Sticks and Stones

A New Year!

2012-01-09T04:30:00.001+05:30

It's been 8 days since 2012 began and we can look forward to the world ending this December (if the Mayans are to be believed :P ). I've had a great time with my cousins in Phoenix, Arizona on New Year's Day, traveled with my parents and had much fun in 4 states of the Western United States, taken a jump off a 900ft tower, seen (and eaten ;) ) a great deal these past few weeks in Vegas, San Francisco, San Diego, The Hoover Dam, The Grand Canyon, Phoenix among other places and now I'm back at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

I've met fellow Yellow-Jackets in many of the places I've been to on the other side of the country. I look forward to another semester of torture/education and fun and hopefully an internship at the end of it. Still finding new ways to waste time, but I guess that's gonna end real soon.

Not quite as worried as I was now that the first semester of grad school is done with (and 'done with' well if I my say so myself). Gotta start dieting to lose all the pounds I've gained from the past few weeks of binge-eating and learn a few other things too this year. I've got myself a part-time job on campus that should give me some management experience and help pay a small part of the bills. In the meanwhile, looks like my blog's crossed 26000 hits by the end of 2011.

That's me:

Wishing you all the best this new year!

PS: To Hell With Georgia!

Updates - or the lack thereof

2011-09-01T04:17:00.000+05:30

I know I haven't updated the blog for quite some time now. New posts will come.... eventually... hopefully sometime soon. There's much to write and rant about. My trip to Shanghai and Hong Kong, my final semester of undergraduate engineering education, the frenetic pace of shopping, packing and finally getting shipped off to Georgia Tech, Atlanta leaving my folks, friends and Cactus behind.... and the awesomeness that is Tech itself!

Just getting settled down and getting past the first week or two of class, so yeah blog updates will come someday.

Regards,

A Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech and a Helluva Engineer ;)

An Egyptian Excursion - Day 10 (25th May 2010) and General Impressions

2011-05-22T06:21:00.001+05:30

This was our last day in Egypt with plenty of travelling to be done. There’d be no more calls of Salaam Maleikkum, Y’allah, India India, Insha Allah, Shukran, Amitabh Bachchan etc. after today.

We left the resort at 6am and took the flight to Cairo. Business class was empty except for us and some Sheik who looked to be Saudi, decked in the traditional robe and headdress. Just before we took off, 2 armed forces fighter jets did a flyby and then landed. The flight was good enough and the aerial view of sights like the Pyramids was amazing. We had quite some time to waste at the Cairo Airport. The shuttle bus was a pain-in-the-rear, but we soon reached our terminal and checked in and started our tour of the duty-free sections. There was some guy on a Haj trip being very generous, handing out cash to pretty much every airport worker he met. From Cairo, we took the flight to Abu Dhabi. Some Tamil guy who’d been stopped from boarding for having way too much hand baggage and he was charged for it. Bugger must have been trying to ship way too much booze from the looks of it, from the duty free shopping in Cairo. Abu Dhabi as such seems to be a small airport terminal with never enough seating compared to a lot of other international airports that we've seen. Here, there was some Bangla guy at one of the check-in counters trying his darnedest to make the counter staff understand what he was trying to say (he really didn’t know even a modicum of English).

Anyway, we took a walk to the nearby Terminal 3 where the shopping was slightly better and we loaded up on chocolates as usual. This is one of the few international airports I’ve seen where the Indian rupee was usable. The flight to Chennai was boarding soon enough, and as always there was a big rush to get on. It’s terrible why Indians can’t ever learn to respect the queue and keep their voices down too. There were also plenty of people removing their glittering gold bangles and putting them into their bags – don’t quite know why. The flight was pretty bad though with the air-conditioning system having some problem and we finally reached Chennai at 4am local time on the 26th of May.

The queues at the customs check-in counters were horribly mismanaged. People were jumping queues, and some queues were moving at a brisk pace while others were dead slow. Instead of giving preference to people who’d been standing for a while already, they’d just open a new counter when they felt like it and move people coming from the latest flight onto it. Then they’d close a counter and ask the people to go stand at the back of the queue at the new counter again. Just a whole load of bullcrap. One old man standing in front of his pointed out how this was rather unfair and poorly managed and the customs official standing there had the gall to say “We know how to manage, you don’t need to teach us” with no regard to the poor state of things there as well as any respect he should have accorded the man atleast looking at his age. Such is the hubris of some pompous government servants here. I wonder if they’ll ever be cut down to size and whether things will ever change. Probably not. And so it was back to Chennai and traffic.

General Impressions.

People here generally start off a conversation with some sort of greeting - Salaam maleikkum, peace be upon you, how are you - before popping any sort of question, even if you’re just asking a stranger for directions.
Around May 2010, 8 Indian rupees equalled 1 egyptian pound. Damn rupee is always low no matter where we go. Some people called the Egyptian pound’s sub-unit Piastres.
The tout problem here isn’t really significant. Just say 'No thank you, la shukran' a few times and they’ll go about their business without bothering you.
The Police are ALWAYS around. Plainclothes policemen carry sidearms. Uniformed ones in white sport Kalashnikovs. However I've read that it isn't safe for single women to backpack alone even with police around.
Friday is a holiday here so plan accordingly.
The drivers here proudly proclaim that Cairo is the worst place to drive. They obviously haven’t driven in an Indian metro like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai or Kolkatta.
Taxi drivers in Cairo are pretty insistent. They may keep lining up, offering you a ride and turning it down again and again is made slightly difficult because of the language barrier.
There are plenty of cats around –far more so than any other pet animal.
Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, has plenty of makeup on and a ton of hair gel for guys. Even little kids seem to sport perfect haircuts and several layers of makeup.
Amitabh Bachchan fans are everywhere, very few seem to know Shahrukh Khan or Aishwarya Rai. There was just that 1 guard at the museum in the Coptic Area in Cairo who took a look at us and said “India – Amir Khan I like!” and flashed us a thumbsup.
There are no Swensen's outlets here. No big ice cream retail chains I came across. And ice-creams don’t make an appearance at most buffets either. Only smaller shops and big bakeries have ice-cream counters.
10am to 4/5pm each day – that’s the only time attractions are open, so plan accordingly.
If you’re a college student, bring your university ID Card. They’re actually supposed to give discounts only for Egyptian students or those with an international student ID (a specific kind of ID) but even I was able to save a lot despite my major being engineering and not history.
Quote Amitabh (not Govindha), especially if you see a television set playing a Hindi movie in a shop. Once again everyone likes him, so you’ll get a healthy discount at some smaller shops if you do.
If you’re vegetarian, things are going to be a bit difficult. I think they use animal fat while cooking even rice, because the rice does have a slight flavour of the same to it.
People here drive on the Right side of the road like they do in the US.
At most times throughout the year, it’s very dry, humidity is low and the temperature is high. So take enough moisturiser, sunscreen and protective wear.
Remember this - my trip was half a year or more before the Arab Spring revolts that began in Egypt unseating the government of President Hosni Mubarak. Things have changed plenty in that country since then, the military is in charge, and it might not be quite the dream fantasy vacation it seems from these posts. A pity really considering all the magnificent sights Egypt has, not to mention the only surviving one of the true Seven Wonders of the World.

An Egyptian Excursion - Day 9

2011-05-19T00:05:00.001+05:30

Today, we were up by 7am. Had a pretty heavy breakfast and the nervous waiter nearly spilled his entire tray of coffee on Mum. He did apologize profusely though. The driver and guide were already waiting for us. In Aswan, the drivers don’t stop all the time and give pedestrians priority when they’re crossing, quite unlike Cairo. Here you have to be a bit more careful when you’re crossing the road.

Our first stop was the old dam in Aswan. Built by the British around 1902, later seized in the revolution of 1952 and all the power dam produced was henceforth used for Aswan alone. Then we drove to the Aswan High Dam. This one was newer and supposedly built with money seized from the Suez Canal during the war. This was the dam that submerged the land of Nubia (hence the migration of the Nubian population to Sudan, and regions like the Nubian village in Egypt which we saw earlier) and several temples of Ancient Egypt. This massive dam powers pretty much the whole of Egypt. Neither of the dams have any locks (not the kind you put on your door), so boats can’t pass through either one.

We headed to the boat dock for a ride to Philae Island. This was one of the numerous Islands that the dam had submerged. However, a coordinated effort was organized to disassemble the underwater temple and reassemble it on a nearby island that still remained above water. An amazing feat by any measure, considering how deep the water is. The Philae Temple, built in Ptolemaic times (time to dust off that old history book) is dedicated to the Goddess Isis – wife and sister of Osiris (yeah, the Egyptian Gods and Pharaohs were pretty messed up that way). The courtyards, pylons, statues and pillars were all covered with ornate designs and carefully preserved with not a hint of any mess left behind by tourists – which is, sadly, hardly the case in monuments back in India. We took our time walking through the temple and caught a boat back to the docks where the map seller followed us around saying “India India, Sholay very good, Shahrukh, Amitabh, Salaam Namaste, Kareena Kapoor, Salman Khan, Rajesh Khanna, Amir Khan” and went on and on even when it was apparent we weren’t interested/didn’t need a map (all the regions were stored offline on my N79). He could probably named more Bollywood actors and actresses than I ever could. Then there was the souvenir seller who tried to sell us something for 12, then 11, then 10 egyptian pounds, then for the heck of it, dad said 9, then he said 8, 7…and counted down to 1 laughing all the way while waving us goodbye.

Driving back from the docks, our first stop was the EgyptAir office (to check on the status of our flight back to Cairo) and then the quarry of the unfinished obelisk. Soon we were back at the resort. For these 3 hours of sightseeing inside Aswan, the cost was around Rs. 4400 (exchange rates around May 2010), by no means cheap. The previous 2 days’ trips came to about Rs. 20,000 each (no, not a joke). So be prepared to shell out a lot when touring Egypt, especially in the tourist towns of Luxor, Aswan and Edfu. If you have plenty of time, you can even take one of the cruise ships that ply the Nile and stop at the major attractions.

This was our last day in Aswan, so we took our riverside walk yet again, and stopped at the same Aswan Moon Restaurant from yesterday for lunch. The friendly old waiter was there and we had fresh mango juice and strawberry juice to go with our meal – no water, no essence, just pure and awesome juice. Once again, the food was simply marvelous. There was a bit of packing to be done back at the resort and we did that while I watched some cheesy Punisher flick from the 80s. I checked my mail after what seemed an eternity and found an IEEE Project idea of mine had been shortlisted for funding. Looking out my room’s window, I found a mother cat walking about the Nile’s banks followed by her 6 kittens and threw some cheese, butter and any other edible stuff I had in my room. The kittens were happy enough with this. Had to shave today, what with the face fungus growing rather unruly.

Around 8.15pm we took a walk down to McDonalds, had a big combo and a KitKat McFlurry (McFlurry Ice Cream blended with bits of KitKat chocolate). There are always so many more women out at restaurants here than men. Plenty of kids too in their early teens. Everyone seems to eat so much, yet they get to maintain perfect skin and a pimple-less face. Today however McDonalds was a bit too crowded – I suppose it was some kind of holiday. Mum had an ice-cream from a nearby shop on the way back. It was apparent that he’d overpriced it at the last minute when he saw we were foreigners.

And so began our last walk back to the resort along the famous Nile. Finished packing and ended the day with End Game on television (starring Cuba Gooding Jr.).

An Egyptian Excursion - Day 8

2011-05-17T02:00:00.003+05:30

Got up at 4.30 am. The minivan and the guide were ready and it was already light outside by 5.30am. There was the usual name-taking by the police on the way out of town. The road out had plenty of greenery on either side – one side was decidedly rocky and on the other the Nile flowed. Passed Kom Ombo and Edfu (all these places I’ve only heard of till then in Egyptian legends I’ve read as a child). Stopped at Edfu briefly for a cigarette – no, not us silly, just the driver and everyone else around. Plenty of people smoke here. The route to Luxor abounds with military and police checkpoints. We made it to the ancient Pharonic town of Luxor by 9.10am, despite the traffic being heavier than the road to Abu Simbel. Then again, Abu Simbel lies near the ancient region of Nubia (and towards the border with Sudan), hence being a tourist spot in a desolate location away from other cities – so the lack of traffic was understandable.

The first stop was at the Colossi of Memnon (meaning Ruler of Dawn) – two large statues of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III. Both statues were affected by a large earthquake around 25-30BC. These colossi stood guard to the once-massive Mortuary temple of Amenhotep III – of which little remains today. After a brief jaunt through the Ramesseum, we headed to the Valley of the Kings – large complex of burial chambers (obviously of the Pharaohs) cut into the mountains and spread over a wide area. Several of them were pretty deep and well preserved with even the paintings retaining their color. The tomb of Thutmose III was pretty high up – a steep climb followed by a steep descent, and hence my parents opted out while I took a shot at it. Few people come here, thanks to the daunting climb and subsequent drop, but it was well worth the effort. We visited a few more tombs, with paintings and wooden sarcophagi surrounding the inner metal/stone sarcophagus containing the mummies. Photography inside isn’t allowed.

Our next stop was the Temple of Hatshepsut – erstwhile Queen of Egypt – which had 3 distinct ‘steps’ in its construction. The courts were adorned with images, statues and reliefs of Hathor and Anubis and scenes of Somalia (not quite the war-torn, impoverished country it is today). It was obvious Hatshepsut fancied herself a God and apparently, her son-in-law and stepson got fed up with her behavior, and after her death several of her cartouches and paintings had the faces chiseled off. No doubt she must have been like a certain chief minister in India whose name begins with M, has a Y in the middle and ends with an I – the one that keeps building monuments in her name ;) .

If you ever visit Egypt, be sure to take along plenty of sunscreen, a pair of sunglasses and a cap or hat. Else you’ll be hit with a terrible headache – like the Pharaohs would have had when they had holes drilled in their skills through which their brains were extracted before embalming. Of course they were already dead at that point.

Loading up with quite a number of souvenirs (the sellers had a field day) we left the complex and drove to the Karnak temple complex (once the largest in the world) on the opposite bank. Here we found courts with HUGE (and I mean bloody freaking HUGE) columns supporting massive slabs of stone high up in the air. The temple had many sections expanded by different Pharaohs. The entrance itself has small sphinxes on either side. In ancient times, the temple was connected by canals (which have long since closed and disappeared) to the Nile River. The sacred/royal boat was kept in the temple and each flood season it would be able to make its way onto the river when these canals filled up. After a long walk through all the sections, we went over to the Luxor temple, similar to Karnak but smaller. We were pretty tired after all the time we’d spent in the heat and sun and left Luxor a while later.

The rule of the land here is that foreigners HAVE to be back inside Aswan (not outside the cities or on highway roads) before sunset and the police are pretty strict about enforcing this. On the drive back, we found from the guide that he had to take formal exams and such and a course of a few years before he could become one. While he was good with English (which was what we preferred), his wife was a Spanish guide. They must make a pretty penny with the tourist industry in Egypt booming even off season and the prices for tours what they are.

Back at the resort, we freshened up and took a walk by the riverside. We bought more bottled water from the resident Amitabh Bachchan fan (from the other day, remember?). Unlike London or Bangkok, there was no commission or tax here to change our dollars to Egyptian Pounds. We stepped into a nice restaurant by the river (literally ON the river actually) and had fresh Mango and Banana Juice. I must confess it was among the best fresh juices I’ve ever tried anywhere in the world. The resident kitty (very pregnant) was there (plenty of cats around Aswan) and we took a few pictures of her. Her man came along soon enough and sat by her. He chose to meow politely at us while she ate whatever we gave the both of them. Some damned foreigner (probably Spanish :P ) didn’t like kitty and co being around their table (where she headed next) and so the owner carefully picked them up and led them into the kitchen, all the while petting them gently. Kitty was back soon enough though :D . What I’ve noticed here is that, even the locals who are supposedly highly conservative go out and enjoy themselves much more than folks back home. The food was excellent and we headed back to the resort where I watched “The Ghost and the Darkness” (a Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas starrer about a hunt for man eating lions in Africa) and then “The Fast and the Furious” before calling it a day.

An Egyptian Excursion - Day 7

2011-05-13T01:11:00.000+05:30

We had to wake up pretty early today (leaving at 4am mind you) for the trip to Abu Simbel. We had a big minivan waiting to take us to the assembly point (on one of the main roads out of Aswan) where there was a police/military escort waiting along with several other minivans and buses carrying groups from other hotels. Pretty big crowd considering it was off-season. However, we had spent a good deal extra to get the minivan all to ourselves, with 2 drivers taking turns, and with breakfast packaged :) . The police noted the names of each and every driver and then began sending off the vehicles in groups with each convoy having an armed escort as well as an army man or two in each of the buses.

The security was quite tight because the road to Abu Simbel was supposed to have been dangerous once upon a time. We took off after a series of checks at a steady 120-130kph. There was a small section of bad road and then it was really smooth all the way. The road to Abu Simbel goes straight through the desolate dessert and in the darkness all you can see ahead of you is a series of red lights from the other vehicles in the convoy (spaced out pretty well) in the distance – a beautiful sight in itself, what with the plain desert on either side. To add to this wonderful scenery, the sunrise occurred by the time we reached Abu Simbel around 7.15am. Can’t say I wasn’t scared a bit on the drive though, with one driver sleeping and the other one (the one doing the driving :P ) drifting a bit too. Our guide had been dozing in the back seat all the while.

He did wake up on arrival though and took us to the ruins of the temples of Abu Simbel. In our 2 hours there, we visited the temples (carved out of the mountainside) of Rameses the 2nd and his supposedly beautiful queen Nefertari. The temples rest on the banks of the largest artificial lake – Lake Nasser – which is also one of the water bodies frequented by the massive Nile crocodile. The temples weren’t always here though. A long time ago, the temples were 65 meters below the present location. Then, when the Aswan dam was built, Lake Nasser was formed, and a rapid effort was organized to save these monuments by relocating them piece by piece to where they are now. Quite an achievement considering how massive these temples are with their numerous inscriptions and paintings and statues. A peculiar solar phenomenon occurs here – 61 days before and 61 days after the Winter Solstice, the Sun’s rays reach the inner sanctum and illuminate the idols there, except the God of the Underworld – Ptah. Poor bugger got left in the dark hehe.

We were ready to leave by 9.30am, when the sun was coming out and it was becoming scorching hot outside, but had to wait until the entire convoy was ready to leave. The drive of 280km back to Aswan (once again with the beautiful desert on either side) took under 3 hours. Back at the resort for lunch, we heard the terrible news of the plane crash in Mangalore.

A scale model showing where the temples lie now and where they would have been (under water) if they hadn't been moved .

Spending the rest of the day watching the beautiful view on the Nile, I noticed my lips had started cracking pretty bad with the dry heat. The view however was good enough to make me forget it all. The Dark Knight was on TV, and after that we took a walk along the riverside at about 7pm. The horse taxis here in Aswan sport a Blue Angels (the American F/A-18 Aerial Display Team) theme of Blue and Yellow. They also took the liberty of frequently calling out “India, India”, “Amitabh Bachchan” and “Good Price” – evidence enough that they knew of the Indian tendency to watch a lot of movies and bargain during every purchase.

Stopped by at the local riverside McDonalds and had a heavy dinner, topped it off with a McFlurry (goddamn why can’t I find these at any McDonalds in India), with a cat sitting on a nearby chair (yes, within the restaurant itself). Coming back to the resort, we were confronted with an assorted set of fruits (completely complimentary) in each of the rooms– an obvious conciliatory measure for yesterday’s horrendous Vindaloo at the attached restaurant. Found a frog running amok in my room (damn, I’d have loved it if it was my parents’ room he was in) and I had a tough time chasing him out before watching Blade Trinity and then Bayern playing against Inter before hitting the sack for an early day tomorrow.

Could India have pulled it off? A Special Forces Analysis

2011-05-05T02:19:00.001+05:30

The world woke up to the news of Osama Bin Laden being killed by American operatives deep within Pakistan, in the affluent suburb of Abbottabad, barely 2 days ago. Operation Neptune's Spear (some say it's Operation Geronimo) was executed clinically on President Obama's orders with no reported casualties on the attacking force's side. I was on a particular forum I frequent and people were bandying about the idea that India (especially India's Naval MARCOS commandos) could have pulled off a similar raid.

Well here's a little excerpt from the rather lengthy reply/analysis I wrote comparing the structure of the USA's special forces unit-organisation to India's. Note that I'm merely analyzing with whatever information is available publicly, not commenting on an individual soldier's ability. Feel free to point out mistakes or give your opinion (as long as it's kept civil) in the comments section below. Just putting it out here since plenty of readers thought it well-reasoned. If nothing else, here's hoping it provides you an interesting read.

While I'm patriotic, calling the MARCOS the "best" out there would be fallacy. Especially against DEVGRU/SEAL Team Six which was sent in with CIA operatives to get Bin Laden. But they are certainly one of the best if not as good as the SEALs. They don't have access to the same training methods or level of secret facilities or weaponry. The MARCOS are good. But they don't have a specialized Spec Ops air insertion unit like the 160th SOAR (a.k.a the Night Stalkers who I'm pretty sure were involved in the raid a day or two ago) who get the best of the best equipment and practice in the worst weather possible flying at low level. It's not the Navy's fault that MARCOS doesn't have such support but just that they don't have the money or will to develop such an inter-services special ops support force.

Again, there's no reconnaissance unit always around with Indian forces unlike the US which has innumerable spy satellites and Predator drones. Lastly, not enough air support either with the state our Air Force is in. Certainly no AC-130 gunships or attack helicopters. The Indian Air Force doesn't have enough planes for normal sanctioned force strength (hence the current purchasing spree) let alone to spare for a special division.

Also see how our supposedly-elite forces like the NSG are mostly used for VIP protection (unlike the US which uses the Secret Service for protecting high value targets). Instead of using just the Special Rangers Group, often even the elite Special Action Group members are put to this task. Nice way to pull them off their vital training regimens and make them guard politicians instead. Further, they come under command of a police DG, even though their members may be drawn from the Army, unlike the Marcos which is under the Navy.

Indian navy sailor B.K. Gurung holds his position on the flight deck of USS Mustin (DDG 89) during a visit, board, search and seizure drill April 7, 2007, while under way in the Philippine Sea. The drill is part of exercise Malabar 07-01, a U.S. and Indian naval exercise held off the coast of Okinawa, Japan.

The US however organizes their forces differently. The Spec Ops portion is handled by the SEALs and Delta Force out of Fort Bragg abroad. They probably used Delta Force (SFOD-Delta now ACE) too but they'll never say it because officially the name "Delta Force" doesn't exist even if Chuck Norris plays them :P . On domestic soil, though these operators may be involved, the primary task of such ops goes to the FBI's HRT. Apart from this, to handle emergencies such as terrorist attacks within each city, there's a SWAT Team on hand too. All well equipped.

The CIA in addition to its own Special Operations Group has its "contractors", and I don't mean Blackwater, I mean the kind that are officially not working for the CIA but are usually former operatives of some of the above mentioned units unofficially sanctioned to "do what must be done". So you see, there just isn't anything to match this kinda structure. It's not the Navy MARCOS commandos' fault, it's just that, despite cross-training with the SEALs and the British SAS on several occasions, there is no single JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) here to take care of the requirements of all these guys or political will-power to give them free rein and an increased budget.

Sad part is they keep increasing the salaries of politicians and giving tax breaks to the BCCI instead of using the money to pay these soldiers who actually sacrifice plenty so that we can stay safe or augment the defense institutions. But no, we forget each terrorist attack after a small candle lighting ceremony. Nothing much is done. The reduction in usage of Black Cats for mere VIP security was marginal, made just in reaction to the public uproar following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The NSG (National Security Guards) received equipment upgrades like Non-Skid Shoes and training from Germany's elite GSG-9 only after these attacks, and still doesn't have enough planes and helicopters to achieve the anywhere-in-the-country-within-4-hours mobility that the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team boasts.

Coming to the question of whether a country like Pakistan would take kindly to a strategic commando strike by India, it would probably end up escalating things to an almost war-like state. They'll use that "intrusion" as an excuse if India tries it. The Americans are kinda expected to take shots within the country so unless the Pakistanis got tipped off about them going after OsamaCO's head. Plus they're throwing billions of dollars worth of aid at Pakistan which no one else is doing.

There was some reporter on TV quizzing the Air Chief Marshal PV Naik whether India has the capability to carry out such surgical strikes against terrorists. From the way the Marshal thought about it and paused while saying "India.... has the capability" it seemed like he was himself doubtful. The Russian Spetnaz, the Americans, Israel (with its Sayeret Matkal Unit 269 and Mossad) have shown time and again that they can take out who they want - whether legally or not - if said individual is a thorn in their rear ends. Examples include the terrorists who carried out the inhuman slaughter of Jewish athletes at the Munich Olympics. Sadly, India doesn't have too many cases of such proven counter-terrorist action. Here, commandos put their lives on the line to capture a single terrorist and kill the rest and instead of interrogating him brutally, then shooting him and dumping his body in the sea, the government keeps each terrorist safe and sound, gives them books to read, lets them spit at magistrates and "respect their human rights". Sad, but true.

By no means are the Indian Special Forces less formidable or less motivated, it's just that there is much that needs to be done to modernize them and support them, the way a soldier, who puts his life at risk so that we can sleep peacefully in our homes, should be aided.

An Article on Yours Truly :)

2011-03-06T15:20:00.000+05:30

Well, I found an article in the IEEE India Newsletter about my paper presentation in Shanghai, China. Here's a snap:

:D

Click through if you want to see the full picture.

Fifth-Gen Fighter Jets: Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons

2011-02-21T01:47:00.001+05:30

No, this isn't about that Chinese martial arts flick where everyone and their uncle soared through the air effortlessly, this is about a different kind of flyer. A man made one.

The means to control any theater of war lies in first securing air superiority over the battlefield. With stealth and weapons technology advancing by the day, air forces the world over are putting vast resources into either procuring or developing the best of fighter aircraft. Fifth-gen fighter aircraft are characterized by the ability to use information from a wide range of sources to correlate events in realtime, provide an enhanced situational awareness, air frames that can withstand insane high-G maneuvers, and LPIR (Low Probability of Intercept Radar) which can use radar to scan for enemies in the sky without giving away the aircraft's position.

F-22

The F-22 was the first of this kind and, as of 2011, the only actively operating Fifth-Gen Fighter Jet. Lockheed Martin's F-22A Raptor while providing the US Air Force with the best there is in air superiority fighters, can also attack ground targets. Designed to replace fourth-gen fighters like the F-15, every single F-22 costs a cool $150 million dollars to make. The technology used is so bleeding edge and secret that any export or sale of the F-22 outside the US is banned, not even to close allies like the Israelis.

PAK-FA Prototype

While the F-22 held sway for quite a while, there are challengers in the design/prototype phase being developed by a few other nations. India and Russia have jointly been developing the PAK-FA (Perspektivny aviatsionny kompleks frontovoy aviatsii, that is "Prospective Airborne Complex - Frontline Aviation") . Otherwise known as the T-50, what initially began as a project headed by Sukhoi later roped in India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to create a supersonic-cruise capable fifth gen fighter jet that is apparently a bit less stealthy than an F-22 but much cheaper at an estimated $100 million each. 250 machines are expected to be built each for the Russian and Indian air forces. The Indian variant - christened the FGFA - adds another pilot, calling for slightly different wing surfaces, capability to carry a different array of weapons (including nuclear armament) and avionics that might be sourced from multiple nations, as opposed to only Russian technology.

LCA - HAL Tejas

The Indians meanwhile are busy with their own plans, following the successful completion of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project with the production of the HAL Tejas, which of course wasn't a fifth-generation aircraft but a single seater multirole jet fighter. The Indian Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) is now designing the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), a proposed fifth generation aircraft in the 25 ton category. The ADA was even ready to develop a whole new prototype Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA)radar to complement the aircraft. Only a scale wind-tunnel model of the plane has yet been seen in public though. The AMCA is expected to use 2 GTRE GTX-35VS Kaveri engines designed and built by the DRDO's Gas Turbine Research Establishment Labs, with thrust vectoring and supercruise capabilities. The Indian Navy has also thrown in a significant amount of funding, so it's obvious that there'll be a naval variant of the AMCA too.

AMCA Model

The FGFA will only be ready by around 2018 and the AMCA by 2025. This will cause the force strength of the Indian air force to deplete massively till then (despite the addition of a few Su-30 planes) and is also the reason you've been seeing the "126 aircraft bid offer" left open by the Indian Air Force in the news infrequently. That bid is currently being led by the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Eurofighter Typhoon

The Americans meanwhile have been collaborating with a few other nations to develop another stealth fighter project - Lockheed Martin's F35 Lightning II. This was in the news too, albeit because funding for an alternate engine for this aircraft was cut recently by the House. The F35 will be significantly cheaper per unit than the F-22 while also having a VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) variant. The aircraft has been in the "testing" phase for the last 4 years or so.

F35 Lightning II

The Japanese have the Mitsubishi ATD-X Shinshin in the works, and the South Koreans are tinkering with the Korea Aerospace Industries KF-X, both expected to take quite a while to achieve "production" status.

While these tigers of the aviation world have at it, the dragon hasn't quite been asleep. The Chinese have their jack-in-the-box in the form of the Chengdu J-20. It's a less-agile, but much larger design (in comparison with F22s and PAK-FAs) that will supposedly have greater range too. This jet, being built by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group for China's People's Liberation Army Air Force, has been the centre of much controversy. Initially, it was reported that the J-20 used elements copied from a Russian stealth jet, followed by an accusation that reverse engineering had been done from an American F-117 Nighthawk that had been shot down in Serbia. Later, it was also alleged that cyber-espionage of the F-22 and F-35 project files had significantly aided the Chinese in putting together the J-20. Indeed, the front does look like an F-22 and the tail fins slightly resemble those of the PAK

Chengdu J-20

The timing aside, the US is still confident it will way more stealth fifth-gen fighters several years on than any competing air force in the world and that the J-20 hence poses no real threat to it. Still, the rising Asian power deserves credit for the way in which they've pulled their socks up and gone about putting together a stealth jet real quick.

With all this military tech being churned out, one thing is clear - the skies will be a very different place 10 years on, with both what we can "see" and what we can't.

Photo Source: Wikimedia

Happy New Year MMXI

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

So yet another year draws to its close, in fact it's curtains for the first decade of the new millennium.

A year filled with scandals galore, a year that began with a massive earthquake wreaking havoc in Haiti, another in Chile that triggered a killer Tsunami, yet another in China, a year that saw a good part of the American coastline polluted by an oil spill, a year when state secrets and diplomatic cables were leaked to the public, a year that found the Korean Peninsula ever closer to the brink of war.

Of course all these mishaps were balanced by good too - a new tallest structure called the Burj Khalifa was opened, India hosted the Commonwealth games way better than anyone thought it could, the first synthetic living cell was made, the H1N1 Influenza Pandemic was declared over, researchers trapped antimatter at CERN for the first time in human history and much much more.

On the personal front, I've seen a few more foreign lands, done a few more projects and published an IEEE paper, delighted in the company of my friends more than ever before and grown wiser, if in small increments, over the course of the year. The Blog has picked up steam too, with over 1500 page visits per month consistently over the past half year at least (since I began tracking it), breaching 10000 unique page visits in total in the first half of 2010 and a new high of 2500+ visits this month of December. I've won a *few* ;-) contests and giveaways online putting my poetry writing, prose and puzzle-solving skills to the test and earned a bit writing articles for a few websites too. College has been going great and this year will determine pretty much where my life's headed. A lot hangs in the balance.

If the supposedly prescient Mayans are to be believed, we only have 2 years left before the world ends. Put that time to good use lest some not-so-extinct Mayan truly gets his opportunity to say "I told you so!" :P (though I scarcely think that'll happen). Enjoy life, but spare a modicum of thought and a helping hand to those who're less fortunate. Sure, go out and party tonight, but exercise enough restraint to avoid being too wasted to drive yourself home in the wee hours of 1-1-11.

So here's wishing you a Happy New Year! A year filled with joy, friendship and love.... A year where you make a meaningful contribution to your family and the world... A year filled with achievement. For it is in the act of achieving that any human being gives meaning to his or her life. Why lead an insipid existence content with the daguerreotype of yesteryears? Instead discard the prosaic, whet your intellect and relish in your efforts to bring light to tenebrous depths. For that is what sets you apart from an unthinking animal.

Heartiest wishes for an excellent and worry-free 2011 !

An Egyptian Excursion - Day 6

2010-12-31T20:13:00.000+05:30

Breakfast today was pretty heavy, an excellent spread at the buffet. We got ready to check out, and our driver for the day, Karam (a friend of Tiger/Nemr's), was waiting for us. And so we started to the airport. On the way Karam pointed out the 6th October 1973 memorial, pretty much everyone seemed to know about it and from the way they talk it's apparent that they respect it and revere the people who gave their lives during the Yom Kippur War. Few of us would ever accord the same degree of reverence to those who laid down their lives in Kargil or the war of 1971.

He proceeded to showed us the Cairo International stadium among other sights. Our flight was leaving from Terminal 3 of the new airport. Pretty large, spacious and pleasing to the eyes. One big airport in the middle of the desert.

There was a dark-skinned African guy who got stopped at the entrance though - apparently some issue with his tickets. His companion, another negro, was let in and he proceeded to find a ticket counter where he could set things right. Meanwhile the man who got left behind (with a thick African accent) kept saying "You let white man go, but I go to America, they stop me there. I go to Europe, they stop me there. Now I come to Africa, you stop me here too. OH MY GOD!!". While I can imagine that it must have been distressing for him, his words were so funny with that accent that I couldn't help laughing at what was happening (not in front of him though).

There was another problem with our seat allotment which kept us standing at the counter for some time, though they did resolve it. Next stop - duty free. After browsing through many of the shops there, we boarded the plane. As usual, there were a few Indians laughing loudly on the flight as if it was some train compartment they'd hired exclusively, drawing looks and giving us a 'good' name :P . When we finally landed at Aswan, the tour operator from the Pyramisa Isis Corniche was there. One Mr. Abdul Rehman, who gave us a full briefing of the sights to be seen on the way to the hotel.

Soon after checking-in, tour arrangements were to be discussed. Now like I always say, we never take group tours, we prefer traveling alone - just the 3 of us - with a guide and driver too at max in a vehicle. All the prices were in dollars (they kinda prefer that to the Egyptian pound here) and they were all pretty damn expensive. Even compared to London and such high-flung places.

The view from the room itself though was just too beautiful to describe. Right on the banks of the Nile - the cradle of the Egyptian civilization, with the Tombs of the Nobles right across the river on a hill, and the sun's beautiful rays shining down on the water. We decided to take a Nile cruise on a boat from the hotel's dock.

And so we went, taking in the beautiful scenery as we watched the rich greenery and civilization on the banks on one side contrasted with the stark desert and sand dunes on the opposite bank that extended into the distance.

Mind you though, we kept our hands firmly within the limits of the boat. The Nile crocodile is the largest crocodilian in Africa (with some 20 feet plus specimens recorded) and is sometimes regarded as the second largest crocodilian after the Saltwater crocodile. A fact we were well aware of. One of the rocky little islands in the middle of the river even had an ominous "Croc warning" danger sign.

We saw Aga Khan's mausoleum (now closed to the public) on the way too. Soon the boat stopped at the Nubian village. These Nubians live in a somewhat more traditional fashion on the west banks of the Nile and on Elephantine island where they settled after being displaced to make room for Lake Nasser. Here, we had Hibiscus juice at a traditional Nubian house where they had croc skins among other weird paraphernalia hung up all over. There was even a relatively small crocodile in a makeshift tank in the middle of the hall.

Walking through the streets of this little place, we nearly got run over by 2 camels. Periodically, a camel or two run down the streets with a tourist or the owner himself on it. There are shops where you can get souvenirs made by the locals here too, and the shopkeepers call out "Hey India India" based on the color of our skin, except one dude who incorrectly called out "Hey Sri Lanka" :P . We took the same boat back with our guide to the point where we started this little journey where a car from the hotel was waiting for us.

We skipped over to the opposite side of the road (crossing the road is a slightly more perilous affair here compared to Cairo) to look for some place we could get plenty of bottled water. We did find one such shop where the shopkeeper was busy watching some old Amitabh Bachchan flick on his little TV. On seeing us, his eyes lit up like two 100W bulbs and he went "India India... Amitabh Bachchan you like??" and only after he confirmed this would he sell us the water. Even gave us a discount LOL. We had the car drop us back in front of the hotel's entrance and from there we took a walk along the road on the banks. Some tout tried to accost us saying he was a cook from the restaurant, pity we come from a land where touts are a dime a dozen. Didn't work. A little bit of shoe shopping and currency exchanging and Hostess Ho Ho buying later (I just love HoHos and I was frankly amazed to find them here in Aswan too). Had an ice cream too after many days (we'd been unable to find much in the way of ice cream during our time in Cairo).

There was no dearth of people of Sudanese origin here in Aswan. Everyone seems to like Amitabh Bachchan more than any local stars. Google it too if you don't believe me, but they kinda greet Indians here with "India India?? Amitabh Bachchan!" hahaha and they just love his movies (as we would find out during the later days). Soon it was dark and time for dinner, which we had at our resort's restaurant (they sort of messed up with a Vindaloo that wasn't quite a Vindaloo) with the dark water lapping the shore barely a few feet away. Wonderful setting with the Movenpick Hotel (yes the same folks who make that awesome ice-cream) on the opposite bank showing off its ever-changing lighting. I was beginning to miss the constant texts I'd usually keep sending a friend of mine by now. The phone had instead turned into my travel diary of sorts, keeping track of everything I did wherever I went. Stored the location I was at on the phone's GPS for memory's sake .

After dinner, I tried to turn in early (big trip next day), but to no avail. There was some crazy prom slasher film on the tube which ended with everyone else dead but the target of the obsessive slasher.

Then, quite coincidentally, The Mummy came on. Couldn't resist watching The Mummy all over again what with this being the land of the Pharaohs ;) . For the record, Hamunaptra is imaginary and Imhotep was an architect, engineer, physician and adviser of the King Djoser, and he didn't quite stab the king in the back and go about cavorting with his bride.

Augmented Reality, the Word (Lens) on the Street, and the (Delicious) Cloud Conundrum

2010-12-19T13:03:00.000+05:30

Now this one's about 2 tech topics, one of them part social issue, recently in the news.

Augmented reality applications are all the rage these days. What is Augmented Reality you ask? If you're one of those technologically-challenged folks, well it's a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated sensory input such as sound or graphics. Essentially, the computer adds virtual objects to your view of the world to help you gain information.

AR is commonplace in the military world with heads up displays (HUDs) showing a pilot or soldier target location, missile lock information, distance, altitude and other such details overlaid across his or her view. When they came to cellphones and mobile devices, it was first in the form of simple applications like the AR Tower defense game (you build laser towers and defend the center from invaders) on the Symbian-enabled (these days you'd be better off saying "Symbian-disabled") Nokia N95 smartphone. The game used the phone's camera feed as the environment, with the aid of fiduciary markers, or physical points of reference placed manually within the camera's view, and generated the "playing board".

Interest in AR was recently sparked by Star Wars : Falcon Gunner, an augmented reality game that lets you use the city (via your camera) as your background and simulate an actual window through which you can shoot at TIE fighters from the fictional Star Wars universe. Watch the video above. But it's not all fun and games.

Browsers like Wikitude brought forth a new genre of applications. Ones that let you see the world around you in more (useful) detail. Integrating itself with the GPS, accelerometer and compass on mobile devices running on Symbian, Android and iOS, the Wikitude World Browser and Wikitude Drive applications show you visually where you are, the history of the place, and what spots of interest lie around you from a ground level real-time view as you pan your camera. Feed wikitude an image of some product you find at a supermarket or department store and it'll return product details and where to find said item within your vicinity. A similar application exists by default on Samsung's Galaxy Tab too. There are others like Layar and TagWhat.

Now a new application for iOS has taken it to a whole new level. It's called Word Lens. What it does is take the video feed from your camera, recognize any foreign language words in the live video, and replace those words seamlessly with their translated version in real-time. Now that is just awesome! You don't need to take a picture and wait for it to translate. The processing is real-time. For now the app is free, but the dictionaries (right now you have only Spanish to English and English to Spanish available) are paid - the price is very reasonable though, around $5 a pop. It's not perfect, but it's a promising start in the right direction and makes you go "wow" the first time you try it.

While I'm on the topic of changing the view of the world around us, augmenting it, there's also the question of our own lives moving more into the virtual world. With facebook and orkut, picasa and flickr, dropbox and skydrive, to name a few, a good amount of our data is stored online. Enter the cloud. Wikipedia says that Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand, as with the electricity grid. So all your data is not on your PC but on a server provided by a 3rd party on the internet. This offloads a great deal of stuff from your hard drive, helps you free up memory and lets you access your data from anywhere in the world. You can work on your documents on the move, collaborate with colleagues a 1000 miles away, share your vacation videos with friends without using any physical media and make backups to online services to preemptively counter any possible data loss on your hard drive. There's also a green side to things as it lets you pool computing resources.

This is all well and good but like some bright foresighted individual once said "No pain, no gain". Indeed, the risks are significant. All your data is on "the cloud". Your deepest personal secrets, your work details, family photos and what not. The companies hosting them don't "own" the data in a moral sense, but they do technically have control of said data. Lawfully or unlawfully this data can be accessed by them and used. All that separates your data and some creepy dude trying to get at it is a username and password in most cases.

We all know how often passwords can be leaked. The recent Gawker Media fiasco was evidence enough. The passwords, email IDs and usernames of nearly 1.5 million users of Gawker Media sites (Gawker.com, Fleshbot, Deadspin, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, io9, Kotaku, Jalopnik, Jezebel) were stolen by hackers who then posted the information publicly on the internet. Considering how many people use similar passwords on other accounts with similar usernames and email addresses on several other websites, you can guess how secure your data is.

Your access to cloud applications is dictated by internet connectivity. You have no real control over the bandwidth you possess and any disconnection hampers your work if you're dependent on those files in the cloud. Availability of your data and applications is a key issue, especially in the business world.

Any downtime on the service provider's end is your loss. What happens when your cloud service provider disappears altogether? A danger highlighted by Yahoo's recent disowning of "Delicious" - a social bookmarking service. With more than 5 and a half million users storing their bookmarks online, sharing them with people across the globe, it's not something you'd expect to shut shop in a jiffy. Those bookmarks could very well be built up over a few years. Yahoo, meanwhile, decided to 'sunset' Delicious and the blogosphere blew up with talk about Delicious shutting down and people losing all those bookmarks. It later turned out that Yahoo was letting go of Delicious but that the latter was looking for a new partner to pick it up. If this can happen to a bookmarking service, what happens when your favorite photo-sharing site goes down? Do you really want to be in the position of having a month to download and re-organize all 100GB worth of your files that you've racked up over 4 or 5 years? Or even worse, would you want to risk losing them all? One of the dangers of cloud storage is that you can never predict what can happen. There is also the problem of incompatibility between different cloud service providers. When one goes down, you can't just shift all your data to another without uploading each and every piece of it (provided you even have a physical copy of that information at that time).

The cloud is all the rage with people predicting that iTunes will one day offer a cloud service for your music too. All I know is, if I ever put my data on any cloud, I'll have both eyes firmly on the provider.

College Chronicles : Sector Seven ;)

2010-12-17T10:59:00.002+05:30

Now that I'm into the final semester of my Bachelors in Engineering, here's the customary College Chronicles post mentioning highlights of my time at college during the sem gone by.

When the 7th semester began I was juggling the work I had left at IIT Madras and all that was happening at college. The seventh semester being tight as it was didn't quite help matters. Had some friends to help out though:

(OK, so he didn't help out but he joined us on the benches we occupied near the co-op store)

Professional Ethics was one subject which we all took easy. The professor who took it had to leave for Italy on some training program for 10 months. So what he did was hold classes on Saturdays too (which I conveniently missed to continue my internship at IIT). Can't say he had too many fans though, especially with the way he corrected papers. However, this did have a positive effect on the latter part of the sem. He pretty much disappeared after mid-August leaving us with a whole day free.

The other faculty members couldn't leave well alone though, so we inevitably had classes on most days. In the midst of this, a classmate and I were working on a project sanctioned by the IEEE itself (yeah, with funding from them). That took up a lot of my time with welding, metal cutting, frequent trips to electrical and mechanical part shops and some electrical stuff to be done. I guess I was wrong to expect a "free" start to the 4th year. Once my extended internship at IIT was completed, there was the GRE to prepare for with just 2 weeks left on the clock. The kind of English the ETS tests us on is filled with words you'd rarely ever use even if you were a literature major or a lawyer. When that was done with, it was back to concentrating completely on college. Most of us were so engrossed in what was being taught that we didn't notice this dog take a walk through out class.

Now, when I say "concentrating completely" what I mean is enjoying every day to the fullest and preparing for exams on the very night before the test. Some would only study on the morning of the test. While class was on, you'd find most people looking more at their watches than at the professor teaching. When a particular teacher once asked why everyone wanted the class to finish so soon. Reply from our representative Praveen: "Ma'm, Pasikkidhu (hungry)". LOL. Yes, Thalaivar Praveen is a very hungry young man as evinced below.

The next bit of comedy came as a result of a particular report we had to submit each week. Now, this was for one of the lab classes. While some of us did do it sincerely (yes, that includes me), there would always be a few groups rushing to put together a report at the last minute. Code "borrowed" from one report, theory from another, calculations from yet another. A composite report so to speak. :) Why, some reports would only differentiate themselves from others in the kind of font they used.

This year was also the beginning of a new phenomenon during Dr. PK's classes. Some diagrams from Petrochemical Instrumentation are, strictly speaking ;) , just insane to say the least. And not all of us can depend on our quick rough sketches which are quite often far from accurate. So I took the initiative and asked him if he'd let me photograph the board after he'd drawn it. Contrary to popular belief, he was more than willing to oblige. Ever since, it is his wont to put forth a sly "Gaurav, don't want a photo?" every few diagrams :P

One of the staircases was declared off-limits 'officially' this semester.

Beginning at a 019019, frequent trips to college helped me breach the 20,000km mark on the car. Besides the work on the new Metro lines in the city was creating traffic snarls all along the route to college and driving me nuts. And when it rained hard, oh my, the roads would be flooded. At such times, especially when an exam was close by, we'd resign ourselves to eagerly keeping watch for this announcement courtesy of Mr. Ramanan.

(It reads "Chennai schools and colleges are on leave today thanks to heavy rain")

On the home front, Mum thought it'd be a good idea to change out the old mats and put something more..umm... colorful... there to say the least. I knew there was something fishy going on.

This hectic timetable had me tired and bored. For reasons unknown, my scratch support chief (like tech support, except you scratch him when you have a problem and you feel better) seemed much more tired than me throughout the semester. Yeah, Mr. Cactus:

It's common to hear the expression "Padichu kizhichitten" when referring to the intensity of one's preparation. However "Padichu Chair e odachen" is a new one. Broke it and fell flat on the ground during one of my pre-exam night study sessions. Might have had something to do with the fact that I was falling asleep sitting....

Birthdays were celebrated with pomp and splendor as always in class. And yeah, with cake and plenty of ice-cream too. Observe how one of our daredevil class representatives spits in the face of danger and licks cream off a knife. Mr. Vigneshwaran attempts to recreate the effect albeit in his dream world with his finger.

This time around, we also hit a few big malls and went to the movies to celebrate the majority of us securing employment offers.

Our intra-college festivities took place as always in the form of Sivaranjini 2010 as well as the intra-college technical fest LiveBeat held by our department (hats off to my classmates who worked pretty hard to make this a success). Some posters (concerned with other events happening around campus) invited us to enhance our electromagnetic properties too, not sure that was quite what they were getting at :P

There was one workshop by National Instruments conducted for our benefit. Only issues were that the class was packed and the microphone didn't work. Didn't help that the guy from NI couldn't really raise his voice either and that we were seated behind our juniors. End result - I slept through some of it despite trying my best (with my fingers even lol) to hold my eyes open. I'd imagine most others were far worse. Props to Topper Harini for capturing this snap.

I mentioned employment a few lines back. This semester we had companies coming to campus to recruit us. What this offers us, apart from a chance to write placement tests, sit for interviews and group discussions, is an opportunity to enjoy a day out with friends without fear of losing attendance. The only placement session I attended ... well the company HR Manager told me that I was "overqualified" for the job with the stuff I had in my resume. LOL. The only thing worthwhile that day was the trip to KFC with my classmates:

(Yes, Santhosh was busy looking at the food tray in Vigneshwaran's hands)

I'd put in a word in my last College Chronicles post, if I'm not mistaken, about a paper of mine that had been selected among the ones to be published in the conference proceedings of an IEEE conference in Shanghai. Well, it was dang in the middle of our end semester exams and that led to a drastic change in the timetable giving us pretty much 9 days worth of holidays inbetween the 3rd and 4th final exam dates. While the guys went back to their native places and the girls revised the remaining subjects' portions 10 times over (no offense meant hehe) during that respite the university afforded our department, I headed to Hong Kong first and then Shanghai where I presented the paper. It was received quite well and I got to see a lot of sights. The university didn't pick up the tab for even a portion of the (considerably large) conference registration fees (or any other expense for that matter) though because I'm not a PhD scholar or professor, and Vigneshwaran, my co-author, couldn't accompany me for lack of time to prepare for the conference and his management exams. So I turned this into a vacation with my parents. Had a wonderful time, really, and I'll be detailing all the sights seen and things we did in Hong Kong and Shanghai (with pictures mind you) in later posts on the blog. Stick around for that, or better yet subscribe for e-mail updates or the RSS feed so you won't miss out on anything. The links are on the left hand side column. You can also get notified of articles if you're in India using Google labs free SMS notifications.

Special thanks to my friend Kaushik and his driver for picking me up on their way to college whenever I hadn't slept enough to drive myself to an end semester exam. Without him, a lot of my last-minute reading wouldn't get done because I'd have to concentrate on driving during that last one hour. Speaking of which, this was my final odometer reading:

21111

And so ends this College Chronicles post. Another 5-6 months and the final part of this tale will be up. The 8th semester has started off just fine, here's hoping it goes well too - especially our final year project.

Do note that the remaining days of the Egypt trip will be up shortly on the blog, followed of course by a travelogue of the Shanghai-Hong Kong vacation + conference. Don't miss it. :)

PS: Cheers to you if you got the Transformers reference in the title!

I'm Back

2010-12-07T11:57:00.001+05:30

I've been gone quite some time from my blog, I know. This has been one hectic semester at college, not to mention the onerous task of filling in and completing applications to universities for my higher education. Had to pop over to Hong Kong for a bit and to Shanghai for an IEEE conference where I presented a paper of mine. And my most annoying exams played their part in keeping me occupied too.

So now I'm back ... kinda. I still have a few days pending from my Egypt travelogue to complete. Then I'll have the customary College Chronicles post up, to be followed by a detailed description of my days in Hong Kong and Shanghai - what I saw, where I went etc.

All this will start trickling onto the blog one by one after the 11th (that's 4 days away). A little bit busy till then though. I'm happy now that I'm averaging above 1500 unique page visits each month consistently over the last few months too. :)

Apparently, Rorschach has been running around the world - leaking his diary on the net, embarrassing some powerful people and such. Props if you get the reference. ;)

Here's hoping you'll be there for the upcoming posts. Happy holidays!

X-Ray doodle - 115th anniversary

2010-11-08T00:28:00.001+05:30

It was a hundred and fifteen years ago on the late afternoon of 8th November 1895 that Wilhelm Röntgen discovered and produced X-Rays with a cardboard covered Hittorf-Crookes tube.

Above is his wife Anna Bertha's hand's photo, the very first actual X-ray image ever taken, one that made her exclaim "I have seen death!". Quite ironic given the fact that this would give the medical fraternity a powerful diagnostic tool in the decades to come.

Roentgen later won the very first Nobel Prize in Physics for his work.

And to commemorate the 115th anniversary of said event, Google has put out this most wonderful doodle on their search page:

Observe this carefully crafted animated (shimmering) gif. If it doesn't shimmer for you, just click on the image and open it separately. Trust Google when you need to be reminded of an important date. :)

TRON : Legacy

2010-11-06T22:50:00.002+05:30

Considered a cult success, TRON is one of those films that made a big impact among the geek crowd. Now with Disney's sequel coming to theaters real soon, the excitement is at a fever pitch again.

The tale of a once-wronged programmer taking his fight to a computer program will now get its sequel Tron : Legacy where Jeff Bridges reprises his role as Kevin Flynn. The stunningly electro-luminescent world of TRON comes to life this time following the exploits of Sam Flynn, when he gets pulled into the computer world of light cycles and illuminated discs trying to find his father.

Slated for a December 17, 2010 release, the flick has already generated a lot of hype across the net, and Daft Punk have been busy doing the music for it.

Here are a few samples to whet your appetite while you wait.

Derezzed by joinlick

Daft Punk - Tron Legacy (Original Mix) (New track / Nov. 2010) by Electrocorp.fr

You'll definitely like the tracks if you're of a techno bent of mind.

Prepare to have the bugs in your code derezzed ;-)

My thoughts on the IEEE

2010-09-02T22:56:00.001+05:30

My first encounter with the acronym IEEE came when I saw it next to the numbers 1394. The more technically adept / computer-savvy among you might recognize the name Firewire - a common port available on so many PCs these days. The IEEE develops standards all over the world for technologies ranging from Firewire to USB to Wireless communication. Yes, the IEEE is ubiquitous and in a good way. Right from my school days, I've heard about the IEEE and looked upon it as this mythical group meant only for the engineering elite who are all knowing in matters of technology. The fact of the matter is that the organization comprises 395,000 members in around 150 countries, all working toward progress of any technology that is even distantly related to electricity. It was only recently, by the way, that I discovered that the logo of this organization was representative of the right-hand grip rule (a very well known rule relating to electricity and magnetism) .

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers had its origins in the American Institute of Electrical Engineers which was founded way back in 1884. The latter merged with the Institute of Radio Engineers to form what we know of, today, as the IEEE. It has the most members of any technical professional organization in the world. It also publishes 30% of the world's electrical, electronics and computer science-related literature and has 38 societies that cover specialized technical domains. However, the IEEE also has different organizational units based on geography. For instance, IEEE India has 10 sections (like Madras Section, Bombay section, Calcutta section and Kharagpur section). It is almost mandatory (if your work lies in an electronic/ electrical/ computer engineering related area) to have your work published in an IEEE journal or accepted at an IEEE conference to add weight to your proposals and research these days.

Membership is available at a discounted rate to students and the benefits of the same are many. Since I took this route, I'll be looking at the IEEE more from a student's point of view. First and foremost, being an IEEE member entitles you to access to the Xplore digital library. This database contains nearly 2 million papers and full-text articles. As part of the membership, you also get IEEE Spectrum, a monthly print (and electronic if you'd rather read it online) magazine detailing the latest developments in vocations related to electrical, electronic and computer science engineering. You also get up to date notification about the latest IEEE sponsored conferences in your fields of interest, not to mention significant discounts in the conference fees for students.

The myIEEE portal is your gateway to this wonderful wealth of information once you are a member. If you do sign up, don't forget to complete your profile and state your areas of interest. Sometimes, you'll get lucky and be offered a free membership (along with digital magazine access) of societies in your field of interest. You'll also find a number of free webinar (that's an online seminar) offers coming your way - all opportunities to get up to speed on recent trends in the areas you've mentioned on your IEEE profile page. And to confirm the authenticity of an IEEE conference, just head over to the IEEE's website and click on the "conferences and events" link. Then use the search function to find the conference you desire.

My own experience with the IEEE has been very good. I've become a member of a few societies too in addition to the basic IEEE student membership. One of my project ideas was shortlisted within the top 27 in the country for funding from the IEEE foundation via Bangalore section. Had a very fruitful correspondence with a professor of Osaka University from IEEE Japan, where one of my papers was sent (what with it being IEEE Region-10 HQ) after being selected among the top 3 student papers at the Madras Section. Access to IEEE Xplore was also very helpful during my internship at IIT Madras. A paper of mine was accepted at an international conference of the IEEE in Shanghai, China and will be published on IEEE Xplore and in the conference proceedings at the end of the year. International IEEE Conferences are a great way to meet and interact with the best researchers and experts in the dominion of the engineering, and to present your ideas to all these scholars who come from far and wide. All this would have certainly not been possible without a membership in the IEEE and access to its services.

Why I even got to help organize and volunteer (showing my talent as a pianist/keyboardist) at IEEE India's 125th anniversary celebrations! It's not all just about academics and research. Recently, the IEEE contributed a major amount towards flood relief in Pakistan. And if you think the focus on electronics is absolute, think again. To state an example, it was from IEEE's Spectrum that I learnt about Sikorsky's recent efforts to build a helicopter that could do 430km/hr+, the sole preserve of fixed wing aircraft. The IEEE even operates IEEE.tv - an internet based television network that delivers content about engineering and technology for the benefit of IEEE's members and the general public. I'd be much obliged if you could refer any of your friends who'd like a student's view on the IEEE to this page. Do retweet these 2 tweets - http://bit.ly/aPF9NG and http://bit.ly/dAZguy - on twitter if you liked the article. It would sure help convince some fence-sitters to take the plunge.

To summarize, if you're in one of the disciplines that emphasizes a skill in electronics or electrical engineering or computer science, or if your work is vaguely related to these subjects, I think an IEEE membership would immensely benefit you. The IEEE's sphere of influence is vast. Be a part of it!

Whipping up some homemade ice-cream (banana)

2010-09-01T17:40:00.000+05:30

Contrary to the suggestive title there's no whipped cream used here ;) , but what I'll be describing is a simple way to make some banana ice-cream.

Ingredients/Things you'll need:

Green Banana (Robusta - a particular variety) - 3 or 4 of these fruits. I did it with 3.
Sweetened Condensed milk - 1 tin (around 400g) of Nestle's Milkmaid will do fine
Lemon - 1 piece (1 lemon for every 3-4 bananas)
A few spoons and ladles, A vessel with a moderately deep but flat bottom, a Blender
Enough sense not to put your finger in the milkmaid tin to extract what's left on the walls after pouring most of it out.

Directions:

Empty the contents of the Milkmaid tin into a vessel.

Cut the bananas into little pieces, put them in a blender and blend them until a fine paste is obtained. You shouldn't have even a little solid piece left in that paste, if you do take it out and re-blend it.

Pour this paste into the same vessel with the Milkmaid. Mix well using a spoon/ladle.

Now, cut the lemon into 2 halves. Squeeze whatever's in both halves out into your vessel. Imagine yourself to be someone from the IRS and the lemon your prey :-P . Apparently, the lemon juice and something in robusta variety of banana work together to act as a binding agent for the ice-cream.

Once again, mix it up well with your spoon / ladle. Feel free to throw in chocolate chips while doing so if you are in a mood to gorge on some chocolate chip banana ice-cream.

When everything's blended together, cover said vessel and put it in the freezer section of your refrigerator. set your freezer to the highest setting / lowest temperature possible.

Finally, let it chill in there for 7-8 hours. Do NOT take it out during that time.

Test it on your dog/guinea pig for safety ;) Mr. Cactus was willing to oblige.

Enjoy your homemade banana ice cream. :) Note that the ingredients are almost completely natural, with no artificial binders or synthetic flavors in the mixture.

And don't you dare try contravening the last point under "ingredients". I assure you you'll be sorry if it's a Milkmaid tin. Curse you, sharped edged Milkmaid tin designer you!

A temporary hiatus

2010-07-03T20:15:00.001+05:30

I'll not be updating the blog much over the next 2 months. My hands are a bit too full with projects, papers and some important examinations in the interim. A paper of mine has been accepted at an international conference hosted by the IEEE too. Yeah, I'm ecstatic since it's a full-on conference and I'm just an undergrad. But it means I'll have to get things ready quick for the paper's publication to be confirmed and book tickets and initiate visa procedures to get things ready for my oral presentation abroad. I'll be back with the remaining 5 posts on the trip to Egypt soon enough.

I've been following the fake Steve Jobs on twitter of late what with the iPhone 4 launch having just passed. Recently he put up "First the iPhone was left in a bar and now the bars have left the iPhone. I hate irony." Love the way he spins Apple's own words against them in many an instance. With the screen yellowing, faulty antenna design, signal drops, camera white balance being off, 3G problems.... looks like the workers at Foxconn got their sweet revenge on Apple.

Besides, the fact that Jobs is being totally unapologetic about the flaws in the iPhone 4, and blaming it on the customers (a.k.a the maniacs who stood in lines two whole days for a phone.... FOR. A. PHONE) is proof enough of his arrogance. The flawed device won't stop the iPeople from saying "Hey there's nothing wrong with it, just hold it the way Steve tells you to, don't hold it like you would a phone!". And yeah, it'll sell millions and millions while Apple and AT&T rake in billions of dollars despite all the crap they pull on their ~~brainwashed,~~ nay braindead fans.

Thank god for Android.

Ponder this while I take leave of you for 2 months, though you never know when I'll pop an article out of the blue.

College Chronicles - Semester Six

2010-06-30T20:17:00.001+05:30

What can I say about Semester Six? Well, it began like any other one, where we thought "Oh goody this sem's gonna be more free than the one that just went." Right before the university decided it'd be better if we wasted another day at college each week rather than waste our Saturdays at home. All we could do was fume. Above you'll find the obligatory "This was my odometer reading on Day 1" picture.

A signboard pointed us in the direction of our department (yes it's always been there but I'd never photographed it).

Barely a few days had passed since reopening before the incessant 'Placement preparations' began. The effect it had on us was profound with people scrambling left right and center to get their resumes (it's pronounced Ray-soo-may oh Plebeians) ready, what with our seniors butchering the same with comments all over.

Mock interviews saw some of us, including yours truly, spend an eternity being asked questions that would determine who won the prize money of a million dollars :P whereas others were pushed off quick by the ones who had the power of mock! (you won't get this one unless you visit a very specific website). Mr. Vigneswaran and me took off on a short sojourn to Coimbatore where we won a paper presentation contest at CIT (Yes, we did present our own paper, not something stolen off the net). Unfortunately, most of our professors were none too keen on giving us attendance even if we missed classes for such an event.

Back at college, our Faculty adviser and class representatives had been hard at work arranging an Industrial visit to Nokia's Special Economic Zone at Sriperumbudur. The sprawling SEZ had Nokia's own factory for Volume phones (ones that sold en masse) alongside several others like Foxconn (yeah, the suicide company), Jabil and Laird that supply Nokia's OEM components. During the pre-floor visit presentation, one of our company of 60 had the bright idea to spout out loud "No one wants" in response to "Who here wants to work for Nokia?". The ex-Navy man HR Manager wasn't taking any crap and he promptly threatened to stop the visit right then and there lest the "coward [sic] had the guts to own up". After some cajoling from our FA, the trip proceeded with all of us attired like we were going into a biological hot-zone.

On the way back another genius threw a bottle out the window of the bus. Said bottle hit a car's windscreen square center and the driver found the Vice Chancellor's number and reported the class. This later resulted in a Industrial visit ban for the remainder of the semester. Not like we really had the time anyway.

The image on the left spells out MITAFEST, that's our college festival. Apparently it looks the same when read from top or bottom. MITAFEST festivities were in full swing. Didn't quite bother helping out with writing the web page stuff this time around because the previous MITAFEST they conveniently forgot yours truly when it came to certificates.

The show got on the road. Literally.

This here would be our college bus. The one whose driver was condemned to drive us around for our industrial visits. I do NOT envy him his job. :D

My friends got me a cake and loads of other stuff and celebrated my birthday in a grand way. My thanks to them. The photo below shows the cake - after it had been savagely ripped into (no, not by me).

While the rest of the world is in pursuit of cleaner, safer, bio-degradable containers, our Rubber and Plastics Department seems confused!

Meanwhile, the "I shall study and never to the fruit thereof" crowd had their first taste of the joy that movies can bring:

The next photo is Chief ~~Guest~~ Pest Viggy during the prize-giving ceremony for... ohwaitaminute.. that's Anupama's birthday. :)

My odometer reading as the end semester exams approached.

Soon enough all the placement classes had been replaced by the oh-so-familiar feeling of "The exams are upon us, our doom is coming". Last minute preparation really gets the adrenaline flowing. And Mr. Cactus gave me company helping to make the late night study a less solitary affair.

I, however, ended up stretched across the couch with my book on my head in a pose similar to this guy here:

Towards the conclusion of the exams, I received a notice saying I'd been chosen under Dr. David Koilpillai, Professor, EE Department, IIT Madras for IIT's Summer Fellowship Program. Something that I'd been eagerly awaiting. As is evident from the rest of my blog, the Zombie (that's how I looked after 2 weeks of late nights thanks to the tests) took off on a trip to Egypt. Another part of the holidays I'd awaited with ardor.

Check out the navigation links on the left side of the page or throw me a comment if you want a look at photos from that journey.

Found this on the door of the Professor's room when I went over a bit too early. I expected him to come glare at me, but Dr. David is seriously awesome! You'd never think he was the professor and you the student the way he's so friendly with you despite his repertoire of knowledge and vast experience in the area communication.

Discovered this piece of heaven above in Egypt, and brought back quite a few on the way home.

The Fellowship at IIT Madras is indeed an experience that can vary widely according to the professor you're chosen to intern under. For me, it's been a wonderful time, actually doing meaningful research and contributing in a small way under someone as erudite yet down-to earth as Dr. David.

Below you'll find photos of some of the places I worked in - IIT's Central Electronic Centre, the DSP Lab in the EE Building, and the Intel Wireless Lab to name a few - and some bits and pieces of circuits I worked on.

So yeah, I didn't have much in the way of a vacation. Though this is one place where I've thoroughly enjoyed working the whole day. And having a Cafe Coffee Day within the campus made it all the more worthwhile :) .

A week or so before college reopens for the 6th sem, I find a notification from the IEEE saying that a paper I had submitted for an international conference has been accepted. Didn't quite sleep the whole day after seeing the mail, I was that agog! Only in my dreams had I imagined that any paper of mine would be published on IEEE Xplore and in an international IEEE and IET conference's proceedings. Indeed, there's someone up there in the wide blue yonder looking out for me.

Of course, modifying the paper to make it IEEE Xplore Compatible and running it through the IEEE's PDF-Express.com still remains, not to mention the insanely high registration fee (since this is an event for PhDs, researchers and post grad students, not quite for undergrads). I thank my lucky stars even as I write this little post. There is a bigger hurdle though, the conference dates are smack in the middle of my end semester exam in November. If my university is unaccommodating, it'll be a damn shame if I give a "No Show" in Shanghai, China come November.

So it is with a great deal of apprehension that I end my blog entry, as the class sets forth on a new adventure - the seventh semester.

An Egyptian Excursion - Day 5

2010-06-25T14:00:00.000+05:30

Up late today, not much really left to see in Cairo. So down we went to that brilliant breakfast buffet. Saw the reporter on BBC saying they'd burnt down the biggest mall in Bangkok, pretty sad if it's Central World they were talking about. Oh well, atleast our favorite haunt in Thailand, MBK, still stands. It was a good thing we'd chosen Egypt for our vacation this time around instead of our earlier plans for Greece, where tourists are impeded by protests with the economy in shambles.

It's my parents' anniversary, and after breakfast we took a walk around our massive hotel. Our new driver, Karam, took us to the Egyptian National Museum, a big red building adorned with plaques in Latin, proclaiming what exactly I do not know, with a garden (predictably overflowing with visitors of several nationalities) and a few statues even outside it.

Unfortunately, cameras are to be left in a safe deposit at a counter outside the museum, no photos allowed inside, though occasionally we'd find someone violating the rule. My university ID (I'm not a history student, I'm an engineer :P ) got me half price entry here too, so remember to carry your student's ID card with you if you have one - the savings at the end of the day are significant when it comes to ticket prices at attractions.

Inside the museum, there was no dearth of gold, lapis lazuli, and marble. Wherever we looked, there were artifacts from the Middle Kingdom, Old Kingdom, New Kingdom and the Greco Roman period. The mummies recovered from various tombs in Egypt (from the Valley of the Kings and Queens as well) are placed in rooms where hygrometers and temperature sensors carefully monitor the ambient conditions. Of course, to see the mummies, you'll have to pay extra - yep, we took separate tickets for these rooms as well. Well-preserved jewelery, wonderfully decorated sarcophagi and ceremonial chariots and such make up a large part of the rest of the first floor. There's even an exhibit of animal mummies - including cats, dogs, birds and a large Nile crocodile that was found in one of the tombs with a baby crocodile in its mouth. It's obvious that to ancient Egyptians, the afterlife was of greater import than the way they lived.

The highlight of the Egyptian Museum is King Tutankhamun's tomb. The much-hyped Pharaoh's gold sarcophagus is in a separate section along with his scepter, flail and other adornments. In death, he had several sarcophagi of gold, wood and what not, one inside the other. His golden death mask has become the symbol of Ancient Egypt around the world, and several of the items from this exhibit have toured the world for many years. Tutankhamun (once Tutankhaten) had a very tumultuous family history. Confusing as it is, his own biological sister was his mother and his queen wife was his grandmother too. I know, don't try to understand it, just know that the ancient Egyptians had rather rotten habits when it came to choosing mates.

On the way out of the museum, the guy at the camera counter looked longingly for some baksheesh as he handed us the camera. He probably thought my Dad was Egyptian from his looks and decided to try his luck.
Got back to the hotel soon enough and began packing. Checking my mailbox after so many days (yes, 5 days without e-mail is a LOT) had me staring at "150 new messages" :O. Caught some Dirty Dancing on TV (that's the show's name by the way) later with a DSP book for company.

Come evening, it was time for a walk outside to the two bridges between Giza and Cairo. Friday's a holiday here Walked past a wonderful park filled with couples cuddling each other. I can imagine if this was Chennai - the policeman with his lathi would have had a field day shooing people away from the beach. Over the last few days it's become apparent to me that this is a well-planned city with good infrastructure, wide roads, parks, big footpaths, a metro and it's all very well policed. Even though there aren't too many public toilets, no one seems to spit or piss on the road. There're a lot more cats around here than dogs.

We stood over the bridge watching the Nile flow past and the feluccas sailing peacefully on it. Horns aren't heard too often but the vehicles most certainly zoom by pretty fast. A fire engine whizzed past, first time I've seen one here in Egypt. Walked back to the hotel as it was getting dark, besides we had a dinner reservation at 8.15pm. Once again, a very nice spread, but they do not place water on the table by default and ice creams are never part of the buffet here. Nobody seems to bother with ice-cream either :(

The waiter was a huge fan of Amitabh Bachchan and kept asking us questions about him. The buffet did have an overdose of pastries, though that isn't a bad thing in my book. With dinner done, we headed back to the room where there was more packing to be done, and electronic devices to be charged. Kept switching channels to catch Bourne Identity and The Marine simultaneously, before I fell asleep. In case you're wondering, no I didn't see any Cruzes today.

An Egyptian Excursion - Day 4

2010-06-13T21:49:00.002+05:30

An Awesome breakfast spread awaited us, with a wide range of soft pastries, breads and what not to choose from. Tiger was still sticking with us for the next few days in Cairo. My Cruze craze continued with another gray car spotted on the bridge between Giza and Cairo. The pedestrian is important here. But unlike Indian pedestrians (a.k.a arrogant a-holes who walk on the roads as they wish) they wait for a driver to wave them past. They don't exactly mosey across diagonally either, they're brisk in pace when they cross.

Checked out the Al-Azhar and Sultan Hassan mosques - both large structures worth a watch - and Khan el Khalili bazaar along the way.

Our next destination was the Citadel - a fortress-like walled area of Cairo. A huge mosque of Mohammed Ali with a very tall ceiling lies inside.

After a run around the place as well as savouring the views from the walls of the citadel, we returned to the entrance and waited for Tiger to get back with the car from the parking lot. Everyone was equal at the entrance and exit points. A bus driver tried to ignore police calling out to him to stop at a point for inspection thinking he could get away with it, but then a guy with an AK stepped in front and the bus was forced to move back. Now that is how policing should be done.

No one is allowed to park near the exit, hence allowing a free flow of traffic - something people in Chennai are yet to learn. There was this one guy who tried to park right there and an officer politely walked up to him and told him he couldn't. After trying to argue for a while (unsuccessfully) said driver got pissed off, put the car into first gear and suddenly accelerated forward a short distance before parking. Sadly, there was this one young lady (most likely his wife or maybe daughter) alighting from the back of the vehicle at that instant who fell to the ground and got dragged by the vehicle for a short distance. Thankfully, no damage done.

And so our drive around Old Cairo continued with a visit to Ibn Tuln mosque, which is the oldest mosque in Cairo, built around 800-900AD. Very intricate wood work in the ceiling was a highlight. Then we went to the Coptic area of Cairo. Attractions here include the Hanging church - a Coptic Christian church built upon the walls of an ancient Babylonian fortress with no real base or foundations(yes, you can see through the base at one point).

The Ben Ezra Synagogue was the next stop, followed by the Coptic museum. While I traversed a narrow alley, a gaggle of teenage girls ventured a Namaste with their hands, and giggled as I smiled while walking past. There was a large bunch of college kids who'd been practicing "Namaste"s on seeing us back at the Citadel too. The guards at the Coptic museum queried "India?", and an affirmation from us would be followed by the inevitable 'Amitabh Bachchan Number 1' (accompanied by appropriate finger gestures). 'Cept one guy who said "India? Aamir Khan I like".

There are no cars allowed into this street. So while walking out, we had lunch at a small eatery, despite not being hungry after that divine breakfast spread. Had one seller in the Coptic try to sell us wallets, he even offered to accept payment in Indian rupees. Ladies and Gentlemen, that rarely, if ever, happens. This guy must have been desperate beyond measure to take the one currency that you'll never find accepted even at any exchange other than in India itself and a few places in the UAE. Don't really get quite how they identify us as being from India - We wait and never ever jump queues, we, wait for the pedestrian crossing signal to turn on before walking, we don't talk loudly nonstop, and we don't bargain too hard where it's inappropriate either - quite un-Indian in a way, lol.

Next stop - Saqqara. The Step pyramids of Djoser are situated here. An open desert area bordering a lush green forest of palm trees. No horses needed here though you can take a ride on one if you fancy it. The Step Pyramids are not as grand as the ones in Giza, and they do have a few Greek looking columns and structures nearby.

Then it was on to Memphis, the ancient Pharonic capital. A great number of articles from the New kingdom are preserved here with a huge statue of Rameses the 2nd / Rameses the Great taking pride of place. We made it just before the attractions here started to close.

Most every place of sightseeing closes at 5pm in Cairo, and at 4pm in Saqqara, so see stuff quick (though not as quick as the big tour operators will show you - they were running 10 times as fast as our privately planned trip. Oh those poor buggers :D ). The long drive back to the hotel took a good deal of time and netted us the sight of another Black Cruze too. But its nowhere near a very taxing drive.

Rested our tired selves at the hotel for a few hours. Hit the road again around 7pm for a trip back to the Pyramids of Giza. Traffic was high, but people turning into a road always wait for a hand signal from drivers in the oncoming lanes before completing their entry. Pavements are plenty too, and well kept. No one walks onto the road. And everyone has a smile for everyone else even when sitting still in traffic. The only vehicles that seemed a bit unruly, jostling with others and scurrying into any open gap between vehicles, were the large minivans that ferry people for a very low fee like the share autos back in Chennai.

Air conditioning in the car wasn't really necessary once the sun set, though that took till 7.30pm to happen. Finally we reached the Sphinx. Yesterday's guide had said that the show was canceled, so it was with an air of anxiety that we'd set out today. Our suspicions were further raised when we saw the road to the Sound and Light Show lined with policemen, police dogs, and an assortment of Mercs and BMWs. When we got to the front of the line, we were informed politely by a government guy that the show had indeed been canceled. I could see that under his coat he had a concealed Uzi. With nothing else to be done here, we turned around with Tiger profusely apologizing for us not knowing ahead of time about the show. Not his fault, really. Apparently, there was some other function being conducted in the same area for a very high up government official, which was confirmed when we saw (as we were turning the car around) another BMW enter the area and drawing salutes from the entire gaggle of policemen. Obviously these people want tourists and make a lot of money from them, but they definitely don't depend on tourism to the extent that the Thais do (as was apparent from our previous sojourn).

We found out later that the show had been canceled for the next day too, which was our last full day in Cairo. Parked near a shopping area on the way back to the hotel, just to take a look around. Bought some trinkets and cakes from a most wonderful bakery. Soon we were back to the hotel and we had room service bring something up since we were dead tired. Looking out the window, we saw that the lights on the Cairo tower (they seemed to be some kind of giant LEDs lining every inch of the tower from top to bottom) put on a spectacular display which can be seen in the form of huge changing patterns - like hieroglyphics, balloons floating up, a felucca sailing on the Nile, calligraphy and many more - for 15 minutes straight. Apparently, they were putting on the show because today was some special event. It did not happen on the other days either. Watched The Descent on television after dinner before going to bed.

An Egyptian Excursion - Day 3

2010-06-10T15:47:00.050+05:30

Another breakfast that filled us to the brim. Cairo and the pyramids beckoned us today. Set out with Tiger, leaving behind the beautiful beach resort of Fayid. Stopped at the War Cemetery, very silent place with well maintained grass and stone buildings and tombstones. A peaceful place for the final slumber of the many brave men who died here during World War 2. On the way to Cairo, it's pretty much empty desert on either side of the road. Now and then a military compound would show up to break the monotony of the desert. All of a sudden 2 air force jets flew over with a loud whoosh. Looking to the left, we saw 4 tanks going about in the desert, obviously on some sort of exercise.

We reached the place the Egyptians call Heliopolis (no, not the ancient city), a section of the city where the affluent build their homes, and where the airport finds its place. The roads were excellent so far, flanked by plenty of greenery. Pretty amazing for a so-called desert. No one cuts lanes here. And speed cameras do exist, marked by a "Speed Camera" picture. Tiger turned on the radio and it blared out some Arabic music. Very few two wheelers though, and no autos. No wonder it wasn't unruly on the roads. From Heliopolis onwards into the city, we followed a series of huge elevated expressways.

Soon enough we got to our hotel - the 5 star Pyramisa. All along the way I'd noticed that young girls (I mean teenagers and above) do wear a headscarf. However, it never covers the face, just one's hair and the with this exception tight form-revealing dresses seem to be their norm. Not to mention the fact that they bring along their accessory - a.k.a boyfriend - held tightly in one hand wherever they go. Lol. Not at all like a Muslim country. In fact it's much less restrictive than India.

Went over to the Papyrus museum in the afternoon. You guessed it, they make paintings on a base of Papyrus - from the pith of the Papyrus plant (Cyperus Papyrus). This is the way the Egyptians used to make them. You'd have seen imitations around the world but this is the real thing. Expectedly, prices are truly sky high. Bought 9 pieces or so, and they dwarfed the price of the 160gb PS3 we'd purchased on our last international trip.

On to the Pyramids of Giza from there. We alighted at
and took a horse drawn carriage to see the Pyramids with a guide tagging along. The carriage nearly toppled over, giving us a good scare, when the wheel rolled over a particularly large stone. The guide said his name was Sam, more likely Sameer :P but a nice friendly guy. Went around all 3 pyramids - Khufu, Khafra and Menkaure and around the six smaller ones.

Yes, it was quite hot, the caveat being you wouldn't sweat that much there so you'd be even more tired when you got back to the hotel. Walked into a few tombs and glanced at the wonderfully carved pictures while our guide gave us the lowdown on who's who and why they were there. I, alone, chose to go deep into one Pyramid while Dad and Mum stood outside. Good thing though, since the climb down is extremely difficult, with the passage being barely enough to fit one person, that too when you're stooped down and climbing downwards in reverse. If you try to climb downwards with your front side facing the bottom, you'll just fall right down the shaft, break a few parts and die, because the descent is both very steep and deep. At the bottom, there's just 2 rooms carved out of the solid stone, and you can look up to see the tunnel entrance well above you as a spot of light. Do NOT attempt this if you are even remotely claustrophobic. If you do freak out, there is no way to get you back up.

Once I'd climbed back out, we walked around the place a bit more snapping photos. Then it was a downhill trip to the Sphinx. When you're near it, you tend to wonder "That doesn't look so massive like the pictures :/ ". Some Sufi bugger apparently broke the nose of the statue off because he was pissed that the ancient people of the region were making offerings to the Sphinx and not to Allah. The people didn't take it too lightly though and they lynched him, sucks for him. The guides will tell you that Napoleon's cannon ball was responsible for the disfigured face, but that's a chronological impossibility. Between the front paws of the Sphinx lies a stone tablet (a Dream Stela) inscribed upon by the Pharaoh Thutmose IV.

After spending enough time near the last true wonder of the world, we were back at the starting point where we'd left Tiger with the car. Set off on a drive through the city. The sun was still up at 6pm. Check out this gray Chevy Cruze we snapped in Cairo, not a colour you'll find here:

For the Egyptians, the 6th of October is a very important day that commemorates their military victory over Israel when they fought a war and won, the second time. Of course no one commemorates the first time when they lost :P . In reality, Israel won the military victory and President Saddat won the political victory through which Israel was forced to withdraw due to international pressure. The 23rd of July is celebrated as the day they secured their freedom from the monarchy of King Farouk.

One thing you should know about Cairo is that the traffic is quite high, but the lanes are followed and the flow of vehicles is very orderly. Next stop - Cairo tower (look for a worthwhile mention of it in a later post too). As the name suggests, it's a very high building built such that you can see a great deal of Cairo from a bird's eye view. The wind up there is strong too. Both banks of the Nile - Giza and Cairo - are clearly visible from here. Lots of young couples up here getting cosy too. Not to mention, two girls standing there giggling at any young males as if they were selecting who to spend the evening with.

Aftr a while, we took the lift back down.

If you've been wondering why I call the driver Tiger, well that's what his name translated to - "Nemr" is the Arabic word for Tiger. He took us to the dock of the 'Memphis' company on the Nile. It was about 7pm and the sunset was just beginning. Bought the tickets for the Nile Cruise, a completely air conditioned boat with a fine dining area. Not that we really needed it, it was cold and windy anyway. The dinner buffet was open at 8pm. Meanwhile, some guy they'd hired was singing Arabic, Hindi and Spanish songs. Following this there came a Belly Dance by a.. well... Belly Dancer. Then a Whirling Dervish who enthralled us with his antics all the while spinning around at a dizzying pace. Someone pulled a young woman up from the Spanish tourist group that was seated there and she gave the belly dancer a run for her money.

Tiger was waiting to pick us up after the cruise, which concluded at 10pm. Damn, it was really cold outside. Traffic flew past as usual, but no horns. People were still up and about at 10pm. Traffic police too. And the parks were occupied even then with the aforementioned couples.

iPhone 4 @ WWDC

2010-06-08T08:02:00.004+05:30

After months of speculation, prototypes popping up in bars and remote corners of the globe, bloggers being booked by the police... finally the Jesus phone got a new iteration at WWDC, when Steve Jobs went up on stage to announce the iPhone 4 (thank God they didn't call it the iPhone HD).

So what does it do? Well it pushes the iPhone 3G into oblivion and relegates the current-gen 3GS model to a lower strata in Apple's stable when it releases on June 24th in the US, France, Germany, Japan, and the UK. The iPhone 4 echoes some of the design cues I remember from the first generation iPod Nano, though much larger. It has a flatter back with squarish edges, not to mention more metal.

The pixel count stands at 960×640, which is higher than any other phone out there. The display (they're calling it a "Retina Display") is a 3.5" IPS Panel LCD with a contrast ratio of 800:1 and 326 PPI (that's pixels per inch) .

With a larger lens and a backside illuminated 5MP sensor complemented by an LED flash, the camera is sure to be atleast on par with other 5MP shooters.720p video recording at 30fps is a sweet feature to have, although that's one way to fill up your 32gb (it comes in a 16gb flavor too) of onboard space quickly. The front camera is a much needed inclusion, bringing video chat to the iPhone (and I'm certain the presence of Wifi-n on it will do it loads of good in this regard).

The processor inside is an A4, more than enough horsepower, but the phone still manages to conserve battery power better, showing battery time figures well in excess of previous iterations. It also has a Gyroscope within for
those who need their share of multiple axis gaming.

iMovie, an application meant to help you put together videos on the iPhone 4, was demonstrated along with iAds being shamelessly plugged all through the keynote. Jobs then pretended that it was still the year 2000 by being very excited while announcing to all us mere mortals about the revolutionary Facetime Video Chat, restricted only to iPhone to iPhone conversations and not on 3G (cos it would clog the crap out of AT&T's network) either. Facetime you say? Nope, this was Facepalm :/ instead. What it needs now is a jailbreak.

All the talk about iBooks had me really bored too. The iPhone 4 did indeed embarrass its maker at a point during the keynote with 3GS version loading a web page proper while the latest iteration struggled to overcome the interference from the hundreds of wifi connections in the hall. And they ended up changing some nomenclature too - iPhone OS 4 will henceforth be known as iOS 4. Apple sure have a tendency to come up with Cisco names for their products.

It wasn't quite the bang, bang, bang, bang pace that people expected the keynote to have, more like a few bangs and yawns interspersed. Netflix, for example, was personally a yawn for me. So there you have it - the iPhone 4 - at $199 for the 16gb version, and $299 for 32gb. Available in white and black. That price is, of course, the subsidized rate provided you sell your soul to AT&T for 2 years. They're evening offering their existing iPhone subscribers the latest iteration at just $18 if you lock yourself into a new 2 year contract with AT&T. And if you're planning to use it in a country where you can't get it directly from your carrier, do note that it uses the MicroSIM form factor for your SIM card (yeah, get your scissors out). So what are you waiting for? Go forth and satisfy your iCravings :D

Will there be an iPod Touch based on this model too? Who knows, maybe by September? But I'd sure as hell like one.

Most important announcement of the keynote though: Farmville is out on iOS for all you Facebook fanatics... Yup, everyone's a critic ;) .

PS: Do pardon a few mistakes or typos if they exist in this post. Almost fell asleep finishing this.

An Egyptian Excursion - Day 2

2010-06-05T11:42:00.002+05:30

Got up at 9am. Had a hard time trying to order breakfast from room service over the phone. So I decided to walk right up to the restaurant and tell the folks there. Turns out, the guy who I spoke to didn't know proper English and he was the only one in the restaurant at the time. He didn't look too happy taking my order, and I realised (later) that they always expect you to say Good Morning, How are you? or Salaam Maleikum before you start with your request/order, no matter how polite you are.

We ended up getting 3 breakfasts which were all essentially the same though (we'd asked for 3 different kinds specifically).

Met our driver Tiger (yes, that was his name.. no, no Woods). Got in the car and drove all the way to Ismailia. Saw a Chevy Cruze along the way. We stopped at a ferry point on the Suez canal, where the guards insisted on checking our passports no matter what Tiger told them. After some more Arabic banter with the security there (these were AK wielding policemen by the way), they even offered us tea. Point to note, tea here is mostly served as black tea. Not with milk, unless you ask for it.

From the ferry area, we could see the opposite bank of the Suez Canal - that was Sinai. They'd also told us not to take photos at that place (as if we were a security threat). Paused at a nearby shop to buy water on the walk back to the car. 2 little kittens were playing around the cooler there.

From there it was another 50km drive to the peace bridge. Mubarak peace bridge was built across the Suez Canal with help from Japan. No photos are allowed when you're crossing the bridge and either end of the bridge bristle with policemen armed to the teeth who'll check your passports and other ID. Crossed into Sinai, took a U-turn and headed back over the bridge. Then drove all the
way back to Ismailia.

Stopped at a large fruit shop in Ismailia that's a hit with the locals. Then to a big supermarket here called Metro. Bought this and that, and later had takeaway lunch from a traditional Egyptian kabab and kofta place. If you're the kind who likes gravy with your pita bread, you're in for a rather unpleasant surprise. No one seems intent on having any gravy with it, they'll just eat it dry.

Soon we were back to the resort. Took a walk down to the water's edge past the 3 swimming pools. Great scenery, and it was very peaceful with the waves lapping the shore, and a strong wind blowing, while the sun wasn't shining too bright. Sat there for a few hours. This is the kind of place one should spend their honeymoon in I suppose.

I spent some time telling the tales of the Ancient Egyptian gods, explaining which god is which, the relation between different gods and such to my folks. Dad latched onto Anubis, and repeated that relentlessly no matter what God's sculpture he saw over the next few days.

Later that evening, I tried explaining the concept of gravy at the restaurant. Needless to say I was unsuccessful with the waiter finding my explanation of the same too abstruse for his comprehension.

Back in room, I wasted a bit of time watching the "Jackie Chan adventures" in Arabic (it's been years since I watched a cartoon). Deal no deal once again appeared on the tube. The host of the show looked a bit like Rakhi Sawant, 'cept this was a beautiful and feminine version of Rakhi Sawant (yeah you can guess who's being made fun of here). A short clip from the show below:

No one needs Fair and Lovely here by the way, most of the women seem to be very fair with blemish-less skin. Pretty chic and modern too except for a scarf covering their head leaving their faces in full view. Dresses can be tight and revealing form too. Not quite what I'd thought a Muslim country would be.

And so, after another heavy dinner, I watched the Daniel Craig starrer Layer Cake. Then retired to my bedroom with a copy of IEEE spectrum to keep me company.