Ashok Bhatia

God expresses Himself through the beauty of equations that govern everything from the galaxies to the trillions of cells that create life in and around us !!

[Shai Reshef @ShaiReshef]

"It always seems impossible until it's done." — Nelson Mandela

Every meaningful change begins with someone refusing to accept that impossible is the final answer.

[Thomas Chua @SteadyCompound]

A box showed up at my door this morning.

The Lunch Break Investor hits stores August 18. Six steps to find and value great businesses in about an hour a day.

If you're in Singapore: I'm doing a live book talk at Kinokuniya Takashimaya on August 22 4pm to 5pm, moderated by He Ruiming, co-founder of The Woke Salaryman.

First weekend the book is on shelves. Come ask me anything, I'll sign your copy.

Outside Singapore: pre-orders ship day one. Link in profile.

[Ashok Bhatia @ashokb911]

@KalamCenter And if moving the digit position is ok, 173 is even more trivial

[Ashok Bhatia @ashokb911]

@KalamCenter 191 is so trivial to make....

[Shashi Tharoor @ShashiTharoor]

An Open Letter to the Jantar Mantar protestors:

My dear young friends,

I address you today not as a politician or an MP, but as someone deeply troubled by what is happening to your generation of young Indians.

This is personal for me. I was born to a middle-class family: my father was a salaried newspaper employee, my mother a homemaker, with three children to educate on one income. For a family like ours, merit was not a slogan. Scholarships, fair examinations, honest results — these were the only way one salary could carry three children's dreams.

I went to school in Mumbai and Kolkata, to college here in Delhi, topped the University and earned admission into IIM — and chose instead to follow my passion for international affairs, in America, on a scholarship. Nothing was inherited; everything was earned by hard work and yes, Exams.

So I know that a fair, merit-based system is the only ladder for young people from lower and middle-income families to climb up. When that ladder is broken — papers leaked, examinations cancelled, trust destroyed — the children of the rich and powerful do not suffer. They have other ladders. It is your dreams, and your families' sacrifices (and tragically, in some homes, young lives themselves) that are betrayed.

To the young people gathered at Jantar Mantar, and those raising your voices peacefully across India: this country hears you. Your anger is not indiscipline — it is the anguish of a generation that did everything right and was still betrayed . You are not alone.

And to the millions of young Indians watching quietly: your generation is not a problem to be managed. You are the answer to India's future. Do not lose hope. This ladder will be rebuilt — by you, and by every Indian who stands with you.

To Shri Sonam Wangchuk-ji, my heartfelt appeal: please end your fast. You have awakened the conscience of the nation; that is what a fast is meant to do. India needs your voice for the long road ahead.

With Parliament in session again from Monday, we will have an opportunity to raise the students’ issues in the highest forum of our democracy. That’s where the problem should be addressed, not by fasting unto death. Please heed my plea.

And finally, to the Government: I respectfully urge you to reach out and engage in the dialogue our democracy owes its young citizens. That is not weakness; that is statesmanship.

[Nehr_who? @Nher_who]

"I don't want the real Fungsuk Wangdu to die"

Chatur from 3 Idiots calls for support for Sonam Wangchuk & appeals to listen to his cause!!

Finally people are speaking up !!

[Demis Hassabis @demishassabis]

https://t.co/PTeDiv1b6L

[Satya Nadella @satyanadella]

https://t.co/xv6csf1SbV

[Malay Krishna @Malay4Product]

I taught JEE physics for years. That paper breaks strong kids in three hours.

This exam is five hours of theory and five hours of lab work, and these five did close to perfect scores on it.

Let me tell you what actually happened.

The International Physics Olympiad is the world championship of school physics. It was the 56th edition. Held in Bucaramanga, Colombia, from July 5 to 12.

381 students. More than 85 countries. Every one of them the best physics student their country could find.

India sent five kids.

All five came back with gold.

Their names are Kanishk Jain from Pune. Riddhesh Anant Bendale from Indore. Rishit Garg from Dwarka in Delhi. Shresth Suraiya from Mumbai. Svarit Joshi from Ahmedabad.

We know a hundred cricketers by their nickname and not one of these boys. :)

That clean sweep put India at joint World Number One. Tied with China, Russia, Kazakhstan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Those are countries that pour serious money and national pride into science education. We are standing level with them.

Now here is what the exam actually was.

Two papers. Each five hours long.

The theory paper had three problems. One on the thermodynamics of paramagnetic cooling. One on the photoionisation of ozone. One on the dynamics of electron positron pairs.

The experimental paper was another five hours in a lab, working through heat transfer and thermodynamic processes in fluids.

That means you get given equipment you have never seen, and you have to design your own experiment, take your own readings, handle the errors, and reach a real answer.

Not multiple choice. No shortcuts. No pattern recognition. You either understand physics or you sit there for five hours.

HBCSE says the Indian students were near perfect on theory and excellent on the practical too.

Now, this was India's 27th appearance at the IPhO.

Across all those years, about 44 percent of Indian students have won gold, 41 percent silver, 10 percent bronze.

In the last ten years, every single Indian student has come home with a medal. 62 percent gold, 38 percent silver.

Not one kid has gone and come back empty handed in a decade.

Five golds in one year has happened only twice. This year, and in 2018.

So who built this.

The programme is run by HBCSE, the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. It sits under TIFR, which sits under the Department of Atomic Energy.

They run the whole funnel. A national exam, then a national olympiad, then a brutal selection and training camp, and out of everyone in the country, five kids get on a plane.

The team was led by Professor Anwesh Mazumdar of HBCSE-TIFR and Dr Leena Joshi from St Xavier's College, Mumbai.

The scientific observers were Professor Ananda Dasgupta from IISER Kolkata and Nisha Kelkar from Gogate-Joglekar College in Ratnagiri.

Yes. Ratnagiri. A college in a small coastal town in Maharashtra.

This is public education doing something the private coaching industry could never do on its own.

The coaching industry is very good at one thing. Teaching you to solve a known problem fast.

That is what JEE and NEET reward, and I say that with love because I was part of that world.

But an olympiad paper does not have a known type. There is no shortcut chapter. There is no formula sheet that saves you. You have to sit with a problem you have never seen and think.

That is a completely different muscle. And a government funded centre has been quietly building it in Indian teenagers for 27 years.

So yes, be proud. Loudly.

HBCSE also shared that around 64 percent of India's olympiad medallists go on to do a PhD.

But only about 32 percent of medallists end up settling in India.

I do not say that to spoil the moment. These kids owe the country nothing. They earned every option they have.

But it should tell us something. We are excellent at finding this talent. We are excellent at training it. We are still not great at giving it somewhere worth staying.

Congratulations Kanishk, Riddhesh, Rishit, Shresth and Svarit. This is one of the best things an Indian did this year and most of the country will never hear about it.

[Hoover Institution @HooverInst]

Indra Nooyi reflects on how unexpected mentors challenged her, shaped her leadership, and changed her life.

[Ashok Bhatia @ashokb911]

@Briankeating If your car gets filled over the next few days, pls DM me. I will happily take all of those to nearest recycling center...

[Geoffrey Hinton @geoffreyhinton]

I just watched an amazingly good lecture by Adam Brown about the future impact of AI on physics
https://t.co/EjiKpoiKZr

[Naveen Rao @NaveenGRao]

Why is this significant? It shows that computing is not some unique invention from humans; it’s present all through nature and physics. All physics of all physical entities has time; however, current computing systems don’t. We’re exploiting that time dimension.

[Archana K R / ಅರ್ಚನಾ ಕೆ ಆರ್ @archanakra]

Rude!!!
Many students studied for years for this exam. If they are late bcs of traffic or other problems, the system should try to help them instead of sending them back. Rules r important, but fairness is important too.

[Quanta Magazine @QuantaMagazine]

In chaotic systems, the smallest fluctuations get amplified. As scientist Edward Lorenz put it in the 1960s and 70s, even a seagull flapping its wings might eventually make a big difference to the weather. Here's how scientists came to understand what chaos is, and how to wrangle it: https://t.co/7DrDEptTcB

[Vinod Khosla @vkhosla]

The stupidity of these @Stanford students to take the greatest opportunity for equality in humanity ever and to really free humanity and go walk out on @google
and @sundarpichai that's pioneered that. Biased, idiotic, short-sighted and very selfish. Selfish because they ignored the bottom 3 billion people on this planet vs. the few million Palestinians who I also support. Get real! https://t.co/EFg09aLgLQ

[Bill Gurley @bgurley]

Happy to share that my Ted Talk from Vencouver in April just went live. In the heat of job anxiety, I believe there is only one thing that makes a job “truly safe.”

https://t.co/OcpYPXH9s6

[Ashok Bhatia @ashokb911]

@Briankeating @PeterDiamandis Great discussion @Briankeating
But, i tend to disagree with the definition of wisdom..
People didnt go to village seniors to find the path to the "best" outcome. They went to them to find if the "best" they had in mind, was even worthy of being called as "best". .

[Cristiano R. Amon @cristianoamon]

We’re shifting from apps and operating systems to agents, and that changes the device experience end to end. Great conversation with @satyanadella on what comes next.

Watch our discussion from #MSBuild.

Read the OnQ blog post for more. https://t.co/NzlCvlYhYy

[Kalam Center @KalamCenter]

💔 "Why Didn't Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Ever Marry?"
It is a question that millions of people have asked.

A handsome, intelligent, successful man who became India's most loved President... why did he never get married?

The answer is not sadness.

The answer is sacrifice.

Dr. Kalam was born into a humble family in Rameswaram. As a young boy, he sold newspapers to help support his family. Life was not easy. Every rupee mattered. Every day was a struggle. But even as a child, he carried a dream in his heart—a dream to serve his nation.

As the years passed, that dream became bigger than his own personal life.

While many young men were planning their future, building families, and settling down, Kalam was spending long days and sleepless nights in laboratories. He was working on rockets, missiles, and technologies that would one day make India stronger.

There were times when he worked for days without proper rest. There were nights when he slept in his office. There were important festivals and family gatherings that he missed because the nation needed him elsewhere.

One day, someone asked him why he had never married.

Dr. Kalam smiled and replied in his simple way that he was so deeply involved in his work and mission that he never found time to think seriously about marriage.

But perhaps the real answer was much deeper.

He had already given his life to something else.

He had given it to India.

While most people are responsible for a family of four or five people, Dr. Kalam chose to dedicate himself to more than a billion Indians.

Every child who came to meet him became his child.

Every student who wrote to him became part of his family.

Every young dreamer who looked up to him became someone he wanted to guide.

That is why children loved him so much.

When he walked into a school, thousands of students would rush toward him with excitement. He listened to them patiently. He answered their questions. He encouraged them to dream big.

Many people called him the "People's President."

But for millions of young Indians, he was something even more special.

He was a father figure.

The most emotional part of his story came in his final moments.

On 27 July 2015, at the age of 83, Dr. Kalam was not resting at home. He was not enjoying retirement. He was not surrounded by luxury.

He was doing what he loved most.

Teaching students.

He was delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong when he suddenly collapsed.

Even at the end of his life, he was serving young minds.

Think about that for a moment.

A man who could have spent his final years in comfort chose instead to spend them inspiring the next generation.

He did not leave behind children who carried his surname.

He left behind millions of children who carried his dreams.

He did not leave behind great wealth.

He left behind great values.

He did not leave behind a family tree.

He left behind a nation of dreamers.

Perhaps that is why India still misses him.

Because Dr. Kalam never belonged to one family.

He belonged to all of us.

🇮🇳 Some people live for themselves. Some live for their families. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam chose to live for an entire nation.

And maybe that is why, even today, millions of Indians lovingly call him:

"The People's President."❤️

#APJAbdulKalam #DrKalam #PeoplesPresident #MissileManOfIndia #KalamSir #Inspiration #DreamBig #StudentsFirst #YoungMinds #TeacherForLife #LifeLessons #HeartTouching #InspirationalStory #ProudIndian #IndiaRemembers #NationBuilder #VandeMataram #JaiHind #LegendForever #RoleModel 🇮🇳❤️🚀