Back to School...I

One long board exam leave and that was enough to rejuvenate (in fact bored to death) all of us. After the board exam saga we were all happy to have two months just for ourselves without anymore ‘go and study’, ’stop watching TV’, ‘no more fun’ and even more nagging by our parents to do a whole lot of other things for we had already made our parents promise us that our holidays will be our private affair which included getting up in the afternoon, lots and lots of movies and even more TV. Well we must appreciate the fact that our parents did keep up their promises and we being the ‘best of children’ used it to the best of our advantage. But hardly a month had passed by before we started dreading the days to come. This was partly because of the results that just loomed overhead but it was mainly because we really missed school, our fabulous teachers and our dear friends whom we could not meet for another one month. We felt so alien to holidays that our prayers were mainly that our school should reopen fast (rather than us getting good marks for our board exams). Life became so boring until the results came out after a lot of suspense but even then all that was in our mind was when would our school reopen and after what seemed like an eternal wait and after so much preparation to start a new future, the D-day did arrive……

That was one of those days when we got up early in the morning without our alarms waking us or our mothers screaming by our bedside and adopting ‘vile’ methods to wake us up. Even our parents were so amazed at our transformation but little did they know that we would never change for the better. Anyway we got up and dressed up to attend school but our minds were already at school just imagining as to how our friends would look as after all we had not seen each other for two months. That day we all reached school very early as we could not wait any longer. It was not a simple wish like good morning or just a regular hand-shake that met the rest of us but it was a social drama that prevailed as we could not resist hugging and kissing and there were some occasional shedding of tears. But what surprised us all (in fact annoyed us) was that we were not allowed to go upstairs and all of were so sick and tired waiting downstairs without meeting any of our teachers that we wanted to break the instructions given to us and just barge in. But that would mean breaking the rules on the very first day and we could never ever imagine doing that. So we waited and waited and at last we were called upstairs. We were totally surprised (stunned) to see that the entire stage was decorated with all our seniors standing there just to welcome us. Just the thought of all the students looking at us sent creeps down our spines. We were asked to stand under the shade of our ‘big tree’ (as we fondly call it). From there we were asked to walk towards the stage in pairs. We had already known of the change of power that had taken place in school and 11^th being the standard when fun and celebrations are at its peak we were a little nervous as to what was awaiting us. But little had we to think about it than we noticed small mementos kept on a table on the stage. The students who had received 90+ % in their board exams were asked to stand apart as they were called one by one and presented with the memento by none other than our former Principal. We ourselves lost track of the number of students who got above 90+ but we were very sure that the number did exceed thirty. But even students who missed out on 90 were not left behind and they were given due mention in the motivational and inspirational speech by our new Principal. Next we went to our room that was to be our home for the next one year. No sooner had we settled down than our respective class teachers came to class and made us even more comfortable. They started off advising us as to how to proceed on with studies and our life for the next two years and the years to come. We listened very attentively because they were life-lessons that were being given to us. All the teachers who came to class also entertained us with jokes and experiences that they had had.

For lunch, all the friends regrouped and had what is commonly known as ‘round table conference’ lunch amongst all of us where we arranged a set of tables horizontally with chairs on either side so that it seemed to be a ‘family lunch’ together. That was the time we gossiped and had a huge lot of fun with solo performances like songs, dances, speeches and even comedy skits by our friends that it did seem like sitting in a restaurant. As usual we finished our lunch just as the bell rang and we started settling down in our own places. Just then there was an announcement for the entire 11^th standard students to go down to the Hall. We went there thinking that our new Principal was about to talk to us but we soon found out that something the reverse of this was exactly going to happen. Our dear seniors had organized a Fresher’s Day just to welcome us. The Hall was beautifully decorated with blue and white drapes that we could not recognize our Hall for a moment. Chairs had been neatly organized and after we had occupied them, we were asked to tighten our seat belts as we were about to have a ‘roller-coaster ride’ to put it in the words of a senior. After the funniest welcome speech we have ever heard, we had the opportunity to see our seniors shake a leg and hum to a very melodious tune. We were overwhelmed to see such scintillating performances dedicated just for us. The time arrived and the seniors got on with their job- ‘ragging’ as they put it just to frighten us. Well it had been a sort of game in which we were asked to introduce ourselves and according to our talents we had to do anything. It was a choice that had been provided to us and we could choose as to what we wanted to do. After an hour’s fun without teachers overlooking as to what we were up to we decided to have even more fun. We put on the music to the maximum volume and all of us started dancing on what we called the ‘dance floor’. The teachers finally barged in and asked us to wind up the show as the music was disturbing the other classes and we like ‘obedient’ children listened to them and went quietly back to our classes but not before thanking our seniors for this party they threw up for us and also thanking our Principal for having thought of such a warm welcome for all of us.

After a day’s fun and frolic it was time for us to leave for our homes and we despised doing that after having all the fun in the world. We also expressed our gratitude to our teachers who made sure that we fitted into the school perfectly even after being separated from it for so long. It was one of those very few days that will be perfectly inscribed in our hearts forever with even the minutest of things having so much meaning and warmth in it. It seemed as if the very pillars of our school shone with so much brightness and welcomed us to this all new beautiful world.

Post published on behalf of all my friends

Urban Sunset

Up close and personal with the sun anybody?


Isn't it beautiful?


This is what is known as the rays spreading far and wide


Stare at the sun and you will think that it is a lamp shade.


On its way.....................


..................to make way for the moon.


Time for the NIGHT BIRDS to come out into the moonlight, i meant their sunshine

NEW YORK?

My first thought on seeing this- Have i landed myself in New York or am i really in Mumbai!!!

Copyrights reserved to only one person in this world and that obviously is me. The location described here is a non-fiction. So believe your eyes

Kudos to TECHNOLOGY

A very common condition these days is the ‘C-Shock’ or popularly known as the ‘Culture Shock’. Not to worry any more. Students from the University of United Kingdom have introduced a software that enables a fresher to participate fully in the humdrum of their universities without facing what is called the C-shock. The main reason for its launching was to prevent C-shock among students which might lead to dropouts from universities which further leads to disastrous consequences. Well, it is simple enough. Once a student gets access to this then there is no way for stress. One needs to just click on the various places in the map in order to know more about the place starting from rules and regulations and dress code to public relations. But the wait is a bit longer because this software is only in the development stage.This means that in ten years or so C-shock will become a thing of the past and we owe it all to technology.

Nowadays there is a huge rise in the amount of people who get employed as game testers. Their basic job is to play games and detect bugs (don’t worry it is not insects but an error in the programming that prevents the game from performing as intended. Once the bug is detected it is then sent to the bug database where the manufacturer repairs them and the bug database becomes 0 which in fact means that the program is free of bugs. Then the program is sent to companies to prepare CDs and then finally to the market for the consumers. Playing video games is something that is in fashion today. Be it a 3 year old or a 30, video games have caught the imagination of millions of people all over the world what with the X-box taking command now. It is not always that a hobby metamorphosis to a job and that too a job with a fat salary. Just play a game, detect a bug and you can become a game tester yourself and so the next time you see a bug crawling make sure you report it and you will find yourself in the job of your dreams

So who doesn’t want such a fun job? Youngsters take this up as a profession. So it clearly has become a career alternative. Social networking via mobiles has become an added advantage. Voice SMSs are also taking over rapidly. Now voice SMSs can be sent to land line numbers too. So if you want to send something then just have your say and send it. What you have to do is just say your message and then send. The recipient also receives the message in the voice format and he has to just listen to it. One of the main stigmas attached with voice SMS is that it is a bit costly. There is no need to be concerned. It costs just Re1 . each for sending, forwarding and replying to a voice SMS. The main advantage of a voice SMS is that it is a non-disturbing medium unlike calls. Moreover when it comes to text messages language can be a barrier but when it comes to voice SMS there is no barrier whatsoever. But at the same time there can be disadvantages too. You will not be able to retrieve the SMS without being charged again and it can be read or heard only once. Even then this is the best way to send messages for all the lazy couches out there who do not want to sit and type a message out (count me in for sure!!!). What a way to send messages!!!

This is the age when people are termed workaholics (though they wish they weren’t) just for the simple reason that they spent about 100 hrs a week in their office. Well then where is the time to catch up on some fun and mainly their hobbies and passions and that too on a device that has become a necessity for everybody (the mobiles)? Another way out. There are many companies that provide options allowing you to stay in touch with your passions which will cost you 3 Rs. to the maximum. SMS Gupshup is one such company that allows you to get instant updates on your mobile phones. So following your passion even in those busy days is not far away and what better medium than technology for it!

Computers and Employment

In this age of machinery it is indeed right to say that computers have taken over the world. Or in better words, life would come to a standstill without computers. In all fields of life people have resorted to computers to get their work done easily and effectively. Be it in the field of banking or in the business world or in the fashion world computers have overcome man’s brain though it is true that computers are the result of man’s work. But in the 21^st century and in the centuries to come this truth is bound to get reversed and the next probability is that computers will start controlling human brain.

Though generally computers are used for good purposes there is always the dark and evil side of each and everything. Computers are now being used for all the wrong reasons. Starting from the breaking of cyber laws and receiving emails that threaten somebody’s life. The ill effect was brought into the limelight by the email threat that the Indian President received. Breaking of cyber laws has now become a common thing as even children aged five know how to hack a system’s database (don’t worry I’ve haven’t learnt this art yet). Recently there has been an upsurge in this and this has resulted in many companies taking effective measures and to prevent ‘flame’. Now this has also grabbed the media attention as the First Ladies of many European countries have volunteered and have been made the brand ambassadors to prevent this.

Though computers have many ill-effects they are still considered to be the greatest achievement by humans and they in turn provide many opportunities to many people. Computers are now building up the nation’s economy by getting more and more people employed. As everybody knows, software companies are providing many opportunities to unemployed youth. Companies like Infosys and Wipro have started large scale recruitment of youth. They not only provide these people with job but also give them ‘fat salaries’. Unemployed youth have now started learning many computer programs like Java, C++ and Adobe for they are sure that these will help them land in jobs that are selling like hot-cakes.

Not only software companies offer such opportunities but even the hardware department is not far behind. Companies like Patni and Cognizant are setting up recruitment camps all over the country in order to recruit professionally qualified people and thus build up their own profits.

It is not only the computer companies who recruit people and provide opportunities. A look at the internet shows millions of jobs which need people. Websites like naukri.com and monsterjobs.com have stepped up their campaign and it has certainly become true that a job is just a click away. All one has to do is just upload his resume and just click and Walla!!! your job is not far away.

In overpopulated countries, computers have become a boon rather than a bane. In these countries there are more people who are in search of employment and what better ways than through the computer? You need not toil hard and wait in long queues for your turn. The computer has provided the easiest way of acquiring a job. The ever-expanding economy is providing more opportunities and so even the world of computers is enlarging providing more and more people with a secure job in their hands.

Yoga only for the US?

“I’ve developed this style and it is my intellectual property right”, a quote that will probably go down in the history books of yoga. Believe it or not this is what yogis in the US are saying to defend their action of patenting the century-long Indian tradition. According to the information from the US Patent Office, there have been about 150 yoga-related copyrights. In addition to that patents have been awarded for 135 yoga accessories and there are 2315 yoga trademarks alone in the US. Not only US but even countries like China, Russia, Germany and the list goes on beyond expectations. Vikram Choudhary, a yogi in the US, has himself patented 26 yogic postures. An US patent has been given for a special mat for yoga and also for a special chair enabling the user to do yoga even when he is sitting idly. Well these are the statistics with which nobody can relate to not even me. But a careful look at these stats will make the situation clearer.

There has been this sudden uproar now against the US awarding patents to traditional Indian culture. Let us see what India’s response to this is. Many MP’s have broken the party line (or the lakshmanrekha) and have expressed their dissent to this. Naveen Jindal, Congress MP, and V.K. Malhotra, Senior BJP leader, are some of the many who have expressed their sorrow of how the Indian culture is slipping away from the Indians. They, as usual, promise that the government would take the correct decision and also give a proper response to the US. Well the government has decided to establish a task-force to look into this matter. The task-force will catalogue traditional knowledge. So far is the story from the government’s side.

What about the Indian yogis? They see this move as a way to earn money. In fact we cannot put aside that point too. The US government earns around $3 billion every year from this yoga industry. Now everybody considers yoga as a perspective way of making money. The Indian yogis have been utterly disappointed by this move of NRI yogis. “Books can have copyrights but not postures”, says one Indian yogi. The origin of yoga is from Sanskrit which, as everybody knows, is a language connected to India. They say that when the origin of yoga belongs to India then what right do others have to patent it.

This is one such incident of many others where India has lost her traditional wisdom to many nemeses. In 1995, the University of Mississippi acquired a patent for turmeric powder but it was later revoked in 1997. In 1997, Rice Tec Inc. acquired a patent for Basmati rice. They sold aromatic rice as Basmati. Then there was the Darjeeling tea. Kenyan and Lankan tea were being sold as Darjeeling tea and in order to stop this malpractice The Tea Board of India finally patented it.

With such a history it is no surprise that yoga is next in line. As always, we are late to realise what is happening to Indian culture and when we do realise it seems like crying over spilt milk.

Painting with a Pain

Should artists curtail their liberal imagination? This is the question now being posed everywhere. The most recent arrest of Chandra Mohan, an arts student, has made people realize the restrictions of the so-called “freedom of expression” which an Indian is entitled to. So even with the constitution providing for such a freedom then what is with the moral police to stick their noses into something that they don’t understand (in fact not many people can understand ART including me) and creating this nation-wide controversy on how unlimited the freedom of art is. Well there are many things (besides art in itself) that I still can’t seem to understand.

Firstly, what is the parameter to every freedom that we enjoy? And who sets these parameters? Well if you are talking about the government setting it then everyone is better off with no such parameters. This is because everyone knows the after effect of setting such a parameter. The next day the opposition party calls for a nationwide strike and again the news channels get an opportunity to sit and discuss the drawbacks of such things.Another controversy!!! What about the Indian bureaucrats?Do they have what it takes to set these parameters? Well thinking of it I don’t think so. So then why all these far-fetched questions? Because somebody has to set the parameters for such a country like India where such parameters not explained might lead to many innocents having to spend many nights in jail. So thinking in this perspective one has to find a suitable yardstick that can set such parameters. So what I don’t understand is why cant each one set a parameter for himself. Who can be the better judge of oneself than that person himself? So it is better off that each and everyone sets parameters for himself.

Secondly, the Vadodara incident actually happened at an exhibition at the Maharaja Sayaji Rao University when the paintings were all kept for internal assessment. So how come the BJP activists were allowed to enter the campus? Isn’t there something known as security? Internal assessment is equivalent of an examination and if strangers are allowed to disturb the conduct of examinations then what use is there of conducting such examinations? The real issue that the BJP activists had was that the so-called painting was “obscene and offensive”. But the real issue that I want to point to is how come there was no security for the students and that too when an exam was being conducted. The more pathetic thing that was what followed this uninvited-entry. The student was put behind bars and had to face the brunt of the moral police. This student was imprisoned for 5 days before being let off on bail. Then there is the poor Dean of the Fine Arts Faculty, Shivaji Panikkar, who has been suspended for rendering his support to his student. What was the mistake that these two committed? Was it such a horrendous crime? These people have done their job of painting and supporting respectively and together with it have also paid a huge price. Many have stated this attack as “pre-planned”. But whatever I can see is that the two people have been made the ‘scapegoats’ for such a politicized drama.

This is one of the many incidents of art being subjected to such mistreatments. There is the long pending case of M.F.Hussain for depicting Hindu gods and goddesses in an offensive manner. If it is about obscenity somebody is talking about then what is the future of many monuments where women have been sculpted in a so-called obscene manner. So offensive and obscenity are words to be used depending on an individual. What might appear as offensive to somebody might be pleasing to another and in a country like India that is truly the case.

So what is happening all over the country right now? Protests everywhere and that too all the artists have joined together and put up a common front. Even activists like Arundathi Roy have taken this opportunity to express her views on freedom to artists. In fact it seems as if the whole of India is out there to lend a helping hand to the artist. The protests are not being confined to Vadodara alone and it has spread its wings over Delhi too and how can I forget the numerous television channels waiting for such a controversy to break open in order for them to start a debate of their own and even a nationwide poll with a very obvious result. The protesters are demanding a full probe ( thankfully not a CBI probe as if the CBI has got no other job to do) into this matter. They are also demanding the cancellation of the suspension order against the Dean on the pretext that it was his job to defend his student.

Though this incident has sparked off many protests it is time we think about what it has brought into the limelight. This incident has made people realise how “unabridged freedom” (or is it abridged) that one enjoys might lead to dangerous consequences. This has made people realise that even the biggest democracy in the world is home to such idle acts of terrorism. It has made people realise that India is still a country where the society around you is as important as you are which means that the feelings and the so-called religious sentiments of others have a great role to play in one’s own life. It has made everyone understand that it is better when the parameters have already been established by the society than it being established later on which might be like adding more spice to the already existing protest. The mistake has already been made and now (me being an optimist) I don’t see even a faint light of it being “really solved”.

Now for the future course of action. I would like to ask what future course? As I mentioned its not advisable to restrict one’s freedom now as people have known what it means to have such freedom. But, as usual, one can expect the government to take such a step. The only future course of action that I believe in would be when each one takes that step to change for the better. Here changing doesn’t mean restricting oneself but it means that one should know the limitations of what is possible in a conservative (though it is self-proclaimed to be rational) country like India. Well what is the best way to end this rather nationalistic content than by saying Jai Hind!!!