Horse Gram Vs Flax Seeds

Looks can be deceptive - if you don't care about the fine details. This may apply to Horse Gram and Flax Seeds, especially the brown variety. Some time ago, I gave an answer on Quora about the differences between the two, and owing to the popularity, thought of adding it here.

Here's a quick difference between the two:

* Flax seed is a seed, while Horse Gram is a pulse. (To make it clear, pulse is also a seed - edible seed - from the legume family; legume refer to the plants whose fruits are enclosed in a pod - like groundnut, soyabean etc...; There is an argument that Flax seed should also be included in the legume family - but let me not get into it.)

* Nutrient Value of 100 gram of Flax seed is: 50 calories, 20 grams of protein, 41 grams of fat, and 28 grams of fiber.

* Nutrient Value of 100 gram of Horse gram is:  321 calories, 22 grams of protein, 287 mg of Calcium, 311 mg of Phosphorus and 7mg of Iron.

* Flax seeds contain Omega-3 Fatty Acids (Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acid - PUFA) - the richest vegetarian food, containing this essential fat. 

* So, both Horse Gram and Flax seeds are rich in protein, both can help in weight loss.  But if you are looking for Omega-3 and/or Omega-6 fatty acids (Omega 3 and 6 are in the ratio of approx 4:1), then flax seeds should help. 

Source: 

  * Comprehensive Research Article on Horse Gram
  * Nutritive value of Pulses, Seeds and Nuts 
  * Recipes of Flax Seed and Horse Gram
  * Ratio of Omega 3 and Omega 6 in various foods

The Year 2017 for me

2017 turned out to be an interesting year (while looking back), with its share of surprises and unexpected things. The downs that I faced this year, got etched badly in my mind, and I was totally at loss, as I could not comprehend them with rational thinking.

On hindsight, I guess, this made my belief stronger that there are forces beyond us, and they work only for our own good - in a very very long term! - and these perceived bad things are a sort of 'balancing' act by them.

So let me get into it.

• Enjoying the luxury of high-bandwidth Internet in Mobiles through SIM (Cellular connections), Thanks to Jio for 4G LTE 
• Seeing the domain of Crypto applications getting expanded wildly (yes wildly), thanks to applications of Blockchain
• Happy to Conduct Brainstorming Discussions on topics related to Internet
• Joined Professional Societies as a member (IEEE, and ACM)
• Remote Presentation at IEEE ATC Conference
• Wondered (Did some ground work too, may end up as a publication) - how you can prove your financial reputation to some one for obtaining credit. 
• Opportunity to work (research) on DNS 
• Organized an IEEE Conference successfully (understood how much time and efforts are required despite having a team, and funds were not an issue)
• Learnt the value of Backup in a softway (yes soft and not hard :) ) - as I lost data when a pendrive suddenly stopped working, and thankfully I had a backup. 
• Got interested on privacy preserving payments and was exploring them. 
• Promotions - finally happened (after a long wait) in the institution that I am working for. It was almost a miracle on two counts, one it happened after a long hiatus, and then it was ante-dated; and an interesting thing is that it left many unhappy. Unfortunately I too was bitten by it, and the ramblings are there in the beginning of this post.  In this process, also figured out how my seniors rated me in my earlier years (last decade). 
• As usual, taught OOP using Java, Crypto programming, WWW Architecture etc... and gave lectures on Digital Signatures, PKI, Blockchain,  etc... at various prestigious forums. 
• Personal: Watching my kids growing up, Failing health of Mother 
• Places Visited: Guwahati, Delhi, Madurai, Hyderabad, Vijayawada , Bharachukki, Gaganchukki Falls,  Patna 

Models of God - Part 2

This is in continuation of my earlier blog post on Models of God, where I had mentioned that we use models to know the unknown.  In that post, I had mentioned that Modeling is a very common thing  and in the modern world, Scientists are the most common users of models. However models have been used for long by people of all races and societies for knowing, for positive purposes, and for negative purposes.

In this post, I would like to dwell about the positive use of Models - especially in the puranas - so as to show how ancient the art is. There are many other instances, but these two stand out significantly.

In Ramayan, Ram, after defeating Ravan, and sending his wife (Sita) to forest, decided to do a ritual (yagna) for the betterment of his citizens and the world and that ritual requires his wife to participate. Left with no option, a model of Sita is created and he does the ritual successfully.

In Mahabharata, Eklavya uses a model of Dronacharya, (though some texts says that he watches the lessons of Dronacharya to Arjun at a distance) and masters the skill of archery.

Now to conclude - that what we refer as God for worship - is a model of the divine energy and is an outstanding example of the positive use of models.

Short Verse on Price Value

எனக்கு தோன்றிய கவிதை

எது இன்று மலிவாக கிடைக்கிறதோ 

அதுவும் ஒரு நாள் அதீத விலையில் கிடைக்கும் 

எது இன்று அதீத விலையில் கிடைக்கிறதோ 
அதுவும் ஒரு நாள் மலிவாக கிடைக்கும் 

எனக்குள் எழுந்த கேள்வி
அப்படின்னா தங்கம் எப்பொதுழுது மலிவாக கிடைக்கும்  ?

எனக்கு தோன்றிய பதில்

கிடைக்கலாம்.  ஏதாவது ஒரு விண்கல் (எரிகற்கள்) மூலமாக அல்லது யார் அறிந்தது, மக்கள் மனம் மாறலாம்

***

Translation of the Quote
Whatever is cheap today may become costlier some day
Whatever is costlier today may become cheaper some day

Question:
So when can we expect Gold to become cheaper ?

Answer:
May be an asteroid can shower some Gold or who knows, people may change their mind (by losing their interest in Gold). 

Buying a Premium Product? - A lesson, I learnt

I was happy buying the Bosch Washing Machine - German Engineering, and did not mind the extra-premium that I had to pay. I was convinced about its quality, durability etc...

Yes, it is robust and works like a true dedicated machine. It reduced our workloads of washing clothes, and even wondered, how about having such durable machines for doing many of our other chores.

3 years later, the display panel showed error signs, and stopped working. We got so used to it, and found it difficult without it. I made a call to the service centre, who promised to send a personnel, but I have to pay Rs.850/- as a service fee.  Just to indicate how 'equal pay' it was, I had paid Rs.750/- as consultation fee for a specialist doctor at a premium hospital, two days prior to this call.

But here, I have no option, and I agreed. Despite agreeing for it, no one turned up. So I kept calling till they sent a guy on my 3rd call. He seemed to be a deputy to the service engineer, and discovered that he had just finished his diploma. I explained him the problem. He then explained to his 'Boss' over phone. He then told me that the board has to be replaced and it will cost Rs.12,000/- 1/3rd of my machine cost - that I paid 3 years ago. If I am agreeing, then I do not have to pay his service fee now, otherwise I have to. I paid him the service fee of Rs.850/- and sent him.

I was disappointed with the Authorized Service Centre. I figured out a guy who does washing machine repairs and he visited me and told that he can fix it for Rs. 9000/- and his service fee would be Rs. 1000/-. I said 'Thanks for coming', and paid him Rs.500/- for his visit.

I searched again, and through a neighbor, got hold of yet another guy. He came and checked it, and said the same - that the board has to be replaced. But he gave the reasons for failure of the board - either power fluctuation,  or could be a cockroach that might have entered into it and would have laid eggs leading to some shortage.  He also proposed an alternate solution, that he can get the existing board 'fixed', through a specialist and I would have to pay Rs.4000/- plus his service fee. I decided to take the risk.

Weeks later, he returned with the same board, and showed the soldering that was done by the 'specialist', and I paid Rs.5000/- (Rs.4000/- for specialist that he claims to have paid and Rs.1000/- for him). The machine worked, and has been working for more than 2+ years now.

Lesson: Go for a premium brand, only if you can afford it throughout its life cycle.

Philosophical Inquiry of a Colloquial Phrase

பிறந்து வரணும் டா / புறந்து வரணும் டா 

(Rough Translation: One has to be re-born to beat the sayer (or) None is there to beat the sayer; Used to emphasise supremacy of the sayer; )

This is a dialogue that you might hear, when some one wants to tell you that he can't be beaten in a particular field / art, and he is the 'supreme' guy in that subject and to beat him, some one is yet to be born - meaning, nobody is there yet, to beat him.

Of course, this is a very colloquial phrase, and I believe this is not being used these days, that frequently. However I have heard several times, when I was in school, probably due to the influence of a movie.

Now, let us leave that aside and do a quick philosophical inquiry.

Though, it gives a sense of the sayer's arrogance in display, it also means that the sayer acknowledges that he/she is adept/best only in the current time frame, and over a period, there may be some one who will emerge better than him.

Let me throw some few arbitrary examples.

When we all watched Kapil Dev in awe, there came another greater player - Sachin Tendulkar, after many years, and then when we believed that there can be never be another player like Sachin, we discovered Dhoni, and then Virat Kohli - all in overlapping and close time frames. Though the styles are different, almost everything is different, our beliefs on the best player changes over time.

If you like Ramayan, here's another: When everyone thought that Ravan was simply unstoppable and unbeatable, there came a Ram, in a different (but overlapping) time period, who destroyed Ravan and that too in a very unconventional and different style (Ram did not have the powerful armed force of Ayodhya with him, and he was not even a king, when he defeated Ravan).

Moral: There is always going to be a bigger force or person, than the current one, but only away in the time frame.

The Year 2016 - for me

It has become a tradition for me, to start blogging each year with the happenings/learning of the previous year. So here it goes:

Lessons:

• Don't try to infer lessons from everything - time 'may' tell - just keep going!
• People keep repeating the same mistakes in different ways, because either they did not learn the right lessons or forgot them! 
• We might have given our best in difficult situations and even our efforts and rewards might be glaringly visible - but that does not mean that others are going to rate you high! - so just keep going! 

Work:

• A decade and a half got completed in my current workplace. 
• Happy to note that some of the ambitious research problems that we started to work decades ago, and left after 2-3 years of pursuing it, owing to the compulsions of the organization, were still remaining unsolved (meaning they were really challenging!), but seeing good traction in the respective domains. 
• Happy to envision and develop ICT-based social solutions, which did not materialize the way I wanted. But now seeing them created in a different way (much about it later).  
• Overtime owing to the need of the environment, I envisioned to build a portfolio of projects and services catering to the broad domain of Information Security which worked out fantastically within a short span of time. 
• The organization did not have a promotion policy for the last 5+ years. Fortunately close to the end of the year, a policy was introduced, of course with many complexities as usual, and I had to work on reports starting from 2007 to 2016! - an herculean task!
• We were able to know our individual annual ratings of the previous years, as the data was opened up - a nice thing to know, even if you do not like what you see!

• Saw myself working more on standards whether it is Digital Signatures, Internet Protocols, Cloud Security Audits etc... 
• Compiled and brought in more content to the Handbook on Digital Signatures and PKI
• Happy to initiate more activities to promote the development of Internet Protocols in India - one of the dreams visualized years ago.  
• Conducted training on Digital Signatures and PKI at various locations across the country, primarily for the local State Govt. officials. Had really tough time coordinating many of these programs and it was a good experience for me. 
• Happy to see the technical movie that I scripted on Digital Signatures going alive and receiving positive feedback on Youtube. 
• Successfully organized a National Conference on Digital Signatures and PKI exclusively catering to the Banking and Financial Sector at Mumbai.
• Participated in ICANN 57, Hyderabad and also presented the various approaches in DANE (TLSA) in DNSSEC workshop   

General:

• Wondering whether Mobile Handset manufacturers install something to make the phone/device work only for specific period of time! - Fed up with problems of MotoG 1st Gen . 
• Gave up the telephone landline connection in my native - while doing so remembered how much we had struggled (and waited patiently for years) to get it. Technology can bring in pleasant changes. 
• New age library - JustBooks - though not an active subscriber, continued to subscribe, and want them to survive! and ofcourse discover books through serendipity
• My contributions to Quora on the subject of Digital Signatures and PKI made me as one of the top viewed writer. 
• Invited lectures at couple of places made me to learn and develop an over-arching perspective.
• Places Traveled: This year was eventful and visited quite a lot of places and all of them are very memorable and each one has its own unique history. Tripura (Agartala),  Lakshadweep (Kavaratti), Tirupati, Nashik (Shirdi & Anjaneri), Jaipur, Rameshwaram, Ramnad - UttaraKosaMangai temple, Devipatnam - Navagrahas in sea, Tirupullani - Shri Adhi Jagannatha Swamy Temple, Tiruchendur, Panchalangkurichi, Sikkim (Gangtok, Nathula Pass), Mumbai, Bhubaneshwar (Lingaraj temple, Sanchi Stupa, Udayagiri), Puri, Konark Temple, Trichy (Erumbeswarar Temple), Raipur, Pyramid Valley in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata (Dakshineshwar temple), Madurai Meenakshi Temple 

Personal: 

• Got to see lord Venkateshwara (Tirumala) from close quarters, which I never expected. However my mind was restless, as my father was unwell. After finishing the darshan, I learnt that he was admitted to an Intensive Care Unit in Apollo hospital and I was deeply worried. But as a group we went to have darshan of Goddess Padmavathy and immediately started to Bangalore, and things turned fine after a day, and he got discharged the day after, and came to normalcy exactly after a month. - Don't know what to say, except that faith kept things moving. Again went for the usual darshan along with my family, a month later. 
• Later in September, my mother had developed a serious health issue - acute myocardial infraction - heart attack, and a cardiac stent was put up which later lead to several other complications  including kidney, and lungs at a much later stage. I somehow felt that the 'stent' - an external object is actually a slow killer, though it saved life at that moment. The heart attack was very much unexpected for us as her cholesterol levels were always pretty normal, no sugar, no BP etc...  I also realized that stent, cannot improve the functions of the heart and felt that her heart was not functioning up to the mark, which no one was willing to tell me ! (except time) 

Models of God

A Scientist need to create models and use them to prove or disprove his theory. Such models are not the exact replica of reality, but embeds few critical elements of the real objects and the environment. This kind of research is generally accepted in all disciplines of Science, and the solutions developed through the use of models are implemented in real environments, including human beings - in case of medicines. 

Now coming back to the subject, if God had created this Universe, then some elements of God would surely manifest in his creations (this can be proved scientifically also) - and that includes everything in this Earth. 

Considering the above two premises, if we (Man) create a model of God, then that model will surely have the element of God in it -  because whatever we are going to use for the creation of model - is all taken from the creations of God only.  So, the conclusions are: 

• God (or at least elements of God) manifests through his creations

• We can't create God, but we can surely and easily create a model

• Elements of God are present in all models.  

In today's world, different religions and different sects within a religion all propose their own models of God, and fight with each other, claiming their model of God is the right one! - the fact is that all models of God are right for sure - as all of them contain elements of God, and therefore no one can go wrong ! in modeling (the system of) God, which is the real wonderful and beautiful thing of this Universe.   

P.S: It's unfortunate to note that (many) people involved in blackmagic too use models, and then try to improve the accuracy of that model by collecting samples of the targeted person. 

Belief and Self-Belief : Lessons from the Indian Epics

Two different incidents from the great Indian epics - Ramayana and Mahabharata, strike me about the importance of belief and self-belief. Though I had talked about belief in my earlier posts, I would like to take it a step further with examples / incidents drawn from the above two epics.

First, the belief - In Ramayana, there comes an instance, when Hanuman, the great devotee of Lord Ram, had to disobey the orders of the latter, due to a promise given by Hanuman's mother to save some king from Lord Ram. Hanuman under these circumstances decide to stand by his mother's promise, and protects the king. Lord Ram with no options left, aims to attack Hanuman, and Hanuman simply keeps chanting and praying Lord Rama in full faith, and the powerful arrows from the bow of Lord Ram could not cause any harm to Hanuman. Ram upon frustration, aims to use even more powerful arrows, but of no use, as none of them could do anything to Hanuman. Later, ofcourse Gods intervene and stop it, and it is revealed that whoever has strong unshakable faith on Lord Rama, they cannot be attacked even by the powerful Lord Ram himself.

The point to be noted is the strong belief - which is highlighted in several ways throughout Hinduism. This is one of the traits that make Hinduism accept different ways and methods of worship - simply put, if you have full faith on anything and believe in it completely (absolute surrender), God (or powers that may be) manifests through it to make your beliefs come true.

Second the self-belief - In Mahabharatha, there comes an instance when Duroyadhana seeks the help of Sahadeva (Remember that Sahadeva is one of the Pandavas, whom Duroyadhana will be fighting against in the war), for telling him a suitable day to perform the sacrifice to Goddess Durga before the start of the Kurukshetra war. Sahadeva being righteous and virtuous tells him that the up coming new moon day is the auspicious day for doing the sacrifice, and it is widely believed that whoever does the sacrifice first, will be the winner of the war. Krishna on his pursuit to make the Pandavas win the war, plays a game to make the Sun and Moon (depicted as devas) meet, a day before (or probably hours before) and ask the Pandavas to immediately perform the sacrifice.  (Technically new moon day happens when Sun and Moon are in straight line and their angular degree is Zero). Duroyadhana on knowing this, becomes angry and argues with Sahadeva & Krishna regarding the correct new moon day, and though Sahadeva says that whatever he said was right, Krishna simply answers saying that Yudhistra believed him, and you (Duroyodhana) believed Sahadeva, and whoever has strong belief will win. Later when Pandavas question Krishna, he goes on to say that, to win a war, self-belief is more important than anything else, emphasizing all other rituals are only secondary to self-belief.

May be more and better examples could be extracted from these two great epics, but these two strike me the most!

P.S: An interesting link that I discovered about 15 people (or characters) common between Ramayan and Mahabharatha was: https://wiralfeed.wordpress.com/2015/11/10/ramayana-to-mahabharata/

Baahubali Movie and Just a thought on Historical Inspiration

Being a History fan, I was smitten by the movie Baahubali: The Beginning  and watched it last year. The movie was excellent with great picturization (as per Indian Standards) and a historical fictional story being told in a superb style, and ofcourse as evident it had drawn inspirations from the great Indian epic Mahabharata.  

After coming out of the theater, a question was lingering on my mind, why the Kalakeya kingdom (portrayed by Prabhakar and others) was characterized as dark people and the most cruel fighters? Has the director, Shri SS Rajamouli,  had just done it to give a sense of 'fear' to the audience or is their a history behind it ? 

When we look at the History in general, it is filled with wars and the associated cruelties committed by people, who primarily belong to the fairer skin color!  A couple of days or months later, Shri SS Rajamouli was present in a Rediff Chat - and I posted this question, but it went unanswered. 

Had he got inspired by the Asuras from the many Indian epics including Ramayana ? or from any pre-British-era wars that were fought in the Southern side of India or was it a casual depiction ?  Also has the movie got any connections with the Bahubali - the first teacher of Jainism, as speculated in these article. We don't know. Anyways, will look forward to the second and concluding part of the movie (yet to be released) to see if the director has given any clues and of course to enjoy the movie !

Chennai Floods and Probable Techno Solutions

Chennai Floods and the damages it had caused to life and lifeless things are enormous. Hope the people rebuilt it with zeal to make it a better place, withstanding any natural and man-made disasters in the future.

This post tries to dream or fantasize, how much could be done to minimize the pain and suffering of the people who were badly affected, by using the upcoming and future technologies.

1. Electrical Power 

The most fundamental element - as lots and lots of our equipment and devices, food and even water are dependent on electricity. So, we badly need a way to generate it with little manual power in case of emergency situations. A recent innovation unveiled by Manoj Bhargava that uses pedaling power to produce electricity is a good place to start with. A detailed article can be found here. Probably a leaner, efficient and compact machine for individual homes, if becomes available in future will be grabbed by many! 

2. Water 

People need clean and pure drinking water.In today's environment, the water is pumped up to the overhead tanks through electrically powered motors. So, electricity is required, and of course regular water supply is also required. With these two constraints in getting the drinking water, it's going to be tougher in these situations. Even if we manage to get, purification will be another problem, unless people use the traditional LPG stove and boil the water for 20+ minutes. Low-energy water purification systems that may come into play in future can be found here. 

3. Communication and Home Delivery 

With energy being available, communication would eventually be available. Proposals to use balloons, and drones by Google and Facebook respectively aim to use the Stratosphere for providing Internet Connectivity. Whether they will be able to come out of red-tape and be able to offer these services remains, but probably will be allowed to function under emergency situations.  Also, Amazon's idea of using drones for delivery of items such as medicines will come in handy in these kind of natural calamity. 

Madurai Discussion on Neeya Naana and my thoughts

A month ago, there was a debate about Madurai in the popular Neeya Naana program in Star Vijay Television Channel.  Though it was a general debate without any sides to it, I, being from Madurai (I was born there, and lived there for 8+ years) have my share of views. Here they are: 

1. The basic amenities like water and electricity should be available to all in their convenience of their houses and should be reliable - Well, I know that it does not happen in most parts of our country - but that does not mean, it should not happen here too.
2. Madurai is a place of historical importance, and for more details check out my other blog post. So, when we say that, we need to benchmark against cities like London, Melbourne etc.. and see what is lacking. What all these cities have in common is a river flowing through them, and Madurai has the Vaigai river flowing through it, but when you see it, you get a sense of despair. What needs to be done is to clean it up, and do whatever it takes to keep the water flowing through and if possible establish waterways - which will not only attract tourists but also provide income generation for the people there. 
3. Vehicle movement has been stopped around Madurai Meenakshi Temple, for few years now. How about having battery operated vehicles that can ply pilgrims and citizens for a nominal fee (or even free) around the temple. They are clean, and pollution free. 
   
4. Regulating the Autos (they simply charge as per their wish - current rate stands at minimum of Rs.30/- for a km) and improving the public transport, increasing the public toilet amenities, and of course maintaining the cleanliness all will go in a long way to improve not only the look and feel of the city, but will also in improving the economy and prosperity of the City and people living here. 

Is timely arrival to office important ?

What is important ? Reaching office on time or being productive? Of course, if you can achieve both it will be good. Also on the positive side, this inculcates a sense of discipline both to the person and organization.

But is it really required? especially in organizations, where productivity is not measured in terms of quantity, but rather in terms of quality - and wherein timely delivery of results are important - which also demands discipline from the person as well as the organization.

Now coming to the arguments against timely arrival goes like this:

• Can you achieve timely arrival day-in and day-out in a congested, polluted, unreliable public transport system and in a highly unpredictable traffic conditions? 
• Can you assure the time it takes to reach point A to point B, through common modes of transport (in any populous city, wherein citizens commute for their work, education etc..) ?
• If you answered yes for the above, can you assure it atleast 95 out of 100 times ?  If you still answered yes, then skip to the next point
• Though reaching on time is a very good thing, do you agree that leaving on time, also is a good thing?  If you answered yes, continue, else exit (as it gets into the unfair zone!)

Timing is critical in a factory setup, or in a service setup, or wherever quantity is more important and where work is routine and in situations wherein employees have to be present before the customer arrives! Isn't it ?, but can the same be said for places where planning, designing, programming and such creative elements are required ?

Think!

P.S: The above points  and situations are purely imaginary! and any resemblance to a person or an organization in real life is purely a coincidence!!  :)  

Identity

Identity has a profound effect in every human life. It is almost impossible to live without it, and almost all of us crave for it. By identity, I not only mean creating an individual identity, but creating or shaping a collective identity.

In this part of the world, there was a period in time, when a person is said to have spiritually progressed, only if he had lost the sense of individual Identity and realizes himself or herself as part of the identity of God. 'Bhagavad Gita' tells the same. Precisely this means losing the identity of  " I ", and being identity-less.

However, for many of us, it is difficult to come out of an identity that has either been created by us consciously or unconsciously or by others on behalf of us. We enjoy the feeling of identity, and the comfort of it, and we are afraid to give it up, even in case of failure. We may give up an identity, only to subscribe to another identity, but never want to be without an identity. But we also need to remember that identity comes with a cost, though not necessarily economical. History tells us that almost every leader aspired to put their identity alive in one form or other, even after they passed away from this earth. 

People (in general) who did not create an individual identity by themselves subscribe to a collective identity, and start believing the collective identity as their own individual identity. Sometimes, they get trapped into the web of this transient collective identity, that they get pushed themselves to the extremes to defend their (collective) identity by taking it up against other's identity. In these individuals, the feeling of "I" gets merged totally with "We", and always looked from the perspective of against "others". Religions and Nationalism all fall in the category of collective identity! 

A must-see Historical place in Shimla

Last year, when I was in Shimla: It was raining and foggy around 4 PM, as I hurried up to the prestigious institute, well renowned for its historical importance & architectural splendor. I was told that the institute was a place that I should not miss, and truly it was! 

Indian institute of Advanced Study - IIAS - an institute for postdoctoral studies in areas of arts & humanities - is housed in this prestigious building that resembles a palace. The building originally built in 1888, was meant to be a summer palace for the Viceroys of India. After independence, it became the summer rest house for Indian president, but Dr. S Radhakrishnan the then President of India, decided to convert it into an academic institution for higher studies. Now residential post-doctoral courses are run here. 

Few of the notable things, that captured my interests were: 

• Clock - Old manual winding clock that still runs today and shows the Full Moon and New Moon
• Roof - Made of Walnut wood  
• Switches - German make and still functioning!
• Piano - keys made out of elephant tusk
• Electrification - First electrified building in Shimla in 1888 and that too with concealed wiring!
• Chandelier - Belgian make 
• Table - Pandit Nehru and Mountbatten signed an agreement for partitioning of India and the table was partitioned to signify it 
• Doors - Burma teak unpolished & unpainted
• Library - Originally a Ballroom 
• Simla Conference - Hindu Muslim conference organized in 1945
• Fire Sensors - Wax on water pipes that will melt automatically on heat
• Entrance - Wood paneled like the best Scottish houses, with fireplace for the winter months

IIAS - As I saw it - that day, that time

Smart Medians or Dividers for a Smart City?

Medians or Dividers on the road serve as an excellent tool for enforcing lane discipline and probably as a good regulator for managing the traffic. However at times, it may be a cause for an increase in traffic jams, especially on one side of the median. 

I had earlier proposed the idea of Shiftable medians (in 2011) - a sort of Dynamic Medians on the road instead of the fixed ones. The advantages are given below:

• During Peak hours, traffic is generally expected to flow in one direction. At such times, when the roads are narrow, the median will be a bigger hindrance, and in such instances, if more lanes (say 3) are allowed for the peak traffic to flow instead of existing (say 2) lanes, it will ease the flow of traffic
• For emergency vehicles, such as Ambulance, a separate lane can be facilitated, if the median can be shifted to one corner of the road 
• A median can be removed during holidays or off-hours to simply allow crowds or gatherings to pass through - on a positive note think of a Marathon or Walkathon 
• A median can be made leaner or fatter based on the need, though such a use case scenario would then be exploited for advertisement hoardings

Given that Smart City initiatives are under progress in several countries including India, it makes sense to have Shift-able medians or smart medians as it has the advantages outlined above. 

Taking it a step further, the smart medians of course would require management, which could be initially done by humans, but later managed through intelligent systems that takes several inputs including the traffic conditions, timing, traffic flow at traffic signals etc... 

Update: September 2015: Found Shiftable median concept being already used in SanFanscico Golden Gate, in January 2015, called as Moveable Median, as given below, wherein a Zipper truck is being used for shifting the median. 

The Year 2014 - for me

As usual, this year too, I am starting with my thoughts on the previous year, especially at my personal front.

General Observations - Positive & Neutral

• Realized that our workplace is slowly adopting paper-less practices and an important step of HR records moving online
• Got a first-hand experience in using various crypto-tokens
• Managed to organize 2 big technical events - One on DNS Security; and another on Digital Signatures and PKI
• Realized that to reach people and propagate your message, you should use all mediums. So, Started relying heavily on Social Media (Facebook and Twitter) for promotion of our concepts and efforts
• Finally visited US and UK this year, and had already shared my experiences in this post. 
• Smartphone era finally heralded in our homes, (and relatives) this year
• Wondered what will happen if Google decides to close Blogger one day ?? So, decided to have my blog posts replicated in wordpress too
• Guided around 10+ Interns this year (though some of them were been my interns since last year) Also met several students who visit our campus each year as a ritual 
• Places Visited: Mumbai, Kollam, Shimla, Noida, Los Angeles, London, and New Delhi

General Observations - Disappointments

• Much expected elevation in my career did not happen this year too, despite list of significant achievements to showoff had been increasing!
• Realized the pathetic situation of M.Tech studies in many not-so-popular institutes! One institution withdrew its intern student saying that the problem assigned was too difficult! Another institution's students got the work published in 'paid' conferences due to their academic pressures! However have to admit that, met a few bright students also.
• Did my best as last ditch efforts to increase the use of the system that I had been building for last few years (4 years). Spent significant efforts in the first half year working on it, tried using AI techniques, changing the UI, increasing interaction mechanisms, and had to also have to overcome difficulties in hosting and integrating with social media and also shifting the connectivity.  But despite all these, more barriers were raised, and it dawned that the current approach is no longer going to be feasible
• Quite frustrated with one of our client, who were adamant on a round-about technique for doing an activity, and even that too did not materialize due to several procedural and technical issues. - An absolute time & effort waster! 
• Figured out how a famous  company's (It had a great name of an important celestial object, with out which life is not possible) software product that was offered at very fair prices, when taken over by another, were offered at exorbitantly high prices using a different model, with just a logo change!, while the code and features remained the same! 
• Realized the pains of organizing a event (had a first-hand experience of it), where many people who you know participate and had to be extremely careful such that their egos are not hurt

Los Angeles and London

I got an opportunity to visit both these places in a short trip, and this being my first trip to both these places, here are my experiences.

First about LA (that's how people call Los Angeles), the second largest city in US, one of the biggest cities in the world with about 1302 Sq. kms, and being part of the State of California (that was ceded to US from Mexico in 1848).  LA is famous for arts, and it's no surprise that Hollywood is in LA!

I used the local transport extensively. Here they refer to both buses and trains as 'Metro', and like any big city, all are integrated, and you can use the same card (called as TAP card) for payment.Buses are merged with vestibule during weekdays.  Exit are primarily through rear side only except for handicapped. As you enter you tap the prepaid TAP card or pay the amount to the driver. If you want to get down, there is a cable to pull an electronic bell or alarm and the driver stops in the next stop. This is to inform the driver that you will be getting down in the next stop. Security Cameras are installed in buses. All buses are air-conditioned. 

You pay a standard fare of 1.75$ for a ride - that means irrespective of where you get down you pay the same amount. There are daily, monthly passes and also senior citizen passes. For physically challenged and for people in wheelchair, the driver will convert the stairs to a ramp and this is there in all buses. There is a GPS based announcement system inside the bus that announces the next stop name. If you are using a bicycle you can load it in front of the bus (outside of the bus) and then board the bus. Petrol is called as gas and measured and priced in gallons. Gas stations operate on self serving mode - you have to swipe your credit card and fill it yourselves and receipt will be generated.

I managed to visit Griffith Observatory, and Natural History Museum, truly remarkable places. I should stay I was really excited to see a place like Griffith Observatory. Though entry is absolutely free, I bought a ticket for the Planetarium show for 7 US Dollars, and definitely worth every bit of it. I went around the observatory clicking pictures, and also went saw the telescope that was seen by Griffith, and was shown a star - Neveda, and then watched the Foucault pendulum experiment trying to prove that the earth is rotating, and that only few places in this earth can be used to conduct such an experiment. There is also a small souvenir shop in this place. 

Natural History Museum was located opposite to University of Southern California. An entry fee of 12$ is charged, but definitely worth it. Lot of mammal replicas were displayed in a very neat and stunningly look-real setup. Skeleton structures of Dinosaurs and history of man were also on display. Bird replicas really reflect a sanctuary setup. More importantly, they also have paleontologists working on real fossils and their work is also displayed for visitors to see. This will serve as a huge inspiration for the young students. Another astonishing section was the minerals sections, that had almost all treasure stones of the world, including Ruby, Blue moon diamond etc.. for display in a vault guarded by security staff. If you have lots of time, its really worth spending here.  There is a store, where you can buy few items. 

I was lucky to discover Paru's Restaurant, for South Indian Veg Food, that was just 1.5 kms from the place I stayed. Learnt that it was started in 1979 by a person from Tamil nadu, India and though it looks like a house from outside, it was appealing inside. I found many foreigners frequenting it, in the few days I visited it. I used to have their "Queen Paru" - a combo of One Idly, One Ghee Dosa and One Poori for 16 US dollars (after tax). Poori and Idly was Ok, though Dosa did not meet my expectations. 

From L to R: Beverly Hills, South Indian Veg Restaurant, Griffith Observatory, Dino Lab at National History Museum 

Next is London. Just got few hours to spend here, before I had to take the return flight, and a good old friend of mine helped me in this trip.  Here local underground rail transport is called 'Tube', and the charge is 8 Pounds per day. Saw the famous Thames river and we walked and took the tube to reach Westminister (British Parliament), and then saw places around there, including the famous London bridge. 

We had a meal deal pack (Sandwich, Juice, and Chips) from Tesco (the well know grocery store)  and there was lot of crowd doing the same, and doing it with a sense of urgency. We then went to London eye - a giant wheel, and saw a 4D picture about London, and then walked to Trafalgar Square, and took photos at the world famous National Museum. Then walked to Buckingham palace, and then took photos.  London was pleasant at that time, and preserves its old heritage and style, despite the modern developments. 

Both LA and London are modern cities, and have a great history dating back to several centuries. LA and London both are cosmopolitan and have people from several countries who have made it as their homeland today. While LA is fully modern in its buildings and infrastructure,  London strikes a balance between the grandeur of past and its modernity. 

London

P.S: 

I also managed a very short trip to San Francisco, thanks to a good old friend, and saw the Golden Gate - the world famous suspension bridge.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the public infrastructure facilities, in the bay areas, like the library in Pleasanton that was free to all members (living in that area), the parks etc... Also visited the famous Shiva-Vishnu temple in Livermore.

What kind of systems will pass the test of time?

My immediate answer would be almost nothing, probably for time itself,  but then we shall restrict our length of  'time' to few generations, and then analyze.

An inflexible system that does not allow change to happen, and therefore being rigid cannot with stand the test of time, and eventually will collapse, however strong it may look at a given point in time. Here, I am using the phrase 'test of time' in a very abstract sense, as it is very difficult to predict what time will throw at.

Only flexible systems, that allow change, and therefore adapt and evolve can potentially pass the test of time. Let us look at few examples. Take the case of language, English as a language is able to stand for centuries now, not only because it has been the language of the rulers of the past centuries, but also it ability to assimilate (absorb) words and constructs of other languages, and evolving continuously with new words getting introduced from various fields, including science and technology.

We all know the fate of various systems of governance practiced in different countries across the world. The testimony of non-democratic systems of governance had shown us that a rigid system will eventually collapse one day, while a democratic system that has an inbuilt mechanism to accept change and evolve with it will survive for long.

Therefore one can safely conclude that, only a system that has tolerance and acceptance for change alone will survive for long, which shall make the system flexible and adaptable. A system that does not allow for adaptability will eventually shrink in its mass before eventually collapsing under its own weight.

However, this does not mean a completely arbitrary and flexible system will survive the test of time. It will not only lead to chaos, but also will come up with a random order, thanks to the 'incentive mechanism' and 'herd mentality' that will get automatically inherited into most of the systems.

So, the conclusion is that a system has to be well-balanced between rigidity and flexibility, so that it can produce the desired (or even wonderful) results and has more probability to survive the test of time. This again points out to my concept of Art of Delicate Balancing.

A brief history of Madurai

Madurai is one of the of the oldest continually inhabited city in the World (along with Varanasi in India), which I had already mentioned in my older post.  So, obviously it has a very long and eventful history.  So, this is an effort to summarize the history so far in few words, and the primary sources of this article were several well-written Wikipedia articles and ofcourse other literary sources. Here it goes ... 

History of Madurai can be started atleast from 500 BCE (though there is a mention that first Sangam - a sort of - academy happened in Madurai around 9000 BCE) , wherein Pandya kings were ruling the region. There have been numerous references to kings and the town in texts of Ramayana, and Mahabharata. An interesting part is that the Pandya king sided with Pandavas during the war, especially king Malayadwaja Pandya (son of Kulashekara Pandyan) - the father of Meenakshi (an avatar of Goddess Parvati) who later ruled Madurai. Though there have been confusions raised stating that the Pandians / Pandyas were actually Pandavas, it is amply clear that Pandya/Pandian kings were separate members as they have found mention even in Ramanyana which predates Mahabharata and the Pandavas were one branch of descendants from the Kuru.  

Cut to 3rd Century AD - the end of the last Sangam period. Pandyas and Madurai appear to be flourishing as they appear to have established trade relationships with Rome, and Egypt. Historians of China mention them after Greek historian mentioned them in 1st Century AD. Jainism then followed by Buddhism appear to have taken dominance in the region during this period.  Archaeologists and Historians concur that Elukadal Street  (one of the streets of Madurai), is said to have been the biggest trade market street of those days.  So, Pandyas / Pandian kings dominated Madurai from 500 BCE till 400 AD, and then again from 1190 AD to 1334 AD.

Cut to 1300's. Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan, an viceroy of the Delhi Sultanate proclaimed independence in 1335 (then ruled by Mohammed Bin Tuglhaq) and established the first independent sultanate. The Madurai Sultan rule continued till 1378, after which the kingdom of Vijaynagar during Harihara II's rule in 1378, invaded it and formally declared as its possession. Kumara Kampana, also known as Kampana Udaiyar, an army officer in the Vijayanagar Empire led the successful invasion of the Madurai Sultanate. He had previously conquered or subdued the Sambuvarayar Dynasty (a vassal of Delhi Sultanate) in Kanchipuram.

Nayaka's dominance and dynasties start from 1538. They were originally military governors under the supervision of the Vijayanagara Empire, but after the downfall of Vijayanagara Empire, many of them declared independence. In 1538 AD, the Vijayanagara commander Kotikam Nagama Nayaka defeated Veerasekara Chola who occupied the Pandyan region. However, Nagama Nayaka declared independence from the Vijayanagar dynasty instead of handing back the Viyanagara kingdom. To check the rebellion of Nagama Nayaka, emperor Krishnadeva Raya sent a large force under Viswanatha Nayaka (who is actually the son of Nagama Nayaka). Viswanatha eventually defeated and imprisoned his father. However later he only obeyed the orders of the Vijayanagar king nominally, and placed the Pandya on the throne who ruled for a while. However, Vishwanatha Nayaka later set out to rule on his own account; and in 1559 when the Vijayanagara Kingdom was in decline, he established a dynastic rule, and there was born the Madurai Nayak dynastic line.

Thirumalai Nayakar the most famed ruler of the Nayak dynasty established the famous palace in 1636 in Indo-Saracenic Style. Earlier his capital was in Dindugal, which he moved to Madurai. The structure of Meenakshi Temple was significantly expanded during his reign - which is the structure that we see today - sprawling around 17 acres. The nayaks rule of Madurai came to a complete end by 1739.  Ceylon (now called as Sri Lanka) was invaded during his period.  There was a brief period  (1734-1740) of domination by Chanda Sahib, who started as a sepoy under the Mughal emperors and controlled Madurai from 1736. From 1740 onwards he had to fight wars and with many potential rulers like the Marathas, Nawabs, French & the Britishers, entering in and around Madurai. Meanwhile in 1750's Hyder Ali, the nawab of Mysore said to have plundered wealth from temples in and around Madurai.  Yusuf Khan (Marudhanayagam) who served under Chanda Sahib,  then fought with Hyder Ali, and pushed him to Dindugal said to have helped in restoring some of wealth and glory of the temples back. 

British Rule in Madurai started after 1750s and after 1800's they ruled comfortably till independence without any troubles. (before 1800, they had to fight the polygar wars - with palayakarrars, (a title given to administrators assigned by Nayak rulers controlling a territory;) like Puli Thevan, Veerapandya Kattabomman and the Marudhu brothers). Cut to 1900s. Mahatma Gandhi visited Madurai 5 times, first in 1919 to enlist supporters for Satyagraha against the Rowlatt act. It is in Madurai, he renounced his traditional attire and switched to simple clothes. He refused to enter Meenakshi temple until all classes of people were allowed to enter it, and after it happened he visited in 1946.  Here's an video of Madurai of 1947