My Tryst with Inconsistency

I am a taxpayer

2020-05-10T15:01:00.000+05:30

I was born into a world, full of competition and drive
Formative years spent, honing the skills to survive.
No quota, no reservation, no safety net by my side

Worked hard, played fair, left no stories to un-hide.

I am now told, I am privileged, I am special
I am part of the country’s 4% that is crucial!
Some of what I own, fairly, belongs to the nation
But are they fair: the ethics of taxation?

Some fruits of my labor, I do not even get
Deducted at source, lest I forget.
What I do see, I accept with a smile
Alas, it lasts for only a fleeting while!

I have a family to feed, things that I need
I will pay a tax on every one of these indeed.
I will pay the help, pay for service, pay the loan;
Sustaining the economy is my responsibility alone?

A nation is built on contribution and sacrifice;
Killing the golden goose, will not suffice.
Would I be so side-lined, bone dry and bled:
If I had votes proportional to my salary instead?

Losers as Leaders

2019-02-28T23:51:00.003+05:30

You were never the sharpest tool in the shed

Has that really been compensated with experience instead?

You listen to reply, not to understand

Hollow words are just words, they never stand

Leadership is a privilege, not a right

An ego bigger than the brain: what a fright!

An opinion on everything is a red flag

Your half-baked knowledge is also a drag

Perhaps hypocrisy is your middle name?

Is duplicity your favorite game?

Sincerity and hard work: they will always win

You will, you will, pay for your sin!

Statistical Analysis of the SENSEX - Probability distribution of Local minima

2016-07-11T21:29:00.002+05:30

So I have decided to revive my blog but as I now have a toddler who just yanked the power cable from my laptop..I will have to be quick with this article :)

Recently, while I was debating the pros and cons of Mutual fund investments with a few of my colleagues, the topic of "timing" the market came to be discussed. While it is common knowledge that it is impossible to predict the ups and downs of the market indices (like the SENSEX) on a day to day basis, I felt that a long term data analysis should yield something interesting. Even purely random events have a Gaussian distribution after all.

So I pulled up the last 37 years of daily closing values of the SENSEX from here and did the following
1) Found the minimum values of the Index on a monthly basis
2) Found the date and the day of the week that minimum value was reached

The probability distribution of the SENSEX hitting the lowest value in a month is as depicted below where the first chart illustrates the Day of the week probabilities while the second displays the Day of the month distribution.

Interesting Data Analytic conclusions
1) The 1st day of the Month and Wednesdays are when the probability of the SENSEX being the lowest are the highest
2) The 15th of the Month and Fridays are the converse

I havent really got down to thinking about why this is the way it is but probably a lot of investments like SIPs get auto debited and channeled to the market in the beginning of the month causing a dip in prices but the data reveals that if you are dealing with index funds its better (statistically speaking) to buy during the first week of the month and sell by the 15th to maximize good return probability.

NOTE: I shall not be responsible for any losses incurred by anyone treating the above data analysis as a Stock tip. I am still recovering from my own :)

Infinity - Is a physical interpretation posible?

2014-10-22T21:39:00.001+05:30

Infinity is an interesting subject indeed but its one that is lightly brushed over in most mathematical treatments.

Over the course of numerous discussions I have had with peers and friends, it has become apparent that by and large the "average" understanding of infinity is

1) It is a very large number

2) Its obtained as a result of an undefined operation (like division by zero)

These are wrong and do not even give a cursory view of what Infinity is. The subject of Infinity is beyond the scope of a single blog post but I will attempt to highlight a few of the special properties of Infinity which I think are fundamentally important. I will also briefly allude to more interesting characteristics but will have to leave that for some other day.

Alright, so lets see, what do we start off with? Lets start with two basic statements

1) Infinity is not a number, it is a concept

2) There are no infinities in physical reality

Lets illustrate these two aspects using a simple divergent series, also called the Grandi Series which is just a series of alternating negative and positive ones. Let us call this series S.

S = 1-1+1-1+1-1+1-1+1-1...............................∞

Now, if asked to express the sum to n terms of this series, it is quite apparent that there are two ways of looking at it

S = (1-1)+(1-1)+(1-1)+................................∞ = 0

S = 1+(-1+1)+(-1+1)+...................................∞ = 1

so essentially, depending on whether we choose to terminate the series at an even or an odd number we have either 0 or 1. Pretty simple isn't it?

Lets take another look at it now.

Let us take S and add it to itself so that we have

S = 1-1+1-1+1-1+1-1+1-1...............................∞

+S = 1-1+1-1+1-1+1-1+1-1............................∞

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2S = 1+0+0+0+0....................................................0

Here, the second S had been slightly shifted to allow for ease of demonstration. All terms after the first, cancel each other out. Thus we have

2S = 1

S = 1/2

In essence, the sum of a infinite series comprising of integers is 1/2? Doesn't that sound surprising? It should. In fact it should be shocking, because this is true. Why do two methods yield such different results?

In the first case, we treated the series as infinite but forced it terminate at an even or an odd number of terms (which essentially is NOT infinity as that is not a number). The second proof made no such assumption and the series was continued ad infinitum.

Proof of this and other such sums are consistently used in M-Theory (String theory) and yield results.

The biggest conundrum is how do we reconcile this result with the physical world? Can we?

Let us assume that the 1 and -1 represent the states of a switch that turns on a light so that the light is either on or off and someone is rapidly flipping the switch.

If the switch is being flipped very very rapidly and you are asked if the light is on or off? What would you say?

Lets look at it another way. What would you say is the probability that the light is ON or OFF for that matter? 1/2 isn't it?

This does not imply that the 1/2 obtained as a sum of the series is somehow linked to the probability distribution of a light going on and off but nevertheless, this thought experiment is a bridge between a completely mathematical construct and physical reality.

Infinity is far more interesting with there being orders of infinity as well. So essentially there are some infinities which are "bigger" than other infinities. Interested folks can read up on Cantors theories. I will leave them for another day.

Adios....

Life and the Central Limit Theorem - An asscociation made in mathematical heaven

2013-12-01T14:22:00.000+05:30

Too often in life we tend to generalize and associate individual behavior with the behavior of a group. Many of our social biases stem from such a tendency and what we fail to appreciate is the wonderfully complex world we live in.
The Central Limit theorem is one of those beautifully constructed mathematical models that seek to bring about a semblance of order in a chaotic world. In its simplest formulation, it provides a way of visualizing the behavior of seemingly random events. It essentially is a mathematical model of life, a life that involves a myriad of possibilities, a plethora of possible outcomes - some good some bad.
The simplest demonstration of this theorem can be obtained by the roll of an unbiased dice. If we roll one dice then at every roll we can land up with any of the six numbers from 1 - 6 and the probability of occurrence of any of these digits is the same and equal to 16.66%
However, if we now roll two dice and evaluate the sum of the digits that show up then the total number of possible outcomes goes up to 11 with the probability of a 7 showing up now being the highest. The probability is not longer uniformly distributed. This is because 7 can show up as a result of the following combinations
1 - 6
2 - 5
3 - 4
4 - 3
5 - 2
6 - 1

If we start rolling more dice simultaneously and repeat the analysis, the distributions creeps closer and closer to a normal distribution yielding the simplest demonstration of the theorem. I have coded the algorithm for evaluating this in a spreadsheet and it is available here and you can try it out. The only input required is the number of dice that you want to roll together and hit "Calculate". The code evaluates the total number of outcomes possible and then then probability distribution is plotted.
Caution: Owing to the mathematical complexity of evaluating the total number of combinations which rises exponentially with larger number of dice, do not input more than 6 as it is likely to crash your PC ( if its a 32 bit CPU). If you have a 64 bit processor then you can try a bigger number

PS: Code could have probably been written to use recursion but got lazy and hence relied on mathematical jugglery.
Case 1: When one die is used. Number of possible combinations and outcomes is 6

Case 2 : With two dice the number of combinations is 36 and outcomes is 11

Case 3: With 6 dice the number of combinations is 46656 and outcomes is 31

The moral is that a lot of unrelated events can still lead to something that is so wonderfully symmetric and this applies to more aspects of our lives then we care to think about. From the noise that affects electronic circuits (Additive White Gaussian Noise) to how the marks/ratings will be distributed among a random selection of individuals to why individuals in a group behave differently than when alone ( Mob psychology), patters of behavior and data are often more relevant than individual behavior.
As individuals we make choices but given the random nature of individual choice, the outcomes follow a Gaussian distribution which we unwittingly contribute to. Extreme cases of success and failure are the outliers on this curve while humanity's choice as a whole is the mean. Making choices closer to the mean would imply a higher probability of favorable outcome but if everyone does it then it takes away the importance of individual choice.
Neo : "Choice, the problem is choice." - Matrix

Fast and Furious - 1st Gear (Bangalore Edition)

2013-07-26T21:25:00.001+05:30

Bangalore - The second most affluent city in India, a city that millions call home and a subset of those millions also call it an obstacle course.
The Government of India has stipulated that a Drivers License obtained anywhere in India has national validity. I beg to differ. A DL just says that you "may" legally be allowed to drive. The roads in Bangalore begs the question.... CAN you drive..PUNK? (Read this out aloud imagining yourself to be possessed by Nana Patekar to get the drift)
In order survive the daily ordeal, here are a few tips that can help you keep a check on your sanity.

The Mental Preparation:
As any good Bangalorean will tell you, the brain is the most important organ in the human body...on weekdays. On weekends, the kidneys/liver and lungs call the shots. However, I digress, a day of office commute should begin with a deep breath and empty bowels. Watching inspirational and motivational videos is a good start but if you are pressed for time then try convincing yourself that you love driving.Over a period of time you may be able to actually convince yourself that you like driving, this is a variation of self hypnotic therapy and is useful in some cases.

The Physical Preparation:
Eat a healthy breakfast, go light on fluids (unless you are carrying adult diapers). Light stretching focusing on the calf muscles, triceps and wrists is essential. As always, try doing the exercises in sets and with a predefined rhythm. I have personally found that repeating the phrase "Clutch, Gear, Brake" repeatedly while working out is a healthy outlet and helps in both
a) Mental Preparation
b) Physical Preparation
and is a mantra that you can repeat as often as you like during the drive

The Car:
Whether you have Reva or a BMW, you need to forget that your car has anything beyond 1st and 2nd gear. I have heard rumors of roads where the courageous have shifted to 3rd but there are no confirmed reports. Always ensure that you are not low on fuel and stock you car with supplies like you would if you knew that a zombie attack was imminent. Know how to work the controls, with one hand/foot, simultaneously..and yes, I mean the brakes too. Your other appendages can then productively be engaged in fiddling with your smart phone. Get a seat with Lumbar Support. I have heard that the Cab drivers here have a seat that has a protruding spike placed below the posterior which juts out at random times. It is supposed to improve your driving skill but has the undesirable side effect of causing rapid accelerations, sudden brakes and wild turns.

The Road:
Ha ha..got you!! What road?

The Potholes:
At first glance you may mistakenly assume that you drove out of your apartment and landed on the surface of the moon and start postulating on whether it was a wormhole or a manhole that got you there but not so fast. These potholes are a major tourist attraction and there are actually major roads that have been named after the potholes. 80ft road and 100ft road are such roads where the depth of the pot holes are 80ft and 100ft respectively. Some "outsiders" think that the names allude to the width of the roads...such ignorance!! These potholes have numerous advantages
1) The water accumulated in these potholes percolates and replenishes the ground water level
2) They act as well designed speed breakers.They are guaranteed to break more than your speed and are regarded as engineering marvels.
3) They keep drivers constantly on alert and many have actually reported that so keen is their focus on the potholes that they do not look at road signs or landmarks.The potholes are like playing a game of connect the dots. It takes out the monotony of driving.

Above all, be positive, your car has a Power steering and Disc Brakes for a reason, use them. To be a successful car driver in Namma Bengaluru you need to lose the fear, lose the fear of death,disability and car repairs and you shall prevail.
So repeat after me Clutch, Gear , Brake.. Clutch , Gear, Brake............Accel..BRAKE!!!!

Home Loans Vs Renting - Cost of Ownership

2013-05-17T20:57:00.000+05:30

Should I buy a house and spend the next 20 -25 years of my life worrying about an EMI or should I just live as a Tenant?

This question seems to have as many answers as people you choose to ask. The fact is that there are aspects of this deal which are hard to pin down in numbers and most people tend to justify the decision that they have themselves made. I have seen many articles written on this but I think that rather than presenting a conclusion, what is really needed is to have all the aspects listed out so that people are provided with something that they can try and figure out for themselves.

This link has a spreadsheet(Loan_Feasibility.xlsx) that I have shared and can be downloaded. I will, in the following paragraphs describe how this works along with the assumptions that have been made. I hope this is useful for all those who are in the midst of taking this decision.

Listed below is a screen shot of how the spreadsheet looks like and the section by section explanation of the various fields follows

Input Paramters:

Property Value: This is where you need to enter the current value of the property you are after

Own payment: This is the amount that you can pay up front for the property
Loan: This is auto calculated based on the above listed inputs
Loan Interest Rate: This is an Input parameter and you can plug in the expected ROI for your loan
Loan tenure(months): Self descriptive input parameter. Should be < 300 months (25 years)
Annual Inflation: This is another input parameter that is a critical factor to be considered
Rent: This is the monthly rent that you would expect to pay if you stay in a SIMILAR property.
EMI: This is auto calculated based on the loan amount, interest rate and tenure provided.

All the rest of the fields are auto calculated based on the inputs and the following sections describes how these are being calculated. You can play around with the excel to factor in additional details if needed. There are no macros in the spreadsheet, just cell formulas, which are easy to manipulate.

Owned Apt Cost:

Loan Repaid: This is the total amount of loan repaid (EMI*tenure)
FD loss (own Payment): This is the amount that you would have had if you had invested in a FD instead of paying the down payment for the property. Assumed annual cumulative return@Inflation for duration of the Tenure
Tax Savings (30%): The current 1.5L rebate on income tax is factored in here. Assuming a tax bracket of 30%

Rented Apt Cost:

Rent paid: This is the total amount that will be paid out as rent over the duration of the tenure. The assumption here is that the rent increases@Inflation every year.
EMI Savings: This is the savings that would accrue for you if you go in for rent rather than paying an EMI. The calculation also accounts for the fact that the savings is invested and earns interest@Inflation for the relevant duration i.e for a 20 year tenure, the savings of the first year earn interest for 20 years,the savings for year 2 accrue interest for 19 years and so on. Also note that with the rent increasing @Inflation every year it will get to a point where rent becomes higher than the EMI (which is fixed) and hence at that point, the savings become negative. This has also been accounted for.

Conclusions:

Difference b/w Ownership Cost and Rent: This is the difference between the two costs i.e cost of ownership - cost of renting.
Current value of Asset: This is the current value of the asset.Assumption is that the appreciation was @Inflation
Net Worth(Ownership): This is the price of the asset minus the cost incurred

Net Worth (Rent): This is the amount expended when living as a tenant

Difference: This is your perceived net worth after the end of the tenure

*Points to Ponder

1) The difference between the EMI and the rent that you would have to pay for a SIMILAR property has a significant bearing on the outcome so validate this assumption. Saying that the property price is 90L for a 3 BHK and then comparing it against paying a rent of 10,000 is illogical simply because if you are actually planning to buy a property worth 90L then it has to have the amenities/environment etc that should command a higher rent.

2) The rate of Inflation is being used to calculate the returns on FD, increase in Rent as well as appreciation in property price. This is realistic but honestly speaking it is a convenience to make such an assumption but for the calculation intended here, it should suffice.

3) The final asset value also has a huge bearing on the outcome. Be realistic about it. The calculation assumes appreciation @Inflation for the tenure of the loan. This will never happen in the long run so adjust this accordingly. Over the last 5 years however, this logic seems to have held good.

4) Try and keep your EMI to be around 40-50% of your take home salary. Its a safer bet.

5) One obvious thing that is not factored in here is the part prepayment possibility as that is difficult to estimate. However, this too can have a very significant bearing on the total amount you dish out for the loan.

Please play around with the spreadsheet and try out different combinations of the Input paramters to see the effect on the outcome. My favorite calculation was to first decide on a property price/loan details and then play around with the rent parameter to bring the Difference b/w Ownership Cost and Rent as close to Zero as possible. This would give you the "equivalent" rent.

Example:

In the snapshot given above, the Property price is 90L,down payment was 30L for a Loan Tenure of 20 years@11%. Inflation is at 8% and Rent is 25K.

Overall it shows that the net worth of the person owning the property would be 87L higher then a Tenant.

If you play around with the Rent parameter then the equivalent rent in this scenario will turn out to be

Rs 41155

Happy decision making!!! Ending with a few lines by a great man

"Ownership has a cost but also brings joy

Leverage your credit, don't be coy

Or chill for a while, pay the rent

Maybe the Earth will expand and you wont repent"- Samrat (A tormented EMI payer) :-)

The Monty Hall Paradox

2013-03-04T21:53:00.001+05:30

Over the years, one fact has been very subtly revealed to me by chance. That fact is..that there will always be a finite probability that I do not understand probability. That was recently underscored by my chance encounter with the Monty Hall Paradox, a seemingly obvious problem with a not so obvious solution. For folks who have come across this and still have a niggling doubt about it, I have laid out all the permutations in the below diagram along with the associated explanation. Needless to say, I had to do this to convince my self first of all.

Prerequisites for reading further:

1) What is the Monty Hall Paradox? Why on Earth do we have wikipedia? Please go here -> Monty Hall
2) An interest in Mathematics and/or
3) Extreme Boredom :-)

Ok, since you are already here, lets get to the solution. Here are the scenarios

Explanation:
Lets take the first three rows from the above snapshot. Here, the prize is behind the first door and the three rows list out the three possible choices that the player can make.
The player's choice is mentioned under the "Original Choice" column.
The next column shows the final outcome provided the player decides not to switch while the subsequent column shows the result in case he had decided to switch.
Taking the second row as an example, the prize is behind Door 1, the player chooses Door 2, the host then opens Door 3. The player has the option of sticking with his original choice (Door 2) and lose or switch to the only other remaining door i.e Door 1 and consequently win.

The overall success probability for all the scenarios is listed below and as counter intuitive as it may seem at first, the results speak for themselves.

The life lessons I gathered from this are
1) Your first choice is likely to be the wrong one
2) If you get the chance - Switch :-D

The Lajong Song

2013-02-02T22:20:00.001+05:30

Shillong Lajong is one of the well known Football Clubs from the North East of India and recently they had invited submissions for their club anthem. I wrote a few lines and had it sent to them but they were looking for a composed song and not just the lyrics so I didnt get in. Nevertheless, here is what I had written down and all the best to the club! Proud to be a Shillongite. Khublei Shibun!

The Lajong Song

Our hearts beat, longing for a story

One of victory and everlasting glory,

Dreams, faith, hope and desire

And a will to win, forged in fire;

The path laid by two,

Is not a dream but true

We walk, we play, so say the wise.

It may rain today but the sun shall rise.

We play for victory, we play for you,

We play for dreams, we play for the view,

We shall win and do no wrong

We are, we are, Shillong Lajong!!

The Apartment of Nations

2012-12-09T21:21:00.001+05:30

Every aspect of modern city life reemphasizes the fact that we are living in an ever shrinking world. On similar lines, I was wondering if we could draw a parallel between the world as it is today and something that we all can relate to, namely - Our home.

So here is the analogy, let us imagine the world to be a one bedroom apartment and different rooms to be represented by different countries.

The Drawing Room - This room is where we can sit around relaxing all day while all the work happens around us. Its a constant source of entertainment and news. It is the most well lit and decorated room in the house and typically also has the latest technology installed within its walls like our TVs, home theaters, music systems, wi-fi routers et all.No other country can boast of all these features apart from the U S of A.

The Kitchen - A room which always has an aroma and flavor around it. Resplendent with history and culture and tasty delights. A room which historically was a neglected, non glamorous aspect of the house but of late has assumed an exalted status.The heat, smoke and mess comes with the territory. Welcome to INDIA!

The Dining Room - This is where all the culinary delights from the kitchen meet the guests from the living room.A room which was historically the center of attraction with elaborate dining tables, maybe even a fireplace and silver cutlery and is now only a shade of its former glory. It now serves as a place for homely discussions and general chit chat.This is probably very close to how we perceive the UK

The Storeroom/Larder - A room that houses every possible article that be conceived of from old toothbrushes to maybe even a washing machine. A room that starts out small with only a few things in it but gradually starts bursting at the seams and threatens to take over the house. A room that is unvisited most of the time but always there when we need something. nǐ hǎo everyone- This is CHINA.

The Bedroom - Time to relax, be free, think about the finer aspects of life, art, music and science. A room that is designed around our preferences, a room for watching a movie, reading a book or just catching up on sleep. Such a wide range of possibilities - Its impossible to limit it to just a country alone. This can only be Europe, ranging from German engineering to French literature and art and everything else in between.

The Restrooms - A lot of clean up needed here, a house for bacteria and a potential to wreck the entire house if its not taken care of properly. The room which you wouldn't show around to your guests, a room that's pretty much doing that same thing that it was 200 years ago.The germs from this room can affect every room in the house but most severely the Kitchen. The eternal bad neighbor - PAKISTAN

Hope you enjoyed the analogy! Thoughts welcome.

Home Grown Chillis

2012-10-08T20:55:00.001+05:30

Modern life with all its conveniences and nuances does rob us of some of the finer aspects of life. As life has gotten more and more complicated we sometimes fail to appreciate how even some of the basic necessities of life are magically available to us. For instance - food.
Most city kids probably wouldn't even know if a pineapple grows on trees or underground and thats probably not a good thing. Cities with their stone walls limit the scope for green fields but I think that gardening is a hobby that everyone should take a shot at. I use the term hobby loosely, you can grow a shrub if you want to but I think you should try it. It will take you back to your roots(Pun intended).
My mom being an avid proponent of the powers of some herbs maintains an active garden at home and my wife being a foodie with a taste for chillies that are as hot as lava has planted a few chilli plants brought from Assam. These are a variety of chilli called Bhoot Jholokia and were the hottest chillies in the World till last year I think. (Now they are no 2- Respect)
I like spicy stuff myself and so I initially took up the routine work of watering the plants and found that to be a very relaxing thing to do at the end of a hectic day. One thing led to another and I had to do a lot of reading on how to get those chilli plants to survive as they are not native to this part of India and these plants are very prone to some pests. Here are my top 3 tips for a healthy chilli plant based on experience. I hope someone finds it useful.

1) Quality of the Soil - Ensure that the soil you use is of good quality, mix it with some organic fertilizer if needed. Also, mix the solid with some sand/gravel. The idea is that the pot where you plant the seeds should not get water logged. Sand and rocks allow the water to percolate through the soil and prevents it from just running off the top.

2) Water - Water the plants preferably twice a day but if that not possibly then once a day is good enough.When the plants are flowering and the chillies are growing, water every alternate day. This forces the plant to retain water and the chilli turns out bigger and spicier. Try to sprinkle the water on the leaves as there are a lot of pests that lay eggs under the leaves and regular cleaning will save you a lot of grief later.

3) Pests - I had some pesky little bugs pestering my garden.The underside of the chilli leaves seemed to have white spots comprising of hundreds of tiny eggs. A little googling and common sense led me to believe that I had a white fly infestation and a couple of websites seemed to suggest that the extract of the Neem tree (Azadirachta indica) was the solution. So I ended up buying a Neem oil extract based pesticide and that worked wonders. I would suggest to get a bottle of such a pesticide and keep it handy.

Happy gardening!!!

In the Arms of an Archipelago

2012-09-14T17:49:00.000+05:30

As the calm and serene waves of green
Below the surface wage a battle unseen
Tumultuous thoughts ebb and flow
Darkness of desire, dreams aglow

As solitary islands lie amidst the waves
Needs of life mingle with wants & craves
The overwhelming desire to absorb it all
The ocean, the sky; sights big and small

Like drops of rain mingled with the mist
Little grains of sand cascading from my fist
Little joys of life are few and far between
While we dwell incessantly on what has been

As sand gives way beneath running feet
At the heavenly place where earth, land and sky meet
The past yields to a glorious future yet to be
Life, here I come. I have an answer to thee

Lets make it simple..Cause we are idiots!

2012-07-15T14:21:00.000+05:30

Quote: Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler. Einstein, Albert

Unfortunately, it seems that Einstein's intent has failed to impress upon our generation.The context behind this statement of his has long been forgotten and what remains is just what we see now. To some extent I do agree that simple solutions are usually the best but we do tend to forget the latter part of his quote "not any simpler"

So the pertinent question is how do we know when we have reached the limit of simplicity and should not go further even if its possible to do so? And why did Einstein even put this clause in? Shouldnt everything just get better the simpler we can make it?

I think that what he was probably implying was that we should not simplify anything to a point where it loses its very essence. He was looking at Grand Unification and wanted to find an all encompassing logic that would explain all the known forces in nature. It would have simplified Physics, yes, but would it have made it so simple that a layman would understand it? NO. To appreciate the implications of such a theory, a person first needs to understand why it is needed in the first place. If it became so simple that it could be explained to a child, it would in some sense lose its significance.

Our generation somehow seems to not understand this concept. I remember having a spirited discussion a few years ago with one of my colleagues regarding the functionality of a software tool that I developed for my project. I was of the view that the tools purpose was to take out the monotony of repetitive tasks and hence improve productivity while still requiring that the person using the tool retain the knowledge of why and what is being done. My colleague on the other hand was of the view that the tool should be so enhanced that it would automate the entire task itself so that the person using it would not need to use any higher brain function. I disagreed then and I disagree now. I will not be held accountable for supporting mediocrity and taking the fun and talent out of doing a job.

Unfortunately, I see the same attitude running rampant across our lives. We now have modern art for instance. I dont understand it so I may get a few brickbats here but I honestly do not see why a few random splashes and brush strokes are awe inducing. Some of these look like scribblings of a child. It may be good to go ga ga over such a painting made by a retarded Chimpanzee but by a full grown human? Come on!!
What has happened is that we have reduced art to a level such that "anyone" can do it! Its so simple, right? WRONG!!!!

Another instance is modern hobbies. A hobby used to mean a passion, something that would not really be a value add in ones life but a pure indulgent diversion. One that stimulated ones mind and/or physical being. People collected stamps, coins, read books, studied the arts and sciences, did gardening etc. All these involved some amount of understanding the relevant domain and over time some even ended up becoming experts in those fields. And now we have hobbies such as Photography!! Photography is a fantastic hobby and the "real" photographers I know have traveled to locations just to take a photo, have waited for hours for the sunset or sunrise to capture a single snapshot and have cried over a botched reel.What we have now for the most part is a bunch of wannabes with expensive equipment. A digital camera and Photoshop, take 100 snaps and atleast one will turn out good, then go and make it black and white with the click of a button and voila, we have a Photographer!!

One more I have seen is the achievements and talents people list on their resumes. Till a few years ago, a talent meant something that you could do better than average. Now talent means the ability to do something along with a few others. There is no individual sense of accomplishment, no striving for perfection, no goal to achieve. A talent such as drawing, singing, dancing, mimicry etc all entail some amount of practice, dedication
and hard work. What we have now as achievement is "Took part in Fashion Show". In short, I wore clothes and I walked. The only achievement here being the fact it takes some guts to walk up on a ramp with 100's staring. Not bad as a dare but a talent? Seriously?

We really need to take a step back and see where we are headed for the future if this trend continues. One of the downsides of modern living is that we are relying more and more on external devices to supplement our capabilities. Now, don't get me wrong, using a tractor instead of a couple of cows to plough the field is a good idea. In fact anything that cuts down of the amount of time and effort spent on a task is a good thing. What is dangerous is the tendency to use devices that limit the functioning of the human mind, the mind that distinguishes us from the animals in the first place.

Quote: Lets make our lives Simple, not our brains!! Samrat Bhattacharjee

When Brains become scarce…

2011-11-10T20:40:00.001+05:30

Once upon a not so long time ago a farmer had a few good cows. They provided him with milk and ploughed his fields. He got a good harvest year after year, grew richer, bought more cows, bought more land and was the happiest man around. The cows got a good share of the harvest, grew healthier, worked harder and were the envy of the bovine kingdom.

Then one year the monsoons failed and the harvest was bad. The farmer then decided to introduce a few “processes and policies to optimize his service offering and ensure that his profits remained the same”. He reasoned that land was his asset and the cows his liability so he decided on the obvious course of action. He organized cow races and the slowest ones were taken to the slaughter house while the ones that remained were now burdened with extra work. The cows had no option, they worked harder for fear of the slaughtering house and the farmer was happy.

A few years later, the market price of his crops dropped. He still wanted the same profits. Land was still his asset and the cows his liability. The solution was again obvious. Over the years the cows had become used to running the annual race so most of them were running equally well. So he classified the cows on

a) Milk producing ability

b) Amount of hay consumed

c) Amount of cow dung produced and

d) Amount of time spent on the field

This time however, he couldn’t slaughter them so he decided that since he needed the best cows he gave them a bigger share of the harvest compared to the other cows. The relatively poor performing cows had to do the same work with less food and hence they became worse and slowly wandered off to other fields. The farmer was happy. He had the best cows and he had the same profit.

The following year a fairly large percentage of his crops were destroyed by pests. Land =asset, cows =liability. Logic still holds. So he reasoned that if the poorer performing cows had been able to work with a lesser quantity of food a year ago then the best cows could do the same. So the best cows were given a lesser share of the harvest and still expected to perform equally well. These cows also slowly wandered off to greener pastures. The farmer decided that he didn’t really need so many cows so he went to the market and got a few pigs, donkeys and camels.

The donkeys could work a lot but couldn’t really give good milk. The pigs could be sold for meat but were useless in all other areas. The camels could take a lot of heat but they just stood tall over the others and just stared. However, the farmer judged all these animals on the same parameters.

The cows couldn’t work as hard as the donkeys, couldn’t be sold regularly for meat and neither were they as tall as the camels and they figured out that no matter how hard they tried they would never be able to do those things so they too moved away. The farmer was now left with just the pigs, donkeys and camels and he made the donkeys plough the field, the camel give milk and the pigs provided the manure but none of them could plough the field as well as the cows which was his most basic need. So he went to the market and bought a few new cows. These new cows learned by looking at the donkeys, the pigs and the camel who themselves were not doing what they did best. So the farmer ended up with a lot of cows, pigs, donkeys and camels but no animal was doing what it was meant to.

If only the farmer had looked at the cows as his assets and if only the solution had not been so “obvious” and if only he had not tried to keep his profits the same during the hard years he may have still had a lot of the older good cows…..

Moooooo……………………

Failure

2011-04-02T11:45:00.003+05:30

Failure is considered a disgrace,
Because of it many troubles we have to face;
But what slips our mind
Is what failures lead behind.

They may bring setback for a time
But failure is not a crime,
Failures do not discourage any one:
But they are not a source of fun.

Failure in fact is a warning,
To what worse may be coming,
To change for the better, they help us
The story of failure ends thus.....

NOTE: Written by me in 1996

Moonlight

2011-04-02T11:34:00.004+05:30

Dancing down the starry ways,
It glows like gold but it strays.
Different from sunlight but not unlike;
Our heart with awe it does strike.

Like molten silver it descends,
To the night and astounding beauty it lends;
The plants and trees it dances around
And all the watchers stand astound.

Born out of a poet's dream,
Filled with beauty to the brim:
Like God's own hand it does seem;
It is the dancing, moon beam.

NOTE: I wrote it in 1996.. seems eerily inspired from a poem I had read at than time.. hmmm

India's Destiny

2011-04-02T11:26:00.003+05:30

India was known as a country of goodness
But now it is a place for frenzied madness
This is because the politics of politicians
Is like music played by inexperienced musicians.

Most of them are criminals and convicted men
No one knows what harm they will cause and when
Representatives of the people they are
But their conscience God knows is where.

They have looted our glorious nation
And brought it to a dangerous situation
But some of them do care
They remind us that our India is not bare.

Change for the better I hope they will
And make our nation go on the top of the hill
Sadly, this will take many more years
And there shed will be many more tears.

NOTE: Written in 1996

Favourite Forest

2011-04-01T00:08:00.004+05:30

In a forest grow many a tree;
The animals roam about feeling free.
The sun there, barely shines
Its rays are stopped by thick vines.
In there, are many tribes unknown,
Out of which some prefer to stay alone;

Unmindful of the modern techniques,
They reside in hidden, lonely peaks.
The trees there, stand upright,
To bear hardships with all their might
The birds in search of food, fly high;
In the vast blue expanse of sky.

Animals there are of many kinds,
A mouse tries to keep all its finds;
And this is what a forest is
With all the animals, birds and tress,
Those who do not know this,
Something they really miss!!

NOTE: This poem appeared in the newspaper "The Statesman" dated "Thursday August 3, 1995"

Universe

2011-04-01T00:03:00.005+05:30

With planets and stars far apart,
Of which our Earth is only a tiny part.
With meteors and comets whizzing by:
In the vast limitless sky.

Little do we know about it,
Whatever we know is only a bit;
As the final frontier it is known,
A way for adventure it has shown.

But what it holds is far more than an adventure;
To which perhaps no one can venture.
How I wish I knew all about it,
Instead of knowing just a bit.

NOTE: Written in 1995

Flower

2011-03-31T23:55:00.004+05:30

Roses and daffodils are all flowers;
Blooming besides gloomy houses and majestic towers.
It is one of nature's greatest creation,
It looks as if it has been created with devotion.

Filled with beauty one cannot imagine:
It is the most beautiful thing that can be seen.
It is found in colors of every hue;
Its beauty can be compared only with a few.

It gives a fragrance; so divinely sweet;
That the bad thoughts have to retreat.
It reminds us of natures power
It is the enchanting flower.

NOTE: Written in 1995

Rain

2011-03-31T23:44:00.003+05:30

It falls like little grains of sand,
On the vast water thirsty lands.
To the trees and plans,
Their life it grants.

Every being awaits its arrival,
Because for them, it means survival.
For a farmer,his crops are is life
Which he grows amidst difficulties and strife

His life depends on his crops,
And the life of the crops are the little rain drops
Sometimes with it come disasters like flood
Killing people in cold blood.

It leaves a place fresh and clean;
Making the trees lush green.
Without it, everyone would die,
And there would be nothing but hue and cry.

NOTE: Written in 1995

Love Blossoms on a New Year

2011-03-26T13:15:00.005+05:30

As the serene winds of time
Pound on the doors of everlasting change
The future emerges from its veils
And the past seems to get strange.

What was once a seed, long forgotten
Stands now as a Rose, in all its glory
And for all those who care to listen
It whispers out its lovely story.

As the seasons came and seasons went by
Beneath the murky Earth it lay
Coaxed by the Sun and wind it moved
It moved every night and day.

Till one day, at the break of dawn
As the sun shed its Golden light
Free from all its binds, it rose
It rose to stand up upright.

Nature came to a standstill
As it looked on in scorn
The marvel of natures' beauty
Yes, a rose had been born.

The world looked on and admired
It laughed and it seemed to say
"My beauty is beyond compare
There's none to beat it; try what you may"

But like moments of all dreams
These moments too were few.
The rose met its match at last
The day it was met by you.

Well I met the rose and it told me
To tell the story; so that's what I do
In the meantime a very happy new year
From the rose and me to you.

NOTE: Written sometime in 2001/2002

Life and Friendship

2011-03-26T12:49:00.003+05:30

Ever since this world was created
Love and hate have been at war
Hate has won many battles
But love has never been far.

The greatest gift of God
Is the gift of life
Joy, peace and friendship are
The very essence of being alive.

I hope you enjoy the days yet to come
With limitless joys and troubles few
A good friend you have been
So a very happy new year to you

NOTE: Written in 2000 for a friend

A Vision of my Dreams

2011-03-26T12:37:00.005+05:30

One dark and lonely night, a beautiful dream I had
A very beautiful dream but the ending was sad.
I saw myself on a lonely beach with a dear friend I know
The water was emerald blue and the sky was aglow.

I watched with joy as she talked, laughed and sang
Every step she took, in my heart a bell rang.
My heart sand praises to God and I looked on in awe
I prayed with all my might so that this moment would never go.

But fate has its own plans, it makes its own way
I held her hands and looked in her eyes, yet she drifted away.
I woke up cold with tears in my eyes
But I consoled myself saying dreams are lies.

I do not know whether my dream
Will turn out to be false or true
But more than what I wish
The ending depends on you!

NOTE: Written in 2001 on request by a friend for his prospective girlfriend. :-D

Friendship

2011-03-25T23:58:00.004+05:30

What I want you to do is call your heart
And sincerely ask if we are that far apart
We have all known each other so well for so long
That the times we spent seems like a song

Now I fear that life will lose its flow
But what can I do? I have to go
My destiny calls and a new life awaits me
But in every friend I find, your faces I will see

And I solemnly pledge by the times we spent together
That come what may I will remember you forever
Cause each one of you in your own special way
Has brightened my every evening and day.

You may forget me and I don't care
But if ever you need me, I will be there
I know that I have done many crazy things before
But I hope you will forgive me and hold a grudge no more

Times will change but I will stay the same
Cause I am your friend and SAMRAT is my name.

NOTE: Written on August 5th 2000