\title{The inaugural meeting of TUG India}
\author{Sebastian Rahtz\\
Elsevier Science Ltd\\Oxford\\
\texttt{s.rahtz@elsevier.co.uk}}
\begin{Article}

\section{First stirrings}
Back in the summer when I first started corresponding with 
C. V. Radhakrishnan in India about \TeX{} and SGML-related matters, I
little thought that I would be escaping the English winter for a week
in Southern India at the start of 1998. But something seemed to
crystallize in the minds of some Indian \TeX ies, and 
events moved fast in the subcontinent
during the autumn. By November 16th,  Radhakrishnan was able to
announce to the world that the newest \TeX\ user group had been born:

\begin{quote}
The Indian \TeX{} Users Group has been informally launched today
at the academic premises of Department of Mathematics of University of
Kerala, Trivandrum. Prof. KSS. Nambooripad, a world-renowned
mathematician and an ace \TeX{}  programmer chaired the session.
He was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the Indian \TeX{} Users
Group. Following are the office-bearers of the TUGIndia.
\end{quote}

\begin{flushleft}
\begin{small}
\begin{tabular}{lP{.75\columnwidth}}
Chairman:&Prof. (Dr.) K. S. S. Nambooripad\\
Secretary:&C. V. Radhakrishnan\\
Treasurer:&Dr. R. Rajendra\\
\\
Executive: &Dr. A. R. Rajan (University of Kerala)\\
&Dr. E. Krishnan (University College, Trivandrum)\\
&Dr. V. N. Krishnachandran (Vikram Sarabhai Space Center)\\
&Dr. R. K. Chettiar (Department of Education, Govt. of
Kerala)\\
&Mr. C. V. Rajagopal (University Observatory)\\
&Mr. Deepak Tony Thomas, Oracle Corporation, Bangalore\\
&Dr. P. Rameshkumar (MG University, Kottayam)\\
&Dr. SRP. Nayar (Inter Univ. Center for Astronomy, Pune)\\
\end{tabular}
\end{small}
\end{flushleft}

At the same time, they did me the great honour of inviting me to
inaugurate the group, and I lost no time in accepting in principle. In
the ordinary course of events it would have been beyond the finances
of either TUG India or myself to pay for a trip there, but then a
fairy godmother appeared, in the shape of the UK \TeX{} Users Group.
The committee considered my tentative suggestion, and agreed that
support of such a potentially important group would be a reasonable
use of group funds. That just meant fixing a date, and finding a
flight, and all was in train. By an amazing coincidence, another
member of the UK TUG committee, Kaveh Bazargan, had already booked a
holiday over Christmas and New Year at precisely the location in India
chosen for the TUG India launch, so we were able to mount  an even
more impressive presence.

\section{India, and the inauguration}
The TUG India meeting took place in Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala
state, which forms the southwest corner of India. It is a tropical
area, which sometimes seems to be entirely covered in cocoanut palms and
banana trees, and is famous for its Communist state government, its
almost 100\% literacy rate, and a general air of some prosperity and
a good distribution of wealth.

The principle mistake I made before setting off was to contract a vile
cold, which rendered me almost speechless during my first few days,
and a poor picture of health for the whole stay. However, after a long
flight from London, a sweaty wait in Mumbai, and then a short flight
to Trivandrum, it was little hardship to be taken off after lunch to
the excellent beach resort of Varkala. Talking \TeX{} beneath the
palms next to a sunny beach of the Arabian sea was a little
disconcerting, but we managed\ldots.

On Monday January 5th, we gathered in the University Observatory (a purely
courtesy title these days) for the opening ceremony of TUG India, at
which Kaveh and I were joined as speakers by Professor Nambooribad,
the group's chairman, the University Vice Chancellor, and the local
member of Parliament (showing a healthy interest in IT matters). Kaveh
and I tried to present the \TeX{} world as place of dynamism,
excitement and new possibilities for conventional and electronic
publishing, and some at least of our audience seemed convinced.

Many of the delegates were from typesetting companies (some of them
suppliers to my own employer, Elsevier), with the biggest contingent
from Madras --- Thomson's office seemed to have sent almost all
their R\&D team. But there was plenty of academic interest too, and of
course a special concern with typesetting Indian scripts.

It was a pleasure to be able to hand over to Radhakrishnan a selection
of \TeX-related books and journals, donated by Jonathan Fine, Malcolm
Clark and myself, and to confirm the imminent despatch of back issues
of TUGboat and MAPS to India. NTG had already sent a generous batch of
4All\TeX{} CD-ROMs, of which each delegate was given a copy.

\section{The first TUG India courses}
On January 6th the serious work started, four days of tutorials in the
morning on `advanced' topics, and introductory \LaTeX{} in the
afternoons. I managed to avoid teaching the latter (I always find
myself \emph{apologizing} too much for \LaTeX{}),  but had fun in the
mornings.

We started by dealing with a subject dear to my heart, and to that of
some of the delegates --- \LaTeX{} to SGML translation. I expounded
the Elsevier system, based on four stages of transformation:
\begin{enumerate}
\item \LaTeX{} to dvi, using a very specialized class file, which 
 redefines almost everything to put SGML markup into the dvi file;
\item dvi to ASCII (using Tobin's \textsf{dtl} programs);
\item ASCII to SGML against an intermediate DTD;
\item SGML to SGML for the final DTD (using a Perl library with
  directly interfaces with the NSGMLS parser).
\end{enumerate}
It turned out that at least two others present had also thought of
similar methodologies, which  was reassuring. 

From \LaTeX{} to SGML, I moved on next day to DSSSL (Document Style
Semantics and Specification Language) and its relationship with \TeX{}
--- perhaps not everyone present quite went along with me on that one.
We were on safer ground discussing general aspects of electronic
publishing using \TeX, and I was glad to able to be describe pdf\TeX{} in
some detail, to publicize what I consider a much under-rated
alternative to \LaTeX2html (Eitan Gurari's \TeX4ht), as well as
give a puff for my own \LaTeX{} \textsf{hyperref} package.  

One the third day, we moved onto pictures, and I attempted to make a
(rather shaky) case for MetaPost. Colour was a subject where it was 
easier to find common ground, albeit by agreeing that color separation
specification in \TeX{} was much too immature at present.

For the last day, I had decided that this was the moment where I would
really make a first go at using Omega, and (somewhat to my surprise),
I was able to write, compile and use a one-line Omega Transformation
Process after some study of Omega examples. Since one of the Omega
authors (Yannis Haralambous) is very actively working on the necessary
OTPs, hyphenation and so on for typesetting Malayalam (the language
spoken in Kerala), we can expect rapid deployment of Omega amongst
those typesettings things like school textbooks.

\section{\ldots and some sightseeing}
After talking \TeX{} for 5 days, I was ready for some relaxation. We
started with a shopping expedition, during which I bought some dresses
for my daughters which are certain to lighten up wintry Oxford, and a
selection of South Indian classical music. Then on the Saturday we
drove across the state line into Tamil Nadu to visit the
Padmanabhapuram palace of the Maharajah of Travancore, the princely
state which occupied much of what is now Kerala until Independence. In
the late 18th century, a replacement palace was constructed in
Trivandrum, and Padmanabhapuram was left untouched. With elements from
the 16th century, it is an incredible structure built almost entirely
of teak, often intricately carved, and all ingeniously designed to
keep the rooms cool with natural air-conditioning. Whether it was the
ladies bathing tank, the audience chamber, or the hall where 2000
Brahmins could be entertained to dinner, the whole place was a marvel
of design --- and preservation by the State Archaeological Service!
Perhaps the best moment was when we were granted special access to
view the Maharajah's private meditation apartment whose plaster walls
were covered in marvellous paintings, and where a pair of cocoanut-oil
lamps had been burning non-stop for 200 years.

From the past to the present, as we drove to Cape Comorin, the
southern-most tip of India, where you can see both sunrise and sunset
across the sea from the same spot, and where three oceans meet. Here,
in the late 19th century, Swami Vivekananda (a very influential
religious reformer) swam out to a bare rock in the sea, meditated for
five days, and achieved a state of enlightenment to accord him the
status of a saint. Now there is a modern memorial on the rock, and we
joined hundreds of pilgrims in the boat ride to examine the spot.
Thence back north, trying to visit a Jain temple set deep in a cave,
but sadly the gates were locked, and some monkeys laughed from the
rock.

On the Sunday, to Kerala's secret paradise, the long salt waterway that
runs for 200 km parallel to the sea, sometimes as a wide as a lake, at
other times turning into quiet green tunnels with barely enough depth
for the boat. A vista of endless cocoanut palms, half-hidden houses,
and small fishing boats provided a very relaxing boat trip.

\section{Conclusion}
This was a worthwhile, if exhausting, trip, and I hope
it gave a good start to TUG India. When I left, they already had 79
members signed up, just from word of mouth, so the group looks set to
be active. It is hoped to cycle the meetings around the different
parts of India, as well as publishing a newsletter, so the current
bias towards the south should soon be corrected. 

I must, of course, take this space to extend the heartfelt thanks of
Kaveh and myself to C. V. Radhakrishnan and the many others who looked
after us so magnifcently during our stay in Kerala.  They were very
worthy ambassadors of a lovely part of India. I look foward to working
with them, and hopefully to visiting India again soon.

TUGIndia can be contacted as follows:
\begin{quote}
C K Radhakrishnan\\
Secretary\\
TUGIndia\\
Kripa, TC 24/548, Sastha Gardens\\
Thycaud, Trivandrum 695014, India\\
\\
Tel. +91 471 324341\\
Fax. +91 471 333186\\
\\
Email: \texttt{tugindia@mailexcite.com}
\end{quote}

\end{Article}
