Blog about my favorite blogs

On the science side, I have found iflscience quite entertaining -- whose editor is Elise Andrew, creator of the hugely popular I fucking love science facebook page. Its articles are pretty accessible too and you don't need any formal background, but just a healthy interest in science. Quantum Pontiff and Quantum Frontiers (run by Caltech's Institute of Quantum Information and Matter) are also interesting but rather technical and focused mostly on quantum information processing, so some may not like it as much as I do.

For Mathematics, I simply adore John Baez's blog Azimuth. The description of the blog actually clarifies that the focus is broader covering Physics, Earth science, Biology and technology too, but personally I find his maths posts most appealing. One of the absolute gems I have read from him is this beautiful exposition on relation between symplectic and unitary structures (okay I digress..). It is really amazing and has profound implications across fields. I was awed into stupefaction for full two weeks during my Ph.D. when I understood and used it in my research.

For a life in academia, I like the blog from Xykademiqz the most, where a full professor in Physical sciences at a major US research university shares her experiences (some might know her from blogger as Academic jungle). Scientopia which is a community blog on science is also worth checking -- personally I do not visit it super-often, as its dominant focus and contributors seem to come from biology. But people who worry about NIH grants, ethics in medical research etc may find it more engaging.

On the social and financial impacts of economics in our lives, mathbabe Cathy O'Neil and very much opinionated Noah Smith take the cake. Mathababe also runs an advice column Aunt Pythia on saturdays where she answers nerdy to kinky questions with equal panache.

One of my absolutely favorite blogs in recent time is the bad advisor --- who gives the advice people "want" to hear. This example shows why I love her blog so much. Also this. She sometimes even has interludes of giving good advice, which can be actually useful for some one. Keep rocking bad advisor!

Plus, there always is goodreads to go and wander amidst my loyal and comforting friends (a.k.a books).

And for my occasional indulgence in urdu poetry, I follow urduwallahs (it has a few gems such as full text with translation of Kaifi Azmi's composition "Aurat" but they need to be searched for!). A collection of poetry by Faiz Ahmad Faiz along with full texts and translation can also be found at this webpage hosted by Columbia University.

Food Security Bill: Links

The current debate in parliament over the food security bill is currently in a stalemate. A quick recap of the features of this bill which proposes food subsidies to two-thirds of India's population, a staggering 800 million people, can be found here.
(P.S. It gives a good handle on numbers, without any distractions of a logical debate which is anyways beyond the regime of reporting style of NDTV severely cramped by their congress-blind mypoic hogwash).


Why the proposed bill compounds the problem, instead of solving it, especially in the Indian set up is well-articulated by Vivek Dehejia, an economics professor at Carleton University in Canada in his recent article in business standard. He argues

"...no (such) defence exists for supporting an expansion of the provision of subsidised food through the inefficient and corruption-prone public distribution system (PDS). A widening food entitlement under the notoriously leaky PDS, rather than through direct cash transfers, is self-evidently a giant step backward in rationalising the provision of public goods and services to the poor and disadvantaged."

Banker to the Poor

Media: Book
Author: Muhammad Yunus
Genre: Non-fiction

This was a present from my family on my M.S. graduation. The book is the story of an idea that started small and evolved into a movement, that aims to provide a novel economic solution to one of the most practical problems of the world --- poverty! The crux of this tale is about provision and impact of microfinance for the poor --- the idea that a little and timely help to the poorest of the poor can help them break the vicious circle of poverty and lead a life of dignity is really quite simple and practical. However, it has more to it and hence I abstained from restricting it to the genre of books on rich theories of microeconomics.

The first two chapters are totally autobiographical in nature. The childhood reminiscences of author leave you with a Malgudi-day like feeling (most of us R.K. Narayan fans would be familiar with this). The tale is so simply and wonderfully told that I didn't feel even a tinge of bitterness at the author's description (then a child) of partition of India in 1947 amidst chants of Pakistan Zindabad. He amalgamates you completely in his journey and you are hooked.

The real story of Grameen Bank* - the movement which has lifted millions of people out of poverty since its inception - starts in chapter 3 with author's return to Bangladesh in late 70s. You and I who have the luxury of reading and writing blogs in our spare time without worrying about two square meals a day are introduced to an existence which has to battle, struggle and win over the threats imposed by ruthless poverty everyday. The evolution of Grameen, starting from a small project in the village of Jobra to an international movement covering 2.5 million people worldwide is charted out with the ingenuity of a master storyteller. (You have to trust me for that, I am the first one to doze off on seeing reams of data and figures .) The author weaves an engaging tale of human triumph over the most hostile circumstances with application of concepts of banking and microeconomics as aides in this battle against poverty - of course with a twist. The reader is able to maintain the same level of involvement with the narrative be it the description of extraordinary lives of the ordinary people which were touched and changed by the Grameen movement or an account of bureaucratic and financial hurdles Grameen had to overcome to reach where it is today (anyone who has walked the official corridors in India would be painfully aware of this).

It also breaks some important and persistent myths, - I subscribed to some of them too before reading this book. For instance, contrary to the popular perception the repayment rate of loans by the poor is the highest. Most of us suffer from a subtle social arrogance which may sometimes manifest itself as distributing cash or alms to underprivileged on religious occasions or the like and any thought of such people recompensing our 'charity' is almost unthinkable. This book gives a reality check - the poor can be most ardent of workers and most faithful borrowers. They respect and cling to a ray of hope which can pull them out of their harsh reality and this makes them infallible to many temptations which, in fact, the privileged lot is more susceptible to.

I think this book should be read by one and all . Even if someone is not interested in the philanthropic aspects, it surely holds some lessons for all of us.



* 'Grameen' is a Hindi word which means 'of the village' (village is called 'Gram' in Hindi).