I'm back !!

After almost two years, I'm back. I have lots to share with you, and will, after all these two years have been an absolute roller-coaster !! ..

College life comes to a dawn

The end of an epoch....the end of a saga....a new beginning...what do I say? My college life comes to an end. I'm not exactly sad, for when the cold water of wisdom embellished by my college falls on the hot rocks of pleasent memories associated with these four prestigious years, the fumes are bound to mesmerize me for some time before they fade away, creating a vaccum which nothing else can ever fill !

These four years have fortunately witnessed more downs than ups, but I have enjoyed each moment. I made lots of friends while lost some, saw ups and downs in relationships, enjoyed the gush of maturity knocking out the child within , only to make me a fuller, more complete individual. What I have gathered from my experience is not how to do a thing...but how NOT to do it !, be it getting the bonafide certificate signed by the college clerks within a record 27 days or the bus pass in a matter of a few months ! but what I have really enjoyed doing here is spending time with my friends and realizing that a bunch of good friends is worth a treasure.

Today when I am writing this article, my mind is again and again going back in time, so let me set my clock to 16th July 2002. This was the day when I visited NSIT, my alma mater for the first time after clearing the entrance test. Happy was I, but not as much as my parents and younger brother, who had a great role in motivating me to this day. We happily attended the admission day and confirmed a seat in my preffered branch and college. This young school passout then waited for the session to open.

1st August 2002, the first day at college...after all !...it all starts when I enter the 0930 Manufacturing Processes lecture late by 10 minutes only to be seen by the lecturer with scornful eyes...and then meet my small new world...my friends! Also what was concomitant with the new session was Ragging !! ...So on the very first day we were warmly welcomed by our seniors...you would definately understand how 'WARM' the welcome would have been...infact anyone who has ever been or has even heard about engineering and medical college ragging will quite comfortably.

I still don't know how it all started but if you strain your memory a little, you will remember in those days, a movie 'Mere Yaar ki Shaadi hai ' and the sexy shamina shetty starred song 'Sharara Sharara' was a super hit.I must have told my seniors that I liked that song...and axed my own foot! For the next three months I was asked to dance everywhere I went...on sharara sharara...be it my classroom desks, the canteen tables, the library or the central workshop!.I won't say I didn't enjoy doing it ....it did yield instant popularity and a temporary ankur sahni 'dance' fan club...but at times it can be extremely embaressing...especially when you are wearing a full sleeve shirt with collar buttoned, plain trousers,black leather shoes with white laces, no belt or watch...in a nutshell looking a complete ullu !! (owl).

November 2002...First end sems!! what the helll...time evaporates....my celebrations weren't yet over that I got the first end sem date sheet...hell!...so I started slogging for the exams.Engineering first semester students have to undergo immense torture making stupid 'modern art' potraits, which some bright , disillusioned souls called professors call 'Engineering drawing'..and a year later even more dreadful 'Machine drawing'. Electronics, Computer people have it not so bad as compared to Mechanical guys who have it in every semester , but unfortuante if compared to IT, which has it only in the first sem. Each sheet can take as much as 10 hours to as little as 10 minutes...depending on whether you make it yourself, fool your professor by using the trick of trade called 'glass topo' or 10 mins if you ask a hosteller junior to make it for you. I was quite fortunate in being a dayscholar , as my hostel friends spent nights after nights first doing 'cabaret' for the seniors, providing them ample tax-free entertainment and thenmaking their sheets !.

From second to the fifth semester, time evaporated pretty much like petrol and even I was EXTREMELY CONSISTENT in my academic performane....exactly 65% in each sem regardless of how hard (or soft) I studied.!!!!! It was now that I realized what to do after engneering....MBA was cool as it gave me enough money, power, status for distributing 'gyaan'...and moreso because I enjoyed my technical subjects very much(I hope you get the message)....ab toh MBA hi karna hai!

So the next few months passed by preparing for this ruthless exam which cost me my consistency...as now the numbers were in descending order as much as my attendence, my time, real efforts and a cool 25,000 bucks!!

This line I am copying from a previous article of mine...four years of enginering can be daunting(or BORING) if you enjoy studying DSP,Microprocessors and Communication as much as I did and that too ...from world class faculty such as ours ..the result ... sub standard marks and you make it to the most sub standard business schools in the country!!

Now, everything is over...CAT, college classes,placements, everythng,but what remains is a project , eighth semester exams which will be easy to clear...and above all....the SEVENTH SEMESTER result.....first exam was one day before CAT and one the day after...so you can gauge my anxiety...especially because DU allows you to leave only one core subject in case you fail !!

So while attending a lovely farewell party organized by my lovely juniors at NSIT last evening, and also while dancing in the jam session thereafter, my mind kept meandering over these years of my life...a nostalgia fills the mind...but then life has to go on...the mother comfort will now hand us over to a new mother..the goddess of struggle, to create a space for ourselves ...an identity in this world. Some of us will be far ahead of the others, some of us will be far happier and satisfied than others( these two sets might not be identical), but we will make new friends for sure.

So...this was my experience...I would be glad if you pen your comments on the same.

Moribund "big city" life- numbers and compulsions

Writing a blog such as this requires a lot of brainstorming. Neither is this content social thass( for the un-inititaed, thass refers to verbal farts, doing which, knowingly or unknowingly , i have loitered four prestigious years of my college life) , nor something you and me haven't experienced. The irony remains what is most difficult to express is that which we experience each second of our lives.


Writing a blog requires one to be at the cynosure of an emotional maelstorm, for what we write is often best expressed when we feel it strongly,otherwise the content remains hollow.It's about half hour past midnight of the 16th of April 2006, and I have just returned from a hospital inaugration dinner party, which an influential doctor friend and collegue of dad acquired.Quite naturally, the party was flocked by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit(I saw her giving 'pravachan' this morning live on astha channel), who more than talking was alluding to opposition's ineffectiveness,some journalists,top medics and Nafisa Ali, a very sweet looking lady and former Miss India. But most important were the doctors along with their wives and children who constituted the chaff amongst the grain...i.e. the audience, struggling hard to get themselves a piece of chicken and kabab in the cramped space full of a thousand souls.

Most of these docs were 45-50 year olds with their children in the 18-23 bracket.My dad and I were standing among a group of his doc friends and the story begins.All we could hear was the IIT Entrance toughness level or difficult coaching for the AIIMS paper.Someone in our group happened to start yelling about the salary which his friend's cousin (god knows) earned after an IIT degree. God knows why is it that everyone in Delhi has a friend's cousin studying in or passed out of an IIT ? What began was a discussion of salaries and as a result comparision of colleges based on the salaries their alumni minted, quite comfortably munching springrolls and chicken tikkas.

This hurt me...and at a time when I am about to passout from a top engineering college(of course,, not an IIT)..and have been through the placement season...a rare phenomena in which everyone decides the dinner by looking at the most expensive item on its right column. Why do we gauge everything in terms of it's monetary value ? Has man degraded to such an extent that his thoughts, actions, motives, emotions, values are all money-centered ? I don't intend to say that money is not important...hell it is and lots of it...while we talk of an 8% GDP growth,booming markets, international lifestyle , malls , shopping, I still believe people sometime..say 20 years back used to be a much happier lot.Today what we do is often a result of what we feel other's will say. My aim will be to earn a little more than my neighbour, for it is not my happiness that satisfies me, but his suffering.Beating "him", him who we don't know, him who is our own weakness, him who we still envy ,him...who creates a feeling of competition... is our aim. So today I am unhappy taking home 50,000 if my best friend takes 50,100.

These are my final college days, let me go back a little....say a year .My percentage was just a percentage point below the college "Motorola" cutoff...hence I was deemed ineligible to apply to this company.Does a 69% holder imply mediocracy vis-a-vis a 70% guy? It was for this day that my best friend Ankit used to say.."Sahni padh le...varna placement nahi hogi"...and Sahni never listened. I used to fight for every mark and bargain as much as possible...though i never liked doing that.

Four years of a BE or a BTech degree can be daunting( rather BORing) if you like your graduation subjects as much as I did or you spent helluva time preparing for IIM's because your senior got a 10 lakh pa salary from there.The result!--> Pathetic academic performance and not made it to any business school !!


Coming back to this evening, as the discussion came to an end, I realized that it is not the salary that I take home or the car that I drive makes a difference, but what difference does my existence makes to the lives of those around me.Everyone earns a living , but if I can do something for those who don't, I'll find my self greatful to the almighty. I have seen and met IIMA passouts who left their topjobs , just to teach village children in bharuch(A small town in Gujarat) or to teach a bunch of farmers in Vidarbha how to save water for irrigation.

Today, when we talk about numbers and make comparisions, we must try to remember the face of the poorest and the most helpless person we have ever seen and now try to think how can my life make a difference to his? and the day we will be able to do that, the numbers will not matter any more.

I believe I have bored you enough ...and you are most welcome to pen your comments

Delhi Shop Sealings - Paving way for riots

The sealing of illegal commercial establishments across the length and breadth of Delhi by the MCD officals in wake of the order by the Supreme Court has witnessed mass criticism by the business commuity in Delhi. The step affects about 11 Lakh commercial establishments directly.Assuming a paltry 4 persons working per shop, leaving aside the bigger establishments,and assuming 3 out of these 4 persons are earning members of a family of only 4, the backlash will affect about half the population or about 75 lakh people.

For the non-delhiite reader, let me make clear that not even a stone brick can be moved in Dehi without greasing palms of the Municipal Corporation , MCD and the Delhi Police , leave aside setting up an establishment. The entire MCD and specially it's Junior Engineers, whose seal is required before carrying out any activity are the epitomes of corruption.

The bigger question here is that why has the Supreme Court waken up half a century after all this began.Historically, Delhi was flocked by people from Lahore, Islamabad ,Sindh,Multan etc. post independence. The goverment then provided them makeshift houses and slowly these peeople infused into Delhi Culture. The goverment then promised these people shops way back in seventies. Till now, however only 20percent of that number has been constructed, while the population has grown manifold. Naturally , this population had to earn a living and also needed things , which could only be brought by building new shops.Therefore, by bribing the local MCD and Police, they began encroching on the existing markets, like Lajpat Nagar, Karol Bagh,Sarojini Nagar,Sadar, Rajouri Garden etc.Soon business prospered and these people became rich.

So the Police ,MCD and other departments are at equal fault and should be equally punished.But why is it not done?.The sealing and demolitions which are being carried out are being done also in the context of creating space for the 2010 Common Wealth games in Delhi and the 2020 Master Plan. What use is the plan if half the population is jobless and frustrated ?Are these games so important that the Average Delhi 'Dukaandaar' should sacrifice himself and his family ? .

It is being whispered all over that the big builder and mall lobby has leveraged its political influence as the sealings and demolitions directly increase their business and create land for further construction activity.It is known that the SC decisions are not free from the political lobby.

What would be the outcome of this process? The shopkeepers , whose only source of income has been snatched away are on streets and are ready to do 'anything' if the goverment carries on, and are not averse to violence. OBviously, the situation in Delhi is explosive and a few days more, this will ultimately lead into full fledged riot situation.There is no other solution which the shopkeeper has.Even when the jhuggis are cleared, they are provided rehabitaion , not cruelly left to rot, but the dukaandaars are being provided NO such space.

The demand of the people is absolutely genuine and the goverment is playing havoc with its own existance.As such , 2006 is a dangerous year and Congress govt. can be pushed out of power , that is what the biggie astrologers have predicted.

History is a proof that people cannot be fooled all the time.People vote by their stomachs and wallets and not empty promises.If people are out of business, then what happens? Politicians in this 'democracy' will be out of power !1992 economic crises put George Bush Sr. ,who was more poppular than Ronald Regan out of power.Bill Clinton gt re-elected simply because the economy was doing well.In England, John Major lost the election for the same reason , while Tony Blair has been re-elected and then re-re elected because the economy is doing well.Helmut Kohl, the long lasting leader of Germany was gone because he made the fatal mistake of integrating East Germany with West Germany on equal footing.Unemployment shot up from less than 2 percent to 10 percent.Voters took out anger and government was put out of power.


Perhaps it's time politicians should stop playing political stunts of resigning from different positions and claiming widespread aww but fight for the interest of it's voters.Congress which came to power with the manifesto of supporting 'Aam aadmi', would be shown door by the Aam Admi.BJP is sitting back and enjoying the feast, though they were I believe better than Congress as atleast they supported the business community.But atleast in Delhi, which will go to the polls in two years, will observe Major Voter turnout and that too against the ruling party. You cannot sit and play with the lives of a crore people.

What is happening all across the country? MNC's are booking record profits, Dukaandaars are crying for help, Stock Markets are booming and Goverment happily claiming credit, reserveing more seats for the OBC's at a time 5 major stated are going to polls.Sometimes, this reminds me of the Asian Paints commercial, where Chhote Nawab stands proud for a useless kartab(stunt) and the 'Aam Junta' is impressed by the walls , which were not soiled even by the sand displaced from the feet of running horses!! Infact, I sometimes wonder, how is it prctically possible for anyone to survive here ?

It also reminds me of the serial Office Office, where Pankaj Kapoor, whos plays Mussadi Lall says the million dollar line " Kutton ke saath toh Maneka (Gandhi) Ji hain, hamare saath kaun hai ? " (Even dogs have Maneka Gandhi supporting them, who the hell is with us? )

Hum Honge Kamyab, Hum Honge Kamyab ek din!!

Mera Bharat Mahan

Political Compulsions behind the propsed quota

So why did Mr. Arjun Singh , the Minister of Human Resource play his trump card of reserving seats for the OBC's ? And that too, with perfect timing.For the uninitiated,the ageing honourable minister was recently advised to take rest..i.e retire from active politics by the Sonia Gandhi led Congress in one of the speeches by the PM, and it was almost sure that he was to be pushed up to the rank of a state governer , so that someone else could be handed over this sought after position.With out his knowledge, the Congress started "modernizing" the MHRD and taking control of the Sam Petroda led Knowledge Commission, for higher political motives.All this was being done to slowly displace Arjun Singh from his rank.

But Mr.Arjun Singh striked back and has aimed two birds with the same stone,this move serves as a two-edged sword. Firstly, it has given the Congress a solid vote bank , and therefore shut the mouths of those who wished to sideline him.Therefore now, if Congress asks him to step down , it will prove that it itself is against the bill passed by the MHRD, which would be fatal. At the same time it will face severe criticism by the student community. Today, the Election Commission has slapped a notice to the MHRD, asking why , at this time , when several states are about to go for elections has this rule been passed.

Mr.Singh had simply brushed aside media by stating that they were only implementing a constitutional rule and that on the order of the PM. He has since taken leave on account of poor health.

This is the most disgusting act which can be expected from a 75+ old man , who unwilling to forego his petty political ambitions and let the entire country suffer for him.He has shown no mercy for the meritorious students of this country and has very succesfully shown that when it come s to being unscruplous and immoral,the politician community has no equals. This is a national shame Mr.Arjun Singh...for we and the forthcoming generations shall pay out for your 'Political Ambitions'

Book Reviews

Around the world in eighty days: Jules Verne

49.5% Reservation in Central Universities

The decision of the MHRD to reserve additional 27% seats in all government aided central universities ,IITs,IIMs,DU,IIFT,Jamia and now AIIMS and all Medical schools over and above the already existing 22.5 % quota for SC/ST/OBC category students has created a wave of panic in the minds of the students across the length and breadth of the country.While some oppose it aggresively, others remain muted. This also reminds us of the backlash of the implementation of the Mandal Commision report way back in late eighties and also of the late goswami, who set himself on fire.

At a time when the economy is opening up, disseminating new vistas and opportunities for its stakeholders like never before, when exports are at an all time high, when the economy is booming at 8% , when Stock Markets are rallying crazily, this decision seems in direct conflict with the very idea of progress.

Progress, has always been a function of meritocracy. Bypassing merit in order to obtain a much desired seat in a premier institute, which can later fetch a plum job in a top MNC has been eyed by the politicians for a long time,the evidence being the Re-Mandalization of Education recently and the difficulty faced by these premier institutes to obtain greater autonomy on a beurocratic level.

While in a diverse country like ours ,reservation was initiaed with a serious intent to bring up the economically backward classes with the creamy 'upper' layers , it's actual implementation has always been tempered and it has now become a solid vote-gathering machine for any political party.Over the years it has been observed that no political party has ever dared to reduce the percentage of seats reserved or do anything against the minority quotas.

The basic purpose of reservation should have been to act as a special vehicle, which supported the disadvantaged to a level and a time , when they came at par with the so called 'creamy' layers of the Indian Society. While nothing significant was done fulfilling the socialist-ideals as promulgated then, this pseudo-gap between the upper and lower classes has widened in the last 55 years.

Now taking into account that quite comfortably,nothing extraordinary has been done in order to lift the economically disadvantaged , reservation is required in our country.Sarath Babu, who is paasing out of IIM Ahmedabd this year is an excellent example of meritocarcy.He used to sell idlis on the streets of Chennai before he got in to BITS Pilani, a premier engineering college and then IIM A. In a country of 110 crore people is it hard to find such 70 odd people(approximately the no. reserved seats in IIMA), who may not be a backward class socially, but meritorious, hard working while being economically backward.The answer is NO...only if reservation is done on the basis of meritocracy despite economic backwardness .

While the MHRD has reserved 49.5% seats , NO further increase in the number of seats has been done in Central Universities, AIIMS and medical schools and only a few have been increased in the IITs and the IIMs , the Congress led UPA government is fully advocating job reservation in private sector.

This is a clear cut conspiracy on the part of this government which wants to (a.) Gain total control over the premier institutes (b). Create additional jobs for this extra manpower from these institutions and therefore (c). Leverage the entire issue for playing vote bank politics in the name of backward classes.The doubts over the intent of this political regime,if any, linger away when the attitude of the Hon. Minster of HRD , Arjun Singh is noted. He is very cleverly avoiding all the media questions by brushing the matters under the carpet by giving indirect responses and giving credit to the parliament to have passed it and the PM having proposed this bill and himself only doing his 'duty'. Strangely , even BJP has not opposed this move as it cannot upset the serious vote bank , which will now get undue advantages. Anyone with little political understanding will understand what is happening.

What will be the possible outcomes? The IITs IIMs, AIIMS etc. which only could boast of being world class in India will start losing the reputation and the credibility they have built through the superior quality professional manpower they have supplied to the industry and society for the last few decades. This will lead to a loss of morale for the hard-working Indian student. A state which does not value meritocracy is bound to lose the intellectuals it does not value. A state without intellectuals is like a body without a soul. When the very incentive to outperform others is snatched away, it will naturally lead to mediocracy taking a lead role in nation building. The problem of brain drain will aggravate further, as if there were not many reasons for the best minds to flock to greener pastures before.

The coup d' grace will be delivered when the highly experienced faculty (20 years work experience)at the IITs and IIMs which, only for the passion of teaching works for a salary, which a student twenty five years younger and with nil work experience earns as his first salary , start leaving these institutes and the teaching profession per se. These professionals will be instantly absorbed by top MNCs, consulting firms in a matter of hours and this will result in a severe crunch of teaching staff at these institutes , which is a serious issue even now.The result will be hasty recruitment of second and third class faculty in order to keep the system moving.

What is indeed funny that only a few days earlier the PM ,aka Sardarji,had given the medical professionals across the contry a shot in the arm during one of his speeches and also talked elaborately of increasing the money spent on improving basic health services,he has gone bonkers and now he is happily putting sub-standard people for this purpose. Sardarji, who also professes equal opprtunities for all, to make India a technology superpower, a biotechnology hub is indeed a kathputli at the hands of a shrewd lady. Its a shame that such a bright academician is being put in his gutter politics.

Though saying outwardly that merit is not linked to people belonging to the reserved classes would be a mistake, but it has been generally observed that except a few bright candidates, most others in these categories are undeserving ones, many of whom hail from rich and some from politically well connected families as well. This I am writing from my personal experience.

To say that the IIT/IIM/AIIMS will now be out of reach would be totally wrong.Admission to these institutes has always been through strict merit and will continue to be and only those who study very hard to produce excellent grades in the competetive examinations will succeed today as well.Those general category students who now cry fou lover this issue claiming that it would be even more difficult for them to make it to these institutes is meaningless.While this move affects not only these institutions of national pride and a few thousand students associated to them, but also top universities like Jamia,Delhi University , etc.which are a mecca for more than a lakh students.

The purpose I repeat is not cutting down on the reserved category seats , but making sure that only deserving epeople like Sarath Babu get them and at the same time increaing capacity .

What must be done? The first answer is improve the level of education at the primary level and increasing the intake /capacity at all levels of education.When you make these students competitive enough to face the real exams, reservation would be unnecessary. This is can be done in more than one ways, the first choice being improvement of infrastructure at the primary and secondary school level through effective public private partnership and bringing in effective teaching staff at competitive salary. The motivation to work has to be created, otherwise all efforts shal go down the drain.The second option is to nationalize all schools across India, like the US , which is highly impractical as neither the goverment has the money nor the expertise in doing this. The third and a viable option again is reserving say 20% seats for economically disadvantaged in public schools, which has already been done in Delhi.

After all, in this part of the world, what matters is not what you are or what you have achieved or what you do, but what is your religion and where you are born.