Opinionated Earthling

2010-03-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

Chance!

2009-10-20T23:53:00.000-07:00

For years we have been waiting for a chance....a chance to prove ourself

A chance

· to show others what we are made of,

· to show that we are not just another average people

· we are those who can lead, who can create a difference

· who are one cut above the rest

· And now when this opportunity has come...

· We should grab it with both hands

· We may be slow out of our blocks in this race, but this is the time to race ahead

· This is the time to put every ounce of energy, every second, every minute into this

· And achieve what we have not done till now

· You might be not clear where you are heading, what will you get, what you will not

· It doesnt matter....coz you know you are moving ahead

· You are in a position better than you were!

· You have someone with you, as I have someone with me (You)

· Yes, we are together as we always were....look back and see

· What we did when we were together...look back and see

· Did you think we would have done that?

· We DID IT!

· ...then why are you scared now?

· This is our moment to reach glory...keep your ante up...the moment is imminent

· It is coming close, brace yourself coz you are as brave as you ever were

· Once more You roar and see how you will soar J

toofano ko chirke
manzilon ko cheen le

aashayein khile dil ki
ummedein hase dil ki
ab mushkil nahi kuch bhi, nahi kuch bhi

I Miss....

2009-10-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

(Since nobody reads this blog, I can make it now my diary)

I miss....

the time when I was with you
and the time when I could be with you when I wanted
the stroll in Janpath
double pizza in CSM
the first time I held your hand
bus journey to your place simply to see you a bit longer
and talk to you all the way back
coming to know about Momos from you
getting to know DU from you
getting to know so many firsts from you that I never told you
and even now realizing daily what more you sacrificed for me
your laugh over my silly jokes
and your cry over my tantrums
the simple companies we were in and could have lunch together
the concrete city that looked garden with you
late night telephone call conversations
and the calls where only "you speak" was the conversation till we fell asleep
the garden in the morning
and the coffee shop in the evening
the stroll in CP and the stay in RG
your pulling me for shopping
my insecurities over silly things
our success together and our failures
the monthly anniversaries
small fights that couldn't last even 3 hours
the preparation for something we thought was big
but its as small as its namesake animal
our celebrations on promotions and selections
the random bike rides
Pizza hut, Haldiram, Noida, GGN
weekend classes in delhi
the weired April-2009 where I was not thinking straight
where I wish I could go back again

and change all because of which I am missing YOU....thats one most important thing that I have learned now is that....to me the most precious one is YOU!

Missing You.

Did you know? today's news

2009-08-18T23:37:00.000-07:00

All right, I am down with viral (no its not Swine Flu)...and not gathering courage to do something other than read newspaper. Did I tell you that reading newspaper was my favourite past time during work. Now I read it barely once a week.

Oh, during work means currently I am not working. I have shifted my base to IIM Calcutta...yay! First term is in progress and mid-term results are out. Results were a mixed bag so not taling about them ;)

So, umm....what should I talk about? My closest friend says when I don’t have anything to say I read out newspaper :P. Following are some observations from today’s newspaper (The Financial Express) and I want your views:

· NREGA will invest in increasing broadband reach in rural areas. Apparently, the broadband lines will require Rs 40,000 Cr. so to cut down the costs, govt. came up with the idea of digging up for broadband along with Prime Minister Gram Sadk Yojna. The idea will also help in diverting Rs 14,000 Cr from Universal Service Obligation (USO), meant for rural telecom and broadband, that were lying unused. Credibility claim: World Bank that says every 10% growth in broadband leads to 1% GDP gowth.

o Did you know: 80% of population is rural with 70% of total population earning less than Rs. 20/day. Since broadband will be expanded in rural segment, who will be able to afford it? Secondly, no info is present as to in which county or across which countries this World Bank survey was conducted?

· Draught is looming in India, Bihar being only state witnessing flood last year and draught this year. Government probably doing the right thing by not borrowing.

o Did you know: But why despite so many of years of proposal, no water management policy is implemented? Why do we need to rely on rains so heavily?

· SRK claiming all the misbehaviour at Nevark airport and getting strong media attention in wake of not much news to compete with Swine Flu.

o Did you know: ‘My name is Khan’ is due release in some time. Is it yet another publicity stunt?

· Simpler mining laws are coming in order to boost investment there. Environment Minister Mr. Jairam Ramesh too indicated earlier that environmental norms will be relaxed. May be his earlier ministry (Power) have a role to play here.

o Did you know: The so called policy ‘CREP’ is for cement & mining industry is optional for large firms to follow. The policy is not NOT applicable to small firms. Add to this, though 95% production of cement (which also require mining in case you don’t know) is through large firms, Out of 400+ cement firms, 75% are small firms. So in all, there is a policy that is not applicable to 75% of industry and remaining 25% can follow it optionally! Talk about making these laws simpler!

I am resting my case here as of now as health not permitting. Mind you! All these points are in only first three pages of newspaper. Info is there, we need to analyse it!!

Not just ‘Breaking News’, destroying it completely!

2008-07-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

Finally, after a long time I am here again. This time I intend to be right on the point from line 1 (oops 2 I mean :P)

In between there have been lots of news items and loads of News channels to cover them, which makes me wonder if there is anything that is not coming on news channels these days... I therefore call upon the entire media industry (print, broadcast, radio, and other electronic media) to give me at least one valid reason why we need 24 hr news channel?

For the kind of ”news” and the content these news channel shows have, I have come to a conclusion that journalism in India these days is only about TRP and sales (in case of print media). Therefore, news channels are the last thing I can trust on anything. News reporters are dimwitted people who prompt many more to follow their footsteps. Everyone is so eager to give that first ‘breaking news’ that nobody bothers to verify it.

Sample some of the following and let me know if you agree with me or not:

Take the latest events – the trust vote – every news channels was showing stats of MPs in favor of govt., oppose to govt., not-decided. These stats are not different on different news channels. Some questions come to mind while watching all this

– How do they know these numbers?

– How are they updating the numbers? Sure, there were some announcements by parties regarding whom are they supporting, but still that doesn’t add up to what is shown on the TV!

– How do they know what is current rates to make an MP switch side or abstain from voting?

– Even if we accept that they have this information, why did not they report this matter to the Speaker or the President? Is this not ignoring the wrong despite knowing it?

The changing side of MPs for money is not merely a case of bribery, it is a lot more serious matter. These people and their families should be banned for life from entering politics and contesting in elections. If bribery charges are proved against political parties, media should also face corruption charges.

Arushi murder case – All news channels telecast comments from anyone without verification of facts. Why is it then only Noida Police is blamed for maligning the reputation of the little child?

I personally believe that at least India TV should be banned for its sheer stupidity, blatant violation of rules and regulations, and for maligning the reputation of people. Earlier it had all the harmless crap like marriage ceremony of owls, donkeys, birds etc. But, off late what it is doing is way too much to ignore – Sample some excerpts from their coverage on Arushi murder case –

Pointing to a GSM tower India TV journalists says -‘Yeh woh tower hai jo jaanta hai ki raat ko XYZ baje kisne kisko call kiya. Is tower ko sab pata hai’ huh!!!
Some random news claimed that Arushi’s mobile is found in broken state. The studio reporters bring stones of 4kg, 6kg, 10 kg etc. to demonstrate how much effort it takes to break a cell phone!!
When earlier reports in the case claimed some special ‘relationship’ between Arushi and Hemraj, India TV came out with and MMS of a girl stripping in front of a man and claimed that this video is of Arushi and Hemraj. It turned out that this was a fake video. Not only did this outrageous news-reporting have tarnish the image of a child who is dead, they made conditions worse for the girl who was recorded in that MMS.

Amir Khan’s dog-blog, AB Sr.’s random ramblings, nakhre of actresses – Isn’t such stuff supposed to be part of Entertainment News (E! News) on Zoom? What is it doing on Aaj Tak and Zee News! Even if some actor said something, why are you news guys acting as loud speakers for them?

Telecast and re-telecast of Copy-edit-Paste editions of standup comedians from all entertainment channels. Shekhar Suman hosting Poll Khol was decent, but what is Gajodhar sankat mein doing on a so called ‘national channel’?

Finally, news on Khali – completely useless. “The greatest warrior”, “the ultimate man”, “the greatest sportsman ever born in India” - are some of the lines quoted from these 24 hour news channels and their special coverage of Khali. Now which of these lines are true? & how on earth is it my concern what he eats?

Media becoming a circus cannot be accepted, especially when media claims to be speaker on behalf of public.

I don’t intend to merely point out a problem- I have a solution for it. I personally think that “24 hr news channel” is a totally useless concept. There is not so much news 24 X 7 to feed it. But I do believe that there are some talented and capable reporters in the media. And it will be more sensible to have 2-3 hours of news on the TV, which is collated, researched and verified by sensible reporters.

There is no point of having a joker blaring out of the idiot box – “Chain se sona hai to jaago”, post khatam hua, ab bhaago!

IIT absurdity

2008-06-13T23:25:00.000-07:00

First up, this blog is not about any lament on the IIT system, reservation etc. there are quite a few blogs for that. Nor am I calling these institutes absurd (being an alumnus I won’t, even if they turn out to be one ;)).

What follows is gist of a discussion I had with one or my flat mates about where the new IIT in Rajasthan should be!! (O yes, we are appointed by the Planning commission for this). The issue rose innocently from the mere fact that my dear IIT Kanpur is the mentor institute for IIT in Rajasthan and since the location of this IIT is not yet finalized (because of tussle between Raj. govt. and central govt. for location in Kota and Jaipur respectively) for the time being the classes for 120 students admitted to IIT Rajasthan will study in IIT Kanpur.

As it turned out, my flatee favors Kota as the location (I wonder if Ms. Vasundhara Raje has some role in his thoughts). Out of some random thoughts I supported Jaipur over Kota for the location. To be honest, I am not in favor of any new IITs solely due to shortage of capable professors. If there are professors, then I don’t have a problem (brand dilution is related to this, but I don’t wish to discuss that now). Ab Jaipur key diya to support to karma hi hai na so ab arguments suno.

According to him (my flatee), if there is a good academic institute like an IIT/IIM in a city, there is development of that state and city!! I was dumbstruck, so I asked “How?” He: such institute results in fame of that city. That results in development of city.

Me: “how?” (Again)

He: When you have good institutes in your city then children in that city are motivated to study in that institute, this result in development

Me: “how?” (Damn I was in Chlor-mint ad mode, har cheez par, ‘kaise?’)

He: These institutes ensure a uniform spread of institutes across the country. Why should institutes only be in Delhi and Mumbai? After sometime these cities will succumb to pressure of supporting the magnitude of migration that occurs to these cities.

Now, I felt I had to give up my comfy ‘how’ and had to get to some reasoning.

ME: Well, my dear, I don’t think having an institute in a city in any way supports its development. IIT/IIM as far as I know do not pay any tax to state government, so the amount of money that a private institute gives to a stat govt., which in turn might be used for ‘development’ is not contributed here.

Secondly, most of the students in IITs at least (haven’t been part of an IIM except in buying CAT forms so don’t know about them) are from cities that don’t have these institutes so how does motivation factor comes in?

Thirdly, assume that an institute results in growth of that city. Now for those who do not know this, IIT Karagpur is oldest of all IITs followed jointly by IIT Kanpur and IIT Bombay. My dear friend states that people know name of city Kharagpur only because of an IIT over there. I think I knew name of Kharagpur, long before I myself came to know about anything known as IITs, after all Kharagpur has longest railway platform in the world (haven’t you read that in GK book in school?, paanchvi pass ho ki nahi?) . Even if know about Kharagpur, it has not grown or ‘developed’. In fact, take the story of Kanpur, when IIT Kanpur was established, Kanpur city had a number of industries. And almost 50 years down the line, most of these industries have shutdown and only leather and ordnance factory have survived. So is it growth of Kanpur!! To this my flatee said that IT industries are not the only industry, even these industries are useful. Of course they are useful, but how can IIT Kanpur help in these industries, does it supply leather, workers, or capital to it?? My flatee probably never had been near a leather factory and thus I preferred not to enunciate pollution aspects of it.

I had one more issue at hand regarding the placements...better connectivity facilitates in college placements. Example, an air route in the city facilitates the placements and that’s the reason for better placements at IIT B, D and M as compared to IIT K, Kgp, G, R (which doesn’t mean they have bad placements). Case in point was management consultancy firm such as Oliver Wayman etc. that recently visited IIT B but not IIT K ! Those firms who visited earlier to institute, have not problem with connectivity, but increasing recruiters is a challenge. And couple this with other challenges in a new IIT such as in Kota will make this tougher.

Then, he came with the idea that mentor IITs should allow students of mentee institutes to sit in placements through them. This marked the beginning of the end of our conversation. According to me, why should the institute suffer in placement just because it is acting as a mentor? How can you compare an eight pointer among 120 students to an eight pointer in 520 students?

My concern was simply that if you help someone in building a house, you facilitate him in getting bricks and cement; you don’t give a portion of your own wall!!

I tried to reason him that even if we go by your arguments, the well connected city will be more conducive for development. If Kota gets the institute, a tier III institute might become a tier II. But if Jaipur gets it, tier II can become tier I and industrial development (tech industries) might route for Jaipur. This way if more such cities are provided, India as a whole can slowly shift from agricultural based economy to industrial based economy.

For some reasons unknown to me, it is not only true for my flatee but for many others that they accept former idea of upgrading Kota to Jaipur (a tier III city to a tier II city) but not to make a Mumbai out of Jaipur. Anyways, the discussion resulted in me being blamed as individualistic, elitist etc and we decided not to discuss this again. Further, the state govt. is a far bigger contributor to regional growth than an institute: is growth of Andhra Pradesh as hub for tech industry a result of Chandrababu Naidu's policies or because of ISB?

I don’t know what one will make out of these (absurdities?), but I welcome comments from anyone and everyone.

PS: We both have studied in Kota before so have the same level of understanding about the city. I am from IIT Kanpur, and my flatee from NIT Jaipur, and hence both claim to have ‘knowledge’ about this issue. Aise hi thode na hum log Planning commission k member hain :)

Yay! My Blog

2008-06-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

I am here with a blog, I am here with my opinions. You don't have to agree with me, but I assure you that it will be quicker and way easier.