The Ugly Indian Initiative

     I'm not new to dirty roads. I've shared my life with them for over two decades. I have managed to ignore all the potholes, the roadside garbage, the urinal-walls. I didn't think of these features as good or bad, I just accepted that they exist. I'm not alone in this, we (desi types) all have a chalta hai attitude. We are like this only - we tell each other. Even the television advertisements proudly glorify this nature as 'Indian'.

     In the midst of such rhetoric, I came across this website called The Ugly Indian which really caught my attention. It is actually trying to change things from a ground up level. Check it out for yourself. I really like their motto (from their Facebook page) -

Our motto: Kaam Chalu Mooh Bandh.

No activism, no lectures, no awareness drives, no moralising. Just go out and do it.

     Being in the USA now, there is not much I can do for this 'movement' happening in Bangalore and hopefully other Indian cities. I'm thinking of ways in which I can contribute to this movement. As a computer engineer the best way I can think of making a difference is by a commentary on their website. So here goes...

     The website seems to be very well designed. The first page of the site has just one question - Why are Indian Streets filthy? And the question has four choices that you have to answer before you can proceed. I like this because it makes you think and puts the onus on you, the reader to make a choice.

    The purpose of the site is clear, there are no distractions with a frugal yet tasteful background. While the website is clean and fresh looking, the pictures depicted are sometimes downright filthy. This brings a sense of contrast to the mind. It makes you feel like walking to the roads, cleaning the mess and putting up pictures of spotless roads.

     Most of the sentences are short and simple (especially in the second page) and hard to miss. For the thick skinned who still manage to miss, the really important points ones are in bold.

     The site reflects the take-action nature of this initiative. The photo examples of spot-fixing, with Before and After pictures demonstrate the impact these people are having. The examples are results-oriented with not a lot of preaching. The site clearly makes a call for action and makes you want to be involved.
 
      The website has a certain flowing structure and seems to be designed primarily for first time users - first you answer a poll question, then you see a summary, then look at practical examples of spot-fixing, and then the "I’ve seen enough. So, what’s the point? " link to convert you, the ugly Indian to a more caring person.

     I do feel that navigation of the website has some room for improvement. The structure the website can appear restrictive at times, especially if you are a returning visitor and you still need to go through the first few pages to reach a page you were actually interested in. For example I never discovered the About Us page until my 4-5th visit to the website - usually you would expect this page to be available very easily to a visitor.

     All-in-all, The Ugly Indian is a great initiative. I hope they are successful in changing the mindset of a majority of city-dwellers. I'll be following this group closely!

Flow - The Neurobiology of Excellence

Here is a very interesting excerpt on the concept of "flow" - from the pages of Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman :
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A composer describes those moments when his work is at its best:

You yourself are in an ecstatic state to such a point that you feel as though you almost don't exist. I've experienced this time and again. My hand seems devoid of myself, and I have nothing to do with what is happening. I just sit there watching in a state of awe and wonderment. And it just flows out by itself.


His description is remarkably similar to those of hundreds of diverse men and women-rock climbers, chess champions, surgeons, basketball players, engineers, managers and even filing clerks-when they tell of a time they outdid themselves in some favoured activity. The state they describe is called "flow" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the University of Chicago psychologist who has collected many such accounts of peak performance during two decades of research. Athletes know this state of grace as the "zone" where excellence becomes effortless, crowd and competitors disappearing into a steady absorption in the moment. Diane Roffe-Steinrotter, who captured a gold medal in skiing at the 1994 Winter Olympics said after she finished her turn at ski racing that she remembered nothing about it but being immersed in relaxation: "I felt like a waterfall".

Being able to enter flow is emotional intelligence at its best, flow represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performance and learning. In flow the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. Yet flow(or a milder microflow) is an experience almost everyone enters from time to time, particularly when performing at their peak or stretching beyond their former limits. Its is perhaps best captured by ecstatic lovemaking, the merging of two into a fluidly harmoniously one.

The experience is a glorious one: the hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture. Because flow feels so good, it is intrinsically rewarding. It is a state in which people become utterly absorbed in what they are doing, their awareness merged with their actions. Indeed it interrupts flow to reflect too much on what is happening-the very thought"I'm doing this wonderfully" can break the feeling of flow. Attention becomes so focused that are aware only of the narrow range of perception related to the immediate task, losing track of time and space. A surgeon for example, recalled a challenging operation during which he was in flow; when he completed the surgery he noticed some rubble on the floor of the operating room and asked what happened. He was amazed to hear that while he was so intent on the surgery part of the ceiling had caved in - he hadn't noticed at all.

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Off I go

Somebody’s off to Purdue this year to do his Masters degree in Electrical Engineering.
If the manages to hop on to the plane before it takes off.
If he miraculously avoids misplacing his passport.
If he doesn't get stuck in maddening Bangalore traffic.
…you get the drift.

The last year in general has been one hell of a year for me (for those with no sense of humor…should I say no sense of bad humor ... by somebody in the previous para I meant myself).The last two years in particular were easily among the toughest in my life in more ways than one. Shifting companies, losing touch with once-close friends, preparing for cat, applying for ms, battling loneliness, picking up pieces. Trying to make sense of my part in this universe. And what not. I’ll try to pen down those memories some time later in another post perhaps. For now…its been one hell of a roller coaster ride.

And I'm guessing the coming years won’t be a cake walk either!! So here I am , writing posts in the lull before the storm. Here’s me wishing myself the best of luck. I know I need it!!

Using Google For Ranking Colleges

Here is an interesting way to rank colleges, based on Google's Page Rank system :
College Rankings

Visa Power! Went and got it.

I got my visa today from the Chennai consulate.

Luckily for me my cousin lives in Chennai, so accommodation,food and entertainment was well taken care of. Yesterday was spent mostly in the last minute arrangement of documents, ironing of shirts, ignoring of comments from well wishers on how people in general(and I in particular) should keep everything ready a few (read many) days before an important event.

Next day morning I was all set for my interview. Adrenalin was oozing in my veins. I found an auto and the infamous haggling over fares began. The entire journey was spent having alternating animated discussions on how tough life is for auto-karas in Chennai, and how often passengers are taken for a BIG ride (in more ways than one ) by the aforementioned autokaras. I didn't have much time at all to ponder over the questions that could be fired at me. I left the auto decidedly refreshed and invigorated by all the verbal jostling.


The VISA consulate at Anna Salai is quite a fortress. In a not so auspicious move I got down and tried to enter the building from the exit. And I was kicked out before I could get in. Anyway I walked all the way around to the entry point and stood in the looong queue. Nervous candidates and more nervous parents were standing there. I met so many people from Bangalore, from my college , from my school.. the world is really a small place.

One thing I probably realised - how I was lacking in good organization and filing of documents. Most of the people had come with such neat plastic "document suitcases" which contained flaps for all papers and even little coloured labels - ready made with text like Marks Card , TOEFL , I20 etc. And there I was carrying ALL my important original documents in a simple plastic cover.

As usual I had come around one hour early for my interview at 8:30 am. I had to wait till around 10.00 am till I got my chance. And five minutes later, a plump jolly American woman told me my Visa was approved. I did a wild tribal celebratory dance after hearing this. In my mind of course. And then had a coffee and walked out of there.

About the interview and the two plus hour wait .. I'll probably try to write in another post..suffice it to say that its not an easy wait and you get a zillion thoughts and emotions running through your head. So now its time to look forward and hope for the best...

CAT. And Afterlife.

The CAT exam has been a very touchy subject for me for many reasons. Since the CAT results were announced I've tried to write on this, but the whole project of preparing for and writing CAT was sooo intense that I could not get a perfect post to do justice to what I wanted to say.
So after much deliberation, I gave up on getting out the perfect post and I'll just put three random lessons I learnt from writing CAT ...

1) Failure is not as bad as the fear of failure.
2) Confidence in whatever you do is a prerequisite for success.
3) Having a set of like minded people with you on your journey is essential.

RVCE Alumni Network

I was pleasantly surprised when last night I got a mail from Puneet Acharya about the RVCE alumni network website... because I didn’t think such a page would exist at all. That’s probably one downside of not going to a very highly respected college …you wont have much faith in the alumni network (rightly so in case of many engineering colleges coz they don’t deserve any). Anyway, I was wrong; there does exist such a page and its pretty neat too… They’ve come up with a neat database system where alumni can enter their contact details and other stuff. Wish such a system was in place when I was doing my engineering days.

Anyway, to all the other RVCE folks who have time to read drivel on this page, surely you have time to update your profile on this website? So go on and do your good deed for the day…

Link : http://www.rvcealumni.org/

Rants : How to read a textbook

Its been about six years since I first joined RVCE as an engineering student, and I finally (think I have) figured it out now.. The way to read textbooks is the way you read magazines.

First of all, start with a blank and clear mind. You don’t read Sportstar thinking
1) I have to finish the article on Sachin Tendulkar first because its the most important.
2) Oh, the cover story on Sania Mirza is 25 pages, I'll never be able to finish it..
3) The beach volleyball poster girls are the best part, but I can’t spend more than 5 minutes ogling at them, I need to do justice to all the other *chapters*.
Read what you find intrinsically interesting in the textbook. Don’t go like a drone from the first page to the last. To hell with what the author is trying to say. What’s more important is what you want to listen to.

Don’t always listen to others opinions (esp negative ones) about textbooks.
Each person is different and has pre-conceived notions about the textbooks he/she reads based on his experiences. Two people can almost never have the same experience with the same book. Once you start having pre conceived notions about a book, you take in only things which support your initial notions, and fail to notice other positive things in the book. You build upon your first impression and make a compelling negative image of the book in your mind.

You don’t know how your brain works. Accept it. For a million reasons you may find page 17 to be the most significant part of the book, while your friend may find it worthless. The brain is a complex man. If Mr. Brain likes page 17, give it to him. Don’t bother about page 16.

Mr. Brain likes to have fun, and doesn’t like important or responsible things. That’s why Mr. Brain doesn’t complain while wasting time with friends, while doing night-outs watching TV, while reading the back pages of the infamous Bangalore Times etc. So here is the trick. Impossible though it may seem, try to fool Mr. Brain into thinking you are having fun while reading that Goddamm text book. Make up imaginary plots where you are Superman, and all you need is the correct formula mentioned in para 4 page 216 to save the world from disaster. Hell put on a bright blue cape while reading if you want to. Once Mr. Brain is in the groove, there’s no stopping him. Desirous of saving the world again and again, Mr. Brain will, of his own free will, mug up all the formulas in the textbook!

Chicken Soup for the Soul-in-search-of-Excellence

Quotes from Harsha:
Arrogance is the biggest stumbling block to excellence.

Talent dazzles, but it has hardly anything to do with excellence. It is what you make of that talent that matters.

If you really want something, you will get it and there is no scientific explanation for this.

I can’t be Tendulkar but mind you Tendulkar can’t be me either

BERMUDA TRIANGLE : Every young Engineer's Nightmare !!

Chicken Soup for the Living Soul

Quotes by Randy:

You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.

When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.

The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.

We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.

Chicken Soup for the Scientific Soul

Quotes by Feynman :

"Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it."

You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool.

I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there.

Chicken Soup for the Techno-Entrepreneural soul

This is the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005 at Stanford University.

Quotes by Steve :

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.

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.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.

Take this SOP with a pinch of salt

An anonymous quote that I found in a cookie goes "To eat is human, but to cook is divine". This perfectly describes my attitude towards cooking. From time immemorial, my passion for cooking (and eating) has never faltered.

Throughout my early childhood and adolescence, I have always been one of the best cooks in my family. Whenever I tasted something out of the ordinary, I was always piqued, and tried my best to find out more about the dish.

By virtue of the 10,000 plus taste buds (see letter of reference from family physician for proof)on my tongue and my shark-like sense of smell, I was the official food-taster in the Balaji household. Food tasting is a rigorous task, and requires extreme mental concentration. It also taught me to take courageous and risky decisions, like deciding to be truthful when my father asked me how his Sambar tasted.

In my house I was the youngest member to be allowed access to the kitchen stove. In what proved to be a seminal experience, I prepared Maggi noodles for the first time when I was only in 3rd standard. Making Maggi at such a young age gave me significant experience in cooking, and has served as an inspiring force which has kick started my lifelong tryst with cuisine. I was completely involved in all the stages of making Maggi, right from using correct type of scissors to cut the masala packets, to arranging a fork and spoon at 120 degree angle over the finished delicacy.

What I learned from this is ability of independent thinking and research. I learnt what research really means, the importance of hard work and perseverance. While in my initial years I attacked the problem of maximizing taste, later on I moved on to the most important problem mankind is facing today : how to make a healthy meal while maximizing taste , speed of devour-ment, and looks. I never gave up, and dutifully had my parents and younger brother sample every dish I made. Considering how obstinate they can be, this speaks volumes of my leadership skills and delegation abilities.

I believe discipline, determination and ability to work hard are qualities essential in a research cook. I look forward to a fulfilling career in cooking and particular, I relish the prospect of experimenting in interdisciplinary fields. I have sizeable experience in this matter. A selected list of my most innovative and bold dishes are as follows:

1) Ice-cream –la – Tomato sauce
2) Rabid Ragullas – Rasgullas dipped in cream colored phlegm-like molasses-derivative.
3) Brown Sugar – A highly intoxicating powdered mix of Marie biscuits, cashew, pista and sugar.
4) Curd Bread – Quick snack of curd, garam masala and groundnuts sandwiched between bread.

It is my firm belief that no other university can offer the exposure, experience and multicuisinal experience that Rice university can offer. And I have to admit the name of your university carries enormous symbolic weightage. I would thus like to submit my application to your university, and hope to receive admission, fee waiver and free meals.

Ignorance is bliss

PS: To all the ECE,EE undergrads who like me never paid attention in college but now entertain romantic thoughts of doing further studies and making seminal contributions to world at large.. do not lose hope, there a good chance the textbooks will be rewritten and your ignorace will cease to haunt you...

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207403521

Learn to Forget

Yesterday Chandrika and I won First place in the anagram contest held by EMF (elctro motive force ) club in Infineon.Yay!!! Its been helluva long time since I have competed in any event, let alone actually winning something.

Competition is in todays world a part of everyones life, we are dead if we forget to compete in the a proverbial rat race.Or stated in an optimistic way, competitions and contests keep us alive !! This fact is sometimes easy to forget, especially for those people who are in a relatively stable job, whose basic necessities in life are met. These are the people who need to be all the more careful about what awaits them in the future. Its not like they dont have goals or passions in life. They have loads of aspirations, but what they lack is the COURAGE or GUTS to carry out their ideas. Getting out of the comfort zone which they build around themselves can be very painful, and many of them succumb to the withdrawal symptoms and relinquish their dreams. They are the people who are prisoners of their past successes.

In todays information age past success or experience is sometimes the most worthless quality you could possess. Nowadays, a persons success is measured by his adaptability or response to situations he could never fathom. When I look back at the last 3-4 years of my life most of my conjectures and theories about my future were not to happen. My life has been a roller coaster ride with joys and successes, as well as frustrations and failures. But these successes and failures always amaze me, I never seem to have a clue about either !

So I'm now trying to adopt a new way of looking at things, after being mesmerized by CK Prahalad and Gary Hamels signature book - Competing for the future. Heres the funda :

Its not about learning baby,
its about forgetting !
You have experience, maybe
but do you have innocence ??

So high and mighty yesterday you were,
that you forgot you might have to compete tomorrow.
Blunt are your arrows, broken is your bow,
How the hell will you compete,
with those kids with AK 47's ??

Forget your arrows,give up your bow
Practice using the gun,without any ego.

If the above lines are a poem ,I'll be dammed
but you will never get so much wisdom elsewhere,together crammed.

Down Memory Lane

Yesterday I visited college. Then out of the blue, it happened. A wave of nostalgia hit me, soaking me with memories of the past four years. A mini-tsunami, if you like.Similar to the artificial waves at WonderLa which I must say, are more powerful than they appear. Anyway..you get the point.

I was quite surprised myself. Was I really very sad about leaving the college I had been cribbing and complaining about for the past four years? As you might have guessed, the answer is a whole-hearted, perfervid, ardent, vehement, impassioned NO. ( thats right, Ive picked up the afore-mentioned adjectives from Barrons GRE word list, so its ok if you don't know all of them. In fact,if you do know all of them, why are you still reading this blog? Go read something more obscure, erudite, arcane.There I go again... )

I am not sad that I'll be leaving R.V.C.E. I'd be glad to collect my B.E course completion certificate which I think I have (un?)rightfully earned ( Assuming I pass RTOS of course..that dreadful pain-in-the-behind spoilsport of a subject ) Its time to move on,to other things in life...
But ( not supposed to start a sentence with but,but who cares? Did my previous sentence have two buts butted together, but for a tiny comma in between? cool... ) I know those carefree,unaccountable days of college life are now behind me. I've had a truly incredible time in college....

In spite of having to listen to the monotonous soporific drone of most of the teachers, whose teachings have thankfully not addled my brain. As yet.

In spite of having to stand in a crowded college bus for the entire period of my first year. Last time I heard, bus fees are close to eleven thousand rupees, so atleast the crowded bus problem is solved for my juniors.

In spite of the totally incomprehensible policies of the VTU, the unpredictable nature of which is rivaled only by the vagaries of the monsoon in India... both of which play havoc with innocent lives... I must add the VTU has got immense sadistic pleasure by taunting the engineering students of Karnataka in general, and those of the 2002-2006 batch in particular.

Well, as I said, I've still been able to enjoy college life. I've made a lot of friends, hopefully some for a lifetime. I've learnt a lot of lessons, most of them outside the classroom. I've maintained cordial ( what more do you expect?? ) relations with my teachers, who in all fairness were very kind and helpful..again, outside the classroom.

And despite the frivolous nature of most parts of this blog, I really mean it when I say I'm lucky to be part of this truly wonderful batch of 2006 E&C Department 'engineers'..many of whom are traveling thousands of miles away to pursue totally different dreams. Guys and girls..you made my day, a day four years long. ( Ahem...I think I will stop this sentimental stuff right now..any more would be downright embarrassing )

Here's wishing all my batchmates the best in whatever they do.