Time to buy a bicycle? Time to celebrate?

The news comes in a year late, but better late than never. After last year's attempt at admissions to the M.Tech. programme at IITB, I had applied again this year...and it seems (from the website) that I have been offered a "direct admission" (that is, without further written tests and interviews) to the M.Tech. programme. Maybe the guys had some pity on me (eh...in one of the part-time diploma courses (subjects), we had the same paper as the M.Tech. guys and I was the topper among all students).

That should put me into celeberation mode, but it also puts me in a big dilemma. I had always put off for later thinking about whether I should get into this or not - the logic was simple - let me first get the admission and then I could decide. No point in thinking about the chickens until the eggs hatched. There is also the question as to what happens to the diploma course that I had enrolled for in the same institute.

Unfortunately, there is not much of a time to do the thinking as the fees (the ones that confirm the admission) need to be paid by May 3rd. With end semester examinations looming on both sides of May 3, it is unlikely that I will find time to think about this.

The plan then, is to confirm the admissions and then pull out, if need be. And if I do end up joining, then it would be the right time to buy a bicycle (as "motorized vehicles are not allowed on the campus except for emergency purposes").

Just to make it clear: the admission that I am supposed to have got is in the KReSIT (School of IT) and not the CSE department. I know CS is different from IT (ya, ya...we always thought that IT was for the intellectually less capable guys who didn't get into CS). On the other hand, after working for so long in the industry, plain CS no longer seems that attractive to me the way it used to be (I've still not been able to read "The Art of Computer Programming" by Don Knuth).

The annual ritual is now over

Mumbai's annual ritual for inconveniencing commuters is now over. The annual B.E.S.T. strike has been called off by the union. Life (and traffic) can now go back to normal. Over the last decade, I cannot recall a single year without B.E.S.T.'s strike.

This year was no different...private bus operators and autorickshaws and taxis made a quick buck overcharging commuters wherever possible. I travelled by one such private bus paying Rs. 10 for a journey that would cost Rs. 4 by the B.E.S.T. bus.

For maximum effect, these strikes are typically organized during important days of the year (for example, during S.S.C. examinations or during Diwali, etc). So, this year it was a surprise that it was held in the month of April when most school and college students had finished their examinations. Maybe dear Sharad Rao's (union leader's) children are in S.S.C. or H.S.C. this year...or maybe his children go to school / college by car. I remember when there was a strike by B.M.C. (again led by Sharad Rao) a newspaper had reported how his apartment in Goregaon still had water supply 24 hours a day, while all the other areas in Mumbai had to suffer.

Like some of the other years, this year's strike was also declared as "illegal" (since public transport is regarded as an "essential service"). However, no action would dare to be taken against the striking workers...Sharad Rao had threatened to "shut down" the city if any action was taken against them. Hmmmm...there could be a law violation there...how long before Mumbaikars shut that guy up.

Bharat III

Its been quite a while since our B.E.S.T. undertaking introduced the new Ashok Leyland-made "Bharat III" buses into their fleet, but its only a few weeks back that I got an opportunity to travel in them. I observed the following things:

• The first thing that one sees (as one is boarding the bus) is the huge springs at the rear of the bus. Though the height of the seats above the rear wheels have been increased, the ride itself seems to be quite smooth. One can actually feel the bus riding over Mumbai potholes and other such obstacles quite nicely.
• The noise of the engine is reduced drastically (and the engine seems to purring rather than roaring). This might be due to some heavy-duty sound mufflers placed over the engine (near the driver's seat).
• The windows can be half-closed (as in the train coaches)...there is a simple "latch-and-hole" mechanism to keep the window either fully open or half-closed. But one needs to see how long these "fragile" latches would last.
• One of the most annoying things about the old buses seems to have been fixed. The horizontal rod (bar) used by standing commuters seemed to end much before the first seat. As a result, I used to sometimes be without support in the tossing and rolling bus until I travelled down the aisle a bit further to the driver's seat - this is a very dangerous situation to be in since one might actually be thrown off if the driver brakes suddenly. This rod has now been extended right to the place where the stairs for alighting start.
• One of the peculiarities of the bus seems to be the use of a "turbocharger". There are clear instructions to the driver (in Marathi, of course) to idle the engine for 3 minutes after start and before turning off the engine. The reason given is because "the turbo charger revolves at 100,000 rpm".
• Another one is the horn of the bus; the sound from the horn (unfortunately) resembles the horn of a small vehicle like a motorbike. As one can imagine, this would convey a false sense of feeling to vehicles on the road as the beast (devil - its red and it kills people) approaches them from behind.
• The split-mirrors are another source of complaint by the drivers themselves. The split mirrors, it seems, confuses them as mentioned in this article.
• A power-steering has also been added, but given the way the bus swerves sometimes, one gets a feeling that the drivers are yet to get used to it (the drivers are made to drive different types of vehicles on different days).

Free, at last...but only temporarily

Killer deadlines had kept me busy the whole of last week and Monday. I finally managed to beat the deadline (all courses, all deadlines). After frantically churning out code, I guess I may have barely escaped RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury) resulting from strenuous typing at the keyboard and long hours on the chair.

With end-sem exams coming up, however, this less loaded schedule is only temporary. I will have to hit the books again soon.

Busy, busy, busy...

The Paris trip (and its preparation and subsequent associated workload) has been a real sap on my resources and time...enough to cause a backlog on the academic front. This week and the next week is going to be a race against time what with all the project and assignment deadlines.

No more posts until then...

The Emperor makes its run

"Shahenshah" chugged down the Western Railway line as planned.

I had decided that Andheri would be a nice place to catch it in action. Accordingly I had done most of my preparations...charging the batteries of the digital camera, ensuring space for the pictures to be taken, etc. Unfortunately, some work that cropped up at the last moment ensured that I had to rush to Andheri station. There were huge queues (I thought I needed a platform ticket) at the ticket vending windows. Every ticket counter I visited was full of long snaking queues. I decided to act wise in the interest of time and simply used a coupon in the CVM (Coupon Validating Machine). I do not know if a coupon can be used as a platform ticket...but I thought what the hell.

With great enthusiasm I rushed to the platform number 1. There were a lot of announcements being made related to change in the platforms for the regular local trains. I saw a couple of guys enter the Station Superintendent's office...they seemed to have a compact camera with them...I followed them and the guys in the office told us that the Heritage train would be passing through platform 4. I rushed to platform 4 to find a hell lot of people out openly with video cameras and other photography and videography equipment. Accompanying kids were also their parents.
I debated mentally what would be a good position to be at to take a good photograph. I decided to go to the very southern end of the platform since that is where the train would be seen first and there would be very little obstructions.

The time was about 11:20 a.m. by then. I suddenly realized that in all the haste I had forgotten to load a film in the SLR camera...I had thought I would buy it from some stall near the station. Unfortunately, it was a catch-22 situation...I wanted to go and get the film, but then the guys at the Station Superintendent's office had stated that it would be there in about 5 minutes. I thought of asking some guys with cameras if they could "sell" me an extra film roll they had. Then, I dropped the idea.

The crowd was growing restless every passing moment. Suddenly, at about 11:45 a.m., one could hear the Railway Police being very active and trying to keep a check on the people's movements (warning them not to go very close to the edge of the platform, etc.).

I could spot the loco coming in through the SLR camera lens (I was using the lens as a binocular). The loco was whistling (just for fun) and there was a lot of steam as it passed by. However, there was no "clagging" (no black thing coming out of its chimney). As it went by, passersby waved at the people in the train. Every coach had an attendant that was dressed in superb uniform...

As it passed by, some people ran along on the platform hoping it would stop...it didn't. Tired but happy spectators then started making their way back out of the platform. Within 2 minutes, there was a diesel loco (a Ratlam WDM3A #18707) with a most stunning livery on the same line. I guess this loco would be pulling the Heritage rake back to Mumbai Central.

I contemplated if I should go to Borivali and try photographing the stationary thing there. I dropped the plan partly because of the long queues...and returned back home.

The return of the Emperor

"The Emperor" is going to run down the "ramp". No, this is not about the useless fashion shows being held in New Delhi.

"The Emperor" is the "Shehanshah" (pics here)...a mighty old (1947 USA-built) steam locomotive that will be participating in tomorrow's heritage run organized by Western Railway to celebrate its 51st railway week. The loco will travel in style all the way from Mumbai Central at 11 a.m. to Borivali. I hope to capture it from some station en route to Borivali both on the film SLR as well as my digital camera. Obviously, railfans would be out with all kinds of equipment to capture its run. I won't be surprised to find some nuts running along to get a view of the loco.

Of course, there would be a lot of waste of water and coal for no apparent gain...but then it might be the last time one sees such things working.

Note in the above pictures (especially this one) that the shed has been painted as "Bandra". I think that is a temporary paint, since the loco was reported in some newspapers as belonging to Rewari in Madhya Pradesh.

Other pictures are to be found on the IRFCA site. See this link.

The hypocrisy of science

The recent bird-flu outbreak revealed once again the boundaries (and the hypocrisy) of the so-called scientific knowledge. Hundreds of birds had to be culled for fear that the disease may spread. But the point of this post is not that the birds were diseased or that one should give up eating meat. The point of this post is to show how the so-called scientific community makes clever use of words in trying to fool people.

But, first I must give you the background:
Obviously, because India is filled with so many illiterate and fearful people, and because people have a choice of eating pure vegetarian food here, as soon as the news of the bird flu spread, many people simply gave up eating chicken for a few months. Some still haven't started eating it. This bird flu thing is not supposed to infect human beings, but no one wanted to take a chance. This caused a big problem for the poultry business...one must understand that this is a very big industry in India. Some farm owners had to sell chicken at Re. 1 a kg. That was an incredible hit they were taking. Naturally, they went into top gear trying to alleviate the fear from the people's minds. I do not know if they succeeded completely or not.

Now, the real point of the post:
One fine day the newspapers were filled with how safe it is for people to eat chicken, etc. But, sample the words used in the news articles:

1. There is no known case of bird flu infecting human beings - only stray cases have been reported so far. Only 100 people have been reported to have died of this in other parts of the world. And, these were people who were in direct contact with the infected birds.
   
2. The bird flu virus has not yet mutated to start infecting human beings.
3. It has been found that the bird flu virus does not survive above 70 degrees Celcius...so chicken that is cooked well should be fine.

The first thing is that all the statements above are just nonsense...they do not present anything that is conclusive. Note the use of words like "yet" and qualitative words such as "cooked well" in the above statements. For example, do they expect people to put a thermometer inside the deepest parts of the meat to see if it has reached 70 degrees Celcius?

The second thing is that there is NO SCIENTIFIC PROOF for all these statements. The funny part is that no one is bothering to ask these people either. These are just some observations made on SOME of the samples in a laboratory environment.

Generally, medical science is always like that...if it is seen in all the samples in a laboratory, then it is true for the entire universe. Note again there is no proof...as in a mathematical sense or as it is for physical phenomena.

Yet, of course, these same people will ask for proof when ancient Indian wisdom is talked about. That is the hypocrisy.

News or a movie?

On one of the very rare occassions when I watched televison these days, I happened to watch a popular news channel (Aaj Tak). There are now about tens of such channels in various languages and regional variations. What I could fail to understand is why they were using background music (like in the movies) when they were showing some news clippings. In the movies, such music is woven into the sound track to create the pshycological effect to convey the desired effect. For example, for building up suspense, movies would use a different music than for conveying happiness or sorrow.

While watching the channel, some such similar music was being played in the background. Gone are the days when we were told that news is to be conveyed to the people "as is", without any hint of emotion or any addition / modification. In fact, in those days, news readers were told not to exhibit any emotion for any kind of news. Doordarshan news readers were quite expert at these things.