The Quest for The Theory of Everything

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Bandhumitra

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As a casual student of science (I am just an engineer), I have always been interested in how we have managed to progress to the current state of scientific prowess. I always wanted to know what inspired these great scientists in their pursuit of eternal truth. The best thing of course was that scientific theories are based on mathematics which means they can be verified by anyone and everyone, and they are completely un-biased. I would like to share with you some of the current work being done by the brightest minds in science and their possible philosophical outcomes.

More than 100 years after Copernicus proved to the western world that Earth revolves around the Sun, a small incident occurred in the life of Isaac Newton. Of course I am referring to the now legendary apple story. The most impressive and inspirational leap of mind Newton experienced on that day was a small hunch: that the invisible force which is causing the apple to collapse on to earth is also the reason why the earth orbits the sun and the moon orbits the earth. Of course in order to prove this theory, he had to advance the mathematical knowledge of his generation by introducing the concepts of calculus. Calculus from then on has contributed immensely to the advancement of human civilization.

But more importantly what Newton had done was start a scientific chain reaction to understand the laws of the universe, to understand the reason of our existence. The next most important contribution came from the world most famous physicist of all time: Albert Einstein. He solved the next puzzle. He proposed the Theory of Relativity which included “time” in the equation to understand the universe and corrected the theory of gravity proposed by Newton. The magic behind electrical and magnetic forces was already beautifully fused into a set of common mathematical equations by Maxwell. It was then that Einstein, like Newton, had a hunch.

His gut feeling was that God, the creator, has created the most elegant universe and that all the different types of forces, like gravitational force, electromagnetic force, nuclear forces, etc, can be ultimately represented in a simple set of mathematical equations (much like his mass-energy equation E=mc2). It can be understood as our own philosophy of Advaita with uniqueness/qualifications. All the different forces acting in this world stem from the same cause but behave differently based on the different conditions. This yet to be discovered theory is called “Theory of everything”. This theory of everything is crucial as it alone can possibly explain why we all exist the way we are.

But his quest was seriously undermined by the postulates of Neils Bohr. Neils Bohr’s work was directed towards how matter interacts at atomic level. While Einstein’s equations failed miserably when applied to electrons, protons and neutrons, Neils Bohr theory was extremely bizarre as it included the mathematical concepts of probability to explain the chaotic behaviors of sub-atomic particles.

The world, according to Neils Bohr’s Quantum mechanics, is a game of chance! “Uncertainty” rules which mean existence of any particle cannot be proved with any certainty anymore! Nothing is real anymore! Ah! Wasn’t this already realized by our ancestors that Ishvara rules the world with Maya?

Failure of Einstein’s efforts did not dampen the quest to find the Theory of Everything. A combined effort from many eminent scientists has led to the proposal of theories like the Quark Model and the String theory which takes into account 11 dimensions (we are aware of only 4 dimensions now: Length, Width, Height and Time) and multiple universes [1]. The Large Hadron Collider has specifically been built to explore the sub-atomic particles so as to test the validity of these theories.

And just after it was commissioned in 2010, the Collider is spitting out results faster than it can be absorbed by us. Just recently the particle which is responsible for mass of all matter called, the Higgs Boson (nicknamed as the God particle), has been detected. Anti-matter, a weird concept introduced by Paul Durac, was successfully isolated for a significant amount of time. There are lots of other hypothetical particles yet to be discovered. But the most fundamental assumption that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light has been experimentally proved to be incorrect!

Just when everyone thought that we are heading in the right direction in understanding our universe, God playfully shook the very foundation of modern science. These are exciting time in the world of science as scientists probably have to start from scratch!

By concealing the Theory of Everything, maybe God does not want us all to understand the universe at the same time! Isn’t moksha (which is what the Theory of Everything would sort of help us attain) supposed to be a personal endeavor that has to be undertaken by each person based on his own capabilities? Who knows?

Who really knows? As the famous Nasadiya Sukta (the creation hymn in Rig Veda) concludes:

ko addha veda ka iha pravochat | kut ajata kut iyam visrushtih |

arvagdeva asya visarjanaya | atha ko veda yata ababhuva || 6 ||

But, after all, who knows, and who can say

Whence it all came, and how creation happened?

The gods themselves are later than creation,

So who knows truly whence it has arisen?

iyam visrushtiryata ababhuva | yadi va dadhe yadi va na |

yo asyadhyakshah parame vyomann | so amga veda yadi va na veda || 7 ||

Whence all creation had its origin,

He, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not,

He, who surveys it all from highest heaven,

He knows - or maybe even he does not know.

[1] There are multiple reference to the existence of multiple universes in our Puranas. Such as this one:

dyupataya eva te na yayur antam anantatayA

tvam api yadantarANDanichayA nanu sAvaraNAH ||

kha iva rajAMsi vAnti vayasA saha yach chhrutayas

tvayi hi phalanty atannirasanena bhavannidhanAH || bhA 10.87.41 ||

Because You are unlimited, neither the lords of heaven nor even You

Yourself can ever reach the end of Your glories. The countless

universes, each enveloped in its shell, are compelled by the wheel of

time to wander within You, like particles of dust blowing about in

the sky. The shrutis, following their method of eliminating

everything separate from the Supreme, become successful by revealing

You as their final conclusion. (bhAgavata purANa 10.87.41)

WIKIPEDIA

The Melting Stalagmite

Back in the days when Orkut was still young and I was still uncivilized, my alter egos aka Fake profiles used to troll 'casually' in many controversial communities. In one such community, I had a long debate with a paki on the Indo-Pak soap opera, Kashmir. I lost the debate hands down because of lack of information. He seemed to have more credible information about the "realities" of the situation. The only defense mechanism I had then was to cry out "bogus" "bogus". As the debate ran into days, I started realizing the great blanket that had been covered over our eyes by the Indian Government and surprisingly the private media.

There is undoubtedly a strong separatist movement in Kashmir. What the Indian Government had been doing for years and years was to hold dummy elections in the state. The army was constantly put in a position where the thin line between peace keeper and human rights violation blurred. India till now has put in 60 years of effort to set things “right” and till now nothing substantial has emerged out of this. But is it worth it?

It always was for me. As a small child, all that mattered to me was the picture in which the map of India was layered beautifully with the drawing of Mother India riding a lion. Kashmir was where Bharath Mata’s head was place. Giving Kashmir away was like cutting the head of our dear Mother India.

As I grew up, I realized that my thinking was symbolically correct. Without Kashmir, India’s head would literally be cut. Kashmir is the final frontier for the very concept called India. It’s a place where we could prove that India is a nation built not just because of religious, regional or racial feelings. It is a place where we could finally disprove the narrow 2 Nation theory. It is a place which would justify the existence of almost 20% of Indians in India: the Muslims.

Now the Azadi movement of Kashmir has picked up pace. Ironically it was the BJP/RSS who contributed negatively. It was Atal Bihari Vajpayee government who lifted the ban on Hurriyat conference. And now it is the Kashmir blockade by Hindus in Jammu that has poured fuel on the issue now. It has given a moral high ground for the separatists and has given them a reason good enough to go all out on this issue.

This was never supposed to happen. As cruel as it sound, in reality, as long as there was terrorism in Kashmir, the situation was pro-India. Neither were they ever going to embrace the non violence method propounded by the mahatma. But now with ISI concentrating more on Afghanistan than on Kashmir, the azadi movement has turned a new leaf. Mass protests are the order of the day. The State Governments apathy to control the situation indicates the strong support the movement has from the people of Kashmir.

There is only one solution now for us. Buy some time somehow. Break Pakistan before Kashmir breaks India into a million pieces. And with the US troops fighting Taliban IN Pakistan, the Baluchistan movement gaining momentum and with the Congress in power without the Left support, this certainly is possible.

Dasavatharam Review

Given the name Dasavatharam and that Kamal Hassan is playing 10 different roles, what would a sane movie lover expect? A mythological cum philosophical wormhole? A tale of 10 characters conveying a strong message? I thought of lots of possibilities but I must admit that I did not expect a mindless 'action cum thriller'. The first reason why I didn't like this magnum opus of Kamal Hassan is just because of the movie name. How can you name a film Dasavataram just because your lead role is playing 10 characters? Its like George Lucas naming Star Wars as CGI because of all the graphics used in the film !! There is nothing even close to something being an "avataram" in this film. The 10 characters played by Kamal are 10 different people all together. Those roles could have been played by 10 different people and the story would have been the same.

The second reason why I didn't like the film is because of the crappy story. The director did try to convey a message in this film but he made a 3 hour film to do that. The same can be done by filming this incident:
The canteen at the theater I went to accepts only cash. I wanted to eat samosa chat which costs $5. I have only $4 with me. So I turn back to see my friend Vijay in the line behind me. He wanted to eat a Chicken Roll which costs $4 and ... well ... he had a fiver with him. Now the Almighty God placed him behind me for a specific reason. All's fine in the end because I get to eat my samosa chat. :p

The director wanted to remind us that everything that happens happens for a specific reason. Sometimes we are able to understand it and sometimes not.

It starts off with a narrator who then absolutely fizzes out of the story. The point which annoyed me was if your story revolves around a real life incident like the Tsunami then why do you have have fictional events like George Bush coming to Chennai and giving a speech like a film star? What is the point of showing the date below in every scene when you end it with a totally fictional event which never ever happened? And when was the last time Presidents and Prime Ministers ever held a public meeting in a cricket stadium to "explain" anything? And how come Karunanidhi is on the dias as the Chief Minister in 2004?

The story is about 10 different people not related by any means. They happen to be at a particular place at a particular time effecting the journey of a biological weapon which comes to Chidambharam in India from US after a series of unfortunate incidents [sic]. Now because this film is shot like a fast paced action film it tests your nerve because it keeps digressing into the lives of the different different characters. As an audience I would be least interested in the characters personal lives when a bio weapon of mass destruction is living dangerously. So when the dalit Kamal is talking some serious stuff, I was thinking about the samosa chat that I had just eaten. I wanted to sleep through the Japanese flashback. The only offshoot I enjoyed watching was this beautiful shot song " mukundha mukundha".

I was completely at loss to justify the death of the dalit Kamal. I cringed whenever Sardarji Kamal came on the screen. I still can't believe that the bullet went through his throat removing the cancer but not damaging his vocal chord. Mithun da doing this scene in a B Grade flick in the 80' s itself was pathetic. But of all the people Kamal Hassan doing it in 2008 is really ___ ( I searched the web to see if any word can describe my feeling, but I failed ). I would have loved it if the sardarji died instead of the dalit one. The Sardarji deserved to die for singing a Himesh Reshamiya pop song while doing Bhangara steps on the stage.

Fletcher was one son of a gun whom you wished never existed. The story writer just put him in some places at his own will just to irritate us. His most unwanted appearance was during the last fight when he suddenly out of nowhere jumps from a boat to the scientist Kamal. And I thought Indian cinema stopped doing this kind of screenplay for good !!

The third reason why I didn't like this film is because of the technical ascepts. It was actually quite difficult. Nothing like this has been done before by Indian cinema. In some of the scenes 3-4 Kamal Hassans was there in the same frame. Now when you are shooting such a scene either you pump in money and get it done by experts or you make it simple. Instead you have the camera swrilling round and round in all the scenes and what we end up seeing on the screen looks pathetic. The graphics was a huge let down in the 12th century story. Scenes that could have been shot for real were replaced by poor graphics. Editing was really sloppy. In order to make it a fast paced action, they over did the editing part and the whole film looked amateurish because of that.

As usual, the comedy part saved the movie. The CBI officer had everyone in splits whenever he said something. But unfortunately some of Asin's jokes were straight from the PJ community in Orkut.

Now seriuosly, it was a really difficult film to make. No doubt about that. The director did a decent job even though he was hugely let down because of the story, screenplay and graphics. It must have been a nightmare for him to plan the shooting of the whole film. Kamal Hassan does deserve a pat on his back for continuing what he is best known for: experimenting. His body language for each of the characters were different. Though since I saw the telugu version, all I could hear was SP Balu's voice but still it was really impressive. Apart from that the film is a huge dissapointment.

Youtube India

Its no secret that a large portion of my time is dedicated to Youtube. The first video I saw in Youtube was a thrilling fight scene of our beloved Balayya babu (someone posted that link in the famous "I hate Balayya" community way back in Jan 2006 (??) ). From there on both Youtube and I have come a long way. Finally because of Maitri, I could finally post my own video in Youtube (yaay !!) Right now my profile says I have seen 2,572 videos which is very misleading to say the least.

No wonder then that I got a shocking surprise as I heard the news that youtube now has started an Indian edition. Now what does that exactly mean ? It means that viewers who access this site in India will now have a different page all together. The featured videos will be different. The video section which has different sections like "most viewed" "most recent" "most popular" will be different. And most importantly the channels will be different. The first thing I did when I visited the Indian "domain" was the directors channels in Youtube India. I was obviously disappointed to see no one is having fun with the cam in their free time. Undoubtedly I can see a big change in the type of channels within the ... hmmm ... ok ... let me not guess.

Then I quickly checked the most viewed videos. No surprises what so ever.#%^$&!. I am surely not expecting a change in this for god knows how many years.

Then I went to the featured videos. A strange feeling swept over me and I was suddenly wondering how they choose those videos. What I then see is a grumpy looking old man with a vlog. Too many puzzling questions came to my mind. How many would see it? How many would appreciate it ? How many would care to type a text response to it? How many would be negative? (and how negative?) This old man then claims this: "I am a virtual brand Ambassador for You Tube India. My services were actively used in organizing launch function. I do not require appointment letters or money." (woooooooooooow :p ... ok ok ... he has already posted 534 videos ... so he has the right to say that :p)

Surprisingly he goes on to sing in Hindi. Hmm ... Would Youtube feature a video where someone sings in a regional language? How would the comments for that video be? Suddenly I realized having a Youtube India is not such a thrilling thing after all. Suddenly I was reminded of the logic that no set formula can ever apply to India.

The next day iself (ie today) I get my answer. "If you go to Bangalore...Veena Player" has more than 10,000 views. (cant say how many views were recorded today). But it has only 12 ratings. And 18 comments and already the boring debate of "talk in Hindi" "national language" in full flow only because the poor guy opened his mouth to talk in his mother tongue. Orkut is full of that shit. Now its the turn of Youtube (as if it isn't already)

The joy that Youtube India exists suddenly has been completely crumpled by the fear of failure. I dont want Youtube India to fail. Again ... only TIME will tell :(

Jodha Akbar

This again is for DAUTYA

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Ok. Let me generalize here. Most of us are engineers who have always hated history classes (not me though). Most of us probably never cared about what happened in 1556 AD. Even when it comes to films, we prefer Matrix to Gladiator. But Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodha Akbar had a mix that most of us couldn’t resist. He was aiming for his hattrick ( after Lagaan and Swadesh) with the batsman ( the audience) being surrounded by close-in fielders like Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, AR Rahman, stunning Cinematography, and of course the historical characters Akbar and Jodha Bhai. I got out c Jalalludin Akbar b Ashutosh Gowarikar. Probably this result was predictable as the distributors of the film bet big and released it in AMC theaters here in Houston!

As far as history is concerned, Akbar ranks as the second best emperor India ever had (after Asoka the Great). He was obsessed with India and everything Indian. He called himself Hindustani though everyone else he knew called themselves Afghani or Persian. He had people like Birbal (his Military advisor), Todar Mal(Finance minister) and Tansen (Hindustani music composer) in his court who were a part of the famous Navratnas or the nine gems. He was of course the first Muslim king to marry a Hindu Rajput girl and form an alliance of mutual respect and trust with the Rajputhana.

Ashutosh Gowarikar has tried to highlight most of the secular actions of Akbar. The transition from Jalalludin, the child to Akbar, the emperor of India who took strong decisions on his own, some of which were considered to be blasphemous by many in his court, was beautifully portrayed in the film. Keeping in mind the fact that the director that only Akbarnama and a few other sources as references, it was tough for him to get all the variables in Akbar’s life. But unbelievably the director has made a masterpiece without going in for clichéd filmy screenplay.

Aishwarya did what was expected of her. She was totally hot as usual but she completely blended as a Rajput princess. But Hrithik just blew me off with his great acting. He effortlessly portrayed the role of an emperor who sometimes behaved like a ruthless monarch, sometimes like a lover and a flirt, sometimes like a benevolent king and sometimes like a confused child sharing his thoughts with his mother. If only he had that royal grace in his walk (like Prithviraj Kapoor in Mughal-e-Azam) and also looked 10 years older.

The cinematography was breathtaking, to say the least. AR Rahman just breathes life into the film. The spiritual content in Khwaja mere Khwaja was just awesome. The choreography was simple, beautiful and apt. But what I personally loved was the dialogues. On one side, we had Akbar speaking in Urdu with heavy usage of Arabic and Persian words and on the other side we had Jodha chirping away in pure Hindi. Of course the English subtitles spoiled the whole fun but hey … but I can’t claim to have understood every line that was being said.

But the same can’t be said about the war scenes though. Too much inspiration was drawn from LOTR and Troy. Sadly we have seen these films like a billion times. And why AR Rahman chose to go for a western BGM for the last fight scene is a mystery.

Was anything I was expecting to see missing in the film? Yes. I must say a few scenes with Birbal would have added to the message of the movie. And also I didn’t see any peacock in the whole movie which was something strange as I always thought they were raised in palaces to increase its scenic beauty. Ah … I think I am being a bit too harsh here. But Ashutosh Gowarikar has taken Bollywood to such great heights in this film that I think we can start asking such stupid questions and criticize the movie because it had no peacock.

P.S.

Gowarikar played it safe when he started the film with the disclaimer: “Jodha Bai, Queen of Hindustan and wife of the greatest of Mughal emperors, Akbar, may not have ever existed, claim some historians. Others claim that she was his daughter in law and not his wife.” But it was not safe enough as the film got banned in Rajasthan, UP, MP, and Haryana. Fortunately, we are in US where such unnecessary controversies can ever arise.

29th Feb.

Heres for a day that comes once in 4 years !!

Enjoy !!!! :)

Dhana Dhan Dhoni !!!

Haha ha ... and ha

I couldn't stop laughing when I went back in time and saw all Dhoni's pics in cricinfo.com.

Here are a few hilarious ones. ( I am sure there are a lot more )

Now, that actually is a decent shot.

Power shot :

same shot, but on the leg side:

The perfect way to play a yorker?

Did I mention that he is a wristy player? but I didnt realize he even uses shins :o !!!!
Dance baby Dance
WTF ?? Fart Shot ?
He literally throws his bat at everything:

He might end up killing someone on the field! Bravo had a lucky escape.

Now go back to each photo and notice the muscles in his arms! ... gulp ...

Dreams unlimited

What are the activities that we do daily in our "common" day to day life ? The standard answer : Eat , Work , Sleep , yata yata , blah blah , etc etc. We dont realize that we spend almost one third of our life dreaming. The total science behind dreaming is not yet known, but my take on it is that the brain during our sleep time gets bored with less work ( see ... ironic isnt it ? It doesnt want to work when we are awake :p )

So it invents a parallel universe which mimics the real world. We are the variables ( though the variables are less in number ... ) and all the environmental constraints like gravity, etc are mimicked almost accurately ... Did this motivate Adi Shankaracharya to write his thesis on the real hidden meaning of life according to Hinduism ? And yes ... his thesis did ultimately inspire the makers of my all time Fav. movie "The Matrix".

I dream. I dream a lot. I actually can work part time as a guinea pig for those who are doing research on Brain mapping and Dream.I still remember the heavy traffic of dreams I had during the siestas I had in my intermediate days ( in Gowtham, S.R.Nagar Room 201 ).Maybe the work load or the tension during the IIT prep days got my brain going.

Of late, I have realized that the type of dreams I have is called "Type 2 False Awakening". Like the one I had in Room no. 2321, when Kiran and Bhakta were sleeping in my room (exams time of course). Or the Aishwarya Rai poster dream that I had. Scary dreams not worth revealing. I usually don't do anything worthwhile the next day.

But the reason why I am writing this post is because I have started to dream in the class also. No not day dreaming. I dozed off and then I dreamt that I was in the same class attending the same lecture but everything else was peculiar. I then dozed off in my dream to wake up to the real class :). Serious ... I am not kidding. And neither am I imagining this.I felt guilty for the next 3 days actually.As if this is all because I am forcing the brain to do something it doesn't want to.

What the was the most useful dream I had ??

It was when I had misplaced my wallet. I searched and searched for it, eventually gave up and went to sleep in a bad mood. Guess what I then dreamt where my wallet was. Awesome isn't it ?

Stress reliever

September maasam !! :p

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Dautya - 2nd edition
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September, as Wikipedia informs me, is not a special month. No country got its independence in this month. No big events took place except for the infamous 911 which changed everyone’s world. But as they say life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. And we had our mouths full this month. At the point of our life (as a grad student) where all the interest in sports we love becomes the last priority, we had to stop whatever we were doing, create time out of thin air and spend it on refreshing certain websites that report on Indian sport.

Indian sports? You must be thinking I am talking ONLY about what happened in T20 World Cup. No. September fortunately has been great for all the major sport events that India participates in. The month started off with much optimism in the air. We had just won the Nehru cup in soccer where we had beaten a much higher ranked Syria in a high-voltage final in New Delhi. The whole nation was shouted “Chak De India” when we easily won the Asia Cup where we overwhelmed Korea in finals. South Korea actually is the World Cup runners up. So lifting Asia Cup was no small matter.



Then out of nowhere Indian cricket, as if sensing that it was lagging behind in performing at world events, lifted the inaugural Twenty 20 World Cup! Damn it, the Indian crickets choose the worst moment. Mid-term exams almost spilled water on the fun. But knowing desis mentality, I am sure no one missed anything. Worst of all were those who were participating in Parichay. But now that we have won it who is complaining?

As a grad student, I thought I have seen enough thrills and frills in my life. But I was wrong as each and every T20 match passed a high frequency sine wave through everyone’s hearts. I have already started to cherish a few moments that will probably bring a smile on my lips forever. The fear that a “Chak De” type situation had come up for Pakistan during the Bowl-out against us. The time when I was sitting in my Lab in COT and refreshing cricinfo.com and watching in disbelief when Yuvraj was hitting those historical 6 Sixes. Priceless. And to go back home and find that this video was the day’s most popular video in Youtube? Priceless. And when Rohit Sharma flung himself to run-out Boucher in the crucial match against RSA. Priceless. And how about Sreesanth’s reaction when he took the wicket of Hayden? Priceless. Priceless. Priceless.





But the best moment that I cherish probably was when Mishab-ul-haq skied the ball in the last over just after he had hit Joginder for a six. That was the perfect moment when God for fun could have slowed the time for everyone. Wait ... I think he actually did that. What followed that cant be described in words. Chak De had suddenly become Chak Diya ! We had won the World Cup !! All the effort we put in by watching those matches finally paid off.
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Thanks cricinfo for the wonderful ball-by-ball coverage and these gr8 pics.

The BEST song ever.

What can bring words out of you all the way from the inner most depths of your emotion ? Is it your thoughts about your lover ? Or are you super-religious and cant stop thinking about the benevolence of the almighty GOD ?

For me its both. Depends on my mood.

So I find Sufi music every central to my very existence on this planet. It sooths me, gets me in the mood. Gets me going. This particular Sufi song has certainly changed the outlook of my life.

Well ... you cant blame me. The song is perfect if ever there was any. The mystical beats of Rahman with the hypnotic lyrics of Gulzar.A cheerful SRK dancing on the train lip-syncing to the energetic voice of Sukhwinder Singh. Immortal!!! Thats what this song is. Cant ask for more !!

jinke sar ho ishq ki chhaanh
paon ke niiche jannat hogi

For he, who is shielded by the umbrella called love, has heaven under his feet !!

So :

paon jannat chale chal chhaiyyan !!!

(So he who ) walks in the shadow ( of love ) ( and ) stroll in heaven !!

gulposh kabhi itarae kahin
mahake to nazar aajaye kahin

Sometimes when she shows-off like a flower and then hides, it is her fragrance that ( makes me ) locate her.

And then how can I miss these B.E.A.U.tiful line :

tawiz banake pahanun use
aayat ki tarah mil jaaye kahin

And then the sacred hymns :

mera nagama vahin mera kalama vahin
mera nagama nagama mera kalama kalama

( Enough of my sick translations ... its just spoiling the song )



P.S : Why didn't I start my blog with this post ????

Idiocratic America

When I came to US, of all the things that I was eagerly looking forward to, the most anticipated one was the doing a course under an American professor with many American students.This is my 3rd Sem now and of the 11 courses that I have taken up, only 2 were taught by American profs and hardly 10% of the students were from America.

Then when I became a TA in COT, then for the first time, I came in direct contact with American undergrad students. The "customer care" effect was clear among them. They would not hesitate to ask anything and everthing even before they try to analyze it. ( whereas we Indians would always be the last ones to ask "doubts" ). After a few classes of "How did you figure that out?" "ooh! thats tricky !!" and "Thats it? Is it really so simple?" , I realized that most of them were smart but unfortunately dumb.

Then I found out that most of the smart Americans who were not dumb, went into Law or Management field. Science and Engineering is not a popular option here.Thats why so many I20s are being issued to International students.

Then I saw this film "Idiocracy". Its a dark comedy film on what is going to happen in the future.The argument made in the film is simple : the human race is getting dumber with each passing generation. Well ... it actually is talking about the % of "intelligent" people in US.

Here is the intro of the film.



I know what you are thinking : Thats a dark prediction of the future that might never happen.

yeah ? Then have a look at this :



Ok ... lets spare the poor teen ... but lets turn our attention towards the President of United States of America.



Now lets look at a TV survey. ( ok ok ... they just included the clippings they wanted only to prove their point ... )



Believe me, I worked for 6 days in a Motel.I know that chances that these might really happen in US are bright. And maybe what Asimov predicted is going to happen in the far far future after all !! Science is going to be re-introduced by an extremely small group as a religion. Because when u ain't never fear it, u aren't ever gonna respect it.

To end this blog entry, let me quote Chris Rock here -

"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy,the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, pakistan is accusing the U.S. of not helping against war on terror, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named Bush, Dick, and Colon."

Hyd Blasts and the Terrorists psyche

A Terrorist attack is nothing new. But how the system responds to it gives an assurance to the people of the city because you never know when the terrorists will strike again. What happened at Hyd will surely give goosebumps to Hyd'badis whenever they go out with their family during the weekend to see a movie or to have fun in a park or even when they go out to eat in a restaurant.

The infrastructure of the city , touted to be the next big Indian city of the future, completely failed. At Gokul chat, no ambulance arrived. Heck! There was no police to take care of the proceedings. ( How well the police constables are trained to handle such situations is yet another question. ) All the injured were taken to the hospital in autos and buses ! It may indicate the dynamism of the Hyd'badi public as a whole but thats not the way things should be. The lack of policemen saw the media person make merry. As usual blood , dead bodies and soon crying family members will be on TV . Courtesy : The media today.

Within 24 hours, the government has come up with an Islamic Terrorist organization. Whats in the name? They are all the same. And even I , thousands of miles away from Hyd'bad, know that it is SIMI which is behind it.Why ? Simple. Gokul Chat.

The bomb at this eatery only indicates that the terrorist who planned it is from Hyderabad. Not only that, the scary part is that this indicates that he is not only young, but probably educated. Because, this is located at Koti, a heaven for book lovers.A place where you can find any book in the world for 1/4th its original price.

In fact, I have many fond memories of that place. I remember buying all the 5 books of Harry Potter books and gifting them to my sister on her B'Day. And those countless times I went to buy novels. And every time I went there , I did eat at the Gokul chat.

And that this terrorist could convince their bosses that this was a good target.( even though it wasn't have high profile place and even the "number of kills" would be less ) This means that either the young terrorists are very smart or that their bosses themselves are Hyd'badis !! Scary , isn't it ? Their psyche is just getting more and more complex.

What is the solution to all this?Nothing comes to my mind. Oh God, Why wasn't I born in a era when conflicts could be resolved through wars.

GISO pick-ups !

Here is one more cut-paste from Dautya.Its a funny anecdote on the whole GISO pick-up work.

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Come fall and students enter UH in thousands.Nothing changed in that statistic even this year.But this time students from India decieded to enter UH in hunderds.160 to be exact.Not impressed? Considering the fact that last year the total of 75 itself was a record high and that GISO provides free pick up from the airport and also free accomodation to almost anyone who has the common sense of filling out a simple pick-up request form on GISO's website.Or dont consider my consideration.Go and meet Vijay Jaina and Anup.Poor guys who probably have stared more into the Excel sheets ,containing the pick-up list, than the developers of MS Office ever did.( How Vijay Jaina and Anup got sucked into this is not entirely known.But before they were assigned the job, the president was seen roaming around looking for members who have experience working on MS Excel, for a simple task. )

Jokes apart, the whole pick-up event has literally drained all the energy out of everyone who have been involved right from the Excel sheet managers to the pick-up men ( couldnt find a better word ) and to those who accomodated the newbies in their apartments.Everyone did their bit by pushing themselves to their limits.At one point of time, many member's apartments were "filled" with atleast 3 temps.But strangely, not all wanted to let go of the temps.Because that would only mean new temps would just barge in.GISO was grateful to its alumni, for the alumni played its part in picking up the newcomers from the airport.The same cant be said about the present members who participated in the pick-ups. Because rumours were rife that some of them were actually praticing driving on the freeway by making the newcomers bakras.

But one thing did not change.Even this year the pick-ups were full of drama, action and emotion.Right from the pick-up man who was afraid that more parts of his brand new 2nd hand car would "fall down" during the pickups to the scene in one of the apartments went all the temps went to bath by pulling the curtain out of the bath-tub ( which almost flooded the restroom ).But the worst of all was that of the loudly announced and celebrated "Last pick up of Fall 2007" which proved to be a dud as that student didnt actually belong to our school but to UH,CLear Lake.A small lapse by the Excel sheet managers left the pick-up man stranded in the airport for more than 3 hours.He apparently ran from pillar to post at the airport trying to unearth the elusive Mr.Lastpickup.

So what would be the situation next year? I think it would have been a simpler task this year itself if Mr.President would have listened to loud noises from some quater of the GISO members. Rent a bus, make everyone come on the same date to Houston.Install a tent out side the International arrivals where the Excel sheet guys would be sitting and confirming the arrival of everyone.Surely this would have made the pick-ups a picture event.And this article would have made it to The Houston Chronicle instead of only Dautya.Is the next would-be president noting this point ?


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Dautya - Message from the Editor

Things are moving fast.I am working as a journalist in Indoamerican-news and now I am also the Editor of the DAUTYA, the newsletter of GISO,UH.The questions that has been nagging me is whether or not I should cut-paste the articles that I am writing for them.

I have given it a long thought and have decided to include articles that can be included in my blog ie all concert reviews, interviews, etc have to be excluded.

So here is my first cut-paste. It is the message from the editor for the first ever edition of Dautya.It is highly unfortunate that all the articles of the newsletter were written in a few hours time.But it was well received and of course things are going to be lot better from the next edition onwards.

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Why does GISO need a newsletter?Its because GISO as an organization has successfully planted itself as an umbrella for all Indian students in UH.Because now a platform was needed where an Indian Graduate student could share his American experience with everyone.Because its is high time every GISO member stays in sync with the activities that are taking place under GISO.

Due to these compelling reasons, the newly elected GISO committee ,under the leadership of Srinath Iyer, has decide to throw the hat into the ring and come up with "Dautya" in such short notice.And no better day to launch it than India's 60th Independence day. A day which instills a profound feeling of love towards India because we, here in US, miss it more than anyone else even though Houston and especially UH has become our home away from home.

"Dautya" is going to be a monthly edition so that we grad students will be able to squeeze out some time and come up with some interesting articles for our readers.As an editor, I am going to cajole all members of GISO to contribute and I am not ruling out harassment to get the job done.

THe newsletter would include articles which are of importance to all Graduate students in UH.From general GISO news to interesting articles like "Ancient Indian Mathematicians" and to more usable fashion and cooking tips, Dautya would soon surely gain acceptance from GISO members and would actually help in making GISO more active and responsible.The first ever copy of Dautya is a paper print-out but further editions would be in a much friendlier pdf format.

So guys, buckle up and watch out for this space!

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In-dependence day

Happy Birthday to my beloved India.

A 60 year old India is surprisingly far more active and vibrant than the 50 year old one. What happened in these 10 years that has changed completely the perception of India in the whole world ? What happened in these 10 years that has changed the way we look at our own country?

India is selling itself as a brand to the world.It is selling the idea of India to Indians.That I feel is the difference.

Consider the situation in 1997.India was on a new journey.Economic policies had shifted drastically only 5 years ago and not all political parties had grasped it.Now after 10 years, we even have the Left parties which have paved the way for Industrialization in West Bengal !

In these 10 years, we have seen an unprecedented change in the way the government works.India has lot its shyness to hold parties in 5 Star hotels to attract foreign investors. India is far more ready to accept new technology to reduce corruption and red-tapism. India is far more eager to see Indians prosper rather than the earlier concept of seeing India as a community prosper.India is ready to make new friends ie America. India is ready to believe in the youth and the youth believes in India.

Lets see where we are after 10 more years !!

Pics that changed the world

I generally spend 3-4 hours on net trying to read up historical events of the world ( not from any one countries point of view ). I do it because I always wanted to become a historian and of course because I am ample free time.I found over the years that whenever I recollect those events , all I remember is the emotion that I had felt while reading/watching that event but along with that emotion comes a picture. I dont know why my mind is tuned like that but to me personally, a picture conveys a lot more than a thousand words but surprisingly even more than a video.

So here are a few of those pics that always haunt me.

1) Tiananmen Square 1989

Why are you here? You have caused nothing but misery.

I remember when I first came to know about this event , I thought it was just another student protest. Philippines, Malaysia and even India ( Mandal commission ( 91 ? ) and the anti-reservation protests from last year ) have had many student protests which made me undermine this. I also thought this was given hype because China is a communist country. But when I saw Dr. Lee crying while watching a documentary on it, I realized I was wrong.

Who was he ? He is probably dead, one among the thousands butchered brutally in the open by their own government. Makes me ponder on the same question again and again : Why do all communist countries maintain a veil of secrecy ?You try to hide something when you know that it is wrong.If freedom of speech and freedom of press allowed in communist countries then that system would beat demo(n)cracy hands down.

2) Anne Frank.

Though this picture doesnt represent the event in discussion but for me and the millions of others who have read her diary it represents much more than the holocaust.I still remember raising my hand in the class when my English teacher offered to give this diary for a read to anyone interested in the class. Though I admit I raised it because I wanted to be in her good books, I am glad I did it and went on to read Anne Frank's diary.And after a number of books, documentaries and films ( the best being Schindler's list by Spielberg ), this is what comes to my mind ( Yes ! It even beats the Auschwitz's Death gate. )

P.S. : Hitler without the holocaust would have been my number uno hero.

3) The Kiss

The joy, the relief and everything else in this beautiful photo taken on VJ day. Clearly my favorite.

But the small nagging question still remains : Does this kiss avenge the death of the millions lost in the war ?

4) !!

No words . Its time for action after seeing this photo, I have decided to donate money and make my friends follow me.Deadline : August 29th ( my birthday ).And I seriously want this pic to change the world ( if it is not already ). FYI, the photographer Kevin Carter committed suicide after receiving an award for the photo.

These are my top 4.

My Blog title

Wait.
Give me a chance to explain my blog title.

Of course it is a Sanskrit word. And of course I wanted my title to be an oxymoron.
So I choose this word Gadgadadhvani, which means "inarticulate expression of joy or grief".

Let me start my blog by invoking God with these verses :

ॐ ! May my speech be based on (i.e. accord with) the mind;
May my mind be based on speech.
O Self-effulgent One, reveal Thyself to me.
May you both (speech and mind) be the carriers of the Veda to me.
May not all that I have heard depart from me.
I shall join together (i.e. obliterate the difference of) day
And night through this study.
I shall utter what is verbally true;
I shall utter what is mentally true.
May that (Brahman) protect me;
May That protect the speaker (i.e. the teacher), may That protect me;
May that protect the speaker – may That protect the speaker.
ॐ ! Peace ! Peace ! Peace !