Primary Education Systems in India

1+1=2. Why so? Have we ever wondered about this? There are millions of kids tossing this question in their nursery schools every year and invariably the curiosity is being brutally murdered by labelling it as a silly question and the kid as a nuisance value in the class. Not for no reason are the research potential and publications so disheartening despite excellent infrastructure in some world class research institutions in the country.

As rightly said in a Gujarati proverb “પાકા ઘડે કાંઠા ના ચડે” (you can’t train the ripen (or should we call it rotten) mind), the research aptitude has to be encouraged right from childhood. Learning to multiply without referring the book is the research done by the primary school kid. Unfortunately we tend to ignore the most critical span of development of thought process of a child and strangulate the curiosity.

The eagerness to question Why? and the zeal to find out its answer is all it takes to become a great researcher and also an enthusiastic human being. Our primary education system acts as a slow poison curtailing these natural human tendencies and programming the human mind to behave in a particular way that accepts what appears attractive on prima facie and shrieks to investigate. The excessive quantification of intangible knowledge has landed today’s teens into a ratrace for marks and made them blindfolded towards the incredible joy of research, the eternal satisfaction of nurturing the solution to a problem and finally the true sense of achievement upon solving the problem.

When the 17 years old HSC students staying not more than 15km from the city of Ahmedabad struggle in simple arithmetic division, in reading a Gujarati newspaper fluently and still manage to pass the examination, the need to look into the current education system and remove the tainted glasses of ignorance surface manifestly. I have been volunteering for Avbodh IQG Rural Empowerment Program (AIREP, www.aireprogram.blogspot.com) and it is thanks to this initiative that I witnessed the real state of education in rural India.

A teacher is such a powerful character that can transform a spoilt brat into a civilized individual, a mob into a team and a heard of nomads into a civilization, but with power comes responsibility. With due respect to a few exceptions, the state of primary school teachers in India is quite dismal.

Making the studies joyous is the need of the hour. Improving the motivation levels of the primary school teachers is of paramount concern and it calls for drastic and urgent measures towards forming an all inclusive primary educational system model that provides a smooth transition to the vocational courses as well as college education from primary schooling.

I’d like to conclude with a twist in the popular saying: “The hand that holds the chalkpiece, rules the world.”

India Against Corruption

It is Do or Die now. The genuine Anti Corruption crusader Anna Hazare has been arrested by the UPA government for having declared to conduct peaceful protest. This thoughtless act (quite expected) by the government has done nothing but to add fuel to the fire.

I always regretted not having born in the Pre Independence Era and having missed to witness the mass awareness and enthusiasm that flowed through the veins of Indians led by an angel called Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The regret is not so intense now. August 15, 1947 was the day when we snatched away Independence from the Britishers, let August 16, 2011 be the day when we vouch our heart and soul for our motherland. The cancer of corruption has left no system untouched ranging from Government to Judiciary to Police to Defence to Education to NGOs and what not. But, nobody shall cure this cancer, it's only we, the people of India who have to stand up and act. Enforcement of law has to happen from top to bottom. An honest traffic police constable cannot prevent a DIG from accepting corruption, but an honest DIG can certainly deter and transform the mentality of thousands of constables.

The moral of the story is that the time for the Indian common man to wake up has arrived.

This is NOT Anna's battle, this is our battle. If a 74 years old man goes on fast, gets arrested and we happily sit at home, watch TV, go to office and showcase an ironical smile; probably we are as worthless as the current government. Without any further delays, I request you all to give it a serious thought and discuss the possibilities to take this protest forward. Let's not crib, let's strategically take this forward and see to it that team Anna is not left alone in this movement.

A nice approach towards rural empowerment

Unusually, this is not going to be a hard hitting post whipping the social mediocrity, but a positive, lively and motivating piece of work that may contribute a drop to the huge thirsty ocean awaiting the seer from countless Indians like me.

Enough of speaking about the ideologies, about the things to be done, this time I'm sharing my first hand experience on working at the grassroot level.

No confusion must exist on  rural empowerment being the need of the hour. The 2011 census results may be awaited for the proposed concept to gain more credibility.

The real and more populous India dwells in villages. Despite the IT revolution, India largely depends on agricultural exports. Hence, the point is clear. The HDI, GDP and more such jargons will reflect India shining only when rural India shines.

It's not more than a month since when I've started working for AIREP (Avbodh IQG Rural Empowerment Program) - a joint venture by two NGOs Avbodh and IQG (Innovative Quality Groups). I won't bore the readers by going deep into the history. Do visit www.aireprogram.blogspot.com for more details.

Three pillars of rural development have been identified.

1. Education
2. Vocation
3. Healthcare

AIREP has identified eight villages in the radius of 30km from Ahmedabad. The work has started with the village called Paldi Kankrej. Please visit http://aireprogram.blogspot.com/2010/05/introducing-paldi-kankrej-and-way-airep.html before reading further.

I'm sorry, if you found the above mentioned blog written as an advertisement, because it's for the first time, that I really relished writing about some organization.

The concept is simple - Spend one day a week for the country.

AIREP has started working towards Rural Empowerment, you may work for urban development, women empowerment, eradication of social evils (dowry, untouchability, racial discrimination to name a few).

But, while working; expect nothing but satisfaction. Satisfaction of having performed your fundamental duty to some extent, not of having done some great social work.

As the founders of AIREP rightly state: Work without the expectation of monetary gains, name or fame.

As the readers might like to go through the previous post in the same blog http://ashutoshjani.blogspot.com/2009/08/distribute-luck-rather-share-luck.html , there should be no ambiguity in accepting the FACT that working for the country is our moral duty and not some obligation.

I hope, this blog will be taken in the right spirit and all the readers will realize the debt, we owe towards our country and start doing some constructive work.

"Kasab got, what he gave : Death" - TOI

What a splendid way to put forward the news!!!

Finally the rage got pacified positively and not on account of forgetfulness. The decision is certainly welcome, but it would have been even more imperative; had it been convicted a year and a half ago. Out of the many interpretation that can be drawn from the verdict, the most positive is India's assertion (better late than never) against terrorism with a black spot of delay on the golden verdict. The fact that Kasab breathed nearly for year and a half after his fatal strike on India, disturbs me to the core. With more than 600 eye witnesses and more than millions of copies of the photos showing Kasab holding the gun in hand and killing innocent people ruthlessly, if a year and a half is taken to announce this most obvious verdict, I doubt, the snail may sometimes defeat Indian judiciary.

Human Rights Commission has gained considerable infamy and notoriety, (though much less than what it deserves) on account of its crystal-clear soft corner and bias for the terrorists and other thriving antisocial elements. I remember few incidents when Human Rights Commission has rightly advocated for the rights of some Human, otherwise it's always busy in protecting the rights of those, who snatch away the "RIGHT TO LIVE" from a common Indian, it would have done more harm than benefit to the country. Human rights can be for humans only and not for the demons like Kasab.

There have been many people spurting their anger out by saying that Kasab should be tortured and not hanged. Kudos to the spirit and passion, but think practically. Keeping Kasab alive means inviting more and more terrorists to make us watch the repeat telecast of the episode titled IC814. We desperately need more and more POTA, TADA and many such law enforcements dreading the budding terrorists. The ripe ones like Kasab, Dawood and Hafeez Saeed should just be cut off from life, since the quality control department of the terrorist manufacturing factory called Pakistan is over efficient and over ambitious, making it impossible to convert these ripe terrorists to humans.

Unlike India's judiciary, the government keeps on disappointing the fellow-countrymen. Instead of acting tough against terrorism, India is still in the process of collecting the evidences and presenting them to the USA, as if we are the public prosecutor trying to prove our point to thy majesty USA in the court where nothing but mockery of India's pain and agony is enjoyed. Why does Indian government miss out on a very basic thumb-rule, that it's only WE who have to defend our lives and not some USA? Why do we have to be independent only on paper and not in practice?

Pakistani government has the guts to say that Dawood is not in Pak, despite the photos of him and Javed Miandad being published hugging on their kids' wedding ceremony. I won't be surprised, even if Dawood appears for an interview on Pakistan's national TV channel and still Pakistan government sings the same old song of innocence and ignorance. This ignorance is really bliss for Pak government unless the Indian government realizes its fundamental duty - Protection of the citizens' lives. His name may even be flashing in Karachi's telephone directory!!!

The final outcry of India has to say: Don't let the motivation of the security forces down by acting so mercilessly towards your own Indians and so friendly with the hostile neighbor, it's a big Samjhauta to our security. At least have the credibility towards the country, towards the deity of democracy, and towards the faith that we have planted in you : VOTE.

Secularism

Secularism or pseudo secularism?

This is the unwritten, unread yet existing burning question against India.

The dawn of 21st century has brought many goodies for both.

Keeping the Indian context aside, let's try to understand what is secularism.

Upto the best of my understanding about secularism, it is assertive acceptance of peaceful coexistence. It is the most legitimate son of democracy. It gives meaning and space to one's existence. In a nutshell, it is a subset of the superset called RIGHT TO LIVE.

Coming back to Indian context, secularism is multifaceted here. It has multiple limbs, if one of the limbs is amputated; it loses its equilibrium. India cannot afford this equilibrium to be lost, because secularism carries a big responsibility on its shoulders, that of national harmony and peace. Unfortunately so called "secularists" (read pseudo secularists) have been axing certain limbs of it.

Secularism blossoms when a Muslim respects a temple and a Hindu respects mosque, and atheist respects both. The very idea of democracy gives me the freedom to choose my religion, my faith and that should exclusively be decided by me. I reserve all rights to follow my religion within constitutional limits, but when these limits are exceeded, the boon turns out to be a curse. The major problems that Indian secularism is facing today are minority oriented votebank politics and majority oriented extremism. As I've mentioned in my earlier posts too, why should there be a difference in the retaliation against demolition of a mosque or temple? Why should there be a difference in retaliation against what happened in Godhra and what happened as a reaction?

We cannot afford to have the luxury of spending centuries to understand that neither a single killing nor a genocide is justifiable under religious reasons. I hate those Hindus who curse Islam, and I hate those Muslims who curse Hinduism. To enjoy the luxury of democracy, we need to be libertarian, we need to be accommodative (by we, I mean Indians; not Hindus or Muslims). A state of mutual respect is ideal.

The government should not have any reluctance in curbing Islamic terrorism, neither should it be double minded in controlling anti Muslim activities of VHP or Bajrangdal in parallel.

The problem with extremist Hindus is that they think every person with a white cap and a beard is a terrorist (which proves their lack of common sense). The repercussive complexes in Muslims' minds do nothing but add fuel to the fire. The extreme Hindu complexes are driven by rampant Islamic terrorism, which is a result of twisted preachings in the Madrassas.

In all this turmoil the Indian common man is lost. He is the victim. Let this victim breathe. Let him live. Let him be whatever he is. Catch the culprits, not the victims. This is no idiocy; in current social framework, it is always the common man who loses.

Instead of fighting over Hinduism or Islam, why can't we think of fighting against poverty, lack of quality education and social evils? We need to wide open the petals of thoughts and let them merge with the horizon of humanity...


P.S. The piece of work published above is inspired by the book titled "સેક્યુલર મુરબ્બો" by renowned Gujarati writer Gunvant Shah.

India Shining????

Shocked to see this title being penned by me??????

Well, go on reading, you'll realize.

21st century will see India as the real superpower.

It's Indian brainpower that's running global IT industry.

Delhi and Mumbai will soon be on a par with the likes of London and New York.

Sound familiar???

Well, above mentioned are the statements that are always used as curtains to reality.

Golden curtains. Showing you big dreams.

Someone has rightly (though sarcastically) said, "If you keep dreaming, when will you pursue it?"

Few days back, I was surfing internet to see where India stands. Before I go on analyzing, you may like to bookmark  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_countries

When I saw global rankings in terms of nominal GDP, India seems to have fared well, at least respectable, something you may expect out of a 1 billion populated, 60 odd years old country. It stands in top 15.

Exports are also good, foreign debt is also not unmanageable, much less than many developed countries including USA, UK and many other hotshots.

This gives me a kind of picture that India is shining.

A self made country....... with hostile neighbors............ you can't expect more.

But later I checked the lists of countries based on Human Development Index (HDI), percentage of people below poverty line, percentage of people malnourished etc etc.

I was gloomed to see India shining in the list of countries with highest no. of malnourished people.

It's true, even today many Indians don't have basic human amenities. No water, no electricity, no school, no hospital... that's the description of Indian village.

India's metros are getting richer and richer and crowded too. Most of great global MNCs are either present in India, or are eyeing to be in India. All the global brands are available in India, and that probably makes it a cynosure.

Wait, did anyone look at the villages?

It's height of ill governance that world's richest men/women belong to India (it's mEn/womEn, there are plenty other than Ambanis), and millions of Indians are still suffering every night from the uncertainty of earning the livelihood for the next day.

Decentralization of wealth is of utmost importance. There are many bottlenecks in the system, government just needs to take care of the bottlenecks, the wealth in the country is more than sufficient to feed every Indian.

ISRO is planning mission to moon, and we also have people who let their family members die, because they don't have money to take them to a better hospital in city, leave alone moon.

In terms of HDI (which, I feel is the most effective measure for a country's wealth), India is ranked 134 among 182 studied. This is dangerous, this is awful, I'd rather like it to be awakening.

Millioners are becoming billioners, and poor is getting poorer.

As once claimed by Rajiv Gandhi, not more than 10% of the total allotted aid reaches the real beneficiaries. It vanishes in the supply chain, to grease the joints of the chain - the so called Sarkari babus. Their pockets are getting heavier and the poor's stomach is getting lighter day by day.

If this devastation is not stopped, it will create an unbridgeable separation between the rich and the poor, resulting in social discrimination getting more severe, or in the worst case; civil war.

This can be prevented only by bringing all the Indians on the same platform, by providing equal opportunities to everyone, by realizing the effective implementation of all the government policies, and last but not the least, by curbing corruption.

Remember, if you pay a bribe of 100Rs to a traffic police constable, you are encouraging corruption, you are corroding the country, and digging the grave of national harmony.

This is not funny.

A country's action is nothing but the people's collective actions. What you do on a smaller scale does reflect on a bigger scale. If as an individual, you are not corrupt, you're a boon to the nation, and we need millions of such boons. When there's noone to offer bribe, who will there be to receive???

Give it a thought, and make your small but proud contribution by making a resolve of never to encourage corruption and to empower the nation.

Happy Republic Day

Happy Republic Day.

This is not yet another day like Valentine's Day, Friendship Day etc etc. This probably means a little more than that.

I was very enthusiastic at 7:50am when I left for flag hoisting ceremony held at IIT Madras, but disappointment and despair filled my heart as enthusiasm gave out looking at the attendance of less than 40 out of more than 400 professors and less than 100 out of more than 5000 students. It seems IIT judges India's nerves very well. The organizers were so confident about PATRIOTIC(!!!!) Indians' nature, that they brought not more than 200 chairs; and to prove them right, though sad, IITians didn't turn up for the celebration. (At least don't ask me celebration of what)

Not just IIT, even telecom service providers are also well versed with our Indianness. (Does it really exist???) Rates of sms and calls will touch the skyline on Valentine's Day, Friendship Day, Diwali, Eid, Christmas and bla bla bla, but on Republic Day or Independence Day, there's no need for any hike in the rates, as this probably doesn't even mean to the mass as a festival.

Ever heard anyone saying, I'll buy something on the Independence Day or Republic Day??? The superstitios lot of the Hindu population will buy new things on Diwali, Dushera etc, because those days are claimed to be auspicious, then what is this day? Isn't it a festival? To me, it is. I'm blogging about every possible social issue ranging from reservation to patriotism to casteism to religion to politics. How can I do so? I'm writing against the prime minister too. How do I get this freedom? This courage?

Republic Day gives me that courage. It gives me space to breathe. It allows me to assert. It gives me freedom of speech and freedom of expression. It humanizes me and makes my life livable. Thus it is probably the biggest festival for me, and I feel, should be for every Indian.

There had been some nice experiences seeing an auto driver carrying the national flag with the auto. Illiterate he may be according to Indian census, but I would call him a laureate. At least he knows the significance of the day in a crowd full of so called IITians, so called future of India, for whom Republic Day is nothing but yet another holiday, a day to rest peacefully after the four days' hangover of Saarang (annual cultural fest of IIT Madras held between 22 to 25 Jan) or a day to go on trips or movies.

I am not juvenile to say that only he/she who comes to flag hoisting is patriotic, and not others. If you're doing some constructive work for the well being of the fellow countrymen and human race as a whole, it would be better not to halt and continue; but sleeping peacefully in the room or just roaming around is certainly not something I can appreciate.

It feels disgusting when I have to remind someone of the flag hoisting ceremony.

Looking at the tricolour waving in air and reciting the national anthem is not our duty, it's our right. It's a celebration, it's a reminder of being Indian.

But with the present scenario, it even feels in vain to blog about this. It's really going to be an exhausting task to revive the feeling of being Indian in the Indians, but to achieve something, you must begin.

And this was my humble beginning. I hope you would introspect and make your integrity even stronger and dedication towards the nation versatile.

Happy Republic Day...

Perseverance

It was 7:20pm today evening, and I was on my way to Media Resource Centre, IIT Madras, to attend a lecture specially organized by Vivekananda Study Circle, a group of IITM students.

The speaker was Sarath Babu. A person from poor background, brought up in slums of Chennai, making it to BITS Pilani and IIM Ahmedabad; and a successful CEO, heading foodking, successfully at 29 years of age.

The above statement is more than capable to awe you about the greatness of this person, I'd rather use the word fighter.

It was 7:25, I reached the venue, and saw the man himself getting down from his car, very simple, noble; and above all punctual. Unlike many so called celebrated speakers preferring to make a pseudo style statement by arriving 20 to 25 minutes late, this man was ready on the venue, five minutes early. Seeing the lecture hall empty, he was made to wait for 15 minutes; something really shameful on the organizers' part.

Here starts the wonderful tale.

He shared his life story, the struggles, the hurdles in his path, but he had his mind focused.

Despite living in a hut, in the lack of basic amenities, he was always the ranker.

He earned money by book binding, so that he could pay his fees for 11th standard.

He joined BITS Pilani, did BTech in Chemical Engg, worked in Polaris for three years, cracked the toughest cookie in the country, IIM-A. This really is inspiring, but not rib-tickling.

The rib-tickling part comes now.

It's needless to say that IIM-A graduate will be welcome by any firm in the world, so was the case with Mr Sarath Babu; but he preferred going the less traveled way.

He turned entrepreneur, in hunt of his dream, with a meagre 2,000Rs capital, (I didn't miss any zero, it really was two thousand), not more than three years ago from now; and today he is heading a firm of more than 7Cr Rs turnover!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Being an entrepreneur must be the dream of so many, but the reason I am writing about Mr Sarath Babu, is that he chose this with a view to creating employment opportunities, and not wealth.

His statement keeps taking round in my mind.

"Through a job offered to me by IIM-A placements, my family could have been well-off, but by being an entrepreneur, and by employing 250 people, today 250 families are earning their livelihood through me."

Surprises are yet to end. He contested in 2009 Parliamentary election as an independent candidate from South Chennai.

Aspiring to be education minister one day, he has a long way to go, but looking at his perseverance, it will not surprise me, if I see him in the cabinet in a decade.

Look at the Sarath Babu now, and look at the Sarath Babu two decades back.

A transformation from a son of an Idli seller living in slums to a potential minister and a successful CEO.

If this tansformation is possible, perseverance can do anything and everything, all you need to have is a dream, and never say die spirit.

His life story looks like a fairy tale, could really be a role model for the current generation, and at least for me.

Hats off to you Sarath Babu...

Let's really make it MERRY Christmas... Santa,,, you're awaited...

You're spared.

This is not going to be a hard hitting blogpost like always before.

"What is Santa Claus?" would be a better question, rather than "Who is/was Santa Claus?", wouldn't you agree???

If we go back to the roots (this won't be a history class, read on), this tradition was started in 4th century by Saint Nicholas in Turkey.

Coming back to our question, "What is Santa Claus?".


Santa Claus is a friend.

Santa Claus is a well wisher.

Santa Claus is a father figure.

Santa Claus is a ray of hope.

Santa Claus is materialization of very small dreams of innocence.

Santa Claus is incarnation of happiness.


Now, "Who is Santa Claus?".

Santa Claus is no angel, or godsent courierboy, the person dressed in red, would be one among us only; the one who loves kids, the one who loves innocence, the one who wants to see the cute faces of kids smiling, the one who loves the purest and unpolluted forms of life, yet to be polluted by the so called "Worldly Wisdom".

Let's celebrate this Christmas differently, more joyously.

Why not making our circle of influence bigger???

Why not include the ones who are always neglected???

Yes, I'm again talking about street children.

Instead of buying new clothes only to your kids, if you stretch or squeeze your budget a little and spend something for kids living in slums, that happiness will be reflected on your kids' face.

Because of a very simple reason.

Kids are yet to be affected by the weird means of this cruel world, they are still innocent and believe in sharing the happiness, something I have been stressing in most of my blogposts.

Just don't read the blog.

Implement it once.

If you have enjoyed reading my blogs, this is the least I am asking in return...

Share your happiness with the less privileged, it will grow exponentially.

This is not just a blog, but a request.

You'll really feel that joy from within, something that even a billion rupees can't buy, and for once your christmas will be really Merry.

Merry Christmas...

Bakrid --- A festival???

With the awareness of the rate of inflow of criticism, I prepare myself to assert again against some cruel custom.

Seventy days after the end of Ramadan (pronounce:Ramazan), i.e. on the tenth day of the month "Dhul Hijja", Eid al-Adha is celebrated. It is claimed to be a festival of sacrifice. A festival to commemorate the sacrifice by Ibrahim (grandfather of wellknown Prophet Mohammed).

Let's check the history.

Ibrahim was living in Palestine with his wife Hajar and son Ismael. It is said that Allah instructed Ibrahim to bring his wife and son to Arabia(The place where Mecca is situated today), leave them in Arabia and go back to Palestine. On learning that Allah sent them to Arabia, Hajar let her husband head back to Palestine with a faith that Allah will take care of them.

A large quantity of food and water exhausted over a period of time and Hajar and Ismael started starving. On Hajar's prayer, Allah obliged them by creating a spring of water near Ismael's foot. It soon turned into a well and Hajar and Ismael could survive by trading the extra water for food and other commodities with the nomads.

Ibrahim came back to Arabia to see his family and surprisingly found them happy.

Allah instructed Ibrahim to devote his most affectionate possession, i.e. his son, Ismael. Ibrahim was about to cut the throat of Ismael and he saw a sheep dead there. Thus his willingness of sacrifice was given due importance and Ismael was gifted with life.

This is where the roots of Bakrid are.

Ibrahim did not cut the throat of sheep. He saw a dead sheep there, but probably the message conceived out of the whole story is, cut the animal, kill it and celebrate.

I am aghast.

How can the very idea be conceived that amputation of innocent poor animal will please any form of god? All religious people would agree to the so called fact that the universe itself is god's creation. Then how can termination of God's creation bring happiness to God? I don't get the whole point.

I was talking to a friend three days back (on the day of Bakrid). He was describing the goats and sheep being slaughtered in his neighbourhood. Some innocent animal is crying and pleading for a breathe of life, how can one even dare to think of celebration???

I may be hurting almost a billion people's sentiments, but I would not refrain from saying that THIS IS INHUMAN, THIS IS CRUEL.

Stop this madness.

This is not even the last way to celebrate.

This calls for mourning and introspection, not celebration.

Think over it.

My vocabulary is too tiny to express the lump in my throat.

I hope, even you feel the same.

Bal Thackeray is a nutcase.

I find it more funny than disgusting, that the setting and extinguished sun named Bal Thackeray tried to go an extra mile by using Sachin's name and got badly backfired.

People are anyway publicly opposing Raj Thackeray and it is known to all that his end is near (though, this is too late, but better late than never), his uncle tried going the nephew's way, something he has been doing for decades, but seemed to have given the power of attorney to the nephew recently.

I'd actually appreciate Sachin for making the statement about Mumbai belonging to the whole India. It was his statement that provoked Bal Thackeray to cross the limits of stupidity and chauvinism; and to make a fool out of himself. Leave alone the ruling Congress, even BJP is coming in public to criticize Thackeray, accompanied by the likes of Laloo, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar etc., who obviously didn't miss the opportunity of scoring a six on a loose ball outside the off stump.

MNS has already cornered Shiv Sena by making idiotic statements and abusing North Indians (which I strongly condemn), it seems that the uncle and the nephew are running in the race towards winning the title of THE BIGGEST FOOL.

Instead of exhibiting the false and fake Marathi pride, Bal Thackeray should have supported Sachin and opened a front against his nephew, by doing so; he could have earned some respect as well as some satisfaction of paying the tribute to the country off late; and could have managed to salvage the little pride; he had that has almost vanished by now.

But again, he had to maintain his stance of anti India (and less of Marathism), to hog the limelight, he had to carry the false ego, or rather he had to stick to the mistakes done in the past.

I'd say, it's all about the inability to accept your own fault. Bal Thackeray probably does not have guts to do something that Sachin has done, and that's why he's shouting against the person whose opinions do carry weight.

I'm not trying to make the point that Sachin is patriot, he's a nice cricketer, and he has his insight right, unlike the Thackeray duo, who rather than keeping their ugly mouths shut, are shouting and desperately trying to divide the country. Sachin at least felt the other way, and took a tiny step towards unity of the country.

As I've mentioned earlier, Amitabh Bachchan has disappointed people by bowing to the monster (Raj Thackeray); at least Sachin has done the right thing, and probably shown us a face of a true Indian-Marathi, and not an anti Indian-Marathi.

Bravo, Sachin, you're on the right track.

Ayodhya

I am probably going to touch the hottest topic in Indian politics, many friends and relatives may not like my stand, but ultimately I can't prevent myself from using the tempting FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.

Let me first quote a few facts, or so called myths. I do not possess any reliability or responsibility for the same.

The first Mughal Emperor Babar came to India in 1527AD, attacked the Hindu emperor of Chittodgadh. After winning the land of Ayodhya, Babar sent his general Mir Baqi to Ayodhya and made him the incharge of the region. Mir observed that Ayodhya had a big ancient Hindu temple of a great emperor and a kind human being, considered as God in Hinduism, Shri Ramchandra. To spread terror in the Hindu population, the temple was demolished and a mosque was built at the same location in the honour of the emperor Babar. The mosque was popularly known as Babri Masjid (Mosque), which was previously known as Masjid-e-Janmasthan (Mosque at the birthplace (of Shri Ram)).

The place was used by the Hindus as well as Muslims till 1885 for worshipping together. Where is that communal harmony now? It was a religious matter then, and it is a political matter now.

Till 1990, there was not much of a fuss about the issue.

6th December, 1992, Hindu leaders and volunteers, allegedly led by L.K. Advani, demolished the mosque and demanded the construction of temple arguing that if Muslims have sacred place in Mecca, why should Hindus not have a similar place in Ayodhya.

The argument seems justifiable, but actions don't. When the case was handled by the judiciary system, this action was certainly wrong.

Believing to what the historians say is right, even Babar's actions were not just, but taking revenge of something, happened more than 3 centuries before in an equally barbarian way seems to be the outcome of shortsighted thinking or selfish political motives.

Now, Ayodhya issue has grown much beyond Hinduism or Islam, it's been more about NDA and UPA, about BJP and INC, about minority and majority.

Politicians and bureaucrates have toiled to work out a feasible solution, but have failed. Probably because of the conservative, volatile and brainwashable mindset of Indians, rather Hindus and Muslims (Unfortunately today also people consider them Hindu or Muslim first and Indian later, if at all they do), and sluggish and pale judiciary.

I'll dare to propose a solution, which may seem outrageous, but it is the best if a neutral government really wants to do something.

How about building a government hospital on the disputed land? A hospital that treates poor Indians, and not Hindus or Muslims. If a Temple is made, some psycho Muslim leader may demolish it tomorrow, and if a Mosque is built, his/her Hindu counterpart may do the same.

It is not always about what is right and what is wrong, sometimes it is also about what is good and what is bad.

Wounds caused in 16th and 20th century are not reversible, then why should we try to deepen them instead of letting them heal?

Why don't we understand that no religion teaches to demolish some worship place and make a new one there, and if it teaches, it's not a religion.

If I can convince people of superiority of Humanity and compassion over Hinduism or Islam or any other religion, I'll consider myself the most successful person on earth.

Copenhagen Bandwagon

The title may seem new to few, and for the few I'll brief the topic first and then start shooting the blogpost.

United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 (UNCCC 2009) is going to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark during 7th Dec to 18th Dec, 2009.

• India is the third biggest CO₂ emitter in the world.
• CO₂ is identified as one of the major pollutants causing greenhouse effect by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change).
• On three days' visit of the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh refused to bind India to any specific numbers in terms of emissions.
• Despite Clinton's assurance that the bond will not hamper India's economic growth, Jairam refused to change his stance.

Above statements may easily make one believe India to be THE cause behind global warming.

Now let's analyse all the statements one by one.

India is the third biggest CO₂ emitter in the world.

My answer to this is India is the SECOND biggest in terms of population.

When India is second biggest in terms of population and third in terms of emissions, it clearly means India is reducing the global average of emissions.

To stress a little more on this, the first is USA, closely followed by China. Population of USA as per 2000 census was 281,421,906, less than 30% of that of India and less than 25% of that of China.

Moreover, India's annual per capita carbon dioxide emission is 1.1 tonnes, compared to 20 tonnes of that of USA.

As per the studies carried out by EIA (Electronic Industries Alliance - an organization based in USA itself), India's CO₂ emissions will be nearly 1000ppm even in 2030, compared to 8000ppm of USA and 11000ppm of China. Thouh, the emissions more than 300 to 400ppm are detrimental to earth's atmosphere, why should there be a necessity for developing countries like India to cap the emissions to the same extent (or even more) compared to developed countries?

India along with many countries from south asia and Africa was ruled and exploited by the west till mid 20th century, and it is now that these countries are getting space to breathe, it is now that they are developing, as I've mentioned in one of my posts earlier, India is yet to enter cousumerism phase. A luxury for India is a necessity for USA and many more countries. Why shouldn't the developed countries cap their emissions first and then help the developing countries do the same? And this is not the first time, when this issue is occurring, Montreal protocol and Kyoto protocol probably shared the same story.

Despite Clinton's assurance that the bond will not hamper India's economic growth, Jairam refused to change his stance.

Again, Uncle Sam assures kids not to worry. I wonder, when Jairam Ramesh is doubtful about effect of bond on INDIA, how can Hillary be sure that it won't affect INDIA?

USA, being extravegant by nature, in whatever paradigm it may be; advises the whole world to abide them. Same was the story about Nuclear Power. Often it seems like a conspiracy of USA and EU to curb the grwth of Asia and Africa.

In no manner, I am opposing climate control. As per my personal experience, I am surrounded by irresponsible people wasting electricity, water and many other resources, but on national level, on industrial level, I fully agree to Mr Jairam Ramesh.

Simultaneously, I'll also advise the readers to save electricity. I am seeing people keeping the lights and fans ON, while going out. When millions of Indians are still depriving of electricity, wastage of electricity is a CRIME. The same holds true for water also.

Wired World or Weird World ???

Today is Diwali.

Festival of Lights, Joys, Sweets, Crackers and a lot to follow...

I remember my childhood days...

Cleaning the house a few days before Diwali...

Buying new clothes...

Buying crackers...

That fragrance of different delicacies made as a part of the celebration of this festival lasting for more than a fortnight...

Going on terrace with family to fire crackers for five days...

Going to the temple on the next day of Diwali (Next day of Diwali is celebrated as new year in Gujarat)

And then begins the trip...

A trip to all the relatives' and friends' places...

You may not have seen someone's face during the whole year but if you don't visit that relative's place in the fortnight after Diwali, there should be something terribly wrong with your relationship preventing you from wishing that person...

Meeting more than a thousand people and wishing them...

And the scenario now...

Yesterday, I'd gone out to Domino's Pizza in Chennai with a friend to celebrate Diwali or rather to fool ourselves by trying to get the asleep hidden festivity out, which didn't come out.

Two movies followed our dinner.

A chat till late night encompassing philosophy, life @ IIT, life post IIT, life in Chennai etc etc...

Finally I am writing this blog on a Diwali afternoon ALONE...

I'll just go out to do a prepaid recharge of my phone, as tomorrow I'll be making hundreds of calls to wish people on the new year dawn...

After wishing the near(!!!!!!) and dear ones, and a Gujarati get together, I just organized, I'll get back to studies for the exam on Monday.

In short, the elaborate celebration, I mentioned above, will be shrunk to a few hours of hogging outside and a few phone calls.

It seems education sometimes steals the festivity from people. Increasing ambitions sway us away from the roots, from where we belong to, from what we are fond of.

But again NO PAIN NO GAIN...

This was just an example.

By no means, I'm saying, I should give up my studies, go back home and start celebrating Diwali, education in IIT, means much more than a Diwali or two for one and all.

But I've made an attempt to bring to the readers' notice the changing priorities in our lives. Sometimes running after money, we forget to use money.

It's good to have money and the things money can buy, but it's better to make sure, that while running behind money, you've not missed the things, that money can't buy...

I remember the dialogues by Vidya Balan from Lagey Raho Munnabhai.

शहर की इस दौडमें दौड के करना क्या है?

अगर यही जीना है दोस्तों, तो फ़िर मरना क्या है?

पहली बारिश में ट्रैन लेट होने की फ़िक्र है,

भूल गए,,, भीगते हुए टेहलना क्या है?

सीरियल के किरदारों का सारा हाल है मालूम,

पर मां का हाल पूछने की फ़ुरसत कहां है?

अब रेत पे नंगे पांव टेहलते क्युं नहीं,

१०८ है चैनल, पर दिल बहलते क्युं नही?

ईन्टर्नैट पे दुनिया से तो टच में है,

लेकिन पडोस में कौन रेहता है, जानते तक नहीं.

मोबाईल, लैन्डलाईन; सबकी भरमार है,

लेकिन जीगरी दोस्त तक पहुंचे, ऐसे तार कहां है?

कब डूबते हुए सुरज को देखा था, याद है?

कब जाना था, शाम का गुजरना क्या है?

तो दोस्तों, शहर की ईस दौडमें दौड के करना क्या है?

अगर यही जीना है दोस्तों, तो फ़िर मरना क्या है?

What can Education do???

This morning, I was writing a review for Bhumi (www.bhumichennai.org) for a national level competition of the non profit organizations. I wrote something about education, and something caught my attention.

India is suffering from Poverty, unemployment and a lot of other social problems. Let's have a series of Q&A. One guy is optimistic and visionary, whereas the other is pessimistic and stubborn. O for optimist and P for pessimist.

P: Poverty.

P: What's the solution?

O: Employment.

P: But we have unemployment.

P: Now what's the solution?

O: Create job opportunities.

P: How?

O: Be an entrepreneur.

P: Indian market has no space. Already thousands or even millions of degree holders are rendered jobless.

O: Even better. They all need employment, go and hire them in your organization.

P (taken aback, but maintains his stance): So many products are struggling to breathe in the market, there is no scope for further addition in market capital.

O (On a serious yet confident note): Indian market has the potential, it has yet not entered the consumerism phase, once that happens, brain drain will be towards India.

P (Confused): How is that possible?

O: Education.

P (Almost faints): What has education got to do with this?

O: Go back to the root of our discussion. India does not have the purchase power, otherwise it is one of the world's biggest markets.

India does not have the purchase power (money) because of poverty, and it is because of unemployment. This limits Indian market and prevents Indians from being wealthy.

P: What's the solution? Head to USA???

O: A vicious circle can be broken from inside only, not from outside.

P: Meaning?

O: Bring a cream of well educated, employable youth and a handful of experimentalist entrepreneurs, for this the government needs to educate the Indian population.

Educated population will get/create jobs, wealth and most importantly, purchase power. This will widen Indian market and lure investors from the west.

The bottomline remains EDUCATION has the power to do anything and everything.

P(Faints...): I am defeated.

Well, so all is well that ends well. Pessimism must faint.

I firmly believe, education has the power to transform the whole society. Along with creating job opportunities, it creates wealth and purchase power and widens the market, rather opens it to the class of people who have recently tested the fruits of success and are thriving to spend.

As said by many economists, spendthrifts are always a boon to the economy. This will be possible only by bringing all the Indians on the same platform, i.e. by educating them. Government may not be able to do it so effectively because of many valid and invalid reasons, but let us not hesitate.

Yes, once again I am coming back to the same old story that I have been scripting and wrapping differently everytime, EDUCATE THE CHILDREN. THEY ARE THE FUTURE. DO WHATEVER IT TAKES.

Child Labour

I would try to write this blog as a case study rather than piling up heavy statements.

I found a study carried out by Sabah Saeed in 2002. I've pasted the text below from the webpage http://www.boloji.com/society/0035.htm. You may like to go through.

According to a 1996 report (quoting UNICEF and ILO as sources), the number of child laborers in India can be anywhere between 14 to 100 million children! Most of these children work in homes as domestic help. The rest in industries such as bidi making, carpet weaving, football sewing, cracker making to name a few.

• For the year 2000 the ILO projected the number of economically active children in India to be 13,157,000 out of which 5,992,000 were girls between the ages of ten to fourteen.
  (ILO, International Labor Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
• Based on the number of non-school going children and families living in destitution CACL estimated that there are between 70 and 80 million child laborers in India. (CACL, "An Alternative Report on the Status of Child Labor in India", submission to the UN CRC, September-October 1999)
• In 1998 South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS) estimated the number of child laborers in India to be 60 million while the ILO estimated it to be 44 million.
  (SACCS, Kailash Satyarthi, personal communication, 1998)
  (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998)
• As many as 100 million boys and girls are believed to be working in homes and factories across India, many in conditions akin to slavery.
  (ECPAT, "Child Labor Ruling Provokes Scorn", Bulletin, Vol. 4/1, 1996-97)
• Most of the 87 million children, not in school, do housework, work on family farms, work along side their parents as paid agricultural labor, work as domestic servants, or are employed in industries which utilize child labor such as hand-knotted carpets, gemstone polishing, brass and brass metal articles, glass and glassware, footwear, textiles, silk and fireworks.
  (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)

After these hard facts, a little of introspection.

Imagine a nice Sunday evening.

The kid has just finished the exhaustive homework.

Ideal scene for a nice family dinner in a lavish restaurant followed by a McSwirl in McDonalds.

Dinner and ice cream are over.

The family comes out and opens the doors of the car.

At the same time the kid asks the parents to buy him a balloon.

There is a balloon vendor on the road, almost of the same age as the kid in our story.

What happens next, depends on us. Put yourself in the condition of the kid's father/mother, what will you do?

The obvious answer will be buy a balloon.

Friends, spend a moment of silence, a moment of purity with you alone. What will you lose if you talk a few words of wisdom with the poor kid, if you motivate him/her to study, and finally, help him/her to study?

Kids are the future of the society, as funnily said in a proverb, they are the banks, where we can deposit our goodwill, and get it back with interest when we need.

I would request everyone to go through my post on Distribute Luck. http://ashutoshjani.blogspot.com/2009/08/distribute-luck-rather-share-luck.html

What is the fault on the kid's part to have been born in a poor family?

No fault.

Then why should he/she suffer?

By taking the responsibility of educational expenses of a child, you will merely lose 1% of your monthly salary or even less, but that will boost up someone's whole life.

Poor and illiterate parents will never send their kids to schools, because they do not understand the importance of education. It is we people who should take it up, because if we don't, these kids will grow up and will not let their kids go to the school.

Misfortune, illiteracy or poverty should not be hereditary. The vicious cycle can be broken by us only, by the very few privileged people in the country who have access to various resources, and that too, in excess.

You may not have an inclination towards philanthropy, but you can at least refrain yourself from encouraging child labour.

Please do not employ young boys or girls as domestic servants, explain the importance of education to their parents, and if possible help them out.

Poor parents will never be ready to spend something for education along with bearing a loss in income by the kids not working. All preachings and suggestions will go in vain. Someone needs to help the family financially and help the kids morally.

P.S. I doubt, there are a few kids working in the mess, canteen and various cafeterias in IIT Madras. I've written to the dean, and intend to ensure proper quality school education for these kids. Will keep you updated.

Dedicated to dear BAPU

Finally the wait is over.

Yes; for the last few days I was wondering as to what topic I should write on. Finally I've found a socially relevant topic. What better topic than Mahatma Gandhi can be on 2nd Oct?

To begin with, I would say that right from childhood, I've always found Bapu as an inspiring character and a role model. In other words, I would say, he meant God to me. My opinions may be a little prejudiced, but I'll try my best to put some logical work here. This post will be very long. Read only if you dare, and if you do, please read the whole post.

A mascot of truth and nonviolence, preacher and follower of the same, gifted us two biggest weapons ever. Truth in a broader sense comes from honesty, and nonviolence comes from compassion. Both clubbed together, they refer to the respect towards the existence of various forms of life. Apart from his role in Indian independence movement, I would like to pay him the tribute by remembering the scavenging of mediocre, superstitious Indian society then (now also, as the vices like untouchability and religious narrowminded still prevail in rural India, and partly in urban India too).

This ambassador of human rights not only tossed the term harijan, but also toiled to bring all the Indians on the same platform, irrespective of the cast, colour, religion, region or gender. As a kid, I always had faith in truth, but I could never understand nonviolence. If someone slaps me on right side of the face, instead of giving it back to him (with interest), why should I turn the left side of the face towards him? Am I coward? Am I weak? No, turning the left side makes me brave and strong. (Implement this once, it does ask for courage) By doing so, you're belittling the confidence of the other person, you are probably opening the window for the person to give a second thought to his deeds, or giving him an extra opportunity to regret over his unjustifiable actions. Everyone has a sensitive human being inside. For some, he is wide awake, for some, he is deep asleep. By turning left side of your face, you are trying to ring an alarm, which may awake the asleep sensitivity in the violent's heart, and set higher standards of nonviolence, self respect and satisfaction for you.

We all are impatient to some extent, and when we don't get the desired reaction of our violent action, we tend to repeat it once or twice, to boost the evil ego in ourselves, but when we see our actions too tiny to provoke any reactions, it hampers our confidence and superficial belief in violence. It makes us rethink; and those of us, who really rethink, get to know the power of nonviolence. This attainuation of self education is called enlightenment by the likes of Buddha, Mahavir and Osho. (The controversies about Osho are beyond the scope of this blog, it may come in another separtate blog.)

So this was all about truth and nonviolence. Now let us look into Mahatma Gandhi's personal and political life.

Hats off. That's all that comes to my mind.

Someone coming from a comparatively rich family of those times, accepted the minimal of dressing, the minimal of food and sacrificed personal life completely for the sake of national independence and harmony. Harilal Gandhi (Bapu's eldest son) felt that his father shirked from his duties. The poor chap could not understand the concept of वसुधैव कुटुंबकम (वसुधा एव कुटुंबकम meaning the world itself is a family). To some extent he could be right, as a busy national activist may not have been able to spend enough time for the family, and the children could have suffered from frequent ups and downs in the parents' lives; but you cannot have both hands full. One has to choose between a good personal life for the farewell of one's family or a public life for the farewell of the whole human race including one's family without any special preferences. Once again the latter may not be accepted by one's family, as happened in case of Harilal Gandhi. So, one may end up in having a conflict with a family member. The reason could be, improper or insufficient intellectual or philosophical interaction between a father and a son. Accusation lies on both, majorly on father for failing to imbibe necessary qualities in the son, but when the whole country calls him Bapu (father), the son could have had his mind prejudiced and adament.

As a child Mohandas was an average boy, in terms of studies as well as morals. He was afraid of darkness, a little believer in superstitions, and to prove the proverb A MAN IS KNOWN BY THE COMPANY HE KEEPS, he did something that was not acceptable in the conservative, god fearing society of Porbandar. He tasted alcohol, meat and stole a golden ornament from his own house.

I am not trying to criticize the father of the nation. Above, I have made an attempt to show that the qualities which are epitomized by Mahatma Gandhi were not dominant in his childhood nature, they were somewhere deep down in his mind, and probably god fear borne and lacking the basis of philosophy and logic. A bit off the topic, but I would ask, if being an average child he can achieve such heights, why can't we? Ponder over this. Probably we never stole anything from home, never consumed alcohol or meat, or never even thought of doing so; then what distinguishes thousands of Indians from Mahatma Gandhi???

It is the courage.

The courage to practise what you believe in. The courage to abstain from temporary temptations refraining one from conquering the ultimate aim. He was a firm believer of truth and non violence, and he never refrained from practising them anywhere. We all have different different priorities in life, his priority was his principles, with which no compromise was allowed to be made, he compromised with many aspects of one's social life, but never compromised with the ethics. A dedication towards something comes only when you are fully convinced of it. Doublemindedness about prioritization never pays. So, in order to make a mark in something, in order to make your own identity, you need to be convinced and aware of your activities.

There's one more issue, I want to address. I am seeing so many people cursing Bapu these days. I have nothing to say but a polite request. Clean up your mind completely, make it a blank book and go through My experiments with truth. If even after reading this book with a mind without any complexes, if you feel your opinions unchanged, I would love to have a discussion here, but if you can't clean up your prejudices, and keep on currsing the father of the nation, it would be like throwing sand towards the sun. Understand friends, sand is not going to cover up the sun, it will just stop the sunlight from reaching to you only. The benefits will go to one and all, provided you are ready for reception. One more suggestion to anti Gandhi people, if you feel like abusing him, why don't you let your actions speak instead of your words? Why don't you do something commendable and put your opinion forward then? It will contain more mass.

Suspense............ Please read through

It's a closed box. You are kept inside like a prisoner. You can move around for a couple of yards, not more.

Your life is going to end in the compartment only, because someone likes the way you act and behave inside the box and is watching you and is deriving sadistic pleasure out of it.

This is not some description of a recent horror movie. I've just made a modest attempt to put yourself into the shoes of a fish caught in the aquarium.

The small gold coloured fishes look beautiful when they sail through the water in the animated atmosphere, it sends signals of happiness; but do we ever wonder what cost is paid for this happiness? And by whom?

If you think, you're a firm believer in non-violence, go to the core of it. Introspect your day to day activities and find out smallest of the smallest forms of violence in them. Violence broadly may be meant as termination of life, but when you try and understand the term, it tells you much more. Violence, in my opinion means restricting the natural way of living of any living being. Daily we plunge ourselves into so many activities, that do contain micro forms of violence, I would urge all to refrain.

e.g. Aquarium

Circus show

Zoo

Leather Accessories

Just give it a thought........... One animal is slaughtered, just to make you look trendy. How far is this justifiable? It's terrible, awful, disgusting.

Close your eyes in an isolated room and put yourself into the shoe of the victim (animal; I guess if you're a filthy animated creature supporting violence, you would not be reading so far, so don't laugh) and feel the agony. You will vomit out. Please make a resolve now only to eradicate any form of violence from your life.

LIVE AND LET LIVE.

P.S. (PreScript) There will be no particular sequence in this post. It'll be completely unorganized.

It's 3:49am and I just finished watching my most favourite movie for the second time. A Wednesday. The dialogue keeps taking rounds in my mind: THEY ASKED US THIS QUESTION ON A FRIDAY, REPEATED IT ON A TUESDAY, I AM JUST REPLYING ON A WEDNESDAY.

What a way to deal with terrorists..... I really wonder, can it really happen? Rather I wonder, should it happen? To put it explicitly, should there be a need for it to happen???

Religion, as per wikipedia's definition means an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendent quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power, God or gods, or ultimate truth.

The words that caught my attention are HUMAN, LIFE and TRUTH. To put the definition in a simple language instead of the jargons, we may say that Religion teaches one to live life truthfully and respect humanity and forms of life.

True, religion is a way to construction, not to destruction, as preached by the religious leaders and analysts, religions are different roads towards a common destination. I feel very sad to see Islam being connected to terrorism, few worms have successfully eaten up the faith in the world's second largest religion in terms of devotees. Where are we heading towards? How long shall we keep on generalizing the specified incidents? It may look awkward to someone seeing a non muslim writing about Islam, but I'm not deliberately writing anything, fingers are simply translating what I feel, I started off with an intension to write about inefficiency of administrative system to curb terrorism, but then thought, it's expressed better in the movie.

Few excerpts from wikipedia.

jihād is a noun meaning "struggle."

According to scholar John Esposito, Jihad requires Muslims to "struggle in the way of God" or "to struggle to improve one's self and/or society".

Jihad is directed against Satan's inducements.

And we see the same word being used by Satan. ('Satan' as a name for the Devil. Again from wikipedia). The only way to improve the scenario comes from fighting terrorism, irrespective of who is inducing it. Attack on WTC was terrorism, so was attack on innocent people of Iraq, where so many houses were looted, civilians were amputated, women were raped. Whatever was done with the devotees in Godhra was wrong, so were the reaction.

Massacre or a single stabbing, nothing can be justified, termination of any form of life on any scale is unacceptable. Ruthless killing is preached by no religion, and those preaching it should be treated as traitors and terminated.

Finally coming to the governmental aspects.

Is really our Police force on a par with terrorists, or even burglars when it comes to technology or weapons or alertness? Look at the fat policemen, I doubt, they can even run 200m comfortably. With these forces, it is too much demanding.

It is 4:39am now, and I'm leaving my room, heading towards Marina Beach (Chennai) to see the sun rise. Let us hope the same sun brings happiness, and more importantly, honesty and humanity to the humans.

Signing off.......

Distribute Luck (Rather Share Luck)

A little bit of Mech Engg stuff.

Heat flows from high temperature to low temperature.

Fluid flows from high potential energy state to low potential energy state.

Thus nature always tries to bring an equilibrium.

We are lucky. Many people are not. So Luck should flow from us to them.

Weird???

No.

If you are reading this blog, you're lucky. I'm not blowing my trumpet, but I'm trying to make it clear that you being aware that something called blog exists, you being familiar to computer, you being able to understand English, you being able to read and write, you are LUCKY.

If you're still confused about you being lucky, or if you have qualms about not being Luckier, here's the explanation.

We all have studied well, we're doing well in our respective fields. Whom should the credits go to?

Our hardwork, dedication, motivation, intelligence (and so many more abstract nouns to follow)?

Or our luck?

I would say LUCK.

Had you been born in a slum? Would you ever have thought of blogging? Forget blogging, would you have been able to earn enough to make your two ends meet? Would you have studied more than 5 or 6 years of schooling???

All you could imagine, or dream would be a job on a construction site, a job of a helper on a tea stall or household servant.

I guess I've made my point clear. Since our parents were educated and self sufficient, we are what we are. Even the series of abstract nouns mentioned above also originates from here only. What if you had not been able to see the face of the school, you would be dumb.

And being born somewhere is purely a matter of luck. So lucky people, please share your luck. By luck I mean, the opportunities that you had got and many kids are not getting, the awareness that you had had, but the other kids are not having.

If you really want to see India shining, invest your energy in educating the kids in the right manner.

Once Hon. former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalaam had mentioned in a speech at Vallabh Vidyanagar (Gujarat) that the main asset of India is kids, the reason economic journals are shouting about India being the super power is the coming generation. He said that among all the potential countries in the world, India is the youngest when it comes to average age. So, we do have the power, what we need to do is to sharpen the edge.

Apparently, the future of the nation is kids. They have the strength to transform the whole country. Please spend your leisure time in educating the kids who do not get the exposure to the current academic scenario due to monetary or social reasons.

If you have the doubts about how you can start the ground work, please visit http://www.makeadiff.in/ or http://www.bhumichennai.org. Make a difference is the initiative started nationwide and Bhumi is a Chennai based NGO which is working on many socially relevant issues in and around Chennai.

Benevolence is a sky without horizon. There is so much of room. We just need to fit ourselves somewhere and start working for the upliftment of the country.

If you do some constructive work in this regard, I think it will be the best way to celebrate the Independence Day.

Wishing you all a very Happy Independence Day. Jai Hind.