Mon Dieu Maxxx!!!

No no no..before you run away, this has nothing to do with religion or related garbage. It's just that the situation at hand (if it still is in hand!) quite simply deserved a re-hash of the title I used previously. What situation? This:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HRD_orders_faculty_quota_IIT_directors_livid/articleshow/3173620.cms

Ok, so why am I harping on quotas again? Can't I give it a rest? Yes. And No. How can someone possibly stay quiet when Miss Calamity D. Cataclysm sweetly knocks on your front door? Oh, and D stands for Disaster. So, is it really such a rude shock to hear that half of the people who get to teach us are going to ..err...be very reserved in nature? Maybe not, considering the government's recent ruthless agenda to treat the IITs with unmatched contempt that would make what Saddam Hussein faced a mere peck-on-the-cheek.
16 IITs + 49.5% reservation for students + 49.5% reservation for faculty = Country willingly donated to the canines. Can probably be called the Philips Equation : Scores highly in both Sense and Simplicity.
Either the people at the centre who took this decision are so unfathomably dumb they cannot foresee what's going to happen, or a safer bet would be...well, the V.O.T.E.S. Now, I'm not going to make a set of statements about what going to happen because of this new development and how exactly the canines are going to tear the country apart (pun, if found, intended) partly because I've done just that in the previous entry and I find it slightly boring to go through all that. Anyway, obvious ain't it? No? It's like this:
Student X: Hey man, wassup? What about your EAMCET result?
Student Y: Ammo, don't ask... 40,000. Now, I cannot get local college because
too much competiton.
X: Hmm, that's definitely bad. What about JEE?
Y: That is better only. AIR 25,000. Easily I can get IIT. 80%
reservation noo.. Maybe I will go to IIT. Many are there na..
X: What??? Are you crazy????
Y: I am not crazy. I am category!!
X: Oh yea, forgot....sorry. So... any chance of me getting into IIT ?
(What am I asking?? )
Y: Difficult yaar.. U can try in AU or OU. That is better. Slightly more your
kind of students and profs.
After 3.5 years, they get to meet:
X: Hi man..How have you been? How's IIT?
Y: Oh, IIT is great. You know, I should havecupped in 6 courses so far.
But peace profs. My caste only, they gave good grades.They don't
give cups to us.
X: (What the Hell!!) Lovely! So, nobody gets cups?
Y: No no..Junta get cups. I think they are from forward castes. A
'reservation' friend almost got a cup from bad prof, but we all students
protested. He didn't get. Peace naa..
X: Yea..(damn peaceful). By the way, we are having very good placements. I
also got a nice placement, but I'm thinking of dropping it and doing MS.
What about u?
Y: My placements were also wonderful. I got placed in first week...
X: Ahh...and placements lasted for?
Y: Three days. Four companies came. Highest pay was 3 lakh!! Wow kada...
X: Oh yea, awesome. Mindblowing... (lol).
Such a conversation is unrealistic and isn't really convincing but hey, 50 years ago when the IITs were setup, no one in their right senses could've forseen the beautiful situation that we have now. Hoping for more bizzare things to happen is probably very wise and is only a matter of time...

Stretching the topic more than this would perhaps be extremely dumb on my part though there are a lot of points going through my mind. But I bet, they would be hardly original and an actual discussion would be more entertaining than writing everything down here. So, signing off with a few readers opinions I found in the link above which I feel describe my personal feelings closely (almost)... Oh, and do leave your comments. Even if you think I'm marking bad or barking mad.



Parvinder,Delhi,says:I think Arjun singh should be hanged immediately...He is dividing the country on the basis of casre/religion.Morever He is compromising with the quality also.....I do not know what our stupid PM is doing.....He can not do anything....

rahul,chennai,says:Why don't they just open a separate IIT with reserved faculty and reserved students!

Utkarsh ,IIT Delhi,says:the two things that Indians are mad about are IITs and cricket....now that the IITs are down, the HRD should introduce quota in the Indian cricket team too...


rohit agarwal,IIT BOMBAY,says:ye kya ho raha hai..i wudnt be surprised if 10 yrs frm now wen i pick up the times of india..it will read "GENERAL category to be offered reservation!".. SAVE INDIA--ENCOURAGE POLITICIANS TO DRINK n DRIVE

Sanjay,USA,says:Well done. These politians are the reason we are still called 3rd world country and will be called so .... yeah, India Shining...

xyz,hyd,says:Arjun singh must be shot dead.

Cheers!!!
Ravi.

Tepid water turning cold...

Back in school, we were repeatedly told to read newspapers to improve our vocabulary..blah..blah... I never really cared. But these days, I reckon I should feel proud about it considering all the rubbish that's poured in : [ Britney wants to be buried next to Monroe is probably the biggest piece of trash today.:) ]. However, not very long ago, I (accidentally, I assure you) see this article in the paper saying the govt. has decided to start 9 new IIT's! True, true...you've probably seen loads of people blabbering about the issue till date. But my frustration has got the better of me; Also, being an IITian myself, let me assure you that it frustrates me even more than it should. I don't promise a lot of fresh content but again, I reckon that hardly matters.
So, let's see what we've here...

* A ridiculous quota system offering 22.5% of the seats for the so-called SC/ST candidates? Check.
* Escalation of stupidity successfully exhibited when this is pushed to 49.5% to include BC's? Check.
* As if 7 is not a nice number, planning to set up 9 more IITs all over the place for some Godforsaken cause? Double Check.

Okay, that's probably enough reason for me to yell about it at whoever it may concern without giving any explanation. But I'm a nice, guy. I explain.
First of all, I do not understand why we have this glorious quota system. Now now, hold your horses.. I want you to remember that I'm talking strictly in the context of the IITs; At present I am not bothered of any other institution - educational or otherwise. I see negligible reason or sense in it, and I'm not typing away just because I've a keyboard here. I have reason. I cannot obviously provide you facts or numbers but here's an, for want of a better term, observation:
I know quite a few guys who've made it to the IITs via the quota system. Now, I have nothing against them - atleast the ones I know are nice chaps and good friends of mine. The problem is, I do not remember any of them getting what you could call 'decent' grades. There's no point in you saying "What's in a grade?" because , again from what I've observed, not many (if not any) have any enthusiasm about the courses they enroll for year after year. Sure, tastes vary and I know a lot of guys who've decided that engineering was not their cup of tea, and I've no problem with that. Let them do something else after they have endured these 4 years... But seriously, what's the bloody use if most of the "22.5%" turn out like that? And them guys ain't like they're into mgmt. or something - I just see them spending their time in blissful activities devoid of any practical use. I know a lot of chaps who are really brainy and dedicated but had to settle for the NIT's..and here I see these chaps gobbling up their positions with no emotion whatsoever.

Discussions like these sometimes do pop up in campus, and a common point raised in their favour goes like this: " A lot of the SC/STs are really underprivileged. They are very poor and couldn't possibly afford this education otherwise. They also need to and should shine.." ...and the crap keeps pouring. In defense, I'd like to point this out: No offense meant, but the people in specific who were saying this wear adidas tees and can afford other expensive rubbish. The type they were mentioning do exist I admit, and probably in a majority, but they are NOT the ones that make it to these IITs. If you really want to help them, help them with their schooling, etc. And if they're intelligent enough to crack the JEE, they're more than welcome here. But a majority of the ones who do turn up belong to the affordable class, who (usually) aren't serious about the educational system here and are here by clearing an abysmally low cutoff in the entrance exam.
Now, as a topping on the trifle, we have an increase in the number of students coming in, not on the basis of what's present between their ears, but because of some social status.
Where are we heading??? I know... In a few years time, I can see a 10% quota introduced for those who've really got the brains. And given the present times, it doesn't really sound too far-fetched.
Why are we dessicating Nehru's vision part by part? He said something equivalent to picking and training the best minds in the country. I didn't think that applied to only half the selected students. Sure sure...the government did keep the number of seats intact for the general category inspite of the new quota. But that hardly solves the problem.. Why? Resources. Some guy at the center thinks he can send shiploads of students to the IITs without giving a lot of thought about the infrastructure.
To top it all, we have the grandest and most irritating thing of all: 9 new IITs. Where you gonna get the faculty eh? Eh?? New institutes are starting with infrastructures that would make a pawnbroker proud. No campus, no staff; Only hundreds of more students coveting the IIT brand. Great. Awesome actually. It's not all bad, as all the bright guys who end up the the various NIT's get to have an IIT stamp. But seriously, do we need 9 IIT's to do that??? The campuses and the infrastructure might eventually be there, but the IITs were setup to provide quality education to those who deserve it. Apparently, we got about that "problem" by poking the word "those who deserve it" enough to dawn upon us that if we simply increase our intake, we'd have more deserving people. A couple of new IIT's would've been a wiser move. But 9? Who's the jackass who even thought about it??

Ten years from now, I really doubt if a guy can proudly go about saying he's an IITian. Ten years from now, paychecks are bound to drop, respect you garner would hit an all-time low and would stay there; The government would pretend as if every thing's perfect and couldn't have better.In some sense, yes. Well, it's all for the votes. We all know that, don't we.............? :)

Mon Dieu !!!

To be honest, I've lost count of the number of times I opened this very web page to start blogging, but each and every time one tiny insignificant thing stops me : I can't decide on what to write! Not that i have the best of topics in my head right now, but I've decide to start nonetheless. I have to warn you though o reader, most if not all of my entries represent MY views and I do not intend to preach anything to anyone. Also, people are not gonna jump in joy about the stuff that's going to follow,but again, I couldn't care less. However, criticism (after a great deal of thought) is more than welcome.
Here goes...!

In case you were wondering what the title means, it reads "My God !!!?"... And presently I am wondering what has that to do with the lines that are about to follow. Just like everyone, the author too has some ,albeit rather interesting, views on the fabulous concept called God. True, as a child, I believed (read it as "made to believe") that a God exists..but as the years passed, that belief was reduced to absolute nothing. Was it something that happened that made me lose trust? Or was it because I think its fashionable to call oneself an atheist these days? Neither. At some point of time a few years ago, I began to think. " Who/What is God?". More importantly, I ask myself the question " Why do I need a God?"
I say to myself " The very fact that different people around the world have different Gods obviously means that He (if He exists) doesn't take any form that we imagine.
Now, let me make it clear, I do not say that the 'concept' of God is useless. Oh no..It's quite the opposite. He has served His purpose, in whatever ridiculous form He's been given; If I go around the world saying that a God doesn't exist to either help you or do whatever he's supposed to do, the world would be such a chaotic place. Rather, all i say is, once the objective of introducing someone fantastic being who could think of nothing but create a Universe, put some "Life" on a planet..blah.. blah.. blah.., is understood, the madness should be shelved.
My whole problem is because of the side effects of God : Religion and Brainlessness to an extent.
Again, religion helped a lot in ruling people and stuff, but the extremities that they had to go to make sure people believed in religion is absurd.
Now, many many people use God as a source of confidence in the things they do. That's fine. Great actually.
And many many many people think God actually exists caring about us, watching our backs, ever ready to forgive and all that crap. My question is... If God actually existed, why does he bother to care about one of the many animals on Earth - man??? So jobless?
The belief in God and more importanly, religion,often reaches unacceptable (by me) in a lot of cases: Some cases -
One of my friends recently asks me to take my leg off a book, saying I shouldn't be doing that. Hold on a second.. so, whats so wrong about it?? My leg's just another body part. I don't see anything wrong in doing what i do. People say " Books represent Saraswati Devi" and stuff..I say, as long as u read what's in it it's all fine. And that particular friend is not in such a habit nowadays... :(
This is one of a looot of things that one doesn't question. It is fed at a very early stage. It's not that i'd like to preach little children to do whatever they can with books, but people should stop giving the excuse of a God, at least when they grow up.
Something else that irritates me infinitely is all the (bloody) rituals that we have (guess hinduism has a lil more than the rest) . Praying to an idol is probably one of the most useless things on Earth. No, the prayer is not useless.The idol is. He's as sacred as my toothbrush. I see people performing all kinds of silly stuff like washing it with milk and what-not, offering food (c'mon!!).. Now is it not ridiculousness reaching new heights? You are free to butt in to say " Everyone has their own beliefs" . I say " It's not actually what you believe. You've been asked/told to make them your beliefs at a nice impressionable age by the ones around us."
You probably get the feeling "What's this bloke trying to say finally???" Honestly, there are a lot of things that I wanna say but can't effectively pen down; Well, it's atleast a start and though i'm not fully satisfied with my effort, I've made up my mind to hit the "Publish Post" button.
See ya soon.
Cheers!

The author is a student (nene bey) of Aerospace Engineering, IITM. Comments welcome 24/7.