a beautiful line

``Remote from ourselves in dream and in time, ... "

gleaned from the book ``In spite of the Gods" by edward luce. these words in fact belong to andre malraux.

america got talent and britain got talent are misnomers

agt and bgt should be renamed to the following

america got singing talent

and

britain got singing talent

rethinking education

pursuing a phd has taught me more about life than about control systems and optimization. the way society views education and its role in the very lives we live is predominantly associated with the means of lively hood. for some time now i have pondered on the role educators should play in a society and i firmly believe now that the most important role in the building of a nation is played by the teachers and role models that come to influence us all. bear in mind that ``teacher" here is a generic nomenclature. the course of my life has been predominantly determined by some great teachers i was fortunate to have come in contact with and i wish to play the same role for many future students of mine.

any ways this nice talk will certainly make you think deeply about the education system we are subjecting kids to. this is more relevant to us indians as we see our whole country being reduced to a nation of service providers to those who have the big money.

PhD Resolutions !!!

Here is a very accurate description of what goes on in our heads. I got this as a forwarded mail from my dear friend and lab mate Prem Kumar P. Thanks Prem !!!

*Phd resolutions.*


Before joining PhD:

I want to win the Nobel Prize.
I want to win the Turing Award.

First year of PhD:d

I want to finish PhD in two years.
I want to publish papers only in top tier conferences.
I want to make ground-breaking research.
I want to win the best PhD Thesis award.

Second year of PhD:

I want to finish PhD in 5 years.
I want a problem.
Shall I change my advisor?

Third year of PhD:

I want a paper; I don't care which conference.
Shall I change my topic?
I want to be known as Dr bhOndOO.

Fourth year of PhD:

I want to finish PhD!
My industry-friends have two children by now. When will I get married?

Fifth year of PhD:

Why did I come here?
Why did I choose this advisor?
Why did I choose this topic?

Sixth year of PhD:

Someone give me a degree!
I want to leave this place for ever.
Let me leave.

Seventh year of PhD:

People call me uncle.
She waited and finally married someone else.
I don't want any degree. I just want to live peacefully.

A Wednesday

Just finished watching it and I have to say that I am mighty pleased with it. That is so not because the movie is great from an art perspective or that the script was powerful or that the actors were superb. We expect a Naseeruddin Shah or an Anupam Kher to do their job well and they have done it well. The junior actors acted nicely and there was not too much to criticize acting wise or movie making wise. However one great thing about this movie interpreted as a message is that there was a clear unbiased opinion expressed. The comman man is tired of it and want to do something about it and we all have an opinion about how to go about the process. Sadly though this clear dictate never makes it to the silver screen, atleast in India. We are morally inclined to do the right thing and not give in to hate and anger. This however was not the case with this movie in that the message was clear in the minds of the story teller and that makes for uncomplicated and to the point story.
Whether one agrees with the message or not is a matter of personal taste. I am not taking anyside but merely expressing joy at expereincing a story where there was little confusion in the mind of the story teller.
Oh I almost forgot, Neeraj Pandey you did a good job :D

talent

Some times I think about how important it is for one to have real talent and then . All around me I see talented people achieving greater heights of success. How easy it is for them to succeed where as its a tough tough fight for me ! What good it is to just survive like a meaningless entity ? You don't matter if you are not in the reckoning. If you learn to be content and in peace with yourself then living without any talent can be easy, otherwise it becomes very difficult. Not having a talent is like God has played a trick on you. He chose not to give you any talent but he did not forget to instill you with the sense to appreciate another person's talents and then brood over not having any yourself. Some prankster he is, right ?

Some might argue that having talent is not enough it is also important to get noticed. I would like to think that even those who have not gotten noticed still must feel satisfied about possessing a talent.

Power of Words

It was in the wee hours of dawn on Sunday, the 10th of August when I was overwhelmed by a
haunting melody of Salim-Suleiman and the magic of exquisite words penned by
Mir Ali Hussain. It was an obvious situation for an emotional fool to
be moved by the power of music and poetry. I watch a lot of
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009, which is a fantastic reality show spun
around music competition; specifically competition between singers.
Its the turn of the judges to vote for two out of three competitors.
Unfortunately all three of them were my favourites and each a class
act in their own.
Due to a bad choice of a bad song, Tarun Sagar was voted out.
However he took it quite bravely and expressed some very mature
thoughts at his fate.
Anyways while he was being voted out what caught my fancy was the
exquisite song that was being played in the background.
It was sheer magic.

Yeh Hosla Kaise Juke,
Yeh Aarzoo Kaise Ruke - 2

Manzil Muskil to kya,
Bundla Sahil to kya,
Tanha Ye Dil to Kya
Ho Hooo

Raah Pe Kante Bikhre agar,
Uspe to phir bhi chalna hi hai,
Saam Chhupale Suraj magar,
Raat ko ek din Dhalana hi hai,

Rut ye tal jayegi,
Himmat rang layegi,
Subha phir aayegi
Hoooo

Yeh Hosla Kaise Juke,
Yeh Aarzoo Kaise Ruke - 2

Hogi hame to rehmat ada,
Dhup kategi saaye tale,
Apni khuda se hai ye Dua,
Manzil lagale humko gale

Zurrat so baar rahe,
Uncha Ikraar rahe,
Zinda har pyar rahe
Hoooo

Yeh Hosla Kaise Juke,
Yeh Aarzoo Kaise Ruke - 2

The music direction was superb but I think its the words which lent
the song its power.
Super job with the music direction (Salim-Suleiman), singing( Shafqat
Amanat Ali Khan) and ofcourse the magical lyrics (Mir Ali Hussain).

Hats off guys !!! What a beautiful piece of art !!!

Oh I almost forgot the song is called Hauslaa.