The Heart and Soul of Indian Ocean!

Indian Ocean's music has some very good memories associated with it for me. The first time I got introduced to their music was in my first year at IIT Bombay. I don't recollect whether it was because of the repeated, torturous reference to the Rewa river or the awesomeness of the song itself! But during the 2001 Hostel 3 PAF, Nimaad, I fell in love with Maa Rewa. Subsequently, I got my hands on a cassette of their popular album, Kandisa. I went to Delhi later that summer to visit my parents and my grandparents. I must mention here that when I go to Delhi, I am welcomed by a home filled with the smell of incense sticks, continuous playback of M.S Subbalakshmi reciting the Vishnu Sahasranaman or Swami Sukhabodhananda making a living for himself on Aastha Channel. Every now and then, some songs of Maharajapuram Santhanam would be played to cleanse the house of all the spirits. Needless to say, I was quite nervous about playing my Indian Ocean album in this atmosphere. After some deliberation, I convinced myself. I played Kandisa. Noone objected. Afterall I was on a vacation. The consensus was that I could have my way for the few days I was going to be there. After the cassette had been played a few times, my grandmother asked me, "Hey Arvind. What is this song you keep playing". I thought to myself, she's probably had just about enough of my stupid nonsensical music and she has finally decided to put her foot down. But much to my surprise she actually really liked it. And so did my grandfather and my mom. Kandisa was played a lot for the rest of the summer of 2001.

After that summer, I moved on to some other music because I had had a little too much of Indian Ocean by then. But later in December 2003, at Mood Indigo, I got to see them perform live for the first time in my life. All the love for Indian Ocean got rekindled. I went on to download their previous albums, the likes of Desert Rain and Indian Ocean and got into the world of their music all over again. Needless to say Kandisa still remained my most favorite album even then.

In September 2008, Indian Ocean came to DC. I roped in a few people and went to see them perform live once again. I LOVED this concert. This was the first time I noticed Asheem Chakravarty, their lead percussionist and tabla player. I realized that he was the magical voice behind many of their songs. Especially the vocals in one of my most favorite songs, Khajuraho. I was fascinated at how he could sing while also playing the tabla. A rare feat among musicians, I learned later. The thing that was most jaw dropping was how he got some very interesting sounds out of the guitar. Asheem knew exactly the right chords to strike. Well that doesn't seem to be a very unique feat for a musician, does it? Well the difference was that he was not using his fingers to play the guitar the traditional way. Rahul Ram, their Bass guitarist, held out his guitar and Asheem played it as if it were a tabla. I wish I had a recording of that performance. Words can not describe it.

I clicked on a link today. A video news clip on Indian Ocean. This was about their latest movie: Leaving Home - The Life & Music of Indian Ocean. Three of the band members were on the interview doing a "live jam session" much to the amusement of the host. Asheem was conspicuously absent. I wondered what happened. I later learned that Asheem Chakravarty passed away on 26th December 2009. I felt some very weird emotions. I was filled with sadness, hurt but most of all guilt! This happened over four months ago and I found out now. How could I not care enough? My brain came up with million excuses for why I may not have gone through the news on 26th December 2009. But none of them seemed to matter! I still feel miserable. I feel ashamed of calling myself a fan. I don't know what I could have done by knowing about this four months ago. Obviously nothing! But, I might just have been spared of the guilt!

Some voids can obviously never be filled. Rest in peace, Asheem Chakravarty!

Very "Enterprise"ing

A lazy Monday evening at 8 p.m!

Sally: Hi. Is this Arvind A...n.....a....n...tha.....nayaranaranraananann?

Arvind: Yeah that's me!

Sally: Sorry for mispronouncing your name. This is Sally from Enterprise.

Arvind: Hi Sally! That's fine. Don't worry about it.

Sally: I am calling to ask you a few questions about the recent rental experience you had.

Arvind: Can you please remind me of the period of this rental?

Sally: This was on March 12th in San Fransisco

Arvind: Well! I was nowhere near San Fransisco on March 12th. There seems to be a mistake.

Sally: I apologize then. Thanks for your patience. Byebye

Arvind: WAIT!!!! I just want to make sure what this is about. I want to make sure there is no credit card fraud here.

Sally: I understand sir!

Arvind: Can you give me the confirmation number on this rental?

Sally: Certainly. The number is #$%#@. And the telephone number of the rental location is ##$-T%$#-%#@#.

Arvind: Thank you sally.

Sally: Byebye

A few minutes later.......

Jamie: Thank you for calling enterprise san fransisco. How may i help you?

Arvind: Hi Jamie. My name is Arvind Ananthanarayanan and I wanted to get a confirmation about a recent rental activity. I got a call from one of your employees about a rental i seem to have completed in san fransisco on 12th march.

Jamie: That is weird. What did you say your name was?

Arvind: Don't worry about that. I have a confirmation number. That would probably be more helpful. Here it is ..........

Jamie: Yes. You seem to have rented a PT Cruiser on 12th March.

Arvind: You see, I live on the east coast and I have not been outside a 200 mile radius in the past 3 months. So this doesn't seem right.

Jamie: Can you confirm your driver's license number?

Arvind: Sure. It is .......

Jamie: And the last four digits of your Amex card?

Arvind: Are you kidding me here???

Jamie: Oh. there seems to be a mistake. The person whose credit card was charged doesn't have your name. So you should be fine. We probably got the drivers license number off by a couple of digits and the person who entered it did not bother to verify the name on the rental!

Arvind: Wow! Can you give me your name again so I can reference you if and when I find my credit card charged.

Jamie: Sure. My name is Jamie and don't worry your credit card won't be charged.

Arvind: Thanks Jamie. I would love to take your word for it. Byebye.

So am I just going to get some random speeding tickets here or am I missing the big picture here? That's it. I had my Tyler Durden moment!

Tiponomics

Mr. Pink: Uh-uh, I don't tip.

Nice Guy Eddie: You don't tip?

Mr. Pink: Nah, I don't believe in it.

Mr. Pink: I don't tip because society says I have to. All right, if someone deserves a tip, if they really put forth an effort, I'll give them something a little something extra. But this tipping automatically, it's for the birds. As far as I'm concerned, they're just doing their job.

Anyone who shares my love for Quentin Tarantino's movies will immediately be reminded of this dialogue as part of the opening sequence of Reservoir Dogs. To say that I found the concept of calculating the tip in a restaurant/bar (as a percentage of the check amount), ridiculous, would be playing it down. When I was in undergrad in India, we tipped a standard Rs. 5 on every check irrespective of the check amount. In our regular restaurant, we would tip Rs. 10. This was enough to ensure that the seven/eight of us got a table on a jam packed friday evening in the most popular restaurant across the street from campus. After moving to the United States a little less than 5 years ago, I was familiarized with the concept of tipping around 10-15% of the check amount during one of my initial escapades from the travails of graduate school. Eventually I got used to calculating the tip as 15-20% of the check amount. I remember being very proud of myself for being a "generous tipper".

This was until I started going out with another colleague of mine, Alan. Alan used to tip 40%, sometime 60%, of the check amount. This made me feel very uncomfortable. Suddenly, "I" was the cheap guy. That is obviously not a very desirable trait to possess. Especially not if you want to sustain a healthy camaraderie with your regular drinking buddies. So I just played along. Everytime I used to go out with Alan/Wojciech I let them put out the tip first so that I knew what to do. But the economics of tipping still evaded me.

Wojciech and me are now treated as regular customers in our popular neighborhood bar in College Park. Everytime we go there, we are greeted with an extra wide smile, we get the best waitress, and we get our drinks in Glasses even if everyone else is getting them in plastic cups (anyone who has ever had beer knows how much that matters). Based on our tipping style, we managed to create a "brand" for ourselves as customers. Now to sustain our brand value, we HAVE to continue to tip generously. However we do get away with the occasional stinginess!

Now all this got me to thinking! How does one come up with the tip amount? Based on my experience here, I have come up with this pattern, an algorithm, to calculate my tip amount. I now calculate the tip as a non-linear function of:

1) My regularity at the restaurant/bar.

2) The check amount.

3) The amount of time I have been sitting there.

4) The tip has to exceed a predesignated "minimum tip amount". However a higher check value can be used as an excuse for a smaller overall percentage of the check as tip. As long as it is greater than 15%.

5) The friendliness of the waitress. (Although "some" waitresses don't even have to smile)

Now the above rule is applicable to the customer. What about the waitresses? Their side of the story is also, quite obviously, driven by economics. Most waitresses get paid a fixed hourly rate. So the best working hours for the average lazy person would be the off peak hours. But any waitress who wants to make the most of the job would want to pick up the peak hours for her shift. Now this is just stating the obvious isn't it?

A not so obvious observation for me has been the appearance of the waitresses. On an average day, most waitresses dress comfortably. However on a peak night (Friday/Saturday), a LOT of effort goes into the appearance. The clothes are more appealing, the make up, more liberal and the blouses, lower cut. Now why not do this every night? Of course the comfort level and the effort that goes into dressing primmer are both good arguments. But there could also be this deeper rationale that goes into the "dressing optimization" routine. Remember, there are bonus points for friendliness. On an average day with not too many customers, they can get their bonus points simply by being more frequent in refilling your cup of coffee or your beer. Or for that matter they could simply spend that extra minute talking to you. However on a busy night, they don't have the luxury of providing that "excellent" service. They are pressed for time because of the sheer volume of customers that need to be served. So the appearance is simply used as a means of getting those highly desired bonus points for friendliness! Make sense?

Coming up next: Astrology

My Great American Road Trip

4 people, 7 days, 3123 miles!

We finally did it! We drove from Baltimore to Las Vegas this Christmas break. Yeah! I know! Las Vegas is not really the other "coast"! But it is across the "country" all the same! So I think I can get away with calling it a "cross country road trip"! :D We started driving on 12/24/2009. A day by day account of the trip follows:

Day 1

Start: BWI

End: Morristown, TN

Miles covered: 479

We picked up our rental at 12.30 from BWI. It was a standard SUV. A Mitsubishi Endeavor. Then after lunch at home and a stop at Patel brothers for some "essential" groceries, we hit the Beltway at about 3.00 pm. I was driving the first shift. Our goal was to get to New Orleans by the end of Christmas day! Being Christmas eve I was expecting the roads to be pretty busy. But surprisingly enough we got out of the city without experiencing much traffic. I was driving at 50-60 almost all the way to the outskirts of the city. (After that the speeds obviously rose up to about 80 mph). After dinner at Salem, VA in a Chinese restaurant called Schezuan, we called it a night at around 11.00 pm in Morristown, TN.

Day 2

Start: Morristown, TN

End: Slidell, LA

Miles covered: 614

After breakfast at the hotel, we hit the road at about 10.00 am. Ragini drove for most part of the day. Our first stop today was Chattanooga, TN for lunch. This was a nice little town with a river front and a couple of bridges. Being Christmas day, the only place that could possibly be open was something asian. So we had a Thai lunch which was surprisingly pretty good. The next stop was Birmingham, AL. The town was CLOSED. There was not a SINGLE soul on the city streets. We gave up! Finally after driving a little outside the city, we stopped for gas. Gas mileage on our SUV was HORRIBLE! We would be lucky if we got anywhere near 18 miles to a gallon. Having another 2500 odd miles to go from here we were already feeling the big hole in our pockets (and the ozone layer?) Amogh took over the driving from here. At around 8.00 pm (Central time) we stopped at Slidell, LA just before New Orleans (30 miles) and had dinner at Waffle house. This place was proud to serve on Xmas day. Apparently it was part of the Xmas celebration to have dinner here or so they claimed. That was the first true blood white american person we interacted with in the two days since we left DC.

Day 3

Start: Slidell, LA

End: New Orleans, LA

Miles covered: 32

Started from Slidell, La and drove through the twin span bridge. Beautiful! My bridge count was now up by one. In 45 minutes or so, we reached New Orleans and walked for a good 4 or 5 hours from then. We saw the french quarter, visited the river front, saw the HUGE discouraging line outside Cafe dumonde and had a croissant with grilled veggies for lunch (Being a veggie sucked in New Orleans. I really wanted to have the cajun red beans with rice but it comes with the meat in it!) New Orleans was a fun town with a lot of French architecture, shops selling funny paintings, t-shirts and so on! The French market here sort of reminded me of Sarojini Nagar market in Delhi. Subsequently we went wine tasting at this place called WINO. They had an interesting way of tasting wines. It pumped wine out of the bottle into the glass at the touch of a button (measured 1/2/4 oz and poured into the glass). Then after a middle eastern dinner, we went to a Blues bar and a Jazz bar. Blues was awesome but Jazz was kinda boring. But the Jazz guy started using a funnel shaped device covering the mouth of the trumpet. Some interesting sounds and some nerdy remarks and conversations followed (on how the funnel shape was influencing the sound waves coming out of the trumpet)

Day 4

Start: New Orleans, LA

End: Denton, TX

Miles covered: 582

It was finally my turn to drive again. After breakfast in uptown New Orleans with Ragini's friend we drove through a quite up class neighborhood of New Orleans before heading out. On our way out we drove through the longest bridge in the world which is fully on water. The pontchartrain causeway. At a length of 26 miles it was just an endless waterbody. The water rose right upto the horizon. It took us a good 25 minutes or so to get past the bridge. Initially it was beautiful and exciting to see so much water but it quickly became boring and monotonous. From here on, I drove a straight 8 hours or so to Dallas with a 10 minute gas break. The traffic was pretty heavy. So I had to find the "rebellious" drivers who would "show me the way". It was interesting how they sped away from me as soon as they realized I was following them. My first catch was a pair of Ford trucks who were cruising along at 85 mph and then sped away at about 100 mph as soon as they realized I was following their lead. Then I realized that I had to keep the illusion going that I am not really "following" the next rebellious drivers. With some lane change moves, I was finally able to convince this Mitsubishi Eclipse to lead me for a while at 90 mph. Finally after an Indian dinner at Dallas, TX, we called it a night at Denton, TX.

Day 5

Start: Denton, TX

End: Santa Fe, NM

Miles covered: 702

Starting at 10.00 am, we stopped for a Mexican lunch at Oklahoma City at about 12.45 today. Thanks to empty roads with 70 mph speed limits (where Vivek and Ragini mostly drove at 90-100), time zone change to gain an hour and our lack of desire for drinking water, we made it to Santa Fe, NM which was 700 miles away from where we started, by dinner time. The horizon during the drive was all farm lands for a long time (I realized that the FM highway numbers in Texas mean "Farm to Market"). Subsequently it changed to desert and mountains in New Mexico for the last 200 miles or so till Santa Fe. Santa Fe was a promising looking town where we were able to find an awesome Italian restaurant called Andiamo for dinner. This was among the better Italian foods I have had. Good stuff!

Day 6

Start: Santa Fe, NM

End: Flagstaff, AZ

Miles covered: 383

We started the day by visiting the Cross of the Martyrs which is a point on the top of a small hill. The trail to the top was covered with snow which made the hike up interesting. Subsequently visited two churches and the plaza at Santa Fe. The indians at Santa Fe had some very exciting talent to showcase. Clay sculptures, bracelets and necklaces made of shells, corn and so many other fascinating works of art made the whole city tour quite worthwhile. Subsequently went to the Railyard which was the one thing I was really looking forward to. But that was disappointing because there was nothing much to do over there. Subsequently got to check out the photographs of Lisa Kristine which seemed extremely impressive. She seemed to have spent a lot of time capturing some very interesting shots in India/Nepal/China etc. Finally ended Santa Fe, NM at 3.00 pm after lunch at Tia Sophia. They had really good food and they had this bread called Sopaipilla which was exactly like the Bhature. Amogh then got us to Flagstaff, AZ by 8 in the night. This was another interesting town where we found a pretty good brewery for dinner.

Day 7

Start: Flagstaff, AZ

End: Las Vegas, NV

Miles covered: 362

After a good breakfast at the motel, we started driving towards grand canyon at 10 am. It was again my turn to drive. It was snowing big time all the way there. We couldn't get to any "views" there so drove out of there and decided to go to hoover dam and spend some time there. On our way there, we got stuck in big time traffic which took us about 2 and half hours to get past an 8 mile stretch through Hoover Dam. Hoover Dam looked like a very interesting place. But it was already pretty late in the night. So we decided to come back here to check it out on the 1st (which we did) Finally at 8 pm Pacific time, our cross country trip came to its end in Las Vegas, NV on 30th December 2009. One day before planned.

Interestingly enough, at the end of the trip, NONE of us were tired of driving.....

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!