The miles to go before I sleep...

  • Start teaching science at school and incorporate demo
  • Research, design, implement comprehensive teaching module on science, civic sense
  • Interview social change agents working @ ground level
  • Pilot peer-to-peer teaching programme

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Scaffold: Mixed Bag

Culture:
An article about the city in Tamil Nadu build around a magnificiant temple.. Madurai from The Hindu

A look into numerous and unique chariots of temples of Tamil Nadu. Another special from The Hindu

A French musician inspired by Indian Cine Music.. from Times of India

Life:

The disgrace of killing precious life by carelessness..A MUST READ! . The Hindu

Disadavantaged children find a chance in BornFree Art School. Deccan Herald

Health:

Women's Health: A clarification on Dilatation and Curettage D&C and why its done The Hindu

A good news for diabetics Deccan Herald

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Is Hindi Compulsary?

The most memorable journey I have ever had in my life was when I was just a eleven-year-old. A pilgrimage package trip to the holy Badrinath (it feels so great to be named after Him), which included various other places along the banks of the holy Ganga such as Hrishikesh, Haridwar and the sangam of Alaknanda and Bhagirati rivers apart from Mathura, Delhi, Agra (Taj!!!)...whew! the list is long! I have never been spell bound for days together before or after that.

The temples looked new. The idols glimmered with radiance. Every where I went, lush green Himalayas blocked the horizon from my view. When we were in the foot the mountain range, the Ganga (and once Yamuna!) formed the foreground. When we were scaling the mountains (by bus of course!), we saw her flow beside us down below! The sun god would show its bright orange smile, often beyond the mountains. Peacocks were as common as crows in Delhi. The pinacle of all? Snow! For the first time in my life! The only sad thing about the trip was that I knew I can never feel that great again! Deam childhood! Once again!

One other thing that made the journey different was that for the first time in my life, I used my bookish Hindi language skills. In Utter Pradesh and (surprisingly) in Delhi, we frequently ran into people who do not speak or understand English very well.

When I came to the US for my master's education, I came across what seams like a traditional North-South language divide. I had some painful experience with closest of my friends calling me non-patriotic as a result. In another instance another guy from up north started speaking in hindi. I was held up in my own thoughts and wasn't listening. I said, "Pardon?". He frowned and said "Oh! You are not Indian?". I left the scene, without speaking another word. Till date I don't know if he was being rude or if he honestly thought that an Indian always should know Hindi.

Hindi is our national language. I accept it whole-heartedly. Should it be spread to all the nook and corner of the country? Sure. A common suggestion and a point of contention is that it has to be made mandatory in the educational system. Do I agree? Well, if thats the only way, yes. But I feel that its a little bit of a socialistic attitude. Its like saying, every Indian must know the fundamental rules of hockey.

My take on it is, every school affiliated to the state board or central board must be encouraged to offer hindi, the mother tongue and english. But I feel that exept for the medium of instruction the rest should be optional. As the largest democracy, it only makes sense to offer people their right (to learn the language they want) and leave the choice up to them. After all, most of the Indians choose to follow cricket over hockey because they have choice.

As a person born and brought up in Chennai, and as a person with more or less as many hindi speaking friends as tamilians, I have had the previllege of looking at both the sides of the coin with a fair degree of clarity. I feel that my suggestion will go a long way in solving the core reason for a needless difference of opinion.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Scaffold: Horror!

Mine kills US soldiers in Iraq

A full list of Emergencies all over the world in Reuter

A father kills his daughther and friend in IUSA. For what? Disobedience!
India and Pakistan are building friendship, so what? People in Kashmir still die.
  1. Reuters
  2. Daily Times, Pakistan
  3. Forbes
Woman loses her hand trying to stop child marriage in India Guardian

Killings in Iraq, a front-page web-exclusive
editorial

I chose this simply because, I have something important coming up and knew that there will be plenty available to save me some time.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Special Mention: Victoria Hale

Few people become successful entrepreneurs. Fewer still think about helping the poor. Fewer still have it as a first priority One such person is Victoria Hale. She is the founder of world's only non-profit pharmaceutical company. OneWorld. A story in The Economist

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Scaffold: India

NY Times news item on india's networking market

Can India shed the poverty monkey from its back?
NY Times analysis.

A good coverage of business and politcal news about india in BusinessWeek
  1. Dogfight Over India
  2. From Cricket to Kashmir?
  3. India: Bigger Pharma
Forbes' list of India's 40 richest! (photo from Forbe's Magazine)


Medicine in India is cheap and effective...and slowly noticed in the internationally.. here is an example from The Hindu

Disclaimer: All the news links from this or any post in this blog is simply obtained by using Google search. I don't get paid for posting any link. I don't mean to force anybody to read any article over the other. I don't mean to breach any copyright rules. If I do breach any that you know, before going to the lawyer, let me know in clear terms what I am breaching and what I should change (Not that I have millions to give away) .

Sunday, May 01, 2005

Test Post!