Was reading outlook survey on educational institutes in country and once again4. my Alma Mater IIT KGP topped the list. In the comments section to same article there were some very perceptive comments from one reader
1. Free undergrad courses from control of politicians and bureaucrats and let professional bodies regualte them. This will result in more capacity building and reservations will lose the shine. Take for example engineering. During agitation against OBC reservation medical students were in forefront not the engineering the reason being there so much capacity in engineering education in country today that there are not enough candidates to fill all seats.
2. Another good suggestion was allowing students to transfer from one college to other after every semester with credit and grades. This will create a completion between colleges and students will have option to move to greener postures something which happens uin first week of our term when we are allowed to change subject based on our perception of teacher and course. Each college may be allowed a change of +-20% and thus good colleges charging moderate fee will be in high demand and bad colleges will steadily loose students. Technical universities established in every state will come handy in these
3. Industries should let their middle level managers go to academia to learn new things and similarly accept faculty for part time jobs or sabbatical so that they understand industry in a better way. A concurrent move could be to create a voluntary national database of faculty and industry professionals in which everyone - industry and colleges can dip in and actually bid/auction high performers creating a true market for talent & skills. This might even attract NRI faculties and bring transparency in salaries paid by college to their employees
4. And lastly not all undergrads should be forced to do projects anyways mostly what undergrad do in industry has very rmeote relation with what they learn in colleges and by putting unnecessary burden during undergrad we burn out many potential students. We are not able to get many colleges running up due to anachronistic requirement of facilities which are needed actually for PG research only. Further for clerical level jobs in government requirement of graduation can be done away with to further reduce pressure on out science/arts colleges so that they can be actually converted into research centers.Undergrad students could be allowed to take course instead of projects rather than copying or buying projects from commercial supplier. this will also insure better focus of facilities and faculty time also.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Comapring Taslima & Maqbool FIda Hussain !!
When talking about nude painting of Hindu goddess by Maqbool one often hears argument that there are temple carvings depicting same.
This argument about eroticism in Indian art is overblown. A majority of modern middle/upper middle class Hindus have grown up without seeing all this supposed eroticism in Hindu temples. They see images of the divine in different forms- Krishna, Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesha etc, and none of them explicitly sexual. So the equation of Hindu temple art with eroticism means nothing. Secondly, there's the whole question of the spirit- not the content- in which the paintings are made. Many Indians feel that Hussain is being irreverant and insulting, rather than respectful or simply artistic. The original creators of those erotic images were cetainly not being provocative or insulting, nor hankering after attention. Erotic images in Hindu temples constitute a small minority of the total number of images, not more than 10%, perhaps as little as 5%. Most of the depictions are non-sexual, or of floral and geometric designs. Ancient Hindu temples are not the sculptural equivalent of "Penthouse" and "Hustler" magazines
There is a huge differenc between taslima & hussain. taslima never hurt the sentiments of muslims. she just pointed out the attrocities commited against the muslim women in the name of islam.
as far as hussain is concerned, this pervert painted something which not only hurts our sentiments but insults our religion too. we do not have any problems of him painting saraswati in the nude. hinduism is far open when it comes to nudity.
problem is with his two other paintings. in one he has shown hanuman having sex with sita & saraswati having sex with ganesha. now this has never happened as far hindu scriptures are concerned. if he would have just painted a monkey & elephant having sex with a lady this would have been fine. but he wanted to make his pervert intentions very clear by putting names under each charactor. this is purely offensive and also accepted by the court.
now he has fled india and hiding in an islamic country. this makes him a fugitive, at par with people like dawood ibrahim. if he thinks that he is innocent, then he should come back to india and face the court. he should explain the motives behind his gruesome paintings.
the "secular" congress govt at the centre can easily give him full security. it is rubbish to say that he is on the run because of the threats from VHP. is VHP bigger than the govt of india?.
fact is, hussain knows that he has commited a crime which will be proved in the court. this is only reason he is hiding in dubai.
lastly, he is facing charges NOT because his painting of saraswati but the two paintings of ganesha having sex with saraswati & hanuman having sex with sita.
all those so called "intellectuals" should allow the release of muhammad cartoons and da vinci code in india if they are really concerned about ar
"Look ate the temple sculpture......"
Temples were built by the believers with devotion and they are for worship and Hussain paintings and others by the secular scoundrals are done with derision and contempt. I do not equate sandolwood paste and shit because they are both yellow in colour
Art critic Gayatri Sinha- "The tradition of painting goddesses in the nude has been part of Indian culture for thousands of years. Many more 'explicit' paintings of Hindu goddesses exist, and they are regarded as holy".
For thousands of years women in India used to roam freely in their birthday suits and nobody minded their lack of dress sense, particularly the men who themselves had no need for even fig leaves. But, today if any woman dares to wear revealing dresses, she runs the risk of getting raped even in crowded trains. Hussain, by all appearances, looks like a cave man of yore, and he should have remained in his cave instead of trying to become a modern artist. The argument by the so called art critic is puerile and is only fit for a school debate
This argument about eroticism in Indian art is overblown. A majority of modern middle/upper middle class Hindus have grown up without seeing all this supposed eroticism in Hindu temples. They see images of the divine in different forms- Krishna, Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesha etc, and none of them explicitly sexual. So the equation of Hindu temple art with eroticism means nothing. Secondly, there's the whole question of the spirit- not the content- in which the paintings are made. Many Indians feel that Hussain is being irreverant and insulting, rather than respectful or simply artistic. The original creators of those erotic images were cetainly not being provocative or insulting, nor hankering after attention. Erotic images in Hindu temples constitute a small minority of the total number of images, not more than 10%, perhaps as little as 5%. Most of the depictions are non-sexual, or of floral and geometric designs. Ancient Hindu temples are not the sculptural equivalent of "Penthouse" and "Hustler" magazines
There is a huge differenc between taslima & hussain. taslima never hurt the sentiments of muslims. she just pointed out the attrocities commited against the muslim women in the name of islam.
as far as hussain is concerned, this pervert painted something which not only hurts our sentiments but insults our religion too. we do not have any problems of him painting saraswati in the nude. hinduism is far open when it comes to nudity.
problem is with his two other paintings. in one he has shown hanuman having sex with sita & saraswati having sex with ganesha. now this has never happened as far hindu scriptures are concerned. if he would have just painted a monkey & elephant having sex with a lady this would have been fine. but he wanted to make his pervert intentions very clear by putting names under each charactor. this is purely offensive and also accepted by the court.
now he has fled india and hiding in an islamic country. this makes him a fugitive, at par with people like dawood ibrahim. if he thinks that he is innocent, then he should come back to india and face the court. he should explain the motives behind his gruesome paintings.
the "secular" congress govt at the centre can easily give him full security. it is rubbish to say that he is on the run because of the threats from VHP. is VHP bigger than the govt of india?.
fact is, hussain knows that he has commited a crime which will be proved in the court. this is only reason he is hiding in dubai.
lastly, he is facing charges NOT because his painting of saraswati but the two paintings of ganesha having sex with saraswati & hanuman having sex with sita.
all those so called "intellectuals" should allow the release of muhammad cartoons and da vinci code in india if they are really concerned about ar
"Look ate the temple sculpture......"
Temples were built by the believers with devotion and they are for worship and Hussain paintings and others by the secular scoundrals are done with derision and contempt. I do not equate sandolwood paste and shit because they are both yellow in colour
Art critic Gayatri Sinha- "The tradition of painting goddesses in the nude has been part of Indian culture for thousands of years. Many more 'explicit' paintings of Hindu goddesses exist, and they are regarded as holy".
For thousands of years women in India used to roam freely in their birthday suits and nobody minded their lack of dress sense, particularly the men who themselves had no need for even fig leaves. But, today if any woman dares to wear revealing dresses, she runs the risk of getting raped even in crowded trains. Hussain, by all appearances, looks like a cave man of yore, and he should have remained in his cave instead of trying to become a modern artist. The argument by the so called art critic is puerile and is only fit for a school debate
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Hindi Movies on Terrorists
Recently there has been a spate of movies on Muslim terrorists in Bollywood and most of them try to be politically correct while at the same time trying to depict ground realities.
Movies which come instantly to my mind are black Friday, sarfarosh, Black or White, Fanna, Aamir, Khuda ke liye
In 90's when Films were yet to get industry status Indian movies were msotly financed by underworld money and one could see its effect in storyline of films. Glorifying urchins, road side thugs, smugglers etc. Not a single movie was made in this period which was unambiguous in its message
Black Friday : This was a good attempt to reconstruct the events as they were without much change which is pretty rare in India ( remember Border).
Instead of sermonizing movie simply shows what happened Muslims were angry after babri mosque demolition.Police acted partial during riots and underworld was Muslim dominated and this came handy. One very sinister undercurrent of this movie and which is apparent worldwide that as a community Muslims are more susceptible to be brainwashed by community in danger rhetoric as has been demonstrated by history innumerable times.
Sarafrosh was a fresh air and it was mostly a crime thriller with Indian touch. It had two main Muslim characters in Nasseruddin Shah a Pakistani artist who abuses Indian hospitality and Deputy of Amir khan who feels he is discriminated by system because he is Muslim.
Fanna was an outlandish communist propaganda justifying terrorism in Kashmir and actually shows "dhimmittva" attitude common in bollywood
Aamir was different but once again it does not expose the Hippocracy of terrorist mastermind and actually gives a credence to vicitm mindset in muslims without paing attention to fact that more hindus are living in more pitiable conditons than muslims lviing in mumbai ghettos
Balck & WHite was once again a movie with appeasing tone. By characters of Anil kapoor it tries to show that always Hindus have to be accommodative and go extra mile in palacating muslims.
Pretty similar to kingdom of heaven menatlity of hollywood.
I seriously wonder when will our movies start to show real things in real way !!
Movies which come instantly to my mind are black Friday, sarfarosh, Black or White, Fanna, Aamir, Khuda ke liye
In 90's when Films were yet to get industry status Indian movies were msotly financed by underworld money and one could see its effect in storyline of films. Glorifying urchins, road side thugs, smugglers etc. Not a single movie was made in this period which was unambiguous in its message
Black Friday : This was a good attempt to reconstruct the events as they were without much change which is pretty rare in India ( remember Border).
Instead of sermonizing movie simply shows what happened Muslims were angry after babri mosque demolition.Police acted partial during riots and underworld was Muslim dominated and this came handy. One very sinister undercurrent of this movie and which is apparent worldwide that as a community Muslims are more susceptible to be brainwashed by community in danger rhetoric as has been demonstrated by history innumerable times.
Sarafrosh was a fresh air and it was mostly a crime thriller with Indian touch. It had two main Muslim characters in Nasseruddin Shah a Pakistani artist who abuses Indian hospitality and Deputy of Amir khan who feels he is discriminated by system because he is Muslim.
Fanna was an outlandish communist propaganda justifying terrorism in Kashmir and actually shows "dhimmittva" attitude common in bollywood
Aamir was different but once again it does not expose the Hippocracy of terrorist mastermind and actually gives a credence to vicitm mindset in muslims without paing attention to fact that more hindus are living in more pitiable conditons than muslims lviing in mumbai ghettos
Balck & WHite was once again a movie with appeasing tone. By characters of Anil kapoor it tries to show that always Hindus have to be accommodative and go extra mile in palacating muslims.
Pretty similar to kingdom of heaven menatlity of hollywood.
I seriously wonder when will our movies start to show real things in real way !!
Friday, June 13, 2008
IMDB correpondences
I started surfing IMDB in my 3rd year when a junior told me aobut the site. After that almost all english movise I have watched only after having a look at rating and storyline of the movie on IMDB.
Sometimes i also take part in its forums where I must say really good discussions take place. For me forums of particular interest are forum on those indian films which are viewd widley in west and help in forming to a lrge extent perception of india among westerners. In one such forum on movie "water" I was lambasting director deepa mehta for making money out of ills of indian society and the I got a very balanced repy from one gentleman which i think every nationalist or every person who thinks that whole world is after his religion should read :)
Interesting that you should condemn someone for making a film about an oppressive tradition, particularly that you should condemn them for damaging the reputation of a people who continue the custom to some degree today, yet you fail to condemn the oppression itself. The argument that airing your culture's dirty laundry is unacceptable because outsiders will see it has been used by groups pushing hurtful policies throughout the world, it's not unique to India. If you're concerned about bigots, you ought to be informed that nothing positive shown to a bigot will change their mind, some bigots may point to this film and yammer about how Indians oppress widows, but anyone with a mind of their own will know them for what they are: bigots. This film did not have the budget of Seven Years in Tibet and could not afford to build massive sets, filming was pushed out of India, and viewings were refused in India. I suppose she should have included a lesbian sex scene to overcome these challenges?
Regardless your criticisms, much of the world was unaware of the abuses this film brought to light. As much as you might cringe from outsiders criticizing your culture, you seem to have no problem pointing fingers at others such as Islam. Perhaps we all need peer review.
Lastly, your age of philanthropy is a pipe dream mirrored by Luddites and religious zealots throughout the world, the song is always the same: before outsiders brought their influence here, we were a better people. There's no evidence to support this claim. In reality, the people of the past were like the people of today, neither more moral nor less. Like us, they strove to make ends meet. It's precisely that understanding that historical films give us, not their technical mastery of an era. When we see a film that portrays the suffering of others, part of us is supposed to realize that we are like them, both like the oppressed and the oppressor. We're not better, we're not worse, we're entirely capable of perpetuating the same system. When we try to silence discussion of the subject, or we make petty criticisms when our or our kins' efforts to thwart them have failed, we're taking the first step down a long path toward active participation in that behavior again.
Stop worrying about the reputation of your men, every people on earth have skeletons in their closets. If your men and women committed these acts, try to understand why. Don't whine at everyone else to stick their head in the sand because the messenger has imperfect grammar.
Sometimes i also take part in its forums where I must say really good discussions take place. For me forums of particular interest are forum on those indian films which are viewd widley in west and help in forming to a lrge extent perception of india among westerners. In one such forum on movie "water" I was lambasting director deepa mehta for making money out of ills of indian society and the I got a very balanced repy from one gentleman which i think every nationalist or every person who thinks that whole world is after his religion should read :)
Interesting that you should condemn someone for making a film about an oppressive tradition, particularly that you should condemn them for damaging the reputation of a people who continue the custom to some degree today, yet you fail to condemn the oppression itself. The argument that airing your culture's dirty laundry is unacceptable because outsiders will see it has been used by groups pushing hurtful policies throughout the world, it's not unique to India. If you're concerned about bigots, you ought to be informed that nothing positive shown to a bigot will change their mind, some bigots may point to this film and yammer about how Indians oppress widows, but anyone with a mind of their own will know them for what they are: bigots. This film did not have the budget of Seven Years in Tibet and could not afford to build massive sets, filming was pushed out of India, and viewings were refused in India. I suppose she should have included a lesbian sex scene to overcome these challenges?
Regardless your criticisms, much of the world was unaware of the abuses this film brought to light. As much as you might cringe from outsiders criticizing your culture, you seem to have no problem pointing fingers at others such as Islam. Perhaps we all need peer review.
Lastly, your age of philanthropy is a pipe dream mirrored by Luddites and religious zealots throughout the world, the song is always the same: before outsiders brought their influence here, we were a better people. There's no evidence to support this claim. In reality, the people of the past were like the people of today, neither more moral nor less. Like us, they strove to make ends meet. It's precisely that understanding that historical films give us, not their technical mastery of an era. When we see a film that portrays the suffering of others, part of us is supposed to realize that we are like them, both like the oppressed and the oppressor. We're not better, we're not worse, we're entirely capable of perpetuating the same system. When we try to silence discussion of the subject, or we make petty criticisms when our or our kins' efforts to thwart them have failed, we're taking the first step down a long path toward active participation in that behavior again.
Stop worrying about the reputation of your men, every people on earth have skeletons in their closets. If your men and women committed these acts, try to understand why. Don't whine at everyone else to stick their head in the sand because the messenger has imperfect grammar.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Vijay Tendulkar is no more
As a rule I don't have much liking for communists and their penchant to denigrate our society every now and then in the garb of liberals but one has to give them credit where it is due.
Vijay Tendulkar was one such man. I read his drama tittled "Silence the court is in session" in my college library on a sultry afternoon quite similar to climate mentioned in the play and while reading it I felt as if i am present in that room where this drama troupe is enacting a false trail. It hit hard on false morality of our society and how strong and dominant can condone acts of eah other via perfect legitimate means.
This play actually aroused my curiosity and I searched library for any other paly by him and then I hit on Ghasiram Kotwal and all debauchery behind the Peshwai was revealed. The play was also notable for its mixture of dance & choreography and i wanted to enact it during inter hall drama but our drama captain did not find it appealing enough and instead went for oft repeated Spartacus.
He has one more play to his credit called "sakharam Binder" which I am yet to read.While reading various obituary to him I came to know that script for movies liek Nishant, manthan ,ardhsatya and aakrosh were also written by him.
All these moveis are gem in themselves but my favorite is Ardhasatya maybe because I find it more connected to my age.
For someone like Vijay Tendulkar I think this would be apt " i may not agree with what you say but I will defend your right to say till death".
A conscience keeper which every society needs at all points of time.
Vijay Tendulkar was one such man. I read his drama tittled "Silence the court is in session" in my college library on a sultry afternoon quite similar to climate mentioned in the play and while reading it I felt as if i am present in that room where this drama troupe is enacting a false trail. It hit hard on false morality of our society and how strong and dominant can condone acts of eah other via perfect legitimate means.
This play actually aroused my curiosity and I searched library for any other paly by him and then I hit on Ghasiram Kotwal and all debauchery behind the Peshwai was revealed. The play was also notable for its mixture of dance & choreography and i wanted to enact it during inter hall drama but our drama captain did not find it appealing enough and instead went for oft repeated Spartacus.
He has one more play to his credit called "sakharam Binder" which I am yet to read.While reading various obituary to him I came to know that script for movies liek Nishant, manthan ,ardhsatya and aakrosh were also written by him.
All these moveis are gem in themselves but my favorite is Ardhasatya maybe because I find it more connected to my age.
For someone like Vijay Tendulkar I think this would be apt " i may not agree with what you say but I will defend your right to say till death".
A conscience keeper which every society needs at all points of time.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Mumbai Musings 2
Now it is almost a month in Mumbai. Some observation
1.Due to ban on dance bars and time restriction on disco night life is not what one would expect in a metro.
2.A metro makes people break religious taboo. Girls in burqa can be seen sitting with their boyfriends at marine drive
3.There are so called Maratha stores (I happened to visit two of them). But they are inadequately stocked, rude staff and priced same if not higher. Possibly monopoly feeling makes them behave so or marathis are not businessmen actually
4.girls of age even 13-14 years dress like late teen girls and their faces show that in metros girls attain puberty early. it was never so in my small hometown.
5.Lots of Muslims with long beards or skull cap in normal business place -- any sign of future or am i observing too much
6. Parsi community support mechanism especially in kolaba and old town. Really old people living in dilapidated old buildings
7. All companies have HR and normal support staff mostly Anglo Indians or their descendants.Most probably they are result of intermarriage between lower castes and Britishers. Now I can understand indignation of BK Nehru against this community in his book.
8. A dangerous trend of sectarianism. I mentioned about maratha stores before. There is YMCA hostel whee they prefer Christian guys .There is Maharashtra govt run law college which prefers only maharashtrians. What will happen to this country
9. High brand stores in Malls are frquented by shoppers as opposed to say Indore.
10. People follow lanes in traffic and also while taking buses or trains.other Indian cities can learn
11. No high rise in Nariman point. What is the reason? I don't know but they dream to make it second shanghai. phew ...
12. Mumbai metro project is nowhere. Only roads are blocked in northers suburbs but nothing real happening
13. Climate - good even in summer better than north india at least
14. Food - in all areas you can find find food according to your pocket and platter.
1.Due to ban on dance bars and time restriction on disco night life is not what one would expect in a metro.
2.A metro makes people break religious taboo. Girls in burqa can be seen sitting with their boyfriends at marine drive
3.There are so called Maratha stores (I happened to visit two of them). But they are inadequately stocked, rude staff and priced same if not higher. Possibly monopoly feeling makes them behave so or marathis are not businessmen actually
4.girls of age even 13-14 years dress like late teen girls and their faces show that in metros girls attain puberty early. it was never so in my small hometown.
5.Lots of Muslims with long beards or skull cap in normal business place -- any sign of future or am i observing too much
6. Parsi community support mechanism especially in kolaba and old town. Really old people living in dilapidated old buildings
7. All companies have HR and normal support staff mostly Anglo Indians or their descendants.Most probably they are result of intermarriage between lower castes and Britishers. Now I can understand indignation of BK Nehru against this community in his book.
8. A dangerous trend of sectarianism. I mentioned about maratha stores before. There is YMCA hostel whee they prefer Christian guys .There is Maharashtra govt run law college which prefers only maharashtrians. What will happen to this country
9. High brand stores in Malls are frquented by shoppers as opposed to say Indore.
10. People follow lanes in traffic and also while taking buses or trains.other Indian cities can learn
11. No high rise in Nariman point. What is the reason? I don't know but they dream to make it second shanghai. phew ...
12. Mumbai metro project is nowhere. Only roads are blocked in northers suburbs but nothing real happening
13. Climate - good even in summer better than north india at least
14. Food - in all areas you can find find food according to your pocket and platter.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Mumbai Musings
This is my fourth visit to Mumbai but first one when I am meeting a large no of people outside usual sphere of convenience.
I met some interesting people for periods of time extending from few minutes to few days and would try to mention some intresting cretures.
At the top of list are two taxi wallas
First one a gujarati, I guess he was a muslim but he was aghast at new brees of up bihari taxiwallas, rich people , police , family members everything in world. I pray to god don't make me such a bitter man in my old age.
Second was a r\thakur near benaras and was aghast at chamars for putting banners on road to celebrate ambedkar jayanti. i joined his chorus to understand why he thinks so but there was nothing in his brain besides caste prejudice. My question as to why driving taxi if you are a thakur syunned him. Caste runs in blood of Indians.
Third was a boy , a student of first year BMS in the hostel room which I was going to occupy. he was speaking gujarati so i asked him whether he was gujju. He replied no , roman catholic. I said no mater what religion is you can't lose your regionL IDENTITY. THERE ARE WIDE DIFFERENCES IN A MALLU christian and north indian one. Then he says I am portugese not converted. Actually I could say that your forefathers were bastards actually but did not say anything and wondered what will happen to this country when people love to trace their lineage from some foreign invador but not accept their local roots.
I met some interesting people for periods of time extending from few minutes to few days and would try to mention some intresting cretures.
At the top of list are two taxi wallas
First one a gujarati, I guess he was a muslim but he was aghast at new brees of up bihari taxiwallas, rich people , police , family members everything in world. I pray to god don't make me such a bitter man in my old age.
Second was a r\thakur near benaras and was aghast at chamars for putting banners on road to celebrate ambedkar jayanti. i joined his chorus to understand why he thinks so but there was nothing in his brain besides caste prejudice. My question as to why driving taxi if you are a thakur syunned him. Caste runs in blood of Indians.
Third was a boy , a student of first year BMS in the hostel room which I was going to occupy. he was speaking gujarati so i asked him whether he was gujju. He replied no , roman catholic. I said no mater what religion is you can't lose your regionL IDENTITY. THERE ARE WIDE DIFFERENCES IN A MALLU christian and north indian one. Then he says I am portugese not converted. Actually I could say that your forefathers were bastards actually but did not say anything and wondered what will happen to this country when people love to trace their lineage from some foreign invador but not accept their local roots.
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