A new type of waste: Memory wastage

Everybody in the world now supposedly possess a desktop or a laptop or at least a netbook with an external hard disk, if someone has none from the above 4, then of course a cellphone with loads of storage space. All these devices which are initially vacant with loads of Gigabytes gets filled with movies, songs, documentaries, games, and softwares. All these things are redundantly stored by each individual in their so-called "personal" collections of favorites. But if we see ironically there is nothing as such a thing called "personal" collection because all this stuff is readily available form the free and paid sources all over the internet and anybody can access it from anywhere.

The problem here is that the storage devices all around the world whether they are personal or institutional in nature are making similar copies of the same information over and over again. so if you consider movie "Tron Legacy" print in Blue Ray which comes to be about 11 Gigabytes in size, if is replicated and stored by at least 100,000 people it would waste around 11GB x 100,000= 1.04 PetaBytes of storage space.

This simply is an example that how much of memory and energy and resource goes waste for a single piece of art that can be shared with people in many other ways that can save both the memory spaces and also the environment.

My concern is simply that new innovations should be done so that this large amount of memory storage resources can be utilized with new content or more creative things than just being wasted on duplicated copies of data and information.

I will put the different methods that we can use to do it in my subsequent blogs. Till then have a great day and yes watch 'Tron Legacy" I have booked the tickets and going to watch it today.. And yes no part of "Tron Legacy" is harmed by my example as it was just to show the amount of memory wastage people do in saving redundant content, instead of borrowing from other people's hard disks :)

Why service based industry is best for India?

Getting funding for new products is the most difficult thing for a scientist, researcher, or an innovator/student to get in India. New product development can only be done by businessmen here who already has sufficient resources to support it. A common man who wants to start his own business can do it but then he has to be at a very small scale like owning a shop or more not more than this. Some exceptions might be there. But the best bet for Indian entrepreneurs to start with is service based industry as this industry doesn't requires a huge investment rather a negligible amount if they are smart enough.

The benefit of this industry is that if you have a client base of even 2-3 clients then you can first do the work, charge the fee and continue to invest it in other areas of service or products rather than first investing money in a single product development which might succeed or in worst case scenario fail too. On the contrary service providers has to invest nothing significant rather, first they have to concentrate to on delivering service and receive money for it to try out with investment options in products etc later.

Indian IT industry succeeded because of this only, earlier nobody understood the potential of IT in India due to lack of awareness and knowledge. But when few smart people recognized that service based IT can work wonders even without a large initial investment than construction, petroleum, textile firms etc requires. They flew with the idea and now see the consequences of it India has the world's most profitable IT industry an this fact is not hidden from anybody.

So I would like to share this idea to all of the budding entrepreneurs to first start with any kind of consultancy in the field in which you have the knowledge or experience, and then later you can carry on investing in any proposed products of yours. Build manufacturing industry gradually from service based industry which will not also give you more exposure but also funds to support your future plans :)

College from where one study matters or talent in oneself?

I want to answer this question from my personal experience. One day my childhood friend accompanied his father to my place at that time some more friends of mine were at my place. We had a good chat about our school days. But then the topic changed to life, marriage, and future plans. My friends started talking about their respective companies they were working for. Everything was going fine suddenly my friend's father asked about each one their respective payrolls which was largely personal subject but still everybody extinguished his curiousity honestly.

But then the real reason for me writing this blog post started. My friend's father told everybody proudly that his son owns more than a majority of us all present there. He took pride in boasting that his son has outperformed all of us present there. The reason being that his son studied from an National Institute of Technology and not any one of us studied from any such reputed college. He was sarcastically making fun of us all. But I did'nt interfered in between I let him speak and unnecessarily poke us.

Later when they left everybody was irritated and a little angry about all this. The feel of the moment changed from peaceful to annoyance. But then I realized it and took each one of friends to motivate them. I told one of my friend that he has been selected by a multinational in which that dad's son failed to pass. Another one came from IIT after doing research and earning name and fame more than anybody among us. One owned his own business startup and the other had the hottest girl of the college as his girlfriend ;)

But the dad's boy had nothing he just crammed all the lessons since he was in kindergarten he did not have any applied knowledge skills just percentage to support him and a college who did not help him get the job. My friends realized that I was true, nobody had internal satisfaction in what they were doing due to a college but due to their self efforts and knowledge. College played no part in a computer science graduate friend of mine in taking over dry fruits business from his father and expanding it, or helping an IT engineer enter nanotechnology field and do research in it to develop awesome products. It was their will my friends what made them what they were now. But that friend of mine who came with his father is still slogging in an IT company doing the work he does not like as he only crammed up all the data, code etc to succeed temporarily.... this was what he learnt from NIT :)

So my friends I would like to tell you that colleges just helps us decide what we wanna do with our lives, they give us the direction and opportunity to learn and experiment, not to cram up things just to pass and later boast about it unnecessarily. In this present date all of those of my friends who were present there earn twice what that guy earns and has earned more reputation in their work than him. But he still is trying to play tricks to get an opportunity to go onsite via company sponsorship :)

The lesson is that it depends on you what you wanna become no obstacle can come in anyone's life who wishes to learn, no college or teacher matters to the hungry mind...only self motivation and self respect does....So cheer up my friends no matter you have not being selected in an IIT, NIT or REC. You can still succeed like me and my friends...just show the world your courage and don't get de-motivated or intimidated by people who don't understand the potential in you.

Nanotechnology in India needs jobs to survive its hype!

Nanotechnology in India is just coming up in research and technology field. But still our papa and grandpa who everyday reads newspapers and watches news on TV hardly knows about it. So it does not help a guy who wants to go in this field, with his father in IT industry and grandfather retired from a Government tech firm. He does not receive motivation or help in order to take this "risky" step. Instead he is being lured into the ever popular IT industry job for both money and career security.

These 2 latter reasons are creating hurdles in India for nanotechnology to bring significant changes or employment to the society. The major problem of nanotechnology in India is that it has negligible amount of placements for now quite a handsome amount of passing out nanotech graduates. They either have to join some IT giant (because nobody else bothers to give them employment except some rare cases) or else they have to continue fruitless research here in India which does not give useful products or research papers either. If we compare this scenario with other developing nations like China, Germany, Israel, etc they have significantly higher number of publications and employment than India in the field of nanotechnology. The figures suggests around twice the number of papers are published in these nations than that of India according to Thomson Reuters Global Research Report on India http://science.thomsonreuters.com/m/pdfs/grr-India-oct09_ag0908174.pdf

As I worked in a nanotechnology company for almost 2 years and got chance to interview and interact with the growing nanotech talented youth in India. I came to know that there is no shortage of talent but the need is to give this talent a suitable direction and chance to show their abilities.

So I would like to raise this serious issue which can kick start brain-drain of nanotech talent from India like it has happened in many technology sectors in India in the past times. I would like to inform the Government so that it can take steps to retain this talent and use it for it's growth. Serious employment shortage in this technological field of the future has to be looked into at first priority and steps like funding nanotech startups, starting nanotech entrepreneurship cells in colleges, Government funding for product based nanotech applications has to be increased by many folds.

Nanotechnology can provide solution to many problems of our lives but its own survival and development is in trouble. So I would like to request professors, students, government officials to seriously look into this issue and work; not to spread the name of nanotechnology as another bright technology of the future, but as another source of mass employment in India.

Why mostly Indian small companies fail to make global footprint unlike Chinese counterparts?

This is a very important question today that needs to be answered. When we want India to shine and become a super power we cannot expect only it's large companies to perform, expand and in the process get transformed into global giants.

It is high time that Indian small companies should expand its client base from the present regional businesses to overseas shores. But what I have witnessed personally is that mostly small businessmen who are managing their respective businesses in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai & other metros, cities etc, do not take this thought seriously or with a zeal. They tend to stick to the business clientele with whom they had dealt with, since their business was a start up.

This is good in the sense that these businessmen has the acumen to manage the business and hold clients for long. But they have some hitch in acting to expand further at national or global levels.

Let me put down the reasons in bullets:

1. They have a wrong notion in mind that this would require a lot of money investment.

2. They might lose the regional clients if they will concentrate on expansion.

3. They do not have the resources to publicize their business abroad.

4. Their cost of development, production etc will come higher than China, so they will not be able to compete.

5. How will they manage the expanded version of their business, when they feel it is already full of hassles in India?

These all are myths in today's world.

A very small amount of investment can do good and precise publicity. As so many channels like website, blogs, local & global search engines plus trade site listings are available mostly for free Moreover even if some are not then they are available at very affordable rates which can amount to at most 1%-5% of the annual income.

The only problem that needs to be considered now is: Chinese competition. But what I have learned through my personal experience is that businessmen here in India, half of the times are simply unaware of the price the Chinese counterparts quotes to overseas clients. The prices comes either at par or slightly lower than India. The 2 positive points which makes us overlook the pricing issue are:

1. We do not do piracy or break copyright laws when business deals are concerned, as compared to other parts of the world.

2. Our products have the better quality and standards than the global counterparts.

So what is required now is that we have to concentrate on strong market research results, facts and figures only, rather on notions that has been built in our minds.

We need to expand our small companies into medium and then large business players and so in order to do that we need to provide deliverables on time (this point is Achilles' Heel in India as people are a bit relaxed even when doing business).

So if we have decided to expand our businesses and build our nation, we should start acting now. These steps not only brings prosperity in our lives but also pride for India.

Where to sit in a movie theatre to get the best view to watch AVATAR in 3D.

I went to see AVATAR this weekend. After watching the movie the only one word which came out of my mouth and that was "AWESOME" but I think looking at the story, 3D effects, visuals, action sequences I should change the word awesome is spelled to "AWESUM".

The movie has everything that a true entertainer movie with a message should have. It is yet another James Cameron's masterpiece I think it is equal to or a little more awe inspiring than TITANIC. I am damn sure it will break the $1 billion mark by ticket sales in the coming 2 months or so. Before going to the movie I read that come critics have criticized the story as not that good as it should be, but this all these are TRUE LIES, the story is as good as the movie and I am going to see it again on Christmas Day. The story is the main reason that all the 3D seems sensible to me. It has all the reasons both scientific and moral that justifies each and every drama sequence in this epic. So go my friends and take all your family members and friends with you as this the best ever 3D movie to be watched.

I would like you to tell that I sat in the 2nd row to the screen while watching the movie and it was truly the worthy place to be seated. Some of my friends who sat in the last row or in the middle of the theater were not able to feel the bushes, the guns blowing and many more wonderful scenes as we people who were sitting in the first 3 rows to the screen. So people take the seat in the first 3 rows from the screen only and preferably the middle ones in those rows to get the best possible feel and excitement of watching AVATAR in 3D and ENJOY.

Talent Recession: It's Meaning, Cause, and Remedy

Talent Recession, its a new combination of words :) but it is creating and will create major problems in India's progress in the coming years. NASSCOM has many times brought this in focus, time and again. But the cry is falling on deaf years. There are few reasons behind it: Firstly the growing number of engineering colleges in India, like for example in Uttar Pradesh alone; their number has tripled since I did my bachelors in computer science and engineering in 2007. These colleges have sprung up like mushrooms in every medium and largely populated cities all around the nation. The problem is not the growing number of colleges; which could have been a good sign if they provided quality education. They are presently an earning model for their managements who just want to take their share of the soup as most of the Indian youth is crazy about getting just a degree rather than getting educated and then acknowledged by a degree. The problem is not with the students alone but with the parents also who want each and every kid of theirs to become an engineer or a doctor just like that of their neighbor's son or daughter. Its sounds sarcastic but first we have to deal with this problem.

The Government first has to put a check on these "mushrooming colleges" before giving approval, it has to check whether the college is willing to hire good professors, lecturers or they will recruit some fresher pass-outs to teach the upcoming batch of freshers :) The planning has to be verified thoroughly and inspections which are nowadays thing of past should be rejuvenated to put a check on these false practices. Then the students has to be a little more sensible, I advise you my friends that don't go to a college if it's past record is not good check with it's pass-outs or read about it on the internet then only make a decision to take admission anywhere. I don't want any of my young friends to be fooled by these people as YOU are the future and YOU have DREAMS. Thirdly please Indian parents stop looking upon your neighbor's son or daughter achievements, and moreover don't push your child also to do the same, study the same, achieve the same. YOUR child is unique, he has his own share of the world, his own set of goals, and his own dreams so let him achieve them instead of forcing your neighbor's kid's goals, dreams etc. Give YOUR kids space to create their own existence and mark upon life.

The second problem which is accelerating Talent Recession is the course that is being taught at the college level. It contains a lot of theory and a little chunk of it has practicals. Rather the scenario should be vice-versa. If we consider a computer engineer who has studied a lots of theory, formulas, algorithms etc but does not know how to program a single into an executable code, its just waste of time, money and talent. So its high time that the courses has to be made more professional with more emphasis on practical problem solving skills and abilities. Due to this problem whatever talent is being generated in our country, is not at all able to withstand the professionalism required in the industry. The companies mostly end up with fewer number of recruits then required in large campus interviews, and walk-ins.

The third and the final problem that is promoting Talent Recession is "The Brain Drain". This is a serious problem as what ever talent pool we develop does not stays in the country due to the fewer number of top notch facilities available for them in the research fields. We have a handful of universities or institutions that support high tech research in India, so students who want to study further and do some quality research either don't get admission into these reputed places or they end up in fighting with too much of competition for limited number of seats available. Moreover Indian research labs still lack behind in every aspect like instrumentation facilities available, industrial exposure, funding, professionalism etc from their counterparts in the Western or now even Eastern parts of the world. The work culture has a vast difference in the labs here and abroad. I have myself personally seen how professors play politics in some top notch institutions here to get the favor from the Government or to get more influential position. The need is that either the students or those who know the truth about these problems need to come out of their shell and take necessary steps to stop all this.

Students should write to the Government's concerned authority personally or collectively to improve the conditions, get more research instruments, complain about the wrong doings of the staff etc. If these all steps are not taken again and again till the result is seen, we cannot prevent Brain Drain or better the educational system & facilities.

These were the problems due to which we are witnessing the problem of Talent Recession. Moreover we will sense it even more if nothing is done to prevent it. The need of the hour is not to just read this column and others like this and go back to work, sleep or read another one but to realize the effects this problem can bring to us if we remain so ignorant. It could be any body's child, brother, sister, even yours or even YOU who can suffer due to this. Unemployment, economic breakdown, dependency, global deficits and even recession are in some way or other related to this, may be not wholly, but still this problem accounts their impact, rise and also their fall. So rise up people and take some solid steps and help India progress faster, stronger and better....and make World a peaceful and secure place to live in....