Arnab's blog

Meeting Professor Ray

2012-01-24T00:45:00.000-08:00

Professor Ajoy Kumar Ray, who is currently the Vice Chancellor of BE College (now known as Bengal Engineering and Science University or BESU), Shibpur, was one of my mentors at IIT-Kharagpur. We have remained in touch after my graduation, and I decided to pay him a visit on my recent trip to India.

Prof. Ray is one of the nicest people I know, and meeting him is always a pleasure; however, I was also curious for a different reason. Before joining BE College (his alma mater) as Vice Chancellor in 2009, Prof. Ray used to teach in IIT. In those days, BE College was thought of as a college on the decline with a long proud past. Among other things, there was too much student unrest, which inevitably shifts the focus away from education. Since Prof. Ray joined, the college has made a remarkable turnaround, and in recent months the media has been showering glowing praise on the college. I wanted to learn how the change was brought about.

Many steps were taken to address the politicization of the student body. Underlying all of them, there were a few basic realizations. First, students have a lot of energy that must be channelled somewhere. In the absence of creative and constructive channels, student unrest is to be expected. Second, students, like any other group, have unique problems that need to be addressed. I had heard that shortly after joining BE College, Prof Ray had joined the students in a game of cricket - a fine way to bond with a bunch of youngsters. Such actions can quickly clear up the air of mistrust so that constructive change can begin. I believe that much more was done to address student needs, but lack the details. To quell my curiosity on how to reduce politics, Prof. Ray himself gave the following example. Suppose that the college elects a student soccer secretary each year. One might allow all students to vote to choose who it should be, in which case representatives of opposing political parties field their candidates and organize the campaigns. If we modify the system so that only those who play soccer vote to choose the soccer secretary, then that dramatically reduces the involvement of transigent individuals with sworn affiliations to political parties. Through the creation of various sports, social and cultural clubs, and by encouraging the participation of students in these clubs, an attempt can be made to channel student energy into creative activities. Simple but powerful steps towards reform. I was very impressed.

During the last half-hour of my stay, Prof. Ray and I went for a walk. He showed me an old clock tower which was powered by water, and had been broken for decades before being fixed recently. There are few such clocks in India, and to repair it, a technician had to be summoned from a different state (finding such a technician was the first challenge). He also showed me a pond with a paved path running along its side, lined with bright lights powered by nearby solar panels. On one side of the lake was a very fine nine-foot bronze statue of Rabindranath Tagore. Five years ago, none of this existed. As a passer-by remarked, the place used to be like Sundarban (a forest) - light from a few flickering incandecent bulbs from a road in the distance being the only barrier to total darkness.

Again I was curious, what did Prof. Ray do that others did not? He explained that BE College is a government-run institution, which has pros and cons. Money given to the college is carefully accounted for, which prevents outright theft. On the other hand, to spend money - even a few hundred dollars - tenders must be issued and quotes must be invited, the best quote chosen, and the task overseen and completed. The cost of this bureaucracy and red tape is high, both in terms of time and money. To get around the problem, Prof. Ray worked with a few prominent donors, and asked them to give not in cash but in kind. One company might donate the bronze statue, another may provide the lights, etc. The contributors' names appear on a stone tablet that stands next to the pond.

He similarly took steps to encourage research, of which I did not seek details. But research funding has gone from Rs. 3 crores/yr when he joined to Rs. 65 crores/yr. I can totally believe that he took some simple steps that made an enormous difference.

On the downside, overwork and the stress of dealing with individuals set in old ways has taken a toll on Prof. Ray's health. I believe that he drinks too much tea, his meals are irregular, and he has not set aside time for exercise or its equivalent. I hope he remains healthy and lives a long life. Such people are rare.

Free speech

2011-11-17T11:14:00.001-08:00

Confidence without understanding in speech is like power without responsibility in action.

Customer vs. Steve Jobs

2011-08-25T04:15:00.000-07:00

Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company once said:

"If I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse."

his point being that it is possible to meet customer needs better than customers can envision.

Steve Jobs embraced the above philosophy. In 1985, he was quoted as saying:

“We think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didn’t build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves. We were the group of people who were going to judge whether it was great or not. We weren’t going to go out and do market research. We just wanted to build the best thing we could build.”

This was shortly after he was fired from Apple.

Now, here's a quote from 2000:
“This is what customers pay us for–to sweat all these details so it’s easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. We’re supposed to be really good at this. That doesn’t mean we don’t listen to customers, but it’s hard for them to tell you what they want when they’ve never seen anything remotely like it. Take desktop video editing. I never got one request from someone who wanted to edit movies on his computer. Yet now that people see it, they say, ‘Oh my God, that’s great!’”

Same content, but there is one very important difference. The customer may not be able to see Henry Ford's vision of a car, but when presented with a car, the customer must agree that the car is better than a horse, even a faster one. The Steve that returned to Apple in 1996 showed far greater respect for this fact that the Steve that had been fired in 1984.

Two doctors and a patient

2011-07-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

In a town, there are two doctors and only one patient who is a drug addict. After a particularly bad seizure, the addict goes to one of the doctors. The doctor knows that the addict should be checked into rehab, but also foresees that since rehab is frustrating, the addict will likely switch doctors. Hence, the doctor, acting to avoid the loss of his only patient, administers to the addict a large dose of his own drug to restore the semblance of normalcy. In this way, the doctor buys time to implement a better long-term treatment plan. The other doctor is vocal in his criticism of the treatment method, although one might conjecture that had the patient gone to him instead, events would have unfolded with broad similarity while differing in details.

The analogy with the two-party system and the US economy is imperfect. If the above were to happen, the patient would ultimately die. The US economy will merely be reborn at some point. A part of me would like to believe that a long-term cure can be found for the excessive debt that has accumulated, but experts everywhere seem to not deny that debt has simply changed hands, not disappeared. The best outcome that I can think of is one where the dollar smoothly devalues, in the process reducing the effective sovereign debt burden, and also boosting exports. But a major economic adjustment such as this is unlikely to be without hiccups.

Debt signifies that tomorrow's spending was done yesterday, and in a zero-sum game we must spend less sometime in the future. Since we spent more yesterday, the economy did better than it would have. To quote Kenneth Fisher "Historically, big deficits are followed by stock-market returns that are dramatically superior to those following surpluses--for as long as 36 months out." When the time comes, stock market returns will be less than dramatic as the US government, which directly or indirectly is a big customer of the US economy, will have gone from spender to the opposite. Whether spending will reduce because of higher taxes or fewer public entitlements is something that the two doctors can debate ad infinitum.

Choosing the right animal

2011-06-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

A donkey is an inefficient horse. It is smaller, weaker, slower. But that a horse is an inefficient donkey is more revealing, because it is less expected. You see, a donkey has certain traits that are valuable in certain contexts - it is a dull, docile, complying animal.

So if a dhobi (washerman) needs a donkey to carry his pile of laundry to the dhobi-ghat (place by the side of a water body where clothes are washed), then it is a donkey that he must buy. If instead he buys an animal from a sale on race-horses who fell short of racing standards, then the next morning the whole village will watch with a mix of bewilderment, amusement and pity as an out-of-breath dhobi chases a trotting horse with a pile of clothes falling off its back.

Fairness over Equality

2011-04-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

In an episode of the TV medical drama 'House', a patient of African origin is offended when the doctor tells him that a certain drug works better on blacks than on whites. He is offended because he knows that we are all equal; the difference is only skin deep.

The notion of equality is widely perceived as positive - as an antidote to discrimination.'Everyone is equal' is a simple idea anyone can grasp, whether they agree or not. Clearly everyone is not equal in the mathematical sense of equality, since if you can tell two people apart then they cannot be equal. But more importantly, I think that this oversimplified axiom prevents the more correct and more important idea of 'fairness' from finding the visibility that is due.

In a world where everyone is equal, tolerance is trivialized. Tolerance is hard. If we were zebras in the Serengeti, our survival would depend critically on the ability to generalize the behavior of one lion to all lions. A broadminded zebra who thought – “I should treat this lion as an individual, even though the last one chewed up my cousin” – would quickly end up as lunch. The ability to generalize is naturally hardwired into the parts of our brain that we have inherited from our ancestors of millions of years ago.

Unfortunately, humans tend to generalize by force of habit along lines that are not fundamental. Most of us here have had no choice in determining our religion, race, nationality etc. but are nonetheless attached to such identities strongly. When our country is insulted, we feel insulted, even though we are citizens simply because, through no choice or fault of our own, we found ourselves there when we first opened our eyes at birth. Every country, religion, race has people who would feel less insecure if people of other similarly accidentally acquired identities were wiped out. Zebras would feel less insecure if lions and other harmless animals that resemble lions could be exterminated.

Tolerance requires that even though people are not the same, they still deserve respect and fair treatment. This is harder. This is also a self-evident truth. Not another well-meaning lie devised for those whom we perceive as too stupid to think for themselves.

Free advice...

2011-03-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

... does no good to its recipient, and causes loss of goodwill to the giver.

To each his own

2011-03-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

Religious beliefs are like toothbrushes. They can be quite useful to the owner, but it is unwise to think that someone else would want to use yours.

God said...

2010-12-14T17:17:00.000-08:00

A thought,
before it can be written
in a book of God,
must first originate
in the mind of man.

A simple way to design a secure password

2010-11-20T12:42:00.000-08:00

Since we can access many of our belongings - from email accounts to bank accounts - online, it is important to have strong passwords.

When setting a password, two conditions should be satisfied:
1. the password for each account should be hard to guess, and
2. the password for each account should be different.

Condition 1 is obvious. A lock is useful only if it is hard to pick. A human being may try to break the password by using common personal information such as a family member's name. A computer can search through a dictionary of words and strings such as '123' that are commonly used in passwords (for example, see http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/01/26/common-internet-passwords/).

Condition 2 says that you should not use the same key for all your locks, even if the key itself is secure (i.e. the password is hard to guess). If one account is compromised, for example an email account, then your bank account with the same password also becomes vulnerable.

The challenge with setting good passwords is that most people (including me) find it hard to remember many different passwords. To get around the problem, a person can design a simple rule to set multiple passwords. In order to meet both conditions above, the password creation rule must use two elements: 1. A personal key, and 2. A key that is unique to the account name.

For example, I am Arnab and I want to set a password for my Yahoo account. I could use a password 'ArnabYahoo', except that it would be predictable. But if I used a personal key 'alaihy' (which I can remember easily because it uses the first letters of the song "As Long As I Have You"), and replaced each letter of Yahoo with the next letter to obtain 'zbipp', and created a password by alternating the letters of the two keys to obtain 'azlbaiiphpy', then the password would be hard for a stranger or a computer to guess. The password for Google would similarly be 'ahlpapihhmyf'.

The above is just an illustrative example. There can be infinite variety in the ways in which a person can choose personal and account-specific keys and combine both. Depending on your appetite for complexity and your need for security, you can design a simpler or harder rule.

The vulnerability of the above approach is that if someone knew passwords from a number of your accounts, then the person could potentially uncover the rule you are using to design passwords. But the effort required to collect multiple passwords and uncover your rule is significantly higher than guessing/discovering one simple password.

Snapshots

2010-11-07T21:29:00.000-08:00

Sharing a collection of pictures I have taken over the years...

The yellow flowers above are from the Anza Borrego desert state park. The flowers eclipse the sun, which given them the 'halo'.

Gerbera daisies from my potted flower garden.

Hydrangeas. Not from my garden :)

Some fallen twigs with a few leaves attached.

From a memorable trip to Mt. Olympic national park. The beach was amazing... unique in its own way. This was a Thursday afternoon with few people on the beach.

Portland rose garden.

Portland...

More Portland rose...

And more...

You guessed it. I like flowers. Roses in particular.

A shot of Mt. Rainier from the plane. My wife worked in Redmond, WA while I completed my PhD in Houston, TX. This was a familiar sight from the window as the plane approached Seattle.

Big Bend National Park. The wall on the left is Mexico. The one on the right is the United States. In between flows the Rio. Amazing spot to visit. This one is stretched on my desktop as a wallpaper right now. Makes me feel like I am staring down at the reflection of the cliffs in the clear, calm water.

A solitary tulip from Skagit Valley, WA. In spring, the tulip fields are in bloom, and the valley is bursting with color. We were there on a cold, rainy day (so characteristic of the region). And it was pretty awesome then. On a bright day, I imagine it would be heaven.

(If you use these pictures, please cite the source.)

Downfall

2010-10-17T18:07:00.000-07:00

We live in times when most human problems are created by humans. I have found myself postulating that the sum of human miseries is constant - it is only the nature of our problems that has changed over the years.

We humans seem to suffer from two types of shortcomings that lead us to create problems for ourselves. First is the inability to understand our needs - what will hurt us - either because of a lack of intelligence or reckoning ability or because of denial. The second is more pitiful - when someone knows that doing something hurts but in incapable of changing one's ways. Ask any addict.

If you are wondering 'What brings me to these thoughts?'... I was watching a documentary on the life of Sam Clemens (better known by his psuedonym, Mark Twain), a brilliant and successful writer who in later life thought he could do business, but was otherwise a very intelligent man. As someone in the movie commented, "There is no reason for a writer to not be a successful businessman. I have just never met one."

There is another thought worrying me too. Of late, I have begun to harbor the belief that financial independence is the solution to life's problems. I have convinced myself that people work for mainly two reasons - financial needs and the gratification of being productive - and being financially independent is the key to doing productive work of one's liking and therefore being happy. The catch is that research has found that abject poverty is cause for unhappiness, but once people reach middle class wealth, additional money makes them no happier. And I have never been anything below middle class in my life. Am I lying to myself about something?

Suicide helpline autoreply

2010-09-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

Please record your message after the beep. When you are finished recording, you may hang yourself or press star for more options.

A fable from the Panchatantra

2010-09-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

A man once had a faithful monkey, a powerful beast aggressively protective of its master.

Then one day the man fell ill. While he slept, the monkey kept guard by his bed. A fly buzzed. It buzzed and buzzed and it flew right over the man's face. The monkey was furious. It grabbed a club and aimed it at the insect. One swing after another went in vain until the fly was finally dead.

But alas, when the mission was accomplished, there were no accolades for the well-meaning animal. Time, it seemed, had been rent in two halves by the swift strokes of the club. Before, the insect was the focus of all thoughts.

'That creature must die! Look at the man. This will happen to us all!'

Then the club fell. There was shock, there was awe, and finally there was despair.

'Whoever heard of using a club to kill a fly?'

Respect

2010-09-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

I know a man who works really hard, but people tend not to respect him. He complains all the time. I have never once heard him say something like 'Things are under control. I am taking care of things.' Ironically, he does take care of a lot of things, things that other dislike doing, but he also complains. Just by virtue of what he does, the man ought to be of use to others. And use him, they do, and they pay him too, but they don't respect him.

Earning respect seems to have a lot of prerequisites.

People seldom respect a person who does not respect them.

Respect yourself if you wish to be respected by others. I have seen successful people brag about insincere or unethical actions. Respect vanishes right there. Success and power do not necessarily earn respect. They may fetch flattery, fear, or foolish idolization, but not respect. Of course, that is if you care about respect. There are many who enjoy flattery and being feared as much as being respected. Flattery is insincere, and comes from an expectation of receiving incentives in return. Fear comes from anticipation of penalties. Both satisfy the primal need of being bowed down to. Respect is more subtle - when someone holds you in high esteem with no expectation of incentive or penalty.

A person can react to a situation in a way that earns respect, or in a way that begs sympathy, but usually not both at the same time. This man, with whom I started my story, has spent his entire life playing the victim, begging for sympathy in his own way. It is hard to respect a man like that. Actions designed to earn respect, however, can sometimes earn both respect and sympathy, especially in cases where the outcome is tragic. The sacrifice of martyrs awakens feelings of honor and sorrow at the same time.

Mistakes

2010-04-14T11:16:00.001-07:00

The smartest learn from the mistakes of others. Most of us prefer to learn by making our very own mistakes. And then there are those who never learn...

approximately precisely

2010-03-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

'It is better to be approximately right than precisely wrong' - is a useful piece of advice. Of late, I have been postulating in my mind a similar-sounding approximately-precisely principle, which goes:

'It is better to know the answer to a meaningful question approximately than to know the answer to a useless question precisely.'

A memory from my last trip to India

2009-09-13T00:50:00.000-07:00

I lay on my bed in the warm humid Kolkata weather, gazing lazily at the clock on the wall. It's an old clock, perhaps twenty years old, runs on a single AA battery. It hung on the wall in our home in Bokaro, or was it Durgapur? It brought back memories...

My father had a childlike enthusiasm about some things. When the clock was still new, he would compare the time on the clock with that on TV before the news on Doordarshan - India's primary TV channel. This was before cable. Some days the clock showed near perfect time, other days it was a little off. I remember the day my father noticed that due to the influence of gravity, the second hand progressed much faster from 0 to 15 seconds past the minute, and considerably slower from 45 to 60 seconds. The clock was not in error! It was perfect! Well... ignoring gravity anyway... There was this look of triumph in his eyes.

My brother recently sent me some old family photos. The one above is from 1990...ish. We were not rich, not poor either. We hardly had any savings but I did not know that as a child and it did not bother me. We were happy. Now, I am probably worth several times what my father was worth at the end of his life. But I miss the simple happiness. In many ways, I have less than I had then. I need to find my way back.

Charles Ponzi, Bernard Madoff and the exponential function

2009-09-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

The Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment scheme named after Charles Ponzi. The idea is simple. Investors are promised fabulous returns on money. A few investors cautiously bring in small change, and the money is returned with interest as promised. Reassured, these investors bring in larger amounts. Other investors join them. People ask questions on how the money can grow so fast. Answers range from gold and diamonds mines in Africa to philanthropic donors who crave anonymity. In reality, there is no investment. Money from new investors is paid to old investors, while the organizers of the scheme help themselves to some of it. As long as the returns are coming, few questions are asked. People who ask too many questions are even censured by others who have invested money in the scheme, and are reveling in their imaginary returns.

Ponzi schemes tend to be short-lived, with a few exceptions. One important exception may be Bernard Madoff, and we will get to him. In order to thrive, a Ponzi scheme requires a growing inflow of new investment, and to get this inflow, the returns have to be be large enough to induce greed. Charles Ponzi, for example, promised to double money in 90 days. At that rate, money grows to 16 times in a year, and 4000 times in 3 years - exponential growth. To be truthful, all investment at fixed interest rate grows exponentially. Money kept in a bank at 7% interest would double in 10 years, 16 times in 40 years and 4000 times in 120 years. Exponential growth is the norm. What is not normal is the fabulous rate promised by the Ponzi scheme. I suspect that a lot of Ponzi schemers lack an appreciation of the exponential function. Anyway, if Ponzi's scheme were to go on for three years, an investor who brought in a thousand dollars on the first day would be entitled to four million in three years. So long as the investor does not demand his money, all is well. But chances are that the investor of a thousand dollars, now thinking himself a rich millionaire, would want to spend a modest few hundred thousand of his millions. At this point, paying the investor becomes a challenge because inflow of investment money can never keep up with the rapid exponential growth of accounts payable. The game winds up.

It is not hard to see that the longevity of a Ponzi scheme is inversely related to the promised rate of return, but the rate of return must noticeably exceed that obtainable through legitimate sources so as to attract new investors. In this regard, Bernard Madoff took the game to the next level. His returns were consistent, and always better than the market, but not like Charles Ponzi's. His scheme lasted over a decade in the complete absence of investments, and swallowed over 50 billion dollars. His story carries a bold warning: A smart enough Ponzi schemer may get away with a lifetime of fraud. Madoff had no investment whatsoever. A combination of a mediocre investment scheme with fraudulent accounting that shows consistent returns could last many decades. The idea is similar to what Enron and other firms charged with accounting fraud did. Somehow, productive and deceptive activities tend not to co-exist harmoniously over time, which is a great blessing for investors. Still, it pays to be cautious.

There is only one effective antidote to the Ponzi bug - transparency. Never put money into an investment that hides information, whatever the excuse may be. Madoff hid information for decades claiming that his techniques were proprietary trade secrets - sounds legitimate, but no reason is legitimate enough. Another partially effective cure is diversification. There is something pitiful about people who lament the loss of their life's savings in a Ponzi scheme. It is as if they have failed to evolve in a fundamental manner. Not only were they naive or greedy or both, they never understood the eggs and baskets principle either. The law can and should punish predators, but it is impossible to protect those who willingly set themselves up as prey.

Associating with the wise

2009-08-28T00:16:00.000-07:00

When I was in tenth grade, I read the English translation of a small episode from the Indian Epic 'Mahabharat'. The God of Justice was quizzing his son. One of the questions he asked was :
'How does a man gain wisdom?'
The answer was :
'By associating with the wise'.

Reading a book enables one to associate with the author, a person wise enough to write a book. Reading is useful. My father would take me to a children's library and read to me when I was too young to read. Then I started reading, developed a love for it, and read story books for many hours each day as a child and as a teenager.

With age came focus. I did not read stories much more. I read things that would help me to achieve a goal - academic or otherwise. Whatever the subject, a book has probably been written on it.

Not all books are created equal. Some books are a lot better than others. They are written by wiser people. In the old days, when I went to a library or a bookstore, there was no alternative to judging a book by its cover, the author's reputation (if you knew the author), and from reading a few lines. One of the things I love about the Internet is that it has made the flow of information and opinions so easy. These days, I never buy or read a book before checking its reviews. Associating with the wisest has never been easier. And this is important, especially in fields where the world has very few real experts, and a lot of wagging tongues. This reminds me of the following experience:

I have purchased several books on finance from Amazon. Whenever I go to the website, it recommends other books along those lines, and I spend some time reading reviews of the recommended books. When the book 'Reminiscences of a Stock Operator ' was recommended, I was curious because the book has excellent reviews. It's a book on trading, or speculating, something I generally refrain from doing. But hey, reading a review cannot hurt.

The book is a biography of Jesse Livermore, a famed trader, or speculator. The reviewers heaped praise on the trading 'commandments' that the book offers, rules that any trader can repeat. Commandments such as -No stock is too high to buy or too low to sell. The book was crowned the grandfather of all books on trading, containing wisdom transferred from mothers to daughters(??) and winners to losers(!!). A sturdy foundation on which to build a successful trading career. WoW!

Another review spilled a few beans. Livermore made and lost millions throughout his life. He was worth 100 million after the 1929 crash and bankrupt by 1934. He ended up committing suicide in a bathroom.

(a moment of shocked silence)

God bless his soul. Clearly not my idea of associating with the wise...

Proof of address

2008-12-16T01:21:00.001-08:00

The last time I visited India, I tried to open an account at the local branch of one of India's largest nationalized banks. In order to open an account you need, among other things, a 'proof of address'. It may be a passport, an electricity bill or any of a list of documents that carries the applicant's name and address. Having lived in the US for six years, I had no such document. My passport has a really old address on it, and I pay no bills in India. What the bank really needs is proof of citizenship, and an address for correspondence (which is rarely used since these banks seldom mail statements).

At first I thought that I would try reasoning with the bureaucracy although something told me that things would not go anywhere. As expected, I was thwarted by a clerk who asked 'How will the bank know where you live?'. I felt like replying 'How does the bank care where I live?', but I sensed triumph in his voice and decided to abandon this line of attack. I have seen this clerk coming to work and sitting on the same chair for the last ten years whenever I have been to the bank. The faces in a bureaucracy rarely change. They start young, grow wrinkles, and disappear after about four decades. When I arrived early at the bank one day, I saw this man arrive, sit on his chair, and open his books with a look of sheer annoyance on his face. He hates his job. Why add to his misery by arguing? He doesn't make the rules, he simply follows them; and he may have rightly concluded through experience that his life is simpler if he does not bring reason to the table.

Address does not prove citizenship, and most citizens in India do not have a home of their own, but then a lot of things in a bureaucracy don't make sense. But the not-making-sense part is only the tip of the iceberg. The real pain lies elsewhere. In order to get any of the 'proof of address documents', I would have to get an electricity or phone account, buy immovable property, procure one of the other items from the same list, or to go to an administrative officer, who supposedly knows every person in his particular densely populated locality of India. A clerk at the bank told me that some Bangladeshi citizens had accounts in their branch. Why not? How does the administrative officer know me from a Bangladeshi? All four of my grandparents were born in what is Bangladesh today before independence and the partition of India.

Somewhere during the process it struck me. If they weren't going to use the address, how did I care what address my passport had? I used my passport, and also let the manager know that this was not my current address. He sent me to a clerk who informally made a note of my true address and that was that. The system works, albeit not in a meaningful or foolproof way. It works in the traditional Indian ishtyle.

Being right all the time...

2008-11-15T12:20:00.000-08:00

It is tempting to draw a line between the things we do and the things we don't and call it the line between right and wrong.

It is tempting because we get to do what we like, and we get to think of ourselves as being right all the time. We also get to think of ourselves as fair, applying the same uniform standard of righteousness to everyone. Then there is the joy of meeting the highest standard effortlessly, and seeing others fail frequently. Having a holier-than-thou attitude certainly has its perks!

Strength

2008-08-08T00:50:00.001-07:00

As a youngster trying to discover myself, my instincts often headed in the direction of strength. 'I’d rather be a hammer than a nail'. Strength is cool. You get to do what you want, people respect you, a lot of positives and no negatives. So I began to act strong. Breaking rules is a sign of strength. So is rowdy behavior. Conforming to rules cannot be strong because someone else gets to dictate what I do. And this was not an original conclusion of mine, but a widespread belief that preceded and has outlived my adolescence. Notice that God is equated to kings, and His chosen ones have the ability to break nature's laws? They call it performing miracles, sounds more cool that way.

So strength lay in acting macho. But in my life I had received nothing but kindness from my parents, my teachers, and other adults around me. 'What is strength?' I asked myself. When two people arm-wrestle, and one wins, the winner is clearly stronger. If these two people were to meet in a dark alley, and one were to rob and kill the other, would the robber be stronger? Something seemed wrong. Bullies, robbers, rapists, child molesters, murderers, and particularly dictators who succeeded in oppressing millions of people would all have to be considerably stronger than their victims in the traditional sense.

There is something in us that revolts at the idea of admitting that wrong-doers are actually strong - nope, we should not give them a single point for what they did. Something as positive as strength cannot be associated with crime. Gandhi said 'The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong'. He also said 'A weak man is just by accident. A strong but non-violent man is unjust by accident'. Wait a minute, we seem to be redefining strength here. There is no reason for the arm-wrestling winner to be just, or for the just to be forgiving. These are different character traits that may or may not be found in the same person. What Gandhi really meant is that justice, non-violence and forgiveness are good, and therefore he associated them with strength, which is also perceived as good.

I concluded that strength, as in the ability to succeed, is completely neutral on the scale from bad to good. Like a hammer, it totally depends on what you do with it.

Popular Elections

2008-07-17T01:04:00.001-07:00

I believe in democracy. Power can be the means to a good end, but absolute power holds the greatest attraction for the worst people – who do not question themselves and seek not to be questioned by others. The kind and the fair rarely need power to achieve their ends. Democracy distributes power among many, and enables stability, which is valuable even at the cost of efficiency. Inefficiency is something I can live with. What bothers me is the lack of reasoning behind our collective democratic decisions.

America is heading towards another national election. I see the presidency as a 'job' of great power (therefore responsibility). Every American adult citizen is invited to have a say in filling up this position. Yet, some of America's top elected leaders seem to be the kind of people whom I would not hire as my financial advisor, security-expert, child's tutor, doctor, director of my company... But then, these leaders are the people’s choice.

In my opinion, most people perceive the election as a popularity contest. As time passes, I see more and more blatant deviations between the process of election, and the process of hiring. Apparently, a large majority of African Americans favor Obama. Women, especially elderly Caucasian women, favor Clinton more. One of the big problems in Romney's campaign was his Mormon religion. The allegation of Obama being Muslim is a serious concern to his campaign. Evidently, racial, gender and religious profiles play important roles in hiring the one person who will direct security, healthcare and education. All this in a country where if a company were to use these criteria in hiring, lawsuits would soon shut it down. I don't believe that people attach as much importance to criteria such as religion, race and gender when seeking services at a personal level. So what changes in an election? My conjecture is that most people don't see 'leading the country' as a job. Not surprisingly, the immeasurable acumen required in deciding policy is unfathomable to most people. Driven in part by blissful ignorance, and partly by the large optimism bias in humans, most people fail to consider the consequences of putting a person of inadequate ability and experience on the hot seat.

This monologue would not be complete without mentioning the role of the media. Media personnel have a strange job. They must produce eight (or however many) hours of news no matter what happens, or even if nothing happens. Watching these people discuss the campaign in painful detail each day from morning until night for nearly a year evokes pity. No wonder, even those who rarely follow the news encounter 'Is America ready for its first black president?', 'Why American women are empowered but not in power', and 'I can't believe we have a candidate who's middle name is Hussein'. The amount of time expended on the discussion of such topics would strongly suggest to the audience that somehow the biases that we strive to fight in our daily lives should acquire foremost importance in America's choice of its leaders.

This bizarre mismatch between political leadership being a crucial job, and the election process being a large-scale popularity contest is one of the greatest weaknesses of democracy. The case of America is just an example, and a relatively benign one by comparison with some other democracies.

India Growing

2008-04-17T02:08:00.000-07:00

India's population used to be 357 million in 1950. From 1950-2000, the population grew at roughly 2% annually to just over a billion. In the last two decades, governments carried out an extensive media campaign to spread awareness regarding birth-control, and to point out the benefits of having small families. Despite the campaign, the population grew at 1.8% between 1990 and 2000. Although the growth rate is likely to keep going down, by the latter half of the 21st century, India may have to accommodate 2 billion people in a third of the area of the United States.

In stark contrast to China, which has taken extreme measures to control its population, the Indian government has resorted so far only to spreading awareness and making birth-control available to those who ask for it. These are positive steps, but their effectiveness is somewhat limited. To make a person do something, we can use several measures:
1. Polite request
2. Point out advantages
3. Provide incentives
4. Impose penalties for non-compliance
5. Use force
A government can use all five (and maybe others). China relied on the bottom (most effective but harsh), and India started from the top (benign but inefficient). In fact, I am not aware of any monetary incentives given for having few children in India. For the poor, cheaper and more rice and sugar in monthly rations would be a good incentive to have few children. And the government would save far more in the long run, than it would spend in extending such subsidies. For those with taxable income deducted at source, a tax cut would be a good incentive, again saving the government money in the long run.

Governments in India are run largely on populist principles. In the last two decades, power has regularly changed hands from one party to the next, thereby making politicians eager to avoid displeasing anyone. But try as they may, power changes hands in every national election. On the outset, this may seem surprising for a country with a rapidly growing economy, but it is not really. Money being important for happiness, a nation must have a healthy combination of wealth-creation, and wealth-distribution. In India, growth has far outstripped distribution. When 10% of the people have 90% of the money, the rich do not make a fuss about buying necessities at unreasonable prices. Inflation goes through the roof, and life becomes miserable for the majority of people. The frustration of the majority is then directed at those in power. Politicians will not be able to halt the flip-flop of power until they create avenues through which money can percolate from the rich to the poor, and from urban to rural areas.

Here I sit, in the comforts of my home in San Diego, thinking about the country where I was born, and its problems that are of a scale unfamiliar to Americans. There are things that make me glad, and others that make me a little melancholy. In a way, us humans are like trees. There is no such thing as a perfect transplant for a grown-up; we just learn to live, adapt, and deal, and in the greater scheme of things, that's not so bad at all.

Excerpt from 'The Cloak' by Nikolai Gogol

2008-04-16T02:29:00.000-07:00

The young officials laughed at and made fun of him, so far as their official wit permitted; told in his presence various stories concocted about him, and about his landlady, an old woman of seventy; declared that she beat him; asked when the wedding was to be; and strewed bits of paper over his head, calling them snow. But Akakiy Akakievitch answered not a word, any more than if there had been no one there besides himself. It even had no effect upon his work: amid all these annoyances he never made a single mistake in a letter. But if the joking became wholly unbearable, as when they jogged his hand and prevented his attending to his work, he would exclaim, “Leave me alone! Why do you insult me?” And there was something strange in the words and the voice in which they were uttered. There was in it something which moved to pity; so much that one young man, a new-comer, who, taking pattern by the others, had permitted himself to make sport of Akakiy, suddenly stopped short, as though all about him had undergone a transformation, and presented itself in a different aspect. Some unseen force repelled him from the comrades whose acquaintance he had made, on the supposition that they were well-bred and polite men. Long afterwards, in his gayest moments, there recurred to his mind the little official with the bald forehead, with his heart-rending words, “Leave me alone! Why do you insult me?” In these moving words, other words resounded—“I am thy brother.” And the young man covered his face with his hand; and many a time afterwards, in the course of his life, shuddered at seeing how much inhumanity there is in man, how much savage coarseness is concealed beneath delicate, refined worldliness, and even, O God! in that man whom the world acknowledges as honourable and noble.

Brevity is the soul of wit

2008-03-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

So said Shakespeare, and I agree wholeheartedly. Brevity is the soul of most communication. The same message repeated loses its charisma. Perhaps it is the 'familiarity breeds contempt' postulate. A message, once spoken, becomes familiar to the listener, and when repeated it is annoying. I once read an article that claimed that the human mind relaxes through variety more than it does through sleep, because the mind does not sleep when we do. Old information = no variety. Is that why we are attracted to sources of new information: news, magazines, blogs, novels, the latest ____?

An exception the above rule is when there is no new information to begin with. Two entities share a common belief, and expression of the belief in between them is reassuring. Maybe the brevity principle applies more to disagreeable messages and to information that we have no emotional connection with, than to pleasant exchanges. After all, it is information the mind eats: A lot of sweetness is fine, but the bitter and tasteless stuff... briefer the better.

बादलों से बातें

2008-02-14T12:58:00.000-08:00

'जब वी मेट' सिनेमा का एक गीत मुझे भा गया। गाने के शब्द थे 'आओगे जब तुम ओ साजना' , और गाना राग मेघ में था।

कहते हैं कि तानसेन जब राग मेघ मल्हार गाया करते थे तो सूखी धरती पर भी बारिश होती थी। आजकल San Diego में खूब जमकर बारिश हो रही है। तो मैंने सोचा कि जब मैं गाता हूँ, तो मेरे गाने से पहले ही, मेरे गाने की अपेक्षा में बूँदें टपकने लगती हैं। इसलिए मैं अपने आप को तानसेन का बाप समझने लगा था। और यही सोचकर मैं रोजाना रियाज़ करने लगा। फिर एक दिन, सपने में एक बादल आया। उसने कहा 'उस्ताद जी, आप हमारा इशारा समझ नहीं पाये। हम कहना चाहते थे की हम यूं ही बरस जायेंगे, न्योछावर हो जायेंगे, अस्तित्वहीन हो जायेंगे, आपकी बड़ी महरबानी होगी अगर आप नहीं गायें।'

The dilemma of 0,1 or more Gods

2008-02-08T22:16:00.000-08:00

There was a chapter in my history book that dealt with ancient Hinduism, principles and practice. In particular, the authors spent some words explaining how Hinduism, while seemingly polytheistic, actually believes in one supreme power. Ancient verses to this effect were quoted. It was also mentioned that Hindus were considered inferior by Europeans because of their apparent polytheism.

Well... people often consider those with different beliefs and perspectives to be wrong, therefore stupid, and therefore inferior. Nothing original about that. To this day, Hindu temples, and many homes have several idols. And if someone asked me: 'Is Hinduism polytheistic?', my one-word answer to this 'Yes-No' question would be 'Depends'. But I found it interesting how one was considered more 'cool' than the other in the history book. These days of course, most people who are not too cool to not believe in any God, are cool enough to believe in only one God. They merely have not been able to agree which one it is.

The path to nowhere

2008-01-14T22:49:00.000-08:00

I was recently watching a movie where a teenager aggressively tries to undermine the school's administration. He harbors a grievance that the school exploits its students by limiting their freedom. Intially he finds support among several classmates who view him as a role model, but as time passes it becomes increasingly clear that his actions are more deplorable than the school's. In the end, he is stopped and receives counselling. One of his teachers cites another student who had moved on a similar path and in the end committed suicide.

When a person has been moving passionately on a path for a long period of time, it becomes very difficult for the person to admit that all that has been done was wrong. It takes more courage and a lesser ego than most people have. It is far easier to continue in the same direction, dismissing all doubts. Creating an avenue for such a person to give up what he/she did without feeling overly humiliated can accelerate the process of recovery.

It is a different story when a large group of people join hands to undermine existing authority. Perceived exploitation cannot by itself move large masses over extended periods, unless the masses are incapable of reasoning. Lack of education or an insular society go a long way in obstructing the flow of reason. Sometimes though, the exploitation and deprivation are not perceived, but real. When people have almost nothing to lose, they have almost no reason to conform to the demands of established authority. Such problems have a disturbing property: they don't go away. They stay, and they accumulate over decades and centuries. Millions suffer, millions die. Count to a million. And all because we are not willing to stop and say: 'I am sorry that I hurt you. My bad. What would you like me to do to make it up to you?'

Excerpt from the movie 'Because Of Winn Dixie'

2008-01-04T15:35:00.000-08:00

Opal: Gloria, you know Otis?
Gloria: No, I don't know Otis, but I do know what you told me about him.
Opal: You know he's a criminal? He's been in jail.
Gloria: Baby girl, come on. I want to show you somethin'. See this tree?
Opal: Yeah.
Gloria: Hmm?
Opal: Why are all those bottles on it?
Gloria: To keep the ghosts away.
Opal: What ghosts?
Gloria: Ghosts of all the things I've done wrong.
Opal: You did that many things wrong?
Gloria: More than that, baby girl.
Opal: But you're not a bad person.
Gloria: Doesn't mean I haven't done bad things.
Opal: But there's whiskey bottles on there, a-and beer bottles.
Gloria: That's right. I know that. I'm the one what drank what was in 'em, and I'm the one what put 'em up there. Oh, baby girl. You know, a lot of folks have problems... with liquor and beer. Get to start drinkin' and can't get stopped.
Opal: Are you one of those people?
Gloria: Yes, I am... but you know somethin'? These days, I don't drink nothin' stronger than coffee.
Opal: Did the whiskey and beer and wine... did they make you do all those bad things that are ghosts now?
Gloria: Some of'em. Some of'em I would've done anyway, with or without the liquor and the beer... till I learned.
Opal: Learned what?
Gloria: Till I learned what was the most important thing.
Opal: What's that?
Gloria: Oh... it's different for everyone. Got to learn it on your own. But, you know, we should judge Otis by the pretty music that he makes and how kind he is to all them animals, 'cause that's all we know about him now...

The relevance of Gandhi

2007-12-09T02:20:00.000-08:00

In early 1922, India was in the middle of the Non-Cooperation movement against the British administration. The goal -- human dignity and self governance. The path -- non-violent insistence on the truth. And then it happened on February 4th 1922. Police firing killed three protesters and injured others in a crowd of about two thousand in the town of Chauri Chaura. The furious mob, in retaliation, attacked the policemen who tried to hide inside the police station. The police station was set ablaze; twenty-three policemen were burnt alive. Afterwards, nineteen people were hanged for the incident, and over a hundred received various jail terms varying from two years to life.

Gandhi's response was to halt the movement completely. He also went on a five-day fast as a gesture of repentance for what he believed was his complicity in the killings. Most of the contemporary Indian leaders deprecated his action - describing it variously as mistaken, cowardly, madness or betrayal. Historians tend to agree that the stray incident of violence, although regrettable, did not undermine a nation's plea for political freedom.

The incident defines Gandhi. For him, non-violence was not a conscious choice, but an instinct. So too was his refusal to impose on others what he did not practise himself. Come to think of it, non-violence is just one component of the expansive "practise, then preach" philosophy. This fundamental principle is known by many names: the Ethic of Reciprocity, the Golden Rule, or the Principle of Tolerance -- and it forms the basis of the very concept of human rights. The principle, however, is incredibly hard to follow to the extent that Gandhi did. And in a political leader with a hundred million eager followers, it is unthinkable.

But does an incident of violence undermine a nation's plea for political freedom? Absolutely not. However, political freedom is insignificant when compared with freedom of the mind. What does political freedom mean? The power to choose our leaders, to make our own laws perhaps. Political freedom is a means to an end, the end being a state where people may live without fear. To reach that state, it is necessary that all individuals practise mutual respect and tolerance. Achieving freedom from fear is far more difficult and also much more important than any regime change. It was probably clear to Gandhi that the British would leave sooner or later, and then people would celebrate their freedom, but their lives would not change overnight.

Political freedom for a nation is like allocating funds to make something gigantic happen. Without the right mindset, things soon sour up, a few people have a good time with the money, and in the end fingers are pointed and a few scapegoats are punished. India, a nation with a population larger than that of the North and South Americas put together, and with immense diversity in languages and cultures, would have very little chance of surviving as a nation in the absence of mutual respect and tolerance. And non-violence is a stepping stone for tolerance.

As far as usage goes, the term 'diversity' is viewed quite positively, but for all practical purposes, it is a bomb waiting to explode. The notion of identity is very important to human beings. We all have many identities: I am an Indian, residing in the USA, male, Hindu, Brahmin (priest by caste), married, straight, an electrical engineer, with a PhD, employed, the list can go on. Most people attach the most importance to one or a few identities, commonly based on nationality, religion, race, ideology or sexuality. We identify with the grievances of people who share our chosen identities, and we blame all who share the identity of individuals responsible for causing the grief. The fact that all individuals are responsible for only their own actions, and that we share common identities as human and living beings, matter no more. Our mind loses its sense of justice, and replaces it with a senseless rage. It is a state where actions are not born out of reason, rather reasons are made slaves to justify unconscionable actions.

Gandhi realized the importance of tolerance when others were fascinated with self-governance। In a way, he was years ahead of his time, indeed years ahead of today. As Albert Einstein said: "Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood." Who knows when, if ever, our species will evolve to a point where all of us value kindness the way Gandhi did.

My father

2007-07-29T04:01:00.000-07:00

Being a father seems to me a difficult task. And I don't mean the 'providing' part. It is not always clear how a child's experiences influence its behavior or personality. Maybe the prospect scares me even more because I live in the shadow of my own father, or his memories since he died in 1997.

For the most part, my father 'observed' me. It was unlike him to give me instructions. Mostly, he did what he could to create the right environment without appearing harsh to the pleasure-loving creature that a child is. Objects that provide entertainment but no learning had a difficult time finding their way into our home. Before classes started each year, we would sit down and put covers on textbooks. He did it like it was an art, finishing with writing my name on the front cover in a handwriting that would seem to have come from a printing press. He had won gold medals in Engineering for his Bachelors and Masters degrees. The standards were set as high as they could be, but never was a word uttered about any expectation of meeting them. I had once asked while watching Ivan Lendl play tennis with the usual tense expression on his face - is it important to play to win or to play happily? The answer came immediately - It is better to play happily. I didn't think that was necessarily right at that time, but now I see how personal ambition has brutalized humanity throughout history. Gentle hints came my way on rare occasions. He once asked me about the TV - Can't you overcome its attraction? I gave him a sheepish shrug.

Few words were exchanged between us. For the most part, he would seem aloof, and I might have been tempted to nurture that belief, but that was as far from the truth as it could be. Let me tell you about one incident that took place when I was eleven. In school I had a clean record - I never caused any trouble. Therefore, on the Friday when my teacher gave me a dressing down for my poor handwriting, and wrote a complaint in my school diary, my heart altogether sank. This was a new experience for me. How would I show my face at home? I had to get it signed by my father by Monday, but the weekend passed and I could not muster the courage to tell him. Monday morning came, and I woke up unhappily. Surprise, surprise, my father was sitting with my diary at the edge of the bed. He smiled and I babbled something. He asked me to write - I shall diligently try to improve - and then he signed it. To this day I don't know how he came to know. Maybe someone told him. Or maybe he just sensed it, but one cannot help wondering how attentive he must have been behind his facade of 'aloofness'. I guess fatherhood is another department where the standards are sky high for me, not that I am planning on having kids in near future, but still.

Fairness in reward and remonstration

2007-04-06T23:41:00.000-07:00

A fundamenatal legal premise is:
"No person shall be punished but for an action violating a rule that was in force at the time when the action took place."

If my father was a murderer, no modern court of law would hold me responsible. Strangely, if my great great great grandfather had belonged to an oppressed section of society - identified by race or religion perhaps - I would likely be entitled to preferential treatment today, irrespective of my current living conditions.

There is a curious incongruity in the ways in which the modern world disseminates rewards and punishments. The law punishes individuals for what they consciously do. In contrast, government policies often reward groups of individuals for attributes they have no role in determining.

Explain yourself!

2007-03-21T06:11:00.000-07:00

I am impatient. If I am convinced that something is correct, then I usually don't like to explain why. What do you mean 'why?'? Most things can be explained, and it is useful to explain things patiently. It is better than annoyance for reasons of popularity, and better than silence if you want credibility. And if my audience is not listening, well that's their problem not mine :)

INTP

2007-03-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

I took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test. It is a simple test that classifies you into one of 16 personality classes. You can take it free on a number of websites. And no, you don't have to sign up for a free ipod. Mine turned out to be INTP (Introvert, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving). Actually, some tests give you the extent of each. I am strongly introverted and thinking, and somewhat intuitive and perceiving. Here is a link to a brief description of INTP that I found in the web. Pretty accurate I think.

http://www.e-mbti.com/intp.php

Free advice

2007-03-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

A young friend of mine was feeling frustrated with the way some professors treated students. People who have gone through an undergrad engineering school in India can identify with that at some level. So I gave him some advice. Now, giving advice is one thing, and following it yourself is another. It is far easier to preach than to practise. But then again, you cannot effectively teach what you don't follow. So, I will put my advice on the record here, to remind myself what I should be doing:

As a child, I used to be scared of my neighbor's rooster, which would steal every chance to take a peck at me. Time has flown by since then. I have grown. If I were to encounter the rooster today, it would probably not try the same strategy.

Things will change. One of the only things that never changes is the fact that things continue to change. And in the bigger scheme of things, my approval rating with the rooster does not count for anything. What would be sad though, is if I became a miserable, grouchy rooster myself, giving a hard time to those whom I was supposed to nurture, protect and guide. It is the responsibility of the strong to protect the weak, the privileged to uplift the underprivileged. Those who act contrary to these principles, are just plain irresponsible. Period.

No one can tell you what in principle is right. No person, nor book of wisdom (even if it is believed to have come straight from the mouth of God) can ever do that. They may tell you what they think, but you are the ultimate judge of right and wrong in your life. There will be some questions to which you will never find convincing answers, and it is good if you can grow comfortable coexisting with these questions. It is far better than living the lie of pretending to have all answers.

Nurture the strength of your own spirit. Look around yourself. Help those who are more miserable than you. It takes the mind off from dwelling on one's own miseries. It keeps you from joining in the league of ordinary roosters.

Understanding and familiarity

2007-01-31T00:06:00.000-08:00

Learning science and technology is largely about understanding new concepts and ideas. The emphasis is not on retaining information, but on organizing it. But some concepts are really hard to understand, or maybe they are hard to explain and few people have ever had it explained to them. Over time, we grow familiar with these concepts and we start believing that we understand them. Then we start conveying our familiarity to others, sometimes to show off, and sometimes to avoid looking foolish. I feel that this is a tendency that we should all be aware of, and guard against. I causes so much misery, especially to children and students.

I once read in a children's book that a ventriloquist is someone who can throw his voice. Of course it made no sense to me. I looked it up in some kind of dictionary and coincidentally found the same definition. Who knows, maybe the author of my book had consulted the same source to find out what a ventriloquist does before he went about telling others about it. Later, I figured that a ventriloquist is someone who can change the sound of his voice and speak almost without moving his lips. It gives the impression that someone or something else is speaking, especially if you have a dummy in your hand, and move its lips. I also realized that sounds like m, p, and b need the lips to be closed. Interesting stuff it was back then, and I tried a bit of it myself. But I still don't think throwing your voice describes it very well.

Reviewing papers

2007-01-30T23:54:00.000-08:00

Farbod once told me about a rule of thumb for reviewing papers. I think he attributed it to Prof. Jim Massey.

There are three conditions for rejecting a paper:
1. The results in the paper are wrong.
2. The results have been previously published.
3. The results are obvious or trivial.

I think that is a pretty good rule-book to go by, although I think I would add a fourth condition.
4. The paper is so poorly written that the reviewer, despite being knowledgeable in the area, is unable to make sense of the contributions.

It goes without saying that one should never undertake to review a paper in an unfamiliar field of research. It hurts the field by populating it with superfluous publications.

Checklist before paper submission

2007-01-16T23:47:00.000-08:00

In an ideal world, a researcher would not have to worry about formatting mistakes. In the real world, we have to handle much more than just formatting before we can send an article for reviewing or publication. Keeping track of all the things to check is a hassle, so I decided to make a list to go through before submission. If nothing else, the list will alleviate the uncomfortable feeling that an obvious blunder that I missed will catch the eyes of the reviewer.

- spellcheck
- search ? and []. They signify errors or missing references. Since you know that you will be searching for ?, you may put a ? (or any other special character) in places where you want to add something later or if you are unsure of some detail.
- draw a tree showing the hierarchy of sections, subsections, and subsubsections, and see if it is what you intended it to be. Sometimes, two topics of similar importance, which should be at the same level in the hierarchy mistakenly form parent-child pairs.
-check the latex output for errors and warnings.
- search \ref{ and replace with ~\ref{ for sections, appendices, figures etc.
- use consistent and correct hyphens eg. use "ad hoc", NOT ad-hoc, NOT a mix of the two
- read paper and cite appropriate references wherever making claims that need to be supported
- try to number equation arrays consistently either in 1st or in last line (unless you have reason to number all lines)
- punctuation before an equation and at the end of each equation should be consistent and correct
- use consistent format (including font for all figures)
- maintain a consistent format for matlab plots. I stick to 16 by 12 cm, fontsize 12, stretch axes to fill figure (in figure options). It produces easy to read figures in 2 column format.
- check cross-referencing of equations (whether you are referring to the correct equation)
- check that the bibliography references are all consistently punctuated and named. eg. don't let one reference say 'ITW', and another 'Inform. Th. Workshop'. To save space, use the abbreviations for journals recommended by IEEE
- check all abbreviations to see that they have been defined ONCE and only the FIRST time they occur in the text (not in the abstract).
- after the last major change, spellcheck and read entire paper once before submitting.

Do let me know if you can think of something else to add to this list. I will be grateful :)

The waterfilling of fate

2006-11-29T23:21:00.000-08:00

The term waterfilling is familiar to information theorists as a well known solution to a famous optimization problem.

The idea is simple. If you had to carry your stuff on donkeys from point A to point B, you would be better off piling more stuff on the stronger donkeys. 'Waterfilling' tells you exactly how much to pile on which donkey so as to maximize the total weight carried.

Now comes the fate part. Some days are luckier than others. And you cannot have missed the army of psychics, palmists, astrologers, tarot-card readers, numerologists... who claim to know much about your fate. The business of prediction is so heavily loaded with confident pretense and deception that it has hardly any credibility. But imagine if there were a way to predict, with 51% correctness the value of an unbiased coin toss, a coin that you could bet on consistently. Or if a man could distinguish between times when his judgment is sound versus when it is not (a catch-22 situation). Impossible? Who knows. We willingly accept that any two massive objects attract each other because we have read it in a book. The world was crawling with people before Newton, but hardly anybody would have agreed. Indeed, of the 1.8 million years that man has walked this earth, almost all were spent believing that the earth is flat. We humans, as a species, are not very imaginative, nor particularly open to new ideas. What we know about nature is astonishing, if you think about it, yet perfectly mundane because we read it up for grades.

What if we could waterfill fate? Uncertainty is an enemy that we try to defend against. What if we could befriend it?

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.” - William Shakespeare

How can I know for sure that I know?

2006-07-30T00:04:00.000-07:00

Learning is an elusive thing. The other day I was reading an interview of Robert Gallager, a pioneering information theorist. The man had a really deep understanding of information theory, and he frankly says that it took him a lot of time to understand some really simple things... well, things that we tell each other are simple. My conjecture is that very few people understand the "simple things", but most of us do a pretty good job of keeping up the pretense.

For people in positions like mine, learning is an unending process. In my experience, learning by reading alone leaves too many gaps. Whenever I try writing what I think I understand, these gaps immediately become visible. Implementing, when possible, further enhances understanding. A person who has implemented the BCJR algorithm knows a lot more about it than a person who has read about it.

How to test the depth of understanding? Two tests are useful. One, you should be able to solve any problem based on the content. Two, try explaining it to a person (or an imaginary person) who does not know the content, but has the background to understand it. Both are time-consuming exercises. Gallager claimed that he enjoyed writing his book (which was an exercise in making material that he knew accessible) more than he enjoyed writing his papers. This is probably a trait to be found in every great teacher, but I believe that a penchant for simple, solid understanding can also go a long way into making a person a great researcher.

On wives, tractors, and compliments

2006-04-11T23:37:00.000-07:00

We went to visit tulip fields. An excellent location to take a picture of your wife or girlfriend. My wife, however, does not like her pictures taken. I pleaded a little, then settled for a tractor lying in the tulip fields, then pleaded a little more, and offered an inadequately composed compliment

'You are so much better looking than most tractors'

realized my mistake, but it was too late. I was told that this would go down in the history of compliments. We both had a good laugh afterwards.

I think I know...

2006-03-21T08:32:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we know, other times we think we know. There is a big class of people who cannot distinguish these two. To grow in knowledge, one must keep up the habit of entertaining doubt. To grow in power, however, the opposite is helpful.

Knowledge and confidence

2006-02-17T08:59:00.000-08:00

Bertrand Russel said in many different ways that knowledge and confidence are inversely related. Although a lot of knowledge can lead to genuine confidence, the amount that we know is tiny as compared to what is there to be known. A person immersed in the process of learning is acutely aware of the sea of ignorance that we are swimming in.

As a rule of thumb, therefore, when I begin to feel that I know much, it is usually a sign that I have been drifting away from learning. It is then time to go back to reading, a pen, and a piece of clean white paper.

fair experiments

2006-01-07T06:02:00.000-08:00

I was reading "The only guide to a winning investment strategy you'll ever need" by Larry E. Swedroe. A good book. I recommend reading it.

It started off well. Along the way, it got a little wordy, a little repetitive, but quite OK. Then came one story that disappointed me. In his attempt to deprecate technicians who try to predict future stock trends he came up with the following. A group of technicians were given randomly generated charts that were posed as stock price charts. The technicians made their predictions, and then it was disclosed that the stock trends had been randomly generated. HA HA. The author believes that this example will convince one and all that technical analysis is futile.

Perhaps it is true that it is impossible to make accurate predictions based on past stock price charts. BUT, the experiment does not show that. In fact, this prank is not an experiment. To give real stock price charts to the technicians and to compare predictions with what actually happens would have been an experiment.

A random number generator is capable of generating possibly any pattern. For example, I could have a random image generator that produces 2-D color pictures. Such an image generator is certainly capable of producing the Mona Lisa given enough attempts. Now, suppose that it does generate an image that looks like the Mona Lisa. I take it to an art expert and ask him what painting it looks like, and get the obvious answer. Then I reveal that the image was in fact randomly generated. HA HA.

Does it show that the art expert is an idiot? On the contrary, the person conducting such an experiment certainly is. The person is even insecure, scared of being proved wrong, so much so that he will take no chances, will ask no questions, will receive no answers, lest he receive the correct answer.

There are people with scientific temper, and then there are people who don't know the difference.

look before you leap

2006-01-02T00:08:00.000-08:00

Good intentions are important, yet never sufficient to ensure that the end will be good. In the end, consequences matter. Think of the end before beginning. Sometimes the end is unpredictable, yet often we simply blind ourselves by confusing the intended outcome with the likely (sometimes inevitable) outcome. There will be no dearth of people telling you exactly where you went wrong, after you have gone wrong. Never indulge in post-analysis but for building your own foresight.

Desiderata

2005-12-21T02:46:00.000-08:00

This poem has a quietly powerful calming effect. I first read it a long time ago, but I keep coming back to it.
http://hobbes.ncsa.uiuc.edu/desiderata.html

Things all grad students should do early on

2005-12-06T22:49:00.000-08:00

1. Create a file system for printed papers that you have read in alpahbetical (or any other indexable) order. When you read a paper, write comments on it with a pen. Mark main contributions, shortcomings, a bad assumption, an ingenious proof, and anything else that catches your eye. When done reading, put it in its place.

Take it from a veteran that in time you will remember almost no details of a paper that you had once read in depth. Keeping a commented version makes re-reading much faster. Not to mention that disorganized papers are nowhere to be found where needed, and are responsible for much paper wate.

2. If your work involves simulations, use version control of some kind. Softwares are available for every platform.

3. Again, if your work involves extensive simulations, learn about reusing code. Tons of well-written code is available online.

That way, you will get much more work done. Or, if you prefer, you will get more time to spend on "non-academic" activities such as blogging :)

Would you?

2005-12-02T01:01:00.000-08:00

Writing a chapter in a book is a lot like a marathon, where you start with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement, but the end drags...

So the book goes on. Right now I am making a glossary and an index. The index particularly inspires me to poetry.

"Let us sift through some more
Piles of manure
Lousy it may be
Our responsibility
But if the stakes were high
Would you? Would you?"

A matter of ethics, I will quote the original. Listen to the song. If nothing else, you will enjoy my poem more.

Inspired by: Would You?

Artist - Singin' in the Rain soundtrack
Album - Singin' in the Rain
Lyrics - Would You?

"He holds her in his arms.
Would you? Would you?
He tells her of her charms.
Would you? Would you?
They met as you and I,
And they were only friends.
But before the story ends..."

"He'll kiss her with a sigh.
Would you? Would you?
And if the girl were I
Would you? Would you?
And would you dare to say,
'Let's do the same as they.'?
I Would. Would you?"

"And would you dare to say,
'Let's do the same as they.'?
I Would. Would you?"

Cheers,

A problem with the pentacle

2005-11-07T22:02:00.000-08:00

A pentacle consists of 5 straight lines as shown above. A node is where any two of these lines intersect or meet. Therefore, a pentacle has 10 nodes.

That was the notation. Now the interesting part. Assume that a huge pentacle is drawn on the ground, and on each of its nodes, we have a gun with which you can shoot another node that is exactly two hops away. For example, in the figure, you can shoot A from C or vice versa, but you cannot shoot B from either A or C. Once a node has been shot, you cannot use it to shoot at another node. The goal is to start from any node and to keep shooting (only one shot at a time) until only one of the nodes remains. Can it be done? If so, how would you do that?

Hint: The solution to this problem is based on a simple strategy. Can you prove or disprove that this strategy is the only way to solve this problem?

Never pity yourself

2005-10-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

You cannot be among the top with a victim mentality.

- Aaz

Twelve Angry Men

2005-10-05T02:36:00.000-07:00

An old man's testimony has the potential to put a youth (the accused) in the electric chair. However, his testimony seems to disagree with certain facts. But why would he lie?

text from:
http://classweb.howardcc.edu/jbell/ideabook/angrymen.pdf

"...Juror #9 then said that he had watched the old man for a long time in court. He noticed that he had a tom jacket and walked dragging a leg. He believed that the old man had never had any recognition, that nobody knew him, and that it was a sad thing to be nothing, so maybe he made himself believe it for his "15 minutes of fame". Juror #5 then changed his vote to not guilty..."

In the entire movie, I found this to be the most astute bit of reasoning. Why? Because very few people can perceive and interpret human nature as it is. It may not be easy to commit murder, but it is incredibly easy for an unfulfilled person to push a man to the guillotine for "15 minutes of fame". Doesn't the person feel guilty? Of course not! He has wiped out all memory, and overwritten it with belief. Why should he care for a world that does not care for him?

conserve your muscles

2005-09-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

It takes seventeen muscles to smile and forty-three to frown,
and none to stare expressionlessly.

Make hay...

2005-09-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

May hay when the sun shines.
When the sun is not shining, don't make hay,
but for god's sake do something else!

At the reception

2005-08-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

We had a few uninvited guests at my wedding reception. Free food! At most weddings, they go unnoticed, since most people automatically assume that they are acquaintances of the in-laws, but our case was different. There were less than ten guests from my wife's side. So, these folx were easily identified.

What makes them easier to identify is that they eat voraciously, and if you stare at them, or approach them, then they try hard to disappear. In a place like Kolkata, it is not unlikely that they have been publicly bashed for this before. Poor people.

Anyway, three of them were cornered by the organizers of the event (none of this was actually witnessed by me). Two slipped and ran for their lives, fearing the worst. The third, we kept him seated under supervision of two of my biggest cousins, and let him go after most of our guests had left. Here is how the conversation with him went.

Who are you?

-I am related to your aunt?

What is the relation?

-I am related...

Where do you live?

-Tollygunj (a fairly large area)

What do you do?

-I am a driver.

What is your car's license plate number? (saying this my cousin pulled out a diary as if to check)

- W... (All license plates in West Bengal begin in WB...)

W... after that?

-(with a resigned look) X... Y... Z

Anyway, before we caught this fella, he had almost finished dinner. He was on the ice-cream. On the whole, he must not have felt too bad about the whole deal. Neither did we. :))

From J.K.Rowling

2005-07-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

"People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right." - Albus Dumbledore

On hunger and fishing

2005-07-10T03:22:00.000-07:00

The other day, we were discussing how bad governments sometimes deliberately paralyze the education system. Chris came up with a nice way of putting it:
“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime. But if you can prevent a man from learning how to fish, then he will be very grateful if you ever gave him a fish.”

While checking my phrasing of this proverb, I came across this. Not quite so enlightening, but entertaining nonetheless :)
http://www.amatecon.com/fish.html

Peaceful Coexistence

2005-06-27T22:53:00.000-07:00

Peaceful coexistence is a beautiful idea, but if I had to choose between peace and coexistence, I would choose peace.

History

2005-06-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

In one of Satyajit Ray's stories, the following was the description of a 'wise man'.

"He had extensive knowledge of the past, and he was aware of the present. Using these, he could predict the future."

Indeed, human nature has not changed much in thousands of years. Nor has the fundamental nature of our problems changed. We are faced with similar tough choices to make. As a consequence, in the words of Mark Twain:

"The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes."

I think that the single most important reason to study history is to help us understand human nature and instincts, so that we can predict the future, and possibly take steps to prepare for it. Sadly though, history is never taught with such a goal...

2005-06-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

The nature of nature
is not limited by the limits
of our wits.

Workplaces

2005-05-21T03:25:00.000-07:00

It helps to have more than one place where one can work. Sometimes, working conditions in a place can become a barrier to productivity. A simple example is when you and your officemate(s) are comfortable at very different temperatures. Sound familiar? I have personally been lucky in this regard, but not everybody is so fortunate. Of course, temperature is a small issue. Bigger things crop up from time to time, making life miserable.

Ideally, a person should be able to work in any circumstance. But then, none of us is an ideal person.

Love her...

2005-05-10T02:15:00.000-07:00

Love her the way she likes being loved, and she will love you the way she likes loving you.

Belief

2005-05-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

Several movies have put forward the idea that if you can really believe that you can do something, then you can do it. The idea certainly appeals to our minds... such power... if only we could believe!

But untrue as the proposition may be, there is great power in belief. Indeed, a mathematician might say that although the existence of belief may not be sufficient to achieve an arbitrary goal, it is nonetheless necessary. That almost sounds pedantic :)

Time and again I have pondered over the nature of god, or a supreme power, and I have arrived at the same conclusion that such a power is unlikely to be interested in human affairs, and give instructions such as those given by most religions. God lives in our beliefs. We think of god subject to the limitations of our wits. God is as powerful as our beliefs. And the power of belief, although it may not enable us to violate nature's laws, is still enormous. It is the power of belief that enabled dictators to justify the killing of tens of millions of people, and it is the power of belief that helps billions of human beings to lead a reasonably honest life in a world where there is little other than human law to punish villains.

question and answer

2005-04-08T00:58:00.000-07:00

Q: What would you like to be when you grow up?
A: I would like to be lucky!

...the team worker...

2005-03-29T00:25:00.000-08:00

his idea of teamwork was a team that worked on his ideas...

Twin primes

2005-03-23T23:25:00.000-08:00

For a moment I thought I had proved the twin primes conjecture...

The conjecture is that there are infinitely many prime pairs differing by 2. eg. 5,7 ; 11,13 etc.

I started with Euclid's proof of the infiniteness of primes.
Assume for a contradiction that there are finitely many primes. Without loss of generality, assume that there are exactly n primes p1,p2, ... pn in increasing order.
Then, (p1.p2...pn + 1) must be a prime since it has no prime factors, contradicting our assumption.

In the same way, (p1.p2...pn - 1) must also be a prime if n>1.

Doesn't that give us a pair of primes (p1.p2...pn - 1), (p1.p2...pn + 1) for every n that differ by 2?

No, it does not. Why?

TV for sale

2005-03-15T13:02:00.000-08:00

Some people... anyway, here's an ad I saw recently:

TV for sale. It used to work great until last week when the channel got stuck at number 3. $25.

Hmmmmmmm. $25 per channel. 100 channels. Do the math.

Photo rules

2005-03-14T23:01:00.000-08:00

I screwed up. I screwed up big time. There are (at least) 3 fundamental rules for taking good pictures. To consistently take good pictures, one must check these 3 quickly before each click in the following sequence:

1. correct choice of f (aperture) for a desired effect
2. correct exposure
3. hold camera steady

Other rules may be
4. choose proper film for the photo setting eg. 400-1600 for night pictures with people
5. use grad filters if necessary
and many others.

I screwed up in 2. I took a picture of a small bright sunlit flower in front of a dark shaded background. My experience told me that unless I underexposed considerably, my subject (the flower) would be a blur of bright light. I underexposed 2 full stops. The image came out nice. From then on, until the end of the roll, and well into the next one, I kept taking pictures 2 stops underexposed... some of my best compositions came out horribly dark.

taking responsibility

2005-03-09T15:41:00.000-08:00

I was watching TV and came across a reality show 'Runway' in which some designers compete through their fashion creations. Today's episode was about teamwork, and one of them got eliminated for being the weakest on that count. But that's not really what happened.

It came down to two persons. One had spent several hours crying because she cracked up under pressure. The other simply said that she was slower at sewing than the others and perhaps she herself should be eliminated. The judges agreed, saying that this being an industry, you are supposed to sell yourself, not eliminate yourself. The crying lady got another life.

The decision seemed ironic to me. Here is a person who is willing to take responsibility, who is humble, who instinctively dislikes to pass blame, and who has a kind heart, and she is eliminated on a test of teamwork! I think that I should love to work with such a person as my partner, rather than work with someone who is emotionally immature, or is prone to throwing tantrums.

Somehow, American TV has time and again given me the impression that qualities such as humility, willingness to share responsibility for failures, and not passing blame, are considered weaknesses in this culture. That is perhaps not true is actual work environments, because without these, teamwork is impossible.

Some Buddhist schools, on the other hand, cater to the opposite extreme. Taking responsibility is held sacred. In some of their teaching stories, I came across scenarios where an individual took responsibility quietly and calmly for mistakes that were perhaps not entirely his. And he was served as a model to readers. Isn't is true that taking responsibility for mistakes that you have not committed is a form of dishonesty? It misleads others and just happens to hurt you also. Perhaps the message of the story was that when it comes to taking responsibility, you must check your tendency to get defensive and make excuses. But the example came out as a little extreme to me.

The question

2005-03-06T11:40:00.000-08:00

The question is not, ‘‘Is there life after death?’’ The question is, ‘‘Is there life before death?’’

Bouncing ball

2005-03-03T15:32:00.000-08:00

quoted from 'The Teaching Stories of Grand Master Wei Chueh'
***
One of the monks was troubled with his wandering thoughts. Not knowing how to deal with them, he had no peace and asked the Grand Master what to do.

The Grand Master said, "Thoughts come, and thoughts go. Just ignore them. Like a bouncing ball, if you don't hit it, it won't bounce."
***

To add to the message of the story above, I quote from an abstract of Zen meditation "Repelling wandering thoughts is like bouncing a ball-the harder you try, the greater the force it bounces back. The right way of dealing with wandering thoughts is to ignore them."

Of birds and bushes

2005-02-25T21:05:00.000-08:00

"A bird in hand is worth two in a bush"

But a bird in a bush is so much more exciting!

HR Interview

2005-02-23T15:02:00.000-08:00

I just attended a talk on getting a job. The speaker was an HR person. I knew most of the things, but some of them got reemphasized, such as :
a. The need for a 1 page resume, and what essentials it must contain-experience,skills; and what it need not contain-publications, courses, teaching or other unrelated experience
b. In the age of databases, the need for putting in keywords that a computer can search out
c. 80% of all jobs are unadvertised; the remaining 20% receives the bulk of applications
d. The importance of networking

But the most valuable insight I go was regarding HR interviews. As a technical person, one may believe that an HR interview is less important than the others, but rest assured, the HR interviewer does not share the belief. Any person who is interviewing you has the authority to reject your candidacy, or else the interview would not be taking place. The speaker mentioned behavior traits that are strongly undesirable:
a. One or two word answers
b. Long and chatty answers, sometimes with personal information
c. Condescending attitude
d. Answers full of technical jargon. It is important to speak in the language of the other person to get information across. Speaking in terms that don't make sense to the listner conveys the same amount of information as saying nothing. Also, it is rude.

Remember that communication skills are valued by all employers.

The maze

2005-02-22T20:17:00.000-08:00

Have you ever solved a maze? The childish ones, where one has to find a way for the bunny rabbit to reach a bunch of juicy carrots? It was mostly easy, wasn't it? It was easy. It was easy because we could look down at the entire maze, and our eyes would find a countinuous path between two points. Now, had we been inside the maze, unable to see past boundaries, life would be so much harder.

Sometimes, life is like a maze, confusing, frustrating, and it helps to detach oneself and to look at life from an elevated position. From there, one can see the options and the paths clearly. From there, one can see past the barriers of confusion and doubt.

Knowing what to do vs. doing it

2005-02-14T21:48:00.000-08:00

Most adults have a fairly good idea of what they should be doing. Few do it. Our brain, which is so good at distinguising the correct from the wrong, the desirable from the undesirable, gives us a teeny weeny bit of self control. We repeatedly do things that we know are harmful to ourselves.

With many of us, the problem is addiction, which is more common than we may care to admit. Watching a certain TV show regularly is a relatively harmless one. Playing a video game continuously until it is won is more serious. Video games are a >$10 billion industry.If you can play 15 minutes each day, it is fine. But then, you are not the subject of this posting :)

Another common manifestation of our lack of self control is laziness. Amazing how some people get away with it. If you are in a job, you surely have seen a specimen. Does absolutely nothing and blabbers nonsense without giving any thought at meetings. Managers! Not necessarily.

While my car was broken, I had to commute for a few weeks. I would see the train from a distance. Two parallel roads to cross, the walk signs still red, the train pulling in, the knowledge that it would pull out in less than 30 seconds; getting to it almost impossible. Amazingly, when I decided to try, more often than not, I would make it just in time. If only I had the same spirit in my research... that would be cool! I'm trying... I'm trying...

A silly joke

2005-02-11T21:11:00.000-08:00

Sorry, this one is only for folx who understand Hindi. It came with one of the many mails that go around.

Ek gadha ped par chadha to oopar baithe haathi ne poochha, "Tu kyun chadha ?"

Gadhe ne kaha, "Apple khaane".

To haathi ne bola "Lekin buddhu, yeh to Mango tree hai!"

Phir gadhe ne kaha, "Maloom hai, main apple saath laaya hoon."

-Did this make you laugh? Maybe not. The first time I read it, I found it hilarious. The haathi, gadha, Apple, Mango, the situation - all add up to it.

Good and evil

2005-02-10T23:07:00.000-08:00

This thought has occurred to me in the past.

It never feels good to be wronged. But people respond to it in different ways. Some feel bad, and resolve not to wrong others in the same way. Others decide that since they have been treated unfairly, they will treat others in a like manner.

That is perhaps the point where the good and the evil part ways.

Hi and welcome!

2005-02-08T17:30:00.000-08:00

This is my first post to my blog.

I was reading quotations by G.B.Shaw, and came across some witty ones. Maybe they were funny cos they reminded me of people I knew. In any case, here are a few :)

"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides,the pig likes it."

"She had lost the art of conversation, but not, unfortunately, the power of speech."

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it."