Naresh'uns

Into the Valley of Death ...

2007-12-29T20:47:00.000-05:00

She rode fearlessly. And they got her. Benazir Bhutto, twice Prime Minister of Pakistan, is dead. The news channels hung on to some hope initially, saying she was injured. Not for long though. Word quickly got out putting out that optimism mercilessly. Another South Asian leader had met a gruesome end.

The legacy of the Bhutto family has a chilling parallel in India's Gandhi family. Benazir's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto started Pakistan's nuclear program and pursued a progressive agenda. His Indian counterpart, Indira Gandhi gave impetus to the Indian nuclear program and green-lighted India's awkwardly-termed first peaceful nuclear explosion. The two managed to broker the Simla agreement between India and Pakistan, which they hoped would be the basis for a lasting solution. With the end of the '70s decade, came a ghastly end to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's life. He was hanged after the government was toppled in a coup. A few years later, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh militants.

Indira's son Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India when Benazir Bhutto was Pakistan's Prime Minister is late '80s. Theirs was a missed opportunity however. They could not capitalize on the gains of their parents, and Indo-Pak relations slipped back into familiar territory. Rajiv was campaigning for a return to power when a suicide bomber blew herself up just a few feet from him. Benazir met with a similar cruel fate just days ago.

Rajiv's children, Priyanka and Rahul are both in the Indian political scene now. (Priyanka less so, compared to Rahul Gandhi). It would be unsurprising if Benazir's son Bilawal Zardari stepped into her shoes as the head of Pakistan People's Party sooner or later. One hopes that the curse of two generations does not follow them.

On a jetplane

2007-12-16T19:50:00.000-05:00

On a recent journey across the empire, I found myself on a packed red-eye flight. Nothing surprising I suppose. These days most flights are seeing high load factors. As we settled in, sipping water, while waiting for the boarding to complete, a fellow passenger beckoned the flight attendant. "Err, excuse me," he says rather loudly, trying to get her attention. I am thinking "dude, she's right there. Quit yelling." So not jellin'. She turns around and looks down at him through her black rimmed glasses that are perched on the tip of her nose, as though waiting for a take-off clearance. Smiling a non-smile, she says "yes, sir?" without actually saying those words.

"Can I get a thicker blanket? This one is too thin," he says. I try hard to suppress a he's-so-green smile when the FA bursts out, quite joyously, "you are kidding, right?" Chuckle, chuckle. Managing to regain her voice, she continues. "You should be happy that you have a blanket at all." Gesturing to the main cabin, she adds bitterly, "Folks in the back don't even get that often. We carry fewer and fewer blankets these days."

Duly chastised and feeling quite embarrassed, the poor sod adds, "oh, I didn't know. I was just asking..." Dismissively, she continues her commentary, "The ones on transatlantic flights are slightly thicker." Big difference, that makes, I think. We are only hopping coast to coast, not the pond after all.

Is it too much to ask, Madam Flight Attendant to show a little courtesy and not laugh at a customer's request? Sure, he may have seemed clueless, but to laugh at his question like that. Tsk, tsk. Scary customer service.

Guns, Generals and Cable TV

2007-11-29T20:40:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago President Musharaff declared emergency in Pakistan citing vague reasons. This declaration, in itself, was perhaps nothing surprising in a country that has become accustomed to emergency rule over the many decades. Pretty soon, the media was reeling off statistics and comparing the latest emergency to the ones in the past. Leaders around the world were suitably outraged, but none too seriously. They called for a swift return to democracy and proclaimed their solidarity with the people of Pakistan. How utterly boring. I suppose a declaration of emergency in Pakistan is as newsworthy as a declaration of bankruptcy by one of the major US airlines. Been there, done that. At any rate, all this has been reported ad nauseam.

The President, who has since given up his army uniform, initiated a set of predictable steps. Get rid of pesky judges, clamp down the media. Most of the cable channels in Pakistan, which have mushroomed in the last few years, were taken off air. Some were allowed to continue, but were subject to censorship. There was a "first" in this emergency, however. Most private news channels were off the air in Pakistan. But at least one channel, Geo TV, continued its broadcast from its Dubai center. Its reporters were speaking of events unfolding in Pakistan, but the citizens of Pakistan were not privy to it all. Some Indian news channels quickly took their regularly scheduled programming and began airing Pakistani news as told by Pakistani channels!

I am sure whoever thought of the idea received a healthy bonus! He/she is surely entitled to it. I was in India at the time, watching TV. When channel surfing I came across a news being read by unfamiliar anchors in an unfamiliar studio. One of the anchors had a decidedly American accent, and looked desi. Hmm, odd, I thought. Some Indian anchors may try to fake an accent, or at least, speak in - an - exagerrated - tone. Let us blame it on Prannoy Roy. It took me a while to realize that it was not an Indian channel after all. It was strangely reassuring to know that news channels in Pakistan tend to be obnoxiously repetitive!

Can't we all just get along?

2007-10-17T22:39:00.000-04:00

I mean, really. Don't we have enough people telling each other off these days? Look at Turkey. They are p***ed at the US House Congressional Committee for passing a (non-binding) resolution saying that Turkey committed genocide against Armenians about a hundred years ago. So Turkey, wagging its finger at the US, threatens to block access to an air base.

Then there is China. China is p***ed at the US for giving the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama. Warning of serious retaliation, China pulled out of a six-nation meeting that something to do with the Iranian nuclear program.

Then there are the taxi drivers in DC. They are p***ed at Mayor Adrian Fenty for passing a law that requires DC cabs to have meters. I know what you are thinking. What?! DC cabs don't have meters?! You see they operate based on a quaint zone system. Regular customers who have memorized the zone boundaries can save a buck or two by hiring a cab across the street. Nuts, I say.

In any case, I am sure no DC resident - Turkish, Armenian, Chinese or American - wants DC's zone system to persist!

The wheels keep turning round and round ...

2007-10-06T09:37:00.000-04:00

To say that the proposed Indo-US nuclear deal has gone through its fair share of ups and downs is an understatement. In July '05, the leaders of the two countries took a revolutionary step when they announced the broad terms of the proposed nuclear co-operation agreement. Cameras clicked, people smiled (some with disbelief), and the wheels of legal machinery began creaking forward. In a world where even the incremental, evolutionary changes are contested, it should come as no surprise that this revolutionary deal would face severe challenges in the months and years ahead.

Briefly, the agreement promised India access to nuclear fuel/technology that has long been denied to her chiefly, because of (a) refusal to join NPT and (b) conducting the nuclear tests in 1998. In return, 14 of the 22 nuclear reactors in India would be placed under international safeguards in perpetuity. You can read more about the deal here and here.

As early as the end of '05, some US lawmakers like Sen. Richard Lugar raised their doubts, which could seriously jeopardize the deal. In his prepared comments, he made it clear that he did not like that the Congress had not been consulted prior to the deal. The subtext of his remarks was that he did not trust the Indians' offering of "voluntary" compliances. He sought US control over any technology/fuel that was being considered. Moreover, he wanted more, i.e., all nuclear reactors in India under safeguards.

Then in early '06, the New York times gave a two thumbs down to the deal, before Bush's visit to India. Other hoped that the President's visit would in part, nudge the deal along. Around the same time, noted Indian scientists like Dr. Kakodkar, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and Dr. Banerjee, director of BARC issued their support to the deal. This was echoed by several policy experts in the US and abroad like Stephen Cohen at the Brookings Institution, Walter Andersen at JHU, Frank Wisner and William Clark, former US ambassadors to India and importantly, Dr. El-Baradei, the head of the IAEA.

Within a couple of months after President Bush's India visit, the Indian Americans began galvanizing support for the deal. This was perhaps one of the first times that the community had managed to organize itself to the extent it did. Irrespective of the fate of the deal, one hopes that the Indian-American community will strengthen its newly-found confidence and voice.

By the middle of that year, some in the Indian scientific community voiced their opposition to the deal amidst calls of India becoming subservient to the US. At the same time, India's Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran was jetting around winning support for the deal. Within the end of the year, countries like UK and Italy would offer support even though Australia dilly-dallied. China, as expected, did not welcome the proposed agreement.

In October '06, North Korea rocked the boat by testing a nuclear bomb. And the shadow of the mushroom cloud threatened to engulf the Indo-US deal. That did not happen.

That brings us to the present year. 2007. The discussion in some sections of the Indian media, notably the Indian Express, got very detailed. Experts started analyzing the deal with a fine comb. Amazingly, the no-nonsense, technical discussion thrived in the newspaper. And this, in a country, where printing titillating pictures in the Times of India passes for journalism!

Prakash Karat, the articulate communist in India, issued his shrill opposition to the deal. For a while the left party opposition led by Karat threatened the survival of the Singh administration. That fear seems to have abated even as cooler heads prevailed on the left end of the spectrum. Notably, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee the West Bengal Chief Minister and Jyoti Basu, its former CM unequivocally expressed their support for the deal. Amidst this hooplah, Prime Minister Singh made a an astonishing statement -- one that could come from either a visionary or one who had nothing to lose. Rubbishing Karat's stand, the Prime Minister said that history would judge the deal favorably. Now that takes some courage!

Just as the left worries were starting to subside in India and the Indian administration soldiered on with their business, the next step was launching into discussions with the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG).

And in what can only be described as deja vu, some lawmakers in the US (this time, the House) and the New York Times upped their ante and have come out against the deal. The House issued a non-binding resolution, which essentially seeks to do exactly what Karat wanted. Throw a spanner into the machinery, jam the wheels and bring it to a halt.

Dr. El Baradei will be in India on a 3-day visit shortly. But the officials are tight-lipped about the NSG discussions -- whether indeed, there will be any discussions. The Left parties are meeting around the same time. Oh, the drama! But it is difficult to imagine that Dr. El Baradei will go all the way just to shake hands and see the sights.

The picture is the US is shaping up more unfavorably. The next few weeks are sure to be taken up in talking about the President's veto of the SCHIP act and the Congress' attempt to override the veto. And of course, there is the Iraq war. Along with the immigration battle, the proposed deal may simply be passed on to the next President. As far as the nuclear deal goes, passing the buck would effectively kill the deal.

Science and public

2006-11-07T18:48:00.000-05:00

Not too long ago, Big Brother decided to continue funding the enormously successful Hubble project. NASA can be justifiably proud of its baby that continues to outperform design expectations. In the next few years, NASA will send a space shuttle to Hubble to give her a new lease of life. Nice read about in the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/science/space/07hubb.html

I am simultaneously encouraged and disheartened by the recent turn of events. That Hubble will continue to soar is a source of great joy. The uphill battle that led to that result is discouraging. If convincing the administration about the continued importance of a project whose brilliant performance is impossible to miss, is such an uphill task, surely, it does not augur well for other science and technology projects that may not produce visible results right away.

How should the scientific community engage the administration and the public at large, in its undertaking? This is a question that troubles every group within the scientific community. Clearly, some groups have been more successful in making their case! Look at the dollars that have poured into supercomputing, for instance.

Last on board!

2006-10-30T18:17:00.000-05:00

I had to travel to Boston for a meeting this past weekend and I opted to fly out early Saturday morning and get back home late the next night. My itinerary had me on the 6am US airways out of Baltimore-Washington (BWI), connecting in Pittsburgh (PIT) within a 30 minute window to arrive in Boston at 9am. (Of course, I could have taken a non-stop flight, but that would only give me half the number of miles for the same price!)

My journey had four segments in all: two each way. Baltimore-Pittsburgh-Boston and Boston-New York-Baltimore.
I didn't stick to any of the four flights however! Talk about planning...

Saturday morning:
4am: Got up n(note, I don't say woke up!); had my morning tea; took a quick shower and logged in for a quick email check. My 'quick mail check' turned out to not so quick after all.

5:05am: Look at the watch. Whoops! The flight leaves in less than an hour!

5:05:00-5:07:00: Throw in a change of clothes into the bag; stuff the printout of the boarding pass (I had checked in online the previous night). Hunt for a towel.

5:07:30: Still no sign of my travel towel. Think of giving up search.
5:07:40: Decide to do a last sweep.
5:07:54: Find towel. Stuff that in. Grab keys.
5:08:15: Turn off lights in the room; sprint to the living room; wear shoes. Run to my car. (Shoot! Its raining!)
5:09:40: Coughs to life - my car, not me.
5:10:00: Exit apartment complex.
5:12:00: Enter the B-W parkway (highway to the airport).

5:16:00: Encounter a left-lane-hugging low-life (LLHLL).
5:16:10: Flash light. And speed away.
5:18:24: Another LLHLL.
5:18:38: Still behind the same LLHLL.
5:19:35: Forced to pass on right.
5:27:00: Signs to airport... yippie!
5:33:00: Pull into daily parking garage.
5:35:23: Park car; make a dash to the nearest shuttle bus stop.
5:36:00: Come on, come on, come on! Where is the bus?!
5:38:00: Contemplate running to the terminal.
5:38:30: Reconsider - it is raining and I don't have an umbrella.
5:39:23: The shuttle bus arrives!
5:41:00: Still on bus - waiting at the traffic light.
5:43:10: First stop at the terminal. Though my flight leaves from the next terminal, alight at the first stop thinking its faster to run than wait for the bus to move.
5:43:45: Running on wet sidewalk - stupid idea. Slow down running speed.
5:44:45: Inside D terminal! Join the long security lane!
5:53:00: Still in security line. Move it, people!
5:55:10: A flight attendant cuts in front - ugh.
5:55:20: Bag, shoes, wallet, keys all go through the X-ray.
5:56:30: Finally, past security check. No time to wear shoes. Grab shoes in one hand, jacket in the other, toss shoulder bag on the back. Run, Forrest, run!!
5:59:34: Still running, dodging holiday-makers and their HUGE bags. The gate is at the other end of the terminal D-45. Run down the final flight of stairs. Turn right. Spot the gate agents.
6:00:10: At the gate finally!

Customer agent (CA): Which flight, sir?
Me: The one to Pittsburgh.
CA: Sorry, sir. You missed the flight.
Me: Is it still at the gate? Has it pushed back yet?
CA: Sir, you missed it. What is your final destination?
Me: Boston.
CA: (Typing furiously). Tell you what, I'll get you on this plane (there is a plane to Philly boarding at the moment).
Me: When does the connecting flight from Philly reach Boston?
CA: Umm.. 8:54.
Me: (inwardly, yaaye! that is a whole 6 minutes before my actual flight!) Ok. Many thanks.
CA to another CA who is handling boarding for the Philly flight: Wait, don't close the door. One more coming up.

So at 6:04am, I run down the jetway and board the plane to Philly. The last one to board the plane. Phew.

The flight and the connecting one was both quite uneventful. We landed in Boston a few minutes earlier than scheduled but spent 20 minutes taxiing (oh, joy).

Sunday evening:
My return flight is scheduled to depart at 7:00p. I reach the airport at 6 to find that my flight is delayed by over an hour. Looks like many flights are running late. The 5:00p shuttle hasn't departed yet. I go to the gate to see if I can get on that plane. Turns out I can! The plane was about to leave and they didn't have time to print a new boarding pass for me! The gate agent took my 7:00p boarding pass and sent me scurrying down the jetway with the words "open seat". Again, I'm the last one to board the plane.

A short hop from Boston to New York. The pilots decided to stay high up longer than usual due to turbulence in lower altitudes. The quick descent wasn't exactly kind on my ears. Stuffed ears for a long time is no fun!

Same story at New York's Laguardia airport (LGA) - more delays! Thanks to the magic of standby, I put my name down for the earlier flight from LGA to Baltimore, which was delayed! You know where this is going - again the last one to board! Taking off runway 31 for a gorgeous view of Manhattan on the left, we cruised at 18,000 feet for a short 30 minute flight to Baltimore.

China Vs. My Husband

2006-10-12T22:52:00.000-04:00

Well, not my husband! This poor Chinese lady tells her heart-wrenching story in today's Post. Her husband was taken away by the Chinese authorities on charges of "intentionally destroying property" and "assembling a crowd to disturb traffic" and tortured. Torture tactics used on him and three others would easily trump the American ones. Talk about "either you are with us or against us." Sick.
China Vs. My Husband - washingtonpost.com

The Monarch Butterfly Migration

2006-10-03T15:26:00.000-04:00

The Monarch Butterfly Migration Mystery - Donald G. McNeil Jr. - New York Times
Absolutely fascinating read! I had heard of bird and animal migration over long distances; not about monarch butterflies that cover 4000 miles roundtrip! From Canada, across the US to Mexico and back up north. Who'dve thunk it?!

Can you imagine their less-than-pea sized brains guide them in this amazing endeavor? It's not like they learn from its parents. With a life expectancy of nine months, ma and pa butterflies don't live long enough to take them on this trip even once!

Check out http://www.monarchwatch.org/

A quote from the NYT article:

"But those lifting off anywhere from Montana to Maine must aim themselves carefully to avoid drowning in the Gulf of Mexico or hitting a dead end in Florida. The majority manage to thread a geographical needle, hitting a 50-mile-wide gap of cool river valleys between Eagle Pass and Del Rio, Tex".

About time!

2006-09-28T23:21:00.000-04:00

Finally! Someone had the "courage" to point out that the proverbial emperor isn't wearing any clothes! A leaked British report says that Pakistan, through its intelligence agency ISI, has been supporting terrorism and extremism; that it has been supporting Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Leak highlights a complex relationship

During their visit to Washington a couple of days ago, there was no love lost between Pak's General Musharaff and Afghanistan's President Karzai. Karzai did a diplomatic smack-down by not shaking hands with Musharaff in front of the clicking cameras.

English or Kannada?

2006-09-28T22:51:00.000-04:00

On the one hand, you have Friedmans of the world proclaiming that the world is flat; praising technology and English for bringing Bangalore closer to the Bay area. On the other, you have politicians in Karnataka who want to stop kids from learning in English. Regionalism? Nationalism? Linguistic zeal? Cheap gimmick to secure votes? Perhaps all of the above.
Here's a discussion on the issue:
The Indian Economy Blog » English Language Schools In Karnataka

My first race!

2006-09-05T13:38:00.000-04:00

DCRRC Larry Noël 15K and 3K
15k (9.2+ miles) in 1:22:12.
The numbers may not be anything to write about. It was my first race, after all. But, brag, I shall!

I have been running regularly for the past two months. In fact, this race comes two months to the day since I started. I could barely manage to run halfway around the lake before losing my breath. (A loop is 1.25 miles). Two months later, I ran over 9 miles at a pace less than 9 minutes per mile!

Yesterday, I rewarded myself with a book "The geometry of geodesics" and a masala dosa at Udupi Palace!

Dirty Dishes and Global warming

2006-08-18T16:13:00.000-04:00

Limiting Climate Change: The Neglected Obstacle

Inconsideration is human. You see that when the US and China refuse to clean up their mess with a 'hey, it doesn't bother us!' Apparently a touch of global warming would be welcome from Chinese point of view as it would be favorable to their agricultural industry! India and Africa, the article says will be the most hard-hit.

This perhaps, is a sadly sobering reminder that nation states and their leaders can be just as inconsiderate as people we encounter in the mundane. Just this morning, I stumbled into the kitchen, still half-asleep, to make my cup of tea. With the soft groan of the AC in the background, the kitchen sink that was overflowing with my roommates' dirty dishes greeted me rather loudly. Inconsiderate, I thought as I loaded the dishwasher.

Very soon, the gurgle of the dishwasher drowned the groan of the AC. Before long, I was rewarding myself with the cup of tea and planning out the day ahead.

Will India and Africa have to clean up other people's dirty dishes? Oh wait, haven't we done that already!

Sanskrit stages a comeback in the US : IBNLive.com

2006-08-18T14:55:00.000-04:00

Sanskrit stages a comeback in the US : IBNLive.com
Yours truly in the news!

Middle East Mess

2006-08-03T11:43:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine commented that this blog was unusually silent on the latest mess in the middle East. I have had several discussions on the topic, often animated, with folks around here. There is talk at the water cooler, a two minute discussion on the elevator liberally sprinkled with tsk-tsks, more drawn-out discussions on the metro (that's DC's subway), and the list goes on.

The middle East thing seems to be one big unending soap opera. You can tune in and tune out periodically without missing a beat. There are always going to enough and more finger-pointing, innumerable "but he did it first"'s, ever-present pissing contests. And of course, bombs.

Who cares about the hundreds of dead and injured, anyway?

Train bombings

2006-07-13T17:37:00.000-04:00

Unless you were hiding under a rock, you probably heard about the series of bombings in Mumbai, India. Events surrounding it and following it have been so expected that it hardly qualifies as an 'event'. No, I am not trying to be cynical. But everything about it is so gut-wrenchingly familiar that people are almost used to it.

This type of attack goes back to at least 1993 when more than a dozen bombs rocked the city - in the Bombay stock exchange, even. What happened? The city dusted itself off and life moved on. The stock markets rallied. The people stepped back on those Crowded (yes, crowded with a capital 'C') trains to chase their hopes and dreams.

This time around as well, the city that is always in a hurry, will wipes off its tears and go back to business as usual in a day or two.

The Indian government will make the usual statements. Mumbai police will detain hundreds and arrest a few. Some will face justice. But the real murderers? I wouldn't bet on them being caught. After all, Dawood Ibrahim, the mastermind behind the '93 attacks, enjoys Pakistani patronage even today.

Terrorists do the same thing over and over again. The government reacts the same way over and over again. Nothing unfamiliar. No events here.

But look at Israel. Today, we heard about their strikes on Lebanon. After a few strikes, Beirut's airport resembled the surface of moon- all three runways rendered inoperable. Why all the bombing? Hezbollah militants who are holed up in Lebanon apparently kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others. Then came the no-nonsense reaction from Israel.

Look at India and her response to all the militants holed up in Pakistan. You have to wonder, will India shed its path of remarkable restraint?

United 93

2006-06-06T16:36:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I saw the movie United 93. It chronicles UA93's flight into history books as one of the ill-fated aircrafts lost on 9/11. Supposedly headed for the White House, the flight came down in Pennsylvania, less than 200 miles from Washington.

The movie opened to mixed reactions from people debating whether we needed to be reminded of an attack that is still fresh in our minds. Just a couple of days ago, as a reminder of 9/11, a small plane was escorted safely out of the controlled DC's airspace by military jets. When incidents such as these serve as grim forget-me-nots, it is fair to ask whether United 93: the movie's time had come. At any rate, I don't have a problem with the movie's timing.

The more important question is how the movie is made, not its timing. And on that point, the moviemakers score well, I think. The movie makes the real seem very real -- the tension is palpable as events of the day unfold, the 'grip' heightens as the day progresses. The camera work, the abrupt dialogue, unrecognizable actors, real pilots as actors -- it all fits rather neatly. Though there is nothing neat about the day.

On the aviation aspect of the movie, too, it does a remarkably good job. Aviation geeks will probably spot a goof or two. Overall, though, the movie pays close attention to detail and gets it right.

Ethics in Science

2006-05-15T17:48:00.000-04:00

In a Scientist's Fall, China Feels Robbed of Glory - New York Times

In recent weeks, the scientific community has had to deal with ugly episodes of unethical conduct. There was the case of the South Korean doctor whose claims of breakthrough in cloning was found to be nothing more than a fabrication. Today, the NYT reports that a Chinese computer scientist stole chip designs from a foreign company, and passed them off as products of his own research.

These are examples of irrecoverable falls from grace magnified by the greatness that could-have-been. Sad and tragic episodes, but not surprising given the way the research community functions and interacts with the rest of the society.

For a long time, the phrase 'publish or perish' captured the pressure under which every scientist functions. There is another dimension that may not be immediately obvious. In addition to continually publishing as a testament his scientific credentials, a scientist is expected to bring in the moolah. Writing proposals, presenting results -- I italicize intentionally -- has become as important as doing quality work.

Any person under the appropriate stimuli can be made to do tasks that are otherwise unthinkable. Scientists are not immune to this sociological phenomenon either. I am not trying to condone or justify such actions; but merely explaining them.

It is almost ironic to read this op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal (requires subscription). I'll summarize a couple of points.

India is rapidly evolving into Asia's innovation center, leaving China in the dust. Its secret weapon? Intellectual property-rights protection. In recent years, New Delhi has taken big steps to protect these rights, and the results have been dramatic.

It goes on to claim that India's continued adherence to and strengthening of the IPR regime will translate into rich dividends -- as an example, it says, annual revenues from Indian software exports are expected to reach $50billion in the not-too distant future.

Here we are, on the one hand, trying to sanctify intellectual property. On the other, some are abusing the scientific process and manufacturing results!

Condescensional Wisdom

2006-05-04T10:10:00.000-04:00

In his column today, George Will mounts a spirited attack on John Kenneth Galbraith, an economist who passed away not too long ago. Now you may disagree with Galbraith's theories, but let the man rest in peace! Common wisdom flowing from the herd of masses of not-so-independent thinking says that one does not spout bitter babble toward a man whose grave is still warm. Perhaps in this regard, Will should condescend to learning from the masses!

United 93, the Movie

2006-05-01T18:38:00.000-04:00

This entry is my take on:
Blogpourri: United 93, the Movie: Would You Watch It?

I fail to see the argument that its too soon, too traumatic to watch the movie. I too, remember the Day vividly. Living about 10 miles northeast of Pentagon, I can understand Sujatha's comments about the raw nature of that day.

There are several instances of art imitating life where you know the end even before the beginning - all those World war movies for example. For veterans of that war, I'm sure some wounds never healed. Making movies about those events does not in any way, demean their experiences. If potrayed with historical accuracy, these movies can serve as useful reminders for a long time!

Too traumatic? Sure, it was. And it still is for many. So is the AIDS epidemic. But movies like Longtime Companion, And the band played on, and Philadelphia were made. They have had a significant impact on how we even look at the subject today.

At the risk of sounding flippant, I would add that terrorist attacks like 9-11 seem to have a less traumatic impact on the Indian psyche. How many people remember the Bombay bombings today - or even the more recent Delhi bombings?

Long story short: I hope to see the movie United 93 soon - this weekend perhaps.

Parties and seminars

2006-04-27T19:19:00.000-04:00

During my undergrad years, parties were a big deal -- even for the teetotalers like me. They offered a momentary sojourn into a place where only simple things like rythm and dance, song and music, friends and cohorts existed. Everything else was a blur. After a long evening of partying, we'd schlep our way back to campus while our heads still resonated with the summer of '69; our lips unconsciously wondered 'who the f*** is Alice?' while someone puked his guts out on NH17. Ah, such was life!

These days I have a very different notion of what consitutes heady partying. (Yes, Mom, I'm still a teetotaler). A thought-provoking seminar. With that confession, I probably jumped one level higher in the land of boring people!

I should say a word about seminars to the unfamiliar reader. One of the biggest perks of this research business is a chance to visit labs to share your ideas with them. Being invited to give a talk from a good place is a not-so-small deal, as you can imagine.

Today, Partha Niyogi from the University of Chicago was here to talk about manifold learning. It doesn't take a Sherlock to figure out I liked his talk! After spending an hour and something at the seminar, we -- my labmates and I -- schlepped two floors up while trying to digest a few things we'd just heard. That conversation continued for a little while in one of our rooms. Manifolds and homologies seem to have replaced summer of '69s and 'Alice's. Ah, such is life!

Da. Raj no more

2006-04-13T19:58:00.000-04:00

It would be an understatement to call him a film actor. Dr. Rajkumar was a phenomenon in Karnataka. After 77 summers and 206 films, he breathed his last yesterday. His end marked the beginning of violent scenes that rocked Bangalore for two days. Mobs on a rampage, the papers proclaimed. Four, correction five, correction eight dead, including a policeman, they exclaimed.

Millions of his fans lost an icon. But the first family of Kannada cinema lost someone close to them. If only the masses had the decency to allow the family to grieve! Poor sons of his, they had to shout into microphones begging for calm.

The man held sway over Karnataka for over five decades, starring opposite several generation of leading ladies. Now I admit, toward the later years, it was painful to see him sing and dance. But people still flocked to the cinemas! He dominated the scene like no other. In South Indian cinema, you had MGR and Sivaji Ganesan jostling for position in Tamil Nadu. North of that border, in Andhra Pradesh, you had NTR and ANR dueling for top spot. In Karnataka though, it was Da. Raj all the way. Sure you had Uday Kumar, Kalyan Kumar, Vishnuvardhan and the like. They were no match really.

A memorable scene from one of his films? With someone like Rajkumar, one is not enough; I'll give you two: waking up in the Himalayas and breaking out into a song "naadamaya" in Jeevana Chaitra; and the plaintive cry at the end of the movie Sanadi Appanna -- "paapuuu..."

"Cut! That's a wrap", the Director has yelled.

Psst ... "inside" info on the India-US nuclear deal

2006-04-10T22:34:00.000-04:00

At the University today, DESI and US India Business Council had organized a panel discussion on the recent India-US civilian nuclear deal. My dear readers, you get the scoop - even before Chidanand Rajghatta of the Times of India can write about it!
The panelists Vikram Misri (Indian Embassy), Prof. Walter Andersen (a South Asia expert) and Ron Somers (President, USIBC, formerly with Cogentrix) made a strong case for the proposed civilian nuclear co-operation agreement. I won't belabor the much-talked about points like:

It's good for India because of energy needs, brought into world order, etc.

It's good for the US because of reduced energy dependence, strategic objectives (without the China angle), US business interests, etc.

Some interesting points:
I raised the question: "During the debate, the Indian left parties objected to the deal, saying it is a sell-out to the Americans; and the likes of Strobe Talbott believed that the US got a lousy bargain. Clearly, both can't be right. Who is more right?"

In response, Dr. Andersen made two points:

Although Talbott is pro-India, he "genuinely believes" that this agreement is dangerous and counterproductive to the disarmament cause. This is the view -- in substance, at least -- of President Jimmy Carter as well. Dr. Andersen disagreed with this line of thinking during his opening remarks.

He added that India had agreed to bring 14 of its 22 nuclear reactors under international safeguards "in perpetuity". Given that the US has only ONE of its 100+ reactors under IAEA safeguards, the UK has none and China has 3 (the extent of which is questionable); one could argue that India made significant concessions.

Talbott, by the way, was Jaswant Singh's counterpart in the talks after the Pokhran tests. The series of talks has had a tremendously positive effect on the relationship between the two countries in recent years. Anyone with even a passing interest in this dynamics should read his book "Engaging India." It's a fascinating look at history, politics and personalities. With that background about Talbott, we can safely assume that he is not pushing anyone's agenda when he opposes the present civilian nuclear deal. Rather, he has genuine concerns -- misplaced, but genuine nonetheless.

Misri, the Indian on the panel, was eloquent about India's track record in the nuclear business. He began his remarks with a landmark that I was not aware of. As early as 1944, Bhabha who is the founder of Indian nuclear program, submitted a proposal to set up a nuclear research institute. This led to the creation of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in December 1945. The Atomic Energy Act was passed in 1948 and the construction of India's first nuclear reactor Apsara began in 1955. Apsara went critical in August 1957 (56?) becoming the first reactor in Asia. In other words, as we know, the Indian nuclear program is not new.

As an aside, when I came across Ron Somers' name in the announcement, I was pleasantly surprised. If you are from Karnataka, you will probably recognize his name -- he was with the controversial Cogentrix project. That was the power project that got embroiled in controversy and politics involving Maneka Gandhi, Deve Gowda, etc. I won't go in to the messy politics. But suffice it to say that at some point, there was a legal battle that the company and Somers personally was drawn into. They were accused of bribery. Needless to say, that was a politically motivated lawsuit that was cleared up as soon as Somers left the country.

I was struck by the humility of the man in spite of those nasty attacks. He had nothing but kind words for the people of Mangalore and their support. More, he holds a special place for India in his heart since he essentially built his career there.

With some hesitation, he spoke about the business angle to the proposed deal. If the business community makes a forceful case, they might be seen as greedy, he said. Hence the measured and somewhat delayed tone. In the coming days, however, the business community will make a more compelling case. If the proposed India civilian nuclear deal goes through, there is the potential for creation of 3 million jobs -- some of that will benefit France, Russia and the UK, but the US will benefit to a large extent.

With allies like Somers, Andersen and spokesmen like Misri, we can move forward with assured confidence.

Some things never change

2006-03-24T18:57:00.000-05:00

For all the hype surrounding Pakistan becoming a 'major ally' against the global war on terrorism (sic); for all the smooth talk by General Musharaff, it is events like these that reveal Pakistani army's true stance. They are warning the people of Pakistan to stay alert against those "Jews and Hindus." (Cue: roll eyes). Fits in nicely with the 'its all one big conspiracy against the Muslims' refrain though.

Next time you bump into the powers that at be in the Pakistani camp, convey my message, willya? -- "Dude, Get a life!"

Pakistani Pamphlets Link Militants to Hindus, Jews

Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore? - New York Times

2006-03-20T15:06:00.000-05:00

From NYT:

BANGALORE, India, March 19 — Twenty young engineers, mostly from the Indian Institute of Technology, India's premier technology school, peer into computer monitors in the no-frills office of Read-Ink Technologies, a start-up company housed in a small building in the bustling Indiranagar neighborhood of this city.

Bangalore's flourishing outsourcing companies, including Infosys Technologies and Wipro, have attracted worldwide attention with their global clients and tens of thousands of workers. Less known are the many technology start-ups, like Read-Ink, that have taken root here in recent years.

The new firms are drawn by the region's big pool of engineering graduates, many of whom have expertise in esoteric new technologies. That advantage, coupled with labor costs much lower than those of Silicon Valley, is starting to turn Bangalore, long a center for lower-end outsourcing services, into a center of higher-end innovation.

Some of these firms are self-financed, others have capital from the West. Some are run by foreigners. Others are founded by Indians, including returnees from overseas.

Read-Ink, one of the self-financed operations, is developing an advanced handwriting recognition software that can read scanned forms, claim forms, medical records and even digital tablets.

Its founders, Thomas O. Binford, a retired computer science professor from Stanford University, and his wife, Ione, a former manager at Hewlett-Packard, arrived here four years ago with five suitcases. They say they are now close to signing up their first business customer.

The signs of this shift toward high-value work are becoming more visible. Executives at Silicon Valley Bank, which is based in Santa Clara, Calif., and provides consulting services to technology and venture capital firms, said they were seeing twice as many Indian start-ups looking for capital investment than even a few months ago.

"Our technology and private equity clients are leveraging India at an unprecedented rate," said Kenneth P. Wilcox, chief executive of Silicon Valley Bank and SVB Financial Group.

When the members of the Bangalore chapter of the Indus Entrepreneurs, a nonprofit network for entrepreneurs, collaborated with the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham to sponsor a business plan competition last month, they were stunned to draw 125 entries vying for the $150,000 top prize.

At the same time, Bangalore is becoming a hunting ground for venture capitalists looking for promising investment opportunities, such as Promod Haque, managing partner at the venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners in Palo Alto, Calif.

About 40 percent of Norwest Venture's portfolio companies, or about 20 companies, have development operations in India, mainly in Bangalore. "More and more people are figuring out that Bangalore is a critical step in making start-ups capital-efficient," Mr. Haque said, explaining that cost savings here can help stretch initial investment funds.

Mr. Haque is taking a hybrid approach to investment. He pairs entrepreneurs of Indian origin who have returned to India (many have spent time working in Silicon Valley and elsewhere) with Western executives who have marketing and management expertise.

One of his investments is Open-Silicon, a two-year-old silicon engineering company. Its chief executive is based here, but its headquarters and marketing chief are based in Sunnyvale, Calif. "Like Open-Silicon, which has most of its customers within a five-mile radius of its headquarters, many technology start-ups are servicing American and European markets," Mr. Haque said.

Indrion Technologies, another new Bangalore start-up, has six engineers working on embedded semiconductor solutions for sensor-control networks. Its co-founder and chief executive, Uma Mahesh, a computer science engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology, is optimistic that he can attract venture capital because innovation among India's new companies is "a very believable story for investors."

Perhaps not surprisingly, this increased start-up activity in Bangalore has caught the eye of influential American lawmakers. Many American political and business leaders have said they are worried about a technological brain drain from the United States to places overseas.

Representative Jerry Lewis, a California Republican who is the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said that he was trying to find a government agency to sponsor projects in areas like nanotechnology, semiconductors, energy and pharmaceuticals, and possibly to collaborate with agencies in India.

"We are figuring out what kind of support and funding is needed from the Congress," Mr. Lewis said in a phone interview, adding, "The issue is not so much about losing innovation leadership as it is about how to make innovations happen on a cheaper scale and how to make more of it happen."

That Bangalore can be an incubator city for start-ups is demonstrated in Read-Ink, which the Binfords have financed entirely from their savings and retirement fund. They live and work in the same building, saving on rent. The ground floor contains a kitchen and employee dining room as well as the Binfords' bedroom and employees' guest rooms.

Mrs. Binford also runs an all-night accounting back-office service for American customers. "It is a small service with seven accountants," she said, "but helps cover the costs."

Improving the accuracy of handwriting recognition beyond what currently marketed software products offer is a complicated technical problem. "Current products have an accuracy rate of 80-85 percent; ours will be a 5-7 percent improvement," said Mr. Binford, Read-Ink's chief technology officer.

But in getting there, the Binfords have struggled to recruit and retain the best engineers in a competitive market. They said they had deliberately stayed in stealth mode for fear of talent poachers.

There are other growing pains. Finding venture investors at the early stages of a start-up business can be difficult because the majority of investors prefer to make safer later-stage investments. There is also a lack of homegrown innovators serving as role models.

"The entrepreneurial heroes of the Valley are accessible to many people," said Sabeer Bhatia, who moved from Bangalore to the Silicon Valley and co-founded Hotmail, later acquired by the Microsoft Corporation.

Sridhar Mitta, president of the Bangalore chapter of the Indus Entrepreneurs, said, "We are not going to be another Valley anytime soon," but he added, "The city can match up with Boston or Austin as a competitive place to start up innovative product companies."

Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore? - New York Times

Very, very isolated

2006-03-19T11:11:00.000-05:00

Smack in the middle of the country, geographically. But so far from the mainstream every other way - economically, socially, politically. Here's half a million people living in the middle of nowhere of China. I was surprised to read that (a) Islam is thriving and (b) in many towns in this area, not a single Chinese or Chinese-speaking people lives!

China, like every other big country, is a study in contrasts. Seems like we are yet to figure out how to take the whole country forward, and not just the big bling-bling cities. In fact, you don't have to go to middle of the mountains in China to see poverty like that. About a mile from Washington, DC, if you head in a south easterly direction, you will be transported to a whole new planet. Or hop on a plane from DC to Bombay; walk out of the airport. You'll see the infamous slums of Bombay.

Deep in China, a Poor and Pious Muslim Enclave - New York Times

Unequal growth in China

2006-03-15T09:52:00.000-05:00

The wagging fingers of western we-know-it-all media has started talking about unequal growth in China; about how a large segment of the population is not seeing the benefits of the country's hugely impressive growth rates. Seems like the powers that be in the Chinese government (like who else has power there, I wonder) has decided to do something about this deepening divide.
China's Premier Promises Protections for Farmers

Nuclear separation scenarios

2006-03-01T16:45:00.001-05:00

More on the nuclear reactor separation plan. Here's the numbers game in yesterday's Hindu.

The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Nuclear separation scenarios

Good Nukes, Bad Nukes

2006-03-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

Ignatius gets it right - almost. The nuclear issue seems to dominate President Bush's visit to India that begins today. The bottom line is that if the negotiator can reach a workable agreement on India's nuclear status, it will mean an end to decades of isolation of the Indian nuclear energy establishment. It opens up much-needed sources of fuel for the Indian civilian reactors. Going by reports in the media, there seems to be intense ongoing diplomacy promising a photo finish by the end of the President's visit.

The latest numbers doing the rounds is a 65:35 split, i.e., 65% of the reactors will come under international safeguards. That will mean NSG (nuclear suppliers group) countries can supply fuel to those reactors and take away spent fuel for reprocessed. The remaining 35% will be military reactors that fall outside the purview of the agreement. India will continue to exercise complete control over those. This number is an improvement over the 70:30 split that the previous BJP-led government had almost agreed to. There seems to be some unanswered questions about the fate of future (yet-to-be built) reactors. And the hyped Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) may be kept out for now.

India needed that push to demystify - to some extent - its nuclear energy and weapons programs. It was a logical next step after heralding its status to the world a few years ago. Of course, this won't happen overnight. It is heartening to know that the process has been hastened.

Now, to the Ignatius article in today's Post: he distinguishes between the nuclear ambitions and programs of India and Iran using 'good nukes' and 'bad nukes' - a' la Bush's 'good vs. evil' argument, one wonders.

Incidentally the New York times has come strongly against the proposed deal crying its hypocritical to de facto admit India into the nuclear club while lecturing countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and South Korea against pursuing nuclear ambitions. It is like saying, if you are sneaky enough, if you are patient enough, we'll let you into this elite club.

Ignatius, without referring to NYT, agrees with the hypocrisy argument. But it is enlightened hyprocrisy. The world, we all know is fueled by pragmatism and not idealism. In that spirit, it makes sense to recognize India's responsible behavior with the proposed agreement.

Why do I say Ignatius gets it almost right?
The Indian foreign policy establishment has long strived to de-hyphenate India and Pakistan in the eyes of the world. It has had much success in that regard. But I can see them wincing at the end of paragraph in Ignatius' piece:

The world is ready to accept India as a nuclear power because its actions have given other nations confidence that it seeks to play a stabilizing role. A world where behavior matters gets the incentives right: It forces Iran to demonstrate its reliability so that, over time, it can be seen in the same league as India and Pakistan.

Good Nukes, Bad Nukes

Port Security Humbug

2006-02-22T12:04:00.000-05:00

So the administration wants to award port security contracts to a UAE-based firm. And just about everybody in the US Congress - Republicans and Democrats alike - is opposed to the idea. This makes for perfect political posturing, and you hear jingoistic statements like "let Americans control America's security." Conveniently though, they forget the disclaimer: Except when UK controls port security! You see, for years now, a London-based firm has been handling this business!

The Congress is saying it will kill the proposed deal. Democrats, in a rare instance of demonstrating any spine, are saying they will join in sinking it. Bush has vowed to veto any legislation to block this deal.

Or may be Democrats are wagging their fingers just like they did when threatening to filibuster Justice Alito's nomination. Everyone, including the Democrats, knew that the nomination was a done deal. But hey, the cameras were rolling!

In any case, this is just another instance of the us vs. them syndrome. To the Americans, anyone in the greater middle East (except for Israel) is a 'them'. If they sport turbans or flowing robes, they must be terrorists, no? Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Port Security Humbug

Goodbye, tata

2006-02-08T18:17:00.000-05:00

Its true what they say about death and taxes. There's no running from either. But what they don't tell you, what they can't tell you, what you can only know is how much it sucks. Well, death, at least. For its sheer finality. Earlier this week, on Sunday morning my 80-something grandfather passed away. Regular readers of this blog may recall him I referred to him in this entry.

To me - not that the world revolves around me - but, this was the probably the first time I was left with a vague sensation of having undergone a thoracotomy without morphine or such. Remind me to send a memo to all those new-age and old-age gurus who preach peachy optimism of the "It will always get better" variey. "Ah, not true", I say. Just when you think it can't get worse, guess what - it can.

All the comforting thoughts in the world - at least it was a quick (and hopefully painless) death, he had lived a full life, he was surrounded by his family just the day before, etc. - do little to lessen that hollow feeling. It sucks, in a very deep and profound way.

Flash back to Saturday night, when it is Sunday morning in India, thanks to the magic of time zones. I sit down to dinner. Barely two chews later, my brother calls up. In an apparent euphemistic message, he says tata is in the ICU (tata translates to grandfather in Kannada. Said with soft "t"'s). As I dial my uncle's cellphone, I cling to a moment of self-created deluded naivete that was shattered by a "Naresha, sad news" greeting. What follows is an extended period of utter helplessness and pangs of nostalgia.

Back in days when life, as I knew it, was simple, my grandparents lived in a quaint little old town Mysore (Maisuru), about 3 hours from bustling Bangalore, which we called home. About a decade ago, they moved to Bangalore, to where most of his family lived. Before that though, almost every vacation from school meant a much-anticipated trip to the town of palaces, parks and grandparents. During our stay there, thanks to tata, we were assured of treats from Shyam Rao bakery (the taste of rusku still lingers on ... ) and evening trips to Cheluvamba park. And how we enjoyed exploring the zoo with him! Or the boys' outing to the railway museum, where we hopped on and off old, rusty trains under his watchful eyes; ogled at the maharani's luxurious coaches. And ended a perfect evening with sweet coconut water.

Not that it was all a party during those days. You see, he and I had very different ideas on how to spend the first part of the day during vacations. He believed in the get-up-early routine, whereas I was in love with the back of my eyelids. Every morning he used to read Kumara Vyasa's Bharata, not too quietly, I might add. Later in the day he would quote verses, explaining the literary beauty in that book. The geeks that we were, we loved it.

One of the things that I loved most was when the two us would go down to the bus stop in the morning and watch those red buses. Sitting there beside him, sometimes on his lap, reading the numbers on the bus, I was happy. As I was when he regaled us with tales of elephants -Drona, Balarama and the like- and Dasara.

He had a way with kids. A picture that many of us who knew him will carry in our mind's eye is him sitting on his favorite chair, one leg crossed over the other knee forming a square, where one of us grandkids or greatgrandkids gleefully gooed gibberish. And he sang lullabies (for the record, my favorite: eesha ninna charaNa bhajane) or talked to the baby in baby-speak in a way, only he could.

Religion and spirituality was a big part of his life. Apart from the usual festivals, an annual Gita chanting during the winter month saw several people at my grandparents'. A couple of years ago, he was briefly hospitalized and the doctors wanted to observe his condition for another day before discharging him. But he insisted on going home to perform the rituals on the anniversary of his mother's death.

Stubborn, he sure was! Ironically her's, my great-grandmother's that is, was the first death I remember. I was all of four, old enough to prefer long pants and shun shorts, when she passed away. That evening, a bunch of us squeezed into a taxi and headed down to Mysore. I saw him in the verandah. He bent down and said with a wistful melancholy, "nammamma hogbitlu kano" (roughly translated, "my mother's passed away").

One thing that mattered very dearly to him was people. He wanted them to remain close, to be connected. May be that is why he built bridges for a living, as an engineer in the public works department. Every time we spoke, in person or over the phone, he had a come-back-to-Bangalore message. And I am sure he said that before I boarded the plane after my previous visit. It has been a little over two years since. In the past two some days, I have tried to recall what he said last. I remember the blessings and the nice things he always said. But that snapshot in time of how exactly we parted, that eludes me. Its funny. When you meet someone, you don't think its going to be the last time you are going to see them. May be then we'd remember more clearly.

At the end of our vacation in Mysore, he'd accompany us to the bus station to see us off. Invariably, he'd shed a tear as he waved to us before the bus departed. Now, his bus has departed for the last time. I wasn't there to wave goodbye. Its my turn to shed a tear.

China series: To release or not to release

2006-02-02T12:27:00.000-05:00

Turns out they - the Chinese government - didn't release the film "Memoirs of a Geisha" in their country. The publicity surrounding the film's release here in the New Age Empire, I thought, was excessive. After all that jazz, the critics have come out with a "yeaaaah...we were waiting for... this?!"

At the risk of being politically incorrect, I'll say this about the trailers I saw. The movie is about Japenese geishas ("skilled workers" in Japanese; "high-class prostitutes" in Chinese) played by Chinese film stars, made in English. All this transcultarism and language hybridization results in dialogue delivery that can at best, be described as robotic. I don't if it was the white face make-up or their discomfort with English, but their words lacked any emotions. I haven't seen the movie, and my comments are based on a 4 minute trailer.

Anyway, to get back to the censorship story, LA times says,

"CHINA'S DECISION TO BLOCK the release of the film "Memoirs of a Geisha" has nothing to do with the film's political content, which is nil. Nor is it related to the fact that Hollywood has mangled a story about a rarefied Asian icon from a bygone era, the geisha. Beijing's reasons for censorship are even more distasteful: racial prejudice and cultural competition between China and Japan."

An elephant's memoirs - Los Angeles Times

Korea's generic boy band boy

2006-01-29T09:38:00.000-05:00

Like we didn't have enough Justin Timberlakes and Backstreet-what're-their-names-boys, here's an addition to the list: from Korea no less!
Not surprising I suppose. I have heard the white boy- boy bands have a HUGE following in places like Japan, Korea and such.
The Ambassador - New York Times

A Date With Tradition

2006-01-29T09:34:00.000-05:00

Given the hooplah surrounding China and India, I thought I'd keep track of its coverage in the American media. Here's the first in that series:
The Asian Americans are lobbying (I know that's a dirty word these days!) to get Chinese new year on the American holiday calendar.
A quote from the article: "The Italian Americans have Columbus Day, the Irish have St. Patrick's Day and African Americans have Martin Luther King Jr. Day," said Lau, 60, a manager at the Environmental Protection Agency who lives in Columbia. "But the Asian American community has nothing. It's like we're not real Americans."
A Date With Tradition

Real politique

2006-01-27T22:12:00.000-05:00

In three corners of the world, new realities came to bite in all the wrong places this week. Canadians saw a peaceful change of government after the latest general elections. Liberals will be licking their scandal-inflicted wounds for a long time while the
conservatives occupy centre-stage after about a decade.

In the middle east, Hamas' clear victory in the elections wasn't a welcome development to most of the world. A party that celebrates violence and has annihalation of its neighbor on its agenda is not exactly someone you'd want at the conference table, much less the dinner table! On the other hand, Hamas rode the magic horse called democratic elections to power. These elections were supported by the US with words and money - atleast $50 million of it. When elections throw up uneasy answers, do you question the principle of democracy or do you deal with the reality that it presents? If President Bush's answer at yesterday's press conference is an indicator, it is fair to say the administration is one hundred percent clueless!

The paralysis in diplomacy can't last long, of course. If the US and EU can deal with dictatorships in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Pakistan, they'll find a way to deal with a Hamas government in Palestine. In time, Hamas will moderate their rhetoric. Its easy to shout, lecture and engage in subversive tactics when you are not the buck-stops-here guy. But Hamas can't do that now. They have to use this chance they've been given. And govern.

Further east, India celebrated her 57th republic day to commemorate the adoption of the constitution. I use the term 'celebrated' very loosely here. A day or two earlier, the Supreme Court delivered a stinging rebuke to Buta Singh who stepped down as governer of Bihar. Last year, Buta Singh in a colossoal abuse of the constitution, dissolved the state legislature. The Central Cabinet signed off on the idea without batting an eyelid. Or may be they did bat an eyelid - it was a midnight meeting when they signed. The ink was barely dry when a groggy-eyed Indian President who was in Moscow at the time affixed his rubber stamp. But, wait. It gets better. In spite of the resounding slap in the face, Buta Singh vowed to take salute at the republic day parade. Have they no shame?!

The same week saw another constitutional crisis, this one in the southern state of Karnataka. Dharam Singh's Congress government supported by Deve Gowda's is on the brink of collapse. Karnataka's governer Chaturvedi had asked Dharam Singh to prove his mettle on the floor of the house today. The day brought with it a rancarous legislative session. But no vote. In a seemingly desperate move to cling to the chair, Chief Minister-for-now Dharam Singh didn't seek the required vote of confidence. The constitution, for all its voluminous speak on ridiculously meaningless and moral policing acts, is mostly silent on this important issue. Where does the authority of the executive -the governers and the President - stop?

But if there is a common thread across these very different political climates, it is this. People don't like inefficiency and corruption. It is only a matter of time polticians pay a price for it.

Peeping Tom

2006-01-25T17:18:00.000-05:00

Some people gleefully accuse President Bush of being intellectually challenged. They say he is too simplistic; that he sees things in black and white; that he doesn't take a nuanced approach. All that is besides the point. I think a highly underestimated Bush would make a good scientist. Before you get your panties all twisted, let me illustrate with a very recent example. A few days ago, we learnt that Bush had authorized domestic spying, ostensibly in response to the continued terrorist threat. To say the least, it raised more than a few eyebrows and the administration quickly realized it was losing the domestic debate.

In what can only be described as a brilliant move, Bush's minions came up with a time-tested strategy: rename the problem. Domestic spying became terrorist surveillance. Now, who in their right mind can oppose 'terrorist surveillance'?!

Not to be cynical about it, but that's how a large part of the research world in engineering works. If something doesn't work, change the problem you were trying to solve! And whatever you propose, make sure it has a cool-sounding name. A cute acronym gives you bonus points. Without taking away the merit of the work, CONDENSATION algorithm (CONitional DENSity propogATION) is an example. The counter-cynical view? Sour grapes!

Bush Thanks NSA Employees

Buy a plane, get cash back!

2006-01-23T18:51:00.000-05:00

Apparently, the car salesman down the street is not the only one to offer cash back! Airbus is paying money to airlines to fly its A345/6. These airbii are designed to fly half way around the world. Singapore Air, for example, deploys A345 on SIN-LAX (Los Angeles) and SIN-EWR (Newark, NJ) routes. Boeing's answer, 777-200LR (long range) that completed flight testing a few weeks ago, is a better product, they say.

Seattle must be grinning!
Airbus to offer cash back on A340 as 777 stretches lead-24/01/2006-Flight International

Bangalore, Karnataka Bihared

2006-01-22T15:44:00.000-05:00

Not too long ago, Laloo Prasad Yadav's reign came crashing down after his debacle in the state assembly elections. Bihar, notorious for its lawlessness and chaos, seemed to have taken one step in the right direction after innumerable mis-steps. It would be foolish to think we've heard the last from Laloo, the self-appointed kingmaker. Like cockroaches, he has shown the capacity to survive any political outcome of even nuclear war proportions. His shrewdness may be commendable, but the sheer stupidity of the people who propel him into office again and again and again, is shocking.

The thing about cockroaches is that their remarkable reproducing rate allows them to not only outlast, but outnumber anything that can threaten their existence; feeding on virtually everything in their habitat. If its Laloo-roach in the north, its DeveGowda-roach in the south. A self-appointed kingmaker in the state of Karnataka, the former PM has held the state government, now on the brink of collapse, under a tight leash. The humble farmer, as he tirelessly reminds us, has toiled hard to make sure every project in Bangalore is either scrapped, or worse, suspended in time. His excuse? The best interests of the people, of course. Never mind that the voters gave a resounding slap in the face at the recent panchayat elections. Never mind that Bangalore is crumbling, according to every Bangalorean's assessment of the city.

As if his pathetic posturing was not enough, he has set off a whole new political drama. The players: the constantly cribbing Chief Minister Dharam 'cry baby' Singh (DS); the son of the soil Deve 'secular' Gowda (DG), his sons DG Jr.-I, DG Jr.-II.

DS is running a coalition government supported by DG's party. DG, increasingly peeved at not being able to regress Bangalore into a village, decides to withdraw support. DG Jr.-II enters into a pact with the main opposition party (BJP) and claims to have the backing of an overwhelming majority of DG's party. They want to form an alternative government. It is blatantly obvious the sycophants in DG's party wouldn't have the nerve to rebel against the 'man'. Much less when taking sides against the man, in favor of his son. DG is being shrewd, of course. He cannot shake hands with his sworn enemies, the BJP.

The question is whether the people of Karnataka see through this factitious facade or will the ensure that Karnataka is Bihared?

Up, up and away!

2006-01-20T13:22:00.000-05:00

NASA's probe is racing away from our earth to keep a date with the icy queen at the edge of the solar system. Pluto will have to wait for more than 9 years before out little friend is within her winking distance. And wink at each other, is all they can do as our man-in-a-hurry scurries past her after a mindnumbingly long interplanetary cruise. A wink and a blink later, he is blowing kisses at Charon, Pluto's moon. Wait, it gets more romantic. After flirting with Pluto and Charon, he disappears into the Kuiper belt as he hunts for a planetary object to take a peek at.

Are we there yet?

My grandfather in the news!

2006-01-19T09:48:00.000-05:00

Stand up, speak up, shout out. That's what my grandfather does when things don't work the way they are supposed to. He may be 80 years old, but that does not stop him from making all the right noises. As reported here, the State Bank of India had not bothered to fix a 'software problem' that cost senior citizens interest that rightfully belonged to them. I'm glad to know my tata had a role in correcting the wrong. Here's a quote from the article: "Says 80-year old S Nagaraja Rao, an accountholder with the Sri Nagar branch of SBI in Bangalore, "I have five deposits of Rs25,000 each. At 9 per cent rate, every quarter Rs563 has to be credited to each of my accounts. But the actual amount that got credited used to be Rs550, Rs553, etc." Each time he had to contact branch officials to get the correct amount credited to his accounts."

Google this!

2006-01-18T17:02:00.000-05:00

You know you have arrived when your noun becomes a verb. For example, in Washington people don't take the metro (city's rail transportation) to work; they 'metro in'. I don't search for an article online; I 'google' instead. Bangalore was added to this noun-to-verb lexicon recently to denote the idea of outsourcing. The spelling bee cries, "Can you use it in a sentence, please?"

TI bangalored its chip-design last week. (Well, may be not). Or, Joe Engineer, a resident of Santa Clara, CA was bangalored following the companies large scale downsizing in its US offices.

Why did I bring this up? First the background: Today, the state government in Karnataka (of which Bangalore is the capital) 'lost confidence'. A rough analogy is the recall of California's has-been Governor Gray Davis. Except, in Karnataka's case, the legislators pulled the rug under the sitting Chief Minister (the Parliamentary equivalent of the governor).

The Indian Express proclaims this change in power structure with "Congress Bangalored, Gowda's son walks in BJP arms". Gowda, a former Indian Prime Minister has been a trouble maker for the past few years. Surely, welcome news for BJP, the right wing political party. They haven't had many good days recently - either at the state or national level. For the first time, BJP will have a shot at governing Karnataka, albeit jointly. Let's see how badly they hurt the state.

Kristof: India v. China

2006-01-17T21:42:00.000-05:00

This is bound to raise a eyebrows. Kristof, writing in his column today, compares India and China. I know, I know. So does everybody else these days. Must be the season of the 'other'. There's talk about outsourcing to the back offices in India; laments about loss of manufacturing jobs to China; praises for the gay themed movies (Brokeback mountain won the big prize at Golden Globes yesterday!).

Kristof gets many things right: Indian emphasis on education, a Prime Minister who knows what needs to be done. In characteristic style, he is blunt: "And while China has been exceptionally shrewd in upgrading its infrastructure, India has been pathetic. India's economic future is marred by its third-rate roads and ports.... The bottom line is that the once-great nation of India is reawakening from several centuries of torpor, and facing less risk of a political cataclysm than China. India is poised to again be a great world power. But over all, my bet is that China will still grow faster and win the race of the century. I'm going to tell my kids to keep studying Chinese, rather than switch to Hindi. "

I moved! Well, virtually...

2006-01-17T15:38:00.000-05:00

From now on, I decided to blog here instead of my official site www.cfar.umd.edu/~cuntoor . I was hoping I could move my old posts to this blogspot and spent the better part of the past hour trying to do that. No luck yet. Looks like the timestamp is out of my control. This site won't allow me to move my old posts with the dates they were written. Too bad. So, my old pearls of wisdom will have to be trapped on the cfar server!

Remembering Friends

2006-01-17T13:20:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I cyber-scribbled; chalk it up to inertia. You know how it goes. First you are busy. Then you tell yourself you are busy. And soon enough you start believing yourself – perhaps you really were so pre-occupied that you forgot to take that breath of air 1.3 seconds ago. In any case, today's newspaper provided the necessary jump potential to open the html editor, in OOo -2.0, of course. For the unitiated, that's OpenOffice.org 2.0. An alternative to MS Office. Works reasonably well but it is not immune to crashes. On the plus side, it takes far less disk space. I seem to have an obsessive need to keep as much disk space free as possible. Food for psychoanalyzing, maybe? But I digress.

Back to today's newspaper. I stumble into my office this morning after 4 hours sleep last night (for those who know me, I know it comes as a shock!). Get my “first” cup of coffee – I say “first”, because the count automagically resets itself whenever the number seems excessive! Open the front page of a couple of newspapers to get my dose of the day's news. And I find a familiar face on the front page of the Indian express! Dharmendra, a classmate from primary/high school, is celebrating a successfully completed run at the Bombay marathon. I don't mean celebrate, as in a frivolous showoff of resources or abilities. But is a poignant memorial to Manju, a friend he lost last year.

Manju was gunned down in a disgusting act of violence that cut short a promising beginning. He was an IIM, Lucknow graduate. Dharmendra, wearing a “Remembering Manju” bandana gloriously crossed the finish line. Good show, D. I never knew Manju. But how can you not admire the depth of their friendship and loyalty?

Here's the article as jpegs in two parts: part 1, part 2.

Coast to coast on the road!

2005-01-07T12:36:00.000-05:00

Two weeks on the road - a coast to coast road trip. Actually a coast to coast to coast road trip! Check out the road trip page for pictures and more!

2004-12-02T19:39:00.000-05:00

People are making a big deal of Tom Brokaw's departure from NBC nightly news. For example, see here and here. But Maureen Dowd's column in NYT was excellent. A bit of background - each of the 3 major broadcast networks, NBC, CBS and ABC have a half hour news every night. The news itself was a big deal in the pre-internet, pre-cable TV era. Nevertheless, the veteran news anchor trio of Tom Brokaw (NBC), Dan Rather (CBS) and Peter Jennings (ABC) command people's respect and trust (well, to some extent anyway). Brokaw stepped down after 21 years, Rather has announced he'll be signing off early next year. Some people were hoping there would be some diversity after these guys bid their adieus. Seems rather unlikely. It looks like these three white men will be followed by another three white men - Brian Williams is stepping in Brokaw's shoe, all the guys in the running for the CBS seat are white men, and by extrapolation, it is a safe bet that Jennings will be followed by a white man when he steps down (there's no talk of that yet).

In the name of TV ratings...

2004-11-27T22:41:00.000-05:00

Barbara Walters, the diva of broadcast TV stepped off the spotlight at ABC's news magazine 20/20. And Elizabeth Vargas waltzed onto the stage taking Ms. Walters' place. I can understand that anyone who steps into the shoes of Ms. Walters may want to prove something. Ms. Vargas, however, has sunk to outrageously low journalistic levels in putting together today's "The Matthew Shepard Story." In the days to come, the media will no doubt debunk many of Ms. Vargas' claims, some of them simply irrelevant to the heinous killing of Matthew. To those of you not familiar with the case, back in 1998 in a small town called Laramie in the state of Wyoming, two guys Henderson and McKinney savagely beat Matthew, a young gay man, and tied him to a pole in the outskirts of the town and left him to die. Matthew was found there fully covered in blood, except for the place where tears ran down his cheeks. Five days later, he died. For sure, Matthew wasn't a saint, but he did not deserve to die like that. Nobody does.

The suspects were almost immediately apprehended. When the case came to trial, they used "gay panic" as their defense. Basically, what they were saying through their attorneys was that they killed Matthew because he was gay and he made a pass at them. Friends of the duo testified in court and in the media to their homophobic instincts. To cut a long story short, they were sentenced to life in prison.

And now, six years later, they have changed their story. They claim they were strung out on drugs and lost control. At least, that is what Ms. Vargas cajoled and lead them to say on today's 20/20. The police chief of Laramie got a chance to show his homophobic side while managing to hide it in the drug use theory. Andrew Sullivan, the conservative columnist who has dances merrily to the Republican song got a chance to chime in with a "we should know the truth." ABC got a sensational story out of a shameful, terrible tragedy. Henderson got a chance to make a plea on national TV before appealing his sentence in the federal courts.

Rest in peace, Matthew.

Reality and reality

2004-11-23T20:55:00.000-05:00

America's love with reality shows is hot as ever as the new season of the Amazing Race began on CBS last week. Although not as popular as the channel's other reality show, "Survivor," the Race has found some die-hard followers. The reason I like the Amazing Race is its timeless appeal - going to new places, exploring new lands - something that man has done for ages. The Survivor plays up another old theme - the art and science of survival in all its primal sense. People are cast off on a deserted island and they are forced to do whatever it takes to survive. All too stone-age for me. I prefer the plane-hopping, the bickering and scheming of the Amazing Race!

In another kind of reality, the CIA came out with a report today saying some rather unsurprising things. According to the report, the arms trafficking network led by the Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan provided Iran's nuclear program with "significant assistance," including the designs for "advanced and efficient" weapons components. Incidentally, this is the same Khan that General Pervez Musharaff, the self-appointed Chief of Pakistan, granted official pardon to. For a long time, Pakistan's sale of nuclear technology was an open secret. And then came the scathing report that forced Musharaff's administration to admit that top officials in his country had been peddling nuclear secrets to countries and entities around the world. Strangely enough, no heads rolled after that. Musharaff wagging his finger side to side said, "bad, bad, Khan!" And that was that.

So when this new CIA report says Pakistan provided nuclear assistance to Iran, all I can say is 'Duh!' As before, you can bet your bottom dollar that President Bush will wag his finger from side to side and say, "Bad, Bad, Mush!" (expecting him to say Musharaff is a bit of a stretch). And that will be that.

Privacy, please!

2004-10-20T23:31:00.000-04:00

Google's foray into the desktop search arena has raised more than a few eyebrows. As before, people are not comfortable with the possibility of someone snooping around and gathering their deepest, darkest secrets or their credit card numbers! Google, meanwhile is assuring everyone that their search tool is not a spyware (you'd be amazed how many of those are on your machine right now! If you're curious, try spybot to find out!). My gripe with this new search tool? It doesn't search pdf or ps files. It can search word documents, outlook email, etc. Given that I have a handful of doc files on my machine, I could easily search the files manually. I don't use outlook or AOL. Is google (or anyone) listening?!

An era of terror is over

2004-10-19T21:48:00.000-04:00

Veerappan, the notorious bandit, was shot dead in an encounter yesterday. This guy has murdered more than 100 people, killed countless elephants for their ivory, and disrupted the lives of many. The police had set up a special task force to capture him, but he was always one step ahead. After all, he knew the forest like the back of his palm.

A little over four years ago, early in August I was making final preparations for my journey here. July 2000 was pretty hectic as I tried to scramble together things that I might need for my graduate study, including a visa to get here. I was scheduled to fly out of Madras (or Chennai) on the 2nd of August. The plan was to take the train from Bangalore that morning, visit my uncle and his family in Madras, and board the plane that night. Amidst the chaos of shopping and packing and bidding adieus came the news that Veerappan had abducted Dr. Rajkumar, a well-known actor in the state. Fans took to the streets, and Bangalore came to halt that day. This was on the 31st of July. Bangalore police imposed curfew in a bid to contain the violence. The next day, things got worse. Reports and rumours of violence grew thicker by the minute.

Veerappan hails from Tamil Nadu state. He kidnapped Rajkumar who is idolized in the neighboring state of Karnataka. Madras is in TN, about 7 hours by road from Bangalore, Karnataka. So, here I was, in Bangalore, about to travel to TN. And the people of Karnataka had directed their anger at the whole of TN! Oh, joy! We heard that the highways leading out of the city were being blocked. We were convinced that the trains would too. It was only a matter of time. We could hire a taxi, we thought, and make our way in the dead of the night of 08/01. No wait, that's too risky. How about getting a police escort across the state line? someone said. In the end, we decided to simply take the train as planned hoping for safety in numbers. Plus, we reasoned, it was an early morning train; most of the train/road blockers get serious after 8am. We should be out of the state by then.

Thankfully, the train chugged out of the station as scheduled early in the morning. The scene outside the window melted gradually from an urban landscape to rocky hills, and we knew we had crossed into TN. After an unevenful train journey, we reached Chennai Central on time to be greeted with smiles of relief!

Storms across the world

2004-09-06T19:54:00.000-04:00

Charley, Isabel, Frances, Andrew -as innocuous as the names sound, to the people who have experienced the hurricanes (known as severe cyclonic storms or typhoons in other parts of the world), the harm that they inflict is quite palpable. As communities in some parts of Florida begin to rebuild their homes, Frances, now downgraded to a tropical storm is plowing through a different part of the state on its way to the interior parts of the country. For some, the worst of the ordeal is over.

On the other side of the world, soon-to-be freshmen in the state of Karnataka, India are breathing a sigh of relief as the admission process is about to start after a whirlwind of court battles and negotiations between the college management boards and the state government. The seat sharing structure between the government (which admits in-state students) and the management (which admits both in-state and out-of-state students at a higher fee rate) has been worked out. At last, the ordeal has ended.

And in Beslan, Russia the heartrending cries of mothers and fathers and husbands and wives and sons and daughters and relatives and friends could silence the noise of a Frances or a Charley. Hundreds are buried and hundreds are still missing. Many bodies are charred beyond recognition. For President Putin and the rest of Russia, the consolation is that hundreds made it out alive. And at least, the ordeal is over.

Of monoliths and republicans

2004-09-02T17:55:00.000-04:00

There is a lot of chatter about how the Republicans are showcasing people with widely differing opinions, moderates etc. in the ongoing convention. For instance, there's muscle-man Schwarzeneger from a liberal state, California, former mayor of NYC, Rudy Giuliani (curiously, both their names are not easy to spell!), Senator John McCain whom everyone loves! And just in the past week, VP Dick Cheney who has a gay daughter, reiterated his position against a constitutional amendment against gay marriage at a time that seemed politically convenient. And added in the same breath that the President makes policy decisions and that he is for an amendment. In that case, Cheney said he just goes along with whatever the Commander says. I can't help but admire the cleverness of the Republican strategists. Not only did they manage to say that there is room for differing opinions in the administration but also that the President decides at the end of the debate.

Come to think of it, if one supports the amendment barring gays from entering matrimony, then if one takes the argument to its logical conclusion, one has to support Hitler's idea of exterminating the homosexuals. You see, if one accords a second-rate citizenship to the gays and lesbians and says that such relationships are "not what God intended" using sentiments like "hate the sin" etc., then this hubris that drives one to say I'm-better-than-you will turn to saying "I'm better than you and I don't want to have anything to do with you because you were not meant to be here in the grand scheme of things." Well then, short of blasting the gays and lesbians and whomever one doesn't like, off to Mars or creating a city beneath the Yucca mountains, one is left with little choice but to go the Hitler way! But I digress..

To go back to what I started talking about, i.e. the presence of moderates on the Republican stage - again, you have to hand it to the political pundits in the GOP. It may be moderates who are batting, but President Bush would take the winner's cup. And I should probably stay away from sports metaphors!

On a different note: WMATA which is the Washington Metro transit authority has created this cool animation about evacuation in emergency - check it out: http://www.wmata.com/riding/safety/evac.cfm .

Did he really say that?!

2004-08-31T17:44:00.000-04:00

The Republican National Convention kicked off yesterday with 9/11 being the predictable theme. From the family members of 9/11 survivors to the popular Senator John McCain to the then Mayor of NYC, Rudy Giuliani, everyone had praises for President Bush for his able leadership during and after those trying times. That they said all that and more, keeping a straight face, is itself praiseworthy. Never mind that the current administration is far from being "humble" as it had promised during the 2000 campaign. Never mind that, in the eyes of the world, they have reinforced the American stereotype of being the damn-the-rest cowboy. Never mind that they wasted away the tremendous outpouring of sympathy from all over the globe immediately after that fateful day.

And, oh the cheesy comment of the night? I would give that distinction to Rudy Giuliani's : "At the time, we believed that we would be attacked many more times that day and in the days that followed. Without really thinking, based on just emotion, spontaneous, I grabbed the arm of then Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and I said to him, “Bernie, thank God George Bush is our President. I say it again tonight, I say it again tonight: thank God that George Bush is our President. And thank God that Dick Cheney, a man with his experience and his knowledge and his strength and his background is our vice president."

Row, row, row a boat ...

2004-08-26T20:51:00.000-04:00

So the Swift Boat Veterans drama continues. A lawyer working for the Bush campaign who was also partly responsible for the ad attacking Kerry, has resigned. Senator McCain wants the President to "tell his sleazy Texas buddies to stop these negative ads". And President Bush comes back with a meek all-such-ads-including-the-present-ad-are-bad response. Senator McMain saying that's not enough commented, "I've said before I would like for the president to specifically condemn that ad, but the president has said John Kerry served honorably and also the president is now committed to acting to try to bring 527s into regulations that are appropriate."

You have to hand it to the Republicans. They are trying (quite successfully, I think) to kill two birds with one stone. Through such irresponsible ads that is filled with untruths and half-truths, they attack Senator Kerry. At the same time, they say they are not to blame but the "soft campaign money" is. It is a well-known fact that there are more ads attacking Bush than Kerry, thanks to organizations such as moveon.org .By shifting the focus from the ad in question to some vague assertion against 527s, they not only control debate about who gets to question the Bush administration but also make wild charges against the Kerry campaign that are largely baseless. They can always issue something that sounds mildly apologetic but the damage intended is done. As President Bush said to Senator McCain during the 2000 primaries, "its all politics, John." Senator McCain's reply? "No George, not everything."

Attack!

2004-08-21T18:00:00.000-04:00

First, some background. One of the advantages the Kerry campaign prides itself on is Senator Kerry's Vietnam service. The presidential candidate who commandeered a boat during the Vietnam war is a decorated war hero and his campaign doesn't miss a chance to remind the country about it. Contrast this with President Bush's record and you see that there really is no contest. Again, as the democrats never fail to remind the nation, the President chickened out of the war and enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard where his attendance, apparently, isn't much to speak about. In any case, a lot of water has flown under the proverbial bridge since then - yet, the war card carries considerable weight and anyone who watched the democratic convention would surely agree with me. From his opening line in his acceptance speech - "I am John Kerry and I am reporting for duty" (Gee.. can anything be more cheesy?!) - to his war buddies coming up on stage to testify to Kerry's courage under fire, it was one big chest-thumping party that could put Tarzan to shame.

On to the story that has made headlines this week. A few days ago, a group called the "Swiftboat Veterans for truth" consisting of military men who were also in Vietnam at that time, some of whom were in the boats in the same boatalion (sic) as Senator Kerry, have taken out a TV ad accusing Kerry of fabricating evidence of his own bravery. Never mind that there are inconsistencies in what they say. Never mind that their connection to the White House is a hop, skip, Karl Rove away. Never mind that the President won't condemn such below the belt attacks as Senator John McCain (a well-regarded Republican Senator from Arizona) does. Of course, given that the Republicans have successfully attacked former Senator Max Cleland and questioned his patriotism, there's nothing surprising about this ad per se. And by the way, Cleland also fought in the Vietnam war and lost both his legs and an arm in the bargain. What I find funny is that the people are willing to ignore Iraq, the economy, healthcare (a word of caution: don't get sick in America!) and any issue worth talking about, and spend all their energy, money and power on the length of the Kerry's wound decades ago. One of the people in the now-famous TV ad is the doctor who treated Kerry on at least one occasion. He says Kerry's wound was so superficial that it was a mere scratch. (I paraphrase). Man, he must have a photographic memory if he can remember the extent of some soldier's wounds during a war that happened decades ago even when the wound in question was not something one could write a paper about. And oh, the medical records don't say anything about a scratch either.

McGroovy :)

2004-08-17T18:02:00.000-04:00

A couple of days ago Governor McGreevey of New Jersey heralded "I am a gay American" and tendered his resignation. He had an extra-marital affair and just when things looked like they would blow up in his face, he pre-empted all the hoopla by announcing his intention to step down. Of course, it was foolish and unethical on his part and it is safe to assume that the voters wouldn't be kind and forgiving although I don't think people are all too shocked when politicians are caught in sex scandals. If the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal is any indicator, the Republicans would've had a field day with McGreevey's confession.

But the fact remains that Clinton, with Senator Clinton by his side weathered the storm and went on complete his innings. Would we live to see a world where the likes of McGreevey don't have to act straight (no Oscars for that!) - and go on to be openly gay governors and presidents?!

Lance, again!

2004-07-26T19:47:00.000-04:00

He did it again! Not that anyone was surprised, of course. Like the duracell bunny that keeps going on and on, Lance Armstrong keeps going on and on and on. Six times now - the number of times he has won the Tour de France. Isn't that something?! His is a story that one cannot help but love. Here's a man who beat testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain and went on to conquer one of the most challenging sporting events in the world - a record six times! When I hear of such great accomplishments, physical or mental, there is a part of me that whines "If only I could do something like that ..." Is that a bad thing? I wonder...

With such glory comes suspicion. There have been several allegations of illegal drug use by colleagues and peers and if I recall correctly, he tested positive once a few years ago. And people have been making the same noises yesterday and today. I say to them, give it a rest! The man has earned his place there!

What do we know?

2004-07-11T17:42:00.000-04:00

About a week ago, I was at this year's CVPR (IEEE Intl' conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition) that was held in Washington. It is one of the premier conferences in the field and expectedly, there were many good papers in the main conference and in the more-focused workshops. Some of the workshops like the one on GOR(Generic Object Recognition) had some professors sounding a cautious note (case in point: Professor Michael Tarr's talk entitled - "Do we know more than we did 20 years ago?" His answer - "Not really!"). But there were others that were more upbeat. For instance, people were a little more hopeful in the Event Recognition workshop - which is good news for me, since I'm working in that area.

My only peeve about the conference? You see, due to a ban on skyscrapers, many of the buildings in DC - including the conference venue - the Grand Hyatt, has several underground floors. Everyday, descending three levels below the ground to reach the conference venue was like going into a bunker of some kind. Of course, given that we were in the midst of some very smart people from around the world, it might be a good idea!

More technology-related stuff: They are saying BPL could be the new mantra. No, that's not the company that makes TV's in India (or used to, at some point in time). BPL stands for Broadband over Power Lines. I remember during my senior year at REC Surathkal, one of my classmates was working on "Internet over power lines" as his final year project and it was exciting stuff!

Censor this!

2004-06-26T21:22:00.000-04:00

VP Dick Cheney used the "F" word in the Senate when talking to- make that shouting at -Democratic Senator Leahy during a photo-op in the Senate earlier this week.( The senator, like many Americans have been questioning the VP's link with Halliburton, the firm that has profited handsomely in the wake of Iraqi war). It gets better. Today's Post reports that Cheney defended saying f*** the senator! Apparently the VP thinks that Senator Leahy deserved it. This coming from an administration that made all the brouhaha after Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the Super bowl halftime performance. Can you imagine their reaction if Janet Jackson had said "Yeah! it was part of the act .. The American public deserved it!" or something along those lines...

I watched the Michael Moore movie, Fahrenheit 9/11, last night. Of course, it does not even pretend to present an unbiased view of the administration. So I don't know why some people are taking potshots at the movie and not thinking about the charges the movie makes - charges based on facts. For instance, after the President was informed that the two towers were struck by planes and that the nation was under attack, he continued to sit there in the Florida classroom reading "My goat" (or whatever) to the elementary school kids. Shouldn't he have bolted out of there and I don't know talked to somebody to know what was happening?

After all the planes in US airspace were grounded, including those of former President Bush and Ricky Martin, why were more than a dozen Saudi jets allowed to ferry the bin Ladens out of the country? Yes, Osama's relatives were right here in this country. Now I agree that shots showing Wolfowitz using his saliva to tame a stray strand of hair etc. were merely titillating. But what about the Bush-Saudi-binLaden oil money connection? I could go on but I might get in trouble for saying such things - I don't want the FBI to come knocking on my door! Am I being paranoid? I don't know but the PATRIOT act sure gives me a pause.

Bill Clinton's book "My Life" is making big news. He's a smart guy and everything but when he says "after the cold war, the right-wing needed a new target" and that he replaced communism in the eyes of the right - I couldn't help rolling my eyes. I mean, Come on!!

Beauty in math

2004-06-23T23:39:00.000-04:00

Huffman is a name that's familiar to all Electrical/Electronics/Computer engineers. (If not, looks like you pulled off a perfect Rip Van Winkle through 4 years in college!). Of course, he's familiar for the codes that are named after him and is used in many places - including this page. The jpeg pictures you see around - they are coded using Huffman codes (among other things). Bet you didn't know that Professor Huffman was also into paper folding! The New York Times has a must-read piece on it. I'm sure my mother will be intrigued by this.

If only the algorithms that we cook up and the equations we write were half as elegant and beautiful as Huffman's work!

Craigslist

2004-06-11T22:40:00.000-04:00

This is how it should be. Free. Controlled by the people who use it. Uncensored. That is not how it always is, of course. The internet is slowly becoming more chained - maybe it was inevitable all along. Craigslist.org, however, has remained unchained. People control what they want to see - that doesn't mean you'll see formulas to make explosives -no. That's just reductio ad adsurdum. I came across craigslist a couple of years ago when I was bargain-hunting for some furniture. And I never quite realized its humble beginnings until I read about it in today's LA times.

Bend the truth till it breaks

2004-06-09T22:24:00.000-04:00

Truth is like light - truth, like light, bends. It bends near important people. It gets distorted to suit the needs, whims and fancies of powerful people. And, over time, truth gets distorted. If at time 't', one linearly projects the current perception of truth backwards in time, then one reaches a state that is quite different from the state of affairs that actually existed at time t=0. The exulting eulogies of Mr. Reagan notwithstanding, some say the characterizations are at least in some cases, wildly off the mark. Today's Washington Post, scrutinizing Reagan's legacy, points out that not everything people are giving Mr. Reagan credit for, is completely accurate. A lot of people didn't like the President's policies. As Barbara Streisand put it in an address to an AIDS Project Los Angeles fundraiser in 1992: "I will never forgive my fellow actor Ronald Reagan for his genocidal denial of the illness' existence, for his refusal to even utter the word AIDS for seven years, and for blocking adequate funding for research and education which could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives." In the CNN, Professor Dorf writes about Reagan and the courts. Of course, one doesn't speak ill of the departed.

Bombs and cells

2004-06-07T23:15:00.000-04:00

Its been an eventful weekend - some for the right reasons, but mostly for the wrong reasons. After fighting Alzheimer's for about a decade, former President Reagan passed away in his California home. Just a few days ago, Ms. Nancy Reagan had spoken out in favor of stem-cell research that should significantly improve the quality of life of people suffering from Parkinson's, Alzheimer's etc. It remains to be seen if the Bush administration will make the right decision sooner, rather than later.

George Tenet's resignation from the CIA has understandably led to a lot of speculation. Mr. Tenet who apparently likes basketball ("Iraqi WMD ... slam dunk case"), will probably have time to practice shooting hoops now. Err.. wait a minute. May be the CIA was doing just that when Al Qaeda was busy planning the attacks! But something doesn't jell well here. About a week ago, Attorney General Ashcroft issues a dire warning saying that another Al Qaeda attack is imminent. Within 24 hours, Secretary Tom Ridge says the threat is no bigger than what he has seen in the past few months, apparently unaware of Ashcroft's statement. And now, the intelligence chief steps down at a time when, according to Ashcroft, something big is brewing in the Al Qaeda cauldron. If the administration is going to continue with its policy of selective honesty, the least they can do is speak in one word, albeit true or false!

Forever yours

2004-06-03T19:16:00.000-04:00

It takes immense generosity and a sense of equanimity to decide to donate one's body to scientific research, after death. A decision that cannot be easy for either the person himself or his family. Michael Palmore took that step, as the article in today's LA times describes. In his case, organ donation was not an option since cancer had spread to several places. He and his wife had assumed that his mortal remains would be studied to further cancer research - a selfless act indeed. However, much to her dismay, Mrs. Palmore finds out that fate and ScienceCare Anatomical Inc. had different designs for her husband's body.

Give us this day, our daily oil

2004-06-01T22:27:00.000-04:00

Gas prices are still climbing much to the consternation of many. This elderly couple in Colorado are considering cutting back on their volunteering while most airlines are biting their knuckles to keep from screaming. British airways and Lufthansa have already added a surcharge on some routes. Although it is too soon to conclude either way, there are indications that SUV sales have decreased in the past month. The question is, how will this affect the long-term policies of the US government? Unlike Europe, attempts to reduce the dependence on oil has been half-hearted at best. Instead, the policy seems to be - find the next source of oil - be it offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico or Alaska or Iraq.

The logical conclusion: the next major source of oil is going to be Libya. Billions of dollars greasing the palms of Colonel Gadaffi must have been a sufficient motivating factor to come out to the world (read US) about his country's nuclear program. You can bet that they'll wait long enough to render the public memory incapable of making the correlation and lift the sanctions that were imposed after the Lockerbie bombing. After that, hallelujah! Oil flows!

I hope I am wrong. I hope there is some pre-emptive scientific breakthrough in alternate fuel production. Another Manhattan Project, perhaps?

Oh, will they ever learn?!

2004-05-31T13:12:00.000-04:00

More fingerprint woes. This man, Sanchez is being wrongly identified as a Leo Rosario, not once, not twice but thrice in the past! That the two differ physically - 12 years in age and 6 inches in height - means little to the people in the law and order business who insist that a fingerprint match is the holy grail.

Fingerprints in all the wrong places

2004-05-29T18:18:00.000-04:00

This article in today's Washington Post caught my eye given that I have worked in biometrics - specifically, gait. We have been told time and again that fingerprints are unique signatures that we carry with us. And one would think, after so many years of research, that the science and statistics of fingerprint extraction has matured enough to be used as unquestionable evidence. Apparently, not the case. Consider this: "Fingerprinting, unlike DNA evidence, currently lacks any valid statistical foundation." Another DARPA project in the making, perhaps?

And over at the New York Times, a self-flagellation has begun over the paper's conduct in the run-up and during the Iraq war. The editors have decided, in the spirit of clearing the air, to revaluate their reporting and journalism. Put simply, it is an exercise in finding out why they failed to do the job the press is supposed to do.

Hah, we don't like you.

2004-05-26T14:30:00.000-04:00

As Dr. Singh's administration continues to establish itself, there have been a few hiccups. Lobbying for ministries from coalition partners, changing economic policies, creating and adding ministries and the list goes on. And its just the first week in office! Foreign minister Natwar Singh and National Security Advisor J.N. Dixit, keeping in line with the vintage Congress position, are adopting an anti-US line.

But Amnesty's report pigeon-holes US and Indian policies in an unflattering, scathing attack. Apart from the "detention in legal limbo", "police brutality", "sexual abuse", "allegations of (prisoner) torture", the US came under severe criticism for its wanton use of the death penalty. Since 1976 (when the Supreme Court lifted the moratorium), 885 people (including 65 in 2003) have been put to death. India was heavily criticized for the Gujarat riots, communal tension, unchecked abuse of power by security forces, the anti-terrorism POTA act.

Perhaps one favorable change in the new Indian government policy is putting the brakes on an unabashed pro-Israeli stance.

Douche bag - I just like saying that!

2004-05-23T11:31:00.000-04:00

Rick Lyman, in today's New York Times on Kerry's gender gap: "Yes, Democrats can win (some) white male voters" .. That doesn't sound good for the Dems! Speaking of Kerry, check this out: johnkerryisadouchebagbutimvotingforhimanyway.com

Heads Up! If you're driving in DC, you've been had! Speed cameras are everywhere - like the cicadas. The speed limit in most places in the district is 30mph (I mean, really...). Even a 35 in such cases will get you a ticket.... sheesh... Apparently, the city has raked in millions since the system went into place but I wonder where all that money is going. The pothole-infested roads in N.E. DC or on I-295 is like preparing to drive on the moon - with all its craters. Not to sound hackneyed, but how about the cops do some real cop-work like oh, I-don't-know, getting the trigger-happy people or curbing auto thefts. And oh, some hotspots: along Rhode Island ave (many places), B-W pkwy, N.Y. ave (Bladensburg road -BW pkwy), I-295 S.E, 16th and R N.W, Mass. ave (west of Dupont), 9th and D.

Gooogle

2004-05-22T22:32:00.000-04:00

First, on a personal note - They got engaged! Congrats, Sowmya and Mahesh!

Google's yet-to-be-widely-released email service, gmail has got everyone talking. People seem to have a love-hate with no middle ground -relationship with it. On the one hand, gmail is passing out disk space like candies - 1 GB compared to Yahoo's 4MB (or thereabouts), Hotmail's measly 1 or 2 MB, Yahoo premium's 100MB - and establishing a clear, convincing lead over is competitors. It supposedly has cool sorting, searching (duh!), better spam filtering and a lot many more features. Of course, most of the subscribers won't use all those useful features. That's besides the point. All the surrounding hype has sparked off websites like gmailswap where the havenots are trying to win an account from the haves. (Here are some samples - "In exchange for gmail...": "a lovely and talented soprano (i've heard her!) will sing for you" , "9000 ladybugs" , "borrow car for a week", "a smile and heartfelt thanks", "a slide rule (with instructions)" ...). On the other hand, there is the anti-gmail lobby. Their complaints range from "I don't want google reading my emails" to "protect privacy" to "don't ad-spam me" etc. One such anti-gmail website is gmail-is-too-creepy. (catchy name though!).

Talking about the google ads, I was reading an article about Independence air in the Post a couple of days ago. Its the new low-cost airline starting operations from Dulles International Airport after breaking away from United Airlines. Obviously, now it is a rival to United. And the ad that google threw up on the page? You guessed it - fly United!

Here a comma, there a comma

2004-05-21T21:14:00.000-04:00

Today more photos from the Iraqi prison abuse scandal appeared in the Washington Post. They published some of the testimonies of the prisoners who have recounted what went on in Abu Ghraib prison during the past year or so. And then there was more fighting in Iraq. Chalabi's house was raided. Chalabi, an Iraqi in exile, living in Georgetown till a few months ago, was America's choice as the successor of Saddam Hussein. But things haven't quite worked out as any of the parties involved planned or wished for! So much happening in Iraq.

So little apparent motion in Karnataka's political situation. Its been a week since the results of the assembly elections were announced. A 'hung' assembly was the voter's 'man-date'! In other words, a 3-way tie. Looks like the political bigwigs will take more time to figure out who gets the Chair. The 12th standard kids (like my brother) are eager to see the next government in place. There's the technical university admission mess to resolve after all! Like what else is new about that?!

Politics aside, today's George Will column is sure to spark a smile. I must confess, I still can't figure out the proper way to use commas!

Indian elections

2004-05-20T23:52:00.000-04:00

For a few days now, I have been toying with the idea of starting a blog. I suppose its mostly out of a bloated sense of self-importance! At any rate, the recent Indian elections seemed like a good excuse to web-ify my rants from time to time. So here goes ...

The dance of democracy in India has certainly thrown up more than its fair share of surprises. Firstly, the defeat of the BJP-led coalition shocked and surprised most political pundits. The I-told-you-so'ers like Swaminathan Aiyar in the Times of India were a minority. Whether people had an issue with BJP's policies or not, everybody was sad to see Mr. Vajpayee leave. His holding out the olive branch to Pakistan, in spite of Musharaf's backstabbing etc., will probably be his crowning achievement in the history books to come. Jim Hoagland, in his column in the Washington Post thinks the increasing closeness of Vajpayee administration with the US cost the incumbents dearly. Likening Brajesh Mishra, the national security advisor, to Star Wars' Yoda, Hoagland bemoans the defeat of the NDA government.

Congress, under Sonia Gandhi seems to have gone the Madonna way - by reinventing itself. Rather, it has gone back to its time-tested campaign tactics - the dynasty and food, water, power slogan. In one of her speeches, Ms. Gandhi says it was time "to do something for the poor". How wonderfully vague! What's more, it seems to satisfy the Indian voter! It was certain that Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin would become an issue now that she had a real shot at the top job.

The communist parties (yup, they're still around!) were suddenly thrust into the national limelight. With the support of the Left a necessity for minority Congress to survive in the Parliament, people had to take notice of what the Left parties had to say. And boy, they fired some serious shots at the business community. Demolish the privatization ministry, they said. The issue Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin and now the left parties' shenanigans. This one-two punch was too much for the markets and the indices tumbled. Brokers must've been saying, 'gravity sucks!' And then began a day or two of "will she? won't she?" suspense. Will Sonia Gandhi lead the next Indian government? Many of the major newspaper editorials pooh-poohing BJP's criticism's of the foreign issue used big words like inclusiveness, plural ethos etc. in supporting Ms. Gandhi's bid. Some like the Pioneer didn't share those sentiments. Finally, following her "inner voice," she declined the PM post. The die-hard Congress loyalists were aghast. Many others breathed a collective sigh of relief. And a few like Mike Marqusee in the Guardian cannot resist using the "R" word. He thinks Indian Hindus are racists. Hmm.. I wonder black men and women Britain or the United States has elected to serve in the highest offices?! That might be too much to ask for, given that in America's centuries old democratic traditions, the first Catholic President was JFK!

As the dust settles down, Dr. Manmohan Singh, best known for starting the economic reforms in '91, is set to take over as the Prime Minister. Like Mr. Vajpayee, Dr. Singh is well-respected man both in India and abroad. Congratulations, Mr. Prime Minister!

On a related note, in the Andhra Pradesh (AP) assembly elections, the cyber savvy Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu was voted out of office. George Manbiot, in his column in the Guardian has an interesting note about it. According to him, Naidu's defeat amounts to Tony Blair's defeat since all those programs that were so doggedly pursued in AP were planned out by the US consultancy agency, McKinsey and financed partly by Blair's government.