I have been skeptical about the materials that appear in the print and visual media since long. Regular followers of yours sincerely will have noticed that. The point that I always tried to drill home is the media criticises all, but who criticises the media? Well, the unfortunate answer is that the general Indian public is so overwhelmed with the gimmicks that the media come up with that they will believe anything presented to them, and there is none to find faults with them. Taking advantage of this, the media now manufacture breaking news to increase their TRP.
I was very happy that The Indian Express reported on the drama being manufactured by news channels on the Delhi Floods. Please read it, it's kind of hilarious.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Udaan
They were running a free show of Udaan at the Dogra Hall yesterday. I took it as a welcome break from the strangling schedule here.
The theme was very contemporary: boy wants to do something while the father wants him to do something else. Add to it that the father is a psycho who keeps beating his children and marrying every time his wife dies.
The director does an excellent work mostly, except at the end. The ending could be better. If the solution is to run away from home, he could have done it a lot earlier: why wait so long?
The music was good and the background songs were well placed. The acting skills of all the actors deserve special mention.
It was a good experience which refreshed my mind.
The theme was very contemporary: boy wants to do something while the father wants him to do something else. Add to it that the father is a psycho who keeps beating his children and marrying every time his wife dies.
The director does an excellent work mostly, except at the end. The ending could be better. If the solution is to run away from home, he could have done it a lot earlier: why wait so long?
The music was good and the background songs were well placed. The acting skills of all the actors deserve special mention.
It was a good experience which refreshed my mind.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
P ≠ NP
While we carry on with our daily chores, one of the biggest breakthroughs in the realm of theoretical computer science may have just been made.
Vinay Deolalikar of HP Research Labs, Palo Alto has just released a paper to his fellow researchers claiming to have proved that P ≠ NP. This was something that has been baffling the greatest computer scientists of the day. Everyone sort of knew that the result was this, but, somehow, the proof had been eluding them. Such was the craze that there's a $1M prize money for the proof. Now the paper will be scanned from jacket to jacket under the eyes of uber-math geeks. (To get the feel of the uber-math geek thing, see this.) And if the approach turns out to be genuine, quite a few text books will have to be written.
The most important thing is that the gentleman at the centre of all this is an Indian.
Vinay Deolalikar of HP Research Labs, Palo Alto has just released a paper to his fellow researchers claiming to have proved that P ≠ NP. This was something that has been baffling the greatest computer scientists of the day. Everyone sort of knew that the result was this, but, somehow, the proof had been eluding them. Such was the craze that there's a $1M prize money for the proof. Now the paper will be scanned from jacket to jacket under the eyes of uber-math geeks. (To get the feel of the uber-math geek thing, see this.) And if the approach turns out to be genuine, quite a few text books will have to be written.
The most important thing is that the gentleman at the centre of all this is an Indian.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
If I have been away from my blog for a little over two weeks it's because I have not had much time to think beyond eating, sleeping and solving assignments, the last forming a major part of the daily chores.
The professors keep setting assignments and we are expected to find time to do them. And, mind you, they are not routine assignments: each one of them is enough to fry your circuitry for good. Lectures are neither long nor too many. But self-study and assignments form a major part of the goings-on. And as a result we spend most of the day in the lab: be it weekday or weekend, night or day.
However, you keep liking the things because the environment keeps you going. You always want to utilise the resources being provided to you to the fullest. And that is why there is no reason to complain.
Until next when I find time, have a good time.
The professors keep setting assignments and we are expected to find time to do them. And, mind you, they are not routine assignments: each one of them is enough to fry your circuitry for good. Lectures are neither long nor too many. But self-study and assignments form a major part of the goings-on. And as a result we spend most of the day in the lab: be it weekday or weekend, night or day.
However, you keep liking the things because the environment keeps you going. You always want to utilise the resources being provided to you to the fullest. And that is why there is no reason to complain.
Until next when I find time, have a good time.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
The Bicycle Thief
I had heard about Vittoria de Sica's The Bicycle Thief long back but had never had the opportunity to watch it until recently. And I soon enough realised why this film is so widely acclaimed.
The film is based in the post World War Italy when jobs were hard to come by, when women in Italy fetched water in buckets from a common tap, when unemployment reigned. The protagonist (Ricci) gets a job but must have a bicycle to execute it. Things get complex when the bicycle is stolen and he and his kid (Bruno) go trying to find it.
The film does not tell. It does not preach. It shows. And that is what the visual medium of entertainment is supposed to do, isn't it? And there is not much to wonder why Satyajit Ray was inspired by it. How easily the director shows the realities of life without any extra effort or spending of extra frames for these. We learn so much but yet never feel that the film is deviating.
It is no wonder that this finds mention in all lists of must watch films. Go and watch it somewhere. You will never regret it.
The film is based in the post World War Italy when jobs were hard to come by, when women in Italy fetched water in buckets from a common tap, when unemployment reigned. The protagonist (Ricci) gets a job but must have a bicycle to execute it. Things get complex when the bicycle is stolen and he and his kid (Bruno) go trying to find it.
The film does not tell. It does not preach. It shows. And that is what the visual medium of entertainment is supposed to do, isn't it? And there is not much to wonder why Satyajit Ray was inspired by it. How easily the director shows the realities of life without any extra effort or spending of extra frames for these. We learn so much but yet never feel that the film is deviating.
It is no wonder that this finds mention in all lists of must watch films. Go and watch it somewhere. You will never regret it.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood...
I have come across Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken innumerable times during my school days. And I distinctly remember our teachers explaining how relevant this piece of poetry would become in our lives. We did appreciate its implications, but then it was only in a theoretical sense.
Times when the poem could have assumed practical significance include the moments to decide whether to take up science, commerce or humanities; or whether to take up engineering or something else. I say that they were moments because these decisions were sort of automatic backed by a lot of peer pressure and parental expectations. And, hence, this poem did not look so imposing back then.
Now, when most peers are going for jobs and my parents are not deciding for me, I just let go a lucrative job and opted for higher education. Suddenly Frost is ringing louder than ever in my ears. No doubt "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, / I took the one less traveled by,..." but will "...that has made all the difference" be in a positive sense is to be seen :"...Somewhere ages and ages hence...".
Times when the poem could have assumed practical significance include the moments to decide whether to take up science, commerce or humanities; or whether to take up engineering or something else. I say that they were moments because these decisions were sort of automatic backed by a lot of peer pressure and parental expectations. And, hence, this poem did not look so imposing back then.
Now, when most peers are going for jobs and my parents are not deciding for me, I just let go a lucrative job and opted for higher education. Suddenly Frost is ringing louder than ever in my ears. No doubt "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, / I took the one less traveled by,..." but will "...that has made all the difference" be in a positive sense is to be seen :"...Somewhere ages and ages hence...".
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Religion in the Harry Potter series
As I was reading the books in the Harry Potter series, one factor kept nagging me from time to time: the lack of direct reference to any religious beliefs.
However, they do celebrate Christmas (they have gifts and special dinner) and Halloween. But the church services, including the regular Sunday services are missing. Neither is there any reference to Santa Claus. This is unlike the other British authors I have read. The only time a church is mentioned is in the last book when Harry visits Godric's Hollow. Of course, when the Room of Requirements transforms into the place where people hide their things, it is compared to a cathedral.
Christian names are abundant throughout. And Harry has a godfather (Sirius Black), and is a godfather to Teddy Lupin. A godfather is a Jewish/Christian concept.
There is no direct reference to any god or almighty anywhere who the magical people worship or look up to. There is this wizard called Merlin who recurs but is surely not a god. Neither is it mentioned if Voldemort wanted to be god-like. He was more interested in the Ministry and forming a new world through his faulty ideals.
It will be wrong to suppose that they are pagan as no such proof exists either.
Perhaps Rowling anticipated objections to a witch-craft laden theme from the religious sectors and so carefully steered clear of offending (through the slightest allusion) anyone. Presence of witches/wizards in a church might be enough to cause widespread agitation. The stance of the barbaric medieval church towards witchcraft was enough of a deterrence. (Though it is mentioned in the series that the church burnt all the wrong people and the actual witches/wizards managed to escape using magic, what else?)
However, they do celebrate Christmas (they have gifts and special dinner) and Halloween. But the church services, including the regular Sunday services are missing. Neither is there any reference to Santa Claus. This is unlike the other British authors I have read. The only time a church is mentioned is in the last book when Harry visits Godric's Hollow. Of course, when the Room of Requirements transforms into the place where people hide their things, it is compared to a cathedral.
Christian names are abundant throughout. And Harry has a godfather (Sirius Black), and is a godfather to Teddy Lupin. A godfather is a Jewish/Christian concept.
There is no direct reference to any god or almighty anywhere who the magical people worship or look up to. There is this wizard called Merlin who recurs but is surely not a god. Neither is it mentioned if Voldemort wanted to be god-like. He was more interested in the Ministry and forming a new world through his faulty ideals.
It will be wrong to suppose that they are pagan as no such proof exists either.
Perhaps Rowling anticipated objections to a witch-craft laden theme from the religious sectors and so carefully steered clear of offending (through the slightest allusion) anyone. Presence of witches/wizards in a church might be enough to cause widespread agitation. The stance of the barbaric medieval church towards witchcraft was enough of a deterrence. (Though it is mentioned in the series that the church burnt all the wrong people and the actual witches/wizards managed to escape using magic, what else?)
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