Poha

A yummy Poha stall outside Udaipur Bus Stand

Something which I terribly missed during my 4 year stay at Delhi. 

AIIMS and IIT: Random Coversation

Central Lawn of AIIMS

Background Info: AIIMS is considered as one of the most prestigious medical colleges in India. Out of 100,000 students who sit for its entrance exam (MBBS): 77 get selected making it THE hardest college to get into, in the entire WORLD. Full Info at Wiki. Recently, I was in AIIMS catching up with one of my friends there. His room was to die for, especially in the scorching Delhi heat (for those of you who don't know - every student living in AIIMS gets an AC in his/her room!) After the initial jubilation of meeting after several years was over, we got down to talking.

TND: Top Notch Doc
TNE: Top Notch Engg. (ha!)

TND: "If you take the brand AIIMS away and compare it with any other medical college - there would be hardly any difference between the two..."

TNE: "That is surely becoming true even for the IITs"

TND: "Initially AIIMS was supposed to be a research institution, possibly restricted only for postgraduate studies; but with growing pressure - you can see the AIIMS of today."

TNE: "That is, as far as I know, true even for the IITs.What is the structure of AIIMS?"

TND: "There are students - we, who until their final year concentrate mostly on theory and observing patients. In our final year we have do an intern - right here - in AIIMS, where we treat patients in OPD. Then there are residents who are the busiest people around here - they treat patients, they do research and they help us. Then there is faculty who after years and years of such tough life like to play it a little cool. But then they have a lot of higher end stuff to do..."

TNE: "We regularly hear that one has to wait infinitely long before he/she gets treated at AIIMS. What is the actual story?"

TND: "I think the pressure on AIIMS is just too much. The line for OPD starts from 6:30 AM in the morning. The window finally opens at 8:30 - and you get cards issued for the morning shift till 10 AM. Then you wait for 2-3-4 hours for your turn before the doctor sees you. If you are lucky you are in the doc's room for about 5 mins. Each resident looks at approx 100 patients in a 4 hour morning shift. With that quantity - quality ought to go down. Not in terms of how we treat patients but in how much research are we able to produce..."

TNE (picking up a book on Dermatology and STDs): "You know, I have always been in awe of doctors - I wonder why people always forget medical schools when they talk about the India of 21st century; why do they always concentrate on IITs or IIMs..."

TND: "You surely don't want to read that book before going to Dinner"

TNE (Opens the book, flips through it): "Eeekkkkkkkk"

TNE (After catching his breath again): "I am changing the topic rather abruptly, but I always had this doubt - Do people who come from reserved quote make equally good doctors?"

TND: "Look, not all people who come from general quota become good doctors - and similarly all people who come from reserved category do not necessarily make bad doctors. The ratio might be slightly skewed but then again - the bias you might have has no standing"

TNE: "Hmm. So even here, are there people who study just before exams, or do you guys have to be very regular?"

TND: "Well there exist both kinds of people - many of them study just before exams and others study throughout the year. You cannot check everything a person knows during exam. And what would be asked in an exam can always be predicted. So people who study throughout the year might not have a great edge over others in exams, but then they definitely make better doctors 10 years down the line"

TNE: "Man, that is so true. So what after MBBS?"

TND: "Post Doc"

TNE: "India?"

TND: "Yups"

TNE: "Do people go out?"

TND: "Earlier 30% people used to go out, now it has come down to 10-15%"

TNE (coming out from a deep thought): "You say your curriculum is theory based and does not check the practical knowledge one might have - I mean how can that be possible: You people are doctors for god's sake. You would actually treat patients one day. You are not phony people like us..."

TND: "When I said about our curriculum being all theory, I believe I meant only the written exams stuff and nothing else. We do have a practical aspect (as you said we are doctors here and do treat patients). We have morning postings in the Wards/OPD from 9:30 AM to 1 PM 5 days a week and we learn about patient care from the residents and faculty. When I said that the residents have it rough I did not mean that the Faculty does nothing. They also teach us but they are also very busy in patient care, research projects, conferences and writing scientific papers. We also have regular assessments of our practical skills in the form of ward leaving assessments (Practical exams and viva-voce at the end of our posting in each department) and the marks count towards our final exams.So you need not worry. But definitely things can be improved - everyone knows that they can be improved but no one does anything to change them..."

TNE: "Man, the story is exactly the same everywhere"

TND: "Infact, our performance throughout MBBS plays no role in the college we get for the post doc; it depends only on the marks we get in the exam for post doc."

TNE: "Ah that sounds a little arbitrary"

TND: "No actually, I think we are being too critical about the system just because we have got everything right. Like what you study here in 5.5 years is definitely of great use when you write the post doc exam, the only thing is: there is no direct co-relation between the two..."

TNE: "Yups. AIIMS has got to be one of the best places you can do your medical schooling from, but I guess the point we are making is - despite of that we should not become callous and should continue improving. Everyday...

~~~

Afterthoughts

We engineers lead a fairly simple life. So there should be absolutely no reason why should we sit back and just observe the sorry state of affairs. As far as Doctors are concerned - I guess, they do an extremely difficult job: afterall, what can be more difficult than dealing with life, and death - everyday...

~~~

Some other interesting bits of conversation

TNE: "I've been thinking since last 1 hour - What does OPD stand for"
TND: "Out Patient Department"
TNE: "That is so counter-intuitive!"

TNE: "Are there girls in AIIMS"
TND: "1:5. And all good ones get taken early"
TNE: "We live 1:10 - Imagine our plight!"

~~~

I put his Rs 9000/- Stethoscope to my ear and I cannot but tell you the child like delight I felt. It was the first time I heard my own heart beat. Hearing the beat of life literally gave me shivers.

PS: Is there some law which says: if you hear your own heart beat, it becomes faster?

Doc chose to answer this rhetorical question: The heartbeat does get faster and skips a few beats if you listen to it consciously.

~~~

TNE: "How are your Profs?"
TND: "Oh they are very difficult"
TNE: "Difficult!"
TND: "Ah - sorry - Profs is short form for our exams called professionals"THE : ":O"

~~~ The End~~~

Post Blogging Discussions: Thanks to the friend for painfully going through the entire thing and helping me correct the facts. I had got some of them terribly wrong. Apologies. I guess responsible journalism is difficult ~

42 Things to do before you graduate from IIT Delhi

IIT Delhi - like never seen before (from the roof of our lab in charge)

1. Make friends. Get close to them. Let the boundaries dissolve. Let the ego melt. Trust them. Understand them. Let them be what they are. Be what you are  
2. Fall in love. But don't let your boyfriend/girlfriend cut you off from the remaining world.
3. Do atleast one course with absolute interest, such that it brings sparks to your eye whenever you think about that course.
4. Find a mentor (senior/professor). Get friends with him/her.
5. Climb on the hyperbolic-parabolic roof. Lie down facing stars. Hear soft music
6. Go and sleep on your hostel roof, when it's too hot or when it's drizzling. Don't get caught.
7. Write a personal mail to each and everyone who has touched your life in last 4 years. Thank them.
8. Go to the Himalayas with your friends on a challenging trekking expedition. It strengthens your friendship.
9. Participate in some highly competitive cultural activity: Inter Hostel, Rendezvous etc...Atleast go for the audition. You will never get a chance to experience such fear again; and an opportunity to overcome it.
   
10. Participate in some highly competitive sports activity: Basketball, Water Polo, Hockey. Try playing rough and soft; for yourself and for your team. Experience how different emotions does each thing arouse in you and others.
11. Go to Chandni Chowk: Eat chaat, parantha, lassi, sweets and kulfi. (Some of my visits: Chawari Bazzar , Chandani Chowk ) 
12. Surprise your parents/close relatives with a surprise visit. Invite them to IIT Delhi; especially during some festival. Introduce your friends to them. Give them a chance to relive their college life.
13. Treat freshers (and all juniors) with love and respect.
    
14. Go and visit the house of all your close friends. Talk to their parents, siblings. Dine with them. It strengthens your bonding.
15. Blog about your experiences, feelings, ideas: anonymously or otherwise. Express yourself.
16. Get access to the IRD conference room and sneak through a door to its right. You will find yourself on the unexplored Insti Roof of IIT Delhi. Don't get caught.
17. Do a fascinating project. Something you always dreamed of doing since your childhood. Give the project everything. Years will not be able to fade the joy of working on your own ideas. I have heard people who graduated 10-15 years back talk with child-like joy about their college projects.
18. Visit Delhi University (of course find someone who you can talk to, once there!). Apart from other things, they are awesome in their right brains where we suck, and can teach you a thing or two about arts and literature among others...
19. Buy a good camera. Develop a good sense of photography. Take a lot of picture of your friends throughout your stay here. Have a friend who can take a lot of equally good pictures of you. But don't get obsessed with it.
20. Watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S
21. Talk to Juniors. See where IIT Delhi's future is going. Relive your past.
22. Devote yourself to at least one organization within IIT Delhi. (For me it was Technocracy)
23. Get out of your comfort zone: visit slums in Delhi. Work with an NGO/NPO.
24. Write an anonymous letters to a professor in the middle of a course: Critically comment on his/her teaching methods and how can they be improved. Note the professor's reaction in the classes onwards. If there is no difference write another letter.
25. Go to India Gate with your guitar (or someone who can play guitar well) and your friends. Sing songs till wee hours.
26. Talk to people about their dreams. Things they are really passionate about. Discuss with them things which you are really passionate about.
27. See people getting wasted. Make a complete fool of yourself: once.
28. Try penning down a paper. It needn't be a core technology paper. It can be something on Environment, Literature, state of education in India...Just try to write an essay at some competition...especially about something you like doing. It makes you introspect a lot.
29. Put a night out at Wind-T when the weather is nice and breezy. Spend it reading a book you like.
30. Write examination for someone else. Don't dare get caught.
31. India is a very diverse country. Your peers are the best people who can educate you about real India. Talk to them about it. Ask them to tell about their city. Discuss the problems you think India is facing and it's solutions. Discuss each others religious believes. Try to understand others religion.
32. Don't get ill. The simple way of doing it is: Get regular sleep. Eat proper food. Exercise. I didn't do either in my 1st year. I was constantly ill. After I started doing all of these things: I haven't been ill even once from last 3 years.
33. For once in a while, do what other tell you to do. Let them decide. Let them lead. Enjoy the joy of having no responsibilities.
34. Develop a habit of questioning. Try to find how can you do it in a polite way so that you don't put people on their defensive. We Indians, as a culture, ask very little. Change that.
35. Talk to kids who are yet in their school. Visit your school sometimes. Talk to principal. Don't worry - you will always be treated very highly. It will bring back all the fond school memories.
36. Don't do all spartan stuff. Do things in group. Even when you watch movie or TV try to do it in a group. You will anyways watch movies alone for the rest of your life.
37. Do some part time job. Don't do something boring on computers. Go out and do some intern/teaching/journalism/marketing etc. Do something where you will meet a lot of new people completely different from what you get to meet here. Don't make this work your priority. Just try it for 1-2 months. Don't do it without good pay.
38. Play kho-kho near WindT. And also all those childhood games: Vish-Amrit, Unch-Neech, Tipi Tipi Top, Chain Chain, Sitolia etc.
    
39. Try appreciating things. It's hard to do that. Give people credit for what they are doing. They will do better. If you feel things are not upto mark - give them suggestions; don't criticize them.
40. Carve out time for yourself each day. Think about your goals, priorities, mistakes etc.
41. Hunt for home food. Day scholars make excellent preys.
42. Decide a date when all of your closest friends will meet, once a year, on a vacation trip. This is something you should do on the last day, the day when you are leaving IIT Delhi. For ever. (We have gone to several places, some of them being: Laddakh, Har ki Dun & Dodital)  
    
    These 4/5 years are never going to return. Ever. You will never be a free bird again. Enjoy your freedom. Responsibly. And do something that justifies your belonging to this institute. To the least, become a good human and a good citizen.
    
    Dream. Dare. Do.
    Also 50 things to do at MITPS: Janta - you are welcome to extend the list. To agree, to disagree with the things said. I hope several things written here go beyond IITD and apply to college life everywhere...
    ~~~~~~~~~~
    Later Additions based on suggestions from people:

1. Have a "pen" friend in a far away IIT to be able to understand a different perspective, to be able to tell things the way you want to (Surbhi, IITM)
2. Have a "pen" friend from far-far away world
3. Help someone in dire need, may not be a friend. you'll feel good about it... and there will be someone who'll remember you forever... (Naman, IITM)
4. Go and ring the bell at the top.....the one that tolls only at graduation.....and yes - don't dare get caught :D (Anshul, IITD)
5. Savor the food of Sassi and Tankush. Chances are that you will get ill but past experiences say that you will not. So do it (Abhishek, IITD)
6. Somehow sneak (possibly with your girlfriend!) to Bharti Roof. Watch the sunrise/sunset Anonymous
7. Meet a really special girl at your social. Have a great time. Let her go. (dunno if let her go = ditch her!) Anonymous

Let there be Tranparency

"Yaar, there is too much work as of now..."
"Why - I guess all the competitions have ended?"
"Yes, but trophies still need to be decided"
"But the competitions have ended"
"Yes, but trophies aren't yet decided"
"That doesn't make sense"
" :) "

- Week1, March 2010

The institute night (called BHM) is approaching and winners are to be awarded. But it isn't yet decided who are going to be winners! Next 2 weeks are going to be devoted to intense round of negotiations to decide winners. Winning competitions round the year is not sufficient. You need to master politics! Ah, my IIT Delhi.

Those who get trophies during the negotiation are happy. Those who don't - think that they will negotiate better the next time. Everyone cribs about the system. Anyone has the power to change the system. No one does. The system continues. Ah, my powerless IIT Delhi.

Let me clarify the point once more: Passion oozes from people when they are competing. And winning definitely plays the major role in deciding the winners. But that's not all. This last line is what bothers me a lot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Today is the last date of submission. And every day you get late in submitting your term paper will see that 5 marks are deducted from your total marks"

"Attendance if for 10 marks"

"How did you present in the presentation was immaterial. How much of theory did you put in was important. That's how I am marking you"

- All dialogues belong to nearly last week of the semester and were never recited even ONCE during the whole semester

Professors are equally messed up in deciding clear policies. If they are first timers, I guess that's understandable. But when you have been teaching for x years: you are expected to know that students loose track of their priorities.

Students must attend all classes. O'course. Students must submit assignment before the last date. O'course. But why make all the reward and punishment rules on the last day itself. If such is the case what then gives teachers the authority to say that students do all the work at last minute!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One thing that dearly impressed me about TOYOTA was one of its management principles which said:

Use Visual Control so no problems are hidden

So tell me. Why can't each board and each course maintain an excel sheet which is updated every week?

Suppose you were to present your term paper on 2nd February. You didn't. Your marks on excel sheet show that you've got a zero. It's non-negotiable. Do you think that remaining people in the class would give their presentations on time?

Suppose attendance is daily updated. And so are the marks associated with it. I can just SEE my status. I don't have to keep running to the prof to keep asking him. It makes life easy for everyone.

Suppose you win an event in dance. Your hostel points shoot up. Suppose you have x articles accepted for publication in BSP. Your hostel get points accordingly. Immediately. The excel sheet shows that. The whole institute can see that. When the year will end all you would need to do is to sum up the points and see which hostel has most of them. No negotiations. No politics.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The gist of entire thing is this: When you use visible tools to express and monitor day to day performance of individual/hostel: all the problems will surface at once.

The main reason people don't do it is either because

1. They can't decide in advance what rules to make. They just aren't gifted enough.
   
   
2. They want to remain powerful by having the negotiating powers. They want to favor friends. They want people to come to them and beg.
   

Remember days when we used to prepare for JEE: wasn't test rank and instant feedback on our performance useful? Didn't it motivate us to take correcting steps?

In the beginning there will be clashes. There will be a certain level of inconvenience. An unsettling feeling. But this happens with every change. However, over a period of time things will smoothen out; people will being to respect the system and everyone will be able to divert their energy to better cause. Or probably to just enjoy, get time to chill out: to study.

Let there be Transparency

The Story of Delhi Autowallah(s)

After having been verbally lynched about his lack of knowledge about cars; desperately hoping to prove that he was not a pseudo car-fanatic; and that all his talks about being fascinated by cars were not farce, S sees a car from the auto we were traveling in and said,

"This is quite a costly car"

The Autowallah (autodriver) who was silently driving the auto until then decided to join in the verbal-lynching of S, and asked innocently,

"How much does it cost, bhaiya?"

S: "f-o-u-r-t-e-e-n Lakh!"
AW: "Only 14 Lakh. My auto is worth 4.5 Lakh"

However, as we implored deeper we found some rather sad truths about the story, as according to the Autowallah...

Government commissioned autos are worth 1.4 Lakh. But you never get them.
Government commissioned loan for buying auto is given at 8-9% pa. But you never get it. So our AW had taken a loan from private firm at 17% pa.

Given the fact that our Autowallah, Pradeep wasn't a dumba** (he is doing his BA from IGNOU) I guess there is some truth to the whole story.

Soon, we switched back to lighter conversation. He tells us that he is just 25 years old, and the oldest member in his village of 1000 families yet to be married. And he is no hurry.

"The problem is that I will have to get married with someone from my village itself. Add to that the fact that I will have no choice in deciding my bride. My mother and father will decide this. And they will look only at the money..."

We all sighed at this. However, oblivious of this he continued

"Now the problem with that is: A girl who brings in a lot of money also brings a lot of pride with her, she will not be willing to learn anything easily. Like if she is uneducated and I want to teach her, she wouldn't listen to me..."

Pradeep continued to tell us several other things about his life and village while I drifed back to my conversations with several other autowallahs over a past few weeks

One was from Bihar. His family was in Bihar. He was a school dropout. Currently he earns about Rs. 500-600 each day of which he has to pay 300 to the auto owner, commonly referred to as Malik.

I forget the origin of the other guy, but he works as a shoe salesman in a lady's shoe shop during the day time; and as an autowallah during the morning and evening. He sincerely hopes that his break-back hard work will lead him somewhere in life.

The third autowallah told me a lot about how he was thinking about getting married so that he had someone who can cook for him. Currently he plies an auto the whole day; and eats in one of the countless roadside dhabas. However, he was worried about the fact that where would he keep his wife. He has no money to rent home!

While I was racking my brain remembering the names of all these 3 people, and getting into the guilt-mire on not remembering them; I suddenly remembered what one AW said to me, while he took me from HZM to IIT Delhi; after I asked him (particularly born out of his non-haggling behavior):

"I see you are different from others bhaiya, how are you so smiling and happy?"
"What's there in life but to be happy"

We are at our destination, DPS RKP School, and I hear the autowallah say,

"If this government could have done something for a man like me, I would have been happy"

The Philosophy Behind Matrix - 3

Last in the series: A few memorable quotes, which you can read again and again; and again and again they make you think!

You do not truly know someone until you fight them
- Seraph

Choice, the problem is choice.
- Neo
It is remarkable how similar the pattern of love is to the pattern of insanity
- Merovingian

Seraph: Did you always know?
The Oracle: Oh, no. No, I didn't. But I believed... I believed.
Choice is an illusion created between those with power and those without
- Merovingian

Humph. Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness.
- The Architect

One way or the other the war is going to end
- Oracle

Other parts:

The Philosophy Behind Matrix - 1

The Philosophy Behind Matrix - 2

The India Gate

Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia

Well there is nothing more monumental than the 'ol India Gate. But going to India gate at 3:30 in the night has a completely different aura to it.

To start with, there are no ice cream wallas, no bhel puri wallas, no families, no honkering cars, no toy sellers and so on: there is no one. For a moment after you first step outside your car and reach India Gate, you don't feel like it's India Gate anymore. But soon after you start loving the feeling of ownership of the place...

Next, there are barricades guarded by armymen. However, they do not stop you from crossing them. I guess asking for their permission is always a better option.

Lastly, the India Gate is unlit, unlike in the evening when it is bathed in blazing lights. And, believe me, the serenity is engulfing...

Invictus

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

- William Ernest Henley

Kumaon Times

Published the following article in Kumaon Times on the occasion of my farewell!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saying Goodbye and Everything Else

As far as I recall, Arya was the first person I met after reaching Kumaon Hostel on 27^th July 2006. He had taken up the responsibility of showing us our rooms. My father thought he, my seniors, was going to be a beacon light in my life; I thought he, my senior, was going to be a ragging nightmare in my life. No awards for guessing who was right!

I enter my empty, dusty room. Of all things they had brought along – my parents forgot to bring broom. Rohit, gave away his broom after much ado (and a scary – give it back warning). After having cleaned up the room, and having jumped with joy on seeing Sankalp (finally – I had found someone from my Bansal days) I welcome my roommate – Nikhil. O the first sight of him never warned me that he would be the dirtiest creature on earth. His socks used to stink the whole day; he slept over his books and clothes and the cough syrup bottle he spilled on his study table wasn’t cleaned until it got dried and was scrapped off, gram by gram, by the blowing winds.

We used to get up at morning 5, were made to run till 7 by our seniors, eat breakfast – run for PHP lab and other crappy stuff only to return late in the evening, get ragged till midnight and then gossip away till wee hours. And soon after that we were swept away by Kumaon fervor. Some people were cleaning fans, some were hiding in the rooms of their seniors, some got influenced by Puneet’s speech and started playing hockey, some were busy sneaking out of the hostel by throwing their bags from balcony, some people asked other to lock them up, while some people mistakenly locked their rommies, some got influenced by the to-be IIMA guy and tried shouting Jai Kumaon just like him – In all this, I was busy acting. Time passed – grades came. There was a lull after the storm. And then things started all over again.

Suddenly one fine morning we walked out and some skinny guy called Dhanda was pole dancing. I realized-we had become 2^nd yearites! I don’t remember anything from the year except AOE, Swimming, Apping and R2, oh and o’course the mess-became-good for a change fiasco!

Come 3^rd year and we were made the mentors. Some mentors had to paint their faces black; some were already black.

Oh and then the wretched final year which was mostly hazy: Drugs, Booze and Nights Out: either devoted to Dota or to Series or to BTP – there was hardly anything else which people did!

As the days of solitude draw near I have started looking at thing from a different viewpoint. Some things haven’t changed even a tardy bit: Nanda’s “Tu…Kat” and a long distance high handed “Hiiii” is still as charming as it used to be in the first year; Chachha‘s philosophies are as intact and his room as clean as they used to be in his first year; Ghoda is as beauty conscious as he used to be in his first year and so on. But some things have: for a change some guys names after a school have become exceedingly foul-mouthed people and have got a bandi. A Chennai born, Maharashtra-living Gujrati, studying in Delhi is going to Calcutta. A high-school stud re-found his studness by taming an animal. Some Gaziabadians deflated, some Delhites inflated, some people from East-India started giving hugs to random firangs sitting in parks, some bihari proved to be worth a dime as he entered some gate and so on…

Ah, it feels so :( when you think you will not be living with such people anymore. Sometimes it feels like I will never experience a change as monumental as this or, will I?

Dosvidania and everything else (hugs, kisses, shoves, nudges…)

Nishant Ranka

Discovering Delhi Food - Lajpat Nagar

Our funda of eating is fairly simple: The food should be good, the prices should be low and if possible, the place should be not one of those famous places (like Haldirams etc) :D

Jatin and Meenakshi found just the perfect place for us. You can call it something like a dhaba. It is in the O block of Lajpat Nagar Main Market.

View LN in a larger map

The Cottage Cheese dishes are just awesome. 60 Rs/- for half plate Kadhai Paneer; which is nearly equivalent to full plate of any other restaurant. Paneer (Cottage Cheese) is like the staple food of Delhi people, but still I must say the thing I found there was way better than anyplace else in Delhi.

Then o'course you can go to the main market of Lajpat Nagar and drink Slush at Golden Fiesta. A glass for Rs 20/-; the flavored ice just melts in your mouth :) I liked the Mango flavor - In my opinion a must try thing :)

Other things:

Chandani Chowk Trips (Simply the most awesome place for any gourmet to explore in Delhi)

http://sites.google.com/site/hiddengetaways/Home/the-spicy-trail

http://nishantranka.blogspot.com/2009/12/spicy-trail.html

The New Look Blogger

Just go to http://draft.blogger.com/home

And then Click on Layout

And then on Template Designer

This thing is really cool. You can play around with background images, sizes ed infinitum

Also explore editing the blog in this new look blogger. Uploading images is like really awesome :)

Blogger has become like Wordpress...

The Philosophy Behind Matrix - 2

Before we begin - a classic example of rhetoric:
Roland: I thought we just saved the dock.

Lock: EMP knocked out every piece of hardware, and every APU. If I were the machines, I'd send every sentinel I had over here right now. "Saved the dock" Captain?, you just handed it to them on a silver platter!

- Matrix Revolutions

Who are Agents - Who is Agent Smith?

Though we never get a feel of this, Agents are actually there to protect Matrix. I guess this is because we naturally watch the movie from the perspective of humans!

In actuality, Agents are like antivirus programs, protecting the Matrix from Zionites and people who understand that the Matrix is a fake (ref: post 1). Apart from killing the Zionites they also have an important task to find and destroy the programs in Matrix which are no longer useful...

Agents are like super-stud programs: they can move really fast, and can copy themselves on any normal human/program in the Matrix; but are under controls of machines (remember the ear-plugs they wore!). It's literally impossible to destroy them because they can always copy themselves.

However, at the end of 1st movie when Neo realizes that he's The One and dismantles Agent Smith; Agent Smith somehow (I still haven't understood - how? Help needed!) is freed from the control of machines. Smith also gets the ability to copy himself onto literally anyone (including Zionites), through direct physical contact. He thus becomes a virus. By the end of 3rd movie, he copies himself on everyone in the Matrix world - humans and non-humans (including Oracle!)

After he's unplugged his power keeps growing in direct proportion to Neo. Simply put, if Neo's matter then Smith is the antimatter. Together, they balance the equation; and eventually they annihilate each other!
Who is Merovingian?

Merovingian is a program who keeps a track of all the programs running in the Matrix. You can loosely treat him as the windows task manager but o'course with a lot more powers.

"What do all men with power want? More power."

- Oracle, Matrix Reloaded (about Merovingian)


How programs work?
It must be understood that programs are programmed to do things in order to make Matrix as real as possible. For e.g. Merovingian's wife is programmed to crave love which she never gets. However, programs know the word, not the associated emotion: emotions are for humans to know. For e.g. Rama asks Neo that since he loves Trinity - what would he do to save her? Neo says, "anything". Rama says that I too would do just anything to save my daughter Sati from deletion (but because he's programmed to love which tells him that a father should do anything possible to save her daughter from being killed - not because he can feel love!)
Now then, how it all ends?
After The One reaches the Architect, he is given a choice to either return back to the source code; after which he can choose 23 people from the current Zion and rebuild it - or return back to the Matrix which will ultimately lead to the destruction of the entire humanity (as machines will destroy Zion!).

Architect tells Neo that Trinity is going to die irrespective of what Neo does. Neo says that the machines can't destroy humans because they need them to generate power.

"There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept. However, the relevant issue is whether or not you are ready to accept the responsibility for the death of every human being in this world."

- The Architect, Matrix Reloaded
All previous 5 versions of The One return back to the source code, but this time Neo makes an exception. Love! Neo, using his superhuman powers, saves Trinity.


The events now reach a cataclysmic point as the Machines penetrate Zion intending to completely destroy it. In the Matrix world, agent Smith frees himself from the control of machines and learns the ability to not only copy himself on anyone present in Matrix, but also to source himself in the humans.

With things reaching their ultimate end, Neo goes to the Machine world to negotiate. In my view, this negotiating process has to be one of the inconceivable yet one of the most humane thing shown in the movie.
"The program Smith has grown beyond your control. Soon he will spread through this city, as he spread through the matrix. You cannot stop him. But I can."

- Neo, Matrix Revolutions Machines agree, and in the ultimate fight -



Neo destroys Smith; and is himself killed. Then there is peace.

The trick was that Oracle allowed Smith to copy himself on her. Then she tricks Smith, giving him false vision that Neo will die on that rock (ref: pic); but when Neo gets up Smith becomes all worked up because he thought Neo was meant to die. Add to this the fact that Smith calls Neo, Neo (he has always called Neo, Mr. Anderson!)
"Wait. I've seen this. I stand here, right here, and I'm supposed to say something. I say, 'Everything that has a beginning has an end, Neo.' " [pause] "What? What did I just say?"

- Agent Smith, Matrix Revolutions

Now I am a little confused how it eventually ends. Smith copies himself on to the Neo, but machines give Neo some kind of super charge which kills him. As a result of which Smith dies. My guess is that once Smith copied himself onto Neo - machines again had the access to the source code of Smith, and thus they deleted it. At the very end the Architect agrees that he will give allow those who want to get out of Matrix - to get out of it.




I would end by quoting my favorite lines from the entire movie:

"...the temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?"

- Smith, Matrix Revolutions

"Because I choose to"

- Neo, Matrix Revolutions

The Philosophy Behind Matrix - 1

The Philosophy Behind Matrix - 3

Childhood Confusion

While I am compiling my thoughts on the 2nd Matrix post, a little unresolved confusion from my childhood days:

My sister always used to sing to me:

"सोजा बबुआ मानो बिल्ली आई है"

And it always used to confuse me: Is Mano - like the Hindi mano - which means 'assume' or is it a proper name referring to a cat called 'Mano'?

I know, it's a trivial thing but what I was wondering at was that fact that amazingly how great such trivialities used to sound during our childhood, amazingly how is that we remember all such trivial details from our childhood, and amazingly how it was when during our childhood - our life was nothing but a mass of trivialities...

The Philosophy Behind Matrix - 1

I am writing this post assuming that you must have seen, or atleast heard about the trilogy of the Matrix Movies. I have been thinking about these movies a lot lately; and have finally understood the central thought behind all these movies (thanks to Kinari, Fote and Wikipedia) I must say - some really cool thinking by Wachowski Brothers. Must See Trilogy. Must Read Post.

Man and Machines: Purpose of Life (Ref: Animatrix)
Man created machines. Machines used to work for man, until one day when a cleaning machine transcended the boundary between man and machine; when the thought, "what is the purpose of my life?" flashed across the machines mind.

"In the beginning, there was man. And for a time, it was good. But humanity's so-called civil societies soon fell victim to vanity and corruption. Then man made the machine in his own likeness. Thus did man become the architect of his own demise."

- Animatrix Narrator, Renaissance Part 1

This led to a revolution. Machines overpowered man and killed their entire species except for those few who crept in the Earth's crust and formed Zion! Now, machines used to derive their entire power from the Sun.

So the clever thing the dying man species did was to block the entire sky. The clever thing machine did was to identify that humans produce energy when their mind is stimulated. So the machines captured all the humans who were alive; and plugged them into a virtual reality - to derive power from the human thought.
What is Matrix?

Matrix is this virtual reality world. Everything in Matrix is either a program or a plugged-in human. Matrix was created by machines to derive power from the human thought. It is a mathematically perfect world, and was created by the program called the Architect.

There are several bugs in Matrix, especially in relation to the presence of humans. Some humans somehow gain the sudden understanding that Matrix cannot be real during moments when these humans would exceed their humane limits. For e.g. a fast runner breaks the world record by completing 100m race in 8.7 seconds; which is when he suddenly understands that this cannot be real (shown in Animatrix). Such individuals are released from Matrix and are rescued by Morpheus.
Who is The One?

All the collected anomalies of humans are accumulated in the form of The One who traces his way through the Matrix to finally meet the architect and return to the source code. Thus it is like a feedback loop, which helps architect improve the Matrix.

"Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly which, despite my sincerest efforts, I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. While it remains a burden assiduously avoided, it is not unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control, which has led you, inexorably, here."

- The Architect to Neo, Matrix Reloaded

This function of The One comes to us as a rude shock, because we treat him as the hero all the along 1st and 2nd movie. It is only after this dialogue, that The One really becomes an hero: when he makes a choice which his predecessors had never made...to save Trinity. Love!
Who is The Oracle?

The movie starts with the 6th version of Matrix. The Architect was quite frustrated by his 1st 2 attempts; but then he realized that to control humans in this virtual reality world, he needs something less mathematically perfect and more emotional...
"The first matrix I designed was quite naturally perfect, it was a work of art, flawless, sublime. A triumph equaled only by its monumental failure. The inevitability of its doom is as apparent to me now as a consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being, thus I redesigned it based on your history to more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of your nature. However, I was again frustrated by failure. I have since come to understand that the answer eluded me because it required a lesser mind, or perhaps a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection. Thus, the answer was stumbled upon by another, an intuitive program, initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche. If I am the father of the matrix, she would undoubtedly be its mother."
- The Architect, Matrix Reloaded

Morpheus always believed in Oracle. She thought that what she said was true. It brings great pain to him when he learns that Oracle was nothing but a way to lead The One to the Architect, and finally restart the Matrix, he says:

"I have dreamed a dream, but now that dream is gone from me."

The actual role of the Oracle is revealed only at the end of the movie; which is to unbalance the equation of Matrix, and that she is favored towards the side of humans. Both Architect and Oracle are super-intelligent program who can decide what to do - themselves!

~~~~~~
Now, I'm yet to deal with the following things; but assuming you're already bored to death reading such a looooong post - I am giving it a rest. Will write more on these topics, if in case you want me to, in a separate post.

Who are Agents - Who is Agent Smith?
Who is Merovingian?

What is the entire funda about choice?

Now then, how it all ends?

The Philosophy Behind Matrix - 2

The Philosophy Behind Matrix - 3

IIM Ahemdabad

Not me - it's Gujju who went all 'suited up' for his 'IIMA' interview :) Gujju is finally going to the Gujju land. Life has come a full circle :) Read the entire interview on his blog (quite interesting)

http://ithinkshuffled.blogspot.com/2010/03/iim-ahmedabad-interview.html

Larger Scheme of Things

Global warming has been shrugged off, quite conveniently. Even if Kyoto was of some consequence; Copenhagen was a total disaster (except o'course the fact that world excepted global warming IS a problem).

95% of Brinjal production in India goes waste. Total agricultural waste is nearly 30% of the produce. Can you imagine the price difference if this had not been the case...

Nearly 1,00,000 farmers have committed suicide. Newspaper column size for murder/death/suicide of an IITian == that for 100 farmers.

Nearly 770 million Indians live below Rs. 20/- per day. 330 million of these people live below Rs 12/- per day.

China holds more than $2000 billion of foreign exchange reserves. India's GDP is nearly $1300 billion.

There is no freedom of press in China. Only bulletin published is that by the government...

Monsanto Seeds. Watch the documentary called 'The world according to Monsanto'. It will scare you to bones. A company which is literally ruining our already ruined farmers through its patented seeds and super-harmful herbicides...

Recently Right to Education bill was passed. Currently there is a shortage of about 20 lakh teachers in India. Education bill would be but a false promise if something is not done in this regard...

IITians are probably THE most educated of the Indians. Several IITians daily brush their teeth, shave their coarse hair, wash their faces etc...with the taps open at full force (I've seen this countless times). Didn't we all grew up watching the DD1 commercial about not wasting water? Plus don't we all believe that the solution to lack of civic sense in Indians is better education? Is there an irony?

This is just for the starters...someone with more knowledge can go on and on and on...there are o'course positives: Current Government is doing quite well, the new rashan policy, if implemented, will bring great relief to the common man and so on...

Sometimes it feels like India really needs us...sometimes it feels like that we have a sense of responsibility which we conveniently ignore; entangled in the myriads of our own personal life, feeling insecure at each and every moment - and getting cozy with our own state of affairs at other times.

Wasting even a tiny bit of anything should prick our conscience (including the wastage of time...). It doesn't...It should...Shouldn't it?

---

PS: Check the figures. They are approx accurate.

PPS: This post in a summary of a late night discussion among Ankit, Kinari and I...

Crystal Priya: It's the time to Disco

Well, as it was just a few days to go before we all part our ways and waving each other, through misty eyes and shaking hands, say dosvidania; it was a great idea to have a batch treat, where people can come and dance together and with a final hug permanently cement their bonds of friendship for ever and ever.

There were discussions on batch treat from I-don't -remember-when but somehow something kept cropping up and the treat couldn't be finalized. Even the batch which proudly claimed itself to be the most united one couldn't come to agree on terms which were appealing to all.

I dared to say the 'most united' thing because I feel that somehow even with all our differences we respect each others opinion. Each batch has a google group, and each group goes through the same cycle of great chaos when some people post things which everyone else finds unsuitable for the purpose of the group or for that matter some people make it a habit to use the group as a medium to publicly malign and disparage people, institute and humanity in general. Our group too went through a similar cycle and at one point of time it had to be moderated, which aroused great sentiments and people united and fought against it - and for the right to say what they want to say. There was a great jubilation when the moderation was finally called off, but as according to me what followed this was something extraordinary: people started acting responsibly by self moderating the content they posted on the group, which according to me is an extremely difficult stage to reach for any given group of people...

But coming back to the point - the treat was in jeopardy and it is in such testing time that you need a champion who can galvanize people into action. I remember Director Sir once saying, "There is no cause without a champion - for every cause there has to be a champion". In our case it was was Shekhu who went from hostel to hostel - room to room; convincing people to come. And lo! they did come.

What followed was THE VERY BEST PARTY I've ever been to in my life. We danced for over 4 hours NON STOP. There is a great advantage in dancing with people who don't know how to dance but still have an enormous energy bubbling in their bodies, a shine in their eyes and an urge to dance their way through the night because then you feel a part of the group. You can dance even when someone is watching. The food at Crystal was great and I must recommend that place to anyone who would like to have a grand party. The Dj was super cool and the night ended with the song, "Yaroon, dostiiihiiiii badi hi haseen hai..." as we all sat down in a large circle, hands on each others shoulders,swaying with the music...

Listen to it one time; and as the DJ said, "feel the song..."

Click to hear music file

Or watch it here...

Visionary Nostalgia 1

"Life, usually, does not give me chance to say goodbyeBut now, when it has - I don't know how to say it..."

- Nishant, March 2010

A Trip to Chokhi Dhani

Speech # 3

I believe each one of you sitting here must have faced, on countless number of occasions, disagreements in group. Be it in your family - discussing on what to have for dinner, or with your team at work place - discussing how to go about a new initiative. And I believe you all being bright shining individuals are thoroughly aware on how to deal with disagreements in group. Therefore what I am going to tell you today is about the problem of agreements in groups. [Long Pause]. Yes, Yes I know - you all must be thinking - "The group is agreeing and this guy standing here is saying that there's a problem in that!"

Ok hear this story - Tejesh (my contemptory), Pooja (junior to me), Aniket (another junior), and I were sitting together playing the game of scrabble. We all were happy to be sitting there - playing the game of scrabble, when out of nowhere I casually suggested that we go to Chokhi Dhani for our lunch. After a brief silence Tejesh said mildly, "Ok". Aniket added, "If you 2 say so" and Pooja said, "Ok".

So we went to Chokhi Dhani. The way was long and filled with cloud of dust. The day was very hot and humid. It was suffocating inside the car and when we finally reached that place - the food turned out to be horrible. [on seeing an expression of disagreement on the face of audience] It is a sad truth that the food of Chokhi Dhani which used to be so good a few years ago had lost its taste. But anyways, as expected everyone was sulky and no one talked to each other on the way back. When we were back in the room - the emotions came out in the open. Fingers were pointed at each other and after a while all the fingers pointed at me. I merely shrugged off my shoulders saying that I had just suggested, I did not force you to go...

Whenever I recall this incident it makes me think - what made the people do this strange thing of suppressing their own voice and simply going along with what everyone else was saying? It seems like a paradox to me. For the time being let's call this the Chokhi Dhani paradox.

Now you must be thinking that how costly could this Chokhi Dhani paradox could be? At max it can cause another unsatisfactory afternoon meal. [Pause] But I can tell you that it has led to a debacle of atleast $1.6 billion [such wild expressions of surprise was something which I had totally not expected at this point to of time but I carried on...] , it caused the 4th largest IT industry of India to collapse endangering the employment of 53,000 employees. Yes people - I AM talking about Satyam.

Ramlinga Raju, the nizam of Satyam proposed that Satyam should buy 2 other companies run by his family members. Not only the price was stupidly overvalued but also these companies were in the field of real estate - something entirely different from what Satyam does. Such absurdity and no one raised finger! Board of Directors comprising ex-dean of IIT Delhi, dean of IIMB, professors from Harvard etc, all - ALL just AGREED!

Why? Why?

This thing - when people go against their own intuition and agree with what everyone else in the group is saying, is a classical management philosophy called The Abilene Paradox. Everyone in the group is vary that on disagreeing they would have to face the heat, would be given a cold shoulder, would be blamed for causing the deal to fall apart and thus they are reluctant to voice what they think is the minority opinion.

[on seeing that there was a person waiting outside to come in] Would you all agree that I should end my speech here and let the gentleman in? [Some people got confused - some people clasped their hands together in preparation for a speech ending clap...]. NO! You should not [Loud Laughs] - you should ask, "has this guy completed with his speech - has he told us everything we need to know" No. I have told you the paradox but haven't told you - how to resolve it!

And the answer is: question! Critically question whatever is being said to you. Critically question whatever you are being asked to agree upon. But questioning will not lead you anywhere coz if not done properly it can be seen as criticism or disagreement. Thus what becomes more important is communication. If our communication with our fellow mates are strong and open - we will not agree on seemingly stupid ideas just to please each other. And now I feel that I can hence leave you with this thought that better communication could save you $1.6 billion!

-----

Idea Courtesy:

The Professional, Subrato Bagchi
Abilene Paradox was Introduced by Prof. Jeery. B. Harvey. More on Wiki

Tom Alter Maulana Azad

Photo Courtesy: The Hindu

2 hours and 30 minutes. Can you imagine listening to a person for 2 hours and 30 minutes. 1 person. That too when he's not talking to you. Not only he's not talking to you - he was not even looking at you during the entire 2 hours and 30 minutes. And add to all this the fact that he's speaking in Urdu - on Indian History. How boring! How impossible to sit there for 2 hours and...

But hear this - Nearing the end I was sitting with my mouth open for atleast 15 minutes when the man was talking about Indian Partition. If there is one word I were to ascribe for this play it would rather be - spellbinding.

The play was called - Maulana Azad and a few things which made it spellbinding were:

Tom Alter

Remember a British man who used play all firang roles in the erstwhile TV shows? Remember Junoon?junoon
kisi ko mohabbat ka hai junoon
kisi ko chahat ka hai junooon
juoon junoon junoon

Anywhoo - what a fine actor he is. His voice - his actions - the voice modulation - the suavaness. I cannot but describe. And his sponties - When in the middle of the play the lights suddenly went out, he quipped

"यह भी जिन्नाह की ही कोई चाल होगी !"

"आज़ादी के बाद भी दिल्ली की बिजली का यह हाल है"
The great thing about these comments was they looked almost as a prepared part of play and totally in context thus leaving the audience all in laughs...

Urdu

What a language - so neat, so respectful, so beautiful. I had never appreciated this language as much as I do now after watching the play...

I admit I was not able to get a word of the purely urdu sentences, phrases and gazals. But I was able to note down a few mixed versions.

" गाँधी जी सियासत के मामलों को मज़हब की ऐनक पहनके नहीं देखते थे"

" आप भी गज़ब करते हैं हुमायूँ - दस्तान ए आज़ादी आज़ाद के मुहं ही लिखने बेठ गए"

Hindi

I had come to believe that I'd almost lost this language. When I was returning from the UK to India I decided to invest the 8-9 hours of flight time in writing a diary entry entirely in Hindi (I did and ended up teaching a little bit to the french girl sitting next to me too!). But again the play brought forward the fond memories of school when I used to enjoy reading the Hindi stories a lot. Just like every other language Hindi has some things, some thoughts, some emotions which could be best felt in Hindi only!

On Gandhi Ji's withdrawl of Non Cooperation movement"बस पूरी रफ़्तार से चली जा रही है और ड्राईवर ने आनन् फानन में ब्रेक लगा दिए"

" मेरे धुटने क्षल हो गए बैठे बैठे"

After criticizing Nehru in his book (Mulana Azad dedicated this book to Nehru!), he said that on reading this Nehru would say,

" किताब मुझे ही dedicate की और मेरे ही पराक्षय उड़ा डाले"

Humour

The humour was immaculate (as you can already see in the lines above). But there were more of such things:

"हुमायूँ आपकी अंग्रेजी में नेहरु वाली बात नज़र नहीं आती"

"कभी कभी तो ऐसा लगता है पूरी आज़ादी की लड़ाई २ दुबले पतले गुजरातियों के इर्द गिर्द घूमती है"

"में गाँधी जी का कट्टर मानने वाला हूँ - तो आज कल आनाज छोड़ रखा है; कबाब ही खिला दीजिए!"

Research and Practice

This was like the 100+ show of this play. It was first produced in 2002. The lighting, the movement, the dialogues - everything was perfect.

Well let me end by thanking the Dnd Club - IIT Delhi for organizing such an awesome thing. It brought back all those fond memories of my theater days. The good thing about this college is that you get to see such awesome things - just like that. I mean all you are required to do is to go there - sit and watch!

And this line"I simply loved the lines when he said,

“मौत को किस से रिश्तेदारी है; आज वह, तो कल हमारी है”

What bonds does death have with anyone, today it is his, and tomorrow it shall be mine "
Courtesy inagardencalledlife.blogspot.com

Another nice description of this play at Two Circles

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