A critique'

When Abhinav said that I had only stated a problem rather than providing a solution to it I allowed myself a period of intense introspection.In the following post I shall be analysing the causes of the problem as well as it solutions.
First the causes.I talked about India.Let us understand what does the concept of an Indian imply?Does it mean living in a set of boundaries drawn by Mr Radcliffe and Mr McMohan or does it mean belonging to a common cultural consciousness which has been alive since time immemorial.As a country we are only 57 years old and let us face it -- if the British had not brought the princely kingdoms under its rule we would not have existed as we are today.The land that is India would have been a loose confedaration of states sharing commerce and being marked by frequent bickerings and anarchy.We would not have been a democracy or if I may put it a functioning anarchy as we are today.
As a people we had been brutally subjugated for nearly 200 years in which the McCauly system of education was forced upon us so that Her Majesty could always find a large pool of Babus to run her 'Jewel in the Crown'.We were conditioned to be robots in which we had to accept what was being taught to us barring the development of the faculties of reasoning and thinking.This has again begun to haunt India with the advent of the BPO culture in which we are creating an entire breed of back office boys.Critics may argue that a country with a large population as ours needs to create avenues of mass employment but does it justify the neglect of high end jobs ?
This effect has slowly percolated down the generations, to the extent that from our childhood we are taught to look up to the West for examples of greatness and success.Swami Vivekanada was a great believer in the idea of the synthesis of the East and the West to create a better India but it was soon forgotten.Today this attitude is reflected in all aspects of life..right from sport to education to politics.The maxim of "Service before Self" has been inverted to become "Self before Service".
To revolutionise this dismal state of affairs we need to first change the way in which we percieve offices of public service.If we have more and more educated people turning to public administration(apart from the IAS etc) we can create a pool of different opinions and ideas which by themselves will be a remedy to this plague.Secondly we need to change our system of education in which emphasis has to be given to studying what one loves.Again my detractors will point out that this is possible only in a polity that provides a minimum social security.But if we observe carefully the second solution is a direct corollary to the first in which a better administration guarantees efficient management of economic resources.
Coming to the point of self belief.I have always belived that the arena of sports is the only place where the country acts as a whole and success can act as a major morale booster.In this respect the only model that has worked wonders is the Chinese one but it is not wothout flaws.Instead of blindly taking up this model ( as we would normally do) we can modify When Abhinav said that I had only stated a problem rather than providing a solution to it I allowed myself a period of intense introspection.In the following post I shall be analysing the causes of the problem as well as it solutions.
First the causes.I talked about India.Let us understand what does the concept of an Indian imply?Does it mean living in a set of boundaries drawn by Mr Radcliffe and Mr McMohan or does it mean belonging to a common cultural consciousness which has been alive since time immemorial.As a country we are only 57 years old and let us face it -- if the British had not brought the princely kingdoms under its rule we would not have existed as we are today.The land that is India would have been a loose confedaration of states sharing commerce and being marked by frequent bickerings and anarchy.We would not have been a democracy or if I may put it a functioning anarchy as we are today.
As a people we had been brutally subjugated for nearly 200 years in which the McCauly system of education was forced upon us so that Her Majesty could always find a large pool of Babus to run her 'Jewel in the Crown'.We were conditioned to be robots in which we had to accept what was being taught to us barring the development of the faculties of reasoning and thinking.This has again begun to haunt India with the advent of the BPO culture in which we are creating an entire breed of back office boys.Critics may argue that a country with a large population as ours needs to create avenues of mass employment but does it justify the neglect of high end jobs ?
This effect has slowly percolated down the generations, to the extent that from our childhood we are taught to look up to the West for examples of greatness and success.Swami Vivekanada was a great believer in the idea of the synthesis of the East and the West to create a better India but it was soon forgotten.Today this attitude is reflected in all aspects of life..right from sport to education to politics.The maxim of "Service before Self" has been inverted to become "Self before Service".
To revolutionise this dismal state of affairs we need to first change the way in which we percieve offices of public service.If we have more and more educated people turning to public administration(apart from the IAS etc) we can create a pool of different opinions and ideas which by themselves will be a remedy to this plague.Secondly we need to change our system of education in which emphasis has to be given to studying what one loves.Again my detractors will point out that this is possible only in a polity that provides a minimum social security.But if we observe carefully the second solution is a direct corollary to the first in which a better administration guarantees efficient management of economic resources.
Coming to the point of self belief.I have always belived that the arena of sports is the only place where the country acts as a whole and success can act as a major morale booster.In this respect the only model that has worked wonders is the Chinese one but it is not wothout flaws.Instead of blindly taking up this model ( as we would normally do) we can modify this with our own inputs so as to suit our own cultural and geographical peculiarities and implement it.Note I have not stated the direct application as any good Englishman would have done in the 19th century to suit the needs of the Empire.
I hope that I have made a small beginning and certainly wish that this creates a domino effect....this with our own inputs so as to suit our own cultural and geographical peculiarities and implement it.Note I have not stated the direct application as any good Englishman would have done in the 19th century to suit the needs of the Empire.
Expecting a lot of fire....

The Windies--an eye opener

The champions trophy final was an amazing display of calm,grit and determination from a team which had been relegated to the nadir of their cricketing history.The Carribeans have an uncanny knack of highlighting their periods of gloom and despair with stellar perfoemances.Be it Brian Lara's heroics in the tests against Australia or the match at The Oval. Throughout the nineties the cricketers from Islands that make up the West Indies have lived under the glorious shadow of their past.Apart from a handful of cricketers they have never produced innings of consistency that the world could notice.But cricket being a game of uncertainties has justified itself once again.
Brain Lara remarked at the end of the match that the win would bring joy to the flood stricken people back home and give them something to cheer about.And how true..time and again it has been seen that sport is the panecea of the masses.It is a moment of release and exuberance where nothing can seem to divide a nation as it braces itself for a do-or-die match.As "Remember The Titans" potrays--a football field can be the first battleground to fight 'racism'.
Picture India winning this trophy..newspapers would have sung paens of praise for our cricketers,obscene monies would have been doled out and newsmagazines in their cover stories would have hailed the team as one of the greatest ever.In a few days it would have been evaporated as we would succumb to one loss or the other.
We as a sporting nation are undoubtedly an infamous failure. one-sixth of the world's population having the most hardy and diverse pools of population and yet we have to satisfy ourselves with a silver medal in the Olympics .

What ails our sport ? Mr Sharad Pawar is in the news again..why ? Because he wants to be the president of the BCCI.The body is sitting on a mountain of cash and is a wonderful opportunity for politicains to be used as a tool to further their causes of nepotism and corruption.Film stars run with the Olympic torches whereas legends are never remembered.The Indianess that we call upon in short periodic outbursts sounds hollow.In the midst of jingoism it is forgotten that an Olympic medallist is chiselling stone to eke out a living.
A country that cannot honor its heroes does not deserve to exist.It is shameful that religious fanaticism and jingoism has to drive a nation like ours.What ails Indianess.....contenment in mediocrity or contenment in ignorance ??

Arif,Taufiq and Gudia

There was a great furore in the media over the lives of the above mentioned people.Arif,a soldier in the Indian Army had gone missing in September'99 and had been declared a deserter.He was recently released by the Pakistani forces which had captured him when he had inadvertently crossed over into their territory.
Meantime,his wife of ten days Gudia, had waited for nearly four years before marrying Taufiq.When her first husband Arif was released she was pregnant with her second husband's child and was in a dilemma as to whether she should go back to Arif or stay on with Taufiq.
The above is a very very personal family matter and should have been resolved without any interference either from women activist groups or religious clergy and most importantly the fourth estate.And yet mincemeat was made of this issue by both the print and electronic media. As the world has progressed it has become more obvious that we as a civilisation have lost the ability to be 'sensitive'.
Today newspapers have ceased to measure the gravity of the articles or the information that they are publishing.Far from being a medium of self expression they have become a victim of marketing gimmicks that have spread their wings over this bastion of human solidarity and impartiality.Reporters are no more than vultures ready to swoop down on carrion and transform it into a source of fame and lucre.
Living in a society do we have the right to pry into other's personal affairs ? We have become a congregation of voyeurs who derive great pleasure in knowing how many women an actor has slept with in the last few months or why an actress has tattoos on the most intimate organs of her body.We are fascinated by the virility and impotency of famous personalities as if they were ads for 'Viagra'.
As a responsible media a news network should always judge how a piece of news would affect the person concerned.Agreed for ending social evils like dowry,child marriages etc. the concerned people should certainly step in.But with great power comes great responsibility and reponsibility does not mean turning into a publication of the Paparazzi.

A cigarette in my hand....

As I took a long drag on my fourth 'Classic' of the day I saw the light blue smoke rising up slowly and become one with the ether.This was followed by a few more puffs on the stick until the ash felt down and the burning tip had almost reached the golden ring.
I have never really known why I started smoking and what pleasure I derive from it.Every time the nicotine enters the lungs of mine I enjoy a dark masochistic pleasure taking me on the road to perdition.And yet I cannot leave it...It probably is the only constant companion of my life which will always remain loyal to the person holding it...loyal to the extent of accompaning him to a sepulchral silence.
The denizens of this world love irony..infact we subsist on it...9th of August, 8:45 pm...I am given the good news that I have been recruited by a cigarette major...(after all nobody forced the job on me...I took it out of my own free will and a after greulling round of interviews).....all my life I'll be selling cigarettes to others of my ilk and hoping more people join the party and boost my profits.Lovely isnt it ?
These thoughts flashed like streaks of lighting across the crimson sky...I looked at them and before I could hear the sound of thunder I asked my friend...."Got a lighter ??"

Exams !!!!!

Another boring set of exams comes to an end ! Life sucks man.This endless cycle of exams,CG's and what not ! I sometimes wonder if it is worth going through the grind of these monotonous paper monsters ?
Aaah...what the heck !!!
Finally got some free time today.Time for contemplation and most importantly TIME TO WASTE !!! was thinking about writing a story.A sleazy story with all the good things of life as the main ingredients.Hmm...I can smell something really really nice cooking.Watch this space for more !!!!

Here I am

I sometimes wonder if we IITians have actually perfomed to our fullest potential in the last four years.Does the euphoria of having cleared the most difficult entrance exam in the world take so much time to sink in or is it a case of sheer slothfulness ? It is no secret that we are among the most desultory creatures on this planet as far as our priorities go.But why this randomness in India's best institutions ?
There is one thing that sets us apart from the rest on this planet.The ability to meet challenges.the ability to fight back...and most importantly -the ability to survive.Is there a fault in our education system which refuses to stimulate the brightest of brains ?
There was one thing that I noticed in the past four years.Our education here has been seen as a passport to a better life.A life of riches where monetary worries would be minimal and social security maximum.But have we ever thought about the Greater Common Good...have we not spent our lives in an ivory tower where we have refused our creativity to surface and our innermost desires to mould our future ?
Lets face it...99% of us did not choose to come to IIT because we loved engineering...it was because it was the oasis of excellence in this vast desert like country of ours.It was liberating to get away from a world where nothing was ever done right and the passage of time was a glorious uncertainty.
I love my community...I love the IIT...but we as the Brand IITians can aspire for even more ...........