Well, here I am watching the news and I see the court telling the students to stop striking, ministers telling the students to stop agitating, the Prime Minister and President of India appealing to people to stop agitating .................. But I don’t see anyone telling Arjun Singh to stop talking nonsense!!!!
Why do I call it nonsense???
He says we will make it 50% reservation. When we strike he says we will increase the number of seats so that the general merit students are not losing out. New seats are being created, but we are told that "NO!!! You can't have that seat. Its reserved." So if we aren’t losing out who is?
We complained that the quality of education would decline, he says he will hire more staff. Well, I have a different opinion. I have personally seen in my branch, back in KREC/NITK that even though we have a sanctioned staff of X members, we are much below that value, since the GOVERNMENT HASN'T GIVEN THE GO AHEAD TO ADVERTISE for those vacancies. I'm not talking about a week or a month. I'm talking of it being delayed for more than a YEAR.
Also, the original constitution envisioned only ten years of reservation to help the lower castes escape the atrocities that had been committed towards them. This has been extended for more than 50 years now. If it hasn't been possible in 5 times the set time limit, isn't it a valid point that the whole idea itself is inherently flawed???
However, I have a larger complain. Over the last few weeks of this controversy, I have seen thousands of chain letters and article FORWARDED against this reservation. But, I haven't seen this translate into more people actively working against this. Does our responsibility end with saying, no this is wrong???????
I see a lot of communities springing up all over the place like its the dot com boom. Everyone is saying this is wrong, we will do this, we will do that. But are we going to be able to sustain this???? I see medical students taking on the ridiculous policy, but I hardly see any engineering students take part in this. Are we also not going to be affected by this??? Or are we just going to sit back and say, no I’m on holiday, I’m not going to ruin my vacation on it???
Our very future is at stake and we say to hell with it, let me enjoy my holidays??? This, I believe, is the very reason why our country is going to the dogs. We expect divine intervention to sort out all our problems.
Arise, my friends. Its still not to late. Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.
30 May 2006
15 May 2006
The Generation Awakes?
Sometime back I watched an amazing movie called Rang De Basanti by Omprakash Mehra. I'm sure many of you would have too. Considering that it was one of the hit films this year catch line rang "The Generation Awakes" and I believed that it was just that. A catch line. Where will any one of us take on our politician?
Well, I guess am not the only one. Come elections and I have seen my own friends say, who will go and stand in the hot sun to vote? What will my one vote do? Elections? I haven't even enlisted myself on the electoral rolls. Let alone waste my time choosing between The Devil and The Deep Sea.
Guess as we sow, so shall we reap. Since we are not willing to clean up the mess, its only getting messier. Though everyone is busy playing politics in his or her own small way, no one is interested in entering mainstream politics that decides the fate of our billion strong country. Thus we ended up with a political "LEADER" coming up with the reservation of 50% of the seats in the IIM's and IIT's.
The furore that this has caused is amazing. Suddenly students everywhere seem to have woken up to defend our coveted portals of higher education. The demonstrations, the articles, the slogans, the interviews its mind boggling. Has the generation finally woken up? Our we going to try the clean up this mess in the corridors of power? Or am I just getting carried away by the media hype that I, oh so recently, criticized? I hope it is the former. I dream that maybe we can recreate the situation in Nepal where the autocratic rule was brought to its knees by a powerful public outcry. Or am I just dreaming ????
P.S. If you would like to check out what you could do to help, u might want to take a look at project coffee
Well, I guess am not the only one. Come elections and I have seen my own friends say, who will go and stand in the hot sun to vote? What will my one vote do? Elections? I haven't even enlisted myself on the electoral rolls. Let alone waste my time choosing between The Devil and The Deep Sea.
Guess as we sow, so shall we reap. Since we are not willing to clean up the mess, its only getting messier. Though everyone is busy playing politics in his or her own small way, no one is interested in entering mainstream politics that decides the fate of our billion strong country. Thus we ended up with a political "LEADER" coming up with the reservation of 50% of the seats in the IIM's and IIT's.
The furore that this has caused is amazing. Suddenly students everywhere seem to have woken up to defend our coveted portals of higher education. The demonstrations, the articles, the slogans, the interviews its mind boggling. Has the generation finally woken up? Our we going to try the clean up this mess in the corridors of power? Or am I just getting carried away by the media hype that I, oh so recently, criticized? I hope it is the former. I dream that maybe we can recreate the situation in Nepal where the autocratic rule was brought to its knees by a powerful public outcry. Or am I just dreaming ????
P.S. If you would like to check out what you could do to help, u might want to take a look at project coffee
11 May 2006
Media Hype
Have u ever noticed how every disaster "Is the WORST EVER disaster to occur since *insert a period of time here*"? Do they fully comprehend the meaning of EVER?
I find it ironic when the media complains that people have become insensitive to the suffering of others. Tell me, everydays headlines talks about so many people have died, so many people injured, so many people killed etc etc and u expect them to react?
With 24 hour news channels having nothing to show and competing with a thousand other channels haven't they ended up losing the essence of what they are? I mean, they are supposed to be the watchdogs of the society and the ones forming public opinion. But right now they seem to be only interested in ratings, gaining a greater audience and hence greater revenues.
Front pages of newspapers showing starving kids and mutilated bodies. Is that what we wish to get up to? Start each morning with the horrors of the world we live in?? Wouldn't it be better if we got up to news of how someone helped making the world better? Some act of courage or bravery? Inspiring stories rather than depressing ones?
I'm not saying don't report whats happening. Just present it better. With these pictures of dead terrorists buried deep inside a paper or at the end of a broadcast ( why have pics at all?). Can't we have stuff like Readers Digest's Everyday Heros or people trying to make a difference? Am i asking for too much???
edit: A friend of mine sent me a link to another blog that has a related post.
I find it ironic when the media complains that people have become insensitive to the suffering of others. Tell me, everydays headlines talks about so many people have died, so many people injured, so many people killed etc etc and u expect them to react?
With 24 hour news channels having nothing to show and competing with a thousand other channels haven't they ended up losing the essence of what they are? I mean, they are supposed to be the watchdogs of the society and the ones forming public opinion. But right now they seem to be only interested in ratings, gaining a greater audience and hence greater revenues.
Front pages of newspapers showing starving kids and mutilated bodies. Is that what we wish to get up to? Start each morning with the horrors of the world we live in?? Wouldn't it be better if we got up to news of how someone helped making the world better? Some act of courage or bravery? Inspiring stories rather than depressing ones?
I'm not saying don't report whats happening. Just present it better. With these pictures of dead terrorists buried deep inside a paper or at the end of a broadcast ( why have pics at all?). Can't we have stuff like Readers Digest's Everyday Heros or people trying to make a difference? Am i asking for too much???
edit: A friend of mine sent me a link to another blog that has a related post.
7 May 2006
mundane musings
Passing out of the county's "top colleges" in three weeks and thinking what were the people who gave this ranking thinking?
Its been 4 years of lots of ups and downs. Its been filled with interaction with a wide cross section of people. From Kashmir to ........"yada yada yada". But what have i learnt?????
Well. If u allow every Tom, Dick and Harry to put meaningless nonsense into your head, your going to end up worse than a robot.Most of the stuff in the syllabus can easily be accessed at any time from the internet. But there have been the exceptional gurus who have taught me to think. To think, to create my own own thoughts and to confidantly express them. And what better way than to blog????
Its been 4 years of lots of ups and downs. Its been filled with interaction with a wide cross section of people. From Kashmir to ........"yada yada yada". But what have i learnt?????
Well. If u allow every Tom, Dick and Harry to put meaningless nonsense into your head, your going to end up worse than a robot.Most of the stuff in the syllabus can easily be accessed at any time from the internet. But there have been the exceptional gurus who have taught me to think. To think, to create my own own thoughts and to confidantly express them. And what better way than to blog????
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