Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Quota: Centre gets it right in the ass!

New report:

"Inclusion of a caste in the list would mean that it was previously socially advanced and did not figure among the backward class communities. But with time, their social status deteriorated and they had to be included in the list. This means more and more castes are getting backward as there are only inclusions and none being excluded from the list," it said.

Vahanvati said as per the procedure before NCBC, a caste could be excluded from the list only if someone filed a complaint alleging that a caste had become socially advanced. "No petitions have been filed seeking exclusion of any caste," he said.

The Bench replied, "Merely because there is no complaint, NCBC cannot abdicate its duty to conducta periodic review of the social status of castes included in the backward list."

Referring to the swelling number of castes in the backward list, the Bench said, "This means for 60 years, people who were disadvantaged continue to be backward. If this is so, then what is the meaning of the arrangements for social advancement of backward community for all these years?"
Times of India, 26 Sep 2007,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Why_is_no_group_ever_excluded_from_quota_SC/articleshow/2402984.cms

This reminds me of Kevin Verbal Kent's (Kevin Spacey) narration in the movie "The Usual Suspects" about how he felt when he along with his "usual suspects" busted The New York police's involvement drug racket.


"They got it right in the ass. It was beautiful"

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

So is the message "Sunita achievied despite a being of Gujarati origin"?

...so, the news tells me that Sunita Williams is a celebrity in India! She has won the Prestigious Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vishwa Pratibha Award. Great! But before we talk about it any further, a brief life history of this successful astronaut.

Born: Euclid, Ohio
Father: Dr. Deepak Pandya, Indian
Mother:Bonnie Pandya, Slovenian
Education:
  • Needham High School, Needham, Massachusetts, 1983.
  • B.S., Physical Science, U.S. Naval Academy"U.S. Naval Academy, 1987.
  • M.S., Engineering Management, Florida Institute of Technology, 1995
Marital Status: Married to Michael J. Williams, a Federal Police Officer
Occupation: Commander, US, Navy
Recent Achievements:

- Unprecedented 3 spacewalks in 9 days
- Cumulative total of 29 hours, 17 minutes in four spacewalks, highest spacewalk time for a woman.

Now these sure seem to be commendable achievements. But to put things into perspective, as the Vishwa Gujarati Samaj (VGS) claims this award is conferred "to well-known Gujaratis recognizing their lifelong services/contribution to the cause of Gujarat".

If the point is to recognize people who have served Gujarat, where does Sunita William's marathon fit in? Or if it is to recognizes her achievements, why was it not given to the person who has achieved the same feet earlier? Because she is not a Gujarati? From what I see, the only thing that connects Sunita to Gujarat is her father who was a practicing doctor there before moving to the US and she owes the plaudits and accolade not to her perseverence, but to her father.

For our own sake, why don't we refrain from quoting one's origin (place or community) as a reason for conferring an accolade to someone? It appears to send a specious message to the world, "Sunita could break the space walking record despite being a Gujarati." Would you like that tag on you Sunita?

Sources: Wikipedia

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Tribute to a soul that entered and departed 100 years ahead of its time


மஹாகவி சுப்ரமணிய பாரதியார்
டிசம்பர் 11, 1882 - செப்டம்பர் 11, 1921

"Mahakavi" Subramania Bharathiyar
December 11, 1882 - september 11, 1921


'மாதர் தம்மை இழிவு செய்யும்
மடமையை கொளுத்துவோம்'
We will destroy the idiocy
Of denigrating womanhood

நெஞ்சு பொறுக்குதில்லையே - இந்த
நிலைகெட்ட மனிதரை நினைந்துவிட்டால்

"கொஞ்சமோ பிரிவினைகள் - ஒரு
கோடியென் றாலது பெரிதாமோ ?

'My blood boils to think of these idiotic men!
How many divisions within us, they are more than a crore!…'


Tribute to a soul that entered and departed 100 years ahead of its time




மஹாகவி சுப்ரமணிய பாரதியார்
டிசம்பர் 11, 1882 - செப்டம்பர் 11, 1921

"Mahakavi" Subramania Bharathiyar
December 11, 1882 - september 11, 1921


'மாதர் தம்மை இழிவு செய்யும்
மடமையை கொளுத்துவோம்'
We will destroy the idiocy
Of denigrating womanhood

நெஞ்சு பொறுக்குதில்லையே - இந்த
நிலைகெட்ட மனிதரை நினைந்துவிட்டால்

"கொஞ்சமோ பிரிவினைகள் - ஒரு
கோடியென் றாலது பெரிதாமோ ?

'My blood boils to think of these idiotic men!
How many divisions within us, they are more than a crore!…'


Sunday, September 09, 2007

Run

Life is a rat race. From the time our minds matured enough to distinguish between our mom from others we have been running. Some times behind a bus, sometimes a teacher or sometimes the manager. But we have been running to ensure that we are not left behind.

Interspersed in this never-ending struggle to stay afloat are momentary respites during which we walk back to the "good old days" when life was easy. But hey, haven't we been running all our life? Where did these "good old days" infiltrate from into our past?

Delving into my past I find that such nostalgic memories don't really constitute days that start with a morning filter coffee and end with a "sweet dreams" kiss on the forehead. Instead they are transient moments of memorable joy or just another respite in which we stopped running and life didn't speed backwards! Be whatever it may, they replenish our tired mind with enough energy to get up and start running again. Yet, as we keep running we always manage to let these magical moments zip past us from the uncertain future directly into the nostalgic past.

May be we should use the next break to evolve a strategy to catch the past as it happens. It may so happen that we are just running behind "good old days" instead of a bus. But hey, is the situation any better now?