On-the-Line August 22, 2009
Posted by smit in Memoir, My Life.2 comments
(wrote the following ‘Introduction’ as an assignment for a course called ‘Creative Writing’, which I have taken up this semester as the last academic course at IIT Delhi)
Although I may be the least phlegmatic person around, yet to make me laugh is certainly the most easy of things to do. I laugh at the stupidest of jokes and at situations which are anything but funny. I simply try to live up to my name by scouring happiness in every little event and moment of life’s paraphernalia. My panorama of life is more like some panoply of little happy moments.
Following a dialectic approach in most aspects, I like to spend scads of time reading about things I do not believe in, so as to find faults in which I do or rather to improve eclectically upon my beliefs. Succinctly, as a devil’s advocate in most friendly arguments, I end up defending things, I myself least conform with. In fact, owing to more knowledge and less opinion, I end up favoring and opposing both sides at the same time, hence turning out to be more of a devil and less of an advocate.
It has been axiomatic that education is directly proportional to liberal thoughts, making it quite difficult to be a conservative at a place like IIT Delhi. Being students of a premier institution in the national capital, we are supposed to be the flag bearers of liberalism and modernism. I too, unsuccessfully, tried into being an in vitro libertarian, even though I do not know the actual connotations of the word. And lately I have realized that I need not be bound by an existing or particular school of thought. Simply put, we can be good persons following our own mind and personal beliefs which in turn coalesce from many others. However, while sticking to my beliefs, I am open to correction at the same time, without any obduracy. Dialectically speaking, conservatives like me make this world complete by complementing their liberal counterparts.
Also, I have gradually evolved into being in a centrist in many aspects of life, finding Buddha’s middle path as the most practical, if not optimal, way of leading one’s life. Neither do I believe in sartorial vanity and hedonism nor in puritanical asceticism. I try to imbibe non-visceral factors in my way, into life.
In fact, with all these maneuvers going on incessantly, I mostly lie on-the-line. Sometimes to the Right and sometimes to the Left, generating an illusion of being at the Center.
Twitter’s twitters June 19, 2009
Posted by smit in Trivia.Tags: Gul Panag, India, Iran, Shashi Tharoor, Twitter
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Finally, I have joined ‘twitter‘, and initially of a sheer caprice, to be honest. The rapidly growing micro-blogging site has turned simply too influential and popular for one to ignore. Although, with only very few of my friends being twitter users, it is neither that interesting nor useful tool to me except for following the tweets of Shashi Tharoor(see footnote) and Gul Panag, the only famous Indians who are regular twitter users.
Shashi Tharoor is a, both educated and tech-savvy, MP. Despite his busy schedules, he updates his twitter statuses multiple times a day so that thousands of his followers on twitter, like me, get an insight into his day-today life, typical of a politician. Quite diligently, he responds to the queries of his followers, regarding India and politics, in general. According to his recent twitter updates, he is currently on a visit to his constituency in Kerala (Thiruvanthapuram). It is fun to read his tweets about his experiences in rural Kerala where he has been given a warm welcome due to the colossal popularity he enjoys. Gul Panag(Actress) is also very regular on twitter and even uploads her recent pictures on her twitpic account. Anyways, she is not engaging or rather corny, except that since she the only bollywood celebrity on twitter and ipso facto, has to be followed.
However, the best thing I feel about Twitter is that you can talk to anyone from any part of world. For instance, one could ask directly an Iranian about the flaring protests in Tehran on the day of Ahmadinejad’s re-election. In fact, the ongoing protests in Iran have been considerably influenced by twitter (watch this) and this certainly is the first revolution being engineered at twitter. The importance of the twitter can be judged from the fact that US asked Twitter to postpone its scheduled maintenance shutdown so that Iranians could use it without disruption. All in all, such a flow of information, notwithstanding the national barriers, has helped in strengthening the Right to Expression as well as democratic values.
Despite all this, twittering remains an esoteric phenomenon in our country. Its’ difficult to discern the attitude of fellow Indians, being so dawdling and reluctant to embrace any new technology, be it twitter or anything. One can see proportion of Indian activity at twitter and judge himself. Cranky I may sound but thats the truth, we are always late at almost everything.
(After reading more about Shashi Tharoor I was amazed at his academic record: Never lost a single debate in his life; Passed out of St. Stephens, Delhi as a University topper with a record score in History; completed his PhD at a diplomacy School in US setting a school record of a youngest PhD at an age of 22; became UN under-secretary general; now a MP and MoS for External Affairs)
An Exception to Rationality May 11, 2009
Posted by smit in Friends, IIT Life, Memoir.Tags: IIT, Rationality, TnP
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(Apologies if following appears a bit arrogant or like a self-praise but that’s the best I could do to strike a balance between modesty and actuality)
Yesterday was a big day of my life. After 10 years, if I were to look back on 8th May, 2009, it would certainly be difficult for me to explain the strength I gathered to decide what I did this fine day.
What I did was simple enough, I listened to my inner voice, probably for the first time, for making one of the most crucial decisions of my life. Actually, I have been associated with Placement Cell of IIT Delhi for past 3 years and have quite an attachment with it. In the beginning of May each year, next academic session’s positions of responsibilities are decided and on 8th May were the interviews for the 2009-10 session’s responsibilities. Owing to my dedication and experience, I had a good chance to be selected for the near-supreme position in the Cell (although this was not absolutely certain but the odds were certainly good enough).
The position itself holds great prestige and power in the institute. But that’s the crunch: With great power come great responsibilities. However, the truth is that Placement related work had kept me busy whole semester and I was kind of fed up with it. So, I had to choose one of the two paths: one would be bringing power and prestige and other mental peace. Either I had to continue with the work I didn’t like or be brave enough to eschew.
Hence, before the interview I prepared a nice little parting speech which I delivered before the interview panel of 6 (A professor + 5 students) and what followed was quite dramatic since no one had expected such a turn of events. My abdication was accepted but my mind was still not at peace. It was like breaking up with a long time girlfriend.
I felt bad for most of the day for two reasons: firstly that I had renounced what one would see as an opportunity for enhancing his skills and personality and secondly, I had let down few of my friends who had confidence in me. I was down and depressed for whole day. I confided all that was going in my head to Ashish, Deven and both were supportive that at least I had done what I wanted to do. Few others were indifferent but that doesn’t matter.
Finally, late at night while randomly looking at a few blogs, here I found a quote by Warren Buffet which I have modified to match my context:
Life is not there to gain lots of power and earn loads of money; Life is there to live Life
It is said that one never regrets the decisions taken by listening to the call of inner self and I am sure that this would turn out to be no exception despite the fact that I had made an exception to rationality.
Trivia-I June 8, 2009
Posted by smit in India, Politics, Trivia.Tags: Elections 2009, India, Trivia, UP
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Okay! this may sound like little gibberish drivel which none would like to pay any heed to, yet I decided to put it here for the sake of ‘the observation’.
Here is an ironical fact:
- This is an Indian state which is home to nearly 20% of Nation’s population.
- It also accounts for nearly 15% of seats in the Lower House of our Parliament.
- Most importantly, it contributed nearly 10% MPs to total Congress tally of 206 in these general elections.
- And it was once said that Road to Delhi passes through its capital, Lucknow.
And you know the number of MPs in Union Cabinet from this state:
ZERO
yeah ! thats right.
PS: It would not be an intelligent idea to infer anything out of this, without a holistic view; just that I found this interesting.
Countdown to 16th May May 14, 2009
Posted by smit in India, Politics.Tags: Casteism, Communalism, Elections 2009, Farrukhabad, Kashmir, Rampur, Regionalism
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The countdown to 16th May, the day of vote counts, is nearing its end. Though I am not too much excited about the overall outcome of this election but all I am currently concerned is about a stable government at the center which can provide the much needed confidence to stock market and can take some positive steps for the ailing economy.
However, there are a few things worth watching out, in to be announced results on 16th May:
1. In the extreme north, for the first time after 1987’s (allegedly) rigged assembly elections, a separatist leader is out to seek people’s mandate. Sajjad Lone, son of late Abdul Gani Lone (a moderate Hurriyat leader who was assassinated by militants in 2002) is contesting from Baramula-Kupwara Parliamentary constituency. He is repeatedly being quoted in media of having said that he would be taking an oath under Indian constitution with a ‘heavy heart‘.
The important thing here is that result of this seat would provide us a clue about the nerve of Kashmir Valley. His win would mean that a separatist sentiment is on the rise while his losing would mean that people have voted for unity and integrity of India.
2. Rampur has been in limelight for most of this poll season. Despite being one of the few Muslim majority constituencies in the country, it is worth noticing that it sent Jaya Prada of SP, who is also supposedly an outsider, to the Lok Sabha in last general elections. This time her path has been rendered difficult due to opposition by regional heavyweight, SP’s rebel leader Azam Khan, who is covertly supporting Congress.
The point I am trying to make is that if she is re-elected it would be a win for her development-centered campaign when both region & religion are hampering her prospects.
3. Finally, not so flamboyant is the constituency of Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh (which, incidently, is my native place) where a four-cornered contest is typical of any constituency in the state. Here, 3 times municipal chairman BJP’s Mithilesh Agarwal (she also happens to be the manager of my former school) in hand-to-hand combat with the former UPCC chief Salman Khurshid, former power minister and regional heavyweight BSP’s Naresh Agrawal and 2 times sitting MP Chandrabhushan Singh of SP.
The interesting thing about this seat is that Mithilesh ma’am has won the municipal elections for 3 times in past 15 years as an independent candidate, solely on the basis of her reputation as a non-corrupt leader who has wonders for the town in terms of providing basic amenities like roads, water etc. However, unlike others, she does not have support of any particular caste by her side and hence her win would solely mean a vote for development and progress.
PS1: The three cases cited above represent the most important characteristics of Indian politics viz Region, Religion, Caste and Separatism and a mandate in these three would be a litmus test for Indian Politics’ and voters’ maturity.
Ciao.. April 30, 2009
Posted by smit in Friends, IIT Life.Tags: Friends, IIT, Nostalgia
3 comments
It has now been 4 years since I came to this place called IIT Delhi (and still have a year to get out of it). Nearly ignorant of the life here, I had no special expectations from the place. All I had in mind was to (somehow) complete the formality of studies, get a job and then live happily ever after.
But now when I look back at the four well spent years and try to reminisce about the memories, the nostalgia grips in. Moreover, if I were asked about the most important thing this place has given to me, the answer would, of course, be the friendship garnered and the friends I have made here. Sadly, around half of my good friends would be passing out this month to enter a new phase of their life.
Parting with ones who have been an integral part of one’s life for last 4 years would be really painful. Last time I felt so sad and nostalgic was when I had to leave home to live as a p.g. in South Delhi for a year to get coached for JEE (that being the first time I was away from home).
But that’s life; things come and things go, leaving behind their imprints. The life is a synonym for change and all one can do is to move on, the sooner the better. The veracity of the old saying, Every good things come to an end, stands tall and high. In essence, I will miss you all and will cherish past years forever.
I will remember (few of) you guys getting drunk sometimes, thus, acting funny at times and maudlin at others;
I will remember the outings and trips we all had together;
I will remember the (birthday) bumps and treats we had;
I will remember you guys making fun of things, be it me or anyone or anything;
I will remember every little incident of these beautiful years;
Above all, I love you guys and will miss you guys since y’all were one of the most beautiful things to ever happen in my life.
Little Evil for a Greater Good April 11, 2009
Posted by smit in India, Politics.Tags: Economy, Elections 2009, Narendra Modi
4 comments
Someone has said that maneuvering ‘a little evil for a greater good’ is justifiable. Taking inspiration from the anonymous, and despite being a ‘Friend of BJP‘, I have cited 3 reasons why the country needs UPA Government for one more term:
Firstly and most importantly, With the deepening global economic woes, an Economist, Oxford educated Prime Minister(read Manmohan Singh) can be a saving grace for the nation. Not to mention that the Chidambaram-Manmohan duo has already done wonders for the Economy, despite the enormous pressure of coalition politics.
Secondly, Choosing an octogenarian man, to lead a nation with a median age less than 25 years, would obviously not be considered an intelligent decision. Furthermore, given the LK Advani’s past record, his controversial comments have not helped in improving his integrity and credibility.
Finally, the election of Advani would thwart any chances of Narendra Modi for the top job in near future (I am assuming that Economy would worsen in coming years and any new government would be unable to do anything but wait-and-watch). Although, Modi has been repeatedly accused of not doing enough to control the 2002 Gujarat Riots, yet despite all criticisms, he has turned Gujarat into an economic powerhouse with a growth rate highest among India states and has been acclaimed as Best Chief Minister in India.
Because ultimately, Nationalism* and secularism are more important than appeasement politics and pseudo-secularism.
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*Nationalism should not be confused with Hindu Fundamentalism.
PS: I am no fan of Modi. Like any rational person would, I do not support his stand on Hindutva but fully endorse his economic policies, anti-terrorism stances and anti-pseudosecularistic outlook.
On Scientists and Terrorists March 24, 2009
Posted by smit in The Crunch.Tags: Environment, Science
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I am doing a course on Social Sciences this semester titled “Environment Development and Society”. Both the course and the professor, demonize Scientists and Engineers as accomplices of a future Apocalypse, who are poisoning the world through their polluting technologies.
Although I disagree with almost everything being taught in the course (which seeks an idealistic individual), some issues like the Bhopal Gas Tragedy evoked some sort of helplessness and emotions. As a supplement reading, I had to read a journal article called “Vestal Virgins and Engineering Ethics” in which there is one particularly engrossing analogy to which I could find no refutation.
The paper draws an analogy between a terrorist and a scientist. Author appears to believe that both commit acts of killing innocents, the former being involved in it directly while the latter being indirectly involved in it but at a much larger scale. Here is an excerpt:
“Consider a terrorist who plants a bomb in a primary school. Plainly, the act is wrong, and in breach of a general obligation not to cause (or recklessly risk) harm to fellow citizens. Even though the terrorist may not know the identities of children, we would all agree that this is an evil act…………. Some engineering works, such as the hazardous waste disposal alluded to above, have very long fuses, and there is no doubt that future people can be harmed by irresponsible engineering activities.”
After reading the article I thought and thought about the argument given by the author, which clearly calls for a self-critique, to find a possible alibi for scientific community’s misdeeds’ vindication. To my utter surprise, I am still looking forward to a honest confute which a guilty conscience could accept.
On Elections etc. February 3, 2009
Posted by smit in India, Politics.Tags: Elections 2009
2 comments
The General Elections in the World’s most vibrant democracy are round the corner. But really? Its not so obvious this time, at least the low media coverage does not suggest so (the media seems to be in concordance with the view of this post). The lull before such a great event is not a thing that can be easily construed. Although, we are only 3 months away from the final showdown, yet we don’t know even the belligerents of the duel, quite contrary to the US where presidential campaign goes on for 18 months.
It appears like these elections will be a low key affair and the most boring ones in the recent Indian history. The three major coalitions have accepted that they will not be able to gain majority all by themsleves. The UPA is fighting anti-incumbency, NDA is fighting with itself while Leftists are fighting with everyone. The scenario is in many ways similar to that in 1996/1998 which resulted in a period of political instability. Quite obviously, it pops up in my mind that the General Elections of 2009 is, perhaps, a short skirmish which may follow the Grand Finale somewhere around 2012 / 2013, which would probably be between Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi. That will probably be a clash between the ideologies of Secularism and Nationalism (pseudo-secular hypocrites may read the latter as Fundamentalism), which will be deciding the course of future India.
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If , in a high school composition, I were to list the major festivals of India, I would say Holi, Diwali, Id and, of course, the Election Day. Everyone waits so eagerly for it. Some are content with the associated holiday, some for their enthusiasm to vote and some for the results. Elections have always been fun, except in these metropolis’. The real enthusiasm about elections can be seen in towns and villages, where the real India resides.
Perhaps these will be my first General elections away from home. I miss the late evening discussions among the elderlys’, on which I always eavesdropped. The villagers visiting my father’s shop would come along with the voter mood-swings in their area. After sunset, when everyone is back after day’s work, there would be a demographic disintegration of each part of our constituency, an intense one for the areas in vicinity, ‘the so-and-so candidate has an upper hand in so-and-so area because of so-and-so caste combination etc etc’ (I come from central Uttar Pradesh, the heart of caste-based politics).
However, my favorite elections are the ones for local governing bodies which, in my case, is a municipality. Ours’ is a small town of 25,000 voters divided in 25 wards. We have to vote to elect a Municipal chairman as well as ward a representative. The petty issues like location of proposed hand pipe, renewal of power lines, revision of colony’s house taxes et al. dominate the polls. Also, unlike legislative or parliamentary elections, the municipal elections are marked by a polling booth in every locality. In the lane adjacent to ours, a polling booth was always set up at the premises of a government-aided primary school. With poll booth so near, we used to loiter around all the day and fundas like how to remove the permanent ink stain to cast multiple votes etc. came in handy. And after the elections, came the expert comments and analysis on what went right/wrong with our candidate as well as who did and did not vote for him.
PS – The hostel elections kind of remind me of those Ward Representative Elections because of their local character, though I’m involved in none of them, but eavesdropping is always fun 
The Satyam Crisis January 14, 2009
Posted by smit in Economy, India.add a comment
After a year full of bomb blasts and ‘innovative’ terrorist attacks, 2009 appears to be a year of financial turmoil. The new year has begun with a wham with the startling confessions of Satyam chief Ramlingam Raju, to unveil the biggest corporate fraud in the history of (semi)capitalist India. Satyam has been in news for a month or so, since December last year and all due to bad reasons. At first, I simply ignored those news’ as just another case of an industrialist lobbying for his family businesses, but on 7th Jan, the scandal became too big to be ignored.
Satyam has been in news owing to various reasons, first it was due to some World Bank sanctions imposed owing to some payment irregularities. Then it was a court case filed by one of its UK client alleging fraud and breach of contract. Again it was in mid-December when Satyam made headlines due to Raju’s failed attempt to acquire Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra, two real estate firms promoted by his sons.
Although the failed acquisition attempt led to a considerable damage to Satyam stock prices, both at SENSEX and NYSE, but no one had thought that this was just tip of the iceberg and an apocalypse was in waiting. Finally the tremor came on 7th Jan afternoon. I was shocked to read the news near 7th Jan evening when Raju had written a letter to company’s BoD and SEBI, confessing of severe accounting frauds, inflated profits & revenues and fictitious cash reserves. However, I was even more surprised after reading the text of his letter (I was able to comprehend the technical language with some difficulty), to know the reason of him trying to acquire the Maytas firms, and it took me quite a bit of time to understand what had actually happened and then to absorb the shock.
Particularly worrying was the fact that Satyam had always been portrayed as an icon of Indian outsourcing industry and Raju as a self-made entrepreneur. So what? Would this scandal mark the end of Indian outsourcing bubble. Immediately two questions flashed into my mind:
1. The accounting fraud bears astounding similarities to the case of US’ energy giant, Enron.
2. Satyam, probably, reported an operating profit near 26%(which Raju now declares as cooked up) and the operating profits of other members of big-4 club(TCS,Infy,wipro) also lie near to it. So, are their profits and revenues also cooked up ?
Next day, I saw Satyam being addressed as India’s own Enron in TOI (in conformance with me). Again, on 14th Jan, I read an editorial in Hindu, which raised similar questions as the second one above, but with no answers. However, what was apparent, was the fact that wrongdoings of a man had endangered the careers of over 50,000 professionals and had pushed the entire Indian IT sector into a circle of mistrust.
Now what excites me (sadist.. uhh) are the possible answers to Q.2. Also, all this crisis could not have unleashed at any worse time when a economic downturn bigger than the Great Depression has just started to show its effects on Indian Economy.
Not to forget that I am graduating in May, 2010 and my placements are just 10 months away, so while living in such precarious times, when even a small incident can trigger an economic collapse, a sense of insecurity always prevails and prompts me to remain informed of any such matter which can hamper the economy and hence the job prospects of mine (and of my friends, of course).
