Lost In Translation

I realize how a lousy translation can kill the essence of something and make it sound funny. I can understand it may not be always easy to translate something from one language to another without losing original meaning, humor and flow but why is it so difficult to translate simple dialogues of Bollywood Hindi movies to say English. I wonder how Tagore had translated Geetanjali from Bengali to English. Let me give some examples from some movies that I watched recently.

In "Apne", Sunny Deol was going afroad on business purpose but his father wasnot happy with him . However, his mom said to him, "...Mein unhe samjha lungi..".Subtitle on that diaglogue was: "...Don't worry, I will satisfy him..". In many other movies, translators just translated word-to-word, e.g., Butterfly for 'Titli', 'Bhabi' for sister-in-law. I am wondering how would viewers understandwhat Bhabhi is if they cannot understand original dialogues. I was also surprised to see incorrect translations of dialogues in "Aporajito", a sequel of Pather Panchali by Satyajit Ray. "Appu" (correct one should have been ApU) was baptised as a priest and he was instructed to pour Ghee (like butter) on fire. However, the translation was "Put honey on fire". Is Ghee same as Honey ?

Earlier I used to tell my friend -- I would like to work for Quality Assurance in Netflix, that is, I would like to get paid for watching movies. Now seeing such incorrect translations, I tend to feel more motivated for QA job title.

On Move

Writing after a long time. Was busy shifting from Riverside, CA to Redmond, WA. It does not rain that much in Redmond now. Shops, grocery stores, restaurants are close by compared to that in Riverside. Lush green surroundings add to the beauty of the place. Interestingly, found an Indian restaurant named Preet's Casual Indian Cuisine. This place serves snacks like parathas, chaat, tea, etc and not main course dishes. Such was the restaurant I was looking for in US. Next, this place is full of Indians (H1,L1,F1)s and GCs and can also see many married couples stralling in the evening or going back home carrying grocery bags. Also notice many Indian pregnant wives. I hardly used to notice such crowd of Indians in Riverside. Probably because it is university campus environment. Have to visit several places in WA. At least Redmond hasn't alienated me so far.

Silver Line

Every Dark cloud has a silver line. After abysmal performance of Team India in World Cup 2007, millions of cricket fans are furious. However, India's defeat might be good for several other things.

Several board, entrance exams are scheduled in April and May. IIT JEE entrance is scheduled on April 8. Students can now focus and study instead of watching matches on TV.

India's early exit from World Cup tournament also teaches several Indian players (hopefully ! and others too) that success does not come from past laurels. There is no substitute for hardwork, dedication and determination. Money and stardom cannot buy victory.

Awesome Talk

During the course of PhD, it often comes to mind if doing PhD is really worth it. Several thoughts cross through mind -- all friends are doing job, they are settled and even have family of their own; parents need helping hand; am I really going to change the world with my work etc etc. I feel if something is difficult it means something worthwhile, even if the thesis does not turn out to be ground-breaking. The uncertainty a person goes through teaches one to become patient, matured and persistent. Sometimes, I feel doing PhD is meaningful only in places like MIT.

Attending to technical talks is integral part of PhD life. But theoretical talks are most interesting as was today's talk by Nicole Immorlica which made me realize once again how exciting research could be. She got PhD from MIT and has been working with Microsoft Research. I learned some nice theoretical results in Algorithms Game Theory. Specifically, she gave nice application of Classic Secretary Problem. The Secretary problem states:

"If an office wants to hire a secretary from a set of N secretaries, assuming that each secretary has some measure of her goodness, and decision to hire or reject should be done at the end of interview. The question is how to ensure that the office hires approximately the best secretary (if once rejected secretary cannot be hired or once accepted secretary cannot be rejected later)."

Game Theory is one of my favorite subjects and auction-theory that she was talking about is one of its sub-field. Furthermore, I feel one of the features of presentations given by theoretical computer scientists is that those are immaculate -- such talks are absolutely free from rubbish, everything is precise and succinct. In contrast to common wisdom, theoreticians are have also good sense of humor. Basically, a clear and careful thought processing shows up in the presentation. That's when I realize, Aha ! here is the fun of doing research because no one else knew this result before her.

Indian Universities and Application Process

Although many universities in India have international repute, the application process is those univs is pretty much done in the same old fashioned way. I am sure there is increased number of students, faculty and staff, but the attitude of the people has not changed much. Recently I had to contact several univs to enquire about admission procedure into MSc programmes. Only thing I could say, I ended up being frustrated.

Although many universities have launched their websites, there is hardly any relevant information on those. For example, I was directed to the website of Periyar University to dig information about MSc in Life Science and actually there is nothing on it. I could barely understand, why can't they post contact telephone numbers.

There are different issues to deal with even if one gets contact numbers. I was visiting North Bengal University website and surprisingly there was no contact number. Only contact number one could find was of the company (AMBITION) which made homepage. So, I had to call them to find a relevant number of the Registrar. On another occasion, I tried to talk to staff in a college in Anna University. It appeared as if I made a mistake by calling them, the person was in so much hurry to hang up that I had to request not to hang up before asking every question. I had to send 4-5 mails and call equal number of times to get one piece of information. I really don't understand why they don't learn etiquettes of telephonic conversation.

I was little surprised that one has to struggle so much to talk to staff or people in Delhi University or JNU. Either there is no departmental homepage or even if one exists, there is no contact numbers of staff in the office. One has to go through separate directory search to unravel contact number of only Dept Head or professors. Sometimes, the website of a University is not even accessible, e.g., Univ of Tezpur.

Furthermore, I don't understand why can't they upload .doc or .pdf version of the application forms on their webpages. One has to order the application forms by sending Demand Drafts by post and acquire the application forms. Why can't they make it credit card payable ? What is the point of having booming IT industry ?

Christmas Trips

Decided to take a friend to LA and Universal Studios on Christmas Weekend. A gate pass with head-of-the-line priviledge was quite costly, $79 dollars per person. We were already late, arrived to the Theme Park at around 3pm since we forget to take exit 1C. Poor Annotation on Highways ! We managed to see a few shows. First one was, 4D Shrek. We know about 3D movies where one wears glasses and the screen looks 3D. But in 4D, even the seat moves and shakes so the audience feels the jerks if a vehicle moves. Similarly, there are pores on the back of the seat through which they air is passed and water droplets are sprinkled if there is rain on the screen. Pretty amazing sequel of Shrek they showed.

Then, we went to the Studio Tour on a Bus. Following are some of the snaps from the sets of Hollywood. Its pretty amazing how exact replica they create.

From hollywood

Next day we were supposed to go to Arizona. We set out on 5 hours drive at 7:30am from Riverside. Its amazing how the scenery changes as desert starts. We saw many Windmills. It reminded me how on many occasions I made models of Windmills for science projects in school.

From trip to phoenix

Desert expanses made me wonder about powerful Nature. There was nothing but barren land, cactus and rocky and sandy mountains. There was no trace of water. We could see two roads cutting through the desert.

We reached Phoenix at around 1pm local time. We had tea and then started driving towards Grand Canyon. It was fun as there were three friends in the car and we were drinking, munching chips and listening to hindi album songs. We reached Grand Canyon at around 5pm, it was too late. But we managed to see Grand Canyon from the southern rim and at the twiligh to dusk.

From Grand Canyon

As it was getting, we could feel the chill in the air. When we returned back to Phoenix it was already 10pm in night and we were pretty tired to go to sleep.

Twin Heroes

Watched James Bond flick - Casino Royale last weekend. Can't say it was impressive. Only things that James Bond movies are good in showing are new stunts and new bombshells. While it was over, I was still confident that Jack Bauer and 24 series were still the best. Just thought of doing head-to-head comparisons of the two main characters.

Character:	James Bond	Jack Bauer
Actor:	Daniel Craig	Keifer Sutherland
Profile:	MI6 agent	Field Ops Director, Counter Terrorist Unit
X-factor:	Charming to girls	Natural Born Killer
Voice:	Barely speaks	Well versed, always ready with answer
Killer Punchline:	My name is Bond, James Bond	My name is Jack Bauer, I am a federal agent, CTU
Weakness:	Hot babes, usually wives or girlfriends of villain	Daughter, Kim; does not care about hot babes
Skills	Aided with gadgets	Highly patriotic, no fear of death, too sharp with contingency plans
Tragedy	Most girls die who he loves	His second love killed his wife
oomph moments:	When he ravishes bombshells	when he talks and obliges to President of USA directly

Akram's words

Akram has been my favorite bowler, such a genius swing bowler..even my mom's favorite player and personality. Finally he commented on the recent poor performance of Indian Cricket Team. There are some general lessons to be learned from his comments.

The Book

Finally got my hands on the book, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, winner of Man Booker Prize 2006. Read the first two chapters, awesome start. Deals with a family amidst disturbances in Gorkhaland in 1986. Quite pertinent in today's context since China is claiming Arunachal as it's territory ( what a non-sense ! ).

Honorary Degrees

I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either.
- Jack Benny

Delhi University awarded honorary degrees (Doctorate of Letters) to R K Laxman and CNR Rao for their exemplary contributions to their respective fields. 'honouris causa' was also conferred to Ratan Tata and Mahashweta Devi. I don't understand how Amitabh Bacchan became eligible for such an award. Well, I am no judge. Here is a deal, will Filmfare Award Committee ever consider APJ Kalam for honorary awards for his scientific achievements (if not for his hair style) ? First of all, Big B does not need any award. Secondly, a person who does not pay taxes (or at least does not pay in time) after earning money in crores should be the last person to be considered for any 'honorary awards'. Third, award committees should have some respect for Doctorate Degrees. There are numerous other actors in the world who are better than Big B (for example Keifer Sutherland--yes, Jack Bauer of 24 or how about Sanjay Dutta). Awards should be given to people who really matter and who fight for real cause such as chairman of ISRO or Infosys/Wipro Chairman who create jobs for people. I don't remember how many times Amitabh Bacchan performed for say Army and Soldiers on the border ? Why not confer it to Amartya Sen who was a faculty member at Delhi School of Economics or Kiran Desai -- these people do make India more visible to others ? I would have rather conferred it to Lalu ji who turned Railways to a profitable business, moreover, he is a natural born humorist and entertainer. Why not give it to Sonia Gandhi, that way at least European countries will know that DU confers Doctorate Degree. Why does award thingy look more like a self-service process -- you take care of me, I will take care of you ?

Counseling for Rapists

It is said that 1 in every 3 women in USA is sexually assaulted. One woman in every 1 minute is getting raped in India. The figures could be little off in other countries. I get disturbed when I hear about death penalty awarded to rapists and murderers. Incidently, after 2004 when Dhananjay Chatterjee was convicted of raping 14 years and killing Hetal Parekh, there were protests against capital punishment. Recently I read about death penalty awarded to Santosh Singh who was convicted of raping and murdering Pridarshini Matto (10 years back when she was 23 and was studying law). My post is not about debating on whether death penalty is right or wrong. Rather I want to understand the psychology of rapists and situations they go through in life. I will tell a guy is lying if he has never in life wowed at a beautiful woman or wanted to get intimate with her. Almost every man has this fantasy to ravish someone he desire(d). Talking about rapists, I think they have less control on their thoughts and emotions. There are rapists of different kinds -- some rape minor girls and then murden them; some are spoilt brat (having influential parents) who think they can get away by assaulting any girl; some are gang rapists (Phulon Devi was gang raped by many); some are so violent to plan with cold heart to rape and murder a girl (taking revenge and pacify ego). Assuming that men have animal instint and given that some men are genetically pervert as far controlling oneself is concerned, rapes will continued t be committed for long time to come. I don't understand why a rapist murders his victim. He can come wearing mask and make sure not to leave any evidence. Why take so much risk ? He can simply go and give her that indecent proposal and offer say Rs 20,000 in return. Who knows it might work since people always need money.

I agree grieving family of rape victim would not like to forgive the rapists, but think how a rapist feels when he hears his death sentence. Dhananjay Chatterjee spent more than decade (may be more 20 years) in prison and was hanged later. Aperson who spends more than 20 years in prison, what can remain left in him ? I understand, on the heat of the moment he might have done a gruesome crime, but hasn't he already suffered for 20 years in prison (recall the movie, The Shwashanka's Redemption). He might have contemplated and repented every day of his life in prison.

Santosh Singh is a lawyer by himself. I wonder how he spent those 10 years after raping and murdering his junior student. How he managed to marry someone later and become a father of daughter ? How could he have spent every day thinking "Oh God, why did I do that ?" How does it feel to think, "After a few months, I will not live on this planet. Why am I studying these law books ? What should I do in the remaining days of my life ? What is going through my parents heart and minds ? I am 35 years old guy, was it really worth to rape her ? My friends who I went to school with must be enjoying life in freedom outside, making their parents proud, and what have I done in life, Oh My God ? Is there any remote possibility that I may survive and see my own daughter grow ? Can I get clemency ? Why didn't I hire Jethmalani as my lawyer ? Oh God, can you not forgive me ?"

I don't know if there are other ways to prevent girls from being raped other than making strict laws. I think it is also important on the part of parents to imbibe in their kids, respect towards girls and their vulnerability. Rape is not only a physical crime, it is a rape on the mind and psychology of the victim. Someone rightly said "ladkiwalon ke lafde mein kabhi mat pado" or "Smart are those who find something more interesting than girls and sex". I remember, seniors in engg college ragged us asking -- assume your mom, wife and sister are about to be raped, and you can save only one. Who will you save ? I was surprised to know from many girls that a guy should try to save his sister. Personally I feel, death penalty should be replaced by 200 years of life imprisonment -- let the rapists get raped by homosexual gays in a prison for 200 years.

Tabloid of the Day

There are often these useless tabloids which are near the cashiers' counters in supermarker. I am wondering about the quality and joblessness of the readers who go through these tabloids (of course then there are bloggers like me). Here is what I read the last night on a tabloid - "Kate [Hudson] leaving the country for two months, can Owen [Wilson] stay True...". Come on, there is a limit to something...First of all, do we care if Kate Hudson is leaving the country for two months. Given that it is true, what is the point of speculating if Owen is going to be infidel then. Even if you are going to be infidel, dude, look at me, I left my home country several years ago, forget about having a celebrity girlfriend. Are you that helpless that you cannot stand nights alone for two months ?

Cliches of Cricketers

Indian cricketers are so used to making such useless statements that we are better off not reading those. After losing to Aussies in Champions Trophy, Dravid tried to justify "Our bowlers didn't perform well in the first 15 overs...250 is a good score....There are several areas we have to work at...". Duh...you were playing against Australia...today even 400 may not be sufficient in One-Day matches, and you think 250 was a good score ? Dude, thanks for telling us when the top-order batsmen fail and when the bowlers. If bowlers were inexperienced, were you dreaming when team was getting selected ? Are you are there to report that much ? What are you doing to avoid the inconsistent performance ? This is the vision team of India and Chappell for World Cup 2007. I am wondering when India will be done working at all areas of the game (probably when cricketers are banned from making ads) ? Our hero, Dhoni sahab, is busy making statements "I like blondes". We don't care even if you had liked brunettes. I guess, advertisers have endorsed you enough to relax and unleash your romantic desires. Man, learn from Adam Gilchrist who is 8-9 years older than you. Sachin ! we forgot when you played a decisive innings for the team India. You already have enough bank balance, probably its high time for you to retire gracefully and take up a different job -- of commentary or running hotel business. You go around saying, "People have to understand my role in team has changed, I am not longer 19 years old Sachin....even we don't like losing games...". I am wondering what other main role does a batsman have in a team except for scoring runs. Boss, why you don't admit you are now too old for the game and you are scared of McGrath, Lee,etc. Sehwag, you don't have to follow Sachin so closely in scoring style -- you scored nothing in the last dozen of innings. This 60+ score is nothing given your previous inconsistent performance. Guys, bottomline is we want consistent performance, we don't want to see you on Ads. Unlike we graduate students, you are not juggling between jobs -- writing papers, meeting deadlines, doing courses, teaching labs and licking boots of bosses...you are carrying national flag, earning stardom and money...can't you do your only job right ? Let other players be there to gain experience. Is BCCI paying Rs~75 lakhs per month to Greg Chappell to experiment and gain experience by losing games ? I was sitting next to Roger Binny (who was on his way to Bhutan) in Dum Dum on my way back and I was wondering why couldn't we hire 2-3 ex-Indian players as coaches spending the same amount of money if losing does not matter to us.

Why Diwali ?

I grew up celebrating different festivals. Sometimes, I wonder why there are so many festivals in Hindu calendar, more specifically among Bengalies. Diwali has more of a nationalistic flavor, but is often associated with other Pujas such as Kali Puja, Laxmi Puja etc in different regions.

"...Once upon a time, there was this god called Rama who had to go to forest for more than 10 years with his wife and bro, Lax because of his step-mom. Then there was this scary gangster named Ravana who kidnapped his wife and messed up the situation. Eventually Rama fought with Ravana along with his bro and an army of monkeys, and returned home after 12 years with his wife. Since there was hardly any means of entertainment those days, people lit the lamps and all to welcome them, and thats how Diwali got started..."

Kali Puja usually takes place late night before Diwali night and is mostly done by Bengalies. Goddess Kali has always been very fascinating. She has very dark complexion, wears a garland of skulls, stands on the chest of Lord Shiva and is accompanied by two demi-gods. She is a killer god ! Even Ramkrishna Paramhansa was a dedicated worshipper of Kali and probably Swami Vivekananda too. Her blessings are supposed to imbibe strength and power. I have heard that earlier the robbers used to worship Kali before going to do robbery.

Diwali symbolizes victory of righteousness and light over darkness. Is it not a general message behind most of the festivals ? But, what bugs me little, does Diwali really serve any purpose ? It feels nice that friends send Diwali wishes asking how I spent Diwali. I used to like the holiday part. Now I don't do anything different. It wonder why people in India spend money, time and energy in celebrating Diwali. People spend thousands of Rupees in buying and having fun with fire-crackers and lights. I am sure not most of the same people would bother to donate even Rs 100 to any charity, orphanage or old home. The fireworks industry, for example in Shivakasi is responsible for child-labor at large scale. Now people burn diet fire-crackers which don't make sounds and are pollution friendly.

However, I used to like some other festivals though, for example Makar Sankranti which is related to new year and new harvest from the fields. Lots of delicious food and desserts would be made at home. Then there used to be Saraswati Puja (The Goddess of Knowledge and Learning) when we would not study books. There are others too such as Laxmi Puja, Rakhsha Bandhan....

I am not sure if these festivals and rituals will remain part of Indian culture for centuries to come, but all of these festivals certainly bring joy and hope in the minds and hearts of many Indians.

Be Politically Correct to Women

Came across a few of the following statements on the web sometime back. Can't resist reading the humor. How important it is to be politically correct in our conversation, particularly when interacting with women. I have added and modified some. Let me know if you know of something more interesting.

She is not fat, she achieves Maximum Density.
She is not too skinny, she is Sketelly Prominent.
She is not a bad cook, she has become Microwave Compatible.
She does not love jewellery, she is Metallurgically Overburdened.
She does not love shopping, she is Mall Fluent.
She is not quarrelsome, she is Verbally Confrontational.
She is not talkative, she is Verbally Fluent and Complete.
She does not wear too much makeup, she becomes Cosmetically Saturated.
She is not stupid, she becomes Detour off the Information Highway.
She is not ready for marriage, she wants to incarcerate you domestically.
She is not a stripper, she serves at Gentlemens' Club.
She is not superstitious, she has become Reality Impaired.
She does not have a flat chest, she is Challenged with Mammary Adipose Tissue.
She is not a liar, she is Factually Misinformed.

Things I am anxiously waiting for

Novels: "The Inheritance of Loss" by Kiran Deshai who won the Man Booker Prize in 2006. Other two books namely "My Name is Red" and "Istambul: Memories and The City" by Orhun Pamuk, a Turkish writer, the winner of 2006 Literature Noble Prize. I am somehow losing interests in reading fictions, its high time I read some certified real stuffs. Wanted to read Musharraf's biography, In the Line of Fire but reviews discouraged me.

Sixth Season of 24: Can't wait for Jack to be Back. It starts in Jan and waiting anxiously to see how Jack Bauer escapes from Chinese captivity.

YouTube: I am further waiting to see YouTube incorporated in google video. Didn't know YouTube had such good collection of Indian music albums, songs from movies, etc. Waiting for it to grow further with more intelligent search options of Google.

Why do babies cry so much in plane ?

As I was traveling back from India, I was assigned an aisle basinate seat in British Airways. These seats are idle for moms carrying babies since there is a place infront of the seats where on can put the cart of the baby. But for me it was difficult. There was a lady who was carrying a few months old baby and was sitting next to me. The baby would cry intermittendly. I was feeling helpless seeing the mother who would try to pacify her by all means. I was happy to help her by getting the stuffs from overhead cabin, moving stuffs around etc. Holding the baby in her arms on her lap, she would reach out to her bag, take out milk powder and prepare baby milk while the baby was crying. I don't know how babies can express their pain, discomfort, probably by crying. May be the babies communicate by crying, as I could hear some other babies started crying at other corner of the plane . I don't understand how such young babies get strength to scream and cry at such shrill pitch. But as the mother fed the milk bottle in the baby's mouth, she gradually stopped crying. I was wondering the difficulties that mothers face to go through these situations -- she needed help, she was embarrassed and she was also in pain seeing her baby in discomfort. I was wondering what was going on in the mind of the baby. After feeding milk, the mother put her to sleep. Then she had her own meal. Then she put the baby in the cart. After sleeping for several hours, the baby was awake and then she was playful. I was observing the pinkish small toes and fingers of the baby. I was looking at the small watery eyes, her small lips which were soaked with milk and her tongue. It was so innocent to see how the baby would throw her limbs in the air. I was wondering how that baby would grow up to a full-grown woman some day.

Trip

Will be visiting India for around 3 weeks, so won't be writing until Oct first week. While it is exciting but it also worries that work will get stalled. Hope to catch up reading some papers, books while traveling.

Marriage

God made fire, Man made marriage. Recently several of my friends got engaged or married. Some got married after years of courtship while others after one or two conversations with bride in an arranged fashion. I still cannot see the point how readily one can commit to someone and get married. Here are excerpts from the conversations I had with some of those friends:

DB: Hey, why did you get married ? Are you happy ? What made you think that you wouldn't have gotten a better wife had you waited a little longer ?

Friend1: What kind of stupid question is that ! You should be happy with what you get. At least I am that kind of person. If you get older, you won't find a wife.

Friend2: There will be always be someone better and if you keep searching for one, it may take for ever.What are your priorities in life ? You should judge a girl what kind of person she is. Education, job etc can be acquired whereas nature and attitude of a person cannot be changed. So, try to see if a girl has the right kind of attitude in life. I think you should talk to your dad about this and don't take too much opinions from a girl on this since their views will be skewed on marriage issues.

I am not sure if they are practical or I am doubtful about marriage....

Summer is Over

Can't believe that summer is over and haven't done much. Arrival of summer makes me both excited and gloomy.

During school days, I used to remain eager for summer when I could stay at home and read variety of novels and comics. Summer was also the time when I would buy books for the next class and go through those by myself. Summer vacation would also spare mom from getting up early in the morning to prepare us for school. I used to like summer for it was season of different fruits -- mango, jackfruit, leechis. It was an occasion for me to visit grandparents, uncles and aunts.

Summer now means differently. Summer means no more classes, and teaching, its time for only research. Summer means less and light clothes. It means no more buzz of teen aged pretty girls in the campus, although I have never been in my university campus during any summer. Summer means opportunity to go to different research labs or companies and work full time like an employee. It also means planning new things and get charged for new academic calendar.