The Fallen Family

This is a poem which I wrote about a year ago... I ... er... think that I tried to make the first letters of each word form separate words together. But obviously, that worked only for the first stanza. :)

In the sky above the sun shines
No speck of cloud, night very far away
Deep in sleep however are my brothers
In their dreams, unaware of the fray.
Awake brothers, for the time has come

Our family needs to be saved
Saved from enemies and all those
Obstructing our path of glory paved
By our ancestors, our great heroes

Who fought when they were enslaved
And many a struggle did they brave,
In the hope that one day our family
Would rise up, to it's past glory.
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The Antonym of Indifference...

'I must do something' always solves more problems than 'Something must be done'

This is one of those remarkable videos which speak the truth about what we really need in India. It shows the importance of unity and the will to do something.

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India's Education System - Why it needs reforms

"We are students of words: we are shut up in schools, and colleges, and recitation-rooms, for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bag of wind, a memory of words, and do not know a thing."  ~ R. W. Emerson

 

Education is one of the fundamental rights in India now. Though to how much extent that right is being delivered to people is a matter of extreme concern, we also need to think about the standards of education in our country first. Many say the Indian education system is one of the finest. I disagree. I think that statement has got it wrong because of two reasons: One, the education system for India isn’t the same throughout the country and two, the syllabus or portions may be really good – not the system as a whole.

First things first, there is no common board of syllabus for all the schools in India so basically, there’s nothing as the ‘Indian Education system’. Maybe we can call it the ‘Set of all education systems in India’ or something of that sort. However, I’m not sure if India needs a common education system or not. Think about it…

Ambitions & Dreams - What's Your Priority?

“Success is only another form of failure if we forget what our priorities should be.” ~ Harry Lloyd

It’s easy when you are 25. At that time, you’ll either be a winner or a loser in what you’ve done so far and the path ahead will be quite clear – either keep on trying or change the field. But when you’re 16 and have a major turning point ahead… a point which can decide what you’re going to do when you are 25, it’s a lot tougher. You are usually torn between the need to keep your dream glowing and the need to keep your heart where everyone else says it should be. You keep playing the game by the rules others had set, just like a helpless 6-year old kid. No matter how boring and uneventful the game gets, everyone urges you to stick on to it, because that’s what really matters, when it comes to your future.

Caste System – The Prevailing Curse

The title suggests that the caste system in India is a lethal curse, but there’s something fascinating about its history that we cannot deny the fact that at some point of time in the ancient past, it was more of a boon to the society of those days.

It’s a common belief that the caste system was established many centuries ago. Hinduism was more of a culture back then and people were set jobs according to their behavior, conduct, knowledge, mental states and capabilities [or so, I believe]. Even in the Bhagavad-Gita, it’s stated that God set the caste system on the basis of gunas and karma. So anyone who is rational can understand that the castes didn’t define the social standards of a person. They simply defined what sort of work a person can do, that will help him achieve his true potential. It’s a simple idea: Imagine what would happen if a person who has a calculative, money-making mind gets into nation-building [which is completely different from what he is most adept at].

Skit Based on Corruption - Class Presentation

This is the play which we enacted for our [XI 'A'] class presentation a few weeks back. The play was written by two of us [Karthiga and I] and well... I thought it was worth posting it here, as it's about the most frequently discussed topic everywhere - Corruption.

Narrator: It’s August 14th, the day before the Independence Day and the day looked beautiful and promising. One lady is seen amongst the crowd. Though she looked like any normal woman, her noble and dignified demeanor set her apart from everyone else in the place. Yet, people went by without even throwing a glance at the stately lady. For some reason, she is invisible to their eyes. She is the Bharat Mata. Yes, the Mother of India. As she crossed a building, she heard some voices and stopped to listen.

The Great Indian Dream by Malay & Arindam Chaudhuri - Review

I’ve already mentioned in one of the posts that I had read the book ‘The Great Indian Dream’. In my honest opinion, it was really a very illuminating and interesting read, so I thought of writing a review for the work. The book is from the author of a best-seller [Count Your Chickens before They Hatch]. Now I haven’t read that one, or I would give a review of that book too.

Dr. Malay Chaudhuri is the founder of the Indian Institute of Planning & Management, and Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri [his son] is a well-known Economist, also a dean at IIPM.This book, The Great Indian Dream [I’ll call it TGID from now on] is all about the problems, or rather challenges faced by India and how the nation can overcome them. The cover of the book describes it as a must-read for every Indian and also speaks about how it is all about restoring pride to a betrayed nation.

Scams Cram the Country

There have been lots of scams in the news lately… some of them capable of making even the least-concerned man downright indignant. Before anyone even attempts to figure out the reason for so many appalling scams rocking the country and how they can be stopped, one has to know a lot about them. In other words, one has to do homework and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing… No matter how unforgivably shameful these scams are, I can’t deny that it has been rather interesting to read about them… and even more fascinating to write about them… mainly because these scams [in my opinion] are not diseases in themselves. They are just symptoms of a greater ailment called CORRUPTION.

The most buzzing news is about the former telecom minister A. Raja’s resignation. Contrary to the popular misconception, the former union minister did not stash away all the lost cash [1.7 lakh crore] in some Swiss Bank account. He had actually allocated the 2G spectrum to companies for a very low cost, which resulted in a loss of about Rs. 1, 70, 000 crores [that’s about the total expenditure that had been planned in the Union Budget for the years 2008-2009] for the Government [technically the loss of tax-payers’ money].

About Email-ing Collectors and Convictions

We sent this mail regarding banning plastic bags to about 8 collectors via mail [Collrnmk@tn.nic.in, collrpdk@tn.nic.in, collrpmb@tn.nic.in, collrrmd@tn.nic.in, collrthn@tn.nic.in, collrslm@tn.nic.in, collrtnj@tn.nic.in and collrtlr@tn.nic.in]. Honestly speaking, I'm not expecting anyone to even notice these emails, but hey... there's no harm in trying. And who knows... something short of a miracle could happen. Anyways, guess we'll have to thank our English teacher for the initiative. She sure did encourage us.

It's fascinating how some people just hold on to convictions... no matter how hopeless their causes may seem. There was this man waiting for 30 years because he refused to yield to corruption and then there's our English teacher... It's not really an unfair comparison - she has been sending mails every day for the past few years and hasn't given up yet [though there have never been any replies/reactions from the receivers' end].
She even said once: "I don't believe in giving up on my convictions... That's why they are called convictions."

Producers Vs Traders

“To take something from a person and keep it for oneself: that is robbery. To take something from one person and then turn it over to another in exchange for as much money as you can get: that is business. Robbery is so much more stupid, since it is satisfied with a single, frequently dangerous profit; whereas in business it can be doubled without danger.” ~ Octave Mirbeau, Torture Garden

Consider a farmer ‘A’. He gets up early in the morning, goes to his farm and works like hell. He is bent over backwards with all the farm work he does [if he is poor]. And suppose he is rich, all the physical toil is turned into mental struggle – labor charges, cost of fertilizers, cost of seed/seedlings, balancing costs, etc. Whether he is rich or not, one thing is clear – life sure isn’t easy for him without some sort of serious work. Then the time for harvesting comes and sure enough, he is pleased with the results and he tries to sell them. Suppose he sells the harvested stuff to a trader ‘B’ for Rs. 20 per kilo [let’s not bother with what or how much he’s selling]. The trader ‘B’ takes the merchandise to the city and sells it in the market for a higher price – Rs. 35 per kilo. Then the buyer in the market will sell it to the consumer for Rs. 45 per kilo.

Attitude of Indifference

"Indifference is harder to fight than hostility, and there is nothing that kills an agitation like having everybody admit that it is fundamentally right." 

 People's attitude of indifference has caused serious problems in the society today. Now, I would like to share a small story here, that shows the apathy and ignorant attitude of people.

It was a small village, and the people living there were found to be cheerless and unenthusiastic.The reason for their misery was because the village had an inadequate supply of milk. They were not able to feed milk to their children and were affected due to the scarcity of milk. So, the villagers discussed together and finally came to a conclusion that every person should pour a glass of milk into a big container kept common for the people. So that, with that amount of milk, the people's need for milk can be fulfilled. 

Skit Based on Environment and How it Affects Peace

This is the play which we enacted on stage on August 6th, World Peace Day:

Vaishu and Mahi are spending their hols at their grandmother’s. One day, the girls accompany their grandma to a nearby market. On the way, they pass a group of women jostling each other near a water pump. Two women were fighting for the handle of the pump…

Woman 1: What do you think you’re doing? I was here first!

Woman 2: No, you weren’t! Stop pushing me!

Woman 1: You devil, I have been waiting here for over an hour…

Woman 2: Get lost, you banshee!!

She tries to grab the handle and keeps the pot under the nozzle of the pump, but the first woman harshly pushes her away. She falls down and then gets up enraged. They start fighting very violently.

What does Freedom Mean?

Everyone talks about how India had got freedom 63 years ago... but has it really? I don't think so. It's not free yet, bound by the shackles of corruption, illiteracy and a hundred other ills. But then, what does freedom mean? When can we say that India has got total freedom? This piece got published in Hindu Young World [August 18, 2009]:

"When skills are valued more than money, when education achieves its goal of creating a change in every child, when votes are cast keeping the welfare of all in mind, when farmers smile at the face of drought and laugh at heaven's follies, when politicians care more for their country than for their parties, when one can walk into government offices and get jobs done without having to pay any 'extra money', then India will have got its real freedom.

True Education - Where Schools Fall Short

Preview

Edward Everett once said, “Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.”

What’s it that makes so many people lose patience, become intolerant, lose hope and seek the easier path, no matter how unjust it may be? It’s the lack of education. Well, as far as many of us are concerned, the word ‘education’ brings only science and algebra to the mind. But there is something more to learning that just that. There is the entire society’s value system in the hands of our educational institutions. What people are now, what they have become and what they believe in… all have their roots in the type of education those same people had received… the kind of schools they went to. So it’s not really an exaggeration to state that education can become the first step towards a whole new revolution of change.

Where did any of us get the passions for the stuff we do? More often, it’s from the things that happen at school, because that’s where all kids spend about one-fourth of their lives [we’re not taking into account the truants and the shirkers, of course]. More than math or literature, what one really learns at school is the skill of living. The kid learns to get along, to respect, to be tolerant, to work hard, to face failures & triumphs, to understand life, to value friendship and much more… These are small things which we learn along with all the complicated intellectual lessons from the text book, that most of our teachers were so keen to see us imbibe. But even when we forget the formulas and equations, it’s highly unlikely that we’ll forget those tiny lessons we learnt as we grew up.

The Journey of Change :)

This is an excerpt [the first chapter] of the story that we are writing together. The story is about five girls who go around India in search of fun and adventure, but return to discover something new in themselves after the tour. This is a combined effort and we hope it will be finished anytime before 2011. We have decided to call the book 'The Journey of Change'. :)

Not one passenger could pass by without throwing a look at that compartment which was filled with excitement, joy and laughter, in the midst of the drab looking compartments of the train. They passed with a smile, as they faintly recollected their own memories of teenage as they saw these five very lively girls. Through every station they passed, it was fun and frolic all the way. It was hard for any one of them to contemplate at that time how they had felt just a fortnight ago…

Police - Defenders of the Law... or are they?

“It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.” ~ Voltaire ~

In every Hollywood movie that involves someone getting arrested for some offense, one can see the cop handcuffing the offender, while saying, “You have the right to remain silent…” and so on. In every Bollywood and Kollywood movie I’ve seen, there is no time for the police men to talk. They catch hold of the criminal [I mean offender], push him into the police jeep [in Chennai it’s a car] and drive away to the police station. Later, in the station, they use their lathis to get any information the accused might be withholding. And then, when they had beaten the living daylights out of the poor guy, a lawyer appears and bails them out. Then they leave the station, with bruises and stuff. Now, one doesn’t have to be a genius to notice the difference between the former and latter scenarios.

Dreaming into the Future of India...{The Story of a Little Girl}

Imagine… It’s 2020 and things have changed in India. There’s a little girl coming out of her house. Let’s go along with her and see for ourselves how the India of the future is.

She steps outside, into the pleasant evening, her little hair flying as she skipped along the pavement. And as she skipped, a jingle of coins could be heard from inside her pocket. She goes to a shop, buys a lollipop. She tears the wrapper, puts it in a dustbin and licking her lolly, she continues to walk through the streets. As she went, she didn’t have to close her nose as vehicles crossed her. In fact, her nose wasn’t bothered at all… there were no open drains or piled up garbage or open-air fish markets or even those pesky junkyard dogs/cows. She went happily, concentrating only on her candy in hand.

Learning Lessons from Life...

Click for a bigger image

A little knowledge is dangerous. But then, ignorance kills. We know how ignorance has wrecked havoc across the Earth. Stories with painful morals are all over our history books. The trouble is, we don’t consider them as anything more than just stories. Let me put it in Haile Selassie’s words:

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”

It’s almost like insulting your intelligence to state here that indifference and inaction both rise only from a foundation of ignorance and lack of understanding. To believe that being ignorant is one’s right, would be like inviting injustice and serfdom on oneself. There’s no way ignorance can be ignored… none at all, especially if there are problems around [and we’ve got them in abundance, of course].

Ignorance simply means the lack of knowledge, but I believe it can also mean the termination of learning. When learning is stopped, we don’t stagnate… we tend to go down. It is curious how after a certain time, some of us just forget to learn.

Smoky and Noisy Diwali

Okay, I know I spoke a lot about Diwali in the last post, but right now, I want to talk about how Diwali, the festival of lights is fast becoming the festival of pollution [or it has, already]. It is true that this blog talks very little about the wonderful things in India and I'm sorry to be taking such a somber tone on such an auspicious day. But it isn't easy to ignore the numerous bangs and booms erupting all around... let alone the scare of walking or even driving on roads, for the fear of 'Lakshmi bombs' and 'atom bombs'. At night, the sounds are less in their decibels, but the noise is replaced by smoke. Smokes and fumes from all firecrackers and fireworks.

Happy Diwali!! :)

It’s the festival of lights! A time when everyone feels excited and happy for various reasons.

Some really pious and religious persons from the South feel liberated because it’s the day when the evil demon, Narakasura was killed. Other religious and pious persons from the North feel exhilarated because it’s the day when Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya after his epic 14-year struggle in the forest. Little boys and girls feel ecstatic because of the numerous exciting firecrackers waiting for them to burst. Bigger boys and girls [like me] love it for the new dresses and also the 4 days holidays that our schools grant. As for the older people who are too busy for both fun and religion, it’s about the sweets. So you can very well see how the reasons for celebrating Diwali differ not only from region to region, but also with age and even religion. Believe it or not, not only do the Hindus, Sikhs and Jains celebrate it, even people of other religions do [except for the pujas and other religious traditions]. It’s truly a time for pure fun!

So here’s wishing you the most bright and fun-filled Diwali ever!

P.S.
But do give a thought to the environment too... Those noisy crackers can really pollute the Earth like no other.

Dummy Post

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This is not a real post... More like a dummy one. It's just to claim this blog in Technorati, so that you can find us there too. :)

Fear of Being 'Goody-Goody'

The most interesting subject to study is the society. It’s just like an individual. It has a mind and mood of its own. But like all individuals, the society also suffers from various syndromes. You might have heard of the NIMBY syndrome. It’s an acronym for ‘Not In My Back Yard’. It’s used to commonly refer to the prevailing attitude of people in a community to ignore everything [even if it occurs right under their noses], unless it troubles them in some way. Now I’ve discovered another syndrome in many people [including myself] and I’ve decided to call it the ‘ING’ syndrome. It stands for – I’m Not Good. Well, it isn’t a very well-though out acronym, but I guess it brings out the meaning to some extent. What this syndrome refers to is how many people don’t do good stuff, not because they’re indifferent of the things happening around them, but because they’re afraid to be good. They’re afraid to be known as ‘goody two shoes’!

The Hidden Division

India is, of course, very diverse and that diversity itself is its greatest treasure. One can see mosques and temples standing majestically side-by-side, forcefully reminding us all about the splendid land of religious unity that is India. Leaders and achievers of all religions, castes and cultures, irrespective of minority or majority can be seen in every field. It’s always a proud feeling when we recollect how many incidences of unity and peace have taken place in a country of so many dissimilar people. But though we may bask in the sunshine of such beautiful and glorious moments, let’s not forget the shadows on the other side either. Apart from certain isolated, unfortunate events, there is still a hidden division, almost invisible in the eyes of many people, deeply rooted in the heart of the society. A division that is not often recognized and publicized by the media.

A Visit to an Orphanage - The Joy of Giving

It was rather an uncomfortable journey for us, as there was very little space left in the bus, with all the bags and boxes crammed, as if the extra passengers weren’t enough. But we didn’t really mind. Once the bus began to move through the streets, we could get some air and with all the prattling, laughing and singing [we were playing Atakshari], time just flew by, without any of us noticing it. We also spent some time secretly watching photos in Benita’s digital camera and teasing the passers-by and everyone else who were unlucky enough to appear in our minds at that time. Standing on the footboards and clutching onto the neighboring seats for support, the drive to the Birds Nest Girls’ Orphanage was quite fun… especially when the bus went over road bumps.