SIFAR - Problems Beyond Infinity

I remember the days when we all used to mock the "Math Club" of our college because of a very minimal turnout for the symposium of that club two years back. The Symposium is named as "SIFAR" with a tagline "Beyond Infinity". I'm not a math club member but two of my closest friends are the chairman and Vice chairman of that club. So somehow i knew things that were happening there.

Some of you might be aware of the problems the organisers of any event face. Just multiply it several times. These people had it for sifar. Starting from sponsors, dead ends in college, lack of commitment from some, life threatening accidents, server failures etc on one hand and on the other hand a ambitious Chairman who is desperate to change something, trying to achieve the impossibles and improbables. It was quite an oxymoron. I'm not sure whether yesterday's turnout would have made him
happy but according to me it is a success.

I along with few of my friends went there to assist(?) everyone.In my opinion SIFAR'10 was neatly executed. That does not mean great execution. I would rate it between above average and below the good mark. That is because of the quality of the work. It is natural to expect better things from a group of people who are "genius" in mathematics. At the same time it is not right to blame anyone. The most difficult set of people to manage are these "genii". The pathetic part is for these people something called selfishness starts to creep in whatever they do and that itself is
enough to act as an hindrance in team work. This sifar would've been better if their teamwork had been better. Whatever may be the case, Success cannot be taken away and that too just for the incredible problems the organizers faced for the past fortnight.

Personally, I had contrasting emotions yesterday. The first one was a happy one after the turnout for the symposium crossed the 300 mark. The next one was also a nice one after seeing a beautiful first year girl in a neatly dressed light color chudidhar. Then came the sad moment of the day. I don't want go into any specific detail but it wouldn't be wise of me if i don't criticise certain people. Any one studying in Velammal, Jeppiar Colleges, Vel tech, RMK etc will be aware of a term called "SPY" - a group of non-teaching staff employed by the management to maintain
discipline(?) in their college. Two such stupid spies where responsible for certain things that happened yesterday. One dialogue from a English movie came to my mind regarding Hitler.

Man 1: We all know Hitler is bad, but why are all these Nazi too bad?
Man 2: That is because they want to prove to Hitler that they are a better Nazi than Hitler.

I think these spies are also like that. People who were with me yesterday would only understand this. I have to apologize to many people. If i had answered a particular question then certain things could've been avoided. Last emotion was the happiest of all. Math club Chairman Gautam made a speech which could've been ridiculous to many and stupid to some. But I could feel the losses he has endured during this period. Other than that his speech was a real entertainment to any one who knew him. Then came the superb moment when the Staff Coordinator presented him a gift. I think
all the Math club members applauded for it and I was sitting in a corner next to a semi awake karthikeyan(he was sleeping until that moment), enjoying that beautiful moment and I'm sure that picture will be etched in my memory for longer days in my life. The Shortest boy is gonna achieve some tall things and this should be a good platform for the next ascent.

Puzzling Things

There were many puzzling things and some good things that happened during the past week. I'll list some of them here.

Great Indian Selection Panel


The so called "Few Good Men" have turned "Few Worst Men". Some might argue that they were never the "Good Men" in the first place. Our Selection panel headed by Krish Srikanth has taken a beautiful decision by dropping Saha, Mithun and Tyagi. In that two of the three were left in the bench. Why?

I suppose they didn't bring the drinks on time to the on field players. There cannot be any other reason behind that at the moment other than media pressure. This is not the first time this is happening. Every selection panel makes puzzling decisions but they got away because those players performed and our media forgets everything.

It'll be nice if things happen like football where the team's coach decides his team. In that way the coach, who is actually regarded as a dumb puppet can have a role to play.

Mukesh to buy Liverpool


This could be yet another rumour but if it happens then the prospect of Liverpool becoming a major force is quite possible. What about the future of Rafa Benitez?. I think Rafa'll move to Juventus and with a new investor, former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho might come to Liverpool. Then Liverpool can win the premier league after what?? 18 years. My junior and friend Sampath, who is a die hard Liverpool fan would be really happy about the news. But really sorry dude. It is quite far-fetched.

The main reason is the initial investment needed to clean off the debts and for new signings needed. Keep in mind the fact that Mukesh owned RIL(Reliance Industries Limited) is a public sector company which needs the approval of investors for the funds. Mumbai Indians is a completely different story because cricket is no longer a sport but a pure commercial venture. The returns is gonna be huge from MI but not sure about Liverpool.

Another interesting Speculation: Mukesh buying Liverpool and then Anil buying Manchester United... The prospect is a classic. But lets wait and see whether my speculation becomes a reality.

One good Thing - "No to Monsanto BT" - Jairam



On behalf of SWAT I'd like to thank Mr.Jairam Ramesh, the environment minister of India for his decision to ban BT-Brinjals. But he has said that only Monsanto produced GM crops are gonna be banned and not all GM crops. The reason is because of Monsanto's public image. Another puzzling thing was the presence of Bill Clinton's Secretary in Delhi to help(????) the Indian Government in taking a decision.

This should not be another congress government decision similar to Telegana where Sir Alex Ferguson's Tactics would have seemed inferior. I really feel that this issue is far from over. The minister has said that "Illegal selling of GM crops should be tackled by the state government". Everyone should understand something here. If monsanto or mahyco or any other corporate introduces a transgenic variety, then that means that corporate is trying to create a monopoly in the market. In more clearer terms there will be no more natural crops rather only "Monsanto(or any other corporate) Crops".

It'll be nice if a permanent ban is imposed on GM foods. But at the moment happy that atleast a temporary ban is imposed. I'd like to congratulate all the NGO's who have worked for this cause like AID, Safe Food Alliance etc.

I'd like to thank all members who have worked in our "BT-Walk". A Special credit to the event coordinator vivek and all others who gave your support by signing the online petition.

Pillars of Footwear Project

A month back if anyone had told me that our footwear project would come to this level, I would have said "Not Sure". But many deserve the credit for carrying
out this project in a great way. Without our Chief hunter Mary Preethi nothing would have started. For many of us,the article in Hindu about school children walking barefoot was nothing more than a news item and some would have skipped that article.
Our Chief Hunter thought otherwise. She wanted to do something. She spoke the journalist who had written that article and she found the school in Saligramam.
It was General Carriappa Hr.Sec. School. She went that school and took a list of students who needed those footwear. Really great Preethi.

Next is our Secretary Harish. He is the main man of SWAT. One person I really started to admire in college after my close friend Vignesh. I think Harish has the in-born quality of a great leader. It is really impossible to work with me and Gajan if you don't have the patience. Harish has a lot of that. Harish has grown in our department from a reticent boy and volleyball player during the second year to a icon and leader in the final year. Only few of us knew the difficulty we had in getting the footwear from the shop and that too at 12.30 midnight. But he enjoys everything without any fuss whatsoever. Great da. One additional gossip : Many
of department girls(especially juniors) are ogling at him. But this fellow is not at all responding.

Next person is our print partner and future CEO of TrueCopy Corporation(Since 1983). He is Aravind. He is the romeo of our class for different reasons. Everyone in my class would agree to that. He also went with Harish to the footwear shop to get the
load. He came with me to the "Khadims" Showroom in perumbur to finalise the order.At every stage in this project he was the constant one and either me or Harish accompanied him.Fondly called as "xerox" Aravind or truecopy Aravind is indispensable in all our SWAT projects.

Madhangi and Sivaranjani's work in this project cannot be left out. They worked with preethi from the beginning and they too deserve the accolades.

On the day of the event and during the previous night, we really got some great help from both the Ashwins of St.Peters and Karthik on the day of the event. They really helped us to complete everything quickly. With some astute and smart thinking from all the three, we were able to finish things.

Our ever reliable Treasurer Ragu attended the event in spite of his tightest of schedules and I was really happy that he was there. I have to mention my close friends who have helped in publicizing the event Dhana, Gautam, Sethu and Raman.

All our donors deserve the most Special accolade for their generosity and faith they've shown in us. I should thank all our members who have donated to this project.
We saw something called happiness in those students which they don't get all the time. Many factors are responsible for that. But we can help them in some
of their problems. This was one of those. All I want is this has to continue. Yes We can.

Who is a narrow-minded person??

Two of my friends sitting next to me in the ultimate row of our college bus were having this heated conversation. Lets assume them as Mr.G and Mr.S

G: You're so narrow-minded like Ashwin.
S: What??? ME!!! you're talking like Ashwin, so you're narrow-minded.

That was the end of that conversation and by the way My name is Ashwin. They both were referring to me. But to be honest until that moment i didn't have any idea whatsoever about what the altercation was about. This wasn't the first time someone has branded me as "narrow-minded". I wanted to know the exact meaning of that word. So I browsed some online dictionaries and the exact meaning is given below:

narrow-minded(adj.) - having a biased or illiberal viewpoint; bigoted, intolerant, or prejudiced.

Now I'll tell the instances where I was branded as a "narrow-minded" person. First one was in my home with one of my relatives who is a ardent BJP supporter. He was talking to me about the Ruchika Gilhotra case and how justice has gone from abyss to something further down. Suddenly the conversation went to the liberhan commission report and our conversation turned into a altercation where he spoke in length about the good works of BJP and he said they only can save our country. I simply couldn't agree with that because the things I believed were completely different from his' beliefs. I would have agreed if he had termed them as his beliefs but he said those were the truth.

Not only me. Most people like me are branded as "narrow-minded" people. If we go too literally on the word then everyone of them involved in a debate are narrow-minded only. They stick to their views and they're quite unrelenting. So can we brand all those people as narrow-minded?? Absolutely not.

The second instance was the one I described earlier in this article. Mr.G and Mr.S had this debate about Belief in God. Mr.G is an agnostic and Mr.S believes seriously in God. Here both have their set of views and both did not want to relinquish their views. Is it right for them call me a "narrow-minded" person?

People have a misconception about this word. They think that anyone who contradicts his/her view(s) is a "narrow-minded" person. But those views differ from person to person depending on the influence of the society he mingles and his family. In a healthy debate there is no need for narrow-mindedness. When a person listens to you and if he disagrees with you on certain issues and tells his views, then that does not mean he's "narrow-minded". He's just like you telling his views.

Before telling someone "narrow-minded", Please bear in mind that its you who become a narrow-minded person and not the one whom you branded as "narrow-minded".