Ok, this article is not directed as to whether there should be reservations or not. The agenda here is to question the effectiveness of reservations in doing what their purpose was supposed to be.
Now, ostensibly, the point of reservations was that the people who have faced social injustice and discrimination in the past (read past 50 years or so...), and have been robbed of opportunities to succeed, should be given encouragement by allotting certain seats to them.
So, is this really helping? In my opinion, the answer is a resounding no!
In my opinion, the people who are utilising the reservations, are of the set of people who have NOT faced oppression/discrimination to the extent of needing assistance. If someone is from a well-off family, having adequate resources to study, buy books and attend a good school, then why should he get the benefit of getting into a good college solely on the basis of the caste he was born into? If he has the same available resources as a general student, he should be rated on the same scale, that is on the scale of merit, and no other scale.
I would say not say that reservations are not needed. They are needed, definitely. It’s their regulation and the allotment criteria which are at fault. Reservations should be done on the basis of financial condition ONLY. If a person is poor, he could be assisted by a reservation to get suitable opportunities to excel. This also covers the original argument that the people who have not had the resources to excel are provided help from the government to do so.
Also, there should be a limit to reservations, both in terms of the total ‘amount’ of it as well as to the level up till which it is applicable. For instance, if a person has been provided reservation-based seat in an undergraduate college, financial assistance to study in the same, his resource-problem has been solved, he now has good facilities available to him. Then he should be able to utilise this assistance to perform better in the later stages of life. Then, why is there a need for reservations at the next level, say at a post-graduate level? This, in turn, makes the ‘reserved’ people dependent on reservation. This nullifies the very purpose of reservation! Instead of pulling people out of their so-called ‘dumps’, this is making sure that the people stay there, because they believe that they will have better opportunities then. This is very rightly pointed out by Mr.Narayan Murthy when he says “India is the only country in the world where people fight to be called backward”.
So, let us understand the effects that reservation has, the implications of it and try to formulate a system where the truly needy are assisted and not the others who are just using this assistance as an opportunity.
That’s right, the agenda of this post is to highlight how the process of education of a person has turned into a business, and a highly lucrative one at that! Lets understand this process stage-wise.
Kindergarten and Pre-Schools:
These are the ones that start it all, the schools which supposedly give the kids a headstart into the world of learning, enhancing their skills and honing their talents. In truth, however, their sole intention is to cash in on the parents’ psyche. The parents are already flooded with all the articles they have read on the internet and the print media about how the school days are very hectic for the children with all the studying for academics, so they make sure that they send their child to a place where his non-academic skills are fine-tuned. How much does a 2-4 year old kid learn from the colourful pre-school environment is anyone’s guess (though ask the schools and they are sure to come up with some numbers). It is these services that the kindergartens charge heavily for.
Schools:
On a relative basis, I would say that this particular stage of education has not been corrupted a lot by the elements of money. One reason could be the relatively major role the government plays in this setup. Though, there are still are some private schools which charge exorbitant fees from the students compared to the services provided.
The subsidiary element that comes into picture here is the tuition classes. The emphasis given on the ‘extra’ help the child might need results in a student spending more time being read to than in reading, which in my opinion, is always undesirable. The classes are also conducted for Junior and Senior KGs...in my opinion it is absolutely absurd, and smacks of lack of interest of parents in their child’s education by ‘outsourcing’ to an ‘expert’ or a ‘professional’
Colleges:
This is the main stage of money making, especially when we come to the postgraduate management schools. Most of these B-Schools charge a fees anywhere around Rs 3-6 lacs per annum. Now, there are two things: One, it almost seems inexplicable what the school management needs that much fees for; and Two, many of these are not even focussed on providing quality education. There are hundreds and thousands of B-Schools around the country, and even from my not-so-great knowledge and experience of this domain, I can safely say that most of these colleges are not even worth going to. As in, getting a degree from these colleges might put a big time spanner in your career plans, a risk which when coupled with the huge expenses, becomes a disastrous decision.
These are the different stages which have made the sacred process of educating and nurturing the minds of our future generations into a money-minting process. Imagine the amount a parent is ‘supposed’ to shell out for a kid’s education: 30-40k for kindergarten, donations to the tune of a lac for admission to the school, school fees for 12 years, upto 50k spent in tuitions (given that these days students join tuition classes as early as in class 1 or 2!), then some 2-3 lacs for graduation (in addition to the 20-30k shelled out for the coaching for the post-graduation entrances like CAT/GATE/GRE!), about 10 lac for post graduation. And its only after that the job cycle might start to get some money flow incoming instead of outgoing! Education sure is expensive!
The biggest money makers, as you can see from above are the B-schools offering post graduation. And the worst part is, many of these colleges are complete sham! Many of these are not even government recognised! And they cover that up by showing affiliation with some foreign university based in UK or Australia. They would offer you a free laptop and a promise of some industrial tours, which appeal very highly to the students who easily fall for the trap. They would provide names of some people, some highly technical and sophisticated terms, and an innocent but ignorant person would think that they are all pretty good!
The latest example of this kind of ‘luring’ of students is the recent hiring of Shahrukh Khan by IIPM to be some sort of Quizmaster in their institute. If this is not a marketing stunt to attract students, I don’t know what is! With all due respect to Mr. Khan and his talents, I seriously doubt that he would be able to teach a lot about management to the students.
It is mostly the ignorance of the children and their parents which allow these institutions to pull in the big bucks. It is time the students come into the picture, take better decisions, understand what is required and what is not. Beware of such traps as those sprung by IIPM mentioned above. In these things, the internet is a pretty good help. Search around there, find forums where experts and other students interact. Use them to take a good step forward in educating yourself.
There are some things that the aspirants must keep in mind before the decision to join a college is taken:
1.Affiliations: Check for the affiliations of the college to UGC/AICTE. Is the college providing you a UGC recognised degree? (There is myth that institutes providing diplomas are not good compared to institutes providing degrees. Remember, IIMs and ISB provide diplomas which are recognised world-wide. But still, that is because of their brand. Check what is the brand value of the degree/diploma that your college will provide)
2.Foreign Universities:Granted that some universities abroad are pretty good, but NOT ALL OF THEM. Just because an Indian college shows an affiliation with the foreign college does not indicate it to be a good college. Search for the foreign universities online and try to find out their standing in their own country.
3.Fee structures: Clarify everything on the fees structure. Check what amount will be refunded if the admission is cancelled before course commencement (An AICTE approved college should not deduct more than Rs 1000 from the fee submitted is the admission is cancelled before course starts at the college). Also check whether the supposed foreign industrial tours are included in the fees or need to be paid for separately.
4.Faculty: Almost every institutes boasts about Eminent Faculty in their teams. Try to find out how many of these hotshot faculty are permanent staff at the college. And if they are visiting faculty, what will be the frequency of their ‘visits’. There are times when a hotshot teacher might come only for a couple of classes on a weekend and his name is quoted to bait students
5.Infrastructure: Don’t be fooled by the photos printed in the brochure or on the dazzling websites. Go and look for the college yourself and see what kind of infrastructure is available, how many classes, presentation halls, conference halls, libraries, buildings, hostels does the college actually have.
Take an informed decision. Put in effort today to avoid regretting tomorrow.
The agenda of this article is to question whether anything matters at all to the politicians apart from garnering votes? In the election campaigns going on right now, every political leader and party has come up with an agenda of his/her own, a point to be raised in each and every rally or gathering. But does the point not need to eventually be pointing out towards the progress of our nation. Shouldn’t politicians be fighting on grounds which lead India to glory? The answer, it seems is a big NO!
Take Mulayam Singh for instance. He has gone on record saying that computers and english are ruining the employment chances of the poor of the country. So his promise to the voters: He will do away with the computers once he gets into power. Yes, computers are causing unemployment. But that is because a majority of the people being talked about are computer-illiterates, and do not have a command over english. Instead of realizing this problem, and being proactive about it by introducing computer and english education in rural areas, what he is trying is something retrogressive. Instead of making men suitable for employment using computers, he is simply doing away with computers! This way, we are surely going to become a superpower!
Take Varun Gandhi and his strongly religion-based inflammatory comments. And then he defends them citing his own belief in Hindutva and saying ‘I am a Hindu and am not ashamed of it’. There is nothing wrong at all in following a religion, even passionately, but if the same passion is turned into an anger against practitioners of the other religions, that does not make sense. He has tried to re-ignite the flame of communalism, the very same which is supposed to be one of the major problems of a country like India with diverse religions. And for what purpose, just to stir some people into frenzy and garner their votes? The effort is simply to provide a vent to the bottled-up frustration of some people, and the direction is towards others who are equally innocent and frustrated as they are. Varun Gandhi does not realize that along with stirring up frenzies in some people, he has also stirred the hornet’s nest, the result of which is going to sting us hard in times to come. Of course he should not be ashamed of himself or his faith in Hindutva, it’s the other way round, Hindutva should actually be ashamed of him.
These are things which indicate how pathetic and pitiable are the arguments raised by our politicians, and the only thing in their minds right now is votes and from that, power. And the worst part is, the few people who do try to bring in a change, by raising the right issues, are being snubbed, either by their ‘high commands’ or by low turnouts at their gathering.
It is truly a time when the voters have to take the power wielded in their hands much more seriously and use it properly.
Recently, a lot of hue and cry was raised over the clashing of schedules of two major events in India, the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Indian Political League (Elections). After multiple rounds of discussions and rescheduling, the final verdict was the shifting of the IPL out of India, to be conducted in South Africa. It is an issue which is highly debatable, with varying opinions, but my opinion is, the shifting out of the IPL was a bad move, something which should have been avoided.
In my view, this shifting out of the IPL seems to be a show of strength by the IPL/BCCI. They demanded security cover for their event, and when the government expressed inability to provide adequate security to the national and international players, they decided that they don’t need the government, and moved the entire event abroad. It sort of reeks of arrogance, an attitude brought about by the realization that cricket is effectively the one common religion of the country, and the masses rate it at the top of their priority list.
If security was the only issue, then why did the IPL not try and arrange its own security? It could have seeked help from various security agencies. In a country with more than 110 crore people, was it really too difficult to muster enough people for the security purposes? What the men lacked in quality of training could perhaps be compensated in terms of sheer numbers. Then why was this not done? Or at least tried? With the money BCCI has at its disposal (given that they are arranging travel for all the players to SA), this could have been a viable solution.
Also, if anyhow the concept of Home and Away matches was to be abolished when going to South Africa, why was that not tried in India? Probably the entire tournament could have been arranged in 2-3 venues, spread across two states which have different election schedules, so that when one state is undergoing elections, the other could host the matches and vice versa. The ground/stadia maintenance would not be a lot of problem given that two matches of 3 hours each will be played at the most on ground and the maintenance can be done in the remaining time. Also, with so few venues, the players will be accommodated in the same localized area which can be protected with less security force. The best part will be that Indian would be able to see the matches, and cheer their favorites on. The kind of electric atmosphere you get in India is difficult to even think about elsewhere.
These are certain things that I feel should have been thought and pondered about. Moving out a tournament as big and renowned as the IPL effectively also sends out a message that firstly, India does not have the capacity to handle simultaneous major events, especially under the threat of terrorism (a detrimental blow to our aspirations of hosting the Commonwealth games, Olympics etc) ; and secondly, IPL and cricket are so important in India that they have to be held at any cost, and even the elections don’t even matter! This is a message we could have avoided sending!
The Election Commission in India has been set up as an independent body by the constitution of India. Its main aim is to ensure free and fair elections to the Parliament, State Legislature and for the post of President and Vice-President. Also, Article 324-329 has vested powers unto this body for its conduct and one of the main tools it has is the Model Code of Conduct.
In Model Code of Conduct (MCC), EC sets guidelines for the operation of various political parties, their supporters and party-workers. The power of MCC is that it can disqualify a candidate or even a party from the elections. The influence of MCC can be seen from an instance in the 2005 Elections. Mr. L.K.Advani had taken an IAF helicopter to attend a meeting in Karnataka and around the same time, the EC declared the dates of the Elections, so he sent back the Helicopter and then used a private car. Also BJP/NDA had to stop using the India Shining ads.
Though the powers of MCC are a required means of regulation, but I have hardly seen EC using it and setting an example for the others. In this elections too, we have seen a breach of MCC by SP leader Mr.Mulayam Singh Yadav. Now the question arises why these politicians indulge into these controversies. They know beforehand that the Code of conduct is applicable on them, but still in every election, we find parties indulging in these affairs.
Till date I have not seen EC taking a major atep to curb these practices. Everytime, we see that a notice is issued followed by a warning but no consolidated action is taken. What I recommend is the use of powers vested in the EC and thus set an example for all those who try to indulge in this activity knowingly or unknowingly.
In an auction held today in New York, one person, in absentia, did something which made all (almost all) Indians feel really proud of him.
The person was none other than the liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who bought the entire collection of belongings of Gandhiji which were being auctioned by the auction house Antiquorum (on behalf of James Otis), for a whopping sum of $1.8 million. This was not an investment, nor a commercial venture. His sole aim to spend the amount was to bring items which rightfully belong to India, back to the home country. If this cannot be called an act of patriotism, what else qualifies?
There are questions raised upon Mr.Mallya’s act, that a liquor baron has bought items belonging to Gandhiji, a staunch promoter of abstinence from alcohol. In my opinion, this is just one of those examples of people raising voices and issues just for the heck of doing it. Where were these people when the items were being auctioned, why did they not bid for them. They could have ’protected’ the heritage of Gandhiji by buying the items themselves! And this all, at a stage when diplomatic pressure from the Indian government had failed to prevent the auction and a bidding process seemed to be the only way to bring back the items to India.
Another ridiculous perception that appeared through some of these discussions was the people blaming Vijay Mallya for introducing slavery / dependency of Indians to liquor. I have a couple of arguments to point out here:
1) Vijay Mallya is involved in the production and sales of liquor which is usually present in high-profile societies. Now the social evil that alcohol-addiction presents, is more prevalent in the lower economic classes of the country. They are the people more afflicted by this dependency, perhaps an element of self-blame or helplessness creeping in them being a probable cause. And these people are more addicted to a desi tharra than a scotch or whisky which is produced by Mallya’s companies.
2) More importantly, even barring the above argument, why is Vijay Mallya responsible for liquor addiction anyhow? It is like blaming ITC and Wills for cigarette addiction. Then someone will say that Mr.Colt was the cause of the world-wars because he invented the first guns! Absolutely absurd logic.
It is better to take Vijay Mallya’s actions as per their true intent, which was to ensure that a part of India’s heritage does not go into the hands of some antique dealer in some remote part of the world. He honored our heritage and the role of Gandhiji in it. He did a similar thing when he bought the sword of Tipu Sultan, again a part of our heritage, which he brought back to the country.
So, here’s a toast (figurative) to Mr.Mallya, for doing the right thing at the right time.
The recent OSCAR saga of Slumdog Millionaire and its dream run there incites a lot many things in my mind to write about in this post.
Point no.1
Did they deserve it?
Many people are raising questions about whether Slumdog was as good enough to merit 8 Oscars? Was AR Rehman’s music so good to get 2 awards? The answer to these questions by most Indians is an emphatic NO!
We all find that the movie was nothing special, depicted poor, slum-based India (that too with perceivable negative overtones), and was just a masala movie and nothing else. The music, although good, didn’t hold water against many other Rehman classics which we have spent the last 10-odd years listening and admiring.
BUT, do we consider who judged the awards. Which place do they geographically belong to? How many people in the panel were Indians or were familiar with India? Very few. A logical conclusion follows that the panel’s interpretation of the movie was that the director and producer had been able to depict the real India in the movie with a lot of painstaking efforts. It was also something new to see for the panel, which presumably filled them with awe, pushing them to vote for the movie.
About AR Rehman’s score being not as good as his best is: This should actually be taken as a compliment. Indian made movies are never nominated by Oscars for the best music score, only for the best foreign film. So, when Rehman was nominated for the first time, even though the composition was not a masterpiece of his, it was still leaps and bounds ahead of others, making him deserve the award.
However, there is a dark logic to it as well. Is the movie nominated and subsequently awarded because it shows India in poor light as a bad country? Did the people simply like the movie because it satisfied their egos about India being not-so-powerful and ‘their’ America being the numero uno? No, I am not a conspiracy theorist, trying to build a story where there is none. I am just trying to understand why this movie was given so many accolades. And this logic of mine comes especially to light when I consider the case of The White Tiger being awarded the Man Booker prize 2008. There also, the depiction of India was in heavily negative and cynical tones. Later, the book got a prize and international acknowledgement! These two cases look a bit too similar to me in their concepts and outcomes. But trust me, I myself want that this should not be the reason for the accolades.
Point no.2
Why are WE celebrating the 8 Oscars?
Why are we Indians so delighted about Slumdog winning 8 Oscars? Yes, we are happy that Rehman got 2 awards and another Indian in Poikutty got an oscar as well, but why do we as individuals as well as in the form of our mass media project as if we identify with the success and are happy about it? The film was based on a book by an Indian diplomat and honoring him could have been acceptable. But the movie is made by a foreigner, using Indian actors solely because the movie is based in India, and does not depict India properly (The scene about ‘Piece of India’ and ’Piece of America’ sent my blood boiling..!!). It could be cheered, but to do so to an extent like what is happening these days, is inexplicable. Its like claiming Lakshmi Mittal’s achievements as one of our own inspite of the fact that much of his success has been abroad, and only recently has he made a start in India. We tend to assume that any achievement of any person is our achievement if the person was born in India or had even a remote connection to India. Talk about the media hype around Khali, the wrestler, as if he was our very own son of the soil!
Point no.3
Why are the Oscars so important?
Why dose everybody assume that Oscars are the one sacred place to prove your mettle in the film industry? Oscars are predominantly a Hollywood affair, with outside industries participating in only the foreign film category. So why is it so important to win the Oscars? A Bollywood-based awards ceremony giving out the award to you should be much more valuable because it was won by you amidst competition from your own industry!
These are a few points where I think the mentality of us Indians is slightly weird, and inexplicable. Why do we need to find excuses to celebrate someone else’s achievements on a massive scale? Why can’t we, as a nation of a billion plus people produce such results ourselves? And why don’t our national awards matter the most when judging something? Why do we need an approval by a superpower to acknowledge something? (for instance, approval by Oscars is like approval by an agency in the almighty USA)
These are some of the points I wanted to raise in this post. Any reaction welcome!
What I aim to question here is not the importance or relevance of the Padma awards awarded every year. The question is about who should get the award, who deserves it and who does not, especially in the light of the recent list of awardees.
There has been a lot of controversy regarding Vijender Kumar and Sushil Kumar not being awarded this year inspite of brilliant, as well as face-saving (for us Indians) performance at the Beijing Olympics.
Another issue has been raised questioning whether Aishwarya Rai and Akshay Kumar deserve Padma Shrees. Let us analyze both the issues here.
Regarding the film stars, yes there are many people who might feel that these people have not done anything specifically for the country and hence should not be awarded with national accolades. But, I disagree. The basic concept of Padma awards is to award any Indian national who has made a significant contribution in any sector, be it Arts, Industry, Education, Literature, Sports or a myriad different other sectors. Hence, I would not contest Aishwarya Rai and Akshay Kumar’s nomination, considering that they have done well in their respective fields.
Now regarding the boxing champions (one of whom even got a medal for us!) not getting an award. This one is truly baffling. What more do you want a person to achieve before conferring accolades to them. Given people like Sushil Kumar and the struggle he had to do to even get training, his achievement is mind-boggling. Of course, we would want him to win more medals (preferably the gold ones!!) in future for us, but this should not have precluded an honor from being awarded, an honor that practically carries his name on the plaque!! In a country where all sports apart from cricket are being sidelined, these achievements in other sports at the Olympics should be showered with praise and accolades.
I would also like to raise a question of Helen being honored here. While it may be the case that by the time I started watching cinema, she had exited from it, but from what I know about her, I don’t perceive that she has done something amazing in terms of contribution to Indian cinema to deserve a Padma award. Why she was honored is something beyond me.
Of course the panel deciding the Padma awards consists of elites, but these are mistakes which should not be let go that easily. Also, another problem I see here is the Padma Awards becoming a formality - something which has to be done year after year. The ever-increasing number of awardees, in my opinion dilutes the value of the award. The number of awardees should be low, so that the awards truly reflect an achievement. Make it such that only brilliant contributions make it to the list, and all the contributions do make it, and this will really lend a lot of credibility and importance to the awards.
Hoping to see a selective, but all-inclusive list next year. :)
In this post, I am not talking about any injuries/deaths caused by people falling off the roofs or stumbling on the ledges while flying kites. Although they are not the least bit trivial, the focus here is about injuries caused by the extremely sharp threads used to fly the kites.
In states like mine, Gujarat, where Makar Sankranti is a big festival, one can see a plethora of colors in the sky in the form of kites (though recession did hit the festival this year, resulting in a less colorful display, it still was a magnificent sight!). With the kites, comes the long thread. Now, since the concept of the festival is also about cutting across the threads of other kites using your own, it has ‘evolved’ into a competition where everyone wants to be able to cut maximum kites. The consequence – people are demanding more and more strength and sharpness in the threads for their kites. The current trend is that the thread is being coated by the road-side vendors by very fine glass powder, to make it ‘extra’ sharp. This thread is so sharp that it can cut across skin and flesh very easily. Touch it at a wrong angle and you can expect a cut in your fingers.
This proves extremely dangerous while driving two-wheelers. There have been numerous cases of a stray thread pieces coming across the neck of two-wheeler drivers who, at their moving speed of 30+ kmph, carry it with them, draped across their neck as a necklace of death as the thread cuts across the neck, many times severing crucial arteries where the person can die immediately die due to excessive blood loss. Even if it comes across an exposed arm or leg, it can cause severe cuts. Of course, many birds become victims of this thread which is something outrageous as well.
So, what is the solution? There are numerous solutions suggested by different organizations from time to time. These include campaigning against the production of these threads, promoting use of protective head gear etc. In my opinion, the wrong end of the problem is being dealt with the stick. Yes, the production of this sort of thread should be stopped. But is it the vendors who desire to produce such fatal strings? No, they do not. This phenomenon is simply based on the concept of demand and supply. If a customer demands a sharp thread and is willing to pay for it, and only it, the vendor has no choice but to cater to the demand.
What we should do is educate people about the hazards of using this kind of thread. We will need a mass campaign for this, since every buyer will have the ready argument of ‘why me first?’ We will need to convince the people that this is simply a festival to enjoy, and there is no need to make the competition cut-throat, literally. We can enjoy by using threads which are strong, but not sharp. It is possible to make threads strong without using additive sharpening agents, and it is not something which needs something new and expensive to be done. Of course, after all this, we should make it illegal to produce/use such threads and crackdown severely on the offenders. But, if the customer is able to understand that he should avoid such threads, the problem will be made a lot simpler.
Another solution could be the use of common kite flying areas. Here, selected open grounds in different parts of the city could be allotted for kite-flying so that the threads remain in that periphery only. But, this is not a solution to the problem; it is just the sidelining of the problem. Also, in the current era of massive urban constructions, it will be difficult to find such open grounds easily.
Hence, the better way would be to educate both the people and the vendors, convince them why they should avoid sharp strings. Let’s enjoy our festivals in a way that everyone can be happy, no one gets hurt and the birds are at least not killed by the sharp threads.
I have just finished reading the book awarded the Man Booker prize of the year, 'The White Tiger', by Aravind Adiga. My short review of the book: Utterly disappointing almost to the extent of provoking mild disgust.
The title, 'The White Tiger', basically implies something which is extremely rare. Here it refers to the life of the lead protagonist of the book, who, inspite of being born in a under-developed, away-from-civilization place called Laxmangarh, is able to carve out a success-story from the inevitable destiny of servitude and pain facing him.
Now, what the writer wants to portray is how difficult it might be for any person in the 'Rooster Coop' (a term used in the book to refer to the poorer class in India), to break his shackles and emerge successful in life. I can understand and accept this as a true situation in our country. What I don't appreciate is the tone in which the author describes the situation. He has gone about the entire narrative in a tone akin to that of a cynic, with every other sentence being a sharp remark, a biting comment on those portraying an emergent India.
I don't say that it is all false. The author saying that India is actually not so much on the road to development as might be believed by others may probably be true. But he approaches the issue in a way that indicates that he believes that there is practically no progress done in the nation, there is no chance of any progress, and all the facts supporting India's growth are actually myths viewed from tinted glasses. THIS, is what I, as a reader, as an Indian, don't appreciate.
To conclude, I would say that anyone who is the least bit affectionate about India will not particularly enjoy the repeated bashing given to the Indian system by the author. Now, someone may say that I am actually one of the people who are seeing the nation with a tinted glass and am unable to see and perceive the reality, but I firmly believe that we, as a nation are not so down in the dumps as portrayed in the book.
And if someone does want to understand the ground realities of the country, I would recommend a book titled 'Q & A', by Vikas Swarup (the acclaimed movie 'Slumdog millionaire' is a rendition of the same book). It is a brilliant book of the same genre, portraying India as it is, neither in an exaggerated flourish nor in a cynical dump.
Lastly, all the above are my own opinions of the book and there are chances that people might disagree with me and not appreciate the negative review I have given to a Booker winner. I welcome any reactions.
Discussing about how important education is for the progress of the nation seems an oft repeated thing. But my emphasis in this article is on ‘Proper’ education.
Now, how do I define ‘proper’ education? I am, by no means trying to diminish the value of the myriad number of schools, colleges and universities providing an equally mind-boggling number of degrees to lakhs of students year after year. But still, in my opinion, it is only a part of what comprises education. A person can be said to be well educated if he is well-rounded and mature in social, political and, perhaps most importantly, ethical dimensions as well. An educated person will have a clarity of thought, with an added ability to tackle problems with proper approach. If we manage to impart this to the coming generations of the country, we can safely say that we have contributed to the progress of our nation.
I would like to explain how education can help:
1. Politics: Without taking any potshots at anyone, I would say that an educated person is more prone to understand the importance of voting as well as voting for the right person. This will at least help a bit in ensuring that the people who stand in the elections for serving the society can be filtered from the ones who are in it for money.
2. Terrorism: I also hope that an educated youth of the country may not be so easily brainwashed into turning into a terrorist-in-training by certain expert talkers bad-mouthing the system and claiming righteousness in their heinous actions, justifying their wrong-doings in the name of righteous vengeance.
Another point: Being a citizen of India, I was also deeply hurt and upset to hear the news of Mumbai attacks. But, did it justify demanding an attack on Pakistan? And it was not just a knee-jerk reaction, people still demand the same. I am not commenting on whether certain Pakistani elements were behind the attack or not. I am simply saying that a war is not the solution to terrorism. We can target the militant organizations but not the entire country. How would then we be different from the US whom we criticize at every step for attacking Iraq just on the pretext of finding WMD or attacking Afghanistan under the name of finding Bin Laden
3. Nationalism: Hopefully, a proper education would also instill a sense of nationalism in the common man, making him put that extra effort; contribute that extra ounce towards the progress of the nation. As I said in an earlier post, nationalism is an important factor for the progress of the nation.
4. Industry: This is going to be the area with a most noticeable change. With many more educated youth, India will be able to harness its population as a valuable asset instead of the added load it is appearing right now. This educated class will be able to take India to the next stage of development.
These are certain areas where I believe that education might help in the successful onward journey of our country.
So what should be done to increase literacy and spread the pearls of wisdom and knowledge to the common man? My opinion, increase the pay of teachers across schools, colleges and universities. Hence, I whole-heartedly welcome the move by the Pay Commission to increase the salaries of all faculty members.
Now, why do I think so? The way I see it, the major problem with the current education system is the lack of competitive teachers. If the teachers are competitive, professional in their approach and personal in their handling of the students, I don’t have a shred of doubt that the student will be dedicated towards his studies along with developing a well-rounded off personality. A mentor will help the student understand not only the intricacies of atoms and molecules, but also the complexities of life that he will encounter later in the course of in his own life. It will enable the student to better understand the social structures, the religions, the caste system, problems like terrorism etc. This level of awareness in the people is among the better ways to counter a lot of problems facing our nation. These students are the people we need. We need the youth of the country to contribute towards the progress of the nation. We need our overburdening population to be educated and skilled enough to be honed into a efficient, productive asset, a force to reckon with.
And how do we get good teachers? Simple, increase their pay. If the pay scale is hiked, there will be a greater demand of the teaching jobs which will attract more talented people into the applicant pool, thus improving the quality of teaching as well as filling up the deficit of teachers at school and college levels, especially in remote areas.
I believe that education is a primary way in which the nation can surge forward and achieve its goal of greatness that it has the potential for.
In the past few days, we have witnessed many changes in the social as well as political life of India. We have seen the largest terrorist attack on the economic capital of India and the semi-finals of elections.
On one hand the terrorists have Bin laden, ISI and unknown but huge resources and on other hand, we have a wandering nation. Where is the real problem? In India, we have political leaders but no national leader. The only thing the politicians know is election and hence they cannot see beyond votes and vote banks. What we lack is a national leadership. It can be seen that even after this gruesome attack, the political parties are not able to unite together in the quest against terrorism. We have to learn from America, where, after the 9/11 attacks Mr. Clinton offered his services to Mr. Bush to help negotiate the imminent problem of terrorism.
In India, politics has become local, and is hence not able to address national issues. We are not able to frame policies which can be accepted unanimously. We still do not have a Central intelligence agency. There hardly seems to be cooperation among the different strata of the same force. We still lack a Central task force which is ready and present everywhere in India। We still need the permission of state governments to take action in their states. Our commandos still lack the latest arms and ammunition and latest technology. They need to be carried in a plane which is very slow. Even worse is the condition of the state police force. They are still using the service pistol, still moving without life-saving bullet-proof jackets. When will the politicians will understand that since this country always remains under the threat of terrorist attacks, we should provide an arms upgrade to those who are at the war-front.
America and Israel are two nations which are on the attack radar of terrorists much more than India, but they still manage to counter-act these attacks and for the past 8 years we haven't seen any attack on the U.S. But, in India, these terrorists are able to complete their missions with ridiculous ease.
I think the after-math of this attack will bring certain policies into picture. Many steps will be taken, and again we will indulge in our old lives wherein lies the real problem - Corruption. Yes, this is the true problem. The extremists are able to do all this because of corruption. If the customs department had been alert, it would have been next to impossible for terrorists to use the sea-route. Its high time guys, youths are the future of the nation. We, the youth, should take the initiative and work proactively against terrorists, directly or indirectly. Tomorrow, we will be handling higher and more responsible positions in the society. If we are honest, may be others will try as well, but we have to take the first step.
Also, I would like to comment on Politicians who have become extremists and are no less than terrorists. The only differentiating point of the politicians seems to be that the police protects them and we select them. Where have the leaders of MNS and Shiv Sena gone? They only come out for vote banks. Shame on them. Instead of uniting people, they create a feeling of hatred among people. Instead of criticizing the masterminds, they feel happy in beating a poor north-Indian.
Now, it is time when a common man has to rise to the need of the hour. We have to learn to be more alert. We have to be more educated and educate others as well because ignorance and illiteracy are the ladders used by these extremist to confuse and brainwash innocent youth and the public. These terrorists make use of religious sentiments to get the assistance required at local level. Stop corruption and be focused about not using it.
I think we can once again rise from the current state of disarray as a nation, but this time, hopefully we will learn from our mistakes and will take sound actions as well.
Right, so another edition of the CAT came, another edition I prepared for, another edition that left me unsatisfied, and another edition that has forced me to field uncomfortable pauses of people after hearing my scores after enquiring about them…
CAT this year marked about two and a half years of my life devoted for MBA entrance preparations. In CAT ’07, it seemed that I was good enough to get into a good B-school, hopefully an IIM, but something or the other misfired, and the shot hit my dreams, shattering them into millions of miniscule shards.
CAT ’08, after an additional year devoted for preparations, simultaneously also teaching students at a premier coaching institute, and super-sterling performances in the mock cats, everyone believed me to be a direct shoe-in for the IIMs, in fact IIM A …Everyone but me. I don’t know, it is something about taking a second chance that in effect precludes the mind to believe 100% in oneself. I took it as a positive thing – it would prevent me from being over-confident or complacent. Slowly, I built up some confidence, and got ready to tackle the CAT all over again.
Come 16th November, I was thankfully calm about the test, felt relaxed and at ease. Went into the exam hall full of intent and purpose. Filled up the OMR sheet and waited for the paper. Again, it is something about a second shot that prevents any fear of the oft-dreaded CAT question paper. As soon as I got the paper, I received an ‘expected’ shock. A major structure change in the paper, allotting English more weightage in terms of marks than the Maths and DI sections. That told me to give more time to English and less to others.
I did so dutifully. Attempted questions by the bulk in English. Found the going a bit tough in Maths and DI, especially given the shortened time range. That hit me, hard.
As I exited the exam hall, I was numb. I had no idea how I had done in my paper. I wished it was not too bad, I dared not hope it to be too good. For the next three hours, I isolated myself from the bizarrely fast moving world around me; barred all calls, didn’t talk to anyone. It was after three hours, that I broke out of my shell, checked the numerous missed calls on my cell phone from mentors, friends, students and well-wishers. Slowly, I started calling people. After a few calls, I realized that my number of attempts in the test was reasonably sufficient to get me calls from the premier institutes. I was a bit calmed down with that.
The train journey back home was agonizingly slow. The train trudged along, as if with legs as tired are our minds, and as heavy as our hearts. I reached home by 11.30 in the night. I had no more patience left, and logged on to the websites to check my scores. I had still dared not hope.
As I input my scores, I was scared for my accuracy, I knew that even a marginal dip in Maths and DI would cause problems in clearing the high sectional cutoffs of IIM A,B and C. With a curious mix of dread and hope I entered my answers, and got my scores. The result – my accuracy did dip in DI, and was left on the border of cutoffs. I ended up with scores of 50 in Maths, 36 in DI and about 65-80 in English, totaling 151-166. As far as the coaching institutes go, I was clearing the DI cutoff given by each and everyone of them, but it was still a borderline case, as they were predicting the cutoff at 30-35 and I got 36.
Now, if you are an MBA aspirant, especially a fresher, you might be thinking, what is this fellow upset about? He has got great scores, clearing all cutoffs, expecting calls from major B-schools? Am I trying to be excessively modest and craving for assurances and appreciation? I can assure you, that is not the case. If you were in my position, having relinquished a job and a seat for MBA at SIBM Pune, with the sole aim of pursuing my dreams of MBA from the IIMs, you really want to be 110% sure that you have cleared all cutoffs, come what may, however much the institutes may have undervalued the cutoffs…The absence of that comforting buffer margin in DI has left me dangling on the borders of ‘to be or not to be’
So this is the state I am in right now, knowing that I have a very high chance of clearing cutoffs in English, Maths and Overall, and am keeping my fingers, thumbs and toes crossed that the DI cutoff is cleared as well.
This was all I wanted to say about my CAT journey so far. Best wishes to all CAT aspirants for the results.
The next roll out of Tata Motors is the Tata Nano. It has been widely touted by many, including Ratan Tata himself to be the ‘Car of the future’. Is it really?
No doubt, it is an achievement of engineering, to be able to manufacture the car in such a way that even when sold at 1 lakhs, it is profitable to the company (I assume). But, what I am not sure about is whether the Nano is the way forward for the future?
Given the hike in petroleum based fuel prices, one can safely calculate an investment of about 2000 Rs a month on Petrol (at about 50 Rs/litre and 10 kmpl, traveling 400 km a month). So, how does one justify a person from the middle and lower-middle class (the target segment) to buy a 4-wheeler, when he could have bought a 2-wheeler for half the price, with a much better mileage output, saving loads on petrol? Is the expenditure on a 4-wheeler justified merely on account of it being a status symbol?
Another issue is the infrastructure. Are we, in India, equipped with the required infrastructure in terms of roads, parking spaces, traffic signals, traffic personnel to handle the expected onslaught of 4-wheelers? Wouldn’t the increased number of 4-wheelers cause problems?
And what about the environment? Yes I agree that the Nano is designed according to Euro III standards, but keep in mind that these standards have been calculated based on the limitations of petrol/diesel engines, which are already producing lot of undesirable emission. So, even if these are followed, it does not mean that it is ideal for the environment. It just means that, given the available resources and current technology, this is the best we can give to the environment.
The last, and perhaps most important point. Are we actually looking towards the future when we are spending time, money and effort to design a car which runs on a fuel which is fast dwindling in quantity? A fuel whose quantity and subsequent price fluctuations causes literal fluctuations in the economies (and even politics) of many countries.
A car of the future should have looked towards what could be done in the future and could have worked upon the concepts of a hydrogen-based car or an electric car or something on similar lines. That will help reduce the dependence on oil and at the same time help the environment. THAT, is the future we need to look forward to.
I feel that the entire venture is targeted solely on making money. The Tatas know that a 1-lakh car is something within the reach of salivation for a huge number of people. Considering that segment of public which is currently interested in 2-wheelers costing around 50,000, they expect (rightly perhaps) that people will prefer shelling out some more to buy a 4-wheeler which elevates their status in society. They have indirectly attacked the materialistic tendencies of Indians, and humans in general, and the goal seems to be money, money and only money.
No doubt the Tatas raised our reputation a bit in the world market by introducing a car with the lowest costs, but I would have expected much more maturity from an old and well-established company like them. Building an electric car may not have been a financial success, but it sure would have helped the environment a lot more.
This evening, I heard the news that Mr.Kishore Samritay, a Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA from Chhindwara District in Madhya Pradesh, announced a reward of Rs.1 crore to assassinate MNS chief Raj Thackeray. Although I strongly disagree with what Mr. Raj is doing, I am also shocked by the move of Mr. Kishore. How can these people be selected as the MLA or MPs of some region? What kind of message do are they trying to give in public.
The Constitution of India has laid down certain guidelines to protest against any political party or person, but it seems that those who constitute these laws are the ones who violate them a lot more than the common man. In the recent past, the SP looks frustrated after losing state elections and then losing their share in Central Govt. too. The moves like 'support for SIMI' and this recent reward proves that they can go to any extent just for publicity or to gain support of some vote bank.
For the past few months, if we take a closer look at the Indian politics, it seems that all political parties are trying to justify their heinous acts by citing some other incident of the same magnitude. We are heading towards a system of "an eye for an eye". India is going through a tough time. People are predicting that we may face a civil war in very near future if this game continues at the same pace. Today, instead of coming together, we still fight and try to gain something from each and every incident. Shiv Sena is using the 'Sadhvi Case', UP and Bihar govt. are relying on the murders of Raj and Dharamdev.
Today, as my friend used to say, our opposition parties have strictly bound themselves to the word 'Opposition'. We hardly find BJP going with Congress or vice-versa on any topic of any importance be it the nuclear deal, India's foreign policy, internal issues or the framing of anti-terror laws. These big guns are not alone, there are numerous small parties which also threaten the coalition govt. When will these parties understand that India comes first and then their states and then their respective political party. But here the order is completely reverse.
Also most of the Indian politicians have some cases pending against them. The leaders from UP and Bihar top this list. These politicians represent people not only in India but also represent India in world fora. What a great impression we give that, in a country, which produces Nobel laureates and geniuses, we are still being governed by these people.
Talking on current US elections, I am highly impressed by the decision made by Senator Barack Obama stating that his govt will also include some deserving republicans at responsible posts. Although it might be a move to gain votes but still it represents a revolution coming to US. Can we ever imagine a situation of this kind in India?
The problem does not lie in the system, it lies in the system administrators. I urge one and all to exercise your voting right and do so properly. Unless we come forward, we can't expect to see any change in the country. I think the Democrat line works in India "Change, we need" but first as my friend says "Be the change you want to see"
Through this article, I aim to question one of the most basic concepts used by the human mind to define something, i.e. the concept of binaries.
First, let me explain a bit about this concept. Thinking in binaries can be explained by defining two opposite words. Think 'good' and you define it as 'not evil', think 'evil' and you define it as 'not good'. This way of defining a word in terms of its opposite is the concept of thinking in binaries.
It is this concept that prevents us to think from the perspective of a middle point between two extremes. It does not explore the existence of shades of gray between black and white. It limits our depth of thinking – and perhaps it is also a convenient way of ensuring that we do not have to work our minds a lot to explain something.
Why, for instance, in any movie (especially from Bollywood), the lead protagonist is supposed to be this ideal man who is perfect in every way conceivable, a perfect gentleman, a perfect fighter and a perfect man of ethics. All the same, why is the villain always supposed to be completely negative in character. Why don't we think about a hero with his own share of flaws and a villain with something good to say about himself (whenever a villain is shown to be even slightly good, his story is depicted as a tragedy in life! ). Another example - whenever we need to say something good and encouraging about hockey in India, why do we say it in a tone that says hockey is good because cricket is bad? Why do we need to justify hockey by degrading cricket? Why can't we allow their independent existence instead of inter-dependent existence where the dominance of one pre-decides the submission of the other?
Another effect that this concept has is 'snap decisions'. Within a very small frame of time, we judge people and put them in one of only two categories – good or bad, friendly or unfriendly, companionable or aloof. We do not consciously allow some time to pass before making a judgment and once it is made, we do not really want to change it. I accept that first impression is important, but it is the binaries which make it the last impression, hence not allowing any scope for change in opinion of someone unless something drastic happens.
It is this way of thinking that does not allow an independent existence of the meaning of words. I am not exactly sure whether this direction of the thought process is desirable or not. Perhaps doing away with it may introduce a lot of ambiguity in life. But I am also not able to see any tangible benefit coming out of this. I can see this as a way of limiting our thought process instead of refining it, which should be the way forward for the development of civilization.
How was this article? - Choices: Excellent / Non-sensical / Not really sure / Okay sorts?
After the pullout of the 'long awaited' cheapest car of the world- Nano, from Singur ,what after- effects will it have on the farmers there? Who will gain the political benefit after this issue? And what will happen of that land and farmers which was the center of all singur conflict?
Lets have a discussion on that.
First of all let us see what was the situation there, starting from land acquisition.
Singur is [was?] a stronghold of Trinmool Congress. When it came to requirement of land for Nano, 10000 farmers 'surrendered' the land and took the compensations and from 2200 farmers land was 'aquired' for nano factory. In the opposition dominated area if 10,000 farmers are willingly giving the land then its a big issue. This reveals that they wanted the industrialization to take place in the state, which by the way was the slogan of CPI(M) which helped them to win election [" agriculture is the foundation, industry the next step" ].
Now in today's scenario when Tata is out of that plant , around 997 acres of land is almost a waste which is now neither productive as a factory nor as agricultural land.Now the government is in dilemma that what to do.
In present circumstances Tata hold that land. If Tata setup some other facotry, which is not in their future plans, the land will remains haunted. If Tatas return their land at the same price they got it at ( which is bit unlikely) , then state government can either give it back to farmers at the price it took it from them or keep the land and pay the price to farmers ( which is also a tough task considering elections @ 2011) . In either case, the farmers are at loss though in the second case they may get some relief.
Now consider the present condition of farmers there at Singur.
The willing ( who willingly gave their land) farmers ,who had compensation, could have spent that money is setting up shops and other infrastructural needs for the factory, but now they cant do that and the money they have will be used in feeding their families and it will be over by an year or so.
The unwilling ( from whom land was acquired) who didn't accept compensation have faced a double blow. They neither have money nor land. There future is real dark as this land issue may take a lot of time to get resolved.
Now talking about the political issue :
Next assembly elections will be held in 2011. Left Parties will always have an upper hand because because not whole but a majority of West Bengal sees Ms.Banerjee as a political assassin, who by her virtues, has destroyed the fate of her own people.Even in the Trinmool dominated area, Singur, the people won't feel the same for its leader.
The only disadvantage for Left is the alliance of Congress and Trinmool getting back on track, but since elections are far away and considering the unpredictability of politics ( and back stabbing habits of Ms. Banerjee) its too early to say what will be the fate of this alliance.
But after all this , who is at loss. Its none other than people of West Bengal, specially farmers of Singur. Now every corporate will think twice before investing in W.B and god only knows what will be the fate of that land and the actual owners of that land. Once again people have paid the price of political ambitions of their leader.
Let us all pray for well being of those poor people.
Friends, here I am putting out my views on the present economic situation of Indian markets.
In this era of Globalization, it is true that economic depression in the world's most powerful country will affect every economy, but the true impact will depend a lot on the type of economy (type comprises - import led, export led, mixed, open market, closed market etc). Now, Indian economy is a mixed economy and our currency is open i.e. the value of Rupee is determined by the market factors and not by the government authorities (they can only affect it by bringing various policies which alter CRR rates, Repo and Reverse Repo Rates etc). Our main export comprises of IT Services while we depend a lot on crude oil import and other commodities and from this year Uranium will be added to this list (Thanks to the N-deal). So, going by the current economic depression where oil prices have gone down to the level of $60 a barrel, it will give a boost to Indian economy. Although, the IT sector will be hugely affected but the rise in the US Dollar will somewhat reduce the impact (because the amount of money these companies get for projects comes in Dollar and that amount is predecided), so we can easily say that now we are better prepared for the crisis than we were in the 90's.
But the condition in the Indian stock market tells an opposite story. One of its prime reasons is the Indian traditional culture wherein we are taught to emotionally attach ourselves with everything that we get into, be it service, be it business, anywhere. Also from the western culture, we have just learned to mimic them. When they try out something new, we follow them and thats what is being done in BSE. With the American economy going down, their banks getting bankrupted, we are also framing the same perception, but as mentioned in an earlier blog post by Sushant, it was the sub-prime crisis which led to this crisis and , for our Indian banks, the laws are strict even today, so there can't be any question of this crisis emerging in India.
Now regarding FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) and FII (Foreign Institutional Investment) going down - It is working on the simple logic - when your house is attacked you run to save it first and then worry about anyone else's - thats what is happening today. These foreign companies are taking out their money to save their domestic market which is more important. But when these companies sell their shares, we get the perception that a particular company is going down, and a process of heavy selling of the shares follows it. It is analogous to avalanche breakdown finally resulting into the collapse of Sensex by a bulk of points. People, its the time to think and not to work haphazardly because it is up to us to come out boldly and save not only our country but also the world as we are one of the most powerful emerging economies in the world.
Here, Shiv Sena and MNS are both trying to take credit for disrupting the Railways exams at Mumbai on grounds of inadequate representation of marathis. Had Gandhiji ever imagined that 60 years after his death, the people of the country he toiled untiringly to free and unite would be fighting over claims to regionalist violence, he might not have pushed so hard for independence.
After irrational violence was witnessed on the name of caste and then religion, a new demon is slowly rearing its head amidst the country’s population. This is regionalism, where the people are fighting over opportunities based on origin in terms of state and not country. The first state to be hit it seems, is Maharashtra. Though, pro-marathi sentiments were routinely used by Bal Thackerey and his band of merry men earlier as well, the arrival of Raj Thackerey led MNS has intensified the situation, to the extent of it going out of control. Now, the gist of the situation is both Bal Thackerey and Raj Thackerey are fighting to take credit for violence conducted in the name of the Marathis. Both are trying to prove themselves to be the more pro-marathi leader, and to do so, they do not shirk away from inducing mass-scale violence as well. How someone can claim to be the initiator of violence with pride is something beyond my limited scope of thinking.
Frankly speaking, I don’t even blame Raj Thackerey for all the problems. Why, he is merely a citizen of India, entitled to an opinion, however disgraceful and unacceptable might it be. What is not believable is that the common local public appears to be in support of the man. Why are even MNS activists so easily sold on the pro-marathi idea? Why the people are so easily convinced to believe the ‘outsiders’ to be their enemy, especially the north-Indians?
In my opinion, as long as the people do not understand the havoc this monster can create, as long as They do not stand up to oppose Mr.Raj Thackerey in a bid to quash the ugly head of regionalism, this problem will not be solved. One Raj Thackerey can be jailed or put away, but another will come and use the same concept to fulfill his ugly political agenda, stirring the crowd for his own benefit against their own people.
So, the only solution to this problem is awareness among people. It is important for the people to understand that so called outsiders are not their enemies. Like the locals, they have also come to eke out a living for themselves, to feed their hungry children and to treat their elderly parents. Like the locals, they too lead a life of hardship. It would be much better to lend a helping hand than a slapping one. Work together, and the nation progresses, works against each other, and the nation falls. Ensure that nothing comes up to divide us Indians on the basis of religion, region or caste. Make it firm in your heart that you are an Indian first, everything else later. That’s the way forward for the nation.
Why is all the news filled with all things going negative? Its not just this website, All the newspapers, and All the news channels are carrying these news. The end result – whenever a person decides to watch some news to keep himself aware of things happening around him, he ends up being depressed, all energy going out of him, something which is done by the subconscious, which no one has any control over.
News is an acronym for North, East, West and South. It primarily means that there should be coverage of everything happening throughout the country. I agree that these are all relatively important happenings as well, but still these are not ALL the events happening around. At the cost of sounding insensitive, I may venture to say that they are not even affecting a significant number of us. So why is there a lot of coverage for something like Prince being stuck in a pipe for 60 hours or a full-day coverage of an absconding criminal’s love life and practically nothing in the name of coverage for brilliant students making India proud at International Olympiads in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics on a near-regular basis, year-by-year by bagging medals, competing with the best minds in the world.
Also, the media is known to give a lot of coverage to events happening in Bollywood and in fashion. These, along with the crime news occupy 80% of their airtime, living little scope for constructive news. I know that the Media shows what the public wants to see, but at the same time, they could take an initiative to broadcast about some positive events and encourage people to look at life from a broader perspective. Make them realize that life is not about day-to-day work and death and terrorism. Let them look at what is happening around them in the fields of science, arts, literature and a lot more similar areas which deserve encouragement and popularity much more than a Shahrukh-Salman spat.
It is high time that the media does something to merit its place as a fourth pillar of democracy.
Without being exceedingly melodramatic, it can be safely said that Captchas are primitive forms of the man vs computers wars.
Now, you might be wondering, what the hell are captchas…well if you use the internet, or have even made an email account, than I can guarantee that you have already dealt with them…
Here are some commonly found Captchas…care to work on deciphering them?
Now you know where you saw them. Captchas are always involved whenever we need to register ourselves for an email account, on a website or for a service. So why exactly do we need something as weird as this? The purpose is, to ensure that these registrations are done by a human being and NOT a human-being-created computer program. Imagine what would happen if a computer program is generating 100’s of email accounts at Gmail every minute. Total chaos….
Another problem being handled by Captchas is prevention of spamming. This ensures that a computer program does not send something like 1000 negative comments to a particular article, or send across the address of a harmful website to the email account of many innocent users, all at the stroke of one key, at lightning speeds.
The basic principle of working of a captcha is that the letters of the English alphabet are distorted by stretching or bending them or even by drawing random lines through them. Now, the computer is programmed to read and identify the alphabets by comparing them with the already input standard shapes in its memory. Since the letters are distorted, the computer will not be able to identify them properly and not fill the empty box designated for the code verification properly. Hence, the user is identified to be a computer and not a human and is therefore rejected. The human will supposedly be able to identify the letters, fill the form correctly and be accepted.
But, there is a problem. The computers are getting better and better at the cognitive abilities required to decode captchas. So, to ensure that the computers do not ‘win’, we make the captchas even more complicated, even more distorted, The result is, we have captchas which have very narrowed down letters, squeezed together so tight that it becomes difficult for the human eye to discern them. It is becoming increasingly difficult for us to be able to decipher the captchas.
Perhaps, soon we will have computer programs to decipher captchas for us…. :)... Hopefully in the near future, there might be an alternative to captchas, working perhaps on the basis of a different ability specially available to a human.
Hey ppl, these are two poems that really touched my heart. I claim no credit for these, for it is far beyond my capacity to write something as beautiful as this....I got to read them through some forwarded email. I am just reproducing them here for everyone to realise the power of poetry to impact our lives.
SLOW DANCE
Have you ever watched kids On a merry-go-round? Or listened to the rain Slapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight? Or gazed at the sun into the fading night? You better slow down. Don't dance so fast. Time is short. The music won't last.
Do you run through each day On the fly? When you ask How are you? Do you hear the reply? When the day is done Do you lie in your bed With the next hundred chores Running through your head? You'd better slow down Don't dance so fast. Time is short. The music won't last.
Ever told your child, We'll do it tomorrow? And in your haste, Not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch, Let a good friendship die Cause you never had time To call and say,"hi" You'd better slow down. Don't dance so fast. Time is short. The music won't last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere You miss half the fun of getting there. When you worry and hurry through your day, It is like an unopened gift.... Thrown away. Life is not a race. Do take it slower Hear the music Before the song is over .
WENT TO A PARTY, MOM
I went to a party, And remembered what you said. You told me not to drink, Mom So I had a spriteinstead.
I felt proud of myself, The way you said I would, That I didn't drink and drive, Though some friends said I should.
I made a healthy choice, And your advice to me was right, The party finally ended, And the kids drove out of sight.
I got into my car, Sure to get home in one piece, I never knew what was coming, Mom Something I expected least.
Now I'm lying on the pavement, And I hear the policeman say, The kid that caused this wreck was drunk, Mom, his voice seems far away.
My own blood's all around me, As I try hard not to cry. I can hear the paramedic say, This girl is going to die.
I'm sure the guy had no idea, While he was flying high!
Because he chose to drink and drive, Now I would have to die.
So why do people do it, Mom Knowing that it ruins lives? And now the pain is cutting me, Like a hundred stabbing knives.
Tell sister not to be afraid, Mom Tell daddy to be brave, And when I go to heaven, Put "Daddy's Girl" on my grave.
Someone should have taught him, That it's wrong to drink and drive. Maybe if his parents had, I'd still be alive.
My breath is getting shorter, Mom I'm getting really scared. These are my final moments, And I'm so unprepared.
I wish that you could hold me Mom, As I lie here and die. I wish that I could say, "I love you, Mom!" So I love you and good-bye.
Everyone who is interested in keeping in touch with world news would recognize the phrase above. It basically represents the root of a majority of economic problems in the US, threatening to spill over around the world. I was also interested in learning a bit about it and with a lot of effort, I have been able to understand roughly what the crisis means. But unfortunately, I observed that most of the articles on the net regarding this have been given from an economist point of view, with loads of jargon inside. So I thought I could perhaps simplify the stuff a bit and write about it here. I declare that I am no economist and might be prone to errors here, though I have tried to ensure that even if the information given may be less in quantity, it should not be faulty.
Right, starting with the term ‘sub-prime mortgage’. Mortgage refers to loans given to borrowers. Every bank has certain Prime customers. These are the customers to whom the bank ‘wants’ to give home loans to. The reason for this is the high credit ratings these customers have (Credit rating refers to how the banks perceive the ability of the borrower to return the loans with interest. A customer with high credit rating is someone who is deemed to be likely to return the money, based on his record of past borrowings, as well as public image and various other factors). Hence, it is preferable for the banks to loan these people the money. They also give them lower interest rates compared to other customers.
Now, recently, the banks had a lot of money in terms of liquid assets (non-fixed assets, usable cash) available to them. A combination of low interest rates (which reduced defaults) and large capital inflows from outside the U.S. (booming trade) created a surplus of ‘loanable’ liquid assets with the banks. So, now they wanted to loan this money as well. The problem was, that the prime customers were very few in number, and given the large number of banks, no bank was able to loan its entire cash to prime customers.
Hence, the investment banks had to shift to non-prime customers, technically called as sub-prime customers. These are people with less than desirable credit ratings. But still, the banks had to give out loans. For that, they started attracting these people with better interest rates (better implies lower rates), as well as relatively very easy payback options (Initially, I thought why the banks couldn’t sit tight with their money instead of taking high risks. But then, I realized that even if one investment bank comes out with such offers, the other banks are practically forced to do the same, otherwise they will be ripped off all their business to the other bank with supposedly better offers).
Also, in those years, the housing prices in the U.S. shot upwards. So, the people started to consider real estate as a viable investment option. They would buy the houses with loans and then expect the prices to shoot up. The plan was, when the price was sky-high, they would sell the property, pay off the debt and walk away with a handy sum of profit. The other option was refinancing in a few years time (Refinance implies, when the property for which I have taken a loan has increased in value, I would approach my lender to simplify my loan conditions, make the payment options easier for me, since my property has increased in value).
Herein lies the problem. As the number of customers getting home loans and investing into new, unoccupied homes shot upwards, it resulted into a surplus of available houses. By conventional rules of demand and supply, this led to a reduction in the demand, and hence a dip in the housing prices. The real estate prices stopped rising, and instead started declining.
Now consider a scenario, I bought a house for $120,000, initially paying all the installments diligently on time. After some time the prices started to fall. Now, 12 months down the line, I realize that my loan amount pending is $100,000 and the current value of my house is $75,000. So now I have an incentive to simply walk away from the home. Let the lenders possess the home and do whatever they want with it. At least I will save some of my investments. This is especially a possible situation given that the housing prices fell drastically and the loans were given to sub-prime customers who already have low credit rating. Hence, the number of defaults on loans increased, the banks did not even get their principal of the lent sums back, leave alone the interest. This caused a major problem with the banks with regard to available cash and liquidity.
It was this lack of available cash that caused the major chunk of problems with the U.S. financing system, causing problems with larger-than-life banks like Merrill-Lynch, AIG etc. (The bigger the bank, the more the amount loaned, the more the default, the more will be the amount lost, hence the biggest banks were strongly affected)
This was about what exactly caused the whole problem. Through this article, an attempt was made to explain what it was that caused the largest banks in the world the crumble like dust castles, leading to a major financial crisis in the U.S. I apologise for any inadvertent errors creeping in.
Taking the issue of retirement in the context of Indian Cricket, I have certain points to speak out whether retirement should be a process of push out or phase out.
There have been talks regarding a definite plan given out to the senior players of the team, indicating their remaining term of play and conditions in which they play after which they will retire voluntarily instead of being ‘not selected’ for the team.
The main reason being cited for retirement of the senior players is to give chance to younger players. The dismal performance by the seniors in the recent series adding loads of fuel to the fire. So now, seniors have been asked to approach the BCCI regarding their retirement plans. This is supposedly so that the BCCI can ensure a respectable exit for them, at the same time giving them sufficient time to move themselves out of cricket.
But, the problem, I believe is in the replacements. Have the youngsters shown enough potential to match the Fab 5? The senior pros were themselves not given as much opportunity as the young generation cricketers. Look at the time when Sachin was called into play. He had to play with pros like Ravi Shastri, Kris Shrikkanth, Mohd Azharuddin et al. He did, and cemented his place on the basis of his sterling performances. Same was the case with Dravid or Ganguly and the others. The junior players have, as yet, not proven themselves. The point that they are working in the shadow of seniors and hence aren’t performing upto their potential is rubbish. In the shadow of seniors, you receive valuable guidance and at the same time are in much less pressure to perform.
So, had the new generation cricketers shown promise, a commitment to be able to excel and outperform others, their seniors included, then yes, the seniors could be pushed out of the team in favour of better performers. But, a phase out just because the people have crossed 32-33 years in age does not make sense. The seniors might not be at their best these days, but as of now, not many replacements seem ready for them.
I believe that when the replacements are reasonably competent, AND when the performance of seniors is less sterling than their juniors, that is when the seniors could be asked to leave gracefully with honour and pride, with their heads held high and others’ bowed in respect and admiration.
This blog is basically an outlet to my interest in writing. I write about a myriad different issues, ranging from technology (being a computer buff and a self-proclaimed gizmofreak :D) to certain issues of the scoiety which I feel strongly about. You are welcome to share any views(Bouquets and brickbats :D). Read on ...
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