Waiting

A scarecrow he is -

Waiting for love to fly by,

Land and stay with him.

True Love

I took my new song

To her, through wind swept green fields -

She was humming it.

Cleansing Ritual

Over the Spring pond

The mountain breeze cleanses the

Golden reflection.

Flitting Away

Warm sun rays beckon.

A sparrow flies, dragging a

Poem in its wake

Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls

That is what they were called when I ordered them in a Vietnamese restaurant in Ottawa. I fell in love with them. They were, what we Indians would call, satvic. I, of course, had the option of adding chilli sauce (which is not anything like a ketchup but an oil suspension of spicy chilli) to which I often sinfully subscribed, but this dish is splendid even without anything spicy.

I returned to India planning a whole exercise of preparing these rice papers at home. I was sure my mom would throw me out of the house for making such demands of her. I then started looking for adapting Indian rice papads to serve as a coarse cousin of this dish's main ingredient, but, alas! nothing would really work. You could prepare rice paper at home. There is no one, other than your mom or, worse, your wife who could stop you. You would need rice flour, tapioca flour, salt and water. You should be able to find the recipe for this anywhere online.

The reason I love this dish (other than the satvic quality) is its adaptability. Like pasta, bruschetta and salads, this dish has a basic foundation (and hence, not entirely a free-for-all) but lets you mold it to suit your taste.

In Madras (and even in Chennai) you will find rice paper in Amma Nana, on Cathedral Road (opposite Park Sheraton, I think). In Bangalore, this is now available in Spencer's store on M.G.Road. This is the one adjoining Au Bon Pain bakery. I buy the brand below and I haven't been disappointed. Once, opened, please store it in a cool (not cold) dry place.

There are about 40-50 sheets in a pack. You'd rarely want to eat more than 4-5 of them in one sitting (these are starters not enders or this-is-all-you'll-getters). There are tonnes of variations to this dish and I am simply going to tell you the tale of tonight's dinner.

We had some tomato chutney remaining. I had to exhaust it. So, it formed the base on the rice paper. Oh! I forgot to tell you. The rice papers you buy will be firm discs. You need to immerse them in hot water for about 15-20 seconds. Take them out carefully as they will now be delicate and easily given into tearing. If you have long nails, cut them.

After applying the chutney, we introduce the tofu. Now tofu can be smoked, sauteed or deep fried after being dipped in besan batter. I chose the simple sauteed and one side charred option. But before I did that, I julienned (love this word) red capsicum (bell pepper), sauteed it in olive oil (extra virgin, which is not the same as a conservative Indian girl) and sprinkled a little (really, a little) salt and about 2-3 tbsp of balsamic vinegar. This softens the capsicum and lends it a tang.

In the skillet where I had sauteed the capsicum, I sauteed the tofu as well. You can use lengths of paneer to get a similar effect, but tofu is mild and satvic. So now my tofu helped me clean my skillet of the olive oil - balsamic vinegar blend. Then I turned up the heat to char (no, not your single byte variable) them on one side (you won't see that side below). The red worms on top are the capsicum slices. Please buy fresh.



Once you have that placed on the rice paper, you should add a few leaves of fresh basil. Fresh basil in Bangalore is available in the Food Gourmet store on M. G Road and I think in Maison Des Gourmets (Lavelle Road). You might find it at other places. In Madras you will find it in MDG (Senatoph Road) and in the American Vegetable Store in T Nagar. No, you cannot use dried basil for this. Please don't. Have a heart!!

Then, or rather at the outset, you should have powdered some groundnuts and dried red chilli. Then, you add them on top of the basil leaves. It lends a nutty texture and taste to the dish. If you are allergic to groundnuts (which are also known as peanuts) then don't use them. Duh! You could sprinkle some red paprika if it suits your taste.



Now, you need to carefully roll the paper (it is still delicate) making a nice translucent pouch containing all the ingredients mentioned above.

And when many of them are carefully parceled, this is how it looks.

What are the variations possible? Several! I would need a few hundred posts to outline all of them. Experiment with different vegetables (I would never recommend non-veg in this lifetime), different sauces, tofu, paneer, feta cheese, groundnut powder, gunpowder (something that you will get in Maharashtra) and so on. I have played around with several combinations including sun-dried tomatoes, harissa, soya sauce, etc. Be creative! That is really what cooking is all about, and of course the joy of feeding someone.

Spring Songs

A drunk butterfly

Trips on an eager blade of grass

Nature's metronome.

Writing Poems

The day before the poem -

Maimed words strewn and crying out

Veiled connotations.

Truth Re-recognised

And thus I learned well -

Your lies are the rains that cleanse

The skies of perception.

Never Returns

Our last photograph -

Still glossy and smiling happily,

Unlike reality.

My Love For You

Like rust, we blend

Into something neither of us are.

Clinging tenuously

To this world of prettiness

Until the all-pervading wind

Sweeps us away

Into far away lands

Where none understand our words

But lovers breathe us in deeply

And say

"Love is in the air".

Are you ready to be tooked?

My friend Agni and his friend Ramanan are starting a new venture (not sure whether I could call it a company or an organisation). He tells me that the inspiration came from ... oops! I am not supposed to say it. I personally think it will be exciting and quite unlike anything else that has been tried. I would even be willing to put my money (I have lost my Monopoly board anyway) on this becoming quite a "cool" phenomenon. For one, this is not based on something hip or Web 2.0 and that makes me like it. I'll tell you what it isn't and then you can stay tuned to get more info from them (or on this blog). Agni says that the launch will happen shortly, so if you are in Bangalore you should surely not miss the launch.

1. It isn't a software company
2. It produces no tangible entity
3. It will never be traded on the stock market (or I will be visibly surprised)
4. It doesn't involve people in ties (can create ties though)
5. It is not into the restaurant business (though food will feature in the offering)
6. It is not about organising magic shows and event management (though it would be an event to remember)
7. It is not into venture capital or funding or anything related to finances (though if finance is your thing then you could very well be part of this. Actually, if you're passionate about anything then this could very well be for you)
8. It is not some social networking fad (though it is social)

You need to check it out to know more. They have a presence on FaceBook too. Join in.

The Master

In a used shoe's warmth

Dreams of kings are born and lived -

Zen in a loafer.

Generation V - The Age of Voyeurism

I don't think this generation can be called Gen-X or Y or any other letter of the English alphabet. I think we are in the midst of a growing generation of voyeurs. The funny thing about this moniker unlike the others is that it covers nearly everyone alive. The other categories seem to be temporal or spatial but not Gen-V as it stems from the basic (as in base) instinct of human beings. But I won't meander through the thickets of taxonomy.

Till a while ago, all we had was Buniyaad-like serials. That and Nukkad made most of our TV viewing, excluding music programs. Then came Mahabharat and Ramayan with their special effects. Pan to the days of Saas-Bahu serials which had daughter-in-laws and mother-in-laws nod alike with vituperative glances at their foe. Soon viewers started connecting to the characters in the serials. It wasn't uncommon to hear newly wed girls gossip about how much their mother-in-law mirrored the vile woman in so-n-so soap-opera. I believe men didn't play much part in these never-ending soaps (except for looking younger than their daughters).

Till a long while ago, we had 19:30 regional language news followed by one more at 20:30 in Hindi and then another in English (if I remember the timings right). It would have been absurd to imagine an entire channel for news. It would have been considered the joke of mankind to imagine a 24 hr news channel. What on earth could ever happen 24x7? All our politicians would be asleep and we don't quite care about some French premiere did with his in-house policies! Right? Fine, maybe there would be news for at most 4 hours in a day. Why would we need a 24x7 channel? 10 of them? Are you nuts?

Till a long while ago, newspapers were thin and the raddiwala came once in 2-3 months to collect them from us. We would be happy to see a few kilos balance the scales and a sum of Rs. 20 come our way. We would invariably buy some groceries for the kitchen and that would be it. International affairs would take 2 pages, sports, 2, domestic affairs would be 2-3, other states would command another 2 and the really local news would be a terse one page. There would be an editorial and reading the paper was a religious excursion into the words of the wise and informed! Why would I need a God-in-Gucci column? Why would I need a column about what celebrity X eats? The standard bulk of the daily in Bombay is a whopping 1 kg! Seriously, who can ever read all of that? It would require me to sit through the day with these papers and do nothing else. Especially, if I have to understand how Pamella Anderson's sprung a leak and forced her into reducing her assets. Or why Rahul Mahajan picked D and not N and why the wedding was getting delayed which would need you to be informed about his uncle's demise which would require you to be informed about the ceremonies surrounding death in the Indian communities, which would take you into an analysis of superstition in India and the atrocities done unto the Dalits and how Dr. Ambedkar was a great man before his affair was revealed, drawing a parallel with the affairs of great leaders like Nehru and Tagore (though not a real leader), finally rolling all of it back to the fact that Rahul Mahajan might not postpone his wedding because his uncle killed his father before ending in a serious debate about whether Rahul should forgive his uncle and delay his wedding with Sri Sri Sri ... Sri Ravishankar commenting on the importance of forgiveness and marriages and blessing the newly wedded couple.

Which brings me to the then-and-now topic of weddings and marriages. I have always seen weddings conducted differently. Thank my lucky stars, I still see them being conductive in a manner I can understand. Along came the Swayamvar (and later Swayamvadhu) brigade and weddings are no longer what they used to be. Marriages are no longer what they used to be. Now everyone has to know how I chose the bride/groom, what I had dreamt of when I was 5, 10, 15 (puberty set in and we would have experts commenting on the effects of hormones on our conception of our mating partner and how premature conception happens), 20 and now at the age of 27 when I am finally getting married (no, I am not!). They have to ask 10 of my friends what kind of girls did I letch at (well, they were too busy leching to notice) and a tarot card reader to divine how my first night would be (the two of clubs show a rather masochistic night with the queen of cups showing drunk revelry). Oh! In those days, the first night was really the first night (at least in India)! FYI...

Welcome to Generation V (pronounced "generation vee" or if you wish to be cool you could pronounce it "generation wee" (not wee-wee) or if you wish to sound educated then you could pronounce it "generation five" or if you wish to sound Churchillish (or hellish) you can pronounce it "generation victory" or... well, you sure are jobless!)

This is the generation of voyeurs. Frankly speaking, every decade had it. Human beings, as such, are voyeurs. We would spy on the mating habits of tigers and rabbits (do you ever find them peeping into our bedrooms?), and the affairs and flesh display of our fellow human beings. We were always curious about how the neighbour made it rich. We were always curious why the neighbour's neighbour was fighting with her husband. We were always curious and our curiosity led to voyeurism when all that we had in our life was surplus time to create and satiate curiosity and very little substance. We soon got curious about the actors on screen. We got curious about our actor's pet poodle. We soon got curious about our curiosity.
With gadgets making life simpler and somehow people having more time on their hand than options to utilise that time: enter reality shows and reality content. I will avoid trying to sound preachy, but hey! I may slip. I will dwell on the voyeurism in news, TV programs, movies and relationships. Surprisingly, that covers 80-90% of most people's lives.

Rakhi Sawant is a girl you might never marry. She is also a girl you might never want your son to marry and if you are old enough, you wouldn't want your grandson to marry. People with grey hair (and missing teeth) would summarise RS in one or two words and they aren't printable. This woman who has the least objection to doing anything on screen in order to get herself 2-10 minutes of limelight, hid nothing. She is gutsy, crude, stark and in your face (something else about her reaches you before her face can reach yours). I can't stand her because she lacks the ability to articulate and is disgustingly pretentious. RS decided to conduct her wedding (called simply, Rakhi ka Swayamvar, which means: Rakhi's ceremony of picking her own husband). You can read the details here. I was forced to see a couple of episodes (I was being fed at the house of a very dear friend and I played along). There were games and interviews and all the crap that one could manage to pack into a program (well, or so I thought before hearing about Emotional Atyachaar). RS acted the coy girl straight out of the textbook and continued to disgust me. She finally got engaged to a sleazy looking chap and later they broke up. Expected! All this, including the final breakup, swallowed hours of news channel time and pages of ToI and evenings of millions of people in India. Some kept saying "Oh! Come on, E. It is just timepass" and continued watching. I am sure Tom and Jerry serves as better "timepass" and retains our senses. Whatever! I thought the country would have learnt a lesson and would be wiser (but that, I learnt, is never true about this country).

Enter the drunkard and drug addict. He looks like a hooligan and comes from a family of politicians (less said about them). He acts like he has never seen a piece of feminine flesh and is known to have beaten up his wife and divorced her. That too, was a drama. His father was murdered and another drama conducted. This man would never feature as a model son/citizen/.../human being. He is the kind people use to scare their children into inculcating values and being educated. Mothers in far away villages tell their wailing child "So jaa, nahin to badey hoke uss ullu ke patthe jaise bann jaoge" which means, "go to sleep else you will grow up to be like that good-for-not-even-nothing scoundrel". Ladies and gentlemen, please run away from Rahul Mahajan. He has nothing to his name except disrepute. He has no job. He has no qualification which will get him a job. He has no history which can be proudly quoted to get him a job. And he decided to get married ala RS on screen. I had the gross misfortune of watching one episode of this while lunching at a dear friend's place. Her friend was addicted to this reality show and I had to wrench the mobile out of her hand as she was about to send her votes. I had to give her the math behind this SMS voting farce and she was too shocked to even notice that the program had ended (or maybe she just watches all of them in succession). I saw the last 3 girls. One of them was supposed to be extremely educated and looked rather refined. I was thoroughly disappointed to see someone supposedly so classy stoop to such levels. Her mother too joined in this drama. Hence, my conclusion that Gen-V spans age groups.

News channels have already come under fire for their callousness. Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai and all the other cartoons of our news channels will not have the decency to stay silent and leave the suffering/embarrassed individuals alone. They will keep hammering them with tonnes of questions while the camera zooms in and out. I had already written about RS (no, not the Swayamvar-wali RS) and his coverage of the Taj Hotel incident. His desperation to be the first to report some disaster oozed out of his words. BD (jalaile?) is equally dramatic and usually insensitive to the individual's situation while she continues to bombard them with questions and then turn rapidly to the camera with her conclusions. Western news channels had already mastered the art of invasive, voyeuristic reporting before India got its first 24x7 news channel and we obediently copied their style of reporting.

The coverage of the Aarushi murder was another incident which was sickening. The poor girl is dead and her family bereaved. Even if they were part of the murder, the media had no business prying into their lives in such a horrible and cheap manner. Aaj Tak and other news channels with their pathetic taste in background music insist on sensationalising every piece of news and every incident (which sometimes is not news).

Pan to the great scandal of the gurus. India is by far the most stupid nation in that it spawns more gurus per square yard than any other country. And this, in spite of the repeated scandals each one of them gets into. The latest is with Mr. N who was caught rolling on his bed with some actress devotee. My first question was, why does the nation care about what he does in his bedroom? My lifelong question is why do we need gurus when we do not have it in us to cultivate a spark of spirituality? If we had it in us, we wouldn't seek gurus beyond the nudge they might be able to give us. All the well known babas and swamis and gurus and godmen have landed themselves in scandals. From the Shankar Mutt acharya to Sai Baba (the one alive) to this recent one with Mr. N and the supposed Bhagwan Kalki and Mrs. BK. As long as there will be stupid people, they deserve such knaves. I think it is only a matter of time before something crops up against the great guruji of our times who happens to bug the daylights out of me! But that apart, why was that camera planted in Mr. N's room? Sting? Why broadcast it? The cheap thrills of watching some godman romp with an actress tickles Gen-V. If his words resonate with you, how does it matter whether he has sex with one or a dozen women? If his words don't stir anything in you why use his sexcapades to justify debunking him. And in all this, why destroy his ashram and hurt his devotees who are perhaps nothing more than ignorant fools?

We want to know the bedroom-tales of every actor and actress, and if we have exhausted that list then we want to know about our neighbours etc. It is not about whether we are holier than them or not (though a lot of people like to collect these tales to reassure themselves that they are indeed holier then thou) but more about the sheer hollowness in our lives.

Would I, E, be watching these videos or reading these articles if I had a deadline tomorrow?

No.

Would I, E, be watching these videos or reading these articles if I had my child in the hospital?

No.

Would I, E, be watching these videos or reading these articles if I was reading an interesting book by Henry James?

No.

Would I, E, be watching these videos or reading these articles if I was out on a date with this lovely lady?

No (I'd probably just wake up)

Would I, E, be watching these videos or reading these articles if I was having a wonderful meal?

No.

I am not holier than thou but I definitely don't watch TV (other than Discovery T&L, Discovery, Nat Geo, HBO, *Movies, Sony Pix, UTV WM, NDTV Lumiere and Cartoon Network) and I definitely don't read the paper (other than to find out whether there are any food festivals happening or book exhibitions or whether what they said about Libra really happened!!). I have friends call in to tell me that something happened in the world around me. I don't care, because my life has enough meat (no, I don't refer to my friends thus) to run smoothly without the base entertainment of watching someone's life lived out on screen.

LSD is the latest movie which talks about this Gen-V but no one is watching it with a meta-understanding of what this Gen-V is all about and what is happening around us without our noticing it. Perhaps LSD is fodder to Gen-V.

Reality shows, 24x7 news, newspapers with their sleaze state that they are catering to the demands of the people. Well, that is what pimps say too. That is what drug dealers say too. It amazes me to observe the double standards of people. No one I know will let their daughter sign up for the Rahul Mahajan drama or let their boy for Rakhi's Swayamvar. Still, I know enough people who watch these programs. Somehow watching is not considered on par with participating. But in murder and in violence, an onlooker who let the crime happen is considered a participant. Aren't these a violence done unto our sense of refinement and our standards of conduct and character?

If Dimpy Ganguly is considered cheap for whatever she did after show timings with Rahul M then why do you continue watching that program? Why would you watch a program where people are made to eat beetles or walk through a chamber of earthworms if you find it disgusting? Why would you watch MTV Roadies or the uglier Splitsvilla when you wouldn't swear like that and consider it vulgar? Emotional Atyachaar is the scum of all reality shows feeding directly on our craving for soft porn. And if you think they are fine and there is nothing wrong in being part of it, then my next question is, do you have nothing worthwhile in your life to spend your time on? Is this all that you can do? If you answer in the affirmative, I wonder what are you doing here!! :-) There is nothing nice on this blog. I do not cater to the "Wow" seekers. I have nothing "Wow" on this blog.

Which brings me to Seth Godin's article (for which I must thank K who shared it on Google Buzz before I did my periodic visit of Seth Godin's page). I agree with him entirely in his observation that our attention span, our intelligence, our refinement our ability to pause is taking a beating and this is no new phenomenon.

And with this I tie back to the nature of content itself. Content is created with least effort for reality shows. The people presenting news are not putting a lot of thought into what they are doing. It take a lot to be intelligent and insightful. I am yet to hear of one line of insight that the BDs and RSs have produced. The same seems to plague literature and the world of the written word with chic-lit and college capers abounding. The likes of Chetan Bhagat wave their resolve to cater to the LCD with aplomb. Music today is nearly all dhanchuk-dhinchuk. Lyrics get worse with every movie. The urgency to get out there and grab people's attention albeit for 10 min seems to be the sole motivator. It seems like a wife who cannot create genuine joy in the house and resorts to a quickie and considers her job done! The sheer effort required in producing content that is nearly immortal is what made some channels (BBC, Nat Geo, etc.) famous and fondly remembered. No one will remember UTV Bindass. The sheer lack of talent and worthy content seems to justify content providers to reel out low quality but high attractiveness stuff. So be it with blogs and the like. There are blogs which do nothing more than provide links to interesting content across the world (laziness) and some which are merely a collection of gossip columns and links to gossip columns around the world (high attractiveness). Good content need not always be only serious stuff. I had once pointed to two blogs which are seriously hilarious. Nothing about their posts provides food for thought, but they are simply hilarious and are not lazy or sleazy in the entertainment they provide. Being provocative too becomes a cheap trick if repeated too often.

So how should I conclude this? Hmmm... Generation - V is here to stay. No matter what I say and no matter what people think about the need to be refined, cultivated and educated, there will always be those who prefer the sleaze and cheap thrills of being a voyeur. You and I, definitely have the option of choosing differently. If your life lacks substance, resolve that and do not resort to the easy way out with lame entertainment. There is a huge difference between an occasional thrill and making that the only thing that can interest you.

More Reading (Will add more as and when I find them):

1. http://livemint.com/2009/01/13212700/Can-edginess-and-voyeurism-con.html
2. http://socialmediarockstar.com/voyeurism-social-media
3. http://www.freireproject.org/blogs/media-voyeurism-–-when-reality-becomes-spectacle
4. http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0705/heaton0705.html

Apologies

Some relationships can afford to be kept on the far sill of the attic window with a quiet whisper assuring them that "I will soon return once I clean up this place." I believe this blog and I share such a relationship. It has been nearly two and a half months since I wrote something here. Actually, it has been around the same span since I visited this blog and cleaned up foul comments that stupid surfers leave (now I get them in Chinese).
There have been several changes I have been working on over this period and allowing myself to witness many more. Most have been good. Hence, my absence was quite conscious and necessary. I think I will return to blogging now.
Friends and readers kept reminding me of the fact that I hadn't written. Paramita even left a comment to nudge me awake. Thank you, Paramita. I hope to have something that might interest you. I had several posts I wanted to write. Some are excessively delayed now and there is little sense in penning them. I won't. The rest will be published as days pass. So, no, there was no writer's block (thank the Goddess) just a decision not to write till I sort things out.

3 Idiots - Reflecting

It was a dear friend's birthday and we were taken out to watch this movie. In many ways we were three idiots of our own kinds, but nothing like what is shown in the movie. I could describe the Gold class seats and how my couch simply refused to recline until I got off it and so on, but that is largely beside the point.
I enjoyed this movie in spite of the hype around it. I usually am doubly critical of a movie when it is hyped, but this one was good. Several characters and incidents were exaggerated for effect and there were factual inaccuracies too, but I think the message was clear: If you can live a life dedicated to your passion, then go for it.
One thing I liked about the movie was how Rancho's character was built. They didn't portray him as a know-it-all or someone who was purely rebellious. Here is a character who can prove himself in the system but chooses to do things his way. So, he is not merely projected as a school dropout who goes ahead and builds a company all by himself or someone who flunks but still goes ahead to become some superhero. He is clearly shown as someone who loves his subject so much that he can succeed in the system and then do things the way he wants to - all on the wings of his love. He also shares this conviction of his with his friends who go on to lead happy lives (or so we are made to believe).
The movie is quite light and there are several jokes and funny moments sprinkled throughout the movie. Many of those jokes are old and made to appear as if they were originally conceived by the author. Rather shabby in that sense. Boman Irani plays his character very well. For once, Kareena ceased to be a pain. I think Madhavan was good too. Chatur Ramalingam played his character well enough to evoke the distaste for him. I think the music wasn't noteworthy and not even something that I felt like humming after the movie (though one song might still pass).
The message in the movie is rather old and not necessarily original but I think it is one which is worth repeating and this movie does so in a different style.
Here starts the "boring" part. Today, a dear friend of mine sends me a link. She mentioned that it was a review against the 3 Idiots. She knows exactly the stuff that excites me and I always bite the bait to find someone intelligent enough to critique something with a strong and original tone. Given that nearly everyone was gushing over this movie, here was a chance to find someone who might impress me ("A worthy adversary!?" asked the lady to Thomas Crown). I am largely disappointed.
Ms. Ghose raises a few points but unfortunately all of it is based on the fact that she missed the point of the movie. She thinks the movie "Three Idiots encourages us to throw away our books because today we are chanting the mantra, "the-system-sucks-and teachers-are-pathetic-and-who-cares-about-grades-and-the-rat-race-is- foolish"." Well, not really. Not at all, if I may say so.
Rancho is there to learn. He likes to question. Teachers don't like students questioning them too much. I have been witness to this. Osho claims to have been witness to this. Not many people are comfortable with having their thoughts and rules and fundamentals questioned. Teachers, motivational speakers, gurus and most people up on a dais usually cannot stand such an audience. I have had so many people ask me to leave. Rarely have I asked a question in order to show off or irritate the prof, but over time, the system taught me to not bother these people and hack it out for myself or invent things. That helped me cook up stories for kids and also patent stuff (Rancho's 400 patents did make my eyebrows shoot up). Many teachers in my school and college still remember me as the boy who loved to ask (annoying) questions.
Rancho loves machines and prefers things hands on. Nevertheless, he respects theory enough to study and score well in the exams. The point is, he wouldn't have had a problem even if he came 2nd or last in the exams simply because he would have loved every minute of the semester. That is what everyone was missing out on. I think all that Rancho was saying was that people should enjoy whatever they do or take some time out to evaluate what they want from life and their priorities.
Viru Sahasrabuddhe was depicted as a demon in the form of a director, but he does receive Rancho's first question and does get back to him after Mona's delivery about the problems with using a pencil in outer space. So he was a good prof as far as the fire to learn, clarify and communicate goes. Yes, he believed that competition was all that the world had to offer. So many people believe in the same thing. Parents strongly believe in competition. Students learn the same and carry that attitude forward. Organisations are built on the need to compete and eliminate competition. So there is no point pretending that such characters (ViruS) do not exist and are figment of one's imagination. Some IITian on Ms. Ghose's article mentions the same thing "I have never seen a prof like how Viru S was depicted". Well, why didn't anyone say that about the teachers who subjected their students to capital punishment? When a child was made to lift bricks or run around the school in the sun, why don't we shun it as pure fiction and exaggeration because "We have never had such a teacher so it can't be real". Simply put, there are all kinds of teachers and professors and this movie depicted one kind.
Can this work for everyone? Well, no. There will always be people who have no passion. There will be people who simply want a job and nothing more. There will be people who want to take the fastest route to a lot of money and social status. There will always be people who are passionate about life and as a wise soul once said, those who are passionate about life cannot be single minded about only one thing. There will always be people who can do a simple job when taught how to do it and that would pretty much be it. People who clearly are passionate about something constitute a meagre 1-5% of the human population. So is this movie made for only these people? I would think not. It is made to encourage people to pause long enough to ponder over what they really like to do, and if they find nothing then they could always pick a line of work which a needs large amount of labour force (like the software industry). Currently, people don't do that and that is a concern. If more people were encouraged to pause and ponder, there is a higher likelihood that people will align more with their area of interest/passion.
Being in the software industry, I am surrounded by people who have come from all walks of life and are here mostly for the money and often for the opportunity to go abroad and get a better lifestyle. Very few people are here because they like to hack and develop software. I am sure every field has such examples. Bankers and teachers are rarely there because they love it. They simply wish to eke out a living. Nothing wrong with that but there might be opportunities to obtain a similar earning by doing something that they like. One teacher likes to cook, a banker loves painting, another loves collecting old movie songs and so on. Had they received sound guidance, then they could have juggled with setting up cooking classes (which can earn a lot) or provide catering services (which earns a lot more) and create paintings and setup shows and perhaps sell a good number of them and setup a radio show which plays old songs and people get to request for songs. Can they earn as much? Perhaps not. Perhaps they can be secondary career options. Perhaps we need to pause long enough to think.
Rancho doesn't recommend that we kill the system. He suggests giving it a relook. He doesn't suggest we dumb down knowledge, but recognise what is relevant and what can be smoothened out to be more accessible. Rancho doesn't say that all teachers are bad but they need to revisit their teaching methodology. He doesn't say that engineering colleges are a waste, he says that they need to produce something vital and not a bunch of people who just want to use it as a stepping stone to higher paying jobs (even in unrelated sectors). Rancho doesn't simply point a finger at the education system but actually goes ahead and sets up a school based on what he believes. He doesn't say forget about grades but he says put your soul into it and enjoy the subject and success will follow on its own.
Too philosophical? Perhaps, but if it can wake up a few, then why not. Human beings being what they are, are quite likely to interpret according to their convenience, but that doesn't mean that the movie is wrong or, as Ms. Ghose says, dangerous because it will create a nation of idiots. We are as much a nation of murderers and gangsters and voyeurs and Casanovas and silly fellows running through fields in Punjab because we watched movies depicting these things. I think we can live with it. If we anyway do not have the sense to think for ourselves, we can be a nation of idiots or Indians. Big difference!

Experimenting

I am trying out new templates and colour schemes because I heard many folks complain about the red and black scheme that I had earlier (the only reason I preferred that was that it was entirely constructed by hand by me). But when a friend (who states that she is my "number one fan") recently mentioned that she finds this an eye-sore, I decided to visit options.
Experimenting over a dial-up is impossibly difficult and slow and dependent on weird things, like no incoming calls on the telephone line. Hence, this blog will be in various states of undress and I count on you not to laugh (too loud, at least). Btw, I would love to hear if you like this current scheme as it stands. I really liked the quick snippet view and the clean layout and organisation. But it doesn't seem to reflect much of the blog's personality (don't ask me what that is). So if you could comment and tell me which state of the blog you liked and so on, perhaps I could use you to blame my decision! :-D
Wishing everyone a wonderful new year ahead.

To a Pinker World

Nothing to do with Steven Pinker!
In the midst of all that I am drowning in (which spells work work work), I read this article about how "Instead of trying to change the women who do not relate to the stereotype, our research suggests that changing the image of computer science so that more women feel they fit in the field will go a long way to recruiting them into computer science" and I felt like throwing up! I can't believe that there are so many jobless people out there trying to figure out why some sex/race/creed is not interested in a particular job! As long as there is no legal and bureaucratic constraint, I think the reason why people don't get into a job is because they are not equipped for it or are not interested. Pretty simple. Why don't most men become cooks (though actually most chefs are men)? Because they are not interested or can't be creative enough! Someone who truly loves food will go and do it. Similarly, someone who truly loves fashioning clothes will go ahead and do it. If women don't like computer science they simply don't. This is also true about Math as a subject. Why should people who love computer science change their ways for those who don't in order to "change the image of computer science"?

I have been in the software industry for over 7 years and I have found only a handful of women truly interested in their jobs. We don't have coke cans or science fiction memorabilia in our cubicles. Most women are here to supplement the income of their house or make some money for themselves. They don't care about software or computer science. So be it with a lot of men, too, but when I assemble all those who love computer science and love hacking and coding and designing and coming up with new ideas, women are a minority (if present). Not because of coke cans and Star Trek. I am part of the invention evaluation team at my organisation. How many inventions come in from women!? You can count them on a pair of hands. Why? Not because of Star Trek and coke cans. Sheesh!! I can't believe this is a university professor (and no guesses, she is a woman). I would love to see women in software industries. It can lend perspective to design (esp. UI). But if they don't like it, I will let them be. It is like forcing the women in your house to fall in love with a Man U game by watching it on a pink TV or having the players occasionally enact a scene from "Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi". The content is the same, for Pete's sake!!

These sort of lame studies ruin the technical edge and vitality of organisations and departments. How? Let me give you a personal example. Last year two papers of mine got selected at two very prestigious conferences. I was excited and applied for travel permit. My "illustrious" organisation refused citing curbs on expenses. Sounded fair to me so I kept quiet. Then I got to know that a female manager was being sent to CA, US to attend a "Women in Technology" conference (which was internal to the company and not even a worldwide conference) for which she was just an attendee and contributing nothing beyond her weighty presence! Here is a technology company that prefers this gimmick to actual technical vitality and participation in IEEE and ACM conferences. All in order to claim a tag of a "women-friendly" company or some such crap.

If the women were mature enough, they would go visit software companies and computer science labs to see what reality is and form their own impression rather than live off stereotypes. Frankly, it is often difficult working with some women who play the sob story and try to get away with actual hard work. Not all of them are like that (and I know of one who can put any guy to shame) but a lot of them will capitalise on their being a woman with "so many roles to play" and sob their way out of real work. Frankly, we need people who can work and with brains and who are self-motivated: sex/age/race no bar. I can do without people who want me to grow a beard in order to feel more welcome or prefer floral wallpaper in the office. Most east coast (US) companies have the worst interior decor in all their worldwide offices. Try convincing them to invest dollars in better decor!

And what then happens to a guy who likes to have the coke cans and pizza crumbs on his desk to feel more at home and in the peak of his form? He has to clean up so that some women can join his office? Coming to think of it, he might just agree (till they join)! Guys!
I would like Ms. Sapna Cheryan to try this recommendation on the annual Harley Davidson gathering. I am sure we will have an article that says:

"When people think of computer science riding bikes the image that immediately pops into many of their minds is of the computer geek bearded man in black leather surrounded by such things as computer games, science fiction memorabilia and junk food boots, babes and beer," said Sapna Cheryan, a University of Washington assistant professor of psychology and the study's lead author. "That stereotype doesn't appeal to many women who don't like the portrait of masculinity that it evokes. We need to have pink bikes with wider seats and a place to keep pet poodles."

Given that Harley Davidson lovers frowned on the introduction of the V-Rod 7, I can only imagine their response to this!!

Rule of Thumb: If you don't like it, find something you like to do and do it. Don't ask the world to change for you.

Something To Say

I have been here for the past thirty days. They needed help in setting up the turbines for the power plant and they couldn't afford to blow the coils on this one. When I had decided on playing with wires and electricity, my dad thought I was going to be a great physicist; my mom thought I would be on the radio, my brother never thought about me and hence, stole the wires and sold them for his cigarettes. He still hasn't departed from his barter mentality and the biggest problem in that is that he thinks everything in life is a fair exchange, till he fell in love. No exchanges there.

I ended up manning turbines and laying the induction coils in them and I thought I was going to be someone great. I didn't know that all they would want me to be is the guy who would fit things in the spindle housing right. This takes me to odd places like this one. They say they need me and can't find anyone like me but they also don't want me to become anything else. Like the man who wound the city clock thrice a week, but that's a different story.

He wasn't one who would create problems but he was still not allowed here. He managed to get through the chicken-wire fencing before he was thrown out and convinced that he should not venture beyond sitting on that rock and watch the entire grand activity below. Metal and instructions sparked the space beneath where he sat and watched. No one knew who he was and in that ignorance, he gained identity amongst us. I didn't like him because he watched us work with genuine interest and curiosity. Even children got bored on the third day. He made me feel embarrassed about my work and its plainness. I soon started working with my back towards him. He would sing a variety of songs while we worked or ate our lunch. When we were about to leave, he continued singing and we knew he had left when we couldn't hear him anymore.

Today he smiled at me and I wasn't sure what to do. I pretended as if something had fallen into my eye and rushed to where my colleague was and asked him to blow hard into my eye. We soon started chatting about his brother-in-law who lost his eye when iron filings had fallen into one of them. It was a while before I thought of our man up there.

He began singing again and it didn't seem like this was a song anyone could sing as it was probably never written down.

You will find something to say, my love

When you heart beats faster

And your nerves tremble a tune.

When your eyes water for no death

But for something that is dying within.

You will find words to shout out, my love

When water dries every green plant

And a man's truth is the dagger that stabs.

When what you thought won't, has happened

But it has already happened, already.

You will find words to fling sharply, my love

When your breast will burst, if the mouth

Doesn't spill what belongs to the world.

When your feet tire from having walked all along

And only words can cover what remains.

You will speak and cry out loud, my love

When what you believe in is raped

And hurtled amongst the felled trees.

When love is the seed for all hate

And pain is the bowl which gathers joy.

But why speak then, my love

For words are but beats

That left the drum

Never to return

And marry the fingers

That thumped the skin.

Why sound your mind, my love

When they never reach

The hand that cracked the whip

Or your soul which sells itself

For a sliver of moonshine

For an ounce of joyous moments.

Why talk and groan, my love

When you could be silent

And die nevertheless.

Why utter your private thoughts

In a public concert?

Why speak, my love

Why speak.

What is there to say anymore

Why speak, my love

Why speak!

Hush!

Hush!

Silence is the tongue you should speak.

Hush!

Hush!

He had left for the day, and if there was more to his song, we didn't hear it. I looked around at all the people who had heard the song and I knew that I didn't know them as I had when we met in the morning. We continued our work in silence and left a little early for the day (the manager, who had also heard the song, didn't say a word). 

Some say he was run over by a truck that was speeding down a hairpin bend. Some say he went back to where he came from. Whatever be the truth, none of us ever looked up at the rock again.