SSDIP at IISc, Bangalore

Dr. Sitaram (my mentor at HP Labs) told me about this 'summer school on document image processing' at IISc, Bangalore. Since my project was in the same area, I decided to take a plunge into it. They had selected only 40 participants from all over India. Most of them were doing or had done their masters or Ph. D. in Image Processing so i was one odd candidate trying to learn something (or i thought so). I was not one of the forty but i got the opportunity because HP Labs was sponsoring the event. The organisers had invited best people in their area to teach us. The plan was to have two lectures of ninety minutes each from nine to twelve thirty (with a tea break in between) and labs from two to five thirty in the evening.

They also thought of another innovative idea to keep participants busy to the core. They assigned us projects related to document image processing on the second day itself and announced that the best few works will be rewarded on the last day ! So we had to be their at 'Center for Continuing Education' at IISc from nine in the morning to close to twelve in the night ! The assignments were based on the days' talks. I found even the most knowledgeable (seemingly) people struggling with relatively easier assignments in MATLAB !

Tough, it seems. Well ! getting knowledge is never easy. It was a good way of imparting a loads of knowledge to the ones who were most willing to receive it ! I had a tough time keeping pace but i enjoyed it. My main motives to attend the summer school were : 1) Look for my interest in higher studies. 2) Stay at IISc, learn how people research and get a valuable certificate !

Both of my objective were met. I could get an insight as in how tedious and tiring reasearch can be....when i saw George Nagy (must be more than seventy), delivering 3 lectures in a day, i realised once you get in..you will never be able to come out of it, if you do some good things ! Research can make you a millionaire overnight if you make a discovery, on the other hand you may end up banging your head just trying to solve an unsolvable problem !

Coming back to SSDIP, Many of the participants stayed at 'Hoysala House' in IISc which was a great place. Having stayed together just for ten days, many of us bond with other surprisingly well. Groups of people formed and become really good friends. All of us decided to stay connected via a 'yahoogroup' and discuss DIP (may be) after we left IISc. So in all, it was a wonderful and different experience. It has made me rethink my decision on higher studies !

Six eventful months: My PSII at HP Labs

completing a project, 10 days at IISc, getting a publication, becoming a graduate and visiting so many places.... eventful six months !! Tomorrow onwards, i'll say i am a graduate. No more a student (well ! at least for now, till i decide my fate) ! Emotions are flowing....mixed feeling...happy for a few things and sad for others. Most painful of all is to leave BITS, Pilani and my dearest BITSian friends behind....how much you try you usually never catch up again !!

I have to rush now... some other time on PS, IISc and of course BITS, Pilani.......my alma mater !


between everything... cheers to a recent computer science graduate from BITS, Pilani... :)

Wait...it's research time.

Sorry to all who were expecting a piece on SmartTechie Startup City conference. But that is because I have been busy with some research :D. It will come soon though. The wait is worth it. Twenty four hours in a day is very less time..Mannn ! Resources are not available when I need them. I will try to put things together soon :) !

Between my paper got accepted at DAS 2008. The paper is titled: "PaperDiff: A Script Independent Automatic Method for Finding The Text Differences Between Two Document Images"



Hail Research...
will be back soon !

Border, Nayak, Shaurya and Launch of a Book

Well..eventful week ! Wasn't it ? I happened to watch Border (long overdue), Nayak (yet again ) and Shaurya (incidentally) this weekend, all on television. Three movies portraying emotions of different people towards the nation ! Then i also attended the Bangalore book launch of Chetan Bhagat's new offering '3 mistakes of my life'. I will talk about them one by one.

Border (3/5)

I had expected Border to be a great movie. It was a good movie, my expectations were not fully satisfied though. There was an overdose of love-stories and a totally unnecessary suhaagraat scene ! Sunny Deol was literally shouting almost every single dialogue that came his way, unnecessarily many times. Akshay khanna, Sunil Shetty and others have performed well though. Movie doesn't spread anger towards the enemy soldiers. Politics is blamed for the war, for good enough reasons , i suppose. Movie succeeded is sending its message across beautifully.

Nayak (3.5/5)

Another movie showing that Indians do care about their nation. Reporter Shivaji Rao who is appointed as chief minister of Maharashtra for 'one day', displays great knowledge and readiness to deal with the problems plaguing the state. While the problems shown in the movie are very close to reality, solutions are not ! Suspending every accused is a very dangerous way of handling the problem ! That was the only part which I found unrealistic. Other then that, a great movie !

Shaurya (3.5/5)

Movie focusses on human rights violation by army officers in J&K. It shows that if there are officers who kill people belonging to a particular faith for their revenge (as sunil shetty does in 'Main Hoon Naa') , then there are 'a few good men' who are not afraid to follow the rules (or discarding them) to preserve communal harmony even if it means a lot of trouble for them. Movie has a lot of content unlike other contemporary bollywood movies. Performances are good if you ignore appalling Minisha Lamba. In short, a good bollywood movie after a long time !

*************************************
Chetan Bhagat : 3 Mistakes of My Life
Book Launch
18 may, 2008
Big Bazzar, Old Madras Road, Bangalore
*************************************
India's most influential youth writer Chetan Bhagat launched his third book ' 3 mistakes of my life' today in Bangalore as part of a series of book launches in different cities of India. Chetan Bhagat himself, Director Atul Agnihotri who is directing movie 'Hello' based on chetan's second novel 'One Night @ a Call Center' and Preeti Vyas - business head of Depot- big bazaar's book shop - graced the occasion with their presence.

Chetan told that the book was about Govind, a young businessman from the city of Ahmadabad and a few of his friends.

A few excerpts from Q & A session with Chetan after the book launch ( There were many other interesting questions but I can not recall them all now. Please pardon me for that.) -

Q: What is your source of motivation for writing?
Chetan: I write for fun. There is no motivator as such. Yes, I started writing to take revenge from my bad boss in Hong-Kong, who used to think I am working, while I used to write books in my office !

Q: How do you approach the publishers ?
Chetan: It's easy now. My first book 'five Point Someone' was rejected by 'nine' publishers. Things were difficult initially. I kept improving the draft and finally 'Rupa & Co' published the Indian bestseller.

Q: Why do you write about small towns ?
Chetan: There are a lot of writers who write about big cities. Only 5-10% of India lives in big cities. Others live in small towns and villages. Somebody should write for them. I have taken up this job.

Q: How do you know that the book will be a hit?
Chetan: If Chetan has enjoyed writing the book, readers will love reading it. I can not compete with my first book but I try to make them as enjoyable as possible.

Q: Were you concerned about the impact of this book on people from different communities as it deals with religion also ?
Chetan: Yes, I have tried to be cautious not to hurt anybody. Book has been received well everywhere so far.

Q: Why do the names of central character resemble the name of Lord Krishna in all your three novels (Hari, Shyam, Govind) ?
Chetan: Lord Krishna was a great mythological personality. He can not be compared with. I try to make my characters as big as him.

Q: Why in all your novels, a girl proposes a boy ?
Chetan: Well. Boys always like it this way (laughs). i also like it this way. I just convey my feelings across and incidentally they get noticed.

Q: Your novel titles contain a lot of numbers ('Five', 'one', 'Three'). Do you have a fancy for numbers ?
Chetan: I am from IIT. I am an engineer. Every engineer loves numbers, so do I. I unintentionally choose the titles. People have started noticing the patterns!

Q: You have written about IITs. Will you write about IIMs too ?
Chetan: I spend four of my best years there. Lot of events tool place so I could draft them into a book. Nothing much happened when I was in IIM, other then getting a life partner. What should I write about that ?

Q: First IITs, then call centers, now a businessman ! Scope of your stories is getting bigger with every book. Will the stage be even bigger for the next one ?
Chetan: It depends on what I choose the topic as. It can even be a lot smaller then IITs. I choose a topic which my readers will enjoy reading. I don't look at the scope, though i try to keep it manageable.

Q & A session was lively. Chetan answered all the questions enthusiastically. Atul Agnihotri presented two promos of his upcoming movie 'Hello' which is based on Chetan second novel - One Night @ a Call Center- starring Salmaan Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sharman Joshi, Sohail Khan, Gul Panag, Dalip Tahil and others. It was very well received by the audience. Each of then had to be presented twice on audience demand.

Event was full of glitches though. Sounds and lighting was not good. Atul had to finish his speech in four parts because of the sound trouble. There was not enough space for audiences. Big Bazzar can learn a few lessons in event organizations from there. But Chetan's presence made up for all that.

Jaipur Blast Aftermath

This time, people of India are not sad or frightened. They are angry. They want a stiff response from the government. The common perception is - if somebody has to be killed in such blasts it has to be the terrorists themselves -not the common innocent public

What

On this Tuesday Rajasthan faced its biggest ever terror attack. Eight (or nine...correct information is not available) bombs exploded right in the heart of state capital Jaipur leaving over 70 dead and 200 injured ! All blasts occurred within a span of 15 minutes in the most crowded markets of the city Badi Choupad, Chhoti Choupad, Johri Bazaar, Manek Chowk, Tripolia bazzzar, Chandpol etc at a time in the day when they are most crowded.

Some points to note:

(1) Terrorists gave authorities no time to react by triggering blasts at different location within a span of 15 minutes. This shows how well planned the attack was.

(2) They chose the most crowded places in the city, peak rush hour and religious places so that maximum damage is done and if authorities are not alert enough they can trigger communal violence too !

(3) Thirteen bombs ( four live bombs are said to have been recovered by police after the serial blasts) were planted in the city. Intelligence agencies be it central or state, had no clue whatsoever. Total failure !

(4) One of the blast took place just outside a Police Station. This shows the level of alertness of police.


How

According to news channels, Bombs were planted on cycles at most of the places. Ammonium nitrate mixed with RDX was used as explosive. Bombs were triggered using timers.


Why

According to unconfirmed sources, some group/person 'Guru-Al-Hindi' sent a small video of one of the places, taken just before the blast. They also claimed the responsibility for the blasts and warned India and also US and UK of more such strikes. They threatened to keep attacking the strong social and economical structure of India with such strikes. They claimed to have chosen Jaipur as the target so as to disrupt flourishing tourism industry of Rajasthan which is the second highest revenue generating source for the state.


Reactions

People (9/10): People of Jaipur showed great courage and rushed to help the victims. When there was a shortage of blood in SMS Hospital, appeal for blood donation was very well received by the general public. There were no instances of communal tension in the city on the very next day. People were on the same affected places on the very next day as soon as the curfew was relaxed after 6 PM.

Politicians(3/10): Leader of opposition in state, Mr. Gehlot showed good spirit and called for peace and calm. But very soon the blame game started. State ruling BJP leaders accused the central intelligence agencies of not sharing inputs (Center is ruled by congress led UPA). On the same day of tragic event, such statements made no sense. They exposed every politician in front of general public. If information is not shared, country's security has been compromised with. It should be a major crime in public eye.

Police (4.5/10): Police rushed to help quickly. Initially they had no idea. Some accused HuJI and others talked of a 'foreign hand' into the event. They gathered a few clues later and have even released sketch of a prime suspect. Hundreds of persons are said to have been detained for questioning. We can just hope they don't persuade some innocent individual to claim responsibility for the blasts and come out with flying colours claiming to have solved the case.

Media (6.5/10): Media behaved in a sensible manner (surprise, surprise !!). Yes, they asked politicians about their views on information sharing but it was not made a big issue by them. They asked why can't we hit back hard ? What is lacking in Indian response to terrorism? 'Times Now' brought very elite panelists combining major stakeholders and organized a debate on the topic. the panelists were: BJP and Congress national spokesperson, former envoy to pakistan Mr. G Parthashashtry, People's conference leader Mr. Sajjad Lone, Former ISI chief, a strategy analyst and an expert from Pakistan. It was a heated debate. Few important points that emerged are:

(1) Pakistani experts said it was too early to predict if there was a Pakistani hand involved.

(2) The spokespersons of national parties called for formation of stricter laws and a centralized force to counter terrorism severely.

(3) Debate coordinator Arnab Goswami questioned Pakistan government's control over its military's aid to terrorists. He linked the blasts with infiltration bid in Samba a day earlier and democracy in Pakistan. He concluded whenever there is a democratic government in Pakistan, military control goes out of hand. Terrorists gain help and strike in India. Pakistani counterparts had no real logical answer.

(4) Some one commented over Sajjad Lone's suggestion of peace talks , structural dialogues etc that these cliches will no longer work. Lets strike back hard and put an end to it all. Live with peace.

(5) A personal comment made on Mr. Lone turned the debate little emotional and he said nobody in the panel except him can sympathise better than him with the blasts victims (His father was killed in one such attack.), thats why he wants peace and doesn't support military action.


No wonder, on another news channel, two MPs of opposite parties (you know who) were fighting each other like dogs, as they do it in parliament daily, over the same issue.


As people of India, we can do a few things which can help prevent such attacks:

(1) If you are a landlord, keep details of persons living in your house. Keep details of your household help and verify their identity.

(2) Report stray baggages etc to police even during the most peaceful days.

(3) If you find somebody making suspicious moves like taking pictures, videos, behaving unusually at a crowded place, inform police asap.

Government of India and various states can make following moves to counter terrorism:
(1) Start behaving sensibly when such strikes occur. Start working in national interest at least on this one issue. Don't talk, take some actions !

(1) a central autonomous counter terrorism agency to bring intelligence
inputs, analyzing and disseminating them.

(2) Install CCTVs at crowded and important places in all cities.

(3) Respond to details of suspicious objects/persons sent by public quickly.

It can very well be a big election issue having the potential to topple governments. India must handle terrorism before it threatens national security in a big big way. Everybody seems to be busy chalking out solutions. Ruling politicians better do it ASAP. Time is running out of hand. This time, people of India are not sad or frightened. They are angry. They want a stiff response from the government. The common perception is - if somebody has to be killed in such blasts it has to be the terrorists themselves - not the common innocent public.

.........Smile

...I waved my hand and smiled cheekily..'it' was in a moving auto in its father's lap. And to my utmost surprise it peeped out of the vehicle and smiled back. It was a rare nice feeling in this world which seems so ignorant. It made my day which was so bad with all that work in the office.