I Hate Waiting ...

I guess this is true for most people. To wait for hours to get some important work done, wait for weeks to get your application accepted, wait for months to get results from your experiments. The anxiety, the frustration ...
Unfortunately, this is true for most cases. However, sometimes you are pleasantly surprised when you expected to wait for a long time but things turn up almost instantaneously. A few days back I saw a notice that the entry to the Engineering 302 bldg would be controlled by an S-card sensor (a smart ID card for the students and staff of SNU). The department had advised us to get our S-cards back in December but I didn't bother to get it. Sometimes I can be surprisingly lazy. The notice was a real pain in the a$$ since others told me that it takes weeks even months to get the card. So I decided to apply for it right away and tried to figure out a way to take care of the situation of entering the bldg without the card. I filled out the application and went to the Doore Cutlural Center to submit it. The guy at the office had a look at my application and told me to come back after 1pm. It was around 11:30am and I tried to explain him in Korean that it was urgent and I needed to submit it right away. He looked a bit surprised and told me that it takes at least an hour to process the application! Now it was my turn to get surprised. What he was telling me earlier was that I could collect my card after 1pm. When I asked my labmates, they told me that takes at least 3 weeks to get the card. I collected my card after 2 hours. Nothing feels better than getting things done almost instantaneously.
This is however, not an isolated incident. Yesterday, when we went to Language School to join the 4th level of Korean classes, we (Dima and I) found our names absent from the list of students. So at 5:45pm, we went to the office and told that we were from the 'Samsung Program' and we wanted to join the 4th level. Normally, it takes at least a week to process the application and we were asked to sit while the lady at the counter made a phone call. After about 3 minutes, walks in a lady wearing a silver stiletto and asked our names. We wrote it down for her and she told something to the other girl. The she turned to us and said, "Room no 319, 6:30pm!" It was done ... thanks to the name Samsung!
In summer of 2007, when I went to the German consulate in Kolkata for my visa application for the summer internship, I found a long queue in front of me. My number was 47 but my name was called in after about 30 mins. As I walked to the counter, I saw other being asked a lot of questions about the purpose of their visit. I submitted the documents and waited. After a cursory look at the documents, 'Mrs Mitra' marked my application IIT with a marker and told me, "Please come between 3 and 4 to collect your visa". I thanked her and breezed out of the room as others looked on at me!
I wish life was always this simple and this quick. The good times are few and comes along rarely. I guess that's what makes it so special and pleasant!

The familiar and the unfamiliar

Today's issue of the Korea Times carried a shocking news. Former Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun, who was under investigation for a political corruption scandal had committed suicide by jumping off a cliff while hiking in his home village. The news of the investigation had already made headlines but this was a really unexpected development! I'm currently writing an article on self help books for the campus magazine and I wonder what kind of mental torment must he had faced that drove him to take such an extreme step. I came here to study at the university and I sometimes take pride in the fact that I can stay neutral and professional in most trying times. But I find myself getting increasingly getting involved and entangled in events that do not concern me and in others problems.
Leading a strictly academic life, especially in engineering can be very boring and I actively seek ways to add some diversity to my life. One such effort was to join the QUILL, which though takes a lot of my time but gives me a chance to learn new things and meet new people. Also I've learnt to take pleasure in the things that I have rather than repent about the things that I don't. I enjoy what comes along. Yesterday, I went to a nice restaurant where we had Bulgogi (grilled beef) and Mandu (steamed meat dumplings). A full fledged Korean meal is always interesting, due to the large number of side dishes (Banchhan) and the sheer variety of color. On top of this, most of the stuff is very healthy, which makes eating out a pleasurable and healthy experience. I came back with a full stomach and a great satisfaction that comes with a fulfilling meal. There was a lot of work to be done for the current issue of the QUILL. I am supposed to write an editorial on the psychology of theft and surveillance, and an article evaluating self help books. If the issue of the theft was not difficult enough, I got entangled into the quagmire of the self help articles due an impulsive decision during a dinner with some fellow QUILLers. I've never read a self help book in my life and I view those who read them with extreme contempt. During the dinner meeting I was extremely critical about those who take help of those who read them, calling them 'backboneless' and a lot of other foul things, only to find that the person sitting beside me was one of them. Suddenly I felt very bad and uncomfortable. And I decided to not only to give it a try but to write a full 2 page article evaluating good and bad self help books. I must admit that at that time my decision and judgement was clouded by actions but soon I came to realize how intimidating a task it was. But I have a reputation to protect and so I got down to understand the whole new world of self help books. I visited a famous bookstore with a few friends of mine, who read these books and surveyed the ones that were on display. They seems to have a lot of knowledge on this matter and gave me a lot of liberal advice. I reciprocated with some trademark caustic humor of mine!
Today, I was busy researching about the psychology of theft, surveillance, self help books, reading "Who Moved My Cheese?" and of course writing. To cheer myself up, I was listening to Pavarotti, mainly his rendition of Puccini's 'Nessun Dorma'. My fascination for Western classics started with Wagner's Tannhauser. Anyway, after a hard days work writing, I decided to take a break in the evening and take a walk. I decided to visit my old neighborhood of Bong-Cheon dong, where I lived for 6 months before moving into the dorm. As I walked I noticed the changes that had come about in the past few months. At the 4 way crossing, the new building that was being constructed had added a lot of new floors. There was a new Paris Baguette at the corner as well. The street side stalls selling snacks were there as usual and continued to be a big crowd puller. However, the man selling grilled chicken was missing. I decided to visit the Jungang market and found a really nice Shiraz wine. I also saw some familiar faces of the market employees. While coming back, I passed the cosmetic shops with irritating nasal female voices trying to attract customers. I was in mood for something sweet, so when I was passing the Tours Le Jours store, I decided to check it out. There was a new girl at the counter. Given the eagerness of her greetings, evidently she was a recent recruit! I decided to buy a nice almond cake.
With a large part of the writing task taken care of, I can relax a bit now. As midnight approaches, I'm still listening to Pavarotti - O' Sole Mio, Ave Maria has now joined Nessun Dorma and his baritone continues to enthral me. Accompanying the music is a wonderful Australian wine. Though alcohol is prohibited inside the dorm, I don't care now! Maybe, the alcohol is taking effect :). The absence of my room-mate also helps me indulge in this 'old vice of mine'.
Thus life rolls on. The more I try to simplify my life, the more entangled it gets. The more I try to understand the Korean psyche, the more mysterious it gets. The more I try to stay away from the pleasures of life (for the sake of my body-building objectives), the more induglent I seem to get.

Democracy triumphs!!!

I acquired my voter ID card about 5 years back when I was about to finish high school but have never voted in any of the elections - be it the general elections or the state assembly. For 4 years since school, I lived about 3 hours from my voting constituency and never felt the eagerness to take the gruelling journey home just to cast my vote. And since then I've been living outside India - first in Germany and now in Korea, and hence has just been a silent spectator to the 'Great Political Drama' that unfolds during the times of the elections.
In high school, during the infancy of my political consciousness I had witnessed a number of failed governments, weak leaders and the corruption and inefficiency that shrouds Indian politics - which unfortunately made me loose faith in the Indian democratic system at the very beginning. Towards the end of high school I was too busy with myself to take an active interest in politics and being in IIT where politically affiliated student unions don't exist, I have rarely had a chance to feel the wind that drives Indian politics. I hardly bothered for the Gymkhana elections in IIT and took no interest in them. This is partly because I didn't really care for what went on with others, the major policy changes and the possible changes that could be brought about by an active student movement. It might be said that all I was concerned about was myself and my career. And this is not just true for me but for a large number of other students in IIT as well. And the effect of such lack of interest and initiative reflects in the appalling conditions of the hostels, the lack of proper on campus medical facilities etc. Maybe if we had been a little more active, maybe if we had a little more faith in ourselves and if we had taken some right steps at the right time, it could have saved the innocent life that was lost due to the negligence of the pathetic BC Roy hospital.
I always believed that democracy cannot work in a country as large as India, where politics is played on the basis of caste, where a large number of politicians have extensive criminal records, where party tickets are sold to the highest bidder, where many of the MPs rarely turn up for the Parliamentary proceedings. This was coupled with the fact that a large percentage of the Indian population lives a very hard life and their votes can be bought by very small favors right before the election. The 'educated elite' hardly ever bothers to vote, believing that nothing will change and just one vote hardly matters. Voter turnouts in major cities are always very low. Also, due to the large number of regional parties, the negligence in developing states ruled by the opposition coalition, the short term myopic policies of the government which aims at immediate gains in the coming election rather than sustained growth in the long run, I believed that democracy could never be fully realised successfully in India.
After the 2004 elections when Congress led UPA came to power, there was much drama over the appointment of Dr Manmohan Singh as the PM (or rather a 'puppet PM'). Though I greatly admire Dr Singh as an academician and an economist, I was rather sceptical of him as a PM. I'd have rather preffered to see Advani as PM, whom I considered ideal for the job, because, as many would agree, he seems to have the 'balls' to do so. Also, growing up in a BJP era (during my high school), the 'India Shining campaign' (which ultimately didn't work), I came to admire a lot of NDA leaders like Yashwant Singh, Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj etc, partly because they were media savvy. The confidence that the 'India Shining' campaign, the successful conclusion of the Kargil conflict, the peace measures with Pakistan, brought about was countered by the utter failure of the way the Kandahar hijacking was dealt with and the interference of MM Joshi in the functioning of IITs and IIMs.
Coming back to the present day, I was once again a 'distant observer' of the 2009 general elections. However, I could feel the tremors from thousands of miles away. The possibility of a fractured mandate, the horrors of Mulayam Singh's 'misguided manifesto' (which reminded me of Pol Pot's monstrous idea of going back in time to purify ourselves of 'western influence'), the possibility of the Third front or a Leftist dominated coalition coming to power, the nightmarish scenario of Mayavati becoming the PM, the bleak economic situation, constantly troubled me, though apparently I was far away from the reaches of the its fallout.
The results of the election stunned everybody. Nobody expected any particular coalition to come close to the magic figure but as it turned out, they did. And not only that, there was a clear mandate that people don't approve of the misguided ideas of the bigwigs of UP-Bihar. The Red bastion seems to crumble, at least for now, and I hope it will continue to crumble in future. Though this result will not make me a fan of the UPA overnight, it still makes to happy to think that the uncertainties that were threatening to engulf Indian politics seems to have cleared, at least of the time being. These are difficult times and the current government will have to cater to the expectations of a billion people. The market seems to have given a resounding applause to the election results and, hope, seems to break though the clouds of despair in these dark days.
Given the magnitude of the election process, the difficulties faced in conducting it, this outcome is no less momentous than the election of Obama. Just the difference in that it was not played out in the US. It seems that I've been proved wrong. Democracy does work in India, if not perfectly. People still have the power to spring surprises and reject opportunists.
There has been many occasions in the past, when the name of India featured prominently on the global stage- the Pokhran blasts, Olympic medals, winning the T20 world cup, the talks of India poised to be a global superpower. But I think that the results of this election has made me more proud of India that any other event. I've never been happy to be proved so utterly wrong and to witness not just the successful conclusion of the most complicated election process in the world but the triumph of the very idea of Democracy!

A Journalist's dilemma

Its been some time since I've written here. That's because I've been busy writing in other places - namely SNU English journal, the QUILL. Vol. 19 was my debut issue and I wrote 2 articles for it. One describing the perception and problems of foreign students coming to SNU and the other one was an editorial for the cover story - the obsession with fashion amongst Koreans.
Koreans are not the best English speakers in the world and hence the QUILL is mostly targeted for foreigners and those who have a decent proficiency with English. However, it seems strange to think that it would leave a large majority of SNU students out of the possible list of readers. While the other members of the QUILL team sticks to objective and factual reporting, while writing the editorials, I'm usually spoilt for choice. In the article allocation, while others have a fixed topic to write on, my section usually includes - "Free topic for Subho". Though it gives me a lot of freedom to choose my topic, writing style and format, knowing so little about SNU makes the problem more acute than what it sounds like. For example, this issue is supposed to be on Theft in SNU. Now when the issue came up, I was really surprised. Compared to India, Seoul is a utopian land - crimes are very rare, the streets are usually far safer and theft on campus of all places is almost unthinkable to me. The only unsafe thing I could think about was the way people ride bikes (mostly delivery guys). But now, I have developed more understanding on the issue and as it turns out, that the 'utopian' Korean society has many dark secrets in its closet.
In this regard, I was talking to a labmate of mine and for his opinion. I also asked him about how he felt about the previous article that I had written. The problem as it turned out was that he had some difficulty in understanding what I had written. Though I tried to be fairly objective and straight forward, I inevitably ended up making it a bit theatrical. With veiled hints and more than one layer of meaning, it may not be easy for a person not proficient enough in English to understand. However, writing it in a very plain language would 'take the piss out of the whole thing'. Now that's the dilemma - should I sacrifice the 'literary' quality of the article to make it more understandable and intelligible or should I stick to this multi-layered, slightly theatrical style of writing? I guess even after almost 2 decades of learning English and blogging for more than 3 years, I've a lot to learn about 'optimal expressionism'.
This has however been a satisfying journey. From the 'D' in 1st grade in English, to be able to play with the language, in terms of its structure, construction, meaning and expression - I've come a long way. But like all great journeys, this one is still far from being over. On the contrary, its like a mirage - the closer you approach, the farther the target gets.
From the experience of the last 2 months, I realise that joining the QUILL was good decision. On the very outset, it gives me a chance to improve my skills to play with the language and improve ability to express myself. Secondly, it helps me immerse myself into the life of SNU and the Korean society in general. I find myself reading more about Korean and its people and hence beginning to enjoy my stay here. My awareness level has increased significantly and so has my curiosity. Last but not the least is getting to meet people from other departments (though the membership seems to be heavily skewed in favor of students of International Relations) and get out of the 'macho' world of Engineering for some time! Though this semester is crazy, I'm not exactly depressed by the busy schedule and lack of sleep. The continuous classes (where I'm notoriously famous for falling asleep), language education, project work, watching Korean drama, writing for QUILL, kicking a** of people who read self-help books ... life has become crazy and complicated but at the same time a lot more interesting!

Emoticons and a full rank matrix

When I got my first phone connection in Korea, my contact list was just limited to my labmates and the other GSP students. But after 7 months, that list has expanded significantly. And so has the number of Korean text messages that I recieve. Though my Korean has improved significantly over the past 3 months, I'm yet to be comfortable with the kind of Korean used in SMS .... and most importantly - the emoctions. Though I have been and am associated with some 'cutting edge' research and consider myself well versed with developments in technology, when it comes to SMS - I'm still a cave-man from the last ice-age. If there was an SMS and emoction awareness index, my score would be close to the 'retard' range! And every time I receive a message (most of which are loaded with emoctions) ... I have to call up that person in order to understand the message. Though these emoctions might be popular in global SMS culture, they were new to me. I can recall a few of them now:
V(-_-)V ... a face in the middle and V for victory on either side. The V sign is the most popular sign while taking photographs in Korea and it is virtually impossible to find the picture of Korean without a V sign. It might be noted that, we prefer using just one finger in our photographs (and that too a different one, instead of 2! )
-_-)=b ... thumbs up sign next to a face
@.@ ... surprised ... eyes wide open (try to understand in the Korean context!)
~~ ... stretched intonation ... as in oh~~ = ohhhhhooooooo
ㅠㅠ ... korean character (vowel pronounced as 'you') .... means tears or sad
^.* ... wink
There are many more but I can't recall them at this moment. Many of them use Korean character. Recently, I have developed a keen interest in understanding Korean culture - both ancient and contemporary ... and also the Korean psyche. This Saturday, Stepan, Ivan and I went to the sauna in the evening and then to drink at around 11pm. It had been a really long time since we had a nice drink and enjoyed the atmosphere and the conversation. But as it happens in long drinking sessions - the conversation becomes more colorful and interesting, as time progresses. It was around 1am and we began dissecting the Korean psyche. Already under the influence of 2 pints of beer and multiple whiskeys, the conversation combined widely different fields of study under one banner - from linguistics to history, from human migration to cinematography, from arts to linear algebra! Almost a year back, I discovered something called the 'Single Malt' effect but it seems that half-a-way across the world, whiskey continues to fire my imagination and that of those around me!
We were talking about the Korean alphabet system and its influence from the Chinese script. The modern Korean language is just about 500 years old. Korean language lacks in certain sounds or phones, that are present in other languages and has some that are not present in others. Since the other guys were Russian, they cited examples from their own script and Latin. Chinese is a character based language and hence there are a large number of characters, while Latin or modern Korean being alphabet based, has far less number of characters. Amidst the blue smoke and the golden brown, I commented, "Yeah, the ancient languages are like high-dimensional matrices with incomplete rank ... they have a lot of redundancies. Relatively modern languages are like low dimensional full rank or almost full rank ones ... lot less redundancies due to greater independence of components". In reply, Stepan added, "Yes, exactly, like orthogonal basis ... greater uncorrelatedness among the alphabets". And then there was silence ... we just stared at each other for some time and started laughing. We realised that we were beginning to drift off into another world and it was time to stop and go home to sleep!

Threesome : Dreams that melt away with the winter snow ...

Yesterday, I finished watching my first Korean drama. Its international title is Winter Sonata. Aired in 2002, it is widely believed to be one of the most popular TV dramas not only in Korea but also many parts of East Asia - elevating the principal characters to demi-god status in Korea and Japan. It was a part of the Korean wave that swept through this part of the world a few years. I started watching it with the hope of learning colloquial Korean - sort of reinforcing what I learn in the language class. I must confess that I've never watched any romantic TV series earlier and hence was a total stranger to this genre. Tired by an overdose of war, bloodshed and reality, I tried giving Winter Sonata a chance in the dying days of the winter, amidst the cherry blossoms.
It turned out to be a great way to learn certain daily expressions, which I've been able to use to quite an effect! However, the purely 'academic' purpose was replaced by a genuine interest in the story after a few episodes. The story revolves around 3 main characters - Joon-sang(JS), Yu-jin(YJ) and Sank-Hyuk(SH). Hence the title :) The classic case of a triangle. It compares to Casablanca and Sindbad - the legend of the seven seas. A woman trapped between 2 men, both of whom love her dearly. Comparing the men who 'lost' in the end - SH is probably the weakest character when compared to the prince of Damascus and Rick. However, the protagonist in this story, JS, though he gets his girl in the end, has to pay for with his eye-sight.
The story starts with the 3 main characters in high school and how the triangle develops. SH loves YJ but YJ loves JS. Unfortunately, JS 'dies' in a traffic accident, only to mysteriously reappear 10 years later on the days of YJ's engagement with SH. YJ faints at the sight of her 'first love' and then things get entangled. JS is also searching for his father, who, her mother claims is dead. Towards the end, it turned out that YJ was actually JS's half-sister(man, 10 years of wait and then this !!!) and so they had to break. Seeing a window opening up, SH tries to fill in a the gap in YJ's life and restake his claim. But by another twist, it turns out that JS is actually not related to YJ but to SH. A twisted tale of love and betrayal over 2 generations and a horribly entangled thread in the end. Then our knight in shining armor - JS, displaying the chivalry of a Templar, gives up his claim on YJ, even after knowing the truth. The multiple accidents and 2 memory refreshes has left potentially fatal blood clots in his brain. The dude decides to leave for the States to get operated and away from YJ. At this point, SH, who had been acting selfish so far, comes forward to reciprocate the chivalry and hands over a ticket to JFK to YJ and tells her to pursue her love, instead of going over to France for higher studies. But, our pretty YJ, it seems have been hardened by the circumstances and decides to give up JS and heads over to Paris, leaving her JFK boarding pass behind ... man, what a scene! Though she almost cried to the point of dehydration, before making up her choice. The end is however a happy one, when JS and YJ meet on a balcony overlooking the sea, though our hero had lost his sight due to the injury to his brain.


It was a refreshing change after all the documentaries on Crusades, World War, genocide, war crimes, middle east. Winter Sonata did touch the heart, hardened by war, pain and reality! :P
But more than the just the romantic aspect of the series, I was impressed by the cinematography, the expressions and at certain places, really good and honest acting.
Some of the scenes were wonderfully portrayed and the dialogues carefully crafted. The background music also greatly enhanced the feel. I also greatly enjoyed the use of symbolism and the subtlety with which it was used.
Certain scenes, like YJ and JS fixing the torn seat of the bus with the band-aids, the snowmen, the lost piece of the puzzle, Polaris, JS finishing of the layout of YJ's dream design, in a single night before loosing his eye sight (kinda reminds me of Euler and Galois ... and how they reacted when they realised that there days were numbered) ... were materpieces of symbolic portrayal. The dialogues were also very beautiful in certain places and made the script very powerful indeed.
Winter Sonata has changed my perception of contemporary Korean TV shows and cinema, greatly increasing my respect for the director Yoon Suk-ho and the actors portraying JS (Bae Yong Joon) and YJ (Choi Ji Woo). It has also inspired me to watch other Korean series and with time hopefully develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the use of Korean language and the visual art of contemporary Korea.

Its good to realise that finally, I'm writing something more than just travelogues. Maybe, its because of the arrival of spring or maybe, I'm changing myself ... becoming more human, as some might say :P

Rise of the urban-explorer

Its been a really long time since I've had the chance to explore the labyrinth of a big city - not the skyscraper lined boulevards or the ritzy cocktail bars but the small part of the city that still retains its ancient charm. With the thread getting more entangled this semester, its been really difficult to find time to enjoy the spring in Seoul. But this weekend, the issue 19 of Quill was finalised and after some minor editing on the drafts, I was free for the rest of a nice Saturday afternoon and decided to head to Insadong. Though I've been living in Seoul for the almost 8 months now, I've never been to Insadong before. It is famous for its antique and art-work shops and galleries. So, with more than 2 hours to spare and a brand new aviator to screen my eyes from the sun, I headed for Insadong-gil.
Hundreds of shops line the main road and an equally large number of then ducked in the small lanes branching off. They sold Korean pottery, wood carving, silk paintings, bronze sculptures, jewellery. Certain things attracted my attention - an exquisitely carved jade horse, a hand-crafted wooden pencil stand, a couple of nice green caldron Korean pottery set. This placed has sparked a new interest in traditional Korean art and I'm likely to spend some more time from now onwards studying about it. But what I liked most about Insadong was the atmosphere. The main street is traffic free for most of the time on weekends, so no dodging crazy bikers or waiting for the light to cross the road. The atmosphere is relaxed and though there are a lot of people around, it doesn't feel crowded.
Exploring cities can be fun, if you choose the right place. Its been a long time, since the rainy days of Berlin, that I've donned the hat of an urban explorer. With life getting increasingly busy, its difficult to find time to go on extended trips, so in the days to come, the urban explorer is likely to persist, as opposed to the temple hopper that emerged in Cambodia, a few months back. Insadong a renewed my interest in Seoul and making good use of the weekends, and I'm likely delve deeper into the world on Korean art, thanks to that sunny Saturday afternoon.
To end, a few pictures of the spring flowers in Yoeido park.