Transport Systems – A comparative study

I hope you didn’t get put off by the academic-sounding title of this post. It just so happens that I couldn’t think of any better title for it. Anyways, this post has been in the offing for a long time. I had first thought about writing on this subject on a bus ride from Madras to Bangalore 2-3 years ago, even before I started this journal.

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MA at IIT

Starting this academic year, the Humanities and Social Sciences (HS) department of IIT Madras is starting integrated 5-year MA courses in Economics, English and Developmental Studies. With this IITM becomes the second IIT to start undergrad courses in Economics after IIT Kanpur which started an integrated MSc in Economics last year. This particular move of IITM is commendable mainly for two reasons – one to provide meaningful employment to HS profs and also in a branding context.

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Knowledge vs. Logical reasoning; Quizzing vs. Consulting

When I started my quizzing career around 12 years ago, I was good at it because I knew more than a lot of others. As a child, my parents had made me mug up a few huge “general knowledge” books. Apart from this, I started reading the newspaper at quite an early age. And questions in school quizzes being of the type “who holds the record for most goals in a single world cup football match?” or “what is abhimanyu’s mother’s name?” (I answered both these questions on my way to 2nd prize in the KQA Lone Kid Quiz in 1994), my additional general knowledge helped.

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Those darned contact lenses…

This is an old piece. I wrote it a couple of years back. Then I had thought that this is so good it might win a prize in some creative writing competition I might attend. Given that I’m almost done with my student life and it’s unlikely I’ll be taking part in any creative writing stuff, I thought I’ll put it up

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Airport Infrastructure

Today, we had a manager from a consultancy company talk to us about the airline industry. Apart from usual stuff like low cost vs full carrier, cyclicity of the industry, scope for consolidation, etc., one important thing that was mentioned is that most Indian operators have placed huge orders for aircraft. It is expected that by 2010, the number of aircraft in India would’ve grown by a factor of 4 (not exactly sure of this number).

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Bhelpuri Economics

Every evening during my last term break, I used to go on a long walk round South Bangalore, and used to top it off by eating somewhere. Being too impatient to sit at a table and order, I would typically saunter into some fast-food places and make good all those calories burnt in the walk. Roti Ghar on most occasions; Upahara Darshini on a few other; Adigas; Cool joint; Chat house; Kakunje’s corn outlets; and a lot of street bhelpuri.

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my latest love story…

Dear _______,

Hope you remember me. We had seen each other briefly during the Landmark Quiz at Bangalore on November 1st this year. The first time I saw you outside the auditorium, when I was waiting to be let in. For the first time in many years (don’t know how many), my heart skipped a beat when I saw someone. I must say you look breathtaking. Gorgeous. And add to that you attend quizzes! Couldn’t be better!

Briefly forgot all about you as i cribbed to Dushyanth about our juniors at IIMB. Then got to the task at hand and cracked the prelims. You were still out of sight, out of mind. And then I qualified for the finals. Was part of the team “vidi vici veni” (or some such stupid thing Dushyanth had come up with). Team 8.

I clearly remember that you were sitting in the second row close to where I was on stage. Remember establishing eye contact with you during the course of the quiz and maybe exchanging a smile or two while I was on stage. For the length of the finals I was up there, I drew my inspiration from you.

Then shit happened. Derek, as is his wont, chucked us out of the finals mid-way through the quiz. I remember hopping off stage and parking myself in the second row, a few seats away from you. We were separated by some guy who’d accompanied you, Shamanth and aadisht. The eye contact continued. I clearly remember us exchanging a few more smiles for the rest of the quiz. I also remember explaining a couple of answers to you. All the pain of not having done well in the finals was erased.

Then the quiz ended. I have this idiotic habit of drinking a lot of water, especially when it is provided free. As a result, I had gotten quite pissed off and rushed to the men’s room. By the time I emerged, you were gone. Lost in the madding crowd. Lost forever?

____ (I don’t even know your name), if you are reading this (I sincerely hope you are), please drop in a comment with contact details. It is after more than a year that I have had a crush on someone. And it would be really tragic if the story I have narrated above didn’t have a continuation.

Lots of love,
Karthik

money for nothing… and chicks for rent…

Have noticed this strange phenomenon in the course of the last one and a half years. Something vinod bhaskaran has christened “rental”. Rental of girlfriend/boyfriend I mean. Becomes especially significant in a place like IIMB where most people live in hostel and away from their near and dear ones.

According to Vinod, rental can be described as a process where a girl and a guy get really close to each other (as close as two people who are gf-bf) but both know that there is no chance of a permanent settlement. Typically at least one of them is already committed, which helps clearly define the terms of the contract.

Have seen quite a few instances of such rentals here in IIMB. First instance I saw was between a classmate with a bf abroad and a senior with a gf in bombay. Then, this other classmate, with a bf in Delhi, has entered into rental agreements with not one but THREE guys in my class. And now that all three of them are out on exchange, she’s entered into a short-term contract with a FOURTH guy. Mahabharata rocks!

The most weird thing i’ve seen with this female who’s actually reasonably close to me. She has an on-campus bf and they’re going really strong. Now, for the past month he was busy organizing a fest and she decided to take his best friend on rent!

For an ‘outsider’ who has never entered this kind of contracts, it seems really funny. But i guess there must be some logic to this. Too lazy to figure it out though!

Yeah, and I think a few people I’ve referred to in this post might be reading this. Researching armor.

poem about me…

After the fan mail and stuff, Beedi has been kind (??!!!?) enough to write a poem about me. really takes my case. really rapes me. still somehow I thought it needs to be displayed here so i’m putting it…


He went through so much pain
for a a girl named ________
if only he had not tried to get her

He waited a whole year
without shedding a tear
fo surely then next batch of AVB scholars would be better

And then came the L square
with a red bandana in his hair

he twisted aroun and began to shout
he got drunk on a peg of whisky
and began to dance about

skimpy and the avb scholar
as he tried call out to her
there was a simple twist of fate
and in came sharad seth

poor skimpy was dejected
he said “i have a fear of being rejected”
Never mind said ramnath
just remeber to take a bath
and about the girls do not bother
for you are your own avb scholar

non-IIMB people would definitely have a problem relating to a lot of things mentioned here (sharad seth, ramnath, L square, etc.) but never mind…

Manasi (the scholar in question) replied

In vain tried the detractors to drag Skimpy’s name thro the dust,
Without realizing they were being both unfair and unjust.

For, while they were busy making their arbit allegations (please note
alliteration and pun on arbit :))
Never did they consult other parties involved in the investigations

Never did he try to woo, never did he try to entice,
All Skimpy did to the AVB scholars was give them friendly advice

Therefore, ye all, who so delight in barbed taunts,
Consider this – Skimpy neednt try; he can get any girl he wants 🙂

then Beedi produced what is now considered as perhaps the greatest piece of poetry to hit our discussion boards…
And the prosecutor rose
to put his arguments into prose
though you may shout and though you may twist
the truth shal not be covered in mist

according krishna kumar t,
(who i hope gives me atleast a C)
to take a decision
of any presicion
one must use all relevant information

i have a list of long witnesses to testify
and my accusations they will justify

i call upon the president of the student’s union
and use his formal appointment
to tell us what wimpy claims as his only dissappointment

as my next witness i call
someone who is very tall
can u sir not elucidate
the matter on which we meditate

i now call upon all my batchamtes
who were present for those L2s, no matter what their states
to tell us about those fated dates.
tell us how you all watched,
as wimpy had his wooing botched

as my finall witnees i call upon
wimpy’s red bandana,which was worn
please sir tell the law
what you really saw

i could call the spirit of kodi
a memeber of the press and so almost holy
but that i will not try
for he has his own avb scholar to fry

with this i could rest my case
but i am not one so base
as to overlook
all the good in wimpy’s book

a guy with the best brain
who refused to let it drain
by a man named morgan with lot of cash
but with work which he thought was trash

wimpy, the quizzer,
is defenitely not a looser
if you have seen spidi you will see
how great wimpy can be,

but when it comes to scholars of the avb type
wimpy doesnt live up to his hype

and so i request that sentence be mild
for wimpy is not one so wild
so that we can all be the winner
i petition that wimpy take us out to dinner

I will be taking him out for dinner today

reservation fundaes…

Spent the last couple of hours teaching math to a friend of mine. He entered IIMB through a reserved quota last year. Did extremely badly and flunked the first year. If he doesn’t do well this time round, he’s been told he’ll be asked to leave.

During the course of my teaching, I figured out that his level of understanding is much lower than most other people I have encountered. The way I had to teach today was totally different from the style I adopt during the tutorials I take. I had to literally hand-hold him as I took him through one of the not-so-tough parts of probability theory.

Having finished teaching him, I am forced to raise this fundamental question as to whether we are overdoing reservations in the premier institutes. Many candidates who enter through the reserved quota end up doing pretty well (in fact this year one such guy, a good friend of mine, narrowly missed out on the coveted Director’s Merit List which is awarded to the top 10 performers in the batch) but there are also many who end up doing really badly.

Some of them take three years to finish the course. Some of them are forced to drop out. Some manage to finish the course but it’s a nightmare for the placement committee to place them at the end of the course (yeah the last bit happens with some general category people also but the incidence is much less among them).

There’s this other incident I would like to quote here. A girl wrote the JEE one year before me. Didn’t do well enough to get in but was offered the “Preparatory Course”. At the end of the course, she was found not to have done well enough to continue to the main program and was asked to leave. She raised a hue and cry, moved court, moved the National Commission for SC/STs and managed to get in (as my batchmate). I have heard from my friends and juniors that she’s unlikely to leave IIT with a degree.

Are we raising false hopes for these “weaker sections” by reserving too many seats for them? Would we be better off taking only those candidates from the “weaker sections” who are reasonably good and are likely to successfully complete the course and not keep taking just to fill a quota?

The guy whom I taught today has already spent a year and a quarter and 2 lakh rupees for his education at IIMB. And he seemed to give an indication that he’s not doing too well this time round also and is likely to quit sooner or later. And he had a software job before he joined IIMB. Now, as an “IIMB dropout”, it would be tough for him to find a job. Wasn’t he better off still working in that software firm?

Important questions to be answered but i bet that in the name of populism, vote banks, etc. these quotas will only increase and more people’s life will get ruined this way.