For the uninitiated, the RSS stands for the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh. This is an organisation that is supposedly 'dedicated' for the welfare of the Hindu religion and hence by their own implication, the Indian nation.
The RSS in its website claims that it is a movement for national reconstruction totally fostered by the people with no parallel elsewhere in the world or in India. This is the first and the basic flaw of the RSS, thinking that it has no equals in the world and its the best school of thought in the world. By these 'airy' words, they have displayed their ignorance of many more people's movements like the Russian revolution, the French revolution and the communist revolution in China which were I should say, a far more integrated effort as compared to the India Freedom Struggle which had its share of infighting like the RSS-Congress feud. Oh and thats not all, there is some excess high funda shit which I reproduce below:
There could be only one explanation for the continuing march of the Sangh from strength to strength: the emotive response of the millions to the vision of Bharat's national glory, based on the noblest values constituting the cultural and spiritual legacy of the land and collectively called 'Dharma', comprising faith in the oneness of the human race, the underlying unity of all religious traditions, the basic divinity of the human being, complemen-tarity and inter-relatedness of all forms of creation both animate and in-animate, and the primacy of spiritual experience.
Totally contradictory to what these guys are following I should say. The RSS also claims that idealism should have been a founding principle of themodern Indian state. i say, this is rubbish. Rubbish because by idealism the RSS means its idealism which it claims as the idealism of the nation. A totally Hitlerisque quotation. In a modern society, religion should play a role only in individual development. Outside a person's house, nay, outside a person's body and mind the concept of religion should die a quiet death. The RSS website further goes on to create a fear psychosis by claiming that religious conversion is a major threat blah blah. My take on this is, if you are so worried about conversion, where were you when the poor and the destitute needed social help? its natural that i take a liking to the beliefs and views of a person who helps me when i am in penury because of my present situation. Remember RSS dudes it was the same discontent that led to the growth of many religions. So, please dont make such a big issue in the name of conversion. If you can help people, do so in the name of society not religion. YOu will be surprised to see that the benefits will add up to ur religion finally.
The most blatant lie of the RSS is the concept of 'Akhand Bharat'. They claim that they wanted independence of an undivided India. All bullshit considering that their founding theme was a separate nation for Hindus and Muslims. Infact this theory was propogated by these self styled custodians of Hinduism a long time before Jinnah even started thinking about such issues.
The website goes on to list its achievements in the periods of the partition, 1961 liberation of Goa, 1962 war with China, 1965 and 1971 war with Pakistan etc. It seems remarkable that an organisation with such a proclaimed illustrious background should have sunk into such depths that it has sunk to today.
There is again a lot of cacophony about their mission. read about it
http://www.rss.org/New_RSS/Mission_Vision/Why_RSS.jsp
I could go on and on about the various claims that these guys make. Unfotunately I do not have the luxury of time. If I have to coin a word that describes the RSS today then it is 'CONFUSED'.
In conclusion I just have to say that the RSS is just one of the evils plaguing the modern day Indian society. there are others too like VHP, babbar Khalsa, SIMI and allied organisations. If we are to progress as a nation, we need to outlaw religion in the public sphere just as smoking is. Religion is a dangerous weapon, it can be used to mould young minds, mobilise people and launch violent attacks. Whatever one's religion may be, in the interest of the nation, one should disrobe oneself of the religious cloak and proclaim one's identity as an Indian. We have many issues challenging us which are worthy of our attention such as winning an olympic medal, winning prominent sporting events, making a mark on the world economically, militarily and politically. We cant afford to waste time on dumb concepts like religious fervour. A society built on the basis of religion is just an aberration. Whoever is willing to acept this, I just say to you 'You rock dude!' ..........................
Monday, June 13, 2005
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
keeping your cards close to your chest
An engineering student today is faced with an unprecedented glut of information. The number of journals have gone up exponentially, the number of luminaries-double exponentially and most important, every possible use of a device, mode of operation has been anlaysed with such rigour that a new discovery is well nigh impossible unless you are the next Narain Hingorani (the father of FACTS).
The first difficulty that a student (undergraduate or graduate) faces is the problem selection itself. As mentioned above, most of the matter has been dissected to the atomic level and if one wants to move on to the sub atomic level, thats when you begin to encounter the Fermisms, Hiesenbergisms, Schroedingerisms, Diracisms etc. Since most of us have the degree as the first priority (obvious dude, if you go after the research paper very very aggressively, you end up screwing up both your degree and the paper) implementing what some other fellow engineer in some corner of the world has done becomes an acceptable research activity. Well, I don't see any mistake in that because for one, it hones your reengineering skills which may prove useful if you get into the war ship, battle tank and war aircraft building industry of a country like India. Secondly, there is an infinetisimal probability of finding a mistake in the 'parent implementation' which gives a great opportunity to publish a research paper yourself and in the bargain going up a few notches in the eyes of the professors.
Lets say that the problem has been selected. The next problem is sifting through your literature survey. Sources are many and the same information can be presented in slightly different forms in different journals (something similar to two similar loads on the power grid at different times of the day, something we call diversity of the load). The next stages would be to choose a paper for implementation, run your simulation and if you are game, go ahead with the hardware implementation.
The focus of this blog is on the problem of deciphering what is in the paper. This has become a problem only recently. This is because the latest trend in todays world is to hide as much information as possible, let the other guy break his head and yet gain recognition. This is reflected in some typical instances like when an author claims that such and such a simulation has been run but has cleverly omitted the value of the circuit parameters, control settings etc. Some may argue that this is necessary to maintain intellectual rights but I say that the intellectual rights have already been granted when the paper has been published. And I dont believe that the publishers of such journals are such villains so as to tag on their name or worse substitute your name with theirs.
This was unlike the open 1960s where you will find that the papers are crystal clear and the desire of the author to pass on knowledge is clearly seen. The best example of this would be "The Transmission and Distribution Handbook" by Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Westinghouse had a status similar to what a GE (general Electric) or a TI (Texas Instruments)or an Intel has today. They could easily have hushed up the trends in transmission and distribution and made mega bucks. But they chose to publish their experiences and in the process helped an entire generation of Electrical Engineers.
I leave this as food for thought for you, dear readers (if this humble effort does have readers). I rest my case by saying that "In the older days, people were less selfish and hence society grew, now they play for only themselves to win". This is why the society of today is stagnating!!!
The first difficulty that a student (undergraduate or graduate) faces is the problem selection itself. As mentioned above, most of the matter has been dissected to the atomic level and if one wants to move on to the sub atomic level, thats when you begin to encounter the Fermisms, Hiesenbergisms, Schroedingerisms, Diracisms etc. Since most of us have the degree as the first priority (obvious dude, if you go after the research paper very very aggressively, you end up screwing up both your degree and the paper) implementing what some other fellow engineer in some corner of the world has done becomes an acceptable research activity. Well, I don't see any mistake in that because for one, it hones your reengineering skills which may prove useful if you get into the war ship, battle tank and war aircraft building industry of a country like India. Secondly, there is an infinetisimal probability of finding a mistake in the 'parent implementation' which gives a great opportunity to publish a research paper yourself and in the bargain going up a few notches in the eyes of the professors.
Lets say that the problem has been selected. The next problem is sifting through your literature survey. Sources are many and the same information can be presented in slightly different forms in different journals (something similar to two similar loads on the power grid at different times of the day, something we call diversity of the load). The next stages would be to choose a paper for implementation, run your simulation and if you are game, go ahead with the hardware implementation.
The focus of this blog is on the problem of deciphering what is in the paper. This has become a problem only recently. This is because the latest trend in todays world is to hide as much information as possible, let the other guy break his head and yet gain recognition. This is reflected in some typical instances like when an author claims that such and such a simulation has been run but has cleverly omitted the value of the circuit parameters, control settings etc. Some may argue that this is necessary to maintain intellectual rights but I say that the intellectual rights have already been granted when the paper has been published. And I dont believe that the publishers of such journals are such villains so as to tag on their name or worse substitute your name with theirs.
This was unlike the open 1960s where you will find that the papers are crystal clear and the desire of the author to pass on knowledge is clearly seen. The best example of this would be "The Transmission and Distribution Handbook" by Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Westinghouse had a status similar to what a GE (general Electric) or a TI (Texas Instruments)or an Intel has today. They could easily have hushed up the trends in transmission and distribution and made mega bucks. But they chose to publish their experiences and in the process helped an entire generation of Electrical Engineers.
I leave this as food for thought for you, dear readers (if this humble effort does have readers). I rest my case by saying that "In the older days, people were less selfish and hence society grew, now they play for only themselves to win". This is why the society of today is stagnating!!!
Sunday, May 29, 2005
a journey to 'chambal'
yesterday being a sunday (guys, i am writing with reference to IST), it was an opportunity to break away from my dull, dreary routine and head out to have fun with friends. One of my pals from IIM Lucknow, Rajesh who is currently into his last week of summer training at Rohtak, my pals in TCS - Chetak and ishan, my pal from Sandvik Sanam, and my pal from Lexorbis, Sunil (Dipsy) and of course myself had a get together at Hotel Saravana Bhawan, Connaught Place (CP).
Saravana Bhawan (SB) is a well known brand name down south in Tamil Nadu.(at least thats what i have heard, having lived in bangalore/surathkal for nearly 20 years, i know of only udupi hotels).
With such a solid reputation inscribed in its name, we decided to give the 'neo-rich' establishments of gurgaon a skip and try out some classic south indian menu. The initial entry into SB was mouth watering indeed. Having been used to mess food/self cooked food/company canteen food for days together, we were dying to have a bite at the temple of S Indian food. Our first shock was the way he rava idlis turned out to be. they were pretty bad, lacking the 'zing' that a steaming hot idli should ideally give you. The next shocker was the bland tasting masala dosa which had a very very poor masala content (in fact i should say none). Down south this guy would have been skinned alive for even daring to think of such a preparation. Then what followed was South Indian paranthas, the size of marie biscuits. all that i can say at this moment is:
all i want is english marie
oh! so english! the real marie!
crispy, crunchy ooooh!!!
This ladies and gentlemen was 'twilight' robbery. It felt as if I was naked in the Chambal valley having been robbed off all my belongings. The conclusions that I could draw from this was that SB is making a fool out of people in Delhi taking advantage of either their ignorance of south indian food (ppl who fall into this category: N Indians) or their desperation for S Indian food (the case with expatriate S Indians). Whatever it is, SB is one place that will never be patronised by me.
Saravana Bhawan (SB) is a well known brand name down south in Tamil Nadu.(at least thats what i have heard, having lived in bangalore/surathkal for nearly 20 years, i know of only udupi hotels).
With such a solid reputation inscribed in its name, we decided to give the 'neo-rich' establishments of gurgaon a skip and try out some classic south indian menu. The initial entry into SB was mouth watering indeed. Having been used to mess food/self cooked food/company canteen food for days together, we were dying to have a bite at the temple of S Indian food. Our first shock was the way he rava idlis turned out to be. they were pretty bad, lacking the 'zing' that a steaming hot idli should ideally give you. The next shocker was the bland tasting masala dosa which had a very very poor masala content (in fact i should say none). Down south this guy would have been skinned alive for even daring to think of such a preparation. Then what followed was South Indian paranthas, the size of marie biscuits. all that i can say at this moment is:
all i want is english marie
oh! so english! the real marie!
crispy, crunchy ooooh!!!
This ladies and gentlemen was 'twilight' robbery. It felt as if I was naked in the Chambal valley having been robbed off all my belongings. The conclusions that I could draw from this was that SB is making a fool out of people in Delhi taking advantage of either their ignorance of south indian food (ppl who fall into this category: N Indians) or their desperation for S Indian food (the case with expatriate S Indians). Whatever it is, SB is one place that will never be patronised by me.
Friday, May 13, 2005
relief!!!
its a sense of relief for every student, whatever class he/she may be when exams come to an end. its like as if the world has been lifted off atlas' shoulders.
this blog is an interesting opportunity to analyse the examination system of IIT Delhi. The evaluation is spread out over the entire semester. the general pattern is 2 minor tests, 1 main test. the professor can make up the total with these itself or he can provide some weightage for assignments or quizzes etc. this is an impressive scheme. u have to be on ur toes all the semester. no flash in the pan efforts. but the flip side isthat if u slip even once then its going to be really tough to get back. this is the grouse that student's normally nurse against this system. but having lived life in the student lane i must say that the students waste time throughout the semester and end up losing sleep and health towards the end. infact there is lot of time for extra curricular activities too. a bit of moderation would help in the long run.
all said and done what i just said is not going to be practised even by me. just hoping that someone follows it and tells me the result.
this blog is an interesting opportunity to analyse the examination system of IIT Delhi. The evaluation is spread out over the entire semester. the general pattern is 2 minor tests, 1 main test. the professor can make up the total with these itself or he can provide some weightage for assignments or quizzes etc. this is an impressive scheme. u have to be on ur toes all the semester. no flash in the pan efforts. but the flip side isthat if u slip even once then its going to be really tough to get back. this is the grouse that student's normally nurse against this system. but having lived life in the student lane i must say that the students waste time throughout the semester and end up losing sleep and health towards the end. infact there is lot of time for extra curricular activities too. a bit of moderation would help in the long run.
all said and done what i just said is not going to be practised even by me. just hoping that someone follows it and tells me the result.
Friday, April 29, 2005
PhD=Phulgaya horns dimagmain
first, the literal translation of the title. PhD as most of you may be knowing stands for Doctor of Philosophy. I beg to differ with all of you who say so. Thats because I have found out an expansion for that abbreviation which suits the behaviour of most of the research scholars and those who have obtained their degrees and have embarked upon their career either as a teacher or as a researcher.
They say that 'EMPTY VESSELS MAKE THE MOST NOISE'. taken in the converse sense, 'A FULL VESSEL SHOULD NOT MAKE UNNECESSARY NOISE'. the vessel that i am referring to here is the vessel of knowledge i.e the human brain. What is generally taught and assimilated from an early age is that as one studies more one should become more humble and thence will flow fame and riches. infact there is a sanskrit proverb in this regard
vidya dadati vinayam
vinayat labhdati (am not sure of this word) patratvam
patratvat dhanam aapnoti
dhanaat dharmam tatah sukham
but what i have seen is a converse of this subhashitam. my version of this proverb would be
vidya dadati avinayam
avinayat labhdati 'fucking rights'
'fucking rights'aat aapnoti 'further desire'
'further desiraat' aapnoti 'need and greed to fuck'
a typical phenomenon observed is the way research scholars behave at the time they start working on their research area and their behaviour when they are on the way to that honoured doctorate or worse when they get employed as faculty members or some researchers.
when they start, they are normal. by normal i mean there is no trace of arrogance in them. they are willing to discuss things with you, allow you to put across your point of view and are even ready to accept their mistakes if they have made any. but woe betide you if they achieve the latter stage of progress as mentioned. the typical arrogance is manifested in dialogues like "What do you know?", "you know nothing!", "don't try to tell me". and may heavens fall upon you if they achieve some position in society....there is simply no chance of such a conversation.
what i want to ask such 'mandarins' is this "Why do you treat your less endowed (i mean wrt qualifications) friends like pieces of trash?" after all we are human beings. we too have a sense of dignity and honour.
as a final warning i want to say "please dont take advantage of our necessity to remain in everyone's good books as a sign of weakness. someday a Che Guevara will rise amidst us and thats the day when you will be on your knees and we will force you to say.................
LAL SALAAM....
They say that 'EMPTY VESSELS MAKE THE MOST NOISE'. taken in the converse sense, 'A FULL VESSEL SHOULD NOT MAKE UNNECESSARY NOISE'. the vessel that i am referring to here is the vessel of knowledge i.e the human brain. What is generally taught and assimilated from an early age is that as one studies more one should become more humble and thence will flow fame and riches. infact there is a sanskrit proverb in this regard
vidya dadati vinayam
vinayat labhdati (am not sure of this word) patratvam
patratvat dhanam aapnoti
dhanaat dharmam tatah sukham
but what i have seen is a converse of this subhashitam. my version of this proverb would be
vidya dadati avinayam
avinayat labhdati 'fucking rights'
'fucking rights'aat aapnoti 'further desire'
'further desiraat' aapnoti 'need and greed to fuck'
a typical phenomenon observed is the way research scholars behave at the time they start working on their research area and their behaviour when they are on the way to that honoured doctorate or worse when they get employed as faculty members or some researchers.
when they start, they are normal. by normal i mean there is no trace of arrogance in them. they are willing to discuss things with you, allow you to put across your point of view and are even ready to accept their mistakes if they have made any. but woe betide you if they achieve the latter stage of progress as mentioned. the typical arrogance is manifested in dialogues like "What do you know?", "you know nothing!", "don't try to tell me". and may heavens fall upon you if they achieve some position in society....there is simply no chance of such a conversation.
what i want to ask such 'mandarins' is this "Why do you treat your less endowed (i mean wrt qualifications) friends like pieces of trash?" after all we are human beings. we too have a sense of dignity and honour.
as a final warning i want to say "please dont take advantage of our necessity to remain in everyone's good books as a sign of weakness. someday a Che Guevara will rise amidst us and thats the day when you will be on your knees and we will force you to say.................
LAL SALAAM....
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
India loses at Wagah too
With the dust settling down over the recently concluded India-Pakistan cricket series where India undeservedly escaped a thrashing in the test series but got what they deserved in the one dayers, I am reminded of what I saw at the Wagah border during my trip there.
Wagah is on the border of India and Pakistan. There is nothing special about this place except for the fact that the border guarding agencies of the two countries BSF (in the case of India) and Pakistani Rangers have built magnificient amphitheatres and conduct enthralling drills every evening for the benefit of the populace on both sides.
The journey to the border from the Indian side begins from Amritsar and takes about 1 hour to reach the border. The way to the amphitheatre takes on along the International Border and one gets a close up view of Pakistani soldiers.
The actual ceremony begins close to sunset. Before that the two organisations (mentioned earlier) try to motivate the crowd to raise slogans, provide full throated support for slogans like Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Vandemataram, Hinduatan zindabad etc.
It is this aspect that i want to comment on. It was a moment of pride for me when i started shouting out the slogans, but soon i realised that there were many pairs of eyes drilling at me as if to say, "This dude is performing an action that we have never seen. Wonder which planet he is from." People were so busy in chatting with one another that they did not have the 'enthu' (this is not the word that has to be used here. the correct phrase is FEELING OF DUTY) to support their soldiers. And i am sure these are the very same people who will go to some rock show and shout themselves hoarse, end up with a whiplash the next day and maybe even have a few Js and G strings in their mouth in the bargain. It was most shameful that the BSF commanding officer of Wagah had to come out with a microphone to make himself (i dont blame him for this. people were behaving like in a fish market) and us (this is unpardonable) heard to the pakistanis.
On the other hand the enthusiasm of the Pakistanis was there for all to see. They cheered their soldiers and got their voices across to India.
By this post i am not suggesting that we have to have a rat race for everyting. but atleast we need to be enthusiastic in places where it is required.
Hope future visitors will keep this in mind.
Jai Hind
Wagah is on the border of India and Pakistan. There is nothing special about this place except for the fact that the border guarding agencies of the two countries BSF (in the case of India) and Pakistani Rangers have built magnificient amphitheatres and conduct enthralling drills every evening for the benefit of the populace on both sides.
The journey to the border from the Indian side begins from Amritsar and takes about 1 hour to reach the border. The way to the amphitheatre takes on along the International Border and one gets a close up view of Pakistani soldiers.
The actual ceremony begins close to sunset. Before that the two organisations (mentioned earlier) try to motivate the crowd to raise slogans, provide full throated support for slogans like Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Vandemataram, Hinduatan zindabad etc.
It is this aspect that i want to comment on. It was a moment of pride for me when i started shouting out the slogans, but soon i realised that there were many pairs of eyes drilling at me as if to say, "This dude is performing an action that we have never seen. Wonder which planet he is from." People were so busy in chatting with one another that they did not have the 'enthu' (this is not the word that has to be used here. the correct phrase is FEELING OF DUTY) to support their soldiers. And i am sure these are the very same people who will go to some rock show and shout themselves hoarse, end up with a whiplash the next day and maybe even have a few Js and G strings in their mouth in the bargain. It was most shameful that the BSF commanding officer of Wagah had to come out with a microphone to make himself (i dont blame him for this. people were behaving like in a fish market) and us (this is unpardonable) heard to the pakistanis.
On the other hand the enthusiasm of the Pakistanis was there for all to see. They cheered their soldiers and got their voices across to India.
By this post i am not suggesting that we have to have a rat race for everyting. but atleast we need to be enthusiastic in places where it is required.
Hope future visitors will keep this in mind.
Jai Hind
Friday, April 15, 2005
a long hiatus indeed!
back to blogging after a very very long time. tests, trips and a lack of mood to blog contributed to this hiatus. my trip to amritsar, wagah, dharamsala, kangra, mccleodganj and chandigarh proved to be a smashing success. won lots of favourable reviews for my planning. the photos and the travelogue are expected to be shared among the online community anytime soon. had an offer to attend a talk show hosted by Sonali Chander, NDTV. Turned it down because the topic was Indo-Pak cricket series (yuck!!).
Appearence wise, long hair is the norm of the day. A typical rock star like look has not met with any opposition from my parents though there were feeble protests. plan to stick with it through the summer months and see if it brings any change in fortune.
will be regular henceforth.
Appearence wise, long hair is the norm of the day. A typical rock star like look has not met with any opposition from my parents though there were feeble protests. plan to stick with it through the summer months and see if it brings any change in fortune.
will be regular henceforth.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)