The clock is 'taking' away

- Mumbai, August 23rd, 2015.

He feared the flow of time. He feared that time would abduct his memories. Of his childhood, his adolescence, his teenage. All of it.

Each tiring day, he would climb up into his bed to escape time. To the promise of
a sleep, a carefree unrestrained slumber maybe, like his good old childhood days. It never happened. Random thoughts, anxieties, to-do lists and fear have substituted what was once his rabbit hole of euphoric visions, out of world voyages, chocolate worlds, aliens, classrooms, infatuations, mountains etc.  Sleep was no longer a pleasure like his childhood. Flow of time had transformed it into another constrained must do activity in the adult world that promises optimal performance at work the next day. Just a healthy substitute for coffee.  

Yet, whenever he is in bed, he would let his mind try and travel back in time.  He couldn't afford the thought during the day; day times were  being offered as sacrifices to the rapacious appetite of the industrialized world. But he stole the nights away from them and fed the haunting need in him. And in one of those nights, as his voyage into the past met the troubled sea of his memories, he wept.

He wept because he could no longer remember his past with clarity. Unused and unclaimed for, they had left the confines of his memory and sublimed into the galaxy of unknown. He could only manage distant blurs of emotions, locations and people making up certain memories. Only those ones that left a mark on his soul. The rest, the mundane ones vanished without a trace.

Yet he vowed to fight time and reclaim whatever little memories that lay dispersed over millions of his neurons.
 
After deliberate attempts he recounted his earliest memory. It was about a cat.  About his first cat. He remembered how he had frantically searched his neighborhood one evening after the school when the neighborhood children informed him that they heard a cat squeal. He vividly remembered wailing terribly on a busy byroad, as he stood over the poor ball of fur, lying drenched in crimson red, gasping for its last breaths. He stood there, helpless, as the world simply turned its head and looked over, their eyes wide with empathy but their souls walking away hurriedly to their respective destiny.   

On some other day,  he reclaimed particular memories of his playful childhood. The adults where busy chattering away about money and job and politics and things about their lives that no one would want to know, while the unrestricted kids simply played their hearts out. Catch and catch, cricket, hide and seek, medas; the list was long. There was laughter, excitement, screaming, confusion, team spirit and what not. He remembered the sweet smell of sweat and mud  clutching onto his cotton shirt, the freshness of cold water as it hit his warm skin and cleansed him, the simple yet sumptuous meal and the carefree afternoon naps.

Rejoiced at his minimal success, he fought harder every night and salvaged a particular memory about his high school days. A treasured memory that he had stored away for eternity. It was about a girl in his class. He remembered her kind eyes, her wide smile and her plump nose. She was the most amazing creature he had seen. She stole his little heart everyday as she walked into the class with her chest puffed up, in her navy blue skirt, white cotton shirt and a blue hair band over her double braided flourishing hair. As she walked past him, a waft of Cuticura talc and freshly oiled hair would hit him and carry him away into a distant wonderland. Being the extremely shy and self conscious  kid that he was, he never gathered enough courage to speak to her. But he would make up for this by relentlessly stalking her after school; at her music class or during her sports practices. When the setting sun quietened the school premises, he would leave, unnoticed, brimming with infatuation for this strange wonder of the world.    

Oh! What memories they were. What beautiful memories.

But they were simply that - memories. Not events that if wished, could be relived again and again. Time would not let him do that. This was his greatest resentment. He knew that the enemy was mighty and that he was living his life on the mercy of some cortex matter. A biological, degradable entity whose destiny he had no will upon.

But through his explorations, he realized that the only way to fight the flow of time and its slaughter on the memories is to travel back into these memories, over and over again, each time returning with tit-bits of his bygone days. He would then, patiently stitch together these salvaged bits into a fabric of a contiguous memory like a painter completing a picture from his blurred memory one stroke at a time.

He was slowly attempting to create something which every person on earth, at some point of their lives, wished for - timeless memories. 

   

Another rat in this race

- Mumbai, August 20th, 2015.

 

This city is strange.

A Mercedes Benz E class,  waits by a cycle rickshaw on a crowded suburban traffic signal. The man in the Benz is lost in his own thoughts - probably worried about his next monetary venture or his next luxury car. His decorated wife, fat and chubby, sat in the front seat beside him, her pinkish cheeks like a healing blister and her straightened hair like bristles of a cheap floor mop. She sat like an immovable boulder, munching on chicken legs from a typical ‘ bucket’. I saw her fan herself and wipe her face with handkerchief and extend out her plump hands to the ac button on the dash board.  Their two kids, caged in the passenger compartment, were looking out of either windows. One of them had their vision on the rickshaw wala. His eyes did not have sympathy or even empathy. I saw absent minded apathy in them. The rickshaw wala himself, drenched in sweat and exhausted, let the remaining of his leftover spirits be sublimed by the scorching afternoon sun. His long drawn face and furrowed temples spoke enough of his suffering. His wife and kid sat in the wooden ‘passenger’ seat, their shabby belongings bundled together in one corner. The woman used her saree fold to shade the kid from the cruel sun. The scraggy kid was unconsciously asleep. Both the mother and her son looked unwashed and greased all over.

Then, the signal turned green, and the race began. The Benz, pulled away with an overwhelming force and left in its wake, the rickshaw wala who had just managed a half pedal down.  

My bus honked past the rickshaw wala. Wafts of polluted air began strangling my nostrils. I let out a sly sigh. The sigh was not meant to be the end of an ongoing thought - rather simply a beginning of a deeper understanding.  Then the thought spoke to me -

"You would be fooling yourself If you convinced yourself that all your education and birth privileges have given you the liberty to be simply an independent observer to this whole play out. You are not. Because you are simply another rat in this race who for one moment, which felt eternally long, happened to observe other rats in this race. Look around! you are being observed by another rat in this race who is being observed by another rat in the race who is being ... "

 

A Canon's wink - IITB Campus

Presenting below an artistic attempt to capture the flavors of IIT Bombay Campus.

A Folklore

A Dark Idea

A Silent Tryst

Build'em All

Colors of Summer

Drowning in Development

Duty While Pleasure

A Neoclassical Peekaboo

An Unusual Friendship

Thanks to

 Anju UK for 'A silent Tryst', 'Colors of summer' and 'A Neoclassical Peekaboo'.

 

Shot with Canon Powershot SX520 bridge camera.

Ride 4- IITB- Uran beach- IITB

Total distance=120Km.

Total time taken= 8.5 hours including breaks.

Route taken
IITB- EEH- Sion Panvel highway- Vashi- Palm beach road- JNPT road - Uran village.


Rider: Sangeeth (Solo ride).

A description of ride

The ride commenced by 5.00am from IIT-B. This was my first experience of solo riding over such a long distance. Being a novice, I was extra prepared regarding many aspects of this ride.

• Firstly, I set up a SOS alert system with three of my friends. Since the ride route was premeditated, it was agreed that I would sent text messages to each of them about my condition when I reached certain already discussed checkpoints/ every 2 hours whichever was earlier.
• I had extra tools(allen keys, chain tool), spare tubes(2 nos) and pedals for any unforeseen difficulties.
• I included yogurt, white rice, oranges to my usual on-ride supplies of dates, raisins, chocolates, nutrition bar, biscuits, bananas etc. Trust me, they help big time.

As always, early morning rides are the fastest due to high energy content in my body and low traffic on the city roads. In 1.5 hours, I was at Vashi. My first set back arrived when I lost a water bottle(mixed with glucose!) as I navigated a dangerous bridge joint on Vashi bridge at relatively high speed. Though I searched for it unsuccessfully for some time on the road, I decided to move on without it and use my stocks wisely till shops start opening on the Sunday morning. 

The road turned  cleaner as I took a hoop turn from Vashi towards Palm beach road. Palm beach road is more like a expressway with elite residential complexes sprinkled around . On one side all along this road you have mangroves adjoining the roads. There was a pleasant peaceful atmosphere all around. At some point on the road, the peaceful silence gave away to loud disco music blaring from a programme organized by Times of India. A section of the road was barricaded and set free for people to use as play park (such is the elegance of the urban planning of our cities!). I rested here for a while observing all this rich people with privileges to block a public road and play badminton on it!

The road block at Palm beach road

Before I finished Palm beach road, I encounter a building which reinstills in me the idea that 'not all Indian government buildings are ratholes'- The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters. Surprisingly it also happens to be India's first 'green' government building ( with two bronze lions being probably the only security arrangements around! ).

Sometimes governments can get artistic about their buildings

After Palm beach road, the populace suddenly sublimates from rich to poor.  Its the land of truck drivers. For acres and acres all that you see are trucks and cargo containers. As I join the JNPT road, the roads once again widen and marshy barren lands spread out on both sides as far as my eyes could reach. By taking a quick short cut across a railway track at Karal near Jaskhar(which a local suggested), I cut across into Uran highway(NH 54) saving few kilometers of riding through a U turn.

Land of cargoes

A quite misleading factor which appeared out of nowhere was this huge hill on the canvass towards my left which made me ask " Could a beach exist near such a huge hill?". I blamed my geography skills and continued riding.

Confusing hill

After riding few more kilometers I reached the Uran village. Coming from an  world where 'junctions are intersections of roads adorned by traffic lights', it was surprising that in this part of the country junctions were places where people met, cacophony ensued and bazaars packed themselves up till the point of singularity of three dimensions .

Some things are still old school at Uran

Finally, Uran beach awaited me with her dirty looks and ugly smiles. 

Uran- another dirty beach?

While a small rest at Uran beach

My return journey had more to do with my will power than with the my health or the bike itself. I realized half an hour into the ride that I was tired and exhausted. My thighs were aching and knee joins grimacing. The sun was slowly roasting my flesh like on a barbeque feast. At some point it struck me " What the hell am I doing? Am I insane to cycle all this way alone to some strange part of the country?". What was more frightening was the notion of distances I had to cover before I reached back. The gargantuan distances that lay ahead of me demotivated me the most. I realized that I was failing at the mission. 

I realized that the only way I would ever get successful was by stop worrying and start focusing on one pedal at a time. I set shorter goals and reward systems to keep myself motivated. I sang loud along with my music playlist. It was a crazy phase of the ride when I was a different person all together- someone bordering insanity. On some later introspections, I realized that this was a much needed lesson for my PhD too.

After some time, the pain stopped and my worries ebbed. I simply kept pedaling at my own pace as if I had no particular deadline to keep. I was essentially touring. I started enjoying the experience of watching the country side passing by unhurriedly. I even treated myself to a burger and huge cup of vanilla icecream with chocolate toppings.  

Sometimes Ice creams can be great motivators in life

In the evening after the ride, as I sat popping beers and munching delicious chicken legs on a celebratory note, I realized how deeply memorable that day would be in the pages of my cycling adventures.

Lesson learned: Solo cycling can be a whole new ball game where you get to test your will power and fight your strangest demons.

Acknowledgements

I thank Deepak Malani deeply for his intent to push me beyond the borders of my comfort zone. Like he often repeats " How good is a friend who doesn't occasionally land you in trouble"?. Thanks for the quagmire buddy. 

Let the 'Revolution' begin...

I anchor a deep hate towards 'authority' especially if its totalitarian, fascist or controlling in slightest manner. Maybe its due to this loathing that I take quite a liking towards the idea of 'revolution'. To me, 'revolution' is both external and internal. 'Revolution' could be a one person initiated process or a commons endeavour. More often that not I have observed that the baton of a revolution is ignited by one/group of courageous souls who take the risk of leading the commons and giving a direction.

While I enjoy reading the facts about commons' revolutions,  I take special interest in reading and knowing about people who have, through their lives, questioned 'authority' and orthodox views to gift the world a different perspective to see itself.

My definition of 'revolution' doesn't simply crop to politics. For example it could span areas like  Science(Albert Einstein), painting(Leonardo Da Vinci), Psychology (Betrand Russel), Technology(Steve Jobs), Mathematics(Alexander Grothendiek) etc.  It extends beyond and encompasses any endeavor human beings undertook to shake the heretical views of their times.

This piece of my art is a dedication to all men and women who have had the courage to be that torch bearer and lead us from darkness to light. Let this be a reminder to each one of us to be one ourselves and change the world in little ways we can.

Pencil color on A4 with some Pixlr artwork

What is this picture all about?

This is V for Vendetta (or Guy Fawkes) mask.

"V for Vendetta is a 2006 American political thriller film directed by James McTeigue  and written by the Wachowskis , based on the 1982 Vertigo graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and David Llyod. Hugo Weaving  portrays V , an anarchist freedom fighter who attempts to ignite a revolution against the brutal fascist regime that has subjugated the dystopian United Kingdom and exterminated its opponents in concentration camps."- Wikipedia

Since 2006 these masks have been part of revolts against 'authority' across the world.

Protesters wearing 'V' masks

Ride3- IITB-Saravalli village,Biwandi-IITB

Total distance=60Km.

Total time taken= 2.5 hours approx excluding breaks.

Route taken

To: IITB-Thane(Eastern Express Highway)-Saravalli village(Mumbai-Nashik Highway).

Fro: Saravalli village - Thane(Eastern Express Highway) - IITB

Team: Sangeeth, Anuj Karkare, Chandan Das, Shailesh Sahu

From left: Anuj, Shailesh and Myself

From left: Chandan, Shailesh and Myself

Short Description of the ride

The ride commenced by 6.00am from IITB. Eastern Express Highway was populated mostly with heavy industrial trucks and some random dangerously over speeding cars early in the dawn. Since we stuck to the expressway throughout the trip, except for few instances till Thane the roads were largely kinder on our forks. The Mumbai-Nashik highway, barring its shorter width (which lets some heavy duty trucks precariously shave past you within your palm width! ) is a much smoother road to ride on. Apart from many other cyclists enjoying this road, we also witnessed a lot of motorbike enthusiasts relishing their machines. We turned back from Babosa Industrial park at Saravalli village.

Crimson kiss of horizon at Ullas river

Less wider Mumbai-Nashik highway

Beautiful scenery along Mumbai-Nashik Highway

Predecided guidelines of pit stops every 40 min for energy nourishments was followed. Nourishment included Ritebite nutrition bar, Sneakers,biscuts , bananas, raisins. Electral and glucose premixed water was carried for ion and carbohydrate replacements.

One difficulty I observed when cycling as a team was in the coordination (more so for pit stops). Riders usually forget that when you are cycling as a team the speed of the team must accommodate the slowest rider. Since physical communication(like hand signals) are possible only in one direction (to the riders behind you), it becomes imperative that every rider keeps an eye for the rider immediately behind him to ensure that they don't lag behind. Agreeing to some standard signals apart from keeping an eye will ensure effective coordination within the team.

Lesson learned: Learn/create awareness and implement an effective physical communication system.

Ride2- IITB-Erangal beach-IITB

Total distance=50Km.

Total time taken= 3 hours approx excluding breaks.

Route taken: IITB-JVLR-GM link Rd (Left from Oberoi mall)-Link Rd (Right from Inorbit mall)-Malad Marve Rd-Aarey colony Rd-JVLR-IITB (see google map below).

Team: Sangeeth and Anuj Karkare

Onward ride route

Short description of the ride

The ride commenced on 5.45am on Saturday, 1st November, 2014. Once we enter the Malad-Marve road, the city falls silent behind us. As we enter an Army area, the condition of the road increases dramatically and city's disastrous roads become a lost memory. Couple of beaches like Aksa, Erangal, Silver beach etc lies along this stretch. Erangal is also famous for St. Bonaventure church. Though I expected the beaches here to be a little clean assuming that they are away from the maddening city crowds, I was completely wrong!

At St. Bonaventure church

Anuj with his Bergamont Helix 5.1 bike

Predecided guidelines of pit stops every 30 min for energy nourishments was followed. Nourishment included Ritebite nutrition bar, Sneakers, Kellogs choco chips, bananas, apple, raisins. Electral and glucose premixed water was carried for ion and carbohydrate replacements.

I noticed certain problems with the handle bar this time which hopefully I will get fixed by the next ride. Further, my brand new front tire has not lasted even 1 year and hence need a change. I would be upgrading to 'Bedrock' 630 X 27 1/4 tires before the next ride. I have been using 'Bedrock' tires for my back wheel for past 1 year and am absolutely satisfied with it.

Since IIT-B mess was closed for pest control, I messed up my breakfast schedule after the ride. This took a slight toll on my general fitness level post ride. However, regular intake of carbohydrates and ion water saved me from an all out bonking that day.

 

Book review of "Julian Assange- The unathorised autobiography"

Introduction

Wikileaks - a not for profit organization has been a phenomenal attempt at uncensored reporting. It is a war on secrecy. It stands as a paradigm for the kind of statesmanship referred to by US president Theodore Roosevelt in his words " Behind the ostensible government sits an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul this unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of statesmanship".

Various dictatorial and totalitarian governments (Libya, Zimbabwe, Kenya etc) and their atrocities were exposed . Major leaks like Iraq war logs and Afghan war logs brought to light the faux claims of the US about their secretly held barbaric military exploitations in these countries. Even India has not been kept of the hook with Cablegate (A series of US confidential diplomatic cables) releases exposing the deep seated corruptions, darker shades of few politicians, foreign policies, arms control etc of the country [1][2]. Though global community has opposing views on the impact of the work with adversaries claiming that leaking of 'confidential reports' will inevitably lead to security issues, the work itself has gained attention and countries like Brazil, Ecuador, Russia, Venezuela and even United nations have expressed solidarity with the project.

The book

The book is conceived and documented when he is under house arrest at Norfolk, East London 2010 for the stir that Wikileaks had created by then. Chapters two to seven serves as a personalized anecdotal references to explaining what constitutes the activist in Mr. Assange. Being born to parents for whom " idea of non conformity was only real passion worth being ruled by", his Tom Sawyer like childhood was spent traveling the breaths of Australia changing almost 30 schools in the span. In his own words " It was just that kind of life where consistency was a matter of style and values, not of there you parked your car or how you paid your debts". 

It was his mom's sexual affair with a man named Leil Meynell who was associated with a cult called 'The family' and the events  which followed that instilled in Mr. Assange his profound hatred for authority and coercion. It was during this period that a commodore 64 computer entered his life and changed the way he viewed world. " Computers provided a positive space in a negative field: they showed us we could start again, against 'self hood', against 'society', building something less flawed and less corrupt in these fresh pastures of code", he states.

The computers and modems also opened up a new arena for him: hacking. The challenge to break the artificial barriers created to restrict entry and guard private interest for profit and truths became almost an addictive hobby. His adventures took him to the information corridors of NASA, Pentagon, US military and scores of private organizations like Citibank, Norton etc. It was one of these electronic expeditions to Nortel's information system that got him and three of his companion hackers (together they called themselves ' The international subversives') get convicted for the 'trespassing into private information'. One could see the integrity in him even when his companions turned in for private gains when the case got stronger. He says " I couldn't abuse a private or a working friendship for a public gain". It was during these experiences that he basked in the true powers of Internet and had glimpses of how communication is a tool to pursue Justice and freedom of speech. 

He had also come into contact with a cryptographic movement named 'Cypherpunks' that championed the cause of individual information privacy to give individuals power to protect their own data from corporations and governments (Paypal was founded from this). This exposed him to Mathematics, cryptography and its power in changing the world.

When the world of Mathematics turned addictive enough, he decided to attend University of Melbourne for furthering his pedantic interests in Mathematics and physics. He details his mood about the university as " At first the university felt like a sheltered workshop for mental outpatients. Everyone was so tame, and the days were so structured and everyone so absorbed in a way that made it seem like the real world had somehow been filtered out". Elsewhere he condemns how "universities were being used by people interested in military profiteering".  

The law of causality expounded by quantum mechanics got him thinking of ways to relate the same to information and Internet. This was his true eureka moment and the birth of idea of Wikileaks. 

The rest of the book deals with the process of how Wikileaks came to be established and the particulars relating to its whistle blowing experiences. He also gives his side of the story about the allegation of rape for which he is facing extradition to Sweden currently. This part of the book also parades the reader through the nature of standard media publications and their unscrupulous ethics that makes one question whether media is really the fourth pillar of democracy or is it a propaganda mechanism to manufacture consent as warned by many  famous intellectuals including contemporary Mr. Noam Chomsky.

Why you should read this book

If you want to know what essentially makes up the man who believes " Technology can be used to pursue Justice", this is the book to turn to.

References

1. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424053111903285704576556110060658854#1

2. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/nation-world/what-wikileaks-revealed-about-emergency-era-indian-politics/slideshow/19467056.cms

3. All the relevant references are provided as web-links on keywords.

Have an opinion of your own? Go ahead and share below and be heard.

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Ride 1 - IITB-Yeoor-IITB

The monsoon is over. The bikes are out. Flamboyant machines of all classes are  husking out months of lethargy in the hot and humid October sunshine. I can hear the sweet noise of dérailleurs caressing the chain ring back and forth over the gear tooths. The occasional smell of machine oil and grease waft through the warm air. The bicycling season has just begun.

This year, I have a specific goal - The 200 Km BRM. But to get to that fitness level and machine credibility, regular disciplined exercise, bike maintenance and challenging rides have to be undertaken. In that direction, here is the first ride of the season.

IITB- Yeoor hills, Thane- IITB

Total distance: 36Km

Total time taken: 2 hours approx

Route taken: Easter Express highway (NH 3)

Team: Sangeeth and Deepak Malani

Short description of the ride

The ride commenced at 5.45am on Saturday, 11th October 2014. Predecided guidelines of pit stops every 30 min for energy nourishments was followed. Nourishment included Ritebite nutrition bar, Sneakers, Kellogs choco chips, bananas, apple, raisins and packaged groundnuts. Electral and glucose premixed water was carried for ion and carbohydrate replacements.My machine performed adorably throughout the ride.

The only challenging part of the ride was the Yeoor climb which lasts for about 1 Km. But surprisingly even under my relatively questionable fitness level, I somehow managed to finish the climb without alighting. I forayed into the nearby village at the foot of the hills till the point the road is no more tarmac and becomes impossible to ride. Due to some miscommunication, both of us lost track of each other at this stage and hence had to come back independently.

Lesson learnt: Communication with your riding partner/s about your plans are important for coordination.

How education continues to ruin my creativity

I have always felt that the education system that grooms us is a pointless, non exploratory, non creative harassment of minds. Since my childhood, I have always felt the 'pressure of performing', on my shoulders pushing me deeper and deeper into the crevices of non creative and mundane existence. 'Rut learning' was a part of my character. I hated history and geography. I lacked knowledge about basic civics and politics. Arts were almost non existent in my life till lately. I forgot the process of 'thinking' about things. 

I was poor at maths. To this day, after all the years of Maths training and celebratory degrees, I still feel dis empowered about Maths. Though I liked Science, senior school and later,  it occurred to me that the world did not share the same affection I had for the subject. Science was another measuring stick in the 'competitive world'. 

Whatever little interest was left in me with regard to Science after senior school made me choose engineering as my next checkpoint. I sincerely hoped that the four years of education will make me an able engineer who could build things and prove theorems. Alas, I resent building flawed hopes. After lots of cramming and pointless exams, I got the degree. While the pressure of academics mounted on me through the four years, I found solace in research. The philosophy of doing something without being judged and without being measured, inspired me. Since it was an hobby, I enjoyed it even more. I had a sense of deep fulfillment when I published my first conference paper as a young undergrad student. 

During this time, apart from my appetite for research, I became increasingly aware of my liking towards 'deep thinking', basic science, philosophy, music and most importantly writing. I also realized that I seeked adventure in my life. All this pushed me to look for options in the contemporary system that would allow me to have a stake in all or most of my interests. I occurred to me that maybe, PhD was an answer.

PhD sounded cool. You get to do research. You get paid doing it. And I heard that you get lots of time to pursue your extracurriculars. I had no second thoughts. 

I innocently mistook that PhD might be a time to pursue science with full heart. A time to begin all over again and reinstill in me the liking for Science and Maths that I have been robbed off, thanks to contemporary education. I also hope that these years be a time I get to learn and practice arts, challenge myself for adventures and discover myself in newer dimensions. 

Over the years, I have come to the realization that PhD is no different from say a corporate job. Everything is measured and you are always under pressure. Publish so many papers, attend so many conferences, work for 12 hours or write a thesis. It has nothing whatsoever to do with your liking for Science or your ability in Maths. If you can deliver, in time, you will get your degree. Period.

 I have also realized that this education system that cost me so many years of my life and possibilities is designed to cater to one specific demand: Industrialization. Like chickens fed before they are slaughtered, we are educated and groomed (read 'learn to un-think') to serve the purposes of few individuals running personal profit making corporations (and governments) and just shrink our lives into being merely 'cogs in the wheels'. Fear of failure is bred into our psyche and we are made to believe that if you don't get this degree and that job, then your life would be miserable. Elaborate systems are in place in our society to ensure that anyone who doesn't follow the line would face misery. I found many of my friends who are exceptionally talented eek out a living under the corporate hoods scared to venture out actively into the realms of their creativity and live a self dependent life. I felt sad that so many artists and possible masterpieces are lost through this.

This realization has inspired me to keep thinking of ways to ensure that I have my way with the world. That I shall persevere to do things that makes me genuinely happy and accomplished.  This meant spending extra hours writing short stories, learning guitar, cycling, trekking, learning Maths and Science on my own, reading, blogging etc. Its a tough plank to balance and find time, but I feel that its the only way I can feel alive. I may not be extraordinary in any of them. But it is the pursuit of them that gives me immeasurable joy.

Today, I came across this comic. I couldn't have related to it more than I am doing right now. I also came across this wonderful Ted talk (which also happens to be the most viewed Ted talk) titled "How schools kill creativity" which talks about pretty much whatever I have ranted above.

Do you feel opined to share your views? Sure, go ahead and comment. I would like to hear you story too.

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The Inviscible face of Justice

Wikileaks

I have been reading Julian Assange's (the maverick who founded Wikileaks) autobiography titled " The Unauthorized Autobiography". Wikileaks is the new face of uncensored news reporting- a concept the mainstream media has forgot all about. Mainstream media today exists only as a ally to state and corporate machineries not out of common motives but more out of threats and pressures of powerful people whose motives are questioned by such uncensored publishing. It is on this stage that Wikileaks comes as a people's advocate to truth. As I understand it, it is a platform that publishes verifiable covert information which otherwise remains undisclosed within the government and corporate closets. Its power lies in the  secrecy it promises to the whistle blower - an intricate system of self denial with only one face to be held accountable for all the leaks at the very end: Julian Assange. Governments and corporations have been shaken by the revelations that has come forth about their manipulative and malicious activities [1]. Initially, it was threats of legal battles which they hoped would silence Assange. When he seemed not to budge, they desperately contemplated plans to tarnish his image by various 'illegal' measures: planting drugs in his possessions, accusing him of child pornography or alleging him to be a traitor linked to leaking potential information to terrorists. There were assassination threats too. But eventually, they settled for the cheapest trick in their bags: sexual assault charges on him against two Swedish women. He is currently at Ecuador embassy at London trying to escape an extradition to Sweden where he believes, he will be handed over to the US [2].

The Hokkolorob movement

Since September 3rd, there have been some uproars in  Jadhavpur university in Kolkata regarding institutional inaction in the case of a molestation of one of the students. Students took to the streets on a peaceful dharna demanding immediate action. On the callous night of September 16-17, police and non uniformed men (alleged by students to be Trinamool goons) under the instruction of the vice chancellor assaulted the protesters[3]. Such a bargain for democratic peaceful protest against an inefficient system. A solidarity march of almost 1,20,000 students, teachers, alumni, and general populace thronged the streets of Kolkata to protest over this dastardly act and take matters to the governor of West Bengal who is also the Chancellor of the University. Under pressure the Pro Vice Chancellor has resigned on 25th of September. Eventually a state panel was setup to investigate the the issue which submitted a report to the Education minister detailing sketches and possible names of the accused [4]. Though the light of justice took time to gleam through the shady corridors of some high handed involvement in covering up the molestation, it has strived to illuminate the truth in the end.

The Thought

The question that arises in my mind when I observe both the incidences is whether justice is only achievable when the injustices are questioned by an invisible or visible involvement of a group of people? Wikileaks is an invisible force with only one visible face. The students movement is a visible force with no single person accountability. Both has in someway achieved the cause of justice they set out for.

What about individual against state or corporations? Sometimes even in cases of such activisms, the leaders are always privy to the wrath of the tyrants (as in case of Assange). In most cases, an identified leader of such activism or his family are prone to bear the brunts of the oppression from the forces they are fighting. Even Assange, who is supposed to have evaluated the consequences of his actions, outpours his regret subtly in the words -"In some ways, the conflict that has come about as a result is not altogether unwelcome, but it's not something that my children, for example, signed up for. So that's really the greatest irritation [2]."

In a concept of judiciary where money and legality are on the same page, a righteous common man feels disempowered. Though his soul burns in inaction, he cocoons himself in the comfort of preservation of his social life. He is systemically desensitized to overlook the injustices and taught to live with them everyday. Good men see a murder and walk away not because they don't care; its because they are afraid of the consequences on their loved ones of expressing their seething anger at the act.

In the famous Batman series of Nolan, Bruce Wayne contemplates with his friend and caretaker Alfred regarding this exact issue:

Bruce Wayne:  People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy and I can't do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man, I'm flesh and blood, I can be ignored, I can be destroyed; but as a symbol... as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting. 

Alfred: What symbol? 

Bruce Wayne: Something elemental, something terrifying.

Alfred: I assume that as you're taking on the underworld, this symbol is a persona to protect those you care about from reprisals. 

Bottomline

Justice seems possible in our society only if an invisible force pursues it.

 References

1. http://www.collateralmurder.com/

2. http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-tackles-google-dispels-health-rumours-1.2779189

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Jadavpur_University_protests

4. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/2-Jadavpur-University-students-held-after-govt-panel-finds-molest-evidence/articleshow/43565358.cms

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Book Review of " Francis Ittikora" by T. D Ramakrishnan

Genre: Malayalam Fiction, Alternate history.

Plot

Xavier Fernando Ittikora, a U. S military soldier who participated in the Iraq war is disappointed about his falling libido after witnessing the atrocities of the war. He contacts 'The school' - a secret 'school that teaches you the art of love making' situated in Kochi, Kerala and run by three friends Bindu, Rekha and Rashmi to help him regain his vitality through their expertise in sexual gratification. He also requests them help him in collecting more information about his ancestral links in Kerala thought to originate from a man addressed as 'Korappapan'. ' Korappapan' is said to be a spice merchant operating out of earlier port township of Kunnamkulam in Thrissur, Kerala. In their inquiries Bindu, Rekha and Rashmi  come into contact with a secret society run by an influential family named 'Pathinettam Kootukar' who considers 'Korappapan' to be their God.

Ittikora's friend Hashimotto Morigami, a Mathematician who earned her PhD from Princeton in 'The history of Non European Mathematics' is already busy collecting information about 'Korappapan' as a part of her research publication coauthored by the world renowned Mathematician Paul Erdos. Her quest leads her to startling conclusions about how 'Korappapan' or 'Francis Ittikora', might be the real father of European Mathematics. She discovers that against its commonly assumed history, European Mathematics is largely based on theories of Hypatia- a Greek Alexandrian Neoplatonist philosopher in Egypt who lived around AD 350.

What unravels after this is an exciting story that threads through the history of Mathematics, lives of famous mathematicians like Hypatia of Greece, Paul Erdos, Alexander Grothendieck, Peruvian revolutionary Tupac Amaru and a cannibalistic secret society that survived him, Italian statesman Lorenzo de medici and Italian painters Michelangelo and Raphel.

My opinion

Being a history freak, what got me engrossed was the fascinating fictional history(blended with real history) of various famous people, world events, secret societies and the possibility of how most of them could be tied to one man named 'Francis Ittikora'. I also enjoyed the way author progressed on multiple story threads spanning various characters, timelines and countries without loosing grip only to tie them into a beautiful knot at the end. However, I felt that the climax was rushed through and the curtains fell before I could anticipate them.

Bottomline

This book is a nice example of how interesting 'alternate history' could actually turn out to be. So if you find topics of history and mathematics  interesting, this fiction will be a joy to read.

Book review of "Why I am not a Christian and other religious essays" by Bertrand Russel

"Why I am not a Christian and other religious essays" by Bertrand Russell

Introduction

Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, social critic and political activist. His strong condemnation of organized religion, imperialism, war, communism met with severe opposition from religious groups and governments alike. Another topic on which he was severely deprecated was on his liberal viewpoints on sexuality. On more than one occasion American press had termed him as " a desiccated, divorced and decadent advocate of sexual promiscuity... in this libertarian rules for loose living in matters of sex and promiscuous love and vagrant marriage...".

"His work has had a considerable influence on logic, mathematics, set theory, linguistics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science,computer science  and philosophy, especially philosophy of language, epistemology and metaphysics[1]".

Read more about Russell here.

Essays I found interesting

1. Why I am not a Christian

2. Has religion made useful contributions to civilisation?

3. Can religion cure our troubles?

In these three classic essays Russell constructively presents his arguments in favor of his disbelief of organized religions. In the first essay, he is particularly critical about the Existence of God, Christianity and concept of salvation. He suggests fear to be the foundation of religion and that Church has retarded the progress of human consciousness and free thinking than elevating it. He also comments that Church's indoctrination of sex as a 'indulgence' and its firm opposition to birth control techniques are dangerous to the human welfare. He also decouples the idea of righteousness from religious dogma. 

4. What I believe

In this essay Russell holds the view that : " The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge". He discusses the idea of 'love' in depth. He maintains that love is a right mixture of delight and well wishing. It is stupidity, he says, to disseminate love from knowledge. He also notices that morality in its essence must arise out of scientific inquiry and not superstitions. He advocates that a society which works towards eradicating fear in people will flourish intellectually.

5. Our sexual ethics

This essay is a deep analysis of sexual morality in the context of modern society.

6. Freedom and colleges

Russell argues that academic freedom in America was threatened by Plutocracy and Church. In his view, minority opinions howsoever diverged they are from the majority opinion must be given due regard. This hold especially in the case of academia which is supposed to instill in students ability to weigh arguments without prejudice. Collective wisdom in his opinion, is not above individual intelligence. He proposes that in a working democracy there must freely exist independent bodies that criticizes the state. He also strongly condemns the taxpayers' demand for right to interfere in the nature and direction of education in universities simply because they are paying for it.

Other essays

 Do we survive death, 'Seems,Madam? Nay, it is', On Catholic and Protestant Sceptics, Nice people, The existence of God- A debate, Religion and Morals.

I personally enjoyed reading Appendix too where the history of a particular instance of American opposition to Russell's appointment as Professor of Philosophy at City college, New York is accounted. It shows the strong opposition and denunciation faced by him from the zealots and the enthralling support he enjoyed from the intellectual community spanning the world.

Bottomline

Like most of his other works, this collection of essays are intellectually stimulating and food for deep thoughts. His authoritative reasoning is a joy to ruminate upon. I must however warn you that its not a easy bed time read. True to his nature as a mathematician, he will present you the most intricate reasoning which will demand some time and tease of your mind.

Milk testing - The conclusion.

In my previous post I had brought to the attention of mess council and the hostelers possibility of presence of formaldehyde/formalin in the milk sample obtained from the hostel. However, recent test done by the council members and a government accredited laboratory has confirmed the absence of any trace of formalin in the samples. I hereby restate the tests and compare the results obtained from tests done by my team and that from the council members.

Test procedure:

 Take 10 ml of milk in a tests tube and add 5 ml of con sulphuric acid from the sides of the wall without shaking. If a violet or blue ring appears at the intersection of two layers then it shows presence of formalin. 

Test results:

Result for test performed by my team

Close up of the result for test performed by my team

It is observed from the above pictures that there is a distinct brown coloration of the sample with the addition of con. Sulphuric acid. It should be noted that I did not observe any violet/blue coloration as a test result as proposed in [1].  

The council team has repeated the test procedure stated above on two milk samples of the same brand. Formalin is intentionally introduced into one sample(sample 1) while the other sample is kept free of any intentional addition of the banned adulterant(sample 2). Intentional addition of formalin was performed to reconfirm whether violet/blue coloration really happens when con. Sulphuric acid reacts with formalin as mentioned in [1].

The test tube on the right shows the result of test performed on sample 2.  The distinct brown coloration as observed in my test is noticed in this case also.
However, the result in the left tube, which pertains to sample 1(which has intentional addition of formalin) shows a distinct violet/blue coloration instead of a brown one. Referring to the test procedure, it can be concluded that such a violet/blue coloration is the real indication of formalin as opposed to the brown coloration observed in my tests or that performed on sample 2.

 Hence, it is conclusively confirmed from the above observations that the milk brand does not contain any presence of formalin in it. 

I would like to state that misinterpretation of the results from my side has lead to misleading conclusions in my previous report regarding the presence of formalin in the milk sample. I would like to apologize for the same. 

In this regard, I would also like to thank the council members for taking active measures for ascertaining the scientific validity of my claim. I hope that council will hereby take active interest in extending such test to other food items served in the mess for the common good of all. 

References:
1. http://fda.up.nic.in/household_tests.htm