A dream with Sam

For those who are not near and dear to me, you would need an introduction to Sam first, before, I narrate my dream. Her we go, this is Sam (aka) Samir Gulve . As you can notice he has wound down a bit to play a mentor role in EFI as compared to his short aggressive stints in the past. I am one of those fanboys that he has, I dont know how many unknown unsung Technocrats exist like him.

Sam came in my dream on 04 Sep 2022, and I am narrating as much as I could to recollect from that dream as it was something interesting and wanted to write it down.

Typical to Sam, Sam invites friends for a drink and for an evening of talk and discussion. 

I arrived as the last person (but not late). Many of them in the gathering are either in the same community or from much nearby places as compared to me. On the contrary, I am travelling by bus, as I sold my ride about 3 months earlier to this dream day.

I see some known faces from EFI, being a tee-totaller, I am offered with soda, but equally allowed to participate in the gathering. In general gatherings where drinks happen do not entertain non drinkers. However this gathering is from Sam and he and his friends do not care about this notion.

My discussion starter with everyone of them were about, how I lost weight from 102kg to 65kg in a span of 1.5 years after I left EFI. It was due to a very disciplined 10km walk regime I had and an eating practice of not having food beyond 6pm.

The second discussion I had with everyone was, how I dont have a ride of my own while many others in the gathering have rides with lot of muscle used for different purposes. There were arguments of how and whether this idea is realistic or wise, I usually end such arguments with only time will tell. 

Sam in his usual charismatic fashion, makes me initiate a discussion out of the previous subject and from there the following discussion ensues. I realize now that these were offshoot of my previous discussions with him almost 5 years ago when I was in EFI

The discussions were about Planning (Thinking, Ethics, Morals), Execution (Courage), Commitment (you owe this to yourself not to anyone)

There were more discussions which ensued like:

Being courageous while planning is counter productive. 

Thinking during execution is foolish. While executing should have laser focus on the target.

Planning , is the thinking phase, use data if you are new to business, dont ignore the gut feel of a Senior as a brain has a great pattern matching algorithm, which spots the subtle things. Cant ignore many of these symptoms that happen in a planning meeting "hmmmm" , "hannn", "uhhhh" during the planning phase. You need to discuss morals and ethics as well, which sets the foundation and the path to success.

Heart responds, Brain waits.

The cop who waits in the corner of a curve is doing his job, he is performing his duty (Bhagavad Gita , Perform your duty, leave the results to happen), You cant think when you are in the path of execution, like Arjuna. 

Commitment to others is actually a commitment to yourself, you should say it out loud, it is not just enough to write down your goals , but tell yourself about it, by reading it out loud.

I memories of the dream beyond this fizzled out and I could not recollect anything beyond these insightful discussion.

Get up and win that race!

"Quit, give up, you're beaten"
They shout at you and plead
"There's just too much against you
This time you can't succeed".

And as I start to hang my head
In front of failures face
My downward fall is broken by
The memory of a race

And hope refills my weakened will
As I recall that scene
Or just the thought of that short race
Rejuvenates my being

Children’s race, young boys
Young men, how I remember well
Excitement sure, but also fear
It wasn't hard to tell

They all lined up so full of hope
Each thought to win that race
Or tie for first, or if not that
At least take second place

The fathers watched from off the side
Each cheering for his son
And each boy hoped to show his dad
That he could be the one

The whistle blew and off they went
Young hearts and hopes afire
To win and be the hero there
Was each young boys desire

And one boy in particular
Whose dad was in the crowd
Was running near the lead and thought
"My dad will be so proud"

But as they speeded down the field
Across a shallow dip
The little boy who thought to win
Lost his step and slipped

Trying hard to catch himself
With hands flew out to brace
And amid the laughter of the crowd
He fell flat on his face

But as he fell his dad stood up
And showed his anxious face
Which to the boy so clearly said
"Get up and win the race"

He quickly rose, no damage done
Behind a bit that's all
And ran with all his night and mind
To make up for the fall

So anxious to restore himself
To catch up and to win
His mind went faster than his legs
He slipped and fell again

He wished then that he had quit before
With only one disgrace
"I'm hopeless as a runner now
I shouldn't try to race"

But in the laughing crowd he searched
And found his father’s face
That steady look which said again
"Get up and win the race"

So up he jumped to try again
Ten yards behind the last
If I'm going to gain those yards he though
I've got to move real fast

Exerting everything he had
He regained eight or ten
But trying hard to catch the lead
He slipped and fell again

Defeat, he lay there silently
A tear dropped from his eye
There's no sense running anymore
Three strikes, I'm out, why try?

The will to rise had disappeared
All hope had fled away
So far behind so error prone
A loser all the way

"I've lost, so what", he thought
I'll live with my disgrace
But then he thought about his dad
Whom soon he'd have to face

"Get up" the echo sounded low
"Get up" and take your place
You were not meant for failure here
"Get up", and win the race

With borrowed will "Get up" it said
"You haven't lost at all"
For winning is no more than this
To rise each time you fall

So up he rose to run once more
And with a new commit
He resolved, that win or lose
At least he shouldn't quit

So far behind the others now
The most he'd ever been
Still he'd give it all he had
And run as though to win

Three times he'd fallen, stumbling
Three times he'd rose again
Too far behind to hope to win
He still ran to the end

They cheered the winning runner
As he crossed the line first place
Head high and proud and happy
No falling, no disgrace

But when the fallen youngster
Crossed the line, last place
The crowd gave him the greater cheer
For finishing the race

And even though he came in last
With head bent low, unproud
You would have thought he'd won the race
To listen to the crowd

And to his dad he sadly said
"I didn't do too well"
"To me you won", his father said
"You rose each time you fell"

And now when things seem dark and hard and difficult to face,
    the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.
For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
    And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
And when depression and despair shout in my face,
    another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race!”

A good friend and mentor shared this today with us at work and I dont know who I should give credit for this poem. It is nice poem to read and share.

Fundamental concepts, stand the test of time.

Read this before you proceed

I read a Linkedin article few weeks ago about Sun Tzu's Art of war a 5th century BC Chinese text describing the various strategies to be used in war. I then went on to read the whole translation of the book. The book describes the fundamental components and concepts to win a war.
The Linkedin article described how the strategies were relevant and were still applicable to 19th and 20th century wars and how the book is also used by the multi-billion dollar conglomerates today making it relevant to the 21st century business world.

"I realized how much effort would go into Steve Jobs performing in front of the audience."

Rewind 7 months to June 2016 , we were preparing for our one convincing pitch in the form of a 6 minute presentation and we were using the 4Ps as our guiding principle, Plan , Prepare, Practice and Perform (Present).

"Plan , Prepare , Practice and Perform"

While we were preparing and practicing for our presentation, I realized how much effort would go into Steve Jobs performing in front of the audience and how much practice would have gone into making those perfect pitch launching the iDevices or how much President Obama or Prime Minister Narendra Modi would prepare to perform in front of billions of people worldwide.
Irrespective of how huge the audience count is or however complex the message is the fundamental concept remains the same . Plan , Prepare , Practice and Perform (Present). I realized that fundamental concepts, stand the test of time and be relevant for many generations as they are simple and provide guidance to face the most complex challenges.

India Income tax department emails and section codes

Read this before you proceed

Getting a mail from the Income Tax (I-T) department can be a little scary. I still remember my first notice, waiting for the message to download was sheer agony, the fear was reminiscent of the dreaded college result declaration day. The subject line of the mail started with, “Intimation U/S 143(1)…”

Yet, the truth is that notice emails from the I-T do not always signal trouble. It could be just confirming, “Hey, we’ve processed your tax return. Everything looks fine”. Or it can be to inform you that the assessing officer (AO) is adjusting your refund against a tax due, probably from the past.

Knowing the different types of notices that the tax department sends out is crucial to replying properly and seeking remedies where necessary. Let’s take a look at the most common Income Tax notices:

Notice under section 143 (1): Intimation of assessment

This is the most common type of I-T notices. It could mean one of the following:
Your returns filed match with the computation by the AO. In this case, this is an intimation notice to be considered as the final assessment. This is the notice, you should hope to receive!
You’ve been too good and paid extra taxes. Voila, your refund is on the way!
It’s a demand notice for more tax.

If you receive an intimation of the third type then it becomes a Notice under section 156, you must pay the dues within 30 days. There probably are taxes, penalties, fines or any other sum to be paid based on an order passed. Such a sum will be mentioned in the Notice u/s 156. If you believe the demand is wrong, then you have to prove it to the AO.

Notice under section 139 (9): Defective return

If you’ve got a notice under this section, then your returns have been deemed defective. What’s a defective return? That’s an ITR in which something is missing or incorrect. Perhaps you’ve filed a wrong ITR, or some entries don’t tally, or name doesn’t match with PAN or the return is incomplete. Whatever the defect is, it is described along with a suggested solution.

On getting this notice you have 15 days to respond, either to file a revised return or to write back saying you disagree a the reasons why. Failure to respond will lead to making the return invalid.

Notice under section 142 (1): Preliminary inquiry

If you happen to get this notice, be sure to comply with all the document requirements. Non-compliance can lead to penalties, prosecution with imprisonment and possibly fines, or a Best judgment assessment under section 144.When a return has not been filed, you may get this notice asking to do so, in order to make the assessment. This notice may be sent to those taxpayers too who have filed their returns on time, but the AO requires some documents or accounts to begin your assessment.

Notice under section 245: Adjusting refund against tax payable

In order to intimate you that the refund amount due to you is being set off against a pending tax amount, the IT department sends this notice. The tax demand can be from the same year or previous years. Either a part of the refund due to you will be adjusted against the tax amount or the full refund. In case after adjustment, some tax is still left to be paid, you get this notice a demand notice.

Notice under section 148: Income that has escaped assessment

Unfortunately, this notice is akin to the tax department digging up something you thought was long dead and buried. A notice under the section 148 calls for either assessment or reassessment of your income or a part of it, which the AO now thinks went un-assessed earlier. Reasons for getting this notice include your tax having been computed at a lower rate, excessive deductions or exemptions claimed, or when more loss has been computed than allowed.

You’d be expected to file returns for the relevant year, furnish details of income or pay the taxes due.
No matter what notice you may receive from the taxman, the key is to stay calm, read it properly and check if it actually applies to you. You may hire the service of a CA to help deal with it but make sure you keep a basic idea of the what’s and why’s of the proceedings.

Source: https://www.bigdecisions.com/article/5-income-tax-notices-that-you-should-know-about 

Microsoft founding members 1978 - 2008

Read this before you proceed

 1978

2008

Andrea Lewis became a fiction writer and freelance journalist

Bill Gates became a philanthropist

Bob Greenberg left Microsoft and worked on the Cabbage patch kid dolls

Bob O'Rear went on to be a cattle rancher

Bob Wallace was a fan of psychedelic drugs and founded a software company, died in 2002.

Gordon Letwin stayed with Microsoft longer than anyone other than Bill Gates

Jim Lane went on to do his own software company

Marc McDonald left Microsoft because it was getting big, but ended up back at the company anyway

Maria Wood sued Microsoft just two years later and settled and became a volunteer.

Paul Allen has spent his billions on sports teams, startups, and much more

Steve Wood went on to found Wireless Services Corp.

An article with more content appeared in Business Insider and many times in the long run these articles are either archived or removed. I recreated some content of interest to me here courtesy Business Insider article link provided below.

http://www.businessinsider.in/Where-are-the-first-11-Microsoft-employees-today/Bob-ORear-went-on-to-be-a-cattle-rancher/slideshow/56142606.cms

Barathiyar says how not to live in this world

தேடிச் சோறுநிதந் தின்று - Thedi choru nitham thindru

தேடிச் சோறுநிதந் தின்று - பல
சின்னஞ் சிறுகதைகள் பேசி - மனம்
வாடித் துன்பமிக உழன்று - பிறர்
வாடப் பலசெயல்கள் செய்து - நரை
கூடிக் கிழப்பருவ மெய்தி - கொடுங்
கூற்றுக் கிரையெனப்பின் மாயும் - பல
வேடிக்கை மனிதரைப் போலே - நான்
வீழ்வே னென்று நினைத் தாயோ?

This is my translation of

Bharathiar is challenging time by saying,

Last line comes first, as that is his challenge to time...

"நினைத் தாயோ?" - "Did you think?" , "that" is assumed

"நான் வீழ்வே னென்று" - "I would die ", "by" is assumed

"தேடிச் சோறுநிதந் தின்று" - "Searching for food every day" 

"பல சின்னஞ் சிறுகதைகள் பேசி" - "telling tales and gossip around"

"மனம் வாடித் துன்பமிக உழன்று" - "feel bad and worry myself" 

"பிறர் வாடப் பலசெயல்கள் செய்து" - "perform deeds which hurt others"

"நரை கூடிக் கிழப்பருவ மெய்தி" - "then turn grey and old"

"கொடுங் கூற்றுக் கிரையெனப்பின் மாயும்" - "succumb to time"

"கூற்று" - above refers to the god of death , which also means time

"பல வேடிக்கை மனிதரைப் போலே" - "like so many other funny humans".

Did you think, that, I would die, like so many other funny humans, who

search for food every day,

telling tales and gossip around,

feel bad and worry oneself,
and perform deeds which hurt others,
then turn grey and old,
and succumb to time?

Translation by Shiva Venkat as mentioned in the comments section in http://bharathiarpoem.blogspot.in/2010/10/thedi-choru-nitham.html 

Did you think I would
spend my days in mundane search of food,
telling petty tales and gossips,
worrying myself with unwanted thoughts,
and hurting others by my acts,
and turn grey haired and old,
and end up as fodder to the
relentless march of timeless Death,
As yet another faceless man???

I am purposefully avoiding his requests he makes to god, in the following paragraph as the first paragraph of the poem, is thought provoking and an absolute masterpiece, once the first paragraph , reach everyone's heart and the self realization sets, the second paragraph does not matter.

நின்னைச் சிலவரங்கள் கேட்பேன் - அவை
நேரே இன்றெனக்குத் தருவாய் - என்றன்
முன்னைத் தீயவினைப் பயன்கள் - இன்னும்
மூளா தழிந்திடுதல் வேண்டும் - இனி
என்னைப் புதியவுயி ராக்கி - எனக்
கேதுங் கவலையறச் செய்து - மதி
தன்னை மிகத்தெளிவு செய்து - என்றும்
சந்தோஷங் கொண்டிருக்கச் செய்வாய்...

Models in teaching

Recently I was fascinated by an online learning course published by Stanford University in an alliance with University of Michigan, about Model Thinking. Then at the same time I had a day today problem, that I wanted to solve and wanted to use the learning I derived out of Model Thinking to find a solution to my home problem.

The problem, "How do we teach the kids at home?".

In India the school curriculum that my kids attend follow a very generically used teaching method, which goes as follows:

1. There is a syllabus and pre-written content and books that are provided to each and every kid.
2. Teachers follow the course content and help the kids understand the content in different areas of study usually, English, Indian Language, Math, Science, History and Geography.
3. The course content is designed in a way to incrementally learn different subjects at a certain pace, known to impart the right amount of knowledge for a given age.
4. Teachers also test the kids understanding with questions and small tests during the class sessions.
5. Teachers also provide homework and small projects to the kids for them to build or create in order to learn.
6. The school conducts assessment tests along the way in order to reinforce the learning and not forget the content that is taught to them.

The school follows a system which is a time tested approach followed in India for few decades or may be for the last century, since the rule of the British in India. However a very big part of the kids education in India depends on the help, that they get at home and the additional teaching at home. From our observation more than 50% of the kids learning is achieved at home.

We cannot influence the education system at school in a day, as changing from a time tested system to something else is breaking the rules of society. However we can internally change the teaching system at home to make the kid learn better or in a different way and help them in learning.

There are two types of teaching that the kids get at home.

1. For the most time the kids get reinforcement of the subjects taught at school by their parents. 
2. At certain times the kids get taught by us with patterns and examples. 

We realized that our kids who both are very different individuals and with different kinds of skills and varied level of creativity in different areas, are capable of learning more and be lot more creative than they are now.

I took the responsibility of understanding the different kinds of teaching methods and discussing with my other half to find out how to teach them. We also agreed that the same teaching method would not apply for both of our kids. The following document is the observation that I made when I was researching different teaching methods.

Some of the teaching models we discovered are

Carrot and Stick model
Football coach model
Socrates model
Spoon feeding model
Gurukul model

Humans are unreasonable most of the time

Recently a friend expressed her views on facebook, some what disappointed about the society we live in and where it is headed to.

"Why do people get angry and agitated? Why can't some people take-in criticisms in a healthy way? Why do people carry grudge, hatred and blame others? Why do people become judgmental? Well, today's incident made me think about the healthy and unhealthy diversity around this world. I honked at an European American teen driving carelessly and was almost about to hit my car. His reaction to my honk..... A finger. . My reaction to his action.... Yuck and lol.... Well, when he was at mistake, why was he not able to accept his mistake... Because of my skin color? Well, people get agitated very easily over small things. All they want to show is their superiority. It's not only in this country but everywhere countries having diverse culture, diversity in all possible categories can't live in harmony. They might think that they are in harmony but not in true sense. What is your language, caste, culture etc? It's further dividing us a lot. We are all made up of same material but we have so much of emotions bottled up inside us. Kaama krodha Madha maascharyam. When do we come out of this? For ages, we are going through all these and still we are not tired of doing the same thing- hatred, blame game, jealousy, etc.Its not worth wasting our life over these insignificant issues. Wake up. Realize what life is. And who am I ?"

The interesting fact is that I know her for quite some time and in many instances of her life, when I was present what she felt bad at this time , seemed to be perfectly ok for her. I also noticed that the message carried the feelings of injury from living in a land made of people who are from different countries and different ethnic background. There is no argument that she is part of a very aggressive and very progressive culture which has no regard for anything other than being the best and the most fit. She is trying to preach a different religion than what is followed in the part of the world that she lives in.

My comment to her was

"He acted like a human and humans are mostly unreasonable and you can critique my statement and prove that the statement made by me is right, or you can accept the fact and also prove that sometimes humans can be reasonable."

The most basic fact is that even though we are gifted with what is called the 6th sense , the power of reasoning or the power of sensing, we hardly reason with ourselves and always try to act against ourselves, telling lies to ourselves and others and living a false life. It is ok as far as it works, and creates harmony with us and our surroundings. 

Basic principles around which this website is developed

1. If you are from Europe , please look at Google's terms regarding cookies and tracking, there are web tools which could use cookies etc and could be tracking your presence on this site. Do not proceed to use or read anything in this site unless you agree to googles terms and conditions on the usage of those web tools.
2. Survival and evolution is the main purpose why we live in this world.
3. Humans are humans and nature is nature. Humans are part of nature. 
4. Not knowing the purpose of life is not a sin, you can live without knowing the purpose.
5. Everything happens for a reason, you dont need an explanation for each and everything.
6. Apologizing does not mean the person who apologized made a mistake. They could be polite.
7. This is a rant, dont give anymore value to any of the messages more than a rant.
8. This is a place were i keep some information for my records and you are also getting to see it, because it is on the internet,
9. This is a training ground to improve my Tamil language skills, as I try to translate all my English blogs into Tamil ( தமிழ் ) .
10. Any or all information provided here should be verified before you use or act on it. Beware you are on the internet, accessing information provided for free. 
11. Free and freedom comes at a cost , nothing in this world is free.
12. Come on.. after all this you want to make a comment , you had fun, I had fun , let us just go by...
13. Ok, you passed the above point , and you are still inclined to make a comment , please go ahead , I love people like you , as you are living examples of something I preach , no idea is a bad idea , no message/feedback is a bad message. If I get time, I will respond if not, please forgive me for not responding.

pre-emphasis and de-emphasis in telecommunication

We are using mobile phones and many digital audio devices and the audio signals are digitized and converted to analog signals that we can hear and enjoy.

A very important technology that is used behind reproducing the best sounds is the concept of pre-emphasis and de-emphasis.

In processing electronic audio signals, pre-emphasis refers to a system process designed to increase (within a frequency band) the magnitude of some (usually higher) frequencies with respect to the magnitude of other (usually lower) frequencies in order to improve the overall signal-to-noise ratio by minimizing the adverse effects of such phenomena asattenuation distortion or saturation of recording media in subsequent parts of the system. That is the mirror of the deemphasis. The whole system is called emphasis. The frequency curve is decided by special time constants. The cutoff frequency can be calculated from that value.

Pre-emphasis is commonly used in telecommunications, digital audio recording, record cutting, in FM broadcasting transmissions, and in displaying the spectrograms of speech signals.

An example of this is the RIAA equalization curve on 33 rpm and 45 rpm vinyl records.

In high speed digital transmission, pre-emphasis is used to improve signal quality at the output of a data transmission. In transmitting signals at high data rates, the transmission medium may introduce distortions, so pre-emphasis is used to distort the transmitted signal to correct for this distortion. When done properly this produces a received signal which more closely resembles the original or desired signal, allowing the use of higher frequencies or producing fewer bit errors.

In telecommunication, de-emphasis is the complement of pre-emphasis, in the antinoise system called emphasis. Emphasis is a system process designed to decrease, (within a band of frequencies), the magnitude of some (usually higher) frequencies with respect to the magnitude of other (usually lower) frequencies in order to improve the overall signal-to-noise ratio by minimizing the adverse effects of such phenomena as attenuation differences or saturation of recording media in subsequent parts of the system.

Special time constants dictate the frequency response curve, from which one can calculate the cutoff frequency.

Pre-emphasis is commonly used in audio digital recording, record cutting and FM radio transmission.

In serial data transmission, de-emphasis has a different meaning, which is to reduce the level of all bits except the first one after a transition. That causes the high frequency content due to the transition to be emphasized compared to the low frequency content which is de-emphasized. This is a form of transmitter equalization; it compensates for losses over the channel which are larger at higher frequencies. Well known serial data standards such as PCI Express, SATA and SAS require transmitted signals to use de-emphasis.