tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67546892012-01-17T19:32:10.155+05:30My Random MusingsOn Running, books, science, India, world...Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.comBlogger851100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-42459546725768725752012-01-17T13:26:00.022+05:302012-01-17T19:17:32.227+05:30Annapurna 50K
Jan 1st, 2012. It was a grand day. A day for revering the grand Himalayas, a day for feeling totally, utterly humble in comparison to the mighty mountains, a day when the mountains had the last laugh. It was also a beautiful day that lent itself well to the deepest introspection of life and its myriad meanderings, a day of camaraderie interspersed with the simple human touches that Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-47474010726608360662012-01-13T05:14:00.004+05:302012-01-17T19:17:39.419+05:30Bangalore Ultra 50K - Nov 13th, 2011
I ran the Bangalore Ultra Marathon on Nov 13th, and . the 50 km distance in about 9 hours. A little more time than I had hoped for (I had thought I would be able to finish in under 8.5 hours), but then over time, I have grown to realize that every day is different, every run is different, in fact I am different each day as well! So no point in comparing Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-22982065295414864642012-01-13T05:00:00.009+05:302012-01-17T19:17:39.419+05:30Trail RunningIt has been a really long time since I blogged....here is a renewed attempt...Over the years, I have grown to love running. Until a couple of years ago, I liked road runs, lots of people cheering on, trying to better one’s own time, until I discovered the joys of trail running. It has been a wonderful journey of self-discovery, of planning & running long distances alone, of Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1142091087155377392006-03-11T19:42:00.000+05:302008-03-30T12:30:50.304+05:30Confessions....(II)This is a great read, would highly recommend this. Finished this book a while back, just havent had time to blog. It reads very well, a very fast moving book, as fast as any great fiction I have read.I am sure there might be critics of John Perkins who might doubt the veracity of his statements, especially those with far-reaching consequences - for example, planned Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1135519683849870412005-12-25T19:32:00.000+05:302008-03-30T12:30:50.304+05:30Confessions of an Economic Hitmanor How the United States Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of TrillionsI had heard about this book from Vinod, and he just sent me this link to an interview with John Perkins by Amy Goodman on Democracy now.John Perkins was a self-professed Economic Hit Man. He worked for a score and more years as chief economist at an international consulting firm inRajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1135431950891495052005-12-24T18:07:00.000+05:302008-03-30T12:30:50.305+05:30More on The Bottom of the PyramidOK, so continuing my summary/review of C.K. Prahalad's book, here are some of his principles of innovation for BOP markets (I quote directly from his book along with examples, taken from other chapters):Serving BOP markets is not just about lower prices; it is about creating a new price-performance envelope. The best example here is the incredible growth the worldRajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1135315896259033332005-12-23T09:47:00.000+05:302005-12-23T11:01:36.270+05:30Back from Goa Just got back from Goa, I was there for the last one week for HiPC - the 12th International Conference on High Performance Computing. A lot of my friends asked me what I did in Goa. Unfortunately, I dont have many interesting things to report. Being one of the core organizers of the conference, I hardly had any time to see Goa, except for early morning runs on the beach, and a visitRajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1132991505210042452005-11-26T12:54:00.000+05:302008-03-30T12:31:20.991+05:30The Market at the Bottom of the PyramidI finally got down to jotting down some notes from C.K. Prahalad's recent book The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, I thought I will put them here. The book starts off on a very ambitious note, and he surely doesn't disappoint the reader throughout the book. Here is an excerpt from the first chapter:Turn on your television and you will see calls for Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1131509612710385332005-11-09T09:10:00.000+05:302005-11-09T09:43:32.760+05:30The joys of Podcasting I recently got a new iPod (and a cool FM transmitter that beams it to my car radio), and I have been having a great time downloading some great Podcasts - NPR's Science Friday, BBC's In Our Time, and here are some more: NPR's Health & Science, Canada's Quirks & Quarks, Australia's The Science Show, Boston Musuem of Science's Current Science and Technology Show, UC Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1130819815995484362005-11-01T09:34:00.000+05:302008-03-30T12:31:51.691+05:30Ranga Shankara We went to watch a play yesterday at Ranga Shankara. For those of you who don't know, Ranga Shankara is one of Bangalore's firsts that aims to keep the theatre alive, much like what the Prithvi Theatre has done in Mumbai. It is a performing arts space which frequently hosts plays by India's best theatre personalities and groups. In addition to the plays, which are hosted regularly,Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1130304370373542232005-10-26T10:35:00.000+05:302008-03-30T12:31:51.691+05:30Images from a rain-battered BangaloreIt took me 2 hours to get back home yesterday, but once I saw these images, I am thankful that I at least got home fine. A lot of areas are plunged in darkness, houses half submerged in water, etc. etc.Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1129289311827883502005-10-14T10:48:00.000+05:302008-03-30T12:31:51.691+05:30My musings for better Bangalore roads... I guess this morning was one of those days when traffic was flowing smoother than usual, no traffic jams & I was able to get parking at work even though it was well past 9AM! All this due, in no small measure, to the fact that it is holiday season, all schools are closed and a lot of people have taken days off for a small vacation. So, I was thinking to Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1129267084541422182005-10-14T10:27:00.000+05:302008-03-30T12:31:51.692+05:30India approves Right to Information Bill Finally, India has approved the Right to Information Act 2005, giving the people of the country the right to get information about the affairs of any department or arm of the government, thereby giving the democracy some more transparency in its functioning. FreedomInfo.org has a good analysis here. Some key points:Information is defined in a very broad Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1126640390228626452005-09-14T01:08:00.000+05:302008-03-30T18:30:11.522+05:30India's Latest Marathon Runner....aged three!!BBC reports here that he runs seven hours at a stretch, sometimes as much as 48km (30 miles). On a daily basis. And Budhia Singh is just three and a half years old.Wow!!!Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1125511472402433952005-08-31T23:31:00.000+05:302005-08-31T23:34:32.406+05:30BlogDayApparently it is Blogday today, and apparently I made it to David Weinberger's list of blogs to read!Have been traveling last few weeks in the US on work, so have not had the the time to blog...well, that is my excuse for now, I know I am not that regular even otherwise :-)Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1123420678654693332005-08-07T18:34:00.000+05:302008-03-30T12:31:20.991+05:30Amartya Sen's new bookThe Guardian has high acclaims about Amartya Sen's new book on India called The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity. Here is the Guardian's review.Every year, the 1998 winner of the Nobel Prize for economics returns to Santiniketan, the tiny university town 100-odd miles from Calcutta. In Santiniketan, the former Master of Trinity College, Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1123419271474425732005-08-07T17:06:00.000+05:302008-03-30T12:31:20.991+05:30The End of Poverty - IIOh wow, it has been a month since I blogged. How do people find the time to blog regularly???Anyways, I did a bit of travel over the last month (first to Cochin to attend a friend's wedding) and another to Delhi and Dharamshala and the good thing about traveling, especially on train is the amount of time you have to just sit & read. So, as it turned out, I finished reading Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1120896807704616772005-07-09T12:52:00.000+05:302008-03-30T12:31:20.992+05:30The End of Poverty A few weekends ago, I spent a few hours in one of the latest of those malls that seem to be crowding the Bangalore cityscapes. I actually went there with my sister and friend to watch a movie, but the Landmark bookstore there drew me like a bee to a flower. I ended up ditching them for the movie, and instead bought a couple of books and spent the next couple of hours in a Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1117296988193845152005-05-28T21:46:00.000+05:302005-05-28T21:46:28.196+05:30A Helping Hand Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1117296875260333932005-05-28T21:44:00.000+05:302005-05-28T21:44:35.263+05:30Images from India Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1117294184662612472005-05-28T20:59:00.000+05:302005-05-28T20:59:44.713+05:30What a smile! Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1117294234195718052005-05-28T19:27:00.001+05:302005-05-28T21:37:03.320+05:30India Miscellany Conversing with V. is always refreshing, motivating and educating, to say the least. He was here last week, and we spent a long time talking about a whole gamut of things sitting in one of our favourite haunts in Bangalore - the coffee board of the India Institute of Science (IISc); from Computer Science research in India, Asha projects (we spent a few hours at Shristi too), to Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1116159861257432602005-05-15T17:26:00.000+05:302008-03-30T18:30:11.522+05:30Am on top of the worldYeah, I guess I am feeling quite exhilarated. Never thought I would finish the half marathon today, mostly because I hadnt trained enough - I started training seriously 3 weeks ago and my longest run was just under 5 miles. I had been hoping to do 10km and call it quits....but never underestimate the power of the mind, enthusiasm of a large crowd trudging towards a common Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1115572766600878872005-05-08T22:38:00.000+05:302005-05-08T22:49:26.653+05:30Something FreshWell, it had been a long time overdue. The Bangalore International Marathon will be the first marathon to be held in the city. It is on 15th May, and is expected to draw quite a good crowd. It will be held in the center of the city, starting from Kanteerava Stadium, going through M.G. Road (which city in India does not have a road called that I wonder), around Ulsoor Lake, Cubbon Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1114961863467338642005-05-01T13:14:00.000+05:302005-05-01T21:07:43.470+05:30India in Slow Motion That is the name of the book I recently picked up. It is one of Mark Tully's highly rated books on India, the other one being No Full Stops in India. I just reading it a couple of days ago, it has been good going so far. For those unfamiliar with the name, until a decade ago BBC World Service and its South Asia correspondent, Mark Tully were synonymous. Such was his Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1114235077594642992005-04-23T09:00:00.000+05:302005-04-23T11:16:19.866+05:30On things here and there...A lot has happened in the last few weeks in the world, and I have to respond to a few of the comments on my last couple of posts..so here goes...The Indo-Pak Bus Route and the Musharraf VisitThe Telegraph has this very informative piece called "Without Getting Gooey: India-Pakistan peace efforts are back to Vajpayee's initiative":The national security adviser, M.K. Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1111212367105704872005-03-19T11:24:00.000+05:302005-03-19T11:36:07.110+05:30Electoral ReformsKushwant Singh had an interesting editorial here on the need for electoral reforms in India. He was voicing some of the thoughts I had last years when India went to the polls, of course, my thoughts werent as clear!I begin to doubt whether our electoral system does in fact reflect what the people think is best for their country, state or themselves. One must bear in mind that Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1111211326948438362005-03-19T10:58:00.000+05:302005-03-19T11:24:23.226+05:30Trans-national Terrorism - A blotch in History: The Kanishka Verdict, twenty years laterThe war against trans-national terrorism suffered a serious setback on Thursday, with a Canadian court acquitting the two accused of the mid-air explosion of an ill-fated Air India Boeing 747 airliner, ‘Kanishka’. Twenty years after the deadliest terrorist attack before 9/11, Canadian Judge Ian Bruce JosephsonRajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1108881004584910782005-02-20T16:10:00.000+05:302005-02-20T16:12:34.470+05:30Olive Ridleys, Rock climbing and miscellany... It has been a while since I blogged last, almost 3 weeks I guess from looking at the date on the last post I had. I guess it has been a combination of lethargy (what-do-I-write syndrome) and getting too busy at work. The Olive Ridleys are back! Just recently, I read about a large number (5000) of the famed Olive Ridley turtles getting killed. The Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1107362543894213672005-02-02T22:11:00.000+05:302005-02-02T22:12:23.893+05:30M.K. Gandhi in Telecom Italia's award winning ad
Here is a nice one. I particularly liked this ad.
http://www.epica-awards.com/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/11071.htm
Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1107233329764301372005-02-01T09:08:00.000+05:302005-02-01T10:18:49.766+05:30Dr. H.N is no more
For those of you who are from Bangalore, HN, as he was called by one & all, needs no introduction. Dr. H. Narasimhaiah had been the beacon of the National Education Society (NES) for over six decades; NES was started in the pre-indedependence era when political unrest was rife, educational institutions were scarce and quality higher education was almost non existent. Himself aRajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1106999203760235692005-01-29T16:58:00.000+05:302005-01-29T17:16:43.760+05:30Remember Shakti
It was quite an idyllic setting for the Remember Shakti concert on Jan 26th - a cool evening breeze at the onset of spring in Bangalore, the backdrop of the magnificient Bangalore Palace looking almost orange in the twilight hours, and a full moon rising behind the Palace also looking orangish in the evening. Unfortunately I didnt take my camera, only my binoculars.
The group Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1106587069418318092005-01-24T22:43:00.000+05:302005-01-24T22:47:49.416+05:30Remember Shakti Concert in Bangalore
For those of you interested, Remember Shakti (Zakir Hussain, John McLaughlin, U. Shrinivas, Shankar Mahadevan and Selvaganesh) is performing in Bangalore on Jan 26. More details on their India tour schedule are here. Tickets for the Bangalore show are available at K.C. Das on M.G. Road & Rythms music store on St. Marks Road.
Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1106586804338380812005-01-24T21:52:00.000+05:302005-01-24T22:43:24.340+05:30Citizens of the World
Here is a nice article by Rajdeep Sardesai (those who see NDTV need no introduction to Rajdeep; he is one of NDTV's most prolific journalists) on what factors might have led to the enormous generosity shown by the world towards the tsunami relief efforts. Actually, I meant to link this article by Fareed Zakaria earlier where he talks about the phenomenal response the Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1105551489546452592005-01-12T22:59:00.000+05:302005-01-12T23:08:09.546+05:30Tsunami Relief Operations Update The NGOs have been doing a great job in different areas; I regret that I have not been able to make it there yet, work has been quite busy and something keeps cropping up by Thu/Fri making it quite impossible to leave for the weekend. Anyway, here is my friend Vinod Viswanath, from the AID chapter in Austin, talking to Austin KOOP 91.7 FM. From a AID volunteer Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1105550835420791072005-01-12T22:25:00.000+05:302005-01-12T22:57:15.420+05:30Palestine - what next? Most accounts I have read of the recent Palestinian elections seem to indicate that this a good chance up to clean up the Paltestinian Authority of long standing corruption, mis-governance and justice. The death of Yassir Arafat and the election of a new president have created an opportunity for badly needed reform of the Palestinian Authority. The World Bank in its Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1105337955312727382005-01-10T09:54:00.000+05:302005-01-10T11:49:15.313+05:30Rythms - Zakir Hussain & Ustad Sultan Khan
After a hectic week at work & otherwise, I barely managed to get tickets for the Ustad Zakir Hussain & Ustad Sultan Khan concert on Saturday in the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall. For those of you who dont know, the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall was constructed in the memory of T.N. Chowdaiah, one of Carnatic music's finest violin players. The hall is constructed inRajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1104728149468305982005-01-03T10:25:00.000+05:302005-01-03T10:25:49.470+05:30I guess the new year is here...
It has frankly been hard to feel nice about the new year. I spent 31st night at home, alone & wondering about the thousands who would start the new year in the bleakest possible manner. I was surprised that on 31st night, as I was heading home, the party atmosphere in the downtown roads of Bangalore was as usual - roads were blocked with waves of party hoppers - Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1104555089451112212005-01-01T10:19:00.000+05:302005-01-01T10:22:55.236+05:30Comments on my blog - please do not misuse I have enabled anonymous bloggers to post comments, but please do not use this to advertise anything, including promotion of religious organizations. I do not wish my blog to be a forum for any such activity. I have already seen about 5 comments to promote one such organization. Thanks.Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1104426572389193882004-12-30T22:29:00.000+05:302004-12-30T22:52:22.416+05:30Relief operations update
The previous tsunami warning issued by the government turned to be in very bad light. There was no scientific data to back this warning, and it was extremely depressing to see Kapil Sibal on NDTV (the program X-Factor) trying to justify the wrong that was done. The warning resulted in thousands of already distressed and displaced people fleeing their homes (or what was Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1104388931995191452004-12-30T13:10:00.000+05:302004-12-30T12:12:11.996+05:30News Flash: Another Tsunami Warning
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4133993.stm
Officials in India's Tamil Nadu state, which was particularly hard hit by the Indian Ocean sea surge, have issued a new tsunami alert. The state government said aftershocks in the Andaman and Nicobar islands may cause high waves and warned people to leave coastal areas, Reuters reported. Eyewitnesses said Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1104328184930636892004-12-29T11:04:00.000+05:302004-12-29T19:19:44.930+05:30Relief work updates
If anyone is interested to do rescue work for affected people in Besant Nagar please contact Shihan Hussaini 98411618386. You could help with old clothes, water bottles, blankets, food packets. Even if u cant help please pass on this message to the people whom u know. If anyone is interested to do rescue work for affected people in Neelankarai please contact Priya 25506284. ToRajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1104219718122400092004-12-28T13:25:00.000+05:302004-12-28T13:11:58.123+05:30Tsunami Relief Support Operations in Bangalore A few things:See below for one of the relief organizations working in BangaloreI am also trying to coordinate shipment (airlifting) of relief supplies such as food, medicines for some NGOs. Please send me a mail if you would like to help out. We would like to hear about NGOs/relief organizations in some of the remote areas like Nellore, VishakapatnamRajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1104206374668958692004-12-28T09:26:00.000+05:302004-12-28T09:33:51.353+05:30Tsunami Disaster Relief
Here are more links to agencies we can offer suppport/help to. There is a Tsunami blog also here. Thanks to Vinod, The Acorn & others.
AID
https://www.aidindia.org/aidadmin/DonateToRRF.jsp
The Hindu Relief Fund
http://pay.hindu.com/thrfpay/thrfpay.jsp
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Sri Lanka Tsunami: OCHA Situation Report No. 1
http://Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1104119057476411562004-12-27T09:04:00.000+05:302004-12-27T09:14:17.476+05:30Nature's Fury
The largest earthquake in the last 40 years of recorded history (8.9 on the Richter) has, within a day of its striking, taken over 11,000 lives according to some news reports. For the first times, tsunamis have struck India's coastal regions of Tamil Nadu. According to a NDTV news item this morning, US Geological Survey teams tried warning countries in SE Asia on the impending Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1103879594688733682004-12-24T14:36:00.000+05:302004-12-25T15:40:24.680+05:30Back from HiPC 2004The last couple of weeks were extremely hectic taking care of all the arrangements to be done for HiPC 2004. This year, we had some excellent keynote talks, including: Arvind, Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Rethinking Computer Architecture Research": Arvind had some very interesting points to make about the direction of computer architecture research academia has been Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1102660794472481752004-12-10T10:33:00.000+05:302004-12-10T12:09:54.473+05:30A vision for the future of science
Thomas Friedman has a recent column on the recent budget cut bill passed by the US Congress that cuts funding for NSF by 2%.
Of all the irresponsible aspects of the 2005 budget bill that the Republican-led Congress just passed, nothing could be more irresponsible than the fact that funding for the National Science Foundation was cut by nearly 2 percent, or $105Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1102392913951002122004-12-07T09:00:00.000+05:302004-12-07T09:45:13.950+05:30The artist is the creator of beautiful thingsArt/Music/Theatre in Bangalore I intended to post something quite a while back, actually there have been a whole lot of things happening around here, but it has been very hectic at work of late. Also coming up is HiPC 2004, for which I have been running around taking of a lot of local arrangements. If anyone is in town for the conference, drop me a Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1101271059699537772004-11-24T09:41:00.000+05:302004-11-24T10:07:39.700+05:30India Planning Manned Space Mission?
According to this article here, ISRO, India's space agency is ready to send a manned space mission in another seven years if it gets the nod from the government. Critics have already been complaining that the lunar mission is itself outdated (been-there-done-that types) and India should focus on just launching satellites for better purposes.Critics have Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1100502839285166212004-11-15T10:42:00.000+05:302004-11-15T12:43:59.286+05:30Where do we go from here? So, yesterday, I finished Fareed Zakaria. I think this book is an excellent read, and I would highly recommend it anyone interested in issues such as democracy, democratic trends, relationship between democracy & economics of a nation. In the conclusion, I found this very disturbing statistic (I am sure it is one of many of a similar kind):Despite its democratic glories,Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1100061288088797782004-11-10T09:04:00.000+05:302004-11-10T10:04:48.090+05:30Tyler Cowen Blogging at WSJ: The Economic Fortunes of Europe and Asia The last couple of days Tyler Cowen (Prof. of Economics at George Mason University) and John Irons (Associate Director for Tax and Budget Policy at the Center for American Progress) have been discussing outsourcing here in the online edition of Wall Street Journal. Today's discussion was on The Economic Fortunes of Europe and Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1099977681345319782004-11-09T10:46:00.000+05:302004-11-09T10:51:21.346+05:30Indian Women in Wall Street Journal's Top 50 Women to Watch
Thanks Sonal, for pointing to this link. Two Indian women figure in this list: Indra Nooyi, President and CFO of Pepsico and Naina Lal Kidwai, Deputy CEO of HSBC.Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1099920276169625762004-11-08T18:54:00.000+05:302004-11-08T23:01:24.836+05:30Indians in MIT's top 100 Innovators According to this article here, 9 Indians have figured in MIT Technology Review's top 100 Young Innovators (under 35 years of age). Unfortunately, I do not have access to MIT Tech Review anymore (my subscription ran out - I cannot afford to pay in dollars any more!), but here is the list of Indians who made it there.Anuj Batra (34), systems engineer, Texas Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1099920156041643402004-11-08T13:24:00.000+05:302004-11-08T18:52:36.040+05:30Bangalore's outsourcing woes Much has been talked about outsourcing to Bangalore. Perhaps only we folks who actually live here face the actual issues the city is facing. Of late, however, there has been a lot of talk about the infrastructure woes of the city (and most Indian cities, really). Tyler Cowen was recently in town, and he had some things to say here:I mean outsourcing from Bangalore, Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1099240682704721272004-10-31T19:45:00.000+05:302004-11-01T10:35:39.963+05:30Book Review: The Future of Freedom - I Well, it has been a while since I started reading Fareed Zakaria's The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad. Over the last couple of weeks, I have made a lot of progress - once the interest in the topic set in, it has been great reading. To me, this book has been a lot of interesting information and analysis providing a lot of insights Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1098983686088570652004-10-28T22:41:00.000+05:302004-10-28T22:44:46.090+05:30Manjul Bhargava, a genius
Recommend this NPR Morning Edition clip on Manjul Bhargava, a genius in number theory. At 28, he is a full Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University. The clip has an interesting explanation by him on the science of music beats in Indian music and how the ancient musicians knew about Fibonnacci numbers. Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1098720699523846222004-10-25T21:41:00.000+05:302004-10-25T21:52:35.136+05:30Travelogue - Part II
Sorry for the delay in posting this for anyone out there waiting for this. Mussorie was great, it is an idyllic town situated about 6000 ft above sea level, just beyond Dehradun, and the time of the year was perfect too - just getting cold in the nights, and warm during the days. We drove from Delhi to Hardwar and continued on from there. It is just about 110 km or so from Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1098204872763988952004-10-19T22:12:00.000+05:302004-10-19T22:24:32.763+05:30Dr. Paul Raj on the problems facing DRDO
Here is an interview of Dr. Paul Raj talking about some of the problems facing DRDO, the Defence Research and Development Organization, the premier defence organization of India. DRDO has an annual budget of Rs. 4000 crore, and it comprises of over 50 hi-tech laboratories, yet the expertise in defence technology attained is questionable. Dr. Paul Raj now Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1098166845647421022004-10-19T09:56:00.000+05:302004-10-19T11:51:10.983+05:30Indian may have missed the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
According to the article here, Krishnamoorthy Kannan, a protein chemist at the Guru Gobind Singh Inderprastha University in Delhi, may have missed his share of this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry by a whisker because of government's failure to recognise a discovery he made 12 years ago.
Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1098032296117317922004-10-17T22:23:00.000+05:302004-10-17T22:28:16.116+05:30Principles of Effective Research
Came across some nice advice on conducting research on Lance Fortnow's blog - here is Lance's post, and here is a guest blog by Scott Aaronson. Here is another article on the topic by Michael Neilson.
Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1097950811213101162004-10-16T14:41:00.001+05:302004-10-18T18:52:54.166+05:30Back from vacationIt was good, hectic, but it feels good to be back at home in Bangalore. We saw quite a few places actually - Delhi, Varanasi, Allahabad, Haridwar, Mussorie, and Jaipur, so it had them all - big cities, a hill station, history and holy places. Unfortunately for me, the day I was supposed to leave for Uttarkashi for my trek, there were massive rains, snow & landslides around that Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1096636757561010202004-10-01T18:47:00.000+05:302004-10-01T18:49:17.560+05:30Vacation time!
I will be offline for the next couple of weeks, plan is to visit some places in North India and do a couple of days of trekking & camping near Uttarkashi.
Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1096636651139252692004-10-01T18:25:00.000+05:302004-10-01T18:47:31.140+05:30I miss the cops A lot of times during my normal commute here in Bangalore, I see ambulance vans trying to get past congested roads, chaotic traffic, accidents, and I really miss the sight of the CHIP (California HIghway Patrol) cars screeching by on the road shoulder, clearing the way ahead & helping emergency vehicles move faster. These are somethings that are taken so much for granted in the USRajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1096291688138292722004-09-27T18:07:00.000+05:302004-09-27T18:58:08.136+05:30UN Security Council Reform Continuing the earlier post on UN Security Council reform, developing countries now make up more than two-thirds of the total UN membership, but are grossly underrepresented on the Security Council. I guess many of these countries did not exist as sovereign independent states at the time the organisation was founded. Nevertheless, it is clear that the structure of the Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1096261610910041922004-09-27T10:36:00.000+05:302004-09-27T10:39:01.050+05:30A visit to Shristi This weekend I went to a place called Shristi Special Academy, some of us at Asha have been thinking of sponsoring some of the projects here. Shristi Special Academy (http://www.shristi-special-academy.org/) a non-profit organisation, headed by a team of trained, qualified and experienced special educators who provide quality services and well designed and structured Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1096047367608909532004-09-24T23:02:00.000+05:302004-09-24T23:09:22.146+05:30Introduction to Edward Said, Orientalism and Postcolonial studies
Amardeep has a superb post today on orientalism and post colonialism of Edward Said taken from his talk at Lehigh. Very nice general introduction.
Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1096002865802380562004-09-24T09:46:00.000+05:302004-09-24T12:34:05.410+05:30Democratisation of the UN
Yesterday, our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called out for reform in the UN Security Council in his first address at the UN General Assembly. Clearly calling out India's bid for a seat in the Security Council, Dr. Manmohan Singh carefully, and I think intelligently, avoided drawing out too much attention to Kashmir, much as Parvez Musharraf did the same in his address Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1095662822788977442004-09-20T11:04:00.000+05:302004-09-20T21:46:46.723+05:30Gates of the Arctic NPR has this amazing series of programs called NPR Radio Expeditions, a collaboration between NPR and National Geographic. The latest program is called Gates of the Arctic, a trip to one of the most remote places in the US - the Gates of the Arctic National Park, north of the Arctic Circle in the Brooks Range of Alaska. There are 8.5 million acres of wild country here, and Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1095614388430618742004-09-19T22:21:00.000+05:302004-09-19T22:49:48.430+05:30Ed Said Miscellany
Towards the end of The Politics of Dispossession, there are some essays on books and people - on Thomas Friedman's From Beirut to Jerusalem, Noam Chomsky, Nelson Mandela to mention a few.
Rarely have I read such a scathing review of any book, no matter what the content! Ed Said simply tears apart Friedman's book in this essay called The Orientalist Express: Thomas Friedman Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1095605307913862172004-09-19T16:20:00.000+05:302004-09-19T20:19:11.550+05:30Poincare Conjecture Proved?Last week, it was reported that the famous Poincare Conjecture might finally be proved. The Poincare conjecture is one of the Seven Millenium problems. A media-shy Russian mathematician, Grigori Perelman is said to have proven a more general case of the conjecture. Here is Wolfram's MathWorld discussing the news. This is also a highly mathematical description of the Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1095590576110852322004-09-19T14:10:00.000+05:302004-09-19T16:19:51.136+05:30To Outsource or notFollowing up on the previous post on Paul Samualeson's outsourcing comments, Deep pointed me to this blog of Daniel Drezner, a pro-outsourcing Republican and an assitant professor of political science at Univ of Chicago. I would recommend you to read the whole post, but here a few interesting notes. Daniel asks the following questions:1) Just how many well-educated workers are Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1094921389937110892004-09-11T17:00:00.000+05:302004-09-11T22:19:49.936+05:30On OutsourcingWell, outsourcing has been talked about a lot. A more recent article is this one from NY Times (you might be required to register at NY Times) by Paul Samuelson, the Nobel prize winning economist, now at MIT. I think his strong point about long term outsourcing could lead to wage losses in the US ("If you don't believe that outsourcing changes the average wages in America, then you Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1094370927839443032004-09-05T13:54:00.000+05:302004-09-05T13:26:47.816+05:30I have been blogged!
Thanks to Amardeep for linking me from his blog! That was a nice surprise. Ever since that, I have been under a self-imposed pressure to keep up the writing! I would like to add that conversations with him have always been quite thought provoking - the last time we met up in Bombay we discussed a gamut of topics - from Ed Said & the Zionist movements (I really didnt know theRajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1094321715816376362004-09-04T23:33:00.000+05:302004-09-04T23:53:03.590+05:30The Science of Word Recognition I came across this fascinating paper in cognitive psychology on how we recognize words. It is called "The Science of Word Recognition or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bouma". It is by Kevin Larson, a disgracefully young cognitive psychologist at Microsoft Research's Advanced Reading Technology Group. I highly recommend this paper, it was absolutely Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1094320644151536902004-09-04T22:25:00.001+05:302004-09-04T23:51:00.463+05:30The Acre and the GoatI did manage to get through Part 3 of NPR's radio show on Middle East: A Century of Conflict. Also a couple more essays from Edward Said's The Politics of Dispossession. I am now at a very intersting review of the shaping of American foreign policy towards Israel and Palestine. More on this soon. Continuing my previous recap of the historical events in the tumultous history Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1093887089073334642004-08-30T23:00:00.000+05:302004-08-30T23:10:45.123+05:30The Middle East - A Century of Conflict
I am still ploughing through The Politics of Dispossesion. Some parts of it tend to be a bit of a hard reading since Edward Said sort of assumes the reader is familiar with the history of the middle-east and the origins of the conflict. Of course, this is to be expected since the book is really a collection of his writings and essays. So, I had to dig Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1092209732369323442004-08-11T12:36:00.000+05:302004-08-14T08:52:00.620+05:30The Politics of Dispossesion
I recently came across this brilliant book by Edward Said thanks to my uncle who is a Professor of English Litetature here in Bangalore. Edward Said was one of the greatest thinkers of our generation, a Palestinian by birth, who grew up in Cairo & the US, and till recently, was a professor of literature at Columbia University, New York. He was an outspoken critic andRajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1090774570126422982004-07-24T22:12:00.000+05:302004-07-25T22:30:59.936+05:30Viva Lance
What an amazing victory again for Lance Armstrong in the 2004 Tour De France! Today Lance sealed his name in the record books as the most prolific riders in the history of cycling with a record sixth victory in a most convincing way, with a lead of 6+ minutes over Andreas Kloden. He also created another personal record - 5 stage wins on the way to victory. He won 3 of the mountain Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1086351415228228702004-06-04T17:25:00.000+05:302004-06-04T17:48:42.300+05:30On Democracy
I have been reading Fareed Zakaria's The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad. This is quite an engrossing book on the state of democracies around the world. There is a very nice history of democracy, and I am now into the discussions about the different parts of the world that are democractic, or claim to be so, in one way or another. Still a long way to go...
Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1084800388971185212004-05-17T18:50:00.000+05:302004-05-20T18:08:03.400+05:30A Handful of Beauty
Nice name, isnt it? I wish we could always see beauty around us, but that seems very hard now & then. I guess my friend G. and I have been on parallel quests of a similar nature - trying to find things that can calm us down every now & then, that can help us stop, listen to ourselves and the endless expanse above and beyond us...something that can help us make peace with Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1084641864562080682004-05-15T21:42:00.000+05:302004-05-15T22:54:24.563+05:30Life
Isnt life fragile, miraculous, beautiful, ironic...all at the same time? We all go through ups and downs, but once in a while, somethings happen that make me wonder - why? Why do we all go through these moments, experiences that dont seem to make sense? Why do the most noble people suffer? Why are kids born in abject poverty? What have they done to deserve that? I was reading an article in Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1082815025238182052004-04-24T19:27:00.000+05:302004-04-24T19:54:39.623+05:30Heard of Rasheeda Bee and Champa Devi Shukla?
Perhaps not. Not many people would have heard of them; frankly I hadn't either till recently. I just knew about the great cause they have been fighting for, for over 20 years now. These two brave women have won the Goldman award for environment this year for their relentless fight against the horrendous "accident" that Union Carbide was responsible Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1082467317343767392004-04-20T18:51:00.000+05:302004-04-20T18:56:01.966+05:30It has been a while since my last update. My friend S. wanted me to put my day-to-day thoughts here - what I think about everyday, particularly about life here in India. That should be easy, I thought, but strangely it seems to be quite a hard task. Maybe this is because this is the first time I am attempting to write a "diary"; I also realised that the myriad of emotions that I go through make Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1081577400437421762004-04-10T11:29:00.000+05:302004-04-10T22:01:39.936+05:30So, I was just reading this article from slashdot on Chess, machines & the human mind.
The author ruminates on the connections between chess playing machines & the workings of the human mind. There is also a mention of Roger Penrose's ENM (The Emperor's New Mind), where Mathematician-scientist Roger Penrose argues that human intelligence involves not just computation but a grasp of abstract Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6754689.post-1081576711497086602004-04-10T11:27:00.000+05:302004-04-10T11:32:21.390+05:30Just created my first blog. Hope this works out fine!Rajeevhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05975053842855114706noreply@blogger.com0