Dreams of the kingdom far-far away

Amid the preparation for my qual exam next month, I day-dream about the places to visit for a vacation. Home is up there on the list, as always. But I am also planning a solo trip to some other place on the way to/from home.

I read a bit about Bhutan tourism, and the idea is so appealing that I can not get it out of my mind. Finally, today I managed to search a bit about the country. Luckily, Indian citizens do not need a visa (nor a passport!) to go to Bhutan. Yay!

Two totally random, somewhat funny, fascinating and revealing facts about the country that Wikipedia describes as ``the happiest least developed country on earth" :

* Druk air, the Royal Bhutan airlines, is the only airlines that is allowed to land in Bhutan. It has a ``fleet" of four airplanes (!), and connects to five cities around the world (the farthest being Dubai, followed by Delhi!). It is owned by the Bhutan government, Ministry of Finance. Because of the monopoly it enjoys, it is exorbitantly priced, with return fare from Delhi being about $800! Seasonal flights are to/from Bodh Gaya. Evidently due to the majority Buddhist population.

* In Dec 2003, the then King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, himself led an offensive against (anti-Indian) militants in Bhutan! With his prince (who's now the king). I totally imagine someone on a horse leading through a foggy, mountainous terrain, and the militants scurrying away dropping all their weapons. Hail the king!

waaaah! I want to be there NOW!!

Artificial life forms!

Scary research!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/oct/06/genetics.climatechange

I, for one, am NOT for such research. Not before the impact has been clearly understood. Not before it is ensured that such results would not be abused.

Hell, I was concerned about secrecy capacity results in information theory, and its confrontation with open source ideas. The creation of artificial life puts my fears into perspective!

On second thoughts, wouldn't secrecy results be useful in communicating ideas involved in research that could be potentially dangerous? :-)

-----
On personal front : I would soon be moving into a delightful studio close to Cory hall, my departmental building. All bears, non-bears are welcome!

An unclear article on the nuclear deal

Found this while surfing aimlessly.

The article deserves mention because of the authors : Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy, and Sandeep Pandey! The article is quite speculative, for example I don't see how the 123 agreement would 'escalate the arms race between Pakistan and India', and consequently end up 'sabotaging the India-Pakistan peace process'.

Further down :

However, our basic objections to this deal stem from our opposition to the production and use of both nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. The irreversible dangers of radioactivity and its ongoing impact on health, water, and the environment are factors that are being summarily dismissed in an irresponsible manner. The whole cycle of nuclear production beginning with uranium mining, is fraught with catastrophic dangers, and as a nation we cannot use the decisions of another country as justification for our own. Places like Jaduguda in Jharkhand, Kota and Pokhran in Rajasthan, have already demonstrated the ongoing dangers of nuclear use to the common citizen.

I really don't know how Jaduguda, Pokharan and Kota have 'demonstrated' any danger? (no sarcasm here). Some citations/examples would have helped here (as well as at other places in the article). Given the respect most people have for the authors (myself included), I think they could afford a longer article detailing all their objections and reason them sufficiently.

What's the alternative? Hydro: requires dams, and I concur with Medha Patkar that there should be no more of them. Solar? Requires space, huge infrastructure. Wind? Limited availability. Thermal (coal) ? The only realistic alternative. It has low efficiency, even lower because coal in India is of poor quality, and has emissions that are quite harmful. Plus lives of people working in coal mines have been documented so often and makes a sad story every time (Dhanbad, anyone?).

Despite the apparent lack of logical completeness, I admit I find a point : that there is a need for greater discussion on the deal. I disagree with the communists, and I know that the reasons for BJP's protest are the most despicable ones. But more discussion, and public discussion : I am all for it. Maybe there should be someone quoting how many people are endangered because of coal mining, and what exactly are the 'dangers of nuclear use to the common citizen'. Though the logistics of any such discussion, given the size of the country, could be an issue, the magnitude of the issue demands it.

Tales of travel gone awry

For all the traveling in this summer, not everything could have been perfect. But nothing beats the experiences here. Check out `A Grand Entrance on the Paris Dining Scene'.

One of my own, in Nice, France :

I enter my hotel, and the receptionist has a hard time finding my last name `Grover'. Eventually, a `Ghova-ha' is found, with a broad grin, and so is my room. That my room-mate was a certain Prabhakaran did not help the matters. She tried thrice, but could never finish pronouncing the name fully (let alone correctly).

The night before I left for Paris, I had to cancel a reservation. I called up the hotel, and a distinctly French sounding gentleman picked up.

"Bon soir!"

"Bon soir," I respond, as I explain him my reason for cancelation.

"Can I have your second name?"

Ah! There's my chance. From the recollection, I come out with
"Ghova-ha."

"Comment?"

another try . . .
"Ghova-ha."

Pause.

"Grover, you mean?"

argh...

Why Banaras?

In a recent chat with Srinath, who was one of my co-organizers for Spic-Macay events at IIT Kanpur, we talked about a Varanasi trip in 2005 (I think). I had written up this account then. Its one of those few accounts that I still like two years after writing.


---------------------------------------------------


Why Banaras?


"Why Banaras?" my friend almost shouted on phone, in mixed surprise and anger. In fact, anyone who knew me- the skeptic, and the city- the mystic, spirtual center, advised me against it. Just as I was beginning to have second thoughts, the eternally-in-bliss Srinath entered. He is the kind of guy who can find romance even in the evil-dead movies (you get the point, don't you?). "Are you coming?", he was the person who had suggested the trip in the first place. Over the next few minutes, he dismissed my misgivings, by repeatedly pointing to an earthly romance in the holy city. Though hardly convinced, I decided to give it a try. I wasn't going to do anything over the weekend anyway!

Unplanned as the visit was, we could only catch the third train, and it was already late night. Once inside the train, we could only catch very little sleep (blame the above two to bad catching practice. I did manage to catch cold though :) ). However, early morning, when we reached the city, I contemplated that the journey was probably worth the trouble. Coming out of the station, one notices an apparent difference in the way the people look. They are calm, serene, far from sadness, and even happiness. In stark contrast to the tempo-wallah's at Kanpur, whose natural expression is almost bitter. Even the language-bhojpuri- reflects a complacence matched only by bihari.

Taking a rather arduous path, we reached Samar's home. Samar, the grand old man of SPIC MACAY IIT Kanpur, is a good friend of ours (he isn't really old, he's completing his PhD, but he has been there in IITK for as long as I can remember). There was a 24-hour non-stop Ramcharitmanas reading going on at his home. I am not the kind to like the bhajans, but I was too tired to be displeased, and after having a traditional lunch, I dozed off peacefully. In retrospect, I believe I actually liked the bhajans, which is quite an event for me. The environment was so home-like, that in the middle of my sleep, I noticed a small kid sleeping beside me, and I never even thought it was something surprising (I didn't even remember where I was sleeping!). The kid was Samar's nephew, and in the few hours after we woke up, he and his cousins kept me quite busy. :)



Samar's nephew and his cousins

As the sun set, Srinath, who has been to Varanasi before, accompanied me to Ganga's "Dashashmavedha" ghat for the evening aarti. One of my friends had recommended this aarti, and not without good reasons. If you do not have an idea of what aarti at this ghat is like, this is unlike any aarti you've seen before. 5 young men stand on platforms, synchronously performing aarti to the river. A glorious platform with light-decorated chatris and chanting of sanskrit hymns completes the picture. The fires in hands of the men and the confidence on their faces is symbolic of the place. The aarti begins on a low note, and the tempo rises to a crecendo in no time, finally coming down again before a soft end. It is an elaborate arrangement, and at the end of it I was feeling surprised that such an aarti is performed daily. It seems appropriate only for special occasions!


The evening aarti


We came down to the ghat, and took a boat ride. It was already dark, and only the lights on the ghats were visible, along with sand on the other shore. Our boatman was Gauri. No, Gauri is a male. He took us a full circle telling us about some of the ghats, and stories behind them. There was on named after Dr. Rajendra Prasad, and one after Meera. There was a ghat where the pehlavan's still practise their sport, and one where a lady was playing with fire. Yet another, Harishchandra ghat, where bodies were being cremated. It was as if different forms and stages of life are put together on a small stage for you to see. The darkness only elevated the mystic nature. Gauri was rather an introvert, and spoke only when necessary. Mostly we were surrounded by sounds of the oar gently heaving the water, as the silent movie unfolded in front of us. If nobody spoke for a couple of minutes, my mind would plunge into serenity and peace, as if being here was the most natural thing.


It was quite late by the time we were off the boat. On the way back, we stopped over to have a wonderful chaat and gol-gappas at Kashi-chat bhandar, which was predecided by Srinath based on his previous outings there.

We had planned an early morning re-visit to the Ghats, but it got too late by the time we were in our beds. So when I woke up next morning, Srinath suggested dropping some plans, and getting some more sleep. To pester him about this for years to come, I took a pic of his while he slept :)



Sri sleeps early morning

So we managed to leave Samar's home only late morning, and went to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Temple visit was short-n-sweet, and my mind was more on the score in Indo-Pak match going on, than on the temple. More so because my first choice had been Sarnath, of which we weren't even sure we were going to visit. I actually had fun in the visit. I wore a garland of "dhatura" flowers obtained as prasadam, and roamed around in semi-sane state. Despite repeated objections from Srinath, I kept the garland on for the rest of the trip!

Coming back from the temple, we skipped lunch, and went straight to Sarnath. Sarnath is home to a Buddhist stupa. Getting off the auto-rickshaw, we first went into a museum containing a brief history of the place, as well as some idols and artefacts that were unearthed while excavating the stupa.

Around the stupa, there were a couple of buddhist temples, one built with Japanese aid, and other with Sri Lankan aid. While the Japanese temple had glorious statues, and a modern look (it was built in 1993, or thereabouts), the Sri Lankan temple had wonderfully painted walls inside. The paintings depicted buddha's complete life, and it was interesting to relate the paintings with the various buddha stories that I had come across.



The Dhamekha Stupa

As a grand finale to the trip, we went to the Dhamekha Stupa. This was built at the place where Buddha gave his first lecture (to his 5 pupils) after enlightenment. It used to be a deer park, and I guess they still have some wild animals at the place (even in our absence). Colonel Cunningham had excavated the stupa. He bore a shaft from the top center of the stupa, and found a tablet with an inscription containing the word “Dhamekha”. The remains of what seemed like a place of study (does that delight you? :) ) were quite interesting, but we were already finished with the time we had. We had taken a guide with us, who was really nice. (The last guide, at Konark, had been quite a headache.) He also showed us a tree which purportedly grew from a branch of a branch of a branch of a tree under which buddha attained enlightenment! In between all these branch-changes (!), or branch-transfers, there was one which had come from Sri Lanka! (and, therefore, also one which had gone to Sri Lanka :) ).

That was it. We returned back, late as usual, and darted off to the station. Samar's brothers saw us off, and we were back to where be belong around midnight.

So why Banaras? The ghats, the stupa, the temple? Probably not. I think the answer lies in the spirit that the city represents. The city is enchanting, but strangely so. The people have a sense of maturity. At the ghats, you can see the aarti, the practicing of artistic skills, the daily work of washermen, and cremation grounds, all juxtaposed to put forward a wholesome view of life. A view where death is just another event. Where the transience of life has been accepted, and the city has risen above pondering over questions on life. I would probably not have enjoyed Banaras had I been there earlier, maybe just a couple of years back. The city demands a certain maturity, and a certain balance, certain even-headedness and temperament. I never knew I possessed these qualities, and more so, that they offer a calm joy and peace. In a way, I have grown up, and the city made me realize it.

Corpse 'flower' now in bloom!

Berkeley Botanical Garden's rare Titan arum plant is now blooming. The inflorescence (commonly misunderstood as a single flower) of Titan arum is huge, growing to a maximum of 9 ft (reported once).

I saw this plant on my first visit to the garden. But I never knew it was this fascinating.

Its perfume smells 'like there is a dead body in the room', and is strongest for the first twelve hours of blooming. Go there while it lasts, it would be the strongest for the next 4-5 hours, maybe. And the flower would be in its prime for merely 4 days or so. The flowering is so rare that the wiki article on the plant lists the various recent flowerings. You may never smell one again!

Irwhining

Sometimes you have to take it onto yourself to make things interesting.

Nothing changes in Irvine. You get up at the same time, the harsh sun forces you to. You walk to the office, start the same work. See the same people. The 'Salaam' to the persian guy has become a daily routine. So much so, that even the sunset is the same each day, a resignation of the weather to the immutability of Irvine. If it were not for the weekend trips, time would run around in circles.

Enter Poirot and his little grey cells (courtesy youtube). The show is quite easy to get addicted to. An interesting plot, the suave Poirot, the French language and mannerisms (Belgian, he would insist), and some pretty girls every now and then. There goes the night. Sigh, every night. Starting right at 8, and ending at 9:30-ish. Even that has become a routine.

Except that Poirot, and the gymnastics of his little grey cells do make simple things sound interesting. So now if I can't find my socks, it becomes 'The case of the missing socks'. The next trampled snail brings to the mind the words 'Death on the pathway' (More on snails in Irvine some other day). A dead squirrel is 'Murder on the crossroads'. The work becomes 'The mystery of the unfixed bug', way cooler than 'heck my code doesn't compile'.

Not all routines are boring, though. Getting a paycheck, for instance, needs no Poirot.

Waking up

Woken up, originally uploaded by Infinite horizon.

A flamingo wakes up, perhaps aware of me focusing on her, in the San Diego zoo.

The zoo is a must see if you are in the area!

Pratibha Patil for President!

I didn't know anything about her, until today morning (that she's the governor of Rajasthan, my state, gives an an idea of how aware I am). But now I can't stop learning about her.

Two tid-bits that impress me:

She won many table-tennis tournaments at regional and national levels. In those days (1960's), and with her background (hardly illustrious), its incredible!

She vetoed Rajasthan's " 'Freedom' of Religion" bill, aimed at controlling religious conversions.

With the latter point, she gets my vote over Shekhawat (the other candidate, also from Rajasthan).

India might just beat the US in having the first female president!

Update (Jun 16) : Pratibha Patil asked for an appointment with Shekhawat, apparently "to seek his blessings". Shekhwat drove down, instead, to meet her himself. Such warm gestures from two mature politicians... I know I have this tendency to get excited and overly optimistic, but yes, I loved this.

Biking travails

Biking has never been harder.

There are nice bikeways in Irvine. Nevertheless, the speed of the cars on the rare intersections that you come across, and the scary monsters chasing you when you bike late in the night make it less enjoyable a ride.

If that was not enough, I lost my helmet! Damn. I had pledged after a great fall last year that no more would I bike without a helmet. But my helmet just went missing! Now I will have to walk home.

I left my bike in the office last night to catch a movie. After the movie, my office-mate dropped me home in her car. And next morning the helmet is gone! Disappeared!

Must be those notorious kids of my co-workers. I was taking their photographs on Saturday. They must have thought that I am rather friendly. And there! The helmet disappears! aargh..

They are not getting away with this. I will put the Disney channel in the office TV under child lock tomorrow. Maybe I'll hide the ice-creams as well, deep into the freezer.

Freedom, or paranoia ?

http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/may/30bsp.htm

.. a good read, even though the author seems to have missed the financial/economic aspect. And I can't bring myself to agree with his argument based on historical reasons.

I think the reasons are very much related to those behind lack of good public transport system in the US.

Individualism. Capitalism. Whatever-ism you call it.

Not chased by a wolf :-)

... but by a coyote.

The rather detailed Wikipedia article says :

"They may occasionally assemble in small packs, but generally hunt alone."

Okay. Good that my event was the higher probability one. The picture matches with my 'dog' yesterday. As I am confirmed ...

"Sightings now commonly occur in California, Oregon, New England, and eastern Canada."


"They (researchers) found a clear pattern of behavioral changes in coyotes in the lead-up to attacks, including increased sightings around homes (an indication that the coyote has lost its fear of people) and predatory interactions (e.g. attacks on pets during daylight, chasing of joggers and bicyclists, and stalking of children's play areas."

yay! I am not alone!

Chased by a wolf!

I am interning in Irvine, a beautiful city in Southern California. I got a bike, and I started biking to work daily.

The cars have an alarmingly high velocity, so I stay off the roads, even though there are bike-paths marked on almost every road. I stick to a bike/walk way next to a stream, which takes me to my workplace. The stream is quite amazing. Egrets abound, and so do cranes. So there must be fish, too. Hares jump around everywhere. And frogs croak in the night. I slowly bike along the curved path. Its a delightful ride!

Today evening, however, I was late when I left the office. I went to the bike-way, but there are no lights along the way. So I turned back, and started riding on the Laguna Canyon road, where my office is. A dog followed me from the bike-way onto the road. Lot of the residents take their dogs to walks in the evening, sometimes not on a leash. I thought it must be one of those dogs.

It was a fairly silent dog, though. It followed me for a while, and I sped, so it moved to the middle of the road, away from me. I looked at it, and kept biking.

It turned, and came towards me. Then it struck me for the first time that this might not be a dog. It had no dog collar! It was not barking, either! I could really feel the shiver in my head, right below my helmet. I shifted to a higher gear, and pedaled hard. And, yes, it chased me. It chased me as I turned from Laguna Canyon Ave onto Barranca Rd. It chased me almost a full block on Barranca. And finally it gave up.

One hell of an adventure. Ooh, my rear hurts!

"All knowledge is either identification or classification" - II

So I continue.

When David MacKay finished his Dasher talk, we had a chat with him in the Wireless Foundations' lounge. Earlier in the talk, MacKay had used a light on his hat and a sensor on his computer to write using dasher, at a pretty good speed.

Venkat made a point that this was similar to a sci-fi book he had read, where the people use their eyes to communicate ideas. Not words. Ideas. He asked whether such a system was possible using Dasher.

"Absolutely!" said MacKay, pointing out that symolic language allows him to convey the idea of an aeroplane, using the symbol of a machine, and of a bird.

Underlying this scheme of communicating ideas is the assumption that all ideas can be generated by combinations of previously known ideas. I do not particularly like the assumption. It is not saying that ideas are finite, even countable. For the basis set of ideas can be infinite. Even with a finite set of symbols, much like music, an infinite number of ideas can be generated. But I believe there is much more to ideas than the combinations of some known ones.

Regardless, this is an example of how language, a tool to express and communicate ideas and knowledge, allows us to construct ideas and knowledge as well. And language is about identification, by a term for any new element, and classification, by observing similarities. (There is a structure to language as well, but that is not central to the point I am making). Again, topology (and, indeed, algebra) is a good illustration of this general principle. Whatever we learn, we store it as knowledge using a language, by identification and classification using specific terms.

I have one more issue to explore here, shall continue next week!

Hawking's Musings II

When Hawking was being introduced by a professor, who is a couple of years younger than him, the professor observed the enthusiasm that Hawking has, even in his sixties. Enthusiasm for science and scientific discoveries. So much so, that Hawking was planning a flight in "Vomit Comet", a zero-gravity experience.

He did it. The jet of Zero Gravity Corp. flew up from Florida to 32000 feet, and then took a parabolic dive of 8000 feet, making its passengers experience 25 seconds of weightlessness.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=hawking-takes-off-for-tas&chanId=sa003&modsrc=reuters

Must have been fun!


Addendum :

Later, when asked about the prospects of intelligent life beyond Earth, Hawking said he hopes it exists.

"There is not much sign of it on Earth," he said.

"All knowledge is either identification or classification"

I came across this statement quite a while back, as an undergraduate. I did not like it. "Where's the room for creativity, then?", I thought.

Let me first analyze what the statement claims. 'Identification' is above observing aspects of the object of interest which are shared by known objects. 'Classification', on the other hand, is above observing the differences, and giving the class of objects which share the differences a new name.

Let us take an example. Say we observe an object in the air which performs quick vertical motions of a shaft at one end as it moves in the opposite direction. We classify the characteristics : It is an 'object', a 'living' object? An animal. It is 'flying'? A bird. A bird which flies using its 'tail'.

The above statements are a series of classifications and identifications. We identified the object as/with an animal, a bird. Finally, we classified it as a bird which flies using its tail. If we give the class of such birds a name ('tail-wing-bird'?), it can be used to classify other birds which do the same.

They are also based on numerous classifications and identification. A flying living object (colloquially) identified as a 'bird', was once classified, placed in a different class, from other living objects. All such new objects were identified as birds. Birds with a long beak, a thrusted-out chest, and which ate fish were identified, and classified as kingfishers.

I began accepting this statement when I started learning a new language : topology. Every theorem in topology is either about observing differences, or identifying common aspects. A new term is given to each class of objects thus obtained. Indeed, this is not only true of topology, but also of any other branch of study. In topology, the fact is only more evident than in other such branches.

In fact, that is what language is all about. In gaining knowledge, all we are doing is developing a language, by classifying and identifying as many objects as possible. Language, thus, is not only a tool to communicate, but also a tool to increase knowledge. By giving a name to several objects which share some properties, we reduce the requirements of our understanding of each object, and remember them as a box. The box denotes all the objects which share those properties. The box, if opened, contains several other boxes, each according to a set of properties.

I am trying to get somewhere, with Dasher and one conversation regarding Dasher in mind. Should continue next week!

Fun with dasher

With some controlled randomness, I came up with the following almost poetic paragraph using dasher.

"Love is not blinding. But it is also established since the cold mountains of the most possible investor. The universe would not have been so meaningful without it"

:-)

Dasher

David MacKay gave a talk today on an idea of his. Called Dasher, it is meant to make writing more efficient. I encourage you to try it! Its fun, its conceptually cute, and, hell, it works!

David's work reflects his ideas. His book is free to download, his software free to install. He hates the concept of patents, and dislikes the current American government. Most of all, he is very undiplomatic in declaring his ideas. All this is quite evident from his website. But I realized the extent of simplicity of the thoughts only when I met him.

During the talk, his enthusiasm was palpable. Even infectious. His eyes would widen, and shine, as he would explain some interesting idea. He would rise on his toes to impress some important problem on the audience. He speaks quickly, in the pleasing British accent (quite a welcome change from the American accent, where every sentence ends in a question mark). With the exciting gadgets, and the numerous demonstrations (he 'wrote' using his breath), the talk was quite well received.

There was visibly greater energy in the presentation hall. And even greater in the Wireless Foundations after the talk, when we discussed some ideas with him. I got more work done in the evening than usual!


Quotable quotes:

"Writing is navigating through a dictionary of all possible books"
"Let them come and sue me, nothing would make me happier" (regarding a question on possible patent infringement)
"Dasher comes with Linux. But you can download it from my website, if you are unfortunate enough to use Windows"

Took my breath away

Watching every sneeze
as the foolish seasons change,
With this endless sore throat
Finally sufferers know no shame
Turning and returning
To the heated place inside
Watching in slow motion
As another napkin box finishes in the day,

My cold

Took my breath away, ay ay ay...

my cold,

took my breath away, ay ay.

(trying some lame humor to cheer me up on an otherwise gloomy day)

Sakura

Cherry blossoms bloom in beautiful Berkeley campus!

Beautifully depressing

Fernando Botero's paintings were on exhibit in the Doe library at Berkeley. The subject: torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib at the hands of American soldiers.

Botero has attempted to capture the event which the American government is all set to erase from its memory. The government has ordered that the prison be brought down.

The hall had a melancholic atmosphere. No one spoke throughout. Not even in whispers. I can not describe the paintings. The words would only be too crude. It was quite depressing to stay in the exhibition hall. I realized it after quite a while. And I realize now how depressing, how sickening, it could have been to undergo such torture, when it was so depressing to stand there, and so difficult to write now about the paintings.

After a successful display in Europe, there was no museum in the US which offered space to Botero. Indeed, Berkeley is the first museum exhibit of the paintings in the US. As I walked out, I realized that the exhibition was open to everyone. Nevertheless, the fact that most museums turned down the offer does demonstrate the parochial, almost escapist attitude that most of the American institutes have.

A society is healty if it can take criticism. If it can look inside and find faults. And I see a possiblity of a healty society by the popularity the exhibition had. By the fact that there was no malicious attempt while the exhibits were on display.

Which brings me to my second point. Could such an exhibition have happened in India? I think Indians are more open to criticism. Indeed, the greatest cynics of the India Shining story are Indians themselves. But the attitude undergoes a total change when it comes to certain beliefs. Religion, early leaders, religious heads, to criticize them is akin to attacking people personally. Surprisingly, some criticisms which non-secular countries in the world are able to digest, there are uproars in India. The Da Vinci code, the Satanic Verses. Or sometimes, the zeal to protect those beliefs is such that the protestors miss the whole point. The criticism of Gandhigiri, and of Gandhi himself (I am sure Gandhi wouldn't have agreed with the protestors. Or their methods.). Why are we so averse to differences in opinion? Why are we so insecure? Are we being escapists, too?


Update : A university article : http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/03/27_botero.shtml
says fifteen thousand people visited the exhibit while it was on display. Commendable, isn't it?

Shamrocks on the way...

... happy Saint Patrick's day!

Hawking's musings

Stephan Hawking came to Berkeley to give a popular science lecture on "The Origin of the Universe". Curiously, the lecture was in Zellarbach hall, and organized by Cal Performances, putting him at equal footing with the rock stars!

I went there for pure entertainment. With that perspective, you can not be disappointed. And entertainer he was ...

"What was God doing before He made the world?

Was He preparing hell for people who asked such questions?"

Sitayana

Anand, a labmate, showed me short animation films based on Ramayana made by Nina Paley. She is not Indian, has seen the Ramayana TV series (in her words "you can never have too many close-ups"), and has read different versions of Ramayana. The presentation is anything but conventional. She claims that it is Sita's perspective to Ramayana (hence, 'Sitayana'). I don't know how accurate that is.

Regardless, the animation series is pure joy to watch! Background scores are 1930's light Jazz songs. All the characters are caricatured, reduced to a few simple characteristics. Rama is stoic, capable, uncaring. Hanuman is having a ball, with an extremely funny dance. And Sita is the seductress in love, and crying ALL the time. With streams from her eyes and all. The episode "Trial by Fire" is hilarious!

Part of my joy is in imagining the reactions of the grandma's and grandpa's (and the green nekar-wallah's) to this (he raam! or, he Sita!) :-)

Here's the link :

http://www.ninapaley.com/Sitayana/

A feel-good article

Most of my reading habits changed once I arrived at Berkeley. Moving from the Hindustan times to the Daily Cal, news became very local, almost too close for comfort.

One reading I continued was the Sunday articles in the Hindustan Times. Karan Thapar's 'Sunday Sentiments' and Vir Sanghvi's 'Counterpoint' still occupy my mind the whole day. The anticipation of seeing these articles has stayed the same, and maybe, even increased. Its a pity that Vir's Rude Food is not available online (or, well, he stopped writing it).

While 'Sunday Sentiments' is, well, quite sentimental, almost personal, 'Counterpoint' is (arguably) better thought of, and quite strong. The former leaves you smirking, giggling, or frowning, while the latter almost always leaves you contemplating. I can never, ever, forget the words in 'Counterpoint' analyzing the Gujarat riots, and its consequences.

Over the years, though, 'Counterpoint' has become more and more emotional (and less and less logical!). Nevertheless, Vir Sanghvi is fun to read for the conviction he has in his words. For the way he structures his article. And for the way he ends it.

Here's this week's article. Despite it presenting an incomplete picture, its
fantastically feel good :-)

http://hindustantimes.com/news/181_1944719,00300001.htm

enjoy!

Nobody has black eyes

I was walking on Berkeley's rather famous Telegraph Avenue. There are some roadside shopkeepers, alongside their carts. My friend was taking money out of a nearby ATM, so I started looking at a cart carrying ear-rings, for time pass. This seller comes near me, almost silently, and asks

"What color are her eyes?"

I was a bit taken aback, so I just murmured "Oh, I am just looking".

"No, what color are her eyes?", he insisted.

I thought when I have all this time, let me humor him. "Black", I replied.

"Nobody has black eyes" he argued "they must be dark brown"
"Ok, dark brown, maybe" I say, as I roll my eyes.

"Look at these ones, the green jade ear-rings, or these ones, they would look nice"

He then proceeded to tell me how I should present the ear ring (!), and I looked at him as if I were really listening hard. My friend joined me, with a smile, trying to understand what's going on.

"It's $10, and are you a student? It's $8 for students" he offered.

"I'll think, and come back" I concluded, and turned around trying to make a hasty exit.

His voice stopped me for one last time, and I turned back.

"Don't become a communist, be an engineer!"

The old man was trying to give me some message, as his last words, for he was sure I wasn't coming back. But why? And what exactly did he mean?

Maybe, just maybe, it takes a Ph.D. to figure that out! :-)


(a rehashed version of an email I sent out loooong time back! Just felt its appropriate today. Wonder why green ear-rings attract me so much! :-D )

Stallman visits Berkeley!

I like Richard Stallman. He is easy to draw. A few strong pencil strokes for a big face, accentuated by a long, unkempt beard and moustache, a few more for the big, voluminous hair, and you're already smiling! A huge belly, which declares out loud how little he cares of his looks. A straight back, a confident, arrogant facial expression. His pale red T-shirt hangs loosely from his belly. I remember thinking that this makes good air-conditioning.

I tried drawing him during his talk, and was surprised by how closely my sketch resembled him. Then again, I had expected some surprises. We received an email about him coming to Berkeley, and him wanting to stay with a grad student, rather than in a hotel. Very Berkeley, I thought.

So much had happened before I entered the lecture hall, that the talk could only be an anti-climax. It wasn't. Not a bit.

He hopped on one foot while the person introducing him described the awards he has won, he interrupted the introduction, correcting the person. He interrupted again, and announced "You are getting yourself into trouble here!". He started his talk with an unfinished introduction. He took a bow before he started, something I believe he doesn't do everywhere. He used the word "freedom" uncountably many times, much to the elation of the audience. He seemed as idiosyncratic as the Stallmen can be, but with a hint of rationality, which came as a pleasant surprise! The hall was, for once, full, as it vibrated with the giggles, the smirks, and the verbal blows.

My favourite words :

If technology could resurrect the dead, being murdered would be a mere annoyance

(when explaining how technological changes can change our perception of what is moral, and what isn't)

A gem on telegraph

Lost in thoughts, I ambled down the telegraph street in Berkeley one Saturday. Sellers of handstiched clothes, jewellery, and other trinkets stood alongside their carts. A glittering ear-ring caught my attention. It was pear shaped, pale blue-green, reflecting light at all angles, displaying myriad shades of colors. Instinctively, I stopped.

"What is it?" I asked, raising my head to see a bearded man of about sixty.

"Its beautiful" he responded.

The biased truth

Is a biased collection of statements necessarily untruthful?

Deliberate hiding of facts to present only one part of the story, only half-truth, is bias. It is this bias that I refer to when I talked of articles on Wikipedia.

An unbiased article should attempt to prevent and unprejudiced consideration of a question.

Consider the three paragraphs on Gujarat violence here.

The first paragraph says :

"In February 2002, when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, violence broke out across the state claiming around a thousand lives. While some consider the violence to have been sporadic communal riots, others allege that the violence was directed against Muslim communities. An official estimate states that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed, with 223 more missing.[5] The riots followed the Godhra Train Burning incident, where 58 Hindus were burnt alive on a train carriage, which was believed to have been set on fire by a Muslim mob[6][7]. A panel set up two and a half years after the incident claimed that the train burning was an accident. However, the panel was declared illegal by the Gujarat High Court[8][9][10]."


What do you infer?

1) It is not necessarily true that there was violence directed against the muslims after the Godhra train burning incident.

2) A central question is whether the train carriage was set to fire by a muslim mob. It is unanswered, but the answer is widely believed to be in affirmative.

The second paragraph:


"Subsequent reports from several human rights organisations and political opponents have claimed that Modi and his ministers instructed Gujarat's police officers not to obstruct the attacking mobs. The National Human Rights Commission criticised the government, pointing to "a comprehensive failure on the part of the State Government of Gujarat to control persistent violations of rights".[11]. In turn, several of these human rights groups have been criticized for biased reporting against Hindus and overt generalizations regarding the complex situation[12][13]."

Inferences:

1) Several human rights organizations believe that the ensuing violence was under Modi's directions.

2) They may not be right.

The third paragraph:

These claims have also been rejected by Modi, and the BJP and its supporters have attacked the reports as being politically motivated, due to the fact they came out at the time of an election. A judicial commission constituted to examine allegations of Gujarat state administration's involvement in the riots of 2002 has twice so far said that there was no evidence "as yet" to implicate either Modi or his administration in the riots. However, recently the widow of ex-Congress MP Ahsan Jaafri filed a court case against Modi and his government[14][15] As an aftermath to the riots, there were calls for Modi to resign as chief minister of Gujarat. The opposition parties stalled the national parliament over the issue. Even allies of the BJP like DMK and TDP were asking for Modi's resignation[16]. Modi submitted his resignation to the Governor, Mr. Sundar Singh Bhandari, only after three months and recommended the dissolution of the 10th Gujarat Legislative Assembly[17]. In the subsequent elections, the BJP, led by Modi, won the elections by a huge margin.

1) So far no evidence of Modi's involvement.

2) In the aftermath of the riots, some parties demanded Modi's resignation. He resigned.

3) Modi led BJP to a resounding victory in the ensuing elections.


I admit that as far as I know, every statement in this section is correct.

Questions I raise on this particular section of the article:

1) Does Modi's winning the subsequent elections deserve a place in the section titled "Gujarat riots"? Doesn't this end the article on a triumphant note for Modi, creating an impression that the people made a judgement on the contention of government's involvement in the riots?

2) Why (as pointed out by Vivek) are the unofficial death-tolls not quoted?

3) Why is there no mention of the fact that there were elements within the BJP who believed Modi orchestrated the riots? Or the majority of the media?

4) Observe the ending of each paragraph. Contrast it with what is inside. Consider the fact that last sentence lingers in the mind longer.



Some questions on the rest of the article:

On "One of the most significant achievements of his government has been successful raising of the height of the Narmada Dam from 95 to 110.64 metres, which resulted in increased irrigation, water supplies and hydroelectric power [5]."

5) Why does Narmada Bachao Andolan deserve no mention? Why do the thousands displaced deserve no mention? Maybe they are not important, and maybe the advantages of the dam are more important than the disadvantages. But surely, the disadvantages deserve a mention, don't they?




"Apart from the controversy that he always generated due to his staunch support of Hindutva, he is also regarded as one of the best political administrator that India has ever seen"

6) Who regards him as one of the best political administrators? What community? Where is a citation?



On "Position on Terrorism"

On July 18, 2006, Modi delivered a speech criticizing Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "for his reluctance to revive anti-terror legislations" such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act. He asked the Centre to empower states to invoke tougher laws in the wake of the blasts in Mumbai[26][27].Quoting Modi:
“ Terrorism is worse than a war. A terrorist has no rules. A terrorist decides when, how, where and whom to kill. India has lost more people in terror attacks than in its wars[26][27]. ”

He was criticized by Communist Party leaders after making the speech[26][27].

7. Criticized for what? For this statement against terrorism?

8. [26][27] have NO mention of communist parties. How do they form valid citations?

9. Look at the ending of "Visa controversy" article. Consider my Q.4. In fact, check the last sentence of each paragraph of the article.

That's my case.

Weekend hikings : Muir Woods

"The Giant oak was once a small nut who stood his ground"

Meeting an old friend!

Eyebrows rise. Vague memories roll down the alley of years. Recognition. A smile. The steps acquire a spring. The voice a joy. The eyes a gleam. The mind wanders into that land left far, far behind. Into those days. The days when not all was right. The days when the heart would wait for the end of yet another hard fought day. End, yes, but not because of the day being hard. But because each hard minute would fill those few moments in the evening with greater joy. Those few shared moments ...

... but I am here, now. And things have changed. You have changed! There is more serenity in your calm. More assurance in your movements. More vigor and energy. More vibrance. More intensity.

Yes, changed you have.

Or is it just me?






(after switching on my radio this Monday, and briefly catching the final movement of Beethoven's moonlight sonata.)

The RSS on Wikipedia

It disappoints me everytime see the articles on the Rashtriya Swayamsevi Sangh (RSS), its cadres, and political parties which share their ideology with RSS, on Wikipedia. The bias is evident.

Quoting from the article on BJP :
"The BJP has often been accused of participation in religious violence and using religiously sensitive issues for political advantage. These accusations, largely a political smear campaign by opposition parties, have tarnished the image of BJP in the eyes of many Indians, particularly Muslims."

The article on Gujrat riots on page on Narendra Modi almost gives him a clean chit. Rajnath Singh is praised no end.

A five-hunderd line article on the RSS has thirty-odd lines on its criticism. The rest of the article is as biased as any of the above.

The previous article for Rajnath Singh was actually copied from his biography released by the BJP! I got it deleted long time back, but the new article is not much better.

Considering that searching name of _any_ politician invariably yields his/her Wikipedia entry as the first one, its a sad state of affairs. Imagine an impressionable mind searching details of Gujarat riots on the web!

Just another instance of a vocal, vociferous minority imposing its views, posing as representatives of the majority. Or in this case, as unbiased writers. This is a major problem for an 'encyclopedia' like Wikipedia.

Its hard for any one person to change it. So are people reading this interested in removing the bias? Its not hard, just time consuming. But satisfying. And important.

For a start, read the articles on Modi and the BJP.

The dark side of the Sonar Killa: Open question!

First, this phenomena is quite general. Almost all tourist places in India have children working for long hours.

We met some farmers and on my visit to Orissa, I saw people there who was poorer than those on Sam Sand dunes in Jaisalmer, but I also remember that the kids went to school. Education, and the ensuing carrer, is an attractive option there, as compared to the the option of earning quick money at a major tourist spot. The fields require only so much work, and the kids would be better off learning something for the rest of the time.


So is this a bane of being born a poor family in a tourist place? Yes! The short-term advantage of forcing the child to work for more hours is more obvious than the advantage of the alternative.

I see no practical way by which we can simply ask the people to stop forcing their children to work. Besides, force is never the way.

Me and mom came up with a seemingly simple solution: let them have school for six months. In Jaisalmer, there are no tourists in the summers! From April to around September, its too warm for tourism. Special schools can be run for these children in these months. They can be let off for the rest of the year, possibly with some vacation homework.

The solution would work elsewhere, too. Since most tourist places in India have some "tourist season".

I am sure its too simplistic to not have any feasibility problems, but there could be ways around those problems, too. Not only is finding those ways important for Salim and his kins, but also for the tourists to enjoy their vacation without a tinge of guilt. Asha, AID, anyone listening?

I might table this problem, and possible solutions, at the next AID/Asha meeting. So pour in your solutions! Leave a message down here, or mail me at pulkit_AT_gmail.com.



(Update on facts/statistics:
Majority of the population at Sam and nearby areas is illiterate. Those educated have usually studied till 5th standard. The area is predominantly muslim. Women's rights are often overlooked. Majority is underemplyed/unemployed.)

The dark side of the Sonar Killa

"Ride on this one, sir!"

He looked like a boy of eleven, as he offered me to take a ride on his camel, into the vast sands of Jaisalmer.

camel boy : what's your name?
Me : Pulkit. What's yours?
camel boy : Salim
Me : Salam Salim bhai!

Salim glared back at me. Giving me the first sign that not everything is right in this idyllic place. My smile stuck, nonetheless, not knowing where to go.

I got onto the camel. Bargained with the camel owner, a much older man, for the price. Went on to the first vista point. And thereon, the camel owner left, leaving me and my family with the boys, who walked as we rode the camels deep into the Thar desert.

Sometime later, I garnered enough courage, and a question, to start a conversation.

Me : So which class do you study in?
Salim : I don't study.

I didn't know what to say next. I wasn't shocked. Its just that the question had never had such an answer. I would have usually known if the child I was talking to was not receiving any education.

Given that the starter didn't quite work, I tried to do away with the cheerful pretence, and instead dug deeper.

Me: Why don't you go to school?

No response.

Me: you take people out for rides in the evening, so you can go to school in the morning!
Salim : As if the 'seth' would allow me.

Seth is the boy's caretaker. He pays him for taking people to rides, and taking care of the camels.

Salim : He asks me to give the camel a bath, and give it fodder in the morning. That hardly leaves me with any time to go to school.

I was somewhat relieved that he didn't add "Besides, what would I learn there?". Though the fear of this answer kept me from bringing up a conversation on the importance of education.

What would he learn there?

Back to the circuit house in Jaisalmer, I had a fictitious conversation with Salim in the night.

Salim : Regardless of what I learn there, I would probably end up doing this job all my life. It would make no difference!

Me: At the very minimum, what you would learn about science, history, mathematics, humanities, would broaden your perspective. It would tell you that there is world beyond the dunes of Thar, that there are people with alternative lifestyles.

That there are possibilities beyond being a camel boy. That life is sometimes about making choices, and not following commands.

That you get a say in what you want to be.

It would tell you what it means to be free. Free of your seth. Free of the constraints which force you to walk like a silent, chained being on the sands of the Thar desert.

(to be continued)

Graduation ?

14th Jan (Makar-sakranti): Kite-flying festival in Jaipur. A man bends the central stick of the kite to help it fly better.

People, such as this man in the picture, wake up early in the morning, and fly kites till late in the night. Music systems blare from dawn to dusk, punctuated by shouts of celebration when someone succeeds in cutting the thread of another's kite using his/her own. Bending the kite is a necessary exercise, otherwise the kites fall flat as soon as the wind becomes lighter.

(click on the pic to zoom)

The silver lining

A different take on the lunar eclipse :-)