Its all new

As I always say, my last sem was the best on campus. For the first time in three years, I could find friends who thought on similar lines when coming to living those three days of extreme enthusiasm – the festivals. Apart from that, being in the organizing team of our sports fest, left me with more wonderful experiences than one. While I go on this way, the optimist and the enthusiast in me come, slap the blabbermouth and say… the next is gonna be better, if only you stop thinking of the past !

My perception that the semester started off on a good note ended soon, days after it actually began. One reason has to be the courses and the other, the most important, I would not want to discuss here. The electronics courses luckily turned my mind away from this diversion in their own way and other good things also happened. Grins that lasted from east till the west were shadowed by those unseen long hours of deep thinking and remorse.

Of the good things, that happened comes the course structure and the mess. The change in the former was good and the next… ‘awesome’. I also resumed my habit of writing a diary- after almost ten years. It was a pain studying with the super-stud junior kids and in the midst of those absolutely jobless (sad, but now in the true sense !)…the mono major fourthies. A couple of new and never-before stuff happened as well this semester, that left me in a daze… as in where we are leading the juniors ! the campus student council elections marked a tie between a presidential candidate and none of the above. The first in the history of bits-pilani did give a chance for the students to rethink their motives. Weeks later, another never-before, a fourth year student became the head of the student council. Waves shifted to the first semester, implies a major shift in concentration of work to the first semester. In under a fifty days, the campus showed us loads of surprises. But never had I expected something like this – a fifteen day break due to the outbreak of Jaundice and Hepatitis A. The whole semester plan shifted by almost ten days.

So, have I really liked the change? The answer would be no. Despite my new found interest in change, I quite disliked it in this regard. The mid-sem break, though left us with more holidays than before, will eat up the december vacation which gives us the necessary freshness to start over again. With completely new neighbours, it was another story. Not that they were bad, but it took me quite a long time to gel. Never thought, I would miss my PS friends so much ! …and the thought that the next is going to be worse, sinks me down. Above all this, I recently developed an illness of overthinking owing to my experiments with human relationships. With just under three months to end this semester, I hope the rest would make up for the mess that already happened.

Its time to cheer myself up and get ready for the return journey !… keep thinking, till then.

Zimbabwe – redefining inflation

With the fuel prices sky rocketing and the prices of all regular commodities at their all time high’s, many people started thinking of what they have read of a long back while at school – inflation. I always thought it was some other stuff like democracy that exists only in the books, but now has proved itself not to be. The common Indian man has started facing the wrath of inflation with the rate hitting a 12 percent. Gasoline which now costs about 57 rupees a liter along side the soaring costs of liquefied petroleum played a prime role in such an uncontrollable rise. When the indian government, a collection of some of the finest economic gurus in the world like Mr Chidambaram, Dr. Manmohan Singh who successfully handled such adverse situations more than a decade ago, couldn’t stop it, think of the poor African nations which do not have a proper governance, no law, no health care system and absolute poverty. Yeah, the results are clear with a mammoth inflation rate, outbreak of famines, shortened life spans and dignified living just a dream. Imagine a place where you need to carry a billion dollars in local currency for a loaf of bread, its not a stupid fantasy, the real life situation in Zimbabwe.

Overthrowing the white Rhodesian government, Robert Mugabe more than thirty years ago paved way for the  situation in Zimbabwe now as per many economists. Despite Mugabe stepping down, what actually started during his regime did not come to a halt. The result is a claimed 2.2 million percent inflation rate by the government ( the experts say it is over a 20million percent). Imagine the plight of people living there when we are lamenting a 10 percent increase in inflation. One lesson, everyone needs to learn from the Zimbabwean situation is not to misuse or waste the cultivable land and resources. The produce of every good is in a deficit, but it makes no difference as the people are not in a situation to buy them. Every shop is filled with commodities, but no one to actually buy them. With the value of a Zimbabwean dollar as per estimates, decreasing at over a 5 percent every day, people find it wise to invest in some food rather than in banks which offer a 5-10 percent annual rate of interest. The central bank has issued a $50bn note to ease the woes of its people who were forced to carry leaps of notes for everything. The value of the Zimbabwean dollar has gone down to a level that about a $100bn equals a 36 pence (0.36 British pound).

Exchange of foreign currency in the country is also limited to a few higher officials at about $30000 per USD. Parallel exchange rate stands at more than a $270bn as per the Guardian report.

Click the link below for more on the issue

The Guardian – an article on Zimbabwean inflation

conflicting ideas

everytime i pass the busy streets of secunderabad, i notice a pain gripping my head. In the midst of the modern man passing swiftly for his routine work, lurk the physically challenged and some elderly eagerly looking for people to donate them some coins. This gets more painful when, kids of my age (probably younger than me) who should be in a school studying, take the responsibility of feeding themselves and their family. A rather immature thought in my mind asks a question- why does the world that has so much wealth, that has many dont know how to spend the piling notes,  trigger those children who at such an age bear the pain of a life time. A more practical reason for the situation that comes in everyones mind would be the economic disparities.n.

The other day,when i got down a bus ..it was a blazing summer in hyderabad, my eyes were searching for some nearby bakery where i can go quench my thirst. luckily i found something close and the moment i was about to get into the shop, a young girl in rags was looking at me. I then lost the thought of going in, when my eyes couldnt reply to the plain eyes of the staring kid. I left the place wid my brain storming in the hot sun.

I’ve encountered such situations a hell lot of times, and everytime my thoughts get sluggish looking for an answer. Whenever possible, i give a helping hand as there’s nothing wrong in helping a challenged or an old person and the single pie i give him will not effect my wealth. But why support someone if the  person is capable of working but is not doing just for the cause he is getting money by being idle? Its nothing but supporting a person for no cause and further encouraging him to pursue begging. Those children urging for money should be put in the schools aided by the govt that support who have no one to look after them by providing food, shelter and education. Ofcourse a common scenario is a part of the process- many parents donot want to forego the income their children fetch for them by putting them in schools. This very reason is responsible for practices like child labour and all still persisting in the economy.

So everyone who lament not having an air conditioning at work, or while waiting for a bus that is late by some ten mins, remember the fact that lives of tens of  millions of people are worse not momentarily but all the while.

Thanks Divesh for ur help regards the post as wellas for supporting my thoughts

Reservations- my idea

When i first heard of this issue, i was surprised..really surprised, why for the cause of a parasitic ancient social practice,the govt is inversely trying to do justice now?? Its been over seven years since i first heard of it, n me being a kid,i couldn’t get my concentration off it for a while. Years after facing this system, i got used to it because, i know the society will not change. I am against the very policy of casteism and feel every human is equal. No one has the right to treat the other person inferior. According to me, the government should concentrate more on eradicating this system rather than trying to encourage and support the oppressed. This will for sure create a society where every individual is equal..i know this is not as simple as i’m speaking, but can be achieved by the generations to come if we plant the seeds for such a society.
Reservations which were intended to decrease the separation between the ancient indian upper and lower castes have not very successfully worked for the cause. Had this been followed well, the reservations in india would have ended decades ago as initially thought of by Dr Ambedkar. Todays world obviously has less disparity between the so called classes. The reservations in the modern world have no other result than reminding a person which caste he belongs to and in this process do humiliate the people from the so called backward castes by reserving them seats at every level of their life and reminding them that they are from an oppressed class. Why in a democratic india do we need reservations when all the people are equal in terms of right, talent and freedom. Personally i’ve noticed all my friends equally talented, whatever be their caste or creed or religion. This puts the life of a middle class average student in jeopardy. he can neither get a good institution to study( where the entrance to almost all educational institutions is reserved), nor a good job( the private sector is also victimized now). I agree they tend to decrease the disparity, but what the hell is happening here. Providing reservations at multiple levels is negatively working on the target here.
The reservations to the so called backward castes should be provided at their primary level so that by the time they reach grad, they can get into the world full of opportunities where they are on par with their peers.
not more than a week ago, i read an article where the government issued a notice saying that the posts of faculty in the IIT’s will also be reserved from now on..wtf . The deans of almost all the IIT’s were shocked at the decision and had the same opinion that it will decrease the quality of education in the renowned institutes.. This ofcourse is not a relevant subject to the issue, but my point is the government instead of trying to solve the issue is further intensifying the situation and taking decisions not so noble that degrade the meaning of quality indian education.
whenever i think of the issue,i feel rather happy for studying in a college that selects students based on merit and not on anything else( its ofcourse one of its kind in the country). Cheers to the institute that didnt agree to the unjust ideas of the rulers and also to the many bitsians who were ready to study in the midst of better students rather than better facilities (which the college would have got from the grants of the commission had they agreed to their reservation norms).

a sense of accomplishment

three minutes ago i was watching the tv with my eyes searching for something interesting..yeah i was lucky.. really lucky. i found the CNN-IBN’s programme on the best educational institutions in the country. I was eagerly waiting for the turn of engineering colleges, and as the turn came, only the first five were mentioned, IIT-the name was echoing. I was sad as only the top five were mentioned and my fingers involuntarily were fondling the remote to change the channel..then came the discussion of the top private engineering colleges in the country. Obviously as expected BITS PILANI was declared the uncrowned king of the category. The introduction began with ” think of a place where you dont have attendance, where you can choose your own courses, where you can select who is going to teach you…yeah it is the birla institute of technology and science, pilani. This college started 45 years ago and since then is the pioneer…..” and it goes on for a three minutes. I cant write of the excitement that gushed out of me with tonnes of torque..a special feeling only a bitsian can have. Lucky chaps, all my friends from goa doing their ps at CEERI Pilani covered the screen with a grin on their glowing faces..sourabh, leela, kasliwal..hmm

cheers to the college that always makes us proud.

i wish all those parents who were askin me whether its worth sending their son,daughter to bits pilani would see this

test blog using scribefire

while searching for some impressive blogging tools, i found scribefire. So thought, why not give a tryyy?
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a proud bitsian

it’s been over  two years since I’ve entered the place that, i never expected would be my alma matter, the birla institute of technology and science -pilani, goa campus. It might be a little long, but it still takes me not more than a moment to remember the fresh breeze that blew past my face when i entered the beautiful campus. I’ve never expected the rather tiresome 20 hr journey to end in such a beautiful surprise. being a pessimist, the first thought that came into my mind was “ohh..i’ve to leave this campus in just a five years???”, i dint know how in life can i leave this heaven. The picturesque view of the lush green campus surrounded by the beautiful zuari river left me on cloud 9. That being the first time i was ever into a professional institute left my innocent face looking round for a warm shelter of friendship. The B wing plaza, joined by the central administrative building is one of the complex structures I’ve ever seen (I still get lost at times). Our bus stopped in front of the B wing after which the formalities of registration went on for a couple of hours. I then landed in my room  . Awesome ..whatever i need in a small but complete package..internet, decent furnishing..everything was good. That evening as dad was to leave the next day, we planned to spend some time outside. the weather being rainy, we canceled the idea and this decision left me with one of the most memorable incidents in my bitsian life..i saw someone really special . A sense of de ja vu in me. Nothing more about this here 

the first evening was so special, so was the first night at the campus. I was amazed to find almost twenty of my school friends at the college. The next day i bid dad good bye early before dawn and started exploring my campus (yeah..i did have a sense of possession starting then ). mahendar.. one of my first friends at the campus  had as much enthu as me, n so were busy meeting all our friends. Days passed on like the cool breeze that swept me when i entered the campus. Its been over two years now and my favourite place has taught me many things in life..joy, sorrow, victory, team work and the most important of all, it instilled a self confidence in me. Whenever i look down the two years of my bitsian life, i wonder “is this me ? “ who has transformed from an innocent introvert to someone who can go speak against something he thinks is wrong.