The Wireless Phenomenon in India

It is wireless technology that holds the key to progress in India. We have an infrastructure problem, we have transportation problems. Airports are less, and connectivity to smaller towns is a problem. The big cities should no longer be the development focal point if we want to see an overall growth upward. Bridging the huge problems of infrastructure and transportation is not possible in the span of a year or two. And the time for development is now, today. So, wireless technology holds the key.

Time is now ripe for the mobile/cellphone to move into more spaces than ever in the life of an individual. Providing network connectivity at high speeds should be a de-facto expectation of any provider. Access to information at your fingertips in real time can change a lot of things. Over time, it can change the decision making process itself.

Also, we don't need to repeat the mistakes of other developed countries in terms of the work-model or development-model. Commuting to work is a big headache in any of the towns here in the US. Same is the case in the big cities of India. Work from home policies are encouraged in some companies to allow employees flexibility in doing their work. Indirectly, the company hopes that it would increase the efficiency. This is something which we need to inculcate.

It may sound strange at first, doing things the self-motivated way. So impose deadlines. But physical presence should not be a necessity. Brilliant ideas come out of sitting down apple trees, not due to commuting in buses catching up the last hour of sleep. A company could actually think of opening up satellite centers all throughout a big city. People can choose to go to whichever center they like. A small room or two with Internet connectivity and electricity. Thats all the employees ask of you. Tell them to go home for the lunch. Catch a nap too if they feel like it. But finish the work on time, or get the whip. Don't know how effective this strategy can be, but with an effective leader it can really work.

Move the work even to smaller towns through the Internet and cell phone infrastructure. Give the option to employees of being in whichever town they like, and ask them to visit the headquarters once in a while. In summary, make the IT industry next generation based on the Banking model. Only, make it better and more efficient.

Choices - Decisions

Lets presume for a second that Mr. Vineet here is a multi-talented, multi-faceted personality. And add to that the much more unreasonable assumption that this fact was discovered much earlier in his life - say when he was 10 or 12. Now. Given that he can pursue any of the following passions for a career throughout his life - playing video games, making odd paintings with all the wrong colors, creating records in eating mangoes, sit watching a sunset at a temple situated on a riverbank, inventing different ways of letting the bike fall without injuring himself, and so an and so forth. Given all these fabulous options, how in the heavens did he end up in Engineering? The dry, boring, pitiful life of a stupid engineer trying to fix similar stupid things built up by fellow engineers.

Continuing on, lets assume that someone gave me an option of not worrying about money in life. When I need money, I would get it. Its really made up a lot than it is, this money thing. I mean what would it cost the people to let all young people to have the money whenever they wanted it. After all they are the ones who need it the most :D. Anyway, supposing that this was the case. Would I still be an Engineer then? Would you still be what you are today?

Some darned old fools come and mess up the beautiful life that is. All with talk of career, wealth, fame. Full of crap, they are. Sometimes this all seems so meaningless, who cares what the throughput of a network is. I would have been spending this much valued time with my friends chattering back at my place in India, than blogging to the anonymous reader through the Internet. I seem very much close to renunciation, but not to worry. All the above were assumptions. It turns out that in the real world (the big bad real world) none of those hold. So I need to be selfish. And think about money. And all that.

Someday in future it will come to pass. Me back on the footsteps of that temple on the riverbank. Until then, I have the blog :).

Martians vs Venutians

Just came across a blog which discussed the movie "The Godfather" in great detail. It is a guys movie that, if there ever was one. The book is mesmerizing. But somehow, girls dont seem to get the hang of it. So, how about classifying movies based on who can understand them better.

The Godfather - THE Guys movie. We get it in the first viewing without any help, and are awed by it.
Die Hard - Again, Guys.
Gone with the wind - GALS. No way I can tolerate it.
Big - Hits it pretty even.
Independence day - Guys. Totally.
A Walk to Remember - Ummm Gals.
Love actually - One time viewable. Both genders :).
One Fine Day - As even as it can get. Any number of viewings. Guys and Gals.
Face off - Guys.
Matrix - First viewing no one gets it :D. Capable of confusing both genders at once. But good.

Time for some Hindi movies then,

DCH - was made, tailor-made to be a guys movie. It rocks!!
HAHK - Marriage. Any guesses?
DDLJ - As even as it gets (again). But somehow I dont like it, maybe because SRK is in it. How is that guy a hero anyway?
Rangeela - Guys movie. Awesome.
Tum Bin - Listen to songs. Then forget about it. Both guys and gals.
Devdas - Hah(?) Sucked. Bigtime.

I have deliberately not included geniuses like Sholay, Black etc because these arent to be categorized. They are to be treasured :).

Ram was here?

So, someone came up with an affidavit that Ram did not exist. And then the politicians ran for cover saying it was a mistake. The genius of a chief minister said Ramayan is a myth. Hence, give me more money to preserve the natural wonder. Now someone has actually predicted the age of Ram when he killed Ravana. Shamelessness galore.

It seems a long time ago, but I had read in a school book that religion is to be practiced privately. Religion shall not interfere with the government. And government should not interfere with religion. It ultimately comes down to a person's beliefs when questions like the existence of Ram surface. How shamelessly these people deride that value for money. Who gives a damn if Ram had existed in person? If every human could imbibe just one of the many good qualities attributed to Ram, thats good enough. Ultimately its his values and morals that count, not the person!

I try to imagine the person who filed the affidavit about 10-12 years ago on a given Sunday. Wouldnt he have been watching Ramayana on Tele on the only channel that used to air in the country then. The benign chief minister propagates hate crimes with other politicians. Plays crooked games, is himself corrupt. And then he has the courage to speak out on the value of Ram. For shame. Who are these people?

Choti baatein..

On Diwali, coming back to our grandfather's house from the temple. A house full of lights, and full of people. Joy. Smiles. Scent. New clothes. Happiness.

One of those days. Raining heavily outside. Everyone trapped in the house. All 22 family members chattering off in one room. Stern people cutting jokes. Silent people laughing unbridled. Curious children listening and learning :).

Big festival day. Sitting down for lunch. Younger cousins fighting to sit next to me. Feeling good about myself :).

Evenings. All children sit together. Reciting prayers. Happy faces. Content souls.

A boring sunday. Some random moment on television. Dad cutting a joke. Long laugh. Time for tea. Happy home.

Satyanarayana puja at home. Just the three. Me pretending to do anything but hear the story. Hypocrit :). Warm home filled with fragrance. Lighter hearts. Thankful hearts.

A saturday night. Sleeping overnight at friends hostel room. Chatting uptil 4am. Leg pulling. Detailed analysis of friend's situation. Knowing that its hopeless. Telling him that its not. Sleeping off till noon. Vehemently denying all knowledge of confessions made. No looking at faces until evening. Laughter.

With friends. Eating roadside food. Creating records (120 Rs of pani puri). Taking bhajis worth Rs 5 and eating them while walking down the busiest market road. Purchasing lollipops and eating them just like kids.

Hooting during college fests. Departmental rivalry. Hostelite/localite rivalry. Cricket matches played in vengeance. Sharing water bottles. Mismatch day. Treks.

Choti choti baaton ki hain yaadein badi.

Life in Metro/Mega/Supercities

What would you give to live a life of royalty in a happening city - Mumbai in India, NY in the US. Half your life, if you are really serious about it. Because it takes that much time to gain a foothold in places like these. And a life of royalty would mean lots, lots and lots of money. To earn which you will have worked your ass off for 20 odd years. 1/6th of which will have been spent just commuting :). Gosh!! Is there another way to waste a lifetime as this one :D.

Its a dream of everyone (who is not a saint) to be the person I have pictured above. What is the allure of these places? Flashing lights, BIG malls, legendary streets - having an apartment on which is considered an achievement in itself. Basically everything that appeals to the eye. Will any of these matter if you spend a day - a single day, with your eyes closed. Well, will it?

What just happened? It just forced a person, for once in his/her life, to look inside. Glitter and Grandeur so allure a person's external vision. He will not have had the time to digest one view, when the next newer one comes up. And with it comes greed. "I need to have that." Life becomes very short term, changing by the week, disorienting the person ever so often, but with always an illusion of him/her having the control and not the other way around.

I once lived in a small town. A small, sleepy town, with potholes substituted for the roads, where a single road connected the entire city, and a 3 km walk would take you to the other end of the town. Where there were no reknowned food chains, no malls to go and shop at. Where if someone missed a bus, and the next one took an hour to come, he would still not be bothered :). He would just walk his way to where he had to go. Where a person rides a bicycle as though he owns the road, sloooooow and sleepily. A 10am-5pm workday was actually considered tiresome (:D), and the commute from home would usually involve a 5 min walk. Where the people would get together every Wednesday night in the temple, for socializing, but also to thank God. A place where a change took place once in a decade maybe. They like the things to be steady as a rock there, never changing. You visit the place after a gap of 5 years and it would still be the same frame in the movie going on.

But, as it happens ever so often, the youth of the place despise it for its predictability. Nothing really changes!! And that sounds as a cardinal sin to the young. Again, the allure. The external pull is far too strong, and seems to give instant gratification. The internal vision takes a long time (loooooooong time), effort, and committment. Three words which are alien to the youth, almost a crime actually to practice one of them. And so, they go to the supercities, to drown in the sea of lights.

Enlightenment does not come without a cost. And if this is cost one has to pay, to lose half his life, in order to treasure the other half, I would say that in the end it was worth the cost. That is, if the person finds himself eventually. Much better would be, if you did not lose yourself to beginwith.

Course work!!!

God said let there be pain, and hence came into being these entities called "Course Projects". Bane of my life. By the end of it all I will have gone half bald, plucking the hair out in frustration. As if greying of the other half was not curse enough :). They seem especially harsh after the wonderful summer experience I had.

It was the thing called "internship". Those were the times. One chunnu-munnu project - Which I embellished, decorated (I would have said carved out in marble, but it did not come out that good in the end) for 3 full months. Ate good. And also at the right time of the day. Drank more soft drinks than.., than ever I can say. (They are free you see, hence :D). Go at 9:00. Leave at 5:00. And forget all about the god damn work for the rest of the day.

And after that came the "school". Now I work 3 serious projects (= 6 internships). Without even getting paid for it. Outrageous stuff. If I could only sue somebody and make a million dollars and live peacefully for the rest of my schooling days. But its not to be. It so happens that I chose this life. Hmmmpf. Just a short chapter in the long story of the PhD (permanent head damage, some say, and I have begun to believe it). Oh well. Going the worst way guarantees at least one thing.., it can only get better :D. Got to get back to one of those dreadful projects now. Good luck to all fellow sufferers. Do remember, it can only get better.