Missing those wonderful soaked days of monsoon treks ...
The sky is overcast,
The climate is humid,
The clouds are dancing
To the tunes of thunder,
It is another monsoon weekend,
We are in another monsoon trek.
The sky opens up,
And starts pouring down,
The trees of the rain forests,
High and dense to stop even sun,
And its punishing rays,
Could do nothing but get wet,
And let us soak in rain, but
We are not complaining, because,
We are enjoying it.
It is still raining,
We get new friends,
Whom we don't notice,
For we are busy with,
things from the sky,
They climb our legs,
And call for attention,
By biting us and suck,
'Yikes! Leeches', cries one,
'Oh! there they are', laughed one,
We drive them away, with
Salt and tobacco powder,
And it is still bleeding, but
We are not complaining, because,
We are enjoying it.
It is still pouring down,
We are in the open now,
With the rocks and grass around,
Totally wet and drowning.
Our weights have increased,
By the water that has soaked us,
And now the wind blows,
Blows to chill our bones,
And the wet cap flies,
I chase it on the slopes,
The rocks are slippery,
I slip and fall in a pool,
And get up smelling mud, but
I'm not complaining, because,
I'm enjoying it.
We are still in the open,
The visibility is too low,
The black giant a bit away,
Is not clear if is a rock or an elephant,
Not sure if we are on track,
Or are we heading due North,
Instead of going east,
Just then the mist clears,
We run in all directions to scout,
But the mist soon comes back,
And so do the scouts,
We don't know where we are,
And we decide to munch food,
We are not complaining, because,
We are enjoying it.
It is dark and pouring outside,
With the incessant rains continue,
As the stream nearby roars,
We sit inside tents, shivering,
And searching for a dry cloth,
For even the sleeping bag is wet,
And we try to sleep, still wet,
With the wind blowing the tent off,
And water tries to enter,
Through every possible opening,
And the thunder keeps frightening.
The night passes through,
With barely some sleep, but
But we are not complaining, because
We are enjoying it.
Only a monsoon trekker will know why we enjoy it ...
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
A Tribute
When the developed countries around the world didn't think much about going to the next stage of improving their democratic election process, India successfully used (still using!) Electronic Voting machines. And who was the man behind it ?
Today India's regional languages are up in an identity crisis with the youngsters attracted towards English. Those who learn the regional language are happy blaming those who don't learn it and create literature understandable only for a small circle. So, when a 70 year old vernacular language writer died, you would hardly expect the youngsters to even notice it, let alone getting shocked. But that's what happened when this man passed away. So what did he do?
When the free software enthusiasts were busy appreciating the 'freedom' provided by the ideology, there was a group which took it to people. Among them he stood tall in guiding people in doing the right thing to try and bring the mass to use GNU/Linux.
He wrote a explanatory text for a 2000 year old literature. He wrote fictions of what will happen after 100 years. He wrote science in simple words in his mother tongue which anyone would appreciate. He wrote screen plays to famous movies, including 2007's blockbuster. He wrote a full glossary of technical terms in his mother tongue.
Unlike the formal obituary speeches and articles that are written to some 'erstwhile' prolific person, his absence truly left a void: his scientific question-answer in a weekly stopped with a lot of questions unanswered; his blog like rambling in a weekly which had a huge following suddenly ceased to see his thoughts; a crew involved in a multicrore project where he was a chief mastermind felt to have lost a hand.
It is hard to forget this legend, engineer, author and screenplay writer, Sujatha Rangarajan who passed away on February 27, 2008 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sujatha_Rangarajan). Hundreds of people have written passionate articles about him and the internet is full of data about his life and works. But if the politicians, the political linguists (no pun intended) are true to their wish to keep their language in the midst of people, should pray for someone life Sujatha to emerge out of their talent pool. They should attract people to their mother tongue instead of barring them from going towards a foreign language by forcible evictions. They should create interest in people in their language by bringing out wonderful accessible literature, instead of gleaming to have seen a word from the language on Greek wall (no pun intended).
Growth of a language doesn't depend on talking about how old the language was or how great the literature of the language was. Then it becomes an interest only to historians and literary enthusiasts. Language grows (or at least avoid vanishing) only if it is relevant in the current context. Sujatha did precisely that, by bringing in science, fiction, and even the brilliant literature of the past to the common man. In the ancient days lack of printing and storage means hampered the scholars from writing prose and restricted them to write only in concise poems. It surely is an art, an adorable art. And that's where it stops. Art is always for the gifted or at least those who spend a life time with it.
It may never happen that we get someone who can do all that Sujatha could do, but I wish he would be an inspiration to the next generation enthusiasts to take up one of the many face masks that he wore and excel in the same. If that can happen in each of the regional language, then we would have no trouble in preserving our languages.
There are some vivid memories that I have of his works:
I still can remember "En Iniya Iyanthira" (My dear Robot), the science fiction which came as a weekly serial in Doordharshan (Tamil) in the early 90s. I can remember to have seen with curiosity and fear, his scientific thriller novel "Kolayuthir Kalam" (The murder season) which also came as a weekly serial in DD. I still remember how I waited for more than a month to buy his "Yen, Etharku, Eppadi" (Why, What and how: A collection of Science Q&A) from a second hand bookshop for Rs.30/-. It would an understatement to say that the book provoked many a scientific curiosities in me and also damped out the unnecessary excitements towards some fields.
Some of his unforgettable works, for me (I have read minuscule of his works):
Novels:
Kolaiyudhir Kalam
En Iniya Iyandira and Meendum Geeno (Geeno Again)
Short Stories and others:
Srirangathu Devadhaigal
El-dorado, Arisi
Vignana Sirugadhaigal (Scientific Short Stories)
Science:
Yen, Etharku, Eppadi (Why?, What?, How?)
Screenplays
Mudhalvan (Nayak)
Kannathil Muthamittal
& many more
Random Writing:
Katrathum Petrathum
Today India's regional languages are up in an identity crisis with the youngsters attracted towards English. Those who learn the regional language are happy blaming those who don't learn it and create literature understandable only for a small circle. So, when a 70 year old vernacular language writer died, you would hardly expect the youngsters to even notice it, let alone getting shocked. But that's what happened when this man passed away. So what did he do?
When the free software enthusiasts were busy appreciating the 'freedom' provided by the ideology, there was a group which took it to people. Among them he stood tall in guiding people in doing the right thing to try and bring the mass to use GNU/Linux.
He wrote a explanatory text for a 2000 year old literature. He wrote fictions of what will happen after 100 years. He wrote science in simple words in his mother tongue which anyone would appreciate. He wrote screen plays to famous movies, including 2007's blockbuster. He wrote a full glossary of technical terms in his mother tongue.
Unlike the formal obituary speeches and articles that are written to some 'erstwhile' prolific person, his absence truly left a void: his scientific question-answer in a weekly stopped with a lot of questions unanswered; his blog like rambling in a weekly which had a huge following suddenly ceased to see his thoughts; a crew involved in a multicrore project where he was a chief mastermind felt to have lost a hand.
It is hard to forget this legend, engineer, author and screenplay writer, Sujatha Rangarajan who passed away on February 27, 2008 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sujatha_Rangarajan). Hundreds of people have written passionate articles about him and the internet is full of data about his life and works. But if the politicians, the political linguists (no pun intended) are true to their wish to keep their language in the midst of people, should pray for someone life Sujatha to emerge out of their talent pool. They should attract people to their mother tongue instead of barring them from going towards a foreign language by forcible evictions. They should create interest in people in their language by bringing out wonderful accessible literature, instead of gleaming to have seen a word from the language on Greek wall (no pun intended).
Growth of a language doesn't depend on talking about how old the language was or how great the literature of the language was. Then it becomes an interest only to historians and literary enthusiasts. Language grows (or at least avoid vanishing) only if it is relevant in the current context. Sujatha did precisely that, by bringing in science, fiction, and even the brilliant literature of the past to the common man. In the ancient days lack of printing and storage means hampered the scholars from writing prose and restricted them to write only in concise poems. It surely is an art, an adorable art. And that's where it stops. Art is always for the gifted or at least those who spend a life time with it.
It may never happen that we get someone who can do all that Sujatha could do, but I wish he would be an inspiration to the next generation enthusiasts to take up one of the many face masks that he wore and excel in the same. If that can happen in each of the regional language, then we would have no trouble in preserving our languages.
There are some vivid memories that I have of his works:
I still can remember "En Iniya Iyanthira" (My dear Robot), the science fiction which came as a weekly serial in Doordharshan (Tamil) in the early 90s. I can remember to have seen with curiosity and fear, his scientific thriller novel "Kolayuthir Kalam" (The murder season) which also came as a weekly serial in DD. I still remember how I waited for more than a month to buy his "Yen, Etharku, Eppadi" (Why, What and how: A collection of Science Q&A) from a second hand bookshop for Rs.30/-. It would an understatement to say that the book provoked many a scientific curiosities in me and also damped out the unnecessary excitements towards some fields.
Some of his unforgettable works, for me (I have read minuscule of his works):
Novels:
Kolaiyudhir Kalam
En Iniya Iyandira and Meendum Geeno (Geeno Again)
Short Stories and others:
Srirangathu Devadhaigal
El-dorado, Arisi
Vignana Sirugadhaigal (Scientific Short Stories)
Science:
Yen, Etharku, Eppadi (Why?, What?, How?)
Screenplays
Mudhalvan (Nayak)
Kannathil Muthamittal
& many more
Random Writing:
Katrathum Petrathum
Thursday, February 19, 2009
A Police Constable, a doctor, a lorry driver .... contd
It's a cricket match where they get-together, not for watching, but to play.
The last time I played for my club team Students Jr CC (now renamed as Writer Ramaswamy memorial CC) in December (in Salem, TN: http://salemdca.com/), I looked at each of the team members from a non-cricketing perspective. We had just won the second division trophy last year and had got promoted to first division and were playing the first match. We are all amateurs with a great interests in 'playing' the sport and some of them having immense talent.
When we are in the ground we rarely talk about non-cricketing things. So when I found that our opener was complaining something to our team's one down batsman, about some non-cricketing problems, I started realizing that we were in fact in a completely different world away from the identifications that we have in the outside world.
opener (a lorry driver): See, these policemen keep bugging us around. What do you suggest on keeping them friendly?
1 down bat(a Police constable, with a smile): If you treat him (with cash!), Police is your friend
The ball-game in amateur cricketers is quite interesting. The hands which were till the day before (or sometimes minutes before) were wresting a lathi, a computer keyboard or a lorry gear, suddenly starts doing magic with the bat and ball. The game here is not the leisurely tennis ball cricket with rules framed by ourselves, but the cricket which produces the multi-millionares of the countries (read: Indian cricket team members) who play among these amateurs to raise their levels.
There's quite a different world of cricket in the states and districts quite far away from the IPLs and ODIs that the general public in India these days are interested in. I will try to throw a glimpse or two on this alien world in this blog sometime later.
Our team:
The last time I played for my club team Students Jr CC (now renamed as Writer Ramaswamy memorial CC) in December (in Salem, TN: http://salemdca.com/), I looked at each of the team members from a non-cricketing perspective. We had just won the second division trophy last year and had got promoted to first division and were playing the first match. We are all amateurs with a great interests in 'playing' the sport and some of them having immense talent.
When we are in the ground we rarely talk about non-cricketing things. So when I found that our opener was complaining something to our team's one down batsman, about some non-cricketing problems, I started realizing that we were in fact in a completely different world away from the identifications that we have in the outside world.
opener (a lorry driver): See, these policemen keep bugging us around. What do you suggest on keeping them friendly?
1 down bat(a Police constable, with a smile): If you treat him (with cash!), Police is your friend
The ball-game in amateur cricketers is quite interesting. The hands which were till the day before (or sometimes minutes before) were wresting a lathi, a computer keyboard or a lorry gear, suddenly starts doing magic with the bat and ball. The game here is not the leisurely tennis ball cricket with rules framed by ourselves, but the cricket which produces the multi-millionares of the countries (read: Indian cricket team members) who play among these amateurs to raise their levels.
There's quite a different world of cricket in the states and districts quite far away from the IPLs and ODIs that the general public in India these days are interested in. I will try to throw a glimpse or two on this alien world in this blog sometime later.
Our team:
Saturday, January 24, 2009
A Police Constable, a doctor, a lorry driver ....
A police constable, a doctor, a lorry driver, a software engineer, a mosaic worker, an
electrician, an engineering student, a customs official and some more
were gathered. What place do you think would they have gathered at the
same time sharing the same place and having a word or two across ?
electrician, an engineering student, a customs official and some more
were gathered. What place do you think would they have gathered at the
same time sharing the same place and having a word or two across ?
Monday, January 12, 2009
Conglomeration of Control Engineers
Last week, I was back in REC (Oops! NIT), Trichy for a Control Engineering Workshop conducted by ICE Dept. More than attending the conference I was very much excited of going back to my alma matter. But at the end of the three days of workshop, I thought the visit was more to worth it for the learnings, earnings (read contact!) and so on. A quick summary of what happened there (purely my viewpoint and understanding):
It provided the first chance for me to meet the big names in Control in India.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
- Prof. Shankar Bhattacharyya (from Texas A&M University) gave talks on data based (or model-less)
synthesis of fixed order and multi-variable controllers. His current area of research where he works on providing a formal approach to the design (read tuning) processes the industries use for their fixed order controllers (read PIDs). He pointed out to directions where students can pursue their research and benefit both themselves (with the formal approach and rigour) and the industry with the synthesis process.
- Prof. R.Padhi (IISc) talked about gain scheduling, dynamic inversion and neuro adaptive designs and specifically their applications in aerospace.
- Prof.M.S.Bhat (IISc) talked about the Robust optimal control techniques with relevance to aerospace. He also discussed about Variable structure control (or sliding mode control).
- Dr.Girish Deodhar (NAL) provided views on how a number of ideas discussed by Prof. Padhi and Prof.Bhat are utilized by the LCA project. He also discussed a number of difficulties faced in implementation of these to the LCA project. He discussed some of the basic ideas of statically unstable designs and how the fly-by-wire technology takes care of the stability of the aircrafts.
- Prof.M.Chidambaram (Director,NITT) illustrated a simple method for designing PID controllers.
- Prof.A.Ramakalyan (NITT) discussed about how randomized algorithms could help in choosing the right controller from the set of all controllers that any method can provide. He emphasized on the computational problems that would arise after the synthesis of set of all controllers, in the form of choosing one from the set.
- Prof. Siddartha Mukhopadyay (IITKgp) discussed the exciting possibilities of how theory can help the digital testing industry to 'prove' when a design is working and otherwise. He gave glimpses of how the concept of Discrete Event Systems (DES) could bring in immense help to the industry from the theoretically bent academicians.
- Prof. Bijnan Bandopadyay (IITB) gave views on non-linear sliding mode control and their applications.
- Prof.M.Umapathy (NITT) provided with the results of the experiments of application of various control algorithms for the control of Smart Structures.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
On the first day evening Prof.Ramakalyan showed his veena skills by playing a few carnatic classics which was followed by Prof.Shankar Bhattacharyya showing his proficiency with Sarode accompanied on tabla by Gauri Shankar, playing a few hundustani tunes.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
On the second day late afternoon, the participants and delegates took a quick visit to the big temple in Tanjore spending valuable time together discussing other interests.
The temple visit was followed by a banquet in Tanjore where the participants vowed to strive to conduct "Indian Control Conferences". As a precursor to it, a group was to be formed to bring in the control engineering enthusiasts across the country. The core group was decided for this to contain five members: Prof.M.Seetharama Bhat (IISc), Prof.Bijnan Bandopadyay (IITB), Prof.Siddartha Mukhopadyay (IITKgp), Prof.Ramakalyan (NITT), Prof.Arunkumar Mahindrakar (IITM).
Vijay (Research Scholar, IITM) and Ramprakash B (Research Scholar, IITB) would spearhead the framework to bring in the students and others.
A Google group will soon be opened with the aim to integrate the control engineering community in the country.
Among other suggestions, a newsletter as suggested by Prof.S.P.Bhattacharyya looked an important step.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Apart from the food for the thought, the workshop included amazing food served both at the guest house and at the hotel in Tanjore.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
There are a lot more to say, but this would give a fitting glimpse for what happened over the three days. The workshop wasn't flawless as the books and CDs promised couldn't be provided to the guests at the end of the 3rd day due to the issues with transport strike and other reasons. There were also schedule slippages due to which a couple of lectures had to be shortened/dropped. But overall it was a great three days spent.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
PS: In case there is any mistakes, accept my apologies and notify me so that I can correct it as soon as possible.
It provided the first chance for me to meet the big names in Control in India.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
- Prof. Shankar Bhattacharyya (from Texas A&M University) gave talks on data based (or model-less)
synthesis of fixed order and multi-variable controllers. His current area of research where he works on providing a formal approach to the design (read tuning) processes the industries use for their fixed order controllers (read PIDs). He pointed out to directions where students can pursue their research and benefit both themselves (with the formal approach and rigour) and the industry with the synthesis process.
- Prof. R.Padhi (IISc) talked about gain scheduling, dynamic inversion and neuro adaptive designs and specifically their applications in aerospace.
- Prof.M.S.Bhat (IISc) talked about the Robust optimal control techniques with relevance to aerospace. He also discussed about Variable structure control (or sliding mode control).
- Dr.Girish Deodhar (NAL) provided views on how a number of ideas discussed by Prof. Padhi and Prof.Bhat are utilized by the LCA project. He also discussed a number of difficulties faced in implementation of these to the LCA project. He discussed some of the basic ideas of statically unstable designs and how the fly-by-wire technology takes care of the stability of the aircrafts.
- Prof.M.Chidambaram (Director,NITT) illustrated a simple method for designing PID controllers.
- Prof.A.Ramakalyan (NITT) discussed about how randomized algorithms could help in choosing the right controller from the set of all controllers that any method can provide. He emphasized on the computational problems that would arise after the synthesis of set of all controllers, in the form of choosing one from the set.
- Prof. Siddartha Mukhopadyay (IITKgp) discussed the exciting possibilities of how theory can help the digital testing industry to 'prove' when a design is working and otherwise. He gave glimpses of how the concept of Discrete Event Systems (DES) could bring in immense help to the industry from the theoretically bent academicians.
- Prof. Bijnan Bandopadyay (IITB) gave views on non-linear sliding mode control and their applications.
- Prof.M.Umapathy (NITT) provided with the results of the experiments of application of various control algorithms for the control of Smart Structures.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
On the first day evening Prof.Ramakalyan showed his veena skills by playing a few carnatic classics which was followed by Prof.Shankar Bhattacharyya showing his proficiency with Sarode accompanied on tabla by Gauri Shankar, playing a few hundustani tunes.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
On the second day late afternoon, the participants and delegates took a quick visit to the big temple in Tanjore spending valuable time together discussing other interests.
The temple visit was followed by a banquet in Tanjore where the participants vowed to strive to conduct "Indian Control Conferences". As a precursor to it, a group was to be formed to bring in the control engineering enthusiasts across the country. The core group was decided for this to contain five members: Prof.M.Seetharama Bhat (IISc), Prof.Bijnan Bandopadyay (IITB), Prof.Siddartha Mukhopadyay (IITKgp), Prof.Ramakalyan (NITT), Prof.Arunkumar Mahindrakar (IITM).
Vijay (Research Scholar, IITM) and Ramprakash B (Research Scholar, IITB) would spearhead the framework to bring in the students and others.
A Google group will soon be opened with the aim to integrate the control engineering community in the country.
Among other suggestions, a newsletter as suggested by Prof.S.P.Bhattacharyya looked an important step.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Apart from the food for the thought, the workshop included amazing food served both at the guest house and at the hotel in Tanjore.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
There are a lot more to say, but this would give a fitting glimpse for what happened over the three days. The workshop wasn't flawless as the books and CDs promised couldn't be provided to the guests at the end of the 3rd day due to the issues with transport strike and other reasons. There were also schedule slippages due to which a couple of lectures had to be shortened/dropped. But overall it was a great three days spent.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
PS: In case there is any mistakes, accept my apologies and notify me so that I can correct it as soon as possible.
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