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<Summary> YATB, Yet Another Technology Blog </Summary>

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

PhD in India

From Agastyabhartha's blog

Somu to Prof. Sangal
Somu: Sir , I have heard from various corners and have heard you announce that IIIT aims at graduating 100 PhDs every year starting from the year 2010. I as a PhD student from IIIT would like to know how is it that the Institute is moving towards realising this?

Prof. Sangal: It is said that US produces 600 PhDs only from Information Science field; China it is said (someone from crowd says 2000); and India with all the IITs, BITS-Pilani and IISc, hardly produces 50 PhDs, combined together and it's a shame! IIIT wants to set itself a target which is respectable and challenging. That's how we are looking at the target.

Somu: That does not answer my question, Sir. What are the steps that the Institute is taking towards realising the target? [It requires 100 students who are enrolled for PhDs to think of producing 100 PhDs]

Prof. Sangal: Producing 100 PhDs is the toughest of the challenges that we have set for ourselves. As for the way in which we go about it, we are not yet clear. We are on the look out for a way.


Speaks for itself, doesn't it?

Friday, September 16, 2005

Foundation Day, Sleep Day

Its Foundation day today here at IIIT-B. When I came to this institute I was told about some big days at IIIT-B

a) Freshers Party
b) Foundation Day
c) Diwali Party

Foundation day is considered to be a pretty big day, big day in the sense that we get good food to eat on this day, if not for anything else. Sure, lot of these big dignitaries come and speak, but good food beats them all. At least that is what I have been told.

But me the innocent soul just wanted to sleep, sleep sleep sleep. It is 16:00, I am feeling sleepy, and I sleep. The function starts at 17:30, I am sleeping, I wake up at 18:30, but I hear voices, I switch on my rooms light, call up my friend, and just lie down for a couple of minutes, and I sleep again. The function gets over at 20:30, and I am still sleeping. The food is about to get over at 21:00 and thank god I am awake. There is no dal but am happy because Kundan who probably had got too much for himself, was kind enough to give it to me than to throw it down the garbage can. So much for good food.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

I am a user not a developer

Donald Erwin Knuth in his lecture series at MIT on "God and Computer Science" said that when it comes to theology, he is a user not a developer. After getting into the the dance hall for the _celebrations_ and not knowing which leg to bring in first and which second, me thinks that when it comes to dancing and singing, I am a user not a a developer.

Category : Imanpreet and IIIT-B

Friday, September 09, 2005

All lines to this route are busy.

CNN is running a story on a massive solar flare which is already causing disruption in communications.

Inside Mac OS

I just came across Amit Singh's tour of Mac OS, god knows how I missed it especially since it was slashdotted.

It is an interesting review in flash, but the trouble is that I just hate anything related to flash. And it just seems to lack the usual technical exuberance that Amit Singh is known for. But just check it for nothing.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

I want to take bath

BBC is running a news about a shower built by a British design student that recycles water while you are taking bath.

From the article:

If Londoners were to jump in the eco-friendly shower, it would reduce the capital's water usage by 85 billion litres each year - the equivalent of 85,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.


I know the figures sound quite big, but trust me they aint big enough for me.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4219890.stm

I am particularily impressed by the pause button.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

FYI

FYI, I have joined IIIT-Bangalore. It is a nice place. I love it. Actually, Bangalore more than IIIT-B. I just love the weather in Bangalore. It is just such a great place. If you are from North India and come here during summers, like I came, you will realise just how much better this place is. Then, my friends here tell the weather generally is quite uniform here. Not many extremes . I know in Chandigarh we used to have weather as low as 1 degrees to as high as 45 degrees. Yikes!

But, coming to IIIT-B. Before joining IIIT, I had a very hazy idea about Graduate School. Was I ready? Should I really go for it? Even after one month of joining IIIT, these questions still stand. I really don't know if this is the right path for me. But, I guess that is just what life is all about. But, IIIT-B seems to be a graduate school that is indeed quite different from others. It has some of the best faculty in whole of India, infrastructure that is just not available to many other institutes elsewhere. But, sometimes I wonder if a lot of stuff here is just right enough. This is graduate school modelled on American Universties. Still, certain rules here like, 100% attendence, just don't seem to resonate well with me. Then what about simple things that every graduate school even India seems to pocess, Library, we have but not sure anyone ever goes in there. I guess that is just what life is all about. But, these are just ramblings.

In all Grad School is just not at all cake walk. I was under the assumption that it was just an extension of what I studied in my undergrad. Ding Dong, that is just not true. Especially if like me, you have always tried to ignore mathematics you will just realize the hardships of Grad School, the hard way.

Enough for now, I know I haven't been blogging much. Let me correct that.