Angry Young Vijay

Dad does matter !!!

2007-04-06T23:07:00.000-07:00

Of Course he does. How else could you explain Rahul Gandhi being hailed as the new PM. Talking of credentials he doesn’t have many apart from his famous surname and the fact that all of a sudden, when UP assembly elections were just a month away, he remembered of the poor UP junta and how they needed a messiah in the form a blue blooded, foreign educated, Page3 neta flaunting a firang girlfriend.

To be fair to him, he is not alone in the list of scions building upon what their dads did and using it in every conceivable way – socially, economically, politically and even emotionally (“Had Rajeev Gandhi been alive, such and such thing would not have happened !!!”). You have 10+2 kids high on booze from their dad’s pocket, racing in their dad’s cars and crushing people all around, some wannabe Sanjiv Nandas (of the BMW crush and run fame) these. You have sons high on the dad’s political clout and goonda power killing people for refusing them drinks after bar timings are over.

Get deeper and you’ll find that the roots probably lie in us Indians basically being an insecure lot. Right from the ancient age, whoever amongst us made big in whichever field wanted to secure that “big-ness” for his generations to come. The early Brahmins, since they became big in education ordained that only their kids can study, similarly the early Rajputs wielding political power ordained that only their blood can be kings. Privileged or underprivileged at birth is quite inseparable from our psyche. It’s evident equally ferociously even today. In medical profession, quite a few things are quite easy if you are a doc’s kid. It is said that even in army, if you come from an officer’s family, things are different for you.

Nowhere does this philosophy of “privileged (or underprivileged) at birth” comes to display more strongly than during admissions in Delhi schools. If you are a common man on the street working hard for your family and don’t have political or bureaucratic connections, God help your kid even if he has brains of an Einstein.

Looked objectively, dad’s economic and power position affects the kids in every society – including what school you go to, what company you keep and what attitude you develop. Just that, in our country, walls are more rigid, your dad’s name can help you much much more than it can in other countries and unlike in the US for example, there are other roads to money and power apart from smartness and hard work. Thus while you pay for your dad’s not being exceptionally brilliant, smart and ambitious, you may also have to pay for his not being an unscrupulous, dishonest cheat.

On the other hand, if one person in the family tree makes it big either through hard work, diligence and smartness or through cheating, robbing and swindling, he can rest assured that his generations to come will not have to worry, unless of course some of them turn out to be absolute morons and go about killing their sister’s suspected boyfriends or snorting too much cocaine on the eve of their dad’s Asthi Visarjan (Remember the Majahan dude ???).

Moreover, in an interesting twist, nature arranges for its own poetic justice. Several of the big daddy’s sons and daughters have landed themselves in soups too deep for even their omnipotent dads to bail them out. This is usually the case with the “short-cut rich” dads who forget to instill basic qualities in their kids. The wheel does move after all.

The point is not to underline the unfairness of it all. Life everywhere is unfair. The smaller point is that the degree of unfairness in India is much more. The larger point is that no amount of unfairness, big daddys, political and economical clout has ever been able to stop small dads’ kids with stars in their eyes and fire in their bellies. Examples are everywhere: Dhirubhai Ambani, Prez Abdul Kalam, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Gulshan Kumar et al. Guess the fire is extra intense if you dad is small.

Ah, didn’t I say, dad does matter, after all.

The Human Afzal and Sub-human You and Me..

2006-10-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

Mohd. Afzal is a human, he did not get a fair trial and the moment his son heard of his dad's imminent execution, he got a rope to see how being hung felt like (as an aside, did his son also sit together with ISI cohorts to see how conspiring to bring the parliament down and kill people felt like ??).

The only way this situation could have been made into a more dramatic sob story would be to say there is an andhi maa (who needs an operation), boodhi behan (who needs a doctor groom), langda baap (who needs cataract treatment) and a berozgar bhai (who needs ghoos to find that govt job).

We understand. This is the land of Gandhi where none should be hanged. We forget that Gandhi refused to appeal for Bhagat Singh's pardon despite unanimity of goals simply because of latter's reliance on violence. Of course, Bhagat Singh was not executed on Oct 20th which is such an auspicious day.

Also, what are we going to achieve by hanging Afzal. Nothing, Zero, Zilch. In any case, what do we achieve by punishing thieves, robbers and rapists. Exactly that, nothing (that the punishments don't deter is borne out by rising crime statistics). So why not release all the convicts in all the prisons all over India. After all, even they may have andhi maas and boodhi behans. Moreover, isn't confining someone to the four walls of jail so very barbaric, medieval and an example of retributive justice.

And then, hanging this misguided youth will alienate Kashmiris. Of course, it will. Didn't hanging Indira Gandhi's murderers alienate all the Sikhs and Punjabis and didn't hanging Dhananjay alienate all the Bengalis ? Ahh..the sanctity of the highest level of judicial process, we'll think about it later.

Oh, and I missed the mother of all logic - that it will scuttle the CBMs and peace process with Pakistan. Of course, with our noble neighbor Pakistan continuously sending peace doves in our direction, it will amount to heavens falling down. As such our UPA govt is so considerate of delicate Pakistani sentiments that even after the worst of massacres, they only manage a feeble mumbo jumbo about walking the talk and stuff. What if the sentiments across the border are hurt, what if they pulled out of the peace process - hey it seems they will stop doing all that they are doing to dismantle terror factories. Awww....now that will be so dreadful - imagine, terrorists will be able to bomb temples, trains and market places - Delhi, Varanasi, Mumbai - whenever and wherever they like.

About the kin of the security men who died fighting for the parliament or about the scores that died in Mumbai trains - well they anyways are a statistic. And even if they had lived, what greatness would have they achieved anyway. It would have been a painful, wretched life and really, a sudden death due to a blast or a hail of bullets is actually deliverance. Hail the bombers and shooters.

If nothing, think about our poor little Booker winner, Arundhati Roy. Didn't she give all too very logical reasons in Afzal's defense - that the trial seems unfair, he didn't get a chance to tell his story (that the Trial Court, High Court and Supreme Court ratified this decision and that two out of three death row accused were spared the death penalty is a minor detail which can be easily forgotten between so many social causes she has to champion). Imagine doing a sit in at Jantar Mantar in these sunny Delhi days. Arre Bhaiyya, if for nothing else, then at least have some consideration for the amount of sunscreen she would have used to ward off sunburns that day. Now are you going to pardon Afzal Guru or you need more reasons - you barbaric, medieval, vendetta driven fanatics.

And our media. Afzal loved poetry, liked to cook and used to water his plants every day. Hey he also used to fly kites and play gulli danda in his mohalla as a child. Such a bright kid who grew into such a fine and intellectual youth - being put to death for just conspiring to blow up parliament. Now, ain't that a travesty of justice. Hey, by the way, did he also wear half pants as a kid ?

Now, I guess all the blood hounds baying for this innocent Kashmiris blood will be slienced. Time for a little postscript.

So, what to do after you pardon Afzal. No point in going through the drama of keeping him in jail - getting M/s Masood Azhar active - another plane hijack - another hostage crisis - and finally, Indian govt escorting them to hills of Tora Bora. Just let him go.

After all, he is a human and has an andhi maa, boodhi behan, langda baap and berozgar bhai.

Waiting for another blast....

2006-07-18T23:39:00.000-07:00

And I am not being sarcastic.

I am actually waiting for a bomb blast by these terrorists. Only I want the list of casualties to include sons, daughters, mothers, fathers of people like Manmohan Singh, Shivraj Patil, Arjun Singh, Mulayam Singh, Azam Khan etc.

Its sick even to talk about it. 200 people killed, our govt. initially says, "The peace process with Pakistan will go on" and then when it sees the sharp public reaction, says, "Secretary level talks postponed" and when again, uncle Sam gives it an angry spank on its backside, croaks like a lame puppy, "The peace process with Pakistan is not disrupted but hit". Say whatever you will, Mr. Singh - the men that are dead are gone and none of them is interested in your diplomatic posturings with some semantic bells and whistles here and there.

The picture is clear. Bomb blasts in India won't stop - not because our security agencies are weak - simply because our political establishment is a collection of spineless jelly-balls who, at the most, are capable of repeating the same rhetoric every time a bomb blasts, "The perpetrators of these acts will not be spared". Ouch Mr PM, not so loud, may be some terrorists will have a heart attack at the continous roarings of a paper tiger like you, because of laughter, that is.

And then there is the other group. Of Mulayam Singh and his ilk. SIMI is not involved in terrorist activities. Ahem. SIMI activists involved in terror acts and rioting are innocent and cases against them must be withdrawn. As was Raja Bhaiyya, as was Amarmani Tripathi and as is Mukhtar Ansari.

I am holding my breath. I am waiting for another bomb. Just one wish - let this bomb kill the kith and kin of our beloved PM, his remote control, our home minister, the champion of minorities honorable CM of UP. I am waiting for that day and I will be happy - just like death, the bomb also doesn't ask the victim's name and neither his father's.

Another hope is that assasination of Indira Gandhi triggered the end of Sikh terrorism, assasination of Rajiv Gandhi ensured LTTE could not gain ground in India, so probably another spill of blue blood will enable a reaction to this turbaned terror from across the border.

Of Senile "Buddhas", OBCs, India and Bharat

2006-05-21T23:52:00.000-07:00

Now, before you accuse me of being an armchair critic, let me take up that tag myself, in the sense that I am not out on the road shouting slogans against Arjun Singh and planning to contest the next election against him. However, asking any and everybody who speaks up against idiotic government diktats to take to politics is too simplistic to be of any practical value.

I mean the likes of Arjun Singh have got no stake in the future, educational or otherwise of the country. They have lived their lives, have ensured treatment in New York for themselves whenever they fall ill and have amassed enough property to last the lifetimes of their next seven generations. Themselves, they are at such a juncture in their lives that they realise that had they been able to secure a position in history by some real meaningful initiatives, it'd have already happened. Now, in this twilight hour and if the need to be in history is very strong, the only recourse is do something, any damn thing to get immortalised - even if it is completely shortsighted, suicidal for the booming economy and a professional harakiri in the life of the country. What it does indicate is that Arjun Singh is not as senile as he might sound while it also doesn't indicate that he is as sensible as he tries to pose.

Isn't this ironic that the decisions having potentially far reaching impact on the lives of so many young Indians have to be taken by a "Qabar mein paon latkaye", senescent old man whose only perceptible and even achievable mission in life remains to be stuck with Fevicol to ministerial perks for whatever years gods plan to have him unleashed on our land.

That brings us to another very pertinent question. Somewhere or the other, our high handed snobbery, "Ooooh, voting is for illiterate people in villages of Bihar" attitude is responsible for this. How many educated, intellectuals go to vote - its as if, we, the millenium generation live in India identified with global brands and multiplexes and voting is a thing thing too retrograde - only to be relegated to those wretches still living in Bharat. I read an improvised cliche once, something to the effect that those who condemn politics to be the last refuge of the scoundrel are bound to be ruled by those scoundrels. There is more truth in that than it appears to be, prima facie.

Why is it so that while the international community keeps going ga ga over the Indian middle class while the same middle class has absolutely no political identity in its own country. Why do the politicians think in terms of forwards, backwards, SCs, STs, OBCs, Muslims and not middle class. Saying that we number too little is being evasive and simplistic. I don't have the statistics but I am sure that in at least a few constituencies, we should be in numbers enough to make a difference - provided we make that count. Said simply, provided that we vote.

I know that currently, the numbers may not be high enough to make it a vote bank but then shouldn't we start somewhere.

What this quota chaos has done is that it has removed the artificial protective layer that said, "Oooh, politics only affects people in Bharat, not in India". No my dear friend, it affects each and every person on this land. While we are here, we cannot be detached from the systems, processes and policies here. And its not something insignificant.

In the end, as Amitabh Bachhan said in Deewar, "Agar aapne ise mazaak samjha to baad mein bahut royenge..."

Da Vinci Code and Maai Baap Sarkar

2006-05-18T01:01:00.000-07:00

So we have the whole - "Hurt sensibilities, protests and government ban" drama being played once again. This time, Christian sensibilities are hurt and the government first decided to ban the movie, then the IB minister saw it and declared magnanimously that the Censor board will take the final call.

It seems that though, the license raj has long been touted to be over, the government is yet to get over the hang over. Apparently, it will take some more time for the government to realize that keeping a control on how much rice people eat, what TV channels they see, what radio station they listen to, what car they ride on are things it will have to get out of. That patients are dying because of Doctors' stir, that terrorists gun down people in day light and blast away temples on festivals, that power situation is getting grimmer by the day even in the national capital, that road network still sucks in the age of information superhighways and that people who try to stand against deep rooted muck in government systems get shot down seems to be something a shade too insignificant for the government to expend its bandwidth on. Let the governance go to the dogs, I need to watch that movie.

Another interesting corollary is this growing tendency of intolerance amongst us. You are free to say anything as long as I agree with you. Forget about resolving differences sitting across the table, if you utter something that I don't believe in, I will rush to the government to gag you shut. Chances are, the government too will oblige depending upon the weed, the concerned minister smoked that morning.

A sensible person has only three choices - a) develop a rhino's hide, b) go into deep depression, or, c) take to guns. Option (c) doesn't go well with civilized sensibilities, option (b) is too harsh on the protagonist and hence no wonder people prefer option (a). I am thick skinned and unless a harpoon hits my backside, I give a damn about what happens to yours.

Why does Arjun Singh love Reservation ???

2006-05-10T23:06:00.000-07:00

This was way back in 1990. In UP, owing to the BJP, Sangh-Parivar sponsored Ram JanmaBhoomi agitation, a word like minority appeasement first entered the consciousness of a 13 year old that I was. I never understood why would a party go to extremes to appease a community forming 20% of population - to tell them that they were super special through blatantly flagrant means - even amending constitution to accomodate prima donnas (words like "Shahbano case", article 365, uniform civil code etc were hot those days) while continuously showing the middle finger to the 80% community. How could you afford to snub 80% to win favour of 20% was something I never understood.

Now I know, I was really innocent. I might have been an avid reader of newspapers and magazines, a staunch follower of political happenings even at that young age, but was too unripe to understand the intricacies.

The fact is that the Hindus are not a community - infact I am afraid, we never were a community. We are a collection of Brahmins, Thakurs, Baniyas, Yadavs, Kurmis, Kayasthas, Dalits etc. Thus, the 80% block I earleir thought existed is, in reality a collection of several 10%, 14%, 12%, 8%, 7% blocks. The logic of appeasement politics is simple - capture enblock 20% and tag along a couple of smaller blocks from Hindus. Thus we have a Muslim-Yadav combination for Laloo, Muslim-OBC combo for Mulayam, Mulsim-SC combo for Mayawati and so on. And though, it is fashionable to attribute all the gandgi to cow-belt politics, their counterparts in far away Bengal, AP, Kerala and TN are no better.

And herein comes the relevance of reservation as a political tool. Bring in reservation, divide the Hindus, create acrimony so that these 5-7-8-10-12% blocks remain water tight, create imaginary clashes of interest and then pose as the messiah of certain groups. Keep them divided for it is best if they remain divided.

Post Mandal-I, a lot of acrimony which had been created between the forward and backward Hindus was on the ebb by now. And then we have the Mandal bomb once again.

I sincerely want to believe that Arjun Singh is really moved by the plight of OBCs who have not been allowed to enter IITs and IIMs owing to the Manuwadi system which only focusses on performance in the Entrance Tests, hell, I even see tears in his eyes at the anguish and agony of the OBCs. My heart goes out for him.

However, there is a cynic in me who just stands in a corner giving a dry, twisted smirk.

Arjun Singh and OBC Reservation in IIMs and IITs

2006-04-10T01:08:00.000-07:00

Ours is a great country. One of the greatest thing about our country is the collection of ironies that define our collective existence. Yes, the co-existence of Mercedes and BMW and cows on our roads is just a very superficial manifestation of the kind of dichotomies we live in - day and night.

So we have a government hell bent on making us a USA by 2020, the PM being the champion of progressive globalization that freed us from the flawed ideology of Nehruvian Socialism, we have a Fin minister who is highly regarded for his progressive policies, we have a president who is the epitome of talent, hard work and impressive achievements and amidst all this, we have an HRD minister who is a relic of those good old days of the 80's when empty rhetoric of Socialism, completely short sighted policies and blatant vote bank gimmicks were the rule of the day.

Welcome to 27% for OBCs.

India as a talent hub be damned. India as an economic superpower be damned. IIM alumni winning obscene salaries with global corporate giants be damned. Strategic importance of India's economic machinery and services sector potential be damned. Mr Arjun Singh has elections to win, Ms Sonia has "sacrifices" to make and PM Manmohan has "Rajgaddis" to bow infront.

And then, we have Hon. Arjun Singh innocently pointing out to the Election Commission that he has made no announcements, all this was ratified by Parliament long back and its not with an eye on the five assembly elections. Do you think, Mr HRD Minister, that the people in India are brainless donkeys or are their heads filled with horse dung?

A couple of years back, we had a Physics professor of an HRD minister who thought by reducing the fee of IIMs, he will make IIMs accessible for all and win all the junta's hearts and, more importantly, their votes. The rhetoric was that IIMs are not accessible to Aam Junta. The logic was that Indians are emotional, hare brained morons, who will not know that even with 1.5 lakhs annual fees, IIMs are very much accessible to the Aam Junta, those who can fight it out in the competition. That both the rhetoric and the logic were nothing but horse shit became apparent in the next election when he himself bit dust. He bit dust in his own constituency.

It seems we Indians don't deserve centers of excellence. We deserve to be forever relegated to the status of a pre-civilization, third world country continuously marred with disease, poverty and illiteracy. We deserve being the land of snake charmers and elephants. We dont deserve all the hulla-baloo about an economic superpower in the making. When we can't respect our centers of excellence, we don't deserve them. Every rat-brained moron who takes up the chair of HRD minister thinks it his birthright to play around with what has been made with so much hard work and sweat in whichever way he pleases. What the f*** are Mr Arjun Singh's credentials which empower him to tamper with IITs and IIMs - what does he know about technology and management, what does he know about institutes of excellence, what does he know about the dedication and hardwork the students put in, what does he know about the brilliance of the residents of those campuses - except that there are about 50% OBCs in the assembly constituencies and while he can divide the Hindus by his Mandal politics, his party can simultaneously play the Minority card to cater to Muslims thus growing his base and ensuring the "thaath-baath" of an MP and minister for the rest of his wretched life.

Had it been a movie, the solutionw ould be simple. But in reality, things don't get solved by a passionate, "Maar Dalo Use.."

Shame on Mulayam

2006-03-28T00:31:00.000-08:00

Goons having the backing of a Samajwadi Party block pramukh gun down a lady for protesting against eve teasers. Samajwadi Party heavyweights ask police to go easy on investigations. People had to come on streets. But take it from me, the guilty will not be punished. Such is the short public memory and equations of power that intertwine with politics, police and crime.

Why can't we live in dignity and peace in our own country. Why these unscrupulous scums of our life and times are allowed to disrupt our lives as and when they please.

Its not about one party. All of them are equally deep in the scum. However, the impunity and the samelessness with which the current UP govt bows down and infact is actually run by goondas is apalling. We have Raja Bhaiyya, who killed people and buried them in his regal pond now being given police protection and all govt goodies which we tax payers pay for. The kissas of how a certain percentage of all land deals in UP goes to Amar Singh and via him to the CM are folklore in Noida.

I don't know what the solution is. Killing them is not because tomorrow it will be some other Raja Bhaiyya. Expecting our educated bureaucratic machinery to do something is futile, because they are too occupied with desires holding on to plum positions and infact, they are no better. The stories of Sanjay Singh, the guy who raped and murdered Priyadarshini Matoo, son of a senior IPS and that of Mohanty, again son of an IPS who raped a German woman are none too rare.

The conclusion is that if some ruffians in a Tata Safari with Samajwadi Party flag on its bonnet come and eve tease your daughter, sister or wife, better let them do it for you may be shot and die after 25 days in coma.

And then our wrestler cheif minister wants us to believe that businessmen will invest in UP and UP will become Uttam Pradesh. Horse dung.

I, myself being from UP, will never start a business in UP. Simply because being a self respecting businessman who wants to work hard, please his customers and earn money is not possible in UP.

Creating more IITs vs Pasting the Label

2006-01-03T16:29:00.000-08:00

(*Note* This post started as a reply to one of the comments but it went on to become so long, I thought, why not put it on the main page also)

The idea is not to restrict good quality education to a select few (no matter how noble that selection criteria might be, merit, eg). The main motivation is not the exclusivist zeal, "Ok, I managed to get into an IIT, so now let me try all that I can to make it as difficult for others as possible - so that I can always show off that holy tag".

The idea is the intense pain you feel when you see how completely incompetent imbeciles with suspect intentions destroying such sacred institutions. I mean, they have already decimated the law and order, administration and everything we collectively refer to as "system". That India is making progress is not because of them, but inspite of them. All the buzz about Indian economy is brought about by private enterprise and the contribution of political class is zilch. Of course we can always say that it was the political class which made it possible for private enterprise to operate but that's no consolation - infact that is something the political class should have done long back.

By all means, do create new institutions of excellence but please remember that it takes a lot more than just pasting the label.

What it would entail is a sustained supply of resources and complete non-interference from our politicos. Dedicated academicians, if given a free hand and sufficient resources can do wonders. The point is, will our political class let them do it?

And the story doesn't stop at infrastructure and resources. No doubt, they are essential, but what makes an institution really great is something more than that.

I have seen teachers sticking to their integrity like zealots, the son of the prof who was the JEE chairman during my time didn't make it to the IIT. I have seen teachers going to great lengths to make students comfortable, understand their problems and encourge them to explore and excel - so much so that whenever I performed bad in his paper, I used to feel such a genuine guilt that I have very rarely felt. But, and this is an important but - all professors in IITs are not like that. There are profs you really revere and worship and there are profs you feel, "Well how come he got a teaching job here". The profs that are worshipped by the students are the ones that make IITs, or for that matter, any institution great. And a very genuine near-crisis IITs are facing is an acute shortage of profs.

My concern is whether we are trying to spread our already scant resources (in terms of quality of profs availabe) too thin?

Another very important point to consider is that any brand reputation is actually a very fragile thing - I mean, it will take just a couple of defective pieces for the reputation of Sony or Mercedes to be razed to smithereens. Hence, we have to be very careful when expanding a brand - a brand that is considered holier than thou by many, across the world. I am not sure, though, if it even occurs to the blokes who are taking these decisions.

My contention is not against creating new engineering institutes of global repute. In fact, my contention is not against creating more IITs - but my contention is against callous decision making motivated by political considerations which threatens to destroy what has been built over so many years.

Create more world class institutes, create more IITs, but for God's sake, don't fool yourself and us in believing that it is as simple as pasting the label - or else, I'd have converted my beat up Ford into Mercedes long back.

The painful part is that people who are making such decisions seem grossly inadequate to understand and appreciate what really makes a great institution; are incapable of analyzing the likely impact of their actions and above all, have suspect integrities and intentions.

Buzz off....OBCs don't need quota at IITs

2006-01-02T14:39:00.000-08:00

First, you see seven new colleges being named IITs.

Then you see OBC reservation being extended to IITs.

Why is this government hell bent on killing one of the most enduring institutions of modern India. I must say, PM Manmohan Singh is losing all respect he had as a progressive thinker and a visionary. How can someone, who is credited with ushering Indian economy in the global age lend his name to such retrograde steps. Real politik is all fine, but you must have some values at least.

IITs are built with the sweat and toil of the professors of unfailing integrity and students of impeccable intellect - the politicians have not had any contribution to that and they should positively keep away from them. There is not one institution in India that our unscrupulous political class has developed and is working fine.

IITs are not just an educational institution but one of the rare symbols in a largely corrupt India which stand for honesty, integrity and real talent. It is one of the very few glimmers of hope for people who want to believe that talent, competency and callibre are awarded in India. It is the symbol the world knows India by - and the IITians have contributed in immeasurable ways towards India's progress.

My first feeling on knowing of the plan to bring quota in IITs was one of disbelief - they could not have done this. And the next was outrage - what is the contribution of Karats and Yechuris and Sonia Gandhis and Arjun Singhs to India's development. Who gave them the authority to kill what has been built with so much effort and hard work. Why don't they understand that before destroying an institution like IIT, why not try to build something like that.

The justification for pasting the label of IIT on seven new institutions is that India needs more engineers. Very well then, there are some 25 engineering colleges on both sides of Delhi Ghaziabad highway - why not call all of them as IITs - so we have an IIT Sadar Bazar and an IIT Sabzi Mandi and an IIT Station road.

I mean, is creating an enduring educational institution known for its scholastic and entrepreneurial achievements as simple as changing its name - then why just stop at IIT - why not call them MITs and Harvards and Whartons.

And then the quota bug. I am an OBC and don't come from an affluent background and I know that OBCs don't need quota in IITs. With SC, ST it was still ok, reservation used to be 22.5% which though not great, was still manageable - now they plan to increase seats (bringing in OBC reservation will require seats to be increased by 54%) - again the "paste the label" mentality - if we paste the label of IIT to more students and colleges, we'll have more IITians. If this is true, then why leave aside any engineering college in India - call all of them as IITs.

A huge group of mediocre students and engineers and institutions bearing the label of IITians only discredit the brand, deplete its value and credibility and will demolish one of the very few achievements of Indian system in the last 50 years.

And then, its a disservice to OBCs - a huge one at that. I am an OBC and I am an IITian. I hold my head high and say that I competed against the best of the best and achieved what I did on merit. I know a lot of other OBCs who qualified for IIT on merit.

No body has the right to take that away from me. Nobody has any right to take that feeling from scores of other OBCs who will qualify IIT JEE on merit in the years to come. We don't need this largesse. Thank you.

Yet another terror strike....yet another spineless response..

2005-12-29T03:18:00.000-08:00

So now they have shown that they won't really stop at anything. Professors, teachers, Universities too are not to be spared.

I just want to ask our honorable PM a couple of questions:

1) Who is responsible for the security and lives of Indian citizens ?
2) Ayodhya terror attack, Srinagar, Delhi and now Bangalore. Please let us know what has been done to prevent such attacks in future.
3) Has any progress been made in bringing the people responsible for killing innocent Indians in the past few months to justice?
4) If yes, what?
5) Why is it that some deranged barbarians continue to find killing Indians a very easy task which they go about doing at will?

And a couple to our pseudo intellectuals, though all they are capable of is intellectual masturbation expounding armchair theories on human rights and unfairness of strict anti terror laws like POTA and TADA:

1) Why do only terrorists have human rights?
2) Why does the life of innocent Indians seem to be worth less than the road dust in which their blood spills ?
3) Why does no one get up to raise voice against massacres of innocent people in the name of freedom struggle ?
4) Where is a certain Ms Setalvad ?

Please, Mr Prime Minister, do something before these sub humans drag us to the medivial age where they belong to and want to bring everyone else to. Also, pls realise that if the country ceases to exist, you too will and all that you derive your power from too will.

May God give us some spine.

Are we really any better than Taliban

2005-12-21T15:00:00.000-08:00

a) Meerut Police pushes, punches, slaps and kicks young boys and girls sitting together in a public park.
b) VHP and Bajrang Dal do the same to couples every Feb 14, ostensibly, to protect Indian culture.
c) Khushboo is dragged to court for just exhorting people to have safe sex.
d) Sania Mirza has to retract/apologize/be dismissive about her advice to young people to have safe sex.

And then we claim ideological superiority to those medivial age barbarians that call themselves Taliban.

Indian culture was never for collective stupidity dictating individual decisions. Vedic culture was always for freedom, free thinking, logic and flexibility. Come to think of it, people who claim to be the custodians of Indian culture are the ones who actually endanger it.

I am pained, for if these hooligans, whether in Khaki or in saffron or in the form of the Mufti who asks the raped daughter-in-law to treat her husband as her son are the representatives of my culture - I fall in the same category as those who say that women should wear burkas and men should sport beards and those who do not follow this deserve to be killed.

The oft repeated adage is that all that it takes for evil to win is for the good to not do anything. The youth should rise and tell all these custodians of culture to shove their deifnition of Indian culture up theirs. Our time has arrived and we are for freedom, flexibility and the liberty to choose.

You cannot Talibanise India for you do not own it. It is the land of the free and no self righteous moralists can take it hostage.

How can they drop a God ???

2005-12-14T07:37:00.000-08:00

Ganguly has again been dropped.

And it has been a national tragedy. The pens are out again with all sorts of theorizations ranging from emotional outbursts to outright ridiculous hallucinations and denials. Infact, some imaginative mind has even questioned the nation status of India - We really are many different nations and the enemity between them is worse than what once was between whites and blacks in the west. Ok. Water please.

The most frequent argument thrown in his favour is that Ganguly has been the most successful Indian captain, he led us to several glorious moments in cricket, has scored more than 10,000 runs in one dayers, has so many centuries and even his test record is great. His past has been great so how can we humiliate him by not including him in the team. Very true. Hey, then why not lets call Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar too in the team and why not ask Milkha Singh and PT Usha to run in Olympics - I mean, they too are legends and how can we possibly insult the legends by not giving them the opportunity to compete for the country. More so, since they have done it once, they can always do it again - fitness, application, much deserving young talent, the team's recent winning record are minute details legends could not be bothered with.

To make matters worse, Jagmohan Dalmiya lost the BCCI elections and Ganguly made 40 and 39 runs in the second test. This gives two more sticks to the ultra sentimentals amongst us:
a) Since the BCCI has now become Mumbaiyya, they do not want Ganguly
b) Ganguly has scored, he has made a comeback

The people who throw argument (a) actually do great disservice to the great cricketer that Ganguly once was - by implication this means that so far Ganguly was in the team because the power base of Indian cricket was Kolkata - which is as untrue as it can be.

About the second argument, Ganguly's 40 and 39, though good need to be looked in the context. We have Yuvraj Singh, a young talented batsman who has already has more than his fair share of having to sit outside to accomodate more glorious predecessors. That he got a chance in Kotla test was luck too, Sehwag was ill and middle order slots were already full. He has asserted his presence strongly. We have another very strong contender for middle order in Kaif. These two players if handled well will hold the key to Indian cricket for the next 6-7 years. How justifiable is it to continue keeping faith in the old horses while we have young, hungrier and more willing guys to work hard and show results waiting on the sidelines.

And then to all Chappell baiters - what is the mandate to Chappell - to make Indian team into a cohesive unit performing and producing great results consistently or to worshsip and play to the whims and fancies of the demi gods of Indian cricket?

If it is to make India perform well, Chappell is doing as well as could be done and if it is to worship Gods, well, Pujari Badri Shankar Jha from the temple in Sector 19, Noida would suit better for Indian coach.

Cry That You Were Born in India

2005-11-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

It has happened once again. They kidnapped an Indian and slit his throat. I am talking about Kutty, the driver with Border Road Organization. What you see above is his kin crying over their wretched fate.

Our honorable PM says that he condemned the "cruel and inhuman character of the Taliban and the forces they represent". Also, the MEA says "We strongly condemn this inhuman and barbaric act against an innocent person. The Taliban and its backers bear the responsibility for the consequences of this outrageous act".

With this, the responsibility of the PM is over. Oh yes, I do know that the kin of the deceased have been given Rs 10 Lacs. What I don't undestand is how will it compensate the wife who lost her husband, kids who lost their father and old parents who lost their young son for life.

And all of us talk hoarse of how we are going to be a big power in another 20 years. Point is, if we cannot protect our citizens beyond passing condemnations, no one is going to take us seriously. The world remembers how we behaved like pussilanimous spineless wimps during IC 814 and numerous such incidents. The larger question is till how long can people kill Indians with impunity and just how much is too much - for how long can we take this sh*t lying down.

And where are all those who are fearing for torture of Abu Salem by police (heyyy, shouldn't he be given five star treatment, with AC, newspapers, seven course meals, aristocratic hospitality and an elite battery of international lawyers) and crying hoarse about apprehensions of violations of his human rights. Aren't killers of innocent people responsible for human rights.

Where are these Goddamned human rights activists now?

Will anyone, and I mean all those who cry against TADA and POTA, all those who come forward to defend Memons and Salems, all OA Siddiquies and all Harjot Singhs to please go to Afghanistan and organize a human rights march and fight Kutty's case in Taliban's courts???

Skirt Length, Premarital Sex and Safe Sex..!!!

2005-11-17T19:27:00.000-08:00

A new twist in the Khushboo-premarital sex-safe sex-Sania imbroglio.

Just goes on to show that there is no difference between people who are against reason, logic, free thinking, and freedom, whatsoever religion they belong to.

I feel like laughing. We don't need to even get into how the same activists who hold placards and cry hoarse do all sorts of sleazy stuff in their private lives. The basic question is freedom of choices and the definition of culture. WTF gave them the authority to represent Indian culture, I for one am an Indian and my Indian culture doesn't believe in strangulating someone in the name of culture or morality or blah blah and imposing some arbit rules on him/her, which came from God knows where. I fail to understand how, one person dictating somebody else, what to say and what to do and what to wear becomes cultured and superior.

The real culture, the real emancipation lies in creating an environment where people are free to choose with reason and without fear.

But then, you can't reason with the people whose starting point itself is anti-reason. Just chill, relax, keep doing what you are doing and let them cry their throats out, carry placards and burn effigies.

Cry baby cry.....Indian culture is in danger, my neighbour is a painful, noisy jerk and sky is falling.

Just Chill.....Its just Indian Blood on the Streets

2005-11-16T13:20:00.002-08:00

Yes man. So what 57 were killed before Diwali in Delhi. Pakistan officially condemned it, didn't they? Too bad if it doesn't bring back those 57 to life.

And, isn't that normal and expected and don't the Indians just deserve that? Bomb blasts keep happening, blood and flesh keeps on splattering the streets. Big deal.....huh...???

And then we catch Abu Salem - and we bring him to India with great fanfare - "Kabze mein Bhai" headlines rock the mainstream TV. What you see is the glamorization, the awe for the killer and mass murderer - his flashy lifestyle (Ohh yes, didn't I tell you, Abu Salem has reoriented his tastes and now doesn't like designer wear - so much so for journalism and its duties towards the nation), his pretty arm candy, his meteoric rise. No tear drops for the people he killed and no blood boils at the outrage committed. We Indians are destined for years and years of such massacres. Just that, sometimes it will be you, sometimes it will be the guy in the third flat from me and sometimes, it will be me.

What's apalling is that we seem to have lost the capability to see things as they are. We are too much into negationism and self delusions and believe that problems will just whither away, if we keep our heads immersed in sand for long enough. Good luck to us.

Remember, it's not about Hindus and Muslims. Its about a criminal, a coward, a rat planting bombs and killing hundreds to further his warped sense of justice and religion. The bomb would not know the difference whether it is blowing up Hindus or Muslims.

Just look at the chain of events of a few days - Delhi Bombings, Srinagar terrorist attacks, Srinagar car bomb - the investigations reveal LeT connections - we know where things origniated and operated from. In Srinagar bombings, the guy who gets caught hails from our friendly neighbour Pakistan, lays bare the training and cerebral poisioning on the other side of the border - and we don't hear any comments from our PM (not that that will mean anything to those 60 odd killed).

Ohhh yes, I remember his almost apologetic allusion to "external hand" in the bombings, his gentle reminder to Musharraf, "Mushy, you promised me...no.....that you'll rein in those boys.....you naughty you.......do something naa....."

What we need to remember is things that are very basic:

Any great nation has to have a sense of value for the life of its citizens.
The country won't become great or respected just through selling software or offshoring - if we can't defend the life of our people and hit back at those destroying them, at best, we will be an apology in the name of a nation.
The killers won't undergo a change of heart and start flying doves and singing peace hymns.
We don't have to keep looking for others to provide security to our people and we don't need to apologize and pussyfoot about protecting our men women and children.

As long as we do not make it difficult and costly for the killers to kill and maim us, let us brace ourrselves to see more blood, gore, severed limbs and broken skulls on our roads.

Religion Based Reservation in IITs/IIMs

2005-11-16T11:27:00.000-08:00

Now, this seems to be the final of the outrages - a quota on the basis of religion in the creme-de-la-creme of India's educational system.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1298129,curpg-1.cms

I'd love to know the detailed methodology employed by this committee, questions they sought to answer, problems they plan to solve and ultimately, what is it that they want to achieve.

The most painful part is that the current dispensation may actually give this report a serious look and consideration.

Any rational, thinking man has got only two choices - stand and speak up for the fundamental principles of respect for merit in elite educational institutions and against the cheapest level of mindless activities to play for vote banks or leave dear old mother India, simply because a bunch of people who do not have the sight, sense and maturity to take decisions is weilding authority and it may not be worthwhile to try to drill sense in them.

Selfish, I know; cowardly, may be; but sensible, for sure.

Legend, National Hero, Messiah Abu Salem !!!

2005-11-13T15:21:00.000-08:00

This is how Times of India extolls the legend of Abu Salem:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1292911,curpg-2.cms

I know, this way you just help the darn article get more readership but the churning in my stomach was too much to contain. Why not lets also call him a national hero, a messiah, a Mahatma.

Wonder if the people being so creative and imaginative while glamourizing a petty rat's murders and mayhem story would have been equally creative, imaginative and flowery had they lost some of their near and dear ones to this legend's adventurous machinations.

Ohhhhh...so inspiring and sexy ! Why not have an award instituted in his name and chapters be added in primary school text books extolling this legend.

Damn Disgusting

2005-11-13T15:02:00.000-08:00

That's the word.

They catch a mass-murderer, thief, anti-national rat, spend crores in getting him extradited and then the newspapers tell us that he ate Aloo Matar and veg pulao on his first day.

We don't talk about 257 who were killed in the Mumbai blasts, we do fondly talk of how Abu Salem's mother yearns for "Dear Abi". We don't talk of how, the kids who became orphans that fateful day in 1993 coped up with life; we don't talk of how, those who lost their limbs have been able to again gather the pieces of their lives for the last 12 years; we don't talk of the lost promise and potential of those 250 lives that were abruptly cut short - we do talk of how Abu Salem with his Hawala money has created wealth for his village, his cousins. We talk of how the rat was all cool and composed in CBI custody.

He sure is cool. He has to be, for he knows the power of money and his connections, he knows the terror his men could still strike in the hearts of witnesses and judges trying him, he knows the snail pace of legal proceedings in our country, he knows how he makes bigger news than those 257 he butchered and he knows the soggy soft nature of our nation state and the callousness with which India treats the life of its citizens.

At times you do feel if all is so great about Swades.

The Reform IIT Syndrome

2005-09-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

Now, the news is that the second divisioners can't even compete for IIT JEE. While the powers that be sure have their reasons, in some way, this actually strikes at the very spirit of the most democratizing competitive exam in India.

It didn't matter where you were from, what you scored in XII or whether you could afford a Rs 50,000 coaching in a metro or one of those sub-metro IIT factories. All it mattered was if you could solve those from-the-galactic-space problems. And people did. People from all types of segments imaginable. I had son's of professors, scientists, bureaucrats, rickshawpullers, labourers, stamp-vendors, govt clerks as my classmates at Kharagpur. There were people from Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pilibhit, Phulparas, Bankura and any conceivable corner of India imaginable. And there were state toppers, NTSE scholars, Mathematical Olympiad winners and "Complete academic-disasters before IIT-JEE". The exam was a great leveller - all that mattered was your guts and glory in those 3 hours.

Yes, that was the truth even though too much of coaching, forced and directed learning, parental pressure and expectations were there. Probably, it was easy for some people with better means - guidance in Delhi was always better than that available in Sitapur. But even then, whether you did your plus 2 from Delhi or UP didn't matter. You had to perform - that was the bottomline.

Now it has changed. People who have seen it will know that scoring 60% in State Boards is not the same as scoring 60% in CBSE - lets not get into finding the equivalent in CBSE of 60% scored in a State Board - suffices it to say that all Board exams are not equal and its a phenomenon thats not controlled by IITs. So why introduce a dependency on an unctontrolled process for something that has been as fair and as unrelenting and as well acclaimed as the veritable IIT-JEE. Guess the wise men know better.

Cap on number of attempts as 2 is still defendable - though it also pre-empts the career decision that should ideally be made by the aspirant. Why not let the market forces decide if wasting more than 2 years is worthy enough for an IIT degree.

And change in curriculum and change in examination format to completely objective test - well am not too sure how that is going to help remove the scourge of coaching from the scene. What I do know is that the model of solving 5 problems in 2 hours - time was never the issue - whether you could do it or not was the core - worked really well for the kind of raw, analytical, scientific talent that the IITs pined for.

What I compeletely fail to understand is the tendency of our governments/administrators/admin-bodies to meddle with academic models that have been doing exceptionally well. A couple of years back, there was this Physics prof of an HRD minister who was hell bent on reducing fees of IIMs - that too - when the process for getting an education loan for an IIM student is much easier than what you'd have to follow to get a post-paid mobile connection or open a bank account - let alone getting a credit card. And now we have this overzealous IIT-governing body hell bent on tweaking and turning and fitting and retro-fitting and modifying a machine thats working as well as the IIT test-admit-educate-graduate structure.

God give them the wisdom to know what they are doing or me the insensitivity to remain unruffled at such things.