Snaps from the Kashi Yatra-2005:Most memorable music festival of my life...Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Indian Ocean and Euphoria
Snaps from the Kashi Yatra-2005:Most memorable music festival of my life...
Thursday, January 29, 2009
First day at CSC Hyderabad
Friday, January 23, 2009
College versus Education
Never let your college interfere with your education.
This altered statement of Mark Twain is self-realized guideline in mine learning throughout past years.
I am giving you a little disoriented but true thought of my mind on this jolly topic. My idea of education is to unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects. There is only one Education, and it has only one goal: the freedom of the mind. I felt that more you give attention to the academics ,greater will be the intellectual property loss. Academics in India (Partialy IITs &IIMs) is like Wahhabi Islam. You have to submit to teacher with blind faith(closure of mind) and complete loss of scientific temper. Most of the teachers do not change with time and makes education boring. They ensure that more emphasis on written work than learning concepts. They bring same yellow pages of notes to dictate lectures over years.
Student feel academics as:''The sad mechanic exercise, Like dull narcotics, numbing pain.'
The age of innovative thinking and curiosity is dumped down in classes. Securing threshold attendance has became primary objective of the student community. The learning curve will follow a negative slope reaching nearly to zero. From the word "go" in college life, the motto of most student is just to pass and get the degree of freedom.Commitment for studies become zero in coming years. Loss of passion and self motivation for improvement is major disease prevailing in most of the colleges. Its not loss of reason or logic but loss of enthusiasm that bring pessimism inside you. An anger is agglomerated inside student against unjust and inefficient system. A sincere and logical student behaves as irrational in mob or group due to this frustration.The lament of teachers on lack of discipline is correct but no other way is possible. You cannot expect reformation of religion from the priestly class. Similarly, the administrators do not want to evolve with changing times.
So what are the choices remaining for the students in this passive environment?
Student politics damage more career of the student than college property destruction in universities. All of the student submit to the will of management in professional courses.But this is not the way to have inefficient people upper edge to you. I personally stands against the system. No system is perfect, we can not make it perfect also. We have to try for excellence with limited resources.
No man who worships education has got the best out of education.... Without a gentle contempt for education no man's education is complete. ~G.K. Chesterton
Both the student administration have to cooperate with each other with. Questioning on authority should not be taken in negative percepts by administration. Transparency in both economic & administrative decisions should be there with involvement of alumni, students and teachers, not just few self proclaimed youth leaders. If neither of us stand up against minor unfairness, nor we will have enough courage to stand against bigger crimes.
India vs U.S. education system: Sabeer Bhatia view here---
The Indian system of education is “knowledge-based”, while in the U.S. it is “inquiry-based”. The former encourages rote memorization, whereas in the latter students are encouraged to ask questions. In a fast-changing world, where knowledge is becoming obsolete every few months, it is more important to have “thinking” individuals who ask questions and create new products/ processes than individuals with a lot of knowledge. The other aspect of U.S. education is that educational institutions attract the best and brightest from all over the world. So, you get a very competitive environment, which brings out the best in one. The mantra of “meritocracy” extends beyond education. As a result, you have great companies where merit and ability are more important than seniority. Institutions in India tend to value experience and seniority over intellectual ability and creativity.
Bottomline: The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men. ~Bill Beattie
Previous brilliant articles by author about teacher and student relationship--Young Minds & Teachers and Movies for Teachers. For more quotes about education, read this;
This altered statement of Mark Twain is self-realized guideline in mine learning throughout past years.
I am giving you a little disoriented but true thought of my mind on this jolly topic. My idea of education is to unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects. There is only one Education, and it has only one goal: the freedom of the mind. I felt that more you give attention to the academics ,greater will be the intellectual property loss. Academics in India (Partialy IITs &IIMs) is like Wahhabi Islam. You have to submit to teacher with blind faith(closure of mind) and complete loss of scientific temper. Most of the teachers do not change with time and makes education boring. They ensure that more emphasis on written work than learning concepts. They bring same yellow pages of notes to dictate lectures over years.
Student feel academics as:''The sad mechanic exercise, Like dull narcotics, numbing pain.'
The age of innovative thinking and curiosity is dumped down in classes. Securing threshold attendance has became primary objective of the student community. The learning curve will follow a negative slope reaching nearly to zero. From the word "go" in college life, the motto of most student is just to pass and get the degree of freedom.Commitment for studies become zero in coming years. Loss of passion and self motivation for improvement is major disease prevailing in most of the colleges. Its not loss of reason or logic but loss of enthusiasm that bring pessimism inside you. An anger is agglomerated inside student against unjust and inefficient system. A sincere and logical student behaves as irrational in mob or group due to this frustration.The lament of teachers on lack of discipline is correct but no other way is possible. You cannot expect reformation of religion from the priestly class. Similarly, the administrators do not want to evolve with changing times.
So what are the choices remaining for the students in this passive environment?
Student politics damage more career of the student than college property destruction in universities. All of the student submit to the will of management in professional courses.But this is not the way to have inefficient people upper edge to you. I personally stands against the system. No system is perfect, we can not make it perfect also. We have to try for excellence with limited resources.
No man who worships education has got the best out of education.... Without a gentle contempt for education no man's education is complete. ~G.K. Chesterton
Both the student administration have to cooperate with each other with. Questioning on authority should not be taken in negative percepts by administration. Transparency in both economic & administrative decisions should be there with involvement of alumni, students and teachers, not just few self proclaimed youth leaders. If neither of us stand up against minor unfairness, nor we will have enough courage to stand against bigger crimes.
India vs U.S. education system: Sabeer Bhatia view here---
The Indian system of education is “knowledge-based”, while in the U.S. it is “inquiry-based”. The former encourages rote memorization, whereas in the latter students are encouraged to ask questions. In a fast-changing world, where knowledge is becoming obsolete every few months, it is more important to have “thinking” individuals who ask questions and create new products/ processes than individuals with a lot of knowledge. The other aspect of U.S. education is that educational institutions attract the best and brightest from all over the world. So, you get a very competitive environment, which brings out the best in one. The mantra of “meritocracy” extends beyond education. As a result, you have great companies where merit and ability are more important than seniority. Institutions in India tend to value experience and seniority over intellectual ability and creativity.
Bottomline: The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men. ~Bill Beattie
Previous brilliant articles by author about teacher and student relationship--Young Minds & Teachers and Movies for Teachers. For more quotes about education, read this;
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Books read in 2008
I am enlisting the names of books read by me in 2008 with their background and my feedback.I also embed here their original language of creation and mine language of study (either Hindi /English). This is done because I believe that the thinking pattern of author is reflected much in original language of his writings. The emotional binding content between reader and book is somewhere lost in translation / transliteration. Ratings are highly personal.
A Thousand Splendid Suns-Khaled Hosseini-English--7.5/10
Slow paced and Heart wrenching story of a woman in Afghanistan.
It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life-Lance Armstrong-English--8/10
Inspirational autobiography of a sports person.
Lajja-Taslima Nasreen-Bangla(Read in English)--8/10
Story of Hindu family living in Bangladesh in religious riots.
Midnight's Children-Salmaan Rushdie-English--8/10
Facts interwoven with Fiction.Beautiful art of story telling with post Indian sub-continent independence background of a Muslim family.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-Mark Twain-English-7.5/10
Journey of young and rebel boy in 1870's American dropout with strong remarks on orthodox society practices with ton of laughs.
Smaran ko pathey banane do -Vishnukant Shastri-Hindi-7.5/10
Detailed and poetic autobiographic epilogue of important personalities that influenced the writer's life and literature.
Ghumakkar Shastra-Rahul Sankrityayan-Hindi-7.5/10
An inspiring push for young minds to travel in the world with his autobiographical experince.
Animal Farm-George Orwell-English-9.5/10
A deep and sarcastic look at Stalin era communism with simple narrative and absolute masterpiece.
Sanvatsar- ‘Agyeya’-Hindi-8.5/10
4 brief psychological essays on time and human consciousness.
Garden of Essays-Firaq Gorakhpuri-English-8.5/10
Essays for all the seasons of life with wide diversity in topics.
Kim-Rudyard Kipling-English-7/10
Adventures of young English boy with Buddhist monk across India in 1900;
The Pearl-John Steinbeck-English-7/10
Short novel about Poverty,Lust and Luck of a mankind intertwisted with a simple story.
Srimadbhagvadgita-???-Sanskrit(Read in English)-10/10
Is anything needed to say about this larger than life book?
Srimad Dayanand Prakash-???-Hindi-7/10
Biography of Dayanand Saraswati.
Anamdas ka Potha-Hazariprasad Diwedi-Hindi-7/10
Struggle to know the ultimate truth by a young sage in ancient India.
Gunahon ka Devta-Dharmveer Bharti--Hindi-7/10
Compelling novel about man-woman relationships and traditions set in Allahabad of 1960's.
Volga se Ganga tak-Rahul Sankrityayan--Hindi-9/10
Chronological migratory detail of human from 6000 BC to 1940 AD ;15 short stories with focus on social and cultural evolution in India.
Life is no bargain-Indira Goswami-Assamese(Read in Hindi)-7.5/10
Autobiography of this prolific writer and inner views of changing times in her life.
Freedom at Midnight-Larry Collins & Domanic Lapierre-English(Read in Hindi)-8.5/10
Honest opinion and detailed account of Indian partition and Independence.A must read for learning about Indian subcontinent in 1947;
The Old man & the Sea-Ernst Hemingway-English-7/10
Saga of constant struggle of man and nature depicted with only 2 main protagonists.
A Thousand Splendid Suns-Khaled Hosseini-English--7.5/10
Slow paced and Heart wrenching story of a woman in Afghanistan.
It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life-Lance Armstrong-English--8/10
Inspirational autobiography of a sports person.
Lajja-Taslima Nasreen-Bangla(Read in English)--8/10
Story of Hindu family living in Bangladesh in religious riots.
Midnight's Children-Salmaan Rushdie-English--8/10
Facts interwoven with Fiction.Beautiful art of story telling with post Indian sub-continent independence background of a Muslim family.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-Mark Twain-English-7.5/10
Journey of young and rebel boy in 1870's American dropout with strong remarks on orthodox society practices with ton of laughs.
Smaran ko pathey banane do -Vishnukant Shastri-Hindi-7.5/10
Detailed and poetic autobiographic epilogue of important personalities that influenced the writer's life and literature.
Ghumakkar Shastra-Rahul Sankrityayan-Hindi-7.5/10
An inspiring push for young minds to travel in the world with his autobiographical experince.
Animal Farm-George Orwell-English-9.5/10
A deep and sarcastic look at Stalin era communism with simple narrative and absolute masterpiece.
Sanvatsar- ‘Agyeya’-Hindi-8.5/10
4 brief psychological essays on time and human consciousness.
Garden of Essays-Firaq Gorakhpuri-English-8.5/10
Essays for all the seasons of life with wide diversity in topics.
Kim-Rudyard Kipling-English-7/10
Adventures of young English boy with Buddhist monk across India in 1900;
The Pearl-John Steinbeck-English-7/10
Short novel about Poverty,Lust and Luck of a mankind intertwisted with a simple story.
Srimadbhagvadgita-???-Sanskrit(Read in English)-10/10
Is anything needed to say about this larger than life book?
Srimad Dayanand Prakash-???-Hindi-7/10
Biography of Dayanand Saraswati.
Anamdas ka Potha-Hazariprasad Diwedi-Hindi-7/10
Struggle to know the ultimate truth by a young sage in ancient India.
Gunahon ka Devta-Dharmveer Bharti--Hindi-7/10
Compelling novel about man-woman relationships and traditions set in Allahabad of 1960's.
Volga se Ganga tak-Rahul Sankrityayan--Hindi-9/10
Chronological migratory detail of human from 6000 BC to 1940 AD ;15 short stories with focus on social and cultural evolution in India.
Life is no bargain-Indira Goswami-Assamese(Read in Hindi)-7.5/10
Autobiography of this prolific writer and inner views of changing times in her life.
Freedom at Midnight-Larry Collins & Domanic Lapierre-English(Read in Hindi)-8.5/10
Honest opinion and detailed account of Indian partition and Independence.A must read for learning about Indian subcontinent in 1947;
The Old man & the Sea-Ernst Hemingway-English-7/10
Saga of constant struggle of man and nature depicted with only 2 main protagonists.
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