Why not Trivandrum?

This charismatic NRI diplomat who was more than unfamiliar to the common man at the capital city of God's Own Country turned out to be their darling in less than three weeks. The newfound sincerity and difference in every word and promise of his, stood apart from the banal stuff that his contestors had to say. His stellar resume and use of new media technology won him a margin of about a lakh worth votes more than his nearest CPI rival in this land where "Marx's communist idealogy" and "anti-bourgeois" are topics of heated debate even at "chaya kadas"!

Though it is the capital city of the south Indian state lauded for its social infrastructure, why didn't Trivandrum make it to be a metro city like Chennai or Bangalore or Hyderabad? Though blessed with beautiful beaches and greenery and an amazing climate throughout the year, why couldn't this green clean city gain its rightful place in the nation?

Yes, it is true that Kerala deserves a praise for its commendable infrastructure for primary education (I have not seen a single malayali who doesn't know how to read or write). But personally, I feel that we need to improve a lot in college education and higher studies. For instance, why do we have just a handful of IITians from our state every year? (Well, may be because of the non-existence of coaching centres, but why so? ).

Similarly health indicators like life expectancy and infant mortality in the state are comparable to those in developed countries. But, I feel that this is mostly because of advancements in private investments in health sector. The rich middle class in Kerala with its enormous purchasing power is able to afford this expensive health care. The government hospitals lag behind and needs total revamping.

The state is more or less like an extended city with minimal urban rural divide and equal facilities throughout. All these are laudable. These may be because of the movements, bloodshed and sacrifice made by the communist martyrs who strived for equality and a classeless society. The entire social fabric of this state was altered by the communist idealogies. "Prabudha Keralam" with each and every individual enlightened about his rights evolved into what it is now - a state with very high HDI comparable to developed nations but with low GDP.

Sadly we had to pay the price for the equality and uniform development that we gained. The communist ideology that tempered an average malayali's attitude made him view the idea of high-handedness on the proletariat in a bad light. This led to the thriving of militant 'labor unions' or 'trade unions' who opposed even the slightest of pressure from the side of the management. And every new establishment was vehemently opposed claiming the entrepreneur to be a "bourgeois". The common man who is well aware of his rights - the right to restrict one’s personal freedom through bandhs and hartals, the right to obstruct using demonstrations, the right to demand contributions - conveniently forgot about his duties. This stalled the flow of investments to the state leading to stagnant physical infrastructure and manufacturing sector.

It is high time for a change. We need to understand the fallacies of our beliefs and ideologies if we need to move forward to be the best in the new century. The old ideology has served its purpose of creating a more or less equal and fair state. But we need to alter it to race with the changing world scenario. We have miles to go to reach where we actually deserve to be. A complete restructuring of our thoughts is needed to further the development of our state. We need educated, committed and sincere leaders to help us rise and shine.

Let us hope that Shashi Tharoor, unlike other politicians, will keep his promises regarding his vision for Trivandrum. [http://shashitharoor.in/english/vision]. Let this be the first step towards a change in the attitude and thoughts of the average malayali. I dream of Trivandrum as a global city of the 21st century.

Sharavathi or Amaravathi?

My tryst with IIT Madras has come to an end. Four years...I can't believe..It went like a few moments... Doing BTech at IIT Madras, one of the prestigious institutes in the nation was one of my childhood dreams come true. And finally after seeking admission , a buoyant soul flew all the way to Chennai. It was a whole new world out there. I started my stay in Room Number 391, Sharavathi Hostel along with two other room mates in my first year. I never felt homesick then but somewhere deep in my heart, I felt out of place being the only non-gult in a completely gult speaking wing. Months went by and I used to long to be at Amaravathi. And then came the first one month long december break and I was more than happy to be back at Amaravathi.

But back in insti after the sem break, I decided to see things in a new light. I attempted to understand gult and realized how similar all south Indian languages are. And with the language barrier broken and the inhibitions gone, it was a whole new world out there. I shifted to a single room 341 and my close friends joined me to form the Sharav 339-343 wing. Though I was grieved by the 341 Sharav room which is just one fourth the size of my room at Amarav, I slowly found the room cozy and comfortable. Surrounded by close friends, I found my niche there. But years flew past, they went so fast. I am out of my home for past four years. I am back at Amaravathi, but my heart craves for Sharavathi. Though I have cursed these a million times, I now yearn for the hot Chennai sun, the horrible mess food and the monkey menace. I want to take a night walk with my wing mates after dinner to the Gajendra Circle. I miss the countless number of CCD trips that I make a day. I miss the endless "farting" sessions, watching and paining my co-sitcom viewers and the countless night-outs for assignments and exams.

I still find it difficult to realize the fact that I am no longer a part of Sharavathi. That I will be a guest henceforth in my home for four years. I wake up daily at Amaravathi dazed whether this is where I belong to or not!

PS: Amaravathi is the name of my house at Trivandrum.
Drilla, Sirie, Idos and Nitti - I miss you all. Our wing rocked!

Heights of red tapism!

My stay at the insti is about to come to an end and like any other relationship, I also had to go through all the bureaucratic norms to end the contract. Let me start with the list of due clearances that I had to get for which I had run around the insti - may be they want the students to have a tour all over the insti before leaving.

I was provided with a form containing a long list of clearances that I had to make from almost all labs in the department. Luckily my department - Computer Science - is small enough to size all labs in a single building - thanks for the branch change that I "put" from Mechanical Engg. So I payed visit to all labs - some where I have never even gone before - got signatures and got to meet a few new people. I was also made to run to the alumni affairs office (God only knows why) to get a sign from some officer there who casually signed it without even taking a glance at it.

My next task was to get the green flag from the mighty CCW (Chairman and Council of Wardens) office. For that I needed some preliminary clearance from a couple of hostel secretaries and my hostel warden. Since I am not a fan of the mess food, I opted not to register for the vacation mess. But the institute rule had it that regular dining charges will be deducted from the passing out students for the month of May also irrespective of whether they register and dine at the vacation mess or not. Oblivious of this fact, I happily strolled to the CCW office, to claim the positive mess balance that I had at the end of last semester from the infamous looters. After some paper work and indirections from one table to the next, I was directed to the accounts section where I learnt about this fact about vacation mess. And math showed that I had to pay about thousand bucks after the deduction for the vacation mess for which I never registered. I had to make a to and fro trip to Sharav in the hot Chennai sun to get my debit card.

But fate did not let go of me with that. By the time I reached the CCW office, they had started some maintanance work on the debit card swiping gadget. So I was redirected to the Mahanadi hostel to pay the cash using their debit card swiper. Once at Mahanadi, I had to stand in a queue and finally when I got to the officer, he insisted that I should have "sign from the CCW officer in red ink that too on the seal" for him to further process it. The CCW officer had signed in blue ink an inch away from the seal on my form. Big deal..After a minor quibble, I realized that I will never be able to convince him. So I went all the way back to CCW again for a red ink sign! The officer there refused to sign citing that the blue ink sign is enough. Ridiculouness at its peak! After a short bickering in tamil over phone between the CCW officer and the Mahanadi hostel officer, I was sent back to the Mahanadi shores with just the blue sign. This time around, things went fast. I paid the cash and went back to CCW to submit the challan. Now I have to wait till Thursday afternoon to officially get the "no dues" certificate from CCW. All this pain for some food that I never saw or ate! I am yet to get clearance from insti library and after that there is this nightmare of getting provisional degree certificate from the lazy bunch of ad block officers.

I really don't know why we have such a bureaucratic system. Why can't all this be computerized and centralized? Is this Indian Institute of Technology or Untechnology?!

What will our descendants look like?

The concept that species change over time to adapt to its environment and has root in its antiquity, or in short, the concept of evolution, though in its crude form, was largely accepted by the Greek, Roman, Chinese and the Arabs. But until early nineteenth century, essentialism (every species has a given set of essential traits that are fixed and unalterable) dominated Western thinking. It was then that Jean-Baptiste-Lamarck proposed the theory of "transmutation of species" which is the first fully formed scientific theory on evolution. Later Charles Darwin published "On the origins of Species" which described the new evolutionary theory based on the concept of "natural selection". Though from its outset evolutionary theory was condemned as heresy since it contradicts the notion of a Creator God, the overwhelming scientific consensus on the evidence of evolution led to its acceptance.

Hence evolution is caused by the change in genetic material of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. These changes, though small, when accumulated over generations could lead to substantial changes in the organism and even the emergence of a new species. Two major tenets in the evolutionary science are the concepts of natural selection and genetic drift. Natural selection speaks about a process that causes favorable traits to remain and become more common in the generations to come while genetic drift speaks about an independent process that produces random changes in the frequency of traits in a population.


Having said all the well known facts and basics of evolution, a question that has intrigued many is one of the future of the human race. Homo sapiens are said to have appeared in Africa about two hundred thousand years ago. Close relatives of chimpanzees, homo sapiens are the only species having highly developed brains capable of reasoning, language, introspection and problem solving. But how will the future human look like? Will our genes change enough to create an entirely new human species, one that will no longer be able to breed with us? What are the implications of the emerging technology on the coming generations? Or will a mass destruction like a nuclear war or a asteroid collision or an inter-planetary war destroy and wipe out the whole human race?

According to natural selection, only traits that are favorable will be selected and preserved in the newer generations. In such a case, will it be that the future man will end up with fewer body parts. For instance, the wisdom tooth may not be present in the coming generations since we eat cooked food. We might lose our appendix since we do not eat raw food anymore. All redundant parts which were once designed for the primitive man may not be present in the new generation man. Will men of the future develop other organs like wings to fly? Coincidentally, one of my favorite serials, Heroes, features genetically modified men with extra ordinary powers. What role will science and technology have to play in creating such "humans"? Will man himself take up the role of the Creator in inventing new and better species with such extra ordinary powers? Will further evolution take place only in terms of the brain and the intellect? If so, is Einstein not a typical man of our era and generation?

In fact there were some studies conducted on what the future of mankind is and one of them said that in another thousand years humans might divide into two sub species. The study said that "the descendants of the genetic upper class would be tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative and a far cry from the "underclass" humans who would have evolved into dim-witted, ugly, squat goblin-like creatures". Some studies also suggested that in another ten thousand years, humans may have paid a genetic price for relying on technology. Because of the over use and over dependency on gadgets to meet their every need, they could come to resemble domesticated animals!

While doing a bit of research to find more about what the world has to say, I came across a website that described men after a million years to be either Unitarans, Survivalistians, Numans, Cyborgs or Astrans.



"The Astran (Astranthopus)

Segments of humanity are re-engineered, genetically and robotically, for voyages to other star systems. Astrans are able to put their vital systems to suspended animation for millennia while robotic pilots take the wheel, then reawaken and reproduce when they arrive at their interstellar colonies."









"The Cyborg (Homo roboticus)

Robotic enhancements become routine. Although these cybertronics "acquired traits" themselves are not inheritable, humans eventually adapt by becoming less immune-resistant to implants. The result is a symbiotic relationship with robotics. Aritificial intelligence might evolove itself, eventually into a species in competition with its human host."






"The Numan (Homo genomicus)

Germ-line genetic modifications creates a variety of "mini-species" ranging from over-the-top "numan" hybrids to "natural" humans who swear off all genetic alteration on ethical and religious grounds. Social as well as natural selection plays a role in small-scale species diversity. Numan could eventually come into conflict with Naturals, but which will prevail?"





"The Unihuman (Homo sapiens sapienter)

Species finds a stable niche. Racial differences blend together as gene mixing becomes global. Caste system may develop to preserve social harmony. Diminished diversity in a human "monoculture" could set our descendants up for a big fall."









"The Survivalistians (Postapocalypticus)

Global catastrophe - perhaps a nuclear war or an asteroid collision - separates human population long enough to allow for renewed differentiation. Physical attributes adapt to local circumstances, perhaps with night-vision or radiation shielding skin."







Whether we will end up being one of these or evolve into something else - only time can tell!

What do you get when three B's converge?

This is that time of the year when Bollywood, BCCI and Business interests come together to grip the country and revolutionalize the sport that is a religion to many! This innovative form of the cricket has attracted a huge fan following not just in India, but across the globe. Surely, this insanely popular game is now the most watched domestic Twenty20 competition in the world. The Challengers, Royals, Riders, Tigers, Lions (Sparrows and Pigeons and what not) together with corporate honchos and the big wigs of the film industry to juice and cheer, have made this event a festival of glitz, explosives and sixes for the cricket fans.

However, critics are worried whether one day cricket which was once a fans' delight will take the backseat henceforth. The traditionalists are worried if the purest form of cricket, Test cricket, will survive the test of time? There are even skeptics who doubt if IPL will affect India's unity. Much to the chagrin of the country's moral police, American style cheerleading was brought to India to tart up this otherwise staid game originally designed for indolent British lords! On the other hand, the supporters of this extravaganza, cite IPL to have boosted the economy, helped provide opportunity to guys from small towns with big dreams to show case their stylish flicks. The fast-paced game, with increased testosterone content is also said to have had high TRPs and have lifted the image of cricket.

But surely, IPL is not just about cricket. It is more of a product with a 'made in India' tag and a huge brand value. "A huge money spinner, the two-year-old IPL is worth a whopping $2 billion" says the United Kingdom-based brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance. It seems the IPL brand alone has a value of over $311 million. If the brand can create long-term value with its strong intrinsic strength and foundation, in a few years the IPL clubs may get listed on the bourses just like the popular English Premier League football teams. And coming to the IPL marketing startegy that the various companies employ, how can one forget Pepsi youngistan that hoped to cash in on the buzz surrounding the youngsters. This year, Vodafone has brought in "zoozoos" to do the job!

No doubt, IPL is the next in-thing in the world of cricket. But what is the secret of the success of this brain child of Lalit Modi? The three hour format, the music and fun during breaks, popcorn and ice cream, item numbers by the "phirangi admirers" - does it sound a bell somewhere? Is IPL the next generation, action packed, feisty and real-time DDLJ? Is Lalit Modi the new avatar of Yash Chopra? :D