Spring Fest 2010: Some Dreams Come True

As I sit typing this post at 1130 in the night, I wonder what it would have been had it not been for this night. My almost pre-decided post on SF would never have come thanks to some really Makhau show by the SF Core Team.

The Core Team hadn't got a thing right this time around. It seemed that SF was back to its old ways after the 50th anniversary of SF last year. The final day of the programme however was something to cheer about, cherish and take back from the 51st edition of SF.

Core Team: Live Up to Your Standards

First the Skid Row row. People said the Core Team didn't have much ado here. But as they take the credit for Pritam's show, so do they take the blame for the Skid Row row.

Then the timings. SF has never got it right. I guess it never will. Waiting for 3 hours inside a jam-packed Open Air Theater with an angry audience was really the heights. Waiting, waiting waiting.

And how can one forget the website. Kept changing. Kept loading. Kept crashing. But one could never find what one really wanted.

I have friends in the Core Team. But I think I must point out the shortcomings. The image of Kgp is at stake.

Quizzing, JTGW et al

5 high quality quizzes in 2 days really aroused my interest in quizzing. The questions were elusively simple - yet not easy. I am seriously contemplating increasing the size of my team from 1 to a seizable number so that we can rock quizzes in the future. Do let me know if you are interested in joining us!

JTGW was a close shot. I think we had a chance if we applied ourselves a little more. As they say, there is always the next time.

Luck By Chance

I think no phrase epitomizes today's evening better than the above phrase. There seemed to be nothing this SF that could compare with Indian Jazz Suites - some show that really stood out.

But as it turned out, Pritamda accepted a last ditch effort by the Core Team Members to come to Kgp. Rumour has it that Jal was cancelled because of security reasons. Or possibly they had surplus funds after Skid Row got cancelled. Whatever be it, the gamble paid off.

Not only did Pritam, Anik (winner of Sa Re Ga Ma television show), Sohamda and (not to mention) the beautiful Monali grace the stage, they did so with style putting music to the rather tribal Tempo Shout that IITKgp has been doing with for the last 50 years!

It appears that this wasn't the first time Pritamda was at SF. The only difference with his visit 15 years back was that he was now on the other side of the fence. Not entirely though, as he did spend some time with the people on the crowd!

All in all, it was wonderful to have something to cheer about.

And as the saying goes

All is Well That Ends Well (Or Rather All Iz Well!!)

Winds of Change: CCD in Kgp

Just in case you didn't know, Kharagpur has a brand new Cafe Coffee Day. Not that it is something to be really proud of or boast of. But I am just stating the facts.

The Pre-Kgp Days

The fact that Kharagpur didn't have a state of art eating joint had surprised me in the first place. Whenever I thought about IIT in my Pre-Kgp days, images of CCDs filled with geeky people in specs sitting on tables involved in some esoteric conversation would come to my mind.

One imagines a lot of things before going to places. Unfortunately, things aren't always as you imagine them to be.

As a "Faccha"

So when I finally landed up in Kgp, I was in for a shock. Even I (who has an amazing capability to do with any kind of comestibles and rarely make a fuss about it) found the Mess food Yuck!

So on Saturdays when the Mess would be officially closed, I would go have dinner at some eating joint - Sahara to start with, Billoos, Veggies/Eggies or some Canteen or the other. But rarely could I find the kind of food that I was looking for. Or for that matter, that ambience to sit down and Bhaat.

A lot can happen over Tea Coffee

One golden rule which I learnt at my first visit to CCD was - More isn't merry. If you dish out the bucks aka $$$$, you wouldn't necessarily get what you seek.

As I sat down on the table wondering how the fellow who passed by me could dish out 2147 rupees (yeah, I remember the figure) to have coffee - I knew it wouldn't be long before I got my answer.

The stuff that I ordered (Chicken Pizza and Garam Masala Tea) arrived 20 minutes after I ordered.

The Tea was a bowl of hot water into which I had to dip the teabags and put the milk, sugar ... blah blah blah. Although I knew this was the latest fad --- I never knew I would have to pay 20 rupees for preparing a cup of tea.

The pizza although yummy just went on to show how ignorant those people were about Mathematics. For one, their cuts didn't go through the center. On top of that, the cuts didn't go through and through. So I really couldn't apply the Pizza Theorem. As a result, my poor friend to be satisfied with whatever he had ordered (which was just about palatable).

But those people are here for a reason

They know how to do their business. As we finished our plates, we found something written on the plate.

Would You Like to Have Some Coffee?

That was written on his plate. Inscribed on my plate were the words "Want Some More?" in funky fonts.

My roommate says that Bengali blood runs in me. Even though I have lived out of Bengal all my life, my nature is the same. So as I sat back to enjoy the ambience, my friend ordered some more and hmm... had it not been for me... I really wonder how much he would ended up spending.

Our bill ended up at 200 bucks and I really marvel that we could have so much after all for just about 1/10th that the other guy ended up paying.

The final verdict

If you are looking to grab some coffee during the upcoming fest, you might be have to wait. I really doubt if there would be any space in their for Kgpians, let along non-Kgpians (Have your coffee before or after the fest!). It is the hottest thing in campus presently and its going to take some time before things begin to settle down.

And if you are looking for some good Water Tea, I would advise you to head off to Tikkas which is hardly a 10 minutes walk from CCD.

Ciao!

Confessions of A Goodie Goodie Kid

STATUTORY WARNING: All characters and incidents depicted below are purely from memory. The description is not very accurate. The reader is advised to take what is given below with a pinch of salt.

12 Years Ago

I was made the line monitor. It was a very responsible post. The class being seated in 4 columns, I was in-charge of the discipline of my column. (Imagine! Poor me)

My first real responsibility. I wanted to be up to the task. No mistakes.

Library period.

"Line. Please make a queue".

As is the tradition, shouts of "He's not making a queue. Why should I?", "Why a Queue?" followed.

"Raveesh, this is your last warning."

The rest they say is history.

I reach the library last along with Raveesh, am at the receiving end of what not and my mind is swirling with what not.

Luckily, the missing button on my shirt was attributed to loose threads. I was the goodie goodie kid.

7 years ago

I am new to the class having changed my section. I get into a fight with one of my classmates. After a 15 minute tussle, I manage to "nail" my opponent. (Apparently, his shirt got stuck in a nail). As he attempts to fight back, the inevitable happens. There is a screeching sound and before we realize what has happened his shirt is torn into two pieces.

Nobody discovers my misdemeanor. I was never rebuked for the incident. I was the goodie goodie kid.

Now

I am no longer a kid.

But when I watch kids being reprimanded , I think - "Why can't they be a goodie goodie kid?"

P.S: What happened between the 12th year and the 7th year? More goodie goodie stories later. Possibly when the time is right. But for now, this is it.

2009: Blogging et al

It has been a long and tumultuous year. It was one year back that I made my entry to the wonderful world of blogging. From the blog that it was to the blog it is has been quiet a journey. I must thank my friends and my readers who have patiently read some of my good and not so good posts.

Thank you all. Sigh!

It has also been year where IIT has really shown its Aukaat, so as to say. 3rd semester hasn't been easy. First OP and then the wonderful grades that I managed all thanks to Signets. For the information of those who do not know - Signals and Networks is the most dreaded course in IIT Kharagpur in the 2nd year. Rumour has it that there was only one A and one Ex given in the course last year. And well... ah! my marks in the mid-sems weren't really great to put it mildly. [The Algorithms course didn't make help matters :( ]

I have turned into a weighlifter (no! it isn't the same as body-building. Please!!). And there has been an evolution in my outlook towards things all round. (That happens every year I guess!).

For me, it hasn't been about --- well --- whatever has been the news --- it has been a long drawn out struggle. But I won't draw my readers into it all. I remain the optimist that I have always been. And with that, here is Jazzy signing off for the year.

A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to all my esteemed readers.

Trudging Unknown Waters: Image Registration

It has been some time since my last post. Even after one year of blogging, the phenomenon called Writer's Block has intrigued me. There are times when it is difficult to come up with a post for days and then there are times when one comes up with posts back to back. Very difficult to understand unless one really faces it first hand.

It has also been quiet a hectic time. Life in IIT is not all that rosy as it is made out to be. I have been involved with a project on 3D deformable image registration using GPU. Here is an example of an image registration (2D) that I did using MATLAB.

What is Image Registration?

For those not in the know, I have used a very well known image in Image Processing - that of Lena Soderberg. It is often used as a standard test image. The first image is a deformed one (also known as the moving image) and the second is the static image. The moving image has to be transformed to match with the static image which is the result (the third image - the registered image).

Applications

One often uses image registration in medical imaging. Instead of a face, one might have a deformed state of the human lung. That becomes the moving image. It can then be transformed to match with a human lung in the normal state. This way one can integrate the data and work on the human lung.

As the wikipedia defines it, Image Registration is the process of transforming different sets of data into one coordinate system.

Image registration is not confined to medical imaging alone. It is a widely used technique in astrophotography and panoramic photography.

The Challenge

The image that I have used is a grayscale image of dimensions 512 x 512. Image registration algorithms require that you work pixel by pixel and iterate over the operations 100 to 200 times. This means each operation within the loop has to performed 512 x 512 x 200 = 52428800 times which can be computationally very expensive (This image took me 3 to 4 minutes)

This is where my project comes in - to parallelize the code. Instead of the operations on individual pixels running serially, they can be made to run in parallel by making use of the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) [The NVidia G80 has 16 multiprocessors and each multiprocessor is composed of 8 processors (ALUs).  That is one too many compared to what Intel has to offer].

Parallelizing the code has been used to achieve a speedup of upto 55 times in many applications. This can very useful in image registration, specially in medical applications where time is of prime importance.

The GPU is not the only way to do it - there are other ways too (FPGA based for example). However, image registration using the GPU is a fairly new domain and it is going to be exciting to see how the GPU fairs in comparison to the existing procedures.

P.S: Was this post too technical in nature? Have any ideas for me too write on? You can let me know in the comments section :)

Classification of Teachers

As I was surfing through the flotsam and jetsam of the blogosphere, I came across this post on Classification of Students - A professor of Network Analysis taking a dig at the students on Teacher's Day. And frankly speaking, this was it. Emotions were up to the brim and I had to defend the students.

This is the student version - to which the readers are free to add on and comment upon. A Professor/Teacher at any given instance of time may belong to one or more of the categories.

# The OK Professor

This is the really annoying kind. Talking to them is a real pain in the neck. Their lectures are peppered with OKs, Does This Makes Sense and aahh.. aahh..

They are really nervous while teaching. Or probably, they developed this bad habit in spite of all the training.

In one class that I still remember, the professor had uttered 180 OKs in a span of 30 minutes - that averages to 6 OKs per minute! Or an OK every 10 seconds! Does that make sense? OK?

# The Somnolent Professor

Though the professor is a master in his subject and his presentation is immaculate, there is something in his lecture that puts everyone to sleep.

The professor may not realize it but half the class would be sleeping. It maybe because of his dull voice (rather monotonic?), probably his haphazard manner of going about things or it maybe just nothing at all. But he justs puts everyone to sleep.

#  The Peace Maaru Professor

Really doesn't believe in working very hard. Will teach as much as he is paid for. Nothing more.

Comes to the class 10 minutes late and leaves the class 10 minutes early. Solves a question on the board in the whole class and doesn't bother the students much. His policy is - "Live and let Live".

#  The Dynamic Professor

This is the professor who feels that the students should get the best out of his class. He gives them a lot of assignments and takes surprise tests.

He is young, energetic and full of passion for his subject. He thinks - "I should try to become the Ideal (Utopian?) professor."

# The Motivators

These are generally the old guys. Already in the teaching profession for 20 to 30 years, they know that whatever they teach is not going to make much of a difference. If however they can motivate some of the students to do something in life, they would have accomplished something.

Their lectures are filled with quotes from the Gita and the Bible. They borrow extensively from Shiv Khera and think that their plagiarism would go unnoticed. One can stand them for a day or two but the rest of their lectures are just "Rewinding the Tape".

# The Pundits

The really knowledgable ones. They have worked in the industry for some time and their breadth of knowledge puts you to awe.

But their lectures are hardly organised. They would start of with programming in C and end up with the reactions that take place in a rocket launcher.

Their lectures can be really hilarious and fun. But it won't do you any good for your exams.

#  The Sadists

They may not be sadists at heart. But some of their activities really annoy the students.

If they are invigilators in the exam hall, they might as well throw out half the candidates out of the hall for plagiarism/not bringing admit card/ringing of the mobile phone.

When they evaluate the papers, one really wonders if he had been having breakfast while evaluating the paper. And worse of all, when the answer scripts are shown, the professor is out of town.

They may be excellent teachers. But rarely student friendly.

# The Liberals

They are the modern professors. They believe in modern methods of teaching. They ask students of the opposite gender to sit together in class and they come in casuals instead of formal wear to class.

Their evaluation is liberal and they are a real hit with the students.

I will stop here. I think this is the basic classification. Did I miss any? Have any to add on to this? Do let me know!

The Economics of Travel

Travelling involves a lot of preparation. More so, in Bengal.

As I was travelling from Burdwan to Kolkata by train, I was given some funda on travelling

• Board the last bogie (Reason? The last bogie turns out to be the first bogie when it arrives in Howrah)
• There won't be much space to stand. But do not sit.
  
  

The second needs some explanation. In fact, it didn't make much sense to me till I boarded the train. The train seemed to be empty. But all the seats appeared to be reserved. Rather "Handkerchiefed" (something that some of my friends really hate about Bengalis) or "Trump Carded" whatever you may like to call it. 

F: Do not sit. Possibly, you may be called to sit.

As I linger about the empty seats, one of those sitting beckons me to sit. He removes a card and gives me a seat. I sit down skeptically.

In a while, the train fills up and the passengers seem to be seated comfortably.

Enter the Dalal.

Medium height, photocromatic eyeglasses and a thick shock of hair oiled in coconut oil. He comes and collects the cards. Counts them. 25 cards. One missing. Sits down besides me.

D: Dutta da, Maal ta din (Give me the goods!)
Dutta da: Diye debo. Apni tho amar bondhu (Will give you. You are my friend)
D: Jhule jhule jaaben, sheta ki bhalo lagbe? (Would you like to go standing in the crowded train?)

As I was about to doze off in the hubbub, what appears to be a 10 rupee note grazes past my shoulder. As I open my eyes, I can see the Dalal writing down carefully on a piece of paper Rs 10 against Dutta da.

Some Quick Calculations

I make some quick calculations. 26 people. Rs 10. That makes it Rs 260. Now if the Dalal loses a card daily. Then he has to buy a new deck every fortnight.  Rs 260 minus Rs 20 / 2 = Rs 250. How much does the Dalal get? Rs 1000 every month (one way!). Not bad if it is weekly.

Now could this weekly or monthly? Would I be willing to pay Rs 10 for a seat if my ticket was for Rs 30 x 7 = Rs 210. How much was that? Roughly 5%. What if it was monthly? It would too low to be even significant. If it was weekly, the Dalal would be earning a handsome amount all for nothing! (If the Dalal earned Rs 15000/month at his office in Kolkata, this would contribute to roughly 10% of his income!). But what if it was monthly?

I was all confused and was about to doze off when it dawned on me that it wasn't 26 people. It was more than that. One couldn't have the same 26 people travel on all 30 days. He was reserving seats for more than 26 people. Maybe 50. Maybe 100. Couldn't tell where his boundaries ended and the next Dalal's boundaries started.

Some Open Questions

Suddenly, what appeared to be a mere gimmick for seats in a train looked like brisk business. And everybody paying/getting paid was equally culpable! Consider the number of Dalals one could have - If one had 2 Dalals per bogie and 15 bogies per train, the amount that went ??? was Rs 2000 x 30. And considering the number of local trains that crisscross the Indian railways daily, here are some questions I leave the reader to ponder upon

• Where do all these big numbers go when multiplied and added?
• Where do they come from? (My answer: The taxpayers)
• If you were a daily passenger, would you pay Rs 10 for a seat?
  

P.S: Do keep one thing in mind while answering the last question. You are an avid Card player. You love bridge/poker whatever and it is very difficult to play cards if you are standing. Now, would you pay Rs 10 for a seat?