In retrospect

Today is the last day of college. It has been a long four years. As I write, people, my batchmates are leaving for their home. A sense of great relief is palpable in almost all their faces- at having graduated, though unofficially; the atmosphere is filled with sounds of photo-snaps and good-byes. Some of them might not see each for a long time, for others it is a short good-bye, they'll all re-assemble for the last semester to finish their projects here. Yet, all won't be at the same place once again, at the same time.

Personally, the last four years have been good for me. Though engineering wasn't my first option, I've taken a liking to it. So this post, is just a reflection of things the past few years. I've had some of the greatest times of my life here; met some truly good people; been part of a lot of things; and more importantly, grown as a person. I'll not venture so far as to say, college taught me everything. Far from it. I've, like so many other people before me, filled myself in as per the scheme of things.

When we come to college, the mindset varies depending on the person and the situation that brought them to the place. There are three categories:

1. Those that aimed higher, say an JEE/ AIEEE, but fell short
2. Those that came through AIEEE
3. Those that came here because they had this in mind.

And not surprisingly, I know people in all three categories. Of course, the general mindset once you get in the atmosphere is of cynicism and apathy. Yet, the degree of cynicism varies as per the category. I've seen that, those that came through an AIEEE score were less cynical about college and its functioning. They never really complained as much (to the best of my personal knowledge) as the other two sets.

Any hostel has a lot of varied and colourful characters. I'd even say it is a great place to sociology based research. The variety is such! To develop bonhomie, we had four in one rooms in first year. Shared rooms help people to ease into college life, developing a sense of community and friendship. I was fortunate to get some really nice people as room-mates. Two were from Andhra Pradesh( I picked up a good amount of Telugu from them), and the other a Tamil.

The English Club or ELS played a big role in helping me ease in to a comfortable place, socially. It was a group of like-minded students who gathered every evening, right after classes to do fun stuff like Quiz, Charades, speaking, JAM, etc. ELS gave me my first contact with seniors. They helped us settle into our college life, with a helping hand. It was club that kept me going, made life interesting for the first year of college. I'm no stranger to competitions and cultural fests, having participated and won many in my school time. ELS helped me continue that and set the bar several notch higher. My primary aim when I started going to club was to participate in quizzes, as I was primarily a quizzer. Club gave an opportunity to widen my bases and develop skills in other events. I've made a lot of great friends, thanks to Club. I regret not participating in speaking events more at club. I had some stage fright, though it has almost vanished now.

For some reasons, I think my college life so far , is incomplete. I don't really seem to have done anything remarkable here. When I came in I thought I'll learn a lot of new things. Learn I did. But practically I know precious little. I think, most of my batch mates will agree with me when I say, inspite of theoretical knowledge, we have poor applied/working knowledge. It is easy to blame it on the system; it does promotes such learning. Yet, I've seen people who have excelled both in theory and practice. Not all can do that.

No college chronicle is complete without mentioning the numerous trips taken to participate in quizzes and culturals.They were a wonderful learning experience. Over three years, I've been to Pondicherry, Vellore, Coimbatore and Chennai (most often) with friends.

As I sit and recollect, lots of incidents/events/memories come to my mind. It'll be stupid to put them all down here. College certainly could have been better. A lot of things could have gone/ turned out differently. But then this is life, not the realm of ifs and buts. We can only work with the chips on the table. Considering that I'm moderately happy about the past three years. There's this quotation that I love from Futurama, a TV show. The character says," You gotta do what you gotta do, no more". I think I did exactly that in college. No more.   

Pakistan, Peace and Penrose

Pakistan and India share a past that goes back to a time far lost to antiquity. They were once part of an undivided India or Bharat called Jambudweepa then. Undivided India or Akhand Hindustan extended from Persia in the West to Burma and beyond in the East. The rulers may have differed from place to place, yet the entire region was connected through the umbilical cord of a common culture. Even a cursory scan of the Vedas would not fetch the reader a reference to the name India. India was never called India. The name is a corruption of the Sindhu. In Arabic the 'S' sound is replaced by the 'H' phoneme. In Mahabaratha,  Gandhari, the mother of the Kauravas, was from Gandhara Desha. It is the modern day Qandahar in Afghanistan. The national symbol of Mongolia is called SOYOMBO. It is eerily close to the Samskrit- SwayamBhu (meaning, being of it own). Arjuna was married to Ulupi who hailed from Nagaland or somewhere. I assert all this here in a bid to establish, the long standing, hoary tradition and cultural heritage the people in the sub-continent shared. ( share?). Much to my surprise, I even found similarities between Korean and Tamizh ( of which I'm a native speaker). For example, the personal pronoun I in tamil is "Naan". Guess what it is in Korean?- "Na". You in Tamil is "Nii" and "Ni" in Korean. More. Wa and Vaa for come in Korean and Tamil respectively. For day it is Naal in both languages. There are a few more. I'm not claiming here that both evolved at the same place, that would be impossible. I'm saying that the sub-continent has unimaginably intricate cultural similarities, leading to the speculation of a common origin.

My point being that even in an age which is characterised as primitive such a vast majority of diverse people managed to forge bonds, but sadly today we have no peace left. Particularly, the Indo-Pak relations , and the course it has taken over the 60 odd years after a blood-soaked partition would be written down as one of the darkest chapters in human history. That the British had sowed the seeds of division is obvious. But a deeper, more subtle reason for this mutual antagonism is the religious divide between Hinduism and Islam. They are vastly different in terms of their ideology and philosophy. Yes, one can rightly point Sufism as a syncretic evolution combining the best principles of both religions in a mystical environment. But Sufism was a happy co-incident rather than an evolved consensus. There has been a historical divide among Hindus and Muslims. That is undeniable. Partition unleashed this suppressed undercurrent of enmity. The Kashmir dispute is the cornerstone of the present state of affairs of relations. Post partition relations are pock-marked by an on-off cycle of war and enforced peace. A chess game between Gradmasters fades in intrigue when compared to the geo-political equations in Indo-Pak ties. So, first, immediately after Partition there was the Junagadh dispute, followed by the Kashmir standoff. I'm no scholar in History/Politics, but I can assure you that a cursory glance at the points set the stage for a riveting novel. Such is the nature of power play involved. Then, after that there was a United Nations brokered peace settlement. After a few years of calm came the dispute about sharing the water from the Indus river. International pressure and help forced the two parties to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution. World Bank was instrumental in engineering the deal. Once again, peace prevailed only to be rudely broken by a military operation in 1965 by Pakistan to take back Kashmir. The Tashkent Declaration was signed to restore a semblance of peace. Then came many more hostilities, and an equal number of attempts at peace. 

The title says Penrose, where does he fit into this mess? Well, he supplies us with the metaphor to characterise this state of affairs. You must of heard of the Penrose staircase? No? Well, here's a picture for reference.

It ascends in some parts, descends elsewhere.  It is an impossible object, really. But it perfectly describes the Indo-Pak relations. Goes up sometime, comes down the next. But, essentially, goes nowhere. Talk of going in circles. In a circle, one doesn't find ups and downs. That’s the only difference. So, is peace possible between us? I've no answer, it is a trick question. The result is predicated on so many factors. I'd love to see the old ties restored but one would be in fool's paradise to think that this can possibly occur anytime in the foreseeable future. In fact, to my understanding, I see tensions escalating. Both parties are nuclear, so that adds to the worry. We've uncertain times ahead. That much is evident.

Of hard disks and movies

Back then, when I was in first year of college, I had this crazy impulse to get an external hard disk. It was the thing then. I was a film buff, saw at least three movies or so a week and couple of TV shows. So, I thought it would be prudent to get one and store things. It was a fashionable thing to have a film collection, mostly English movies. In hindsight, I realise now that half the movies that people waxed eloquent about were hardly impressive. But then, its like modern art, even if you don't understand it you say a word or two to praise it so that you can show how refined your tastes are. So back to the story, I did get a hard disk, and in my childish over-enthusiasm stocked it with movies. The process in itself was fun, I admit. Asking your friends, comparing notes with others on what were "The Maasest/Beshhtest...(fill any superlative)" movies. In six months I built up a decent collection and came a full circle when other people started asking for mine to copy those movies they did not have. That was a proud (seems shameful now, but hey we all do crazy things) day for me.

No discussion on movies is complete without the "IMDB 250" the GODFATHER ( pun unintended) of all best movie lists. No hard disk collection is complete without the Sacred 250. I was different in one aspect, I could never accept that a list of best movies could ever be made. Common, think of it, it is highly subjective, varies person to person. That people could vote for movies made in different generations I couldn't agree. So I steered clear of it. I'm not carried away by words like cult classic and all that. For the record, personally, I found Thuppaki far more engaging and entertaining than Goodfellas. I watch movies for what they are and not what is told about them. Some people say Blade Runner is the greatest Sci-Fi movie ever. I beg to differ. Most of it is hype, I've seen the movie. It is a painfully slow script, the book was far-more engaging (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) Primer, a little known indie film, by a Physics graduate is far superior.

Coming back to my hard disk, well, although the collection has grown and has saturated now, there are a lot of movies in it, that I never got around to see. I refrain from erasing it, telling myself that someday I'll get around to see them. I'm sure there are many out there with a similar tale of a disk full of movies they haven't seen and will never see in all probability. More than movies, I like TV shows slightly more. Can't think of a rational explanation, but I think it has got to do with the shorter length of a TV drama. I'm proud that I've seen all the TV shows in my hard disk collection. That offsets the guilt of not having failed to see the movies.

The Maratha Warrior

It has been two days since Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray's death. Not that his death was a shock to people, he was long suffering. With him comes to an end an era in the political dustbowl of the Maratha Land. Balasaheb was unique and intriguing in many ways. He was not your quintessential politician- someone for whom a plum post mattered. No. In fact, he never stood for elected office in his entire political life.  He was a backroom operator, the hand that controlled all actors on the stage. There also, unlike a sly agent, he never kept himself from the public's eyes. He was a band apart. But, that he was simultaneously much loved and much hated was an endorsement of his originality.

I hardly have followed much of Bal Thackeray, politically. After all, the Shiv Sena is not any major national party and I've never lived in Maharashtra. Whatever I know of him is through readings. I've also seen his television interviews. Well, to be frank, I loved the grit of the old man, voicing his opinions (however biased they may be) fearlessly, with a conviction that only comes from deep belief. His rise in politics is quite the story. I want to discuss, in brief, about how he placed himself in the place he was and the unique characteristics of Indian polity that made it possible. I'm no scholar in political analysis, so read ahead with that in mind.

Thackeray's politics was bequeathed to him by his father, who fought for the unification of Maharashtra through the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement. Thackeray was primarily an artist, a cartoonist specifically. He worked for the Free Press Journal during the late 50s rubbing shoulders with the likes of R.K.Laxman.  Laxman was a lifelong friend. Those were heady days of politics in a young democracy, so naturally a cartoonist had a field day. Not many know this, but Thackeray had his own version of The Common Man, called 'Kakaaji'. Regionalism had a strong flavour in his politics. The Shiv Sena, he launched in 1966 to counter the Communist trade unions' influence in the Bombay factories. It has been a much-debated issue, but many feel that the division of Indian states along linguistic lines is largely responsible for regionalism in Indian politics. Tamil Nadu is a classic example. In its early days, regional Dravidian-identity based politics held centre-stage. It does today also. Parallely, the Maratha Manoos was the fulcrum of the Sena's philosophy. He conceded to it himself in an interview. To give Thackeray credit, he never, ever promoted/played politics on caste lines( a major pain in the Indian political ass). Political analysts are foxed to explain this, as to how he made it possible to run a caste unpolarised regional party. Another important feature/character of Indian polity that Thackeray adopted and evolved to a fine art was the art of public speaking. Public speaking is foremost on any politician's arsenal. The Sena Supremo always spoke impromptu and people thronged to listen to his candid yet venomous talks, sometimes going non-stop for two hours. The annual Dussehra Rally in Shivaji Park is proof of that.

Thackeray was a vociferous proponent of Hindutva. He had a strong anti-Pakistan views and charged successive central governments of soft-pedalling on the issues of terrorism and conceding ground to Pakistan. Post 1947, Indian politics has been dominated largely by the Congress and its brand of socialist, welfare-state type politics. Hindutva is a much-misunderstood concept. Its essence is nationalism, to put the greater good of Bharath, the nation forward. Hindutva does not mean a Hinduism biased politics. But operationally it has been made out to seem so. There's even a Supreme Court judgement on this. It says, Hindutva can't be defined to mean anything related to Hinduism, but in fact is a way of life of the people who have continuously inhabited this land over thousands of years. If you think of it, Hindutva is an evolution of Thackeray's regionalism, to give priority to those from Maharashtra against perceived outsiders, while Hindutva advocates putting the nation's interests foremost. 

Thackeray's critics also hold him responsible for the violence that was unleashed post the '93 Bombay blasts against Muslim community. The SriKrishna Committee lay blame on him. But, many also credit Sena for protecting Hindus against retaliatory attacks from Muslim mobs. Riding on that incident, Sena won the Maharashtra assembly election in '95. Apart from all this, Thackeray held an iron-grip on Mumbai City. A phone call from him could turn things for/against you, depending on whether they were proximate to him or otherwise. The Bollywood revered him. It is no secret that Amitabh Bachchan's  Sarkar was a celluloid adaptation inspired from the cigar-smoking, wine loving Thackeray's life. The verdict may be undecided on the impact of his xenophobia driven brand of politics but his legacy on Mumbai City is unquestionable. The reverence in which he was held by the people of Maharashtra was well-evident in the massive crowds that turned up to bid farewell to his mortal remains chanting slogans of "Balasaheb Amar Rahe". His polarising nature and the popularity he enjoyed among people is proof of the dichotomy in the politics of India. But, somehow, Shiv Sena couldn't translate the cult around him to electoral success across the state. 

Confusion- From Big Bang to Karakaatakaran

Entropy is a very intriguing concept.  It is a measure of disorder in a system. I find it quite incredulous that randomness can even be measured and studied like any other physical phenomenon! Well, doesn't that go against the very definition of random? If you can study it then it means there's an underlying order, right?? But it gets stranger. For some reason, Nature always prefers that entropy increase. I find this fascinating. It is unbelievable, but in our own lives we've seen examples of it. How often have we seen the room we so painstakingly cleaned revert back to the same state of haphazardness, in spite of all our wishes to keep it clean?? Even the expansion of the universe as explained by the Big Bang Theory exhibits this preference for multiplying entropy. It started as a concentrated point mass with very little randomness, yet today it is a mind-bendingly random and spread out.

Not just the physical universe, entropy applies to human activities too. There's a concept called Social Entropy. It measures the natural decay of social systems. In Sociology, a related idea is "dumbing- down". It refers to the over-simplification of things, over a period of time. It is not exactly a counterpart of entropy, where randomness increases. Dumbing-down results is degrading of quality, over time. I've seen a lot of this dumbing-down in my college. As a techie, I know the practical importance of some of the concepts in Mathematics  vis-à-vis  engineering. But, when one of my teachers explained it, it lost all significance; the person simply put it up as an abstract equation whose only purpose was to help us finish the given problem. There's also this public outcry that over the years even competitive exams seemed to have dumbed-down. Every year I've heard people say that JEE is not what it used to be; that formulaic teaching and cracking the pattern have made it lose its pedigree. I've no idea how far it is true, since I never gave JEE a shot. Appeal some reader of this blog, to please educate me on this.

Mass Media is a classic example where dumbing down can be seen. In order to reach a wider audience, complex topics are expressed in the most mundane of language in talk shows. In some ways it is good, but scholars say that the inner purport of the idea is lost when broken down. Sensationalism is also a side outcome.

Talking of sensationalism- the bane of today's mass media. In the name of making quick money and boosting viewership, channels have resorted to over-hyping petty, irrelevant  issues. The Western media is a trendsetter in this, and the Indian media is playing catch up. Gossip columns are longer than the editorial pages, reports on which film released where, who wore what in high parties rule the roost over issues of price rise and poverty in the pecking order of newsworthy items. There is a conscious tendency to focus interest on the perverse, base, cheap issues. I'm tempted to coin a new term to describe this. I call it the "SwapnaSundari Syndrome". Tamil-speaking readers can relate easily to it. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krptuzbFh3I&feature=related

Film: Karakkatakaran. The comedy duo Goundamani and Senthil.(G and S, hereafter)

 G&S are musicians in this movie. They have gone to a town to perform when their ramshackle car breaks down and they are forced to push it. The hero, who is also part of the troupe asks Goundamani what is so special about the car that he still keeps it. G recites an illustrious list of past owners including the Maandurai Maharaja, Trivandrum Highness, Hyderabad Nizam, a Minister, an MLA and  cinema glamour actress Swapna Sundari who was the last owner. Now Senthil, who is also pushing the car whispers something in G's ears which causes him to rise in anger and slap S. After sometime, he slaps him again and then again. The hero reprimands G and asks for the reason. G says, "He asked, we have the car now, but who’s having the previous owner Swapna Sundari now? (as a mistress)".

This is what I'm hitting at. The issue here was of the ramshackle car, yet Senthil concentrates on the gossip item. Most of our channels are doing this. Leave out real, burning issues. Go after the perverse. There by hangs a tale.
 

An analysis of Soap

I watch this US television show called Homeland. It is one of the most popular, critically acclaimed and decorated shows on TV currently. Dealing at once with the different concepts of geo-politics, espionage, terrorism (both home-grown and foreign) and crime, it has a gripping narrative. President Obama called it his favourite TV show of the year (last year). Without giving out too much, I'll briefly explain the plot.

The show is actually an American version of a popular Israeli show- Hatufim.  A US prisoner of war (Sgt.Brody) , declared MIA for more than eight years , is found at Iraq. At the same time a CIA agent (Carrie Matheson) gets secret information that a US POW has been turned into a double agent by Al Qaeda and is being unleashed. Brody comes back to a hero's welcome at home. Carrie's seniors don't take her warnings seriously. Things get further complicated when Brody is offered a chance to be a Congressman. 

The script is well-researched and executed. It packs the intensity of a movie in terms of screenplay, yet keeps you hooked week after week. Now , my object in this post was not to attempt a review of this TV show. I'd like to digress and discuss my views on why certain TV shows work while others don't.

If you took Homeland, apart from all the gripping action that comes naturally with terrorism based thrillers, it has in its core a story, a simple yet powerful story. That, of a man who struggles to adjust to a society after years of isolation and torture; a soldier whose patriotism is tested in the face of physical and mental abuse.  I think, more than anything, it is this core story in a TV show that determines its success. How much the viewer relates to it, to what degree s/he is able to emotionally invest with the narrative. This tug at human emotions is vital for a soap. Homeland's success lies there. Post 9/11, the threat of terrorism is everywhere. Everyman is forced to question his loyalty, whether his primary allegiance is to his Faith or to the Nation. This is brought out in     Sgt. Brody's character. Another classic example in support of my line of reasoning will be "The Simpsons". All of us have heard of Bart, Homer, Marge and Lisa. It is America's longest running sitcom. And it is the ability to connect emotionally with the audience that has led to its run. Come to think of it, Simpsons typify any normal American family with all their idiosyncrasies.

Looking at our own backyard, Chitthi-the uber-popular Tamil soap. No emotional stone was left unturned- may it be appa sentiment, amma sentiment, thangachi sentiment, thatha sentiment etc. etc. Many call it boring and uninspiring, but I strongly disagree. The majority of people across the state loved it. It was a trendsetter in many ways giving much fillip to women empowerment by portraying a strong lady character who faces her life with strength. It was a stark departure from earlier soaps that hardly had strong women-characters.  Audiences loved this novelty.

When any show lacks this emotional content, it fails. Sometimes a successful show in one country may be remade elsewhere. It is important that the story is suitably altered with the new audience in mind. Else, it'll bomb. Best example is the successful British show The IT Crowd. It bombed in the USA because the viewers found it artificial and couldn't connect emotionally. On a more general note, the TV shows are a reflection of the zeitgeist of the times. A show that failed at a particular time might in fact garner a slow, yet steadily rising fan base over a few years as public discourse evolves. Such shows may have been "ahead of their times" so far as making an emotional connect. Firefly is one such show. It traversed genres of space travel mixed with the American West. It was cancelled before it was fully aired, yet today it has a phenomenal fan base.

So such are TV shows and their complex relationship with audiences.

So, whats my rating on TV shows and viewers' relation ? Well, Its complicated.

FreeEconomics-1

Economics has always fascinated me for various reasons, being a banker's son being the least of them. It has a certain beauty to its construct. In my opinion, economics was one of the first of the social sciences to emerge once humans settled into civilizations. Come to think of it, trade was fundamental to civilisational presence; exchanging what you have for what you need. Barter. So, it is imperative that the human mind developed a rudimentary notion of value and its varying association with different goods.

I will deal with the anthropological connect with Economics in a future post, but right now my mind is fixated with a more pressing notion. The economics of exam preparation.

We all know how stressful it can be to study for exams.  It is an enormous co-operative effort by the different faculties of the brain-

a. The faculty of remembrance - to help us know there is an exam
b.The faculty of recognition - to help us recognise the portion from the syllabus
c. The faculty of discrimination - to help us discriminate important from the unimportant questions

... etc, to quote a few.

But the motivations to perform well in exams are many and varied. The most obvious one being the promise of good marks. That promise is largely driven by parental pressure. In India, parents exert an extra-ordinary amount of pressure in their child's education. I'm not saying its bad. But sometimes it is enormous and can be stressful. In a college situation, exams get relegated in the importance scale. The outcome calculus is binary. Pass or Fail. No one talks on the basis of a linear system of ranks. That binary nature is liberating, in a certain limited sense. The hope of a good performance is also driven, in college situation, by the need to make your resume look good to a prospective employer who comes to shop you. People generally don't accept it, but placement fear plays a big role in a student's attitude to exam preparation. Of course, I am stretching it here; people always don't look at long term consequences. But I'm arguing that the short term fear is, in turn, fuelled by its long-term counterpart.

Now, if one gets placed in a company at the end of three years, the entire equation is altered.

S = A +B -C

S= mood in exam preparation
A= parental pressure
B= personal ambition, motivated by various things- ultimately placements
C= distractions( internet, cellphone, pesky friends, boredom, etc)

So you see, once placed B vanishes to zero(almost), A is also absent since parents are happy you got a job.
All that remains is C. A negative influence on your mood. You get it??

Law of diminishing returns is a concept in economics. Wikipedia says:

 It is the decrease in the marginal output of a production process as the amount of a single factor of production is increased, while the amounts of all other factors of production stay constant.

So, in our analysis, the exam preparation mood is the output. The guarantee of job is the single factor that has changed. Rest all remains same. So, as the number of your job offers increases, it leads to a corresponding decrease in the motivation to study. QED.

Exam preparation follows this law strictly. That gives me a vague sense of  peace.

Hello world.

I love putting the above cliche in- HELLO WORLD.. It has got to be the most ancient sentence in the Digital world. Its simplicity is its USP. More so, it stands testimony to the human mind which although capable of creating complex machines, always starts with the simplest of stuffs to test the beastly machines with. A tech equivalent of Lao Tzu's famous- " A journey of thousand miles, begins, but with a step". "Hello World", thy art the single step of many a maze-like programme.

With that nostalgic infusion, I welcome myself to blogging.