For name's sake!

A very recent blog at Samudrikaon how nomenclature is fixed in science, (in particular in physics) provoked me to share this fantastic historical note (put in my own words, of course) at the beginning of a paper, I recently read.

For me the most interesting and thrilling part of a theoretical physicist's career is calculating feynman diagrams.For a mathematician, they are just graphs. connected graphs, disconnected graphs, simple graphs, euler graphs...and that's all....how boring! But, for a physicist they are his life...his bread & butter. And you care for whatever you do, for you truely love your creations. So, for a physicist, there is a ritual set for treating these diagrams. Put down a proper lagrangian, find out interaction terms...check renormalizability...... represent them with feynman rules..... start building diagrams... first order ones,tree level... higher order, loop insertions... and then calculate!

Simple, no? NO! I told you, you care for what you do....so in between you name it! Naming a diagram??.... true.. and hence, there are many interesting names. Tadpole diagram, fish diagram, bubble diagram, sunset diagram. And there is Penguin diagram. Interesting thing is, a tadpole diagram looks like a tadpole, a sunset has a sun setting on the horizon. But why a penguin diagram? believe me, there is no penguin in it. It is just a simple (one of the) loop diagrams.
Puzzled, like me?
Let's start with a story. It starts in a pub in Geneva at a game of dart. Four world renowned physicists, with one of their students were at the game, when one of them shared a joke on a penguin, which bursted into a great laughter for some time. Somehow, this evolved into a resolution, that the loser of the dart game would use the word penguin in his/her next work. And, hence the name penguin for his seminal paper on this loop diagrams in 1977.

Want to know the name of the loser: none other than Prof. john Ellis (the same from Ellis-howking, I suppose). So, aren't physicists interesting/funny personalities?

Summing Over all possible states, for the next year

It is Gudhi Padava, the start of marathi new year. The padava is perhaps an adoption from its original sanskrit form Pra-dur-bhoo, which means harvesting. In that sense, Gudhi Padava means start of a harvesting season...a good start, rather.

If I were at home, I would be with friends to participate in the shobha-yatra, which I can proudly say, originated at my place and now is held almost everywhere in Maharashtra (I heard of same celebrations even in USA, but that is un-confirmed as yet). We will always have some thing crucial to do then. Either with KshitiZ or with Chaturang or with some local arrangements. It is really a great fun being there, with all your friends, all those you know, and of course, those you don't know! ....I must be cursing myself for missing these events, as somebody correctly pointed out...nevertheless, the heart doesn't matter rejoicing, looking at the calendar!


When there is none, there is yourself, making you a bit introvert to ask the question: how was the past year for you? Did it give you anything worth remembering?....and my answer is yes...a big yes!...it gave me a lot many things, which I never had before in life.

This was the year, when I started taking interest in my work, in my lab...in my lab-friends. This year, I had a fight with my guide, which brought us closer...made us friends....

This was the year, when after a short break, I started taking interest in social events at my institute. This probably started with updating my orkut profile, for the first time....thanks to my friend, who gave me the snaps which had me, in some corner...

This was the year when, I met my piano teacher for the first time...learnt my first piano lesson...cleared my first grade exam....recorded my first complete song.....gave my first stage performance.....all for the first time!

This was the year when, I met the god for the first time...I met A R Rahman....I met Manirathnam.....

This was the year when, I listen to the first Yanni composition....Marching Season...and then it went on...and on...and on

This was the year, I had my first ever (and perhaps, the last one) crush.....I spent hours thinking of someone...bugging my ladmates....

This was the year, I started looking at my body a bit seriously...started my exercise routine...visited the navy ground for the first time...touched the recreation center equips....for the first time, I could see no belly protrusion......started wearing clothes different from formals...

This was the year, I did my first trek with KshitiZ after a long time....clicked for a snap for the first time....bought a healthy camera for the first time.....

This was the year, I had a chance to realise my extracurricular skills...developed a concept...wrote a script....became member of a group....shot some scenes....did some analysis...some camera work....all for the first time!

This was the year, I became (in)famous in my institute...had some disputes with my friends...a small fight.....and friendship again...rather a closer one....bad social health is good for personal health sometimes...it gave me a chance to assess myself, my friends...gave me a chance to make new friends....for the first time!

This was the year, when my friend list on orkut touched 100 and scrap number went beyond 200...

This was the year, when we could expand the limits of our small organisation AMA to a big collaboration....the volunteers increased from two (myself and my friend) to twelve...in an institute of 200 students!.....because of them only we could hold a big event...for the first time!

This year gave me more than I could hope of....there were mistakes and failures....but mistakes are to learn and failures are for better hopes of coming year......the last year gave me a reason to wel-come the new year....a reason to live it up to next year....

And, last but not the least, this was the year in which, I wrote my first blog ever! Thanks for reading my blogs and making me a part of your life, through your blogs.....Happy New Year, Friends!

Ghostliest Thanks

The days are gone, when I was a child and life was simpler than ever. I am not talking about a 3-4 year old freak. It is when you start developing interests, for then you understand things in the very primal way of yours own. You have your own world, your own concepts, your own views, however pre-mature they might look to the out-side world. You are reckless, you are free and you enjoy.

For me, as a child the very concept of ghost was as realistic as any other object in the world. (It is the same even today, if god exists evil should or none.) The most enjoyable moments would be, when we would visit our home-town in Konkan. Even today development there is equal to nothing compared to cities like mumbai. Scarcely dense villages, big and spacious houses, huge gardens and farms (called agar in native dialect) on four sides of the house, cracked fences, no street lights....and all this in the middle of a Jungle like territory on a steep of Sahyadri Range. After dinner, we all children would gather around the eldest person in the family (we call him ajoba), who would very happily (and dramatically) share his experiences about ghost and vastupurush. (By the way, Konkan is very famous for such incidences..they claim so!). This meeting would last hardly for an hour or so, but it would make a great impact on you enough to surpass for next many days (sorry nights!).

The toilets there are generally built outside the house. You will have to dig your way through paras (small open space just outside the house....perhaps the world parasakade was adopted from this) in the starry light and believe me, you have really tough time covering even that small distance. (I believe, many of us would prefer controlling the pressure throughout, rather!)

Any way, the days are gone. Now we are grown up and have become dumb to these feelings. This is the price paid for knowledge!! I keep complaining my friends, I again need to enjoy the feeling of fear...fear of night sky...fear of loneliness...fear of every sound cracked around (this one adopted from Mr. Ramu)....and I hardly find anything that daunting...neither movies nor books.......kuchh karo yaar!


Thanks to Kshitiz, for returning me what I was searching for so long. Yesterday, it was around 0230 JST (= 2300 IST) and I was working on my code, while chatting with my sister, when she suddenly BUZZed me, for an exciting mail on this yahoogroup has arrived. Friends there started discussing their experiences on trekking. The main victim was Torna, the first ever won by Maharaja Chatrapati Shivaji. Many of them, went separately...heard of some voices, screams....and hell lot of experiences....and believe me, if they say they experienced, they must have gone through something (need not be exactly what they are thinking)...but my point is, they are not faking!................I was working in my office...all alone....just a small room lit in the whole building...and nothing...and yes! that created its effect....I was frighten...somebody was behind me....ohh, somebody passed from the right...there is someone at the next door....someone singing below the window on the left.......and, I decided to live it up...I decided to go to my room, when I realised, it was storming out-side....no way....I better in the office....all Ramu movies have storms in them!......

It was not before 0500 here, I left my office.......

P.S.: If you wish to read the mails (not for ghost-propaganda...just for information), mail me...or you know, how to scrap!

Generalogy Made Simple

Generally it is found, that we are good at things which we don't do. For example, a physicist is good in biology, a biologist in turn is good at social management, a management student is an expert of logic, a logician has to be good at mathematics, a mathematician finds crypto interesting, a cryptologist is the most suited public domain psychologist, a psychologist is good at music and a musician is well aware of physics of sound. And the circle completes.

Here, I quote what Prof. Sphicas, from CERN had to say in the most beloved conference here: CHEP 06 (excuse me of any speliing mistake)
"For a theorist experiments are very easy, but for an experimentalist they are very tough (...with a round of applaud)"

So what if, Mr. Nikhil is a meager high energy physics experimentalist? He can be good at cooking. Actually, he has every reason to be good at cooking, being an experimentalist:

The most rudimentary procedure of doing an experiment is the so called Blind Analysis. Now, what does it mean? The most simple explanation is, till the final results come, you don't know what and why you are doing!! So how do you go for it? Take a kadhai. Pour some oil, dhaniya, mirch, some salt (what they call: according to taste), some spicy additives like masala. Now, take all the vegetables you could recognize and hence could buy at the departmental stores. First one cut, then two orthogonal cuts and then many irregular slices in the third direction. Throw them in the kadhai. A few minutes later some water, rice/noodle or both and then put the dhakkan on low gas blow. Watch the latest Japanese movie till the kadhai calls you badly.......so the construction part is over...now the experiment begins......taste it a bit....sour face....add salt....less sour face...add mirchi...tolerable...add soya sauce, add tomato sauce, add pasta paste, add garlic paste...seems ok...now try to remember the closest of the tastes you know from the history....hey...it is triple Schezwan Khichadi pasta......eureka, eureka (with clothes, of course)...new invention...new recipe...new Tarla dalal item.........so, this is how our blind analysis was successful (till, next day morning)!

See, Nikhil is good at cooking. Why? I am still feeling OK! reading scraps, writting mails, scribbling blogs.......and....wait a min., please...gotta go urgently!

Churning with Chopsticks - 4

On last friday, I was attending the SVD (Silicon Vertex Detector) meeting, the software community, I am a part of which. The amazing thing is they discussed physics and electronics and softwares. No budget drama, no fights, no allegations and nothing personal. hey, I am not accustomed to such a thing. In terms of my institute standards, it was a rather boring meeting.

First issue: They were worried about the delay in SVD2.5 implementation...and the delay is pretty much unaccountable...a delay of 2 weeks! If it is a 1 month delay, one can understand....if it is 1 year, we can feel proud...if it is the next 5 year plan...surely a matter of treat...we have something to work on for next 5 years!...but a delay of just 2 weeks...no my institute will not be happy with your work...better be advised!

Second Issue: The hardware components are made through industry...quite unlike my place...generally, it is a challenge for the industry R&D to develop what research demands and also, a chance to make advancement in their own technology....a happy symbiosism! So, there was a need this time...tender was floated...one company Taiyo-Kogyo geared up their R&D...beta components were processed...we were happy with the performance...but the company decided not to take up the contract...because they were not happy with the quality themselves.......huh, are they idiots?...in my place, even if you are 51% successful, you project yourself as more than 200% ...what if you are almost 100% upto the mark?

The Third issue is not from the meeting but is the latest hot news here in Japan:
The Skyair flights were banned till further notification by the Japan parliament. The reason is, Skyair flew a flight from Tokyo to Haneda which was struck by lightening while landing previously at Tokyo. After every such event, the company is supposed to make necessary tests and repairs, which company missed.

so what?....what's great in this...in my place this happens almost every other day.....
After the parliament spokesperson, it was the turn of the company chair to speak on the issue. And he said, " We understand our mistake and will take all necessary tests and security checks with this and all the flights in use. We are sorry". Buss?...that's all?....no denial...no cross allegations...no expert reports?...no discussion?...not even cross blaming?...just a sorry?...this is certainly not the way it would happen in my country...

Now, you can see, why Japan is just a developed country (developed: no scope for further development), unlike ours', which is a developing one all the time. Because, we never make mistakes...and don't allow others to commit any! Do we ?

Identity! Identity!!

What do you do to keep your identity, when in a group? Some people have the god gifted originality and they always show up. Let's not talk about them, but the rest.

Now there are two subgroups in this category. They both lack in originality, though one of them manages to device some unique (and hence their original) way to shine up themselves. To give you a feel of what we are upto: Consider you are in a group of 6-7 people chatting on the zulu culture in the southern honolulu. The discussion is on gas, when suddenly one of you, who was silent all along starts making un-humanly voices meaning something like "Eureka, now I know how to quantize the YM gauge theory in conformaly flat SxR(n) space." And he is gone even before we realise his more than zuluish performance. They are never our cup of tea..so let's forget about them, too.

The second subgroup is far more interesting. They lack in originality and still seek importance very badly. Now, if you can't be the longest of the lines, try to make others shorter....not original: Birbal's idea. Or as Mr. Khera says "Great people don't do different things, they do things differently". If one says "this is north", they will point opposite, saying "I don't know if that is true, but for sure this has to be south".

how will you write today's date? The most logical way, devised long back by the british was equivalent of saying it is twentieth day of the third month of the year 2006, 20.03.2006, in short. So a british will write a date according to day/month/year. Later came USA. Though late comer, important. Also, it has a protesting, rebel image in the world history. Now, they can't start with their own original calendar...thik hain...we do things differently.....they write the date according to month/day/year pattern. If not USA, who gives you good status?...right...Canada...ab, hum bhi kuchh kum nahi...a canadian will write the date following year/month/day pattern. Then comes europeans, japanese,...But, they don't understand english....that is their identity!

In all, I think Japanese is the most confused system. There are two streams. One believes in their self-sufficiency. The other takes the history a bit seriously....this stream knows why USA was the winner...and hence trying to copy and adopt to the US culture.....overall result is...they are confused....they don't know english...but enjoy uttering in english.

Here, one observes a co-existence of year/day/month and month/day/year system, with an added adventure of Japanese script, which will never reveal which one is month slot and which one is the day! If you are lucky you will celebrate your birthday twice a year.....alas, no chance for a double valentine's!

No..not you!

I was shocked by this news today morning. It is almost 10 days old news, but being an ardent fan of Yanni, I felt quite surprised not to be aware of it for the whole week.

This is the third news of breakup in line I have heard in last week. It was indeed a bad week. I hope people will become more careful choosing their partners. That was I feel happy not to be successful in this business! I don't have anything to lose, I can't afford what :-)

Holi Japan

You have to be at the right place, right time and I am one of those who always managed the inverse. When reading friends' blogs all over my country, I realized the grievances of missing something essential. It was holi, yesterday.

Some of them, quite jokingly advised me to introduce holi in Japan. Haah! That seems a tougher problem than what my guide can assign me. Everything is so different here. Almost 80% of the junta here, have masks on their face to save the pollen allergy. Colour powder is far unthinkable change! And moreover, holi is not just the game of colours (as basu has correctly mentioned on orkut) but the stomp of the spirits, the enthu within. One friend of mine here, said what a difference, yahan ke kauwwe bhi size mein bade hain (even crows here are bigger (read different) in size). Am I to bore them with the cultural ingredients of this festival? And that too in a language, they hardly care to understand?

However, we managed to get our secretary play holi with us (because, that is the only prey in such cases....dono taraf se latki hui). Our colours were made up of haldi, some neem and something, which I don't know of. That way we really had a herbal holi, a stamp of my own country! After that, we had a nice chat for almost three hours (90% of which was taken over by me, of course). We wished to have a drive nearby, but then it was dew dropping out there and didn't feel like moving out with our new maked-up faces!

And it ended there! Had to go back to the terminal and check if the code has spited the o/p....and usual stuff, you know!

Churning with Chopsticks - 3

The real beauty of Japanese system lies in there speed. Yesterday, I was in the Joyo Bank here for almost one hour. I wanted to open my account there. So, it took time and most of the time, I had nothing to do, but to watch them working.

It is really amazing, the way they work. The very first impression you will get is they value your presence and your time. You will never see them working at a normal (in the sense of the place I am from) speed, if your job is pending with them. Even in the small corridors between lines of tables and printers, they will keep running. Everytime, you go to the counter (or even look at the one working on your request), they will attend you with a little smile and gratitude. Why won't you allow them to take even an hour to complete the job, when you are feeling so homely?

I couldn't resist myself recalling a similar scene at a bank in my own country. At the entrance, you will see a big board with a lengthy quotation from bapuji. It is something like "Our customer is our asset. We are not serving him, but he is giving us a chance to serve blah blah". And it ends there and there only. You are hardly noticed inside. Go to the counter. You will either find an empty chair grappling at you or the clerk yawning at the roof. You have to make yourself feel homely...I mean, just like at your home you do everything yourself, no hesitation.


So far so good. The people here work at very high speed. The only problem is they are not the best in efficiency. And why?....for two reasons....
1. They are not flexible. If there is a way, that is the only way they will understand things. A rule is a rule. It is a very good habit, though more than disciplined you would like them to be practical. And some of the rules here are really impractical!

2. They don't understand your language. If you don't know japanese, you know nothing. They will try to understand you...very diligently...but most of the time they are helpless...due to your limitations on being expressive!

Hence, they are very energetic, hard working...but for you they end up doing nothing! That way I do feel homely....

Happy (, it's) your day!

Why do we celebrate our Independence day? Why celebrate raksha bandhan? why World Blind day?

Well, Independece day is a special day, because it reminds us of the one moment, the one event, sum of all those sacrifices made, for the dream of a fear free democratic nation, for a feeling of individuality. (we should have it!)

Raksha bandhan, is a day in the whole year, when in traditional Indian society, where your sister is married to a person, staying far away that you can't visit her quite often, you have a chance to meet her. (Concept out-dated, but still logical)

World blinds' day, is a day which make you remember that part of the society, which is (being a bit less privileged than you,) struggling hard against its fate to flourish. Though it need not be our duty, it is our morality to accept them as a part of our own system of living. (At least, one day in an year, we should spend some time for this!!).

It will be good if we have some concrete reason for celebrating women's day. I am not a feminist, but do understand their value. You are the one who give us birth, give us shape, give us our identity, our goal in life. It will not be wrong to say, that you are the one who give meaning to our being male. My mother is a woman, my sisters, my mausi, the teachers who made me were all women. You have occupied almost all part of our lives.

True, we have some problems with us. Our ego, our pride, our self-centered nature, our dominance...We made your life traumatic.....true...we are the victims....

So, we either understand it or we don't...if we understand it, we understand it not for just one day, but throughout our life...if we don't we don't!...and then we will suffer...but, not because you told us your importance, your existence...because, one day we won't be able to neglect it, we shall not afford neglecting it......do for it

Celebrating a day, will just show, that you are different...not that you are special! ....but still enjoy your day!...not because the others will be ours(?)

Churning with Chopsticks - 2

Now, that I am getting space from the inevitable administrative business, I can look at things more closely. Almost after a week, I opened up something interesting to read, my only mate, physics. And when physics comes, invites a cup of tea. Here we don't get black tea that easily, but what they call (in their poor english)green tea. I am missing you, Akka!

Unlike India, there is no electricity power problem in Japan(At least, I am not aware of one!). The enormous development due to electronic revolution here has made them more electricity dependent than Indians are. Even after this, one should learn from their disciplined life, how to care for amenities. Most of the places, the equipment control is automatic, as in any other developed country. Whenever, it is not, you will never see tubes lit up or fans flying fullspeed in empty rooms. Apart from speaking a lot (blabberring for me) they have rationing for almost everything. We got to learn a lot from them.

There was a movie Independence Day in english. In one of the scenes there, when Will Smith catches one of the aliens out of his spaceship, the alien is totally helpless and Will keeps kicking him on the way. I had a discussion with my mausi then. As you become technologically strong, your natural strength, both physical and mental decays, it seems. Here I could confirm that. Japan (atleast Tokyo) technologically one of the most advanced place, people here seems to have very week and sensitive health. Once famous for their Samurai tradition, they have become very health-conscious. I think more than any other place in the world. The least exposure to the health injuries has made them immune to almost any foreign body.

They are very polite. No...very very polite....I don't know if it's my personal feelings about them. But they are more than necessarily polite. This can't be natural and I think they are hiding their real feelings, their real turbid feelings. They want to be self-sufficient. This is really great. They are doing well in that sense. But deep somewhere they have grown a glitch of insecurity in their mind, I think.

I am good at assessing one's nature. And I don't need to interact with him/her. I always felt proud of it. This is a good opportunity to re-check. Let's spend some time on them.

Churning with Chopsticks - 1

I came here for doing experiment. But it seems, I will be experimented on every front.

The common technique is to consistently hammer with Japanese hospitality with flexible bends and tonic blabbers, not even one percent of which is understood at the other end. But, then it must be the same with them, correct? I do keep pressing my palms with a bright "Namaskar" and they smile at it!! Poor them!

Today, they must have decided to test my logic: I went to my office. A nice booth is assigned to me with a state-of-the art computing machine and a mess of wires (to be managed by me). What do you do, if there are two computers on the same desk (one as modern as the other out-dated) with only one power-point? (Particularly when the one with an age old look is being connected properly and working at your service, letting the other look at your face blindly!) I divorced the old guy for the new entry. And then, they announced the old machine is any way out dated. you are not supposed to use it : They.

Finally, I got the new machine working for me. I needed an account on it. I asked the administrator
"admin_san, I would like to have an account for the computer with internet access." , Nikhil.

"why don't you send me an e-mail with your name, institute, b-comp account no. and the terminal you want to use", admin uncle, " do you need anything else?"

"Nothing but an account to send you an e-mail", poor nikhil.

"Oh, that I can do only after I receive an e-mail from you, anything else?", uncle again

"Nothing!", (with a smile/laugh) doomed nikhil.

And uncle was gone........

Now, I am supposed to meet him once again, as I still don't have an account for accessing internet.....will see you later!

Maa Tujhe Salam

Today, I was very lucky to encounter two interesting events.

At my home-place, I was roaming in the market, shopping some goods. I saw a woman with her child held in her arm walking about 5 feet away from me in the same direction. Suddenly, her handkerchief fell on the ground. I being bear handed, thought of helping her lifting it. While I approached her for help, I saw some brisk and strategic movements of her. She took out her foot from her chappal, held the handky in it and bending the foot in knee she uplifted the handky back in her hand. Parallelly, while I moved forward and bent to catch the handkerchief, she was completing her task and putting her foot back in the chappal. As a result, it appeared like I am touching her foot.

Touching her foot....firstly after an embarrassment of a moment or two, I realised the beauty in the whole sequence. There was an epitome of self-sufficiency standing in front of me and my touching her foot was not meaningless, at all.

Back at home in the afternoon,I was watching some programme on Discovery. There is a class of octopi, which is colour blind and good at changing the body colour to the ambiance, upto the limit of its colour blindness. (Unfortunately, I missed the name.) But even after this chamealeonic quality, they don't feel secured. After laying some hundreds of eggs the mother has to guard them from enemies. For this, the mother octopus stays near the eggs completely immobile till the children are not developed fully. As the life in the egg takes shape, the mother grows weaker and weak, for she hasn't eaten anything for that period. And, by the time eggs are fully laid, the mother is dead.................I have never heard of a sacrifice equaling this! Only, a mother can do it!

It was really heart throbbing: too shaking, though simple, experiences in a single day! But then, how can I overlook the person, who has sacrificed every moment of her life for shaping up my life? Who is a teacher, a manager, a counselor, a friend (and also, a Hitler) and more than anything a world within herself, world which is self-sufficient.......

Maa Tujhe Salam!