TECHNOLOGY AND INSTINCTS/NATURE !!

A few weeks back, I was fortunate enough to make a trip to Chopta, a remote place in Uttarakhand, where technology has yet to reach (not coz its really remote, its just 60 kms from Rudraprayag after all, but coz its very near to Kedarnath Wild Life Sanctuary) and its feared that the advent of technology would degrade the natural scenic environment of the place. There are no electric wires (ppl still use solar chargeable lamps in the area) and just one mobile tower (ob, its BSNL !!) with no modern facilities (or necessities !!) like TV etc.
Staying there, I was taken back in time to the days when not each home had an inverter / generator and residential colonies with power back up was not heard of, and when ppl would wait for hours together for electricity to come and "plan" things accordingly; when ppl had time to spend with each other, least of all, with their (new) neighbours; when "social networking" meant meeting friends face to face and not tweeting, facebooking, orkutting or gtalking (and when liking someone's hilarious joke or comment would result in laughing heartily rather than speaking out a series of lol, lmao, rofl etc) !!! On my yet another recent trip to Gangtok, I read in some of the monastery, the 10 diktats of Dalai Lama, and the one which I distinctly remember is: Its amazing how people hv gone to and returned successfully from moon, but dont get time to cross a gallery / road and welcome their new next door neighbour !! how ironic truly ... Sure, how social networking has modified over the years is necessary (and upto some extent, natural) considering the changes that have been brought in the society as a result of post early-90's changes in the economy, but can such social-networking sites ever replace the charm of face to face interactions ... i fail to understand, as one of my friend's status msg on fb suggested, y shud facebook represent hollowness and emptiness within us, if it were just being used as a social-networking medium ? Everyone uses these social-networking sites to stay in touch with their old pals and friends, and ofcourse for fun, and thats obvious, however, wht I fail to understand is, how can such sites sometimes become a substitute,for eg, to congratulate a friend over his success, especially when one can easily meet him and wish the same !!
Also, y is it that technology is always assumed to degrade the natural and scenic environment of a place ? y cant science and nature co-exist (in places other than the advertisement of some cosmetic products) ? There are places like Sikkim, where the local growth rate is as high as 8.3% (as per the wiki page) and yet are too beautiful and so well-planned. The day-to-day life in places like Chopta is too harsh compared to city life essentially coz of the lack of many of the basic amenities (ofcourse, it doesnt matter much to tourists, who normally wouldnt be in the place for more than a week, but kudos to the human spirit for survining there too !!). The dangers of poaching for the musk deer (and other diverse flora / fauna found in the area) apart from the pollution concerns in the area has prevented technology from reaching there. But can such risks be truly attributed to technology ? Aren't they the result of human greed. Yes, over commercialization has, upto some extent spoiled places like Mussoorie (compare the mussoorie of today to what it was somewhere in early 90s and one would immediately realize the difference). However, Gangtok has still retained its charm and natural beauty inspite of all the commercialization and tourism there. So, science and nature need not exist in isolation. They can co-exist too. The nature can sustain the "side-effects" of technology, but only upto a limit. It reminds me of the excerpt: nature can cater to the needs of all, not the wants. Its our wants that we need to take care of !!






P.S: To know more about the scenic beauty, fun and thrill of trekking in Chopta, click here.
PPS: Thank you Amit for re-kindling my interest in blogging :) :)

SHOULD WE REALLY BLAME THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM ??

I recently read an article by Sagarika Ghose in HT abt the movie 3 Idiots and the current education system. The author very rightly observes that the movie, though a wonderful watch, is not meant to be taken seriously. I quote from the article "And, of course, we are not meant to take 3 Idiots too seriously, as it is after all just about having an escapist laugh and not thinking too much. After all, if you think too much you may discover that 3 Idiots is a dangerous, preachy and sanctimonious film that disdains all forms of hard work; that subliminally condemns studying as a pathetic exercise in rote learning and scorns the sadhna of higher education."

The current higher educational system may hv its shortcomings. No system/individual is ideal and scope of improvement is certainly there. However, what the movie does is simply elaborate them (in a comical way) without suggesting ne solutions. Its very easy to criticize a system/an individual; however, the problem as is shown in the movie, is more or less known to most whom 3 Idiots team would include in their target audiences. What is needed is not just criticism but also a solution to it and "3 Idiots" surely fails there. Surely the inspirational speech by Baba Ranchoddas is no good for those who study just for marks. Everyone hears such speeches almost daily !!! Even the simple solutions, for eg, hving more open book exams (wherein students are allowed to take books/notes etc inside the exam hall) instead of closed books were lacking in the movie.

Also, I personally feel that if we do some introspection, we would realize that more than the system, its our attitude thats the problem. May be, the educational system rewards those who don't understand the subject and do rote learning, but surely, it does not punish those who comprehend the subjects and study for knowledge... (this is shown in the movie too when Rancho secures top rank with Silencer around, though there is a diff b/w real and reel life; however i made the above comment on the basis of my personal experience during college life)... so, surely, like many other things, it depends on the individual whether he wants to study for marks or for knowledge .... the current system leaves that choice to the individual concerned .... probably, the problem is we want ppl who do rote learning to get lesser marks, and not strive for excellence (study for knowledge) ourselves ... and therefore, we tend to blame the system ...
also, the following 2 excerpts from the article are truly food for the thinking mind:

1) "caution has to be exercised that urban middle class children are not pampered into thinking that anything that causes ‘stress’ is evil and should be attacked and, worse, not be even attempted." Personally, I feel that upto some extent, stress does improve performance, and if some1 is over stressing himself i believe its the prob with the person concerned ... its like abusing a catalyst to performance, surely if u overdose a medicine, it does more harm than good ... also, there is no clear cut demarcation where stress ceases to be a catalyst to performance...it depends on the individual

2) Encouraging students to abuse their teachers, hate their books, throw metaphorical tomatoes at all centres of excellence is to encourage an illiterate lumpen rage against anything that isn’t dumbed down to the shocking level of intellectual nothingness

well, i ceratinly dont mean that the system is ideal ... but what i want to say is its always introspection that helps ... sometimes, i feel that the easiest thing in the world is to blame the system / others for one's failure .. but one must remember tht the same system has produced geniuses, so, it cannot be 100% wrong either .. and surely its not ideal ...

P.S. For complete article, please click here

Y DO WE ALWAYS NEGLECT HILLS ??

Recently, for their demand of a separate state of Gorkhaland, the GJM (Gorkha Janmukti Morcha) was blocking the NH-31; and extending the blockade by an hour each successive day; this highway is almost like the neck of NE India ... it's like a gateway to sikkim and mountainous areas of North Bengal from the plains of Siliguri. Inspite of the great strategic importance of NH31, it was indeed shocking to see the negligence of the bandh and demands of GJM by the media, both print and electronic ...

I fail to understand y v only concentrate on the plains and treat hills only as entertainers for those living in plains (i.e. tourist destinations) ... we care for even 20 minutes of delhiites and make flyovers to reduce their travel time (and obviously, there's nothing wrong in that; kudos to Delhi governance for that) ; however, do we really care for so many hrs of blockade on the roads of highest strategic importance ?? and abt the condition of such roads ?? NH31, (or atleast the part that lies in West Bengal), is worse than most of the local roads in Delhi-NCR region ..

media was too busy covering the issue of Telangana, in minutest details (prob coz of the involvement of Hyderabad there); however the only news in print media that i could get abt duration of bandh declared by GJM was thru the local edition of Dainik Jagran (no news abt it even in the Kolkata edition of TOI while HT discusses the bandh with respect to the problems that tourists are facing in Darjeeling (click here)) ... and neither of them neways mentions the duration of the bandh on NH31 ..

i m not supporting (or opposing) GJM in their demand for a separate state ... all i feel is that there is more to hills than just tourism/tea/apples etc ... they deserve good roads and better infrastructure as much as ppl in plains do ... and the way media is informing ppl of the opinions/demands of both pro and anti telangana groups, the ppl in hills too deserve the same ... i met localites in Kolkata who r supportive of their cause for a separate statehood and also ppl in Siliguri who are against them ... so, whether their demand is legitimate or not cant be decided by just looking at one side of the coin ... though i wonder how many of my friends from plains even know abt the NH31 bandh and the reasons for GJM to ask for a separate statehood !!

however, i titled this blog as "Y DO WE ... " as i personally feel that media only shows what it can sell .. hence, media is just a reflection of what we want to see/read ... and if v concentrate on only plains and treat hills as just places of tourist attraction, y blame media for making news along that line ???

SOFT POWER OF INDIA

I recently saw one video of Shashi Tharror on ted.com where he talks abt the need of having soft power by nations. And this certainly is one of the best presentations i hv seen in recent times (apart from may be, the power of sixth sense, also available on ted.com). Basically, he refers to "soft power" as the capability to influence other nations independent of the "hard power" i.e. military strength, population or the economic growth or other such parameters. Certainly, hard power is not a field that India lacks (we hv 4th largest army in the world and r still growing @ a decent (if not gr8) pace, when the world has just witnessed one of the worst financial crisis since Great Depression), but soft power is something that India has championed over the last thousands of years. Thats y, the famous comment by Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA: "India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border." Thats the extent of our soft power!! The hard power can certainly be attributed to the Govt and its initiatives; however soft power is something that can only be attributed to people.
The past several decades hv seen a tremendous change in the attitude of the World towards India. The drastic change in impression from a land of snake charmers and fakirs sleeping on nails to a land of computer gurus, business tycoons, and IT giants is certainly not possible with just hard power. Its not easy for the technical and higher educational institutes of a country, that was once thought to be a land of superstitions, to be rated equally to the topmost scientific universities of the world, all within a matter of a few decades, if not years. The last general elections in India was a very unique illustration in itself: a woman of Italian origin giving way to a Sikh PM, who was sworn in by a Muslim President (Dr APJ Abdul Kalam) in a country that's almost 80% Hindu; and this was not a demonstration to the world, it was just India being itself (Mr Tharoor rightly points it out in his talk).
Though some might feel that it's more of a glorified version of an "India Shining" initiative by the Govt of India, (as is obvious from the comments to that presentation); however I don't think this can be totally subscribed to. The problems being faced by the country are immense and gigantic, (and no one can deny that...there are many 'isms' to deal with), but amidst all that, does lie some "power" (call it soft or nething), due to which India is still moving ahead. We might talk of innumerable (and almost never-ceasing) differences in India; but one thing that India has proven is the fact that for a truly diverse society to not disintegrate (unity etc comes only later; and there were "learned scholars" who predicted that India would disintegrate in 1950s or 60s owing to such differences), it (i.e. the society) need not agree on all points; all that is needed is that we agree on the most fundamental principle i.e. how to disagree; how to survive without consensus .. we still hv to overcome many obstacles (a country can't be both a superpower and a superpoor simultaneously !!), however, the fact that as diverse a country as India, and with a multi party democratic set up, is still existing and developing is no less a miracle !! ..

P.S. I personally dont think this post is a contradiction to any of my previous posts especially this one ...

INSPIRATIONAL REAL (OR REEL) LIVES !!

recently, there was a huge celebration in media and across the country of sachin completing his 20 glorious yrs in international cricket .. truly, a remarkable feat that goes to show his dedication and passion for the country and cricket ..

however, seeing the celebration on TV news channels made me wonder whether sachin has had only success in his lifetime ?? perhaps the only hardships and difficult times he ever faced were his tennis elbow problem and ofcourse the 99 WC when he returned from his father's funeral to hit a century against Kenya (indeed an inspirational story for ne one); however, there was no mention of the not-so-famous Sialkot test, which was the last in his 1st Test series against Pakistan, where he was hit on face by a Waqar's delivery and still continued to bat to save the test fr India; (i read it in an interview of K Srikant, who was the captain of Indian side then; click here to read the complete interview) ... one can be quite sure that there would be many more such instances, but since they do not belong to his glorious/glamorous years (which arguably, start from the famous sharjah series against team australia) most of us would be least interested in such stuffs; and the same reasons why media is not interested in such stuffs coz such stuff wont sell in today's consumerist world .. almost similar was the case when Big B recently completed his 40 yrs in B'wood ... and looking @ the media coverage made me wonder did he start his b'wood career with Zanjeer !! he gave up his job as a freight broker for a shipping firm in kolkata to move to mumbai in 1968 and Zanjeer came in 1973 ... but again, those 5 yrs, (when he appeared in more than 10 movies which, barring movies like anand, were not commercial hits) dont form a part of his glorious yrs, and so the lack of interest .. in fact, many of those reading this blog might be surprised to know that he even slept on the pavement and benches of Marine Drive (click here) during his initial days in mumbai!!

these legends are truly an inspirational story in themselves .. they hv written their own destinies with an effort that's characteristic of super humans, but y i made above comments is coz i believe many of us want to live in our world of fantasies where ppl become legends and earn name, fame, money and power without much of a struggle ... and in today's world of fast paced life, call it the side effects of globalization/commercialization or nething, but we want success easily and with little efforts .. and hence, these "success stories" are as well moulded to suit our fantasies: coz if these legends can do it without much struggle, so can we!! we probably want our b'wood actors (dont know what acts of heroism they do that we love calling them heroes) to succeed in their reel lives the way the likes of Sachin and Amitabh succeeded in their real lives so that we can draw an inspiration from their reel lives, knowing fully well that their hardships wont continue for more than 3 hrs!! (prob thats the reason we love to take inspiration from the movie lakshya by remembering the "tough times" Hrithik Roshan had in the movie but not the numerous real videos of army which are easily accessible) ...

AS I SEE THE FATWA AGAINST VANDE MATARAM

The recent controversial fatwa issued by JEU (Jamait-e-Ulema Hind) at its Deoband national convention meet, wherein, it asked all Muslims to shun singing Vande Mataram as some verses of the song are against the tenets of Islam (specifically Tawheed (Islam's faith in monotheism), as I read somewhere on the net), is rather unfortunate, to say the least.

The original Vande Mataram, as it appeared in Anand Math, was longer than the current version; however, the INC in its 1937 session decided to adopt only the first 2 stanzas of the song as the national song; as the later stanzas contained references where the motherland is likened to Goddess Durga and Laxmi. It was pointed out in the same session that the first two stanzas begin with an unexceptionable evocation of the beauty of the motherland and hence they would aptly make for the national song (for details, click here). Thus, its just the first 2 stanzas from the song "Vande Mataram" that comprise our national song. Hence, it's clear that the "objectionable" content of the original song "Vande Mataram" is no longer a part of our national song...

However, still, the issue of whether or not to sing Vande Mataram is best left to an individual (as Supreme Court also observed); after all, merely singing a song doesn't make one patriotic .. however, there is a difference in making the singing voluntary and its quite the other thing to issue a religious decree against muslims singing the song .. while the former is explainable, the later makes it unnecessarily political and has probably best been described by Mr Swapan Dasgupta, in his TOI blog, as "doctrinaire intolerance" (click here) .. by issuing the fatwa, JEU has thus, violated one of the basic requirements of a democratic society, that of tolerance .. this fatwa is now being used by several extremist groups to make singing Vande Mataram a measure of "Indianness" of an individual ... when Home Minister P Chidambram, in his speech at Deoband convention, asked majority everywhere (including Australia!!) to protect minorities and their interests, he was absolutely right .. however, he prob touched on only one side of the coin .. coz the other side that he shud hv touched as well is: do the minorities organizations hv no obligations towards the society (not the majority) in which they live ? we studied in our civic lessons that rights and duties always go side by side ... are such lessons only for learning at school ?? ...

The issue, once raised before (in 2006; when UPA Govt made singing of Vande Mataram mandatory on September 7; to mark the 125th year of the song's creation; only to make it voluntary later) is again back in limelight; and the cts discussion of such religio-political issues at the national level politics sometimes amazes me whether all the social issues e.g. poverty, illiteracy, terrorism hv been resolved ...

DAMN U PAGE 3 CELEBRITIES !!

Recently, an article was published in TOI abt Booker prize winner and activist Arundhati Roy supporting the cause of Maoists and urging the Govt for an unconditional talks with the Maoists. (here's the article on TOI) ...

the aim with which the maoist organization started might not hv been totally wrong .. however, their recent activities have proven that they hv become nothing but cold blooded murderers & terrorists ... how else, could one explain the fact tht on "charges" of suspicion of a farmer being a police informer, the maoists killed his wife, his daughter, aged 12, and 2 other college students staying in their house as tenants .. even his 7 year old daughter was injured ... similarly, in another incident, a village girl was killed due to incessant firing by them on Ranchi-Jamshedpur highway... (here's the complete article)

however, the real shameful thing is the fact tht inspite of these and many others blatant acts of terrorism, they get full "logistic" support from page 3 specialists like Arundhati Roy ... and perhaps worse still, is the fact that, sometimes, civil rights activists and "intellectuals" even go to the extent of romanticizing their anti-law activities .. i still remember a political debate after a top Maoist propagandist Kobad Gandhy was arrested from delhi; in that, a participant, who was also a poet, from AP, went to the extent of comparing maoists to Legendary Hero Bhagat Singh, by comparing their fights for "justice".... how can killing innocent ppl be compared to taking the utmost precaution of making the bomb land in an empty area in the Hall ?? ...
also, y is it that these page 3 celebs only come in support of maoists/terrorists, etc and never in the support of ordinary men/cops/police officers and their families who are killed by them ... are all the human/civil rights reserved for those who hv no respect for human lives ... that's prob coz, these celebs know that supporting cops would never give them the attention of media the way they get when they romanticize maoists ...