Spontaneous

मातृभाषा और अंग्रेजी

2011-11-26T21:48:00.001+05:30

अभी अभी भारतेंदु हरिश्चंद्र जी की कविता "मातृभाषा के प्रति" पढ़ी और फिर ये सोचा की क्यों ना अपनी मातृभाषा में पहला ब्लॉग लिख दिया जाए. कविता काफी अच्छी लगी, ख़ासतौर पे ये पंक्तियाँ -

"अंग्रेज़ी पढ़ि के जदपि, सब गुन होत प्रवीन।
पै निज भाषाज्ञान बिन, रहत हीन के हीन।।"

ये कविता उन लोगो को जरूर पढनी चाहिए जो अपनी मातृभाषा में बात करने में हीनता का अनुभव करते हैं. साथ ही उन लोगों को भी जो अंग्रेजी भाषा का विरोध बिना कुछ सोचे समझे करते रहते हैं. खड़ी बोली के जनक भी अपनी उस कविता में, जिसमे उन्होंने मातृभाषा की वकालत की है, ये कहना नहीं भूलते की अंग्रेजी का ज्ञान जरूरी है. हमारे राष्ट्र में कई भाषाएँ बोली जाती हैं और किसी भी मनुष्य के लिए यह संभव नहीं है की वो इस राष्ट्र की हर भाषा समझ ले. अतः यह देखते हुए की भारत में अंग्रेजी ही हर राज्य में समझी जा सकती है यह जरूरी है की ज्यादातर लोग इस भाषा को सीखें, भले ही आम जीवन में हम अपनी मातृभाषा का प्रयोग करें.

एक तरह से यह भाषा समस्या का समाधान भी होगा और भूमंडलीकरण के इस युग में हमारी शिक्षित पीढ़ी को बेहतर अवसर भी प्रदान करेगा. और हाँ, अंग्रेजी सीखने से अपनी संस्कृति का कोई नाश नहीं होगा. स्वतंत्रता आन्दोलन में कई नेता अंग्रेजी भाषा में शिक्षा प्राप्त किये थे परन्तु वो हमारे आजकल के देसी शिक्षित नेताओं से कहीं ज्यादा संस्कारित थें.

IIT JEE pattern change is a real shame.

2011-09-14T22:50:00.002+05:30

Disclosure:My JEE rank would have gone down a bit if Class 12th marks had beentaken into account.

It has been along time since I have written on this space but the foolhardycommitted by IIT council is just too much for me. The 'wise' men havedecided that Class 12th marks in combination with entrance exam wouldprove to be a better indicator of quality of students these premierinstitutes would be getting.

First of allI would like to bring to your notice the farce that is our 12th exam.An example for those of you familiar with Physics: This isa question I found on the interent. It is from Class 12thpaper of Physics in 2009 and worth 5 marks out of 100.

"Drawa schematic sketch of a cyclotron. Explain briefly how it works andhow it is used to accelerate te charged particles.
(i) show thattime period of ions in a cyclotron. Explain briefly how it works andhow it is used to accelerate the speed and radius of circular path.
(ii) What isresponse condition ? How is it used to accelerate the chargedparticles?"

There areother questions too, very similar to this. This is a perfect exampleof a question where one-trick-ponies would lick 5 marks clean. Theirtrick being rote learning. And this is supposed to enhance thequality of IITs.

Now oneargument is that the emphasis on class 12th marks would lead todemise of coaching institutes. But at what cost? If you look at theresults of CBSE toppers for past few years, you would notice theplace occupied by DPS chain of schools. They seem to have astranglehold over results. These behemoths would have the same kindof monopoly as the coaching institutes have presently. Only thingdifferent would be the dilution of quality. So I only know Force=mass * acceleration. This is a question where my eyes filter out 60N6kg and I promptly answer 10 ms-2 to bag 1-2 marks.Wow! Life moves to the tune of my trick. I love being aone-trick-pony.

But theproblem does not stop here. These behemoths don't have branches insmall towns (by small I mean towns with low income) so the populacethere has no chance of getting admission there. In case of coachinginstitutes, at least they could go after 12th and then study there for one year and try and get admission in some good college if notIITs. Now it would be necessary to spend at least 2 years in theschool where most of the money would be taken for ridiculous functions and useless cultural events (of course with fancy dresses) which would be of no help to someone interested in a career in science and technology and low onlucre. This also means leaving the hometown after 10th (andyes being lucky enough to get admission).

Now thesanctity of our boards. Well they seem to be as good as the BCCI inthis regard. Unqualified teachers grading answer sheets. Masscopying. Impersonation in exam halls. Rigged lab exams. All sorts ofnuisance which is unthinkable in JEE. Open some newspaper of UttarPradesh in March-April and you would laugh/sigh at the state ofaffairs of our largest board. Good grief.

Only Mr.Ignoramus in IIT council would not be knowing about the tie-up ofmuch loathed coaching institutes with the schools. What differencewill it make to them apart from increasing the pressure on students inschool who could have avoided the pain of preparing for these examsby not joining a coaching institute.

Finally, dowe need this change? If we assume that these premier instituteshave right way of grading the students then it is very clear the examin its current format suffices. I don't have exact data but I believethat the average CGPA of first 100 JEE rankers is greater than second100 rankers and so on. So either the grading system is flawed (JairamRamesh was right after all?) or the exam is alright. I hope thelatter is true.

It seems theCouncil can't see the woods for the trees. This country spendsbillions of dollars on purchasing weapons/technology from abroad but even the research scholars in the premier institutes are paid peanuts. These men and women as human resource could have changed the face and output ofsloths like HAL and DRDO. But may be that's life. As our talentserves developed world, we remain rooted to our fancy notions andkeep taxing our people (yes the most poor ones too) needlessly.

Realization

2011-05-31T22:23:00.003+05:30

When Barcelona beat Manchester United in Champions League final, I expected media to fill the space with articles of exaltation. But surprisingly I remembered the night when Arsenal beat Barcelona at Emirates this year.

My friend messaged that Arsenal remain the only team to have beaten Barca in this season's CL. I recalled the game and my happiness. I was so ecstatic that I said to myself, "This does the season". Even if Arsenal don't win a trophy I wont be bothered.

Little did I realize the abject capitulation of Gunner grit is around. Now the season in which Arsenal beat Manchester City, Chelsea, Barcelona and Manchester United is being touted as worst of Arsene Wenger's stay at Arsenal. Even I am disgusted with Arsenal's performance this year.

But being more philosophical, I believe we should not get carried away by the momentum of situation (adversity or prosperity). There are local maxima and minima in life. They should not be counted as absolute.

Thank you Chacha Nehru

2011-03-27T00:08:00.004+05:30

I am halfway through Ramchandra Guha's India after Gandhi.This book is a very good read. I have read a lot of literature about India but most of them are about pre-1947 India or about partition of India. This book focuses on the decades after independence. It gives a good idea of the difficult times for our nation, the 50s and 60s.

This book has given me new perspective on Jawaharlal Nehru. I think he deserves a lot more respect than he gets by this generation. To uphold the ideals of secularism and egalitarian society in a communally charged atmosphere must have been very difficult. Add to it the issues related to caste, language and secession. Hindu code bill was another progressive reform. He perhaps failed in handling the border situation with China but who is not flawed? If we look at his work in totality, he is perhaps the greatest Prime minister we had. Perhaps he would have been more effective in these times. A mass leader (Golwalkar had 1 lakh crowd in his meetings, Nehru 6 lacs), hard working and extremely honest. His last 4 years in office must have been very torturous for him but what he did in 4 decades preceding it laid the foundation of progressive India. No nation with parochial policies can develop or be a super power for long. Pakistan is a case in point. Obsessed with religion they have dug themselves into a hole where they have stopped seeing reason. No surprise then that their citizens suffer and don't realize the true cause are they themselves. Nehru reigned in such parochial elements from the beginning. Thanks to him, India is not Pakistan now.

Good bye BBC Hindi

2011-01-27T21:59:00.003+05:30

It was very painful to read this piece of news today. I vividly remember those times when I as a child used to listen to BBC Hindi and Urdu for a different take on world affairs. And a better one too.

The style of reporting the news and the care taken not to sensationalize the news was what I liked the most. The coverage of any event focussed on providing audience with facts rather than opinions. Apart from this they also provided the background of the issue at hand which helped millions in understanding it properly. The online version would still remain but the closure of short wave services would impact those in semi-urban and rural areas a lot. They are the ones who are in real need of these kind of news services. With the power situation we have in our country it is difficult to imagine television can replace it. But it becomes terrible when you look at the state of private news channels esp. in Hindi.

Sensationalist coverage with all opinions (sorry that is a euphemism, actually speculations would be more proper) and no fact leaves viewers with little information. It is really a sad day for journalism because not just Hindi but many other foreign language services will be shut. R.I.P. BBC Hindi. All good things finally come to an end.

Good times. Where are they?

2011-01-19T19:18:00.003+05:30

India as a country is surely not enjoying the best of the times. High inflation, plethora of charges of corruption and space research setbacks. All these things have made this first month of year gloomy.

Corruption has always been rampant in India but so many charges on people holding seats of high responsibility are very disappointing. When even CVC and a former Chief Justice of India come under cloud, it surely is one of the most disconcerting time for ethics in Indian public life. Add to it the monster of inflation which has not been reigned in by the government yet. Rise in petrol prices may very well aggravate the problem although it is good to know that diesel prices are not being raised, at least for now.

But India is known for its resilience. We have seen far worse times in 1991 and came out of it to embark on our journey of phenomenal growth. I hope we do enough inquisition to embark another journey of inclusive growth this time.

Chinese rubber stamps

2010-12-10T21:30:00.002+05:30

What do you need to do in order to win Pakistan if you are not India? Easy. Just antagonize India and Pakistan government will bend over backwards to lick your boot. That is precisely how Pakistan behaves with China.

So when Pakistan toed the Chinese whip of not attending Liu Xiaobo's Nobel ceremony I was not surprised. This whip or bullying also showed the countries who quake at the prospect of differing with China. Below is my take on some of these countries:

Russia: A lot has been said about their own human rights record in west. It is quite natural for them to side with China. Who knows, a dissident from their country may be next Nobel laureate.

Pakistan: If you remember a highly tragic and unfortunate train accident happened in Pakistan few years ago. Three trains were involved and the loss of lives was immense. There were reports that one reason for high death toll was the quality of coaches which were purchased from China. Pakistan didn't even register a protest let alone ask for compensation. The rulers of Pakistan (read military) are so wretched that to keep themselves in power they don't hesitate to risk their own people's lives. What these leeches ensure is that they not only keep Pakistan poor but also hamper India's growth.

Saudi Arabia: Representative of greater evil pervading the pure land of Arabia. The land which disseminated so much knowledge in medieval times has now got bunch of clowns ruling it. The kings and their families, all short on IQ run their writ on unfortunate populace. If there is one thing on which I support Osama Bin Laden, it is his wish to get Saudi rid of its king. All the vices are committed by ruling families but they are the ones who preach morality most. They openly criticize Israel but have never taken a sensible step in resolving the conflict. The Wikileaks have now exposed their ambivalent policy on Iran. The moral science classes always warn about the demerits of wealth acquired without effort. Saudi is a good example of it.

Radiagate, barkhagate, mediamafia ...

2010-12-03T22:25:00.002+05:30

The last few days have presented a very sorry state of Indian media. First the leak itself and then the deafening silence by leading media houses. It is debatable whether they have crossed the line or not. N. Ram (editor, The Hindu) thinks they have.

The Hindu was the only major media house which gave coverage to this murky affair. I thought very much on the issue and feel that the journalists in question have crossed the line although have done nothing criminal. I personally believe Barkha Dutt should step down but she has not done anything so wrong as to leave journalism. Just as sports persons can have poor form, error in judgement, complacency and disregard for public sentiments so are journalists prone to these fallibilities. Barkha Dutt has done very well as a journalist and this mistake of hers can be forgiven bearing in mind her contribution to field of journalism. It is quite obvious that she has been maliciously targeted on twitter not because of this case but for her stand on other issues.

It is high time that prominent media persons get together and root out this evil from amongst themselves. This is only tip of the iceberg considering that issue of 'paid news' cropped up not long ago. It will be great if people like Rajdeep Sardesai, Karan Thapar, N. Ram, Siddharth Varadarajan and Shekhar Gupta can come together and get India media out of this mess.

Judiciary and media are the only saving grace of our democracy and I hope media continues to bring justice to Indians as it has done in Manu Sharma case.

Final year at IIT Kanpur : first half

2010-10-20T20:20:00.002+05:30

It all started with gloom of many hues. It ended on a positive note. While it was clear at the outset that it is going to be a very different year of my academic life, it turned out to be the best year. John Keats said, “Heard melodies are sweet. Those unheard are sweeter”. Clearly this melody was sweet. I wait for sweeter ones.

This year was preceded by departure of many of my friends with whom I relished talks ranging from topics as apart as economy, foreign policy, politics and cricket. Of course we discussed something about academics too. Dual degree programmes at IIT Kanpur have one drawback, though not necessarily of their own making. For four years we are put in a wing (a column of rooms) with inmates from different departments and different programmes. So it is quite natural that you make friends with students enrolled in 4 year programs. Sometimes they turn out to be your closest friends or cronies!!! One can't stop oneself from cursing this design of academic structure. But then, not all whines are for legitimate reasons.

I entered the new Hall of Residence (that's what we call hostels in IITK ) which is at least a km away from academic area. This distance looked more arduous due to necessity of marking attendance everyday. However, things started getting better from second month onwards. The September last year had the best weather I have ever seen in my life. Add to it the rustic surroundings of Hall 9. The wing structure in Hall 9 suits smaller wings. And we were left in just that number in our final year. The bonds grew stronger. The stipend and quality of Hall 8 canteen meant that we were able to spend more on food. Four of us became frequent visitors to that place. My interaction with department also increased due to allocation of a workbench and duties of Teaching Assistant. So much so that the guy with whom I had only formal conversations for first four years, leg pulling and banter was part of every meet.

October brought with it some tension. Yes, the placements were approaching and even if you try to remain oblivious to the fact, your surroundings wont let you do so. The spate of PPTs and concomitant tests meant that the importance of the event dawned on us. Add to it the aftershocks of recession last year. November went off very quickly and perhaps it was the single largest month of the year in terms of tension. Luckily for us the placement of Computer Science department was very good. Overall placements also improved. Most of us got placed before our expected date. And some of us got their choicest sector. With this our first semester concluded on a happy note.

Any remembrance of life at IIT Kanpur should not end without mentioning the weather and beauty of the place. Early winter months are very pleasant in Kanpur. Hall 9 is very well placed with vast open space behind it. Few stunted trees dot it but more or less it is a grassland. The view is breathtaking at evenings and during cloudy days. Vacant backyard also means the wind speed is relatively high. The final year provided us with many spare hours to enjoy natural beauty and contemplate. And one thing which I can say with confidence after living there is that plains can be as beautiful as hills.

P.S. I plan to write about remaining months but I am pretty lazy in putting my thoughts in my blogs, so that may take some time.

First cricket test match in stadium

2010-10-18T20:09:00.007+05:30

After missing 3-4 chances in Kanpur I finally got to watch cricket for the first time in a stadium. And as they say in Hindi 'Der aaye durust aaye', what a treat it was to watch.

The planning of this match started with one of my friends (who ironically didn't watch cricket even on TV in our first semester at IIT Kanpur). I was very disappointed that Wankhede missed out on test match against New Zealand and wanted to watch test cricket this year at any cost. Finally we both zeroed in on Bangalore test between India and Australia because, well you knew this, it was between India and Australia. We also factored in that this would be the last time Dravid would be playing on his home ground and that this is the last time Sachin, Dravid, Laxman and Ponting would be part of a test match in India.

The start of the day was very disappointing, not because India didn't win the toss (in fact with India fielding we got to see most players close-up), but due to inability of our bowlers to take a wicket in whole of first session. This meant that we had to put up with Mr. Watson who is as boring to watch as excitement while watching Ponting bat. Our torture ended in second session when Ponting came out to bat. And the elegance of his batting was clearly visible. To help the matters the view from our seat was very good for both ends. But like most Indians it becomes very difficult for me to appreciate opposition's good performance for long. Harbhajan was impressive in second session and Ojha in second and third but we felt much relieved when Raina trapped Ponting who it seemed was not going to be dismissed by Indian bowlers all day. All in all we got to wave Indian flag 5 times (five wickets fell that day).

I was very happy to see the turn out. The stadium was almost full. The din compounded by shrill music (or noise?) added to the excitement. That was one time when I would have agreed with Ravi Shastri's "The Atmosphere is electric" chirp. Was disappointed with Laxman not taking field but saw debut match of Pujara. Who knows he turns out to be next Laxman!!!

P.S. Was impressed by Ponting's conduct on and off the field. Esp. his thanksgiving to crowd in post match conference. My respect for him, both as a person and a batsman, has gone up by few notches.

Maoists are tough, we need to be tougher

2010-09-03T23:19:00.002+05:30

Nitish Kumar has shown a lot of spine in resisting the pressure to yield to Maoists. The so called Swami Agnivesh's call of try to extend deadline and not using force is another instance where so called intellectuals with left leanings live in a surreal world and apply the logic which sounds good there to our world.

Yes we have lost one life and may be can lose more. This is very harsh on the families of martyrs. But if we don't yield this time we can save many more lives in future. Remember the Kandahar goof-up. Please don't repeat this. All political parties should rally behind Bihar government at the moment. It is not Nitish Kumar who is up against the Maoists, it is our state, the Republic of India which is fighting this battle.

Poly-tricky Politicians of India

2010-08-19T19:56:00.004+05:30

Just a few days ago I was watching a debate on a news channel about the raise demanded by the Members of Parliament. Most of the reasons cited in support of this demand were related to them being public representative and that they have to take care of the visitors, pay their staffs, visit their constituency's nook and corner etc.

And every time they were criticized by media they retorted by flaunting their status of being 'representative' of common man. I want to suggest a very good way for testing the representation of these politicians.

Just have a referendum in every constituency for an MP. If the approval is more than 50%, the MP gets a 300% hike (as desired by them), otherwise he/she forfeits the seat and pays Rs. 10 lacs(or maybe more) as fine. Those MPs who do not desire a hike need not have referendum. I am sure very few MPs would dare to hold this referendum and thus a small amount would be spent in conducting referendum. However this will go a long way in taking the sting out of this 'representative' claim and also present true approval percentage of these worthless chaps. This would also go a long way in rewarding those MPs who are diligently discharging their duties.

Do our polity have guts to accept this challenge? No. Simply because most of them 'represent' us not because they are greater 'good' but because they are lesser 'evil'.

Once upon a time ...

2010-05-21T23:28:00.004+05:30

Once upon a time there was a magic nation ... may be it still has some magic left. However, even at that time idiots were in considerable strength. To add to the woes of that nation the remaining population had a majority of zombies. They had myriads of communities but only 3 mattered at that time. Let us name them community A,B and C.

Community A was in majority. Community B was in minority but had significant presence in some pockets. Community C formed a tiny part but its interests were tied to both the communities and it too had a pocket of influence. One fine morning an intellectual (his 'direct' actions don't befit this reference though) came to conclusion that he had no future in political power because his rivals had greater say in masses overall. But he had an ace up his sleeve. He was from community B. So, he chose 'direct' path and was joined in hordes by people from not just community B but also A and C although indirectly. That magic nation gave way to 2 magic nations. However the other nation had less of magic.

A and C with half of B lived happily in the greater magic nation for sometime. Then some leaders from C decided to choose a more 'direct' path like that 'intellectual'. This time the stacks were heavily stacked against them though. They did not get that much support from their community but created equal ruckus. Well, foolhardy is something in which each of these communities likes to dominate. Community A now took lead in that by resorting to 'direct' actions against C and then B.

This community business is actually more complex than what I have presented. There are other communities (more properly groups) at different levels. These 3 were separated by religion but there are many separated by language, region, caste and God knows what more. All these communities resort to that 'direct' path to this date. The magic nation drags on.

Romanticizing violence

2010-04-16T09:35:00.005+05:30

The Dantewada massacre by so-called 'fighters' for equality has once again highlighted the fact that these marauders will understand nothing but the language of guns. However, our 'intelligentsia' continues to romanticize these butchers.

Arundhati Roy's article Walking With The Comrades that appeared in March 29 issue of the Outlook is a case in point. She sees all evil in Indian authority. She writes "On one side is a massive paramilitary force armed with the money, the firepower, the media, and the hubris of an emerging Superpower. On the other, ordinary villagers armed with traditional weapons, backed by a superbly organised, hugely motivated Maoist guerrilla fighting force with an extraordinary and violent history of armed rebellion. The Maoists and the paramilitary are old adversaries and have fought older avatars of each other several times before: Telangana in the ’50s; West Bengal, Bihar, Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh in the late ’60s and ’70s; and then again in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra from the ’80s all the way through to the present. They are familiar with each other’s tactics, and have studied each other’s combat manuals closely. Each time, it seemed as though the Maoists (or their previous avatars) had been not just defeated, but literally, physically exterminated. Each time, they have re-emerged, more organised, more determined and more influential than ever. Today once again the insurrection has spread through the mineral-rich forests of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal—homeland to millions of India’s tribal people, dreamland to the corporate world." If this is not glorifying violence what else is.

She talks of class divisions and caste inequalities. Were the jawans who were ambushed by these 'Robin Hoods' very rich? Most of them were sole bread winners of their families. These writers see everything wrong with development projects in India. Everything is evil with corporates. How do you want tribal to live? You want them to live in same cultures which have no significance in this age. Of course the environmental issues must be addressed. The habitats should not be destroyed. But is it not being done by J. Ramesh, our minister for this same job. He has recently objected to Adani's project in Maharashtra and is at loggerheads with Mr. Kamalnath, another minister for highway project land. And what your 'Robin Hoods' do? They charge 'protection fee' from corporates. Most corporates don't have problem giving that. Now you decide who is better?

Now if you think Maoists have people support, why don't they contest elections? Some of these 'intellectuals' doubt about fairness in elections. Was the election in Bihar, which had been under Lalu rule, not fair? I don't have to go too far. I am a resident of Uttar Pradesh and last elections were very fair. But the reality is something else. The support for Maoists is thin (and it is forced in some cases) and after this massacre, they will lose further support. This article points out the questions raised by sister of a tribal jawan killed by 'Maoists' and clearly points to the fact that time for romanticizing violence is over. Like most insurgencies even this will subside.

Open Source in Drug Discovery

2010-04-12T06:48:00.002+05:30

The title of this post is pretty unusual. Just as you are pleasantly surprised even I was pleasantly surprised after knowing of such an initiative through this report. Leading the research in drug discovery are corporate giants who are more interested in developing vaccines or drugs for curing a select set of diseases and in the process they churn out high margin drugs. So this CSIR led initiative is a whiff of fresh air. I am not an expert on patenting and those in pharmaceutical industry would know better if this model will work or not but going by success of Mozilla, Linux and Wikipedia in the areas of open source software and crowd sourcing, I believe with some effort on legal and patent issues this initiative can be made successful.

The scientists at the OSDD have started with neglected diseases like TB and malaria and they say that despite deaths of 1.7 mn people throughout world due to TB there has been no new drug discovery in last 4-5 decades. That just goes on to show how much we can bank on current state of drug development. The CSIR chief Samir Bramhachari is pretty hopeful of this initiative's success and that is important. When Richard Stallman started free software movement it had many doubters but it has contributed to a large extent in present success of open source softwares. And if OSDD succeeds, it will have much bigger impact and on a much larger population.

Newspaper Dilemma

2010-03-17T19:55:00.002+05:30

These days I am riding on the horns of dilemma as far as choosing a newspaper is concerned. Till last month I had an 'intermittent' (courtesy IITK vendors) supply of The Hindu. Before subscribing to The Hindu I had 4 months of exposure to Indian Express. I still believe that The Hindu is the best newspaper currently in India. Here I proclaim it to be the best in terms of the quality of articles, veracity of reporting and yes, an important parameter is absence of those obtrusive ads which adore our populist circulations of Hindustan Times and Times of India. By now you might be thinking where the problem is?

The problem is that The Hindu seems unduly sympathetic to left ideology. In fact a regular columnist is M K Bhadrakumar, a former Indian diplomat whose loyalty it seems (and it is my personal opinion, forgive me if you disagree) lies with China. I shudder to think of what he would have done when he was in his service to the 'nation'. You can search for his articles and look how baseless claims he makes. I once commented on his article citing his earlier baseless allegations but to my surprise The Hindu did not even publish it. But just as one swallow does not makes a summer, the rest of The Hindu is a fine example of quality journalism. Indian Express, to me is a nationalist newspaper and comes hard on bigotry, but the problem with it is that it seems anti-Congress to me at times. I am open to fair criticism of Congress but having columnist like Tavleen Singh who are known to spew venom against Congress deters me. A ray of hope is the medium which connects me to you. The online edition of The Hindu is very good but the same cannot be said of Indian Express. Subscribing to Indian Express and reading The Hindu online seems to be an idea worth looking.

Pune blasts : Lessons to be learnt

2010-02-14T21:16:00.004+05:30

Once again a blast strikes an Indian city. Once again the blame game begins. Once again media frenzy comes to fore. Once again we do nothing. Please rise to the occasion. Get out of this mess. It is very disappointing to see the same pattern one after the other. If the speculations presented in newspaper reports are true, it becomes very difficult to have faith in our internal security.

There are several reports claiming that Headley had surveyed the German bakery. If true this implies that the administration of the bakery had advance knowledge of the gravity of the situation and also the government should have been more active. The trigger for the blast is highly disappointing. A waiter opened an unclaimed object. This is ridiculous. After so much awareness campaigns we Indians can't even follow simple rules for security. As far as I remember these campaigns have been since Khalistan militancy days. But how many of us are serious about it?
This is the time that we learn our lesson although a very tragic way to learn it. I would suggest that we plan an awareness campaign with the friends of that waiter exhorting people to follow security norms. Please do not miss this opportunity.

In the defence of Thackerays

2010-02-12T21:42:00.003+05:30

The title is perhaps highly unlikely to be found elsewhere as Thackeray bashing seems to be the in-thing these days. Although it is justified to some extent but our media has this tendency to overdo things whether it is the case of Chinese incursions or of Indian team losing a match. What I am talking about here is castigation of Bal Thackeray for criticising Shahrukh Khan for his remarks on Pakistani players' participation in the IPL. I do not approve of hooliganism associated with Shiv Sainiks but there is no doubt that Shahrukh Khan's statement on IPL was a highly irresponsible statement. Yes, I agree that in a democracy everyone has right to express his/her opinion but then is it not true that a hypocrite should deserve flak for what he/she is ? Mr. Chidambaram also expressed his opinion on the matter saying that Pakistan has very good Twenty20 players and they should have been brought out. But then he has no control over who is picked in the tournament. He is not a franchisee but Shahrukh Khan is. What Mr. Khan offers is a pretty lame excuse. He says they wanted Razzaq in the team but didn't pick him because he was injured. How does he know that same problem was not with other owners? That's a true charlatan for you. Oh! can a charlatan be true?

Language Barrier

2010-01-23T20:03:00.003+05:30

At times I wonder how foolish we can be. Just because someone speaks a different language we see that person as alien. Of course as I have posted earlier, language can be a barrier as far as administration is concerned but how is it that it can be used as tool to alienate a section of society. Why do you feel slighted if someone else speaks some other language? I agree we all should be proud of our mother tongue but that does not implies we look down upon other languages. Still you can see a lot of instances in history where language was used as a tool to create divide in society. Forcing your language on others can lead to a lot of trouble. Pakistan forced Urdu on Bengali speakers and eventually had to part with them. India was engulfed in language movement in 1960's when they tried to force Hindi on southern states. One of the reasons for unrest in Punjab was Hindi/Punjabi divide. Now language is being used as a political tool in Maharashtra. There are several parties who are opposed to the English education terming English as a foreign language. Should we abandon a good thing just because it is foreign? They raise trivial issues such as changing 'India that is Bharat' to 'Bharat, that is India' in constitution. What good this change is going to bring? But as usual these parties have no logic to defend their statements. Be proud of your mother tongue but respect other languages. The language in usage should be the language that is convenient. I will talk to a farmer in Uttar Pradesh in Hindi and a foreigner in English. Just imagine what will happen if I do the other way round?

Realization of Regression in Science

2010-01-03T14:16:00.002+05:30

Today, Dr. Manmohan Singh has accepted existence of red tapism and need of urgent reforms in order to move Indian Science forward and take it to greater heights. Brain drain is a severe problem now. But it is not that only those who leave our shores are responsible. The onus also lies with our establishment which has made it difficult to carry out research in India. Even premier institutions have not been spared. Despite all this there are some who stay here and work for country. But you cannot expect everyone to work just because of patriotism. At the time when the US is thinking of attracting entrepreneurs to their country we are not even able to stem the rot which plagues our educational establishments. The fellowships given to our research scholars are peanuts compared to those given in West and this is even if you take PPP into account.

Dr. Singh has announced revision in funding schemes which bodes well for Indian Science. The number of Phds is very less in India. More so in science. Currently, IITs pay only 14000 p.m. This should be hiked to at least 25,000-30,000 p.m. The admission process to Phd should be reformed in order to attract best talent. This will surely enhance the quality of our research and because the number of Phd scholars is so small, it is not going to be a burden on government also. If industry interface is improved, the burden on government can be lightened even more.

Small States : How far can we go?

2009-12-28T14:30:00.003+05:30

Telangana is simmering right now. December 30 has been announced as a 'bandh' day. In other states the demand for separate states is rearing its head once again. The Telangana isuue is more thorny compared to other issues as in this case the rest of the state is not in the mood to accept reorganization of the state. Violent protests seem inevitable at least for time being. If central government agrees to this demand it faces trouble on two fronts: one, the rest of Andhra wont remain peaceful and two, the remaining states in India will witness similar protests and movements. If we look at the performance of smaller states it has been mixed bag. While Uttaranchal has done well, Jharkhand has been disaster. Small states also mean small number of legislative assembly seats which encourages defection and hence instability. Goa bears testimony to this fact. We already have states on linguistic basis. Almost in every large state there is demand for one or two smaller states. Some of them are highly unreasonable. As far as Uttar Pradesh is concerned the travesty cannot be missed. While 'Harit Pradesh' comprises prosperous districts of western Uttar Pradesh, the 'Bundelkhand' talks of most backward regions of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In case of Poorvanchal there is no popular support and a handful of leaders are crying themselves hoarse on this issue. I don't have any idea about similar demands elsewhere in the country.

The government should decentralize the institutions and facilities in the states in order to make them easily accessible. In Uttar Pradesh, most of the institutions are centered in Lucknow. Clearly this is highly inconvenient for people from both ends of the state. But instead of carving out new states we can build similar institutions in east UP as well as west UP. Not many need to meet Chief Minister every now and then, so one thing which I am sure we don't need in Uttar Pradesh is a bunch of inefficient chief ministers. While decentralization based on zonal division of Uttar Pradesh will ensure easy accessibility, the size will ensure stability. Similar reasons can be given for other states also. Please don't play divisive politics in the name of statehood. Sardar Patel united 500 states into one India. Don't undo his unparalleled achievement.

Where is the joy in being child?

2009-11-11T18:39:00.004+05:30

During my days of literature study I read various poems, both in Hindi and English, exhilarating joys of childhood. But if you have a look at today's child, you will vexed at the burden he/she is under. The number of courses a child undergoes during primary education is astounding.Most of them are useless and serve no purpose. Some students excel at those courses (which is bound to happen in a populous country as India) and those who don't are deemed failures. The teachers don't teach nowadays. They 'finish'. Yes, they finish syllabus and in that process the desire to learn in most of the students. I remember my history teacher virtually reading through the course text books when I was appearing for council exams in class Xth. The reason: syllabus should be finished and the students should secure high marks. If in the process you learn something... OK added bonus. There is no learning in practical environments. A typical child is expected to know history, geography, civics, mathematics, science (Physics, Chemistry and Biology in class sixth) and a plethora of books in languages (literature and grammar).

What this humongous syllabus ensures is that 'chapters' are finished and contents are 'crammed'. Most of the high scoring students are not able to apply concepts on their own. And yes, everyone conveniently forgets the stuff in no time (in some cases this could be as less as few hours after the exam). If this torture was not enough we have a myriads of exams and tests to plague a child's mind. As expected, majority of students need extra tuition to keep pace with this madness. 8 hrs of school and then 3 hrs of tuition. Add to it the commute time, and you must now be wondering that your job is not that hectic. I don't know about you, but I as a final year student pf engineering surely don't want to be child again. At least I have choices (to some extent) in doing courses and areas I want to work on.

Where's the fun in growing up?

IIT JEE theatrics

2009-10-19T21:51:00.002+05:30

Kapil Sibbal minced no words when he made his intentions clear for JEE eligibility. Mr. Sibbal has made it clear that the reason for this change is mushrooming of coaching centres throughout the country. His logic is simple. Coaching institutes train students and hence they (students) don't pay attention to class 12th exams. This in my opinion is a flawed assumption.

Most students in IITs (at least IIT Kanpur) have more than 80% marks in class 12th. Many of those who don't score more than 80% are from state boards who will go above 80 once the marks are normalized( I hope sanity will prevail). And add to it the fact that most of them have come from coaching institutes. Last time they changed the rules, apparently targeting coaching centres from a particular city, the results were not encouraging. Those institutes have grown from strength to strength in last 3 years. It appears those rules only helped them. I am sure these rules too will have no effect. What can you do if these institutes are able to attract cream of the country? The students they have in their premier batches are quite capable of scoring over 80% without much effort. Giving more weightage to class 12th will only dilute the quality inside campus.

Diwali Lights

2009-10-17T18:34:00.004+05:30

Today is Diwali. It is the only festival which I 'celebrate' apart from Navratra. I have put quotes because notion of celebration varies to a great extent from person to person. It's not that I don't like other festivals. In fact I like Ganesha Chaturthi as much as Diwali but I feel more happy during Diwali. Perhaps, this is because of the weather at this time of the year. Latter part of October and early November are the best part of year for me. I like these two months very much, ostensibly because the chill in atmosphere is perfect to have a sound sleep. Morning sunlight appears to be bliss of God.

This Diwali is about to pass. The celebration was muted. Very few friends are here compared to last year. One of my friends dressed for the occasion reminding of the auspiciousness of the occasion. Some have preferred to celebrate Diwali at their respective homes which would have been usual course for me too had there been few more days off from regular schedule. As I write a lot of crackers are creating the din I hate most about this festival. Despite knowing the hazards these crackers pose to environment and to those who have respiratory problems, people continue to rejoice this way. All those laws about decibel levels and noise pollution seem to exist only in Uttar Pradesh pollution Control Board Advertisement which was published in today's newspaper. Some of these same guys (Yes I am referring to the IIT guys) will go and settle in West. There they will do all these things in a very controlled way (of course if they get any chance to do these things), but here it doesn't bothers them. Same thing is being done to Ganges. Under the garb of spirituality and tradition we keep on dumping our filth into Ganges. It is a travesty of sorts that we refer to Ganges as 'mother'. When I was kid environmental issues were choicest problem for essay writing on pressing issues. It seems in future they will be source of information for geologists working on ascertaining causes of disappearance of glacier fed rivers like Ganges.

The Game of Nations

2009-10-11T18:35:00.002+05:30

The 60th anniversary of 'democracy', as the communists will have us to believe, was celebrated with much fervor and show of strength. China is rising as a world power and its GDP is expected to overtake that of the US in coming decades. They have ambition to be a superpower. And when your aspirations that pretty high, you don't want your neighbor to be as strong as you or even able to challenge you. That is where the India-China problem begins.

Tensions have heightened courtesy some 'incursions' and some really stupid statements in media on both sides. Add to it the statements made by chiefs of armed forces of India. These have combined to induce paranoia in minds of those who are concerned about India's hawkish neighbor. After going through a lot of articles related to this subject written by experts in defence and diplomacy I have found one thing common to all of them. They all acknowledge the superiority of armed forces of China but add that China wont attack India if sanity prevails over them. Considering that there is so much at stake (in terms of economy) and India of 2009 is much different from India in 1962 (even if fusion was fizzle fission is sufficient to be deterrent). China may have advantage as far as military might is concerned but the difference between military strengths of the two nations is not so much as to decimate India and lave China with minor scars. As one article puts it, "China of today is not the Maoist country that argued that power grew out of the barrel of a gun and that even if 300 million Chinese perished in a nuclear war 300 million would survive to build a glorious civilisation. Times have changed since the ideology of countryside surrounding the cities was advanced during the Cultural Revolution". However, India needs to increase its defence budget in order to match China's strength. This would act as deterrent and also remind China that we are not cowed down by its vacuous threats. Also, we should try to address our economic problems and combine together to achieve double digit growth in coming decade. On diplomatic fronts we should take up the border dispute issues with Chinese government. If Vietnam can stand up to them why can't India? Again quoting from the article, "There can be firmness in dealing with the LoAC or other issues where there are attempts at exploiting unequal advantages in situations. India has arrived at a stage in international politics when it has to demonstrate maturity in playing the game of nations".

In God's name

2009-10-06T19:42:00.003+05:30

I remember a scene from 'Merchant of Venice' where Antonio, an altruist, castigates Shylock, a mean money lender for justifying his soulless and savage conditions by invoking religious scriptures. So many times in history religion has been used as a tool to achieve ulterior motives.

Be it Osama Bin Laden or closer home Mr. Jinnah or closer in time Varun Gandhi. However, it is not that religion is always used to achieve political gains. In Pakistan blasphemy laws have been blatantly abused to acquire properties of minority communities. In India as this editorial shows they are proving to be hindrance in infrastructure development.

It is appalling that we have more 'places of worship' than 'places of learning'. I am not saying that one does not learns anything in places of worship. In fact if we follow teachings of our respective religions in proper manner this bird named 'Utopia' would be found on earth. But what we have done is that some people planning to grab lands and other properties, public or private, are able to do so defying law in name of religion. We have 60,000 such illegal structures in New Delhi alone. Some of these obstruct construction of roads. You must have noticed worship places in middle of road. The demands of economy say that we must develop our infrastructure quickly if we want to be one of the developed nations in the world. These obstacles slow the pace of development and in the process increase the cost of project. I know religious sentiments must not be hurt for blind development but no one demolishes these structures. They are relocated. It is up to you to view it as demolition or relocation.

Let us put our country first. Don't be a drag in our nation's progress.

The Benefit of Hindsight

2009-09-16T19:36:00.004+05:30

May be 'it' is human nature and therefore pervades this globe but I am sure that 'it' is present in large parts of India. This 'it' is the tendency of Indians to pass judgements with the benefit of hindsight. You may do well to remember how people were hell bent upon castigating M S Dhoni over his decision to promote Ravindra Jadeja. Now we all are admiring M S Dhoni for his captaincy in finals of Compaq cup. Virtually every bowling change he made worked (even listless R P Singh got Jayasuriya to cut one straight to Virat Kohli). Not just in cricket but look at any other walk of life. People were critical of the UPA before the elections, criticizing their failures to get partners in UP and Bihar. Rahul Gandhi was said to be too involved in Amethi and not venturing out in other areas of Uttar Pradesh. Now he is being credited with wooing voters from all sections of society. It may well be the case that Rahal was active in other areas or that the candidates won it on their own but no; we will pass our judgement because we have the benefit of hindsight.

Before the elections Advani, Modi and even Varun Gandhi were charismatic. Now, even the BJP holds them responsible for this debacle. The Indian government was a butt of ridicule for going slow on deregulation. Now we see all the virtues in this policy after India escaped the global financial crisis to a large extent. More recently a national newspaper carried an article on 'shifting political wind' in Gujarat. Now that the BJP has done very well in just conclude bypolls I want to look at their analysis.

Hindsight offers us more information to analyze situations but we should be magnanimous enough to acknowledge our shortcomings while passing judgements.

Simplicity in Indian Politics

2009-09-11T10:39:00.002+05:30

Recently, there was a furore when two ministers of the UPA government were asked to vacate their five star 'abode' (they stayed there > 3 months). The minsiters claimed they were living on their own expenses. They have their declared assets in crores and it is not beyond their reach to stay in five star hotels and of course they should have right to do what they want with their own money just like we have.

But there is some difference between us and them. We are not public figures. We are not accountable to public. We can be extravagant. We can spend our money on expensive parties. We can purchase expensive watches, cameras, laptops, cars, clothings etc. We are not bound by any accountability to public or have to be a role model for public. We pay entertainment tax and that ends our responsibility towards nation. Although Gandhiji would have expected us to be austere in all walks of life when 40% of our population lives hand to mouth, who cares for his thoughts now. Not even government.

So much for self evaluation. These two are public figures who could have shown example to others by spending this money in a better cause. They can learn something from their party icon. However, to buy their argument of expenditure of self earned money we should be given access to their bills. Is it not highly likely that hotels who earn a lot by hosting foreign dignitaries will subsidise stay of External Affairs ministers?

"Chandrayaan-1 is dead, long live Chandrayaan"

2009-08-31T22:49:00.003+05:30

The ISRO has formally announced 'loss' of India's maiden and ambitious Lunar Mission Chandrayaan-1. However, all is not gloomy about this. Considering many firsts it achieved by its launch itself and the probe which landed India's flag on moon, we should be proud of what it achieved. Add to it the fact that it was completed without any overrun of cost or time which is achievement in itself considering India's past record. May be we were over-ambitious with this project but then this is something which I am saying with benefit of hindsight. Only when final scientific report is out can we be sure of the causes. The ISRO team has done great job in this mission and expectations are high for the next mission in Chandrayaan-2. Lets hope that it turns out to be complete success. Amen.

Jinnah and the Pseudo Secularists

2009-08-25T18:21:00.008+05:30

Last few days we have seen a huge interest in media about Jinnah. This interest has been triggered because of the contents of a book written by Jaswant Singh, who used to be a prominent leader of the BJP which is seen as the right wing party of India.

I am surprised at two things: first, why did Jaswant Singh is so eloquent in praise of Jinnah. I am not talking of his book because I have not read it but of his interviews. Second, why some sections of media are hell bent upon showing Jinnah as a moderate Muslim who was secular and would have never approved of the atrocities meted out to minorities in Pakistan.

Of many ghettos surrounding the Muslim community in India one is that they admire Jinnah or for that matter Pervez Musharraf. Do you remember that Bus during 2004 elections with painting of Vajpayee and Musharraf on it? That was also the time when we had uproar over Advani's remark on Jinnah. This was ostensibly done to win good will of Indian Muslims for the BJP. What happened in that election is history now. My personal experience (because I had interactions with a lot of Muslims in my school days and with some in college days) is that there is no admiration for Jinnah in majority of Muslims. But people like Jaswant Singh think otherwise. And for the second thing I will say so called 'liberals' or more appropriately the 'pseudo secularists' of India think that they are being progressive by showing Jinnah in 'true' light. I want to know if Jinnah did only one thing wrong in instigating partition riots and so is a secularist because of of what he did rest of his life why do this same section castigates Narendra Modi? Mr. Modi has done nothing wrong other than not controlling Gujarat riots. Is he a secularist?

The Great Indian Hype about Swine Flu

2009-08-15T15:32:00.000+05:30

I wanted to write about this for quite sometime but found ignition in this article of Soutik Biswas. He talks about the attention swine flu is receiving these days in the Indian media. It is very scary to watch or read media reports about this 'epidemic'. Soutik Biswas also mentions the case of 1145 people infected of Japanese Encephalitis in Uttar Pradesh of which about 300 succumbed to this dreaded disease. Do you remember the attention given to this disease? No because as Soutik puts it "Apart from its name, there was nothing remotely global about this outbreak".

In a way it is good that media is making people aware of this disease but it is more terrifying rather than informative. An image in the same article shows masked girls sweating out in a gym. This is ludicrous if you ask any physio about it. One should be careful but not be intimidated by this disease. And why is it that media never gives same attention to other diseases which claim a lot more lives every year. Malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis require much more attention than swine flu. Are we in an age where even ailments are glamorized?

IIT Bombay : Choice or Craze

2009-06-26T19:21:00.000+05:30

I recently read an article on the choices of this year's JEE qualified candidates. And the break-up of top 100 was startling. 69 of top 100 rankers have opted for IIT Bombay. This is a highly skewed distribution of top 100, considering the fact that there are at least 4 other IITs which are comparable to IIT Bombay. I thought of some plausible explanation for this phenomenon.

One factor is the number of selections from Kota. One of my friends told me that the coaching classes there paint a rosy picture of IITB and IITD at the expense of IITK and IITKGP. This time however, even Delhi has witnessed decline. May be that has something to do with placement performance of IITD in last two years.

Other factor of course is location. Candidates prefer cities like Mumbai and New Delhi to Kanpur. IITM takes a beating here because it is in South India. Most of selections from South India are from Andhra and students from that state are in considerable number even in IITK, so I suppose the number would be even more in IITB.

The third factor is the placement record. Clearly the placements are best in IITB.

That is what I could think of right now as reasons for this skewed distribution. However, JEE chairman of IITB offered the reason to be introduction of "minors". Minors were already in existence in Kgp and IITM and still Kgp could not get a single student in top 100. In my opinion this trend is very bad for other IITs. Each IIT has its own fort. Like CS department of IITK is best and same is the perception about Chemical of IITB. Civil is best in Roorkee. So anyone must consider his interest before deciding on any IIT and not the craze which these coaching wallahs create without having any experience of either industry or research.

P.S. : These are my own views expressed on the basis of perception and information from some of my fellow students. If you feel these are not correct feel free to drop a comment.

No cricket on this blog now

2009-06-25T17:50:00.000+05:30

The cricket related posts have been moved here.

Twenty20 World Cup final

2009-06-20T07:46:00.000+05:30

So, it is Pakistan vs Sri Lanka in the finals of the Twenty20 World Cup. I never thought Sri Lanka will make it to the final perhaps influenced by poor performance of Mendis in the IPL and under estimat8ng Dilshan's performance in the same tournament. Due to really poor display by India, Australia and New Zealand my predictions for this cup have gone awry. However, not many would have predicted Pakistan in finals and I chose them as my favorites in the tournament. So, all is not lost in my predictions and that gives me inclination to predict in future tornaments.

Coming to the final. If there is any player who can nullify the threat posed by Murali & Mendis, it is Younis Khan. Along with Misbah he can score runs at a decent pace against these two. However, Pakistan's best chance rests with dismissing Dilshan cheaply. He has been mainstay of Lankan batting. The Lankans rely heavily on him, Sanath, Sanga and Jayawerdene in their batting. It will be an interesting final as we witness yet another South Asian title clash. Congrats to Pakistan for making it to both the finals.

IPL and EPL

2009-06-15T09:22:00.000+05:30

So the dreaded thing has happened. With all the hype and glitterati of the IPL, very few of us would have thought India will not reach semi finals. But then the only test playing nation Indians have defeated is Bangladesh. Yes, they are still better than 2007 World Cup squad. But they lost to West Indies (without a significant contribution from Gayle) and England. England is the same team which was branded "chokers", a group of snobbish players and a team lacking talent after their loss against Netherland. Now the same team whose players play insipid county cricket "bounced" us out of the tournament as the Cricinfo reports. At the beginning of this tournament i had no hopes from England but they have left Indian team in hopeless situation.

With all the glitz and glamour of the IPL Mr. Modi and co. wanted us to realise what good the IPL has done to India. May be the IPL has made life easier for an ordinary domestic cricketer but scheduling it so close to an ICC event was bound to leave players jaded. Remember all these Indian players were subjected to intense pressure in their respective teams for about 40 days. A bit of pressure is good but to have 14 twenty20 games within a span of 40 days is just too much. I never thought anyone in India will celebrate dismissal of Tendulkar by Warne. But commercialism did that too. Team bonding? What is that man? Now they want 2 IPLs a year and add to it the Champions League. Where is the time for test cricket or for that matter any form of international cricket?

India is fast turning into England of World Soccer. All hype and no value.

Future of Symonds

2009-06-05T09:17:00.000+05:30

So Mr. Symonds has done it again. Just when everyone was debating his omission from Ashes squad, he made it clear what could have been on Aussie selectors' mind. After a sterling performance in the recently concluded IPL, both with the bat and the ball, his fans were expecting similar exploits in Twenty20 world cup. Today Cricinfo reports that Symonds' retirement seems imminent. It would be a huge loss for International Cricket if this happens. I am not a fan of Symonds in longest version of the game but for limited versions he is right there at the top. Australia will surely miss his services as an all-rounder. With Symonds gone Aussies only have two Davids (Warner and Hussey) as destructive hard-hitters. However, Australians give utmost importance to discipline and the way they played after loss of Warne in 2003 World Cup is enough proof to believe they will be a dangerous opposition to contend with.

Hometown Baghdad

2009-05-30T17:45:00.000+05:30

Courtesy: chat the planet. Ausama, Saif and Adel (from L to R)

Few weeks ago I watched “Hometown Baghdad” on the NGC. It was a very moving documentary about the plight of modern higher middle class youth from Baghdad. The three protagonists are Saif, Ausama and Adel. They are easy going hedonistic people who are clearly battered emotionally by the strife and anarchy prevailing in their country at the moment.

The documentary starts with gory details of missile attack on college campus. The first part is sarcastically named “Brains on Campus” because a student’s brain is buried on the campus. Adel says how dangerous it is for the students to go to schools or colleges. The threat of attack by either US forces or Iraqi militants looms large. Still exams remain a tension, perhaps a welcome headache. Ausama plans to do higher study perhaps a doctorate from abroad and then come back to Iraq after the nation stabilizes. Saif is a dentist who again plans to leave Iraq but is crippled by Iraqi government’s policy of compulsory 3 years practice in Iraq before giving certificates. Adel too, has similar plans.

Power cut is very common in Baghdad. People live on generators. But if you think it is easy in an oil rich country like Iraq, you cannot be far from reality. Actually, they wait fro 9-10 hours in queue before they get any fuel for their cars. The only silver lining is that drivers befriend each other in this long arduous wait.

Songs of pain reflects the mental state of our protagonists. They use heavy metal to give vent to their feelings about the atmosphere surrounding them that of death, destruction, darkness and despair. The webisode on Symphony of bullets shows the dark humor. Adel listens to this exchange of fire and choppers hovering while reclining in his home as if he is listening to a melodious song. Ausama is a step ahead and he can identify Iraqi or the US bullets. He can identify a sniper’s bullet or the omnipresent AK bullets. Whenever there is gun battle they have nothing to do except remain at home.

Everyday life is pretty dull, depressing and intimidating. Adel and his friends go to an abandoned swimming pool in a resort whose owner has left Baghdad. These are some of the last places of entertainment left for the residents of Baghdad. Younger brothers of Adel are so much affected by the sanguinary scenes on street that their favorite game is playing with the toy gun pretending as snipers on street. Ausama’s mother is very worried about his safety. This is the situation in whole of Iraq. Death can come any moment and from any direction. The barbwires in every house point to the gravity of situation. Saif satirically comments that soon people of Baghdad will have tanks on their gates to protect themselves.

Hatred for the US forces pervades whole of Baghdad. Ausama shows his grandmother’s home that has been targeted by the US forces suspecting it as terrorist hideout. The scars of war are visible in that home. The glass panes ridden with bullet holes, desecrated paintings, broken locks and disappearance of family valuables indicate the amount of destruction done. Ausama’s uncle had been shot dead by the US forces. The frustration and anger due to this incident still rankles them. One of the ways used to release this anger is by graffiti which Adel demonstrates. They are particularly incensed with American forces calling themselves liberators.

Pessimism can be felt throughout the documentary. They advise their friends abroad not to come back to Iraq. They want to leave Iraq as soon as possible. Saif has no certificates proving his education in dentistry but still he wants to get away from din of Baghdad. His feelings become clear when he says forcefully, “I want to live”. Shia-Sunni conflict is very saddening for Adel and he does not want to talk about it. He is pretty aghast with professional killers abounding in Iraq.

The opinion about troops is divergent in Saif, Adel and Ausama. While Adel believes American troops maintain law and order and keep them safe from Shia militants (Adel is a Sunni but calls himself secular as do the other protagonists), Ausama is more critical of excesses of troops when they go about arresting people opposing American presence. Saif is sort of neutral about the presence of troops but will prefer Americans leaving Iraq. In the end Adel, the free-spirited guy endorses Jim Hendrix when he says, "I cannot choose my death but I can choose the way I live".

This documentary is an eye-opener for anyone not from places like Kashmir, Palestine, Iraq, Chechenya and others. However, it features only educated higher middle class youths fed on Western music. It would have been great if someone from lower strata of the society would have been included in the documentary. One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter and this makes war against terror difficult. Perhaps Ausama’s uncle was killed due to paranoia in the US troops due to suicide bombers but for his family this is an irreparable damage.

World peace is a coward’s dream but sometimes dreams of cowards are preferable to braveheart’s.

P.S. The webisodes can be found at Chat the Planet.

IPL2 Final and memories of 1992

2009-05-29T19:39:00.000+05:30

Recent victory of Deccan Chargers in IPL2 brought memories of 1992 World Cup final. The similarities are many. Chargers were fourth team in the semi-finalists of IPL2. So were Pakistan. Deccan were put in driver's seat by two in two of Symonds while Wasim did this trick for Pakistan. With me the analogy does not ends here. Pakistan managed to sneak into semi-finals by an improbable victory against New Zealand through exploits of young Inzy and got a favorable decision in their favor by victory of Australia over West Indies. Similarly, Deccan achieved an incredible victory over Knight Riders through genius of young blood Rohit Sharma and nervousness of Mortaza. They were also helped in their cause by Punjab failing to chase even at less than run-a-ball. These knock-out stages can shatter the rosy dreams of the best team in tournament. This is what happened to New Zealand in 1992 and now Delhi Daredevils must be more than just 'disappointed'.

Once one of my teachers said "Life is not fair". Very true, indeed

ICC World Twenty20 favorites

2009-05-19T21:06:00.000+05:30

I am bored with the IPL though not with Twenty20 and hence waiting for World Cup of which India is the first winner. However, this time it is going to be very difficult for India to retain the trophy. I have not read any preview about this tournament thanks to the IPL tamasha. So, I take risk and go public with my favorites in this tournament.

1. Pakistan Surprised! Yes Pakistanis are good at surprising their fans and critics alike. However I rate them as my favorites after watching them play in UAE against Aussies. They have wonderful attack in Akhtar, Gul, Tanvir, Ajmal and Afridi. Shoaib Malik gives them extra options. Afridi is in form of his life as far as bowling is concerned while Tanvir is very good in T20 and Gul was superb against Oz. In batting they have unlikely hero in Akmal who is is in sublime form while Misbah remains the danger man for oppositions. Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik provide impetus while Younis Khan provides stability. My only concern is that Younis doesn't get very slow in starting as he does in ODIs. In this format there is very little time to settle.

2. South Africa This is an all star squad but i keep them on number two due to their 'choking' abilities. Smithy, Gibbsy, AB, JP, Albie Morkel and Boucher form backbone of a very strong batting line-up. While Steyn, Botha, Abdulla, Morne form a strong bowling unit with options in Peterson, Kallis and van der Merwe.

3. India They too have a bunch of seven dangerous hard-hitters in Gambhir, Sehwag, Raina, Yuvi, Dhoni, Pathan and Jadeja. However, their bowling attack looks thin on paper. Zaheer doesn't seem to bowl as well in T20 as he does in other forms. Ishant and Praveen look clueless when under attack. RP Singh though looks good and with his experience of English conditions could prove to be India's trump card. Both Harbhajan and Ojha look good. Their biggest concern will be form of Viru and Gauti.

4. Australia Two years back every tournament had this team as favorite. Not now. Though they have lost sting of Haydos and Gilly, they still have in their ranks Symonds, Hussey brothers, Warner and Watson who can score runs pretty quickly. Along with Punter, Clarke and Haddin they form a pretty strong batting line-up. However, their bowling attack looks weak at least to me. I am not sure Johnson, Hilfenhaus, Siddle and Hauritz will bowl as well as they did in other formats recently.

5. New Zealand They don't have menacing stars except for perhaps McCullum but the way they combine as a team they can scare low rung teams and can on their day upset 'big four'. Ryder, McCullum and Taylor can provide the fireworks so much needed in this format while Mills and Oram along with miserly bespectacled skipper Vettori can stem the flow of runs against any team. Others though look ordinary.

6. West Indies Gayle, Sarwan, Shiv, Ramdin and Bravo can get runs for them and at quick pace but the rest will struggle in English conditions. Similarly bowling relies too much on Fiddy and Taylor. With Taylor not looking in best of forms it is going to be tough days ahead for them in this tournament.

7. Sri Lanka Their bowling remains their strength with Malinga, Murli, Tushara and Maharoof along with Mendis (if he plays). However, their batting looks iffy with only Sangakkara and Dilshan looking threatening although Jayasuriya and Jayawardhane can also do some serious damage. The last two have not been consistent and the injury lay-off of Jayawerdene is not going to help.

Others in contention are England and Bangladesh. To be honest I have more hopes from Bangladesh.

STOP RAGGING

2009-04-26T16:07:00.001+05:30

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

2009-04-16T17:34:00.001+05:30

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

2009-04-13T17:35:00.000+05:30

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

2009-04-13T17:14:00.000+05:30

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

2009-04-10T18:12:00.000+05:30

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

2009-04-10T17:55:00.000+05:30

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?

Political drama contd.

2009-03-28T21:11:00.000+05:30

Mayawati(40)
So the next PM-in-waiting is Mayawati, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Right now her chance looks slim but keeping in mind the kind of PMs we got in past, she cannot be written off. Her best chance though seems to be on both sides, I believe it would be very difficult for her to ally with the BJP. Best condition for her would be that UPA falls short of majority by about 60 seats and then she along with left parties can bargain to be the next PM.

Sharad Pawar(10-15)
Surprising that even Sharad Pawar can be a contestent for PM's post with such limited reach. His chance is again much like Mayawati's. UPA should fall by about 50-60 seats and then he can be a compromise PM, provided left parties are willing. His candidature would be taken by the UPA with lesser pinch of salt than of Mayawati.

There are many others who have not come out openly with their candidature but with their past track record we can expect them to be having buried desire of being PM. I discussed this with my friend Saucy and may be we could have any one of them next time.

Political drama

2009-03-27T09:38:00.000+05:30

So how many PM-in-waiting are we going to have this time? The pre poll alliances of two major national parties are in disarray. Congress has lost PMK. BJP has lost BJD. And third seems to be congregation of every possible front in India.

Lets look at prospects of our PM-in-waiting.

Manmohan Singh (235) It is very clear Congress will not be able to cross 200 seats in this election. Well, if they cross 150 it would be their best performance since 1991. It all boils down to its allies. They have several of them but stronger of them are in post poll scenario. RJD, LJP and SP are going to bag about 50 seats but they are not in pre poll alliance with Congress. In fact they have made a mockery of Congress during seat sharing talks. Now they are left with the DMK,NCP,TC,JMM etc. who even if they are on their best can't get over 35 seats. Now there lies the catch. Will Congress go to Left parties? Even if they go they will end up losing Trinamool Congress as next year we have assembly elections in West Bengal.

Lal Krishna Advani(235) Greater troubles plague L K Advani who is not just having problems with allies but infighting (due to Shekhawat, Jaitley and others) assuming alarming height. They dont seem to be getting more than 150 seats either. Their allies SAD, Shiv Sena, JD(U) (at the time of writing they are still with the BJP), INLD, RLD,AGP can be expected to bag 35 seats. However their richer catch lies in post poll scenario. Though it seems unlikely at this point, they can bag TDP, AIADMK, PMK who could be fairly assumed to bag 50 seats. This makes the number to be 235. Now to make up the numbers they need to fall back on BJD and... yes you guessed it right BSP. And then we have our next PM-in-waiting. More about this in next post.

Professionals or Amateurs

2008-07-11T10:56:00.000+05:30

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of Indian Cricket Team in ODIs and Twenty20 was recently in the epicenter of mini-controversy about the amount of cricket being played. He was snubbed by the BCCI albeit politely. But is he right?

Dhoni never complained of tiring on field when playing in the IPL, though he did complained of tight schedule. Remember Sachin Tendulkar and S. Sreeshanth who played all the matches in the so called ‘business end’ of the tournament but just after that were declared unfit for the Bangladesh tri-series and the Asia Cup. It is too naive to believe that the injury surfaced just after the IPL. Sachin Tendulkar did not play in the first leg of the IPL and his comeback and then opting out of these two ODI tournaments is clearly denying his service to his nation because of his franchisee. These cricketers were so passionate playing for their franchisee that it seemed they never played for India. Yes, you are right. I am referring to the Sreeshanth-Harbhajan slapgate and the Mumbai-Punjab match when after the match Yuvraj had to remind the crowd that some of the Punjab boys also played for India. Such was the hostility.

Agreed that players like all of us have right to make money but should it come at cost of their nation. The fielding standards have been appalling in this Asia Cup. Even the best of Indian fielders have looked jaded. Ishant Sharma and Pravin Kumar matched Munaf’s standard in fielding. There is no limit to how much money you can or want to earn but indiscriminate money minting is should not be allowed esp. in India. We all know some of the best football is witnessed in EPL but see the performance of English team. Those who think the IPL has given confidence and new stars please wait. We have not seen enough of these ‘stars’ in international cricket till now. Yusuf Pathan has not proved himself yet even on the flattest of the pitches in the world. Piyush Chawla was taken to cleaners by Younis Khan, who I believe is ultimate test for any spinner. So although Chawla has looked good against weaker oppositions he was decimated by Salman, Younis and Misbah.

No Indian player could top either the bowling or batting chart in the IPL although we are current champions in T20. I still believe that only those players will succeed who have proved themselves in the domestic circuit. Suresh Raina was pretty successful this season and he is belting runs in the Asia Cup also. At least he has proved himself on flat pitches.

If we have to become world beaters as the West Indies were and the Australia are, we need top-class Test players. We won T20 World Cup though we had the least experience in it. We need T20 only to finance Test Cricket. A true cricket lover would always enjoy Test matches. We need to develop players who can play longer version of the game and are world class. We need professionals who can stand tall like Mcgrath, Holding and Marshall and the spinners like Warne, Murali or Kumble. We had two of the best Test batsmen in Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid during 90’s and this decade. We need more such batsmen. We need professionals in Test matches, leave T20 to amateurs and forget ODIs. Why not hold Asia Cup in T20 format?

Reservations. Is there a solution?

2007-12-19T04:25:00.000+05:30

Recently, whole of Rajasthan was embroiled in a stand-off between Gujjars, Meenas and the state government. After all the hoopla the Gujjars, it seems have got a raw deal. The Chopra committee has not considered them for ST status and the state cabinet has also rejected their demand for inclusion in ST. Gujjars have called for mahapanchayat on the issue to decide the future course of action.

It seems the problem of reservation is fast turning into a threat for peace and integrity of this country.
Who deserves reservations and who should be excluded is the big question? The reservations in India have been caste-based since independence. The problem with this is that some castes have been grouped together under a group and that means the dominant caste is eating into the shares of weaker castes, defeating the whole purpose of reservations. This is what has happened with Gujjars. They are already in the OBC category and now they want themselves to be declared ST much to chagrin of Meenas. There have been numerous suggestions, ranging from doing away with reservations to giving reservation to lower income strata of Upper castes.

I believe the just way to give reservations is income level and not caste. However, in India we should look at various facets. There should be caste based reservations only for SC/ST. This is because they have borne the brunt of this caste system. The problem of untouchability continues in India even now. There are temples where dalits are still not allowed. However, immediate beneficiary of those SC/ST who are in class 1 and class 2 jobs should be kept out of this as they have the wherewithal to compete.
Only, those scheduled castes should be given reservation this way who are followers of Hindu religion because as far as I know caste system exists in only Hindu religion. However if there is any other religion with caste system, the followers of that religion should also be included. As for rest 27 % the reservations should be income level and all the other castes in Hindu religion and minorities should be included in this. Only those below poverty line should be given benefit. So, the group with maximum number of population below poverty line would benefit most and this is the whole purpose of giving reservations.

Another question is that quality will suffer. I will write on this topic later.

A dull series ends finally

2007-12-14T05:23:00.000+05:30

This is a very uncommon title for an India-Pakistan series. The two arch rivals whose duel is termed as Asian Ashes and more than the game, historical rivalries fire the imagination. Stop there. The historical rivalries are in fact marring the competence in this contest. I noted one thing which came to light only due to the fiasco by the KCA on switching the lights on. The teams had agreed not to play in artificial light before the start of this series. Now you can say what is wrong in it. Think again. This is a clever ploy to somehow avert a possible defeat. And it suits the purpose because in such a volatile encounter no team would like to lose and administrators along with players favor this defensive approach.
I vividly remember the 1999 series between India and Pakistan when the team led by Wasim Akram was termed a very weak team as it had lost the prior series to Zimbabwe at their home. They finally won two test matches and decimated India in one-dayers. That team had in its rank Aamir Sohail,Saeed Anwar, Ijaz Ahmed,Salim Malik, Moin Khan, Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq and Wasim Akram and were still termed weak. The next tour of Pakistan was in 2005 and the team was termed weakest despite having Inzy, Yousuf, Afridi, Akmal, Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan. The series was a draw. In 2007, again the team was labeled the weakest and Kiran More went to the extent of terming it weakest Pakistan team in 40 years. Still Indians prepared belters in the series and it was hard time for bowlers in the series. Even Anil Kumble bowled 44 overs and could pick only one wicket in the first innings of Bangalore test. This is the problem not only with Indians but Pakistanis also. Just remember the last series against Pakistan. Pakistan were clear favorites but instead of relying on their strength (that is pace bowling) they prepared docile wickets in first two tests. Finally good sense prevailed and in Karachi we saw a very good wicket on which Pakistan comfortably won.

It seems both India and Pakistan are afraid of losing and that is clearly affecting the quality of cricket between the two. I remember when a TV journo was going ga ga over Dada’s stamina after his double hundred, Aquib Javed commented that it were Pakistanis more than Dada who were responsible for his stamina. You have to agree with him if you saw Mohammed Yousuf or Sami or Shoaib Akhtar field. Even club level cricketers would be put to shame by the fielding standards exhibited by Pakistan. Indians on the other hand continued their catch-dropping spree. I am sure Australians would need only a few of them to annihilate India. And the bowling of Pakistan team was no better. Even Bangladesh attack is better if you discount those few spells by Shoaib. 3 bowlers bowling for 150 overs on a featherbed.You can’t help but feel for them. Indians would have been better prepared if they had played domestic cricket rather than this series.

I hope better sense prevails over the officials of the two countries and they have sufficient gap between these contests. The tour schedule should be such that players get more practice games and have some time to recover between two tests. The pitches should be of high-quality as we saw in 2004. Otherwise, there is no use of having such dull series every year. Please, please, please spare us of this boredom.

Halfway at IIT Kanpur

2007-11-24T03:01:00.000+05:30

I am writing this post when I have completed my 5th semester at IIT Kanpur.I am a dual-degree student so that means I have another 5 semesters to go. I just could not get time to write anything as my endsems were going on. However, I felt like writing something every now and then.Be it CPM goons on rampage in Nandigram, be it Imran Khan's arrest,be it progress on nuclear deal, or appointment of Anil Kumble as Test skipper.Just so many things to write about.

However, as my title suggests I am going to write about my stay at IITK in these two and half years and coincidentally residing in a single Hall for these many years.

I must admit that my lifestyle has changed a little bit from what it used to be when I came here.I now invariably wake much more in night (courtesy assignments and two papers a day).

Looking back I notice how different the 5 semesters have been, hardest being this last one.With the start of departmental courses,I feel a bit alienated as my old buddies who are in different departments can't study with me.I don't know why IITs don't have more flexible inter disciplinary courses or open electives. I don't know what I achieved in these many years and what I could not do in these many years. But then like most other Indian students who are above average in maths I too dreamt of being an IITian and that is why i am happy and content being here.

I think I am awake now and realise that you, the person with tons of patience have read through an extremely boring post by a lazy person riding on horns of dilemma. I am in third year and in two years time I will be presenting my thesis but I still don't know where my interest lies.

The topics I like don't fetch me marks and the topics I hate give me much needed lifeline in this mundane department. Today was a very mixed day with my close friends getting very less marks but other friends getting lucrative internship offers.Infact, I am not able to describe my feelings on this last day of my half stay at IIT Kanpur.

LOOKING FORWARD TO:

(1)A better semester next time and improving my grades.
(2)I get to know my interest in any subject just like I know my passion(cricket).
(3)Hopefully all my friends and me myself get a good internship.
(4)Last but not the least,I improve my batting and fielding skills in cricket.(I am helpless about my bowling).

P.S. Please be patient as you have been right now.I am sure I can improve my writing skills.

1857-Revolt or The feudal reaction

2007-05-13T18:42:00.000+05:30

The nation is celebrating 150 years of Gadar and on this occasion it is befitting to ask whether this revolution had support of masses or was staged by disgruntled soldiers and angry royal houses of erstwhile India. Well, it is a very difficult question to answer because most of the account related to this revolution is based on writings of westerners.Some writers dispute whether Dalits were involved in this uprising or only upper caste Hindus and Muslims formed the disenchanted lot.

This blog presents my views on this issue.As far as the base of this revolt is concerned I believe
most of Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar was part of this uprising and this can be corroborated by following facts:

1:People supported only those kings or zamindars who raised the banner of revolt against British.The support given to Rani of Jhansi and others while disdain for Scindia family is proof for this.

2:The revolt was started by soldiers but gained widespread acceptance in farmers .The hanging of whole village in suspicion of being supportive of rebels and numerous such instances show how much support the revolt had.

3:In places like Azamgarh(Uttar Pradesh) rebels of Bihar, Kunwar Singh and Amar Singh were given support instead of local landlords some of whom were loyal to Company.

4:The heroes of 1857 find mention in folklores like "khoob ladi mardani..." and several others and this goes on to show the respect they have had in masses.

5: Some of the reasons for revolt were religious and religion is and has been a big thing in India for most people.

However, I am still not sure about participation at large scale by dalits in the uprising.There is a photograph of Gangoo Mehter who was tried for killing Britishers in Kanpur.But that does not mean whole Dalit community was involved in the revolt.

So, even though this revolt was limited to two states only but in these regions the support was
overwhelming except for some sections of society .

Note: This account is my perception of the Revolt.