Probably Approximately Correct

Dear Prof. Srinathan, Anuj, Piyush and Pranav:

I am glad that I have fulfilled my commitments towards the group in 2009.  But before I can go ahead to give you more commitments, I need to clear my doubts about the way we will be functioning and whether the group shall support my aims or will things remain same? As of now even after the discussion, nothing has changed for me. The discussion that we held a couple of days ago has not come to any conclusion. I am still unsure from where can I gather some hope/trust for myself. Till I can gather some trust, I am still committed to my decision of staying away from anything related to the group.

I was not finding a time to discuss all these things in person and hence the mail. My stand is quite clear, I am not even interested in taking a degree. Unless I can find some trust, I will find it really tough to take part in your next mission. So currently,  kindly don’t include me in any of your plans. Rather, I have lost all plans for me as well. In short, I am disowning the group.

Regards,
Prasant Gopal

This  was  the mail I sent to my group along which I completed a year long work on a problem and having successfully solved three problems and communicating those articles to the best conferences in theory . Why did I send this mail in the first place? I have sent competitive articles to the best possible places. What else can I ask for? But is that all that we seek from research - Pick up a problem, solve & send and again pick up a problem. Is  that all we are up to in an MS/PhD. programme? Do we undergo a (under) graduate programme only to get our dog-tags — By dog-tags, I mean the numbers (CGPA, articles published  etc.)  and the various other experimental results/graphs. Slowly but steadily, Are these numbers becoming the signatures of our life?

Of course, one advantage of undergoing an (20 year) educational process is that - it ensures a safer route in making us financially secure - which I will never contest. There are also other (hidden) goals/pursuits involved in going through the entire process. As Srinathan pointed it out in his post of Academic Aura, we also pursue academics in order to appreciate the things happening around you in a better way and to the fullest extent possible.

When I look back in as to why I had to send such a mail to the person/group - without which I cannot even dream to live; I have to at least take you back into April 08 — Plans and arrangements were on at a brisk pace for the batch trip. Even Anuj was busy with his batch trip. It was then that the group meets and  decides we have to write an article to FoCS (Foundations of Computer Science) and we have a week left in our hands. For me and Anuj, accepting that decision would simply mean that the batch trip would be out of the window. The decision was not an easy one - at one end there were the friends, batch and at the other end- the group which had literally given us (literally) everything - understanding, confidence, training to come to terms with life and more importantly peace. To any person, we would have told a flat NO on his face; but to Srinathan we couldn’t. And hence, we were left with no other option but to skip the batch trip and for doing a so we keep getting rockets from our friends even till date. You have to understand that it was a decision which was, basically, not in our hands.

Srinathan has won over us as an individual that we, probably, can never tell him a NO. To put in perspective, if it is not for Srinathan’s pressure I would have rejected the MIT admit and of course, if even at this  point he tells, “Dear Prasant, You have to be here.” Let me tell you, I will have no second thoughts in choosing what to do. Srinathan has won us over our hearts and staying back with him is the least thing I can do. Let me be frank at this point - Srinathan never paid me any stipend nor can he place me at a good MNC with his influence nor send me for an intern to any place (probably not even to HCU, TiFR or IISc) but he has certainly given me a life! He has defined life for me and the rest of our group. Srinathan is a soft spoken person and believes in a simple thing - questioning everything (which even we may manage do!), but there is a difference we question others but Srinathan questions himself and finds an answer from within - for how many people can question themselves on a doubt arising from the outside and find an answer from inside. Srinathan’s principles are simple, uncomplicated and vivid - there is no rocket science about them.

So, after our respective batches left for their trips we started to put in some effort to get the mission on track. As the deadline drew closer, the efforts and the concentration were taking a hit due to fatigue and other reasons. It was a unique experience for me - as it was the first time I was writing an article (including giving the solutions and their proofs) completely. It was also a roller coaster -  As I began writing about 2 days from the deadline and it kept going till the deadline. It was probably the first time I stayed awake for nearly 40 hours. After nearly 40 hours, we submitted a couple of papers. By the time,we uploaded the final versions it was about 5:30 am. Me, Anuj, Pranav, Piyush and Srinathan went for a long walk and then, finally retired for the day. I was not planning to sleep for a longer time as I have to travel home on that day. It was around 13:30 when I received a message from Srinathan reading, “Dear Prasant: I have withdrawn our papers!” I was absolutely dumbstruck by this. I have to admit that my brain stopped working for a couple of minutes and I even wondered whether it was  a dream. By the time I realized I was not in a dream, I had to leave to the station and catch my train. After I boarded the train - I called Srinathan and literally blasted him for withdrawing “my” work without my permission (A comment on my possessiveness is due later). Srinathan patiently listened to all and told me that we can talk in depth once you are back from your place. By the time, I was back we had received a couple of rejection mails as well.

I still remember, after I returned back we had a quite a long meeting. I think it ran for nearly 4 hours. It was in this session I barraged Srinathan with questions after questions  and he kept answering them patiently -

Our doubts were on the rejections and we were quite furious that the reviewers of our article did not do review our articles in proper light and hence the reviewers dished out injustice upon us. All through this, Srinathan was smiling at us and I could not resist but ask him - “You have to be mad to smile even after such ridiculous reviews and set backs?” To which, Srinathan starts as follows -  “Dear Prasant: You should learn how to enjoy yourself. Enjoying is an art form. I feel you should be able to see the things in the right way. More than that - You should have the right expectations. For instance, if Sachin Tendulkar feels only a century(victory in a match) makes cricket enjoyable, then more often than not - Sachin should be down in the dumps. However, if Sachin makes playing(batting, bowling and even fielding) cricket an enjoyable process - there can be no end to his joy and hence he can remain in enjoyable state forever. Let me make myself clear - If Roger Federer tells to himself that only a trophy shall make me happy, then he is in for a tough and miserable life. However, if he enjoys playing tennis then everyday will be a great one!

Along the same lines - I feel you should enjoy doing research(or in our case problem solving), if you base it on the acceptance/rejections given by another set of people; then you are in for a miserable life. You should be able to move on. Let me tell you a small story -

It so happened once that, a preceptor(guru) and his disciples were taking a tour of the entire country. At a place named Chitravati, they came to a river. On the banks of the river, they spot a beautiful young woman - she was unable to cross the river. So, she comes upto the preceptor(guru) and seeks his help to take her across the river. The preceptor takes the woman into his arms, carries her over the river and leaves her on the other bank. Looking at the entire sequences of the events - the disciples were spellbound and were wondering at this act of the preceptor. They started chattering about the various things which the preceptor had told them regarding woman and how to maintain chastity. Upon hearing disturbances among the disciples, the preceptor immediately turns back and seeks what is troubling them. The disciples start to explain that you have asked us to keep away from woman, but you have carried her over the river in your arms. We are confused. To which the preceptor replies - “I have carried her alright but I left her at the river bed  but you are still carrying her with you in your thoughts!”

Srinathan, now, puts the story into our context. He says, “The accepts/rejects should be left behind and you should move ahead with your research and passion.” Don’t carry them with you for a long time, they will hurt you big time. So, one should have a passion and keep moving towards it.

Upon receiving his wisdom and advices, I stayed put for about a week. For some reason, I used to go through the following cycle - Get disappointed, go to Srinathan and the group, they used to give me some advice and after a week I get back to them with newer doubts and frustrations. The motivation which he gave seldom lasted for more than a week. My doubts were varying from why are we not sending/writing more articles, why am I not getting any financial support from Srinathan, why were we not getting a half TA in ToC  - For some reason, I was extremely disappointed that I never got an half TA; even though I never took it for monetary reasons ( Now in hindsight, may be I wanted to trouble Srinathan for some reason or the other! Destiny had it.). My frustrations also extended to my inability to find him and vent out my frustrations (basically arising from lack of opportunities to vent out frustrations).

There were times when we used to discuss the fortunes of various teams in IPL at length. We used to enumerate the various strategies teams should follow. It was in one of these discussions Srinathan took a tutorial for me on how to calculate the net run-rates and the use of duckworth lewis system in cricket. It was around this time he proudly conjectured the following for T20 cricket - “Teams either do well in the first 10 overs or the last 10.” What he means by this is: Say a team has scored 100 in first 10, then they very rarely go on to match their performance in the next ten. His conjecture was spot in the current IPl (in case, you are following it).

As the summer digged in, things got a little hotter. I had been to home for about 20 days. Upon being there, I was subjected to some pressure and at the same time, I did feel a little non-amateurish and started feeling - Should I not relieve dad from this duties? Given that he was a part of a big family(which was the case in India till 30 years ago) and had been carrying the family for nearly 25 odd years. There was a rush of blood and it firmly told me that I should take over the responsibilities. I should accept that I did feel a little emotional after being at home for nearly 20 days and after looking things from a close quarter. As a son, I wanted my dad to take a break  and have some time for himself! I thought - it is time for me to stand up and let dad be taken off all the burdens. It was at this point that irrespective of what was happening in the background, I decided that should take up the job at google. I didn’t think about Amazon as the director wanted me to there for at least an year and a half - he felt if was to join and leave in less than an year then it will be sheer waste of, both, time and money from both parties.  So, I came back and convinced Srinathan of my responsibilities and took up Google (Did I really?).  Srinathan was supportive and said - look, it does not make much of a difference in which path/option you take - just that once you make a choice you have to be responsible. Remember that, once you have made a choice, you will have no choice but to abide by it.

I joined Google on June the 23rd.  Let me tell one thing - the first 3-4 days when you take up a job will  (seem to) be the best days of your life. You will be extremely charged, proactive, seek and understand newer settings around you. Life seems beautiful and you feel as though as there is nothing that can beat this! There will be a spring in our step. The initial enthusiasm reaches a peak after 3-4 days and starts dipping slowly. However, you shall experience a local maxima on the days when you receive your first salary. Its a week or two after you receive second salary the excitement starts to dip at alarming rates. This is the folklore around usually when you get into a job and the advice I got my bro. No, No. I didn’t stay so long. I was hardly there for 10 days! My experiences there were something like this - I felt like I was in the matrix. I felt was being bred only to do one thing - sit and code with hands on the keyboard and brain in the locker. I for the first time in my life felt like a broiler chicken being bred/raised only for one purpose. I should admit here that it was a scary experience for me. It was nearly 3-4 days into the job and it was then I realized the value of a university environment and its benefits. This along with compelling reasons from family front led me to hand over a resignation to my manager. As soon as I got out, let me tell you, the feel was tremendous. I felt free and once again back to my old irresponsible self. For some reason, at least for me, I feel great to be devoid of any pressures/deadlines. I realized it was  high time I need some rest and possibly restore my brain to its original (factory) settings - What better place of restoration than in momma’s lap. So, I left that every day and stayed with my momma. I spoke my heart my out of my experiences to my momma and as any other momma - she embraced me and helped me to restore myself.

It was in one of those days after I returned, the mind again started to play games with me and it started making ugly comparisons like - why did you leave and  look what you have become - leave the air-conditioned environments (my lab IS not air conditioned even now!) but you are even struggling to get some decent food (while there every inch was stuffed with food). There were also various other trivial things which troubled me. For instance, I always believed in - “Those who can teach, should.” It is for this reason I felt Srinathan should take better courses and give more to the system. It was also around this time, the students receive a mail from Prof. Sangal on the success of parliament and the differences between true freedom and manmani. I tried to convince the group about the various fancies  I was having in making IIIT a better place and my objections to the mail sent by the director. In short, I was trying to convince the group to assist me in my revolts. And in one such discussions which lasted for nearly 3 hours - me, Pranav,  Anuj and Srinathan rigorously discussed the various shortcomings with the students on one side and the Prof. on the other. Srinathan is such a good debater that it is usually impossible to beat him at any point. And As usual I failed in my attempts and hence the mail which you see in the first paragraph of this post (which I sent to the group when the frustration reached its limits)! This was such a feature for me in my days at IIIT - I get frustrated at various things happening around and vent it out at Srinathan and he shows me a different view/understanding all together . The latest one in the farewell (couple of days ago) and I reach him - he does something and my frustration(negative energy) is out and I am filled up to brim with positiveness(A post will be dedicated to a collection of such instances).

After I sent the mail, Srinathan immediately calls me up and says, “Dear Prasant: Let me tell you one thing. IIIT is nothing but what you are. IIIT is a reflection of what you are. If you are positive, IIIT appears to be a good place. In case, you are negative IIIT appears to be  dooming. Its all about your perceptions. Look at the brighter side - where else can you go to the directors/deans - blast them and still come out smiling. Tell me one thing - When you were doing various things in ToC and were rubbing your whims on the students - did the system object? At IIIT, if you have the conviction to do something everything is possible. IIIT can be only as good as its students. Rather, IIIT is its students! There are limitations and constraints for everyone -even the very best in the world have (had) them. So, I suggest the following - Lets revoke the spirit of SToC which was there last year and see what will happen. And as I have said in the prequel - Can I tell him a NO? 

It was september and we had nearly 70 days to go. We again sat down and figured out what needs to be done. The journey had begun again. This time however we decided to work from a individual plane (unlike daily meetings as was the case last time (refer part 4)). It was in one of these interactions - Srinathan passed his infinitude of wisdom about SoP’s (statement of purpose), What each of the Ivy league universities expects from the applicant and the founding principles of each of these modern age temples. More on this in the next post.

Next up: Things leading to SToC 09, filling the MIT application.

I am a student from Xth year of B Tech, I intend to do a summer project/honors/BTP/Dual Degree at center Y. How do I chose my stream? Where should I go? How should I succeed? As T says

Just do a simple experiment- whatever task faculty member gives, complete it ASAP and go back with next set of questions to be tackled or to seek new things to be done, do this regularly, you will find faculty member showing lot more interest in your work, and you get better guidance.

I think any student who has followed this recipe is bound to succeed or at least have an idea of where he is heading. I also think this recipe is perfect for any student — including dual degrees and enough to ensure your degree on time. Rather, I stand as a testimony to the success of this scheme/experiment. All I can tell is it worked for me - why not give it a try? I can even proudly go ahead and state that this is the recipe for achieve anything - right from to job offers at your Google, Amazons to PhD/MS admits at a good place. I go ahead and ask “four questions” which might strike  anyone of us.

Question 1: How do I choose a center?

Answer: IIIT gives you reasonable depth over the first four semesters - so you would have had an idea by now. In case, you neither have a choice nor unable to decide for some reason -   few faculty members (Prof. Kamal, Prof. Srinathan, Prof. Bipin, Prof. Navjyoti, Prof. Madhav Krishna) are open to this idea of CYOP - create your own project. These faculty also work in multi-disciplinary areas. You should meet  them and discuss your interests and aims/ambitions. In case, you are totally confused, I can suggest one solution from my experiences - keep speaking to as many faculty as possible and things will get a lot better. Try to spend some non-trivial amount of time on any book -I bet you will fall in love! In case, you still have a problem as T says - “Prof Kamal is the best person to talk to.” In any case, keep interacting with a lot of people. You keeping quiet and never opening your heart/interests to any responsible person (includes peers, seniors who can advice you or any faculty member) can be the biggest damage you can ever do to yourself. The onus is upon you to act.

Question 2: Do I need to seriously consider the statistics (like placements, MS/PhD admits etc) before I choose a center?

Answer: NO. There have been students from every center in IIIT who have excelled on all fronts. So, I believe any one else can do it as well. For instance, there are students from (any) center you consider who have done well in getting an admit in MS/PhD/MBA programmes at good places around the world; same is the case with placements. So, it is up to you to choose a center of your choice. For me, statistics are the least important things here.

I can go ahead and give names of those people, but I felt again that taking their names is not the requirement. The requirement is for you to realize - “Nothing is impossible from IIIT”. You have not lost anything yet. IIIT is an excellent place and has set it up nicely for you. The game is for you to lose.

Question 3: Which faculty member to choose?

Answer: Well, to find this out -  The best people to meet and inquire about are the students of the faculty member you are targetting. Just hang out with for a while you will get a feel and may be bug your (prospective) peers with the general trivia you are interested in.But, again your choice of peer should be good or you should take inputs from a good number of people; you cannot approach an outlier (a sample that is an exception) and decide on his inputs. So, you have to be careful. However, I think most of us choose a faculty mentor based on our own experiences with him - like the courses we have done under him etc.

Question 4: What should I do when - the faculty member is not giving me a time slot to meet or  I am not able to find the faculty member in his room?

Answer: From a personal perspective - let me tell you a story –

Yaso happens to be fond of catching scorpions and crabs. On a particular day - I find him standing on the bank of a river and trying to catch a scorpion in the river. Each time he catches tries to catch it, he gets a sting and lets it off. I watch him and after I was tried of seeing him do this atleast 50-60 times, I rush to him and ask - Yaso, don’t you understand the inherent nature of the scorpion - it gives you a sting whenever you catch it. You should be mad in doing this again and again. Surely, there is something wrong with you. To which Yaso says, “Dear Prasant:  Such a small creature is so stubborn that it is not abandoning  its natural instincts, Why should I?”

You should be like Yaso who was willing to take a sting but never swayed from his natural instincts. The natural instincts of a student is to seek - seek knowledge and should be ready to take in a sting or two on the way.

This story was an eye opener to me just for a simple reason - It is your future/progress is at stake. So, is it not your responsibility to catch hold of your advisor? Of course - the faculty also must play his part. But, certainly the onus is on the student to catch hold of his advisor and seek from him. In short, a student should be a seeker. You should chase your faculty - you may ask me why should I, he has given me a project; is it not his responsibility to call me, tell me what should I read and how should I make a decision. All I can say is one thing - Your faculty member cannot more interested than what interests you show in your problem nor can he spend more time than you in the problem. In short, he cannot be more interested to meet you than what interest you are showing in meeting him. So,  understand that it is your interests in the problem and the urge to meet him that decide the fate of your project. 

All I can say is - “Nothing is impossible from IIIT”. You have not lost anything yet. IIIT is an excellent, exceptional place and has set it up nicely for you. The game is for you to lose!

What follows in my speech is a humble attempt to answer a few of these questions in a  radically poetic form. This poem is also a plea to the university, it’s professors, it’s students, it’s staff and all it’s stakeholders.

Long ago, there was a village in which every person was blind. They had to select a representative for their village and they selected a blind representative. One day an outsider came and was reviewing the village administration. He appealed to everybody to understand how weak their village administration is and how vulnerable they are to external attacks from other kings. He said a representative who is blind could not ward off danger of the village. All people were angered and did not value his logical argument and they looked at him as a spy from another kingdom. They all then collectively tied him up and blinded him too.

Here are some pointers to think about

1. It’s important to question. In a village like this,  to progress further you have to start questioning the weaknesses of the system, the way outsider did  in the above story. We the students should start questioning. But the irony of the situation is that we have been trained for years to answer, we were taught how to answer math, physics, chemistry, questions in 11th, 12th, we were taught to answer engineering questions in undergraduate, but we were never taught to question things. Probably, questioning is something we have to learn by ourselves. Remember that the process of questioning is the vital to research in any field.
2. Collective blinding is bad. In this story the outsider is blinded and it lead to a situation of collective blinding. A similar collective blinding is happening at various walks of our life. For example, take students copying assignments. This act nurtures friendship among students and probably contributes to the unity of batch, but on the other hand they are collectively blinding each other. Do we need an unity which is a result of collective blinding ? We can give numerous examples of this collective blinding. On a long run such collective blinding leads to a situation in which a team of students start performing much lesser than what they can individually. This act of collective blinding is unhealthy and is an impediment to the progress. 
3. I leave it to students to decide whether they want to blind themselves in a collective fashion or question the weaknesses in the system to progress forward and ward off dangers.

Now, I come to the concluding part of my speech. I thought it would be best to conclude with a question.  Some of my friends batch mates are  genuinely interested in research. Given a change to opt for the dual degree program now, they would be more than happy to join the program. Is the the administration kind enough to consider the applications of my batch mates for entry into dual degree program ? 

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Acknowledgments: Many thanks to Prudhvi Vatala, Bhanukiran Vinzamuri,  Sharat chandra, Abhishek Sainani, Sashidhar, Praman Kumar, MNV. Kartheek for their timely inputs and criticisms.

This is Prof. Viswanath posting on Prasant’s blog.

Let me summarize what I feel is the essence of Dr. Srinathan’s argument.

1. A deeper and better understanding of a subject leads to better enjoyment.
2. This deeper understanding can not be achieving by routinely listening to the lectures, reading the required books and writing exams, even though a student may do them thoroughly and well. An extra effort is needed. This is research.
3. He asks:   Why are most of us content with the academics done via the most trivial form of research,namely concentrating on a piece of text (book) written in some known human language? Is it not too simplistic, so much so that the end result is the absence of nearly all of academics itself? Is it not a natural tendency for one to wish to maximize one’s academics of IT in the short tenure at IIIT-H? What has happened to this natural tendency and why has it apparently disappeared from our schools and colleges at all levels?

These are important questions and I hope that further posts by interested persons will contribute to a better understanding of these matters.

Here is my attempt to respond to Dr. Srinathan.

1. He says: “A deeper and better understanding of a subject leads to better enjoyment.” I think it is the other way round:  It is enjoyment that leads one to seek a better and deeper understanding.
2. What one enjoys is individual to one. One may enjoy spending an  evening in a music concert and another may enjoy taking a long walk. Ask each one to do what the other does. Both may end up being miserable.
3. I wonder if it is possible to lead a person to enjoy a particular activity. There has to be a natural predilection in the being. One can at most expose a person to an activity to find out if a natural predilection exists or not.
4. To build an atmosphere of research at IIIT-H, let us continue our efforts to advertise that we are an institution that considers research important and try to attract those students who enjoy doing research. We can review how well we are succeeding in this effort periodically and devise better methods of doing it.
5. It is possible that some students enter here and later find that they do not enjoy research.  It is important that they are not allowed to feel that they are inferior in some way. That their capacities are not good enough for research. That they are academic drop-outs.
6. I think that there is no inherent intellectual superiority in doing research. There are no hierarchies in Nature. All hierarchies are made by society and there is no sanctity about them. Would any one think of  ranking the rose, the jasmine, the hibiscus and the oleander in order of superiority? Let everyone flower in their own way.
7. What we can do for those who feel that research is not for them is to help them find out where their true interests lie. Finding that will release their energies and they will naturally excel.