Yaksha: Who is really a helpful companion?
Yudhisthira: Steady intelligence is a very good friend and can save one from all dangers.
Yaksha: How can one acquire something very great?
Yudhisthira: Everything desirable can be attained by the performance of austerity.
Yaksha: What is amrita (nectar)?
Yudhisthira: Milk is just like nectar.
Yaksha: What is the friend bestowed upon man by the demigods?
Yudhisthira: Wife is such a friend.
Yaksha: What is the best of happiness?
Yudhisthira: True happiness comes as a result of contentment.
Yaksha: Why does one give in charity to brahmanas, artists, servants and kings?
Yudhisthira: For religious merit, prestige, maintenance and protection, respectively.
Yaksha: Why does one forsake friends?
Yudhisthira: Lust and greed drives one to forsake friends.
Yaksha: What is the only food?
Yudhisthira: The cow is the only food, for the milk that she produces is used to make ghee, which is used to perform sacrifices, pleased by which the demigods give rain, which causes the grains to grow. Therefore it should be understood that the cow is the root cause of all kinds of food.
Yaksha: What is the king of knowledge?
Yudhisthira: Knowledge pertaining to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the king of all kinds of knowledge.
Yaksha: What is ignorance?
Yudhisthira: Not knowing one's constitutional duty.
Yaksha: What is the best bath?
Yudhisthira: That which cleanses the mind of all impurities.
Yaksha: What is real charity?
Yudhisthira: Real charity is protecting one from the onslaughts of material nature.
Yaksha: Since dharma (virtue), artha (profit) and kama (desire) are opposed to each other, how can they co-exist harmoniously?
Yudhisthira: These three become congenial to one another when one has a virtuous wife.
Yaksha: Who is condemned to everlasting hell?
Yudhisthira: When one promise a brahmana charity but upon his arrival refuses to give him charity.
Yaksha: What make one a brahmana, birth, learning or behavior?
Yudhisthira: It is behavior alone that make a person a brahmana. Even if one who is expert in the four Vedas, born of brahmana parents, but whose behavior is not proper should be considered a sudra.
Yaksha: Who is pleasing?
Yudhisthira: A person who speaks in a pleasing manner.
Finally the Yaksha asked Yudhisthira four questions of great significance;
Yaksha: Who is truly happy?
Yudhisthira: One who cooks his own food (is not dependant on anyone), is not a debtor (does not spend more than he can afford), does not have to leave home to make in order to earn his livelihood (does not over endeavor for material things) is truly happy.
Yaksha: What is the most wonderful thing?
Yudhisthira: The most amazing thing is that even though every day one sees countless living entities dying, he still acts and thinks as if he will live forever.
Yaksha: What is the real path to follow in this life?
Yudhisthira: The best path is to follow in the footsteps of the pure devotees, for they are the actual Mahajanas (Great Persons) whose hearts are the sitting places of the real truths regarding religion.
Yaksha: What is news? (that is What is real situation in the material world?)
Yudhisthira: The material world is like a frying pan. The Sun is the fire, the day and nights are the fuel. The passing seasons are the stirring ladle and time is cook. All living entities are being thus fried in this pan. This is the real news of what is happening in the material world which is a miserable place full of ignorance.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Yaksha Prashna -1
What is weightier than earth? Mother
What is taller than the sky? Father
What is faster than the wind? Mind
What is more numerous than grass? Thoughts
By renouncing what does one become loved? Pride
By renouncing what is one free of sorrow? Anger
By renouncing what does one become wealthy? Desire
By renouncing what does one become happy? Greed
Who is the friend of a traveller? A companion
Who is the friend of a householder? A spouse
Who is the friend of the sick? A doctor
Who is the friend of the dying? His charity
What treasure is the best? Skill
What wealth is the best? Education
What is the greatest gain? Health
And the greatest happiness? Contentment
What is a man's self? His progeny
Who is his God-given friend? His wife
What supports his life? Rain
What is his principal duty? Charity
What makes the sun rise? Brahma
Who moves around him? Gods
What causes the sun to set? Dharma
How is he held firm? Truth
What is taller than the sky? Father
What is faster than the wind? Mind
What is more numerous than grass? Thoughts
By renouncing what does one become loved? Pride
By renouncing what is one free of sorrow? Anger
By renouncing what does one become wealthy? Desire
By renouncing what does one become happy? Greed
Who is the friend of a traveller? A companion
Who is the friend of a householder? A spouse
Who is the friend of the sick? A doctor
Who is the friend of the dying? His charity
What treasure is the best? Skill
What wealth is the best? Education
What is the greatest gain? Health
And the greatest happiness? Contentment
What is a man's self? His progeny
Who is his God-given friend? His wife
What supports his life? Rain
What is his principal duty? Charity
What makes the sun rise? Brahma
Who moves around him? Gods
What causes the sun to set? Dharma
How is he held firm? Truth
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Looking deep into Indian Cinema - 1
Cinema is like an art that inspires you to look at the deeper aspects of life and the world around you. Bollywood Films are merely treated as entertainment dose, served to people on Fridays. People enjoy the fast food and then forgot about it completely. And Response to an accusation of unoriginality or escapism and false depiction of society is a ridiculous justification by our leading filmmakers. They are making films for the enetertainment of masses irrespective of any responsibility towards anything. Anuj Malhotra answers our basic question about bollywood: Who are we making films for then? Aren’t these films hits? If they are not made for anyone, how are they so successful?
He narrates a story - In a city by the river, there was a factory – run entirely by people who were handicapped. They run machines incessantly throughout the day – never pausing for a break until the close of day, which was when they lined the gate of the factory – tired, exhausted to the extent that they could not see – and waiting for someone to lead them to their homes. At the precise moment, the owner of a liquor shop by the roadside would arrive at the scene, and with the false promising of helping them reach their homes, lead them to his liquor shop. Tired, they would fall prey to the temptations of the beverage, and having spent their entire daily earning on the liquor, would tumble outside the bar on the road, or be pushed outside by the owner; never making it till their homes. Ofcourse, some one could have led the tired, blind men to their homes as well.
One may ask here- The liquor joint was successful- A major hit. But didn’t it involve immoral exploitation of a group of people who did not have the luxury of the possession of better judgement?
When a person’s blind, and open to such exploitation, do you exploit them, or do you take them home? The Bollywood chooses the former. The commercial success of a few films should not mask the reality of the situation – 9 out of the 120 or so films released last year were hits. Bollywood’s ignorance of the world we live in, or its discussion, is not something beyond notice for the audience. [Source]
Truly, the average person doesn't care about editing or cinematography. They want only entertainment as kid, uncritical or thoughtlessly accepting. In sports, people are proud of their technical knowledge of game and respect commentators who are aware of each aspect of game. Then why not in movies. In cinema, intelligence is vilified and film education so undervalued that those who teach about it considered arrogant. We should respect differing opinions up to certain point, and then it's time for the wise to blow the whistle.
Cinema and popularity
Roger Ebert put in effective way: [Source]
"What I believe is that all clear-minded people should remain two things throughout their lifetimes: Curious and teachable. If someone I respect tells me I must take a closer look at the films of Abbas Kiarostami, I will take that seriously. If someone says the kung-fu movies of the 1970s, which I used for our old Dog of the Week segments, deserve serious consideration, I will listen. I will try to do what Pauline Kael said she did: Take everything you are, and all the films you've seen, into the theater. See the film, and decide if anything has changed. The older you are and the more films you've seen, the more you take into the theater. When I had been a film critic for ten minutes, I treated Doris Day as a target for cheap shots. I have learned enough to say today that the woman was remarkably gifted."
He further quotes Yeats that the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. No wonder, It pays better.
He narrates a story - In a city by the river, there was a factory – run entirely by people who were handicapped. They run machines incessantly throughout the day – never pausing for a break until the close of day, which was when they lined the gate of the factory – tired, exhausted to the extent that they could not see – and waiting for someone to lead them to their homes. At the precise moment, the owner of a liquor shop by the roadside would arrive at the scene, and with the false promising of helping them reach their homes, lead them to his liquor shop. Tired, they would fall prey to the temptations of the beverage, and having spent their entire daily earning on the liquor, would tumble outside the bar on the road, or be pushed outside by the owner; never making it till their homes. Ofcourse, some one could have led the tired, blind men to their homes as well.
One may ask here- The liquor joint was successful- A major hit. But didn’t it involve immoral exploitation of a group of people who did not have the luxury of the possession of better judgement?
When a person’s blind, and open to such exploitation, do you exploit them, or do you take them home? The Bollywood chooses the former. The commercial success of a few films should not mask the reality of the situation – 9 out of the 120 or so films released last year were hits. Bollywood’s ignorance of the world we live in, or its discussion, is not something beyond notice for the audience. [Source]
Truly, the average person doesn't care about editing or cinematography. They want only entertainment as kid, uncritical or thoughtlessly accepting. In sports, people are proud of their technical knowledge of game and respect commentators who are aware of each aspect of game. Then why not in movies. In cinema, intelligence is vilified and film education so undervalued that those who teach about it considered arrogant. We should respect differing opinions up to certain point, and then it's time for the wise to blow the whistle.
Cinema and popularity
Roger Ebert put in effective way: [Source]
"What I believe is that all clear-minded people should remain two things throughout their lifetimes: Curious and teachable. If someone I respect tells me I must take a closer look at the films of Abbas Kiarostami, I will take that seriously. If someone says the kung-fu movies of the 1970s, which I used for our old Dog of the Week segments, deserve serious consideration, I will listen. I will try to do what Pauline Kael said she did: Take everything you are, and all the films you've seen, into the theater. See the film, and decide if anything has changed. The older you are and the more films you've seen, the more you take into the theater. When I had been a film critic for ten minutes, I treated Doris Day as a target for cheap shots. I have learned enough to say today that the woman was remarkably gifted."
He further quotes Yeats that the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. No wonder, It pays better.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Enter the devil : Bt- Brinjal
The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) on Wednesday approved the environmental release of Bt brinjal. Several studies on Bt crops in particular and GM crops in general show that there are many potential health hazards in foods bio-engineered in this manner. [Briefing Paper]
Dr Pushpa Bhargava, a renowned molecular biologist and founder director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB)was instructed by the Supreme Court of India to look into the method of approval of GM crops into India, is asking. Dr Bhargava examined the current procedures adopted by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) and was shocked to note that this Committee was approving applications based upon trials conducted by the seed companies. He has called for a moratorium on the entire approval process. [Source]
Kamalakar Duvvuru voices out following fact for wake up call.
Subsidies given by Developed Nations:
"Despite preaching the “benefits” of “free” trade in agriculture, US, EU, Japan and other industrialized countries continue to skew their farm subsidies so heavily in favor of their biggest agricultural producers. From 1995 to 2006 USDA provided $177 billion in subsidy to its farmers. Top 10% of the agricultural producers received 74% of the total amount. During this period US government provided nearly one billion dollar subsidy to just three American rice growers. Rice is staple food for nearly 3.7 billion Asians. Nobel Prize winner in economics Joseph Stiglitz described the United States Farm Bill as “the perfect illustration of the Bush administration’s hypocrisy on trade liberalization.”
In 2004 EU paid its biggest 2,460 farmers on average $667,000 each, or $1.7 billion in total. In Germany, 14% of the biggest farm producers got 65% of all payments; in France, 29% of the biggest farm producers got 72% of all payments; in UK, 31% of the biggest farm producers got 84% of all payments; and in Italy, 1.6% of the biggest farm producers got 34% of all payments.
These figures make a mockery of claims that the US Farm Bill and EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are geared toward small farmers and rural development. This huge subsidy allows food cartel to sell rice, wheat and other staple foods at very low price to dominate global food market. This displaces local production of basic foodstuffs and farming livelihoods in developing countries. “These subsidies continue to promote over-production and dumping, hurting poor farmers in developing countries,” said Luis Morago, Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair spokesperson. He further said, “Europe’s common agricultural policy and the US Farm Bill continue to ignore small farmers at home and cripple poorer farmers abroad.”
Big MNC's playing dirty:
Monsanto owns the patent on Bt cotton. In 2005 approximately 1.26 million hectares, and in 2006 nearly 3.28 million hectares of land in India was under Bt cotton cultivation. Farmers who buy GM seeds enter into a licensing agreement with Monsanto for the use of that particular gene and the company prescribed fertilizer. They are forbidden from saving seeds for the next season. They must buy new seed from the company each season. This denies farmers’ right to save seed. The implications of this are huge for poor farmers. Saved seed is the one resource that the poor farmers depend upon to carry them through the year. Denial of this right will greatly impact them economically. For they have to pay more each season to buy new seed. Monsanto is now charging 1850 Indian rupees per 450 gram pack of Bt cotton seeds as compared to 38 Indian rupees charged in China for the same quantity. In India, the price for non-Bt cotton variety is at 450 to 500 Indian rupees. India has recently allowed field trials of GM varieties of rice, brinjal and groundnut.
Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs):
Introduction of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) has become an increasingly important source of competitive advantage and accumulation in the production and trade of agricultural goods. This has resulted in the increasing concentration of control over seeds and other resources in a few transnational companies. The IPR owners, usually transnational companies, can prevent others from producing or selling the seeds or plant varieties over which they own the rights. They can set prices or royalties on the seeds, and terms and conditions for use of the seeds and inputs. This not only denies the right of farmers to save seeds for the next season, but also forces them to depend on transnational companies for seeds and inputs. With raising prices of seeds and inputs, coupled with prevention of saving seeds, small scale farmers become vulnerable whether there is bumper crop, or failure or low yield. In times of bumper crop, they get lower price for their produce, and in times of failure or low yield they incur loss. But the farming costs keep rising.
Because of their sheer size and assurance of huge financial returns due to IPRs, transnational companies are increasingly engaged in agro-biotechnology research. As the goal of companies is profit, their research and production efforts tend to focus on only a few crops, thus weakening biodiversity and sustainability caused by expanding monoculture in food production. The consequences are terrible on “minor crops”, which are commercially not profitable for the companies.
With the trends towards strengthening IPR systems worldwide (and in India), there is an increasing ability of agribusiness companies privatizing genetic resources and agricultural knowledge. The tendency will be to focus on research on lucrative developing country markets, rather than developing country needs. Therefore, IPRs are not designed to respond to socio-economic concerns such as food security of developing countries, or to protect the livelihoods of landless and small scale farmers, but to promote the greed of agribusiness companies at the expense of landless and small scale famers in these countries. Thus, IPRs can impede progress towards sustainability, food security and distributive justice.
Dr Pushpa Bhargava, a renowned molecular biologist and founder director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB)was instructed by the Supreme Court of India to look into the method of approval of GM crops into India, is asking. Dr Bhargava examined the current procedures adopted by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) and was shocked to note that this Committee was approving applications based upon trials conducted by the seed companies. He has called for a moratorium on the entire approval process. [Source]
Kamalakar Duvvuru voices out following fact for wake up call.
Subsidies given by Developed Nations:
"Despite preaching the “benefits” of “free” trade in agriculture, US, EU, Japan and other industrialized countries continue to skew their farm subsidies so heavily in favor of their biggest agricultural producers. From 1995 to 2006 USDA provided $177 billion in subsidy to its farmers. Top 10% of the agricultural producers received 74% of the total amount. During this period US government provided nearly one billion dollar subsidy to just three American rice growers. Rice is staple food for nearly 3.7 billion Asians. Nobel Prize winner in economics Joseph Stiglitz described the United States Farm Bill as “the perfect illustration of the Bush administration’s hypocrisy on trade liberalization.”
In 2004 EU paid its biggest 2,460 farmers on average $667,000 each, or $1.7 billion in total. In Germany, 14% of the biggest farm producers got 65% of all payments; in France, 29% of the biggest farm producers got 72% of all payments; in UK, 31% of the biggest farm producers got 84% of all payments; and in Italy, 1.6% of the biggest farm producers got 34% of all payments.
These figures make a mockery of claims that the US Farm Bill and EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are geared toward small farmers and rural development. This huge subsidy allows food cartel to sell rice, wheat and other staple foods at very low price to dominate global food market. This displaces local production of basic foodstuffs and farming livelihoods in developing countries. “These subsidies continue to promote over-production and dumping, hurting poor farmers in developing countries,” said Luis Morago, Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair spokesperson. He further said, “Europe’s common agricultural policy and the US Farm Bill continue to ignore small farmers at home and cripple poorer farmers abroad.”
Big MNC's playing dirty:
Monsanto owns the patent on Bt cotton. In 2005 approximately 1.26 million hectares, and in 2006 nearly 3.28 million hectares of land in India was under Bt cotton cultivation. Farmers who buy GM seeds enter into a licensing agreement with Monsanto for the use of that particular gene and the company prescribed fertilizer. They are forbidden from saving seeds for the next season. They must buy new seed from the company each season. This denies farmers’ right to save seed. The implications of this are huge for poor farmers. Saved seed is the one resource that the poor farmers depend upon to carry them through the year. Denial of this right will greatly impact them economically. For they have to pay more each season to buy new seed. Monsanto is now charging 1850 Indian rupees per 450 gram pack of Bt cotton seeds as compared to 38 Indian rupees charged in China for the same quantity. In India, the price for non-Bt cotton variety is at 450 to 500 Indian rupees. India has recently allowed field trials of GM varieties of rice, brinjal and groundnut.
Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs):
Introduction of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) has become an increasingly important source of competitive advantage and accumulation in the production and trade of agricultural goods. This has resulted in the increasing concentration of control over seeds and other resources in a few transnational companies. The IPR owners, usually transnational companies, can prevent others from producing or selling the seeds or plant varieties over which they own the rights. They can set prices or royalties on the seeds, and terms and conditions for use of the seeds and inputs. This not only denies the right of farmers to save seeds for the next season, but also forces them to depend on transnational companies for seeds and inputs. With raising prices of seeds and inputs, coupled with prevention of saving seeds, small scale farmers become vulnerable whether there is bumper crop, or failure or low yield. In times of bumper crop, they get lower price for their produce, and in times of failure or low yield they incur loss. But the farming costs keep rising.
Because of their sheer size and assurance of huge financial returns due to IPRs, transnational companies are increasingly engaged in agro-biotechnology research. As the goal of companies is profit, their research and production efforts tend to focus on only a few crops, thus weakening biodiversity and sustainability caused by expanding monoculture in food production. The consequences are terrible on “minor crops”, which are commercially not profitable for the companies.
With the trends towards strengthening IPR systems worldwide (and in India), there is an increasing ability of agribusiness companies privatizing genetic resources and agricultural knowledge. The tendency will be to focus on research on lucrative developing country markets, rather than developing country needs. Therefore, IPRs are not designed to respond to socio-economic concerns such as food security of developing countries, or to protect the livelihoods of landless and small scale farmers, but to promote the greed of agribusiness companies at the expense of landless and small scale famers in these countries. Thus, IPRs can impede progress towards sustainability, food security and distributive justice.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Vichaar Shoonya + 2
On the profound truth which is a hybrid of reality and mythology, There's no one truth & On telling stories ;
What Have We Done to Democracy? - by Arundhati Roy
Does the Internet spread democracy? - by Evgeny Morozov
India’s Maoist dilemma: the case of Lalgarh by Aaradhana Jhunjhunwala
A Former Street Kid Sizes Up 'Slumdog Millionaire'
Rashmi Bansal's Talk at IIT-Kgp covered by a blogger.
Thought of the Day:
“You see with your eyes, you hear with the sense of your hearing, you feel with your sense of touch, and all these senses are nothing but functions of your mind which is nothing but a thought which in turn is just an idea… so if you close your eyes and go to sleep the world ceases to exist and when you wake up it comes back in different shapes and forms to every living being on the earth.” – Arthur Schopenhauer (The World As Will and Idea)
What Have We Done to Democracy? - by Arundhati Roy
Does the Internet spread democracy? - by Evgeny Morozov
India’s Maoist dilemma: the case of Lalgarh by Aaradhana Jhunjhunwala
A Former Street Kid Sizes Up 'Slumdog Millionaire'
Rashmi Bansal's Talk at IIT-Kgp covered by a blogger.
Thought of the Day:
“You see with your eyes, you hear with the sense of your hearing, you feel with your sense of touch, and all these senses are nothing but functions of your mind which is nothing but a thought which in turn is just an idea… so if you close your eyes and go to sleep the world ceases to exist and when you wake up it comes back in different shapes and forms to every living being on the earth.” – Arthur Schopenhauer (The World As Will and Idea)
Thursday, October 8, 2009
The great Indian PORN show
Porn is entertaining for few of us. But, the question here arises that can entertainment be served as porn ?
Reality Shows:
"A participant performs the ultimate act of pornography as he disrobes himself in full public view of all that he considers most intimate, stripping himself of not only dignity and self-respect but dismantling in the process, the trust he evokes from those he loves most. We watch in voyeuristic disbelief, with a combination of fascination, horror, guilt and smug superiority at someone's else's misery. It is a spectacle only when participants disclose something scandalous." Santosh Desai (Source)
Society has been constructed in the manner in which relationships are not based on absolute honesty. In fact they are based on insulation of an individuals real feelings from all. A little privacy is given to each of us so that intimacy can be hidden for the greater good. If a person needs to confess to his beloved ones, he / she should tell them in private, not because money involved in it. And I have written about it long back ago.
Television:
Showing interest in the personal lives or lifestyle of celebrities are favourite prime time of our television. TV shows end up ultimately with sex,vulgar,gossips and this idiotic things which are not done for only money to few well elite's greed of money. These have already lost any interest for family or social values. In the name of freedom and choice they want to put the voyeuristic interest to others.
We have in effect created a market for preying on someone else's personal misery. Pimps and prostitutes are jumping on the Television for their greed of quick money and we sit numb and turned into something worse than eunuchs. We behave as self-indulgent audience of consumers who wanted to be entertained no matter what the cost to characters.
Television by virtue of lacking depth and being located in real time allows for no introspection. It does not allow you to interact and alter the content. We represent just a vote or 'a sms' to them. We flick from channel to channel and rest our eyes on whatever stimulates us. We are swept away by its combined force while retaining the illusion that we are in control. We keep talking about how we should change the channel if we don't like what we see without acknowledging how the channel is changing us.
Media:
"What the media basically does is, it just strips everybody and makes money out it. The only difference between a strip-teaser and the media is that a strip-teaser bares herself so that others can enjoy her and give money, and the media strips others so that some others can enjoy and give them the money." - RGV (Source)
Porn business is in full flow and stripping each value what our society believes in. For the sake of adventure and quick fame, people are turning towards fake family shows, reality shows and entertaining news channels...
News channels have huge ability to make something out of nothing, make your emotion rush. It’s the height of manipulation. Few video clips from youtube, images from google search, music from here and there with a non sense story is the prime time coverage of news channel.The word 'Exclusive' and 'Breaking news' have lost their significance due to constant repeatable use at every hour. Even Images, ads and videos are created and seen more from the point of view of consumerism than as an expression of ideas. The media in India loves to speculate because they are constantly in need of stories. The manipulation of your emotions with back script music, melodrama and biasing makes you not a viewer but a potential consumer. The pre conceived notion of entertainment is gone. TV channels are not in our hands, we are in theirs..
Honesty is important, but not at the cost of entertainment. There's a fine line between portraying reality and stereotyping. The problems of our nation like poverty, hunger, illiteracy, naxalism, unemployment, corruption and natural disaster. We readily import the nuisance but always shrug off to import cleanliness, honesty, patriotism, sacrifice etc. because these need to come out the closet of A/C rooms of these people and need very hard work which these people are not used to.
It’s the manipulation and unreliability of methods media use to determine what people want and label as TRP ratings. What media should fix is error in the systems, not the society. Media is trying to reconfigure society by exposing the hypocrisy of others. But media itself has little understanding or control over its own actions. You will be labeled as dictator or censor on talking about self regulation. What a pity..
West:
The West is entranced by India's poverty and filth- that's the USP of India for them. Slumdog Millionaire represents the 'poverty porn' (word first coined by Times reviewer only). They don't want to show us just who we 'really' are or positive achievements but show how our lives are growing materialistic and controversial. And our our elites are clones of the modernized west.
Conclusion:
TV shows or media is not interested in the truth but specifically seeks that truth which will cause damage to the individual's self esteem and poison relationships. Children are treated as Mini adults if they are potential consumers or just neglected completely. Our society has taken voyeuristic path and children turning on to the habits of adults. People love to see other's in pain. People want to breathe a live of luxury and flamboyancy with the route of credit also. The luxury industries is doing what it takes to cater to the whims & fancies of rising class. The aspirational lifestyle doesn't limited to material objects but it has evolved into unique and personal experiences. Really rich exploit the proletariat in much the same way as the men exploit animals.
Reality Shows:
"A participant performs the ultimate act of pornography as he disrobes himself in full public view of all that he considers most intimate, stripping himself of not only dignity and self-respect but dismantling in the process, the trust he evokes from those he loves most. We watch in voyeuristic disbelief, with a combination of fascination, horror, guilt and smug superiority at someone's else's misery. It is a spectacle only when participants disclose something scandalous." Santosh Desai (Source)
Society has been constructed in the manner in which relationships are not based on absolute honesty. In fact they are based on insulation of an individuals real feelings from all. A little privacy is given to each of us so that intimacy can be hidden for the greater good. If a person needs to confess to his beloved ones, he / she should tell them in private, not because money involved in it. And I have written about it long back ago.
Television:
Showing interest in the personal lives or lifestyle of celebrities are favourite prime time of our television. TV shows end up ultimately with sex,vulgar,gossips and this idiotic things which are not done for only money to few well elite's greed of money. These have already lost any interest for family or social values. In the name of freedom and choice they want to put the voyeuristic interest to others.
We have in effect created a market for preying on someone else's personal misery. Pimps and prostitutes are jumping on the Television for their greed of quick money and we sit numb and turned into something worse than eunuchs. We behave as self-indulgent audience of consumers who wanted to be entertained no matter what the cost to characters.
Television by virtue of lacking depth and being located in real time allows for no introspection. It does not allow you to interact and alter the content. We represent just a vote or 'a sms' to them. We flick from channel to channel and rest our eyes on whatever stimulates us. We are swept away by its combined force while retaining the illusion that we are in control. We keep talking about how we should change the channel if we don't like what we see without acknowledging how the channel is changing us.
Media:
"What the media basically does is, it just strips everybody and makes money out it. The only difference between a strip-teaser and the media is that a strip-teaser bares herself so that others can enjoy her and give money, and the media strips others so that some others can enjoy and give them the money." - RGV (Source)
Porn business is in full flow and stripping each value what our society believes in. For the sake of adventure and quick fame, people are turning towards fake family shows, reality shows and entertaining news channels...
News channels have huge ability to make something out of nothing, make your emotion rush. It’s the height of manipulation. Few video clips from youtube, images from google search, music from here and there with a non sense story is the prime time coverage of news channel.The word 'Exclusive' and 'Breaking news' have lost their significance due to constant repeatable use at every hour. Even Images, ads and videos are created and seen more from the point of view of consumerism than as an expression of ideas. The media in India loves to speculate because they are constantly in need of stories. The manipulation of your emotions with back script music, melodrama and biasing makes you not a viewer but a potential consumer. The pre conceived notion of entertainment is gone. TV channels are not in our hands, we are in theirs..
Honesty is important, but not at the cost of entertainment. There's a fine line between portraying reality and stereotyping. The problems of our nation like poverty, hunger, illiteracy, naxalism, unemployment, corruption and natural disaster. We readily import the nuisance but always shrug off to import cleanliness, honesty, patriotism, sacrifice etc. because these need to come out the closet of A/C rooms of these people and need very hard work which these people are not used to.
It’s the manipulation and unreliability of methods media use to determine what people want and label as TRP ratings. What media should fix is error in the systems, not the society. Media is trying to reconfigure society by exposing the hypocrisy of others. But media itself has little understanding or control over its own actions. You will be labeled as dictator or censor on talking about self regulation. What a pity..
West:
The West is entranced by India's poverty and filth- that's the USP of India for them. Slumdog Millionaire represents the 'poverty porn' (word first coined by Times reviewer only). They don't want to show us just who we 'really' are or positive achievements but show how our lives are growing materialistic and controversial. And our our elites are clones of the modernized west.
Conclusion:
TV shows or media is not interested in the truth but specifically seeks that truth which will cause damage to the individual's self esteem and poison relationships. Children are treated as Mini adults if they are potential consumers or just neglected completely. Our society has taken voyeuristic path and children turning on to the habits of adults. People love to see other's in pain. People want to breathe a live of luxury and flamboyancy with the route of credit also. The luxury industries is doing what it takes to cater to the whims & fancies of rising class. The aspirational lifestyle doesn't limited to material objects but it has evolved into unique and personal experiences. Really rich exploit the proletariat in much the same way as the men exploit animals.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
A scene of the flood
Krishna river flowing over red alert
People caught amid flood situation near Wadi
Railway TracksAll Photoes are taken by my sister who reached to Hyderabad from Bangalore in 60 hours through Rajdhani express and returned to Bangalore in 60 minutes through airways.
Andhra and Karnataka are facing worst flood in 100 years. Reaching Bangalore or Hyderabad was never so difficult. Both the bus and train services are affected. In this season of problems, suddenly air fares rocketed thrice the normal rate. Not more than 0.1 % of people of India travel through air route, still this opportunism shown by airlines prove that air fare needs to be regulated for making air services to the reach of more people.
In economics, collective bargaining, psychology, and political science, "free riders" are those who consume more than their fair share of a public resource, or shoulder less than a fair share of the costs of its production. Free riding is usually considered to be an economic "problem" only when it leads to the non-production or under-production of a public good (and thus to Pareto inefficiency) , or when it leads to the excessive use of a common property resource. People breed less as they become richer, but they don’t consume less — they consume more. As the habits of the super-rich show, there are no limits to human extravagance. Consumption can be expected to rise with economic growth until the biosphere hits the buffers. To be 'living luxurious lifestyle' and 'free rider' on national income is the worst crime in my eyes. World needs more proportionate than equal distribution of wealth among its citizens.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Looking Back in Time
Once, I was roaming in the Kanpur Coaching Area with my friends after completion of engineering. Throughout the whole tourism, I was flooded with my memories of how I used to travel in jam-packed auto rickshaws on the same route and many times walk for saving petty amount of money.
Its interesting how people feel comfortable admitting the lows of their life once they reach the heights. It gives you an inspiration for your own life. Self made man are worth which our society looks up for in their struggle. Social Darwinism factor gives example of them only.
It may appear romantic in future to look back on time with the nostalgic look. All of us are creative artist but a great craftsmanship comes with tuning our skills in versatile fields. It could be so funny, strange, scary or without clue, now that we are so busy with the life. But when I think of mine college days where I used to sit idle or drift without purpose. There were endless days and nights spent with time passing by in staring at natural beauty, wandering on empty roads or just discussing philosophy with friends. And, we don’t know what is exactly happening with our life at that point of time. It just appears to be in the form of inexpressible experiences. These moments of looking back cannot be measured economically.
Do you think every person (normal, successful, great, politician, whoever it is) has their own experiences like these where they don’t know what exactly their life going through and how the future is going to be? Experiences and reflections of hard times of great personalities help in redefining our look towards own goal. That's why inspirational stories or cinema always work to motivate us.
I know that I am neither an uncommonly talented person, nor a man of genius. But it has been said that every man has within himself the making of one book. Time passes by and we experience different emotions. And we observe the world and even realize on the verge of death: "There is no seer and there is nothing seen; there is only seeing."
Its interesting how people feel comfortable admitting the lows of their life once they reach the heights. It gives you an inspiration for your own life. Self made man are worth which our society looks up for in their struggle. Social Darwinism factor gives example of them only.
It may appear romantic in future to look back on time with the nostalgic look. All of us are creative artist but a great craftsmanship comes with tuning our skills in versatile fields. It could be so funny, strange, scary or without clue, now that we are so busy with the life. But when I think of mine college days where I used to sit idle or drift without purpose. There were endless days and nights spent with time passing by in staring at natural beauty, wandering on empty roads or just discussing philosophy with friends. And, we don’t know what is exactly happening with our life at that point of time. It just appears to be in the form of inexpressible experiences. These moments of looking back cannot be measured economically.
Do you think every person (normal, successful, great, politician, whoever it is) has their own experiences like these where they don’t know what exactly their life going through and how the future is going to be? Experiences and reflections of hard times of great personalities help in redefining our look towards own goal. That's why inspirational stories or cinema always work to motivate us.
I know that I am neither an uncommonly talented person, nor a man of genius. But it has been said that every man has within himself the making of one book. Time passes by and we experience different emotions. And we observe the world and even realize on the verge of death: "There is no seer and there is nothing seen; there is only seeing."
Friday, October 2, 2009
I Write What I Like.
Usually, I write what I like but was taken back by a witty remark. Vijay Tendulkar has said a gem about writing - “It’s never about the writing. Anyone can write. It is about the observations.” So astute is his observation in this regard. Procrastination is the disease of lazy person like me and preparation of irma is lacking in honest efforts. Bahut ho gayee mere kahani, Ab duniya ke samachar padiye---
Caste: The ongoing session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva looks set to recognize caste- based discrimination as a human rights violation. This is done, despite India's opposition and following Nepal's breaking stand in support on the culturally sensitive issue. Hence, ours dream of caste annihilation is finally getting solid paper work. ( TOI report & Official version in pdf). Thanks Anu for bringing it to my notice.
Rewriting History: Some new studies done on the basis of genome project and anthropology are focusing evolution and human migration at India in new light. Soon our history will be changed with the backing up of more scientific evidence.
1- Most modern Indians descended from South Asians, not invading Central Asian steppe dwellers, a new genetic study reports.
"The finding disputes a long-held theory that a large invasion of central Asians, traveling through a northwest Indian corridor, shaped the language, culture, and gene pool of many modern Indians within the past 10,000 years"
2- Modern humans migrated out of Africa and into India much earlier than once believed, driving older hominids in present-day India to extinction and creating some of the earliest art and architecture, a new study suggests :-
"University of Cambridge researchers Michael Petraglia and Hannah James argue that similar events took place in India when modern humans arrived there about 70,000 years ago."
Attendance Issue: The bureaucrat's way of ensuring accountability is: Make sure people are physically present in the office, whether they work or not. Babushahi pretend to work and show off as they are busy. In most of our colleges only, we apply the bureaucrat's way of ensuring accountability of student by attendance: Make sure students are physically present in the classroom, whether they study or not. I may be wrong in my argument, but the need of min. percentage (75%) of attendance by students is same as new rule of min. 40 hours of work per week by teacher. [Even, Animesh Sir supported my observation]. And the funny point is that most of the teachers ensuring students attendance with tour de force are opposing this rule. Life hits hard, you never know........
Quote of the Day: Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, Mark Twain said, it is time to pause and reflect.
Caste: The ongoing session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva looks set to recognize caste- based discrimination as a human rights violation. This is done, despite India's opposition and following Nepal's breaking stand in support on the culturally sensitive issue. Hence, ours dream of caste annihilation is finally getting solid paper work. ( TOI report & Official version in pdf). Thanks Anu for bringing it to my notice.
Rewriting History: Some new studies done on the basis of genome project and anthropology are focusing evolution and human migration at India in new light. Soon our history will be changed with the backing up of more scientific evidence.
1- Most modern Indians descended from South Asians, not invading Central Asian steppe dwellers, a new genetic study reports.
"The finding disputes a long-held theory that a large invasion of central Asians, traveling through a northwest Indian corridor, shaped the language, culture, and gene pool of many modern Indians within the past 10,000 years"
2- Modern humans migrated out of Africa and into India much earlier than once believed, driving older hominids in present-day India to extinction and creating some of the earliest art and architecture, a new study suggests :-
"University of Cambridge researchers Michael Petraglia and Hannah James argue that similar events took place in India when modern humans arrived there about 70,000 years ago."
Attendance Issue: The bureaucrat's way of ensuring accountability is: Make sure people are physically present in the office, whether they work or not. Babushahi pretend to work and show off as they are busy. In most of our colleges only, we apply the bureaucrat's way of ensuring accountability of student by attendance: Make sure students are physically present in the classroom, whether they study or not. I may be wrong in my argument, but the need of min. percentage (75%) of attendance by students is same as new rule of min. 40 hours of work per week by teacher. [Even, Animesh Sir supported my observation]. And the funny point is that most of the teachers ensuring students attendance with tour de force are opposing this rule. Life hits hard, you never know........
Quote of the Day: Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, Mark Twain said, it is time to pause and reflect.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaayen
I have passed 8 months in Hyderabad and it has been pretty average time of my life. Time flies away at least the effortless one. As the title suggest no bullshit today. Just few quick, rough and minor updates supported by the light hearted comments (that too copied from here & there ).
Me and mine home town, Azamgarh has lot of bad fame attached to them. Azamgarh is now nicknamed ‘Aatankgarh’ by a nasty friend of mine. Whenever he pinches me too much on this issue, I sarcastically reply him- " Don't disturb me man as I belong to sleeper cell of terrorist." [ Actually Sleeping heavily in office during night shifts for practice :) ]
Career: Prof Sunil Handa from IIMA quotes: The question we need to ask yourself is “will you be happy with a boring, glorified, clerical job throughout your life?”. Keep questioning, keep improving. I have a hypothesis that MNC just exploit our talent and most important phase of the life (22-30 years) for ours need of quick money to stabilize in the life. The most hindering block in any less traveled path taken is 'acceptance'. Acceptance by society, family, friends and never ending list pile on. However, acceptance comes with time and success. And, parents are not very specific about the choice of career; they only want ours happiness.
Cricket Fever: The campaign of Dhoni's team is over at Champions Trophy. Apoorv Singhal comes up with his ditty on India: "O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The rain saves us the shame of losing two on the run, The port is near, the bells I hear, the Oz horns are blaring, While follow eyes the steady keel, the media grim and daring. I was in staunch support of SA but cheering SA in any tournament feels like staying with a repeatedly unfaithful girlfriend, but the heart overrides the mind. They are bunch of chokers... As for the low crowd attendance at ODI games, who in his right mind would want to be sitting & watching two of the world's top teams competing in a crunch game in the cricket stadium when you could be sitting in a boring office following the cricket on Cricinfo? Getting the point guys ..
Movie Fever: 'Wake Up Sid' would be releasing tomorrow with the them of coming of age movie. There is a dialog in trailer that "come to office for 30 days and the car is yours." One person commented (pun intended) "Lucky us who have to sweat? out for EMI’s and all that stupid stuff :-) " Watch few movies of John Hughes if you are really interested coming of the age drama. He had directed lot of youth oriented films like Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Have seen it 100 times), Breakfast Club and Sixteen candles. He had given voice to the teenage rebel spirit without making them a rebel without a cause.
Now, for upcoming 2nd October remember Mahatma Gandhi who quoted: Be the change you want to see in the world. I have to ask that any of you has been fed up with impossible deadlines and graveyard shifts.. Break away before burnout from the work. Join the protest with the slogan Kaam ka Bamboo, Mat le Shambhu from now on. Chao......
Watch this Offisial Atyachaar..
Me and mine home town, Azamgarh has lot of bad fame attached to them. Azamgarh is now nicknamed ‘Aatankgarh’ by a nasty friend of mine. Whenever he pinches me too much on this issue, I sarcastically reply him- " Don't disturb me man as I belong to sleeper cell of terrorist." [ Actually Sleeping heavily in office during night shifts for practice :) ]
Career: Prof Sunil Handa from IIMA quotes: The question we need to ask yourself is “will you be happy with a boring, glorified, clerical job throughout your life?”. Keep questioning, keep improving. I have a hypothesis that MNC just exploit our talent and most important phase of the life (22-30 years) for ours need of quick money to stabilize in the life. The most hindering block in any less traveled path taken is 'acceptance'. Acceptance by society, family, friends and never ending list pile on. However, acceptance comes with time and success. And, parents are not very specific about the choice of career; they only want ours happiness.
Cricket Fever: The campaign of Dhoni's team is over at Champions Trophy. Apoorv Singhal comes up with his ditty on India: "O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The rain saves us the shame of losing two on the run, The port is near, the bells I hear, the Oz horns are blaring, While follow eyes the steady keel, the media grim and daring. I was in staunch support of SA but cheering SA in any tournament feels like staying with a repeatedly unfaithful girlfriend, but the heart overrides the mind. They are bunch of chokers... As for the low crowd attendance at ODI games, who in his right mind would want to be sitting & watching two of the world's top teams competing in a crunch game in the cricket stadium when you could be sitting in a boring office following the cricket on Cricinfo? Getting the point guys ..
Movie Fever: 'Wake Up Sid' would be releasing tomorrow with the them of coming of age movie. There is a dialog in trailer that "come to office for 30 days and the car is yours." One person commented (pun intended) "Lucky us who have to sweat? out for EMI’s and all that stupid stuff :-) " Watch few movies of John Hughes if you are really interested coming of the age drama. He had directed lot of youth oriented films like Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Have seen it 100 times), Breakfast Club and Sixteen candles. He had given voice to the teenage rebel spirit without making them a rebel without a cause.
Now, for upcoming 2nd October remember Mahatma Gandhi who quoted: Be the change you want to see in the world. I have to ask that any of you has been fed up with impossible deadlines and graveyard shifts.. Break away before burnout from the work. Join the protest with the slogan Kaam ka Bamboo, Mat le Shambhu from now on. Chao......
Watch this Offisial Atyachaar..
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Visionary Talks about IT-BHU from the past
I have read and heard many on the issue of the conversion of IT-BHU Varanasi to IIT. I am reproducing here the lectures and views given by Prof Gopal Tripathi way back 40 years. I call these views as an acute vision and analysis of future. Read it and retrospect where IT-BHU stand now as technical college today. In 1968 the three colleges were merged into an Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi with Prof Gopal Tripathi as its first Director. Later Prof. Gopal Tripathi served as Vice Chancellor, Lucknow University.
Various Disabilities And Disparities Between The IIT's And IT-BHU : The Handicaps Facing The IT-BHU
(Edited portion of the Lecture delivered on March 9, 1968, on the occasion of Annual Function, College of Technology, BHU, by Late Prof. Gopal Tripathi , the Principal- College of Technology from 1950, and Director- I.T , BHU from 1968)
In this era of technological revolutions and scientific break-throughs, technical education is fast changing its pattern and offering more challenges than ever. For the last several years I have been trying to draw attention to the various handicaps which the technical colleges of our University have to face, vis-a-vis, the IIT's set-up by the Govt. of India. As you are aware the Banaras Hindu University has been the pioneer in the field of technical education in this country and has played a leading role in the training of graduates who could take-up positions of responsibility in industry and education. With the setting-up of the Indian Institutes of Technology which have been declared by the Govt. of India, an institution of national importance and the attention and finances are given to them as leading institutions in the field of technical education, the Banaras Hindu University began to loss its preeminent position for several reasons. I have repeatedly drawn attention to the various disabilities and disparities that exist between the IIT's and the technical Institutions of the Universities regarding the facilities available, namely capital and recurring grant, the flexible nature of the cadres of staff,the high percentage of free-ships and studentships that obtains in the IIT's and the denial of the same to us etc. and I have been pressing for an early removal of such discrimination. Just to quote a few figures, on an average, on every one of the IIT's about 8.3 crores of rupees have been spent with regard to building and equipment. The cost of engineering education per student in the three types of institutions according to the official figures of the U.G.C. are given as follows: IIT's- Rs. 16,886/-, Regional Engg. Colleges-Rs 6468/-, and Technical Colleges of the Universities-Rs. 3,013/-. Realising the disparities of expenditure between IIT's on one hand and the technical colleges of the universities on the other, the U.G.C appointed a Committee consisting of Dr. T. Sen, Union Minister of Education, Dr. P.K.Kelkar, Director IIT, Kanpur, Dr. Gopal Tripathi, Principal- College of Technology, BHU, and Shri K.L. Joshi, Secretary,U.G.C. to examine the disparities and suggest remedies. The Committee observed that the objectives of technical education are the same in all institutions in the country including the IIT's and University technical colleges; the students after completing the courses take the same types of jobs, and they have to appear for the same competitive examinations and tests conducted by the Govt., and Industry for recruitment to different posts. It would, therefore, be reasonable to support the technical institutions for teaching and research work on an equitable basis and so a certain minimum quantum of grants is essential for every institution for equipment, staff, scholarship, etc. At present differences exist in the assistance being given for this purpose to the IIT's on the one hand and University institutions on the other. The Committee recommended certain measures which are yet to be implemented.
Tortuous Procedure :
(BHU Gazett, March, 23,1968)
I have already mentioned the tortuous procedure for the receipt of grants from the U.G.C. for the technical institutions in our Universities. The IIT's on other hand, have supreme advantage of receiving their grants directly from the Central Govt. There is no appreciable time lag between the assessment of their needs and the receipts of the grants from the Central Govt. The Technical Colleges of the University have no direct dealing with the Govt., although their needs have still to be scrutinized by the All India Council for Technical Education. But since they form a part of the Banaras Hindu University Complex their grant is controlled by the U.G.C. which is not always alive to the needs of the technical Colleges, nor to the prompt release of funds. Further, whatever financial and other advantages are given to the IIT's. by way of increased emoluments, better grade of salary and huge numbers of scholarships and stipends, cannot be easily given to the technical Colleges of the University because of the fear of introducing discrimination between these technical Colleges and the other constituent Colleges of the University. Another supreme advantage enjoyed by the IIT's is the one of foreign collaboration. Each of the IIT's has a foreign partner who is prepared to flood the IIT's with equipments and participation in the adventure of setting up new laboratories. The University institutions are practically starved out in this respect. To import any equipment is like chasing the will-of-the-wisp. One's energy is all spent up in inviting quotations, struggling for import licence, justifying the demands for additional grants, etc. All this in addition to lack of adequate teaching staff is truly frustrating.
Future Plans : New Departments
(Prof. Gopal Tripathi, 17.5.1969, BHU-NEWS )
In the interest of technical education and industrial development of the nation some new types of departments viz. Industrial Engineering and Management, Materials Science and Materials Technology, Nuclear Engineering,Instrumentation Engineering, Applied Geology, Computer Centre, Aeronautical and Space Engineering, and Architecture & Town Planning Engineering may be also established under the auspices of the Institute of Technology so that our nation may not lag behind the other developed countries in the race of technological and scientific development.
*Taken without permission. Source
Various Disabilities And Disparities Between The IIT's And IT-BHU : The Handicaps Facing The IT-BHU
(Edited portion of the Lecture delivered on March 9, 1968, on the occasion of Annual Function, College of Technology, BHU, by Late Prof. Gopal Tripathi , the Principal- College of Technology from 1950, and Director- I.T , BHU from 1968)
In this era of technological revolutions and scientific break-throughs, technical education is fast changing its pattern and offering more challenges than ever. For the last several years I have been trying to draw attention to the various handicaps which the technical colleges of our University have to face, vis-a-vis, the IIT's set-up by the Govt. of India. As you are aware the Banaras Hindu University has been the pioneer in the field of technical education in this country and has played a leading role in the training of graduates who could take-up positions of responsibility in industry and education. With the setting-up of the Indian Institutes of Technology which have been declared by the Govt. of India, an institution of national importance and the attention and finances are given to them as leading institutions in the field of technical education, the Banaras Hindu University began to loss its preeminent position for several reasons. I have repeatedly drawn attention to the various disabilities and disparities that exist between the IIT's and the technical Institutions of the Universities regarding the facilities available, namely capital and recurring grant, the flexible nature of the cadres of staff,the high percentage of free-ships and studentships that obtains in the IIT's and the denial of the same to us etc. and I have been pressing for an early removal of such discrimination. Just to quote a few figures, on an average, on every one of the IIT's about 8.3 crores of rupees have been spent with regard to building and equipment. The cost of engineering education per student in the three types of institutions according to the official figures of the U.G.C. are given as follows: IIT's- Rs. 16,886/-, Regional Engg. Colleges-Rs 6468/-, and Technical Colleges of the Universities-Rs. 3,013/-. Realising the disparities of expenditure between IIT's on one hand and the technical colleges of the universities on the other, the U.G.C appointed a Committee consisting of Dr. T. Sen, Union Minister of Education, Dr. P.K.Kelkar, Director IIT, Kanpur, Dr. Gopal Tripathi, Principal- College of Technology, BHU, and Shri K.L. Joshi, Secretary,U.G.C. to examine the disparities and suggest remedies. The Committee observed that the objectives of technical education are the same in all institutions in the country including the IIT's and University technical colleges; the students after completing the courses take the same types of jobs, and they have to appear for the same competitive examinations and tests conducted by the Govt., and Industry for recruitment to different posts. It would, therefore, be reasonable to support the technical institutions for teaching and research work on an equitable basis and so a certain minimum quantum of grants is essential for every institution for equipment, staff, scholarship, etc. At present differences exist in the assistance being given for this purpose to the IIT's on the one hand and University institutions on the other. The Committee recommended certain measures which are yet to be implemented.
Tortuous Procedure :
(BHU Gazett, March, 23,1968)
I have already mentioned the tortuous procedure for the receipt of grants from the U.G.C. for the technical institutions in our Universities. The IIT's on other hand, have supreme advantage of receiving their grants directly from the Central Govt. There is no appreciable time lag between the assessment of their needs and the receipts of the grants from the Central Govt. The Technical Colleges of the University have no direct dealing with the Govt., although their needs have still to be scrutinized by the All India Council for Technical Education. But since they form a part of the Banaras Hindu University Complex their grant is controlled by the U.G.C. which is not always alive to the needs of the technical Colleges, nor to the prompt release of funds. Further, whatever financial and other advantages are given to the IIT's. by way of increased emoluments, better grade of salary and huge numbers of scholarships and stipends, cannot be easily given to the technical Colleges of the University because of the fear of introducing discrimination between these technical Colleges and the other constituent Colleges of the University. Another supreme advantage enjoyed by the IIT's is the one of foreign collaboration. Each of the IIT's has a foreign partner who is prepared to flood the IIT's with equipments and participation in the adventure of setting up new laboratories. The University institutions are practically starved out in this respect. To import any equipment is like chasing the will-of-the-wisp. One's energy is all spent up in inviting quotations, struggling for import licence, justifying the demands for additional grants, etc. All this in addition to lack of adequate teaching staff is truly frustrating.
Future Plans : New Departments
(Prof. Gopal Tripathi, 17.5.1969, BHU-NEWS )
In the interest of technical education and industrial development of the nation some new types of departments viz. Industrial Engineering and Management, Materials Science and Materials Technology, Nuclear Engineering,Instrumentation Engineering, Applied Geology, Computer Centre, Aeronautical and Space Engineering, and Architecture & Town Planning Engineering may be also established under the auspices of the Institute of Technology so that our nation may not lag behind the other developed countries in the race of technological and scientific development.
*Taken without permission. Source
Mera Bharat Mahaan
Frederick Douglass had written over a century ago. “Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them … . The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
Naxal problem is making up a civil war like situation in India. And we are talking the losses in the terms of loss of life in encounters. The big picture is going beyond our imagination and tales of exploitation of dalits, labours and adivasis is echoing the real India.
Shoma Chaudhary examines the tricky and dangerous terrain of Operation Green Hunt, the offensive against Naxals, might blow up in our faces: "Dalits and adivasis comprise a staggering one fourth of India’s population, yet are disproportionately destitute and low on the Human Development Index scale. Worse, they suffer the most humiliation and indignity: the proverbial insult on injury. Our country represents a show where 77 percent of Indians live on less than Rs 20 a day while 5 percent enjoy lives that border on obscene excess. For most urban Indians, the lives of tribals and dalits has no meaning, no face, no flesh. Our books no longer write of it, our films no longer evoke it, our journalists no longer cover it. It’s not just the poverty; it’s bumping into a face of the Indian State you have never seen before: brutal, illegal, rapine, pimped out to serve the interests of a few. "
Study CPI Maoist booklet on Salwa Judam Movement for understanding the root cause of the movement termed as Naxalism. 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. And below written is my naive idea about our 'Swades' with little reasons and more emotions.
The struggle for social justice is against those that produce resentful domination in power distribution in society. Sociopolitical change is best when organic—rising from the bottom rather than imposed from the top—the odds of assimilation improve dramatically. Populations that are better informed and better connected to opportunities, in societies where information and access are widespread tend to marginalized between few people. India has low social mobility, and say that in villages in two Indian states where 300 children had graduated from high school, only four had found well-paying, white-collar jobs. Advancing information and enabling access are as much a critical part of enhancing development success. The sacrifice of human beings on the altar of abstractions or the subordination of the realities of individual happiness or unhappiness in the present to glorious dreams of the future has stopped us from achieving our dream of just and liberal society.
History and journalism is the inquiry through medium of story telling of past and present respectively. Journalists living and reporting from the grassroots are more vulnerable than those based in the cities. Things are pretty savage at the grassroots level and the fear of police and the vested interests is quite high, a fact quite neglected by armchair journalism by news channels in India. Journalists who investigate and uncover the truth take enormous personal risks – This is precisely why local journalists need greater support and protection to continue their good work.
The chaos in the society is always caused by group of persons who had hardly travelled, and relied for information on policy documents and the reports of media personalities sitting interviewing elite or middle-class contacts in big cities. Hence, their narrow idea of the world never captures the whole scenario. Despite the Internet and the revolution in communications, there is still no substitute of foot soldier work needed for journalism. The medium of Internet is used for distribution of information but there is always need of 'primary' who can record the voices of dissent or support of each person of the society. India today is diseased with propagandist journalism. Corroded with corruption, the death of idealism, communalism and deep casteist divisions which has resulted in a steady degeneration...
The young generation of seventy's inhabited a Nehruvian world. After a few wars and riots, India was witnessing a decline of idealism, there was disillusionment with socialism. Baba Amte, J.P. ,Vinoba Bhave and others are now gone in the past. Their followers like Shyam Benegal, Vijay Tendulkar, P Sainath, APJ Kalam and Mahasweta devi are on the verge of last years of their lives. I am looking into the empty space where there are no heroes or protectors to idealize life for. The youth icons are now Shahrukh or Sania. Its not the insult of star actor or player but showcasing of their dwarfness in comparison to previous set of role models. Practical mentality how good can be, have never been as inspiring as idealistic personalities.
An escapist culture of consumerism is fast replacing the tradition of mass struggle and writers, cinema and media is obsessed with the loves and lives of the urban middle-class. There is a loss of ideology in the wake up call of globalisation and India Shining. Handful of people are there working for the people but the sense of closeness among community is dissolving with time. The distances has reduced but the alienation among people is spreading. The rise of individualism with the fall of social values is changing the scenario. The feudal mentality, caste superiority feeling and religious divisions are coming to surfaces from the deeply rooted consciousness of new generation. The 'dalits' are searching for new myths and symbols for reworking of community histories and mythology. This ecstasy of rising and shining India should be shown the face of ground realities of India. And this need lot of work at ground level by media and citizen journalists. For, to quote from Mahasweta Devi's essay The Seventies and After: "These are bad times, these are the times to work. "
Naxal problem is making up a civil war like situation in India. And we are talking the losses in the terms of loss of life in encounters. The big picture is going beyond our imagination and tales of exploitation of dalits, labours and adivasis is echoing the real India.
Shoma Chaudhary examines the tricky and dangerous terrain of Operation Green Hunt, the offensive against Naxals, might blow up in our faces: "Dalits and adivasis comprise a staggering one fourth of India’s population, yet are disproportionately destitute and low on the Human Development Index scale. Worse, they suffer the most humiliation and indignity: the proverbial insult on injury. Our country represents a show where 77 percent of Indians live on less than Rs 20 a day while 5 percent enjoy lives that border on obscene excess. For most urban Indians, the lives of tribals and dalits has no meaning, no face, no flesh. Our books no longer write of it, our films no longer evoke it, our journalists no longer cover it. It’s not just the poverty; it’s bumping into a face of the Indian State you have never seen before: brutal, illegal, rapine, pimped out to serve the interests of a few. "
Study CPI Maoist booklet on Salwa Judam Movement for understanding the root cause of the movement termed as Naxalism. 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. And below written is my naive idea about our 'Swades' with little reasons and more emotions.
The struggle for social justice is against those that produce resentful domination in power distribution in society. Sociopolitical change is best when organic—rising from the bottom rather than imposed from the top—the odds of assimilation improve dramatically. Populations that are better informed and better connected to opportunities, in societies where information and access are widespread tend to marginalized between few people. India has low social mobility, and say that in villages in two Indian states where 300 children had graduated from high school, only four had found well-paying, white-collar jobs. Advancing information and enabling access are as much a critical part of enhancing development success. The sacrifice of human beings on the altar of abstractions or the subordination of the realities of individual happiness or unhappiness in the present to glorious dreams of the future has stopped us from achieving our dream of just and liberal society.
History and journalism is the inquiry through medium of story telling of past and present respectively. Journalists living and reporting from the grassroots are more vulnerable than those based in the cities. Things are pretty savage at the grassroots level and the fear of police and the vested interests is quite high, a fact quite neglected by armchair journalism by news channels in India. Journalists who investigate and uncover the truth take enormous personal risks – This is precisely why local journalists need greater support and protection to continue their good work.
The chaos in the society is always caused by group of persons who had hardly travelled, and relied for information on policy documents and the reports of media personalities sitting interviewing elite or middle-class contacts in big cities. Hence, their narrow idea of the world never captures the whole scenario. Despite the Internet and the revolution in communications, there is still no substitute of foot soldier work needed for journalism. The medium of Internet is used for distribution of information but there is always need of 'primary' who can record the voices of dissent or support of each person of the society. India today is diseased with propagandist journalism. Corroded with corruption, the death of idealism, communalism and deep casteist divisions which has resulted in a steady degeneration...
The young generation of seventy's inhabited a Nehruvian world. After a few wars and riots, India was witnessing a decline of idealism, there was disillusionment with socialism. Baba Amte, J.P. ,Vinoba Bhave and others are now gone in the past. Their followers like Shyam Benegal, Vijay Tendulkar, P Sainath, APJ Kalam and Mahasweta devi are on the verge of last years of their lives. I am looking into the empty space where there are no heroes or protectors to idealize life for. The youth icons are now Shahrukh or Sania. Its not the insult of star actor or player but showcasing of their dwarfness in comparison to previous set of role models. Practical mentality how good can be, have never been as inspiring as idealistic personalities.
An escapist culture of consumerism is fast replacing the tradition of mass struggle and writers, cinema and media is obsessed with the loves and lives of the urban middle-class. There is a loss of ideology in the wake up call of globalisation and India Shining. Handful of people are there working for the people but the sense of closeness among community is dissolving with time. The distances has reduced but the alienation among people is spreading. The rise of individualism with the fall of social values is changing the scenario. The feudal mentality, caste superiority feeling and religious divisions are coming to surfaces from the deeply rooted consciousness of new generation. The 'dalits' are searching for new myths and symbols for reworking of community histories and mythology. This ecstasy of rising and shining India should be shown the face of ground realities of India. And this need lot of work at ground level by media and citizen journalists. For, to quote from Mahasweta Devi's essay The Seventies and After: "These are bad times, these are the times to work. "
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Triple Century
The map is not the territory. --Alfred Korzybski
Or take this simply. The blog is not the real world but its a route for me to become Neo from Mr. Anderson. I am on rampage enough to publish 300th post on my beloved blog. I congratulate myself in the sense of vanity and proud over this. Driven by basic instinct to compose and compile all crazy ideas at one place seems flourishing now. I could have easily forgotten this triple centurion post like previous centuries but Amit reminded that I was near triple century. And first time someone appreciated that my words are a source of inspiration. Hence celebrating mine minor joy in full pomp and show. Thank you Amit for your kind words...
You Should Write Blogs by Steve Yegge.
It is most most most pushing article that prompted me to write my bakwaas or preachings as a blogger. It explains why should I blog inspite of the fear and anxiety. Most people give various reasons why not to write something in the life .
Reason #1: I'm too busy.
Reason #2: I'm afraid to put my true thoughts on public record.
Reason #3: Nobody will read my blog.
Reason #4: Blogging is narcissistic.
It has ended these speculations and doubts. The trick has worked for drifter like me, hence it will help you also. Let me put up here opening stanza for preview:
"This is certainly the most important thing I'll ever say in my blogs: YOU should write blogs. Even if nobody reads them, you should write them. It's become pretty clear to me that blogging is a source of both innovation and clarity. I have many of my best ideas and insights while blogging. Struggling to express things that you're thinking or feeling helps you understand them better."
Or take this simply. The blog is not the real world but its a route for me to become Neo from Mr. Anderson. I am on rampage enough to publish 300th post on my beloved blog. I congratulate myself in the sense of vanity and proud over this. Driven by basic instinct to compose and compile all crazy ideas at one place seems flourishing now. I could have easily forgotten this triple centurion post like previous centuries but Amit reminded that I was near triple century. And first time someone appreciated that my words are a source of inspiration. Hence celebrating mine minor joy in full pomp and show. Thank you Amit for your kind words...
You Should Write Blogs by Steve Yegge.
It is most most most pushing article that prompted me to write my bakwaas or preachings as a blogger. It explains why should I blog inspite of the fear and anxiety. Most people give various reasons why not to write something in the life .
Reason #1: I'm too busy.
Reason #2: I'm afraid to put my true thoughts on public record.
Reason #3: Nobody will read my blog.
Reason #4: Blogging is narcissistic.
It has ended these speculations and doubts. The trick has worked for drifter like me, hence it will help you also. Let me put up here opening stanza for preview:
"This is certainly the most important thing I'll ever say in my blogs: YOU should write blogs. Even if nobody reads them, you should write them. It's become pretty clear to me that blogging is a source of both innovation and clarity. I have many of my best ideas and insights while blogging. Struggling to express things that you're thinking or feeling helps you understand them better."
My Output:
I also insist that everyone should write: blog or no blog. 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 you have to reach to the readers by lowering your standards a little bit. I always insist that the message shouldn't be lost between simile and metaphors. And blah blah blah....
Puneet Jain has also started blog - Rehgujar
I am sure that I will left something behind at blogland, not cease like someone who took something away with him. Just wanted to sing: Yeh honsla kaise jhuke, Yeh aarzoo kaise ruke.
Dumpimg Ideas & Weblinks
Talking of ‘IP’, here’s what Krzysztof Zanussi has said about it. (Source)
“Intellectual property, to me, is important because I benefit from it when sometimes, author’s rights are paid to me. However, I doubt it from the moral point of view that intellectual property should ever be protected. I want to be popular and I want my work to be accessible to anybody who wants to read it.
When I saw pirated cassettes of my films in Russia I wanted to embrace the seller because they bhad taken pains to make it accessible. I found pirated DVDs of my films in China and was proud. I probably lost some money, but what a joy. There is a contradiction between my desire to be accessible to anybody who is interested in my work and my greed to be paid for it. I was paid for making the film.
In fact any intellectual who is defending his property has already been paid for it, and now we want something extra. I am not in a position to find a solution to this issue. I have participated in a number of sessions about author’s rights and I have seen pressure being mounted on poor countries like Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan. Steven Spielberg feels victimized because his author’s rights have not been respected in these countries.
I do not feel emotionally towards the law. I am for the people who want to see these films free. They have been deprived of money and Spielberg is very well off anyway. So my sense of justice and my sense of law are in collision. As an artist, I have the right to point out this problem.”
I have seen much of the good works of American and world cinema through torrents. The huge amount of download culture in college has helped me a lot in making collection of pirated dvd gems. I oppose intellectual piracy of the bollywood copy cats, still watch cinema with the help of piracy. As an artist, I have the right to point out this dilemna. I need suggesation in this case from the blog readers (if any) as it is hypocrite in practice. And funny thing is that, I am currently doing a distance learning course on IP rights. Where I stand in this ethical fight of copyright and copyleft (this terminology exist) ? Few noteworthy reading weblinks
1- Rethinking handloom -A look at cotton handloom industry of India. Weavers are children of a lesser god in India.
2- Why Arabs lose wars? - A look from the POV of retired U.S. Army colonel.
3- The return of history and the end of dreams - It emphazises that history repeats itself by looking at current world power order.
4- Unto This Last (1860): Four Essays On The First Principles Of Political Economy by John Ruskin. It is said to have influenced Mahatma Gandhi on his views on economics and society.
5- A take on Sach ka Samna by Santosh Desai.
6- The other side of education and Education's five fault lines .
This weblinks are motivated by line - 'Empty yourself totally, Become a Nothingness, Only then you would feel a sense of Completeness'.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Insight Look of Beautiful Minds
Literacy specialists say that giving children a say in what they read can help motivate them. “If your goal is simply to get them to read more, choice is the way to go.” I am presenting here few interviews and speeches given by beautiful minds who are/were shaping our thinking.
1- Uttarpara Speech by Sri Aurobindo in 1909. Aurobindo made this speech after his release from prison, where he had been incarcerated on charges of conspiracy to murder an English magistrate.
Another speech of Sri Aurobindo when he was requested by the All India Radio, Thiruchirapalli, to give a message for India's independence. This is the message which was broadcast from the All India Radio on the 14th of August 1947.
2- Edward R. Murrow gives a speech at RTNDA Convention, Chicago on October 15, 1958. He is famous for bringing down of 'McCarthysim' in America. A movie 'Good night, and good luck' inspired me reproduce his speech about power & responsibilities of journalism. He has quoted that :
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men -- not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular."
Source - Edward R. Murrow:A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy; See it Now (CBS-TV, March 9, 1954)
3- Two rare interviews of social activist and writer Mahasweta Devi. She is Jnanpith winner and committed to the rehabilitation of tribals. The interviews are: By Outlook India and Rediff.
4- A Conversation with Uday Prakash about his works is presented here. Uday Prakash is emerging Hindi writer of current era.
5- Last but not least, I found a useful article written as an 'Advice to a Young Artist' for young scholars understanding the world around him/ her.
1- Uttarpara Speech by Sri Aurobindo in 1909. Aurobindo made this speech after his release from prison, where he had been incarcerated on charges of conspiracy to murder an English magistrate.
Another speech of Sri Aurobindo when he was requested by the All India Radio, Thiruchirapalli, to give a message for India's independence. This is the message which was broadcast from the All India Radio on the 14th of August 1947.
2- Edward R. Murrow gives a speech at RTNDA Convention, Chicago on October 15, 1958. He is famous for bringing down of 'McCarthysim' in America. A movie 'Good night, and good luck' inspired me reproduce his speech about power & responsibilities of journalism. He has quoted that :
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men -- not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular."
Source - Edward R. Murrow:A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy; See it Now (CBS-TV, March 9, 1954)
3- Two rare interviews of social activist and writer Mahasweta Devi. She is Jnanpith winner and committed to the rehabilitation of tribals. The interviews are: By Outlook India and Rediff.
4- A Conversation with Uday Prakash about his works is presented here. Uday Prakash is emerging Hindi writer of current era.
5- Last but not least, I found a useful article written as an 'Advice to a Young Artist' for young scholars understanding the world around him/ her.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Yeh hai mera India
Why people in India die for the government service?
I got the indirect answer of not only this question but few more by an article by Gurcharan Das. It explains our mindset and employment of large amount of workers in unorganised sector.
"India's labour laws protect jobs, not workers. They assume that a job is for a lifetime, and do not allow employers flexibility to lay off workers in a downturn. Thus, Indian companies avoid hiring permanent employees, and 90 per cent of India's workers have ended up in the informal sector without any benefits or safety net. This is one of the reasons that the manufacturing sector has not become an engine of mass employment in India."
One more worth reading page about India's tryst with corruption is available for readers. Your concern and opinions are welcome.
I got the indirect answer of not only this question but few more by an article by Gurcharan Das. It explains our mindset and employment of large amount of workers in unorganised sector.
"India's labour laws protect jobs, not workers. They assume that a job is for a lifetime, and do not allow employers flexibility to lay off workers in a downturn. Thus, Indian companies avoid hiring permanent employees, and 90 per cent of India's workers have ended up in the informal sector without any benefits or safety net. This is one of the reasons that the manufacturing sector has not become an engine of mass employment in India."
One more worth reading page about India's tryst with corruption is available for readers. Your concern and opinions are welcome.
Candid Beauty
Henry David Thoreau, US Transcendentalist author (1817 - 1862) quotes this paragraph in Walden (1854): "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived … I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms..."
Every time I watch 'Dead Poet's Society' or read 'Walden', this photo appears in my mind. Sitting under this tree had given me a sense of calmness and sense to enjoy natural beauty. The photo is taken in Germany where I visited for summer internship. I had written my one line poem describing this blog here only.
"दो लम्हे का जीवन है, एक क्षण उन्माद का, एक क्षण आह्लाद का, बस इतना ही जियूँगा!"
Monday, September 21, 2009
Playing Devil's advocate for Banaras Hindu University
Banaras Hindu University is an internationally reputed temple of learning, situated in the holy city of Varanasi. This Creative and innovative university was founded by the great nationalist leader, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, in 1916 with cooperation of great personalities like Dr Annie Besant, who viewed it as the University of India.
Recently, The South Campus of the Banaras Hindu University is attempting to become the first carbon neutral (rate of emission and absorption of carbon being equal) university campus in the country, with a massive plantation drive of 1.76 lakh saplings on 400 acres of land under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) Scheme in the region. Already BHU has placed a ban on Coke and Pepsi on campus. They are the positive aspects of the development and more can be found out here.
These are good news but now I will embark our journey to some 'negative items' unknown in mainstream media. I often quote the Spanish born American philosopher, George Santayana, ''Those who do not remember their past, will be condemned to repeat it.” Hence remembering some forgotten chapters is indeed needed.
There is always a feeling that BHU is doing the country a great favor by its existence in the profit making education system. Nice trees & old buildings with great names attached to them is the first thing you notice when you come to BHU, Varanasi. It is an oasis of greenery in a desert of narrow, crowded and ill equipped infrastructure of Varanasi. Another thing one notices is the number of people from U.P. & Bihar here, which is close to despairingly high in student's population. Special section of North east, Nepal and foreign students are there, still an environment of national university is missing.
1- Once upon a time, BHU also had stand for “Banaras Hooligan's University" for its university election politics. Sandeep Pandey, Ramon Magsaysay award winner and alumnus of the Institute of Technology at the Banaras Hindu University (IT-BHU), says: "As a Banaras Hindu University student with a rosy picture of politics as an instrument of social change, I had run for the post of representative of the university’s Institute of Technology in 1985. It was a shocking experience: the candidates for the posts of president, vice-president and general-secretary asked me to align with them on the basis of a common caste, and they offered me access to any movie in town — and also liquor, if needed, for students who could pledge their votes. Having won the election, I attended the first few meetings of the union. They left me disillusioned for life about Indian electoral politics."
For full report, read in detail.
2- Oct 06 , 2007 News Item, Cast Color to Varsity Blues: " Rajesh Kumar Mishra, Congress MP from Varanasi, is leading a campaign against casteism at his alma mater Banaras Hindu University (BHU), alleging that its Vice-Chancellor Dr Panjab Singh has appointed Rajputs to all important posts and new recruitment. The “Thakurvaad” in BHU has Varanasi’s Brahmin academics up in arms, the Prime Minister’s Office has been requested to order an inquiry and fingers have been pointed at Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh, himself a Thakur from Madhya Pradesh.?"
The report seemed sour grapes for brahmins then. Anonymous (can be uncredible) that Brahmin forget the brahminvaad prevailing during Vice-Chancellor D.N. Mishra. who was better know as Do Nothing Mishra in student community. Little information about chronological list of VC of BHU. I don't know the follow up but pretty sure, Can there be Smoke without Fire ?
3- BHU Funds Scam(1956) : In one of the first instances of corruption in educational institutions, Benaras Hindu University officials were accused of misappropriation of funds worth Rs 50 lakh.
Great People in the respectable positions has taken corrupt route but I can't just digest the amount of money involved in the corruption in 1950's.
4- "Micro-inequities are ways in which people are ignored, disrespected, undermined, or somehow treated in a different (negative) way because of their gender or race (or some other intrinsic characteristic). A micro-inequity can be very micro. It can involve an action or words or even a tone of voice or a gesture. The inequity can be a deliberate attempt to harm someone or it can be unintentional, rooted in a person's perceptions about others. Whatever the source and however minor each separate event, over the years the cumulative effect of these little incidents, words, and gestures on an individual and on various segments of society (academia, business, even within families) is not so micro." [Source]
These micro- inequalities exist in BHU, Varanasi like any other university or working place due to patriarchal society structure. Personally, I felt there exist gender segregation attitude in BHU administration. More light about this issue can be shed by the readers of this post only. I hope that my analysis was wrong...
Pankaj Mishra has written at length about foreign women in Benares who face frequent verbal and physical harassment. e.g., Chapter 14 of his book, `Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in small town India' (1995, Penguin India). He describes the harassment experienced by several foreign women students in Benares, whom he had interviewed. Indian women too suffer harassment, but the frequency and severity seem to be much worse for foreigners. Most of the women Mishra spoke to felt that the Benares Hindu University (BHU) was the most difficult place for them. One of the reasons conjectured for the situation is the emergence of a new class of people in BHU and in the city, who came there from the extremely feudal areas around Benares, combining the feudalism of their upbringing with the mindless consumerism of a growing city.
5- Babu Jagjivan Ram & Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar are alumnus of this university only. Caste discrimination faced by Jagjivan Ram isn't discussed openly (take few exceptions of seminars) due to higher caste dominated university administration. And about Guruji, how pseudo secular people can call him as notable alumnus ? There are bad people in BHU, there are good people. Just like anywhere, really. This is not the attempt to defame BHU but to unearth some deeply hidden facts or mere fictions. Your views will be regarded in high respect for the sake of truth.
*In common parlance, a devil's advocate is someone who takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with for the sake of Logical argument. This process can be used to test the quality of the original argument and identify weaknesses in its structure.
These are good news but now I will embark our journey to some 'negative items' unknown in mainstream media. I often quote the Spanish born American philosopher, George Santayana, ''Those who do not remember their past, will be condemned to repeat it.” Hence remembering some forgotten chapters is indeed needed.
There is always a feeling that BHU is doing the country a great favor by its existence in the profit making education system. Nice trees & old buildings with great names attached to them is the first thing you notice when you come to BHU, Varanasi. It is an oasis of greenery in a desert of narrow, crowded and ill equipped infrastructure of Varanasi. Another thing one notices is the number of people from U.P. & Bihar here, which is close to despairingly high in student's population. Special section of North east, Nepal and foreign students are there, still an environment of national university is missing.
1- Once upon a time, BHU also had stand for “Banaras Hooligan's University" for its university election politics. Sandeep Pandey, Ramon Magsaysay award winner and alumnus of the Institute of Technology at the Banaras Hindu University (IT-BHU), says: "As a Banaras Hindu University student with a rosy picture of politics as an instrument of social change, I had run for the post of representative of the university’s Institute of Technology in 1985. It was a shocking experience: the candidates for the posts of president, vice-president and general-secretary asked me to align with them on the basis of a common caste, and they offered me access to any movie in town — and also liquor, if needed, for students who could pledge their votes. Having won the election, I attended the first few meetings of the union. They left me disillusioned for life about Indian electoral politics."
For full report, read in detail.
2- Oct 06 , 2007 News Item, Cast Color to Varsity Blues: " Rajesh Kumar Mishra, Congress MP from Varanasi, is leading a campaign against casteism at his alma mater Banaras Hindu University (BHU), alleging that its Vice-Chancellor Dr Panjab Singh has appointed Rajputs to all important posts and new recruitment. The “Thakurvaad” in BHU has Varanasi’s Brahmin academics up in arms, the Prime Minister’s Office has been requested to order an inquiry and fingers have been pointed at Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh, himself a Thakur from Madhya Pradesh.?"
The report seemed sour grapes for brahmins then. Anonymous (can be uncredible) that Brahmin forget the brahminvaad prevailing during Vice-Chancellor D.N. Mishra. who was better know as Do Nothing Mishra in student community. Little information about chronological list of VC of BHU. I don't know the follow up but pretty sure, Can there be Smoke without Fire ?
3- BHU Funds Scam(1956) : In one of the first instances of corruption in educational institutions, Benaras Hindu University officials were accused of misappropriation of funds worth Rs 50 lakh.
Great People in the respectable positions has taken corrupt route but I can't just digest the amount of money involved in the corruption in 1950's.
4- "Micro-inequities are ways in which people are ignored, disrespected, undermined, or somehow treated in a different (negative) way because of their gender or race (or some other intrinsic characteristic). A micro-inequity can be very micro. It can involve an action or words or even a tone of voice or a gesture. The inequity can be a deliberate attempt to harm someone or it can be unintentional, rooted in a person's perceptions about others. Whatever the source and however minor each separate event, over the years the cumulative effect of these little incidents, words, and gestures on an individual and on various segments of society (academia, business, even within families) is not so micro." [Source]
These micro- inequalities exist in BHU, Varanasi like any other university or working place due to patriarchal society structure. Personally, I felt there exist gender segregation attitude in BHU administration. More light about this issue can be shed by the readers of this post only. I hope that my analysis was wrong...
Pankaj Mishra has written at length about foreign women in Benares who face frequent verbal and physical harassment. e.g., Chapter 14 of his book, `Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in small town India' (1995, Penguin India). He describes the harassment experienced by several foreign women students in Benares, whom he had interviewed. Indian women too suffer harassment, but the frequency and severity seem to be much worse for foreigners. Most of the women Mishra spoke to felt that the Benares Hindu University (BHU) was the most difficult place for them. One of the reasons conjectured for the situation is the emergence of a new class of people in BHU and in the city, who came there from the extremely feudal areas around Benares, combining the feudalism of their upbringing with the mindless consumerism of a growing city.
5- Babu Jagjivan Ram & Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar are alumnus of this university only. Caste discrimination faced by Jagjivan Ram isn't discussed openly (take few exceptions of seminars) due to higher caste dominated university administration. And about Guruji, how pseudo secular people can call him as notable alumnus ? There are bad people in BHU, there are good people. Just like anywhere, really. This is not the attempt to defame BHU but to unearth some deeply hidden facts or mere fictions. Your views will be regarded in high respect for the sake of truth.
*In common parlance, a devil's advocate is someone who takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with for the sake of Logical argument. This process can be used to test the quality of the original argument and identify weaknesses in its structure.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Too Busy To Read Books?
The first list is of the books which are rusting on my book shelf from very long time. I have to finish them as soon as possible. The other books are in the list which I will finish one day. I have also put the name of person who recommonded me name of the books directly or virtually.
Books Rusting on the Shelf
Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal --- Sonal Rai
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwelll --- Sonal Rai
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair --- Self
Diary by Chuck Palahniuk --- Shubhank
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger --- Shekhar Iyer
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowel --- Sonal Rai
Walden and Other Writings of Henry David Thoreau --- Self
Selected Short Stories by Franz Kafka --- Self
The Renaissance in India and other essays by Aurbindo Ghosh --- Self
Thus spake Zarathustra by F. Nietzsche --- Rajneesh
Books to be bought & read in future
Our Films, Their Films by Satyajit Ray --- Nitesh Rohit
Something Like An Autobiography by Akira Kurosawa --- Nitesh Rohit
India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha --- Rahul Basu
India: From Midnight to the Millennium by Shashi Tharoor --- Self
How to be Modern in India, Pakistan and Beyond by Pankaj Mishra --- Self
A Journey Interrupted: Being Indian in Pakistan by Farzana Versey --- Vikram V Garg
The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1991 by Eric Hobsbawm --- Self
Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker --- Brajesh Rai
The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman --- Madhur Garg
The Google Story by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed --- Rahul Priyedarshi
The Creation Of Wealth : The Tatas From The 19th To The 21st Century by R M Lala --- Self
The Amul India Story by Ruth Herediya --- Self
Everybody Loves a Good Drought: Stories from India's Poorest Districts by P Sainath --- Self
A Better India, A Better World by N R Narayana Murthy --- Self
Imagining India by Nandan Nilekani --- Self
A Time Of Transition by Mani Shankar Aiyar --- Puneet Jain
Ignited Minds by Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam --- Self
The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen --- Rahul Priyedarshi
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King --- Steve Yegge
The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto 'Che' Guevara --- Vivek Padmanabhan
Sunny Days by Sunil Gavaskar --- Self
The Man-Eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett --- Self
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut --- Self
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley --- Ankita Mukherjee
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink --- Self
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn --- Self
The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol --- Jhumpa Lahiri
White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky --- Rajneesh
Faint Heart by Fyodor Dostoyevsky --- Rajneesh
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho --- Srikant Singh
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky --- Self
On the Road by Jack Kerouac --- Self
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates --- Self
Snow by Orhan Pamuk --- Shekhar Iyer
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller --- Shekhar Iyer
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk --- Shekhar Iyer
Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho --- Puneet Jain
Peeli Chhatri Waali Ladki by Uday Prakash --- Varun Grover
Kasap by Manohar Shyam Joshi --- Self
In custody by Anita Desai --- Self
Tamas by Bhisham Sahni --- Mother
Pinjar by Amrita Pritam --- Mother
Aag Ka Dariya by Qurratulain Hyder --- Self
Kitne Pakistan by Kamleshwar --- Self
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky --- Ankita Mukherjee
Like a flowing river by Paul Coehlo --- Puneet Jain
Discover Your Genius by Michael Gelb --- Nimmy
What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson --- Rashmi Bansal
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig --- Zaheer Sir
Evolution of Geographical Thought by Majid Hussain --- Neeraj Jadaun
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins --- Shubhank
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins --- Shubhank
The End of Faith by Sam Harris --- Self
Tao, The Golden Gate [1] & [2] by Osho --- Rajneesh Tiwari
Satyarth Prakash by Swami Dayanand Saraswati --- Self
The Life Divine by Aurobindo Ghose --- Self
God Created the Integers: The Mathematical Breakthroughs That Changed History by Stephen
Hawking --- Puneet Jain
Books Rusting on the Shelf
Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal --- Sonal Rai
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwelll --- Sonal Rai
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair --- Self
Diary by Chuck Palahniuk --- Shubhank
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger --- Shekhar Iyer
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowel --- Sonal Rai
Walden and Other Writings of Henry David Thoreau --- Self
Selected Short Stories by Franz Kafka --- Self
The Renaissance in India and other essays by Aurbindo Ghosh --- Self
Thus spake Zarathustra by F. Nietzsche --- Rajneesh
Books to be bought & read in future
Our Films, Their Films by Satyajit Ray --- Nitesh Rohit
Something Like An Autobiography by Akira Kurosawa --- Nitesh Rohit
India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha --- Rahul Basu
India: From Midnight to the Millennium by Shashi Tharoor --- Self
How to be Modern in India, Pakistan and Beyond by Pankaj Mishra --- Self
A Journey Interrupted: Being Indian in Pakistan by Farzana Versey --- Vikram V Garg
The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1991 by Eric Hobsbawm --- Self
Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker --- Brajesh Rai
The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman --- Madhur Garg
The Google Story by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed --- Rahul Priyedarshi
The Creation Of Wealth : The Tatas From The 19th To The 21st Century by R M Lala --- Self
The Amul India Story by Ruth Herediya --- Self
Everybody Loves a Good Drought: Stories from India's Poorest Districts by P Sainath --- Self
A Better India, A Better World by N R Narayana Murthy --- Self
Imagining India by Nandan Nilekani --- Self
A Time Of Transition by Mani Shankar Aiyar --- Puneet Jain
Ignited Minds by Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam --- Self
The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen --- Rahul Priyedarshi
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King --- Steve Yegge
The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto 'Che' Guevara --- Vivek Padmanabhan
Sunny Days by Sunil Gavaskar --- Self
The Man-Eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett --- Self
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut --- Self
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley --- Ankita Mukherjee
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink --- Self
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn --- Self
The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol --- Jhumpa Lahiri
White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky --- Rajneesh
Faint Heart by Fyodor Dostoyevsky --- Rajneesh
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho --- Srikant Singh
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky --- Self
On the Road by Jack Kerouac --- Self
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates --- Self
Snow by Orhan Pamuk --- Shekhar Iyer
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller --- Shekhar Iyer
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk --- Shekhar Iyer
Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho --- Puneet Jain
Peeli Chhatri Waali Ladki by Uday Prakash --- Varun Grover
Kasap by Manohar Shyam Joshi --- Self
In custody by Anita Desai --- Self
Tamas by Bhisham Sahni --- Mother
Pinjar by Amrita Pritam --- Mother
Aag Ka Dariya by Qurratulain Hyder --- Self
Kitne Pakistan by Kamleshwar --- Self
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky --- Ankita Mukherjee
Like a flowing river by Paul Coehlo --- Puneet Jain
Discover Your Genius by Michael Gelb --- Nimmy
What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson --- Rashmi Bansal
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig --- Zaheer Sir
Evolution of Geographical Thought by Majid Hussain --- Neeraj Jadaun
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins --- Shubhank
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins --- Shubhank
The End of Faith by Sam Harris --- Self
Tao, The Golden Gate [1] & [2] by Osho --- Rajneesh Tiwari
Satyarth Prakash by Swami Dayanand Saraswati --- Self
The Life Divine by Aurobindo Ghose --- Self
God Created the Integers: The Mathematical Breakthroughs That Changed History by Stephen
Hawking --- Puneet Jain
Friday, September 18, 2009
Cast out Caste
Let me recall the punchline of Popeye the Sailorman : “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!” . Cast out caste from our social system, it is killing talent based on the merit. The paragraphs given below are the the reproduction of a part of the interview of N. Murthy , Infosys Founder.
" The Indian society is a society of ideas. It is a society that has revered talk. In this society, articulation is mistaken for accomplishment. We are quite satisfied with our voice, with our writings. This is not a society that is focused on execution.
Frankly, the problem is due to our caste system and the dominance of Brahmins in our society for long period. The Brahminical system said my job is to think of the higher worlds. My job is to think of connecting you people with God. I don't want to do anything that has a relationship with the real world.
Now that is a problem that has played havoc with the Indian culture. So, here in this culture, if you do anything with your hands, it is considered less honourable that anything to do with your brain. Here everybody wants to be an engineer, nobody wants to be a technician. So when a society does not value implementation, execution, what happens is you create more and more reports and nothing gets done. "
We are not a nation of doers; we are a nation which believes that our articulation is our accomplishment.
I have put the view of N Murthy here for the gentle support of Anoop who put it eloquently as: Indian academicians and intellectuals are not ‘lazy’ but highly incompetent as they are the product of a society where merit is at premium. A caste-ridden society, where the caste interest and caste-pride take precedence over everything, can never produce genuine/objective scholars and academicians. Then, Anoop puts his emphasis on the fact --- Why have the Brahmins not produced a Voltaire? . Don't worry about my bashing to priestly clan of Hinduism, here comes Interview of Prabhas Joshi with his really valid points to give thoughts of other side of coin.
" The Indian society is a society of ideas. It is a society that has revered talk. In this society, articulation is mistaken for accomplishment. We are quite satisfied with our voice, with our writings. This is not a society that is focused on execution.
Frankly, the problem is due to our caste system and the dominance of Brahmins in our society for long period. The Brahminical system said my job is to think of the higher worlds. My job is to think of connecting you people with God. I don't want to do anything that has a relationship with the real world.
Now that is a problem that has played havoc with the Indian culture. So, here in this culture, if you do anything with your hands, it is considered less honourable that anything to do with your brain. Here everybody wants to be an engineer, nobody wants to be a technician. So when a society does not value implementation, execution, what happens is you create more and more reports and nothing gets done. "
We are not a nation of doers; we are a nation which believes that our articulation is our accomplishment.
I have put the view of N Murthy here for the gentle support of Anoop who put it eloquently as: Indian academicians and intellectuals are not ‘lazy’ but highly incompetent as they are the product of a society where merit is at premium. A caste-ridden society, where the caste interest and caste-pride take precedence over everything, can never produce genuine/objective scholars and academicians. Then, Anoop puts his emphasis on the fact --- Why have the Brahmins not produced a Voltaire? . Don't worry about my bashing to priestly clan of Hinduism, here comes Interview of Prabhas Joshi with his really valid points to give thoughts of other side of coin.
Apne hi pani mein pighal jana barf ka muqaddar hota hai.
I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted paychecks. I am doing this job but I am unable to understand if I am really doing the job or it is just for the sake of doing something. Confusion is there and no direction is clear to me. I am unable to decipher to whom I should take advice. This post is gentle expression of my wrath on me and everything.
Currently, I am unable to express myself here. It may sound like some idealistic and impractical but its not road map of utopia, it is mine day dream of the happy world. Read Bhagat Singh's India for more glimpses of true feelings buzzing around my head. It is more review of history of my country, on whose base our future will be written.
Every monumental crisis shakes the people and society of each generation. The art, literature, cinema matures from it. Every unjust decision pushes us in the direction of becoming more fearful, more regressive; and surely there is always enough time for us to undo old injustice. America emerged stronger and richer after the second world war, while Europe lay in ruins, "the great American dream" had no rivals anywhere in the world. Gertrude Stein once said: America was the oldest country in the world since it was the first to be modern. With its wealth, unique inventions and distinctive "way of life", the US had shaped the experience of western modernity.
India is a diverse and dual society with islands of elite affluence amidst vast oceans of poverty of the masses. This poverty is primarily due to inadequate income-generating employment in the rural countryside and employment would not come from capital-intensive industrialization. Indian science and technology has allied itself with the elitist pattern of industrialization from the west. The need of hour is to devote itself to the generation of an alternative pattern of capital-saving labour-intensive technologies of relevance to the rural poor.
Today, India is just copying American lifestyle without seeing its consequences of implication. I am just requesting all of you to change the world by sacrificing your little luxuries for the needs of others. The others are not from the alien lands, they are our brothers and sisters only. You will know my point after going through an old interview of this year Magsaysay Award winner in the field of Community Leadership, Deep Joshi. Worth Reading for all engineering guys as this person is passout of MNNIT, Allahabad & MIT.
Noel Hatch once commented that for people like us only: "So go where the people are - adapt the messengers, not the message. Don't take them for granted, value them as people you can't do without. Expect to be surprised by them, they're the people you've been waiting for. Share your success and they will commit even more. Embrace the mess, you need rules for radicals not robots. Don't just make it blood, sweat & tears, give them leadership and a smile. Don't just get people on your dance floor, get them to run the show and they'll join your revolution. "
As the topic header "Apne hi pani mein pighal jana barf ka muqaddar hota hai " shows that the path of salvation of an individual goes through welfare of his family, community and society. My inspiration is for making India as place free of prejudices and discrimination where everyone can get the chance to raise his voice.
Currently, I am unable to express myself here. It may sound like some idealistic and impractical but its not road map of utopia, it is mine day dream of the happy world. Read Bhagat Singh's India for more glimpses of true feelings buzzing around my head. It is more review of history of my country, on whose base our future will be written.
Every monumental crisis shakes the people and society of each generation. The art, literature, cinema matures from it. Every unjust decision pushes us in the direction of becoming more fearful, more regressive; and surely there is always enough time for us to undo old injustice. America emerged stronger and richer after the second world war, while Europe lay in ruins, "the great American dream" had no rivals anywhere in the world. Gertrude Stein once said: America was the oldest country in the world since it was the first to be modern. With its wealth, unique inventions and distinctive "way of life", the US had shaped the experience of western modernity.
India is a diverse and dual society with islands of elite affluence amidst vast oceans of poverty of the masses. This poverty is primarily due to inadequate income-generating employment in the rural countryside and employment would not come from capital-intensive industrialization. Indian science and technology has allied itself with the elitist pattern of industrialization from the west. The need of hour is to devote itself to the generation of an alternative pattern of capital-saving labour-intensive technologies of relevance to the rural poor.
Today, India is just copying American lifestyle without seeing its consequences of implication. I am just requesting all of you to change the world by sacrificing your little luxuries for the needs of others. The others are not from the alien lands, they are our brothers and sisters only. You will know my point after going through an old interview of this year Magsaysay Award winner in the field of Community Leadership, Deep Joshi. Worth Reading for all engineering guys as this person is passout of MNNIT, Allahabad & MIT.
Noel Hatch once commented that for people like us only: "So go where the people are - adapt the messengers, not the message. Don't take them for granted, value them as people you can't do without. Expect to be surprised by them, they're the people you've been waiting for. Share your success and they will commit even more. Embrace the mess, you need rules for radicals not robots. Don't just make it blood, sweat & tears, give them leadership and a smile. Don't just get people on your dance floor, get them to run the show and they'll join your revolution. "
As the topic header "Apne hi pani mein pighal jana barf ka muqaddar hota hai " shows that the path of salvation of an individual goes through welfare of his family, community and society. My inspiration is for making India as place free of prejudices and discrimination where everyone can get the chance to raise his voice.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The history of writing
Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow. — Some dude.
I was really flattered when Rajneesh pinged personally and congratulated me for this blog-post in which I stated about my feeling of loneliness. For a mediocre guy like me, to produce magic of ecstasy for friends through written words give intense pleasure. I have frozen frame of the moment in my memory when Himanshu Gupta applauded me for enjoying a healthy and detailed chat on diverse topics. Topic started with him explaining about science in a movie AI to me and continued 3 hours at the lobby of Morvi Hostel (IT-BHU). A sense of confidence was born from inside. It is one the most encouraging memory to cherish till this date.
I always go slow and hate the stopwatch mentality of the world. Deadlines drives me crazy and nervous till this date. The line between an intellectual and a pretentious bore is at best thin. Hence, I feared much in expressing myself. I was like sponge as a kid soaking all in it. Hence, there was so much to tell to this world. Wisdom is learned by 3 ways in the life: Reflection, Imitation and Experience. Imitation gives only outer shell. Experience is most bitter of all. Reflection is the best in all learned retro/ intro - spection.
Imitation kills initiative and discourages independent thought and effort in long run. Foreign words became insufficient to express the experience and thoughts. A sense of dissent for western metaphors or simile is there inside me, as they take mine unique Desi identity and makes me more English. As English isn't my first language, expressing myself through it creates a mental hurdle of translating. Hinglish education had changed my habit of thought and scale of values. Prolonging intellectual serfdom in classic English leads me to indiscriminate adoption of alien wonts and usages. I always try to avoid it. I always like the writing of Salman Rushdie due to his use of Indian English. A sense of Desi belongs in it and English language transforms from British background to urban India. But, I can't adapt his lucid style of complex statements and have deep impact of Premchand's simplicity in Hindi. Hence, imitation way was not for me. Then, I learnt that I had to carve my own way for establishing myself.
Experience comes with passing time through reading and writing ; Advice through comments gives feedbacks of the proactive writing. The reactive comments help in knowing the minds of readers. This stage of experience writing is best expressed by me in a previous blog post.
Reflection makes you strong from inside and a crystal clear point of view appears. Take the seed idea and develop in its essence. That is called adaptation with reflection in my books. The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule or the law of the vital few) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. I think that both every distributive system follows this principle. And personal reflection is that 80% in the mine writing. It may be only small part but its effect is massive.
The three stages are always going in different proportions in writing about any topic. If something is worth writing, it is worth making it extraordinary in the nature. As John Quincy Adams rightly said: If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. So, I am creating anonymous leaders in blogland...
FYI, Abhishek Arora and Vivek Tripathi have started there own blog. Cheers for them...
I was really flattered when Rajneesh pinged personally and congratulated me for this blog-post in which I stated about my feeling of loneliness. For a mediocre guy like me, to produce magic of ecstasy for friends through written words give intense pleasure. I have frozen frame of the moment in my memory when Himanshu Gupta applauded me for enjoying a healthy and detailed chat on diverse topics. Topic started with him explaining about science in a movie AI to me and continued 3 hours at the lobby of Morvi Hostel (IT-BHU). A sense of confidence was born from inside. It is one the most encouraging memory to cherish till this date.
I always go slow and hate the stopwatch mentality of the world. Deadlines drives me crazy and nervous till this date. The line between an intellectual and a pretentious bore is at best thin. Hence, I feared much in expressing myself. I was like sponge as a kid soaking all in it. Hence, there was so much to tell to this world. Wisdom is learned by 3 ways in the life: Reflection, Imitation and Experience. Imitation gives only outer shell. Experience is most bitter of all. Reflection is the best in all learned retro/ intro - spection.
Imitation kills initiative and discourages independent thought and effort in long run. Foreign words became insufficient to express the experience and thoughts. A sense of dissent for western metaphors or simile is there inside me, as they take mine unique Desi identity and makes me more English. As English isn't my first language, expressing myself through it creates a mental hurdle of translating. Hinglish education had changed my habit of thought and scale of values. Prolonging intellectual serfdom in classic English leads me to indiscriminate adoption of alien wonts and usages. I always try to avoid it. I always like the writing of Salman Rushdie due to his use of Indian English. A sense of Desi belongs in it and English language transforms from British background to urban India. But, I can't adapt his lucid style of complex statements and have deep impact of Premchand's simplicity in Hindi. Hence, imitation way was not for me. Then, I learnt that I had to carve my own way for establishing myself.
Experience comes with passing time through reading and writing ; Advice through comments gives feedbacks of the proactive writing. The reactive comments help in knowing the minds of readers. This stage of experience writing is best expressed by me in a previous blog post.
Reflection makes you strong from inside and a crystal clear point of view appears. Take the seed idea and develop in its essence. That is called adaptation with reflection in my books. The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule or the law of the vital few) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. I think that both every distributive system follows this principle. And personal reflection is that 80% in the mine writing. It may be only small part but its effect is massive.
The three stages are always going in different proportions in writing about any topic. If something is worth writing, it is worth making it extraordinary in the nature. As John Quincy Adams rightly said: If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. So, I am creating anonymous leaders in blogland...
FYI, Abhishek Arora and Vivek Tripathi have started there own blog. Cheers for them...
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
How Populism Works ?
I'm reminded of the well-known satirical novel by Robert Escarpit – The Literatron. I haven't read the novel but just a summary of its review is reproduced from eurozine article. It explains in subtle about how populism works....
I'm reminded of the well-known satirical novel by Robert Escarpit – The Literatron. The Literatron is more or less a machine for creating texts similar to a computer. The idea of its creators was to generate the perfect novel based on the best images from world literature. In response to the highest of expectations, the machine produced a bestseller – Virgin and Typesetter! When the Literatron was asked to compose a political speech the outcome was even more scandalous. After processing the entire history of political rhetoric the machine spewed out a series of gaffs such as: "This politics thing the more it changes the more it stays the same... There are no two ways about it, the clever people are the most stupid of all... All you have to do is hang a few of them (politicians) and things will improve...". This line of thought fits perfectly with an eloquent phrase from the Bulgarian transition, wrought by another merciless critic of his time, the Bulgarian satirist Aleko Konstantinov: "They are all rogues, on both sides!" The speech generated by the literatron was welcomed with raptures by the electorate and the politician whose job it was to make it quickly became a star. Every attempt to deviate from the absurd scenario led to vigorous disapproval.
I can't remember what happened to the literatron, whether it was destroyed as a malicious invention or if it destroyed itself. What was more important was the principles on which the machine operated. Its aim was universality and in the process it purged all nuances, simplified the meaning and looked for an arithmetical mean. The aim was for the text to reach the widest possible audience. The greatest irony was that a message meant for all was in practice a message for no one. This undermined its purpose, since it would have left its audience completely indifferent. The literatron is clearly a metaphor for populism as a leading principle of the political machine. However, populism works. If it didn't, politicians wouldn't resort to it so often.
The story is over dudes..
I'm reminded of the well-known satirical novel by Robert Escarpit – The Literatron. The Literatron is more or less a machine for creating texts similar to a computer. The idea of its creators was to generate the perfect novel based on the best images from world literature. In response to the highest of expectations, the machine produced a bestseller – Virgin and Typesetter! When the Literatron was asked to compose a political speech the outcome was even more scandalous. After processing the entire history of political rhetoric the machine spewed out a series of gaffs such as: "This politics thing the more it changes the more it stays the same... There are no two ways about it, the clever people are the most stupid of all... All you have to do is hang a few of them (politicians) and things will improve...". This line of thought fits perfectly with an eloquent phrase from the Bulgarian transition, wrought by another merciless critic of his time, the Bulgarian satirist Aleko Konstantinov: "They are all rogues, on both sides!" The speech generated by the literatron was welcomed with raptures by the electorate and the politician whose job it was to make it quickly became a star. Every attempt to deviate from the absurd scenario led to vigorous disapproval.
I can't remember what happened to the literatron, whether it was destroyed as a malicious invention or if it destroyed itself. What was more important was the principles on which the machine operated. Its aim was universality and in the process it purged all nuances, simplified the meaning and looked for an arithmetical mean. The aim was for the text to reach the widest possible audience. The greatest irony was that a message meant for all was in practice a message for no one. This undermined its purpose, since it would have left its audience completely indifferent. The literatron is clearly a metaphor for populism as a leading principle of the political machine. However, populism works. If it didn't, politicians wouldn't resort to it so often.
The story is over dudes..
Monday, September 14, 2009
Justice and Democracy
The seed of post was sown when Joie de vivre commented in mine recent post that we live in the country where Logon ko democracy ka D bhi nai pata. She was absolutely right that Indians have a long way to go to understand the values of rights and duties of citizen. Personally, I don't have very strong belief in democracy but have a faith in swift and vigilant justice. Yet democracy seems to me as best way of giving voices to myself and the people. This is my naive attempt to understand the complex relationship of justice and democracy.Democracy is ethically right but intellectually void.-- Max Kislanski
I once asked my father why people rate parliament above supreme court running on constitution. He replied me that constitution is made for serving the people not the vice-versa. When representative of people at Parliament veto supreme court verdict, they are abiding the rule of people only. I was silenced then. After many years, this memory resurfaces in studying Shahbano Case. I got my reply that while voting in Parliament just supports majority, it may or may not be the right voice. A wrong decision by majority may lead to injustice and may provoke decay of values and law in the society.
Justice is wisdom on merit and democracy is the choice to take different opinion. Too much democracy is like free market without any control. This is what Fareed Zakaria (former editor Newsweek) calls the tyranny of the majority. He argues that democracy, overwhelmingly, has had wonderful consequences. But the construction of a rich, diverse and complex social order needs a multitude of ideas to flourish. Democracy as a single ideology across politics, society, arts and business is akin to religious dogmatism where faith dictates every aspect of life. This is a very important argument. Democracy has proven itself to be the most acceptable form of political governance where the will of majority forms the basis for legislature. Still mindless ‘majorityism’ is dangerous. A journalist and novelist Pankaj Mishra points out this flaw of democracy ---
"When last week in Ha'aretz the Israeli historian Tom Segev judged Israeli "apathy" towards the massacre in Gaza as "chilling and shameful", he brought on deja vu among Indians. In 2002 the Hindu nationalist government of Gujarat supervised the killing of more than two thousand Muslims. The state's chief minister, Narendra Modi, who green-lighted the mass murder, seemed a monstrous figure to many Indians; they then watched aghast as the citizens of Gujarat - better-educated and more prosperous than most Indians - re-elected Modi by a landslide after the pogrom. In 2007, a few months after the magazine Tehelka taped Hindu nationalists in Gujarat boasting how they raped and dismembered Muslims, Modi again won elections with contemptuous ease. Though prohibited from entering the US, Modi is now courted by corporate groups, including Tata, and frequently hailed as India's next prime minister. As the Israeli right looks likely to be the latest electoral beneficiary of state terror, it is time to ask: can the institutions of electoral democracy, liberal capitalism and the nation-state be relied upon to do our moral thinking for us? "Trust in the majority," they seem to say, but more often than not the majority proves itself incapable of even common sense. " [Origin]
Our society is driving towards consumer culture and lack of awareness about ground realities is hurting our chance of progress. People aren't dumb but they take time to retrospect its decision. Impact of popularism is like mob madness. Each person involved in the mob takes his own time to return from the state of hysteria. People deserve better but they don't know about other options. A balancing act is done by media by providing voice to the lost causes and people living on periphery of society.
A sense of power to control is what the media is in turn giving to public in reality shows. It’s the manipulation and unreliability of methods media use to determine what people want. What media should fix is error in the systems, not the society. A democracy should encourage a person to tell the truth as it is, the truth about the truth. The freedom and liberty are more greater than the idea of democracy or theocracy or dictatorship.
So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly arise and make them miserable. --- Aldous Huxley
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