No lying about JEE ranks.

How can one lie? If one has done material science from IIT Kharagpur and was interviewed in Chennai, in all probability we all know that his just managed to make it, and we can guess his exact JEE AIR within a few points given the overall distributions. It means Satya Nadella simply can’t lie about… Continue reading No lying about JEE ranks.

Spelling Bee kids

I watched portions of it. In America Indian kids monopolize this competition. From very early age – something in the neighborhood of 6 years. What are they doing? There is no doubt they learn perseverance. They are other easily ways to learn the value of perseverance – like watch those 5-day cricket matches (do they… Continue reading Spelling Bee kids

We are like the bird

in the cage that has been suddenly set free. It happened to our parrot, Mitthu. His cage was weak and one day the bottom fell down and he came out. What did he do next. He walked around the cage until I spotted him. I picked him up and put back in the cage. All… Continue reading We are like the bird

Importance of IIT

Decades after we graduated from one of IITs, that has continued to remain a major part of our lives. Some part of it is understandable, but mostly it is an unhealthy obsession. A few times I went to Rajiv Bhateja’s house in Palo Alto. There were other IITians around. Several times we talked about very… Continue reading Importance of IIT

TOI stories of weight loss

I see weight loss stories regularly featured. Often this overweight person – some 50 kgs over his weight limit – made just a simple change in his life – like started eating 3 chapatis instead of 4, and within 6 months he was back to being fit being mistaken for Hrithik Roshan. What nonsense. It… Continue reading TOI stories of weight loss

Fraud Detection in JEE

When I was teaching some nonsense at Tennessee at Martin, a professor of Indian origin was in the botany (?) department was there. I met him a few times. He had a joint appointment with Harvard. That was impressive. Harvard and UTM are poles apart.What was he doing in Tennessee? A few years later when… Continue reading Fraud Detection in JEE

Nanjing Massacre

Written by by Honda Katsuichi , who worked for Asahi Shimbun. Among all the horrors described in that book, one relatively serene incident described in this book is still vivid in my mind. When Japan attacked China. There were some peace loving people – something like Chinese Japanese Friendship Society. They were meeting in a wooden hut,… Continue reading Nanjing Massacre

Gurjar: The missing topper

Narendra Karmarkar was our gold medalist. He was behind Gurjar in the initial semesters. Not by much but still behind Gurjar. Both were in electrical engineering department, 1978 batch. They were neck to neck. Gurjar, once in a while got a B which made the difference between him and Karmarkar narrower. End of ninth semester.… Continue reading Gurjar: The missing topper

Needed 100 critical thinkers

No. I won’t even try. Swami Vivekanand wanted 100 disciples and he could transform India. He died unsuccessful. Osho wanted 100 disciples so that he could elevate India’s consciousness. He died without any succes. I thought if Indians could have 100 critical thinkers, we could change India. It needed grooming up children, I was willing… Continue reading Needed 100 critical thinkers