I was leafing through TV channels today and came across this comedy show where a stand-up comedian expressed his profound observation regarding the way women behave when proposed by men. Here’s an extract with little improvisations from yours truly.

Typical response of a girl when proposed by a guy who has been her friend from quite sometime…

Girl: I thought we are just good friends…

Guy: Yes… we still are … and we make a good couple too

Girl: I don’t know what to say … I never looked at you that way… you see, you are a great person… I like you a lot…. but … I can’t mix relations with friendship…

Guy: Why can’t we work this out?

Girl: please don’t take me in a wrong way … you deserve someone much better than me …

---- Silence ----

Girl: See… I want our friendship to continue … it is very valuable for me… you have always helped me in difficult times … been there when I called you up middle of the night for help ….

Guy: …. (Disappointed)

Girl: Now don’t be so disappointed … I will search you a good girl for you…

Personally, I feel nine out of ten guys have experienced this situation in their lives. What freaks them out this same girl going out with a completely stupid guy whom she has met just 10 days back! I have never understood what goes through the girl’s mind… I have never understood that sentence … “I didn’t look at you that way”. This situation is like… you are in an interview for a job that you desperately need and this is what the interviewer tells you at the end of your interview …

Interviewer: Your resume is one of the best I have seen…

You: Thank you.

Interviewer: You make a great fit to our company … your attitude … your skill set is exactly what we need for this job.

You: Thank you.

Interviewer: But we won’t be able to take you for the job. We prefer a less suitable candidate.

You: Why Sir?

Interviewer: You see … You are a great person… you deserve a much better company that ours

You: This is my dream company sir… I would like to work here.

Interviewer: It is your humbleness that you attended our interview… I don’t think our company will do justice to your talents. If you want, I can help you in identifying suitable company for you.

How would you feel at the end of such interview… that’s how guys feel being turned down with that stupid reason… You know… it still confuses me… what does a girl mean when she says “I never looked at you that way”? It generates so many questions….

1. Does she look at each guy in different ways and identify potential candidates who will fit her specific needs?

2. To be precise, where does she look?

3. How to make a girl look at ‘that’ way?

I bet even the girl can’t answer these questions… this is my theory about girls …

While being as friend with a guy, 90% of the girls put up an external character. A character that is completely different from what she is in reality. Even though you hear stories about her ‘adventures’ from your other friends, you would rather trust the girl than your other friends… basically you went dumb in her love… all the while, the girl would be feeling stupid about you. Basically… she wants you to take advantage of her closeness… doing something exciting …. but as a dumb guy who is in love… you would behave in such a predictable way … and eventually when you propose… she just turns you down by saying “I never looked at you that way”.

Moral of the story – Before proposing a girl… make her look at you the so called “that way”. Do something exciting … take control… be adventurous… don’t be a predictive dumb idiot… God has given you brain… use it…. and then see the after effects…

And for all the girls who are reading this blog… I love you all!

Believe me there are times when you have get so many thoughts and you find yourselves in such a helpless situation. I don’t know which thought I need to perceive. Books, papers, gym, robotic design, skateboarding, blogging, learning guitar … ah I am exhausted just thinking of all these. All of these get planned for weekend and when weekend arrives, I wake up at 2 PM afternoon, watch TV for a while (Today, I saw the movie called Rocky Balboa) and the weekend is over. Great! I can’t digest it so easily. I need to learn time-management.

The part of the problem is “being single”. The situation somehow makes you very careless and disorganized. At 22 ½, it’s really a wrong age for me for looking out for someone. I believe it’s the transition age… the age where you just want to have sex and nothing else. Of course, opportunities can be created and desires can be fulfilled but I want to rather go the orthodox way. Not because I like being orthodox but because of my nature. If I try it out once and say, I succeed and I like it … then I might get involved in doing it again and again, which I believe would do no good to my character in long term. I would rather go for that so called everlasting love… where two people make complete idiot of themselves and yet they like it. To be frank, even though life gives you lot of opportunities of being an idiot, there aren’t many opportunities where you would like to be one. Falling in love is one such opportunity where you want to be one.

Ah… Didn’t I just call all lovers as idiots? Let me take my words back. I spend couple of minutes thinking about it… I think they are most fortunate ones. The people who don’t have love are the idiots! Yeah, this sounds more convincing. They are idiots because… they are missing the creation’s most beautiful feeling … and there is no better reason than that. A feeling that can make even a dumb idiot sound more convincing than Einstein or Newton.... a feeling that can make even an useless idiot believe that he/she is most significant … a feeling that can make even a worse coward to take on the most powerful … a feeling that can make even a worst criminal confess his dreadful sins…. and vice-versa of all the actions that I just mentioned.

Basically, love is a very powerful weapon that can be used for one’s advantage or disadvantage, purely depending on the intellectual capabilities of a person. One reason why I earlier said lovers as idiots is because they neither using their love for their advantage or disadvantage. They are just living a stupid life! When you are in love, you can achieve so many things… you have the unconditional support … I don’t understand what’s stopping them. Maybe, what they call as love is not love at all. It might just be what they call… compromised life!

Having said that, it’s very frustrating though to be alone, typing this stupid blog which no one reads and hope of mercy from God. In a way, I am saving all these memories. Probably, when I am little old, I will read all of these again and have a good laugh.

Hopefully, the situation might change soon…it’s just that matter of time. I am looking forward for a gift from God very soon. INSHALLAH.

By the way, I saved some of my posts in another blog called http://mohdabubakr.blogspot.com and all my future posts would be posted both on http://nextnewton.spaces.live.com and http://mohdabubakr.blogspot.com

Often after the prayers at mosques, most of the Muslims in India participate in discussions on the world affairs and issues faced by Muslim community. These discussions take place in disorganized groups of ten to fifteen people and topics of discussions include liberation of Palestine, war crimes by Allied powers in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc. These discussions have a huge influence on the mindsets of lower class Indian Muslims who don’t have access to Internet and English Media. On 13^th February, after the Salat-al-Juma (afternoon prayers performed by Muslim on Friday), I saw a group of young and old men discussing something and they all had a cheer on their face. It was a surprise for me as I never seen such a broad cheer on their faces. Silently, I joined the group to know the discussion and the reason for their happiness. A middle aged man was sharing the content of Obama’s speech delivered on National Prayer breakfast which he had seen on Internet. Each person part of the group was cheering every single sentence of the speech. This was the first time in my life time I saw an American President commanding respect in the heart’s of these people.

I have seen the anger towards George Bush Sr., I have seen the anger towards Bill Clinton and I have seen the anger towards George Bush Jr. but when it comes to Barrack Obama there is a radical shift in the opinions. Even a common man thousands of miles away recognizes the sense of friendliness in his talks. On National Prayer breakfast, Obama called out the Golden rule – the love for fellow human beings irrespective of their religion and color. While what he spoke wasn’t something unknown to people but the manner in which it was conveyed had a profound impact on everyone who heard the speech. Quoting the verses directly from Bible, Torah and Hadith and expressing his trust in peace and dialogue is probably one of the finest speeches delivered by an American president since long time.

There is a difference between commanding respect and demanding respect – while waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq tried to demand respect, Obama’s way of expressing his ideas on world peace and prosperity has commanded respect not just for himself but for the fellow Americans. Inherently, everyone understands the concept of peace - the problem arises when power induces arrogance among presidents and leaders. With thousands dead in Palestine and chaotic situation in Pakistan with Taliban taking over the western province, every move of Obama will be scrutinized and talked. The coming days will be the testing grounds for Obama on his capability to negotiate and establish peace and fight against terrorism. And as far as Taliban is concerned, clearly the momentum is towards Obama. Muslim communities across the world are not in the favor of Taliban’s extremist rule and Obama is going to have their full support in fighting against Taliban. But for the benefit of the innocent people living in western areas of Pakistan, if Obama negotiates a deal with Taliban in establishing democracy and human rights - it will become one of the greatest revolutions that have taken place in modern times.

Thank you for all the appreciation most of you gave me for my previous post “Freedom to question”. Of course, there were few criticisms too. I posted an abstract of it in a public forum as a reply to a question why Indian students are losing out on creativity. Subsequently, after I posted the abstract, the following was the comment

“I would disagree with the timelines. There were significant pioneering contributions from India in the fields of science, astronomy  and mathematics till ~1000 AD and am sure those would not have been made if people during that time were not questioning”

I followed with a question…

May I know the pioneering contributions from India in the fields of science, astronomy and mathematics till ~1000 AD? I know about “zero” being discovered in India. What else was discovered between 0 AD – 1000 AD ?

While there were several people who answered about the contributions done by Indians, some of which I wasn’t aware of, there was one reply that was very annoying.

Are you Indian?  I am not even talking abt the mind, body soul kind… Just plain citizenship wise, born and brought up in india, are you?

This was my reply to the above comment.

Thank you for that comment. You actually helped me in putting my word in a more understandable way. For your kind information, I am born and brought up in ‘Republic of India’. By mind, I want to work for scientific development of India, my soul I get touched by all the disheartening issues happening in our country and my body (Genetically, I believe I am Dravidian but I am waiting for genome sequence to get decoded and then I might undergo a test to know my ancestral origins.)… oh yeah.. when I die, my body will be mixed in Indian Soil.  Do you want to see a photocopy of my passport or birth certificate? ;-)

-- Continuing the discussion

In my earlier post, I stated that there is no freedom for questioning in India, look precisely that’s what happened here. I asked a question but in return my nationality gets questioned. Of course, asking someone’s nationality is also a question and I am OK with answering it. But what I want to highlight here is the manner in which it was questioned. It is not a particular person’s mistake - it is more of our general instinct. When someone questions us, instead of giving answers, we either try to silence them or question them such that they never ask questions again.

Note, this has happened in forum consisting of some of the most talented people of India. Imagine how hard it is for an ordinary person to ask a question in a public forum in India. He/she would get roasted with all sorts of comments until he/she compromises and adjusts with the people around.

Asking questions and finding right answers is of paramount importance when it comes to nation building. For that matter, asking questions and finding relevant answers is of paramount importance even when it comes to developing great software. I am sure many of you had brain storming sessions where every nook and corner of the application is questioned and discussed before it goes into market. Why? Because questions propel us to find right answers. And right answers help us in improving. Merely following what has been told to you ultimately results in collateral damage to the whole system.

Coming back to my question that I asked, May I know the pioneering contributions from India in the fields of science, astronomy and mathematics till ~1000 AD?

There is a reason why I asked that question. Scientific contributions have always existed in the darkest period of history. What makes the difference is whether it’s a pioneering contribution or just another contribution? No doubt, ‘zero’ was the pioneering contribution and I am sure there were many more contributions that we have failed to recognize and evangelize them globally such that contributors receive their formal recognition.

Part of the problem lies with the fact that we mixed our science with metaphysical reasons. Also, when you formally call something as science, one should be prepared for scientific scrutiny.

Consider for example the field of Vaastu-shastra, when my house was being constructed, someone suggested that Kitchen should have windows eastwards because it is Vaastu complaint. I asked him “why is it so?” He gave me some metaphysical reasons which had no relation with science. So, I spent some time researching and thinking, is there any scientifically valid reason for Kitchen having windows eastwards? And believe me, I found answers - sunlight consists of UV rays that kills bulk of the bacteria/germs. The intensity of UV spectrum of Sunlight increases from morning to noon and later decreases. Kitchens are generally the breeding grounds for bacteria and germs and having a window eastwards will bring in the UV rich sunlight killing the bacteria. Note, UV rays have harmful effects on humans, that’s why size of the window and it’s altitude also matters. Now, the obvious question arises that whether Vaastu-shastra is a branch of science or branch or something else? I believe that it started as a scientific study, but somehow when people failed to market it as science - they mixed some metaphysical reasons to sell it. Similar marketing tactics were used for other branches of sciences developed in India. When people started questioning about the validity of certain things, we started the culture of not questioning our elders. And even today’s that’s continuing.

Point to be noted, I am not trying to hurt anyone’s sentiments here. All am I saying is, we need to question to find the right answers. And unless we live in an environment where people are allowed to ask questions, there is a little chance of being the best in world in coming days.

During my engineering, I had an opportunity of visiting around 30 engineering colleges across Andhra Pradesh for papers at technical symposiums. My first technical paper was on ‘Analysis of Non Linear Schrodinger equations for Optical solitons’ which I presented at a National Level Symposium called Pragnya-2005 for which I received the best paper award. In the coming years, I touched upon different fields such as decoupling capacitors in VLSI, energy complexity in embedded systems, power frameworks in cellular communications, etc. One of the criticisms I always had from my professors was that I never attached myself to one field and I can only make big if I stick to one field. Probably, it was due to my curiosity and ability to question everything that propelled me to work on different fields. Sometimes, it was funny - I used to have long debates in class-rooms with professors on a particular question, disrupting the whole class. Sometimes, I was warned to keep quiet and I believe rest of the times, professors enjoyed debating with me.

While participation in every symposium was a unique experience, I often felt that there is something profoundly missing among the students. For most of them, a technical paper meant understanding something that has not been taught. Rarely, I got to see the ability to challenge a technical idea. Of course, their situation indirectly helped me in winning quite many ‘Best student paper awards’ but somewhere I felt guilty about it. Sometimes, I felt these students are too humble in accepting whatever they have been told than questioning why it is true. To make things worse, the attitude of being too humble has deeply affected their creativity. This problem arises not just at school or college but rather starts at home itself.

As per the values of general Indian family, children are told right from our childhood that it is not correct to question your elders and accept whatever they say. The unfortunate state is that, the child loses his/her ability to question about an issue/problem and over the period of time becomes non-creative. The non-creative child grows up and again preaches the same values to his/her children and this cycle has been continuing since past two thousand years. That’s precisely the reason why over last two thousand years, we have produces such less number of scientists and intellectuals. To make things more clear, let me categorically state certain examples

- Existence of superstition even today in most parts of India is an example of the inability of people to question its validity. “My forefathers believed, so I believe it too” … That’s the answer you find from these people when asked.

- Glorification of works done by ancestors is another habit of Indians. Just because, people merely follow what has been told to them than doing something creative, some primitive work done by ancestors becomes so sacred that it can’t questioned.

- Suppression of creativity in the name of religion, culture and traditions is rampant in most part of the country. People still treat scientific advances as foreign invasion on their religion, culture and traditions.

I can go on and on giving these kinds of examples. Believe me, most people reading this blog post would argue with me that “are you saying listening to elders is wrong?” than understanding that all am I saying is “a child should be given liberty to question the existing logic and come up with his/her own solutions if there exists a flaw”.

Imagine, the state of the same child who was forced never to question and challenge the custom/tradition/religion/culture goes to college/school, do you think he/she will question the teachers about validity of something doubtful in textbooks? How can you expect such child to challenge the scientific ideas when he/she isn’t given liberty to question at home? And all this makes, most of the Indian students become too humble to accept whatever they have been told.

Just another day, I was reading an interesting blog where there was an anonymous comment

“I don't know about ** in India but I work - as an Australian - for an Indian company. We did some 'cultural sensitivity' training when our company was taken over so that we would be aware of the differences. One of the key ones was the importance of hierarchy in the Indian culture. This means that the opinion/attitude/approach of the leaders has much more impact than it would in Western cultures. In general, if a senior staff member says something then people will go along with it even if they know it to be wrong. This would seem to tie in with a lot of what people have been saying here -even to the point that groups controlled from ******* are much more productive.

In terms of innovation; I had one of our Indian colleagues explain that in terms of the Indian education system. His point was that, with so much poverty in India, a large majority of the people are working to get out of their current social position. With few exceptions the most likely way to do this is through education but only the top graduates actually manage to do well. This leads to a great deal of competition in the system: to get into the right college you need to get good marks at the right secondary school and to do that you need good marks at the right primary school etc etc. To get good marks, you have to give the expected answers in all exams/test etc. You do not deviate from the lessons you have been taught or you may fail. Such an environment does not encourage thinking outside the box! I have seen many of the Indian staff grow enormously in their roles while seconded to this country. I cannot say the same for those that I need to deal with that remain off-shore.”

This comment fairly summarizes the point I am trying to convey. Without being too philosophical here, let me state the action items for all of us Indians who agree with me

1. Let us not restrain ourselves and following generations from questioning and challenging the existing ideas

2. In case, there is a flaw in any of our tradition/custom/religion/belief, let us have guts to accept it.

3. Let us try to be as scientific as possible. Science will not harm our culture but rather improves it.

4. We are known by what we are and not by what our ancestors were. Let us create a good identify for ourselves so that 500 years from now, when historians write about us, they write good things.

During my engineering, I was highly interested in Laplace transforms, Fourier transforms, differential calculus, vector calculus, etc. However, after the end of engineering and having spent last two years in core software industry, it seems like my command over engineering mathematics is lost. In fact, today, I am struggling to solve simple problems like finding a Fourier series for a given function. I feel quite ashamed to express this and definitely like to revamp my knowledge.

Part of my problem also lies in lack of proper exposure to applications of engineering mathematics. We study differential calculus, vector calculus, etc however seldom we are taught about how these fields can be applied in physics or engineering subjects. While, I did apply Fourier series expansions and transforms in communication system engineering, I still feel there was lack of depth in the subject.

Going ahead, without command over mathematics, it’s almost impossible to search for profound ideas in physics. Currently, I have ideas but to put down those ideas on paper, I need mathematical support. I have already spend last few years chasing wild dreams, now it’s the time to do something practical… something realistic. I am yet to receive formal acceptance about Calpanic Numbers from Math community. And that’s not because they don’t want but because I haven’t yet formally put it before them. I accuse myself for the delay.

Initially, I thought doing PhD and then start publishing these papers. However, PhD has become too complicated for me especially because the kind of entrance exams being conducted. For some reason, I am not getting a feel to prepare for exams. The situation is like this, whenever I start reading something, I want to go deep into it. Few days back, I decided to revamp my knowledge in basic electronics, I started with diodes and I spend almost 5 days just understanding different aspects of diodes. Basically, all that effort is not needed for an entrance exam. One needs to cover the whole breadth of syllabus. I don’t think I can resist myself going deep into the subject than just covering the subject just for the sake of an exam.

Next tasks for me

1. Revamp knowledge on Laplace transforms, Fourier transforms/series, partial differentiation, integral calculus, vector calculus and basic engineering mathematics.

2. Understand basic Group theory

3. Work on publishing Calpanic Numbers in some standard mathematical journal.