"STUDENT POLITICS":the controversy within

Assuming that we are beyond the reach of the J.M.Lyngdoh committee report(which has called for banning student politics in campuses), let me start with an open mind! Anyone who browses the morning newspaper (on a regular basis!) must have come across the plethora of articles on clashes between rival parties in colleges across bengal during the past few months. Why past few months?actually this has been an intrinsic characteristic of majority of our higher education institutions ( including the likes of Presidency College [Oh!SORRY, the going to be Presidency University!!!],JNU,BESU, ..)and the list continues. So ban it..just like the Hero Honda tag line.."Fill it, Shut it,Forget it"!!! Just a moment, every now and then we curse our netas( majority of whom have some scandal associated with them) and carry the conviction within ourselves that the country is heading towards total anarchy.

The solution...typical middle class (The majority of the population) Indian parents have been sending their so called meritorious sons/daughters abroad so that at least they can stay away from the polluted environment; and those staying in India are strictly told to stay away from the mud! But they fail to realize the simple fact that shying away from the problem makes it more aggravated.

What i think is that universities should ban student activities(which rarely has any tinge of democracy in them now a days)having political colour but at the same time subjects like political ideology should be made compulsory in every undergraduate curriculum. A subject on political ideology has to have life histories of different well-know plotical figures, their ideologies and associated things.Learning them only can a late teenager build a political understanding of the world around.One thing needs to be made very clear that Mao didn't inspire his followers to fight with those of Marx! It is purely the never ending greed for power and prominence that has lead to these ugly scenes in politics. I am not a Maoist sympathizer but the pertinent question is, if there exists a Marxist then why not a Maoist??? We are trying to shield our mean aspirations in the name of those great philosophers.Today students(who somehow gets inclined due to what ever bizzare reasons may be!) are joining a party without knowing its characteristics,ideals etc.They do it as they have to select an alternative out the options available ,sometimes "DADAGIRI" poses as an influential force!! Democracy exists but only in pen and paper, it has become a theory without justified application!

The country badly needs few good men at least for the time being and more so the years to come in order to run it.So the psychology needs to be changed.Until and unless we change our mindset the country shall be lacking able leaders to govern it and people will be keeping on cursing those at the helm without ever realizing that they themselves are solely responsible for their ill fate.

Do Good Men Always Succeed?

Undoubtedly the words that signify the sentence are “good” and “success”; two words which are the most sought after in our lives and with which we like to have an ever unending affair ! Now how to define a good man? May be someone who indulges in something worthy of mentioning...And the big thing we fail to notice is that we always judge from the perspective whether the “good” has some benefit for us. Our view is that of a judge in that respect. Now come to the person’s perspective. Well good to him can be something that he really cherishes to do and which can be beneficial to him or his society. To me the work is good only when there is a unification of one’s own interests coupled with that of others. In that case harmony between two perspectives (one that of the doer and the other that of the observer) is essential.

Success is one of the most “ambiguous” words the English language has to offer.Many great men have delineated their views but the one that we all might know and one that really inspired me is what our Father of the Nation has said. According to him “success” lies in the pursuit of the goal and not only in its achievement. I think without failures success has no meaning and its realization depends on how failures are perceived. And the most amazing way to understand failure is to compare it to a feedback! In control engineering when a system output deviates from the desired level sends feedback signal to the input and this ultimately leads the output to the desired level. In that way failures help us in two ways: firstly we come to know what the actual way of doing the work is and secondly (may be the more important one) help us realize what we really want to achieve. Many a time we almost blindly try to reach somewhere or do something without knowing the exact reason.

Finally how to combine “good” with “success”??? The $1 million question! Again that perspective context becomes inevitable. So this question really doesn’t have an exact answer. Some people dedicate their lives for others but still remain at the receiving end of another group’s ire. So the problem is multi-dimensional; many interests come into play. What I think to be essential is the conviction that we must always be indebted to our society whatever we do and wherever we live. An individual can’t satisfy everyone he/she comes across but there must be a feeling for our surroundings in whatever we do. Keeping these things in mind if anyone is satisfied with his/her work then well he/she can realize deep within an undercurrent of “SUCCESS”!!! Success is a feeling, not a physical entity.

WATER @ MOON,INR 380 crore!!!

Print and electronic media for past few days seem to have only one BREAKING NEWS...."WATER ON MOON"..(drawing analogy 4m Water of INDIA!!!); well there is surely an Indian connection...ISRO's much publicized and self acclaimed (although prematurely ABORTED) moon mission has something to cheer about!!! Nevertheless, it's quite intriguing that NASA, inspite of being the numero-uno in deep space exploration from the mid-half of the century, haven't got any hint of H2O on the surface of our nearest neighbour! Ok..Ok..let's not be so much sceptical..But friends i really don't find much logic in wasting Rs. 380 cr of public wealth for sending a BOX to the moon by a country like India that occupies an abysmally low rank in HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX (around 150 may be..) as published by UNDP(United Nations Development Programme).India suffers from high infant mortality rate, premature death for women,Illeteracy ,...to say a few. India can't reduce its defence expenditure but it has to look after its CITIZENS..mainly those who actually need the help but fail to get.Rs.380 cr. could fetch 15-20 super-speciality hospitals(equivalent to AIIMS) in a country which spends a meagre 2% of its GDP on healthcare!!! Rs. 380 crore could help built about 8-10 world-class universities which could cater a burgeoning adult population who repeatedly curse their fortunes as they fail to carry forward their higher education in an institute of their choice.

So i really gave a serious thought about the utility of such an extravaganza for such a country.India is already in the world map for its resilient economy and an unbelievably skilled workforce.So instead of trying expensive and uncertain methods to get noticed it should revitalise time tested methods that has reaped dividends. I have a deep sense of respect for ISRO and feel proud for it. But its time to be realistic.We have to something that has an immediate impact on the overall development of our country.

S for sAIna...

Well if we are asked to name a sensational sports person from india the first name that vrooms to our mind is SANIA Mirza...There is no fault in it since she has given her best for the country...But the name that has generated shock waves recently is SAINA NEHWAL!!! Most people don't know her name as she is from a less popular game!!! Although belonging to Hyderabad her native citizens often mistake her to be SANIA!!!(This is her self confession).Well then its time to recapitulate something.She was the first Indian in badminton to reach an OLYMPICS quarter-final.Apart from winning many titles she has recently won a grandprix title that is equivalent to a tennis GRAND-SLAM!!! So hats off to her.Every person making the country proud should be RESPECTED.Physical attractiveness must be made secondary to individual TALENT.

AN OBSESSION CALLED DISCONTENTMENT….

AN OBSESSION CALLED DICONTENTMENT….

It was spring time in 2005 when my dad bought me a Nokia 2600, my

inaugural cell phone. A mobile phone was still something worth mentioning at that time and it was in its transition from being a luxurious gadget to a 24*7 necessity! I had made my point of buying a “colour” handset which really was something special when black n white sets had the majority of the market share. I was a hostel creature at that time and honestly speaking I was quite thrilled to bring it to my hostel.

Life went on and mobile phones gradually started becoming something more than a movable, handy talking machine.Incorporation of polyphonic ringtones along with FM radio were the first enhancements.Newspapers were loaded with adds about those sleek features. Reading them made me think that if I had bought my set at some later date I wouldn’t have missed those features! The situation became more agonizing when many of my friends bought those sets and displayed the features. “ One must be satisfied with what he/she has..” but all those moral science theories seem to be applicable at the time of exam only merely for passing the paper! The situation became out of bounds with the arrival of the revolutionary GPRS & MMS! I really gave a damn serious thought of having a new set!

Out of this dissatisfaction I got my second set, a SAMSUNG breed!, I don’t exactly remember the model although. A cute black one with all those features. I really cared for it. It was winter 2006 then! Technology never stops man! Soon phones started having music players, cameras and more memory spaces.Any time photo(ATP) and Any time Music(ATM) were the buzz words! The prices also started falling drastically due to more penetration of the mobile network in our country.

Autumn 2007… I got my third set, an LG dynamite! Well it is still running!

Dissatisfaction seems a very awkward trait but out of it is born INVENTION! Mobile companies have marched forward utilizing this inherent character man. Actually Mobile phone is only an example here. Civilizations have progressed only because people have always wanted to uplift their standards as they were not happy of what they were having at that point of time.

NATIONAL SHAME….

Few days back as i was surfing the news channels suddenly i saw something worth mentioning on CNN-IBN. Most of us can still visualize the horrible images of 26/11. Although we might have forgotten the names of the slain HEROES yet we still treat them with reverence whenever their reference comes anywhere. But reality defies benevolence!!! All those tall promises being made at the backdrop of the dastardly act have failed to materialize. Well we are accustomed to Politicians’ false promises!!! But the fact is that the families haven’t got their legitimate shares. Keeping aside the officers’, families of the others don’t have enough resourse to meet their daily needs without proper help. They are reported to be going through a state of utter anxiety. What is the future??? Yeah we are a SECULAR nation but that doesn’t mean to OIL a single community every now and then and forget the real sufferers. Perpetrators as well as Victims of terrorism have no religion. Only Lighting candles and marching with banners won’t help the cause either. We the common people must raise our voice towards this gross negligence. Terrorism is a heinous crime but more shameful it is to neglect those whose father or husband or brother has dedicated his life at an immature age for the cause of the nation. I hope that by this time those bereaved families have seen a ray of hope for their future.