IIT Madras' Alumni Association wants me to sponsor the fees of poor students, to the tune of ₹70,000 a year per student.
If they wanted me to guarantee the student loan of as many of these students as a nationalised bank would allow me to do, I would eagerly do that.
If they wanted me to guide these students on how they could easily make ₹70,000 a year while studying or during the vacations, I am happy to do that.
But what IIT student needs sponsorship?
Banks do not mind extending student loans to engineering students, provided there is a suitable guarantor. They will even give these students money for expenses, books, travel, whatever. Being saddled with a ₹4 lakhs ($6,000) loan for tuition and living expenses, when you begin your career, is hardly a concern, given that the 2015 median salary offered to IIT-M graduates on campus was ₹10 lakhs.
IIT Junta, does anyone know the right person to speak to about this.
My phone has crashed. I am back to 20th century modes of communication - voice, SMS, face to face. Whatsapp, persistent social media, and the 24x7 news cycle are gone from my life for now.
Good timing though - I don't have to bother with YA's apologists, and can focus on my work.
Kavin (heading to the checkout lane): Give me all your money.
Kavin (after taking all my money): I'm rich!
Me: They'll take all this money from you.
Kavin: But at this moment I'm rich.
Live in the moment and you shall be joyous, says Baba K.
A country that springs a new surprise at you, every day of your life.
It's going to be a beautiful, colourful night.
Retweeted Marc Roberge (@marcroberge):
Someone called my phone twice last week and I'm still shaken up from it.
I crawl into our ⛺. Nilay is sleeping on the mattress, with a blanket over him. A cat is curled up on the blanket. She stares straight into my flashlight. With her eyes she tells me, "He's mine now".
यह शाम मस्तानी
You've got problems?
There are blind people out there. Millions of them. Close your eyes for a minute and let that sink in. Living your entire life without sight.
Now, in that group is a blind man. Dancing.
Discover your inner joy and gratitude. Connect with it. Then get on with it. Life is good. Your life is good.
The most ridiculously ostentatious wedding procession I have ever seen. Forget following the (very apt) austerity rules that the government recently announced. These people are serving and drinking liquor in the open, operating generators and being unnecessarily cruel to animals. Multiple flagrant violations. But hey, they're rich.
देख के मुझको हँसता गाता
सड़ गई यह दुनिया सड़ गई
What lyrics 😂
Tattva again
Yo Chennai! You got a swanky new metro. When did this happen? I did not see this coming.
बहुत नाकामियों पर आप अपनी नाज़ करते हैं
अभी देखी कहाँ हैं आपने नाकामियाँ मेरी
A poet and writer, from a bloodline of classical singers, who gained fame as a comedian. It is inspiring to see how India affords opportunities to so many people to be "different" now, and yet be "successful".
I wonder what the environmental cost of this is?
In the US you get drinking water, 24x7 from the tap. You can drink water straight from the tap. You can also water your lawns and wash your cars all you want, because there is plenty of water. However, the recent drought in California changed some of that. Austerity was introduced in the consumption of water. Moreover, cleaning water isn't an environmentally clean process - reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_water_purification will leave a bad aftertaste in your mouth.
Can Delhi afford to provide its citizens with unlimited piped water? Is the price you pay per litre of piped water, factoring in externalities such as the environmental and political costs (Delhi imports almost all its water from other states). Can we strike the right balance between domestic and agri/industrial consumption of water, once households have unlimited water on tap?
I am all for the supply of potable water in slums and poor neighbourhoods, where a majority of the water is (wishfully speaking) still consumed in drinking and cooking. However, in middle class households, a majority of the water is used in cleaning, bathing, and feeding desert coolers. Why is potable water needed for all this? Won't the chlorine or other chemicals added to the water at source, accumulate in our households?
But then, I don't suppose DJB has the infrastructure to supply different grades of water to different neighbourhoods.
I suppose what we need to bring in, is a zero discharge policy for water. I saw that implemented in Bangalore, in the Sarjapur Road area, in 2013. Once you can't let your used water into the sewage system, folks figure out how to reduce, reuse, recycle. The Kaveri crisis notwithstanding, Bangalore has always had good quality and quantity of water supply. I remember moving from Chennai to Bangalore and after a few months, having to discard all the tubs and containers we used for water storage in Chennai. I suppose how Bangalore has contained the misuse of this bounty of piped water is through the zero discharge policy.
One of the challenges we might face here, though, is that water reuse only works at scale (in my limited experience). You have to take your kitchen and bath discharge and pump it back up for use in flushing. Then you have to take your flush water, clean it up a bit in an STP, and use that for watering plants. So I suppose we could start with the apartments first - which is again something that Bangalore did.
The eco sensitive Delhite. Reusing their water. Composting their solid waste. Zero discharge of liquid and solid waste. Consuming less, conserving more. Maybe even using bicycles and electric cars, and not blaring their horns at every intersection. What a culture shock, I say!
I have reached an inflection point. People born in the year I joined IIT, are now students at IIT.
New Delhi is a riot of colours this spring. This photograph does not do justice to the spectacle that each roundabout has become.
Do you have time to stop and smell the roses?
Proudly proclaim your pimpliness!
Actual conversation between me and Sarin last night:
Sarin: Dude, do you know a guy called Venkat, who was a student of Dr. Manickavasagam and Dr. Giridhar?
Me: So many Venkat's man. Show face.
Sarin: No face... I was coming from office and... "Are you Sarin?"... "Yep"... "I was student of"... and then he asked about you. He knew that you were in Bangalore. He recognised me as the guy who was doing NFS, NIS in DCF.
Me: Wow! OK. Must have been someone we bothered as sysads. He will come with an axe later tonight to try and murder you. RUN.
Once you've administered a large network, you've got to look over your shoulder for the rest of your life. Ya never know.
Arthur Andersen - the accounting firm behind the Enron scandal - is reconstituting. Rejoice, everyone!
उल्लू
When the kid serves up a fancy late night snack
@[651746009:2048:Deepak Iyer]
This is a work of absolute genius. How someone can make such a serious issue so entertaining is beyond me.
Whatte wonderful, Vasu & Co!
Here is my tip on how to be a good parent (if you consider me a good parent, which is debatable, but anyhoo). Put https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat's_in_the_Cradle on your playlist, and listen to it on the way back from work. The answers will come to you automagically.
Now, I must add Beta Sweater Pehno to my back-to-pavilion playlist too. In 21st century India, it is not enough to simply give time and direction to our children. We must, at each step, also ensure that we are not imposing our will, our own ambitions on them.
@[610191751:2048:Bindhumalini], you must tell Vasu that at least one person considers him the equal of Harry Chapin. So proud you must be of him.
@[636590252:2048:Barry], enjoy your favourite little white shorts on display throughout.
incandescent bulbs=taxis
CFL=Uber
LED=autonomous
अगर दयामणी का यह वाक
Please go and watch this play. You must. Travel to Bangalore if you have to. I have watched hundreds of plays in my lifetime (yes, life has been good to me in this respect), and this is by far the best. Basheer is an absolute master of his art.
Oh look. A man made rainbow.
Me: This a flower contest.
Nilay: How do they decide which flowers are the best?
Me: A judge gives scores.
Nilay: But every flower is unique and beautiful in its own way.
Me: Yeah. That's why it's subjective.
Nilay: But that's not fair.
All this liberal education - ruining our kids for the real world ;-)
Fruit picking.
In our own backyard.
Since the news of another child sexual assault in Bangalore broke out, I have been intrigued by the fact that no news article quotes the name of the school, or rather chain of schools, involved.
Reading this article - http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bengaluru-play-school-sexual-assault/1/888888.html - made it painfully obvious that the coverup is deliberate. The article names three staffers other than the primary accused. It also names three other Bangalore schools where child sexual assault has occurred in the past.
Other coverage of the incident also carefully omitted the school name - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/cops-arrest-pre-school-principal-officials-under-pocso/articleshow/57280186.cms, http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/Playschool-sexual-assault-case-Three-more-arrested/article17343064.ece
The deduction is obvious - this chain must be Kidzee. No one other than Subhash Chandra can manage the media so effectively.
So I Googled for "kidzee kingston d'souza", which promptly threw up this: https://twitter.com/kidzeeindia/status/577030807409156096
And here lies the burn. This tweet is about Kingston D'Souza, regional head of Kidzee in Karnataka, who was recently arrested (and promptly bailed) under POSCO for the sexual assault of a young child within a Kidzee school by a Kidzee staffer.
"Mr. Kingston D'souza teaches the #parents about good touch & bad touch with the help of a demonstration #BecauseICare"
He teaches the parents, it seems. I suppose he forgot to teach his own staff.
We speak of the separation of the "church" and the state. We should also speak of the separation of media and business. Since all media houses are brethren, none of them are naming Subhash Chandra or Kidzee in this fiasco.
Bread. Cheese spread. Jam.
Late night comfort food. 💜
But I'm not even in pain!
Speechless! So awesome!
अरे यह बहुत सही है। A must watch for anyone stupid enough to be innovating in India.
Traffic headed from Delhi to Gurgaon on the National Highway is backed up for more than 10km from Rajokri till Dhaula Kuan. This congestion is causing delays in excess of two hours.
Instead of clearing up the elaborate wedding processions that are blocking roads at multiple points around Rajokri, the police is escorting the Lamborghinis and Maybachs that the guests are arriving in. Meanwhile ambulances languish in the jam.
The government talks of limiting the display of wealth in weddings. Meanwhile, politicians own or back farmhouses that function as illegal wedding venues all over NCR.
My heart goes out to the children stuck in and around these jams. All the VOCs and SPM emitted by these idling vehicles goes straight into their lungs.
जो रेंजिशें थीं उन्हें बर्करार रहने दिया
गले मिले भी तो दिल में गुबार रहने दिया
गली के मोड़ से आवाज़ दे कर लौट आए
तमाम रात उसे बेकरार रहने दिया
मैंने हाथों से बुझाई है दहकती हुई आग
अपने बच्चे का खिलौना बचाने के लिए
अपनी जैसी ही किसी शक्ल में ढालेंगे तुम्हें
हम बिगड़ जाएँगे इतना की बना लेंगे तुम्हें
मौत को कभी कुछ नहीं समझा हमने मगर अब
अपने बच्चों का मुँह देख कर डर जाते हैं
कभी कभार मिलने आ तो सकते हो
मेरा मकान समंदर के पार थोड़ी है
शायरी ऐसी जो आसानी से समझ आए, फिर भी दिल को छू जाए...
ज़मीन बेच कर खुश हो रहे हो तुम जिसको
वह पूरे गाँव को बाज़ार करने वाला है
मेरी कोशिश तो यही है कि यह मासूम रहे
और यह दिल है कि समझदार हुआ जाता है
Edible Routes is conducting fun learning activities for kids at Kids Culinaire
It is said that in today's day and age, when guests arrive at our home or office, we should share our WiFi password with them even before we ask them what beverage they'd like to have. In India, we now welcome our guests with SIM cards!
Perhaps the biggest hassle when you land in a new country is acquiring a SIM card, providing identification documents that please the local authorities, and then waiting for the connection to get activated. With one swoop, India linked all that to your Visa processing.
Come! We have Taj Mahal also :-D
For years, I've been wondering how creationism and climate denial are linked. (I know, I know, I'm stupid). A newsgroup comment made the connection hit me like a ton of bricks:
Didn't you get the memo? The resources aren't finite, they're infinite. Oil grows back because it's not fossil fuel. Silly evolutionists, how could it be fossil fuel, the Earth is only 6000 years old!
Dear World,
We need to stop focusing on whatever we are currently focusing on, and address this burning issue first.
Do you recall that a volcano erupted in Iceland in 2010, disrupting global air travel. It was in the news everyday for weeks. Remember what it was called?
Eyjafjallajökull.
Yep. They call it that.
Well, guess what. Four more Icelandic volcanoes are preparing to erupt. They will soon be disrupting air travel and global climate, and hogging the 24x7 news cycle.
Now, here is what they are called: Katla, Hecla, Bárðarbunga and Grímsvötn.
What the world needs most right now, is a petition requesting Iceland to rename the last two. Baro and Grim should do just fine. Anything pronounceable by a majority of the planet, basically.
Because we do not have enough pointless things to worry about already.
Yours Sincerely
Me
@[576646904:2048:Neha], Sanjoli would have liked to attend this. Maybe they will organise this again soon.
The first line of the article is, "Wearing clothes that are made in the U.S.A. is almost a political statement these days."
I wonder how many know/recall that swadeshi, or made in India, was one of the planks on which MK Gandhi based his non violent struggle for India's independence from the British. He convinced Indians to shun fabric made in British mills, and wear handloom woven Indian fabric instead.
After hawking globalisation to the world for a hundred years, American politicians are towing Gandhi's line. The first few governments of independent India indulged in protectionism, closing India's economy to foreign goods, promoting Indian goods. The World Bank and everyone else wants the Indian economy to open up completely. They even want the vulnerable farming sector to be completely open to global competition.
Meanwhile, America is doing this.
What's a little blow torch if you live in Gaza anyways, isn't it?
Devraj C Sathyadevan you just made me use twitter. And that place still has character limits. It is 2017 and I am sure <1% people use SMS to send tweets any more. Why do the rest of us still have to suffer word limits at that place? A verbose person like me can simply not use twitter man.
@[100001861602434:2048:Ravishankar Arunachalam], @[564198067:2048:Balaji Sampath], I have been cooking a hare-brained scheme for some time now. Since email is passé, I thought I'll post it here :-)
There is a lot of gift-giving that goes on in my life these days. My (popular!) kids are invited to 20-odd birthdays every year. Gifts worth between ₹500 and ₹1,000 are purchased and gifted each time. Then there are marriages, anniversaries, and some of my own friends who still celebrate birthdays. Many of these gifts are unwanted/useless for the recipient, so they are regifted or discarded.
NGOs like GiveIndia have nice schemes for gifting donations. They generate an online gift certificate with the names of the donor, the gift recipient, and the donation recipient. The donor can print this certificate and present it at the event they are attending. They also send follow-up emails to the donor and the gift receiver, sharing with them the impact of the donation. The donor also receives their 80G online at the time of the transaction itself.
http://eureka.aidindia.in/ doesn't have this fancy stuff. We just have graphs. Make a bunch of nerds run an NGO and that is what you get.
So, if I co-opted a village for ₹25,000, would you send me the pics of 50 beneficiary children? I could then use their pics and names, and make the certificates myself. If you regularly send me the progress of this particular lot of children, I could circulate that too among the gift recipients. Maybe the kids could even be penpals at some point.
Your thoughts...
PS: I do not have the ₹25,000 readily available. But there is an 80G involved, this is tax season, and I am a baniya. I will figure something out ;-)
PS2: Kavin has reviewed this post and approves of this scheme. He also says that if he threw a birthday party, and instead of gifts and toys, all he received were a bunch of donation certificates, he would be okay with that.
Bhakti Phatak, have you illustrated this book? I haven't seen it yet. Only seen the cover. If it's you, I'm going to have to borrow/buy this and check it out.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/attacks-on-wordpress-sites-intensify-as-hackers-deface-over-1-5-million-pages/
Patch your servers, people.
Thankfully, Wordpress auto updates now. However, no harm hopping over to your admin panels and checking.
This exists. In India. Our good old Indian Railways operates this train.
http://trainstuff.in/kashmir-by-rail
Udhampur to Banihal are bridged by road. Bridging train tracks by bus is an excellent idea. When we took the train from San Diego to Jasper, Amtrak shipped us from Seattle to Vancouver by road.
Friends in PRS or NR, how does one purchase this road bridge ticket?
It is still snowing heavily in Kashmir. Who wants to go?
This track between UHP and BAHL was supposed to be commissioned in 2017. Does anyone know what the progress there is?
Oh wow. This is such a scandal. Compare the salaries at Flipkart with the state of their balance sheet. What is Flipkart doing that is so exceptional?
India has a long and honourable tradition of busking. In recent years street performers have been stigmatised as, or confused with, beggars. With celebrated artists performing in public spaces instead of only in concert halls, hopefully honour will return to the practise of busking.
I would highly recommend this trek to everyone, especially families with kids. You will see a Delhi you never thought possible - green, blue and beautiful.
Yea! Experienced an earthquake after a long time. What fun. https://t.co/oByiG8l7S4
