Random Thoughts on Engineering Life, the Uncertainty Principle and what not to do at the engineering college!

It has been exactly two and a half months since I graduated. It counts for some task; four years of engineering (non-activity). Apart from all the technology that one learns, there are things which one unlearns as well. In the technical jargon this may be seen as ones’ own Open source Movement. You get to meet people from different diversities and nomenclatures. One meets geeks, nerds, the all-rounder’s, the extroverts and the aw-shucks, name it and there’s a character resembling one common entity called a wannabe engineer. Very similar to the elements in a periodic table which are so close to each other but have inherent qualities which make them behave differently! In the case of elements a change of electron in the outer layer can make all the difference, whereas in humans a strand of DNA! I have since then carried on my own research and found out that what maketh thy engineers different are thy mutated DNA’s.

Lot of random thoughts ahh.., getting back to the Open Source Movement, I believe getting into engineering tends to give a person a wider understanding of the scheme of things. Especially if one is staying in a hostel you have to manage yourself and also manage the different types of people who can get onto your nerves. More or less you participate in lot of talk (small and big) late nights with peers who can even get the most shy of species up and talking. I met some of the most interesting characters at college. Let us discuss them without raising too many eyebrows:

Party Politics: I had people from Bihar to Bengal to Tamil Nadu to Maharashtra to Uttar Pradesh to Punjab to Gujarat to Rajasthan to Assam and finally the Andhra Pradesh in my class. First things first, day one to day last the class was a polarized set. The guys from Andhra (40%) would sit in the left portion thus forming the Left Parties!  Then come in the guys from Bihar-UP-Jharkhand-Delhi (BJP, Samajwadi, BSP, Congress) they constitute the Centre or opposition and the government. Then come in the DMK and AIADMK, MDMK the guys from Tamil Nadu. (They are the king-makers, since my college was in TN they were also the entities who would have firsthand knowledge of the questions in the exam) So which party do I belong to? Good question some of my good friends and myself were above party politics. We were the so called independents and radical thinkers! Our opinion hardly mattered! We formed a collective group called the Back-bencher’s radical Party. We belonged to none and all! We had a healthy interaction with all other parties, whereas the other parties had close to none with each other. So that shows the real state of a multi-cultural classroom.

People are always so much interested in what the other chap is doing? Dude what is that you are reading? Why you are going to library now? Why do you study so much when exams are a month away (all one can say is get away jerk!)? Why are you going to class now? Worst of them all, how did your paper go? What was the answer to that previous question? And many others, I can’t be counted out because at times I was acting as a jerk myself questioning people! And at the receiving end other times. Though being a part of the independent radical party people generally were least interested in what we were cooking! J

A smart question- what do budding engineers do at engineering colleges? Well let us build upon it.

First few days of engineering life people develop a sense of dissatisfaction for the college itself due to multitude of factors. A fact can be self verified by each one, no doubt! The factors could range from bad faculty, too many restrictions, lesser recess time, a bad canteen, poor library and to some extent even absence of quality birds (rare species @ engg colleges) can be a deterrent for liking the college. Though in the case of my college the facilities were excellent, but I never understood most of us at college were dissatisfied with our college for some reason or the other, which we could figure out sometimes right and at other times wrong. Yes there are guys who would read up Five Point Someone and get dissatisfied with life too and start demanding things which can only be a part of a well written novel!  But nonetheless the bottom line is people come to engineering colleges with misconceptions which are cleared in the very first week!

I knew guys who would sabotage the hostel when the electricity went off, threw dust-bins and tube lights from third floors (and beyond) of the hostel into the open space between corridors unhindered of consequences and even swear and shout at the warden. One guy locked the warden’s room with a lock and stuck a Pamela Anderson picture on his door (counts for some guts!). Guys chasing the college principal Diwali night and beating him up, and on Holi coloring the guard at the level crossing gate separating the college and hostel campus subsequently breaking the signals bringing to complete halt the busy Chennai-Bangalore train route for two hours! These guys were the most daring among all; some got debarred, got screwed but were back to college and even finished the course with good grades and a placement. So who is the king?

Exam time, cramming up at the last moment; Most of the guys just regurgitate what they assimilate from the boring classroom lectures, a perfect start for wannabes! I would say I would never be woozy before exams instead I avoided studying itself!!! I think the best thing to do in engineering is to choose subjects of your own choice. For E.g. I was an Electronics and Communication guy but I enjoyed reading about operating systems, distributed computing etc (part of computer science engg.) which helped me to develop a wider understanding of technology. Spending time reading newspapers and magazines and subjects of my interest intrigued me more than listening to most of my lecturers teaching optical communication and Electromagnetic theory. I knew if ever I was going for a PhD in Electronics I’m going to avoid these fields (though one can’t decouple the basic subjects but a basic knowledge was more than sufficient I guess because these subjects can get creepy)

One thing one has got to understand, students world over have to face moronic lectures and there’s is no escaping. For me I was turned off from academics for a while and that showed in my grades, from being a onetime college scholarship holder to rank 52 in the department, counts for some slump! But that did not hinder me, while most of my classmates were mugging class notes and getting good grades and walking away with cool scholarship awards I had acquired the leverage to study and enjoy subjects which interested me! For e.g. most of my classmates if asked would not know what a monostable multivibrator was, but they would solve questions in the exam courtesy some simple formula application,  look up the circuit diagram and design it on bread-board but they would be totally nonplussed if asked what it was? Why are we going for it? Why use a Linear Integrated Circuit, why not a Microprocessor, are their other ways to do the same?  No they aren’t answering this one, because all they want is mug up, puke, get good grades, impress the teachers and then get even better grades! After all this is what our education system demands.

I forgot to mention the guys who are really rock at engineering colleges. There are guys who possessed excellent oratory skills and they quickly gain fore-front organizing and narrating college events, and then there are multi-talented chaps like dancers and singers who are the famous people on the radar. It’s not just their talent but the sheer aura which makes them so famous. For E.g. I was part of a music band, a bassist (a lesser known member of a band by any regards, but surely the most important alongside drummer musically) but never quite was so well known because most of us surely lack that thing which these guys possess. I’m still in the process of understanding the economics of being well-known!

Smoke, liquor and joints are a favorite time-pass of the lesser known clan of engineers. These are the guys who spend a major time rolling leaves and searching some more for future. To be frank they are not the bad guys but just they belong to the same set of guys who dare beyond what people like us do! You can find them exploring innovative ways to fuck their neurons, by igniting it in chillums and pots and hookahs!! God give them some wisdom. It’s all up to the individual to realize what is right for them and what is wrong after all.

Finally I think I have more to say but just don’t have any more random thoughts right now; probably I’ll add some more Entropy when I’m back. I’m also not sure whether I really got my point across. Who emerges as the ultimate king after four years of non-activity is really a tough call, the nerds, the jerks, the wannabes or the dare beyond guys? hmm. It’s for everyone else to decide. All I can say is it is the best time of life where you can learn and explore and divert your energy into creative stuff and explore your hidden talents. It’s all there in engineering, a must have experience.

 

P.S: all comments and ideas are welcome!

Childhood Summer Vacations

The best part of human life is undoubtedly the childhood. To be very precise say the 6-13 year age group is by far the best. I too enjoyed this time of my childhood doing all kind of stuff. One thing I loved about childhood was the summer vacations. It was that time of the year when exams were no tension and growing up quickly and trying to boss over people had been our utmost desire (though now I feel I’ve grown up too early!). But summer vacations were something special. For me it gave an opportunity to travel to our grandma’s place. I was brought up in the cities of Hyderabad and Delhi and going to Grandma’s place meant going back to the rustic roots of a place called Deoria in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The place is a small town, a district headquarter and pretty close to Kusinagar-the place revered by the Buddhist community. Okay now coming back to my grandma’s place, the funny thing was both my paternal and maternal relatives live in the same town. I am just guessing that majority of the young kids like staying at their maternal folks place than their paternal and I was no exception.

For me my maternal grandma’s place (nanis) held some special attractions courtesy:

First and the most important factor was the comic shop right in front of my nanis house. The guys name was Manoj. He had no issues with us taking any number of comics. Infact we used to get a dozen of them and finish them in a days’ time. While most of the people spent the good times of their lives reading Archies and DC comics, I was relishing some other homegrown masterpieces Nagaraj, Super Commando Dhruv etc. Actually in some of the comics these guys would team up with Spider-Man and Super-Man against evil forces and some cases even save them from the clutches of the Satans. (hehee that counts for some heroism). The graphics too were certainly no match to DC comics but nonetheless they were great! Apart from that I used to enjoy reading a lot of Chacha Chaudary, Saboo his friend who was from a planet I think Krypton ? That was Superman right? hmm. I forgot  :(   Then there were the detective duo of Ram-Rahim. There was also Pinky, Pluto etc which were on the lighter side and were pure fun. Back in hyderabad it was Tinkle, Gokulam, Jataka tales but none like Raj Comics On the whole reading these comics were a delight and I spent a good amount of my childhood summer vacations reading them, enjoying to the fullest.

Second there was a video game centre where you could play any console game for as cheap as Rs.1. So I used to spend major portion of the money and time playing games such as the Super Mario, Battle Tanks and Iceman. (Later my mom got it for me as a birthday gift so this attraction subsided gradually)

Third there were these large number of cousins, I actually cherished that the electricity was cut (power cut is a major problem in this UP) so that we could all gather on this huge terrace we had, water was sprinkled all over the place and cots and mattresses were put up, where we had fun time. Have dinner; talk etc. some my elder cousins (sisters) used to scare the younger ones (like me who had gathered from all parts of India to our nannies place) by reciting some scary stories. Anyways it was all pure quality fun. Childhood days were so good, i wish i could go back and have some more fun

Image: Raj comics characters

A peek into the highest peak @ Vellore – And Before that!

It was January of 2006, barely weeks into the fourth semester of engineering. Classes and campus had already started seeming boring courtesy the moronic lecturers and lazy people around me. I had been planning a conquest of the highest peak @ Vellore (that’s where my college was VIT University) but could not find company. I didn’t understand guys around me were more interested in playing counter-strike on comp (where you give head-shots to your enemies, hopefully I could give some to these lecturers), some nerds into books, some others running after lecturers for marks, some were under the spell of dim witched girls (non male species @ college) who would drag the guys with money in their pocket to the food-court and order the best dessert (a chocolate Hot-fuzz nut!) or some others were simply lying in their rooms watching all kinda movies!

So I was bored and wanted company to go scale the highest peak @ Vellore. I am a kinda person who loves travelling, trekking or anything that involves moving! I had been to Calicut two months ago with one of my friends Anirudh for a technical paper presentation at NIT Calicut and enjoyed the place. It was so natural with serene calmness and greenery all around and with slight drizzle on. We won the second prize there, and yeah we also went to IIM Kozhikode, it was such a lovely campus, and it was located on hill top, so you actually had to trek all the way up to reach the hostel and the main campus. I was so excited after the trip that I wanted a quick trek some new place. And with little cash in my pocket the Vellore peak was the cheapest and best deal to satiate my craving for a trek. Luckily I had mentioned the above problem to one of my friends Anindya and so one night he turned up at my room in hostel and we decided to finally scale the peak the next morning sharp at 6.

Trek Begins: The next day we started by 6. I could only manage snickers and did not have trekking shoes so it was kinda dangerous because it was raining that day (Vellore receives the rainfall from the retreating or the North east monsoon), the rocks were all so wet and slippery especially with the snickers on. Okay the way to begin your ascent of the hill in Vellore is through the shacks in the foothills near Satuvachari. We took an auto till there from the hostel. We initially had to figure out the right place for the ascent cos there’s no defined way. Luckily we hit the right spot to start. It was a steep 70 degrees slope, and had tough time climbing the rocks amidst all the drizzle and slippery rocks! We somehow managed to reach the point where we could figure where we should be heading. Luckily we found a path which I guess became prominent courtesy people had earlier travelled on it. From there on we just followed the path, we had difficulty at times courtesy some steep climbing of 80 degrees as well, and then all those bushes, with ever looming danger of a King cobra showing up anytime. We somehow managed the trip upwards among all these perils. The hill has a kind of watch tower similar to the one they show in mythological and epic movies, say the LOTR where they light the fire and have bells to warn the city of potential dangers and attacks! It was constructed I guess during the time of King Krishnadevaraya a king who is believed to rule Vellore and surrounding areas. It was fun reaching the top. It was so soothing amidst the drizzle and the cool breeze. We could see the whole town of Vellore and even VIT and CMC. The two premier institutes in Vellore. We spent some great time there, tried shouting as loud as possible at times, trying to warn the Velloreans of the new age dangers! I guess trekking and travelling lets you experience new things and help you get energized and refreshed. After about half an hour we were headed back. It took us approximately 45 minutes climbing up and 20 back. It was a fun experience after all the hectic and boring college life that time!  and revitalizing!

Why Engineering? Which branch is good? – For me or for the world? A rogue engineer’ analysis of the hidden side to everything in engineering!

It’s that time of the year when thousands of souls are lining up on the crossroad trying to determine which road to take! I was too four years ago; when I was in a similar situation after my class XII. Ok atleast I knew I was going to do engineering. But I was confused what branch is apt for me? Do I choose the branch depending on the demand and worth of the branch or will that not matter and I can make my own choice depending on my own interest. What do I really want, everyone came up with their own advice, infact I wasn’t even listening to anyone, I had developed a misconception and was thinking only about it, which is may not be such a wrong thing to do at such a point of time. This is what I intend to explain through this post!  Read on \m/.

Why engineering?

Is it because you want to be the next Jack Kilby or Thomas Edison? Want to do a PhD in the subject?  These guys know it all what they exactly want. They do not require this manual! (More importantly these are the kinda guys we so badly want)

Is it because you think engineering is a good career option and you not very sure what after and want time to decide your future course of action but you want to learn a lot of things and do good. (My kinda guy)

Is it because you’ve heard B.Tech + MBA helps you secure your career totally and land you a job in the world’s best company ruling over these godforsaken engineers, getting them do all the work while you take away all the credit! (Both literally and monetarily)  (Most of the people take up engineering these days because of this factor which is not necessarily wrong)

I took up engineering now what?

1^st year 1^st day: Come in the dim witched lecturers and asks us for our intro and future plans! If only I had a future plan?  No points for guessing 70 percent of the class went for the third reason in the previous paragraph and so was the percentage in most classes. I was as usual for the second reason but I just said that I wanted to do an M.Tech just for the heck of answering a question whose answer I did not seriously know that point of time(though I do not want to do it now!)

What engineering branch do I choose? Which is the best?

If you are type 1 you know it all, you know the branches which interest you, go grab it! For example in our first year I had a classmate who would design robots (from scratch), in our Computer Aided Design Classes when we guys used to design simple figures with great difficulty, some geek gods used to design airplanes and submarines. (That counts for some geekiness, and it was more depressing than inspiring because even though you want to be you can’t be a geek like them, they are born that way. After all who designs robots and airplanes three months into engineering, we can only attempt its not difficult but still hats off to them)

If you type 3 you need to choose the branch which makes a good combination with an MBA degree. Mechanical is by far the evergreen branch serves the best with MBA. Then come in the Electrical branches ECE preferably, EEE sucks (did not find a better word) no explanation required here! Since your focus right from start is to do an MBA choose the branch you’re comfortable with it! I know a Sardar from my batch who can’t write a program for calculating the area of square in C language (the simplest program you will come across), but he wants to do an MBA and he took up ECE! So that counts for some bravery, sincere advice join a branch where you will be able to score a good percentage and show up the future employers that you rocked in engineering! For the good ones who can carry on the pressure and can definitely do well no qualms, you guys will definitely do well irrespective of the branch.

If you type 2, this Post is dedicated to you guys.

Electronics and Communication Engineering J what I am): By far the best. If you interested in designing computer chips, if u think you are fascinated by how a cell phone works, how the battery power lasts for so long for some devices and not for some (Nokia Vs Sony Ericsson), want to know what is this fuss about 3G, CDMA vs. GSM, want to design an Automobile safety system, a collision avoidance system, Program a chip and put it on a robot to make it work the way you want, Design protocols that decide how the data will be transmitted across the free space or through optical fiber, then ECE is for you.  Future scope: Immense, with companies setting off shore campuses for R&D in India there will be immense demand for EC engineers. Boom in the Telecom sector and then new Fab city (for silicon wafer fabrication and manufacturing chips for first time in India) ECE is here to stay. Moreover ECE guys are versatile can be fit anywhere.

Companies:

EDA: Cadence, Mentor Graphics,

Semiconductor Design and Fab: Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Infineon, Freescale, Bosch

Telecom: Huawei, Alcatel-lucent, Ericsson 

 

Electrical and Electronics Engineering: If you in the IIT’s its ok. If other colleges this branch I don’t consider a very good option. Major part of your engineering life you are running a Motor or an Alternator first trying to understand how it works then its efficiency and then how do I transmit the power. That’s it your life stops there. You hardly learn things which are in demand today. Under the pretext of electronics all they learn is SCR and UJT (if that counts for a field as vast as electronics) Still I know a friend of mine who learnt a lot of things on his own like robotics, microcontrollers and embedded systems and is working on quality product stuff. There is always room for learning everywhere.

Civil and Mechanical Engineering: (We go hand in hand): My personal favorites, if you are the kind of guy who is inspired by the modern marvels on History channel. The unique design of the Hong-Kong airport, PETRONAS tower or the Bruj-AL-Arab hotel inspires you and you like watching extreme engineering on discovery channel. Or if you heard that Mahindra Scorpio was designed by an Indian engineer who was 23 year old! If you want to design the next gas guzzling Hummer for the US marines or the fuel efficient and the cheapest car on earth Nano! Or if you fascinated by Michael Schumacher and feel you should design a faster car for him so that he can remain competitive even @ the age of forty, or if you want to know that the site of the world trade centre is good enough for a building that giant size, then these branches provide you the opportunity to do so!

Biotechnology:  If you think that you did not get a seat in a medical college and you can compensate it with a degree of B.Tech Biotechnology, this ain’t true. The b.tech biotech guys just study the applications and they hardly know the undercurrents. It is better go do a B.S in genetics or microbiology. What B.Tech biotech does provide you is a diverse understanding and application of biotechnology in diverse field ranging from protein engineering to Industrial processes of producing a better quality beer to a way to understand means to protect the ecology, or even design a drug but in a generalist aspect! So if u thought you will be working on stem cells and producing new dollies (the cloned sheep) you’re mistaken, this is one branch where a PhD is a must and requires immense hard work dedication and research unlike other branches. So if you can burn the midnight lamp and read those big fat books (which I’ll rather use as a pillow or a dumbbell) like doctors do, this is the one for you!

Chemical engineering: If you think you are good at organic chemistry, or want to design high pressure boiling chambers, or think that you have better ways to treat the chemicals coming out of the industries to save the environment, or you think you are fine with the smell of Hydrogen Sulphide this branch is for you.

Computer Science: The most sought after branch. This should not be necessarily seen as related to coding! Engineering. There is lot more to it. If you interested in operating systems, think windows sucks and Linux rocks and you think you have the creative genesis to design cool applications. Moreover there is web designing, Distributed Computing (getting a lot of computers together and make them solve a common large problem i.e. a cheap way of making your supercomputer), Networking and designing optimum algorithms for fast processing this is the branch you are looking for! Basically you got to have good logical skills and work on it.

 

In general there is more to engineering than only Studies. There is a lot of room for personality development, meeting people from different diversities (if you in a nationally reputed college) and taking part in different activities. Thus engineering rocks no matter how you see it!

 

P.S : if u have any queries please post a comment, i’ll get back to you.

FIRST TIME ROCKING AT JIPMER – A Learning Curve

It was just the end of August in 2006 and it was my first ever tryst with the rock and roll scene in India. I was for the first time playing Bass (please pronounce it as base) guitar for a band in college, and my first ever gig was supposed to be at JIPMER, Pondicherry. One of the most revered Battle of Bands contest in southern India. The show was called Tinnitus (Western Music Competition). It was a gleaming night, with some of the best rock crowd I had come across. People seemed to understand here that rock was no screaming stuff but just another form of music they were so addicted to.

BATTLE OF BANDS STARTS:

The battle for the supreme bands started around 8 p.m. after much delay due to rain which had added another dimension to the already energetic and rocking crowd. The bands came, they played and they conquered. Though we did not give a perfect show but we were surely on the learning curve seeing all these wonderful bands around! We played a mix of modern rock, some punk and a hard rock number. The songs we played were: Show me how to live (Audioslave), Virus (Iron Maiden), Flavor of the weak (American Hi-Fi) and Rocking in a free world (Neil Young, Pearl Jam cover). We got a mixed response; to be frank I was so involved in playing (I was a bit nervy as well) that I totally missed out on the crowd thing. Though we screwed up the third song (Flavor of the weak) the response from people after our show was that the second and the last song were pretty good. And for the last song we even got some head-banging, applauses and rock on screams! So that went down pretty well. Though after our performance we went back stage and we were trying to find out culprits as to who screwed up the third song! To be frank I did not say anything that time but it was our rhythm guitarist but no issues cause one can always goof up while playing. It’s only about realizing ones mistake and giving a good show the next time. Another thing with JIPMER’s battle of bands is that the sound system over here is awesome. Apart from that the lighting is so perfect that it adds to the joy of playing. The Light men flicker the lights depending upon the rhythm and the mood of the music being played by the bands. So it is worth appreciation.

Moreover it was my first experience of the rocker lifestyle. People around some engineers, some doctors (JIPMER is a medical college) and rest all jerks (engineers at the most respect doctors rest all guys are unknown clans) from colleges all around Chennai, Bangalore (India’s rock capital), Calicut, Trivandrum etc had gathered for the JIPMER event(it’s basically the cultural and sports meet organized on an yearly basis). There were many other things I got to see. There were smokers and dopers all around. Some frustrated doctors were high on alcohol (one even got on to the stage and did a ramp walk when the bands were playing), some were busy rolling Marijuana joints and the extreme jerks were even snorting cocaine. Well it’s such a shame that such guys bring to the Rocker community, because they set a bad example and the youngsters just blindly emulate them. Actually Pondicherry is the dopers’ paradise. Anyways it was a fun experiencing different cultures, morons and the lovely Pondicherry. It was fun rocking!

A Bass guitarist speaks on why BASS? And why play?

In the world people play the guitar for two reasons: Let us analyze (being an engineer a thorough analysis to a logical conclusion is expected of me!)

1.  Well most of them do it because of all the fame you get, the rocker feeling, the admiration as you walk down and all the dumb but really hot chicks who will fall for you when you are playing on the stage even though you are doing nothing but playing power chords (if you doing that then you can even call yourself Iron Maiden! Because that’s what they do play power chords and pretend they are not yet another Punk band, but honestly I like them too because of their unique style.) So leaving the hot chicks alone we’ll come back to them later. It is the sheer popularity that attracts people to turning into rock musicians. Most of the people I know around me fall into this category. (so does Parikrama)

2.  Then comes the second kind, people who come with a sheer passion to play music and learn and explore different genres, to them rock is just another part of music. They will master the techniques and moods and then they will move onto the mother of rock music The Blues and then their ultimate aim is to play Jazz. Mind It! These people are the dedicated chaps who will never try to compromise on their Music stuff and techniques and will stick to the rules of the game. 

MY IDEA:

Actually, before I could turn into a guitarist I turned into a bassist. (To call a bassist a guitarist is objectionable in Bassists lexicon and outright insulting) Well I discovered the true power of Bass when I started jamming with the band for the first time as a Bassist. Bassie is generally a guy who brings the low frequency tones in the band’s music. He sets the rhythm and the harmony. Along with the drummer he decides the framework of the music that is going to come out of the band. Bass fills the whole thing and provides a sense of completeness to the song. And to be honest guitars are just fill-ins which accentuate the feeling of music. Bass is part of all the genres of music, take it from Jazz to Blues to Rock to Death Metal, all want it. Even the days of Beethoven they used the Upright Double. So my playing Bass was just a coincidence (that is another story) but I was in love with the instrument the moment I handled it. Each time while we played the moment Bass went off for a while, it took the life out of the song. So I was in love with this instrument and I knew this is what I wanted to play.

My Music Idea:

Now when it was clear on what I want to play, why I wanted to play anything in first place? so I go back to the above reasons. Ok now Bass man is the guy who in a rock band would quietly stand in the corner giving out low frequency sounds. The real musicians will understand this and the importance of bassist in the band and the music on the whole, but not my mom and sister (why the hell were you standing in the corner! Why is the camera guy not even focusing you?) OK now come in the chicks we left out, for them they don’t know a shit about music or rock, they are just dumb. For them Bassist and guitarists are the same courtesy both the Bass and Guitar look similar. Oh that guy (bassist) playing the guitar so well (calling the bass a guitar may not be technically wrong but it is another racial slur on the bassist community). The dumb girls, who gives a damn though. So what’s my idea of music? Now I always wanted to become a rock star but for me music meant a way to channelize my energy into something creative. I always wanted to improve my techniques and play the songs I really loved. I was also interested in jamming, though our college schedule did not allow it! So what category I come into? Hard to draw a line. First it’s about being creative, innovative, expanding your skill sets, channelizing your energy in free time (empty mind’s devilz workshop) and exploring new genres, learning from the artists and adapting. So if you do all this and turn to the stage and perform impressing the judges with your awesome basslines while still managing to woo some chicks who mistake you for those dimwitched Guitarists and while your folks are complaining for you standing in a corner while you still enjoying the Bass kinda sums it up! 

the Ibanez GSR100 four string monster Bass. the cheap and best any one can afford.

Increased Interest Rates and Inflation – Good for some, bad for many?

While Idea has been spicing up the Mobile market in India, and while the spice in the Indian Consumers food is missing courtesy increased commodity prices, the Reserve bank of India has hit out further by increasing the repo rates (the rate at which the RBI lends out money to the other banks) and the Cash Reserve ratio (CRR, the minimum amount of cash stocks the banks must maintain). The logic RBI gives is that it is going to tame the liquidity in the market by squeezing the excess cash floating in the market.

But is it what we really require? The RBI seems to have a notion that the current crisis is demand pull inflation where too much money chases too few goods. Rather the case right now is that of Cost-Pull inflation wherein the companies have to increase cost of commodities as a result of increased input costs like hike in oil prices, raw materials, basic metals and increased tax rates and import duties. This is very similar to what we have been observing off-late where the prices of inputs which go into manufacturing of these commodities have grown over the time. While the appreciating rupee saved us from the wrath last year, this fiscal the rupee has depreciated as well.

The policy of the RBI is going to lead to stagflation (high unemployment and economic slowdown).

1.   The current food crisis led to government completely banning export of major food commodities and completely decreasing the tariffs on imports. This would surely hurt the revenues of the govt. and also the overall economic growth to some extent.

2.   Moreover the RBI on increasing the rates has resulted in greater difficulty for the corporate sector to get loans from the govt. in terms of debts, moreover the markets are difficult to get the cash flowing to these corporations due to the increased alienation of the market by the investors due to inflation (as seen by the continued downward trend of the markets). This will only lead to companies shunning economic expansion and further slowing down the economic growth of the country.

3.   The increased interest rates are going to hit the general public by and large. Due to increase in the repo rates by the central bank (RBI), the banks are going to increase the primary lending rates which will be generally ranging from loans for homes, automobiles and even study loans. The consumers taking loans at this time should take a loan on floating rates so that when this inflation is finally tame and the rates are finally decreased they still don’t keep paying the same as they will be now. Moreover consumers already facing the music due to increased rates and EMI’s should try to increase the duration of payment in years to bring down the EMI.

4.   The biggest sector that is going to be hit by this interest rates hike is the Real Estate sector which is so susceptible to the market interest rates. As the customers are going to stay away from taking loans and buying the property the sector will generally slowdown. Moreover the big corporations are just going to wait before rolling out any expansion plans, so cutting down on infrastructure and further slowing down this sector. However because this is going to drive property prices slightly lower in most markets, it is not going to be a particularly bad idea to buy properties right now, probably on floating rates.

5.   Another sector which is particularly going to suffer is Automobile sector. Already the input costs like steel have gone up, the oil prices have gone up keeping consumers away from the roads and now the increased rates will surely slow down the sales, and most of the CEO’s won’t be able to achieve their targets.

6.   However as the lending rates will go up, so will the rates at which banks borrow from individuals and companies. So the particular debt-free cash rich companies are going to gain. Moreover this is generally going to make the market less attractive. Moreover as Markets are meant to give you better returns than the banks especially in terms of maintain the purchasing power of your money over the years. Moreover more and more people are leaving the markets; FII’s as well who are anticipating a general economic slowdown. However this should be seen as the best time to jump-in the stock market.

7.   Moreover the cap on FDI will generally keep away the investors from investing in the country due to a nominal appreciation only, so the cap must be increased. We observed that FDI cap in Real Estate in India has gone up leading to a lot of infrastructral investment and economic activity.

8.   At the same time the depreciation of the rupee has to be controlled in the wake of increased international oil process. This will further help in taming the inflation. Some export oriented sectors will be affected but then the present situation demands a more balanced approach.

As the lending rates increase and the liquidity crunch prevails, will generally tend to economic slowdown. However the RBI and the govt. must try to find out better ways to balance the rising inflation and economic growth of the country.

The Gr8 Road Trip: NH2, Agra and a tryst with history!

It was the 2^nd of June when I was conveyed that decision on our selection was put in the cupborad due to some internal problems. The whole next week was spent by me in the township of Kendriya Vihar in Gurgaon doing nothing but sleeping and lazying (if this word actually exists, I’m not sure) and of course eating Aloo paranthas (no one @home so had to fill up with that godforsaken stuff!). And yeah I worked on a story which has attracted the maximum traffic till date on my blog site, the gr8 day spent at McKinsey&Co. (atleast something worthwhile came out) It was Friday and my  beloved brother-in-law a driving freak planned a drive down trip anywhere within 200 kms of the great New Delhi. I was naturally excited after a dumb week in the city of Gurgaon, where traveling to cash rich people means driving down to the nearest mall (cause there’s nothing actually around) and wash away a part of their hard earned earnings to these glut mall owners who seem to be wanting anything but money. (If only they read this crude definition of Gurgaon beware I don’t think I should be travelling to Gurgaon anymore! ;-(

So we finally decided we were going down to Agra. Yes the city known for Taj Mahal, which was recently reinstated in the Seven Wonders of the World courtesy the 100 billion Indian population texting! Another of my jiju’s cousin, Sonal had joined us. So we quickly logged on the internet and looked out for the Google’s map for Agra from Gurgaon. God, these Google people come out with some really innovative stuff. A second and it shows all the roads, by lanes from anywhere to everywhere. So we quickly sorted out the route. Okies instead of going to Delhi we can take a road to Faridabad via Sohna rd. and then reach Ballabhgarh and then we are on the great historic NH2 (which in olden times ran from Lahore to Dhaka via Indraprastha) which takes us straight to Agra not before touching Mathura, the birthplace of the our beloved Lord Krishna, the great flirt in his youth but who also gave us the best lessons in our religious scriptures the revered Bhagwad Gita which everyone must abide to. (Or atleast try to)

So our Road Trip was supposed to begin on Saturday, the next morning at 6!

Next morning at 6 everyone was sleeping! It was only at around 8 that everyone gained consciousness I guess, then it was not before 10 that we left, a good 4 hours off schedule. I was naturally excited because I love Road Trips, Travelling or anything you can remotely associate with trekking. So we embarked on one helluva journey in the grey colored Maruti Zen that my jiju owns which was registered in Andhra Pradesh, being run in Haryana and now was gonna go via Delhi to Uttar Pradesh.

For me it also provided an opportunity to hone my photographic skills, which is another of my interests and I was guessing if I would be able to capture some real good stuff. I had always loved capturing nature, routine innovative and artistic stuff rather than humans in my snaps! So what? Nothing. So our trip started, and I was in possession of a relative mean machine a Sony Cybershot.

We reached Agra around 3 in the evening. On the way we halted mid way near Mathura. Had a quick lunch. Took a few snaps from the car itself. Explored the great Mathura refinery and took a few snaps (hoping these were not the last snaps of a working refinery, because the way these oil marketing companies are losing money, it may not be very long before they might close down!). We did touch the holy city of Mathura but only from the outside. Though we could see the Krishna Janmabhoomi (Lord Krishna’s birthplace) and a mosque next to it from the highway, soaked in a serene calmness and perfect example of the secularism that prevails in our country no matter what people say or think.

It was soon afterwards we touched the capital of the Great Mohammed Jallaludin Akbar. The first historic place we hit was his tomb itself, Sikandra. Took a few snaps, yup did have a look at the tomb also! It was the great Akbar’s idea to order his peers to keep his grave to the simple, the way he lived and brought about peace and brotherhood during his rule. On the way we decided let us drive back home the same night unlike what we had earlier planned to stay a day and start next day. So we quickly had to finish Agra fort and of course the Taj Mahal. Soon we reached the Agra fort, to make it clear it was not my first time in Agra. I had earlier been to all these places during my class X tour and had another helluva trip that time.

Yeah and the last time I came to Agra, one guide (it’s a major lucrative employment taken by the youth over here, who would drive you nuts with their crazy history stuff! Which could possibly be way off mark, and more importantly they will give you some raw and hard to digest spicy trivial tidbits about the city) told me that AGRA got its name from AA- GIRA meaning come and fall, because in olden times it was famous for Pick-Pocketers, so you come and your wallet falls, oh ho now I get the logic. (This fact may be untrue for above stated reasons).

Moreover if these guides drive you crazy and insane then you have a world-class place to get yourself treated in Agra the Agra Mental Hospital!

Jodha-Akbar, seen that movie twice I guess. It was so fresh in my memory that I could relate to all the stuff this time more easily.

At the Agra fort: hey! Look this is the entrance where Aishwarya Rai went through when she first came to Agra after getting married to Hrithik. Hey look this is the place where Hrithik pushed MahaManga’s son after he got nuts and killed the WAZIR! Hey look this is the place where he wooed Ash by flaunting his muskills (muscles). And yeah that’s the court house, Diwan-e-am, now I see… So we quickly went through the Agra fort. We came out by 6, had exactly half an hour before we could reach Taj Mahal before they let in the final batch of people and close for the day.

Yeah had one helluva time there. Because they don’t let in any polluting vehicles near the TajMahal, we had to take a camel cart till the entrance about a kilometer from the parking. So I could not imagine the frail looking camel buddy pushing four of us (jiju, his cousin, sis, and me) and the master around. Strange medieval ride in Modern times, surely cutting down global warming but lame and against animal rights, to be honest I’m against such practices.

No wonder we reached Taj Mahal, it was the worst I’d seen of it. It was not as beautiful as was on my previous trip, had turned blacker than ever, courtesy Ms. Mayawati, Mathura Refinery and all the brilliant people around in our country holding top positions. However it was good. I could see people involved with guides more keen on remembering that Babar was Humayun’s godforsaken father, whose great son Akbar had ruled this place and brought to India the concept of secularism and brotherhood, his son Jahangir who went against his father to woo Anarkali, and then came Shahjahan who’d spent a billion bucks constructing this magnificent building and many more, completely draining the Mughal’s budget on his beloved (citation required) and then his dim witched moron son Aurangzeb who would plan out complete capture of India and see the downfall of the Mughal empire. Between all this we were taking a lot of snaps (before TajMahal white marbles turn into Grey marbles).

I rushed towards the back side of the TajMahal to catch a glimpse of the great Yamuna River, which seemed to attract me more than Taj Mahal! It was a lovely sight; I just wondered how wonderful it must have been, when there would have been greenery all around, and the river flowing to its complete freedom, unhindered by dams and pollution. No wonder Shahjahan though a spendthrift had a great penchant for artistic and natural beauty and planned a perfect place to build a tomb for his wife.

Finally we were outta that place, and headed back to Gurgaon via Delhi this time. We had a great time driving back to Gurgaon. Overall it was a memorable trip.

DUS KA DUMB Questions

• 1. Kitne Pratishat log raat ko jungle mein jaa ke kale hiran ko marte hain?
• 2. Kitne pratishat log apne ex-girlfriend ko zor se thappar marte hain?
• 3. Kitne pratishat log reporter’s ke saath do-do haath karte hain?
• 4. Kitne pratishat log apni ex-girlfriend ke boyfriend ko raat mein missed calls marte hain?

And finally for 10 crores

• 5. Kitne pratishat log raat ko footpath pe soye logon ko permanently sula dete hain?

GURGAON Vs NOIDA

A few days back I was in Gurgaon. I was very impressed with the straight roads and carefully planned buildings along these roads. Being from a city like Hyderabad where buildings seem to come up almost anywhere and the roads are as curvaceous as the African bananas. Though one’s got to accept that Hyderabad wasn’t built in a day! Gurgaon sets the example for a modern day planned city! well is it? Not exactly, told my brother-in-law and why?  Let us analyze why that’s not the case.

When Gurgaon was becoming a satellite town next to ever expanding national capital New Delhi, the Haryana Government was rushing into selling the land in Gurgaon to these big builders like DLF, Vatika, UNITECH etc. In fact DLF was the biggest buyer. These builders were responsible for setting up the required infrastructures in the satellite town. Each one now turned to it’s piece of land and turned it into a township with sky reaching buildings for accommodation and then these corporate offices. The construction and development work was completely outsourced to these big builders. In fact the entire piece of land was given away to these builders and very meager part was left for the government. Now here is where the problem actually took off. The builders developed their part of the township leading to unbalanced development in the whole city. What happened now was that in spite of the development within the township, there had to means to take the sewage out of each township and channelize it to the proper place. Now the builders had limited accessibility to the land outside their allotted township. Moreover this was the problem with almost all of them. They did not address this problem leading to large amount of pollution and environmental hazards. Next the Government had to buy back land from these big builders to actually re-plan the entire sewer system, drinking water supply, roads, etc. thus the government’s hasty decision led to a very unbalanced growth of the city where each developer developed only his own township and gave a damn about the impact on surrounding areas and environmental and architectural problems.

New Okhla Industrial Development Area right that’s NOIDA; while Haryana government was trying to gain maximum mileage by making it’s full use of being a satellite to Delhi, UP government was losing no ground to do the same. Only thing that made the difference is that it took the land allotment plan for the entire township under it’s controlled planning the passage for basic amenities like drinking water at the same time passage of sewer and waste out of the city. The government allotted the lands in phases and led to rapid development by careful planning unlike Gurgaon where each builder developed his piece of land and then hung up.

So one could see that NOIDA is a more carefully planned city than Gurgaon.