Bed to Bessie/Eliot's Beach: How I spent the second last morning in the Institute

May 13^th was a nice and beautiful Sunday morning. I woke up at around 5 am and started to convince my body for the jog. I went to Vishnu MJ’s room to see if he is awake and ready to run. He wasn’t. I put my shoes on and left campus through Taramani gate at 5:45am. I went to CSIR road. It had rained a few hours before and the road was still wet. The skies were overcast and the wind was cool. It was a perfect day for a jog. As I was running towards the Rajiv Gandhi IT expressway a slight drizzle hit my face. It lasted only for a minute or so. 

Then I took a left onto Rajiv Gandhi IT expressway. The traffic was yet to pick up. I took a right in front of the suburban station. I ran through western avenue road until I reached Thiruvanmiyur bus station. The run was faster than expected and was helped by a downward slope near the railway station. There was no traffic on this road too. 

Once I reached Tiruvanmiyur bus station I started running into crowds and slowed down a bit. I took a left onto Valmiki street and a right at Kalakshetra road. People were cleaning roads and cars. There were dogs too. But they didn’t bother me. After I reached Kalakshetra gates I took a left and then a right at Arundale Beach Road. I was getting tired by now and dropped my pace. I met other joggers too. I turned left at Tiger Varadachari Road and reached Anna Velankani road. From there I raced towards Pupil along the 6th avenue. 

 I had coconut water after finishing my run. After resting a bit I walked towards the beach. It was heavily overcast and I knew that I had no chance of catching the sunrise. The beach was full. With trash and people. A nice Sunday morning has bought out lots of families, students, jobless people, sellers, children etc. I started walking from one end towards the other.

There was nothing interesting except the clouds, doing their best to hide the sunlight. And the silent horizon with some distant ships. The waves were busy doing their usual stuff. Families and children were involved in the usual beach inanities. There was a group of boys practicing acrobatics. A few lonely couples and some overexcited beach dogs. A few beautiful faces and some pestering peddlers.  Some lost souls busy on the phones too.

I strolled around till 7:30. Ninad Paranjape later told me that he spotted me on the beach, but I missed him. I was sorry about that. I did not venture into water as I would have spoiled my shoes. 

This is a rough map of the run. 

The Google route is slightly off at around Thiruvanmiyur station. But this was more or less the distance that I covered. It is about 5 kilometers. I took 25 minutes when running towards the beach. The traffic was low and there were not many people on the roads. While returning back I was chased by dogs and had to stop for traffic at certain points. I took me about 32 minutes to return back.

The Graduation Post

This is a re-post of one of my older posts. From the graph making days two years back.

Andhra Mess

I have been thinking for quite some time to write about the ubiquitous Andhra mess. They are present all around the institute and all around Chennai. I saw a lot of them in Bangalore too. It is perhaps one of the most visible and present yet uncelebrated restaurant brands. 

The business model of an Andhra mess is very simple. They do not have a lengthy list of food items. They specialize in a maximum of 5 food items. Most common is Biryani (Veg, Chicken, Egg) and meals (similar to a Veg Thali). Add omllette and egg fry. The meals are usually priced at 50 Rupees and are very fulfilling. Veg Biryani is similarly priced around 40-50 rupees. Non-Veg is usually 20-30 rupees more than veg but it is still cheaper than the alternative places. The limited range of products helps them to keep the costs really low. 

Since they prepare a limited amount of items they just have to repeat the same cooking procedure every day. They can practice mass production of few and limited numbers of food items. It keeps costs low, minimizes waste, quality and taste are uniform, lowers service costs and time, the experience of eating is more or less the same. Fewer food items mean that the costs and manpower required to open any new Andhra mess is low. Finally the customer experience of the food that would be served is predictably standardized. 

The area around institute has seen a big boom in numbers of Andhra Mess in last few years. This has been helped by falling standards of institute mess food. We end up eating out most of the time these days. At IIT Madras, you generally register for a mess at the start of every month. So people have the choice of changing messes and eating according to their preference. But that would have helped if there was something to differentiate between the messes. They all cook the same stew. We are sure about the quality, taste and the experience of the food that would be served but not in a positive manner. 

But the illusion of choice helps to keep the system from breaking down. At the start of every month it is common to ask one’s mates, “Which mess are you in dude?” With the opening of Andhra messes, now the answer to the question is "Andhra Mess". 

Every new Andhra mess is very creatively named as 'New Andhra Mess'. Sometimes a number of Andhra messes next to each other vie for the claim of originality. Some of them are sophisticated enough to accept Sodexo food coupons. They also provide order over phone and room delivery. Some places even have specialized packaging (they pack the meal in plastic plates and bowls instead of plastics bags) in order to make it very convenient to eat an ordered meal. Just open and eat. 

The Andhra mess economy by any estimate must be big. Institute has about 8000 residents. Assume that half of them often eat outside in these Andhra messes. And they spend an average of 1000 rupees on eating at these places. This would translate into an annual spending of 4 crores (or 40 million INR), counting out two months of holidays. My estimates are on the lower side, since I know people who eat almost every meal there.

Ronnie and Reggie: Grown up

So the balcony has been converted into a flight school. Ronnie and Reggie have grown up. I took this picture yesterday.

Their flight lessons begin early morning. Soon after breakfast I assume. That noisy start to the morning serves as my morning alarm now. They have been really dirty and unhygienic residents. The place has been completely covered up with their droppings. Sometimes the smell comes into the room and I have to shut my windows completely. Although, I do not stay much in my room these days because of the field work, so that saves me from keeping the windows open during day. I am waiting for these guys to learn flying as soon as possible. Then I will drive them out and get the place cleaned up. With the fast pace at which they are growing, I think it won't be far away. See here is the place 

They generally sit close to the opening on the right. That is where parents enter in and bring live food. They shift to the other corner at night. Kommu plays classical music (Hindustani, Carnatic as well as some western) all night sometimes. I think they will grow up to become real connoisseurs of good classical music one day. And I think they will learn how to speak like one of the characters from Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation or Californication.

IIT Madras Hostel Nights

In the four and a half years that I have spent at IIT Madras, hostel nights used to be one event that all of us looked forward to. They were one big social event to close the academic year as well as say goodbye to passing out people. 

We used to have good food (not always though), loud music, RGs (bare it all testimonials written by friends), Wing Videos^{See PS} (hilarious and bare it all, sometimes literally, videos shot by friends), DJ, singing, dancing, photographs, morose speeches, sulking hostel wardens and their guests, awards and stuff. Sometimes (but not always) people also explored some forbidden borders and experimented with stuff which they were not supposed to. Not within institute limits. 

The parties usually start at 7pm when people started flocking into the hostels, followed by some ceremonies, awards, speeches and then the dinner. People would also go around the hostel reading RGs printed and pasted on individual doors or some convenient place. After the dinner the Wing Videos were shown. Saner people usually had left the hostel by this time. This included hostel wardens. After the Wing Videos it was a free for all with people largely doing whatever they wanted. You can sing, dance, drink, smoke etc. 

One of the biggest hostel nights was the Sharavati hostel night. It perhaps was the third biggest social event in institute after Saarang and Shaastra. This was our one chance of visiting the girl’s hostel and partying inside. Usually the whole institute would turn up. After a big dinner party at OAT (with song dance and stuff) people would move to Sharav. Sharav entrance would usually be crowded as the Tirupati on Vaikunth Ekadashi. Everybody wanted a peek inside that mysterious world. 

Over the years with the increase in institute population I have seen a general breakdown in restraint levels at hostel nights. A larger population meant larger number of guests and bigger crowds for dinner. And more jostling, shoving, pushing and bad food too. Suddenly hostel quadrangles (Open rectangular area inside the hostel) did not have enough space to accommodate people. This was exacerbated by the construction taking place in each hostel (to construct an additional floor and wings) which occupied a fair amount of space in the quadrangle. 

But the bigger cause of chaos was the general inability to exercise restraint. Larger fresher’s batches and anti-ragging measures have ensured that the senior-junior interaction is on decline. People do not get the chance to acquaint themselves with the rituals of the institute. Freshers, hardened by years of coaching and studies, are suddenly pushed into freedoms of the institute life without instilling in them the need to control themselves. They are not introduced to institute social norms in an organic manner. They also have a strong sense of entitlement, as if the institute has a responsibility of giving them a good life. But institute can only provide enabling conditions. It cannot coach you on how to enjoy your stay here. 

People usually take the shortest route to gratification. This lies in cigarettes, alcohol, non-conformism, subverting authority and getting delights from breaking simple rules. It is unfortunate and regrettable that some of the best brains in the country lack the simple faculty of exercising self-control and often misuse the freedoms. This is evident in the increased mayhem that follows hostel nights now. Bathrooms splashed with puke and floors redolent with its nasty smells. People who have different cultural norms are often bewildered by the freedom and culture inside institute. And when they lack the ability to control their actions it leads to embarrassing incidents. Some of which forced the administration to threaten to end the tradition of the hostel nights last year. And now all of us have to pay for behavioral illiteracy, poor social judgment and immaturity of a few. 

It is quite painful to see an IIT being forced to stoop down to levels of moral policing usually practiced by random private engineering colleges. Some of which apparently have floor marshals to ensure gender segregation, ban on mobile phones etc. 

Hostel nights will continue but with North Korean style regulations. Heavy punishments for drugs (NON-BAILABLE arrest warrants), alcohol (INR10000 with expulsion from hostel), Cigarettes (INR5000). Hostel nights have to finish by 10:30pm and guests should leave otherwise there is fine for that too. For Sharav hostel night only final year students can invite guests and that too only 2! It has been split into two parts where Hostel darshan will happen only between 3-6 pm. Then the scene will move to OAT where dinner, DJ, videos etc will happen. No guests can stay inside Sharav after 6pm. 

Given the skewed, adverse, unsympathetic sex ratio (6 boys to 1 girl now) I can totally imagine a scenario where the girl in her final year can auction the precious two invites. In some instances, it could be her previous boyfriends fighting it out amongst themselves. Many of the unfortunate ones will never have the chance to step inside Sharav. 

There are elaborate ISO style instructions, circulated last week, about how administration will ensure compliance with the new rules. But since we are not machines and neither are hostels factory floors, so I doubt the ability to enforce all of these instructions. 

Recently an additional floor was added to Sharav. There were concerns about the structural strength of the hostel. Keeping in mind the trends of the previous years when the entire institute would flock up to Sharav I wonder if the admin wanted to avoid overloading of Sharav. Imagine 2000 additional students moving inside the hostel one night and all the weight. 

PS: Hostels in IITM are arranged in rows of rooms called wings. People who live in same wings sometimes develop long lasting friendships.

Life in Delhi: Episode 5 (Arbitrary Observations)

There is no logic to this post. And the conclusions and views might be extremely foolish and absurd.....but I had nothing to do in those 35 mins...and I just kept observing people.

Sitting in the office of Chief Engineer (West) Projects, at the Delhi Jal Board's Varunalaya Head Office in Jhandewaalan, New Delhi, waiting for my turn to meet him and tell the purpose of my RTI, I was asked to explain the reason of my presence by a not-so-pleasantly speaking geezer. I showed him the letter send by DJB, asking me to deposit the amount required for getting the necessary documents printed. He bluntly told me to get out of there, as CE (W) does not sit there. His office is in Phase 2, but not in this building. I ignored him, and looked at the ceiling. I knew the letter had the right address, against his repeated assertions about the letter being wrong. After a few minutes he stormed out, swearing to send someone to set me 'right'. Nobody came though.

It was hot, my wrist watch showed a temperature of 42 degree centigrade. The office was cooled by two old ceiling fans. There were two more coolers, one working and the other one on leave. Two relic-like Remington typewriters and decayed old decaying furniture. Almirahs with doors that refuse to close, a wall clock with broken glass, two incessantly flickering tube lights, and 2 heavy sofas (my ass comfortably resting on one of them). An HP printer was the only symbol of IT age. The tiled floor was not too clean, and there was a calendar with Hanuman's picture and a shirdi Sai Baba portrait on an adjacent wall. The presence of a Hindu god always needs a secular justification. The entire ambiance made me feel that the office machines, furniture share some similarities with the staff. Equally old, archaic, stubborn, obstinate and refusing to go away.

The fashion was still the same 70s shirts, pants, fake belts, fake leather shoes, oiled hair, pot bellies, etc etc. Disgruntled middle aged employees, all bought on heavy dose of Nehruvian idealism, swadeshi slogans, bogus socialist dreams and economic theories, in an era of mai-baap sarkar.

Soon after Independence, the generation which had achieved freedom, was clearly devoted to the task of nation building. It had dreams for the new nation; it had seen the colonisation and the struggle. It was influenced by, and gave birth to Idealism. An idealism, which deeply influenced the nation builder’s dreams. Economy to Foreign Policy, this Idealism was everywhere. Non-Violence, Non-Alignment, Peace, Harmony, Self-Reliance, Social and Economic Justice were the buzzwords. The next generation born in late 40s to late 50s was bought on heavy dose of this idealism, and what did they see when they were of our age?

The generation born in early 90s or late 80s i.e. 1985, has seen the IT revolution, globalization, the buzz of 'India and China as next superpowers', economic resurgence, economic liberalization, nuclear bombs, record food grain yields, 20 yrs without a drought etc. What did these guys see when they were of our age? They would have opened their eyes in last years of Nehru or early Indira era (12 year old between 1962-1970, if born between 1950-1958). They would have remembered shocking defeat at the hands of Chinese, faltering economy, first big drought, ship-to-mouth existence and stories of American PL-480, failing industrial sector, foreign exchange rationing or actually rationing of almost everything in life from cars to food grains to milk. They would have seen Pakistan victory and emergence of Bangladesh, and a period when government was at ‘commanding heights of economy’, and almost all the jobs were available only with government. Private sector investment was almost non-existent (as it was subject to tax rates of up to 97%, heavy regulation, licenses, inspectors, export restrictions, etc). Their idealism and its dreams would have met such a cheerful life. Average ‘Hindu’ rate of growth was 3%, and if you subtract the population growth of close to 2 %, national income grew by an impressive 1% in the youth of this ‘idealistic’ generation.

Whatever little was available (government jobs, consumer products) they would have secured it with great difficulty, and often with the help of ‘contacts’ or bribes. So, it is not without a reason that they cling to these ‘difficultly’ secured jobs and value bribes and contacts so much. In their age, they, having secured good jobs, income and being a class apart from the hoi polloi of the nation would have felt as heroes. The aam aadmi would have looked up to this sarkari aadmi. A snob moving around with a swagger and huge inflated ego.

Something similar happened to the middle generation (1965-1985), they were bought up in a period of despair, economic gloom, political instability, factionalism, and failures…they became hopeless. Some of them escaped out of this gloom to find their destinies somewhere else, and contributed later to the economic boom of 90s.

So when the government is constituted by such people, you should not expect them to carry an attitude that they should serve the populace. They will continue to feel that they are the higher race in this land and will treat others with contempt. They cannot be expected to run an accountable government, unless forced to do so.

The real change in governance will come when the majority of the employees joining the government will be from the generation born after 1983. They would have seen the fire of mandal and mandir, the tragedy of Rajiv’s assassination, the ambitions of economic reforms, anxious acceptance of globalisation, the mobile and Internet revolution, nuclear tests, ITs rise, industrial resurgence, stock market booms, kargil war, etc. They would have seen an India increasingly asserting itself on the international stage (though still referred to as soft state, an attribute gifted to us by the previous generation), and opportunities available like never before to break the class and caste barriers.

When a large number of people from this generation will join the government services, people who are much more positive about life, and have seen success and opportunities galore, only then we will see a natural improvement in governance. If we take the age of a fresh government employee as 25, then this natural change can only come after 2020, when majority of this generation will enter 30s or early 40s. By that time they would be occupying the lower and middle level hierarchies, the one which matter, as they are the ones who finally deliver the governance to junta.

Regarding the old guard, now, towards the end of their careers they face a generation which has entirely different set of perceptions and priorities. This will give rise to conflict at every level, which is very evident all around us. I need not elaborate on this. The first generation was bought up in idealism and turned to cynicism. The middle generation (1970s to 1985) was bought up in cynicism and they became hopeless and the nation drowned in despair. Now, I cannot think of a proper word to encapsulate our generation, but if we succeed, and India indeed becomes a economic giant once again, with a stable society (we were never a world military power) we would have undone 3 centuries of colonial exploitation in less than a century. But what if we also fail ….due to some unexpected factor?

Gift Tax Sadness

'Your prize money towards winning Tata Crucible Campus Quiz is enclosed. Please note that tax has been deducted at the applicable rate from your wining amount and this amount is net of tax'

I received the letter and the draft for our quiz win yesterday. Initial excitement gave way to slight disappointment as I did not expect tax rates to be this high. I think they calculated this under the Gift Tax category and accordingly deducted 30% straight out of our little prize money. I think it is just too high for a small prize like ours. We are definitly not 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' winners, where the winning contestant had to part away with 30% of the prize money as tax.

The money foregone is almost 11K rupees. So there go our plans of treats and other things. Not happening now with the reduced amount.

Honestly speaking, I should not be the one complaining after studying for five years at one of the most heavily subsidized higher education centres in India.

Ronnie and Reggie

So this is the window in my hostel room. Since last 6 months or so it has been occupied by a pair of pigeons. Initially, I tried to block their entrance by covering up the lower part with newspapers. And I failed. They somehow ripped it open. After that rainwater washed away whatever little had remained behind. Then they made themselves comfortable inside.

They are decent occupants though. They have not dirtied up the place with their droppings....not as much as in some other rooms. Soon after occupying the place the lovemaking started. Pretty noisy one. And it was not restricted to day time. I have had my sweet dreams broken a number of times by their noisy lovemaking rituals. I clicked them once in action. Daytime offcourse.

Until one of them noticed me snooping around.

Meanwhile the inevitable result of the noisy lovemaking followed. I noticed two eggs one day. After that they started transporting in materials to make a nest of sorts. But the eggs did not last. It was late november and the monsoon had just set in. One day the rainwater came in and the eggs were wet. They could not have kept them warm enough with in the frequent rains and the eggs died. I found them broken a few days later. I guess they ate it themselves.

Soon after that another wild round of noisy lovemaking followed. Another pair of eggs. But this time there were no mistakes. The eggs hatched about two weeks back. I saw two yellow colored younglings under the pigeon. It was trying to keep them warm. Not a tough job in Chennai's heat these days.  They are growing up and doing well.

I am not sure about their gender but I have named them Ronnie and Reggie for now. They are mostly silent throuhout the day, except in the mornings. That I think is their feeding time. I have seen one pigeon regurgitate out stuff to feed them.

Most of the other residents in the hostel have blocked their windows using steel meshes. I did not install one in my room. But I think the next occupant will install one. I don't know where the couple would go then. Anyway, goodluck to Ronnie and Reggie. I hope they will do well.

Documentation of Special Newborn Care Units in Orissa

The report has been published on this link

http://www.ksrmccs.ac.in/?portfolio=documentation-of-special-newborn-care-units-in-orissa

Tata Crucible Chennai 2012

 We finally did it in our final year. Vishnu had made it to stage two years back. I never did. Neither with Kommu nor with Neeraj (who had also made it to stage two years ago). After Neeraj and Anand (Vishnu's regular team mate)  graduated out Vishnu and I paired together for one last shot. And we cracked it this year. 

In the prelims we did not do that well. Vishnu cracked about 10 out of first 10 questions, but the next 10 were mostly guess work. We somehow got in through the wild card entry. I was disappointed and excited at the same time. Getting a wild card entry means that other teams are better and you have to go through one more excruciating round. After a round of six questions we were tied with three teams with 10 points each. Then, in the next question one team got JRD Tata's full name wrong and was eliminated. And in the next question Vishnu got the Lego funda right and we were in. 

The first round was a dream. We got three out of 6 questions in the first round and were ahead of other teams (at 10 each). In the second round too, we answered three correct and were comfortable at 60 points. The next three rounds were buzzer rounds with negative marks. We knew atleast 4, but decided not to take any risks and indulged in no more guesses. Other teams tried their best to catch up. But negatives pulled them down. IFMR's team was particularly unlucky as they got three right and two wrong. Our strategy of playing it fully safe paid and other teams bled whatever little progress they had made in the negatives. Saarang Quizzing lessons had finally been useful!

In the final round the second team was 40 points behind, with 45 points at stake for the round. After first question was guessed wrong we had won. The feeling took some time to sink in. There was a sense of relief too. We got a MP3, a mouse and a Bag each. And small cash too. Some media coverage as well. Here and here. And here as well

Vishnu had come to know about it very late. We registered for it on Friday. I was in Bangalore for IIM interviews and returned back to Chennai for two days so that I could participate. This was right in the middle of my Shillong and Bangalore interviews. National finals are on April 8, but I am not having any hopes for that. If there is any book or site from which we can prepare for the finals please tell :)