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