Requiem

The death of merit. The obliteration of the soul of this country's youth. The initiation of catastrophe. Welcome to the beginning of the end. No where in the history of our country has truth been murdered so methodically and brutally, the fair and just were trampled over, and the deserving were crushed to submission, like today. Each one of you will remember how this country's destruction began. Today as we speak the honorable HRD Minister, in his implacable and idiotic stance, has destroyed any hope for the youth of this country. Joining him in this dance of death is our honorable Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Meira Kumar: she says that the private sector has a couple of years to ring in death knell and make the process of wreckage complete.
The government as a whole has reiterated their affinity to this utter disaster by refusing to discuss the quota issue. We are done, if we do go through with the suggested quota policy. The one-eyed men will rule this country of the blind, while those that see will sail to foreign shores or simply quit. We will miss you. We are sorry. God help us.

Add to:del.icio.us| Digg| Reddit| StumbleUpon| Technorati

Moral Policing May Strike Bangalore University

"Bangalore University Syndicate is considering segregated seating for male and female students, and may even be prescribed a dress code." [Link]
IMHO they should ban co-education. Send them girls to a girls college. That kind of segregation will ensure their protection. Actually they should ban education for either boys or girls. That will simplify a lot of things. I mean if they don't meet at school they can never meet right? Yeah, right.
Where are we headed man?

Add to:del.icio.us| Digg| Reddit| StumbleUpon| Technorati

The boon bane of quota

Read on NDTV about Yashpal Jaware's achievement. He is from Nandurbar in Maharashtra: One of the poorest districts, which is notorious for malnutrition deaths.
What most fail to see it that at the end of it all, it is the individual's desire, passion, and industry that count. Take a look what he lists when he talks about his obstacles:

1) Cycling 15 KM a day to the nearest science college.
2) Studying: Power cuts ensured that he couldn't study in the night.
3) Coping with English.

He scored 85% in his CET. I am sure that Yashpal would have made it even without quota. What we need to do though is make sure that the Yashpals of this country have easier access to schools and colleges. How will that happen? Only when the government allows the private sector to set up schools, moderate and police the competition thereof. We also need to minimize power cuts. Again, we have to resort to privatization there.
I empathize with his English language problem. I couldn't frame two sentences when I was in school. Such is the situation in small towns and villages. Also, if you talk in English you will be mocked at. That happens even in Chennai!
A feasible way out is to bring Internet to the schools in villages. Train them in computers and let them explore... I don't know I am just thinking aloud. Or, maybe give them self-help books for free so that they can train themselves in the basics of the language.

That said, isn't it obvious that the real benefit of quota goes to the urban, well-off 'backward-on-paper' students? And, that as long as the government's involvement is minimal, we will do just fine?

Also read:
Imagine no reservations by Atanu Dey
Reservations benefit the upper castes by Anand

Add to:del.icio.us| Digg| Reddit| StumbleUpon| Technorati

Quota any day, to keep the doctor away

What happened in Mumbai is a crying shame. Beating up life-saving doctors with whole world watching sends the wrong signal to the world. What were the Mumbai cops thinking? That they could hammer doctors into submission? Almost every medico-legal case requires the attestation of a government doctor. I have heard of stories about how an intern made an ASP wait for four hours just because the cop tried to bully the intern. Suicide, drunken driving, murder... Just about every freaking case requires the doctor's signature; the cops can't work without the docs. Now that they have lathi charged peaceful protesters as the shocked nation watched, the cops can expect the shit to hit the fan when they go stand outside the doctor's office for a signature. I assure you that the Mumbai cops are going to suffer for a long time to come. Just WTF were they thinking? Mumbai cops have made life difficult for every cop in the country. Amid all this chaos, CNN-IBN pops the question 'right to dignity' or 'right to life.' You have the right to shut the hell up Rajdeep. I am amazed at how you can plumb to such depths just to get some more eye balls and a little boost to your channel's ratings. If you are so worried about your life, you ought to ensure that the life-saving doctors are treated with respect that they so deserve. And, stop creating quota doctors. What the news channels are missing is this big point: where the f**k do you stop the quota? I can live with reservations at school and college level but at the PG or doctorate level?

approximately 30-40 in AIIMS, PGI, JIPMER, 2000 in the All-India entrance and by some extrapolation about another 4000 seats in state medical colleges. A grand total of 6500, give or take. Number of medical graduates coming out every year? Easily around 30,000. Do the math - excluding the ones that go abroad (they can't get to the UK anymore, that's a different story), get married, do MBAs or medical transcription and the ones that get post grad, there's a pool of about 15,000 doctors ADDED to the ones that write the entrance exams.
And the government wants to halve the number of seats available on the general merit list. And it wants the section of society most affected by it to sit around quietly on their lathi-charged behinds. [via quietly Amused]

As this country dies a painful death, thanks to Arjun Singh, the docs are going to fly away from this meaningless system and you and I will end up with a quota doctor who can't tell the scalpel from the scalp. If Arjun Singh falls sick will he go consult a quota doc. Like hell he will. And oh if you were wondering why Arjun Singh won't talk or budge... Simple. The journalists leave the place before Singh opens his mouth. He takes forty hours to say 'Quo...' Anoher ten to finish it with 'ta'. He doesn't budge because he can't walk. I propose that even politicians should be asked to buzz off and retire as soon as they cross 60. I mean, what the heck... have you seen Vajpayee talk? Poor man, makes Prabu Deva look like an amateur; with all that shaking of the head and knees. Such is life. We are governed by leaders who consider standing up an achievement and they decide the fate of this country's youth.
Update:The Prime minister has set up a committee to look into the quota turmoil. And guess who is in it? The Superman Arjun Singh himself!
And, check this out:

Five Hundred doctors in three government hospitals � Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital are likely to face termination of service.
200 senior resident doctors of AIIMS have been given termination notices.
Nearly 70 doctors have rejoined duty at Safdarjung Hospital, while 81 have resumed work at RML.[via NDTV]

I implore the doctors to get the f**k out of this place. If you can't make it to USA or UK. Don't worry, the middle-east is a great place, at least to make some real good money. My friend Vasu will not miss you, after all each one of you, according to him, is an 'RDB' type and you are a rich ass punk with two cars. Could someone introduce him to reality, he's never been acquainted with it. WHY? Why don't these pro-quota people see it: it is like cutting the branch you are sitting on! As David Ogilvy would have put it, we are all set to become a country of dwarfs. Let me clarify one more time before Vasu pounces on me foaming at his mouth. I am not against reservations. But I am against reservations at the PG level, in important domains like public health care, and I am against unreasonable quota systems (the numbers I mean like 69%) that encourage brain-drain. We wronged the backward classes in the past but two wrongs do not make it right. Arjun Singh is doing it to further his political motives. He does not give a toad's ass about you, me, or the backward classes.

Add to:del.icio.us| Digg| Reddit| StumbleUpon| Technorati

Just Take My Heart

Thanks to Kicha I saw a whole new dimension of Mr.Big. The intro riff of 'Just take my heart from their 2000 album Deep Cuts is a work of genius. The masterful mix of harmonics and some amazing picking (The bass E is tuned to F FYI) is solid testimony to their talent. Eric's vocals are incendiary. He bursts out on you with his raspy vocals and performs some high-adrenalin vocals with consummate ease. Other tracks that I love of Mr.Big are 'Green tinted sixties mind' (watch out for the intro piece finger-tapping). And of course, the bassist Billy Sheehan is legendary. Listen to Colorado Bulldog and you'll know why.

If you are wondering 'what the hell is he talking about guitaring for?' Well, I am training to be a guitarist at Unwind. If you want to learn guitars in Bangalore, that's the best place to go.

Add to:del.icio.us| Digg| Reddit| StumbleUpon| Technorati

The crappiest story in the world

The Torpedos went on a nostalgia trip and posted about their school's fancy-dress competition. It makes for some fun reading. However, it prompted me, for no obvious reason, to recount this story from a time far behind:
K was a very shy boy. Until he reached PU, he kept to himself, steered clear of the bullies, girls, and teachers. Actually, no one took notice of him until first PU. He was a short, scrawny guy that barely spoke. Our class teacher in third standard, let's call her V, was a control-freak. She could not tolerate students that maintained incomplete notes or wore shabby shoes, you know? She carried a bamboo stick that could have passed for a baton. All one had to do was breath a bit harder, and she'd crack her stick on his knuckles. She never hit the girls though.
So, one arid, March morning, when schools started early and finished early in Chittoor, K got himself into a knot. He wanted to crap. All he had to do was stand up, and say 'Excuse me teacher, I need to crap.' And, Ms.V would have permitted him. But K was scared witless to seek permission. He had been deliberating, in vain, on how he could take the load off.
We sat on the floor and used the wooden benches as writing tables. Each bench had three kids and it was pretty crowded. What does K do? He craps silently on the floor, moves to his left towards Raghu, and points a finger at fat Mahesh who was sleeping with his eyes half-open, and almost screams to MS.V, 'Teacher, Mahesh crapped!' Ms. V's face turned purple. And, believe me; I saw smoke come out of her ears. Fat Mahesh did not even know what hit him. His mind was still in the process of constructing a sentence but his mouth was emitting garbled sounds like 'Ungg.. Maa... ooooh urghhh.' Ms. V screamed with all her might, 'Aaaayaaahhhhh!' And the school Aayah appeared magically, chewing on pan. She spat through her teeth on the classroom wall, before she enquired 'What happened?' Ms. V told her. The Aayah whisked fat Mahesh away towards our loo, by his right ear lobe. Mahesh still was in the process of constructing a sentence you see and was emitting junk noises, but now the gushing tears that washed his chubby face made life hell for him: the noises were interspersed with sobs and hiccups ("hakkk... wooooooon... blikk?"). The Aayah disrobed Mahesh in the middle of the ground and made him stand outside the loo. Thus, as the whole primary school watched, the Aayah washed Mahesh's behind with a Coconut-skin scrub.
Fat Mahesh left school the next year for obvious reasons.
K, if you are reading this, you are the slimiest fothamucka (thanks for the word BT) in the world and I hope your progeny does not inherit your legacy.

Add to:del.icio.us| Digg| Reddit| StumbleUpon| Technorati

Lunguitar

the guitarist
Originally uploaded by sumank.

Guess who this guitar god is? and what Lunguitar means?

Add to:del.icio.us| Digg| Reddit| StumbleUpon| Technorati

Quote

It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.
- Aeschylus

Add to:del.icio.us| Digg| Reddit| StumbleUpon| Technorati