Author: Pradeep

  • A Note on my Quitting Wikipedia

    I am in Mumbai right now. In my old seat. A seat where I have sat and taken very critical decisions of my life. Not for the past six months. More specifically for this post, not in the past two months.

    I finally posted my intention to quit Wikipedia by hanging my retired sign. I had made several threats of quitting on list and off it, perhaps enough that people still do not take me seriously when I announced my intention to quit. I think some still don’t and keep calling me trying to keep me abreast of goings on in the wikipedia world. I repeat to the person and myself, “I do not care”. I have gone beyond a point where a movement holds my sympathy. All I wanted to really put out there was on this statement on my user page.

    I am hanging on there, more to complete and submit my WCI 2011 Report. I am required to do this.

  • A post that says many things that I want to say but for which a singular title does not work

    The last time I wrote any thing on this blog was on February 5, 2012. The rest of that month and the days since have been tumultuous to say the very least. Many of my beliefs and faiths in various things and various people have been shattered. I went through a period, briefly of depression. I cannot claim that I am completely out of it, yet. Hence, the silence on this blog.

    I have been updating my tumblr in the mean time, once in a while. I purchased a new phone that I hoped will distract me and then realised that what I needed was not distraction but confrontation. The phone did help me calm down as I began to learn and appreciate a new instrument. I had named my last phone Robbie, from a tradition of naming some of the things I use a lot since my childhood days. I have named my current phone, Athira, the Indian name for the star Betelgeuse,my birth star, per Indian calendar system.

    I have started writing somewhat lengthy stuff on my tumblr which I guess means that I can take a shot at writing something here as well.

    I quit Wikipedia. I won’t be going back to that place, again.

    I trust fewer people now. I cannot live like this for long. I have started doing a few things to fill up the time generally.  I have started reading again. You can follow my reading on goodreads. I have also start putting pics up on instagram, though they get shared through tumblr.

    I have started taking swimming lessons. I had almost started doing OpenStreetMaps but left that for now. I started preparing for banking exam. Not reading much of that, now. I am spending most of my time just sleeping. I’ve started tracking my expenses now, now that they have spiralled out of control. I am not in debt yet. The depression made me eat – a LOT. That made me gain weight again. That meant more expenses, again.

    I wanted to say all of the above because it was just lying around there, like orphans, without being tethered to anything really. I started or promised to do a bunch of things since my first year of engineering. I really wanted to do them but I came in my own way. I am drawing up a list of stuff I want to do or said I would do and plan to implement them. One of the first things I had said I’d do was to learn swimming and do astronomy. I have started taking baby steps in both these fields already. I will write about both of them in separate posts on this blog perhaps in the new year, as per the Malayalam calendar.

  • Link-Bunch for Week 5

    Every week I read a lot. I get this from various sources – from other blogs, to twitter, to facebook. This is an attempt to collect the week’s posts and news stories I read and liked in one place. Will be done weekly or as often as possible.

    1. Brain Pickings Blog: A 1928 letter to Jackson Pollock from his dad. Letter writing is a lost art. I sometimes wonder what great insights we’ll miss out on tomorrow’s leaders, writers and others because these are all electronic now and I wonder how accessible they will be.

    2. George Monbiot is a journalist who writes for the Guardian newspaper. In this piece, he explores how the fast breeder reactor might be the best bet we have with current technologies. His thinking is pretty realistic and grounded. I wonder if the Indo-US nuclear deal will push India away from such technologies and go back to less mature technologies to serve corporate interests.

    3. Vidyut writing almost hours after the Supreme Court verdict cancelling 122 licenses in the 2G Scam whose verdict was delivered presenting an alternative perspective. My only concern, which I believe is still not addressed, is how this verdict will be implemented.

    4. Sonali Ranade writing about how capitalism needs to reinvent itself. An important step back and take a look post.

    5. danah boyd writing about how parents normalized teen password sharing of websites like twitter and facebook. An important read, especially for the parents.

    6. Abhijit Bannerjee argues well for the need of better and honest data collection in India in this article from the Hindustan Times.

    7. Krishnadas Rajagopal reports in The Indian Express on the Supreme Court questioning the Army invoking the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) to protect its officers from charges such as rape and murder. An important perspective on the continuing public debate on AFSPA.

    8. Since I’m in the ship building industry, I just read this item in passing. Ship freight rates have now become zero. You can now hire a ship, apparently, by just paying for the fuel charges!

    9. Nuiman writes in countercurrents.org on the problems faced by the Malayalam publication Free Press. This is a dated article from 2005 but worth a read.

    10. Jonathan Shainin writes in bookforum.com reviewing Katherine Boo’s book, “Behind the Beautiful Forevers”. I yearn to read book reviews like this and aspire to write like this. Working on it :) .

    11. Emily Lakdawalla writes on The Planetary Society blog providing an awesome example on the keen sense of observation and what we can learn from it. It also is a push for naked eye astronomy that I have been slacking on. Worth a read, especially if you’re a parent.

    12. Strategic analyst B Raman writes on the impact of the Supreme Court verdict in the 2G scam on the up and coming UP elections.

    13. Stephen Clark reports for Spaceflight Now on the SpaceX successfully testing its launch abort system, an important step towards man rating the SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which the US hopes to send astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

    14. A controversial film made by film maker Sanjay Kak called Jashn-e-Azadi was to be screened at a festival on Kashmir at the Symbiosis International University, Pune. The programme was cancelled because of pressure from the right-wing group, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Pune Police. A student, Akshath Jitendranath, writes about dissent and its value in society and specially in the campus.

    15. Farah Rahman writes in The Mint about how Indian children are not encouraged to tinker.

  • Antrix-Devas Agreement – ISRO Responds

    Today morning, I found a link to another Indian Express story on the Antrix-Devas agreement on Twitter via @sonaliranade. After reading the report, I immediately browsed the ISRO website to find that it had tabled the High Power Committee Report on the Antrix-Devas Agreement. I shared this on twitter and got a few packets of biscuits while sitting down to read the Report, the conclusions and recommendations of the High Level Team and a note from ISRO on the same that puts both these documents in context. I just finished reading the Report now.

    My first set of immediate reaction is I still think the Chairman, ISRO, Radhakrishnan must have issued a statement to the press to publicise the efforts he was taking. I still think people of the stature of Madhavan Nair should have been handled more appropriately when action was to be taken against him and others. I also must apologise because I misconstrued Radhakrishnan’s silence as a sign of Madhavan Nair’s allegations against him were true in regard to not giving him ample opportunity to speak. Radhakrishnan has still not responded on Madhavan Nair’s charge that he was out to get him. I think Madhavan Nair must also apologise publicly for his outburst in the media making false claims based on press reports.

    The Report of the High Power Review Committee is a very instructive read on what they sought out to achieve through Antrix Corporation and India’s Satellite Communication Policy. I still think ISRO has not been able to move more nimbly through its ever expanding mandate. It is a period of change but it is also a period of stagnation with hardly any launches but perhaps with internal technological developments. ISRO has not been very enthusiastic on communicating these. The note responds to some of the accusations made by the former ISRO Chairman.

  • An Obituary of a Tea Shop

    The management moved recently to remove all the tea shops in the ship yard where I work. The grapevine and the only reason known for the removal was to reduce the time wasted by engineers in the tea shop. This post is an obituary of one of the tea shops that was shut down.

    This happened two weeks ago. The tea shop that I used to frequent almost daily at 10.30 am was shut down. The grapevine spoke that the management had cleared all tea shops from the yard. This was a move, apparently, to reduce the time the engineers wasted here. I speak about the shop – a tin and plywood shack really – that was run by three ladies. The relationship among them was unknown. Their real names are also unknown. One lady was definitely old and the other two were definitely young – perhaps in their twenties.

    The central location of the shack meant that it attracted quite a large customer base – contractors, workers and engineers. The shop, in addition to tea also served up samosas, various farsan items, choclates, biscuits, cigarettes and tobbaco.

    The shack was a meeting place for engineers from different departments. It was also a meeting place where people at various levels – from workers to engineers and even managers spoke with each other. Enquiring about work – but also about people’s backgrounds. About their families and co-workers and their well being. Here, tea was bought, farsan was had. Many things that cannot be negotiated over email or in official settings were sorted out here. Co-workers and juniors confronted other co-workers and seniors on various things that concerned them – openly. The shack thus served a social function.

    The shack also addressed a problem. Our canteen is infrequently open and poorly stocked. The shack provided a solution by offering the aforementioned items at any hour of the working day. The quality of tea was also much better. Many people suggested, in conversations, suggested that the canteen staff be sent as trainees to the tea shack.

    I guess at some place in our minds, we knew that the shop would close down. The shop occupied a space where construction of the yard was progressing. It had to be removed for the construction to continue. It was also possibly not following many rules that such an establishment would have had to follow in a town or a city. However, this brief association with the shack proved to be a space where I met with many of my colleagues and my seniors – where we shared a cup of good tea and some idle chatter. Now, with the shop gone, we miss both. The day seems somehow incomplete and the people somewhat restless.

  • Why join a Political Party?

    For the past few days, I have been reading up on the various circumstances for joining a political party if not to participate in the political process. This might seem contradictory. The thought arose while reading the news where continuous reference was made to Party workers. Who were these party workers? How did they become workers of a party? These are people who believe in the ideology of a political party but not with the intention of running for office of an elected representative. Right now most party workers seem to not have a venue to express their own thoughts anywhere.

    The opinions of the party workers never seem to come through in any political party that is of any considerable influence. If you read party organs, they’re filled with the opinions of party leaders, who get space anyway to discuss and deliberate in the media. The main aim of the party organ should be to enable the party workers to pen down their thoughts. Then to it must not be for hero worship – which is in a sense slavery of one’s thoughts to a person. It is worse than even believing that God shall be our saviour.

    The image of the party worker as a hooligan and nothing more than a stooge who listens to the diktats of the Party or Shaka chiefs must change. The role of the party organ must change from a place to worship the Party leaders to a place where party workers can offer contrarian well-thought of views and opinions backed by data. It must also change to a venue for party leaders to communicate decisions to party workers. India will become an even more vibrant democracy with the rise of “internal party democracy”.

    Getting back to the question, Why join a political party. The only useful answer that I got was from the League of Women Voters of California website, which says thus:

    If you join a political party you can elect members to the partycentral committee which governs the party. You can help to select theparty’s candidates and you can work to elect members of the party to politicaloffices. You are not required to work for the party, to contribute moneyto the party or to vote for the party’s candidates.

    There is no document/article/journal entry written on this context written by an Indian clarifying the reasons one should consider joining any political parties. All political parties in India, excluding the Congress have prominent links on their main pages providing a venue to become a member of their party. The other parties do not explain their ideologies or reasons why you must join them – a feature practiced by business houses and non-profit societies. The Congress is even better since it does not have a way to join them. There is the Indian Youth Congress but there seem to be some sort of election to take membership in the same. There is no clarity at any rate.

  • ISRO-Devas deal: Ex-ISRO chief banned from future government office

    The Indian Express carried an exclusive report today morning stating that former ISRO Chairman, Madhavan Nair; former Scientific Secretary, A Bhaskarnarayana; former Managing Director, Antrix Corporation, K R Sridharmurthi and former ISRO Satellite Center chief, K N Shankara have been penalised in connection to their role in the ISRO-Devas deal. The order signed by the Director, Department of Space states that the accused would not be able to hold any future office in the Governments of India, her states or Union territories. Further, the order also asks the accused to remit any office that they may currently hold.

    The media seems to be more taken in by the implications to Madhavan Nair than the other three accused. It seems rather too early to make a comment on this story. A reaction (NDTV) is coming in from Madhavan Nair as I write this out and I am trying to follow the news given the lack of a television set, the best I can.  He also raises many points in this news story (Real Time News).

    The ISRO-Devas matter is sub-judice and comment is not allowed on that matter. However, the way in which the Government has acted is rather on shaky ground. Given the stature of people it has acted against, I would have thought the Government would have taken more care to present a solid case. We’re still waiting for a clear statement from the Government on this issue.

    Update – 11:55 AM A glance through the archives on Google News led me to this news item from the Deccan Chronicle. This seems to have been before an “order” came out and seems like Madhavan Nair protested well before the order was made in the way the enquiry was conducted. In light of this article, the Indian Express article is not breaking news or an exclusive, just an update on the situation.

    Update – 12:20 AM The former ISRO Chairman has now hit out at the present ISRO Chairman.

  • When was the last time you went to a museum?

    Ashwin Baindur shared this on the Wikimedia India List yesterday. He requested comments. This let out a chain reaction of thoughts which led to this blog post.

    I don’t remember when it was I last went to a museum as a child. It was at a time when it was still called Prince of Wales Museum. Hence, it is certainly before the year 2000 when the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India became the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vaastu Sangrahalay. The new branding calls them, “The Museum”. I don’t recollect ever having gone to the Bhau Daji Lad Museum before last year.

    My only recollection of the Museum is going there as “picnic” from school and walking around in a single file whilst having no one to explain what the thing was other than monotonous boards that said, “Toy from the Indus Valley Civilisation” or some such. There was no context. What is so special about this toy in some time long past? Why is it kept in a museum? Why is this Museum interested in this toy? Our classes were huge. Museum staff was little to invisible. There was simply no one there to satiate our curiosity. This was before the Internet became pervasive or affordable. Even the exhibits were just kept on an old table in the room under tube lights. I am amazed that even this excited our curiosity.

    The next time I went to the Museum was when Liam Wyatt came to India for building Wikipedia’s GLAM initiative in 2011. Liam had been working with the British Museum in London to enable content from the Museum to enrich Wikipedia’s articles and photographs while at the same time leading more visitors to both the website of the British Museum as well as to the Museum itself. He was in India to meet Wikipedian community members and cultural institutions in India to see if a similar initiative could be started in India. To Wikipedia, it was clear that this would increase and improve coverage of the Indian sub-continent. To the institutions, this was something new.

    I have been part of several conversations that talk about how to improve the Museums in our country. These were private conversations. I have heard Museum professionals speak about their ideas and the changing notions of what the Museum means in the twenty first century.  These were mainly their professional view points. It did not seem to be laced with feedback from the public on what they expected from the Museum.

    Above all, the Museum is a public space. It is a public space which aims to remind us of our historical heritage, something most of us lose touch with once we pass out of high school. It is a public space that points to the mechanisms by which our culture evolved over the years. It is a public space our youth can get educated. Informally, so that they know the outline without knowing too much in depth but a starting point from which they can find out more. It is a place to discover that there is such a part in our history. If it arouses his curiosity, he can always go home and look up more information on Wikipedia.

    The cultural institutions – galleries, libraries, archives and museums – are today offline spaces where we discover new things. Things we did not know existed. It then intertwines with online spaces, where we share it on social media forums and try to learn more about from Wikipedia. Here, they learn more about books where they can learn more about. These might be found in a local library. Or perhaps in an archive?

    I have felt that an important part of the conversation is missing because we speak from our perceived notions of what Museum might look like based on a visit you made quite a few years ago. So, before you read that article above – or if you’ve already read it – do give it some time. Do go and visit the Museum in your city. You never know, it might have changed, like the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India did. Once you go through the Museum, do tweet/blog/google+/facebook  about it but also write your feedback in that neglected guest’s book kept for our suggestions in the Museum. After you do this, might be a good time to speak about how we can improve cultural spaces in our country.

  • We’re bad at communicating our cultural history

    During my visit to Gandhi Ashram, Ahmedabad, I noticed that there was a major thrust towards showcasing how this was a very vital part of our cultural history. There were notes everywhere, painted, pictures etc about how we aimed to create an equal and casteless society. We’re really bad at communicating this history to the large population who visit the Ashram – the young and the foreigner, especially, who have only seen a resurgent India.

    This is the picture that greets you outside the toilet block. What is written in Hindi, translates into English as, “I asked for water, not your caste.” It is a one-liner that informs one about the caste system, the untouchability and various other practices that did exist once in India and still does exist in some form or the other in India. Yet, this is not properly communicated and hence it continues to remain a problem.

    Many people just walked by this mural. Even if you did not see any other thing in the Gandhi Museum – the Ashram rules, the letters Gandhi wrote, the various sayings pasted on the walls (which one could easily read in a book!), missing this is a crime! Yet, foreigners had no way of reading the Hindi script, the kids were just scampering – more intent on getting to the toilet. Many just avoided this space because it was a toilet block. This still smells a bit, doesn’t it? How we look down upon our civil sanitation spaces? Before we wipe out corruption and other evils from Society, the first one we must wipe out is our lack of civil sanitation. The rest will be “cleaned up”automatically, in my opinion.

  • Visting all National Parks in India by 35

    National Parks in India are not as famous as they are in the United States, where there is a good National Park Service. However, this is not surprising given the fact that most national parks came into existence in the 1980s. They did not exist in the youth of our parents. They now exist and travelling pioneers are visiting these national parks and slowly word is spreading among the general public about their existence.

    As per Wikipedia, India has proposed 166 National Parks. Of these it had established only 96 by the year 2007. You see the hidden potential?

    In contrast, the US opened national parks in 1872.

    I wanted a challenge in my life that combined geography and the challenge for travel. I have enunciated it in my expectation of visiting all the National Parks in India before I turn 35. This is a strange claim for me to make – a person who has not visited a National Park which was less than 20 km away from me – the Borivali National Park. However, when I go to a National Park I would like to explore several things – interactions with villages and towns in the peripheries, the attitude of the current generation of Indian Forest Services officials, the flora and fauna of these parks and above all, enjoying the whole Park experience – knowing I am among the first few exploring these areas.