Viswanathan K's Thoughts

As a toddler, my daughter loved Alia Bhatt’s songs, esp. the ones from Student of the Year . (That movie did have many good songs and well-choreographed dances). Fast forward to present day, when she is 12 yo. She rarely watches Hindi movies now, but one of the few ones she likes of late, Raja aur Rani ki Prem Kahani has, yes, Alia Bhatt.   If I had any hopes that there was anything to be read in the name of her toddler-time favorite ( Student of the Year ), they have been dashed. Our conversations come exam time are perfectly captured by this photo and its caption: In fact, the pic below captures how she and I look at her answer sheets – me intently, she with an expression of “It’s over, so why are you even looking at it?”   Of late, we pull her leg and tell her that she isn’t showing any signs of academic prowess, she’d better find a rich guy to marry. Some time later, she showed us this meme on the Internet: “Me No Study, Me No Care Me Go Marry Millionaire If He Die

I found Pranay Kotasthane’s view on what should be India’s policy towards Pakistan interesting. He cites the common argument that trying to improve ties is a waste of time because the Pakistani military-jihadi combo will scuttle any such attempts anyway.   Kotasthane argues India should continue its current policy of “treating Pakistan as a distraction rather than a prime focus area ”. He says: “India benefits far more from having China—and not Pakistan—as its main rival.” Why/how? “Focusing on a larger, richer, and more advanced adversary makes Indian policymakers think of “levelling up” rather than “punching down”. Countering China as a mission statement makes India focus on national power across all its dimensions — technological, economic, and military. In contrast, a focus on Pakistan makes Indian policymakers narrowly focus on counter-terrorism and conventional military power. ”   But he adds a caveat – don’t be dismissive of Pakistan either. Take Israel, he says.

In The Joy of x , Steven Strogatz points out that the commutative property (the fact that the order of actions doesn’t matter) isn’t intuitive in multiplication. Forget for a minute that you know multiplication is commutative, that 3 X 7 is equal to 7 X 3. Instead ask yourself: If you add 3 + 3… 7 times, why should it be equal to 7 + 7... 3 times? He elaborates the non-intuitiveness of the problem: “Try counting by sevens: 7, 14, 21. Now turn it around and count by threes instead: 3, 6, 9… Do you feel the suspense building? So far none of the numbers match those in the sevens list, but keep going… 12, 15, 18, and then, bingo, 21!”   Shifting to a different perspective, he says the commutative law is hard to come to terms with, because in daily life, the order of things does matter. Cause before effect. Socks first, shoes second.   And then he tells the amusing tale about the physicist, Murray Gell-Mann. He had been rejected by Princeton. Harvard said Yes, but weren’t commit

At one point in his book on SpaceX, Liftoff , Eric Berger quotes Elon Musk on the next challenge he set for the company: “One of the hardest engineering problems… is making a reusable orbit rocket.” Booster reuse was high on SpaceX’s priorities. To that end, they tried attaching parachutes to the top stage of the rocket to slow it down when it fell back. The idea was doomed because the speed of re-entry was too high and the stage burnt up long before the parachutes could deploy. As Musk said with hindsight: “We were very naïve… We were huge idiots.”   Why was SpaceX so obsessed with reuse? Cost reduction was just one reason. Remember Musk’s intention to make human flight to Mars affordable? “If an airline discarded a 747 jet after every transcontinental flight, passengers would have to pay $1 million for a ticket.”   If the rocket would burn up on re-entry, what was the way out? A heat shield was the first step, to protect the rocket. The second step was a never-done-be

During our trip to Ladakh, I found all varieties of cars running perfectly well even at the high altitudes of the Himalayan passes (17-18 thousand feet). The internal combustion engine works even with the lesser oxygen, I mused. The moment I thought that, I realized that the difference in oxygen level couldn’t be all that much, otherwise tourists like ourselves would be struggling for breath.   But I wasn’t totally wrong on the point either. Our driver told us most new vehicles are tested in Ladakh. If they can run with the slightly lower level of oxygen there, they can run anywhere.   Like all kids, my 12 yo daughter is a lover of high-end cars. Mercedes and BMW top the list, of course. Thankfully, she doesn’t see Ferraris in Bangalore but I guess things will change if we visit Dubai. Needling her, I pointed out that most of the cars in rugged Ladakh seemed to be Hyundai’s and good old Maruti’s. Don’t see any of the fancy, delicate BMW’s or Merc’s, I added for good measure, I

By 2008, Musk had almost used up his Internet fortune between Tesla and SpaceX, but “had nothing to show for it”, writes Eric Berger in Liftoff . His rocket company had had many failures; while Tesla was eternally in need of cash. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the 2008 recession happened. It was the worst possible time for Musk – (1) funding was scarce; (2) to get funds, he needed results; (3) to get results, he needed funds. Chicken and egg problem. The logical thing would have been to abandon one company and focus on the other. Musk agonized over such a decision – “It was like having two children”, he said.   But there was a possibility of getting a $1 billion contract from NASA for cargo delivery to the International Space Station (ISS). But first, SpaceX had to prove it knew how to fly into space. They scrambled to launch a rocket into orbit: “After sinking six years and $100 million into SpaceX, Elon Musk finally had a real rocket.” Thanks to that, the NASA deal went thro

As the Israeli assault on Hamas and thus Gaza continues, the word “genocide” is increasingly getting used by those critical of Israeli actions. And since Israeli actions are only possible due to America’s support in both military and diplomatic terms, within the US, some accuse Biden of “funding Netanyahu’s genocide” and the term “Genocide Joe” (Joe Biden) has some traction.   A UN official quit over the powerlessness of the organization and wrote: “In just 4 weeks, Israel with US backing has cut off food, water, power & then brutally exterminated more than 10,000 imprisoned civilian men, women & children in Gaza, destroyed their homes, churches, mosques, schools & hospitals because they are Palestinians. Name it? #Genocide. ”   While specific incidents can be questioned and individual photos may be faked, it is hard to argue with the big picture truth of what is being described. Unless you are a Westerner. (I understand Israel’s fury, though I wonder what their p

Elon Musk, remember, is always on multiple projects companies at any given instant. Of the time he spends on any company, he spends 80-90% of his time on the engineering questions, writes Eric Berger in Liftoff . Since he is also the guy who is funding the company, Musk says: “Normally those are at least two people. There’s some engineering guy who’s trying to convince a finance guy that the money should be spent. But the finance guy doesn’t understand engineering, so he can’t tell if this is a good way to spend the money… Whereas I am making the engineering decisions and spending decisions.”   Of course, some decisions went wrong. Like the time he OK’ed aluminium nuts instead of steel ones because they were lighter – “with rockets, every ounce matters”. But the aluminium nut had not been able to tolerate the continuous salt water spray from the ocean when the rocket was being prep’ed, setting off a cascading set of problems that caused the rocket flight to be aborted mid-flight

Throughout the Ukraine war, the Western media has been very vocal in calling out any and all instances of Russia hitting civilian installations. Their “coverage” during the ongoing Gaza war, on the other hand, ignores all such instances.   Don’t get me wrong. I totally get why Israel has gone in with guns blazing – the anger and fury is totally understandable. (Is it the best course of action, has Israel gone way overboard are different questions). Rather, my point here is about the hypocrisy of the Western media.   A small strip of land is being pounded continuously. Water, electricity and essentials are cut off, civilians are also the victims on a large scale, hospitals have been hit. But God forbid if a Western publication should shout out the words, “war crimes”. The civilians of Gaza have nowhere to run to – Egypt won’t open its border, and why should they? Egypt didn’t create this problem. When those refugees were pouring out of Syria into Europe, the Western media was ha

While UPI makes life oh-so-convenient, there are still situations where one needs cash. But when you are outdoors and suddenly need cash, what do you do? It’s not like people carry their debit card around anymore.   What’s the solution? UPI-ATM ICCW . The first two abbreviations are well known, the last one stands for Interoperable Card-less Cash Withdrawal. (1) If the ATM supports ICCW , the menu will offer a choice of “UPI cash withdrawal”. (2) Enter the withdrawal amount. (3) A QR code will be displayed on the ATM screen. (4) Scan the QR code with a UPI app that supports UPI-ATM transactions . (5) Authorize the transaction by entering the UPI app PIN. (6) Money is debited from the UPI app; and the ATM dispenses the cash.   See how easy that was?   Currently, there is a limit of ₹10,000 per transaction. But it could vary by bank. The facility is limited to BHIM UPI app and a handful of banks to begin with; but it is expected to expand soon. If you use your own bank’

Eric Berger’s book on SpaceX, Liftoff , next talks of the launch pad challenges. Elon Musk’s company got permission from the Air Force base in California to conduct its tests and launches. The good thing was that it was close to their factories. But it was also close to the ocean, which meant the rocket that went so many checks and inspections prior to launch would be lashed with salt carried from the ocean by the winds for long periods.   But there was a much bigger problem with the Air Force base in California. To launch a satellite into equatorial orbit, the rocket would need to fly over the US. But flying over land was forbidden by US law (what if the rocket crashed or things went horribly wrong). SpaceX needed to find an eastward facing launchpad. Ideally, the launch site needed to be close to the equator, because then it could “piggyback on the earth’s rotation”, thus reducing fuel needs (and weight).   So they picked the Marshall Islands, a set of islands owned by the US

There is a lot of talk on if/how Modi has overturned Nerhru’vian doctrine on Israel as a result of the ongoing Gaza war. On foreign policy matters, countries act based on self-interest, so I don’t agree with that view. Of course, in domestic politics, the right will act as if Modi overturned Nehru’vian policy, and the left will behave as if yet another Nehru’vian achievement is being dismantled. But that is just politics as usual.   Pranay Kotasthane though says that nothing significant has changed in India’s Israel-Palestine policy now. He bases this on a Dutchman, Nicolas Blarel’s book on India’s policy on Israel since, believe it or not, 1922!   Between 1922 and 1947 , the Khilafat movement meant that India’s freedom struggle suddenly did care about matters in faraway (modern day) Middle East (See my earlier blog on that). As the Congress and the Muslim League jockeyed for the support of Indian Muslims, the Congress decided the smart move was to oppose the Zionist moveme

Elon Musk is a software guy, a man who made his first (multi) millions via a Silicon Valley startup. And it is this software guy who has gone on to create Tesla, the electric car company, and SpaceX, a rocket company. Both those companies stem from his belief that we humans may make Earth uninhabitable, and therefore need alternatives – (1) electric cars instead of the fossil fuel guzzling ones (Tesla), and (2) well, if we can’t save Earth, we should prepare to move to Mars (SpaceX). Yes, Musk doesn’t think small.   Eric Berger’s book, Liftoff , tells the story of SpaceX. It all started when Musk was surprised that NASA didn’t have plans to send man to Mars. Perhaps their website didn’t talk of it, he thought. But no, NASA really didn’t have plans to send humans to Mars. The more Musk dug into NASA, the more he was convinced that NASA “would probably only lead to more flags-and-footprints missions”. That’s Musk for you – cocky, brash, outspoken, a man who wants to change the world,

Nathan Rothschild, he of the famous uber rich Rothschild family, got into the banking business only in 1811. And yet, when the British were fighting Napoleon in 1814, they turned to him for help. Why? Because the British needed a way for their war fighting money to reach the Continent. And by this time, the brothers had branches in most European cities. Plus, Rothschild had “acquired valuable experience as a smuggler of gold to the Continent”, writes Niall Ferguson in The Ascent of Money .   The British authorized him to collect up to ₤ 6,00,000 within 2 months, and ensure its availability at specified ports in Europe. It was an “immense operation” which the Rothschild brothers managed to pull off. And the rewards were in proportion to the risks – they got hefty commissions.   Napoleon lost, got exiled… and returned to power. As war seemed imminent again, the Rothschilds decided to proactively buy up as much gold as possible, in preparation for a long war, and a repeat in Briti