What is Personal?

We often use the word ‘personal’, but at one time I wondered if there are things in our life which could be called ‘personal’ to us in real sense. I would start with the closest guess. Are our feelings really personal to us? There are people who can guess our feelings accurately by looking at our face or into our eyes. And then we by ourselves show our feelings in many ways, unconsciously. And then there would be people close to us who would feel a part of our own feelings – out of empathy. Our life itself is also not personal. There are interferences from our parents and friends which we can’t avoid. In fact if we look back into our life, we would realize that most of our life was shaped by external events and circumstances. What if my parents didn’t have money to fund my education? What if I was born into a remote location with no school? What if my wife said no to the marriage proposal? What if I missed that train to attend that interview on time? Our life is definitely not entirely in our hands. So what others can be our ‘personal’ in true sense? Any relationship that we share has different aspects and many stakeholders in it. The properties and assets we own really don’t amount to be counted in the personal list – they won’t be there if we don’t have finances to retain or maintain them. Our parents or our relationships with our parents are very close to our personal in the sense – but then they have other children apart from us; some others too call them papa and mom. 
 

But I think there is one thing which we can call entirely personal. And there won’t be any others to guess what it stands for us and no others to claim a stake in it. It’s the feeling of nostalgia. What you feel seeing that locality, or that design of chair, or the name of that school, or any mention of that teacher or person, no other in this world can feel it the same way. No other person knows about every memory behind our recollections at the moment and there are no stakeholders present today in the events of the past that make us feel nostalgia. I think our feeling of nostalgia is such a unique thing that it should qualify for our truly ‘personal’ by any definition…

True Spirits of Gandhism

The US president Barack Obama is a declared fan of Mahatma Gandhi and practitioner of non-violence. But I was surprised to read this piece of news where a teen-age has been banned from entering the USA, as a punishment for sending an abusive email to the President!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-11296303 (14 Sep 2010)

In the true spirits of Gandhism he should have remembered that “Hatred can’t be won by hatred.” Or in the spirits of what we popularly call Gandhigiri now a day thanks to the Munnabhai series of Bollywood movies, he should have called the boy to the White House and give him a warm hug (jadu ki jhapki). That is what would have healed the boy and would have made Obama great in the eyes of the masses. That would have been a far better message to the humanity too, sending ‘hope’ to the world that we can win over hatred by love. I wish he would have done something as peaceful and non-violent as that.

- Rahul

Indian IT – Boon or Bane for the US?

Here is a very interesting statistic. So far the US president has been victimizing Indian IT industry for job losses for the Americans. And he has gone far enough to support outsourcing bans or to tax the American companies which outsource to India. But as Indian Commerce Minister reveals now, the fact is that Indian IT industry has created about 2.5 lakh (two hundred fifty thousand) jobs in the last three years! In August 2010 alone, Indian IT firms created 7000 jobs in the US!

http://news.oneindia.in/2010/09/15/indian-it-creates-2-5-lakh-jobs-in-us.html

I hope this clears a lot of air.

- Rahul

India drops in Global Competitiveness Ranking

Here is a news which no Indian would be happy about:

“India has slipped by two places to 51st in the World Economic Forum’s global competitiveness rankings, while rival China has managed to improve its standing to 27th (from 29th a year ago).”

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/India-drops-to-51st-position-in-global-competitiveness-ranking/articleshow/6525751.cms

The first question which comes to our mind is: “Why?” Details of the news says that India has fared badly due to poorer performance in the social sectors like education, healthcare and infrastructure. And a startling statistics tells that life expectancy in India is 10 years shorter than in China and Brazil!

I agree with the report that India fares poor in areas like education, health and infrastructure. But these are merely symptoms or results rather than the root cause. I think the root cause in these cases is the rampant corruption in public services. Do our teachers attend our government schools regularly? Are the funds meant for public health schemes spent properly? How many infrastructure projects complete well in time and without corruption charges made against the contractors or the administrators? (remember murder of engineer Satyendra Dubey because he was honest?)

I hope government of India identifies and targets the root cause of our poor performances in global competitiveness. It is not impossible to weed out corruption. There are many ways to achieve it and the efforts should be multitired. Just as a pointer – increasing use of technology, IT and computers in public departments results in avoidance of corruption chances too. The simple reason is that systems make manipulation difficult or impossible. Historical data on the systems can be retrived easily and used to support systems like RTI. E-Governance is a transparent, fair and systematic system. Then there are so many other ways to simply deny any malpractice from happening.

I think the next five to ten years are very important for our nation’s progress. Not only the race among BRIC nations would be decided by then, the generation which witnessed economic reforms would be ready to nurture its subsiquent generation. And we can put a lot of hope on the youth…

- Rahul

Book Review: Short Life of Sri Ramakrishna

by Swami Tejasananda, Swami Mumukshananda
 

This is a very good biography of the divine saint. There are many incidents from his life which are beyond explanation by conventional ways. His experiences make him a unique person, a Guru which every one of us would long to have. There is so much to learn from him and his teachings. This is a very short biography, yet complete in some aspects.
 

I highly recommend this book to everyone.
 

- Rahul

Deshi and Videshi

“Deshis suck big-time!” this is how he began. And then he went on saying, “Indian migrants show little willingness to integrate with the local culture and to mix with the other country’s people. On the other hand, migrants from many other nations do mix with locals and adopt their ways of living. For example, why can’t they (Indians) dress according to the local flavour?” To me, the most shocking part was to find that the writer was an Indian. A Westernised Indian, if I borrow the phrase, because I see the same thinking in him what has been systematically taught to us since the British times: the thinking which curses us with an inferiority complex as a nation and as a culture. I will explain how.
 

Let me start with asking one question. Which other set of migrants do you think ‘integrate well’ with local culture? Here, I would ask to specifically consider the migrants and visitors from other countries to India. Do you think the British integrated well with India when they came in? Did they respect the local culture, their religion, or their language? Do you think the Afghans who came before them integrated well with the locals? Or did they enslave the locals, converted them into their own foreign faith or taxed them discriminately? Why go back into history; do the Westerners and Arabs of the present times integrate well with Indians? Picking up the dressing, don’t the Muslims always dress differently in their own Arab garbs, wherever they go – from India to the US (including the popular styles of beard)? Going further on dress, don’t the Sikh males always wear their symbolic turban wherever they go or settle down, with others accepting them as they are? Do most of the Westerner ladies in the present India wear sarees or an Indian dress, and do they really respect Hindu symbols? Leaving the foreigners aside, don’t our own Indian converted Christians start behaving differently and try to ridicule ancient local customs and symbols, and thereby showing disintegration rather than any ‘integration’?
 

Why should Indians (Hindus) start taking wine or beef, if the local culture says so? Why should Indian migrant women shun their sarees and pick up miniskirts, if that is what locals wear? Why should Indian migrants to the Middle East start wearing Burqa or sporting a typical beard? On the reverse, why there is no need for the Westerners or the Arabs, when they come to India, to respect the Indian culture in the same spirits of dressing?
 

I think many of us have today forgotten our own strengths. This is why such inferiority complex sets in our psyche which makes us willing to ‘integrate’ with locals in ways which would destroy our own identity. One central trait of Indians is that they have always respected diversity. (When I say Indians, I mean Hindus and the practitioners in indigenous faiths. I don’t include Islamists and Christians who have mostly been intolerant of diversity.) This is why there have been no wars between the competing faiths like Sanatan Dharma or Jainism or Sikhism. In fact, the most ancient religion Hinduism easily embraced gods from other faiths like Lord Buddha or Lord Mahavira as their own gods and worshipped them. There was no protest when the Sikh Guru Shree Guru Govind Singh went on touring India and people flocked to accept his sect. Even the Arabs and Muslims have been allowed to live in India peacefully for centuries without any pressure on them to abandon their own cultural traits. So when we Indians ourselves practice so high level of tolerance and we embrace diversity, should we not also expect the other nations to practice the same spirits, which by all evaluations are peaceful and beneficial for the world?
 

I think it is high time we Indians and Hindus should get rid of any inferiority complex which may have set in due to foreign education. The pressure to be ‘like them’, even if we have migrated to other countries, is an unwanted and weakening psyche. We Indians and Hindus have always practiced highest levels of tolerance to diversity in others, and there is no reason why we should ourselves abandon our customs, culture, and religion, in order to destroy our own diversity.

The Bachelor of Arts

By RK Narayan
Nelson publication

The Bachelor of Arts (1937) by RK Narayan is another masterpiece which I feel lucky to have read. RK Narayan is one of the few writers who truly represent India and Indian ethos in his writings. Characters in his books are real - they can be from any one of us. The places in his book (from much celebrated fictitious Malgudi) are for real - they can be from any state, in any part of India. This is why if you have to name one Indian author writing in English to your friends abroad, you can safely recommend RK Narayan. Also, after reading his books which were written decades ago, we get amazed that the soul of India in his books is still intact in the 21st century. Thanks God that we had brilliant writers like RK Narayan to capture it.

The Bachelor of Arts is the story of a young man and his journey through academics, social obligations, dilemmas, infatuations and learning. It is the story of a man who possessed Bachelor of Arts and the learning that life teaches him and takes him from fantasy to reality and maturity. The story is set in Malgudy. It is sheer pleasure to read any of the books of RK Narayan, including The Bachelor of Arts.

- Rahul

Narcissism in MBAs

I felt it in some of my colleagues during my MBA. Narcissism can be defined as an exceptional interest and admiration for oneself. A study presented at the Academy of Management in Montreal approves that it is present in MBA students more than in others.

http://alturl.com/erz4i (Redirects to Business Week website)

The researchers measured the narcissistic tendencies among the students by using a metric named Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) score. And they found that business students had the score much above the other graduates!

Should we say, Watch out, MBAs!

- Rahul

Hen Vs Cow: Is it same to eat Chicken and Beef?

Someone asked if there is any difference between killing a hen (chicken) or a cow (beef) for our food. His underlying challenge was to prove both were equal because both have souls. Here is my reply:

“No one justifies killing hens for food. But when you are forced to eat non-veg because nutritious veg food is not available to you, you would obviously choose the lesser evil. A cow, in its utility and in its service to us, is a far superior animal than a hen. I am sure you would know this too.

Spiritually too, we can’t say that since both cows and hens have souls in them, both are equal. I believe, and I suggest you should think about it too, a cow is a much more evolved animal than a hen. We keep on rising as species of higher evolution along our birth cycle if we do good karma. Therefore, it is a lesser evil to kill a hen which is much less evolved animal than to kill a cow which is much higher on the hierarchy.”

Personal: Memories as a Class Monitor

I have been appointed as a class representative in most of my schools and colleges. I think it was because I was always a more sincere student than most others. In school, my important role was limited to maintaining the attendance register and making some announcements. But in the high school, perhaps my role reached a pinnacle. I remember the days very well.
 

That was first year of my high school days, means I was in class 8th. I had done best in the exams and that made my teachers appoint me as the class monitor. In those days very less things interested me apart from studies. I was a serious student, exceptional for others, very introvert, very well mannered and these qualities definitely make us favourite of teachers. In those days whenever a teacher was late to report for the class, the class would become a pitched fish-market and the noise would reach even the Head Master’s cabin. So our class teacher fixed my major role as maintaining discipline in the class. In between two classes, no one would make a noise and if one does I would note his (it was all boys’ school) name on the blackboard. The next teacher who comes to the class would punish those guys. I came out as a very strict monitor. I didn’t allow anyone even to make a minute noise. For example, no one could even ask another for a pencil. The boys asked me to allow them to chat with each other in the lowest of voice possible, but I won’t accede. Some guys threatened me but I won’t budge. In those days it was not uncommon for some guys to even beat up opponents. But what came to my support was that I myself was always high on moral sense and always practiced what I preached. But for sheer sympathy towards the guilty, some times I would erase all the names before the teacher came. But many times I won’t show mercy and the guys would be punished, mostly by being made to keep standing up in front of the class. I can feel the silence that prevailed in the recess.
 

I now remember those days and can laugh at myself. I had taken the role so severely which my class mates didn’t deserve. If I allowed them to talk in whispers or to move around a bit by asking permissions, no great indiscipline would have happened. And I feel it was important to allow them to unwind in between the classes. What I did was to discipline them at the cost of them losing their humour and fun. And I now wonder at the patience of my class too – why they never revolted!

Book Review: Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy

Father Sergius is a wonderful story of human dilemmas in front of divine expectations. It is the story of an ordinary man on which greatness and sainthood was thrust upon. He continuously faced dilemmas of life, also because he had a genuine and pure heart which always did introspection. At the end, he found the true peace in most unexpected place and way, which he never got in the Church. During the course of the story, the book details what is wrong with the Church, and also with the organised religion in general.
 

When I finished reading the book for the second time, I wondered if Leo Tolstoy was inspired by Hindu philosophy. The crux of this story can be summed up in what Father Sergius realises in the end. He realises that one small act done without selfish intent is far better than prayers. “One good deed — a cup of water given without thought of reward — is worth more than any benefit I imagined I was bestowing on people (by praying for them)” This is exactly what Bhagawat Gita teaches us. Also, there is a comment which tells God is within us. “The less importance he attached to the opinion of men the more did he feel the presence of God within him.” Now this is Hindu philosophy which tells us not to seek God outside but within us. That we need not worship or believe in those who claim to be God’s only son, or real prophets, but each one of us have God inside us, waiting to be realised by our own efforts. 
 

Some excerpts:
 

“But as soon as he left the church the crowd of people rushed to him soliciting his blessing, his advice and his help. There were pilgrims who constantly tramped from one holy place to another and from one ‘starets’ to another, and were always entranced by every shrine and every ‘starets’. Father Sergius knew this common, cold, conventional, and most irreligious type. There were pilgrims, for the most part discharged soldiers, unaccustomed to a settled life, poverty-stricken, and many of them drunken old men, who tramped from monastery to monastery merely to be fed. And there were rough peasants and peasant-women who had come with their selfish requirements, seeking cures or to have doubts about quite practical affairs solved for them: about marrying off a daughter, or hiring a shop, or buying a bit of land, or how to atone for having overlaid a child or having an illegitimate one.” 

“So that is what my dream meant! Pashenka is what I ought to have been but failed to be. I lived for men on the pretext of living for God, while she lives for God imagining that she lives for men. Yes, one good deed — a cup of water given without thought of reward — is worth more than any benefit I imagined I was bestowing on people. But after all was there not some share of sincere desire to serve God?” he asked himself, and the answer was: Yes, there was, but it was all soiled and overgrown by desire for human praise. Yes, there is no God for the man who lives, as I did, for human praise. I will now seek Him!”

Robustness of Software

Recently I read someone saying that he preferred a particular piece of software over the other because the former was more ‘robust’. That made me think for a moment about ‘robustness’ of software. Robustness of a tangible thing is easy to comprehend, but how do we understand robustness of software? And more importantly, how do we measure it, or compare robustness of two pieces of software?

Robustness of software is a very important concept. Robustness can be defined as the property because of which a piece of software runs and functions correctly even with unexpected or invalid inputs or in stressful environments. So every time your laptop’s Windows stops working (is hung), or a program crashes and stops working until you restart it or reboot, you witness poor robustness of the software or a program!

The main reason for software crash is that it comes across situations where the programmer’s or designer’s assumptions have been violated. Every piece of software has a number of errors. It is virtually impossible to debug and clean it from all errors. There are errors which occur in unusual circumstances which are beyond a human mind to be predicted. So now the question which comes to mind is: How can we ensure robustness in our software?

Unix philosophy says that robustness results from ‘transparency’ and ‘simplicity’. If a programmer can examine the source code and comprehend easily how it works, there are more chances that the errors would be fixed in advance. Another obvious way is to write codes accommodating a wide range of situations. Having small, modular programs which are connected to others is also a good way. Another very path breaking method makes use of ‘redundancy’ to ensure robustness.

Errorfree programs and hustle free operations are not only good but also very critical in many situations. Do you know that Ariane 5 spacecraft exploded 36 seconds after its start because its software contained an error which changed its direction and the spacecraft broke down due to aerodynamic forces? Therefore, the best thing to do is to let the software undergo a proper robustness test. Or should I say a ‘robust’ robustness test?

- Rahul


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Magic of Questioning

Yesterday a question came to my mind. We had noticed since childhood that whenever a fan is run slowly through what we call a 'regulator', the regulator gets heated. Why does it get heated? I knew the difference between AC and DC motors and difference between variable speed vs. fixed speed drives, but I was not sure what kind of motor a fan had. I called up my younger sister who was more qualified to answer this. But she too was not sure. She promised to read about it and tell me.

In our childhood whenever we went to naani-ghar (maternal grandmother’s place) our nana would ask us some very practical questions. When we would be around bonfire on winter nights he would ask us questions from history, science, or mathematics and we were always fearful of the ones which we were not able to answer. He did it with the grownups too whenever he met some family member who was highly educated. I guess they always dreaded him because he would put them in very embarrassing situations with his smart and practical questions.

I think questioning and quizzing is a very useful method of learning for anyone. The trick is to try to explain every doubt that comes in our mind. We should also realise that if we don’t find answers to our own doubts then someone else would challenge us sometime. And we should also ensure that our children take such questioning in the right spirit. In case they don’t answer, we should try to encourage them rather than causing humiliation in any way.

Magic of questioning comes to play when a scientist or a person with master’s degree is not able to answer a naïve question from a kid. Magic of questioning shows it when a child develops the spirit of reasoning and fact-finding from very early stage in his/her life.

Btw, I found answer to the fan regulator question here http://2wayswitch.com/terminating-the-fan-regulator-wires/

- Rahul

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