IITs: The Selection-Effect Institutions

The archive of the articles Malcom Gladwell wrote for the New Yorker is full with his profound insights on various interesting topics. Recently, I was reading his article on the social logic of Ivy League admissions; the strategies they apply and used to apply, the kind of profile they seek and all that. I think the article is also relevant in the current discussion over the reservation in education issue, go ahead read it. But a certain part caught my attention and got me thinking about JEE & IITs. I quote:

Social scientists distinguish between what are known as treatment effects and selection effects. The Marine Corps, for instance, is largely a treatment-effect institution. It doesn't have an enormous admissions office grading applicants along four separate dimensions of toughness and intelligence. It's confident that the experience of undergoing Marine Corps basic training will turn you into a formidable soldier. A modeling agency, by contrast, is a selection-effect institution. You don't become beautiful by signing up with an agency. You get signed up by an agency because you're beautiful.

IITs are definitely selection-effect institutions. This is to say that almost all the students who make into IITs are excellent at problem solving & analytical thinking. The time spent in the IITs, though contributes a lot towards the holistic development of the individual, doesn't add that much extra value. Of course, the teachers are good & the facilities are better, but if say an entire batch of IIT would be swapped with the batch of students from say another lower ranked engineering institute, would that affect the bigger picture? I would like to say here that success (the way we define it in the materialistic sense) depends on a lot more than mere ability. You need to apply yourself, persist in tough times & keep on proving yourself again-n-again. So, would that make the original IITians less successful? I'd dare say no. Now, is it the IIT brand name which makes the students, or vice-versa? What makes the IIT brand? The placements, or the quality of students, or the rigorous academic schedule of four years?

In my opinion, its the JEE exam. It makes sure that only the students with great IQ make it into IITs (of course, it isn't exhaustive). This fact is reflected in various other facts, the average GRE & GMAT scores (at least in the analytical section) are much higher in IIT as compared to other colleges. IITians do relatively well at exams like CAT where your analytical abilities are put to test. Recently, most of the software companies & lately, financial firms too, go to various IIT campuses and pick up coders/number crunchers for their work, irrespective of the branch the student studied in IIT. Of course, the coursework at IITs doesn't inculcate the required abilities in the students; they came in with them. I remember, during my very early days at IIT Bombay, the dean once addressed us "freshies". Amidst all the gyaan, he told us that its the five pointers, who go ahead to become millionaires. Of course some of us took this as a cue and went ahead to bask in the notion that they've just got to get a 5 to become a millionaire, but that's not the point. The point is, even the students who constitute the lower half of the class are observed to do very well later on in their lives, enjoy success. Doesn't that say that the contribution of IITs (as in the learning inside the classrooms) in making them what they went ahead to become, was not much? Of course, bad grades mean those students did not apply themselves and have a tendency to lose the focus (if we assume the focus should be on academics).

So what would happen if this quality gets diluted, by let's say, 50% reservation? That would mean that half of the class is made up of the students who didn't do as well in the JEE as the other half. Roughly, it can be said that this would mean that their analytical skills are not at par with their general category colleagues (I say roughly, because I'm seen many exceptions. But in the end, that's what they are, exceptions). It might kill the brand in the longer run, the companies wouldn't get what they pay for and thus would shun IITs. But another outcome, which seems more likely to me, can be a fractured student society at IITs. Since its mandatory to declare that they are from quota at the time of placement, if would divide the placement scenario in two tiers. Different for general quota & reserved quota students. There are only about 10% of students from the SC/ST quota in the IITs, so no such phenomena is observed and they too are benefited from the IIT brandname. But if their percentage gets something like 50%, it might actually affect their chances adversely.

What's the solution for that? Reservation in private sector? To cover up their incompetence? To me it looks as if the government is standing with its back to the Sun. Instead of going in this direction, they should try and provide better education & better access to the primary & secondary educational institutes. If equal opportunities are provided at that level, I don't have any doubt that it will reflect at the tertiary educational level.

Sadly, the logical things almost never fetch the votes.

Hope and Honor

Taxi was once a luxury, but now he didn't think twice before jumping into a taxi at airport. Coming back to the city after some time made him eager to explore her all over again. Now he had the time too.

As taxi crossed his college main gate, his mind reeled back. "This is where it all started".

***

Straight out of college with a degree in journalism, not much was expected of them. He was not to be one among "them". He started a story about child labour, as a freelancer. It started at the dhaba outside the campus. Chotu worked there. He started his story with Chotu's interview.

Chotu was not really unhappy or traumatized or anything; and he was pretty sorry for this. "What a start!". He took Chotu to the sappy questions -

"What do you feel when you see children your age going to school?"
"I will go to school some day. I want to go school."
"Don't you think you should go to school now? All the kids go to school."
"I can't."
"You shouldn't be working. You should be at school."
"I can't."

Then it finally dawned at him that Chotu works not because he doesn't know about the other cheerful ways to spend the childhood, but because he has seen many more dismal childhoods. And he doesn't want to be that way.

When leaving, he took a ten rupee note out of his pants and offered it to Chotu. An instant smile broke at Chotu's face. The note slipped out of his hands and landed near Chotu's feet. The smile disappered and now Chotu was staring him down, accusingly. He bleated a feeble 'sorry' and picked up the note and handed it to Chotu.

This was the moment. This was it! This would certainly melt the stoniest of hearts! How did he describe it? "Give them hope and honor. Don't rub the smile off their faces". Or something like that, hah! His piece was an instant hit and encouraged many similar articles on this gross implementational error on government's part; on the anti-child labour act. Government had a real tough time answering the opposition in the assembly and the press outside! They did try to curb child-labour for a while, or atleast made an impression that they are working on it.

Just out of college and he was already among the sharks!

***

"It has been a while now. Should start something soon."

The taxi stopped, with a jerk, at the traffic signal. The usual crowd of beggers fanned out in the traffic, trying their luck. He closed the window-glass, hurriedly and tried looking lost in thought as a begger boy started to knock on the window. Giving in to the weepy cries & to the stuck window glass, he finally looked at the boy.
"Familiar face?"
"Nah. Can't be!"
"Oh shit! This is Chotu!"

He was dumbfonded by the phenomenal act of chance. The begger boy finally gave up on him and was heading towards another auto-rickshaw when he hollered him back. "Chotuu. Idhar, idhar." Just as the boy came back running to the window, the taxi started to move. He hurriedly got a 20 rupees note from his shirt and extended his hand towards Chotu. The note slid out of his hand as the taxi farted and lurched ahead with a jerk.

He turned back to catch a glimpse. Chotu was picking up the note from a puddle of mud. He quickly pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and scribbled,

Rehab of child labour
???

He had a fairly clear idea about his next story now.

(Trying hands at flash fiction. What say? Hopefully, will get better.)

Imran Hashmi vs Gobhi Pakoda

Imran Hashmi is everywhere! His movies are coming (and quietly going) almost every month. No one gives a rat's tush for his acting but the tag of "serial kisser" is more than enough to sulgaao-fy many hearts! In his limited (thankfully!) stay in the tinsel town he has played tonsil tennis with more babes than the number of dialogues he has delivered. No wonder he works only in those "stree-pradhaan" (wink,wink) films from the Bhatt camp. Whenever he opens his mouth in his movies, bets are made about whether this is to kiss another girl or to actually speak. He doesn't disappoint too often. I mean, why cry over the casting couch & sting operation and show Shakti Kapoor in his lungi to the whole world? This Hashmi dude is "casting couching" his heroines right on the silver screen! I don't think any girl in his senses would kiss something which looks like Hashmi unless she is offered something big in return or unless Hashmi has kidnapped her entire family and is hanging them upside down over a pond full of hungry albino Alligators & 12 feet Anacondas.

For someone who looks as hedious as Imran Hashmi, its very hard to guess how he got so much *success*. He has kissed more chicks in his nine movies than Devanand would've kissed in his 90 (or is it hundred already?) years of film career. I'm hopeful for Dev sahab tho', that man has got what it takes. Probably he should giveup on movies like "Mr.Prime Minister" (just like the rest of the world) and enter the world of Hashmi! I hope his false dentiture doesn't come up as a hinderence to the lip locking venture. I can't help but feel sorry for any girl kissing Dev Dude (the new avatar), kissing him would look more like inflating a baloon with all those wrinkles and popla mouth.

Anyway, I digress. Coming back to Hashmi and Gobhi pakodas. Now, Hashmi is definitely worse looking than the ugliest Gobhi Pakoda I ever had (No offense to Gobhi Pakodas). And mind you, I've eaten much more than my share of Gobhi Pakodas. Why a Gobhi Pakoda, you ask. Now, we have Dal Pakoda, Palak Pakoda, Pyaaz Pakoda, Aloo Pakoda, Besan Pakoda, Mirchi Pakoda & Gobhi Pakoda, and many more I'm sure. Let me educate you more about the coolest of them all - Gobhi Pakoda. So, you have Gobhi and besan paste. Dip gobhi in the paste and deep fry them in oil (Try this sometime, DQ). Most of the pakodas are done now, not Gobhi Pakoda. Now you pachakao-fy (squeeze, duh!) them well and only then serve them to eat. The point is the Gobhi piece is a bit too big to eat at once, squeezing makes it feasible to chomp it down in bits. Also, squeezed Gobhi Pakodas somehow look like human heads (you need to have the wild imagination of a 10 year old!). So there I was, a kid of 10 yrs, fancying myself to be Saboo's neighbour from Jupiter, eating heads of Dhamaka Singh & Patakha Singh (Never Gobar Singh!). Last night, while watching Jawaani-Diwaani, his latest dim-film, all of a sudden I started to slabber just like Pavlov's dogs (and not because of Celina Jetly's bikini). After hours of tossing in my bed and opening various closed doors of my subconcious mind I found out the Hashmi-Pakoda connection. I hope no one from the Gobhi Pakoda species is reading this - Hashmi does look a bit like a Gobhi Pakoda, only that Hashmi has got a rougher deal in the looks department.

Another proof that life isn't fair!

All that ends well..

He hated festivals. And this was Diwali - the mother of all festivals in India. He was grumpy all day. He hated the lonely feeling, the empty office, the view of happy people on the roads, the noise of crackers - almost everything about it. He was miffed by the exuberating TV presenters, the news channels showing the happy people from different cities, the radio jockeys who just couldn't stop playing Diwali songs - the feeling kept coming back that no one cares for him!

It was another lonely day at office. None of his friends or people around his cubicle were present, they had all gone home. Lead-footed, he entered the empty lift. Two security personnel entered the lift one floor below. One of them, visibly the senior, was looking as if he wanted to say something - he was too depressed to notice, of course. As the lift hit the ground floor, he exited first. Just then the security guy spoke, "Happy Diwali, sir" and offered a warm handshake. The other security guy did the same, a little less warmly though.

He was feeling better as he entered the parking lot. His day had ended with a smile.

Fury

Monday, bloody Monday. He took out his bike and took the longer route to the office. It was long but here he has more of the "drive time" and wastes less time in traffic and at the signals.

He felt detached and wondered if everyone felt this way. He had always felt detached. When he had triumphed and people were joyous around him - he couldn't believe his own achievement and the moment passed in front of his eyes like a movie. When tragedy struck, he got into denial and forced himself to believe that nothing happened - sitting on the fence and watching, uninvolved. Even insult could not get him interested in his own life - his subconscious mind consoled him at every single one of his grave failures that it happens to everybody! He had spent his life as if he was a scooterist waiting at a railway crossing, for the thundering train to pass - he was waiting for his life to start. He wasn't pitying himself, he just didn't seem to care. What was the leading emotion in his life?

--Screech-- ! An autorickshaw had jumped the signal and was now in front of his bike, awkwardly - not able to proceed any further, not moving back. "Madar****" - he cussed instinctively. The driver didn't bat an eyelid. Then he noticed two mousey, precocious school girls sitting at the back of the auto, gawking at him in astonishment. He revved up the engine and got moving. His ears were burning red with rage.

Some more PJs :-)

(Good that people liked my last post. Hopefully you'll enjoy this one too. This one is more impromptu kind of thing though.
I'm off for the weekend to Wayanad. I'll be back on Monday evening. Happy Independence Day!)

The award ceremony of the Indian Oil Cup was a real tear-jerker. Dravid got on the podium as the losing captain. He said - "I pictured myself having that trophy". Ganguly shouted from the dressing room - "So did I". At the press conference, Dravid was asked if the team fell short of one batsman. He said - "No, we had all the batsmen from the last game. We just dropped Laxman!". The news of tension between Dravid & Ganguly over captaincy is not new. None of them wants it! You've seen what happened to Ganguly, team screwed up the over-rate and he got banned. Some say that screw-up was a team strategy, keeping Ganguly's form in mind!

If you go to Brigade road (Bangalore) you can notice all sorts of weird t-shirts. I can't understand some of the supposedly funny lines.
"My dad is an ATM" - But then dude, where do you swipe the card?
"I'm the guy your mom warned you about" - Who? The Leper or the beggar? May be Gabbar Singh! Moms warn children about Gabbar Singh near Ramgarh.

Sometimes I just pity those Americans for having to deal with Indian customer care. Even I can't understand their English! The accent is not the problem, the problem is that they would rattofy the entire content and blurt it all out in such a flurry that you won't even get a hint about what they are talking! It's like they have this 100 words dash event in their training. It was still bearable when they'd confine themselves to phone calls but now they dog you down at the ATMs, parking places, movies halls, public toilets, etc etc. I went to this ATM and this fella came up to me - "Sirmmmannmajsfghghaahfa-ICICI-mannmmdjf-CARD-jhhdhfhdf-FREE-jghjh". I told him very politely - "Kannada Gottilla (I know no Kannada)". He glared me for a while and then started in Kannada - "ahjsjhdfshffghdfhgdfg-ICICI-dgfdhfgddf-CARD-kdjgfhghfjhfj-FREE-kjfgfjjgjk". I ran away from there!

But I really admire the blooming BPO industry in India and the people who put their efforts behind this. The attendants, kids barely out of college, are trained well to behave like Americans. So now they are doing drugs 7 days a week, boozing all day, sleeping around all the time, living on loans -- maaan they are totally Americans now!
Some time back the think-tanks of BPO industry had this major problem -- all the toilets in their office would get clogged due to flushed condoms! And guess what?! Most of the condoms were of American brand! Now that's some serious commitment towards behaving like Americans.
So the think tanks came up with a solution. They invented a new type of condom which will be made out of tissue paper. So as soon as it gets wet, it'll get dissolved! They sent this "business-plan" to a VC and he sent it to "The Dumbest Plans Contest". Believe it or not, they came second! First prize went to a website which was launched to sell condoms on the net. "Please allow us 12 hours to deliver.".

My Stand-up Routine :D

(Sometimes, when you are sitting all by yourself, in office, having stuff to do, but lacking the motivation to put in the efforts, your mind wanders. If after visiting all the frequented thoughts; girls, more girls, pizza, etc etc, you are still in a ponderous mood, one often thinks about the what-if scenarios. About the alternatives of this routine life. About alternate careers -- prime minister, porn star, sky diver, peace corp .. there's absolutely no limit. I often wonder how would it have been if I were to be a stand up comedian? I could insult people on their face!)

So, I'm from Bangalore and Bangalore is the home of Kannada film industry. It's more of a family business - Rajkumar & Sons own it.
The industry doesn't find many patrons in Bangalore, but for the auto rickshaw waalahs. They'd religiously put posters with heroes' faces & heroines' thighs at the back of their autos. Most of them already look like the heroes, or vice-versa.
Recently government proposed that smoking scenes should be banned in movies. A real wave of panic ran through the Kannada film industry! With this new rule, how would any one know who is the hero and who is the villian?
One of the heroines claimed that in her next film she gets to show lots of brains. After the movie came out, it was confirmed that her brains are in her knees, or somewhere up there.

Mumbai was hit recently by worst rains in last 100 years. The water has receded but now the insurance companies are flooded.
One of my friend recently joined a company there which promised him transportation for first one month. They've given him a kayak. He is now planning to rent a houseboat.

People nowadays, want something in their hands all the time.. umm.. as in they want something to work all the time, not something in their hands or anything! So I've my room-mate who does crosswords in the loo. Every morning he wake up, pick up the paper & pen at get into the loo. Somedays, when they publish hard crosswords, then we go to office without bathing. Sometime back they started publishing these sudoku puzzles instead of crosswords. So in the morning, he got into the loo and after a while came out very stressed - "Yaar! They haven't published the clues! Aati nahi." Thankfully, we had a book of crosswords.

College was good, you get to meet loadsa freaks. People from Andhra were called Gulti, I don't know why. Gultis have an attitude man, they'd behave as if they know everything there is to know. May be they do, who would know? They don't talk to anyone other than a Gulti. Even if in a group of 10 there are 2 Gults, they'll start in Telugu and everyone will go oinnnnn.
Gults are impatient lot, they eat fast, they talk fast & even when they talk, it's full of impatient grunts. They'll talk like - "Vastannu tch. Yentra tch. Ni amma tch.". They just can't stand slow talkers, That's why BJP failed to make any alliances in AP, they'd ask them to talk to Vajpayee! Those gults got really furious maan!
Half-gults aren't as bad as gults. We had one guy, as in there was one guy in college, not that we *had* him, whose father was Gulti & mother was Punjabi, so that should make him "Gulabi"! People say in next hundred years Indian population will be a lot more homogeneous. How interesting would that be! Mix people from Andhra & Bombay, you'll have "Bandra". If some Mallu and someone from UP got along, we'd have little "Ullus".

Punjabis are probably most harrassed people in India. First there were those Surdi jokes and now thanks to the Bollywood movies & music videos, people all over world think that atleast one in 5 punjabis carry around a dhol and rest of them are doing Bhangra all the time, in that stupid see-my-armpits pose they go balle-balle everytime they see another Surd. It's relatively safe to crack jokes on Surds, they don't get them anyway. ISI has a special division devoted to this task - to make Surd militants understand the racist jokes Bollywood cracks! It's not an easy task tho'. It took 2 weeks to make them understand the insults in "Jo Bole So Nihaal" and only after that they bombed the cinema halls!

Abhi itna hi.

Planet of the Eves

This is now old news that the male entity is not necessary at all for the reproduction process even among diploid species. About one year back, a team of Japanese scientists led by Tomohiro Kono, a biologist at the Tokyo University of Agriculture, created baby mice without the introduction of sperm. They combined the genetic contents of two mouse eggs, —one of which had been genetically altered —to produce a live mouse that reached adulthood and reproduced. (link) Combine this discovery with DNA altering and humans will have a technique in their hand to control how to breed, whom to give birth to & when to breed. Various insect species exhibit this kind of structure. This phenomenon is known as Eusociality. The most familiar examples are insects such as ants, bees, and wasps, with reproductive queens and sterile workers. Eusociality is also known among mammals: the naked mole rat is a clear case. It is very crucial to note that almost all of such species are known to be matriarchal in nature.

Let's examine the case of ants first. In every ant colony, eggs are laid by one or sometimes more queens. Queens are different in structure, they are the largest ones among all ants, especially their abdomens and thorax which are bigger than most ants. Their tasks are to lay eggs and produce more offspring. Most of the eggs that are laid by the queens grow up to become wingless, sterile females called workers. Periodically swarms of new queens and males called alates are produced, usually winged, which leave to mate. The males die shortly thereafter, while the surviving queens either found new colonies or occasionally return to their old one. The male-females ratios are found to be as skewed as 1:3 in such systems.

Even in mammalian species like Lions, males are significant only for the purpose of mating. In a typical setting, 3-5 females acquire a piece of land along with a male. All of them share the burden of hunting & contributing for the pack. At the time of mating, usually another male approaches the pack & forced by the instinctive possessivenessss both the males fight for the lionesses & the area. Whoever loses leaves. This ensures that only the best genes are carried forward to the next generation. After breeding the males are least responsible towards the cubs & often end up killing them. Hence, it's mainly females who bear the burden of carrying forward the genes.

Now, with the invention of our Japanese geniuses, the Human race has the chance to move to eusocial societies. With no important need of males in sight, it might happen that they will be produced in a limited number, just to suffice for menial jobs (as workers) or as soldiers. Females are anyway more than comfortable handing nearly all jobs in today's world. If males aren't required for reproduction, who might ever need them?! Now I know, this is a very far-stretched imagination, but I feel females will rule this planet one day, with males scuttling for their lives. Not very different from the movie -- Planet of the Apes. They'll probably call it -- Planet of the Eves (That time the traffic will certainly be all time worst ;-) ).

(The sine wave. It's believed that everything follows this pattern.)

Quite interestingly, this theory finds some support in theosophy. There is one widely known idea in theosophy called cyclic law - it simply states that there is a periodical return or cycling back of something from some place once more. Cyclic law prevails everywhere. It prevails in every kingdom of nature, in the animal, mineral and human world; in history, in the sky, on the earth. Is says that about everything in this universe keeps oscillating just like a sine wave. The human race started with primitive communist system - everyone was considered equal, irrespective of sex. But atleast for last 3000 years, females are considered the weaker sex & are oppresseded by the males in the society. We live in the times where the present generations are awaking towards the notion of equal rights for males & females. These three points can be located in the graph give above -- x-axis is the time line, +ve y-axis is pro-males era & -ve y-axis is female dominated time. We started with zero bias and went into +ve y side. Right now we are approaching the x-axis from the +ve y side. This new discovery about reproduction might very well push the entire humanity into an era of female dominance.

Just imagine Planet of the Apes with apes replaced by beautiful lasses. If nothing else this theory can make one hell of an interesting movie! After exhausting all sorts of extinct, existent & noexistentnt species, probably Hollywood can make a movie over this. With some budding sci-fi writers (like Vivek), this idea should atleast get me some royalty money.

Jaane Kahan Gaye Wo Log

Public memory is quite infamous for being very short. You can't really blame the common men, they already have their business to mind. This post is about those people who shot off to fame few years back. Their descent was also almost as fast as their rise in the public attention. Now that their names are off the public memory, my curiosity got better of me and I did little research about their current whereabouts. I've managed to cover very few of such people; Please feel free to suggest more names (I've loadsa free time nowadays ;-)).

I've used Google extensively for the research work and have picked up content, rather shamelessly, at times, all because the motive was to spread awareness not to display my mediocre writing skills.

Rakesh Sharma (Only Indian to go to space) "Saare jahan se accha, Hindustan hamara" - The second most popular utterance of these famous words of Iqbal was done from outer space, by Rakesh Sharma. Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma (later retired as Wing Commander) was the first Indian (We've had only Kalapna Chawla after him. She was American citizen though) to go into space. In 1984 he became the first citizen of India to go into space when he flew aboard the Russian rocket Soyuz T-11. During the flight, Squadron Leader Sharma conducted multi-spectral photography of northern India in anticipation of the construction of hydroelectric power stations in the Himalayas. Sqn Ldr Rakesh Sharma was awarded the Ashoka Chakra, for the successful completion of the Space Mission. As were his Russian companions Malyshev and Strekalov. This is the first and the only time, the Ashoka Chakra was awarded to foreigners. Retired with the rank of Wing Commander, Rakesh Sharma joined Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) as a test pilot. He was based at the Aircraft & Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) in Bangalore and worked on the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft program. Current status - Retired. Sadly, the website of ISRO doesn't provide much details about his historic flight or his whereabouts! Links: 1, 2.

Rajeev Goswami (The poster boy of anti-Mandal agitation, 1990) His burning body on the cover of India Today became the emblem of the student agitation against the Mandal commission report during '90. He started the series of self-immolation incidents all over India in protest of V.P.Singh's decision to implement reservation. Goswami himself never got a government job despite no hike in reservation due to agitation. Many uncharitable stories were floated by Mandalites regarding Goswami's motivation. It was claimed he had been paid heavily and his family assured a life of luxury in case he succumbed to his burns. Apparently, the dirty tricks department of the Congress was out to avenge V P Singh's humiliation of Rajiv Gandhi and no money was to be spared to bring the government to its knees. Others asserted Goswami was intoxicated beyond any self-control and prodded by some people to attempt an entry into history books. Yet others said his self-immolation bid had little to do with Mandal and more to do with intra-college gang rivalry. None of this, however, washed with youngsters across the country who seemed to have been electrified by his symbolic sacrificial act. V P Singh was reported to have instructed the Safdarjang Hospital authorities not to let him die under any circumstances. The few brief reports that have appeared after Goswami's death suggest that the overdose of medicines administered to ensure his life in 1989 took its toll over the years as his liver and kidneys were damaged beyond repair. The outburst against the Mandal order marked the revolt of a new generation that demanded opportunities; they demanded an environment in which they could pursue their aspirations. Looking back, Rajeev Goswami's attempted suicide can be said to have been a turning point in contemporary Indian history. It marked the cusp between old politics and the new. He died, rather low profile death, in Delhi in February 2004 after a prolonged illness at the age of 33. Doctors attributed his death to failure of his liver and kidneys. He is survived by his wife and two children. Links: 1, 2, 3.

Tathagat Tulsi (Youngest Post-Graduate, Guinness Book World Record Holder) This boy from Patna was making headlines in various newspapers across the nation during the late 90's. Tathagat can boast of being the youngest post-graduate in the world! But the path to this success wasn't an easy one. He had to move to the Supreme Court to get special permission to appear in class 10th exams at the age of 9 years. He completed B.Sc. Physics Honors at the age of 10 years & 6 months! He finished his master's degree in Physics in 1999 at the age of 12 years. India Government sent him to Nobel Prize winners' meeting held in Germany during Jun.25-29, 2001. Events took a depressing turn here. He was suspected to be a fake by media. He was labeled as "the programmed genius" by media. But soon after this controversy, he silenced his critics by snatching an admission at IISc Bangalore in their coveted doctoral program, at the age of 15! Now, he is a senior Research Fellow at IISc (his webpage).

Brush with the eternal hush.

This Sunday's Shivasamudram trip was enkindling in many ways. Firstly, it has started the itch to go out of the city on every weekend. But more importantly, it has aroused an eerie kind of spirituality in me. It started with us getting into the adventurous mode. After finishing bathing at the fall, we decided to descend our way to the lake below the fall. We didn't know the way & it wasn't going to be easy. After a while, I reached a place and just ahead was a steep fall about 40 feet down. I had nothing but a weak branch of nearby tree to hold to, so I did. I was trying to step into another little groove below, when my floaters gave way to the pebbles and my brief skid resulted. I was saved by that weak branch, but for which I would've landed straight on the rocks, some 30-40 feet below. May be I would have escaped with a few minor bruises or perhaps a broken leg or elbow, but the possibility of my death can't be ruled out entirely. This shook me totally! The realization that I could've died, just like that, was startling. I had never felt the same ever before in my life. Death was always a certainty but in a distant thing. It was always what happens with others. "This can't happen to me" was the general feeling. This incident broke all the illusions. I'm just as vulnerable to the dark shadow of death as any dog crossing the road!

This sparked the line of thought about what would have happened had I died there. Yes, it's morose, but that's how it is. It would've been very tough to get the corpse out of that jungle! Jha & Nandu would've faced stern scolding, perhaps fine too, from the authorities for not complying with the warning sign. The product release at my office would've not suffered much. All my code is complete and free of major bugs. The rent would've felt a bit too much to Jha & Rg, since it would have to be divided among only two instead of three. May be Vyas would've moved in. I didn't handle my finances well. The benefactor, my father, wouldn't have known about all my bank accounts and investments. The LIC policy I got done, would've yielded mega bucks (hell, I paid so much for it in the last two years!).

Not many would've missed me. My parents, few closed friends would've remembered me & felt sorry for me. Some relatives, who always talked of me as role-model to their kids, would've clucked their tongues and perhaps said "Honi ko kaun taal sakta hai". My parents would've been devastated! They would've remembered me as their small & sharp kid, always with a question, always demanding Five Stars, always in front of the TV. I didn't heed much to their advice to try for UPSC exams, still I think they would've been reasonably proud of me. They wouldn't have known how I changed in college. I hate this about hostels, they separate you from your folks, establish an invisible wall of formalness. You get to visit them for about 20-30 days in a year. I absolutely hated in when I got treated as a guest in my own house, I was the attention hogger because I was there for only such a small time.

My college mates would have remembered me, atleast for a while. Many would've thought of me as bawdy, some as witty. Few would've thought of me as a thoughtful guy, most of them would've dismissed me as a looney without any focus or direction (Com'on! He died in a jungle trying to climb down a straight rock!). People would've remembered my caustic sarcasms, my baseless debates, my clueless arguments, my hasty decisions, my I-care-a-damn attitude towards academics, perhaps for my innovative dance steps in our batch treats or for innovative acts during those treats. Perhaps they would've remembered how I ruined many movies with them with my supposedly witty comments.

My colleagues would have had a split perception about me. Some would've thought of me as a shy person, some as arrogant, some as outrageously outspoken. No one would've said I was very efficient or very sacrosanct about work or deadlines. Anyway, they would've have remembered me for more than one day or one week. Perhaps a few good friends I made in office would have, but who knows?

Would mine be a restful soul? I can't say! I did have very comfortable life compared to many, but as Ghalib said "Kabhi Kisi Ko Muqammal Jahan Nahi Milta", it wouldn't have been perfect had it ended that day. During the hedonistic existence of 23 years, I didn't have any burning passions or definite focus. I like traveling and I did well there. Not brilliant but not bad either. I would have had a few regrets, some things I would have wanted to change by going into the past. I would have had some unfulfilled desires (Smashing an acoustic guitar, asking for a lift from a lady two wheel driver, etc.) & some grave failures. Looking back, I see a mixed bag -- I've been lucky, I've been unfortunate; I've been proud, I've been humiliated; I've been elated, I've been depressed. But, when I see the big picture, everything cancels out. I've done okay, or may be even good. But perhaps it's not satisfactory!

Recently I came across the commencement speech given by Steve Jobs at Stanford. Following part impressed me most:

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything,– all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

I read this after my little adventure at Shivasamudram. It's amazing how I wanted to convey the same thing in this post. Till now I never thought about the possibility that I could die this very moment. And now when I've seen the possibility in the eyes, whole perception about life has changed! I would urge you too to give a thought to this.

God Bless!

Software Engineers and CAT

(The following lyrics are inspired from Jefferson Airplane's - Somebody to love. You see, I don't poetize, I make parodies! Here I go, again.)

When the job isn't paying you enough cash.
No plans to send you to videsh.
Don't you want to take the CAT?
You better decide to take the CAT.

Last addition on your resume was your new phone number,
Do crosswords all the time in office, still going dumber!

When graduation was in the last ice-age.
When your cubicle looks like a gorilla's cage.
Don't you want to take the CAT?
You better decide to take the CAT.

ISB, GMAT and foreign things are just too pricey,
MBA from IIM seems just irresistibly spicy!

When You just want to spend life as a lad,
But your relatives can't just wait to see you wed.
Don't you want to take the CAT?
You better decide to take the CAT.

Yes, This year I want to take the CAT.
Don't you read this, my office mate!

Don't you want to take the CAT?
Don't you need to take the CAT?
Wouldn't you love to take the CAT?
You better decide to take the CAT!

Car-obaar

Ratan Tata's Rs 1-Lakh Car:
Excerpts from Ratan Tata's interview with Business World India (Full text available here; login is required, available for free.)

Q. The Rs 1-lakh car - how far has it progressed?
RATAN TATA: We are just finalizing the concept of structure, material and powertrain - which are the building blocks. Each of those has an assigned price to meet that objective. We are just coming to closing choices on all of those.
Now we'll go after developing the car. This is the broad framework in place. But if these building blocks are not decided upfront, then there is no car. So we have taken a long time to get at that. We have a couple of new drawings showing us the size of the car, but these building blocks have to be in place.
Should we go monocoque? Do we do plastics or do we go sheet metal? Those decisions had to be taken. We're almost at the point where we have evaluated this. It will be a five-seat, rear-engine vehicle.

Q. Will it be bigger than the Maruti 800?
RATAN TATA: It will be slightly bigger than the 800.

Q. Even in terms of the engine?
RATAN TATA: Maybe not, because it will be a lighter car than the 800. The intention is that the car will be positioned between the 800 and the two-wheeler on price.
I would imagine it would attract a two-wheeler customer to a primary car, which is all-weather-proof, is safe, has four wheels and, in fact, has the capabilities of a car that will come in two or three trim levels. There will be a rudimentary level and there will be a higher model which he can buy when he wants to upgrade. It will take some market away from lower-end cars and a bigger market away from two-wheelers.

Q. The rudimentary model - what will it not have?
RATAN TATA: There are a couple of views on what it may not have. For example, it may have a door, but the door may be a frame with a vacuum-coated plastic sheet on the front, with fixed windows that are sliding. And the higher version will have regular wind-down windows and regular doors. There is also a concept where there are no doors but just a safety bar, somewhat like the old jeeps.When I said that the building blocks have to be in place, we needed to look at how each of those things can be done elegantly. And what we hope is that the customer can define the car he wants when he buys it. And the car can be built in that particular form. He can also upgrade the same car after he buys it.

Q. Will it meet the safety standards?
RATAN TATA: It will meet all the safety standards that we require here. And until we really get involved in that, it will be difficult to say that it will meet the full safety requirements abroad, but our aim would be to try and meet most of those. It will meet the emission requirements that are there, which is a must. And we want it to be a safe car. We want to move people from a two-wheeler, with a wife holding a kid, to a safer form of transportation.

I can't agree more with Mr.Tata's vision that India has huge market for cheap cars; cheaper even than Maruti Alto and Maruti 800. Since 1991, when Ratan Tata became the chairman of the Tata group, Tata group has seen tremendous growth, especially in the automotive market. Today Sumo, Safari, Indica & Indigo enjoy big share in Indian car market. Tata motors has been focusing towards the cheap car segment from the start, which makes more sense keeping in mind that many foreign firms are now introducing their models from their stable abroad, specifically for higher end customers.

Still, I'm skeptic about his move to introduce Rs.1-Lakh car in Indian market. Maruti has declared vehemently that with such low budget it will be very difficult. I'm concerned about the compromises Tata Motors may have to do. Safety could be one. Although he has maintained that safety will be given all due importance, at least the rudimentary model doesn't sound very safe. Robustness will matter in smaller towns. Small city-cars can be successful in urban centers, but in smaller towns and rural areas the vehicles suffer a lot due to bad roads & usage conditions. If it's going to be a fragile thing like Reva, I can't see it cutting deep into smaller towns. If robustness counts in rural areas, style matter in urban areas. One prime example would be Maruti WagonR. It was supposed to be technically the most superior car from Maruti, still it didn't pick up well. The reasons are speculated to be related to it's looks. Same is the case with Indigo or Omni. With sliding windows & safety bars for doors, Rs.1-Lakh car looks more like an auto to me. Of course we've another important issues like maintenance,performance, mileage, comfort, etc.

Can this bring another revolution in Indian car market after Maruti in 1981? Only time will tell, but I've some doubts. The markets have opened up a lot since the introduction of Maruti (through an act of parliament in February '81). Today a lot many more choices are available to the customers. Loans are readily available. Consumerism is on the rise & prices are seen in the context of EMIs. Maruti Alto & Maruti 800 are respected well among buyers for their comfort & performance. Maruti must be planning to phase out 800 and replace it by Alto. Unless Tata's car impresses the potential buyers immensely, it will be damn tough for it to steal Maruti's share. Now let's consider the two wheelers' segment. It can be roughly divided between lower end models (Victor, CT 100, etc; Rs.25-35000) and higher end models (Pulsar, Eliminator, Thunderbird, etc. Rs.45-90000). The higher end motorcycles are bought mainly for their style and they're more popular among young people. Their buyers belong mainly to the category who feel that it's too early for them to buy a car and/or car is not necessary and/or maintaining a car is a liability. Mind you, these fellows can afford a car but they choose not to. They generally switch to cars after 2-3 years of bike usage. It won't be easy to woo them into buying cheap low-end car instead of high end mobikes. Some buyers from this section, who have enough money for bikes but not enough for a car, might be interested in Tata's proposition. Tata must be expecting to lure the low-end bike buyers. This class buys a vehicle mainly on need basis. Style matter less to them than comfort and usability. If their budget for motorcycle is around 25-40,000 today, it can be stretched upto 1-1.2 Lakhs for the comforts of a car. Car loans can encourage this class further into buying Tata's car. But, a major portion of this population belongs to smaller towns & I'm doubtful about performance of Tata's car in smaller stations.

I'll be very glad if Tata can manufacture a cheap yet well designed car suitable for Indian conditions. It's high time India increases it's car penetration. Good Luck Mr. Tata.

My Idea of pun

(Anurag, on his blog, has posted one interesting pun-ny joke. It only motivated me to post some of mine too :). My two punnies :-)

Q. How does a cockroach address his father's brother?
A. Kaka-roach!

Q. What's a school with only 8 students called?
A. Aath-shaala.

Q. Where does Lord Shiva live?
A. Himalaya.
Q. Where does Parvati live?
A. Her-alaya.

Eminem meets Uddham Singh

Eminem

Uddham Singh

What is life? Life is like a big obstacle put in front of your optical to slow you down And everytime you think you gotten past it it's gonna come back around and tackle you to the damn ground What are friends? Friends are people that you think are your friends But they really your enemies, with secret indentities and disguises, to hide they true colors So just when you think you close enough to be brothers they wanna come back and cut your throat when you ain't lookin What is money? Money is what makes a man act funny Money is the root of all evil Money'll make them same friends come back around swearing that they was always down

Zindagi kaayein hai? Jeevan hai ek badi bhains Jo tanne aage na jaavan degi Aur jyu-jyu tanne lagega ki aage badh liyo Ya sasuri peeche syu aa ke, tanne tangadi maar ke geera degi Dost kunn howe hain? Dost woh jinawar howe hain, jin-ne tu shaathi samjhe hai, Pann woh sasure bhi saale tere dusman howe hain, lukh-chhip ke Luka-chhipi mein asli rang chupa lewe hain So tanne lage to hain wo bhai jisye Pann shaale, teri hi mundi uda denge jab tu na dekh riya howega Paisya kaayein howe hai? Paisya hi tanne jokker bana mel rakhya hai Paisya paap ki jadd hai Paisye ke hi pichhe tere woh dost wapis aa jawe hain Kasam khake dosti ki fir se

Only The Good Die Young - Ayrton Senna

This name is hard to miss whenever one talks of all time great F1 racers. Born to a wealthy family in São Paulo, he quickly developed a deep interest in motor sports. Encouraged by his father, a racing enthusiast himself, he got behind the wheel at the age of 4. At the tender age of 17 he won the prestigious South American Kart Championship in 1977 and never looked back. Heading for Europe, he started his illustrious from F3 circuit. He joined Toleman-Hart F1 team in 1984. Next year, Senna joined the Lotus team and won his first GP at Estoril, Portugal under treacherous conditions. In 1988 Senna joined the McLaren team with Alain Prost as his team mate. The foundation for a fierce competition between Senna and Prost was laid, culminating in a number of dramatic race incidents between the two. In 1994, Senna finally left the ailing McLaren team for the top team at the time, Williams-Renault, which was eventually his last team. He won three World Championships and created several lap & pole positions records, many of which are still unbroken!

On 1st May, 1994, after ruling motorsport scene for 10 years, he took part in his third race for the team, the San Marino GP. Senna yet again took pole position, but would never finish the race. He was leading the race when he went off the track in the Tamburello curve and did not survive the injuries sustained by the subsequent frontal collision with a concrete retaining wall. He was 34 years old. In 2000, he was posthumously inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

His death is still mourned among Brazilians. From one fan site:

Blurring green, blue and yellow,
Never turned at Tamburello,
Formula One's saddest ever day,
Saw The Greatest Ever taken away

Only The Good Die Young - Dhruv Pandov

Dhruv Pandov: Keen followers of cricket during early 90's will remember this name. All the cricket magazines/newspapers were full of praises for this Punjab player. Many articles & reports were loaded with superlatives for his stylish batting and many termed him as next big thing in Indian cricket. He was not destined to play international cricket, but if we see his domestic record, its good but not excellent (I've seen players with better domestic records go kaput at the international arena). Still, he was described as the hope for India and it only suggests his class. The respect he earned in such a small career is reflected in the fact that the Punjab Cricket Board named the Patiala cricket ground after him. A under-19 trophy is also named after him.

He died in a car crash('91) while travelling to play in a match and the star-studded sky of Indian cricket lost promising prospect. The fate would have him as only a flash on the horizon.

Only The Good Die Young - Sher Shah Suri

Born as Farid Khan in 1472 in a humble family, he earned the title of "Sher Shah" after killing a tiger single handedly. He eventually rose to uproot Babar's legacy and snatch crown of Delhi from Humayun. In the process, humbled the mighty Mughal army twice and Humayun had to escape into jungle, where he spent next 15 years of his life. Sher Shah is considered to be the best Muslim king of India by many. In his short term in office, lasting mere five years (1540-45), he organised a vast network of road, including the famous Grand Trunk road; many rest-houses on those roads; planted trees along the roads. His empire was divided into various smaller paraganas, an entire administration tree was devised by him. His minister, Toder Mal (who was later included in Akbar's nava-ratanas), formulated a tax collection system, which was in use till the British overtook. Sher Shah's military character was marked by "a rare combination of caution and enterprise"; his political conduct was, on the whole, just and humane; his religious attitude was free from medieval bigotry; and his excellent taste in building is well accepted.

He died from an accidental explosion of gunpowder on the 22nd may, 1545. His premature death allowed the Mughals to come back with the help of Persians and the path of India's future was altered for ever!