The return of the native?

If you act like a dog, you have to bark. If you are a DFT mercenary, you have to keep doing something to earn your bread and butter. Since April 2009, I am amused how I have to managed to remain afloat, financially and otherwise. Even now, if there is no job, if I sell all my shares, I can stay afloat for 4-5 years, including paying my home loan, easily (of course, assuming there are no big expenses like medical emergencies). I remember telling my classmate at REC/NIT, Trichy in 1999 a week before I started for Bangalore - I will be out of that place in 2010. She chuckled 'probably with family'. I didn't have any special reason to say so, but maybe it was just intuition. I told the same to my colleagues when I was working in Texas Instruments (2000-2004) and even in Advanced Micro Devices (2007-2009). Seeing the kind of people who are coming into Bengaluru, I am fully convinced that I will run out of patience very soon in any company and especially with the sorta people out there. Settling abroad was also not in radar; definitely NOT US. I was impressed with European way of life, especially British.

Going back to Chennai was probably not in the radar as there were very few companies in semiconductor domain. Noida, Pune or Hyderabad sounded more likely. In Chennai, I got an offer in Nulife semiconductor in 2003-2004 but the pay was too low. Later TI bought Nulife semiconductor and had a bit of analog designing going on in Chennai. Next was Atheros in 2007. They didn't discuss pay but I felt that the managing director was keen to have me on board. I don't know the reasons why they didn't update later. I had heard of GDA Technologies probably in early 2000s but since it was working in analog domain, I thought I will be unsuitable and did not even apply. Last year I wanted to go to the office and talk if I can be of any use in that company. I was told that company no longer exists, but as I was walking further to meet Xerox Innovation Labs, I saw a company SMSC. I just wanted to check out and could meet the head very easily. She was also keen and said that I may fit into their scheme of things. Though even that too fizzled out for reasons unknown, she informed that GDA Technologies has been bought by L&T Infotech. Recently courtesy LinkedIn and other job portals, (my resume is floating in monster, naukri etc) L&T Infotech did indeed contact me and after some discussion, I am asked to join on 25 August 2010. The pay is low and I am on contract, but I get the feeling that it may be the desired change of scene that I need. Reg money, my home loan installment is the key. Selling the flat in Bengaluru or renting it out is a bit dicey as Chennai sojourn is only on contract and hence temporary. I am not yet finished with semiconductor industry; not yet. There are still three semiconductor companies which I have to 'check out' - two Is and one F (big eyes, some may say ;)). If it is written in my forehead, I will. Also, maybe I will be second-time lucky with Ph.D at CMI.

Update: 25 Aug 2010

Normal return is boring and hence I decide to start on my return to Chennai in my sister's scooty today morning at 6:00 a.m. with a rough plan courtesy google maps.

Post-P, it could be 'risky' but as it goes

Risk எடுக்கறது எல்லாம் எனக்கு rusk சாப்பிடறாமாதிரி ;) Hope to continue in better health.

P vs NP : can creativity be automated?

It looks like that I have a tendency to be reading/thinking of what could become news later. I have been blogging enough about P, Post-p etc and it is not ironical that P vs NP problem is in the news. Not only had I posted on my hit at NP-completeness, but I followed it up with my observations on Cook-Levin.

It is no wonder that the million dollar maths puzzle sparks row

Vinay Deolalikar, a mathematician based at Hewlett-Packard laboratories in California, US, claims to have solved the problem of P vs NP.

The skepticism has already started with

Dr Aaronson says the new proof may fail a "very simple sanity check"

It is not really surprising because the consequences of this is also philosophical. In other words

"P vs NP is asking - can creativity be automated?"
Dr Deolalikar claims that his proof shows that it cannot.

Though it may sound 'natural' to many that P is different from NP, it is like this Sudoku analogy. What is a 'hard Sudoku'? For a greenhorn, even medium Sudoku can be 'hard'. I remember doing the last two 'hard' Sudokus in Hindu successfully. It is not necessarily because I am intelligent but I think it is more because I am used to it and my 'Sudoku thinking' skills are reasonably honed by now. As a DFT mercenary, I did mention

there is nothing new or great that is going to shake my domain.

Switching to other domains, Ian Chappell said similarly about the problems with ODI cricket

part of the problem with 50-over cricket is that it is becoming very formulaic

I am sure the other art forms started on similar trend long back. Hollywood was ridiculously formulaic, Bollywood or Hindi Cinema followed suit to its nadir and there were/are some directors in Tamil who involve in such exercise, indulging in a harakiri. I remember one director saying that there is no 'new story' as there are only 5 stories. The director has to just change the rendition. In music, Ilayaraja demonstrated the farce of 'creation' or rather 'making' mode of music at a 'music factory' - he has said many times that music is nothing but a deception that a new thing has been created ;)


I do tend to think that in line with other domains, P may end up getting equalized with NP and proven so. It is poetic, rather mathematical justice ;) Creativity can indeed be automated.

Post-p

During my college days, one of the interesting problems in data structures was to draw the binary tree given its pre-order, in-order, post-order traversal. Some notes used to refer it as pre-p and post-p. For me, given what p means, pre-p and post-p refers to the obvious ;)

Depending on their age, sex, language, profession etc, people are expected to behave in a certain way. Tamils apparently love to talk, doctors have the worst handwriting etc. I have heard that doctors have to be loquacious, if not garrulous because only then patients are apparently comfortable. One of the reasons why I didn't apply for MBA when I was finishing my graduation is the need for 'talk' or 'group discussion' (GD as they used to call it). Talking in front of strangers? I cant think of such things even now. The doctor who did my operation was probably the first doctor, that I saw of, who spoke shockingly very little and he was competing with my mother in the number of words that come out of the mouth. So with little or no post-operative prescription/recommendation from him (he said that I can start working from the next week onwards!), I was on my way to Bengaluru.

There used to be 'family doctor's in olden days, who apart from knowing about the family (and their finances) and their habits, can probably suggest the right dos and importantly donts for the patient. There was a recent programme in Vijay TV (நீயா-நானா?) about the 'commercialization' of doctors. Not that this is new(s), but I feel that this is part of the trend that is sweeping entire economy. Doctors too have become 'factory'ized. Every patient is made to go through the motions of all the 'basic' tests and given the same prescription or remedy and 'case history' is just a farce, if not non-existent. Indeed, homogenizing the heterogeneous world has completed the full circle. All patients are same and this is the fundamental antithesis of Hippocratic oath itself, I guess. It reminds me of 'hypocritical' ;)

As in 'economics' or 'industry', if all are same, why cant we cut down the headcount by half? Fire half, increase the 'dues' of the other half and let the workhorses burn their midnight oil! Euthanasia did not have a more compelling case.

வாழக்கூடாதவங்களுக்கு நான் கொடுக்கிற தண்டனை சாவு, வாழவே முடியாதவங்களுக்கு நான் கொடுக்கற சாவு வரம்! For those who shouldn't live, death is the punishment; for those who cant live, death is a boon. I am him!

With no 'post-p' prescription, I was trying to collate the words spoken by nurses and doctors and read betwixt the lines. I remember that one nurse told me - you should not eat non-vegetarian, of course you are a brahmin, so that should not be a problem - well, if at all, I had plans to eat non-vegetarian in the future, those plans are still-born. The doctor said - don't sit in a place, walk a lot and exercise your abdominal muscles. This was not an issue for me - I have been walking to Krishnarajapuram station for years whenever I go to Chennai and though this 4-5 km walk is occasional, I think compared to many others who walk in 'sterilized' atmosphere in gym or around flat or even within their house - I walk quite a bit on roads on normal days. Even when I reach Chennai, I catch train to Kodambakkam and then walk to my residence, nearly 2 kms from there. I walk to Ranganathan street or T Nagar most of the time and on 'festival season', I think I reach my destination faster by walk than by bus or other means. I in fact made a note that I took 15-20 minutes to reach Ranganathan street by walk. I am sure I would have taken at least 30-45 minutes if I used bus. Anyway, the point is that I have to decide what is best for my body and I never trusted anyone, leave alone these doctors.

Murali goes up further, calls it a day

When Muralitharan announced his retirement before the match, there was anticipation whether he would get 8 wickets to get to 800 - as Murali himself said that it was just a number, though it would indeed be nice if he could reach it. Scaling Mount Improbable may not be easy, I thought because Indians usually play spin very well and had in fact played the other great spinner Shane Warne with tremendous, if not dismissive, ease. It is no wonder that

Before his debut, Sri Lanka managed two wins in 38 Tests. Muralitharan has since orchestrated 54 wins, claiming more than 40 per cent of his team's wickets in victories.

and hence not much of a surprise that he indeed reached 800 wickets with his last ever ball in Test cricket.

I think quite a big part of the credit of this achievement should go to Arjuna Ranatunga, under whose captaincy Murali played most of his matches. Arjuna deflected most of the criticism directed at his team and more importantly, kept Murali and his team insulated from the heat of at least the press. I still agree with Michael Holding during his talk on the great Aussie swansong that Warne was a better bowler in comparison. I never understood the chucking part right from the start as I didn't find his action 'strange' and Ian Chappell too seemed to have felt that such hair-splitting is crazy (I too thought that chucker is one who bends the elbow).


Indians, as always, show that they are more prudish than the British. It was disgusting to hear Bedi's comments. Great bowler, he may be, but Bedi's remark that Murali should play cricket for the handicapped was nothing but பேடித்தனம் :( No wonder, Ranatunga compared Bedi to a dog :) I also felt that pace bowlers like Shoaib Akthar will get more benefit out of chucking and was confused how a spin bowler can gain unfair advantage. At best, I can call Murali as 'unorthodox'. It was some sort of a comeback (at least in my eyes) that Bedi calls Murali a good human.

To the dead, the roses; to the living, the thorns.

Jobs today...

Where do you want to go today? I am not sure if slide #20 in Krugman's Nobel lecture was intended for current economic situation, but it refers to

Decline of "good jobs"

Whether today we are in Depression or not, the fact is there are no 'good jobs'. Am I talking of 'high class' or 'low class' in jobs? All jobs are equal but some are more equal than others :P At least in India, there is abundance of jobs for people with less than 5 years of experience. Rest have to sit on the bench AT home or some park. Yes, people with more than 5 years of experience are 'safe' if they had already become 'leader's or if they are 'yes men'! If people like me are more intent on self-esteem and pride, then 'Pulp Fiction' said it

Fuck pride! Pride only hurts, it never helps.

There is, at least was, some talk of 'moving up the value chain' in Indian software industry. It is an easy proof that Indians are/were only 'servicing' what the white man wanted. Desis probably think that they have become 'white' themselves and try to exercise their 'authority' over the 'lesser brown' mortals in India. So they act as if they do 'higher level' jobs and grant 'lower level' jobs to their comrades in India (pun intended of course). The comedy is that even in the 'headquarters', desis seem to play the sycophant. It is no surprise that very few, if not none, desis have really made it 'big'. Desis seem to be content in being in payrolls of someone. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride!

I think the problem is that people are not calling spade the spade. I mean, even in college days, some of my classmates used to look down on 'testing' jobs. There is some truth in this because in some sense, it is like HOTS and MOTS. This is like petty-bourgeoisie - where India itself is thrown some crumbs from abroad and dogs here fighting on who has the sweetest crumb of those. As I always say - நாம புடுங்கறது பூராவுமே தேவையில்லாதது தான்! I don't see any reason why people should do PhD or M.Tech for such low-level job. I came to the conclusion that MBA is the biggest rip-off in entire world, not just India, quite sometime back. This reasoning is what I explained in my 'The limits of schooling' article that was accepted by IEEE Potentials (when will it get printed? :o). Jobs that demand HOTS were done in a 'foreign' country and 'MOTS' was relegated to countries like India (only India?). If it is MOTS, then why pay more to higher experienced people, when 'junior' people can do the same and also 'juniors' will do more to IMPRESS the seniors. If you dont have pride, then even better! I have told atleast two of my managers in different companies

We are working overtime to make ourselves redundant.

The job calls/mails that at least I get, demand 'tool expertise', 'international footprint' etc. 'Tool expertise' indicates that no firm wants to spend on 'training' the employee - rather they expect the employee to know that we are in deep if not edge of the abyss.

One thing’s for sure: The next administration’s economic team had better be ready to hit the ground running, because from day one it will find itself dealing with the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Before 'recession' set in, tool expertise was unnecessary and in fact, looked down upon, because it was considered that the person is sound on medium rather than the message. Now companies want only medium experts, pun intended. 'International footprint' is mostly valid only for those who studied abroad or who were 'Jakkuboys'. Despite 10 years of experience that too in semiconductor industry, that too in top global companies, it may be surprising that I didn't stay abroad for more than 6 months TOTALLY! In fact, I wouldn't have resigned from my first company, Texas Instruments, if I had gone to US (for just few days) to present MY paper (it had no coauthors!) but my manager said that the company had no money and to rub salt into injury, few 'yes men' were sent to US for 3 months!

Technically, I didn't learn anything new since 2004. The companies use only improved version of tools, which probably gives the illusion to some that we are working on 'cutting-edge'. I had attended a lecture at ICAI (I usually look up 'Engagements' section in The Hindu when I am in Chennai and go for 'free talks' when I am free) - where an ex-bureaucrat was talking on Budget presented a day before. His basic point was - India's administrative machinery has matured reasonably. We don't need brahmas, we need only Vishnus. In other words, we don't need to (cant afford to?) create new things; rather we have to focus on executing the existing machinery. In semiconductor industry, I heard of 'layout factory' in 2003. Basically all 'design' centres are being converted into factories where ANYONE can be replaced. Companies can survive only by making the workers sweat their blood out and more importanly, dispensable. Long hours are now mandatory for everyone, at least in India. Globally, of course companies can only close down as they are Running Out of Planet to Exploit. There is no room/time/money to question anything - we simply have to follow the 'apes in the cage' paradigm. Don't question, JUST DO IT!

Include me out?

Inclusive growth is the only way the society can go on. If 'elitists' propose euthanasia for the rest, then the population of the world will be cut by a good 90% in a day! We have accepted mediocrity as a part of life, though more often mediocrity is celebrated and thinks that it is 'superior' than the rest. Who has to decide who is mediocre and how? All such ridiculous questions can be answered in only one way - RIGHT TO LIVE. I remember Manmohan Singh talking early in his first tenure as PM about 'inclusive growth'. He is just a prime minister and he cant do much other than speaking such anodynes. It has to percolate even deeper and maybe Chief Minister can do something.

Courtesy this Depression, Krugman made a case for 'Fannie, Freddie and You'.

The most important of these privileges is implicit: it’s the belief of investors that if Fannie and Freddie are threatened with failure, the federal government will come to their rescue.

This implicit guarantee means that profits are privatized but losses are socialized. If Fannie and Freddie do well, their stockholders reap the benefits, but if things go badly, Washington picks up the tab. Heads they win, tails we lose.

It may sound cynical but it is the truth. In India, consumers (rather voters) always are gullible but state Government can hardly go to level of monitoring and protecting every family or individual. I feel that Tamil Nadu is probably the most 'socialist' of all Governments in India - centre and state - though we do have stupid communist Governments ruling in West Bengal and Kerala.

A state Government should try to protect consumers against say inflation. Obviously something has to increase revenue somewhere to offset the increase in expenditure. Ideally it should take the route of 'tax the rich and minimize the effect on poor'. It is no wonder that price rise in diesel is more important than price rise in petrol. Though some of my 'pseudo Communist' friends claim that (D)MK is a buffoon who doesnt increase bus ticket prices for 15 years just because of votes! I think in Tamil Nadu, any sensible politician - MGR, MK etc wont mind increasing, say the registration prices for purchase of land or building but (SHOULD) think thousand times before increasing the prices of bus tickets and milk because the effect is wide and immediate. In Chennnai, the point is rise in prices of bus tickets have been the most minimal, if not absent, in ENTIRE INDIA but 'special buses' have been employed with higher ticket prices. State Govt has to earn somewhere. For the under-privileged, they have buses where they can get tickets at the same price. For the rich or wanna-be-rich, they have 'deluxe/AC' buses with higher ticket prices.

In stark contrast is Karnataka (rather Bengaluru), where I have been living for a decade now. I never thought Kannadigas have some grey matter but now have come to the conclusion that they are the most gullible people that I have seen. In democracy, it is the case of Yatha Praja, Thathaa Raja (like subjects, like government). From the design of their buses and the way it operated, I knew that Karnataka has lot of idiotic bureaucrats, who have no clue about its own subjects. Any increase in petrol prices will reflect on prices of bus-tickets and milk IMMEDIATELY. The bus ticket prices have gone up in the route of Rs.8/- in 2006 to Rs.9/- to Rs.10/- to Rs.12/- now. In Chennai, the ticket from Central to Vadapalani is still Rs.5/- :o The Karnataka Govt made a great decision of fixing the property tax at the same price for 3 years! I dont know what sort of governance does the state and more importantly its people want :(

Bail-outs have to be done to

protect the underprivileged, the underpaid and the underfed

and only that can ensure that Government is indeed for the people, of the people and by the people and the 'inclusive growth' is not left to the winds.

The truth is...

I had mentioned about the quest for truth in the P-problem. Some friends of mine have asked me if I am related to 'Film News' Anandan because I often intersperse my normal conversation with references from films. I always say that there is nothing new to be said, nothing new to be done etc. To put in the famous comedy scene (2:57) புடுங்கறது பூராவுமே தேவையில்லாத ஆணி தான்! Whatever needs to be said has already been said. I am not sure of this 'fancy' for 'remix'es of late because people have always been copying old stories. Romeo + Juliet was an example in Hollywood - Shakespeare could still be used, as is, in 'modern and contemporary' context.

Post-p-problem, when some ask 'how do I feel?' - I dont think they are going to visit me, because they cant bear to see 'others suffer' - that was one refrain that was given in 2004! I can say again that books/films have already talked about my current 'situation'. For me the classic scene is always the one from Pulp Fiction and 'moment of clarity' is very apt as well



And without a job, residence, or legal tender, that's what you're gonna be-- a fuckin' bum!

I was just sitting here drinking my coffee, eating my muffin, playin' the incident in my head, when I had what alcoholics refer to as a "moment of clarity."

What's goin' on?
Looks like we got a vigilante in our midst.
Shoot 'em in the face!

Sounds like a shit job.
Funny, I've been thinkin' the same thing.

Now this is the situation. Normally both of your asses would be dead as fuckin' fried chicken. But you happened to pull this shit while I'm in a transitional period. I don't wanna kill ya, I want to help ya.

There's a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."

I been sayin' that shit for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a motherfucker 'fore you popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some shit this mornin' made me think twice. Now I'm thinkin', it could mean you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. .45 here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or is could by you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. I'd like that.

But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin'. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd.