Zen in the art of Policy & Regulation

Memo 1:

So this is my first attempt at publishing a blog. This space is created for the International Telecom TLEN5106 course and will discuss several issues about the international regulatory law and policy arena. It will also contain several pieces of information about my background. Im pretty upbeat about this whole experience so without further ado let me introduce myself...

My name is Rohith Ramkumar (no surprises there, hopefully not for most of you). I was born in India, but migrated to a country called Botswana (the country directly above South Africa) when I was six and this is where I completed my primary and secondary education in the capital city, Gaborone.

I then moved to Cape Town, South Africa to pursue my double major in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience in Cape Town, and in my humble opinion it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a must see. Additionally, I was actively involved in cricket during this period, representing my country of residence, Botswana at an international level for the ICC World Cup qualifiers. I also represented my University 1st team in both cricket and contact Karate. In retrospect, if I had not made the choice to come to Boulder to pursue my M.S. here at ITP last fall, I would be in England pursuing my cricket career at a professional level.

My academic areas of interest are Multiserive Networking and Survivable Networks which I have formally researched for about 2 years. I chose to discontinue this research endeavour and pursue my M.S. here at the University of Colorado, Boulder, as I believed it would serve as a cradle of growth, not just to an exclusive and esoteric body of researched knowledge but the industry as a whole. I have enjoyed my induction to the program to the fullest thus far.

International Telecom-TLEN5106 thus fits in as an integral module to this learning experience as I push myself to the "darker" areas of this dynamic industry. I don't necessarily believe that people are intrinsically passionate about all aspects of the industry, and I for one am surely not. However, I do believe that the first step towards enlightenment is conscious observation, followed by adaptation, improvisation and innovation which are sure-footed measures in articulating valid perspectives, this is how I would define my convictions as a lead up towards policy making and regulation. Hence, taking International Telecom constitutes my first step into this darkness, and as the saying goes... "One of two things can happen when we step into the darkness, we either land on solid ground, or we are left with the sole choice, to learn to fly...".

--Rohith Ramkumar