Starting a New Leaf

It has always been in my heart to start writing my passions. I have always kept some of my passions to myself. But, since this does not really fit into the confines of this blog, I am moving that into another blog. I will continue to write my general take on things within this blog. The follow will be the link to the new page.
http://www.sanskritinedungadi.blogspot.com/

Corruption, Corrupt Practices and a Corrupt Mind : A Different Perspective

Corruption has always been seen as a social malice. It was, is and will always be one as well. Anybody willing to refute should try to build civilization and nations from scratch because the formation of any entity is governed by a code of conduct : moral, social, ethical and so on. Human life if at all has progressed, has been the result of people believing in these codes and above all following it. I think, I am putting forth my opinion in the strongest of words against this malpractice. However, on an entirely different perspective comes the other thought, the one of corruption of mind. let me elucidate:

As a child, being born with a sibling, I have often noticed that when a division of equal share is the parental mandate, children fight over getting the lion's share in the division (except for getting spanked, of course). So, there is that innate or perhaps an inward pleasure in enjoying the reaps of harvest undeserved or by defeating the other person. This builds up as one grows from being a child to a student. Here, the court is altogether different. Now, when it comes to the point of examinations, there is always that group of people who are known to enjoy a rather comfortable life till a few days before the exam or more often the day before. Techniques of fooling invigilators by hiding bits of paper or even using the revolutions of technology to just get through the same process with a pass are well known to all. Mind you, an examination is meant to only test what one has gained over the course of the study period. But, people often misappropriate the same (both teachers and students, but, that's a different issue). Nevertheless, I had a conversation with a person who was well-known to me for having used such skills several times(take it for granted that on 99.9% times, I have not used such means, true to heart) . He justified his action by retorting that the very process of learning is biased towards people who want to learn because according to him, learning was an involuntary process. Well, in a sense, it indeed is. Nobody really is born to know that he has to learn. Children learn and acquire skills like talking, walking etc. with the guidance of adults and slowly do it by oneself. but, the bigger point being that, as is the case with any activity, one person would do exceptionally well and another moderate and some bad. So, the process of learning is indeed a gift from the almighty (or the chromosome, else Darwin would feel hurt) and not all people can really do it with the best of abilities. But, education, is like a ticket to the big show, a very important tool to succeed in life. Not at all to say that people without the same have not succeeded or people with have all succeeded as well. But, it definitely is very important. So, in a strange way success depends then on one's ability and the power to overcome inabilities. So, for the person who is unable, the easier path to succeed is to follow corrupt practices. But, the system being just and centric, and if it has to run, it can't allow such entities to thrive. This is one major problem then. Whose side should one take?
I am as confused as you might be at this point. While I believe in the rationale of a just society but somewhere,  I also want to accept that a person's inability should not be the only criterion for success?
This being said, there is absolutely no justification for the corruption that takes place in politics and social life where one's selfishness for material comfort makes one stoop so low.   

A Piece of My Mind- Memoirs of a child

On 7th of April 1989, among the various joyous things happening on planet "Earth", in a certain town called Salem in Tamil Nadu, India, a family had one more reason to feel happy about. This time the reason was the birth of a baby boy. While the birth of a girl could have been a reason for big celebrations, a boy was nevertheless joyous. Among the people there was a beautiful lady in her 50's who felt herself quite soon being called a grand-mom for the 5th time in her life through her own blood line. She decided to call this boy "Prasanth" after Prasanthi Nilayam where Sai baba was reciding.
 It has been more than 21 years since this happened and I think it is time that I pen down some words for the person who left such a big impression in my heart for being the person that she was and who meant the most to me at all points of my life till now and who continues to inspire me for the most.
A brief history into her life would shift focus to a place called Karimba on the way to Mannarkkad, about an hours drive from Palakkad, Kerala. Born to Cheetampady Unnirarichan Thiumulpad and Kunjukutty Kovilamma, She along with her 11 siblings were for the most raised in Palakkad town because of the proximity that the town had to centres of education- Victoria College, NSS Engg. College among others. This house (Tharavadu) was called Sree Sadanam. Most of the 12 children would later complete at least a Bachelor's with the name of the house being mimicked by others as Saraswathi Sadanam, meaning a place where goddess Saraswathi ( Knowledge) was residing. After completing her Bachelor's in History, she was waiting to get married which took sometime owing to Chovva Dosham (as per astrology). It was quite unusual for North Keralitie's to get married to South Keralitie's in those days (statistically even now)  except for certain unusual situations. One such being the above mentioned case. This being said, her elder brother would wait for her to find a suitable groom through an exchange marriage which was the norm in those days. Hence, two families would get united through such a union and it did happen. However, the other family to be mentioned were originally people from the North, a branch of the larger sub-caste to which all of us belong. This was relief for many. Nevertheless, Saraswathi Kovilamma would then become Saraswathi Pandalai  (after her husband Krishnan Marthanda Varman Pandalai). They would then spend a good part of their life in Salem and beget 4 children, one being my mother.

Ammuma would replace Saraswathi Pandalai from now.

Ammuma remained a housewife not just because she didn't have any objection's from being so but more importantly because my grand dad didn't want to earn the disrespect of running the family from his wife's take-home. She was an epitome of patience, faith and righteousness. I still remember how she would tell me that there exists a book that god would keep filling in both our good deed's and bad deed's and on the day of the judgement, the one that would outnumber the other would form the course of further action. This prevented me from indulging in such activities those days but I along with my brother were always mischievous. Ammuma never liked anyone talking ill of others, she would say that the walls that surround us have angels who know what we speak and our actions. I very much doubt if the word "hate" even existed in her dictionary. She would never get angry for any reason whatsoever. I remember throwing down her specs and shattering it into several cracks and mentioning that I made stars out of her specs. She would respond with grief rather than shouting at me. Above all, she hated hitting her grandchildren - me and my brother alike. This had prevented us from being spanked for a wide variety of reasons, many of which we deserved the same though. As most grandmother's do, Ammuma would recite to us stories of the epics and many of these stories would end with a moral that she wanted us to imbibe. She knew Sanskrit well and her faith in god was unchallenged so much so that bhajan's in houses including ours in Salem were a part of my early life. Me and my brother, would be even more interested in eating the Prasadam while the others prayed. We were often quietened in these occasions by asking to play the Kanjira or the Manjeera. While we would stop other activities and indulge in playing them but to everybody's horror without any rhythm whatsoever. The name "Vanaras" came about as a result of these activities.

My grandmom left us and became one with god when I passed 9th standard and joined tenth. I could not realize her loss much owing to the fact that once we left for Abudhabi, from fourth standard to ninth we were in a different world altogether. However, my formative years were nurtured by many people who formed my idol's and they live through me for all my life. My Ammuma would be among the first people in the list.
   
     
       

Life in Delft

Library at Delft

EEMCS Faculty.. My workhouse

I always wanted to post on my experiences that I have had so far that you could picture the differences between Delft and your home town.

1. Dutch are some of the most helpful people on planet " Earth". I can vividly remember how people would just run close to me when I was holding the map to find a location and they would guide me without even asking for the same.
2. Dutch have a typical 9-6 work life. I don't know how they manage to do all the quality work within such a span with no overtime and, saturday and sunday referred to as funday.
3. The climate here is absolutely horrendous so much so that I got blown away close to the tall EEMCS bldg. at the TU. So, people beware of the climate and this is Summer with avg. temperatures near 15 C.
4. Bikes throng everywhere. I could even spot a guy well dressed in formal suits riding one. This is perhaps among the few places in the world where there are seperate tracks for bikes and people love the environment and righfully resort to such measures.
5. Right now at the end of Summer, I can still see the Sun out at 9 PM at night. This inspite of having the daylight saving time correction. Can you believe that?
6. One can always refer to a Prof. by his first name.
7. Beer parties are a part of tradition and a Dutch party is always such that you pay for what you eat or you bring your dishes.
8. Coming from a lesser developed place, never convert the cost of items into native currencies unless the intent is to faint.
9. I can virtually sit on my library. I meant on "top".
10. The place is absolutely beautiful!!

EEE 2006-2010, ASE Coimbatore......

1. Vivishek Sudhir - Imperial College, London, United Kingdom.
2. Ganesh Bharadwaj C.V. - NTU, Singapore ( PhD-Circuits and Systems ).
3. Vidya Vijayashankaran -TU Twente, Netherlands.
4. Hanna Roy- Syracuse School of Architecture, USA.
5. Hima Bindu- ASU, USA ( MS- Signal Processing).
6. Shishir Govindan- ASU, USA.(MS- Robotics)
7. Rijo Jude Raphael- RWTH, Aachen, Germany. University of Helsinki, Finland( MSc. Electrical Power Engineering).
8. Rishab D.C.- Cranfield University, UK (MSc. Aerospace Vehicle Design - Avionics option)
9. Roshini Sachithanandan- NTU + TU Munich( MSc. Integrated Circuit Design),
10. Venugopal Prasanth- TU Delft, Netherlands.(MSc. in Electrical Power Engineering).
12. Sandeep A.S. - IIT Kharagpur ( M.Tech-Machines, Drives and Power Electronics ).
13. Nithin U- ASU (MS- Control Engineering)
MBA:
1. Neerav Harsh - IMT, Ghaziabad.
2. Abhilash A. Menon - Lancaster University, UK.
The following are the email ids:
1. vivishek.sudhir@gmail.com
2. bharadwaj.cv@gmail.com
3. vidyavijay16@gmail.com
4. yorannah@gmail.com
5. himabindu2005@gmail.com
6. shishir2989@gmail.com
7. zublu4u@gmail.com
8. rijojude49@gmail.com
9. viv_rishab@yahoo.co.in
10. roshinisachithanandan@gmail.com
11. prasanthvenu@hotmail.com
12. sansandeepsan@yahoo.com
13. neeravharsh_eee@yahoo.com
14. abilash001@gmail.com

Post under construction.......

Patriotism beyond boundaries- Mumbai Experience

This was perhaps the busiest year I have ever been till date. I hence express my sincere apologies to my blog readers. I maintain a heavily read blog don't I !!! Viewers ratings: 5 Star!! (Ok, lets assume no one else blogs in the world!!).

This particular image very close to The Thaj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai caught my attention like none other. I would bow down in front of these words emanating from a 24 year war hero. I was just comparing this sort of a situation with the terror some regional political parties of Maharashtra claiming "True Marathan Descent" create. Somebody show these people this man who actually died for our country- The Sovereign, Socialistic, Secular, Democratic, Republic of India .

How relations are made and then fade........

This is yet another thought based post of mine. I am in a little way a "Behavioural Scientist", I pretty much analyse people, classify them and act accordingly. These are loose fragments of my memory with a common theme.
Scene 1:
Funeral ceremony of my granddad, My dad and all the rest of his siblings were in a state of grief and sorrow. My dad whispers close to my ears " I am alone now!!!". Well, when words like this emulate out from a 50 year old who lost his mom before he turned 15, its quite understandable. However, I responded by giving my usual smile( Ok!! grief filled) desperately wanting to say " Dad!! all is not lost, we are still there for you". But, I didn't, knowing quite well that relations as is the case with this is quite irreplacable.
Scene 2:
A casual chat with my second cousin. She kept talking to me about the usual things .......formal chitchat. Suddenly, she was confused. The reason was as to how I was related to her????......
This question took me by surprise. I knew her from when I was a child..... I have seen her a couple of times also!!!
This is the second category.... the blood relations.......... Maybe all of us have seperated because of the nuclear family system and this has kept close relations as this at bay.
Scene 3:
My friend says" We are best friends and are forever".......... Ref: My prev blog on friendship!!

Look who is talking.....