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About
THE BACKBENCHERS
I am an engineer who couldn’t do engineering. Towards the end of B.Tech at IIT Kharagpur, I realized that engineering required the kind of skills that I simply didn’t possess. But I loved economics. So, after working for a year with Barclays Capital in Singapore, I decided to take a plunge into academia and joined the Indian Statistical Institute Delhi. I pursued my MS there and am heading for a PhD in Economics.
In economics, I enjoy reading and trying my hands on game theory, political economy, social choice theory and microeconomics in general. But I cannot resist the temptation of ‘pop-economics’ that enables me to talk about all the things that we see around us. Through this blog, I mainly intend to talk/rant/discuss about topics that concern India and its economy. Being far from an expert, I will try to be as humble as I can. I know that more often than not I will cite the problems and not spell out the solutions. That way, I am almost an economist.
My favourite dead economists are Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek. The economists who’re still alive whom I admire a lot are Kenneth Arrow, George Akerlof, Ariel Rubinstein and Herve Moulin. In Indian context, I love the works of Kaushik Basu, Bhaskar Dutta and Arunava Sen.
Sometimes, I will also try to talk about conventional theoretical economics and its applications to real-world economics. But after all, being someone who’s about to start his PhD, time, expertise and knowledge constraints will apply.
Apart from that, I will write on politics also. Much of our problems today are largely political. Great economists like Galbraith, Milton Friedman have talked about it in the past. Can we do something about it? That’s a rather tough question but we can at least raise a voice. It’s only the voice that can lead to action. I will use this place for my outpourings on the irony called India. I hope to be optimistic nonetheless.
I hope you enjoy this effort and get to read something that’s worth your time. If you find what I write interesting, please let others and yours truly know. On the contrary, if you don’t like what I write, please write to me. I’d love to argue. :)
Keep in touch.
Guests
AMEYA KANITKAR
Currently working at a start up in the Silicon Valley, and like most kids here in the valley, interested in things (like twitter and facebook and foursquare) that do not matter to ‘real’ people. Needless to say passionate about technology, especially the business side of technology. Holds masters in Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University and Masters in Computer Science from Pune University. You can follow me on twitter @aktwits, and my personal blog.
KARTIK VARADPANDE
A fast track career is what had been promised after IITKgp and IIMB. Hope that also means fast track retirement. Aspire to be in a professional rock band, start a company, qualify to play on Sawai Gandharva stage and then take Sanyaas and vanish in the Himalayas. Interests include Music, Arts & Crafts, Trekking, Stargazing, Science & Technology, Blogging, Social volunteering, Psychology, AOE, typically in that order. Often scribble thoughts and random philosophies here. Currently working as a trader in an oil company.
MANDAR GADRE
A true extrovert. Liberal and not religious. Passionate about discovering new places, new people, new experiences, new ideas – going from one to the other like a bee, perhaps without the busy part. Always game for travel, hiking/ camping, driving/biking, a music concert, a conversation. Research work, reading, photography, bathroom singing, torturing the piano, scribbling here and here keep me busy otherwise. Currently pursuing PhD in Materials Engineering at Arizona State University, I dream about being an entrepreneur one day.
TEJAS POL
“You shall never be asked to study after this” was all I heard until May 5th, 2002. So the JEE supposedly was the Final Destination for me. What mattered though, more than getting into any of the IITs or not, was that I would not have been pestered anymore for studying! Well, as it turned out, the 5 years at Madras (link to www.iitm.ac.in) were just a feeble attempt to cope with what was meted out, in order just to live up to the fact that I had managed to scrape through the JEE in the first place. They did bring a good deal of introduction to many, many different ways of thinking and behaviour, which only bolstered the innate sensitivity within. Result, a corporate job quit after about 26 months to ‘try something closer to social betterment’ here (link to http://www.prayaspune.org/reli/index.htm). The Back Benchers, as I see it, is a platform with camaraderie, and an attempt at sharing this sensitivity.
CHARUDATTA GALANDE
Sometime in the distant past, I discovered I was not much of an engineer, not good for a job, not smart enough for an EM-BEE-AYE, so the only choice was to stay in academia until I knew better. Started a PhD (Materials Science, Rice University, Houston) but still not sure how much of a scientist I really am. ♥ Pink Floyd. Interested in argument, philosophy, music, art, photography, English poetry, physics, politics, social enterprise, education and fundas. Want to go back to India after PhD and hopefully do something worthwhile without starving.
SHISHIR DASH
