Alcohol, Hooligans and India

They had to what they had to do, after all they are hooligans. But it's difficult to digest the fact even the politicians will call it a day in view of political benefits.[Curbing Pub Culture] But ironically the same politicians might realize the dangers of it[Alleged Kidnapping](It is not proved yet, but is it too hard to realize that this is an easy possibility).

Even an idiot can argue that drinking alcohol is strictly one's own prerogative. Yes, if it harms someone else, then there should be strict laws about that. But the story doesn't end here. Apart from gender abuse, religious intolerance and human right violation, it raises more issues to think about.

Myth of Sanskriti/traditional values -
Rather than irritating, it is more of amazing to comprehend the kind of Sanskriti that these hooligans are trying to protect. Is it the Sanskriti that was innate to Hinduism where Gods like Shiva or Indra used to drink liquor of brand Somaras or is it the Sanskriti of Mughals whose religion prohibited them to touch alcohol and so they banned the consumption of alcohol[source]. Literally every person in India has a different definition of the Sanskriti(tradition). What definition will you choose: definition of a slum-dweller, definition of riches like Ambanis, definition of entrepreneurs, definition of middle-class, definition of IT employees, definition of pesants, definition of Shiv-sena, definition of BJP...it can never end. But to see that, there can be a definition of Sanskriti which instigates folks to use the ways of violence, is amazing.

Come to think of it, Islam ourightly bans alcohol consumption for any Muslim. But in Hindu mythology even Gods like Shiva and Indra consume liquor. Will these moral-protectors of Indian values, adhere that Islam is a better religion in this context?

The consumption of alcohol isn't restricted to Gods in Hindu mythology. Hinduism has been very open about consuming alcohol as a merry-making necessity of life for poor and king equally. And Hinduism is also liberal on precautions in moderation of consumption; punishing the occasional wrong-doers in effect of alcohol with benevolent curses of Gods. But in modern India we have forgotten the righteous attached to alcohol, but have adopted the extremes: either drink of Gods or a drink of uncultured society. Its a shame that we like to call ourselves liberal because it is favored by America and have forgotten our very own culture of tolerance.
On a slightly low note, I read this quote somewhere:

The dipsomaniac and the abstainer are not only both mistaken, but they both make the same mistake. They both regard wine as a drug and not as a drink.[unknown source]

The excuse -
Now for argument sake, lets say that pub culture is ruining the values of teenage girls as well as boys. Lets say there are incidents of rapes, road accidents etc. because of this culture. Now the glitch is to find who is to be blamed about this.
The reaction of moral-parties is to blame the youth, beat them up and lock them in households so that they can come to senses.

It is naive to think that any teenage(or even adult) will go in right direction with alcohol if he/she is not in proper environment. In cities like Bangalore it is difficult to remain unattached to it with loners of IT industry occupying the most part of city. Rather than teaching the moderate way of alcohol, we take the easy way: blame them.
On top of that if there are restrictions/reservation about alcohol in religions of some families, then also, it lies with parents to guide their children about proper way, not with some third party with sticks in hands.

Problem of terrorism -
The gravest problem of all this hooliganism is that this line of thinking becomes the insinuating base of terrorism. First there is intolerance, then there is hatred, then it comes to moral-war and then it becomes Jihad(taking the misinterpreted meaning). Result is bloodshed. This idea cannot be made clearer than by this blogger - Indiacut: The systematic Use of Terror
I wonder what M.Gandhi will have to say about this now - "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win". Problem is in all this 'they' and 'you' are same people - we, the Indians.

It's the wine that leads me on, the wild wine that sets the wisest man to sing at the top of his lungs, laugh like a fool – it drives the man to dancing…it even tempts him to blurt out stories better never told.[The Odyssey]

Defense

To fight me, you have to know my fears first
To know my fears you have to know me first
To know me you have to love me first

Vanity of Pakistan

However impotent he may be as a chief of a country(unofficially/but not really), there is one thing about Zardari to be appreciated: his art of rhetoric. Some quotes from his latest editorial
"...we need no lectures on our commitment. This is our war. It is our children and wives who are dying."
"...The situation in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India is indeed critical, but its severity actually presents an opportunity for aggressive and innovative action."
"...Assistance to Pakistan is not charity; rather, the creation of a politically stable and economically viable Pakistan is in the long-term, strategic interest of the United States."
In a single editorial he tries to convey a threat of militancy, ask for a charity(politically assistance), justify actions of government and army.

On the other hand, there is USA point of view from Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and columnist David Ignatius:
"All countries have armies, but here, an army has a country."
"...the Pakistani army, with its stockpile of nuclear weapons, may include officers linked to a terrorist attack on the country's neighbor."
"...it's much more opaque than it is transparent... ...it can sometimes be difficult to figure out who did what to whom..."

Apart from what has been said in above quotes, there is a lot that can be inferred from these two essays
1. Civilian society in Pakistan is just there to die either in hands of terrorist or in hands of its own army or in hands of USA.
2. Zardari needs to know the distinction between a corporate house and a state. He cannot make difference between opportunity to show talent or need of security to people.
3. Stable Pakistan is in interests of India not that of USA unless USA needs Pakistan for war with terrorism.
4. USA is unable to comprehend the inter-relation between ISI, army and terrorism in Pakistan.
5. USA is happy just to see just a deployment of some troops for USA's fight(not Pakistan's) on the face. It's unable to learn from sixty years of experience of India with Pakistan.
6. USA is still unable to detach Kashmir problem with that of contemporary form of terrorism.
7. I wonder if Pakistan is rogue state or a state at all...
8. India has another worry to add in its list now, US intervention in Kashmir issue.

Ayye Kancha!!

Come to think of it, if Academy jury sits down to select the one Indian movie out of one fifty [link] movies relesed in 2008 then what will happen. Half of the jury will go lunatic watching the same cliches and same banal stuff over and over in all those three-hour length movies. The other half will join LeT with a vow to annihilate whole of Bollywood (Mumbai) as if 26/11 was not enough.

Big B talks about the entertainment that Bollywood provides,"The commercial escapist world of Indian Cinema had vociferously battled for years , on the attention paid and the adulation given to the legendary Satyajit Ray at all the prestigious Film Festivals of the West, and not a word of appreciation for the entertaining mass oriented box office block busters that were being churned out from Mumbai. The argument. Ray portrayed reality. The other escapism, fantasy and incredulous posturing."

I guess his wits has failed him mercilessly in recognising the true sense of Cinema even after being the legend of Indian cinema(I myself thinks he is the most prestigious entity of Indian cinema). But with all due respect, sir, the problem is not the difference between creating fantasy or portraying reality. Matrix and LOTR and many more are out rightly fantasies but still they are recognised by Academy. But the point here is those are neither cliches nor are those simplistic like Bollywood movies. This is the first point of why Bollywood movies are not recognized.
Secondly, look at the recent choices of Indian entries for Oscars: Paheli, Rang De Basanti, Eklavya, Taare Zameen Par.
Look at the movies which got nominations[link]: Mother India, Salaam Bombay, Lagaan. Now think why those got nominations, were the commercial, or they were stereotypical or those were pieces of cinema free from cliches and commercial aspects.
One movie chosen was Lagaan. Of course it showed a lot of stereotypes of poor India, but think if the movie really was about those stereotypes or was it about the fight a bunch of peasants gave to sophisticated cricket of British. One can think more of Mother India and Salaam Bombay.

The point I want to drive is that if your movie has a potential to become a good cinema which can be watched over and again in coming decades(example Casablanca) then it will be definitely recognized. If you don't have potential to make that then stop quibblling about 'your streotypes' of the world and foreigner's stereotypes. I will say Bollywood industry has a huge potential to make better movies but lure of commercial success and playing safe is the easy refuse for them. But I believe the onus lies with Indian audience itself. Recent example is Ghajini. It is amazing how it created records of 200 crore without having a novel idea in the movie, without significant acting, even without good music and compositions. Anyway commercial escapism should in noway mean that you should expect an Oscar or Golden Globe award for it.

Of course he has a point when he says,"Conditions the world over are so similar. Perceptions differ, but the reality of life and existence, unchanged."
But 25% of the population living below $1/day [link] can not be ignored, Mr. Bachchan.
And by the way, a movie having link with reality or fantasy or stereotypes has no relation whatsoever with it being a good piece of cinema.

He goes on to say, "But look how rapidly all that is changing. Retrospectives in Paris and New York. Dedicated TV channels running Hindi cinema on prime timings. Premiers at Leiscester Square, the home of all Hollywood royalty, thronged by hundreds on the street in cold biting weather."

Another piece!! By all this do you mean to say that Hindi cinema is serving good cinema? Or you are just re-iterating the fact that commercial success of Indian cinema is being taken noticed of (Of course every business man in his right senses would want to be part of it). Or few good movies that come out every year are helping to change the image of Indian cinema.

He is on blog!!

Most of people might already know. But this should serve as reminder.

Advani has now his own blog. [link]

This is simply awesome. Will got to know the thoughts and feelings of spearhead of BJP on daily basis. Lets see what he has to say...

In defense of Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is over-rated as well as misinterpreted.

First of all it is a lovely movie with great drama. It has transcended the usual happy ending scenario movies. It has really delivered a great play altogether to show how a man can win against adversities in this cruel world(not so cruel). But in the end, in my view, as USA is all going ga-ga over it, it doesn't desrve that much also. The rating at imdb, I think, is over-rated. The main reason for being over-rated is I think the dire state of USA right now. Every movie which has been about hope and change has been over-rated. Take 'The Dark Knight' or 'Wall-E' for instance. Both are great movies, no doubt in that, but they certainly have been called more greater than those actually are. Both movies touched top ten in imdb at certain point. I won't give both movies that much rating that they can be in top 10.

Some people have loved this movie for showing a very great 'realistic' visual of Mumbai-slums, well first of all the movie has shown only negative aspects of a metro city of India. Though no lie has been made yet reality is not 'complete' in this movie and on top of that reality is stretched to too extreme. Even for showing slum-life who think this is the best movie, I will point out a movie called Salaam Bombay made in 1988. The genuineness Mira Nair could achieve in her movie, I don't think Danny Boyale could go at par with that even after 20 years.
Some people loved it for being a movie that has transcended love stories. This is what I found really weird. Because as far as this movie goes, it has nothing which can be comparable to Pretty Woman or Titanic in that category and there are classics like Casablanca. And these reference movies mentioned are just Hollywood movies, you can find a lot of Bollywood movies out of thousands of melodrama and love flicks for which Bollywood is most famous and I assure you thousands will be far better love-stories than this one.

Now a lot of people have criticised it for having shown a too much of a dark side of India. Well, as it is, the movie certainly has gone beyond boundary about India. But remember it's a fiction. Fiction almost always have come with an exaggeration of general world events that actually happen to be real. This movie is no different.
The laughter of Audience when Anil Kapoor(host of game-show) mocks our hero is not what happens in reality at Indian game-shows but it does not means that it is made to signify the negative aspect of India towards apathy towards poor. But the essence of movie in showing it such a way is that it is a sarcasm on reality shows where audience does what it is told on sign-boards. It is exaggeration on aspect of game-shows not mockery of poor.
Other a few events like jumping of boy into shit-load to get autograph of Amitabh, also has nothing to do with dark sides of India and such. This is Boyale's signature of taking comic scenes into extreme. If you don't believe me, watch Danny Boyle's 1996 masterpiece Trainspotting, in which Renton puts himself pathetically (yet artistically) into the worst toilet in Scotland for two pills of drugs.

The movie is a fiction but one entagled with truths and facade of reality unlike Bollywood movies which contain plethora of fantasy in scene, dialogue, songs and everything of movie. There is difference between three, you see, fiction, fantsay and reality.

Satyam

When you are riding a tiger there will always be a risk of being clawed upon by tiger.
Maybe it was conscience or maybe all doors were closed for Ramalinga Raju that he had to resign. Long stories are being written on how a treacherous animal he is and all that. Few days ago the person who was one of biggest stories of Indian corporate success is now a sham on the face of India.
I just want to explain one thing:
Have you ever wondered that was it Satyam trying to rescue Maytas or was it Maytas trying to rescue Satyam?[link] And it turns out later is true. Satyam would have bought Maytas giving a worthless value to Raju's son thus filling up Satyam's blank balance books. His son would have been happy to sacrifice all his hard work but saving his father's ass. And if that is true, it transpires that Raju was actually doing a favor to Satyam with the sacrifice of his son's property.
Imagine if his plan would have succeeded then Satyam would have finally got clean books and diversified assets. Raju would have cleansed his sins and all would have been well with his corporate governance. He would have been success story for many more years to come.
But no, that was not to be. The same investors who reaped benefits for years from Raju's decisions, now interrupted him for the single most right thing he set to do. And now guess what who is regretting most after Satyam has come crashing down - Raju or those investors?

If I am any judge I will give clean chit to Raju for at least showing courage to face the tiger.

Note: In no way I am implying that he did a great job following those malpractices. Following malpractices or not, is not the point.

Religion

I am not a superman, but I am the child of a man

Top Eight Bollywood Movies of 2008

Apart from the tortures of a big list of lame movies like Love Story 2050, Drona, Tashan, Singh is Kinng, Jodha-Akbar, Karzzzz to count a few, I believe 2008 have been a super year for bollywood. I sensed an effort towards making serious and sincere movies from film makers. It was a tremendous year for audience like me who watch tons of movies to catch a single moment of transcending pleasure. Though exceptions of regular film-makers will always be there whose instincts are driven more with box-office collections than to present an idea. One example is Shahrukh Khan who again proved his indomitable spirit to make movies which make sense only in dream-lands with movie Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and another example is Aamir Khan who used to be sage but the race for number one in industry failed him with raw commercialization of Ghajini.

It was unusual year for Bollywood for it scrapped the monotonous old curtains of melodrama and romance. There were movies like Mixed Doubles, Dil Kabaddi, Dostana(lame it maybe) which tried to explore new dimensions into sexuality and there were movies like A Wednesday which gave insight into aspects of terrorism. Some movies like Sorry Bhai emphasised on the opening values of Indian society and others like Fashion tried to show the hidden patterns of a particular sect. And as usual lots of movies with lame comedy like Welcome which come and go but earn good cash on the box-office.
Many of these movies failed in its attempts but a lot of them were successful in delivering a well acted and flamboyant message driven presentation. Message is not important though with good acting, great dialogues and brilliant screenplay if you get a good message then its just a bonus, isn't it? Following is my list of top movies:


Movies which missed the mark: Sorry Bhai, Fashion, Shaurya, Black & White, Sarkar Raj, Tahaan

Note: In the list two movies are included which havn't been made in bollywood but significant in the context of bollywood and India nonetheless. And by coincidence but with ni wonder those two happen to be at the top of the list.


8. A Wednesday
A thrill of cat and mouse game which ends in more than just a game. It is not about picking a gun for a gun, the message is loud and clear. The common man will have to accept the responsibility to clean terrorism because it is common man who is affected most from it. Unless we show what we deserve, we can not demand free candies from politicians and bureaucrats. NaseerUdDin Shah played central role in this movie who is common man but does great deeds of militancy in the form of terrorist. The movie was full of exaggerations on some themes like excessively smooth working of security-forces and politicians and too many deeds from a single common man. But I believe nothing gets hurt if we can live in fantasy for two hours.





. Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa
Ah! Finally a good movie about love and romance. What a great relief. This movie has proved that good love stories are not just made with huge cast of stars and big budgets. Beautiful act by all the six leading actors and special credit goes to Genelia Dsouza who played superbly chill teen. Now we can say that Bollywood love stories are not just senseless and predictable, they can be entertaining and funny. And love is not always about crying and being sentimental it can be sophisticated always living in our unconscious selves. And as the tagline suggest 'so when do you know it's love?'








6. Aamir
Another flick on terrorism!! The movie which say we individuals are not Muslims or Hindus and not even Indians, we are human in the first place. That's enough for this movie to count upon. But nonetheless the movie picked the subject with a different approach. An individual who happens to be a Muslim and is well to do is made to do what he never could do. But in the end a man decides himself of his fate. Without any significant budget, without any prominent cast it was a greatly developed movie. Kudos to Raj Kumar Gupta who took such a risk with his first movie and unbelievably caught the moments of secularism, religion and terrorism.







5. Dasvidaniya
Another movie from actor Vinay Pathak and again with central role. Bheja Fry was perhaps a bit superficial in its finish, but not this movie. Before watching this movie I had more expectations from the actor and without no doubt, he has lived up to expectations. The movie is successful in delivering the old flavor of characters, but having seasoned with masala of subtle humor. Loosely based on story of The Bucket List, it has the message of simple man with simple ambitions of his life. It is about those dreams we forget to see, in the rush of life, being mere unimportant to world around us. We must care about people we love, but lets not forget ourselves.






4. Rock On
When I watched Dil Chahta Hai, I liked it. I watched Rock On, I Loved it with a big L!! Movie is similar to many elements of Dil Chahta Hai with similar themes of love and friendships. But more to it was the choices we make, it is about a reson we stand in the whirlpool of fate. Thanks to Farhan Akhtar who succeeded in introducing rock music to Bollywood and that too Indian style. A point here, its a rock music which actually rocks( and not shouts). I guarantee after watching this movie everyone will come with a smile on his face and a spirit to fight for their choices.








3. Mumbai Meri Jaan
This movie is set in the context of aftermaths of Mumbai Train Bombings of 2006. It is story of real Indians depicted through five characters in different professions. Realistic drama has been played by realistic characters with the help of a short stories but all centered around blasts. It is not about academic or political discussions and debates on terrorism, this movie didn't add up to another rhetoric on terrorism; this movie is about a common man in the vicinity of terrorist attacks. Every other day India is bombed at and this movie deals with those emotional trade-offs which come with those attacks. After watching this movie, I understood a(not the) meaning of two-minute-silence, did you?







2. Mithya
It is one of those stories which have umpteen number of layers and you just can not reach the depth. Its characters are such that in every character you will find yourself or a part of yourself. The dark satire about romance, thriller, crime based on the underworld, bollywood, acting makes it all the inclusive. The movie starts with light comedy and turns out to be a thriller as well as a comic tragedy. It is the best Ranvir Shorey had delivered ever. And it is also not a movie like Bheja Fry where whole of movies is centered around one or two characters. Vinay Pathak, Neha Dhupia, Naseeerudin Shah, Saurabh Shukla everyone had there contribution in making of this movie what it is. And finally a great appalause for Rajat Kapoor, the director of the movie. I would have chosen this movie for higher ranking, but being slightly slow, it just missed the point.

1. Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
Not many will agree, but in my view it is the best comic movie of 2008. It is more subtle in humor even than movies like Dasvidaniya, in a sense, that to find the meaning of humor you need to know and understand the cultures and whims of society we live in. A tremendous effort by Dibankar Banerjee after his previous another good movie Khosla Ka Ghosla. And unlike Khosla Ka Ghosla, I will say it will be an insult to call it comedy film. It is very serious movie about love, hate, family, society and most importantly about self. A very simple movie of a simple person but with a complex life who happens to be a thief and expressed in very simple notions of common man characters whom you can find just around the corner of your street or colony. It earned an extra point for adding a very genuine regional flavor in its presentation of language and behavior. At the end of movie, I am sure audience will be come out laughing and will have a thing to think about in their pockets.

Bonus 2. Khuda Kay Liye

Its a Pakistani movie mostly in Urdu and English. It is the first movie directed by Shoaib Masoor and it was the first movie for many of its leading actors. The movie has raised question marks on the issues which are supposed to be forbidden in Islam but are not. This movie really gives a new competitive perspective to Muslims who are follow the religious preachings blindly. The movie has set a viewpoint that even if a Muslim listens to his heart and do what he wants, still he can be a Muslim. People devoid of happiness, guns in hands, Jihad on lips are not Muslims. Why I added this movie in this list? Because this movie is not about Pakistan or Afghanistan. This movie transcends those lines, it is for us. This movie challenges the exterimism whether it is Islamic fundamentalism, Hindu extremism or American way of war against terror. The great thing about this movie is that beside being totally message-oriented it is still beautifully played with a well act, music and regional flavors.

Bonus 1. Slumdog Millionaire
It is not exactly a movie of 2008, its going to be released in January, 2009 in India. But then it will be difficult to count it as 2009 movie just for the sake of release in India. So I included it in the list of 2008.
What more is left to say about this movie? This movie is set in the backdrop Mumbai slums and is about a low class person living in those slums. The movie is about a person who hails from slums of Mumbai and goes onto become a millionaire and finds his love of life in the end. The important thing is that movie is not about India and slums. It is about the victory of optimism in the face of adversities. It won't be wrong to put it in genres of comic, tragedy and love story; but in the end bottom line is that how a man can live his life in this cynical world with nothing but a bit of hope. The movie is beautifully played with a mixture of strong emotions and a sense to send a message to audience through this medium but without forgetting that entertainment is primary objective of this medium. A point to mention here of a negative point, this movie has slightly over emphasised dark side of Indian life, but above nine movies are also not absolutely devoid of some negative points.

The One about IIIT: The Great Institute

Disclaimer, Fact and Statement: It's not exactly a disclaimer. The fact is I do not intend a disclaimer. And the statement is that my fight has always been with ideas not individuals.
Notes: 1. Post contents are in regular font. 2. Italics are my random thoughts 3. Quoted text is excerpts from other articles. 4. The title is not sarcastic at all. 5. IIIT means International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad. 6. I did my graduate degree from IIIT, Hyderabad.

The Great Society: A Libertarian Critique article by Murray N. Rothbard, which I was reading beholding it in context of contemporary governments and exploitation of poor, which actually is intended by the author. But suddenly the idea struck me that this article and given insights directly link to IIIT also.
It is long since I have left(rather rejected) writing posts about/on IIIT. Actually, I am not good at writing general stuff and apart from general stuff, I happen to have only controversial topics on or about institute, for which, having left the institute, I sometimes think I may not be appropriate person. So even if I press a few keys, my fingers don't press 'publish' button. But I guess, a tree can never leave its roots.

In sum, the most important fact about the Great Society under which we live is the enormous disparity between rhetoric and content.[link]

The state of affairs at IIIT is no different. An inarguable rhetoric of IIIT is that IIIT is the place 'where dreams come true'. But to me, reality seems utterly opposite, as I have experienced. At this point let me be clear that I talk of 'IIIT'(and from here on, unless specified) as IIIT administration and decision making authority. And let me be clear that if not all, most of my dreams that had any link with IIIT have come true also and I am not talking about any kind of injustice to me. Those dreams came true, but NOT because of IIIT. Perhaps because of hostels of the institute, wings and rooms of hostels, or perhaps classes of IIIT institute. To me, IIIT has always been an entity which takes pride in endeavors in which dreams of an individual(happen to be students) are suppressed for the sake of greater good of same individual without his conscious or unconscious consent. There are umpteen number of examples, I will explain in due post.

Before going ahead, first let me note the vision of IIIT as an institution
(courtesy: IIIT website )

• To carry out advanced research and technology development in information technologies and their societal, scientific, industrial and financial applications.
• To train and educate, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, engineers of outstanding ability who can become leaders in their profession.
• To work closely with industry leaders and to help them in undertaking programmes needed in their sectors.

Research(Idea championed by IIIT): Research is something that IIIT has valued over and above anything else in any case and it is pretty much clear from its vision. The emphasis on research has been on such a scale that the vision seems to look like that of a research firm rather than an institute where education is imparted to students to make them self-sufficient in carrying out research or development. In no way, I am saying that research is a wrong aspect of an educational institute's priorities; an institute can keep research in high terms but that doesn't mean institute should dilute its immediate priority and devalue its other priorities.
The suppression of freedom starts as early as counseling for admissions, when dual-degree courses are offered from IIIT. There will be few who would like to take decision about the MS, when someone's immediate priority is to think about BTech. Most of them at that time, don't even know exactly what a 'research' is. IIIT institute is the one of the most craved for institution in AIEEE counseling because of the quality of education it offers. But IIIT itself takes advantage of this fact by making a certain number of seats mandatory dual-degree and thus trapping intelligent but not so lucky by rank students to serve its own humanitarian ideology. It is not difficult to argue here that giving the choice(as happens to single-degree students) of MS at the term of third year does make a far more flexible way to proceed. This is not the only problem.
Every possible attempt is made to divert attention of even single-degree students towards research. An environment is created where emphasis on choosing research field as a career path is deliberately given, rather than teaching a student to follow his ambitions and decide along his interests. Rhetoric in the name of research in general speeches of professors, lack of development project in comparison to research project, deliberate impositions on placement processes etc. are some of the things which constitute the parts of this environment. A number of conferences and talks are called upon yearly by IIIT related to technology and research. How many(if any) talks are organised from corporate companies or alumni to talk on corporate life or industry-work related topics, considering that 'service in industry' is the career most of the students will be going for, after completion of degree. I am not taking any negative stance against R&D. I am not saying students' interests(lets say placement process) should be given priority over other things but there should be at least workable freedom to pursue their interests(lets say placement process).
The question of argument against any deliberate attempt to create such environment, here doesn't arise as I myself have experienced such an environment and I am sure most of readers also feel the same way. This applies to any interest student want to pursue unless it harms others or sanctity of institution.
Two questions for introspection:
1. Has any under-graduate student ever heard any positive remark about corporate life or job from any professor or post-graduate?
2. How many times have you heard advantages of research life over(emphasis) corporate life from people who are plainly devoid of any experience in corporate life?

In my view research is the most important factor for human development, because research is basically other name for organised experimentation of ideas. And ultimately ideas are the factor which define the prosperity or development of a society or community. But then one should not demean the value of industry. Industry creates the need for new ideas and research caters that requirement. Then again, new researches and new ideas creates new markets and industry. In this sense, both of areas rides on achievements of each other and that is how a progressive society works. The question of comparing the careers in two fields is as stupid as slamming a revolving door. If you are in one field you cannot remain isolated from the other, but the priority should lie with your interests.


Imparting Human Values: The fresher student has not adjusted the environment of IIIT yet, he is made to follow the courses like Jeevan Vidya etc., another blow of humanitarian ideology on young minds.

Does anywhere in its vision IIIT says that it wants to impart 'human values' and 'education in broad sense' to its students? My point is that the primary goal of IIIT is to educate engineers, to make their careers and AIEEE rankers join IIIT for that same sole goal.
IIIT is not a high school so that it has to give human values to students and make good citizens out of them. The idea of giving broad education should lie with schools and if that doesn't happen then we should understand that problem lies with their primary education or system of primary education. Compelling the students those things at an adulthood stage can make matters worse (if matters are bad for example, a student doesn't have minimal human values to qualify him as IIIT-student). The thing is only aggravated by the fact that all such courses are made compulsory for freshers. Even if a set of courses(human values, industry specific, research specific) are provided in the institute by external parties then flexibilty should be given to students to have his own choice.

Then there are activities like Yoga etc which are totally from a different perspective grounds entirely unlinked to education. If something suits to the king of country why is it necessary for the population also to follow same thing? There are a number of Indian/Japnese/Korean/Chinese techniques like this which maybe good for health of mind and body and which can serve a number of individuals' business interests. But how the inclusion of these practices serve the goal of IIIT is debatable.


Extra curricular Activities: IIIT is always eager to pronounce the above activities(human values etc.) in the name of broad education. But the part, which is extra curricular activities, is always forgotten while pursuing the useless activities. The likes of sports/discussions/debates activities are compulsory for any student to evolve as a student. But the only heed given to those is mere for the necessity of compulsory credits. It's not a problem of students, its problem of institution which is impotent in providing necessary framework where students are ready to give favor to these activities over their project works/online games/blogging. The problem is such activities are thought to be pro-management interests which makes student divert from research-work or regular studies. It is time, in my view that institute should stop quibblling that students don't take part in such activities but instead should put necessary faculty and framework in place to enahnce such things.
Another point here comes to my mind that why was Yoga/Jeevan Vidya cannot be put in extra-curricular activities, afterall those things aptly suit the criteria of extra-curricular activities. The problem here again is again humanitarian ideology. Making these extra-curricular will either mean devaluing human-value courses or appreciate the value of other extra-curricular activities. Then IIIT will have to face the contradiction of seeing all the extra-curricular activities with the same eye as that of human-value stuff which will surely demean the basic goal of these activities of imparting humanitarian values.


Food: It would have been an injustice if I did not mention this. Perhaps some readers know the reason, but I hope not. Anyway, the idea of free market is laid waste when it comes to running messes(providing quality food to students, putting it in another way) in IIIT. Considering there are three messes, neither the students nor the caterer is given any freedom so that they can compete with each other so that competition itself makes sure that students will get good food. That anyway, has become acceptable to students I guess and enough has been said on that. On top of that there are contract-free extra mess(es) where supposedly students do all the work. If in anyway students want to work on their own then why can't they work in other messes? Why IIIT is biased towards a particular mess for which there is no contract, no questions are asked if it can run or not, there are no prohibitions etc. etc.? But every effort is made to squeeze margins of caterer of other messes, the result being bad quality of food. These messes need to be regulated(food quality, prices, timings etc.) not ruled by IIIT.



In the end, I would like to note that IIIT should be dispassionate and unbiased towards education. Like a state has no business being in business, IIIT has no business being biased towards one kind of ideology over another. There should be ample space for freedom for mature students of this institution to pursue their own dreams and take their own decisions. Even having a conflicting vision is not the main point. The point is IIIT should not dilute its core goal of creating engineers. The goal of IIIT is to create highly skilled engineer, whether the student uses the skills for earning money for himself or he uses it for greater good of society(research), should be prerogative of the student. IIIT should in noway try to influence the interests of students.
Ultimately, why a community tends to be biased towards truth of one belief over the other is a complex question.
But I guess in context of IIIT, perhaps I have the answer(perhaps - because I could never dig the hole deep enough). The essence of development in context of any community lies in the fact that new ideas are filtered for their usefulness and new innovations are nurtured. In this process, it is very important to have (a continuous flow of) multiple set of ideas and views such that depending upon time and place, most suitable ideas can be nurtured. When there is only one person at the helm of community to make decisions then the ideas are limited and facts are deviated from truth. As a result, progressive development stops taking place. Democracy is experimentation of majority and thus it is bound to progress unless it is unfair, on the other hand, autocracy is dream of one and living nightmare of many.

The humanitarian wishes to be a prime mover in the lives of others. He cannot admit either the divine or the natural order, by which men have the power to help themselves. The humanitarian puts himself in the place of God.
But he is confronted by two awkward facts; first, that the competent do not need his assistance; and second, that the majority of people … positively do not want to be "done good" by the humanitarian…. Of course, what the humanitarian actually proposes is that he shall do what he thinks is good for everybody. It is at this point that the humanitarian sets up the guillotine.[link]

Epilogue: Some individuals never appreciate anything for what it is or what it has achieved, but are always eager to prick out the drawbacks in possibly most obnoxious manner. I apologise, I never learned the art of appreciation. I am a creature of habit with a rebellious spirit. One has to do what he got to do. I got to do honest criticism.
All said, my fight will always continue with ideas and with myself. But it is sad to see people of IIIT not fighting for what they believed in or what they believe in. It is sad because IIIT was the range where I learned to shoot. Seems like Kurukshetra could not tolerate assaults of the realty market. And now Kauravas and Pandavas are both living together happily(ever after) in their respective apartments at 69th floor in Laakshya Mahal(or was it Palash Nivas or something?).(all puns intended)