Changed my Job

Its been an age since I blogged. And for good reasons this time. Had a hell of a time

figuring out what to do with my life . The QLC that started a year back is extended

itself. After months of pondering, I decided to explore interests ouf of computer vision

for a while. Then got kicked by a couple of leading software companies due to my computer

vision practitioner-cum-researcher tag. Thats always hard on the ego as I always thought

I am good at computer science (thats a belief). So after considering several options I

have moved to Adobe. I joined their Noida office this week. It was quite emotional leaving

Sarnoff/Serial as it was my first job and I learnt a lot about life at that place. I failed

to control my tears. That was when I felt it takes courage for a man to cry. Its not at all

easy. Having the balls to admit ones sensitive side is a big deal. Thats over, however.

The good news is that Adobe seemed a nice place so far. I am right now in love with the

place. Next judgement.. after the honeymoon .

Lot of things happened in between and I cant ramble on everything. So this post is pretty

much for announcing the job switch. Looking forward to a nice time at Noida.

Its been an age since I blogged. And for good reasons this time. Had a hell of a time figuring out what to do with my life . The QLC that started a year back extended itself, I guess. My job at Sarnoff/Serial was too good to lose. However I had a feeling that computer vision is no longer interesting enough to make me put in 100% effort. After months of pondering, I decided to explore interests out of computer vision for a while.  So after considering several options ( and after getting kicked at a couple of places due to my vision researcher-practitioner tag), I have moved to Adobe. I joined their Noida office this week. It was quite emotional leaving Sarnoff/Serial as it was my first job and I learnt a lot about life at that place. I failed to control my tears. That was when I felt it takes courage for a man to cry. Its not at all easy. Having the balls to admit ones sensitive side is a big deal. Thats over, however. The good news is that Adobe seemed a nice place so far. I am right now in love with the  place. Next judgment.. after the honeymoon .

Lot of things happened in between and I cant ramble on everything. So this post is pretty much for announcing the job switch. Looking forward to a nice time at Noida.

Ragging : a curse that just wont go.

I am shocked at the continued news of deaths due to ragging. Its is perplexing how such a brutal and insensitive culture (if such s**t can be called that) was allowed to evolve in the first place. Even SCs orders have failed to curb this evil. And the news reminded me of my own experience with it.

Emotional Abuse : IIIT-H gave me the first taste of this stupid (and thats a mild expression of what I think of it) tradition. Even when IIIT-H had a strong policy against ragging, the so called mild ragging/healthy-interaction was a gigantic culture shock to me. If the so called mild-ragging involves making freshmen crawl on their knees in public,  I shudder to imagine what the real ragging that happens in an average campus will be like. Seniors, at least during those nightmarish months, used to look like psychopaths to me.  For a rural kid brought up with orthodox values, this could be a shattering experience. The physical violence is one thing. The hit that your self-esteem and dignity takes is a thing that stays with you for years.  I remember my own case : I wanted to react against this atrocious stuff but saw the remaining guys getting along and had to keep silent, I was miles away from home/parents and unwilling to disturb my parents with this, I was afraid to talk to a senior for academic help fearing another session of abuse.. heck, it was a life I hated to the core.

A culture that passes on: What surprised me was the attitude of my fellow freshmen who refused to complain saying that ‘its common yaar’. And I guess that the was the moment when the seeds for the next year’s ragging were being sown : repressed feelings that are waiting to get a release next year.  Over the next year or so, friends and some friendly senior have tried to convince me that ‘it is all okay, man. It is college!!’. I think this is the core of the problem : treating something that is abusive, immoral and disgusting as something that is normal. At first, I refused and took an ultra-aggressive stance on everything from birthday bumps to cheating with assignments. But in every case, I had run in to the danger of becoming an outcast since I was not conforming to the so called tradition.  And eventually, I had to give in and merge in to the mainstream. But the scars that the whole episode left on me and the impression I formed of some of my seniors stayed with me. And recent ghastly news opened up the old wounds. 

Solutions?? : I personally held a belief that harsh punishments both academic and otherwise would be a good deterrent. But toothless implementation does not seem to be helping. The  merits of moral education along the lines of Jeevan Vidya have been debated quite intensely and I am convinced that such training from a very early age would help a great deal.  In fact,  I have been looking for parties who would bring up the issue of ragging as well as conscription after +2. But unfortunately, the second issue was brought up by  Varun Gandhi, who at this stage, is not acceptable on account of his secular credentials!!. But I hope soon, our politicians will find a lasting solution to this issue… only, one of their kids needs to go through a traumatic experience. After all, youth with a strong character is everything for a country  as Swami Vivekananda said long ago!!

Caste, beard and a pleasant encounter

So long, blog!!  I have a lot of catching up to do as its been more than a month since my last post. Pulkit brought to my attention that my posts are increasingly revolving around social issues and not merely serving as updates about my life, which I thought was very positive development . So here are the thoughts :

Wither the end of the caste system: Given the title I do not need to say much, right? A recent trip to my home state has shown me how deep rooted this evil system is. Naturally, the elections turned out to be the primary preoccupation of most of the people back home. And thats where I ran in to this curse that still plagues our people. I have foreseen it, in a way, when I wrote this and it looks like the caste equations that used to plague North India and Tamil Nadu have finally made their way in to Andhra Pradesh. Quite interestingly, the outspoken and much controversial supreme court judge Markandey Katju caused quite a stir by claiming that the caste system is on its last legs. After my visit, I thought.. gimme a break!!.  Forget remote hamlets that are still trapped in the hegemonies of the feudal era, the caste system is alive and kicking even in the most modern places of our country.  I have been shocked to see that even educated people (whom I otherwise deem to be wonderful human beings) try to convince me that we need to consider the caste factor when making decisions concerning political allegiance, marriages and social interactions. Its a deeply disturbing trend. In case of AP, all Chiru’s party  seems to have managed to wake up all the dormant castes to form their own outfits and cry hoarse about injustice to their caste. I dont know about the positives but his party sure added a negative aspect to AP politics. Interestingly the Weaker Sections Empowerment Forum comprising of stalwarts like anti-caste-system ideologist Kancha Ilaiah praised Chiru’s outfit for empowering weaker sections by giving them a big chunk of tickets in the election. So they want to kill it and yet want it to remain alive. So when will this system meet its end? And btw, my support is for JP’s Loksatta.

The Beard and the Taliban: The same Justice  Katju got in to news when he equated sporting a beard with Talibanization in a recent case. His remarks were certainly appalling. But it appears he was right in his judgment. The debate on whether beard is an indispensable part of Islam or not is quite delicate and would certainly strain some sensitive nerves. From my own understanding of Islam, one thing is  sure that sporting a beard falls under Sunnah (manners of The Prophet) and whether its a Fard or not is disputed even among Islamic scholars themselves. In practice, a good number of modern Moslems do not sport a beard. Afterall, Allah will judge one by the intent of his/her heart and I personally deem that anybody framing rules on His behalf is actually committing a sin against Him. However,  the inconclusiveness of this debate is not the basis of my support for the judgment. Personally, I believe that a school should be a place that promotes equality and should never, actively or passively, allow things that would raise boundaries between those who seek knowledge.  A school where Hindu’s insist on wearing Saffron, Digambar Jains insist on attending classes naked and Sikhs insist carrying long Kirpaans stands a faint chance of becoming a temple of learning rather than a place where religious beliefs clash regularly. So if religious practices (particularly the ones that have to with physical appearance which is an immediate stimulus) need to be kept on hold in the quest for knowledge, then so be it. Even The Prophet urges us all to take pains to learn about God’s creation and in search of knowledge (’Seek knowledge even unto China’).  It is painful that most people ignore the spiritual aspects and true intent of his teachings while trying hard to stick to his physical manners, deluding themselves that it is what earns them Allah’s blessings. The case in particular seems to be born out of the desire for attention by the concerned student. I doubt if he was following the other manners of the Prophet by doing this.

A Pleasant Meeting : It happened on a my flight from Delhi to Bangalore. As I was immersed in reading Freakonomics, I noticed the elderly passenger beside me was performing Salaat (Namaz, as its popular in India). Later on, we went on to discuss a number of things pertaining to religion, faith and a whole lot of things. I was surprised to know that he was pilot from Yemen who is in India on business.. so deeply spiritual and yet so modern as to fly a plane and use an i-phone. Even after years of reading and interest in theological issues, I learned things that are worth a ton from him. His lamentation on the abuse of the concept of Jihad, his view that Allah does not approve what extremists like Taliban are doing today, his disapproval of Israel’s actions, his criticism of Pakistan’s delusion that its being Islamic and his belief that prophets other than those mentioned in the scriptures of Abrahamic religions could exist have all taken me by surprise and filled me with hope that Islam’s true message is still alive in the world. The interfaith-dialog that Allah ordained centuries ago might still take place. And the refusal to take part in it is partly why He is punishing nations like Pakistan where extremists are now taking refuge.  May His light guide them toward the right path!!.

Damn.. I am an Alarmist

Two events spurred me in to write this thing : i) The protectionist tendencies from the agent of change, Obama and ii) The recent change of views on India at major credit rating companies S&P and Moody’s. They took me back to 2004-05 as the first taste of gains of free markets was sweeping India in the form outsourcing and offshoring. I was reading two books with nearly opposite views  on Globalization : Tom Friedman’s The World is Flat and Joseph Stiglitz’s Globalization and its Discontents. Obviously, reactions to such book will depend on the times at which we are reading them. Friedman’s unbridled enthusiasm of a wall-less world that allows everybody to compete against everybody not only made sense at that time but you also would feel that the world ought to be that way. The first of his flatteners is  the fall of Berlin wall. It is the most recognized symbol of the beginning of the end of communism (after more than four decades after WW-II). However, looking at the it now, It took only 20 years since the fall of that wall for capitalism to give its rudest shock to the world. As the world reels under the crippling impact of the follies of one over-consuming, over-spending and overwhelmingly greedy country the issues raised by Stiglitz start getting importance. Only a little too late, I am afraid. 

Positive Imagination..Only!! : As noble as the intentions of Globalization might be, imagining only the positive outcomes of it and never thinking of the ways that it could go wrong seems to be a great folly. True, the turn around of economies of India and China can be attributed mostly to free markets.The flat world enabled India’s brainy lot to compete with everybody else, the cost factor turning the odds heavily in their favor. India has accumulated reasonable wealth and did it relatively fast. But that is only half the story. Even if the current crisis had not raised its  head, the huge disparity (wealth distribution in India defies even the ubiquitous 80-20 rule) and the lack of infrastructure for sustainable growth give us the other half.. and yet that is only the best case scenario. As the recession deprives the jobs of poor workers who are being told that they are losing their job not because they didn’t work hard enough but because of deeds of someone at the other end of the world.. people they have not seen, they have not known were capable of influencing their lives.. It is hard to justify the optimism associated with free markets. Sure, the advocates of globalization (lets call them Globalists) have visualized job losses and other ills due to increased automation and efficiency. They even had remedies for it. What they did not realize were that the remedies were based on certain assumptions whose validity was never questioned.

The ever growing pie and the ever free world : The remedies strongly advocated by the Globalists go as follows : With the walls taken down there will be greater access to markets, hence greater consumption and hence newer jobs will be created that can feed those who have lost the jobs. All governments across the world have to do was to ensure that the population that lost the jobs will have opportunities to diversify their skill set and acquire the new jobs. The jobs of people on the frontiers of knowledge like innovators and researches will anyway remain safe. So there you go.. two big assumptions. First, the pie will grow forever and everyone gets to eat. Second, the walls will never rise again and everyone will have access to most of the jobs. Now, exactly the reverse is happening : Global consumption has gone down… every index from the troubles of manufacturing sector to the struggling retail chains tells this story. So the pie is actually shrinking!! And countries are rushing to save their own piece. So the quintessential evangelist of capitalism, USA, turns to protectionism by saying outsourcing companies will not get any bailout money. Pranab Mukherjee went to the extent of suggesting companies to save jobs (its a matter of time before the suggestion turns in to warning and then in to a  whiplash!!). So when the assumptions break down who suffers the most?.. I know the answer but Sainath’s article will tell you better.

Continuing on the matter who of suffers the most, Friedman’s own book suggests a way for American Middle Class to survive in the flat world: New forms of training to create a new middle that consists of collaborators,  Adapters, Innovator etc. More or less the same holds for India.. only we need to upgrade the skills of not  some decently educated low-skilled population but a near-illiterate population to the same level. So before  all the glittering white-collar jobs vanish or are lost to Africa or Vietnam, it is left to India to raise its own level and move up the survival-chain. Nice plan!! Assuming enough political will and enough resources that can be allocated to development and welfare programs this could have been a possibility. But again, thats optimism all the way and things didnt go that way!! In the wake of the latest downgrading of India outlook by S&P and Moody’s, things will get costlier for us and fetching money would become even more difficult and god knows where currency will end up (remember East Asia).  China on the other hand has begun the process of securing its future long back with several universities developing along the lines of Tsinghua in addition many of its top universities, many more second rung ones and strong development programs . Sadly, a billion Indians have one IISc and few IITs to boast of. Universal health-care and social security are things that we can only dream of. And given our fiscal scenario and the pace at which even flagship programs like Bharat Nirman are moving.. I am afraid,  before we realize,.. all the good times would be over. So really, whose crisis is it anyway?

Was it Globalization? : All this makes me wonder if India’s good-bye to an autarky based model in early 1990’s could turn out to be the greatest disaster in its post-independence history. Sure, twenty dramatic years that have got us in to the list of top nations is great. But if all that flight ends up in getting us to crash land then I guess its time to examine the real nature of the Globalization that we had been following. One thing that perplexes me is the portrayal of 1990’s reforms as a route that India chose. The fact is that the world bank and IMF have effectively steamrolled us to accept it and our pathetic forex reserves left us with no option (Well, I could be wrong.. because at that time I was about 8 year old and I can only see things in retrospect). After that, directly or indirectly our fate was largely tied to that  of the US economy. All the decoupling theories are now vanishing. Even as we rejoice in the fact that we rely on our domestic consumption which is still healthy.. its only a matter of time before the trickle-down effect takes place and our consumption levels decline. Job losses in Europe and associated social turmoil (read protests and racism),  Japan’s nth recession, Our own textile and manufacturing industry.. all point to the same thing. So now, what appears to me is that in 1990 we were really saying “We fledglings commit ourselves to learn to fly by clinging on this great eagle called America. However, should it choose to shake us off we agree to be on our own”.. and I am afraid the fledglings are going to have to crash. In worst case, a dirty class war that splits the country in to several pieces some communist, some capitalist and some mixed can ruin us. In the best case.. anything could happen and thats why I am still an optimist-alarmist. 

Quite depressing.. eh. I warned you. 

Recent Readings : The Zahir.

Reflections on the Mangalore Pub Incident

As ever, Karnataka manages to remain in news for being a haven for right-wing activists. And once again, as in the case of attacks on Christians, the liberal voices successfully managed to avoid a debate on the core issue while painting the incident as a dastardly act against women and their freedom. Having being labeled an MCP for daring to question such stuff at college, I will first make a disclaimer : I am absolutely against violence against anybody and believe that each individual is entitled to make his/her own choices concerning lifestyle, faith or  whatever. However, if things worked in a way as simple as that, then much of today’s conflicts would not have started in the first place. In fact, the very conflict arises from the freedom of choice: The Taliban fiercely defends what it proposes because it deems it right and, to them, it is a violation of their freedom of choice if we say that it is wrong. To us, it appears that they are violating others freedom. This only indicates that something is wrong with the perception of freedom of choice (at least on one side, if not both). So let me try to put down the various threads of thoughts going on in my mind.

The first thing that we ought to acknowledge is that there is a prevailing segregation of humans that is predominantly based on some similarities. I don’t think anybody ever attempted to define a set of similarities that formed a basis for this  segregation. In fact it appears that these groups were somehow ‘in sync’ even before they realized  they formed a group. They shared physical, intellectual and other non-tangible resources, their  habits, perceptions of the world and what not. Whatever be the reason behind the evolution of these  cultures, the human race has displayed the remarkable ability to celebrate this diversity. This  diversity is indeed what makes the world so colorful. The spirituality of Indians, the fierce independence of the Pashtuns, the sporting spirit of the Caribbeans.. each culture gave the world a different color. Within each group, culture is the social fabric that binds people together and imparts stability. When an individual breaks away from acceptable norms in such a group a response is bound to happen : it could be assimilation (and thus morphing of the culture itself ) and equally likely is a conflict. In the end, a pragmatic individual would remember his/her reliance on the group around him and would make choices that would keep him in harmony with the group around him. This does not mean that one has to sacrifice his/her liberty at all : There is a very fine line between freedom and absolute chaos. If there were no social constraints, then humans would be no different from a pack of wolves willing to feed on each other. The need for such pragmatism is more pronounced in our country where wealth and new cultural flavors flowed in a relatively short time (catalyzed by free markets and the advent of internet) opening new avenues for people to indulge themselves in. Cultures  would clash, inevitably. Liberal and Conservative voices will rise with equal voracity and I don’t think  there is anything wrong in either side’s argument. The fact that there was violence at the Mangalore pub should not take our focus away from the more important issue. Instead of engaging in a non-partisan  debate, our media (as usual, I might add) once again is eager to play the champion of the liberals. They seem to be telling the youth ‘Its OK to drink and dance semi-naked. It happens all the time in New York’  rather than urging them to be mindful of the impact of their actions on the people around them. There  is really nothing like sacrificing freedom here. It is as natural as choosing not to sing loudly at  midnight. When the sight of a skimpily dressed well-off urban girl stokes the sexual insecurities of a  poor village-born porter-boy, I find it hard to side with either of them. I think its time we  appreciate the role of culture and the impact of cultural differences and act accordingly.

The second thing concerns the ‘women’ factor. Yes, the incident is certainly about women. But it is not so much about the freedom of women than it is about alcoholism among women and the central role of women in the Indian Society. It would be foolish to think that Indians haven’t come to terms with the fact the women can be as good as men in every aspect of life… at a time when women are the holding the key to every kind of power Political (Sonia, Maya ), Economical(Chanda Kochar, Kalpana Morparia.. the list is  too long here) and what not. The issue is that the ills of alcoholism and drugs etc really don’t care about the sex of a person. Just as an alcoholic man is more likely to make bad father, bad husband and a  bad citizen an alcoholic woman is more likely to make bad mother, bad wife and a bad citizen. And given the proven impact of such habits on the offspring the issue deserves an attention. It concerns the very foundation of our family system. A woman does not have to embrace the western lifestyle to be successful. In fact, the woman I mentioned are modern and successful but their lifestyle can hardly be described as western (despite the fact that one of them is Italian by birth). They rarely become the role models to our young pub-going, loose and forward women. Again, let me repeat.. its a matter of choice. Everyone, is entitled to make their own chocies. But when somebody talks against women taking up drinking, it is very likely out of a concern for a pillar of our  society, not because they want to curb the freedom of women. Whatever the extreme feminists say, it is a fact that in most middle class homes in our country the woman holds the family together. The middle class woman multitasks, manages the home and finances, lends emotional support to the family members,  shapes the character of her kids amongst zillion other things. I doubt if a pub-going, drinking woman would play these roles equally well. In fact it is highly unlikely that she will. Of course the same applies to men too. But the negative impact is far greater in the case of women, particularly in our society. However, in either case, it is a matter of making responsible choices and not sacrificing freedom.

The third. I think the white-boot-licking attitude is so strongly is embedded in our psyche that we treat anything western as ‘posh’,'modern’,'advanced’.. or whatever. My personal experience lends strong support to this. Pub going folks seems to derive their value from the number of parties they have attended, the number of page-3 people they know, the number of fashion accessories they own/aware of, the strongest drink they ever tried or their of knowledge cock-tail composition. The inability to maintain enduring relationships is a hallmark of this lot (most of them, if not all). Perhaps I am passing a  judgment here.. but frankly, I think we Indians are quick to embrace the flashy and negative aspects of western culture while the good things like meritocracy, equal-opportunity, professionalism rarely are adopted. Quite bad, if you ask me. The white boot-licking is a striking feature that is apparent  elsewhere : ‘White Tiger’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ both sucked big time (in my opinion) and I met a lot of folks who shared the view but the voices are always stifled you see!! The fear of being labeled with adjectives like ‘chauvinist’,'old school’,'jealous’,'conservative’ is too great for them to speak out.

N.B : None of my views should be construed as an endorsement/approval/justification of the attack at Mangalore. Beating women is a disgusting act which only cowards would engage in. But sending underwear in retaliation is equally cheap and absurd. Of course, I am awaiting the drama that is set to unfold on Feb 14th.

Recent Reading : Letters to Sam , Only the Paranoid Survive,  Diary of a Young Girl

New Year Musings

I spent a good part of last month away from work. Home seems to be getting sweeter every time I go there. And of course there are tons of things that I wanted to blog about. Here is a summary of the ruminations.. (some might be elaborated in later posts)

End of a nightmare.. beginning of another?: I had the luck of welcoming the new year with a prayer along with my parents (The small peaceful local church seemed a better place than a boisterous party. Watching my niece slip in to sleep as we prayed was a bonus). There is a general feeling that the year 2008 has been one of the worst years for the country : terrorism, recession, scandals and what not (refer to Ramachandra Guha’s articles in outlook if you are more interested in this). Although my family(including me) had a reasonably good year, we could not feel  joyous about the previous year. I fervently wished for a different 2009 and within a week all the wrong omens have come : The blasts in Assam, terror threats  (to IT companies at Bangalore  and the Expat congregation at Chennai)  and Satyam’s downfall only seem to the beginning of another nightmare. I can only hope that the pattern would be different for the rest of the year, but with elections around I do not think it will change course.

Expats, please back your country: As if all that frustration was not enough, that sick egoist b**** Arundhati Roy (I normally do not resort to such words, but read her articles on 26/11 and you will see I am actually being kind) carries out another blatantly illogical attack on the State of India almost justifying the Mumbai attacks. It seems she wants to use this opportunity to become a Chomsky of India. Heard about the fox that tried to become the tiger?  I was a fan of her at the beginning. It would have been so much better had she stuck to her booker-winning fiction novels than torturing us with her wisdom like this. And what’s worse, I found the mails agreeing with her were mostly from Expats.  If these are the views of  our ambassadors to the world (according to Pranab Mukherjee) then God save our country. Look at the way the China and Israel are able to act strongly to protect their interests. This, despite the existence of warped brains like Roy who see every incident through their cynical lens. Its because of the strong backing from their diaspora. Our folks abroad need to learn lot from the way the Jewish Community throws its weight behind Israel. Power and Influence that is never used is no power at all. If not now, when are we going to assert ourselves.

The mess in my homeland: With all the recent talk of extra-ordinary progress and welfare activities of unprecedented magnitude in Andhra Pradesh, I thought I would see a shining state (and of course, an equally shining Telangana). What I came across however was a state with  a corrupt, populist, bankrupt and misguided government, equally corrupt state machinery, caste polarizations (thanks to recent political developments),  corporate scandals, squabbling press that has lost a sense of professionalism, land-grabbings and the traditional problem of farmers. The list is much longer. I will a write a detailed post about this shocking state of affairs later.

Counting the blessings: This is the regular thing… here is the list

i) Got my degree . I was the first to receive both my BTech and MS at the IIIT’s convocation (although I defended in 2007).

ii) Lot of travelling (India Only) : Delhi, Pune, Chenni, Mysore, Ooty and Hampi are the places. Started making business trips .

iii) Kept my job. Learnt a lot at work. Company spun off from the US one. Effectively a start-up now, but thats all the  more interesting.

iv) Ended a relationship. No regrets .

v) Moved to a new and cool home.

vi) Started commuting to office by environment-friendly means (bole to walking/cycling).

vii) Still going strong on that physique thing. Built a six-pack abs (and realized its not worth the effort unless you are into show-biz). Hope recession wont hit my gym budget.

viii) Improved my general knowledge and social consciousness.. thanks to wikipedia and  TED.

ix) Made a habit of praying (just to be safe )… although agnostic tendencies are showing up .

yeah thats it.. just short of double digit!! (hence  switched roman numerals ).

Trip to Hampi

Break to Blogging : Over the past few weeks I have been cursing myself for daring to promise a sequence on posts on conversions. My busy schedule at work precluded my attempts to get back to blogging. However last week was kinder but by then the hot topic is no longer conversions but the Mumbai attacks.  So I guess that post has to wait .

Hampi : Meanwhile, some colleagues inspired to take a trip to the world heritage site Hampi. Its a bit difficult to describe the feelings that the place evokes. I was expecting some old stone structures and erotic sculptures that are so typical to Indian tourist spots. However, Hampi has lot more to offer. The old Hampi (erstwhile capital of Vijayanagara empire, whose ruins are the main attraction) seems to be the ultimate evolved city.. complete in every aspects with guard towers, markets, entertainment theaters, amphitheaters, swimming pools, public baths, dancing halls, secret underground meeting halls, dining halls for soldiers, irrigation system (a rare place where you get to see the old-time aqueducts) and numerous temples. It is simply breathtaking.. here are the pics if you are curious(not annotated). If you are interested in medieval history its all the more interesting. I spotted several foreigners who were actually taking notes at the site . Going around on a bicycle is the preferred way to get a good view of the place.

Message to Terrorists : While I was roaming around, I noticed an overwhelming number tourists in the VILLAGE (yes, despite all its past glory Hampi is a remote village where mobile network and power supply are damn scarce). Hampi is practically an Indian village  with foreign population in that sense.  At the local Virupaksha temple I got to talk to this Czech lady residing is US. Inevitably our conversation turned to Mumbai and she said “See, I am not at all scared. I love India and would like to visit it many times over. I think this only worsens the image of Pakistan, not that they have a great image anyway!!”. I replied with gratitude “That’s the best message we can give them”. Its a revelation to know, what the world thinks of Pakistan (Dont think I am generalizing, the lady was pretty well educated and seemed to have a knowledge of world affairs).

Nice Gestures : And just before the trip I was of course very very angry and anguished by the attacks. And inevitably, the thought crept in : ‘Lets see what Indian Muslims have to say now’. For a day or two nothing happened while the regular terrorist apologists were busy painting the incident as Zionist conspiracy while some others even dared to take the you-deserved-it tone. I wondered why people like Shabana Azmi who accuse Indian polity to be biased dont come out now and a show that they really belong here. Yeah, yeah I know I am sounding too rightist.. but given the situation and the suspicion with which the Indian Muslim community is looked upon, a nationalistic gesture is the most desirable thing. Fortunately, slowly but surely many Muslims have spoken out… the three best gestures (in my opinion) being i) Refusal to bury the terrorists (Although I wonder if its in line with human dignity) ii) Suspension of Black Day protests and iii) Making Bakr-Eid Celebrations a low key affair. Personally, I see this kind of reaction superior to arguments like “why do we have to prove our loyalty every time?”. In a polarized nation, such gestures should be seen as a sign of maturity and courage and not as sign of fear.

Some pics on Mumbai have appeared on Boston Bigpicture : attacks, post-attacks

The Story of Conversions – I

It took someone of the Bangalore Archbishop’s stature to get Karnataka State Government in to action against the recent attacks on churches. The whole issue sparked an intense debate on the issue of religious conversions. And the matter of conversions evokes intense reactions even from the most moderate folks. To understand the nature of these conversions and to know why conversions have begun to evoke violent reactions only in recent decades despite Christianity’s entry in to country centuries back, we need some history of its evolution in India. The major relevant points here are :

i) Christianity has its own ’sects’: Well, this is well known fact : there are Catholics, then there are the Protestants and there are other Christian denominations whose number is as mind-boggling as the number of dialects in India (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lutherans, Baptists etc.). I wont give precise dates on who came when to India, but for our purpose the fact that all these different ’sects’ exist is sufficient. And quite understandably these different sects have different approaches to expansion of the religion. Their beliefs, practices, rituals, social outlook are markedly different although the underlying principles are almost always derived from the Holy Bible.

ii) The Vatican’s approach to expansion: The Roman Catholicism is considered the most organized and prevalent form of Christianity. Of course this power is derived from the political power and financial muscle of the Vatican. Vatican is an institution that is centuries old and whose main motive is to expand the religion. While it had tried to expand the religion in India by pumping in money initially, it also had the wisdom to see that culture and religion are two different aspects. It realized the futility of trying to meddle with the local cultures : after all, the objective is to carry Christ’s message and not to infringe on the way of living of the people. Consequently, Vatican adapted the religion to suit the culture of respective countries. For instance, Catholic women do not do away with their Sindhur, their marriages are still performed using the traditional ‘Mangal Sutra‘, the prayer songs build heavily on the local literature, children are given Indianzed names such ‘Mariya Dasu’ (worshiper of Mary). Its almost as if nothing changes except the belief concerning God. This keeps the catholics in harmony with the society around them.

Of course, harmony is brought in other ways as well. The way Vatican operates in India has evolved so much that it now seems and ideal model that the state itself should adopt. My experience with the remote village of ‘Jadi Jamalpur’ where my grandparents used to live has been an extraordinary one. The local church controlled by Hyderabad Archdiocese essentially is a governing body of the village. It runs the local school, hospital, finances local farmers during the crop season, gives scholarships to children, counsels students and troubled individuals, searches sponsors abroad who are willing to sponsor higher education for youth, oversees social welfare activities and community service… ‘Gram Swaraj” I would say!!. A striking feature that most people fail to notice is that the services (except those that involve external funds) are not denied to non-Christians. Missionary schools, wherever I have been, do not try to impose their religious allegiances upon students nor are hospitals less/more sympathetic to certain groups. That was revelation to me. I had no problems in embracing Christianity, no matter how patriotic I was ( I already was influenced by ideas of RSS founder Hedgewar). To this day, people get to know that I am a Christian only when I tell them. This non-intrusive operation, in my opinion, did not trouble anyone. Thus, Catholic expansion in India was relatively smooth. The number of prestigious educational institutions, charity organizations and hospitals etc. is a proof of that.

iii) The Other approach to expansion : Now comes the second approach to expansion. I wont label any particular denomination as responsible for this trend because this second approach emerged purely out of overzealous individuals who are carried away by the ideas of Christianity which seem such logical things to them (to them). ‘I am only preaching peace’ said one such person to me while standing in front of temple and distributing pamphlets. Individual evangelists, pastors and self appointed messengers of Christ, who lack the systematic training that Catholic priests undergo, have emerged from all quarters. Some with the intention to exploit and some influenced by Christianity to fanatic levels and others anywhere between these extremes. And each followed different methods to expansion that seemed fit to them. Not that these people do not make contributions to the society around them. But such service now comes with an invariable zeal to change the religious landscape around them.

Even that would have been fine!!. But then that zeal encouraged criticism of other religions, partly helped by the Bible verses that suggest Christianity does not recognize other Gods. And scathing criticism of age old customs and traditions began : idol-worship is superstition, wearing Sindhur is a sin, true Christians are not supposed to even visit at a temple. It worsened with the tolerance displayed by the other communities. Open character-assassination of Hindu Gods such as Lord Rama and Lord Krishna, outrageous literature investigating the truths behind Hindu Gods, Castigation of Hindu spiritual leaders and derogatory comments on the institution of marriage have become increasingly common. This sowed the first seeds of conflict.

Imagine a Christian zealot standing in front of a temple and calling names, addressing the devotees as ‘sinners‘ and distributing free copies of ‘truth about Lord xxx’. The Indian culture and way of living is something we have imbibed in ourselves. It is our identity. To many Indians, Gods like Lord Rama and spiritual leaders are icons whom they have come to respect, who have symbolized the ultimate evolved individual, who led exemplary lives and whom they would like to be like. And logically, it should make any patriotic Indian’s blood boil. And when I say this people jump and say ‘Hey, wait a sec.. you say Indian’s blood. Shouldn’t it be Hindu’s blood’… ‘No Sire.. there IS certain thing called Indianness which I do not find is in conflict with my religious allegiance. When somebody says I cant quote verses from the Upanishads, I cant sing the Annamayya keertana that I have to come to love so much because its devotional song dedicated to Lord Balaji.. they are, of course, not only asking me to change my religious allegiance alone but also to change my own identity.’ And that is deeply unethical, in my opinion.

Unfortunately, liberal media is too carried away by the urge to be the guardian of the minorities. When such comments are made against the minority religions it is quick to condemn, demand action and what not!!. In what way are religious sentiments of the majority inferior to those of the minority? Do we need a violent protest to convey that a section’s sentiments are hurt (as in the Taslima Nasreen case)? Shouldnt ‘freedom of speech’ be distinguished from ‘freedom to abuse’? These are questions that have troubled me earlier. And of course, as is evident, they trouble others as well. But it would be foolish to justify violence as a response to such infringement. Protecting Indianness using violence which is so non-Indian is an antithesis. How then can we bring this new breed of fanatic mudslingers to see the realities?. To examine the solutions, we again need to look at what is causing the tolerant Hindu to take up this route, what other routes exist and how can communities be brought to exist in harmony.. That will be part II. Ciao till then.

Plain English, Intra-batch Marriages and Precious Objects

i) Plain English: Reading editorials isn’t that good at all!! at least not for your writing style. That’s what Jyoti Sanyal says in his books. His book ‘Indlish‘ did alter several of my opinions about the pompous writing style in editorials and legal documents. In fact, the curse of Victorian style seems pervasive. Every bit I read in our daily papers and even research documents is full of obscure words that confuse more than they convey. Examples given in the book are quite hilarious : ‘repress instantaneous movements of merriment‘ for ‘stop laughing‘ etc. If you intend to become a good writer you should read this book and also visit these sites http://clearenglish.in/ and http://www.clearest.co.uk/.

ii) First Intra-batch marriage: For the first time, GDIT-2k1 has its own intra-batch couple to show. Swati and Kumar Gaurav are all set to get married. Intra-batch marriages used to look like a supercool thing to me. Doesn’t it feel nice to have ones juvenile sweetheart as soulmate?. I guess so. Although our seniors have set the trend with many such marriages, 2k1 folks didn’t really pick it up . I feared that there may not be such a sweet couple from our batch as 40% of the girls were already married by the middle of this year. But this comes as a good news. Congratulations to them. Well, the news wont go down well with all the guys, as Swati was such a sweet girl and definitely many have had a crush on her. But.. life is like that, you see!!

iii) Precious Objects: As I write this, there is a communal rage in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. I wonder why people who run schools and take care of destitute kids are targeted by these self-appointed Ayatollahs. But there is something more interesting. Moral brigades have targeted young lovers belonging to different communities. And a newspaper writes what amounts to this : ‘A woman falling in love with a guy from another community is seen as a conquest for the guy’s community/the guy’. So communities feel the obligation to protect their precious assets, the women, from guys of other communities!!. Reminds me of the line I used to describe this attitude : ‘Women are objects, but they are very precious objects’. I remember a quite amusing argument from a telugu feminist which runs like this : ‘The way we describe sexual activity itself is so biased. A woman gets f***ed while the man f***s. This seems to suggest that while the male is enjoying, the female is being oppressed whilst the relationship here is really on an equal footing‘. It seems true now, really. Why else, would people appoint themselves as guardians of women and prevent them from exercising their choice in relationships?. Haven’t we seen girls dumping the loving/doting boyfriend often leaving them devastated (don’t draw far fetched conclusions.. ). If I were a feminist, I would have taken this very seriously and made sure that such derogatory connotation disappears from our literature and movies .

Links : Jimmy Carter on the N-Deal, Bigdog (Old news but nice to kill time), this page is still alive.

IIIT-H’s 7th Convocation Highlights

After a long long time after entering college, I finally got the opportunity to wear the graduation gown and receive the degrees (bachelor and master). With the convocation coinciding with the 10th anniversary celebrations of the institute it was a very good and quite nostalgic experience. Some highlights (some may be decipherable to only gdit2k1ites) :

-> Most of the labs which were originally in the main building have now moved to the more spacious buidlings adjacent to it. I was afraid that none of the old style of organization remained. But yeah, the good old Appaji’s office is still at the same place. And he greeted me with the same smile that cheers you up and at the same time worries us (thinking what insane time he would ask for the required document). The number of students has gone into 1000s and yet he manages to remember everybody by name!!

-> IIIT now seems to be getting real international flavor in all the programs. Appaji introduced me to three Malaysian students who were graduating.  He also proudly mentions “They all got job in Malaysia!!”. Way to go, I guess.

-> Vidit is such a generous dude that he says he is happy to host me (and keeps on saying 40$ is the charge per day but never bills it). And he lives true to the old adage ‘athididevobhava’ (which incidentally was one of the lines at the deeksha at the convocation) by letting me sleep on his brand new bed while he rests on the floor. Thanks Dude .

-> Pranav, the tree (in a positive sense), is still there and discussions with him still drag on and on till you decide you wont find a way around his argument and give up . His latest drive is to make students more assertive and rekindle the IIIT-Mag.

-> Visesh calls me an inspiration (on the graduating front) in the presence of PJN and the master responds by quipping “he hasnt been good one, certainly!!”. I felt like kicking pelu in the @7**.

-> Another from PJN humour : “Avinash is not here, but his adviser (Ahuja) is!!”

-> At the rehearsal, I found that I am the first on the roll call. It instantly reminded how long I took to finish up this stuff. But to my wicked satisfaction, a couple of 2k1ites are still to get through. And Avinash didnt get to wear the gown .

-> Introduced my parents to Jaws for the first time. They kept listening about him for about 6 years but got to see him only on that day.

-> Ajay Sahwney was my childhood idol (he was the sub-collector of our district when was I a kid). My dad used to tell me ‘become like him’. Raj Reddy and others were heaping praise on Ajay for his vision and his role in founding IIIT on the convocation day. It was a happy coincidence for me : I was graduating, I could introduce my dad to him and tell him what he was for rural kids like me. People like him make me beleive that the criticism of IAS officers is ill-grounded.

-> Raj Reddy is quite generous with his time. He read each person’s name and very kindly said ‘Congratulations <name as applicable>’ with a smile. Later on, it was great to see him lavish praise on IISc for its contributions to research and calling it the Harvard of India. He also set a realistic goal for IIIT : to become another IISc in another decade. He also nostalgically recounted the founding days : the vision of Ajay Sahwney, Chandra Babu Naidu’s assistance, then YSR’s gifting away of the land etc. It takes a member of the initial batches to appreciate the significance of this long road that IIIT has taken. Unfortunately only a few were there for the ceremony.

-> Laxmi Narayana, VP of Cognizant, gave the convocation address. His talk made lot of sense (although he had a voice that befits a military commander) and was centered around how IT giants are now focussing on research and products that can harness the power of local population. Quoting C.K. Prahlad he emphasized the three pillars that are key for India’s rise in the emerging world order : Economic might, Technology and Moral Values. Overall, ‘food for thought’ as diro RS put it.

-> Million was awarded PhD : a milestone for him as well as the institute. He scared everybody for sometime by dissappearing just before the awarding ceremony. I was shocked by the refusal of IIIT’s new brand of graduates to stand up and honor the acheivement. Their parents, however, showed them the way by standing up and giving a loud applause. Folks still need to learn stuff, you see.

-> Convo booklet gives the deeksha translation as ‘…(The Brahmins) are superior to us…’. Leaving the true intentions aside, I wonder what sort of impression it makes on people (particularly the ones with a modern outlook).

-> My niece has an uncanny ability to amuse people. This time she was asking everybody for the convocation hat and started posing for photographs with it. My sis was overjoyed to see the ambitiousness of her kid, however.

-> Suman and Nirupam were the 2k1ites present. And yes the old patriarch popularly know as Zulu is still there with all his vibrance and zest for life. And going by the recent report of the instituion he is doing exceedingly well in taking the CVEST lab to the next level. Who dares to get away without his blessings?

-> I got to see more 2k1ites when we all went for dinner at PR. Married folks Adi and Manjeet seem to be basking in the joy, Vidit and Tarun busy with their businesses, Sachin seems to have decided what to do next and parry is still enjoying the benefits of being out of Jaws. I seemed the only odd one out wondering what to do next .
It already a pretty long list, so thats all for now. Let me wonder about the politics for a while.