I'm about to start my last semester under our "beloved" university, VTU. In the past 3 and a half years, I've been through some of the most awesome moments and some of the crappiest days of my very short life. When I was in the middle of these not-so-great moments, what I really wish I had was some early advice on what to expect, some do's and don'ts and some decent advice on how to handle a bad situation under VTU. In true spirit of the free internet culture, I'm going to share some of my thoughts and advices to you poor guys who're still starting out under VTU, with the hopes that you'll not land up in the same mess that I currently face myself in.
Warning: Following my advices and opinions have always lead to huge disasters!
This post turned out to be much longer than what I expected. I've tried my best to keep it short but given the nature of VTU, and an old habit of trying to expand two sentences into a 10 marks answer, the post has become REALLY huge.
Use the index below to jump to a topic you are interested in, or jump to the bottom for some tips and points.
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0. Index
1. About VTU.
2. Syllabus.
3. The real problem with VTU.
4. Things that no one told you when you joined VTU.
5. Big mistakes and how to avoid them.
6. Generally good VTU practices.
Ok, so here we go....
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1. About VTU.
Visvesvaraya Technological University, is one of the biggest Universities in India. (Yea, I know you already knew that.... I just needed something to get started with). What most people don't realize is that the government of Karnataka has a lot to do with VTU, in terms of administration and regulations and so on. For all the effort the government puts into VTU, the only thing they expect in return is building the University's reputation and improving its overall ranking. True, there is a lot of corruption somewhere behind the scenes and a lot of people are making big bucks out of VTU, but in the end, atleast one person somewhere really wants to improve VTU and make it the best University in India (Yea I didn't believe this initially either.)
The point is, someone has made some decent improvements behind the scenes. Compared to a lot of Universities in South India, VTU is very good at procedures, standardization and regulations. If you have lost your marks card, there is a very clear procedure on how to get another one. If you want to withdraw your marks and repeat a semester again, there is a procedure for that. There is a procedure for almost everything. These procedures might not be great, but they exist, they work almost flawlessly, and most importantly, someone always knows where you can find details about any procedure. Compared to most other Universities, VTU is really awesome when it comes to all this (There are very very few cases where the word "awesome" and VTU can exist in the same sentence. This is one of them!).
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2. Syllabus
Another thing that is pretty good under VTU is its syllabus. (I can see a million people rolling their eyes at this...) I'm not saying VTU syllabus is the best, but it is definitely not the among the worst. All you 2nd and 3rd year folks will realize what I'm saying only when you come to your final year and start interacting with people from other Universities. Before I go any further, I want to clear something: I'm only talking about the syllabus set by the VTU, not how it is implemented in the classroom and exams. The VTU syllabus, that is just the topics set by VTU, is pretty comprehensive, and if you want proof, take a look at MIT's open courseware to see their syllabus- you'll see that the topics covered in our syllabus is pretty awesome!
The most frequent complaint that I heard in my initial few semesters under VTU is that the syllabus is too shallow. This is absolutely true: VTU does not go all the way to the deepest depths of every concept. There is a reason behind it, that I discovered only in my 7th semester: a B.E degree isn't the ultimate degree. After B.E, one can proceed to do an M.Tech and later a PhD. And why do these higher education levels exist? Because engineering is too vast and too deep to be covered in 4 years (Even if you replace the useless first year with better subjects, there is still too much to cover). To get a scale of the depth involved, consider this: to get a PhD, a person works only on one topic, for around 5 years. In your B.E, that topic will probably be just one insignificant paragraph in one Chapter in one subject in one semester in one branch of engineering.
The point is, there is a border that divides what you should know to be able to work in a field and everything else there is to know in that field. It is not a well defined border, and what is not required for one person will be vital information for another person. Now VTU, like every other university, tries to draw the border line between everything there is that you can study in a field, and only what you need to know to work in that field, and limits B.E only to the latter part. You are always free to study further if you want to know more about something.
The second most popular complaint is that VTU syllabus is outdated. That is not true. Well, part of it is true, but its a little tricky to explain. Let me use an analogy to explain what happens:
Imagine you want to buy a computer. A computer with the newest technology will be too expensive for your budget, the cheapest computers don't have all the features that you need. You'll make a trade-off between the features that you want and your budget, and land up buying a computer that has all the features that you desperately need, and only some of the newest features. 3 years later, those new features would have become common in computers, but you will still be able to manage without them. About 7 years after you buy the computer, your computer will be so old that it will be impossible to continue using it, and you will have to shell out some cash and go for an upgrade.
This is a very common experience, and anyone who has ever purchased a computer will know exactly what I'm talking about. Ok, so how does VTU's syllabus relate to this?
You -> Engineering Industry
Latest features that your computer did not have -> Latest technology
Features that you desperately wanted -> Technology that is vital to an industry
Cost of upgrading to a new computer -> Cost of upgrading to new technology
The difference is, a computer can become outdated in 5 years, but some engineering concepts live for decades before they become outdated. What VTU tries to do is to present all the concepts that are required by an industry right now, some of the concepts that will soon become industry standards, and leave the remaining for M.Tech and PhD levels. This is not just done by VTU, but most universities follow this practice. If you have ever stepped into an industry, you'll be surprised to see how things you learnt in 3rd semester are still in use in most places.
Also, there are some cases where you need to know the outdated concepts to understand the current technologies. VTU tries to keep such stuff to a minimum, but in many cases they just can't be avoided.
Ok, by now you must be thinking I'm a huge VTU fan. I'm not. I was just trying to start on a positive note.
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3. The real problem with VTU.
The real problem with VTU is with the colleges affiliated to VTU, and more importantly, their faculty. This comes as no big surprise: India is a developing country even after 60 years of independence. For a lot of complicated social reasons, the only thing that most Indians are interested is money, good job and good family. Infact, a good job means nice salary and nice family. Now if you are an engineer, and have your whole career ahead of you, which would you pick? A great job in an MNC or a lousy paying job as a lecturer in a college? The choice is obvious. The result is, most of the people entering the teaching profession in engineering colleges are those who were of such bad quality that no one else wanted them. This is not always the case- there are people who take up teaching as a profession because they love to teach, but such people are usually found in IITs and NITs. Under VTU, most of the lecturers are people who can't find any other jobs.
This is where the problem starts. Even if VTU sets an amazing syllabus, it is these lecturers who are responsible to teach in classrooms, set the question papers and evaluate the answer scripts. Picture this: thousands of engineers graduate every year, most of them get jobs in an industry, and the worst are filtered out and put back into the system as lecturers. This problem affects different departments with different amplitudes: It is most pronounced in Computer Science fields, and is not all that apparent in say, a mechanical engineering department. When the worst of the lot return to set question papers and then evaluate the answer scripts, the result is the severely dysfunctional system that is VTU examinations.
If the whole point of examination is to test your skills as an engineer, then the effectiveness of the examination system in testing this is a good indication of how good a University is. And in this department, VTU scores a big fat zero.
In my opinion, the examination system is the most difficult part to implement in an engineering University. The reason is simple: A good engineer is one who solves problems in the most efficient, and usually, in very creative ways. In theory, a good engineering student is one who also demonstrates this ability. But to test a student's idea, one might require a formal proof or even a lab experiment to confirm the validity of a students idea. This is not very practical while evaluating an exam paper: no one can test the validity of every single idea in every single answer of all students. So, the evaluator has to rely on his personal experiences and knowledge of the field, to consider if an idea presented is feasible, and if it solves the problem as required, and then judge the overall quality of an engineer.
I can not imagine a VTU lecturer doing this!
Now if a lecturer can't test the answer, then he decides not to ask such questions. He will only ask those questions to which he can verify the answers. And this usually involves heavily depending on a textbook for the "correct" definition and the "correct" answer, and the whole examination system shifts its focus from "how good an engineer are you?" to "how much of this text book can you remember?".
The end result is the top scorers are the ones who are best at memorizing answers, not necessarily the best engineers in a class. I once heard a story about a VTU information science 4th rank student who didn't know how to update an antivirus software... Welcome to the reality of VTU!
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4. Things that no one told you when you joined VTU.
Here is a short list of points that I wish I knew about VTU early on.
- VTU does not test your knowledge of a subject in theory exams. Reading research articles about something and consulting wikipedia will not help you score more marks. Mugging up the textbook will help you score marks.
- Marks matter. You might have read all the research journals, written your own research papers also, and might know more about something than everyone else in the country. End of the day, what people will ask you are your marks. Be it an interview, or an application form for a masters in a foreign country, or even something as simple as how much a faculty member will try and help you- The only thing that matters here are your marks.
- Most colleges in VTU exist for making profit. They will not engage in research, they will not have great quality improvement programs to improve the quality of their teaching, and they do not invest in training and motivation workshops for their faculty. All they want is money, and they know that given the demand for an engineering seat is so great that there will always be someone who will come and take a seat in their college, irrespective of the quality.
-Good colleges are colleges that show atleast some interest in improving on the above points. Bad colleges are those that don't care about anything other than profit.
- All lecturers have ego, pride and a sense of self importance. Respect that. It pays.
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5. Big mistakes and how to avoid them
- Flunking in a subject in your 6th semester. Most of the important things happen during your 7th semester or just after your 7th semester- Job interviews, searching for a project for 8th semester or applying for higher studies. While having flunked in the past generally affects your attempt, it is not as serious as having a "running back"- a subject that you have flunked and still not cleared. This is the easiest way to get your application rejected immediately. The problem with flunking in 6th semester is, even clearing the subject along with your 7th semester is useless because you usually can not wait for your 7th semester results. Moral of the story- when you get your 6th semester exams, you should not have flunked in any subject.
- Sitting idle in your 5th, 6th and 7th semesters. There will be a lot of techinical fests, competitions on both national and international scales. There will be opportunities to intern at an industry. There are a lot of such things that you can do to add value to your resume. Do as many of these as you can.
- Screwing around with a faculty member. This is probably the biggest mistake that anyone can do. In your final year, you will heavily rely on each and every member of your faculty. The engineering course is designed in that way. Just don't mess with anyone.
- Scoring less than 15 in internals. Make sure you have atleast 15 in your internals. You might be the topper of your class. Or you might be confident of your marks scoring abilities in the final exam. Whatever the case, simply don't have a score of less than 15 in any subject in your internals. VTU has a nasty way of messing up a paper and it is very common for class toppers to score 35 marks. I know a lot of people who scored 40 marks in final exam, but failed because their internal score was 7 or 8.
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6. Generally good VTU practices.
- Maintain good contacts with someone in your department in atleast 2 other colleges. It is extremely useful to know how a subject has been handled in another college.
- Develop contacts with seniors. College seniors aren't very interested in ragging, especially the folks from Karnataka. We are a decent lot, and as a senior, you'll find yourself eager to help any junior who asks for it. Don't hesitate to approach your seniors.
- Get involved in college activities. It is not a bad thing to volunteer for your college fests. Missing classes is OK in these cases also. It is the best way to make new friends in college.
- Make sure your faculty members know you and like you. Do not try to be invisible. It is extremely helpful if you are in friendly terms with atlest 2 or 3 members of your faculty.
- Find a way to be informed about the latest developments in technology. You can either get involved with the open source community, or follow a usenet newsgroup (most people under VTU haven't even heard of usenet), or join a hobby club in your college.
There are a lot of other things that I have to share, but this post is already too long. If you readers like this, then I will consider writing a part 2 for the vtu survival guide.
Thats it for now. Lets see how many people will agree with me on this.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Everyone who knows me well knows exactly what I feel about free and open source software kicking Microsoft's ass. So today, when I couldn't find a decent desktop blogging client for my fedora-gnome desktop after searching for 2 hours, I was completely frustrated. The thought of a windows-lover earning bragging rights for having a better blogging client was unacceptable! My best hopes were in blokkal, but I had to allow Kwallet to run in my gnome desktop for blokkal to be able to do its thing.
A kde program doing something gnome can't do is sad. But a kde win over my beloved gnome is still better than a windows win over foss!
And so, here I am, posting this from blokkal.
And to those of you who care to read about my horrible experiences with Linux desktop blogging clients, here is a list of clients I tried and what went wrong with them:
1. Drivel: The last update on their website was in 2006. That project looked dead.
2. gnome-blog: A package was not available in my fedora 14 repos. I downloaded the source but got stuck right at the ./configure stage. I was in no mood to go through a dependency hell all over again.
3. Blogilo: I can't believe a Google search for "Linux blogger clients" still gives results for "bilbo blogger" on the first page, while "blogilo" was nowhere to be seen. I am not sure when the name was changed to blogilo but, something must be terribly wrong if Google didn't show it in the first page of results. Anyway, Blogilo was available in a fedora repo, and the installation was smooth. But it simply refused to fetch my blog id and I was not able to configure my blog settings.
4. Thingamablog: Not for blogger!
5. BloGTK and BloGTK 2.0: Wow this was the biggest nightmare of the lot! BloGTK refused to even start on my fedora 14. BloGTK 2.0 does not exist in my fedora repos, so I had to install it manually. Installation was pretty smooth. Configuring my blog account was also pretty easy. So far so good. The problem started when I tried to pull some old posts from my blog. BloGTK failed here, and gave an error message. I googled the error message and found that it was a python bug and BloGTK was merely a victim of this bug. However, I was happy to see that this error message was also noted as a bug by the BloGTK folks. Hopefully they'll come around with a fix pretty soon. Meanwhile, someone reported that it was still possible to post new blog entries, the bug was affecting only retrieval of old posts.
Right now, BloGTK 2.0 is barely usable, but is probably the best bet on a decent gnome desktop blog client.
6. Blokkal: This is something that finally did work for me. Its not great, but it works. Finally!
Yes, there is that firefox plugin '"scribefire", but I'm not a huge firefox fan.
What I really want to see is a nice clean GNOME blog client that has the most essential features and supports all the common protocols. Right now, BloGTK 2.0 looks very promising. If you can hack python, and you love bloggers writing on FOSS software, go help these guys out. If you can't write code, you can still help by submitting bug reports or giving them a pat on the back and say "Good job. Keep up the nice work", or blogging about them to spread the word about the nice work they are doing. (This applies to all the blog clients mentioned here, not just BloGTK).
Anyway, it feels good to be back on the blogosphere. New year's coming soon. One new year's resolution is definately going to be "Blog MORE!".
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Update: Blokkal sucks too... It can't handle newlines! In the end, I had to log into the web UI and fix things by hand.
This is a black day for free software bloggers. :-(
A kde program doing something gnome can't do is sad. But a kde win over my beloved gnome is still better than a windows win over foss!
And so, here I am, posting this from blokkal.
And to those of you who care to read about my horrible experiences with Linux desktop blogging clients, here is a list of clients I tried and what went wrong with them:
1. Drivel: The last update on their website was in 2006. That project looked dead.
2. gnome-blog: A package was not available in my fedora 14 repos. I downloaded the source but got stuck right at the ./configure stage. I was in no mood to go through a dependency hell all over again.
3. Blogilo: I can't believe a Google search for "Linux blogger clients" still gives results for "bilbo blogger" on the first page, while "blogilo" was nowhere to be seen. I am not sure when the name was changed to blogilo but, something must be terribly wrong if Google didn't show it in the first page of results. Anyway, Blogilo was available in a fedora repo, and the installation was smooth. But it simply refused to fetch my blog id and I was not able to configure my blog settings.
4. Thingamablog: Not for blogger!
5. BloGTK and BloGTK 2.0: Wow this was the biggest nightmare of the lot! BloGTK refused to even start on my fedora 14. BloGTK 2.0 does not exist in my fedora repos, so I had to install it manually. Installation was pretty smooth. Configuring my blog account was also pretty easy. So far so good. The problem started when I tried to pull some old posts from my blog. BloGTK failed here, and gave an error message. I googled the error message and found that it was a python bug and BloGTK was merely a victim of this bug. However, I was happy to see that this error message was also noted as a bug by the BloGTK folks. Hopefully they'll come around with a fix pretty soon. Meanwhile, someone reported that it was still possible to post new blog entries, the bug was affecting only retrieval of old posts.
Right now, BloGTK 2.0 is barely usable, but is probably the best bet on a decent gnome desktop blog client.
6. Blokkal: This is something that finally did work for me. Its not great, but it works. Finally!
Yes, there is that firefox plugin '"scribefire", but I'm not a huge firefox fan.
What I really want to see is a nice clean GNOME blog client that has the most essential features and supports all the common protocols. Right now, BloGTK 2.0 looks very promising. If you can hack python, and you love bloggers writing on FOSS software, go help these guys out. If you can't write code, you can still help by submitting bug reports or giving them a pat on the back and say "Good job. Keep up the nice work", or blogging about them to spread the word about the nice work they are doing. (This applies to all the blog clients mentioned here, not just BloGTK).
Anyway, it feels good to be back on the blogosphere. New year's coming soon. One new year's resolution is definately going to be "Blog MORE!".
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Update: Blokkal sucks too... It can't handle newlines! In the end, I had to log into the web UI and fix things by hand.
This is a black day for free software bloggers. :-(
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Through a blue lens (3)
My morning: wake up, inform the alarm in my mobile that I am awake and it can shut up now, brush my teeth, rush through a shower, jump into some clothes, rush for tea and breakfast, grab my bike keys, bag and helmet and rush to my office.
What is missing here?
The newspaper.
I have almost completely stopped reading it, I do not follow news channels and I don't intend to in the near future either. I get all my news updates from twitter, the home page of Wikipedia English and occasionally Google news. Those who know me might say this is just another eccentric idea of mine to save paper and do my part of protecting our forests. Those who don't know me, but know people like me in general might say I am doing this because newspapers are "old fashioned", out dated and obsolete.
They would both be wrong. I don't read my newspapers because it is pointless.
A newspaper is worth reading if it is reporting things that need to be reported, if it can affect what I do or how I do something, or if it can give me information that will let me make a better decision. Here my newspaper does none of those. The articles on the front page cover the latest controversies, the inner pages cover current issues that have the potential of becoming the next big controversy and everything else- the international section, the sports and science sections have been outsourced to news agencies.
But why bother? If you don't like newspapers, don't read it. Besides, you already mentioned your alternate sources of information right? Why don't you just be happy with those and leave newspapers alone...
If that is what you are telling me, let explain why that is not how things work.
Disclaimer: I am not an expert in the field of game-theory or allied subjects.
Take a look at this situation.
Ram can build a hut in 5 hours and make a cart in 4 hours.
Sham can build a hut in 2 hours and make a cart in 3 hours.
Time Ram needs to build a hut and make a cart = 5 + 4 = 9 hours.
Time Sham needs to build a hut and make a cart = 2 + 3 = 5 hours.
Sham is better than Ram at both building a hut and making a cart. He does not need Ram. He can live by himself right?
No. Not really.
Suppose Ram ans Sham agree to trade: Ram builds 2 carts and Sham builds 2 huts. Ram trades a hut for a cart.
Time for Ram to build 2 carts = 4 + 4 = 8 hours.
Time for Sham to build 2 huts = 2 + 2 = 4 hours.
When they trade, Ram will have a hut and a cart after 8 hours of work, Sham will have a hut and a cart after 4 hours of work: both have to work 1 hour less!
This is the fundamental advantage of trading. And it only gets better: as Ram keeps making carts, he will become better and better at it and start doing it faster. Hence, the advantages of trade only increases with time. And they both will continue to enjoy the advantages if they continue to co-operate.
This is the reason why humans now live in societies and co-operate. Each person gets to do the thing they are best at and trade it for something else.
But what happens when this co-operation gets hijacked by a third person:
Suppose Arjun walks in with a sword and says "Ram, Sham, give me a house and a hut, and I will spare your life. If you don't obey me, I will kill you".
This is a problem says Ram. What are my options?
I live, Sham lives, Arjun lives: bad.
I live , Sham lives, Arjun dies: very good.
I live, Sham escapes, Arjun lives: Extremely bad. I need to build a hut and a cart for Arjun by myself!
I live, Sham escapes/dies, Arjun dies: not good, also not likely to happen, Besides, I'll be back to working 9 hours.
I escape, Sham lives, Arjun lives: not very good. I'll be back to working 9 hours.
I escape, Sham lives, Arjun dies: Pointless.
I escape, Sham escapes, Arjun lives: Pretty good. We can start over again.
I escape, Sham escapes, Arjun dies: Pointless. If Arjun dies, we don't need to escape.
In short, the best options I have are:
1. I live , Sham lives, Arjun dies: very good.
2. I escape, Sham escapes, Arjun lives: Pretty good. We can start over again.
3. I escape, Sham lives, Arjun lives: not very good. I'll be back to working 9 hours.
Working together, me and Sham can get rid of Arjun. Or working together, me and Sham can escape together.
So my best options come from working WITH Sham, and the next best thing to do, if Sham doesn't co-operate with me is to ditch him and flee.
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On a much larger scale, this is happening with our government and us. We live together, co-operate and enjoy life. As part of this co-operation, some of us volunteer to manage administration and participate in a democratic process of forming a government, and everyone benefits and more importantly, you benefit.
What happens when this gets hijacked? The hijackers here are the corrupt politicians who play vote bank politics, embezzle tax payers money and return nothing positive to the community. Newspapers benefit by supporting the hijackers. The newspapers never go beyond the obvious, and start telling us we can trust each other and work together to get rid of them. You get the picture. What options do we have? Its pretty much similar.
1. You and I work together to get rid of the Arjuns here.
2. You and I escape and start afresh somewhere else.
3. I escape, and let you do what you please here.
The only difference, was that Ram knew he could trust Sham. They traded with each other, co-operated and came to a point when they knew they could trust each other. That is not always the case with you and I. You don't trust me, I'm homosexual. I don't trust you, you think I'm a disgrace to all creation for violating your so called "natural law" of heterosexuality and you would love to see me die.
Back in the days of the cold war, mathematicians developed a theory to model a situation where people don't trust each other. A classic example is the famous "prisoner's dilemma" problem
Two random people who don't know each other or trust each other decide to get together and rob a bank. They get caught. They are put into two separate cells and not allowed to communicate.
Each one is told:
1. You confess the other guy did it, and he doesn't confess, he goes to jail for 10 years, you walk free.
2. You don't confess, he confesses you did it, he walks away, you go to jail for 10 years.
3. Both of you confess, both of you go to jail for 5 years.
4. Neither of you confess, then if we find evidence, you'll both go to jail for 5 years. if we don't find evidence, you both walk away.
Although by not confessing, both of them have a chance to get away, they don't know how much to trust the other guy. They will reason the best option is to confess the other guy did it and both will land up going to jail for 5 years.
If Ram and Sham didn't trust each other, although by working together, they could have gotten rid of Arjun, they will reason the best option is to escape and leave the other one to his fate. In the end, they will both land up escaping, and will have to start from scratch again.
If we don't trust each other, I'm going to get out of here and and let you rot here with your crazy ideals. But there is a better way. We can trust each other. As a sign of my trustworthiness, I tried exposing a major hunting racket involving a lot of "VIPs". Someone up in the high office didn't like it. Sent a journalist after me to ruin my credibility and me. Dash had to kill her to save me.
I'm not sorry Dash. You and I both believe in the same thing. You gave up everything, even your dreams for setting this place right, just like I have to now. You did what you have to do.
I'm writing this on your behalf to tell the world that you are still here, alive and safe. To tell the world you are risking your life again for our sake. I'm telling the world they can count on you Dash.
We can get through this. You asked me who rules the world once.
Numbers rule the world Dash. It is numbers and people who understand them that rule this world. No matter what Ram or Sham choose, by their own free will, their actions will always be governed by numbers that tell them it is better to trade, it is better to trust.
You, reading this, listen to me now. The numbers are playing out in our favor. If we can trust each other, we can get rid of the Arjuns here. If you don't trust us, or each other, the brain drain will only continue as everyone opts for the next best option: flee this country and settle in the US or UK. This is our last chance to take a stand: will you work with me? Can we work together to get rid of the shit hijacking our country? Or will you just let me and Dash join the thousands of others who have already fled this place.
Where do we go from here?
You tell me.
-- Kevin
(If Dheeraj is your name Dash, then Kevin is mine.)
What is missing here?
The newspaper.
I have almost completely stopped reading it, I do not follow news channels and I don't intend to in the near future either. I get all my news updates from twitter, the home page of Wikipedia English and occasionally Google news. Those who know me might say this is just another eccentric idea of mine to save paper and do my part of protecting our forests. Those who don't know me, but know people like me in general might say I am doing this because newspapers are "old fashioned", out dated and obsolete.
They would both be wrong. I don't read my newspapers because it is pointless.
A newspaper is worth reading if it is reporting things that need to be reported, if it can affect what I do or how I do something, or if it can give me information that will let me make a better decision. Here my newspaper does none of those. The articles on the front page cover the latest controversies, the inner pages cover current issues that have the potential of becoming the next big controversy and everything else- the international section, the sports and science sections have been outsourced to news agencies.
But why bother? If you don't like newspapers, don't read it. Besides, you already mentioned your alternate sources of information right? Why don't you just be happy with those and leave newspapers alone...
If that is what you are telling me, let explain why that is not how things work.
Disclaimer: I am not an expert in the field of game-theory or allied subjects.
Take a look at this situation.
Ram can build a hut in 5 hours and make a cart in 4 hours.
Sham can build a hut in 2 hours and make a cart in 3 hours.
Time Ram needs to build a hut and make a cart = 5 + 4 = 9 hours.
Time Sham needs to build a hut and make a cart = 2 + 3 = 5 hours.
Sham is better than Ram at both building a hut and making a cart. He does not need Ram. He can live by himself right?
No. Not really.
Suppose Ram ans Sham agree to trade: Ram builds 2 carts and Sham builds 2 huts. Ram trades a hut for a cart.
Time for Ram to build 2 carts = 4 + 4 = 8 hours.
Time for Sham to build 2 huts = 2 + 2 = 4 hours.
When they trade, Ram will have a hut and a cart after 8 hours of work, Sham will have a hut and a cart after 4 hours of work: both have to work 1 hour less!
This is the fundamental advantage of trading. And it only gets better: as Ram keeps making carts, he will become better and better at it and start doing it faster. Hence, the advantages of trade only increases with time. And they both will continue to enjoy the advantages if they continue to co-operate.
This is the reason why humans now live in societies and co-operate. Each person gets to do the thing they are best at and trade it for something else.
But what happens when this co-operation gets hijacked by a third person:
Suppose Arjun walks in with a sword and says "Ram, Sham, give me a house and a hut, and I will spare your life. If you don't obey me, I will kill you".
This is a problem says Ram. What are my options?
I live, Sham lives, Arjun lives: bad.
I live , Sham lives, Arjun dies: very good.
I live, Sham escapes, Arjun lives: Extremely bad. I need to build a hut and a cart for Arjun by myself!
I live, Sham escapes/dies, Arjun dies: not good, also not likely to happen, Besides, I'll be back to working 9 hours.
I escape, Sham lives, Arjun lives: not very good. I'll be back to working 9 hours.
I escape, Sham lives, Arjun dies: Pointless.
I escape, Sham escapes, Arjun lives: Pretty good. We can start over again.
I escape, Sham escapes, Arjun dies: Pointless. If Arjun dies, we don't need to escape.
In short, the best options I have are:
1. I live , Sham lives, Arjun dies: very good.
2. I escape, Sham escapes, Arjun lives: Pretty good. We can start over again.
3. I escape, Sham lives, Arjun lives: not very good. I'll be back to working 9 hours.
Working together, me and Sham can get rid of Arjun. Or working together, me and Sham can escape together.
So my best options come from working WITH Sham, and the next best thing to do, if Sham doesn't co-operate with me is to ditch him and flee.
---
On a much larger scale, this is happening with our government and us. We live together, co-operate and enjoy life. As part of this co-operation, some of us volunteer to manage administration and participate in a democratic process of forming a government, and everyone benefits and more importantly, you benefit.
What happens when this gets hijacked? The hijackers here are the corrupt politicians who play vote bank politics, embezzle tax payers money and return nothing positive to the community. Newspapers benefit by supporting the hijackers. The newspapers never go beyond the obvious, and start telling us we can trust each other and work together to get rid of them. You get the picture. What options do we have? Its pretty much similar.
1. You and I work together to get rid of the Arjuns here.
2. You and I escape and start afresh somewhere else.
3. I escape, and let you do what you please here.
The only difference, was that Ram knew he could trust Sham. They traded with each other, co-operated and came to a point when they knew they could trust each other. That is not always the case with you and I. You don't trust me, I'm homosexual. I don't trust you, you think I'm a disgrace to all creation for violating your so called "natural law" of heterosexuality and you would love to see me die.
Back in the days of the cold war, mathematicians developed a theory to model a situation where people don't trust each other. A classic example is the famous "prisoner's dilemma" problem
Two random people who don't know each other or trust each other decide to get together and rob a bank. They get caught. They are put into two separate cells and not allowed to communicate.
Each one is told:
1. You confess the other guy did it, and he doesn't confess, he goes to jail for 10 years, you walk free.
2. You don't confess, he confesses you did it, he walks away, you go to jail for 10 years.
3. Both of you confess, both of you go to jail for 5 years.
4. Neither of you confess, then if we find evidence, you'll both go to jail for 5 years. if we don't find evidence, you both walk away.
Although by not confessing, both of them have a chance to get away, they don't know how much to trust the other guy. They will reason the best option is to confess the other guy did it and both will land up going to jail for 5 years.
If Ram and Sham didn't trust each other, although by working together, they could have gotten rid of Arjun, they will reason the best option is to escape and leave the other one to his fate. In the end, they will both land up escaping, and will have to start from scratch again.
If we don't trust each other, I'm going to get out of here and and let you rot here with your crazy ideals. But there is a better way. We can trust each other. As a sign of my trustworthiness, I tried exposing a major hunting racket involving a lot of "VIPs". Someone up in the high office didn't like it. Sent a journalist after me to ruin my credibility and me. Dash had to kill her to save me.
I'm not sorry Dash. You and I both believe in the same thing. You gave up everything, even your dreams for setting this place right, just like I have to now. You did what you have to do.
I'm writing this on your behalf to tell the world that you are still here, alive and safe. To tell the world you are risking your life again for our sake. I'm telling the world they can count on you Dash.
We can get through this. You asked me who rules the world once.
Numbers rule the world Dash. It is numbers and people who understand them that rule this world. No matter what Ram or Sham choose, by their own free will, their actions will always be governed by numbers that tell them it is better to trade, it is better to trust.
You, reading this, listen to me now. The numbers are playing out in our favor. If we can trust each other, we can get rid of the Arjuns here. If you don't trust us, or each other, the brain drain will only continue as everyone opts for the next best option: flee this country and settle in the US or UK. This is our last chance to take a stand: will you work with me? Can we work together to get rid of the shit hijacking our country? Or will you just let me and Dash join the thousands of others who have already fled this place.
Where do we go from here?
You tell me.
-- Kevin
(If Dheeraj is your name Dash, then Kevin is mine.)
Friday, May 21, 2010
Through a blue lens(2)
One of the best movies of all times, "The sound of music", has a wonderful song. It goes:
Lets start at the very beginning,
A very good place to start.
When you read, you begin with
A-B-C
A-B-C
When you sing, you begin with
Do-re-mi......
When you sing you begin with do-re-mi... When you kill, you begin with load, point and shoot. 3 simple steps, a recoil, a splash of blood and a thud later, a life is gone, and its over. You can do it again if you want. Its really easy. All you need to do is point and shoot and wait for the thud of the lifeless body hitting the floor. There are some who say its an art. Others say its sport.
I disagree with both of them.
When you are someone in my position, you don't kill for fun. You don't kill if you can avoid it. Infact, its the last thing in a list of options - if you are sane enough to think up of a list of options being in my position - is killing someone.
But I'm Dash. I've gone from being the best particle physicist around to a camera man for a porno racket in the outskirts of Mumbai. I have an ex-girlfriend who thinks I deserted her as soon as she got pregnant. The person whom I live with today, the one person I would give up my life for, (or take someone else's as in this case), shares more than his shaving cream with me.
I will kill if I have to.
---
The police would find her body by the weekend.
It doesn't matter.
They'll get a positive identification within two hours. Nobody can identify a journalist faster than the police themselves.
It doesn't matter.
They'll find the murder weapon by about the same time. The ballistics will be able to confirm it was the murder weapon. Forensics will find finger prints on them. My finger prints.
It doesn't matter.
They'll trace the gun to its rightful owner. He'll say it was stolen. If he was smart, he'll have a copy of an FIR complaint filed two days ago to prove his gun was stolen.
It doesn't matter.
No one threatens your life. Not while I'm around. I might be a bar tender and a fucked up camera man, but she should have remembered I was more than just that a year ago.
I was the best physicist around, and I didn't get there by just lazing around.
I might live in a rat hole, and my head might be fucked up beyond recognition. But the life I see, through a blue lens, is still processed by one of the sharpest minds in the country. A few nasty incidents in life later, when she found herself at the bad end of a nozzle and me on the other side of it, she knew what was going to happen next. She closed her eyes and waited for it. Bless her, she spared me having to close her body's eyes.
---
There is something horribly wrong with this country isnt there? You know there is. I gave up my profession to find it. I abandoned the girl I thought I loved right when she needed me the most, just to prove it.
This is my story.
This is my story, as seen through a blue lens.
And I have a question for you before I leave today:
Who rules the world?
--Dash
Lets start at the very beginning,
A very good place to start.
When you read, you begin with
A-B-C
A-B-C
When you sing, you begin with
Do-re-mi......
When you sing you begin with do-re-mi... When you kill, you begin with load, point and shoot. 3 simple steps, a recoil, a splash of blood and a thud later, a life is gone, and its over. You can do it again if you want. Its really easy. All you need to do is point and shoot and wait for the thud of the lifeless body hitting the floor. There are some who say its an art. Others say its sport.
I disagree with both of them.
When you are someone in my position, you don't kill for fun. You don't kill if you can avoid it. Infact, its the last thing in a list of options - if you are sane enough to think up of a list of options being in my position - is killing someone.
But I'm Dash. I've gone from being the best particle physicist around to a camera man for a porno racket in the outskirts of Mumbai. I have an ex-girlfriend who thinks I deserted her as soon as she got pregnant. The person whom I live with today, the one person I would give up my life for, (or take someone else's as in this case), shares more than his shaving cream with me.
I will kill if I have to.
---
The police would find her body by the weekend.
It doesn't matter.
They'll get a positive identification within two hours. Nobody can identify a journalist faster than the police themselves.
It doesn't matter.
They'll find the murder weapon by about the same time. The ballistics will be able to confirm it was the murder weapon. Forensics will find finger prints on them. My finger prints.
It doesn't matter.
They'll trace the gun to its rightful owner. He'll say it was stolen. If he was smart, he'll have a copy of an FIR complaint filed two days ago to prove his gun was stolen.
It doesn't matter.
No one threatens your life. Not while I'm around. I might be a bar tender and a fucked up camera man, but she should have remembered I was more than just that a year ago.
I was the best physicist around, and I didn't get there by just lazing around.
I might live in a rat hole, and my head might be fucked up beyond recognition. But the life I see, through a blue lens, is still processed by one of the sharpest minds in the country. A few nasty incidents in life later, when she found herself at the bad end of a nozzle and me on the other side of it, she knew what was going to happen next. She closed her eyes and waited for it. Bless her, she spared me having to close her body's eyes.
---
There is something horribly wrong with this country isnt there? You know there is. I gave up my profession to find it. I abandoned the girl I thought I loved right when she needed me the most, just to prove it.
This is my story.
This is my story, as seen through a blue lens.
And I have a question for you before I leave today:
Who rules the world?
--Dash
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Shattered glass
One of the best moments in life is when everything in life is suddenly as clear as the sparkling blue surface of a freshwater lake. Everything that ever was, everything that is and everything that will be, a beautiful symphony of pointless causes and their effects dancing a dance that binds everything together as one.
And then, there are those times when you have to see this very same vision through a shattered glass, a disturbed mind, a frustrated soul.
When you know the world is perfect but you couldn't care less, when you know see cracks and distorted images everywhere, when the closest thing to peace you can think of is being left alone surrounded by the shattered fragments of glass...
That can safely be called one of the most frustrating moments in life. Right now, I happen to be there. I am disturbed. A million horribly harsh colours are being reflected a hundred times inside the glass shards in my head, denying me the luxury of being wrapped in darkness.
I am disturbed.
And then, there are those times when you have to see this very same vision through a shattered glass, a disturbed mind, a frustrated soul.
When you know the world is perfect but you couldn't care less, when you know see cracks and distorted images everywhere, when the closest thing to peace you can think of is being left alone surrounded by the shattered fragments of glass...
That can safely be called one of the most frustrating moments in life. Right now, I happen to be there. I am disturbed. A million horribly harsh colours are being reflected a hundred times inside the glass shards in my head, denying me the luxury of being wrapped in darkness.
I am disturbed.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Through a blue lens(1)
I am 6'3". I have a body that shows I've been hitting the gym for 2 hours every day for the past 7 years. I have straight jet black hair that almost always crowns any East Indian. If you've been to one of the higher end bars in Mumbai, you'll probably recognize me as the guy serving the tables closest to the washrooms.
I drive an old Yamaha rx100, I live in a 10x10 rathole in a corner of mumbai that you would not want to enter untill you've had all your shots. I call myself Dheeraj, Dash for short, though thats not my real name.
This is not my real life.
My real job isn't serving tables at a bar.
I don't have to live in a rat hole. I can afford a lot more. I repeat: I can afford a LOT more.
I just don't want to draw attention to myself. Because what I really am, does not go well with the society I live in. What I really do for a living, is illegal in my country.
You see, I'm homosexual and I'm the camera man for a local porn house.
Late at night, after my shift ends, I ride up a lonely road to a farm house hidden away on the outskirts. Here, I assume my real name. My real identity. A couple of desperate ladies wait outside for me. They enter with me. In the next three hours, they strip, they pose, they groan, they moan and they fuck. I capture them on my camera. I leave it in the usual place: the table next to the Mughal flower vase. Editing them, distributing them, finding the girl for the next night and managing our pays are not my job. I'm just the camera man. The photographer.
I see life through the blue lens.
---
I've been doing this for 5 years now. 5 years of looking through the blue lens can fuck up your thought process. 5 years of looking through a blue lens has fucked up my thought process.
---
I've got something to tell you. But you're going to have to wait for it. Now is not the time. Keep checking this blog for my return.
Dash
I drive an old Yamaha rx100, I live in a 10x10 rathole in a corner of mumbai that you would not want to enter untill you've had all your shots. I call myself Dheeraj, Dash for short, though thats not my real name.
This is not my real life.
My real job isn't serving tables at a bar.
I don't have to live in a rat hole. I can afford a lot more. I repeat: I can afford a LOT more.
I just don't want to draw attention to myself. Because what I really am, does not go well with the society I live in. What I really do for a living, is illegal in my country.
You see, I'm homosexual and I'm the camera man for a local porn house.
Late at night, after my shift ends, I ride up a lonely road to a farm house hidden away on the outskirts. Here, I assume my real name. My real identity. A couple of desperate ladies wait outside for me. They enter with me. In the next three hours, they strip, they pose, they groan, they moan and they fuck. I capture them on my camera. I leave it in the usual place: the table next to the Mughal flower vase. Editing them, distributing them, finding the girl for the next night and managing our pays are not my job. I'm just the camera man. The photographer.
I see life through the blue lens.
---
I've been doing this for 5 years now. 5 years of looking through the blue lens can fuck up your thought process. 5 years of looking through a blue lens has fucked up my thought process.
---
I've got something to tell you. But you're going to have to wait for it. Now is not the time. Keep checking this blog for my return.
Dash
Midnight call
Its midnight.
Only 9 hours away from a big exam.
You're deep asleep.
You're sleeping because you know you need to sleep if you have to do well in the exam hall.
Your friend calls you up crying. She's been dumped, and she's not able to take it well and you're the only person she can talk to. She asks you "Why? Why me?".
What do you do?
What do you say?
What can you do?
What can you say?
Sometimes, the closest of friends cost you more than just time, laughter and joy. Sometimes, you have to gamble BIG with your life for your friends. And sometimes, you'll have to choose between a big exam, and your friend.
Exams are important. They tell you how much you've gained out of a course. They tell you if you're ready to bear the responsibility of knowing something. They result in marks and grades and an official doccument that can haunt you for the rest of your life.
But here in India, exams are bullshit.
I chose my friend.
Epilogue:
I slept at three that night after a nice long talk. By the time I hung up, she was feeling much better. I woke up early enough not to be late for the exam. And surprisingly, I did well!
In the end, I guess the satisfaction of helping out a person you care about is just as rewarding as a good night's sleep. Next time someone decides to call me 9 hours before a big exam, and asks for help...
I know what to do.
Only 9 hours away from a big exam.
You're deep asleep.
You're sleeping because you know you need to sleep if you have to do well in the exam hall.
Your friend calls you up crying. She's been dumped, and she's not able to take it well and you're the only person she can talk to. She asks you "Why? Why me?".
What do you do?
What do you say?
What can you do?
What can you say?
Sometimes, the closest of friends cost you more than just time, laughter and joy. Sometimes, you have to gamble BIG with your life for your friends. And sometimes, you'll have to choose between a big exam, and your friend.
Exams are important. They tell you how much you've gained out of a course. They tell you if you're ready to bear the responsibility of knowing something. They result in marks and grades and an official doccument that can haunt you for the rest of your life.
But here in India, exams are bullshit.
I chose my friend.
Epilogue:
I slept at three that night after a nice long talk. By the time I hung up, she was feeling much better. I woke up early enough not to be late for the exam. And surprisingly, I did well!
In the end, I guess the satisfaction of helping out a person you care about is just as rewarding as a good night's sleep. Next time someone decides to call me 9 hours before a big exam, and asks for help...
I know what to do.
Elevator
Up and down
up and down
on and on
forever
Stride into me
run into me
in and out
on and on
I'll come for you
I'll let you in
walk through my doors
in and out
Call for me
summon me
I'll open up
walk through my doors
I'll take you up
I'll take you down
I'll only come when you call
I'll open up
But don't you see
how you're like me
deep inside you know
I'll only come when you call
Yet even your life goes up
your life goes down
forever
deep inside you know.
up and down
on and on
forever
Stride into me
run into me
in and out
on and on
I'll come for you
I'll let you in
walk through my doors
in and out
Call for me
summon me
I'll open up
walk through my doors
I'll take you up
I'll take you down
I'll only come when you call
I'll open up
But don't you see
how you're like me
deep inside you know
I'll only come when you call
Yet even your life goes up
your life goes down
forever
deep inside you know.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Hell, its April 2010 already!
OMG! Its April 2010 and this is the first time I've felt like blogging in a really really long time!
Its been a hell of a ride since july 2009. Am I still living the life of my dreams? Hell yes! Life is awesome.
More about whts happening to me coming soon.....
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