The fundamentals of fundamentals

Cliche'd isn't it ? May be not. There are a few times in life , when some seemingly trivial incidents make you look things in new light. A casual dinner conversation with a friend turned into one of the most intellectually stimulating discussions I ever had. It all started with why I want to pursue business education and then drifted around environment consciousness, global warming awareness and at this juncture my friend said something that kind of shook me. It goes something like this.In a few years time, may be in the next 15-20 years, we will not have to worry about resource shortage. In essence, humans will have mastered the technology to 'manufacture' everything. These are the so called believers in nanotechnology. At the outset, this seems too far fetched. It's like the movie Matrix becoming a reality. How can EVERYTHING be manufactured. I mean we are talking about manufacturing the most fundamental living organisms - the cell or even at a more fundamental level - the DNA. How radical would that be ? Like Morpheus said in Matrix, 'Humans were no longer born, they were made". Not to go too far in time, but the realization that dawned upon me was how this concept of 'fundamental level thinking' is neglected in day to day life. It then did occur to me, how distantly far I was from the day to day fundamentals, operating at a 10,000 ft macro level.

As I started questioning a few basic assumptions, based upon which these macro things (for simplicity, let's call these macros) are looked at - the macros just fell apart. Something as simple as buying a company's stock (a macro behavior) based on the EPS (the fundamentals) just fell apart when I realized that the EPS was in fact not the most fundamental tenet of a company. it's just a logical entity derived from several underlying fundamental factors. Even mundane problems such as a headache - are looked at a very macro level. I don't get to the most fundamental part of why I got the headache in the first place. There's relief right at hand in the form of Tylenol and I take this short cut. I'm sure many of us do. I can think of many such examples.

I think we are, or for sure I am so sucked into the world of macros that I have lost the vision of fundamentals, or in some cases, forced to take my vision away from the fundamentals. It's so wrong.

As I think more about how to get to these fundamentals, one thing becomes very clear. It's very hard and time consuming to get to the fundamentals. At some point of time, I give up and take a short cut. It's high time I stopped taking such short cuts and focused more on the most fundamental aspects of life.

A weird dream

I came home after a not so bad day at work and started reading. Within a few minutes, sleep hit me. May be, it was the tiredness or may be, the lack of previous night's sleep but I succumbed to the sleep. As I drifted into the sleep around 6 PM, my dreamworld unfolded.

A friend of mine suggests watching a movie and as I start watching it, the movie is juxtaposed by a 'nature' episode. It's about lions. As the show narrator starts narrating the lion's behavior, the camera focuses on a lake and gradually zooms in on the lion's face which is inside the lake. The lion is emerging out of the lake ( for those of you who've seen "The spy who loved me", imagine the lion instead of James Bond's car as it comes out of the ocean" ) and suddenly as the lion get's out of the lake, the narrator is touching it's mouth and petting it just as she would pet a dog and explaining how friendly the lions actually are.

Then in a flash , the lion panics and goes into a hole in the ground dragging all it's cubs and covering itself and the cubs with mud. The cubs as such are not cubs, but more like rats. The narrator is gone and the camera zooms out. A pack of wild dogs are on the prowl and they are scratching the loose mud out to get to the lion and it's cubs. Then one of the dogs finds the lion's legs and starts eating the leg ... and I can hear the bones crushing as if I'm standing right next to the dogs. At this point, I woke up. It was 7.30 PM.

I freaked out when I woke up. Come to think of it, a lion that is so powerful, sensing the attack of a pack of wild dogs, retreats in fear to a huge underground hole. His cubs are as small as mole rats. The scariest part, he lies helplessly with his cubs, as the wild dogs clear the covering mud and start eating him alive.

While none of the above scenarios can occur in the actual world, I need to analyze why and how such a subconscious thought manifested.

A conversation

... .. .....
She: (mockingly) So there are a lot of women out there who you'd like to be with ?
Me: Hey, that's not true
She: Yeah, yeah, don't lie .. but me likes u lots
Me: Yeah, I know that :)
She: Dare u like anyone else in my presence
Me: Darlin, my heart is so filled with you. if u were to gain any more weight, my heart would just shatter into a million pieces and I'd be brokenhearted, come to think of it .. literally :)
She: (laughingly) shut up !! ... and continues laughing...

... fun times.

Random Thoughts

As I opened my eyes after 10 minutes of meditation and started preparing some coffee .. these were the thoughts that flashed across...

Chaos v/s order - I'm reminded of kids or rather infants. They just love chaos. You put them in any orderly environment, they'll turn it into a chaotic world. Be it kitchen, library or whatever. Then somehow order get's into their brain and remains throughout. Whatever the kid does, is perceived as disorderly. A kid wanders around in the garden, comes with dirty clothes - that's not good, plays in bare hands and legs - that's not good, spills when eating - thats not good. In the pretext of disciplining the kids, we take away what appeals to them the most or rather condition their minds to like something that we adults like. We kind of kill their love for chaos. So then, how will the mind learn to navigate through chaos ?

Personally I think, I don't have the same appetite for chaos that I had as a kid. I wonder even if I have that fancy for chaos anymore. When was the last time I did something totally random like just lie down on the ground and just toss some mud into the air ? or just take off to some unknown destination ... I seem to have really lost that joy, that happiness. That spontaneity is there, albeit quite dormant, but there is also a sense of insecurity that inhibits the desire for doing something totally random. How I wish I could embrace randomness and chaos .. again.

The urge to buy

Stuff ... I had briefly mentioned this craving earlier on my facebook status. Call it the analytical mind or the lazy mind, but I did ponder about this urge/craving to buy quite a bit. Here's my analysis:

Why do I buy stuff ? Primary reasons are want and need. For instance, I lost my nail clipper and I had to get a new one - so I bought one. This is clearly a need. Then there's the want, the desire to buy things. I might see something visually appealing and even though I don't need that item I might still want it. Secondary reasons are boredom and laziness. These two are so intertwined, it's hard to separate the two. I'm bored at times because of laziness and I shop because of laziness. Why ? because shopping/buying is the easiest way to obtain 'ownership'. All you have to do is swipe a card and you own something. Call it my psyche, but there's a momentary gratification in owning a new item. That gratification dies slowly as the item becomes familiar or to put it more crudely, as the item loses it's value. On the other hand, try translating that ownership to something that doesn't lose value over time - a skill such as dancing, playing baseball or any skill for that matter. It's incredibly hard. There's a steep learning curve. Owning a skill is very very hard. The human mind knows this, it's so weird. Given a choice - it always points you to the easier path, or the path of least resistance aka shopping. I can't think of anything that's as easy as buying something. Watching TV might come close but watching TV doesn't give you any ownership. Ok, let me correct myself - watching TV doesn't give you any tangible ownership where as shopping does.

In my opinion, buying something because of a need is fine, because of a want is also fine, but buying something because of laziness or boredom is not. I would rather spend that time in acquiring a skill than squandering my money over some items which, after a while will prove worthless. I've done this repeatedly over and over again - the iPod, the PSP, all those clothes that I gave to goodwill, oh the list is endless. It's high time to stop this meaningless shopping extravagance.

The new Indian railways

So I had to board a train from Sawai Madhopur to Jaipur, when I was in Ranthambore last month. That's when I realized how vastly improved was the new Indian railways. At the Sawai Madhopur station, they had a chart displayed with the reservation list on the platform. There were LCD boards displaying the wagon/bogie numbers. Every 5 minutes an announcement was made about the train's latest position and the expected arrival time. Here's the best deal - the train stopped so accurately, the wagons/bogies aligned with the LCD board numbers exactly.

5 or 6 years back, all of this was unheard of. Getting into a train, was quite an exercise in itself, especially if you were boarding at intermediate stations. You'd wait for the train without knowing when it'd show up (as the trains would rarely run on time). You'd bug whoever was wearing a white uniform for the train arrival time and when you heard the sound of the blow horn of the approaching train, you'd grip your bags and get ready to sprint as you'd have no clue where the train would stop. You'd have memorized your wagon and seat number, look for that wagon as the train passed by and run with the train until it stopped and finally get into the car.

It was impressive to see these improvements. Of course, Sawai Madhopur is on the Mumbai-Delhi route, the busiest train route in India. Western railway has always been the flagship department of the Indian railways. So quite naturally, any improvement in the railways will take it's birth in the western sector. Next time I'll have to ride a train in some remote south Indian corner to see if the improvements are uniform throughout.

The saner side of the insane Bangalore traffic

Honestly speaking, every time I see people breaking rules on Bangalore roads my blood begins to boil. People rampantly driving on the wrong side of the road, not caring for traffic lights etc. May be because I was brought up with the sole ideology 'obey the rules of the land'. So quite obviously, if I'm driving alone on Bangalore roads I'll be full of rage, unless I have a companion to talk to or there's some good hummable music playing on the radio.

This time, when I drove the rage levels were really low. I was amazed at the 'respectful' Bangalore junta. On all the days I drove, I couldn't see a single instance of signal jumping. On the contrary, I failed to notice a signal in JP Nagar and got a ticket !!!. As the cop was writing the ticket, I started chatting with him about the efficiency of BTP (Bangalore Traffic Police) and the guy was quite thrilled. He must have been quite shocked to see how easily and cheerfully I paid the fine (albeit it was a negligible amount). Neither did I find people driving rampantly on the wrong side of the road blocking traffic from the other side. I think this is mostly due to the concrete separators, but never the less - there was some order in the otherwise chaotic Bangalore traffic.

So to say, at least in the prime areas, traffic violation incidents have reduced mostly due to strict policing and fine enforcement. (500 Rs fine for talking on mobile phones while driving). I was quite happy to witness this personally. At the other non prime areas, the violations are the same as before as there are not enough policemen to keep the people in check.

Sometimes I think, are we Bangloreans so retarded that we need a policing system in order to drive properly? I mean seriously, living in one of the most cosmopolitan cities of the world, belonging to one of the highest concentration of high-tech employees, we lack the common driving sense and need someone to whack our a**es and tell us how to drive ? I guess I'll stop writing before my mind wanders off in a rather rhetorical direction.

The absence

is mostly because of my vacation in India and the related 'recovery'. 3 weeks seemed like a moment as I boarded my return flight on the 21st. During these three weeks, not a single day I felt tired, in spite of the restless heat and the insane traffic that sends stress levels to unattained highs. There's this vibe in Bangalore, which I don't feel anywhere else. I guess the city has a natural welcoming feel. After all, I've spent 25 or more years of my life in the garden city.

In the days to come, I'll mostly write about my feelings about the changes in Bangalore and my trip to Ranthambore national park.

The so called hiatus

To say that I've been really busy would be an understatement of sorts. It's been quite crazy for the past few weeks. Hence the blog hasn't seen much update. It's been a really happy situation. I think, I thrive in the 'busy' environment as long as I'm with a good team. The past weekend, the annual musical fund raiser we organized came to a close and it was a blast. Everything was so well orchestrated, it was amazing to work with such a cohesive team. I had heard several stories of people working with fantastic teams and how great it felt to be a part of such a team, and I got to experience it first hand. It truly makes a world of difference to be a part of such a team. In the absence of such cohesion, much of the energy will be spent in stakeholder buy in and that's what primarily leads to a lot of arguments and eventually stress.

On a totally unrelated topic, I saw this video of a lingerie fashion show that was held in India. (I'm too lazy to look for the link now). What amazed me was the dichotomy of the situation. The show was organized by a household name sponsor ( Grihalakshmi or something like that ). The sponsorship banner and other advertisement stuff all had an 'Indian theme' , fonts, colors etc( The multi-lingual setups as well) and then there were all these middle aged women in the audience trying to control their kids roaming around with bhelpuri and other snacks and then there are these beautiful looking models displaying all the happening stuff in the lingerie world on the ramp. It was so hilarious. So it's these models on the ramp surrounded by all the 'aam janta' people as in a Mela of sorts. Yep, that's probably what it was. Some one sneaked in the fashion show in a Mela :)

Getting into a regimen

I'm posting some personal stuff after a long time. Bear with me.

Routine sucks. Spontaneity, sudden changes, spur of the moment actions are those that keep me going. However these days, I'm realizing that the concept of a regimen or routine is very much required in order to achieve those dreams, which, until now were deemed just dreams. Achieving mastery, yes that's the right phrase to use. Achieving mastery over any art needs a regimen. It's no wonder that kids are always told to study at the same time everyday and go to bed at the same time everyday. I've viewed succumbing to a routine as akin to giving up freedom. I don't clearly understand why I'm so averse to routine but that's just the way I am. So how do I change that and get into a regimen and why would I want to do that.

Ambition, is probably the main reason. There's always an incredible urge to 'achieve'. My dad must have passed on this gene to me. It's so hard to sit and just do mundane stuff. It seems ironical but I don't 'achieve' either. I'm stuck in this boat which rocks between the 'achievement' and 'mundane,have to do stuff' waves. it's terribly annoying to sit helplessly in this boat. In fact, it's even more annoying to sit with a surfboard and ready to surf either wave, ( though I have to admit the achievement wave looks tantalizingly attractive and dangerous).

Fulfilling this ambitious mind of mine, is possible only by following a regimen, or rather a series of regimens. My ENTP personality ( for all those Myers and Briggs lovers ) combined with a little bit of ADD and a dash of laziness makes it even more harder to follow a regimen. However hard it is, I've started making some decent inroads into this boring world of routine. Gosh, every moment is painful, but when I envision that end result, the pain does fade away a little.

Dedicated freight corridor of India

Finally, a much needed transportation reprieve kicks off in India. The much awaited dedicated freight corridor, DFCCI initiative of the Indian railways. As the name suggests, the corridor is strictly for freight trains ( aka goods trains ) and will mostly consist of double tracks having a maximum travel speed of 100 kmph. The gains in transportation and logistics resulting out of this endeavor is humungous. In addition, the vast majority of the trucks that will go off road will help reduce pollution levels. Initially the corridor will connect the eastern and northern parts of India followed by the western link between Mumbai and New Delhi. I hope they expand this coverage to link Mumbai with the Indian east coast ( may be Vizag ) and provide the much needed impetus to cargo movement in India.

The allure of finance

Of late, I've been terribly upset at the gross imbalance between the rich and the poor. By poor I mean, those below the poverty line as per the WTO standards. The rich are getting richer and poor, evidently are becoming poorer. This phenomenon is more concentrated in densely populated areas. Be it Chicago, Hong Kong or the entire country of India. Going by what little financial fundamentals I know - densely populated regions should be the epicenter of business diversity, giving every individual a chance to earn his/her bread. When such is the case, I wonder why there is so much poverty in India and the third world. Poverty, that's unimaginable. Forget 3 meals a day, even potable water is a scarcity in some of these regions.

I had always shunned away from finance. Not exactly sure why, may be because studying finance and commerce was not considered 'happening' during early 90s. The era was a technology craze in Bangalore, especially. Computer Science or bust. Commerce - is for those who can't make it into a technical field. Now, when I sit and come across the rich-poor divide, and get terribly upset and how people suffer in poverty - my technology oriented skills don't take me anywhere close to a solution. I'm convinced that the answer lies in learning finance and economics. I'm also convinced that charity and benevolent measures are no solution to poverty. Socialism is definitely not the answer. Can capitalism resolve the poverty crisis ? Can the hunger for profit help alleviate the hunger for food, water and clothing ? I guess so. Why not. After all, all the powerful economies have been capitalist economies and they have been quite successful in eliminating poverty.

My ways of thinking these days are very focused around issues that I was not even cognizant about a few years back. I have absolutely no idea why and I don't have an answer. If someone were to come and ask me 'ok .. you cant to learn finance - why now and why didn't you think about this 2 years back' - I don't have a concrete answer. All I can say is I'm quite convinced that learning finance and economics could be lead me to some answers about poverty elimination.

It's a well known fact that - elimination of poverty is the road to further development and in densely populated regions, the business opportunities that could arise with just the volume of buying power is unimaginable. Everyone knows about this, talks about this and yet poverty sticks out as a sore thumb in this world and helps type cast certain regions as 'slums', 'third world' , 'developing world' etc etc . The opportunity is huge, no doubt. How to tap this opportunity is the big question. Learning finance might open up some doors. We'll see.

Ringa Ringa

Of course I'm referring to the song from Slumdog Millionaire. The poetic element of this song is just so beautiful. On the surface, the song sounds like a cheesy dance number. If one pays a little attention and listens to the lyrics, Gulzar's magic can literally be felt.

Metaphors are nothing new to Indian poetry. Kalidasa, who in my opinion is probably the world's greatest poet mastered the art of metaphorical usage and earned the adage
"upama kalidasasya' Upama in Sanskrit translates to metaphor and 'Kalidasasya' translates to 'of Kalidasa'.

This song reminded me of similar metaphorical usage. A lover (the singer) sings about her surrender to the seduction of a bed bug (Khatmal). On the outset, it seems very illogical and very cheesy. I mean how can one even compare her lover to a bed bug, but that's the magic of metaphors. Deriving such a meaning from this song is however, contextual. Someone who listens to this song when they are in a different mindset or mood might interpret it differently.

I'm so glad to see the resurgence of such excellent lyrics, and when such lyrics get fused with the musical mastery of A R Rahman, bollywood dance numbers rise to a different dimension altogether.

The human body, Inc

Getting to see companies laying off people in hoards every week is no pleasant sight. Sure it has not affected me personally but it's quite saddening to see people without jobs, seeking unemployment benefits and hardly able to make days go by. These prompted me to think - why do most of the companies lay off people, especially during times of distress. Why do some companies stick to a 'no layoff' policy. Are employees mere 'costs' to a company, that need to be cut in accordance with finance 101 ? May be so, but I started to think on a lateral thought.

Consider the human body. There are times when we don't use the hands. When we don't use the legs, or rather bluntly put - we don't need them at times. However, all these organs consume energy and there by 'cost' something to the body. It doesn't so happen that when there is a shortage for food, we think of chopping our hands or legs off (so as to meet the minimal food requirements). There's no thought process that even gives a faint idea to someone to chop their hands off because they can't find food to eat. This is just an example. Where am I going with this ?

Why don't companies operate like a human body? Why aren't employees considered integral to the company .. just like the organs of a body. Is it even practical to operate like this ? Is it moral ? All these questions aside, I think it would be phenomenal for a company to operate with a synergy exhibited by the human body. Practicality of this thought .. I have no idea, but I guess some rationale can be pitched in to 'refine' the thought and make it more practical. Never the less, it doesn't hurt to think on these lines.

Alcohol prohibition in India

As the world is moving towards a more liberal era, we in India seem to be taking the reverse route. Alcohol prohibition. Is there any good reason for the union health ministry to even pay any attention to alcohol prohibition. I mean, aren't there other pressing health issues ? In a country were more than 300 million people live below poverty line, thousands die of starvation and a country soon set to surpass South Africa in the number of HIV infections, ministers and officials are spending time and effort towards a seemingly trivial issue of curbing alcohol consumption. Can prohibition even work in a country like India, where there is practically no means of enforcing prohibition. Such a move just creates more room for corruption and makes alcohol a lot dearer to people. Never the less, people will still consume alcohol and they will find ways of obtaining alcohol. Lot of countries have toyed with this idea of prohibition only to give up later.

I just came across this quote from a certain union health minister.

"On weekends in cities like Bangalore and Chennai even women are going on smoking and drinking binge. It's a dangerous trend. We'll have to intervene and regulate the system"

As quoted in Times of India, a leading national Indian daily

Really now...and what about those 2 million or so patients living with HIV Mr.Ramadoss ? I guess they don't show up on your radar.

Broadband services in India

Despite a strong market of a billion plus population, broadband penetration in India remains at a pathetic rate of 0.3% penetration. This is in stark contrast to the mobile penetration (estimated at a rate of 8 million handsets per month). Typically broadband internet is delivered over fixed lines, co-ax, fiber optic and copper cables. Given the depth of penetration of fiber optic and copper cables in India, the abysmal broadband rates come as no surprise.

There is a desperate need for broadband access in India and it is seen be many experts as the gateway to the next economic boom in the world's largest democracy. Given the technological hurdles of fixed line broadband, there has to a wireless alternative. With the government opening up the 3G spectrum shortly, leading mobile players will soon offer broadband offerings at 3G speeds. Wimax is another option. Tata communications (erstwhile VSNL) and Reliance communications are offering broadband wimax services. Though pure wimax is a completely mobile solution (and would be a godsend technology for India), these operators are testing a fixed-wireless based wimax. On paper, the technology is touted to outsell other forms of broadband and seems to provide the much needed broadband impetus to the country, over a course of 2-3 years. However the initial launch of Tata Wimax in Bangalore was plagued with issues. This article is a testament of the horrible services offered. Even after a year of launching, Tata Wimax has not been able to garner any customer loyalty albeit several sales people trying to lure newer customers. Pathetic customer service, frequent disconnections, installation time of nearly two weeks are some of the major complaints people have had.

Even if a technology such as wimax cannot be implemented to provide the basic broadband connectivity in India - I wonder, what else will ?

Is cable broadband the answer ? May be, but the Indian cable industry is filled with small time cable operators who run the cable 'headends' from small apartments or homes. However, cable offers the greatest advantage in India - last mile fixed wire connectivity. Practically every home in India has cable TV. I haven't seen numbers for the cable penetration but it sure will be pretty high. All that's needed is operator consolidation and equipment roll out. Seems simple, not highly capital intensive. I wonder why nobody's taken this step, or have they ?

Fundamentalist Hindutva

Sounds like an irony to me. Hindutva and fundamentalism, doesn't seem right. From what I've experienced all through my life - Hinduism is an epitome of love and harmony. It's more a 'faith following' than a religion. The crux of Vedas, Upanishads and the Gita reveal nothing but love. Yet, time and again - fundamentalism finds it's way into the religion. I fail to understand, what drives these fundamentalists a.k.a 'soldiers of the religion' who wear saffron robes and conduct such heinous activities that make me cringe. I mean, do these guys even know the significance of the saffron color ? The recent incident at a Mangalore pub Amnesia is a testimony of this fundamentalism. What made these guys attack young innocent women at this pub and molest them, that too in the pretext of protecting Hindutva?

Adi Shankaracharya trekked all over the country in the 8th century, unified Hindus and established the core Hindutva principles, not knowing that his followers some day will resort to such acts of violence. Had he known, perhaps he wouldn't have gone that far and for all we know Hinduism as a religion wouldn't have existed.The Amnesia incident is not he first depiction of Hindu fundamentalist behavior. Enough has been said and written about the various 'Hindu-Muslim' riots and killings. However, all those incidents were acts of revenge or jealousy. What motive did the attackers have against the women at Amnesia? In a country filled with degraded morale and absolute lack of respect for women and children, such incidents do more harm than just generating publicity (assuming that was the motive). To top it all, the so called 'leader' of this activist gang 'Sri Rama sene' (what an ironical name btw) gives extremely foolish, immature and ludicrous statements to the press, justifying the attack.

Is hinduism being Talibanized or what ?

Head fake, once more

To say am a movie buff would be an understatement. However the quality of movies coming out of Hollywood these days are making me realize how worthless it is to spend money on any of them. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie Take the lead.

Anyone familiar with ballroom dance will recognize this movie instantly. The movie is one of the greatest examples of a head fake I've ever seen on the screen. (The movie is based on a real story). In New York City, A ballroom dance teacher takes up the initiative of teaching poor African American kids, ballroom dance, in a detention center. The movie isn't great, but there are some subtle lessons that can be learned from the movie. The intention of 'Pierre' (played by Antonio Banderas) to teach dance to the extremely poor African American kids is completely morphed by this 'element' of learning dance.He manages to teach dignity, respect and discipline to these stubborn kids who live in a society filled with apathy and violence. He accomplishes this by a 'head fake', by enticing the kids to ballroom dancing.In fact there is even a lesson of leadership one can learn from the 'lead-follow' concept of ballroom/latin dance. It's so subtly displayed that the lead dancer can lead only to the extent allowed by the follow dancer. The lead dancer can only proceed to lead and unless the follow lets him lead he can't do so. This holds true in almost every walk of life and emulates the 'power of following'.

As the society evolves and becomes more 'team oriented' the concept of leadership will also evolve and we can see this happening today. Leaders are only as powerful as the followers will let them be.

The movie depicted these concept in a very nice, subtle and enjoyable manner.

The karate kid and The 'head fake'

What does a movie and football have in common. Head fake is a popular technique employed in football where in the QB points the head in one direction but throws the ball in a different direction. So football coaches teach the offensive line up to focus on the torso movement of the QB and not the facial or eye movement,in order to not get deceived. In plain simple words, head fake is just a deceptive technique. Those who are aware of Randy Pausch and his 'last lecture' and those who have seen the movie 'The karate kid' will quickly discern the similarity between the essence of the movie and the technique.

When it comes to learning, there can be no other technique as deceptively efficient as a 'head fake'. Randy Pausch talks very nicely about how he incorporated head fake techniques in virtual reality and came up with very interesting techniques of teaching computer programming to kids. By using simulation and virtual reality, Randy's technique makes the students believe that they are doing something playful, where as in reality they'll be learning a programming technique. That's exactly what the Japanese plumber does in the movie Karate kid. He makes the kid do some elementary house work, such as painting the wall, cleaning the floor etc but in reality he will be teaching the kid karate techniques. By faking the method of teaching, the teacher essentially provides a new perspective of understanding the basics of karate. It's quite natural for anyone to ignore the basics and jump to the 'cool stuff'. For instance in Karate - the key is balance and concentration. It's very likely that as soon as one gets into learning karate - the first thing they want to learn is how to punch, because that's the appeal of karate - to punch. By eliminating that appeal and by bringing in a new perspective that deceives the students to learn the basics, the 'head fake' technique essentially makes the students master the basics without even knowing they are doing so. Now that's creativity.

Creativity in teaching is a rarity. For kids, learning in a classroom is no fun. It always seems boring (as a kid, I felt terribly bored in a classroom) and the homework is no fun either. It's always seen as a 'serious' affair to do well in studies. Well on the contrary, kids always want to play. It's in their nature. The mind is ever exploring new things and has a tendency to look for new and exciting things every moment. What a boon it would be to kids if they could just enjoy learning programming or math as much as they would enjoy playing games. Wouldn't it be so nice if the same creativity that the Japanese master employed in the movie could be employed to teach some of the arduous subjects to kids. It definitely would be and I'm quite certain this technique is employed in many schools today. I just wish every parent understood this and used it effectively to teach discipline, morals and all the good stuff to the kids, in a 'cool way'.

Oh and The karate kid is a must watch movie - for anyone.

The dreamer in me

I dream a lot, and I dream the big, the impossible. Be it romancing the most beautiful girl or be it floating in space. I had once blogged about a dream in which I was in space and had forgotten to take my camera to take the picture of earth from space. Someone had commented and said 'Even if you had a camera, would it have been possible to take a picture of Earth" and my answer was "possibly yes". A few years after this incident, I got an email from my friend which contained images of earth from space shot by Kalpana Chawla. I had no way of testing the authenticity of the images but they did look authentic and for sure they were taken from a camera. What I had dreamed of, someone had accomplished. I just smiled when I looked at those images. Here is one of the images.



I not only dream when I sleep, but also dream when I'm awake, when I see something innovative, when I'm talking. It's very easy for me to get distracted on a particular topic and 'zone out'. The land of dreams always seems to be a magical world to be in. No matter how tired I am or how stressed I am, the dreamer in me never gets tired, never gets stressed. Recently, I was quite tired and had to go to my friend's house for lunch. Despite the tiredness, I went and we started talking about food - which is our favorite topic always. During the conversation, we started wondering about a concept of 'Indo-mexican fast food'. It might sound quirky, but no sooner had the conversation begun, I had started dreaming about relishing this non existent food in a non existent fast food restaurant somewhere near my hometown. I had 'zoned out'. My friend kept talking and after a while, having realized that I had zoned out, brought me back to my senses.

I guess, I'm such a dreamer because it's so easy. There's absolutely no effort involved, whatsoever in imagining and dreaming. One of these days, I'll try to turn one of my dreams to reality. I just wish I dream something simple and easy to accomplish :).