A HR firm to be wary of...

I'm sure there are many HR firms out there promising everyone illustrious careers if they just cough up the money and engage them. Here is one I had the misfortune of interacting with about a year ago, and advise caution with:

https://www.shine.com/

Here is a succinct summary of how my interaction with them unfolded:

Step 1: Incessant phone calls from a sweet talking, polite, female representative urging me to pay a fees of just Rs. 7500/- to avail their services.

Step 2: Since the amount wasn't that high, and I was job hunting at the time, me falling for the con and making the payment.

Step 3: The sweet talking, polite, female representative disappears and in comes a snappy, ultra busy, dude who never has more than 2 minutes available. In those two minutes he asks if I would like to become a VC here or Dean there vagairah vagairah ...

Step 4: Magically, one gets shortlisted for a Deanship interview withing 2-3 days (this might also explain why applying through regular channels often gets you no response (sabka hafta fix hai bhai!))

Step 5: Come interview, once again a sweet talking, friendly, female voice introduces herself as the HR representative of so and so university and asks a few questions.

Step 6: Within a few hours, the snappy, ultra busy, 2 minute dude calls, and announces graciously: "Sir, Heartiest congratulations! You have been successful in the HR interview for so and so university!"

Step 7: Now the whammy: Before the next round of interview, you will need to pay a fully refundable Rs. 35,000/- for your security check.

Step 8: Without bothering to waste the dude's time with "hey man, will the money get refunded even if the next round doesn't work out?" and venturing to guess (I believe, intelligently) that there are probably 50 chaps paying Rs. 35,000/- for their security checks, and only one will get eventually refunded, I spell out their con and forbid them to ever call again.

The calls still haven't stopped. Now both the sweet talking female voice and the 2 minute dude have disappeared and a computer talks to me instead. But I still don't use cuss words because I'm resolved to stay a gentleman.

Stay sharp! Don't allow such con jobs to thrive!

The Importance of Post Graduate Education

Every single university that has achieved excellence globally has done so by emphasizing post graduate education and research. MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Princeton, Purdue, Cornell, Oxford, Cambridge ... you name it.

And we have decided to stay in eternal obeisance to undergraduate students.

We are biting ourselves on our own arses.

If any university provides undergraduate education, it has to do it well. This goes without saying.

But if we are on a "oh we are so good..." trip merely because we can teach undergraduate classes, we, I repeat again for emphasis, are biting ourselves on our own arses. We are being immature, foolish, and I believe, intellectually lazy. Plus the excessive importance we give our undergraduate students results in way too many of them thinking they are "somebody" without having proven themselves in the real world first.

PS: Just to be clear: By research I DO NOT mean chasing quantitative metrics. That's the other extreme of nonsense. There is a clear middle path that aspires for excellence in both teaching and research. That's the only academically sensible path that has ever existed, and ever will.

Spirituality, Materialism and Consumerism

One can certainly live a spiritual life while living in the world if one is anchored in wisdom.

But if anyone tells you that there is no conflict between spirituality and materialism or consumerism, know for sure that they haven't a clue of what they are talking about. There is a difference between materialism and using just as much material as is needed for a comfortable life, between consumerism and consuming what is good for us in the right quantity. This difference is critical to understand.

Materialism and consumerism hook you to the world, which is ephemeral, fleeting. We are here today, gone tomorrow.

Stay hooked to the spirit and enjoy the world sensibly while you are here. If you get this, you are on to something! Something precious, something beautiful!

Web Series Review: Raisinghani vs Raisinghani

Presently watching the web series Raisinghani vs Raisinghani.

Not impressed with what's being normalized here 👎.

The series is on Episode 72 now and there haven't been even two episodes in a row at any stage that have gone without attempting to pull attention towards women using unnecessary skin show (as an example, see picture below). Women themselves need to be objecting to this. Be intellectually competitive and demand that people pay attention to you for your intelligence, Skin is the easy way and it distracts from your competence (which, I assure you, you have in abundance!). Shun this shallowness!

And Puhlease! (With due respect to my European and Americal friends) moulding ourselves after Euro-Americans is not a sign of evolution! We formally rejected the hypothesis that the white man spread himself all over the world to "civilize" us colored natives on 15th August 1947 when we booted the Brits out.

Globalization is one thing; letting the west say "heel boy!" to you is quite another! Absorb from all world cultures, but firmly respect your own alongside!

PS 1: The female lead proudly declares that she recycles her clothes every six months and buys new ones! Really? What kind of a value system are we encouraging here? Forget about addressing poverty, we are actually cool with our "heroes and heroines" showcasing how they splurge their wealth like this? Seriously?

PS 2: Aur haan, daarubaazi kuch zyaada nahi ho rahi? Not one family or social gathering without everyone with a glass of liquor in their hand! Not one! Really? Occasional drink hum bhi enjoy karte hain, but is the message really that one can't socialize or have fun without liquor?

PS 3: If you pay close attention, you'll realize that there is some "pravachan level" pushing of western culture and thought throughout. As if adopting a western outlook on life will make us more evolved. This is patently unfair. The East has its own cultural richness and depth of thought - not just as contained in Indian philosophical systems such as Vedanta, but in works of philosophers such as Confucius, the Tao Te Ching, the teachings of Zen masters, the different schools of Buddhism. Why should the East mould itself after into the West to feel evolved? I can understand that a conversation between the East and West can be enlightening for both. But that's not what's getting pushed here! Such efforts need to be viewed with skepticism!

PS 4: The most recent "pravachan" seems to be "it's alright to have an abortion if you get pregnant before you are ready to raise a child". My blunt response: Cut this bullshit! The right way is simply: "Folks are in too much of a hurry to get laid today. Make something of yourselves first, stand on your own feet, be mature and settled enough to raise a child, then have sex". Relationships aren't just about sex for heaven's sake! Unless you are a victim of sexual assault, if there's a child in your womb - you are responsible for it. Period.

"Jazz is Supreme" is a "Black Supremacist" Statement.

I said this about the blues once, I say it about jazz now:

It is one of the musical forms present in the universe. And it is no more, or no less, important than any other form.

Ditto for Indian classical, ditto for Japanese folk music, ditto for African music, ditto for western classical, ditto for country, ditto for rock n' roll, ditto for prog rock, ditto for heavy metal, ditto for pop, ditto for every form of musical expression you can think of.

Statements like "so and so musical form is "the best"" are deeply immature statements that betray a very shallow understanding of art and culture. Music, art, poetry, these are expressions of the heart, our souls! Let's not reduce these to our age old cave-mannish tendencies of arguing, fighting and establishing "supremacies".

Every single form of musical and artistic expression has enriched our lives. To each his or her own.

The End.

PS: "White Supremacy" and "Black Supremacy" are two sides of the same dirty coin. The way forward is for everyone to shake hands, embrace each other, and live as one family with love and understanding as our guiding principles.

Analysis and Aesthetics: Finding the Balance

I think this is an important post to mull over:

You will meet some folks who lean heavily towards an intellectual frame of mind and way of life. They are logically astute and perhaps excel in some intellectual sphere such as STEM, philosophy, economics, law, history, etc. - but they might lack in aesthetic appreciation, they may not be able to understand how people feel, may lack emotional depth and not appreciate subjects in the aesthetic sphere such as art, music, dance, etc.

On the other hand, you will meet some folks who are very aesthetically refined, have emotional depth, can understand how others might be feeling at any given time easily and may excel at some subject(s) in the aesthetic sphere such as art, music, dance, etc. - but they may lack analytical depth. For example, someone might be a great musician but not understand the physics of sound, or a great painter who doesn't understand the physics of light and colour, or a poet who empathizes with strife and turmoil and writes verse to awaken humanity but doesn't have a keen understanding of history.

What we need to aim for in ourselves is a balanced, comprehensive, development of the mind and heart:

Consider yourself carefully. What is your leaning? If you find yourself analytically sharp but lacking in emotional and aesthetic appreciation: work on that. Maybe pick up art or music or dance as a hobby and spend some time on it every day. On the other hand if you find yourself to be emotionally sensitive and well refined aesthetically, but lacking in intellectual depth, pick up some subject(s) in the intellectual sphere that you think might interest you and spend some time with it/them every day.

Do you see what I'm saying? We need to develop ourselves holistically and become balanced, well refined, personalities - and be humble enough to stay "works in progress" right till the end of our lives.

Gratuity: Earning One's Tip!

For those of us who go out to restaurants occasionally or get food delivered via swiggy, zomato, etc., here's my tipping philosophy:

If the server or delivery person is prompt, efficient and polite: I definitely tip.

If not, I definitely do not.

There are places that openly declare that if there are more than a certain number of people in a group, a service charge is levied as part of the bill. This is transparency and I respect it.

But there are also places that have started directly including service charges in the bill for even solo customers - with the legal provision (that they ought to display but don't) that if the service is less than satisfactory the customer has the right to have the service charge removed. I've exercised this right more than once. But that is not good enough. Please allow me to explain:

Firstly, many customers get intimidated by social pressure and keep quiet even in the face of poor service. Secondly, how much to tip is entirely the customer's decision. Percentages such as 10 or 15 % are simply guidelines suggested by the hospitality industry. They cannot be hardwired in billing as a compulsion.

I personally encourage the culture of tipping prompt, efficient and polite service, but at the same time emphasize that earning a tip is NOT a right. Tips are NOT part of salary. Tips are extra personal earnings that must be deserved, and when given, must be accepted gratefully and gracefully.

Temples and Gold

I invite you to read this article: Stunning Temples Made of Gold | themindcircle

The article above lists four temples around the world, including two in India, that have used gold in their construction. The Kashi Vishwanath temple also has domes covered by gold. If you google, you'll find more temples in India (and possibly elsewhere as well) that have used gold in their construction.

I can understand expensively built temples if craftsmen, artists and painters are paid to create beautiful structures, idols, carvings and artwork. A lot of our ancient temples have done this, are magnificent, and I respect them.

But where is the sense in using gold to construct temples when a very large number of people in the country, as well as the world at large, are reeling in poverty? What kind of religion and spirituality is this?

A shortcoming with the blues...

This post expresses what I consider to be a shortcoming with the genre of blues music as I'm familiar with this form of music. But the same arguments may well apply to other forms of music too. The intention here is certainly not to single out the blues for criticism.

Consider the following standard 12 bar blues chord progression:

Am (2) Am7 (2)

Dm (1) Dm7 (1) [First change: 1 to 4]

Am (1) Am7 (1) [Second change: 4 to 1]

Em7 (1) Dm7 (1) Am7 (1) Em7 (1) [Closing with a turnaround 5 to 4 to 1 to 5]

Now this 12 bar structure must have been an innovation at some point in time, and I compliment the blues community for making it, but a whole lot of blues musicians are still stuck at it (or minor variants of it)! Why? Write down all the chords that you can form from the notes of the blues scale, innovate further, write blues songs with more interesting chord progressions and closures!

Talking about the blues scale, another innovation was the discovery of the blue note. Again, I compliment the blues community for making this innovation. But it is crazy how they keep going "Oh the blues, oh the blues, there's no other music like the blues..."

Why? Haven't other parts of the world innovated? Why is the blues scale "more important" than scales in the middle east or eastern parts of the world? Consider the scale C D E G B C for example. Just play it for a while and you'll see that it's beautiful too, it has its own feel, its own ambience! Why would it be any less or more important than any other scale?

Cultish mindsets are best avoided! If we musicians won't be open and bring the world together through perhaps the only language that has the power to unite and heal today - the language of music - then who will?

And even for a #musician at an individual level, I'm unable to understand why you would devote your entire life to just one or two scales? Why would you want to "exclusively" be a blues, or country, or rock, or jazz, etc., musician? Why? Over 30-40 years of playing music, why wouldn't you diversify, why wouldn't you pick up interesting scales and sounds from all over the world and enrich yourself?

[Note: I'm of course talking within the context of the equal temperament system of western music in this post. That other temperaments exist and have their own place in music is in itself something worth elaborating upon, but I leave that for another post.]

[I also invite you to read: Keep Your Emotional Self Intact

Feminism and the Yin (Female) - Yang (Male) Balance

The Yin (female) and Yang (male) aspects of nature are present and need to stay in balance in every aspect of life, including personal, domestic and social lives.

The corresponding terms in Sanskrit in the context of personal, domestic and social lives are Streetva and Purushatva.

Go back about 40-50 years and we had excessive patriarchy: excessive purushatva and subdued streetva. Feminism stepped in as a correcting force and steadily brought in balance. However, over the last 15 years or so the objective and nature of feminism changed to bring about a female dominated society - which is just as wrong as a male dominated society - instead of a balanced society. Today, this imbalance is openly visible all around us if we just open our eyes and look. One of the strategies to bring about this imbalance has been highly biased anti-men laws that makes it near impossible for men to take any legal course against exploitation in relationships and marriages. I call this perverted avataar of feminism "feminazism".

I highly recommend following Deepika Bhardwaj's LinkedIn account: Deepika (Narayan) Bhardwaj | LinkedIn

Deepika is doing excellent work in addressing this imbalance and will be greatly helped if more people become aware of the cases she has been digging our and pursuing steadily over the years and the documentaries she has made.

Brilliant work!

Self Respect in the Global Village

This was in Summer 2006. I was on a one way ticket back from the USA to start my academic career in India. We had a paper accepted at a conference in Germany around the same time and my post doctoral supervisor suggested that I stop over at Munich to present it on the way.

Online applications for visas had just started around then and I started to fill out the required form for a Schengen Visa. Something was going wrong, the form kept getting stuck at some point repeatedly and I had to restart the form from scratch every time. I honestly did try but when I faced the same problem multiple times, I decided to fill the form offline, take a printout of the filled form, attach hard copies of all required documents, and try and resolve the issue at the embassy.

Rented a car, drove the five hours of driving to Chicago, waited my turn, and eventually got to the interview booth. The lady at the counter was super nice. She understood the difficulties I was facing, gave me a copy of a "help points sheet" and asked me to just come back after I had completed filling the online application. I asked her if there was any way to proceed with the hardcopy I had brought because that was fully filled and had all required attachments - and I had driven in five hours for the interview! She smiled, and again, very courteously explained to me that she wouldn't be able to process my application without the online formalities completed.

So far so good.

Then suddenly this man comes out from the office behind her and snaps at me very rudely (and unnecessarily because the lady had explained the situation already) about asking the questions I asked and making the request I made. I didn't like the way I was being spoken to but as a first instinct I just shrugged my shoulders, thanked the lady, and said I would come back with a fresh appointment in a few days.

But when I was downstairs and just about exiting the premises, I made a decision that I still respect myself for. I went back up, told the lady very politely that while I appreciated her interaction with me, the gentleman had left a very poor impression of her country in my mind and I would not be stopping over.

I flew straight home.

There's a lesson here. During one's education or when it's a matter of earning the family's bread and butter, one puts up with poor behavior occasionally because that's just how the world is. Some folks are sensible and some are idiots. But short of such "essential circumstances", I refuse to let anyone dent my self respect. No way!

I had done the research that was going to be presented at a conference they were hosting and I was going to spend my money in their country! They were in a position of complete gain! There was no "charity" involved on their part! And yet that man couldn't be polite about such a simple thing! And if that was the behavior I encountered before even setting foot in their country, why would I expect better behavior inside?

This is a lesson I gladly pass on to others as well! Unless something essential is on the line and you have no choice but to put up with a bit of nonsense, never ever ever let anyone put you down. Never. Be steady where you are, be firm about who you are, do your work, live a good life, love your loved ones deeply, be happy. This much is enough. Then if you are respectfully welcomed in other parts of the world, go by all means. Else, just forget about it. It's unnecessary.

Maternity Leave in India

At present women get 6 months of maternity leave in India.

This is an insufficient period of time. A child needs tremendous maternal attention for the first year after which it can be steadily acclimatized to distributed attention from multiple people.

Maternity leave has to be at least one year long.

Arguments such as: "Well, how about 6 months maternity leave for the mother followed by 6 months paternity leave for the father? Work distribution needs to be "gender equal"" are meaningless in this context. Home is not "workplace" and there's a difference between wanting to bring a child into the world and raising it vs being co-workers at a company.

The child's wellbeing comes first. Period.

And a child literally yearns for its mother for the first year. If you've missed observing this fact, you're either not observant or not sincere enough about parenthood. The responsibility of changing this is all on you. Not on the child.

Addressing Suicides at IITs: My Viewpoint

There have been 40 suicides in IITs in the last 32 months (more than 1 every month).

I'm as concerned as anyone else but my diagnosis is probably different. Consider the following points:

1. Today there are a total of 17,740 seats in all IITs put together. While one exam (IIT-JEE) does not define anyone's long term potential (read that again), it does give feedback on one's level of preparation in Science and Mathematics at the end of 12th Grade. After having been a student at IIT Bombay and having taught at IITs Delhi, Kanpur, Varanasi, Goa and Dhanbad, I can assure you that ranks lesser than about 5000 indicate a level of preparation lower than what's required to grasp the level of rigor at IITs. We need to reduce seats in IITs and increase them by the same amount in NITs, IIITs and state government colleges. 5000 probably won't sell for politicians and their constituencies, but a reasonable cap does need to come in. I repeat: Reduce seats in IITs and increase them by the same amount in NITs, IIITs and state government colleges. And this whole cause will be helped if parents understand that "hamaare bacche ko IIT karana hai" is not a higher goal than their child's well being and happiness. Hardworking and committed students can, and do, succeed from anywhere. Being an "IITian" is not a prerequisite for a successful and happy life.

2. All students coming through affirmative action quotas (SC-ST-PD-OBC-Gender) will be served well if they go through the 1 Year Prep Course (facility already available but not used widely enough) before starting their degree programs. One extra year of investment in one's education is well worth it in the long run. The JEE cut-offs for affirmative action quotas are usually much lower than General Category, and minus the prep course preparation they tend to struggle.

3. Make a certain attendance percentage mandatory. Several IITs are still lax on this front. This results in students lounging around in hostels when classes and labs are on, many of these students drift into excessive video gaming, internet addiction, alcohol, drugs and porn addiction. Weeks slip by and when exams arrive many of them panic and rush to counselors. But it's often too late to help and many of them either end up failing or getting very low grades. This feeds back into their psyches, dents their confidence, and students who were perfectly good to start with start struggling with psychological issues and depression. A lot of this can be addressed by the simple requirement of insisting that students come to class.

4. The above 3 points focus on the undergraduate student population coming through the IIT-JEE. Implement similar strategies for Masters students coming through GATE and JAM.

5. Maintain rigor in PhD admissions instead of reducing the bar to take in and graduate more PhDs to climb rankings faster. As an example, I myself was part of a PhD interview panel for aerodynamics at IIT Kanpur in 2011 where many students coming in after having completed their Masters weren't even able to write down the governing (Navier-Stokes) equations of their subject on the blackboard. I maintained, and still do, that these students were not ready to start their PhDs and should have been asked to come back for a fresh interview after 6 months. But my colleagues resisted my stance fiercely because their promotions depend on "how many" PhD students they graduate. And this constraint has been brought in because university rankings in the western first world paradigm depend on "how many" PhD students the university graduates every year. But our third world realities are different and it is the students who suffer the most - both in coping up during their PhD programs and in the job marker after graduating.

Once the above five points are in place, counseling services and student support systems will definitely help. But unless we honestly confront and address core issues, every other strategy proves ineffective in the long run.