Let us start looking up

I was sitting under the pristinely clear night in a small farm house near Korategere. The small group of people who had gathered, aged anywhere between 7 to 70, were enthusiastically looking up the sky with awe. With almost no light in the viscinity (except for the small light inside the farm house), it was an ideal setting to witness a rare celestial event: Total Lunar Eclipse. I was lucky that a friend who was part of Bangalore Astronomical Society (BAS), asked me join him for a lunar eclipse gazing trip on December 10.

It has been a long time, except for the one-night star gazing trip to Vangani during my IITB tenure, I had been hardly in touch with my childhood passion and couldn't say No. Korategere is about 100 kms from Bangalore, on the way to the fort town of Madhugiri. The farm house was in a small village off Korategere, Doddamallyanapalya, and was located far away from the city lights.

Sitting on the rocky surface covered with tall grass, I saw the moonlight been slowly gobbled by an unknown shadow. A lot of cameras, some fitted with telescopes were busy clicking the celestial marvel. I decided to put to rest the camera and binocular I had been using and sat down on the grass to immerse myself in the world around. I felt the same way as our ancients, who too would have looked up to these celestial events with similar awe. The setting I was in would have been no different than in those days, and they surely wouldn't have dull reasons like watching TV. But their perception of the events were far different from ours.

The Vikings thought that the dreaded wolf was eating away the moon. The Pomo Indians of California feared the bear was swallowing the round milky ball. The Chinese thought that the dragon was swallowing it. And our own ancestors called that the Ashura Rahu was gobbling up Chandra. While the stories may be different, the thin fine line that connects them is easily visible: it always is attributed to their dreaded enemies. Wolves were the Scandinavian vikings' fiercest enemies. Even today, California has enough of problems with the human-blackbear altercations. China always feared dragons (real or imaginary) and in Indian mythology the enemy of the mythological heroes are almost always portrayed as an Asura.

A chuckle came out of me when some of these thoughts went through my head, for some kids who were in our group, knew the precise scientific reasons behind the eclipse. While that knowledge is acquired rather than experienced, our ancestors didn't have much choice but to wait, watch and guess. Just sitting in the dark and looking at the strange happening, I can't think of anything better than the ancients did. Today with all the repository of knowledge available, we have even gone to the extent of ridiculing our ancestors like: "They thought the world was flat".

It is no doubt that the sky has impacted human's intellectual evolution profoundly over a period of time. Whether it is subjugation in the form of superstitions or the observations and propositions which broke the superstitions; Whether it is the belief of how they control our daily lives, or how we today explore to see if life exist over there; Whether it is where the Gods roam and keep a watch on us, or it is where the satellites roam and spy us.

It is no wonder why most of science enthusiastic kids' in our times, had their future ambition of becoming an astronaut (or cosmonaut). The friend from BAS, Keerthi, who organized the trip, mentioned during our discussion about how it is very difficult today to impress upon kids about astronomy. He shared his experience on how, during star gazing shows, kids were more interested in the laser beam or the computer software used, rather than the infinity that lies ahead of them. It is not the kids' fault, for today, given the explosion of things around us, scientific curiosity has lots of avenues with shorter 'time to understanding' and astronomy will be tough to project. But given the very important skills of patience and dedication that astronomy teaches, it is important for the next generation to appreciate.

During our trip, a kid suddenly was excited shouting, "Look, that star is moving so fast, how is it possible?". "It is not a star, but a man-made satellite orbiting earth and the light you see is that reflected from its solar panels", remarked a thoughtful head. The reasoning apart, the kid had found, during a careful observation that something different from his understanding is happening. The excitement in the kid's words told how much joy a small learning, after prolonged observation can bring.

It tells how much looking up to the sky matters a lot.

The way of search for real knowledge

As I was departing from hometown last weekend, I walked past the busy streets of the area which I had roamed around as a schoolboy. There is a small shop in the junction of two streets, hardly 4 feet by 10 feet, which I used to visit numerous times on my father's bicycle. It was 'Abu Circulating Library', a private lending library, a concept today having such flashy makeup like 'Justbooks clc'. I was not so privileged to lease a lot of books then, but Abu was a very kind man and used to allow me to read books standing there. The people who come there were unique and Abu had the knack of finding second hand books for them, on varying topics from science to fiction to philosophy. It was one of those wonderfully unique places in a small town where people go for their quest of knowledge.

Till the time Soviet Union collapsed, the wonderful soviet science books will find its way through to Tamilnadu. A number of pre-1990 books from Mir, Radhuga, Progress publishers bringing out with wonderful popular science books at nothing of a price. Books for Rs.5/- might seem odd, but given the soviet rouble troubles then, the distributors, New Century Book House (NCBH) surely would have got a good deal. Whenever I visit relatives in any town in Tamilnadu, I make it a point to visit NCBH and pick a 'Mir dwarf' or two. While I don't claim to have read much of these books, there was always effort required when we had to search for the right place to get our knowledge.

Those days were past, so I thought.

For today, everything is available at our finger tips, literally, given the smartphone explosion. Our knowledge base is just a few clicks or a google search away. Every person seems to be walking with a library, with the availability of thousands of books and articles that are spread across the Internet. Any question you ask a person, he is able to tell in just a few seconds and automatic knowledge comes when people read feeds on social networking sites like facebooks or email forwards from friends. But quite recently the trends that are setting in is pushing us back a few years and is asking for the same keenness and quest for knowledge.

The data available in the Internet has grown so much that the Search companies have been required to 'customize' the results before we see them. Our friends circle in social networking has grown so much that Facebook and others will 'customize' what feeds to we get to read. These were aptly described by Eli Pariser in this TED talk: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOTPz7KnwIA

While this may seem not so relevant, the trend is not. The customized search can throw results which may look completely relevant but at the same time could be grossly wrong. For instance, if we are used to read everything from blogs, then a google search may customize results for us showing a lot of blog results for a topic, say, "alien ship lands in IITB gymkhana". It could all be ramblings of hundreds of us based on our dreams and hallucinations, but this may even convince us. Or take the recent out pour of emotions and science that are thrown on the Mullaiperiyar dam issue, with both Kerala and Tamilnadu sides pitching in to prove their case with varying degrees of emotion twisted scientific facts: all in blogs. Friends share blog article links through facebook and by putting arguments in 'nice' way, a lot of imagination becomes fact.

You may laugh at aliens or may not want to worry about such social issues, but in today's short attention span mentality, people would believe anything if put in a believable way. Take this case: recently a friend of mine cribbed about how the HR group had sent a 'motivation' mail to hundreds and thousands of employees, based on a nicely cooked up story of eagle reincarnation. It was just a regular forward and without making any attempt to verify the contents, it was sent with all sorts of 'confidentiality' impositions to the employees. The way the narration was done, the terms used, all can make people to believe that it is actually science and that the whole eagle story is true. Alas, just a google search will give a hoax slayer link in the first page and can blow you away (if you care to click it). And this we are talking about in one of the brightest set of people living in this country.

I'm not taking a pessimistic look here at the explosion of data available, but only pointing out to the necessary care we should take to be alert. While the situation is not yet as daunting as I'm trying to project, it is invariably going to go as the Internet keeps growing. Like in those olden days, quest for true knowledge will remain to be for those who are really keen and ready to go the extra mile. It may not take a few days or even hours like in those days, but it will definitely take some minutes, which will be too much for the short attention span of few seconds that we are developing.

FDI in retail: my confused view

I would like those who better understand economics to clear my perspective below, which seems to be grossly against the idea of FDI in retail.

I'm not going to argue from a socialist perspective. Also I want to keep the emotions away of small family trades disappearing and all that.

Any new business initiative or something which claims to be of that nature shall be looked at as:

1. cost of the products sold : What consumers get

2. Generation of Jobs/loss of job : Socio-economic benefit of the region

3. Cost of procuring products: What producers get

4. Impact on the region: long term impacts on nature and lifestyle

I feel that FDI in retail fails when counted against these factors (from my perspective).

1. Surely, the cost factor is something everyone bets and it likely might come through. But that is not without the side-effects on the factor 4.

2. I think the 1 crore jobs is a mighty pipe dream. The retail outlets can open only in 51 cities in the country. So, if 100 new malls are opened in every city, so 5000 outlets. If each of them employ directly 60 people (sales boy/girl, managers, maintenance, security etc) and indirectly 40 people (transportation, middlemen etc.), then we get 5 lakh jobs. The funny part is we are not at all counting the jobs that are indirectly lost due to this and also those parts which need not be new jobs (like the middlemen). I may be wrong in analysing things, but the data of 1% of the country will get jobs because of this FDI is something I just can't find a way to believe even 10%.

3. The biggest claim is that farmers will get a better deal. I doubt so. I don't think the new retailers will go anywhere beyond the existing middlemen who form the bridge between farmers and retailers. The simple reason could be that a large number of farmers are small and the retailers won't make all the efforts to go and do business with every small farmer. So the middlemen now have the benefit of buying bulk and can further coerce the price for the farmers.

While I wish I'm proved wrong, but the farmers may actually get a raw deal in this case.

Ethically, no corporates care for farmers. Did those who promoted Bt cotton in Vidharbha cared for them ? Those who now promote corn for ethanol (for US consumption) across India care for their sustainability ? So expecting that retailers will go and directly deal with farmers because of serving them is nonsense.

Technology can help in this (Agro-advisory systems like mKrishi), but that will take quite sometime in the country. But in the event of the big retailers get the go, the only way forward is to push technology to reduce the middlemen encroachments.

4. Energy consumption for storage, transportation by the retailer. Similar consumption by the consumer in traveling to and storing the bulk bought items (they are cost effective only when bought bulk).

New jobs can be created only if the retail business adds more value than just being middlemen. The only value-addition they can do is to make the consumers to buy more than what they need (which already malls are doing). It is unsustainable even in the US and for a country like ours, it is unimaginable.

Other 'good' sides to FDI:

1. The small traders mostly cheat the government: They don't give bills and probably don't pay much taxes.

2. The job sector will get organized: Child labour in small retail outlets will disappear. Also the need for literacy will be reinforced by an organized work sector.

These and similar reasons may be correct as the disadvantage of existing retail system. But for me, these are things that as a nation we have failed to solve. And instead of solving them sustainably, we are trying to use an unknown tool which doesn't anyway guarantee anything.

And I've not yet counted on the history of FDI in retail in developing countries (Brazil, Thailand) or the possibility of India becoming a dumping ground for chinese products (which Walmart readily dumps in its stores).

For a lame mind like mine, it looks nothing more than a distraction creator from a political perspective and capital accumulation to smaller groups (from economic perspective). But I would like you to correct if there is something wrong.

Public transport blues

PS: This is not a rant about daily public transport commuting in Bangalore.

A couple of weeks back I went on my random roaming after a long time, to Tumkur (~70km from Blore). The cost of an ordinary KSRTC fare from Bangalore to Tumkur was Rs.51. It was not the high cost, for the public transport cost has been steadily going up in Bangalore, but the comparison that stuck me.

Ordinary Bus ticket cost for 5 people ~ Rs.250

Diesel usage for a normal car for 70 km ~ 5 liters => 5x50 ~ Rs.250

(I have not counted other charges, including the car cost/rent)

KSRTC has a linear scale of costing and I don't expect that the cost to go down as the distance increases. So what we see is a kind of dangerous trend of discouraging the use of public transport even on cost grounds (most of other grounds like comfort, time keeping, availability etc. have largely been put to the garbage long ago). I understand KSRTC/BMTC make profits, all right (the only public transport system in India, as they claim), but at what cost ? Would it cost as much if the corruption that starts as low as BMTC conductors is stopped ?

I get the memories of the times in Belleville, Canada, where my friends will hire a car every weekend and make the wheels cover thousands of kilometers, for meager percentage of cost if we were to use the public transport system. I kept myself busy on my bicycle there and never dared to use their public transport system, though I really wanted to try out. The fear that our country is moving in that direction is strange. Though I perceive the reasons for these two trends as different (in the West the oil cost is kept low due to supply/demand and public transport cost high due to both supply/demand and oil lobby).

I roamed around almost all of south karnataka relying on these very KSRTC buses (and might continue to do so), but as a public transport fan, I see this trend really disturbing. But just next door, the cost of road transport in TN is opposite. The government subsidies it and they run at loss, alright, but isn't Rs.20 for the same distance of 70 km a bit too low compared to Rs.50 ?

PS: Please do point out flaws in my point of view, if you find any.

The transportation ...

A clumsy piece of writing :)

The world around me moved steady,

Not too slowly for me to lose

Interest and let my thoughts drift,

Not too fast for me to lose

Sight of details of the around.

Mother Earth seem to be in a slumber,

Neither was I making any noise

To wake her and disturb her peace,

Nor was I giving her any disrespect,

Of putting my feet on her head.

There was a wave of steady breeze around,

No need to cover me to cut its force,

Nor was I too slow not to feel it,

My hair raises up to embrace the breeze,

And my body gets to feel a jeez.

When I get such a great feel,

I know I'm on my bicycle ..

Not even once ?

The world around is going aground,
As I trudge through the thickets around,
My droopy eyes search for the one,
With knowing there might be none,
Same results through the last few years,
That I have to return with dreary eyes.

Started a few years ago all this,
When I got into the realm of bliss,
With the chances of striking gold,
I was sure of staying calm and bold,
For all the imagination and movies seen,
I was sure to find my life's sheen.

Things around me grew increasingly cold,
As my life in here grew more old,
The empty feeling of going back,
Without being one among the pack,
Not of those who are hitched or ditched,
But of those who have been witched.

When claims of sightings come along,
I start wondering where do I belong,
Lakeside or hillside I go everywhere,
But it all seems to take nowhere,
All you see is the warning boards,
And the empty words of security guards.

When a friend gets a chance and goes hi-fi,
I have nothing to do but pacify,
That I will be one of them soon,
And that day I will be over the moon,
But now the time has come to a close,
I feel like shouting in high voice:

"Hey stupid Panther, where are you?"


For all the passing out junta who are leaving the campus without this big
accomplishment in IIT Bombay: Spot a Panther.

Traveling Salesman Solves Traveling Salesman problem

My name is, well, that doesn't matter. But what is more important is who am I and why am I writing to all of you. I'm a salesman, a traveling salesman. I go around colleges around the country to sell the laboratory accessories that my company markets to help the society to become a 'knowledge oriented society', without much common sense. But more than being just a traveling salesman, I think I'm one of the misunderstood genius, like the 'good will hunting' type. Let me explain. Yesterday, I had been to one of the prominent institutes of the country to meet this professor who is supposed to be one of the biggest names in Computer Science research. When I reached the campus, his assistant told me that he was giving a lecture on some `NP' problem. When I enquired further, she told that it was some `Non-Pursuable' or something like that and there was some sales also involved. Being a genius as well as a salesman, I thought I might be able to help out. Hence I went into the lecture which was more than half way through. I think I reached at the right time when he explaining the Non-Pursuable problem which caught me by surprise: Traveling Salesman problem.

Being a genius, my thinking is very fast. Before the professor started talking about the example, I started enumerating all my problems which have not been solved by me during my years as a traveling salesman. I couldn't find a concrete one: There is this problem of waiting forever outside a professor cabinet or may be the problem of smiling at people whom you really think is moron. As my brain started evaluating the problem list I had for the third time, the professor started talking. I thought the professor might be telling some problem to be Non-Pursuable which the genius in me could have done it already and hence started to listen.

While he mumbled a lot of things, the bottom line was this: A traveling salesman cannot decide the shortest round trip route going to all places he needs to go before coming back to his origin. The first words that came out of my mouth was: "What the heck?". I mean, I thought that these prominent universities will be working on some very difficult problems, and they are talking of how to solve a salesman's problem? As a shrewd salesman, I can vouch you that I have solved this problem every time I set out to travel. Every single time, I have been able to save money on my travel allowance that the accountant gives me considering the shortest distance possible. You agree that the accounts departments always have a bunch of misers not giving away a single extra rupee.

I remember the other day I was talking to a professor, who was setting up an inter-disciplinary department in his university. I was supplying laboratory equipments to him when I asked him why this fuss about 'inter-disciplinary'. He remarked that because of the advancement in today's research, same problems are tackled in different groups without knowing each other. Worse, some problems solved in one area are still being pursued by others without the knowledge that a solution already exists. As I stood in the lecture, I could see the point in that professor's argument. Here I am, a brilliant salesman, already having solved the traveling salesman problem, but these supposed brilliant professors in the computer science department of a premier institute are still trying to solve it. It's a pity that even after having such powerful computers, they could not solve it.

Now I came out of the lecture sporting a beaming smile. I know I'm going to rock the world with this astonishing truth that scientists are breaking their heads. Tomorrow I'm going to meet the professor and tell him that I have the solution for the traveling salesman problem. I don't know what his reactions will be. I know he is an honest man and so won't cheat by taking my research result and publish in his name.

The reason why I'm writing you guys is, "Will I get a Nobel prize?".

10 Things that did not happen in Hostel-1 (2010-11) - Part -III

Every year, at the end of the academic year, people summarize all the good/bad things that happened during the last year. But what never is discussed are those things that missed short of happening. Here we look at some possible things that could have happened in Hostel-1 (it is all for fun, no offense meant). (Inspirations: Sidin Vadukut's article in ESPNCricinfo and FAKING NEWS). This was written for Anubhooti, Hostel-1 magazine.

This is the third part of the 3 part series that I will post as Notes here.

9. Popular uprising in Hostel-1 inspired by Tunisia, Egypt

Inspired by Popular uprising in Tunisia and Egypt against their long serving dictators, demonstrations were held in Hostel-1. A number of masked H-1 inmates swarmed the Queen's square (near the Queen's statue) and shouted slogans against the H-1 council. Earlier, a number of mails in H-1 forum were sent from weird email IDs like "Non-General Secy", "I'm not a Sports Secy" etc., urging the inmates to stage a huge demonstration in H1, after the Sunday afternoon lunch with Ice cream. Since most of the H-1 inmates don't read the mails in the forum, especially with words like "General Secy", it was largely ignored. But the small masked crowd that had gathered was relentless, "We won't give up until the current council goes", said one masked member, in a voice which sounded a lot like the one which usually speaks in the PA system. "Or at least they should allow us to take two cups of ice creams", remarked a passerby much to the annoyance of the masked men. "I wonder how online social networking worked in African countries like Tunisia?", remarked another masked man, "For it doesn't work in H-1 where we have dual LAN ports in each room", and disappeared into the cycle stand behind the square with a sigh.

Inside information says that the council members themselves tried to stage these demonstrations and force themselves to resign, as most of them were frustrated with their charity work of responding to complaints instead of doing any work.

10. UFOs land in Hostel-1

Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) which are usually sighted only in weird countries like US, China, has been claimed to have landed in Hostel-1. Unlike the popular stories about UFOs where they are mainly circular in shape, these UFOs seemed to have had a shape similar to that of the `jalebi' served in H-1 mess. Witnesses claim that they had been landing regularly in the popular "H-1 gardens" between Wings 3 and 4. The uneven nature of the ground with lots of pits and bumps seems to be the proof for the alien air crafts having landed, sources claim. These aircrafts emit a weird orange glow, again of 'jalebi', which is also similar to the glow seen from Room No.152, whose occupant has been behaving weirdly off-late, claim the Wing-3 inmates. It is still unclear whether the R#152 inmate has any relationship with the aliens, though.

On a related update, H-1 Council has decided to build an IFO (Identified Flying Object) with the alumni funds they have got, which must be used for buying/building new things and not for any useful upgradation of the hostel itself. The Tech Secy of the hostel has enthusiastically volunteered to lead the tech team to build the IFO, which he thinks can be built during his tenure. "H-1 would be the only hostel to own an IFO", said a proud Cult Secy, "even if we don't use it".

(For the uninitiated, R#152 belongs to the author's namesake and batchmate, who has been showing some eerie behaviour in lighting his room, including orange lights)


Extra event, which missed a place in the list because, it has almost happened
10+1 Zero injuries during the year in H-1 ground.

H-1 recorded zero injuries while playing in the injury-famous slippery-max H-1 footer ground. While a number of different sports were played in the ground, including football, cricket, there has been no report of a player being injured due to bad surface, according to sports council. There were a couple injuries when people walking in the ground while talking on the mobile phone and slipped. "But that won't count as sport injuries", remarked the Sports Secy, "Even the injuries during holi, new-year celebrations don't count, which come under the purview of Cult Council". While the condition of the ground has hardly changed from the past, players claim that we have better adapted to it. One of the major tactics has been "not to play" in the ground unless absolutely necessary. It is also rumoured that the success of H-1 this year in Sports GC (1st and 2nd place) is mainly due to players not playing in the ground and thus avoiding injuries.

10 Things that did not happen in Hostel-1 (2010-11) Part - II

Every year, at the end of the academic year, people summarize all the good/bad things that happened during the last year. But what never is discussed are those things that missed short of happening. Here we look at some possible things that could have happened in Hostel-1 (it is all for fun, no offense meant). (Inspirations: Sidin Vadukut's article in ESPNCricinfo and FAKING NEWS). This was written for Anubhooti, Hostel-1 magazine.

This is the second part of the 3 part series that I will post as Notes here.

5. Hostel-1 bags 1st and 2nd place in Sports GC

Hostel-1 wins Sports GC by winning gold and silver in all events. Breaking the tradition of just a few people playing all the events in Sports GC, Hostel-1 fielded two teams, 1-A and 1-B, and swept the events by winning gold and silver in all of them. Speaking to the media persons from Hindustan times (who are the only ones seem to have all the time to put random IITB news in front page), the Sports Co. said, "Actually no, we people all played well" and then started talking on phone for the next 3 hours. Unlike the previous years, when even getting 6 people for a cricket team was difficult, H-1 inmates enthusiastically came out in large numbers. "We didn't have to go and call each and every inmate's room nor did we have to announce in the PA system 23 times that an event is going to happen", remarked a sportsperson who didn't want to be named.

Mess council has announced a 'gala dinner week' on the occasion of this great moment, where there will be gala dinner from Monday to Sunday, but is yet to announce if there will be a change in the menu during that week.

6. Mess council plans gala dinner for 'zero mess complaint week'

Mess council has planned for a gala dinner on December 28 to celebrate a successful month, which didn't record a single mess related complaint. Speaking on the occasion the Mess Co. said that, "I'm really happy you know! we have completed a clean month". Asked about what do they actually mean by that, the Mess Co said that, "Since we don't accept verbal complaints and given the fact that there were no complaints recorded in the mess register and no mails in the forum complaining about mess food, it is clean". It is learned from inside sources that the mess complaint register kept in the mess was completely full and was not replaced with a new one for more than 10 days. Also, there is a suspicion that H1 forum mailing list is down, for not just mess complaints, but no mails were posted forum at all. The computer council, when contacted, refused to comment, saying that they would respond only if there is a complaint mail in the forum.

In an unrelated incident, a hostel inmate who had announced his plans for going on a fast on December 28, has postponed it to December 29 citing health reasons.

7. Vargheseji appointed as Warden's nominee

(for uninitiated, Vargheseji is the right hand man of H-1 Hall manager and manages almost everything in the hostel)

In an unprecedented move surprising few H-1 inmates, the Hostel council recommended Mr.Varghese as the Warden's nominee, which the Warden has subsequently accepted. "We are proud to announce that Vargheseji has been appointed as Warden's nominee", said G.sec with the typical H-1 pride. "He has served the Hostel council for a long time," he added, "and has also done more work on behalf of the council more than all the council members put together". Reacting to the appointment, Vargheseji remarked, "Wo Room no.128 mein bainting garna hai, gab garenge?" and then proceeded to clean the fish pot. Inside information said that no ex- ouncil members was ready to accept the post citing different reasons like "extra personal burden", "PhD interests" and so on.

Chandu's name was also considered as an option for this post and was initially recommended. But was subsequently withdrawn due to his prolonged association with H3 these days. But it is possible that he could be asked to take the post in future.

8. Pigeons to observe 'mouna vrat' in the hostel

Reacting to the requests by senior H-1 inmates, especially from Wings 2 and 3, the Pigeons of H-1 have decided to observe 'mouna vrat' on Holidays. The constant 'hmm, hmm, hmm' sound that they usually make to have fun by irritating others, would not be heard on Sundays and national holidays, as per the spokespigeon of H-1. The decision was taken on a high level meeting between the Hostel Council (human) represented by the Gardening and Aquarium Secretary and the H-1 Pigeons' association. It is rumoured that this decision was in the pipeline for a long time, but didn't come into practice since the Gardening Secy post remained vacant for a long time. In return to the favour, H-1 inmates will not abuse the pigeons by feeding it with the mess food and instead with something edible.

10 Things that did not happen in Hostel-1 (2010-11) - Part -I

Every year, at the end of the academic year, people summarize all the good/bad things that happened during the last year. But what never is discussed are those things that missed short of happening. Here we look at some possible things that could have happened in Hostel-1 (it is all for fun, no offense meant). (Inspirations: Sidin Vadukut's article in ESPNCricinfo and FAKING NEWS). This was written for Anubhooti, Hostel-1 magazine.

This is the first part of the 3 part series that I will post as Notes here.

1. Hostel-1 inmates shifted to Hostel-1
(This incident follows the brawl that H-1 inmates had with the HCU in moving all 09 batch inmates to H14)

After being constantly frustrated by the fuss that the inmates of Hostel-1 make when they are being shifted out forcefully to Hostel-14, HCU has decided to rename H-14 to H-1 and H-1 to H-14. Since the H-1 occupants want to remain as H-1 inmates, they must move to old H-14 (i.e. the new H1). This is a "Win-W(h)in(e) situation", as per HCU chairman, who added that "even though the institute has to spend extra money on logistics such as repainting the name of the hostel, and possibly moving the queen statue, we will do this for our students and their love for their Hostel's number". When the students protested that it was not just the number, but the hostel itself, the surprised HCU chairman replied, "Hey ! Hey! this is Cheating, bad Cheating!" and then said goodbye and left.

There were other options also evaluated, according to the inside information from the HCU. Prominent being that the whole hostel, including the whole physical structure and furniture to be shifted to the IITB owned area behind the pipeline. But the illegal occupants there, were not leaving the space prompting the option to be shelved for now.

2. Hostel GBM conducted in PC Saxena auditorium due to popular demand

Due to the surge of H-1 inmates attending the General Body Meeting (GBM) conducted by the council, the Hostel Council moved the venue to PC Saxena auditorium. It was nothing unusual at the start time of the GBM. Warden was yet to arrive and there were 2-3 inmates sitting and reading newspapers in the lower TV room while the G.Sec and other council members taking turns to invite/request/order/yell the H-1 inmates using the PA system. But as the GBM started, an argument started randomly when the newspaper reading inmates complained about the excessive Page2 content in Times of India. By word of mouth, people started to pour in, to participate in the random argument during which time, the Tech secy suggested that using e-paper instead of regular papers is more tech savvy. At one point of the time, inmates were crawling on every possible space available, including on the shoulders of the maintenance councillor, who was a keen participant in the debate. At this point of time, the G.Sec made a flash entry and announced that the GBM venue is being shifted to PC Saxena auditorium and they can continue the arguments there. The author, who was one of those newspaper reading inmates, was lazy enough not to go to the new venue and hence couldn't report further on the events there.

3. Panther sighted in Hostel-1
(After numerous claims of sighting Panther's tail, nose, mouth etc.)

After a number of failed attempts by Hostel-1 inmates in the recent past to sight it, Panther finally decided to show up in the H-1 premise. It is understood that the Panther got really frustrated by a number of H-1 inmates making baseless claims of sighting it, but instead have actually sighted a cat or a dog. "Even the last time the big fuss of sighting panther tail was made", said the panther, "I was sitting on a tree orthogonal to that place and they had actually seen a dog's tail, Idiots!". Given the construction works starting, Panther decided to bust all the myths by giving a final appearance to the H-1 inmates, before all possible greenery is destroyed. H-1 official doggy Sherkhan, gave a customary "Bow!" towards the Panther, which was sitting on the TV room sofa and then ran under the sofa. The panther then disappeared in the woods behind Wing-4 for one last time after which the woods were completely destroyed.

4. Random inmate claims to know where H-1 library is.
(Do you know what Hostel
Breaking the tradition that no one except the Literary secretary knows where H1 library is, a random H1 inmate is supposed to have identified where the library is and also issued a book by visiting the same during its opening hours. Though such occasions of library being identified has happened before, it has always turned out that the person has been either an ex-literary secretary (like KD, KP) or a maintenance worker or Varghese. This H-1 inmate was supposedly searching for the library all through the hostel including the terrace of Wing-4. "Kya Fart Hai! people don't even know that the H-1 library has its extension in Lower TV room itself", commented the disappointed Literary Secretary. Reacting to the Secretary's disappointment, another random H-1 inmate noted, "We didn't even know that H-1 library existed, then how do you expect us to expect the extension of something which we think doesn't exist? That's ridiculous". When asked about the mail in the forum, "Forum, what forum?" replied the surprised inmate and then disappeared. The literary secretary was later pacified by the Institute Librarian who shared his grief that hardly anyone knows about the Institute Central Library also.

The joy of winning a battle

He was busy with his work in the laboratory in an elite community in the country, which was largely isolated from the chaos around. His glance went to the open window and the eyes lit up. He had not realized that the sun was fast loosing the day to darkness. "Another hard time ahead", he thought, as he decided to leave for an evening munch. He knew the tough few minutes ahead to escape from the sky bombers. For every day, dawn and dusk, people in his community have been terrorized by these random shootings. He had never seen dawn, like most in his community, but has suffered a number of horrifying dusks. And he prayed today wouldn't be one.

As he came out of the attack proof buildings to the open area, he looked around and could hear the chaos in the sky building up. He ran towards his vehicle, for it would help him to escape the dreaded land quickly. He escaped a few arsons thrown at him, like the Indian film heroes escape the hand grenades thrown at them by the goons. He ran in a zig-zag manner, but didn't know if it would really help.

He carefully maneuvered his steps by keeping them in places where there had been no recent attacks. For he thought that the probability of attacks in that place is less. It is a belief in his community that the assault structures have a fixed positions. Though such beliefs have been proved wrong at times, they have given a fair chance of survival. Their community had stopped looking above a long time now for the fear of attack on their face and don't even check if the attackers exist or not. He quickly latched on to his vehicle and again took the least attacked areas with prayers in his lips. Soon reached the Security Kiosk near the SJSOM building, where he deposited the keys of his laboratory which is in Electrical Engineering department. As he did so, his face beamed a victory smile on his face, as he felt that he didn't have to utter this poem:


Dirty birdy in the sky
Drop some whitewash in my eye
Me no scream, me no cry
Me thank God that cows don't fly

Accepting Defeat and Sustainability

Prof.A.W.Date re-presented his keynote talk that he gave in ISME conference last month during yesterday's CTARA seminar. Though the title of the talk was 'Mechanical Engineering and Sustainability', one of the lasting theme to it was this: There are times when we need to accept defeat as an engineer (as a scientist). And if we want to look things from a sustainability perspective, this acceptance is very important to move forward.

Most of the positive mindset people (heck! I don't know how they define it) brand such defeat acceptance as 'negative thinking'. They would quote from many of the 'great thinkers' that we should not think negative or we would never move forward. Once when I mentioned to my friend that we should stop using the plastic cover for every damn thing we buy (we were buying vegetables then). I got the familiar reply, "Don't worry, Science will find a way out".

Is this really negative thinking? It is about the perspective, I feel. For, during his talk a couple of weeks ago, Sir Robert Swan summarized his 'Walk the talk' with a quote which was something like "The last thing we should do to save our planet is to say that someone else will save it". If we look at sustainability from this perspective, not having a sustainable lifestyle is actually negative thinking and accepting defeat need not necessarily be negative.

... to be continued, but do share thoughts....