A Shortcut To Becoming a Computer Guru

In my book, a computer nerd is someone who uses vi not MS Office, Python not MATLAB, and can be seen mostly using a cmd prompt typing syntax which would give most people a brain hemorrhage. Most people, however don't seem to have such exalted standards for 'a computer expert'. I am not much of a 'computer expert', but definitely a lazy computer user. If my hands are on the keyboard, I like them to stay there. If they are using the mouse, I like them to stay there. So, to save precious calories I try to learn as many shortcuts as I can. My academic sounding excuse is that Knowing keyboard shortcuts is more ergonomic . With mouse gestures browsing has never been so much fun.

I have realised that knowing shortcuts has another added benefit - people think 'you really know computers!'. I have seen quite a few people completely amazed to see how I moved stuff around on the screen. The next level after the Shortcuts 101: CTRL + S,A,X,Y,Z,C and V is making stuff bold (CTRL+B), Italicizing (CTRL+I), Justifying, left, right and center (CTRL + J, L, R or E) and renaming files(F2), etc. These might impress some people but not all.

If you really wish to be revered as a computer guru then the next step is knowing the Windows (or system) shortcuts. Your average user's estimation of your expertise will take a quantum leap if he(*) sees you can minimize the desktop windows ( Windows + M), or access the desktop (Win + D), cycle through active windows (ALT+Tab) or close apps ( Alt+F4) in less than an eyeblink. If they have not reconciled to the fact they will, once they see you open the Run window to start Firefox ( Win + R, firefox). If you wish to add to your mystery use mouse gestures. They are so subtle and wonderful that most don't catch on and think are a magician.

I have a labmate who really knows computers inside-out. He is a master of networking, XML, Java, C+, hardware setup, 'you-name-it'. The kind of guy who chews 200 lines of code for breakfast. A few days ago, we were working on a grant and we had this complicated equation to add. He was trying to add a subscript to a term and was fumbling for the button in Word. Then I chipped in with the shortcut (CTRL + '=') and he raised his eyebrows, "Goddamn Hirak, you really know THAT shortcut!". In two keystrokes I was instantly elevated to 'someone who knows computers' by someone who really knew them. How easy it has always been to be instantly raised (CTRL+SHIFT+'+')to computer guru level! If only all things in life had such easy shortcuts.


* Such knowledge somehow does not impress chicks at all. They seem to have more practical and realistic expectations. Unless you want to drastically reduce your chances for this Saturday night do not reveal or revel in knowing shortcuts in front of the fairer sex.

Going slow

For me winter begins when they switch from EDT to EST. It gets colder and dark earlier. It won't snow till December but there are days with strong, cold winds. After an Indian summer in the middle of October it really got quite cold and I have been toting my gloves and ear-muffs around for the past week. It is one of the lessons I learned the hard way - Respect the cold.

However it was warm today. Normally, I would have been quite upset and would have wished it was cold so that carrying all this stuff around would be worthwhile. The warm weather & Neil Young through the speakers made today's bike ride a different one. As I biked slowly I realised two things -
a) Enjoy the good weather and stop complaining about the extra things you have to carry. (unless it is a huge parka meant for Arctic expeditions!)
b) Enjoy the commute!

Usually I rush as if I am competing in a race. I wondered if reaching 5 mins earlier was really going to make that much of a difference. I looked around and saw bright colors of red, orange and yellow which seemed to tell me the answer was 'No!'. I like to bike because it is nice to not to be slave to bus schedules or to geographical tyranny imposed by busstops.(That I am too lazy to walk is besides the point!) I wonder if the ride would as interesting as it is if the 10 min bike did not have so many ups and downs. So, as long as it doesn't snow and the temperatures remain above freezing, biking will be fun, provided I go slowly.

In Print

Anu Garg, who has been delighting and edifying about 600,000 people every day with his daily email called A.W.A.D., has published his second book - Another Word a Day: An All-New Romp through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English. Many, many moons ago I had written to Anu regarding some trivia related to the etymology of Joseph Heller's Catch-22. If it had not been for Leon Uris's Mila-18, Heller would have named his book Catch-18.
Yesterday I got an email from Anu,

Dear Hirak,
Just to let you know that your contribution made it to the book "Another Word A Day" which has just been released widely. Your story is on page 130: http://amazon.com/o/asin/0471778788/ws00-20

I biked over to Border's last night to get hold of the book and then straight to pg. 130 and there it was - Hirak Parikh, Pune, India. Someday, I shall grow up but yesterday it gave me a rush to see my name in print.

Among other things, Anu Garg also programmed the Internet Anagram Server which has been an endless source of entertainment.

Google Update: Another Winner from Google

Not a week passes by without someone prophetically saying, " Now, I too am going to start a blog." With so many blogs floating in the blogosphere it's hard to keep track. I have been a bonafide gadfly when it comes to the method I use for keeping track. First it was the sidebar of links, then I tried bloglines for some time. Then I switched to Thunderbird and have been quite happy and comfortable with it.

Like it has been for the past two years, Google always comes out with a better product than what is out there and I have to make the inevitable switch to the Google product - X-mail to Gmail; Mapquest to Google Maps;Pub Med to Google Scholar; Google Personalized is still not as good as Yahoo but is getting there. I like how it stores the history of your searches since who cares to remember anything these days.(Perhaps not something you might want your labmates or your advisor accessing!).

The latest from Google labs is Google Reader. The first thing that attracts your attention is the sliding window as you choose the subscription to view. While some stuff is mere fluff, the real advantage is the ease in finding the exact Feed URL or blog using Google's search engine. Incorporating some of the better features of Gmail such as labels & filters makes searching and reading through the million feeds more manageable; however, using the individual labels for the posts is a little complicated. Unlike other programs you can keep stepping back to access the previous posts. Once they sort out some of the issues after 'constructive criticism' from users like me, Google Reader will be another 'inevitable' switch.

Post Lunch Dream

One day this page maybe useful.

Codes and Puzzles over Lunch

We went out for lunch to Mongolian BBQ and at the end the waitress handed us an electronic hand-held survey. After filling in the survey, the machine reset itself to the login page - 'Please enter code...'.
Remembering the trick Richard Feynman used to crack the code of the 'super-safe' safe at Los Alamos, I tried the most obvious combination '1-2-3-4' and it worked!! With code broken, I was tempted to really mess up the survey data by rapidly entering false data for all the tables. I can understand why hackers do what they do or why stolen fruit is sweet. Can't wait to try '1-2-3-4' somewhere else.

A little later we passed by a local locksmith - Vogel Lock and Safe. The last place you would expect recreational puzzles but Ann Arbor has it surprises.

Quite an innovative way of window-dressing.
More Vogel's Rebus puzzles.

Why cast pearls before swine?

Getting summons should be one of the highest forms of flattery for a blogger but then things went a little out of hand when there was threatened violence which led to this courageous decision by Gaurav Sabnis. (The lukewarm reaction of his employer and its client were questioned by Kautilya.)
The facts of the IIPM matter are there for anyone to see. Will they get resolved without money muscling in and distorting the truth? Not if we all make a lot of noise about it and hence this post to add to the tons out there.

So are we responsible for what we post on our blogs? Can we post whatever we want? What are the limits and who decides that?
I feel the answer to these questions is simple: Stick to civilized debate.

Blogs are opinionated and there is no doubt about that. Not a week goes by without some sort of flame war erupting or some troll deciding to vent his/her frustrations onto someone expressing his or her opinion. Maybe most of it would be uncalled for if people understood civilized debate. 'Arguing' is why I like blogging. You argue and I argue - your point of view and mine. But at the end of the metaphorical day, either we agree or we agree to disagree. In the end we do agree on something. That according to me is the essence of debate. Everyone has a right to an opinion.(Including him). Opinions maybe unpleasant, misguided but they ain't the truth. How do people forget that?

I don't think it is too hard too tell the difference between a civilized response and one that isn't. Blogs provide an excellent medium for rebuttal. For one, you can actually sit down and calmly compose your arguments instead of hitting the person on the head (my initial reaction) and frame a at least a civilized response if not a rational one.

What about obscenity? I am not saying you CAN'T post something obscene, rather you SHOULDN'T. In any case, every thing survives on its merit.
Even with my most opinionated posts but my intentions have always been to seek the truth - for you to tell me so (nicely!). To some, like the IIPM, the truth might be exactly what needs to be hidden. Not only to hide but to try to scare away the seekers of the facts.

When Atanu Dey, blog award winner said,'Blogs can't change the world' - I didn't believe him one bit. You think I am doing this for nothing? Maybe not the world but atleast a small subset of it? Is that too grand a vision, Mr Dey?

For me, finally here is a medium that rids us from the tyranny of the main-stream news (Some 'main' streams have become dirty gutters!). If you manage to unite skeptics, enthusiasts, dreamers and doers will things not change? I have come across so many new and refreshing ideas and people thanks to blogs. We have built a community of people who are willing to stand up for what they believe is right - the right to speak out.
I wonder if such questions on freedom, libel, frauds in education and debates on moral courage would have sprung up if there had been no blogs. On a more mundane note - this incident has potentially made saved the lives and careers of hundred of future students who might have become victims of IIPM and animals of the same breed. Is it not ironic that education is being run by crooks?
Why cast pearls even before swine? Because, someone somewhere might listen and do something.

Why the little voice is little...

I consider my past few blogs in the light of this and I wonder if it's just me?

Swades IV - Last Episode

Progress@the cost of...?

At Vinzhar village we waited for the S.T. bus to take us back to Pune. We were advised by locals to take a six-seater. This would be our second six-seater on the trip. I am not too happy about these smoke-monsters which have made Pune a 'black hole'. People love them since getting from Point A to Point B is a higher priority than the environment. A billion people have to commute don't they? Jared Diamond's Collapse (perhaps the most influential book that I read this year) mentions: 'Of the six factors that determine a society's continued growth or collapse, the most crucial one is its response to its enviromental problems.' Whether rich or poor the environment is not too high on an Indian's list of priorities. After having spent two days in one of the most beautiful places in India that is being increasingly encroached upon by the city I wonder how long it will all last.

A citizen of a country like the USA has an ecological footprint of 10.3 and current estimate for India is 0.8 and for China is 1.5. The world simply cannot sustain India and China trying to achieve First World standards which means achieving levels of ecological footprints that are 6-7 times greater(assuming the avg. one for a developed country) than their present ones. It is a fact that in the name of progress India and China are doing a lot of ecological damage. Will we be able to develop and still not lose the most beautiful parts of our country?
I thought about this as we bumped along in the smoke spewing six-seater. It must be made clear that the word 'six' in 'six-seater' is a mere symbol which can stand for any positive integer. When you felt that now the driver cannot not possibly fit more people, he invites a few more and manages to stuff them in. I felt a little guilty as our three huge rucksacks might have cost him at least 4-5 seats!!! In the vehicle there were interesting conversations. A villager complained loudly how the damn government was now only allowing a limited number of six-seaters to ply on each route. You need to have a valid permit for the route to carry passengers. Another typical aspect of India - don't solve the problem but simply create the illusion of solving it and create another avenue for kickbacks. The six-seaters were a solution to the problem of providing cheap, reliable and frequent transport service. Six-seaters are a great short-term fix but are not enviromentally friendly and have now become a problem. The driver was driving like a complete maniac and yet the passengers were feeling quite cozy and completely at home in the overpacked vehicle.


Then we got onto an S.T at the highway that would take us to Swargate. My brother got chatting with some dude inside the driver's cabin who then invited us both in. He worked in the S.T. office and was a great source of practical advice and a philosopher of sorts. I was curious to hear his take on six-seaters and the private buses. Quite naturally, he had lots of things to say, here are some of his interesting observations and views.
1) The S.T. will never pack people like sardines for profit. People will gladly suffer the private operators: A lady in 6 seater will not mind almost sitting in your lap or if you accidentally brushed against her, but if such a thing happens in an S.T. she will scream and there will a huge hue and cry. (The pic above attests to situation in six-seaters).
2) There is no insurance or compensation in case there is an accident. For some reason if the private bus breaks down the operator will just shrug and you will have to walk. In case of the S.T. you will get another bus to pick you up or even a refund. (Some private operators do provide breakdown service. The important point is that it is not mandatory and it is few and far in between.)
3) There is no job security or benefits for employees. He pointed to the driver of our bus and said, "Look at him, he was a driver with a private bus company but he left them for this S.T. driver's job. Why?". As it turns out private companies might provide service but are not great for employees. Yes, the pay in the S.T. might be a little less but is still worth it. (Privatization seems to be great for the man with the big bucks, but not for people who work in it).

Maybe the S.T. guy had some his facts wrong but after my experience so far I don't think they were too far from the truth. Private transport can be great if there is:
- fair amount of competition,
- permits that are strictly enforced,
- there are minimum standards for passenger safety,
- employee benefits and accountability in case of mishaps.

For now these remain pipe dreams. Under the pretext of making things private the government is shirking its duties and responsibilities and things are getting out of control. Privatization can really work but there needs to be strong regulation(not control), well-laid long term progress plans and well-defined guidelines for operation. Many of my generation seem to be completely entranced by the word 'privatization' and think that it is some sort of silver bullet. A private company looks for profit and its interests may be in conflict with what might better for everybody in the long term. Privatisation is often good but not always. It is interesting to note that affluent always seem to be the champions of it since it allows them to do what they want. Heedless privatisation without proper guidelines or regulation is not going to much better in the long run. I am certain that 'laissez-faire' capitalism is not the answer for India and perhaps for any country.

Swades - Episode III

Trekking
I had decided to get away from the city sometime during the trip. So in between the ceremonies and pig-out fest I had this trek planned. So come what may we (my brother, Javed and I) were going for 3 day trek in Sahyadris. Nothing like the Sahyadris in rains, right? We planned this grand trek from Singhagad to Rajgadh and then onto Torna. After being dropped off at Swargate we waited for the bus; after waiting for about 20mins a six-seater stops by and offers to take us there for almost the same price, minus the wait. The six-seater is a great leveller - we shared it with a couple of sweeper women, students, teachers, labourers and farm folk. I was too see the amount of houses and apartments on Singhagad road. The city now extends all the way to Khadakwasla.

Pune has its fair share of trekking enthusiasts and despite it being the 15th of August there were not too many people on Singhagad. On Sundays it is as crowded as a village fair. Climbing is among the few aerobic activities that has something immediate to offer at the end of it - the view. Wonder why views from the top are always so exhilarating. Everywhere I looked I saw green and it always makes me really happy. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the human eye is capable of discerning more shades of green than any other color (since green is in bang in the middle of the visible spectrum). After reaching the top we had the mandatory dahi-tak and a rustic breakfast. Due to it proximity to Pune, Singhagad is perhaps one of the most 'gentrified' of all the forts in Maharashtra. It is easily accessible by road (no need to climb), lots of food and water and tons of 'hotels'. But thankfully these pleasures are still quite rustic. The bhajis and wadas are fried on a primus stove and you are served water that is stored in brass handis. Often you see the wood-smoke mingling with the fog.

Currently the amount of commercialization on the Sahyadris is none or minimal. Even famous forts like Torna have no food or potable water at the top. Most of the people who live in this region are shepherds or small farmers. A thought crosses my mind - If better roads and paths are built, better equipped hotels and facilities these lovely mountains would become more tourist friendly. It may not be long before some politician seizes the idea of creating a chain of hotels on the forts in the region. Perhaps a glossy brochure advertising - 'The Sahyadri Monsoon Trail'. It will improve definitely improve the economy of this place. Seriously it won't take that much.
Already there are website advertising their services (like these) to the world at large. I wonder if in a few years this chap below is selling selling mugs, t-shirts saying 'Singhagad Rocks!'. Is that what would I would like these mountains to become? By not realising the tourist potential of this place are these people being disserviced? I am not sure what the answers to these questions are. Manali and other places in North India have long been overrun and I don't want these beloved mountains become a place like that.
Thanks to the low commercialization there were no boards and signs to direct us towards Vinzhar. So we did as Harish Kapadia suggested in his fantastic book (Trek the Sahyadris) and managed to get hold of some local to guide us to the correct ridge. Walking on the ridge in some place was like walking on the razor's edge. In our excitement or ignorance we managed to take a wrong fork and landed on wrong side of the mountain and found ourselves going down to a little hamlet. Lost, urban folk with huge backpacks are always are source of great amusement for the locals. This would be story of our entire trip - Lost and Found. I, personally was not really hung up on finding or losing the way. For a change I didn't not want to get to some place, just wanted to enjoy the ride. So we climbed back up on the right ride now having wasted a good 2 hours on the wrong path.
Even in the wilderness in India you are not alone and you cannot travel for long without bumping into a shepherd or two. We also heard the beautiful melody of a shepherd playing the flute and I assumed that such stuff only happens in books. Then there are downsides too - on one occasion we managed to climb into an empty village whose ground was a foot deep with cowdung. We truly were in communion with nature.
We had walked almost continuously for 8-9 hours and now the wet socks were having their effect. Only when you sit down do you realise how tired your feet are and all you want to do at that moment is get dry, get warm and sleep. We were hungry but too tired to eat. We all slept like babies and snoring was never an issue. It poured like crazy in the night and we were really proud of our skills in pitching the tent right and not a single drop of water made its way inside. The heavy tent with all that water got even heavier. As we trudged along Javed's hip started hurting and it become worse.
We finally made it to Vinzhar but not without another test. The rain had turned the road into the worst mud bog I have ever seen. At more than one point I was knee-deep in mud and unable to move with this heavy backpack and my shoes were acting like suction cups. When we reached Vinzhar we looked like as if we all had had a nice mud-bath. We were the local spectacle again as we washed ourselves at the village handpump. As we asked for directions to the bus-stop a local looked at us and said, KantaLAat?' or 'Bored!'. I could not but laugh at his cynical laconic remark. City-slickers like to spend their time and money to tramp along the mountains for fun but soon they tire of it and then want the next bus home.
Javed's hip was really bad now and I did want the blood of my friend on my hands so we decided to return home a day earlier. I loved being back in the mountains.

More images from the Trek

Dylan on PBS

"I didn't go to classes. I just didn't feel like it."
- Bob Dylan reminiscing on his years at the University of Minnesota.

See if you can catch the second half of Martin Scorsese's 4-hour biopic: Bob Dylan: No Direction Home on PBS. The first half was the 'folk' Dylan, his genesis and his influences. It is amazing how Dylan connects so many worlds - the Beats, folk singers, Civil rights, rock 'n roll; in my opinion - the most influential musician of the 20th century.

The documentary like its title is generally without direction as it goes back and forth in no particular order with the interviews, songs sung by Dylan, songs sung by people who influenced him (Odetta, Pete Seeger, the Clancy brothers, and of course, Woody Guthrie) and 60s news footage. The rare concert/tour footage and interviews with people (some dead) more than makes up for the lack of a clear narrative. In the movie you will see the rare video footage of his London tour where a heckler called him 'Judas' for betraying folk music and Dylan just cranking up the volume. Among others, Allen Ginsberg and Joan Baez reminisce on their times with Bob Dylan, the 60s and the Greenwich village scene. It was funny to hear an old friend, Nelson narrate the story of how Dylan stole 25 records from his house and then disappeared.

The second half will look at the 'electric' Dylan and the near fatal crash in 1966. Though protest movements have often appropriated his songs, and even Dylan at times, he says with much humility, "Just because you write about people who are fighting injustice it does not make you a protest singer." . Dylan explains on the film how Liam Clancy of the Clancy Brothers would sit him down in Greenwich Village, require him to drink 30 pints of Guinness, and then say to him,
"Bob - no malice, no fear, no envy." . I also think that's good advice for us all.

Swades- Episode II

The food

As always, the food was great. This time I had a chance to show off my culinary skills to the rest of the family. It is true that I cannot cook any traditional dishes really well but give me some fancy stuff and I'll be fine! The secret is that if you cook some exotic dish it will generally be a success since the victims don't know what it is supposed to taste like! A true test of a great cook is how well he/she cooks the really ordinary stuff. I tried really hard to keep running in the mornings to make up for excesses later in the day. As the weeks progressed - the running mileage dropped and the girthage increased. I mean the whole point of torturing yourself through 18 hours in economy class is to simply enjoy this! Right? Then why hold back?

I have been told that there are tons of new places to eat. But given the limited time of time that I had (less than 3 weeks), I simply wanted to visit the old favorites. The pork chop sizzler at Zamu's, the paneer satay at Boat Club, the thin crust pizza at La Pizzeria, the world's best wada pav at J.J. Garden, the mouth-watering Death by Chocolate at Just Baked, the Irani naans with paneer and mint from Radio Hotel, dahi-puri at Vaishali and other Pune classics. Who wants to risk trying new stuff after suffering the horrible, overpriced Indian restaurants in the US? (Not one in Ann Arbor is worth it, trust me!) Mainland China was the only one of the newer restaurants that I tried and the stuff is good though the restaurant is slightly overrated.

Of course Mom's food is always the best and all you want from her is the simplest of all dishes. Thanks to digital technology I was able to take movies of my mom making parathas and I am still amazed at how her chapatis are perfectly round and even.

Half-Hitch(ed)

I lied. The chief purpose of the visit was not food. Sumedha and I got engaged. If something like karma exists then I must done a great deal of things right in my past life to be fated to meet such a fantastic person like her. It could not have more perfect. Thanks!

Swades - Episode I

I was going back after almost 2 and half years and I was apprehensive. Made a couple of notes to myself to not do the following:
One, to avoid the Old-boy Syndrome. Much as I would like Pune to remain frozen in time to August 2002 it would not be. Time rolls on and things change. There will be more ghastly buildings that I won't be able to come to terms with. Live with it!

Two, to avoid the Expat Syndrome and stop talking of how things are different 'over-there' and how we will never rise from the rubbish heap and how everyone is constantly late!

The roads
Both my resolutions were shattered with my first intimate experience with Pune's roads. I have seen bad roads but not to the extent that I wish natural selection had provided Punekars with shock absorbers for their backsides! To travel on them would require, as Ramanand said, "A lunar buggy". Sakal even started a column called 'Pune gayle kHaDyAAt', loosely translated as: Pune has gone to pot! While it is true that due to the unnatural amount of rainfall, roads were bound to be affected. I was not upset with that as much as two general issues which still cause me worry and which this case highlights.
he creation of problems and the solutions or reponses to them.

While most roads were devastated why were some roads still relatively unaffected? Of course, due to differences in material and construction. Reason? How is a contractor supposed to win the tender, provide kickbacks to the corporators and still have money left over for good material and honest construction? There has to be a better way to award contracts and punish firms with poor records. Can you minimize corruption and still ensure that the task gets done well and the public does not have to suffer? Privatisation is not the answer as I was to learn in a few days.

Assume that some problems are inherent in the system. At least, the response to the crisis should be appropriate. The great PMC decided that the best 'temporary' solution was to fill the potholes. But with what? Gravel! In the weeks that I was there, I saw tons of teams doing work (good!) but the fix was so 'temporary' that in less then 2-3 days all the gravel would come loose and the road in addition to the potholes would become a roller-skating rink. It was far from funny to hear that more than a few people died in accidents while trying to avoid the potholes due to a collision with a car or truck.


I was depressed because this problem is characteristic of development in India. A few weeks later, I visited China and saw on what path a country much like our own is on and tears came to my eyes. There are critical differences in terms of attitude between the two countries and because of it we might not make it. We are poor at planning, especially advance planning, and in cases when we do plan we have extremely poor execution. To make matters worse we can't even put out the fire right. It was a bitter fact for me to swallow that despite all the hype and hoopla in the Indian media about India shining in the world arena and other success stories, we not only behind but are falling further behind the Chinese. Only because we don't want it so bad as nation.

Yet, I am happy to be in a democracy where citizen can be furious and can put up such petitions (thanks to Javed for this funny one!).

In Amish Country

(I seem to have a huge backlog of posts. Trying to get them off first!)

I was in Amish country in the Lacrosse-Elkhart region in Northern Indiana in late July. I felt that I was on the set of some 18th century movie. Women in large skirts, wearing bonnets; men with beards and coats without buttons, riding horses or in buggies; and the children dressed like what I had imagined Hansel and Gretel would be. It is indeed amazing how the Amish and a parallel group called the Mennonites (who share similar beliefs and look like the Amish but have slightly more relaxed rules for living) have stuck to a lifestyle from the 18th century. The Amish do not own telephones, have electricity in their homes or drive cars.

While initially it may appear as an idyllic Grimm fairytale, the reality is rather grim in some respects (see Sumedha's account). It may seem surprising that such a church/sect is growing in size instead of losing members because of its antiquated ways. On further consideration, churches or religions which advocate large families (>8 children) growth is inevitable, despite some people leaving. The way Amish life is structured, it is very hard for people to leave. Firstly, children are not schooled beyong the 8th grade and secondly, they do not have much of a social life with people other than the Amish. The tradition of Rumspringa sounds very liberal but is not much of a choice since children are not raised to deal with the 'English life' (as they call it) if they do choose to leave.

However there is much to admire:
their environment-friendly lifestyles;
strong family stucture;
mutal cooperativeness - if a person's house burns down all members of the community provide free material and labour and help him rebuild his house;
their sheer innovativeness;
craftsmanship;
objection to war of any sort - the Amish do not serve in active combat in the Armed Forces;
independence and self reliance - they have given up Federal funding and Social Security, and;
the definitely follow the maxim of 'simple living and high thinking'.

Then there is much to criticize:
in their naivity of religious belief;
accepting the authority of local bishop blindly - he is paramount with regards to crime and punishment, interpretation of scripture and everything else;
its openly patriarchal society, often leaving women in second place;
poor education - only upto grade 8;
lack of belief in courts - they don't take recourse to the federal courts or testify;
AND of course, undeniably, unwillingness to change.

I realised that it was not an easy thing to decide one way or the other on the Amish and slightly amused to encounter a culture that seems good and bad at the same instant. Of course, the countryside is extremely picturesque and their history is very interesting. Given their closed (or shy?) nature it is hard to avoid the tourist traps laid out in such towns which leaves you wanting a more authentic Amish experience.

More pictures from that trip on my website: Amish country pics

The Indo-China chronicles

I have been away for about 5 weeks. First to India, then to China. Hope some of you you are familiar with this story (read: excuse) - despite your best intentions you never have enough time in India to write posts, and accessing the internet via dialup is not pretty anymore. In China, I could not access blogger.com at all. (More on the freedom of internet access later.)

After having been 5 weeks away from my lab, and also from blogger with 500 photographs and with a ton of stories to tell (some should not be disclosed publicly) I find myself with NO TIME! When you travel every day is worth 3-4 different stories, but a few weeks later you cannot recollect many of them.
We are a sum of our experiences and as time passes it becomes harder and harder to separate the individual components. These stories have the benefit of hindsight but will have lost some of the freshness of an account written the same day.

It was a great break. A couple of important personal milestones and revisiting India after more than 2 years was a little different from what I expected.
The US-India-China-US trip was a good three-way basis for comparison. In retrospect, visiting China was better than visiting Europe. For most people, India and China represent the future and the shape of things to come. Though I might have not had the benefit of extensive sampling - seeing is still believing. Quite a few popular perceptions that were floating in my head were altered and I have more reason not to trust the pop-pundits in the mags and newspapers.
I will try to keep the accounts mostly chronological, though some overlap is unavoidable. Before I lose all of the stories I better write them down. I plan to post one each day. Let's see how that goes.