One of the biggest reasons for the almost hysterical joy of a BITIAN when he enters the final year is the allotment of the 'inner' hostels.Now these are a set of 'elite' hostels meant for final year BE students.Salient features include single occupancy rooms, and the bathrooms actually having a clean tiled floor....believe me these are a quantum leap from the 'outer' hostel where the pigeon hole principal does not aply....since each room is a pigeon hole and there are two pigeons in each...coming back to the point...we were extremely ecstatic when we made our annual nomadic journey from one hostel to another...and apart from the salient features mentioned above, we looked forward to the best part of it all....THE FOOD!!!....oh the food has always been so excellent and for the first few weeks we were actually gaining weight for the first time in our BITIAN days!....
Did ya note the past tense?...yeah thats because its no longer excellent...i wonder wether it is food at all any longer....what transpired within two weeks?...how could there be such a drastic change overnight?....well someone in the administration suddenly realized that "whoa!!...i need to change the system of 'extra's'...the mess has become a restaraunt"....the system of extra's was simple...there will be a basic meal on top of which everyone can order dishes of his choice and each person will be charged individually for that...now the system is like there will only be the basic meals and everyone will have to have that stuff no matter what...no choice...no extra dishes...now you would think that we will be paying less huh?...nope!...dont think so...here are a few points i want to make...(i hope someone out there in the administration reads this...and his heart melts)
1) In the morning we can have either of 2 eggs or an apple or a glass of milk...what is that all about?...how do these things equate?...doesnt make any sense to me....if anyone wants to have 2 apples he doesnt get them even if the apples get wasted in the end...
2) We can have our eggs only boiled not and omelette...huh?...whats that all about?
3) If i dont mind paying extra money for better food then why should someone else have a problem with that?...
4) Why should i pay for a meal that i didn't have?
5) The reason for scrapping the extra system was that the mess workers used to put stuff on the students account and pocket a few bucks on the sly....dude...i would rather have those poor guys enjoy a good meal once in a while than someone else higher up the hierarchy.
There are many more things that annoy me about the changes in our mess...but i realise there is no use....i hope some official on the admonistration reads this and does something...why do pople always change things that were going along smoothly in the first place?...there's some food for thought...(sorry for the cliche)...
p.s. Recent Developments :
The mess workers recently placed an order for 14 kgs of chicken for about 28 people....believe me i ate the chicken and the amount served was no where near to the 1/2 kg per person mark......Now the student mess committee....(which is constituted to bring to light such discrepancies)....reported the matter to the Dean-Students "Welfare" (note the inverted commas)....not suprisingly no action was taken against the mess workers....the entire committee resigned after this humiliation...
Friday, November 24, 2006
Who's war is it....?
The economic boom that started in the '90's was a fairy tale (apart from the dotcom bust of 2000) too good to be true. The forces that were to be, were brewing with something sure for. The unprecedented globalization drive was silently fueling the arms race of upcoming economics like Israel, India apart from also opening up vast oppurtunities for terrorist organizations and the Hizbollah for procuring arms. Now Israel has always been heralded as the champion of combating guerilla warfare of the Hamas and the Hizbollah. They used to carry out stealth attacks of the their own to strike at the very heart of these outfits. But the Big Brother (USA) was restless for some sort of control over the gulf region, and having taken care of it's biggest threat in the region (Saddam)....they continued empowering their ally with arms.
Today Isreal has signed up for so much arsenal that it has no option but to use it!It is but natural for Israel to act like a pampered kid.
Having said all this I firmly believe that the new-age battlefield is different than that of the olden days. Today's wars will be fought not on the actual "ground zero"...but in boardrooms and in international conventions and meetings. The most powerfull countries in the world will be those with the largest corporations, and with the best technologies and resources.
In retrospect i think the world has always been like this has it not? US and Japan are where they are today because of their companies and technological advances....way back in the 17th century British colonization began with the zeal of the British East India Company to expand its markets and have access to more resources....what does this mean for INDIA?
I feel that India should not be bothered over it's neighbour and the Kashmir problem. India is miles ahead economically and Indian corporations will soon become too large and too important for anyone to cross India's path..........
p.s. Update on the campus placements in my college:-
32 days....41 companies....~700 offers...~70 double offers...and more to come!
Today Isreal has signed up for so much arsenal that it has no option but to use it!It is but natural for Israel to act like a pampered kid.
Having said all this I firmly believe that the new-age battlefield is different than that of the olden days. Today's wars will be fought not on the actual "ground zero"...but in boardrooms and in international conventions and meetings. The most powerfull countries in the world will be those with the largest corporations, and with the best technologies and resources.
In retrospect i think the world has always been like this has it not? US and Japan are where they are today because of their companies and technological advances....way back in the 17th century British colonization began with the zeal of the British East India Company to expand its markets and have access to more resources....what does this mean for INDIA?
I feel that India should not be bothered over it's neighbour and the Kashmir problem. India is miles ahead economically and Indian corporations will soon become too large and too important for anyone to cross India's path..........
p.s. Update on the campus placements in my college:-
32 days....41 companies....~700 offers...~70 double offers...and more to come!
View of an interview....
Guys sorry for being so inactive of late....but the absense of articles is not without sound reason...i was caught up in the placement season, waiting to find out which company makes the mistake of hiring a guy like me...well, that company turned out to be the second largest IT company in India....Infosys...
The job selection process started with a written test...it had a section of pretty tough puzzles...these puzzles were ctually lifted from a book and since this has been the trend of the last few years....i went thru the trouble of going thru the book(Puzzles to Puzzle You-Shakuntala Devi)...little did know that some guys with whom i would be competing for the job had atually memorized the answers to the puzzles!!...so although i was at a disadvantage i managed to scrape thru...the next step was a HR interview, now this was my domain...it was fun that interview...enough fun for me to narate it...here goes...
I entered the room and the interviewer welcomed me..."So Saurabh...do you play cricket?!!"
Me, "I used to be a Batsman for my high school cricket team..."
Him, "oh thats bad...you could have made a good fast bowler!!...with your height!"
Me, "I am sure working for infosys will be as exciting"
Him, "Ha Ha!...sure sure...tell me...how good are you at maths...you have some pretty inpresive scores in the subject"
Me, "I am good enough to have gotten those scores sir..."
He was probably impressed with my ease at replying to his comments...he then asked me a couple of puzzles...and then proceeded to test my knowledge of world affairs...i was asked to comment on everything from Isreal-Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Crude oil prices etc...i answered with confidence...then he also asked me to explain any one of Manmohan Singh's policies of 1990...after all this i was pretty confident that i would get thru the interview unscathed...
Him, "ok saurabh...you seem to be conversent with things happening around you...now can you tell me what you consider to be your greatest weakness?"
Me, "chocolate"
Him, "hey!..dont give me that...i get that a lot...i wont let you off so easy...tell me you real weakness"
Me, "ok sir..my real weakness is GOAN SEAFOOD!!"
Him, "Ha Ha Ha...i am sure you have another retort ready so i wont bother asking you again!!"
this proably clinched the job for me....and now i am into infosys...lets see how long the company lasts!!
The job selection process started with a written test...it had a section of pretty tough puzzles...these puzzles were ctually lifted from a book and since this has been the trend of the last few years....i went thru the trouble of going thru the book(Puzzles to Puzzle You-Shakuntala Devi)...little did know that some guys with whom i would be competing for the job had atually memorized the answers to the puzzles!!...so although i was at a disadvantage i managed to scrape thru...the next step was a HR interview, now this was my domain...it was fun that interview...enough fun for me to narate it...here goes...
I entered the room and the interviewer welcomed me..."So Saurabh...do you play cricket?!!"
Me, "I used to be a Batsman for my high school cricket team..."
Him, "oh thats bad...you could have made a good fast bowler!!...with your height!"
Me, "I am sure working for infosys will be as exciting"
Him, "Ha Ha!...sure sure...tell me...how good are you at maths...you have some pretty inpresive scores in the subject"
Me, "I am good enough to have gotten those scores sir..."
He was probably impressed with my ease at replying to his comments...he then asked me a couple of puzzles...and then proceeded to test my knowledge of world affairs...i was asked to comment on everything from Isreal-Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Crude oil prices etc...i answered with confidence...then he also asked me to explain any one of Manmohan Singh's policies of 1990...after all this i was pretty confident that i would get thru the interview unscathed...
Him, "ok saurabh...you seem to be conversent with things happening around you...now can you tell me what you consider to be your greatest weakness?"
Me, "chocolate"
Him, "hey!..dont give me that...i get that a lot...i wont let you off so easy...tell me you real weakness"
Me, "ok sir..my real weakness is GOAN SEAFOOD!!"
Him, "Ha Ha Ha...i am sure you have another retort ready so i wont bother asking you again!!"
this proably clinched the job for me....and now i am into infosys...lets see how long the company lasts!!
Dont Forget....!
Based on my own experiences and those i have heard off i thought it would be fun to rattle off things that one needs to carry along when visiting these places....
Request : Dear Readers, Please take these comments in the best of humour....they are not meant to degrade any of the following cities, but to bring out the pravalent situation in a lighter vein....feel free to post your comments to add to the list
Mumbai :
Please feel free to ad to the list with your comments.....
Request : Dear Readers, Please take these comments in the best of humour....they are not meant to degrade any of the following cities, but to bring out the pravalent situation in a lighter vein....feel free to post your comments to add to the list
Mumbai :
- Boat.....more useful then a car if it has rained for a day or two...
- Helmet.....Shiv Sena, need i say more?
- AC/Fan/Towel.....Sticky and sweaty conditions
- Bottled drinking water.....do not rely on the water supply dept.
- Some pebbles or a stick....the stray dog menace
- Helmet....frequent skirmishes between some student assoc. and the police
- Football jersey,shorts......in keeping with the local fashion
- Roller skates....frequent traffic jams ensure that this is the best transport
- Cotton ear-plugs....the presence of a Mr. Ranga there requires this.(also a certain Mr. SP)
- Gamccha......in keeping with the local fashion
- Bullet-proof vest.....u never know!
- Coconut hair oil(lots of it)....in keeping with the local fashion
- Small change....the campus is always short on change...wonder where it all goes!
- Dark sunglasses.....veeerrry useful while watching babes and not letting them know..(wink)
- See above
Please feel free to ad to the list with your comments.....
Nostalgia....
Nowadays (my foot being healed and all) i am back to playing football in the rains...this time utilising the better facilities at the nearby football grounds accompanied by my friends ... My word there is so much sliding and tackling going on during the game that i wonder whether it is more of a mud-fight than a game of football....the game is always played in the best of spirits though...everyone basically having a good time.
We are a gang of about 20 guys slugging it out on the field....all of us go way back...back to our school days when we used to run out of our classes to be the first ones on the grounds to play during the lunch breaks...
The sight of my friends running around pointing jokes at each other's misses and praising the good moves revoked my memories of our childhood...it seems just a few years back in school i wondered when i will grow up and get rid of the exams and studies of school...when i would see the bigger picture...now i wonder have i grown out of my chidhood...have i seen the bigger picture?....
Oh yes i have seen it i think...the bigger picture is that the picture keeps getting bigger....sounds cryptic?...what i mean is....in the 12th i laughed when i remembered myself fretting over the exams in the lower classes....now i laugh at myself when i remember how i fretted at not doing well in the tution classes in the 12th.... currently i am worried about my placement prospects and the impending CAT exam...
So i guess thats it huh?!...The bigger picture is that the picture keeps getting BIGGER
We are a gang of about 20 guys slugging it out on the field....all of us go way back...back to our school days when we used to run out of our classes to be the first ones on the grounds to play during the lunch breaks...
The sight of my friends running around pointing jokes at each other's misses and praising the good moves revoked my memories of our childhood...it seems just a few years back in school i wondered when i will grow up and get rid of the exams and studies of school...when i would see the bigger picture...now i wonder have i grown out of my chidhood...have i seen the bigger picture?....
Oh yes i have seen it i think...the bigger picture is that the picture keeps getting bigger....sounds cryptic?...what i mean is....in the 12th i laughed when i remembered myself fretting over the exams in the lower classes....now i laugh at myself when i remember how i fretted at not doing well in the tution classes in the 12th.... currently i am worried about my placement prospects and the impending CAT exam...
So i guess thats it huh?!...The bigger picture is that the picture keeps getting BIGGER
The price of succes.....
Reliance is a name that has become synonymous with the word success, well, another set of commonly used synonyms for Reliance are cheats, conceited, and a few others that would not be appropriate here... ;)
Reliance had very humble beginnings, Dhirubhai Ambani worked as a clerk in an oil company in Aden, Yemen as a 16 year old. While there he realised that the silver content in the currency of Yemen was valued more than the actual value of the coins!....thus he utilised this descrepancy to obtain the seed money of $3000to establish a modest trading business. Now this is the story of the beginning of the great empire....tell me...why didn't anybody else think of this?...of the thousands of gujrati expats in Yemen, only this man found this discrepancy?....amazing huh?....it sounds dubious to me...maybe there was some other way he came into $3000?
After that too the Reliance house has been clouded with controversy, their links with politicians enable them to get exclusive licenses, they have always been accused of shady underhand dealings, the Reliance Infocomm fiasco is so well known....over-billing customers seems to be a business policy, hell!, if you want a crash course in foul words go visit the nearest Reliance WebWorld for an hour and you will find a disgruntled customer doing the honours....
Now Reliance is planning to enter the retail marketing sector....they plan to deal with farmers directly and buy goods from them to sell in their stores....god help the humble Indian farmer....!!
Reliance had very humble beginnings, Dhirubhai Ambani worked as a clerk in an oil company in Aden, Yemen as a 16 year old. While there he realised that the silver content in the currency of Yemen was valued more than the actual value of the coins!....thus he utilised this descrepancy to obtain the seed money of $3000to establish a modest trading business. Now this is the story of the beginning of the great empire....tell me...why didn't anybody else think of this?...of the thousands of gujrati expats in Yemen, only this man found this discrepancy?....amazing huh?....it sounds dubious to me...maybe there was some other way he came into $3000?
After that too the Reliance house has been clouded with controversy, their links with politicians enable them to get exclusive licenses, they have always been accused of shady underhand dealings, the Reliance Infocomm fiasco is so well known....over-billing customers seems to be a business policy, hell!, if you want a crash course in foul words go visit the nearest Reliance WebWorld for an hour and you will find a disgruntled customer doing the honours....
Now Reliance is planning to enter the retail marketing sector....they plan to deal with farmers directly and buy goods from them to sell in their stores....god help the humble Indian farmer....!!
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Tracing Alexander's Steps Backwards
The recent burst of world-class entrepreneurs, bouyed by the wave of foreign investments as well as liberalisation of the industry by the government have resulted in India Inc. emerging as a force to reckon with in the globalised world of today. The wave of mergers and acquisitions by indian companies of late is in stark contrast with the situation 5-6 years ago....
I remember while growing up, people proudly saying, "Yeh T.V. imported hain...", or "Mera beta MNC mein kaam karta hain!"...now it is more like, "Yeh TV LG ka hain kya?...saste mein mila hoga?..." or "mera beta-or meri beti...for the feminists ;)-INDIAN MNC mein hain!"....
Among all these companies, one truly stands...Reliance.Ten years ago when one was asked which corporate house is the baton holder, the leader, of the indian industry the answer would be either Tata's or the Aditya Birla Group, but today it is unanimously Reliance....the brothers' business combined together is the largest company in India....
Mukesh Ambani's RIL alone has doubled its profits in the last two years....Anil is said to be as shrewd a businessman and no doubt emulate his brother's feat...They may have separated ways but they have one thing in common, they both think BIG!..Mukesh is entering the retail sector(Malls, Supermarket, Farm Products etc) with an arsenal of 25,000 Crores!!....this has made biggies like Wal-mart think twice before entering India! Way to go!...We can do it!...we can trace Alexander's steps backwards and conquer the world!!
Long Live Ambani's,Birla's,Mittal's, hey wait a min.....Long Live Marwadi's!!!
Next Blog : Darker side of the Reliance coin.....
I remember while growing up, people proudly saying, "Yeh T.V. imported hain...", or "Mera beta MNC mein kaam karta hain!"...now it is more like, "Yeh TV LG ka hain kya?...saste mein mila hoga?..." or "mera beta-or meri beti...for the feminists ;)-INDIAN MNC mein hain!"....
Among all these companies, one truly stands...Reliance.Ten years ago when one was asked which corporate house is the baton holder, the leader, of the indian industry the answer would be either Tata's or the Aditya Birla Group, but today it is unanimously Reliance....the brothers' business combined together is the largest company in India....
Mukesh Ambani's RIL alone has doubled its profits in the last two years....Anil is said to be as shrewd a businessman and no doubt emulate his brother's feat...They may have separated ways but they have one thing in common, they both think BIG!..Mukesh is entering the retail sector(Malls, Supermarket, Farm Products etc) with an arsenal of 25,000 Crores!!....this has made biggies like Wal-mart think twice before entering India! Way to go!...We can do it!...we can trace Alexander's steps backwards and conquer the world!!
Long Live Ambani's,Birla's,Mittal's, hey wait a min.....Long Live Marwadi's!!!
Next Blog : Darker side of the Reliance coin.....
Phir Copy-Shopy.........
My days in Pune were really great!...lotsa fun with cousins......well all except one....the day i went to watch Phir Hera Pheri......ugh! the thought if it makes me squirm....
I was forewarned by my cousin that City Pride (Kothrud) was more of a family multiplex....with old grandparents (giving up their evening walks for a taste of youth) frequenting it more often then their lovely grand-daughters in whom we were more interested.....even so...we made a beeline for the m-plex in the hope that a few of those grand-daughters stray to the movies along with the old geezers....but...NO LUCK....
Well we finally nestled into our seats, i was hoping against hope that the movie lived up to its hype.....but....NO LUCK....the movie turned out to be 'inspired' by the classic 'Lock Stock and two Smoking Barrels'.....i mean...if you wanna copy atleast do it well!!....the main plot does not begin till the intermission.....yawn..
There are too many characters in the film....atleast 20 of them were not needed....they show how the three guys who were stinking rich are duped by the sultry bipasha and are reduced to rags....those rags happen to be designer banyans which are torn but as clean as the one's shown in a surf add....
Meanwhile a dame in the row behind me seemed to have come with her new boyfriend and was trying hard to impress him....the mode of impression she employed was rocking back and forth and letting out shrieks of laughter into my ears.....so just when a stale joke is repeated on the screen and i try to doze off into un-irritating slumber...NO LUCK.......the girl behind lets out a peal of artificial mirth...they stop as suddenly as they had started...i guess the boyfriend doesn't find things funny around here huh?...
Back to the film....Bipasha seems to be running through the streets, chased by some gangsters....but then if she is poor and 'abla' why is she wearing tight jeans....a low-neck 'bebe' tee, and above all HIGH HEALS!!...whats that all about?....!!Wait! thats not all...in this attire she seems to remind the seemingly brain-dead Sunil Shetty of Tabu (remember her in the prequel?...all sari, specs, braid and all?)...it is like mistaking Rakhi Sawant for Sonia Gandhi!.....even Paresh Rawal's confused man act is all stereotyped and boring...even nadu will do better....they only ray of light in this dark pig sty of a film is Rimmi 'oh-so-edible' Sen...I was gonna lay back and enjoy the song 'yaad sataaye....' ...but...NO LUCK....it was cut out to fit the movie into schedule..aargh!...all of a sudden there is a gorilla in the movie...it seems to be 'inspired' by the 'Baby's Day Out' routine but turns out to be more of a King-Kong venture....
Truly, it is me who is to blame for expecting some entertainment from a Bollywood movie....in short the movie is.....ugh!...yuck!...ack thoo!....
I was forewarned by my cousin that City Pride (Kothrud) was more of a family multiplex....with old grandparents (giving up their evening walks for a taste of youth) frequenting it more often then their lovely grand-daughters in whom we were more interested.....even so...we made a beeline for the m-plex in the hope that a few of those grand-daughters stray to the movies along with the old geezers....but...NO LUCK....
Well we finally nestled into our seats, i was hoping against hope that the movie lived up to its hype.....but....NO LUCK....the movie turned out to be 'inspired' by the classic 'Lock Stock and two Smoking Barrels'.....i mean...if you wanna copy atleast do it well!!....the main plot does not begin till the intermission.....yawn..
There are too many characters in the film....atleast 20 of them were not needed....they show how the three guys who were stinking rich are duped by the sultry bipasha and are reduced to rags....those rags happen to be designer banyans which are torn but as clean as the one's shown in a surf add....
Meanwhile a dame in the row behind me seemed to have come with her new boyfriend and was trying hard to impress him....the mode of impression she employed was rocking back and forth and letting out shrieks of laughter into my ears.....so just when a stale joke is repeated on the screen and i try to doze off into un-irritating slumber...NO LUCK.......the girl behind lets out a peal of artificial mirth...they stop as suddenly as they had started...i guess the boyfriend doesn't find things funny around here huh?...
Back to the film....Bipasha seems to be running through the streets, chased by some gangsters....but then if she is poor and 'abla' why is she wearing tight jeans....a low-neck 'bebe' tee, and above all HIGH HEALS!!...whats that all about?....!!Wait! thats not all...in this attire she seems to remind the seemingly brain-dead Sunil Shetty of Tabu (remember her in the prequel?...all sari, specs, braid and all?)...it is like mistaking Rakhi Sawant for Sonia Gandhi!.....even Paresh Rawal's confused man act is all stereotyped and boring...even nadu will do better....they only ray of light in this dark pig sty of a film is Rimmi 'oh-so-edible' Sen...I was gonna lay back and enjoy the song 'yaad sataaye....' ...but...NO LUCK....it was cut out to fit the movie into schedule..aargh!...all of a sudden there is a gorilla in the movie...it seems to be 'inspired' by the 'Baby's Day Out' routine but turns out to be more of a King-Kong venture....
Truly, it is me who is to blame for expecting some entertainment from a Bollywood movie....in short the movie is.....ugh!...yuck!...ack thoo!....
ATLAS.......please dont shrug!
Sorry guys, sorry to keep you waiting....have been struggling with a bad cold lately and am currently battling sniffles and sneezes to post this article....
I finished reading ATLAS SHRUGGED almost a week back and i cant get it outa my head.....although it is a self-confessed work of fiction by Ayn Rand, the disclaimer -"the characters potrayed in this novel are purely a work of fiction and do not resemble any person living or dead"-doesn't seem to aply to it....in fact the book resembles our world so closely that it is like a mirror that reflects the naked truth of the world we live in....and the truth they say is always bitter.....sure is.
The book makes us realize that there are two forms of existence a man can lead....a second-hander, an all-pleaser, an altruist, in short a parasite who lives on the creator, the first-hander, the man who exalts himself, who believes the earth is for him to modify not him to adjust to the earth!....it is the second breed of men who run this world....it is they who create, who invent who keep the wheel of civilisation moving, hell, it is they who thought of the wheel in the first place!....these men are ostracised by us, the second-raters, the looters.....we feed on them. Great men like these are called selfish, conceited and what not. We have many examples before us, was not copernicus ridiculed for his theory?Was not galileo ostracised by all? The man who first invented the wheel was called mad....in greek mythology prometheus was a cunning man responsible for discovering fire....he was called a thief for stealing fire from the Gods!!.....these are the examples of the past....do they exist today?....Bill Gates?Warren Buffet?Adolf Hitler?....these men are called selfish, conceited, cheats aren't they?.....
According to greek mythology Atlas was a titan who was punished by zeus the god to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders....he silently bears this weight till today in the shape of these virtuous men....for no fault of his, hell but because of his virtue!......what if he gives up?....what if these men realize what they are doing and for whom?....and just vanish from the face of the earth?...in short...what if Atlas Shrugs?....that is the plot of this great master-piece by Ayn Rand.
We live in a world in which the strong is forced to provide to the weak, the weak is praised and the strong taken advantage of.....resources are divided not on the basis of ability, but on the basis of need....
What makes a man the man that he is?....by the birth he has?by the peers he has?...no.
A man is the man he is by the choices he makes after taking birth, by the goal he sets out to achieve....he is recognised not by the start but the end to his life....
My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.
-Ayn Rand
I finished reading ATLAS SHRUGGED almost a week back and i cant get it outa my head.....although it is a self-confessed work of fiction by Ayn Rand, the disclaimer -"the characters potrayed in this novel are purely a work of fiction and do not resemble any person living or dead"-doesn't seem to aply to it....in fact the book resembles our world so closely that it is like a mirror that reflects the naked truth of the world we live in....and the truth they say is always bitter.....sure is.
The book makes us realize that there are two forms of existence a man can lead....a second-hander, an all-pleaser, an altruist, in short a parasite who lives on the creator, the first-hander, the man who exalts himself, who believes the earth is for him to modify not him to adjust to the earth!....it is the second breed of men who run this world....it is they who create, who invent who keep the wheel of civilisation moving, hell, it is they who thought of the wheel in the first place!....these men are ostracised by us, the second-raters, the looters.....we feed on them. Great men like these are called selfish, conceited and what not. We have many examples before us, was not copernicus ridiculed for his theory?Was not galileo ostracised by all? The man who first invented the wheel was called mad....in greek mythology prometheus was a cunning man responsible for discovering fire....he was called a thief for stealing fire from the Gods!!.....these are the examples of the past....do they exist today?....Bill Gates?Warren Buffet?Adolf Hitler?....these men are called selfish, conceited, cheats aren't they?.....
According to greek mythology Atlas was a titan who was punished by zeus the god to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders....he silently bears this weight till today in the shape of these virtuous men....for no fault of his, hell but because of his virtue!......what if he gives up?....what if these men realize what they are doing and for whom?....and just vanish from the face of the earth?...in short...what if Atlas Shrugs?....that is the plot of this great master-piece by Ayn Rand.
We live in a world in which the strong is forced to provide to the weak, the weak is praised and the strong taken advantage of.....resources are divided not on the basis of ability, but on the basis of need....
What makes a man the man that he is?....by the birth he has?by the peers he has?...no.
A man is the man he is by the choices he makes after taking birth, by the goal he sets out to achieve....he is recognised not by the start but the end to his life....
My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.
-Ayn Rand
Bad Day
Guys i had a really bad day yesterday...i think it was one of the shitiest days i've had in my life
When i woke up in the morning(12 noon may not be morning for everyone but it is to those who have stayed up till 4.00 a.m!!)...i saw that the depressing rain was back after a whole week of absence.....ugh!
I had a really important date with a really important friend and now i would have to sit in the house reading ATLAS SHRUGGED...true it is a great philosophical book by Ayn Rand...and i love her books....but this ones just too slow!!....god!....if you thought fountainhead was bulky, wait till you get your hands on this!....i am half way through it and the main protagonist, the typical Ayn Rand HERO is not yet introduced...and the question "WHO IS JOHN GALT?" is bugging me like hell!!....coming back to the point...i called my friend to postpone the date and resigned to my fate...this rain is not gonna stop for another coupla days...
by the evening i was ready to tear out the hair from my head one-by-one to releave me of my boredom...just then my pals from near my house beckoned me to a game of football...football in this torrential rains?...in the mucky paddy fields?...you bet! i said-"you're on guys!"...but then i realized i dont have shoes out here...i left them at my hostel in BIT...oh! what the f**k...i'll play barefeet!!
so there i was playing barefoot amongst guys with football boots that have hard studs on the soles...and all sorts of small sharp stones and clutter was strewn around the playing field....within a few minutes and a few cuts and bruises later i realized that this was a bad bad idea...i was playing in the midfield and was backtraking to stop the striker of the opposing team...who was charging towards our goal...and before i knew it there was a searing burning sensation on the underside of the sole of my feet...i pulled up in pain...and what i saw was straight out of a horror film!...the skin from the underside of my right foot was dangling from my heel...ouch!... blood...blood...and more blood...the next hour was a haze...my mates taking me to the doctors'(he too was amazed at the injury-"I have never seen anything quite like this in my life!")...then home...and left alone to lick my wounds...(no not literaly)
Well...there i was cursing myself for my foolishness...but more was in store for me...remember the friend i had cancelled a date with?...well, instead of the sympathy that i was expecting i got the accusation that i postponed the date because of the rain but because i wanted to play football!!...ugh..crap
Then i switched on the T.V. to watch my favorite team Czech Republic in action....and they lost 2-0 to Ghana....of all teams Ghana!
the day sucked big time.....and my fortune for the day in orkut?......you will accomplish a great feat today!
off the mark(for BITians only):-
sujit beat gvs at aoe.....
gvs shaved his moustache.....
adi is in BIT...you know why....(Senapati asshole)
(for non-BITians)
italy vs usa game saw 3 red cards....
sri lanka beat england in the first one day...
A.L.I.C.E is a great A.I. chat program...
do not watch phir hera pheri...sucks big time
the world goes on....
When i woke up in the morning(12 noon may not be morning for everyone but it is to those who have stayed up till 4.00 a.m!!)...i saw that the depressing rain was back after a whole week of absence.....ugh!
I had a really important date with a really important friend and now i would have to sit in the house reading ATLAS SHRUGGED...true it is a great philosophical book by Ayn Rand...and i love her books....but this ones just too slow!!....god!....if you thought fountainhead was bulky, wait till you get your hands on this!....i am half way through it and the main protagonist, the typical Ayn Rand HERO is not yet introduced...and the question "WHO IS JOHN GALT?" is bugging me like hell!!....coming back to the point...i called my friend to postpone the date and resigned to my fate...this rain is not gonna stop for another coupla days...
by the evening i was ready to tear out the hair from my head one-by-one to releave me of my boredom...just then my pals from near my house beckoned me to a game of football...football in this torrential rains?...in the mucky paddy fields?...you bet! i said-"you're on guys!"...but then i realized i dont have shoes out here...i left them at my hostel in BIT...oh! what the f**k...i'll play barefeet!!
so there i was playing barefoot amongst guys with football boots that have hard studs on the soles...and all sorts of small sharp stones and clutter was strewn around the playing field....within a few minutes and a few cuts and bruises later i realized that this was a bad bad idea...i was playing in the midfield and was backtraking to stop the striker of the opposing team...who was charging towards our goal...and before i knew it there was a searing burning sensation on the underside of the sole of my feet...i pulled up in pain...and what i saw was straight out of a horror film!...the skin from the underside of my right foot was dangling from my heel...ouch!... blood...blood...and more blood...the next hour was a haze...my mates taking me to the doctors'(he too was amazed at the injury-"I have never seen anything quite like this in my life!")...then home...and left alone to lick my wounds...(no not literaly)
Well...there i was cursing myself for my foolishness...but more was in store for me...remember the friend i had cancelled a date with?...well, instead of the sympathy that i was expecting i got the accusation that i postponed the date because of the rain but because i wanted to play football!!...ugh..crap
Then i switched on the T.V. to watch my favorite team Czech Republic in action....and they lost 2-0 to Ghana....of all teams Ghana!
the day sucked big time.....and my fortune for the day in orkut?......you will accomplish a great feat today!
off the mark(for BITians only):-
sujit beat gvs at aoe.....
gvs shaved his moustache.....
adi is in BIT...you know why....(Senapati asshole)
(for non-BITians)
italy vs usa game saw 3 red cards....
sri lanka beat england in the first one day...
A.L.I.C.E is a great A.I. chat program...
do not watch phir hera pheri...sucks big time
the world goes on....
Living life bit by BIT - (3rd bit)
GV'aas' approached us and all of us readied ourselves for the inevitable torment....i said
"kya be tera class nahi hain kya?"
GV(nasally):"abeein...(everybody groans...the crooked smile curves even more)...class se nikaal diya."
convulsive laughter
GV(nasaly):"abeein...jabki i was late only about 20 mins...vaise theek hain, is subject mein atendance accha hain"
ladu:"kitna hain be?"
GV(nasaly,spontaneously):"abeein...almost 63.64%"
convulsive laughter
sumit:"abey chal bey...tereko aaj treat deni padegi"
sab koi:"haan...haan..GV...deni hi padegi aaj"
GV(nasaly):"abeein heh heee hee....(this last bit was what GV'aas' considers laughter but what to mankind can be best describe as the kind of sound that comes when you screech your nails against a blackboard)....kyon bhai..reason to bolo..!!"
sumit:"abey tum BIT ka top coder ban gaya hai...TCPC ki rankings nikli hain kal.."
GV(nasaly):"abeein...woh sab theek hain lekin..i am really short of cash be...mere paas sirf 432 Rs hain"
convulsive laughter..(we have got used to the convulsive laughter when GV is around)
everybody:"bahut hain boss...chalega"
madi:"abey saale tereko mujhe 100 bucks dene the woh kab dega saale...jeb mein 400 lekar ghoom raha hain?"
GV(nasaly):"abeein...yeh maine kal udhar liye hain...i took 1000 bucks from pritish"
sumit:"saale tum to kal piya ke saath lunch kar raha tha..."
GV(nasaly):"abeein...wahin pe to 568 Rs kharch ho gaye..usko treat de raha tha.."
me:"speaking of treats......"
GV:"haan haan...theek hain....kya kya loge....."
and thats how we triumphed once again......
next time the introduction of the legendary fundebaas...Mr. S.R.Funda...beware the next post will be lethal to those who's ears have not received adequate exercise....
"kya be tera class nahi hain kya?"
GV(nasally):"abeein...(everybody groans...the crooked smile curves even more)...class se nikaal diya."
convulsive laughter
GV(nasaly):"abeein...jabki i was late only about 20 mins...vaise theek hain, is subject mein atendance accha hain"
ladu:"kitna hain be?"
GV(nasaly,spontaneously):"abeein...almost 63.64%"
convulsive laughter
sumit:"abey chal bey...tereko aaj treat deni padegi"
sab koi:"haan...haan..GV...deni hi padegi aaj"
GV(nasaly):"abeein heh heee hee....(this last bit was what GV'aas' considers laughter but what to mankind can be best describe as the kind of sound that comes when you screech your nails against a blackboard)....kyon bhai..reason to bolo..!!"
sumit:"abey tum BIT ka top coder ban gaya hai...TCPC ki rankings nikli hain kal.."
GV(nasaly):"abeein...woh sab theek hain lekin..i am really short of cash be...mere paas sirf 432 Rs hain"
convulsive laughter..(we have got used to the convulsive laughter when GV is around)
everybody:"bahut hain boss...chalega"
madi:"abey saale tereko mujhe 100 bucks dene the woh kab dega saale...jeb mein 400 lekar ghoom raha hain?"
GV(nasaly):"abeein...yeh maine kal udhar liye hain...i took 1000 bucks from pritish"
sumit:"saale tum to kal piya ke saath lunch kar raha tha..."
GV(nasaly):"abeein...wahin pe to 568 Rs kharch ho gaye..usko treat de raha tha.."
me:"speaking of treats......"
GV:"haan haan...theek hain....kya kya loge....."
and thats how we triumphed once again......
next time the introduction of the legendary fundebaas...Mr. S.R.Funda...beware the next post will be lethal to those who's ears have not received adequate exercise....
Living life bit by BIT - 2nd BIT
So here we are in the canteen....sab baithe hain...nobody wants to buy anything...kyon?....arrey ghonchu...kisi ke paas change nahi rehta hain....sab ke liye dena padega.
We are wondering ki abhi kissse treat mangi jaaye....tabhi right on cue yuck arrives...all 4 feet 6-and-a-half inches of him and his antiquated (old, dilapidated) set of teeth...he has company....NO! not the one and only PAGAL KHADEY!!!...nahiiiiii!!...lord please spare my soul!
The atmosphere is tense...nobody wants to make place for PAGAL to sit next to him!....i break the ice by saying-
"kya yuck?...brush kiya?...nahaya?...kya baat hain!....."
yuck : "arey kya re..kyon tum mera maarta hain har baar..."
just then PAGAL gets one of his fits..
Pagal : "areei...tum logon ne B.M. ka B.S. suna hain kya?"
madi : "arre bhai, yeh international short form kyon use karte hain be?"
Pagal (chuckles) : "B.S- Buffalo Soldier!..B.M toh tum logon ko pata hi hoga!"
me : "abey tereko chappel ka favorite ungli dekhna hain kya?"
Pagal : "B.M nahi pata!!..BOB MARLEY!"
whilst saying this pagal cocked his head to one side and shook it so vigourously that we thought it might fall off....saala Dev Anand ko heart attack aa jata....all of us groan...sumit is writhing with anger...(last night pagal was in his room for 2 hours)
Just then the door is flung open!...and standing in the door we recognise the silhoutte of non other than GV'aas'.....we brace ourselves for the inevitable onslought of abeein's....the legendary moustache is fluttering in the wind....and his face contorts into a habitually drastic grin as he recognises us...
what will happen?...will GV'aas' torture us again?...or will we succeed in getting a treat?...what about pagal khadey?....can we control ourselves and not kill him?...all the answers and more will be provided in the next post...
p.s. am going to pune for next 4-5 days...no posts will be made during these days....i dont mix business with pleasure....(watching babes in pune sure is a pleasure ain't it ;) )...untill next time...ciao
We are wondering ki abhi kissse treat mangi jaaye....tabhi right on cue yuck arrives...all 4 feet 6-and-a-half inches of him and his antiquated (old, dilapidated) set of teeth...he has company....NO! not the one and only PAGAL KHADEY!!!...nahiiiiii!!...lord please spare my soul!
The atmosphere is tense...nobody wants to make place for PAGAL to sit next to him!....i break the ice by saying-
"kya yuck?...brush kiya?...nahaya?...kya baat hain!....."
yuck : "arey kya re..kyon tum mera maarta hain har baar..."
just then PAGAL gets one of his fits..
Pagal : "areei...tum logon ne B.M. ka B.S. suna hain kya?"
madi : "arre bhai, yeh international short form kyon use karte hain be?"
Pagal (chuckles) : "B.S- Buffalo Soldier!..B.M toh tum logon ko pata hi hoga!"
me : "abey tereko chappel ka favorite ungli dekhna hain kya?"
Pagal : "B.M nahi pata!!..BOB MARLEY!"
whilst saying this pagal cocked his head to one side and shook it so vigourously that we thought it might fall off....saala Dev Anand ko heart attack aa jata....all of us groan...sumit is writhing with anger...(last night pagal was in his room for 2 hours)
Just then the door is flung open!...and standing in the door we recognise the silhoutte of non other than GV'aas'.....we brace ourselves for the inevitable onslought of abeein's....the legendary moustache is fluttering in the wind....and his face contorts into a habitually drastic grin as he recognises us...
what will happen?...will GV'aas' torture us again?...or will we succeed in getting a treat?...what about pagal khadey?....can we control ourselves and not kill him?...all the answers and more will be provided in the next post...
p.s. am going to pune for next 4-5 days...no posts will be made during these days....i dont mix business with pleasure....(watching babes in pune sure is a pleasure ain't it ;) )...untill next time...ciao
coMEDIAns
Well the rains continue in goa and i haven't seen the sun in 3 days. So i have been watching t.v. amid the power cuts, and yesterday all the news channels were blaring out the misdeeds of one Mr. Rahul Mahajan. I mean giving news is one thing but going on and on about just one piece of crap?!!....'comon do some research, find some interesting bit of news to provide the viewers with....but no they just repeat the same stuff again and again. Aaj tak is the leader of the pack...the ticker on the channel says in bold letters 'Breaking news' and its been like that for 24 hrs!!....they try to sensationalize even the smallest of information and create a controversy where there is none.
This isn't just yesterday only....few months back for 2 straight days the channels wee covering aamir khan's wedding! Who gives a shit about where he is getting marries, which car he comes in, or where he is going for his honeymoon?....the electronic media has become a bunch of clowns...there are no morals left and there is no sense of social responsibility. I really disgusted by these news channels. Can you believe it, star news actually runs a daily show called saas bahu in which they show the goings-on of the saas-bahu serials on star tv!!....what crap!
I must say though that cnn-ibn does show some semblance of social responsibility whilst covering stories. The way they went about covering the reservation protests was really tasteful and done with good intention...lets see how long this responsible behaviour lasts though..
This isn't just yesterday only....few months back for 2 straight days the channels wee covering aamir khan's wedding! Who gives a shit about where he is getting marries, which car he comes in, or where he is going for his honeymoon?....the electronic media has become a bunch of clowns...there are no morals left and there is no sense of social responsibility. I really disgusted by these news channels. Can you believe it, star news actually runs a daily show called saas bahu in which they show the goings-on of the saas-bahu serials on star tv!!....what crap!
I must say though that cnn-ibn does show some semblance of social responsibility whilst covering stories. The way they went about covering the reservation protests was really tasteful and done with good intention...lets see how long this responsible behaviour lasts though..
Rain Drain
Oh man!...when will this rain stop?....it has been raining relentlessly for the past 2-3 days. I am couped up in my house, unable to go out, hang out with pals, and the frequent power cuts mean erratic online existence...ugh! this is getting irritating....
Last night i went out with my friends for a drive...it was pretty late and we decided to go to the village region on the outskirts of Margao city. It was a wonderful experience driving through heavy torrential rain, a couple of trees lay uprooted here and there and it was a good adventure for bored souls. We were driving through the paddy field, by now flooded with water and resembling small lakes. On the onset of monsoons in goa, there is sudden explosion in the population of Bull-frogs and people scamper through these paddy fields hunting bullfrogs...!Why?...well frog legs are an exotic delicacy in these parts of the world...(i haven't had the courage to partake of any though). Anyway we came across a group of jubilant youths who were marveling at the number of frogs they had caught and thought...what the heck! lets join these guys!
We rolled up our jeans and waded through the mucky waters to catch them frogs! And man were they huge!!...one was the size of my hand!...Wild eh?...Yeah! especially when now and then someone would spot a water snake sending shudders down my spine!.....came close to be bitten a couple of times myself!!...but i still live to tell the story....I only wish we had a camera to capture the fine moments of the adventure....oh yes, it was an adventure for me after being trapped inside the house for three days on the trot....it was quite a thrill!......one question to be answered though....Did i taste any of the frog-legs?....well it tastes just like chicken! So thats how the little adventure went...several details had to be skipped because of their graphic nature (read-the actual trapping and killing of the frog)
To continue the irritation....Da Vinci code has been banned in Goa....aaaahhh!! What crap!Looks like i will have to watch it on a cd.....sucks
Last night i went out with my friends for a drive...it was pretty late and we decided to go to the village region on the outskirts of Margao city. It was a wonderful experience driving through heavy torrential rain, a couple of trees lay uprooted here and there and it was a good adventure for bored souls. We were driving through the paddy field, by now flooded with water and resembling small lakes. On the onset of monsoons in goa, there is sudden explosion in the population of Bull-frogs and people scamper through these paddy fields hunting bullfrogs...!Why?...well frog legs are an exotic delicacy in these parts of the world...(i haven't had the courage to partake of any though). Anyway we came across a group of jubilant youths who were marveling at the number of frogs they had caught and thought...what the heck! lets join these guys!
We rolled up our jeans and waded through the mucky waters to catch them frogs! And man were they huge!!...one was the size of my hand!...Wild eh?...Yeah! especially when now and then someone would spot a water snake sending shudders down my spine!.....came close to be bitten a couple of times myself!!...but i still live to tell the story....I only wish we had a camera to capture the fine moments of the adventure....oh yes, it was an adventure for me after being trapped inside the house for three days on the trot....it was quite a thrill!......one question to be answered though....Did i taste any of the frog-legs?....well it tastes just like chicken! So thats how the little adventure went...several details had to be skipped because of their graphic nature (read-the actual trapping and killing of the frog)
To continue the irritation....Da Vinci code has been banned in Goa....aaaahhh!! What crap!Looks like i will have to watch it on a cd.....sucks
Amusing Musings....
Oh dash it! enough of all that serious crap i've been dishing out. This time i thought it would be nice not to talk about something in particular, instead i'll talk about anything and everything under the sun.
I just read in good 'ol times of india that the state government of Maharashtra is running a debt to the tune of Rs 1.2 lakhs...err sorry that is Rs 1.2 lakh Crores.
I was shocked...i mean its laughable really....here we are discussing reservation, equality and stuff when what we should be doing is pack our bags and get away from this place. After all Mumbai is economically the most advanced city in India. Some 'Maha' rashtra huh?....but the politicians must've tried their best, sadly their ploy of changing the name from Bombay to Mumbai didn't work. ;)
The ticket checkers(TC) of the indian railways are protesting against the railways' ad in which travellers are urged not to put up against corrupt TC's....poor guys...did you know that the average capacity of sleeper seats is 720 but the railways issues 800-1000 waiting list tickets?....and then when these guys board the train hoping that the TC will 'adjust' them somewhere.....who is to blame? By the way in a move that will delight all 'Indians' the ticket checkers association has decided that the TC's will allow all ticketless travellers on the train until the said ad is removed
Swaminathan Aiyar criticized the government with an observation that i whole heartedly agree with:-
"The present government is more into redistributing poverty than creating prosperity?"
I guess for that we should award the ruling party another term?
Poor Ajit Agarkar....when finally he showed some consistency, he was not considered in the test team.
Ok Ok i did not have anything in particular to talk about....so what? neither did any of the newspapers or channels....what do you expect me to write about?....the stock market?...ok next time then!! :P
I just read in good 'ol times of india that the state government of Maharashtra is running a debt to the tune of Rs 1.2 lakhs...err sorry that is Rs 1.2 lakh Crores.
I was shocked...i mean its laughable really....here we are discussing reservation, equality and stuff when what we should be doing is pack our bags and get away from this place. After all Mumbai is economically the most advanced city in India. Some 'Maha' rashtra huh?....but the politicians must've tried their best, sadly their ploy of changing the name from Bombay to Mumbai didn't work. ;)
The ticket checkers(TC) of the indian railways are protesting against the railways' ad in which travellers are urged not to put up against corrupt TC's....poor guys...did you know that the average capacity of sleeper seats is 720 but the railways issues 800-1000 waiting list tickets?....and then when these guys board the train hoping that the TC will 'adjust' them somewhere.....who is to blame? By the way in a move that will delight all 'Indians' the ticket checkers association has decided that the TC's will allow all ticketless travellers on the train until the said ad is removed
Swaminathan Aiyar criticized the government with an observation that i whole heartedly agree with:-
"The present government is more into redistributing poverty than creating prosperity?"
I guess for that we should award the ruling party another term?
Poor Ajit Agarkar....when finally he showed some consistency, he was not considered in the test team.
Ok Ok i did not have anything in particular to talk about....so what? neither did any of the newspapers or channels....what do you expect me to write about?....the stock market?...ok next time then!! :P
Deservation for Reservation.......
It would seem indecent--almost vulgar--if i refrained from commenting on the issue that has gripped our country for the past couple of weeks....the reservation fiasco.
I just read in the newspaper that the government has estimated a cost of Rs. 8,000 Crores towards expanding the capacity of the institutes so that the number of seats for open candidates remain the same despite reservation...as ripley would say-Unbelievable?....Believe it!
Coming to the core issue it is atrocious to suggest-as suggested by left parties-that there is no empirical evidence that reserved category candidates cause a reduction in the level of merit of an institute....well...a student with 90% cant get thru AIIMS but a category guy with only 60% gets thru....glaring evidence right there i would say...but surely the question was too paltry to even warrant an answer.
There is truth in the argument however that we should ensure oppurtunities are equally distributed even at the cost of merit(though not entirely neglecting the importance of meritocracy). For example i know a person who had to travel 5km by foot or bicycle to reach his high school in a village in Maharashtra, surely this person is deprived of equal oppurtunity, and if he doesn't score highly in entrance exams, does it mean he is a dumbass?....NO!
Well then how should we ensure both equality and merit?I have a suggestion to make....the distinction among applicants should be made not on the basis of castes but on the basis of wether the student has been brought up in an URBAN society or a RURAL one. This should be the only criterion. It is the rural population that really doesn't have the facilities and are deprived. Lower caste people in cities have all the facilities and equal oppurtunities as that of any other....after 50 years thats one thing that we have achieved.
I was waiting to see if someone else suggests a better solution. Considering the fanfare and the cost at which the beauraucracy fuctions in India, someone should have. But i guess this is a futile effort huh?.....what we say or discuss will not make an iota of difference to the politicians of our country.
Politics is searching for a problem, analysing it erroneously, and applying the wrong solution
I just read in the newspaper that the government has estimated a cost of Rs. 8,000 Crores towards expanding the capacity of the institutes so that the number of seats for open candidates remain the same despite reservation...as ripley would say-Unbelievable?....Believe it!
Coming to the core issue it is atrocious to suggest-as suggested by left parties-that there is no empirical evidence that reserved category candidates cause a reduction in the level of merit of an institute....well...a student with 90% cant get thru AIIMS but a category guy with only 60% gets thru....glaring evidence right there i would say...but surely the question was too paltry to even warrant an answer.
There is truth in the argument however that we should ensure oppurtunities are equally distributed even at the cost of merit(though not entirely neglecting the importance of meritocracy). For example i know a person who had to travel 5km by foot or bicycle to reach his high school in a village in Maharashtra, surely this person is deprived of equal oppurtunity, and if he doesn't score highly in entrance exams, does it mean he is a dumbass?....NO!
Well then how should we ensure both equality and merit?I have a suggestion to make....the distinction among applicants should be made not on the basis of castes but on the basis of wether the student has been brought up in an URBAN society or a RURAL one. This should be the only criterion. It is the rural population that really doesn't have the facilities and are deprived. Lower caste people in cities have all the facilities and equal oppurtunities as that of any other....after 50 years thats one thing that we have achieved.
I was waiting to see if someone else suggests a better solution. Considering the fanfare and the cost at which the beauraucracy fuctions in India, someone should have. But i guess this is a futile effort huh?.....what we say or discuss will not make an iota of difference to the politicians of our country.
Politics is searching for a problem, analysing it erroneously, and applying the wrong solution
Of Objectivism....
I was going through a stack of old books at home to find some book worthwhile. I ended up picking The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. This will be the third time i am reading the masterpiece, and the amazing thing is the second time i took longer to finish it then the first and now, already, i have a feeling the third dialogue i have with the book will be longer than the second one. Each time i come across a subtle point i had overlooked in the previous read, i come to enjoy the concept of Objectivism which itself is put forward so subtely.....and viciously.
Objectivism is the concept of placing one's ego above everything (and everyone) else. To do only those actions that may result in betterment of your existence and that may eventually improve you productiviy....regardless of the effect on 'mankind' or 'society'. Every man should have a single goal in life and all his actions should work towards fufilling that goal. Horward Roark and Galt, the most popular heroes of Rand embody the concept of objectivism. So the naive will ask almost involuntarily "So that means i should be an objectivist?".
The person is naive because by asking that question itself he is not an objectivist. An objectivist follows no example, he himself is an example....(but if everyone is an objectivist there is no such thing :) ) The opposite of objectivism is come to be known as-quite expectedly at that-subjectivism. Sadly, majority of the world is subjective. Subjectivism breeds mediocrity, since subjectivity involves doing that, what the 'public' or 'society' may deem right. In such a scenario it is rather evident that the creator-the original thinker-will live, think, act only for himself, whereas the commoner-the parasite-will live, think, act for others. This is the current state of affairs in todays world. How does this breed mediocrity? Well the parasite can't think for himself, he breeds of others, hence creativity is diminished and we make do with what we have and do that what is expected of us.
So....what am i you ask?am i Roark or am i Peter Keating?
Peter Keating.......................oh most undoubteably.
Objectivism is the concept of placing one's ego above everything (and everyone) else. To do only those actions that may result in betterment of your existence and that may eventually improve you productiviy....regardless of the effect on 'mankind' or 'society'. Every man should have a single goal in life and all his actions should work towards fufilling that goal. Horward Roark and Galt, the most popular heroes of Rand embody the concept of objectivism. So the naive will ask almost involuntarily "So that means i should be an objectivist?".
The person is naive because by asking that question itself he is not an objectivist. An objectivist follows no example, he himself is an example....(but if everyone is an objectivist there is no such thing :) ) The opposite of objectivism is come to be known as-quite expectedly at that-subjectivism. Sadly, majority of the world is subjective. Subjectivism breeds mediocrity, since subjectivity involves doing that, what the 'public' or 'society' may deem right. In such a scenario it is rather evident that the creator-the original thinker-will live, think, act only for himself, whereas the commoner-the parasite-will live, think, act for others. This is the current state of affairs in todays world. How does this breed mediocrity? Well the parasite can't think for himself, he breeds of others, hence creativity is diminished and we make do with what we have and do that what is expected of us.
So....what am i you ask?am i Roark or am i Peter Keating?
Peter Keating.......................oh most undoubteably.
The film version of Dan Brown's blockbuster book The Da Vinci Code is also striking gold at the box office, taking in a staggering 224 million dollars during its opening weekend, the publication Screen International reported Monday.
That sum represents the second-biggest global launch in film history, just behind the 253.9 million dollars registered last year by Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
According to the publication Variety, The Da Vinci Code was the biggest-ever launch earner outside the United States, with 147 million dollars, 2 million more than Star Wars III.
The film, which had a budget of 125 million dollars, opened in every international market except India and the Mideast.
That sum represents the second-biggest global launch in film history, just behind the 253.9 million dollars registered last year by Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
According to the publication Variety, The Da Vinci Code was the biggest-ever launch earner outside the United States, with 147 million dollars, 2 million more than Star Wars III.
The film, which had a budget of 125 million dollars, opened in every international market except India and the Mideast.
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