ivar’m, the Blog

Are Homo sapiens Herbivores?

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:57:21 +0530

In other words, are human beings more naturally inclined to be vegetarians?
I do not understand, as many other things in life, why nearly every one of us feels that we, humans, are by birth carnivorous and if some of us are vegetarian, then, we are so only due to some “forceful choice”. Isn’t it but natural to kill and eat?
Sometimes I feel that the actual situation is quite contrary to that belief. There are several statements that people (mostly those who eat meat, and that includes majority of us) make that I cannot comprehend at all, because of which I began to feel that humans are not actually born meat eaters. I am not saying that meat eating is not good (it is nutritious), or that we are not meant to eat meat at all, but some statements really do put me in a fix.
The following are the most common statements that confuse me the most:
1.     “Humans are by Nature Meat-eaters”

Really? Do you actually think so? Well, I can understand that when we were cavemen (and women), we had to hunt to live. But humans have evolved over time. We are no longer are genetically programmed to hunt and survive on meat. Why do I say so? Well, there are two reasons (thanks to Scott Adams):

a.     If you are a natural meat-eater, eating loads of meat shouldn’t kill you.
b.     If you are extremely hungry, you should salivate when you look at a chicken or a cow or whatever animal you consume regularly.
It is common knowledge that eating just meat, well, kills you. At least that’s what the doctors say about the health issues that arise due to excessive meat eating. Cholestrol and whatnot. I can assure you eating only vegetables will never aggregate your health problems. Taking cue from Adams, I shall not tread on this further ‘cause, in his own words, “meat-eaters will argue to the death (literally) that eating meat has no health risks”.
Coming to the second observation, when I am dead hungry and I see an apple or a cucumber, or even a raw potato, I salivate. I am sure this is a case for every one. If we are genetically meat-eaters, then we should also salivate when we look at a cow, a dog or any other animal below us in the food chain (that kinda’ covers every moving thing). I’m sure none of our tongues start wagging when we find a lone goat in a field (well, if yours does, then you definitely are a freak and stay away from me!). Now you might say, “Well do you salivate when you see a tree? Same way I don’t when I look at a cow.” Yeah, I don’t salivate when I see a tree, but I surely do when I look at its fruit, or leaves, or roots, or which ever part I eat. If that’s the case, then your mouth should start watering when you look at a hen’s wing, or a cow’s belly or something.
2.   “We’ll Disrupt the Ecological Balance if We Stop Eating Meat”
This is total BS. If we really were “balancing” the eco system, we wouldn’t need to literally “cultivate” animals in a farm. We should be worried about disrupting the balance if we were actually hunting animals in the wild and they were in turn naturally reproducing and not actually bred. In fact we mass-breed animals just so that we can slaughter and eat them. And make shoes of course. If we stopped eating meat, we wouldn’t need this mass-production in the first place and the eco system would become as it was meant to be. In fact according to this article, 18% of world's total carbon emissions are due to meat production.
3.   “Chicken. Pork. Beef. Ham. Veal.”

If feel we give these names to the meat we consume just to guise the fact that they are actually parts of animals that are going in side our mouths. If it is so natural to eat, why do we feel weird to say, “I am eating a hen’s leg”, or “I love pig’s intestines”, or “How about eating a baby cow tonight?” Unlike in case of vegetable or fruits, when we are eating okra, we just say we are eating okra. In fact, it is so natural to eat vegetables, we actually call the plant based on the food it gives us (the plant that gives us tomatoes is a tomato plant.) How about then calling a cow a beef-animal?

4.   “Eww, They Eat Dogs in Korea”

If meat eating is innate, then what’s wrong in eating a dog, a cat or an elephant? All are below us in the food chain. “Dogs and Cats are pets!” one might say. Well, we freakin’ eat pigeons and rabbits for god’s sake. In fact cows have a far more developed nervous system than dogs or cats and are equally “loyal”. But yeah, a hamburger is pretty darn fine. I guess it’s OK only if we eat only docile creatures. But wait, isn’t Wild Boar a common delicacy? If we are carnivorous by birth, why do we have such staunch preferences over what animal can be eaten?

5.   “I am an Animal Lover. I Looove Fried Chicken.”

How can you love animals and eat them at the same time? Aren’t hens, cows and goats animals? If we are so much against animal cruelty, then how is it OK for a goat to get its head chopped off but not a tiger? How is it not OK for us to see a horse to get beaten or mistreated while its alive but it’s OK to breed a cow and feed it for years just so that it could be slaughtered? What sets humans apart from other animals, is our ability to show compassion toward all living things. I feel that we are able to express love towards animals and yet manage to be meat eaters because we somehow got this belief imprinted in our brains that cows, hens, goats etc are meant to be eaten by us.

6.   “I can Eat Meat As Long As I Know It’s Not an Animal”

WTF! This statement has confused me so much that I am absolutely stumped. I am literally out of words when someone says this. What the hell do you expect when you order muttonchops? Get a hold of reality, its not like they make mutton out of rubber! It’s a damn goat that got its neck slit so that it bled to death, got its skin peeled off and then got chopped into pieces and then got fried and whatnot. See, just explaining the process gives most of us the creeps. On the other hand, it feels so natural when we say, “The tomatoes were plucked, then chopped and fried.” I am sure none of us get Goosebumps when you hear how tomato pappu is made, starting from the process of sowing the tomato seeds.

So, what was the whole point of this crap? Final say?
There is nothing minutely wrong in eating meat and believe me, I have absolutely nothing against it. Not eating meat is neither being ‘elite’ or different nor is it a form of expressing love to animals or hatred towards animal cruelty.
My only guess is that we are actually genetically inclined to not eat meat and that by being vegetarian, you are not at any disadvantage. In fact choosing to be vegetarian is just choosing to be naturally human.

How to Speak With No Sense

Sun, 7 Sep 2008 23:26:12 +0530

I know its been ages since I have written something. I also know that you haven’t missed my writing much. You must be saying, “Wow! You can write? Hmm... Wikipedia, huh?” But still, I have decided to make a grand comeback. But there is a small hurdle in my way. I have nothing to write about. No damn content. So what do I do? Yes, exactly. I copy-paste. Not from Wikipedia, not yet. I haven’t yet stooped so low. But still, I shall put here some content I have written a while ago. It’s actually a graduation speech I gave on our Farewell Day at college.
But don’t get your hopes up. It’s neither inspiring nor emotional. Its a total piece of crap with no base, no plot and delivers no concrete message in the end. It’s just a reflection of the way I process thought and what I brought back with me from the four glorious years at college. Here goes:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good evening to all of you and Good morning to the Nada Rockers* who must have just got up.

I’ll start off my speech with a brainteaser for the professors:

Most of you guys must know this so strict discretion is advised.

BITS, Pilani now has four campuses, with Hyderabad soon on its way. If four more campuses are opened, then what will BITS be called?

Well, the answer is... Byte, Pilani. ‘Cause 8 BITS makes a byte. And people, you can stop pulling your hair, the joke wasn’t so bad!

Wow, four years have gone in a jiffy. It seems just like yesterday that I was at the Dubai airport waiting for a taxi along with my dad, sweating from head to toe, not only form the heat but also from nervousness about what I have got myself into. Now, seven-and-a-half semesters later, I still continue to sweat - but now only due to the heat. I can even say that now I sweat with confidence, if there is such a thing, because I am sure that what ever I had gotten myself into four years back, is the best thing that could ever get myself into.

In these four years, I’ve seen both myself, and a lot of my friends, change and grow academically and presonality-wise. I give complete credit to the institution for this. One personality trait that many have gained is the losing of mustaches. I remember in the first year, when half the guys in hostel sported grand and shiny mustaches over their upper lips. But, as the semesters progressed, every one started to lose them. At the end of first year, I remember that I too, having felt quite left out, decided to grow one (I had shaved of before coming to BITS after a huge confrontation with my father). One day, during the vacation, a 25-year-old guy who had hit a cricket ball into my house, came to me and said, “Jara Baal dedo naa... Unkul”. It was then that I decided that I shall never grow a mustache ever again in my life. And I advise the same to you. Get de-uncle-ized now and remain that now at least till you have actually become one. Especially the guys. Others can follow suit too.

And now, after this valuable piece of life-advice, I move on to some of my memories. The first thing that comes to my mind are the times spent at Avinash and Co.’s room. I can proudly say that we TDPs** are the most disorganized and wild people, but are also the most colorful, down-to-earth and the coolest guys in the gang. Also memorable are the unending hours spent traveling from Sharjah to Dubai with Shyam, Akshay and Varun. I now know by-heart the track numbers of every song on the CD that used to play in the car.

20 years down the line, I see all of us reaching great heights. I see Ankit and Neelay owning 17 companies in Silicon Valley, I see the Cornell Cousins controlling half of New York, the Texas Trio of Vijji, Sudha and Ady heading 18 oil fields, Avinash owning half of AP and I see myself of having finally finishing watching the third season of 24.

But, where ever I end-up and whatever stupid decisions I might take (like giving the GMAT), I will never forget these four things:
1. From the magazine work I have learnt this: When you lead a team, you work is to make others work.
2. There are 3 kinds of motors: DC, Induction and uh... Synchronous.
3. Try and avoid growing a mustache.
And finally, choosing to come to BITS was the best decision I ever made in my life.

For this, I have many people to thank. Firstly, I will be ever grateful to Director sir, for giving me an opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful organization. I thank Dr. Shazi for her constant advise and mentoring throughout my stint here. The magazine has been as much part of my life here as the courses I have taken. I thank Dr. Thomas, without whom I would still be thinking that Communication Systems was an English course, I thank Ms. Gomathi Bhavani for teaching me about the 3 motors, I also thank Dr. Siddiqui, Dr. Joseph, Dr. Lourde, Dr. Khan and everyone for making these 4 years so wonderful and so rosy.

Nandi! Shukran! (in the land’s languages.)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, this was spoke about when I was give the opportunity to express my feelings about passing out of BITS. But in some way, the speech does express what I ultimately learnt from four years at the university. Nothing in life is so serious that you should stop looking at the funny side of things. Never not smile. And yeah, don’t grow mustaches. That stands for you too!

Here’s me giving the speech and here’s the audience forcing a laugh. And here’s the after party!

*Nada Rockers were a bunch of guys who stayed outside the hostel in an area called Nada. They never knew what a classroom looked like. There was this one dude who never got to know what the subject EMEC stood for even after he passed out.

**Telugu speaking folk were called TDPs in hostel. Never knew the reason why. TDP wasn’t even the ruling party in Andhra.

Go Green. Go Gasoline.

Sun, 1 Jun 2008 21:37:04 +0530

Are Gasoline Engines More Environment Friendly than Electric?

I know the question may sound blasphemous to environmentalists but it is surprisingly true. Think about it this way: when you are charging the damn batteries that run your electric engine, you are using up electricity that has been produced by burning fossil fuels. It's not like electricity is clean just because your power plug doesn’t leave any ash residue when you are charging your iPhone. In fact, thermal power stations, which contribute to 90% electricity generation in many countries, are one of the most energy inefficient conversion processes in the world.

So, let's start proving this seemingly absurd observation I have made, taking India as the example country. Why? Well, ‘cause it’s our country and has a 9% GDP growth rate. Here goes:

An average Indian car that runs on gasoline (I shall be calling petrol as gasoline throughout this post, just to sound more paash) gives mileage of about 10 kilometers per liter (23.5 Mi/Gal) while an average Electric car present in the market right now gives a mileage of 2 kilometers per kilo-watt-hour (3 KM/KWH).

Let's say, in a city like Hyderabad, an average car user travels 30 kilometers per day (559.23 Mi/Mo), again taking only the lower side of the bell curve here. This will mean that the average car driver will spend 3 litres of gasoline per day or 10 kilo-watt-hours of electricity per day. For a month of 30 days, therefore, she will be spending 90 liters of gasoline (23.78 Gal/Mo) or 300 kilo-watt-hours per month (300 KWH/Mo).

Gasoline is usually produced from crude oil in a petroleum refinery (remember your class 10 science lessons?) and as per electricity, since we have taken India as an example, we can safely assume that the electricity which will be used to charge the electric engine will be produced from a thermal power station. In order to degrade electric engines and to support my seemingly earth shattering observation, I have split up my hypothesis in to three main categories.

Carbon Emissions

The most obvious data one can gather about something to see if it is a friend of Mother Nature (that'll make it our Aunty Nature) or a cut-throat enemy (like Ms. Bitch) is to check for its carbon emissions. This brought me to a small hump (don't get any wrong ideas. Humps are speed-breakers in the US). I have no idea in the world how to calculate carbon emissions of any fuel, me being a horrible student of chemistry. So what do I do? Like any other engineering graduate, I hit Google and thus, land on this wonderful site with a Carbon Pollution Calculator. Here we put in the values we have already calculated, i.e., 559.23 Mi/Mo at 23.5 Mi/Gal and 300 KWH/Mo of electricity.

The result: 90 liters of gasoline (23.78 Gal) per month produces 1740 pounds of carbon an year while 300 KWH/Mo produced 2040 pounds of carbon. Which shows that an average electric car would produce a whopping 300 pounds of carbon more than the current gasoline car!

For Round 1, Gasoline Car may not be Aunty Nature but Electric Car is clearly Ms. Bitch.

Energy Efficiency

When Human Beings are using up so much of non-renewable energy, the worst thing to add to it is losing or wasting more in forms which cannot be used. The measure of this wastage is called energy efficiency. As I mentioned before, a thermal power station is one of the world's worst energy efficient processes. Having said that, lets look at how the overall Gasoline Vs. Electric fares in this category.

The overall efficiency using gasoline as fuel for your engine would be a product of the efficiency of the refinery and the efficiency of the engine itself, while that of electricity wold be the product of efficiency of the thermal power station (from where the electricity is produced) and the efficiency of the electric engine. So, lets get our calculators out.

Efficiency of a crude oil refinery is at 88.4% while the efficiency of a gasoline engine is at a Ms. Bitchy low of 30%, so that gives us an overall efficiency of using gasoline as our fuel is 26.52%. Now the eye-opening part, while the efficiency of an electric engine is a whopping 80% (very much Aunty-like) but the efficiency of the power plant is at a Bitchy, 30%. So, that brings the overall efficiency to 24%.

Electric is the Ms. Bitch again.

Cost

India, we have sadly (or not?) only one electric car in the market, i.e., Reva. It costs around 250,000 Rs, looks really really, well just plain bad. Gives you a top speed of 60 KM/Hr making it a stiff competition to maybe a bicycle.

On the other hand, the only comparable gasoline car in the market (in near future) would be the Tata Nano. It costs 100,000 Rs and looks like a car, or at least a sociable person wouldn't be too embarrassed to be found inside one of them.

A unit of electricity in India costs just 4 Rs while a liter of petrol costs a mind-boggling 50 Rs. But, hold your horses, this in no way means that gasoline cars are more costly to run. Let's take out out pen and paper again and prove it why.

A unit (1 KWH) of electricity in india costs 4 Rs. Therefore, the cost of running an electric car would be 4 times 300 KWH (a value calculated earlier), i.e., 1,200 Rs per month. A liter of gas costs 50 Rs and so the running cost of a normal car would be 50 times 90 liters, i.e., 4,500 Rs per month. Here's the formula then:

100,000 + x(4,500) = 250,000 + x(1,200)

Where, 'x' is the number of months to break-even the price of buying an electric car and that of a normal car. So, 'x' will be the number of months it takes for an electric car to actually show any kind of cost saving. Solving the formula reveals that 'x' is 45.45. So it takes 45.45 months or 3.78 years for the break-even. Life of a Reva is 4 years, so in the end you save around 8,250 Rs in the last 2 1/2 months. I know it sound a bit complicated but the bottom line is that you save about 2,000 Rs an year for four years and then you have to get a new car and start over.

Ahh... finally I make the point. Electric cars are duds, cost-wise and, according to our very intellectual calculations above, environment-wise too. Moreover, not in a thousand years, would I be found in a Reva. I look nerdy enough without driving a toy car with a speed limit of 60 KM/H. Damn, just look at the pic above. Just plain ugly.

Final Say: Go Green. Go Gasoline.

I should really ask some money from the oil companies for writing this post.

The Art of Lyrics

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:58:25 +0530

I have heard a lot of people say that they have begun listening to songs of a particular band because the lyrics ‘spoke to them’ or had ‘such a deep meaning’ and so on. Recently, I have also heard the song, She Amazed Me by Rivo Drei, a so-so popular German band. Listen to the song first before you read on. Click here to download or play the song below. It is also my This Time’s Tune.

Now, assuming that you have followed my instructions like a good child, I shall go on. If you haven’t heard the song before, you must be wondering what is so special about it. It is an average song, with a good, catchy tune, and is, as many songs are, about love. What makes the song different (or actually not) is that the lyrics are totally crap. I am not saying this because it is my opinion or something, but the lyrics are actually crap and are the result of an ingenious experiment by Scott Adams (for those of you who don’t know him, firstly, shame on you, and secondly, he’s the creator of the Dilbert comics) that he started in his blog. Adams decided to make a song with totally random sentences, trying to prove his theory that many musical ‘greats’ write their songs in very much a similar way. So he began with a random sentence, and his readers (his blog has a huge fan base) chipped in with other random and totally unrelated sentences. And thus, a song was born.

Here’s a snippet from the ‘lyrics’:

She spinned round and round with a frog in her ear
Whispering fountains and rocks she couldn't hear

Oh, she amazed me!
With her love, she tazed me.
Oh, she amazed me!
And it escapes me
how she outer spaced me.

Now if we haven’t known about this, I am sure most of us might have assumed the words “She spinned round and round with a frog in her ear” must have a deep inner meaning which us, simple souls, cannot comprehend. But the fact is, it means exactly the thing it seems to mean, i.e., crap. And, every musician, I am sure, writes the lyrics to his/her songs in pretty much the same way, i.e., string along random sentences that end with similar sounding words.

A very valuable lesson has thus been learnt. In words of Mr. T., I pity the fools who have had so much faith in the song writing skills of their favorite bands/singers, I pity them. It is funny how we expect the lyrics to have greater and deeper meanings as they get crazier and crazier and seem to make no sense whatsoever. Another typical example for this is Vindicated (click to see the lyrics) by Dashboard Confessional. No ‘ooh such a deep meaning that is beyond a normal person’. Just plain crap.

Taking the cue from songs, I move on to poems and I know this is true there too. I realize that I will have literature buffs planning to ‘take me out’ for uttering these blasphemous words, but just the same. Remember, I am not saying poems (like songs) are totally crap, but all I am saying is that they too are written to mean exactly what they seem to mean. If a normal person gets one and enjoys it, then it’s good, else it’s crap that a smart guy has written just to keep his audience wondering. This leads us to Shakespeare (who was probably highly dyslexic) and I guess you get the point I am trying to make.

Final thought: Be it Madonna, Beatles, Nirvana, or even Eminem, the lyrics are always there just to support the song, they are in no way the song itself. Many have actually confessed that most of their songs mean no more than what they actually convey. It’s the music we love, not the lyrics. C’mon, a message with heavy meaning can never have rhyming words in it. Commercial music is made just to entertain and not to convey some deep hidden expressions of the songwriter.

So to all those who go ‘ooh I started listening to this band because all of their lyrics just touched me’ or ‘ooh that band writes songs which have hidden meanings’, IN YOUR FACE!

You can read Scott Adams’ blog post here.

Taare Zameen Par & the Forci Formula

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 01:09:15 +0530

Human psychology is both intriguing and extremely illogical. To support this hypothesis, I present to you two of my observations:

• Firstly, Man (or Woman, sexism not intended) has a carnal need to express or experience extreme emotions. Though I fail to understand any logical reasoning whatsoever behind this need, I go ahead and name it the E/EEE (Express or Experience Extreme Emotions) phenomena.
• Secondly, humans display reactional, or what I call, "reciprocal" feelings, wherein Subject A begins to experience emotions that Subject B is currently undergoing.

Combine these two weird phenomena and you will have in your hands, one of the most powerful formulae in the world: the Formula of Cinema (or, the Forci). Aamir Khan is the latest among those who have used the Formula to perfection, and as a result mint/win money/acclaim. One might ask, “all Bollywood movies use the Formula, but why are only movies like TZP so special?” Well, my answer is that though all directors know about the formula, only those who are able to convey the emotions onscreen with enough authenticity to imbibe Reciprocal Feelings in the audience can make these 'special' movies.

Watching Taare Zameen Par, or TZP (for you impatient folk), I couldn't avoid but notice that Mr. Khan has used this formula as the basis for every shot in the movie. The beginning of the movie is "Forci-free", starting rather slow for a commercial flick and having a little off-beat humor, but as the film progresses, we can clearly see the director put the Forci formula to maximum use. Every 5 minutes we see an actor on screen weep his or her eyes out, and as a result of the Reciprocal Feelings phenomena, the audience follow suit and weep their eyes out too. Now E/EEE comes into play and the audience having their "need" satisfied, come out and give the movie impeccable reviews and feedback. Voila! We have a critically acclaimed blockbuster in our hands. Even people who, at the end of the movie, still didn't understand what the whole dyslexia thing was about come back thoroughly satisfied and 'moved' (no idea why!). All thanks to the Forci formula.

Then again, I in no manner say that the movie is bad, or that it does not deserve the acclaim it has been receiving. As I have said before, in order to get the Forci formula to work authenticity of the emotions displayed is of utmost importance. And to achieve this we need extraordinary actors, and an even better director. The kid who played Eshan acted superbly, like most kids in cinema do, the supporting actors were excellent and Aamir Khan too was his usual self (i.e., awesome). Moreover, the movie not only has a good message but also a message that has never been tread on by Bollywood. Most importantly, it was a message that was eye-opening to many (that is, among those who actually got it). Come to think of it, it only after I saw the movie, that I realized that I too may have suffered an extremely mild form of dyslexia as a child. I had trouble recognizing the alphabets 'b' and 'd' till I was about 8 years old and had to often refer to some kind of printed material to confirm. This itself was extremely annoying to me, and I now understand what a truly dyslexic child may be undergoing.

Therefore, I completely believe that TZP is a great cinematic achievement, just for the fact that it has been able to 'influence' people, even if it is for only 2 1/2 hours and may be an extra 30 residual minutes. However, I also believe that the Forci formula had a bigger hand in the success of the movie than the actual message. Come on, Swades tried to tackle and convey a much more powerful message that is affecting our country right now, but it failed to 'influence' the people like TZP has done. Only one reason comes to my mind - it lacked Forci (was it because of the actors?).

In the end, all I wish to say is that the Forci formula kinda’ rules a huge chunk of our daily life, be it Advertising, Marketing, Cinema, Television, Politics or even general leadership. The world of Cinema has much to teach us and this is one primary lesson we’ve definitely got to learn, so much so that it should be named Influence People 101. The first take-away from this lesson:

May the Forci be with you.