Reflections from the Boston conference

(L: Kendall/MIT Station on the Red Line and R: Kendall Square as seen from the Marriott Hotel, the venue of the conference)

I got back from Boston 2 days ago where I attended the Water Environment Federation's Urban River Restoration Conference, and wanted to write this down before my memories fade away. I will write a few things about Boston in my next blog entry, hopefully with some pictures, but for now, some observations and incidents from the conference:

1. Elected officials can be sensible: The plenary session at the conference was followed by a panel discussion involving the co-chairs of the conference and some invited guests. Prominent among them was Ms. Henrietta Davis, Vice-Mayor of Cambridge, MA - a city in the Greater Boston area that borders Boston along the Charles River. I found her quite knowledgeable in the area of city planning and waterfront development, topics that were the theme of the conference. The interesting thing is that she is not appointed by someone to this post, based on any expertise in this area. Instead, she is an elected official who has to give campaign speeches and participate in public forums/debates to retain her job. The fact that her constituency includes two of the finest internationally-recognized institutions - Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is only a small consolation. The city is economically and racially diverse, just like any metro city (if you think getting elected to the city council is easy, think Harvey Milk). I found her making sensible arguments and providing cogent responses, and not giving cliched talking points and campaign statements. She seemed to have traveled to other cities and attended other conferences in the 'Green Development' area. If she stands for re-election anytime, consider this an endorsement from me.

2. Not Indian anymore: I met a professor from Canada, who teaches at Queen's University and works on onsite wastewater treatment, the same topic that I work on broadly. We got talking about our mutual works, and I explained to him the state of onsite systems in Ohio and my proposed project, where I happened to mention the term 'health impacts', as it connected to my study. He then replied, "....and you know, healthcare is a big issue in *your* country." Hmmm... so he meant the U.S. by 'your' country. Interesting..!

3. You don't have a card?: I also met the North American director of the International Water Association and got into a conversation. She said her office likes to maintain contacts with universities and wanted to have my card. I replied that I am a student, assuming that she will understand what I meant (that I didn't have a card). Just when she was handing me her card, she noticed that I was not making any effort to take out a card (that didn't exist) and remarked, "..so you really don't have a card". I was definitely surprised, since I didn't expect that people would expect a visiting card from me, in spite of being a student. So, a lesson for those going to conferences - create your visiting card (hand-made/printed/whatever), so you can give your contact information to those who may want to contact you (in case they really want to!).

Fallout of the AIG Bonuses

I guess everyone is aware of the employee retention bonuses awarded by AIG to its executives last Sunday. In the light of the federal stimulus money supporting the company, this comes as a great shocker for many. What was to be an intra-company affair became a national headline for 3 consecutive days beyond that. How did the bonus story became such a rage that lawmakers are considering various options to "get back" the bailout money. Opinion polls show people across the country are aghast at the greed of the company executives and want the money back.

Let's step back a moment and look at the story once again. Congress approved bailout money to support the dying-AIG, presumably because that was one way to prop up other large corporations like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Meryll Lynch, Bank of America, etc. Now, I don't claim this - this theory is from former New York Attorney General and Governor Eliot Spitzer, who spent much of his lifetime pursuing white-collar crimes, before he resigned as Governor following the prostitution scandal. There was an attempt from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) to include a provision in the bailout to cap the executive bonuses a $100,000, but it apparently died in the negotiations. As a result, there were no legal provisions in the bailout agreement to either restrict or cap the executive bonuses.

Fast forward Sunday, March 15: AIG announced executive bonuses, without realizing the ramifications of that action. By Monday morning, the blogosphere and later the mainstream media was full of stories and commentaries about how this action was unethical, even illegal to pay employees who created the financial mess in the first place. Senators and White House officials were asked for their reactions, and everyone's response was: it is shameful, and shouldn't have been done. Some officials even went to the defense, suggesting that it was difficult to stop them from issuing bonuses, since they were part of the company contract to the exmployees. Meanwhile, Eliot Spitzer's successor at the office of New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo issued a notice to the company to reveal the names of the executives who were being paid the bonuses. Over the day, lawmakers started deliberations to introduce a new piece of legislation to tax the bonus at ridiculously high rates (one proposal was to tax them at 100%). IRS already taxes bonuses above 1 million at 35%.

Now there are some key questions arising out of this situation:
1. Should the company have issued the bonuses: No, considering the fact that the U.S. government holds 80% stake in the company. So, in effect, it is the taxpayers' money that is going to fund a few executives who created the mess in the first place.

2. Is there a way to get back the bonuses: Maybe, but taxing them is not a great idea.

3. Why shouldn't the bonuses be taxed: Though such a measure would find popular support, I believe it would be unconstitutional to introduce a legislation that would tax the bonuses issued prior to the enactment of the legislation. Whatever happened to being "grandfathered"?

4. Should the executives return the bonuses: That might be the only option left. It is morally incorrect to take home bonuses at the expense of taxpayers, when millions are losing their jobs, much less taking home bonuses. As someone said yesterday, 'morality cannot be legislated'.

5. Did the White House screw up on this issue: Totally. I believe the bailout was mishandled by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and the White House administration. They hoped that AIG would use the money properly, without inserting any enforceable clause in the agreement. They gave easy access to fire in the hands of a pyromaniac asked to watch over a building. How did they think AIG got to this position in the first place?

6. Should we make a big deal out of this? Hmmm... may be, may be not. $165 million is roughly 0.1% of the $150 billion in bailout money AIG received. So it doesn't make sense to go after the bonuses, when there are bigger fishes to fry. But the issue is not about substance, but attitude. The whole episode just shows gross disrespect towards the feelings of millions of people who have lost their jobs and/or homes. To put things in perpective, Ohio's share of the federal stimulus money is nearly $8.2 billion. The AIG bonuses are roughly 2% of Ohio's stimulus share. That might not look like a lot of money, but it can help complete most of the projects listed in this Dispatch article.

And the Oscar goes to...

So how did Nate Silver's predictions fare against the actual Awards?

He got the Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and the Best Picture correctly. 4 out 6.. not bad, I would say! Penelope Cruz beat Taraji Henson to win the Best Supporting Actress and Sean Penn knocked Mickey Rourke out of the Best Actor award. Sean Penn was a total surprise. May be it was the guilt over the passing of Proposition 8 that made the Academy look at his role more closely than usual. I thought his acceptance speech was powerful. He could be the poster-boy for gay rights, given that he has dabbled in political activism at times.

The other heartening awards - A R Rahman winning 2 Oscars for the Best Score and Best Song for Slumdog Millionaire. Add one for Gulzar (lyricist for Jai Ho) and Resul Pookutty (Best Sound Mixing - Slumdog Millionaire) - A near sweep by the underdog team. So much for the name! To top it all, Smile Pinki won the award for the Best Documentary. You might be surprised to know that the movie was made in Hindi and Bhojpuri and describes the tale of Pinki, a young girl with cleft lip who receives a free surgery from The Smile Train program.

P.S.: A reader asked me if prediction was an educated guess. My response is that though prediction is much more educated than a mere guess, it is more based on facts which precede the event. The 2008 election results were predicted (even state-by-state) based on the opinion polls conducted all throughout the summer, rather than on educated guesses (which is sometimes called guesstimate).

Famous on the Blogosphere

A weekend full of parties, and the weekend doesn't seem like getting over! On Saturday, we were invited to a dinner at 1531 Worthington Ave by Jayanth and roommates. Sunday was Leena's graduation party at Steve's house, and Monday was a dinner at Premnandhini's house for all our friends.

During Sunday's graduation party, I met Nigamanth and Divya after a long time. We got down talking about several different issues, and suddenly at one point, Nigamanth told Divya and others nearby convincingly that "Oh..! this guy lives on the blogosphere." Then the conversation switched to my blog. Nigamanth said, "There are a lot of people living in Columbus who have not met him, but know him through his blog". Boy, was I flattered? Sudu commented that he too knew about me (through my blog) much before we actually met a party.

I had sort of given up on blogging for sometime. If you write often, you have a flow going on, but once you stop, the inertia sets in and it takes a lot of effort to start writing again. But man, this was certainly a lot of admiration for a little blog that I write not-so-often. Nigamanth's comments have certainly fueled the nearly-extinguished fire within me on blogging. I will certainly try my best to be active on the blogoshpere. Watch out for my next blog, but till then, spread the word!

India @ 60

On the 60th anniversary of independent India, I pick up the important events that shaped the country over these last 60 years (in chronological order). Others are welcome to share their views and suggest changes to this list:

1. 1947 - Without doubt, the most important event was the independence from the British Raj, after nearly 150 years of colonial rule.
2. 1948 - The first war with Pakistan that followed soon after independence caused a simmering divide between the two countries that is yet to subside.
3. 1950 - Declaring itself a republic, formally breaking all the bonds with the monarch in London and adoption of a new Constitution in 1950.
4. 1955 - Decision to stay away from the US and Soviet blocs; and formation of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
5. 1962 - The war with China and dispute over Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
6. 1971 - Liberation of Bangladesh and victory over Pakistan.
7. Early 1970s - The emergence and rise of Amitabh Bacchan as the angry young man on screen.
8. 1975 - Imposition of Emergency by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Agreeably, one of the darkest hours of democracy which lasted for over 2 years.
9. 1983 - Winning the Cricket World Cup in a country devoid of real stars. The victory spawns a whole generation of sporting heros who endorse anything from cars to toothpastes to energy drinks.
10. 1983 - Operation Bluestar and the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Widespread anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, Punjab and other nearby states.
11. 1989 - Rise to prominence of the hindu nationalist party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the General Elections.
12. 1991 - An year of turmoil starts as the then Prime Minister V P Singh brings up the Mandal Commission recommendations, clearly targeting the oncoming parliamentary elections. Widespread protests break-out and schools and colleges are closed for an extended period in most parts of the country.
12. 1991 - Assassination of Prime Ministerial candidate, Rajiv Gandhi by LTTE terrorists.
13. 1991 - LPG (Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization) of economic reforms rolled out by the duo of Manmohan Singh, the then Finance Minister and Prime Minister Narasimha Rao to dole out the country from an impending economic crisis. Indian economy opens up to allow trans-national companies to setup and trade in India.
14. 1992 - Demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, which is soon followed by the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai. The country is torn apart by communal clashes and the ghastly scenes witnessed in 1983 anti-Sikh riots are revisited. Though everyone hoped this would be the last one, Godhra was to follow 10 years later.
15. 1998 - Nuclear tests in Pokhran, Rajasthan put India into the 'Nuclear Club'. Similar tests by Pakistan, and the spectre of a nuclear war between the two countries loomed large. These tests were immediately followed by economic and technological sanctions imposed by a slew of countries including US, UK , Canada, Australia and Japan, apart from a host of European nations.
16. 2000-01 - The Dotcom boom and bust, followed by a slowdown of the global economy. The temporary collapse of the American economy following the 9/11 attacks compounded the problem. Couple of years later, the Indian economy regained its shape, stronger and better than ever. IT and related services, added with manufacturing were the drivers of the new age economy. Agriculture, however, was getting neglected and farmer suicides was just one indicator.
17. 2005 - Right to Information (RTI) Act. Hailed as one of the most progressive laws ever made in the country, it is a powerful tool to combat the rampant corruption prevalent in public administration in the country.

Comfort Zone

We always feel at-home and comfortable in a tiny sphere surrounding us, called the comfort zone. It could be as simple as your home and a set of friends surrounding you. But if you look at it objectively, at every point of our life, we try look for a "comfort zone" and try to settle in there - sitting in the same bench every class, taking the same way back home, and eating the same type of food at a particular restaurant

Given a chance, we'd like to do the same job, stay in the same city and meet with the same set of people. The more you stay in your comfort zone, the tougher it is to get out of that. And, it requires not only conviction in oneself, but a deep urge to do something different and radical that can make a person get out of that territory, that he now thinks as his own.

Look around yourself and see the boundaries of your comfort zone. Move around, think radically and see if you can get out of your comfort zones into uncharted territories. Believe me, you'll feel the difference not only in yourself, but also in things around you.

Note: This blog posting was inspired by a phone conversation with a friend.

It's not just about football, stupid

Almost every school in the US has a football team. It is immaterial whether they win or lose, they always face a full audience. When I first heard that the Horse Shoe hosts more than 100,000 spectators every game, I was surprised. But then this is Buckeye Nation, I was told. A place that knows only 2 colors - Scarlet and Gray, with everything else being so Michigan-like. Its no surprise that everyone in this nation cheers for their school team when it comes to competitive sports, more so when it is football.

So while watching the game, you are as likely to bump into a recent alum, as you are into an 70-year old lady who graduated with a degree from the campus more than 40 years ago. So it matters as to which school you graduated from - you get tagged for your entire life as a Buckeye, Spartan or a Wolverine.

Last Friday, our Dept celebrated the dedication ceremony of our new building, the Scott Lab. There was a small outdoor function, followed by a self guided tour into the labs and classrooms. Expected guests were likely to be alumni and donors. I volunteered to be in my teaching lab during this period, so that I could show the lab set-ups to these guests. I was really surprised to see a lot of people turn up for this program, many of them well past an age, the govt calls the retirement threshold. A lot of alumni walked into my Lab, curious to see how the labs have changed 20 or 30 odd years after they graduated. One notable instance was that of an old, well-built man who told me he graduated from this Dept more than 50 years ago. When I showed a sense of surprise and disbelief on my face, he quickly responded, "I know, you won't believe it". It left me thinking - What binds them to this institution, that they feel like coming back after 50 years to the very place they left, knowing well that time changes not only people, but their thinking and outlook as well

I have hardly seen this happen in India and very rarely heard anything like this. Though we pride ourselves as a nation built on 5000 years of culture and tradition, a bond of this kind with our educational institutions never seem be part of that great tradition. Does that reflect poorly on our ethos or simply speaks of the quality of institutions we have. A point everyone needs to ponder on.

Knocked down, but not yet

Rajesh graduated last month with an MS in Industrial Engineering, and has been on a job hunt since then. Last Tuesday, he had an on-site interview with TekFor, a small forging company based in the rural hamlet of Wooster, OH. Since we all room mates were pretty much jobless, we decided to hop on the road trip.

While Rajesh was being interviewed, we tried driving around the town (the term 'town' is an exaggeration here). We found Christmas Run park to be the ideal spot to spend our afternoon. After walking around the park a litle bit, we took some time out to take a few photographs. We also climbed a small trek with a stream of water running parallel to it.

We ended up home by 6 pm. With a day spent like this, I would have had no reason to complain. However, the memories of the entire day were wiped out in a moment when I got to know about the ghastly terror strikes in Mumbai's local trains. The magnitude of the attacks has been so severe and its impact so pronounced that the news report made it to the front page on The Columbus Dispatch, a popular newspaper in Central Ohio.

Its very easy to blame the government and the Police for the intelligence failure. While talking to some of my friends, they did echo such feelings. However, it needs to be remembered that even major European cities, like Madrid and London underwent such serial blasts in their public transport systems in the recent past. Sitting here, far away in the US, I cannot blame anyone, but only feel sad. The immediate restoration of Mumbai's lifeline was a fitting response to the bombers. I salute the spirit of this vibrant city! Finally, a few lines from Chumbawumba's Tubthumping lyrics for the bombers:

Don't cry for me
Next door neighbour

I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never going to keep me down

Competitive Cricket

A few days ago, I read an article where someone had posted the cardinal rules of blogging. The first rule was that one should blog daily. Even if there was nothing to write, sitting in front of the computer would cause easy flow of thoughts was the arguement given The author didn't account for the time involved and obviously, didn't think about Grad students while writing this. I struggle for words in my emails to my Mom, written alternate days. Talk about daily blogging- Nice try!

This part of the world is abuzz with cricket on the shores of Atlantic, with the India-WI series keeping us all gripped. If at all there was any award for the most sporting cricket team in the world, the Boys in Blue should be the rightful and only contenders for that award. Our team loves to play competitive cricket, which means, we would do anything to make a match out of any game. At one end, if we can give a run for their money to the Australians (though not always managing to win), we also make sure that audiences get their monies worth even in matches against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and as the current tour proves, against a depleted West Indian team, who are ranked 7th in the ICC list and haven't won a major game in the last 2 years.

If the first two matches showed that both teams were nearly equal in strengths and the team holding their nerves right till the end would end up winning, the next two matches proved without doubt, that all talk about this Indian team being a serious World Cup contender was all baloney. Though there is one match left in this series, it is not wrong to conclude that West Indies has clearly been the better side, in spite of having very few world-class players. The only bright side for the Indians has been the getting back of Kaif among runs and the continued consistency of Yuvraj. The top order, for the nth time, failed to click in any of the matches, and this over-dependence on the middle order and lower-middle order does not augur well for a team that is preparing itself for World Cup due next year.

On Sale

Another episode in the Great Indian Tamasha comes to an end. Lucky, this time, it was restricted to only 5 states, but the whole nation was kept on their toes, until the electoral results were declared on May 11.

The States that went to the polls included Left strongholds Kerala and West Bengal, the unpredictable Tamil Nadu, Assam, the insignificant Pondicherry, and the farcical bye-election in Rae Bareilly. The electoral campaigning was a heated one, with national leaders travelling the length and breadth of the 5 states, in order to leave no stone unturned. Tamil Nadu was a peculiar case in itself, simply unmatched in terms of the freebies offered. If Amma offered free cycles to students and cheaper rice, 82-years old Kalaignar offered everything from rice, gas stove and color TVs to free power and land. While this mega sale was going on Tamil Nadu, the neighboring state of Kerala presented a picture sharply in contrast. There were virtually nothing on sale, and it was an even battle, given that the state has one of the most informed electorate in the country. Given its history of shifting mandates everytime, the Left was confident it will make it this time. Karunakaran's break-up from Congress and his last-minute patch was not seen as a confident sign for the Congress. Another loss-in-face was awaiting Congress in West Bengal, where it once again failed to make its presence felt.

The results are not difficult to analyse. Sheer populism brought DMK to power in Tamil Nadu, though I wonder how they are going to manage all the money for the ambitious promises made to the electorate. When the IT Minster Dayanidhi Maran was asked how they are going to manage this, he confidently replied "Oh that is very easy!". Pondicherry was also swept by the Congress-DMK wave, and returned the Rangaswamy government for another term of 5 years. West Bengal saw no change even this time, with the Left romping home with a thumping majority. Mamta Banerjee was once again made to bite the dust at the hustings. The wily Buddhadeb declared his victory as the peoples mandate to continue the good work the Left has been doing for the past 27 years. Winds of change never seem to blow over West Bengal!

Left repeated its success story in Kerala, wresting power from Congress, after a 5-year stint in the opposition. The conservative 82-year old V S Achuthananthan is expected to take on the Chief Ministership, though the final decision is yet to be announced by the "high command". Assam threw up a hung assembly, though the Congress is likely to form the government, being the single largest party in the new assembly.

Meanwhile, Sonia Gandhi romped home with a thumping victory at Rae Bareilly with a margin of 4.8 lakhs over her nearest rival. Inspite of the low voter turnout, Sonia secured nearly 80% of the votes polled. Though there were demands by the Sonia-loyalists to take on the Prime Ministership as per the "mandate", I fail to see the point in getting elected, barely weeks after resigning the seat. If the whole idea was to cling onto the MP seat, why resign and make yourself a martyr. Another gimmick sold well to the gullible people. Kudos to Priyanka and Rahul!

These results mean greater bargaining power for the Left, now that they have one more state, Kerala under them. Meawhile, Congress is also hailing the results as its victory, inspite of losing in Bengal and Kerala, and winning in Tamil Nadu simply due to its coalition with the DMK. BJP, expected to open its tally in Kerala, once again failed to live upto its promise. The biggest loser in this election must be BJP, for failing miserably in all the states. Though the BJP's response has been that they are not a major player in any of these states and hence, the losses cannot be taken at their face value, I feel that if a party like BJP does not have a presence in 5 states of the country, then they are not fit to be a national party. I am not aware when the next set of state elections are due, but whenever they are, I am sure, we are guranteed of another round of drama, excitement, and a sale-mela!

Free TV.....free power....free car...free housing...free everything......Free India