def mark_variables(variables, gradients, grad_reqs='write'):
    """Mark NDArrays as variables to compute gradient for autograd.

    Parameters
    ----------
    variables: NDArray or list of NDArray
    gradients: NDArray or list of NDArray
    grad_reqs: str or list of str
    """
    if isinstance(variables, NDArray):
        assert isinstance(gradients, NDArray)
        variables = [variables]
        gradients = [gradients]

    if isinstance(grad_reqs, string_types):
        grad_reqs = [_GRAD_REQ_MAP[grad_reqs]]*len(variables)
    else:
        grad_reqs = [_GRAD_REQ_MAP[i] for i in grad_reqs]

    check_call(_LIB.MXAutogradMarkVariables(
        len(variables),
        c_handle_array(variables),
        c_array_buf(mx_uint, array('I', grad_reqs)),
        c_handle_array(gradients)))