BOMBSHELL IDEAS

Teaching – The Noble Profession

2011-08-14T02:51:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched Prakash Jha’s latest venture, Aarakshan. Interestingly, a few weeks back I posted an article with the same title on my blog, so it was kind of déjà vu for me.

Mr Jha raised a few very interesting points in the film which I already mentioned on my blog post like, improving the standard of education at grass root level and the system of unbiased education. Another very interesting observation made in the film was elevating the standard of the profession without which we would be nobody – Teaching.

Teaching since eons has been a backup profession for the Indian society. We all start with big dreams of becoming Doctor, Engineer, IAS, IPS and more, and always have the backup plan of entering the teaching profession if everything else fails.

Why is teaching always Plan-B? Why doesn’t the cream of the student fraternity see a career in this profession? The answer is simple, “Because there isn’t one.” We see a career in medicine, engineering, entrepreneurship, civil services or even in being a bank clerk but not in the profession which made us who we are.

As far as women are concerned, teaching is more of a convenience than career or fulfilment for most of them. When I say most, I mean around 99% of them. I have several friends and distant relations who have opted for the profession of teaching because they couldn’t qualify for a better position and who find the idea of making sufficient “pocket money” and coming home by 2 pm good enough.

We attend classes of our favourite teachers but always come out of the class with only one idea haunting us - “Had they been good enough in what they are teaching us, they would have been at a better place. They wouldn’t have been here teaching us.” This is the kind of opinion we have of our teachers, which is not totally incorrect either. If you are close enough to ask your teachers about their dreams then would learn that most of them wanted to do something else in their lives than teach.

My father, wanted to do his PhD and become a professor in IIT, but he too like many others didn’t see a bright future in it. I wanted to teach, but I still can’t see a career in teaching. And let me tell you, there is nothing that I thoroughly enjoy than teaching. It fills me with positive energy and contentment. For several years we had this discussion over the dining table, of having better system for selection of teachers, lecturers and professors.

I was amazed that when I heard the same opinion being voiced in the film. It feels good to know that the intellectual society, too, can see the lapses in the profession of teaching. The idea of Indian Teaching Services was given in the film and I vote in favour of that idea. May the noble profession of teaching become a career option in coming time.

Thy Nature is Human

2011-08-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

As simple as it may sound, it is after all human nature. We crib about something and call it human nature, we forget something and call it human nature, we even make mistakes that have huge consequences, and have the audacity to call it ‘human nature’.

We waste hours of our personal life cribbing about a crazy colleague, that’s human nature. We expect one treatment for ourselves but refuse to extend it to people around us, that’s human nature. We expect better salary, luxury car and bigger house for ourselves but refuse to pay the domestic help better, that’s human nature.

We want the world to keep earth clean but litter around ourselves, that’s human nature. We want our neighbours to potty-train their pets but fail to train our own pets, that’s human nature. We curse people who spit on the road but do it ourselves, that’s human nature.

We expect our children to be well behaved but swear oaths ourselves, that’s human nature. We tell them that smoking kills while blowing smoke on their face, that’s human nature. We expect our partner to be a teetotaller while we drink, smoke and dope, that’s human nature. We expect a virgin for a spouse while we sleep around, that’s human nature.

We don’t mind a single act of our parents but when it comes to ‘in-laws’ everything becomes different, that’s human nature. We call our friends on their birthday and forget to wish them just because we desperately want to crib about a colleague, that’s human nature.

Me writing this whole piece mocking human nature; THAT is Human Nature.

Challenged. Are they?

2011-07-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

I've been searching myself for a while now. I don't even remember when I had a grab on myself last, but I discovered that only a few months back. Credit goes to my former colleague Madhusudan Srinivas, his son Abhmanyu and gang, and of course Kanika – who came up with the idea of Playtime Delhi.

Why wrote this is because I felt like and again the credit goes to Madhu. I used to write in school and in college, and then I stopped. I stopped because I wouldn’t feel like writing, I wouldn't feel like writing because I think I stopped feeling altogether. The only time I wrote was for work because I was paid to do so. Even on this blog I was never active because I lost touch with my inner self. But when I wrote this piece I really wondered that how I could live without doing something, the only thing I did best, writing!

It was a learning experience to be around these kids, Abhimanyu, Vivan, Vishu. I'm sure there are many more like them in this city, country and the planet, and I only wish that one day I'll get a chance to be around them all.

Clinically, these kids might be called Autistic but personally I think they are at par with any of us and at times, better. Madhu mentioned that they'd have a chance to learn and better themselves in our presence, but I think that we would learn more from them.

Stumbling, getting up again, trying again, cheering for themselves, no ill feeling against anyone, no completion, nothing to regret about, no money driven goals.... They are so much better people than the so called "Normal" human beings.

Even today there are people ignorant enough to call children with special needs – Retards. But I think such people are retards. These kids are smart I tell you. At times smarter than anyone of us. They just need the right kind of presence around them and they can be their own boss.

It has been quite a while since I hung out with them due various reasons but I look forward to spending more quality time with them and rediscovering myself.

Fairness Madness

2011-07-25T04:27:00.000-07:00

It all started with "Fair and Lovely" over two decades back and today there is a whole plethora of fairness products for men and women alike. More and more brands are emerging with their range of fairness creams, face washes, scrubs and what not. Each day we see fair an models, Indian and foreigners, complaining about their complexion and then picking one of these products to get fairer and thus successful.

But, is this really fair? Discrimination against the not so fair beings of the human race, dusky models being shown using fairness products on-screen or a fair girl aspiring to get fairer to win the man of her dreams, is it really fair?

I watched plenty of "Fair and Lovely" advertisements during my growing years and was always under the impression that the target audience of these products is the not so well educated class which considers fairness as the only parameter of judging beauty.

It’s an eye-opener to see that the ad-break slots of television channels today are flooded with advertisements of fairness products. These products have caught hold of the psychology of us Indians. It is the inferiority complex of the Indian masses which draws them to buy these fairness products. Why else would such racist products sell like hot cakes in this country?

Why can’t a dusky or dark complexioned girl get a man of her dreams? Why can’t a dusky guy become and actor or model? It is your capability, hard-work and confidence guys, which leads you to success. No fairness product can help you achieve those.

All that these products are achieving is a whole generation of boys and girls who are more conscious about their appearance (read fairness) than their report-cards or mark-sheets. And the best part, the consumers of fairness products are already fair, they just don’t think it’s enough.

You can look good irrespective of your complexion, brand of clothes or shoes and other items that are considered the parameter of good appearance if you are neat and confident about your capabilities. 30 minutes of yoga or meditation would do you better than wasting infinite amount of resources to get fairer.

Education overrated

2011-07-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

Past one month has scared the crap out of me. No, I’m not scared for myself but for the coming generation. 100% cut off for college admissions! It’s like living in a different planet altogether. Although I have nothing to do with college admissions now but I strongly feel that the whole cut off system has gone way overboard.

I also hear that there are certain amendments lined up which would make the aggregate percentage a criteria for appearance in the entrance exams. Let me be very honest here, I wouldn’t have had a bachelor’s degree in my hands today had it not been for the entrance exam that I appeared in. I passed that exam with a remarkable rank and landed in a college of repute.

On a personal level, I believe that performance in examinations can’t be the best judge of a child’s aptitude, especially board exams. I hear that the format of question papers has changed already and is about to change further yet I feel that the percentage acquired in the board exams cannot be a parameter for appearance in competition.

Here is an idea though, why not have a common entrance examination at stage I, containing questions based on reasoning, aptitude, general awareness and English for candidates from all streams. Performance of this test as well as the subject stream of the candidate should be the basis for stage II, which should be more specific. There should be different stage II objective type tests for different courses like engineering, medicine, psychology and so on and so forth.

Then should there be a stage III involving subjective type tests; followed by personal interview and/or group discussion. All these tests should be held online at verified centers reducing any and every possibility of corruption.

India has been known for its education system since the times to Aryabhatt but we’ve already oversold it at the cost of our own children and their future. We need to realize that learning is only possible if it is fun and 100% cut off does not make it fun. We got to take it easy before we start losing our children to nervous breakdowns, depression or even worse - suicides.

The idea suggested above is just quite vague may be worth considering, maybe not. The need of the hour is a centralized common test that would eliminate the pressure, the harassment of filling different forms and appearing for different tests, and wasting a lot of money plus which would lead to better determination of the right candidate for the right course.

Aarakshan...

2011-07-15T03:18:00.000-07:00

I have been hearing this hue and cry about special quota for the reserved category ever since I was a too young to understand the meaning itself, leave alone the implications. Through school, entrance exams, college and even office there was “Category?” always there.

Today as a grown up citizen of the state of India with all due respect I would like to ask the men in white, “Why do you not trust the doctors from quota with your life? Why is it that the doctors for you guys are always imported from the countries which have a completely merit based education system?”

The answer to me is simple, “You yourself are aware that the quality of a student reflects in the merit. It is not something you can gift a person on a platter.”

I may have sounded like a total anti-reservation mascot which I’m not. I have lived in this country long enough to understand the repercussions of the ancient caste system on the present society. There are a lot of malpractices done in the name of castes and the only way to put all that to an end in through education.

But this education has to be a part of life of each and every individual in the society. And this wouldn’t come when 60% of the country’s population still lives below poverty line and has no guarantee of the two square meals in a day.

The unemployment allowance is one solution to the problem. Many would argue that this would lead to people lying about their employment status or even worse, loss of interest in work. But believe me this shall pass and even if it doesn’t this would lead to a decline in crimes like theft, domestic violence etc. Most people commit a crime to feed themselves and their families or because they are out of options.

Another way of initiating a change in this situation is Reservation, but at a lower level. I’m not even talking about 10%, 15% or even 30% reservation, I vote for a 50% quota but between 0 to 9^th grade. 10^th grade onwards the system should be completely irrevocably merit based wherein a person who qualifies the exam gets admission and who does not, drops out. Again this 50% lot shall be admissible only after the basic background checks like education of parents, their work and income. As on a personal level I have come across a number of people who’ve gotten through college admissions using a fake certificate certifying them to be of the reserved category.

These steps would not turn around the situation prevalent at the moment but they will certainly initiate the change. And the change is what we need, Desperately.

Gorkhaland: An urgency

2008-06-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

Demand for Gorkhaland needs to be divested of political coloring and separatist branding for a proper understanding of the oppression, neglect and parasitic exploitation of its resources by the concerned state government.

Darjeeling is not an isolated case. It is a perpetually repeated story of exploitation of far-flung underdeveloped but natural resource rich minority geographical area by a powerful majority government with entire machinery of state at its disposal. Darjeeling is just a repetition of Telangana in Andhra Pradesh, Poorvanchal and Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh and Marathwada in Maharashtra to name a few similar cases.

It is ironic that in all those and many other cases those areas have remained in pitiable state of underdevelopment even after sixty years of independence due to indifference of successive state governments towards their development. Moreover, past experience tells us that development of large states tends to remain lopsided and the moment smaller states are carved out of them, the smaller states develop at a rapid pace. Examples of Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, Karnataka and Uttaranchal can be easily cited as evidence of better manageability of smaller states.

Secondly, the central government having repeatedly accepted reorganization of states on linguistic basis, should accept the necessity of a Gorakhaland, Marathwada, Saurashtra, Telangana, Poorvanchal and Bundelkhand etc with an open mind. The Constitution of India recognizes Nepali as an Indian language (Eighth Schedule). Hence when Begalis can have a Bengal and Marathas can have a Maharashtra then why deny Gorkhas their Gorkhaland. It will mean more bureaucratic jobs and a higher potential earning for bureaucrats and politicians alike. Hence, there should be no objection from those quarters. Ironically strongest opposition to creation of smaller states comes from those very quarters.

The reasons for such opposition are easily understood. Smaller states mean a sharing of resources (illegal gains for those in power) among a larger number. Hence, the opposition to creation of smaller states arises due to interests of those in power overriding national interests. Equating of national interest with an equitable development of all its parts is considered justified by this writer. However, this equitable development by creation of smaller states will go against personal interests and feelings of power of all the forces that are opposed to it.

Smaller states will also be a unit that will be easier to manage for the administration. They will also make it easier for oppressed people of any part to visit state capital and seek redressal, unlike present conditions where a person in Bundelkhand will dread a visit to state capital at Lucknow due to its distance.

This is a case for more and smaller states in a nutshell. All are welcome to take this idea further, with or without acknowledgement.

Jaipur Blasts: Potential for Political Mileage

2008-05-14T22:41:00.000-07:00

With in minutes after the serial blasts in Jaipur on May 13 politicians started competing with one another to gain maximum mileage out of it. Human aspects were lost sight off in this political hullabaloo and received some media attention only on the succeeding day.

While the blasts have taken the nation by storm, there was and continues to be heavy competition among politicians in condemning the (terrorist?) act in strongest terms. Expletives have not been publicly used but have been heard in private gatherings. Administration is content with an after the incident mop up of dead bodies and spilled blood in a typical bollywood filmy style but for a villain. Will anyone own up the responsibility for administrative and intelligence failure?

If we go by the past trends, that no one ever will. Some terrorist group has already claimed responsibility for the attack and administration is too happy publicizing the same, while politicians are trying to maximize their mileage in this election year. There is a heavy competition among media houses to be the first to publish such claims, while politicians continue with condemnations bordering on expletives with subtly hidden pointers towards a particular neighboring country. All that is fair in love of Hindu votes for the forthcoming wars that will be fought in various constituencies this year.

The pertinent introspective questions that will surely not be asked by our politicians, administrators and wise political commentators alike are, “Was there anything we could have done to avoid this mishap?” and “What can we do in future to avoid recurrence of such mishaps?”

Home Ministry and all its security agencies are undertaking a postmortem analysis pin pointing the exact quantity, quality and source of explosives used meticulously bypassing the pertinent questions, because none cares.

To prevent terrorism we have to learn to identify it. A terrorist can hide in chaos, so we need to eliminate the chaos that has become a synonym for India. To begin with there are claims that some bombs had been planted on bicycles. If you analyze this simple harmless claim, then it will be very clear that there is no parking for bicycles at the place where blasts took place. Why it is not there is anybody’s guess. The most plausible explanation I can find is that charging for parking of vehicles outside a place of worship may interfere with the freedom to practice one’s religion, and hence the government encourages a free for all parking outside the places of worship.

If there were a proper parking area, then the damage from a bicycle bomb planted in parking would have been far lesser. Even the blast might have been avoided, if a bicycle was standing outside parking had attracted attention of at least some responsible citizen by being something out of ordinary. Possibly, the terrorist himself might have run away in terror, if questioned by some security person(s) as to why he was parking outside the parking area.

Similarly, if there were orderly queues in the temple, any unidentified baggage or package would have been noticed. A proper traffic control and orderly movement of vehicles and pedestrians also might have brought to the notice of law enforcement authorities any unusual or suspicious characters.

If these ideas are propagated then my purpose is more than served. Hence, here is a synopsis of what can be done to avoid such mishaps in future. Of course, for detailed explanations and roles and responsibilities for implementation thereof, it will be nice to have a commission to undertake this job and hold lengthy hearings and submit a massive report which may be tabled in the parliament and whose copies may gather dust till some remote future point of time when some conscientious politicians and bureaucrats bring it out of oblivion and implement some parts of the same.

Firstly, the public image that entire India is a free parking zone for any and all vehicles needs to be changed. Creation of “Pay & Park” zones all over cities will go a long way in eliminating bombs placed in parked vehicles. This will create some employment and also increase revenue of local administrative bodies.

Secondly, the public image that fundamental rights include “the right to litter and create garbage yard any where we choose” needs to be taken care of. This will eliminate placing of bombs under cover of garbage. A stringent penalty for littering and even a general penalty on the entire area contributing to such garbage may do the trick.

Thirdly, a degree of accountability has to be explicitly fixed on the Police Station in whose jurisdiction the acts of terrorism happen, and the intelligence agencies responsible for covering the city and state of the incident, in that order. This may help improve the placid attitude of those concerned and those who are really in a position to prevent this.

Even the Mumbai Serial Blasts of July 11th 2006 might have been avoided or at least the damage could have been far less if there were enough local trains to accommodate the passengers. It was only the crowd which led to ignorance of the bombs planted in the trains and the person who planted them. Only after implementing the tenets given above our slogans of not ignoring any unclaimed package or any vehicle left parked in a public place will bear fruit and act as preventives they are intended to be.

Only if those basic tenets are followed, there can be hope for preventing such mishaps in future.

IGI AIRPORT: A NEW ADDITION TO DELHI MESS

2008-05-10T07:43:00.000-07:00

The news item in ToI of May 9th “GMR wants increase in Delhi airport fees” is not likely to get noticed by most users of Delhi airport and to their own detriment. GMR backed consortium has taken the contract on certain terms laid down by the government, which it found profitable. It has received funding from its equity participants and lenders by showing the same terms and projecting them as profitable. Cost escalations and contingencies are an essential part of such long term financial deals and must have been accounted for. There have been no unforeseen developments on those fronts to justify additional burden on air travelers unfortunate enough to use Delhi airport.

This is all the more so, if the amenities curtailed in the name of work-in-progress for indefinitely long periods are taken into consideration. Airports all over India and the world do undergo renovations and modification / expansion from time to time, but such gross chaos as has been prevailing over Delhi airport ever since the renovation by GMR has commenced is really unprecedented.

One improvement that all users of Delhi airport must have noticed and regretted is that five rupees wala cups of tea and coffee have gone missing since the development work commenced and have been replaced by fifty and hundred rupees wala cups. Even the outside stalls have doubled their price taking the cue from GMR group.

To begin with most basic of amenity of wash rooms has a number of units that is less than that of any decent shopping mall. This is despite the goal of handling one million flights per annum by 2010. The queues that extend for a couple of yards outside wash rooms during peak hours will bear witness to this on any day. If the number of units in washrooms has been rationed by some bureaucrat, then it’s a different matter.

Similar chaos prevails in baggage handling and situation is even worse at International terminal, where you will find foreign travelers alighting from long haul flights sometimes desperately trying to locate washroom through the labyrinth of barricades erected for renovation work for better amenities.

Lastly, India may be the only country in the world where airport tax works out to be thrice the amount of basic fare on many no frills flights. Gathering such data across continents is not my cup of tea, but from the limited information available I can say that I have never seen airport taxes in excess of 50% of basic fare on most international airports outside India.

The projections of revenue and profitability given to the financers by GMR should be examined by a qualified team, and need to be recast keeping in view the unprecedented rise in the number of air travelers before government takes any decision about further increase in airport fees or permit levy of user development fee.

AIRPORT

Wikimapia- misguided threat perception

2007-07-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

Wikimapia.org has successfully cornered a lot of desired publicity by it being presented as a threat to national security. If at all it is a threat to security, it is so for the terrorists as well as all the anti-terrorist governments. Utility of Wikimapia.org is as much as googleearth.com from a terrorist’s point of view. Moreover security of all countries is threatened uniformly

The governments world over, however, are likely to seize this opportunity to impose censorship on the web, which has emerged as the ultimate tool in the individuals struggle for right to information.

Any governmental attempt to restrict individual right to information is invariably intended to cover its own incompetence, inefficiency, corruption and indifference to the well being of citizens.

A cross section of Indian media is presenting this as a threat to national security. Has any other country/ government perceived it as a threat to security? The answer is a categorical NO. Then why this sudden hue and cry when wikimapia.org is about to celebrate its first anniversary?