operation. This will help the grid operators to easily identify, diagnose, and correct problems, and will even have the capabilities to anticipate problems before they happen.

5) Seamlessly integrate all clean energy technologies: Clean energy is so central to the idea of sustainable development that it cant be left behind, especially by a modern technology.Roof-top/side-wall solar systems, wind farms, small community hydro-plants and storage devices will become a fundamental part of the grid. These clean energy technologies will generate not only energy and power, but perhaps more importantly save on the fuel consumption.

More popular are the ones more talked about

2009-06-30T01:02:00.000-07:00

Just read this interesting article which says that people look for common grounds to talk rather than talking about the better things. This is in a way a reiteration of "Matthew Effect" (The rich get richer, the poor get poorer).

But this research being done in the social domain, could mean a lot about the way marketing is perceived. The gurus knew all along that it works, but to be proved that it does work is a different thing.

Understanding this concept can help a lot in marketing, especially on the web. If somehow one could get their product to be discussed on the "right" forums - it automatically starts generating traffic. If you pay a battery of people to discuss your product on twitter, and it features on the twitter search list, it is very likely that other people will start discussing it - as it will seem like the "IN" thing. Or if you can get your product discussed on slashdot or technorati, it is very likely that it will be discussed beyond that as well.

In fact this love for likeliness is seen in at the school and college level : A popular guy/girl is talked more about, and he/she gets more popular. If a group of 5 people start saying out loud that a certain dress is cool, the whole school gradually comes to accept the same as cool. So it can be used in adolescent marketing too. FMCG markets typically have a huge chunk of the demand coming from teens and just-left-teens . To be able to project the product as cool, they need to be able to make an impression at school, colleges, FaceBook, MySpace - and in all likelyhood, it will catch up.

भारतीय प्रोद्योगिकी संसथान, मद्रास की पत्रिका "दी फौर्थ इस्टेट" आपकी रचनाएँ आमंत्रित करती है।

2009-06-23T03:51:00.000-07:00

ये बहुत ख़ुशी की बात है कि "आई आई टी मद्रास" की पत्रिका "दी फोर्थ एस्टेट" अब ब्लॉग के जरिये अपने पाठकों से संपर्क बना सकेगी। अब तक कई विषय जो पत्रिका के मुद्रित होने के पहले टिपण्णी का इन्तेजार करते हुए दम तोड़ देते थे, अब इस ब्लॉग में जगह पा सकेंगे। नया सम्पादकीय दल आगे के संस्करणों को और अधिक रोचक बनाने से प्रयास में लगा हुआ है। उम्मीद है कि इस बार भी हम पहले से बेहतर होते "दी फोर्थ एस्टेट" के हिंदी खण्ड को नई दिशा में सफल रहेंगे।

"दी फोर्थ एस्टेट" अपने अगले संस्करण के लिए रचनायें आमंत्रित करता है। रचनायों केप्रकाशन हेतु प्रस्तुतिकरण पर कोई बंधन नहीं है।

कोई भी बात हो, गुस्से के साथ हो,
झूझते जज्बात हों या प्यार की तकरार हो
कहानी या लेख हो या डेली सोप हो,
जीने की तलब हो या मौत ही बैखोफ हो
प्रोजेक्ट की बात हो या हॉस्टल की रात हो
राजनीति का खेल हो या कोर कोई बेमेल हो
शास्त्रा के शस्त्र हो या सारंग के रंग हों
हो शुरू ले के कलम छोड़ के सारे भरम
फोर्थ इस्टेट के नाम कर लेख अपने ताजे गरम

आप अपनी रचना झटपट tfe.hindi.iitm@gmail.com पर भेज दीजिये. यदि आपको लगता है "दी फोर्थ एस्टेट" में कुछ कमी है तो अपने सुझाव तुंरत मेल कर डालिए.

आपके इन्तेजार में
आदित्य अंकित सत्येन्द्र

PS- For people for could not read the above few lines, dont despair. It was an announcement calling for entries for the Hindi (national language of India) campus magazine of IIT Madras.

PPS- For people who smell plagiarism, let me remind you that I am one of the hindi editors.

Different career options

2009-06-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

This is something I wrote for the kids in school who want to choose a career which is non-traditional. As the academic coordinator for my school alumni association, We have posted it on my school notice board so to help students there.

I chose the path less traveled.

1) Art manager - One problem with Artists all over the world is that they are poor at marketing their art. This often means that they dont get the kind of money while they are alive as they get later on. As an art manager, you will have to take care of an artist's business. So that it allows him/her to make best use of his/her time while not worrying about a source of income.

This would require an understanding of the art and good convincing powers to get buyers to exhibitions.

2) Physio - Sports persons need a physio to look after their daily exercise and training while returning from an aliment.

This would require a good understanding exercises and what diet helps in what function besides some idea about the load a injured body can take so that it recovers fast.

3) Safety Engineer - Buildings often require someone who can certify that the building is safe for its designated use. All buyers of residential flats are advised to look for such a certification about its safety. Likewise, In an industrial setting, Companies often want to make sure that their building is safe to work in. That involves besides the safety of the structure, the environment at the place.

This requires knowledge about protection measures, lighting and ventilation requirements for residential and work usage, building structure testing and evacuation plans.

4) Environmental effect analyzer - There is a growing concern about human activity's detrimental effects on the environment. An EEA will have to look at different actions being taken by corporates and advising them so that the adverse effects are minimal.

With Copenhagen conference in less than six months from now, expect such jobs to be on a boom very soon.

This would require an aptitude for understanding various factors which affect the local and global eco-system, and more importantly, an ability to transform practices from worse to bad.

5) Energy Auditor - Energy costs are soaring right now. Everyone wants to cut down on their electricity wastage. In such situations, an energy auditor can pitch in with information on where the bulk of the wastage is happening and ways to reduce it.

An energy auditor to be effective will have to be a jack-of-all-trades. A person who has a working knowledge of various electrical and mechanical equipments, operations, and is aware of the various technologies available to solve a particular problem.

6) Web 2.0 Evangelist - The internet has revolutionized the way the world does business today. Your local shopkeeper can tell you about the latest offers at his place, you buy things from half way across the globe with the click of a button.

Businesses that fail to realize this potential, are losing their advantage. Most companies are awaking up to the reality that web 2.0 is, and this means that they need someone to promote their brand and business on the web - through twitter, facebook, youtube etc.

Passion for internet technology, and a knack for advertising without irritating the viewer is all that is required. On the net, the consumer has much more control over content than it the more traditional methods of advertisement - thats what makes it more challenging.

7) Event manager - Organizing an event is no mean job. One needs to ensure that everything is in place when its required. Besides the onus of publicizing the event also falls on the event manager.

People who know how to deal with people from all walks of life, can handle pressure and know how to get resources when in need are ideally suited for such a job.

8) Compering - This is the job for the fun-loving! Hosting an event, keeping the audience involved, pulling the crowd!

But, this is not for people who are shy and reserved. Only someone who gets along with people very well and fast, is a quick thinker and is spontaneous can make the cut here.

9) Architect - The infrastructure in India is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years. For that, we would need a lot of architects who can come up with engineering marvels that the country requires.

Creativity, along with building fundamentals is the quality to look for here.

The little book of Flow

2009-06-11T02:45:00.000-07:00

I generally don't post an entry here about something I read somewhere else unless I have something to say about it. But this time I am writing this just so that you guys and read it too. I read this 'essay' "The little book of flow" by Nick Smith, based on Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's celebrated work - " Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience"

It seems as though you have your entire life's purpose described here. Just have a look. And yes, I don't really have anything to say about it except that its just too awesome.

Functionality is NOT the king!

2009-05-28T00:25:00.000-07:00

I was thinking, what makes a product a hands down market leader and an also-ran. One thing I realised was that functionality is not the only criteria. If it were the same, FriendFeed would be much bigger than Twitter. Or for that matter, LinkedIn wouldn't be the market leader either. Or Google might have been oust by one of the many search engines that came up after it.
Same is true for mobile phones too. If functionality was the only criteria, the lot of "prettier" phones would have been replaced by the more "functional" ones. iPhone might just have gone extinct if it were only to be compared on functionalities with the blackberries. I had read somewhere that SAP proudly stated that they never show the product during the selling stage. Reason - because "nobody ever got sacked for buying SAP " !

The race for functionality is never ending. You could go on adding features to your product. It will never reach the marketing stage in this way. Functionality is not the main thing and the marketing people know it too! The product has to be only "good enough" on functionality. The rest is about the acceptability, portability and the perception. "If the whole industry uses SAP, then it must be good enough". "All my friends use Twitter, I don't want to use something else."

If it is all about functionality then it is an argument about diminishing returns, marginal differences and small variations. And often this is not nearly enough to win a client, cause a revolution, or shift opinions.

Frankly, as long as our needs (present, and foreseeable in the near future) are met, do we really care what more is on offer? After this point, perception takes over. If something is viewed as the "poor man's cow", it will not be bought by someone who wants to project a rich image. If google is the in-thing, why would someone use AOL?

The next thing is the change. The trouble of moving from one product to another. People love familiarity. Getting people to switch without showing them the huge advantages is not going to work. That's the reason that analysts claim that despite Wolfram Alpha's great features, it might not be able to overtake google. For the cost and disruptions would be too huge given the present slight edge in functionality.

Suicide Vs Murder

2009-05-18T23:55:00.000-07:00

Of late, I have been having many murderous thoughts. And I really dont know how to get rid of them. So this post, so that I can vent out the thoughts.

I remember having discussions with my friends about whether or not one should commit suicide in the event of insurmountable difficulties. I held the view that one should rather murder than commit suicide. But now I see why people choose suicide over murder.

So what is it that invokes suicidal thoughts in humans? When a person is subjected to double talk - when on the surface everything seems very friendly and cordial but dig just a little bit and the irony glares on your face. In such a situation, the person might find it disturbing to kill someone who has been so friendly. But the person is being subjected to utter frustration of not doing anything and no one being able to tell him why. In such a situation, where the guilt of killing someone else is substantial but the person finds himself in an situation frustrating to death - the person can find suicide a better option.

The next big thing on the net

2009-05-18T04:22:00.000-07:00

Someone directed me to a link to the new project by Wolfram people called Wolfram Alpha saying that it was the next big thing on the net. My initial reaction to the claim was - "Ah, yet another big claimer!"

But 5 minutes into the site, and I was taken over by it. This project seeks to integrate all knowledge into one. You can put in any query and it gives you the "right" results. Much unlike Google, which directs you to further sites that might or might not (though they generally do) contain relevant information - Alpha gives you numbers and statistics about anything that can be represented by numbers. Like you could key in GDP of South Africa - And know all that you wanted to know in terms of numbers. Likewise if you key in "GE" in the stocks section, you could see how the trend for GE stocks has been for the last 1 week, 1 month, 1 year and 5 years! besides it shows you its market capitalization and the beta. If you search for AIDS deaths, then you get statistics for deaths across the world.

This thing could indeed become the next big thing in the net!

PS- The afore mentioned friend was Abhishek Gandhi, fondly(?) known as Tool here at IITM. He claims his connect to the first family of the country, but we are all too used to people who fake surnames to gather mileage !

Of modelling Human beings and pseudo random number generators

2009-05-15T01:00:00.000-07:00

While have a chat with my friend Abhishek over my previous post on irrational behavior of humans, I started thinking on how and if humans can be represented by random numbers (Afterall each one us is unique and essentially random).

I believe (as do a lot of evolutionary scientists) that our reaction to any stimulus depends on a lot of factors, like the genes we carry, the natural environment we have lived in, the kind of thoughts we have, our experiences, stimuli from the recent past etc. Evidently, there are far too many variables that can affect our decisions.

So is there a way to this apparent madness ? Can we call these effects totally random? Abhishek sure seems to think so. But I doubt it. If everyone had totally random characteristics, then we would have had a zero (neutral) average reaction to any stimulus. But, on the contrary, masses behave more in unison. So the seemingly random "personality trait numbers" have a non-zero mean. But this mean can only be seen in a "large enough" group.

So can traits of human beings be thought of as being generated by a pseudo-random number generator? After all, these can have a mean, are random for all practical purposes but everyone knows that these have been derived from some determinstic method. I really dont know. But the idea itself seemed too good not to be posted

Irrational Pessimism

2009-05-14T21:23:00.000-07:00

One of my close friends has written about irrational pessimism driving the economy down. Though I would like to take partial credit for injecting the thought into his head. He mainly talks about how people behave irrationally and how it affects markets.

My point-of-view is that people go with their animal instincts much more than their deterministic models. When someone senses danger, his/her reaction gets biased (for most people towards damage control and for a few others, towards risk taking). This precise difference in the nature and the magnitude of bias makes each one of us unique - and a pain for the economists to model.

If the economists also include this feature into the decision model (As the behavioral economics guys have been saying for sometime now ), then they wont be caught in awkward situations where the masses behave in a manner completely different from what they predict.

People don't always make choices based on their precise calculation of the odds. They go with what the feel is right - and the fact that most things can not be put in numbers directly also means that in translating things to numerical terms itself brings in the bias that the numerical analysis sought to avoid. Maybe the next step would be to model people based on a the major bias that they have - maybe conduct a survey and see in which direction and how much are people biased. And then predict things - that would certainly do a better job than what it does right now.

PS- (kidding alert )Irrational pessimism is the kind which can not be put in the form of p/q where p and q are integers and q is not 0. (/kidding alert)

Internships

2009-05-07T22:26:00.000-07:00

I have written a lot about my Reliance intern but not about my other internship at ITC. I worked on improving the energy efficiency in their manufacturing unit at Munger cigarette factory.

Right now I am interning at IBM, Banglore. I will be working on verification of chips. I have just started out, so dont really know whats in store. Will keep you guys posted.

The top 10 reasons due to which Sun failed

2009-05-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

Sun Microsystems - once upon a time a $200 billion company and the owners of Java was bought out by Oracle for $7.4 billion a few days back.

Dan Baigent, was a senior director at Sun microsystems when the company got acquired. He started out to write the top ten reasons why Sun failed. Unfortunately he could write only 3. The company cracked down on it and took the posts off. However, the good (?) google is here to help us.
It has stored a cache of those pages.

The top 10 reasons why Sun failed to leverage its market potential. (Only #10, 9 and 8 are there, Dan never got to write more than that.)

The #10 Reason that Sun is Setting: We failed to understand the x86 Market - "We approached the market in the only way we knew how - as an extension of our high-end, low-volume, high-value approach to network computing. And not just in terms of product features and capabilities, but in terms of sales, partnerships, channel programs and supply chain management."

The #9 Reason that Sun is Setting: Messing with the Java Brand - "numerous attempts by well-meaning marketing folks at Sun to try exploit the value of the Java brand itself and how that ultimately reduced the very value they tried to exploit. To some degree, this is as much about the lack of value in the Sun brand (at least outside our loyal customer base) as it is about Java" ".... and the changing of our stock symbol to JAVA . (It) was a sad attempt to make Sun's stock more recognizable on Wall Street, as if that's what we created the Java brand for."

The #8 Reason that Sun is Setting: Fumbling Jini - "The real problem was that the engineers had built this technology using the latest Java platform...When launched, Jini could not run in anything smaller than a device with 64MB of memory and a Pentium-class processor.... Meanwhile, Marketing and PR were off describing uses of the technology that were all about small devices (cameras, printers, cell phones, etc.) that were completely unable to run RMI, nonetheless the Jini on which it was built. Jini should have been first-and-foremost about distributed computing. ... worse still, we left the door so wide open on distributed computing that Microsoft and others were able to walk through it."

Probably Sun does not believe in learning from mistakes or worse, thinks that letting the mistakes out in the open could mean lower respect for the brand image. The only way that is possible is when while knowing your mistakes, you still go on commiting them.

The naivety of the Indian energy policy makers

2009-04-27T04:56:00.000-07:00

I just read this news on India proposing a new gas pipeline from Turkmenistan. The country is gas-rich and theoretically has a great potential to abate our energy crisis.

All of the less-informed, low-intellect, mortal, aam-aadmi know that you can NOT trust an Islamic militant country to protect our lifeline. But out dear 'IAS-babus' seem to know better.

I assume that their rational is that economic powers will keep the pipeline safe. But if they could not secure their pipeline to Russia, a fortnight back - I don't see how they can guarantee the safety of this project. Turkmenistan is riddled with foreign policy troubles - being bullied by both US and Russia while it tries to stand up to Russia with US aid. And the fact that it shares a large part of its border and culture with Afghanistan does not sound too well for the prospects of the pipeline. Any pipeline that goes through Afghanistan & Pakistan and comes to India just doesn't feel safe enough.

The incumbent energy policy makers probably were weighing only the economic benefits from the project when they decided to pursue it. But the fact remains that many decisions involve other considerations - especially those taken by extremists, value schadenfreude very highly. And to give them access to something that could staunch our economy seems particularly foolish -if not diabolical.

And aside from the militant threat, we would rather not be the proverbial grass (When two elephants fight, its the grass that gets trampled - African proverb) in the fight between Russia and US over the dominance in the region. US has been trying hard to cut into the soviet dominance in the central Asian region, and Russia is not willing to let go of its strategic buffer. And the fact that we have been "friends" with both of these countries while still managing to keep the other around means that we could be "reprimanded" slightly by either. Though I strongly believe that they would not want to curtail India - We are a big source of income for both the countries. But why give them an opportunity?

Business Scalability in the Manufactoring sector

2009-04-20T11:09:00.000-07:00

As promised earlier, here's my post on how to shape your business for scaling up, if you are in the manufacturing domain.
Most of the articles that I have read talk about up scaling the business in the web or the software domain. None really talked about applying the same principles to achieve scalability in business in the manufacturing domain.

I strongly believe that the principles of business scalability transcend the boundaries of the business domain. When we say that we need to structure the business model for scalability, we need a revenue model that is self perpetuating. One first needs to find out who the customer is. The next thing to figure out (and this is the most important thing) is to figure out what is it that will further your product's demand. And create your revenue model based on these answers.

Now lets focus on the manufacturing industry, If lets say it is a electrical machines manufacturer - that specialises in precision control. The company would probably then want to create a assembly line type product chain. So that each product sold in the market would create demand for more similar products. (If you want to have a more detailed/customised revenue model, you will have to pay me)

Sanity & Insanity

2009-04-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

For the past few days, I have been pondering over the question of Sanity and what it means to be sane or insane.
Havent really got an answer right now, but here are some of my status messages and responses to it.
Hope it makes an interesting read.

Ankit Ashok believes sanity is overrated
- Prithvi Raj likes this.

Ankit Ashok believes that calling someone sane is euphemism.
- Shweta Satish at 10:39pm April 19
y all this obsession wid sanity all of a sudden?
- Ankit Ashok at 10:48pm April 19
because I just realised that sanity is trifling and insanity is the only route to salvation
- Shweta Satish at 11:01pm April 19
y do u always talk like ur Socrates' Godson? =P
- Ankit Ashok at 11:05pm April 19
I am not, I was Socrates in one of my previous incarnations.
- Tanvi Sinha at 11:32pm April 19
looks like u having serious issues with sanity
- Ankit Ashok at 11:36pm April 19
Thats what sane people like you think, dear Lady.
Leave the constricted spaces of sanity, come plunge into insanity - and experience the tranquility.

Ankit Ashok is wondering who determines what's sane and what's not?
- Mohinish Sinha at 6:25am April 20
Sanity is the concept developed by the mediocre to protect themselves.. so u can guess for urself the answer to ur question !

- Shweta Satish
Shweta Satish at 7:36pm April 20
@ Ankit : Thanx dude :) That puts me in which category? sane or insane? =P
- Ankit Ashok at 8:03pm April 20
@Shweta : If you seek acceptance for your work, it sadly puts you in the sane category. But the creative types generally have the honor of being called insane.

So it really depends on how you look at this achievement.

- Shweta Satish at 8:07pm April 20
Wow Ankit!! I hereby name u my DEFINITION GUY!! u've got an uncanny way of givin the perfect definition for anythin under the sun!!
- Ankit Ashok at 8:24pm April 20
@ Shweta : To define is to constrict, this is like attaching fetters to the idea to insanity.
I only enunciate, I let people think for themselves. I never confine, I only give people a thought to ponder.
The god's goodness encompasses all that is under-the-sun and beyond , so does the tranquility of insanity.

Ankit Ashok is experiencing the calm that is insanity.

Ankit Ashok just realised that Creativity and Sanity are mutually exclusive.

Ankit Ashok just realised that people will call you insane if they dont have the brains to understand what you are doing.

Ankit Ashok is dangerously sane.

Logic of a "free" customer

2009-03-31T20:55:00.000-07:00

For the past few days, I have been thinking about how much is a 'free' customer worth.
For example, All the social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut, MySpace offer free logins for anyone. Similar is the case for eBay.

For example on eBay, all buyers are free registrants . Only the sellers pay - and that too when they get a product to sell. This gives rise to an interesting situation - without 'free' buyers, there are no sellers - and without the sellers the revenue model fails.

Similar is the case with Orkut - without the free users, there are no ads, and hence no money. But its slightly complicated here as Orkut is owned by Google. so there might be opportunity costs involved. like for example, when someone clicks on ads by google from a third party site, google must be paying something to that site as well (as it does in adsense). So when Google values its Orkut users, it will also factor in these savings.

Facebook epitomizes this type of revenue model - it allows advertisers to select their target group very effectively. Allowing them to streamline their ad via features such as
* Location
* Age
* Sex

* Keywords
* Education
* Workplace

* Relationship Status
* Relationship Interests
* Languages

But exactly how useful are these customers? there might be some customers who never click on any ads. Or for that matter, sell products on eBay. So these people never make money for the company. On second thoughts, these might still generate some revenue for eBay - by increasing the selling price through competitive bidding.

This thought cropped up in my head while listening to a presentation on the revenue models followed by browsers. Since then I have not been able to stop thinking about it. So HAD to publish it. Anyone who has some idea on this, please do comment/ contact me. I wish to learn more about this fascinating concept.

How frank should our leaders be?

2009-03-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

Last night I read Mohinish Sinha's article on leadership. It talks about a situation where leaders dont either see the bad picture (due to their own rosy glasses) or dont want to let it out in the open lest everyone else comes to know of it. He says "...Leaders, whose self concept is brittle, hesitate to call the truths lest they will be found out. ..."

However, as I see it, there is another side of the story. As he writes in the preceding line, " Organisations tend to mimic the behaviors of the leaders at the top." So a leader might want to shield the bad news from the employees - just to keep them motivated. This, however noble it appears, is not without its flaws. A leader has to be able to see the whole picture, and know the short-comings well. So even if the bad news is not let out in the open, it has to be dealt with - firmly.

HBS too had a similar article/ opinion poll sometime back. They talk about the National leaders during times of crisis. The question posed is if or how frank or deceptive should the leaders be during crisis. The leader showing negative sentiments is not a good sign and it tends to reduce the general morale. However no one wants a leader who lives in a cocoon of self-deception and believes that everything is fine.

As is reported elsewhere, about 70% communication happens via non-verbal means. So the self-deceptive will come out as more natural and more convincing while the one who understands realty will show some signs of distress. But human brain is pretty good at understanding cues from fellow human beings. We can understand if someone is in a slight distress and still very optimistic. Most people would trust such a person more than someone who shows no signs of crisis.

Classic Chennai is now open!

2009-03-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

The Chennai group of Microsoft Student Partners presents "Classic Chennai" , a fiesta of month-long ONLINE competitions Supported by Microsoft, held from March 15^th, 2009 to April 15^th , 2009. Lots of Exciting prizes to be won!!!

Mix your creativity with the love for the city, and win loads of prizes.

This is an opportunity for all college students across India to talk about Chennai. Any Indian student enrolled for a full-time course is eligible to take part in this extravaganza.

The Chennai edition of the MSPs want the students to think about their city, and we are fully aware that its not just the technical students who love the city – so this event is totally non-technical.

VISIT: www.classicchennai.net

THEME:

The theme of each event revolves around the vivid city of Chennai and what you think makes it Classic.

Event list:

BLOG –O- CHENNAI : Blogging Ride the Blogger’s paradise for one whole month on the theme 'Classic Chennai'.

PALETTE –DE- CHENNAI : Poster Designing If you can design a poster that outlines Chennai and its highlights in its best form, Palette -de -Chennai IS the platform for you. Are you game ?

THE CLASSIC CHENN-EYE : Photography It’s all about the “being at the site at the right time”. Is photography your passion? Come aboard The Classic Chenn-eye.

SYNTH@CC : Photosynth Merge and weave together multiple images to illustrate what is in a three dimensional world onto a two dimensional screen losing none of the details using " Microsoft Live Labs photosynth " : http://photosynth.net

LIGHTS, CAMERA, CHENNAI! : Short filmmaking
A Classic movie, the one that touches your sensibility is an outcome of the effort of the man behind the camera. Is it time that you assumed that skeletal role in the making of a memorable film, get noticed !

ENVISAGE CHENNAI : Documentary
Capture a busy metro, a vivid environment with a blend of cultures the way you see it with eyes and play it for your audience. Yes! Let Envisage Chennai, the Documentary event lead you all the way.

The CNUG Student Community always strives to bring the best and latest technology into the lives of all of Chennai’s students. Classic Chennai is a unique initiative that not only serves as a platform to encourage young talent but also throws light on how recent technology can help nurture that talent, especially in the field of arts & entertainment. Throughout this month, sessions on technologies like Photosynth and talks by experts on filmmaking and photography to encourage and help participants, are also on the offering.

Phone : 9884280854

PS - Read newspaper articles about classic chennai here and here.

Irony - as (or do ) we understand it

2009-03-01T03:33:00.000-08:00

I had heard this classical hindi song called "पानी में मीन प्यासी | मोहे सुन सुन आवत हांसी ||..." - when I was kid - when translated to English, it reads "I find it really funny that the fish feels thirsty despite being in water..." . It somehow surfaced from my subconscious to the 'everyday-mind' a few days back. And from there on, I could always recognise some irony that reminded me of the song.

The fact is that we are so obsessed with our own understanding of the world and its accompanying prejudices that we tend to ignore/discredit things that do not fit into our instinctive model. Like the other day, I was talking with my friends about the potential for extra-terrestrial life - and almost everyone seemed to believe that they will need an organic photosynthesis (or its sillicon analogous compound). But why cant it be that case that they derive their energy not from a external sun- but from its core itself. We tend to ignore this possibility simply because we assume that life will not be sustainable at those temperatures. When I first proposed this, the audience was startled and started rubbishing it even without thinking. Then when we discussed it with some cool head, it turns out that everyone was convinced that it could indeed be the case. This is a classic case of prejudices blocking our vision.

In a general case, just because others covet a particular thing, it does not mean that the person having it will find it of any or much use. A typical case would be that of abundance - if someone has more money than what he/she finds sufficient, any incremental money has very little potential for making the person happy. Same could be the case with the protagonist fish in the afore mentioned song. Its our own inability to judge the drive of others that induces laughter at the situation - so in a way we are mocking ourselves.

My foodie fantasies

2009-02-18T05:42:00.000-08:00

I often fantasize about food.
Of course I have dreams where I create technology to the obliterate energy shortage of the world. It generally is a amalgamation of more efficient machines and in-situ electricity generation. But this post is not about that. Its about my food dreams.

I dream about being surrounded by tandoori items - from murg angara to chicken tikka, from fish tikka to rosht ghost. In my sleep, I can almost feel the taste on my taste buds.

Then there are other nights where I am in a orchard specializing in nothing in particular - infact, it has grapes, apples, chikus, watermelons & bananas - all at the same place. Entierly mindful of the fact that there is a very little chance of having a the suitable climate for it to happen, I allow myself a little leeway - for its just a dream!

Then there are nights where I conjure up images of my mother cooking some wonderful food for me. Any food that she cooks tastes delicious to me - As I believe, is the case with everyone else.

Then there are nights where I have a full punjabi meal with makke-di-roti , sarson-da-saag & lassi. On other nights, I don a more continental taste with lasagna, steak & baked bowl finding favour.

PS- This post have been specially prepared for those people who are planning to throw a party. If your platter includes any of the aforementioned items, please do call me. I will grace the occasion with my presence. :P

PPS- If you dont know my address/phone number, and want to invite me for a party, no problem. just email me at ankit.ashok@gmail.com . I WILL contact you.

MicroFinance - The double bottom Line

2009-02-08T21:51:00.000-08:00

MFIs(Micro Finance Institutions) are businesses, they exist to make money; as do any other business.
One can not charity on borrowed/dreamt-up money. Or as the recent banking goof-ups(?) have told us, One cant enjoy luxury on dreamt-up money.

But for now, we are talking about MFIs, which take pride (and rightly so) in doing a social good - by lending loans to fulfill dreams, ambitions, needs.

So its only natural that they have two bottom lines, one that talks about the financial status and other, about the social.

This also in turn tells about the company's average loan balance as a % of per capital GDP of the society of operation. Essentially it talks about the the average lending as a % of average earning capacity of the locality.

A double bottom line undoubtedly helps MFIs attract soft lending and investments from socially responsible investors However,having a double bottom line also means that MFIs may also undertake less profitable activities if it fits the social good framework. After all, if it reflects positively on the bottom line, it is a good investment. These efforts can lead to a higher cost structure for the business, although in some cases, this may also be rewarded with higher yields.

PS- I was reading through the ways in which a valuation of MFI is conducted, and this seemed so different from the single minded bottom-line corporate culture that I had an insurmountable urge to write about it.

I am elated

2009-02-07T00:21:00.000-08:00

Tulir - a NGO - (with whom I have been associated with for more than a year now) just received a mail from a guy(gal) saying that he(she) saw my blog through the Microsoft Student partner (MSP) link and that he(she) was really touched by my previous post on Tulir.

Further he(she) wants to work with this team to help in eliminating child sexual abuse. It feels really good if one gets even a single person to help in a cause you believe in.

Here is an excerpt from the mail:
"...when i read a blog by a student from IIT -madras called ankit ashok who had mentioned about an NGO where he was working and thought it was something i found was a real social problem and have been wanting to do something about it, but did not know how to go about and realised that i could really do something about this problem if i was a part of your organisation."

Boy, I hope more people will get interested in eradicating this social evil.

Scope for Microfinancing in India

2009-02-07T00:09:00.000-08:00

I was born at a nondescript place in rural Bihar. Today, when I look at the the place, I see a lot of potential - waiting to be leveraged. An educated youth wanting to enhance his skills just so much as to get a job; A cattle manager wishing to increase his cattle strength to supply milk to larger consumer group (btw, I was amazed by this guy's implicit economic concepts- he talked about economics of scale and incremental cost vs production - though not in those words) ; a trader that sees a potential for home-made incense sticks.

There are a lot of needs that exist and wants that can be created among the population in the countryside. Many of them have the desire, the dream of making it big - to grow. But one of the major road blocks in executing these (seemingly) ambitious plans is the non-availability of loans to (seemingly) non-credit worthy clients.

This is where a microfinance firm comes in. These guys are supposed to see the demand critically, analyse the credit-worthiness of the person; And provide support for these people to grow.

There is little point in giving loans for consumption, the growth comes only for money used in productive way. If the loan is spent in celebrating some thing, true - the money goes into the economy and keeps the ball rolling. But if the same amount is used invested in a business, the economic effects are multiplied many times over.

It's this growth of small enterprises that really drives the economy. I hope that MFIs will help in extensive proliferation such small/cottage/medium size industries and leverage our country from a developing to a developed one.

The killer after the euphoria

2009-01-31T21:39:00.000-08:00

I went for dinner at Barbecue Nation on Osman road last night. Wonderful food, good ambiance. LOVED every bit of it, with great starters, Lamb kofta, Claypso fish & Crab. It was worth every penny.

And today morning I received the terrible news. I have been allocated RR-M2 mess for the month of February. This is supposed to be the worst mess at IITM by miles. Should one be punished so heavily for missing the mess registration?

If the hostel affairs secretary is reading this, please make sure that from next time, the guys who miss the registration is allotted the same mess as the month before.

I am happy that February is the shortest month of the year :P

Scalability of business

2009-01-26T06:54:00.000-08:00

Just read Anurag Srivastava's note (on facebook) dealing with scalability of business and life in general.

He writes
" .... what keeps one going is not the regular earnings that you get from the business which in a typical year is predictable - but possibility that there can be a time when all things will go right and will payoff exponentially. Every one who gets into business does it with that hope - that if all things go right - there will be a windfall ..."

I am not very sure about the comment about the "typical year" claim - all of us have seen how the markets crashed within a very short time. We are talking about black swans here. He seems to look only for the positive abnormalities but (probably because he is a die-hard optimist) prefers to overlook the tough times.

Though the expectation part is very valid - no one wants to do something that will remain mediocre all along. Its only the faint hope of greatness that drives the men.

Further he adds
"... where the business scales up purely on creation of a design or an idea that gets replicated easily and you get paid for every unit that gets produced by anyone through a license. So the Chinese might have factories which make the Nike shoes and scale up production as per what Nike wants and make incremental profits - Nike has to design and market those shoes to make exponential profits without too much extra investment on capital or humans. Ideas and intellectual property is scalable , bodies are not. Running a hotel is not scalable but the format/franchises are ..."

Here he makes a very interesting point. All of us knew it somewhere at the back of our heads but it still is a revelation when one first gets to see it articulated. Its the idea that can bring a turn around. In my opinion, the distinguishing feature of a scalable business is the fact that an additional unit is not accompanied with diminishing returns.

PS- More on business scalability in the manufacturing sector here.

Source of motivation

2009-01-13T04:38:00.000-08:00

Watched "Slum dog Millionaire" last night. and have not stopped thinking about it.
A wonderful movie - none of the actors overshadowed a 10/10 script. And the best part about the movie - the guy never forgets his childhood love, and tries to get her time and again: despite all odds. All this while there was not once that they professed love towards each other. Like the instance when he had to fight his elder brother to try to elope with the girl. And the girl willing to sacrifice for the sake of the boy.

The story got me thinking, what motivated the protagonist to do all that he did. For that matter, what drives a person to attempt world defying feats? what makes a man try things that none else would imagine doing? Assuming everyone to be rational, a person will venture into such a thing only if he/she finds the potential rewards to be greater than the value of the effort required. The only way this could happen with a consistent valuation is that he/she sees a potential that others don't. It requires a vision to be able to spot an opportunity when its not evident. Also it needs courage to try out new things, may be the fact that they trust themselves when they do so makes them successful. Ancient Chinese script, Tao Te Ching says - Love gives the ability to be brave. In this context, its the love for the winning that gives them the ability to attempt things unprecedented.

Lets look at various motivational techniques people use:
For a few people, its easier to stay focused if they have something to look for, like Clearing IIT-JEE, Clearing CAT, designing a novel pump, building a world class organization.

But if a persons' aspirations, dreams are limited to falling into the arms of some other person: I don't see how that can drive him/her. Probably I am ignorant of the ways love works.

As I am pretty sure, you must have observed: The journey towards the goal is often more fun filled than the destination itself. That is what drove the founders of now world leading companies - continual improvement. Once establishing the organisation was complete, they could have gone to cool off their heels. But they did not - they toiled hard, to improve, even if by just a tiny bit. That's what made them great.

Its the determination and perseverance that gave them a reason to work. And when a quantifiable goal is cut-out, motivation comes naturally.

But is the challenging work, the only motivating factor for us? Apparently no. As documented so well in numerous Bollywood scripts and romantic novels, "LOVE" triumphs all when it comes to motivating the protagonists. Apart from that, (I risk being politically incorrect when I write this, but what the hell !), money that one makes while working is also a huge (de)motivating influence.
Probably its to do with personal priorities. Different people are driven by different things and its the valuation of the work-love-money mix against one's own standards is what determines the motivation level.

PS - While writing the "Different people are driven by different things..", I could not help recalling the lovely Obelix from the Asterix series who cared for nothing more than a sumptuous meal of wild boars. Well now You know why I named this blog "Foodological".

You only get to live once

2008-11-10T05:26:00.000-08:00

I know this is a weird thought. weird not in the freaky way, but in the everyone-knows-it-but-lets-not-talk-about-this way.

It does not feel nice to be talking about death, at least not amongst youngsters. No one needs to be reminded that this is his/her last chance at this planet.(or,for the reincarnation believers, at least in this particular form, and with this name).

I don't know why or how, this thought popped into my head today morning. And since then it has infiltrated each of my neurons. All I have been thinking of today is that One gets to live only once.

So now I would like to pen, type down my understanding of this statement.

For one it indicates that since we are allowed only one life, we should not waste it in any form,one must do all the wild stuff to make the best use of their stay on this planet. But it also means that we need to get things right the first time! We don't get to change this back or correct it the next time!

It also means that we cant choose to defer helping others, for we might not be around for long enough to help them. It also means that we need to get our priorities right the first time, for we might not have time to correct it later on.

So everyone who is reading this blog, please do call up your parents and tell them how much you love them(U never know if you will be able to do so later).

It also is a reminder that whatever we do for work, it will always be related to us. So any unscrupulous deed of ours will always to associated with us and that we might not be able to rectify it.

So I am thinking in terms of banning procrastination. If there is a job to be done, it should be done right away, of course going by the priority order. And I believe that every person has,or at least should have, a priority order for the tasks he/she has to do. whether it is to do with choosing to play cricket with the family or designing pumps for nuclear reactors, everyone implicitly knows what precedes what. Work is important as the individual, but friends & family is what you are as a person.

And I believe that only a 'person' can perform well in any organisation. The days of I-can-give-the-customer-any-color-car-as-long-as-it-is-black are long gone. Only the people who treat other people who respect others can get respected in return and build an organisation.

One more thing about being ready to die the next moment is that we need to be loving whatever we are doing, always. So the moment of our exile is filled with joy and excitement. And my personal experience tells me that I perform much better while doing things that I love.

PS - This is the summary of all that has crossed my mind today. I tried to recollect and reorder my thoughts while writing it, but please excuse me for any incoherence or digression that might have crept in.

serenity

2008-10-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

For the past few days, I have been on the lookout for a truly relaxing moment. True. I have not been doing any work(not that I ever did) , but the feeling of restlessness was persistence.

Then in a flash, i felt all noise died down, all lights turned white, all of the world seemed to make sense.

Though it was all lost the next moment, but the moment was amazing. In a spontaneous reaction. I uttered the word serene!

I dont know what possessed me that moment.

I have tried to recreate that moment, but failed.I tried to go to the same place, think about the same thing, but it dint help.

The failed endeavor got me thinking, why is that we feel differently in different situations? How is it that our feelings are dependent not only on our present but also our past.
Why is it so difficult to recreate our emotions at another time?

Afterall, we did experience it at the first place. I think what I am thinking of right now is the idea that emotions should be re-creatable. Which seems logical, but I havent been successful in doing so.

May be its the way we are wired. But doesnt the re-creatability of emotions important make sense in the light of evolution? A man who got scared for the first time on seeing a lion, should pass on the gene for the same to his future generations. and also should get scared the second time too. Also a couple who fell in love, should be able to feel the same love the second time they meet too, else the whole concept of couples and bonding doesnt make sense.

So why is it that humans in our age find it difficult to recreate the exhilarating emotions? Is it because we are too disconnected from our souls? We generally are too busy in the nity gritty of life that we fail to listen to our soul. We tend to ignore or postpone listening to our inner voices. Its only when we look around and feel the disconnect that we realize what we have been doing.

May be if I could connect to my soul in a more primitive way, then I can realise the state of serenity that I long for.

social responsibility

2008-08-07T21:47:00.000-07:00

One often wonders if one is contributing in making the world a better place to live in. Apart from pursuing one's personal goals, one also needs to think about the society. If I can make a difference in the life of someone, it will be an accomplishment.

On this line of thinking, I have tried to help NGOs in their endeavors.

The first one is "Tulir". Its a voluntary organization seeking to prevent child sexual abuse. It is an area of concern specially in India, for its usually brushed under the carpet here. I can understand if the parents don't feel too comfortable discussing these topics with their children. But it could be the life of your child at stake. At least they should be seen by the child as supportive and helpful and someone to look when they need guidance or help.

With the recent upsurges in cases of paedophilia in the country, it becomes all the more important for parents to be vigilant in terms of who their child meets. Of course there is no point stopping the child from meeting people. But what you probably need to ensure is that they are of the same age group, and that they have met before. First time meetings can be tricky. You might discover a totally different person from the person described on the Internet.

Internet is not the only place where children can be exposed to paedophiles, but it is the most potent and safe for the predator .That's because here they can hide their real self completely and don a completely different persona to attract kids. For example, they can change their age to teens , post pictures of some teen they found somewhere, mention interests that attract kids - whatever it takes, to fool the child.

But the fact remains that there can be genuine people like that and both could actually be good friends. The best way out of this situation is to educate the child as to what he/she should allow and what not. Knowing what is right and what is not will be of great help in protecting children. Another thing needed is the trust of the child that if he/she gets into some kind of trouble, his/her parents/teachers will be there to help them - no matter what.

The Selfish gene - a treatise on logic building

2008-07-29T03:35:00.000-07:00

I read this book "THE SELFISH GENE" by Richard Dawkins - first released in 1976 . An engrossing read.

In the book, The Author proposes that the fundamental level that Darwinian selection takes place is at the gene level. Then he goes on to provide examples that support his views.
Further he ventures into fields that seem anomalous as seen from the individual selection but fir perfectly into the gene selection framework.

For me the most interesting aspect of the book (I am sure the ones with better knowledge of biology can find other things more insightful, so please do keep in mind that its the opinion of an out and out mathematical bent analysis guy) was the fact that he introduced a new concept, applied it from the first principles to begin with - and then gradually built levels of abstraction - individuals and communities. This was done noting the areas the abstraction is likely to fail, and the beauty of all this is that once he has described a situation , one IMMEDIATELY knows if the abstraction level will fail or not.

If anyone ever had the (outrageous) notion that biology cant incorporate logic, I recommend this book greatly. The way the logic is developed, It could well have been a book on practical logic building. Its just that the author was interested in biology that he chose to write on this.

Warning- Chapters 8 and 9 of this book should not be read by kids. I, despite being an adult of 20 - pursuing engineering - felt uneasy while reading those chapters. In these chapters, Dawknis applies his selfish gene concept to humans. And deeply committed to our families, as we are, we find it difficult to digest all that he has to say. His analysis should hold good for uncivilized nomads - but he has not taken into account society and its effects and hence I dont think his analysis hold good in this case.

Overreliance on models

2008-07-10T01:56:00.000-07:00

As humans, we tend to have a desire to explain everything. If something does not fit our previous model, we create a new model to fit the new data into it. We need a model to explain everything. We learn, and let our models grow- enriching our knowledge and understanding of the world.

So far, so good. but the centuries of (implicit) model fitting has demeaned our ability to account for completely unforeseen possibilities. As Nassim Taleb puts it in "The black swan", we restrict our views to our imagination. And most people cant imagine things that contrast with the existing model, yet dont have any fundamental reasons for not being true. We often overlook the limitations of the model and believe it to be an accurate representation of the world.

Like the black swan itself, until the black swan was discovered by the Europeans in Australia in 1606, it was believed that swans could only be white. It was then that people realised that there is no limitation in the model of the swans that predicts the existence of white swans only.

We do a lot of implicit model fitting - "this female is pretty"- this indication is generated after the brain takes in sensory data, and fits it to the idol, finds the matching coefficient and produces a result in the form describable to other humans. Likewise, A lion on the look for a prey would glance at the herd of deers and decide to eat one particular deer - he does this after analysing the deer's features and size, and computes the expected benefit - cost . The lion finally will pursue the deer with the largest positive gain. This is again arrived at by implicit model fitting. These models can be created by two methods - by interaction with the surroundings, and through the hard-wiring of the genes. In fact, as I look at it, genes provide only the basic framework for the decisions. All the models are designed to meet the guidelines outlined by the genes. I am not aware of any study that tested an animal's reaction when its newborn was subjected to environmental learning that contrasted with its native learning environment. Maybe any of my readers could help me in this.

But the essential part to be kept in mind while using models are, that well they are models after all. Models are meant to take into account most of the available data and predict the outcome - with a certain degree of accuracy. These CAN NOT predict the future. Once we get used to the idea that our mind uses models (most probably more sophisticated NNs(Neural Networks) than any ANN(Artificial Neural Network) in use today) to predict outcomes, and that models CAN go wrong - then we can be in better control of things.

US Pizza rocks

2008-07-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

Hog Max !!!

Today the three flag bearers of CPP decided to make the owner of US pizza realise the mistake they committed when they offered an all-u-can-eat at just 135 Rs.

Hence we commenced our journey towards Jamnagar city with a purpose. Despite the various obstacles we encountered that threatened to jeopardize our plans, as brave soldiers on a mission- we never even thought of backing off. For starters, it was raining, and I am not too fond of the idea of getting drenched in the rain. But well, good food is worth all the trouble. Then we were without our identity cards and one cant walk past the main gate without showing one's ID card. So we decided to board a bus to leave us just past the main gate.

So on and so forth, we reached US Pizza, in Patel colony No. 6. From the onset, we were determined to lay a long innings. We entered the restaurant at about 3 - 3:15 types and left at 5:10. We started off with some generous helpings of salad. I started with soya..something and Russian salad.Then the next round of honey soaked pasta with raisins. Next came grated carrots with raisins .. pretty much like our very own "gajjar ka halwa".

After the 'starters' we moved on to the main course. One garlic bread. Is this the best garlic bread ever made? No, for we had a similar experience when we were there last week. But it definitely is amongst the best I have tasted.

My roommate had had 13 garlic breads last time he was at the place. So in a not-so-healthy (Its loaded with cheese!) competitive spirit, we I declared my goal for the day- at least 14 garlic breads to be gulped down. Then, egged on partly by my friends and partly by my fondness for round figures(pun unintended), I decided 15 would be a nice number of garlic breads to have. It was a fest like moment when i got there, and I got a pic of the 15Th garlic bread.

In between when we got kind of bored with garlic breads, we ordered for pizza pieces. Cheese pizza was the best of the three for the day. I don't even remember the names of other pizzas.

In the end, when we were all done, I could not stand upright- let alone being able to bend down to tie my shoe lace . The meal I had for lunch would suffice for the next dinner and probably for next morning's breakfast too. (Its 11 in the night and feeling as full as just after a slightly heavier than normal dinner).

Is the wired touch more important than the human touch?

2008-06-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

Increasingly it is becoming more important to be "connected" than actually talking and touching people. We feel being under a compulsion to check mails, poke on Facebook, and look for any scraps left for us on Orkut. Amidst all this "being connected" mania, we tend to overlook the real connectivity - face to face.

All communication systems are designed keeping in mind the people who are expected to use the technology. The driving factor for all the social networking sites, video conferencing techniques (that reminds me of a wonderful 3D hologram projection technique) - is that people want to feel as close to the person talking/chatting with as a person sitting next door. But somehow, this net addiction has got on to us. We have more interaction with people on the net than in real life

Net is a great facilitator for contact with other humans. But, the difference between real people than their virtual persona has become so blurred that we tend to overlook the difference. It all boils down to this, do we have a virtual life because we have a real life ?or vice-versa?

Ways of market endorsement

2008-06-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

Every time you buy something, you endorse the way the company does its business.

When we buy a product or service from a particular company, we are promoting the company, its policies, its business model, its work culture - everything. As long as a company is doing good, (by good I mean achieving its target sales and revenue) it wont feel the need to drastically change its model. Ultimately, its the signals from the market that the company responds to.

Of course its products will follow its own life cycle, question marks will turn into stars, if proper sales push is effected. The cash cows will remain so until competition forces pushes it to the dogs status.

As long as there is high growth in a particular segment and the company is having a high market share, the company will never change its policies. Let's say, if the company is heavy on environment pollution, but its products do not find any difficulty in the market, it wont bother much about self regulating the pollution. But once customers start drifting away from the company, then the company will need to change its stance. It will try to bring in regulation and more efficiency, so that its products can regain lost ground.

Likewise,let's say a chip manufacturer brings in faster chips but with poor power dissipation. That is, the comp would get heated up easily.If people are willing to live with the higher heat, the company will continue trying to produce faster chips without caring much about the heat dissipation systems. But once the customers find the heat too annoying or the increased speed not worth bearing with the heat or an alternative product that generates lesser heat, the company will feel the impact (Or if their market research people are savvy enough, and see it coming) and they will devote more effort towards reducing the heat.

Markets are the deciding factor for all business decisions.As long as it keeps the markets happy , the company is doing good.

Theory Vs Data - "All models are wrong, and increasingly you can succeed without them." ?

2008-06-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

I am not claiming that I am competent enough to have a deciding say in the newest (and the HOTTEST) debate doing rounds on the web right now.But as a technology follower and leader-to-be, I feel obliged to add my own comments on this.

".......Scientists are trained to recognize that correlation is not causation, that no conclusions should be drawn simply on the basis of correlation between X and Y (it could just be a coincidence). Instead, you must understand the underlying mechanisms that connect the two. Once you have a model, you can connect the data sets with confidence. Data without a model is just noise. But faced with massive data, this approach to science — hypothesize, model, test — is becoming obsolete.........."

".......There is now a better way. Petabytes allow us to say: "Correlation is enough." We can stop looking for models. We can analyze the data without hypotheses about what it might show. We can throw the numbers into the biggest computing clusters the world has ever seen and let statistical algorithms find patterns where science cannot......"

I dont think that data can ever replace models. True, that Mr. Venter has done a lot of good for modern biology, But he is building on the knowledge of genes and replicating mechanisms discovered earlier, using the scientific methods of observation-hypothesis-validation.

Data is good only up to the limits we already have the theory ready for. It certainly is a great help in fully comprehending the implications and applications of the theoretical background we already have. But it in no means can generate new theory to do the future testing. It can only provide us with what something is but not why it is so.

PS - I love statistics , so please dont cite my short-handedness for stats as the reason why I sided with theory.

Dwarika trip

2008-05-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

We had a one day tip to Dwarika last Sunday.
It all began with a few people rooting strongly for Dwarika over my preferred destinations , Diu or Gir forests.My arguments fell on deaf ears as most people wanted to write off a few sins before they committed more of them.

The level to which it was uncharacteristic of me can be summed up in my father's response when I informed him that i was going to Dwarika. He asked me if I was feeling alright!!! Though I am not an atheist , but neither am I of the most religious kind.

Anyway , we decided to leave early in the morning at 6 30 (!) to beat the rush and to make sure that we dont miss "Bet Dwarika" , which has its doors shut by 12 noon.I somehow managed to up in time , courtesy some generous sunlight directed at my face.

After some light breakfast , it was time for an agonising wait for the cabs to arrive.The stupid drivers dint arrive atleast an hour later, and that too after one of us showed them the way to our place.

It was a Tata Qualis.8 of us fit into it peacefully(6 from IITM and 2 from IITG)as we were about to leave a guy from kgp also joined us as they were not able to fit into on car. The car for the girls hadnt reached their place either, so we showed the way.One of my friends managed to make a good impression by doing so(which i hope for him, will be rewarded suitably) all this while the kgp guy was stifling and gasping for breath, for he was surrounded by loud M guys who could make fun of anything conceivable if they wanted to.

This person joined other kgp guys at the first opportunity he had to do so.Meanwhile we continued on our journey into deep philosophical meanings of stopped windmills and wide roads.

Our driver , sensing our mood, tried to race with the Innova that girls had boarded.What ensued was a display of clever road tricks of "pass and bypass".

As we had started off late, we could only visit the main Dwarika temple before the curtains were drawn. After that we were a bit hungry so we sneaked into a restaurant, only to find that the humble place did not have the capability to serve a large group such as ours.(we were a group of 28 people totally). So we waited albeit a bit less patiently for our turn.

From there on , we went to "Gopi ji ka mandir". I am not sure how it fits into mythology.(As far as I know , Krishna Ji spent his childhood and adolescence in Mathura and not in Dwarika.He was the ruler here.)But all the same they still have a gopi ghat here.
There also was a floating stone kept.The more curious among us tried to analyse the reasons for this.Finally they reached a conclusion that it was fabricated as a cut was faintly visible.

Then we went on to take a steamer to the island where "Bet Dwarika" was situated.It was an amazing experience with the steamer dancing to the tunes of the sea, wavering as if to say hello to the winds that passed by.We did a cost benefit analysis of the owners in the case the steamer drowns.And found that even in an unlikely high probability of 1% failure rate, it is still profitable for the owner to continue his business.

After we got down, we took this amazing ride in whats called a "Jugaru"(Hindi for makeshift) here.This has the engine of a bike(Rajdoot, I guess) and it drives an ingenious light weight wagon.

Then we visited the temple and from there on we went to a beach.This beach ,our driver claimed was good enough to do scuba diving, and we laughed at his boastfulness.But once we saw it , we knew he wasnt off by miles. Awesome was the first word I uttered after being spellbound for a couple of moments.We had great fun at the beach. I have been to many beaches, and this one was the best till date.

PS - Bet as in "Bet Dwarika" does not derive its name from the English usage of the word. Rather its to do with Beta - son in Hindi. The priest tried to tell us the enormous importance of the temple , but it was all lost on me.

Internship

2008-05-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

For the uninformed , I am doing my interns at Jamnagar , Gujrat - Reliance.
Here I am , sitting at the site of the "World's Largest grassroots refinery" , and I am supposed to marvel its vastness.But I cant help but scorn at it.

Its too big to remain efficient, The people here are too frustrated at the way of life to concentrate on the work.At the more down-to-earth places, one does not get the exposure to the rigorous method of obtaining an entry pass, but not Jamnagar. One stays in line for atleast a couple of hours while the people supposed to be doing the job discuss in gujju about the weather.During this period , your endurance levels are continuesly tested.Only the mighty soldiers who can endure pressure(pushes) from all sides finally get to get the retinal scanning done.This is after submitting the finger impressions.I cant make out why they need finger impressions when they already have the retinal image.May be its to detect in the event of loss of both the eyes.(I know most of you will be surprised at me being so crass , but after the orderal , I was pushed to such a state of mind)

To this base , add a layer of stiffling hours of inactivity in a room and you have the perfect receipe to hate a workplace.

Thankfully everything is not so ridiculous at this place , the mentors dont mind helping you out , even though they hold very senior positions.Atleast they sublet one to a young guy who both understands our tendencies , and our helps us like a friend.

I have enough material to write another post about the ironic and hilarious things existing at this place, so wait till I again have enthu to blog again .Till then subh ratri , sabbakhair ,fir milte hain isi jagah pe kuch din baad .

PS - (This summary of the internship has been written after the completion ) The experience on the whole was very good - did some good work, made new friends, saw how a huge industry operates & most importantly saw how its business model works.

What is rare?

2008-03-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

I was in this class on communication systems sometime back , and while describing how mobile companies decide on the capacity of each link , Our professor mentioned "What is rare?".(these companies go by some expectation probability of calls arriving in a certain duration-they want at the maximum only one call to be set up in that duration so that it an be analyzed using Poisson distributions.)

I was lost at this question.Do we really know what is rare?
IITians are rare - at my college ,everyone is an IITian.
Its rare to see a monkey operating the tap at the basin as well as a human-I see it almost everyday!!!
Its rare for me to spot a female(of the Homosapien species) - But I know for sure that almost half the population in this world is theirs.

So our perception of rarity depends on the context.More specifically , it depends on the past registered data.We forget things too!! But somehow , we tend to remember odd or i should rather say rare events.That is because we subconsciously check the newly acquired data with the ones previously registered ones.If we see a connect , it reinforces both the data.But something totally out of the ordinary ,something that has not been registered in the past say 2 592 000 frames (one month, assuming one frame per second) will b3 registered with a flag!!! -And now I bet most of you noticed the '3' which replaced the 'e' but not the 125 of its prior instances on this post.

The illusion of rarity is also used to create value for a certain product which inherently does not have any value ,Eg - diamond.These are mostly of ornamental use and dont satisfy any of the owner's needs except that of possession of something not commonplace.Come to think of it , those De Beers guys must have had the greatest marketing guru decide their policy.

So ultimately I think everything is rare and nothing is.One just needs to "look at things in proper prospective"(Like the secretaries in the series "Yes Minister" would say).

Food-ological

2008-03-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

I am generally ready to accompany people if they want to eat out.
Since the beginning of this semester, I have decided to explore the different places to eat in Chennai.The staple food here is so depressing(that served in the mess) that initially I had thought that Chennai wont have any proper eat-out at fair prices.

Alas, I was wrong .And I couldnt be happier for being proved wrong!! Tonight we had been to Dawat, Me and another friend of mine.What wonderful meal !!! Awesome is an understatement.

Dawat is one of those no frills restaurants.Small place, no flashy signboard and food cooked outside.I guess it would have developed to its present state through a street stall.
We had to wait for some 20 minutes before we got a chance to get in , as there was a rush.But once we were in , the order was delivered in no time , and from there on , it was a feast for the taste buds.

After eating enough to fill our stomachs for an entire day , the bill turned out to be Rs 330 only!
Man this is a place to go , If you are a non-vegetarian .

A few recommendations if you are going there- do try out "reshmi kabab" and "mutton angara".

Random thoughts

2008-03-20T06:06:00.000-07:00

First things first - Holi Hai !!! I wish all of you, a joyful and colorful Holi.

Quizzes are almost over , and I am back to one of those phases when my thoughts develop a philosophical overtones (and foodological too !!).

The below mentioned thoughts tried to occupy the same space-time coordinates as my brain .So these had to enter it.The list is in the order of me recollecting them.

Everyone lives for a fixed number of steps from start to end.
The step size is equal to the capability of the individual * his or her lifetime /No of steps.
I postulate that the no of steps would be fixed to 7 , for it the only number that all religions hold sacred.And since these claim to be a link to God, I think , 7 will be "THE CHOSEN ONE".
A person who works hard will go on increasing his capability.so when i mentioned capability in step size, i meant the instantaneous capability.

These cute things with yellow tops and long legs drive me crazy.
No You pervert, I wasnt referring to one of those hot females u hear all to often but get to see equally rare.
I was in fact thinking about capacitors . Those little things that come with long legs and a yellow top never function as we want them to , and then the circuit doesnt function properly , and then we break our head over it repeatedly.Though as a matter of fact , capacitors work better that some of the other components we use, like ICs .You will have absolutely no clue if an IC is working fine until you get the desired response. If it does behave properly, IC is fine.Else it could be a million of reasons u dint get the desired output, of which IC cupping is one.

After finishing a good meal , You know what is heaven.
Food is the basic reason for everything a human does.No one can work hard if one does not get proper food.In fact until you know what good food tastes like , you will not know what you are missing .Like after coming to IIT , I roamed around nearby and then decided that one doesnt get very good food in Chennai . So I was kind of ok eating at mess.But 3 years and numerous treats hence, I realize that one indeed gets good food at this place, One just need to know about the right restaurant .Since we are physically close to Besant Nagar area , I definitely know that you can get good food at fair price at at least two places there.One is Dawat - a small shop specializing in non -veg items. and other is Eden - a veg restaurant.Both being mind blowing !!! Any one in Chennai , who hasnt visited any of these places, you have missed something.

Noise - Switching worlds

2008-01-21T03:59:00.000-08:00

From now on the simplicity associated with Noise will be gone for ever for me ;( .Now Noise has to be AGW.

Till now noise was just some random signal and ways to deal with could have been equally random (with finite mean and non causal, time dependent variance) ;) .
Samples in the past have varied from plugging cotton into ears ,banging the neighbor's door and threatening him with dire consequences , to , orienting the bed in such position that one gets the least amount of noise(though it left no room for me to walk in my room !) and trying to increase the frequency of (mechanical) sound waves so that they don't remain in the audible range.

Though the most effective method has been to get accustomed to it.(If you can't do away with it, then learn to live with it).Fortunately I had a wealth of test cases -Voice of a teacher has a couple of properties similar to noise.

It is completely unintelligible.
You don't 'want' to listen to it but end up doing so.

So, putting to good use the 8 to 5 schedule of our college, I finally managed to perfect the technique to be able to fall asleep amidst any amount of noise.

You see, noise was once so tamable, so simple.

But engineers are fond of taking the simplest of things and doing a threadbare analysis such that at the end of it, it remains 'interesting' only for the modeling complexity it presents. So today it was noise's turn to switch worlds- from the simple to the cryptic.

Now noise has a flat power density spectrum. Now it distributed in a Gaussian(in this link read the stuff written about Laplace) fashion. Now it is 'white'. Now it has something to do with the bandwidth of the device. Now it needs careful impedance matching to recognize its presence.

I tried my best not to fall for the temptation of listening to BR when he was dealing with modeling of noise. But as everyone in the elec department knows, you just can't NOT listen when BR is in full flow. He sometimes reminds me of Sachin in Sarjah.If he is in mood and gets set, then you are in for a treat.

Jobless to the hilt

2008-01-19T08:05:00.000-08:00

Right now I feel terribly jobless.
So much so that i even contemplated mugging.The fact that this thought crossed my mind (with so much time to go before the quizzes) has filled me with guilt.And somehow I am not finding any interesting reads on the net too(which by the way, I have been continuously from 3rd semester itself).
Generally when I am so bored , I resort to solving some problems off net on logic and number theory.Not that i know much of number theory, but it keeps me interested. Else there is always xkcd.But sadly I did not find it interesting either.

One of my friends suggested quantum computing.He is reading it and finds it very fascinating.But I don't seem to have enthusiasm to read anything right now.I think i will do a re-run of the best episodes of sitcoms.But I don't feel like doing it too.

I think I should do some work on modeling of data.I recently read some cool stuff on modeling of extreme events.But don't exactly know how is it to be done.So taking it 'light' for the moment.

Sunday ho ya Monday , Roz hoga Monday

2008-01-19T02:00:00.000-08:00

Now that I am back on blogosphere, I would rather write some quick stuff until it gets lost in (pun intended)the mundane stuff at college(eg Saarang , wing Treats ,Sitcoms) and the exciting stuff (classes all through the day, Currents and Voltages all over the place, Equipments that don't respond,TAs who get the ckt diagram wrong).

Tomorrow is a Sunday.A day of the week when its an off day for most of the humans on earth.But, we are doomed to attend classes on Sunday. And its not because of some sudden rush that the teachers/students felt to teach/learn .

Its because a group of politicians will visit IIT Madras and try to access the institute.But why do they want to see the students in class?Do they really think they can make any sense out of Multipath signal transmission , or profiles of Fluid dynamics or Analog circuits?

If they so , they really are a very optimistic group.

Anyway , the decision has been made and we will have Monday on both Sunday and Monday.

Rediscovered

2008-01-19T01:30:00.000-08:00

I, as has become a common habit for me, forgot about this blog completely until a friend of mine searched for "Ankit Ashok". This blog of mine was most probably created during the time I was head over heels in love with Linux and Gaim.
But now we have drifted apart (sounds like breaking a relationship,doesn't it?).
By the way , it reminds me of one of the best break up lines I ever heard - "I am so involved with GNU that the idea, that either you or me should have exclusive rights to the other, is revolting."
Perfect breakup line, isn't it?

I dont like watching Fedrer lose , especially after India winning a wonderful game.
so here i am blogging my time out.