Ten Issues - 16

1- Great compilation of cultural article at BBC Hindi : Enjoy Reading about Hindustani Tahzeeb

2- ऑन स्‍क्रीन ऑफ स्‍क्रीन : बहुरुपिया का माडर्न अवतार आमिर खान

3-Death by Dialogue By Trisha Gupta : What does it mean for the future of Hindi cinema if most films are now in fact conceived, thrashed out and largely executed not in Hindi but in English? Will filmmakers only tell the stories of a minuscule section of the population?

4-National Film Awards : The absurdity of censorship - An open letter to Hon’ble Minister for Information & Broadcasting on July 14, 2005 by Rakesh Sharma, a prominent Indian documentary film-maker.

5- Paradoxes of memory by Helmut König: Lasting peace agreements after wars and civil wars were for a long time considered to be conditional upon damnatio memoriae – the deliberate and reciprocal forgetting of violence and injustice. However, the established amnesty clause is only realistic where certain rules were not broken during war. The First World War is beyond its scope of applicability, the extermination war of the National Socialists even more so. Where forgetting is impossible, remembering is all that remains. Such remembrance is inextricably and paradoxically linked to forgetting: only what has been remembered can actively be forgotten.

6- Fighting Mr Smith : The Indian Murdochs will not apologise. Nor will the Indian Rebekah Brooks resign. Mr Smith has spread rapidly in Indian media. There are no Neos here to challenge him. PADMAJA SHAW says the Indian ecosystem of news has imbibed some of the negatives of Murdoch’s news empire but is not about to admit culpability.

7- Philadelphia University Commencement Speech – May 15th 2011 : Steve Blank is a Silicon Valley-based retired serial entrepreneur, founding and/or part of 8 startup companies in California’s Silicon Valley.

8- Am I A Product Of The Institutions I Attended? Unstructured learning in structured learning environments: A personal view of Amitabha Bagchi

9- From Technologist to Philosopher : Why you should quit your technology job and get a Ph.D. in the humanities By Damon Horowitz. Thank You Namit Sir.

10- The Brain on Trial by David Eagleman : Today, neuroimaging is a crude technology, unable to explain the details of individual behavior. We can detect only large-scale problems, but within the coming decades, we will be able to detect patterns at unimaginably small levels of the microcircuitry that correlate with behavioral problems.

Introspection

Welcome, there is a change in the Blog outlook to make it more simple and sober. I did this after struggling with slow internet connection. I am wandering in the landscape of loneliness. Today, I writing this blog in order to comprehend, not to express myself. A paradigm shift in mine thinking !

How many memories/information can a person stand, and how many does he need? Does one need either huge academic knowledge or field work only to prove his case of merit ? What is the definition of luxury or necessity for a family (not individual)? These are some basic question that is haunting me. Leave alone these question on fate.

Despite introspection, We Are Strangers to Ourselves. Ability to be ourselves is crucial, not flowing in the shallow water of superficiality. There is inbuilt existential frustation and restlessness in humans. No person can escape from the thoughts buzzing in the mind. The difference between getting lost and finding new ways distinct achievers in the fighters.

One has to eliminate what one does not aspire for and then start search for what one aspires. When everything is at stake there is nothing to lose. The phase of learning is always unglamarous and difficult in the nature. But when inspired by inner zeal, nothing in the world can stop what must rise. There will be lot of failures and setbacks in the initial years. And a floating question : Is it worth it ? But life goes on with unanswered questions.

The paradox happens when one read something like that : Doing what you know is fun, but doesn't improve you. That really hits your instinct and challenges for uplifting your standards.

A life well lived for others and with others is mine aim. Otherwise, In the words of Anton Chekhov - "Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out." Do anyone wants such meaningless life ? I'd rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate. Need a little dose of madness to become free. One need to ask : What's next? How to improve? What's this worth? Why is this happening?

Thought of the Day : ‎"He’s freed from his loneliness by the word. Isn’t that the point of poetry? Breaking through the walls of solitude. Poetry is the great S.O.S. of loneliness." --Anna Kamienska

Two Videos and Five Points Observed

Derek Sivers: How to start a movement

With help from some surprising footage, Derek Sivers explains how movements really get started. (Hint: it takes two.) A pioneer with courage has just to stand up and do it first :)TED Video



There were five points that I came across in recent days. Each of them opened a new door of analysing the world and mine life in different manner.

1- One question recently bumped me off : Am I A Product Of The Institutions I Attended? I am caught in the web of traditional outlook of liberal, conservative, socialist, anarchist or even fascist. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That is the human nature emerges as a complex patterns out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions.

Much of learning is not done in the confined environment of the institute. Institutes are just facilitator for providing suitable environment for the growth of an individual. But an institution should balance insanity and genius activity of the individual. Institution that reduces risk taking ability of the student as per trade off of the luxury harms overall welfare of the society. Here, the catch is that the idea of 'luxury' and 'necessities' is subjective in nature. Institutions end up in becoming one's brand/identity for lifetime that holds opposite of the development of an individual.

2- A question is not a test of memory, but a test of understanding. That should be an ideal way of learning about new field. Exams are more oriented towards memory cramping rather than understanding. Open book test gives better idea of genius in the class :)

3- The most marketable skill in India today is the ability to abandon your identity and slip into someone else's. The loss of one's identity so easily for economic reasons appears a complex issue to me. On one hand, it proves adaptability while on other, an unsustainable way of development.

4- All heroic acts are foolish to your contemporaries! The acts may be original rather than research but society gives importance to mediocrity at any moment of time. The people who have been understood are third rate. They are understood because they are saying the same things that you already believe in. It is always better to be Socrates rather than Gandhi at any moment of life for me. It will land great part of your life in loneliness but that is another story of different aspect.

5- Decorum is linked to policing in India. Yes, the study of Indian Government will prove this right.

Why You Need to Fail - by Derek Sivers

The video shows the importance of failure - for effective learning, growth mindset, and quality through experimentation. The message of the video is inspiring and worth remembering : Doing what you know is fun, but doesn't improve you.

Socha na tha....

A scarcity of availability and a ticking clock changes our perspective and the desire to take action. I have become busy in the new routine of Yem Bee Aey (MBA)college. I am not able to read and write due to busy lifestyle. I have never imagined that a day like this can come !

An advertisement (spoof) on the fact that major credit card and online payment companies have withheld over $15 Million in donations to WikiLeaks has created a buzz between liberals and youths.



Support WikiLeaks ; Inspired by Wikileaks, I have started a secret blog --- Diary of A Grass Root Manager !. I am updating this blog as per weekly basis with both positive and negative perspective of my stay here in XIMB. Nobody can access the blog now due to its sensitive nature. I will make the blog available in public realm after getting my MBA degree.

A person should have right to document his experiences and learning. I can't rely always on the history lessons presented by state or authority. Milan Kundera has famously commented in 'The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, 1979' : The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting. My experiment with storage of my experiences and memories has started in the form of online blog diary.Wish me luck for my experiment.

Romila Thapar: India's past and present

Everyone has their beliefs as to how they fit into the world. However, only those who think for themselves, rather than blindly follow, will truly experience. A denial of one’s roots, whatever the attitudes and realities of the present, is an invitation to a crisis of identity. This is my opinion on history.

Romila Thapar: India's past and present — how history informs contemporary narrative



In conversation with IDRC President David M. Malone, historian Romila Thapar, widely recognized as India's foremost historian challenged the colonial interpretations of India's past, which have created an oversimplified history that has reinforced divisions of race, religion, and caste.