The learning curve

# written a long time back in 2010, narrating my wonderful time at SKIT Toastmasters Club

Toastmasters International,USA is a prestigious organization which fosters among its clubs, in the varied parts of the world the art of effective communication skills and leadership qualities. SKIT has one such proud club in its campus which is not just the only club among technical institutes in northern India but also one of the prime contributors to success of District-82 comprising India and Srilanka.

16^th October, 2008 was my first day in the SKIT Toastmasters club, It was a demonstrative meeting in which only Icebreakers and Table Topics were spoken, I was keeping my fingers crossed that I shouldn’t be picked up by the Table Topics Master to speak on any topic, because I was so hesitant and nervous that I was sure that If I had to speak my heart would plunge out of my body, Luckily I wasn’t called that day.

But, I wasn’t lucky in the subsequent meetings as I got to speak many table topics shivering, stuttering and stammering,  I somehow delivered those, some even left in between, often not completing the time limit, but that sole point was the beginning of improvement, the onset of an education which would last with me for an entire lifetime. So, from that time I graduated from being a very bad speaker to a bad speaker.

I gave my first speech on 3^rd, February, 2009 and 40 speeches later I find myself immensely confident to speak comfortably at any given point or situation. This improvement in my confidence that I lacked at a time is all courtesy Toastmasters club, without its wonderful programme I would never be able to find out that I can actually speak in public.

Toastmasters club is not just about giving speeches, it was much more, I got the opportunity to visit Gurgaon for the Area Level Contests twice during the last year. First on 22^nd February, 2009 when I went for “Area Level Table Topics Contest”, I wasn’t much successful that day but the experience was awesome as I got a chance to meet many great speakers and we also attended the officers training programme. The next opportunity I got was on 18^th September, 2009 when I went for the “Area Level Evaluation Speech Contest” and was lucky enough to get the second prize and as a result I went to Delhi for the division level contest later that year.

Toastmasters Club is all about helping others to grow and perform better. There is not a panel of expert judges during the meeting but the evaluation are mutual and through a system of cooperation. It is not just about improving your communication skills but also about honing your leadership skills. I have played many different roles like Time counter, Ah counter, General evaluator, Grammarian, Toastmasters of the day which have all helped me to improve. Preparing the newsletter, going for the sponsorship campaign, conducting a contest were few of the activities which have enriched me to my very core.

I would sincerely like to thank the most important pillar in our club Tm. Pramila Bafna and our club’s president Tm. Vineet Jain for encouraging and guiding us in whatever manner they could because in their absence the club wouldn’t have grown so much as it has in the past two years.

I would also like to encourage students to join Toastmasters club because it’s such a good platform for self development that you would cherish your decision for the entire life.

I have achieved six certifications in toastmasters club, when I once thought that doing just one is impossible, It is all due to the kind of support I got and the wonderful environment in the SKIT toastmasters club. Without everyone’s help I would never have been able to achieve my goals.

The improvement can never stop, the development can never cease to occur, So, I would like to continue my stint in Toastmasters club wherever I go to become even better and more confident, because this is just” A small step”. “The giant leap” is impending.

TM. Happy Garg ACG, ALB

ख्वाब

ख्वाब...
मिट्टी के घरोंदे जैसे नाज़ुक ख्वाब,
खिलखिलती हँसी के जैसे रंगीन ख्वाब,
सोती हुई नींदो में जागे हुए से हसीन ख्वाब,
पशमीने के शॉल के टूटे धागो जैसे उलझे ख्वाब,
बारिश की बूँदो से गिरते नमकीन ख्वाब,
प्यासे मन के अंजान कोने में दबे संगीन ख्वाब...

बीतें लम्हे

मैने खोया है,
ना सिर्फ़ तुम्हे,
ना सिर्फ़ तुम्हारे एहसास को,
खुद की रूह को भी,
तुम्हारे पास क़ैद थी जो,
तुम्हारे जुल्फों  की चिलमन में जो बसी थी कहीं,
तुम्हारे माथे की शिकन में उसका घर था,
तुम्हारे दुपट्टे  की सिलवट में छुपी थी वो...

मैने खोया है,
अपने होश को,
तुम्हारी झील सी निगाहों में,
जो ना कह के भी कुछ,
क्या कुछ कह जाती थी...
मैने खोया है,
खुद की परछाई को,
तुम्हारे सायो में,
अपने दिनों को तुम्हारी रातों में,
अपने चैन को तुम्हारी बातों में...

मैने खोया है,
अपनी जिंदगी को,
तुम्हे अपनी जिंदगी बनाकर,
तुम्हे अपनी सांसो में बसाकर...

इतना सब खोकर,
फिर भी मैने तुम्हे खोया,
इस जहाँ में कहीं,
अंजान शहरों  के,
अंजान रिवाज़ो में कहीं,
जहाँ अभी भी बसती है,
तुम्हारी रूह,
मेरी धड़कन बनकर,
और बहती है लहू की तरह,
मेरे सीने में,
इक अंजानी कशिश जैसे...

एक मुलाकात

बदहवास से भागते,

किसी शहर,

के किसी बाज़ार,

की कोई तंग गली,

की किसी छोटी सी दुकान में,

जो कभी दिख जाऊं मैं,

तो पुकार लेना,

मेरा नाम।

मैं पहचान लूँगा,

तुम्हें,

तुम्हारी आवाज़ से,

तुम्हारे अंदाज़ से,

तुम्हारी कशिश के,

एहसास से,

तुम्हारे कदमो,

की आहट  से,

या फिर तुम्हारी,

चूड़ियों की,

छनछनाहट  से।

जो ना पुकार सको,

मेरा नाम,

तो छोड़ जाना,

अपना रुमाल,

उसी दुकान पे,

मैं रख लूँगा उसे,

तुम्हारी निशानी बनाकर।

इतना भी ना कर सको तो,

तो बस याद कर लेना मेरा नाम,

एक बार अपने मन में,

मैं अपनी हिचकी से ही तुम्हारा,

एहसास कर लूँगा,

छोड़ जाना अपनी खुश्बू,

उन हवाओं में कहीं,

मैं उसी से तुम्हारा,

दीदार कर लूँगा।

Digital Divide Decoded @ IIT Kharagpur - A Movie

#this video is created as a solution for movie assignment for IT & Business Applications Lab, Spring Semester, VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur Class of 2014

 

Few video links of assignments of batchmates in which I appear are as follows:
1. http://goo.gl/K7NZj 
2. http://bit.ly/140He0i
3. http://goo.gl/ykdkQ 
4. http://bit.ly/17k0k0f

Desires...Life...Truths

Ever thought where this random life is taking us, the frivolities of our own desires cause me to rethink about what's past and present and the thin line separating the two. Somedays are great, some days are dull filled with sorrow and grief which seems so insurmountable at its very peak but vanishes suddenly with a mention of an ecstatic thought, are we designed this way or is it the years of evolution to become better than we are has caused these genetic changes not just in our bodily features but also in our minds.

Maybe, we have become more controlled by our circumstances, have given away to our limitations in a mad conquest of achieving success. Achievement, success have become the buzzwords; competition, rat race have been so ingrained in us that we can't think of a life beyond that. Some do it for richness, some want power and some desire fame.Some desire something called as 'Self Actualization'.  But all these are not absolute terms and therein where lies the difficulty.



I write, but writing to satisfy my wits is one thing and writing to gain recognition, praise, money is other. Sure, one can always sell his work but the pleasure should not be traded off, the day an artist gives away the pleasure of art for lesser things in life the worship of the art is far left behind and the immortality in the work goes away for a toss. Because, when we do things with no ulterior desires be it good or bad, then are we truly getting connected to our being and thus we are free from the fruits of the results. But, is detachment of that order actually possible, or is it just what Gita preaches??

I would like to quote the great Dalai Lama here:
Man sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.

The evolution of technology has surely been a great boon for mankind, not just technology per se but the overall betterment be it the infrastructure, industrial revolution, mechanization, swanky gadgets, medical science innovations have surely brought man a great deal of satisfaction and comfort. Created jobs, created people demanding jobs and also created joblessness in people. To my sheer bewilderment man is actually creating things for his comfort but mostly ignoring the fellow humans, creating bridges but not bridging the distances between two humans in plain and simple terms of mankind.

The disparity and divide, be it economic, social or political, is creating changes in our genes, we are becoming more susceptible to changes , but propensity towards embracing change is decreasing. The love for flora and fauna is getting lost and mechanization is ruling the roost. The desire factories have filled their chests while creating sets of consumers to buy their commodities, we have bigger wallets but smaller hearts.

Are we immortal? Is life permanent?  Is anything permanent at all, the happiness, the grief, the pain, the hatred , the desires, the sorrows, the longings? when nothing is permanent why are we putting so much effort into it to land ourselves into greater difficulties? but even the difficulties are not permanent. What do we really want to achieve? Why do we want to achieve that? What is achievement actually?

Death is permanent, death is fixed, death is inevitable. But, does death really happens or is it a way to give us comfort, a desire of an happy ending to the misery. Misery, is life misery? or is life celebration? or is it nothing? just going on from one day to another. I am no one to define life, life cannot be defined because it can be anything for anyone, to relative to be absolute and too absolute to be relative.

Things sometime go in circles in my mind,maybe these are the methods to my madness? Who knows ? Maybe, life is just madness, maybe all our lives are someone's dream. Maybe someday 'HE' wakes up and ends it all, to a point blank.

TEAM WORK: Learnings from OCEAN'S 11

#I prepared this presentation during BTech, for the completion of the requirements for Infosys Campus Connect Soft Skills module.

It shows how is team work vital and this was made after a thorough analysis of the movie Oceans 11  (2001) directed by Steven Soderbergh, which depicts how a difficult task was achieved through a good plan and integration of the resources combined with dividing the work according to the core competencies of people.

कुछ लोग

खो गये कुछ लोग भूली बिसरी यादों में,
कुछ पुराने नगमे जैसे, अनसुलझे सवालो में,
वो पीली किताब से झाँकते मुरझाए गुलाब की तरह,
चले गये जीवन से एक बदहवास से एहसास की तरह,
जो कहा करते थे की तुम्हारा साथ कभी ना छोड़ेंगे,
उनकी तो यादें भी कितनी बेवफा निकली...

ITBA lab Session # 10 - 26 March 2013

#this post is created as a solution for assignment for IT & Business Applications Lab, Spring Semester, VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur Class of 2014

Topic:
3D plotting in R

Assignment:1
Create 3 vectors, x, y, z and choose any random values for them, ensuring they are of equal length, bind them together.Create 3 dimensional plots of the same.

Solution 1:


plot3d(final)

plot3d(final,col=rainbow(1000))

plot3d(final,col=rainbow(1000),type='l')

plot3d(final,col=rainbow(1000),type='s')

Assignment no:2 

Choose 2 random variables 

Create 3 plots: 

1. X-Y 

2. X-Y|Z (introducing a variable z and cbind it to z and y with 5 diff categories)

3. Color code and draw the graph 

4. Smooth and best fit line for the curve 

Solution 2:

 qplot(x,y)

qplot(x,z)

qplot(x,z,alpha=I(1/20))

qplot(x,y,geom=c("boxplot","jitter"))

qplot(x,y,colour=z)

qplot(log(x),log(y),colour=z)

ITBA lab Session # 9 - 19 March 2013

#this post is created as a solution for assignment for IT & Business Applications Lab, Spring Semester, VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur Class of 2014.

Data Visualization and Info graphics

Data visualization is the study of the visual representation of data, meaning "information that has been abstracted in some schematic form, including attributes or variables for the units of information".

According to Friedman (2008) the "main goal of data visualization is to communicate information clearly and effectively through graphical means.

It doesn't mean that data visualization needs to look boring to be functional or extremely sophisticated to look beautiful. To convey ideas effectively, both aesthetic form and functionality need to go hand in hand, providing insights into a rather sparse and complex data set by communicating its key-aspects in a more intuitive way. Yet designers often fail to achieve a balance between form and function, creating gorgeous data visualizations which fail to serve their main purpose — to communicate information"

There are several benefits of using infographics as stated by these infographics below:

Tool Analysis :  Visual.ly: (http://visual.ly/)

About:

Visual.ly is a community platform for data visualization and infographics. It was founded by Stew Langille, Lee Sherman, Tal Siach, and Adam Breckler in 2011.

Visual.ly is structured as both as a showcase for infographics as well as a marketplace and community for publishers, designers, and researchers. The site allows users to search images through description, tags, and sources in a variety of categories, ranging from Education to Business or Politics.Users can publish infographics to their personal profile, which they can subsequently share through their social networks.

Visual.ly maintains a team of data analysts, journalists, and designers that create infographics and data visualizations using the Visual.ly tools. They are currently developing a tool that allows anyone to create and publish their own data visualizations.Through this tool, users will be able to gather information from databases and APIs in an automated service to produce an infographic. Visual.ly’s first tool, the Twitter Visualizer tool allows users to input the Twitter handles of two people, and then generates an infographic comparing the hobbies, number of followers and occupation of the two accounts.

Visually is a one-stop shop for the creation of data visualizations and infographics, bringing together Marketing Gurus, Data Nerds and Design Junkies based on shared interests. Visually Marketplace introduces ecommerce and project management into the Visually platform, making it easier than ever for buyers and sellers of infographics to get them made, distributed, liked, commented on, and shared.

By tapping into Visually's vibrant community of more than 35,000 designers, Marketplace is able to match infographic commissioners – brands, companies, agencies – with designers, Once matched, commissioners have direct access to the designers working on their projects and can communicate and transact with them in Visually's Project Center. Through such unique features as the Project Timeline, commissioners always know where their project stands and can ensure that it stays on time and on budget.

Visually partners with the world's leading publications and brands, bringing  tools, community, and talented team to bear data visualization needs, wherever bespoke creation is needed.

Visual.ly is a great tool for businesses as well as individual, Visual.ly can be used to create visual resumes, Google analytics reports, venn diagrams, Facebook and twitter tools, brand management tools etc. I used visual.ly in a few ways the infographics of which I am posting here.

This is how I used visually to create insights for Vinculum-Annual VGSoM day's Facebook page and my personal Facebook profile as well:

Isn't it an amazing tool and when you thought its just about fun, behold. I created my brief visual resume by connecting it to my LinkedIn account in a matter of seconds. See how it looks.

There are several other options for creating resumes and many themes are given in the tool. The biggest asset of Visual.ly is probably the market place where you can use it by paying the fees to create your own brand identity and brand image. This means that it will solve all the advertising related needs of a brand which takes up substantial amount of time for any organization.

Since the resulting resume was not up to my expectations I also tried few other sites for the same, and found that their are may other portals which expertise in creating your visual resume in a matter of minutes. A few such portals which I actually tried were:

http://www.zeebly.com/ (for analysis of your facebook data)
http://re.vu/ (creating a visual resume, can upload from linkedin and also add your own data)
http://www.visualcv.com/ (for creating a visual CV, however this portal had poor infographic selection)

Here, is a really interesting infographic about Colour Psychology in Logo Design, this infographic can immensely help marketing & advertisers to think these dynamics while designing the logos for their brand. The brand message should translate in the colour of the logo.

To, conclude the post I would say that infographics are tools that would drive the business in the future, the business would stop thinking of infographics just as an aesthetics measure and would want to translate their work from voluminous and boring reports to more easy to grasp infographics.

It is to provide the reader with a better sense of visualization by employing his/her more senses than usual. I would not be surprised to in the coming years, to see the annual reports of the company as a series of pictorial infographics which not only causes the target audience to actually read them but will also save them the wrath of being added into another pile of trash.

References:

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32255/Why-Marketers-Should-Invest-in-Visual-Content-Creation.aspx
http://switchedonmedia.com.au/blog/could-your-business-benefit-from-an-infographic/
http://www.wikipedia.com
http://visual.ly/

Here are few links where details about popular data visualization tools can be found out:
http://www.netmagazine.com/features/top-20-data-visualisation-tools
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9214755/Chart_and_image_gallery_30_free_tools_for_data_visualization_and_analysis
http://www.creativebloq.com/design-tools/data-visualisation-712402
http://www.teachthought.com/technology/5-free-data-visualization-tools-you-can-use-in-the-classroo/
http://itlyderis.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/22-free-tools-for-data-visualization-and-analysis-pcworld/

Vinculum'13: 2nd Annual VGSoM day

Vinculum, as the name suggests, symbolizes the bond between the VGSoM and IIT Kharagpur fraternity.

Vinculum is the cultural fest organized under the brand of the Vinod Gupta School of Management, to bring together various departments of IIT Kharagpur, professors, students of VGSoM MBA and EMBA course, as well as the alumni to share some quality time with us, it helps us in gaining popularity, recognition & also strengthen our relationship with other departments.

IIT Kharagpur is a unique campus that represents quality and diversity in the field of education, where the best brains from various parts of India come to pursue their dreams of becoming engineers, scientists, academicians, lawyers and managers.

Vinculum – the cultural festival of VGSoM celebrates the spirit of the school of management of IIT Kharagpur by bringing together people from diverse educational backgrounds on the same podium.

Vinculum which began with this idea in 2012 was a huge success. With the marathon that saw massive participation from different departments of IIT and the overwhelming response to the guest lecture by the much celebrated Mumbai Dabbawallas who redefined quality in the service sector, it can be said that the purpose of Vinculum was well served.

"Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success"
-Henry Ford

VINCULUM 2013 reinforced the facets that were explored in 2012. It was held on 8th and 9th of March 2013. Vinculum began on the evening of 8th March with Cult Night, there were awesome song, dance, skit performances not just by the students of both the batches but also by the professors. There were events like classical dance, western dance, Harlem shake, Bangla one act skit, singing performances etc. The event was woven around International women’s day, and there was a cake cutting ceremony for the women of VGSoM. The cultural program was followed by a sumptuous dinner in the VGSoM foyer and a makeshift DJ for the students.


The next day promised more fun and enthusiasm and it truly lived up to the expectations. The day began with a Marathon that was open for each and every member of the IIT Kharagpur family; the 4.4 km run began at Gymkhana and ended at VGSoM, the students, professors and support staff participated in the event by waking up in the wee hours of the morning and wholly supporting an important cause of Women empowerment. T-Shirts were given to the first 40 people who completed the run and certificates to the winners in 3 categories namely boys, girls and faculties.

The next event in line was the PAN IIT Inter Departmental quiz. It was a resounding success, the participation increased from 14 to 20 this year.
The quiz master was Mr. Anubhav Mukherjee and Mr. Anurag from Kolkata, they came up with umpteen number of challenging questions which really tested the ace quizzers of IIT Kharagpur to the maximum limit.

The team of (Arman Sharma and Ajay Vishwanathan) from Electronics and Electrical Communication department won the coveted trophy for 2nd time in a row.

Vinculum’13 reached its pinnacle with the Voice of Women: Women’s Summit, eminent women leaders, entrepreneurs from the corporate and other walks of life participated in the same. The topic of the discussion was Indian Women – Architects of Change and Icons of Sustainability.

The panel comprised of the following speakers:

 Ms. Archna Wadhwa, Global Service Delivery Head of Production Management Solutions, HSBC
 Ms. Geetha Vishwanathan, Educationalist &MD, Srijati Institute of Fashion  Technology
 Ms. Subha Rajan, Director of External Affairs, CII
 Ms. Parvati Tampi, Communication Specialist & Former Miss India Finalist
 Rtn. Indrani Gupta, Head, Rotary Club, Kolkata Zone

It was moderated by Prof. Anita Sarkar from XLRI Jamshedpur
They shared their thoughts on women empowerment in India and also told their success stories, the event was a grand success with immense learning and knowledge enhancement for the audience.

There were other fun events in Vinculum’13 like the Treasure hunt and Counter Strike; these events provided the budding managers of VGSoM with the much needed fun and enjoyment, and also a chance to prove their acumen in some mind boggling challenge.

Vinculum’13 was driven by the Student Council of VGSoM and supported by other committees like Sportcomm, Quiz Club, Cultcomm and CMI and also each and every student of VGSoM contributed towards the success of the event in their own capacity. Vinculum went away with the promise of coming next year even bigger & better.It gave immense learning to all its stakeholders.

“Ideas generate, when we challenge our boundaries. But, when we break them, miracles happen”.

Image Credits: Sandeep Katakol & Divij Sharma

ITBA lab Session # 8 - 12 March 2013

#this post is created as a solution for assignment for IT & Business Applications Lab, Spring Semester, VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur Class of 2014.

Panel Data Analysis of "Produc" data

We will be analyzing on three types of model :
      Pooled affect model
      Fixed affect model
      Random affect model

Then we will be determining which model is the best by using functions:
       pFtest : for determining between fixed and pooled
       plmtest : for determining between pooled and random
       phtest: for determining between random and fixed

Commands:

Loading data:
> data(Produc , package ="plm")
> head(Produc)

Data

Pooled Affect Model

> pool <- br="" data="Produc," emp="" gsp="" hwy="" index="c(" log="" model="(" pc="" pcap="" plm="" pooling="" state="" unemp="" util="" water="" year=""> > summary(pool)

Pooled Affect Model

Fixed Affect Model:

> fixed <- data="Produc," emp="" gsp="" hwy="" index="c(" log="" model="(" pc="" pcap="" plm="" span="" state="" unemp="" util="" water="" within="" year="">

> summary(fixed)

Fixed Affect Model

Random Affect Model:

> random <- data="Produc," emp="" gsp="" hwy="" index="c(" log="" model="(" pc="" pcap="" plm="" random="" span="" state="" unemp="" util="" water="" year="">

> summary(random)

Random Affect Model

Comparison

The comparison between the models would be a Hypothesis testing based on the following concept:

H0: Null Hypothesis: the individual index and time based params are all zero

H1: Alternate Hypothesis: atleast one of the index and time based params is non zero

Pooled vs Fixed

Null Hypothesis: Pooled Affect Model

Alternate Hypothesis : Fixed Affect Model

Command:

> pFtest(fixed,pool)

Result:

data:  log(pcap) ~ log(hwy) + log(water) + log(util) + log(pc) + log(gsp) +      log(emp) + log(unemp)
F = 56.6361, df1 = 47, df2 = 761, p-value < 2.2e-16
alternative hypothesis: significant effects

Since the p value is negligible so we reject the Null Hypothesis and hence Alternate hypothesis is accepted which is to accept Fixed Affect Model.

pFtest

Pooled vs Random

Null Hypothesis: Pooled Affect Model

Alternate Hypothesis: Random Affect Model

Command :

> plmtest(pool)

Result:

        Lagrange Multiplier Test - (Honda)

data:  log(pcap) ~ log(hwy) + log(water) + log(util) + log(pc) + log(gsp) +      log(emp) + log(unemp)

normal = 57.1686, p-value < 2.2e-16
alternative hypothesis: significant effects

Since the p value is negligible so we reject the Null Hypothesis and hence Alternate hypothesis is accepted which is to accept Random Affect Model.

plmtest

Random vs Fixed

Null Hypothesis: No Correlation . Random Affect Model

Alternate Hypothesis: Fixed Affect Model

Command:

 > phtest(fixed,random)

Result:

        Hausman Test

data:  log(pcap) ~ log(hwy) + log(water) + log(util) + log(pc) + log(gsp) +      log(emp) + log(unemp)

chisq = 93.546, df = 7, p-value < 2.2e-16
alternative hypothesis: one model is inconsistent

Since the p value is negligible so we reject the Null Hypothesis and hence Alternate hypothesis is accepted which is to accept Fixed Affect Model.

phtest

Conclusion: 

So after making all the comparisons we come to the conclusion that Fixed Affect Model is best suited to do the panel data analysis for "Produc" data set.

Hence , we conclude that within the same id i.e. within same "state" there is no variation.