Sunday, February 28, 2010

Irrational Faith -3

Note: [You can read my view points about religion hereto get the grasp of my thinking. ]

There is a film named 'The White Ribbon' directed by Michale Haneke. He expressed his views on the themes of the film: " I was interested in presenting a group of children who are taught absolutist values, and the way they internalize this absolutism. My point was to show the consequences – that is, all sorts of terrorism. If absolutism is applied to an ideal, then that ideal, either political or religious, becomes inhuman. I had considered calling the film "The Right Hand of God." These children believe they are the right hand of God: they have understood the laws, and follow it to the letter. This makes them become the punishers of the others, who do not obey the same ideals. This is how the terrorism originates. The film should not be considered as a comment on fascism alone." [Source]

These lines cane be source of brilliant debates for any society ready for introspection. Still unconsciously, I put this line in real life analysis in the case of 'Islam' only. One line discussed about this movie will make my point clear. 'The seeds of deadliest emotions are there in a society that allows for nothing except goodness.'

This tendency of looking to absolute and abolish all badness through strict punishment exist in Islamic countries. Any liberal act in art, dance , woman rights and minority rights is highly condemned by priestly clan in the power. Middle class in any Islamic countries are not strong enough to adopt the modern political ideologies of west like democracy, secularism, religious diversity and liberalism at a national level. Hence, the Islamic state has lost its authority to challenge the semi-literate & close minded maulvis who do more harm than good.

Excessive importance to religion and its principles is a hindrance in the expansion liberalism and tolerance, where individuals do not give undue importance to religion. It is not easy for any nation to contend with religious bigots and fundamentalists who are forcing on imposing the socio-religious ideology of middle ages on the society in 21st century.

Let us take few countries in analysis. Iran is a more democratic in all Islamic countries at grass root level with power held by clerics. Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey have military backed secular state model. Saudi Arabia is feudal state divided between tribes which does not hold any respect to human rights. And, such Islamic countries are way ahead in corruption index despite of imposition of laws based roughly on Sharia laws.

Ataturk tried to change his country through dictatorship but it shows wrong signals across other countries. Military approach can't solve the civil society problem. The days of revolution are gone. Unless you know how to govern a country, you cannot bring about peace in a country. The failure of Islamic countries on free voice is the major cause of their degradation in cultural and scientific fields. The failure to learn from our past mistakes and “blame India, Israel, America or West” mindset deny them from doing something constructive. And they fall as a pawn in the world politics.

The lack of progress in science and democratic values depicts the mentality of ruling class. Force, however strong, cannot and should not have the last word on any general consensus of the people. For the empowerment of democratic forces in any nation clear cut demarcation between religion and politics is necessary.

To give up power to majority is not easy task, it requires moral courage. Other countries with Christian, Jewish and Hindu population were able to do that because there leaders choose liberal values and democratic reforms for masses. I always admire J.L. Nehru despite of all controversies surrounding him. It was his autocratic rule without becoming Cesearian type that makes India what it is today. He saved us from becoming Hindu Pakistan.

Friday, February 26, 2010

One joy scatters a hundred griefs

I always believe in trusting our own instinct. My mistakes might as well be mine own, instead of someone else's. And sometimes too much patience is not suited in the life. Just because, I don't care what people talk behind my back, it does not mean that I don't understand. So, the silence has its own merits and demerits. The wall of formal behaviour, wisdom and introvert should fall as new world is out there. Now,You could have easily guess that I was upset till yesterday.

The situation I know best in life are those in which people talk. When you speak your heart clearly, the clouds of assumptions fades away. The mood changes, the worries sublime and life appears to be worth living. And it was not Sachin inning that sets up my mood. It was just a flow of words without getting conscience that opened the heart. It is not respect but acceptance one look in other person. Once accepted as a friend to trust and not infatuated by gossips, ah life seems complete. This tiny moment of joy scatters a hundred griefs and worries. And I smile and keep on humming line: "Kai dinon se shikayat nahin zamane se..."

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Bye Bye Cruel World

I am addicted to Movies, Facebook, Blog and Gtalk. I am quitting them this time and leave these obsessions for normal life. There is denialism around me when an entire segment of people, often surprised with the change in me, turns away from reality in favor of a more comfortable lie. They take what they want to hear. I am loosing my mind each day.

Relationships-of all kinds-are like sand held in your hand. Held loosely, with an open hand, the sand remains where it is. The minute you close your hand and squeeze tightly to hold on, the sand trickles through your fingers. You may hold onto some of it, but most will be spilled. A relationship is like that. Held loosely, with respect and freedom for the other person, it is likely to remain intact. But hold too tightly, too possessively, and the relationship slips away and is lost.

My stance is here and the personal crisis has made me enough crazy. I don't care if people don't like me, I wasn't born to make them happy. I will return one day...

Mar khap jayegi yeh zindagi samajhne mai, kisko khatil kahaen aur Kisko maseeha janen.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Mein pal do pal ka writer hoon

Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.

I am not in love but has an obsession with the writing. I had chosen writing as a hobby or parallel life because it enabled me not to be beholden to anybody. I write and also know that no way anyone will be going to put his neck on the line for implementing my ideas. Sometime, I behave like some young fool who did no know when to stop. The real purpose of my writing is not to please or make the audience comfortable. It is about rebelling and make them uncomfortable for a short period of time. My anger on world and myself have been diluted with time still passion remains same.I can be thief, plagiarist, adaptive and original in writing for the message but will never do this for money. A vow of never charging a single paise for unoriginal writing had been taken by me. But, still miles to write before can publish any of my work.

A writer draws inspiration for his writing from the world around him/her. But it fades away with the mood. Truthful opinion can't be compromised. I learned this lesson in the history books. India was a food begging nation and US supplies wheat to hungry Indian. Still, India opposes USA in Vietnam war time causing constraint in the Indo-US relations. That is rare case of integrity and not bowing to unjust demand even US was your food provider. I take this as an ideal and never write on demand as it makes me biased. The natural opinion or inadequate knowledge about writing subject makes me feel guilty. So, I write what I want. Pretty selfish nature...

I read a lot but never likes dark sarcasm. Yesterday, I read a political article which was focusing on the Seven Assholes of the World. The first nation is well guessed - USA. Evert Cilliers (aka Adam Ash) ask - There Are Seven Big Bad Countries In The World -- Is America The Worst Of Them?

America, Britain, France, Germany, China, Japan and Israel all have one thing in common: they're the only countries on earth who think they're better than anyone else.

America thinks its Constitution and economy and military make it better than anyone else. Britain thinks its Shakespeare and erstwhile empire and Beatles and sense of humor make it better than anyone else. France thinks its food and fashion and culture and Revolution make it better than anyone else. Germany thinks its Beethoven and philosophers and engineering and efficiency make it better than anyone else. Japan thinks its honor and work ethic and tech smarts and kawaii make it better than anyone else. Israel thinks its Jewish suffering make it better than anyone else. China thinks its size and growth make it better than anyone else.

Call them countries who suffer from a superiority complex.

You can read full article and have a fun on USA. And then think, can someone write this article with India in the center stage without getting in any controversy ?

Friday, February 19, 2010

India Unreported

There is one incredible India and one untouchable India. - Manjula Pradeep;







Tradition are poured inside the child through their parents first. All of the parents teach their children about ethics and values. Still, parents themselves practice some form of caste and religious discrimination. The rituals of marriage and eating's give children first hand knowledge and practice of discrimination. Our education system gives very little information about caste atrocities. There should be complete restructuring of society which openly commits caste discrimination and it is not told as a crime for normal routine.

The Governments in the past have viewed the communal riots or caste atrocities as a matter of law and order, and hence they have failed to evolve a just society. There is a rise of an individual and followed by a group in opportunist way on the name of caste. The badlands of India in its small villages, have their own on-going caste wars, con-men and utter lawlessness. The lesson of history is that suppressive and discrimination practices against social equality movements don't work. In the short term they can disrupt and demoralise, but if the movement is socially rooted, the success will come one day. Moderation and tolerance are essential prerequisites of development in the majority-minority relations.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Fee Hike at IIT

Let’s be clear and honest to ourselves. Any thing that fails to change its philosophy with time, disappears soon. That holds pretty true for any educational institute also. Any organisation should be ready to accept change and should change accordingly.

There was an article by Atanu Dey stating - "The full cost of a decent 4-year technical education today is around Rs 20 lakhs (or around US$ 45,000.) That’s a conservative estimate. So in today’s nominal rupees, the full cost of educating 300,000 engineers is Rs 6,000,000 lakhs (or US$ 13.5 billion.) The IITs do charge some fees but those fees have been a small fraction of the true cost of education. It is reasonable to peg the total subsidy to be of the order of the estimated Rs 6 million lakhs. The objective of this exercise is to get a feel for the total transfer of resources from the general public to reasonably well-to-do upper segment of society.

That subsidy is a pure transfer or a grant, not a loan. The beneficiary is not required to return, either directly or indirectly, the money spent. There’s only an expectation that the return will be indirect. Moreover, not everyone has an equal chance of getting the subsidy. To get into an IIT, you have to have an excellent school education, for otherwise you fail in the intense competition for admission. Therefore you must be from a family with means much above average. Therefore the subsidy is targeted at the already fortunate. .
"

And the content of the article was on the fringes of mine memories. It was rejunevated when IITs plan to increase their fees in coming years. Every person who has benefited from the subsidy given by government has the moral duty to pay back to the society. We have no rights to take benefits of subsidy or reservations if we are unable to pay back. IITs are going to increase their fees from Rs 50,000 per year as fee. Currently, it is on hold but I think it will be implemented soon. The proposal suggested increasing the fee to Rs 4 lakh per annum over a period of 10 years. This is done to remove the dependence of premier institutes on government for funding and becoming more autonomous.

I think that Atanu dey has got the point when he take his stand : On IITs, PanIIT, and the Funding of 50 New IITs .

My Opinion: My seniors inspired through their actions me that the students of ITBHU had an obligation to serve the institute & country, and I knew that I must one day use my education to serve India and my college. I don't have idea over the stance of IT-BHU administration and transition of college in to IIT status is still in pending state. There is no such debate in my college that how much a college should depend on government for monetary help ? The contribution has been fine from alumni but not even worth comparable to IITs. Their is vision missing in the administration about the future of ITBHU, not the vision documents (2006). I think its not the case of missing spirit of contribution, but the proper process and vision plan.

Monday, February 15, 2010

English and ITBHU

The campus is completely alien to the freshers both in terms of the place and its people. All freshers can experience a very different and real world and hence have the opportunity to learn about everything once again from its beginning in its true nature.

The first and foremost problem faced by students is to get the grasp the good English needed for communication and writing skills. 3 out of 60 people have given JEE in Hindi but almost the majority used to struggle to cope with the professional use of language. General exceptions are always there (Varun Murali, Kapil & Kunal in my batch) who helped the rest a lot in their pursuit of improvement. I observed that the ones who did cope happened to come from ICSE or CBSE schools whereas students with the state board school background had to push lot more harder than their fellow batch mates. Most of the students coming from state board schools are worst affected as boards provide specialist in field (PCM) but the versatility was lacking. Here in the college, the reading is not taken for the pleasure or learning new language but for acquiring the crux of GD and interviews with minimum work on grammar.

We started regular newspaper reading in the first year of college, out of compulsion to improve my English and vocabulary. It was more of a burden rather a hobby or interest for anybody. Few took the flight to financial times for the sake of improving his understanding of finance. TOI is suggested for primary level of & The Hindu for the next level. My interest in sports particularly cricket given a good reason to go through the each word printed in the sports section of the paper, but the road to editorial column remains at-least 1 year ahead in TOI section. We are enamored by news column writing and develop their views as our own for GD sessions.

The magazines and novels are the next target of masses for continual improvement program. Outlook, India Today and a hell lot of Business magazines are circulated in the whole college. Novels are highly popular with Dan Brown & Chetan Bhagat as the popular authors. This is the first time when most of students read for pleasure of it.

With the internet sources are considered new information and the books as old information, Library is not used by students despite of few brave reforms by IT administration. The Curriculum for learning English is most frustrating part in the academic help for raising the threshold level of English in the campus. The Professional Communication course is taught in the 1st semester and then there is sudden gap of six semesters for next course. Seminar and Group Discussion came in the 8th semester when people had already got the job and enthusiasm for learning has been at minimum level. This curriculum completely baffles me as the major problems faced by students are inability to express themselves in writing, public speaking and even listening to prolonged lectures.

Don't get me started over the language programme offered for learning 'English' by University. It was good for other foreign languages but the experience of my friends in their futile attempt to learn English from academia is horrible. One good thing is that event like JAM in college has really helped lot of people.

I will just say that we should encourage reading and application learning to our friends & juniors. We have to make them understand why reading the prescribed course isn't enough, why did they have to read 10 other books, blogs and several reading materials to make an informed opinion. The more we grow in the life, the bonding with technology is lessened and networking with the people increases.

*I may be seeing only minor part of a process but readers will give their discrete view on this topic.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Vichaar Shoonya + 5

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. [Part of Speech by Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910.]

1- Delhi's Commonwealth Games slave labour shame : CHILDREN are slaving away at work on building sites in New Delhi as the Indian capital struggles to get ready for this year's Commonwealth Games.

2- The Song That Is Irresistible: How the State Leads People to Their Own Destruction : Robert Higgs's Schlarbaum Award Acceptance Speech, delivered on October 12, 2007, at the Mises Institute's 25th Anniversary Celebration.

3- The Grandmaster Experiment : The queen is the most powerful piece on the chessboard. Yet in the ultra-elite ranks of chess, a woman who can hold her own is the rarest of creatures. How, then, did one family produce three of the most successful female chess champions ever?

4- Vanishing Wisdom : A report on water management in Uttarakhand where traditional systems do the disappearing act.

5- Microfinanace in Macro Mess : Corporate entry threatens the very idea on which microfinance institutions were set up. How will the dispossessed be affected.

6- Lilavati's Daughters: The Women Scientists of India

7- Deterring Internet Piracy : A burning debated between Cinephiles

8- How Harvard Gets its Best and Brightest : Sure, students work hard to get into this elite college. But so does the admissions committee.

9- Burma : The political Black Hole (pdf format)

10- The structure and silence of the cognitariat: Only a small "creative class" achieves the creativity and freedom attributed by stereotype to all knowledge workers, writes Christopher Newfield. Below this elite exist far more numerous "perma-temps", who are highly qualified yet interchangeable.

11- How to Create Ideas that Evolve.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Mutation

I had more lived in solitude and silence within myself and only this blog was a creative act in itself in my short life. Cinephilia or writing is just a passion with rarely requiring extraordinary force of will. Beneath the riches of the creative life and observation, there was still one ordinary & pointless life, to be lived each second.

Everything under the sun and above the earth comes in my observation. The fact is that no matter where in history we are, all of those bad things exist. The point of our existence is to show even in a world filled with hate and evil, if we stop for a minute and just look around we can find the good. There is a purity in my isolation from the world, saving the last traces of innocence or whatever unconscious motives. I had gone through several long phases of depressions in 2 years with only 1 or 2 persons knowing about it. Now, I feel no joy or sharing heart's burden kinda of stuff in sharing my feelings with everyone. I will now focus on persons close to me who were emotionally supporting me when I was on crusades to save the world or doing social welfare.

Through history of my life, habits or oaths have been junked if they become inconvenient. The ever changing habits allows sovereign persons like me to scrap any prior resolution. Now, I am trying to break a prolonged phases of silence and formalities between relations. I am stranger to many persons in many aspects who are close to me. Have to sort out lot of personal life...

This week has been turned out good and I am quite happy with my performance. Just like anyone in the early 20s, I am still trying to figure out mine place in the world and work out who I am. I am still learning and need more time to do the things. Instead of what all people are doing in the life and various fields, I need more time and space to prove myself.

I was living life in reckless way after joining college from summer of 2004. Suddenly, mutation happens. Don't ask how ? Nobody knows, not even me about this tipping point.

I am changing... (Few examples)
I am bathing daily from last 7 days.
(Previously, 10 times in month)
I am combing my hair with comb daily.
(Previously, 7 times a month, that too with hands)
I am taking breakfast daily at right time.
(Previously, never taken)
I am shaving in each 4 days
(Previously, once in 45 days)
I am putting clothes pressed and in Hangers
(Previously never done that)
I am changing...*


*The above changes are done without any external pressure. Those who know me personally knows my disgust for taking bath...