Education and India

It’s the most hotly debated topic in India what with the Bhagats and Rashmi’s swarming all over the place having come through the great Indian education “system”. While I would be drawing comparison with the Education system in the US and Western nations, I would, for once, sympathize with the Indian Government. Yes you read that correct, sympathize.

Before I get on with it, lets us first highlight in short what is actually the difference in technology and research between India and the West. Technology as you already know is driven by high-powered intellectual research which in turn is driven by state-of-the-art technology and infrastructure. At every stage if you look into the depths you will find money written all over it. Go inside infrastructure and high-tech facilities and laboratories you shall find dollars powering them, Go inside top intellectuals and nobel lauterates and academicians you shall see that their retentivity in a particular university largely depends on money. What runs a top institute, a top R&D, the answer to everything lies in those green pieces of paper, as Douglas Adams had put it.

Now it is clear that in order to deliver and sustain such strata of innovation and technology on a regular basis we need money and lots of it. That is exactly where India lacks and why I sympathize with our government.

Now don’t get me wrong , I never meant to and do not say actually that India is impoverished. Those days are gone but then, India is still a developing country and is not a developed country. Hence all the money it has goes into healthcare and importing oil and coping with famines and what not. US has milligallons and billigallons of oil stored in its country and is more than self sufficient in all respects. India isn’t ! And whatever resources it has thanks to its huge population gets consumed so fast that we end up with lack of some.

The billions that get pumped into NASA missions and anti-cancer drugs by the US, do you think we can emulate that right now ? But something has to be done right . So our politicians opened some namesake IITs and IIMs which I doubt will become world class even in a decade. Most of the IITs and BITSP were set up with the aid of foreign governments, and lots and lots of money had to be pumped in, year after year, budget ater budget, for them to become world class. India cannot create 20 IITs all of a sudden . Its not a matter of “can but wont” but rather not suitable.

NITT Lingo – 2

Continuing with my NITT series where I present quotes by actual NITTians here’s the latest.

In the Lab

Jackass 1 : Experiment kyun kar raha hai ?

Jackass 2 : Tere ko marks chahiye ki nahi ?

J1 : Chutiye, mere pass readings hai.

J2 : Dikha ?

J1 : Yeh dekh, Pelton turbine.

J2 : Apna Francis Turbine hai.

J1 : Chod na, turbine to turbine hota hai ? Naam se kya matlab !

 

Exam Preparations

“Maine teen table rat liye hai ! Teen B ne rata hai, baki me se aaya to toilet jana padega !”

After the Exam

“Abe prof ko mere upar shak ho gaya … Main teen baar toilet gaya tha na !”

 

This from a NITTian, disgusted at the mess food. His theory of evolution will surely earn a Nobel if not put Darwin and his followers to shame.

“Ive noted that our mess food is not touched by dogs,cats and cows. Only we can eat and still survive. That makes us the most evolved species “

 

Lastly, a remake of an old IIT quote.

“You think getting into NIT-T is difficult ? Try getting out of it”

Life’s Like That

NIT-T is just too full of surprises. They spring up here and there arousing a little laughter here and there as we attempt to run down our relatively otherwise sleepy four years.

It’s the semester examination and amidst all the feverish last-minute mugging, R1 had forgotten his precious calculator in his bag parked right outside the exam hall. Ten minutes into the exam he realizes that his brain can no longer cope up with .36X415X500 and sorts and wastes no time approaching the professor. Now the professor is” what-you-have-all-heard-about-engineering-professors” come true. And as for R1 I have attempted to present his accent by changing spellings exactly as he talked.

R1 : Saar, I hab foorgooten my Kel C in my beg outside.

Prof : No problem, you can go after 30 minutes

R1: Oh-kay

Seeing him go back to his bench with such confidence left the professor of all people a bit befuddled, for probably he had not managed to put the meaning through properly. So he calls him back.

Prof: No, you can give me the paper and go!

 

Its winter in TN so it was raining in TN so the earthworms had all come out of their safe water clogged havens- Earth. Another R, lets call him R2 for the sake of disambiguation, had his Mathematics supplementary examination the very next day. And he had chosen the job of catching earthworms inching in the corridors as a worthwhile pre-occupation than catching up on problems. When given the quizzical look, all he could muster up was

“Do they bite?”

Why Am I Engineering ?

Once there was a millionaire, who collected live alligators. He kept them in the pool in back of his mansion. The millionaire also had a beautiful daughter who was single. One day he decides to throw a huge party, and during the party he announces,

“My dear guests . . . I have a proposition to every man here. I will give one million dollars or my daughter to the man who can swim across this pool full of alligators and emerge alive!”

As soon as he finished his last word, there was the sound of a large splash!! There was one guy in the pool swimming with all he could and screaming out of fear. The crowd cheered him on as he kept stroking as though he was running for his life. Finally, he made it to the other side with only a torn shirt and some minor injuries. The millionaire was impressed.

He said, “My boy that was incredible! Fantastic! I didn’t think it could be done! Well I must keep my end of the bargain. Do you want my daughter or the one million dollars?”

The guy says, “Listen, I don’t want your money, nor do I want your daughter! I want the person who pushed me in that water!”

Its been 3 years since the fateful decision, I’m still figuring out what got me into engineering.

Consensus Management

I just found out about consensus management and as much as I believe it to be a complete myth and not worthy of my time and space on NIT Trichy Inc., here I am, writing about it because lets face it-its fascinating.

Consensus management, from what I understand , is a form of management practiced in which everyone , and literally everyone, has a say in company policies and decision making. It can be practiced from NGOs to corporate, from clubs and teams to professional organizations. When everyone has a say in decision making here are the not-so-obvious benefits

1. Outfit looks more democratic
2. Organization moves smoothly towards a common goal
3. Members have a sense of responsibility

The obvious impending disasters can be

1. Utter chaos and mass disagreements
2. Difficulty in organization
3. Organizational structure loses its meaning

Lets just move away from these nitty-gritties.Just think for a moment its not feasible or cost-effective to have everyone in an organization having a say in decision making. No one could be held accountable for wrong decisions, CEOs would lose their chair value and there is potential for massive chaos. The credentials of all the people having equal say is also a debatable point of view. Hence for good reason virtually very few organizations practice consensus management.

But here’s why some actually do , only in part , maybe , but they do follow the principles.Here are the reasons why they do follow consensus management

1. Loyalty to its employees- If you can have a say in the decisions the company takes the company in a way involves you and is a way of saying “Listen, We care for your opinion, It’s important to us”
2. Attaching a certain snippet of responsibility by saying that we shall hold you accountable and responsible if certain things go wrong

When I said, consensus management is practiced only in snippets, I meant this : The real decisions are taken by the CEOs and the directors themselves but this is a good technique of keeping employees involved in the company and also being transparent about how the company functions at the upper echelons.

East India Company All Over Again

The other day, we were discussing placements in NIT Trichy, just like jobless third year guys with lots of time to kill and contemplating salaries and recession. The subject veered to one MNC called John Deere which pays a miserly four point something to us lesser mortals despite being the largest tractor-producing company in the world.
On the assumption that you agree with me that we do figure among the brightest minds in this country and on the fact that JD, an extremely high worth company, is fully capable of paying us numbers many times the one being paid, we started speculating on the reasons why such a thing happens in a top institution in India whereas our counterparts in luckier parts of the world get paid far more.
Then I realized, Its East India Company all over again !!
The British decided and did actually come to India because of a very good reason. They wanted to buy cheap products in India and sell them at premium rates across the world. Things eventually went from trading to settling to establishing colonies to monopolizing and exploitation and everything else. The rest as they say is history and like your middle school classes you can forget it now.
Fast forward a couple of centuries, Western companies like John Deere and Harvey Brothers ,the Lehmann Sisters , the Microhard and Ooogle are doing what we dint – Learn History in junior high and apply it to business. They selected India of all second and third world nations since they know it is the land of resources. In the 1800s it was the spices and the silk and the gold , now it’s the cash hungry intellect and brains of the great Indian middle class. Mental labour is cheap and they know we have written articles in newspapers about brain-drain-so they did something even better. Create low paying jobs here in India only. Not only do they have to pay less here but they get their work done with minimum hassle and sell the product (like before) at premium rates all over the world. And the sad part is , we would not see the consumerism that is driving India Inc. and with it all the India Shining drama and theatrics without these MNCs.
Like I said , its East India Company all over again !!

NIT Trichy Lingo

Before Exam

“GK ka notes hai kya ?”

“Kal kaun sa exam hai ?”

“Mechanics afternoon ko hai to abhi kyun pad raha hai ?”

“Dota khelega ?”

“Main frust ho gaya ! Pondy ghusa mere hard disk mein !”

“Pencil lena hai kya ?”

“Kitna chits banaya ?”

“Kahan chupayega ?”

“Xerox abhi khula rahega kya ?”

[classic] ” Exam kal hai na, abhi kyu padna ?”

After Exam

“Sriram ne mujhe galat syllabus bataya tha !”

“JD yaar , syllabus to bataya kar “

[Conversation]
Jackass 1: Paper lodu tha …. mera ek ghante mein khatam ho gaya !!
Jackass 2: To bathroom nahi aa sakta tha , main missed call de raha tha !
J1: Kyun be , paper to easy tha !
J2: Circuit diagram ban gaya tha kya , tere se ?
J1: Kaun sa circuit diagram ? ….. $%#%#$…MKL…… Maine to paper ultaya hi nahin tha !!

“Yes stuctural ka question ADSOM mein kaise aa gaya ?”

Very Sad Guy :”Maine formulaes galat rate the !”
Smart Ass : “Isi liye bolta hun , chits banaya kar “

[classic]“Maine Calculator mein pura table save kar liya tha …. lekin hang ho gaya, reset karna pada !!”

During Class

“Attendance mein bula dena , soo raha hun”

“Nayi game install ki hai kya mobile pe ?”

“Numerical solve kar jaldi , prof idhar aa raha hai ! “

“Kitna time baki hain ?”

“Apna system hi kharab hai “

“Tere ko bola tha Chetan Bhagat wala book lane ke liye !”

“CAT ki preparation mein calculator kyun use kar raha hai ?”

“10:10 toh ho gaya , kab chodega ? maine breakfast nahi ki hain !!”

Stud : “Extra Pen hai kya ?”
Another Stud : “Haan, hai naa !”
Stud: “Aur ek notebook bhi dena ?
Another Stud : “Mera All-in-one hain !!”
Stud : ” Toh middle page phaad ke de “
Another Stud : “Middle page se Mechanics chaalu ho raha hai !”
Stud : “Chod de , main so jata hun “

The Entrepreneurship Post 2

In my second post I will concentrate on issues which surround entrepreneurs in the present age rather than the past.

Why should I think about entrepreneurship right now? I am in college and there is plenty of time in life to gain experience and maybe then think about opening a company ?

No , it’s the wrong way to think. Now that you are in a college you are surrounded by able and like-minded people and if you are in a top college you have superb opportunities for networking and finding out about the industry that you wish to target.
1. The initiative will die down with due time and the idea will fizzle out with the course of monotony. And at the age of 40 even if you become a successful investment banker you will look at these very years and say “What if”. Like Mr Satya Prabhakar,our college alumni who went on to open Crosswords a retail book store chain, said “Entrepreneurship will remain in your heart like a girl you never asked out in college”
2. Nobody is asking you to open a company right out of college, like Mr Gates or Mr. Brin did. But you should use these college years to gain exposure to this industry and be able to network with people , an opportunity you may never have again in your life.

I don’t think I need an MBA for being an entrepreneur, right ?

Yes you are right , you don’t ! But then you do not need a Phd to be a scientist do you ? After all what is there in a degree. If you can set your heart to do something there is nothing that can stop you. But this is how an MBA from a top institute or a specific degree in entrepreneurial studies might help you.
1. Networking – If you get an admission to a top college you will be mixing and working with top professionals and faculty who have acres of more experience than you and will be an ample opportunity to get mentored under them or just plain learn from them. Plus with a vast repertoire of contacts you will have gained they will come I very handy at every step of converting your idea to a venture.
2. Holistic Learning – There is no substitute to learning the basic tenets of a business/company. Experience can teach a lot but you will be in a better position to tackle problems if you have studied all aspects, HR, marketing and finance . Plus case study models and internships in companies will help acquire healthy experience so it will not be missing out on much.
3. If you gain admission to a top college , you will be exposed to an excellent peer which will bring out the best in you and who knows you might just bump into someone looking for the same thing in life as you –entrepreneurship. After all Mr. Brin did meet Mr. Page in the same university !
4. Most colleges themselves have excellent support for budding entrepreneurs and NSRCEL of IIMB is such an example. So there will be no lack of resources or guidance as such.

The Entrepreneurship Post 1

Whenever I have tried to talk to someone about entrpreneurship , ive always had the same reaction – the same “Too Fundu for me” face followed of course by utter disinterest. So this time around when I am writing in a blog , I’ll keep a question answer format. The questions are the most common ones which revolve around entrepreneurship in india. Please read the question , look away and think about it in your own terms and then read my opinion, I repeat, just my opinion. And I would be glad if you could add yours.
Why is that companies keep springing up in the West and not in India ? Why is entrepreneurship culture so highly developed there but not in India ?

At the outset I would like to say that it is not entirely true in the very modern age. Entreprenuership is catching is catching up fast in india and startups are sprouting up everywhere. There is a buzz about incubators and venture capitalists that is hard to miss.
So now we get back to why did we miss the bus during the dotcom revolution or the IT revolution etc.
1. West has always provided fantastic infrastructure and has always been ahead of us in “growth” and pure growth. For entrepreneurship to be a culture in a country, having access to the latest technology and knowhow is a must. An innovation will not remain so in a business venture unless it is sustained by state-of-the-art infrastructure.
2. We were not rich enough ! Simply put we did not have a flurry of venture capitalists and incubators or even the Government to fund us until the economic reforms of the early 90s came into place. Without the money an idea always remains just an idea.
3. The environment was not at all conducive. We had the License Raj and red-tapism that existed at every level. Just “opening a business” meant greasing the palms of politicians to bureaucrats(for permissions) to policemen to local ganglords( for operation). Very few businesses survived such harsh conditions with declining profit margins and if you had to open a company, with the import-export limits and taxes that we had, only the best of the best survived and became known as the Tatas and the Birlas.
4. The west had one of the best education centres of the world . With top colleges sprinkled like raisins on cupcakes, everyone had access to every kind of information which was pivotal to survival.
That’s it for now. More in my next post.

Why did The Chicken cross the Road ?

You must must must and must have already come across a chicken joke on the web .
It’s a joke a bit like “Knock, Knock …. Who’s there?” and its usually a witty answer to the question “Why did the chicken cross the road ?”
So yours truly did some research and came up with some witty answers found across the web and added some NITT fundaes to it as well. Ok, you do need to relate to the personality answering , only then you will get the humour. So here goes …….
“Why did the chicken cross the road ?”
Bob Dylan : How many roads must one chicken cross?

Bill Gates : I have just released the new Chicken 2000, which will both cross roads AND balance your checkbook, although dividing 3 by 2 will get you 1.4999999999.

Robert Frost : To reach the sidewalk less travelled by.

William Shakespeare : I don’t know why, but methinks I could rattle off a hundred-line soliloquy without much ado

Albert Einstein : Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road moved beneath the chicken depends upon your point of view. The chicken did not cross the road – it transcended it.

A Square: To get to the other side

Sir Isaac Newton: Chickens at rest tend to stay at rest. Chickens in motion tend to cross the road.

Quantum Logic Chicken: The chicken is distributed probabalistically on all sides of the road until you observe it on the side of your course.

President Clinton : I did not, and I repeat, I did not have sexual relations with that chicken.

Karl Marx : It was a historical inevitability.

Saddam Hussein : This was an unprovoked act of rebellion and we were quite justified in dropping 50 tons of nerve gas on it.

Julius Caesar : To come, to see, to conquer

Martin Luther King, Jr. : I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.

Martin Luther King : It had a dream.

Neil Armstrong : One small step for chickenkind, one giant leap for poultry.

The Bible : And God came down from the heavens, and He said unto the chicken, “Thou shalt cross the road.” And the Chicken crossed the road, and there was much rejoicing.

Moses : Know ye that it is unclean to eat the chicken that has crossed the road and that the chicken that crosseth the road doth so for its own preservation.

Buddha : If you ask this question, you deny your own chicken nature.

Fox Mulder (The X-Files dude): You saw it cross the road with your own eyes. How many more chickens have to cross the road before you believe it?

Scully (Mulder’s sidekick): It was a simple bio-mechanical reflex that is commonly found in chickens.

Jerry Seinfeld : Why does anyone cross a road? I mean, why anyone doesn’t ever think to ask, ‘What the heck was this chicken doing walking all over the place anyway?

GRANDPA:
In my day we didn’t ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

JOHN KERRY:
Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken’s intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

JOHN LENNON:
Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

OPRAH:
Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I’m going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

PAT BUCHANAN:
To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

I went around asking the clubs for their official answer and unearthed the following.
Official NIT Trichy Clubs Reply :
E-Cell
Isn’t it good ? At least the chicken shows entrepreneurship,which NITT students doesnt !!

Aayam Club :
Hindi mein Bol !!!

Rotaract Club,Rock City :
We will call a meeting in front of SJB to address the issue

Rotaract Club,NITT:
What did the other Rotaract say ?

Pragyan Core Team :
Ask the Marketing Team.

Marketing Team,Pragyan:
Ask the Guest Lectures committee

GL , Pragyan:
Ask the food Committee

Food Committe :
We shall see that all chicken stalls are banned this time.

Admin :
There are chickens in our college ?

Delta Club:
All chicken videos on the net will be banned by Dans Guardian !

Leo Club :
Look man, we are already busy doing nothing here, so please stop making fun of us in your stupid blog.

The Jade Junta :
There was no water supply on this side of the road.
(Echoed in recent years by Garnet)