3 Idiots and ITBHU Days

The success of 3 idiots lies in reflecting its unusual and strong under layer of moral anger against educational system. I have so much anger or affection for ITBHU that it flows in my several writeups. 3 Idiots bring some fine memories back in my mind. No one in mech08 batch would ever forget the opening lecture given by B.N. Diwedi 'on IT-BHU' in one of the first sessions of Applied Physics Lab. Sripati Sah, Ankit Gopal Pandey, Vikramraj Naidu, Abhishek Khanna, Suryakant Gupta, Abhishek Arora, Shashank Jain are just few names of persons who were similar to character Rancho. The bondage of friends like Hathi, Srikant Bhaiya, Agp, Chandan, Bond, Chandu, Shukla & Chammo boosting each other even at the darkest hours is unforgettable. I missed my college days most in all of them...

Like other good Engineering College in India, I was surrounded by guys discussing Playboy, Deboniar and even Mallu cinema in classroom. Illegal download has flooded pornography, movies, documentaries, TV serials, cartoons, LAN games, software and even study material. That the world of college and sharing, basically was ours utopia.

Our Bakchodi starts through lengthy discussions on pending state of ITBHU conversion to IIT. Add to that the amazing series of sessions, we went through about Share Market, Cinema and Cricket with ripping apart both fiction and non fiction literature. Swades, Matrix Triology, change in Indian Cricket under Ganguly leadership,etc. Few even know about the foreign language movies, and lots of it.

The campus did give me a tremendous dose of education in each and every aspect of my life in every conceivable way. It taught me to respect, to fear, to understand, to empathize, to look up to not only to great but also too good students, alumnus and teachers. Few times, I feel guilty about me not being one of them.

I was a bad student in academics. Somewhat, I doubt that I did not deserve to be a part of that campus as I failed to grab spirit of engineering in me. I ended up in IT company with mechanical background and interest in development issues.

I began to wonder now on the laws designed by me years back for college days. Much has changed since college to corporate and I have to revise all of them to settle in corporate environment. Probably this is what they call change, the laws that were so instrumental years back then are obsolete now. Still, I have kept my passion alive for out of course studies and get me driven...

I hereby declare in full awareness that I detest my job from bottom of the heart. So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life. (rip off from a movie, but true !!!)

I am still in the process of figuring out what I want to do with career/ life etc. I always think on the humiliations of living a life you don’t want, regret for the unlived life, and the empowering potency of being shown you can choose otherwise. I guess that my friends who are in different parts of the world and each of them in a different phase of life can understand my feelings. I always assume that once you realise that it’s your job and happiness inherent is unleashed. If, it is your dream to be an actor, you automatically start performing with the best of your abilities, not really worrying about who you are working with. Currently, I am happy with my present transient state as I am also an Idiot; 'Idiot' really means 'I did it on my own terms'. Cheers for 3 Idiots!!!

Whisper from the past

I bewilder between fantasy and mundane,
I forsake the love left behind by me,
Realizing what the true love was.

Today, a word never to be spoken is heard,
Tinge of innocence is lost in making love,
A bond is forged by warmth of her bosom.

A beat that my heart skipped in love,
A moment of life is lost in the void,
I hear murmur of the heart.

Vichaar Shoonya +4

Everywhere in the country and in the world, people left their beloved homelands to try their luck in this cold, faraway place where all one had to do, was be willing to work. Mumbai is the prime example of city of migrants in India. And America is an example of a modern country found by immigrants only. In times of economic downturn, we forget the values on which the place was built and developed. The sociopolitical climate becomes increasingly destructive towards immigrants in these times as scapegoats are used to help alleviate frustration. We are all citizens of the world–there is no place in the world that we can go and not touch something created in another land, no place where there are not immigrants. In my views, history is made by wandering humans from one place to another for trade, war or to become part of greater civilization. Human is indeed yayaver by nature and settler by culture.

Few web links in mumbo-jumbo post for reading....

Copenhagen Diary : A report on Climate change by Sunita Narain.

A Celebration of Difference: Science and Democracy in India by Shiv Visvanathan

It's The Comedy, Idiots by Shiv Visvanathan

Every child learns differently by Hyderabad-based educator James Tooley

Internet Growth - Key Learning's in India

Internet rules and laws: the top 10, from Godwin to Poe

The Joy of Science and Excitement of Discovery (in the history of modern quantum mechanics)

Jihad against Caste Discrimination

I am always in the favor of inclusive development of backward caste and tribe with general caste. Equality, dignity and merit to GE, OBC & SC, ST irrespective of their caste backgrounds. I always think that government gives equal ground through regulations and reservation in theory only. I don't know that our higher caste Hindu is now accepting lower caste as their equals or not. I always ask elders that has society became more feudal, caste oriented and communal than 60 years ago ? No clear cut answers. People still ask surname with smile to map out the caste and ancestry in their minds. I hope one day caste discrimination will fade away and it will remind us of our ethnicity only.

1- An interview of Shahid Siddiqui, Editor of Urdu daily Nai Duniya about caste politics.

2- Call for first caste census in India.

Officials said the ministry had asked for caste to be included as one of the criteria in the 2011 census, and recommended a differential headcount of the Other Backward Classes and reassessment of their conditions that could lead to changes in the OBC list.

3-Untouchables in Indian polity, 1956-2000: A review from a mainstream political angle. This review is from the book The Untouchables: Subordination, Poverty And The State In Modern India by Oliver Mendelsohn & Marika Vicziany

4- MacArthur Foundation "genius" Esther Duflo, PhD '99, field-tests aid programs to find out which ones work-and why.

5- Indian cinema and caste. A well balanced look.

"If you ask a Bollywood filmmaker whether this is actually what he is defending, he will be surprised. He believes that the values he is defending in his film are universal — love, family, country, religion... The word ‘caste’ would never cross his mind. Then how do we say that Bollywood films defend caste society?

The arranged marriage or marriage with parental sanction is an institution that supports, that takes the load of caste society through absolute parental authority when it comes to marriage or any other kind of relationship with the opposite sex. This parental authority is taken for granted in Bollywood films. There is no need to even explain it. The world of Bollywood cinema is so cleansed of caste and religion that one is almost tempted to believe that one is dealing with a bunch of ultra-liberals for whom caste and religion do not define the human personality. But the real reason for this absence is that women must not make the wrong sexual choice that could lead to the collapse of society as we know it. So, the world of Bollywood cinema is shown to be a ‘natural’ world, where upper caste Punjabi men are linked up with upper caste Punjabi women without the problematic obstacle of caste ever coming in the way of their union. Whereas, in reality, especially for the middle-class, caste is an overriding factor in marriage in particular and sexual relations in general."

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I remembered a good quote against racism to finish this article. That would be of a 19-year old single mother from McKeesport, quoted by the Democratic Party chairman for Pittsburgh's 22nd Ward, Khari Mosley, in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, on November 2nd.

Rosa sat so Martin could walk, Martin walked so Barack could run, Barack ran so we all can fly.

Controversy over 3 idiots

There was controversy over 3 idiots over credit with Chetan Bhagat and producers of this film. There is no mention of opening credit in the contract. Only the mention of rolling credits. The whole contract can be seen here. But chetan is miffed that his name appears quite late.

I am producing here stand of my friend who want to remain anonymous. I am in still dilemma that what is right or wrong in this case. One clue about him, he is an IITian. Take a look on his views and spare few thoughts :

The Problem: See this is not about a respectable person or reputable person as such. As an IITIAN, he should maintain the standards, 'arey yaar credit gaya toh gaya', I don't understand why he is making so many media appearances for this, film people like to come in front of the cameras, that is their job anyways, let them do that.

A suggestion: Next time, sell your stories to people, who'll respect your inspirations.

A short comment: Well at this moment, I would also like to comment that if we see the movie Sarkar, the credit has been given properly to 'THE GODFATHER', well theur are some instances which were made different to indianize the story but well still it shows a great respect for Mario Puzo and the filmamkers of THE GODFATHER. Hence proved, two things

1) We as Indians, dont give respect to Indian ppl for their work or we just like so called 'foreign' things to be awarded, remember this is not a question of merit. 5 point someone and THE GODFATHER are masterpieces and liked by mass. So is true for their movie adaptations.

2) Inspirations should come even before the starcast, I believe, whatever you did, you tweaked, did it 99.9% different but still somewhere at the grassroot level you gained something from the base story.

Independent Conclusion
3) I know Chetan Bhagat has gone to IIT (which is actually great and the country still holds its debts for many technological revolutions at IIT, many of them remain hidden or you see some ISRO director speaking about them, never mentioning the institutes, a plight) but IIM (seriously I tell you, most of the management institutions in India, dont provide with a) Mathematical Ability b) Use your engg. skills to tackle any financial problem at hand. They just go for publicity. So, This is a clear indication which shows what IIM education has done to a prominent writer and a technologist, a give-me-publicity personna.

One funny video on youtube about Chetan Bhagat controversy. People who can't see subtitles: Turn on the captions.At the bottom right of the player is the button with a upward pointing triangle on it. Click on it, and then click on CC button to turn on the captions. Those unable to see subtitles, watch it on youtube.