Cheerful people,

The sun is shining but my butt is freezing. Is this Washington,
D.C or is it Buffalo, N.Y ? Each time I go out I add one more
layer of clothing to my body. If the mercury continues to fall
like this (high today: 18 F) we will soon become walking cabbages
with only a pair of eyes peeking through the swaddle of shirts,
coats, hats and scarves. But walk and run I will continue to do, 
because it keeps one's spirits up just as the sun does.

Here is my latest offering of random stuff. It is a little long
because things accumulated while I became obsessed with some
matrix computations briefly. Hope you enjoy reading it!

Sankar 

Random Thoughts (27)
Jan 2003

1. Whenever new life is born, there is great pain. Birth of a 
baby, birth of revolutions, new religions, they are all 
accompanied by struggle and agony. Conversely, when one goes 
through great pain, there is the possibility if not inevitability
of a new beginning.

2. We Indians, like other descendants of ancient civilizations, 
carry the burden of living up to the standards of some of the 
greatest people who ever lived, and some of the loftiest ideals 
ever taught. For over two thousand five hundred years, we have 
been trying to maintain the levels reached by people like the 
Buddha and teachings such as those of the Upanishads. Most of
us are like befuddled freshmen trying desperately to understand 
Calculus and abstract algebra instead of starting with high 
school algebra. We end up learning only the symbols and the 
language without grasping the substance of the teachings. And our
lives and actions are constantly contradicting the principles we 
are trying to follow.

3. Is there a relation between repression of sexuality and 
fertility? Seems to me, as societies become more open about 
expressing sexuality and more permissive in their attiutdes
towards it the fertility rate goes down.

4. Truth is always somewhere in between, I think. I constantly
question myself, and try to be aware of any bias within me 
towards one ideology or another. One has to be very suspicious
of people who claim that truth is on their side.

5. There is a very fine line between soft rock and country music
these days. I often find myself crossing the border into country
music land without realizing it. But hey, it is all music and 
they are all people. I think Shania Twain has a very sexy voice,
as have most southern accented women. In fact there is an episode
of Seinfeld in which Jerry becomes totally enthralled by a 
southern woman with whom he has absolutely nothing in common just
because of that husky voice of hers on his answering machine.

6. I have no problem with people following their dreams as long 
they respect and accommodate others' dreams. But unfortunately
I think there are people in America who believe that everyone
ought to dream the same dreams as they do. The dreams of the 
Indians went with the buffalo herds and those of the freed slaves
with a mule and forty acres.

7. I wouldn't want to be at the controls of the subway train. 
Every time the train reaches the platform at 30 or 40 mph with
a crowd of people at the edge and it would make me very nervous.
I'd probably have nightmares all the time. As it is I often have
nightmares about getting up late and missing class. But then 
again, one probably gets used to it. It is probably better that 
a human being is at the controls, though.

8. Scientists know the world. Philosophers know the problems of
the world. Poets can express those problems in beautiful words.
Wise men know the solutions to the problems. But they wouldn't 
know it without help from the scientists, poets and philosophers.

9. As I have mentioned before, I believe that out of the current
chaos India will emerge stronger and better off. When someone is
in a state of inertia for a long time, it often takes a kick in 
the butt to become awake and get going. 

10. With three quick shearings, the hairdresser freed me from the
comb and all hair related worries. New year, new beginning, new 
man!

And now some thoughts on the two things that have occupied 90% of
my time during the past few weeks: Math, football, more math, and 
more football...

11. The joint meetings of all the mathematics societies were held
in Baltimore last week. It is like a big jamboree, a huge market 
where every one is hawking their wares, where those of us mortals
who toil in our own little niche-gardens get to walk the same 
hallways as a few of the more rarefied creatures who condescend 
and come down from the stratospheres of abstract thought they 
normally occupy.

12. We mathematicians are identified by the work we have done. 
(Those of us who haven't done any work of note are invisible).
For example, I look at Harold Stark and think units and field 
extensions. For all I know, deep inside he might be more of a
saxophone player than a mathematician.

13. It must take an army of cleaners to vacuum all those vast
expanses of carpet at the convention center.

14. Civilization as we know today would not have been possible 
without scientists, especially mathematicians. In ancient 
civilizations astronomers and others skilled in science and 
philosophy were held in very high regard, often supported by the
King. Today scientists have become so commonplace that society
is taking them for granted and they in turn are losing touch with
society. Only a few scientists, really famous ones like Einstein,
Pauling and Grothendieck come to mind, have stuck their necks out
in protest of the indiscriminate use of technology. Scientists 
ought to demand that society value their position and opinion 
more, at the same time as they take an active role in the use of 
technology by society. If we continue to live like ostriches
with our heads buried in a world of theorems and results, society
will continue to ignore and devalue us.

15. Some strange coincidences among the games of the wild, wild,
wild card weekend: Both games on saturday were blow-outs. Both
games on sunday were 12 round slugfests decided only in the last
minute. Some common features of the two games on sunday : The 
losing team ran out of time, needing only a few seconds to win or
tie; The winning team came back from an impossibly large deficit
and took the lead only in the last quarter; the winning margin
was within a field goal; all four teams scored between 30 and 40
points. By the way, in both games of the conference championships 
last sunday the winning margin was exactly 17 points.

16. I think this was the big headline on top of the front page 
of the Philadelphia Inquirer during the week before the playoffs
began: 'McNabb's test flight has the birds buzzing'. I feel bad 
for McNabb but I hope their loss in the championship mellows the 
maniacal, savage species that inhabits parts of the vet stadium.
Philadelphia will start winning when their fans stop booing as
soon as their team falls behind or cheering when an opposing 
player gets injured.

17. Finally, here is a classic, poetic quote from Ritchie 
Anderson of the New York Jets after scoring a big touchdown
( I think during that last regular season game against packers):

"You can't ask for anything better than that, to get in the 
middle of a big open field and see linemen in front of you
-- that's a beautiful thing," Anderson ssaid.