The summer is here

I prefer not to blog while watching TV – all the more during Game of Thrones. But I am doing it now, hence the title..

But really, the summer is here and so are the shades of summer – bright, bold and a-lot-of-fun. The face will be more-a-covered, the legs that much lesser; the feet-on-street will be replaced by the splashes of pool-water.

I had read on the Digital Door Surat blog about the best summer drinks of Surat, and that brought back memories of some home-made summer coolers that I used to have as a child -

1.    Variyali nu sharbat – I remember having mixed feelings about this one here. I never liked the green algae-ish look of it but so much savourd its taste! Ma never made it coz it wasn’t quite popular in Southern Saurashtra, more so in mainland. But I remember Motumal Tanumal makes a really tasty blend. A mast-mast must try

2.    Ganna juice – The wife still scolds me coz I pronounce it j-yu-se and not joo-se; but well nothing beats the vernacular sweet taste of sugarcane juice. My foren-return relatives always shied away from it as it might cause jaundice and I always thought they were too much of a snob. Just recently I believed the fact after my embry-oo-la-la doctor friend decoded it for me.

3.    Golo – While I key in the sentence-starting word, I vow to myself to go have one tomorrow. But the lust that I have for whiskey now is what compares to the one for gola in childhood coz the elders always warned to not have it for the fear of getting a sore throat. The ubiquitous summer ice-dish of Surat, which is golo in Kathiyawad, is THE summer dessert I think.

4.    Rasna – If you’re someone over 30 years and never had Rasna while growing up, boy o boy you were never a child – never-ever. I remember the affection I had with the preparation of orange Rasna – wee bit more than actually drinking it. Mixing the water and the sugar and the liquid and the powder was probably my first cooking lesson – and the last one at it.

      RIP Rasna, farewell young-hood.

The changing facade of Surat

I’d not want to get into the cliché blowing of Modi bugle – especially when I see positive change in this entrepreneurial city!

Just the last week it was the fallen parking parapet of my office building – the one of the many that had stifled the road. I was glad the parapet wall made way for the bottlenecked road; though at a measly disappointment of losing my parking space! And today it was the freshly installed signage pointing, thankfully, in all the right directions!

This city (administration), like all the others, keeps abreast of changing times – as much as it can. One of my biggest compliments to it is the keenness to develop recreational spaces in the city. When the Science Centre came up on this very road 5 years back, I was super glad! Such spaces serve not only as recreation but are also a rich source of informal education! And the number of school students visiting it on regular basis, I’m sure it’s serving the right purpose. It has given the city not only a science gallery and planetarium, but also superb places for exhibition, conventions and concerts.

Then came the aquarium where I did 3 trips but came back coz it was pre-booked. This goes on to show how much this city needs such public places and how little has been done about it! Tapi river-front has been another strong step in that direction; hoping many more such come up in the near future. 

The ride – going for or taking on one?

It’s sometimes heartening to know Surat Municipal Corporation hires such educated agencies - well-versed with half the English they are! You and I go for a ride, and to assist us, the parking contractors at various locations take us for a ride.

Some people have a problem with trust, but I never have that issue. I have full faith in these parking contractors hired by our corporation that they will invariably do some ghotala. Today (1^st Sept 2013) when I parked my car outside Iscon Mall on Dumas Road, I was handed over a parking slip and Rs 20 requested from me by the chappie who assisted me with parking.

It was slightly unsettling to notice it mentioned the same minimum amount that I paid – ye kaise hona tha! On a little closer inspection I noticed the receipt mentioned it’s for HMV/ MMV – meaning Heavy Motor Vehicles or Medium Motor Vehicles categories. Passenger cars that we drive come under LMV (light motor vehicles) for which he didn't issue the receipt.

Upon reprimanding him, he came out with the correct receipt for the correct category of vehicle. But I didn’t see 10 bucks (I’d paid him 20 by then) but came another query about how much time I was going to take! He wanted to keep Rs 20 and settle the account later depending on how much time it takes me in the mall – that’s was the last effort he wanted to take for his boss – the owner of Aditya Corporation. at the end, I left him disappointed, and of course Rs 10.

Most times I do not bother, and I’m sure a lot of people don’t. make sure you take and read the receipt and pay the exact fare…

Jootha hi sahi last night was fun. However, just for the 2^nd time they showed ‘I-want-her-coz –the-other-man-does-too' syndrome.

Madhavan leaves the girl and when sees her hooked to another one, starts vying for her again. Before this, I saw this being featured in an episode of Friends.

It’s yet another classic example of using someone else’s yardstick to measure yourself. And this innumerable circumstances and in or common lives. From the common question “Am I fatter than her?” that you throw to your husband to youngsters going for career counseling to the Madhavan syndrome I talked of earlier, it’s all about what the other person thinks of what I think or do. We have gotten so engrossed in this process that any individuality that comes around is either revered or snubbed. It is not regarded by us commoners as anything normal.

[Wonder if readers will like this!] ha ha ha

Hum Tum mmm mmm

There’s no guarantee of this blog coming through when I’s confessing my twisted views on sex & religion to Khushboo yesterday. And it actually wouldn’t have if I won’t have seen Hum Tum the same evening.

Watching that movie also reminded me that liberal or conservative views on sex are not decided by gender. It’s a surprise to a viewer when the woman, Rani Mukherjee, having spent a pleasant night with the boyfriend of one hour Saif, comes out in broad daylight blushing & unapologetic. And on the other hand, the guy’s head is full of guilt of pre-marital, though consensual sex. The confrontation & rona-dhona that follows is saved from being the typical Hindi movie one because of a simple gender reversal in the game.

There’s sure no pride in high divorce or teen pregnancy rates or post-Navratri high rate of abortions or nervous break-downs of bachcha log; but media will have to change more, so will have to entertainers, and artists and decision makers. Because the hues of society are changing, and rather than trying to reverse the flow, they might as well channelize it well.

Unapologetic Cinema

Watching Nishabda last week was the flash point for this blog - & I watched it despite a hundred warnings, including Nisha's, that it isn't worth a sniff.

And after watching Salaam Namaste last night , the starkness was unmissable. The combination of these 2 movies made me fully realize the amazing packaging of apologetic-ness, guilt & stereo-typing that Indian film directors do through laughter, songs and silly fights & romance.

On one hand is the sophomore film of Saif's 2nd inning (who I quite like for sneaking away Bebo from another man) where through fun, romance and PZ's maiden kiss the director tells us that the man in the relationship should always yield to the lady's fondness and pregnancy. And he doesn't take any chance and so passes on the same message through animated sonography, dramatic Doc, babe in the mall and even through Arshad Warsi. He says you got to get married if you don't want, you got to yield if the girl goes pregnant and you got to be apologetic if you even dare to think otherwise. And we've been, for all these years, lived in the time of apologetic mind-frame. This has been communicated and exhibited to us through movies, art, Kandahar plane hijack episode, ad of VIP undies and long queues at the train station.

Thankfully, there're people who have realized this across the years and have tried to tell their side of it - art movies, M F Hussain, Dhirubhai Ambani, Taslima Nasreen, Saurav Ganguly, Mahesh Bhatt & in a tiny way, Shri :) Ramgopal Verma.

I heard one such message from RGV when I saw Nishabda. The first reaction was of bemused surprise when, towards the end of the film, Big B confesses messing up and laments not only the loss of wife and daughter, but also the young muse! That was as unapologetic and vulgar as it gets. Had it been some other director, he'd have shot the scene where the protagonist throws out the young muse from the house; but then would have shown him guilty as hell and kneeling before the family and friends. But not this one, not this time. In this one, the Big Daddy of Bollywood says he misses the wife, the daughter and also the gone girlfriend. What a twisted old man! Not that I appreciate all such old men, but surely the director's brazen gut.

However, in the genre of unapologetic cinema, Rani Mukherjee scores teh highest. In Hum Tum, she scoffs at Saif's Sorry-for-premarital-sex attitude and shuns his I'll-support-you mindframe. Again in KANK, she leaves a perfectly normal and caring husband for charming ill-tempered Khan.

The audience should, rather than looking for moral lessons in all our films, appreciate different hues of story-telling. And also accept that these are nothing but the images of a changing society.

baby with the bathwater

Throwing the baby out with bathwater is common in any society; especially the one that’s threatening to turn fascist by the hands of moral police. This tide had ebbed, now I fear there’s going to be some reawakening.

The cause this time is a very unfortunate incident of a minor girl being raped by youth in the wee hours in Surat. The anguish is but predictable; so is my worry that in the name of security and moral policing, many a innocuous people will be blamed, and may also be penalized. The bigger threat, however is that ideas and thoughts will suffer a bigger blow and few will oppose it because it comes wrapped in and attached with a very sensitive cover.

Many a things around me force me to take such a stand – the pro-people language used by daily newspapers; the headline that writes – Muslim Youth – clearly citing and inciting junta; the news tag-line – Rape on Wheels - developed by Divya Bhaskar; blaming coaching classes for early morning class timing; totalitarian organization like the VHP announcing a bandh on Monday.

Hoping the victim kid recovers and find her life soon; and the hoopla that has surrounded the real issue doesn’t take too much toll; as a safety measure, I have taken off some party pictures from the online photo gallery.

99 = 100

Karan’s facebook status – 99 is 100% wouldn’t have helped if it wouldn’t have been the psychological pull to theatre after the strike is over. For this reason or that, however, I did watch 99. Like I didn’t realize in Fiza (name of the character) or Tamanna (ditto), it never occurred to me the movie featured a story of year 1999.

I still can not think of the reason they did it, but they did it nevertheless. Though I am not a very keen person when it comes to observing things, but have a list of the technically best movies. Khosla ka Ghosla sits at the top of the list; and then there’re a few more like Bheja Fry, Saudagar (the old one), Dor, etc. the newest entrant to this list is 99.

I didn’t fully realize the period element when they showed the bigger black mobile-phone first; then it all started to connect. Right from the bulky mobile phones, monotone ring tones, greenish displays to a mention of T20 cricket, the novelty in the concept of coffee shops, MAC Donald’s board – it was all there. The superb presence of Boman Irani, Cyrus Brocha and Vinod Khanna added to the charm of the movie. And for a change I also liked Soha & Khemu.

The superiority of the film was also reflected in the screenplay and dialogues. The innovative references used for Cyrus’s thick frame and the kaminapan of Boman Irani only helped make the movie complete.

99 sure is 100%.

Brand-Gandhi Erosion

I’ve always considered Gandhi as one of the biggest Indian brand. Nothing derogatory about it trust me; I’m myself an ardent admirer of him. But all that I’ve read of him (and I’ve read good), I’ve known him to be a cunning politician and a damn good strategist. And if I use the same shrewd analysis, he’s (also) an Indian brand.

It’s my love for Gandhi and for the field of Marketing that made me abhor the way ‘Gandhi Mela’ has been organized in Surat. The contrast is sharper when it’s sandwiched between the just concluded ‘Trade Fair’ and fast-approaching ‘Vyapaar’ exhibitions (and all three being put up at the same premises).

The organizers believe Gandhi is all about swadeshi, but they’ve put up completely vernacular and shabby exhibition. He preached autonomy but not low quality. Each of his political and national movements (even Upvaas) was well-thought of and well-timed. (Those who’ve read him would well recall that when he took it up the first time, it’s the mass effect of this tool that appealed him rather than Jesus Christ like I’ll-suffer-for-them philosophy.) Gandhi was (very) modern in his thought process and would have known that packaging and appearance will have to be smart enough to appeal the masses today.

The starkest thing that I noticed was the skew ness of the crowd there. almost the entire exhibition was made of students from government or trust-run schools, elderly and dilapidated people, social workers and government officers of the obscure departments like Khadi Board, Alternate Energy department, etc. where’s the college-going youth, the office-goer, the urban middle-class, the school kid (who has a brighter chance to represent the country and society in the international forum)?

They are missing the target by a long-shot.

Inside of a police station

Inside of a police station looks just like a clerical department of municipal corporation. The furniture, worn out and repainted several times, the indifferent and rouged staff dressed in checked shirts and metal rimmed glasses, calendars here and there, unwashed and discoloured window curta-

Oh well, sorry for the above, I’d wanted to write about something else.

The reason of my visit to the place which I described above. It’s that email I sent to the Surat Municipal Commissioner on 21st January about unorganized parking near the Kotak Bank building on the main road here; also narrating the actual difficulties faced in that narrow but important lane. And yes I had forgotten what else I wrote.

It’s Imran (that’s what he said – no salutation, no designation, no last name, no-thing) on the other end yesterday evening when he told me to please (yes he used that word) come over to the traffic division of the city police and give my ‘nivedan’ so that it can be taken ahead. I was in double mind till the time I got some casual encouragement last night.

But I did take the second step in my mission D O by going there today. They took the complaint, apologized it took long because the in-charge was on leave. They will now tow vehicles from there regularly and each time they do that, will call me. And thanked for getting it to their notice.

He didn’t show any sign of expecting that I’m done with it., and so I’m not. Next mails will go out tomorrow morning about excessive honking and zigzag driving.

If you survived the above paragraphs, please D O yourself. And you’ll be in for a lot of surprises and a little pride.

I’ve always hated soothsayers, of every form. But I’m going to make an attempt at it. As it’s the Chandrayaan team this year that bagged the CNN Indian of the Year award, next year it can very well be National Mission on Education (NMoE). Those who keep a tab of what’s going on in the rest of India would know that today NMoE is unveiling what is fondly termed the $ 10 laptop at Tirupati. The partners to this initiative are IIT and IISc. This will also provide some necessary breather to the critics of these high maintenance institutions.

It’s beyond imagination what such a gadget can do to the scientific, economic and social fabric of the country. Like the cellphone reaching the breast-pocket of every rikshaw-walla, pan-walla and kadiya-mistri; if all goes well, an i-enabled, printer connected laptop will be seen with subzi-walla, doodh-walla and the school-child in every Ramgadh of India. The cell-phones have done its part by providing connectivity and some other important gadgetry like GPS; it’s time to upgrade the tech-pocket of the 100 million Indians to the laptops.

If you’ve started to wonder I didn’t mention education, you sure will agree it requires more attention than the one-liners above. And if this dream comes true, it will get all it deserves in the next few years. The geniuses will come out of villages and hamlets; the lazy teacher will have to pull up his socks and the passionate one will be grinning all the way to school, respiration and condensation will be animated; the gadgets will bring glamour to school followed by students, coupled with mid-day meals (it) will increase school-goers, villages have software dukans and cyber-cafes – the list goes endless. As a ripple effect, some energy source will have to be made available, marketers will find a channel to reach the rural youngsters and upgrade their aspiration levels, who knows what will happen to number of hackers though! :)

This brings back to me what I heard from Dr C K Prahlad in year 2000 at IIM Ahmedabad. He had given a simple example of making ice-cream available to the marginalized and rural kids. No rocket science he said, just control the cost of refrigeration. No high-flying he said, use local burf instead of liquid carbon dioxide. I’m sure Dr Prahlad will also smile today.

I am D O –ing

The swarm of emails and join-this-forum requests that flooded my mail box after the recent Bombay attack was phenomenal. And I’m sure a lot of my friends can share the same story. All of them recommended joining such and such forum to be able to make a difference. So did the TV wallas, and wrapped them in pretty brand names. All throughout I was not able to ensure the end result of the actions of joining the forums and so on (though I did sign in for a few with compelling names)!

My dilemma was finally resolved when an old friend called saying he’s in the town. Since that call around a month back, I have met up with Anup thrice. And I’ve finally started to make the difference, albeit without joining any forum. He infected me with sort of a vulgar idea, naked of any analysis and support-seeking mechanism. If you see something going wrong around you, take note and write an email. THAT IS IT.

And within a month, it has started to show the signs of sure success.
1 The first set of emails went to Tata group and Neelkamal group because my car, which could have been laden with explosives, went unchecked and unnoticed in the basement parking of their Chroma and @ Home store building in Surat. Tatas haven’t replied yet, Neelkamal followed it up the same day and reverted.
2 Then mailed Pantaloon guys coz my wife (and I was) wasn’t checked with a metal detector at the entry gate of Big Bazaar Surat. Upon asking (by her) the whereabouts of the female guard, prompt came the reply that she was absent that day. the mail that was sent to their corporate email ID was responded to me in form of the phone call that the Surat store manager placed to me thanking me and assuring that the female guard will never by missing starting today.
3 The email sent to traffic department of Surat city reporting a particularly chaotic street hasn’t been responded or acted upon. The reminder will go out on Monday; and on every subsequent Monday till they do not act over it.
4 When I post this blog today, there’re 2 emails waiting in line to reach the mailboxes of 2 local schools whose buses didn’t show the brake lights working.

And now, like the friend of mine, I am also bent on spreading the virus. Whether or not you join any of the forums or do a silent march, whenever you see something going wrong around you, take note and reach out to the concerned authority. You will be amazed by the difference you can make by doing this.

Mother India

“India is truly a mother, a lady,” I heard someone telling, “and keeps on nursing the neighbours as one.” Mother (hood) India is not what I am concerned about, but it sure shows all the meekness of a fragile creature.

After the attack on Mumbai last month, she’s crying hoarse about Pakistan’s hand in the entire episode and claims having proof of the same. The trouble is, it is taking no concrete forward action accept for the usual rhetoric. I sure appreciate the political games being played out between our government, Pak and the USA. But it is not sufficient by any standard. Especially after there are supposed proofs that Pak is involved. I believe it’s missed out on taking the following assertive steps in the right direction –
Close the Paki foreign office and consulate in the country and make it a firm statement that a spade (read responsible-for-terror-state) is a spade;
Ask all the Pakistani citizens to leave the country;
Stop all the means of transportation between the 2 countries and bar the entry of any Pakistani national in the country;
If possible, bar all the direct routes of communication between the 2 states;
Withdraw the MFN (Most Favoured Nation) status of Pakistan under the UN umbrella; and
Clearly and precisely state that Pakistan is the enemy and that relationships have soured and will stay that way till the time it cleans up its act.

I am not against the inter-national cricket, or art, or commerce; till sometime back, I was a major proponent of it because I firmly believed it can make a difference. For the above understanding and frame of mind, I didn’t have any humanitarian or amorous thoughts; but I could clearly see its political and security fallouts. The more stakes you have in the other person; the more you’re concerned about her well-being.

But the time has gone when we could care about the relationships going sore; they already have.

Letter to Prime Minister

Dear Honorable Prime Minister

Like the other citizens of the country, I show my support in this mix of good and ugly natured attacks on Mumbai event and its resolution by our armed forces and security groups.

But Sir, the ugliness far outshines the feeling of relief now that the situation has almost been resolved. There’ve been people like me who feel angry that the terrorists and criminals can take the entire country hostage and do bomb blasts at their will whenever and wherever they please! We boast of the best of the armies and police forces in the world, a pile of nuclear weapons, intelligence and other strength showing signs but bow before such situations. We do a show of strength on our national holidays down the Rajpath but when the real need is felt, become helpless.

The resilience laden strength that we try to show features only in our words and fails to reflect in our actions. The political talks and analyses reach dead-ends and we continue to bleed in various parts of the country at different times. The empty talks and we-will-not-pardon statements that you give out through media to all of us have lost all meaning and are seen as a wrapping up exercise rather than a commitment, a promise of delivery. I am sure we are going to hear the same things this time as well; but for whoever’s sake, please, DO SOMETHING after talking it out and promising it to 120 crore of us.

Please
1. take responsibility of the mistakes that were made before and during the whole exercise (since that’s the only way they can be rectified);
2. investigate the current crime scenes and leads very keenly to book the culprits;
be affirmative and assertive in blaming whoever is responsible – from Pakistan to the likes of Sadhvi Pragya;
3. give very good compensation to the families of security personnel who lost their lives; and
4. put the defense, warning and reaction systems in place to tackle such situations in future.

Please do not take the mood of the country “restored” as it is far from it. If after this letter I do not write you any; or if every Mr Joshi goes to office tomorrow, it doesn’t mean everything is normal. I humbly remind you of the only two important words I have written above – DO SOMETHING.

Art wins

The end today, on 10th September 08 was a happy one. No not the end of the day, it has just begun. The end of the front page of the ToI.

It reports that the apex court has turned the tables on a case against M F Hussain. For years together (my memory goes back to 1999) the Hindu militant organizations and some extremists individuals have been pronouncing their own diktat on a lot of subjects and slamming (and stabbing) people left right and centre. They object to every third work of art saying it defames either the gods or the culture. This habit reflects in denouncing and threatening Hussain, attacking the nude painting at M S University (Baroda), etc.

It is heartening news that the Supreme Court has thrown away the case saying “It is an art like the sculptures.” The sculptures referring to – ofcourse – those of Khajuraho. “None gets scandalized looking at the sculptures.” It is shame, though, that we still have to hide behind those bare stone busts to justify a lot of sensible things.

Being in Surat, the recent terror blasts is a reality rather than the front page news; traveling to Ahmedabad even more so.

And I will tell you what hurt me the most. While on the Ahmedabad trip last week, I found umpteen billboards lauding communal harmony, steadfastness and bravery of the people of Gujarat. A few also preached the importance of non-violence in these times.

As a citizen of this state, this was the biggest farce I witnessed in the whole issue. I still can’t digest the need to put up a show of the qualities of the sufferers when the entire time, resources and energy should go in nabbing the guilty and punishing them! These billboards seem like an attempt to dwarf the gravity of the situation wherein one city witnesses terrorist bomb blasts and the other one two dozen live bombs.

Who are we kidding here Mr Administrator? By announcing that Gujarat is unaffected by such instances and will rise soon, we are actually making the whole issue too insignificant. I don’t say the police wouldn’t be doing anything to nab the guilty, but then why bull**** about all these and give a false feeling of bravado to the citizens? Admit that the going is not good and we are trying our level best to bring it back to normalcy; warn the citizens to keep vigil; strategize and act decisively and swiftly. But for the sake of a hundred hells – don’t tell me whatever happened was alright. BECAUSE IT WASN’T.

Didn’t I mention this to be the biggest farce! Now is the time for the biggest irony. The police have supposedly caught the people responsible for this and they have confessed. And half the people doubt police to have done some foul play to ease the pressure on it.

This 15th August

The national holidays have always been important for me. Back in school it used to be the prestigious NCC parade; and after that a flair for patriotic films and music.

I didn’t expect 15th august 2008 to be so different in spirit. This unusual national holiday came to me thanks to the late train booking that saw me on-board Ahmedabad Passenger train from Surat to Ahmedabad. This was my first time on this kind and as usual I’d booked myself online and was carrying the sheet along as the testimony of my constitutional and legal right towards seat number 35 in S1. Constitutional rights - b**lls. Legal rights - ditto.

After claiming my seat from a man and a child (no poetry here), I was surprised when the kaka started to rant that it doesn’t matter who booked the ticket, the whole of train is a common one for all passengers. And finally I was awestruck when a couple of ladiez claimed my seat as well. I was in half-mind whether to fight and push them off from my seat or to bear their presence on the crammed seat. I found myself fighting them off and showing them the ticket that bore the number in question; with the lone support of a passenger in my coupe.

I couldn’t help but think how a fresh civil engineer would feel in presence of a toughened and experienced supervisor! Foolish is one way to put it. I know I was down ‘cause I didn’t dare to push them off my berth and so atleast managed to make them feel guilty (or so I believe) by emphasizing my right on the seat they were on. What was absolutely stunning was that the people around (which also included the usual nuisance pass-holders) assumed it their right to encroach upon someone’s seat rather than requesting and getting that leeway! As a result, on a seat of 2, we were 5 people crammed up – though I had had the best share of the seat!

I can’t still make up my mind whether I was right in feeling the disbelief cum anger cum frustration towards them or not! I still am torn between Ayn Rand and Jawahar Nehru…

Sunday spoilers - or more. . .

They shouldn’t do it you know! They shouldn’t jeopardize lazy Sundays of ordinary people like me. One moment I was happily flipping channels and another, I tuned on to India TV.

One of the widely accepted masala news channel was featuring an interview of representative of Shiromani Akali Dal. This religious outfit is the newest entrant in the Great Indian Moral Police League. They are reportedly against forthcoming Akki flick – Singh is Kinng.

Mr S A D (no I don’t expressly term him as sad, I’m just saving many a mouse clicks to write the complete Shiromani Akali Dal) said onscreen he’s not against the depiction of Akki as a Sardar. S A D has a problem with Akki dancing and monkeying around a little too much in the promos – that’s not how the Sikhs behave! He also says that the Sikhs have been mocked at in the film.

My brain had to observe a minute’s silence after watching it; but guess it ain’t required here. A minute hence I realized I was abjectly against the S A D representative. As far as I remember, my Sikh friends used to tell me they look out for the slightest pretext to break into a jig. Singing and dancing has always been an integral part of all Indian communities, including Sikhs. The splendid Bhangda and Gidda dance forms are unknown to none; neither are their wonderful music and folk songs. Speaking technically, the movie has not released yet and there’s no way you would know what all things are represented in the film.

The program also hinted that a committee has been formed to preview the film and ascertain whether there’s anything objectionable about it. But the S A D rep said his outfit doesn’t recognize any committee except for Shiromani committee and that they gotta see it first and pass it. Also, if it’s released without their consent, they things will get out of hands and they will take to streets on this issue.

I don’t say the water has gone above the head – because I think it has happened a long back. I can’t even count on my fingers how many such instances have already happened where one or the other group springs up with such petty issues and disrupts daily lives. It ranges from a ban on M F Hussain from returning to India to protesting n number of films to burning posters and computers in public. I don’t have the answer to the question about Freedom of Speech and whether or not these actions fall in it (or out of). But a mob wielding swords out on the street against a fun film is sure no definition of freedom of speech or thought.

A lot of people, it seems, are mistaking going far with going ahead.

education - a leveller

I have learnt a lot of chapters of history but don’t remember having learnt a lesson from it. Today, however, is different. I think I have had a very strong glimpse of the fact that education is a leveler – it is one of the children of development that remove barriers between people and put them on an equal footing.

Raghu met me a couple of days back, and again yesterday with the request of teaching him English; and Dilip joined in. both of them are fulltime house elves (no intention of comparing their state with those in HP). They got pens and old diaries. What next? I asked them to sit down. J And I could not possibly teach them if they were sitting on the floor. So naturally I sat with them on the table. This would not have been a big thing – if it would have happened EVER BEFORE. This was the first time when I was sitting on the same table with 2 of our house servants and it came to me as a surprise how smoothly we came over on the same footing as soon as we tried to connect with each other through the bond of learning.

But I have to confess I don’t know how to teach them from the beginning. Guess I will have to seek help from Neha, one of my students, who teaches tiny tots at Fountainhead. Now again this idea hits me – Neha teaches at Fountainhead, Vardan Kabra’s school. He claims to be adopting the methods and techniques of highest standards. How smoothly, again, these techniques will be replicated to teach a couple of absolutely uneducated kids.

I will sign off with an adaptation of Plato’s thought – “You get every wisdom at a small effort of thoughts.”

the end of patronage

In the last 7 years of my stint with management reading, education and profession; I have always come across cases and situations where the quality is given utmost importance. IF one delivers quality, they say, the long-term prospects are sure to be very bright. The front page of today’s ToI covers Anil Ambani’s mopping up 8 trillion bucks is a testimony of that principle.

But the article on page 9 is shocking – in more than one ways. IITs, it reports, doesn’t have enough funds to pay the next month’s staff salaries! It refers to the same IITs that are around for more than half a decade and making us proud in all corners of world through its alumni, its innovations and through Asok. IITs have nurtured and churned out best of the intellectual property in the country. Its admissions test JEE is considered one of most competitive and challenging tests in the country alongside UPSC and CAT exams. But now it falls of greenbacks to pay its teachers, and it is as sick as it can get.

But why has this happened? And how to counter this problem?

The education of IIT students is highly subsidized and the government spends a he sum on educating each one of them. This is one of the reasons why their going abroad to ‘contribute’ to western world and their switching over to management side have been considered blasphemy. The cost incurred by IITs is budgetary allocation given from the government (read taxpayers’) funds. Some money would definitely be coming in from the alumni and from the industry projects and consulting work taken up by the IITs. But still not enough.

I don’t mind government shelling out more moneys to support IITs even though this money is going out of my pocket. Not doing this will be e bigger loss to the country, a bigger crime. But for how long can this model be sustained? The costs burden, I am sure, will keep mounting. And will further stain the budgets. While writing these pages, I peeped into some articles written by Pankaj Jalote of IIT-K and the very well-known P V Indiresan. Both are of the view that the cushy days of government support are over.

So what is the way out?
For one, why not increase the fees (taking cue from the principle of premium education)? On the first thought, if this is done, a lot of well-deserving brilliant brains will find be unable to pay such high fees and will be lost in the crowds. My recommendation is to ask the banks to lend them money. And the banks will be glad to do so realizing they are investing in very high quality assets. This is one of the ways IIM aspirants have managed all these years!

Another way out will be to increase the output of the IITs. As Jalote points out, the output in IITs is 1.2 B Tech students per year per faculty as against 2 in any elite US engineering college. It is again not rocket science to understand the economy of scale. And also not to confess that the capacity expansion requires a budgetary outlay – though this one will be more productive in the long run.

There’re many more recommendations thrown out here and there by the columnists with whom I can agree only halfheartedly. These include mandatory 1 year stint for IIT graduates in teaching/ at grassroots/ as trainees; a corporate adopting a certain number of students and bearing their cost; etc.
Whichever way is taken off this road-to-nowhere, it better be taken VERY soon.