An AI nightmare

We were on vacation, a few years back, at our ancestral home in Changanacherry, a small town in Kerala. Our son was still a tiny human being, experimenting with his newfound skill of using vocabulary. Our daughter was yet to be born.

A relative was visiting us that day and as they were leaving, we all came out to the portico to say goodbye. By the time the final chat was done, and they left, it was a good additional ten minutes. My son darted back into the house as soon as the guests left. Before we could even step back into the house, we heard him screaming! 

'Appa! Everything's gone!'

We rushed in and to our utter dismay, we found the house empty! Everything in the house were missing! Furniture, paintings and everything the ancestral property ever had, vanished into thin air. We were dumbstruck for a few moments. In ten minutes a fully furnished house became an empty shell. What in the world just happened? 

While we were still breaking our heads for answers, we saw our son running out to the backyard. Another scream followed, but we quite did not understand what he said this time. 

He ran back in, shouting, 'Aints'! 

We thought he wanted to say 'Ants'. But he repeatedly said 'Aints' and pulled us out into the backyard. What awaited us was nothing short of a scene from a science fiction movie. Millions of ants-like creatures were carrying all the items from our home and were marching towards some pre-defined destination. It was quite evident that those were specialised AI driven mini robots programmed to execute this task, controlled by someone stationed at a remote location. Hence our little one was quite right when he called them 'Aints'!

We were wondering how to react to this unprecedented attack. We decided to try out an idea that occurred to us. Since those 'Aints' were programmed, we attempted a reverse programme logic by hacking into the AI brain of those mini bots. And it worked! We screamed with joy, at the top of our voice, 'Turn! Turn! Turn!'. One by one, the 'Aints' started turning around and replaced all our vanished items where it originally belonged.

It was all over, or so we thought. Time for the proverbial sigh of relief. We had no idea that it was far from being over! We were terrified to see a fresh battalion of 'Aints' appearing out of nowhere and carried out similar operation as if nothing ever happened. We continued with our futile attempts to turn around those fresh set of 'Aints'. Soon we realized that we were not reaching anywhere.

That was when a brilliant idea struck! How much ever they say AI was advanced, human brains were far more superior. So much so that, time and again, we surprise ourselves with our ability to come up with simple solutions for complex challenges!

When all other technology solutions failed, what came to our rescue was a good old water well in our backyard. We swiftly drew some water from the well and splashed across the legion of 'Aints'. That made them defunct instantly. We kept pouring water over those bots and I was about to announce to the whole world how water saved the day over the evil infantry of 'Aints'.

That was when I felt a splash of water on my own face. I opened my eyes and saw my sweetheart holding a bottle of water. We were in our bedroom in Dubai and the clock showed 3 AM as the time! 

My wife looked very worried. Apparently, I kept turning her on the bed and wanted to know why I was shouting at her with the words, ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’. 

 

For the love of God, I had no idea how to convince her about my attempt to save the world through superior reverse AI programming with which I disarmed an entire army of the most advanced bots ever known to the history of mankind. Hence, I did the next best thing I could do.

I turned around and slept again, hoping that one day AI will help me have only sweet dreams…

Dreams do come true!

I do not exactly recollect the year when the dream of doing an MBA got into my mind. What was quite interesting was the fact that, it was not just the course, but even the campus where I should get it done was crystal clear like the waters of a pristine lake where you could see tiny pebbles resting on the lakebed.

During my BCom days, I chanced upon a brochure for the MBA programme offered by Christ College, one of the most prestigious campuses in a city that was then called Bangalore. Was it the course structure or the image of the campus, I still am not sure, that attracted me more, to that magical temple of learning. An opportunity to visit the campus during my BCom final year as part of a college tour added more feathers to my dream.

Growing up in the late 90s in Changanacherry, a small town in Kerala meant, limited aspirations and even lesser exposure to career opportunities. A fact that was contributed by not having enough mentors or resources to guide you on your career path and an equally responsible lack of self-driven initiative. All these manifested for me as just two options for higher studies post my graduation. Either get a master’s degree in management (MBA) or delve into the world of technology with a master’s degree in computer application (MCA).

Not wanting to miss out on either, I did apply for both. Those were the times when colleges had separate entrance exams for professional courses. I applied for MBA admission both at my dream college Christ and at Rajagiri college in Kochi as a backup plan. Meanwhile applications for MCA were also given in a couple of good colleges in Coimbatore. As destiny would have its say, I did not clear the entrance exam for Christ. I had to look at the next best options, with my dream shattered. I sat along with my parents at the MCA admission office of PSG College of Arts and Science in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, the day before entrance results were to be announced at Rajagiri. Little did I know that life was to take me on a twisted roller coaster ride that day.

Though I had good marks to get an admission in merit, the rule those days was that if you were a student from a different state, you had to pay a considerable amount as a non-refundable deposit fees. My dad asked me to choose between MCA admission which would be closed that day or take a chance and wait till the next day for Rajagiri MBA results. I did not have a Plan C, a mistake on hindsight. It was one of the most challenging decisions in my life till then. 

I weighed my options and finally opted to join MCA. A hefty amount was paid as fees, and my fate for next three years was sealed that day. You live with the weight of the choices you made through your life. By noon next day, Rajagiri announced the results. I was selected for their MBA programme. But since the fees paid for MCA at PSG was non-refundable, I burned the feathers of my original dream. 

Life in Coimbatore started. By the end of first year, my struggle with C++, Java and the dreaded Data Structures led me to have a heart-to-heart conversation with my dad again. I told him how I did not really see coding as my cup of tea. Full credits to him, the response he gave me, drives me forward even today, though he is no more physically with me. Such are the powers of genuine love of a parent. He addressed me with all the affection a dad has for his son, 'Da mone, you can study whatever you want, as long as I can support you. Do not worry. I will only suggest you complete what you started, especially since it had a considerable investment involved'. 

I listened to my dad. While I skimmed through my MCA days, I started to stick new feathers back to the wings of my original dream I had burned earlier. By that time, individual entrance exams for management institutions were a thing of the past. I had to compete at the national level with exams such as Management Aptitude Test (MAT). While a bit intimidated, I went ahead with the preparation. Dreams have a unique nature to power you forward, while your reservations may try to pull you back. It is absolutely a mind game where the power of your resolve will determine who wins at the end.

I was in Bangalore for my MCA final year project. It was a Saturday, a few days after I had applied for MBA admission at Christ college again based on my MAT score which was not bad for those days. By noon, I met Father Paul, the Director of MBA programme at Christ then, at his office, to check if I got the admission.

Father checked the list and looked at me. Two pairs of eyes met, one which seemed to have absorbed all the peace of oceans across the world and the other owning up all the tempests that raged across the planet! He told me, 'Jerry, there is one last seat left. It is currently assigned to a girl from Punjab who is expected to confirm her willingness to join by 3 PM today. If you want, there is a church behind the college where you can pray till then. Come back to my office after that. If she does not confirm by then, the seat will be yours!' 

I felt like the only man floating in the middle of Atlantic after a shipwreck, clinging on to a tiny life jacket, the last hope of survival, only to realise with horror that it has a hole which can be mended only by a glue called time! I felt the feathers of my dream starting to burn, again.

Those 180 minutes were one of the most intense experiences of prayer in my life. The church was closed, but I knelt outside on the steps and prayed in whatever form of prayer I knew.

By 3 PM I was back at Fr Paul's door. The only thing that was faster than my legs that took me back to the college from church was my heartbeat. The palpitation was quite high, that I literally had to try hard to keep my heart from getting out of my chest!

Father Paul saw me and asked me to come inside his office. He looked at his watch, checked a paper that appeared to be a list of names and wrote something on it. He then looked up and said, 'Welcome to Christ College, Jerry.'

Dreams do come true!

 

Sweet 16!

A few weeks back, Ruby and I celebrated sixteen beautiful years of being together. I got a special gift for her for our anniversary. Unlike the previous years, this time I went a little beyond the usual and got her a limited-edition gift. I reached home and after a bit of drama, I presented the gift in style, at least that was what I thought. As soon as she had a glimpse of the box, realization set in. It took a while for her to settle down the emotions that took off for a roller coaster ride. As she opened the box, I could see her eyes getting wider with what she saw inside.

The sheer fact that it was possibly the most expensive gift I had got for her, the shrewd finance manager she was, obviously had a complex calculation running in her sharp brain. Now at this juncture, I need to make a statement which for some people may be politically incorrect. Nevertheless, it is a proven fact that the human brains are differently wired between male and female of the species.

For the men folks, a purchase decision may involve a simple combination of two factors, liking a product and the love for the person to whom the gift is purchased. Budget did matter but was not the highest priority. For women, these and many more factors (I wish I knew everything to list down here!) did matter when they decide to buy a gift as well as assess the return on investment against the purchase made. Please do not get me wrong, I am not referring to only high value items, even the tiniest of the gift will also go through a round of analysis as mentioned above.

Since it was indeed an item of elevated price tag, I had received the guarantee from the shop guys that my wife will return or exchange it if she wished to do so. Those were the kind of agreements that eventually turned out to be lifesaving decisions. The anniversary evening thus ended on a happy note.

A couple of days ago, I happened to visit a local store where I picked up a Tulsi plant, a medicinal herb. While the shop owner was packing the plant, I happened to notice a garland made of freshly bloomed jasmine flowers. It did not even take a fraction of a moment for me to ask him to get me a small portion of the garland since I knew Ruby liked it. To state a fact, the cost of the garland was even less than the price of a coffee from any standard barista in a decent shopping mall.

I reached home and after placing the plant pot down, I presented the jasmine garland to my sweetheart. This time again, I could see her eyes brighten up and was filled with an avalanche of emotions. Those were quite different from the ones I experienced a few days back when an expensive gift was presented. I stood there and tried to absorb the depth of unexplainable chemical reactions happening in her neurons.

The happiness that tiny bunch of flowers generated was far beyond the dazzling piece of gift presented a few days ago. Life is indeed unreal! It up as an absolutely beautiful evening for both of us. The next day she told me how she could still feel the fragrance of jasmine lingering around and the many memories it brought back from her school and college days.

It was a wonderful reminder for me about how we kept finding happiness in simple things in life. Something that helped us walk hand in hand in the last sixteen years together. Happiness is not found only in things that dazzle. It is also the small things in life where the fragrance of love lingers forever.

Here is an honest wish from both of us to all the beautiful couples out there who live life in the simplest possible manner and present each other with eternal gift of love! 

A Spicy Mistake!

During my college days, I tried my hands on preparing a few dishes based on Kerala cuisine. While the success rate on those were not that great, over a period of time I mastered the art of making a good tea with milk.

Hence, after Ruby and I got married and settled down at our one-bedroom apartment in Bangalore, one day I told her I will make a special tea for her. While sceptical, she agreed to that idea and watched me making the special brew for her. 

Milk, water, tea powder and sugar, all found its way one after the other into the saucepan. Then came my secret ingredient, cardamom, also known as the Queen of Spices, for the distinct flavour and aroma it brought to any dish prepared with this unique spice. It gave an even more special effect when used to make tea. I must also add here that cardamom is one of the most expensive spices you get to buy, with some of the best quality ones costing as high as USD 100+ per kilogram.

As I was preparing the magical potion, I took a couple of pods of cardamom and started to peel the outer shell. All the while Ruby was watching me with eyes filled with curiosity. All of a sudden, I could see an unexplainable burst of emotion in her eyes followed by a loud cry! That was the exact moment when I finished peeling the cardamom and added the empty shell to the boiling tea and promptly trashed the seeds that were inside the shell.

In the same tone of the cry, she asked me why I threw the seeds. With all the innocence in the world, I told her, I always used the shell and threw the seeds away. That perhaps was the first time I saw my darling wife totally speechless. After the initial shock, she regained her composure and with an amazing sense of patience, explained to me what a historical blunder I was doing all the while. 

The seeds in fact were the essential part of that exotic spice. I listened intently and since I wasn't easy convinced, I did my own research and realised that my sweetheart was indeed right! From that day, the cardamom pods at our home had been thanking me for making real use of them.

The best part of this incident was not just knowing the correct use of a spice. On the contrary, ever since the incident, I had been telling my better half about writing a story about this. She was the one who didn't agree, as she was concerned about it would influence the perception of others. 

For me, this is true leadership. A good leader will give constructive feedback on mistakes by a team member, irrespective of the gap in hierarchy between them. At the same time the leader will ensure enough privacy so that perception management is achieved as well.

Just like how effective feedback helped us to have better tasting tea, professional environment demands meaningful exchange of constructive criticisms which all parties involved need to provide and receive in the most practical sense.

May we all be blessed to be a good leader who can empathize with a team member. As a team member, may we have the courage to accept the feedback and incorporate good learning which can take us to even greater professional heights. 

Know Thy Drive - Part II

Imagine this. You are at the car rental office at your holiday destination. You verified the model of the car, the accessories, and a few other features before heading out. You are most likely to forget one important aspect about the trip, the tolls you need to pay enroute. Depending on the geography you are travelling, you may come across tolls for roads, bridges and even tunnels.

Many countries have automated toll payment system in the form of a RFID tag stuck on to the vehicle. All what you are required to do is to top up the tag and it will automatically pay the toll for you. If you are lucky, the car you are renting may already have enough balance on the tag, so that you do not have to pay for it. We were lucky once!

In places where the tag system is not present, you could still pay using a credit card or even cash. Ensure that you understand how much money you need to have with you and be prepared for the number of tolls you need to pay on the way. A simple search in Google should give you an idea, if you know the route that you are planning to take.

Another important aspect to be considered is if you plan to drive inside city limits. In most of the super busy cities in the world, an additional fees called congestion charges apply. You need to be aware of this because you will end up paying a lot more than you planned as the budget for your car rental. The best alternative for this is to rely on public transport, provided, the city has an established infrastructure. Most of the advanced cities today boast a well-connected public transport system. Not just that, you will save loads of money on parking charges as well, if you opt for public transport. 

During a recent trip to UK from Dubai, one of the first experiences with my rented car was the difference in the driving side. While I drove on the right side in Dubai, it was the opposite in UK. I was used to driving on the left, back home in India. But since I had been driving in Dubai for a decade and a half, it took a few minutes for me to get used to the left side driving, especially in the structured driving environment of UK unlike in India. 

The trick is to take it slow, get a feel of the drive and then zip forward. I also distinctly remember one of my team leads telling a client of ours while we were in Atlanta to do whatever she wanted in India, except driving. If you are someone who are used to a structured way of driving, I can guarantee that you will have no idea what hits you in India, literally and figuratively! There could be comparable stories from across the countries in the world. Be aware of these.

It is obvious that you need to get familiarised with the controls of your rented car before you start, since it could make or break your journey if you commit mistakes. Also ensure that you are familiar with the road rules including speed signs and strictly follow them. 

During one of our trips to Switzerland we had a unique experience. While driving into one among the hundreds of tunnels in Swiss, a lady in the lane behind us started flashing the lights. While initially I was confused, when I saw her overtaking us and showing the signs to have the lights on, I remembered the rule in the tunnels to have lights turned on. Non-compliance of the rule would have invited hefty fines. God bless her!

Another interesting experience was when we stopped to refill petrol in Scotland. My son got out and wanted to help me with filling of the fuel. The man at the counter yelled from the window saying it was illegal to have young children near the fuel dispenser due to the hazard of gas inhalation! Learnings galore when you are on the road.

Last but never the least, always have the emergency contacts handy, including roadside assistance, police, and ambulance. It will also help to have contact details of car insurance as well as information about the embassy of your country in the event of an emergency.

Above all, the fundamental rule to be kept in mind while travelling is to apply common sense! Take care and enjoy your trip.

Bon Voyage!

Know thy Drive – Part I

What is one of the first things that come to your mind when you plan your vacation? If you belong to a ‘tribe’ where my family proudly associate us with, you will be looking for the options to drive. While we are yet to explore the likes of a caravan on a vacation trip, looking at a car to rent is one of the top priorities, especially if we are planning for a road trip.

Along with exploring the options for hotels to stay, service providers or aggregators such as Booking.com is what we frequently use for planning. We also look at direct rental options in websites for Avis, Budget etc. and do a comparison of the offers provided to take a decision.

In case, if your organisation has tie-ups with these car rental companies, that can be a third option to look at the offers and decide. While looking at the established brands such as Avis and Budget is an easy option, always remember that there could be good local car rental companies in many countries who could offer better deals. So do not forget to check out all options before you take a final call. Trust me, it will have a considerable impact on your travel budget.

Another factor to consider while booking a car rental is the choice of accessories. Depending on your needs, accessories could range from the need to get a car seat or booster seat, GPS to help you with the routes if you have any challenge with getting maps on your mobile phone, winter specific options including snow tires if needed and the likes of these. Insurance is another crucial point that you need to consider which has various bifurcations that needs to be checked before taking the kind of package you need for the trip.

Depending on the number of people in your group and the kind of terrains you plan to cover, the type of vehicle is an important choice that you need to make. It can range from a hatch-back to a sedan to an SUV based on the plan. Depending on your choice, the price will also be varying, and you need to keep an eye on the budget accordingly.

One of the most important points to remember is the rules regarding driving license at the country or countries you plan to drive. In certain cases, the driving license you have in your current country may be valid at least for a brief period in the country of your travel. That will work out to be favourable for you. In other cases, you may have to take an International Driving Permit (IDP) to be driving legally in that country. Please always check for the latest rules before you decide which license be enough for you. I would like to give a friendly warning here that please do not depend entirely on AI or even news updates that come in the top search results in Google for this information. In most cases, the official government websites are dependable sources for this information.

These are many more aspects of your drive that contribute to a meaningful, hassle-free vacation. Since this is a vast area to talk about, I shall cover the remaining areas in part II of this topic.

Till then, do plan well and have a fantastic vacation.

Cheers!

When my ten-year-old lost to AI, almost!

More than a year ago, when I decided to start a series on Travel Tips, called Trip Elf: Your Travel Buddy, I remember having a quick chat with Mia, my little princess. She was about to turn nine then. For most of my articles, I used my clicks as the title picture. I wanted something different this time.

Mia came up with a lovely idea. She said, ‘Appa, you give me the storyline, I’ll draw a picture for you’. There was one condition though. I had to promise to her that all the pictures in this series will be hers. Our sweet partnership started with that. Since then, I had written seven stories in the series, and she drew the pictures for most of them. But something was destined to change.

It was time for the next story in the series. I got the points ready and even detailed the content in my mind. All what was required was to put the pen to the paper. But before publishing the story, I obviously needed a title picture from my daughter.

As usual I had given her the plot and discussed the requirements for the image with her. She was all set to create another beautiful image for the next one in my series. After a couple of days, I reminded her about the picture so that I could post the article. That was when an end-of-the-chapter-test came as an impediment for her. She seemed to have already mastered the art of prioritizing her tasks, something as adults, we still struggle.

Since she was unable to provide me with the image, I decided to negotiate with her. As the content was almost ready, I did not want to delay the publishing any further. Hence, I suggested a fallback option as a one-time exception. Copilot! The wonderful world of AI opened in front of us. Interestingly, she did not resist the idea.

Together we explored the prompt engineering experience of AI. After a couple of attempts, Copilot generated a beautiful image fully assimilating our requirement. We decided to use the image. But the instruction from my daughter was quite clear. This is a one-time exception due to time constraint, and it should remain that way.

The story will be published soon with the AI image created, instead of a beautiful art form by my darling daughter! I know it is a one-off as my daughter’s happiness will always be more important than the happiness of publishing another article bypassing her creativity.

Meanwhile, this is a powerful reminder of what is happening around the world today. People find easier alternatives with AI to perform tasks that needed human beings earlier. For me personally, it is also a reminder to keep emotional and social aspects in mind, while trying to take decisions to embrace AI.

If you are one such decision maker in an organisation who decides on the fate of an employee in favour of AI, it may be worthwhile asking these questions? 

 - Is AI worth letting go of someone who trusted you and gave their best?

 - Is there an alternate way of using the AI along with your valuable and loyal employees?

 - Have you really quantified and qualified the effectiveness of AI before letting go the people who helped you build the organization?

In the end, let us all remember this. All of us who knew what the term Y2K means, have survived a similar onslaught of internet. Let me not say, this too shall pass. Instead, we shall survive this as well.

Here is a toast to a world that looks forward to AI along with U & I.