I renege on the advertisement in my last post- for today I write on things that have occupied me for the better part of this December and not on the ways to solve x^2=0.
My Disillusionment with India shining.
Following Wikipedia:
"India Shining was a political slogan referring to the overall feeling of economic optimism in India after plentiful rains in 2003 and the success of the Indian IT boom. The slogan was popularized by the then-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the 2004 Indian general elections."
The then BJP government spent USD 20 million on the campaign!!!
From an ardent believer in the functioning of our democratic behemoth I have become quite a skeptic and the question that bothers me most is the complacence we exhibit in our acceptance of popular tags for ourselves.
Sovereign, Socialist, Democratic , Republic is how our constitution describes "our" pledge.But I wonder how much of each, if any, actually applies.
I like to think that my country is doing well, that despite our poverty we have compassion, despite our differences goodwill, despite the apparent chaos some measure of law and order and despite corruption our perseverance to triumph. Thus, I preferred reading Shashi Tharoor's India: Midnight to the Millenium than Naipaul's India: A wounded civilization a few months back in the summers during and after my trip back home. Set about 25 years apart (Naipaul talks about his impression about India and it's future post emergency in 1975 while Tharoor talks about his and the country's hopes around the end of the century.) -the two books can be placed at opposite ends of the scale of optimism. It might be my chauvinistic self that naturally biases me to believe more of Tharoor but I concede that as a matter of literature I would vote Naipaul to have a much superior gift of the gab.(As if my opinion matters.). But to get back to my intended export for this piece,
I find events unraveling in India deeply unsettling and pointers to deficiencies that the conjurer's who dreamed up "India Shining" would like to sweep under the rug.
I liked it better when my window to the world had been the NCERT history and geography books that we followed for the social sciences till Std. X. The British rule had been bad......Our Land had been "Sone ki Chidiya" all along till they came along and plundered it...... The people had been happy under the local rulers who were always interested in the arts, music and higher contemplations.....our Freedom struggle had given us leaders with impeccable characters and unquestionable integrity....Their ideologies had been instrumental in inspiring many other oppressed countries towards independence......Partition had been painful but unavoidable.....Our constitution was a landmark in human history(longest ever)......India had fought two brave wars and defeated the eternal villain throughout the entire post-independence dicourse- Pakistan...... India itself was the paragon of communal harmony......The state of J&K at the head of Mother India had two ears resembling a bunny rabbit.......we had had the green and the white revolutions.......we could now export food and help out starving countries..... The world had seemed so orderly and the lines on the map god-given.These ideas were only reinforced by Doordarshan the only real time news feed I had access to and for quite a long time I could state my position on all relevant topics as one or the other within the dual tone world I lived in.
The years, access to international and possibly more neutral media, few books I could manage to read in the post high school years (making time from my busy schedule of getting hammered by alcohol) and google earth have changed all that.Still unsure if I lament the tragedies and travesties of the truth or my discovery of them I cannot anymore ignore them.
I write this as I finished reading about half of Pankaj Mishra's book, Temptations of the West: How to be modern in India, Pakistan and Tibet. The part I finished reading describes the cover up of the Chitisinghpura killings on March 20 , 2000. 35 Sikh Villagers in Chitisingpura were massacred in response to which the army claimed to have gunned down atleast 5 of the "militants" involved. It was later discovered through the toils of the kinsmen of those killed that the alleged militants included two Gujars -shepherds of the Kashmir Valley and a Muslim businessmen who was found wearing the trousers that he left home in, under the fatigues that "identified" them as the same militants who had slaughtered the Sikhs.In the protests that followed which led to the civilian administration allowing exhumation of the corpses, the army tried to prevent entry to the offices by the protesters by firing upon them. 8 More protesters were killed. The surviving Sikhs in Chitisinghpura were given jobs and other compensation by the "concerned" ministers. The incident drew international condemnation led by the US whose then president Bill Clinton arrived in India a few hours later. The killings once again exposed Pakistan for what it really was,claimed the all knowing ministers and sought consolation from the condemnations and sympathy of the "World Leaders".
Why am I shocked by this incident?In the context of the world such incidents are not unique. Heads roll when something goes wrong or if it doesn't. Sadly what the discovery of false propaganda from people you trust does is that one cannot dismiss lunatics like Hamid Zaid as mere prisoners of hallucination.
Quite close to my home Naxals are protesting the rape of their land, resources, culture and way of life by making crude bombs and taking apart a few rail tracks. The Indian government wants them to understand the "Law" and one way of making them do so it decided was to engage the air-force to conduct aerial attacks on their densely forested hideouts. Read that sentence once again if you missed my point.
States in India are multiplying faster than some of the more stubborn strains of bacteria. The whole shin-dig about better governance through more more meaningful distribution of administration is a farce even when the reasons are logistically plausible. My own small town Jamshedpur seems to have been much better served-cleaner and further from trouble when Bihar was united as opposed to being the second most important and hence disturbed town in Jharkhand. While Madhu Koda the last CM made a tidy Rs. 1200 Crore during his short stint taking care of the state he is succeeded by Shibu Soren, the JMM supremo also known as Babaji.
Babaji was acquitted in 2007 for the murder of his own secretary though the charge only seems to have brightened the halo framing his head that the haria guzzling franchise of my state seem to observe around his pictures on the posters especially on polling days, when haria is distributed freely and cartloads of people ferried to the polling booth and back, free of charge , as part of the democratic drama. People dress up like dandies and the atmosphere is festive as they vote one son of the soil after another to bring them better days.
Uttaranchal,Chattisgarh, Jharkhand are realities. Poorvanchal, Haritanchal, Mithilanchal, Gorkhaland,Telegana, Vidarbha at different stages of conception.Just like a real birth our country has to suffer labor pains and bloodshed as it keeps producing states, their legislatures, it's machinery, Babudom and associated non-utilities.
And I haven't even talked about the Gujarat Pogrom, or the military rapes in the Northeast or the recurring Orissa famines or the slum dwellers in all our cities always living on the edge or the runaway inflation of food prices or the farmer suicides all over or the frequent honor killings or the matter-less election manifestos .......
It seems to me that our celebrations have begun a bit too soon. We have been talking about getting a proper place at the global high table for too long and just as what happens to fantasies oft repeated- we have become prisoners of our own propaganda. The make belief glitter and the shine of the malls and multiplexes have fired our imaginations and we(the middle class of India) have dreamt up a parity with the middle-classes of the west -that we so want to emulate - that in reality does not exist. The rich all over the world as in our country do not need to worry about economic disparity or uneven benefits of globalization. The poor are way too behind in the race to grab as much resource to further their material existences. Now that they realize when the boat begins to sink they will be the ones let off first and foremostand without lifeboats they try to make their presence felt. We don't bother since the machinery of money making has always had mercenaries (be it any of the the noble minded armies or any of the ignoble militia)clearing it's path while the middle classes turned it's wheels. The parity we seek is not just in economic terms rather it includes everything that in our opinion counts as a positive indicator of civility. Right to speak freely, dignity of humans and all forms of labor, liberal media and society,a safe society for women ,children and seniors, no apartheid of any kind......and so on and so forth. The numbers we put forth for our military, the foreign reserves we show, the stock indices at all time highs and the Soft power that Shashi Tharoor keeps talking about all seem to add yet more potency to the opium that our own propaganda has become. As I discover the failures of my people Tharoor's over-optimistic note in his books and speeches appear jingoistic if not burlesque.
By writing this piece I have become yet one more of the finger pointers you would say. I suggest no remedies only cry hoarse at the rot setting in at the foot, mouth and the inner organs.But I implore you to look at me as a destitute sitting hunched on the ground with his head in his two hands in pain and in shame, my fingers pointing at no-one for I am guilty of not doing my share for the notion of a country I still believe in .
May Everyone have a Happy New Year ,2010.
References: Being discontinued from now on.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Life as a GaugeTheory
I have come to the conclusion already, knowing but only a small part of either, that Life can after all be modeled quite well as a gauge theory.Let me set up a dictionary for my proposed correspondence:
(Words in Italics are words used by hoi-polloi, those in Bold by the physicist clan!)
Destiny: Action
Trajectory of One's life: Equation of motion(classical)
Twists of fate: Quantum(higher order) corrections
Attitude: Energy Level
World: R^4 Manifold of theory Space
Pitfalls: Genus of the manifold
Options: Gauge Symmetry
Good-Lawful choices: Gauge group
Free Will: Gauge transformation
Reasons: Generators
One's Identity: Identity element of the group
Spouse: Superpartner
Commitment: Symmetry breaking
Realization of one's region of validity: Scale
Beyond's One comprehension or control: Non-Perturbative
The dictionary is not exhausted with the list above...and yet these are the ones I find sufficient to convince me that such an analogy exists.Also I think that there exists a 1-to-1 correspondence and if one finds the correspondence somewhat forced then you may safely attribute that to my limited faculties of understanding.
I imagine if an unsuccesful physicist were to try his hands at preaching (read possibilities for yours truly) he might have to draw on such a vocabulary:
"Remember, Son You come with a given Action. The Equation of motion, as you well know, has been prescribed by Euler- Lagrange.However do not be perturbed by the quirky Quantum Corrections and always ,always maintain your energy Level.
Your R^4 might have after all many Genera but remember it is by preserving your identity that you can be successful. You might not always find trivial topologies in patches of your worldsheet but remember the more difficult the metric the more fun it is to get to an answer and more the possibilities. All positive transformations in your life can well be achieved by using the generators in the neighbourhood of your identity.You just need to exert and exponentiate. These generators have been tested by others in their lives and if you follow their algebra you know all the constants (of structure) you need to know.
At different points along your world-line, if you choose to consider one, you will discover a lot of possible gauge symmetry but care must be taken to first determine the gauge group rather than going ahead blindly with the gauge transformations.If you are clever you will discover that no matter how tight a corner you are in there is still some residual gauge symmetry and in moments of despair those will come to your rescue.
It is well known,to those who know it well that at some point of time your worldsheet might intersect with that of a superpartner. There will be strange attractive long-range forces at work trying to bring the two sheets together.Your trajectories might get intertwined for some interval of the affine parameter at the end of which you might need to sacrifice some of your gauge symmetry and break it by choosing some scale.
Note that this ground state is different from the vacuum you might find yourself in from time to time where you feel quite complacent and do not feel the urge to really do anything.Yet rest assured that there will be non-perturbative effects that lift you out of one vacuum and place you in another.In the meantime you will have a hell-uva ride.Oh....my apologies!!!
In trying to comprehend the duality of good and evil, light and shadow, particles and waves much effort is being invested right now and hopefully we shall have an answer soon.
The bottomline is keep away from illicit interactions and you shall come out to be beautiful, renormalized and sensible Toy-Model for others."
This constitutes my feeble attempts at spinning a yarn from some lingo I picked up at recent points on my own world-line. All physicist friends of mine are welcome to suggest even more correspondences/corrections/re-interpretations and just as a heads-up I intend to write my next post about the ways to solve the equation: x^2=0.
("x" squared equals zero).
References.
1.jkmsmkj.blogspot.com
2.dictionary.com
(Words in Italics are words used by hoi-polloi, those in Bold by the physicist clan!)
Destiny: Action
Trajectory of One's life: Equation of motion(classical)
Twists of fate: Quantum(higher order) corrections
Attitude: Energy Level
World: R^4 Manifold of theory Space
Pitfalls: Genus of the manifold
Options: Gauge Symmetry
Good-Lawful choices: Gauge group
Free Will: Gauge transformation
Reasons: Generators
One's Identity: Identity element of the group
Spouse: Superpartner
Commitment: Symmetry breaking
Realization of one's region of validity: Scale
Beyond's One comprehension or control: Non-Perturbative
The dictionary is not exhausted with the list above...and yet these are the ones I find sufficient to convince me that such an analogy exists.Also I think that there exists a 1-to-1 correspondence and if one finds the correspondence somewhat forced then you may safely attribute that to my limited faculties of understanding.
I imagine if an unsuccesful physicist were to try his hands at preaching (read possibilities for yours truly) he might have to draw on such a vocabulary:
"Remember, Son You come with a given Action. The Equation of motion, as you well know, has been prescribed by Euler- Lagrange.However do not be perturbed by the quirky Quantum Corrections and always ,always maintain your energy Level.
Your R^4 might have after all many Genera but remember it is by preserving your identity that you can be successful. You might not always find trivial topologies in patches of your worldsheet but remember the more difficult the metric the more fun it is to get to an answer and more the possibilities. All positive transformations in your life can well be achieved by using the generators in the neighbourhood of your identity.You just need to exert and exponentiate. These generators have been tested by others in their lives and if you follow their algebra you know all the constants (of structure) you need to know.
At different points along your world-line, if you choose to consider one, you will discover a lot of possible gauge symmetry but care must be taken to first determine the gauge group rather than going ahead blindly with the gauge transformations.If you are clever you will discover that no matter how tight a corner you are in there is still some residual gauge symmetry and in moments of despair those will come to your rescue.
It is well known,to those who know it well that at some point of time your worldsheet might intersect with that of a superpartner. There will be strange attractive long-range forces at work trying to bring the two sheets together.Your trajectories might get intertwined for some interval of the affine parameter at the end of which you might need to sacrifice some of your gauge symmetry and break it by choosing some scale.
Note that this ground state is different from the vacuum you might find yourself in from time to time where you feel quite complacent and do not feel the urge to really do anything.Yet rest assured that there will be non-perturbative effects that lift you out of one vacuum and place you in another.In the meantime you will have a hell-uva ride.Oh....my apologies!!!
In trying to comprehend the duality of good and evil, light and shadow, particles and waves much effort is being invested right now and hopefully we shall have an answer soon.
The bottomline is keep away from illicit interactions and you shall come out to be beautiful, renormalized and sensible Toy-Model for others."
This constitutes my feeble attempts at spinning a yarn from some lingo I picked up at recent points on my own world-line. All physicist friends of mine are welcome to suggest even more correspondences/corrections/re-interpretations and just as a heads-up I intend to write my next post about the ways to solve the equation: x^2=0.
("x" squared equals zero).
References.
1.jkmsmkj.blogspot.com
2.dictionary.com
Monday, November 9, 2009
Si, Se Puede
First things first!!!- I was mugged last night.
It was a subconcious wish I had had for a long time I must confess , but I had some specific requirements of my own:should have been non invasive(to my body parts),should involve minimal loss, should be fun to think about in retrospect.
..and what do you know? It was almost tailormade.
One does not imagine that the catalyst for a much delayed post has to be something this dramatic,turns out that is what it took!
Lusting after a samosa-chat for a few days now, I decided to indulge myself sunday night by going to Lee's at the corner of 23'rd street and Portland- to the North of the campus- quite close to where I used to live earlier.It was 10.35 p.m and what I did not know then was that the flavor of the night was destined to be very different.Disappointed to find the cafe just closing their shutters after alighting from a campus cruiser(free transport within a certain radius of the University to preempt such muggings!),I turned to make a
call to my friend whom I was supposed to meet there.As I stood dialing her under the bright yellow glow of the street lamp right by the mailbox a van pulled up a metre away from me and even though I had to cross the road to walk to her place I decided to let the van pass-as all polite pedestrians do!
Out Walks a guy from the back door and walks right up to me- even as I was looking straight at him believing he needed directions-reaches inside his waist and shows me something protruding out of it under his T shirt.
The area was well lit-it happens to be a USC tram stop-buses come and go every 15 mins-there were desis loitering on the sidewalk about 20 feet from me ,just outside the area served by the lamppost right overhead me and it had not been more than a couple of minutes after I landed from the cruiser.I seriously thought it was a joke.
"Give me your phone"
"Oh,you want my phone ,here.... "
"What do you have in your pockets?"
Hands pressed against the front jeans pockets "Just keys..."
"Turn around"
So, I turn around and let him frisk the two back pockets-he pulls my wallet out and walks into the van.
The whole "transaction" took about a minute....the van turns to the right and the driver and a passenger on the front seat give me a thumbs up as they pull away.
What did I notice as they pull away?The car was of color somewhere between blue and silver,identification made difficult by the yellow glow of the street light.
There were three guys -the dude who robbed me,the driver and his front seat co-passenger.Did I notice the number plate?You are curious?- cause as they pulled away I could see their back for a good 10 seconds-that being the punchline will have to wait till the end, I am afraid!
As soon as I could gather myself I ran to the bunch of desis and asked them for their phone to call DPS emergency(again a sort of campus police,raised to prevent such incidents :)).Stammering into the phone lent to me by a non-chalant guy I saw a DPS vehicle rush to the spot within half a minute -jumped into it and I guess must have been quite incoherent as the personnel radioed back "All Units,incident at portland and 23'rd ,headed east, Need backup, language barrier of the victim"
The last bit of information radioed back was I guess warranted by my unsatisfactory descriptions of what the van looked like and what color it was.Also "Victim" :)!!!
Nevertheless we went around in circles around 23'rd,scarf, Adams, portland, Oak and the surrounds. It was fruitless but finally we came round to ground zero where I was telling the two cops in the van about what exactly happened and how the van was placed when the incident took place and prepare yourself for it :There comes a lady peeping into the window of our police car going "Hello Officers, I am from Chicago and am here just visiting my nephew who goes to USC. I am not very fond of the neighborhood here and just wanted to let you know that it gladdens my heart so much to see you doing such hardwork,patrolling the whole area. Just wanted to thank you! "
Did I shriek out in anguish at her pre-judgement? Did the Irony of her statement and my situation make me lose my mind?I am afraid not.....But as the lady left ...walking away from the car the cop driving said "It was so difficult to keep a straight face as she was speaking" and I just broke into laughter!Ironies :)
Well, then ofcourse later I had to go to the DPS office, help them fill their investigative report form ,cancel all my cards and block my SIM.There has been quite a bit of sympathy and in the case of the friend I was supposed to meet even some empathy towards me. I have been promised her hospitality at Lee's -to the samosa-chat for about a month-till I get my cards back. I am hoping my advisor will look leniently at my abysmal rate of research. I also hope atleast this post gets to a wider audience than the usual single digit readership ones.....
I will leave you with the best irony of the evening according to me:
The van that robbed me had a blue paper plate instead of it's license at the back with white letters that said (Take a guess first hints : US 2008>>Obama>>3 words)
"Si, Se Puede"
References
1. Wikipedia.org
It was a subconcious wish I had had for a long time I must confess , but I had some specific requirements of my own:should have been non invasive(to my body parts),should involve minimal loss, should be fun to think about in retrospect.
..and what do you know? It was almost tailormade.
One does not imagine that the catalyst for a much delayed post has to be something this dramatic,turns out that is what it took!
Lusting after a samosa-chat for a few days now, I decided to indulge myself sunday night by going to Lee's at the corner of 23'rd street and Portland- to the North of the campus- quite close to where I used to live earlier.It was 10.35 p.m and what I did not know then was that the flavor of the night was destined to be very different.Disappointed to find the cafe just closing their shutters after alighting from a campus cruiser(free transport within a certain radius of the University to preempt such muggings!),I turned to make a
call to my friend whom I was supposed to meet there.As I stood dialing her under the bright yellow glow of the street lamp right by the mailbox a van pulled up a metre away from me and even though I had to cross the road to walk to her place I decided to let the van pass-as all polite pedestrians do!
Out Walks a guy from the back door and walks right up to me- even as I was looking straight at him believing he needed directions-reaches inside his waist and shows me something protruding out of it under his T shirt.
The area was well lit-it happens to be a USC tram stop-buses come and go every 15 mins-there were desis loitering on the sidewalk about 20 feet from me ,just outside the area served by the lamppost right overhead me and it had not been more than a couple of minutes after I landed from the cruiser.I seriously thought it was a joke.
"Give me your phone"
"Oh,you want my phone ,here.... "
"What do you have in your pockets?"
Hands pressed against the front jeans pockets "Just keys..."
"Turn around"
So, I turn around and let him frisk the two back pockets-he pulls my wallet out and walks into the van.
The whole "transaction" took about a minute....the van turns to the right and the driver and a passenger on the front seat give me a thumbs up as they pull away.
What did I notice as they pull away?The car was of color somewhere between blue and silver,identification made difficult by the yellow glow of the street light.
There were three guys -the dude who robbed me,the driver and his front seat co-passenger.Did I notice the number plate?You are curious?- cause as they pulled away I could see their back for a good 10 seconds-that being the punchline will have to wait till the end, I am afraid!
As soon as I could gather myself I ran to the bunch of desis and asked them for their phone to call DPS emergency(again a sort of campus police,raised to prevent such incidents :)).Stammering into the phone lent to me by a non-chalant guy I saw a DPS vehicle rush to the spot within half a minute -jumped into it and I guess must have been quite incoherent as the personnel radioed back "All Units,incident at portland and 23'rd ,headed east, Need backup, language barrier of the victim"
The last bit of information radioed back was I guess warranted by my unsatisfactory descriptions of what the van looked like and what color it was.Also "Victim" :)!!!
Nevertheless we went around in circles around 23'rd,scarf, Adams, portland, Oak and the surrounds. It was fruitless but finally we came round to ground zero where I was telling the two cops in the van about what exactly happened and how the van was placed when the incident took place and prepare yourself for it :There comes a lady peeping into the window of our police car going "Hello Officers, I am from Chicago and am here just visiting my nephew who goes to USC. I am not very fond of the neighborhood here and just wanted to let you know that it gladdens my heart so much to see you doing such hardwork,patrolling the whole area. Just wanted to thank you! "
Did I shriek out in anguish at her pre-judgement? Did the Irony of her statement and my situation make me lose my mind?I am afraid not.....But as the lady left ...walking away from the car the cop driving said "It was so difficult to keep a straight face as she was speaking" and I just broke into laughter!Ironies :)
Well, then ofcourse later I had to go to the DPS office, help them fill their investigative report form ,cancel all my cards and block my SIM.There has been quite a bit of sympathy and in the case of the friend I was supposed to meet even some empathy towards me. I have been promised her hospitality at Lee's -to the samosa-chat for about a month-till I get my cards back. I am hoping my advisor will look leniently at my abysmal rate of research. I also hope atleast this post gets to a wider audience than the usual single digit readership ones.....
I will leave you with the best irony of the evening according to me:
The van that robbed me had a blue paper plate instead of it's license at the back with white letters that said (Take a guess first hints : US 2008>>Obama>>3 words)
"Si, Se Puede"
References
1. Wikipedia.org
Monday, October 5, 2009
Gulzaman's Son...
I reread a poem today after a long time that was in our first year undergrad English syllabus at IIT-KGP.....and that has made me nostalgic.(....enuf to write about it actually!)
The Course was titled "English for Communication" but I think it had less real utility for communication than as an eye opener's to a lot of diverse content.....
We did Girish Karnad's play "Tughlaq", some selected poems and Did we do any short stories?....I cannot recall with certainty.I better not claim the affirmative.
The poem in question today however is "Gulzaman's Son"
As I read it, I remember having asked our english professor- There were three of them who were teaching us the course together and I kinda forget who it was exactly....was it the effeminate frail old gentleman, was it the very composed middle aged fair Lady or the Young lady professor who looked like one of us except for her erudite manners and very thick glasses(she looked attractive to a lot of us though...).....and so as I was saying I remember asking one of them...why was the composition called a poem since a) It was a Story. b) Absolutely devoid of any rhyme (to me atleast) c) More Prose like than Poetry.
I was of the opinion that calling a piece of prose,Poetry just cause we are irreverent to the appropriate punctuation or through wanton new line spacing does not make much sense.
I think I still don't get the literary way of classifying things as prose and poetry but today when I reread the "Poem" it did seem much more fluid than prose (especially since I am reading Rushdie's Midnight's Children right now!!!:))
and I can't put my finger on it but I will take my chances to claim that there is a subtle metronome which for different readers will appear different I guess.
To end this piece I would like to leave a link to another poem that we covered
"Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori"
The Course was titled "English for Communication" but I think it had less real utility for communication than as an eye opener's to a lot of diverse content.....
We did Girish Karnad's play "Tughlaq", some selected poems and Did we do any short stories?....I cannot recall with certainty.I better not claim the affirmative.
The poem in question today however is "Gulzaman's Son"
As I read it, I remember having asked our english professor- There were three of them who were teaching us the course together and I kinda forget who it was exactly....was it the effeminate frail old gentleman, was it the very composed middle aged fair Lady or the Young lady professor who looked like one of us except for her erudite manners and very thick glasses(she looked attractive to a lot of us though...).....and so as I was saying I remember asking one of them...why was the composition called a poem since a) It was a Story. b) Absolutely devoid of any rhyme (to me atleast) c) More Prose like than Poetry.
I was of the opinion that calling a piece of prose,Poetry just cause we are irreverent to the appropriate punctuation or through wanton new line spacing does not make much sense.
I think I still don't get the literary way of classifying things as prose and poetry but today when I reread the "Poem" it did seem much more fluid than prose (especially since I am reading Rushdie's Midnight's Children right now!!!:))
and I can't put my finger on it but I will take my chances to claim that there is a subtle metronome which for different readers will appear different I guess.
To end this piece I would like to leave a link to another poem that we covered
"Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori"
Friday, October 2, 2009
Turtles on Caltech Campus
This week was the first week of classes for me that I am taking at Caltech.
Almost within earshot of the classes where Sergei Gukov teaches Elementary Particle theory, John Schwarz teaches String theory and Hiroshi Ooguri teaches Topological Quantum Field theory, are these :
I suspect some of the venerable ones(...the turtles I mean!!!) know more string theory than I do.Influence of all the people who must from time to time be spending time with them I guess. While Pasadena in the summer months can be sweltering, the areas to the North of the Physics department buildings have nice muddy pools shaded with a lot of shrubs and trees for them.
I have not seen them budge away from the poolside much....though with a little pull and shove they can may be make it to the campus cafe which should not be more than an hours journey (for them again...)....One reason might be the crowded foodcourt and the overpriced items, me thinks.
One thing that comes through very apparently is the unassuming air of the whole place.Obviously no effort has been made to make the place look more grandiose than it really is, or even as much as it really is....
References
1. This is here just to prove I did not forget it and serves no useful purpose.
Almost within earshot of the classes where Sergei Gukov teaches Elementary Particle theory, John Schwarz teaches String theory and Hiroshi Ooguri teaches Topological Quantum Field theory, are these :
I suspect some of the venerable ones(...the turtles I mean!!!) know more string theory than I do.Influence of all the people who must from time to time be spending time with them I guess. While Pasadena in the summer months can be sweltering, the areas to the North of the Physics department buildings have nice muddy pools shaded with a lot of shrubs and trees for them.
I have not seen them budge away from the poolside much....though with a little pull and shove they can may be make it to the campus cafe which should not be more than an hours journey (for them again...)....One reason might be the crowded foodcourt and the overpriced items, me thinks.
One thing that comes through very apparently is the unassuming air of the whole place.Obviously no effort has been made to make the place look more grandiose than it really is, or even as much as it really is....
References
1. This is here just to prove I did not forget it and serves no useful purpose.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Searching for a Roommate...
I am going to cheat today.
So instead of actually writing a blog I am going to copy-paste an email I sent out while looking for a roommate about a year back and the replies I got for the same:
Room for 1 beginning August 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008 5:07 PM
From:"siddhartha santra"
To:uschousing@yahoogroups.com
One BHK apartment at 2620 Severance Street available for One guy (in
the absence of a better alternative!) to be shared with 2 other guys.
About the apartment:
Excellent Location:tram stop right outside,within Cruiser radius,
Stores about 6-7 mins walk,10 mins walk to campus.
Preferences : Drinkers Welcome, Non Drinkers OK.
Smokers Welcome Non Smokers may be tolerated.
Veg/Non Veg all OK.....Only fooditem not yet tried Baby foetuses.
Satan Worship Encouraged but not mandatory.
Lest People with a weak mental constitution jitter and twitter:some
encouraging info:
Roommate One: VIT>>USC Comp.Sc. Masters CGPA 4.00>>Intern at Google
Roommate Two: IIT,KGP>>USC Physics, PhD CGPA 3.5>>You Know this field
is not applicable for a Physics-PhD!!
Please Mail back if interested.
Rent; 1200 a month +utils around 30 a month,Deposit 1300 to be shared by 3.
Beer Bills:Settled by mutual agreement.Nicotine and other
Healthcare Products to be self sponsored but generously shared.
How would you respond to such an Ad?
Of course it would depend on whether you believe the author to be a really cool guy (Just as I really am :)) or you find him to be a Smart Ass talking from the Nether orifice.The replies I got tend to vindicate my perception of other's perception of me:
Reply 1:
guys,
I received your ad over uschousing yahoogroups and would be interested in renting your room on Aug 1st.
I'm Austrian, 22 and work/intern at the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for one year. Beneath working I trying to finish my studies in European Ethnology with writing my master thesis.
I arrived in March of this year and have to go back to Europe on next March due to visa regualtions.
I like your ad -
so the basics :)
smoking: parttime, with a tendancy of being a nonsmoker
drinking: parttime, with a tendancy of fulltime, as long as i can wake up.
eating: Vegetarian, but not a very strict one...
Looking forward to your reply and would love to check out your place,
Lukas
Reply 2:
hey sidharth,
not interested in the accomodation but that was the first sign of intelligent life on campus...what a relief to know that usc has beyond geeks
ashwini
These are the only two replies worth sharing. The others I got were uninteresting....Not Critical....not something that would lend credence to the other possibility about the author of the original email....just uninteresting.
Just thought....would share this.....
Sorry :)
References
1. mail.yahoo.com/archives
So instead of actually writing a blog I am going to copy-paste an email I sent out while looking for a roommate about a year back and the replies I got for the same:
Room for 1 beginning August 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008 5:07 PM
From:"siddhartha santra"
To:uschousing@yahoogroups.com
One BHK apartment at 2620 Severance Street available for One guy (in
the absence of a better alternative!) to be shared with 2 other guys.
About the apartment:
Excellent Location:tram stop right outside,within Cruiser radius,
Stores about 6-7 mins walk,10 mins walk to campus.
Preferences : Drinkers Welcome, Non Drinkers OK.
Smokers Welcome Non Smokers may be tolerated.
Veg/Non Veg all OK.....Only fooditem not yet tried Baby foetuses.
Satan Worship Encouraged but not mandatory.
Lest People with a weak mental constitution jitter and twitter:some
encouraging info:
Roommate One: VIT>>USC Comp.Sc. Masters CGPA 4.00>>Intern at Google
Roommate Two: IIT,KGP>>USC Physics, PhD CGPA 3.5>>You Know this field
is not applicable for a Physics-PhD!!
Please Mail back if interested.
Rent; 1200 a month +utils around 30 a month,Deposit 1300 to be shared by 3.
Beer Bills:Settled by mutual agreement.Nicotine and other
Healthcare Products to be self sponsored but generously shared.
How would you respond to such an Ad?
Of course it would depend on whether you believe the author to be a really cool guy (Just as I really am :)) or you find him to be a Smart Ass talking from the Nether orifice.The replies I got tend to vindicate my perception of other's perception of me:
Reply 1:
guys,
I received your ad over uschousing yahoogroups and would be interested in renting your room on Aug 1st.
I'm Austrian, 22 and work/intern at the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for one year. Beneath working I trying to finish my studies in European Ethnology with writing my master thesis.
I arrived in March of this year and have to go back to Europe on next March due to visa regualtions.
I like your ad -
so the basics :)
smoking: parttime, with a tendancy of being a nonsmoker
drinking: parttime, with a tendancy of fulltime, as long as i can wake up.
eating: Vegetarian, but not a very strict one...
Looking forward to your reply and would love to check out your place,
Lukas
Reply 2:
hey sidharth,
not interested in the accomodation but that was the first sign of intelligent life on campus...what a relief to know that usc has beyond geeks
ashwini
These are the only two replies worth sharing. The others I got were uninteresting....Not Critical....not something that would lend credence to the other possibility about the author of the original email....just uninteresting.
Just thought....would share this.....
Sorry :)
References
1. mail.yahoo.com/archives
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Tap Dance and Percussion-Fusion Pujo
I spent close to 5 hours at the Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Pasadena last night at the BASC(http://www.basconline.org/) Pujo Mondop -which is the longest I have stayed at One Pandal ,second only to the time (not hours, not days, cumulatively certainly months.....) spent at the one right outside my home at Jamshedpur!
Having caught the festive-devotional bug at about 10 a.m. last morning, I slipped in my intention of visiting Pasadena to Sagar(my ever willing roommate) in our conversation, supplicating to his charity to drive us there.
And so it was that at 7 pm last evening We found ourselves on I-10 scrambling East and then North On Del Mar Bl. and then turned the corner at Madre in Pasadena, trying to reach before 8-the scheduled end of dinner and commencement of the music programs. To get us into the mood we entailed Anup Jalota-arguably the greatest catalyst to temporary devotion for a lot of opportunists like myself.
The Goddess was as beautiful as ever.
The Mondop was the very same room the puja is being held in for the last couple of years. The same decor and ambience of the room in place. Same stalls of ethnic Indian wear and jewellery.
Scrambling to an ATM and back again for $45 in cash required for the food tickets and program entry we finally managed to feast sumptuously on the Rice, Dal, Palak Paneer, Kofte and Mutton. (Chutni and Halwa too!)
The program, we missed a large part of, was the "Biplober Gaan" (Songs of the revolution)- It was a sort of Musical-verbal drama with landmark stills from various stages of the Indian freedom struggle right upto the Nandigram shootouts in 2007 being projected onto the background. The songs ranged from paeans for the martyrs of the freedom struggle to voices of support for Naxalites. Interestingly the whole presentation sought to address the woes of Bangladesh and West Bengal together-expressing similar scorn for administration on both sides and reiterating solidarity of the united Bangla-as far as I could understand.
The program I witnessed every minute of, was the much awaited "Jambination" fusion music by Abhishek Basu's group. Drums, Tabla, Tambourine, Bass, Electric, Beat Boxing and Taal recital all together- spiced up by dances, of styles I am not qualified to comment on, by Shibani Thakkar and Holly Shaw. Basu had trained at Bikram Ghosh' school and just like him I think he overdoes the improvisation part. For one thing the person at the equalizer controls did a very shoddy job and for another the auditorium was far from being acoustically "sound".
Highlight of the show?- Tap Dance by Shibani Thakkar as the last declared piece of the show.
....and so the celebration of the Bengalis being garnished with the Hallmark Irish gesture of Joy- the Tap Dance- performed by a Punjabi Lady to the beat of the Tabla, a Pan Indian music instrument and the Drums being played by a drummer from Africa-All this in California-diametrically opposite Calcutta- the real abode of the goddess.
The World really is a small place!
References
a)Memory
b)http://www.basconline.org/
Having caught the festive-devotional bug at about 10 a.m. last morning, I slipped in my intention of visiting Pasadena to Sagar(my ever willing roommate) in our conversation, supplicating to his charity to drive us there.
And so it was that at 7 pm last evening We found ourselves on I-10 scrambling East and then North On Del Mar Bl. and then turned the corner at Madre in Pasadena, trying to reach before 8-the scheduled end of dinner and commencement of the music programs. To get us into the mood we entailed Anup Jalota-arguably the greatest catalyst to temporary devotion for a lot of opportunists like myself.
The Goddess was as beautiful as ever.
The Mondop was the very same room the puja is being held in for the last couple of years. The same decor and ambience of the room in place. Same stalls of ethnic Indian wear and jewellery.
Scrambling to an ATM and back again for $45 in cash required for the food tickets and program entry we finally managed to feast sumptuously on the Rice, Dal, Palak Paneer, Kofte and Mutton. (Chutni and Halwa too!)
The program, we missed a large part of, was the "Biplober Gaan" (Songs of the revolution)- It was a sort of Musical-verbal drama with landmark stills from various stages of the Indian freedom struggle right upto the Nandigram shootouts in 2007 being projected onto the background. The songs ranged from paeans for the martyrs of the freedom struggle to voices of support for Naxalites. Interestingly the whole presentation sought to address the woes of Bangladesh and West Bengal together-expressing similar scorn for administration on both sides and reiterating solidarity of the united Bangla-as far as I could understand.
The program I witnessed every minute of, was the much awaited "Jambination" fusion music by Abhishek Basu's group. Drums, Tabla, Tambourine, Bass, Electric, Beat Boxing and Taal recital all together- spiced up by dances, of styles I am not qualified to comment on, by Shibani Thakkar and Holly Shaw. Basu had trained at Bikram Ghosh' school and just like him I think he overdoes the improvisation part. For one thing the person at the equalizer controls did a very shoddy job and for another the auditorium was far from being acoustically "sound".
Highlight of the show?- Tap Dance by Shibani Thakkar as the last declared piece of the show.
....and so the celebration of the Bengalis being garnished with the Hallmark Irish gesture of Joy- the Tap Dance- performed by a Punjabi Lady to the beat of the Tabla, a Pan Indian music instrument and the Drums being played by a drummer from Africa-All this in California-diametrically opposite Calcutta- the real abode of the goddess.
The World really is a small place!
References
a)Memory
b)http://www.basconline.org/
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Festive Rhythms
When you spend some time in a country culturally very different from your own, you begin to notice that one very important change is the difference of Festive Rhythms.
The rhythm of the season of convivial expectations, legal work breaks, visits and visitors.The time of the year one is expected to look forward to as a time of celebration, and its very nature.
Having spent two years away from the mayhem of Durgo Pujo in dear Ole Baridih (in case you were wondering, Baridih is my hometown,actually a small part of Jamshedpur) I can, may be, begin to paint a picture of the things I miss.
Knowledgeable readers would agree that Autumn as compared to spring is the best time of the year in most parts of India. The earth having slaked it's thirst after the tormentous summer months looks forgiving again. The green flag of truce it covers itself with- a soothing sight for the eyes .....and the promise of an infinitely more comfortable winter all add to the man made gaiety that coincides with Autumn.
For about two whole months the succession of select gods and goddesses descend upon the, by now, lush terrain of the whole of India- heartland,plateaus, coasts and Hillside alike. The minimal resources of a lot of the devotees now buttressed by the standing crops in the fields provides ample possibilties for the ritual gratification of the gods. If you ask me , their moment of arrival could not have been better chosen: poor monsoons can always be supplemented with divine benediction and in case the rains have been merciful already -well ,then everyone knows who to thank it for!The manner of thanks though is to be dictated by the caste of people who as a birthright (and some rudimentary training) know, how to convey lesser mortals' token of thanks to the high and mighty.
No....!The cynic within can wait for it's turn at Push button publishing !
I write today to lament the lack of deafening drumbeats surrounding me,of incantation barely comprehensible , of blaring loudspeakers through the extent of my small city, of foodstalls that come up overnight, of the chilli chicken served at such places (the origin of the chicken in question at best being apocryphal), of swathes of humanity moved by devotion, of women and girls draped in beautiful sarees and their legions of followers-who give "Devi-Darshan" a whole new meaning at this time of the year, of the nouveau-rich feeling a fifty Rupee note induced in me for such days, of being allowed to wear crisp new shirts on the 3 main days of the pujos (contingent upon rising early, showering and subsequent praying), of some of us school friends who would tour the city together- pool our estates together to manage some grub from the overcrowded stalls-hop from pandal to pandal ,mainly on foot-return home late with only perfunctory repudiations, of the despondent devotees on Dashami-the tenth and the final day of the Navaratri (better known as Bijoya), of the sublime food and sweets that day that took some of the pain away , of the smell of air thick with incense and cheap perfume and fragrant talcum powder at this time allover my city, of .......
Yeah, I think I lament the lack of an aid to Nostalgia.
I remember that the three days of the Pujos happened to be the only other time except for Saraswati Puja that my mother did not tell me to study.Infact she insisted I don't study. Apparently the books in order to disseminate knowledge had to absorb it first from the Goddess and they could only do so in-situ . This was the express purpose of keeping them unused for the duration of the Pujos and on Dashami taking the books I thought to be particularly important to the deity herself and smearing some sindoor to rub in some of the benediction -visibly.
Made perfect sense to an eager believer.(and not in the least cause it gave me 4 days to absolutely while away !)
I lament how I got ideas into my head that took some of the magic away.
I had verbally expressed my disapproval of some of the things I mentioned above to Maa, when she had asked me to be a bit more enthusiastic about the whole affair of the Pujas over the last few years. How hard did I strive then to be different! Knowing better, being objective ...you know ...the whole Logical approach to Faith thing!
But I have discovered that my soul has a rhythm tied to the rhythm of the land I was born in- and that will never change.
I remember that for most of my childhood I had been the one to pester Bapi mama, my youngest maternal uncle to take me around during Puja time. This changed when I grew up to be in class 9 or so when I decided that such frivolous forays into the multitude were a waste of my time and had to be convinced by him to come tour the city with the rest of the family.
Today, I remember my indifferent saunter and supercilious smile when I did so and wish I had Bapi mama now, to convince me to go round the city with him.
Someday, Someday.
To end on an optimistic note, though it does not befit the end exactly. Let me repeat what the Bengalis say when they meet on the last day of the Pujos- On Bijoya:
"Aasche Bochor Aabar Hobe"
(Next year, we Shall celebrate again!!!)
References
b) dictionary.com
Friday, September 25, 2009
Off the Block....
Having typed and deleted my opening sentence thrice before settling upon the present , I now proceed with my catapult of verbiage.
Today and for days to come...I hope.
I start my Web-logs at the end of the first offical day of the 26'th year of my life.
This also happens to be the auspicious day of Maha-Ashtami , the middle and the most important day in the 3-day worship of Goddess Durga- The fiery(towards evil) but beautiful goddess of the Bengali people (Well yeah!!!predominantly) .
Today also is....No wait...I am no chronicler of the present or a custodian of the dates..... I am but a humble netizen trying to raise a flag of ownership on a tiny corner of the infinitude of content in a gigantic sea and since I am to be best described as a theological opportunist ,the covert supplication to the graceful goddess may be excused as another greedy attempt at undue fortune.
So Why did I have to write a blog?
There are 5 main reasons for such an action on my part:
1. I believe that a piece written from the heart has the power to move people and nations.
2. I believe my thoughts will resonate with a large number of people desiring a voice to call their own.
3. I believe that my take on music,film,sports,reports,theology,ethics, politics, economics and all other -ics will be well informed,researched and seminal.That it will represent original and unplagiarised articles on the same.(Note the absence of Science here:Being in Science myself I know better than to claim the same for it!)
4.I believe, all that I write will be useful,entertaining, true and politically and grammatically correct.
5. Finally, I believe in my own estimates whereby my blog would draw enough traffic(Adsense-$$$) in about a year to let me take up travel writing as a profession without worrying about money.
I wish I could tell you that I did believe in any of the above but if I do .....you would either think I am taking you for a ride longer than you would like to OR that I am a self righteous dreamer-both unwanted outcomes for me. And so it is that I declare that except for a nagging feeling to do something about my writing which has come to this decrepit state of petty prattle, I don't really have a reason to impose my thoughts on any of you.
I write for a faceless audience and I am not apologetic though I can imagine the furrows of exasperation on their cheeks.I have myself thought lowly,very lowly I must add, of some bloggers who have imposed themselves upon me and have flustered in lieu of the blogger-who should have flustered had he known my thoughts as a reader of his blog.But having outdone my quota of flusters I am not prone to fluster quite so easy anymore.
I shall write with the determination of an outcast poet and I know I have enough gall to carry me through. My posts shall bear no relationship to either previous commendation or condemnation.
I shall persevere in my nonchalance and avow to define a paradigm of unflappable prose and occasional poetry in the only two languages I manage to speak.
The only tangible benefit I can foresee now is that may be having a blog of my own can act as a credible deterrence against unsolicited requests for blog perusal.May be One(many....most...possibilities too!!!) suitably shoddy article in my arsenal would give my otherwise benign existence enough teeth to dissuade forceful friends from afflicting their abominations on me.
Yeah, I am one of them...The Cynics...you guessed it right.
But I think too much of cynicism could prove fatal to the future of the nascent blog....(hence change of tone intentional...)
All I hope to achieve, O thou, the patient One is to really track the erratic trajectory of my thought and hopefully be more regular at it than I am with the offline word file of my ramblings.
Amen!
P.S: My posts will always have references...for this one tis just
a) Dictionary.com :)
Today and for days to come...I hope.
I start my Web-logs at the end of the first offical day of the 26'th year of my life.
This also happens to be the auspicious day of Maha-Ashtami , the middle and the most important day in the 3-day worship of Goddess Durga- The fiery(towards evil) but beautiful goddess of the Bengali people (Well yeah!!!predominantly) .
Today also is....No wait...I am no chronicler of the present or a custodian of the dates..... I am but a humble netizen trying to raise a flag of ownership on a tiny corner of the infinitude of content in a gigantic sea and since I am to be best described as a theological opportunist ,the covert supplication to the graceful goddess may be excused as another greedy attempt at undue fortune.
So Why did I have to write a blog?
There are 5 main reasons for such an action on my part:
1. I believe that a piece written from the heart has the power to move people and nations.
2. I believe my thoughts will resonate with a large number of people desiring a voice to call their own.
3. I believe that my take on music,film,sports,reports,theology,ethics, politics, economics and all other -ics will be well informed,researched and seminal.That it will represent original and unplagiarised articles on the same.(Note the absence of Science here:Being in Science myself I know better than to claim the same for it!)
4.I believe, all that I write will be useful,entertaining, true and politically and grammatically correct.
5. Finally, I believe in my own estimates whereby my blog would draw enough traffic(Adsense-$$$) in about a year to let me take up travel writing as a profession without worrying about money.
I wish I could tell you that I did believe in any of the above but if I do .....you would either think I am taking you for a ride longer than you would like to OR that I am a self righteous dreamer-both unwanted outcomes for me. And so it is that I declare that except for a nagging feeling to do something about my writing which has come to this decrepit state of petty prattle, I don't really have a reason to impose my thoughts on any of you.
I write for a faceless audience and I am not apologetic though I can imagine the furrows of exasperation on their cheeks.I have myself thought lowly,very lowly I must add, of some bloggers who have imposed themselves upon me and have flustered in lieu of the blogger-who should have flustered had he known my thoughts as a reader of his blog.But having outdone my quota of flusters I am not prone to fluster quite so easy anymore.
I shall write with the determination of an outcast poet and I know I have enough gall to carry me through. My posts shall bear no relationship to either previous commendation or condemnation.
I shall persevere in my nonchalance and avow to define a paradigm of unflappable prose and occasional poetry in the only two languages I manage to speak.
The only tangible benefit I can foresee now is that may be having a blog of my own can act as a credible deterrence against unsolicited requests for blog perusal.May be One(many....most...possibilities too!!!) suitably shoddy article in my arsenal would give my otherwise benign existence enough teeth to dissuade forceful friends from afflicting their abominations on me.
Yeah, I am one of them...The Cynics...you guessed it right.
But I think too much of cynicism could prove fatal to the future of the nascent blog....(hence change of tone intentional...)
All I hope to achieve, O thou, the patient One is to really track the erratic trajectory of my thought and hopefully be more regular at it than I am with the offline word file of my ramblings.
Amen!
P.S: My posts will always have references...for this one tis just
a) Dictionary.com :)
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