Applying Thought!

I am not sure if it is the case of after-thoughts, that I did think of working in a company in Bengaluru, after coming to Chennai. Though I didn't have big reasons to complain here (infact more reasons to be content/happy), I don’t know if being in a 'permanent' job will be helpful in my matrimonial search and so I did seek for a role in permanent position in one of a 'services' company back in Bengaluru. Even though pay maybe only 'slightly higher', I thought a permanent position will be a 'promotion'. After initial discussions (technical and HR) in Chennai, which were very encouraging, I even planned to live in Hosur to reach Electronic City in Bengaluru. Going from my flat (near HAL) to electronic city will be simply energy sapping. Also I had seen in websites of some builders that there are company buses for employees in electronic city from Hosur. I can still live in Tamil Nadu after all! As always, there is this proverbial 'many a slip between the cup and the lip'.

In my experience, there are not many people working in my domain of work, i.e. DFT. It was thus intriguing all the more that DFT was slotted with back-end in the current company. Though it was mentioned for 'administrative purposes', hopefully the 'customers' don’t ever get to know that DFT is sitting under the 'Physical Design' umbrella! Even if we don’t know DFT personnel in other companies by face, through conferences and other forums, we can get to know the names (especially of experienced/'higher ups') and the bottomline is that there are only few. Though the pay was lower than the last company, where I was an employee as well (i.e. AMD), I still didn’t realize that I am dealing with an Indian company after all. Even in my current company, I got two 'offer letter's with differing pay.

HRs are probably the most hated personnel in the IT world. I haven’t seen till date any HR of the company that I worked in being 'praised'. It is also fairly obvious. The company is basically made of people who 'work'. Once a person enrolls into a company, he may not even look at the face of the HR ever. Maybe because of this, HR personnel want to exercise their power as much as possible before or till the person joins the company. The ten minutes of glory is important after all! Nobel Prize for Economics in 2010 has been awarded to people who have done great work about 'search costs' and its 'application' especially in job markets. In particular I was attracted by the following mention

Why are so many people unemployed at the same time that there are a large number of job openings?
How can economic policy affect unemployment?

If someone who is unemployed increases his, or her, search activity, it will become more difficult for other job seekers to find employment.

I am not sure of the 'appraisal' process for an HR - is (s)he rewarded if candidates are recruited at lower pay and lower job grade? - but the guys in this Bengaluru company were simply out of sync with what transpired in Chennai. The 'negotiation' started with a job grade and pay, both being lower than what was discussed in Chennai! I don’t know if going by the latest Nobel Prize on Economics, search costs are low in India and these people can afford to start their negotiations thus. Apart from this, their 'process' apparently demands copies of all certificates to be submitted BEFORE the offer is given. For one this is ridiculous. Especially for me! My first company, Texas Instruments, enrolled me as an EMPLOYEE before I even finished my MCA degree and here is this company asking for my Xth marksheet! Sure, I have given the copies of similar documents in the Chennai company but that is at the time of joining the company, not even before getting the offer. This company wants copies of all pages of my passport (both old and new), all offer letters, all exit letters, all F-16s for the 10 years! All this BEFORE EVEN GIVING ME AN OFFER LETTER!

Secondly, when I asked how to send all that, the HR says 'matter-of-fact'ly, 'Just scan it and send it', as if it is so obvious. Scanning minimum of 30 pages for all these documents will cost. WILL THE COMPANY BEAR THE COST? When I said that the certificates and passport are in my flat at Bengaluru, he asks when am I coming to Bengaluru or if my friends have the keys to my flat. What NONSENSE? If you want to recruit, you have to bear this incidental expense, atleast after I join the company. I told them over mail and phone the same - I WILL GIVE all this but after the offer is given, not before. Still I made two visits to Bengaluru and informed them. They neither showed initiative nor cooperation. They took refuge under 'process' of that company and the fact that I have to be 'understand'.

The best part was saved for the last. I am not sure of the provocation but the HR mailed responses ccing his 'higher up'. For a change, it was good that they made a direct contact (over phone) with me. I had apparently sent 'nasty' emails and that they are 'closing' my application. That was infact fine! What followed was - if you send any more mails, then I will take it up with your higher-ups and other forums! Maybe he thought that I am a 'spammer' or jumped the gun of taking to forums (what forums? sounds so ridiculous!) to prevent me from 'spreading the news'. He sounded like one who had worked in a Govt company, giving such 'veiled threats'. Maybe in times of 'recession' or 'depression' companies think that they can dictate the terms. Maybe they can, but NOT TO ME. Period.

Hey Ram!

Finally, Allahabad High Court has pronounced the verdict! There are atleast three good things about it. First, it has indeed pronounced the verdict. No nuisance of any further stays! Secondly, Enthiran will have a trouble-free opening (well, almost). Thirdly, the stock market SHOULD open with a big bang and hopefully my stocks will go up atleast for a few days :))

Almost entire nation was led to believe that the verdict will be in favour of Wakf board. Centre had cautioned states like Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka etc. Demolition of Babri Masjid cannot be given 'legal sanction', directly or indirectly. Just like the 'Ball tampering' issue, Allahabad High Court seems to have gone for a political decision, instead of a judicial decision.

Quite a few lawyers came on TV (I was seeing NDTV) and all of them were 'partially' right. The problem was that they were wearing other hats! Rajeev Dhavan did talk of panchayati justice and PP Rao echoed my question/thought as well -

When no one asked for division of land, how can the court divide it into three portions?

Of course pacifists from the Muslim side like Javed Akhtar wanted Muslims to give up the rights and 'accept' the verdict. There are those like Mahavishnu of Mount Road who believe that the intriguing compromise could work.

The best indicator could be seen very soon, especially in North India where Bihar elections is due very soon. Just when people were thinking why the BJP cannot go back to its ‘ mandir wahin banayenge' stance, this judgement might have come as a shot in the arm, if not a surprising shock for the party. The elections or the results for BJP could fairly indicate how communal people still are. I hope TN with its influx of north indian immigrants does not veer towards 'militant Hinduism' of especially these herbivorous ladylike men :(

Hey Ram!

I bet, we heard the last!

Now, Pak opener Hameed claims colleagues fix ‘almost every match’!

Pakistan opener Yasir Hameed has reportedly claimed that his teammates were allegedly involved in fixing “almost every match”, even before the dust is yet to settle over the allegations of spot-fixing against three fellow players during the team’s tour in England.

I do not expect that cricket can be devoid of such allegations or such scams. Infact, a few days when Ian Chappell spoke on Does ODI cricket have a future?

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

And I think most people accept the fact that the problems with match-fixing in the late 90s and early 2000, a lot of it came from the fact that the players felt that they were playing in a lot of games that did not have meaning. Therefore, it was felt that it was easier to fiddle around with those games. So I have been a believer for a long time that the way to look at the cricket programme is to go for more quality and cut back on the quantity.

Actually when they were debating whether ODI cricket has a future, some of the Pakistan players and the betting syndicate seemed to indicate that it is test cricket where it is easier to involve in betting scandals. There are 5 days, 15 sessions and who is ever going to note that something strange is happening in one session! Test cricket is infact a recipe for all sorts of betting! It is also difficult to say what is result of betting. I saw certain no-balls in TV which cannot be 'planned' - foot was just over the crease!

When Manoj Prabhakar alleged that Kapil was part of the saga, many may have indeed said No Not you Kapil

Prabhakar smiles the smile of a man who knows it's a question that's always coming. "It's not the player everyone thinks it is. He's a bigger name ..." And then his smile fades, his mouth hinges shut.

"Oh, you mean it isn't Mohammed Azharuddin?" the reporter asks.

Many people were actually expecting Azharuddin indeed and infact, everybody would have accepted that he indeed was part of the betting 'brigade' WITHOUT BATTING AN EYELID. He was a Muslim, he chatted and laughed with Pakistanis etc!

I think the professional era has to do everything with this betting menace! In Pakistan, they dont know how long they are going to play and given the unpredictability of their career, they may think as well of making a quick buck, when sun is shining. Not long back, Australians were part of 'disclosures' what some would say as 'innocuous' information like weather or even team composition. In professional era, it basically boils down to earning in whatever possible way. If some can model, dance down the ramp and earn, why cant some others say team composition, bowl a few no-balls and earn? After all, they can argue it will not alter the result of the match!

Madras Nalla Madras!

How did my 'first 10 days' in Chennai go? I guess that the first thing is on the health front. Having lived a decade in Bengaluru where I contracted 'sinus', the 'pollen-free' monsoon weather gave me a cold and almost a headache, which is one of my bigger problems. My mother is usually home-medicine savvy and 3-4 day of 'medicated' cooking fixed it, well almost!

On the travel front, traveling to the office which is far (compared to Bengaluru) is easily accessible despite change of buses. Also I start early in the mornings, so like in Bengaluru, I am in my seat easily before 8:30 am. I always knew and say that a Bangalorean does not know what a crowd in a bus is. I also say that any engineer should start with at least a '2-month orientation' in Chennai, experiencing the heat, crowd and knowing what it is to sweat out. It will really be a joke to compare the bus ticket charges in Chennai to say Bengaluru. I pay Rs.7.50/- to Rs.8.50/- to reach my office from home and even if I take 'Deluxe' buses, I may not pay more than Rs.14/- to reach my office.

Now, coming to the most difficult part. Working in an Indian company. For starters, the offer given to me over mail was higher than 'on print'. The Chennai HR washed their hands off saying that they printed what the Bengaluru HR mailed them. After some mails, it was finally agreed to hand me my 'new offer letter' soon! The Chennai HR could have chosen better words in her communication to the Bengaluru HR. Ccing 'others' (like me, my manager, three managers in Bengaluru), she need not point out the mistake of the Bengaluru HR! Man, it was one whiplash of a mail, that made EVEN ME embarrassed! I am not surprised if Chennai folks really have a 'nice image' in others.

I am neither surprised nor angry that 'services based' company is clueless, but it is when the people who are put 'in charge', showcase their ignorance as truth and expect it to be followed, that you really get pi$$ed off! I don't know who has given them the idea that physical design folks can do DFT! I was confused when the guy said that DFT is 'back-end'. DFT can NEVER be back-end and I wonder how the company is planning to get projects by saying DFT is 'back-end'! Even if it is said that DFT is kept with physical design for 'administrative purposes', it is comical. There is absolutely nothing that DFT shares with physical design and in fact, in all the companies that I have worked before, I neither know nor care who the folks in physical design are. We give them a netlist and they have to take care of the physical design of 'WHAT WE GIVE'. If we receive/expect any deliverable from them, we are probably in the wrong company.

I hope some sense prevails in the company, sooner or later!

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.