Of course, like most Indians, I love to hate Arjun Singh for what he has done to the higher education in India. But thinking that he is the worst would probably be a huge mistake. Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi had of course had his time with the text books during the NDA regime, but it doesn't end there. I was surprised, and somewhat shocked (still) when I happened to read a Rajya Sabha question and answer session while searching the net for my favorite one act play Reedh Ki Haddi by Jagdish Chandra Mathur. The play actually is one of the finest pieces of Hindi literature I read during my school and explains the condition of women in India in the most practical manner.
Here is the complete answer given by Arjun Singh to the 'Honorable' members who had questioned not only the play but the language of Munshi Premchand himself.
CLARIFICATION BY MINISTER
Alleged objectionable materials in certain books approved by NCERT - Contd.
THE MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT (SHRI ARJUN SINGH), replying to points raised by hon'ble Members on 18th August 2006, said: NCERT has taken utmost care in drafting the books. Noted Academicians, Scientists and Educationalists have been included to examine the textbooks from the earlier times . Every book is examined by a National monitoring committee constituted by Human Resources Development . This committee comprises representative from various states and expert from field of education. There is set of guide line for examining the text books
I have tried my best to understand the objections raised by some hon. Members . I found that sentence or part of the books have been read without considering the context . I would like to clear that no change has been made in Hindi textbooks for class 2nd ,4th ,5th ,7th ,8th and 10th. Books which was studied during the NDA regime are still in the syllabus.
There was a objection regarding "Mochiram" a poem by Shri Dhoomil. It was included the syllabus in the year 1977 and it is regarding expressing the concerns of deprived people. Another objection was regarding a part of autobiography of Shri Bechan Sharma Ugra. Ugra jee considered himself among one from the lower section of society despite belonging to the Upper castes of society .
An objection was regarding Shri Om prakash Balmiki , who himself is dalit and is a importing representative of contemporary Hindi. He tried to depicted that caste reference words used in his story called KHANABADOSH was bear by the labours to maintain their existence . It has mentioned in the Footnote that these caste reference words are unconstitutional and these words should not used in day-today life.
Some other member has raised his objection regarding a story, Doodh ka Daam, of Munshi Prem Chand . I would like to say that these type of words were used in the society in that time. Further I would like to say that hon. Member has reached to conclusion on the basis of one line without considering the whole context of the story. And I don't consider myself to be fit to criticise the literature of great Munshi Prem Chand.
Hon. Member has raised some objection on poem of Shri Avtar Singh Pash. His poem reflects the social inequality. And it belongs to naxalite movement of Bihar in 1967. I want to say that Pash want to support ambitions of youth and it belong to model country so it should be seen in this context.
Hon. Member has objection against an one act play, Reedh Ki Haddi. It is about the status of women in the in the Indian society. So , it is clear that this play is all about the inequality among men-women of the society.
Some objection has been raised on some portion of autobiography of Maqbool Fida Hussain, the famous Painter. This text book has no mention of his controversial paintings. Hon. Member has asked about the reasons for not including the autobiographies of Amrita Shergil and Nandlal Bose. And I would like to clear that these people have not written their autobiographies
New text books of history for the classes of 6th, 9th and 11th have already introduced for the academic session of 2007. Hon. Member has mentioned that in the text book of Prof. Vipin Chandra, the leaders like Shri Aurbindo Ghosh & Lokmanya Tilak and Shri Vipin Chandra Pal have been termed as terrorists. Prof. Vipin Chandra has termed these leaders not as terrorists but as extreme nationalists. In the later chapter he had termed the extremism as a means to gain national freedom. With regard to the case filed in High Court related to this portion a committee of three Historians was constituted. The committee has held, "The words extremism and extremist have not been used in derogatory manner.
The committee about the description of Jats has held that the description of the Jat farmers revolt is also not derogatory.
With regard to the third objection raised about Guru Gobind Singh, the committee said that the sentence used in the text book requires to be amended.
Now, I would like to reply to the objections raised by Hon. Member Shrimati Sushma Swaraj. This is painful and unfortunate that she has termed the poem under the caption "MochiRam" as stigma whereas for the literary critics, this poem is milestone in the contemporary Hindi poetry. She has raised objections to the language used in the stories written by Munshi Premchand and Omprakash Valmiki. Probably the Hon. Member wants to negate this fact that Munshi Premchand represents higher values i.e. social justice, equality and fraternity enshrined in our Constitution. I wish to inform Shrimati Sushma Swaraj that Shri Valmiki has reflected the nature of emerging Dalit literature and he was himself a Dalit.
The Hon. Member has raised her objection about the one Act play "Reedh ki Haddi" written by late Jagdish Chandra Mathur. As I have mentioned earlier that this one Act is one of the most important objectives of our Constitution and our education policy i.e. this play touches the equality and dignity of women.
Hon. Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi has alleged that we are creating hatred in the minds of our children. I would like to assure that the goal of National curriculum 2005 is to make glorious and positive illustration of all communities and regions of India and thereby to strengthen national unity.
I respect the views expressed by the honourable members. They have expressed their viewpoint very impressively. I talked about the context because the words change their meaning as per the context. When we were studying, at that time also, in our history, it was said that Tilak ji, Arvind ji, Vipin Pal ji, they represent the extremist ideology. Freedom struggle is the definition of nationalism itself. That is why I talked about the context.
I only want to request that still a lot of text books are being prepared. Therefore, all the views expressed by you will definitely be kept in mind. I am thankful to the honourable members for their views.
Original text from:
http://rajyasabha.gov.in/rsdebate/synopsis/208/s24082006.htm
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tweet Tweet
Tweet Tweet. Tweet Tweet.
Sounds like the Nokia standard message tone, but today this is the speed of twitterers. Or maybe more. In four words, it seems like 'the world is twittering'.
I had joined twitter not so long ago, maybe a month or so ago. But I came to know about the power of Twitter on the day when Election results came out. Once I had got a fair idea of seats led by each party, I was on Twitter, and to my surprise, it was running faster than any news channel.
As the time passed, I kept on finding new twitterers, which included Politicians like Shashi Tharoor and Rahul Gandhi, (and a now dormant SM Krishna too, MEA is really hi-tech) and entertainers like Gul Panag, Purab Kohli and Mallika Sherawat, besides number of journals and journalists.
Just now I have finished with reading an article on How Twitter will change American Business and right now reading another article on Time discussing ten famous twitterers who can be followed.
Among bad things, Twitter has affected my already drowning blog severely as I write all my heartfelts in those 140 characters. That's probably a reason I've written this blog, to make up for the loss.
If you want to see my tweets, here it is: twitter.com/hg6789
To see this, you do not need a twitter account. But I guess very soon you'll be there too. That is, if you are not yet there.
Happy Twittering.
Sounds like the Nokia standard message tone, but today this is the speed of twitterers. Or maybe more. In four words, it seems like 'the world is twittering'.
I had joined twitter not so long ago, maybe a month or so ago. But I came to know about the power of Twitter on the day when Election results came out. Once I had got a fair idea of seats led by each party, I was on Twitter, and to my surprise, it was running faster than any news channel.
As the time passed, I kept on finding new twitterers, which included Politicians like Shashi Tharoor and Rahul Gandhi, (and a now dormant SM Krishna too, MEA is really hi-tech) and entertainers like Gul Panag, Purab Kohli and Mallika Sherawat, besides number of journals and journalists.
Just now I have finished with reading an article on How Twitter will change American Business and right now reading another article on Time discussing ten famous twitterers who can be followed.
Among bad things, Twitter has affected my already drowning blog severely as I write all my heartfelts in those 140 characters. That's probably a reason I've written this blog, to make up for the loss.
If you want to see my tweets, here it is: twitter.com/hg6789
To see this, you do not need a twitter account. But I guess very soon you'll be there too. That is, if you are not yet there.
Happy Twittering.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
कुछ कुछ ज़िन्दगी..
ज़िन्दगी,
कुछ पन्ने,
कुछ बिखरे,
कुछ सिमटे,
कुछ संजोये..
कुछ रंग,
चमकीले,
कुछ गहरे,
कुछ बेरंग..
कुछ सपने,
कुछ झूठे,
कुछ सच्चे,
कुछ टूटे.
कुछ लोग,
कुछ अपने,
कुछ पराये,
कुछ, सब कुछ..
कुछ यादें,
कुछ मीठी,
कुछ खट्टी,
कुछ, चुभती..
कुछ आँखें,
कुछ मुस्काती,
कुछ भीगी,
कुछ, सूखी..
और
कुछ लम्हे,
कुछ पल,
और कुछ पलों की ज़िन्दगी...
कुछ पन्ने,
कुछ बिखरे,
कुछ सिमटे,
कुछ संजोये..
कुछ रंग,
चमकीले,
कुछ गहरे,
कुछ बेरंग..
कुछ सपने,
कुछ झूठे,
कुछ सच्चे,
कुछ टूटे.
कुछ लोग,
कुछ अपने,
कुछ पराये,
कुछ, सब कुछ..
कुछ यादें,
कुछ मीठी,
कुछ खट्टी,
कुछ, चुभती..
कुछ आँखें,
कुछ मुस्काती,
कुछ भीगी,
कुछ, सूखी..
और
कुछ लम्हे,
कुछ पल,
और कुछ पलों की ज़िन्दगी...
Sunday, May 17, 2009
On Election Results
Oops! I have started writing but I do not know what I wanted to wrote in the first place. It's just that I was happy, am happy with the way Congress has won. Yup. It's not that Congress has won. It's the WAY Congress has won. Winning almost a majority, and with people like Mulayam and Lalu licking their feet to get into the government. Yes. I think I can write on what I liked and disliked in these results. But before, I'll go on my day. The day that was D-Day for many.
What a day it was. I got up at seven, and went straight to the TV, while all others were sleeping at my home. (I had gone to my sister from my rented flat so that I can watch PROPER TV there, and not my TV tuner card on the Dell laptop.) After waiting till 8.15, finally the first leads started dropping in. The leads had hardly crossed total seats when the power went off.
!!!
Okay. I was cool. Reading The Bridge Across Forever, and hoping that the power will be back soon and I won't miss much fun. It was. After fifteen minutes or maybe some more time, the tally had crossed around hundred and in a way that was enough to change the colors of those around me. Apparently, most of my family is slightly to not-so-slightly pro-Hindu - the English speaking, or English understanding middle class Yogendra Yadav yesterday talked about. Though, I guess the class is getting converted at its own speed, which may increase with Rahul Baba coming in. I'm probably the first member in my family.
Back to the results. Congress had started gaining a difference in the number of seats which almost never reduced. I was expecting it to be something around 30-35 but the difference went on and on and reached almost Hundred. Anyways, what happened after that is known to everybody. Finally Congress had a small margin to cover to get the majority and Manmohan Singh was given a mandate to retain the Prime Minister's post.
So let me come back to what I liked, or disliked in the poll results.
There were a lot of things to be liked. First of them, of course was that Left was left out. After all those years of wondering why public keeps on voting to the left, I was witness to a big fall in left's votes and seats. I believe that people always knew that left did not work, but probably they voted the Left for its ideology. And this ideology suffered a major setback when Somnath Chatterjee was thrown out by his party. Probably people took that very seriously, besides other reasons.
Equally important was the fact that in Bihar, probably for the first time, it became difficult for Lalu to get a seat (though he managed to defeat Rudy by 5k votes) and Paswan couldn't save his seat either. At the same time Mayawati and Jayalalitha, whom I call two big fat stubborn ladies (both have a competition when it comes to being either), were not given much bhaav by the public. I think public has very clearly said that either the politicians have to work, or they can sit at home. The same can be confirmed by the votes Nitish got for himself in Bihar or Sheila Dikshit got in Delhi.
But the most unexpected thing for me was the rise of Congress in Uttar Pradesh. I was not expecting a number of more than 12-13 for the party in the largest state. But Rahul Gandhi magic really worked and helped Congress reach places nobody expected.
And yes, one good thing was Shashi Tharoor coming to the parliament. Such people are needed there. In fact such people should be given a place in the cabinet and Shashi Tharoor can be a brilliant person for a start.
For dislikes, there are a few things that I didn't understand. First was the number of seats Mulayam Singh Yadav got. Probably that is the result of his voters coming back to him after trying Mayawati who seems to have failed in giving the great administration she had promised.
Another thing that I could not understand was the BJP's sweep in Karnataka after the widely criticized incidents of Mangalore when the CM completely supported Ram Sene. I am unable to understand whether its public's support or their short term memory.
But worse of all is the results of Maharashtra. Raj Thackeray's MNS getting more than one lakh votes in all constituencies in Mumbai and affecting the votes of BJP Shiv Sena is not a very good news. Unfortunately, this is not at all surprising as we know it HAD to happen.
Overall, the public has done a lot of good, and BIG things this time. But I think there is still scope for them to learn some things, which includes getting above people like Raj Thackeray and Varun Gandhi. I hope we'll see even better results in the next elections. In 2014.
What a day it was. I got up at seven, and went straight to the TV, while all others were sleeping at my home. (I had gone to my sister from my rented flat so that I can watch PROPER TV there, and not my TV tuner card on the Dell laptop.) After waiting till 8.15, finally the first leads started dropping in. The leads had hardly crossed total seats when the power went off.
!!!
Okay. I was cool. Reading The Bridge Across Forever, and hoping that the power will be back soon and I won't miss much fun. It was. After fifteen minutes or maybe some more time, the tally had crossed around hundred and in a way that was enough to change the colors of those around me. Apparently, most of my family is slightly to not-so-slightly pro-Hindu - the English speaking, or English understanding middle class Yogendra Yadav yesterday talked about. Though, I guess the class is getting converted at its own speed, which may increase with Rahul Baba coming in. I'm probably the first member in my family.
Back to the results. Congress had started gaining a difference in the number of seats which almost never reduced. I was expecting it to be something around 30-35 but the difference went on and on and reached almost Hundred. Anyways, what happened after that is known to everybody. Finally Congress had a small margin to cover to get the majority and Manmohan Singh was given a mandate to retain the Prime Minister's post.
So let me come back to what I liked, or disliked in the poll results.
There were a lot of things to be liked. First of them, of course was that Left was left out. After all those years of wondering why public keeps on voting to the left, I was witness to a big fall in left's votes and seats. I believe that people always knew that left did not work, but probably they voted the Left for its ideology. And this ideology suffered a major setback when Somnath Chatterjee was thrown out by his party. Probably people took that very seriously, besides other reasons.
Equally important was the fact that in Bihar, probably for the first time, it became difficult for Lalu to get a seat (though he managed to defeat Rudy by 5k votes) and Paswan couldn't save his seat either. At the same time Mayawati and Jayalalitha, whom I call two big fat stubborn ladies (both have a competition when it comes to being either), were not given much bhaav by the public. I think public has very clearly said that either the politicians have to work, or they can sit at home. The same can be confirmed by the votes Nitish got for himself in Bihar or Sheila Dikshit got in Delhi.
But the most unexpected thing for me was the rise of Congress in Uttar Pradesh. I was not expecting a number of more than 12-13 for the party in the largest state. But Rahul Gandhi magic really worked and helped Congress reach places nobody expected.
And yes, one good thing was Shashi Tharoor coming to the parliament. Such people are needed there. In fact such people should be given a place in the cabinet and Shashi Tharoor can be a brilliant person for a start.
For dislikes, there are a few things that I didn't understand. First was the number of seats Mulayam Singh Yadav got. Probably that is the result of his voters coming back to him after trying Mayawati who seems to have failed in giving the great administration she had promised.
Another thing that I could not understand was the BJP's sweep in Karnataka after the widely criticized incidents of Mangalore when the CM completely supported Ram Sene. I am unable to understand whether its public's support or their short term memory.
But worse of all is the results of Maharashtra. Raj Thackeray's MNS getting more than one lakh votes in all constituencies in Mumbai and affecting the votes of BJP Shiv Sena is not a very good news. Unfortunately, this is not at all surprising as we know it HAD to happen.
Overall, the public has done a lot of good, and BIG things this time. But I think there is still scope for them to learn some things, which includes getting above people like Raj Thackeray and Varun Gandhi. I hope we'll see even better results in the next elections. In 2014.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Waiting for the Big Day
It's been a long exercise. The polls. Started almost a month ago, finally the drama is about to end, within a week. The 13th of this month will present us with the end of the polls and 16th will bring us the results of the polls and end of the drama. Only to start a new one.
Today was an interesting day. Somehow, after a long time, NDA looked like it was really some alliance. For the first time, felt like other than UPA, there were more options. Probably a bit too late, but at least before the end of elections, people got to see that there was something called NDA which was more than just Advani who showed up on every ad the party has released.
But more interestingly, the drama, which was named NDA's shakti-pradarshan by the TV channels, seemed more Modi centric than Advani centric today. Not for once did I feel that the Prime Ministerial candidate of the NDA was L K Advani. Nor did I feel the power that is NDA supposedly going to have according to its campaign. In short, the NDA's slogan of Mazboot Neta, Nirnayak Sarkar (Powerful leader, Decisive government) looked fake. It seemed that if the NDA comes in power, Advani will be as powerless as Vajpayee was with his 13 parties (that's the number I remember, no guarantee on that)
And while Narendra Modi shook hands with Nitish Kumar, without technically breaking the latter's promise of not calling him in Bihar, Modi also indirectly expressed his wish to join everyone and hence come on to the national stage in future. Something that is feared by many.
For now, the only thing is the results that will come out on 16th May. I remember how eagerly I used to wait for my annual results when I was in school as they were also announced on 16th May. But this is something that is making me even more curious. And I don't think this curiosity will end soon, because the question is not just whether Manmohan or Advani will be the PM, but the question is who will control the future of India. Will it be people like Modi? Or Rahul Gandhi?? Or Varun Gandhi???
Today was an interesting day. Somehow, after a long time, NDA looked like it was really some alliance. For the first time, felt like other than UPA, there were more options. Probably a bit too late, but at least before the end of elections, people got to see that there was something called NDA which was more than just Advani who showed up on every ad the party has released.
But more interestingly, the drama, which was named NDA's shakti-pradarshan by the TV channels, seemed more Modi centric than Advani centric today. Not for once did I feel that the Prime Ministerial candidate of the NDA was L K Advani. Nor did I feel the power that is NDA supposedly going to have according to its campaign. In short, the NDA's slogan of Mazboot Neta, Nirnayak Sarkar (Powerful leader, Decisive government) looked fake. It seemed that if the NDA comes in power, Advani will be as powerless as Vajpayee was with his 13 parties (that's the number I remember, no guarantee on that)
And while Narendra Modi shook hands with Nitish Kumar, without technically breaking the latter's promise of not calling him in Bihar, Modi also indirectly expressed his wish to join everyone and hence come on to the national stage in future. Something that is feared by many.
For now, the only thing is the results that will come out on 16th May. I remember how eagerly I used to wait for my annual results when I was in school as they were also announced on 16th May. But this is something that is making me even more curious. And I don't think this curiosity will end soon, because the question is not just whether Manmohan or Advani will be the PM, but the question is who will control the future of India. Will it be people like Modi? Or Rahul Gandhi?? Or Varun Gandhi???
Monday, April 20, 2009
IPL Season II - Ye "Naya" Hai
Finally the DLF IPL Seacond season is here. And slowly it is gaining momentum that was nowhere in the start, unlike the first season. There are lots of expectations from the old winners. And somehow, many people are expecting the old tallies to continue. For such people, I have only three words. This is New. Ye Naya Hai.
IPL Season one gave us winners like Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. While teams which stood high grounds on paper, like Deccan chargers, played some schoolboy cricket, especially in terms of team spirit. Royal Challengers of Bangalore looked challenged on many grounds and Mumbai Indians could not make it even with the biggest biggies around.
But if you concluded that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the ultimate King (or Super King) whose team cannot be beaten by that of an aging Sachin or that Gilchrist, Gibbs and RP Singh cannot make a good team, it's time you think again as everything seems to be new in this season.
IPL season II proved from the very first match that one should not go by the tallies of last season when Mumbai beat the Finalist of last season, Chennai Super Kings. If this was not enough of a surprise (for me it really was not) in the second match Royal Challengers Bangalore not only won the match but Rajasthan Royals, last year's champions, were reduced to a mere fifty eight, the lowest yet in the IPL. And it was purely because of the all charged up performance of the Challengers, and their changed attitude which was clear when they were fielding.
The third match was unfortunate as the rain made things not so impartial, but the fourth match once again brought in Deccan Chargers as victors against Kolkata Knight Riders, after an extremely poor show by the former during the last season. Also, the fielding and bowling of the team looked wonderful and the attitude of Chargers on field was hardly anything less than that of the Challengers.
In short, the first two days have made it clear that the new season of the IPL has to be written in new, blank sheets and one need not think that the impressions of the last season will be found on this season too. And now even if a few matches again give the results like the past, it will not be because of who won in the last season, but purely because who is in command this time.
On that note, there is something I would say about Dhoni's comment that I read in today's newspaper. Dhoni had written that they'd make a comeback (after their loss to Mumbai in first match), but my say is that there is nothing to make a comeback to in this season. To win this one, he'll have to start anew with his team, something that Pieterson and Gilchrist are doing.
IPL Season one gave us winners like Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. While teams which stood high grounds on paper, like Deccan chargers, played some schoolboy cricket, especially in terms of team spirit. Royal Challengers of Bangalore looked challenged on many grounds and Mumbai Indians could not make it even with the biggest biggies around.
But if you concluded that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the ultimate King (or Super King) whose team cannot be beaten by that of an aging Sachin or that Gilchrist, Gibbs and RP Singh cannot make a good team, it's time you think again as everything seems to be new in this season.
IPL season II proved from the very first match that one should not go by the tallies of last season when Mumbai beat the Finalist of last season, Chennai Super Kings. If this was not enough of a surprise (for me it really was not) in the second match Royal Challengers Bangalore not only won the match but Rajasthan Royals, last year's champions, were reduced to a mere fifty eight, the lowest yet in the IPL. And it was purely because of the all charged up performance of the Challengers, and their changed attitude which was clear when they were fielding.
The third match was unfortunate as the rain made things not so impartial, but the fourth match once again brought in Deccan Chargers as victors against Kolkata Knight Riders, after an extremely poor show by the former during the last season. Also, the fielding and bowling of the team looked wonderful and the attitude of Chargers on field was hardly anything less than that of the Challengers.
In short, the first two days have made it clear that the new season of the IPL has to be written in new, blank sheets and one need not think that the impressions of the last season will be found on this season too. And now even if a few matches again give the results like the past, it will not be because of who won in the last season, but purely because who is in command this time.
On that note, there is something I would say about Dhoni's comment that I read in today's newspaper. Dhoni had written that they'd make a comeback (after their loss to Mumbai in first match), but my say is that there is nothing to make a comeback to in this season. To win this one, he'll have to start anew with his team, something that Pieterson and Gilchrist are doing.
Friday, April 3, 2009
My Bangalore: Tickets, anyone?
Right now it's election time, and so, everybody is busy talking about politics and politicians, and hence, about corruption. But traveling in Bangalore I came to know how deeply we are into corruption. Here are a few examples of what has happened with me in the past six months of BMTC travel.
The first, and a highly common practice is the minimum fair minus one rupee system. When u get into a bus for the smallest ticket journey, (3 rupee or 4 rupee, depending on bus) u give exact change to the conductor and he returns you one rupee, like a substitute for the ticket.
More fearless conductors happen to tend to similar practice on higher scale and leave two-three rupees on tickets for longer journeys.
Now the interesting part is what happens when you protest and demand for a ticket. Mostly conductors don't want problems and give you a ticket if you demand for one. Some do nagging and you may need to raise your voice a bit to get the ticket. But then, there are more interesting incidents taking place too.
Once on my way to Marathahalli bridge from whitefield, I met a conductor of high corruption index. It was a Pushpak bus but when I entered the bus I didn't realize and took exact change of rupees eight in my hand, the normal fare for the distance while the actual fare was rupees ten. Now when the conductor came, I asked him for a ticket to marathahalli and he said it was ten rupees. Now he happened to see the change in my hand and asked how much it was. Before I said it was only eight, he asked me to give that itself and moved ahead without giving the ticket. When I asked for the ticket he first tried to ignore me, and when I raised my voice to call him up, he finally said that it was rupees ten and gave me a ticket after I gave him two more.
And then there was the show time. When I was getting down, the conductor asked me if I had the ticket. And as I showed it to him, he almost snatched it from my hand. now that I was on the steps, I didn't want to argue, and so I came out. And the conductor earned a full ten rupees as I'm sure he'd have reused the ticket.
Another, more interesting case was when I was traveling with three friends by a new BIG 10 bus. This time it was from Marathahalli to whitefield. I asked the conductor for two tickets as two of us had passes and he gave me one ticket and one pass. He also told me in Kannada to give the pass back to him when I get down. Though I don't understand a lot of Kannada, I got what he meant. As I was getting down, the conductor asked me for the pass, and while I gave it back, I commented that he had earned a full eight rupees. At that time he was a bit apologetic in tone and reiterated that there was someone who had not given the money for pass while he had took it out of booklet, and so he was trying to get the money back.
Though in the last incident I felt that the conductor might be true, it is also a fact that conductors sometimes do use passes to make money. Once coming to whitefield again, I was given a used day pass by a conductor when I protested for not being given the ticket. This was after ten at night and so the conductor didn't ask for the pass when I got out of the bus.
Most of these incidents look very small but they are a matter of concern for two reasons. First, these incidents anyway give rise to corruption and bring corruption to our daily lives possibly more than anything else. Secondly, these incidents, when seen from a larger frame, must be costing lacs of rupees everyday to BMTC as BMTC buses make more than 70,000 trips everyday.
I think there should be some effort to stop this practice. My suggestion would be that BMTC customers be given badges carrying their names and a unique ID and one should be able to lodge a complaint against such incidents through Internet, phone, and at BMTC offices and if there is a certain number of complaints against a conductor, there should be action taken against him. I hope the overhead of maintaining such a system would be less than the money lost by BMTC due to the bad practices going on currently. And we shall be making a better society anyway.
The first, and a highly common practice is the minimum fair minus one rupee system. When u get into a bus for the smallest ticket journey, (3 rupee or 4 rupee, depending on bus) u give exact change to the conductor and he returns you one rupee, like a substitute for the ticket.
More fearless conductors happen to tend to similar practice on higher scale and leave two-three rupees on tickets for longer journeys.
Now the interesting part is what happens when you protest and demand for a ticket. Mostly conductors don't want problems and give you a ticket if you demand for one. Some do nagging and you may need to raise your voice a bit to get the ticket. But then, there are more interesting incidents taking place too.
Once on my way to Marathahalli bridge from whitefield, I met a conductor of high corruption index. It was a Pushpak bus but when I entered the bus I didn't realize and took exact change of rupees eight in my hand, the normal fare for the distance while the actual fare was rupees ten. Now when the conductor came, I asked him for a ticket to marathahalli and he said it was ten rupees. Now he happened to see the change in my hand and asked how much it was. Before I said it was only eight, he asked me to give that itself and moved ahead without giving the ticket. When I asked for the ticket he first tried to ignore me, and when I raised my voice to call him up, he finally said that it was rupees ten and gave me a ticket after I gave him two more.
And then there was the show time. When I was getting down, the conductor asked me if I had the ticket. And as I showed it to him, he almost snatched it from my hand. now that I was on the steps, I didn't want to argue, and so I came out. And the conductor earned a full ten rupees as I'm sure he'd have reused the ticket.
Another, more interesting case was when I was traveling with three friends by a new BIG 10 bus. This time it was from Marathahalli to whitefield. I asked the conductor for two tickets as two of us had passes and he gave me one ticket and one pass. He also told me in Kannada to give the pass back to him when I get down. Though I don't understand a lot of Kannada, I got what he meant. As I was getting down, the conductor asked me for the pass, and while I gave it back, I commented that he had earned a full eight rupees. At that time he was a bit apologetic in tone and reiterated that there was someone who had not given the money for pass while he had took it out of booklet, and so he was trying to get the money back.
Though in the last incident I felt that the conductor might be true, it is also a fact that conductors sometimes do use passes to make money. Once coming to whitefield again, I was given a used day pass by a conductor when I protested for not being given the ticket. This was after ten at night and so the conductor didn't ask for the pass when I got out of the bus.
Most of these incidents look very small but they are a matter of concern for two reasons. First, these incidents anyway give rise to corruption and bring corruption to our daily lives possibly more than anything else. Secondly, these incidents, when seen from a larger frame, must be costing lacs of rupees everyday to BMTC as BMTC buses make more than 70,000 trips everyday.
I think there should be some effort to stop this practice. My suggestion would be that BMTC customers be given badges carrying their names and a unique ID and one should be able to lodge a complaint against such incidents through Internet, phone, and at BMTC offices and if there is a certain number of complaints against a conductor, there should be action taken against him. I hope the overhead of maintaining such a system would be less than the money lost by BMTC due to the bad practices going on currently. And we shall be making a better society anyway.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Mean-while
Moserbaer Joke:
What is the Moserbaer six CD collection of Shahrukh Khan hits called?
Six Pack SRK.
(Based on real incident)
What is the Moserbaer six CD collection of Shahrukh Khan hits called?
Six Pack SRK.
(Based on real incident)
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Airtel Launches IMRS (Interactive Message Response System)
Years after changing the system for balance enquiry by shifting to *123# from calling 123, Airtel finally launched it's Interactive Message Response System, IMRS where you can know balance and validity (that too without an advertisement around, till date), check the offer of the day (finally no need to wait for a message), ask for Hello Tunes (how could they leave this one) and start or stop a DND registry (Important one there).
For Airtel IMRS, you need to dial *121#, which the company has chosen as the text alternative for 121, its national customer care number. On dialing *121#, the system sends you a main menu which shows the above four options. You need to press the 'answer' key on the phone (generally the OK button) and then key in the option number and send. All the process is of course toll free.
When I tried the service, I found that the balance enquiry, offer of the day, and DND work fine for me and I've got a DND registration number too (which I could not store in phone, there was no option to save the message). The Hello Tunes option, which I had tried at the end, and that too quite reluctantly (though I tried it twice), didn't seem to work for me. Returning to main menu was slightly confusing but finally pressing *1 (you can read that star one) in place of option number worked.
While the service has come here quite late, I think this is here to stay. Ineractive Voice Response System (IVRS) used at the customer care is rarely liked by customers and most of the people find it a tough task to call up the customer care because they have to go through long paths of sweet, irritating recorded audio messages. In such a scenario, the new message response system, or IMRS, should be welcomed by people just the way they welcomed *123#, the balance enquiry number which is common to many operators today. And since the service is expected to last long, I expect Airtel to add more options to the service and make it better in all the ways possible.
For Airtel IMRS, you need to dial *121#, which the company has chosen as the text alternative for 121, its national customer care number. On dialing *121#, the system sends you a main menu which shows the above four options. You need to press the 'answer' key on the phone (generally the OK button) and then key in the option number and send. All the process is of course toll free.
When I tried the service, I found that the balance enquiry, offer of the day, and DND work fine for me and I've got a DND registration number too (which I could not store in phone, there was no option to save the message). The Hello Tunes option, which I had tried at the end, and that too quite reluctantly (though I tried it twice), didn't seem to work for me. Returning to main menu was slightly confusing but finally pressing *1 (you can read that star one) in place of option number worked.
While the service has come here quite late, I think this is here to stay. Ineractive Voice Response System (IVRS) used at the customer care is rarely liked by customers and most of the people find it a tough task to call up the customer care because they have to go through long paths of sweet, irritating recorded audio messages. In such a scenario, the new message response system, or IMRS, should be welcomed by people just the way they welcomed *123#, the balance enquiry number which is common to many operators today. And since the service is expected to last long, I expect Airtel to add more options to the service and make it better in all the ways possible.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
From Zero to Non-Zero
After Mumbai, Mangalore is the new victim of a new 'sena'. It's not been long since Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirmana Sena (or whatever it is) went a bit silent after the 26/11 attack on Mumbai, and a new savior of society is born who is saving the public by beating girls.
Right now the newborn or at least newly identified Ram Sena (or whatever is, again, I don't really want to care) is busy giving out mediophile statements as a follow up to their act of bravery, or at least society-cleaning (I'm just guessing their words as I'm not really giving their words a read).
It's interesting how all of a sudden a person or an organization who was nowhere comes up and almost challenges the government as they say they won't take law into their hands now, but if the government fails to act, they'll decide what to do next.
And now, my experience tells me (hail Indian politics, I feel I've seen so much at 23) that the guys involved will be able to find some tickets for the next or post-next elections and maybe even get a seat or two.
So here comes the conclusion of this sweet little exercise of getting inside a pub and beating girls, 'not molesting them but maybe giving a slap or two', in their leaders' own words. The guys who did it of course get arrested and all, their pictures (and even interviews) are published, they become popular (rather anti-popular) and hence known faces, and finally they get a place in Indian politics.
Whatever happens, one thing is sure, that the guys become zero to something non-zero. And that pays. Always. Can we stop this?
Right now the newborn or at least newly identified Ram Sena (or whatever is, again, I don't really want to care) is busy giving out mediophile statements as a follow up to their act of bravery, or at least society-cleaning (I'm just guessing their words as I'm not really giving their words a read).
It's interesting how all of a sudden a person or an organization who was nowhere comes up and almost challenges the government as they say they won't take law into their hands now, but if the government fails to act, they'll decide what to do next.
And now, my experience tells me (hail Indian politics, I feel I've seen so much at 23) that the guys involved will be able to find some tickets for the next or post-next elections and maybe even get a seat or two.
So here comes the conclusion of this sweet little exercise of getting inside a pub and beating girls, 'not molesting them but maybe giving a slap or two', in their leaders' own words. The guys who did it of course get arrested and all, their pictures (and even interviews) are published, they become popular (rather anti-popular) and hence known faces, and finally they get a place in Indian politics.
Whatever happens, one thing is sure, that the guys become zero to something non-zero. And that pays. Always. Can we stop this?
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Aw c'mon
Half an hour earlier I was sitting in mess-cum-restaurant for my dinner, watching trailers of new Hindi movies when some guy sitting behind me asked the teenage waiter to put on some news channel. The waiter followed and I was watching NDTV instead of my favorite 9XM (though today it was SET MAX before changing to NDTV).
Anyway, I thought I'd see it till the guy is there and didn't protest. Now as I was watching the news, the first interesting thing was Priya Dutt being disappointed with brother Sanjay for going to Samajwadi Party instead of Congress. Dear Priya, it suits the image. Munna Bhai fits well in a Bhai Log ki Party. Also, maybe he idolizes Amitabh Bachchan and so following him.
Now came the news that was selected as the news of the day by NDTV people. NDTV was hurt (or trying to show it was hurt) by some corporates showing their support for Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India, and they fired a burning question (that's what I'm taught, all questions burn, and I know they did during school): Is it correct for India Inc to project Narendra Modi as PM?
At the time I was watching the show, the public response was divided 60-40. In favor of the question. Or against the channel, as far as I could see. At that point of time I could only find comments that were against the sin the business community had committed. And my guess would be that comments have to be filtered by the channel, though I expect that the numbers aren't.
Now an hour or so later, when I casted the 786th vote (O, what a number!), I could see the numbers changing to 50.5/48.1, still more people being magnanimous enough to ignore the crime of the India Inc. which, my guess is, comes after opinions being affected by the channel.
Now this relates to the third news where Sonia Gandhi had said that the Freedom of Expression of the news channels will be maintained and they should not worry about the same.
My question is: Is the freedom of expression only for news channels? What is wrong if certain business people support and project a person for the Prime Minister's post? Because according to me, in a democracy like India, anybody can speak up and speak out (just like an old Airtel ad) so why shouldn't the business community who have done our country proud and continue to do so?
Anyway, as far as my personal opinion goes, there is nothing wrong with projecting Modi as the Prime Minister, not because I think he's a great person or something but simply because there is hardly a better choice with us. In fact Mr Advani, who is currently thinking of himself as the Prime Minister elect of India, is hardly better and can be as bad as Modi on a given day as is clear from history.
So I guess we can make Modi or even Lalu the Prime Minister. In fact, thinking of Lalu, I feel they all get better when they come to the centre (compare the situation of Bihar and Indian Railways).
Hmmm. It's fixed then. I support Lalu for the Prime Minister in the coming elections. Anybody hurt with that? ;)
Anyway, I thought I'd see it till the guy is there and didn't protest. Now as I was watching the news, the first interesting thing was Priya Dutt being disappointed with brother Sanjay for going to Samajwadi Party instead of Congress. Dear Priya, it suits the image. Munna Bhai fits well in a Bhai Log ki Party. Also, maybe he idolizes Amitabh Bachchan and so following him.
Now came the news that was selected as the news of the day by NDTV people. NDTV was hurt (or trying to show it was hurt) by some corporates showing their support for Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India, and they fired a burning question (that's what I'm taught, all questions burn, and I know they did during school): Is it correct for India Inc to project Narendra Modi as PM?
At the time I was watching the show, the public response was divided 60-40. In favor of the question. Or against the channel, as far as I could see. At that point of time I could only find comments that were against the sin the business community had committed. And my guess would be that comments have to be filtered by the channel, though I expect that the numbers aren't.
Now an hour or so later, when I casted the 786th vote (O, what a number!), I could see the numbers changing to 50.5/48.1, still more people being magnanimous enough to ignore the crime of the India Inc. which, my guess is, comes after opinions being affected by the channel.
Now this relates to the third news where Sonia Gandhi had said that the Freedom of Expression of the news channels will be maintained and they should not worry about the same.
My question is: Is the freedom of expression only for news channels? What is wrong if certain business people support and project a person for the Prime Minister's post? Because according to me, in a democracy like India, anybody can speak up and speak out (just like an old Airtel ad) so why shouldn't the business community who have done our country proud and continue to do so?
Anyway, as far as my personal opinion goes, there is nothing wrong with projecting Modi as the Prime Minister, not because I think he's a great person or something but simply because there is hardly a better choice with us. In fact Mr Advani, who is currently thinking of himself as the Prime Minister elect of India, is hardly better and can be as bad as Modi on a given day as is clear from history.
So I guess we can make Modi or even Lalu the Prime Minister. In fact, thinking of Lalu, I feel they all get better when they come to the centre (compare the situation of Bihar and Indian Railways).
Hmmm. It's fixed then. I support Lalu for the Prime Minister in the coming elections. Anybody hurt with that? ;)
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Happy New Year @ Immadihalli, Whitefield, Bangalore
Happy New Year. Well, I was kind of confused or rather confused without kind of while thinking how to celebrate my new year, that is, the much hyped 00:00:00 of 1st January 2009. I was quite in a fix when I started out around 8.15 and reached the whitefield main road around 8.30. The first thing I saw there was a Red Vajra bus No 333P which goes to MG road and Majestic too, which is on the way to my sister's home. I felt like it was an invitation as I've to wait for this bus whenever I plan to go somewhere. But.. I didn't go.
After moving hundred meters of the cross/bus stop in one direction and a hundred in the other, I settled for 'food first, rest later' strategy and had my dinner at Mayuri Sagar. The food was fine but I felt the thirst I used to at Dhaba, the drink thirst. I don't yet take hard drinks, but can't classify it as soft drink thirst because the effect of soft drinks during this thirst isn't exactly as soft drinks are supposed to leave.
Well, in that mode of mine, I bought an Appy Fizz (cause Mirinda can wasn't there) and started moving in the two hundred meters range I was previously walking, with the deceptive Fizz bottle in my hand, even moving in a way that was deceptive.
While coming back from the Dhaba, I always needed people when I was in such a mode and always got some victims. But this time, there were none present there, so I had to take up the phone. After finishing my Fizz, I called up a friend who tried her best to find some way out for me to celebrate, but since there were actually none, she couldn't find out. Finally I decided to pass some time in the nearby Reliance Fresh and do some shopping, that is biscuits, and more biscuits.
While at Reliance Fresh, I called up my mother and talked to her, and while on the way back, my local guardian, my Jijaji called up. As I reached my room, I and my flatmate Ambuj were thinking how to celebrate our time of the year. Finally, after some usual time pass, I decided to make a list of books I would want to read this year. Ambuj did the same too.
As my list of some twenty-five books was over, sounds of crackers being burst started coming in and we decided to move out of our home to see what was happening outside. I was a bit shocked and a lot surprised to see that people were bursting crackers like anything and everyone looked very enthusiastic, even in the dim lights of street at midnight. And then came the real surprise, when a girl from the party saw us and offered wishes and cake. It was heartening to see people offering cake to us, as we are totally unknown to all in the neighborhood yet.
Later, we both had our time receiving calls from friends and eating biscuits. And then, listening to the Samrat's story of party at UB City when he came at 2.
It was a different type of celebration but it was one. Better than the non-celebration I was afraid of. I wish the year goes well like this too.
After moving hundred meters of the cross/bus stop in one direction and a hundred in the other, I settled for 'food first, rest later' strategy and had my dinner at Mayuri Sagar. The food was fine but I felt the thirst I used to at Dhaba, the drink thirst. I don't yet take hard drinks, but can't classify it as soft drink thirst because the effect of soft drinks during this thirst isn't exactly as soft drinks are supposed to leave.
Well, in that mode of mine, I bought an Appy Fizz (cause Mirinda can wasn't there) and started moving in the two hundred meters range I was previously walking, with the deceptive Fizz bottle in my hand, even moving in a way that was deceptive.
While coming back from the Dhaba, I always needed people when I was in such a mode and always got some victims. But this time, there were none present there, so I had to take up the phone. After finishing my Fizz, I called up a friend who tried her best to find some way out for me to celebrate, but since there were actually none, she couldn't find out. Finally I decided to pass some time in the nearby Reliance Fresh and do some shopping, that is biscuits, and more biscuits.
While at Reliance Fresh, I called up my mother and talked to her, and while on the way back, my local guardian, my Jijaji called up. As I reached my room, I and my flatmate Ambuj were thinking how to celebrate our time of the year. Finally, after some usual time pass, I decided to make a list of books I would want to read this year. Ambuj did the same too.
As my list of some twenty-five books was over, sounds of crackers being burst started coming in and we decided to move out of our home to see what was happening outside. I was a bit shocked and a lot surprised to see that people were bursting crackers like anything and everyone looked very enthusiastic, even in the dim lights of street at midnight. And then came the real surprise, when a girl from the party saw us and offered wishes and cake. It was heartening to see people offering cake to us, as we are totally unknown to all in the neighborhood yet.
Later, we both had our time receiving calls from friends and eating biscuits. And then, listening to the Samrat's story of party at UB City when he came at 2.
It was a different type of celebration but it was one. Better than the non-celebration I was afraid of. I wish the year goes well like this too.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Kill piracy.. Shall we ever?
It's a question to which i've no answer. Really. India has changed a lot in the past few years. So has the entertainment industry, especially in its try to curb piracy. The rates of movies' cd's have come down to an affordable and reasonable rupees 150, Moserbaer has brought a number of movies at prices down to earth, Cinema halls have changed to multiplexes, at least in big cities, and we've movies on tv in just a few months.
But still, with all these things changed, one thing that hasn't changed is piracy. The number of movie goers has increased, number of cd buyers has increased, but i don't think the number of pirated cd's sold has decreased. I can still see pirated cd's being sold in shops, roadsides, and buses and trains.
The fact is that at the time of writing i'm sitting in front of tv where my sister's dvd player is showing me a blurred rab ne bana di jodi with a blurred voice.
We see pirated movies in hostels, no doubt, lots of them, coming from internet, traveling on USB drives and even wirelessly. But it's not that just students watch pirated movies. Even people who earn lots of money do watch these pirated movies, my sister just being a representative of them here.
In fact i couldn't resist the temptation to watch the movie myself. And i'm watching the movie too. It's hardly a great experience and nothing compared to watching a movie in the cinema hall. But when I can save money and time wasted not just in the cinema hall but more than that transportation, I think a little blur can be borne with.
Actually, for now, i don't think piracy is going to end. And so, I guess it's better I watch the movie now and we'll discuss the piracy problem later. But the fact is that this question will remain there. Will piracy come to an end?
But still, with all these things changed, one thing that hasn't changed is piracy. The number of movie goers has increased, number of cd buyers has increased, but i don't think the number of pirated cd's sold has decreased. I can still see pirated cd's being sold in shops, roadsides, and buses and trains.
The fact is that at the time of writing i'm sitting in front of tv where my sister's dvd player is showing me a blurred rab ne bana di jodi with a blurred voice.
We see pirated movies in hostels, no doubt, lots of them, coming from internet, traveling on USB drives and even wirelessly. But it's not that just students watch pirated movies. Even people who earn lots of money do watch these pirated movies, my sister just being a representative of them here.
In fact i couldn't resist the temptation to watch the movie myself. And i'm watching the movie too. It's hardly a great experience and nothing compared to watching a movie in the cinema hall. But when I can save money and time wasted not just in the cinema hall but more than that transportation, I think a little blur can be borne with.
Actually, for now, i don't think piracy is going to end. And so, I guess it's better I watch the movie now and we'll discuss the piracy problem later. But the fact is that this question will remain there. Will piracy come to an end?
Friday, December 19, 2008
Write priorities
Today I read news that says Bangalore shopkeepers will be fined if they do not write their signboards in Kannada. Even if it's not something Raj Tackeray like, I do not think it's the right path that we are taking.
I think we are setting our priorities wrong. I'm not saying that police is not doing it's work, not enforcing law where it should and not catching thieves, robbers and terrorists, but I still think we're in the wrong lane.
I don't really think it matters to those who are shopping whether the signboards are in Kannada or not. Whether they understand English or not. But I think it does matter if somebody hits you and runs and you are not able to read the number of the vehicle.
Yes, I'm talking about the law that deals with the number plates on vehicles in India. As far as law is concerned, every vehicle in India should have a number plate in Roman numerals which is ethically correct too as everyone cannot read numbers in local languages, especially in a city like Bangalore where lot of outsiders are there, while Roman numerals are known to everybody who knows how to read.
But still, I find vehicles on the road, public and private, which do not have number plates in Roman numerals at all. And I don't think anybody tries to fine them.
I don't disagree with the people who feel a shop in Karnataka should have signboards in Kannada. (In fact that way I get more practice of reading Kannada) But I think first we need to set our priorities right.
I think we are setting our priorities wrong. I'm not saying that police is not doing it's work, not enforcing law where it should and not catching thieves, robbers and terrorists, but I still think we're in the wrong lane.
I don't really think it matters to those who are shopping whether the signboards are in Kannada or not. Whether they understand English or not. But I think it does matter if somebody hits you and runs and you are not able to read the number of the vehicle.
Yes, I'm talking about the law that deals with the number plates on vehicles in India. As far as law is concerned, every vehicle in India should have a number plate in Roman numerals which is ethically correct too as everyone cannot read numbers in local languages, especially in a city like Bangalore where lot of outsiders are there, while Roman numerals are known to everybody who knows how to read.
But still, I find vehicles on the road, public and private, which do not have number plates in Roman numerals at all. And I don't think anybody tries to fine them.
I don't disagree with the people who feel a shop in Karnataka should have signboards in Kannada. (In fact that way I get more practice of reading Kannada) But I think first we need to set our priorities right.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Can they leave at least THEM?
While the country salutes the heroes who fought the terrorists, our politicians don't forget to encash whatever they can. When I saw this banner, I really didn't understand what the local politicians showing on the left of the banner have done to get their pics smiling beside the Mumbai martyrs. Isn't it possible to leave some people without finding your personal benefits from them?
And yes, this is not about some party or someone specific. It's a shame to use the name of these martyrs for their own benefit for all the politicians, wherever they are and whichever party they belong to.
And yes, this is not about some party or someone specific. It's a shame to use the name of these martyrs for their own benefit for all the politicians, wherever they are and whichever party they belong to.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
What's up, Bangalore!
It's been long since I wrote something light on this blog. In fact it's been long since I actually wrote anything on this blog except a Raj Thackeray piece, that is, the one below. So, here we go, on my training in Bangalore.
The fact is that I do not want to write anything about the training or the office. They are too boring to be talked about. Right now I'm in a class of 37 and I hardly remember names of half of them, that is, when there are 5 from my previous batch and a few others from my college also.
So, if the training is boring, what is good at Bangalore. Traffic is certainly not. I start early, at 7-7.15 in the morning so that I reach my center in time. And then, I reach home when the clock is almost in the same position, making it a 12 hour workday for me.
Well, the only good thing at Bangalore is FM. (counting only things, not people, who've been really good, they'll be taken up later sometime) Especially 94.3, the Radio One has been simply great. This channel gives 99.9% Hindi songs (maybe 100, not sure) with Hindi-English-Kannada mixed chattering all the time. They get the credit for my listening to Haule Haule and Guzarish before they reached me through net.
Actually I have a parallel FM too, and that does even have these chatterers in between. It's pure and simple music, songs one after the other. Back to back in the RJs' language. And this is courtesy my cellphone which right now has some 336 songs, that is in a 470 MB memory card. (generally known as a 512 MB card) The only disadvantage with the 'parallel' FM is that it doesn't have ONE song. Here ONE means the latest one.
For example, it didn't have Haule Haule when FM played it for the first time. Then after two days I had all the songs of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, and then after one day I didn't have Guzarish that was being played on FM. So it's just that my FM is one song behind, which is covered up by Radio One.
Other than that, there is 'The Afghan' by Fredrick Forsyth that I'm trying to read in buses and office breaks. But the not-that-interesting book has to fight a lot for my time, with FM and sleep always on the cards. The most surprising thing is that I haven't yet seen Fashion, or any other movie for that matter since I've come here.
Hope things are better when I'm out of training. Till then, it's Java, J2EE, Oracle, RDBMS, tests, projects, JBoss, Eclipse, Head First, Complete Reference....
God Bless Me.
The fact is that I do not want to write anything about the training or the office. They are too boring to be talked about. Right now I'm in a class of 37 and I hardly remember names of half of them, that is, when there are 5 from my previous batch and a few others from my college also.
So, if the training is boring, what is good at Bangalore. Traffic is certainly not. I start early, at 7-7.15 in the morning so that I reach my center in time. And then, I reach home when the clock is almost in the same position, making it a 12 hour workday for me.
Well, the only good thing at Bangalore is FM. (counting only things, not people, who've been really good, they'll be taken up later sometime) Especially 94.3, the Radio One has been simply great. This channel gives 99.9% Hindi songs (maybe 100, not sure) with Hindi-English-Kannada mixed chattering all the time. They get the credit for my listening to Haule Haule and Guzarish before they reached me through net.
Actually I have a parallel FM too, and that does even have these chatterers in between. It's pure and simple music, songs one after the other. Back to back in the RJs' language. And this is courtesy my cellphone which right now has some 336 songs, that is in a 470 MB memory card. (generally known as a 512 MB card) The only disadvantage with the 'parallel' FM is that it doesn't have ONE song. Here ONE means the latest one.
For example, it didn't have Haule Haule when FM played it for the first time. Then after two days I had all the songs of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, and then after one day I didn't have Guzarish that was being played on FM. So it's just that my FM is one song behind, which is covered up by Radio One.
Other than that, there is 'The Afghan' by Fredrick Forsyth that I'm trying to read in buses and office breaks. But the not-that-interesting book has to fight a lot for my time, with FM and sleep always on the cards. The most surprising thing is that I haven't yet seen Fashion, or any other movie for that matter since I've come here.
Hope things are better when I'm out of training. Till then, it's Java, J2EE, Oracle, RDBMS, tests, projects, JBoss, Eclipse, Head First, Complete Reference....
God Bless Me.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Is it Only Raj?
It's been really long since I want to write something about Raj Thackeray. I was hating him from the core of my heart. But for the past few days I'm not hating Raj that much. Actually it's not that I'm not hating Raj that much, but the thing is that I'm feeling more hatred for others now.
First of all, I should clarify that in what I write ahead, I do not support Raj Thackeray in any of the activities he has done or any of his statements or policies.
Actually this is something that was running in my mind for quite long. It was made more clear when I read an article by Mrunal Pande in 'Hindustan' and the spark for writing this came from the huge hoardings of LK Advani that I've been looking at for past one week while travelling in Bangalore buses.
Raj Thackeray is a selfish person. No doubt about that. He has done all things he could to get himself in the news and has put his hand on a pulse of many Marathis. At the same time, he has fallen to levels not generally found in today's India, that is, with a few exceptions from UP or maybe Bihar, mainly in the less educated areas of these two states.
But the way Raj has done it, he has found some support from even educated people, something that is not easily found in the 'less educated' UP or Bihar.
All this is certainly very unfortunate. More unfortunate is that people will still cast their votes in favor of Raj and he will get what he has done all this for.
But the most unfortunate thing according to me, is the silence of the so-called leaders of our country. Be it Sonia Gandhi, the lady above the PM and President of our country, or LK Advani, who probably finds himself the most suitable person for the next Prime Minister, or even Manmohan Singh, our Prime Minister himself, all are afraid of commenting against The Great Raj Thackeray. Of course, their party spokespersons have issued the press statements from the respective parties condemning the 'unfortunate incidents'. But our national leaders who are not hesitant to disturb entire rescue operations in floods, fires, earthquakes and bomb blasts just to show their faces, are hiding behind the curtains when they need to speak up. Actually I do not know what they fear, but I guess it must be fear of losing votes by some calculations because that is the only thing they are afraid of.
That's the reason I'm hating these leaders more than Raj Thackeray nowadays. What Raj has done is surely beyond all limits, but there is one thing I felt good about him when I compared him to these leaders -- that he has a stand of his own, however bad, wrong, dividing, disturbing or destroying it is. Our leaders are of no use if they cannot take a stand of their own in such conditions. When I compare the two, i feel there is no better to go to, while one is all set to divide the country, others are quietly watching the drama unfolding itself, waiting for the next move of the artist.
Overall, I feel it's not just Raj Thackeray who is trying to divide our country. All those who are sitting and enjoying this drama instead of trying to end it, are playing their roles in the drama too. And when this drama ends, I do not know where will me and my country be.
First of all, I should clarify that in what I write ahead, I do not support Raj Thackeray in any of the activities he has done or any of his statements or policies.
Actually this is something that was running in my mind for quite long. It was made more clear when I read an article by Mrunal Pande in 'Hindustan' and the spark for writing this came from the huge hoardings of LK Advani that I've been looking at for past one week while travelling in Bangalore buses.
Raj Thackeray is a selfish person. No doubt about that. He has done all things he could to get himself in the news and has put his hand on a pulse of many Marathis. At the same time, he has fallen to levels not generally found in today's India, that is, with a few exceptions from UP or maybe Bihar, mainly in the less educated areas of these two states.
But the way Raj has done it, he has found some support from even educated people, something that is not easily found in the 'less educated' UP or Bihar.
All this is certainly very unfortunate. More unfortunate is that people will still cast their votes in favor of Raj and he will get what he has done all this for.
But the most unfortunate thing according to me, is the silence of the so-called leaders of our country. Be it Sonia Gandhi, the lady above the PM and President of our country, or LK Advani, who probably finds himself the most suitable person for the next Prime Minister, or even Manmohan Singh, our Prime Minister himself, all are afraid of commenting against The Great Raj Thackeray. Of course, their party spokespersons have issued the press statements from the respective parties condemning the 'unfortunate incidents'. But our national leaders who are not hesitant to disturb entire rescue operations in floods, fires, earthquakes and bomb blasts just to show their faces, are hiding behind the curtains when they need to speak up. Actually I do not know what they fear, but I guess it must be fear of losing votes by some calculations because that is the only thing they are afraid of.
That's the reason I'm hating these leaders more than Raj Thackeray nowadays. What Raj has done is surely beyond all limits, but there is one thing I felt good about him when I compared him to these leaders -- that he has a stand of his own, however bad, wrong, dividing, disturbing or destroying it is. Our leaders are of no use if they cannot take a stand of their own in such conditions. When I compare the two, i feel there is no better to go to, while one is all set to divide the country, others are quietly watching the drama unfolding itself, waiting for the next move of the artist.
Overall, I feel it's not just Raj Thackeray who is trying to divide our country. All those who are sitting and enjoying this drama instead of trying to end it, are playing their roles in the drama too. And when this drama ends, I do not know where will me and my country be.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Run maadi Run
Catching the bus back from TCS Trivandrum is always a tough job for me. I mean, I avail the bus service provided by the company, and I am talking about the bus provided by the company only. But it always comes so late and when it comes, there is always maara-maari for a place. Especially when we get the good one. Because it's one or two short of our strength and one or two guys always go standing. That day it was my turn.
And I'll have to say, it was one of my best bus journeys, at least of those between Hotel Mas and Technopark. I generally sing all the songs into the window when I'm in the bus, so that others aren't troubled. But this day I wasn't concerned about others troubles, probably because I was the one standing while others were sitting. The other guy standing was Naveen. Also a few others were there till the gate of Technopark. And there it was our CR who boarded the bus for a ride to the executive hostel which is some half kilometer from the Technopark.
I remember we were shouting out Khalbali with AR Rehman and Naresh Iyer, me and Naveen at least. The girl was silently bearing the pain of all the voices. Soon she got out and we were shouting more loudly. At least I was, as Naveen hardly had left any scope remaining already. Also, with his voice, I was always the humbler one.
That was probably the first day Naveen got into the back rows of the bus and made almost everybody sing. Thanks to our bus driver's wonderful collection, the songs playing were Khalbali, Meri Neend, Mast Kalandar, and same sort. All the way it was I wasted my energy as much as I could and when I reached hostel, I was soooo... energetic. So much so that I moved out of the hostel within a few minutes of coming. Just as soon as I was out of my tie and shoes and back into my VIT UNIVERSITY T-shirt, I took my phone, purse, headphones, and put them on, to start on an unknown track.
I started on the road in front of my hotel. The side I knew had the market. I walked past the market, the one I knew, to some new roads, keeping it straight. Guess some 2-2.5 kms later, I took a little turn and saw a bookshop. It was quite big and even a few foreigners were strolling inside. I got into the shop and started looking up the books there. Quite a few books caught my interest too, but I didn't want to spend much money, as I had not yet received my first salary.
Then there was another book called 'You Are Here' that caught my attention. Probably because of the name of the author, it's bright colorful cover, and an introduction that completely mismatched the name of the author. Actually the book's author is called Meenakshi Reddy Madhvan, a South Indian name that brings me the smell of Sambar-Rice and when talking in books, some serious subjects. But here it was, a book with a few lines on it's cover, looking like a map, and showing points as: The job that sucks, Smoke first postcoital cigarette, do-not-disturb: perfect make out session in progress, attend dad's second wedding as bridesmaid, and so on.
At the same time, I saw another book called 'reluctant fundamentalist' that looked quite readable. Also, I saw later that it was nominated for the man booker prize. Both these books costed Rs 200 each. And I thought I'd buy the fundamentalist book. But for some reason quite unknown to myself, I bought the other one.
On the way back, I was quite exhausted as I had already been standing in the bus and now it was a complete 5 kms way up and down for me. Finally when I reached the Hotel, it took all my will to get up for the dinner. Yet another run to the Ramji Bhojnalaya.
And I'll have to say, it was one of my best bus journeys, at least of those between Hotel Mas and Technopark. I generally sing all the songs into the window when I'm in the bus, so that others aren't troubled. But this day I wasn't concerned about others troubles, probably because I was the one standing while others were sitting. The other guy standing was Naveen. Also a few others were there till the gate of Technopark. And there it was our CR who boarded the bus for a ride to the executive hostel which is some half kilometer from the Technopark.
I remember we were shouting out Khalbali with AR Rehman and Naresh Iyer, me and Naveen at least. The girl was silently bearing the pain of all the voices. Soon she got out and we were shouting more loudly. At least I was, as Naveen hardly had left any scope remaining already. Also, with his voice, I was always the humbler one.
That was probably the first day Naveen got into the back rows of the bus and made almost everybody sing. Thanks to our bus driver's wonderful collection, the songs playing were Khalbali, Meri Neend, Mast Kalandar, and same sort. All the way it was I wasted my energy as much as I could and when I reached hostel, I was soooo... energetic. So much so that I moved out of the hostel within a few minutes of coming. Just as soon as I was out of my tie and shoes and back into my VIT UNIVERSITY T-shirt, I took my phone, purse, headphones, and put them on, to start on an unknown track.
I started on the road in front of my hotel. The side I knew had the market. I walked past the market, the one I knew, to some new roads, keeping it straight. Guess some 2-2.5 kms later, I took a little turn and saw a bookshop. It was quite big and even a few foreigners were strolling inside. I got into the shop and started looking up the books there. Quite a few books caught my interest too, but I didn't want to spend much money, as I had not yet received my first salary.
Then there was another book called 'You Are Here' that caught my attention. Probably because of the name of the author, it's bright colorful cover, and an introduction that completely mismatched the name of the author. Actually the book's author is called Meenakshi Reddy Madhvan, a South Indian name that brings me the smell of Sambar-Rice and when talking in books, some serious subjects. But here it was, a book with a few lines on it's cover, looking like a map, and showing points as: The job that sucks, Smoke first postcoital cigarette, do-not-disturb: perfect make out session in progress, attend dad's second wedding as bridesmaid, and so on.
At the same time, I saw another book called 'reluctant fundamentalist' that looked quite readable. Also, I saw later that it was nominated for the man booker prize. Both these books costed Rs 200 each. And I thought I'd buy the fundamentalist book. But for some reason quite unknown to myself, I bought the other one.
On the way back, I was quite exhausted as I had already been standing in the bus and now it was a complete 5 kms way up and down for me. Finally when I reached the Hotel, it took all my will to get up for the dinner. Yet another run to the Ramji Bhojnalaya.
Time to Act
It was a class of personal grooming by Ms.Jaysree. A first again. She came, talked some things about first impressions, dress sense, etiquette and professional and unprofessional behavior, and after some time, suddenly divided us into four 'random' groups and said that we'll have to come up with a skit that would differentiate between professional and unprofessional behavior. She allotted us ten minutes for that though later it was extended.
I was in a group of eleven, with three girls, two Naveens, and five more guys. We decided to go with two groups shown as two companies, the professional company and the unprofessional company, and one common client, Sugam.
I myself was a manager in the professional company. Quite boring. And I guess I played my role strictly OK. May be worse than that. But on the whole our skit went well. Even though we were group number 3 and called on first.
Later on, there was one more group that I loved, because of Dhruv's acting. Dhruv Mandal (dhroo-bo-mon-dol), actually a Bengali, played a Punjabi customer of a telephone company, and kept all the class and the facilitator laughing for almost 5 minutes. One thing I had to accept that I had never seen a Bengali speaking such wonderful Punjabi, without a trace of Bengali accent.
Later when the skits were over, Jaysree said all the plays were good but story wise, group three did the best. Hurrah! She also said, pointing to Dhruv, that she didn't know we had such good actors in our batch. It was one class I liked a lot. In fact I remember Dhruv's great acting and I think it'll stay in my memory for long.
Yet another lesson learnt was once again about our abilities and our potential. Once again I came to know we were capable of performing quite well on such a short notice while previously I used to be afraid of acting even after long sessions of rehearsals. Hope it makes me less fearing for the future.
I was in a group of eleven, with three girls, two Naveens, and five more guys. We decided to go with two groups shown as two companies, the professional company and the unprofessional company, and one common client, Sugam.
I myself was a manager in the professional company. Quite boring. And I guess I played my role strictly OK. May be worse than that. But on the whole our skit went well. Even though we were group number 3 and called on first.
Later on, there was one more group that I loved, because of Dhruv's acting. Dhruv Mandal (dhroo-bo-mon-dol), actually a Bengali, played a Punjabi customer of a telephone company, and kept all the class and the facilitator laughing for almost 5 minutes. One thing I had to accept that I had never seen a Bengali speaking such wonderful Punjabi, without a trace of Bengali accent.
Later when the skits were over, Jaysree said all the plays were good but story wise, group three did the best. Hurrah! She also said, pointing to Dhruv, that she didn't know we had such good actors in our batch. It was one class I liked a lot. In fact I remember Dhruv's great acting and I think it'll stay in my memory for long.
Yet another lesson learnt was once again about our abilities and our potential. Once again I came to know we were capable of performing quite well on such a short notice while previously I used to be afraid of acting even after long sessions of rehearsals. Hope it makes me less fearing for the future.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Sesame
Probably it was my third day in ILP. We were called in Sesame, a small auditorium of almost 120, 3 batches. It was supposed to be a lecture on life skills by Sakina Hussain.
Yet another boring lecture, yet another bunch of slides on Microsoft PowerPoint, probably the most used software at the ILP, I had thought. But it turned out to be better than that. First of all, when Sakina came in, she was quite good at speaking, or talking, to be more precise. In a hall where people later communicated through microphones, she was audible to everyone without it. A genuine positive point if you have a good voice.
And after some talking, she gave us an exercise. She started numbering students 1-2-3-4-...15 and then repeated the same till the end. Then, all the 1s, 2s, 3s and so on were asked to come together. Thus, all of us were divided into 15 random groups of 8-9 each and each of us had to know the entire group as much as we could in 15-20 minutes. And when it was finished, she asked questions on group members. And once the introduction was done, she asked names of students across groups.
It was a great exercise and we got to know more people than we generally do in the same amount of time. But the exercise didn't give as good results as it was a combination of three batches while there is need of communication inside batches themselves.
Another thing I got confirmed about is that I can remember details of 8 people in such a short time. Yet another underestimation of one's own abilities.
Yet another boring lecture, yet another bunch of slides on Microsoft PowerPoint, probably the most used software at the ILP, I had thought. But it turned out to be better than that. First of all, when Sakina came in, she was quite good at speaking, or talking, to be more precise. In a hall where people later communicated through microphones, she was audible to everyone without it. A genuine positive point if you have a good voice.
And after some talking, she gave us an exercise. She started numbering students 1-2-3-4-...15 and then repeated the same till the end. Then, all the 1s, 2s, 3s and so on were asked to come together. Thus, all of us were divided into 15 random groups of 8-9 each and each of us had to know the entire group as much as we could in 15-20 minutes. And when it was finished, she asked questions on group members. And once the introduction was done, she asked names of students across groups.
It was a great exercise and we got to know more people than we generally do in the same amount of time. But the exercise didn't give as good results as it was a combination of three batches while there is need of communication inside batches themselves.
Another thing I got confirmed about is that I can remember details of 8 people in such a short time. Yet another underestimation of one's own abilities.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Clove
It was my second day at TCS Trivandrum. The day assigned for ILP Pretest. I had hardly done any preparation except a few things which I had seen on the previous day evening. And I guess most of my 'colleagues' were equally well prepared.
The test was supposed to start at 9.30 and we had instructions to be present in the 'Clove' by 9 sharp. Clove is the lab where the test was held. We reached clove in time but what happened inside was not the least we had expected from the Tata Consultancy Services.
After we entered the lab, we found that some of the systems were not working for us for various reasons. And so, almost 20 students were standing without systems. Interestingly my college had a majority with 11 of them being from the same.
The problem didn't end there. When the invigilators came and told us how to log in and take the test, the database server started showing connection failure. Once, twice, thrice.. We soon became used to a new thing. We had to reload almost every page again and again to reach the servers. Yes, those twenty-something number of students were.. Sorry, colleagues, were sent to some other lab where they could find systems and finally, we were able to start the test at around 10.15 AM.
It was a test of 30 minutes duration with 19 questions. The interesting thing was that it wasn't questions that really troubled us. It was the test that did. The procedures, the systems, the hardware and the software were the troubles. Supposedly we had to finish the test before the half an hour was over once the test started. That was to be performed by clicking a button that said Submit and Finish Test, or something like that, followed by a confirmation, but when we started doing the same almost 5 minutes before the end of time, it was failures of connection that came our way once again.
I pressed the finish button with more than 3 minutes remaining and thankfully, I was able to get it done after reloading the page just once. Yay! And I got a score of 45 out of 100. A failure by TCS standards (they ask for 55% in tests after this. This one is just a pretest.) but I was pretty good by my standards and was happy that I was able to see my score. Those who lost their submissions to failed database connections were later consoled as they were told their marks could be found from the back end of the system. Though I don't know if that has really been done as most probably the students who didn't get the score that time didn't get it later also.
Now, the question on my mind is, why so? I know how good and credible are the TCS products for clients. Then why do database connections fail while employees are taking test?
I guess I can't answer that. Probably it's part of the ILP. Part of our Learning. And the answer is a TCS Top Secret which mortals like me will not be knowing easily!
The test was supposed to start at 9.30 and we had instructions to be present in the 'Clove' by 9 sharp. Clove is the lab where the test was held. We reached clove in time but what happened inside was not the least we had expected from the Tata Consultancy Services.
After we entered the lab, we found that some of the systems were not working for us for various reasons. And so, almost 20 students were standing without systems. Interestingly my college had a majority with 11 of them being from the same.
The problem didn't end there. When the invigilators came and told us how to log in and take the test, the database server started showing connection failure. Once, twice, thrice.. We soon became used to a new thing. We had to reload almost every page again and again to reach the servers. Yes, those twenty-something number of students were.. Sorry, colleagues, were sent to some other lab where they could find systems and finally, we were able to start the test at around 10.15 AM.
It was a test of 30 minutes duration with 19 questions. The interesting thing was that it wasn't questions that really troubled us. It was the test that did. The procedures, the systems, the hardware and the software were the troubles. Supposedly we had to finish the test before the half an hour was over once the test started. That was to be performed by clicking a button that said Submit and Finish Test, or something like that, followed by a confirmation, but when we started doing the same almost 5 minutes before the end of time, it was failures of connection that came our way once again.
I pressed the finish button with more than 3 minutes remaining and thankfully, I was able to get it done after reloading the page just once. Yay! And I got a score of 45 out of 100. A failure by TCS standards (they ask for 55% in tests after this. This one is just a pretest.) but I was pretty good by my standards and was happy that I was able to see my score. Those who lost their submissions to failed database connections were later consoled as they were told their marks could be found from the back end of the system. Though I don't know if that has really been done as most probably the students who didn't get the score that time didn't get it later also.
Now, the question on my mind is, why so? I know how good and credible are the TCS products for clients. Then why do database connections fail while employees are taking test?
I guess I can't answer that. Probably it's part of the ILP. Part of our Learning. And the answer is a TCS Top Secret which mortals like me will not be knowing easily!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Sage, Saffron
Peepul Park TCS looks quite impressive from outside, but since I had seen quite big buildings in VIT, I didn't feel something odd. Before I got inside I came to know we couldn't bring in any cameras, laptops, or even pen drives. Thankfully nothing was written about a camera phone so I took it in. Though, later I came to know that camera phones, once banned, were allowed in the campus but photography was strictly prohibited.
Inside was a normal experience for the first time as there was quite a crowd of us and I am now used to crowd. But later I realized that the campus is really big as far as the structure was concerned.
But what was interesting about TCS was that they had called us there before 8 when we had our first class at 9. And this one hour was given for breakfast. Intelligent people - they know I always used to skip breakfast during all my engineering. Now I can't as the same schedule takes place everyday. The canteen @ TCS TVM gave milk (Horlicks/Bournvita/Boost/corn flakes) at Rs 10 and Dosa/Idly at Rs 12. It still does. Almost the same can be said about the prices of Lunch but it's not that good, especially salt is always, ALWAYS too less. Probably absent.
And then, we entered Sage. Sage was a lecture hall with a seating capacity of around 200 and 2 large screen. After enjoying Sage for some 20 minutes, we were told we had to be in Saffron, a mirror image of Sage, and not there in Sage itself. So, the few of us were shown the way to the nearby hall where a presentation had just started and we were quickly given a Reynolds 045 pen and a notepad carrying the TCS name.
Our first belongings from the TCS.
I don't really remember who it was who gave the presentation, as I wasn't there from the very start, but the most interesting lines I remember from that presentation were: "Worry about your cellphone, your purse, your valuables. Don't worry for your original certificates. These are of no use for others. You can leave them wherever you want."
By the way, one thing I forgot to tell is that there were a number of students from my college in this batch of TCS ILP too. As I later counted, I could identify 24 VITians of them in the auditorium of 202.
The day went in a few inductions followed by long HR verifications of original certificates. The verifications were over the first day itself but the inductions went on for almost a week except for that of Programming Concepts of which we have 3 sessions a day now. That is almost 6 hours. Thankfully it was not shown on our first day.
Well, in case you don't know, TCS expects you to do some reading in advance before you come for the ILP. And for that they have a test on the second day of the training, which is known as Pretest. Our pretest schedule was out up and we had to take our first test in TCS on the next day morning at 9.
The first day ended at around 6 and we left by our bus with a new series of songs. This time songs were almost a year or so old. Superb again. I had found something matching my tastes in Trivandrum. My bus.
Inside was a normal experience for the first time as there was quite a crowd of us and I am now used to crowd. But later I realized that the campus is really big as far as the structure was concerned.
But what was interesting about TCS was that they had called us there before 8 when we had our first class at 9. And this one hour was given for breakfast. Intelligent people - they know I always used to skip breakfast during all my engineering. Now I can't as the same schedule takes place everyday. The canteen @ TCS TVM gave milk (Horlicks/Bournvita/Boost/corn flakes) at Rs 10 and Dosa/Idly at Rs 12. It still does. Almost the same can be said about the prices of Lunch but it's not that good, especially salt is always, ALWAYS too less. Probably absent.
And then, we entered Sage. Sage was a lecture hall with a seating capacity of around 200 and 2 large screen. After enjoying Sage for some 20 minutes, we were told we had to be in Saffron, a mirror image of Sage, and not there in Sage itself. So, the few of us were shown the way to the nearby hall where a presentation had just started and we were quickly given a Reynolds 045 pen and a notepad carrying the TCS name.
Our first belongings from the TCS.
I don't really remember who it was who gave the presentation, as I wasn't there from the very start, but the most interesting lines I remember from that presentation were: "Worry about your cellphone, your purse, your valuables. Don't worry for your original certificates. These are of no use for others. You can leave them wherever you want."
By the way, one thing I forgot to tell is that there were a number of students from my college in this batch of TCS ILP too. As I later counted, I could identify 24 VITians of them in the auditorium of 202.
The day went in a few inductions followed by long HR verifications of original certificates. The verifications were over the first day itself but the inductions went on for almost a week except for that of Programming Concepts of which we have 3 sessions a day now. That is almost 6 hours. Thankfully it was not shown on our first day.
Well, in case you don't know, TCS expects you to do some reading in advance before you come for the ILP. And for that they have a test on the second day of the training, which is known as Pretest. Our pretest schedule was out up and we had to take our first test in TCS on the next day morning at 9.
The first day ended at around 6 and we left by our bus with a new series of songs. This time songs were almost a year or so old. Superb again. I had found something matching my tastes in Trivandrum. My bus.
First Experience (ILP @ TCS Trivandrum)
In the sky
Fortunately I have been on a lot of flights by now. But most of the times it used to be Deccan or Jetlite, or a few Spicejet ones recently. But this time things changed as I boarded on an Indigo and a Jet airways plane on the same day.
I was coming to Trivandrum from New Delhi and I had to change flights for that in Chennai. And the Chennai Trivandrum flight of Jet turned out to be a great experience. It was a small ATR plane I boarded and I got a window seat there. I don't know why I could see below all the time - was it the small size of the plane or the height it was flying at, or simply my first flight where I didn't sleep at all, but I could see below - on the ground, the cities, forests, roads, rivers, and clouds, lots of lots of them. Another thing I loved on Jet flight was food. Later I got to know it was Taj's food they served.
God's Own Country
As soon as the plane reached Trivandrum, I could see trees and trees on the ground. I could see the city and at the same time, lots of trees, a long sea shore, and a lot of trees again.
When I landed, I felt Kerala deserved to be called God's own country. It was trees all around, and people living in an environment covered by those coconut trees looked different from those living in any other capital in India I have been to.
Also, on my way to Hotel from airport, I could see lots of women, mostly girls in their teens. And there was a difference I could instantly see: They All looked educated. It showed on their faces. There were only a few uneducated looking faces of those selling fishes beside the road. Even the main city is quite good with trees wherever they got place.
And then there are the beaches. Well, by now I have seen only the not-that-popular beach of Trivandrum, called Sangamagam or something like that only and liked it a lot, more than any other I have seen in the past. Quite understandably, I want to see what will Kovalam be like, considering it is known as the best beach in Asia.
Pehli Nazar Mein...
I slept around 12 and got up at 6 for my first day of job, training to be more precise. 6 for me was quite early and I was feeling very sleepy when I got on to the bus at 7.30. But as the bus started, I couldn't believe my ears for a second. It was Atif's 'Pehli Nazar Mein' playing in high volume. I was no more sleepy. And by the time we reached Technopark, it was 3 songs of Rock On!!
Now I'm standing in front of my office at Technopark, Trivandrum.
Tata Consultancy Services. Peepul Park.
Fortunately I have been on a lot of flights by now. But most of the times it used to be Deccan or Jetlite, or a few Spicejet ones recently. But this time things changed as I boarded on an Indigo and a Jet airways plane on the same day.
I was coming to Trivandrum from New Delhi and I had to change flights for that in Chennai. And the Chennai Trivandrum flight of Jet turned out to be a great experience. It was a small ATR plane I boarded and I got a window seat there. I don't know why I could see below all the time - was it the small size of the plane or the height it was flying at, or simply my first flight where I didn't sleep at all, but I could see below - on the ground, the cities, forests, roads, rivers, and clouds, lots of lots of them. Another thing I loved on Jet flight was food. Later I got to know it was Taj's food they served.
God's Own Country
As soon as the plane reached Trivandrum, I could see trees and trees on the ground. I could see the city and at the same time, lots of trees, a long sea shore, and a lot of trees again.
When I landed, I felt Kerala deserved to be called God's own country. It was trees all around, and people living in an environment covered by those coconut trees looked different from those living in any other capital in India I have been to.
Also, on my way to Hotel from airport, I could see lots of women, mostly girls in their teens. And there was a difference I could instantly see: They All looked educated. It showed on their faces. There were only a few uneducated looking faces of those selling fishes beside the road. Even the main city is quite good with trees wherever they got place.
And then there are the beaches. Well, by now I have seen only the not-that-popular beach of Trivandrum, called Sangamagam or something like that only and liked it a lot, more than any other I have seen in the past. Quite understandably, I want to see what will Kovalam be like, considering it is known as the best beach in Asia.
Pehli Nazar Mein...
I slept around 12 and got up at 6 for my first day of job, training to be more precise. 6 for me was quite early and I was feeling very sleepy when I got on to the bus at 7.30. But as the bus started, I couldn't believe my ears for a second. It was Atif's 'Pehli Nazar Mein' playing in high volume. I was no more sleepy. And by the time we reached Technopark, it was 3 songs of Rock On!!
Now I'm standing in front of my office at Technopark, Trivandrum.
Tata Consultancy Services. Peepul Park.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
In God's own country
Right now i'm at trivandrum. In case u don't know, for my ilp, the initial learning program by the tata consultancy services. And for now, though i'm busy at the company all the day and badly in need for sound sleep all the time, i'm loving it. The city is great. I've already been to the kovalam and sangamagam beaches. The fact is that i've a lot to write but due to lack of time i'm unable to write and unable to post the written. Though now i hope to do the same soon as my net seems to be working today. After seven days, thanks to airtel, my internet is back.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Dhoni Savvy Media
A few years earlier we used to have media savvy people. But now, we are having the opposite, people savvy media. Actually, it's not a people savvy media, but a celebrity savvy media. They make celebrities, they run programs on them, increase their TRPs, and then dump them with a few more programs and polls deciding should he/she do this/that in this way/at all etc.
I guess nowadays it's our one day Cricket captain Dhoni who is the apple of camera lenses for these TV channels, even newspapers. There are articles proving and reproving, assuring us all, that Dhoni has done something which was never done by anyone in India from Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar to Sachin or Sehwag. By now I have no idea what exactly this something is but if the media continues this way I guess in some I shall be sure that this something has a real existence.
The interesting thing is that this media thing is affecting even bigger things now. Or so I feel. I really have no Idea why Dhoni is the only other player than Sachin Tendulkar to get a Khel Ratna award. I do agree that he is the poster boy of Indian cricket, but if Dhoni deserves a Khel Ratna, what about the players with 950+ wickets or with 10k runs in ODIs as well as in tests?
I think we just need a hero, and now that some are saying it's Dhoni, we are happy to have him. Otherwise, there was never a need to clarify that a winner 'deserves' the Khel Ratna award. Isn't it?
I guess nowadays it's our one day Cricket captain Dhoni who is the apple of camera lenses for these TV channels, even newspapers. There are articles proving and reproving, assuring us all, that Dhoni has done something which was never done by anyone in India from Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar to Sachin or Sehwag. By now I have no idea what exactly this something is but if the media continues this way I guess in some I shall be sure that this something has a real existence.
The interesting thing is that this media thing is affecting even bigger things now. Or so I feel. I really have no Idea why Dhoni is the only other player than Sachin Tendulkar to get a Khel Ratna award. I do agree that he is the poster boy of Indian cricket, but if Dhoni deserves a Khel Ratna, what about the players with 950+ wickets or with 10k runs in ODIs as well as in tests?
I think we just need a hero, and now that some are saying it's Dhoni, we are happy to have him. Otherwise, there was never a need to clarify that a winner 'deserves' the Khel Ratna award. Isn't it?
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