Education

Education is the best thing one has and I hope with this blog once again you will realize the importance of being educated.

It was a bright sunny day with not much crowd in the bus. And then a lady boarded the bus; this lady could not see the brightness of the day but could definitely feel the heat of the day. This lady who boarded the bus and occupied the front seat was blind. But she doesn't realize that the lady sitting next to her cant speak; her co-passenger was a mute.

After sometime the bus stopped at a red light and the blind lady asks her co-passenger what will be the next stop. The mute lady takes the hand of blind lady and with her finger she writes the alphabet of the next stop; the blind lady connects the alphabets and she understands her next stop.

The blind lady in curiosity asks “Why did you not say the word itself”. The mute lady again takes her palm and write “I cant speak; I am mute.”

Then there is a silence for sometime then the mute lady again takes the palm of blind lady and asks her “Which stop you will get down?”

The blind lady tells her stop and the mute lady replies in her own way that “Even I will get down at the same stop.”

The ladies get down at the stop but in this small duration of the journey they both become good friends.

The idea conceived in bus where I keep observing various kinds of people.

And believe me education is not just for people who have all their senses working properly but also for those who have some physical disability. Education is the best tool for communication.

A small email, letter or instant message can end up all fights and bring people close. I hope every Indian gets the basic level of education.

Holi 2011 Blog

When I started writing I never thought I am going to write so much... But jitna likhe hai kaphi hai mere liye... :-)

होली के चर्चे हुए,
रंगों पर खर्चे हुए,
खाने को मिला अछा पकवान,
कुछ लोगों ने पिया भांग,

होली का त्योहार भी निराला है,
बुरा न मानो कह कर दिलों को मिलाता है,
अपनों को और करीब लाता है,
दुश्मनों को भी गले लगता है,

हर रंग एक हो जाता है,
हर रंग एक ही बात कहता है,
छोड़ दो यह लड़ाई झगडा,
बंद करो जात पात के नाम पर दंगा,

जब रंग एक हो सकते हैं,
तब क्या लोग एक होकर नहीं रह सकते?

एक फूल की कहानी...

यह कहानी है एक नाजुक से गुलाब के फूल की जिसने एक पोधे पर जन्म लिया और उस पोधे को मिलने वाले पानी और खाद से वह बड़ी हुई. कुछ दिनों के बाद मैंने देखा की वह सूरज की किरणों से और ज्यादा खूबसूरत लग रही है. उसकी खूबसूरती का एहसास भवरों को भी हो गया था; वह सब उसके आस पास मंडराने लग गए. गुलाब भी इस बात से खुश थी और अपनी खूबसूरती पर इतरा रही थी. धीरे धीरे उसकी पंखुड़ी मुरझाने लगी; दिन गुजरे और गुलाब की खूबसूरती कम होने लग गयी; भवरों का आना भी बंद हो गया. और एक दिन मैंने उस गुलाब को नीचे ज़मीन पर गिरा हुआ पाया. देखा लोग उसके ऊपर से उसे रोंध्ते हुए जा रहे हैं.

उसका जीवन तो फिर भी अच्छा था कम से कम वह अपनों के पास तो थी. उसकी सहेली जिसको उसके चाहने वाले ने पसंद किया और पसंद करते ही उसको डाल से अलग कर दिया. अलग करते वक़्त उस चाहने वाले को कुछ कांटे भी चुभे पर वह नहीं रुका; उसने गुलाब को पोधे से अलग कर ही लिया और उसे अपने घर ले गया. कुछ दिन उस गुलाब को संभल कर रखा; फिर धेरे धेरे गुलाब मुरझा गई; उसकी मीठी खुशबू भी ख़तम हो गयी; उसके बाद उस आदमी ने गुलाब को कचरे में फेक दिया. मैंने सोचा पहले वाले गुलाब का अंत तो अच्छा था; कम से कम अपनों के पास थी वह; दुसरे वाले के अंत में तो कोई नहीं था वह भी नहीं जिसने इतनी महनत करके उसे अपनों से अलग किया था.

हम लड़किया भी गुलाब की तरह नाजुक और कोमल होती हैं. जब तक खूबसूरत रहती हैं भावारे की तरह लड़के आस पास मंडराते हैं और जब खूबसूरती ढलने लगती हैं तो बहुत कम लोग होते हैं जिनको हम सच में अपना कह पाते हैं. वैसे एक ऐसा चाहने वाला मिल जाता है जो अपनी पसंद की लड़की को पाने के लिए कांटो से गुजरता है; शुरू में लड़की का बड़ा ख्याल रखता है; फिर धीरे धीरे चीज़ें बदल जाती हैं.

लड़की जो कभी शक्ति का रूप मानी जाती थी आज बस एक फूल जैसी नाजुक बन कर रह गयी हैं. और ज्यादातर अपनी परेशानीयों के लिए वह खुद जिमेदार हैं. एक औरत ही एक लड़की को जन्म नहीं देना चाहती; एक लड़की खुद अपनी शादी में अपने घर वालों को दहेज़ के लिए मना नहीं करती; और भी बहुत कुछ है जिसके लिए वह खुद जिमेदार हैं.... अब यह लड़कियों पर है की उन्हें फूल जैसा नाजुक और खूबसूरत बना है या सच में लड़की होने पर गर्व महसूस करना है.

What did you gift your valentine?

Pappu Munni ke ghar gaya iss Valentine's Day.

Pappu ne Munni ke ghar ki ghanti bajayi; Munni ne darwaza khola.

Munni - "Tum yahan phir se? Pappu saala dance nahi kar paya aur badnam Munni ho gayi"

Pappu (SRK style) - "Oh Munni darling... Dont be upset... Pappu loves you. Dekho main tumhare liye gift bhi lekar aaya hoon."

Munni - "Gift kaisa gift? Phir se wahin purane red roses?"

Pappu - "Nahi Munni iss baar kuch special hai. Chalo apni aankhen band karo."

Munni - "Kuch meetha lekar aaye ho kya? Khane walo toh khane ka bahana chaiye. Bole toh chocolates."

Pappu - "No Munni. Tum aankhen toh band karo."

Munni - "Dekho na roses hain, na chocolates hai toh kumse kum ek teddy de do."

Pappu - "Tumne kya mere pyar ko itna sasta samjh rakha hai? Main toh tumhare ek bahut mehngi cheez laya hoon."

Munni - "Kya?"

Pappu - "Khud chal kar dekh lo."

Munni - "Yeh kya hai..."

After a silence of 2 seconds

Munni - "Ek bori pyaaz?"

Pappu - "Ek bori pyaaz ki kimat tum kya jaano Munni darling, khane mein swad lata hai yeh pyaz, garibon ki bhookh mitata hai yeh pyaaz, inflation mein high returns dilata hai yeh ek bori pyaaz. So what do you think Munni?"

Munni - "Munni khush hue. Par iss pyaaz mein pyar kahan hai? Kahan hai pyaar bolo Pappu. Kya yeh pyaaz badnam Munni ko Shiela jaisa pyar de sakta hai?"

Pappu - "Munni pyaaz ka rang hai gulabi aur Pappu ke pyar ka rang bhi hai gulabi. Aur yeh Pappu ka wada hai ki woh tumhe itna pyar denga, itna pyar denga ki Shiela ki jawani bhi thandi padh jayegi."

Munni - "Oh Pappu I love you"

Pappu - "Toh chalo Munni kahin durr chale hum aur ek saath inn pyaaz ki gulabi wadiyon mein kahin kho jaye."

Pappu and Munni eating chicken do pyaza together. Background mein Papa kehte hain song baj raha hai :-D

P.S. What did you gift your valentine? :-D

Save Tigers

When man hunts – he hunts for pleasure, for money and to prove it to the world rather the universe that he is the strongest creature created by god. Human must have started hunting for food but later it became a status symbol. Royal kings and rich people in the past hunted tigers to show their power. Tiger fur and tiger head was used as a decoration piece which hung at a place where everyone could have a good look. It was a pride to display tiger’s dead body in the palace.

But slowly humans thought of a smarter idea and decided to use tiger’s bone and fur for making products which could be sold. Products could range from medicines to soap to a soft fur coat. In past no one worried about the ferocious specie would become extent.

Now a days there has been talks regarding Save Tigers. The number 1411 has become a talk of the time. You get to see 1411 as number at every possible place where one can notice it easily be it at an airport, or on television, or maybe social networking sites, or an article on a newspaper. When I saw the ad of Save Tigers on television which began with a gun shot it shattered me.

There was one more video which made me think when will man stop killing this innocent ferocious animal. I would definitely say that tigers are innocent even though they hunt and kill other animals. But their reason for killing is for food or maybe in defence they attack. They are a carnivores animal and they survive on flesh and bones. Now you might question why cant a tiger become vegetarian and stop hunting? Also you might say if a tiger wont stop hunting then why should we humans stop hunting. Well the answer to this question can be that there is no one to plan a diet chart for tigers. Also they are not smart like humans who can adjust in concrete jungles. We cant force a tiger to change his eating habits, his living habits but we can definitely stop ourselves from hunting them.

Now coming to the video which was about how and why tigers are killed. In the first video they showed a tiger which had gone mad and use to attack in a village at night. For people living in that village it had become difficult to move around once the sun would set. In the day light when they thought they were secure this mad tiger proved them wrong and attacked a group of kids going to school and killed one kid. Finally the forest officer woke up and spoke to the villagers. They made a trap to catch this mad tiger and finally he was killed. But there was a lot of anger inside the villagers and they wanted to take it out by killing one more tiger. This time the tiger they chose was not mad was not someone who would attack without reason. The villagers surrounded the tiger and hit him with stones, beat him with sticks, rods. They kept attacking him and finally he gave up and died.

The other video was about how some villagers kill tigers and sell tiger fur. Sometimes these illegal killers of the tigers are caught but most of the time it is difficult for the forest officers to track such people.

When I saw the ads on television regarding Save Tigers I wondered is the message reaching to the right people. People who are not educated enough and who don’t really understand the meaning of a specie becoming extinct. As such I know that even this write up wont reach up to the people who stay in villages but still I hope people who are concerned about saving tigers need to work on a grass root level. Talk to friends and maybe volunteer with forest officer and tell the disadvantages of killing tigers to villagers. The message of save tigers should basically reach out to the people who stay in jungles and who feel animals don't have a right to live; a right to survive.

We have already encroached and occupied the major land of India. Jungles at most places have disappeared; trees have been cut down and concrete jungle have come up. We no longer can live happily in a jungle with other animals but still we can try to let other animal species live in peace. Its not just tigers but every animal be it an elephant or a deer or a lion. After all they also have a right to live; right to survive and we are no one to take away this right from them just for our pleasure or for few rupees.

If in any part of your mind you have a feeling to hunt down an animal just think again is your reason for killing valid and if there is no valid reason then I can just beg to you that please stop hunting and stop killing. This request is not only for killing animals but also humans. Stop killing and lets try making this country rather this world a better place to live.

-- The End

Views - IPL Lalit Modi's

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand written in 1957 is relevant in today's generation also. IPL's Lalit Modi case can be seen as an example stated in the novel. I am sharing few lines written in the novel. I hope you will feel free to comment on the lines :-)

Hank Rearden is a man in the novel who created his metal but there were some people who could not see his metal sell and a court case was registered that he is earning profit from the metal which is enormous and he doesnt have a right to keep that money. In the next lines I will write what he had to say.

I work for nothing but my own profit- which I make by selling my product they need to men who are willing and able to buy it. I dont produce it for their benefit at the expense of mine; and they dont buy it for my benefit at the expense of theirs; I dont sacrifice my interests to them nor do they sacrifice theirs to me; we deal as equals by mutual consent to mutual advantage- and I am proud of every penny I own in this manner, I am rich and I am proud of every penny I own. Do I wish to pay my workers more than their services are worth to me? I do not. Do I wish to sell my products for less than my customers are willing me to pay? I do not. Do I wish to sell it at a loss or give it away? I do not. If this is evil, do whatever you please about me, according to whatever standards you hold...... There are more lines for that read Atlas Shrugged from page 440-445.

I hope this says my views about the man in question today Lalit Modi. He is like Hank Rearden who gave IPL which became a hit business. But there are people who are not getting the money from this business for free; some people are jealous with the fact that how could he give such a hit business. I dont know how many agree with me but my believe is that Lalit Modi is not wrong and if some team had lied action should be taken against that team and not Modi. Suspending Modi from IPL Chairman position shows that the world has not changed.

Do read the novel; I am sure you would love it. And if already read then I am sure you would have enjoyed it. :-)

P.S. Who is John Galt? ;-)

The Cat Story

This is not a story about my pet cats Dyna and Tintin. They also have a cute love story that I will share some other time. J But this time its a story about the Common Admission Test(CAT). The first hurdle to reach the b-school one loves. Till 2008 this exam was conducted with paper pencil. Which means lakhs of question papers and OMR sheets were printed. And maybe an idea struck to the people organizing CAT that lets save paper and go online. After all being eco-friendly is the buzz in the air so how could CAT be behind in proving that they are also eco-friendly.

Well having an exam online has other benefits also like manual computation is not needed. With the help of the software the scores will be recorded automatically so it would lessen the burden on humans. Definitely no one is against online system. India is progressing and we should make use of computers to make our lives easier. We should use computers only to make our life easier and not become a slave of this machine.

This is a true story and the events of this story started from 9^th September 2009 and the story is still going on. The registration window opened for CAT opened from 9^th September and the last date of registration was 1^st October. This time instead of buying a CAT brochure (bulletin) from AXIS bank; one had to purchase CAT vouchers. After that instead of filling up a OMR form with details one had to fill an online form. Also with the online system there was no need to send the form through speed post. As already mentioned the benefits of online system our data got recorded automatically. But in this registration also there were issues. A person filled Jharkhand as the native state but the online system took Andhra Pradesh as the native state. So the registrations were stopped and the dates got extended for online registration.

Somehow the registration process closed successfully. The online CAT exam was to be held in 10 days and each day there were 2 slots. During the registration people selected the suitable date and time for exam. But some of them didn’t know that the date and time selected by them wont be suitable for the CAT server and it would crash because of technical glitches. The 10 day window of exam started from 28 November 2009 and was to end on 7 December 2009. I was lucky enough to witness as to what happens when a exam gets cancelled.

Being in job I could give the exam only on weekends and I love Sundays for exam so I selected 29^th November as my exam day. Though I wanted to give a little later and select 6^th December but I was a little late. 29^th November at 3:30 PM I took the print out of admit card to my center, Silicon Institute of Technology, Patia, Bhubaneswar. On the first day of exams there was no news of cancellation from Bhubaneswar center maybe because the exam was not cancelled at the whole center but only 1 lab. I was the lucky one to be given that lab. Though we were asked not to take pencil or pen leave aside other things. Only our presence with an admit card and id proof was needed at the center. Still I had taken pencil and pen in case of any emergency. Anyways I was asked to deposit that also to the center. Now instead of guiding the candidates in my lab to the exam place we were taken to a classroom. At the beginning everything was fine because we were asked to come 2 hours before the exam i.e. 1:30 PM.

We relaxed and waited for the next announcement. It was 3 and no sign of anyone organizing the exam but only the students doing timepass. Then the tension started building up. People started roaming around and started talking about the exam. In the process I also started having conversation with the fellow candidates. I spoke to 2 girls one came from Rourkela while the other came from Vizag to give the exam. Finally at 3:15 PM a lady from Prometric appeared in our class. Prometric is the one who has designed the exam software for CAT. And in India they have partnered with NIIT.

The lady called out few names and took them to the lab. It was 3:30 PM and I was still waiting for the exam to start. The 2 girls were equally tensed as to whether their exam will happen or not. To calm them down I said that yesterday the exam started little late. Though I was also not sure as to what was happening. Finally the lady came back and we were asked to proceed to the lab and we found few familiar faces. People who had gone before us were also sitting in the lab looking at each other. Yes even their exam was not started. We were asked to occupy the seat. There was nothing to do and with the way things were going on I could sense that the exam has been cancelled.

Finally the Prometric lady announced that due to technical glitches it would take time for the exam to start. One guy from Prometric was on phone and trying to do all sorts of permutation and combination, manipulations to start up the online system. But god had other plans and all his efforts went in vein. He gave up the battle of starting the online exam. It was 4:30 and we knew that our exam has been cancelled. One guy had come from Hyderabad to give the exam and he was really angry. Wonder why he had not registered for an Hyderabad center. Anyways whatever be the reason it was a real pain for those who had come from far off places just to give CAT 2009 online exam. Also for them coming back again for the exam would definitely be difficult. The girl from Rourkela had taken leave from office. Even if the exam got scheduled in between she could not extend her leave. Everyone had thought of some convenience but because of technical glitches the CAT exam was going to get inconvenient for few people.

At 5 PM the lady finally appeared again and declared that the exam has been canceled because of technical glitches. We were asked to collect our belongings. Also asked to get in touch with the CAT Prometric Helpdesk for getting the exam rescheduled. We were handed over a sorry note saying that due to technical glitches your exam could not be held.

Getting in touch with Prometric was another hard challenge. Their number was always busy so I decided to drop a mail. But these people were so busy that they could not check the mails. Wonder why then they had the contact us facility on the site when the things were to be done over phone only. CAT organizers knew that in this 10 days window it would be hard to schedule exam for everyone and extended it by a day. Finally I could get in touch with the Prometric fellows over phone and talk to them. They said that even after extending the exam for one day they would have to schedule it again sometime later. The exam was not just being rescheduled for those who could not take up the exam because of technical glitches but also those who had complained that their exam got over early because of end button. Or any other problem they would have faced during the exam.

The MBA exam communities like Bell the Cat on orkut would not have been so active any year as it has been active till date. People would come up and discuss their exam experiences. Not just experiences but also the questions giving a benefit for those going to take the exam in the later slot as the questions got repeated in the later slots. Wonder why couldn’t CAT come up with more question banks and have a fair exam. Also wonder what benefit these people got by discussing their questions in such online forum. Infact one person had posted a complete set of questions in an online blog. It’s a different story that now that blog has been deleted. But I am sure it would have been helpful for many people giving the exam.

Was I able to give the CAT again? Definitely I was but getting my exam rescheduled was also not easy. Immediately after the first phase got over the CAT organizers made an announcement (without any loud speaker but on their site) that they will have a second phase in January 2010. The second phase dates decided for the exam was 30^th and 31^st January. I kept calling helpdesk and they kept giving the same answer that it would be rescheduled. Thankfully I knew few people whose exam also got cancelled because of technical glitches. And I got the news that people have started getting their admit card.

I again called up the CAT helpdesk and this time they had a new story to tell me. According to them my lab was shifted on the same day and for them I was an absentee. For them it was true that earlier my exam was scheduled in the lab in which exam got canceled but they had again rescheduled my exam to some other lab. I was in shock with the news. I was angry, frustrated and wanted to kill the lady talking to me over phone. Still with a calm tone I said “Do you think I am fool to go and sit in the lab where the exam got canceled. If you want I have a proof that my exam got canceled. I was given a regret letter from the center.” The lady would have thought I would lose the battle and keep the phone. On hearing this now she went into a shock and said mail us a scanned copy of admit card. I said “I will mail a copy of admit card. Along with that I will attach the admit card sent to me.” She said ok fine and we kept the phone.

At lunch I came back and the first thing I did was to mail the copy of regret letter and admit card to the retake id given to me. Also immediately I called up at the helpdesk to make sure that they received my email. Once I was assured that they had got my mail I went and had my lunch. Days kept on passing and nothing was happening. 30^th was near and I was in a dilemma as to how will my exam be rescheduled. Should I call up the media and tell my problem. After all a person got his exam scheduled this way. His issue was that his exam got over soon. Or should I drop a mail to HRD ministry. I don’t know why but I didn’t want tobe a celebrity on television and opted for the second option.

I dropped a mail to HRD ministry stating my problem with the proves I had for being a genuine candidate to get an exam rescheduled. Though I didn’t get any response from them as I am a common girl(aam ladki). But it sure did help me in getting my admit card as the next time I called up the helpdesk I mentioned that I have dropped a mail to the HRD ministry. The person assured me that I would get an admit card on 28^th January by the evening and I did get the admit card. First it was for 31^st January 10 AM but then they rescheduled it to 30^th January 10 AM.

On 29^th January they mailed and messaged that because of cold waves in some parts of the country the exam would start by 12 PM and we had to reach by 10 AM. With an experience last time I knew there was no need to carry anything and only took the admit card and my id proof. Though in my jacket I had a Vaseline lip guard and my scooty keys. I reached the exam center and immediately I was given a pouch to keep my things. Then I was asked to go for a security check. The lady frisked me as if I was a terrorist who had come to blow up the exam center. She asked me to put the Vaseline lip guard, the scooty keys and even my non-digital normal watch inside the packet. Keeping the watch away was too much for me. If it had calculator or any other gadgets then keeping aside would have made sense. Also what is a need of a gadget when people can memorise questions and share it across the internet.

This time I went directly into my lab. After having a seat I was called up for a face scanning and finger print check. Thankfully like in jail I didn’t have to hold a card in my hand with my name and CAT registration number written on it. Finally when the organizers were sure that no candidate is a replacement of Munna bhai at the exam center the exam started. Though a guy had to show his id prove many a times and he looked like a gunda. Wonder what was the problem with his id card. Also for one guy his mouse was not working with which he was going to bell the cat. After all the hurdles, checks and trust the exam started. Where a demo of how to give the exam was given. I wont comment on my exam as I am not sure how it went.

As I said the story is still going on and now people are waiting for results. Earlier it was stated that the results would be declared on 22^nd January 2010 but since there was a second phase rescheduled on 30^th and 31^st January 2010 the dates have been postponed. After that the CAT site kept saying sometime in mid February. Then it got shifted to last week of February. Even the media has gone mad along with the students and to scare the students more TOI published an article that the results would be declared yesterday. And now the helpdesk has started singing a new song which says exam will be declared in the first week of March.

So many petitions signed by people, so many mails sent to the HRD ministry, so many parents complained, so many candidates complained, Orkut’s Bell the Cat has become a active community with so much of CAT discussions. So many things happening but still people say bhaiya aal izz well. With this I end my CAT 2009 online system the CAT story.

P.S. With this I have reached my half century of blogging and hope like Tendulkar I will make a double century soon. :-)