When is our turn for this ?

Its always intresting to hear experiences from people who travel a lot...Human extending the scope for travelling to space also. See here the experience of a space tourist here http://spaceblog.xprize.org/
with entralling photos in http://www.flickr.com/photos/spaceexplorer/page2/
CNN -IBN reports this here.. http://www.ibnlive.com/news/space-odessy-a-firsthand-account/22540-11.html

Athiest facing challenges..

“Oh lord, make my day more beautiful. I don’t want tester to find out crucial bugs in the code I delivered”. Daily is prayer over. If it’s a special visit to some special religious place, prayer may be bit different. “Oh lord, give me an onsite chance; make me a TL in this appraisal”. Forgive me for my ignorance, I don’t know what all can be the prayers possible. I just thought of career ambitions in IT and made a list of it. There is variety of prayers made by different people. Maybe some of the readers can contribute some.

I always think, they make a vision for their career by putting ambitions in words by praying. Sincere people just don’t forget what they have prayed, they also work towards it. Yeah, end of it they may or may not achieve it, but there is a mental process which can help them to grow towards success. For (s)his ambition (s)he made a clear statement to achieve. Look at the people who have no belief in GOD, the one who are fondly called as atheists. They also have ambitions, I believe chances of getting their visions or ambitions to a clear statement is lesser compared to the pious people around. This can be the one factor which may favor for career success for religious people. This is just an observation. I don’t forget the fact increased influence of processes stops the phenomena of innovation and so the blind belief in GOD.

Now, let’s look at the festivals and entertainment processes created by several religions. Almost all religions have well balanced methods, process e.t.c for leading a balanced life. People who follow them may or may not change the world but they lead a balanced life (most likely). But it’s strange to observe that, we have the history of these religions going back to centuries. Why we don’t have any religion (I mean a set of agreed processes which is called by some name with a central place to be afraid of, if at all needed) taking birth in this century? Maybe the evolution of human brains must have taken out humans thinking in that direction. Anyways it’s a great challenge for a person to lead a balanced life with out stipulated rules which are at least for the sake of having a disciplinary frame. In fact rules are something which atheists hate, I agree. But I strongly believe events, celebrations and so many other things that have been part of our culture have come from the very religious habits of people only. Every one trying to make their own rule is definitely a brain stimulating thing for that person. But remember a self does not constitute the society its the collection of different individuals that makes the society. Going by these arguments, atheists are in trouble of not having some process in place. This may be one reason there’s a great number of naxlites or communist turned to saints in the history. After sometime, lack of system defined process for a healthy and balanced atmosphere really troubles atheists I think. Anyway, live as an atheist thru out life seem to be a big challenge.

My argument is not that, atheism is something which is not practical. But, system or processes are not so efficient to keep a balanced society especially when living creatures start facing problems in their life. I dream of a religion ‘atheism’ which has mixture of all festivals and other processes, which are efficient enough to constitute a peaceful but innovative society. This is just a tip of iceberg…horizons of thoughts can be taken to different levels from here. Leaving it to you to take this thought in to next level. Life is very simple when there is only self but not so when there are so many; atheism is not an answer for a peaceful society now, but blind belief is not an answer for innovation. We need a balanced system which I would like to call it as modern religion.

Update:(U may find this intresting.Disclaimer - Following are not my words, these are random notes from web)

Is Google God? The Church Of Googlism believes a convincing argument can be made stating that the search engine Google is the closest mankind has ever come to experiencing an actual Deity. Come find out why --> www.TheChurchOfGoogle.org

A bag of "Surname" Non sense

Friend :Hi , I am Anupam Kulkarni.
Me: Hi, I am Lajiraj
Friend: Whats your surname?
Me: I don’t have any surname.
Friend: You don’t have any surname? (With all obvious expressions)

This was a very much common "Convarsation piece" in Pune in my initial days there. That’s when I seriously started thinking about “whether we need surnames”. It’s nice to hear from people “I am Vinay Gupta”, “I am “Akhilesh chopra”. Was justice not given to me, by not giving surnames as part of my name .Especially in south India(read kerala to be more specific), this surname concept was faded sometime back itself. So, I cannot blame my parents for not giving a surname to me. Guys, please compromise with the initials given along with the names. If you are very much desperate we can expand the initials for your convenience or comfort.

Seriously, I am against this concept of surnames. A seal is being marked on you, when the name is given .When you say your name and your surname matches with the other person, mentally they already have made a group there. Accidentally and painfully I have observed this several times. Is it not good to have a group for a social animal like human? I say “yes”. But not on the basis of an absolute orthodox concept like caste. Some people think that, it’s “cool” to have surnames. Yes, it’s a fantasy for a group of people whose ancestors have reined in their time. Its absolutely not so for the underclass people. There was an interesting move by Dr. Ambedkar in post independence era (not very sure of the time), he asked all the lower class people to adopt the surname of Brahmins. So, In result no one could recognize who’s Brahmin and who’s shudra? Is it not cool? .Believe me its even more “cool” not to have surnames. In this context I came to know, a group of IITians have decided to shed their surnames bag. I am very much happy to hear about that move from ‘best minds’.

When I asked some of my Maharashtrian pals “Why do we need to carry this seal of ancestors to yourself and also for coming generations”, the answer was “Its part of my self, identity...” with all his emotions and ego powered. Let me go to a funny note with naming with NRK kiddos(Non residential Keralites). This naming convention is very much part of north Indian babies. So, when southies(mallus specially) migrate to those places for jobs/opportunities they feel left out. So when they get their children admitted to school, they are forced to fill in surname column. That maybe the reason almost all non-resident keralites have surnames with their name (funny at times). People who have glamorous caste (Group of people in which their ancestors have done some splendid job according to history) their name will be with the caste name or they prefer to have dad’s name as tail. If the dad’s name is ‘Achutan kutty”, kid’s name will be ‘Pramod kutty’ or likewise. “kutty” means baby. Very affectionately people tell him "Hey kuttee, woh bheja kya?"(This dialogue is very common in any modern workplace I think).Yes he’s a baby thru out his life. I happened to see a lot of helpless mallus like this.

When two people come together, why identity of his ancestors is more important? There are people arguing, family is cultural school and so it’s good to make group with like minded people. My answer is variety is the spice and beauty of this world. Please don’t spoil it. I agree family and caste has some role in building your character. Keep up the values and spread the values. For people who don’t feel complete without surnames. It’s bearable to have dad’s name or Family name (the max) as part of it. I cannot agree with taking caste bag along with name and keep repeating the non sense what our previous generations have done. It’s the educated and sensible young generation who has to take decision of keeping away from the surnames and save our next generation. Will you not do that? Take the initiatives and break the barriers of caste and creed .What we do today is part of tomorrow’s history.

Reservation in Premier institutes

Its quite sometime that debate is active over ‘reservation for OBC in premier institutes’. If we look at opinion polls by different media we can see that, majority condemns this movement by government very strongly. HRD minister Mr. Arjun singh took a safer side saying PMO is very well aware of the decision and it’s from there, not me who is responsible for this. We very well understand your concerns Mr. Minister. A clear sign we can see at present is Govt. is planning go ahead with the decision.

Is this reservation funda, a big non sense? I don’t think so. A less privileged class has to come up; they need exposure or opportunity for that. That was the thought behind it, when Dr. Ambedkar proposed this concept. Its quite a long time after independence now, but still reservation system is very much alive. It clearly tells you that, the idea is not working out very well or ‘Politicians’ are not dare to stop this being afraid of the majority(read vote bank) in the country.

Now let’s come more close to premier institutes. Getting into IITs/IIMs is not kids play. You gotta be really competitative. But to be competitive you need to get exposure that’s how people raise their bar. People who have got strong basic education and good exposure really dominate when it comes to JEE or CAT. Are we giving this kinda strong foundation or exposure in Villages? An Absolute strong NO. If we don’t give them enough opportunity how will they come up? Concept of reservation holds good here. One of my friend who had done his studies till 12 Th in a remote village got admission to a good engg. college in Kerala thru OBC quota. You belive it or not, he stood top through out engg.and secured first rank in university. Is it not a very valid example for ‘If you are giving opportunity to people’ they come up really well? I know, there are people raising their eye brows saying this is one odd case. Now look at Globalization arena, if we don’t have trade regulations and rules in India, will not this experienced foreign big players swallow our system. Regulation/reservation is a sensible concept to an extent.

What is happening to our IIT/IIM grads, it’s true that good education is accessible thru good money from basic education till 10+2. They are the front runners for IIT/IIMs, no doubt about that. The same money factor or better opportunites is leading them to go abroad and settle down there. Who can stop this? No one. I think to an extent this can be stopped by giving opportunity to less privilaged. Another concern is about the quality or the brand of Premier school grads if best students are not admitted. Definitely a big concern, if you implement reservation, how to take care of this is a genuine concern. A very valid threshold cut off for the reserved category is my answer.

Another argument against reservation, there are well off people still getting the benefit of reservation. I agree to that, definitely some quality measures are to be taken at least for the premier institutes. Another concern of loosing out deserved candidates over reserved ones; it’s the cost of not having well placed and efficient basic education system.

Some proposals for implementation…

Best solution: Ensure the access to quality education for all class of people as early as from basic education and scrap the reservation system for premier institutes. Scrap the system where more you pay more you get in basic education system. Easy said than done, a big thought and movement need to be done for this.

Some practical solutions…

1. Increase the number of premier institutes
2. Decrease the percentage of reservation
3. Merge the seats of reserved category to general list, if students do not meet threshold criteria.

Last but not the least, a request to the government. Look at the data of post independence. See, where this reservation system is leading us. We believe in empowered nation, where people have equal access to basic facilities and equal opportunities. Let the best people come out and lead us from the front. Shed these petty tricks for keeping the vote bank stable. Convince people what is the need of going ahead with the reservation system. No hide and seek please….

Rang de basanti

After reading excellent reviews, it was with lot of expectation that I went for ‘Rang de basanti’. Also by expecting a class performance from Amir Khan. Anyway, I was satisfied when I came out. Tips: Dont not choose night show for this kind of movies. Thru out my dream amirkhan and his friends doing masti, also another sector of mind doing an analysis of what the movie is and how will it click in box office?.I cud not sleep at all. A short note from dreams...

Maybe the taste of people has been changed; they expect ‘Garam masala’, kyaa cool he hum. In general, affinity towards masti is clicking in box office; I believe that’s a good change. They want to be happy in theatre.But I doubt, is it not preventing themselves from achieving a brain stimulating laugh. When the humor can makes you think, that will be long lasting. Infact, reaching out humor thru short cuts like sexually inclined dialogues is not the right direction for the long lasting and constructive comedy. This general Impression about the taste of people might have been the inspiration for Mr. Mehra to make such a film where he tried to find a right mixture of masti and seriousness.

Five young men, like any other young Turks enjoying their best at the college. DJ does not like to go away from college, because he enjoys at campus. And he realizes he has got no value when he is out of college. That feeling binds him to the campus. A sudden change in the theme, which no one expected from the masti in the first half is questionable. But anyway, now the movie gotta serious face. Young Turks wanted to do something for their friend, country. Movie goes on...

I think Director sincerely wanted to convey only onething...”Instead of cribbing about the problems in the country, go ahead and do something for it.” He is successful in presenting his ideas. He tried to remind and compare spirit and will power of our old young heroes Bhagat singh, Azad so and so. I don’t know how far he is able to inspire youngsters with this comparison. But, Idea is very clear. A good movie is made. All characters acted really well, matured and consistent. I still remember the scene Aamir khan sobbing very sincerely, after the demise of his dear friend and resting on his girlfriend’s lap. She said “I later realized, he was not sleeping, they were all waking up”. A good example for the transformation from a person to a character.

A very good thought, good music, good acting. But somewhere something is wrong in the total presentation that will stop this movie achieving heights. After all movie itself says, we realize the value of our martyrs and Indian history when some western brain tells us “they were great”. I think movie is also no different. Let this movie achieve its heights. Let this movie inspire all my young friends to make them do something instead of cribbing about it. Hats off Amir , this is why I call you an actor and Sharukh a Hero. You have set an example for all other megastars in India; actor does not go above the character or role. “I have seen two kinds people facing death, some go to death screaming, some in peace, I met the third kind…..” .movie still hangs in me…