Me, My Bike, and Lasuanne!!

The Tour de France- (which needs no Intro!!), welcomed me when I switched on the idiot's box just hoping to have some entertainment while cooking my favorite Brinjal curry! The cyclists' immortal courage reminded me Armstrong's hardcore biking experiences from It is Not About Bike (which I read long back-my summary is here). I continued the show while lunching too. After eating enough for next week, I thought of having some real-time exp of Tour de France. I chose one of the most beautiful villages, Lutry, on Geneva lakeside in the outskirts of Lausanne. Slowly i reached the nearest lake side road from my room and marched towards the destination.

Biking is not at all exhausting unless u cross the plane roads and meet the slopes of Alps!! Even a difference of 100mts of altitude sucks the calories you have been storing for the ages (I have many!!) . When I bought my bike, I was surprised to see 18 gears on it. "Do we need them?". Today, I realized that it is simply impossible to peddle without gears when you want to clear even couple of meters of height. The little slopes on the route made me to reinvent Hill climbing algorithm my prof taught me 7 years back! It is simple, keep peddling. Even though ur mind says u r exhausted, switch off suggestions from your mind and keep executing the algo. When you clear the altitude, you meet divine peace! for sure!!

I stopped at couple of ports and villages in between and finally reached the dream point! I just relaxed on one of the nicely laid banks in the lake and enjoyed with the breath taking scenery. The complete black cousins of Mount blanc in French Alps on one side, the Swiss Alps covered to every inch by green carpet on the other side, and the lake in between!!! ...Ahaaaaa! And forget about the scattered beautiful houses on the mountains. You dont dare to even blink your eyes unless you prepared to miss the beauty for a moment.

People were having lunch in personal boats right in the mid of the lake!! Ahaaaa! I envy them. After having some snacks, I took out a research paper to do some research!! Before I started reading something, I could spot a train coming on a track at unbelievable height slowly clearing n a stunning bridge with artistic beauty! "Oh God! Can I do any real research here?" I controlled my senses and read for some time! It was high time to go back!! My soul had enough taste of divine tranquility of the alps and the lake!

While coming back my player was playing Mukhesh's super hit-- "Kush Raho Har kush themarhe liye..."! Ahaaaaaaa! what a coincidence!! Yes! Poora swiss beauty mere liye hai. But how I can enjoy it other than just seeing it or taking some snaps! Did somebody invent to swallow all the beauty of the mountains and take with me forever??

Here are the photos. The site is best viewable from a comfortable chair, peace of mind, and a cup of tea!! I replaced my dead Sony with a cheap Fuji film, yet the photos are of super quality.

See you again next week!!

Finally, I felt that the weekends in swiss are no way comparable to the dull aimless weekends in 312, Kalki Gardens, Madinaguda!! Then it was for Mukhesh's "Awara hoo..Mai Awaraa hoo""!!

After returned to room, I spotted the whole route on Google Earth and it measured the total dist as 20kms!! Oh! After all it is 1/1000the of the Tour de France!!

Gandhigiree pays off!

The Gandhi Protests Pay Off
Facing political pressure and legal action, the U.S. government may speed up green card processing and make more slots available

To the much delight of Gandhism lovers (of course Gandhigiree fans of Lage Raho...), the above news marks the headlines of today's BusinessWeek. Earlier there was news that US administration was adamant towards such protests, but for how long you can be deaf when Truth and Protests meet together? The G-ism had been proved 100 years back in this holy land and now we are seeing how it can be still a solution to the problems of the rest of the world. Who knows the Iraq and Palestina may find peace with G-ism soon. Hey Ram!

The complete article is readable at BusinessWeek.

[EPFL-Student-Guide] Finding Flat

This post is part of a series of posts I did as part of student guide for new students. All the related posts to this guide can be found by tracking the label student-guide or click here

Finding a flat-- Working through agencies for finding your flat is the most difficult thing. They will take several weeks to process the applications and it is the major factor for creating lot of uncertainty. www.immostreet.ch gives all the details about vacancies. www.fmel.ch, lecazard are the students hostels and they give for phds for short term only (esp fmel). I booked one from india itself on mail in fmel and stayed there for 3 months. They ask you to pay advance too which you can arrange through your secretary. If you don't find anything, you can depend on youth hostels also- for more info..

[EPFL-Student-Guide] TODO after reaching swiss

This post is part of a series of posts I did as part of student guide for new students. All the related posts to this guide can be found by tracking the label student-guide or click here

After reaching swiss- This is very very important. Some of the suggestions may save u lot of money! Zurich is the favored destination if you are coming from hyd, because most airlines run flights to Zurich and not to Geneva. Of course Geneva is the closest airport to Lausanne. If you want to know about fares- Zurich to Lausanne is 2 and half hours in train and costs 35chf, Geneva to Lausanne costs 12chf and 30mins journey). This price info may be useful to decide whether u wish to fly to Zurich or Geneva. I assume that u fly to Zurich. You follow your co-passengers!! and a train comes to pick you to another building where your immigration check is done and your luggage can be picked. Follow the same gang and you will come out of the airport. Cross the road and continue to the adjacent building where a big shopping complex is situated. The train counter is in 1 floor downstairs and the platform is still one more down. BUY HALF FARE CARD HERE ITSELF WHICH SAVES MORE THAN 30chf RIGHT AWAY. Half fare card costs 150chf per year and if you are a PhD student, you will be reimbursed (epfl issues a new card and u have to surrender the old card to get the money back). Even if u r not a phd, haf fare card is a must, i feel. It gives 50 percent discount on all ur journeys in swiss. You need a photograph to take the card. They issue a temporary card and you have to give your residential address to get the permanent card which is shipped in next 2 weeks. If u do not have any address, you can ask them whether u can give ur friend's address and if yes, give my address!! Mail me for my current address. Buy ticket to Lausanne (if u don't know the pronunciation, give them the spelling!!, because there is another Luzern which sounds almost the same!!). If you want to convey your parents about your safe arrival, you can do so using one of the Swisscom booths around you. You need to have a telephone card to do that. I dont know where you can buy them in Zurich. If you want it for sure, mail me so that i can buy one in Lausanne and mail you the PIN and number. It costs 10chf. Risk:- you have to trust me that i didnt use that PIN for myself!! and i have to trust you that you pay me the 10chf once you are in Lausanne!!! Now relax peacefully in the train to Lausanne and enjoy two hours of breath taking sceneries!! Bad luck if you come in night or you are too tired and want to sleep! If you are a first time international traveler, i suggest you to pack some food from India which may help you if you are too hungry. Once you arrive in Lausanne, it will be easy to reach your residence if you already did little home work. Try to locate your place on map.search.ch and find out the nearest bus to your place. You have to somehow reach the nearest bus stop of that bus from Lausanne-CFF. Mostly one of the buses from CFF will have a common stop with your required bus. You can mail me for exact map and buses you may need to take. You can also depend on me for any help you might need to take the luggage to your room.

Probably the very next thing you have to do is get a metro pass for local travel in Lausanne, you need it for daily commute to epfl. You can get it for 58chf per month (580chf per year if you pay at once, initially go for one month only as you may later want to use bicycle for your daily commute). The official counters are there in epfl (epfl-SBB office) and one in Place Chaudreon. I guess you can take it in Lausanne CFF itself (where you got down the train from Zurich).

Once you are in epfl, finish off all admin stuff (take laptop!! find ur office room, meet other fans, get epfl student card, .....). With in 1 week, you should register yourself with the commune for the work permit. We can discuss about it once you are here. Ping me for any info you may want.

[EPFL-Student-Guide] Tickets and Currency

This post is part of a series of posts I did as part of student guide for new students. All the related posts to this guide can be found by tracking the label student-guide or click here

TICKETS- and Currency: Qatar and Emirates airlines run flights to Zurich daily i guess. They also have to and fro tickets with one year validity for return journey. I recommend you to buy that kind of ticket as it is cheap compared to one way tick. I got a Qatar airways tick for 36k INR and Emirates one for 29k to and fro from Hyd. I brought 50K INR worth of USD (getting Euros may be more preferred) party in cash and remaining in traveler cheques. Take a xerox of the cheques and not down the numbers elsewhere too. If you lost them, it is easy to get new ones issued. Take multiple copies of your passport and ticket and other important info and put them at various places of luggage. If you lost them, you will be in a hell! You clearly write down your from and To addresses and contact numbers on ALL the baggages. Some times, they misplace them and it may be easy to track if u do so.

[EPFL-Student-Guide] Shopping and Travel Arrangements

This post is part of a series of posts I did as part of student guide for new students. All the related posts to this guide can be found by tracking the label student-guide or click here

Shopping and travel- I did the shopping in hyderabad. The following guide can be a useful reference for your shopping. If you are for phd, almost everything can be purchased in swiss, but obviously for cost reasons purchasing in India is preferred.

1. Leather jacket with cap (it should be able to sustain negative temps also). Palem Leathers, Near Central, Punjagutta is the right place for it. The price is above 3k INR. Ask him specifically for one to be used in negative temps. When I bought mine, he said it would sustain up to -20C and i didn't find any problems with it. A very good one in swiss may cost nearly 100chf to 200chf i guess.
2. Thermals- full hands preferred, of course anything might be fine. Last year, I did not get a chance to use them as the temps were not that low. I bought one in Chermas, Chandana Bros in Ameerpet. Even little costly, buy the woolen ones (they are available in Chermas- Ameerpet ONLY- cost around 1k+ for both shirt and pant). Non-woolen ones are much cheaper, but my exp says they are almost useless.
3. Sufficient number of underwear- u get a chance to wash once per week depending on the available slots for the washing machine
4. Jeans, T- shirts, and normal wear, belt
5. Since summers are hot (not like in India for sure!!), all wear shorts and T-shirts. Bring few good quality shorts..they are very expensive (30 to 50chf). !
6. Shoes- sports, leather- Soxes (Buy few woolen ones for sure--u get them in Chermas, Ameerpet). Normal soxes wont suffice for winter.
7. Chappals 1 pair preferred for summer, Slippers too if u can.
8. Blanket (optional if too heavy for luggage..), towels
9. Of course any important clothing stuff that is not mentioned above
10. Get mobile if you have one. Anyway cheap mobiles are really cheaper than india and u can grab one here too. If u bring urs from india, u may find problems with the plugs if it is motorola, Nokia works fine. You can look at wikipedia for the used plug sockets in Swiss. http://www.m-budget-mobile.ch/ should give you an idea.
    
11. I brought my moto fone C168 which has 3 pin charger and making it charged was a nightmare for me!! I spent a 10chf for a socket converter and it was useless. Finally with the help of my administrator, I did something!! When I came to india recently, the first thing i did is to grab my bro's Nokia!! Mobile rates can be found on migros.ch, mobilezone.ch
12. Kitchen items
• pressure cooker MUST for rice or dal (get a prestige 3L one).
  
• Electric rice cooker can be bought here at almost same or even cheaper prices, if u bring from india, u have to bear additional 15 to 40 chf for the converter!!)
• some basic utensils which one needs for cooking (ask ur mom!), spoons must small and big, plates, glasses, some stuff for maing Tea if u r a tea lover (of course u can manage Tea without them also!)
• all basic food items- masalas, chilli power and ....(of course u get all of them in Indian shop here, if u have space in luggage, prefer to bring them)
  
13. Bags- one for laptop (anyway they give one for free if u r a phd!), one for local journeys, one for carrying shopping stuff if u wish
14. A cap, umbrella (MUST)..of course, u can buy them here (10chf each)
15. Get a good quality headphones for listening to music or calling to india (they r around 10- normal junk ones to 30chf)
16. Cold creams, bryl cream (if u r int'd), coconut oil, comb, mirror
17. Get a universal adapter if u can find one there, it is around 40chf here.
18. TT stuff if u luv the game (u can buy here too but the best is available at cheaper prices in india only)
19. Basic tools for repairing bicycles if u want to buy a bicycle here (u may want to of course). U hardly need 2-3 tools to fix the flat tyres, so good idea to bring them from there (including the gum, few tube patches). A basic tool kit costs 15 to 30chf here.

If u remember something more and want to know whether it is needed or not, u can ping me. It gives me a chance to update this article too.

There is a FAQ doc that may be of great help to you. Mail me for the doc.

[EPFL-Student-Guide] Getting Visa

This post is part of a series of posts I did as part of student guide for new students. All the related posts to this guide can be found by tracking the label student-guide or click here

Getting visa- I guess for all south Indians, the only place to get visa is Mumbai swiss consulate in Nariman Point, Mumbai. Check on the swiss embassy website for more details. Before you applying for visa, you should ensure that you received all docs from epfl- the work contract, proof of scholarship, passport (of course). A detailed list of docs can be found towards the end of this article. Perveen Mistry is the point of contact in the embassy and she responds very nicely to all the questions you have. Contact her on mail or phone. Note down the swiss embassy timings given here and check on the embassy website about the official holidays they follow. Sometimes it is closed on the official swiss holidays about which you have no idea- so always check about it on the website. I had struggled a lot with the timings, When I went to apply of the visa. I started from Pune in a volvo bus but the bus did not drop me in Dadar as told before buying the ticket. I don't remember the place exactly where we got down but it was too far from Nariman point. We took a taxi and called Mistry on the way. She told me clearly not to come for visa on that day as the place is too far and i can not make before 12pm, the closing time!! Somehow i decided to take the chance and asked the driver to leave me near the embassy as quickly as possible. Luckily that drier knows the exact building in the area and somehow he dropped me there. When I was watching Taxi 9211 movie (am I right?) later, the driver's rush on Mumbai roads reminded my experience! Even though i went late, it did not make much difference. "Which university?", they asked and I told "epfl". The lady looked relaxed giving an impression that visa is granted! I filled several forms there and paid the fee (I guess we have to submit a DD for the amount)! They give the passport back to us immediately and in case we get a visa, they inform us so that we have to send them the passport again. Then they return it with visa stamping through courier. I think we have to send a DD for the courier charges as well with the passport. Since all the documents are shipped to swiss for processing (there is no processing done in the consulate itself like US consulates), it takes several weeks to months for getting the visa (even for knowing whether we got the visa or not). I applied for the visa on November 1st and they sent me visa in 3 weeks i guess. But in one of my friend's case, it took nearly 3 months!!

Here are the links for the most useful docs
1) Official visa doc http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df7pb88q_1gnvmq4
2) Declaration form http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df7pb88q_3jdbt8f
3) Another declaration http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df7pb88q_4wnwdxb
4) Embassy in New Delhi http://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home/reps/asia/vind/embnd.html
5) Consulate General Mumbai
(useful info at the end of this article)

Useful info:
Consulate General Mumbai

Address

Consulate General of Switzerland

102 Maker Chambers IV, 10th floor
222, Jamnalal Bajaj Marg
Nariman Point
Mumbai 400 021
India

Phone

• 0091 22 22 88 45 63 / 64 / 65
• 0091 22 22 83 17 38

Fax

• 0091 22 22 85 65 66

E-Mail

mum.vertretung@eda.admin.ch

Website

http://www.eda.admin.ch/india_dlh/e/home/consulate.html

Office hours

Monday	08.15-12.00
Tuesday	08.15-12.00
Wednesday	08.15-12.00
Thursday	08.15-12.00
Friday	08.15-12.00
Saturday	---
Sunday	---

Visas: Monday-Friday 08.15-11.15.

Consular district

Les neuf Etats de Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra et Tamil Nadu ainsi que Pondichéry, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep (UT) et Andaman & Nicobar

EPFL Student Guide

This post is part of a series of posts I did as part of student guide for new students. All the related posts to this guide can be found by tracking the label student-guide or click here

"To know the road ahead, ask those coming back."
- Chinese proverb

Not it might be clear for you why am writing this article! I try to highlight the following info items and the best way to find all of them is clicking on the label on the top right side. By the way, am doing my PhD in the Distributed Information Systems lab of epfl. I joined here quite recently (Jan 2007).

1) About epfl courses- MS or PhD
2) Getting admission
3) Visa
4) Shopping and travel
5) TODO after reaching swiss
6) Finding flat
7) General info about life in swiss

If you find it useful, do let me know through comments. If you need more info, ping me in the same way.

Good luck!

Working with Robots!

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
But in practice there is..! -- Einstein

The above quote paints the walls of 4th floor of our bldg BC at epfl.
There was a chance for me to experience that, when i worked with some robots. My experience says that, there is, in fact, a lot of difference!
As part of a course offered by amazing Prof. Thomas Hensinger (read his page for his mind blowing research!), we had to do some experiments with NXT robots. As part of this experiment, each team is provided with two robots. In the end, there would be a competition where a pilot robot operated by the assistant using remote control will be placed in between the two robots. The trailing robot has to emulate the movements of the pilot robot and follow the robot exactly. The same goes with the leading robot.

We initially started making the follower follow the leader, using our two robots. An Ultra Sonic sensor is provided with each robot which is used to measure the distance to the nearest obstacle (which can be a robot or anything else- there is no way to know whether u r seeing a robot or a wall!!). To increase the reliability of readings, we fixed two sensors on the trailing robot. We had to modify the design of the leader so as to be detected much accurately by the the sensors of trailing robot. Then comes the concept of the PID controller. The concept is really amazing and an elaborated explanation of the tech details can be found on wiki. Basically it is used in the trailing robot so as to catch up the leader steadily rather than abruptly.

Oh..! It is done...Is it so simple? No way. Since robot has two motors, unless both are synchronized, it can not go in straight line and the trailing robot misses the line of sight. Even though some compromise on being in the straight line are assumed and the sensors, in fact rotate in a horizontal plane to measure the readings, synchronization is still needed. The NXC (Not Exactly C) provides some API for synchronization, it takes little experimentation (in fact a lot if you r not lucky) to tune the parameters and pick up the right api. In spite of the right api used, we never got the right synchronization expected. I felt the reason could be supporting the robot with two wheels in the rear side (which do not have motors--only front wheels do have). Since there are two wheels, the friction exercised by the surface should be same on both otherwise, robot wont be stable in a straight line irrespective of perfect sync of the motors. So I replaced two wheels with a single wheel (in the middle of the robot) and not to my surprise, it was working great! (see the photograph for design). Now time for expanding this prototype to the actual problem setting. We decided to attack it this way- the trailer robot senses the movements of the pilot using the sensors and communicates with the leader using bluetooth. So we did blue tooth programming and after lot of pain and effort we could make that communication working. Since messages should not be lost and leader has to receive the message almost immediately after trailer sends. So finally we put all pieces together and it was working great under some constraints.

In the final competition, almost all teams showed same performance. None of them was perfect and either the trailer bumps into the pilot and both get struck and the leader keeps on moving OR the leader gets lost completely and moves in its own world. So that reminded me above quote. May be our task demands more sweating probably before it actually meets the theory! You can mail me for the detailed report and the programs or get my epfl website once it is up!!