Thursday, October 12, 2006
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Govt Petition against an Orkut Community
I am regular user of Orkut, a great networking site, which is now run by Google(taken over). Orkut allows people to create different communities and have some common discussions among people.
As this is an un-managed commiunity, with time there have been several 'displeasing and 'hurting' communties as well that have formed.
Ofcourse 'displeasing' and 'hurting' are relative terms . What might be displeasing to me, may not be for someone else.
Same is the case of the community 'We hate India' in orkut, which has a group of Pakistanis in it.
The news is that Mumbai Hight court/Maharashtra Govt has issued a notice to google for spreading hatred about India by it's social networking service.
Actually there are several such groups in Orkut which are anti-india, but i am not sure how the Govt pin pointed this group alone.
The main reason could be that this shows a picture of our national flag being burnt.
In general I feel the Govt should not interfere too much in such open communities and stop people from expressing their ideas. At this same time, in this specific scenario i am happy that this happened.
Because the lazy Orkut Administrators needed this shock. The orkut site provides with an option called 'Report as Bogus' where in people can complain against a specific community, if it's hurting sentiments of the people. This is as shown in pic above
And i have seen that there has been many and many discussions among people on this community 'We hate India' and many of us compained as well.
But Orkut did not take any corrective action. If they had taken the right action , at the right time then they could have avoided this court case.
So i think this petition would make the orkut administrators more smarter and act on complaints of the users more quickly.
But what's surprising me is that the specific community still exists now. I expected Google to act immediately and remove it temporarily atleast.
But as far as the Govt is concerned, I think it's better it interferes Only when sites like Orkut do not take any action inspite of people's complaints (like this case) only. Except in such cases, it's better Govt doesn't interfere in things like this and let it be managed by people themselves. The simple reason being there is no limit to screening the internet and Govt will only complicate things.
The funny part here is...the petition says that the government should "appoint a 'controller' under the Information Technology Act-2000 to regulate all such communities being in operation on the internet.
"Hahaha. I just can't imagine the plight of the person who would be doing this crazy job.
Btw...I think our High court. doesn't know one thing. People can join Orkut only on invitation, not by creating an account for themselves like any other site.Now who will invite these 'Controllers' into Orkut ;)
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Medical treatments & Fashion
I was reading a discussion on Orkut on medical sciences and the progress made.
Person A asked : "We used ayurveda(herbal products) , then went to pills and stuff and were coming back to ayurveda, realising its values. Millions of examples are there". So does this mean we are going back to old style of medicines?
And the answer one of the guys gave was very funny
He said :
"2000 B.C. - "Here, eat this root."
1000 B.C. - "That root is heathen, say this prayer."
1850 A.D. - "That prayer is superstitious, drink this potion."
1940 A.D. - "That potion is snake oil, swallow this pill."
1985 A.D. - "That pill is ineffective, take this antibiotic."
2000 A.D. - "That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root!" "
Haha. Seems true sometimes. No medicine is perfect and all have side effects.
So we only change our choice based on time and tolerence levels of the side effects.
Medicines seems more of a fashion these days(may be in olden days also). And they also sell only if their is proper packaging and marketing.
Some years back, Kerela oil treatments were available only in Kerala, and only the diseased used to go there, but these days it has re-christened itself as 'Spa' which is available in every corner in a really posh beauty saloons and targetted at the upper middle class. And this has basically become a life style, and not restricted to diseased alone.
Recently i went to a doctor for some purpose, and he told me ur anemaic etc etc (usual stuff) and asked me about my eating habits. I told him i am currently on fruits and juice diet, as i want to reduce some weight.
He immediatey told me 101 reasons as why i should not be on a fruits and juice diet, but buy his Amway product and eat it.
And you know what more...that Amway product was a powder which i need mix in water and drink just twice a day.
Now i wonder what's the big difference between my fruit juice and his Amway product which is also a liquid:S:S
Yes..but there were two differences. One the Price was high and second there was some money back offer ;)
Person A asked : "We used ayurveda(herbal products) , then went to pills and stuff and were coming back to ayurveda, realising its values. Millions of examples are there". So does this mean we are going back to old style of medicines?
And the answer one of the guys gave was very funny
He said :
"2000 B.C. - "Here, eat this root."
1000 B.C. - "That root is heathen, say this prayer."
1850 A.D. - "That prayer is superstitious, drink this potion."
1940 A.D. - "That potion is snake oil, swallow this pill."
1985 A.D. - "That pill is ineffective, take this antibiotic."
2000 A.D. - "That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root!" "
Haha. Seems true sometimes. No medicine is perfect and all have side effects.
So we only change our choice based on time and tolerence levels of the side effects.
Medicines seems more of a fashion these days(may be in olden days also). And they also sell only if their is proper packaging and marketing.
Some years back, Kerela oil treatments were available only in Kerala, and only the diseased used to go there, but these days it has re-christened itself as 'Spa' which is available in every corner in a really posh beauty saloons and targetted at the upper middle class. And this has basically become a life style, and not restricted to diseased alone.
Recently i went to a doctor for some purpose, and he told me ur anemaic etc etc (usual stuff) and asked me about my eating habits. I told him i am currently on fruits and juice diet, as i want to reduce some weight.
He immediatey told me 101 reasons as why i should not be on a fruits and juice diet, but buy his Amway product and eat it.
And you know what more...that Amway product was a powder which i need mix in water and drink just twice a day.
Now i wonder what's the big difference between my fruit juice and his Amway product which is also a liquid:S:S
Yes..but there were two differences. One the Price was high and second there was some money back offer ;)
Saturday, September 23, 2006
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's Website
Venkatarangan blog reminded me of the the President's website today.
Though i had known about this, I visited the site only today.
As an admirer of our president it was a good feeling to see his website.
Apart from that i am also amazed that people in politics have also started exploiting technology in the right way and maintaining personal sites as well:)
More the number of personal sites from people in Govt, more clearer it gets to public as what are they up to. And also in understanding where is all that money that we pay in income tax going ;)
I have also read somewhere that our president does not miss to read a single email sent to him.
India is very lucky to have a person like him.
Though i had known about this, I visited the site only today.
As an admirer of our president it was a good feeling to see his website.
Apart from that i am also amazed that people in politics have also started exploiting technology in the right way and maintaining personal sites as well:)
More the number of personal sites from people in Govt, more clearer it gets to public as what are they up to. And also in understanding where is all that money that we pay in income tax going ;)
I have also read somewhere that our president does not miss to read a single email sent to him.
India is very lucky to have a person like him.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Do we care for spellings!!
Someone scolded me 3 days back for one of the spelling mistakes in my previous blog posts. He said 'it’s not Curriculam stupid lady it's Curriculum’. Ha ha
Well...it almost after 5 yrs or so that someone has tried to correct my spelling mistake. I think last time I would have manually taken complete care of spellings was when I wrote my management exams.
After joining the IT industry, written style of interaction has completely changed.
We are usually on messengers or mailboxes to communicate, where typing big mails and checking the grammar takes a back seat. The sole aim of communication in this industry is to ensure that the receiver has understood what you are trying to say. People do not care to see if you have written the spellings correctly or not, as long as the meaning is conveyed properly.
Messengers have changed our style of writing in lot of ways...
Just look at the kind of language we use these days with messengers. Some are used in corporate mails also.
Normal English(underlined) - Messenger English(in italics)
I am laughing aloud on this - LOL (loads of laughter)
I will be right back - BRB (be right back)
Give me just a minute - JAM (just a minute)
That's good news - Coooool (now i don’t know why we use so many 'O's)
I don't know - Donno
You have done a commendable job - U Rock
Through - thro
This need to be decided - TBD (to be decided)
This is for your information -FYI (for your information)
This is for your action - FYA (for your action)
You -U
We -V
Are - R
Your -UR
Going - gng
Oh My God! -OMG
About -abt
From - frm
Take care - TC
Full stop (.) - Smilies (we use more emoticons, in place of punctuations)
And now we have got so much used to this language that we tend to use it everywhere. And we think checking the grammar and punctuations are not so important as long as the message is communicated properly.
But sad part is because of this we are tending to forget some of the simple spellings also. For example, I have started using 'frm' everywhere instead of 'From' for any informal communication. Similarly I have started using ‘ur’ for ‘Your’. And for any formal communications, Grammar check and Spell check tools does most of the job for us. So we don't need to worry about the spellings at all!!!
And I am sure the guy who corrected my mistake for my earlier post is either a college going fresher who is writing his English exams or is purely a Non-IT guy .He is a lucky guy to still have patience to take care of spellings.
But now I think, even I should probably go back to school and behave like a school kid who takes care of everything he writes to get 10/10 from the teacher:)
Indians are considered to have very good English, but if we continue to write this way, we might either kill English or English might kill us :)
And yes, for this post I have not used spell check, I have taken care of the spellings by myself. A good improvement isn't it ;) But i don't know for how long :S
But yes, i wouldn't want to stop using smileys.
Time for us to take atleast little care about this, so that we can atleast teach our children proper spellings when they are in school. Haha.
Now that makes me wonder what would happen if all the school teachers also become IT and chat messenger Savvy :S:S Oh My God!
If that happens then the report card remarks would be like this :
"Dude...ur kid has nt been cmg to scool frm lst month. Donno why. This is FYI and FYA.
Pls TC of him and keep us in loop"
Or
"Ur son rocks in the class and gives very cooool answers. V R planning to give him dbl promotion. But this TBD. This is just FYI"
Well...it almost after 5 yrs or so that someone has tried to correct my spelling mistake. I think last time I would have manually taken complete care of spellings was when I wrote my management exams.
After joining the IT industry, written style of interaction has completely changed.
We are usually on messengers or mailboxes to communicate, where typing big mails and checking the grammar takes a back seat. The sole aim of communication in this industry is to ensure that the receiver has understood what you are trying to say. People do not care to see if you have written the spellings correctly or not, as long as the meaning is conveyed properly.
Messengers have changed our style of writing in lot of ways...
Just look at the kind of language we use these days with messengers. Some are used in corporate mails also.
Normal English(underlined) - Messenger English(in italics)
I am laughing aloud on this - LOL (loads of laughter)
I will be right back - BRB (be right back)
Give me just a minute - JAM (just a minute)
That's good news - Coooool (now i don’t know why we use so many 'O's)
I don't know - Donno
You have done a commendable job - U Rock
Through - thro
This need to be decided - TBD (to be decided)
This is for your information -FYI (for your information)
This is for your action - FYA (for your action)
You -U
We -V
Are - R
Your -UR
Going - gng
Oh My God! -OMG
About -abt
From - frm
Take care - TC
Full stop (.) - Smilies (we use more emoticons, in place of punctuations)
And now we have got so much used to this language that we tend to use it everywhere. And we think checking the grammar and punctuations are not so important as long as the message is communicated properly.
But sad part is because of this we are tending to forget some of the simple spellings also. For example, I have started using 'frm' everywhere instead of 'From' for any informal communication. Similarly I have started using ‘ur’ for ‘Your’. And for any formal communications, Grammar check and Spell check tools does most of the job for us. So we don't need to worry about the spellings at all!!!
And I am sure the guy who corrected my mistake for my earlier post is either a college going fresher who is writing his English exams or is purely a Non-IT guy .He is a lucky guy to still have patience to take care of spellings.
But now I think, even I should probably go back to school and behave like a school kid who takes care of everything he writes to get 10/10 from the teacher:)
Indians are considered to have very good English, but if we continue to write this way, we might either kill English or English might kill us :)
And yes, for this post I have not used spell check, I have taken care of the spellings by myself. A good improvement isn't it ;) But i don't know for how long :S
But yes, i wouldn't want to stop using smileys.
Time for us to take atleast little care about this, so that we can atleast teach our children proper spellings when they are in school. Haha.
Now that makes me wonder what would happen if all the school teachers also become IT and chat messenger Savvy :S:S Oh My God!
If that happens then the report card remarks would be like this :
"Dude...ur kid has nt been cmg to scool frm lst month. Donno why. This is FYI and FYA.
Pls TC of him and keep us in loop"
Or
"Ur son rocks in the class and gives very cooool answers. V R planning to give him dbl promotion. But this TBD. This is just FYI"
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Has conversion been successfull in true sense?
I think every religion is beautiful in it's own way and all religions can say only good things.But how a person interprets his own religion changes from individual to individual based on their mindset.
Christianity is also one such good religion. Christianity talks of conversion and says that everyone must try to convert as many people as christians.
Now this specific statement can also be interpreted in many ways.
The way the conversion missionaries interprets this is 'Convert every person on the road to christian'.
But then i personally interpret this in a different way...
If we go back to Jesus times, when Jesus was born it was a time where there was too much of atrocities and dictatorship. And jesus tried to spread love and forgiveness to clean the atrocities . He was responsible for bringing in love to that land of atrocities convert people from bad to good. So in my opinion conversion meant converting people from bad to good (now what's bad and what's good again depends on perceptions) and make them follow jesus's path of love and foregiveness. So converting someone to christian at that time did not mean changing some one's religion. At that time it meant making someone who doesn't have any proper path in life, to follow a good path. .
So i don't think at any time jesus would have asked people to convert from other religions. He only asked people to follow a good path, if they are not already following. So when jesus said 'Be a christian' he only meant to say Be good and be free from Sin'.
He did not mean to say 'Convert all other good religios people'
So then why at all try to convert the good, peace loving Hindus to christians. On what basis is this being done? And why it needs to be done when the person is already good and is peace loving?If they can be successful in converting people terrorists, naxalities and underworld dons' to christians than i would consider conversion and christianity to be a successful religion.
Converting needy, poor, jobless, ill people by giving them some hopes and greed, is not a true conversion.
Whatever the coversion missionaries ae doing is just to increase numbers without any quality of people.This in my opinion is not a symtom of a successful religion , with due applogy to all those who got converted.
More christians..does that mean religion is better than others?
Ok..now let's go by numbers only. Conversion missionaries have been really successful in converting huge number of people. But then have they ever tried to find out why these folks got converted. Christianity is supposed to be a religion that gives people complete freedom to decide before conversion if they want to or they don't want. But then are they really allowed to decide this with free mind? .
'If u become a christian u will get a job, if u become a christian u will get married, if u become a christian....'..These are the things that are directly or indirectly told to the people.
If u give so much of bribe to a person and then ask him 'Do u want to convert or not..' what would he say. Obviously he would give importance to his immediate needs only.
But then this cannot be considered as a successful conversion.
I have seen so many people near my area who follow all religions on need basis. During christmas they come asking for money to light candles in church, and then they also come to collect Ganesh Chaturti donations too.
I do not curse these people, infact i think they are the most practical of the lot who can take best advantage of the situation. They call themselves christians because that gives them monetary advanatge from the church, they go to temples, because that gives them a social advantage. So as a matter of fact they don't belong to any specific religion. They have their own religion.
But i feel bad that the christian missionaries get fooled by these people and consider it to be their own success.
So is conversion being successful in true sense?? A very strong 'No' in my opinion.
Try to convert just one laden, or one just dawood or just one of those budding terrorits and make them follow what jesus said and i would agree that conversion is successful
btw...this is a nice debate by few learned people on conversion. Chk here
http://www.iisc.ernet.in/prasthu/articles/davidfr2.html
Christianity is also one such good religion. Christianity talks of conversion and says that everyone must try to convert as many people as christians.
Now this specific statement can also be interpreted in many ways.
The way the conversion missionaries interprets this is 'Convert every person on the road to christian'.
But then i personally interpret this in a different way...
If we go back to Jesus times, when Jesus was born it was a time where there was too much of atrocities and dictatorship. And jesus tried to spread love and forgiveness to clean the atrocities . He was responsible for bringing in love to that land of atrocities convert people from bad to good. So in my opinion conversion meant converting people from bad to good (now what's bad and what's good again depends on perceptions) and make them follow jesus's path of love and foregiveness. So converting someone to christian at that time did not mean changing some one's religion. At that time it meant making someone who doesn't have any proper path in life, to follow a good path. .
So i don't think at any time jesus would have asked people to convert from other religions. He only asked people to follow a good path, if they are not already following. So when jesus said 'Be a christian' he only meant to say Be good and be free from Sin'.
He did not mean to say 'Convert all other good religios people'
So then why at all try to convert the good, peace loving Hindus to christians. On what basis is this being done? And why it needs to be done when the person is already good and is peace loving?If they can be successful in converting people terrorists, naxalities and underworld dons' to christians than i would consider conversion and christianity to be a successful religion.
Converting needy, poor, jobless, ill people by giving them some hopes and greed, is not a true conversion.
Whatever the coversion missionaries ae doing is just to increase numbers without any quality of people.This in my opinion is not a symtom of a successful religion , with due applogy to all those who got converted.
More christians..does that mean religion is better than others?
Ok..now let's go by numbers only. Conversion missionaries have been really successful in converting huge number of people. But then have they ever tried to find out why these folks got converted. Christianity is supposed to be a religion that gives people complete freedom to decide before conversion if they want to or they don't want. But then are they really allowed to decide this with free mind? .
'If u become a christian u will get a job, if u become a christian u will get married, if u become a christian....'..These are the things that are directly or indirectly told to the people.
If u give so much of bribe to a person and then ask him 'Do u want to convert or not..' what would he say. Obviously he would give importance to his immediate needs only.
But then this cannot be considered as a successful conversion.
I have seen so many people near my area who follow all religions on need basis. During christmas they come asking for money to light candles in church, and then they also come to collect Ganesh Chaturti donations too.
I do not curse these people, infact i think they are the most practical of the lot who can take best advantage of the situation. They call themselves christians because that gives them monetary advanatge from the church, they go to temples, because that gives them a social advantage. So as a matter of fact they don't belong to any specific religion. They have their own religion.
But i feel bad that the christian missionaries get fooled by these people and consider it to be their own success.
So is conversion being successful in true sense?? A very strong 'No' in my opinion.
Try to convert just one laden, or one just dawood or just one of those budding terrorits and make them follow what jesus said and i would agree that conversion is successful
btw...this is a nice debate by few learned people on conversion. Chk here
http://www.iisc.ernet.in/prasthu/articles/davidfr2.html
Friday, September 15, 2006
Software job market: Would it have influence on the computer curriculum in education institutions and schools?
First time when i thought about this i felt it would not influence much because i have leart my ABC of computer only during graduation and never knew even to use a mouse before that:D
And when i was ready for a job as a freshers (7 yrs back), the questions that was asked to me was more on my attitude, general S/W enginnering pricipals etc, and nothing was asked specific to any platform. Because i was trained by my company after being hired on the platform required. But things are changing now...The below is my observation on Interview and corporate behaviour in these years and how they can influence educational insitutions as well.
Fresher experience in Interviews 10 yrs back:
The questions asked were on Software engineering general pricipals, team spirit, energy levels etc.
There was nothing asked on any specific platform
And freshers were selected more based on their merit/marks in college and not on their specific technology skills.The reason for this was that the corporates usually used to hire them and then train them in the technology desired.
Experienced Professionals experience 10 yrs back:
But as experienced the only question asked was "Do you have work experience in technology 'XYZ'"
Deeper concepts in a specific platform was asked. No general questions asked.
That was a time when software market was good with excellent and growing talent in the market. Companies could easily get software professionals and hence only thing they expected from them was good experience and knowledge. Ten years back they rarely asked questions like 'what technologies were u taught in school, in college ' etc.
But now things have changed with time. I am a part of the Interview team for my company for the past 2 yrs and i know how the companies are struggling to get the best fit for their requirements. If they look for experienced, then either the competencies do not match or the employee does not give the gaurantee of staying with the company with long(high attrition).
And if they go for feshers, then the cost spent in training becomes high as they have good attitude and energy but lack the specific skills required.
So now the companies are changing their strategy.They are now not looking for really experienced candidates but are trying to sync with educational institutions like NIIT, and colleges to change their curriculam in such a way that the freshers themselves can be the best fit for them.This would reduce the corporates training costs as well.There are already many colleges that have changed their curriculam based on the corporate requirements and supply resources to the corpoartes.
So while the interview for experienced resources remains more or less the same as before now.
Interview experience for freshers has changed a lot :
And the answer needs to be 'Yes' if u want to get a job.
They are expected to join the company with a good knowledge for their specific requirement.
Seeing this trend, i feel few years later, the corporate penetration would go to school level as well. Schools might also need to change their curriculam based on the market needs rather than any other reason like price of the software, govt policies etc.
So it's more a pull from the market, and not a push from the educational institutions
So probably Govt should get ready for this kind of trend and plan for the future accordingly.
I think the Kerela Govt has missed these facts when taking a decision on migrating schools to use free softwares alone.
Now i am not trying to say what platforms should be taught in school , but i think the decision cannot be based just on th cost factor. The interest of the students, and the market demand forecasts should also be considered.
I think the Kerala Govt. should re-analyse things and then take a decision by considering all the environmental factors (whatever be the decision).
Free Softwares from MS for developers
I try not blog anything on technology here and try to restrict it to my tech blog only...but could not stop myself this time as this talks of free software. Microsoft comes with a series of free Express edition softwares that are absolutely free to download. Try this out if ur a developer
And when i was ready for a job as a freshers (7 yrs back), the questions that was asked to me was more on my attitude, general S/W enginnering pricipals etc, and nothing was asked specific to any platform. Because i was trained by my company after being hired on the platform required. But things are changing now...The below is my observation on Interview and corporate behaviour in these years and how they can influence educational insitutions as well.
Fresher experience in Interviews 10 yrs back:
The questions asked were on Software engineering general pricipals, team spirit, energy levels etc.
There was nothing asked on any specific platform
And freshers were selected more based on their merit/marks in college and not on their specific technology skills.The reason for this was that the corporates usually used to hire them and then train them in the technology desired.
Experienced Professionals experience 10 yrs back:
But as experienced the only question asked was "Do you have work experience in technology 'XYZ'"
Deeper concepts in a specific platform was asked. No general questions asked.
That was a time when software market was good with excellent and growing talent in the market. Companies could easily get software professionals and hence only thing they expected from them was good experience and knowledge. Ten years back they rarely asked questions like 'what technologies were u taught in school, in college ' etc.
But now things have changed with time. I am a part of the Interview team for my company for the past 2 yrs and i know how the companies are struggling to get the best fit for their requirements. If they look for experienced, then either the competencies do not match or the employee does not give the gaurantee of staying with the company with long(high attrition).
And if they go for feshers, then the cost spent in training becomes high as they have good attitude and energy but lack the specific skills required.
So now the companies are changing their strategy.They are now not looking for really experienced candidates but are trying to sync with educational institutions like NIIT, and colleges to change their curriculam in such a way that the freshers themselves can be the best fit for them.This would reduce the corporates training costs as well.There are already many colleges that have changed their curriculam based on the corporate requirements and supply resources to the corpoartes.
So while the interview for experienced resources remains more or less the same as before now.
Interview experience for freshers has changed a lot :
Freshers Interview experience now and going forward
1. They are asked "Have u learnt XYZ technology/platform in ur college"And the answer needs to be 'Yes' if u want to get a job.
They are expected to join the company with a good knowledge for their specific requirement.
Seeing this trend, i feel few years later, the corporate penetration would go to school level as well. Schools might also need to change their curriculam based on the market needs rather than any other reason like price of the software, govt policies etc.
So it's more a pull from the market, and not a push from the educational institutions
So probably Govt should get ready for this kind of trend and plan for the future accordingly.
I think the Kerela Govt has missed these facts when taking a decision on migrating schools to use free softwares alone.
Now i am not trying to say what platforms should be taught in school , but i think the decision cannot be based just on th cost factor. The interest of the students, and the market demand forecasts should also be considered.
I think the Kerala Govt. should re-analyse things and then take a decision by considering all the environmental factors (whatever be the decision).
Free Softwares from MS for developers
I try not blog anything on technology here and try to restrict it to my tech blog only...but could not stop myself this time as this talks of free software. Microsoft comes with a series of free Express edition softwares that are absolutely free to download. Try this out if ur a developer
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Will students really stop reading about 'Pluto'?
When the news came out that Pluto is no more a planet of the solar system, and we would have only eight planets now instead of nine, the immediate reaction of one of the school students was
' So now we have one planet less to remember'. :)
And another said “You just got to retain everything you learned and drop Pluto out of your memory"
These kids seems to be too happy that thye doen't need to strain himself to remember all the nine now:)
But will this really happen? I have all doubts. I rather feel Pluto would be remebered more than any other planet.
The lessons in books now would be like this now...
"Untill year 2006, Solar system consisted of 9 planets, namely Mercury, Venus...Jupiter, Neptune Pluto..Mercury was the smallest and Pluto was the farthest.Pluto was the coldest. Pluto was that..Pluto was this..etc etc.'And since 2006 we have only 8 planets namely..Mercury, venus...Neptune'"
And the questions in the exams would be like this...
1. How many planets were there in Solar System before 2006
2. Which was the planet that became a dwarf planet
3. Who invented the planet that was removed from the solar system.
So now instead of forgetting Pluto, students will have to remember it twice :)
I have found similar funny things in our education systems...
I still remember very well struggling to by-heart those Daltons rules (12 or 13 rules.Don't remember) for science exams. And what's funny is that only one rule out of all the 12 rules was proved correct and rest of his rules were proved wrong. But still in the exam we had to write 6 pages of all the 12 Dalton's long long rules, and then 3 pages stating why only one rule is correct and other were wrong :S
I really wondered why i should struggle to remember things that are proved wrong :(
Till 5th class or so i was taught by my teacher that Earth is round, like a ball...like a bangle, like an 'O' and students also registered this in their minds and have written so many exam papers on this stating that 'Earth is Rounnnnd'.
But suddenly from somwhere some teacher comes in 6th class, and tells us 'Earth is Not round, but flat at one pole and bulged at one pole. So now earth like NOT Like a ball, NOT like a bangle, NOT like an 'O' :S
When they always knew that earth was not round why at all do they teach it in the first place:S
I am just wondering, if a person studies only till 5th class and then leaves studies then for whole life he continues to think that earth is round. He would never come to know the truth
It's always that our educational system follows a sequence where one teachers things in the same order in which it was invented. They never comes to point immediately.But then that's the fact, for reasons that atleast i do not know:)
So little school going buddies..Pluto is not going to leave your books at all. You need to live with it, irrespective of where it lives
Friday, August 25, 2006
'Anything for a Pic' says The Journalist!!
I had been to a horticulture exhibition sometime back and i was taking some snaps of the flowers in the exhibition.In between i could catch a view of a honey bee or a wasp sitting on a Sunflower. I just wanted to capture that snap in my camera at any cost.And i went closer and closer to the flower.The honey bee was trying to move from one flower to other and i was also following it closely without even thinking that it can even sting me. I was so much focussed and adamant about getting that pic captured that i even forgot that it can even sting me if i go too close it it. I only realised it when my friend warned me and asked me to move away.
Aaah..so does that mean for a pic someone can take crazy and silly risks as well!?!!
Probably this is what is happening with the journalists these days. They are going crazy to get some news captured in their vidoes. They have become so target oriented that , if they are not getting any new targets, they are creating it by themselves by using all nasty means.
The recent tragic and disguting incident is that of Manoj Mishra who died because of self emolation and it's said that some media persons have encouraged him to do that. This guy was protesting against his employer for not paying wages.And in the same context went ahead for self immolation and the jouranlists surrounding were just trying to make news out of it without trying even once to save him.
It's said that he never had any idea of self immolation earlier but was encouraged by some journalists to pretend to be doing it as that can help him to get his wages easily. He was given a false promise by the media folks that he only needs to pretend and they would definetly come and save him at the right time.That poor guy believed them only to realise during his fatal end, that all was done for a video.
No one who ever come to rescue him even after he was half burnt. And the journalists were only encouraging him to do it to capture the video and create some spicy story around it.
Shame on these journalists!
They are totally forgetting that they are human beings first, and journalists next. They seem not to be having any emotional attachment towards there people, country or sometimes themselves also.
There was a similar self immolation that happened during the last Anti-Reservation strike. An uneducated coblar or pan shop guy (don't remember) had tried to self immolate himself in the name of anti-reservation strikes. No one could understand why an uneducated guy would ever be worried about Reservations. This also seemed to be an act on either the political parties or one of these crazy journalists.
We keep hearing the news of journalists visiting all the Mafia, DOns, terrorists and keep reporting to us what Osama said, what Dawood said ..... I fail to understand why the police never interogates these journalists to get information about what happened there and how them meet these underworld guys and all.
Probably because it's been a culture since ages that you should never trouble or interrupt a reporter or a messenger. Else the entire mesaging system might get hampered. Fair enough! But then this demands that the reporters and journalists also behave properly and responsibly .Else i don't think they should be given these speacial status or special freedom.
People who have watched the telugu movie 'Pokiri', would have definetly loved Sayaji Shinde’s dialogues against the media and journalists. I think that movie became a hit mainly because of those dialogues :)
Aaah..so does that mean for a pic someone can take crazy and silly risks as well!?!!
Probably this is what is happening with the journalists these days. They are going crazy to get some news captured in their vidoes. They have become so target oriented that , if they are not getting any new targets, they are creating it by themselves by using all nasty means.
The recent tragic and disguting incident is that of Manoj Mishra who died because of self emolation and it's said that some media persons have encouraged him to do that. This guy was protesting against his employer for not paying wages.And in the same context went ahead for self immolation and the jouranlists surrounding were just trying to make news out of it without trying even once to save him.
It's said that he never had any idea of self immolation earlier but was encouraged by some journalists to pretend to be doing it as that can help him to get his wages easily. He was given a false promise by the media folks that he only needs to pretend and they would definetly come and save him at the right time.That poor guy believed them only to realise during his fatal end, that all was done for a video.
No one who ever come to rescue him even after he was half burnt. And the journalists were only encouraging him to do it to capture the video and create some spicy story around it.
Shame on these journalists!
They are totally forgetting that they are human beings first, and journalists next. They seem not to be having any emotional attachment towards there people, country or sometimes themselves also.
There was a similar self immolation that happened during the last Anti-Reservation strike. An uneducated coblar or pan shop guy (don't remember) had tried to self immolate himself in the name of anti-reservation strikes. No one could understand why an uneducated guy would ever be worried about Reservations. This also seemed to be an act on either the political parties or one of these crazy journalists.
We keep hearing the news of journalists visiting all the Mafia, DOns, terrorists and keep reporting to us what Osama said, what Dawood said ..... I fail to understand why the police never interogates these journalists to get information about what happened there and how them meet these underworld guys and all.
Probably because it's been a culture since ages that you should never trouble or interrupt a reporter or a messenger. Else the entire mesaging system might get hampered. Fair enough! But then this demands that the reporters and journalists also behave properly and responsibly .Else i don't think they should be given these speacial status or special freedom.
People who have watched the telugu movie 'Pokiri', would have definetly loved Sayaji Shinde’s dialogues against the media and journalists. I think that movie became a hit mainly because of those dialogues :)
Friday, August 18, 2006
'Raamaha..Raamo..Raamaa' - in United States But in a different Style
I still remember those Sanskrit classes in school . I think they were one of the most refreshing and energising classes. The nice little stories with excellent morals and those Vidur Neetis and Chanakya Neetis were simply superb . But then one thing that always troubled us during the exam time was to by heart those grammers with 'Streeling' ,'Puling' and 'Napunsakling'. It was one of the funniest things as well with really weird phonetics like 'hey rama..hey ramo, hey rama' etc etc. Haha
Though Sanskrit is the base for all Indian languages, it did not pick up for the mainsteam usage and ended up in India only as a 'cool' third language where marks can be scored easily.
Well, but the Indians in US think differently. A group of Sanskrit lovers from the University of Maryland have launched a Sanskrit fan club called UMD Sanskritam. And they are trying to encourage people from learning and using Sanskrit by adding lot of fun to the learning process. They are using the popular Bollywood a lot for this. They recently did a small play where they enacted a scene from Sholay (the Gabbar Singh scene) with all the dialogues in Sanskrit:). They also transalated the song 'Aati Kya Khanadala' in Sanskrit and all these was very well enjoyed and appreciated by Audience. Some of the videos can be found here
Naresh Cuntoor, member of UMD-Sanskritam says, “Our aim is to promote this kind of learning where you don’t emphasize grammar but the conversational aspect of Sanskrit.”.
So learn Sanskrit but without 'Ramaha, Ramo , Rama' ;)
They have launched their new website www.speaksanskrit.org which now has around 600 memebers.
So may be it's time we start speaking sanskrit.
'Kathamapi Kim Bhashye twam bhaashitaha'? LOL
Though Sanskrit is the base for all Indian languages, it did not pick up for the mainsteam usage and ended up in India only as a 'cool' third language where marks can be scored easily.
Well, but the Indians in US think differently. A group of Sanskrit lovers from the University of Maryland have launched a Sanskrit fan club called UMD Sanskritam. And they are trying to encourage people from learning and using Sanskrit by adding lot of fun to the learning process. They are using the popular Bollywood a lot for this. They recently did a small play where they enacted a scene from Sholay (the Gabbar Singh scene) with all the dialogues in Sanskrit:). They also transalated the song 'Aati Kya Khanadala' in Sanskrit and all these was very well enjoyed and appreciated by Audience. Some of the videos can be found here
Naresh Cuntoor, member of UMD-Sanskritam says, “Our aim is to promote this kind of learning where you don’t emphasize grammar but the conversational aspect of Sanskrit.”.
So learn Sanskrit but without 'Ramaha, Ramo , Rama' ;)
They have launched their new website www.speaksanskrit.org which now has around 600 memebers.
So may be it's time we start speaking sanskrit.
'Kathamapi Kim Bhashye twam bhaashitaha'? LOL
'Sashtyabdipoorti' of India
India has just entered the 60th year of Independence and next year we will be successfully completing the 60th the year.
In India, in many places people celebrate the completion of the 60th Birthday in a grand way. In south India it's usually called as 'Sashtyabdipoorti' , meaning completion of 60 yrs.
The reason for celebrating 60th Birthday in a grand way relates to the Indian calender that's followed. As per this calender there are 60 yrs with different names having unique characteristics. Each of the sixty years bring different ups and downs in a persons life as they have different characteristics. The names are like Prabhava, Vibhava...etc .
So once all the 60 yrs are completed, then again the cycle of the years restarts.
So a person who has completed 60 yrs of age is considered to be a very matured human being as he would have seen 60 different types of years, and would have experienced all the 60 different phases of life. So, to congratulate him on his successful completion of all the 60 different years this function called 'Sashtyabdipoorti' is celebrated in a grand way.
So this means India has also seen almost 60 different phases now and *supposed* to be a matured country.
Congratulations India!
But don't you think it's high time to move from being 'Developing country' to 'Developed Country' now. Or have we just got used to it!
In India, in many places people celebrate the completion of the 60th Birthday in a grand way. In south India it's usually called as 'Sashtyabdipoorti' , meaning completion of 60 yrs.
The reason for celebrating 60th Birthday in a grand way relates to the Indian calender that's followed. As per this calender there are 60 yrs with different names having unique characteristics. Each of the sixty years bring different ups and downs in a persons life as they have different characteristics. The names are like Prabhava, Vibhava...etc .
So once all the 60 yrs are completed, then again the cycle of the years restarts.
So a person who has completed 60 yrs of age is considered to be a very matured human being as he would have seen 60 different types of years, and would have experienced all the 60 different phases of life. So, to congratulate him on his successful completion of all the 60 different years this function called 'Sashtyabdipoorti' is celebrated in a grand way.
So this means India has also seen almost 60 different phases now and *supposed* to be a matured country.
Congratulations India!
But don't you think it's high time to move from being 'Developing country' to 'Developed Country' now. Or have we just got used to it!
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Happy Friendship day!
Found this cool thing in this site
Friends v/s Best Friends
Friend: calls your parents by mr. and mrs.
Best friend: calls your parents dad and mom.
Friend: has never seen you cry
Best friend: has always had the best shoulder to cry on
Friend: never asks for anything to eat or drink
Best friend: opens the fridge and makes herself at home
Friend: asks you to write down your number.
Best friend: they ask you for their number
(cuz! they can't remember it)
Friend: borrows your stuff for a few days then gives it back.
Best friend: has a closet full of your stuff
Friend: only knows a few things about you
Best friend: could write a biography on your life story
Friend: will leave you behind if that is what the crowd is doing
Best friend: will always go with you
Friend: would not to suggest their friends to see this page
Best friend: will suggest to must look this page, all of their online buddies
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Security is Everyone's business
I had been in Mumbai few weeks back. Infact a week after the very tragic Mumbai blasts.
Though i had an initial fear of going there immediately after the blasts, later i thought if something has to happen it can happen anywhere and at anytime.
And logically speaking, i also had a feeling that security would have been tightened in mumbai because of the blasts and where there are security checks, there threats are also relatively less . So that made me feel that probably Mumbai would be a safer place now than ever before.
So i just decided to have maximum fun and visited many popular places like Gateway of India, Mahlakshmi temple, Siddhi vinayak temple, Marine Drive, Haji Ali Mosque etc.
Of all these places, i did find some basic security at gateway of india ,extreme security at Siddhi vinayak and mahalakshmi temples.
And very surprisingly no security at Haji Ali mosque. Probably Govt feels that the terrorists will not target a muslim dominated place, which in my opinion is a foolish thought.
Though i was really surprised to see the Govt not providing any security at Haji Ali, where i saw a maximum number of people (from all religions) as compared to other places, i convinced myself that it's a very costly affair for the Govt also to provide security everywhere.
But then i was shocked at the way the security checks were happening at the mahalakshmi temple.
It was like this...
With some metal detectors they first checked me (just the way it happens in airport). Here my bag was not checked.
And after that a lady asks me to come forward so that she can check my bags.
But when i gave my bag..she said in Hindi...' I will not open it u open it urselves'.
I agreed and just started to open the zip of bag...and before i could even open it fully and show her my bag..she peeps into my bag from that small opening (just for name sake) and tells in hindi 'Ok ..u can go'
I really wonder what she checked in my bag without even opening it properly:S
Even if i was carrying a small bomb she can never find it out, from the way she did the check
This clearly proves that Quality of Indian security is very bad. And the reason for this is not the Govt directly , but the people themselves.
When i say people, it's people working for the security deaprtments and at the same time common man as well.
Though Govt is spending so much on increasing security, have the security officials at the grass root level ever realised the need for it and importance of it. Or are they doing their job just for name sake?
The importance of security has not reached the grass root level in the security enforcing orgs, be it indian police, or army, navy or airforce.
CNN IBN Live had recently shown how one of their correspondents crossed the sea with big RDX kind of materials three times and came to india. And none of the times the security and the customs could catch them. They had done this as a case study to see how efficient is our security forces.
The reason for this was that the security guards and the police living in those coastal areas are not really motivated enough to take care of things and they just do it without any passion.
And many times they don't even know what they should do.
This seems to be true everywhere and not just with Govt security officials.
I see similar behaviour in my companies security gaurads also. My security checking lady knows me pretty well, so she has literally stopped checking my bags these days :)
I carry my thumb drive everyday to office which is actually not allowed and no one could find it till now.
But then the problem here is not just with the security gaurd, it's also with me:)
Ideally i should be reporting about it to the seniors, but then if i do that then i cannot carry my thumb drive anymore. So i dont. Haha :D Just kidding
But then this exactly is happening everywhere. People don't feel responsible for securing themselves or things around us. They are more worried about their freedom and they see security checks as something that hampers their freedom. I see many people resisting to security checks and feeling insulted.
People must realise that it's very important to ensure that security formalities are properly done, even if takes away sometime of theirs.
And we should also motivate and make all those security gaurads realise the importance of their job, so that they do it well. Not the way it's done in Mumbai temples.
Some years back there was something called ' Janmabhoomi' programme started in Andhra Pradesh, which means that the common citizen and the govt share the responsibilities of locality upliftments rathen than totally depending on the Govt.
For example, if i want to bring drainage system in my locality, then the localites come together and plan for it and get it done by themselves, and the Govt pays half the expenditure. This way we need not wait for the Govt to monitor and manage eveything which is usually time consuming.
I think similar thing for security should also be done. Responsibility must be shared by all.
Security is everyone's business.
Though i had an initial fear of going there immediately after the blasts, later i thought if something has to happen it can happen anywhere and at anytime.
And logically speaking, i also had a feeling that security would have been tightened in mumbai because of the blasts and where there are security checks, there threats are also relatively less . So that made me feel that probably Mumbai would be a safer place now than ever before.
So i just decided to have maximum fun and visited many popular places like Gateway of India, Mahlakshmi temple, Siddhi vinayak temple, Marine Drive, Haji Ali Mosque etc.
Of all these places, i did find some basic security at gateway of india ,extreme security at Siddhi vinayak and mahalakshmi temples.
And very surprisingly no security at Haji Ali mosque. Probably Govt feels that the terrorists will not target a muslim dominated place, which in my opinion is a foolish thought.
Though i was really surprised to see the Govt not providing any security at Haji Ali, where i saw a maximum number of people (from all religions) as compared to other places, i convinced myself that it's a very costly affair for the Govt also to provide security everywhere.
But then i was shocked at the way the security checks were happening at the mahalakshmi temple.
It was like this...
With some metal detectors they first checked me (just the way it happens in airport). Here my bag was not checked.
And after that a lady asks me to come forward so that she can check my bags.
But when i gave my bag..she said in Hindi...' I will not open it u open it urselves'.
I agreed and just started to open the zip of bag...and before i could even open it fully and show her my bag..she peeps into my bag from that small opening (just for name sake) and tells in hindi 'Ok ..u can go'
I really wonder what she checked in my bag without even opening it properly:S
Even if i was carrying a small bomb she can never find it out, from the way she did the check
This clearly proves that Quality of Indian security is very bad. And the reason for this is not the Govt directly , but the people themselves.
When i say people, it's people working for the security deaprtments and at the same time common man as well.
Though Govt is spending so much on increasing security, have the security officials at the grass root level ever realised the need for it and importance of it. Or are they doing their job just for name sake?
The importance of security has not reached the grass root level in the security enforcing orgs, be it indian police, or army, navy or airforce.
CNN IBN Live had recently shown how one of their correspondents crossed the sea with big RDX kind of materials three times and came to india. And none of the times the security and the customs could catch them. They had done this as a case study to see how efficient is our security forces.
The reason for this was that the security guards and the police living in those coastal areas are not really motivated enough to take care of things and they just do it without any passion.
And many times they don't even know what they should do.
This seems to be true everywhere and not just with Govt security officials.
I see similar behaviour in my companies security gaurads also. My security checking lady knows me pretty well, so she has literally stopped checking my bags these days :)
I carry my thumb drive everyday to office which is actually not allowed and no one could find it till now.
But then the problem here is not just with the security gaurd, it's also with me:)
Ideally i should be reporting about it to the seniors, but then if i do that then i cannot carry my thumb drive anymore. So i dont. Haha :D Just kidding
But then this exactly is happening everywhere. People don't feel responsible for securing themselves or things around us. They are more worried about their freedom and they see security checks as something that hampers their freedom. I see many people resisting to security checks and feeling insulted.
People must realise that it's very important to ensure that security formalities are properly done, even if takes away sometime of theirs.
And we should also motivate and make all those security gaurads realise the importance of their job, so that they do it well. Not the way it's done in Mumbai temples.
Some years back there was something called ' Janmabhoomi' programme started in Andhra Pradesh, which means that the common citizen and the govt share the responsibilities of locality upliftments rathen than totally depending on the Govt.
For example, if i want to bring drainage system in my locality, then the localites come together and plan for it and get it done by themselves, and the Govt pays half the expenditure. This way we need not wait for the Govt to monitor and manage eveything which is usually time consuming.
I think similar thing for security should also be done. Responsibility must be shared by all.
Security is everyone's business.
Blogging getting more popular after the temporary ban
It was pretty quick that the Govt realised that banning blogs doesn't help and they have removed the ban.
But in these few days of ban, blogging has become much more popular than ever before.
The way the TV channels were repeatedly showing how people are protesting against the ban, and the number of blogs and bloggers growing year by year... raised the curiosity of all viewers as what these blogs are and why so much fuss about it.
There were many places ,including my company where i had been talking about blogging and about it's importance and all. But i did not find people showing real interest in knowing what it is.
But after this ban, so many have explicitely stopped my way and have asked me what blogging is all about.
So all for good! :)
But in these few days of ban, blogging has become much more popular than ever before.
The way the TV channels were repeatedly showing how people are protesting against the ban, and the number of blogs and bloggers growing year by year... raised the curiosity of all viewers as what these blogs are and why so much fuss about it.
There were many places ,including my company where i had been talking about blogging and about it's importance and all. But i did not find people showing real interest in knowing what it is.
But after this ban, so many have explicitely stopped my way and have asked me what blogging is all about.
So all for good! :)
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Blogspot & other blogs Banned by our Technology illiterate govt
Our great indian Govt has banned blog sites like blogger, rediff etc from 13th of this month.
They say they have banned this for security reasons and they are linking them to the mumbai blasts (probably). (this article details http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/world/asia/18cnd-india.html)
I really wonder how can blogs cause security threats such as RDX explosion :S
Ok even if we agree that there are some illegal blogs somewhere, then only those blogs should be banned, why should they be banning the entire blogspot site?
The reason for thise is that the people at the Govt are totally ignorant about information technology and also the usefullness of blogs.
They just do no realise that blogs are the main source of information these days and by blocking blogs they are actually amputing knowlegde and information growth across the country.
One good and recent example of this is the blog http://mumbaihelp.blogspot.com
which was playing an important service during the Mumbai blasts.
Even if they want to block there is a way of doing it. They cannot just like that go and block all the blogs. It's really crazy.
I am still not able to understand how can blocking all the blogs help in avoiding RDX blasts. To avoid these kind of blasts they should tighten the security at the mumbai sea shore from where most of these things would have been shipped.
And one more thing that the Govt is not realizing is that blocking the blogss can no way prevent the terrorists to stop using the blogs. Internet loopholes and workarounds are also as matured as Internet itself is.
There are lots of ways to bypass these restrictions and continue to blog and view it.
For instance most of us are now migrating blogspot to pkblog.com (i am also using the same).
And it's sad that Govt has not realised that pkblogs.com is a pakistani site.
This looks more like a Govt's show off just to show the innocent public that something great is being done. They will be doing all these crazy things which are of no use, and would let the actual culprits run away. Or may be the Govt has got scared of blogs as this is one place where people can freely ventilate their ideas about the Govt as well and they want to supress it.
Here is the Hindu article where the NASSCOM has called our govt decision as 'Neither desirable nor feasable'
One of the world's top blogger Robert Scoble says 'It sucks' while responding this act by the Govt. read it here
If you are a protester for this you can go and voice your opinion here (http://censorship.wikia.com/wiki/Protests_By_Bloggers )
Thanks to Sudhakar for this pointer
I was just having a glance of one of President Abul Kalaam's book . And one of the page talks about a person who asked the president , "how can u say India is a developing country and not a developed one. At what time can we call ourselves developed and for long we will be devloping only".
I think India will always be called as developing only as long we have such ignorant and foolish people sitting in the govt.
Latest News (after a week of the ban): Ban removed. Democracy wins
They say they have banned this for security reasons and they are linking them to the mumbai blasts (probably). (this article details http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/world/asia/18cnd-india.html)
I really wonder how can blogs cause security threats such as RDX explosion :S
Ok even if we agree that there are some illegal blogs somewhere, then only those blogs should be banned, why should they be banning the entire blogspot site?
The reason for thise is that the people at the Govt are totally ignorant about information technology and also the usefullness of blogs.
They just do no realise that blogs are the main source of information these days and by blocking blogs they are actually amputing knowlegde and information growth across the country.
One good and recent example of this is the blog http://mumbaihelp.blogspot.com
which was playing an important service during the Mumbai blasts.
Even if they want to block there is a way of doing it. They cannot just like that go and block all the blogs. It's really crazy.
I am still not able to understand how can blocking all the blogs help in avoiding RDX blasts. To avoid these kind of blasts they should tighten the security at the mumbai sea shore from where most of these things would have been shipped.
And one more thing that the Govt is not realizing is that blocking the blogss can no way prevent the terrorists to stop using the blogs. Internet loopholes and workarounds are also as matured as Internet itself is.
There are lots of ways to bypass these restrictions and continue to blog and view it.
For instance most of us are now migrating blogspot to pkblog.com (i am also using the same).
And it's sad that Govt has not realised that pkblogs.com is a pakistani site.
This looks more like a Govt's show off just to show the innocent public that something great is being done. They will be doing all these crazy things which are of no use, and would let the actual culprits run away. Or may be the Govt has got scared of blogs as this is one place where people can freely ventilate their ideas about the Govt as well and they want to supress it.
Here is the Hindu article where the NASSCOM has called our govt decision as 'Neither desirable nor feasable'
One of the world's top blogger Robert Scoble says 'It sucks' while responding this act by the Govt. read it here
If you are a protester for this you can go and voice your opinion here (http://censorship.wikia.com/wiki/Protests_By_Bloggers )
Thanks to Sudhakar for this pointer
I was just having a glance of one of President Abul Kalaam's book . And one of the page talks about a person who asked the president , "how can u say India is a developing country and not a developed one. At what time can we call ourselves developed and for long we will be devloping only".
I think India will always be called as developing only as long we have such ignorant and foolish people sitting in the govt.
Latest News (after a week of the ban): Ban removed. Democracy wins
Saturday, June 17, 2006
A touching short love story
Read this touching story somewhere...
There was a blind girl who hated herself because of being blind. She hated everyone except her boyfriend..
One day the girl said that if she can only see the world she will marry her boyfriend.
One day someone donated eyes to her and then she saw everything including her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend asked her, "now that you can see, will you marry me?".
The girl was shocked when she saw her boyfriend is also blind, and she refused to marry him.
Her boyfriend walks away with tears and said, "Just take care of my eyes dear" ....
He was the one who had donated his eyes to her.
There was a blind girl who hated herself because of being blind. She hated everyone except her boyfriend..
One day the girl said that if she can only see the world she will marry her boyfriend.
One day someone donated eyes to her and then she saw everything including her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend asked her, "now that you can see, will you marry me?".
The girl was shocked when she saw her boyfriend is also blind, and she refused to marry him.
Her boyfriend walks away with tears and said, "Just take care of my eyes dear" ....
He was the one who had donated his eyes to her.
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Who needs reservation and where?
It's almost 1 month that the reservation strikes have been going on, and still there is not enough steps taken by the Govt.
The Govt has proposed the increase of seats but i do not know how can this solve the root problem. Even if the seats are increased the percentage of reservation would still remain the same. So it means having same percent of dumb people in the class.
The Govt needs to ask the following question to itself before coming up with any of it stupid ideas.
Why the idea of reservation
For many years the downtrodden and backward class have been left behind and it's required to give them also a chance to come up in life. This is possible if we reserve a percent of seat for them and ensure that they utilize it.
Who needs reservation
It could be anyone who is down trodden, poor, person with less literacy in the family, women, physically handicapped and may be few more people who have been neglected by the society few years back.
So resevation is not necesariliy for Backward classes. It could be for anyone who is willing to come up in life but has some problem in the same.
There are many so called backward classes who are well to do now, so why should they be given reservation? And there are many forward classes as well, who are called forward just because of their caste but in reality are living a bad life.
So when deciding who needs reservations, the Govt should reconsider it's distinction on the basis of forward and backward caste. It should not be based on the caste, but should be based on the living conditions and poverty line.
Where we must have reservation
This is the most important question that's required to be answered. And this is the question that has given rise to this never ending strike against reservation.
In my personal opinion, NO Higher education or Govt offices must have any time of reservation.
Reservations must be there Only at School level (up to the class of 6th). And i would rather insist on increasing the seats in schools rather than increasing the seats in colleges and competiitve exams. Increasing the seats in schools and having the reservations as well, would help the backward classes to join the school and improve themselves. In this way we would do the right justice to the backward classes and help them come up in life and compete equally with the forward classes .
But once they have crossed the 6th class, i think there should be open competition among everyone, and no reservations.
Having reservations in competitve exams, colleges and offices will reduce the quality of people.
Just imagine a dumb doctor , who is a doctor just because he is a BC doing a major operation! What would be the fate of his patient:S
Where we must not have reservation
No reservation in high schools, colleges, competitve exams, Offices etc!.
No reservation at the cost of quality of people.
Read what the BCs have to say about reservation and how they feel about it. They are tortured and they also do not want reservations!
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1670473,000600010004.htm
If we still have reservation at Higher educations, then how should it be
There are many reasons people give for having reservations at the higher education and offices.
They are
1. Many of the Backward class people do not come forward for higher education, because of monetory status or family constraints. So they need to be encouraged and resrvation is one good way
2. Many women do no come forward to work or go for higher education, again because of the Indian culture and traditions . And also because they need to take care of both family and office.
So reservations are treated as one way to encourage them to come forward.
3. Physically handicaped are not able to perform certain activities at the speed of their peers. Hence do not come forward for higher education with others.
In such cases, we can have reservation for them, but recruitement should again be merit based only! In these cases reservation should be more in terms of reducing their fees or giving them scholorship, giving them flexible working or flexible learning hours etc, and not by just selecting them blindly because of their caste,gender or disability.
Quality must always be the highest priority!
The Govt has proposed the increase of seats but i do not know how can this solve the root problem. Even if the seats are increased the percentage of reservation would still remain the same. So it means having same percent of dumb people in the class.
The Govt needs to ask the following question to itself before coming up with any of it stupid ideas.
Why the idea of reservation
For many years the downtrodden and backward class have been left behind and it's required to give them also a chance to come up in life. This is possible if we reserve a percent of seat for them and ensure that they utilize it.
Who needs reservation
It could be anyone who is down trodden, poor, person with less literacy in the family, women, physically handicapped and may be few more people who have been neglected by the society few years back.
So resevation is not necesariliy for Backward classes. It could be for anyone who is willing to come up in life but has some problem in the same.
There are many so called backward classes who are well to do now, so why should they be given reservation? And there are many forward classes as well, who are called forward just because of their caste but in reality are living a bad life.
So when deciding who needs reservations, the Govt should reconsider it's distinction on the basis of forward and backward caste. It should not be based on the caste, but should be based on the living conditions and poverty line.
Where we must have reservation
This is the most important question that's required to be answered. And this is the question that has given rise to this never ending strike against reservation.
In my personal opinion, NO Higher education or Govt offices must have any time of reservation.
Reservations must be there Only at School level (up to the class of 6th). And i would rather insist on increasing the seats in schools rather than increasing the seats in colleges and competiitve exams. Increasing the seats in schools and having the reservations as well, would help the backward classes to join the school and improve themselves. In this way we would do the right justice to the backward classes and help them come up in life and compete equally with the forward classes .
But once they have crossed the 6th class, i think there should be open competition among everyone, and no reservations.
Having reservations in competitve exams, colleges and offices will reduce the quality of people.
Just imagine a dumb doctor , who is a doctor just because he is a BC doing a major operation! What would be the fate of his patient:S
Where we must not have reservation
No reservation in high schools, colleges, competitve exams, Offices etc!.
No reservation at the cost of quality of people.
Read what the BCs have to say about reservation and how they feel about it. They are tortured and they also do not want reservations!
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1670473,000600010004.htm
If we still have reservation at Higher educations, then how should it be
There are many reasons people give for having reservations at the higher education and offices.
They are
1. Many of the Backward class people do not come forward for higher education, because of monetory status or family constraints. So they need to be encouraged and resrvation is one good way
2. Many women do no come forward to work or go for higher education, again because of the Indian culture and traditions . And also because they need to take care of both family and office.
So reservations are treated as one way to encourage them to come forward.
3. Physically handicaped are not able to perform certain activities at the speed of their peers. Hence do not come forward for higher education with others.
In such cases, we can have reservation for them, but recruitement should again be merit based only! In these cases reservation should be more in terms of reducing their fees or giving them scholorship, giving them flexible working or flexible learning hours etc, and not by just selecting them blindly because of their caste,gender or disability.
Quality must always be the highest priority!
Monday, May 15, 2006
Was it a Rang De Basanti Effect?
I had watched RDB few weeks back and i must say it's one of the best contemporary movies i have seen.It triggers some of sensitive corners of the heart and mind of today's generation.
And this movie is also proving that Hindi movies can have great impact on Indian citizens in good and in bad ways, both:)
After the release of this movie, people in Delhi have raised there voice against the Jessica Lal murder case exactly in the Rang De basanti style by lighting candle in front of India Gate:)
And seems while acting in this movie even the actors have got energized:). These days we see Aamir and the entire gang raising voice againt the national issues like Naramada case more strongly (though ignorantly)
These are all OK as long as people are picking up the good aspects of the movie and copying it.But...
But yesterday, the police had lathi charged the young doctors who were silently protesting for a cause:S
This lathi charge was also in the Rang De basanti style. Oh boy!:S:S
It's fine if people get influenced by a movie to do heroic acts, but people are following the movie even for villaneous acts:S That's sad
One of the channels had asked people's opinion on the Police behaviour , and few of them had stated that 'We were reminded of Jalianwala Bagh massacre by seeing the police beating the doctors'
Now commmmmmon guys, tell the truth. Were you reminded of Jalianwala bagh of 1919, or Jalianwala bagh of Rang de basanti;)
Atleast i was reminded of the Jalianwala Bagh of RDG only:), where the director compares the General Dyre of those Days and politicians of these days in the same weighing balance.
Oops, that doens't mean i am trying to say Arjun singh is like General Dyre;)
AAh..this movie has silently raised lot of stroms,and is really trying to the awaken the nation.And amidst all this look who is calmly and quietly doing his job: The director of the movie Rakesh Omprakash Mehra;)
He is now preparing silently for his next venture which he says is a comedy
Rakesh Mehar ji, if you continue like this you will become the Mahatma Gandhi of 21st century;) The only difference is he used his khadi rolls and you are using your film rolls. Just kidding:)
But then i think the director is following exactly what he has tried to ultimately convey in his movie
' Change the society, by being a part of the society, not outside it'. Else you would get killed like the RDB heroes'
And this movie is also proving that Hindi movies can have great impact on Indian citizens in good and in bad ways, both:)
After the release of this movie, people in Delhi have raised there voice against the Jessica Lal murder case exactly in the Rang De basanti style by lighting candle in front of India Gate:)
And seems while acting in this movie even the actors have got energized:). These days we see Aamir and the entire gang raising voice againt the national issues like Naramada case more strongly (though ignorantly)
These are all OK as long as people are picking up the good aspects of the movie and copying it.But...
But yesterday, the police had lathi charged the young doctors who were silently protesting for a cause:S
This lathi charge was also in the Rang De basanti style. Oh boy!:S:S
It's fine if people get influenced by a movie to do heroic acts, but people are following the movie even for villaneous acts:S That's sad
One of the channels had asked people's opinion on the Police behaviour , and few of them had stated that 'We were reminded of Jalianwala Bagh massacre by seeing the police beating the doctors'
Now commmmmmon guys, tell the truth. Were you reminded of Jalianwala bagh of 1919, or Jalianwala bagh of Rang de basanti;)
Atleast i was reminded of the Jalianwala Bagh of RDG only:), where the director compares the General Dyre of those Days and politicians of these days in the same weighing balance.
Oops, that doens't mean i am trying to say Arjun singh is like General Dyre;)
AAh..this movie has silently raised lot of stroms,and is really trying to the awaken the nation.And amidst all this look who is calmly and quietly doing his job: The director of the movie Rakesh Omprakash Mehra;)
He is now preparing silently for his next venture which he says is a comedy
Rakesh Mehar ji, if you continue like this you will become the Mahatma Gandhi of 21st century;) The only difference is he used his khadi rolls and you are using your film rolls. Just kidding:)
But then i think the director is following exactly what he has tried to ultimately convey in his movie
' Change the society, by being a part of the society, not outside it'. Else you would get killed like the RDB heroes'
Friday, May 05, 2006
The Fear factor show on Sony...Sometimes Very Craaaaazy!
A new show by name 'Fear factor' has been started in Sony channel recently. This is a said to be a ditto copy of the english serial 'The fear factor' in one of the english channels.
The show is pretty good in lot of ways because the stunts performed by people are intersting but what I just HATE about this it makes people to keep crazy things in the mouth and sometimes eat as well.
This includes a big bowl of worms, ostrich eggs, any meat and so many more like this . Yuk Yuk:S:S
I find this sometimes indecent, sometimes unethical, sometimes hurting and all the times crazy.
I donno why Amala and Menaka Gandhi have not resisted this for using animal skin and animal remains for these silly and unnecessary purposes!
In one of the serials i saw a pure vegetarian struggling to take that goat meat in mouth, but still for those 10 Lakhs that they were giving him, he foolishly gave a try and then finally gave up saying ' I am a vegetarian so i can't'
And the host was still consistenly trying to persuade him to try it.
This was totally hurting. Shouldn't the serial be respecting people's basic habits atleast!
In today's serial they have asked people to drink a full mug of ostrich egg yolk. People struggled like anything and i don't think anyone could drink completely.
Fear factor guys claim that they ensure full protection of the particiapants. They can give this protection as long as it's external physical protection, but how can they ensure for internal physical protection. What if by eating all this the person's liver, intestines and their stomach fail? What if something happens to them after eating such weird things?
This is really crazy! Atleast i am finding it unnecesary and crazy.
The show is pretty good in lot of ways because the stunts performed by people are intersting but what I just HATE about this it makes people to keep crazy things in the mouth and sometimes eat as well.
This includes a big bowl of worms, ostrich eggs, any meat and so many more like this . Yuk Yuk:S:S
I find this sometimes indecent, sometimes unethical, sometimes hurting and all the times crazy.
I donno why Amala and Menaka Gandhi have not resisted this for using animal skin and animal remains for these silly and unnecessary purposes!
In one of the serials i saw a pure vegetarian struggling to take that goat meat in mouth, but still for those 10 Lakhs that they were giving him, he foolishly gave a try and then finally gave up saying ' I am a vegetarian so i can't'
And the host was still consistenly trying to persuade him to try it.
This was totally hurting. Shouldn't the serial be respecting people's basic habits atleast!
In today's serial they have asked people to drink a full mug of ostrich egg yolk. People struggled like anything and i don't think anyone could drink completely.
Fear factor guys claim that they ensure full protection of the particiapants. They can give this protection as long as it's external physical protection, but how can they ensure for internal physical protection. What if by eating all this the person's liver, intestines and their stomach fail? What if something happens to them after eating such weird things?
This is really crazy! Atleast i am finding it unnecesary and crazy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)