Go Open Source: My policy for the New Year

Yes, that's the plan, my policy and resolution for the year 2008, and possibly in the years after that. Down with proprietary software!! But, I'm not putting all my eggs in a single basket!! All my non-core activities will be done through open source software. In addition to that, I'll also do some of my core work through open-source. But, most of my core-work will remain through proprietary software.

Why open source suddenly? Well, for one, some open source software have matured enough so that they can replace their proprietary counter part for almost all my needs. For e.g. I'm now going to replace the Microsoft Office suite, that I've got, with Open Office. All my presentations shall henceforth be in OO Impress, rather than MS PowerPoint. Most of my writing, being technical in nature, I've already stopped using MS Word. I, instead, use LaTeX to do the job for me. For that matter, Word was not built with an intention to be used for scientific writing. It was for general writing and preparing thesis in non-tech fields.I am experimenting with LyX for my report writing, but I generally prefer writing in Emacs and compiling the stuff at command line in Linux.

I'll be using more of Linux, than Windows, but won't entirely give up on Windows. Why? That's because I have a licensed copy of Windows that came preloaded on my laptop. While Linux is great, stable and free, it hasn't reached a stage where it can completely replace Windows, when the user is a non-techie.

But, my core activities will go on in proprietary software. My research work and coding will continue in Matlab. I'm not switching over to SciLab. That is because Matlab offers loads of documentation and has far more user friendly features as compared to SciLab.

I am open to suggestions on more use of open source software. I would love to use open source software as much as possible. The world outside can help me broaden my horizon.

ITC or DOW Chemicals: The bigger picture

Disclaimer: I am not an advocate for Dow Chemicals. I hold Union Carbide solely responsible for the Bhopal Gas Disaster and support all efforts to persuade Dow Chemicals, the current owner of Union Carbide, to clean up the entire area in and around the site of disaster and make it a safe place for the future generations. However, in this process, we must not forget the people who are dying daily due to consumption of tobacco in any form.

Tobacco related deaths in India for citizens between the age group of 25-69 hovered around the 600,000 mark in 2006. In the cigarette market of India, ITC has a 70% share by volume. Thus, out of every 100 cigarettes sold in India, 70 are manufactured by ITC.

Now let us look at the Bhopal Gas Disaster. The worst of all claims put the number of deaths due to the gas leakage and in the aftermath at 20,000. The number of chronically ill and suffering due to disorder is around 150,000. These deaths have happened over a period of more than 20 years. The owner of the factory, Union Carbide India Ltd. sold its assets to Eveready and part of the proceedings from the sale were pocketed by Union Carbide, the parent company of UCIL. In 2001, Union Carbide was taken over by Dow Chemicals.

Now that Dow Chemicals has setup its shop in India, it wants to tie up with local academic institutes for recruitment purpose as well as for carrying out research work. Many people associated with the Bhopal Disaster movement, plus IIT faculty, students and alumni are opposing these tie-ups, on the grounds that Dow Chemicals should first, own up for the mess in Bhopal and second, either clean up the existing mess or pay for cleaning the site and decontaminating the ground water. Some groups have been successful in stalling Dow's efforts of campus recruitment.

At this juncture, I would like to pose the following question to people who claim to be fighting for justice to the humankind of Bhopal. If Dow Chemicals is being banned from recruiting people from IIT campuses because it is responsible for the death of more than 20,000 people and the injury and illness of more than 150,000; why isn't the same law applicable to companies like ITC? ITC has a major cigarette business. It earns a lot of revenue from sale of various kind of cigarettes. Cigarette smoking has killed and is killing a lot more people than those who died in the Bhopal Tragedy. Yet, we see IITs welcoming ITC with open hands for placements. ITC recruits talented young B.Tech./Dual Degree students from IITs who might someday end up working to increase profit from cigarette sales. The company usually gets a slot in the first two days of placement, which indicates the kind of pay it offers to the students.

Do we fail to realise that ITC is as big (if not more) a killer as Dow Chemicals? Or as Freakonomist Steven D. Levitt says, our reaction is based more on the perception of threat rather than its actual impact. We do not feel threatened when someone smokes a cigarette standing next to us. But just the very idea of MIC hanging around our neck makes us feel that Dow is threatening to human kind. Can we get beyond the perception of threat and see the actual one? Also, can we evolve a sustainable path (the golden-middle path) so that all parties involved get maximum benefit at least costs to them? Is the government willing enough? Are the people willing enough? What is the golden-middle? These are the questions that need to be answered by the stakeholders- the people, the activists, the industry and above all, the government.

Down the city's history lane

The beauty of a city lies in its history. History has a lot to explain about the character of the city, the way it lived the way it developed. It also throws light on interesting facts that one cannot imagine. For e.g., the Charni Road station (a railway station on Western Railway in Mumbai) got its name from the fact that there were large tracts of land where cattle belonging to the natives used to graze on. The name "charni" is derived from the Marathi word "charne", which means grazing. Or that the entire Girgaum area was once nothing but a swamp filled with plantations. Life was so much functional then. In Girgaum, most streets or areas are named after the type of trade or plantation that existed in the area. For e.g. Phanaswadi meant that it had plantations of jack fruit around the homes, Kandewadi dealt with onions and so on.

The past Sunday, I set out to learn something about the city's history. Thanks to the people at Bombay Heritage Walks, I undertook a tour of a small hamlet in Girgaum known as Khotachiwadi. Two wadis- Khotachiwadi and Angrewadi- are the only wadis in Girgaum, that are not named after any trade or plantation. The Khotachiwadi is named after Dadoba Waman Khot, a revenue officer who worked for the British. When we started, our guide Ms. Brinda Gaitonde told us that the Girgaum area is situated between two hill-stations of the yester-yester years!!! Hard to believe, but true. On one side was the Malabar Hill and on the other was Dongri. Now, none of these bear the looks of a hill station at all. Neither has Girgaum remained the same.

So, as I walked along with the entire group, listening to the history of Girgaum, I realised that this area has been responsible for the birth of a lot of cultural activities that go on in Maharashtra. The chawls of Girgaum provided a platform for various social activists, freedom fighters and reformists. The Majestic theatre hosted a still on-going series of Marathi talks known as Majestic Gappa (discussions at Majestic). This provided a forum for socialists and freedom fighters to put their views across to the general public that attended the show. The Majestic Gappa still runs at Vile Parle. The Majestic theatre, however, no more exists. It has been torn down and a new sky-rise has come up in its place.

Opposite the erstwhile Majestic theatre, is a you-blink-and-you-miss board that points towards Khotachiwadi. Enter the lane and there is a feeling that you have stepped out of the city and entered a village. The hamlet, whose residents are East Indians and Maharashtrians, was established over the later half of the 19th century. All the houses are single or at the most double storey. Most of them are over one hundred fifty years old and the construction is mostly of wood or cast iron and built to meet the requirements of traditional Indian homes. For e.g. most homes have an inner courtyard, a small balcony in the front and extensive ventilation to allow ample light and air circulation. The roofs too are designed in a sloping manner, which is de facto in places that receive heavy rains. All this was accomplished without the help of an architect, the person who knows best, how to design a livable house.

The hamlet of Khotachiwadi has not as yet been declared a heritage structure. Individual homes have, however, been given heritage status. This means that the powerful builder-lobby can force residents to sell their homes, so that high rises can take their place. The area of Girgaum is a prime area in terms of real estate, where the ongoing rates are more than Rs. 20000 per sq. ft. The houses in Khotachiwadi are very old and therefore require a lot of maintenance, which costs. Also, most families residing in Khotachiwadi are senior citizens, whose children have moved to other cities to pursue their career or into their own homes. Thus, many houses get sold off, because the owners are themselves not interested in residing there.

The residents of Khotachiwadi have come together to form an association (The Khotachiwadi Heritage Trust) that works to preserve the identity of Khotachiwadi. The association functions from the Ferrera house, which acts a headquarter for the association. The Ferreras have also preserved many antiques from the yester years. The association has been organising the Khotachiwadi festival every year, since 2005. The festival is The festival aims at bringing awareness about the Khotachiwadi and introducing the new generation to this fabulous heritage of ours.

The Khotachiwadi needs the support of the citizens of the nation in order to preserve itself. We need to rise to the occasion and thwart every attempt of erosion of the Khotachiwadi. However, nothing much can be done against the will of individuals. If an individual decides to sell the house based on his/her free will, we cannot interfere. But the society can support the attempts of those individuals who intend to preserve the heritage. The hamlet can serve as a good model for functional existence as well as building houses that give a sense of living. It keeps reminding us about co-existence with nature and the ability of our forefathers to build communities that are social, but still provide for the requisite privacy of the individual.

Photos of Khotachiwadi can be found over here.

The Great Indian Cricket Tamasha

With India winning the T20 World Cup in South Africa, came to an end two weeks of good cricket. It was good because teams were able to beat the Aussies, who were unbeatable in the ODIs, we beat Pakistan twice, and are the current World Champions. The same Indian team which was isolated for all the criticism in the world five months ago, is now the darling of every Indian. If you adored the team six months ago, you were a good-for-nothing fellow. However, today if you do not adore the Indian team, you are not patriotic. The same fans who demolished Dhoni's under-construction house, burnt effigies of players and bayed for their blood are now running around to get a glimpse of them. The players now find a place in every nook and corner of the house and nobody gets tired drooling over them.

The media had endless hours of news time dedicated to how World Cup 2007 (50-over version) has spelled dooms-day for Indian cricket. The same media is now drooling over the Indian team, again devoting endless hours of news time to every minute detail about the players' off-field life during and after the T20 Cup. Details to the extent of where did a particular players kith and kin position themselves during the final game were presented elaborately with the anchors and news-reporters dramatizing the entire piece of news. And at the end of all this, we came to know a lot lot lot more about players like Joginder Sharma, RP Singh, etc. But what did we come to know? We were enlightened about what Joginder likes to eat, where did he play in his bachpan, etc. The unimaginative media-- both print and electronic-- hijacked Chak de India, the slogan meant for the hockey team and used it as if it was their own creation.

The sponsors, who were rethinking about their committement to cricket, are now back with their full financial might. Ready to pay unimaginable amounts to be associated with the Indian cricket team for a few seconds every day. Ask these sponsors to spend some money on research for the betterment of their company, and they will come back saying that they have not much funds to carry out research.

Finally, the BCCI. This governing body of cricket should be working for the welfare of the game and players. However, time and again it seems to be working for its own welfare. After the first round exit from the World Cup, it sought to discipline the players in an innovative way-- restrict their endorsements. They thought of scratching off the centralised contract system and pay the players on a per match basis, with bonus thrown in for every win. Now, after the team has won the T20 World Cup, it has announced centralised contracts for the team members with enhanced retainorship fees. A u-turn on its own position in less than six months.

The attitude of everybody-- fans, media and BCCI-- in this incident lacks professionalism. The fans do not professionally respect the players and the fact that they (the players) too can have a bad day in the office (exit from WC-2007). The fans get emotionally outraged-- if the team doesn't perform as per their expectations-- and get into a rioting mood. However, once the team wins a series or a major tournament, the same fans transform the devils into Gods.

The media too plays into the hands of fans' emotions. Instead of professionally reporting any cricketing event, they report it as if the tournament is an equivalent of World War 3. For e.g. WC-2007 used to be reported as War in the Windies. They report a single defeat as if Yudhishthir lost his kingdom to Duryodhan and every victory as if Arjun has killed Karna. Then there are those endless chat/debate shows, where even a player who has played just a single test match or ODI starts ranting on what the players feel, what should the BCCI be doing its job, how should Tendulkar play the hook shot, etc.

And finally the BCCI. Well, the less said about its professionalism, the better. I need not say anything as the over-enthusiastic media has already spent lot of air time and newsprint on this issue. But, after the T20 World Cup, nobody is bothered about the BCCI's method of functioning.

In the end, we all should understand that after all cricket is a game. Yes, I love it when India wins a match. I do not like to see India losing. But let us accept, this is a game, sometimes India will lose, sometimes it will win. However, we fans and media should not get to the extremes of adulation or rioting to prove our point. Congratulate the team on winning, support them when they lose. After all, the team is also made of humans. They have put in a lot of efforts to reach at that stage and are continuously putting in more efforts to remain there and progress to better stages.

Him and us: The difference is visible

The day was sunny, although it was mid-monsoon. However, not taking an umbrella is a risk in the city of Mumbai, where the rains can keep pounding for minutes together. I had submitted my report to my advisor and armed with my belongings and the all-important umbrella, I started marching back towards my hostel. The sun was making its appearance from behind the clouds like commercials during a cricket match. Suddenly, it happened. Many failed to notice that it could happen. The sun was shining brightly behind us. But directly above us, the clouds were all ready to dispatch their contents onto mother earth. And by God, they did it with all the energy they had. Umbrellas started coming out, people started running helter-skelter, to protect themselves from the onslaught.

In a few minutes of the rain, I found myself worrying about my laptop or mobile phone getting wet in the rain. So much so, that I was more careful about keeping the laptop bag under the umbrella at the cost of my left rain getting wet due the water dripping from the umbrella. Looking around me, I saw people busy in taking care of their clothes, notes, books, etc. regardless of what happened to the hands or feet. That is probably the beauty of nature. Man created clothes, mobile phones, laptops, but these are most fragile to the vagaries of nature. But the human body is very robust to changes in natural conditions. My wet arm dried in 10 mins, without any damage, but my wet trouser (wet because of the rains, not because of you-know-what) took more than two hours to dry. Fortunately, my laptop bag remained dry under my umbrella and my mobile phone in my pocket.

Doesn't this event point to something? We humans, the intellectually most gifted species on earth, cannot make things that are robust to nature's forces. However, our own body is robust to such forces by many orders of magnitude. This is true of all other species too, everyone in the plant and animal kingdom. Doesn't this say something? To me this very difference means, that there is something or someone who is more knowledgeable than the entire human species on earth who can create such wonderful things. That something/someone for me is GOD. This small event is enough to prove his existence for me. We humans are still nothing when compared to him.