Figuratively Speaking....

I have been doing research for a little over 5 years now. By now I have been exposed to a lot of the traditional pet peeves of a research career. The experimental errors being much more than the experimental reading itself, the computational models not even remotely matching experimental results, the funding crunch ensuring that you can't buy that $2000 part you need to get your machine working again. But the one thing that gives me the most sleepless nights is "Redoing the figures in the paper to fit the journal requirements"!

Someone once told me "A figure speaks a 1000 words". I took that advice a little too seriously. My average paper has at least 2 figures per page. And this is great until I have to submit the final version of the journal article for archival. A standard comment that I get in almost every review of a paper I have submitted is:

Your figures do not meet the journal requirements

1. Figures must be submitted separately, each as a separate file. Acceptable formats are Photoshop (.TIF) and Illustrator (.EPS).

2. Figures are generally published at 3 inches wide (1 column) by 4 inches high.

3. Increase resolution to 600 dpi and crop close to image when converting your images.

Now how do I get a figure converted to photoshop without having access to photoshop? Getting a "copy" of photoshop is almost never a problem. Getting the "right copy" is the challenging part of this problem! So I turned to my Law preaching, Fruit loving, Photoshop expert friend for help. She looked at my powerpoint figures and started ranting! "The colors are awful! The text is too close to the image! The labels are not symmetric! How could you get a Ph. D with this?" I lost my last hope of getting access to Photoshop!

Enough! I was going to find a way of getting super high resolution images in .tiff format without using photoshop or die trying! I tried Paint.net. It didn't let me resize the figures at the right resolution. I tried GIMP. It didn't let me import the text in the right font size and retain the resolution at the same time. But there was a way to make it work. I would have to delete ALL the text in ALL the figures and rewrite ALL of it again in GIMP. Ok! Let's call that Plan B! Basically the main problem with almost all the softwares was to get the right resolution of the image out of powerpoint without having to redo the image all over again.

After playing with every single free image software I knew of, I finally found a way of getting what I wanted. This method is so awesome that I should write another paper about it!

Step 1: Redo the figures so that they have the right width and height. (This is a one night job where all the text has to be moved around and everything has to fit inside the small space that is provided)

Step 2: Resize the powerpoint slide to the actual size of the figure

Step 3: Use cutepdf to print the resized slide at 1200 dpi.

Step 4: Use an image converter to convert pdf to tiff while retaining the resolution. This step retains the resolution but changes the size of the image and introduces borders.

Step 5: Transfer this to Picasa and crop the borders of the image and convert it to Filtered B&W.

Step 6: Open this image in Paint.net and resize the image to 3" by 4" and save the 600 dpi version as a .tif file!

Yoohoo! It worked! I am not a slave to photoshop!

Gadgetespair!

This post can be thought of as a homage to the familiar rant on how we have become a slave to technology and all that! The cell phones, the GPS and what not! I am a self confessed addict to all the above.

Today, we are faced with a fresh question! We have been thrown into a world where we have to choose! Choose between the Iphone and the Google Android! My first impulse was very predictable! Resistance! But I am fighting a losing war! The despair led me to conduct an experiment! What if instead of going with the flow and getting myself a T Mobile G1 (I have already decided that the day I succumb to this, it is going to have to be either the G1 or one of its successors), I took a step backward and got rid of my cell phone altogether?

That was slightly drastic! So step 1 was to keep my phone switched off. I sent an email out to all people who may have a tendency to call me at times and informed them that the best way to get in touch with me is email. Although, I would also periodically check my messages and voicemail!

Today is day 5 of that resolution! To say the least, it is not working out for me at all! For multiple reasons:

1) I spent more time waiting for my phone to switch on and off (every 2 or 3 hours) to check if I had any new voicemail. I got two new voicemail messages in the five days since I started the experiment.

2) Coordinating schedules with people has become almost impossible without the cell phones. I know people used to do it before we had cell phones. But just because one person was adamant enough to not want to use his, doesn't give him an excuse to inconvenience others.

3) It seems like a very selfish thing to do because you can call people whenever YOU want but people can't talk to you whenever THEY want! Ultimately you risk becoming "dispensable" from being "dependable"! Eventually you are a social outcast!

In the five days I have kept my phone switched off, the frequency of me wanting to check my voicemail has gone down. Considering that my phone still runs low on battery, I am going to continue pretending that I can do without the cell phone.......

Speeding Tickets and Instant Karma!

To most people I know the title of the post would be self explanatory! Yes indeed! I was recently caught for speeding. I went on one of those oft repeated trips to New Jersey this past weekend for my 6 year old cousin's birthday celebration. I was forewarned by my friend Wojciech about the impending accelerated traffic police activity on highways this weekend considering it was the last one in the month!

My uncle's place in New Jersey is about 180 miles from where I am. Optimizing for traffic and arrival time at NJ over the years, I have converged to a departure time of 7 pm. Being used to my usual schedule, my aunt called me at 8 that eventful night to find out that I hadn't left still. I was still in Rockville which added another 30 minutes to the total travel time! So optimistically speaking, I would be in NJ at 11.30. I told my aunt that I JUST left and will be there by 11.

On my way out, I realized that I had forgotten to take the Harry Potter book that I promised to bring for my cousin. This meant another detour and a stop at home. AND I had to stop for gas! There went another 20 minutes I am not getting back! Now I was looking at an arrival time of 11.50. DAMN!

Anyway I left from home at 8.45 and rushed out! At about 10.15, I realized that I might be able to make it to my uncle's place in a record two and a half hours!!! Then I just had to tell my aunt I was stuck in traffic for 15 minutes! Thats fairly believable. Wow! My speedometer automatically started recording some of the best speeds my car had seen. About 20 minutes later I saw flashing lights on my rear view mirror! This just HAD to happen didn't it :D

Parking on the shoulder, I started frantically looking for my registration in the glove compartment! There was LOADS of crap there! I was thinking to myself "One of these days I need to clean my glove compartment". The cop came to my PASSENGER side window! And I'm wondering why would he do that! What if I didn't have automatic windows? I would have to reach all the way to the other side and try to open the window unbuckling my seat belt in the process. And then, the cop could have ALSO given me a ticket for not having my seat belt on!!!!! Brilliant!

The conversation with the cop went something like this:

Cop: License, Insurance and Registration please.

Me: (Fumbling through a whole lot of documents and an open glove compartment) Here is my license. I am looking for my registration. It is somewhere here! Officer, I realize I was going a little too fast. But I really had to pee!

Cop: You what??

Me: (Still fumbling to find my registration) I really had to pee!

Cop: Oh ok!

(after about 30 seconds)

Cop: Is the car registered in your name?

Me: Yes. I have it here somewhere! Ahh! There it is! (Hand over everything to the cop)

Cop: Alright! I'll see what I can do and we'll get you out of here very soon!

(After about 4 minutes)

Cop: Here's what I did for you. I wrote you a warning for doing 84 mph on a 65 mph zone. There is no fine, no points for this. Other than that I wrote you a ticket for obstruction of view. You are not supposed to have these things hanging from your rearview mirror!

Me: (Grabbing and getting rid of the car freshener and the parking permit hanging down my rear view) Oh ok!

Cop: There are no points for this! You have a small fine!

Me: Alright! I am sorry for this officer!

Cop: Alright drive safe!

On my way out, in an elated state of mine I was thinking, "I just got out of a speeding ticket! The "I have to pee" trick worked! How awesome am I to come up with something so original! I should blog about this!" On resuming my journey, the speedometer needle wouldn't go beyond 65! It was like it was stuck there! I finally reached my uncle's place at 11.30 pm. Thankfully it was only 20 minutes from where I was stopped. (I might have made it in 18 if I wasn't stopped earlier for speeding. Yes! All this trouble was for saving 2 minutes! :D)

Back home, a quick google search revealed that this is a very common ticket and loads of people seem to have got it! There was this entire discussion about whether one should fight this ticket! "Dude! You got let off easy. Just pay it!" That was the majority response and I agreed wholeheartedly with it!

A little bit of thought made me realize what the cop had done! It was the end of the month! The Police department was in need of the much needed revenue and the cop was in need of the much needed appraisal for meeting his "Ticketing targets". He had ensured that the guy he was stopping realized he knew what he was being stopped for! He did NOT give the "traffic violator" guy a "speeding" ticket! The ticket the guy got was not something he would fight because the cop made the guy think "I got let off easy!" The government made the money they wanted to make. Court time was not wasted and most importantly the "offender" left the "scene of the crime" happy! So he eliminated the aura of negative emotions around him! It was Instant Good Karma for him afterall!!!

Unity in Diversity?

Doompi recently sent me a link to an editorial on a Chinese newspaper. Being from India and having been exposed to views our country has subscribed to and imbibed in me, I would be lying if I said that it did not agitate me. But thinking about it for a little longer gives a slightly more interesting insight into the whole "border dispute" that we have had. It is certainly true that we have had border issues with almost all of our neighbors. Barring probably Bhutan (who is dependent on India for their military support). Considering this, indians have always been led to believe that they have the most horrible set of neighbors. Be it Pakistan whom we have always been at loggerheads with, China whom we have had a long running border dispute in the north east and Ladakh, or Sri Lanka who has always held us responsible for most of their internal problems (whether it is because of the IPKF or the LTTE).

We helped Bangladesh get their independence from Pakistan in 1971. However things are far from rosy there. Before independence, Bengal was seen as the voice of india and where most of the mutiny struggles began. I was recently talking to a Bengali friend of mine and she seemed to be of the opinion that Bangladesh was far from different in comparison with the state of west bengal. She was all praise for the bengali literature. In her opinion, most of the commendable Bengali literature that instigated liberated thinking originated from the erstwhile east bengal. However she felt the need to emphasize at the end of her monologue that "the only difference is their religion". On the outset, it seems like a very innocent statement to make considering that it does seem to be the single most important difference between the two countries.

Several indians who have interacted with Pakistani people have also always felt that their cultures are very similar to theirs. The only difference there again is the religion. Religion is certainly a pretty big thing in India. Being from a very conservative religious family, being a hindu came pretty naturally to me. As a kid, whenever I used to think about geography, I remember focusing on the religion in a particular country. In my world view then, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis were mostly Muslim, Buddhism was predominant in China and parts of Sri Lanka. I remember feeling a lot more comfortable about Nepal as a neighbor because of it being a hindu state. Now that I think about it, it feels like a pretty natural thing to feel for most indians. Like the person in the Chinese newspaper mentions, it does seem to be a very "narrow minded" perspective that most indians seem to "religiously" follow. It explains the whole inter-religious riots that ensue most tragic man made accidents. Whether it was Babri masjid, Godhra, the Orissa missionary riots or Punjab/Khalistan.

Apart from religion, we also have a very dominant regionalism. Having lived in North India but being South Indian by heritage has exposed me to several prejudices as well. Of course most of it was jovial banter. But even if jovial, if "I" was exposed to these prejudices in the niche middle/upper-middle class society it goes to prove the extent of hatred imbibed into indians in general. This is probably why someone like Raj Thackeray (who has the balls to only talk in Marathi in a national channel interview although he speaks good hindi) still survives. The middle/upper-middle class society takes pride in condemning and passionately hating what he represents. But considering their own hypocrisies how can they be so contradictory?

I remember in middle school geography, I had to learn about all the different states in the country. There were separate chapters devoted to states like UP, Bihar and even the small state of Goa. Each state had its own unique language, its state dance and other cultural festivals. However the north eastern states were studied as three states together in one chapter (Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura).

People from North east have always been considered different from the rest of india. Mostly because their appearances are quite deceptive. Inspite of the prejudices lying deep within, letting these states go their own way is an obvious ego issue for the country. So before looking at our neighboring countries being villians, there is an impending need to address some such internal issues.

Haasil is one of my favorite movies. There is a dialogue in that movie "Arre bombay waale gundon ki baat hi alag hai. Unka kehna hai paisa do nahi to jaan se maar denge, ham kehte hain gaddi do nahi to jaan se maar denge. Wo choti industry hai! Ham des chalate hain!" (Translation: Rogues from Bombay are different. Their philosophy is give us money else we kill you. Our philosophy is give us the seat else we kill you. They are a smaller industry. We run the country!)

"Ham des chalate hain" is something which is deeply inscribed in most people from the hindi speaking belt! How then can we claim "unity in diversity"?

The Bridge Fantasy

My fascination with bridges dates pretty far back. People who have known me long enough would volunteer several stories about me wanting to take irritating detours on an already long drive just to go over a bridge, waking up in the night while traveling on a train at the slightest sound of crossing over a bridge, identifying cities by the landmark bridges it has and several others!

A couple of days ago, I made another one of those exciting trips to one of my most favorite bridges. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis. This rekindled some of those buried passions. So here's a small tribute to that passion, a list of my all time top 5 favorite bridges on Indian and American rivers.

#5 India - Howrah Bridge

(Photo Courtesy: http://www.isical.ac.in/~fire/images/howrah-bridge.jpg)

When I was 10, I made my first ever trip to the fourth metro in the country. Calcutta. Before people jump that there are more than 4 metros in India, let me remind you that the weather news on Doordarshan showed the temperatures for the metros of the country. And there were only four of them. Delhi, Bombay, Madras and Calcutta! Anyway before I get sidetracked, I was very excited about going to Calcutta. Partly because it was the only metro I hadn't been to. But mainly because I got to see the Howrah bridge. This was one of the most fascinating road bridges to me during those times. It is a cantilever bridge having two links which were supported on either ends of the bridge. Mainly because it is a draw bridge which is supposed to open up to let the ships through. It was during this trip that I first learned the significance of all the big structures on top of the bridge (which I later found out are called trusses) and how they support and distribute the load of the bridge. However I didn't get to drive on this bridge. I was too young to be legally allowed. So this one gets a spot at number 5!

#5 United States - Girard Point Bridge

(Photo Courtesy: http://www.pennways.com/I95_PA_CS_Compl.html)

I have been driving to New York/New Jersey from Maryland for over 3 years now. This trip happens atleast once a month (My aunt will want to disagree! But its true! :D). On some occasions, I drive through Philadelphia to avoid paying Toll on the New Jersey Turnpike. On my way to NJ, I have to pass through the Girard point bridge before entering Philly. This bridge has a roof on top. For the longest time, I used to wonder why I didn't pass the bridge with the roof on top on my way back to MD. (Lack of attention to detail?) Then on one trip it hit me! This is a two tier bridge! WOW! Lower level Northbound and upper level Southbound! I wouldn't go as far to say that this is a beautiful bridge but its certainly fun to drive through. Especially on the way back to MD! Number 5 for this one!

#4 India - Nehru Setu

(Photo courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53847312@N00/3708153816)

When I was around 8, my grandparents wanted to do the whole pilgrimage thing in Allahabad, Kashi and Gaya. So I got to take a week off from school and go to all the temples in Kashi (There were like 50 banks on the river shore and a temple on each of those banks) and bathed in the waters of river Ganga at each of those banks. Boring as the trip was, there was still a good thing about it. On our way to Gaya from Varanasi, I got to see the THEN longest rail bridge in the country. The Nehru setu in a city called Dehri-on-Sone. The bridge spans about 3.065 kms. (There is now one in Kochi which stands at 4.65 kms. Due to be commissioned in November this year) There was no water in the river that it was built over. So that was quite disappointing. The view wasn't all that great either. But it was still a fun bridge. So it gets a spot at number 4.

#4 United States - Millard E. Tydings Memorial Bridge

(Photo Courtesy: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/CpgfvNt72cK9cg8Ot9WjMA)

This is another bridge on my way to New Jersey from Maryland. The beauty of the bridge is mainly attributed to the refreshing view it provides when you are driving through it. There is about a 60 degree turn before entering the bridge. After the turn the bridge starts and you feel like you are driving straight into the horizon! Even in the winter it is all green! Its one of the most awesome natural views on my way up north! Gets a spot at number 4.

#3 India - Kaveri river bridge in Trichy

(Photo Courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trichy_Kaveri_Rail_Bridge.jpg)

When I was much younger, we used to take a trip to our hometown in Tamilnadu. A village called Ayikudi which was about 100 kms north of Kanya Kumari. This was a three day train journey from Delhi. We used to take a two night train to Madras from Delhi. Spend the entire day there. Then take another overnight train to our final destination. On the last leg, we pass through this city called Tiruchirapalli (Trichy). This came in the middle of the night. I would have my mom wake me up when we were to pass through Trichy so I could check out the Kaveri river bridge. It was one of the longer bridges on that leg of the journey. It was a lot of fun to look forward to waking up in the middle of the night to check out a bridge. I remember a particular year when I was so angry at my mom for not waking me up to see Trichy that I didn't talk to her for two days after that. How could she have slept off? Number 3 for you my dear Trichy Kaveri river bridge!

#3 United States - Delaware Memorial bridge

(Photo Courtesy: http://64.66.172.39/images/Delaware_Memorial_Bridge_DSC_0101.jpg)

My most favorite bridge on my way to New Jersey from Maryland. The road leading up to it is horrible. ALWAYS under construction. That's Delaware for you my friend. I usually decide about 5 miles away from this bridge whether it is worth taking the trouble of passing through the traffic and pay the additional toll on New Jersey Turnpike to go through this bridge. Or should I go through Philly and pass through the Girard Point bridge instead. Inspite of the lesser traffic and lower toll if I take Girard Point bridge, I have chosen to take Delaware Memorial bridge about half the time. Beautiful bridge! If not for the traffic before the bridge, it may have found a better spot. Number 3 for Del. Mem. Br.

#2 India - Krishna river bridge in Vijayawada

(Photo Courtesy: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/124/333397825_666b17d14c.jpg)

This is the other bridge on my way to my hometown from Delhi. We get to go on this bridge on the second night of Tamilnadu express, our train of choice while travelling to Madras from Delhi. When I was younger and did not anticipate the inconvenience of the heat during the summer months especially while traveling on trains, I used to HATE traveling in the Air conditioned coaches. The windows of those coaches always blurred my view of the majestic Krishna river bridge during the night. But every alternate year my dad's company did not pay for Air conditioned travel. So I got to happily enjoy the view of my second most favorite bridge in India!

#2 United States - Chesepeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

(Photo Courtesy: http://www.stateandfed.com/E_Newsletter/2008/E_News_10_2008.htm)

About three years ago, I went on one of my first 6 hour long drives! We rented a car from Philly and drove to Virginia beach. Two cars. Four people in each car! It was loads of fun. On our way to Virginia beach we passed through this bridge which suddenly became a tunnel and then became a bridge again! Fascinating! It was beautiful. Being dark outside, it was all lit up and looking wonderful. I had no idea that I had just driven through a very famous bridge tunnel. Being unexpected made those one of the best 23 miles I have driven through. Spot number 2!

#1 India - Airoli bridge

(Photo Courtesy: http://shutterbug.nu/photos/misc_airoli01.jpg)

My most favorite bridge in India is a slightly less popular choice! It is not so much about the BRIDGE itself. Rather it is the fact that this was the bridge where I rode a motorcycle fastest in India! The adjacent photograph shows the straightness of this bridge and the view it offers at the time when we used to ride on it! I did 110 kmh on my cousin's Hero Honda Splendor on this road. Illegal? Of course! Fun? Of course to the power infinity! The motorcycle was vibrating like crazy. It was scary like hell! I don't think that machine was meant to go that fast! But those were some of my last days of living in Bombay. And consequentially in India as well! Therefore an obvious First place!

#1 United States - Chesepeake Bay Bridge

(Photo Courtesy: http://scrink.com/blog/private/uploaded_images/baybridge-782939.jpg)

Whether people who have visited me in DC have seen the White house or not, they have certainly accompanied me on a trip to the Bay bridge near Annapolis. This is my most favorite bridge. I have made so many trips driving from home to this bridge, taking the exit immediately after and driving back home! 90 miles and One and a half hour of unadulterated driving pleasure! And the highest point is exactly in the middle of that whole trip. On the way into the bay, It has an entry zone which is a ~60 degree turn into the main part of the bridge. During this turn, you can see the bridge in its entirety. Beautiful! It obviously deserves the top spot!

I have always found it hard to decide what I like more. Rail bridges or road bridges. Rail bridges are awesome. I love the sound the train makes when it goes over a bridge. Sleeping on a train is almost impossible for me! Mainly because every now and then the train would make this sound of going over a bridge and I would want to check out the bridge. However road bridges are usually a lot of fun. Especially IF i get to drive on them!

There was a point during my freshman year of undergrad when I was seriously contemplating changing my major from Mechanical Engineering to the slightly less preferred Civil Engineering. I didn't go through with that. At this point, although I would rather make robots for a living, I have a long list of bridges I would like to drive/take a train through!

Quarter Life Crisis!

A few weekends ago, I went to New Jersey without my razor. This led to the appearance of a four day stubble. This is when I thought it would be a brilliant idea to let it grow a little more. People started asking me the "why" question. I needed a reason. I had a friend in undergrad who if asked why he did something would retort with a "Mann kiya hamara!" (Translation: "Because I felt like it!"). In my case, I didn't think "Mann kiya hamara!" would have satisfied them so I replied with a reason. I made up a resolution that I won't shave until I find a way to move to "phase 3". (Doompi has been kind enough to describe the three phases of beard growth)

Its fascinating how the human brain works. In the attempt of trying to convince people the reasons behind the slightly pronounced "stubble", I got convinced about the whole thing myself. Most people simply laughed it off saying that it doesn't look like something I would be able to sustain. That brought me to do what any warm blooded guy would do! Strive to prove them wrong!

If you search "beard" on youtube, there are a whole bunch of videos of people who have photographed different phases of their beard growth and their subsequent adventures with shaving it off! This is my half baked effort of trying to match up to all that.

Maybe I should shave this thing off and start all over again! Documenting it better this time? But whatever opinions, it might evoke, I really do like my beard now. In a way it makes me NOT want to move on to Doompi's, muchly publicized, Phase 3! :D So now I need a new answer to the "Why" question! Some web search led me to the terminology called Quarter life crisis! Like Col. Hans Landa said in Inglourious Basterds, "That's a bingo". It makes perfect sense! Now this revelation opens up great possibilities :D! Anyone selling any Motorcycles? ;)

The "Mooda"

A stool made of coir fibre. This is a word I heard after such a long time. I was fascinated and enjoyed every bit of the urdu language used in the film In Custody. This is a movie which I never knew existed. It deals with the plight of the urdu as the "dying language" in India. This movie was released in 1994. Today, more than 15 years later, I realize that I haven't heard the word mooda in a long time. And I don't think it is because I have spent the past four years of my life outside India. Although no word except "mooda" can do full justice to the "chair" in the above image, such words just don't seem to be in as much use nowadays

The film certainly was extremely moving. I enjoyed every bit of it. The characters were inherently filled with such humane contradictions that they were very interesting to watch. Shashi Kapoor plays the character of a wasted, attention seeking, one time great urdu poet. Om Puri plays the character of a disappointed family guy who goes out of his way to make a seemingly futile attempt to pay tribute to his claimed first love, the urdu language. Parikshat Sahni playing the character of a one time nawab attempts to project that he is very practical because he wants to sell his crumbling ancestral property. Yet, he goes out of his way to gather financial support for Om Puri's project urdu poetry and is visibly disappointed when it is not completed to his satisfaction.

However the most interesting character was that of Shabana Azmi. She plays the poet's wife who is a wannabe poetess. She attempts to project that she is disappointed by her husband reciting his poetry to a bunch of people who only seem to be after his alcohol. But she also steals her husband's poetry and drives away the one guy who seems to genuinely appreciate his poetry. Shabana Azmi also doesn't miss presenting her own feminist agenda in the movie (which she admitted to in a later interview) when she rants about how in a man's world a poet"ess" is not given the due appreciation.

Ismail Merchant, the director of In Custody, said in an interview that Urdu is probably dying in India as the politicians see it as a threat since it is considered the language of the muslims. But after watching the movie, and based on my interpretation of the characters, I didn't think ANY of them really cared all that much about the urdu language as such. They seemed to be more concerned about their own personal agendas which rose far above any appreciation for any language.

I can certainly speak for myself when I say that I fail to recognize a few urdu words and quite conveniently mistake them for hindi. On several occasions, when asked to find a hindi translation for a word, I have inadvertently come up with an urdu word and vice versa. I am not sure if I really care that deeply about urdu as a language but I certainly believe that words like "mooda" should not die.

"Press"ing Issues

Off late I have been following Indian newspapers a lot less than I used to before. I blame my new web browser for this! I switched to google chrome recently because firefox started crashing on me a lot. Earlier, there used to be so many times during the day when I opened a firefox window and sat staring at the startup page wondering where to go. Then I dropped down the navigation toolbar and picked one of the recent websites I visited. Google chrome does not have the drop down on the navigation toolbar. So what I want to do on the internet is no more a multiple choice question.

Timesofindia.com and ibnlive.com used to be part of my daily routine. It is the second best thing to do when I am at work, in front of the computer and have nothing else to do (the first is checking my email! NOT google chat!) I always used to think of Timesofindia as my daily dose of tabloid. Being the No. 1 daily in India, it would have been suicide for them to miss Kareena Kapoor's latest comments on Shahid Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan. Ibnlive was different. Their business model was focussed more towards sensationalization. I used to really enjoy many of these articles everyday.

Inspite of all the print/TV media bashing that many "Urban, English Speaking, Mayawati hating Indians" have been exercising, the fact remains that we are all still glued to that news channel/website. We end up picking the news channel which is closest to our own views and spend the rest of the evening either agreeing or disagreeing with what they have to say. In a democracy, newspapers are supposedly the voice OF the general public FOR the general public.

When I was growing up, during the times of Doordarshan, I used to really dislike Karan Thapar who never let the person sitting across the table speak. He was the quintessential "put words into your mouth" journalist. Undoubtedly, his research in those talk shows was phenomenal. And he asked really pressing questions. But he was no Tim Russert (Meet the Press).

Now, in retrospective, Karan Thapar seems to be a very pleasant man. Today we have all the Rajdeep Sardesais, Sagarika Ghoses and Arnab Debs who like to maximize their own screen times during talk shows. In most of their talk shows, the focus seems to be on covering the maximum NUMBER of issues and not on putting any one issue closer to a resolution.

The recent incident that comes to my mind is the coverage on the Abdul Kalam incident. Sagarika Ghose conducted a talk show where she had three people on a Face the Nation program. What followed was fairly predictable stuff. Sagarika Ghose was fairly clear about what she wanted to hear. She was in the complete VIP culture bashing mode. And to this objective, she made sure she put enough words into people's mouths, gave generous screen time to the "liberal, true indian citizen" guy (T S R Subramanian) and gave just enough screen time to the congress leader (Manish Tewari) so he could make a fool out of himself without getting a chance to finish what he was saying.

Its actually quite entertaining to watch all these people jumping up and down on their seats trying to make sure they get heard. Of course I might find it super annoying if I saw all this on a day to day basis. But the direction the media is taking the public is scary. Ibnlive has this section called Citizen Journalist. And this is what I recently saw on that! I think these newspaper people really need to get together and decide whether they want to project themselves to be liberals or conservatives. Whatever happened to the days of Sukanya Balakrishnan at 9.00 pm on Doordarshan when newschannels didn't have to make that decision!

Return of the Machine!

A long time ago, I went off on a long rant when the only CNC machine in our lab broke down for the first time since I started working in this lab. Its been four years since and by now I am totally accustomed to the idea of the CNC machine breaking down every now and then. Its kind of like a reflex reaction now. Restarting the computer AND the CNC machine solves the problem 95% of the time. If not there is some part that needs replacement. It usually takes about 2 weeks to figure out "which" part needs replacement. Then another 2 weeks to GET the replacement part and another week or so to replace the part. The machine kept breaking so often that we felt the need to get a new CNC machine two years ago.

So this time the newer CNC machine broke down. Obviously a 4 week backlog was going to ensue. So we decided to buy ANOTHER CNC machine. My boss came to know of this CNC machine in the market which cost $2000!!!! It was un"frikkin"believable! Our previous machines cost nothing less than $20000. This was 1/10th of the price. So what did they do? Did they go to the Junkyard, get a bunch of parts and put it together? We ordered this machine. 2 days later we got the answer to our previous question. Yes! They did to go to a junkyard to pick up parts and No, they didn't put it together!

The box they sent consisted of about 50 parts and the picture above! I was super excited! I got to play with all these parts and spend a full day building my own CNC machine! 3 hours later the beautiful piece of equipment on the right was sitting on one of the tables in our lab. I was extremely proud of myself. I had assembled an entire CNC machine on my own. Then it got me to thinking. How hard could it have really been? Obviously the company who made it thought it wasn't. Also it is fascinating how technology has progressed since the first CNC machines. The day may not be far when people who want to buy a car get a bunch of screws and motors along with a scary looking drawing like the one above.

The more pressing question is, Can we really resist technology? I obviously feel super excited whenever there is a new piece of machinery in the market which can do cool things. It is something like an occupational hazard I have to probably live with for the rest of my life. The only difference between me and these gadget freaks is that what "I" fancy costs a "little bit" more.

My dad resisted cell phones for the longest time. He refused to carry one! He thought it was invasion of privacy. It took a LOT of convincing and finally he caved. Now, a few years later, I am resisting the idea of the Smart phones. The G1s and the iphones are things that I want to keep away from because this time "I" think it would be invasion of privacy. Today when I don't answer my phone, I always have to answer so many questions like "Why didn't you pick up my phone? Were you intentionally ignoring me?" and such! Emails are easier, I can reply when I feel like. But if people find out I have a smart phone, I might be robbed off that luxury as well.

I know I am fighting a losing battle here. I am going to fall prey to this thing sooner or later! The real question is how much longer?