Category: IIT

An old delta hedge

I learnt finance only in 2005. It was around that time that I first came across the concept of delta hedging. However, I now realize that unknown to me, I had indeed used this concept to great effect in 1999.

That was the year when I had started preparing for the JEE. I had joined BASE, the best JEE factory in Bangalore. I was having a hard time since I hadn’t studied one bit in all of 11th standard when my friends had dilgently solved Irodov and other books. I had missed one whole month of prime summer holiday JEE prep thanks to the Math Olympiad Training Camp. I knew I needed to be focused. I knew I didn’t want to be distracted. However, I also knew that I would be under tremendous pressure for a year, and any means of easing a bit would be welcome.

During our monthly counselling sessions at BASE, the Director would call for us to create angst. “You need to have the fire in the belly”, he used to say. “And be able to channel it in the right direction in order to fuel your effort. Without fire in the belly, nothing can be done”

I must mention here that this was one of those unintended consequences things. I didn’t plan out this delta hedge. I realized the hedge only in hindsight. I had just followed my instinct in doing what I eventually did. Looking back 9 years down the line, I think it was a fair idea. Only, that like in everything else that I do, the implementation was horrible. Nevertheless, I think the learnings from this are going to be useful, and are going to have a net positive impact on society.

I put blade like naayi on a classmate, who is perhaps the most brilliant woman I’ve ever known. She was a good friend back then, at the point of time when I started the blading process. As you might have come to expect of me, I did a pretty horrible job. Disaster would be an understatement. It was depressing. I lost many nights of sleep to this. If I were less informed, I would’ve classified it as a blunder.

If you noticed, I had slipped in a little para where I mentioned the need for creating fire in the belly. This failed blade would fire it. This failed blading attempt would provide the angst, which I could channel in the right direction if I so wished. This failed blading attempt would make me angry, would make me upset, and would help me focus on my goals. And the sleepless nights this failed blading attempt gave me – I used them for mugging for the JEE.

I don’t know if I’ve told this particular bladee about it (I probably have), but I’ve always internally dedicated my success in the JEE to her.

However, this story was not to end happily. The delta was hedged, but the gamma would come back to bite me at a later date. The angst and the anger and the pain was fine when I needed them, but now (after I joined IIT) that I didn’t, it led to NED. Terrible NED. This would go on to be one of the biggest causes of NED during my life at IIT. As Shah Rukh Khan says in Baazigar, “kuch khaane ke liye kuch pona bhi paDta hai”.

More on the IITM Open Quiz

A while back I was talking to Pota about the IITM Open Quiz, and its possible demise. I think what happened was that the quiz was in general closely held. Three of the four original quizmasters  were from the “no questions asked” team, and even after I graduated, people who continued ownership of the event were NQA guys.

We had a large number of non-NQA quizmasters (Ruddra, Chinmay, 10g, etc.) but the overall control of the event remained with NQA people. In each of its five episodes, all incumbent members of NQA contributed as quizmasters. Bhaand, who was the unofficial manager of NQA, was the coordinator of administrative affairs every year. Add to this the fact that the cultural secretaries and core group at IITM were in general hostile to the event, and you know what happened.

NQA was disbanded for all practical purposes in 2007, when The and RG graduated from IITM. Pota was the only one remaining on campus, and he did his job by coordinating the OQ of 2007. However, with the disbanding of NQA, there was no natural successor to take the event forward after pota. There was no one who could claim ownership of the event.

Looking at it from this perspective, maybe what has happened was inevitable. However, I think there is a lot to learn from this. A lot of lessons in terms of leadership, team building, succession plans, etc. I think I want to write a case study on this. If anyone of you has attended one or more OQs, and has any other feedback about this, please let us know. We can include that also in the case study.

All said and done, hope is not lost yet regarding the event. There is still the faint probability that we can somehow take it forward, on a different date. I’ll keep you posted on this.

The IITM Open Quiz and LTCM

Yesterday, I lamented about the fact that the IITM Open Quiz is no more, because the quizzers at IITM decided to default on their obligation to take the great tradition forward. I then called for volunteers to contribute questions so that we can hold the quiz at a different date.

I’m reminded of the collapse of Long Term Capital Management. There, when the company was about to default, different ibanks all (all except Bear Stearns) pitched in with a little bit of money each to resurect it. Similarly, this time we can expect us old quizmasters of the quiz to contribute a few questions each in order to bail it out.

However, we should remember that the LTCM bailout couldn’t have been done by the ibanks alone. The most important player back then was the US government. Similarly we need a  government-like player here who can facilitate the resurrection of the quiz, and assure all “creditors” (people who “lend” questions) that their efforts won’t go in vain (for the record, creditors to LTCM encashed their bailout money at a substantial profit a few years later).

I had also mentioned yesterday that there is no point if the IITM Open is held at a place other than IITM. The government, we thus think, should be IITM. However, it won’t be as easy to get buy-in from the IITM Student Community (who are critical to doing all the GA work, etc.) as it would be to get buy-in from the profs/admin (who have been sympathetic to this quiz throughout its existence). It’s like the US president agrees to orchestrate the bailout but the treasury department employees who have to actually do the work become hostile.

I wonder what steps we can take in order to turn this situation around, and get the people to organize the quiz. As I had mentioned earlier, getting volunteers on the quizmaster front won’t be fight.

IITM Open Quiz

Most people used to abuse me regarding the amount of time i spent at Sri Gurunath Patisserie, at IITM. It was right opposite my hostel, and I would go across and buy myself a cup of Nescafe for 5 bucks, and settle down at one of the tables. And stay there for half the night, talking to random people about random stuff.

I don’t remember who all were there that day. Anshumani Ruddra was definitely there. And some 2-3 other people. And there was this idea that we should do a quiz. For whom, and why, no one had a clue.

A few days prior to this, Shamanth, The and I had been talking about doing an IITM Open quiz. We had noticed a gap in the market – all quizzes done by IITM were for colleges. True, a lot of non-college people would faithfully turn up one January night every year to watch the open quiz finals, but there was no avenue for them to participate. We figured that the Saarang guys wouldn’t be interested in another literary event. And so, an open quiz, we thought, would be a good idea.

I have written a flowering account of the birth of the IITM Open Quiz in my CV. Looking back, I don’t recall exactly how much “work” i had done. My B.Tech. Project was going nowhere, and I seemed to be getting into trouble with my advisor. I remember setting questions, though. And participating in all the “idea” meetings. In terms of the implementation bit, though, my greatest contribution was to have been at both the above discussions – which led to the birth of the Open Quiz.

It wasn’t easy to do the first IITM Open quiz. The Dean Prof. Idichandy was the only person who seemed to support the noble endeavour. The Saarang guys hated it, for we would probably become competitors for sponsorship. Moreover, it was unthinkable for them that a bunch of “events guys” wanted to do a public event. They flatly refused to help out with sponsorship and facilities.

We bribed the  general secretary of our hostel to help out with the facilities. Shamanth, Bhaand and the dean put fight for spons, and managed to tie up TCS – they would remain our sponsors for the next five years. Shamanth and Nisheeth came up wtih the logo – the commies that they are, they came up with a small variation of the hammer and sickle, and promptly got into trouble with the authorities (the logo was changed for subsequent editions). We paid a fortune to the Hindu (China’s national newspaper) to put a small ad. Most of the publicity, though, happened free of cost. Through mailing lists and announcements at other quizzes. Shamanth, Ruddra, The and I set questions. Bhaand was “special officer for administrative affairs”.

This was the first major quiz I did in my life. Looking back, my questions were nowhere near excellent. But they weren’t too bad. This quiz, we intended, would be a paradigm shift from the usual IITM style. We put effort to make the questions less verbose, but didn’t succeed. We put all questions on a powerpoint. Prelims, too, were on powerpoint. Modified infinite bounce. And Shamanth’s brilliant idea of the Long Visual Connect, which is a fixture in major South Indian quizzes nowadays.

I have written on my CV that this quiz was a grand success. I think I have told the truth there. 350 teams of 4 members each. A full SAC. People traveling from Bangalore, Hyderabad, etc. All the big shots. Anustup sent us a long mail after the quiz listing out all our faults, but even if you take them out i think we did well. A few days later, I graduated from IITM.

The quiz was to become infinitely better with each passing edition. They “captured” the October 2 national holiday spot. Organization became much better. Questions became better – though there remained a bias in favour of Christian Theology. TCS stuck on as the sponsor. And the train from Bangalore on the morning of the quiz was getting fuller of quizzers.

I don’t know if you’ve heard the story of Taleb’s turkey. With every passing day, for a hundred days, the turkey is fed more than the previous day. And it becomes nice and fat. So what does it expect on the hundred and first day? That it will be fed even more, right? Unfortunately the 101st day is Thanksgiving.

I don’t recall if it was a coincidence or a conscious effort that a freshie (The) was part of the organizing committee. The next year, another freshie (Pota/Cindy) was also inducted. Induction of freshies meant that they would carry on the quiz at least as long as they were in IITM. And by the time Pota graduated, the quiz would be in an evolved state, and would take care of itself.

Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to have happened. Pota graduted this summer. And there’s no one to take it forward. A prof was among the quizmasters last year, so we thought he would put enthu. But for profs to put enthu in something, it is essential for students to put enthu. And that doesn’t seem to have happened. For some inexplicable reason, the quizzers of IITM have put NED. And have killed a budding institution.

Sitting here in Gurgaon, i don’t know what to do, except feel sad. Maybe I should’ve given this a thought earlier, but the only option seems for some of us Alumni to resurrect the quiz. I’m sure that if enough of us get together every year, questions will not be an issue. Organization and facilities, however, will be. And that needs to be done by insiders. Will we find people to do that? When they didn’t have the enthu do interesting stuff such as setting the  quiz, will they have the enthu to do uninteresting stuff such as setting the facilities for a quiz?

If other alumni are interested, let me know. Later date doesn’t matter. What matters is that the quiz should happen. I already have a few questions ready, and can contribute. But that, I don’t think will be a problem. I think we can catch hold of six alumni and ask them to give 5 prelims questions and 10 finals questions each.  But I need insider support. It’s not good to see a baby die. We should do whatever it takes to make sure that doesn’t happen.

assignments and studs and fighters and algorithms

For some reason, today I happened to look back at some of my old IIT textbooks, and happened to see this book by Cormen, Leiserson and Rivest on algorithms. I was reminded of the algorithms course at IITM. The prof had just finished his term as HoD and much relieved as he was, he put a lot of enthu into the first half of the course. Every class would start with a “thought for the day” which would be related to what we were going to do. Then, the classes were extremely well structured and there was a regular assignment schedule also.

We were divided into groups of four, and each assignment used to have a “part A” and a “part B”, which carried equal weightage. The former was common to all groups, and would have fairly straightforward stuff – minor variants of what we discussed in class, etc. There would be several problems, and it was frankly a bit of a pain.

Part B gave a separate problem for each group, and this would be usually non-straightforward and required some bit of thinking. There was a good chance that the group never solved it at all, while on the other hand, at times it would hardly take time.

Looking back, I think in more than half the assignments, I ended up doing part B. The problems used to be fairly interesting, and I’d somehow end up solving them before the group even met to discuss the work. And given that all that was required to solve the problem was a moment of inspiration, the process of solving them were, in hindsight, interesting.

One problem was solved when I had taken one hostelmate’s new Bajaj Eliminator for a test ride. Another got solved when I was playing table tennis. Yet another while I was perched on the parapet reading the newspaper.

I also remember this particular incident. In the first assignment, we managed to find a fairly simple and intuitive solution to our part B problem. Now, two guys in my group were topper-types and fighter, and writing a simple and intuitive proof was against their ethos. They said that it would mean that we hadn’t shown much effort, and might result in our getting lesser marks. They finally put enough effort to convert the four line proof into some kind of formal mathematical notation which took four pages. I don’t know if anyone bothered to read that.

On cultural events and simulated annealling

As part of my “Artificial Intelligence” course three years ago, I had learnt about this search technique called “simulated annealling”. I learnt this again as part of an advanced course in Operations Research. It is used to solve problems where solving rigorously is not feasible as it would take too much time.

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