On Bose & Basu-s

For those of you who get confused let me tell you that the Bose & the Basu-s in this world are the same. It is something like Banerjee/Bandhopadhyay, Roy/Ray, Pal/Paul & so on. This hotchpotch in the surname surprisingly is found only among the Bengalis. I have a possible explanation: This Quandary is created by the British, and in fact a direct fall out of the "Phirangs"- setting up their offices in Calcutta. The higher ranked officers (the British) twisted the names of the middle level Babus (the Bengali workers) to suit their tongues. This fact is corroborated by the fact that the quandary is found only among the upper caste Bengalis: The social class that found a sit below the "Phirangis".
No this blog of mine is not on etymology, nor it is on the history of British Rule in Bengal. Rather I am writing this blog as a reply to those peers of mine who want me to prove the intellectual, & emotional supremacy of the Bose & Basu-s. You see I am a Bose/Basu myself & no doubt would only look at the brighter side of things. I have been asked to provide names of the Bose & the Basus who have made it big in the world/India arena. I started and the bag is immediately full:
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (You Know him)
Rashbehari Bose (You Know him)
Jagadish Chandra Bose (You Know him)
Satyendranath Bose (You Know him)
Amar Bose (of the Bose Sound Systems Fame)
Mihir Bose (BBC head)
Khudiram Bose (Martyr)
It is something like you name it and I have it. Well my critics do not stop here. Next they would tell me I am a Basu & not Bose. Humm!!! I get "gagahoo". I need to prove that even Basus are great. (I mean Bose & Basus are same but those who have adopted the Basu in their certificates are no less mortals). But hey my search engine got severely loaded in finding the right Basu to my choice. I could remember only two immediate names. Jyoti Basu & Bipasha Basu. And I HATE both of them from the core of my heart. I was pressurized to the point that I change my name from Basu to Bose. Well however today morning I did some googling, a little research and I could sense even Basu-s have made it big. I leave it to you to do the googling:
Kaushik Basu (Cornell educated economist)
Debabrata Basu (Of the famed Basu-s Theorem)
Siddhartha Basu (Kaun Banega Crorepati)
Kunal Basu (Writer)
I have a bigger list. But I stop over here. So there you go critics, "you have it on your face", while on one side you have "Boson Particles" on the other hand you have "Basu's Theorem". Take that!!!!.
PS: Well I am not debating I am just proving a point. No Vindication. So I am ending with one negative point. Bose/Basu-s belong to the kin called Kulins in Hindu Caste System. It was said that a father who gets his daughter married to a Kulin guy would go to heaven after death. A fodder that helped the Bose/Basu's to marry in tens. Alas I am born in a different world ;).

To Jyoti Basu (Contd...)

Thanks that there are many Bengalis who think like me...and want to remember Jyoti Basu in the same light as me. I could not help posting a comment on my last blog. Sarcastic but nice read :).

He was a great leader no doubt, with all the aspects necessary to be termed as a great leader - things like a shrewd brain, criminal attitude and a very very thick skin. He lead WB through the most turbulent times, and with great success. He was the visionary who understood that education (and knowledge as a result of that) was the reason behind all social problems like people demanding their rights. Most importantly, education brought about the huge potential problem of rural people saying no to blindly following the "Raja r party". Having realized that, this visionary took legendary steps to ensure that a whole generation or two were made to go through a rotten educational curriculum that ensured their eternal struggle in life. They were not employable at national level, so the only option left for them was jobs (or whatever) created by the CPIM. We at B Schools, we must understand how great this strategy was, he created the pull factor by ensuring lack of emplyable
skills and supplied the push factor by actively recruiting for the famed party network - the famed Cadre Raj. It's a lesson, a great lesson in strategy/marketing/operational excellence. And yes, he created the financial backbone too - by making each and every industry pay for their well-being. Anyone who wanted to do business in WB, had to finance the great cadre network. Look here gentlemen, we are probably looking at the best possible system that was put in place to ensure long standing undisputed rule by a single party. When we reflect back at what Bengal is today, we must pay homage to this great visionary. It is a sad day today, specially as we come to terms with the fact that he could not get the best treatment possible. Look at what he had got, treated at AMRI hospital. That, after being treated throughout his life in the UK and other advanced countries (please ignore that these were the very countries he used to despise in his public speeches). It is extremely sad that he could not be taken to the best hospitals in the UK in his final years and we will probably never be able to forgive ourselves.

Too many emotions overflow my mind today, words are not enough to express them.

Just a final word -
Would have liked him to survive for a year or two more. He deserved to see the culmination of the downfall of CPIM - the demon he created as mean of looting the state. That would have been his ultimate prize. Sadly, he (just like his great follower - Mr. Chakrabarty) did not get the opportunity. I am sad today, sad from the core of my heart - for Mr. Basu and for the citizens of WB who also would have liked him to stay on till 2011.

Any such comment is further welcome.

To Jyoti Basu

The state goes berserk (or does it???). The media definitely does. I am astonished to see how an icon is created. Perhaps the next generation is going to celebrate a state holiday on Jyoti Basu's birthday. Should I give a name to that day?? Something catchy...similar to Children's Day for Jawaharlal Nehru? (I have never been able to fathom what special connection our first prime minister had with children).
Sorry Readers this blog is meant to hurt those who are followers/disciples of great sons of India/West Bengal with whom I could never associate any greatness.

In my lifetime I have seen only two CMs in West Bengal. The period in which Jyoti Basu was the chief minister I had not even crossed the hurdle of school. However I could sense the difference in the development in my state and the far neighbors. I used the term far because Bengalis as a community has got the tendency to compare Bengal with only two states Bihar & Orissa, benchmarking at its best I should say!!!! And today whenever my friends make a mockery of the state of West Bengal & the capital Kolkata, frankly I am left with no other option but to laugh at it or at best use the old weapon of our deep rooted culture.
So the media which is making every move to immortalize this "Great Son of the Soil"..Let me counter you:

1) Leader of the state :: So we need to idolize a person who led the state to a path of irreparable doom. So much to his leadership.
2) Leader of the mass the bourgeoisie :: The leader of the social people, social movement would live in a house with all the modern facilities. Would travel under the umbrella of highest category of security, would frequently travel international to get his medical check up. (Secret of his 95 year long life).

Now let me provide some data that lets me visualize the state before I was born and the plight of the state after Jyoti Basu left his throne.

1)Poverty level got worsened in terms of national ranking (overall poverty did decrease but that is a general growth trend)
2)Infrastructure Index: Form being among the top to one of the lowest ranked state.
3)Share of industrial output declined from 10% to 5%

This is also the period when such a strong cadre system of politics was developed in the state where in, the interiors of rural west bengal would see his party winning sits without opposition. The fate of those who dared is anybody's guess.
Sorry friends I cannot worship the person as an immortal whom I have hated since I started thinking logically. The person who has eroded the people called Bengalis. And when I see the same person being compared to such greats as Rabindranath Tagore & Satyajit Ray I feel ashamed. Wake up my fellow state mates, wake up media!!! Just think did you give the same amount of reverence to Mother Teresa, the nun who was born on the same year as Jyoti Basu who could not live long enough to treat the masses. And for the records "our great son of soil", "the leader of the mass" did not even attend the funeral of the Saint.
What are you talking?? What are you mourning??

Now on my happiness function

I could not stay away from mathematics in my last post. So this one I promise would have almost zero quant. Well ehh... this one might even be a page of some melodrama, of some cheesy "K"-series star plus mega serial. But this would be the easiest way to help you grasp on the happiness function. I will keep on using the terminologies from my last post while at the same time put inside braces the explanation of the term in connection to life. Let me begin:
Recently the variable 'k' (relate k from my last post) in my life took one step jump. This entrance of this variable was sudden and hence the Size() (the importance) of other variables in my life did not have time to readjust. Hence the only thing that could have happened is the total space of life increased. The variable entered with certain Size() (importance in my life). It had huge potential to grow bigger with time. But the beginning few days were ones of apprehension. However slowly over the last month I am getting to know that particular variable better. The Size() of it in my life is increasing no end. With all its nuisance, with all its use of un-choicest of words as adjective for me I am beginning to feel that this variable is mostly in my mind while other variables are in the nebula region.
Hence as the Size() gets bigger, the Concentration Factor for this variable increases. So when this variable is in my mind, my happiness gets totally dependent on this variable. And hence, at a time when there are thousands of other things affecting my life, the state of those thousand things have not changed in the past one month. I am mostly happy because that variable is mostly happy. Well I must say it is not happiness all-round for spring cannot be everlasting. But it is a swing between autumn and spring. When it is autumn for the variable it is autumn for me, and spring causes spring.
I hope this post is good enough to make you understand the happiness function. I will delve on Size() later.

Delving deeper into the happiness function: The Concentration Factor

Remember my Happiness function?? I am restating the equation over here:

state of mind = CF*function(Variable 'n') + (1 - CF)*function (Nebula 'n-1')

For a detailed explanation of the theory that I developed please click here

Today I thought of making an attempt to understand this concentration factor 'CF'. And try to explain my current out of the world state in my next blog based on this explanation.
Let me first write down the salient features of CF:
1) CF is not constant, it varies with time, for some it is controllable
2) CF as a variable is not exogenous, in fact it is endogenous and depends on the variable 'n'

Point 2 requires some explanation. There are certain things which while dominating your mind (i.e. being the nth variable and not being in the nebula) somehow demands getter attention. Hence the concentration factor for these variables would be close to one. May be decoupling concentration factor from each variable is a method which the "sanyasi" practices. The question that immediately comes is how is this CF dependent to the variable. From here on I will try to be less mathematical and more practical.
Lets say there are total 'k' variables that matters in your life. This 'k' includes the persons that matter in your life, the incidents that shape your life, your career, and an innumerable number of other things. More importantly this number 'k' is changing as new things start affecting in your life. I define a new variable 'Size(n)' as the amount by which the nth variable is "important in"/"affecting" your life.Can I say:

Life = SUMMATION(Size(n)) n = 1 to k

Hence I say:

Concentration factor CF = (Size(n)/Life)

Here I will amend the Happiness equation a little as follows:

state of mind = Magnification Factor*CF*function(Variable 'n') + (1 - CF)*function (Nebula 'n-1')

Where Magnification Factor is a new variable which is a constant for a specific person. This factor is introduced to stress the greater importance to the variable which is in the mind and not in the nebula. Perhaps with meditation one can increase this Magnification Factor.

Clearly the bigger the Size(n) for a variable 'n' more is the concentration factor. This equation is well in line with my previous argument that for a sanyasi who has acquired salvation his CF = 1. This is because he has only one variable affecting him and hence k=1. (Please check with the equation).

Alas the story of dissecting happiness just keeps on increasing. The moment I deciphered the code of one variable CF, another variable "Size(n)" comes into the picture. To make matter difficult this size function is a function of time as well. The importance of a particular thing in your life keeps on readjusting with time. Just think about the importance of that cricket bat in your childhood, and you will understand how Size(cricket bat) has kept on changing in your life.

On New Year Hopes & Waiting

On New Year Hopes:
Another new year has come. Back it was in 1988 when I for the first time observe/experience new year celebration in the TV. So many new year celebrations, so many wishes the cycle frankly does get repetitive. For me the year 2010 has got some unusual significance. I have the feeling that this is the year which is going to set my path for a long time to come.
On Waiting:
Do I believe in God. Perhaps I do. Not in the form that I am to worship Him in a temple everyday, but in the form that I try to be a good human being & thank Him after he grants me all my wishes. And strangely I have always been made to wait for my wishes but sure enough they have invariably been granted. The wish that I had, has been finally granted and the long wait is made sweeter by fulfilling the wish exactly the way I had crafted it. Frankly I did not expect more.
And so dear year 2010, after getting all the pieces together please let them fall in place. Just the way I have imagined.