Malkanthapuragudi

Migration!

2005-12-16T19:15:00.000+05:30

I am planning to migrate to Wordpress.com (and, thanks Abi for the tip). The main advantage I found with Wordpress is that they allow categorisation of posts. So, I do not need to maintain two different blogs, and it makes easier for people to navigate through the blog based on their topics of interest. In addition, wordpress also allows for private (and password-protected) posts. The new blog is called Entertaining Research--the Alicious adventures of a Malkanthapuragudi-an. It will take a while for the new blog to be customised; in the meanwhile, any comments or suggestions you may have are welcome! See you there!

Some more Nobel lectures!

2005-12-14T19:58:00.000+05:30

Via Marginal Revolution, we learn that the video of the Economics Nobel lectures are now available (on a site called Mahalanobis;-).

A time to look back and read!

2005-12-13T19:24:00.000+05:30

Via PTDR, I learnt about this special issue of Daedalus; the issue celebrates the 50th aniversary of Daedalus by reprinting some of the old articles; the fare includes Amartya Sen, Steven Weinberg, Susan Sontag, Umberto Eco, and Robert Frost. Have fun!

Holiday reading; some suggestions!

2005-12-13T15:59:00.000+05:30

The approach of Christmas is also the approach of holidays; and what better way to spend the holidays than by reading! Here is a reading list for this holiday season. The short essay also tells the significance and importance of holiday reading:

But then comes holiday time, sacred days, time outside of ordinary time, when it's possible to find free hours for reading during a day usually given over to work. On a day such as this you can commit the absolutely marvelous act of reading for pleasure, the heightened version of this being the stimulating mix of entertainment and edification about the world and life that comes from reading great fiction and poetry. In this way, we truly participate in the holy separation of ordinary time and sacred time.

Meditation practice in a number of spiritual traditions separates special thought from ordinary, rational thought. Holiday reading distinguishes itself from reading for courses or reading for business reasons or reading to keep up in a book club. It is the gift you give yourself, the gift of time infused with adventure, the gift of supercharged language and deep insight into character, the gift of story that we need every day -- and if only everyone could seize the time! -- to instruct us in how to understand the seeming relentless forward propulsion of our lives.

Happy reading!

A truly amazing project!

2005-12-12T23:37:00.000+05:30

I am talking about Project Gutenberg. Here is an interview with Michael Hart, the founder of Project Gutenberg; link via Literary Saloon. I did not know that Project Gutenberg was started in 1971. The interview tells the difference between Google books and the Gutenberg approach. And, two quotes from the interview to give a flavour:

In a typical week, there are at least a million downloads. We get a lot of Thackeray downloads, a lot of James Joyce, a lot of Dickens. “Pride and Prejudice” is always up there. Sherlock Holmes is always up there. … There are always some you don’t expect, like “Manners, Customs, and Dress During the Middle Ages, and During the Renaissance Period” by Paul Lacroix. …We also have reference material, which most people probably wouldn’t think of — like Roget’s Thesaurus. Plus, the Koran, along with the Bible.

Q: What are some of your favorite books or authors?
A: “Alice in Wonderland” was a family classic for us, and my dad was a Shakespeare professor. I do love Shakespeare.

Many meanings of the life of Bach!

2005-12-12T21:25:00.000+05:30

Here is an essay profiling the life of Bach (from Gaurdian).

Chomsky - podcast of an interview!

2005-12-12T20:13:00.000+05:30

Here is a link to a podcast of an interview with Noam Chomsky (from Boing Boing).

The Archbishop who was mistaken for a chauffeur!

2005-12-12T19:19:00.000+05:30

His grace the Archbishop Desmond Tutu delivered the last JRD Tata memorial lecture of National Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS) on "Is there hope for humanity?". After listing many of the depressing inhuman and depraved acts that occurred in the last century (and continue to occur even now at different parts of the world), the Archbishop was still hopeful of a better future for humanity. This hope, for him, hinged on the fact that we inhabit a moral universe, and intuitively recognise good and evil. The Archbishop was alternatingly humourous and serious, but never lost the human touch. He also indicated why efforts of eradication of poverty, disease and ignorance (by those of us who can) is not altruism but the best form of self-interest, for, we can only prosper together. I liked the fine sense of humour of the Archbishop; and, for me, the later part of the lecture was more spiritual than political. It also felt so good to hear such wonderful things about Mahatma Gandhi. On the whole, a nice evening and an elevating lecture!

Ek ajnabee; a review!

2005-12-10T18:27:00.000+05:30

We watched Ek Ajnabee yesterday. It is an Indianised version of Man on Fire; for example, look at this plot summary of Man on Fire and this one of Ek Ajnabee. So, it was with a feeling of deja vu that I watched it. What I liked about the movie are the song of Sanjay Dutt at the end, and a pretty decent job of acting by Ruchi Vaidya, Amitabh, Arjun Rampal, and Perizaad Zorabian. However, on the whole, the movie was a disappointment. The bottomline: watch it if you are too keen on watching a Hindi movie; even then, only if you have not watched Man on Fire.

USB weirdness!

2005-12-10T17:49:00.000+05:30

Via /. we learn about this top ten wierdest USB drives. Have fun:-)

Teaching, research, and grants!

2005-12-09T15:42:00.000+05:30

Here is the continuation of what they don't teach you in grad schools; this esaay covers teaching, research, and grants. The hints on teaching are very nice, while the hints on writing research proposals is something that is usually hard to come by.

A bunch of links and a rant!

2005-12-09T09:22:00.000+05:30

Here is a nice summary of a talk that Simon Singh gave in the Faculty Hall yesterday. The title is a bit misleading. It is no longer 'supporting' Big Bang--apparently, most of the working cosmologists agree that Big Bang happened (and there is a fair amount of experimental evidence as well). In any case, here is my bit that was missing (for obvious reasons) in the Hindu summary. Singh told about this epithet "Spherical Ba****d"--apparently, like a sphere looks a sphere from whichever angle you look at it, a spherical ba****d looks ba****d from whatever angle you look at him:-) That reminded me of another nice quote that Clifford Truesdell attributed to Francis Bacon in his Idiot's fugitive essays: He is like a monkey; the higher up he goes, more of his ass he shows:-)

Here is report on the Nobel lecture of Harold Pinter in the op-ed pages; the text and video of the lecture are available (in the Nobel Prize page).

Ashuthosh Gowariker (whose Swades, for all its shortcomings, is a classic in Bollywood cinema, in my opinion) is profiled in the Friday Entertainment supplement. Apparently, he said this:

"We need to break the conception foreigners have of Indian cinema as all song and dance," he says, while also defending film songs as an integral part of our film culture and not something we need to be apologetic about. The shrinkage of length, he adds, will allow filmmakers to access a lot more creative material that couldn't previously be converted into films because of the sheer enormity of three hours.

And, I do not like the sound of it. We make movies not to change the conception of foreigners about Indian cinema; as was so memorably (and succinctly) put in Bollywood calling, Indians want all sentiments in one single movie, and Indian movies are made keeping those Indian sensibilities in mind. However, the second reason he gives makes sense; according to me, if anything, that should be the primary motivation for change. In the process if some foreigners are also able to appreciate the movies, that is a bonus and just that--nothing more, nothing less. Probably all this does not make business sense; may be the Indian producers want to vie with Hollywood in market share. However, that does not justify a person like Ashuthosh Gowariker cite foreign audience acceptance as a reason for motivation for change. Let us hope that Gowariker did not say what the profile says he said; let us also hope that he makes his next movie keeping 'us' (we, the people) in mind and not 'them' - I shudder to think what Swades would have been without "Yuhi chala chal", "Yeh Tara, Woh Tara", "Yeh jo desh hai tera", "Saavariya", "Pal Pal hai bhaari", and, "Dekho na".

Finally, Young World carries a report on the digitisation of the original manuscript of Alice called Alice's Adventures Under Ground. Since the article does not give the URL of the British Library page, here it is, and Thank you, Google--I love you so...o much!.

Environment vs a real primal need!

2005-12-07T09:47:00.000+05:30

My most favourite grad-student Cecilia points (in her blog) to this story about the environmental impact of having children. Yeah, it is called Voluntary Human Extinction Movement; the essay ends as follows:

Even Knight, in his oddly cheery brand of pessimism, thinks that the drive to breed may be insurmountable.

"It's not too likely that the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement is going to succeed," he told me. "I don't think any of us are so naive as to think that 6.5 billion people are going to say, 'Yeah, let's stop breeding, this is great.' But it's still the right thing to do."

Go take a look; while you are at it, also take a look at this other link that Cecilia points to (about a couple who are going to have their sixteenth kid--I thought raising a football team is the limit for anybody; looks like I was wrong).

Music, thy name is Carnatic!

2005-12-05T05:04:00.000+05:30

Here is Hindu on one of the world's largest entertainment extravaganzas devoted to the classical arts, the Madras Music Season.

Tale of a silk sari!

2005-12-04T21:29:00.000+05:30

Here is Githa Hariharan about a gift she got from MS when she was nineteen. A nice piece: I liked the ending, especially:

I’d rather have kept the sari as a memento of my first meeting with Subbulakshmi. But the burglar changed that story. I too must change his. I have imagined into existence an ending for my burglar’s encounter with my cupboard. It is an open ending, the kind I like. I have firmly resisted the unhelpful suggestions of friends that by now, my silk saris must have been melted down for a few little lumps of silver. This is what I see though I have not seen my burglar: I am convinced there must be a woman in his life, and that he has given her Subbulakshmi’s green and gold sari. As a bonus, I would like to think that the sari, despite its years of hiding, despite the dishonest way it was made to exit from my life, will bring some grace — some kind of soul-changing music — into this woman’s life.

Link via Indian Writing.

A guide to heaven!

2005-12-03T22:50:00.000+05:30

It starts with a disclaimer of what is missing in the list, of which, a paragraph reads

To keep from losing my mind, I've had to narrow my definition of a "gift book." While firmly believing that any well-written book is a gift, I've favored books that were inherently aesthetic and beautifully produced. Trying to discern what kind of books people might not buy for themselves, I chose those I thought more of an indulgence, rather than those needed to stay sane. (Consequently, you'll find no novels, memoirs or short stories. Yes, I will burn.)

Any well-written book is a gift. Hear! Hear! This is not just a listing of books, but more. It contains excerpts from most of the books listed, which makes it a good read, even if you are not planning to buy any of the books for yourself and/or as a gift. So, enjoy, and, while you are at it, you might even bookmark the essay--just in case you wanted to buy a gift sometime later or happen to come by some money to indulge!

Apaharan: a review!

2005-12-03T21:57:00.000+05:30

So, we watched Apaharan yesterday. One (and, probably, the only) good thing about the movie is that there were so many cell phones buzzing on the screen, much of the Bangalore movie hall audience (which is used to receiving all their professional and personal calls in the theatre to the annoyance of guys like us), did not even realise that it was their cell phones that were ringing!

The movie was looking like an edited version of Aaj Tak stories interspersed with some scenes from a badly made TV serial. And, the item number (by Mrinalini Sharma?) was unwanted--instead, they could have had a dance number for Bips (who, by the way, was looking gorgeous). Both Nana and Ajay have done a good job; but, I guess it is the director who should be blamed for the final failure of the movie as a whole. Neither the characters nor the story line was developed in any detail leading to a very unsatisfactory final product.

The bottom line: Watch it only if you have nothing else to do--even then, if you really want to watch a Bihar based political (i.e., this-country-is-going-to-the-dogs) movie, watch Shool; what is more, it also has a much better (and aesthetically satisfying) item number by Shilpa Shetty!

To hear Yeats and Tennyson...

2005-12-03T21:47:00.000+05:30

Recite their poems! For free! Is that just a fantasy of mine? No, here is Amardeep with the links to streaming poetry at the poetry archive! Happy listening hours!

Oops-onomics?

2005-12-02T19:55:00.000+05:30

That is what the economist called it (Link via PTDR)! Apparently,

In other words, Messrs Donohue and Levitt did not run the test they thought they had—an “inadvertent but serious computer programming error”, according to Messrs Foote and Goetz

And, what is more,

Of course, lots of people have always thought Mr Levitt was in the wrong. Even if abortion cuts crime, it is still immoral, they fulminate. But this is largely beside the point: Mr Levitt's research does not take a position on abortion's social virtues, but aims merely to uncover its societal effects. Besides, for someone of Mr Levitt's iconoclasm and ingenuity, technical ineptitude is a much graver charge than moral turpitude. To be politically incorrect is one thing; to be simply incorrect quite another.

That, by the way, reminded me of this fortune cookie: At the source of every error which is blamed on the computer you will find at least two human errors, including the error of blaming it on the computer. It also reminded me of these earlier posts of mine about programming, reproducibility, and bugs.

If I am not careful...

2005-12-02T19:51:00.000+05:30

Someday, they are going to sue me for calling myself Guru:-)

A controversy that wouldn't go away!

2005-12-02T05:02:00.000+05:30

Here is an op-ed in today's Hindu about the Physics Nobel 2005 controversy. Apparently,

In a lecture in September 1973 at the IISc, titled "In Search of Perspective: An Attempt at Self-Assessment," Prof. Sudarshan, speaking about this work, had said: "And here too I see evidence that international science is not a monarchy nor a democracy; rather, it is reminiscent of a more primitive social organisation of the era of robber barons."

Now, that sounds interesting! However, the source of this piece of information is missing in the article (which would have made it more interesting, shall we say!).

Meaning of PhD and post-PhD survival!

2005-12-01T20:19:00.000+05:30

Here is a nice post about what they don't teach you in graduate school; link via PTDR. The three part article discusses the meaning of PhD, finishing your dissertation, and hunting an academic job; extremely well-written essay and a must-read!

The Red Letters of Ved Mehta!

2005-12-01T03:46:00.000+05:30

I read The Red Letters: My Father's enchanted period of Ved Mehta. I just loved the four pages towards the end of the book where he describes one of his conversations with his mother. It is extremely well written; it brings the flavour of the conversation very vividly on to the pages of the book. Here are a few samples:

Besides, did the Long-Lived One ever tell Babuji that he wanted a bachelor of arts who could toon-toon in English and chirp like a songbrid? If he had, Babujii would have told Doctor Sahib to get a mem and a radio.

...

Young people nowadays might go in for interviews and whiling away time with each other in coffehouses before they tie the knot, but, in those days, a boy was lucky if he got a chance to glimpse a girl's face before he married her. The Long-Lived One caught sight of my face and he fell for me. You tell me, youngster, was that my fault? It was Doctor Sahib's own wish and desire to have me. I tell you, he couldn't wait to jump onto the wedding mare and carry me off. The Long-Lived One says that as soon as he talked to me on our wedding night his hopes were dashed. Maybe so--who am I to contradict the Long-Lived One?-- but in those early years no one listening to him singing to me and whispering endearments would ever have thought that. In fact, Doctor Sahib used to go around his club and office saying that he had a queen for a wife. Doctor Sahib might have forgotten, but I cannot forget.

...

You children grew up saying you are Mehtas, but you are just as much Mehras--of course you are sons and daughters of your daddy, but you're just as much grandsons and granddaughters of Babuji.

One of my friends to whom I recommended the section from which the above passages are taken told me it reminded him of Sheila Dhar; and, in our circle, that is the ultimate praise for anybody's writing style-- a nine-on-ten for style, you may say. However, passages of this quality are not many in the book. Also, the anecdotal telling of the story, chronological jumps, and the report-like passages gave a feeling of unevenness and incompleteness to me. Having said that, I would still recommend the book for the fashion in which it deals with the rather sensitive subject matter (of his father's love affair with a married woman in the 1930s).

Nature of science and its practice!

2005-12-01T03:35:00.000+05:30

Dr. D Balasubramanian writes in today's Hindu about the changing identity of the scientist. Naturally, the topic has led him to observe that in the Indian scenario

The few prominent heroes had given way to an army of anonymous workers. In India, this came to be felt in an unforeseen, and unfortunate, way. The government invested money in large projects, missions and new research labs that a single department or researcher could not acquire. Resources available to individual scientists in universities were far less and university research could not keep pace. They produced quality students but these had to often learn sophisticated research methods and approaches elsewhere, outside their university. It is only now that this asymmetry is being addressed in some manner.

And, he ends the essay with this reiteration of the need of individual scientist:

All of these are possible only through ideas — ideas that need to be thought of, that need to be tested, found working and then applied to achieve the ends. And ideas come from individuals; this cannot change. Therefore the individual scientist cannot be replaced. It is him that we need to make more and more of.

And a sure way to do so is through schools, colleges and universities. It is these that we need to sow, nourish and multiply.

Irrespective of whether universities and colleges support individual scientists or not (since, for example, nothing stops university professors from coming together and carrying out research on some topic in a co-ordinated manner), the call to nourish and multiply these institutions of schools, colleges and universities is very sane and sensible.

Facing death, heroically!

2005-11-29T18:46:00.000+05:30

Imagine you are the mother of a eight year old son and a five year old daughter. Imagine that you had this conversation with your doctor:

"Well you know," he said, "this is mostly palliative care. If we didn't do any chemo, you'd begin to have some very unpleasant symptoms soon. So I guess we'd be hitting a single if it acted enough to make you comfortable for a while. A double would be if it actually shrank your tumors some. And a triple -- which is very unlikely -- would be if we were still standing here six months from now talking about what to do next." Apparently a home run was not an option.

How would you face the situation? Here is how Marjorie Williams faced it. The extract ends with this poignant sentence:

I became a professional patient. And all my doctors learned my name.

Unruly classes and first class blues!

2005-11-28T22:44:00.000+05:30

I got a link to this really cool extract via Kitabkhana.

Professors of education at New York University never lectured on how to handle flying sandwich situations. They talked about theories and philosophies of education, about moral and ethical imperatives, about the necessity of dealing with the whole child, the gestalt, if you don't mind, the child's felt needs, but never about critical moments in the classroom.

...

Petey said, Yo, teacher, that's my sandwich you et.

Class told him, Shaddap. Can't you see the teacher is eating?

I licked my fingers. I said, Yum, made a ball of paper bag and wax paper and flipped it into the trash basket. The class cheered. Wow, they said, and Yo, baby, and M-a-a-a-n. Look at dat. He eats the sandwich. He hits the basket. Wow.

A certainly-not-to-be-missed piece. It has its hilarous moments (like the one about the suicide note). But it is also full of wisdom:

They were high school department heads or had other important jobs and I disliked them the way I disliked anyone with power over me, bosses, bishops, college professors, tax examiners, foremen in general. Even so, I wondered why people like these examiners are so impolite they make you feel unworthy. I thought if I were sitting in their place I'd try to help candidates overcome their nervousness. If young people want to become teachers they should be encouraged.

That is what I felt at the time but I didn't know the ways of the world. I didn't know that people up there have to protect themselves against people down here.

...

The classroom is a place of high drama. You'll never know what you've done to, or for, the hundreds coming and going. You see them leaving the classroom: dreamy, flat, sneering, admiring, smiling, puzzled. After a few years you develop antennae. You can tell when you've reached them or alienated them. It's chemistry. It's psychology. It's animal instinct. You are with the kids and, as long as you want to be a teacher, there's no escape.

...

This is where teacher turns serious and asks the Big Question: What is education, anyway? What are we doing in this school? You can say you are trying to graduate so that you can go to college and prepare for a career. But, fellow students, it's more than that. I've had to ask myself what the hell I'm doing in the classroom. I've worked out an equation for myself. On the left side of the blackboard I print a capital F, on the right side another capital F. I draw an arrow from left to right, from Fear to Freedom. I don't think anyone achieves complete freedom, but what I am trying to do with you is drive fear into a corner.

In spite of that killing price of nineteen pounds, I would still love to own a copy if the extract is any indication. Next time I should remember to check the book and browse through it - in Strand may be.

By the way, take a look at this extracts page of Guardian and Happy Reading!

Penelopiad of Margaret Atwood

2005-11-26T17:47:00.000+05:30

I saw this review about a new book of Margaret Atwood called Penelopiad; here is an interview with Atwood about her acting debut as Penelope!

The window to my soul...

2005-11-25T21:42:00.000+05:30

Take a look at this piece about Pie as a feminist tool: it is just lovely. It starts with

Whenever I wanted a particular man to start paying attention to me, I would start making pies. A simple and obvious flirtation? No. I didn't make the pies to attract the man, I made the pies to test him.

And then,

Pie is a window to a man's soul, a lens by which you can see his true nature and know the measure of his worth. You won't be able to take it all in, not in one slice of pie, not in a thousand. Pie is so revealing -- especially rhubarb pie. But to start with, you can choose several traits and look to confirm their presence.

Finally,

What pie reveals is how well a man can identify his hunger. How large and looming is that hunger? Can he name it? How does he meet it? How does he greet it? In the feast of life, will he save room for the pie?

These are very good things to know about men.

I am wondering if there is any Indian dish that can be used as a feminist tool in these parts of the world; how about dosas? Or, obbattu? Anything else? Anne Dimock says:

"I think pie's got a very deep and profound meaning in a lot of people's lives," she says. The memory of pie "really evokes a powerful connection for them. I think it speaks to our longing for family, for some closeness and togetherness and perhaps innocence."

It is, and will always be, Idlis and Dosas that give deep and profound meaning to my life; not to mention the coffee to cap it all off! So, if you want to take a peek at my soul, you now know what you should feed me:-)

Eye-catchers in today's Hindu!

2005-11-25T18:41:00.000+05:30

Prof. MSS on Mission 2007: every village a knowledge centre. Apparently,

Mission 2007 aims to provide knowledge connectivity to every village of India by August 15, 2007, which marks the 60th anniversary of what Jawaharlal Nehru called "India's tryst with destiny."

and,

What is important is to ensure that all such initiatives designed to help rural and tribal families are pro-poor, pro-women, and pro-livelihood in both design and implementation.

Since Prof. MSS is the Chairman for National Alliance for Mission 2007, the above comment is reassuring.

An apology from the cloning pioneer, that makes a sad reading.

South Korean renowned stem cell expert Hwang Woo-suk on Thursday admitted using ova donated by his two fellow researchers at a press conference. Slowly saying in a depressed tone, the famous professor delivered his apology to South Korean people for the ``embarrassing and tragic'' news.

Review for the play Mahadevbhai. The reviewer is all praise for the play:

Though profoundly ambitious, the production is endearing in its utter simplicity. The play does not just talk about Gandhian principles, but lives it. The modest design, the simple props pulled out of the old trunk, the persona of the young, unassuming actor taken on by the artiste tidying up the stage after using the props, with the dignity of labour of a true Gandhian, the ambience created by the music and the lights, everything evokes Mahadevbhai's commitment to the Gandhian way of life. The flowers on stage create a feeling of reverence for Gandhiji as well as Mahadevbhai.

...

It is not often that one comes across a piece of theatre where everything is so perfectly balanced. The playwright, performer and the production team richly deserve the standing ovation they received.

It is a pity I missed it. Hope they perform it in Chowdiah sometime - I would love to go!

Nandi Hills: A photo blog!

2005-11-22T18:34:00.000+05:30

Rajdip recently made a trip to Nandi Hills. It is a nice place to spend a saturday or sunday. Here are some phographs that Rajdip got from his visit: the hill, the view from the hills, and finally, Rajdip himself (looking like Mithun-da:-)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!

2005-11-22T18:01:00.000+05:30

We watched the latest Harry Potter yesterday. For all their literary shortcomings, I think the novels are much better than the movies. The latest movie is no exception. Having said that, I should say that the movie is good in parts; several sequences are made very nicely. However, on the whole the movie is not as satisfying as it could have been; may be because, two-and-a-half hours is not sufficient to make a satisfactory film version of the novel.

On any day, I prefer Richard Harris as Dumbledore; Michael Gambon is a very poor substitute - but then, this perception is subjective. Mad-Eye Moody was really cool; he did make you notice him whenever he was on the screen. McGonagall, and Snape are great as usual, though, somehow, Snape did not make you hate him as much as he did in the other ones. The return of the Dark Lord was a let-down; it was not as great as I was led to believe.

The final verdict: good movie - watchable once - but, not very satisfying if you are expecting a nuanced, and more balanced portrayal of things.

Tales of two story-tellers!

2005-11-22T16:34:00.000+05:30

The MetroPlus Bangalore supplement of the Hindu today carries an interview with Chetan Bhagat, the author of Five-point someone and another with a Pandavani singer called Teejan Bai. The Padmashree award winning, Bhilai steel plant employee who cannot read or write and the IIT-Delhi and IIM-Ahmedabad educated Chetan make a nice contrast; but, both are story tellers by profession. While Teejan Bai apparently identifies her lot with Draupadi and likes Bhima, and retells stories from Mahabharata, Chetan Bhagat says:

Yes, to me what is around us is more important than what happened a hundred years ago. After all, when the reader picks up a book, he asks "why should I care? What does it all mean for me?" If there is no good answer, the book won't work.

Take a look at the profile and the interview. Though, by themselves they are not great pieces, the differences between the personalities, lifestyles and views make a nice contrast.

The new KISS principle!

2005-11-21T19:01:00.000+05:30

No, it is no longer Keep It Simple, Stupid --- it is Keep It Short, Stupid. Here is what Don Aucoin has to say on the issue. Apparently,

Last month, physicist Stephen Hawking published ''A Briefer History of Time," a condensed version of his best-selling ''A Brief History of Time." If such cosmic matters can be made first brief and then briefer, what's next? ''A Tale of One City"? ''Sketchy Memories of Things Past"? ''A Snapshot of the Artist as a Young Man"?

Further,

In a development that means you could, theoretically, absorb the wisdom of the Scriptures while stalled in traffic on the Southeast Expressway, a British publisher recently released ''The 100-Minute Bible," which boils down the Bible into a 64-page paperback by picking out what the publisher calls ''the principle [sic] stories of the life and ministry of its central character, Jesus Christ." This mini-tome is not to be confused with ''The HCSB Light Speed Bible," published last month, which promises to, ''in an exhilarating sweep of 24 hours, expose your mind and heart to every word and teaching of the Old and New Testaments."

Nice read; link via PTDR.

Why translating poetry is easier than prose

2005-11-20T21:57:00.000+05:30

Here is an interview with Charlotte Mandell where she tells why translating poetry is easier than prose. Link via reading experience.

Blogging and academic career!

2005-11-20T21:38:00.000+05:30

Here is John Hawks (whose blog I like a lot) on blogging and tenure with many interesting ideas and links.

An update on the Chomsky interview!

2005-11-20T20:09:00.000+05:30

Do you remember this post about the interview by Prof. Chomsky? Here is the follow-up (via Uma).

Frontline on KRN

2005-11-19T18:23:00.000+05:30

Here is an obituary to KR Narayanan (with some wonderful photographs) by Gopalkrishna Gandhi; and another about the Citizen President by Venkitesh Ramakrishnan.

Calvin and Hobbes: character descriptions!

2005-11-19T15:37:00.000+05:30

This rather brief, but very interesting essay tells us what Bill Watterson thinks about his characters, namely, Calvin, Hobbes, Calvin's parents and Susie Derkins; he also tells us the inspiration behind each of them. A nice read, even if you aren't a great Calvin and Hobbes fan.

You know you are in Madras when...

2005-11-18T17:30:00.000+05:30

(1) Pleasantly plump Tam-land heroines ask you the colour of your silk saree from colossal hoardings;

(2) Every third bill board that you see is a silk saree advertisement;

(3) In the traffic signal your auto slightly nudges the scooter-wallah ahead, setting his scooter into a roll. He turns around and says Sandhu kedachchaa boonduduradha? - Do you have to squeeze yourself in, if you see a crack? The auto driver just mumbles Gevanikkakala-ba - I did not notice you, man;

(4) Almost all the women in the age range fifteen to fifty carry long, densely strung jasmines on their hair;

(5) Almost every guy on the bike carries a small comb in the back packet; and,

(6) On your way home in the night, when you turn the corner, the fragrance of the parijata flowers stuns you for a moment.

I spent the last four days in Madras (ostensibly attending the NMD-ATM - Go here for the technical feed back). It was wonderful meeting Shankara and Phani (and his family). Phani got the Young Metallurgist of the year award (and made a 300 seconds presentation about his work). And on the personal front I got to meet my brother and his family, my sister and her family, and, my fiancee and her family. So, all that explains the break in blogging. On the whole, a memorable four days - I just loved it.

A novel and masala dosa: two links!

2005-11-12T13:47:00.000+05:30

Did you read the review of Kavery Nambisan's The Hills of Angheri by Uma recently? Here is an interview with Kavery about the novel in today's Bangalore Hindu Metro Plus. The same issue of Metro Plus also carries an article about Janata Hotel; here is an earlier recommendation by another gourmet.

Shaadi No. 1 a review!

2005-11-11T23:19:00.000+05:30

They might as well have named the movie "Shady No. 1". The algo for the movie runs something like this:

Step 1. Get a couple of skimpily clad women; call subroutine music; call subroutine dance

Step 2. Get some more skimpily clad women; call subroutine music; call subroutine dance

Step 3. Repeat Step 1 and Step 2 till you exhaust the given two-and-a-half hours.

The function call music just rehashes music from other movies, while, the function call dance is (as so very memorably described in that classic, Bollywood Calling) "Shake, Shake".

On the whole, as Amardeep said it was crappy, silly, and cheesy; we did enjoy it in a fashion. But, my verdict would be "Chalta hai, we did not have any other movie running nooo... what to do?".

Reco for weekend reading!

2005-11-11T22:53:00.000+05:30

I read The Vendor of Sweets of RKN a few days ago. As with any RKN novel, there were a few times when I laughed out loud; a few where I stopped to mull over; a few where I went back to re-read some passage for the sheer pleasure of it; and, finally, a few where I had to stop since tears welled in my eyes.

The magic of RKN lies in his simple narration, which, in the space of a few sentences can bring a vivid picture to your mind, or, make you identify with the mental state of a character completely. The passages where Jagan reminisces about his own marriage and married life, and his talking to Grace about her falling out with Mali are crafted so lovingly and beautifully, it is worth reading the book just for those (and, re-reading in case you have read it already).

Thanks Shencottah for the book and recommendation; and, here is my hearty recommendation to anybody looking for some weekend reading!

Eric predicted Paris burning two years ago?

2005-11-11T22:38:00.000+05:30

At least, he claims to have; and as he gazes into the crystal ball of his mind, he comes up with more burning news! Disclaimer: Some parts of the post are obviously in bad taste (and my linking to the page no way implies that I agree with his analysis, or wisdom).

The official portal of the Government of India!

2005-11-11T22:26:00.000+05:30

Shencottah informs us about the National Portal of India. The site even has an opinion poll as to whether Right to Information Act will enhance transparency in government functioning; somehow that reminded me of hitchhikers guide to galaxy.:-)

"Oh! My sainted aunt!"

2005-11-07T21:49:00.000+05:30

My ejaculation on reading this is no different from that of Bertie Wooster; link via Amardeep Singh. Here is the wiki page on Cambridge four (though, they call it five).

Boy, do I love David Dhawan!

2005-11-07T21:33:00.000+05:30

Amardeep says:

The cap to my weekend was a viewing of the cheesy/crappy/silly/entertaining Bollywood film Shaadi No. 1, a David Dhawan movie so outrageously stupid I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

I just can't wait! I am planning to watch it this week and am planning to do a review post; and, I know that the suspense is killing you! :-)

A time for poetry!

2005-11-07T21:12:00.000+05:30

These days I am back to reading poetry, reciting some, and listening to lots and lots of it:-) In case you are in mood for some poetry too, here are two poems of Billy Collins from the NPR site. I liked the one about the lanyard (Yeah! Till I read the poem, I did not know the word). It starts fabulously;

The other day as I was ricocheting slowly
off the pale blue walls of this room,
bouncing from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

and, ends, beautifully;

I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

Epigraphia Carnatica!

2005-11-05T23:09:00.000+05:30

No, it is not about Carnatic music, but is a collection of inscriptions dating from 3rd-4th century AD to 19th century from the Karnataka region.

The project was the brainchild of Professor S. Settar, then Chairman of the ICHR. "The Epigraphia is an extraordinary feat of scholarship. Nowhere in the country had the epigraphical wealth of a State been collected and presented so systematically. The entire history of the Old Mysore region till modern times can be written from it," Settar told Frontline.

Here is the full story from Frontline.

Inner ape discovery: some counter thoughts!

2005-11-05T18:51:00.000+05:30

Did I tell you about a review for the book Discovering the Inner Ape, some time back?

An Update
In case any of you missed, my 'fellow primate' Fred Bortz has put the following comment on my 'extended family' post:

Thanks for recommending my review of Our Inner Ape. Your readers might also enjoy my broader collection of related book reviews or even my whole Science Shelf website.

I also have a personal blog at www.scienceblog.com and another website that focuses on science for young readers.

Here is another review for the book from spiked-science - link via PTDR. Here are some samples from the review:

Our Inner Ape describes the behaviour of our two closest living relatives - the bonobo and the chimpanzee - exploring what they can tell us about ourselves. De Waal argues for human and ape equivalence, and, according to the world-renowned zoologist, Desmond Morris, 'he provides us with a revealing picture of the inner ape inside each and every one of us'.

However, the reviewer is not in agreement with these sentiments, as is clear from the following:

Primatology may be able to give us some insight into our evolutionary past, and help us start answering the difficult question of how human consciousness emerged. But ape studies cannot tell us much about why we behave the way we do today and how we got as far as we have.

A thought-provoking review; might be worth taking a look at. By the way, the review also touches upon another topic of interest to us, viz, the cultural transmission of behaviour:

A review by Andrew Whiten and his colleagues of a number of field studies reveals evidence of at least 39 local variations in chimp behavioural patterns, including tool-use, communication and grooming rituals - behaviours that are common in some communities and absent in others. So it seems that these animals are capable of learning new skills and of passing them on to their fellows.

...

Reviewing the literature on primate behaviour, it emerges that there is no consensus among scientists as to whether apes are capable of the simplest form of social learning - imitation.

RKN on music, veena, Doreswamy Iyengar and all that!

2005-11-05T10:59:00.000+05:30

I was looking for something else, when I stumbled on this interview of Gowri Ramnarayan (who else) with RK Narayan. RKN talks about music, his informal veena lessons, his friendship with Doreswamy Iyengar, and many other things. RKN seems to be very unhappy about the cassette player that Gowri uses to record the interview. First he says,

What is this? A cassette player? Why don't you take notes instead?

and, then

Do you have to stick the record player at my nose?

The interview is also full of the typical RKN-ian descriptions like this:

English literature must not be taught in English. It must be taught in an Indian language to make an impact. But our teachers don't know this. (Nor, for that matter, do they know much English.) What I did was to teach him poems like "Ode to a Nightingale" (which he found very difficult) in Tamil and Kannada. Doreswamy began to appreciate them so much that he would say, "Keats has so much manodharma!"

On the whole, a very nice read.

The two moods of Cauvery!

2005-11-03T09:38:00.000+05:30

Here are two photographs of the river Cauvery after the recent rains. She is calm and collected in one and maddeningly swirling in another.

Photograph courtesy: Bhargavi (G) MP.

A translator's woes and fantastic zoology!

2005-11-02T22:06:00.000+05:30

Got a link to these wonderful pieces of Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney on his translating Sophocles, and Michael Dirda on Jorge Luis Borges' The book of imaginary beings. Both the links are via bookslut.

Tirumala - Two photographs!

2005-11-01T18:33:00.000+05:30

These photographs of Tirumala and the (slightly edited) comments are from a very special somebody; this is also the first-ever guest post on this blog.

isn't it absolutely gorgeous? :o) I just love it…

The beautiful natural stone arch above is known as "Sila Thoranam". It is one of the earliest geological formations and is very very old and the hills are scattered with such rocks. ... told me lot more about that but all that generally floated above my head and I was caught up by the beauty of the place. The stones have formed in such a way that it resembles a delicate arch. Looks very beautiful. It is said that the Lord did penance when he came to Boolokha from Vaikunta before settling in Tirumala. This place is higher up the hills and one of the best places for nature lovers. The route to this place is dotted with tall stately pine forests and is a feast for the eyes.

More about "Sila thoranam" is here. Different pages on the net give different ages for the rock; wiki says it is the second oldest; I would tend to believe that.

A nice page!

2005-11-01T00:31:00.000+05:30

A very, very interesting page: See this article on Johnson's dictionary, for example.

Another link: Here is the complete review's review of Dr. Johnson's dictionary by Henry Hitchings.

While Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language, which celebrates its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary this year, is a greatly admired book, it is also surely one of the least read. Yet Macaulay called it “the first dictionary which could be read with pleasure,” and even a short look at it will reveal the truth of his assessment.

...

Johnson’s first public statement about the Dictionary was his Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language of 1747. This essay appeared as a thirty-four-page pamphlet addressed to the Earl of Chesterfield, whose support Johnson sought. (When Chesterfield, who had largely ignored the project, eventually attempted to claim some credit for what he saw was going to be a successful publication, Johnson wrote his definition for patron: “One who countenances, supports, or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.”)

...

When the Dictionary was published, Johnson’s individual effort was particularly praised. The actor David Garrick, a former student, raved that Johnson had “beat forty French, and will beat forty more!” referring to the number of Frenchmen who had taken fifty-five years to do what Johnson had done in nine.

And much, much more in the same vain! So long and happy reading!

Might wanna take a look at!

2005-10-31T21:25:00.000+05:30

Here is an interview with Prof. Chomsky. An interesting read; here are a couple of samples.

Chomsky sighs and says that he has never claimed to have a monopoly on the truth, then looks merry for a moment and says that the only person who does is his wife, Carol. "My grandchildren call her Truth Teller. When I tease them and they're not sure if I'm telling the truth, they turn to her and say: 'Truth Teller, is it really true?'"

...

It sounds to me as if he was an arrogant young man who thought, with some justification, that he knew more than his teachers. Chomsky bridles at the word arrogant and says: "No. I assumed I was wrong and took for granted that the standard approach [to linguistics] was correct."

Aye, aye Abi!

2005-10-31T17:06:00.000+05:30

Abi says Scott Adams rocks; I say aye, aye! Abi's post also has some interesting links.

Deep...you would love this!

2005-10-31T09:52:00.000+05:30

There is this story about Gabriel Garcia Marquez meeting his grandmother after he wrote One Hundred Years of Solitude. He told her the story. She laughed: “Oh! This? I can tell you much more crazier stories.”

From an article published in Tehelka; link via Uma.

India...whither goest thou?

2005-10-31T09:09:00.000+05:30

thani oruvanukku unavilai-yenil jagath-thinai azhithiduvom
-Bharathi

Even if a single person goes hungry, we will destroy the world; Bharathi's anger, in my opinion, is not misplaced. And, Sainath says 21% of Indian population cannot afford medicines, and thousands of farmers, even food. Depressing; yes. But it is more than that; it is a clarion call for action, interspersed with some sane advice:

"Don't measure progress in terms of production in tonnes," urged Dr. Swaminathan. "Measure it in the rate of growth of farmers' incomes."

An anthropologist reads Mahabharata!

2005-10-29T11:57:00.000+05:30

Readings of Mahabharata are subjective and individualistic. Even for the same person, the readings change with time, with moods, and with reflection and meditation.

When we were kids, Mahabharata was narrated (episodically) to us by our grandmother. She was highly critical of her own narration. More than once I have heard her say, "Yes, this is an inconsistency. But, the elders used to say so; and, I am an ignorant woman. You guys, when you grow up, should be able to read the original and find things out for yourself".

Thanks to Kiran, I recently found the book YugAnta of Irawati Karve, which is a scholarly and anthropologist reading of Mahabharata. The character sketches of Karve are stark in their simplicity and power, and the book is unputdownable. Karve brings to relief the various characters in a few simple sentences, and breathes life into them. Many of her explanations look deceptively simple; however, a huge amount of critical study of the text must have happened, the essence of which is distilled and crystallised into this book.

While a similar scholarly reading of Ramayana by Srinivasa Sastri is voluminous (and by no means anthropological), YugAnta is short and flows easy. The book leaves you asking for more; it kindled enough interest in me that I felt like going through the original Mahabharata at least once.

I recommend this book for anybody who is interested in knowing (a) the characters of Mahabharata at a greater depth, (b) the possible later interpolations and additions to the text of Mahabharata, (c) the socio-anthropological aspects of the Indian society at the time of Mahabharata, and (d) plausible explanations for all those inconsistencies that you always noted but were afraid to ask. It, however, is not recommended for those who can not (and will not) tolerate any secular (and non-scriptural) reading of the text of Mahabharata.

Thanks to MR, I now know that...

2005-10-28T01:28:00.000+05:30

My blog is worth $2,822.70.
How much is your blog worth?

Do you know Guru?

2005-10-27T16:14:00.000+05:30

Here are some fortune cookies about (and defining) Guru (thanks to Deep for the pointer). My favourite is the one about the guy in T-shirt and sandals. While we are at it, I should also tell you this: Once my computer told me, "You are an insult to my intelligence. I demand that you log-off immediately". And, my login id is guru:-)

Graphics blind the eyes.
Audio files deafen the ear.
Mouse clicks numb the fingers.
Heuristics weaken the mind.
Options wither the heart.

The Guru observes the net
but trusts his inner vision.
He allows things to come and go.
His heart is as open as the ether.
%
When the Guru administers, the users
are hardly aware that he exists.
Next best is a sysop who is loved.
Next, one who is feared.
And worst, one who is despised.

If you don't trust the users,
you make them untrustworthy.

The Guru doesn't talk, he hacks.
When his work is done,
the users say, "Amazing:
we implemented it, all by ourselves!"
%
When users see one GUI as beautiful,
other user interfaces become ugly.
When users see some programs as winners,
other programs become lossage.

Pointers and NULLs reference each other.
High level and assembler depend on each other.
Double and float cast to each other.
High-endian and low-endian define each other.
While and until follow each other.

Therefore the Guru
programs without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Warnings arise and he lets them come;
processes are swapped and he lets them go.
He has but doesn't possess,
acts but doesn't expect.
When his work is done, he deletes it.
That is why it lasts forever.
%
When you overesteem great hackers,
more users become cretins.
When you develop encryption,
more users become crackers.

The Guru leads
by emptying user's minds
and increasing their quotas,
by weakening their ambition
and toughening their resolve.
When users lack knowledge and desire,
management will not try to interfere.

Practice not-looping,
and everything will fall into place.
%
If a guru falls in the forest with no one to hear him, was he really a
guru at all?
-- Strange de Jim, "The Metasexuals"
%
guru, n.:
A person in T-shirt and sandals who took an elevator ride with
a senior vice-president and is ultimately responsible for the
phone call you are about to receive from your boss.
%
guru, n:
A computer owner who can read the manual.
%
The Tao doesn't take sides;
it gives birth to both wins and losses.
The Guru doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both hackers and lusers.

The Tao is like a stack:
the data changes but not the structure.
the more you use it, the deeper it becomes;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.

Hold on to the root.

The melancholic Abe Lincoln!

2005-10-27T12:07:00.000+05:30

Here is an excerpt from the book Lincoln's melancholy: How depression challenged a President and fuelled his greatness by Joshua Wolf Shenk. It has some interesting thoughts:

Yet Lincoln's case is perfect, too, in a very different sense: it forces us to reckon with the limits of diagnostic categories and raises fundamental questions about the nature of illness and health.

"It's not the large things that send a man to the madhouse," Charles Bukowski has written. "No, it's the continuing series of small tragedies . . . a shoelace that snaps, with no time left."

And, finally,

For example, in males, schizophrenia usually surfaces in the late teenage years; manic depression in the late teens to early twenties. Unipolar depression, which Lincoln would struggle with his whole life, typically breaks into the open in the mid- to late twenties. Lincoln was twenty-six.

All these reminded me of that other great book "An anthropologist on Mars" by Oliver Sacks, which, I read recently, and, which, in my opinion is a must read for anybody interested in the workings of the human brain.

By the way, the NPR books site is a good place to drop by; you get to read lots of excerpts from lots of interesting books.

A 'left'-handed complement?

2005-10-25T01:22:00.000+05:30

I got a link to this article about the revival of a Russian satirical magazine called Krokodil from PTDR. Apparently, the magazine targets the new ills of the Russian society, and what (and, more specifically, who) do you think features on one of their cover pages? Bollywood (and yes, you got it right - Sharukh Khan). Is this identification of the elephant, coconut trees, Belur temple (?), and Sharukh Khan with exotic Bollywood films an indirect complement to SRK? And, by the way, who is that heroine? I am ashamed to say that I am not able to identify her! Could any of you?

Barefoot college?

2005-10-23T18:12:00.000+05:30

Got this link about the Barefoot College from Conversations with Dina. Very interesting, ain't it?

A literary Sunday!

2005-10-23T01:27:00.000+05:30

It is raining heavily, and I am stuck in the lab. Fortunately, the Hindu Sunday edition is up; and, what an edition it turned out to be!

An update

And, I am not the only one who noticed the literary feast. Uma calls it a fest and has more stuff from The Telegraph.

Umberto Eco seems to be in Madras; here is an exclusive interview with 'the professor who writes novels on Sundays'.

And then Vikram Seth talks to Mukund Padmanaban about Two lives.

And then Gowri Ramnarayan pays a tribute to Sundara Ramaswamy: No compromise in writing.

Finally, the inimitable Ram Guha, following his article on Ba, writes about Mahadev Desai, Gandhi's Boswell.

If it is raining outside, it is a literary flood on the net!

Such writing sister...it moves my heart!

2005-10-22T23:42:00.000+05:30

Take a look at this prize winning piece of Uma.

A time to look back!

2005-10-22T15:28:00.000+05:30

Do you remember the IIPM fiasco? Do you believe in the Right to Blog for Awareness? Then, why not go sign the petition? Link via Conversations with Dina.

Did I tell you something about nit-picking an article on Sania Mirza that appeared in the Hindu some time back? Here is Nirmal Shekar with some sane and sensible comments.

Argumentative Indian vs argumentative Indian!

2005-10-21T18:57:00.000+05:30

Here is a pretty argumentative review of "The argumentative Indian" in EPW by Ram Guha; link via Indian Writing. Not having read the book myself, I am not able to make any comments on the review, though, as Guha himself says,

One might choose to take Amartya Sen's side in all these debates - I would, at any rate.

However, at least on one issue, I am with Guha and not with Prof. Sen; it pertains to Prof. Sen's reading of skepticism expressed in Indian epics like Ramayana, and what it means to the Indian argumentative tradition (As mentioned above, I am yet to read the book and this comment of mine is based on a cursory reading of the preface that I got from PTDR sometimeme back). I certainly am not comfortable with Prof. Sen's reading of the discussions of Rama with Jabali, for example. Probably, the point behind adding such sections in Ramayana is to show Jabali as a negative example; within the traditional reading, Jabali goes back on his arguments, and, if I remember correct, Vashishta pacifies an angry Rama by saying that Jabali said all that he said without meaning any of it. So, it is pretty tricky to pull that argument. It is much better to take the Gandhian attitude (mentioned in Ram Guha's review). Scripture or no-scripture, precedence or no-precedence, continuity or no-continuity, we make decisions about things like secularism, argumentation, equality, multi-culturalism, peaceful co-existence, etc, based solely on what we perceive to be their merit; which means, even if these are alien to us, we would still go with them. May be that is what Dostoevsky implies when he says "If any one could prove to me that Christ is outside the truth, and if the truth really did exclude Christ, I should prefer to stay with Christ and not with the truth".

A few links!

2005-10-19T22:54:00.000+05:30

Here is a cute, cute story.

Here is the latest Tangled Bank; it begins with a quote from Darwin explaining the name Tangled Bank.

The latest Resonance is a special issue on Hans Bethe; don't miss the transcript of a conversation between David Mermin and Bethe on the beginnings of solid state physics.

Here is Prof. D. Balasubramanian in today's Hindu on ways of avoiding/postponing Alzheimer's disease.

So long, and happy reading!

What say you of the Tennis Queen!

2005-10-18T15:31:00.000+05:30

That is what Shakepeare would probably have said about Sania Mirza. Here is a report in today's Hindu.

Sania has discipline, tenacity, flamboyance and talent.
She is the first significant Indian female athlete.
The tennis star is an icon.

"Sania has discipline. tenacity,...": may be. "Tennis star = icon": agreed. But, I beg to differ on "the first significant female athlete" stuff. I object not because it is an hyperbole but because it is an injustice to innumerable others: see this, for example. There are many other points in the report on which we may nit-pick. Having said that, I must confess that I also believe and look forward to her world transforming performance.

SMS treats us to a dinner!

2005-10-17T19:46:00.000+05:30

That was a nice party Suresh. Thanks a lot. Best of luck. And, keep in touch.

Shape-Memory-Suresh (to disinguish him form Polymer Suresh and Thin-film Suresha - thanks Praj for pointing this out), yesterday treated us to a dinner at Basil to celebrate his admission into TU Delft, Netherlands.

This is Deep; is he contemplating 'The Gajar ka Halwa situation'?

This is SMS giving instructions to the waiter about the camera; but he forgot to tell that me and Prasad should also appear in the photograph. All you can see is my glasses and Prasad's hand. From left to right: SMS, Jayakumar, Sadhana, Kavita, Santa I, Praj, and Deep.

The other angle.

The 'Mumurshu Gadha' with Praj; do they remind you of Samuel Jackson and John Travolta? Who is Samuel Jackson?

Sadhana, in close-up. She is such a cute kid; bore all our nonsense for three hours without losing her patience (as long as she got all the chicken pieces from her father's biriyani).

Prasad and me: we were discussing my marriage plans. Does that explain the smirk on his face (and the glowingly serious expression on my face)?

I always knew!

2005-10-16T14:55:00.000+05:30

Go here; link via Slashdot. I saw the story in the Hindu too; but I am unable to locate it. The only bad news, as of now, seems to be this:-)

"There's a big gap between rats and humans," Dr. Zhang points out.

A few links!

2005-10-16T10:43:00.000+05:30

The next few weeks ae going to be a bit busy for me. So, the detailed posts have to wait for later. However, that should not stop me from posting links that I find interesting.

Here we go:
Anita Nair on her Kathakali field work.
Hugh and Colleen Gantzer on the Eco-smiths of Bastar.
Ranjit Lal on Madras and Chennai: I have been in denial of the name change for quite some time now. May be I should relegate Madras to my Madras memories, and get used to Chennai. Till we meet then.

Travels on a monsoon evening!

2005-10-13T16:04:00.000+05:30

Despite the inevitable disparities in the way rainfall was distributed geographically and over time, it has been a good monsoon. Much of the country has got normal rain, and Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat have received far more than they usually do.
The Hindu Editorial on October 7, 2005

I sit inside the bus, warm with the human warmth of passengers, and alive with murmurs of conversation and occasional outbursts of laughter. It is dark outside with heavy, water laden clouds hanging so low that you can see their passing forms on the rocks on either side of the road. The monkeys that I usually spot are nowhere to be seen. Poor creatures! I wonder where they would be. Will they also sit, like crows, completely drenched and still on some tree branch?

Lightening flashes at the horizon very mildly, as if somebody is dipping and dimming a motor-cycle lamp on a far-away road. Occasionally, even when a stray lightning splits the sky with its strange dendritic form, the distant rumble of the thunder is lost in the sound of the bus engine, and the murmurs inside. The water droplets are heavy; the earth, completely wet and drenched may be to a few millimeters deep, no longer exudes heat as it does during the summer rains. There are ruddy water poodles everywhere, with waves that arise with each falling droplet of water. The water droplets are so heavy that when it falls in the pool, the water from the pool splashes a transparent screen of water at least an inch high.

All colours, even in such darkish tone, look startlingly fresh - the green of the leaves of the tamarind trees, the red of the flowing water, the darkish blue-black of the tarred road, the brown of the rocks with their blue veins. The hardness and rigidity of the spotlessly wahsed stones are palpable even to the eye. A bluish smoke rises like a fume from a tea shop - a thatched affair where a lady is brewing tea; she stands facing the road, but her face and her upper torso are turned to her right towards the small TV. A few old men, with beedis in hand, and two kids, are also intently watching the (black-and-white) song. A mongrel at their feet is looking lazily at the bus as it passes by.

But for the continuous fall of water droplets, waves in the poodles, and the flowing little streams, everything else is stilled. The trees just stand as if they are enjoying a shower, but are too lazy to soap themselves. There is an old, dead tree standing alone; having lost all the bark, it is white with dark lines running. The tree reminds me of a similar dead ashwaththa tree (full of screeching parakeets) at the threshold of my village. I wonder why people never cut such trees; may be there is a taboo against cutting a tree which is hit by lightning. I have to ask Anna. He may know.

As the evening ages, it is becoming darker. There is a continuous sound of falling water drops and running water outside, as if the heavens are murmuring secrets into the ears of the earth. Once in a while, there is a slight movement in the trees, and the water droplets ahead of the bus fly at an angle; it looks as if the earth heaves and shivers a little. The river of my childhood is full to the brim. In its muddy waters I see the image of us kids and our cousins fooling around in the water while our mothers sat on the stones chatting among themselves.

A strange peace descends. The passengers complain to the driver about the time he is taking to cover fifty kilometers. But the complaint is just an excuse to engage the driver in a conversation; the driver looks into the mirror on top and smiles indulgently. At that moment, my destination disappeared from my mind. I wanted this journey to be eternal. It was sad. It was pleasant. It was a rainy, rainy monsoon evening.

O Krishna of the Ocean and rains! Enter the ocean;
Take and give, fill and throw. Don't hide a thing.
Darken your body like the First lord of Pralaya,
Dazzle, in the hands of the Padmanabha,
Whose shoulders are well formed, like the ocean; and
Vibrate like the right-handed conch in his hand;
Stop not; Rain incessantly - like the arrows from Saranga.
Rain - so that we may live in this world.
May you be happy with our Margazhi bathings.
- Andal (in Aazhi mazhai kannaa...)

The High-Tea of Kotts!

2005-10-12T11:46:00.000+05:30

It was on a cloudy monsoon evening,
that Kotts (the guy in the middle) gave us a High-Tea.

Friends from far and near came for the party. Let me introduce some of them to you.

Here is Praj the great - the eternal philosopher:

And then, Prof. Chokshi, Kotts' thesis advisor (obviously sad that Kotts is leaving):

Here is the photographer Arun Rao who photographed everybody (so, who photographed him?) with Kris, the local TEM-boss:

This friend of Kotts is here for his colourful dress: do I need to tell you that Arindam is from Bengal?

Here is the Jason Statham of our Department, Rejin, that sleepy headed transporter:

After Statham, it is time for Jackie Chan - Santa II:

Here are (from left to right) Prasad, Easwar, and Panicker. Prasad and Panicker are Kotts' labmates. Easwar used to be Kotts' competitor in A mess, and is presently with TVS, Hosur.

Then comes (Mura)li-ji; like the sorceress in Scorpion King, li-ji can predict the future. We always ask him if it would rain. If he says no, then we remember to carry our umbrellas.

Here is Prady, a member of the hockey club which ran a farewell match for Kotts the other day.

And then comes the Chandrabindhas fame "Mumurshu Gadha", Santa I. Santa is a labmate of Kotts and keeps the conscience of the NRI scientists by singing to them "ye jo desh hai tera".

This is Pandu from CSA, the true chameleon. The pinkos think he is a saffron-wallah. The saffron-wallahs think he is a pinko. Only we know that he is the Dark Lord (of some Ram Gopal Verma movie. What?...Sarkar - Well, may be).

Here is Srini of CPDM, who keeps his eyes in the right direction, which is heavenward:

What? Munna-Bhai. No...No...No... It's our own Shastry Anna-Bhai:-)

Finally, on popular demand, here is (1) Saswata et al and (2) Abi, the Guru of gurus (or, Guru's guru):

Before I sign off - Best of luck Kotts. Do keep in touch. The 2'o clock tea gang, the friday movie gang, the 5'o clock hocky gang - all of us will miss you. Yours truly,

Oh, what a fall was there, my countrymen!

2005-10-11T13:11:00.000+05:30

O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Read this and this; if you thought that was bad, as their homepage makes it abundantly clear, IIPM

proudly understands that what we teach today, others adopt tomorrow . .

unless, of course,

In every wound of Caesar that should move
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

Postscript: This is my IIPM tag post and all the title and the two quotes in this post are from The life and death of Julius Caeser

Ram Guha on Ba!

2005-10-10T19:44:00.000+05:30

A nice (albeit short) essay by Ram Guha was published in yesterday's Hindu about Ba. I look forward to the promised biography with more than casual interest.

Short story aspirations!

2005-10-08T06:57:00.000+05:30

Here is an old post about writing novels. In case your interest is in writing shot stories, here are some tips; link via Kitabkhana.

I like that!

2005-10-08T06:38:00.000+05:30

Just for this,

Be fearless, like that suave cosmopolitan M. K. Gandhi, that most international of khiladis, who told us repeatedly that while his political gurus were Gokhale and Ranade and Tilak, his spiritual gurus were Tolstoy and Thoreau and Ruskin, and that he got his non-violence not from the Gita, but from the Sermon on the Mount.

it might be worth reading this rather long essay; a link I got from here. While we are at it, I should mention the disgust I felt (from which I have not yet completely recovered) when I heard Shashi Deshpande say that she did not like RK Narayan because he wrote with an western audience in mind.

Hmmmm... I would love to read that!

2005-10-08T05:21:00.000+05:30

Here is a review of The singing Neanderthals; link via John Hawks. Bit of googling got me these other reviews: guardian unlimited; Independent.

By the way, these lines from the Bookslut review,

Try to square this supposition with our ancestors trekking out of Africa to new lands over a million years ago, or burying their loved ones in emotion- laced ritual at 90,000 years ago.

reminded me of that moving scene described by Madhavaiah Krishnan (in the collection Nature's spokesman) about elephant herds mourning for their dead.

When Kotts went to Palakonda, and his baggage went to Guwahati...

2005-10-07T22:54:00.000+05:30

Well, not quite, but almost. You see - Kotts is a hyperactive guy - how hyperactive, you may never even imagine. Once, Praj, Kotts, and me, came back from a movie and got dropped off at the main gate of the Institute. Kotts excused himself saying that he has a sample to load, took his cycle from the aero parking lot, and flew away. While Praj and me ambled along and were nearing the Department, we saw the apparition of Kotts for a fleeting second as he whizzed past us from MRC towards the Department. Apparently, in the time that it took us to reach the Department from the main gate, Kotts has been to MRC, milled his sample in the ion beam, and was going back to the lab to load it. If you doubt the veracity of this story, you do not know Kotts. In any case, last week, our Kotts was running on several railway platforms all over Andhra, and this is the story of that adventure.

Kotts took the Bangalore-Guwahati express to go home - to Palakonda near Sikako (that is Srikakulam, for those of you not familiar with the lingo). When the train reached Madras, Kotts got down to get some drinking water and some good chai. Kotts was looking at the engine of the train, and sipping his chai, while the sneaky southern railways guys, connected an engine from the other side, and left - taking with them the Kotts' baggage. And, lo and behold, after his chai, Kotts gets this surreal scence of an empty platform with just the engine - the bogies have vanished as if it was a Garcia novel or Vittalacharya movie!

Kotts runs to the authorities, explains them the situation; they tell him to take the next train along the same route - they promise him that they would inform the authorities at Ongole to get his baggage, so that he may pick it up there. Kotts takes Coromondel, reaches Ongole, and finds that neither the superindentent nor RPF have any idea about the baggage; but they promise him that they would inform the chaps at Vijayawada. Time to run since Coromodel is already on the move - once bitten, twice shy - this time around, Kotts is careful to watch the bogies, and not just the engine.

Now, Kotts reaches Vijayawada and completes his ritual rounds with the station superindentent and RPF, in vain. Now, there is the second (and last) call for Coromondel; before Kotts starts his second 100m run of the day, the station superindentent of Vijayawada promises to inform the chaps at Vizag so that he can collect his luggage at Vizag.

If, by now, you thought that Kotts got his baggage at Vizag and went to Sikako, you do not know that truth is stranger than fiction ;-) Well, no baggage in Vizag too, but the chaps at Vizag tell him that probably the baggage is there in Ongole or Viajayawada, after all. A few frantic calls afterwards, Kotts realises that the baggage was picked up at Viajayawada - but before the news reached the station master, Kotts met him, had his discussions, ran to the RPF, had his discussions, and, finished his 100m run, and left for Vizag. Kotts came back to Vijayawada from Vizag, and picked up his baggage. And, so ends the adventures of Kotts on the railway platforms of Andhra!

Before I sign off, I guess the Institution of Indian Railways (IR) deserves a few good words; as Ram Guha once pointed out, IR is one of the legacies of British which helped strengthen our democratic foundations. So, long live IR and officers and employees of IR who come to the rescue of passengers at times of stress and trauma. (By the way, I have another adventure of Shankara, Phani, and me with IR to narrate; remind me some other time). And, it is also time to wish Kotts all the best for his post-doctoral tenure in Germany for the next few years!

The not-so-gentle madness!

2005-10-07T05:30:00.000+05:30

Sometimes, when they see me, my friends duck. I can see why. When I discover a new writer or book, I get this irresistible urge to thrust it on all my friends, so that, over coffee we can discuss the author/book. And, when I strongly recommend the book (and offer to loan the book), if the offer is not taken, I get a bit irritated. I have not yet gone to the extent of this friend of Pradeep Sebastian, who buys books so that they can be distributed among friends; but, I know I am almost there. So, it is when my friends perceive me with that manic gleam in my eyes, and nervous energy in my walk that they duck; and, if they are lucky, and manage to evade me, they heave a sigh of relief and say "Abba, Aaj bachgaya hoon main". The same story repeats with the movies I like, and the blogs that I love to read (as Deep, Praj, Santonu, Shencottah, and innumerable others would vouch).

So, not surprisingly, when I find kindred souls who love to read, and share their love with others via their 'strong' recommendations, my heart leaps with joy. Here, I have in my mind Ram Guha, Pradeep Sebastian, David Davidar, Shashi Deshpande (as I recently found out), Harold Bloom, Somerset Maugham, Virginia Woolf, and, their ilk. It is well near impossible, for example, to read Woolf's Common Reader and not be obsessed with Woolf and the authors that she writes about.

Well, dear reader, if you are wondering what this rambling is all about, you guessed it right: some recommendations for you:-) Here is a review, appropriately titled "Book lust" that I got from here: the book itself is titled "Leave me alone, I am reading" - such sweet words (and such sweet freedom to proclaim it - Boy, am I jealous?!).

Here is another link that discusses the pleasures of reading (again from PTDR):

The spectacle of King Lear wandering the plain in his madness, of the gnawing self-consumption of Dostoevsky's underground man, of the wittily articulated hopelessness endured by Kafka's heroes, even of Anne Frank's unbearably poignant self-discovery - all give us an intense but inexplicable and even disturbing pleasure.

And,

The distinctive form of aesthetic pleasure we take from the literary experience gives us the sense that we are being deepened, empowered, and enriched even as we are being entertained or charmed - pleased in the deepest sense.

Finally, since it was so strongly recommended by the reviewer of "Leave me...", here is the link to Villette online.

So long, and happy reading - till we meet again!

My favourite newspaper on Vibes!

2005-10-05T03:09:00.000+05:30

So, last week was Vibes, and we had a special, cool, noisy and flashy visitor on almost all the days; I mean the rain, lightning and the thunder. However, that stopped neither Vibes nor our participation. Here is a nice summing up of the festival in today's Bangalore MetroPlus. The news about the stall the India Literacy project is missing in the report above; I understand from Kotts that this stall had a good number of visitors. By the way, Hindu also had a nice stall which was selling their "The Hindu speaks on" series; I bought the one on music which had some fundoo photographs at the end. And, here is the anticipatory piece that MetroPlus published a few days before the event. I guess the volunteers (Santa, Prasad, Rajesh, Hari, Srini, Viswaroop, and the innumerable others) deserve three cheers...Hip... Hip ...Hooray Hip ...Hip ...Hooray Hip ...Hip ...Hoooooooooray ;-))

The time has come...

2005-10-04T16:36:00.000+05:30

Microsoft is not the answer. Microsoft is the question. NO (or Linux) is the answer. (As quoted here.)

Why do birds migrate? According to this page, the reasons are complex and not fully understood. But a simple explanation is food and a safe place to breed.

Now, why do people migrate from Windows to Linux? The answer is pretty much the same: the reasons are complex and not fully understood. But a simple explanation is that Linux empowers you in the sense that it allows you to modify the code according to your whims and fancies.

Well, you guessed it right - I am a Linux fanatic! And, here is the good news, that I got from here.

A singular image of future?

2005-10-03T22:47:00.000+05:30

Prediction is very difficult, especially, if it is about future.
Niels Bohr

Thy letters have transported me beyond
This ignorant present, and I feel now
The future in the instant.
The tragedy of Macbeth

I got this from here: looks like nano features prominently (and, at times, menacingly) in this book on futurity. Makes me wonder if I should switch fields to be near the singularity as it nears us!

A quantum crime!

2005-09-30T17:55:00.000+05:30

The other day I went for a talk by a writer. At the end, as usual, there was a question and answer session. One person from the audience, referred to a 'criminal' story written by the speaker, and whether it had any educational value. Apparently, what he meant was the 'crime' story written by the speaker (So, that should go in to my novel idea pile!). Now, here is a very educational crime story from the American Journal of Physics for your weekend reading. While we are at it, here is my not-so-detective-but-educational detective story.

The mathematisation of Tolstoy!

2005-09-29T23:42:00.000+05:30

According to an article published in the August/September, 2005 issue of the American Mathematical Monthly,

In his great epic novel War and Peace Leo Tolstoy employs some striking mathematical metaphors to illustrate his theory of history and to explain the naivete and arrogance of placing the responsibility of history's direction on the shoulders of leaders of armies and nations. These metaphors are unlike any other mathematical references I have seen in literature.

This reminded me of the other Tolstoy reference in Mathematics. In a book on partial differential equations, I found this quote from Anna Karenina:

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

Apparently, ordinary differential equations are like happy families, while PDE's are like unhappy families. The AMM article also has intriguing questions of the order of "What are Tolstoy's variables?". An article worth taking a look at!

Open source and anthropology!

2005-09-29T13:52:00.000+05:30

Does group research and digital collaboration make it open source? No, not in anthropology at least, according to Rex: Go here for the complete article - That delightful quote from Machiavelli alone is worth the effort, I assure you!

The birth of a new literary technique!

2005-09-27T19:01:00.000+05:30

I have this fancy of writing a novel: it would consist of just the snatches of conversation one overhears in the Institute. The most difficult part of writing such a novel would be in getting the melange of accents, languages, and the moods right. But, if I ever manage, I would have started a new literary movement. Here are some samples:

My wife is doing PhD. She has a test next week. So, I am not planning to go home this weekend.
It will be a disturbance to her?
No, no... She will ask me to take care of the kid. Hi...Hi...Hi...

Kyun-ki, my explanation, is not... what do you call that?

Today, coffee is too sweet.
Yeah, no sugar at all. It is astrocious man!

Who is that babe?
Babe? She is fifty years old.
That is what!

How is this movie ...?
Comedy sooper-u; Movie vurust-u.

Today, it is too cold and no winds. It is going to rain.
Just sometime back we were discussing how windy it is.
It will rain only if it is humid, not if it is cold!
(In the event, it was windy, cold, and not humid. But it rained. The cyclone that crossed the Andhra coast must have been the culprit).

Some anthropology links!

2005-09-18T01:24:00.000+05:30

I got the link to this article of Ram Guha from here. For those of you who are interested in learning more about Prof. Beteille, here are two articles by him in Seminar; and, here is an interview with him. Finally, his thesis work on a Tanjore village (called Thillaisthanam) titled Caste, class, and power, is a must read (even though the field work was done 40 years ago - in 1965).

Here is an interview with another anthropologist (a link I got from here).

Blogging, old books, and dictionaries!

2005-09-16T15:35:00.000+05:30

This post is triggered by the three links that I got from here:

(1) Will my blogging cause me trouble in finding tenure-track academic jobs? Well, looks like, yes and no!

(2) For the bibliophiles among you, who like 84, Charing cross road, second-hand book-shops, Pradeep Sebastian, and his inimitable endpaper column in the Hindu literary review supplement, here is a good read about saving second-hand book-stores.

(3) Finally, here is a review on a book about the history of OED (Even though the page says 'Full story displayed', I never got the full story - which is a pity). While we are on the topic of dictionaries, here is what Prof. Robert Cahn has to say about the meaningful work he carried out for OED.

Novel aspirations!

2005-09-15T03:20:00.000+05:30

Recently, Abi had a post about writing theses and such technical stuff. His post also had some nice pointers. These two wonderful editorials of Prof. Balaram in Current Science, published sometime back, about science writing in English and the writing style for technical documents (which are missing in Abi's post) are also worth giving a try.

However, in this post of mine, I wish to link to a few resources for non-technical writing - specifically, writing novels; the first one is a few excerpts from Write Away of Elizabeth George. The second one is everything you need to know about writing successfully - in ten minutes - by Stephen King. Finally, here is an old interview with PD James, where she tells you why writing a detective novel is a 'good apprenticeship' if you have aspirations of becoming a serious novelist.

Googling blogs!

2005-09-14T23:40:00.000+05:30

Long back, I read here this lovely sentence (italics mine):

Either way, this year the most prominent black speaker was the Education Secretary, Rod Paige — whose low public profile only a Google search could save from oblivion. And it was downhill from there.

Now google has come up with Google blog search; so, my blog will be saved from oblivion and live on the blogosphere for eternity - Boy! do I love google!

A fairy tale!

2005-09-14T21:00:00.000+05:30

Long, long ago (and, it was not yesterday), a few venerable researchers came together over a cup of tea (though, I would prefer to think it to be a cup of coffee - but, even a storyteller has to respect the facts, you see) and decided to have a series of clandestine talks at 9:30 in the night; they called it 'Night Club' to make it a bit more appealing, and may be because it tickled them a little. Week after week, they talked about materials science, metallurgy, mathematics, physics, internet, web, and many other interesting things, while young researchers sat there awed in the presence of such great researchers, and learnt a bit of these subjects for themselves; they learnt how to ask a question without making the speaker feel like a moron; most importantly, they laughed all the time during the discussions, but never at each other. As time went by, to be called to 'perform' in the night club was an honour. And generation after generation of young researchers took up the responsibility of keeping the flame of night club on, and matured in the process into venerable researchers themselves. It was such a nice tradition, all the other departments from far and wide tried to emulate the original night clubbers - some succeeded and some didn't. And, finally, like all fairy tales, our tale also has a wonderful ending; they went on talking in the night club happily everafter.

PS:- If you are interested in learning about some of the characters in this tale, here we go: The present conveners are Santonu and his gang (which includes that sleepy head Rejin). And, here is the 325th speaker (who will be giving his talk tonight, 14th September, 2005), the unbeatable Kotts. Here are some of those venerable researchers who conceived and ran night club through the years: Nagendra, Vichu, Phani, NRS, Shankara, Tania, AS Gandhi,... Finally, go here for a partial list of speakers.

Wife, what I says about Salaam|Namaste? Sorry? Ejactly!!

2005-09-13T02:00:00.000+05:30

Today, our gang went for Salaam|Namaste . The numbers 'salaam-namaste' and 'what's goin' on' are hummable. But, a pregnant girl - probably well into her seventh or eight month - dancing like that? Honestly, what's goin' on? I think there should be a ban on such dance sequences. While we are at it, the kids also seemed to kick a bit too strongly - But there are two in there, and I have no personal experience about the amplitude of kicks - So, I will reserve my judgemnt on that.

Javed Jaffrey - what with the westerns type music in the background, and with his "When you are in Rome, do the Romes" english - was hilarious - or, as Kotts might put it - 'deadly; chaala bhaaga chesaad-le vaadu' (Tr. He has done very well).

Personally, I would never go to the extent of saying that it is a film that never weighs you down as Ziya Us Salam did yesterday. In fact, to put it in my tanglish, the kid in the book-shop, and the climax, etc - what, what things these peoples are doing - I was not even understanding-da. My verdict: It is wa...kay!

Walk, for thou shalt be given electricity!

2005-09-11T01:30:00.000+05:30

Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
- Morpheus (in The Matrix - As quoted here)

The latest issue of Science has an article about generating electricity while walking with loads: I got the link from here.

The idea seems to be to use 'the vertical movement of a heavy load in the gravitational field during walking' to generate electricity (italics mine). How heavy is heavy enough? Anywhere between 20 and 40 kgs. The bottomline: 'electricity can be generated metabolically more cheaply than anticipated' - This reminded me of that classic movie The Matrix. Is it that I just am paranoid? Do you think it's air that you're breathing now?

This is my own, my native land!

2005-09-08T11:45:00.000+05:30

It took a long time for me to become a Sharukh Khan fan. Finally, Main Hoon Na and Swades did it. Swades, especially: as my friend Phani observed, the movie was full of symbolism - Mohan, Gita, and, not to forget, the bulb. In any case, it was in the context of Swades that I first heard about Dilip D'Souza (in one of the AID-India mailing list mails). Then CCS of IISc got him to talk about Two engineers and my country , which talk is one of the best I heard in CCS. In the July, 2005 issue of Seminar , Dilip has written about his experiences of visiting Tamilnadu after Tsunami . It is a nice essay which will touch your heart, make you puff with pride, and sing with Bharathi 'bharatha desam enru tholl kottuvom - Bharatha Desam: so shall we proclaim'. A nice, not-to-be missed piece.

On thesis writing blues!

2005-09-07T23:10:00.000+05:30

Here is a bit of advice on writing a dissertation that I got from here . For those of you who might know Rajinikanth , the advice seems to be to approach the thesis writing with his "Aandavan solraan; Arunachalam mudikkiraan" attitude (Tr. "Lord says; Arunachalam executes"). Which, finally brings to my mind those words of wisdom I once heard - "Who gives a s**t about your thesis, anyway?" In other words, be sincere, but never take yourself too seriously.

The Rime...Part VII

2005-09-07T02:00:00.000+05:30

PART VII

The Dean Good,

This Dean good lives in that room
Which faces down the laboratory.
How loudly her sweet voice she rears!
She loves to talk with students
That come from a far countree.

She works at morn, and noon, and eve-
She hath a cushioned chair:
Her table is a mess that wholly hides
The nice person behind the glass pair.

The group with Dean neared: I heard them talk,
`Why, this is strange, I say!
Where are those students so many,
In labcoats- waving their lives away?'

Approacheth the PhD thesis with wonder,

'Strange, by my experience!' the Dean said-
'And they answered not our cheer!
The desks look warped! and see
How thin they are and sere!
I never saw aught like to them,
Unless perchance it were

Brown skeletons of leaves that lag
My forest-brook along;
When the ivy-tod is heavy with snow,
And the owlet whoops to the wolf below,
That eats the she-wolf's young.'

`Oh Science! it hath a fiendish look-
(The Chairman made reply)
I am a-feared' - 'Move on, move on!'
Said the Dean cheerily.

The group came closer to the lab,
But I nor spake nor stirred;
The group came close near my lab,
And straight a sound was heard.

On the computer, the data is suddenly lost.

Inside the CPU it rumbled on,
Still louder and more short circuit:
It reached the hard disk, it split cord;
All the data on my PC was lost.

The ancient researcher is saved by the backup of the SysAd.

Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound,
Which the circuit shorted vent,
Like an elephant that chased a tiger,
The sigh I gave the air rent:
But swift as dreams, myself I found
The backup the SysAd sent.

Upon the desk, where the PC lay,
The backup of thesis mine was set;
And all was still, save the sound of
The printer printing a new set.

I moved my hands- the chairman shrieked
And fell down in a fit;
The wise Dean raised her eyes,
And told me not just sit.

I took the papers: the SysAd,
Who now doth crazy go,
Laughed loud and long, and all the while
His eyes went to and fro.
'Ha! ha!' quoth he, 'full plain I see,
The Devil knows how to go.'

And now, all in my own laboratory,
I stood with thesis in my hand!
The Dean stepped forth from the side,
And scarcely could she stand.

The ancient Researcher earnestly entreateth the Dean to shrieve her; and the penance of life falls on her.

`O shrieve me, shrieve me, Prof mine!'
The Dean crossed her brow.
'Say quick,' quoth she, 'I bid thee say-
What manner of researcher art thou?'

Forthwith this frame of mine was wrought
With a woeful agony,
Which forced me to begin my tale ;
And then it left me free.

And ever and anon through out his future life an agony constraineth her to travel from land to land ;

Since then, at an uncertain hour,
That agony returns :
And till my ghastly tale is told,
This heart within me burns.

I pass, like night, from lab to lab;
I have strange power of speech;
That moment that the face I see,
I know that person must hear me:
To her or him, my tale I teach.

What loud uproar bursts from that door!
The banquet-guests are there ;
But in the middle hall the Prof
And the students proposing toasts are :
And hark the low sound of invitation,
Which biddeth me to the coffee-house!

O Banquet-guest! this soul hath
Alone on a wide wide sea :
So lonely 'twas, that God himself
Scarce seemed there to be.

O sweeter than the conference-feast,
`Tis sweeter far to me,
To walk together to the stage
In a convocation ceremony!-

To walk together to the stage,
And all together receive,
While each to his chief guest bends,
Old men, and babes, and loving friends
And youths and maidens applaud gay!

And to teach, by him own example, love and reverence to all papers that the Academia made and loveth.

Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou Banquet-Guest!
He worketh well, who loveth well
Both papers classic or otherwise.

He worketh best, who loveth best
All results- both great and small
For the dear Academia which loveth us,
It made and loveth all.

The Researcher, whose eye is bright,
Whose face the signs of age bore,
Is gone: and now the Banquet-Guest
Turned from the party hall door.

She went like one that hath been stunned,
And is of sense forlorn:
A sadder and a wiser researcher,
She rose the morrow morn.

The 'extended' family!

2005-09-06T00:45:00.000+05:30

kaakkai kuruvi engal jaadhi
- Bharathiyar

So sings the maha kavi, in one of his expansive moods: translated, it means, "The Crow, and the Sparrow: they are our kin". For us, after the Darwinian enlightenment, it is but natural to feel a kinship not just with crows and sparrows but also with apes. Go here for a photo exhibition called Face to Face consisting of passport style portraits of apes. The profile of one of them called Chim is truly moving:

Parents killed for bushmeat trade. Left at sanctuary by Cameroonian environmental journalist who had kept her like a child, dressed her, bathed her, etc. Bad mouth injury, riddled with worms. Had been made to dance in order to receive food. Still dances when not fed on demand.

Go here to know what Chimp means to some individuals and here for a brief history of Chimps: the same issue of Nature also published the Chimp draft genome sequence, if you are so inclined. And while we are at it, take a look at this book review about discovering the Inner Ape.