The Ruckus on IIT

At last I could not stop myself from venting out my frustration against the Indian System albeit through my blog. I have always felt that the politicians have some sort of ego against the likes of IIT and IIM. Perhaps this comes from the fact that not a single politician can claim him/herself worthy to be branded in those league. Inferiority always brings in ego. This is the reason time and again the bunch whether it is Murli Manohar Joshi, Arjun Singh, and Sibal (forgot the first name of the last one..and I don't have any enthu to find that out at this moment) have tried to dictate terms over them. And today when I saw this statement of the HRD minister that "IIT's don't make nobel laureates" I could not stop myself laughing hysterically at the ignorance of those people.
I sincerely have always felt that IIT professors are paid less. In fact I have spent hours discussing the same with my grand father in the past. I might sound racist: but I have never been able to fathom why should an IIT prof be paid at a level at par with some random college? It takes a lot of altruism on the part of any professor in the IIT system to dedicate himself to this service. It is a fact that any counterpart of him who might have been his friend during his student days would be earning at least 10 times in the corporate world. Perhaps this is the reason why the quality of professors in the IIT system is degrading everyday. I don't know whether any professor of IIT-s would ever be reading my blog, but with all due respects I personally have seen this degradation. Some of the best profs with whom I was fortunate to interact with during my first four years of IIT retired during that period and the substitute lot was never a match.
Can anyone show Mr Sibal the statistics of the number of IIT alums teaching in the US universities some of them in MIT as well. Mr Sibal would you accept that they do produce nobel laureates. Why do you think they are not coming back to their country?
While I understand that the previous thick heads Mr Joshi & Idiot Singh had their vested interests on the vote bank for whatever decision they took, I fail to find any more logical reason for the current fight, apart from ego of Mr Sibal.

Food for thought: I (A question from Economics on Growth)

I wanted to blog it up before it goes out of my mind. It just came: What if the RBI decides to change the value of the Rupee ( I don't remember the exact terminology of the event hence I need to be verbose ). What I mean is lets say the amount of money we now call 100 rupees is made equal to 1 rupee. One rupee in that case would mean One paisa and current lakh of rupees post change would be a thousand. Such steps have been taken in the past by the reserve banks across the globe. Specially in cases of hyper inflation (like Zimbabwe) where the reserve bank is forced to print notes worth thousand of trillion. I hope the reader understands why this change of value is required under such scenario.
Now take the case of exchange rate. A pound which is usually equal to 80 rupees would be equal to 80 paise. Apparently it seems that the home currency would value up in that case. Due to my ignorance or my amnesia of forgetting the exact terminology I will cause this phenomenon "valuing" the currency. The opposite step would be "De-Valuing"
So my question is if the RBI values up the Rupee will it cause a GDP growth or the opposite?
Let me give you some facts: normally when the currency becomes stronger to a foreign currency lets say the dollar. It leads to reduction of export. Remember 2007 when the rupee was at 38-39 against the dollar. The Textile & Jewelery industry was taking a beating due to reduced exports. This is simply because of the fact that a foreign customer had to pay more to get the same object. So if the Rupee is "Valued" apparently the home currency gets stronger and exports would reduce. So in that case growth would be reduced. Actually this is not true, it can be shown that "valuing" or "devaluing" the currency does not have any effect on Net Exports of a country. Get any book on international economics and the explanation would be there.
I have a different conclusion to draw, nothing to do with the exchange rate but something to do with the Growth. The thought came when I was to make a choice between two places for dinner. I was informed that the difference in cost between the places would be absolutely 1 Ringgit (Malaysian Currency). I had a hearty laugh in fact all of us had, caring less for the one ringgit and removing the constraint of that one ringgit from the choice. However I soon thought that if I convert that one ringgit to rupee it becomes around fourteen. And then Hey!!! Fourteen Rupees!!. I am sure if the currency was pound the same thought would have come to the mind. So here brings my question. If the RBI values the rupee exactly by fourteen and I am in India. The situation would be absolutely same. I, in fact most of the people like me have a similar perception of one rupee. We would not care much in spending that extra one rupee. What that means is consumption increases, this should lead to a GDP growth. What if during the recession the Fed in US had taken a similar decision?? I know this conclusion is extremely debatable. But short term economics (Demand-Supply) is extremely fickle: something as I explained. So in the short run under such a scenario we might see growth. The economists out there any thought???

Reflections of economics in the last question?

The concepts of Utility functions- not withstanding how much misused, mishandled - can be put into effective use to answer the bunch of questions that I ended with in my last blog. Assuming many of the readers to be non-economist I would explain the concept as I go ahead defining the functions of utility in the current context and the budget-constraint line. I will try to make things as lucid as I can.
Meanwhile let me tell you, I am back with my enthusiasm of continuing with my futile task and development of the functions for the other variables, simply because I get the feeling that it is my blog and I have the right to express my opinions. Contentions are always welcome. However now I will take time in posting in order to make sure that there is no misinterpretation.
Let us consider two baskets. Call them B1 and B2. These baskets contain different needs of a human. I am trying to commoditize these needs. The two baskets contain needs that dis balances each other. Although I am not saying the needs are independent.
Let us imagine:
B1 contains Career, Luxury, Money, Ego, Glamor
B2 contains Family, Hobby, Recreation
Let us say there are a number of each of these baskets (equivalent in nature) available in the market. The question I am trying to answer is the number of B1 and B2 a rational individual would buy from the market. For this we define two functions: One is the utility function and the other is the budget constraint. As the name suggests the utility function would mean the utility derived out of a certain combination of B1 and B2. While the budget constraint is the line which constraints your buying based on your total income. You might have started wondering where this income is coming from. Let me explain, for those who have not had a course in economics. If you substitute the contents of B1 with oranges and B2 with apples. Then your utility function is the nutrients that you gain out of the baskets. But you can only buy a maximum of these baskets with your income. Coming back to the current context the utility function is your satisfaction level with the individual baskets. The budget constraint is certainly not income but some other variable which I will explain later.

Defining the Utility Function: For a general understanding please click here.
Figure 1 describes the general nature of the utility function. The Y-axis shows the number of B1 and X-axis the number of B2.
Note:
1) Each curve is an iso-satisfaction line. Which means take any combination of B1 and B2 from a particular line and compare it with another point on the same line, the two would give you same level of satisfaction.
2) Points on different lines would give different amount of satisfaction.
3) In general as you move in a north east direction, the satisfaction levels on the lines keep on increasing.
4) As the number of B1 increases the satisfaction gained out of B1 increases at at a decreasing rate. For example: 13 apples and 14 oranges might give you same level of satisfaction as 12 apples and 15 oranges. Where rate of substitution of apple with orange is 1. But on the same line 3 apples and 30 oranges would give you same level of satisfaction as 2 apples and 40 oranges. The numbers are insignificant. I just wanted to explain the nature of the curves. Why they are flattened at increasing B2 and straightened at increasing B1.
5) As I claimed that as one moves north east the satisfaction level in general increases. This would be due to some exogenous variable. For example if the salary of that person increases. Taking the fruits example oranges somehow become more sweet.

(I am not going to break this post in a series. Since it would take some more time before I finish this blog I thought of publishing this much, so that readers can have a grasp of the matter. I will later on edit the post, and post the rest of the matters as it is prepared.)

Feeling Nostalgic

The bashing the I got of my last post seriously made me consider deleting it. I have not - as yet -. As I would proceed, the functions would get complicated and I am pretty sure the number of points of contention would keep on increasing. Seriously reconsidering - whether I should go ahead with the analysis. Frankly, I am beginning to feel it is not doing anyone any good apart from satisfying my analytical mind. In the meantime I thought of writing down my feelings after spending exactly a month outside the country. Well I spent two months in London before. But this one month is different considering that the stay is going to be longer and I am not sure of going home anytime soon. Coupled with it, it's the Durga Puja time and this year it is going to be the first time I am outside my familiar zone during the festive season.
Someone told me tomorrow is Mahalaya, and that moment I did a few things:
1) Opened You Tube and watched clippings of good old Mahisasur Mardini.
2) Searched for this year's Sharadiya Anandamela, wanted to buy it online but found it too expensive.
3) I felt nostalgic
I remember the old days the mornings of Mahalaya and wanted to relive those moments with time. The gradual shift of time that I can visualize can be broken down into three periods:
1) Pre Sainik School Days (Till Class V): My mom would wake up at 4, I would be lying on the bed awake and watching mom, getting fresh, cleaning the rooms and being busy with one or the other religious/spiritual things. In the meantime the radio would be on. I would get up around 5 and watch TV with everyone else. The whole package would create an unusual feeling of joy in the heart which every Bengali would be able to identify with. For the others it is little difficult providing the explanation.
2) Sainik School Days: The day before Mahalaya would be spent planning to get up early as we did at home, so that we could watch TV: the same program I was referring before. Most of the time I would be late. However those were the days when the joy in my heart knew no bounds. In the hostels I used to prepare these chits called DLFGH, meaning Days left for going home. Every day we would tear off one page of those pack of chits. On the day of Mahalaya this pack of chits would be really thin. The sheer thought that I would be going home within 3-4 days made me so so happy!!!! I miss those days. I really do.
3) IIT days: The feelings by then had changed. Those sweet feeling of longing, the desire to go home were missing. Of course I felt happy feeling Puja has arrived. But it was not the same. Perhaps I was not a child any more.
Time has definitely changed, and so has the feelings. But this is one period of the year when I would definitely love to be with my parents, my grand parents. Then why am I staying back here. Why am I not running away catching the next flight, forget about all these craps of career, luxurious life and just do what my heart wants. Why am I so confused about my wants? Why is everybody else in this world confused about their wants?

Am I a risk taker??

The futile task has remained suspended for a while due to lack of time. Specifically for the last few days of last week I had been extremely busy with work. Not that I don’t blog when I am busy, I can always pull off half an hour. But the subject that I am handling requires some thought and I have not been able to garner the time, The next part however is being documented and would be published soon.You might ask what the hell I was doing in the weekend!!! Exactly that is what I am going to describe over here in this blog.
After the visit to the casino in Genting Highlands, this weekend we gave a shot to Kuantan, a beach on the South China Sea on the East Coast of Malaysia about 300 Km from Kuala Lumpur. Relax!! I am not going to provide a boring anecdote of how beautiful the beach was, how much fun we had jumping around in the water like fifteen year olds. In fact I am going to write about the thrill of the journey. During my London stay I had those wonderful road trips. Unfortunately then, I did not know how to drive a four wheeler. I could only sit on the back seat watching the scenery and appreciating the driving skills of my friend when he reached speed as high as 210 km/hr.
This time I was up with the past experience of having driven some 300 odd kms. The amount of confidence that I had on my driving skills is anybody’s guess, for almost three fourth of those 300 km was spent in the driving school. Moreover the rickshaw-wallahs, the auto-wallahs, the porters and even the pedestrians in a Calcutta road are so much disciplined when they are on the streets that as a driver you could encounter such incidences that might leave a lasting impact of horror in your mind: at least as a novice driver. The result: I was not at all confident.
Comes last Friday, and we as a group decide to hire a car and just ‘GO’ without thinking about the destination. From here I start correlating with the title of the blog. People think I am a very calm & composed kind of person with a very stable head. A few days back a lady suddenly pointed out: he looks so composed & responsible. I describe this quality as being near “Risk Averse”. I have always been perplexed by my care-freeness inside a games field. The two simply don’t correlate. The first line that I started with in this paragraph does not correlate as well. I love that suddenness in life where you don’t know what is coming. Coming back to the trip, our destination was however decided when we got the steering in our hand. I started the journey at my usual position observing others take control. None of my companions were doing great on the wheel, showing under confidence, which gave me the confidence to try it out. The fact that it was an automatic car helped me. I wonder why the car makers in the world still persist with making models that require you to push a lever to shift the gears. It is both ergonomically & technologically the most inefficient thing that needs to be removed. I start driving and decide to keep myself on the slowest lane and not cross the 70-80 mark. Humm!!! - How can that car overtake me?? – I was getting back to myself. That me on my bike, who does not like driving below ‘80’ - even on a crowded road. I sped up and soon was at 90 – 100 driving on the mid lane, Oh common, cars were still zooming past me, I shifted to the rightmost lane and was at 110!! “Hey I have done 110 with my bike” and this is an automatic sedan I am driving!!! I pressed on the accelerator and soon I was at 150. By this time I had overtaken all those Michael Schumacher-s who had zoomed past me. My friends were freaked out; one of them was constantly rambling and shouting at me to slow down. I did not. I did not slow down at the curves. I was totally amazed at my control of the wheel. Soon I reached my top speed of 170 km/hr!!! I wanted to speed more but both the GPS system in the car and my friends did not allow me to.
The return journey was even better, for it was night. And the part of the journey when I took control of the wheels was some hilly region. If you have traveled on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and remember the curves near the Lonavala Khandala pass, the road was similar and the curves even sharper. I did not mind, I was completely care free. I was at 120-130 and maneuvering the hair-pin curves with utmost ease. I can go on and on but must stop over here to get back to the point. Now sitting back at home when I am thinking of the journey the question that is coming to my mind is did I do the right thing? Perhaps not, but I have a certain me who likes extreme thrills in life. Who wants to do something, which normally other would not dare. I remember an instance in IIT Kanpur flight club where I was the person who feared most of heights, and it was the same me who put his hands up first when asked for a volunteer who would dare to fly up to 5000 ft in a glider. I should some time write about that once in a lifetime experience of mine.
The basic conclusion is “I am a risk taker”. Remove the few constraints in my life (my loved ones) and frankly I don’t care about the entire world. The reason I wanted to delve in this topic is because someone asked me what is the greatest quality required becoming an entrepreneur. And we concluded that one has to be a risk taker. Perhaps I can be one!!!

PS: Please don’t go away; the next part of the futile task is almost there. It has got some intricacies and I require your opinions.