"Good afternoon sir, calling on behalf of XYZ Credit Card"

I guess many of you have received such phone calls. Credit card executives find your phone number from some database where they don't even know your name but knows that their company is offering a Classic Global Gold Credit Card with enhanced credit limits exclusively for you. I won't put any judgements, because I'm not qualified enough, rather would just put a typical conversation as follows.

"Good afternoon sir, I'm Srikanth (name changed), calling on behalf of XYZ bank credit card."
"Ok, go ahead."
"Are you already holding a credit card with our bank?"
"You should better know that."
"I'm sorry to say sir, we don't have access to the entire database."
"Well, the answer is no, I don't have a card with your bank."
"Our bank is introducing the Global Gold credit card with many benefits, and this is tailored to the customers like you. Would you spare a few minutes while I explain the benefits?"

At this point you might think a guy who doesn't even know if I hold a credit card with their bank, and I'm damn sure he doesn't even know my name, knows that this is 'tailored' for customers like 'me'!! Anyways, the conversation continues.

"Ok, go ahead."

For the next 3 minutes, it is a boring monologue from which I can only figure out the credit limit and the easy payment benefits. It appeared that he was reading from something written at a superfast speed. Once he is done, asks.

"May I know which company you're working with?"
"Indian Institute of Science" I said boldly.
"Is that a software company?"
"No. It's a hardware company where some new ideas and thoughts are hard-wired into the heads of people, who are later called Masters of Engineering or PhDs."
"I didn't get you, sir. Can you explain a little bit more about the operations of your company?"
"This is an educational institute where I'm currently a student. I left my job 3 years back!"

Someone gave him a 1000 Volt shock.

"So you're not working now sir?!"
"Definitely I'm working, but as a student."

Now, the response is more or less similar. A little dumb 'executive' will drop the call immediately. A little smarter one would say,

"Can I call you back in 2 minutes?"
"Sure, why not."

It is unfortunate that a student, well supported by MHRD scholarships or other such fellowships, cannot have a credit card on his/her name. For several reasons we need cards, don't we? For conference registration or hotel booking. One can ask for a minimum courtesy from the credit card 'executives' who waste much of one's time blabbering their 'good-for-nothing' benefits of their 'universal' credit cards which can work even on Mars!

When Confusion Strikes

It is a part of our everyday life. As is said in a more technical language, that life is a much complicated decision problem. Why decisions matter? Since we are in pursuit of maximizing our own pay-offs, and a decision at each step or on each day can potentially change the course of our lives. But finally, life is a sample from a random distribution. One never knows what would life bring while choosing path A on a fine day compared to path B on the same day. All that we observe is a sample path which led to the present, and the path is chosen by recommendations from the people who are experienced. What is experience? It is the dumb habit of following what has been followed. Majority of the people hate to explore in their own life, to make new observations, rather be safe within the boundary of comfort. So, the result is the obvious, we don't advance even from one generation to another. Life is a mix of altruism and strategism. We are very much aware about who we are, and expect others to accept our limitations, but we are quite uncompromising about others' limitations. I guess, at this point it would have been nice if all relationships on earth had been professional, and no personal relations. I would hope that we would have done a lot of work without really being attached to it.

A Mouse in the Big House

It was a fine Sunday afternoon, suddenly the mobile rang. Oops, it is kid’s Master’s Guide. The kid, who is the central character in this post, was a Master’s Student in an Indian Institute of some repute, and his guide (will be called ‘Professor’ henceforth) during that tenure was even more reputed. Kid had an awe (to be honest, fear at times) for him, and used to prepare himself very carefully before every meeting with Professor. Kid has joined a company after finishing his degree in this Institute, and started thinking himself not a kid anymore. However, whenever Professor calls or mails him, he becomes kid again. Forget it, the conversation went like this:
“Hello kid, are you in town? I mean in Bangalore?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are you seeing your mail?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I have sent you some corrections on the presentation of our paper; I was expecting a reply from you.”
“Yes, sir, I sent the corrected file almost immediately after it.”
“But I didn’t get anything.”
“Well, then I’ll send it once more.”
“Yes, please do that. And have you asked your company about your travel for presenting the paper?”
“No, sir, I’m not very hopeful about them sanctioning it. But I’ll give a try.”
“Ok, thanks.”
Phew, Kid was sweating in the cool of Bangalore. The following day, there was a meeting in his office with the director of the organization where Kid works now. This is the first time Kid is getting exposed to the big leaders of the organization, and he had no idea about how the director is. However, he liked his speech and pleasing personality. He welcomed the freshers to the company and shared his lunch with them. Kid thought, how about presenting his idea to this person, and so he did. Director told, “Ok, send me the details of your paper and conference and we will see.” Kid was expecting a reply with lots of careful words which finally exposes the tight budget and a doubt about the applicability of his results for the growth and profit of the organization, hence a reject. But something different happened, director gave a green signal! Well, well, Kid could see his two wings growing which will fly him to Athens, the venue for the Third International Conference on Performance Evaluation Methodologies and Tools, 2008. A hundred drums started beating in his heart. Time was limited, he has to get a visa, and its formalities are quite hazardous, but finally beating all odds, he made it. The visa was stamped on his passport, and how could he not kiss it? Kid couldn’t believe the once ordinary village boy can travel all the way to Greece, not only to present his paper, but to show up the face of Indian research to the people who are established and recognized in the field. He started preparing for the presentation and could already see the faces of the curious questioners on the wall in front of which he used to practice his talk.

Finally the day came to fly off. He joined his Professor in the same flight sometime past midnight in Bengaluru International Airport. Kid heard that international flights have nice flight attendants, oh, now he got a chance to experience it in first person (see the Polish attendant). The journey was long and had a stop in Dubai before Athens. In Dubai, it was about 8 hours before the next flight, and the WiFi was available. Professor wasn’t visible nearby, so Kid took out his laptop and sent some emails to home, as to how he’s progressing. Mobiles won’t work, so this was the only way to communicate. Luckily, he got a Greek national in the lounge who could tell him about how to go about in the city of Athens and what are must-see’s. The flight from Dubai to Athens was in the morning and was comfortable. Professor took a cab and dropped him in the hotel, where Kid got accommodation as part of his student travel allowance (this covered the registration and staying cost and is provided by the conference committee. Kid had no tension). Dilofo (Hotel Les Amis was here where Kid was staying) is a place which is a bit remote from the conference venue (Hotel Amarilia), and is less cosmopolitan. Kid had communication problem since most of the shopkeepers in Dilofo had hard time speaking English, and the food was traditionally Greek. However, he liked the food, souvlaki and kleftiko are the two he can remember. It was also the cheap solution with not more than 3 Euros each.

The first day in the conference was the workshop named GameComm, which he wasn’t registered for, the actual conference starts from the following day. So, Kid used this day for roaming around the city, and can you guess, whom he accompanied? You are right, the Professor! Athens has a variety of transport, buses are less and infrequent, apart from this, there are metro and tram. But the ticket for all of them are same. You could buy one daily ticket for few Euros and get a day of travel in any media. So, that's what they did, bought one ticket and traveled to the center of the city. The Acropolis was the primary target. With it, they got Athens University, Museum and Center of Arts for free. The Acropolis is an ancient city situated at the top of a hill, and so needs a light trek. Professor was panting to climb it, however, he was much fit than anybody of his age. They saw the Parthenon (snap below), Heros Atticus Odium, Erechtheum (photo on right) and other things in the city of Acropolis, had lunch together and while coming back to the hotel after the tour of the day, Kid was trying to link the historical places of India with theirs. It seemed to him, they are really not much different, it’s only the mind that matters, and minds like Socrates, Plato or Aristotle made this place different. Water in Greek is “Nero”, how much different is it from “Neeru” in Kannada? We can't be much different, all of us started from the same cell. However, night life in Greece is simply too much, trade of sex is legal, and people do enjoy it to its fullest. This is something Kid couldn’t find any resemblance with.

The next morning was his presentation day, time was 10 am. However, morning starts quite late in Athens, probably because the eastern side of the city has some mountains which cover the sun till 8 am local time. Kid’s was the last presentation in the first session of the conference. The chairperson announced his name and he came to the dais and presented it without much glance to the audience. Because, there were supposed to be certain heavyweights, viz. Eitan Altman, John Tsitsiklis, Tijani Chahed, Nahum Shimkin, Stavros Toumpis and more, Kid doesn’t know if they were there, at least his talk went on smoothly and few questions were asked. A big appreciation came from Tijani and Stavros, they are professors in France and Greece and were in organizing chair of this conference. For a moment, he felt all his efforts to travel this far and representing the Institute at a global forum got its true meaning. Kid always dreamt of this day.

The lunch was extraordinary, meanwhile Kid got introduced to few more kids who also had a paper or two there, and became friends. He can remember George, a Greek, and Jonatha, an Italian, since they spent most of the time together. George helped all who sat with him in same table for the lunch or dinner by communicating with the people who served, so that nobody can question about the hospitality of Greece, and Kid has no doubt about it. There were few more Indian participants, however, they were representing either some US or European Institutes, same was the case with Masood, a Pakistani national, who represented Paris Telecom. Kid was the only representative from the subcontinent. Interaction with Masood was quite remarkable for Kid, as he never had this previlege before. Kid never understood why people divide among the people of these two nations, and what difference does he have from anybody anywhere in India. Even though they were careful interacting initially, but ended up being good friends.

The following day started with a keynote speech by John Tsitsiklis. Kid had seen him while he visited their Institute few months back, and found him the same there too. The greatest teachers are those who can adjust his/her deliverables to any kind of audience, and sitting in his talk, one can never feel bored. Realizing the feeling how the speech hits the audience is the quality of a good teacher. John speaks so nicely. That’s why Kid envied the MIT folks who attend his lecture almost everyday. There were few more lectures of that rank, but in simplicity and depth, none compared him. The rest of the conference was an obvious extension of this sequence. They had a banquet dinner, in a true European style, with a pianist sitting and playing in a slow tune. The food and drinks were also selected carefully so as to cater to all kinds of people. What more can a student ask for from the organizers?

He stayed there for one more day, and left before the conference concluded. He doesn’t know how much the knowledge he got for the company to be useful, but certainly knows, if there is something urgently needed for the world in this moment, is ‘thought’. The people gathered there had the single goal, the exchange of thoughts. Hard work and making thoughts transform into reality is an obvious consequence. It’s the thoughts that make all the difference!

Thanks to the readers who had the patience to go through this story. A small note to conclude with. All characters were fictitious and any resemblance of it with any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental !!

Life's Like This

Can you remember the song 'complicated' by Avril Lavigne? Starts with the line that I put as title. I don't claim that's a nice title, but when I think that I'm writing on this blog after a year-long lay off, I thought about putting some sort of summary of the experiences I had in this long year. I'm indebted to the people who introduced me to this habit of writing blogs, and I must agree that this is a nice way of expressing one's thoughts.

When I look back 1 year in the past, when I wrote my last entry in this blog, how much different I was. I was a student in IISc, a place I can never forget. Still today, I look at my company id card and try to find that "student at IISc" me in the photo (the photo was taken before joining the company, hence ...). The world at IISc was quite different, unrealistic at times, like white gaussian assumption for any noise (for those who are new to this term, white gaussian is the simplest of all noises and so amenable to analysis), we had no chance to get a feeling of the real outside world, people within the campus were more than obedient and helpful. Maybe it felt more so, since I hardly used to step out of the campus during those days. Apart from academics, all facilities were too great to my eyes. The institute and its professors asked us to be precise and detailed even if our area of study is not too large.

Things changed quite a lot after leaving the institute. We already were brainwashed, so attitude was difficult to match with other things. But this was interaction with real world, and that is where everything boils down to. I remember the first month of relocation to the newly found apartment, rent so high that I needed to borrow money from home (a sheer disrespect, after all why job if you can't be self-dependent!), cooking initially with barest minimum indredients and inexperienced two fellas making a junk broth or a sabzee that we could hardly eat. After all, it was quite tiring to come back from office and cook, we always ascribed our inablity of cooking to this particular event.

Luckily we got a cook after one month, and a kind-hearted neighbor, whose refrigerator we can use. God is good, the first month's salary came, and we were overjoyed. This was also a nice experience, which was new to my life. Well, we declared that the real world is also not that bad !!

Now comes the office, first time entry to an office like Cisco's is memorable for everyone. Shining, glittering, put any number of adjectives, beautiful HR folks welcomed us with plenty of colgate smile, and we were assigned to the teams and got introduced to them. I consider myself lucky that my first manager told the realities about the industry life. One suggestion I still follow: "Do your assigned work without being attached to it", a harsh truth, but yes, true. I was surprised to see the nicely maintained labs with million dollar routers and switches, even the workplace is neatly maintained. So neatly that if you spill a drop of tea at the tea station, at least 4 people will rush to the place as if some accident has happened and will shine the stained floor until you see your reflection in it. I started 'learning' how things work in industry and how they feel about the research community as a whole. I started observing both sides of the coin. I should acknowledge Cisco for supporting my travel to Athens for presenting my paper with Prof. Kumar, this event I can never forget, and will mention the details of that in a separate post.

All were going right in this first quarter, company's income was good and we were happy with the amenities. Then from somewhere this demon called recession turned up. How he came, what he wants, I don't know, but this demon swallowed lots of jobs in US and other nations. Thank God, India wasn't that affected till now, and that is how we survived.

The city of Bangalore has at least two facets, I have seen in the northern part, where IISc is located, the atmosphere is quiet, cool, people get enough time to think, concentrate and work. On the other hand, the eastern part, which is the location of most of the IT companies, has a different flavor, this flavor is the characteristic of any modern city. People have large difference in work, lifestyle, earnings, which reflects in the way they behave. I have seen certain people shopping in nice shopping malls don't bother shouting at the poor shopkeeper boy. Certain people can't quench their thirst until the waterbottle is made of a certain multinational brand. On the other side, certain people strive to put hand to mouth. Well, all these are part of life and that is how I touched the 'real life', and it touched me.

In essence, I found this life to be similar to a 'Tabla' playing, it lives on beats, and missing the rhythm will throw you out of the race. While the life in IISc was like playing a 'Sarangi', the quiet pathos was mesmerizing and the melody replaced the rhythm.

Gun Points Pen!

Today is one of the saddest days in my life. Not simply because another Indian student studying in the US was assassinated, but more than that he was from my undergrad university. It certainly makes me sceptical about the security of foreign students there. It's the security system the Americans boast of, should be questioned. This is no new event, this is happening very frequently in the last few years and more so in this year. None of these cases were resolved and nobody was convicted. How come you boast of the best crime investigation system? Or, is it deliberate? It's not very hard to anticipate the motive behind the murder. People coming from foreign nations are drying out US jobs. But if they have the courage and guts, should give answer of a pen with a pen! Why take gun to do that job? Globalization was only an US concept, and now they are feeling the heat of it. But whoever you are, who murdered these innocent young talents of India, please understand that US is a land of immigrants and immigrants only! The technology or science whatever you boast of today, has been borrowed from other nations. You don't have anything of your own. So, if you are feeling you are the native of that place, a correction, you are not.

I feel deeply sad after I saw today's newspaper. Abhijit Mahato had a dream of doing a Doctorate from US, like many of us. Only destiny took him on some other way. He was shot dead at his apartment near Duke University, his institute where he joined as a PhD student, by some unknown assassins. Even God doesn't know what his offense was. I think the assassins will escape as it happened for the previous cases as well, but as an alumnus of Jadavpur University, Abhijit's undergrad institute, and as an Indian, I strongly urge the Indian Association and the high commission there to take prompt action in this regard. In India, we complain about improper security system and poor law and order, but I don't see anything better out there. My candid query to the law and order authorities there is whether this is what is going to carry on and the brilliant young guns from different nations will have to pay its price??

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I'm at home, the place where I spent more than 20 odd years. Once I try to look back 10 years in the past, I find the world has changed a lot for me. 10 years back I was a student of a local village school. With a clean school uniform, a bag packed with notebooks and tiffin (of course) used to head for the school before 11 am. Days were quite long since the last bell used to ring only at 4.30 pm. Then there was a destination I never missed, the playground, even if I miss the school. I can remember that we used to bunk classes to play in some cricket matches. All sorts of games, viz., football, badminton were equally interesting. I thought the world was no bigger than my village!

Days passed, and I realized my stupidity! The strange thing was even after being so interested in things except study, I somehow managed to pass the exams. To day I realize that a good study should always be spiced up with things that will keep you physically and mentally fit. Fitness of body and mind comes before anything no matter how big scholar one is. So the normal notion of study-study and no games doesn't really help. I feel lucky to have a life like that.

Anyway I got into a good engineering college (I feel greatly honored!), and the periphery of world expanded a bit more. I started believing the college is the world. Here I came closer to some eminent teachers and some great co-students. I sometimes feel fish out of water when I remember about the people I studied with. How come a charcoal is put in the same place with some diamonds?? Some of those students are abroad, for some of them I had the privilege to have a closer look. I wish all of them a very happy and prosperous journey of life and DEMAND some payback to our poor nation. The steering should be in the hands of some efficient people, isn't it? This was the story at Jadavpur University. The engineering curricula is a heavy one, and I hardly got any chance to exploit my hobbies. I can't really remember how the 4 long years passed so early!

It was during these days I realized that the future is of taking pressure and responsibilities. Unless we plan it properly, we'll not be able to do it. I was never a very studious student, lacking in concentration. That's where the Indian Institute of Science played a big role. Initially I was perplexed how to handle the pressure of 2 years here just looking at the 1st semester. The training I got here was not to loose the nerve and make one prepared for any situation, however critical. It taught me how to think and concentrate and presented challenges. People who clear challenges successfully often say they like taking it. But even after not clearing those challenges with much success, I still believe one should take on them to prepare oneself against all odds in life, even though one mayn't clear it in style! That's how I'm, I like challenges!

There were few books and some improvising people who had shown me the philosophy of life. I feel greatly indebted to all of them. I don't know whether I'll be able to carry on my studies, but I know what I should do! I'll always try to do something for my nation, however small it might be. The simple driving philosophy behind it is because the nation has taken my care. I won't have been an engineer, had the people of my nation not been with me! So it's payback time. I'll try to do that with my might. Take it as a promise and I dream of a nice and peaceful India.

So far I have been a bit abstract about myself. But believe me, the personal life also puts a lot of challenges. To me, the order of responsibilities starts with family, goes down to society and nation. People at home doesn't like me being away from home for long. Neither do I, but when the other responsibilities beckon, how can I optimize?

If the reader is able to observe the philosophy, please comment. And if you agree to this, pray to the almighty so that I can carry on doing my duties.

Awesome Winter

Hello world, can you hear me? I have never explored this way of reaching you. This gives nice communication, at the same time lets us share our views, isn't it? I'll urge the reader to reply even with a few lines to this post.

The evergreen weather of Bangalore has started showing up its beauty as the winter is approaching. Though it is very weak winter in the sense that the mercury never dips too low but still the Gulmohars and the various kinds of unknown flowers cover up our campus. In the morning, the cover of the mist gives the indication that the winter has arrived. This time of the season is interesting in another sense. After the completion of the exams, people head to their hometown and I'm also no exception. In less than 3 weeks I'll be back there and oh, then will enjoy the winter in Bengal.

Nature looks beautiful when it has everything in adequate proportions. To enjoy the beauty of Spring, one needs to suffer the scorch of Summer. That's one limitation of the weather here. 'If diamonds were as plentiful as pebbles, we wouldn't have cared to pick them up'. The concept of proportion is similar in the example of life. To appreciate the traditional education, I mean the academics, one needs to have several other facets, hobbies like games, music, painting etc. etc. fills up the leisure and recharges for the other works in my opinion. Do you know why I'm saying this? Today I went to the Gymkhana grounds and played Cricket after a very long lay-off. Then only I realized that I should have been doing this regularly. This not only keeps me fit physically, but also gives the proper balance of mind. I'll be going there regularly from now on. The attitude people here takes about games and sports really fascinates me. Even in the sports ground, they are very serious about the game. I'll be missing this place after completion of my degree.