The first 100-day plan for the TVK Govt in Tamil Nadu?

The head of a new government has the strongest political capital immediately after taking office. Legislatures are often more willing to cooperate early.

Public attention is high, so early actions shape the narrative. Bureaucracies respond faster before political fatigue sets in.

All this has led to a tradition in countries, the 100-day plan! This informs the public of what the new government plans to do in its first 100 days.

I highlight this, specifically to suggest that the TVK government in Tamil Nadu, headed by Vijay, should make public its First 100-Day Plan.

 

Actions not requiring new legislation are:

1) Reversing previous administration’s orders that pose problems

2) Creating new task forces

3) Changing regulatory priorities

4) Declaring major missions (health, economy, jobs)

Actions that may require new legislation are:

1)   Giving economic stimulus and administrative reforms

2)   Anti‑corruption or transparency laws

3)   Social welfare expansions

4)   Induction of technology for modernization

 

Srinivasan Ramani
assisted by MS Copilot
13-05-2026.

 

 

Memories of Professor V Rajaraman

The IIT Kanpur alumni-initiated newsletter "Spark" ( https://www.iitk.ac.in/dora/spark/ ) has published a special issue devoted to Prof. V. Rajaraman. It is the magazine's February 2026 issue, edited by Mr. Shirish Joshi, on Prof. Rajaraman's contributions to computer education and the software industry in India. A galaxy of writers have documented their memories. A part of this article has been published there. This is the full version. 

I usually send a greeting to a few mentors of mine on teachers’ day and on Guru Poornima. In 2025, I sent the following message to Professor Rajaraman: “On the occasion of Guru Purnima, I would like to extend to you my sincere greetings and heartfelt thanks. You were the examiner for my Ph.D. thesis, titled "Language-Based Problem Solving," which I completed in 1969. Your critical evaluation and insight into that work left a deep impression on me. Over the years, our association deepened through the Knowledge-Based Computer Systems project and your generous support at key moments in my professional journey. You were a referee for several of the awards I have been fortunate to receive, and you served on the Board of Advisors when I played a key role in starting the HP Labs India. Your books and writings have educated and inspired me over the decades. Your example as a scholar and mentor has left a lasting impression on me, and I continue to be guided by your work and the values you embody. With reverence and gratitude on Guru Purnima, 
July 10, 2025.”
Then I phoned to say who wrote the words in the greeting, and learnt Professor was in the hospital. So, I sent the following message to Mrs. Rajaraman:
“Dharma Akka, I must mention that ChatGPT, the popular AI tool, wrote the wording of the greeting, based on information and directives given by me! Please do tell Prof. Rajaraman. I assume that in the hospital, his access to email would be very restricted.
July 11, 2025.” 

Prof. Rajaraman often gave me the privilege of reading in manuscript form something he had written for publication. I would send him my comments. In the recent years, I have enjoyed the “tidbits” he wrote, most of which have appeared in the last book he published. It carries exciting anecdotes [Rajaraman, 2024] and is highly inspiring. I will cite two examples. 
I had been thrilled to meet the originator of the Ethernet, Robert Metcalf, approximately 55 years ago, at a conference in Paris. So, I sought him out and spent some time having a chat with him. Decades later, I was to read more about him in a Tidbit article that Professor had written. 
When Metcalfe was a graduate student at Harvard, MIT offered better facilities for what he wanted to do, and the two universities had agreed that he could accept a job at MIT and submit a thesis based on his work to Harvard. His thesis was about ARPANET, about the Interface Message Processors (IMPs) that connected main frames to the ARPANET, and host protocols. The IMP was the granddaddy of all routers we use today! 

The examiners felt that the thesis contained nothing theoretical or mathematical in it. They rejected the thesis! 

When Metcalf was nearing completion of his Ph D work at Harvard, Xerox Park had offered him a job, which he had accepted. The amazing story is that when Metcalf wrote to Xerox Park about the rejection of his PhD thesis, they told him to report for work anyway. He could complete his thesis work at Xerox Park by doing what the examiners had asked for! While working at Xerox Park, Metcalfe and his assistant, David Boggs, published a paper on a Local Area Network. This paper described the foundational ideas of the Ethernet. 

Metcalfe had worked on the mathematical model of the ALOHAnet of Prof. Norman Abramson and improved it. He submitted the thesis by adding this work and earned his PhD. 

I did not know all this, despite being a fan of Metcalf. I learnt how easy it is to throw out a PhD student, like a baby with bathwater. I also learnt how wise managers nurture good human talent despite minor setbacks and bring out terrific creativity. Such information made my day every time I read Tidbits by Professor Rajaraman. 

There was another tidbit which I can never forget. The anecdote in that tidbit appears on page 226 of the book in the Reference [Rajaraman, 2024]. Steve Jobs had visited Xerox Parc in 1979 where he saw the graphical user interface they had created, involving icons and a mouse. He immediately recognized the revolutionary potential of these ideas. Apple released Mcintosh in 1984, and Microsoft released Windows OS in 1985. Steve Jobs accused Bill Gates of stealing his idea. Bill Gates replied “Well Steve, I think there is more than one way of looking at it. I think it is more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox, and I broke into his house to steal his TV set and found out that you had already stolen it!” 

My comment on the manuscript of the "Anecdotes of Modern Computing" book was that it is one book related to technology that I would want every student to read as a non-detailed textbook!
Non-detailed? Well, it has all the significant details!

Reference: RAJARAMAN, V., 2024. Anecdotes from the history of modern computing. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.
 

Srinivasan Ramani

Taxing away the problems of a country

My grandfather had wanted me to be an IAS officer, but my interest in electronics and computers and IIT education distracted me from the path that he had decided for me.

However, I keep thinking every day of new taxes that can be levied!

For instance, we can increase the road tax by 25% and offer a discount of 25% to those who can show they have parking space.

The second Idea is to say that that every cow, bull or dog on the streets should have a secure collar for which the owner should pay a tax of hundred rupees per year. Future ministers will, no doubt, increase the tax to the “appropriate” level! At hundred rupees per year the tax will not create much resistance now.

There are many ways to serve a country, and the easiest is to find new ways of taxing away some of its problems!

Srinivasan Ramani

How NOT to organize a small group meeting of CSI Seniors and Think Tank

 

There is a group called the CSI Seniors and Think Tank (CSI S & TT) on WhatsApp. This is a group of senior members of the Computer Society of India. The group is spread across India, and there is strong nostalgia among the members about the good old networking days. Most of them would love to meet in person with other members. I suggested we try meeting in small groups, wherever it is possible to gather five or more members, say, once a month. It would give the members great satisfaction and strengthen the computer society by creating a grassroots cadre group.

Little did I imagine the difficulties of implementing this idea. This brief note is a confession: it explains what I did and did not do that led to problems. Everyone is willing to talk about their successes, and it is equally important to talk about their failures. This note will help members across India organise these small-group meetings. At least, it will help them to avoid the mistakes I made!

I mentioned the proposed meetings in a note in the WhatsApp group and hoped to get a few people to join us. My first mistake was that I invited only the members living in Jayanagar or JP Nagar, Bengaluru. There are not many members in this corner of the world. I should have invited all members of (CSI S & TT) in Bengaluru and chosen a more central location for the meeting.

My second mistake was not considering the current executive committee of the local chapter. I should have collaborated with them, instead of going alone.

Two outstation members emailed me to say they would like to join the meeting online. I rightly hesitated to accept this suggestion because I was afraid it would distract me from my primary responsibility of hosting the in-person event. I did not realise I could have found a partner to manage the online activities while I focused on the in-person meeting.

I had to postpone the in-person meeting I had called prematurely, but nothing was lost. Two CSI stalwarts, Dr Subimal Kundu from Kolkata and Mr HR Mohan from Chennai, have planned an online meeting.

I will seek advice from the local Chapter on organizing an in-person meeting in Bengaluru.

It is better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all!

Srinivasan Ramani

 

The price women pay to have a child

 

 

WHO has published a report saying that mental health affects a billion people in the world [WHO, 2025a]

A particularly acute problem in India is the fact that about 20% of the women have mental issues after childbirth [Frontiers, 2024]. Depression following childbirth is quite common. Medical problems of women of childbearing age are often due to anemia and malnutrition
[WHO, 2025b]. This is compounded by social evils such as dowry demands, unnecessary caesarean sections, tensions about the gender of the newborn, increasing costs of medical care, and the expectation that the woman’s parents should take care of the medical expenses of pregnancy. A recent phenomenon is that of working women who face a career threat. Maternal leaves are not long enough and if and when they can resume their jobs is uncertain.

Educators and social activists should ensure that women are prepared to meet these challenges. The medical fraternity should work to reduce the incidence of anaemia, which is a noteworthy problem. Society should work to reduce suicides resulting from depression following childbirth. These suicides leave the orphaned newborn in a pathetic state.

It would be valuable for NGOs to encourage women to form support groups for expecting mothers from early pregnancy till the baby is one or two years old. This is a critical period when a woman is most vulnerable. If five to ten neighbours form a support group, they can occasionally provide nutritious meals and help take the expecting mother to see a doctor when necessary. Those who can afford to do so offer to babysit after the baby arrives. The moral support from the neighbours would also inhibit in-laws from ill-treating the woman for the sake of dowry.

A healthy society must develop practices like this, which are rooted in our culture. Urban living sometimes isolates families from their neighbours.  Hence, there is a need for initiatives to reshape our lives.

Srinivasan Ramani

References

• [WHO, 2025a]  
  https://www.who.int/news/item/02-09-2025-over-a-billion-people-living-with-mental-health-conditions-services-require-urgent-scale-up
• [Frontiers, 2024]
  https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/global-womens-health/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2024.1393215/full

·        [WHO, 2025b]
WHO Global Anaemia estimates, 2025 Edition
https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/topics/anaemia_in_women_and_children

Dr M Sasikumar retires today as Executive Director, CDAC Mumbai

Dr M Sasikumar retires today as Executive Director, CDAC Mumbai

Many of us who had spent decades working in AI and educational technology are extraordinarily fortunate to be alive and well at this time. We had committed to these technologies, although we knew they were unlikely to make progress in the short term. The Knowledge-Based Computer Systems team (KBCS) at the National Centre for Software Development and Computing Techniques (NCSDCT) had bet on AI and educational technology (ET) forty or fifty years ago. AI and ET sounded like science fiction to most people in those days. Today, they are among the leading technologies of the day.

It has not been a question of making the right choice and waiting for it to materialize. Team members have worked with a commitment to AI all these years. We had written a proposal for a Knowledge-Based Computer Systems project in 1983-84. The government responded by launching a major project in 1985, which involved several national institutions and secured the support of the United Nations Development Programme. Of course, NCSDCT’s KBCS team had a very significant role in the project.

Meanwhile, a number of us who had worked as members of the NCSDCT team had created an independent institution named the National Centre for Software Technology in 1985, with the full support of TIFR. Sasikumar was a member of the first batch of professionals who joined NCST directly.

Sasi’s lifelong work is recorded in the papers by him and his co-authors. You can find them on Google Scholar (‪Sasikumar M - ‪Google Scholar ) and on ResearchGate (Sasikumar Mukundan). The number of co-authors, the number of topics, and the sustained focus on technology are all there for you to see. I am glad that all this is well-recorded, preserved, referred to, and continues to influence people. His videos on his YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@SasikumarMthelittlesasi/videos) provides additional information about his work .

This detailed recording of one's life's work through the Internet had not been available in earlier times. For instance, some of the earlier work of our Guru, Prof. Narasimhan, is not on the Internet. He had headed NCSDCT and gave us complete freedom and support to pursue our interests.

The NCST team launched the first in a series of international conferences, which soon became an annual KBCS conference. Sasi has a YouTube video (Running an affordable quality-conference -- the KBCS experience ) describing the incredible experience this was. Of course, he played an important role in these conferences.

These conferences allowed us to bring leading researchers to India and to invite hundreds of Indian researchers. All of them presented their research work, and the NCST team edited and had them published internationally—that involved enormous amounts of editorial effort. There were times when the team worked right through the night and rushed directly to the airport at 5:30 in the morning to send the manuscript to the publishers!

The effort required to solve certain types of problems grows unavoidably exponentially as you try to apply the solution to bigger and bigger systems. Sashi’s MSc (Engg) thesis submitted to the IISc begins by showing that this is the case for scheduling planes efficiently for an airline. If he had worked abroad, Sasi’s work on airline scheduling would have led him to launch a startup and build a large company across multiple countries. It went off very well in India as well, as Air India picked up the idea and sponsored the KBCS team to develop relevant software.

This led to the scheduling of oil tankers to deliver crude oil to Indian refineries, sponsored by the Oil Coordination Committee, and later the scheduling of oil pipelines. The paper describing our pipeline-scheduling work has Sasi as the first author, showing his key role in the effort. It is a widely recognized piece of work.

A book on Expert Systems, produced by five members of the KBCS team, again has Sasikumar as the first author, recognizing his key role. Sasi had the energy to collate the manuscript of this book and put it in the public domain decades after the hardcopy version was published. The book received worldwide visibility. Every week now I receive notifications stating that someone has published an article in which this book is listed among the references.

In 2003, the Government of India merged NCST with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing. It is now known as CDAC, Mumbai. Sasi has continued to make significant contributions within CDAC, and particularly at CDAC, Mumbai. His leadership at CDAC, Mumbai, has been highly valuable.

NCST’s work on a nationwide public testing system, using advanced techniques to create questions, grade, and analyze answers, is well known. The whole NCST worked together to run and develop it over the years. Sasi had his heart in it and had contributed to it from the beginning. Over the last two decades, this technology has played its most significant role through projects at CDAC Mumbai. Through multiple projects, it has served students at several levels and has served millions. Only the other day, a principal told me that he had acquired the CDAC Mumbai system for use by every student of his institution.

AI-based systems use the best algorithms and heuristics they can find on the Internet to solve problems and to create optimal plans for activities. As a result, researchers find that their published work lives on. 

The AI revolution owes a great deal to powerful hardware that utilizes highly parallel computing involving many CPUs. Sasi had worked on this in the last century and has published his results.

Srinivasan Ramani

Hindi Editor: Mohan Rohra

A Hindi version of this article is at हिंदी में स्टेम (STEM): ससिकुमार मुकुंदन ने कार्यकारी निदेशक, "सी-डैक, मुंबई" के पद से सेवानिवृत्ति ली

Surviving the AI wave.

Driverless vehicles? Let them compete with:

the pharmacy that delivers medicines to the home, 
the small restaurant that sends home snacks and beverages, as well as breakfast, lunch, and dinner,
the electrician who makes a home call, finds the problem, determines the solution, goes out to buy the necessary materials, and returns to fix the problem!

My snacks, beverages, breakfast, lunch, and dinner would be free for life if I could invest the price of a driverless car!

Srinivaasan Ramani

P.S. The photograph was published in an article by Amey Tawte. That is a good, heart-warming story!

It can be found at https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-delivery-rider-in-mumbai

 

 

Professor J. R. Isaac, Pioneer of Computer Education

 

Professor Isaac, who encouraged his students to refer to him as Jimmy, was my teacher and mentor during my time at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. He had studied at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA, and had worked with IBM. His return to India in the early 1960s was a gift to thousands of students. He inspired and coached his students with an enthusiasm that was amazing. His sustained cheerfulness gave them confidence in their studies and research. He taught the first formal computer courses in 1963 and guided my doctoral work, jointly with Professor Rangaswamy Narasimhan of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, from 1965 to 1970.

He was known for championing his students. A minor incident, as described to me by one of his students, illustrates this. The student was new to the campus and was trying to open an account in the neighbourhood bank. The bank required an existing customer to provide a reference. Prof. Isaac, who witnessed this happening, intervened to provide him with a reference and resolved the problem.

He was a pioneer in introducing computers in schools. Using the BBC Micro in its early years, he trained schoolteachers to impart digital literacy to their students.

In his later years at IITB, he served as a dean.

Dozens of his students have risen to positions of leadership in various fields of work worldwide.  I will be publishing a webpage dedicated to him on my blog https://ObviousTruths.blogspot.com

I post this on the occasion of Guru Poornima, when people of Asia pay their respects to their teachers and mentors.

Srinivasan Ramani
10-07-2025

 

 

Colleges Should Help Students to Become Entrepreneurs

 

Photo Credit: Microsoft Copilot. I had asked it to create an image to illustrate an article on self-employment ideas specifically for Indian college graduates. This is what it created. Please don’t ask me to describe and explain the image!  

The world is in turmoil. Everyone who knows how to download and customize software offers to implement Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions. Irrespective of their merits, they threaten mediocre workers. A mediocre implementation is good enough to replace mediocre employees. Indirectly, they threaten mediocre colleges. Everyone who can drive an electric scooter and home-deliver retail purchases is doing that instead of wasting four years in a mediocre college.

There is no saying if a college education will get one a job. So, we must prepare college students to think ahead about what they would like to do after they complete their courses or drop out earlier.  Some of the world's great entrepreneurs got an idea of what they wanted to do while in college. They were so excited about their ideas that they dropped out!

I propose that investors, including banks and governments, fund commercial property for renting out on a “College Road”. Several colleges could share one such road. Simultaneously, colleges should introduce one or more courses on business management available as electives to students in all disciplinary streams.  These courses should cover what one needs to know to identify promising business ideas, to start up a business, and run it profitably. Students who come up with good proposals would be given loans by the banks involved and invited to rent a shop on the college road.

There are two major developments that shops on college roads should exploit. One is finding niches in the market which enable survivability and profits. A shop offering pizzas in a small town gets a premium as customers wish to experiment with items they perceive as upmarket. A pharmacy that home-delivers medicines gets a sizable market. The same pharmacy could also offer affordable transport of patients to hospitals round the clock. 

The second significant development is quick commerce. Customers want their orders delivered in 10 minutes or less. Millions of youngsters on electric two-wheelers are there to do the delivery. You must pay a commission to sell through a good online network, vastly increasing your visibility. It automates your cash handling with customers paying online in advance. This enables you to increase the variety of items you keep and sell.

Political leaders could endorse shops on the college road by addressing student audiences, telling them how they create job opportunities.  

Srinivasan Ramani 

 

 

Photo courtesy Wikimedia

A Fit Case for Indians to Fight Against

The world is now recognizing that alcohol causes cancer in humans. The World Health Organization estimates that 2 million men and 600,000 women die annually due to alcohol consumption. This accounts for 4.7 % of all deaths. Visit

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/alcohol

The US Surgeon General's warning on alcohol consumption is a government warning that appears on all alcoholic beverage containers sold in the United States. The warning is intended to inform the public of the health risks associated with alcohol consumption. The warning includes two statements: (1) women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects, and (2) consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery and may cause health problems. A proposed new language for the warning is "Government Warning: According to the Surgeon General, consumption of alcoholic beverages can cause cancer, including breast and colon cancers."

The Indian Home Minister, Mr Amit Shah, while speaking at a Conference on Drug Trafficking and National Security on Saturday, 11th Jan 2025, said that 7% of all Indians use narcotics. He added that he would fight this menace.

We can ask why plants produce habit-forming or addictive substances. It turns out that it is because this attracts bees, who come back to pollinate the plant repeatedly! Why do plants and germs produce harmful biochemicals? It is to kill or deter their enemies. You must read about goats’ and cows' suffering when they eat coffee beans! However, humans find uses for plant chemicals that harm other living things. This is where care is needed. Tobacco killed over 100 million people worldwide during the 20th century alone and is now killing 8 million people a year worldwide! We don’t need to allow alcohol to kill 200 million more during the 21st century!

 Srinivasan Ramani

 

 

 

 

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