The nation system

Terror attacks all over the world in the last 10 years, have made me think about the reason behind the existence of terrorism.

I do not deny that the major backing to terrorism is from people and countries who do it for politics, power and money, yet, the people who kill themselves in these attacks are motivated by a personal cause which they very strongly believe in. These could be their feeling of oppression by another country/religion from which they want to gain independence. Be it Kashmiris in India, LTTE in Sri Lanka or Chechnya guys in Russia.

If we look at the history of human civilization, we have moved from anarchy in the hunting/gathering pre-historic times to reign by tribal lords through force to peaceful monarchies to national invasions and colonialism (by British, French etc) to the most recent system of independent nations after World War II. Yet, this system too is not the ultimate solution. Terrorism, I think, is one of the signs of an inertia towards many-small-and-independent-countries system with multi-lateral cooperation between neighboring states. We are seeing the same model bring great development and prosperity in Europe. Would the region have been so peaceful, if it was just one nation and not so many small nations? I strongly doubt it. History shows that there is a deep resentment among people from the various countries of Europe, namely between the English, French, Germans etc. In fact, the internal feud between the various regions of "United Kingdom", shows that people of different culture find it very hard to live together.

Despite all the development in technologies which connect people, I do not see any sign of people from different cultures merging into one peaceful culture/nation. There isn't any tendency to secede in the US, because the culture here is very homogeneous throughout the country. Whereas in countries like India, there is a separatist movement in almost every part of the country.

Therefore, even though I am neither pushing for it nor assuming that it would ever happen, I think, the current nation system is pushing towards a new system where, instead of few large nations, there are many small countries, each of which is homogeneous in itself in culture, and who cooperate which each other very extensively to form a economy where none needs to be self-sufficient and yet in collaboration each is prosperous.

In the end, I would like to leave you with two questions.
1) Since every country's boundaries where defined mostly by force during the history of its creation, like India's integration during 1947-1950, or Unites States forceful acquisition of southern states like Texas and California, what reason is there in claiming that people of a region have no right to secede if they so wish based on cultural differences. To start with, the formation of the country was not caused due to great unity among the people of its different regions. The only reason is that the stability and peace of a country will be disturbed. Yet, if this desire itself become the cause of pain to the entire country, is it not better to just let the people be at peace on their own lands.

2) By what logic do we call these people terrorist and hate them, when we call participants of violent independence struggles of present countries to be revolutionaries and freedom fighters? At the time of these struggles many of them killed not just officials of ruling countries but also their families. And yes, they were actually called terrorists by the then foreign governments, in writing.

Terror

We have all heard the page-3 people and common people, instigated by the press, screaming against the politicians in the wake of Mumbai terror attacks recently.
To me, it sounds very artificial. Here I present my view on the incident, the response seen and the response required.

The terror attacks could take place because we have a lax security and intelligence system. Our self-interested politicians are more busy in petty politics. Our administrative system has not been developed to handle such complicated situations. Our intelligence agencies have little coordination and not enough financial support to keep up a constant effective vigil.

But crying hoarse of the politicians is a practice that the media has supported with full vigor because it gives them spicier sound bites, a more agitated audience and hence bigger viewership. Criticizing someone who is already in the dock as it would be hard for him to defend himself because of his fallen image is a very common trick. Children do that in school to offload a possible accusation on them over to an infamous kid even if he wasn't even present at the crime scene.

These attacks are a result of the overall failure of the system. Weak laws, defective election procedures and most importantly, the lack of will to call this country our own.

What do we need now ?
1) A well developed crisis management team and rules/laws.
2) A new federal intelligence agency for internal and partly external intelligence gathering with huge funds.
3) A warning to Pakistan that the patience of India has run out, and the next such incident would invite direct strikes on the terror camps in PoK.

What we can do about generating the same feeling of nationalism and pride in our country that US has, I do not know.

A wednesday

So here comes my first review.

This movie was clean, had an underlying glue of narrative and was made with honesty.

I don't look much at the core story of a movie as much as on how it was made. I believe that a good production can build a great movie from a simple tale and bad production can ruin the most innovative stories and concepts.

The movie was fast, as a thriller should be.
It did not try to force the two sides in conflict into definitions of good and bad.
I made use of the viewer's intellect which is ignored or ridiculed by half of the movies.
It could build and keep a chain of suspenses.
The characters looked and acted their parts.

The movie slacked here and there, as any human creation will.

But over all, a must watch. If you don't like it, disagree with me here.

Money and talent

There is no relationship between the two when it comes to money being invested.

Thousands of internet businesses got loads of money during the dot com bubble build up. Most of them went bust, because they were crappy.

Crores of rupees is invested in hindi movies made in India. A lot of them are junk. Yet, people put half a billion rupees on stupid/incapable directors, actors and other film guys.

Bottom line : Great hard work and talent cannot be differentiated from normal hard work and talent by ordinary folks. They are their own rewards.

Papers

I recently went to my first scientific conference, alone. One of the most important things I realized was how deceptive publishing a paper is. It all depends on how you have written a paper and how you present it at the conference.
No one checks the authenticity of your results. So, you can literally say anything and get away with. No one understands your research deeply enough in a 30 min presentation. So, you just need a central idea presented well. The Q n A time is too small to let anyone prove anything, and yes, you can shut anyone out by saying you would take their question in detail after the talk.

So, finally it all boils down to how serious you are about your research. Anyone can get a PhD.

All this was confirmed by an experienced researcher and professor when I shared my thoughts with him.

Reviews

I am no expert on movies. But I love them. I love watching them. I love thinking about their process of production. I love thinking about thought process of the maker of the movie.

So I decided to write my thoughts about them whenever I watch one I like.

Keep looking for my first comment coming soon.

Art

Though I am no artist, I would say that I have never seen a more artistic portrayal of woman's beauty than here by this photographer.

http://www.sexyjack.us/

He has an RSS feed too, if you would like one. :)

London

I love London. I went there when I was 19 in 2002. The royalty of the place astounded me. In fact the whole of Europe is so lovely. And what to speak of London's weather. Some people call it a nuisance, but to me it's romantic.

When I came to US last year, I was disappointed. Even though I am in LA, this place doesn't have the grandeur of London.

I generally say this when I compare the two places: US is a common man's place, but London was made for the Kings.

I am dying to visit it again.

Of trusts and mistrusts

Life keeps becoming less and less glossy. Once there was trust, now there is none.

Yet, it teaches me new things. That I have to find people I can trust, love and share my life with. I never did it before. I realize it now.

With tears in my eyes ...

Goodbye Bill

I love you

http://www.microsoft.com/

The genius - Sachin

This one is taken from Aamir Khan's blog. He watched the IPL final with Sachin. Now you all will know, why he is one guy I worship.

"The match last night was certainly exciting but what made it a unique experience for me was that I had Sachin next to me. You will find this hard to believe but Sachin was able to predict every ball before it was bowled. “He is going to bowl a bouncer next”,
“This one is going to be a slower one”, “Full tilt outside the off stump”, “Next one will be a yorker”, “Short of length”. It was uncanny. HE GOT IT RIGHT EACH TIME!!! No wonder its so difficult to bowl to him. He has an amazing instinct. And he told me his logic for each prediction which I wont share with you as I don’t want to reveal how his mind works. But all of us were dumbfounded with his instinct and his acumen. So at the end of it I told him next time we watch a film together I’m going to tell him whats going to happen next!"

Wasting time

I think people tell others that they are wasting time, then they want them to do stuff that they think should be done.

I think, a person never wastes time.

He is just being himself, when he seems to be doing that.

Romance

Imagine lying on a smooth lawn on the shores of the Pacific, hidden from the public view. Imagine the sun setting in front of you, the wind cool and waves slashing high after hitting the rocks. Imagine that there is a clean sheet below and a warm blanket over you to protect you from the chill.

Now imagine that your love lies beside you in the same blanket, cuddling. Feels great, ain't it ?

What I describe here is not my fantasy but a description of a moment seen with my own eyes, in San Diego.

The sight touched me, both for its beauty and the effort that they put in to make it so special. It was not vulgar.

Jobs has done it again

Jobs, Steve Jobs !

A man who keeps creating wonders, tirelessly and happily.

With iPhone 3G, he has pushed iPhone so much ahead of others that they can only hope of catching up in 5 years. Yet, every CEO of Nokia, Samsung and Blackberry knows in his heart that one cannot battle with GOD himself, Jobs.

[clap][clap][clap]

I look at him with open-mouthed admiration ! I am unashamed of it.

Hoping to grab this phone asap.

Reply : People, Government and the Country (Bhagwati's blog)

This is in reply to Bhagwati's post : People, Government and the Country

Agreed. But ...

It will be wrong to assume that all acts of the government which are not aligned with public will are wrong or evil.

The behaviour and action of any entity depends of its beliefs. and a lot of these beliefs spring from the information that one has. The government, being better equiped, has more information about imminent dangers, problems etc that the country might face. And not all of this can be released to the public all the time for scrutiny or vote, since keeping it secret might prevent a counter-measure.

Badly

Why do some people do their jobs badly ?

For the simple reason that they don't like what they are doing. That doesn't mean that we can turn this around and say that all people who are great at their work have immense interest in it. I want to make it clear now that I am not talking just about day jobs by which people earn their living. By work, I mean anything that they do, even if it is brushing their teeth in the morning, a purely selfish and non-commercial activity. Again, I would like to clarify that not liking something doesn't necesarily mean hating it. Infact most of the things that we do daily are done with a neutral mindset.

Although it is not a very hard puzzle to crack, I would still mention why people are in the jobs they are if they don't like it. Several reasons. Because they don't have an alternative. If you have a family where your monthly earning takes care of children's school tuition and gas for your kitchen and car, you wouldn't even risk thinking about leaving your job. Also, what would you do if you quit your job ? Having spent more than a decade doing conventional work, most would have no other skill left with them. Even if you had a great talent, setting to bring it to a level where it could support your living would need a period of dedication and hardship.

Therefore before you critize someone again for doing a bad job, stop and save your energy. You might be cursing a sick dog.

I think the best way to get somebody to do their work properly is to keep demanding it from them. Not in a virulent manner. But in a manner of propreity. Half of them will start doing it out of shame. The other half out of fear. With people who have neither of both, well, walk on.

Restaurant trips in Rourkela

The lovely darkness and small lightness of the restaurants. The air-conditioned cool air. The nice tables. The wait for food. The comfortable sofas.

The childhood trips to hotels were so nice in Rourkela.(My home town) :)

Super star

Superstar is an amazing movie.

What performance by Kunal Khemu ! Most of the bollywood actors have got something to learn about acting from him.

What direction ! Congrats Rohit Jugraj

You are a Superstar as is Kunal.

My String Theory

As I have been coding for some time now, I have come to realize that everything in software is a string.

Code is a string, an ascii file is a string, input is a string, output is a string, ide is a string, compiler is a string.

It's string which takes other string, processes it and produces some string in return.

The input string might itself work on another string .... and it goes on recursively.

It helps me if I think about it this way.

MS and Y!

I think it's a great thing to happen to MS.

Google, what are you afraid of ?

Google has reveled in an area of no competition till now and is now afraid that there is a good potential competitor in formation. It knows, it's strategy of not doing anything but system maintenance won't work now. It will have to innovate itself, not just buy it, unlike MS and Yahoo.

Jack Sparrow

Awesome actor - Johnny Depp

Awesome movie - Pirates of the Carribean

Age

I met an old American man today as I was waiting for the shuttle to get back to USC from ISI. He had been to India when the British were still there. He talked about a young kid and his sister who were his guide in Calcutta (now Kolkata). He liked the journey up the Ganges on a ship. I asked him how he could communicate with his young Indian (most probably tribal) guides. He said, "Well, they could say some pigeon English, but then, you got to do what you gotta do !". :)

So true.

It was my first time talking to such an old American man. He was using a walking stick that seemed more like a golf club to me. Jovial and happy. I am often scared of old age, but meeting these men makes me feel happy. After all, you got to do what you gotta do, which might be living happily whatever you are. :)

MacBook Air

Design at it's premium best !

Watch the MacWorld presentation by Steve Jobs here.

He is the master.

The Bourne

Jason Bourne - Matt Damon

What character !

What an actor !

USC won the Rose Bowl

Yo !