Manjul 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.

Travelogue - 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 Hardwar, so a decent 2.5 hr drive. The roads are ok, not too busy, single laned though, for the most part. It is rather scary to see the drivers confidently overtaking vehicles while seeing the oncoming vehicles head on. Which is probably why I never slept during the drives...

We stayed in this place called Hotel Oasis, apparently it has the blessings of Best Western. I dont know how. The hotel was ok, better than most places I have been in, and since it was just beyond the tourist season, most hotels were giving hefty discounts - upto 50% off the usual rates. From where we stayed, it was a superb view of hills all around, and fog rolling down the hills, with brief interludes of sunshine. It would get foggy completely by 4 PM or so; early mornings have fog intermittently, one minute, I could see the sweeping views of the hills all around, and the next minute, the fog rolling down would obscure all vision. Kind of reminded me of the fog rolling down the hills adjacent to the Golden Gate Bridge - those were really wonderful sights too.
There is actually not a whole lot of things to do in Mussorie; there are nice drives around the town, offering splendid views of the valleys and mountains, and some waterfalls close by. There is this road called the Mall Road, which is a winding road up one of the hills, which is the main shopping area. I did spot some places with some ethnic items. We did manage to get some glimpses of some snow covered Himalayan peaks in the distance, that was a beautiful view. On our way out of Mussorie, we stopped by this place called Sahasthradhaara; I dont know the origin of the name, but this was sort of a sulphur springs place. The river here was pungent with the smell of sulphur, and is said to have curative properties for those having a bath here. Like most tourist places in India, this could surely have been marketed better.
We did a brief stopover at Dehradun, which is on the way. Unfortunately no one we asked could tell us the whereabouts of Ruskin Bond.

Jaipur

After a short break in Delhi (during which I called off my trek due to excessive rain, snow & landslides in the Uttarkashi area), we left for Jaipur. Jaipur is about 250 km from Delhi, and the highway is good, 2 lanes each way, all the way. So it was a decent 4 hour drive. Jaipur is like most Indian cities in some ways - the heart of the city is crowded, buses, two-wheelers, cars, driving in close to random fashion, with cycle rickshaws increasing the randomness manyfold. An interesting thing I saw in most trucks in North India was this funny writing on the rear of the truck - buri nazar daalne waale, tera muh kalaa. Translated, it roughly means - fie on you who casts an evil eye on me. Dont know why they do that.
Anyway, some of the good palaces to visit are - City Palace, Jantar Mantar (this is the famous astronomical observatory of those days, it is quite marvellous), Hawa Mahal, Amer Fort (also called Amber Fort). Most of these palaces are converted to museums, they contain relics from the Rajput era, clearly showing a beautiful blend of Hindu & Muslim architectures. There were some collections from even older times - in fact I saw a few exhibits from 2 AD, and one running back to 5,000 BC - this one was a stone tool that was excavated from a place called Viratnagar. Amazing. Hawa Mahal is a unique building, architecture-wise. It is designed to give a superb ventilation and cooling effect in the higher floors - just 4 floors above the ground, one can see the difference, with the circulation and windows/vents designed in such a manner to give a cooling effect. Amber Fort is one of the largest forts near Jaipur. Very nice architecture, situated on top of a series of hills, with some interesting architectural features - for example, there is this winter palace of the king called "sheesh mahal" or the mirror palace. The walls & ceilings are completely made of glass, and with lamps lit in the room, it leads to natural heat inside.
As for shopping, and there are a multitude of small & big shops, bazaars all over the place. One famous one is called Bapu Bazaar. The gamut of colours available for ladies' clothes is quite amazing - a rich tribute to all things feminine, I guess.

I have to figure out how to upload photographs, for those interested, let me know, I have put them up someplace else for now.

Dr. 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 heads the Smart Antenna Research Group at Stanford.

The DRDO model was necessary in the '50s, '60s and '70s when the private or
public sector did not exist as far as defence research was concerned. And there
are segments that should never go to the private sector (like nuclear weapons
and rocket motors). But DRDO should have transitioned to a largely private
sector model. Another need is for the DRDO and the private sector to jointly
develop weapon systems with multinational defence firms to share costs and
talent.

Indian 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.

Principles 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.

Back from vacation

It 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 region, blocking off most of the hills there. So had to can that...very sad. Maybe next time.

For those interested, here is a brief summary of the places.

The holy cities - Varanasi, Allahabad, Haridwar

We began with Varanasi, also known as Kashi, or Benaras. Situated on the crescent shaped left bank of the holy Ganga, Varanasi was one of the ancient seats of learning in India, is said to be a compound of the names of two streams, the Varuna and the Assi, which still flow in the north and south of the city respectively. Closeby is Sarnath, where Lord Buddha preached his first sermon. Here he revealed the eight fold path that leads to the attainment of inner peace, Enlightment and Ultimate Nirvana (we didnt have time to visit this place). The most important places to visit here are the ghats, where pilgrims have a ritual bath and perform pooja, sacred rites for departed souls, etc. There is also the Kashi Vishwanath temple, considered one of the most sacred shrines around here. The original temple was destroyed by the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb which was later restored by Rani Ahilyabai of Indore in the 18th century.

There is an incredible amount of mythological history and signficance to Varanasi, and it has been considered for centuries to be a holy place. See more here. This place has been revered, worshipped, glorified in almost all of Hindu mythology, religion & tradition, visited by the saintliest of men, including Adi Shankaracharya, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, and more recently, the likes of Paul Brunton.

Anyways, Varanasi was quite frankly, a very confusing place to me. On the one hand is all the mythology and religious references I have come across in the context of Varanasi, and on the other hand was my actual experience here. What amazed me, or rather, shocked me, was the uncleanliness of the city, especially of almost all the places closest to the temples & ghats. I cant imagine how any sane set of people can dirty their surroundings to such an extent and have an uncaring attitude about it. I dont know how the city has managed to exist without having had a major outbreak of an epidemic or such. It is rather sad that we Indians manage to do this to ourselves.

Some of the nice places here - Benares Hindu University (this has one of the IITs too), Birla Temple (this is inside the BHU campus). It is also famous for Benares silk sarees, and apparently they are quite good.

Allahabad

We then moved on to Allahabad, mainly to make a visit to the holy sangam, or the confluence of three rivers - Ganga, Yamuna and the now invisible Saraswati. The meeting point is known as Triveni and is especially sacred to Hindus. The earlier setlemets of the Aryans were established in this city, then known as Prayag. In addition to the religious significance of the Sangam, Allahabad, past 1857 became the centre of the war of Indian Independence. Pt. Nehru was born here - in fact the place he lived in - Anand Bhavan is now a National Heritage site, and a nice museum has been set up here. Most of the buildings in the city, including the Allahabad University, are from the colonial era, clearly showcasing the mix of the western, Mughal & Indian architectures. Unfortunately, not all buildings seem to have been preserved well.

The Sangam is a beautiful sight actually, one can see the calm Yamuna flowing from one side, and mixing with the slightly more turbulent Ganga. Apparently the river Saraswati has now long since dried up, and is also called Guptagamini.

Beware of the locals here who ferry people to the place of confluence - they are major cheats, thriving on unsuspecting tourists like myself. I ended up paying over Rs. 600 for a 5 min boat ride and the dip.

I remembered a few lines of Pt. Nehru, himself an athiest, and yet wanted his ashes to be immersed in the Ganga. Quite typical of Nehru at his sentimental, eloquent best:

My desire to have a handful of my ashes thrown in the Ganga at Allahabad has no religious significance, so far as I am concerned. I have no religious sentiment in the matter. The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her racial
memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India's age-long culture and civilization, ever-changing, ever-flowing and ever the same Ganga.

Haridwar

Haridwar located in the foothills of the Himalayas, represents the point where the Ganga reaches the plains. Haridwar is an ancient pilgrimage site, held in reverence for centuries. The Chinese pilgrim Hyuen Tsang who visited India in the first millennium CE, describes Haridwar as Mayura, on the eastern banks of the Ganges. Legend has it that Bhagiratha, brought the Ganges into the earth, and into this point where his ancestors were burnt to ashes by the curse of the sage Kapila. More on this story here. Haridwar (and Rishikesh) represents the gateway to the Himalayan pilgrimage shrines of Badrinath and Kedarnath and is also the site of celebration of the Kumbha Mela, once in twelve years.

Personally, I liked Haridwar the best of these religious places. Hardwar decidedly has an ambience of its own. It was quite moving seeing the Ganga Aarati - the Ganga Aarti, which is celebrated at 7 pm each night, is a spectacular sight, when the aarti ceremony is performed at all temples in Haridwar at the same instant. Offerings of lamps and flowers are made to the river immediately following this ceremony and it is just beautiful to watch thousands of miniature lamps float along the river. It was also a great feeling taking a dip in the powerful currents of Ganga early in the morning before sunrise.

More to come soon on Mussorie & Jaipur...

Vacation 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.

I 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 US, I used to almost hate seeing cop cars hidden near the highway waiting for speeding cars, waiting to hand over a speeding ticket. Driving is also such a pleasure in the US - I have, at different times, driven over 800-900 miles in a single day, in about 10-11 hours, without getting tired. It is quite an amazing network of roads they have in the US - from the Turnpikes on the east coast, and the beautiful coast-hugging Route 1 on the west, to the no-speed-limit roads in Montana.

Today I didn't drive, sometimes it just gets too much and too stressful driving here in the city traffic. For the most part, I have adapted to the mentality of survival of the fittest on the road. The big car rules, the SUVs and buses & lorries can drive however they want. If you have a truck, you have priority over a car, who has priority over a two wheeler, who in turn can cut off a pedestrian or cyclist trying to cross the road. Any chance this is a direct and rude application with the theory of evolution?

Well, there are always accidents. Most of the time, they are sad occurances, where the innocent get killed, and the guy in the larger vehicle gets away. The vehicle insurance schemes suck big time too. So, if I had a random guy (by that I mean "uninsured motorist" in US lingo) come bang into my car, I can of course go through my auto insurance (yes, even Geiko is here in India), and get the dent fixed. But here is the catch - my premium suffers. And I dont get an insurance debate I would have gotten if I never made a claim for a whole year. So, now I have been driving around with dents & scratches on my car for about 9 months now. Once I get past the year, and get the insurance premium rebate, I think I will get things fixed so that the costs incurred get amortized over the 2 year period...or at least that is the idea.