Una verdad simulada

I know I am late at this. Bangalore is going Delhi’s way. Its NOT “just one incident”, its the fact that we now have to keep watching our backs that this may happen to us… that is what makes it really scary.

Max Muller Bhavan is where we park our car when we go shopping for fruits and vegetables next to M. K. Retail (CMH Road); 100 Ft road is where we travel often to go to Shiok or Little Italy or Vivek electronics; 12th main is not even a block away from the latter two (Little Italy and Vivek’s). The only thought that came to my mind on reading this a couple of days back: that could have been me or my wife.

IT IS JUST FUCKING INSANE. What the fuck is Bangalore police doing?

Tags: General by Niket
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I don’t think I have mentioned this before. An excellent blog by a tenured faculty: Female Science Professor. Rather than quoting ten of her posts, its frugal to just point to her blog. Read it from cover-to-cover; worth every minute.

Tags: General by Niket
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John Cole has a sensible advice to the Republicans: lay low and bide your time.

The 2008 election was, if nothing else, the population giving you all a richly deserved time-out to go think about what you have done. What you are doing right now is akin to a young brat throwing a tantrum on the way to his room after being grounded. Guess what? That little snit might be internally satisfying, but there will still be no ice cream for you tonight.

(read the whole thing)

Tags: General by Niket
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Enough web and real pages have been dedicated to IIT student lingo. This post is devoted to IIT administration lingo.

They say: “Saar, we need to do our duty to the nation.”

What a benevolent admin (endangered species) means: “I know its an unfair and stupid proposal that will waste a lot of your time, but you don’t have a choice”

What admin means: “You are an assistant professor. Shut up.”

They say: “Our mandate is …”

What a benevolent admin (endangered species) means: “We have no idea what we are talking about; but we just promised the moon. You now have to help us out.”

What admin means: “You are an assistant professor. Shut up.”

Tags: humour by Niket
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Theorem: Conservative => stupid

Proof: George Will is supposed to be a respected conservative. Consider the following two pieces of evidence:

(1) His global warming piece in WaPo.
(2) His reaction to Obama’s speech.

QED.

(via: Patrix)

Tags: humour by Niket
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Recently, I had a conversation with a (fictitious) friend of mine, J. J was born in a poor family. He had to struggle to get a good education. He got a graduate degree, went on an off-beat path and became successful. He now earns well and owns an independent house (bungalow) in the suburbs. We were chatting the other day; I happened to joke that he doesn’t need to “show off” his wealth.

To this, J replied that he never understood what you would mean by “showing off” one’s wealth. He asked me what my reaction would be if I said I am showing off my education. He earned every paisa through hard work, paid all his taxes and all his money was honestly earned. There have been times when he hasn’t met his wife for a month at a stretch (sometimes longer) due to the nature of his business. If I am justifiably proud of my achievements as an educator, if me living in a different city than my wife is always referred in a matter-of-fact manner, why is his pride in equal amount of hard work looked upon as a “show off,” and by extension something bad. He isn’t prone to using his position to getting away with something others wouldn’t.

Why are my “accomplishments” inherently better than his? The answer, of course, is that they aren’t.

Tags: Hypothetical Conversations by Niket
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When I joined the institute, one of the senior faculty members advised me to always remember the wise statement of our ancestors, that Laxmi and Saraswati cannot coexist peacefully. A few months back, a similar issue came up; an excerpt from an email I wrote then:

To borrow their phrase: Laxmi and Saraswati have gone together. The entire “knowledge-based industry” is alive and thriving… where Saraswati has been used appropriately to get Laxmi. You cannot please all people all the time, but companies like Google and Genentech (winners of best companies to work for in 2005-08) have shown that indeed you can stick to some of your core principles and still rake in large profits.

The quote about Laxmi and Saraswati is either misappropriated or is anachronistic in the current society.

Tags: General by Niket
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