Infinite thoughts

Last few days I have been in Ann Arbor, a college town in Michigan State. Mrunmay is now studying his Comp Sci undergraduate course in the prestigious University of Michigan, College of Engineering.  After he moved in to his dorm, Meghana and I have been roaming around the town and campus, either to help him complete his shopping or to seek few moments with him before we go back to India. We attended the parent Orientation in the big and beautiful auditorium - "Hill Auditorium", walked across "The Diag", visited some cafes and watched the students from across the globe walking the lawns and roads of this beautiful town. While sipping the frappe from Sweetwaters (BTW - this beats any cold coffee I have had so far!!) in the building of Michigan Union, I was wondering about college life now and automatically went back in the past.  The UMich campus is about 3200 acres. The students now have access to college WiFi, huge libraries, countless study spaces, big stadiums, a...

Two personalities have been making rounds in Pune for the last few days. Vidyanand Bapat and Santosh Pandit . Both appear to stand against the establishments, yet now appear to have lost the narrative. Mr. Bapat does have a very valid point that DJ and loudspeakers should be banned. They do not serve any kind of purpose in "celebtating" Ganapati Utsav in a traditional way. The utsav was started when there was a need to bring various social strata together under one umbrella. After independence, that need was gone, but the tradition continued. However, over the last couple of decades, this has become more of a nuisance than a way of being together. Almost every corner of the city has a separate pandal, with its own speakers spitting out anything but the "bhakti geete". I must admit there are certain "मंडळे" who do good work, have some social initiatives all round the year. But these are far and few. I want to focus on the noise others generate, as that is ...

In recent news, the Indian PM was conferred with the highest state honor by Uzbekistan -  the Order of "Oliy Darajali Dustlik" (Order of Friendship of the Highest Degree). There are close to 30 such state honors received by the current Indian PM. I had been wondering about why any nation would confer such honors to foreign individuals. I had to do some digging (very easy these days, isn't it?) So, these state honors, when conferred on foreign heads of state, can serve multiple purposes: Announcing, confirming, or institutionalizing bilateral ties Geopolitical Economic or cultural leverage And last, but not least, Soft Power Projection. Some key advantages for India-Uzbekistan are around nuclear energy, Trade, defense, and also cultural and geopolitical. To see how this pans out, we will have to wait for a while, though. If you have noticed (and I am sure most of us have), there's a significant uptick in the Indian PM receiving such state honors since Mr. Modi has c...

 So, you left us a new freshman.. As soon as Meghana and I entered the cab, the driver uttered. It took us a while to understand what was he saying, but then we realized. He was picking us up from the dorm address, carrying two empty suitcases. For the 75 yo, who had spent his entire life in the college town, it was an easy guess. He must have done it several times by now. All he needs to do is to follow the good things that he has learnt from you.. William said to Meghana. Years of experience talking. Assuring the parents that they have done a good job until now and giving hope that the kids will do good based on their teachings. And ending the topic with a note... "We'll take good care of him". Town's representative citizen assuring the guests that the town will not let them down. Meghana and I are visiting Ann Arbor, where Mrunmay is about to start his undergraduate studies in Comp Sci at the College of Engineering, University of Michigan. Mrunmay's journey tow...

Returning from a long hiatus... will that still be called a hiatus or was that a break or a sabbatical?.. Let's not worry about it. Happened to watch " Matka King " on Amazon Prime over the last few days. The story is based on a known-but-not-so-known person in 60's/70's Mumbai. I have no idea whether the story truly represents the original personality or not, and that is not the point of this blog. The series started with some catchy sequences and held the audience halfway through, about 4 to 5 episodes. Each one is almost an hour long, and it did hold a good story in those episodes. Brij Bhatti, the lead of the series, portrayed by Vijay Varma, working for Lalji Bhai (Gulshan Grover), decides to separate out and starts his own "honest" business of gambling via Matka. The USP was to be honest all the time. Open the cards in front of the people; in fact, have your players open the cards. This built the trust with the gamblers very quickly. The story goes...

Today was a special day. My son's results for 10th standard were announced today and he cleared the exam with flying colors. Three subjects with A* grade and remaining three with A grade, totaling about 87% of the score.  However, what makes this achievement special isn't just the marks themselves but the journey and other accomplishments he garnered along the way. If you have been following my posts on various other platforms, you probably already know that Mrunmay has participated in the Robotics competition - FTC - First Tech Challenge. This was a very competitive event where his team had to compete against some of the best teams in India and prove their mettle. The FTC is not only about robotics competition alone but is about a few other aspects of life as well.  This includes outreach, STEM-D promotion, fundraising etc. The team, comprising 15 children, was preparing for the competition the entire year and the competition was scheduled for the last week of January earlier...