THE PRINCIPLE OF GANGETIC SEDIMENTATION

I live in India! And Ganges is something we worship, we respect, we love. But to be sincere and true, I never thought Ganges could teach as well. Yesterday, talking about hurdles, as always, in an ever defined dignity, with the same reassuring smile, sir told us- "Life is just like the Ganges, everything keeps on flowing! In that dynamic unblocked , ever flashing flow, the heavy stones are always left behind, only those flow who have the power and strengths for the same dynamism". And that's quite true, in life as well, the life's flow just suppports the moving, working and the fittest individuals. It's just that beautiful analogy between our revered Ganges' flow and what Darwin defined as 'Survival of the Fittest'.
Says sir, placing hurdles in someone's path is the easiest what people can do to stop you, but that inner devotion and your belief in your work, will make those stones, those hurdles transparent and you will easily pass towards success.
This I would name as 'THE PRINCIPLE OF GANGETIC SEDIMENTATION', like the Ganges, even life will sediment, it will keep people who are free and light of mind, without their heavy conspiracies and diplomacies, and the ones playing strategies and games to increase their payoffs, and reduce others' , will be left behind.
As for sir, I will perhaps put it this way, in an Engineering college where Professors are busy in analog circuits, voltmeters, op-amps, DACs and what not, it is Strange and equally Elating, to find a person like him! He has what others lack, just those three small things, 'VISION' , 'OBSERVATION' and 'OPTIMISM', without which humans can never become humane.

HIS TEN COMMANDMENTS

Over the last two years, under the guidance of my mentor i've realised that he has his own commandments :
1. You shall always be honest and truthful.
2. You shall not cheat or deceive anyone.
3. You shall be responsible and punctual irrespective of where you're.
4. You shall not let any system transform your good intrinsic values into bad ones.
5. You shall help everyone selflessly.
6. You shall not get worried or change yourself to gain the validation of those who have not the rightful honour to be your judge.
7. You shall believe in giving and not keeping your knowledge to yourself, for this shall only enlighten you.
8. You shall believe and understand that faith is between you and you only. Faith with an external entity is irrational.
9. You shall make sure you follow the path of truthfulness and remain free from strategies.
10. You shall always remain modest, however big your acheivements may be.

SIR, DEFINED HIMSELF...

Seeing a person and judging is not a gigantically difficult task! In fact, it is easy! It is as easy as feeling warm with the heat of a lighted fire! But when it comes to defining yourself, it is tough! It is as tough as lighting fire, in a manner that attempts to extinguish it will fail.

I am attempting the first part, I am defining someone whom I take as – ‘A Person of Ethics, Values, Wisdom and Truth’, a person the readers of this blog know as Prof. Akash Tayal! And he is the second part, he sometimes, speaks things that define him, definitely in a way that it can never be forgotten, it can never be extinguished!!

He says- A teacher’s job is to give! Give infinitely to his students without discriminations! To pour down the showers of infinite knowledge, is the first duty of any professor! And that I think needs to be assimilated by many professors who are not teachers in true sense as yet. Being a true teacher is all about having that core magnetism, that attracts your followers to be with you for a lifetime, and sir has it, no doubts!!

Today, sir told us the gist of something in India, that we know as Geeta, and that is- “Do your work, DO not wait for results, and if ever in life, you were baffled of a decision, look back to the Lord, and go into his refuge. Because God is the ultimate support, a place where all worries come to an end, so leave everything to the Lord”. Thanks for that lifetime lesson sir, all we have to say is- we have not seen the Lord, but we have heard of incarnations! So we are leaving everything unto our Mentor, that’s you!!

THE RAGA OF SELF-REJECTION

It is said that when you come to know people, then starts a process of growing, growing towards a knowledge which keeps on widening with time! And so has been this process of knowing My Mentor! Each time I go to him with a broken hope, I come back alive with the encouraged hope of success , full of life! And that’s what I will correctly call- ‘A Mentor’s Magic of Transforming your soul to the zenith of optimism’

He says- ‘Sincerity’ and ‘Truth ’ are two things that will make you a winner, nothing else has ever counted and will ever count! Those two things tell you how to live with a free mind and a positively motivated strategy. And that can make you a successful person, a person who will have no regrets with life, a person as happy, contended and lively as he himself is! A person that all of us want to be..

Talking about the process of rejections sir told us- ‘Rejection is something that defines more of itself at  an intrapersonal level, it’s how you see yourself, it is how you weigh yourself, it is how you place yourself ’! It is a state where you know that you can not work, a state where you know you are not at peace with your own self, a place where you would have taken the first step towards failure! And a state where I know, his true disciples can never fall into! Because the brightness of a mentor’s notion lights up the paths of his thousand students, and sir’s notion’s light is so enlightened, that without doubt, I can claim that his students, his true students will never face darkness ever, and if they ever do, they would just need to see back once, and the paths will get lighted themselves!!

Sir also says- “Rejections are a step towards Acceptance, a step towards a new morning, a step towards a new beginning”! I must say- I am grateful that I am sir’s student , and thus, I know the value of that cycle! Beginnings and Rejections they follow!!

G for 'GURU', G for 'GOD'

Well, two beautiful words on the earth, Guru and God are not just alphabetically related but eternally interwined. And our guru, our mentor Akash sir, is truly our link with God almighty. God Almighty must have been really happy when He blessed us with Him as your mentor. And truly, as sir says it's guru who tells you the path of life, the path of happiness, the path of truthfulness that you can tread cheerfully in your Guru's presence. For a minute(though that's not correct either) one might say that anyone might still teach you the charging and discharging equations of capacitors, the ladder networks of finite or infinite response filters or may be hilbert differentiator but it really is impossible for anyone to teach you the charging and discharging equations of life, the ladder of faith and truth that you must take to climb the wall of self-satisfaction and the differentiator, that helps you differentiate between good and bad, right and wrong, ethical and unethical! And He really teaches us some beautiful lessons of life through His everyday thoughts and words.

THAT 'S'-EVER THOUGHT OF IT ??

Matlab is a wonderful language , and Akash sir is one person the MatLab developers should thank! For, he is one person who told us what Matlab is, how it works, and how we can simulate exactly everyhting in the Cosmos with it! In the same lab, we all were , as typical Engineers plotting the FIR Responses, some curved, some straight, some cut and some linear! That's how we see graphs, we analyze and we work out!!

But when it comes to vision, a mentor's vision is far wider than yours. Little things, that we slip and slide, appear worthy and full of wisdom when he elaborates them with meanings so intricately well knitted in what I call- "A Mentor's Personality Perfect". So, let me put to text, a beautiful idea that he stated today- 'S'- we all know that alphabet, yes, the same one that stands for 'Self-respect', 'Sincerity','Serenity' and 'Stability' , he put a new perspective to it! Says sir- S is a graph of endings and beginnings, when you start making it , its deft and clear, when you move towards the top , the dimensions and the prosperity of that curve increases, but when you reach the maxima, there comes a tipping from which you may come down the curve!! Then the next thing is- what to do when that tipping comes! So sir has to say- 'Move on, that's the start of a new beginning, the start of a new S, the start of the same S that stands for - Sunrise, the same S that stands for Success, a never ending way to an ever defined destination, that people like sir call faith and self-belief!!

In India, systems keep changing! On that sir has his own stand- In his words- 'System is a donkey, so try making better donkeys' Well, sir all that your students have to say about this is- We agree that systems are donkeys, but some donkeys , some systems are so dear and near, that we wish the horses were few and such system donkeys more, just because of that unbreakable faith that you hold on a segment of the system that can make the donkey a horse!!The segment, that we are sure, you are!!

EQUILIBRIUM....

Well, undoubtedly to say, not at all times will you find a person who can teach you signals, digital signal processing, image processing incredibly nice and wonderfully and can also tell you simply and clearly, what life is all about, in a way that you would be forced to think, Yes... sir is right!! Believe me , it's true.
Questioning him about the ethics of my institution, there I was with a hurt heart! And he just said- "Ethics are something that come by themselves, and that's why everyone is not Arjuna, everyone is not Eklavya", And that's as true as truth itself. But, yes, I have a different notion to give- Sometimes, Arjuna might be looking for Krishna, and not finding Krishna, may be he fails to know he's Arjuna! An equivalent analogy is that when professors make you believe their convictions, you are encouraged to become one Arjuna, because your Teacher's aura is strong enough to make you an Arjuna.... And for sir, I think needless to say, he must have made many Arjunas and Eklavya's..... for his ideas are robust enough to support themselves right through your souls...

Says sir, with his abundant knowledge in Game Theory, that life would be nothing if you reach that Punctuated Equilibrium, as then everything turns out to be stale, stagnant, and life is not about stopping, it is about moving, moving forever, dyanamically about a new direction, a new way, a new morning...
As in his words- Never get perturbed by someone if he is not ethical, because at the end it's just you!! Work , work with full efforts but do not wait for appreciations , that craving for appreciation of your work, might be fatal for your true work.
And then to us, his students, sir always says- " Enjoy life! Because once you are going to face the real life- The pressures are going to be so heavy that they will either make you or break you". So, as a gist , I must say- It is true that mentors matter, more than that, it's their guidance, some words that they might say, walking casually in some college courtyard, but words that you will look back to, when somewhere in life, you will be stuck. And then looking haphazardly around , you will remember- Ah! Akash sir said- Move on and forget worries, and there you will be - happy again!!

HE CAN PEEP INTO YOUR SOUL.............

A mentor is someone who knows you as much your parents know and understand you....You think you can fool your parents? Well....parents know everything about you......everytime you lie.......everytime you hide things, it's just that they allow themselves to be fooled....in a hope that some day you'll understand.....And our mentor, Professor Akash Tayal is just the same.........One might think that wishing him good morning or good evening with a wide smile.....makes him think that you really respect him.... Well....it's his faith in himself, his beliefs and ethics that tells him to say you "God bless you!" even if you really didn't mean to wish him from your heart.......He's one person who can peep into your soul, who can see through your eyes and hear through your words(however false they may be), the picture of your heart..........And the best part is, even after knowing you well.......he'll trust you, he'll have faith on you and he'll be there to help you whenever you want....just like your father cherishes faith in you....even if you're not an ideal child....

IT'S BETWEEN YOU AND YOU

A mentor is the one who makes you believe that ever in life, whichever way you go, he will assure you never take the wrong way. The day you go wrong, the day he will be there to show you the right path, with a lamp of ever lighted knowledge and enlightenment. And without doubt, I have to say- Our Mentor is this description’s synonym.

Prof. Akash Tayal, the person I would correctly call- Everyone’s delight!! And why?? Simple reasons- He is true, and he is different! Sitting today in the class like an ordinary student, I have learned something extraordinary. He says: “It is not about the faith between you and me because I am an external force, so that faith between me and you is irrational. And if you ever wanted to know the rationality of an immortal faith, it is the faith between YOU and YOU”. The biggest examination in life is the one where you are face to face with yourself, diplomacies and manipulations surrounding you, contemplations encountering you, confrontations disturbing you and your decision of leaving them all behind, and being just what you ever have been, without change. That resistance to change and conductance to faith is what makes a person what he is!!

Strangely enough, to this fact that we heard in the morning, we had enough evidence by evening. Sir is some person who will give you liberty to do anything, but with a small expectation that you are true and faithful. And precisely if I express in 2 words- “IT HURTS”, it hurts to see if such a person is deceived. But in his philosophy, he simply says- “Let the world be! Just try, not to change! Better the people, better the world” And he, graciously being the better part of the world! He says- Your ethics show your values! Deceiving someone for a mark or two will never lead you anywhere in life; all that it would give you is an inner dissatisfaction when you would come at introspection. It is all about the range of your vision, some would see 30 degrees- They will break faiths, gain marks. And the other will see round the life, 360 degrees, may loose marks, but keep the lights of faiths lit well. And the later will always win; the former would probably not loose but never win!!

As a word of thanks to our mentor, all we have to say is- Sir, probably in a wrong environment, we could have thought to go wrong! But the conviction that you hold, the truth that you hold, that aura which lies around a mentor as true as you, will never let us go wrong, because the freedom of faith is much above the chains of lies!

LIGHTING OF A SPARK

Since it is about an Engineering college’s professor, I must include some characteristics of species called Engineers. This species has special characteristics- “We do not know what is respect, faith or loyality, we just know PROFESSION, because we are Professionalists”. True?? Well, yes, it was true!

But as sir says, the fusion of truth and loyalty will make you someone you will be able to respect. And truthfully saying, I believed it always, but I evidenced it today. Well, bunking classes is a phenomenon we do, normally and frequently without hitch or even the slightest of embarrassment. But for our DSP class, we somehow, all of us, feel responsible, and guilty to have left it in middle, what to talk of bunking! An idea can win your mind, but it takes years for it to win your heart sometimes. To accept some principle is as hard as moving a mountain. But for a true teacher, to cause a change is as easy as – lighting a spark. And sir is one of those people, who does not only light sparks, he makes you believe and evidence that the spark is right, candid , clear and complete to cause a transformation.

So all I have to express is- It is often not about the way you behave to a situation, it is more about the way you feel for a situation! And sir made us realize this!

THE TRUTH OF BEING WHO YOU ARE!

There is a big difference between 99 and 100. And the truth of this statement is as true as God is! To be accepted by some, is an incomplete success. To be accepted and respected by all , is success of one’s living. And sir is the latter one. You will find many people in life, some you will like to see, some you will like to talk to, some you will like, but rare are the ones you will want to follow.

This is about a few simple things, I have learnt today from sir. First – the truth of being what you are! Professor perfect, as we call him, he works most, that too truly, and still I have always found him simple. No arrogance, no presumptuousness, no artificiality, no diplomacy. And that’s a lesson for us all. To be at the topmost rank, does not matter much as does the honour of remaining attached to your position, remaining close to your people. The success defines more with what you gain in life as a person. That’s to remember, go as high as you can, but to remember who you are, that’s what I have learnt from him. He always tells us- There are some things that you will remember when you will be sixty years old. So, sir, this is what we are going to remember forever.

Not always will you see the most worthy and the most respected Professor of some college, attached to not one, but all his students in an indefinable way. It requires an inner enlightenment to do that! An Enlightenment, whose light, lights us all!

As they say, live in a way that if someone else follows your footsteps, the person will not repent. And sir’s definitely, the one whose footsteps we want to follow, without doubt, without regret.

OPINIONS FOR HIM, SERMONS FOR US

It's all about the way you accept yourself!! You think your are a winner, you are! You think you are happy, you will be!! This is what I have learnt from sir.
Ever in life, if you get a chance to come to our college, you can recognize him right there. A composed person, listening to everyone, solving everyone's problems, responding to his students nicely, and above all accepting himself to be happy even inspite of everything that goes around.... That's him!!
Well, when you start learning from a mentor, it's infinite! You can never find ends to what limits you can learn. This large blogger space is less, for sure! Still, even bits of his sayings are worthy to be read, so I thought I will put it down for you all to read! He does not believe in carrot and stick, and why should he? He does not need to! For all his students, are by themselves devoted. They don't need carrots, his tecahing is much bigger than that to us! He gives us a single reason for that- "If one to one interaction can not help you adhere to my principles, I doubt if any other electronic or social system can ever!" ... We are glad to have you there sir, for all of us, always!!

God should be untouchable.......

Well He says.... that God, your mentor, your guide should be untouchable......And He doesn't know but in this regard we're luckier than He thinks........ This is perhaps His only belief that we kind of agree with only partially because exceptions are always there and we are a part of this one..... God sometimes blissfully blesses His children by manifesting Himself in the form of their mentor...... And we're blessed...... :-)

THAT LECTURE WHICH TAUGHT ME THE DSP OF MY LIFE

Had a nice lecture today--- one and a half hour!! DSP- Digital Signal Processing is what we call this subject and our most revered lecturers Prof.Akash Tayal teaches us that!! And today, it was again DSP, with an half an hour extra class!

Though some of my class mates were utterly blank, for me this one and half hour lecture has been the best lecture in DSP, because it has taught me the DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING OF MY LIFE….. As my heart’s sincere thanks to sir, let me join the pieces of the beautifully carved picture that I have assembled and assimilated today, 29 January, 2010.

Truthfulness, he says, is the best asset of any human being for it gives you freedom, the freedom to live life the way it is, beautifully, calmly and comprehensively. Truthfulness makes you a true human being, where you are not just some bizarre person thinking about your next move, where you are a part of the cosmos- the part of the Almighty. Truthfulness relinquishes you from the strategies and challenges, the malicious moves of your game, that you are playing – unintentionally, without direction, perhaps even with yourself unknowingly.

He very rightly says that there is a gigantic difference between survival and living. Survival is that race which we are all participating in, the paths unknown, the destination unclear. A race in which we all are selfish, without emotions, without concerns. And the true human being inside us is hidden behind that veil which any of us is inefficient in uncovering. And living is that state of mind, where you do not have wishes, whims and competitions, where we just have satisfactions, freedoms and infinite happiness and bliss.

Well, needless to say, he is great Mathematician. More than that a great lecturer when it comes to explaining signals, systems and images. So now, explaining life in his mathematical words, he says, life is a function f (Perseverance, Persistence, Vision and Action Plan) = YOUR REAL SUCCESS!!True, every moment in your life, be that the biggest decision involving your families, careers, success, friends or anything, it is simply the function of perseverance and persistence, because that defines the real you!! Hidden but true….

“Straight trees are cut first”, very rightly he says…. I agree to this fully, the more sincere you are, the more the society will crush you! The more honest you become, the more harshly you will be treated, the more you follow “Geeta”, the more you become a fool for them. But the true colors of personality can never be painted false. Charms can strike the sight, but it is merit which wins the soul. And the true merit of any human being, he says, is his ethics, his feelings, his devotion and dedication. And the biggest evidence to that is him himself being one of those straight trees, standing upright, clear, truthfully at his place, different from the crowd!!

He advised us to open our minds and try to see the better side of things. Definitely I was even one amongst those people, who if rejected in an entrance, would have probably some time thought, it was because things were screwed up!! Thanks to him for changing my opinions! Says he, even if 70 % things were goofed up, why not observe the rest 30% which were ours. Why do we always blame others for what we are not? Let’s do it ourselves, so that when we turn back after 30 years from now, we are proud that we took the path less travelled by, perhaps not successful, perhaps not rich, but contended and satisfied, calm and composed, truthful, devoted, and happy.

Rightly did he ask how many of us dream to get a Padam Shree? Possibly none!! Because our vistas, our inner constraints and the walls of that self made prison, made of our materialistic whims and never ending desires, do not allow us to think even. What to talk of dreaming?? Hard work and devotion are the keys which can open any door, be the gate locked with a thousand locks…

The gist of this lecture is probably that life is a multiplication of two matrices, called ethics and hardwork. If you want to get a result out of your life, make the columns of first equal to the rows of second, and then every FFT and DFT of your life will be successful, howsoever hard God may analyse !!

THAT UNGUIDED ENERGY.. TRANSFORMED!!

Without mention, engineering students are mad about their projects. They want to be at the top, beating everyone else down. They want to publish papers, too many. They think their life is an ideal impulse; everything should have success, magnitude infinity but duration to achieve that delta, tending to zero!! And I was the same person, just a few hours ago!

People transform, but for someone to cause a metamorphosis in your thinking, it requires the truth of conviction, the light of a notion which can bring about changes, permanent changes!!

As far as I have known professors, they have been just professors! But now I think, I have found a mentor. Professor Akash Tayal, one person I think the whole college respects, so I am no exception. Projects, he says are not just platforms where from you learn, they are those steps from where you will learn to climb the steps of the real success. We all keep running to him, sir we have done this and that. And always with a smile he says, well, what next? He tells us that the real happiness of life is in the dynamism it has, so keep on working. He is the person who told us, what an impulse function is, but I think, he implements it a bit differently. He likes to keep the impulse moving, shifting it throughout, uptil infinity, sieving the values that it requires to make a good signal in the signal-domain, and a good person in the human-domain! Because- everything in life is made of shifted deltas, the values have to be accumulated one by one, each one is precious! He explains to his students in an unmatched way that publishing papers will never help you, know the things, understand them, and then everything else is little play!

He says, always to work rightly and successfully in life, you will require three things- Energy, Enthusiasm and Direction. Unguided enthusiasm will not lead you anywhere. It’s just like the ray of light, travelling haphazardly through space will never help you, but when provided a core and a cladding, it will help you communicate! So, whenever you have an idea in life, to do the smallest or the biggest things, first look for a direction! Once you know where to go, the way is not difficult ahead.

And on an ending note, let me put it straight in his words. Life always gives a choice; just learn to know the right way for yourself. The direction you choose will never make you sad and unhappy. So, go forward, work on what you want to!

THE CAPACITOR'S CAPACITANCE

After four long semesters, I have realized something for sure- Engineering subjects are not bad, they are like unpolished diamonds, if you have professors who can make diamonds out of them, you will fall in love with the subjects!! And I must embed something for sure, in this piece of text- I know one such person. He does not like getting introduced by great degrees he has, so we call him the most famous person across our college. If you have problems with Signals and Systems, go to him, about DSP -go to him, problems with your project- go to him, problems with your training, go to him- in one word- he is the panacea for all problems we have. Prof. Akash Tayal!! And his room our temple!

Well, as far as I know, we engineers, in our labs, do not experiment. We look at the devices, we try to operate them, and when we do not get results, we establish results, we start from the answers going right back to the question. And we think we are experts at fooling teachers. But lord, we can fool everyone, but not him. And then more, when you see faith showering right from the other person, you can’t ever dare to deceive!! It appears he has the real powers to be the GURU, he can see you right through.

He says, experiment, see around, look for things, and then no power of the world can stop you from getting the results. Just follow the right paths!! Keep working, do not worry for the results and then everything you desire is bound to be given to you. Absolutely wonderful!

Working in our Analog labs, we often used to get the wrong readings for our capacitor values. And he would always say- try to get the right values for the capacitors. But this capacitor would not matter much, what matters is your life’s capacitance. Even if this capacitor goes from 2pF to 4pF, does not matter for me, but keep the values of you own capacitance correct. Once calculated wrong, it will not let you live. Keep connecting the capacitors with truth, faith and sincerity, and then your device would work, without error…undoubtedly.

Often when we are tensed with our minors and majors, he says just do what you want to do! Whatever you do, play music, do research, write articles, do it 100%.We view the waves ,always waiting to wipe us off, and he makes us see the ocean behind those waves- vast, wide and silent. Salutes to him for that!!

PERSON PERFECT

Akash Sir, is our most revered Professor, probably I will modify the second word- our most revered person. You will always find professors, who will kill you down to death for not having submitted your assignments and project reports at the right time, but rarely you will find a professor, who will make you realize where you are going wrong, why you are going wrong, simply with a true smile and a real concern.And then without hitch, would bring you to the right paths.

In the first post, let me say why we are followers forever. It is because Sir is a true mentor, a true person, a person we know we will respect forever, rever forever, treasure forever. Must have heard of the L2 Norm, I today introduce the P2 norm, because our Professor is Person Perfect and both those words have wide meanings.