Sunday, June 21, 2015

Machines can goof up too!

Kurt Gödel’s theorems 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del's_incompleteness_theorems
are widely understood to imply that there are serious limitations to computer programs. Some misled people seem to believe that human thought is free of these limitations. Nonsense!

As developers create “smarter and smarter programs”, we will undoubtedly get a big collection of reports how bad programs can be. One type of program-bugs cause grievous accidents. They crash planes, make financial services companies go broke, kill people with overdoses of radiation, etc.

I will focus in this article only on how “stupid” programs can look, and cause us to laugh! Here is one report. My wife, an avid user of Android apps on her smart phones, recently installed Google Fit. This app counts how many steps she walks in a day and helps her manage her exercise target. Yesterday, she was quite puzzled because this app reported that she had cycled for 17 minutes, covering a distance of 2.3 KM. She has not touched a bi-cycle for years. So, where did the 17 minutes of cycling come in? After some analysis she figured out that she had been in an auto-rickshaw for 17 minutes at the time reported. I admire the programmer who tried to make his App figure out when the user is cycling by using data from the cell-phones accelerometers! It probably reports correctly when the user really cycles; but it makes a false report when the user gets on an auto-rickshaw!

Apart from laughing at the App’s mistake, we can laugh at all the tragic characters who have chosen to live in a city in which auto-rickshaws take 17 minutes to cover 2.3 KM!

I would also make a request to the Google Fit designer/developer: please stay away from development of robotic surgery equipment!  

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Death in taxi accidents and lack of seat belts in the back seat

A large number of deaths on road accidents every year have been a characteristic feature of India. We need to find the political will to enforce stringent laws. A fraction of these deaths are due to passengers in the back-seat not wearing seat belts even when they travel on the high way. Every major city has a high speed road going to the airport and tens of thousands of taxis ply on these roads every day in every metro. A majority of these taxis seem to have seat belts buried under the seats and inaccessible to the passengers. Many taxi operators do not consider them necessary. Most taxi drivers say they cannot help you in digging out seat belt. 
Information on deaths related to back seat passengers not wearing seat belts is widely available, for instance in the following news items:     
A simple action can quickly reduce the number of road deaths due to this cause. We need to enact a law that provides for taking a taxi off the road immediately, if it does not have readily accessible seat belts in the back seats. Innocent lives, including that of women and children, do not have to be lost because operators of a lucrative business deny them the protection they need.

I request readers to visit
and sign my petition in this regard.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Lead in Food and Water

Risk of lead absorbed from food and water: The recent controversy about lead levels in Maggie Noodles
India seeks damages from Nestle after Maggi noodle lead scare
should trigger a wider debate. It is not just packaged food that may contain lead. 
Lead in drinking water
: You and your children can ingest lead from your drinking water. Visit
Lead Contamination of Drinking Water in India due to PVC Pipes 
Lead poisoning does not stop because lead levels are reduced:
Lead can accumulate in your body even over a period of months or years. There is nothing called a “safe blood lead level in children”. It does its damage as long as it is there, however low its level might be. Visit the page on lead on the website of the US Govt’s Centers for Disease Control.
Lead poisoning is dangerous:  The US Govt site referred above says “Even low levels of lead in blood have been shown to affect IQ, ability to pay attention, and academic achievement. And effects of lead exposure cannot be corrected”. It goes on to say that lead-based paint and lead contaminated dust are dangerous sources of lead for U.S. children. This is despite the fact that lead-based paints were banned for use in houses in the US in 1978.  The science magazine The New Scientist carried an article (in 2013) written by Perry Gottesfeld. The full text of this editorial can be viewed at:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829190.200-the-wests-toxichypocrisy-over-lead-paint.html#.Ub-ncJWPSS0Gottesfeld cites results from a study sponsored by the Gates Foundation, showing that more than 674,000 deaths around the world each year (2010 rates) are attributable to lead exposure (see http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)61766-8/abstract ). This Lancet article also mentions that lead exposure can cause intellectual disability, heart disease and stroke.
Immersing painted idols in lakes and tanks is dangerous
: Immersing colourfully painted idols in tanks and lakes causes leaching of lead paint and can contaminate drinking water sources. India does not ban lead in paints; it only has a voluntary standard. It is said that 30% of the paints in the market, essentially from small time manufacturers have excessive lead content.  Visit
http://toxicslink.org/docs/Lead-in-Paint-Report-2015.pdf

Friday, June 5, 2015

Mangoes and Litchis of Office

I don’t have any other comment on the controversy in Patna over mangoes and litchis, at least for the present; but, I think we can usefully add a new phrase to Indian English: “the mangoes and litchis of office”. In course of time, this phrase will undoubtedly get into English dictionaries all over the world.
If you haven’t heard of the controversy, visit

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Hemant Sonawala, Pioneering Entrepreneur in Computing

Hemant Sonawala had returned to India in the early sixties after doing a Master’s in the US. His first job here was that of a CSIR Fellow at the IIT, Bombay. So, it was no wonder that he started hi-tech business activities in India, dealing with Texas Instruments and with the Digital Equipment Corporation. His technical knowledge combined with business acumen took him to pioneering heights of the Indian computer industry. Hundreds of Indian professionals in the field got their experience by working in enterprises started by him, starting with Hinditron. Many of them are now leaders of the profession. Hemant’s contributions to creating the Digital Equipment (India) Ltd. were very important to the growth of the Indian software and services industry. His leadership has been very valuable to the Computer Society of India.

I had the great pleasure of working with him and Dr P P Gupta in planning and running India’s first international conference in the computer field – Networks 80. We recognized that computer networks is a technology with significant socio-economic value and felt that its potential had to be demonstrated – Mr Hemant Sonawala agreed to be Exhibitions Chair. Ambitious plans were made. In one of the brainstorming sessions held in this context, the three of us cooked up a proposal to have a multi-city demo of a futuristic railway passenger ticket reservation system. This was selected as an application which, over the years, could make a contribution to the quality of life of millions of people. Sonawala offered to lend a mini-computer from Digital Equipment Corporation, and the National Centre for Software Development and Computing Techniques (NCSDCT) offered to design and implement the demo. Mr P Sadanandan was then Head of the Database Group at NCSDCT. The team under his leadership took on this responsibility. Sonawala and I went off to meet the Railway Board Chairman to request Railway’s cooperation and participation in the conference. He agreed readily. The Posts and Telegraph Dept. agreed to provide data-connectivity over leased lines between Ahmedabad, Bombay and Delhi. The project went on well and we got more or less ready to demo the three-city system.

But unfortunately, the Railway Board Chairman who had been enthusiastic about the project reached his retirement date, and we got derailed! The new officers we met had their own priority – movement of something like 400 million tons a year of freight. One of them made a memorable comment which illustrated the value people placed on the customers’ convenience as a justification for computerization. “Have you seen a railway seat go empty?” he asked. “If A does not go, some B will go; we have been asked by the Govt to focus on freight capacity utilization”.  The demo was given at the conference anyway, though on a reduced scale. A number of Railway officers took interest in the subject and a paper was presented at the conference by Mr H. S. Srinivas Prasad. Hemant had, as usual, contributed to the important first step of a major project by his teamwork and by encouraging & supporting the other team members.

Dr Gupta’s enduring enthusiasm for this mass application was to make the Reservations System a reality through the energy of his CMC Colleagues a few years later. He made a presentation to the Railway Minister on the concept and CMC won an order to implement a reservation system for the Northern Railway as a first step. The good thing about our democracy is that it is enough if you do some good in one of the four regions. The representatives of the people will ensure that all four corners are soon given the same facilities soon! A CMC team, working out of their R & D Labs in Hyderabad, did an impressive job of designing and implementing the system and had covered all four regions of India within a few years.

The great success of the Railway Passenger Reservation System made everyone understand the benefits of computerization coupled with computer networking. Those who had been skeptical about banking applications changed their minds. You have seen what bank computerization and networking did for India in the decades that followed.

One of the results of Networks 80 was that we became confident conference organizers, ever willing to take on another big conference. I think it was the CSI Annual Convention in 1987 in Mumbai. Sonawala was the Organizing Chair and I was Program Chair. The two big hotels in Bombay at that time were not big enough to hold the Convention. Sonawala suggested that we put up a huge geodesic dome in the oval maidan! This temporary facility was in addition to renting space at the two big hotels, because everything could not be fitted under the dome! Sonawala cheerfully went ahead with his plan and delivered the goods!  The audience was well over 1,000 in several sessions.

In addition to being a very good professional and businessman, Hemant was a great human being. Despite his heavy workload, he always found time for professional and social service activities. His work through the Computer Society of India (CSI) and his social service activities through the Lions are well-known. His work, in collaboration with Prof PVS Rao and the CSI to train visually challenged youngsters in computing is legendary.

No article about Hemant can be complete without a reference to his jokes! He always came prepared for giving any talk; this included choosing a joke about some blond or brunette. Then he would pick on a friend in the first row, say Prof Mahabala or Prof PVS Rao, and modify the joke to fit him in! Everyone would have a good laugh!

Hemant's passing away is a great loss to every one of us who has worked with him. We have individually benefited a lot from the inspiration and encouragement he gave us in our endeavors. I will always remember him as a cheerful, enthusiastic and supportive colleague and friend. 

Hundreds of Hemant's colleagues like me share the grief of the family - Hemant’s wife Rekha, son Saurabh and daughter Paula.


Srinivasan Ramani

P. S.
1) Mr Sonawala passed away on Saturday, May 30, 2015.
2) I have included in this article a few paragraphs that I have published earlier, because they are relevant here in the context of Hemant’s work.