There and Back Again - A Travellers Tale (Part I)

The Journey to Ayodhya

My Journey began at 9:30pm when I left with my Aunt and sister for Ayodhya from Tatanagar (Jamshedpur). The remaining berths around were empty and I thought that they were empty and someone will later occupy in the night as it was departure time already but then immediatly two more people (mother and son) came in and occupied there seat next to ours. Then after some time it was time to sleep.

As I knew that we would reach our destination earliest by 11 O’clock. I tried to sleep as long as I could, because its really hard to pass time in the train. I got up after we had passed the Varanasi (Banaras) station. Although my sleep had been broken when a vendor came it the compartment shouting "Paper - News Paper, Hindi newspaper english newspaper". It was July and the monsoons had arrived, the view of the country side was really amazing; green fields, ponds filled with water and people working in the fields. Here are a few pictures I took with the help of my cellphone from the train.





My sister had given me a copy of "Angels and Deamons" which I haven't read till then. I started reading the book to pass some time. The train was suppose to be at Faizabad (my destination) by 12:00 pm or so. But, it was now running late by at least an hour. Ayodhya (the I had to reach) station comes on the way but the train does not stop there so we had to get down at the next stop i.e. Faizabad. Sometimes the train stops at Ayodhya, due to some signaling issues, so we had planned if it does stop we will get down at Ayodhya itself. To our disappointment the train did not stop in Ayodhya. But, it stopped at 'Acharya Narendra Dev Nagar' the only station between Ayodhya and Faizabad for about 20 minutes. That's when we were really annoyed. After sometime we reached Faizabad and then took an auto to Ayodhya and then a cycle rickshaw to our home in the village. It was about 2:30 pm when we reached home.

India's Education Crisis

In this post I will try to put forward my views on the current crisis Indian Education sector is facing, what is the government trying to do about it and what it is not doing.

First of all the government seems to be too complacent about the quality of higher education. It believes in using the already established names than creating new ones. Its something like selling all the sports shoes in India by the name Nike. This is not a very good idea after all we all know the difference between the Rs.100 tennis shoes I used and the Rs.3000 tennis shoes Nike provides. Of course unless until we want IITians to be omnipresent, like God. But, then one also has to make arrangement (of teachers and facilities) so that all IITians have God like properties.

Why do we need reservations in higher education? Isn't primary education that must be given importance and the higher must be left for the student to work hard and secure admission to. If quota is all about giving opportunity to people who have not got it then primary education is it. Not higher education. There must be scholarships for meritorious students and based on needs, not quota. Imagine how would a student feel if he sees his classmates doing well and he is struggling; either he will work hard or he might have some mental problems. But, if he were to work hard he would have done it earlier. All, you would be doing is spending lot of money on resources then

Arjun Singh wants to open up more and more IITs in the country, the question is, is it really going to help anybody or its just a political stunt to get the votes. I personally believe Arjun Singh wants to give a feeling that he is trying to provide quality education to many people. No matter how noble his intentions may be, the question is will he be able to provide quality education? I think he is mislead by the idea that India is lacking only good institutes of higher education, little does he realize that India does not have qualified teachers (after all good teachers are a must for good institutes). There are only a few places which provide quality education that can be compared to the best in the world. IITs have lost there position in the top 200 universities in the world (in 2007 each IIT was ranked separately). I really do not think that Arjun Singh is doing anything to get or create good quality teachers to India. He has only made things worse by introducing the quota system for the faculty position at IITs, TIFR, IISc and BARC, another Times of India article can be found here. The directors, students and alumni of these institutes have protested the rule but we will have to wait and watch.

These acts remind me of the forward that I had recieved sometime back. If he were the sports minister he would have introduced reservation in the nationals teams too (as it would be really hard that to implement if in the cricket team first. He would have tried other sports). If he becomes the Civil aviation minister he might reserve 40% of the seats in Air India and Indian for the SC, ST and the OBC.

I really hope that the quota is not implemented for the faculty.

Intelligence vs Hard work

I have heard this all my life (I am still very young there is a lot of life still left) from various sources...

"Intelligence is an asset, but, it is not a substitute for hard work"

This might be true...but I strongly believe that

"Hard work is not a substitute for intelligence"

Updated: My friend Vinay believes that hard work can substitute intelligence but it would require tremendous effort (like in the movie Forest Gump).

I do not agree to it. I am not saying that "Intelligence is a substitute for hard work". All I am saying is "Hard work is not a substitute for intelligence" you might keep working like a donkey if you are not intelligent.

Getting support or applying pressure

What do you think this picture actually represents are the bigger slabs getting support or are they applying pressure to the smaller stones?
I think that larger slabs are 'getting support' and 'not applying pressure' because if the supporting stones are removed then the bigger slabs will fall they cannot stand by themselves.

On Reservation in India

OLD VERSION
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away

Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.





MODERN VERSION
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant 's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant ' s house .

Medha Patkar and Tan Shyamoli goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .

Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.

CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers..

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act ' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.

Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.

The Ant; fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes; its home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the

Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice ' .

Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice' .

CPM calls it the 'Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden'

Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.



MANY YEARS LATER
The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley .

100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ....

because of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the Grasshoppers, India is still a developing country!!!






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