How much does the salt on the dried chin of a kid, who has recently lost his father, cost? one anaa? one paisa? Or even less? But, who is to account for his lost future? his lost of shape of life? or rather the entire life?
India recently lost one of its fathers! (we call it our matru-bhoomi (motherland). But for me, this relation is a bit complicated than it. When it comes to paying-back, one should consider it as one's child, nourishing, nurturing and growing with dignity of whose is one's morality)
And what for? Did it bring out a change? Amir Khan had his reception ceremony as per schedule. I wrote my blog as usual. Mumbai went on daily wages crowding the locals with the same strength. World enjoyed the same sound sleep. Then what for?
Somebody should convey the terrorists, that it is not going to change even a bit for us. We are too busy with creativity to be disturbed by their endeavors. And, the loss....true we lost one. A big loss! But we have uncountably many more and will produce still more. If have courage, go to the front. This will surely shackle us. But, then I doubt their(terrorists') long term existence.
At any cost, It is very easy to fight with a mighty enemy, than the impotent friend-like looking entity sitting next to you in some seminar, or in a bus, or in a mosque.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Fate of 12:30 PM
In IIT, one of my friend, also my hostel-mate, once put a notice on his door "Do not disturb after 12:30 PM." OK! I won't. But when can I know, it is 12:30 PM?
According to the logic 11:30 PM is followed by 12:00 PM and then comes 12:30 PM. That means 12:30 in the night. Is that all? Certainly not! According to the rules of grammar, or whatever, the tag A.M. indicates time slot from midnight to midday(noon) and P.M. corresponds to that from noon to midnight. That means 12:30 P.M. occurs between noon and midnight. So it must be 12:30 in the afternoon.
And, we (when I told this to my friend, he joined me) ran into a deep confusion followed by a discussion. Any way, what was wrong?
Simple enough for a student of maths, though not trivial for a layman! Have you heard of a time 2430 hrs? I don't remember. This is because 24:00 is identified with 00:00 hrs in 24 hr clock system. Similarly, in 12 hr system 12:00 should be identified with 00:00.....There will never occur a time like 12:30, neither P.M. nor A.M.
After the realization, I was fascinated with the power of ignorance! Even in marathi terms like saade-baaraa appear and most of us don't realize that it is wrong. (One good thing about marathi is 12:45 is denoted as pauN, which is equivalent to 3/4th part of something. Shall I guess superiority of marathis, from this?...Just kidding
According to the logic 11:30 PM is followed by 12:00 PM and then comes 12:30 PM. That means 12:30 in the night. Is that all? Certainly not! According to the rules of grammar, or whatever, the tag A.M. indicates time slot from midnight to midday(noon) and P.M. corresponds to that from noon to midnight. That means 12:30 P.M. occurs between noon and midnight. So it must be 12:30 in the afternoon.
And, we (when I told this to my friend, he joined me) ran into a deep confusion followed by a discussion. Any way, what was wrong?
Simple enough for a student of maths, though not trivial for a layman! Have you heard of a time 2430 hrs? I don't remember. This is because 24:00 is identified with 00:00 hrs in 24 hr clock system. Similarly, in 12 hr system 12:00 should be identified with 00:00.....There will never occur a time like 12:30, neither P.M. nor A.M.
After the realization, I was fascinated with the power of ignorance! Even in marathi terms like saade-baaraa appear and most of us don't realize that it is wrong. (One good thing about marathi is 12:45 is denoted as pauN, which is equivalent to 3/4th part of something. Shall I guess superiority of marathis, from this?...Just kidding
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Proud to be
Today early morning, I was passing to the navy ground - Kohli Ground, when I overheard a group of school children. I don't think they were more than 6-7 years old. It is usually nostalgic to come across such a situation. You start recreating your own days of innocence, full of joy and enthusiasm and most importantly, with a deep urge of talking about everything you know (I am referring to the age when you generally avoid talking everything that you don't know). Having no reservation for sharing anything with anyone you call a friend. But, today was different. No No, the day was the same as usual. I am talking about the group. It was truly different.
They were from navy nagar and I think from navy personnels' children. I heard one of them "mere papaki kashmir posting ho gayi hain, woh jaldi hi chale jayenge" (My father got posting at Kashmir, he will leave soon). The other came up, " mere papa bhi 2-3 saal pahile wohi the, bahut thunda hota hain" (Even my father was there 2-3 years back. It is very cold there). What throbbed my heart the most violently was another child adjoining "meri maa kahti hain ke mere papa kashmir main hi the jab mein 2 saal ka tha, unko award bhi mila tha"( my mom says, my father was there when I was 2 years old, he was awarded). And then, the sound had decayed so low, I couldn't hear next.
What was amazing in the whole is the immense pride they showed in their tone. All alike. There was no sign of repent or loss or fear. It is true, that they are too young to know the intensity of the situation, though surely they know what kashmir is. Or they never had talked about it so passionately. But, so what? I think the views they represented were the most natural ones. Since, there emmotions are not enveloped by their experiences and the philosophy of life they are going to develop at a later stage. It is truly an inner sound. Three cheers, to them. They taught a new way to look at the things around. The positive kernel of everything: KarmaNyewadhikaraste ma faleshu kadachan|
truly, something to be proud of.
Celebration continues....
Today finally, our team got the permission to shoot at the institute.
Our institute holds an open house every year and students from school are called to the institute to visit the labs and see the facets of research work we do here. It was proposed, that we have a short film on Students life at the institute. I have a group, where we from different academic background, have a single dream of film making. We have a commercial artist, one architect, one student of statistics, one from M.B.A. and of course, one researcher. We have little, though working knowledge of camera, scripting, music....
we decided to take up this challenge and we got the permission. Hope to do great.....
Our institute holds an open house every year and students from school are called to the institute to visit the labs and see the facets of research work we do here. It was proposed, that we have a short film on Students life at the institute. I have a group, where we from different academic background, have a single dream of film making. We have a commercial artist, one architect, one student of statistics, one from M.B.A. and of course, one researcher. We have little, though working knowledge of camera, scripting, music....
we decided to take up this challenge and we got the permission. Hope to do great.....
Celebrations
It was a windy afternoon at Dombivli. 26th day of December, 2005. I was sleeping, when it ranged. At home, everyone has his own space of existence, except me...reason: I am a wanderer which appears only on weekends, for them and usually, have to make some arrangement for myself. I was sleeping in the hall on a sofa next to that idiot noisy tring'er. So any ways, it rang and went on ringing for some more time, when I gave up and pulled the receiver. It was a womanly voice saying, "Hi, may I speak to Mr. Nikhil Joshi?"....uff, another freak from those ICICI kind. main to katane ke chakkar mein tha, when she continued," I am from the Academy of Music" and then it went on for a while. I quit the line and went to sleep, which I couldn't continue.
I woke up after a 2-3 minutes of chaos. I tried to recall what she (I couldn't recall her name!) was blabbering all the time. Was it any important? Was it any specific? Was it a news? And, I chuckled with a great power. Almost jumped to the bed on which my parents were resting. It was a celebration.
The call came from The Academy of Music of which I am a student. The lady announced my result of the grade exam for piano I gave of the Trinity College of Music, London. I had cleared the exam. I am from the very few who clear up the exam.
It is only because of my great luck the day, I had the exam. Mr. Allen Hodge, who was the examiner was very kind to me. I almost scrambled the pieces, I was supposed to play. I lost my mind, when I make mistakes in the piece, I was to play from memory. I must have composed a completely new piece that day!(which I can definitely sell, as an inspired composition, any ways in hindi cinema). I was a lot nervous. I remember struggling for the right keys on the piano, many a times. The only good thing was my technical knowledge. I must have scored fully in that. Also, sight reading, which I had absolutely no faith in went fantastic (I don't know how!).....Any way, the result is I am through..Time to celebrate!
I must thank my piano teacher Mr. Nimesh Shah, who showed deep faith in me and at times more sincere than me. Agewise, he is one year junior to me, but when on piano, he is ageless and I am just an embryo. Thanks a lot, Nimesh
I woke up after a 2-3 minutes of chaos. I tried to recall what she (I couldn't recall her name!) was blabbering all the time. Was it any important? Was it any specific? Was it a news? And, I chuckled with a great power. Almost jumped to the bed on which my parents were resting. It was a celebration.
The call came from The Academy of Music of which I am a student. The lady announced my result of the grade exam for piano I gave of the Trinity College of Music, London. I had cleared the exam. I am from the very few who clear up the exam.
It is only because of my great luck the day, I had the exam. Mr. Allen Hodge, who was the examiner was very kind to me. I almost scrambled the pieces, I was supposed to play. I lost my mind, when I make mistakes in the piece, I was to play from memory. I must have composed a completely new piece that day!(which I can definitely sell, as an inspired composition, any ways in hindi cinema). I was a lot nervous. I remember struggling for the right keys on the piano, many a times. The only good thing was my technical knowledge. I must have scored fully in that. Also, sight reading, which I had absolutely no faith in went fantastic (I don't know how!).....Any way, the result is I am through..Time to celebrate!
I must thank my piano teacher Mr. Nimesh Shah, who showed deep faith in me and at times more sincere than me. Agewise, he is one year junior to me, but when on piano, he is ageless and I am just an embryo. Thanks a lot, Nimesh
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Name of the Disease
Last Friday there was a screening of a documentary made jointly by MIT and Udaipur Health Project, namely "Name of the disease". This documetary was based on a survey made by the above body in the rural areas around Udaipur, gauging the general awareness towards the medical facilities nearby or in the town.
There are mainly three bodies covering the medical needs in these areas. Namely, Bhopas, Bengali Doctors and government centers. Bhopa is an illiterate, generally a guardian of some temple. He falls in the same category as "tantrik", who by using some unreasonable techniques like Jhaadu to beat the patient to remove the bhoot infection, portray their connection with the god. Bengali Doctors are those, who couldn't hold their jobs as compounder(helper to the doctor) in some dispensary, settled here as a doctor. When interviewed such a case, the answer was " pataa nahi, main to 12th pass nahi kar paya, is liye doctor ban gaya"( I don't know all this, I couldn't clear my 12th exam (H.S.C.), so I became a doctor). There are appointments of the regular doctors from the government, with well equipped labs and medical centers, which 5 days a week are closed, for some fishy reason.
90 % of the medical cases are referred to the Bhopas, which people have the most belief in. In case of no cure (and provided the patient survives), in the rest 10% of cases people go to the bengali doctors: for there is no option most of the time. The natives believe in the saline bottles more than any other method and always demand for so (even in the case of simple cold or throat infection), which is not supported many a times at the medical centers. This is another reason for the affection towards the bengali docs.
Moral of the story is quite clear. Literate the people. Remove those Bhopas. Remove those Bengali Doctors. Keep the medical centers open 24x7. Simple......but then the question comes, how? and who? I am a sane researcher, so I am saved. The other is an engineer, safe either. My family doctor is quite busy, out of question!
What is the name of the disease, in which there is a co-existence of a super-saturated density of professionals in the metros and scarcity in the rural areas of India? what is the name of the disease, in which the highly literate gang of India, sits in front of the idiot box early morning to know their daily fate? What is the name of the disease, in which the cream of intelligentsia, the so called researchers, improve their quality with a perl on a ring in their index finger? What is the name of the disease, due to which we have forgotten that we are falling short of our social expectations?
The Bhopas, the Bengali Doctors are all doing their jobs, when are we going to start ours? Only literacy is not the solution. A scientific attitude is needed and that way we all are equally illiterate.
What is the name of this disease?
There are mainly three bodies covering the medical needs in these areas. Namely, Bhopas, Bengali Doctors and government centers. Bhopa is an illiterate, generally a guardian of some temple. He falls in the same category as "tantrik", who by using some unreasonable techniques like Jhaadu to beat the patient to remove the bhoot infection, portray their connection with the god. Bengali Doctors are those, who couldn't hold their jobs as compounder(helper to the doctor) in some dispensary, settled here as a doctor. When interviewed such a case, the answer was " pataa nahi, main to 12th pass nahi kar paya, is liye doctor ban gaya"( I don't know all this, I couldn't clear my 12th exam (H.S.C.), so I became a doctor). There are appointments of the regular doctors from the government, with well equipped labs and medical centers, which 5 days a week are closed, for some fishy reason.
90 % of the medical cases are referred to the Bhopas, which people have the most belief in. In case of no cure (and provided the patient survives), in the rest 10% of cases people go to the bengali doctors: for there is no option most of the time. The natives believe in the saline bottles more than any other method and always demand for so (even in the case of simple cold or throat infection), which is not supported many a times at the medical centers. This is another reason for the affection towards the bengali docs.
Moral of the story is quite clear. Literate the people. Remove those Bhopas. Remove those Bengali Doctors. Keep the medical centers open 24x7. Simple......but then the question comes, how? and who? I am a sane researcher, so I am saved. The other is an engineer, safe either. My family doctor is quite busy, out of question!
What is the name of the disease, in which there is a co-existence of a super-saturated density of professionals in the metros and scarcity in the rural areas of India? what is the name of the disease, in which the highly literate gang of India, sits in front of the idiot box early morning to know their daily fate? What is the name of the disease, in which the cream of intelligentsia, the so called researchers, improve their quality with a perl on a ring in their index finger? What is the name of the disease, due to which we have forgotten that we are falling short of our social expectations?
The Bhopas, the Bengali Doctors are all doing their jobs, when are we going to start ours? Only literacy is not the solution. A scientific attitude is needed and that way we all are equally illiterate.
What is the name of this disease?
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Meet my friend
This is other side of it. Same day, same place: Haji Ali. I saw this family enjoying their tour to Haji Ali. As if, the father while introducing his little child to the unfathomable sea of life, says "hey, this one of my oldest friend and I am handing over his friendship to you now".
Haji Ali cosmetically a very bad choice for a hang out. But, this is the good thing about it. It provides the contrast in the background, you are bound to look at nothing but yourself.
Later we had a concert of light music and bhajans by smt. Vaani Jairam at the Homi Bhabha. Truely exciting experience. I don't know, why but she skipped any reference to carnatic music, even "Shankarabaranam" one of my most favorites of her.
Face off with life
Haah, this was not at all new. Only, that it takes a new form everytime. A couple of days back, I visited Haji Ali for the first time. The place was a complete disappointment. I bet, it looks much better in the landscape view. While, moving towards the entrace, there were quite a many beggars around, typical of a developing country with occupying pious cultural backing like India. What I liked about this lady was the immense optimism about her life (particularly, when this relation has not been successful till late). How can one expect, in such a diverse atmosphere, that someone will wait for her, fumble with his pocket for a penny and float it heartfully?
But, this is life and it is beautiful.
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