Being Me

What Happened at Mohali Today ?

2011-03-30T12:24:00.000-05:00

A cricket newbie’s guide to understanding why a cricket match at Mohali is making major news waves today

Picture this, 45000 people including heads of two nations and dignitaries galore, painted either in all green or saffron white and green screaming their guts out at Mohali even as over 1 billion more tune in using their smartphone video apps or a radio broadcast at a local paan and tea shop. Overnight, Google starts suggesting ‘rain’ as a topic to search when users type in Mohali. What is it about two players wielding bats in a field with 11 players that makes movie stars, politicians and commoners alike jump up & down like kids ? What it is it about that leather ball hitting the three stumps that make non-believers believe and look up in faith ? What is happening in Mohali that makes crowded streets of Kolkata sport a deserted look even as schools and office across India close early ?

If all of that sounds alien, I empathise with you. I was born Indian but somewhere I missed that ubiquitous gene found in abundance in people from Indian subcontinent and that is love & passion..no wait..fanaticism for cricket. Back in India, religion, politics, IT, personal issues and everything else takes a backseat when a cricket match is on. I got used to it as I grew up in India but when I came to US for studies in 2008, I thought in vain that I would be able to live a life free of cricket. For three years, I lived in this illusion but come 2011 and the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) shattered it completely. In the game of cricket, the buck stops here. Held every four years between all Test playing nations, there is no event bigger than a Cricket World Cup and even amongst its matches, there is no bigger rivalry than the one between Pakistan & India. Make no mistake, the match has nothing to do with religion or with political differences between these countries. It might as well be a friendly match played for charity but an India vs Pakistan clash would draw maximum efforts out of both teams. Now imagine the same rivalry playing out at the semi finals of CWC 2011 and you have got a potent combination.

As I type, the results are out and India would be advancing to the finals against Sri Lanka at Mumbai and Pakistan would be watching it from home. India is the favourite to win the Cup in a final that looks all set to be an exciting match, but for most Indian cricket lovers, India has already won the match that mattered the most.

understanding the purpose

2010-08-10T21:47:00.000-05:00

Blog XXX of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

One of the reasons for starting this whole blogging exercise of writing thirty blogs in thirty days was to be able to understand the purpose of this blog.

So now that thirty blogs are in past, one thing that you can expect for sure is that I would keep blogging in future, although with a short break in between to upgrade my website structure. My frequency of blogging would also probably come down to an average of 1-2 blogs per week. I would like to try out lots of things that I had thought for this experiment but could not implement, I would like to diversify more into different topics. I would try to keep a balance between diary-like posts and news-like posts since this blog is as much about learning as much about sharing and personal expression. And as a way to put action into words, I would like you to fill in the form below to help me understand the right mix.

To bid adieu to this series, I would like to thank the following:

handful enthusiasts for telling me that I am doing a good job and commenting on my blogs.
bunch of non-enthusiasts for telling me that I need to do a better job.
few friends who gave their kind permission to be mentioned and linked in these blogs.
caffeine & music for keeping me up during those drowsy moments before clicking the Publish button.
Windows Live Writer for providing that Publish button.

The Final Countdown

2010-08-09T04:46:00.002-05:00

Blog XXIX of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

As I approach climax of my thirty days – thirty blogs series, I cannot help but marvel at the amount of blogs I have written over past two fortnights. While I had been regularly blogging on my technical blog as part of a course I had took in my final semester, back then I had a paper to blog about every time. Blogging about something new and making it interesting day after day was a challenge. And it was for this very reason that I took up this experiment because I wanted to kick-start my blogging in a serious fashion.

It was emotionally very demanding, while many of these blogs were conceived over a long period of time, with points jotted down in free moments, sewing a functional blog post out of them was nevertheless a daunting task. I tried hard not to get repetitive (unless that was the intention like in the case of How did I almost end up being series), avoid any offensive statements and diversify as much as possible. During this experiment, I wrote about politics, religion, personal moments, career suggestions, travel and even a sorry attempt at a P=NP joke. The number of my Buzz followers over this period dropped from 80 to 79 which I am hoping was not a direct consequence of my blogging ! There were some interesting ideas which did not materialise and hopefully I would write them in future.

How did I do is open to interpretation. Right now I am feeling happy at the very fact that I did do thirty blogs over thirty days without taking any shortcuts by writing very short posts (which probably have their own good reasons to exist on other blogs). Frankly this would not have been possible had I started to think about a new topic every day. For any going-to-be-bloggers, I would suggest the same thing. Jot down points for a potential topic and keep on adding points until you feel reasonably confident that you can stitch a post out of them. In response to some of my blogs, I got some very enthusiastic response which is a good sign even though most of my blogs went unnoticed. I WAS noticed however by a spam bot which left me my first spam comment. I am not sure though if I should feel encouraged ! However what is certainly encouraging to see is an increase in traffic on my website. Since I have not done any major changes on other sections of my website, it is safe to assume that those red dots springing up across the globe are readers of this blog. I hope I have been able to do some value addition to your time.

Having said all, I would be more than glad to hear your suggestions, comments and criticism. Anything that does not kill me will help me grow and that is what I want to do. Please feel free to leave comments below or use the form here.

51 Indicators of a graduate student back in professional life

2010-08-07T21:32:00.000-05:00

Blog XXVII of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

About two years ago, I put together a list of 51 indicators of a person in graduate studies. Having moved into professional world again, it is time to pay tribute to that list by coming up with another list of indicators that you are back in professional life from graduate studies. Admittedly most of the points are updates to points from the previous list.

wear a set of goggles and proceed to the nearest cool destination to get a profile photo to announce it to the world that you are employed.
you start using premium wipes (think morning).
you don't think twice about splurging on chic T-shirts and trendy wear.
you lug around an IBM ThinkPad or an Apple Mac Book.
your conversation starters can vary widely from photography to entrepreneurship to in-house growth opportunities to cheapest way to remit money to India.
your adopt exotic hobbies like skydiving.
phrase "Friday nights" elicits an image of an early break from office and visit to a nearby pub (I don’t drink, mind you).
in your nightmare you tape-out your chip only to catch a bug in your part of the design using a late regression.
your mall trips are triggered by an idle Sunday afternoon with nothing better to do.
eating out is no big deal.
you train your ears to pick up office rumours.
you train your eyes to spot bugs in simulation waveforms and boss approaching from his cubicle.
you have your meals largely in your cubicle, often while attending an online meeting as a passive participant.
you no longer care about sharing your expense with all your roommates.
you specially go in front of your manager’s cubicle early morning but sneak from behind when leaving early.
you ditch your basic phone for a smartphone.
you have more grocery and dishes than your refrigerator/kitchen cabinet could ever hold.
while going through grocery items, you focus on taste.
you pay frequent visits to nearby recreation centre to play TT.
you claim to be a racquetball champion even though i has been ages since you last played it.
50% of your emails in Inbox are junk emails from that distribution list you decided to subscribe to.
other 50% are training enrolment/service request confirmations.
after-office talk goes like "So who is cooking tonight ?".
you browse social media networks and comment on your friend’s updates as if you were paid full time to do that.
learn virtues of eating/sleeping on a couch.
bedbugs figure nowhere near the top of the list of things to worry about.
you take an insurance because your landlord expects you to.
path to Wal-Mart goes through your office’s free shuttle stop.
your arguments with roommate are STILL over which flavour of ice cream to purchase.
you learn different ways of sneaking that 'grocery trolley' as near to your home as possible.
you take upon an expensive gym membership only to end up not using it.
you have to convince your manager that despite being an HDL engineer, you need to take a training on “Advanced HDL Design Techniques” or something similar to that.
you realise that there do exist non-Asians who can pronounce Asian names perfectly well.
you send a brief write up about your professional career to be included in a speech/email/write up to other team members.
you open a bank a/c for the investment options that it has for offer.
you have forgotten that apart from having ATMs, banks have branches too.
you agree to work overtime just because it pays more.
you always appear Available on GTalk.
you still read PhD Comics but with a sense of nostalgia than a poignant feeling of déjà vu.
you start breathing datasheets and juggling project work.
have chicken tandoori rolls for lunch at company cafeteria when not eating out.
you stare at other Indians as competition for that next promotion.
99% of mails in your post-box are regarding benefits options or new credit card offers.
you count no. of vacations to your India visit.
you have long forgotten about metric measurement system.
the last time you flashed your passport was for submitting an H1B petition request.
you realise that not all desi stores are so expensive after all.
the only time you cannot wake up early in morning is on weekends and holidays.
you brainstorm for days over which car to buy.
you go for a trendy hair style with/without coupon because 'you think ‘you can afford it’.
you decide to write thirty blogs in thirty days.

DISCLAIMER: Above points are based on self experience as well as perceptions from external agents. Not all the points are followed by people in general. Also please read the disclaimer in original article about skew towards international population.

11 things that I love about USA

2010-08-04T02:35:00.000-05:00

Blog XXIV of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Lest you should think I am hating my stay in USA based on my past few blogs, here is another list although this time about things that I love about USA. While I was leaving ST to come here, one my colleagues told me that USA has both good and bad things, try to absorb the good ones and learn from bad ones. So here are some of the good ones to be absorbed:

Travelling in Amtrak: Not many people in my surroundings had been on Amtrak or even heard of it when I, inspired from my experience with Indian Railways, decided to use it for travelling from Boston to Chicago. While Amtrak is not as widespread as IR is, it definitely beats its Asian counterpart when it comes to services offered. Specifically the route that I took had Hogwart-ish feeling to it.
Staying in hostels: you know that I am a cheapskate, so I was apprehensive when as a graduate student we had to stay somewhere but hostels came to our rescue. Basically hostels are poorer cousins of hotels, you still get the beds and sometime rooms but you stay in a more intimate and homely environment and the prices make you feel much more homely as well !
Unusual sights: I was looking forward to the contrast in Indian and American sights. Having spent most of my life in a landlocked city, my beach-starved soul attained bliss on seeing the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Amusement parks like Six Flags tickled my adventure bone real hard. And when everything else fails, you always have the concrete jungle to rely upon.
Grocery shopping: I would have never thought that this would figure in my list of things I love USA for but that’s the magic of industry here that they can make a mundane task like grocery shopping to be immensely enjoyable. What’s that ? No just because I enjoy it, I can’t do it for you, no not even for 5 $.
Infrastructure: As mentioned before, USA has huge huge infrastructure, you see it in the skyscraper malls, immensely rich libraries, always on utilities and yes, even in warehouse-ish grocery shops.
Interaction: Imagine having a Jewish & a Chinese professor, an American roommate, Korean classmate, bunch of Indian friends from all corners of India, Greek manager and a Russian neighbour. Suffice it to say then, the interaction and exposure levels are much higher here than probably anywhere else in world.
Great liberty: USA is a land of liberty, so they say, and you see it in action everyday when you notice that even in rigid professional circles, one’s free to choose his/her fashion, style statement without being judged on it. GLBTs openly fight for their rights
Treatment to veterans and differently-abled: USA does not afford privileges to certain needy sections like its seniors but it should be lauded for treating its veterans and differently-abled people with so much respect and concern. Each agency involved makes special arrangements to respect war veterans and provides adequate arrangements for differently-abled people to allow them work to their full potential.
Work culture: While even working in an MNC in India gives you a taste of this culture, in USA you get to have a firsthand experience of that. People are highly professional and clear cut in their dealings. Many people are actively looking to startup their own business and many more are aiming to rise through the ranks as fast as possible.
Great sights: Who would not agree that if India is land of Taj Mahal, Himalayas & Ganga, then USA is the land of Grand Canyon, NYC, Hollywood and Disneyland.
Cuisine: Let’s admit it, USA does not really have much cuisine to call its own except for different kinds of delicious pies and Mexican cuisine customised as Tex-Mex food. But whatever little it has, it tastes great.

Please leave your comments below if you think I have missed an obvious item or included a dud in this list.

21 things I miss about India

2010-08-03T21:15:00.000-05:00

Blog XXIII of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Here is a quick list of twenty one things that I miss about India. They are presented in no particular order (although missing Indian food was the trigger event for starting this post) and I have intentionally desisted from listing names unless necessary.

Going on short trips to places adjoining NCR every month.
Eating home cooked food and chaat/street food.
Meeting all of my friends and relatives and not having to wait for a long vacation.
Spending hours on planning trips using Indian Railways and IRCTC website.
Having a 5-10 Rs party with Amit every so often.
Going with elder brother to the nearby bookstore to catch hold of a comic book or to the nearby music store (Madhurvani) to record a new CD.
Watching elder sister & her family on webcam every week or so (sure we are in same country now and talk more often, but get to see less).
Meeting my two lovely nieces every holidays.
Reading books at my Mantha’s place on the sixth floor of a high-rise in Bangalore (now Bengaluru), reading Enid Blyton & Arthur Conan Doyle and humming an idiotic tune all day long.
Petting the two dogs at Mysore Pacchi's place.
Feeding cats and meeting my cousin brother & sister at Mangalore.
Going to visit my late grandmother and to return every time with a nenderbal banana, get astrological opinion from bappa.
Travelling on Konkan railways, views of which almost barely beat the thrill of a 3 day journey to Mangalore through its previous route via Vishakapatnam.
Going with father on long walks and to feed moturam leftover bones.
Countless DC (District Centre) & later CP (Connaught Place) sessions with friends over pastries, cakes and sandwiches.
Discussing anything under the sun over lunch time with Khana Khazana friends.
Celebrating Indian holidays like Deepawali, Holi, Durga Puja, Ganesh Chaturthi, Rakhi et al.
Indulging in a Babel of languages and yet feeling oneness with others.
Attending Indian DJ sessions at marriages and colleges.
Attending World Book Fair at Pragati Maidan and coming back with arms load of books to be read till the next book fair.
Attending religious ceremonies, eating kachodi at Kalkaji, taking bath in hot springs of Kadri temple and visiting other mysterious South Indian temples.

Sirji, what an idea !

2010-08-02T21:14:00.000-05:00

Blog XXII of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

“Sir, Can you please tell me…” is how typically emails from my NSIT juniors start. Like many other colleges, juniors refer to their seniors in NSIT as Sir or Madam (not both, please make note of that) and that habit sticks on, often for their complete lifetime.

Why call seniors Sir/Madam, well for one they like it. It is probably a vestigial remains of the once rampant ragging and introduction campaigns (as a junior myself, I had to enact fire in a mock marriage since I was wearing yellow) where seniors would get the thrills out of making their juniors conform to a certain code of conduct. Some juniors claim that it is out of respect although that seems to be more of an afterthought than the real reason. Another reason is that perhaps it is a good starting point to ensure that no tempers are frayed in case the other person was expecting a Sir/Madam.

Having done part of my education in US and worked in two MNCs, I got accustomed to the culture of calling your seniors by their first names or their titles (Dr., Prof.) which in my view builds a better work environment. It somewhere encourages the notion that despite seniority, one should be humble enough to have a conversation with his juniors without requiring use of titles. It also fosters an informal environment.

What do you think about this ? Please leave comments below.

Teachings vs. Rituals

2010-07-29T11:03:00.000-05:00

Blog XVIII of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Any religion consists of a set of teachings and a set of rituals. While the teachings are THE most important thing in any religion, rituals are the means of achieving/assimilating those teachings.

Teachings are the very crux of any religion. In any religion an enlightened/sacred person is one who has understood it. These teachings represent the very reason for existence of any religion i.e. to explain one's existence and also to guide one's actions to inculcate the sense of right and wrong. These teachings are highly static in nature in the sense that they are rarely changed if ever over the religion's history.

Rituals on the other hand are very dynamic and change often over a period of time. Rituals are built in for the benefit of huge masses not all of whom are fit enough to acquire the teachings. Fitness here could refer to wisdom, patience, judgement; qualities which are necessary to realise the essence and relevance of these teachings. Not surprisingly though, these rituals are taken to be more important than the teachings by many people because for them that is much more comprehensible and simpler to do. For ex. it is easier and much simpler for Buddhist people to rotate the khor (prayer wheels) with Buddhist mantra on it as a ritual. But it is only few wise people who go on to realise the meaning of the very deep “Om mani padme hum”.

Therein lies an irony for any religion, it cannot expect all of its followers to fully understand the teachings and hence has to come up with certain rituals in keeping with contemporary cultural beliefs to carry their legacy forward. I am sure the person who came up with Sati ritual did it because it conformed to then prevalent male-dominating societal structure. Bible was not written by Jesus Christ but by a Christian committee that wanted to have a codex to pass on over the generations. Vedas represent a similar intent by Aryans who performed sacrificial rituals while chanting Vedic hymns. Today these rituals are performed symbolically as animal sacrifice is socially taboo. Prophet Mohammad declared Kaaba to be the most sacred place because that was where the initial battles were fought between earliest Islamic followers and other tribal religions and retaining control over that place was essential for Islamism then.

So to reiterate, rituals are important only in that they are tools to attain pure teachings. But it is important to remember that it is the teachings that embody a religion. That is why a person can not follow rituals and still end up understanding the essence of any religion. Unfortunately, many religious heads and organisations could take offense at such a description for any religion but I am sure that people who followed this model must have been considered worthy of being disciples by the very founders of these religions.

DISCLAIMER: Above are my personal thoughts on what is the essence of any religion. Examples have been presented in support of central argument and disrespect to any religion/scripture is purely unintended.

Some Childhood Memories

2010-07-28T03:55:00.003-05:00

Blog XVII of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

It is hard to believe that I am only halfway through my Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series. One of the goals of this blogging exercise was to be able to relive some of the oldest memories I had and to store them before they get lost in the daily humdrum of life. So this post is going to be about some of the oldest memories that I have presented in order in which I could recollect them for this article.

I mentioned this in a previous blog, this is what constitutes the earliest memory of my life, I walk out of kitchen towards my mother (perhaps my mother was calling me for some time) who is having her evening snack. Before I know (perhaps she asked me something also), I get a resounding slap (perhaps that is what awakened my brain from its cognition slumber !). Papa tried to console me and after that I do not remember much.
As a kid (relatively speaking !), almost all of my classmates had short names (basically an informal name by which one is called in homes because the real name is over-proper and better suited for records). However I was always referred to by my full and proper name and although I never felt as if it made any difference I remember one day after returning from school, mummy called me for the first and last time as ‘Shubhi’. Had I known the phrase then, I would have said “you made my day mummy”.
In school, we used to play a game where we would create buttons (no Java was required, a circle with an alphabet inside would suffice) with each button representing an action for ex. ‘C’ for Chunti (pinch), ‘K’ for Kick. One day I thought of ‘K’ for Kiss, my she-neighbour clicked it, clearly I had inherited my shy genes early on. Nothing happened afterwards.
Speaking of kisses, I would kiss my mother every time she cooked one of my favourite dishes (even then I had a flair for non-veg.). Mummy would brush it off although I knew that she used to be very happy inside.
I don’t remember where I got this concept from but I continue to follow it even till today. Every time I pray, it would be for the “peace of whole mankind”.
I was a late child (procrastination in genes ?), as a result there are very very few childhood memories of both my siblings being in home. The one that I remember is where I am swinging on my hands between my brother and sister’s beds.
As with any non-veg. eating family, we would have leftover bones. Instead of chucking them off, Papa would take me to a nearby park where he would let me feed it to a dog that Papa called ‘Moturam’ (fat dog).
My brother shaped my academic goals early on. During a routine evening walk (which would normally culminate in an Eclairs or a Tintin/Asterix/Tinkle book), he apprised me of IITs and entrance exams.
I was able to handle stress and was a go-getter very early on.
Mummy: “It is raining, no playing outside today.”
$(after checking rain): “Rain has eased a little. Should i go now ?”
Mummy (sarcastically): “Why not ?”
Clearly having lost the intended sarcasm, I had already fled for playground.
Speaking of rains, I had memorised a poem to chase away rains. The “Rain rain go to Spain” phrase I thought was particularly effective in sealing the deal. Poor Spanish people, but I was praying for their peace !
Sandhya (my she-neighbour): “When we grow up, we would marry each other.”
$: “Sure, I would talk to Mummy.”
$ (Later in home): “Mummy, I have decided I would marry Sandhya”
Mummy: “Alright”
Needless to say, Mummy never heard from me any further in this regard. Sandhya today is happily married and a proud mother.
First hit song that I can recall from school functions: “Gali gali mein firta hai” from Tridev.
While my Papa is a man of few words, he had perhaps deepest influence over me. Looking back now, I was always copying what he did. I got from him a deep love for nature, passion for travelling, fierce sense of independence and ahem ability to be a man of few words.
Amit, my best friend would come to my home every Holi. Both of us pretended year after year that we did not have any colour on us but would invariably hurl a balloon or smear gulal and gloat in happiness for the few milliseconds before other person replied in kind.

DISCLAIMER: Most if not all of these memories are from my childhood days. Please view them from the eyes of a 3-10 year old’s innocent eye.

How I got evangelised by an Imam

2010-07-27T04:06:00.002-05:00

Blog XVI of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

PROLOGUE: As a young boy (relatively speaking, I am young now as well), I remember reading a Ramakrishna Paramhansa story where he explains to his disciples how different religions represent different paths leading to the same destination. Each of these paths leads to the same divinity and hence each religion deserves equal respect.

***

On a foggy January evening, I entered DEL only to realise that not only was my flight delayed but that I would also miss my connecting flight from DOH as a result. Hence I was checked in at a hotel in Doha for one night. Being the travel lover I am, I decided to go out on a night walk. Not only did Doha seem interesting but being the first Muslim dominated country that I had ever visited, I was curious and appreciative of different city sights such as a host of rugs, jugs and chandeliers in malls.

From a distance, I saw what looked like an impressive spiral building, no surprises then that I found myself headed in that direction pretty soon. It turned out that this building was a mosque. I went in only to find out that it had closed few minutes ago. With nothing else to do, I was looking at various exhibits in lounge when I was approached by the Imam of mosque. Initially, conversations went well and he actually praised the quality of my ‘Urdu’ not realising that I was speaking in Hindi.

However from here, conversations went from good to worse. Having come across a Hindu, perhaps Imam found it fit to indulge in a bit of evangelisation. What started off as an innocent conversation about origins of Islam ended up in a thesis on superiority of Islam over all religions. If anything, Imam only ended up accomplishing exactly reverse of what he wanted. Later that night, I came across some very interesting architectures including a building that could change colours but needless to say I left Doha, Qatar with a bitter after taste.

***

EPILOGUE: few months later, I was having lunch with a friend who happened to be Muslim and explained how in Islamic religion it is taught that their religion is the only way to divinity which explains why Imam reacted in the way he did.

DISCLAIMER: Above is a real life incident that happened with me. No disrespect to any religion/person is intended.

Haanv Amchigele Ulloche

2010-07-26T21:54:00.000-05:00

Blog XV of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Coming on the heels of my post about how nationalist emotions manifest in globalisation era, this post is quite coincidentally similar in its theme especially considering I started jotting points for these two posts separately.

Translated from Konkani, the title of this blog post means “I speak Konkani”. As is apparent from my surname for those familiar with Indian naming patterns, I belong to Mangalore, a small but now rising city in south India. Although I was born and brought up in the capital city, New Delhi, because of which my daily interactions involved a fusion of various other languages and cultures, my upbringing was always rooted in Konkani culture. I talked in Konkani with all of my relatives, enjoyed delicious Konkani cuisine at home and attended religious-cum-social events organised by GSB Samaj, a Konkan society.

However as time passes by, admittedly I get fewer and fewer chances to wield my Konkani or get abreast with my culture. So much so that it comes as a pleasant surprise when I am apprised of it. Few months back therefore, when while corresponding with a close friend over email I read the following lines, I was all smiles. The friend in concern is also Konkani although I was not consciously thinking of her as one.

“…you are the only Konkani guy i [have] known all my life apart from my brothers…”

Nationalist colours amidst globalisation

2010-07-25T03:56:00.000-05:00

Blog XIV of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

In this era of globalisation and alien naturalisation, it is surprising and sometimes funny to see in how many different ways, nationalist colours are manifested. Here’s a brief compilation for Indians:

Listening to Indian songs especially old ones while at work or during nightly project submissions.
A funny yet warm sense of recognition on seeing another desi.
Craving for Indian food especially the junk types at unearthly hours.
Taking video of your first preparation of gulab jamuns.
Performing puja and celebrating Indian festivals.
Using Indian flag for your user icon.
Touching feet of your Chinese professor as a mark of respect.
Catching up on the latest Indian movies and then playing the songs on a loud volume to let neighbours know.
Playing cricket in parking lots and living rooms.
Checking cricinfo for latest Tendulkar scores.
Speaking in one’s mother tongue on the first available instance.
Using bharatmata to make calls back India.
Attending A R Rahman concerts on weekends.
Preferring Maggi noodles over Top Ramen (even though Maggi is not an Indian brand).
Lamenting about dismal state of Indian football (read as soccer) team amidst World Cup soccer tournament.
Adding Garam masala in pretty much any preparation.

How I almost ended up being a rickshaw wallah

2010-07-22T23:51:00.000-05:00

Blog XI of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Here’s an anecdote of how I almost ended up being a rickshaw wallah (rickshaw driver). Well actually the story is not so complicated as before. While on a trip, we found a desolate rickshaw standing by itself in Ludhiana. Needless to say we had a lengthy photo shoot afterwards.

When I returned back to office, I sent an email to my group with subject “Goodbye” and body like “It was nice working with you folks but I have decided to leave ST to start a new venture. Please take a moment to give me your suggestions regarding this new venture.” and attached this photo. Needless to say we had some laughs over this especially since few colleagues did not check the attachment and actually believed that i was leaving.

DISCLAIMER: No rickshaws were hurt in the making of this photo. For complete trip photos, click here.

How I almost ended up being a web developer

2010-07-21T13:02:00.000-05:00

Blog X of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

This one is as real as it gets of all the “How I almost ended up being a..” blogs and would come as a big revelation to my friends. Back in India, while I was in NSIT first year (2001), I had got a so-called scholarship to attend a NIIT course on various web and software technologies. While I enjoyed programming and web development as a hobby, never could I have imagined that seven years later the same knowledge would help me offset my academic/living costs as a part time student worker and later as a graduate assistant at TAMU. But things got even more interesting in May 2009 when after finding it difficult to find an internship, I gave a serious thought about opportunities in this new direction. I already had a patchwork resume (obsolete now) that I had used for campus jobs.

Initially, I did not put my full force behind this effort and hence was surprised to see interest from a CA startup (perhaps because they did not know what they were looking for). Soon, I seriously pursued an opportunity at a local portal which called me in for an interview (yes, right in Bryan). Few web programming questions and a personal presentation later, I was offered the position of a summer intern. Things were all looking upwards until I gave the whole matter a rethink and decided that now was not perhaps the right moment to enter this new arena.

For all that we know, I might one day end up switching lines and writing a “How I almost ended up being a hardware designer” blog but till then..

How I almost ended up being a flight steward

2010-07-20T11:30:00.000-05:00

Blog IX of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Since some of my past blogs have got quite mundane, for my next three blogs, I would share anecdotes of how I almost ended up choosing a different profession. The first one is a flight steward (there is no such thing as an air host).

On a chilly February morning, Snowy, Tintin, Calculus and Haddock discuss how they must do something special for their approaching graduation. While we could eat out, stay late into night but we could not find the ‘centre piece’ in our plan. Then Tintin whipped out a newspaper ad showing how AHA (Air Hostess Academy) was doling out tickets for a concert by Strings. Attending a concert was high in our lists but the catch was the tickets were only for people willing to join AHA for their flight stewardship training programme. There seemed to be no other way to get a ticket (or at least that is what we thought then). So we came up with a plan.. :-)

Next week, we found ourselves waiting in a line to be interviewed at AHA. Snowy met a old man who asked him only two questions, name of Indian PM and count of states in India. I hope they have stricter questions for the pilot but suffice it to say, Snowy was through to the next level. However, shockingly nobody else got through and the next round required the presence of parents as well. Needless to say Snowy’s mother had a tough time understanding his son’s sudden ‘change of heart’.

So next week, Snowy and his mother were back again for next round of interview. Clearly, general knowledge figured high in the list of things that flight stewards should know because Snowy was asked EXACTLY the same questions again. (Next time when you look at a flight steward, ask him the same questions and see his response !) The results were announced almost immediately and surprise surprise I had crossed the last hurdle of being a flight steward..umm I mean getting the concert tickets.

From here things get complicated, Snowy somehow needed to get four tickets without enrolling in the training programme. He took Tintin’s help in this. They came up with an ingenious idea. There are two branches of AHA not so far away from each other. They went to first branch, came up with a story of how Snowy could not pay anything until the concert date ohhh but he could do with some concert tickets. They removed all marks from the offer letter and repeated it another time at second branch and we had four concert tickets in our hands.

Five years have elapsed since that day but even today when I look at this photo I think, boy, we look so happy to have won our one way ticket to flight stewardship, who could have thought we two would end up being something else.

DISCLAIMER: The author does not recommend such an act since it constitutes a fraud howsoever harmless the end goals might have been. As it turned out, there WAS a way to purchase tickets for concert outside the AHA scheme.

Education education everywhere, not a learning to drink

2010-07-18T23:41:00.000-05:00

Blog VIII of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

I am amazed again and again by how much education goes into the making of many of us and yet how little a percentage of those learnings do we retain when time comes to exercise them. It seems as if in this information explosion, the sane voices end up being suppressed by the babble of warmongers and irrationality.

The trigger for this blog is the recent controversy over construction of a mosque near Ground Zero. While it is understandable that common public get emotional about these issues, what is truly appalling however is when their supposedly enlightened leaders go ahead and make comments along similar lines.

Fact #1: Events of 9/11 were conducted by terrorists.
Fact #2: Incidentally these terrorists were Muslim.

Fact #3: USA has chosen to be a country of religious freedom.
Fact #4: Islam is one of the many religions that have a right to that.

There is NO reason why Muslims should not be able to open a mosque near Ground Zero. Any comments trying to justify the opposite are a veiled attack on the religious freedom and democracy. Any national leader making such comments should be seriously reprimanded by pushing him/her out of mainstream.

And for those who understand only in analogies, Hitler was a devout Christian who went on to perform ethnic cleansing during Holocaust. Should “faithful German people refudiate (read as repudiate)” construction of any church in the vicinity of Berlin and Holocaust camps because it is an “unnecessary provocation” to Jews ?

PS: Another disturbing trend is when the media is more concerned about the grammatical correctness of their leader’s statement than its politically correctness.

three things about USA

2010-07-17T18:14:00.000-05:00

Blog VII of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Today, I would like to talk about what I feel are three good and three bad things about life in USA. These are based on two years of my experience in USA measured in comparison to two decades of prior experience in India. Since I have spent most of my time in USA in academic life, there might exist a skew (although the points presented are generic in nature) in addition to my own socio-cultural offset. I am keeping the good points for last (following US style).

three bad things about living in USA

health system: many may deny that this problem exists at all (reminds me of a designer saying “it is not a bug, but a feature”) but American health system is in a mess, period. For a developed superpower like USA, it is unthinkable that managing health expenses is a scary nightmare for many of its citizens. It defies common sense to give away health system into the hands of private players who are more concerned about meeting their margins than taking care of people’s health. All non-emergency cases need to wait for an appointment which means that if have an acute pain in your stomach, you simply cannot rush to the doctor. What’s more, Americans have come to accept it as part of the system when in reality it is a flaw.
individualistic society: this is perhaps where my opinion gets skewed by my upbringing. We Asians are brought up in relation-oriented societies where an individual’s worth is also measured in his/her relations within the society. In USA, such a society exists only in professional circles where networks are important. Outside it, in personal lives Americans are more like pigeons who fly out of their nests as soon as they can. Mind you, Americans are not in any way less caring about their family, it is just that their culture is such that senior people are often left to fend for themselves. The health system problem means that many of these seniors are found dispensing grocery bags in stores like Wal-Mart and HEB to meet their rising medical costs. Another aspect of such a society is visible in the scarcity of inter-city public transport systems.
democracy: no I am not a communist, the problem with US democracy is that there is too much of it. It is visible when issues that are either trivial or should have been quickly dealt with are deliberated over for months or years. Health discussions, financial recovery, construction of a mosque are items figuring in this list. To be fair to USA, this is not a problem per se of this country but rather of mature democratic systems in general; that they are susceptible to excessive fragmentation of opinions. Freedom of speech is an inalienable right but when fools start speaking and get to share limelight, then it is an abuse of this right.

three good things about living in USA

infrastructure: This is perhaps the most visible and most stark difference that many of us must have felt in US and also might have been a main reason for us coming here. Things happen in US much faster and opportunities are plenty. People can easily go about following their dreams than ‘what sells’.
sense of freedom: being an individualistic society has its benefits too. People have a complete sense of freedom and can do anything without the need for justifying it to anybody. This imparts an independent streak to their personality. This also means that people can wear, speak, listen what they want to, without the shackles of stereotypes coming into play.
standard of living: ask any Asian why they want to get settled in US and this should summarise their response in majority of the cases. Indeed the living standard that many of us enjoy here (assuming I should ignore my living standard as a student) is far better than what they could expect back in home. Although it is unfair but if I were to indulge myself in some foreign exchange wizardry then my first part time stipend at TAMU was MORE than my my first full time salary at ST. You pay taxes at home but do not see any change, here you pay a heftier tax but you can see where it goes.

These were my points, I would be glad to know what people think about them or if they would like to add any new points..your comments – to take a cue from Americans - “would be highly appreciated”.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that this article is a personal opinion and individual experiences may vary.

Losing my Virgin-ity

2010-07-15T08:42:00.000-05:00

Blog V of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

No this is not about my non-existent escapades. Sorry to have disappointed you. For the 2% of folks who are still interested, please read on.

Friends and relations are central in my life and a mobile phone comes handy in making a call to that ‘long lost’ friend. Of course, you can also let Facebook manage your re-connection frequency but I prefer to add that personal touch. Imagine my joy therefore to have got my first mobile phone back in 2005. No more excuses of not being at home, I could simply turn off my phone !

Being the BIG cheapskate that I am, my handset models have been very frugal till now, often at the receiving end of jokes of how a thief would return me a better phone while trying to steal my phone. My response till few months back was that I did not need a better phone. That viewpoint however got changed as I increasingly felt the need for staying connected to Internet during my extended travel periods for map, email and other info. The photographer in me would also scream now & then for a mobile camera. The music freak in me had enough of me listening to ringtones (I still do that though) and FM to satisfy my musical appetite to-go.

And that’s when I broke my smart phone virginity by ordering LG Rumor Touch. The blog title is a double play on the fact that I have Virgin Mobile as my carrier in USA. Initially I was thinking of iPhone and Droid but then the cheapskate in me kicked up and found a phone that could offer comparable services at dirt cheap prices. The extent of my naiveté in dealing with smart phones was visible when I was trying to locate the method to decrease the phone ringer volume in my system menu…only to realise that there were two volume control buttons right on the side of phone.

Another beautiful life

2010-07-14T02:41:00.001-05:00

Blog IV of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Thread A: Remember the time travel enigma, what happens if one day you see a person who claims to be you from future. How would you know for sure ? I am sure you would ask for some personal detail of yours that nobody else would know of. What if you were asked to identify a person who lives life in a way identical or similar to yours ?

Thread B: Human gazing being an active interest of mine (when you are an introvert, this thing comes in handy), sometimes I would spend time in a public place watching people go about their daily lives. Grim faces break into most lovely smiles on meeting their friends and people who seem gay (in literal sense) would conduct gloomy conversations indicating some underlying serious nature. Quite often I come across people whom I call “another beautiful life”. I generally identify them as people who do not seem to have any air around them (not speaking literally), seem content and at peace with life (not talking of facial expressions here) and would appeal to you for no apparent reason.

Wrap-up: Previously I deliberated over what good character could mean. Not far away from that is the definition of a beautiful life, a person of good character going about the daily routine of life, at peace with the surroundings and inner self. There are so many beautiful lives that one comes across, it is almost a pity that one cannot be friends with all of them.

Inspiration: is due to all those beautiful lives who have come across my life, some of them I am lucky enough to have as my friends, others have been subjects of my observation.

Disclaimer: Lest you should think so, this blog is not induced by my situation in previous blog, I had this thing in my mind for quite a while now.

Will you be my friend ?

2010-07-13T23:49:00.000-05:00

Blog III of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

This is the thought that has been bubbling in my mind for some time now. Having recently shifted my base with no close friends around, for past few weeks, I have been busy trying to find new friends. The fact that I am an introvert, shy and look like a very-serious guy is not helping me at all in my efforts.

This is not the first time though that I am going through such a phase. In the past also, when I newly joined NSIT, STM or TAMU I had to go through similar phases. I have come to look forward to them because after every phase come some new friends. The beauty of this life (and I would talk about this in next blog) is that you keep meeting some very interesting people and forge relations with them that hopefully shall last for your complete life. Every time when one thinks that perhaps his/her friends list is full, one comes across another gem of a person. Right now, it is my time to be patient and look out for friends.

My list of attempts for finding friends include forcing myself to not eat in my cubicle, go out and socialise, giving smiling faces to passersby (probability increasing exponentially with decreasing distance from home/office) and using some existing friends. Trying to balance existing distance relations and forging new ones is never an easy job. Hope I succeed in it again !

PS: If you live in surrounding areas and are looking for a nerdy friend to help you fix your PC and network problems (cannot think of any other VP for myself), please contact me.

You know you are back in India when..

2010-07-12T23:39:00.000-05:00

Blog II of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series

Here is a list of real-life situations you would find yourself in only in India. You know you are back in India when..

..stewardesses welcome you with a big grin and a Namaste.
..you simply cannot make out which lane of the road are you in.
..you hear your name being pronounced correctly.
..on hitting the road, the first thing you realise is the persistent honking.
..on asking for drinking water, a security guard gives you his own bottle.
..on asking for a public urinal, a transport official directs you to a staff-only restroom.
..a custom officer lets you breach the security cordon for a bribe.
..your friends and relatives enthusiastically take you to the ‘newest’ mall for window-shopping.
..you have to fight your way in & out of public transport.
..you hear a blaring sound on public system announce “Kripya yatri gan dhyan dein..”.
..you find spices and oil in your dish like water in a fish.
..you realise that people in the same bus stop are speaking in at least five different languages.
..you can spot street side sellers standing 3 feet into the road.
..your well-wishers hug you as if you were/would be gone for years.

DISCLAIMER: This blog article neither opinionates nor attempts to interpret above situations. It is subject to reader’s own opinion as to what might have been the underlying reasons.

Thirty Blogs in Thirty Days

2010-07-10T16:04:00.000-05:00

Since my last blog entry, a big change has happened in my life. If my life was a car, then this would have been equivalent to a gear shift. And as I make this shift from academic life into professional life again, time is ripe to bring in many other changes in my life.

One of those changes would be amount of time that I devote to my leisure and non-technical activities. Academic life especially at postgraduate level is tough on your schedule. It is equivalent to working 10-12 hours daily in a regular job with no leaves to take and no weekends to spare. And to make matters worse, academic work does not proceed at the rate of your regular job. You can encounter wrong turns, dead ends and what not.

One of the things that I have been wanting to do more often is blogging. Unlike what the gap to my previous entry (4 months) might suggest, I have not been running short of things to blog about. In fact I have been maintaining a list of topics in my to do list. And to kick-start my re-blogging I thought why not take a cue from Morgan Spurlock and start a Thirty Days series of my own. So for the next thirty days, I would attempt to write a blog every day till the next thirty days. If things get tough on weekdays I would hopefully cover it on weekends.

Driving test ki kahani, meri zubani

2010-03-26T22:23:00.001-05:00

Subtitle: The story of my driving test

The story starts about three weeks ago, while in between fervently typing my thesis and preparing ppt, I decided to go for driving test under the misconception that my IP was about to expire in few weeks. I was a bit anxious but nevertheless went in boldly. The lady asked me to parallel park which I did with ease. I was elated as if nothing could stop me from getting a license now....

But that extra confidence cost me. She asked me to reverse and in a bid to show off, I started backing from very close to curb and as fate would have it, I hit it. Moments ago, Anudit had hit the curb in front, no big deal I thought, well the lady did not agree. "We consider curb to be a car and you have just hit a car so no license for you". Five minutes into my test, I had managed to flunk it without even leaving DPS complex. It seemed like a big joke.

Three weeks fast forward, I am fervently preparing for an interview, and in a whiff of sleeplessness and desire to utilize the 2 'free' chances I was left with, I decided to give the test again. People ahead of me had cleared the test and it seemed whole world would laugh if I flunked it again. The lady (same one) seemed to have some sense of humour as she said "You are here again" while entering the car.

Time came for parallel parking and halfway through, i realised I was not going to make it. I boldly asked her "can I do it again". Second time it worked fine. Backing, no problem I backed one feet away from the curb. And finally we went in for a real test ! I remember looking in my mirrors like crazy as I did not want even a single point to be deducted in observation. Twenty minutes passed by in seconds and as we reached the DPS office there seemed to be some stiffness in air. The lady said dejectedly "you needed 70 points for passing". I thought damn, I failed again. But like a reality show anchor, she announced in what seemed utter disappointment, "..and you scored 75". I remember that the first feeling I had in my mind was not excitement but relief. By the time I was headed back, I was already thinking abt San Antonio and parents. Now if only job interviews were like this...

Preparing for a travel shoot

2009-11-10T17:12:00.001-06:00

While there are several lists online on things to do to prepare for any trip and you bet have I got one of my own, but today I am going to discuss list of things to do for a travel shoot.

Travel as it is, is a very exciting experience for me. I simply get my highs thinking about what all things would I get to do/see/EAT (but of course). Equally exciting is to ponder on how am I going to ensure that all those beautiful memories are captured on the card in my Olympus E-330 camera for the one in my head ain’t that reliable. Apart from my diminutive experience on this, I have also received liberal tips from fellow travellers and read some in various photo magazines. I have compiled some of them below.

Gadgets: If you are anything like me (read as an amateur yet wannabe photographer), you would probably have a DSLR with lens(es) and filter(s) and flash(es). It is important to stick to the age old adage of travelling light. Carry only as much equipment as you think is going to be necessary. If you are in a theatre and sitting twenty rows away from action, you may not need wide lens at all. Similarly a bulky 300mm tele lens might be unwarranted for when you decide to go to a nearby pub to catch in the festive Halloween atmosphere.
When going gets tough, creative get going: Cost of changing lenses, weight of carrying units might be factors that you need to consider before you decide to carry that something extra. I have realised that I get more creative when faced with obstacles. To get a wide angle shot with tele, I use pano-stitching feature in WLPG, Autostitch. Some point and shoot have this feature inbuilt. I have not carried my camera charger for ages, I carry TWO spare batteries instead and shoot using optical viewfinder to cover 3-4 days of photography easily.
Get prepared: Once you have decided on what all to carry, pack them in neat bags days in advance so that you do not forget them in a hurry. Forgetting your shades is nothing compared to forgetting your camera. Also make sure you have all your equipment ready. You might not have time or chance to charge your batteries or clean your lens while travelling. It is a good idea to keep a poly bag extra for your camera for rain/dust protection. If your trip involves a road/rail/air journey to reach the final destination, pack all your spare gadgets in and fit your camera with the lens (wide is a good option for this) that you are going to use during the journey.
Be well informed: Now this sounds like a no-brainer but it is surprising how many times people start researching about their venue for travel only on the day of travel. Many famous spots require prior reservations or are open only on certain days and times of year. Beaches & mountains look good at sunrises and sunsets while a city centre has its own charm during night times. Still lot many venues require you to appear well ahead of schedule to be able to secure a vantage point. Kathakali dancers appear hours ahead of dance time to perform make-up which is equally interesting to watch/capture. Being a day early at McLeod Ganj cost us the opportunity to see Dalai Lama in person.
Plan your time & stick to it: This kind of follows from above but is still important enough to be repeated. Remember your travel buddies would love you for waking them early or hurrying up things (no matter what they say initially) if you can ensure them good places to watch the ‘stuff’ from. A prime example is the flag exchange ceremony at Wagah border. Even though it happens daily and can seat thousands of people, still all the prime seats get occupied as much as TWO hours ahead of schedule. Similarly to see Kochi fishing nets working, you need to be up at 4am in the morning. No other time of the day would do !
See through your trip: One last thing that I would leave you with is the ability to see through your trip. It sounds crazy but if you do it, you would not believe the immense yet unperceivable benefits that can be reaped. Booking your tickets on the same side of vehicle for a return journey allows you to enjoy scenes from both sides of the journey. If you are headed south on Konkan railways, take the seats on left to be able to watch Konkan coastline. If you are going to a famous place, check online for the cliché angles that photographers use to capture that place. You might wanna try capturing some new angles. You can yourself think of other such examples of seeing through.

Those were the tips from my side. Please share things that you do before you set off for any photo trip.

Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega

2009-10-14T00:38:00.000-05:00

In an earlier post, I talk about how love for one and all defines the essence of good character. You might think that what has got into this nerd who keeps on talking about love so persistently. But frankly, it is just a set of coincidences. So lets get going with it.

Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega is a phrase in Hindi which means Every Heart That Loves. Apart from sharing the title with a moderately popular Bollywood flick, this blog has got nothing else to do with it. The trigger incident for this happened a week back. It was a normal day full of mind boggling research, exciting classes, equally exciting job and lots of cycling around. In night time, my roommate Captain Haddock (name changed on request) comes upto me and says that "I have got something to discuss with you". Now when a roommate says this to you, the topic under question can vary widely from "What to cook for dinner tonight ?" to "Who is supposed to vacuum room this week ?" to "Which nubile woman to have for room wallpaper ?". I was naturally indifferent. What shook me out of this indifference was the revelation that our Mr. Roommate was no longer in control of his heart.

Apparently there was this new girl in block (and if you know anything about statistics of likeable women in postgraduate studies, you would know that they stand right next to endangered species) which had set his heart fluttering. He had been meeting her now & then & apparently needed some guidance from me (poor soul) on 'how to take things further'. Now Mr. Roommate has not got a reputation in these matters and it was very much unexpected.

In India, it is still common for people to undertake what is referred to as "arranged marriages" where your parents choose a spouse for you. Depending upon family, you may get to have no or substantial say over these matters. These marriages are considered different from "love marriages" where you yourself set the ball rolling by choosing your spouse yourself. Marriages of latter type unfortunately still have a stigma attached to them and many people voluntarily stay away from it for reasons ranging from not wanting to hurt parents to not wanting to get into the mess.

Statistically (atleast in my times, I am sure statistics have changed now), many such romantic relations would bud in college time i.e. undergraduate studies (note the disclaimer earlier). Therefore if you find a person's status as single after graduation, it might either mean you did not find somebody good enough (btw, statistics for likeable women in undergraduate are far more encouraging than its graduate counterpart) or else you plan to make it an "arranged affair". And this was the reason why I found this piece of news a revelation.

Whenever i think of that incident now, I am reminded of this phrase which is a constant reminder that every heart is capable of love.

So my concept of normal day has been modified to include a 5 minute status update over this 'critical matter'. As for our Mr. Roommate, he gets to share my pearls of wisdom (he is very soon going to realise that they are virtually none) over wooing girls. Best of luck Haddock.. !!

Houston Rendezvous

2009-06-29T16:39:00.001-05:00

After a long hiatus, a specific event coupled with some free time at my new job allowed me to blog. I recently visited Houston. It was strange in that I had been there so many times but never had enough time or opportunity to explore it like a tourist. Countless times I would just shift from my airline to ground shuttle (or other way round) with just about enough time to take a walk in the airport terminals. I used to while away time browsing its many terminal shops and take photographs. Once I had been to the roof to watch the Houston in its full glory and twice I have took free rides in its terminal shuttle.

My longest stride in Houston would have to be a couple of blocks long walk in Houston downtown while waiting for a bus. Having said this Houston will have a special position in my heart. I spent my first night in this Texan airport having been unable to catch the last shuttle. Houston is in some sense a lifeline for all Aggies to rest of the world being the nearest international airport with cheap rides available on weekends.

Naturally I was very much lookin forward to visiting Hosuton properly. It is a feeling that you get when you have that first talk with one of your acquaintances which leads you to know him/her better and thereafter you become friends. The trip travelogue would probably be reserved for another blog but to tell in short, I loved it.

Houston is a huge city with very extensive road system catering to it. Houston has a black majority and is #1 obese city in US. While downtown offers skyscrapers (Chase tower is 4th tallest in US) and exuberant nightlife, La Galleria provides shop-till-you-drop experience. Museum district is full of museums on themes that one can imagine and lots of well-maintained parks with well planned activity centers. Houston Gulf area has San Jacinto monument - symbol of Texas freedom, Kemah boardwalk along the bay and NASA Space Center. Alas but for the smart management of Houston transit, no weekend buses run for gulf area and hence a poor graduate student like me had to contend with keeping it on hold for another trip. Wait ..did somebody say another trip. Maybe the management guys were smart after all.

What does good character mean for you ?

2009-02-03T21:58:00.001-06:00

Recently I found myself staring at above as an essay topic for a scholarship application. Being the scholarship starved guy I am, I set about to write an essay & in the process got to know a bit more about myself as well.

DISCLAIMER: The essay is an ORIGINAL piece of work and the sources mentioned in essay have been duly attributed. The essay had a limit of 8000 characters & was written in a hurry (so thought layout maybe a bit haphazard).

What constitutes good character ? Some one has so rightly said that as a question gets simpler, it becomes more difficult to answer. I am a technologist. Ask me to solve a double differential complex Laplacian equation any day and I would have the answer ready in under fifteen minutes. But when it comes to answering questions such as these, you need to take a step back and concentrate on all your life's experiences and learning to arrive at the answer. For all that we know, this may very well be a research topic of a smart guy in sociology.

So let us try to explore this 'good character'. Following words have been traditionally used to define good character:
a) honesty
b) fidelity
c) commitment
d) trustworthiness.
But is this all that it takes to have a good character or is there is more than meets the eye. I am tempted to quote the example of six blind men each declaring an elephant to be a wall, knife, tree, rope, pipe and fan. Similarly all of above attributes may be found in a person of good character but these by themselves do not make a person "good character". In words of a mathematician, these are the necessary but not sufficient condition of having a good character.

In a recent survey done online, audience was asked to rate various attributes on how closely they relate to good character for them. Each participant could vote for multiple attributes thus allowing a subjective opinion to be taken. Interestingly enough, collective user's opinion rated three attributes ABOVE all other qualities in how closely they represented good character for them and none of those were from the list of conventional words above. They are presented below in order of ratings :
1) Respect and consideration for others
2) Courage to "do the right thing"
3) Admitting and correcting mistakes

A close inspection of above three attributes reveals that there is a common thread that binds these attributes together and that is of love. This love is not towards a specific person but for the whole world. A person who is wholeheartedly in love with this world - various creations of god that manifest in nature and variegated experiences that unite together to form what we call life - is one who has an innate respect and consideration for others. Such a person derives courage from this inexhaustible source of energy called love to do what is the right thing to do. Such a person understands the humble role that he has to play in this universe and does not allow ego or arrogance to come in way of amending his own mistakes. Thus it is the love for one and all that makes a person honest, committed, trustworthy and loyal.

Let us consider an example to see the power that love holds. A guy in love with a girl will be concerned about her. He will take care of her, vow to stay together for whole life, put her needs in front of him and remain loyal to her. But if the same person one day magically falls out of love with this girl, he will neither be caring nor respectful of her.Although this example does not pertain directly to good character but it shows the strength that love can hold even if directed towards a particular individual. Now imagine the same love but instead directed towards all world in general (& humanity in particular). A love that stems from thankfulness to god for creating this beautiful world and considering us worthy enough to be placed here. This love neither holds any boundaries nor any prejudices. It is an unconditional love that arises from an appreciation towards the pure harmony and balance existing between various forces that may be to provide such a splendid world.

It is this love that makes a person do 'the right things' no matter what. It is this love that makes one keep other's concerns ahead of his even if it means admitting and correcting one's mistakes. It is this love indeed that marks a person of truly good character. In my opinion therefore, good character means to harbour unconditional love for one and all.

I would like to conclude by quoting the lines from a popular ad campaign by Discovery channel "I love the whole world. It's such a beautiful thing". The next time you see somebody humming this song, smile for you are looking at a person of good character.

$
PS: So much work for just an essay !! I do hope I get the scholarship :-)

51 Indicators of a graduate student in USA

2009-01-12T10:31:00.000-06:00

Lots of things happen in one's lives which despite the underlying seriousness are best taken in a humorous stride. In the same spirit, here goes a list of signs and indicators of being a graduate student in USA.

DISCLAIMER: Since this derives from experiences of people around me, you may find certain items to be specific to international students. Nevertheless, it should be an interesting read for all.

You know you are a graduate student in USA when :

you wipe instead of washing (think morning).
you make a night suit out of an oversized T-shirt you got for free.
you submit assignments on one sided sheets taken from previously submitted assignments.
your conversation starters revolve around grocery rates.
your conversation ends in "Have you got any aid ?'.
phrase "Friday nights" elicits an image of a long line of students in front of a desk full of pizza.
phrase "Bollywood night" elicits an image of belly dancers.
in your nightmare you reach the end of "free drinks line" only to find cans and cans of Dr. Pepper left.
your mall trips are triggered by a bunch of coupons nearing expiry.
eating out is synonymous with free pizza at campus.
you train your nose to pick up smell of free food in campus.
you train your eyes to spot a trail of people in (10).
you have your meals at McD & Subway.
as a group you order only one cold drink & then share refills.
the only 'orkuttable' photo from last night's party at home was of you washing dishes.
you use carabines instead of key rings.
you have more bottle holders than bottles.
while going through grocery items, you divide rates by their weight to find the lowest unit price.
you pay frequent visits to nearby church but for TT/foosball.
you claim to be a racquetball champion even though you do not know half of the rules.
50% of your mails in sent mail folder are requests for assistantships.
other 50% are seeking internships.
after-class talk goes like "So where is free pizza tonight ?".
you browse Youtube like you would surf channels on TV.
learn virtues of eating/sleeping on ground.
bedbugs (US cousins of khatmal) become a REAL issue.
you take an insurance based on cost instead of coverage.
path to Walmart goes through your senior's place.
your arguments with roommate are over which ice-cream flavour to buy.
you learn the 'grocery balancing act' on bicycles.
OR
you start building biceps out of carrying grocery.
you count no. of scratches on walls for lease agreement.
you have to convince people for part-time jobs that despite being an engineer, you know MS Office well.
you have to spell out your name umpteenth time only to be misspelled again.
you attend a conference on "" for free pizza.
you open a bank a/c for the free USB drive that comes along with it.
you pay frequent visits to your bank for the free cookies.
you agree to be the subject of an experiment just because it pays.
you always appear either busy or idle on GTalk.
PhD Comics replaces your daily dose of Garfield.
you start breathing papers and juggling references.
have chicken patties instead of chicken tandoori for dinner.
you stare at other Indians like they are aliens just landed from Mars.
99% of mails in your postbox are free coupons from nearby stores.
you count no. of days or even hours to your India visit.
you leave metric measurement system for US system.
you carry passport as ID to a pub.
cyclones, red light, petrol, lift, bicycle & Indian become hurricanes, set of lights, ride, bike & desi respectively.
the only time you wake up early in morning is on the day of course registration.
you brainstorm for days over which mobile connection plan to buy.
you claim to patronise a long hair style till the next hair salon coupon comes in your hand.
write such blogs.

$P
(enroute to Chicago)

Journey of Quarters

2009-01-07T01:35:00.001-06:00

It is amazing how time flies, especially when you are enjoying it. Not so long ago, I remember walking across the kitchen only to be slapped. Yes, that constitutes the earliest memory of my life !! I don't even remember the reason for being slapped. I do remember being consoled though...

Not all memories of my life are that unhappy. But yes, I do realise that when you turn 25, you have lived a quarter of your life, to be speaking very optimistically. Considering the wild streak in me, make it very very optimistically. :-) So what comes next ? Well you can expect one of the following from a blog that starts off the way this one did :

Describing the journey so far.
Reliving some of the highs and lows.
Evaluating one's progress in whatever be the judging parameters.
Making some resolutions for the future from lessons of past.

Normally I try to do all of above (mentally) but this blog is for a different purpose. Let us take a small detour in understanding this. Suppose you meet a long lost friend. How will the normal discussion proceed ? I for one would normally find out what the chap is up to now-a-days & then try to interpolate from what I knew of him/her from the past. This is what many call 'joining the dots'. Unfortunately when you join the dots, you use lines.

To explain with an example, if my friend earned 12 quarters per hour three years back and 24 quarters now, you would assume that he/she earned 20 quarters an year back and 16 quarters two years back. Though it saves your brain for putatively better tasks (such as catching up on latest movie songs ??), this is all but a compromise. And this compromise called JLC (short for Joining Lines Compromise) will manifest in the conversation as :

"It is a long story, listen.." (close friend).
"You NEVER check on me.." (beloved)
"I knew you since you were THIS small.." (relative)
"Abe, chodh yaar.." (not-so-close friend)
"Now is not the time.." (former colleague, who is more interested in making quarters rather than talking to you)
"How/Where/What are you.." (Beware! Could mean that the friend has forgotten about you, and wants to figure you out without making it apparent)
"Bhul gaya ??". This one happens often if you are quarter-amnesic like me !!

So what am I arriving at ? Well, I know a bunch of people in this world whom I consider to be in my sphere of influence. They can influence me just as I can influence them. I intend to drive the point that atleast for these people, I would like to draw not lines but exact curves (B-splines for the geek-minded) between points. This means that if you meet me next time (in real or online), bore me to death with what's happening in your lives. If you find me silent in between, know that I am not a verbose person. Don't stop till you finish or find me in a quarter-conscious state. Believe me, I would love it.

To explain using our earlier example of 12 and 24 quarters over three years, it would imply that my friend earned...ahem.. well I guess I will leave the B-spline calculation part to you folks. I am sure you got the gist of it.

PS: Wondering why the blog was titled so...did you miss anything ? Yes, that is our JLC at work again.

Howdy

2008-10-05T21:03:00.001-05:00

Second mail from the series described in previous post:

That is probably the first thing you would learn in Texas. People here say Howdy instead of Hi. It is a short form for "How you doing ?".

Resuming from Houston airport, in the morning I was waiting to catch my Groundshuttle at 9:30am. However around 8:30am I met a senior (an Indian) in airport who was also waiting for the bus. We both agreed to rent a car to college instead of waiting for bus. Here in US you can rent a car cheaply & return it at convenient points. He drove & I navigated (using a map). As it was registration day, so I knew that I would not find Apoorv or Amrinder in their homes. The senior then helped me find a room to keep my luggage & dropped me inside the college.

That day & next few days were VERY busy. I had to clear so many formalities & get so many things done & at the same time try to meet various professors & depts for financial aid. Gradually however things became smooth & by the next weekend I had handled home, grocery, mobile, bank, I card, fees, bicycle & other issues.

LIVING
The apartment has two rooms, one each for both of us. Each room has a big wardrobe (a first for me) & a window. The apartment has central AC, a kitchen & bathroom & has carpeted floors. For laundry we have to walk to nearby apartments. By now, we have also bought a vacuum cleaner, iron & toaster. Usually we go on weekends for grocery & on alternate weekends for laundry. For now Abhinav does most of the cooking while I do most of the cleaning. :-) We soon plan to have internet in our homes as well. College is just 5mins walk away & the area is quite safe so that it is not a problem even if we return very late. During free time we go to a nearby church here where we can play table tennis & foosball. The locality is mostly Indian & they also play cricket here during weekends. I am yet to calculate but I guess the cost of living per person should be under 350$/month incl home, mobile, utilities & grocery.

COLLEGE
College is VERY VERY huge. The core campus area is over 5000 acres !! We have free buses running inside & outside campus frequently. They also go to nearby stores & imp areas. Thanx to this, till now I have not had to pay even a single cent for travel. Texas A&M has the strongest traditions & they take it very seriously. They call themselves Aggies, are mad about American football (which is actually played with hands), have a bitch (she-dog) called Madam Reveille for their mascot & have different signs & calls for different student years. Favourite colour is maroon & they hate orange which is the colour of nearby rival college (Texas Austin). The campus is very well maintained & beautiful (although not as much as NSIT). All the buildings here are well-equipped be it the academic departments or the sports centre. The sports centre here is probably bigger than the size of two stadiums & besides the building there are around seven different stadiums for football, soccer, baseball, swimming & other games. There are lots of cafeteria, libraries & games centres all around the campus most of which are open till midnight. Also there is a flag room here which is called the living room of university. There is no other way to describe it, it is just like a living room where students can study, sleep, talk, play piano or just hang around.

STUDIES
It has been a week since studies have started & till now it appears ok. There are about 15-25 students in a class & professors here are very open. Some of them even allow students to bring in food in class. I have taken courses from Imaging & VLSI areas. For now I have not got any professor to do reasearch under. I have got dept scholarship of 1000$ & half tuition fees. I have also got a job in Dining Services for 7$/hour, 20hours/week. In between I had enrolled in an experiment in which I had earned 40$ but that was just one-time. Although I have to take just 9hours of classes in a week but the studies that we will have to do outside the class is going to take most of our time. I have enrolled in few student organisations to keep myself involved in campus activities as well.

APART FROM STUDIES
Before the classes had started there were lots of parties & free-eatouts for students from different clubs & organisations. For many days we didnt have to make food at home because of these events. They give away free stuff like anything. By now I must have got 6-7 T-shirts, cowboy hat, bag, a bundle of staionery & sports items, maps n what not - all for free ! As I said during our free time we either go to church for playing or stay at home listening to songs. Recently we have started to go to sports centre of our college as well. Akka, we have started getting lots of free shopping coupons in our postbox as well.

I have made few trips to tourist spots inside college & a short trip on my bicycle to a nearby town called Bryan. Probably in next few weeks we will do more travelling. Oh I forgot there is a VERY HUGE cinema hall here inside campus where they have free movie screenings.

Probably just like all around US, even strangers here greet each other if they come across. Sometime the greetings get a bit too painful as even if in a hurry you have to go through the "Hello how are you, I am fine, thank you" rituals. I had won a free ticket to women soccer match (here the normal football is called soccer & is more popular amongst women). As i was telling about Aggie traditions, here they have a ceremony called Midnight Yell which as the name tells you is a midnight yell. For this seeemingly crazy event, thousands of students assemble in the football stadium & yell in support of their team. They also have Yell leaders who co-ordinate this. I have took some photos which I will email you.

I hope I have covered as much as practically possible in two mails. Ofcourse in reality there is much more happening here, but I will try to keep you posted. It is possible that in next few weeks I may not be able to come online as frequently as now as studies will slowly pick up pace.

USA Ahoy !

2008-10-05T19:51:00.000-05:00

Having neglected my blog for too long, I decided that I would start off even if it means copying some of my emails. It is not that I do not have anything happening in my life. Actually there is so much happening that it becomes difficult to keep everyone posted. What I do to answer that is an interesting thing that could be the subject of another post!! So coming back to topic, I copy some of my emails as posts here.

Following was first of the two part email that I had sent to my near & dear ones. No, converse is not true, so if u did not get the email, it doesn't mean that you're not my near & dear one. It just means that I was saving some viewers for my blog.

Now that I am relatively settled here, I thought I would write a mail to
tell you what all has been happening here:

31st Aug : After taking off from New Delhi, I realised all of a sudden
that there was too much free time with me. So I utlitised it in part
with my plan of what to do after I land & in part with watching movies
in aeroplane. I must have watched atleast 7-8 movies but the one that I
remember most was Ratatouille. While flying over London I could watch
the London Eye which is a huge merry-go-round. In each flight I made
sure I talked a bit to the person flying with me (British, Nigerian &
American). At each airport that I landed I made sure I explored every
part of it.

The flight was mostly vacant till London but after that it was full.
Flight over Atlantic Ocean did not have much to see except the blue
ocean & white clouds. Infact we were at so much height, the ocean seemed
to be frozen in time. Due to passing time zones, this whole flight
appeared to be one long afternoon. It finally ended when i landed in New
York. It is by far the best airport that I have seen till to date. After
getting through formalities, I realised that my next flight had got
delayed. Therefore I had a light dinner in airport itself. That also
tested my dollar card for the first time. One interesting thing in NY
airport was a multi-religion chamber where people from different faith
could come & pray. It was just a silent room with place to keep your
shoes outside. By the time I reached Boston it was already around 11pm
(a total of 26hours flight !). I wasnt too drowsy as I was sleeping for
most of the time in my NY-Boston flight. Jijaji & Kunal had come to pick
me up.

01st Aug to 10thAug : Next 11 days were spent really great. I not only
learned a great deal about American life but also had fun along the way.
For most of the time I was there, a friend of Jijaji had also come with
his family, so it was like one big reunion. Perhaps because Mummy & Anna
had given me so much info about Nashua & US, I knew exactly what to
expect & on seeing the beautiful scenes in Nashua & NY during my flights
before, I felt familiar with them ! The home at Nashua is very very big
in comparison to the homes that we see in India & also quite beautiful.
It also had few birds around for me to start clicking my camera. But
perhaps the most fascinating part was to visit the shopping malls such
as Walmart, CircuitCity, BestBuy which were a treat to watch. Although
malls here look very boring from outside unlike the malls in Delhi, but
from inside they are similar. I also got to taste McD & other food
outlets here. We also went to a mini-golf course, driving range,
baseball practice court & an ice cream parlour which was fun.

Amidst all these, days just seemed to fly between visiting malls &
playing with Rohan. One thing that needs mention here is the search for
a 'laptop deal'. I am sure jijaji must be smiling as he reads this. Not
having decided on any laptop before, it took several days for me &
jijaji to finalise on one laptop & when we did, we realised we had
ordered at the wrong place. After a lot of phone calls made by me &
Jijaji, we finally managed to cancel our online order (which would have
taken too long to deliver) & purchase it from a BestBuy store. Last few
days were spent in packing, data transfer & last-moment shopping. Thanx
to Jijaji, Akka, Kunal & Rohan (whom I saw for the first time), I had a
really great time in Nashua NH.

10th Aug : The day of flight did not seem to be right with thunderstorms & hails
falling & when I saw my first flight getting delayed my premonition was
proved correct. Due to delay in my first flight, I missed my connecting
flight to Texas as a result of which I not only reached Texas around
11pm but I also missed my groundshuttle bus which would have taken me to
college area (1.5hrs drive from airport). Taxi was an expensive option &
I was not confident about rental car. So I had no choice but to stay the
whole night in airport. I shifted my baggage to an area where
receptionist could see me & slept while keeping my legs/arms over my
luggage. Lots of other people were also doing the same thing.

11th Aug onwards : To be continued... (I am sure I've bored you enough
already)

Being Me

2006-06-18T08:34:00.000-05:00

$ubodh Prabhu