…Being A Student…

When I informed friends and colleagues about my decision to embark upon PhD (read it as being a student again), some of them termed it as eccentric. Most of the relatives called it plainly outrageous and stupid. Looking at looming (seemingly never ending) home loan I thought it would be gutsy but not unthinkable and only after I was sure to have finances under control, I decided Abhi Nahi To Kabhi Nahi and went for it.

At times I wonder if it has been a clever decision or not. As I think more and more about it, I end up having mixed thoughts. Thoughts specially outpour during international flights to and from Bombay. The last journey was no different with deluge of thoughts on my mind as I was passing through Indian customs. After what I thought of to be a routine baggage scan I found myself in front a bald held, portly, white uniformed Indian Customs Officer Mr. Ahuja. Probably being first time, it proved to be an experience in itself. He started firing one question after the other. Kahase aayeho? Kya kya hein bag mein? Electronic goods? I gullibly informed him about everything I had (except iPod which I thought I could easily camouflage and wasn’t new anyway) and he started listing everything down on a piece of paper. He then started asking about the cost of each and every item. How much does this record player cost? I said about 80 Euros showing him the bill Prabhat had handed me the other day. What is this? queried Mr Ahuja looking at another popping bill in my wallet. I said this is the bill of a set of bags which I was carrying. One with goods and one as goods and wondered how could he levy that. How about Watches?? I said about xxx euros and realized that I had forgotten the bill of the watches as I had never imagined that I would be facing this. And this camera? asked Mr. Ahuja with a triumphant look. I answered 400 USD reducing the prize as I converted the actual prize from euros to USDs, reducing a sizable sum in the process.

Querying about my camera left me visibly annoyed as I have already been using it for a while now and I thought it was atrocious to list this as one of the items to be levied. Anything else? Chocolates? I answered yes a bit of them. How many? 5-6Kgs?? I affirmed. Chocolates can be levied was news for me. “Perfume(s) hein?” Mr. Ahuja was unstoppable. I said No. “aur Cigerette(s)?” “Nahi bhai”. “Any liquor item?” Asked Ahuja, “NO”, I answered. Wine, Champagne?? Nahi baap, My voice was loud now as I was very annoyed. He summed up and asked me about the EURO versus INR rate, I said ~62. He said, Let’s take 63. Bugger was not ready to leave an inch. Then came another beamer. I think, I should increase the entire cost by 20% as all these goods must be a lot cheaper in Belgium. I had to educate him that all goods in Belgium come with 21% VAT and hence he should offer me a concession rather than taxing more. He was in no mood to bulge though and after some math came up with a magic figure INR 1495 and asked to me sign the paper as an agreement, pay the duty and head home. I only had INR 1000 in my wallet and had no option but to negotiate with the officer. I was quite pissed off and started arguing vehemently. I argued again and again that it’s not right that the camera is being levied and if he takes the cost of camera out everything would fall within the allowable limit of INR 25000. He suggested allowing him detaining my camera as one of the options and then I won’t have to pay anything. Quite sure that I won’t agree to this, he also warned me that if he opens my bags and check everything it would cost me a lot more than INR 1495 and I better pay and go. I retorted that I do not have money to pay. He had no problems to inform me that he could keep the baggage and I can come and pay later. He also suggested me that I could also appeal against the charge in the tribunal. I was in mess, down and out.

I started talking to him again, now in a more negotiating tone. He probably lost his patience as well and asked me to open the baggage. I did so and he sighted lots of souvenirs in both the bags. He lifted one or two and kept them back commenting that I have been traveling a lot. My heart was in my mouth when his eyes fell on a very delicate glass boat from Venice, Italy. I thought he would like me to decorate his showcase with the same but thankfully he kept the piece back. “What is this record player?” He queried again. I said one of my friend’s parents are very much fond of music and possess very special personal records but they do not have a player to listen to them and hence I was carrying it for them on my friend’s behalf. Does it play DVD/CD? I said No. It plays only old records and nothing else. “Any perfume, cigerrette, liquor??” Now, I had had enough really and sarcastically answered “dekh lo Sir…you see it for yourself” He queried kya karate ho? I said, I am a student doing my PhD in Microelectronics in Belgium offering my KUL student card as a proof. I also passesd the following “Boss, I am not in Europe to make a fortune but only for studies and I am no rich as a person on Job there for sure…”. After a quick look at the baggage again Mr. Ahuja left leaving me tantalizing at the gate.

On return Mr. Ahuja suddenly mellowed down and informed me that he was willing to let me go because and only because I am a student. What a reason? What a fantastic reason to carry this student card at least for a while, if not all life…specially while dealing with Indian Custom Officers.

Rafa's Autograph...

Raphael Nadal autographing for Basa...

Basa has finally shared a piece in his treasure, Raphael Nadal's autograph during the French Open 2008. Basa is moving to US next week and I wish he catches his hero Roger Federer @ Flushing Meadows during US Open 2009. Good Luck Basa!!!

I hope to try my luck @ Wimbledon 2009 :)

Burning Bombay...

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” cautioned MK Gandhi 6 decades back and looks like it would take us as many centuries to gasp the profoundness.

Whatever is happening in Bombay (as a proud Maharashtrian I refrain from calling it Mumbai as I distaste sectarian divides which bear no fruit, kill cosmopolitanism and are only retrograde) is disturbing to the core. The terror strikes send chilling shivers through my bones, lend me meek and spineless. From 1000 miles away, I think of my countrymen, my family, my friends, my sister who works near marine drive and goes there everyday via CST. I tend to think of her and many like her as soldiers not far from LoC, at least the risks are comparable nowadays. Moreover, it’s not that the strikes would end here, looks as if it’s only the tip of an iceberg. I pray to be proven wrong but I believe that we are going to face many such ordeals in the coming years. Our state of intelligence is abysmal; steadfastness to confront such critical situations is ludicrous and the political willingness to unite in trying circumstances is as usual political and pathetic. All signs indicate that there are no solutions nearby and we are set to suffer big way.

Honestly, when I read news for the first time I thought some psychos have hit the roads and the saga would die down in no time. I did not care a single bit as I called home pretty late in the night almost sure that everything would be fine. Looking back this attitude proves to be precarious and worries me. As these things are happening at periodic intervals do they seem not so serious on prima facie? or I have got used to it. I do not know as yet.

Low and down in my studio as I was watching the live streams I penned down the following words. I think Bombay is yelling this loud and clear to the caretakers of the country. I hope you agree.

My heart breaks and soul sinks

My patience being tested time and again...

You will hide your impotence and sing for my resilience

As you have left me bleeding yet again...

Although it’s not time to be poetic. That's the best I could do. Unfortunately, that’s the only thing I could do…

Papa Kehate hein (or evolving dreamz) ...

As a kid, one often confronts this question. What would you like to be when you are grown up? Uncles and Aunties coming to your home offer you a special Candy, mostly a Cadbury (Is there only one special chocolate?) and flabbergast you with a query: "Qu Beta, bade hoke tum kya banoge?" The unfortunate part is you have to answer the question before you can launch on the chocolate. As a kid you obviously do not care if you ever become big or not. Keeping eyes on chocolate with a shy glare on the face you mutter some foolish words. If you answer I wish to be a "Doctor or an engineer", then you are binned into an erudite category. A wanna be lawyer is considered as shrewd and probably wanna be politician (dunno if anybody has answered this) had the danger of being treated as an outcast. The most ludicrous response I have heard is "Bada hoke muze papa banana hein..."-"I wanna be dad when I grow up..." Wanna be Dara singh comes close but wanna be Papa is not only funny but the most honest and innocent answer ever produced. The kid must have had his dad as his role model and hence the answer.

My childhood dreams were also funny and I do remember the way they transcended from one profession to the other. It all started with a bus journey. I happened to notice that not only the bus conductor has a lot of money after the ticket sales but he is really in control of the navigation as well. The driver and conductor form a team and the driver stops the bus whenever conductor rings "Ting" and starts upon "Ting Ting". Driver-Conductor pair was one of the most influential professionals I had spotted initially and were obviously my initial wanna bees. Later, I developed a strong respect for drivers and conductors for the hard work they have to go through…especially the State Transport drivers. I believe they have magical skills to take any bus in any condition to the destination. I am sure they could have been a part of "Chandrayan" and taken the satellite to the moon in their bus…

Then came a moment, at one of the cross road junctions I happen to notice a "Traffic Policeman" controlling the entire traffic on a busy junction. "Ting Ting" of the bus conductor was of no use here and the driver had no power to overrule his orders. Moreover his prim and proper, starched uniform, a white shirt with star badges on a khaki pant had its own appeal. The bus conductor and driver were never so neat and clean. In fact, many of them used handkerchief so that they could use the same shirt time and again. I had to reevaluate my dream job and as the most powerful person in the town, I had my eyes set on the Traffic Policeman's job.

As I went to high school television took the center stage. I typically liked TV serial "Nukkad" a lot. The characters Khopadi and Guru were my favorites and I was attracted to the acting world. Inspired by their performance on the small screen, I was very much keen to take part in the school drama and went to Mrs. Dalvi requesting a role. Mrs. Dalvi was a new teacher in our school and was very active in directing dramas and coaching Kabbadi teams for inter school competitions. Contrary to other teachers, she was very passionate about extra curricular activities. One of my classmates Snehal had recently won the prize for her acting under her tutelage and that was a motivation too. I was all game to show my skills on stage...to be the next star on the horizon. When I asked for a role in the drama, the be-spectacled teacher looked at me with an unlikely derogatory look. The look that repeated "Jane kaha kaha se aate hein...." word by word, time and again. The answer was all over her face. This feeling of apathy brings dejection, often leaving you in a despondent stage. I was no different. I do not know if bollywood lost another Bacchan at that very moment (hahaha) or not but my dreams to perform on stage were shattered forever and my acting we restricted to perform when I was caught stealing Besan laddoos from grandmas Tiffin box.

But, I continued playing, playing and playing. The same Mrs. Dalvi came to our home and gifted me Rs. 10/- for my performance when our team beat a team of hunks in an inter class Kabbadi match. Our team members were very small in size compared to the opponents and they had beaten us quite convincingly in the yester year. This year though things were different. The strategy we had plotted to nab those big fellows had worked enabling us to pose an unexpected win in school competition, shattering all big egos. We all were heros. Although, I managed to play Kabbadi and basketball a bit, I liked Kho-Kho by heart. Agradneya Vyayamshala (AVS) provided an excellent platform to excel. We had an excellent team and we were performing quite well in the Bombay circuit. Looking back, I seriously think that if most of us had continued playing further, AVS would certainly have been a top (promisingly No. 1) team in Bombay circuit. Some of us would have had an opportunity to grab jobs in banks and other government offices and who knows I would have been living my life as head peon or clerk spending evenings on the play ground. And I would have been happy as well. I envy and have all the respect for those who make their living on sport (or Art)...those who live sport (or Art). I know for sure it's quite hard, certainly strenuous and at times extremely difficult but I dream it to be joyous, triumphant and full of excitement.

During adolescent college days, administrative jobs lured me. So much so that I became a regular reader of Competition Success Review. TN Sheshan, set out to clean the electoral system had to be an idol. Kiran Bedi and Meera Borgaonkar were not behind to reinforce the impression. Opportunity to create a lasting impact on the society, challenging job profile, not to mention the social status were predominant attractions. And the day came when my dad retired from the Central Government job after 40 yrs of service. A glance on his career highlighted the fact that he was not promoted for about 16-18 yrs. Central Excise officers are well known for all notorious reasons and my father’s stubbornness would have formed an obstacle in his career. Not a while ago, I had seen him ignoring an illustrious customs job shift to take up a quiet teaching position during his job and I found him relatively happy at that peaceful place. Probably he really liked teaching^# (He says he would have loved to be a professor) or he was at peace with himself for not having to make more compromises with his conscience. Whatever the reason, I came to conclusion that this is not the way forward for me and had to look for an alternative.

After burning productive years, engineering in Bombay University had left us where we all started. At the end of BE I did not know what I want to do but knew for sure that I was not inclined to be a software engineer* to ride on the boom. Uncertain about the future, I was happy spending evenings at Deepak’s transformer workshop, making a few transformers but predominantly playing Chess. One evening a TIFR scientist Chandorkar came to workshop to collect his order and Deepak introduced me with my predicament to him. Chandorkar talked about the problem of making white LEDs quite charismatically and I knew for sure that Microelectronics is the way to light the lamp for me. When I reached IITM for MS in Microelectronics, all I wanted to do was to build a white LED and resolve an impending problem forever. We were three students joining MS by Research program in electrical engineering on the same day and there were three professors (Prof. Bhat and my eventual guides Prof. DasGuptas’) to guide us through our research. They informed us about the research they do and I was very much disappointed to find that they were ignoring the most vital problem in the world. The most important query they made was would we like to continue for a PhD? Chandana and Koti were as usual smarter than me and were affirmative. I kept mum. Semiconductor Devices Lab environment at IITM was very lively, a very conducive for carrying out mathematical modeling work and I could assimilate very seamlessly. IIT education was also a bit different from university pattern. It was more cerebral and you could gain more with less effort. I found the exams more enjoyable, more like a tonic to strengthen brain and less of stress. I liked (and still do like) to research and explore, particularly mathematical modeling a lot and hope to enhance and apply my skills to develop better and better models that aid deciphering the mystery of mysterious science and technology…

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# My father also tells me that our surname Katti does not mean negation but has its origin to the profession. Our ancestors were known for preaching sitting on a platform, a Katta producing the surname Katti….No Wonder!!!

* when I was joining CAD Software Group in National Semiconductor, I suggested my manager and HR that I won’t like calling myself as software engineer and (looking at my software skills) calling me software engineer is probably an insult of true software professional and it was indeed true.

Meeting Vishy Anand In Bonn

Amidst tapeout/deadline and core partner presentation in IMEC, I was very skeptical to avail a leave to visit Bonn for the Anand versus Kramnik World Chess Championship 2008 match. After the Core Partner presentation and of course witnessing the impressive display of skills by Anand on board during the initial half of the match I had to go…and once Michele granted me the permission there was nobody stopping me. The scoreline after 7 games read 5.0-2.0 in favor of Anand and there was a possibility, an exciting opportunity to witness the crowning glory if Anand manages to draw one and win one game. It was highly probable looking at Kramnik and Anand’s current form and I was more than hopeful…

I had a pretty tough time finding a cheaper place in Bonn as there was nothing I could plan in advance. Most of places were full because of the chess event and those available were expensive for a student’s pocket. Luckily I got one but the search made me reach the venue almost 15 minutes late. Who says “Chess is a boring sport*”, the playing Hall was packed with people occupying not only seats but also stairs to watch the tussle. Moreover, I met fans from Sydney-Austalia, Boston, Washington-USA, Vancouver-Canada, (a sardar from) Bermingham-UK, India and of course a plenty from all over europe. I am sure Russians must be present in numbers as well. All of them have traveled all the way to experience the championship event. Needless to say, Chess may turn into a morbid habit, a very addictive sport.

Game 8 was average (by their standards of curse) ending up in a draw after perpetual checks. Looking into his current position, I expected Kramnik to go all out. But, instead of exploring his chances with g3 he adopted to sign truce and Anand readily accepted. During the match, I could spot Anand’s wife Aruna sitting on the Team chairs. His second GMs (Peter Heine Nielsen, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Radoslav Wojtaszek, Surya Shekhar Ganguly) were missing and they were missing during all the matches except the last one. Aruna has a very homely look. A looks that one desi has on offer to another desi outside India, surely in Europe. First eyes meet each other…then both the parties go into deep thinking whether to smile or not….and in a process half smile is rendered on the face. Later at the press conference, I was looking for an opportunity for Anand’s autograph. After all, I was carrying my own chess board all the way to Bonn for this. I would require to catch the train immediately after the next game (game 9) so there was only a remote possibility that I could get his autograph. They even did not allow cameras to be taken inside the playing hall. This was ridicules and my enthu was down. My canon was not worth a penny. I neither had an autograph nor photograph of the champions. GM analysis that was running parallel to the match was also in Deutsch. C’mon FIDE this is not a German championship but a World championship and there should be something more for the amateur spectators. While talking to Frank, a veteran Desperado-Leuven, I was informed that during last Kramnik versus Deep Fritz match they had provided head phones and spectators could choose the language they prefer to listen to the analysis. Disappointed and dejected I came out of the hall after the match and headed for the Bonn City Centre.

After roaming a bit near the University area I was looking for a nice restaurant near city centre. On the way there was “Ichiban Noodle Bar” ….looked decent…..not that expensive as well but I was more interested in an Italian cuisine that day and decided to explore a bit more. As I walked further, I saw a bunch crossing the road and could spot Aruna again. The same homely look was on offer….surprisingly, I could not spot Anand….may be I am too much used to see him only in official NIIT or AMD attire or he had camouflaged himself in a blue track and a red T-shirt. They walked past behind me and I continued my search for a nice place to call it a day. I found nothing decent as decided to head back to the Noodle Bar and through the glass panes I could view Anand and his team were occupying the table inside the restaurant. So, this has to be the place for dinner today. I have to get autographs as well. I checked out. I had the chess board but shit… shit… I am never gonna improve. I had forgotten the marker pen that could write on the chessboard in the hurry to reach the playing venue in the afternoon. Instead I had 2-3 usual pens which were not worth a penny. I remembered having passed a copier shop a while ago. I had to try my luck now. I ran to the copier shop but this is Europe man…shops close at 19:00 at most 20:00 and it was almost 20:30 and heavens should have been with me to get me a pen. Shop was indeed closed but lucky enough I found a guy inside the shop. I knocked and he gestured to me that the shop is closed and I better turn tomorrow. I persisted and suggested him that it’s very very urgent as there is somebody as big as BALLACK outside whom I would like to autograph and badly require a marker pen. Probably listening to BALLACK’s name he was pleased and gave me a pen. I rushed back to the restaurant and went to the table requesting an autograph. It was very odd for me. Dunno why…..call it inhibition or whatever I just get cocooned when confront big personalities. Same thing happened to me when I went to the Indian dressing room @ IIT-M chemplast. When Sachin came back from the field I was stunned, awed, mesmerized whatever you call it….may be a mixture of all these….may be more. I hesitated to even ask him for an autograph. Stupidly, I thought he must have been tired….why to bother him and so on….sounds so stupid….but it’s true. To my ecstasy, Anand signed my chessboard. I requested his seconds to sign as well. They signed too….Mrs. Anand hesitated….She said no no no….I won’t like to sign. I did not persist. I wished him all the luck for the match and occupied another table. While munching plater of Noodles I kept watching the players all the time. While returning Anand returned me a smile….a smile I would never forget…..a smile that made my evening, my day, my Diwali!!!

My Chessboard with e4 signed to Vishy; e2 is belongs to Peter; d5 e6 have been occupied by Radek and Rustam respectively; GM Surya is missing....

During the next game, I could smuggle my Canon inside the hall to take photos (http://picasaweb.google.com/guruprasad.katti/WorldChessChampionship2008_Bonn#) of the champions. As Mario Puzo says in Godfather Man has to make at least one crime to be successful. True Indeed.

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* There are people arguing Chess is not at all a sport. I ignore paying heed to their ignorance and thank almighty for enabling me appreciating the beauty of the game. As one of the legends Anatoly Karpov puts “Chess is an Art, Science and a Sport.” What more you care in the world.

My First Modak...

Unfortunately Bal Gagandhar Tilak did not come to Belgium to initiate and inspire the "Ganeshostav" celebrations in Belgium. That leaves maharashtrians in Belgiam a bit more nostalgic during Ganesh Chaturthi days. During last "Ganeshotsav", Harshada and Prabhat (a veteran Leuven couple) had made modaks for all of us. This time around I was desperate to learn and try my hand. Thanks to Harshada and Prabhat's tutelage, my first modak came just fine...

What is missing in the pictures in the Harshada's art work in making modaks. I personally have not seen better hand made modaks than them so far.

Shantaram: A masterpiece

I recently read a gripping master piece Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts for the second time. During the first reading I was mesmerized not only by the breathtaking story Roberts narrates but also by the sequence of plots he has designed. Second time though, along with the plots some of the characters and a bit of philosophy appealed me. It made me recount some of the incidents in my youth and highlight the evolution of thinking from youth till now…..

In addition to the familiar Bombay life, Robert takes to you the places where general bambaiah public does not have clear cut access. Some of those places are the standing babas colony, slave market and of course inner underworld council meetings. The entire story is ripe of all the contrabands ever existed…it’s all a smoke filled café. In my youth, I was a vehement supporter of liquor prohibition. I even remember aggressively debating the whole evening in favor of prohibition against my friend Milind’s dad, Mr. Garde - a customs officer. Obviously the bald head had seen more monsoons that me in my teens and he was stressing the point that liquor (and many contrabands) does act as a medicine too and hence should not be banned but probably should be regulated. In front of my eyes, I was viewing only one picture. It’s still sharply etched in my memory. I had a friend called Ravi for a very short while when I was very small. Probably 5-6 yrs old. There was an apartment being constructed next to our chawl. Ravi was the kid of one of the construction workers. He used to attend school with us and was my playing partner after school. One day when I went to his place after school to call him to play I saw his monstrous father beating his mother to death. Mother and the kid were crying and crying inconsolably. Scene similar to what Johny does to Maria in the book Shantaram. To my knowledge, it was quite unfortunate that there was no Quasim Ali who would cause the transformation similar to Johny to Ravi’s father. Later that year, Ravi left the school but the memories remained. I could not fathom as to what makes people go to the oblivion state and turn into a beast. Back then, Prohibition to me was the only logical end, a profound answer attacking the root cause to solve the entire problem. Today as I see the problem is not really the liquor but other factors that stress human lives. I am quite convinced today that if Ravi’s father has been a well earning individual, satisfying the mandatory desires of himself and his family, he would not have been beating his wife whom he must be loving and caring a lot. The feeling of failure, being not able to make both ends meet would have stressed him to loose control over himself….to follow the way which he would always dislike rather loathe. So, prohibition is not really the answer but the empowerment though education could be…..just could be the way out….

Robert’s tough days in the Arthur Road Jail and his narration of the slave market in Bombay (A market where young boys and girls from all over India and Bangladesh are for sell to the rich and privileged, predominantly Sheiks in Dubai and to me selling of a human is synonymous to sending him to prison…although for no crime…..or his only crime is that he is poor and only a poor) calls for only one question to be asked. I confronted upon the same question after Sachsenhausen concentration camp visit in Berlin. How can a human being be so cruel to other human being? A story at Sachsenhausen suggested that Nazi’s were offering Vodka as gift to the soldiers doing the job of causing massacre in the prison cells. The gifted Vodka would send them to an oblivion state and it would not allow them to spend time and energy fighting their conscience and they would be willing to do the same job next day, untired…I am sure some of the soldiers in Jail would have been taken to suicide themselves and many of them would have lived an unconscious life so long as their conscious would have allowed them to. I am sure they must have thought a ton times that it would have been better if they would have been battling on the field…..as least they would embraced the death as martyrs for their motherland but now some of them might have seen themselves as cowards exercising their weapon on enervated prisoners.

During my younger days I was of the opinion that one ought to fight the fire with fire or aggression is the best defence or what ever but in the similar aggressive lines. As the days have passed Gandhian philosophy “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” fascinates me. I believe that the Gandhian principles if obeyed by most of us would certainly free the world of the most deterring problems.

Robert’s journey after escaping from Australian prison is nothing but exciting. His stay in Bombay had certainly been every eventful and what impressed me most is his stunning attitude to assimilate in the crowd, to be a part of it, even during the entire ordeal. He speaks not only hindi well but also the local language Marathi with a proficiency that would awe a Maharashtrian. I find it nothing but impressive as my initial efforts to learn a foreign language German ended with a crush on my German teacher followed by departure to IIT-Madras for my post graduate studies. In Belgium, I took a long time to make my mind as whether to learn Dutch or French. Then I decided and enrolled in the Dutch course in IMEC. During the class, I was found myself solving Poisson’s equation for Through Silicon Vias (TSV) in the class. What I was finding exciting was small stories Dutch teacher Sofie used to introduce. They were interesting and used to inform a bit about Belgian culture but whenever the discussion used to move to grammer I felt bored and used to start working on my techie stuff again. I missed a few classed because of my stupid meeting planning and after a while I stopped going to attend Dutch course….clearly I lacked the attitude to learn the language. I still wish to add fourth language to my repertoire and it would be pragmatic to choose between telugu (for friends) or kannada (for roots) or Punjabi (dunno why I am always attracted to this one)….may be a while later though.

Finally on a lighter note, the cutest and the most lovable character is Prabhakar-Mr. Bombay Guide of narrator Linbaba (Mr. Lin). The character is so much of fun and life. He is somebody you will find on a daily basis on the streets of Bombay and would love to roam Bombay with him. In terms of physique described he is certainly close to me and may be in terms of smile as well……just may be…well, just being more optimistic.

Extraordinary picture depicting US economy crisis

A lot of times you become so very madly busy that time, days, weeks to pass so fast. So many things happen in so less time. Usual research lethargy vanishes and you are full steam focussed on finishing the tasks. There is no time for fun, checking cricket scores, or even checking personal mails. Tired before finishing your day you open your personal mail box and encounter a mail with a photo (pasted below) depicting the US economic crisis in a very apt manner and you burst out in laughter, huge laughter. George Washington is no doubt a very very worried man nowadays. This laugh is equivalent to 100 laughs during other times to me. Kudos to the artist and his stupendous imagination...

Water Level Elevators: Genuine need based Innovation

If you asks me what is the greatest innovation so far. I would have no hesitation to say “A human brain”. That’s because a human brain comes up with such incredible ideas every now and then that makes me wonder when it’s going to stop (Well, never actually)…..What’s the Utopian life / life style of a mankind going to be? Any Ideas?

Another observation is that most of the innovations occur when there is a genuine need. Necessity becomes the motherhood of innovations. Water level Elevators would come as an innovation in this category. Historically, there must have been a genuine need to connect two and/or more water bodies together and they invented elevators to take boats, ships to pass from one water level to the other and there came “Water Level Elevators”. I experienced the boat ride through such elevators for the first time in Maastricht-Netherlands. It was an exciting experience and upon exploring more I was informed that such systems are existent all around Europe. The concept is pretty simple. There is a common area between the two water bodies with the doors at both ends. Within this common area the water level is adjusted (increased or decreased) to the water level of a particular water body where the ships and boats can seamlessly pass. For example, when boats have to travel from lower water level to the upper water level whey will pass in the common water area at the lower water body level. The door at the upper water body level is already closed while the door at the lower water body level is closed when the boats to be passed come in the common area. Upon closing the door at the lower water body level the water in the common area is increased as if filling a water tank. Once the water level becomes in level with the upper water body level the boats swim to the upper body level. Exact reverse process happens when boats have to go from upper level to lower level. Some of the pictures elaborating this process:

(a) Boat in the common area...ready to go upstream. Tank being Filled with water

(b) Tank Filled in and now the Gate Opens....

(c) Boats swim upstream

The process described above works well when the height difference between the water body levels is not large and the common area or tank can be filled in a reasonable time. But this becomes impossible in case of water bodies which face huge difference in the water levels. In this case, an artificial moving tank elevating the boats up and down is mandatory. The UN World heritage near La Louviere in Belgium during 6th NBH hike is one such example. There have also been differences between the ways in which the boats are elevated in a tank. The modern electrical elevator is certainly more distinct when compared to the traditional Hydraulic ones in the pictures below:

(d) Modern Elevator

(f) Artificial Tank carrying boats

(f) Traditional Elevator

During the process of knowing more about these Water Level Elevators, I came across Space Elevator that could launch you out into space:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

No wonder human brain is an unparalled innovation...

Mumbai Xpress Autorickshaw Rally 2008

Man......This must have been incredible. Although I am enjoying every bit of travel in Belgium and Europe, I always have a feeling that I have been missing as much fun back home. I was proved right when I came across this Autorickshaw Rally 2008 page while surfing:
http://www.indianarc.com/routes_mumbai.php

The site has all the details and route maps. The trip spans 1921kms in 13 days and covering parts of Tamilnadu, AP, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Having lived in Mumbai, studying in Chennai and worked in Bangalore the Rally route should have been familiar to but it hardly is....specially in Karnataka below Panjim. The western ghats in Karnataka have not yet been visited by me and this would have been an ideal opportunity....Well, there is always next time :-)

One might bike through the same route as well....Peru, r u listening??? Although, Autorickshaw is a completely different fun....nobody would deny.....hahaha

Guru
P.S. I certainly miss Autorickshaws in Belgium and Europe....

Errata in the traveling itinerary 2008

I forgot to add one days spent with Sandeep @ the Belgian Defence Day involving Aeroshow.....scanning photos reminded me this. So, yo!!!! I have finished a month of travel already with a week to go. That's so coool.....

Travel Itinerary during summer 2008

This summer (Mar. - Aug. 2008) I have traveled a bit (not a lot). So much so that people in Leuven have started assuming that I won’t be around in town during weekends and in a process have missed a lot of invitations and delicious food…..hahaha.

Rucha & some friends have started saying that I have been doing everything other than PhD. So I decided to take a stock of the situation. My travel itinerary during summer 2008 looked like this:

• Natural Born Hiker (NBH) Treks….Thomas has baptimized the trekking group as NBH: 5 Days (missed one trek on Friday because of work. I need to highlight this fact)
• Berlin trip with Naveen: 3 days
• Frankfurt Trip to meet Koti: 4 days
• Italy (Como-Venice-Rome-Pisa) Trip: 6 days. I had to take 3 days vacation for this. Don’t you think I needed to award myself for an effort during IEDM submission? Fair enough I guess.
• French Open Finals: 2 days
• Maastricht @ Anant’s place: 2 days
• Trip to Trier: 1 day
• Trip of Keukenhof: 1 day
• Trip to Amsterdam: 1 day
• Dinant with Prof. Nandita: 1 day
• Ghent to meet Prof. Nandita: 1 day
• Brussles Flower Carpet: 1 day
• Sand Castle in Blankenberge: 1 day

These 29 days traveling include ~180kms of trekking during hikes, 29 x 200 (Avg. pictures in a day) = 5800 pictures in total. If I go for kayak (which I plan to do) for the last weekend of Aug. it would be 30 days (a month) of travel in 6months. Now, is that a lot??? I am sure that there are many who do better. As usual ”Yeh Dil Maange More” and I have the following things on cart:

• Waterloo for a day
• Radha des for a day
• 2 NBH hikes: 2-3 days

And then I would let the winter begin......

1 month (4 weekends spent entirely in Leuven) of travel in a span of 6 months is not bad and I accept that I have traveled a bit but I refute the claim that I have not been working or doing everything other than PhD. I have worked only for 2 weekends (but hey I am not supposed to work over weekends) this season, one during the IEDM deadline and this weekend as I have a lot of things on my plate. During One weekend we made long awaited Vadapav at Naveen's place and there was only one weekend in 6 months which I can call to be unproductive.....Anyway, enjoyed every bit of this season and I hope that this wonderful summer continues….

For All Chess Players...Try this out....

This would be quite nice thing to try @ Desperado, a Chess Club in Leuven. Well, the usual atmosphere @ the Club is not very different with toady players making their moves.

Vadapav

If you ask a mumbaikar (mumbait) as to what he has been born and brought up with, many answers would come. Some would say mumbai local train, some would argue it with gardi (marathi) or bheed (hindi) as people around never seem to vanish. A film buff would certainly call for bollywood while marathi manus would pitch in for Natak. For me though, there is only one thing that symbolizes Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and that is none other than Vadapav. Pav bhaji, pani puri, bhel puri and other chat items come close but can not really replace the importance of Vadapav in Mumbaikars life. This was the reason why I have nominated Vadapav in IMEC's cookbook this year.

The story on the internet about Vadapav's origin says that some time in the 1960's or the 1970's a mill worker in Mumbai always managed to skip his breakfast to make it on time to his work place. Concerned about his health his mother/wife thought of a new way for him to be able to take his BHAJI* (Mashed/diced potatoes mixed with green chillies, ginger and a tadka (tempering) of mustard seeds and turmeric.) and have it on the move.

She made balls of BHAJI dipped them into batter made of gram flour and deep fried them. Thus was born the BATATA VADA. Later came along the PAV (a kind of bun, in India it is known as Pav) and so did the Chutney (essentially garlic and red chilli.)

I am not sure if the tale is true or not, but who cares all I know is some smart Maharashtrian cook did magic and stumbled upon what is now the MOST common and exhaustively consumed fast food in Maharashtra. Nowadays, BATATA VADA is the MOST popular and people love to have it any time of the day during all seasons. The combination of BATATA VADA and split PAV along with chutney continues to be Mumbai's sledgehammer answer to the hamburger.

Drawing inspiration from the story when we made Vadapav @ Naveen's place in Leuven, they looked like this (Picture Quality Regretted)......Yummy!!!!!

Carlos Nunez: An amazing Spanish Instrumentalist...

Missing a game of Chess on Friday is usually a very difficult task but I happen to join Vinay and his friends for a concert by Carlos Nunez in OudMarkt, Leuven on one of the summer Fridays. It certainly proved to be a better use of time....certainly better than loosing a game of chess :-)

I neither knew the artist nor the group and was very much naive about its creations. It was a total serendipity and in no time I joined the audience tapping and dancing and applauding to their tunes. It was informed that the music being played was Celtic music and it looked (....oops heard) so familiar. The symphony created by Carlos and the group had really made the audience spellbound. Every tune deserved a once more. It was really an unforgettable experience so much so that I tried to look for the videos on youtube and (after an effort to query a colleague for Nun yen's Spanish spelling) I was lucky. The more I hear these tunes, more I seem to fall in love with them....specially the ones with (mostly irish) dance performance going together with the tunes. Here are some of the videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grHOcHIhXr8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkYBC0rJzf4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejl5PD5KLXc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br-WKc3vvPQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlJyT3hwZdE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSFY-Ib9tzE&feature=related

youtube would provide a lot more.....

Do enjoy....I am sure you would like it.

Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam - 1932

I saw this photo @ Anant's place in Maastricht. You could hardly find such an adventurous workplace (rather workspace) nowadays :-). Quite sure that Environment and Health Care & Safety (EH&S) folks @ this site would have had to resign from their job on the spot :-) Jay was very right about the description except that it's not empire state building but Rockefeller Center in New York. Here is photo and description:



This iconic photo is one of the most famous images ever shot. Construction workers take a break from their work on the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center in New York to have lunch atop a steel beam 800 feet above ground. The photo was taken Sept. 29, 1932.
Photo by Charles C. Ebbets/ © Bettmann Corbis

50 kms Marathon Hike in Belgium: An experience

The shortened version of pictures of the hike can be seen @ http://picasaweb.google.com/guruprasad.katti/50KmBelgiumHike

Here is a description of this hiking experience:

I have been a regular member of a hiking group in IMEC. Thomas and Steven have been organizing these hikes extremely professionally. They decide upon the distance to be covered, dig up Belgian maps, identify picturesque locations en-route and we all are set to go. Thanks to their meticulous planning we all have been able to visit interior Belgium which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible. The distance of the first hike starts around ~22-23kms (Thomas calls it as warm-up) and increases by ~6-7 km every hike. All hikes this year have been beautiful but the one stands out in my memory is the longest 50km (49km on paper but in reality we must have crossed 50 by a margin) that concluded the first hiking season of 2008.

The hike was scheduled on Sunday as some of us were also planning to join ICC’s trip to Trier-Germany on Saturday. Trier trip concluded with a grand dinner @ Buddha’s place and as a result with insufficient sleep and half opened eyes I reached IMEC at 8:15 AM (a bit late than others), dreaming to walk 50kms during the day. The plan of the trip was alluring. In the first leg (~16 kms) we were supposed to reach African museum in Brussels through Tervuren garden. Second leg (~17 kms) included photography @ Zaventum - Brussels airport. Thomas is an avid aviation photographer and I would have loved to get some tips to handle my new canon 400D. Actually, everybody in the group is a photographer and I was a new entry to the family so tips from anybody would have been welcome. The last leg was involved a castle visit but I more or less read it as a long walk back to IMEC-Leuven.

Tervuren-First Leg

Like most of the hikes, starting was through familiar IMEC Heverlee woods. As we reached Tervuren the beauty started to unfold. Roads in Tervuren go through lush green fields and are well-known for cycling. Undoubtedly we faced a lot of cycling groups along our walk. The biggest of them was Brussels bike rally. On the way, we also confronted an adventurous motor bike group enjoying their Sunday.

Tervuren Park is awesome!!! (can’t find a superlative word). Thirteen radially outward paths having age old tress on both sides meet at the centre consisting of three medium size stones. We took one of those thirteen to enter the garden and the opposite to reach the other end. At the other end of the park there is an African museum and also a canal. A very picturesque location….very ideal for photography. Tervuren alone is a spot to spend the entire day and I will definitely do it sometime soon. Many of the new group members joined the group here and some of them visited African museum. I do not visit museums unless somebody tells me it’s something special (read Louvre-Paris or Vatican Museum in Rome). Moreover, park landscape was so beautiful that I wanted to spend as much time as possible, possibly entire day, right there. But after lunch it was time to walk remaining ~33…..

Zaventum-Second Leg

The walk between African museum and Zaventum was good too. All along we were passing through freshly ploughed fields spotting aero planes which grew bigger and bigger as we approached the runway. After reaching very close to the runway we tried to spot all which flew during that time. Obviously most of the planes belonged to Brussuels Airlines. I felt disappointed that there were no fighter jets and would love to spot them in future. Some of the folks dropped out after this stage as it was a tad late and we were a bit behind schedule, yet to cover around ~16kms on our way back.

Final Frontier

Luckily this proved to be the most beautiful part of the trek. There were a very few townships and most of the way went through the woods. Thomas made a forecast that we may be lucky to watch the Sunset on our way back and he was proved dead right. Watching the red dusk standing amidst green fields was a very fabulous experience. Walking was tough for everybody now. I had a huge blister in my left leg and it was very painful to walk bearing it. If the nature would not have been this beautiful I would have got bored on the way…..and who knows might have caught a bus to Leuven midway.

How about 100kms hike?

There was some talk of 100km hike during the walk. It seems there is place where a bunch of folks walk 100kms in a day. To me, that’s looks difficult to achieve. I can maximum stretch is to 60kms. Anything more than that calls for a bus or a train… To my satisfaction I would walk inside the bus during entire journey...

Next Day @ Office

Gratifying mind, sumptuous food and tired body is a very good recipe for a nice sleep. We obviously had all of that at the end of the day. All of us deserve a special award for coming to office the next day. I had blister in one leg while Sandeep had it on both legs. Both of us were limping in IMEC for almost a week. Next time when I walk 50 kms, I would see to it that I have 2-3 days to recuperate after the trek and the path is as good as Thomas and Steve chose this time around or else….

European Bike...

Europe is a very friendly place for Bikers in general. There are separate biking tracks in many towns and cities. While it's a relatively safe place otherwise, thieves are somewhat attracted to bikes and/or bike parts. This photo taken @ Ghent, Belgium is an illustration. Only the tyre (handsomely locked) of the bike is left in the parking lot. Hilarious, what you say??

A Day @ Roland Garros

All tennis players dream about playing at Roland Garros during their career. Good ones’ amongst them aim for winning it. Outstanding ones’ have the motivation to win it time and again. Not only Roland Garros they want to win a grand-slam, if not a career gland-slam. You may call it an irony or whatever but for someone like me who hold a tennis racquet only in his adulthood watching a grand-slam is as good as having participated in it. If it’s a final of grand-slam event, it’s like playing a grand-slam finale.

I had applied for the Roland Garros tickets for both Men’s and Women’s Single’s Finals to be played on PHILIPPE CHATRIER Court (Center Court) at Roland Garros. Given a choice, I would have liked to watch Men’s Singles (Rafael Nadal versus Roger Federer would be an icing on the cake) final and when my application for 2 tickets for the Women’s singles finals was accepted I was equally excited. While I was betting on Maria Sharapova versus Ana Ivanovic for the finals, Maria Sharapova lost to Dinara Safina in the 4^th round and the final was between Dinara Safina of Russia versus Ana Ivanovic of Serbia. I would love Ana to win but only after fighting for 3 sets. The prolonged 3 setter mimicking Monica Seles and Steffi Graph in 1992 (Score line: 6–2, 3–6, 10–8) would be a dream final to watch.

Basa, a tennis enthusiast from Leuven accompanied me to watch the finale. I hope what he saw improves his game a bit. I am too hopeless to even hope to improve my tennis. We did not want to take any chance with trains etc. and reached Paris a day earlier using a set of slow IC trains that would fit our budget. Next day morning, we were supposed to be at the gate at 10AM sharp when the gates would open. During our stroll to the stadium, there were folks selling tickets for the finals. Both Men’s and Women’s tickets were available. I asked Basa how much he could shell out for Nadal – Federer match the next day. He responded 150 EUR. I said I could stretch up to 200 EUR. When we enquired the prize was 1000 EUR for 2 tickets. We quietly walked to the entrance.

As we entered, the schedule for the day was on display. There were 2 Legends’ doubles semi-finals, Junior’s semi-finals; Men’s doubles finals in addition to the grand Women’s Singles Finals. Surfeit tennis for the day. After about 45 minutes of modeling and photographing in the stadium, we were very surprised that the entire stadium is almost empty and I had an apprehension if we were at the right place. The referees and ball boys took their places at about 11am and the scoreboard flashed. The match to be played was Michael Stich/Goran Ivanišević versus Pat Cash/Sergei Bruguera. The players made their appearances and started to warm-up. I and Basa were lost. This was not expected. We went out to check out on the other courts. I was wondering if the final was to be played at some other court and in that case my booking for the centre court would have been useless and we won’t be able to watch the grand event. Panic situation!!! We came out. We could identify the PHILIPPE CHATRIER Court and were eager to enter. The Roland Garros personnel stopped us and in his franchised English involving a lot of gestures informed us that the Women’s singles match would start @ 3.00pm on PHILIPPE CHATRIER Court and we could be allowed to enter only during that time. I was relieved. To our surprise, a single PHILIPPE CHATRIER Court ticket was a passport to the entire Roland Garros matches for the day. So we came back to watch legends in action at SUZANNE LENGLEN Court.

Trophie De Legende’s
By the time we came back, the warm-up was over and the action was about to start. Being a legends match, there was no seriousness in air. All the players were enjoying themselves. Pat Cash was the funniest of all four. He was playing soccer with the ball boys, joking around as the match was being played. No wonder his first serve was broken by the opponents and suddenly they were trailing 1-3 in the first set. All four were real artists. The way they were handling the ball was amazing. Sergie showed his brilliance first up. While taking Stich’s serve he made a starting movement to take the ball on his forehand. But as he saw that the ball was going to his back hand he rotated and tried to hit the ball back…..almost succeeded. In his second serve Pat Cash was brilliant. One of his serves to Goran spun as much as Shane Warne’s ball that got out Mike Gatting….many call this ball as the ball of the century. Goran was baffled and applauded the ace. Goran’s pace of serve was still a notch up than his contemporaries. He was still serving at 200kmph and the difference was conspicuous. There was such bonhomie between all four that all the good passing shots/drops were applauded by the opponents and the objective of game was more of fun than that of competition. After missing a simple smash, Michael Stich went and handed over his racquet to a photographer. In another incident, the ball was high up in the air and anybody could have hit a smash. Goran came forward faster to hit it even when Stich was nearer to the ball. After the point Stitch shouted “I know I am bad but I am not that bad”. Stadium guffawed. I wonder if they would have ever done it when they were professionals.

Although, Sergie and Pat Cash managed to take the first set to the tie breaker, they lost match in two straight sets. Next match was another legend’s game. After the initial games in the first set, we decided to go out and grab some food.

Basa Scores an Ace
As we came out, the area was filled with band music. They were practicing for the main event: Women’s Singles finals. One photographer was busy with a model. Offf!!! French girls are too beautiful. I also wanted to take her picture but my Canon 400D was too inferior compared to his camera and I restrained. I tried to voyeur in a picture pretending to take the picture of the statue behind but looking at the picture now I have screwed up both: The object as well as the statue in the picture. We went ahead and saw a bunch of photographers and fans assembled at the entrance of Court 4. Curious to know what is happening we entered the court. Basa shouted “Nadal….Nadal.....” and disappeared. Indeed Rafael Nadal had his practice session and was about to leave. I was trying to take some pictures with my camera. Nadal was giving autographs to his fans. I tried to look for a paper or something that I can use to take his photograph. I had nothing except pen. All I could do is to take a couple of Nadal’s pictures amidst crowd. After a while, triumphant Basa appeared from the crowd flashing Nadal’s autograph on one of the papers. We were very happy. That was obviously the highlight of the day. Basa now has Rafael Nadal’s – Four time Roland Garros Champion’s autograph.

In the afternoon, we had a look at the Roland Garros’s museum. It was quite good. The evolution of racquets, cameras, dresses, trophies in the tennis world was on display. We would have spent more time in the museum but it was time for the gala event and we rushed to watch the Women’s Singles final at Centre court.

Ana Wins her first French Open
This time the atmosphere was entirely different. The tension, the anticipation, the excitement was in the air as we entered the stadium in a huge queue. The band was playing at the court before the event, signifying its greatness. The stadium was slowly but surely filling in. As I reached our seat (Escalator 10; Line 9; Seats: 122 & 124), I asked the guy sitting on my right to whom they are supporting. He proudly answered Serbia. On our left there were Russian fans. The flags were waving amidst an electrifying atmosphere. Ana made an appearance first waving the crowd. She was wearing a red outfit almost matching the surface. One fan in the crowd carried a banner “Ana, I am single too….”. As she entered the court, her entire route to the finals was announced and displayed on the screen. The same was for Dinara except that she was in her whites with a blue bordered skirt.

From the outset, I thought Ana’a body language was very positive. She was up and ready to go for the practice in a flash. Dinara took her time and both of them started warming up for the Big game of their lives.

I was supporting Ana to start with and she broke Dinara’s serve in the first game of the first set. I wanted a 3 setter and so I shifted and started supporting Dinara along with the other Russians on my left. Dinara has a lot of powerful shots and was indeed matching Ana shot-by-shot after the first game. Ana was more deceptive and was taking an initiative early in the game. She made a lot of unforced errors in a process too but was in more control. I also thought Ana was difficult to read because of subtle drop shots she played in between. She kept Dinara guessing. Dinara played well in patches and started variations a bit late in the match. In the end, the score line read 6-4; 6-3 in favor of Ana. Third attempt at the title was finally successful for Ana. I thought the match was better contested than the score line suggests.

Serbian on my right was entertaining through out the match. As soon as the point starts, he would shout “Back hand….back hand…”. He wanted Ana to hit every ball to Dinara’s back hand. The French Open crowd was excellent. The clapping cheer they offer a lagging player in order to boost his confidence can’t be described in words. In between, the fans would shout for Justin (Henin) who was in the crowd as the Chief Guest to hand over the trophy. Obviously they have not forgotten her dominance over clay. Most of the crowd was neutral and wanted a keenly fought 3 set contest. At the awards distribution ceremony Serbian national anthem was played. Ana was very emotional on the screen while the fan next to me was even more emotional than her. I wish I could stand up for an Indian national anthem @ Roland Garros one day. Sania….are you listening??

After the Finale, Basa thought of riding his good fortunes and rushed to see if he can get an opportunity to sneak another set of autographs. Unfortunately it was not to be...
I guess the 4^th round weekend should be a very conducive time to collect photographs of many tennis stars. I should go and try my luck…may be next time...

Should we buy Nadal versus Federer tickets?
After watching Mens’ doubles finale on the center court we encircled Roland Garros in an attempt to find a metro station. On our way, we confronted another ticket seller. Basa said: “How about 600 EUR for 2 tickets? A lifetime opportunity….” He was obviously excited. I said okay. We enquired and the guy was immediately willing to offer us 2 tickets for 600 EUR. I remembered a simple rule for bargain on the Mumbai’s fashion street: “If vendor agrees to your quoted prize first up, you have overestimated the prize.” The ticket was indeed further up the lines and we wouldn’t have been even closer to the court compared to women’s finale. Had it been behind the players or playing area, it would still have been worth for Nadal-Federer match. Adding to this, if we decide to watch the Men’s finals, we would have to manage our return ticket and the stay for the night. It would have been a pain. I decided to back off. Basa was disappointed. Looking at the result the next day it proved to be a blessing in disguise as Nadal pounced Federer 6-1,6-3,6-0. There was hardly any contest….

I wish I would be able to watch all grand slam finales in this life time. Next year’s target is Wimbledon. I have already initiated the ground work. US Open (have been to Flushing Maedows but have not seen any match) and Australian open are far away for now but I am hopeful that my days would come and I can proudly say I too have a career grand-slam.