Almost around the world in 25 days

After 25 days of 10 hours flights, weird sleeping times and bunk beds, I’m finally back Here is some blabber on the conferences, places and people, day by day. Place by place.

26 June, Chennai Airport

Thoughts in head: What if my passport falls into the escalator and gets shredded? What if I misplace alpha-beta thousand Rs? And have to go all the way back through customs to locate them? (this really happened).

28 June, Cardiff, Wales

Oh dear*. This is such a windy place.

* English phrase for damn.

The Welsh have a thing for threat signs. Here is one found on a bus, in Welsh and then in English. They also have restaurants with weird names.

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30 June, Cardiff University

I expected Wales to be pretty. But I was surprised to find out that the most fun thing I have seen here is the conference!

1 July, Conference Day

For all the people who have heard professors rant about them sleeping in class, professors are worse. They work on their laptops in plenary lectures.

3 July, St Fagans

This is a must see place in Wales. Its the only major one I’m seeing anyway.

I am slightly bored of travelling alone. Travelling alone sucks and so does the delay shot feature on my camera. After a while, you are content with taking pictures of your feet. And its a good shot if you capture a pigeon while you are at it.

The good thing is you don’t have to share the window seat with your friends. You have either got it, or you haven’t.

4 July, Cambridge

Cambridge is beautiful. I could stay here forever. Cycling to nearby villages, buying ready meals from Tesco, working and sipping coffee in the beautiful garden of P’s house. When did I lose interest in travelling?

9 July, Heathrow

Travelex or Thomas Cook? Important lesson: Always convert currency in India (more insights in this regard would be appreciated). I see flights to San Francisco Soon, I will get used to this.

10 July, Rio de Janeiro

House is right. UK hardly has any badonkadonk. Especially after you see Rio. Oh, what beauty. These people do weight training in the sand!

And I have not seen more runners anywhere else.

They also have queer similarities with Indian languages. For example, pav is called pav in Portuguese too. And Potato is batata, which might I add, is Marathi for potatoes. A popular beer in Brazil is called Brahma, although it probably does not derive its name from Hindu mythology. Its the name of a place I hear.

11 July, Conference Lunch

I have just asked a Georgia Tech prof lunching next to me what her name is. Turns out she’s a plenary speaker Thank god, she wasn’t talking today, because I missed the plenary after getting the wrong bus in this only-Portuguese speaking city.

12 July, Vidigal

I am staying in a Favela called Vidigal for the cheapest price you can get in Rio. It has an amazing view of the Oceano Atlantico, better than views from most 5 star hotel rooms (ok, I saw just three..) and this is how I have my breakfast, lost in the green sea.

This is the way to the Favela, along the beach from Copacabana.

13 July, Presentation Day

I am so proud of representing IIT Madras here. Usually I don’t fall for such emotional stuff. But today its different, maybe I’m a bit nervous and want to deflect from the true emotion. The presentation has gone really well. A keynote speaker called me up and told me he really liked the talk. A friend pointed out that I could have talked without swinging from side to side after each sentence.

20 July, Chennai Airport

Nalli’s cotton bags, flowers in hair and long skirts and kurtas. Its time for Chennai again. And Insti. One last time

birthday wishlist

My birthday is approaching and fast. Two years back I realised I had half a mind to lie about my age to a stranger. I knew this was going to happen someday I didn’t know it would happen so soon though.

I don’t really remember getting any birthday gifts as I grew up. I would tell my mom I wanted xyz and she would give me the money. We seemed to hardly disagree on what I needed. In short, I never had to ‘wait’ to have anything. Either I was too dull or my mom too rich. I would like to believe we just got along really well. Scared that the former might be true, I decided to make a wish list for my birthday.

Making a wish list of materialistic things I want is actually quite daunting for me. Surely I love materialistic things, but I feel like I haven’t been looking for them often enough. So here it is.

1. Another set of running shoes. Not any running shoes, more like these..

2. Glow in dark bedsheets. I first saw them in a certain Biriyaniwala’s room and I rightaway knew that I wanted them.

3. Coffee mug with a weird shape, maybe something bigger than this one.

4. Tiny pillow, preferably pink.

5. Geared cycle. This one here, is a Bianchi model made for women girls which costs just around 3000 dollars. For now, I could settle for anything which doesn’t require me to refill its tires every week.

A plus point of making a wishlist, I realised, is that it makes me wonder: how many of these things can I even take care of?  It will surely help me set some personal goals on my way to achieve some of these things, rather than just get them. The fun thing is, just knowing what I want seems to make me happy, for now.

the learning curve

When I started writing for my first conference paper, I was confounded by many questions (funnily enough, none of them included my results, codes, derivations, figures, etc). They ranged from more trivial ones like ‘should I call myself P. Agharkar or P. H. Agharkar or something else’ to more technical ones related to the ‘art of scientific writing’. Like any other subject, I found books on this one too [1]. Since I had no appetite for reading whole books on the subject for the time being, I stopped at Whitesides’ paper on writing a paper. One of the technical questions I had, was whether I should write in Word or LaTex. Like most other things in life (not all, by the way) LaTex is better than Word but more difficult at the outset. Although difficult to learn, it is much easy to live with, once you get a hang of it. People dissuaded by the initial learning curve not only compromise on the overall quality of documents, but they also miss out on the convenience called LaTex. I gave laTex a shot and it took me just about 2 days to get a hang of it. Its doubtful if I will ever write a document in Word again, time will tell).

There are so many such things in life, which require a learning curve. Some of them good, some bad by the way. A friend was telling me how she’s learning to like the taste of alcohol. I said “Don’t. Try learning something else”.

We miss out on so many opportunities because we are wary of the initial learning curve. Perhaps we aren’t convinced of the rewards at the ends of curves, perhaps we don’t want them badly enough. Perhaps, the former reason leads to the later?

I have been using the term ‘learning curve’ with so much ease in the post, that I decided I better know what I’m talking about. Wiki came to the rescue, as usual.

Talking of learning curves, here is Calvin’s struggle with learning Maths [2]. A typical Calvin and Hobbes.

Click to enlarge

[1] I find very few inspirational and topical books impressive and/or convincing. Its me, not them. I am just too cynical I guess. Also, I don’t believe that there is only one way to do things and if there is, there is one person who knows it completely. Life is more complicated than that, right?

[2] Courtesy: GSD, for sharing cartoons and articles from Asian Age.

the peacock throne – book review

It is the October of 1605, and Akbar having miraculously gained absolute dominion over a lion’s share of intractable India, lies dying of dysentery in his palace at imperial Agra [1]. Two of his sons, Murad and Daniyal are dying due to drink. The only other heir, the ambitious Prince Salim (or Emperor Jehangir – the World Grasper) can barely wait for his sick father to die. He is suspected of having poisoned his father and bursts into sulky rebellions (on the advice of counselors) to become emperor. Grief-stricken, Emperor Akbar implores him:

“There is no one left but you. Why do you vex me so? You are bound to inherit the kingdom.”

Salim’s revolt against his father would be repeated time and again in this gripping story of the Mogul rule in India. Here, power hungry queens control ambitious princes who murder numerous young brothers on their way to the throne while emperors addicted to opium and alcohol miraculously live for sixty long years.

The book ‘The Peacock Throne – The Drama of Mogul India’ was written by Waldemar Hansen in 1970, and the cover of this 700 pages long hardbound copy reads 120 Rs (perhaps quite expensive for the 70s?). It is a treat even for fiction readers, since the events of the Mogul era are sometimes so bizarre and far from our reality.

It is interesting to see, how the historian-writer makes distinctions between facts and fiction, besides suggesting his own interpretations of events. Of course his opinion is reverberant throughout the work. I have had some troubles finishing books in the past, but this one was truly a page turner, as they say.

[1] Notice the stark reality of an all powerful emperor dying of dysentery? The writer brilliantly captures such facts and moments throughout the book.

short film festival in chennai

The International Short Film Festival of India, which happened in Chennai last Saturday was indeed a treat for Chennaites. It screened films from about 120 (?) countries in numerous languages, with English subtitles of course. S was kind enough to get passes for the two day event beforehand. But it turned out that the lack of publicity had resulted in hardly any audience! And this was indeed surprising, because the films, most of them, were amazing.

The good thing about short films is that they are small investments of time, on the part of the movie goer. A bad Hindi film successfully wastes 3 (maybe 4 ) hours of your life, whereas a short takes up just 30 minutes.

After seeing about 30 short films in about 7 hours, my mind was saturated with so many stories, so many countries, so many emotions and experiences. One film, named Vitthal, a winning entry infact, was from  Maharashtra, and I forced myself to not read the subtitles in the film (my mother tongue is Marathi..).

It was interesting to see how people speaking different languages tend to translate sentences to English differently. Some are inclined to use certain tense more often than others. It was also interesting to note that although different places have their own set of traditions (which each film made a point to display, through folk songs, colors, festivals), the basic plots keep repeating. eg. marriage conflicts and stories of single moms and their kids were aplenty.

I particularly liked the animated Spanish film Daisy Cutter which tells the story of a girl grieving the loss of her  classmate and how she eventually meets him thanks to Daisy cutter. You might not want to google that name (if you don’t know what it stands for), since it contains spoilers.

The Chilean film Escorbo starts off with an unpleasant revelation at a family reunion and shows the drama that ensues.

Its sad to know, that even searching for these shorts on the internet is so difficult. Perhaps because they are in foreign languages and are from different countries. And I wonder how many more wonderful films there are, which I will never see.

oranges, oranges!

Big and juicy oranges are here! (Have been for a month now, actually. But I got (more) jobless just today). I have not seen bigger ones in my life and just to give you an idea, here is an orange sitting next a medium sized apple and my heavy and rusty laptop.

Caution: The fruit shop in Gurunath sells overripe fruits at slightly higher prices. You might want to try the shopping complex or the Pazhamudhir outside Velacherry gate.

Oranges with romanov and crushed ice

Topped with red rum and spice

Oranges orangier than the sun

Fine, boo me for not coming up with a pun

(Took me exactly 2 minutes to come up with this. Figures, doesn’t it )

IITM’s contributions to racism and other idiotic acts

I recently heard from a friend (a trusted source, hopefully) that a hostel warden in one of the new hostels in IITM allowed a foreign student to have female guests till late night, besides letting him have a party which involved alcohol consumption. I would really like to know why this exception has been made (probably over and over again) only for foreign students. Is the reason that he was leaving the country and wanted to throw a farewell party good enough? Well, so are most of us (and is it even necessary to tell you why, now..) Foreign students are exempted from paying for the food in hostel mess too, citing the fact that the food served doesn’t ‘suit’ them. Who gave these people the idea that the food served suits us any better. I remember, how my Indian friends who were vegetarians, when in Paris, had to survive on French fries many a days, because the ‘restaurant’ there wouldn’t serve anything else they could eat. I never heard of any special exemptions made for them. And I am pretty sure that meat : vegatarian is way more serious than half baked rotis : European.

The institute puts harsh and senseless restrictions on students for no reason. And more often than not, they end up hurting rather than making any positive impacts. Think of all those fifth year Dual Degree students who don’t have any labs to go to ( I do ) or classes to attend, who have to sleep till 2 in the afternoon because the LAN is cut off till 2 so students attend classes and not surf the net. Dear Dean, or whoever you are, please check, students bunked classes not because they were sufring the net, but because they just slept off really late. And they still do, by the way. Moreover, any issue regarding the LAN ban has the same answer from the authorities: We provide you free net. We make the rules. The problem with this attitude is that it doesn’t make sense, because it doesn’t achieve anything, besides proving the point, that the people who make these rules know jackshit of what’s going on. Or probably they do. I don’t know.

When I went to Kanpur last December, the hospitality of the people was refreshing. The guy running the restaurant did not have a pathetic look on his face giving you the impression that he was serving you free food. I have no clue why they can’t throw Tiffanys out and bring more lively people! But then, this has probably got to do with the standard that is Chennai. Oh yes, it does. (By the way, I do like Tiffs, and Chennai too, but my cribbing mode spares no one )

The post must have sounded like I have serious issues with the institute (like it even cares). Oh and I do, but having said that, I have come to call this place my home over the course of five years. That’s all the more reason why such issues bother me so much. Is anyone listening?

*I apologize if I have hurt anyone’s sentiments here. That was not my intention (why would it be anyway..)

2010 – the year that was

Twilight Fairy lists out the shisha crazy and fun things she did in the year 2010. Here is my version:

January: In the only other pleasant month in Chennai, I started running seriously.

February: I ran my first official 10km long mini marathon. I bought a birthday cake for someone special, for the first time. And for the record, I don’t believe in the cake smearing routine. Cake is too nice to be wasted like that.

March: In the month where everybody around me was either placed or had an admit from a US university, it was time to be patient for another year! Nothing special happened. GRE, GATE, this. that.

April: I cursed the French Consulate for rejecting my Visa. I got drenched in the Chennai summers. Some one special back home had a very hard time and I couldn’t be there for her. For the first time I felt I wasn’t doing enough.

May: The word uneventful will feel degraded if I compare it with my May. Please don’t make me recall that month.

June: I went to Paris and had a ball. I loved my lab, again. Cafes, wines, choirs, museums, meeting new people, cooking your own food and the list continues. I had a great time with myself. All over again.

July: The list of exploits continued. BeNeLux, Suisee, Normandy, Barcelone. I realized how much I like to travel and see places. I am stupid to not have blogged about the cities I visited.

August: A grandparent passed away. Its weird how I still can’t believe she isn’t around anymore. Here is a letter she wrote to me, when I was in my first year at IIT Madras. I noticed that blogging about something or someone helps you keep them alive in your heart, in some way.

September: The month came and went all in one moment. I won’t call it uneventful. Partly because I (honestly) don’t recall what I did in September.

October: I ran my first half marathon. I looked forward to doing more. I remember reading this on a fellow runner’s tshirt: Shut up and Run! That’s the mantra

November: I gifted someone for their birthday for the first time after putting in some thought in the present(yes..). I realised how thankful I am for the friends I have.

December: It was time for making more friends! I loved the company of my juniors at the flight testing lab at IIT Kanpur. I saw the much admired Taj and it did look magnificent from a distance. Earlier in the month, a job offer from Airbus did good to my bruised ego.

A fellow bloggers says, Every year achieve at least four things on which you can’t put a price tag. That joy will be enough to outweigh the other four hundred disappointments. I hope to achieve some such things the next year and wish the same for you. A happy happy new year to all of you!*

* Lately, I have been acting weird about New Year wishes. I think they are redundant, silly, etc, etc. But listing out my pursuits in the last year just did the trick I guess. I am ready for more now. Bring it on!

coins puzzle

You have with you 100 coins, 30 of which are heads and 70 tails. Distribute them on two tables in such a way that there are equal number of heads on both tables. You can not feel or see the coins.

This is a very easy puzzle. (which I still took 30 minutes to solve ) Even so, here are hints in invisible fonts:

1. Use your hands.

2. What will you do if you have one head and 99 tails to begin with?

*From now on, the source of all my puzzles is Hari unless mentioned otherwise.

puzzle time: card game

We are playing a game of cards in which two people belong to a team. One of them gets five random cards, of which she displays four to her team member while she puts the fifth one face down. Her teammate is of course expected to guess the card which is hidden. Now, suppose these two have decided beforehand to win by cheating. What is the strategy that they will use to convey the hidden card to each other?

A few ‘of course’ answers to questions about the puzzle:

You can decide the order in which a player displays his cards

The order in which you put your cards down can not be decided. (eg. start with the last card, then go to the second one, etc)

No, he can’t talk or use anything other than his cards to communicate.

Coutesy: (Hari)krishnan Ramani