Sad day indeed

When Manager are judged by what Office program they use.

I'm on my way to becoming one? O! God of Open Source, I'll never desert OpenOffice.

Open Letter #2

Here is the first, in case anyone is interested.

This was written to fellow COEP students, on the 4th March '08.
****
The Importance of Giving Back

Dear Fellow Students,

Today I attended the lecture by Dr.Smoot in our college about the
origins of our universe. Granted that he could've been more engaging
and probably made his talk better suited to the audience, and more
far-ranging - it still was a pretty darn neat. I don't mean to be
derisive or anything here, but I was personally glad to see our huge
auditorium filled people, when no one was singing or dancing. We must
also commend the folks from Honeywell for thinking of such a great
idea, and more importantly executing it so well.

But on a wider scale, this is an excellent opportunity to talk about
our responsibility as students. I'm in my final year, and I'll pass
out this year. I've seen the college change under autonomy, and a lot
of what is happening is excellent and I personally like it a lot. A
lot of this is due to Dr. Sahasrabudhe, and the new regime of
administrators and policy-makers at COEP. We must commend them for the
work they're doing, albeit in small, sometimes unseen ways. What I've
found out about them is that, most importantly, they're reasonable
people who are willing to listen to us. So as students, it's important
that we think of issues that concern us, and make sure they're
addressed. The college has changed, and will keep changing, and it's
important we change along with it.

More importantly, the point of writing this email is that we remain
connected to our college, in whatever way possible. As I'm sure most
of you will realise, what our college gives to us is not instruction
in *a* particular subject or a particular discipline, but general
lessons overall. It also gives us opportunities and a brand - that has
been created by a lot of other students, who were exactly like us in
many ways. So realising that COEP is not just another chapter in your
life, but a part of your identity as a person is an extremely
important step into this journey of giving back.

We're a culture of quantity. To be frank, though we might have
hundreds of thousands of institutions of higher education. their
quality is abysmal to say the least. Even COEP, considered to be among
the best in the country, has a long way to go - if it has to come even
close to its American or European counterparts. And we, as students
have an important part to play, in achieving this goal. I'm sure we'll
get there sometime - but like good, professional organisations we must
set targets, and achieving transformational change within our
lifetimes has to be our goal.

On a more basic level here are a few ways one can stay connected, and
"give back" to use a cliched term.

1. Time
Come back. Visit. Say hi to old folks, old professors. Drop in
whenever you're in town and see what's going on. Maybe even teach,
full time or part-time. Mentor someone.

2. Money + Time
Set up prizes, develop a sustainable scheme for keeping these going.
I'm sure if everyone sets apart Rs.10,000 per year, to award one
deserving student, that itself would be a great achievement. People
are already doing this in small measures - and you can think of
innovative and effective ways to make your money count.

3. Just Money
This is the simplest really. Donate to college fund on a regular
basis. Convince colleagues, maybe past students to give back too. I've
just talked to a friend of mine who passed out, and he said he'd give
$2000 a year to the college, once he starts earning. That's not bad,
really.

I hope I've got you thinking in this regard via this mail. The whole
point is to keep this idea somewhere in the back of your mind. As long
as the thought is there, we'll maybe have our own Nobel Laureate
addressing people in 50 years time!

Cheers,
Abhishek

Come March the 15th

I'm going to switch loyalties and support Force India as my primary team. Somehow, I don't really like Raikkonen, and Ferrari has never been the same since Michael left. Hence, the decision.

I never really liked the Force India name but I seem to have grown into it, and there is something exciting about having a F1 team named after the country you come from. Apart from that, the most brilliant thing was when Mallya said that he realised that buying the team was "the easiest part". So he's actually committed to spending on research, and I firmly believe that F1 too can be "outsourced" to India, in the sense that you can do the same technological wonders, but with a smaller budget. Mallya has doubled the budget from what Spyker had. Its still pretty small compared to what some of the huge teams have, but if they tap into Indian engineering talent which would be available at a much cheaper rate, it could mean much more.

There already seems to have been some substantial progress. Take a look at this testing data from Barcelona.

Day One:

9. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 1:23.091
12. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India, 1:23.239

Leader: : Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:22.276

Day Two :

6. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 1:22.516
10. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India, 1:22.942

Leader: Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:21.234

Day Three:

12. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 1:22.233
16. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 1:22.521

Leader: Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 1:20.801

Those are pretty good timings throughout. True, we won't know the true standings till Melbourne in two weeks time - but target for this season should be a double digit points tally for the team. Definitely achievable.

All figures from various charts on formula1.com

Ganya has restarted blogging

or at least we hope he continues. Anyway, this post is charming.

How things tie up ...

Tomorrow, if all goes well I shall be attending the lecture on the origins of the universe by Prof. George Smoot at COEP. He was one of the two guys behind the COBE experiment.

I'm also kinda, reading more about XKCD in all my free time.

Guess what, Randall send Smoot a free XKCD T-Shirt wishing he'd wear it to the ceremony. I'm guessing he didn't. Tomorrow, I'm going to ask him why!

Smoot, you think you'd escaped, but we deserve an explanation!

Dropping a line to say

I'm 1 hour 5 mins through watching this movie. It's already got so many amazing moments, its unbelievable! And yes, I've fallen in love with Debra Winger!

Quizzing 101

This is college quizzing season. Which means a lot of people will be setting quizzes for their college fests. It also means that a lot of people will be setting and QMing their first quizzes. This is by far one of the most important experiences for quizzers.

However, it takes experience to grasp the nuances of setting, organizing and making questions for a successful quiz. It's not difficult or anything, its just you need to fall and fail to realise what went wrong.

The good thing is, a few stalwarts at the BCQC have already done some excellent writing on the issue of a) making good quiz questions and b)organising a quiz event.

You can find these essays here on our website. This Quizmaster's Checklist is a must-read especially if you are organising a quiz event.

(cross-posted on Notes and Stones)

SKimpy, we bow down to thee.

SKimpy should really have been at one of those round tables while the auction for the IPL was going on. It was painful to see Dravid writing/calculating stuff ;D.

Anyway, his knowledge of the domestic cricket scene is unparalleled. I had a few views on the issue (of the IPL), but till now absorb these two posts about the Bangalore and the Delhi team.

I will be looking out for his analysis on the Mumbai team. Also, if you are a girl who wears Yellow kurtas and travel by BTS Volvo buses (esp. Route 500K) please contact him!

I'm hoping this good deed will stack up some unseen points somewhere which will come to my aid in the future. I'm not that generous normally :P

Two words - Watch it!

** This review contains mild spoilers **

Just got back home after watching Mithya. I'll try and be as objective as possible - even though I'm still reeling.

To put it plainly Mithya is so so much better than Rajat Kapoor's previous efforts. Its funny, dark, fast and exhilarating. Ranvir Shorey puts in a performance of a lifetime - and no, the role was not written with him in mind. Even Neha Dhupia is passable. Good directors get performances out of anybody. Case in point Abhay Deol in Manorama - 6 feet under.

Mithya is like Manorama in the fact that it's real and satisfying at the scene level. But beyond that its totally different, The writing, especially in the first half is tight, and wickedly funny. Like every "indie" movie, there are cruel jabs. At the film industry, at established stars. Hell, even at indie filmmakers. Of the supporting cast, Vinay Pathak is obviously brilliant. But he's totally overshadowed by an absolutely superb Brijendra Kala. Naseeruddin Shah is not even in my top 5 as far as performances go. And Rajat had got the guts to do that.

I'll probably write a more "revealing" review, sometime later when the two readers of this blog have read this post. I'll extol about specific scenes and specific storyline elements. But I'm writing this to ask you to go the theatre and watch this movie. Ensure than you give your monies to good film-makers. Then I'll forgive you if you pay 200 bucks to watch Jodhaa Akbar. Even if you normally don't watch Hindi movies, give this one a shot. And if you don't like it, please tell me. I'll direct you to a few (stupid) "friends" of mine!

Why City beat United

Because they quiz before every game! Here is Micah Richards in his column for BBC Sport.

We get there[Manchester city centre] at about 6pm and always have a general knowledge quiz the night before the game, which is run by Les Chapman our kit-man. We do not split into teams, it is every man for himself!

The best by far is Didi Hamann, he has got a lot of knowledge, and the worst has got to be Kelvin Etuhu. He is actually good academically but some of his answers are ridiculous.

Me, I'm in the middle somewhere. I have not really got a specialist subject, although I normally do well with the music questions.

Another set of notes

I've been wondering what attracts me so much to Gaiman. I've not read Sandman, Coraline or American Gods. All I've done is seen an interview, read a few poems and essays and follow his blog. I think I have an answer. All the god-level people I knew, all belonged to a similar kind. The scientific, cold, calculating, trade-off oriented. They are brilliant. They write lucidly, they understand and analyze immensely well. But there is always a reason behind what they do.

Not Gaiman. He sees stars in the day, he believes in monsters, and other worlds and fairies and princesses. He adores little girls in frocks, he uses a fountain pen, he dreams. I know you'll tell me there is a word for this - "fantasy". True, but Gaiman is the only person I know, of my generation who seems accessible. There. Real. The internet has allowed him to talk to us, unlike with Tolkien or Asimov or Arthur C Clarke. From what I've read about Clarke, he seems immensely likeable too, but somehow distant - like speaking from the past. Gaiman is here, real. His colour photos still have him with those glowing eyes and flowing locks. There is something immensely endearing about him. Now I better go and find a copy of Coraline somewhere ;)

****

JR writes here about his Hitler-esque attitude towards wasted food. I too have very similar "values" embedded about not wasting a shred of food - but like all things in life, there is a balance to be maintained. We're not in a state of a Malthusian Catastrophe and maybe in today's (urban) world, obesity is a bigger issue than food wastage.

The hungry are often hungry not because there isn't enough food, but because enough food does not get to them. It is more a distribution and allocation issue than that of production. True, appropriating huge sums to yourself at a buffet dinner and then wasting it is mindless - esp if it becomes a regular habit. But realising you've made a mistake in talking more than what you really need, sometimes its best to "waste" than to over-consume. Remember, the so-called sin is going to take place anyway, the caterers are probably going to end up throwing some food all the same.

The point is, as I've realised, there is no need to be overly guilty about having not eaten some portion, if one realises that it can't be taken. Mental notes should be made about avoiding such instances in the future, but puh-leeze don't fall to the prey of food-conserving-zealots and finish whatever's on your plate at all costs. Its just not worth it.

****

My IIM interviews near closer, and I realise that I've done absolutely nothing, in terms of personal prep. I really need to get my file in order - and ensure that I'm not at the receiving end of "why do you you leave such important things for the last moment" rant. I'm consigned to saying this, but moms have an uncanny ability of being right.

Sigh! off I go.

My xkcd recommendations

Firstly, thanks Randall for allowing me and other freeloaders to hotlink to your strip! That is just awesome. Here are a few of my favourites so that you guys can fall in love with it instantanement. There are tons more that I love, but this is a decent list to start with.

Compiling
Exploits of a Mom
Real Programmers
Sandwich
Fixed Width
Pix Plz

Centrestage Clown

How can you see me and turn away
How can you tell, that it's not your day
Well, Delilah in a dream, she came to me
And the barber in the wings cut me aimlessly

You're the one who's got to go
And play the clown at the circus show
I'll be there watching intently
I'll be there, but it'll not be me

Come one and come all
Come and see me getting small
Getting whipped and all teary eyed
My mom's here, but she doesn't mind.

She's the one who said to me
Don't fall in love so hopelessly
But its all done, and here I am
Wham, bam and thank you maam.

She's gone, but she's left some proof
Like a cat on a hot tin roof
There it is, if you want to see
The hair's still lying in my dormitory.

She's the one who's playing the role
City's empty and the circus is full
Centrestage, what a clown is she
But everyone's --
just laughin' at me.

2nd choice

This happened at the GD/PI training I was attending today. Basically each person is interviewed as others watch - so that you learn as you watch.

So this is what happens to this generally sensible, likeable sorta guy. His major achievement is that he has a 100 percentile in the CAT, effectively topping it.

Interviewer : "So, what do you think about gay people?"

100 percentiler (thinks a bit) : "I would like to say sir that they have the second most popular sexual preference in the world."

Is that a story or what!

Answer to Sci-Tech

Here are the answers to Scitech - the online quiz conducted as a part of the elims for Techfest 2008. I do not know the answer to q7 and q12 for sure. Please to use comments and point out if you're wiser than me. Pdf can be found here.

DISCLAIMER: This is what I think the answers are. I qualified, so chances are most of them are right ;)

1. Nicholas Flamel.(The alchemist finds mention in all these works.)

2. That is Freyja, also called Vanadis - after whom Vandium is named.

3. Super Glue (Dr Harry Coover)

4. Carl Sagan

5. Logitech (this seems to be from here. )

6. Nike+Ipod

7. We wrote, People from Bell Labs winning the Nobel Prize for physics. (This is mostly incorrect. All of them have won the Nobel Physics. But 97 guy is not Bell.One or two others also I think. Also some groups are mentioned completely, some are not. Weird. Shockley is the most famous by a mile though.)

8. Radio Shack and Issac Asimov

9. Camera works on smile detection.

10.Guitar Hero Controllers, company is Gibson.(Pretty sure, though not 100%)

11. Google Doodles (Burning Man Festival - first doodle, Dennis Hwang who draws them, Dali and Miro paintings were also Google doodles once.)

12. (Thanks to V) People after whom craters are named.(Bunsen etc)(Volt, Galvani, Diesel etc. Dunno how diesel can be "lab equipment")

13. Project Gutenberg (Declaration of Independece, Gutenberg, Michael Hart)

14. Alan Turing

15. Schroedinger's Cat

16. Butterfly Effect(Bradbury's book made it popular, Ashton Kutcher starred in the movie and The Lorenz Atttractor named after Edward Lorenz is where term is applied to Chaos theory.)

17. Nikola Tesla - Gas Ignition(Spark Plug for automobiles)

18. Locations of the 5 Jantar Mantars. (Delhi, Jaipur, Varanasi, Ujjain and Mathura(?) )

19 Screens of Death

20 Algorithm and Algebra

Can't remember last when ...

It really pained me on seeing India lose. In fact, I don't think I've had this feeling since Manchester United lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup final - and really can't remember the last time I felt something like this with respect to cricket. Maybe it was when we didn't win the series in West Indies. Anyway, from a personal perspective - I'm amazed at how much I care, and how much it pains!

Firstly, there is no excuse for not drawing. True, Bucknor and Benson are idiots - but still, losing 3 wickets in 5 balls! That is not justified. RP looked more miffed than really pained, and Ishant Sharma should be told better than to leave his bat hanging like that. True, they are tail-enders, but sometimes when misfortune befalls - you've got to to stand up and be counted. And it was the situation which got to them, not Michael Clarke.

I think India should NOT complain about what happened. The questions will be raised - by the media and by a whole lot of other people. Nothing will change the result though - and India's main aim from here on should be a) Not to lose any of the remaining tests, while trying to win at least one. We've won the last one at Adelaide, and drawing at Perth would be as good as winning.

No doubt, the Aussies behaved inappropriately - Harsha Bhogle euphemistically calling it "an imperfect victory". Though that might console a few, fact is - India's two down, and things are looking pretty dire going into Perth. Rather than cry and whine and complain over spilt milk there are a number of pressing issues India needs to think about

1. What to do with Jaffer? Should Sehwag be inducted in?
2. Same with Yuvraj. Really seems to be struggling, Padukone or no Padukone.
3. The batsmen, especially Ganguly have struggled against Hogg. They've given too many wickets to the Hogg/Symonds combine. They're not really of that class, that they should be troubling the experienced Indian lineup.

That is my two-cents. I smirk at the joke Gaurav makes here. But needless to say, totally disagree.

Some movies you should check out

It always irks me when I'm not at the forefront of discovery. Most of the stuff I read/ watch / hear do is recommended by friends - and so there remain very few people I can tell, "you know what, this movie is really excellent, you should really watch it sometime."

But with the aid of a few internet reports, and plain hunches - the last three movies I've seen have all been really really excellent. So here we go, please allow me to introduce them to you. (No Spoilers therein. Safe reading)

1 Atonement



I'm just realising that I'm a big fan of Ian McEwan. I've read only a couple of books (Amsterdam and Saturday) - absolutely loved Amsterdam. Atonement apparently is the piece de resistance of his oeuvre. It has been named in huge lists like Time's All Time best 100 Novels. So when the movie came out, I HAD to watch it - even though it has Kiera Knightley.

The movie at first glance reminds me of The English Patient. Another work that I wholly consumed (as book and movie). Visually it's splendid - and hopefully I'll catch this movie again when E-Square and co wake up to it when it wins the Oscar(that's what the talk is anyway). James McAvoy is decent, Kiera Knightley is much better than expected. The star is undoubtedly Saoirse Ronan as 13-year old Briony Tallis. Her acting is absolutely delectable!



The movie is not flawless. It suffers from an identity crisis in the middle amongst other things. But on the whole it will satisfy you visually and intellectually. Definitely worth a watch.

2. I'm not there

The movie inspired by Bob Dylan's life - is not another biographical tracing someone's life. Bob Dylan's life is just a basic framework for the movie to work on. There is so much thought that has been put on top, so much creativity and so much execution - one would have thought impossible! Again, I like this movie for the sheer feel that it creates, the ambiance of the film is brilliant, visually sumptuous! No more giveaways - go watch.

3. Sweeney Todd



I accept that the original intention was to watch, Johnny Depp's musical Sweeney Todd : The Demon Barber of Fleet-Street, but I ended up watching the 2005 BBC adaptation for TV - Sweeney Todd, starring Ray Winstone. But, no complaints at all! I had no idea of the old story, excellent adaptation indeed - and what's more my interest is piqued - about how a story of a barbaric maniacal killer-barber (yes!) could be made into a musical. Rest assured, I will not rest till I watch Mon. Depp's adaptation. Tell me if you've watched it / if I could get my hands on it somehow.

I believe this ...

Woman: If I die, will I go to hell?

Man:Hell is an invention to frighten us.
There is no hell...

Man:...except the one we make
for ourselves on earth.


Woman: What is there, then?

Man: Oblivion.

Woman: What if you're wrong?

Man: Then we're all damned.

More linklove

Good friend Kaustubh claims to have started blogging at Melancholic Ecstasy. which IIRC is a song by Indian Ocean. Just to get you to know you, he's introduced me to some great stuff by Agni - and is the recipient of the "unused guitar award which was lying at home anyway" for continued dedication to the pursuit of mostly music but also to math and open source.

No buzz - but nice movie.

Just finished watching the Bee Movie. I accept that the main attraction was that we finally get to see more than a Saturday Night sketch, after Jerry Seinfeld hung up his boots. True, we don't do much seeing - but still he co-wrote it and voices Barry B. Benson, the main protagonist bee of the movie.

But the point of this post is to direct you to this article by noted entomologist, Natalie Angier "In Hollywood Hives, the Males Rule". It features some killer lines like

"bee flinging, like bee stinging, is a lethal affair."

"A successful male is a dead male."

and

"The drone is deemed a drain, and if he won’t die for love, he must die for its lack."

Do read.

High 5 for Mood I!

I'll be leaving to participate in Mood Indigo, IITB's annual cultural fest in a few hours. This will be my fifth Mood Indigo - and unlike the first years that I'm carrying in tow (a la Hagrid?), I no longer have the excitement that I once did. In fact, were it not for the quizzes I would not have gone.

Shocking as it may seem - my objectives for this year are to sleep at a reasonable hour (by around 1 am perhaps?) and NOT eat the junk chinese at the hostel 3 canteen and get my throat all messed up.

Apart from that, all my moaning about "5 years and no Jagjit Singh" has borne fruit. The great man will be there this year, and though many of you might not be fans - I'm really looking forward to this. Also Shankar Mahadevan and troupe are performing. I hope they give us the kind of stuff that I like, and not the populist stuff that is famous. Here's my wishlist

1. Rind Posh Maal (Mission Kashmir)
2. Lakshya (Lakshya)
3. Taare Zameen Par (TPZ)
4. Kal Ho Na Ho (KHNH)
5. Aao Na (Kyun! Ho Gaya Na)
6. Koi Kahe / Jaane Kyun Log Pyaar Karte Hai(DCH)

Apart from that, as this guy is no longer at IITB, I wont have internet access or peaceful lab-solace when I need it. I will try and chronicle stuff this year - so watch out for that once I get back.

PS: I'm accepting suggestions for what team name we should use this time round. The best ones I could come up till now unfortunately are all puns on Modi and Mood-i.

Poor Joke for the day

Q. Why did the quarry workers not have bank accounts?
A. They were all miners.

More PJs here and here.

Note to self

No matter how much friends try to convince you, do not watch an Anees Bazmee movie at 8:30 am on Saturday morning. Ever!

Desperately Seeking

This book.: Comment saying you can lend it to me - and much kindness will come in your general direction.

P Diddy in Bloomingdale's?

That is the simile this reporter prefers for one Monsieur Barwick. You HAVE to read this rotflmao article about Capello's "unveiling".

Here are a few gems :

"He says that, when he meets up with the squad in a month's time, he will be able to speak English," relayed his assistant.

It seemed an extraordinary claim. Images came to mind of Capello wandering round his mansion in Lugano, a Linguaphone cassette-player dangling round his neck and a set of flash-cards in his back pocket.

--

And what about the arrival of his backroom team of four fellow Italians, who between them will be costing the FA an extra £1.4m a year?

Was this not the footballing equivalent of buying an extremely expensive gadget for Christmas, only to unwrap it and find that it won't work without four additional batteries (not supplied)?

---

And it ends, fortunately in hope

Capello might be overpaid. He might be as short of English as his new side are of world-class goalkeepers.

But if he controls his players like he controlled the wilful British media, he'll be in with a chance.

Read the whole article now!