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You know you're old when, that new and upcoming superstar that you think is really hot is actually younger than you are. Sigh, yet another sad day to reminisce over missed opportunities. Signing Off, Vishnu Vyas

East or West, home is the best, goes an old saying. Many a time, one would silently smile at such witticisms, but only rarely does one realise the truth behind such sayings. Leaving home, a place which has been so good to me, is more than simply getting on a flight and saying goodbye. Its a weird emotional experience, that brings forth bountiful emotions you never knew you had. India - Its the land of my fathers and forefathers, an eternal connection that I could never sever, it's a part of me which would never depart from me, and to which I hope I never depart from. Its too complicated to put it in words, for some emotions are necessarily beyond words. So, India, my love, my mother, my motherland, I bid you adieu, but donot forget me as I won't ever forget you. Remember well, for this parting is only that of time and space and not that of heart or mind. Signing Off, Vishnu Vyas

If you have been following my blog, which hasn't been updated in quite a while you would have been surprised at the childish outburst of mine involving homer's characters. But I might as well break the surprise and go and announce what I've been holding for weeks. I will officially be a graduate student of computer science from January onwards at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Yes, no more anonymous doormat in a public sector organisation, no more 'IT professional' badge and primarily no more living in a third world country with first world comforts. My world has been turned upside down. Henceforth, I will be living in a first world country with a third world lifestyle. But this post is not about me, but about what I have come to call the Desi Support System (DSS for short). What prompted me to write this post was when I was browsing casually through a book on algorithms and to my surprise found these lines.

Suppose, for example, that your friend Raj has just accepted a summer job at a large telecommunications company CluNet. A few days later, the small start-up company WebExodus, which has been dragging its feet on making a few final decisions, calls up Raj and offers him a summer job as well.

Now what was that about these lines that prompted me? It was in a book written by two authors who work in Cornell, their main demonstrating example seems to be Raj, most definitely an Indian. I'm sure that they didn't decide to name him after shooting darts at a world map. I guess its the ubiquitousness and the success of Indians everywhere, especially in the US, in fields of computer science and mathematics. Many say its in our genes to be smart, but thats bullshit. Its probably because of the intense competition, the pressure to succeed, an almost ruthless determination that puts most of us where we are, but I'm sure thats not all. There is more at play here. A strange, subtle, almost intangible sense of common identity, a feeling of fraternity (or sorority) that we seem to share. A weird commitment to certain core values and all this is expressed in what I would call the Desi Support System. From a friend in Belgium who assures me that she can make sambhar and fish fry, desi style all sourced from local stores to the heartland of Hollywood there is an invisible network of desis, of all colors and creeds and with a unifying love of cricket and a sense of common identity. Its amazing how helpful they are. Whats more, its amazing how ubiquitous we are. From helping me circumnavigate the Bradley terminal to making abysmally silly movies like Signs, we seem to be every where, Computers, Engineering, Mathematics. Its amazing that how we somehow, are able to find rare bonds in an alien land, which we wouldn't realize in our home lands. Its mind blowing that you mention IT or Computer Science and you probably would find an Indian silently lurking behind, with a benign smile, and probably helping out others. It is these intangibles that make us succeed almost everywhere. The invisible threads of friendship, or rather kinship that gives us a head start. A support system that we can fall back on and that almost always and universally available. Science works by standing on the shoulders of giants. Indians work by standing on the shoulders of others, all part of a giant pyramid. Signing Off, Vishnu Vyas.

With Scott Adams chiming in about atheism and people like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris taking up the pedestal as the public faces of atheism, which have long been empty, atheism seems to be the new 'in-thing' as it was during the times of Nitzsche and Russell. I've been speculating about what motivates the religious to be religious in the first place. And I'm taking Hinduism for analysis. Primarily for three main reasons. One, I'm more familiar with the Hindu scriptures and mythology than with that of other faiths. And secondly all my blood relatives are self-professed Hindus. So, I have had more real experience quizzing them about their faith. Thirdly, and most importantly Hinduism is what one would compare to 'Theological Anarchy'. Having no core dogma (or having multiple dogmas), no organised system of faith, no requirements or for that matter anything else. Many Hindus across the world and even across India get flared up with the same issues that are considered 'sensitive' - things like conversion, defiling Hinduism, Ayodhya etc.. . On a more practical note, I've seen people both in a remote corner of Tamil Nadu and somewhere in the heartland of Gujarat feeling the same thing about those sensitive issues and identifying with one other, even though if they were ever to meet face to face, chances are that it would be highly unlikely that they would even like each other. Why is it that Hindutva politicians like Modi and friends are able to whip up similar emotions in such a diverse cornucopia of people within India? These are what I will be trying to answer, to the best of my ability here. But, at the end, they are nothing more than wild speculations and I wouldn't want to treat them as a final thesis on the question of religion and faith. The most ironic thing about Hinduism, is that most Hindu's apart from being some vague form of theists aren't really concerned about scriptures or Hindu philosophy. Many are even ignorant of the wonderful stories, which certainly counts as great literature that abound in Hindu mythology. Further more, many are even unaware of the Hindu pantheon and the relationships among each other. Most have their favourite deities and a bunch of festivals which are universally celebrated, without any thought to the motivations or even the reasons of why the festivals exist. So, that throws strict theology out of the window. The second thing is that its not about God or Gods. Most often, the issues are not against atheists, (which is there, but never comes to the forefront) but against other fellow theists. Because, if it was just about gods, why would anyone object to accepting god, but in a different way? It isn't about ethnicity either. Then why? My conclusion would be that it appeals to a sense of identity. Humans, being intrinsically social animals, need identities. A group to identify with, a sense of real comfort. A sense of belonging. All you need is to give a name, and you automatically give it a form, for that is the nature of identity. A group as amorphous and ideologically disparate as the Hindus can subscribe to a common identity, only because there is one - of being a Hindu - which in essence is no more than a name. If this thesis is in essence correct and being given thus, then is there any solution to the problems of conflict that are prevalent in our times? What identities should one appeal to, for the sake of promoting the greatest good for all? Questions I desperately wish I had the answers... Signing Off, Vishnu Vyas.

From the moment I got hands on my new digital camera, a Canon Powershot A530, I've always wanted to take it out into the wilderness to give it a try. So far all my experiments have been in well controlled or at the least, a partially controlled environment, that was till today. Today I had the unique experience of doing some trekking on the outskirts of the city and managed to give my camera a test drive. And to say the least, I am happy to report that it came out with flying colors and some cool shots without any problems at all. But this post is not about the photos. Its about the experience of taking photos in the wilderness, or at least the semi-wilderness that I ventured into today. The day started fine, a lazy Saturday with great weather and no clouds. When I came to my senses after waking up and seeing the bright sky, I was cursing myself for missing the golden hour in the morning. The golden hour in the morning is sometime after dawn (around 6 or 7'o clock here) where the sun isn't too bright, the air isn't do dusty and the weather is just right for clicking all the great shots you ever wanted. Without loosing hope, I dressed up, strapped on my camera and headed out into the wilderness. You can always count on public transportation to get you there and that's what I did. After landing near the outskirts of the city, I walked for sometime randomly on the highway between Ahmedabad and Gandhi Nagar, until I found what one could call wilderness, or at-least semi-arid shrub land with a smattering of trees on the edges and a nice green ceiling cover further inside. This is kind of rare in the burgeoning urban sprawl that has mostly destroyed such areas. I guess I was just lucky to find it. One thing that I learned today, and which I should have already thought about is the importance of good shoes. The wilderness is swarming with bugs and many-legged slimy creatures from hell of all sizes, shapes and colors. Many of them are narcissists in their own way that they leave a potentially allergic trail of acids and other odd oozes. You wouldn't want one to leave its trail on your feet. So I had to not only watch what I step on, as in the undergrowth there is a lot of things that you can step on, but also be cognizant about what is trying to step on me. The second important thing I learned today is that when you are in insect territory using the flash is not such a great idea. These insects have adapted to the natural lighting around them that a flash always gets them disturbed. Its not good to use the flash indiscriminately with wasps with nasty stings buzzing around. But some times, the flash is good and can create great lighting effects. Since you have no control over the surrounding lighting, some kind of flash is helpful but one has to be pretty careful not to get stung. Apart from lessons in practical wilderness photography, there were a whole bunch of other things that I got to know. But lets get back, to our semi-arid shrub land. I walked around near the outskirts fearing that I might get lost, but since there wasn't nothing interesting that really caught my eye, I started to aimlessly wander around there and sometime later, I found an amazingly beautiful yet thickly forested area. With lots of tall trees, odd flowers and some nice surroundings overall. This was literally a godsend. The first thing that caught my eye was this bright riot of yellow and orange. A marigold bush out in the wilderness. It seemed out of place that I concluded that it was a feral. It was in full bloom, spreading its brightness all over the place. Something that you couldn't stop clicking at. So how could I? After a few shots, I managed to wean myself of the addictive beauty of the marigold bush and started ambling around. Then I found a bunch of trees, all tall strong, with flat and bright green leaves, laden with fruits. The green top of the lone piece of vegetation in midst of the urban sprawl. I found a red flower which I couldn't identify then, but my guess for it is a hibiscus. The backdrop against the setting sun made it just beautiful. Only after I took the shot I realized something, the setting sun! I had ambled around this place for so much time that I had spent almost four hours clicking!. And evening was fast approaching. With my feeble knowledge of Hindi and an even dimmer knowledge of Gujarati I knew there was no way I could get home after dark. So I had to reluctantly leave this wonderful wilderness to the monotony of urban life in Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad, for all its monotony is still a unique place which is not without its opportunities for some one with a keen eye and a willingness to click. But that's another saga for another day! You can also check out some other great photos of mine here. Signing Off, Vishnu Vyas.

In this alarming article in MSNBC, Mike Ratiff answers the question in the affirmative. Even though this applies only to American institutions of higher education, I'm sure the situation is only slightly different here in India. I've blogged about my feelings regarding this issue before. But one thing that sure did catch my eye was this about negative learning.

We were startled by the extent of what we call “negative learning.” When courses are not offered or required, the students forget what they knew when they entered as freshmen

I've seen this phenomena happen right before my eyes. Many of my friends in college who even though were genuinely smart, let their skills atrophy and were dumbfounded when tackling problems that inevitably required those skills. What was the most alarming part of all that was their sheer callousness in their attitude. Even when I pointed out that they were things that they had learnt in high school, they behaved as if it was entirely natural to forget the important skills and basic knowledge that was supposed to be the foundation on which higher education was built. Though their attitude is partly culpable, I for one, put the blame squarely on the staff and faculty who have pretty much the same attitude. Its a sad state of affairs here and unless something drastic happens the future seems pretty bleak to me. Signing Off, Vishnu Vyas.

Lord Muruga after being hounded by feminists groups for openly practicing bigamy, has now taken refuge in the city of Amsterdam after the Priyanka Rahul Gandhi brigade had burnt his effigy and promised violence for 'misusing the national bird' by trying to mount it. In a controversial interview to AP, he criticized the Pope for being partial and lashed out at him for not giving all religions equal footing and totally forgetting to mention him in his speech, in spite of the status of God, given to him by many followers. He accused the decadent west of being morally bankrupt and have given into the evils of atheism and secular humanism and not acknowledging him for what he is - A God. He also lashed out at his followers of being impassive and not forthright as other Muslims in expressing their anger of the insult that the pope had accorded to him by not insulting him. He said "Its deplorable that Hindu India hasn't woken up to its true potential and the Pope was clearly practicing minority appeasement". He however has spoken favorably of the government decision to spend money on people who have married people from lower caste SC/ST. He said that "Yes, I applaud the government for implementing such measures and giving money to the cause of inter caste marriages.. I have already put in my claim" . He also told that the tried and tested principle of the free-market is compatible with core Hindu values and said "the evils of the society are due to socialization and nationalization, especially of the six houses that used to belong to me in Tamil Nadu". On asked about his future plans he said that he is in touch with the Sangh Parivar to launch a party based on core hindutva principles of capitalism, nationalism, inter-caste marriages and liberation of India and his houses from a psuedo-secular minority appeasing government. He said that all his intentions had the best national interest at heart and should not be painted the communal color. Signing Off, Vishnu Vyas.

Reading through some old articles in slate I came across one piece by Christopher Hitchens about the terrorists (should I say revolutionaries) of the yester year. Many of whom were fighting for a better tomorrow. To them some of these acts were an ideological statement and din't intend to kill or harm anybody. The most amusing of those is this guy - Hermnio da Palma Inacio.

Herminio da Palma Inácio, the Portuguese revolutionary, was perhaps the first hijacker in Europe. He borrowed a Portuguese plane from Morocco during the Salazar dictatorship, made it fly over Lisbon and drop leaflets calling for a free election, took it back to Morocco, presented all the ladies on-board with a rose, apologized for the inconvenience, and deftly disappeared.

Man, what chutzpah! Signing Off, Vishnu Vyas.

Hilarie Belloc is one of my all time favourite poets. His rythm and his characteristic style are always nice to read. Though most of his poems have a resounding catholic theme, there are some which you can't quite place anywhere. Here is one such peom.

Drinking Song, On the Excellence of Burgundy Wine - Hilarie Belloc.

My jolly fat host with your face all a-grin, Come, open the door to us, let us come in. A score of stout fellows who think it no sin If they toast till they're hoarse, and drink till they spin, Hoofed it amain Rain or no rain, To crack your old jokes, and your bottle to drain. Such a warmth in the belly that nectar begets As soon as his guts with its humour he wets, The miser his gold, and the student his debts, And the beggar his rags and his hunger forgets. For there's never a wine Like this tipple of thine From the great hill of Nuits to the River of Rhine. Outside you may hear the great gusts as they go By Foy, by Duerne, and the hills of Lerraulx, But the rain he may rain, and the wind he may blow, If the Devil's above there's good liquor below. So it abound, Pass it around, Burgundy's Burgundy all the year round.

Here is a man who enjoyed all the good things in life. Signing Off, Vishnu Vyas

You get free access to NBER papers! So what is the NBER ?

Founded in 1920, the National Bureau of Economic Research is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works. The NBER is committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community.

Or so their website says. And the best part is allmost all their work is free for people who  are associated with the government or have an academic subscription or - hold your breadth - living a developing country! Don't you just love living in a third world country with first world internet facilities :D Signing off, Vishnu Vyas

The modern day web is very much like an eccentric library. You could be surfing along and could step on something weird yet utterly delightful such as this.

The Microbe - by Hilaire Belloc

The Microbe is so very small You cannot make him out at all, But many sanguine people hope To see him through a microscope. His jointed tongue that lies beneath A hundred curious rows of teeth; His seven tufted tails with lots Of lovely pink and purple spots, On each of which a pattern stands, Composed of forty separate bands; His eyebrows of a tender green; All these have never yet been seen— But Scientists, who ought to know, Assure us that they must be so…. Oh! let us never, never doubt What nobody is sure about!

A poem that is about a microbe and yet also about the uncertain bases of certainity. In this day and age of faith-based warfare and terrorism I am sure this could be something that should go in our textbooks. To imagine this was written as early as 1896! Signing off, Vishnu Vyas

The recent report by CSE on colas having excessive amounts of pesticides and other possibily harmful substances has had a wide and varied response. From several states banning the colas in schools and colleges to government of kerala banning it completely in the state. The irony being, the communists are those who gave the permission to setup the plant in the first place are now the loudest voices calling for the ban! What's more weird is that, CSE openly admits that everyday food items like vegetables and milk has even more pesticides than colas. They even have a technical word for it, "nutrition-poison" trade-off. The weird thing is, if you can trade off nutrition to poison (which is crazy in its own right), then why can't you trade off anything else for poison? Getting high-poison trade off in the case of smoking and liquor. The loony lefties have outdone themselves again by being too clever by half. The commies who banned colas becuase of the alleged poison-nutrition trade off have kept "BEVCO" a government owned liquor distribution company open. For those who seem to champion the causes of the people, the sure are sending the wrong messages. So for all those budding politicians here is a tip on making national policy, listen carefuly to what the left is saying and do exactly the opposite. Signing off (disgusted and bitter at the government and loony lefties), Vishnu Vyas.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose would smell as sweet" - William Shakespeare

That was William Shakespeare writing over 400 years ago, and if he had e-mail and had known that people across the atlantic would be sending him mail, He would have definitely refrained from letting his imagination get the better off him.

Why all this "quoting dead poets" business you ask? Well, It all started with a random mail I got the other day about how I am utterly incapable of understanding "liberalism" and that I shouldn't be so presumptous to go about calling myself a liberal. See, I can take criticism as well as the next person, but this is something that I was totally confused over. A little help from wikipedia quickly got me to the root of the problem.

It turns out what the rest of the world calls socialists and lefty lunatics are called as "liberals" in america and what the rest of the worlds calls as liberalism is actually "Libertarianism". It turns out that the shakespearean rose can stink like a pigsty.

I can understand different spellings and in some cases I think there was a point to loose the u in colour or write metre as meter. But why do people across the atlantic have this need to keep inventing new words for old concepts? An Identity crisis perhaps?

So, for the convenience of readers across the atlantic, I am a libertarian on many acounts and for the rest of the english speaking world, I am a liberal.

Signing Off, Vishnu Vyas.

Simply unbelievable!.

Nature vs. Nurture, one of the hottest debate in academia gets a shot in the arm with Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt of the Freakonomics fame getting involved. Here is a short excerpt from the article (link).

"expert performers, whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programming, are nearly always made, not born. And yes, practice does make perfect. These may be the sort of cliches that parents are fond of whispering to their children. But these particular cliches just happen to be true."

However, even though we might not all be born equal, "Practice still makes perfect".

"This is not to say that all people have equal potential. Michael Jordan, even if he hadn't spent countless hours in the gym, would still have been a better basketball player than most of us. But without those hours in the gym, he would never have become the player he was."

Now we just have to wait for the rebuttual from the Nature camp.

Signing Off, Vishnu Vyas.

I have always considered myself a liberal and one thing that is inexcusable for a liberal is the violation of the right to private property. The attitude of politicians and the society in general towards the property rights of induviduals here is something that is far from even being considered acceptable. Right from the "not in my backyard syndrome" to the whole brouhaha of the Sardar Sarovar Dam issue. It is downright depressing. The latest in the series of atrocities that are being hijacked and either being grossly misrepresented and/or glorified is the election promise of two acres of land to farmers by the DMK in tamil nadu. Among the various promises, many fancy, imaginative and at most only partially implementable with high costs is the promise of two acres of land to landless farmers. And the land for all these small farmers comes from other arable, but unused land which in most cases are owned by private citizens. This so called 'tharisu' land also includes lands in private hands. And this promise is basically a violation of the property rights of those induviduals. Whats even worse is our beloved minister of finance supporting this. I know for a fact that he is more sensible than he actually appears on the dias. But would some one be actually willing to forego what he thinks is correct for the sake of petty politics? And by the way Mr.Chidambaram, I've lost all respect I had for you. One thing that is true today, and as I believe the finance minister is well aware is that farming on the small scale is not the way of progress. Its about time we moved our massive labour force to something thats more productive, probably manufacturing and let the farming to the corporates. Yes, Corporate Agriculture is the way to go. The means of agricultural production, is better used when it is in the hands of large corporate entities, espescially when indian agriculture is at the mercy of the monsoons. Not only would they have better bargaining power and be able to handle the vagarancies of the market, they would also be able to manage the seasonal fluctuations and why we may even see some innovations in agriculture. But thats not whats important now. What is important is that property rights of private citizens are important. It is simply atrocious to see a political party glorifying blatant violation of such rights. Its even worse when a central minister praises such a scheme. But something that is by far the most incomprehensible is complete and universal apathy shown by the general public regarding this issue. Will I ever find a level headed, sensible, and progressively minded politician? (Note, I din't mention honest, I lost all hope of finding honest ones a long time ago). Signing Off, Vishnu Vyas.