It is amazing how much energy one needs to learn something completely new. Children seem to do it in a jiffy, but I (now on the wrong side of 25) find it quite difficult! Trying to learn a new programming language at work. It took me all week. Err, I was trying to learn it while watching the India-Australia test match at the same time. boo-hoo.
I saw Taare Zameen Par last monday. Yes on Monday. The movie tickets cost less than half the price on weekdays compared to the weekends. Bangalore is becoming a capitalists' paradise. Movie tickets cost a cool Rs. 300 in the weekends. (And I am "loving" it). In Bangalore a movie ticket is a commodity, an essential need, not a luxury. Who cares if everyone can't afford it? haa don't be silly. Even the roadside Paani-puri walah makes a killing in Bangalore. Anytime you go to him you might see a couple of babes from the North-East (who want their paani to be as teekha as the Manipuri mirchi), a hutta-kutta Punjabi (who wants more aloo in his puri), a Thambi (who wants the paani to be more khatta than his rassam), a gujju bhai (who wants the meetha paani), or maybe a Goan like me (and no I do not want beer instead of the paani). Hey, by the way that is a good idea. Maybe I should patent it.
Bangalore, or should I say, Bengaluru has become an international city, I don't need to tell you about its IT-BT success stories. Yet, there are 3 temples near my house. One of them wants to beat drums and blow the trumpet at 5 am in the mornings, and they want to close the pubs at 11:30 pm! Restaurants close much earlier at 10:30 pm. People on vehicles forget they are driving when they see temples. They give a holy beep and fold their hands, trying to look at the God/Goddess inside. Meanwhile the vehicle tries to make its way on its own through a crowded street full of stray dogs and kids. Either they trust machines (who knows it might be AI), or they think that God will take care of everything!
Coming back to the movie, I liked it, it reminds me of my childhood. I always used to score very good marks in history. Used to read it like a story and was fascinated by it. But our history teacher was too boring, she did all sorts of nonsense in class. Everything except history lessons. So I used to sit near the window and look outside in her class. But she used to get angry with me because I never paid attention to what she used to say . At that time I used to feel bad and think it is my fault somehow. Once another kid asked her why she picks on me even though I get good marks anyway. She said that she did it just for the heck of it!!! that set me free. That moment on I took only selected teachers seriously
I hated poetry in school. Our teacher would give us pages and pages of what she felt about the poem and we just had to reproduce that in exams. But now I find poetry so interesting. All those wonderful poems I read in school - I never understood their meaning at that time. But now that I do, I wonder how different it could have been had the teacher not forced her views on us.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
In my point of view
Assume that you are in space standing on some planet. You know 5 other people each on a different planet. You all have been told that a large object will appear in the sky for some time, and you need to accurately say what you saw. Soon it is visible. There is an object in the sky, far away. It looks like a square to you with 1 dot in the centre. The other 5 people also see it. One sees 2 dots. One sees 3 dots. One sees 4 dots. One sees 5 dots. One sees 6 dots. If you all are asked what you saw seperately, each one of you will give a different answer. Now assuming all of you have seen a die before. If you know what the other 5 people saw. You might realise that it was actually a die.
In this example :-
To come to the conclusion that it is a die
1) you needed to trust your vision. If you were a subjectivist/mystic you would mistrust yourself or reality itself becuase the other people said they saw something else.
2) you needed to ask the others what they saw. you need to trust them. Nothing wrong in that provided you do not negate your own vision.
3) you needed the faculty of logic.
When you hear to what the other 5 persons have to say, you realise that the 6 views in question are in total contradiction with each other! But contradictions do not exist. At the same time we should not hate contradictions. They are just an opportunity to find out the truth. Saying that you saw 1 dot in a square is true. But then you are seeing only probably 1/6th of the truth. In real life cases realitiy might not be as simple as a 6 faced die. It might have many many different aspects, that is where every view counts.
A view/perspective/opinion (w.r.t me/I/myself) is subjective in nature, it can never be purely objective. In my example your view is subject to your planetary position. But, yes it is possible to make your view as objective as possible only when you consciously try to find out all aspects of the truth.
These were my posts in a community.
In this example :-
To come to the conclusion that it is a die
1) you needed to trust your vision. If you were a subjectivist/mystic you would mistrust yourself or reality itself becuase the other people said they saw something else.
2) you needed to ask the others what they saw. you need to trust them. Nothing wrong in that provided you do not negate your own vision.
3) you needed the faculty of logic.
When you hear to what the other 5 persons have to say, you realise that the 6 views in question are in total contradiction with each other! But contradictions do not exist. At the same time we should not hate contradictions. They are just an opportunity to find out the truth. Saying that you saw 1 dot in a square is true. But then you are seeing only probably 1/6th of the truth. In real life cases realitiy might not be as simple as a 6 faced die. It might have many many different aspects, that is where every view counts.
A view/perspective/opinion (w.r.t me/I/myself) is subjective in nature, it can never be purely objective. In my example your view is subject to your planetary position. But, yes it is possible to make your view as objective as possible only when you consciously try to find out all aspects of the truth.
These were my posts in a community.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Pride, arrogance and humility.
It was a laidback wednesday morning. I had been drinking chai with my colleagues when it happened. My manager walked up and said "It will not do, that tool which you built is just not good enough. You have got to improve it! Everyone is cribbing. It is so much hard work for them."
Flashback :-
3 weeks back I got the idea and started working on this software tool which would solve our equipment crisis! Though in hindsight it seems to be a very simple idea, I assume that it was not that simple as no one got it till then. Its advantages are so much that it was just mind boggling that no one thought about it before. Before I get carried away - I cannot tell you the exact details of what the idea was or what the tool does, it is confidential. Anyway, so I got this tool done in 2-3 days flat. Surprisingly, it was as if I was on steroids, hardly slept, I was too excited. Though there were some glitches and caveats, the tool was working for 80% of the cases. But soon people were not satisfied. They started blaming me for not solving the problem completely! When I tried to explain the corner cases and have a discussion so as to come up with a better solution, I was given the cold shoulder. No one really understood what I was talking about! It was frustrating. But I put my foot down finally and said that this is how it is, take it or leave it. I will be able to improve it only when I think further, research a better solution or get another idea. Until one fine day my manager came and said "It will not do, that tool which you built is just not good enough. You have got to improve it! Everyone is cribbing. It is so much hard work for them."
Present :-
It struck me.. another idea, I almost spilt my tea on my manager. I just ran from there like a mad man. Must have said eureka too perhaps. By evening I had it ready. Can you beat that I thought! 2 ideas in 1 month for a problem which people had been slogging for years now! I was brimming with arrogance. In fact I just spent hours looking at what I had created. Almost Narcissism.
Yesterday I went to answer my test in IISc. The Prof. has asked me to submit my project proposal. I had a couple of ideas. I went to the IISc library to see if they can be implemented and how. There I see a shelf of books on the rutherford model. I remember how I promised myself that I would study this as a kid. I go ahead and come across the latest German journals on Networking. I remember how I promised myself I would learn German. Many more before I go ahead and start looking for what I wanted to in the IEEE journals. I find that not only my couple of ideas have been implemented already but are also being sold as products in the market! I have learnt my lesson in humility! What I have done makes me proud, but what I am capable of, and all that I am yet to do makes me humble. The IISc library does that to people, It is after all one of the largest in the world. http://www.library.iisc.ernet.in/aboutus/aboutus.html
Flashback :-
3 weeks back I got the idea and started working on this software tool which would solve our equipment crisis! Though in hindsight it seems to be a very simple idea, I assume that it was not that simple as no one got it till then. Its advantages are so much that it was just mind boggling that no one thought about it before. Before I get carried away - I cannot tell you the exact details of what the idea was or what the tool does, it is confidential. Anyway, so I got this tool done in 2-3 days flat. Surprisingly, it was as if I was on steroids, hardly slept, I was too excited. Though there were some glitches and caveats, the tool was working for 80% of the cases. But soon people were not satisfied. They started blaming me for not solving the problem completely! When I tried to explain the corner cases and have a discussion so as to come up with a better solution, I was given the cold shoulder. No one really understood what I was talking about! It was frustrating. But I put my foot down finally and said that this is how it is, take it or leave it. I will be able to improve it only when I think further, research a better solution or get another idea. Until one fine day my manager came and said "It will not do, that tool which you built is just not good enough. You have got to improve it! Everyone is cribbing. It is so much hard work for them."
Present :-
It struck me.. another idea, I almost spilt my tea on my manager. I just ran from there like a mad man. Must have said eureka too perhaps. By evening I had it ready. Can you beat that I thought! 2 ideas in 1 month for a problem which people had been slogging for years now! I was brimming with arrogance. In fact I just spent hours looking at what I had created. Almost Narcissism.
Yesterday I went to answer my test in IISc. The Prof. has asked me to submit my project proposal. I had a couple of ideas. I went to the IISc library to see if they can be implemented and how. There I see a shelf of books on the rutherford model. I remember how I promised myself that I would study this as a kid. I go ahead and come across the latest German journals on Networking. I remember how I promised myself I would learn German. Many more before I go ahead and start looking for what I wanted to in the IEEE journals. I find that not only my couple of ideas have been implemented already but are also being sold as products in the market! I have learnt my lesson in humility! What I have done makes me proud, but what I am capable of, and all that I am yet to do makes me humble. The IISc library does that to people, It is after all one of the largest in the world. http://www.library.iisc.ernet.in/aboutus/aboutus.html
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