3 Idiots

You may gaze at this picture wondering who are these 3 guys and why are they greeted with garlands ? We have not achieved anything great to be treated like this. All we did was attend our friend's sister marriage. I came across this photo and thought of sharing my experience at the wedding through this blog. Venkat had invited us for his sister's marriage. Initially, it seemed like most of our college friends will go & attend the function. But as usual, many had their last time commitments and only we 3 Idiots finally made it. This was the first marriage, we friends gathered and attended after our college days. We always wanted to have this kinda get together. The one in the middle is Vishnu (Idiot no 1), the one to his right is SaiVinoth(Idiot no 2) and me ofcourse (Idiot no 3).

3 IDIOTS from 3 CITIES

Marriage was held at Kumbakonam. I started a day earlier from Chennai and reached Kumbakonam the next morning. Its been 2 years, I have met Venkat. I still remember the last day of our college when we parted our ways. It felt like same old days when i met Venkat in the bus-stand. Vishnu who was on his way from Bangalore. We were waiting for Sai who was on his way from Cochin and he reached that afternoon. We stayed in a AC hotel which was more like a religious spot, where people across come to visit temples in and around Kumbakonam. As soon as I entered the hotel, i got stunned for a sec by seeing the board saying "NO SMOKING, NO DRINKING". But i didnt ask Venkat about it. We both shared a smile. Vishnu too was stunned. Then we got clarified that doesnt matter anyways. After all marriage is all about partying and breaking the rules right. We spent the afternoon going to Venkat's home, meeting his parents, relatives and his sister and roaming the streets of Kumbakonam in search of wedding gift which was a daunting task.

Evening, we got ready to attend the 'Maapilai Azhaipu'. We entered the marriage hall not knowing a pleasant surprise awaits us. Venkat weared us silk clothing (hope so) and garlanded with graceful flowers. We were stunned for a second by his gesture. We felt like we weren't worth for this kinda reception. Later I felt , the way Venkat greeted us, made me feel how special we are to him. Everyone were busy with the function, which went great with fireworks all around. After heavy dinner , we settled in the room and boozed. We thought of having groom with us, to give him his bachelor party, but he was busy and tired.

Though many of our friends didnt attend the wedding, still we felt great to be there at the marriage. Leaving all our work behind, to be there at the wedding like old college days, with friends, talking non-sense, remembering old memories, doing things which we were good at :), made us feel nice. The memory of this marriage will always be etched in my mind. Thanks to ammanji(Venkat) who rolled the clock back.

Re-deeming Universities

"Education system of the country was being revamped to make India a knowledge power by 2020" - Kapil Sibal. But with the present education system and policies of UGC in granting deemed status to universities, Sibal's words appear like mirage to me.
Indians are pioneers in educational fields, be it astronomy, science or medicine. But , even after these many years, we dont have a world class university where studs from other countries love to study. I dont dream to have a university like MIT, stanford or Harvard, But i want to have universities that dont corrupt in imparting knowledge. Months ago, Tandon review committee was asked to submit report on the state of existing deemed-to-be universities. The report was shocking as it reported that 44 of 130 universities have been recommended to be shut. As per the Tandon report, HRD has asked SC, to take necessary action against those universities.

Tandon committee has seperated the existing deemed-to-be universities into 3 levels.
In that only 38 have justified their presence as deemed university. All the other universities didnt have proper management structure, facilities, syllabus and infrastructure. They seemed to have unrelated course programmes and allocated more no of seats than they are allowed to have. Many universities have approved distant education without getting proper permission from Distant education council of India. The committee has also put 44 other unversities under probation period for 3 years. They are asked to improve their academic results , else they would be labelled affiliated colleges under the state gvnt universities.

There is no idea how UGC has granted permision to these universities which are below par level to attain such status. Education today has become more like a commodity in a market which can be sold to those who have power and money.
Out of the 44 which are to be scraped from deemed-to-be status, 19 are from TamilNadu. It seems like around 2 lakh students are studying in these 44 universities. If the status is removed from these universities, all those students have to be moved to other affiliated colleges in their state universities.

It seems like no educational improvement is in sight with these corrupt commissions and authorities. Bold decisions like university shut down has to be taken. In the period 2000 -2010 around 20 universities have gained deemed-to be-status. Its totally useless in increasing the university merely in numbers without improving the standards. Strict policies in granting the university status has to be implemented to maintain the standards. More has to be done in order to improve the educational system of India. Th foremost thing is, granting power only to those institutions that are really into imparting knowledge. If found, increasing the seats exponentially without proper permission, their university status has to scrapped.
The government should look into UGC draft regulations and alter them necessarily. I wish this down-trodden path from Deemed to affiliated will never happen again in our system.

IPL - Get Addicted

8 teams, 20 overs/team, 45 Days, top Players from International cricket, ruthless cricket for 3 hours and above all Mad Crowd who can watch cricket for their whole life. IPL. The battle between the ball and bat that can make the crowd go crazy will start in a day. For the next one and half months, nothing will occupy the front page of the newspaper, no Telengana issues, no Women's Bill, no politics, no budget controversies except for IPL. IPL will be the talk of the country.

Unlike any other game, cricket has varieties in it which makes it the unsung religion of India. 20-20 cricket is no divine like test cricket, it doesnt create emotional innings like ODIs, still it has its own advantage of pulling in the crowd. Endless hitting over the ropes, Unexpected fall of wickets, Players running themselves out in critical situations, breath-taking catches, nail- biting last overs , dancing cheer girls, all make people more interested towards this format.

Eventhough I am not a big fan of T20 cricket, but to see people from all countries playing for their franchises makes me believe that this is a good platform for players to mingle with varieties of culture. This is a good positive sign for international cricket. Its glad to see when Indian and pakistan players hug each other, Aus and English players pump their fists. This sportsmanship gets carried even when they play international cricket against each other.

In the next 45 days, IPL will become regular in daily life of every Indian. It will assure guaranteed endless entertainment for people around the world. So people, be ready to get addicted.

The Women's Reservation Bill

March 8. It would have been the apt day, if the Women's Reservation bill has been passed. 33% reservation for women to possess seats in state assemblies and lok sabha still remains a daydream. The thing which surprises me the most is that eventhough many top positions like president, speaker, chairpersons of leading polotical parties are all occupied by women, still the Women's bill has taken a decade time to get its approval.

Its not that the opposing parties are against the empowerment of women, but they have their own political theories behind for denying it. The fear of UPA and BJP getting more advantage in elections has made SP and BSP to think against the Bill.
I was surprised to know that there was no single women minister under BSP. SP and BSP doesnt seem to have a well organised women's wing which would make them difficult to find a women's candidate for the elections. This would reduce the oppurtunities for other expexted male candidates in the party.

But they have started accusing , saying the Bill has its own advantages for women from upper castes alone. They want seperate reservations for women belonging to OBC, SC and ST within that 33% reservation. This seems somewhat Ok to me as, no seperate reservation is needed for Upper caste women to make their mark in our electorate. Its only SC/ST women who gets affected the most. But we cant expect the Bill to be perfect the first time. Gradual improvements to the Bill can be made only if we allow the Bill to pass.

Also, these parties say that they have denied it in interests of OBC's and Muslims , who are yet to receive definite reservation. They have termed UPA government as Anti-Muslim and Anti-minorities. But they themselves have become Anti-women by not allowing the Bill to pass. Keeping these things aside, the behaviour of the MP's in parliament is undigestable. We have always had a proud history of fighting senselessly in the parliament. That continued when passing Women's Bill too.
I dont understand why do they have to show such dis-interest by jumping and tearing the Bill. Meanwhile, Janata Dal(U) president Nitish kumar has supported the Bill saying he doesn't want UPA to get the credit all by itself by passing the Bill, as it was Janata party under Deve Gowda first initiated the process. DMK, AIADMK has extended their support to women's right as they always do.

Whatever political reasons, these parties are interested in, I have always had my opinion that women should be given the right to represent asap. If women, caste, religion are the major criterias in electoral system of India, then why should we have a system that is based on region. Its good to see UPA and BJP have joined their hands in this issue. Already in panchayat systems , the reservation for women has been passed and is happening effectively across the country. Whether the Bill is passed or not, One cannot deny that only by increased participation of women in political parties allow them to fight against discrimination and abuse. With increased support from sociologists, political scientists, feminists and historians and almost everybody , it can be seen that the Bill cannot be delayed for ever. Its today or tomorrow.

Am I an Atheist ?

I had never thought of writing blogs, until i started following My best friend's (Vishnu) blog. Thanks to him for inspiring me to write some non-sense like this :)
I was not thinking for long time on choosing the topic to start my blog. I had my own opinions on the existence of GOD. I tried to question myself on it. So, aptly it struck rightly in my mind, that this has to be my first blog.

I was brought up well in religious environment. My mother does poojas daily. It was a tradition in my family (still is) to bathe the bronze idols of God which we have in our pooja room daily. Even i used to do poojas for more than half an hour till my 11th std. I dont feel shame in telling this. I used to believe that if i missed doing pooja on anyone day, i will be punished by god. The basic belief with me at that time was, God was with me all the time and he will take care of my things.

But there was a sudden change in my attitude, when i finished my schooling. I never had the feeling for God , after i entered my college. I am not sure, why that thing happened. I stopped going to temple and even thinking or praying to God , even during auspicious days like semester exams :) I started questioning the people's belief on God. I thought about the things that people used to do like piercing their body, mouth with things . Does God expects all these things from us ?

I have always believed that the power of nature is far superior than us. But many things pertaining to God never makes sense to me. Temple has always been a place , where people come to tell their problems. Some things are there in life which are beyond hope. These things related to God are in our blood. No one can deny that, the strong belief in God has been the roots of many problems in the world like communal, caste and terrorism.

I am not a big fan of Periyar or kalaignar, who believes rather in people than God.
The religious history of our nation seems like more of fantasy than reality to me.
Belief is the best companion to anyone who is in a bad situation. I dont blame on the beliefs of the million peoples. But Iam very surprised to how they take these beliefs to next level like senseless things like hurting themselves in name of God.

Also, I always had the aversion towards people who call themselves as gifted from God like saamiyars. Many have been proved to be guilty of sexual harassment. I don't see how people fall for their trap. Religion has become the easiest way to lure people nowadays.

I think I am neither religious nor atheist. I just like to question the beliefs of people as to why they do these things that makes complete non-sense. This is the first thing that has strike to my sixth sense.