OverTea

OverTea - Retired!

2009-09-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

It has been over four years since I started blogging and OverTea is the first platform on which I have started expressing my views. Now the time has come for me to let my dear friend go.

Started as a platform for argument, though each post didn't really bring up one, OverTea has had a few posts which most certainly invited view points that starkly differed from its own. Some of my favourites were Mahabharata "controversy", B.E vs BSc, Of conservatism and liberalism, Why should a politician be selfless?, celebrating Gandhi.

Writing OverTea has been a great journey of discovery and education. I owe my association with ThinkChange India, NGOpost, the opinion I formed on many issues of public relevance to OverTea. Now, somewhere down the line I started BlackNike in a whimsical moment and not too long after that I realized that managing two personal blogs is redundant, and OverTea can very well fit into BlackNike. But after prolonged laziness today I integrated both the blogs under BlackNike. So, do visit BlackNike!

Though I have transferred all contents of OverTea into BlackNike and I won't write on this blog anymore, I just couldn't bring myself to delete the blog. After all, it does bring in fond memories.

Obituary: YSR

2009-09-02T23:42:00.000-07:00

It has been sometime since I have blogged in this site. But now is a good time to restart the discussion OverTea. After about a day's mystery finally we know that CM of Andhra Pradesh YSR has died in the chopper crash.

After he had taken over from Chandrababu Naidu as CM, a visionary credited to have ushered in an IT revolution in Hyderabad, YSR had done well not to root out the best of reforms the former CM brought in.

For example, the Velugu project to eliminate poverty renamed a Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) in YSR regime did very well to imrprove the rural poor's quality of life. The same example also points that he seems to have learnt from ostensible mistakes of Naidu too. Often Naidu election debacle after 9 years of rule was attributed to his "one-sided focus on the cities" and ignoring the poor. While the claim is arguable, YSR seems to have maintained the urban-rural development balance well. His own initiatives like Arogyashree (health care) and Indiramma housing programme seems to have been received well by the public.

In my own personal experience during my last 5 years of residence in Hyderabad, I find the municipality of Hyderabad as less corrupt and more proactive than any other municipalities I have found. So, all said and done, as a CM YSR did well, and Andhra Pradesh and the country at large is at a minor loss at his untimely death. May his soul rest in peace and hope his replacement is at least as good as he was.

Comment on WSJ's observation on NREGA

2009-06-22T22:57:00.000-07:00

From ThinkChange India I read an article on Wall Street Journal about India's poverty and specifically about NREGA. I commented in TC-I about the article which I am reproducing here.

Two things about WSJ's observation on NREGA

1. About moving beyond NREGA in the next 5 years (which helps survive but not escape poverty).

The author is correct about making NREGA less prominent and making training, infrastructure investment, more prominent. But given the imperfections in implementing NREGA (corruption), it would be too soon to expect the transition in the next 5 years. I suspect, it would leave a void that would be occupied by more corruption. "But is the government thinking about skill enhancement?" is the real question to face!

2. Transparency.

Well, there are concrete measures for transparency that are already delivering. For example, the wage payment are increasingly made as bank transfers to the worker rather than cash. Another example is making NREGA, RTI compliant. This empowers independent monitors like RTI activists. The Hindu Publication has followed NREGA very well. Links

The Hindu Magazine:

The Frontline survey in Jan 2009 edition: Go to "cover story" to the left of the page

My verdict on the election

2009-05-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

Now that the dust around the elections are beginning to settle after a surprise result at virtually every corner of the country, what has really come of it? A UPA government without the "support" of the nagging communist party. So, how is it going to be this time around? Better or worse?

CPI's absence should allow the UPA to be more decisive without getting into a big and often useless argument with an ally. But that may also make a big citizen activism only possible force to stop them from doing something that the society considers detrimental, and I believe the current UPA governemt has as lot of potential for that considering that there are a handful of incompetant and not-so-society-minded individuals and leadership qualities, like Azhagiri and A.Raja looking at cabinet ministries, that too ministries like IT - a sector that is almost unique selling point for India.

While I am glad that the openly non-secular BJP especially led by Advani is decisively routed out, I am simultaneously cautious about over-estimating the competence of current government. As almost in anything that has to do with India. We have to wait know what really is going to happen

Going green should be easier to cause desirable impact!

2009-04-24T05:38:00.000-07:00

I have come across enthusiastic appeals to contribute towards saving the environment by modifying the way I go about my everyday life. For example, I am piling up dozens of used batteries simply because I am yet to find an environmentally safe way of disposing them, even after actively searching for a recycling plant or safe-disposal facility close to Hyderabad. The same predicament applies to anything that can be connected to electricity from cellphone chargers to television sets. More importantly,

I find it very difficult to avoid using plastics. I buy juice in a tetrapack as against a plastic bottle, only to find that even they use plastic linings to make it waterproof. After little research I come to understand that there is no environmentally safe, affordable water-proofing alternative to plastics available to common man. If such a solution is not available, how is one going to avoid plastics?

Often those who make the transition to the green lifestyle would be forced to spend more on a regular basis!(either as cash or as time trying to figure out a green work-around). As a result, such a community will always be small. Worse, there will always be someone who says, "You know. Its too tough to be green" and will get back to the bad-old ways! (Consider the poor. They generate a lot of waste, but don't participate in waste management in proportion. But is it their fault?)

On the other hand even when solutions are available for an environmental problem, common man is not effectively sensitized. Consider the case of disposing kitchen wastes. Composting them to manure and using them as manure for plants is a tried and tested solution. However, the process of composting or the fact that such small compost bins are available in the market are known only the to environmentally conscious. Good intentions of appeals to be environmental consciousness not withstanding, a tangible impact can be achieved only if proven green alternatives are available and affordable so that common man doesn't really have to subscribe to the green movement to be green

Taking the plunge

2009-01-08T04:52:00.000-08:00

After taking a stab at various way of social intervention it seems that the way ahead seems to get slowly and clearer.

I have a school near my work that is looking for teachers.
I have my idea of doing the teaching with as much demonstration as possible.
I have the rickety infrastructure that the team at my office prepared once and gathering up dust.
I have a new set of 25 DVDs dedicated to physics demonstrations (thanks to the sincere belief in social and educational change of a few executive level managers of Synopsys!) that I have not yet started watching.

May be it is time to set aside an hour of my mornings to start teaching science. This is in a way going back to where it all started. The first of my thoughts on social change was to teach and teach at schools.

For now though, this thought has to remain as just another thought and the extent to which it fructifies over the next year hinges upon how much hit my conviction can take over the next couple of months! All the best to me!

Is targeting the poor alone always efficacious?

2008-12-15T20:43:00.000-08:00

With my on and off involvement with centers close to social development, I find one attitude that may have to be changed for better efficacy of social initiatives. Let me have the first stab at defining the attitude.

"A social initiative will produce a better impact when it is targeted towards the economically poorer sections of the society. The richer the beneficiaries are, the lesser social impact it has.."

While in general this point has a validity, it has to be revisited for every specific case. Here is an example. A team of my friends and I conducted a science demo in a private school nearby. When I talked about this, "Don't you think your initiative would be more useful to students of government schools?" was one question that popped up universally. My answer is "In my case doing it in *this* private school is likely to have a higher social impact" . Why?

1. This private school doesn't have a lab infrastructure in spite of the students paying a nominal school fee (Rs. 200/- per month).

2. The students here do have a capability to read, listen to and understand English, Telugu and Hindi which provides us flexibility in our implementation. So, it gets easier for us to get more students to start "thinking and reasoning science" - a better success rate at our initiative. On the other hand, a government school on which we are working on the ability to grasp English is lesser providing us with challenges (lesser number of teachers from our office)

Much more importantly, access to better education sure is relatively much more difficult for the poor. However, schools that fall in the economic category of the one that we are working on also face problems faced by government schools (non-availability of teachers, labs etc.). In addition to that they also suffer the ignorance of NGOs that rush to help poor quality government schools. It is almost as if these students are paying Rs. 200/- per month to be ignored!

Thankfully, in our case, we need to ignite as many minds to think and reason (in science and others..). In our eyes, whether the students have the ability to pay Rs.200/- or not, if their inclination to reason is lacking, they are equally poor! Only the former is equipped with a skill (English language) that offers flexibility for us to make a better impact.

A society, apart from being categorized into economically richer and poorer, can also be categorized into rich and poor based on other criteria. And the economically richer need not be richer (or have better opportunity) in all the other categories. Social upliftment, one must remember, is not only the upliftment of the economically poorest, but the upliftment of the society as a whole.

Terrorism in, parochialism out ... for now at least

2008-12-05T01:12:00.000-08:00

I am not interested in going deep into the Mumbai terror strikes, which is already over-analyzed in all spheres. But the one silver lining that I see out of this unprecedented and audacious act is that everyone, including the politicians have for once forgot about petty parochialism. Raj Thackrey shut up for sometime now, or if he is still talking, there is none to listen. But it is such a pity that sanity on one issue has to be established only superceding it with a far worse insanity! Pity!

Face-to-Face with Comat technologies

2008-11-19T22:34:00.000-08:00

Cross-posted from ThinkChange-India

TC-I Fundwatch has recently reported a Rs. 60-crore investment by Omidyar Network and Unitus Equity Fund (UEF) on Comat technologies, a profitable social enterprise doing business with the rural poor.

The CEO of Comat technologies Sriram Raghavan recently talked to NASSCOM Emerge Blog and offered some good insights into Comat's success in becoming a profitable social business.

Sriram's answer to one question explains the business model of Comat technologies succinctly.

"Q. Your own business is built around the Rural Business Centres. What exactly are these?

SR: It is a very simple concept. The rural business centre is primarily an access point for rural citizens, where we use technology to deliver different kinds of services - only those that help improve the quality of life in villages. We don’t want to sell soaps and consumer goods.

I’ll give you two examples. Take government certificates such as birth, death, land and property related papers. If you have to get one from the taluk or the district office, you have to go to that particular office, wait in a long line and follow cumbersome processes. We deliver it to the village directly – it takes about five minutes for the same cost, i.e., Rs. 15 per certificate. This makes a very big difference to the rural consumer.

The other area we are in is education. There are teachers in rural areas, but the quality of education is very poor. Our centres bring live classes from best teachers in cities who broadcast their lessons online, much like the erstwhile UGC programmes. Except that here, we have two- way interaction and the students and teachers can speak to each other."

Sriram Raghavan also shared a few of his experiences with rural consumers that can come handy to a new social enterprise venturing into the villages.

"In a typical agrarian set up, income generation is a twice-a-year cycle – unlike in urban areas where we earn monthly salaries. It is important to bear this in mind as you have to position your product around this insight."

With a turnover of Rs.55 crore while improving the lives of about 10 million rural inhabitants, there should be little doubt about the success of this unique business model. But the best aspect about the venture is that it has identified one critical handicap of the Indian villages and working successfully towards eliminating it. Better said by the man himself.

"All these years, rural India has been isolated; they have been “informationally disabled”. It is now time for a change and we want to ensure that."

Live accident report: Are we learning anything?

2008-10-11T11:34:00.000-07:00

The picture didn't turn out to be clear...but two things

it still delivers the message
for once I am glad it didn't since the real scene was terrifying and nauceating (literally one more minute and I would have passed out!)

It happened right outside my residence but on the opposite side of the road, as I was walking home. I just heard the loud crash. But as I crossed the road, I knew that the guy passed out the moment he hit the ground. He was injured in the back of his head and, needless to say, it was profusely bleading.

The only thing that went right was that someone immediately called 108, the ambulence service (one good service for the insane hyderabad traffic). But what went wrong?

No helmet!
His companion, who escaped unhurt, had no clue that the first thing to do is to stop the bleeding, nor did the on-lookers. None seemed to have first few minutes after an injury to a vital organ is crucial. That guy basically racing to his death. ZERO AWARENESS OF FIRST-AID! It took another first-aid dumbo to tell him to stop the bleeding.
The on-going traffic dutifuly stopped to catch a glimpse of the accident and pay "homage" to the hapless victim. The called ambulence can reach to about 100-150m from the victim, but no further. The police was on scene regulating the traffic, but the flow was still slow. In this situation, if you are on scene and if you are not helping, your are hurting!

But he is just one in a billion....a piece of statistic...what is the lesson learnt...right? Look at the picture again...

From Madness towards Method

2008-10-01T00:16:00.000-07:00

Be it your office pantry, or a weekend gathering of friends, when you run out of topics to gossip, all you have to do is drop in a word "traffic" and everyone one will suddenly find a story to say and gripe about the anomaly. A few socially active ones among us will take it a little forward by trying to propose a CSR initiative to regulate traffic in an area near the location of their work. But I personally believe that traffic regulation will be ineffective if the initiative doesn't involve the traffic police. I would be even better, if traffic police initiates and leads the initiative...which is why I was pleasantly surprised this morning as I was walking by the Police lines circle, as I watched the traffic police hard at work.

Standing by the sidewalk with my phone-camera, I could see that the police working with maddened determination to three things right the first time and then repeat it throughout the day, hoping to "train" the beast to comply with the order.

At the whistle, stop behind the stop line. Motorists wishing to take a right, stop to the right side of the road.
Allow the pedestrians to use the zebra crossing to cross the road
At the next whistle, allow the traffic flowing straight to go, while holding the traffic flowing right (or take a U-turn).
At the next whistle (when the traffic on the other side of the road is stopped), allow the held traffic to take a right or U-turn.

Repeat it!

Standing there and looking at the constant whistling and frantic gestures of the traffic police, I could realize that this job is so much easier said than done! The police might have chosen today, a holiday due to observance of Id-ul-fitr, to exercise this pilot but the traffic was still huge. Nevertheless, they seemed to have handled the traffic quite well.

But man! it was quite a sight to see vehicles neatly lined up against the stop-line to allow the pedestrians pass without fear of being run over! Finally, one small step towards method in what is the very essence of madness. Hope this pilot doesn't die at infancy, but grows and lives long enough to get into the subconscious mind of the average motorist to prompt him/her to follow the traffic rules.

Redefining Thirst

2008-09-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

THIRST

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: design crisis)

A "win-win-win" idea for education

2008-08-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

This idea about improving education at the bottom of the pyramid (every one uses the phrase these days!) came to me in a flash when I was in the middle of a class when I wasn't even thinking about it consciously. But the more I thought about it ,the more I realized its win-win-win potential not only in education, but also in social integration. Doesn't it sound awesome?

Ok, no more beating around the bush, here is the idea. Its simple. Private schools strive to improve their students' performance. Government schools just can't get their kids to cross the pass mark since they don't have good teachers and labs. Private school students don't get out enough to have a good community-activity-based learning at school. To strike all these with a single effort, I say, get get all these students from private schools, to a government school to teach there.

- Government school kids get "access" to private school teaching (lets say the kids teach under the supervision of the private school teacher). Further, kids approach their friends first when in doubt. So, better learning prospects for government school kids. If teaching is in the form of a demo, even better!

- A student learns better when he/she teaches. So, potentially the academic performance of private school kids is likely to improve too!

- Kids get exposed to other kids of different economic background, hence get a feel on one anothers' lifestyle early on. I feel this would help moulding them into socially aware and sensitive adults who understand the "other side" better.

If the private schools involve all their kids and count this activity as a replacement of, say a couple of class tests, they can count it against their internal (or call it externals!) while giving a breather to their students from those mundane class tests. I think this idea lends itself to easy validation. All one has to do is observe the medium-level performers in private schools (say students who score 75%-90%) to see if tihis exercise helps them close in on the rank-holders.

Since private schools constantly strive to improve academic performance, if the school prinicpal is an "experimenting kind" this idea should attract her. I guess from here on a lot of implementational problems may arise. How does this strike you as an idea?

Profile - Amy Smith, MIT D-labs

2008-08-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

Ms. Amy Smith is an instructor MIT's D-Lab which offers courses in Mechanical Engineering. But unlike the conventional engineering course or lab, Ms. Smith along with Ms. Bishwapriya Sanyal offer a course in which engineering students don't just learn the concepts of mechanical engineering, but go all the way to complete a product that addresses need of the under served communities of different parts of the world.

In a four-part course, the students start out ( in the "Design" part)learning about specific sectors of development that need to be addressed and the appropriate technology that can be applied. The second ("Development") part, is a combination of

lecture, which talks about various aspects of design like affordability, sustainability, design for manufacture and assembly,

Labs that offer experience on fundamentals like welding, circuit-boad design, CAD etc

Case studies and field trips to understand the needs of the people to who this product will eventually be useful
design review discussions to present and refine ideas of the product

The third ("Dissemination") part of the course focuses on brain-storming ideas to make the product that conceived by part-two to be "ready to roll", which includes making the product scalable, affordable and marketable. The fourth part executes what was conceived in part three.

In the process, her team has been successful in providing local solutions for local yet, problems local to a specific region as against trying to find a generic "one-size-fits-all" solution. The best example for this is offered by the following video of her presentation outlining a method of using sugarcane waste and biomass to produce a clean and efficient fuel thus providing a solution to the worst killer of children under five - household cooking smoke, but also to make the fuel at home using the abundant agricultural waste (this avoids cutting trees and cuts down on expenses in buying fuel) Truely amazing...and this is just one of the projects in MIT D-labs.

Laptop for school kids

2008-08-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

A recent post in ThinkChange India made me squander much of my work time into this post. But what the hell!

When the news comes out, it sure does come out in bulk! :) This is not the only laptop for education story I came across within the last week. Here is Classmate from Intel and ICT's research initiative on a computer for Rs. 400. This sure seems to be another emerging trend that will change the future forever. But is it for good or for the worse? Here is my take.

Positives:
1. The three laptop initiatives put together, laptop should reach the bottom of the pyramid faster. I have my doubts about XO and classmate, but if ICT's initiative is a success, Rs.400 laptop should be affordable to anyone who is rich enough to afford school books.

2. "meant for education", probably means that it allows parents worried about the darker side of the internet such as adult content to breathe easy.

3. About "expensive laptops vs. reading, writing", I think reading and writing wouldn't suffer a loss that can't be compensated by improved creativity, skill and understanding that current book-oriented education suffers from.

Negatives:
The idea of bringing technology right into classroom sounds amazing, but I wonder if this initiative is taken because of a clearly identified necessity in the academia that such laptops can address (looking at it from the govt's perspective rather than OLPC or ADAG). It is one thing to use a laptop for an academic purpose and it is another to modify the academia for using a laptop! Currently, I don't see any resource that talks about this. So, while I don't see this as a definite negative, I doubt if the state cares enough to architect an educational model that includes the laptop to serve its purpose rather than model itself for using the laptop.

Another concern is, cheaper laptops is likely to translate into more laptops, quicker obsolescence and more wastes...and that with already bad waste management system and a proven slow and reactive (as against proactive) government, the future of waste management doesn't look too good. But, this may be the catalyst that pushes the govt. to do something about wastes.

On the whole, I find that the negatives such a improving the curriculum, waste management are a few things that have to be done regardless of the"laptop for education", but a computer with the purpose of making education entertaining, creative and productive would be a big leap forward at best and a small leap forward at its worst. So, Go laptop!

Mr. Role model IAS

2008-07-28T13:30:00.001-07:00

The offshoot of the fast growing economy and getting-rich-fast middle class is not only the fast increasing consumerism, but also fast increasing social consciousness among the young-and-the-restless. Consequently, the government apathy and corruption seems to dominate the hot debate, be it in the media or overtea.

But are all those in the government corrupt? Or all of them callous towards their duty? Over the last few month I have come across some surprising encounters that demonstrated extra ordinary commitment public interest amongst a few bureaucrats (IAS officers) who, in their flesh and blood, walk the surface of India (this is a partial lift-off from Einstein's famous mention about Bapuji).

Here is quick mention of three of them

Mr. M.N. Vijaykumar, IAS (Bangalore, Karnataka)
He has been a crusader against corruption among his colleagues and politicians in the state of Karnataka for the past 25 years. He had once tried to introduce a transparent systems by which files related to public works are freely available online at http://bngregcommr.freespaces.com/ (link broken), but three days before the site became operational, he got transferred with immediate effect. That was just one of the six-times he was transferred for either blowing the whistle or trying to make the system more transparent. His wife maintains a frequently updated blog in which she claims harrassment and threats by his own higher-ups and attempts on his life. She also has a forum for people to participate.

Dr. Santhosh Babu, IAS (Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu)
He has made news for his success in bringing school kids to where they belong - school!. In his back2school program he partners with Sarva Shikha Abiyan and AID India, uses computer technology to track kids who don't show up for school, and send a Village Volunteer force (VVF) track them down, find out the reason (usually the necessity to work), solve their respective problems and bring the kids back to school.

To show the scale and effectiveness of this program, let me provide two quotes from Business Standard here

"The effort involves a 10,000-Village Volunteer Force (VVF) consisting of child volunteers, panchayat presidents and headmasters of the 1,700-odd schools in the district."

"Using software aptly named, back2school, developed by Chennai-based Arbiter, the district administration monitors each schoolgoing child daily. And the results are showing: 8,000 of the 8,867 school dropouts are back in school."

And this is just one of the slew of his educational initiatives such as Ariviyal Anandam (Joy of science) program provides science kits and trains teachers to use them to teach children in about 10 districts of Krishnagiri, and Padippum Inikkum ("Education is interesting too") initiative to use trained volunteers of AID India and SSA help teachers and students to improve the reading ability of the kids by way personal attention and in-class demonstration.

Dr. Kushal Pathak, IAS India Post
A medical doctor by education and an avid web-developer by hobby he has harnessed his passion and profession to create not just one, but two useful platforms for the general public who may need help on social issues and issues related to handling the government.

bighelpers.org is a forum of citizens to help his/her fellow citizens on any problems he/she may face, from drinking problem, getting a ration card or filing a police complaint.

He has also created another web-portal dedicated to Right to information in which he has comprehensive information database and discussion forum for procedural and legal aspects exclusive RTI.

India has a lot of people and limited available resources. This leads to competition and inevitably forces people to bend or break the rules for survival. Given that, it is easy for anyone (not just a government official) with a secure job to step down from his/her ideological stance and settle for an easier way of earning his/her life (by way of corruption or simply shunning responsibility). In this scenario, the live example provided by these three extraordinary gentlemen (and I am sure a numerous others unknown to the general public) upholds the faith that good governance and justice do have place outside the law books and among the society. It is just a matter of will.

Full credits to where it is due.

Indian media

2008-07-22T18:19:00.001-07:00

For over half a decade now we are used to the rhetoric about the emerging superpowers India and China and how India, though much smaller and slower than China, has the democratic setup and independent journalism to its advantage.

While hypocrisy rules in the name of democracy, the so-called independent media is too weak and naive to be the watchdog that guards or restores the democratic values. The role of the media is all the more crucial when the masses are not enlightened enough to understand the complexities of the issues that will end up affecting their everyday life (eg. the union budget). But the Indian media has proven to be immature and incompetent so far. The article in India Together by Ramachandra Guha highlights the current status very well. But it doesn't really take Ramachandra Guha to point all this out. All we have to do is to watch the news channels and the writing is on the wall - big, bold, underlined and in uppercase.

For example, take the Indo-US nuclear deal. Now what would be the questions you and I want answered by the proponents if we are to decide for or against the deal? I thought about it for a few minutes, prepared a list of questions and tried to find some answers. Ideally these are the questions that the so-called distinguished media-men like Karan Thapar, Rajdeep Sardesai are supposed to ask the politicians when they manage to get them to the hot seat.

Reports suggest that the most nuclear power would do Rediff: 8% TOI: 7%. Given that how can you justify the nuclear deal to be crucial?
What would be costs in terms of natural resources used? Water, electricity etc..
How will the consequent increase in the requirement of technical workforce (nuclear scientists, technicians etc) be addressed?
Each nuclear plant is estimated to cost a lot and takes a long time to complete. What is the expenditure? How many nuclear plants will be constructed? How are the expenditure justified provided the return is insignificant and unguaranteed?
What is the plan to dispose the nuclear waste safely?
What is the estimated price of electricity when the nuclear power becomes operational? Will it increase, decrease, stay the same?

In other words, how will the deal help people?

Now when I searched for relevant interviews and articles to find out if any of them addresses the above questions, I found that most revolve around the political angle and focused on "how do you address what XYZ party's accusation" and "how do you react to abc minister's comments?". For example,

Rediff.com: An interview with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherji
CNN-IBN: Devil's Advocate - Pranab Mukherjee (pdf)

CNN-IBN's Indepth section on Indo-US Nuclear deal provides for the best example of the Indian journalism's lack of a sense of purpose. It is nothing but a collection of "Breaking news" that talks about a politician or a party . A few articles from the section..

Left accuses PM of telling 'blatant lies' in Parliament
Advani put personal gain above N-deal: Kapil Sibal

Not a single article really goes "in depth" into the deal, analyzes the 123 agreement or any other related document, interprets it and comes out with answering the question a common man would have.

The print media seems to do a better job than the television. Few artciles like this one in Times of India and this on in Hindu Business Line bother to expose people to some analysis. However, the larger fact still remains. The politicians get away with what they want to do and are not subjected to answering the questions that they are supposed to answer.

How exactly do we consider the Indian media to be an advantage?

The largest hypocricy

2008-07-18T09:03:00.001-07:00

"Son, what’s your name?"
"Jeevan".
"Good…nice name.
"Father’s name?" "Anvar Rasheed".
"Mother’s name?"
"Lakshmi Devi".
The headmaster looked at the parents and asked: "Which religion should we note"?
"No need to note any. Please mention ‘no religion’."
"Caste?" "
The same."
The headmaster leaned back on his chair and asked rather gravely: "What
if he feels the need for a religion when he grows up?"
"He can choose his religion if and when he feels so."

Rather progressive, probably to the extent that if it happens in India, I would have guessed that it would only be in the movies. But it so happens that his has happened in the 7th std. social studies books of the Kerala state board. But this piece of text has blown-up into a controversy engulfing the entire state.

Just like how Indian movies have a monotonous mix of six songs, poor dialogues, scantily clad heroines and an ill-fitting comedy track, I find that such controversies have their own formulae. Look for a reformative work, cook up a controversy and blow it out of proportion, take to the streets in protest without proper permission, throw stones at the police, burn a bus or two, call for a bandh, force the government to thwart the reform, wait till the next work of reform to pop-up.

M.F. Hussain's paitings, Parzania, Tasleema Nasreen, Khushboo, Kashmir land transfer and the list goes on, but the story is the same. This is the best we can do in exercising democracy. Vandalize public property that was built with our own money. Paralize public life and incur losses that will come back to bite us. Thwart reform that would one day make us a tolerant society. Amidst all this the parties concerned (M.F. Hussein, Tasleema Nasreen, Kushboo) are often conveniently forgotten. The learning curve is absolutely flat.

I find perverse amusement to see the striking similarity between the poor wisdom of us Indians in understanding the quality of movies as well as democratic values. But that is who we are. A bunch of morons who can play cricket, write software, but somehow simply can't learn to resolve differences by proper democratic channels. If we say that we are the largest democracy, we actually become the largest hypocricy.

Bridging gap between academia and industry - One step closer?

2008-07-03T18:32:00.001-07:00

I remember the days from undergraduate college when I would attend the computer lab session once a week, sit in front of a dying black-and-white computer monitor with nothing but MS-DOS and copying FORTRAN program from the "observation notebook".

I also remember that right after college, I used to go to TULEC - A TATA Infotech computer education center which charged Rs.40000/- for its software courses.

Looking back I can't but wonder if the courses that were offered to me in TULEC should ideally be part of my college curriculum. After all, all the software companies needed the skill and the century or so old University of Madras still had syllabus that was also probably as old and badly needed upgradation anyway. Couldn't the former push the latter for its own good? It seems the stakeholders, the companies and the government have finally turned that corner. FINALLY!

Addressing the Fifth annual NASSCOM HR Summit 2008 in Chennai (July 3-4), Dr. Chandramouli, IT Secretary of Tamil Nadu said that 'IT finishing schools' that "would act as a pre-employment training centre to hone the skills of both engineering and non-engineering students to make them readily employable" [The Hindu - July 4] would start functioning within a month's time. In this is public-private partnership training center would be up and running in all the districts of Tamil Nadu. Each centre would have about 25 computers and students will go through a 3-month training program designed and conducted by the participating companies.

An ICT Academy of Tamil Nadu (ICTACT) is also setup for training the faculty, apparently to allow the cutting-edge industry knowledge to percolate into classrooms directly.

Prima facie, the stakeholders (mainly the government) are serious about this initiative, given that the ICTACT is autonomous, with board of directors represented by the state government, academic and industry (it would be good to know who they are) and a research and training headquarters would be set up in Chennai.[ Business Standard - July 4]

But the scary part is, a search on ICTACT in Google or Tamil Nadu's IT department website comes up with nothing. I guess one has to wait just a little longer to see the bridge across the abyss that separates the academia and the industry, but hopefully only a little longer.

Hitting the Road:Teaching module - Draft 1

2008-07-02T19:40:00.001-07:00

Idea generated for schools so far

Teach kids to make their own notebooks.
Teach kids to make chalk piece

How does this help?

non-availability of free notebooks @ govt schools
Relevant vocational training
potential means to earn

Teach kids of appropriate age about technologies related to clean energy like solar energy

How tap solar energy
How the market is growing etc

How does this help?

creating experts in a market of demand for the future

All the soft-skills appreciated in a corporate environment

committing to a task of reasonable difficulty and completing it on time
being regular with work taken up and establishing proper communication about updates/possible delays

How does this help?

time-management, probably study better while being good at extra-curricular
develops proper attitude and work-ethics and improves job-prospects

Safety

Basic fire-safety
First-aid and emergency response
Details of phone numbers, addresses of hospitals in vicinity.

How does this help?

Duhh......!

Community activity

Some kind of an activity that sensitized them

Community activity

Some kind of an activity that sensitized them to importance of sanitation, public health, environment etc.

Access to notebooks at govenment schools

2008-06-26T05:36:00.000-07:00

I was in conversation with an active member of India Sudar, an NGO working on the education for students from the lower-economic section of the society.

I came to know from him that while the government provides textbooks and uniforms for free, they don't have the capability provide notebooks. This unsurprisingly turns out to be a severe limitation to learning. When inquired, the government officials respond,

"Even the government has limited resources. To offset our limitations we have empowered the school's headmasters and senior teachers to partner local NGOs and philanthropists to receive the relevant aid".

Makes sense doesn't it? But I think, and the India Sudar member agrees, that this is not a sustainable model. So, what do we have? Even when ills like hunger and child-labor are removed from poor kids' way to the school, the good work is undone by the absence of guaranteed access to something as trivial as notebooks. I think this is a good idea for social entrepreneurship. Notebooks are available everywhere. Can be made from recycled paper too! Making notebooks is a good small-scale business. All it needs is an entrepreneurial idea that takes care of the economics and connects the demand and supply. Are you aware of any already existing models? (not donation of notebooks of course). Do you have any idea yourself?

Why private education is supply-driven? And why is none talking?

2008-06-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

It is a known fact that access to education for the people in the lower economic strata is a big problem. But at least it has got considerable visibility is partially addressed by NGOs and social entrepreneurs. But how about education for the middle class? Indian middle class gives great importance for education. This demand for the so-called quality education makes running a private school a lucrative business. Currently, private education is heavily supply-driven (schools), and the demand (parents) has very less say.

For example,
- Fees are high and increasing. And the donation, the need for which the school explain.
- Parents have very limited say on curriculum or the method of teaching they would prefer.
- one-dimensional education system (academics and rote-learning..bad/no sports program or arts program like learning music etc).

A few schools like DPS are exceptions at least in terms of quality of infrastructure. But it is still not a participatory model which includes parents. For example, I came to know from one of the parents (my aunt) that DPS doesn't even allow parents to enter the school premises during regular hours. Parents can't contact teachers at any time other than the scheduled parent-teacher meetings. In schools like DAV, an important selection criterion for kindergarten kids is the educational qualification of parents. What is the reasoning behind such rules? Why discriminate against a child for the ostensible fault of his/her parents?

I have never heard of a school that advertises "We provide a complete package of education, not only academics, but also community & environmental awareness and sports program." Nor can parents ask a school principal "Can you please tell me why your school is better than the rest?". But come to think of it, isn't that how it is supposed to be? After all, education is our constitutional right. Besides we are paying the schools, not the other way round.

Part of the problem lies with the parents. They liken teachers to medical doctors and assume that teachers know the best about the needs of their kids and they themselves are ignorant about it. However, the change in their mentality would be of little use if the absolute power of the schools doesn't change.

Currently, this absolute power is a problem precisely because because no one, especially parents, is considering it as a problem, let alone do anything about it! No one seems to be talking about it. I think that is where the change should begin.

The Wonders of Physics

2008-06-20T02:20:00.000-07:00

Remember those days at school? Understanding how things work was an option as against a necessity. To put it correctly, it was relegated to being an option because of another necessity. Scoring! I remember my teacher standing under the blackboard and actually telling us "If yo u don't understand, Memorize!". That clearly defined the priority for us. To make things worse, we had a live example in the rank-holder. Irrespective of his/her understanding of the subject, he/she universally memorizes. Besides, we are left at the mercy of diagrams in science books that leave much to our ability to imagine, and the lab experiments that don't relate to what we study in the classroom to understand. In many ways, understanding was not even an option. Further still, which other subject apart from, may be, mathematics had any content to be understood?

English, Tamil: A bunch of poems to be memorized. For prose, the answers to the questions were always a couple of paragraphs..and some grammar to be remembered. Done!
Social studies: Memorize! Its a collection of stories, dates and names anyway.
Science was cat-on-the-wall. Some you understand, some you don't. But never mind. Go the social studies way!

Such an attitude bothered me even as a kid though I didn't know what to do to understand other than read the book again. Honestly, I really didn't think about how "understanding" is really going to help me in the future! I never had a future beyond the upcoming exam then! :) Looking back, the worst feeling I have is, I didn't even realize that science can actually be understood deeply.

Now, after reaching a stage when all those years of "darkness" won't matter anymore, (not to mention the lamenting so far...) it is still gratifying to know that someone is working to bring science in its natural form right to the people who needed it the most. Kids!

"The Wonders of Physics" is a series of demonstrations on various concepts of classical physics like light, sound, pressure, heat. The credit for this initiative goes to Professor Clint Sprott of The University of Wisconsin-Madisson. The videos taped during his demonstrations buffers for free online! You don't really need to have a kid who is struggling with understanding science to watch these videos! You can wash your sins that you were forced to commit in your school days even now. Its never too late! :)

Saving paper, saving trees? A few answers

2008-06-13T08:39:00.000-07:00

I have posted the same post on NGO Post and got a few answers

First is a video that gives an idea about the tree-to-paper relationship

So, the number is 1 tonne of paper = 17 trees. One of the articles from ecology.com says

"Unfortunately, the paper making process is not a clean one. According to the U.S. Toxic Release Inventory report published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pulp and paper mills are among the worst polluters to air, water and land of any industry in the country. The Worldwatch Institute offers similar statistics for the rest of the world. Each year millions of pounds of highly toxic chemicals such as toluene, methanol, chlorine dioxide, hydrochloric acid, and formaldehyde are released into the air and water from paper making plants around the world.

Paper making also uses up vast quantities of trees. But trees are a renewable resource, which means that once one is cut down another can be planted in its place. In fact, much of the wood used by paper companies in the U.S. comes from privately owned tree farms where forests are planted, groomed and thinned for harvest in 20 to 35 year cycles, depending on the tree species. Around the world, tree farms supply 16% of all wood used in the paper industry while the bulk comes from second growth forests. Only 9% of the wood used to make paper is harvested from old growth forests, which are impossible to replace because of their maturity.
Yet, while tree farms or plantations help feed the demand for wood, they can't provide the plant and animal diversity found in natural forests. Plus, according to a 1996 report from the U.S. Forest Service, the rate of harvest for softwood trees in the southern United States outpaced growth for the first time since 1953."

To summarize, manufacturing paper results in environmental degradation less because of cutting trees and more because of the method used. Though this offers a good idea about paper and its impact on environment, one must note that these are data mostly associated with US. In the Indian context, I found this in Myth and Reality about Plastic

Paper is not eco-friendly

We need to remind ourselves that making of paper and products consumes a lot of chemicals and requires a large amount of water and effluent problems are severe. Besides paper, unless coated with polymeric materials (or wax), cannot withstand wet conditions which are widely prevalent in India, particularly during monsoon periods. Paper making also consumes a lot of energy. In the Indian context the most serious problem is the availability of pulp. Environmental degradation has unquestionably occurred due to pulp manufacturing activities as commercial forestry, on large scale, is still a taboo. Padmabhushan Prof. M. M. Sharma (FRS) "

I have also stumbled upon information related to conservation in general, not necessarily related only to papers.

The story of stuff has a 20 min video about how consumption-minded lifestyle is killing the planet's life. Its a lot of talk (not necessarily cliche) with lots of statistics. But the core point is

- Recycling is important, but most of the products used are not recyclable and
- Lesser consumption pays off better in preserving environment.

Another link portrays people's consumption in the US in a unique pictorial representation rather than plain statistics. For a listing of companies all over India, involved in recycled paper products click here.

Is saving paper, saving trees?

2008-06-12T23:56:00.000-07:00

I head an employee-driven CSR team in my company in India. I get numerous suggestions about saving paper by replacing paper cups with ceramic mugs and re-using papers printed on one-side for "personal" print-outs.

Though I don't oppose these ideas, I have my reservations about their efficacy. Following are the questions that have surfaced to my mind repeatedly.

- Trees cut for making papers have to be replanted because, we will run out of papers otherwise. We have no idea about the number of trees we are losing because of making papers. We also don't seem to be running out of papers. So, in the end we don't know if we are really causing a significant depletion of trees. May be we are, but is there data?

- The only way to cut lesser trees without compromising the supply of paper is to recycle paper. India seems to have a defunct system of recycling wastes. If we are indeed degrading environment by cutting a lot of trees, it is possible that this trend can be more significantly minimized by putting a system in place that recycles most of the paper wastes when compared to small initiatives in individual companies to save papers.

Of course we are better off taking these small initiatives irrespective of the status of recycling, but my concern is, we have no way to measure how many trees we end up saving. What if the contribution of 100 companies with an average of 100 employees actually comes to saving 5% of trees, while setting up a recycling plant that can recycle paper in the neighborhood (companies, homes, schools any and building where paper is used) can reduce the number of trees cut of paper by 50%?

Simply put, how can one make this initiative measurable? Is there a comprehensive and accepted research that can answer my questions?

Are slum-dwellers poor?

2008-06-07T08:53:00.001-07:00

Off late I have been running into urban poverty and slum-dwelling a lot through articles on Urban Poverty alleviation and Slum displacement in India Together and a post in ThinkChange India.

At least articles in India Together suggest that slum-dwellers are subconsciously considered poor and marginalized group of people. However, one detail I came across in ThinkChange-India's (TC-I) post slum tourism got me thinking.

"There were two figures that Girish [tourist guide] kept repeating during the tour: 10,000, which is the number of small-scale industries operating in Dharavi, and USD 665 million, which is the annual turnover Dharavi’sresidents are estimated to generate."

When I read the Slum displacement article about the "unfair manner" in which Delhi Development Authority has has displaced the "poor" slum-dwellers to a slightly improved, but small tenements far from the city, I instinctively set out for an arm-chair investigation to ascertain the validity of both of the quoted adjectives.

Google-god :) blessed me with (only) two academic papers related to this topic. (Both open as PDFs)

[1] SLUMS IN CHENNAI: A PROFILE, Dr. C.Chandramouli, I.A.S.Director of Census Operations, Tamilnadu

[2] Livelihoods and Collective Action among Slum Dwellers in a Mega-City (New Delhi), IASCP conference 2002 **unpublished draft version**

The India Together article talks about the finding of a research done on Delhi's slums. The article's main argument about the "unfairness"

"... the plots are given [to slum-dwellers] on a five-year lease and there is no guarantee that the plot holders can continue to live there after that.....Why would anyone, rich or poor, be willing to relocate without a guarantee that they had the right to stay in the new location? "

However, [1] says that about 40% of Chennai slums are rented and indicates the active presence of land mafia. Chances are Delhi's case falls in the same ballpark. [2] directly says that vested interests actively collude the government officials/politicians in keeping slum-dwelling insecure. Given that, a 5-year guarantee of own land seems be a windfall to the displaced slum dwellers.

Further, [2] states that

"Average income about Rs 3000 (NOK 500) per month – more than twice that of official poverty line"

and

"Majority posessed a one- or two-room brick house (pucca)"

If so, they should be thankful for a 5 year accommodation with better standards of living (as claimed by the India Together article) in spite of not being exactly poor. After 5-years? Well, how about they finding their own way instead of looking for government help?

One possible source discrepancy could be the research methods carried out by the researcher quoted in India Together and the researcher referenced above. I have left a comment for the author in the website, and an e-mail to the authors of [2]. Hopefully that will throw some light.

To add more to this, before watching it in the movie Mudhalvan (Nayak in Hindi) I heard about instances when slum-dwellers do illegally rent out the flats that slum clearance board alloted with an intention to move them out of the slum to a nearby area with better living condition. Consequently, in spite of getting richer from the rent, they continue to more subsidies for being slum-dwellers by choice. I don't have any accepted material for this, but if I were a slum dweller it would make sense for me to do this. Now who is at the receiving end of corruption? The slum dweller or the government?

Getting to the question,
- Are the slum-dwellers really poor? Or are they just institutionalized to living in poor conditions?
- Do they really live there for want of choice or simply to extract more subsidies from govt and NGOs by selling "poverty"?

I think a typical slum is a mix of both, but I get a feeling that the scale is gradually tilting towards the latter on both the questions.

Finally, I later noticed that the post in TC-I carefully addressed only the living condition of Dharavi and refrained from poverty. Well done!

Trade Balances due to rise in food-prices

2008-06-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

The following is an interesting map that shows the trade-balances due to the projected price rise in food. The condition of African countries seem to be very bad! An already poor continent is projected to lose more than 1% of its 2005 GDP in trade! Looks like the only "middle-class" countries that get to gain reside in South America.

While I know that the map's projections show an unfair trend, I don't understand what trend is fair! Would the situation be fair if the developed nations lose and poor nations gain? How much the loss in the developed nations will in turn affect the under-developed ones? This is still a projected data. So, the more important questions are...can anything be done at all to avoid this projection from sliding into reality? If so, are the stake-holders, the UN, the developed nations and NGOs willing to make the relevant sacrifices?

British aid to India?

2008-05-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

BBC Radio broadcast a short debate between two people, one from a British pro-taxpayer's organization called The Taxpayer's Alliance arguing against the British (taxpayer's) aid to India and the other from Christian Aid arguing for aid it.

The point behind the former's argument is the country has a fast growing economy and has a lot of money at its disposal. India should find means to redistributing its wealth itself instead of depending on British tax payers. Christian Aid says that taxation is the only means the Indian government has for redistributing its wealth, but faces unique problems like a large poor, population with very less means to earn their living, socially exclusion like the caste system, all of which call for immediate attention instead of waiting for a set of social reform policy to be implemented effectively.

I feel that a revamp in public administration, policy making and enforcement especially for poverty alleviation on part of Indian government is due even if this discussion is not considered. If the British funding is indeed revoked, it would be a blessing in disguise since (hopefully) it will put Indian government in a tight(er) spot and push for some innovative solution.

Demonizing plastic

2008-05-28T17:11:00.000-07:00

"Never reuse coke bottle for storing drinking water. It may cause cancer", I was told by a friend once. That was shocking! I thought, "Can plastics react with food material in time and cause such harmful effects? Can't trust things with looks, can you?". Yet, somehow the statement seemed to make sense. After all, it is plastic! Its non-biodegradable, and with so much campaign to ban plastic, it has to be right!

From then on, when I see a plastic bottle lying around my kitchen or being reuse, my stomach used to churn and images of cancer victims vomiting blood on to the wash-basin or white kerchief (the colour contrast dramatized the fear factor!).

Recently, however, I came across a link to that talks about Myth and Reality about plastic Environmental Information System (ENVIS) an Indian government sponsored body "...to collect, collate and disseminate information relating to Environment to Universities, Registered Societies or Private Bodies or State Government Departments / Organisations."

Apparently, the whole campaign about plastic and cancer is just a sensational media campaign of what was a Master's Thesis that didn't go through the rigour of scientific peer review. Reuse of plastic is still not recommended for fears of spreading infection resulting from human contact and improper cleaning. But no cancer involved. This link and the pages that follow (find the small "next" link right at the bottom of this page link) offer a good insight not only into plastics, but also into the difference possible between the object and the perception of the object! For example, the link calls into question the use of paper as an alternative to plastics. It says

"Paper is not eco-friendly

We need to remind ourselves that making of paper and products consumes a lot of chemicals and requires a large amount of water and effluent problems are severe. Besides paper, unless coated with polymeric materials (or wax), cannot withstand wet conditions which are widely prevalent in India, particularly during monsoon periods. Paper making also consumes a lot of energy. In the Indian context the most serious problem is the availability of pulp. Environmental degradation has unquestionably occurred due to pulp manufacturing activities as commercial forestry, on large scale, is still a taboo. Padmabhushan Prof. M. M. Sharma (FRS) "

The article's take is that the only factor that can be called malicious to life is human. It repeatedly points out that plastic is not bio-degradable, but they are 100% recyclable. The solution to managing plastic is to recycling and recycling is entirely in our hands!

However, few details are unclear to me. My understanding is that there are recyclable thermoplastics like those used for making poly-bags and non-recyclable ones like Bakelite. What of the second kind?

Further, the link offers incineration as a way to get rid of plastic. I find from other links dedicated to protecting the environment that incineration is a widely hated method of generating energy from the waste. Unless an alternative method to this method exists, it seems that minimizing the use of plastic seems to be the best way forward.

How to make the humans not to emulate dogs?

2008-04-05T22:44:00.000-07:00

Hyderabad has a very "liberal" attitude when it comes to answering natures calls. Almost everyone seems to think "As long as it is out of your body, it doesn't matter where it goes".

I stay in an apartment adjoining a stream of sewage. Right on the main road, is a long compound wall and a relatively well constructed pavement. These are very attractive places for the "Filled-up and the Restless" to relieve themselves. There is also a moderately maintained Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation's (GHMC) public toilet. GHMC has strategically constructed such toilets at various locations in Hyderabad close to such places that are used as public toilet. However, the GHMC toilets are clearly not used properly. I think it is because of the one-rupee that is charged for use. Now this is a problem statement. The solution is to conceive a way by which the use of this (or any public) toilet can be enforced.

I think this issue is directly related to Standard of Living, though the benefits can be intangible prima facie. So, I am interested to do something to ensure that this trend doesn't continue. I am willing to take suggestions on this.

The questions that I have be answered are

If you live in Hyderabad or a place that has similar attitude, do you think the cause the one-rupee charge?
If, so, is that the only cause?

On my part, since I feel the money is the problem here, we can create a public fund of one rupee coins and allow (meaning persuade) "the Filled-up and the Restless" to use money from the fund for the toilet instead. That is the theory. I do understand practical considerations.

How to collect the money?

How to safe-guard and disburse the money (vending machine?)

How to advertise the fund and advertise against the use of compound wall or sewage.

But before all that

Do you have any alternative/better/easier/more sensible ideas?
If not at least do you think that this idea can be modified/improved?

We need to keep in mind that the idea may have to be implemented at different places in Hyderabad and elsewhere. This may be a farsighted consideration, but I think it is important nevertheless!

Blah blah blah ... Wah!

2008-03-27T07:26:00.000-07:00

That was hilarious! Everything about that was right except that Headlines Today is also among the pack. But why blame the news channels alone? Turn to entertainment and out of about 25 channels (or is it more than that?) not a single one seems to have found a source of entertainment that is not related to movies and the slow-moving soaps. And the lesser I talk about the channels that strive to "deliver the divine truth" the better it would be. It is startling that humans, in spite of being different in almost every aspect starting from DNA, facial features, fingerprints, cornea, brain structure, blood group and so on, seem to be hopelessly and boringly SAME when it comes to airing a television program, publishing a newspaper or making a movie!

But then this isn't such a new point to talk about. The boredom is so much around us that we seem to have become institutionalized to it. How else do you explain the fact that there are so many worshipers of so many soaps with blaring and ill-fitting background score and ignominious dialogues? How else do you explain the fact that a well-known hero, a new-face model, a party number and its remix and a bunch of sleazy encounters (though lifted off from hollywood) can easily offset a storyline that doesn't exist, roles that calls for no acting and actors who don't have roles to become box-office hits?

Now this whole post may be self-referential! You may ask me "You talk about trite. What is so new about this post? This is talked about by almost everyone who maintains a blog! Your post is only as different as the programmes you talk about!"

Good point! That is why I shut up for such a long time! But for sometime now, it appears that at least somebody in the broadcasting business has finally got bored of the sameness. The Tamil channel called "MakkaL TV" - "MakkaL" being Tamil for the work people - stands as a proof for the fact that....

1) ... entertainment extends beyond movies
For the last two weeks that I have caught a glimpse of this channel, I didn't find a single program that is related to movies! Yet the channel has managed to come up with programs that entertain people. Considering the dependence of the other channels on movies for their survival, this channel seems to have taken up a very bold challenge and won it hands down ! The most attractive programmes are interactive. To highlight a few..

"Tamil pesu, thanga kaasu" (Speak Tamil and win a gold coin) is a challenge to the general public to speak continuously with out usage of any other language.
"Sol vilayattu" (word game) is another 3-round challenge played live over the phone, Word jumble, "cross-word", and "who is in the picture?", at the end of which the winner wins a handsome prize, a silk Saree!
Over the phone employment advise for the unemployed

2) ......one can speak Tamil with minimal use of English and still not sound weird!
The presenters of all the TV programs in this channel stick to colloquial yet unadulterated Tamil language and are dressed in traditional and simple tamil attire such as dothi, Khadi shirts and Saree (though not always). The more important aspect is that the channel doesn't seem to overplay the pro-Tamil sentiment and stops well short of looking and sounding Tamil-chauvinistic.

As a downside, I must point out one fact. Like most of the other Tamil channels, this is also run by a political party and an ally in the current DMK coalition government, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK). And I haven't watched their news reports yet. That gives me a fear that I might have come up with this post a little too soon!

An open letter to The Hindu

2008-01-16T01:44:00.001-08:00

Respected Editor,
The purpose of this e-mail is to express my deep disappointment over the prejudiced views expressed by The Hindu against men citing the unfortunate and detestable "Mumbai molestation" incident on the New Year's eve in the article "An assault on dignity" -The Hindu Magazine dated 13th January 2008

Quote from the article
"The real issue that we must grapple with when such incidents occur has a name; it is "patriarchy". It includes the inability of men to accept that women have rights, that they are human beings, that they should be left alone, that they have a right tooccupy space in the public arena."

To say that all men are unable to consider women as human beings reflects a narrow-minded and prejudiced outlook of the author against men. I don't deny that social malices like dowry system still exists and are perpetrated solely against women. But on what basis does Ms. Kalpana come to a conclusion that such crimes are committed only by men? I do agree to the fact that women are always the victims in rape and I do empathize with them. At the same time there are also numerous cases in which women place false molestation charges against men and get away with it riding on the benefit of the "sympathy factor". What is the intention of Ms. Kalpana? To get justice for women or to get even with men for all the crimes committed against women (by both men and women)?

A sizable number of terrorism-related incidents can be attributed to Islamic terrorists, Indians or otherwise. I am sure The Hindu would not publish an article that implies that all muslims are terrorists. Why then does it publish an article that aims at blaming and defaming men because crimes are committed against women (by both men and women)? Articles such as these helps no good cause, but can flame up male and female egoism.

Ms. Kalpana is entitled to her opinion, however prejudiced, shallow and shameful they are. But the fact that this article made it to the front page of The Magazine (due to lapse in editing or conscious endorsement by the editorial team) is a clear indicator of the fast declining standards of journalism The Hindu. I believe, just like how money problems can't be solved my money, gender issues can't be solved by only one gender or pitching one gender against the other. The only ways are

1. consensus between the two genders by sensitizing both of them of problems faced by one another,

2. strict *enforcement* of the law to deter perpetration of such crimes (this includes accessibility and transparency of law enforcement agencies)

--
Sincerely,
Badhrinath J
303, Patnivilla Apartments,
Rasoolpura, Begumpet,
Hyderabad - 500016

PS: I am also in total disagreement with the following views of the author

"Laws have never succeeded in changing mindsets. The death penalty has not reduced the number of murders. The Dowry Act has not stopped the custom of giving and taking dowries. Stronger laws dealing with crimes against women, although essential, have not reduced the incidence of crime"

These views seem to lack supporting evidence. Was there a time in India when the death penalty was abolished and the rate of murder increased or remained the same? Further, this analysis also depends on how well the laws are enforced, and how easy was it to make complaints when crimes are committed.

When you say "My life stinks" - 4-a

2007-12-29T22:38:00.000-08:00

Childrent of Conflict - Congo

When you say "My life stinks" - 3-b

2007-11-21T07:13:00.000-08:00

Gaza: Children of conflict - 2

When you say "My life stinks" - 3-a

2007-11-18T07:26:00.000-08:00

Gaza : Children of Conflict - I

When you say "My life stinks" - 2

2007-11-16T06:09:00.000-08:00

Darfur

When you say "My life stinks" - 1

2007-11-15T05:07:00.001-08:00

This is a new series of videos that highlight or (is it lowlight) the plight of the people affected by conflict in different parts of the world. Hopefully this will put us in the place on a global perspective and remind us how much better our lives are the next time we say "My life stinks!"

Starting with Srilanka

Celebrating Gandhi

2007-10-02T00:08:00.001-07:00

"I shall work for an India in which the poorest shall feel that it is their country, in whose making they have an effective voice, an India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people; an India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony. There can be no room in such an India for the curse of untouchability, or the curse of intoxicating drinks and drugs. Women will enjoy the same rights as men. We shall be at peace with all the rest of the world. This is the India of my dreams"

This is the Gandhian Pledge that the Prime Minister of India took on Oct. Sixty years after Independence and we are still pledging. Take a look at his dreams. We have got started on, forget about achieving, NONE of them. Why kid ourselves when we care the least about what he said?

We have to be honest to accept that

1. we know very less about Gandhian ideals and hence lose the right to fallaciously admire him or judge him
2. even a great man like Gandhi cannot be correct in *all* his ideals and *all* his ideals need not apply transcending time.

So, if we are interested in celebrating his birthday, we have to read about him. Read about his ideals at least to the point that we find at least one of his ideals that we disagree with. And we find at least one of his ideals which we feel will not be applicable to the present day.

Now that would be an honest celebration of his greatness on his birthday. At least better than the false idol worship we indulge in. What do you say?

Quota: Centre gets it right in the ass!

2007-09-26T01:51:00.001-07:00

New report:

"Inclusion of a caste in the list would mean that it was previously socially advanced and did not figure among the backward class communities. But with time, their social status deteriorated and they had to be included in the list. This means more and more castes are getting backward as there are only inclusions and none being excluded from the list," it said.

Vahanvati said as per the procedure before NCBC, a caste could be excluded from the list only if someone filed a complaint alleging that a caste had become socially advanced. "No petitions have been filed seeking exclusion of any caste," he said.

The Bench replied, "Merely because there is no complaint, NCBC cannot abdicate its duty to conducta periodic review of the social status of castes included in the backward list."

Referring to the swelling number of castes in the backward list, the Bench said, "This means for 60 years, people who were disadvantaged continue to be backward. If this is so, then what is the meaning of the arrangements for social advancement of backward community for all these years?"

Times of India, 26 Sep 2007,

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Why_is_no_group_ever_excluded_from_quota_SC/articleshow/2402984.cms

This reminds me of Kevin Verbal Kent's (Kevin Spacey) narration in the movie "The Usual Suspects" about how he felt when he along with his "usual suspects" busted The New York police's involvement drug racket.

"They got it right in the ass. It was beautiful"

So is the message "Sunita achievied despite a being of Gujarati origin"?

2007-09-25T22:42:00.001-07:00

...so, the news tells me that Sunita Williams is a celebrity in India! She has won the Prestigious Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vishwa Pratibha Award. Great! But before we talk about it any further, a brief life history of this successful astronaut.

Born: Euclid, Ohio
Father: Dr. Deepak Pandya, Indian
Mother:Bonnie Pandya, Slovenian
Education:

Needham High School, Needham, Massachusetts, 1983.
B.S., Physical Science, U.S. Naval Academy"U.S. Naval Academy, 1987.
M.S., Engineering Management, Florida Institute of Technology, 1995

Marital Status: Married to Michael J. Williams, a Federal Police Officer
Occupation: Commander, US, Navy
Recent Achievements:

- Unprecedented 3 spacewalks in 9 days
- Cumulative total of 29 hours, 17 minutes in four spacewalks, highest spacewalk time for a woman.

Now these sure seem to be commendable achievements. But to put things into perspective, as the Vishwa Gujarati Samaj (VGS) claims this award is conferred "to well-known Gujaratis recognizing their lifelong services/contribution to the cause of Gujarat".

If the point is to recognize people who have served Gujarat, where does Sunita William's marathon fit in? Or if it is to recognizes her achievements, why was it not given to the person who has achieved the same feet earlier? Because she is not a Gujarati? From what I see, the only thing that connects Sunita to Gujarat is her father who was a practicing doctor there before moving to the US and she owes the plaudits and accolade not to her perseverence, but to her father.

For our own sake, why don't we refrain from quoting one's origin (place or community) as a reason for conferring an accolade to someone? It appears to send a specious message to the world, "Sunita could break the space walking record despite being a Gujarati." Would you like that tag on you Sunita?

Sources: Wikipedia

Tribute to a soul that entered and departed 100 years ahead of its time

2007-09-11T14:00:00.001-07:00

மஹாகவி சுப்ரமணிய பாரதியார்
டிசம்பர் 11, 1882 - செப்டம்பர் 11, 1921

"Mahakavi" Subramania Bharathiyar
December 11, 1882 - september 11, 1921

'மாதர் தம்மை இழிவு செய்யும்

மடமையை கொளுத்துவோம்'

We will destroy the idiocy
Of denigrating womanhood

நெஞ்சு பொறுக்குதில்லையே - இந்த
நிலைகெட்ட மனிதரை நினைந்துவிட்டால்

"கொஞ்சமோ பிரிவினைகள் - ஒரு
கோடியென் றாலது பெரிதாமோ ?

'My blood boils to think of these idiotic men!
How many divisions within us, they are more than a crore!…'

Calling for answers

2007-05-24T16:42:00.000-07:00

Source: Artswithoutborders.com

This is an "infamous" M.F. Hussain painting's The question I have is simple and straight.

"Why is Sita naked here?"

I can possibly find a fairly simple and straight explanation for Hanuman's nakedness. He is a monkey. He is great, strong, cool, adorable and admirable monkey. Clothing him up may be just euphemism on our part. But I don't understand Sita's nakedness.

I made a quick, short search and was flooded with opinions tangential to my question.. like "freedom of expression" and "naked goddesses in Hindu temples" and "nakedness implies purity" and all that. So, just gave up. I just want to know the answers, I would hope, from M.F. since he has created this and he is the only one who can come up with the *real* reason. But anybody's direct, unprejudiced view is invited.

Traf**king

2007-02-22T20:35:00.000-08:00

Family

2007-02-12T01:57:00.000-08:00

"I am really amazed at how she has changed. She is so mature now. I am glad I that sent her out for her higher studies. I think that experience changed her for the better!"

It is a well-establised fact that venturing outside instills a lot of value to one's character. When parents see the difference when kids come home after a prolonged absence, they are always delighted. But there is one thing parents more often miss to give a thought about. What is the primary factor that has contributed to the change? The answer, independence, though simple, actually has more questions to explore. Is "the outside" so out of reach it so miserably fails to have an impact on them when kids stay with parents? Why does one have to step in to the outside to learn from it? With correct parental mindset, the answer is "Nothing!".

Sure parents are protective. That is presumably part of the parental DNA. But protection and love are only part of what a parents can offer. It is high time that one more thing gets included in the list to ensure that their kids need not wait to get out to live to make that "jump". Independence. With the observational knowledge I gather that one easy way to nudge kids towards independence is Delegation.

Parents can offload some work on your kid and let him/her handle it. While reducing work-load on themselves, this can offer priceless lessons on soft-skills like team-work, say when siblings work together while helping to clean the kitchen. More crucial point of time is while the correcting errors, when parents tend to "spoon-feed" or "just get it over with". A little patiece and a nudge towards "self-correction" in the form of questions like "What do you think exactly went wrong?"..."and how do you correct it?" should help a great deal in improving reasoning ability".

Small initiatives like giving a larger denomination of money to buy something will help in applying simple, mental mathematics and instill negotiation skills early. Morning newspaper may be a good time to teach how to look-up a dictionary as well as impelling reading, contary to watching TV, as a primary source of entertainment. When dinner time discussions are confined to relevant and progressive subjects and kept on a positive tone, it will be a good source of insight, inspiration and consequently bonding and respect.

Come to think of it, nothing that is mentioned so far is really new or insightful. How come, then, these points go out of the window at the moment of truth? Honestly, I have had a taste of being over-protective and over-reactive with someone I care about. I guess, I will learn the resit only when I step into their shoes. But I guess that is the interesting challenge that parents should acknowledge and rise up to face it.

To conclude, I can recall a plenary of adage that I have known for a while without really understanding their meaning. For now, the list reduces by two..

- நல்லதொரு குடும்பம் பல்கலைக்கழகம்.

(A good family is a university)

- A family that eats together stays together.

Disclaimer: This is not "Parenting for dummies", but a feedback for the oldies.

Demographic Dividend

2007-01-22T07:56:00.000-08:00

India has a "Demographic Dividend" says the Economic Times

What is Demographic Dividend?
The presence of a large number of citizens in the employable age group (15-59 ). Currently about 54% of them are under 24. But such a large pool is an edge over competing Asian countries (most importantly China) only if they are skilled and hence are capable of contributing to the productivity of the labour work force.

Is the employable age group a "dividend" now?

No!

- 70% of the current labour force is either illiterate or educated below primary levels.
- 5 million college graduates each year are not skilled for direct employment.
- Outdated curriculum in most of the engnieering and other technical (diploma, ITI) educational institutions and poor quality teachers
- Low skill level among women causing increase in unemployment rates among women.

How does it affect to have people of employable age with little to no skills?

It backfires! A large pool of skilled and employable labour means adequate supply in terms of quantity and quality for meeting the rising demand of labour due to expanding economic activities like manufacturing. Large pool of unskilled youth, not only decrease productivity, but also tend to consume without contribution, thus pulling the ends apart rather than converging.

What the government has to do?

Explore all avenues of skill development.

- Massively improve literacy for long-term benefits, identify sectors where currently illeterate can be employed for short-term benefits.
- Improve quality of education (update curriculum etc) at all levels, most importantly at the mid-level - those who complete higher secondary education, but do not enroll for graduate-level courses - by increasing visibility and quality of vocational education. (this initiative helped post war USA and Japan and a lot of asian countries that do better than India today!)

Other interesting points to note:

A figure to corroborate the low skill-level in India compared to other developing countries.

- 5.06% of Indian Youth are single-skilled (vocationally) trained. The number is 95.86% in Korea, 36.08 Mauritius, 27.58 in Mexico.
- BIMARU states, which lack most of the facilities to realise the dividend, will contribute about 150 million (about half) to the population of working age in the next 20 years.

source The Economic Times

- What do I think?
If the governement is serious (and there is no question it isn't), instead of lowering the cut-off and reserve seats in engineering colleges and medical colleges, it can upgrade its vocational courses, make them more accessible to the inner regions of the country and accomodate all those "low-scoring socially-backward" and "low scoring but socially forward" at the mid-level. Afterall these graduate-level courses are over-heated, but offer little to nothing in terms of employable skill. This move will give more importance to vocational courses, reserve the professional courses for the high-scorers, hence shutting down useless colleges and evince skill-development in the true sense.

Two hours worth re-living

2006-11-10T03:53:00.000-08:00

Saturday November 4th was a day apart in my life. To see my 3-month long planning, co-ordination, team-work and transform into productive result was a totally new experience. On that day, aided by inputs from all directions and all kinds of people, starting from my brother to a colleague who I have met just five times in my year of service, my team of five, responsible for community relations demonstrated chosen fundamental concepts of physics to students of a local government school called Zilla Parishad High School at Rasoolpura.

Located at the centre of a slum, the school was doomed to serve as a garbage dump yard for sometime, with no government appointed teachers. Then Bhumi, an NGO adopted the "school" to ressurrect the school within. Now, with the classes going on regularly, it presented an apt time for some hands-on experience.

We waited for the regular classes to complete, at the principal's office adorned by the portrait of iconic national leaders like Nehru, Gandhi and Sarvappali Radhakrishnan. We pointed our digital cameras at one another in an attempt to kill time, at the sight of which the Bhumi volunteer who escorted us was visibly disgruntled.

Shortly thereafter, a teacher called us to take the centre stage. We had everything chalked out. Who conducts the demo, who takes care of the logistics, who video tapes the show (that part was mine!), and who aids the person conducting the demo. To conduct the demo was all that was left to be done. For a moment, the whole thing seemed to have come to a standstill. Not too long ago, it was just a distant dream to create awareness, the lack of which, I was totally convinced, is the real handicap of the Indian society. Every other malady is only incidental. Now we are seconds away from turning the dream into a reality.

As the proceedings began with student-introductions wherein they convey their future ambitions, I realised that this is the first and only action of my life a direct and sole of my core belief. Nobody prodding, no peer-pressure, just the purpose. My team is directly addressing the fundamental problem of the society. I remembered the lines from the prayer we used to chant at school without sensitivity to its meaning.

Asato maa satgamaya....
Thamaso maa Jyothirgamaya....
Mrutyour maa amritamgamaya....

(Lead us from untruth to truth...
Lead us from darkness to light...
Lead us from mortality to immortality..)

I was fast losing the grip on myself as a sudden surge of emotion embraced me. It was hard to focus as I watched the proceedings through the LCD of the video camera. The wall opposing the black board had a painting of a map of India, not perfectly drawn to scale, but embedded on to the national flag and topped with "I love my India". I turned my camera on to it and focussed my mind.

As I got back to reality, the modest ambition of one to be a teacher caught my attention. The reason she gave was captivating. She wanted to transfer whatever she had learnt without which, she averred, her knowledge would be of no use. As the focus shifted from introductions to the demonstration of the concepts, some of my long-held specious notions melted away. The intensity with which they focussed on the demonstration, the detail with which they took note of key points and the approving nod when they understood the concept are all the demonstrative of the dream already being slowly fulfilled, the purpose already being served. I experienced the true sense of accomplishment for the first time.

When the demonstration was over after a two hour marathon and the geometry instrument boxes were distributed as an incentive to show interest in such demonstrations. I went up to the the Bhumi volunteer, who was earlier disgruntled at the photo session, with some hopes of mollifying him and said "Thank you very much for the opportunity!"

He said, "I work at an MNC too and I was always disillusioned at the fact that how less MNCs concentrate on social responsibility. What your team has done is very pleasantly surprising. I should be the one who should thank you."

There is a lot of things that I have learned. To name just one, working at the grass-roots level rewards richly, but focuses on very few. Hopefully this effort will gather momentum, grow in stature and address more concerns on awareness (other than science like First-Aid, hygiene, social responsibility to name a few). Then the challenge would be to characterise this team as the institution built by Gandhi. He inspired peoples of different walks in millions. Yet he was accessible to a common man. All his initiatives addressed the grass-roots.

A lot was taught, a lot was learnt and a lot of emotions experienced. Truly, it was two hours worth re-living.

What a Tamilan won't admit to a northie..

2006-10-14T05:07:00.001-07:00

Tulip Manohar Hotel, Hyderabad
There was an employees party in our company within weeks of my joining the company. A group of us, all non-Tamil speaking were chatting in Hindi as a few of us waited for our cab to arrive. Another Tamil speaking colleague of mine came over to me with something in mind that clearly bother him. He asked,

"What were you doing before taking up this job?"
"Studying...", I said.
"How did you know Hindi then?" was his immediate reaction.
I said, " I studied Hindi at school and I have a handful of Hindi-speaking friends from my Master's"

Satyam Theatre Complex, Chennai
I was standing in queue to buy tickets for Mask of Zorro II talking with my friend Srivatsan . Two Hindi-speaking guys behind us were hurriedly discussing on deciding a movie.

"Garam Masaala ka ticket miltha hai kya?" said one.
"Patha nahi..age poocho!" said the other.
He patted my shoulder and asked "Bhai saab....Garam Masala ka....um...are they issuing tickets for Garam masala in the counter?"
I scaned the counter for sometime and said "Abhi jo ticket Kharid ke gaya tha, woh wohi tickets kharid raha tha. Tho...shaayad tickets hai" and gave him a smile.
Even as he looked at me as though he just witnessed a day-light murder, the guy in the next queue (with tamilian written all over his face with vibooti) quickly flashed an instinctive surprised look at me before he turned away pretending not to have heard me speak Hindi.

My own close friend says "Hey cool man, you speak such a fluent Hindi though I studied Hindi for longer than you did"

These are just a few of the numerous instances of what tamilians truly feel at the bottom of their heart about Hindi as a language.

A Tamilian envies another Tamilian who can speak fluent Hindi.

A Tamilan has a bad opinion about the Hindi-speaking community. But given a choice (not a compulsion), he is more likely to learn Hindi than not.

These are two facts that no tamilian will admit to during a war-for-self-respect against a hostile hindi-speaking foe.

Innovation in cellular phone

2006-10-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

I used to have a classmate at college from the middle-east whose name goes like this...Abdullah-bin-juma-bin-ali-al-mashrufi! Phewwwww (Now I don't know about the spelling, but that is phonetically correct!). Now it is implied that he is one filthy rich fellow. He was the only guy to flaunt a cellular phone. It was way back in the previous century you see..(1999). (God know how many girls he pocketed with that glittering useless piece!).

I still remmeber that day when my professor, in his resplendent oiled, bald head and three parallel lines of vibooti across his fore-head was going about his mathematics like a bullet train speeding towards Tokyo, when all of a sudden there was a deafening "HELLO" from the back of the room brought him to a screeching halt. The whole class skipped a heart-beat on what it saw next. Abdullah walked right across the class towards the exit, one hand holding the cellphone to his ear and the other hand showing a "excuse-me" to my professor without even waiting for his permission.

Its not secret that, since then the growth of cellular phone has been phenomenal! I can only imagine what my poor professor would have gone through after that. If he has not yet retired, I am sure this is a very good reason to hang is old, worn-out boots!

Features like FM radios and built-in cameras are pointed for the increased the price (over those that don't have them). But they are classic examples of nuisance value (thanks to Sadhu Agashe (Ab Tak Chappan). One pays at least a Rs1000 extra to get a built-in camera that takes very low quality pictures that she can't really transfer if she doesn't buy a transfer cable for another thousand and odd rupees. FM radios are not as bad, but pose a serious traffic hazard.

Ask anybody who has headed a meeting or delivered a presentation before "What irritates you the most while you are yelling at the top of your lungs", the answer will be "cell phones". Isn't it time for the cell phone makers to do something about this? Well, cell phones have built in calendars and I am sure people set meeting reminders about 10-15 minutes before the start right. So, it can't be that hard to set an auto-vibrate mode. Isn't it a good marketable feature, and unlike the earlier additional feature, useful?

கீர்த்தி பெருசு...

2006-08-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

1980. வெங்கட்ராகவையா, 56 மற்றும் சிவானந்த், 55. ஊழியர்கள், கனரா வங்கி, பெங்களூர்.

அருகில் இருந்த மின் விசிரி அயராமல் வெங்கட்டின் கரிய, அடர்ந்த தலைமுடியைக் கலைத்துக் கொண்டிருக்க, தன் முன் இருந்த ரெஜிஸ்டரில் அவசரமாக ஏதோ எழுதிக்கொண்டே தன் எடது கையைப் பார்த்தார். 12:30 இருக்கும் என்று தன் வயிறு காட்டிய மணியை 12:38 கை கடிகாரம் சரி செய்தது.

"ஸ்ஸ்ஸ்" என்றப்டியே பேனாவைக் கீழே வைத்துவிட்டு சிவானநத் இருக்கும் இடத்தை நோக்கி "சிவா!" என்றார். சிவா அவர் வழக்கமான அழைப்பின் நோக்கத்தைப் புரிந்து கொண்டு

"இன்னிக்கி நான் lunch எடுத்துட்டு வரலை. ஹோட்டலுக்குப் போய்தான் சாப்பிடணும்" என்று ஒரு புது அரட்டையைத் துவக்கினார் வெங்கட்.

"அட! நானும்தான்! வா போகலாம்"

ஹோட்டலில் இரண்டு "மீல்ஸ்" சொல்லிவிட்டு "அப்ரம்" என்றர்போல் எதிரே உட்கார்ந்து கொண்டு சில நொடிகள் ஒருவரை ஒருவர் பார்த்துக் கொண்டனர்.

"இந்த காலத்துப் பசங்களுக்கு கொஞ்ச்ம் கூட பொருப்பே இல்லை." என்று அமைதியைக் கலைத்தார் சிறிது கவலையாகக் காணப்பட்ட வெங்கட்.

"என்ன விஷயம்?" என்று சிவா நோண்ட,

"எல்லாம் என் பையன் விஷயம்தான்" என்று சலித்துக் கொண்டார்.

"அவனுக்கென்னன? IITல படிப்பை முடிச்சு ஒரு நல்ல வேலைல இருக்கான். கல்யாணமும் ஆகிடுச்சு. பேரன் ஒண்ணுதான் பாக்கி! இன்னும் என்ன கவலை? குழந்தை விஷ்யத்துல எதாவது முரண்டு பிடிக்கரானா?"

"இல்லை அதைப் பத்தியெல்லாம் என் பொண்டாட்டிதான் கவலைப் படுவா. நான் இல்லை"

"பின்ன?"

"நல்ல வேலையில் இருக்கன்னு சொன்னியே, அதுல தான் ப்ரச்சனை! அதை விடப்போரானாம்!"

(ஹோட்டல் "தம்பி" வநது இலையைப் போட தண்ணீர் தளித்து விட்டு சாப்பிடத் தயாரானார்கள்)

"என்னது வேலைய விடப்போரானா? நல்லாதானே சம்பாதிக்கறான்? அப்ரம் என்னவாம்? வேற வேலை கிடைச்சுதா என்ன? (செர்வரிடம்) போரும்பா!"

"சம்பளத்துக்கொண்ணும் குறைச்சல் இல்லை! 5000 ரூபாய். ஆனா என்னமோ computer business பண்ணப்போறானாம்"

"computer business-ஆ? தனியாவா?"

"இல்லை! ஏதோ ஒரு உதவாகரையோட. அவன் மொதல்ல இங்க அஹமதாபாத்ல எதோ computer தட்டிகிட்டுருந்தானாம். அப்ரம் france போய் அங்க கொஞ்ச நாள் குப்பை கொட்டிகிட்டிருந்தான்! இப்போ அதையும் விட்டுட்டு இங்க வநது company start பண்ணப் போறானாம். அதுக்கு நம்ம ஆளு மண்டையாட்டி இருக்கார்."

"(ஏப்பம்) அய்யோ! இப்படி ஒரு இடத்துல நிலையா இல்லாம யாராவது தாண்டுவாங்ளா என்ன? சரி business-கு காசு?"

"அதை ஏன் கேக்கரை? அவன் wife பணம்! வெக்கமில்லாம கடன் வாங்கிருக்கான். கஷ்ட்டம்!"

"அடக் கடவுளே! இது எங்கயாவது பார்த்ததுண்டா?"

"அவனை விடு! என்க்கு என் பையனைப் பத்தி கவலை. இவன் முடிவா இருக்கான். என்ன IIT-ல படிச்சு என்ன ப்ரயோஜனம்? மூளை இல்லயே? இன்னும் கொஞ்ச நாளில் இவன் friend இதையும் விடப்போறான்! இவன் தெருவில் நிக்கப் போறான்! அதுதான் ஆகப் போறது"(தண்ணீர் குடிக்கிறார்)
(செர்வரிடம்) "கொஞ்சம் மோர் ஊத்துப்பா! "

"இந்த காலத்துப் பசங்க.....(யோசிக்கிறார் சிவாநந்த்) "நான் வேணும்னா பேசிப் பாக்கறேனே?!"

"அவன் கேக்கமாட்டான்! எதுக்கு வீணா?" (ஏப்பம்)

Bill வந்தது. நான் pay பண்றேன் என்று சிவானந்த் purse-ஐ எடுத்து பணம் செலுத்தினார்.

"போலாமா?"

வெங்கட் மண்டையையட்ட, ஒருசேர எழுந்தார்கள். ஹோட்டல் வாசலையடைந்ததும், திடீரென்று வெளிச்சம் மார அரைத்தூக்கத்திலிருந்து எழுப்பப் பட்டவன் போல் சட்டென்று பேசத் தொடங்கினார் சிவானந்த்"

"இல்லை நான் பேசறேன் உன் பையனிடம். இந்த sunday வீட்ல இருப்பானா?"

"ம்ம்ம்"

"அப்போ அன்னிக்கே வறேன்!"

"ஏதோ! உன் இஷ்டம்!"

"நீ அந்தப் பையனை பாத்தியா?"

"யாரு அந்த Business idea கொடுத்தவனையா? ம்ம்ம்ம். ஒண்ட்ரை கண்ணும் அதுவுமா, பார்த்தாலே நம்பிக்கையே வரலை!" என்று வெங்கட் அலுத்துக்கொள்ளவும், இருவரும் office உள்ளே நுழையவும் சரியாக இருந்தது. வெங்கட் "சரி! பாப்போம்" என்றார்.

"ம்ம்ம்...." என்று கூறி, பிரியும் தருவாயில் ....

"அந்தப் பைய்யன் பெயர் என்ன கேட்டியா?" என்றார் சிவா.

"ம்ம்ம்ம்....நாராயண மூர்த்தி"

Why should a politician be selfless?

2006-08-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

During the last monsoon season, tamil magazines and newspapers carried baffling pictures displaying flood playing havoc all over Tamil Nadu, especially in southern regions. One carried an overflowing Cauvery with a message saying that, the last time it was this full was about 5000 years ago! I to read the number twice or thrice to believe it.

The temple town of Srirangam, sandwitched between the overflowing Cauvery and Kollidam rivers, was in all danger of being submerged fully due to incessent rains and unprecedented flood in Cauvery. The only apart from the eventual subsidence of the rains is Jayalalitha's quick and proactive measure to save the city. That her measures, not just in Trichy, but all over Tamil Nadu was commendable is an undisputed fact substantiated by neutral and reputed news sources like NDTV. Barely six months later, AIADMK bit the dust in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elecitons when its coalation won less the half the number of seats than DMK. For what reasons? Karunanidhi offered TV sets and reduced the price of rice if people voted to him!

There is something to think about. The common man has so much to complain about the government. Corrupt politicians, innefficient administration, lacklusture infrastructure development are common-place in a such discussion. The question is, what about the things that the government does? Are people sensitive enough to appreciate it with the same conviction as they complained? Honestly, I don't say that Jayalalitha is any more righteous than Karunanidhi. I don't say that the people should have brought her back to power. But I can definitely say that when a government does a good job, it can guarantee itself almost nothing.

I can say that Jayalalitha would have learnt her lessons well. She would completely to me when I say that show-biz techniques and impossible assurances a month before the election gets you vote - the incentive for a political party to work for the people - better than genuine, decisive and proactive efforts. More likely than not, DMK's time will come, if they have not learnt that from AIADMK's loss.

People are not only dumb (as exemplified by the fact that they voted for DMK simply because Film Actor Rajinikanth commented against Jayalalitha in an earlier version election), they are also suffer from insensitivity, selective amnesia, and - like the politicians themselves - greed for personal incentives rather than a long-term social vision. Everybody works for an incentive. Everybody works better if the work is appreciated. Why should a politician be any more selfless?

Weighing democracy against autocracy

2006-07-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

I am just thinking aloud here. One thing is clear. A country's status (std. of living, economy...etc) almost solely depends on the entity in control. So, hypothetically if a country with a well-educated mass is ruled by a not-so-educated military ruler or an autocratic king, chances are the country will digress, simply because the well-educated simply don't have a say. On the other hand, if the government is democratic, there are more opportunities for the well-educated to participate. One crucial element for good participation is the collective cognizance of the need to participate and the will to take a stand. But when the will is there, the passage is easy in a democracy than dictatorship or autocracy, since the only way for an autocracy to progress is the will of the entity in power and not the mass.

What if the mass is not so well-educated? Here things are going to get messy (like it is in India?). I gather that in a democracy the society finds an equilibrium at a certain level (mostly very low). But if the rule is going to be stable, the society is bound to progress at its own pace. Slow or fast again depends on the will of the mass. But the condition in an autocracy is likely to be worse, because the entity in rule is going to make the most out of the limited resources and, with nobody to oppose (political party or "free" press) will likely just sit pretty. It will take a "revolutionary" like Su Kyi for instance to go through hell and the rest is left to chance.

It looks like I will choose a stinking democracy to a stinking autocracy. What if the country is rich? What would I choose then? Probably democracy. What would happen to Pak. if Musharaf is killed? Scary! Democracy, I think, has the cushion to take the shock.

And communism:
1. My friend who fled Vietnam to US narrated how difficult it was to purchase a TV there. They had to fill out a an application book rather than a form to seek government's permission (and pay the bribe, of course!) and keep your fingers crossed for a month or two for approval. It sounds more like waiting for IIT-JEE results. Well, may be it was the communism of yester-years. How about today?

2. I read a centre-page article in The Hindu today. It basically said, China is aging fast. So, the government is thinking of "allowing" people of certain well-developed cities Shanghai and people above a certain economic status to have a second kid. The government decides on how many kids I can have and is thinking of increasing it by one! How magnanimous!

Democracy is what I will choose. For if the rule is bad, there is still hope. If the rule is good, nothing like it. I doubt if I can say that about an autocracy or communism.

Right To Information

2006-07-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

When I saw the movie Mudhalvan (Nayak in Hindi), I loved the movie inspite of me. The elegance of a grim-faced Arjun leaving the place after removing an erring government officer on the spot and the sense of purpose with which he announces the introduction of "complaint box" irresistibly touched my what-if-it-happens-for-real sentiment. But I was under no illusion about the tenacity of the Indian govt. officials and their ability to stick to their strength. They always win and walk away with the money they didn't earn. Our money. I really wished for a Senapathi (Kamal Hassan in Indian) clad INA uniform with a knife on hand to walk in front of them. Movies! They always falter to deceive.

But after being trapped in this dark cave of corruption, Indian people have possibly found a crack through which filters the ray of hope! I got to know about the Right To Information through NDTV and looking at the reports it seems to be working at least for some! Most of the revolutionising changes in the society occur due to evolutionary measures. The key for RTI to succeed in a society full of corrupt officials and submissive citizens like ours is awareness. So, here is my two cents (paisas rather!)

What is RTI? Thanks to the sincere efforts of a fellow blogger
RTI Blog: Reports and success stories influenced by RTI.

What else is left? The only thing that has been left for so long. For us to know our rights and exercise them. This is a good chance to redeem ourselves from our own servants. Oh! Before I forget.... Well done NDTV!

Media Exposed: Rakhi Sawant case

2006-06-20T06:22:00.000-07:00

I know! You guys are thinking "As if the media is not enough, here is another blogger who is wasting his time and reader's time to come up with the crap about Justice to Rakhi Sawant". Hey, I am one of you too! Rakhi doesn't deserve the air time or the page-space because she managed to show-off her assets in discotheque-targetting "item songs" and she ended up getting molested. But there is another angle that I am trying to see.

Allow me to start from the beginning. I have a sensation-stuck room-mate who sticks to Star-News and its totally irrelevant and senstionalistic news reports for his worldy no-ledge (thanks to D.N.A.). As a surprise to nobody, Star News dedicated its prime air time to this. It showed footage of Rakhi offering a friendly kiss to Mika on his cheek as a split-screen along with another footage of Mika returning it to her on her cheek in a slow motion to let it sink into the audience. I thought "And she is filing a molestation charge against him?".

But the opinion in equally sensationalistic Outlook magazine along with the pictures published exposes (better than Rakhi herself!) the collective media irresponsibility. As claimed by the article, the media (CNN-IBN, Star News...) neither published the photograph published in Outlook, nor clearly indicated that the footage shown on TV was the one that Rakhi was complaining about.

The reason may be many things, plain want of time dedicated to news, predetermined notion on part of media that Rakhi is after cheap publicity (as claimed by Outlook). But the reasons don't matter. The fact remains that the news report has given a biased angle to viewers.

Again, the specific news report by itself is insignificant since it doesn't affect the greater good of the society. But this fact is only more concerning than relieving. What about all the issues that do concern the society and the public opinion does matter? How am I to expect objective and accurate news.

My hopes are already dampened by The Hindu Group .It abased itself by heaping up tonnes of totally biased pro-reservation views in all its publications, but not finding space for single article on its down-sides.

Media: Shame on you!

Further:
http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/fullbvideo.php?id=12722

OverCoffee

2006-06-09T05:56:00.000-07:00

It is around 3 O'clock in the afternoon and it is hard to stay awake, let alone focus on work. But this situation occurs so often that everyone knows the remedy to it. Coffee! This is probably the sole reason why people in our site are as active as they are after lunch. Employees in Synopsys, Hyderabad are diverse not only in culture, but also in habituation to coffee. Some totally refrain from coffee, while some practically live on it. Some prefer tea, while some enjoy both alike.

What one prefers is one's choice. But the reasons behind the choice is interesting and worthy of a discussion. An employee of Synopsys Hyderabad who consciously refrains from coffee, says, "I don't want to drink coffee because it is addictive." So, how true are such common notions about coffee? A quick search in the internet shows that coffee is hot! as a topic of discussion, that is. News articles on latest scientific findings, dedicated websites for awareness about coffee, recipes for various purposes like pre-workout nourishment and stress reduction are common search results on coffee. Like any thing famous, controversy and sensationalism afflicts coffee's reputation, but truth emerges quickly with some patient research.

Addictive?

The most widely "known" opinion about coffee is probably coffee's "addictive" nature. After all every one knows that coffee (or the lack of it) causes headache. World Health Organization admits that it happens to "some sensitive individuals" who may "experience such effects when their daily intake is quickly and substantially altered. But any such effect is always overcome by progressively reducing the intake of coffee over a few days." So, moderation, rather than abstinence, will suffice.

Coffee and Cancer:

If research is to be trusted, coffee has a love-hate relations

hip with cancer. One Japanese research published in Journal of the National Cancer Institute says that two to three cups of coffee helps reducing the risk of liver cancer. On the other hand, a research publication in Chronic Diseases in Canada links coffeewith risks in bladder cancer with four cups of coffee per day. For women, the same amount of coffee may increase the risk of breast cancer.

A little effort beyond casual "google-ing" brings out the truth about coffee's relationship with cancer. While certain research studies categorically vindicate coffee from its perceived ill-effects, a few others that eulogize coffee's effects are based on possibilities, rather than scientific proof. For instance, a research article involving researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center New York, (the top ranked cancer institute according to US News) concludes that "consumption of coffee does not influence the incidence of breast cancer."[1] On the other hand, if we consider coffee's "capabilities" on curing liver cancer, according to reports in MSNBC, the Japanese researchers have tested two groups of 100,000 people. One group "never or almost never drank coffee", while the other group drank coffee regularly. They found that the first group had 547 individuals with liver cancer after 11 years of observation. In the same period, the second group produced only about 215 with liver cancer. So, they concluded that, coffee may be responsible for preventing liver cancer. But MSNBC followed the news up with this.

"While the study found a statistically significant relationship between drinking coffee and having less liver cancer, the authors note that it needs to be repeated in other groups. And the reason for the reduction remains unclear."[2]

With no scientific evidence relating coffee to reduction of liver cancer, the conclusions of this research cannot be a convincing proof for coffee's benign effects.

Another angle:

Looking at the issue from a different perspective, coffee's effect on a healthy individual, malign or benign, usually shows up when the consumption is four cups or more. For instance, coffee's possible contribution to bladder cancer is prominent only when an average four cups are consumed per day. Similar observations are made on rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Another research claims that six cups of coffee a day reduces the chance of Type 2 diabetes by 50% (University of Harvard Medical School). So, it may be safely assumed that a moderate coffee consumption of 2 to 3 cups a day will be non-intrusive.

Popular truth:

However, not all the popular notions about coffee are false. Coffee increases mental alertness, but excess coffee causes insomnia and indigestion. If coffee is loaded up with sugar and creamer, over a period of time, it increases the LDL cholesterol level and hence the chances of diabetes. Hypertensive individuals are especially prone to increased blood pressure.

Bottom line:

Most of the research studies linking coffee to a disease don't go beyond establishing a possible statistical correlation. Alternatively, research pointing to coffee's beneficial effects mostly point out that such effects are prominent only if the intake is high. If you avoid coffee thinking that it will shorten you lifespan, you are a victim of media hype and unsubstantiated rumors. A cup or two of coffee per day is non-intrusive to a healthy person, save its mouth-watering aroma and a taste that lives up to the expectation its aroma generates. But to avoid the short-term effects (insomnia etc.) moderation is the key.

References:

[1] http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/122/3/391

[2] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6975257/

Further read:

http://www.ific.org/publications/brochures/caffeinebroch.cfm

Of reservation and relevance

2006-05-15T03:48:00.000-07:00

A social worker working for the upliftment of SC/ST (who I happened to meet in train from Chennai to Hyderabad) told me how difficult it is bring them to school. We all know about how bad India is in literacy. I think the case is stronger to push mandatory school level education across all social classes. But I don't see it being discussed anywhere at all. Reservation should not be handled as a separate issue. It is my opinion that if you get enough people from all across the society into 12^th, and bring about reforms so that at 12^th pass-out can actually earn his living, reservation based on any parameter (like social or economic status) can be made totally irrelevant.

I have seen this work in the US. If you see the percentage of high school graduates going directly to college, it was close to 18% the last I heard (about a year ago). But there is so many jobs a 12^th pass-out can do to earn his living and save for college. A lot of people go back to college education (both bachelors and masters) after working for some time. So, the real question that we should as ourselves (or the govt. to itself) is "What reforms can be done to give jobs to high school grads". I wish I can answer this question. But it is worthier spending time on this issue. Of course, to stop at school level is a taboo today. But once relatively better earning jobs are available after school education this will change, especially if the worth (interms of earnings) of college education is projected, this taboo will fizzle away. Well the idea is arguable. That is precisely why it is brought to discussion OverTea.

Indias Identity

2006-04-26T03:12:00.000-07:00

The colour of India is its Identity. It's the religious tolerance and multi cultural characteristics defines it. If you impose Hindi/Hindusim, then you are breaking the foundation of Indian civilization. I don't know Hindi, but I am still able to live happily in India. My muslim friends are able to live happily in India without knowing the concepts of Hinduism. By practising different culture, we are reinforcing its identity. Western nations have just become democratic but we were always democratic. Proud to be an Indian because we know democracy from time immemorial and we are still surviving. Please dont play with the foundation, because one billion people live on top of it.

Guest post by,
Prakash Gomathinayagam
FiloSofy

Of liberalism and conservatism

2006-04-24T05:46:00.000-07:00

It is now cliche to talk at lengths about Information Technology and how it has turned India's image and lifestyle on its head. So, let's cut it short.

Post-recession era - "India Shining" - Lots of money and spending mood with middle class - we are a big global market.

Indirect gainer of this feel-good factor is the entertainment industry. It has capitalized on the sudden inflow of money and seemingly consequent liberal attitude among people, to come up with tons of sexually explicit Hollywood lift-offs in the name of diversifying into relatively bolder subjects like infidelity (ex: Murder) and homosexuality. Thanks to Mahesh Bhatt and few other copy machines, we have nearly a hundred hot girls who are willing to strip and Emran Hashmi who is kind enough to smooch them at least two at time in every movie.

Ten years ago, the same thing would have raised a few eye-brows. Today, be it the curious kid, the restless teen, the cool collegian or the nostalgic middle-aged, all take it in their stride. If they do mind they don't come up with their objection very publicly. So that brings us to the question of interest in the discussion OverTea. Are we a liberal society?

What is liberalism? The idea that has freedom as its core. A liberal living is a life according to ones own freedom, provided it respects others.

What is conservatism? A idea of discipline and convention. A conservative, leads a life that conforms to specific rules, mostly drawn by religion and to a lesser extent, but still significantly drawn by the society.

If we view the Indian society in the light of the above definitions, the truth becomes evident, especially if we ask ourselves certain questions.

- How prevalent and welcome is inter-caste and inter-religious marriage in our society?
- How are a certain sections of our community like homosexuals, AIDS patients treated? Do they feel important in the society?
- How tolerant are we to ways of living that we don't really understand or agree to?
( A good example is the traditional Tamil Nadu Vs Rest of India cold-war)
- How much freedom does the female community enjoy when compared to the male community?
- How many physically challenged people enjoy the same level of independence and mental well-being as a normal person?
- How many adopted children are adopted by potent couples?

None of the above questions evoke a positive answer. In all the above questions, some one's freedom (inter-religious love-birds, women, homosexuals, etc) is over-ridden by some rule (marriage within community, having an opposite sex partner, "all should know Hindi" or "I wont speak in Hindi even if I know it", "Women should be more disciplined than men").

So, my take is that we are far from a liberal society. If we assume ourselves to be a liberal society based on the increasing number of pubs and modern ways of dressing, I am afraid we lack reasoning. Of course, social drinking and liberal dressing are constituent of a liberal society, but such aspects are not substantive to liberalism. In our case, those are just effects of media-driven fashion trends and half-baked knowledge about the western culture. Such aspects are not necessarily wrong, or as conservative extremists may say, destructive to Indian culture. But it is not very progressive either.

The day when it is common for a totally potent couple wants to adopt a child, and is not opposed by the immediate relatives (thus granting them total freedom) is when the society is liberal. The day when a physically challenged person enjoys the freedom to move around with minimal or no help, and evokes a feeling that his impairment is no real impairment is the day a society becomes liberal. In short, a society achieves liberalism only when it matures to recognize and encourage a progressive trend especially when such a trend opposes a convention.

Gay association in Chennai: A Reflection

2006-04-18T02:35:00.000-07:00

CNN-IBN's report on Official Gay Association in Chennai is significant in two ways.

1. For the first time in India, gays have a chance step out of the closet and lead a normal life. Even possibly increase public awareness. Awareness about what?

- about the fact that being gay is not a choice, but a feature imprinted on ones self at birth, as this article in CBS might indicate. Its as plain as saying "Just like you are attracted towards girls, I am attracted towards guys".

- gays are more criminally inclined when suppressed and ill-treated and the only way to avoid this is to recognize them as normal humans.

For the records, I am not gay! To be honest, (at the expense and getting defensive, and inviting criticisms involving the word "hypocrite") if I know that somebody is gay, I WILL feel awkward and insecure. But the support for gay-rights is as much ingrained in me as the insecure feeling itself. An organization to protect a community marginalized for no conscious fault on its part has to be welcome.

2. The second significance is personal. Chennai is considered by many as a conservative, or worse, an intolerant city (primarily with the ancient anti-Hindi sentiments that filled the air in Tamil Nadu a decade or two ago). In all honesty, Chennai is conservative to a large extent. But, this news report clearly vindicates Chennai from the allegiance that it is intolerant. The limited media coverage has turned out to be fortunate and unfortunate at the same time. Fortunate, since the news has gained enough public image to really interest the self-styled guardians of Tamil Culture. Unfortunate, since if it had gained more national attention, it would have done its bit in bring Chennai's true image to light.

Those who disagree with me and quote the Kushbhoo episode and The Park episode as counter, please consider the fact that the "Dharna" against Khusbhoo was wholly by executed by a caste-based political party which linked her comments to Tamil Culture when Kushbhoo said nothing about it. The Park episode was a misadventure by a small time reporter looking for cheap media publicity and a thoughtless and panicky approach by the government to avoid another controversy. The general public did not participate in both the instances and, more importantly, there was no violence.

BE Vs. B.Sc

2005-11-13T07:30:00.000-08:00

Say the word "India" and the first that would come to people's mind all over the world is IT. For sure, IT boom has catapulted India's image from poor beggars capable of sleeping on a bed of nails or snake charmers who can also charm ropes, to smart, intelligent, adaptive, ambitious and most importantly, English speaking technologists and businessmen. In other words, India is a big talent pool, a large overseas market and hence a very fast growing economy. Its good to see India trying to take steps to maximise the opportunity it has got.

But I guess there are certain issues that are not yet addressed. No, I am not talking about the elimination of poverty or corruption. Those are oft discussed, but stagnant topics. I am talking about the educational stream Vs. career prospect lopsidedness.

If you are scratching your head about what I am talking about. Here is the scenario. Today, if one graduates out of any college (not necessarily a reputed one) as an engineer, he/she has a bright chances of landing in a decently paid job (More often than not, that job will be IT related). But, barring a very few exceptions, a science graduate has virtually no chance of getting placed anywhere. And I see only *one* reason to it. Service-oriented IT companies limit their technical workforce only to BE graduates. The notion among the companies' hiring team that a mechanical engineer from a not-so-great college will be a better fit than a B.Sc. CS graduate for a computer programming job is nothing more than superstition.

This creates an unequal distribution of job prospects across different educational fields. Having spent a few years of my lifetime in the US, (where else!) this is one clear difference that I have noticed between the two countries. Any educational qualification (even high school) has a sizable pool of jobs that one can land in and make both ends meet. (That explains the fact that a very low percentage of high school graduates go on to graduate with a Bachelors degree in the US). The question here, is "Will I ever get a job?", the question there "Will this qualification fetch me a job that will pay me well enough?".

To reach there, we should work on redistributing the educational qualification Vs. job-prospect mismatch. For starters, I would suggest that the IT service oriented companies start hiring from relevant science graduates (with say, CS, physics or math specialisation) for atleast some of their jobs. (After all, we are still doing more service than innovation). If my guesses are not way off, this might trigger a lot of other phenomenon. More high school graduates will consider science specialisation as a viable option (rather than paying huge capitation fees to engineering colleges). With more students from science colleges getting place in reputed firms, reputation and hence competition among institution will increase. This will in turn, lead to improvements in infrastructure.

On the other hand, with more people going for science field, a number of engineering colleges whose infrastructure is no more than rooms, will disappear allowing the universities to concentrate better on improving the quality of engineering education and infrastructure. Infrastructure improvement in engineering by itself is worth another blog. I hope to dedicate one for that in the near future. For now, its for you (sitting across the table) to put your thoughts OverTea!

Good Work Government!

2005-11-09T20:51:00.000-08:00

Rains and relief in Chennai:
I had been to chennai for the Diwali vacations for a week, which eventually falls on the week that followed a week of incessent rains and flooding. I had done a fair bit of travelling around the city and followed up the news, both on TV and news paper. I found that, inspite of a record downpour, normalcy has been restored fast (in a week) to most of the city (though not so in North Chennai!). Relief camps have been setup in 10 areas for relocation of people in low-lying areas. Army was called in for relief operations in suburbs like Madippakkam (which is close to my home!) and trains were restored to operation fast. Good to see news channels like NDTV commend the way the corporation handled the whole issue. NDTV also noted that during the second round of showers following the Diwali week, the officials learned from mistakes in the previous to ensure proper drainage of water in subways. My applause to Chennai corporation for the good work and my encouragements to keep it up. Hope the also learn a little bit from the Vyasarpadi stampede to organise the distribution of food and clothes better!

Rediff: Uniform call rate across the country:
This is a welcome measure apart from numerous other efforts by Comm. and IT minister Dayanidhi Maran. I always believe that the best way to measure a country's progress is to look at how easier the life of a normal man gets. This sure is a good step forward since it makes the life of the rich and the poor alike! Great job. To be cautious, I would hope that after the uniform call rates is set, it would not be set to the current STD rates :)

Religion and Society

2005-10-01T01:13:00.000-07:00

Recently, in one of my groups we had a discussion on a Times article.

In short, the article was reporting a research which concludes that

"...belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems."

It went on with comparison of US society (considered to be one of the most religious, at the same time, advanced nation in the world) with other less devout nations (in Europe mainly).

A few excerpts!

Gregory Paul, the author of the study and a social scientist, used data from the International Social Survey Programme, Gallup and other research bodies to reach his conclusions.

"US was the world's only prosperous democracy where murder rates were still high, and that the least devout nations were the least dysfunctional."

The study shows that England, despite the social ills it has, is actually performing a good deal better than the USA in most indicators, even though it is now a much less religious nation than America.

"The US also suffered from uniquely high adolescent and adult syphilis infection rates, and adolescent abortion rates, the study suggested."

Mr Paul said that rates of gonorrhoea in adolescents in the US were up to 300 times higher than in less devout democratic countries

Here is my take!

I think one key point is not discussed in the article (or not considered from the polls' conclusion).

How many of those crimes in the USA and other countries are related to religion?

To me, the conclusions are correct to a certain extent, but based on wrong data. Just because USA couldn't control crime as good as the others, how can we paint a religious picture to it? There are numerous other factors like easier access to guns and licences for guns, drugs and other things. Crimes and social ills (quoted by the article) are due to direct effect of such factors and not because of religion. Also, based on my experience at the US, the country is more religious not because they implement the moral values of the religion in day-to-day life, but more because larger portion of people attend the sunday masses regularly! That is it!

To be fair to them, they are also immune (to a large extent) to the negative side of the religion's effects like evil-superstitions, sticking to customs though they are obsolete or counter-productive (I mean to say that they are more open to new and positive ideas even if those ideas are outside the boundaries of Christianity. One good example may be Yoga!).

Now I feel the conclusions ofresearchearch are correct to a certain extent because, religion has been the reason for a lot (but not all) of crimes all over the world. And if you look close enough, no religion is an exception. I feel, the problem is applying religion in the society-level. (Doing things like some self-proclaimed guardians of Islam issuing fatwa against Sania for not wearing a veil while playing tennis.) and the govts heeding to it (I still don't get the idea behind separate set of laws for Muslims like "Talaak" and a whole bunch of other things). So, if a society has to be devout and at the same time less-criminal (because of religious factors) it has to apply religion at the personal level, and be tolerant to those who opt a non-religious or a less religious path. Otherwise, it is better off being atheistic.

What is your take?

Seven

2005-09-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

So, thats what tagging is about. I had to visit a few others Maayaa had (and had not) tagged before I got an idea. So, its a question of seven. Why seven? Well, I guess why not? Anyway, here it is!

Seven

things I want to do.

Travel to Maldives. Its a wonderful place and will be off the map in about 10 years!
Learn human psychology and apply it.
Teach part-time at school and/or college.
Think proactively.
Watch all well-made movies
Learn and experience varied culture.
Learn Telugu and Urdu

things I can do.

Hold off anger
Get up early!
Respect someone's view, even if I don't buy it.
Make friends of diverse people.
Jog non-stop for 45 minutes, and work-out for an hour.
Listen out others (as I found out, many can't), especially in an arguement.
easily doze of while reading!

things I can't do.

Bargain
understand money matters (Business, profits, stock markets..)
Eat meat or smoke tobacco
flirt with girls
return a "Hi" with a "Hi" (I always say "Hello")
detect an ulterior motive
stop checking out girls (C'mon, don't hate me! I'm a guy! Atleast, I am honest!)

things I would like in the opposite sex

Simplicity
Sensibile spirituality
Good decent dressing sense
Out going personality
Sense of humour (atleast, a sense to appreciate a good joke!)
Unbiased attitude
Good looks (my favourite is girl-next-door's like Vidya Balan)

celebrities I like and why.

Vidya Balan (looks)
Tom Hanks(Acting)
Jack Nicholson (do)
Kamal Hassan (versatality)
Amir Khan(do)
Rani Mukarjee(acting)
Sania Mirza (performance)

Spam comment filters

2005-09-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

Its not even ten minutes, since I became active and I already know what the blog needs in the future. Spam comment filters! Look at the first comment on my previous blog today. Its about some food allergy and why am I so damn sure that it was auto generated. Is there anybody in any corner of the world working on the spam comment filters?

Rising from the ashes

2005-09-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

Whew.... a long time absence. Not that I have run out of ideas. But I had been travelling....half way around the globe. I wish that was a travel for pure fun. But I relocated to take up a new job. So, if my location still says that I am in Oregon, its a lie. Now I am in Hyderabad - in a new place, and in a new role, new experience and renewed excitement. Now I feel like the English Cricket team...I feel like I am rising from the ashes!

Special Mention: V.Murugan

2005-06-02T21:14:00.000-07:00

V. Murugan - a soldier from an agricultural hamlet in Tirunelveli,Tamil Nadu - is remembered for his sacrifice in Kargil War. How? Read the story Remembering son of soil from The Hindu. You can do your honours for him too! Details in the article itself.

Scaffold: Mixed Bag

2005-05-22T05:11:00.000-07:00

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

Is Hindi Compulsary?

2005-05-21T01:54:00.000-07:00

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.

Scaffold: Horror!

2005-05-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

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.

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.

Special Mention: Victoria Hale

2005-05-06T02:27:00.000-07:00

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

Scaffold: India

2005-05-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

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

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) .

Test Post!

2005-05-01T00:54:00.000-07:00

My family....tireless.

2005-04-30T01:54:00.000-07:00

My family is self-sufficient in all respects. I have a brother, a sister, a cousin, a loving granny and working parents. There is no dearth for fun, fight and play with my siblings around all the time. Seeing the parents' return after a prolonged absence (matter of hours is a long wait for a kid!) always brought great excitement and prospects of Bananas, mangoes, peanuts, toys, chips..and the list has just begun! My granny? None to beat her. If I didn't know what hunger felt like till I was in my 11th grade, its because she had a 100% record in having the tiffin and drink ready when I came back from school. (During high school, I travelled farther, so I felt hungry halfway home!).

We have not used a lot of machinary for household chores. We don't own a dish washer till date. We bought a washing machine fairly early, but found hand-wash was more effective. The same was the case with vacuum cleaner. We found that broom-sticks and waste clothes used with washing powders (Surf Ultra!)were better cleaners. For nearly 2 decades, our only personal transportation were bicycle. With my awesome granny and hard working parents and helpful siblings around, almost none of the toiling household chores ever seeped to me. No matter how much work was due, we always had the enough manpower to let me munch pop-corns over weekend entertainment. God! I had a dream childhood.

I was just reading an article in Reader's Digest which talked about how household chores like taking the trash, going to a nearby shop for grocery and helping to cook, not only improved family values, but also made one more responsible, smart and to an extent worldly. Is that true? I made a quick analysis. Oh yea! My sisters rock at home management. My brother needs little help when it comes to handling people and decision making (though my mom doesn't think so!). And....wait a minute! My secondary school friend (also a rank holder) helped his mom, bought groceries, maintained his bike and you bet he is smart! So were my friends from high school and college. The article hit the Bulls eye!

It occurred to me, I could have had a dream childhood with some more soft skills! I wish my dad dragged me out of the house to clean my bike! I wish my nanny and parents were not so tireless.

Scaffold: China 2

2005-04-24T00:19:00.000-07:00

What really is China's growth? Asia Times Online (Contributed article)

About how China has used its diplomatic capabilities attract the Third World towards itself (and away from the US) to help its growth MSNBC

A comprehensive collection of stories about China's growth Rediff

An article actually (referenced in the an article in rediff) written last year to give a feel of China's economic growth. Washington Post

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) .

Scaffold: Blog!

2005-04-23T01:13:00.000-07:00

Do you know what is the BusinessWeek cover story is? Blog!!

A story about the BW cover story about the BW cover story!! (Can check out the cover of BW here!)

Now that BW has a cover stoy, it seems other sources can't avoid talking about it! Here is an article in MarketWatch!!

Don't get too excited! Blogging is not always great. It can make or break anyone's career! Here is an example to learn from!

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) .

"Enna Satham intha neram... Ennai thalaatta varuvaala..."

2005-04-22T01:08:00.000-07:00

"Enna satham intha neram..." - Punnagai mannan
"Tere mere beech mein.." - Ek duje Ke liye

Find anything common? Think about it, I find a few! Kamal Hassan, all-time hit love songs. One other common, but possibly, less apparent thing is that both the songs are set in a similar situations. They scan the last happy moments of a couple before they attempt to commit suicide because of so-called "love failure". Both the movies got what they wanted (atleast from me)- sympathy for the couple and hatred towards their parents (who invariably were to be blamed!). I am sure one can come up with more movies that talked about "love failure". After all, its a formula that sold well. I have also come across news, roumors and even saw a case of suicide first-hand. All due to "love failure". Now that I have started hearing about real-life incidents, I wanted to answer one question. "What were they trying to prove?" The answers I could think of, and what I want to tell to them.

Dead couple: See, if they had let us get married, they need not have gone through so much agony.

Me: You are sadists. Sure they are stupid not to respect you for your age. But no parent enjoys agonizing you. But you (or whatever remains after you are dead) enjoy agonizing your parents. I hope your parents adopt a kid who actually loves them.

Dead couple: They tried to get me married to another guy/girl. I can't even imagine living with somebody else, while I am in love with him/her

Me: Tell the guy/girl that you are in love with someone else.

Dead couple: I am too afraid to confront my or his/her parents. We couldn't find any other way

Me: You haven't used your brains. Had you used it, you would have thought about it when it occurred to you that you are in love. By the way, you just think you are afraid. Don't you realise? You are brave enough to kill not only yourselves, but your boy(girl)friend.

I don't hear news/rumors/facts about "love failure" suicides any longer. But I have come across cases first hand, in which people who are in love told themselves "You know what? Its not working out. Why don't we just move on? Best friends during middle schools forget in a few years simply because they don't meet anymore. Time is the ultimate healer"

I realized suddenly that the old movie formula doesn't sell anymore.

"Ennai thaalaatta varuvaalaa...." - Kaadalukku mariyathai

Scaffold: China 1

2005-04-19T01:47:00.000-07:00

Scaffold: A platform to provide support.

Thats what the news links will be used for in this blog when I am lazing around without coming up with new, exciting discussions OverTea! Here are some .

An opinion editorial on why India is better-off rivaling, rather than, befriending China (in business terms) Time

An article throwing a lot of light in the improving cross-relationship between China, USA and India. Asia Times Online

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) .

Mahabharat...all but Dharma.

2005-04-18T02:16:00.000-07:00

Mahabharat! What a way to start of a Sunday entertainment in the TV. Just like when I went around with a cricket bat and ball when it is world cup, just like when I marked out a mini-tennis court on my terrace when it was Wimbledon, I remember making bows and arrows of different varieties and sizes when it was war-time in the serial. Half of us would not have known of what was the story of Ramayan and Mahabharat if it did not cross the mind of Ramanand Sagar and B.R chopra. Or simply if it was not telecast on a sunday!

We derive a lot of our moral values from such epics. But after a discussion I had with a friend of mine, the more I think about Mahabharat, the more I tend to feel that, Lord Krishna had been unfair towards his believers. What I say may sound sacrilegious, but lets think about it. Yudishtra was casually (may be not so casually) invited for a game of gambling by Kauravas and kept on playing till he lost everything including his kingdom and Draupathi. (I don't understand, how a guy as virtuous and honest as him can think about pledging his wife) and the pandavas go of to exile. When the come back, they Kauravas deny their rightful kingdom and they declare war. Fair enough. Now, in the so called Dharma Yudh, the Pandavas, masterminded by Lord Krishna use all unfair means to annihilate the Kauravas one by one.

- Bheeshma was killed in the presence of Shikandi by Arjuna, exploiting the fact that Bheeshma vowed not to fight a woman (rather a non-male)
- Dhrona was killed by a lie (if we go by the spirit of truth rather than the strict definition of lie)
- Karna was killed when he was unarmed. A cardinal sin, if we consider the rules of engagement.
- Dhuryodhan was killed by Bheem when he used his weapon under the former's hips. Again a breach of rules of engagement.

Had the Pandavas fought a fair war, it would have been a one-sided affair with the Pandavas losing the battle which, in my opinion, they deserve. Considering all that, I don't really see how Lord Krishna is any different from the old fox Shakuni. The name Dharm Yudh is such an irony with all but Dharma.

Scaffold: India News

2005-04-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

Since this is a new venture, for now atleast, I tend to look at every thing through the lens of Blog. Since I spend half of my internet time reading news, I thought I would post some good ones here. Since it might take some time for a good issue to discuss OverTea, it will be a good filler too!

What did Vivek Oberoi do to a battered Tamil Nadu village after Tsunami?
NDTV

A Good educational development in Chennai, India
The Hindu

New Airport at Chennai?
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) .

2005-04-15T10:49:00.000-07:00

Oh well...OverTea

2005-04-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

Oh well! I have started blogging. Let me tell you all first up. I am not trying to be the "kewl dude" always coming up with different and never-thought-of ways to make my fellow bloggers envious. I mean, now that I have started blogging, how different can I be from the pack?

But I should have a reason to take the initiative, right? Well, I don't always have a reason for things I do, but it so happens that I do have a reason for this. There is someone I know who believes that I have wonderful writing skills which he/she said (and I quote) I am "throwing into the trash can" and that someone suggested me that I should start blogging. I don't want to name that someone of course, because I like him/her and don't like him/her being laughed at in case some body thinks I am bad at writing. So anyway, I thought "Blogging, huh? What are the best and worst case outcomes?" The best case: there are going to be a few people responding to my blogs and discussing things OverTea. If I am allowed to get too optimistic, I will probably get some messages admiring how good my posts and writing skills are (Hey come on, I am allowed to dream!). It sure will encourage me to seriously think about a career involving a lot of writing. The worst case: I will discuss things all alone OverTea. Well, that sure is not too much fun, but then, not all the great writers attract large crowd. Don't you agree? (Don't you get it? I am still good at writing!!). I decided that I will give it a try.

So, what's with this title? While I don't want to be the "Kewl dude", I don't want to own a blogspot thats all words and no meaning. I propose, to express my views and discuss good and bad things that go around the world, just like most of us do OverTea (and hence the title). I welcome your opinions, for and against, as long as they don't get personal. So, come on! join me for a cup!