Pit Stop

It has been a hectic few months. Doing Innovision'06. Gymming. Playing football. Running off to college early morning, working, running, running on an empty stomach till I could no more fend off my hunger. Coming back home torn and tired. Only to find my sole solace - my computer down by the humid atmosphere. No internet time in college. And so no more blogging.
But these days of hectic schedules have all been worth it. I had the time of my life. Met so many people. Discovered a gregarious side to my persona. Wrote lots of official letters and speeches and all sorts of hypocritical shit that surrogated my blogging. Saw rather heard my wonderful writing torn to shreds by the oratory skills of my HOD. The icing on the cake though was to watch the wonderful inter-faculty cold wars amply helped by us students stoking the fire.
Happy days though seldom last long, and here I am after the completion of the Techfest - my assignments still incomplete , scrambling to find a proper definition for my three credit project with all the faculty members taunting " You must know how to manage". A week ago, working for the Techest, I was their manager in chief. Gawd there I go on again. I love to crib. Someday I will start a blogging website called cribber.com. Am sure its gonna be a hit-what with me acting as agony uncle for all my poor cribbing members.
Hoping that their agony uncle won't be central to their cribbing.

I Run

Slipping on my running shoes, I run;
Through the place I learned to walk I run;
By the gates I learned to speak I run;
Past the place she held my hand, I run:
Torn and tattered, by the waning strength of my limbs, I run;
Zipping through the memory lanes, with zest I run;
Bruised and battered, by the will of my soul I run;
Knowing not - To or From, I run.

Gandhi To Mahatma

The development of Gandhi from a well to do Gujarati Bania to one of the most influential personalities of the century is a story of the truimph of the will of man above all. His life was a process of continual self development. He was neither charismatic like Hitler nor did he possess the quick wit and dogged determination of Churchill. He lived a life which failed to prepare him for the challenges that he sought. He could've lived like the typical Bania - avoid confrontation
and attain the desired objective. Yet inspite of his background he didn't hesitate to protest against what he felt was injustice. His beliefs and his need to stand by them were so strong that he didn't mind confrontation from any and all quarters. This created Gandhi and by the strength of his beliefs to which he held on under all sorts of pressures he became the larger than life persona that we identify him with.

The Gandhi who engaged himself in dance classes in Britian was a changed man as a lawyer to a rich trader in South Africa. And even the last vestiges of his Anglicized persona were shed off when he adopted his loincloth garb in India. Slowly he metamorphed into the colossal persona of being Mahatma from Gandhi.

The process of introspecting and improving is usually a part and parcel of every human's life. Yet very few can leverage the true potential of this process and attain optimum results. The Mahatma succeeded because of his adherence to nothing but the absolute truth. No matter how much we introspect we do delude ourselves in looking back upon our actions favourably. Gandhiji had no qualms about accepting the facts as they were and he was a brave man to do that. That along with the sheer will required to bring about the necessary changes sometimes not only in his but also the life of all his near and dear ones was the second reason for him rising to those great heights.

A good deal of marketing, management , brand building etc also went into the creation of Mahatma. We will be discussing all that and more soon.

Hollow Victory

The FIFA World Cup for me has turned out to be a forgettable affair. Am neither a football buff nor a major Premier League fan. But I have my favourites just like everyone else. And somehow all the teams I support tend to lose. So I get back to what I do best- Cribbing.

With India winning in the Caribbean and the wonderful FIFA World Cup going on along with Wimbledon, we are having an overdose of sport. Yet none of these much touted sporting spectacles had anything much to offer. Somehow they've turned out to be duds - atleast for me.

The Caribbean was finally conquered by the men in blue. The first victory was achieved way back in 1971 that marked the rise of India and one of India's premier batsman Sunil Gavaskar to the annals of greatness. The second has taken a long time coming and so must seem sweet to the Indian team. A depleted Indian team, (I cannot dream of an India without Sachin) faced a young, inexperienced, inconsistent West Indies team - A bare shadow of the former super power that it was, and achieved a facile victory. So the ensuing hype regarding the superb batting of Dravid or Kumble's wickets seems a bit ungainly. India won on a pitch which was a bowler's paradise. The batsmen might be heroes, but the bowlers are the ones who determine the result of a test match. And India just didn't have the firepower to take twenty wickets on a good wicket. Yet we won and convincingly too. What if the Indian team was playing on a flat wicket ? Can we bat fast, score 500, put pressure on the opposition, attack , attack and make them bat again ? Thats the Aussie way and the right one too. Talking about Aussies, doesnt it seem surprising that Greg saheb started as a coach with the World Cup in mind and our dismal performance in the one dayers in the West Indies has gone unnoticed. Like Ganguly's centuries against Zimbabwe and Kenya, the final result counts, the rest is forgotten. And yet the hollow victory rings truer and farther.

Amelie Mauresmo won the Wimbledon title. The Amazing Amazon won a match because she made less unforced errors as compared to Henin Hardenne. The Belgian was playing way below par and showed sparks of brilliance but failed to dazzle. In a match of unforced errors she was guilty of sharing the larger part of the pie. Two topseeds were fighting to let the other fail. And hence another hollow victory achieved.

The Portugal side won against England which missed two of its key players. Even after Rooney was sent off the Brits attacked and tormented the Portuguese to no end. The famed English midfield did do a good job only to be let down by the fumbling Crouch. Crouch - what a name for a man so tall. The lack of a good striker hurt the Brits sorely. And all because Christiano cheated. Watch this.

Kat le varna vaat lagegi

Mumbai has added another feather to its cap. That of being the rudest city in the world. Come to think of it arent all of us Indians rude ? Infact whenever I visit Mumbai I marvel at the discipline of its residents who stand in proper queues for all the buses. Back here in Gandhinagar we need to shove and push so hard for that elusive window seat that even the Mumbai trains seem like a cakewalk.

I love to quote this anecdote when I talk of according respect. Once a blind sage was meditating in the forest. A horseman asked him the way, followed by another. Soon the king of the land had a similar question. To the surprise of the king he told him that his soldier and his headman were already on their way ahead. The king asked the sage how he identified their ranks correctly. The sage replied that the first horseman called me a "Bava", the second addressed me as a "Sadhu" and you said "Rishi Maharaj". So undoubtedly you are the Maharaja of the land. The respect one has for oneself is reflected in our actions to others. Also our station in society determines our communication to our peers.

In our country the individual and his ego acquire a place more important than anything in his life. This mentality also stems from the fact that people devoid of all material superiority tend to look for the the spiritual one. Hence the one upmanship. As another popular story goes - if u put a lot of Indian crabs in a cistern and leave the top open, not one will get out as they all will be busy pulling down the one at the top.

The genesis of the problem I believe lies in our hierarchical mindset. The hangover of our caste system has manifested itself in the creation of the classes. Indians love classes - the more the merrier. The seniors love ragging the juniors. The head peon loves giving a tongue lashing to the peon. And the supposed junior would take it all without protesting. Times are changing and India is sobering from a lot of hangovers recently. In a global village such impunities won't and shouldn't be tolerated for long and that I believe will help us metamorphise to possessing a sweeter tongue and a helping hand. Hope globalization brings in the required "Videshi Maal" that helps us sober faster.
RD Mumbai

BJP - Heading for Nowhere

The BJP started out as a flagbearer for the Hindus. The party that had the Ram Mandir as its sole agenda succeeded in gaining ascendency by fuelling the emotions of Hindus and failed in securing any progress towards the resolution of the issue. They had in their folds another so called Hindutva party-the Shiv Sena which added a militant flavour to the concoction. Alongwith the Shiv Sena and several other self styled Hindu organisations like the Bajrang Dal and the VHP they partially succeeded in becoming the Hindu Taliban. Until of course they came to power. With numerous other secular allies in its folds which it dare not ruffle it wasn't able to fulfill its promise to the Hindus. The spectacular success and the ensuing debacle of the BJP in Gujarat after the riots and in India respectively, divided the party much more sharply in two lines. The hardliners and the moderators. So Dhobi ka Kutta na Ghar ka na Ghat ka. They lost the Hindu vote and they earned the Muslim wrath. The successes of the Vajpayee government in bringing the economy back on track after the dotcom bubble burst and the subsequent recession went unheard of in the din of its failure to contain the Modi government excesses. And after the debacle in the Loksabha elections they were completely outmanoeuvered by Sonia Gandhi and her fine politics.

Infact the current scenario positions Narendra Modi as the bridge between the hardliners - who love him as one of their own and the liberals - who commend his excellent work in Gujarat. Yet Modi is unacceptable to any ,nay - to all of the other coalition parties of the erstwhile NDA. A large part of their losses in the general elections can be attributed to the "Indian Hitler".

The basic problem that ails the BJP at the current period of time is the lack of a solid ideology. They have nothing to use as their poll plank and this makes them into a typical opposition party which opposes for the heck of it. Time and again it has been proved that a cause , a just and a supposedly higher cause motivates individuals to great heights. A cause is all that the BJP requires in this hour of darkness, a cause that will lead them to light and glory.

Aamir's Garibi

In my field full of nincompoops I am considered an intellectual. I am loved and respected for my theatric talents. My word has a strong effect on the public psyche as acknowledged by the various companies who hanker after me for endorsing their products. I believe that free speech is my birthright and so I am entitled to speak anything that I wish to. The interpretation of my statements is left to the discretion of the listener. Under no circumstances am I supposed to be held responsible for my statements. They are just statements. If someone buys the products I endorse then its credit to me and my talents and on the other hand if my statements offend someone then I don't give a damn as I am entitled to "Freedom of Speech". It is my commendable bravery that helps me succeed in withstanding all the atrocities meted out against me by the unjust society and its rulers. It is my commendable bravery again that helps me fight all odds and speak all that comes to my mind - right, wrong, foolish, illogical. Hats off to me and my real life bravery.

He is so pathetic and we are even more so defending his excesses. Instead of urging him on we need to create more awareness in the society with regards to the Narmada issue so as to ensure that his statements don't spawn more ignorants like him. I under no circumstances subscribe to the view that the film should be banned but I would love to see to it that a person of Aamir's standing is made to realise his responsibilities as a celebrity.

Vacations Bore

Haven't read a single book since my exams ended. Didn't have the time. I was so busy providing the unheeded and yet seemingly much needed "Moral Support" to all the candidates appearing for placements that I barely had the time to eat and drink. It was a hectic and yet not an entirely absorbing schedule. The sole beneficial outcome of the whole exercise was that I saw all of my friends getting placed in different companies of repute all around the country. The pitfalls of not 'reading' infact 'doing' enough are that you dry up while blogging and then you have to resort to writing trivia as I am doing right now.

Just joined a gymnasium and so I have been working out every morning since the last one week. In the beginning it was really painful but now that pain has given way to finely tuned muscles and slowly but steadily my body has been responding as it gets transformed into a well oiled machine walking, working and moving with that subtle prowess. Seemingly like a lion on its haunches.

I have also brought a collection of books from the college library to read as I intend to blog every single day of my vacation. Those are my grand plans for the vacation. Hope I do everything I intend to and more. I hate studies and yet I agree vacations bore.

Combat Worthiness nay Effectiveness

Luv em Hate em but you just can't ignore em. Exams are an irrevoccable facet of our lives. Three years of toil expressed in three mere hours. No amount of reason can help me understand the futility of these much dreaded chores. I am itching to fight reservation, Arjun Singh and also ignorance ala Aamir. But what we really need to fight is this incessant stress on learning by rote, the toil, the hardwork and the perseverance required for a 3 hour performance.

I call it performance - its not a test or for that matter an exam. Its just what we all are slowly becoming adept at - Performance. Its an expression of your work and in that expression your work is measured. Your ranking, your standing amongst your peers is determined more often than not by some nincompoop who can never measure up to you, yet will definitely measure you.

There I go cribbing again. Just can't help it. So these are the loop holes and the onus lies on us as to how well we expose and utilize them. The most important part is fooling the nincompoop who is evaluating us and to that end we must keep some basic points with regards to answering the questions in mind. The cardinal principles of achieving pass class are enumerated below.

1. Never leave a stone unturned. This means that no matter how much you know attempt everything.

2. Test the junior supervisors The young breed of Greenhorn Nincompoops are wonderful to toy with. Guts and gumption combined with skill and common sense can do wonders for your answer sheet.

3. Desktop Publishing This has been my favourite tool to combat the menaces of the first bench. The point worth remembering here is to use a light pencil and to try and keep the scribble covered at all times during the exam hours.

4. Scribble Oh Yes. If you have a penchant for bad handwriting then you have a good chance to get through if you write the main points neatly and scribble the rest in your original handwriting.

5. Diagrams Sad but true. You must remember them. Or publish them on your desktop ofcourse. But its imperative for your healthy scores that this aspect of the three hour chore need not be ignored.

The list goes on. But these are the points that come to mind right now. Of course psyching ourselves for the exams is also important as is the runtime presence of mind. Never losing hope, even if you don't seem to remember the curriculum leave alone the contents, is important. Just interpreting all the questions by their names and elaborating on the same may be enough under most circumstances. Some other day will add some more.

Yeh Dil Maange More

Unending assignments, sleepy lectures, long studious hours spent in the canteen sporting unshaven, unkempt mawali looks, frantic project hunts (taiyar maal), running from pillar to post for photocopied notes, bluffing confidently in the vivas, scribbling incessantly in the papers, praying for that dreaded 50 percent deadline, cursing our luck for having landed in this godforsaken place - and just about everything that I did in the past two years has finally borne fruit. Landed up a job with Satyam Computers.

Sometimes what we believe are momentous times, the turning points of our lives just don't turn out to be so and sometimes some things just creep in so softly and slowly that they become an integral part of our lives before we realise it. Landing a job, having a girlfriend, buying a new car - all these acquistions seem predetermined. Things that are bound to happen sooner or later. They do mark the beginning of a new way of life but fail to induce any significant changes in an individual. And on the other hand - falling in love, finding a new friend, discovering a new passion - as I did for blogging, all can bring about momentous changes in an individual's persona, his life and his character.

Acquistions - material or otherwise serve only to fuel our desires for more. The mere act of possession brings alongwith itself truckloads of pain and sometimes for the uninitiated, shorts bursts of joy mingled with longer ones of "Give me more" demands. Both such joys and sorrows are slow poisons that corrode an individual into either a false sense of security or one of pessimism.

True joys and sorrows never appear in bursts. A feeling of equanimity helps us sail through these mighty waves of joy and emerge from the depths of despondency. This tranquility is present in an individual battered by the sorrows of his life. A person who realises that joys and sorrows are like clouds passing us by on our journey of life. He realises that the only true joy a man finds is not in transcending the clouds but in going by our work on earth with due diligence. A life spent towards improving ourselves will bring in all the requisite acquisitions as its byproducts.

The essence of all this can be summarized in what Lord Krishna said in the Gita. " Karmanye adhikarastu Ma Faleshu Kadachit." which means to work without expecting the fruits of our labours.

Reusability

I copy all my assignments. Sometimes when I am too bored of all that writing I get them photocopied. Sometimes I copy what my Prof. told (infact shouted at) me while I recursively give a proper dressing down to my juniors. Sometimes especially for the ladies I copy the hip swinging Abhishek and sometimes the gyrating Shahid Kapoor. ( I tried a lot but I have failed to copy Hrithik) Sometimes i also love humming the (strictly original) tunes of Anu Malik. Sometimes I also use the same code for all of my data input functions. But there of course they call it reusability. So whats wrong with copying a few paragraphs ? Why make such a hue and cry over a 19 year old kid in a tearing hurry on her road to fame indulging in a few short cuts ?

Even though every indolent bone of my body hates it, I admit - copying is a crime. But then isn't what the "Unforgettable Raj Kapoor" did - puttering around ala Charlie Chaplin called copying ? Or what Walt Disney did - creating the unforgettable Mickey Mouse. So how do we discern between inspiration and pliagarism ? For a 19 year old kid who has had a limited world view and multi million dollar expectations riding on her slender shoulders to seek inspiration from all and any of the sources at her disposable is not in the least bit surprising. The naunces of the problem though lie in our own understanding of pliagarism or more commonly blatant copying. We accept Anu Malik and the Americans love patenting Indian herbs. So why is Kaavya being made a scapegoat. Are the 'Martha' paragraphs central to her story ? The excerpts I have read suggest that they are barely on the fringes. Do they in any manner accentuate or affect the plot of the story ? I don't think that has been the case either.

To quite an extent you have to accept that she has been victimised. Her fame and the money that caused it have been her undoing. Of course you can't exempt her from the crime of pliagarism but the sort of trauma that she has been made to undergo, what with the constant media spotlight on her making her look like a petty thief. For godsakes she is just a kid man. And a naive one at that. Naive enough to believe that she could have gotten away with such blatant pliagarising. But then they don't teach that at Harvard. Coz that is a quintessential Indian quality. Like my peers reiterate :

"Copying is not a crime - Getting caught is."

( The author is vain to admit having a soft corner for the fairer sex- especially one with a pretty face and a ( rare ) sharp intellect.....so he wont apologise for this bout of verbal diarrhoeaa )

Letting off Steam - For Fires

Just when it was all looking rosy, the demon of riots raised it ugly head once again. I fail to understand how the land of Mahatma harbours so many Nathurams. We Gujjus are businessmen, peace loving, non violent, profit oriented business men. Traditionally the Vohras have been the most peace loving of all the Muslim clans. Unlike the rest of their brethren they are also surprisingly well off - mebbe just for this reason. And mebbe their being well off irked the mindless mob into butchering the poor young man , a father to his children , a son , a husband , a brother and a pillar of the family - razed mercilessly to the ground - again.

Quoting from the Lord of the Rings - "What can man do against such mindless hate ?" But we aren't Orcs - are we ? We are all sane human beings who somehow see others as Orcs. It tears my soul to see such acts of inhuman stupidity. Stupidity as it doesn't yield anything at all, as there is nothing that warrants such acts. And if there are rewards attached then too there is no justification for such acts. Why go to such lengths for winning an election ? I know what you might think. I am naive,young, idealist and so eventually branded as foolish. This is the way of the world and it is not to change. But i am still young and so i will try and try to hope.

Again quoting Aragon from LOTR - " There is always hope".

In a Crib I Crib

Cribbing is my birthright and i shall fight for it. It seems that no matter how happy the normal human being is he loves to crib. Cribbing really brings out the devil in us and it helps us relax too. Whenever i crib i love to describe in explicit detail to how i would mete out vengeance on to my current tormentor. Cribbing is just another facet of the quintessential human search for venting out frustrations. The question of "Why Me ? " is the basis to all cribbing. Also the opportunity to occupy the centrestage - be it as a victor or a victim is too good to pass.

Cribbing as an activity is relegated to the crib dwellers - its the domain of those blessed souls who have someone to listen to complains. So before i graduate from my dependent state i want to have my share of fun. So before i graduate from my dependent state i want to have my share of fun.

Its wonderful to sit in the canteen and mimic all our 'Nutty Professors', their own idiosyncrasies, their dialogues, to count the number of times one repeated 'My point is' in a lecture. Their limited vocabularies accentuated by their repetitive use of their favourite hotkeys - 'Ok', 'So', 'Alright','Fine' and some others are so tongue tied that their hands do most of the talking. Yet when they set us deadlines for doing all of that menial labour of copying the assignments time and again we love cursing them. Assignments for being absent and assignments for being late, assignments for indiscipline and also for using mobiles in class. Creating perfect donkeys out of us, we call our degree MCA-Masters of Copying Assignments.

The countdown begins today. 18 days to freedom. Albeit temporary. Our exams end on the 17th of the next month. Till then. Sayonara.

Pyaare 'Mat Ro' han

I am no movie buff. I am much more into reading or sports rather than the idiot box and Bollywood bheja fries. Yet i have friends who love idling their brains and watching all the David Dhawan-Salman Khan specials. As if the brain's a gearbox ready to shift into neutral and watch the Nanga Pahalwaan dance like a deer. The last Bollywood flick I watched was Apaharan. Prakash Jha's hard hitting movie had everything - a gripping storyline, the subtle comic sense, an authentic depiction of Bihar, technical soundness, excellent acting from all the actors and that irrefutable question that is the hallmark of all good movies. Here i would admit that i am the serious type and I really don't love watching something like 'The life and times of a Bunch of Jokers'.

And so I was already prejudiced as i went in for "Pyaare Mohan". But exceeding all my expectations, it turned out to be a royal fiasco far worse than I ever imagined it to be. Watching it I wished I’d be blind or deaf, like the male leads, to be able to escape the torment. I just can't comprehend how anyone could agree to fund such pathetic film making, get the film insured and also find enough fools like myself to watch it. This was by far the most unimaginative film making i have witnessed in years. It’s a sad reflection on the tastes of a country like ours. I wonder how the actors agreed to such shoddy work themselves. We have a nascent audience, no doubt but the actors - they are well educated and seemingly possess excellent aesthetic sense (amply reflected in their love lives). It’s sad that they don't object to dishing out such unpalatable fare.

Yet that is what our country is about. Isn't it? Swashbuckling Dhoni and sedate Dravid, simple Manmohan and 'pseudo-sensitive' Sonia, crafty Rahman and crooning Reshammiya and lastly (this one's for one of the male leads) lovely Aishwarya and lanky Abhishek. A jumble of paradoxes, a concoction of ever increasing humanity that tends to oscillate between extremes.

Nasamaj Bacho ka Andolan

What is she fighting for ? She started out fighting against Big Dams as an environmentalist. Then when the cause was all but lost she took up the cudgels against the improper rehabilitation of the tribal population. So whats the issue ? Big Dams or Rehabilitation ? Big Dams is a non starter. To talk about the rehabilitation issue I took the liberty of extracting some information from the internet that helps throw more light on the issue.

Operations Division of World Bank in April 1990 amply clarifies this - “A widespread myth is that the tribal people to be resettled from the submergence area are living in pristine forests in a traditional manner as hunter gatherers in harmony with the environment. It is within this tribal group that there appears to be the least opposition to the dam. Out of the already rehabilitated people of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, tribal population is 99.25%, 72.5% and 99% respectively . The greatest opposition is from the more wealthy non - tribal farmers from Nimad region of Madhya Pradesh who have been exploiting the tribals for many decades. So by opposing the Project, whose cause is being championed? Tribals …. or Non-tribals”. For more on that visit FAQ Section of Official Site of Sardar Sarovar Dam.

Secondly, NBA activities has caused tremendous delay and huge cost over-run in Rs 44,000 crore (number is quoted by NBA) Narmada project.

Thirdly, Lakhs of live herd died and more than one million people were forced to migrate (from saurashtra, Kutch and N. Gujarat) due to continuos famine and NBA induced delay. Thus NBA is partly responsible for this horrendous human tragedy.

Fourthly, NBA criticizes rehabilitation efforts but NBA it-self is the biggest stumbling block in rehabilitation efforts. Moreover, R&R of Sardar Sarovar is much better then all other R&R ever under-taken in india.

Also, for NBA movement it-self is the end goal. NBA slogans like “we will give and take lives” displays fanatic passion. At this stage they are waging a losing battle just as their slogans describe and they are more damaging to the nation than all the Naxalites and Ranvir Senas combined.

Bandhs , strikes etc. are negative tactics and in an growing country such as ours they are more of a hinderance than a channelizer that they are supposed to be. Young kids must be allowed to enjoy and live their lives not put under foolish philosophical constraints. In some ways this is what has been happening here too. Fast paced development comes with its own pitfalls. But we must learn to take them all in our stride and move on.

Lastly the desserts. I recieved a confirmation letter from jammag.com which means that now i can contribute to jammag as the official correspondent from Nirma University. Cool Na. Oh! How i would love doing all that Nirma Bashing.

Tagore

The tame bird was in a cage, the free bird was in the forest,

They met when the time came, it was a decree of fate.

The free bird cries,'O my love, let us fly to the wood.'

The cage bird whispers, ' Come hither, let us both live in the cage.'

Says the free bird,'Among bars ,where is the room to spread one's wings?'

'Alas',cries the cage bird,'I should not know where to sit perched in the sky.'

Isn't this what we all desire in life ?

A place to sit in repose. A heart to live in.

We crave for that illusion of security. We crave to be in a position that helps us feel secure. The more ambitious ones try to do one better. Notwithstanding exceptions like the ambitious ones ,the conservative view is still the dominant driving force for the rest of humanity. All that we care to satiate is the need to feel secure. Since the stone ages that is what our quest has been. All our inventions are based on our needs. And in filling in one need after the other we have created a multitude of needs. An unbelieving atheist like me would also attribute the creation and also the continued veneration of the concept of GOD to this feeling of insecurity.

This is a translated version of what Gurudev wrote in Bengali. Yet his words stir the soul like none other. The first time i read them i was - Exalted. Thats the word. He isn't just sublime or beautiful, he is complex, concise and the way he relates to nature is unique. One common string that runs through all the great works of literature is that they somehow transport you into their own world and thereby make you feel special. When you grasp the meaning of these words then they enchant you. The trick lies though in maintaining the balance. It should not be so complex that its beyond anyone's understanding and at the same time it should make us exercise our grey cells so that we'd feel exalted after interpreting the author.

Thats what counts. Doesn't it ? Balancing. Somehow it seems that there are no absolutes in life. Life doesn't just have grey shades. Life is grey.

NUTS Life

NUTS-Nirma University of Technology and Science. Thats the place where i come to write my blogs. In class i write the basic transcript on paper and later i would post it during my lab sessions. NUTS - thats what this place makes out of us all. Funny how we all conform to the system. It surprises me to no end as to how we would go to any length,bear any oppression meted out on us if forced to do so. Is this also a facet of group psychology? Doing all the donkey work just because you have to. No questions asked. No explanations sought. No satisfactory answers received. We are supposed to fill in the feedback forms regarding the performance of our tutors. If we dont do so in time then they fine us. The only objective of the whole exercise is to puff up the already over inflated egos of our tutors.

At this point of time it would help if i would elaborate on our education system at Nirma. We have a wonderful continous evaluation system similar to the one followed at the IIT's. If you have read 'Five Point Someone' then you can easily relate to it. The problem is that the system is implemented such that as of yet there are no five point someone's in our class. The nadir is a healthy 6 pointer. The University sees to it that the students are happy as all of those who pass do get high scores . And the satisfaction of the teachers is ensured by the pseudo feedback form system. Its compulsory to fill it up too.

The typical Indian mind is so steeped in tradition that it tends to respect anyone with any authority whatsoever. Even the support staff members treat the future engineers with disdain. Some of us might be bossing over teams of 300-400 others in the coming years. And yet no one would raise a voice of protest. Its the system and you do as it tells you to.

Just as the same well educated engineer won't mind littering the streets, won't mind a short cut in this Q-infested country, won't mind taking dowry on his marriage, won't mind bribing god with his prasad, won't mind the unbearable aesthetics of his office building, won't mind sending out another forward which blackmails us into sending 20 others, won't mind the Laloo Prasads sucking the life blood out of our country, won't mind the loss of his innocence, his individuality nor his integrity.

That is what college makes out of us.

Exams

Whenever i look back at my past, my heart swells with pride. Its been since the last seventeen unending years (of the total twentythree of my existence) that unflinchingly i have braved the relentless torment meted out unto me by the only demon terrorising poor kids like myself - Exams.

Insecurity they say breeds faith. And so I'd reckon that the fear of examinations is all that keeps me from being an atheist. In the relentless pursuit of ever elusive success i have realised that "Train,bus,ladki aur exams - Ek jaati hai Doosri aati hai". Alas this realization is yet to dawn upon my ignorant peers. Like predators they stalk their elusive prey and like hunters the administration create pitfalls in their pursuit. The wholesale revamping of the system is long overdue. The system belies the general attitude of the teaching fraternity towards students which focuses more on fault finding rather than fact finding.

Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia has nicely talked about this in his interview.When he'd gone to Caltech, Bhatia recalls, he'd just submitted his paper after reading up the four books prescribed for that particular course in philosophy, and he got a "D," his first ever "D". Why, he asked, since he'd read all the books and dutifully cited them in abundance -- "that's the Indian way," he explains to me. I've read them, too, is what his Caltech professor told him, what have you done to add to that body of knowledge?That, Bhatia says, is the big difference between Indian and US education. Last but not the least he added - Just a few months of re-orientation and, his Indian developers are on a par with those in the US.

Though higher education in India has a long way to go the more pressing concern is to improve the primary education system in our country.One way to bring about wholesale changes in the system would be to create enhance the reputation of teaching as a job. This has been well adopted by Japan. The rest of the requisite changes will all come by themselves. It might just be the lynchpin required to bring about the much sought after revolution in education. Just as what happened in the IT industry when it got fancy in the late 90's, we can bring a change in the whole system if only we manage to make the job of a teacher glamorous. Tough job but considering that bribing a whole generation with dal - chawal was considered do-able this should be a veritable cake walk for the administration. All we need is enhanced pay packages and propaganda. The rest will follow all by itself.

Any criticism of the Indian education system will optimally require a hardcover book of 500 pages. So i would stop here and now. Anyways, I have a lot of assignments to copy today. So i would love to get this blog published right now and copy down the assignments during my lectures. Somehow, I feel that no matter what you do, some things dont change.

M Lovin It

I live in a city called Ahmedabad located in Western India. A city on the threshold of becoming. Once acclaimed as the "Manchester of the East" it has long been credited with being on the edge of greatness. Like a beautiful woman with a bloated belly awaiting the arrival of its firstborn with due trepidation it has awaited its moment of glory since the past half a century.Like the woman the city is restricted in its movements and the enjoyments it has to offer to its denizens.As a result apart from watching films,indulging in gastronomical pleasures remain the chief mode of delight for us Amdavadis.

So thats what me and all of my lovely friends did this Valentine Day.After watching the Jim Carry starrer - Dick & Mane, we guys went to the McDonalds eatery alongside the highway .Leering at a hot chick and sneering at the wimp alongside her we indulged in our burger. A funny little burger which happens to be purely vegetarian.Up until then i'd always believed that burgers are two buns with some meat patty stashed in between. But what we had was pure vegetarian fare,the primary ingrediants of the McAloo Tikka Burger being potato & peas patty flavoured with spices , served between buns. The reason is that our region of the country has a large population of vegetarian people and so for the west zone and its rich vegetarian clientele Mcdonalds has prepared the special Vegetarian Burger - Tasting not too different from our roadside Rajasthani Dabeli.I fail to comprehend as to why in a nation full of individuals who pride themselves for their Indianness do we allow some famous foreign brand to cater Indian food with foreign names.And mind you,its not just national pride that i am talking about here. The issue i raise begs the question as to what McDonalds stand for ? Come to think of it its like Pepsi selling lemonade in Pepsi bottles in rural areas or KFC selling vegetarian food - just because it has a market for the stuff. What is the credibility of a global brand that sells its wares like a local vendor ? The accomodating integrity of this global brand is no news. Yet as intellectuals i believe we aren't allowed the liberty of doing our wish as we share the collective responsibility of doing what is right. Its a matter of doing what we believe in. Is it not imperative for every conscious citizen to throw rubbish into a dustbin or not to spit in the corners of a building? By the same ration i believe that as thinking citizens it is expected of us that we eat, drink ,wear and buy what we believe in as that defines us and our individuality. The expression of individuality is what helps define the art and culture of our times. The negation of such accomodating integrity is imperative to the creation of a nation whose citizens pride on being what they are. If we scorn politicians or the swamijis for double standards as they motor away in swanky cars aren't we too being just as indulgent in our practices?

I know i could go on and on and on. Though the primary reason for all this thought for food can be attributed to my lack of appetite after seeing that Langoor with Angoor. Life's injustices take a heavy toll on the idle brain.

Comments are welcome. Especially at this nascent stage.Janit.

I would like to start my blogging on this new forum with a paean to someone i loved once. This marks the new beginnings of a new life but before i leave the one i once lived i'd like to offer a final tribute to the one who earned the right to my soul.

Child Woman

So mature,Yet so young,
So strong,Yet so vulnerable;

Unaffected by the savagery of life,
Dancing at the edge of precipice;

Scarred forever : Haunted by hate;
Unknown to hope, Forsaken to fate;

Child Woman - Mind in a jumble.
With unerring clarity she'd mumble;

Child - Fumigate . Do not Ruminate.
Woman - Dream your fate . Make love and hate.