Group Dynamics

Last week, I was talking to a friend of mine about a movie. He told me that the movie sucked big time and told me to never ever watch that movie. Once he said that I should never ever watch that movie, it induced a great curiosity in me to watch that movie. How bad a movie can be? Am I so time bound that spending couple of hours in a movie is going to be a waste of time? Well, if you are wondering which movie I am talking about or who the friend is, sorry...I just made it up... The real question is how do we shape ourselves up in a society? Assume the same scenario as before. Instead of you being alone, assume that you have a whole bunch of your friends with you and they all buy into your friend's comments and they all decide to not watch the movie. Will you still watch it?

I was with a group of friends the other day and someone started talking about a new movie. I dont know about others. I am usually hesitant before giving a opinion out loud irrespective of whether it is a good one or a bad one, especially if I have an extreme opinion. I usually sense the vibe of the group and then adapt my answers in such a way that it doesnt create a major conflict of opinions. I think we all probably do that at some degree or other. I think we've acquired a characteristic to mold ourselves to get along with the surroundings. Ofcourse, there are exceptions like this friend of mine who always tries to come up with an anti-argument for any argument placed. Once again, if you are wondering who the friend is or what the movie is, I made that one up too...

We had an exercise in my class yesterday. It is a role play and everyone was supposed to play their part. Everyone had a hidden agenda that they were not supposed to reveal explicitly, but try to achieve it. It is just amazing how a simple role play exercise would transform our thought process into doing things that we dont normally do. Anyway, I played the VP of chamber of commerce and the discussion was to determine what kind of voting mechanism was needed to bring a new board member to the council and what should be the term of the board member. My role was to not really care about the board meeting. I had to accept what others had to say, especially Carol. I had to specifically impress one board member, Carol Stone so that I can go out on a date with her at the end of the meeting. It was an interesting role. My professor was quite impressed with the way I conducted myself...Carol was impressed too...Now, this is not something that I made up..;)

IPTV in Junior Vikatan

Primer/Description: IPTV describes a system where a Digital television service is delivered to subscribing consumers using the IP over a broadband connection. This service is often provided in conjunction with video on demand and may also include internet services such as web access and VoIP where it may be called as Triple Play.

Redback (my employer) is one of the key companies working on IPTV and Triple Play software and hardware. I have heard our CEO mentioning triple play in our small group meetings and in company meetings. I viewed this as a technical mumbo-jumbo and a catchy phrase used to describe the technology.

Even when Redback got a contract with Bellsouth (public information) for triple play, I did not pay any attention. But recently there was some report which said, IPTV is going to be deployed in India. I was surprised but again I did not think too much (it is tough to make me think!)

Finally today I was reading Junior vikatan (a spin-off of Anandha Vikatan) to find out what actress Namitha has to say about Tamil Nadu politics. Then I clicked on this page and start scanning the content. This is the gist of that article “while there is much controversy over cable in Tamil Nadu it may be a thing of the past. IP-TV is going to replace TV and it may remove the need to watch particular channels at particular time blah”

Boom! Now it hit me hard. The technology which I am working is reaching the masses all over the world and changing their day-to-day life.

Finally the bugs I introduce may have some meaningful effect like dropping the IP packets carrying Abhi’s tears (Kolangal serial lead women who cries for everything) . That is COOL!

59%N2+21%H2+ 9%CO2+7%methane +4%O2

Disclaimer: The following article is rated "R" . Reader discretion is advised.

I was doing a review the other day for one of my colleagues.We were alone in a conf room ,going through his review papers and discussing about it. He has a very deep voice and I usually have to strain and keep my ears wide open to listen to him. On that day, his voice was like a sinewave, going up and down which was very unrealistic . Hmmm..I couldn't understand his tension as he had a very good review after all...The room was very quite , and then I heard it....just before he hit the peak of the sinewave....a distinct whining sound at first..It varied from a whining to rumbling,occasionally a car backfiring sound too..I acted normal without any facial contortions , trying to hide my embarrasment lest I embarrass him. I wish I could pacify him with a "Been there, done that"...Alas!! We cannot talk about that, can we.? We know that we can control it (in Tamil, it is called "Amukki Vasikaradhu") and we do too in most occasions, which can be nastier than the accompanying noise. Hey !! Dont be embarassed anymore. It is after all a mixture of gases as follows
59%N2+21%H2+9%CO2+7%methane+4%O2 and guess what 1% of its makeup is what makes it stink...I got all this info from a book called "Why do men have nipples". The book doesnot talk just about nipples, but rather gives lot of trivias in the real world. It is a very good bathroom reader.
Some more intersting facts about this mixture:
The temp at its time of creation is 98.6 F ( close to body temp,duh..)
They have been clocked at a speed of ten feet per second.( Maybe the equation might change while running :-)).
A person produces about half a litre per day.( If you eat beans, brocolli, I think you can hit one litre).
The gas that makes it stink is hydrogen sulfide with sulfur as the smelly component.(Cabbage,eggs,beans have more sulphur).
Here comes the finale: Most people pass it about fourteen times a day. If you have never heard someone , rest assured that they are humans after all and should be passing out atleast half a litre....Ha.Ha..thats consoling.
Next time, you are in an emabarrassing situation, buckle up and just tell them its just hydrogen sulfide.....Happy "....ing"

Fermat's principle of least time...

It is amazing how things in nature works the way it does. I recently came across this rather interesting concept and thought that it was pretty cool. Fermat is one of those physicists who lived in the early 17th century. He discovered that light always takes the path that corresponds to the shortest time. What does that mean?

Assume a circle which is divided along its diameter such that there is an upper and lower half. Choose two points on the circumference of the circle in the upper half (say points A and B). Assume that there is a mirror along the axis of the diameter such that any light from a source A gets reflected at the diameter and reaches the point B. There are several ways the light could get reflected. But, in reality, the light gets reflected at a point such that the distance from point A to mirror to point B is the shortest. It so happens that, at that point, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. It doesnt stop here...What about refraction?

In the case of refraction, assume all the conditions as above, except that instead of the light getting reflected by the diameter axis, it is going to pass through it and hit the other side of the circle at a slightly different angle. If the lower half of the circle is a denser medium (say glass/water), the ray of light is slightly shifted inward and reaches a point B'. If you connect the line AB', that would be the shortest distance. But then, light doesnt follow that path. Why? Since light travels slower in the denser medium, it tries to trace a lengthier path in the air and a shorter path in the denser medium. In effect, light reaches the point B' in the shortest time. The factor that accounts for the density is nothing but the refractive index. Quite amazing, isnt it? This formed the fundamental concept through which major discoveries like Calculus and Wave theory were made later. If I think about it, it makes me wonder if everything in nature has an intent. Hmm..that would be a topic for another discussion.

Quite an adventure

The tiger snarled at me. Its skin resembled golden sand and maroon stripes. Up close, it’s head looked more like a snakeskin leather purse. My husband and I saw the giant cat and ran for the bedroom. We went inside and slammed the door shut. My heart was pounding. We looked at each other as we heard its claw scratching the door. A moment later the animal slid its paw under the door and as we looked agape, the rest of the tiger’s body followed. In no time it was inside the room. I remembered what I had read in books. Animals can smell fear. I tried my best to act casual. After all, there was the possibility the animal was not a man-eater. Even though that did not explain its eagerness to chase us down, I chose to ignore that fact. My husband was stiff, and the tiger passed him to arrive at my side. In one swift move it took my left wrist in its clenched jaw. It must have been fright, flight, fight. My right hand instinctively dug into the eyes of the tiger and I continued to exert force to suffocate it. Oddly, the tiger’s face grew smaller and smaller till it totally fit inside my palm. The animal gave up after some snuffling. Phew!

As I carried out the tiger, I awoke from my slumber and noticed I had broken into a sweat! The room temperature had fallen to under 60 deg, why was I sweating so profusely? It must have been all the hard work in my dream.

I recently read dreams can be very useful tools for self-discovery and problem solving. Dreams result as our mind adjusts to the happenings in life and prepares and incubates ideas. As per WebMd, “On one side of the aisle are psychotherapists, many of whom believe dreams are a key to unlocking and liberating repressed memories of past traumatic experiences. On the other side are neurobiologists, many of whom hold that dreams are just byproducts of electrical activity -- random firing of brain circuits during sleep that cause bizarre images and weird associations.”

If I went by the psychotherapists, then what is it I am preparing for or what am I reminiscing? I can’t envision a situation in the future where I would share a room with a tiger! The only incident in my past that involves animals, me and fear is when I was 3-4 years old and felt the cows outside the grocery store were out to gore me till my rescuer (my Mother) appeared. The possibility that that event triggered this dream seems very remote. If I went by the psychiatrists’ opinion, part of the dream where the animal crawled under the door, looked like a snake, then the shrinking face all makes sense –these are weird and unreal. However, it does not explain the fact that I have struggled, but killed 2 other tigers in the past (in dreams, of course!)

Other side of Internet...

As we all know, every technology has its own advantages and disadvantages. It is usually a risk-benefit tradeoff that populates a technology for widespread adoption. A while back, I watched the tamil movie "Boys"... Comedian Senthil plays a role where he has a list of all the temples and what will be served at various times in a day for the entire year. Long story short (assuming you all have seen the movie), Senthil will say that "Information is Power". If internet can provide every conceivable information you need, imagine the "power" you acquire. But, there is another side to it too...everyone in the system acquire power, the good and the bad...

I think that information revolution is slowly marching towards its pinnacle. That said, I feel that security of such information is not. Most of our information is available online. Websites like zabasearch.com can give a history of all your previous address with phone numbers and even birth dates. Google maps can pinpoint the address that you live in through their satellite picture. Sites like www.maps.a9.com can give you pictures of your roads (not the top-view like google, this is the regular view as if we were to walk on those roads). All these information, out in the public, sorted and documented. To be fair, sites like http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov gives the database of sex offenders in your neighbourhood with address and picture (california only, for other states, goto sexoffender.com and click on appropriate state). You will be surprised with the results. As I have written earlier, most of the websites you visit inject a cookie/spyware programs in your computer to monitor all kinds of transactions that you do. If you use one of those free spyware tools like http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/, you will know how many programs are running on your PC that you are not aware of. I hope I scared you guys enough... But, it is actually true.

I recently heard of this concept called positive sandwich. If you have to say something that could provoke bad feelings, apparently, it would be good if it is preceded and succeeded by a good note. This way, it will reduce the impact of the bad note. Let me try...If you belong to the group of people who dont check their credit history atleast once in a year, here is a good news for you. If you go to www.annualcreditreport.com, you can get your credit reports from all the 3 credit bureau for *free*. You can get a free report once every year. Do check it up and look out for any suspicious activities or credit card/bank accounts that you are not aware of. Information is Power. And to those who feed on information to cause disruption, information translates to "Evil Power" and aids the dark side...:)

Do you want to sleep ?

Whenever I travelled, I always wondered if earth is indeed really big or not. Whenever I flew, it will seem to me as if I am seeing the same old stuff through the window and then suddenly I will hear that the flight has reached its destination. Well, I was aware that the farther up you fly, your visibility (in a clear sky) will be much higher and hence, it is possible that you will see more than what you normally do.

For lack of any useful thing to do, I was trying to figure out an answer to this rather mundane question. To do any mathematical calculation on this stuff, I had to assume that the earth was a perfect sphere. I checked up the radius of the earth to be around 6400 kilometers. This would mean that, if you are standing at a height "h" (say 170 cm) from the ground, in a clear sky, you will see things upto 22 kilometers from the point you are standing (actually, you should draw a circle of radius 22 km around you since you can just rotate to see all those objects). You compute this by drawing a tangent from the top of your head on to the sphere. Now, you will have a right-angled triangle with hypotenuse of "r+h" and a side of "r". The third side is the distance you would see from a height h (d = sqrt(h^2 + 2*h*r)). So, if a flight is hovering at an altitude of 35000 feet (10.668 km), you will be able to see a distance of upto 369.68 kilometres. Given that the circumference of earth is around 40,000 km, you just need approximately 54 positions to see the entire circumference of earth. In other words, if you travel 1000 km, you just need 2 to 3 positions to completely see the whole path. No wonder why I felt the way I did.

Doctors... As real as it gets...

As I grew up, I always believed that doctors are meant to cure illnesses, irrespective of what that illness might be. Well, my view was confined by the fact that I went to doctors only for minor stuff like fever, cold and yada yada. I could very well understand why doctors were respected and were kept in the highest regards. But then, my views changed...

Based on experience, my logical mind started questioning about the distinctness of a doctor. I slowly started realising the fundamental fact that, a human is a human is a human. Given the fact that, any occupation can be practiced, people typically choose to specialise in a skill, mostly to have a career and make money. Doctors are no different. But then, each skill has its own importance factor, as we all know. Doctors are certainly at the top, in the importance factor and that makes them stereotypically "godly". However, they follow a set of procedures that they have studied or recommended. Infact, as a problem gets more and more complicated, the procedures get more and more documented. Contrary to the pre-conceived notions, I found to my surprise that doctors dont come up with innovative techniques to fix a problem. They follow rules and standard techniques and yes, they do commit mistakes in the process. This is not to say that, doctors dont know stuff. Ofcourse they know their stuff. But, it is no different from any other occupation and the illusions of grandeur are just a mirage created by the ignorant mass. As in any other occupation, there are doctors who are good enough, careful enough and are very much cognizant of the fact that they are handling lives and not just a piece of flesh/bone/tissue. Hats off to those doctors. But then, as in any other occupation, it is a rarity as well.

When I go to doctor these days, there are certain things that I keep in mind. I dont assume that the doctors are correct (when did I ever assume anyone was correct..:)). I try to do my diligent work. Web is a great place. I dont assume that the doctors/nurses follow the right sequence for a given problem. I try to question them and ask them why they do what they do. I dont consider them "godly", but rather, trust them on their expertise in performing a given feat with the least complications. In short, I respect doctors but I do not idolize them.

Future of Research....

I was browsing through Amazon.com for some book and landed into this book named "Why do men have nipples?". As it got my curiosity ticking, I googled up several pages and found out the reason. Apparently, every human is bisexual till the 23rd chromosome kicks in and gates the gender part of humans. So, till that time, humans develop both sorts of organs only to be left inactive at a later point of time. Anyway, it makes for a good reading and you will discover some very interesting facts. As I was researching, it occured to me that my research was not bound by time or deadline. It was my innate curiosity to find the unknown. It led me to think about this topic that i have always pondered about. Can research be quantified in terms of deadlines and funding?

I was talking to Shoba's sister today (a professor) and she told me that, the enrollment of PhD candidates in IITs and IISc are diminishing. People dont want to do research anymore. Obviously, the compensation plays a big role. An entry level professor/lecturer gets around Rs 7000, while an IT company pays around Rs 23,000 or more. And, the growth prospects of being in the academic field is not very colorful either. That being said about the Indian academia, I think globally, research is taking a new dimension these days. With the advent in technology, a lot of research areas these days need money. And, money is pumped to those companies who can build a product that could be marketed in someway in the foreseeable future. In other words, if you dont show a promise for a breakthrough, nobody is going to invest in the company. In a way, research is no longer about throwing darts in a random cloud. This is good from the point of view that research folks are forced to focus and are responsible of outcomes. But, it is bad from the point of view that, venturing into unknowns are becoming very limited. Above all, this creates a big gap between the academia who usually share technologies for the betterment of all the researchers and hence, greater technologies could be extended out of already existing ideas.

I think there has to be a paradigm shift in the way research is being looked at. Evolution cannot be quantified. Breakthroughs cannot be quantified. So, trying to quantify research in the confinements of market and money will have a huge impact in the future. For any country to be a global force in terms of innovation and technology, they will have to spend their money in incubating researchers to work on such technologies. The "number of engineers" theory that many are going after by itself is not going to yield greater results on a longer term. Time will only answer how this research environment will unfold itself in the future.

Age no bar

Sometimes, people give more importance to age than it warrants. On every vacation to India, I am reminded that I am not getting younger by the day. And this is not just because kids we remember in diapers so recently seem to have graduated and found jobs even! My relatives are always eager to hammer the fact into my head. It should not be of great surprise that I feel older every day I spend there and feel much younger upon my return from my vacation.

I believe age is a relative thing. Of course, we all know no one can possibly get younger over time. But why set limits to what we can do at a certain age, when our body and also our mind will indeed allow us to do much more. I get my inspiration from a lovely young couple who we met while hiking in Chimney Rock State park sometime last year. They were 76 and 72 years old. This would be considered "ripe" old age in my family! I call them young because they were so active, vibrant and zestful. When I was a kid, my grandfather (75) and I were visiting my great grandfather (then 93). I still remember vividly how my great grandfather chided my grandfather when he mentioned he was getting old. My best attempt at translating what he said is, "You are only as old as you think you are". Recently, I met a couple in their 80s, who were out volunteering in this cold weather. It really amazed me to see their efforts to help others. I felt guilty to think of the times I have just felt like sitting on the couch doing nothing useful.


I really appreciate the way some people choose to lead their lives after retirement age. (I deliberately avoid using the term old-age.) When I see a senior at a grocery store waiting in line patiently for her turn, when I see a senior driving his own car (albeit slowly), when I see seniors volunteering, when I see seniors enjoying a sun-bath at the beach, I appreciate it very much and think about what my great grandfather said that day. Every time I have my parents-in-law and parents visiting me in the US, I make every attempt at pointing out how some seniors here live their lives. By the time they leave, I do my best to make them think and feel much younger. Age should not come in the way of leading a productive life if you are physically able to contribute. I think it is an achievable goal to remain useful to the society and to interact with the society no matter how old you are. I certainly hope to make the right choices with my time.