Vichaar Shoonya - 0

1- The Taliban have taken advantage of the vacuum of governance by carrying out spectacular suicide bombings in major cities across the country. They are generating fear, rumor, and also support from countless unemployed youth, some of whom are willing to kill themselves to advance the Taliban cause. The mean age for a suicide bomber is now just sixteen. It is a brilliant strategy of evacuation of opposition by suicide bombing and then fill the place with Talibs as a voice of people. They also utilize high illiteracy rate in Pakistan. All the crux of the above blabbering was to introduce you to these two articles describing mindset of our neighbouring nation elite society: Why is Pakistan Half Illiterate? and Causality of war.

2- Faith of Einstein.

3- Econ Sense: Equality vs. Efficiency, the Case of Universal Health Care..

4- Bloggers, Media and Science Reporting & Indian Scientists and Science Blogging

5- On black literature in America

Quote of the day:
Logic and reason are the naphthalene balls we use to pack our hopes, dreams and desires away into a SANDOOK called "Someday". But when that day comes we are too old, too poor , too tired or too lazy to do anything.--- Rashmi Bansal.

Talking about Cinema

Cinema:
Experience is the art, expression is the craft. All good writing is intuitive writing . . . (And) principles (rules) begin to guide your intuition.”Learning scriptwriting has to be powered by your desire to write.” Structure will help you tell your story the way you want to."[pfc]

Don’t talk of motion pictures, talk of emotion pictures.
A film is not merely meant for amusement. A good film stays with you as a rich experience. It creates a certain impact: emotional, political or intelligent. Dibakar Banarjee mingles Hrishikesh da’s realistic “common man and his plight story” with a pinch of surrealistic humor and creates a unique style of his own. There is always a desire to achieve something and an obstacle in the way of it.

Quotes on Directing, Scriptwriting and Creativity.

Just for quote:
In the movie, The Killing(1956) the Russian wrestler Maurice, who delivers an interesting monologue about gangsters and artists being the same in the eyes of the masses. "They are admired and hero-worshipped, but there is always present an underlying wish to see them destroyed at the peak of their glory.”

A must read for those who concern that cinema must be seen with brain intact to body.
Festivals, Awards, Celebrities, Recognition – But where is Indian Cinema?

Vichaar Shoonya-1

1. To start a culture change all we need to do is two simple things:

- Do dramatic story-worthy things that represent the culture we want to create. Then let other people tell stories about it.
- other people who do story-worthy things that represent the culture we want to create. Then tell stories about them.

Example: A story of sheer passion by Santosh Ojha.--- Jo Chaho Ujiyaar.

2. Best Compliment ever received by Banaras Hindu University. Remark is given by Bhupen Hazarika.

"In Guwahati, I was an Assamese. In Kolkata, I became a Bengali but I became an Indian after coming to Uttar Pradesh, particularly BHU." [Source]

#For More BHU nostalgia, Download this ppt.

3. Matt Tabbi 's reveal us about some hidden facts and his hypothessi about Goldman Sachs:
The Great American Bubble Machine. [Quite Long Article]

Moral for us: "Organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy."

Thought of the day:
A man far greater than you, far greater than any we have known, once said, “To be in good moral condition requires at least as much training as to be in good physical condition.” This man was called Jawahar Lal Nehru.

ITBHU Bloggers

[CSE03 - Animesh Pathak] Animesh Pathak's Online Journal
[CSE06 - Rahul Hari] Hari's Paradise
[CSE06 - Monalisa Gupta] Wandering Reflections....
[CSE11 - Saket Saurabh] Account of all time that I waste at college
[CSE10 - Kinshuk Chandra] just for a change
[CSE08 - Charitha Reddy] charitha
[CSE05 - Manu Awasthi] Random Rants from a Grad Student
[CSE02 - Anup Mayank] Little Bit of Nonsense
[CSE07 - Shashank Tyagi] Anti Boredom
[CSE09 - Kumar Abhinav] Reinventing Myself
[CSE06 - Arun Tangri] Rendezvous with Arun
[CSE05 - Neeraj Jadaun] He said Seeketh Findeth
[CSE00 - Tarun Matta] Livemint Journal
[CSE08- Ashish Kumar Jain] Ashish Kumar Jain's Blog
[CSE - Ajay Kr Saxena] Yaatri

[EcE 05 - Ravish Sunny] Blog Profile
[EcE07 - Anurag Singh] Blog Profile
[EcE08 - Rahul Singh] Scratchpad.
[EcE77 - Vikram Karve] Profile on Sulekha
[EcE07 - Shilpi Prasad] Its me..
[EcE08 - Ashim Dutta] The Mirror 99
[EcE09 - Shantanu Singh] slapdash
[EcE05 - Anirudh Dhurka] Anirudh Dhurka's Website
[ECE10 - Praharsh Sharma] Either Eulogy, Else Euphemism...
[EcE07 - Richa Dixit] Some thoughts to think.
[EcE08 - Vijay Singh] Knowledge Hunter
[EcE09 - Alok Singh] Blog Profile
[EcE08 - Vaibhav] My Private Hell

[EEE06 - Kapil Malik] Thoughts and Words..
[EEE06 - Rajat Kashyap] Happenings
[EEE06 - Siva kumar Sudani] musings
[EEE07 - Nitin Jain] World in My View
[EEE06 - Ritu Bajpai] Contemplations
[EEE04 - Ravish Mishra] Learning to Fly
[EEE05 - Shailendra Gupta] I Me & Myself
[EEE98 - Anuraag Dubey] Awadhi Bhasha Prem
[EEE03 - Nitin Pulyani] Progress in Life
[EEE08 - Sulab Jain] Entrance to some Remarkable Rooms
[EEE09 - Amit Singh] My voice through my words
[EEE08 - Ankit Sisodia] T
[EEE10 - Umesh Ram] Umesh
[EEE - Abhijit Shukla] Reflections

[MEC93 - Manu Goyal] Random Thoughts
[MEC07 - Saurab Mangal] Don't Drink & Write
[MEC08 - Rajneesh Tiwari] Madman
[MEC93 - Atul Rai] Thoughts on KM, Business,Life in general, Society, of course... food
[MEC05 - Abhinav Pancholi] Heartships
[MEC04 - Prasoon Agarwal] Pages of my Diary
[MEC07 - Abhishek khanna] The Furobiker
[MEC08 - Himanshu Rai] Sparsh
[MEC07 - Anand Kashyap] The bicycle diaries
[MEC06 - Vibhav Agrawal] Vibhav Agrawal
[MEC07 - Ish Awasthi] Side Kick-Ish
[MEC08 - Varun Murali] prodigal musings of a spoilt brat
[MEC08 - Kapil Bhushan Srivastava] Following My Heart...
[MEC07 - Vivek Srivastava] Vivek Srivastava
[MEC08 - Abhishek Shukla] Carnival of Rust
[MEC08 - Neerav Kumar] experiences of life
[MEC08 - Vikramraj Naidu] Chronicles of the Dark Knight
[MEC09 - S J Mayank] Sound Of Music by S J Mayank Srivastav
[MEC08 - Rahul Priyedarshi] so said the bed potato
[MEC08 - Abhishek Kumar] Blue-Eyed Boy
[MEC08 - Kunal Sharma] evenescene- blog in a minor!
[MEC08 - Vijay Pratap Singh] Thinking... is not a big deal..
[MEC08 - Puneet Jain] Rehgujar
[MEC08 - Vivek Tripathi] Vivek Tripathi
[MEC08 - Abhishek Arora] Its Not Rocket Science !!!
[MEC09 - Sridhar] Certainly Doubtful

[CIV05 - Sharad Oberoi] Lair of the Loquacious Loon!
[CIV11 - Maghesh Kumar Singh] Adwait Khandwal speaks
[CIV06- Shailja Agrawal] unveil
[CIV08 - Ravi Bansal] Treasures and Travails on an earthly life
[CIV07 - Nilesh Kumar] Shell
[CIV09 - Chandra] apni baat
[CIV03 - Varun Grover] The Daily Tamasha
[CIV08 - Vikalp Agarwal] Passing Thoughts
[CIV07 - Abhijit Raja] My world
[CIV07 - Kirti Mishra] dreams and a dreamer

[CHE08 - Aditya Goyal] The Lost Soul
[CHE05 - Himanshu Gupta] Half Rebel
[CHE08 - Prabhakar Kumar] Kuch Thande Baste Se
[CHE00 - Kaustubh Raghuvansh Shukla] My Ishtory

[CER96 - Mohit] Unjustly
[CER06 - Ankita Mukherjee] Silence
[CER08 - Gaurav Jain] oh-musings
[CER07 - Divya Bhadani] soup rocks

[MIN05 - Amit Srivastava] Trying to make sense!- iLog
[MIN02 - Puneet Bindlish] View Point
[MIN06 - Sumit Saxena] Half-Hearted Funny

[MET85 - T. A. Abinandanan] Nanopolitan
[MET85 - Santosh Ojha] Santosh Ojha's weblog
[MET08 - Rahul Raj] Doper's Diary
[MET03 - Anshul Sushil] Being Insouciant...
[MET01 - Vibhash Awasthi] Fultoo Bakar
[MET07 - Akshay Rajagopalan] Alter Ego
[MET08 - Nitin Agarwal] Scribbler's Den
[MET - Praveen] from PKG

[PHM06 - Priti Arora] Priti Arora : Sweet n Sour Memories

[BioChe(PHD) - Sourish Karmakar] The lake of my dreams

[Unknown - Abhilasha Purwar] Abhilasha
[Unknown - Sudipta Mukherjee] in pursuit of happyness
[Unknown - Rakesh] Maverick's haven
[Unknown - M S Ramkrishnan] Lord Grindelwad
[Unknown - Anshuman Singh] Blog Profile
[Unknown - Unknown] Blog Profile
I am gathering the data of ITBHU bloggers. If you know more blogs , then please forward their weblink to me.

Vichaar Shoonya-2

1- Media evades real issues by Balbir Punj.

2-All the facts and prraise of Atal Bihari Vajpayee on this weblog. [Stand on Gujrat riot is missing here].

3- Cops Caught on Camera ; An news article on Bollywood and real life cop inspiration.

4- Anurag Kashyap brutal and honest take on 'Black' and Bollywood. Read the full article.

5- BJP apes Congress, fails by Koenraad Elst.

6-Economic Freedom of the World 2008 Annual Report. [PDF Version]

Zindagi hai Mausam ke tarah badalti rahti hai..

"Zindagi hai Mausam ke tarah badalti rahti hai.."
This is the candid and original dialouge delivered by me on a phone talk with Abhishek Shukla long ago. Today, I am publishing it also. I have again changed my cuisine habits & started taking taste of non veg and beer. Wine will be in menu but preserved for emotional traumatic times. Liquor helps in relieving from frustration inside and a sudden burst take all the suppressed feelings flushed away.

For a note, Hyderabadi Biryani of famous 'Hotel Paradise' is just fine.
Why this change ? The urge to eat grass and water only is no more.The logic and reason were always in the world for taking sides but the faith decides the last call. When the instinct for an ideology is missing from the heart, I shed the dead ideology and move forward in the life.

I read a good point about our "esteemed" orthodox tradition...

"Man is formed of the four elements. When he dies, earth returns to the aggregate of earth, water to water, fire to fire, and air to air, while his senses vanish into space. Four men with the bier take up the corpse: they gossip as far as the burning-ground, where his bones turn the color of a dove's wing and his sacrifices end in ashes. They are fools who preach almsgiving, and those who maintain the existence [of immaterial categories] speak vain and lying nonsense. When the body dies both fool and wise alike are cut off and perish. They do not survive after death."[1]

Also an account about Indians from the journal of a traveller is interesting to read.

Quote for the lifetime : “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it”-Upton Sinclaire.

[1] Digha Nikaya, 1.55, tr. AL Basham, The Wonder That Was India, p. 296.

Kanpur Electricity Supply

10 years of living in Kanpur has make me adaptable to long power cuts. I had also felt the summers heat without electricity for 3 continuous days with the grace of KESCO 's lethargy for repairing a transformer. Forgetting to mention the regular load off for 4 to 6 hours per day in Kanpur will be sin of hiding the truth. BUT, I give thanks to God due to hyper optimistic nature, that I don't live in Chamanganj or Bekanganj where electricity may not come for 1 week. Also I will not tell faltu story of people replacing transformer oil with water !!!

Power Theft:
Do anyone know about the term Katiya (read: illegal power connection).Check image below for clear depiction and all electrical engineers can apply Kirchoff's law in practical condition.

Situation had come to such a pass that whenever attempts have been made by the powermen to detect ‘katiya’ connections they have been confronted by a hostile reception by the locals. FORGET the line losses through Katiya, Defaulters have found a better way of stealing electricity: Convince someone in KESCO for some amount of monthly private charges and the problem of electricity is solved forever.For more details, see the early year career growth of Akshay Kumar in Tashan movie .

I will not lament over degraded situation of electricity in Kanpur but will simply give you current situation.The long-awaited privatisation of power distribution in the city is now resolved by a private company of Maharastra,Torrent. I hope the removal of from the electric poles will be first priority of private company.What Kanpur will look after that, I hope it will be pretty watchable.

Torrent Power Company has been issued a Letter power of Intent (LoI) by Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation for appointment as Distribution Franchisee for distribution of power in urban areas of Kanpur for a period of 20 years. According to the Memoranda of Understanding (MoU), Kesco will work under an input-based franchisee model system and hand over the distribution of electricity, realisation of bills, maintenance and development of the infrastructure and other related works to Torrent Power for a period of 20 years. The Torrent Power expects full operations to commence by August this year.

Someone has discovered loophole of this distribution by Torrent system pointing towards corruption but then KESCO employees has earned more money through illegal ways than any private company could think of in dreams. Following paragraph is taken for your views----

"Distribution franchisee shall prove to be the best way to control the theft of electricity and to provide quality service and to put an end to political interference but there should be some control and guide lines should be issued by the Central Power Ministry regarding RFP and the conditions to be put in Agreement otherwise the officers who are awarding the contracts will ruin the state utilities for their personal gains and the consumer will be further burdened. The case in which Kanpur has been awarded to Torrent Power on a mere paltry amount of Rs 2.17 per unit for next 20 years against billable rate of Rs. 3.80per unit. It means that we will get only 57% in Kanpur. Therefore we will get the amount equal to the ATC losses of 43% in city for the next 20 years.The losses will be covered by increasing the tariff and then public will be made poorer by these manipulations. Now 4 lac consumers are making theft of 100 rs each and after franchisee is appointed he will be richer and richer and put his money in foreign banks and the public and the state will be poorer. The tender for Kanpur which has been given to Torrent Power where as the rates of Jamshedpur Utilities & Services Company (JUSCO), a Tata Group firm were higher by Rs 4000 crores and the discounted rates were also higher is the matter of higher level enquiry."(Source)

Montage

“Do not call it Bollywood. This is a very wrong thing to call it. We are not trying to copy Hollywood. We are making films for an audience of a billion people. Over 80% of these people don’t have enough food in their bellies. Our country does not provide its people with pool halls, basketball courts and video parlours, so we make films for them that will let them forget their lives for 3 hours. We create total fantasy, not the polished reality that Hollywood portrays. Never forget that, never forget that we are making films that allow people to believe for 3 hours that they are not poor and hungry”.

Subhash Ghai, Indian filmmaker, producer...etc.

BOLLYWOOD STRIKE ENDS

Lies

How I learned to stop worrying about life and watch only Bollywood films

When will strike and curfews end in Manipur?


When will we see traffic jam in our films
When will we hear stories from Manipur, Orissa, Chattisgarh.....
When will...
When will...
When will...
When will....

Source: Post is taken from the blog of my friend Nitesh Rohit, an individual fighting the tough task of raising standards of Indian cinema in world.

Back to Business

Quoting in the terminator style, I am back with lots of positive energy and inputs. Killing the parasitic feeling and coming back to life. Recently taken 12 days trip to home and has came refreshed by the change in environment. Met with friends in Noida and missed to meet few good ones at Gurgoan. In the end, life is now on routine where best thoughts of HR will come in mail on Friday with a tag of TGIF (Thank God It's Friday).

Thoughts for the day:

1-A quotation from the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi: "If you look at things from the point of difference, they seem diverse; from the point of semblance, they look alike."

2- चुल्लू भर पानी से बुझाने आग गाँव की, चल पडी टोलियाँ अमीर उमराव की..

3- वो कौन हैं जिन्हें तौबा की मिल गयी फ़ुरसत / हमें तो गुनाह करने को जिंदगी कम है...

Cheers with Calvin & Hobbes (Image courtesy to Arunn)!!!.

This is cute as all of C&H cartoons are but the idea is not its creator Bill Waterson’s. The world renowned astronomer and astrophysicist Carl Sagan said this in his 1968 book: 'The Intelligent Life In The Universe'. He further said : ‘After all who would bother to teach the ant, the alphabet? '

About a Parasite

Warning: Don't Read this post, its highly pessimistic.

This is a confession and plight of mine mind.I was anxious and secluded from past 24 hours. No one was around me hence wrote all this crap (for you).

In the pursuit of discovering world, I got habit of reading books, blogs, wikipedia and news. Further, I had started to express my feelings in the blog. As the blog grows with the time, the writing became less reflectional but more aspirational for fame. There was veiled violence of sarcasm and hunger to capture knowledge in each words. Lot of information was captured but only few was transformed into knowledge.The wisdom gained was minimal. Most of the knowledge was lost in witty lines created for consumption of the readers who came at my blog with pre occupied minds for being amused and entertained.

I was also rolling in this world wide web for the search of new data, metaphors and being provoked. The sense of wonder, curiosity and amazement in others work was diminishing with time in the comments like 'nice blog', 'keep writing' and 'good work'. I was not able to involve into analytical reasoning or beauty appreciation for words & images thoroughly. In the rush to gather more and more as fast as possible, some vital part of me was left behind. I am dying slowly.

I had stolen, adapted, cheated ,twisted, innovated and compiled the words (read: lines & paragraph) for the sake of giving tadkaa (metaphorical flavour) in my posts. I have manipulated thoughts and emotions of mine into words to present theme in article form for others. I am working as parasite in this literal world. I gather knowledge about a person, his works or any topic by reading. Mostly I go through all previous post of the archives and incorporate them into mine views. Now, I argues and boast about my skills with others. The flame of writing is currently gone now and had already started Vichaar Shoonya series. Lack of originality is slowly eating me from inside. It feels like a guilt and cheating to the readers.

I am a extremist person with the addiction of hobbies from childhood. Comics, Cricket, Movies, Orkut and now blog shows my addiction pattern with age. I am the greatest escapist from mainstream lifestyle. Running from academics, relations and job; always unsatisfied and day dreaming. I have only pleasure of being content with the life but the temptation to enjoy immoral always sunk me in the long run. I resist the contradiction of my words and actions in the life but have committed plenty of sins in the heart many times. That is called Hypocrisy.

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."--Oscar Wilde.

It haunts me like hound in my dreams and in thoughts but I fail miserably in putting something new and original. I just console myself to speak a message effectively. I am now pushing others to write and express their thoughts by creating blogs. Mediocrity inspires greatness. I am only creating that threshold level of mediocre writing.

The call of simplicity is completely absent now from my life now. I am swinging between extreme ends of happiness and sadism in my life. There is so much loneliness in my life that I will become mad now. I am also so much selfish and careless that I just can't attach to anyone now.The narcissism and fear of losing beloved ones to death is taking toll over my soul day by day.

तुम नहीं, ग़म नहीं, शराब नहीं, ऐसी तन्हाई का जवाब नहीं.

I have got now few grass root level knowledge of my motherland & world and disparities shown by the humans for other fellow humans. It has given me so much pain that I am unable to endure it. I cannot now campaign for humanity and peace. Permanent Anubhuti of calmness is absent from my life.The eternal recurrence of cyclic sufferings and pleasures seems to be never ending. My life is waste like anything much lower level than crawling insect in sewer lines.

Long back ago, I have read somewhere: "The wise want love and those who love want wisdom." --Marry Shelley.

I have none of both.
I am feeling like rat running in a circular trap.
I am fed with myself and this world.
I need a change.
I want to in love with someone ....

1989 --- 20 Years Back

The year 1989 brought a revolution without a revolution. The rise of leftist and democracy in Latin America against the history of dictators and MNC's exploitation was getting started. Dissident in politics about Kashmir comes in main news after 1989 and the old wounds were turned green by proxy war started by a bitter neighbour. There was a whole generation that was not moving away and a generation that hasn't necessarily moved in the main stream all over the world.

History--
The fight of moulding history by hardliners in Communist, Islamist and ultra nationalist to make themselves either victim or victor of oppressive regime is the peak point of academic debates in post 2nd world war era. The function of monuments or massive representation of leaders is to offer a stylized version, or in the worst case a mythologized version of history. History when contradicts the memory of living, then nation or community is on the way of self destruction. History should be unbiased interpretation of past rather than revolving around great figures as a sign of a certain respect for their turbulent lives. By omitting a critical and honest discussion of past and by glorifying and romanticizing history, the generations are deprived of learning about the forces and dynamics that shape culture, society and nations.

Racism---
The effects of the internal unrest and international condemnation led to dramatic changes beginning in 1989 in SA. And in few years apartheid ended in South Africa. I slightly differ from funda of international pressure of human right groups for ending years of racial discrimination. A short narration from Deepa Mehata would be enough to clear my stand --- It was just amazing how the colour of one’s skin decides one’s future. What struck me about the story was how racism is rooted in economics. I went to Johannesburg during the Apartheid days, around 1975. There was two lines, one for the Whites, one for the rest - the Indians, the Chinese, the Arabs, all non-Whites. Then I went there two years later, when there was a huge oil boom in the Middle East. And I suddenly see all others were still in the Coloured Line, but the Arabs were in the White Line. So, racism is all about money. Suddenly in one year, the Arabs became White! If the perception about India is changing today, it is because of its economic situation. It’s not that they have suddenly found a long lost love for us. [3]

Communism---
It was marked by the fall of Soviet Union or epitome of Communism into several pieces. The fight against communism back then revealed the belief in the meaning of human freedom. The violet revolution is eastern Europe was breakthrough in the era of oppressive regime of Communist USSR. Tiananmen square massacre and Fall of Berlin Wall was the core of all change that shake communism history round the world.

Tiananmen would not have happened without the rift between Zhao Ziyang and the hardliners, and the Berlin Wall would not have fallen without Gorbachev shaking up the Soviet regime. After 20 of change, the fundamentals remain the same. In a one-party system, a small crack at the top can open up the chasm at the bottom. Behind the façade of self-confidence, harmony and stability, the ghost of 1989 still haunts a closed regime of China and Russia that was hoping to erase and transcend it. [1]
Economy---
A era of changed has gone from past 20 years. The political awakening and fight for human rights has reduced for the betterment of trade and living standards. But this freedom from communism brought with it paradoxes of unchecked capitalism. The rise of middle class has changed the equation in the favour of India and China. Unequal distribution of Economic Freedom is at the basis of India & China's uneven development. The reason is simple, the areas in which the middle and upper classes make their living have seen the highest degree of liberalisation, while the areas in which the poor earn their livelihood have seen the fewest reforms. [2] The huge chunk of industrial production of west runs on oil and cheap labour. While Saudi provided oil, china provided exploitable labor class for the rise of US regime in the post cold war era.

Jehad---
Rise of Islamist was marked from 1972 oil well exploration on Saudi land by American Companies. Investment of petro dollars into Wahabi Islam & jehadi group is also cause of spread of terrorism in South Asia. From then, The identification with Islam have became in such an ethical orientation flow pattern, which is largely about the theological concepts haram - the Forbidden - and halal - the Permitted - structured. The defeat of Soviet in poppy land Afghanistan was the mark of rise of Talibs gathered around by hardliner Muslims. The mistake of America in not rebuilding Afghanistan & leaving behind arms in the hands of jehadis is now paying them after 20 years.

Right Now---
It is everybody's business to ensure that no one is deprived of their right to say what they wish, even if it is deemed by some to be offensive. If we want the pleasures of pluralism and diversity, we have to accept the pain of being offended by extro and intro inspection. That is the level of tolerance should be brought in our diverse and democratic society in future. Now the slump of US economy in global recession and militant Islam uprising is providing a new base for a big change.

The rise of emerging markets and the relative decline of developed countries indicate the reorientation of global economic order. G-7 may found its counter in BRIC now. There are also concerns, the critical one being to what extent this economic power will manifest itself as political power—a process that history suggests is inevitable.

The stability of nuke armed Pakistan will now determine the future of world politics. The axis of attention has shifted from east Europe to Pakistan now. Something that rest of world is fighting against extremist Muslims, i.e. to bring reforms and renaissance in their culture in the light of changing times. 20 years from 1989, again we are on the verge of adapting revolutionary change in our economic and political system. We can only predict what lies in womb of future.

Kanpur Coaching Mandi

For previous article on Kanpur coaching mandi, go through this label of Kanpur Series.

Hot News: IIT Entrance Examination (JEE) of the seven teachers together to prepare a joint platform sigma - IIT JEE is made. Students will get a place to preparing for the three subjects without straying around and meet all the facilities. In addition, due to the joint will reduce the fees too. Sigma of the joint forum of the physics teacher Anish Srivastava and Raj Kushwaha, Ashish Bishnoi and Anurag Bishnoi of mathematics and chemistry of Pankaj Agarwal, Nirmal Singh and Sanjay Chauhan's. Small - small batch (one hundred to two hundred) in the three subjects under the same roof will get a chance to prepare for. Three different subjects to students before a total of 51,300 rupees to pay the fees now total 45,000 fee will be. Sigma's head office 117 / N / 581 Raniganj (Kakadev) will be.

Old Time: Even after paying Rs 8,000 for each of the three different JEE subjects, most of the time we have to struggle for getting a sitting place in the class. The strength of my class was 900. It was a fact that students wait for about two hours before the classes begin so as to get a proper sitting place. There was no sensible limit to the number of students in a class. I hope this decision if implemented will make sense to avoid overcrowding of time passing jantaa.

Teachers into brand names!
Not only in Kanpur, but everywhere Coaching institutes also making boisterous claims about the performance of their students in competitive examinations and promising moon to future aspirants has become a common trend after the declaration of results. There is no description of ratio of successful to failed student. Apparently, it’s no longer word of mouth that establishes a teacher’s reputation among students, as it used to be a few years ago; it’s mass advertising that these institutes are resorting to now. Strange as it may sound, but it’s not uncommon any more to come across huge hoarding that advertise a coaching institute christened after the teacher’s name. ‘Maths to Joshi Sir se hi padenge!’, it says. Joshi Sir has seemingly worked out the formula to roping in more and more students to his coaching in Lucknow. Also, big names like FIITJEE, Brilliant Tutorials will enroll successful candidate name in their list if you have just handshake with them or given their all-India test once.

House to Hostel: Lot of students who cannot afford to study in Kota come here from other cities. The large number of students from other cities are queuing up to enroll in one or the other coaching institute at Kakadeo. Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Banda, Unnao, Allahabad and Fatehpur are major cities contributing to warehouse of Kanpur coaching mandi. House to hostel metamorphosis is a phenomenon that has taken Kanpur by storm. The trend has people making some smart business moves by either vacating their homes or squeezing themselves into one room so as to convert their homes into hostels for the out-station students. Kakadeo, Geeta Nagar, Sharda Nagar, Naveen Nagar and Neer Kjheer Chauraha have been transformed from residential area into PGs and hostels for students.

Brokers: (Dalle in kanpuriya tounge)
The brokers are spread in coaching mandi like swine flu in Mexico. From photocopy shop to Barber shop, they are waiting for their next hunt. The brokers in the area are also become active allocating hostel and mess for students. Some of them are employed by coaching owners to guide student to the right coaching centers for a fixed share in profit. They are leaving no stone unturned to attract the guardians of out station students with the promise of providing a rented accommodation at most economical rates. Although, few brokers (read: small time neta) compel the coaching institute owners to admit students at a lower fee. In return they take a fixed amount as commission from the students. The coaching institute owners have become more alert after the killing of Rohit Juneja few years back. The murder case is unsolved till this time. The incident had created panic among coaching fraternity and students at that time. Few local hooligans also threatened owners of coaching centre to pay a ransom for elections or face consequences. With minimal investment and a little bit of discomfort, Kanpurites today are going all out to cash in on the city's academic boom.

Comparison of Kanpur to Kota:
Students are majorly confused over choice of Kota and Kanpur for their study.

Major points in Favour of Kanpur:

It is cheap in comparison to Kota and those who don't have enough resources can live easily here and can focus on study. Fellow students are friendly and will share the notes very easily with mutual discussion about any concept is much easier here. But the JEE syllabus is never completed on time in Kanpur or finished in hurry, leaving very less time to revise the course for students.

Major points in favor of Kota are these: (cited from this weblink)

1. Class size/strength: Class size in Kota ranges from 60 to a maximum of 100 students. But when it comes to Kanpur, the class size is funny, nonsense and absolutely violates the principle of classroom teaching. You won’t believe the leading coaching in Kanpur have a strength of 1000 and more students per batch. Tell me how could one study in such a mess? How could teacher and student can interact in such a place. Though it is a good example of money making on the expense of students' career. Anyways i hope you are not going to do such a blunder at least after reading this topic and believe me it's all true if you don’t believe you can ask any student who have studied there.

2. Quality of students: As Kota is visited by students from all around the country and hence the quality of students coming here is very good. By quality I mean the intelligence level of students. This doesn’t mean that Kanpur is not having such students. It does but the amount such students is very low when compared with that of Kota.

3. Environment: Environment plays a very important role in each and every part of life, so it does for preparation of IIT-JEE, AIEEE or any other exam. So, the environment in Kota is completely dedicated to studies and nothing else. But Afterall it depends on the student who is preparing for IIT_JEE or AIEEE. The environment can just give up a boost and can help him motivated towards studies. Anyways environment in Kota for IIT_JEE or AIEEE is excellent, it definitely helps students. The environment is very peaceful and the people there are also peaceful. It's hard to find people there fighting or making disturbances in the society.

Bhojpuri Comfortably Numb

Photu used with permission. And the protagonist was really numb at that time. I hope he won't mind it.

*This is a photo of my friend, not me;
From one of the Stanza of English version:

When I was a child I had a fever

My hands felt just like two balloons.

Now I've got that feeling once again

I can't explain you would not understand

This is not how I am.

I have become comfortably numb.

And now, the rough Bhojpuri translation in English script:

Jab hum tha ek bachwa, tab humko hua bukhar

hamaar haath gaye phool, jaise ki du bailoon.

ab humko hua e ehsaas ek baar aur, (par karo gaur)

hum samjha nahi sakte, aap nahi na samjhiyega

hum waise nahi hain jaise abhi hain.

ab ban gaye hain hum, aaramtalbi aur sunn.

Poem is on my state at the college days where I have become epitome of lethargy and anti-bathist. Only watching movies , bunking classes and playing AOE. I am trying to get again that feeling in the corporate world but all attempts are vain till now. This translation is dedicated to all Indian Floydians from my side. Original Material yahan se uthaya aur sanshodhit kiya hai.

Vichaar Shoonya -3

Nothing personal and original from my side. Weblinks of adapted material will be given in few days. Enjoy this compiled series.

1-Beauty is a mood of your mind that is experienced if you care to notice. Appreciate the difference because beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Are you a beautiful mind? Do you seek beauty?

2-India, democracy has not allowed the rule of the majority. issue after issue, state after state is that powerful minorities landed interests have been able to capture the political system and extract government benefits for themselves. Most people, I suspect, just want to get on with life, raising their families, doing their work, enjoying some good times between the cradle and the grave.

3- Guru, is one of the most important works of Indian cinema to emerge post economic liberalization that gives Indian entrepreneurs their due representation. In a resounding voice it proclaims a paradigm shift in the middle class morality that has made being money-minded and profit-oriented acceptable today. A well deserved farewell to left-leaning portrayal of industry and capitalism. A salute to the proletarian capitalist.

4.In Indian films the alienation of the rural poor from the urban way of life has become cliched. What we require is some kind of synthesis of the two with our past and heritage. They are, I feel working with a totally Western idiom (cinema). Using the same techniques and the same chemistry, can we evolve a new form, a new sensibility? Dance song is part of our folk culture. We blame that our society is not conductive to promote creative films. People and society were just as bad in other times also. The genuine creative people make a way around to make their point and entertain the society as well. Either in cinema or any other field, the great ones always face a hostile social order. Still they don't get in general populace and make safe and ordinary creation.

5-Let me become little autobiographic. I want to reach such stage where remains no hard feelings for anyone .Wanna be writer as Karl Marx. Marx early formative years through school were full of influence by Immanuel Kant and Voltaire. They were some of his favorite authors; a characteristic blend of German profundity and French subversive wit. No nation has produced better essayists than France, none has produced better composers than the Germans, better painters than the Italians, nor better novelists than the Russians. And the English? The English do poetry.

Earlier days of Benaras Engineering College, Banaras Hindu University

Earlier days of Benaras Engineering College, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

(Photographs-courtesy of Mahamana Malaviya Foundation Newsletter)

The Engineering College BHU started in one single shed in January, 1919. Its Power House was built, and a 20 KW Set (200 Volt DC) was installed in1921, which was augmented by a 100 KW Set in 1923. The Boiler House was erected in 1922.

Engineering College Drawing Class. The First Principal Prof. C.A. King Instructing a Student (on second table of right hand row)

The first Workshop (Carpentry Section) of the Engineering College started with Artisan-Carpentry Course in Feb. 1919

Source : ITBHU Chronicle April 2009.

Salaam IPL or Salwa Judum

Two News affected me in this 24 hour.Just want to capture the big news in summary and small news in descriptive way. Feel free to read and choose importance of them.

Deccan snatch title in tense finish.

My views: The fortunes have reversed. Desi team and videsi captain strategy works for winning this year also. Previous year 2nd last team is runner up and 1st season's last team gets championship of IPL season 2. Akon with Katrina instead of Gilly and jumbo after the match disappoint me. But the most discussed name among all of us was of fake IPL player blog. He has showed the power of blog and anonymity to the media giants in gossip/news coverage. For fun, surely KKR will be hoping to win tournament next year after this turnaround of DC. For more usual stuff, follow the grand story coverage on cricinfo.

OR

Supreme Court grants bail to Binayak Sen:

It took just 30 seconds. And five words: “Bail is granted on personal bond.” But these numbers pale when confronted with another, 24 — the number of months for which Binayak Sen was in jail, before the Supreme Court granted him bail on Monday. The initial charges against Sen were weak and prime witnesses turned hostile during the trial. Yet Binayak Sen remained in jail for over two years. Even convicted criminals got bail faster. Curious about Dr Binayek Sen, know about his identity on wikipedia only.
From the rediff reporting 3 paragraphs:

"The Binayak Sen case is primarily about the rotten state of affairs in the rural hinterland. It's about higher poverty levels; shortage of food and lack of nutritional planning for the chronically undernourished; it's about missing healthcare; lack of protection for the vulnerable; it's about rampant exploitation of the forest dweller and tribal peoples. The districts where Maoists or Naxalites [Images] are active, and it's true of not just Chhattisgarh, as we all know have the worst social infrastructure, and thus offer the best breeding ground for extremism and violent conflict.

The case is also about one vision of development colliding with another that is backed by the might of the state. Bastar and adjoining districts of Chhattisgarh are home to the highest concentration of mineral rich deposits in the country and is one of the reasons why these areas have become high-intensity conflict zones. Is resistance to land acquisition by industrialists a major contributory factor to the violence in the state? Few are aware of the extent of the problem in Chhattisgarh. Thousands of tribal people have been uprooted from their forest habitations -- close to 650 villages in the forest areas are reported to have been cleared in an operation reminiscent of the ways wars were fought in Southeast Asia -- and have been housed for the past five years in refugee camps that are run by trigger-happy and lawless elements who are supposed to be fighting the Maoists.

If this is how democratic states function surely we need a reform of India's democracy? But these and related issues are seldom raised in the general clamour for reforms that have picked up in crescendo post the election verdict. One and all, media pundits who have been setting the reform agenda for the new government are screaming for reforms that are focused exclusively -- and predictably -- on financial sector liberalisation."

Still want to know about hidden reality of Salwa Judum movement, for the seekers of truth: The Inconvenient Truth -- the real face of Corporate governance.

The Calvin & Hobbes Super-Stupendous Guide to Design

Even if the only thing you’ve ever designed is a mashed potato volcano with gravy lava, you’re a designer. We all design in some way or other. The best of us get paychecks for their designs. The worst of us have to appreciate our elegant disasters for free. The best designs reach out and pull us in with their creativity, wit, and ingenuity. From the cardboard box of Calvin & Hobbes’ wisdom, five ways to better your designs:

1. Learn to see things differently:

One of Calvin’s most powerful traits is his childlike ability to see things differently than the grown-ups around him. Where they see mundane reality, Calvin sees the fantastic, the monstrous, and occasionally, the downright weird.

Like Calvin, designers must also learn to see things differently. Where others see text, designers see a typographical baseline. Where others see a photo, designers see the golden ratio. In everything, we should learn to see the underlying beauty that holds it all together.

2. Take time to educate yourself:

While anyone can learn to see things differently, designers can’t just depend on their vision to get by. They also need to be able to explain that vision to others. And for that you need the proper background and vocabulary.

That doesn’t necessarily mean going to an art school and majoring in design. There are some fabulous resources available to those who are willing to take a little time to teach themselves.

3. Originality isn’t everything:

In the world of art and design, originality is highly prized, but sometimes the emphasis is a bit too strong. The point of design isn’t to be original, but to speak a message effectively.

If a highly original design does it, so much the better. But sometimes the traditional is all you need.

4. Pay attention to the details:

One crucial part of learning to see differently is the importance of details. A great designer has the ability to recognize when changing things “just so” will take a design from good to brilliant.

5. Keep exploring:

In the end, a designer always needs to keep exploring, to learn new things, to learn new ways of seeing, or to relearn old ways. Exploring is what keeps things feeling new, regardless of how many times you’ve layed out a page or designed a logo. What are you waiting for? Go explore something!

#All images excerpted from It’s a Magical World by Bill Watterson.

Source:Even if creativity is all about hiding your resources, I am giving you source of the adapted post: The Calvin & Hobbes Super-Stupendous Guide to Design By Joshua. I like this article because of its originality and a keen emphasis on explaining the design as child's play. From now on, Bill Watterson (the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes ) is god to me and Calvin & Hobbes as will form holy trinity with him. Thanks to Nimmy for providing link to such a simple and beautiful article.I have also experimented with blog and make it colourful.

Random Thoughts of Day/Night-2

-Fractured consciousness knows no medical relief.

-Most people have no knowledge of their history. They only live it.

-Freedom of expression is the mark of a modern community, not buildings or technologies.

-We are from a generation who don't know libraries but know what torrents are.

-No man wants to taste lipstick when he kisses a girl.

-What you did yesterday stays with you today--- existence precedes essence (Jean Paul Sartre)

-To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

-All things were together.Then the mind came and arranged them. —Anaxagoras

-Violence is taboo, for not only does it produce answers to please, but it lowers the standard of information. - Col. Robin Stephens

-People who give & are involved in a purpose that is greater than themselves are the happiest people & live the richest & most meaningful lives imaginable. - Cynthia Kersey

Moving Images, Blogging People !!!

Courtesy to given blog for taking images without permission.For those interested in why not to twitter, read this blog entry...

Chicken a la Carte

Director:Ferdinand Dimadura
Genre:Drama
Produced In:2005

Synopsis: This film is about the hunger and poverty brought about by Globalization. There are 10,000 people dying everyday due to hunger and malnutrition. This short film shows a forgotten portion of the society. The people who live on the refuse of men to survive. What is inspiring is the hope and spirituality that never left this people.

View this video at its original weblink.

Love Story

I read blogs of thousand bloggers (mostly females) who write so beautifully about love that I envy them. They are so lucky for having love in the life. I never write about love in this blog because I don't have one & have no clue about my love. For a change on this blog, A love story from my favorite movie, Cinema Paradiso...

A:--- Once upon a time, a king gave a feast. And there came the most beautiful princesses of the realm. Now, a soldier, who was standing guard, saw the king's daughter go by. She was the most beautiful one, and he immediately fell in love with her. But what could a poor soldier do when it came to the daughter of the king? Well, finally, one day, he managed to meet her, and he told her that he could no longer live without her. The princess was so impressed by his strong feelings that she said to the soldier: "If you can wait 100 days and 100 nights under my balcony, then at the end of it, I shall be yours." Damn! The soldier immediately went there and waited one day. And two days. And ten. And then twenty. And every evening, the princess looked out of her window, but he never moved. During rain, during wind, during snow, he was always there. The bird shat on his head, and the bees stung him, but he didn't budge. After ninety nights, he had become all dried up, all white, and the tears streamed from his eyes. He couldn't hold them back. He no longer had the strength to sleep. All that time, the princess watched him. And on the 99th night, the soldier stood up, took his chair, and went away.

T:---[later in the film, T gives A his interpretation] ...In one more night, the princess would have been his. But she also could not possibly have kept her promise. And it would have been terrible. He would have died. This way, however, at least for 99 days, he was living under the illusion that she was there, waiting for him.

Yayaver's Interpretation:---[Never asked but writing here] Soldier went away because he want to give the feeling of his pain & waiting forever to princess. The princess may or may not have accepted him but the reason of soldier leaving her on the 99th night would have haunted her whole life.

Now, its your chance to write your interpretation. Please put your words in the comments.

I secretly admire Bong Culture !!!

Note:I am not Bong. This article is written not to provoke any regionalism feelings. Just an opinion which comes out of respect for a community...

I have strong dislike against CPI party rule over Bengal. I feel Bongs as radical and Tamils as conservative that represents extreme ends of the Indian culture. I am fan of Kerala as a well governed state. Kerala is a marginalized state in India who has challenged the false concept of high population as reason of illiteracy. But I admire Bong Culture more.

This feeling was ignited when I see a original copy of Tagore's work in German published in 1904 still preserved at small city of Germany. Then, a passion to discover about their culture has reached to this final conclusion. I don't have any strong affection or even interaction with their bong culture. Check our history only, Politics, Games, Religion, Cinema, Economy, Literature and Social Reform etc all the fields was pioneered by few bongs in new direction. I was amused by the ability of a non Hindi speaking community to have such a mass effect in our country. I had written previous line specifically because Hindi is dominating over regional languages day by day. Today I will speak in the praise of Bongs only. For readers brief introduction,they can go through...

Also Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down Moments for West Bengal.
West Bengal : 60 Years of State

How do I know so much about Bengal without setting foot on that land. Simple by reading and analyzing their mindset. They have image of Bhadrapurush outside Bengal and non negotiable persons inside Bengal. Now, an article whose heading should be altered to You like Bongs if....

Waiting for Gurudev:

Once upon a time there was a poet named Rabindranath Tagore born in our motherland. He speak the enlightening truth in his poems, plays, stories and novels. He was a poet, visual artist, playwright, novelist, educationist, social reformer, nationalist, business-manager and composer whose works reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tagore's life work endures, in the form of his poetry and the institution he founded, Visva-Bharati University.

In the words of renowned film maker, Ritwik Ghatak "I cannot speak without him. That man has culled all my feelings long before my birth. He has understood what I mean and he has put in all the words. I read and find that all been said and I have nothing new to say. I think all artists, Bengal at least; find themselves in the same difficulty. It just cannot be helped. You can be angry with him, you can criticize him, you may dislike him, but ultimately, in the final analysis, you will find that he has the last word."

He has changed thinking of Bengal from then. He was an integrated part of Bengal Renaissance that has changed our society for ever. He transformed India and Bengal becomes one of the most inspiring intellectual center of our country. I want this change all over India...

Now, I am thinking about this enlightened person as seed of great intellectual revolution. I am feeling sad these days on realizing the decay of Hindi literature and language in Hindi speaking belt. I desperately want a Rabindranath Tagore for revival of mine language which has been dumped and destroyed in the name of creativity by Bollywood. Hence, waiting for new Gurudev for mine people who are doomed in leg pulling politics only and mocked as citizen of Cow belt region and bhaiyaji by our English media....

Open Your Eyes

With 'Lyrics of life ', A blog devoted to the poetry only is started by me. I will try to transfer all of mine favorite poems from my blog into this to give it more space and voice. And for reading purpose, here comes a good post.

1- If Lahore is Pak’s soul, and Islamabad its mind, then Karachi—in all its scrappy glory—is Pakistan’s guts. I consider Pakistanis as our brothers whose fate is inter twisted with us. Taliban has grown so much that even journalist fear to venture in SWAT valley. Journalists don’t talk about fear much. It goes against the grain of the culture; the lone wolf, the impassive observer, the tough guy in tough places telling tough truths. Are they slave of our own public images? Then change your perspective by reading e-magazine by Pulitzer center on crisis reporting. 'Killing Fields' film is must watch for everyone who wants to witness the cruelty of genocide and war.

#The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper journalism, literature and musical composition.

2- For generations, people who would now be termed ‘Islamophobes’ have recounted a striking fable about Islamists and irony. It takes place at the ancient world’s great receptacle of wisdom, the library of Alexandria. When a Muslim commander ordered his men to raze the site, some of them demurred. “Surely”, the dissenters responded, “it is not right to wantonly destroy these books?”. Their leader disagreed: “Either the books will contradict the Koran”, he told them, “in which case they are heresy; or they will agree with it, in which case they are superfluous”. This is a mythical story told to put us in wrong perspective against Islam. Read further in this topic in “Has Islam a Place in a Modern World?”

3-The success of US model is assembling persons or attracting brain power from different parts of the world and yet maintain the dialogue between them in one language. The one language concept is opposition of diversity but it helps in communicating across the language barrier of intellectuals belonging to different country.There past and connection to other world nourished the diversity factor needed for healthy debate in the society.But have you ever hear of Child labor in America. Go through this blog post and discover ugly side of the U.S.A.

Tuning the media to science

Speech addressed by Professor Yash Pal,Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University at Indian academy of social sciences October 5, 2007. (Original Link)

There was a time when we dreamt that someday we would have a countrywide TV channel that would be primarily used for education and science communication. This was also the time when we were preparing for the “satellite instructional television experiment”. At that time a foreign interlocutor once asked me whether we would be able to have programs like those on American network television. My reply was that perhaps we could but that would be a tragedy because we had different values and different needs. Perhaps the tragedy i talked about is already upon us – and with a vengeance. indeed we have gone much beyond the state of American TV in brainwashing people into buying goods, services and a great deal of tinsel. In the process of doing that with much song and dance, movie clips and news of crime, murder and corruption we do not have time for any serious thinking or analysis. TV programmers always ask for bytes and not any engagement with subject matter. All possibilities of understanding are scrupulously avoided because audiences tuned in that direction might even begin to question the veracity of the sales pitch that forms the backbone of the program. There is a great deal of mythology, very little historicity. great wonders of technology are sometimes introduced with a clear message that only demigods abroad can produce them and there is little point in understanding their soul. in any case any attempt at explanation is considered too lengthy, or boring, to be included in the programs.

All deficiencies in this regard may not be intentional. It is possible that most on them arise from an aberration that is common to our school education. We believe that education is belittled when connected with common concerns and curiosities of ordinary people outside the school. Because of this mind set we have tended to create two categories of knowledge. One is that of vernacular knowledge that is current outside the school and the other that is uncontaminated by outside and works and operates only within the school. Thus the school learning is largely discipline bound while innate curiosity of humans is not restricted by any such boundaries, because living itself is not. This mindset has done tremendous damage to school teaching. Not only to school teaching but all education. it has restricted the use of formal learning to problems of life and it has made the process of learning boring and bereft of joy. Children’s spontaneous curiosity is curbed to inculcate a belief that every thing is not to be understood. In this atmosphere superstitions and gullibility flower. Astrology has tremendous ascendance. Idols begin drinking milk. Dirty, polluted sea water at a sea beach begins to taste pure and sweet after a heavy rain. Images of gods seem to be seen in weathering marks on buildings. A pattern on an old tree trunk and its branches is seen as a signal for special appearance of gods.

I am not against mythology. Mythology represents creative layering of a society’s imagination and wonder. We cannot define human collectivities without their mythologies but we find it difficult to distinguish between historicity and mythology. Often times mythology gives a more endearing portrait of a society than history but history is history and cannot and should not be thrown away.

Let me share some personal experiences of science communication that I have found rewarding. The year was 1973 and we had to start planning the production of science programs for children for the forthcoming Satellite instructional television experiment. The audience was to be the school children in some of the most backward villages of India. By that time I had come to believe that science is learnt best through the discovery approach. After going around thousands of the target schools I felt extremely discouraged because none of these schools had even a rudiment of a laboratory. After months of agonosing thought and reflection i made a discovery! These schools might not have had formal laboratories but they were actually living within a gigantic laboratory all around them. The farms, hills, ponds, fruit trees, and of course the home kitchens, the bullock carts and bicycles, their flying kites and footballs could all be considered as components of a laboratory available to all. This emphasis persuaded me to frame a credo for our programs: Science is everywhere around us, to be experimented with and learnt from, and through the method of science this environment could be better understood and influenced. With the help of a number of friends all around the world we prepared a large number of briefs that young producers fresh from the film institute learnt to convert into programs. It was an exciting program and eminently successful.

Finally, I would like to share the rich experience of working with the television series “Turning Point”. I am amazed that more than a decade after that program was terminated, college students, even some school students and many of their teachers remember that program with great affection. In terms of its trip it was second only to the serial Ramayana that was running at that time. How come that a science program developed such an appeal? It is possible that there was an advantage in not having so many commercial channels to compete with. But none of the commercial channels have come up to offer any thing of that interest?

Turning Point was done in the company of a number of wonderful producers. There were several occasions when after going through a shining script I was forced to ask: “So what? What is that small bit of understanding that you are trying to get across?” if no positive answer emerged the script was revised or rejected. I do believe that such a demand was new in Indian program-making. In addition I started to answer questions from the audience. Pretty soon, there was a flood. I insisted that I would like to entertain questions that children and others in the audience had discovered. The questions kept coming, presenting me with much challenge, learning and enjoyment. There was a time when we were getting three to four hundred letters a day, mostly postcards from towns and villages spread across the country. These questions really tested me, but they also convinced me that true knowledge is built only on observation, perception, wonder and self-learning. I did not address questions whose answers could be easily looked up in textbooks. It was clear that the greatest interest lay in the world beyond those books, because the children sensed that their curiosity and confusion was somehow outside the ambit of what could be formulated as an intelligent school question. Most teachers I met seemed to agree with students – they accepted that the questions were not “school” questions. They either infringed the boundaries of syllabus or of the discipline being taught.

At the time I was engaged in this exercise, it was hard fun. But even now, years after that program ended, young teachers, researchers and students keep telling me that the reason they took to science and engineering was because of Turning Point! When asked about the reason for their remembering that program, they often turn around and say: “Sir, don’t you know, we are the Turning Point generation.” while there must be a strong element of courtesy in their remarks, perhaps something special was triggered through the efforts and insight of the production team lead by the executive producer Naazish Hussaini. I certainly learnt a great deal about the nature of our education in schools and colleges. Primarily, I learnt that we need to make the walls between disciplines porous, that learning from life and learning in schools must be connected, that contextual relevance is important to make learning and living more enjoyable and creative.

My question is why such programming cannot become the norm. Can we persuade the present day commercial media to go in that direction? At least the state supported channel that was subverted into going the way of the commercial channels can be brought back. The discoveries made were not personally mine. They belonged to the teams involved. Such teams should still be possible. I am delighted that this approach to science and education has been strongly supported by the National Curriculum Framework – 95. I recommend that every one connected with education, particularly science education – at any level – would gain by going through the documents of NCF – 95.