Last few years have seen a rapid growth for the Social Networking sites. The saga that had started with Orkut , has been carried forward by Facebook and LinkedIn and numerous other sites whose account requests spams keep flooding your email account. Rarely is a day , when I dont see the Birthday calender , join my network sort of messages in my inbox and directly as well as deliberately , click on " Report as spam" button. But, unfortunately, messages from same e-mail address invade my inbox a few days later. I have always failed to understand what happiness people draw in sending their reminders and invitations and above all , why the hell they choose my e-mail id . Anyways , I am too much satisfied with my Orkut and to some extent Facebook as my social network accounts and LinkedIn as my professional network account.
Around 1-2 years earlier, I had heard a theory " Six degrees of seperation " when I was going through the concepts and history of networking sites. ( For the guys who ahve developed the habit of googling and wiki..ing ... I leave it for them to search it on ... for others who are lazy enough to avoid it or have got accustomed to spoon feeding , I make a small mention .. This theory says ... that any two person on this earth are separated by at max 5 persons . That is .. if you pick any random person , you are connected to that person through a chain of 5 common acquaintances. )
At that time , I was digging to find out the behind-screens concepts of Orkut. How Orkut chaining works . Can this theory be verified from there ? What I could find aboutOrkut way of listing the link between you and any random profile you visit was ..it takes a common friend of both of you and link you using your common friend . But , alas, that was the end of the stoy . Orkut supported only 1 degree of separation and any profile you visit , not having any common friend , you were linked directly. Shit !!!! My experiment failed. And , the thirst to check its correctness faded away ... thanks to other activities in which I gained interest.
After almost a year and half, I again stumbled to this "Six Degrees" but , this time on facebook . It was an application present on facebook where you type any arbit name --- profile would rather be technically appropriate -- it would genrate the degree of sepeartion for you and that person . It was quite exciting for me . I played with this application for a number of times , giving craziest names from little - known away places . The results were quite surprising . Degrees of separation results came from 1 to max of 9.
Then , I googled for the latest article on this and .... some awesome references were at my mouse-clicks. There were many articles published with their results and findings. A recent study conducted on Facebook quotes avearge separation of the users in the facebook to 5.73 which is strikingly similar to the theory published.
Although , many have disregarded this theory as just an urban myth , giving the references of the African and South American tribes who lives in isolation. But , even if we just talk of the conencted world, we covering 6 billion + of world population . It again reimposes the faith of brotherhood. Just, 6 relations away , we are going to feel the pinch of the pain we inflict on the others. The lessons of peace, tolerance and universal brotherhood are the one which is going to stay with us in the longest run .
Friday, April 17, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
K3 - KISSA KURSI KA !!!
Indian democracy , projected as the largest democracy in the world , is also undoubtedly the most puzzling one. The mood of the voter is tough to predict. It has become more puzzling in the recent years when the National Parties like Congress and BJP having lost its charm towards the regional parties. Regional parties , having become dominant forces in state-level politics have started to flex their muscle at the Delhi throne also.
The era of coalition weak governemnt has badly affected India to adopt strict and clear-cut policies towards the monster issues like foreign policy, terrorism and economic reforms. One would always talk of the large number of options people are getting with more parties, but, this option is presenting a hung parliament and a very weak coalition governement , with every party threatening to pull her leg , for their benefits.
Come the General Election -2009 and we are witnessing the Dance of Democracy. UPA as well as NDA as disintegrated. RJD, LJP have left the UPA allaince , and BJD has left the NDA alliance. Mayawati, AIADMK , TDP and left parties have made the third front. Now, Lalu, Paswan and Mulayam have come together to form the fourth front.
As per the latest exit-poll survey conducted by the India Today , none of these fronts are going to secure a clear majority, which simply means that post-election alliances , where these regional parties can bargain for any thing they wish , right from the high-profile ministeries to Prime - minister or deputy Prime-minister post. Poll survey shows Congress and its allies getting around 190 seats and NDA with 170 seats . Others constitute the rest of the 170 seats .
Although , it is very much clear that in none of the cases , Other can form the government without the support of BJP or Congress. Same holds true for these two major parties also. Now, the party which can do the best political bargaining stands to gain the most. Its this fragmented mandate of the people that local leaders like Mayawati and Sharad Pawar have strated dreaming about their prospects as PM . And , its really unfortunate for us ,we cannot unrule their possiblility of becoming an accidental PM.
Restructuring of the alliances have taken place before the election . Difference in the policies of the parties was the last reason for this as never were they having common policies.The sole reason was difference in seat sharing. What united all of them was their political ambitions. Now, to further place them in the better position to negotiate , these parties have detached themselves from the main alliances just to improve their tally , by contesting on the maximum number of seats. Thats the reason ,Mulayam , Lalu have decided to contest without Congress in Bihar and Jharkhand . Same with BJD-BJP allaince in Orissa where 11 year old alliance was broken . Even, Sharad Pawar's NCP is contesting elections against Congress across the country except Maharastra and Goa.
BJP is looking to improve its prevoius tally in West and Central India but this gain cannot compensate the loss its incurring in states of UP, Orissa and southern states especially Tamil Nadu. BJP -JD(U) hopes for a better performance in Bihar and Jharkhand on the account of the welfare and devlopements programs initiated by Nitish govt and weakening of Sibu Soren's JMM respectively. Gujarat under the leadership of Narendra Modi is as vibrant as ever. The popularity of Modi is Gujarat is even more than BJP's Prime Ministerial Candidate L.K.Advani. Modi is surely going to be the BJP's next poster boy with Varun who has shot him to prime time media coverage putting him at the same level as his cousin Rahul Gandhi.
Uttar Pradesh with 80 odd seats and Bihar with 40-odd seats have always played a vital role in deciding who will be hoisting the tricolor at Red Fort , next 15th August. But, the caste politics have given rise to leaders like Lalu, Paswan, Mulayam and Mayawati. Mayawati is riding high with the new formulae of Dalit-Brahmin combination , unique of its kind. She has even rolled out the carpet to welcome Muslims after slapping NSA charges against Varun.
In West Bengal, direct fight between Trinamool and Left is to be witnessed . Mamta Bannerjee has seriously hampered her cause in the Nano case. If West Bengal still stuck with her , then it is surely going to be the bad luck of the Bengalis. Calcutta once, centre of the trade and capital of British India has continoulsy lost its charm and investor confidence thanks to the frequent Unions strike and conservative policies of Left Government. Thats , the reason the Calcutta or Kolkata is still seems untouched by the waves of globalisation and ITisation. Now, that left has changed its stance , its Mamta who drove out Tata's out of Singur.
The countdown has begun for the biggest show of Democracy on the planet , with less than 24 hours to go... This month -long drama has eclipsed the TRP ratings soap-operas, crowd at Multiplexes and thrown away IPL out of India. Lets hope that who so ever wins , the next government works for the people of India uprooting the problems of poverty, corruption , unemployment , terrorism and other social issues.
The era of coalition weak governemnt has badly affected India to adopt strict and clear-cut policies towards the monster issues like foreign policy, terrorism and economic reforms. One would always talk of the large number of options people are getting with more parties, but, this option is presenting a hung parliament and a very weak coalition governement , with every party threatening to pull her leg , for their benefits.
Come the General Election -2009 and we are witnessing the Dance of Democracy. UPA as well as NDA as disintegrated. RJD, LJP have left the UPA allaince , and BJD has left the NDA alliance. Mayawati, AIADMK , TDP and left parties have made the third front. Now, Lalu, Paswan and Mulayam have come together to form the fourth front.
As per the latest exit-poll survey conducted by the India Today , none of these fronts are going to secure a clear majority, which simply means that post-election alliances , where these regional parties can bargain for any thing they wish , right from the high-profile ministeries to Prime - minister or deputy Prime-minister post. Poll survey shows Congress and its allies getting around 190 seats and NDA with 170 seats . Others constitute the rest of the 170 seats .
Although , it is very much clear that in none of the cases , Other can form the government without the support of BJP or Congress. Same holds true for these two major parties also. Now, the party which can do the best political bargaining stands to gain the most. Its this fragmented mandate of the people that local leaders like Mayawati and Sharad Pawar have strated dreaming about their prospects as PM . And , its really unfortunate for us ,we cannot unrule their possiblility of becoming an accidental PM.
Restructuring of the alliances have taken place before the election . Difference in the policies of the parties was the last reason for this as never were they having common policies.The sole reason was difference in seat sharing. What united all of them was their political ambitions. Now, to further place them in the better position to negotiate , these parties have detached themselves from the main alliances just to improve their tally , by contesting on the maximum number of seats. Thats the reason ,Mulayam , Lalu have decided to contest without Congress in Bihar and Jharkhand . Same with BJD-BJP allaince in Orissa where 11 year old alliance was broken . Even, Sharad Pawar's NCP is contesting elections against Congress across the country except Maharastra and Goa.
BJP is looking to improve its prevoius tally in West and Central India but this gain cannot compensate the loss its incurring in states of UP, Orissa and southern states especially Tamil Nadu. BJP -JD(U) hopes for a better performance in Bihar and Jharkhand on the account of the welfare and devlopements programs initiated by Nitish govt and weakening of Sibu Soren's JMM respectively. Gujarat under the leadership of Narendra Modi is as vibrant as ever. The popularity of Modi is Gujarat is even more than BJP's Prime Ministerial Candidate L.K.Advani. Modi is surely going to be the BJP's next poster boy with Varun who has shot him to prime time media coverage putting him at the same level as his cousin Rahul Gandhi.
Uttar Pradesh with 80 odd seats and Bihar with 40-odd seats have always played a vital role in deciding who will be hoisting the tricolor at Red Fort , next 15th August. But, the caste politics have given rise to leaders like Lalu, Paswan, Mulayam and Mayawati. Mayawati is riding high with the new formulae of Dalit-Brahmin combination , unique of its kind. She has even rolled out the carpet to welcome Muslims after slapping NSA charges against Varun.
In West Bengal, direct fight between Trinamool and Left is to be witnessed . Mamta Bannerjee has seriously hampered her cause in the Nano case. If West Bengal still stuck with her , then it is surely going to be the bad luck of the Bengalis. Calcutta once, centre of the trade and capital of British India has continoulsy lost its charm and investor confidence thanks to the frequent Unions strike and conservative policies of Left Government. Thats , the reason the Calcutta or Kolkata is still seems untouched by the waves of globalisation and ITisation. Now, that left has changed its stance , its Mamta who drove out Tata's out of Singur.
The countdown has begun for the biggest show of Democracy on the planet , with less than 24 hours to go... This month -long drama has eclipsed the TRP ratings soap-operas, crowd at Multiplexes and thrown away IPL out of India. Lets hope that who so ever wins , the next government works for the people of India uprooting the problems of poverty, corruption , unemployment , terrorism and other social issues.
Monday, April 13, 2009
The Phoenix Tongue
The journey of English as a language in India is much like a river who finds its way through the terrains and mountains to meet the silent ocean.English has recently been accepted as the language of choice for the Young India thanks to the fast-emerging IT and BPO sector.
The history of this language in India traces back to 18th Century . The language arrived at the sea-ports along with the East India Company ships.It remained the language of the Britishers until Lord Macaulay decided to introduce it in Indian Education system in 1835 although the sole objective was to erect a class of British-loyal English tongued Indian blooded clerks and bureaucrats.The language brought with itself the ideas of democracy,nationalism and liberty.It also opened the gates of the scientific and literature jewels for the Indians. The English language grew in popularity for it was one which united the numerous numbers of kingdoms and Princely states into one united India.
Came the independence after a long battle of 200 years against the colonial imperialism.English being viewed as the foreign language and the relics of the Britishers , met a strong resistance from the Independent India leaders. They were in mood to let it continue as the official language. This move was highly supported by the North-Indian masses who were adamant to get the the official language status to Hindi. However, it was absolutely indigestible for the South-Indian states who had a greater affinity for their own regional language. They started agitating against the Hindi and thus, Hindi and English both were made the official language and the Southern states were given a time frame of 15 years to learn and implement Hindi. But, after 15 years , the Indian government has to again bend towards the agitation especially led by DMK in Tamil Nadu.This agitation of DMK against Hindi won her the support of the Tamilians and set up first Non-Congress government in Tamil Nadu. Although, the Southern States had agitated , but, their fight was more against Hindi, rather than for English. The condition of English in Indian academia reached a new bottom when Gujarat and West Bengal government banned teaching English in primary schools. The three language policy of the Indian government , for teaching English , Hindi and one regional language has an instrumental role in degrading English education in India. But, in spite of all these , it was the Indian middle class which still routed its child to English- medium private schools .
As the darkest time in the night is the hour before the dawn , the same was for the English. The phoenix rose from the ashes . Came the year 1991 , the year of economic reform when India truely achieved its Economic freedom, it opened the gates for the Private sector .And , along with it came the floods of opportunities. The English literate population grabbed this opportunity with both hands and soon, India found herself placed at the top of IT and BPO industry of the world. People who were after English criticizing her as the foreign language embraced it whole-heartedly. The story of rags to riches became a common day-to-day story with a lot of young professionals and entrepreneurs scripting their own -success story. Still, a vast majority of our population is English-illiterate which possess a big challenge as well as an optimism to harness this untapped potential. Now, English has evolved as the language of Media, business class and of-late finding its way into the society with the latest Hinglish culture. The language which came to this land with the traders, has evolved so much and become a part of this country. Eminent writers like Amitav Ghosh and others have chosen to pen down their imagination and views in this language rather than in their own mother tongue. Surely, the success of the modern India was scripted the day English was introduced in our Education system.
The history of this language in India traces back to 18th Century . The language arrived at the sea-ports along with the East India Company ships.It remained the language of the Britishers until Lord Macaulay decided to introduce it in Indian Education system in 1835 although the sole objective was to erect a class of British-loyal English tongued Indian blooded clerks and bureaucrats.The language brought with itself the ideas of democracy,nationalism and liberty.It also opened the gates of the scientific and literature jewels for the Indians. The English language grew in popularity for it was one which united the numerous numbers of kingdoms and Princely states into one united India.
Came the independence after a long battle of 200 years against the colonial imperialism.English being viewed as the foreign language and the relics of the Britishers , met a strong resistance from the Independent India leaders. They were in mood to let it continue as the official language. This move was highly supported by the North-Indian masses who were adamant to get the the official language status to Hindi. However, it was absolutely indigestible for the South-Indian states who had a greater affinity for their own regional language. They started agitating against the Hindi and thus, Hindi and English both were made the official language and the Southern states were given a time frame of 15 years to learn and implement Hindi. But, after 15 years , the Indian government has to again bend towards the agitation especially led by DMK in Tamil Nadu.This agitation of DMK against Hindi won her the support of the Tamilians and set up first Non-Congress government in Tamil Nadu. Although, the Southern States had agitated , but, their fight was more against Hindi, rather than for English. The condition of English in Indian academia reached a new bottom when Gujarat and West Bengal government banned teaching English in primary schools. The three language policy of the Indian government , for teaching English , Hindi and one regional language has an instrumental role in degrading English education in India. But, in spite of all these , it was the Indian middle class which still routed its child to English- medium private schools .
As the darkest time in the night is the hour before the dawn , the same was for the English. The phoenix rose from the ashes . Came the year 1991 , the year of economic reform when India truely achieved its Economic freedom, it opened the gates for the Private sector .And , along with it came the floods of opportunities. The English literate population grabbed this opportunity with both hands and soon, India found herself placed at the top of IT and BPO industry of the world. People who were after English criticizing her as the foreign language embraced it whole-heartedly. The story of rags to riches became a common day-to-day story with a lot of young professionals and entrepreneurs scripting their own -success story. Still, a vast majority of our population is English-illiterate which possess a big challenge as well as an optimism to harness this untapped potential. Now, English has evolved as the language of Media, business class and of-late finding its way into the society with the latest Hinglish culture. The language which came to this land with the traders, has evolved so much and become a part of this country. Eminent writers like Amitav Ghosh and others have chosen to pen down their imagination and views in this language rather than in their own mother tongue. Surely, the success of the modern India was scripted the day English was introduced in our Education system.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Doctors vs Engineers
I am back to the blogging world after a small lull. This time , I bring one of the most-debated topic of a senior-secondary level student. which profession is better - Engineering or Medical.
Both of these have been the two most sought after and prestigious careers for the Great Indian Middle class. Slowly and steadily though, engineering is gaining ground . Four years of engineering at a decent college will fetch you a well-paying job. What the doctors manage after years of academic grilling is even less than what a fresh MBA graduate from C category B-school manages to earn by selling credit cards and insurance policies.
After 4 years of cool life at engineering college with a good job , and a decent probability of financial-aid for those who want to pursue higher studies abroad. The misery of a medical student starts from the PMT entrance, followed by 5 years of medical ...... again .. an entrance with fewer number of seats to do post-graduate specialization of 3 years and .....if you are an ambitious person , then , another 2 years of super specialization. ... This takes a total of around 10-11 years ,only if you manage to clear all the entrance in the very first attempt , which rarest of the cases . And after , such mammoth effort , you set up your clinic or work under some doctor for some experience, which means best years of your life are over.
It is really pathetic for India that with head count of over 1 billion , we have a few quality doctors coming out of colleges every year. The number of seats is medical college needs to increased so , that we have enough doctors to cater the need of the bulging population. The existing hospitals are already over-crowded. Every year , we hear the increased intake news for IITs and IIMs , but, nothing is heard for medical colleges.There is nothing wrong in it if we find the new geneartion going away from medical profession and moving towards eay but, well apying jobs.
The medical professionals are the one who are left with the minmum of the time to spend with families or to take vacations. Mostly , cant go on vacations because of the fear of loosing patients to their rivals .
Nowadays, a lot of medical graduates are seen pursuing MBA in hospitality management . Another avenue , which is fastly becoming popular in India is Clinical research and if India can manage to pursue the west countries to outsource their clinical trials to India , it could be turn out to be next boom , after IT and BPO industry.If this happens , Indian medical industry will surely go global..
Both of these have been the two most sought after and prestigious careers for the Great Indian Middle class. Slowly and steadily though, engineering is gaining ground . Four years of engineering at a decent college will fetch you a well-paying job. What the doctors manage after years of academic grilling is even less than what a fresh MBA graduate from C category B-school manages to earn by selling credit cards and insurance policies.
After 4 years of cool life at engineering college with a good job , and a decent probability of financial-aid for those who want to pursue higher studies abroad. The misery of a medical student starts from the PMT entrance, followed by 5 years of medical ...... again .. an entrance with fewer number of seats to do post-graduate specialization of 3 years and .....if you are an ambitious person , then , another 2 years of super specialization. ... This takes a total of around 10-11 years ,only if you manage to clear all the entrance in the very first attempt , which rarest of the cases . And after , such mammoth effort , you set up your clinic or work under some doctor for some experience, which means best years of your life are over.
It is really pathetic for India that with head count of over 1 billion , we have a few quality doctors coming out of colleges every year. The number of seats is medical college needs to increased so , that we have enough doctors to cater the need of the bulging population. The existing hospitals are already over-crowded. Every year , we hear the increased intake news for IITs and IIMs , but, nothing is heard for medical colleges.There is nothing wrong in it if we find the new geneartion going away from medical profession and moving towards eay but, well apying jobs.
The medical professionals are the one who are left with the minmum of the time to spend with families or to take vacations. Mostly , cant go on vacations because of the fear of loosing patients to their rivals .
Nowadays, a lot of medical graduates are seen pursuing MBA in hospitality management . Another avenue , which is fastly becoming popular in India is Clinical research and if India can manage to pursue the west countries to outsource their clinical trials to India , it could be turn out to be next boom , after IT and BPO industry.If this happens , Indian medical industry will surely go global..
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