Young babies learn by imitation

 

Photo by Srinivasan Ramani 

Young babies only understand what you are doing in front of them by imitating you. They are born with this ability, so even very young babies can do it.

So, next time you play with a young baby, try this: Sit where the baby can see you. The effort may take several ten-minute sessions, so the baby should be comfortable and not distracted by movements nearby and sounds. Lifting your hands and the baby's hands once or twice in the beginning will show her where to look.

You need patience. Sometimes, I spend an hour getting the baby to imitate me the first time. It is easier later; the baby treats this as a game. Sticking your tongue out and having the baby imitate that is another challenge to try another day.

I once taught a baby girl to stick out her tongue. When her grandfather came home from work in the evening, the baby stuck out her tongue at him. She repeated this three or four times in fifteen minutes. The grandfather was worried, as he thought that something was wrong! Unfortunately, I did not know how to teach a grandfather not to worry!

Babies learn a lot by playing with us. You can dip your hand in cold water and touch the baby with that hand, saying “cold.” The baby may be unable to repeat the word unless she is approximately a year old or older. However, they seem to learn dozens of words before they can speak.

How can you show that a baby recognizes a word like “cold” even if she cannot say the word? Try saying the word and looking for a response from the baby!

Srinivasan Ramani

Our African Trip Aug 2024

 Video by Srinivasan Ramani

Edited and compressed to suit the blog 

We spent thirteen days in Kenya, traveling through Nairobi, Lake Nakuru National Park, Masai Mara National Reserve, Diani Beach near Mombasa, Samburu National Reserve, Laikipia Plains, which houses the Loisaba Conservancy, and the Loisaba Star Beds camp, crossing the equator near Mount Kenya Safari Club, and finally leaving Kenya from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Thanks to the four-wheel-drive Landcruisers, we saw terrific sights. They drive all over and protect you from lions, cheetahs, leopards, wild elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, wildebeests, crocodiles, hyenas, and ostriches. They get you within a few feet of all these animals, letting you feel the excitement of their birth and their risky lives and deaths. We also saw hyraxes, which look like big rats but are more related to elephants!

Visitors to African national reserves can never forget that we are also a species of animals.

Reading and hearing about the animals of Tanzania and Kenya enhanced what we saw. The cycle begins with newborn animals in Serengeti in Tanzania in January and March. Migration is triggered by a drought that usually occurs in Serengeti in May. Roughly two million animals follow the rains, taking a risky annual trip from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to get fresh grass. The big risk is lack of nutrition, not predators. Migration follows rainfall, going northeast into Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. This reserve is much smaller than Serengeti, so you see a vast concentration of animals. They cross small and big rivers on their trip, risking crocodile ambushes. We saw Wildebeest in pairs, mother and her young one. Roughly one in six of the animals die during the annual migration. Their lives are relatively short, and most die before the usual maximum for their species. Lions live a maximum of 24, leopards 20, and African elephants 60. The hordes start moving south in November and December when rain returns to Serengeti. The next cycle begins with new births taking place from January to March. Many animals have died during the migration, but species flourish! Life triumphs using its old trick of reproduction!

We saw lions on their five-day honeymoons when they did not even eat and focused on procreation.

We saw a Wildebeest limping. The driver, Moses, who knew much about animals, said the predators also noticed it. Along with them, the predators target the old and young animals. The hyenas hang around, and vultures circle overhead, waiting for scraps left over from kills.

We saw a lone Wildebeest running from one part of its herd to another. Moses said that the young one had got separated from his mother and is now taking the risk of running alone to catch up. We saw a newborn giraffe with a visible umbilical cord. It was already on its feet ready to face the risks of life.

We waited hours while an elephant herd prepared for a river crossing from the opposite side of the river. There was much hesitation because there were babies in the herd, and one had to be sure that crocodiles were not nearby. Finally, one young tusker got into the water and led the way. It was risking its life to protect others’ babies in the herd. However, a baby elephant was quite nonchalant and took a voluntary dip in the river to get its skin clean!  The landing point on our side was very close to where we waited. 

We waited until the crossing was over, and the herd clambered onto our side of the river. Some took a dip before coming out of the river, and some covered themselves with dry dust after the dip. They passed within ten feet of our vehicle.  

 Video by Srinivasan Ramani

Edited and compressed to suit the blog 

Compared to India, Kenya had to fight hard and violent battles for its independence from Britain, which it achieved in 1963. We could get a feel for rural life in Kenya during our travels. Many young and old men were shepherding goats, cattle, and sheep. Employment in more profitable jobs is as rare as in Indian rural areas.

This trip was eye-opening. If I could make it at 85, I must be fitter than I thought. Climbing into a Landcruiser requires strong legs and hands. I managed to do this most of the time without depending upon the portable steps Moses carried. My three grandchildren found the trip no problem. When my daughters had suggested this trip, it had taken me much courage to say yes!

The trip's success was due to the meticulous planning and execution by the Travel Unbounded team. Having English as a common language made us feel at home throughout, and the friendliness of everyone involved made the trip memorable. We could even share jokes with Kenyans. At dinner, a chef told us he was serving us leopard skin, referring to chapatis, which were brown and had black dots!  

Srinivasan Ramani

22-08-2024

 

Do you ride a two-wheeler?

 

Has a heavy, speeding car passed you with inches to spare? Congratulations on surviving so far! A fast-moving heavy car passing you puts you at a risk comparable to being shot at. No one driving a car at 60 miles per hour or more on an Indian city street has adequate control over what will happen. The car’s rear-view mirror could hit you. Some fitting on the car could snag your backpack or clothes and drag you for a kilometer or more.  

Does the law-and-order system in your state protect you from such experiences? Do your bit to improve it.

Please visit my petition on Change.org
https://chng.it/df2LF4Pbtd  and sign it.

Srinivasan Ramani

Horses and personal computers

 

Five hundred years ago, people who rode horses had a big advantage. Traders transported their goods long distances and made big profits, and administrators travelled all over their controlled areas. Soldiers conquered new lands where horses were unknown, and preachers carried their religion far and wide. Horse riders conquered the world. The gain was not that of the stable hands caring for the horses! The winners were those who rode horses for their own work. 

You can see that those who use computers in their work are conquering the world now. Prof. V. Rajaraman's book “Anecdotes from the History of Modern Computing” (Publisher: PHI Learning) is essential reading for every student and graduate. You need not be a computer science student or a stable hand to read it!

The book begins with a valuable quote from Rudyard Kipling: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Yes, however, I treasure the book for a different reason. Using highly readable anecdotes, it teaches the vocabulary and concepts essential for the modern age.

I will illustrate what I mean by “vocabulary and concepts” in this context with ten questions. Please try to answer them to see how ready you are for the future.

1.  I took a photo of my Adhaar card. Should I store it as a *.jpg photo or as a *.pdf document so that I can print it easily whenever I need a copy?

2.  My brother told our mother that the encryption used by banks is mathematically proven to be unbreakable. How true is this?

3.  What is mp3? Is it a compression algorithm for photos?

4.  The police often track a hacker who sends threatening emails by using the IP address from which the email was generated. What is an IP address?

5.  The personal computer became far more popular than more sophisticated Workstations. Why?

6.  In the old days every engineering college had a “terminal room” and a powerful time-sharing computer. The students used the terminal to share the power of the time-sharing computer. Nowadays, computer rooms in these colleges have networked PCs. Why is networking valuable?

7.  What is a Gigabyte?

8.  What is an icon on the PC?

9.  What is WWW?

10.  What is WiFi?

Srinivasan Ramani

Informing voters that their name is likely to be deleted

My name was deleted from the voters’ list during one of the earlier elections. I had to work very hard to get it back on the list. I remembered this when I received an SMS from a bank informing me that a small amount, like Rs 2, had been deducted from my account. When the authorities delete many names from the voter list, can’t they similarly inform the people concerned? After all, many voters have a mobile number registered. For the others, the authorities can send an inland letter.

The question is whether a citizen’s right to vote is worth Rs 2. 

Srinivasan Ramani 

 

Mr Sheo Prasad Srivastava

This is an invited guest article written by Prof PVS Rao.

 

Photo: Courtesy Mr TM Vijayaraman

When I think of Srivastav, the scene that flashes in front of my eyes is my wife and I receiving Srivastav and Asha on platform 5 at 9 PM at Dadar. That was in early January 1957. He and his young bride were coming to set up house in Bombay for the first time. My wife and I had set up our own house just a week or so earlier.

The two of us (Srivastav and I) went together to finalize our own rented flat in Khar in late 1956, and it turned out there was another vacant place in the same building. Instantly, Srivastav took that. We were neighbors (with only a wall separating our two flats).  I would shout out his name every morning, and we would go together to TIFR; we returned together in the evenings, too. I remember we were both late coming back one day, and my father was out waiting for us; he stopped us on the road and lectured to both of us (he was a school headmaster) about how to care for our families and return home in time. That was how close we were. Srivastav was an expert at making Pakodas, and we all enjoyed the snack on many Sunday evenings.

I knew Srivastav from as far back as July 1953 (that makes it all of 70 plus years) when I went to study at BHU (Physics, Wireless) for my master's. He was then a research scholar working on his PhD in the same department. We both were in the same (Radhakrishnan) Hostel too. The following year (1955), he left Banaras to join the TIFR Computer Section in Bombay. I followed in 1955 (August) and joined the same department. We stayed in the same hostel at Old Yacht Club near Gate Way of India. I remember teasing him when he was going home for his wedding and repeatedly harassing his tailor near Flora Fountain for a excellent fitting, when he ordered a suit (fit for a bridegroom). On leaving the TIFR hostel, we moved to Khar to be neighbors.

We were on the same floor in Bhaskara, a residential building on the TIFR campus. We could both choose our flats in Vigyan, a private residential building promoted by TIFR scientists. Many TIFR colleagues live here after retirement. We have been neighbors again in Vigyan from 1998 onwards.

                                    Mr SP Srivastava, Photo: Courtesy of his daughters 

Srivastav was intelligent, resourceful, straight & simple, extremely competent, calm, unassuming, dependable, laid back, and non-assertive – and a man of few words. Perhaps some of these excellent qualities didn’t help him. Above all he was a loving family man.

He played a major role in developing TIFRAC, India’s first computer. I was concerned with the Arithmetic unit and part of the control unit. He and Minoo Dosabhai implemented the magnetic core memory system. He took care of TIFRAC as long as it was in use.

It was only natural that when TIFR procured the new high-speed CDC 3600, he was given the responsibility for taking care of it. And he did this with distinction. When the expensive memory unit of this machine failed, the manufacturers wanted us to buy a replacement (thirty-five thousand dollars, if I remember right.) That was out of the question for us. The TIFR team's solution was to merely reassign addresses to the core planes in the 3D memory so that these few defective locations were virtually shifted to the farthest higher end of the memory;  almost the entire (remaining) memory could be used. Not a penny was spent.  CDC was highly impressed, and this one event made them agree to let TIFR maintain the system from the second year onwards, saving us the considerable expense of maintaining a 4 or 5-strong CDC team in Bombay.

As Head of the Computer Center at TIFR, Srivastav distinguished himself for an efficient, glitch-free service that hundreds of organizations used—be it with the CDC 3600 or its increasingly more powerful successors at TIFR. This kind of service is barely noticed when all goes well but gets people to the firing line if anything goes wrong.

The last few months have been difficult for Srivastav. To say that we were close to each other and that I miss him sorely now would be gross understatements. I know many others, too, who have similar feelings towards him.

Rest in peace, my friend; you have accomplished a lot in very many ways!

 

PVS Rao

You can find more about the author at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._V._S._Rao

 

 

 

Dr FC Kohli was born on March 19, 1924. This Tuesday (March 24) will be his Centenary Birthday. He was a Founder of our software and services sector, and his leadership created one of the significant developments in high-quality employment for many Indians using a sustainable economic model. We must remember him gratefully on this occasion.

Srinivasan Ramani

Another Bank Going down the Drain

 

Image Authored by: McKay Savage, from Wikipedia. Used

under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

I wrote a short article, https://obvioustruths.blogspot.com/2024/02/banks-going-downhill.html, on February 20th. A month has yet to pass, but I found another bank doing as badly as the first one.

Remember, we get warnings frequently asking us not to click on links in strange messages. So, I was nervous when I received a message from this bank asking me to click on a strange link to do my re-kyc. I called the customer service center and asked if this was a genuine message from the bank. I would not have hesitated if I had been asked to log in to the bank’s portal, which I regularly use.

The person handling the call asked for all kinds of identification and told me to go to the bank branch to solve the problem. I gave her a blessing, and with some trepidation, I clicked on the strange link and filled in the form displayed. Essentially, I declared that the details shown, such as my address and PAN number, were correct. But when I hit the submit button, it said, " Currently unable to handle this request." I was happy to bless the portal designer as well!

As the next step, I emailed the bank address that used to handle e-banking complaints. The response was very prompt. Within minutes, my email bounced, saying that the address did not exist.

Another blessing, this time to the whole bank! I hope the owner will sell it while someone is still willing to pay something for it!

Srinivasan Ramani

15-03-2024

AI generated story about Prof Sadagopan's First Solo Flight

 Cessna 172: Public domain photo by Arnaud 25
through Wikimedia Commons

I gave a talk at the Sixth Annual Convention of the Bureau of IT Education Standards in Mysore on 1-03-2024. The convention theme was Intelligent Systems. In this context, as a joke, I asked Microsoft Copilot to make me an image of Prof. Sadagopan (Chair, BITES) sitting in a small plane as a trainee pilot. The reply I received was the following story:  

QUOTE

I apologize, but I am unable to create images directly. However, I can undoubtedly describe an imaginative scene for you:

---

Title: “Professor Sowmyanarayan Sadagopan's First Solo Flight”

In a quaint little airfield nestled amidst rolling hills, the sun painted the sky with hues of orange and pink. The air smelled of aviation fuel and anticipation. Professor Sowmnarayan Sadagopan, renowned computer scientist and academician, stood by a small Cessna 172, his heart racing.

Dressed in a crisp pilot uniform, Professor Sadagopan adjusted his aviator sunglasses and ran his fingers over the plane’s smooth metal surface. His instructor, Captain Amelia, a seasoned pilot with twinkling eyes, stood beside him.

“Ready for your first solo flight, Professor?” Captain Amelia asked, her voice both encouraging and mischievous.

Professor Sadagopan nodded, his palms slightly sweaty. He had spent countless hours studying aerodynamics, navigation, and flight procedures. But nothing could prepare him for the exhilaration of being in the pilot’s seat alone.

He climbed into the cockpit, the leather seat hugging him snugly. The engine roared to life, and the propeller spun, creating a whirlwind of excitement. The control yoke felt solid in his hands, and he glanced at the instrument panel—a symphony of dials, switches, and blinking lights.

“Remember your training,” Captain Amelia reminded him. “Keep your eyes on the horizon, and don’t forget to breathe.”

With a deep breath, Professor Sadagopan taxied the plane to the runway. The wind whispered secrets as he lined up, heart pounding. The tower’s voice crackled through the headset: “Cessna 172, cleared for takeoff.”

He pushed the throttle forward, feeling the surge of power. The wheels left the ground, and suddenly, he was airborne. The world fell away, and it was just him, the plane, and the boundless sky.

As he circled the airfield, Professor Sadagopan marveled at the patchwork of fields below. The sun dipped lower, casting long shadows. He remembered his childhood dream of flying—an aspiration that had led him from algorithms to altitudes.

Captain Amelia’s voice echoed in his mind: “You’re doing great, Professor. Trust yourself.”

And so, with determination, he executed gentle turns, climbed higher, and dipped lower. The wind tousled his hair, and he grinned like a child with a secret. The small plane danced under his command, and for those precious minutes, he was more than a professor—he was a trainee pilot, soaring toward the horizon.

As the sun touched the distant hills, Professor Sadagopan lined up for his final approach. The runway stretched out before him, a welcoming ribbon of asphalt. With precision, he touched down, the wheels kissing the ground. The engine’s hum faded, and he taxied back to the hangar.

Captain Amelia clapped him on the back. “Congratulations, Pilot Sadagopan. You’ve officially joined the aviators’ club.”

And there, in the fading light, Professor Sowmnarayan Sadagopan stepped out of the cockpit, his heart soaring higher than the plane ever could.

---

Note: This scene is purely fictional and created for your enjoyment. Professor Sowmnarayan Sadagopan is a respected academic, and I hope he continues to inspire others both in the world of computer science and beyond.

 

Banks going downhill

This is a period of development in Indian banking activity. The positive side includes growth in the number of branches, significant increases in the number of users, growth in volume of business, and the use of information technology.

I write about the negative side, involving poor management and poor customer care. I hope that managers in banking, as well as other sectors, will read the comments here and introduce improvements wherever they can.

1)      The integrity of a bank needs to be recovered. If you go with a problem to the bank, they may contact other resources, but should solve your problems. Instead, they now tell you to call their customer care number. Many activities have been outsourced. The branch staff are there mainly to point you to some phone number to call or to use some website to solve your problems.

2)      The bank itself needs to adequately understand technology, let alone the tiny companies that handle outsourced tasks.  A branch of one big bank has removed PCs from staff members' desks. Staff who used to provide good customer care have been posted out, presumably to handle new branches. Untrained staff or interns try to handle customer care using their cell phones. They usually try to call their customer service centers.

3)      Cellphone signals are poor inside the branch office, and hence Internet connectivity is poor. So the staff often go out the office door to use their cell phones. The PCs would have given them LAN connectivity.

4)      It is common for customer care numbers shown on websites to be wrong. Customer care centers sometimes give me the wrong phone numbers to get something done.

5)      I have had customer care numbers tell me I am 51 on the waiting list. Voice response systems are not meant to keep callers hanging for 30 minutes or more! Such systems should have adequate capacity to respond to customers in five minutes or less.

6)      No one seems to audit how many customers who try to carry out tasks on the bank’s websites drop out in desperation because the site is not user-friendly.

B      Many bank websites do not work correctly. If you complain, the bank asks you to use their cell phone apps based on more up-to-date technology. Why don't the banks have their websites tell you to use a cell phone app instead of asking you to log in and suffer the confusion caused by obsolete technology?  

Srinivasan Ramani

A simple way to reduce dangerous strokes

 

I saw a simple BP monitor on a conveniently accessible wall-mounted tray in an office corridor. The quiet corridor gave users some privacy. It was a valuable contribution to the health of staff members. The risk of a stroke for the average adult male is between 2 to 3% per year. The prevalence of stroke has increased by 50 percent over the last 17 years, and at present, 1 in 4 people are at risk of getting a stroke in their lifetime (Visit https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)61894-6/fulltext ).

A quote in the lobby of a well-known hospital says, “What you took a lifetime to learn, you can lose in minutes. " The reference is to the speed required to deal with the signs of a stroke. Brain cells start dying, and the faster one acts, the more one saves.

Undetected high blood pressure is a silent killer. It hits suddenly.  

How can you reduce the risk of a stroke? Visit https://www.cdc.gov/stroke/risk_factors.htm#:~:text=The%20chance%20of%20having%20a,65%20years%20also%20have%20strokes.

 

Srinivasan Ramani

We should make the national language really effective

Many Indians face problems when they meet the local police for verification of residential address for a passport renewal or to complain about an accident, etc. The police often tell them to sign a document in the regional language. Many countries in the world have their documents in two languages. The US, which has English as its majority language, has its documents in English and Spanish. Should the higher courts not rule that every form used in law and order in India should be in the regional language as well as in the national language?

States of India should recognize that inconveniencing Indians who do not know their regional language is not improving their ease of doing business index. They are cutting their nose to spite their own face! Wooing global investors to invest in their states and acting jingoistically is counterproductive.

Srinivasan Ramani