STOP RAGGING

This post of mine is out of sync with few earlier posts. No IPL, no elections. This is about something which I have witnessed. Ragging or interaction (one of the euphemisms used for it) is a grave problem plaguing our educational institutions. We have lost so many bright young minds to some sadist and diabolical manifestations of inner frustrations of other equally bright young minds.
One thing which is very clear is that ragging cannot occur without some support or negligence on part of college authorities towards raggers. I take example of IIT Kanpur. Here authorities are so strict on any physical abuse during ragging that no senior dares to even touch a junior while ragging. So if the college administration becomes strict the problem could be solved very easily. We have some colleges where ragging goes on for whole year. Also, medical colleges somehow have more ragging incidents reported than any other professional stream. The Supreme Court guidelines are very strict and hopefully they are implemented as well by the authorities. We should have a zero tolerance policy towards ragging. The punishment should be very harsh and quickly delivered. This will act as deterrent for future raggers.
Apart from this some steps should be taken at the student level. A verbal abuse may be innocuos to some person but for some other person it can be devastating. Most probably this will not qualify as ragging in law books. So emotional support from seniors and hostel inmates is very necessary. And as far as IIT Kanpur is concerned I have seen only a small number of seniors are indulged in verbal harassment of juniors. There are better ways for initiationof freshers like here at IIT Kanpur we have a Student Guide assigned to a group of freshers who are treated as 'buddies'.
Those who profess that ragging is a way to initiate fresher into college life and leads to strong bonds with juniors forget the fact that there are better ways to do the same things without spoiling someone's life or career. In my 4 years of stay I have seenmost of the seniors have been very helpful whenever a junior asks for some help even though they had no acquaintence. There are much better educational institutions in west where we do not have any ragging incidents. So why not the same thing can be done in India? Stop Ragging as soon as possible. No more Amans now.

The IPL predictions

Cricinfo recently carried the preview of IPL teams. So, now i have a fair idea of who are the players to watch out for in this edition. They pick Superkings, Indians, daredevils and royals for the top 4. However, any prediction at this moment is fraught with dangers. At least history suggests so. If someone had told you that Kings XI will make it to semi-final without Yuvraj performing well you would have not paid heed but that is what happened. We were all surprised by the performances of Shaun Marsh, Sreeshanth, VRV and Piyush Chawla. I think i will make prediction only after each team plays at least 3-4 matches. Any prediction should take into account that this edition is on South African pitches and the best way to do that is to watch the initial matches.

However, I hope no one gets injured this time in the IPL to miss national duty like it happened last year to Haydos, Sreeshanth, Tendulkar and others.

Joy for Afghanistan in cricket

The Afghans have done it. They have beaten favorites Ireland in World Cup Qualifiers after barely managing to get into Super-8. This victory just goes on to show how good this team is. Ireland did well in last World Cup beating Pakistan and Bangladesh who are test playing nations. The Afghans are new entrants to cricket. Most of the players started playing in refugee camps in Pakistan and it seems they have picked some mental strength from Pakistanis.
It still remains very difficult for Afghans to qualify for the world cup considering that their victories in qualifying phase were against Bermuda and Denmark who are already out of tournament so Afghans do not carry any points from previous stage. But at least they have given themselves a chance. Don't forget Aussies won in 1999 without carrying any points from previous round in super six.

Manmohan-Advani spat

Mr. Advani is at it again. I have lost count of how many times he has spoken of "weakness" of Dr. Singh. I don't know what he is trying to put across. We all know Sonia Gandhi made him PM when amidst drama of Sushma Swaraj she laid aside her candidature because of this "foreign origin" thing.
Now 5 years on Mr. Advani and his associates keep on reiterating the same accusation that he is "weak", "puppet" and so on. Can Mr. Advani criticise him on his work? I remember the opposition of the BJP to nuclear deal. Mr. SIngh then braved the threats of left parties and went on with the deal. Mr. Advani should explain us what is wrong in the deal or how NREGA is a failure or reservations in educational institutions should not have been done. There are many decisions which can be attributed to this government solely but instead of being crystal clear in his criticism he talks in air.
We all have seen how "strong" home minister he was. It remains to be seen how "strong" PM he will be(possibly).

Pakistan does it again

So, the pakistanis have found an Indian spy. Some news reports quote a Pakistan cop claiming India's hand behind the Lahore attack on Sri Lankan cricketers. Now Sri Lankan tour was decided only short time before (esp. the venues) and even then Indian intelligence agencies were able to carry out such a well planned attack that 'brave' Pakistani policemen were not able to kill or injure even one of the attackers. Not just this but attackers even jogged their way out. If this is true, clearly RAW is better than Mossad or CIA. Can anyone with a little sensibility believe that RAW is better than CIA?

Everytime Pakistan blames India it helps the real culprits (hardliners) to grow in strength and increases the hatred for India in Pakistani people. This is not to blame Pakistani people. Had i been born in Pakistan and raised with this kind of history, i would have held this belief of India as the enemy state. They have not spared even the greatest of all, Akbar. 

India and Pakistan can have cordial relations only when this propaganda and indoctrination ends.

Elections are good

So the 'shoe' hit bull's eye though it missed the Home Minister. Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar have been dropped as election candidates in Lok Sabha elections this time. These two had won with thumping majority in last election and were 'winnable' candidate this time but exoneration by CBI came at a 'wrong' time not only for Mr. Tytler but also Mr. Kumar. I am saying 'wrong' because Sajjan Kumar has been acquitted long ago without any reasonable hue and cry to be heard by our media. But this time due to elections round the corner and also Congress government in power, Akalis got a pleasant surprise. It may have been political expediency on part of Akalis but it should be welcomed. Though i cannot point finger at these two as they have been acquitted from court but there is something 'fishy' about them as large number of people are against them, most of whom are riot victims.

This is the power of vote because Congress can't afford to bear the brunt of Sikh anger in Punjab poll. Well, what would happen to Mr. Modi or Mr. Advani if Muslims start voting for the BJP?