Vicharaadheen

Shubh Deepawali :: Utilizing Ourselves

2011-10-24T22:30:00.001+05:30

(Image Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0CwNhelDqBo/SKXKf41Q4rI/AAAAAAAABRA/di6BCUnMJWw/s400/diya_small.jpg)

An earthen lamp can be used in many different ways. However, its life becomes meaningful only when it lights-up the area around itself.... when it burns itself.... when its desire to enlighten consumes it...

Working towards a goal which consumes us is the only way to live a meaningful life. How are we utilizing our life? Do we have an aim to consume us? How are we spending our time?

Let us pray that this Deepawali...

... everyone who needs a meaningful vision in life gets it....
... those who have the vision, get the courage to start walking on its path....
... few who are walking on the path, have enough faith and courage to continue on it...
.... those handful who have achieved it, have the humility to help others around them...

Bhopal Gas Leak: Twenty Five Years

2010-02-05T16:45:00.005+05:30

December 02, 2009 was observed as the twenty fifth anniversary of the Bhopal gas leak disaster – the worst industrial disaster in world history (1). Several media articles were published and protests carried out. Experts warned of the dangers still lurking in the factory premises and the government officials made some statements and carried out solidarity visits to the affected region.

The question that crops up is that why should the situation be still so tense twenty five years after the unfortunate incident? What has made it so difficult for everyone to forget this incident? There have been other horrible disasters in India claiming several more lives; however, those are rarely talked about in the same breath as Bhopal.

What is so different about Bhopal?

The Jantar Mantar in New Delhi is the showpiece of civil society campaigns, protests and dharnas. Almost every time one passes by the monument, one is able to see some or the other protest march, some groups staging a dharna etc. However, there is one group which seems to have a perpetual protest stall at the place. Nine times out of ten, one can observe Bhopal gas leak affected fellow citizens fasting and/or staging protest dharnas. So common is their presence that one may not be surprised if the unassuming layman considers their stall a permanent part of the place instead of a temporary protest base.

One is compelled to wonder as to why are these people still protesting after so many years of the unfortunate event. In fact, it would not seem naïve to believe that those genuinely affected may have long left for the heavenly abode while their survivors would have grown up and should now be moving forward in life instead of spending time in a never ending perpetual protest. Perhaps, this is exactly the opinion the Union environment Minister Shri Jairam Ramesh espoused when he recently made his infamous statement (2).

However, consider the fact that the health implications of the disaster led to severe crippling diseases including genetic defects (3) maiming generations permanently. Add to this the fact Union Carbide, the company which operated the unfortunate plant was let off with a monetary fine and the court cases have been dragging along thereby delaying, nay, denying justice. A recent report from CSE shows that the factory has still not been cleaned up and that is still polluting the region. In fact, twenty five years later, thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste is lying around and over time has seeped into the groundwater leading to another round of slow poisoning (4). Perhaps, these are some of the issues that the affected citizens are fighting for – their basic fundamental rights; rights which the constitution of the country guarantees to each citizen.

Given both the extent and length of this struggle, it would not be too farfetched to claim that the combination of the disaster and the handling of its aftermath have created a new social stratum – that of “Bhopal Gas Tragedy Victims”. The affected citizens would empathise with each other and their social bonds would have been strengthened through the years of tears and sorrow. The very fact that the struggle has spanned generations brings in an element of permanence in this stratification. This is a baffling realisation. While every civilised society would like to immediately correct the wrongdoings of such magnitude, the state in this case has completely failed to provide real substantive democracy to the affected citizens. In fact, the lack of legal justice even after so many years makes one wonder whether the procedural aspects of legal equality and legal rights of this group have been upheld at all.

Instead of actively addressing the issues at hand, one sees attempts to sweep them under the carpet – be it the statement by the minister (2) or the plan to construct a memorial in remembrance of the victims (5). Those in positions of responsibility intend to forget the issue while those who have been marginalised continue to struggle for their rights.

If one compares this struggle to other calamities of this magnitude, it is only natural disasters which come to light – Gujarat earthquake 2001, Orissa cyclone 1999. However, these were handled with utmost care and led to no social stratification. In fact, it would be hard to imagine the civil society even remembering these incidents a few years hence. The affected citizens in these cases were swiftly supported and helped to recover and get back to normal lives.
There is no question of justice in most natural calamities. There is a sole focus on relief and rehabilitation. On the other hand, the case of Bhopal had two dimensions – justice, and relief & corrective action. The state seems to have made some progress in providing relief and rehabilitation. However, the legal justice aspect is completely missing. In fact, it is a shame to the state that Union Carbide could not even be made to reveal the composition of the poisonous gas and it got away citing “trade secrets” (1).

The failure of the Indian democracy is unambiguously clear. The dream of substantive democracy and fraternity seems a mere pipedream when the state itself is unable to uphold the principles of legal equality and justice. The bigger fear is that the social fabric of the nation would continue to be torn by the creation newer social strata through such failures.
The solution is extremely easy to put in words – “the government should handle this better”. However, its implication and implementation is out of the scope of this write-up. That said, however, any feasible solution needs to essentially include speedy justice to all affected stakeholders. Unless that happens, this new social stratum would only get stronger with time.

Works Cited

Sinha, Indra. Bhopal: 25 years of poison. Guardian UK. [Online] December 03, 2009. [Cited: December 20, 2009.] http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/04/bhopal-25-years-indra-sinha.
Times of India. The toxic truth about a terrible tragedy. Times of India. [Online] December 04, 2009. [Cited: December 20, 2009.] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/The-toxic-truth-about-a-terrible-tragedy/articleshow/5298036.cms.
Bhopal Gas Tragedy. http://www.copperwiki.org/. [Online] http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php/Bhopal_Gas_Tragedy.
CSE India. Subterranean Leak. Down to Earth. [Online] December 01, 2009. [Cited: December 20, 2009.] http://www.downtoearth.org.in/cover.asp?foldername=20091215&filename=news&sid=22&sec_id=9.
Government to build memorial for Bhopal gas tragedy victims. Andhra News. [Online] September 13, 2009. [Cited: December 20, 2009.] http://www.andhranews.net/India/2009/September/13-Government-build-memorial-28195.asp.

Shubh Deepawali :: Enlightening Each Other

2009-10-16T21:49:00.005+05:30

[Image edited from: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/83/277115835_005ee4a967.jpg]

Shubh Deepawali :: Enlightening Each Other

Leaders are lamps... they not only enlighten the world around but also light other lamps...

However, leaders themselves need to keep their flame alive...
They need another leader as a constant companion...
Someone who can not only give a stable light source in the storms of life...
But a person who can re-ignite the flame inside them if it gets lost...
A fellow traveller who can continue to stably enlighten the world even if their own flame wavers...

Two leaders together can do a lot more than each individually...
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts...

This Deepawali, let us find the leaders around us and work together to enlighten the world...

IF.....

2008-12-24T10:34:00.000+05:30

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

- Rudyard Kipling

Thanks Anshul for sending this across...

(Source: http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_if.htm)

मार्ग दर्शक

2008-12-08T21:32:00.002+05:30

तू न पूछ रास्ते में काहे,
आए हैं इस तरह दो राहें ;

तू ही तो है राह जो दिखाए,
तू ही तो है अब जो यह बताये;

जाएँ तो किस दिशा में जाएँ...

- स्वदेस

Tears of hopelessness...

2008-11-27T10:21:00.003+05:30

I woke up today morning and was checking my email. A friend had sent a message "What is happening in Mumbai?". I did not fully understand it and replied in jest to him....

... Then I opened rediff.com and all hell broke loose inside me...

... I had thought that the days of gunmen roaming streets are over and bomb blasts were the norm -- my mind had always argued that making a bomb is easy and detecting is hard ... this time it was guns... scores of people with them ... and loads of ammunition ... roaming about on the streets ... those streets where so many like me roam around ... streets which were among my favourite places in Mumbai ... several policemen died... several insignificant people like me also perished ...

Bombs are scary enough ... but Guns? And 30-40 people carrying them? In the heart of the city? Is the Government sleeping? Are we going back in time? The ATS chief dead. Two senior cops dead. More than 100 officially dead.

Is the situation really so hopeless? The government may have no reason/incentive to act. But what about me? I need to save myself. But I do not know if I can do anything. I do not know what to do. Whom to approach. Where to start... Maybe this will be another time when I will just shed some tears which will dry up with time...

Shubh Deepawali :: Spreading Knowledge

2008-10-25T09:01:00.009+05:30

[Image Source :: http://karachi.metblogs.com/archives/images/2005/11/Diwali%20Lamp1.jpg]

Shubh Deepawali :: Spreading Knowledge

A Lamp is not just a source of light, it not only illuminates the world around but, in fact, has the ability to enlighten more Lamps...
There is only one Fire in the world... and only a Lamp can kindle it...

Leaders are like Lamps...
they enlighten and create more Leaders around themselves...
There is only one Knowledge in the world... and only a Leader (or Guru) can kindle it...

This Deepawali, let us pray that we enlighten ourselves to Lead the world towards Knowledge...

Q & A

2008-10-14T17:12:00.002+05:30

[Image Source: http://oygirl.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/question.jpg]

In life there are several questions which are unanswered... there are several answers which are unquestioned...

Is answering the questions and questioning the answers more important that living itself?

Decisions and Destinies...

2008-06-30T19:06:00.000+05:30

What is Destiny? Do you believe in it? ...
Do you believe in Luck? How are the two different? Or are they the same?...
What is Fate?...
...
...
...

These and similar questions have intrigued me for a long time... I have also had some discussions with people on these. It is really hard to argue out these things... at different points in life, we all have different opinions and views on these questions. My beliefs too have changed over time. I do not know if the have evolved or devolved but they have surely been moderated and directed by my personal experiences and perhaps, to some extent of those around me.

The only thing that we can control (if at all, that is) in all of this universe is ourselves. And nothing but we can control ourselves. And that is where it begins and ends. There is nothing less or more than this that we can control. The most we can do (and that is what a leader does) is to influence our surroundings. That is it. There is nothing more we can do... there is nothing less that we should strive to do...

Now once we realise this, it is clear that even though we do not have any control on the external factors around us, they do influence and affect us. And this destiny...

We may decide to do X but Y may happen due to factors beyond our control. We may have done a good job in controlling ourselves, but because X involves the external world to move in a certain way -- which does not materialise -- it leads to Y. Movement of external factors constitute our destiny...

We decide that A is what we want to do... and we are powerful enough (at that point in time) to impose it on others... and this becomes their destiny... So our decisions become others' destinies...

There are times in life when decisions and destinies do not seem to be going hand in hand... in fact, they may be conflicting... and if the decisions are big enough, it is here that the course of life gets altered...

It is the interaction of decisions and destinies that modulates our life...
However, it is our reactions to these that governs our life... It should be life that must go on... whatever goes on should not be called life...

Poorest Person in the World?

2007-11-19T22:25:00.000+05:30

Since the past few weeks the Indian media is abuzz with the list of the financially "richest" people in the world. The booming stock markets have a role to play in this as well... Details and breakup of their wealth has been published and a lot of space has been devoted to articles covering the news.

We all know who these people are (nothing against them, they have given a lot to the world), some of us may also remember the entire list and personal wealth of the top 100 "richest". Thousands (if not millions) of dollars are spent each year in counting and tracking their wealth.

Reading these again and again made me feel hollow inside. How many of us know the name of the poorest person in the world? Or for that matter how many of us even remember the number of poor people we have seen in our lifetime? I do not...

Why do poor people never occupy the news? Some say it is "disturbing"... some tend to ignore them... many others take advantage of them... and I just sit and feel bad about it all...

It reminds me of Gandhiji's Talisman which occupied the inside covers of all NCERT books in my school days. Maybe, some day I will be able to use it:

"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

- Mahatma Gandhi

Shubh Deepawali :: Illuminating the Path

2007-11-08T23:01:00.000+05:30

Shubh Deepawali
The festival of lights

A torch illuminates only a short distance along the path.
However, a simple torch, if kept burning, can guide one through the densest of forests in the darkest of nights...

Life is like a journey through dense darkness...
We need a guiding torch and the strength to keep it burning...
May this Deepawali illuminate us towards/on our path and guide us through the next year...

Shubh Deepawali

Surprise of a Lifetime!

2007-09-12T21:40:00.000+05:30

When does life take us by surprise? How often do we need to pinch ourselves to realise that whatever we are witnessing is for real? I had a similar surreal experience last Sunday (Sept. 9th) and it was all planned and executed by one of my closest friends (call him S). And inspite of the several clues (marked <>) being left all along, I was unable to spot what was coming my way...

The Sunday before this, S was visiting my city and asked me (and some other friends) to meet him for lunch. I was all for it since we had not met for many months. With everything planned, I played the last minute devil and wanted to ditch the meeting owing to some family occasion. However, to my surprise he rescheduled the whole meeting to my convenience. (<1>) Now this was sure different from what I expected since he keeps visiting my city on-and-off for work and we could have met some other time.

So, like a good boy S called me in the afternoon fixing the time and place. I asked him for directions, to which (<2> curiously enough) -- I heard some girly giggling in the background and he handed the phone to one of them who told me the way to the place.

I reached the place on time and waited for others to turn up. S came along (20 mins late as usual!). We had just started talking (M is me):

S: ... <usual stuff>
M: ... <usual stuff>

S: (After finishing his telephonic conversation with A -- another friend who was supposed to reach there) A is at XYZ place and should be here in 15 mins.
M: Fine. Aur suna... kya chal raha hai?
S: Let me go and check where A is...
M: [Thinking -- Why does he need to go out and check about A? He just talked to him. He has a phone. RF waves can travel through the glass of this restaurant and S knows that!] (<3>)

S walks out of the place. Goes and joins a bunch of girls outside (<4>). I have no clue what is going on. They maybe some cousins and/or cousins' friends or someone asking for directions... etc. In any case, I keep sitting while S talks to them... impatiently waiting.

(Inspite of all these clues, there was no way I could have guessed the sequence of events that unfolded next...)

In come all of them along with S. Okay, I think they are relatives and must be cousins. One of the girls walks up to me. I am not sure what to do and how to react. Then I see S come as well. I think he wants to introduce some cousin of his to me (<5>).

And then, I hear the most unexpected words from the most unexpected person -- S.

S: Meet my fiancee N
M:What???
S: Meet N -- my fiancee
M:What??? -- Is this a joke? S! Are you really serious?
(Among all this, one of the other girls is clicking pictures)
S: No. I am serious.
(I freeze -- half standing, half-sitting. Unbelievable! And Ouch! I am not dreaming!)
M: When did this happen? Let me broadcast this news.

I pick up my phone and call up U who tells me that he knows all about this for more than 10 days! And then I realise that I am the only one who had no inkling... and there were specific instructions (to the entire gang) not to let me know. I am dumbfounded! S -- of all people! And I am the only one who has no hint about it! Wow! I have mixed feelings -- elation for the enormity of the occasion... anger at having been kept in the dark... but sheer delight at the news...

We spent the next 1.5 hours talking (A and G joined us soon) -- I was freaked out and had no clue what had happened... things were still sinking into me...

While driving back home, I was reflecting on the events of the past 2 hours and I suddenly felt a hollow inside me... as if something had hit me... I felt an emotional impulse... as if a part of me had outgrown me...

I reached home and began to calm down... that night and the days that followed, I had a rush of memories about the years I had spent with S...
~ moments where we laughed together...
~ occasions where we worked like mad...
~ places when we argued and produced lots of heat...
~ times when our discussions illuminated us...
~ days when we had misunderstandings and fought...
~ the SUM times...
~ days, months and years which had just gone by...

This post is not about S and me... I can write a book on that... but about events and occasions which sweep you with them... events which touch your core... events which you will look back upon many summers from now and smile...

Dear S and N, Wishing you all the happiness and strength ahead... God Bless You...

"The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us."
--Ashley Montagu (Anthropologist, 1905-1999)

Academic Research in India

2007-04-12T10:40:00.001+05:30

~~Also available here~~

There has been a lot of discussion on the standards of technical academic research in the country and the fact that we do not have sufficient Ph.Ds coming out of colleges to propel the country into the next level of technical growth or maybe even sustain the current growth levels. Several reasons have been cited and discussed. I would focus on one major reason, which in my opinion, has led to low standards of research in even the best of the institutions in the country.

Most research that I have seen during my college days (at least in my area of research -- communications and signal processing) had been driven by problems defined/seen in research papers published in international journals/conferences. While technical language is the same across the world and the efforts being put to try and solve these problems in our institutions is high, there is a fundamental lack of understanding of these problems simply because we have never seen these systems work practically.

In my example, I was working on a wireless algorithm for base stations and I had never seen a base station in my life! When I raised this issue, it was belittled and disagreed upon. My point of contention is that engineering research is not just about solving mathematical problems and simulations. It is an iterative process involving three steps:

1. System modeling
2. Solving the mathematical problem and simulating
3. Applying the solution to the practical problem and verifying the solution.

Now, we are very good at the (2) but since we do not have a feel of the real system, we are not good at (1) and have no means of verifying the solution in most cases (3).

There could be two reasons for this:

1. Lack of any Indian technology companies involved in R&D activities.
2. Not looking at the right problems which are available around us.

Both of these are probably true. While (2) is another problem that the research institutions are dealing with (lack of research interest in local problems and developing local solutions), I want to bring forth (1) as an important reason for the falling research standards in the country.

Engineering research always thrives through an ecosystem involving both the academia and the industry. India has excellent academic institutions and some exceptional people in them. However, the lack of local R&D companies means a lack of good, real problems to work on which leads to people taking up problems from international journals and solving them with~~out~~ a fundamental lack of understanding. This is not only discouraging for good people to join these institutions, it also creates a hollow among graduates of these colleges since they have not worked on any real-life problems and solved them completely.

We need better Indian industry in the technology domain and we need them to interact closer with the academia.

Courage and Suffering

2007-03-10T20:13:00.000+05:30

Are courage and suffering synonymous? Does it require courage to suffer? Do brave and courageous people suffer?

I was reading one of Swami Vivekanand's lecture on Vedanta (Complete Works Vol. 3 -- Lectures from Colombo to Almora). He talks about the powers within us, the Advaita philosophy of tat tvam asi. During this, he says something like (I do not remember the exact words) ...we are brave, we are the One, the all-encompassing, the all-suffering... On one hand he says that we are The One and hence are not bound by anything, on the other hand he says that we are also the "all-suffering".

This post is not to debate the sanctity or validity of Advaita. The point in my mind is whether a courageous person needs to be all-suffering?

This is a very interesting point and something deep inside me totally agrees to this... suffering is not easy... one needs a lot of courage and determination to suffer and come out of it... Success always passes through the path of suffering in one form or the other... It does require humongous courage to endure suffering...

Thus bravery is not brashness, it is not arrogance... it is actually highlighted by the tenacity of an individual to endure the harshest... Each person has different ways of fighting... Everyone may not rise violently against it. In fact, violence may not be a possible option in most situations... but the fact the he/she maintains their balance through the thick of it all makes them brave and courageous...

Running away is another option.... but we all know that it is harder to endure suffering than to get out and run away... (Again the question arises, how to define limits to suffering before giving up? Or is there any limit at all? -- Will take this up some other time...)

It definitely requires courage to suffer....

"A champion should have both will and skill. But the will should be stronger than the skill"
- Mohammad Ali

Netaji

2007-02-24T23:05:00.000+05:30

Today I saw the movie Bose by Shyam Benegal. Even though I knew the outline of the story but seeing it being played in front of my eyes hit me. It made me realise the audacity and the courage of Netaji's plan. No matter how hard I try, I can never imagine someone making such a move. How can one leave his motherland to search for a way to free it militarily from outside!

Firstly, believing in such an idea and internalising it would require the clarity of a mirror and nerves of steel... Secondly, there will be so many questions, so much self-doubt that he would have fought with... I am dumb-founded that someone like him actually existed in my country...

Unimaginable courage... unthinkable sacrifice... out-of-the-world inspiration... My life unto him... my life unto him...

Lamps...

2007-02-03T12:26:00.000+05:30

Recently, I came across a very beautiful couplet in Hindi...

"Kisko rehte hain bure waqt ke saath yaad?
Subah hote hee chiragon ko bujha dete hain log..."

Who remembers companions of hard times? Every morning people extinguish the lamps...

-Mohit

Shubh Deepawali :: Light and Knowledge

2006-10-19T16:54:00.000+05:30

Shubh Deepawali

Gyanam Paramam Dhyeyam
(Gyan or Knowledge is the Supreme Goal)

Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya
(Take me from Darkness to Light)

Light has been widely used, both culturally and philosophically, to represent Gyan or Knowledge.

Light has attributes, Light from one source is different from the Light from another source.
Sunlight is different from Moonlight. Some sources of Light soothe us, some others make us uneasy and tense.
Moreover, the intensity of Light sources changes with time.

What about Knowledge? Does it also have attributes? Are there different kinds of Knowledge?
If yes, do different kinds of Knowledge have different effects on us?
Does the Knowledge coming out of different sources change with time?
If yes, then Knowledge cannot be the Truth since That is unchangeable.

It is these questions that I am trying to answer this time during the Festival of Lights...

Shubh Deepawali

Death: The absolute truth...

2006-08-21T12:33:00.000+05:30

A friend of mine sent me this link today morning: Cornell expresses condolences following student's death. It was hard to believe but was confirmed.

I last met him about 2 years ago when he was leaving the IITB campus. TLAVS (T. L. Aravind Vignesh Subramaniam) as he was affectionately called, was a gem of a person. He was so passionate about physics that he came to IITB to pursue Engineering Physics even though he had been selected for the MBBS programme at AIIMS.

He was a hostelmate and we had attended many courses and labs together. The IV semseter Digital Labs project was one time when I had worked closely with him. The cause of his death is still unknown. May his soul rest in peace.

We do not know when life may end but I do not want to believe it...

Death: The absolute truth...

-Mohit

Slavery and us...

2006-06-29T17:23:00.000+05:30

Sometimes I feel that all of us are becoming slaves to the western influence... and this is not something new... it has been there historically and is still existing today, albeit in a different form...
Moreover, I see it evolving with the times...

In the Medieval times (when the balance of the world started shifting westwards), we had physical slavery... with people being transported across the world as slaves...
Then came economic slavery through trading companies setup by European nations...
These trading companies started ruling and colonising the countries.... political slavery... European conquests all over the world... India lost its self-respect during that rule...
Next, there was a wave of independence movements and people threw away the shackles of politics that were binding them. This is referred to as Independence in the modern sense... "self-rule"
The greed of human power led to some sort of "military slavery" wherein, the world got divided into different blocks of military might and weaker nations had to align themselves with one of the blocks...
With the cold war ending, military slavery has also retracted back... Now, it is the era of Globalisation... another display of economic might...

Today, I feel that we (at least India) are fast moving into an era of "intellectual slavery" which is disguised in the form of us

working for multinational companies (anyone working at an MNC should be able to connect to what I mean... the kind of work that is repeatedly given to Indian teams and we happily take it under the impression of "learning from them"... the fact that it is they who drive the work and not us... that decisions are "communicated to you" rather than "taken with you")...
working on research problems that are defined by them... under the comfort of "economic viability"... (how many researchers here work on developing solutions based on the society's needs? how many technology products are even customised to Indian needs?)

It is also being coupled with a slow but sure movement towards "cultural slavery" (how else can you explain most shops celebrating Christmas with greater fanfare than Deepawali?)... all driven by economics...

Where is all this headed? I can only hope that we do not kill our self-respect, by blindly aping the west, this time too...

“The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. Freedom and slavery are mental states.”
-- Mahatma Gandhi

"I didn't know I was a slave until I found out I couldn't do the things I wanted"
-- Frederick Douglass

-Mohit

I believe so much... so much that I am ashamed of...

2006-06-19T17:09:00.000+05:30

"in cities, we all learn to ignore the poor people on the streets... to us "they kill the aesthetic beauty"... Little do we realise that through our ignorance we are killing them each day...

A confession from an Urban Indian Elite...

Confessions of an Urban Indian Elite

2006-06-19T13:15:00.000+05:30

I consider myself to be an "Urban Indian Elite". I have never lived in a village, I do not know what India means... yet I think I represent the country. Some confessions from inside my heart...

http://urbanindianelite.blogspot.com/

Ranganthittu

2006-05-30T16:07:00.000+05:30

Originally uploaded by huckym.

Dec. 31, 2005. Basking in the sun :-)

Made in !India

2006-03-13T18:00:00.000+05:30

Recently, I was travelling to Delhi from Bangalore. What I saw there, brought a wry smile to my face. At the airport lounge (the area where you need to wait for boarding after the security check) near Gate No. 2, there was a snack-shop. And EVERYTHING there was imported... i.e. Made in !India. I specifically asked the worker there whether they have any Indian products... and he simply said NO!!!

I had expected this but then reality and expectation are two different things. And we call ourselves progressive... we are moving towards development... Sigh!!!

-Mohit

Ignoring Myself...

2006-02-16T09:38:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, I was accompaying a friend who was buying some medicines at a local chemist shop. There was this small girl, not more than 10 yrs. old, standing there with a younger sibling of hers. She looked poor and in a bad state. She was giving a bag of clothes to the shopkeeper and wanted some money in return (I do not know what their deal was). The shopkeeper took the bag and asked her to come a couple of hours later for the money. She, however, stood there... did not want to move... perhaps she needed the money urgently... but what could the poor thing have done?

And me, I was standing, staring at the conversation shamelessly... fighting my own self whether I should intervene or not. It was just a question of Rs. 41/-. The shopkeeper was surely exploiting the situation... but "why should I intervene? What right do I have to intervene? Ignore it!"... the selfishness inside me was placating my heart with such questions... questions which I did not have an answer to... questions which ultimately won...

I do not know when will I be able to silence these questions... when will I be able to ignore my selfishness... when will I be able to intervene against the injustice which is happening all around me...
Do not know whether I lack the ability, the strength or the courage....

"After a few years of meditation practice we can even learn how to occasionally ignore ourselves. And what relief that can be!"
-- Wes Nisker

-Mohit

"Fine, Thank You"

2006-01-27T14:48:00.000+05:30

At times, I keep reflecting on our education system and the kind of skills/ideals it has imbibed in me. I am positive that this education system is a failure.

- It does not teach us how to lead our lives
- It does not teach us how to handle failure
- It does not teach us how to handle conflicts in principles
- It does not teach us how to face complex and mind-boggling situations
- It does not teach us that we need to be aware of the city/state/country and its problems
- ....
- It does not teach us that we need to stand up and contribute...

The list can go on and on... The only thing that this education system has perhaps given me is a way to earn by bread and butter. Of course, this is no mean achievement in today's times. But, at times I do feel that I am not fully prepared to face this world. The only thing I find solace in is the fact that learning is lifelong... The biggest fear, however, is that my learning on these issues will now be through experience, through making mistakes in this stage of life... which may prove to be too costly at times, and will be a very slow process...

The most startling example of the way rote learning is imbibed to us comes to me in the form of something I was taught in primary school. We were being taught different possible English constructs/questions that can be asked and were being given answers to all of them. One of them I remember... we were taught that the answer to "How are you?" should be "Fine, Thank You"... as if I should never answer anything else... For a very long time, I used to wonder whether this "Fine, Thank You" was a construct which was supposed to be an answer to this questions always. It was only as I grew up that I understood the fallacy...

"I never let schooling interfere with my education" -- Mark Twain

-Mohit

Remembering Netaji...

2006-01-25T15:40:00.001+05:30

Jan 23rd, 2006 was was Netaji's 109th birthday. This is an extract from what Varun sent me on that day...

A page from a letter to the Bengal Government from 'My Political Testament', written while at Presidency Jail, November, 1940. (Subhash Chandra Bose)

In this mortal world, everything perishes and will perish – but ideas, ideals and dreams do not. One individual may die for an idea. But that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself a thousand lives. That is how the wheel of evolution moves on and the ideas, ideals and dreams of one generation are bequeathed to the next. An idea has ever been fulfilled itself in this world through an ordeal of suffering and sacrifice.

What greater solace can there be than the feeling that one has lived and died for a principle? What higher satisfaction can a man posses than the knowledge that his spirit will beget kindred spirits to carry on his unfinished task, What better reward can a soul desire than the certainty that his message will be wafted over time and dates and over the broad plains to every corner of his land and across the seas to distant lands? What higher consummation can life attract than peaceful self-immolation at the altar of one's cause?

Hence it is evident that nobody can lose through suffering and sacrifice. If he does lose anything of the earth earthy, he will gain much more in return by becoming the heir.

For what Netaji couldnt do while living, he has created thousand more Bose through his inspiring ideals after his death.... SALUTATIONS....

-Mohit

"Subscribe To Common Sense"

2006-01-18T09:19:00.000+05:30

From an advertisement for Down To Earth by CSE India

"The US, responsible for a quarter of the world's CO2 emissions rejected the Kyoto Protocol in 2001 as it was perceived to be harmful to the US economy.

- The US suffered losses of over $4 billion in May 2003, due to Tornadoes.
- The US suffered losses of over $5 billion in May 2003, due to Hurricanes.
- The costliest wildfires on record in the US happened in California in 2003.
- Hurricanes Jeanne, Ivan, Frances and Charley costed the US over $45 billion in 2004.
- Hurricane Katrina hits US in 2005. Damages over $125 billion. And counting

Subscribe to Common Sense"

I don't have anything else to say...

[Repost] Long Time No See :-)

2005-12-29T13:48:00.000+05:30

Hi!

Long time no see :-) Whats kept me busy, well lots of things.

After the initial hiccups, I have kind of settled down in the job as well as in Bangalore. This is not that bad a city apart from the falling infrastructure.

I am right now observing things in the different parts of my life, learning and enriching myself. There are so many questions that have come up, so many unknown things that seem to be staring at me, so many fears... but I know that it is only a matter of time before these get sorted out.

Anyways, am thinking of writing something since long. Hopefully, this is the weekend ;-)

-Mohit

[Repost] Convocation Time :-)

2005-12-29T13:44:00.000+05:30

Sept. 16, 2005 was an amazing day in my life. We had our convocation and I was getting two medals. My parents had come to Mumbai too... it was an exhilarating experience. I was like a celebrity inside the hall for those three hours... I had never imagined that it would be so great... I was enjoying every moment of it...

There were old friends all around... we met, we talked, everyone was happy and excited. That day was some day in my life... probably one of the most important days for me... I catched up on many classmates and what they are doing these days and how their jobs are going etc...

Underlying the fun, there was also a sad feeling that this was probably my last trip to IIT Bombay for years, and that I may not meet many of my friends in the coming years... it hit me from within and I wanted to make use of the time to the fullest...

It was surely once in a lifetime moment....

-Mohit
P.S. Thanks Megha for the photo... :-)

Shifting to Blogger :-)

2005-12-29T12:18:00.000+05:30

Hi!

I love the interface and clean look that blogger.com has to offer. Thus, I am moving from blogdrive to blogger. I am moving my old posts to blogger.

My old blog: http://mohrahit.blogdrive.com

-Mohit