IIT JEE, ISEET and the BEST

       

Three Years Back …

          Monday mornings would always be a terror for me and my fellow bus commuters. I used to leave  home at nine o'clock in the morning and wait for the "BEST" bus leaving for my college. How ironical it always used to sound ! "BEST" bus. I'm sure the authorities chose such an acronym just to mock the plight suffered by the passengers in their buses.

         The bus stop was adjacent to a tree with a large canopy, in the middle of nowhere. It almost seemed like an urban oasis at times where people huddled underneath with just enough room to make sure not even a single sun beam fell on them. I could nearly recollect each and every person by face though every Monday though there always used to be one or two additions or deductions from the group. Nonetheless, this group always looked anxious to hop onto the bus meant for their destination.

         Everyone had a different place to go, a different route and a different dream. But, underneath the oasis, everyone were equal. Many times, the wait grew long and gruelling, with the most eager of the lot peering into the distance, trying to make out the number of the incoming bus.

         The wait would generally come to an unceremonious end with people pushing and shouting at each other to get inside the bus. Often, I could hear cries of foul play when the push would transform into a shove. Sometimes (or most of the times), the bus conductor would get a good scolding from an elderly gentleman, a regular at the stop.        

        How do you make sure people do not push each other while they enter the bus ? This was the burning question in the newspapers during those days. Soon, BEST came up with an answer. BEST would phase out the old buses with newer buses having a more spacious entry into the inside. The Seating Capacity remained nearly the same. This turned out to be their undoing.

Presently ….     

       As you would expect, the pushing still continues and the conductor still gets the scolding ! The problem ? BEST missed out on a crucial point. The commuter's nightmare cannot be only solved by having wider and more spacious doors. The permanent solution can only be an increase in the number of buses on each route. After all, nobody wants to reach late.

<  While I wait for more buses to arrive at the bus stop, feel free to carry on with your debate on the entrance exam ! >

          

8 Fun Sites for the Bored Soul

After a point our entertainment source on the internet seems boring. Be it 9GAG or YouTube or our  very own Facebook, you do look for new options. This is my effort to get 8 sites, which are fun (Do not catch hold of me if you just not find them interesting)
The list is in no particular order.
Have fun !
  
Turn TV


I didn’t really get this site. But, rotating the different shapes was fun. On clicking different shapes, a window will open with a video. Didn’t really get the video. Probably you would get the idea behind it. If you do, then tell it to me.

Neon Bible


Music is great and fun to listen.
Play with the hands.
Explore new ways to control those hands.
Not to forget is the haunted face. Spooky.
  
 Word Spy


Are you game for new words ?
Are you a word crazy fellow ?
Believe me, even if you are not, You will love to discover a few words never heard before !

  
 Snap Bubbles


Whenever we used to get a gift wrapped in one of these, I would make sure no bubble is missing.
Now you can do that all day long, at work/school/college/wherever.
Quick way to get back your childhood !

 
Six Billion Secrets


The URL says it all. But, You have to login to post. Apart from this, there are other rules which make posting hell for me. But, You would love to read the secrets others share on this site. Some of them are stupid, some are inspirational but you will surely find it interesting.

Mobile Tracker


This site promises to track all mobile phone numbers and gives its exact co-ordinates. All you have to do is type in the number you want to search.
Why is this here ?
You will have to see it for yourself.

Fail Blog


Would seem like 9GAG at first, but you will have to try out the various things they have on offer.
This one is an EPIC FAIL !


Irritating Games


The games are unbelievably awesome. Simple and Quick way to lose track of time. You will be a fool if you don’t try out the games on this site. INSANE !

---

What's the big deal ?

In school, Our Class teachers would unfailingly always appoint the boy/girl who excels in the exam as the class monitor. The decision is made on the fundamental assumption that excellence translates into integrity/honesty (needed for the role of a class monitor in this case). 

The inevitable question which arises is whether it holds true or not ? In school, among children, I would say it doesn't matter because those are the ages when an individual forms his moral values and is not driven by them.

Why this question in the first place ?

Across the country, various bureaucrats trained in reputed institutions across the country/world (IITs, Harvard etc) get caught in scams/taking kickbacks. These IAS/IPS officers are meritorious people who have excelled in exams right from school days.

White Collar Crimes across the world are committed by Individuals who have graduated from renowned institutions (HBS, Stanford etc). Undoubtedly these brilliant individuals had forgotten the golden truth taught in all schools, "Honesty is the best policy".

Take the Case of a certain McKinsey Head, IIT-D, HBS passout. He was involved in an insider trading scam, which basically translates into a white collar crime of immense magnitude.

What does it boil down to ?

The question is whether we have our ethics in the right place. Another point which arises out of these examples is excellence/meritocracy doesn't mean integrity/honesty. It never did. But, Sadly we always confuse these different values and more often than not, we consider a meritorious person as an honest/upright fellow.

Fortunately, People/MBA Schools seem to be realizing this fact. Almost all reputed B-Schools have introduced an ethics code in their curriculum.

But, Is it too late to teach a person ethics ?

Ethics/Integrity and its synonyms are values meant to be imbibed as a child, as a class monitor or otherwise. As people engaged in a rat race, we mistakenly search for meritocracy at the cost of integrity. We would employ all means to be successful, to be heard.

"In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you."

— Warren Buffet
CEO, Berkshire Hathaway

Read :

http://www.ncsociology.org/sociationtoday/v21/merit.htm

What Stops us ?

Sitting inside our air-conditioned cars, We would hardly bother about the beggar staring at us through the translucent window panes. I can hardly forget the face of a little boy wiping the screen of our car, whenever we would stop at a signal. 

The difference between these two worlds might be much more than the extra ten degrees of heat faced by the poor child but the thing which separates us ultimately is only an auto-window button, waiting for our command.

But, What stops us most of the time from pressing the auto-window button ?

People of a logical bent might argue that such a gesture would only encourage more beggars to surround the car. After all, Begging should not be encouraged as it is not compliant with our capitalist philosophy of "the one who works gets the money". 

I argue otherwise. The philosophy of "the one who works gets the money", doesn't work in our world with people with different starting points. This is especially true in case of the downtrodden who are devoid of all the benefits the middle class/upper class enjoys.

Enough philosophy talk. It still doesn't make a difference to the beggar who cares shit about our debates on TV's/newspapers/this blog etc. 

Let me divert from the topic, to illustrate:

I stay in a hostel where people from across the country, from different backgrounds would stay together. I come from one of the glitzy suburbs of Mumbai. But, I have a friend who has come from a village, 1600 km away from Mumbai and away from the hustle-bustle. Firstly, He is not really poor.But, He told me once :

"You know, If you ask a person from the city to lend something, He will ask you ten questions, probably decline or agree hesitatingly. But, If you ask someone from a village for something, he will not think twice before agreeing to your request. Village life is much more simpler and sweeter than city life, where you cannot sleep without worrying about something"

This made me think. Have we lost our innocence and that helping nature, amidst the race which exists in our lives ?

Education truly has helped us grow as individuals but this should not replace our core values. Probably, we have started applying way too much economics into our core values. Just imagine a world where everyone believes in the "Invisible Hand" theory by Adam Smith and apply it to everything they do or see. 

Sometimes, Economics cannot be applied to everything we do. Sometimes, We must put things which seem irrational for an economist into action. Sometimes, We should just press the auto-window button.

But, Still What Stops us ?

The Search for the Perfect Story

      I have always dreamt about it. A Story transcending the boundaries of race, religion, gender and all those unnecessary lines created by Man for his convenience. I have wondered what would comprise this story and how will the plot look like ? How will the characters connect with the audience ? One thing clear to me is that the story must be simple, in the emotional sense. It must mesmerize them to think beyond their own existence and their daily trifles. I nearly found my answer in a movie called "The Artist", which won the 2012 Oscar for Best Picture.

      However intricate a person or the audience may seem, it should be clear to the discerning mind that intelligently used emotions will always to appeal to them. The story may have been borrowed from a world concocted in the minds of the author, but in essence, it must always contain an emotional bottom-line. Does it finally boil down to the quintessential underdog winning or the Hero getting the girl ? You will unmistakably find an emotional connect in all storylines. Think about it. Wasn't Inception about Cobb finally meeting his kids which actually helped create a soft corner for him in the audience's minds ?

      This also brings to my memory a novel called "The White Tiger", by Aravind Adiga. It surely deserved a Booker, plainly because of its simplicity and almost life-like description of events. Even this book had a powerful emotional connect which held the audience till the end of the novel.

       As a kid, I would always wonder that the script of an Oscar winning movie would be intricate and only capable of capturing the attention of the critics for a period of  1.5 hours. In hindsight, I realize that this was not only immature but also foolish. All of these stories had one thing common, the emotional connect. The Artist can be cited as a beautiful example of this fact. It showed how a silent movie can overthrow 21st Century movies with the help of a beautiful script. A Silent Movie Star, falling to the rise of the talkies only to be resuscitated back into Stardom. It is the story of the "fall and the rise".

    All our lives behind the boundaries and limits sketched by humans across the world, witness such stories coming up, over and over again. The chores and rigors of everyday life compel us to look not further than ourselves. But behind all these trifles is hidden a story which is waiting to be "unwrapped". Just look out for them. You may never know you have passed by that one perfect story.

    

     

Puzzle #1

A house of cards
A supple heart
Is not a place to dwell
Now you have your cake
Don't hesitate
Come on, just do it
Come on, just do it

Put it in your mouth
There is only now
Tomorrow has to wait

But know there's no backing out
This is gonna be reality
You can never dream it down

I have - no way
Of telling - the two - apart

The answer to this puzzle  

can only be found

the first word of the first photo in the electronics article

in wikipedia 

The Dream

           
            

           The trembling of my hands was visible and quite apparent. The last question was on the verge of being disclosed and the moment had come. It was the final question in the school quiz which would either make me the underdog winner or yet-another runner up. Just as the question was revealed, I blurted out a few words on the mike with unusual confidence. I still don't remember them. The only thing I remember is the quiz master (a teacher actually) congratulating me. The newcomer in school had just defeated the rest. I had done the unthinkable till that time.

         

             I shot to fame in the quizzing circles of my new school and was called in for inter-school competitions. The icing on the cake was the win in the City round of a renowned Quiz competition which featured regularly on TV. I was a star among my friends and had packed my bags to go to the national round. This chance came only after a wait of two years, but I was happy that it actually came. But, misfortune struck in the first round and another team was unfairly declared the winner. I was disgusted and the reputation of this renowned show sank in my eyes. I was a failed TV star in one night.

            My parents told me just one thing, work hard and the world around you will eventually sort itself out. I managed to hold onto this dream through years of my childhood and worked tirelessly towards an unknown goal. I just knew one thing, the world will sort itself out. I cried but these tears vaporized in front of this dream I had carved out.

            Years have passed since those days and I ended up in the greatest technical institute of this country. Frankly speaking, I had no clue what was about to happen here. I had made very little effort to understand this place in depth. The only image I had of this place was newspaper clippings and its placement statistics. I was attracted to it, quite literally. I came here and expected a Utopian world. Yes, I actually did think this way.

            I dreamt in this place while everyone around me was fighting for something or the other. I was attracted to my branch, a quality found rare in a person here.Sooner than later, I too succumbed and joined in this collective flow of fighting for something or the other and grew attached to one particular "something".  I too fought for it. I knew "something" was amiss but it all dimmed in the glory of future achievement, if only I would have done it.

             I couldn't finish this fight and lost the battle. Something was surely amiss and I very well knew it. I had stopped dreaming and this one thing I will always keep with me. The loss made me ponder over my dream and its truth. The world around me had not sorted itself out.

            Then, It dawned upon me. The fight had only begun and the war was not yet over. The dream had to live on. My parents were always right.

            

Politics and Didigiri !

    The brand of politics in this country is a very rare concoction of socialism and capitalism. You must always preach socialism to the masses to get elected, even though only capitalism  is able to rake in the moolah. This happened in Bengal, with Singur. People have climbed into offices with the promise of socialist initiatives eventually realizing the best bet is setting up factories on village lands. Politics is a very tricky business but getting into this swamp-infested terrain would surely trap me. Instead, lets be much more fun

My job here will be to not analyze much of things over here, but just put the stuff out blatantly.

1)  The Bengal Tigress, Mamta Di and her angry growl throwing the current rail minister Dinesh Trivedi into a tizzy. The increase in rail prices might have been an awesome plan to fill the government coffers but it sure ain't gonna please Mamta Di , the ultimate socialist.

2)  The IIT community went on a social networking frenzy with Ex-IITian, Manohar Parrikar  becoming the CM of the most favourite IIT hangout place, Goa. Needless to say, with such a huge craze for Goa, IITians already started asking for a special discount.

3)  Taking MLA's to a resort : This one is particularly interesting, which really befuddles me to a great extent. This seems to be the finishing move by many a chief ministers, the most recent being Yeddy. Also, Strange are the practices in such dramas. No politician is allowed to leave the hotel/resort/etc. They are given all luxuries, at the expense of the CM candidate.

4)  The Anti-Corruption Drama => YoY : Anna Hazare took the war to the masses, but much before him politicians were busy slinging mud on each other with the millions of accusations/scams, ranging from funny to insane. Fodder Scam , Cash-for-food Scam , Bofors Scam ... Year on year, the scams seem to get innovative names and the Ideas get much more unique.

5)   Promises : From iPad to every college student to a tractor for every farmer, our Indian politician is a real fundoo. They try to offer an array of things to the poor Indian citizen, who cares less. It started in Tamilnadu and has spread its wings across the country. These gifts, like TVs/mobiles/Tablets would have been a wonderful value addition in their homes had there been at least an hour of electricity.

The list has practically no end and will continue to extend till the creativity in our dear politicians continues to blossom. Politics is an arena with a play field of mines, capable of incapacitating the lives of ordinary citizens.

(This concludes the whole pointless exercise of writing bullshit and claiming its a fun article ... BAZINGA ! )

Trivia : Only 0.01% of internet users , select and deselect text 

5 Innovative energy solutions to save the world!

Issue of Climate Change

We have all heard of climate change and the doomsday predictions by people across the world. Climate change is a term which encompasses recent climate phenomena ranging from Global Warming to the El Nino. But surely, Climate Change has made impacts in our everyday life, in ways which might not be apparent. The rise in freak weather incidents ranging from the increased hurricanes in the Western Atlantic Ocean to the melting glaciers in the upper reaches of the Himalayas and in other areas of the world. The evidence pointing to these imminent dangers for mankind is mounting. Yet, People haven’t sensed the gravity of the situation. Let me clear out the air and try to present the actual situation:

It has been projected by various international organizations that the sea level rise is going to drown vast portions of land and can possibly drown entire Island Countries like Maldives, Tuvalu as early as in the year 2050.

United Nations projects 2.7 billion people will face severe water shortages by 2025 if consumption continues at current rates.

By the year 2100, the predicted increase in average global temperatures is around 5.5 oC. Such an increase in temperature will result in catastrophic ice meltdown on our polar ice-caps. This can drown large areas across the world and cause global population migration.

The debate around climate change has raged on for quite some time now and various inter-governmental bodies have had a tough time finding incriminating evidence against the devils of climate change. Various groups of people have acted as devil's advocate in this debate and called the evidence as "outliers" and not pointing to any trend in the making. Yet, whatever be the truth regarding the whole issue, it is always wise to safeguard ourselves and act in a much more responsible way.

How is Climate Change related to our Energy problems?

Humans have relied on exhaustible sources of energy for solving their energy needs without understanding its "non-renewable" nature. Instead of looking at the exhaustible nature of our energy sources, we have always looked in the other way because these sources are much more "economical" to us. Though in recent years, a section of scientists have realised that even though renewable energy sources might be uneconomical, it might be the logical choice in the long run as our current sources exhaust in the next 100 years.

Our exhaustible energy sources are mainly derived carbon-based fuels like coal or oil which are limited to few areas across the globe. Also, Carbon based fuels have a particular disadvantage of emitting carbon dioxide when it undergoes combustion in car engines and in power-plant boilers. This emission of carbon dioxide has been established to be the primary reason for temperature rise which has led to global warming. Our dependence on non-renewable sources has proved to be the main reason for climate change. On the other hand, renewable energy sources ultimately derive its energy from the sun and its CO2 emissions are nearly zero. This has been one of the primary drivers for the shift to renewable energy sources across the globe.

The search for environment-friendly and truly renewable sources is the chief priority of engineers and scientists alike. Various possibilities exist for such sources from solar energy to hydroelectric power generation. Also, futurists and scientists have numerous out-of-the-box ideas to solve our energy needs. I present some of these futuristic ideas below:

Space based Solar Power 

Solar Energy has been the poster boy for renewable energy sources for a long time. Solar power has been promoted as the next big thing in the energy sector. Yet, it faces a lot of issues in relation to the intensity and unreliable nature of sunlight. A Typical Solar PV panel on earth can harvest solar energy for only a small part of the day. Not to forget, solar energy has problems with the intensity of sunlight which varies with cloud cover. So, what is the best way to harvest solar energy?



Some people have suggested putting up a solar panel in space and beaming down concentrated sunlight to earth. This would require putting up large mirrors in a stationary orbit (known as a geostationary orbit) over a particular area. In a geostationary orbit well clear of the earth’s shadow and atmosphere, the average intensity of sunshine is eight times as strong as it is on the ground. And with the sun always in their sights, Space Solar Power stations could feed a reliable, fixed amount of electricity into the grid. But, all is not hunky-dory with this technology as carrying a payload like a solar panel into space requires enormous cost and energy. Currently, carrying one kilogram into space requires $10,000. This doesn't justify the huge investment into space solar power.


High Altitude Wind

Wind is claimed to be a form of solar energy in motion. About 0.5 percent of the radiation entering the atmosphere is converted into the kinetic energy of air: a mere 1.7 watts, on average, in the atmospheric column above every square meter of the earth. Luckily, the energy is not spread equally across the atmosphere but has an uneven distribution in the atmosphere. High Altitude Winds have a major share in this wind energy distribution. So, Why not tap into these wind energy sources at higher altitudes than on the ground?



The answer to this question is not easy as it seems to be. Such an idea requires floating wind generators tied to on ground power stations and long copper conductors which conduct the electricity from the floating generators to these power stations. Also, these helium filled balloons will have to be refilled every few months which adds to our list of problems. Nonetheless, Scientists do expect a lot of future scope in this concept.



Nanotech Solar Cells

There are two ways of using sun's energy to create electrical energy. One way to do it is by using the thermal energy in sunlight to create steam to drive a turbine and the other is to use the energy in each photon of light to make the electrons in conductors (Semiconductors to be specific) move. The latter technology is known as Solar Photovoltaic technology, popularly known as Solar PV. Existing solar PV technology only allows one electron to be moved per photon of light. Through advancements in the fields of Quantum dots, Scientists are basically trying to increase the number of electrons moved to six or seven and use a much wider range of frequencies to accomplish this job. Nanotechnology is helping us to make changes in individual molecules and make them compatible with our needs.



This buzz has awakened energy companies who have started researching in this area. The primary aim is to increase Solar PV efficiency from the current range of around 20 percent to much higher levels.



Designer Microbes: Bio-Molecules designed to let us "grow" energy 

Humans have reached a stage in their evolution when their control over their surroundings has reached a point where they can control the growth of organisms around it. This has largely been possible because of progress in the fields of genetics and bio-engineering. Certain sections have even started viewing the genome (information encoded in an organism's DNA) as piece of software that can be manipulated to suit our purpose. This has led to the possibility of plants being grown with the sole objective of harnessing fuel from them. This has created a revolution in the biological industry with reports suggesting that the ethanol based fuel from these plants can substitute petrol or diesel in the near future. This can solve the oil crisis for at least the near future.





Hydrogen based Fuels / Fuel Cells 

This technology is inspired by the humble electrolysis of water equation and it does the exact opposite to generate electricity. This technology has already been applied by car companies as a substitute for petrol and other oil equivalents. As compared to its non-renewable counterparts, the Fuel cell is far more environmentally friendly as the only byproduct is water. But this technology has a lot of issues with hydrogen and its availability. The extraction of hydrogen itself is a very energy intensive process. Also, safety in storage of hydrogen is a legitimate concern for scientists and users alike as hydrogen is a highly inflammable substance.



In spite of these pending issues, car companies have found fuel cell to be highly relevant to apply this technology to certain newer models. This energy source has considerable promise to power vehicles in the near future.



What can you do?


Innovations in energy generation require out-of-the-box and absolutely creative ideas. These ideas can range from harnessing power from people's feet to charge mobile phones to cold nuclear fusion.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

POWER-GENERATING FLOORS TESTED IN JAPAN

In early 2008, the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) installed piezoelectric pads in the flooring at the ticket gates at a station in Tokyo, an ongoing experiment to make train stations more energy-efficient. The 2008 experiment followed one conducted in 2006, and was meant to test improvements made in power generation performance and capacity, as well as advancements in material durability. Electricity generated from the floor is used to power facilities such as lighting or automatic ticket gates in the station.
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------