Societies : As I perceive

The word ‘society’ exists only as a mental concept, but in reality there exists only ‘individuals’…In the end it is the self-interest and not the common-interest.

Starting the college can be a little daunting if you are unable to figure out what to do with all the time you were going to have in your hands. After long lectures, listening to someone with a beard droning on how interesting statistics is or to someone who has resolved to beat the Shatabdi express, I had to figure out what to do and it was then that I came to know about societies. ‘Societies bring students with similar interests together, for instance, if you have an interest in economics, ecosoc is for you, if you can be dramatic, shakesoc will welcome you, so on and so forth…” This is what I was told. The entire first year of my undergraduation, I thought it was so true. Societies were a good way to improve campus experience. But, the circumstances changed the way I perceive societies.

Some societies in college is what can be called an ‘industrial’ society. There is a sharp sense of ‘individualism’. People ask ‘What’s there for me?’ ‘I, me and mine’ words dominate. ‘If I am not given a post, what’s the incentive to work?’ Worse is, ‘individualism’ marked with ‘groupism’. In some societies, the authority has been centered in the hands of a monopoly group who make decisions that is in their interest. Worst is, if you try to break this monopoly in order to make way for perfect competition, you’ll realize that you should have concentrated more in micro classes! Free entry of firms is very difficult in a monopoly!  

No longer I believe in societies bringing together people with a specific purpose, for if that was, then there will be a new society altogether! The root cause of all this is to make the CV’s look attractive. Most of us fail to understand that it is a strong academic profile with good test scores and grades and challenging courses which is far more important than holding a post in  so-called ‘societies’.

The only thing I am happy about being in a society is that it gave me an opportunity to meet people who helped me get the most out of my time and to make friendships that I hope will last for long.

If ever I feel that I am compromising with my academics because of the societies, I shall quit!

Go Green and sustain it...

In 2008, I had been to the International Round square Conference, in Glenlyon Norfolk School, in British Columbia. Just to tune you guys a bit, Round square or RS in short, popular form, is a global youth congregation, of 80 schools all over the world, which come together to learn and be more in tune with each other’s cultures and in general be more receptive, perceptive and sensitive to some of the crucial global issues like Global Warming, Sustainable Development, War and Violence, Child Abuse and so on. All this is achieved by Exchanges, work projects, conferences, meets, and community service fellowships. It is based solely on the ideals and vision of Mr Kurt Hahn, who thought that education should capture a child’s all round development and make him or her more sensitive to issues around him, to mobilise people to work for all causes. This was his idea of personal growth and development.

Now, on these lines, the theme for the 2008 conference was ‘SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT’.

As we know sustainability is about resilience and bringing about a way of living so that the resources and the environment can be utilised in such a regulated manner that it sustains the present and the future. We saw a whole new spectre of how this concept can be utilised in every way. Car-pooling is a very popular culture in the States and Canada, where the kids are all taken to school in a communal Mini Van. This saves time, labour and fuel. Even Environment Day on 5^th May is celebrated here on a large scale, where people really GO GREEN, like literally, they wear green clothes, restaurants popularise green food like veggies are hard on in demand. In fact the very conference was conducted in a very sustainable manner, where the very food that was thrown away after each day was recycled and made to provide electricity to the store rooms of the school!!!

There are so many issues related to the environment which we here in India, really don’t bother about. People were also more sensitive towards wildlife, especially the kids from South Africa. We pooled in our ideas about little things like shower breaking, where the shower is stopped when you lather yourself, instead of the water running away into waste. In the adventure trip, we feasted on Pita sandwiches and in fact recycled the waste materials, to make the fuel for the dinner and the bonfire. No wood wastage!! I learnt that sustainability also comes with appreciating nature and learning to have fun with water sports and hiking. We went for nature walks and treks. I had my first canoeing experience right here!

Here are some issues which would give you a whole new insight into what wonders can being ‘sustainable’ actually do!

Here are the 10 best ECO INNOVATIONS of 2010-

1. Carbon Absorbent Foam is the winner of the 2010 Earth Awards. This foam can grab carbon out of the air and lock it away as a sugar. It is ideally suited to be placed in smokestacks to remove carbon before it is emitted into the atmosphere.

2. e-coupled Wireless Tesla Charger is a new system capable of charging Tesla’s electric vehicles without wires or plugs. This system will recharge Tesla’s electric vehicles via an induction pad at distances up to 4″.

3. nPower PEG is a kinetic energy charger. It is the world’s first handheld charger that captures and stores an individual’s kinetic energy. This tiny power charger captures kinetic energy from daily activities and transforms it into electricity that can power mobile gadgets.

4. Solar Charger that Runs Devices Directly. Developed by Suntactics, this new portable solar charger is powerful enough to charge your phone and other mobile gadgets using nothing but solar energy.

5. IDAPT Universal Gadget Charger is made from recycled materials and is able to power almost all wireless devices.

6. Solar Power Parking Meters: In LA, new solar-powered, wireless-connected, single-space parking meters take coins or cards.

7. Biodegradable Motor Oil, although it was developed a few years ago by Green Earth Technologies, in 2010 they began running their first TV ads. The biodegradable motor oil is made out of a mixture of beef tallow and plant ingredients.

- Published By Richard Matthews (Green Market - Source).

Being sustainable and ‘green’ as they put it has become a trend now, but more than commercialising the issue, work needs to be done, at even a grass root level. In our college the Wildlife Society, every year maintains this day when lights are switched off for an hour all over the college. It saves immense energy and electricity. We as the younger generations, it’s great that we are socially, economically and culturally more in tuned and in harmony, on the global front, or so we try. We should try investing our efforts a bit on the environment side as well. It might be a tad insipid at times but we shouldn’t forget that it is the foundation for all the other systems to work upon.

I know, this post was kind of short and random, but the point was to familiarise and popularise the concept of sustainability.

PS: The image above is the logo of the 2008 conference, where the world and its fate, made of various cultures, countries and people (represented by the participating schools' logos), are in the hands of Man.

The video below, is about the best pratices and designs regarding the concept.

Why DU doesn't need its own admission test

In the midst of what can now certainly be called 'DU-mania', certain sections have suggested that Delhi University adopt an examination system for different courses. The standard argument is that the Class XII boards are (1) varying in the scoring pattern across different central and state boards (2) an unreliable indicator of a student's aptitude for a given subject (3) unnecessarily causing runaway inflation in the cut-off's.

However, I believe that for a University aspiring to be world-quality, conducting its own admission test is going to be suicidal. My argument is primarily two - fold. Firstly, any aspiring world-quality University has to have a very strong research base. That requires the cumulative efforts of several faculty members. If the DU does conduct its own entrance exam, then a major drain on the faculty's time would be to ensure that the examination is able to select the most deserving candidates. The alternative is to outsource the job, like the IIMs have done in recent years. However, there is a marked distinction between the IIMs and DU. While the quality difference between the top IIMs and the laggard IIMs is substantial, it isn't hopelessly wide. However, the same cannot be said to be true of DU. Even in today's age, there are courses and colleges that have their cut-off's in the late 60's and early 70's. My argument is that an entrance examination is not really the best idea for the University as a whole, since the university is too large (very aptly characterised by an elephant in the logo).

Secondly, as I have been maintaining for some time, the answer for some of DU's ills might lie in greater decentralisation. Component colleges of DU should be provided with great flexibility to set their admission criteria and course structures. If this is not done, the laggard colleges within DU are going to be too much of a burden on ones that have potential for success.

In conclusion, what is the solution to the sky-high cut-off's that I endorse? I see the answer in restructuring the Class XII boards, bring about greater uniformity and reduce the 'inflation' of grades. If even DU were to quit the Class XII boards, then what would be the significance of these exams? Would we not be better off scrapping these exams then? DU being linked so intricately to school education, in my opinion, is not a bad thing, and this link should be fine-tuned to come out of this mess.

-Subhashish

The Lost 'Human' Status of Womankind

Her chin was bruised, her left eye was black…’what happened?’, someone asked…she bit her lower lip and said softly, ‘O, I just..Umm…fell off the stairs’

From the mighty queens the world-history talks of, to the modern-metro-woman; the fair sex has travelled a long way. Yet, each morning the paper brings in a new story, of how a woman was raped, physically abused or burnt alive somewhere or the other. The question is: ‘Has our society progressed culturally?’

It was only yesterday, when I read this grisly article about how a young girl, aged 18, was inflicted violence upon, for escaping from her husband’s house in Afghanistan. She pleaded and begged them to understand the fact that, had she not fled, she would have been killed. But her efforts were in vain. They sliced off her ears, smashed her nose, and left her on the mountainside to die. This does not date to long back, it occurred last year.

‘Concrete-encased high school girl murder’ was a 1988-89 incident in which a Japanese girl, Junko Furuta, 16 at that time, was murdered. For 44 days, she was assaulted, beaten with metal rods and golf sticks, put up with acids on her body, made to eat cockroaches, and drink her own urine by four boys. Finally, one day, death brought her solace. Her murderers continue to move freely even today.

Our own country too falls in line, where in one state, ‘didi’ is the new talk-of-the-town; the ‘Khap’ is (in) famous for the ‘Honor killings’ carried out in their states so as to prevent inter-caste marriages. Absurd, it is; despite the existence of several worldly laws for protection of their rights, an unimaginable number of women have been subjected to inhuman treatment. The laws have proved to be ineffective to the frontier.

What is most shocking is that, even today i.e. in the 21^st century, the male-dominated society refuses to acknowledge ‘women’ as ‘humans’. The acts of violence range from battering assault, rape, female infanticide, female foeticide, dowry deaths, prostitution, trafficking, women being beaten in the suburbs, arrest of women searching their husbands and children, sexual assault of refugee and displaced women, abuses against women in custody, domestic violence, abuses against women workers and the list goes on….

The so called ‘weaker sex’ continues to be ‘a forced slave’ of man, not a willing one. ‘She’ is supposed to be calm, submissive and a meek individual. Women like Aisha and Furuta keep suffering all their lives, and many such incidents are lost without trace. The problem is in the core of all things; our values are going down the drain. What is the point of fancy growth rate figures, if basic human rights are snatched away?

The entire while in which I wrote this post, I kept thinking, whether it would serve a purpose at all. I couldn’t find an answer. But, why I continued is because John F. Kennedy once said,

““All this will not be finished in the first hundred days, nor will it be finished in the first thousand  days, nor in the lifetime of this administration, nor perhaps during our lifetime on this planet Earth, but let us begin it…!!””

My Tryst With Physics

‘Physics is an easy subject, it’s very interesting and that it is the best’ – If somebody tells me this, I swear, I’m going to kick his ass off. Respect to all Newtons and Einsteins, but the fact is I hate Physics, and I simply hate it.

Let me make it very clear, I was never good at physics, set aside standard nine when physics was just substituting values in the equations and I would get answers that were correct to nth decimal places where n tends to infinity. Wow! How easy it was! And not to forget a few conservation laws and the syllabus was done! May be that was the reason why I chose to take up science after 10^th, quite unaware of the impending disaster. In those two years of my senior secondary school, I realized physics was the ‘worst’ subject. It brought me nothing but tears and frustration as well as many late nights. How much I wished that that bloody apple fell on Newton’s head and he..! Right from the beginning I never understood if acceleration can be infinite, though I guessed retardation can surely be! Physics in school was fun – beg your pardon, not ‘physics’ but ‘physics classes’. I remember once asking somebody the physics behind swinging, to which the person replied,”The physics behind swinging is to rotate your centre of gravity.” Lol! I don’t know why? - may be dirty mind of mine, I found it really funny! And how can I forget  our honorable dean cum physics teacher who came late to the class – well, he was forced to, for we put chewing gum in the lock of his office. I was quite indifferent to all that was taught in the class.

The worst part of the story was my coaching institute where I spent 2 hours thrice a week listening to something which couldn’t make its way to my brain. My friend, Sayak Mukherjee was good at physics and he used to ask me questions on physics purposely, to increase the level of my frustration – sahi mein dost hote hi hai – ek number ke kamine! But all thanks to Sayak, for he gave me support during those physics classes where I sat waiting for the weariness to end.

Once, I saw some spikes on ice cubes and was quite fascinated. So, I asked someone, some future Newton may be, and the reply was – “Spikes! why don’t you try one for a change!” Curses be on him and physics. Once we were being taught Van de graff generator. Nothing about it interested me, except the idea of how my teacher would look if he got a shock from such a generator!  From the above mentioned episode, I am quite sure you must be thinking that I was screwed up, yes! I actually was. I once got as low as a mark out of eighty.

When I came to Stephens I was more than happy that I had dropped this damn subject. It was only then that Mr. N. Raghunathan, our respectable HOD told me in one of those statistics tutorials – “Gaurav, you should have taken physics!” I didn’t say anything and got away with it with a smile for I knew he can’t, for that matter nobody can understand the state I have been through!

School Memories-- LA JOIE DE VIVRE – THE SEARCH IS ON..

“Stop it…shut up…too uncivilized and uncultured!” was what the world remarked when my best friend Jasleen and I let out genuine bursts of laughter during recess time. Laughing, as we moved past the school corridors, we were greeted by frowns and dejected looks of who seemed like people jinxed by lack of cheek bones. They mistook our laughter for contempt and disdain.


Smiles and sniffles inevitably make the fabric of life; unfortunately I get to see more of the latter. Everywhere I see glum people caught in a race of achieving something – something that even they are unaware of. There is greed, there is madness, and there is lust. But nowhere do I see celebration and laughter. Of course you would argue that I can’t see ‘abstract’ nouns, but feeling them too is a pearl out of reach.


When my teacher would rebuke - ‘What causes you to create that nuisance?’, ‘Genes’ would be honest reply. ‘Mam, I have inherited it from my parents, My dad’s laughter is audible in the entire locality and my mom can’t help controlling hers.’ The other day, one of our neighbours remarked, “So, you do yoga, I see”. Yes! Now we find laughing in yoga classes only.


It is ironic that today laughing is perceived as an art to be acquired by special training. There are laughter clubs and laughter shows to connect people to their civilizational roots. Even the Holy Koran enshrines, One who makes one’s friends laugh, deserves paradise. But considering the present situation, it seems paradise would be rotting empty.


Smiles and chuckles are the only means of expressing joy known to the present generation, guffaws and ‘thahaakas’ seem to have melted into thin air. Even laughter soaps are watched with emotionless brooding. Studies suggest that a child laughs on an average about 400 times a day whereas an adult laughs only 15 times. Among many things that are getting extinct today, belly-aching laughter is one. Smiles always help to shoo our blues since they have the instant quality of changing the very matrix of mind. Research suggests that laughter actually helps in losing weight and preventing obesity. Now before you start replacing dieting with laughing, one last thing.


Optimism and laughter are grease and glue of life. As someone whose Facebook status reads ‘ Jalnidh is happy being alive’ – I would say that I found one reason to be glad about –Life! Life is for living. We ought to live every moment to the fullest and experience la joie de vivre in every nerve and artery of our body. Let sorrows take wings and happiness stay. The show must go on…

America's Attic - Canada

                               There are no limits to the majestic future which lies before the mighty expanse of Canada with its virile, aspiring, cultured, and generous-hearted people.
   - Sir Winston Churchill

It was raining when I landed in the Vancouver International Airport. Not the pelting rains we experience in the May of Mumbai or the misty showers in Cherrapunji, it was a light drizzle, filled with fog. It was evident that autumn had come and soon would give way to the chilly winters. It was at the peak hour of the afternoon, and though still, a little drowsy and jet lagged, the weather somehow, did volumes to lift my spirits. Though I knew from Wikipedia that “Vancouver was the a coastal harbour city in British Columbia, Canada and located in the Lower Mainland, with Greater Vancouver being the third-largest metropolitan area in the country and most populous in Western Canada”, yet I was taken aback by even the small things I observed in the Airport, like the Huge Reindeers and the flashy, fluorescent banners emblazoned in gold, showcasing the different brands of the famous Canadian Maple Syrup. Life in there isn’t as fast as that in Mumbai or Delhi, but somehow, in spite of the sleepy households and the gloomy landscape of fog and mist, I sensed an inexplicable sense of vitality and life pulsating from within the city.

                                    We were to be with with an aunt, who had being staying in there for a decade now, having shifted way back, after Independence with her husband from Bangladesh.  Right after a sumptuous dinner of Mughlai delicacies (as it was Eid the previous day), I sat down in the kitchen table to hear her tell stories about life in this part of the world, far away from India. She said that life wasn’t easy for the immigrants and the foreigners here, especially in the work sphere. People were still, racially discriminated and sometimes things could get pretty nasty. But she also pointed out the good things of how large hearted some of the Canadians were, the enthusiasm they showed in doing social work, the sense of independence and responsibility the people harboured. How a friend of hers still encouraged her to make regular visits to the beauty parlour as she believed that there was no age to look beautiful. People thought on different lines here and they believed in the ‘goodness’ of things. People were ready for hard work and believed in sharing the fruits of their labour with everyone.

Canada is known for the maple syrup, or so I had heard, but it was incomparable to the actual event of tasting the delicious thing. They grow the trees in acres of orchards and right before autumn came, they extracted the liquid from the leaves and made the syrup. It is usually made from the xylem sap of Black Maple or the Big Leaf Maple. I had tasted maple at home too, but the in here Maple Syrup was a tradition! They had it with waffles and pancakes and made cookies and cakes with it as well. There are beautiful Christmas tales with the Big Reindeer and the Maple and the Mistletoe, which had become the personal favourites of many children in Canada.

Camping and mountaineering or hiking, trekking for that matter, these are some things one just shouldn’t miss when one is here. The river rafting is the best in this part of America and the famous Alpine Mountaineering Club not only offers expeditions but also training to beginners and amateurs for mountaineering. Canada boasts of the world’s greatest winter sports from the Sledding to Skiing which is very popular here. We went to the Whistler Ski Resort, which is exclusively structured to serve the best atmosphere for the sport, went on later to become the famous site for the Nordic Winter Olympics, 2010. Though, personally being a bit of an Acrophobic, I stuck to simple Canoeing and nature walks which were marvellous too, to say the least. It was mid October and Canada is at its best at this time. With the trees being shades of magenta, violet and orange to the volatile weather and winds, the temperatures weren’t drooping as fast as they usually did. The flowers were still vibrant and nature was still very much alive.

In the Victoria, BC islands, off the coast of Vancouver, we have the world class Victoria butterfly Garden, which was exclusively design to showcase the varied species of moths and butterflies in and around the continent. We found more than a hundred different tropical moths, butterflies and birds, flying and fluttering amongst the flora and fauna.

Whale Watching is another popular attraction of the place. Orca Whale watching expedition offers the best packages of whale watching where tourists can not only play and watch the creatures but also feed them with an additional fee for photography.

As it is said, you cannot leave a place without tasting its food, so we did set out for a traditional Dinner in the famous Nelson cafe, in British Columbia. It’s a dingy little place done tastefully with mahogany and dim, shimmery lights. The smell of freshly baked bread wafted through as we settled comfortably in a corner. Smoked salmon is the thing to eat here. The fish is from the sea unlike the river fish which I am usually accustomed to. It is marinated with spices and condiments and baked with herbs and flavours. The fish isn’t cut into pieces but artfully sliced in the body with small cuts so that the juices can flow in between and the fish is cooked thoroughly. It is served with lentils and greens. Bread is the staple there, with varied tastes and colours!!! It is a haven for the non vegetarians with the Rappie Pie in meat casserole and tomatoes. For drinks, there are varied seasonal and tropical mojitos, martinis, and cocktails with the French White Wine, being the hot favourite.

Canada will always be in my heart as a place which, makes you feel as if this will go on forever.

It’s a place of soft colours, of quite elegance and of tall mountains. I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to experience the exotic beauty and harmony of a place. Though the best time to go would be in the autumn, yet the water lovers can always take a chance during the summers.

And for the bit dicey and pricey bit about the airfare, taking the eastern route via China and Japan is a better option, for it saves the fuel, the time and of course the money!

As I personally put it... When I'm in Canada, I feel this is the place to be.