I am a Feminist, and why you should be one too

Okay, to be honest, this post is not about Describing or explaining Feminism, or about bashing pseudo feminists. Lot of people have already done both in the past. I am simply trying to put into words the reason for me being a feminist. Do note that I shall mainly be focussing on the Indian context only, as I have little or no experience of Feminism views outside the country.

In the past few years, Feminism as a principle has been bashed almost unequivocally throughout the country. By media, journalists, politicians, social activists, college students, working professionals, the common man, and so on. It has almost become a fad of sorts- If you are a feminist, you should be treated akin a criminal. How dare you even think of supporting women, who have just no other work than to surpass men and disparage their efforts in every possible way. How can you be so blinded by their hogwash? Can’t you see they are just trying to dominate, and make lives miserable for men? Girls are asking men to stand up for a reserved seat in a bus or a train. That is just beyond criminal. How can we think of reserving seats for them in the Parliament or in top Business schools such as IIMs? How can women claim to be equal to men and then ask for reservation? Isn’t it the height of hypocrisy? How can a girl log onto a dating app as Tinder and claim she does not want to ‘Hook up’. Isn’t that criminal?

I think you get the idea. Female bashing has become the new trend. Shortly after the New Year incident in Bangalore (Sexual Harassment of hundreds of women), a new Hash Tag was born- #NotAllMen. Of course the men had to stand up for this shocking incident. By proudly proclaiming that Not all men were rapists or molesters. That there are many good men like ‘them’ in the world as well. How dare the women say that all men are criminals (its unsure who and where said that though). More and more men were coming forward and bravely posting their comments on Social Media, as to remind everyone(especially women) that Not all men were bad, not all men were sexually harassing others. That is such a noble thing to do, isn’t it? [Note- Heavy Usage of Sarcasm, and if you could not get it, then bless you]

A few days ago, I read a comment on Quora [A Popular website on writing Questions and Answers or General topics] in which a girl had mentioned that she is Proud not to be a Feminist, as she believes Males should get equal rights as Women. Reading that statement actually sent me into a state of shock. Here is the Dictionary Meaning of Feminism, just to get it clear:-

-‘The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes’- Webster
-‘The advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes’- Oxford
-‘Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve political, economic, personal, and social rights for women.’- Wikipedia

If you go through any of the above meanings, it becomes apparent that nowhere Feminism endorses the denigration of rights for men. It is really unfortunate that many people, even now, feel that feminists try to belittle men and criticise them for anything and everything. Most of these people have not read about the history and the past, where women have struggled for even basic rights. They did not have the right to vote, the right to live an independent life, or even the freedom to marry someone of their own choice,or to have legal and social equality. I would recommend everyone to read about the three different waves of Feminism, and more on the History of the past few hundred years before jumping to any conclusion.

I first heard of the term when I was in school, maybe in Standard 9 or 10. One of my schoolmates told me that he considered himself to be a ‘Feminist.’ He tried to explain to me what it was, but at that time, I could not really comprehend what it was all about. But what I did notice is that lot of males shy away from using the term to describe themselves, even if they believe in equal rights for men and women. Some of them think the term ‘feminist’ is too effeminate. It will make them look unmanly if they start calling themselves a Feminist. Others think that one can only be a Feminist, if he or she attends Protests or Demonstrations holding Placards and Charts advocating women rights, shouting at the top of their voices. Hence it is highly probable that if you ask a person, especially a male, if he is a feminist, he will answer in the negative. Fortunately, over a period of time, I learnt that gender discrimination is wrong. Girls have just as much of a right to education and a decent living as boys do. It is high time that men learnt to keep their (gender) superiority complex in check.

Lot of men write that Women abuse lot of laws to their advantage. A notable example being the infamous Sec 498A in the Indian Penal Code, which has been misused by several women to imprison their husbands or his relatives, on the pretext of harassment, and to get hold of his property/money. Or maybe the law on Adultery (Sec 497), which is currently biased in favour of women. While it may be definitely true that women might have used the law to their advantage, but the fact is that Both men and women use the law to their advantage. It would be extremely unwise to focus on one aspect and ignore the other. If there are laws which (presumably) favour women, then there are many laws which favour men too. We still do not have a concrete stand on Marital Rape or even Domestic Abuse, which is prevalent throughout the country, and almost all the victims being women. The majority of victims of sexual harassment continue to be women, and there appears to be little improvement in this regard. We continue to bash the victim with an archaic mindset(blaming her clothing, her upbringing, her nature and everything else except for blaming the criminal). This is a typical drawback of a highly Patriarchal society such as India.

Hence the call of the day, is that we need more Feminists. We need them to come forward and promote the cause of Equality, while supporting social, judicial, economical and legal rights for women. And we definitely do NOT need more men reminding us that they have never harassed a girl and how proud they are of themselves for doing so(almost as if it is an achievement- ‘not to molest’). If you are a man, I would just ask you to put yourself in the shoes of a woman for just a few minutes. You might perhaps understand, that women are judged every single day. For their looks, for their behavior, for their basic actions. We live in a society where women have to be on their toes throughout, in fear of being attacked or harassed(physical, mental, emotional, anything).

Let us come forward and do our best to make our society a better place for women. There is lots to be done.

Life at 27

The following answer was written by me, originally in Quora. I thought I would share it here as well.

Here's the link to the original answer

Question- How is life at Age 27 in India?

I have read most of the answers in this thread, and I can relate to a lot of them. For me personally, life is a bit confusing. There are good parts and there are not so good parts. Lets try to put it into bullet points(too much of MBA stuff again):

* You realize the value and worth of true friends, especially when you have very few of them by your side

* There are times when you wish to meet up with someone, but you are left all on your own(not necessarily a bad thing)

* More often than not, your job tends to take a toll on you, you have arguments with your boss, with your colleagues, and that leaves a bitter taste even after you go back home. As you rise up the corporate ladder, you do tend to see the ugly side of things

* If you are staying away from your family, you realize that you can never take things for granted. You do learn to manage things independently, but you also realize the importance and value of a family.

* If you have roommates, again it can go both ways. If you connect, then there is nothing like going for group events, watching theatre plays/movies/house parties, etc. But if you start having arguments, things can take an ugly turn

* If you stay alone, you might start questioning a lot of things. About life, relationships, values, work, money, pleasure, spiritualism, etc

* If you are in a relationship, at least you have a support. You can share both your pleasures and your pain with your partner

* You realize the value of money. No matter how much someone might say money doesn’t matter, it does. You should learn to invest and to save. Wasting money on useless activities is a sin(According to me)

* Learn to manage your finances, and invest into health stuff, such as books, physical activities, etc(linked to the previous point)
* Often, you might tend to go into depression. Especially if you have a hectic job, with little time for yourself, or your family/friends. Make sure you do manage a work life balance, as far as possible

* Most corporate jobs suck. Period. No matter how high you go, there will be lot of aspects of your job that you will not like. There will be a lot of colleagues you will not be able to get along with. Learn to accept it. Its part of life.

* Occasionally, you might start questioning the purpose of life. The truth is that life has no meaning. Its entirely what you make out of it. There is no hidden truth. Simple. Learn not to complicate things(saying out of experience)

* Value your relationships and the people around you. Ultimately, it is them who will come to your need, when you are in a crisis.
* You will learn to handle multiple responsibilities, and in a better way.

* You will often encounter people with high egos. Try not to get into a fight with them. Understanding the human mindset is essential for a good living. Arguments and fights rarely help anyone.

* You will often be tempted to eat junk food, and indulge in binge drinking to ward off the stress. Try to avoid this as far as possible.
* Travel as much as you can. It opens the mind to new experiences and culture.

* Do not hesitate to try something new and step out of your comfort zone. It will reward you in the long run. Delaying instant gratification also helps.

* In the end, try not to take life too seriously. At the end of it, we are just a part of an average planet in an average solar system, with an average sized sun, in a remote corner of the Milky way galaxy, which itself is part of billions of galaxies in our vast Universe. Take things with a pinch of salt.

Ultimately, this post turned out to be more of an advice thing, than specifying how life is at 27. Still, am glad I wrote it.

Taboo Inc.

Lot of people seem to have this doubt in mind- Why on earth Indians don’t talk about sex? Why are discussions on masturbation, condoms, homosexuality considered taboo in India? Why does a country with a billion plus population shies away from mainstream nudity in cinema[its all right to rape and kill, but nude scene- Strict No], or from educating children on how the reproductive system works? I think its high time people stopped pretending that children just drop down from the sky.

Sure, with the technology boom and net savvy generation coming in, some progress has been made in this regard. Especially amongst the upper class, and the growing middle class segment. Nevertheless, if you consider the country as a whole, a vast majority of people are ignorant about basic sex education, and this actually results in harmful consequences, from teenage pregnancies, to sexually transmitted diseases, and even crimes such as sexual assaults.

A common joke goes that in our country, its okay to piss in public but you cannot kiss in public. According to a lot of moral guardians, kissing or any form of pda [including holding of hands], is a heinous crime, and its actually an offense in India under the IPC. Apparently the reason for the same is that some people feel disgusted if they see a couple kiss or hold hands. Arguably, the ‘some’ part is subjective, and it’s very difficult to categorize or classify people according to their acceptance of PDA. Hence the ban[Am personally against the ban, I know its debatable but I personally don’t see how a couple kissing in public view can harm anyone in any way, and those who say it’s a distraction can just choose to look away].

India is a repressed society. We try to pretend in our every day existence that sex does not exist, hence its naturally evil or morally corrupt to talk about it. If someone tries to impart sex education, he or she is a perverted individual who is trying to corrupt the younger generation. Some states have even banned sex education in schools. And then of course there are millions of illiterates having no access to any form of formal education.

So we come to a situation where both parents and teachers hesitate to talk about sex, when it comes to educating children [Of course, that has been changing in recent times, nevertheless that has largely been the trend]. To give my own example, our biology teacher didn’t even utter the words ‘penis’ and ‘vagina’ aloud even once, not even while teaching the reproductive system. As if just reading or hearing those words will make you a bad person.

So what happens as a consequence? People start getting half correct or incorrect information from other sources. Most guys learn about sex through pornography. Which is an extreme case of adult entertainment, and definitely not a tool on sex education. It brings about wrong ideas in the mind of youngsters. So instead of having healthy discussions on sex, it becomes a taboo topic. Sex is considered as the forbidden fruit, and not just as another human activity like eating, drinking or sleeping.

That is the first step towards depravity. Guys start making all sort of perverted jokes related to sex, and its usually at this time [onset of puberty], that slang usage becomes common. Most of these slangs are directed at insulting women. Something which makes them lose their ‘purity’. For many guys, losing their virginity becomes some sort of an achievement, something to be proud of. Staring at whichever girl passes by becomes common[No matter how hard they deny, most heterosexual guys do stare at women and at their body parts]. Passing of lewd comments begins from that point. And its almost always directed at a girl’s body parts. Girls are also compared, according to the sizes of their bust, etc. Yes, all this may sound disgusting, but it is the truth. And mind you, am not talking about those illiterate punks or rogues out on the streets, but educated folk, even sons of rich people. I have met very few people in my life[am not generalizing, but giving a personal view] who have actually respected women, even when no girl is around. It’s very clear by the way they talk and their reaction whenever they see or meet a female. Ironically if you directly ask a guy if he or she respects women, the answer will be almost always a resounding yes. And the next moment they will say-‘Wow man, just look at that Maal on the street.’

Of course we live in a patriarchal and male chauvinist society. So its pointless to repeat such points. But the bottomline is that we need to change. If you take the Delhi metro, many guys even argue that girls should not enter a general compartment, because a separate one is reserved for them. They fail to understand the need for reservation in the first place. It’s because the plight of a girl in a crowded general compartment is miserable to say the least. Moreover, a lot of guys even claim that it’s the girls fault for actually ‘brushing’ or falling on a guy and then complaining that the guy was trying to molest her. To such people I would say-‘Get a life. Just try to imagine yourself in a girls shoes trying to hold her bag and protecting her modesty at the same time, amidst a pack of hungry wolves and its only then you will understand what it feels like.’

Its because these guys have never had an healthy discussions on sex and reproductive life, that they feel so repressed. Actions such as groping, molesting, staring, eve-teasing, commenting and even serious sexual assaults arise as a consequence. It may build up slowly and gradually, but not talking and not knowing about sex is one of the reasons for the same. Its also due to our social upbringing, that even today many people believe that boys and girls should not mix up or play together. Especially for girls, who should limit interactions with guys, and curb her sexuality. So naturally, its again the forbidden fruit thing coming out to play.

Many people will also be disgusted if they hear a guy and a girl, who are not a couple discuss things related to sex, or precautions, etc. They will label them as people with loose morals, and the girl will almost definitely be called a whore or a slut. In an ideal society, even if a girl chooses to have a partner before marriage, it does not mean she has no morals. Every individual should be ready to bear the consequence of his or her action.

Rather, once we start opening up more, once we start educating our children, I believe objectifying of women will reduce, and that in turn will also lead to a reduction of crimes. But whether that will actually happen will remain to be seen. However, stop feeling ashamed of speaking about sex in public. Deal with it positively and not negatively. Sex is definitely not a sin, and nothing to be pushed under the carpet. Also try being less judgmental if you can[For eg- A girl who is not a virgin is not a whore, and a virgin guy is not a loser]. Its something am trying to follow myself.
But I will try to be an optimist. More on this later.

Are Indians bigger Sadists than the rest?

Semester exams are on, I have a tough paper to handle(Financial Management, never understood any Finance anyways), have the Fountainhead on my side(Yes, I still haven’t read it, you can mock me now), and spent the most banal Diwali ever[how? By sitting alone in my room and reading stuff). Nevertheless, I have finally(and hopefully) decided to write down a serious article(seems like ages).

Are Indians more sadistic than others? The answer to this is ‘I don’t know’. I do not have any exposure of any foreign country, and my knowledge is entirely based on whatever stuff which I have[which isn’t much], in spite of having a very meaningful course in this semester- Cross Cultural and Global Management. However, if you ask me,personally, I would be inclined to say yes.

Maybe, some of you will just nod your heads and move on, and some will be appalled and some will disagree ruthlessly. Feel free to accept or disagree with my view points. But I shall try to give some examples.

Let us start from two of the most popular Indian festivals. Diwali to begin with. Celebrated in India since a long long time. Mythological reason is return of Lord Rama from Vanvasya. Originally intended to be a festival of light, and triumph of good over evil. Presently reduced to a festival of noise and debauchery. Of course people love exploding crackers. What’s wrong about it you may ask? It’s a time to celebrate with your friends and family, right? Well, for starters, it exponentially increases the amount of air and sound pollution, affecting lot of people with breathing problems and mostly the elderly, or the very young. And there have been several instances of injuries being caused due to mishandling of fireworks. In certain cases, it even leads to death. Is it justified then, even if few cases of deaths are reported every year, to continue using fireworks? What if I just want to do something meaningful, but am unable to do anything over and above the loud noise, and I risk burning myself by just stepping out of my house.

But I have seen numerous people who take pleasure in sending a rocket flying into a neighbours house or exploding bombs on areas where they know elderly people stay. And surprisingly, many people consider it as normal, acceptable behavior.

Lets come to Holi then, another festival which is celebrated with much gust and pomp. Enjoyed by millions of people. Terrifies millions too. Especially women, who feel a high risk of their modesty being violated. Some of them lock themselves in their rooms, others try to avoid any contact. I have personally seen people turn into actual hooligans on this day, when normal criminal acts become perfectly legal, and even the police decide to become mute spectators. Throwing colors, grease, egg yolk, cow dung, cement, and what not, on others, under the pretext of Holi. Perfectly acceptable- ‘Bura na maano, Holi hai’ (Don’t feel bad, its Holi after all).

This was about festivals. What about organizations and behavior in general. Arent we a collectivist society? Supposed to care and encourage one another. Well, we are, partially. When it comes to taking credit, everyone comes forward to get his or her due of the pie and share. And when it comes to accepting responsibility for failure or defeat, everyone suddenly points a finger at everyone else. I have rarely even seen one Indian owning up his mistake, or accepting the fact that he was wrong. It’s always somebody else who gets the blame. Not just that, we simply enjoy and make merry whenever someone else loses and take exceptional delight in the fact. But when it’s our turn to taste defeat, we simply cannot fathom the fact that others are enjoying it. In India, its power,money and status that is valued more than anything else. You need to dominate and surpass above everyone else to succeed. This feeling is inculcated in us from childhood itself, where we are forced to compete, first in studies, then to get into a good educational institute, then a job, and then fight for position/status.

I could give several other examples. Being an ascribed society, we continue to think of ourselves superior to others, based on factors such as caste, religion, background, hierarchy, status, our educational qualification, etc rather than to compete on merit. As a result, conflicts keep on occurring.

For now, I will go back to Hofstede’s framework and stimulus generalization[MBA terms of course]. I could have written a longer article, but time constraints and pure laziness says otherwise.

Lets Ban Sex Education in India. It is dirty!

All right, this was a topic which I had in mind long back, but finally decided to put it down into words. I agree sex education is a sensitive topic, even more so in India where even the word sex is considered to be taboo, let alone discussing matters related to sexual intercourse and reproductive health. This is probably the most ironical and hypocritical situation in a country like India, which has the highest fertility rate and reproductive rate in the world, yet it shies away from discussing what is probably the biggest hurdle towards economic and social development- causes of overpopulation and family planning. It’s high time we accepted the fact that babies do not appear out of thin air or drop out from the sky.

I admit that vast majority of Indians are illiterate and many are barely literate. In such a situation, there is high ignorance and lack of awareness of family planning methods, and the importance of having a small family. In most rural parts of India, children are still considered as God’s gifts, and usage of contraception is considered as blasphemy. Another major issue is the demand for a male child, for which the couple will keep on trying to conceive, even at the cost of the mother’s life. It’s no wonder that the maternal mortality rate is so high in India, where even basic healthcare is a luxury for most.

Thus, there is absolutely no denying the fact that sex education is absolutely essential, and in fact should be made compulsory in all schools and colleges. Moreover, parents need to take the initiative by imparting sex education to their wards, as soon as the kids are, say 10 years old or so. But the most unfortunate fact is that parents themselves shy away from discussing this crucial information. The mindset that sex is dirty, vulgar and should not be discussed is widely prevalent in most parts of India. Many people even say-‘Its not in our culture to discuss sex.’ Yeah right, Kamasutra was probably Greek culture brought into India sometime in the past. Some people even remark-‘There is no need to educate a child about sex. It comes about naturally, and it’s a post marriage thing. He/she will automatically know about it when he/she needs to know about it.’ But maybe the hard realities will shed some light- over 12% of mothers in our country belong to the age group of 15-18 years. Teenage pregnancies and sex related health problems are growing at an unprecedented rate in our country.

Many people mistakenly believe that sex education is just about sex, the physical process. This is a common misconception. Sex education does not deal with just the physical aspect, it deals with lots of issues including reproductive health, family planning, relationships, Sexually Transmitted Diseases and their prevention, psychological and mental issues, etc. And there is absolutely nothing ‘dirty’ or ‘vile’ about this. The sad part is that even today, most people, including(shockingly) teachers feel embarrassed while discussing anything even remotely connected to sex. Some biology teachers are even known to skip the entire chapter on reproduction, advising the students to read it up themselves.

What happens as a result, is that children tend to get false(or semi truth) information from their peers, internet, magazines, pornographic movies, etc. Naturally, teenage is the age when they feel like experimenting, and being unable to distinguish between right and wrong, they get into trouble. In extreme cases, it may even lead to sexual abuse, assault, voyeurism and other perverted actions which are illegal. I can say, by my own experience that most males do discuss about sex, but in a very coarse and negative manner. It is quite clear by their upbringing that they have never been taught proper sex education at any level. For females, it’s usually just the reverse. They will avoid any discussion on sex[at least directly], and will subtly hint that it’s a very disgusting thing which should only be discussed amongst partners, that too after marriage. Even this attitude is not correct. It also leads to lots of incorrect information about reproductive health and taking care of their bodies.

I personally find that most young males do not have proper respect for females. They will keep ogling at them, and keep making derogatory comments. Such issues can be avoided to a large extent, if those males are properly educated from their childhood. Sex education can also actually help in bringing down the population level. It is a well established fact that the fertility level of a woman drops with increase in literacy. With proper education, we can limit the size of families and reduce the burden.

I will probably write more on this issue later[right now I just depicted the general picture in India], but for now, am ending it here. Take care everyone. And as usual, comments are welcome.

Woman?

All right, tomorrow we are celebrating both Holi and Women’s day. Two great occasions packed into one. I am pretty sure all of you must be having fun on Holi[if you are lucky, you shall be able to avoid water balloons and other types of unpleasant surprises- such as a bucket of egg yolk, mud and grease dropped on your head], but it’s the other occasion which goes largely ignored. Women’s day. Of what meaning is it to us nowadays? Not much, one could say. We invite a few prominent female speakers to give lectures on gender sensitive topics, and encourage female emancipation and greater participation in corporate. We speak about banning female infanticide, dowry, and make sure we punish rapists and molesters so that our country becomes a better place to live in for women. We speak about greater female participation in higher management areas, and increasing number of women taking admission into post-graduate courses and stepping out of their comfort zone to make ends meet.

Could then, someone please explain to me why one woman is raped every minute in India? Why millions of women are still caught into sex trafficking, and minors exploited on a daily basis? Why are women regularly beaten, burned and murdered, without people even batting so much as an eye-lid? Why are women always blamed whenever they are victims of a crime? Why do we always find fault with the way a woman dresses or speaks or works? Why is a woman usually considered inferior to a man? Why is the sex ratio in India so poor, and becoming worse by each day? These are some of the questions we need to ask ourselves.

I think the basic problem still lies in our mindset. Women have traditionally been oppressed for long, and looked down upon. We[the men] still cannot come to terms with the fact that a woman is capable of besting a man in work, can seek professional and personal independence, choose her own partner, be candid about sex, seek self actualization without the support of a man. So if you see a good looking woman walking down the street at night, wearing a short dress, then you must teach her a lesson that she will never forget. How dare she do something like that? How dare she go to pubs, parties, dance and have drinks? That too with male friends? She deserves to be raped. [I don’t think I need to give the examples of the recent rape cases(Kolkata or Noida). Its self evident] We do not have places for such women in our society. Women should not be allowed to take their own decisions. After all, we men are superior, physically and mentally. If a girl from our family marries someone from a different caste or religion, then she must be deemed impure and either ostracized or killed[of course it’s a question of preserving family honour]. It does not matter if we men don’t wear any clothes, pee regularly on the streets, whistle and use slangs on passerbys, smoke and drink and then get into fights, but a woman should never wear short skirts, always cover herself, and yet respond to our calls whenever we need them. Of course if they will refuse, we will beat them and rape them, since they deserved it for being rude to us.

Public transports are our birthright. Women should respect our rules or not use them. So if they do dare to board a bus, or the metro, they should be aware that we will leer at them, stare at them to the point of making them uncomfortable, pass lewd remarks, and occasionally try to touch them. Of course if they resist, they will be shouted at, or beaten up for resisting. For if they did not want physical contact, why on earth did they decide to use public transport? They should have resorted to a private cab in that case. Woman’s compartment? What is that? Don’t make us laugh. We should men not be allowed in such compartments? What do you mean by seats reserved for women? All this is a blasphemy, used to belittle men.

Of course we do not want any female daughters. How on earth are supposed to take care of their expenses? So we decide to finish them off while they aren’t even born. Technology has its uses right? But of course, we are the most hypocritical people in the world, so we want the best wives for our sons. Never mind the fact that we murder our own daughters. Women should not think of making their own decisions, definitely not related to marriage or relationships. They will only accept the boys which we decide are best for them.

Of course, the woman should be grateful to the person who is marrying her. Naturally, it becomes her duty to give his family considerable sums of gifts[read-dowry], submit to all his desires, and accept punishment[read-torture] when it is given due. No matter, domestic violence is so common and suicides have become even more frequent. But why should we men care? We can re-marry as often we like. But we will raise eyebrows if a woman thinks of doing a same. After all, she is being greedy and selfish.

Career? What a joke. Women should concentrate on taking care of her husband and family. What is the need for women to rise to higher positions? What will they do by managing teams? Isnt it enough that we are letting them study in co-ed colleges, where there is even a chance of them becoming impure[read-losing their virginity]. Thus, a woman should compromise on her career and make sure that her husband is happy.

Just to conclude, the above statements are a reflection of the actual state of our society. I know the text is heavy on sarcasm, but the objective is female liberalization. I do hope that the situation will improve in the country, and we will continue to have outstanding female leaders and decision makers. Till then, take care, happy holi and happy women’s day.

How does one Vote matter?

I was sitting in my room cribbing about reservations[one of my favorite pass time], when suddenly one of my batchmates explained a concept to me, and I was like-‘Why the hell didn’t I think of it before?’

Normally, I was a bit angry about the fact that there were people in my Bschool who had scored half the marks I had, and not only did they manage to get into the college, but they also managed to get a DU hostel seat simply because of the fact that they had a caste category certificate, labeling them as a SC or ST. Whereas I narrowly missed out on getting a hostel, and the guy[nobody in particular] who didn’t even deserve to be here in the first place is now enjoying in the hostel. Then the talks shifted to diluting the brand quality of the college, as such people are used to taking shortcuts in their life, and in majority of the cases they don’t need it. That is they are not from a poor background, and quite a few of them are actually from higher class, upper middle class backgrounds.

Then my friend explained to me the reason for the same. Of course it’s just easy to say-‘Vote bank politics’ and then grumble about it, but why the vote bank politics? He gave me his own life example. He told me that his grandfather had set up a village in Uttar Pradesh and had invited people from backward castes to come and work. Over time they settled there, and their family expanded. Now their descendants blindly go and vote for politicians of the same caste, without even thinking twice. It does not matter if the politician is good or bad, honest or corrupt. Only the caste matters. And these people endure the weather; stand in queues for hours on end to give their votes. Whereas people in middle class such as us don’t bother and make trivial excuses such as ‘Its too hot. Its raining. I wont go and stand in a queue. Whats the point of voting anyways? All of them are corrupt. It doesn’t matter who comes into power. They wont do anything for us.’ Such pre-conceived notions are harmful for our society and nation as a whole.

If ALL of us vote[am mostly referring to the General class here] then the politicians will be bound to take note of it. They will know that even the General class has the power to throw them off their seats. Which will minimize irrelevant reservation in seats. But as long as you or me are lackadaisical about voting, things are not going to improve anytime soon.
P.S.- I don’t even have a voter’s ID card. Its high time I got one. And if you do not vote, please make sure you start doing so. Don’t think that it’s the matter of just one vote. Every person’s contribution is significant.

Some Solutions!

All right, am back with another important post. In the past I have criticized a lot about the flaws in the Indian education system, etc etc. Now I believe it’s time we take a look at the plausible solutions for improving our education system, rather than just remain passive lookers and blamers.

I am listing down a few things which can be done, and these are definitely not ALL the things which need to be done, but just a few important things which can be done. And they are not arranged in order of importance.

1) Funds: Obviously, the number one thing which comes to our mind is allocation of funds. Reservation for education has been usually 3 percent of the total budget or less. Which is clearly not enough. The Government has ignored the Education sector for over 40 years. Its high time it looked forward to improving the quality of the poorly managed government schools and colleges. Infrastructure is also important. It is very important to build facilities for drinking water and toilets for both boys and girls. Many schools don’t even have such basic amenities. As a result, even the poor prefer to send their children to private schools. Then there is again the problem of absenteeism. It is estimated that 50% of the teachers don’t even turn up most of the time. Lots of other problems can come in this factor.

2) Autonomy: It is ironic that at one hand, thousands of dubious private colleges are duping people into joining their institutes, and the genuine colleges are being over-burdened with useless tasks related to bureaucracy. Even the IITs and IIMs do not have ultimate autonomy to take their own decisions. The Government, by interfering into the private decisions of the colleges is making things even worse. The colleges should be free to design their own curriculum and to allocate the faculty they deem fit.

3) Curriculum: Most schools and colleges follow an outdated curriculum which is hardly related to contemporary events. For example in Engineering, many colleges still teach courses which may no longer be relevant or required in todays workplace. A complete overhaul needs to be done. Latest equipment and other facilities should be procured, so that Indian students can do research in India itself, rather than leaving the country never to return.

4) Rote Learning: This archaic age old idiotic practice should be banned. I find it hard to believe that this is still practiced widely almost everywhere in India, starting from schools to colleges to even PhD. Most students are encouraged to just memorize whatever is written in the textbooks and vomit it during exams, for the sole purpose of getting good marks and beating the fellow student. There is very little scope for independent or creative, out-of-the-box thinking. Neither teachers nor parents are interested to encourage the child to try out something different or to pursue his/her passion. All they can think about is to force the child to become an Engineer, Doctor, etc so that he can get a job[which he will almost surely hate]. This mentality of avoiding risk, especially in middle class is also a cause for the downfall of creativity. People still rely on books for all of their knowledge, and hardly any importance is given to vocational training and practical implementation of ideas. Thus we should focus on a more industry oriented curriculum and one which encourages lateral thinking.

5) Killing of Passion: In India, there is market for only a few traditional streams: Engineering, Medicine, MBA, etc. It is comparatively easier for a student to get a job under these traditional streams, than to get a job after doing say, Philosophy or Geology, etc. Hence most parents force their children to sacrifice their passion or interest and to get into a stream which will ensure that they get a job. And considering that there are more than 700 million poor in India who do not even get food to eat every day, getting a job may mean everything for an average Indian student. This has resulted in one of the biggest catastrophes, according to me, in the Indian education system. Instead of getting decent painters, singers, dancers, sportsmen, athletes, chefs, psychologists, astronomers, biotechnologists, botanists, photographers, or even bird watchers, we get instead a million useless engineers produced each year, most of them unemployable and almost all of them frustrated with their lives. We need proper career counseling not only for students but also for parents. Parents are inadvertently spoiling the careers of their children, and not helping them.

These are some of the remedy measures that can be taken. More on the education system in future posts.

Corporal Punishment- The True Bane!

This is a sensitive topic no doubt. Corporal punishment was banned in India a few years ago. Yet the ban remains more on paper and is scarcely enforced. Teachers beat their students every day, and punishment is not just restricted to slaps or hits. In many cases students are whipped by canes, hit on the head with a duster, kicked, punched, knocked down, and what not. Something which even a policeman dare not do to a criminal.

I have personally seen teachers pound students as if they were in a wrestling match. That too in primary school. I personally find such kind of behavior unpardonable and inexcusable. Its nothing short of sadism. The teachers know that[in most cases] the child cannot hit back and will not. So they take out all their frustration on the helpless kid.

We live in a hectic world. Many people get stressed out or frustrated after doing monotonous jobs and getting scolded by their seniors. They know that they cannot abuse their bosses directly. Rather they take out their frustration on helpless victims, such as children.

Another reason is short temper. People who get angry easily tend to take out their anger on children. Especially teachers or other staff members. And then there are some people who cannot control their fury, and lash out without thinking twice. It may be due to a minor reason such as whispering during class.



The consequence is that the child may get hurt not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. And emotional scars are hard to cure. It is seen that such children who were abused during childhood either commit suicide or become criminals themselves. So rather than beating up a kid for minor faults, we must learn to counsel them.

If a teacher is caught handing out corporal punishment, he/she should be rusticated and put into prison. There can be no compromise. Corporal punishment is a crime and we have to draw a line. Else the consequence can be fatal.

To give just one famous example, Rouvanjit Rawla, a 13 year old student of La Martiniere, Kolkata committed suicide after he was brutally caned in the school. The principal actually tried to justify the act, under pretext of instilling discipline. But discipline cannot be instilled by corporal punishment, or fear.

Let us join our hands and help raise awareness on Corporal Punishment[and its consequences].

The Price of Ignorance!

A Disco Party


Finally, its time for a serious topic. In one sentence- ‘Inequality in distribution of wealth in India’. Now first let me clarify that inequality is definitely not exclusive to India alone. For example, recently Tunisia’s president Ben Ali had to give up his post, mainly due to the protests made by the common people. Ben Ali and his family had amassed a huge amount of wealth and were living a life of opulence where the people of his country were suffering from unemployment and lack of food, etc. India also faces similar problems of high food inflation, unemployment, etc, but as not witnessed such a large scaled protest, yet.

If you are not an Indian, and are not staying in India, chances are that you may have read some article or the other- stating India’s economic progress, rapid GDP growth at a rate of 8.9%, ever rising purchasing power of the middle class, opening up of MNCs every week, with companies such as Google and Facebook, and now even Wikipedia setting up their offices in India. Some articles boast about India’s demographic dividend, suggesting that half of India’s population is under 25 years of age, and that India is a young country, whereas most developed countries are becoming Old countries. Or you may hear about the success stories of some Indian companies, especially in the I.T and BPO sector, such as Infosys.

But if you are an Indian, then I am sure you know of the inside story as well. More than 70% of the population thrives on less than Rupees 20[approximately half a dollar] a day. Unemployment is almost at 10%[and that too of the labor population]. 65% of Indian people[and that amounts to over 700 million people, almost twice that of the population of the USA] don’t even have access to toilets, forget having a concrete house or access to clean drinking water. 60% of Indians do not get proper food to eat, nor do they have a proper place to stay or live. Just 16% of India’s GDP is obtained from the agriculture sector, but ironically, over 60% of the population is dependent on it as their primary source of income. Farmers are paid awfully low amounts for selling their crops. In the slums of Mumbai, 15-20 people sleep in one room, of a dank and dark house. Millions of children die before they reach the age of 5 every year. Diseases such as malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis, dysentery, etc, regularly claim the lives of millions. Most people still do not have access to basic health facilities, primary education, voting rights, food, shelter, etc. More than one-third of the population drops out of school by class 8. India has a Human Development Index of 119[less than even Guyana or Namibia], and it is estimated that the condition of the BIMARU[Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh] states is worse than that of the poorest countries of Africa.

A Slum in India

If the situation is indeed that bad, then where is all that wealth going? It’s easy- In the hands of a selected group of people. To state simply- ‘The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer.’ To give an example- India has more money[over 1.2 trillion dollars] in the black market than the rest of the world combined. Corruption is at a all time high. Money is pilfered like anything: be it the Coal mafia, Oil Mafia, Kerosene mafia, or even Milk mafia, nothing is spared. There is a well developed nexus between politicians, bureaucrats, police, media, businessmen, corporate-houses, and what not. The Government is ready to spend crores of rupees in building statutes of politicians but refuses to spend money in making toilets, hospitals or efficient schools.

India has become a land of contrasts. On one hand, the number of billionaires in India is rising, on the other hand- millions of people are starving to death each year. But the thing which really makes me frustrated is the Total Apathy of the Upper and Middle class towards the Lower class[and I am just as guilty as the rest]. Most of us[ie the Middle class and Upper class] pretend that the lower class does not exist. That the 700 million people simply do not live here, as our fellow countrymen. Instead we are more interested in knowing about the latest variety of imported shoes which are available in the market, or which movie is doing the rounds in the theatres. An average person from an affluent family can spend thousands of rupees during a single lunch session alone. Something which a poor person cannot afford even after working for 2 years. We are misusing wealth like anything. We want to flaunt our affluence, show-off our purchasing power potential in front of our peers and friends.

I have seen people turn their face in disgust whenever they see poor people begging or just moving down the street. Or they just casually move away, doing the Ignoring act. In extreme cases, they may even abuse or strike them down. In fact, the largest recipient group of violence and crime in India is the one including people from the extreme backward castes[also usually the poorest]. Everyone knows that they do not have the power or will to fight back. The unfortunate situation in India at present is that everyone is too busy with their personal lives, to spare time or thought for the poor. Why should we be concerned with inclusive growth as long as we are getting our own cups of cappuccino or Baskin Robbins ice-cream?

In this regard, I salute the spirit of those 1.2 million NGOs in India, which are helping to fight corruption and help the needy. I will mention the name of one-Pratham, which has been doing its best to provide education to the poor children. If only the spirit of giving was present in each one of us, we could have indeed made India a REAL developed country, and not one which just remains on paper. However, I am optimistic and I do hope that people will continue to give back in future. Otherwise the Price of Ignorance will be too much to pay.

Its Her Fault. She was wearing Indecent Clothes!

I was reading this article on yahoo,check Here , and the comments which followed it. Apparently a Principal of a college asked a girl to pull down the zipper of her pullover to show her T-shirt. That was ostensibly done to check if the girl was wearing an indecent dress or not, and whether she deserved punishment for it. Many people supported the action of the principal, saying that girls should not wear provocative dresses to college, as it is responsible for corrupting the society, and that it instigates men to carry out nefarious tasks[read- Sexual assault].

Okay, my point is, no matter what kind of clothes a girl wears, what right do you[any male] have to tell her to unzip her pullover[or any other dress] and show you what lies underneath, etc. If majority of the people are offended by someones clothing, then he/she should be told explicitly that a dressing code needs to be followed, irrespective of the gender of the person. Why single out girls alone?

We live in a Male-dominated society, there is no doubt about that. Men are supposed to dictate the rules, and women are supposed to follow them with unquestionable obedience. If such a thing does not happen, the man gets angered, and with an injured ego, does his level best to take revenge[ Read- Honour Killing, Rape, Molestation(especially when his advances are spurned), Kidnapping, Murder, Domestic Violence- say on refusal to give dowry, Other Crimes, etc]. If a girl gets raped, its her fault for wearing provocative dresses and wandering alone at night. If a girl gets molested or beaten up, its her fault for not responding to the advances made by hoodlums. If a girl marries someone against the wishes of her relatives, she is ostracized and treated as an outcast, as a disgrace on the family. If a girl[or her family] is unable to provide sufficient amount of dowry, she is subjected to domestic violence. And the in-laws justify it by saying-'Un logo ne hamari Demand poori nahi ki'





In todays world, the situation has improved somewhat. Women are becoming independent, leading teams, becoming managers in famous organizations, etc. However crime against women has not subsidized. Sexual harassment cases[in workplaces] are on the rise. Most men still cannot accept women as their equal. They want to dominate over them and make them do what they wish.

People try to justify their horrendous act[say molestation or sexual assault] by saying that the girl wasnt dressed appropriately. This is ridiculous. No matter what kind of dress a girl wears, who on earth has given you the license to go and exploit a woman? Its almost as if wearing such clothes unleashes such an irresistible lecherous urge in men, coupled with lust, that they cannot stop themselves. Its true that Indian society is still mostly conservative in the sense that people tend to feel uncomfortable if they see girls wearing a skimpy outfit, or tight-fitting clothes, etc. But you have the choice of not looking at them, going away from the place if you wish. Or if its a public gathering, and you and your are feeling extremely uncomfortable, just go and tell them what you feel. But theres absolutely no excuse for molesting or mistreating women on account of their clothing.

With advent of westernization, Indian people are doing their best when it comes to imitation. Women walking in bikinis may be an ordinary sight in America or Brazil, but may flabbergast Indian people[especially middle aged or above]. Moreover, Indian men are known to be lewd, they love staring at women and passing comments, whistling, etc. Most people act as if that is normal. 'Arrey, jawan ladka hai. Abhi hi to umar hai yeh sab karne ki,' is a common reply. Aur jab woh jawan ladka koi kharab harkat kare, then its all the fault of girls who are asking for trouble by trying to be independent. 'Usko ghar se bahar jaane ko kisni kaha tha? She deserved it.' Such outdated mentality has no place in the current civilized society.

In ancient Greece and Rome, rape was legal. And the woman who got raped was considered to be a criminal and punished. Sometimes even burnt to death. In present day India, most rape victims are considered as a black spot in society, and are further harassed by the police, if they are bold enough to file a report. Most cases are never reported, and if they are, the criminal manages to escape by paying a paltry fine. In rare cases do criminals serve out an entire rape sentence[that too of a mere 7 years]. There have been instances of criminals raping the same woman again after getting out of prison. Where are we headed? If we have such a defunct law, how can we think of handling justice? Most rapes occur because the rapist is confident that he can get away with it.



If you see a woman in a skimpy outfit[or any outfit for that matter], and you cannot control your impulses, and you assault her, then you are a certified criminal. There can be no excuse for your immoral behavior. Let women wear whatever they are comfortable in. It is you[read-man] who needs to control your emotions. For a second think the reverse. Assume that a man is walking topless in the street. Do you expect every girl to jump and pounce on him? Even if they did, would you say that it is the fault of the man for not wearing proper clothes? So why should you blame a girl for what she wears[or does not wear]? When a girl says No, she MEANS NO. Do not take that NO for a Yes, that she is inviting you to violate her. True, the society is heavily tilted in favor of males. But that does not mean we should not opt for equality.

If you think that I am exaggerating too much, then feel free to read this News-18 Year Old Girl burned to death for defying rape.. Maybe then your viewpoint will change.

We men[that includes me] should learn to give women the respect they deserve. We should learn to appreciate the work they do, the decisions they make. For a developing and progressing country, we need to shed our archaic outlook, and move ahead. For a better India and a better world. Lets join our hands together in Fighting Crimes against Women.

Why Blame Only the Politicians?

Wish everyone a very Happy New Year to all. Hope this year brings you all new hopes, new desires, and new aspirations. If we talk about the current situation, am pretty sure that Corruption is the hot topic, and everyone has witnessed it in some form of the other.

2010 may as well be known as the Year of the Scams for India. CWG Scam, Adarsh Scam, 2-G Scam, and the list goes on and on. Most of us common people feel frustrated, angry, helpless after witnessing such venality, but how many of us have actually tried to do something about it?

We Indians are number one, when it comes to complaining and blaming others, no doubt. [I have written an entire post on our Querulous nature, you can read it here]. It is quite easy to point fingers at politicians and bureaucrats, and exclaim-‘These corrupt people have destroyed Indian economy, culture, etc and are responsible for widespread theft, hooliganism for which common people have to pay.’ But has anybody wondered how tough it is to actually contest elections, and perform the duties of a politician, or even that of a government official? I am not saying that politicians are not corrupt, many of them are. But we should avoid extreme Generalization[Such as all lawyers are liars, all bureaucrats are inefficient, and so on]. The fault is not just with the politicians, it is with each and every one of us.

I have heard many people complain- ‘The entire system of governance is corrupt.’ Now let me ask them-‘Who created the system? Did the system create us or did we create the system?’ It is the common man[or at least most of them] responsible for electing the politicians as a representative. Moreover, am pretty sure that most of us have paid bribes at some time or the other, and indulged in other nefarious activities which are considered normal and acceptable in today’s scenario. Most people are in too much of a hurry to battle corruption. They want quick solutions, and to avoid waiting, are willing to degrade to any level. And later they moan-‘That idiot stole my money.’ But who gave it to him in the first place? By law, both the bribe giver and bribe taker must be considered as criminals. By that definition, most of us are criminals. So why just blame the government? We are just as responsible for the spread of corruption as the politicians are.

The truth is that most of us have a subservient attitude. We do not have the temerity to deal with corruption. We let things remain as they are- Pleading helplessness. At max, we complain, shout, destroy public property, raise rallies, but we fail to take any concrete, positive action. We demand that politicians be punished, but at the same time we continue to give bribes for our own needs. Such sort of hypocritical behavior will lead us nowhere. If we want a corruption-free, efficient government, then all of us need to contribute. Sitting back and complaining about corruption will just not do. Let us do our bit in this battle.

Simple things matter. Avoid paying bribes at any cost. If you have not done anything wrong, there is nothing to be afraid of. Learn to be patient, it will help you in the long run. If you see a person indulging in corrupt practices, then complain to the head of the company, police, or anyone in-charge. Yes it is true that many police-men are also corrupt, but there will definitely be at least a few honest workers ready to help you. Form a group- It always helps, rather than trying to do everything on your own. Raise awareness about corruption- Many people are cheated into paying extra for things/services for which they should not. Do not pay more than the MRP mentioned. Always ask for a receipt while purchasing an item/offering donation/etc.

If you believe that tackling a bureaucracy in an honest way is impossible, then I would suggest you read the brilliant autobiography of Captain Gopinath- Simply Fly. It will tell you how this person dealt with the bureaucracy with an iron-hand: He simply refused to bribe anyone.

Let us all join hands and look forward towards a corruption-free new decade. For a better India and a better world.

Life of an Average Indian Male- Part 3

*Continued From Previous Post

Last we remember, Raj had joined an average I.T. company. He moved into a house as a P.G. The food sucked, and the place was awfully hot. Still, he tried to get used to the new environment. However the workplace had another nasty surprise in store for him.

Raj was unlucky enough to have a demon in disguise of a boss. From the worst day onwards he was treated like a slave, made to work incessantly for 12 hours at a stretch. Even when he finally trudged back to his apartment, he would still have some work left over for the day. The work kept on piling, and Raj was handed one assignment after the other. He scarcely had time to eat, let alone relax or entertain himself. Moreover, he did not get along well with his colleagues. Most were engineers from Tier-3 colleges who did not understand anything about the work or the project they were working on. At max, they could perform Control+C/Control+V jobs. Raj himself found it quite difficult to cope up with an I.T. environment, though at least he knew the basics. However working on a Java environment was tough for him. Still he slogged on, day in and night, without any breaks.

Raj lost track of time. His state became even more disheveled than before. 6 months passed, an year, and then two. There was no scope of any promotion and Raj hardly got an increment in his salary. Perks were few and far in between. But the worst part was the monotonous nature of the job. He had done practically the same thing every day, each week for the past 2 years. And now he was fed up. He desperately wanted a change from this hectic work routine. He couldn’t even remember when he had last gone to watch a movie or taken a day off. Plus all this work was taking a grave toll on his health. The smoking and drinking did not help either, apart from relieving his momentary tensions.

One fine day, as Raj was wondering around the aisle of his office floor, he noticed 2 of his colleagues talking in low tones. He tried to get closer without looking conspicuous. He was a bit surprised to see them solving Mathematical problems in their exercise books. That was clearly not related to the work they were supposed to be doing. It was then that the word MBA struck his ear. Raj gathered his nerves and spoke to the two guys about their current occupation. They admitted that they were preparing for MBA entrance exams during their work hours. Moreover they remarked such a practice was common throughout the country, as many I.T. professionals avoided work to prepare for MBA exams. Raj was suddenly excited. He could feel the old enthusiastic feeling of his pre-college years come back to him. This was what he needed, to rise the corporate ladder, to get a decent salary, a resplendent house, a beautiful girlfriend, maybe even the Honda City he had dreamed of. And the key to achieve his dreams was this simple degree- MBA. Why hadn’t he thought about it earlier?

Without wasting any more time, Raj enrolled for Sunday classes at a local coaching institute. He spared 2-3 hours every Sunday for the classes, and tried to revise the basics of English and Mathematics whenever he could get time. He started slacking off in his work, so that he could concentrate on his work. Mock test season started, and Raj started taking mocks, confident that he would be amongst the best students in the country. However, to his shock, he could only manage a paltry 77 percentile in his first test. Frustration grew and so did Raj’s anger. Now he started ignoring his friends, family. He had only one goal in life- MBA from a top institute. He solved as many problems he could. But try as hard as he might, he could never go above 85 percentile in mocks. ‘Forget it, I will score well in the actual CAT exam,’ Raj consoled himself.

CAT came and went. So did 5 other competitive exams for which Raj appeared. Now came the agonizing wait for the results. Finally, the D-day arrived. 89.37 percentile overall in CAT. Raj felt as if someone had shot an arrow which pierced his heart. How on earth could he have scored so low? 3 of his colleagues had scored above 98 percentile and had resigned from their jobs. Raj was mad with envy. However, he still filled up the forms of a few 2-tier Bschools, and managed to secure admission in an average Bschool, which offered decent placements[according to the prospectus]. Raj was so desperate for a profile change that he did not bother to inquire about the details of the bschool.

Finally, Raj bade his dull I.T. job goodbye. ‘Its time to go back to school,’ he smiled.

Fast forward 2 years into the future.

‘Sales and Trading? What on earth is it?,’ asked Rahul, Raj’s cousin.

‘I have no idea. But the company was paying well, so I opted for it,’ Raj replied.

‘But are you sure it’s the right choice? Will you like the job if you don’t even know what you are supposed to do?’

‘Does not matter. Whatever it is, it will be better than that damn I.T. job, am sure of it.’

Saying this Raj took up his new job.

2 months later.

‘What is all this crap? What on earth am I doing here? All this finance numbers and additional accounts data makes no sense to me at all,’ Raj moaned. ‘Corporate finance? Banking regulations? Its all nonsense to me. Is it so hard to find a job which one may like doing?’

‘But how could this happen to me? MBA was supposed to bring me riches, and unlock the gates of happiness and wealth. Everyone is running after it, so it should be a valuable degree. But I am feeling just as miserable, if not worse in this new job. Just what on earth went wrong?’


Indeed, what went wrong with Raj? Or, to generalize, what is wrong with majority of the Indian youth? How come most of them are not satisfied with their jobs/present situation, even after passing from decent Engineering and MBA colleges? We shall discuss all such pertinent issues in a future post. But now is the time to end Raj’s story. Thank you all for your patience.

Life of an Average Indian Male- Part 2

*Continued From Previous Post


So Raj finally begins his much awaited college life- he longs to enter the door into freedom. Now he will be free to do what he wishes. Now he can party whole night long without any restrictions. Now he is free to experiment with smoking, drinking and sex. Now he can freely bunk classes without fear of punishment. And what about studying? That too, subjects on Instrumentation engineering? No ways!

For starters, he isn’t really sure why he is studying instrumentation engineering in the first place. He isn’t even sure why he is in an engineering college. It’s just that most of his friends have chosen engineering, and he just decided to go along with the flow. Raj doesn’t care. He’s entered college, now he is going to have fun and meet beautiful girls. He’s a bit apprehensive about ragging however. Nevertheless he shifts into the hostel and eagerly waits for the first day to begin.

First day in college- Raj finds out where his classes are held and begins the day on a good note. Some of his school friends are in the same class with him. But there comes the first shock- In a class of 60 students, there are just 5 females. That too, none of them were worth giving a second glance. Whatever happened to the hot girls shown in colleges in the Hindi movies? ‘Hindi movies are all crap,’ he says to himself dejectedly. So he is going to spend 4 years like this? Worse, the teachers are horrible, and he falls into a slumber 30 minutes into the first class itself. He has basic electrical engineering, mathematics, physics, chemistry, English and basic Mechanics in the first semester. Mathematics is all right, but he hates all other subjects from the start. ‘Come on.’ He says to his classmates. ‘Why on earth should an Instrumentation engineer study mechanics and chemistry? And what use is engineering drawing to us? How can such funny symbols help us in any way?’

‘Dude, all engineering students need to do them. Not just you,’ his friend remarks. Raj is disappointed. But he doesn’t know yet that things are going to get worse.

The seniors drop in for a casual visit. Except it isn’t that casual after all. The ragging period stretches on for a month, and Raj is forced to do all sort of nefarious things which he never thought he would have to. Add to that the dull, insipid classes and the rotten hostel food. On top of it, his room is hot as hell, without any ventilation, and there isn’t even a proper playground nearby. ‘What mess have I gotten myself into?’, he exclaims. ‘Is college life supposed to be like this?’ Before long, Raj is fed up. Thankfully, the ragging period gets over after a month. But the vapid classes continue. Raj fails to find any good looking girl in the entire campus. The few decent ones are already committed. And thanks to the 90:10 ratio[male:female], he gives up trying his luck.

‘It’s as if all guys want to get into engineering and all good looking girls want to stay far away from engineering colleges. It’s so unfair’, he moans. Frustrated beyond all control, and fed up of staying single his entire life Raj takes up smoking and drinking in order to get rid of his depression. Soon, he finds both activities quite pleasurable and becomes hooked. He spends the lazy nights smoking on the terrace of his hostel floor and watching pornographic movies on his laptop. Life is finally becoming good. Though the classes and exams remain as intolerable as always.

First sem results are declared and Raj gets a measly 6.34, somehow managing to pass in all subjects[thanks to his newly acquired cheating prowess]. That result shocks his parents, who till now believed that their child was one of the best. Raj also isn’t amused. How come one of the best students in school end up like this? Hadn’t he prepared hard to clear the engineering entrance exams? Then why does he dislike his subjects so much now? Why is it that Thevenin and Norton go over his head? How come power systems and fluid dynamics make him feel suffocated? ‘This isn’t what I wanted to do,’ he remarks finally one fine day, after completing 3 miserable years in his college and scoring a series of 6 points GPA. But engineering is that best career choice there is. All engineers are hard working students and the ones who deserve good jobs.

Disillusioned and disheartened, Raj simply bears the pain. One day, he sees that few of his classmates were taking Computer coaching classes. On further inquiring, he comes to know that they are learning C++, Java, Oracle, Dot Net, and other programming languages. ‘What for? Why does an Instrumentation Engineer needs to learn them?,’ Raj wonders. Then he realizes. Post recession, the ‘Placements’ situation in college has been dismal to say the least. And the few companies which are coming are all from Information Technology[I.T.]. So acquainting oneself with programming skills will surely help one to get an I.T. job. ‘Raj buddy, you should know that people get into engineering just for jobs and nothing else. There is no scope for interest or passion here. We are all misfits here, but we need jobs, which only engineering colleges can provide.’ Initially Raj is a bit skeptical about this. ‘Is that really so? Can only engineering graduates get good jobs? What about people who are interested in History, or Painting, dance, Commerce, Architecture, Microbiology, etc? Is there no scope for them?’ But slowly Raj is convinced that he too must try to get into an I.T. job. He joins the tuition classes along with his friends and tries to learn C, C++ ,DBMS, Java and J2EE. Most of the things go above his head. Not long after, he starts hating the tuition classes as well. But since the placement season is approaching, he goes along with it.

Fast forward to the Fourth Year- the reason why every meritorious student joins an engineering course- the Placements Season arrives. As feared, no core company comes to campus. It’s just a few I.T. companies and that too lowly ranked ones. After struggling through the aptitude tests and interviews, Raj somehow manages to get into an ‘Unheard of’ I.T company. What surprises him is that whatever he had learned during the past 3 years[including the computer classes] was completely laid to waste. The job was related to Software testing, which he hadn’t even heard of earlier. There was just one question ringing in Raj’s head, as he attended the college convocation programme to get his engineering degree- ‘Why on earth did I waste 4 years of my life doing something which I never liked, when I never needed that knowledge to get a job(that too something totally different from my domain)?’

At the moment, Raj did not have the answer. He prepared himself to join the workplace, which was in another city.

*To Be Continued

Life of an Average Indian Male- Part 1

So what’s the life of an average Indian male like? I decided to make a short synopsis in this post. First of all, let me clarify what I mean by average. Basically the word is used to suggest that the person is an Indian male, preferably belonging to the middle class, has access to higher education, and does not face any severe hindrances[such as financial constraints] as such. You can say that he is from a well to do family, and has all the facilities which a middle class man does[including a Facebook account and a Smart-phone]. So how does he spend his life and what does he do? Lets begin.

First of all, in all probability, he will attend an English medium private school[hardly any middle class parent will make his son attend a regional/government school]. The school may not be outstanding, but is good enough to provide decent education to the child. Like everyone else, he faces his share of ups and downs in his school life. He is rewarded for his qualities and reprimanded for his misdeeds. He does good in some subjects and excels in a few extra-curriculars. He may be a good cricketer but a poor speaker. In short, he is good in few things, not-so-good in others. He enjoys Sports, but dislikes Chemistry. And so on and on. I believe most children have a similar lifestyle. Of course there are exceptional students and abysmal ones too, but majority lie somewhere in between, like our protagonist.
Lets give our hero a name, shall we? So we will call him Raj[the most banal name used by Bollywood]. Now Raj is entering teenage life. He is already 5 foot 8, and still growing. He gets to know and learn a lot more things. He may have an interest in Computer Programming, or he may be addicted to Mathematics. Perhaps he likes reading Science Fiction, or prefers bowling Leg Spin deliveries to his opponents. Slowly but steadily, he is gaining maturity and evolving into an adult. This is the adolescent period which every child has to pass through. He may develop an interest in the opposite sex[which is normal for every child his age]. He starts shaving soon enough. He participates in Debates, and Writing Competitions. He goes on to represent his School cricket team in a city cricket competition. He scores 100 out of 100 in his class 8 Mathematics exam. His class rank is always in the Top 5. He wins a few prizes, medals and certificates in co-curricular activities. He has a crush on his classmate. And so on and so forth. He does not like certain subjects such as History and Economics, but mugs up everything so as to score good marks in the exams.

Now Raj is in Class 10, an important juncture in his life. He sits for his Xth Board exams and scores a decent 89% overall, with 95% in Maths and Science. Naturally, his parents are delighted. Raj is also happy, though slightly disappointed on missing out of an even figure. He joins the Science stream in Plus 2, in the same school, along with most of his school friends.

Most of his friends have opted for IIT coaching at a local coaching institute. Raj also does the same. He starts following HC Verma for Physics, and Das-Mukherjee for Calculus. He dislikes Chemistry just as he did in school, but forces himself to go through Organic, Inorganic and Physical Chemistry textbooks. He tries to follow the study material given to him by the institute, but hardly gets any interest in doing so. His school teachers are average and of not much help in his IIT pursuit. He proposes to his classmate but gets turned down. The first rejection of his life hurts. He feels shattered, and does not understand why she refused to be his girlfriend. He tries to get rid of the pain by watching pornography, which is freely available. He spends hours every day on Facebook, chatting with strangers and playing Mafia Wars.

IIT preparation has become a pain. Still, Mathematics fascinates him and he tries to juggle in between his subjects. His parents forced him to take up Biology as well, since they felt he should appear for both Engineering and Medical exams. ‘Why should I do so? I can’t become both an Engineer and a Doctor, so why not focus on just one?’, asked Raj in a monotonic voice. He got no satisfactory answer, but he knew that many of his friends were also doing the same. His best friend, Amit said ,’Yaar, am trying my luck in both medical and engineering exams. Kahi na kahi to ho hi jayega.’ Neverthless Raj finds his current school life extremely dull, and loses interest in studying. He finds Biology extremely boring, and somehow manages to pass in the exams.

The Entrance exam season begins, and Raj takes the IIT-JEE, AIEEE, CBSE-AIPMT, State Engineering and Medical Exams, BITSAT, etc for the first time. He performs decently in board exams and manages to get 84%. However, when the entrance exam results are declared, Raj receives the shock of his life- Failed to qualify in all exams apart from the State Engineering one. With a poor rank in AIEEE, he knows he will not get into a good engineering college. So on the basis of his State Engg rank, his parents get him admitted into one of those million private engineering colleges which have mushroomed all across India in the past decade. The college is far from his home, and for the first time in his life, Raj shifts into a hostel. Raj got into Instrumentation Engineering, because his rank wasn’t good enough to Get Electronics & Communication, or Computer Science, the two top branches.

Thus ends Raj’s stage of life dealing with Primary Education. Now he is about to enter the stage of Higher Education. And become an Instrumentation Engineer in the next 4 years. Raj is initially disappointed at his performance, but at the same time also eager to taste the freedom and fun of the college life he has heard so much about.

*To be Continued


Note: This is not just a fiction story. I have a purpose behind this series. I shall analyze all the wrong decisions made by an Indian male and their probable answers after I am finished with this story. So please bear with me. Thank you all.

What Malcolm Gladwell Missed!

All right, for a change, I will make this article a short one. In his book called Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell devotes a chapter to Rice Paddies and Mathematics [to know the connection between the two, purchase the excellent book]. In that chapter, he says that Asian students have an innate proclivity towards Mathematics due to which they end up performing much better than their Western[notably American] counterparts.

The reason for their inclination towards Maths, is not because they are very hard working students, but because of their language. Asian languages, like Chinese, Korean, Japanese, etc have very short names for the numbers. For eg 4 is Si in Chinese and Shi in Japanese. But in English, we have long names, such as Seventeen, One Hundred and Twenty Two, etc. So it takes more time for us to register that number in our mind when we are thinking and calculating in English, but if we do so in Asian languages, we can do all calculations rapidly and with a very high accuracy. This also improves our memory and our mathematical skills, since we can both calculate and write very fast with a high accuracy.

That is the basic argument as to why Asians outperform Americans in Mathematics. And to some extent the logic is true of course. But that does NOT mean that the only reason Americans lag behind in Mathematics is due to language. For Gladwell, while performing his research on Asian countries, has conveniently forgotten to consider another country, the one with the second largest population, and the second fastest growing economy- India.

We will, for the time being consider only literate Indians, notably the middle class and the high class. Almost all of them, without exception, learn Mathematics in English and not in any other language[asian or otherwise]. Yet, almost ALL of them can easily beat any American student of their level [or even a higher level] when it comes to Mathematics. Let alone Americans, in fact most Indian students can easily compete with any country in the world when it comes to Mathematics[at the middle school or high school level]. And they do that with English as a medium- making Gladwell’s argument fall flat on its feet that it’s due to the language that students perform calculations better.

You [especially if you are not an Indian] may think that I am just being boastful about my own country. But I will take another example- that of the most popular competitive exam in the world- the Graduate Record Examination[GRE]. And you cannot blame me for any bias, because it is an American exam, not an Indian one. So, I give you three guesses to this question-Students from which country perform the best in GRE? If you ask this to an average American, the chances are he will answer this- ‘USA, Germany, France’, or if he is a bit more knowledgeable he can say China. But of course the correct answer is India. Indians dominate in all western exams- GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, IELTS, etc. Though now the Chinese have also come far ahead. In fact, take the questions of the Mathematical section of the GRE- designed to test college level students, and give them to any student of class 7 or 8 in India, and he/she will solve them with ease.

Now do the reverse. Bring some of the brightest Western students and make them appear for IIT-JEE, probably one of the toughest exams in the world. And check how many of them can even solve a few questions, let alone crack the exam.

So why is it that if Indian students are so good in Mathematics, hardly any Indian has made any significant contribution to the field of Mathematics? Can we name even a single living [famous] Indian mathematician? In fact I doubt if students can go beyond Ramanujan or Mahalonobis[both dead for quite a while].

At one time, India produced most of the World’s best Mathematicians. However this culture has vastly disintegrated and now we produce only engineers and managers trying to serve their own selfish greed, rather than making any significant progress/research in their field.

In fact, the reason why so many child prodigies who win medals in the International Mathematics Olympiad disappear is because their parents force them to join IITs and do engineering. Once they get into that, the thought of mathematics is all but forgotten. Sad, but true. In the west, such budding youngsters are encouraged to sharpen their talents and do extra-ordinary research in their field, be it Mathematics, Science, Law, Medicine, etc. It’s only in India that we look down upon people who do not choose engineering, medical, etc as a profession and try to do something different.

I will end with this story- I know a person who was interested in Statistics, and wanted to do research work in Mathematics which would help India develop a better mechanism for studying the poverty rate, and the food distribution rate, etc. Instead his parents forced him to join an Engineering college, shattering his dream, which along with him slipped into oblivion.

When will the people [especially realize] realize that forcing your children to study Engineering and MBA against their will is actually harming rather than benefiting them? Getting an ABC job is NOT, and SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED THE ONLY AIM IN LIFE.




Just recently, some notable Mathematicians around the world were awarded the Fields medal[equivalent of a Noble Prize] in India [International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM)-Picture Above]. Yet not one of them was Indian. Vishwanathan Anand played chess with 40 Mathematicians simultaneously, yet the people of India are yet to wake up from their slumber.

As long as people keep on pursuing their own selfish interests, ie money and status, India can forget about producing any eminent personality in the field of Mathematics or Science.

Reservation- The Conclusion [Part 2]

continued from previous post



Personally, I believe that reservations are not really necessary and should be dispensed off altogether. They clearly violate the Right to Equality. Even if we accept that backward caste people were grossly exploited in the past, it does not justify why their grandchildren or great grandchildren should be benefited now. Take the case of Australia, now one of the most advanced countries in the world. However almost every Australian has an ancestor who was a criminal and deported [from England] to the sub-continent sometime in the past. Does that mean that since their ancestors were criminals, all Australians should be put into jail? Ridiculous. We need to get over the past and focus on the present. Even Ambedkar intended the reservation policy to carry out for just 50 years, by the time; he thought the backward caste people would have raised enough to walk shoulder to shoulder with the General category. However this did not happen. Instead reservation quota was increased. And with politicians such as Mayawati and Lalu Prasad Yadav endorsing reservation like anything, it’s unlikely that reservation will ever be stopped in future.

Unfortunately the only people who deserve to get reservation are those who don’t get it, namely the ones belonging to the BPL[Below Poverty Line Category]. Such people rarely even manage to scrape through school, let alone get themselves admitted into higher educational institutes or jobs. Politicians are also not bothered, since they do not constitute a part of their vote bank. But can’t we have some other solution apart from reservation?

Instead of just reserving a Higher Education seat, why not give him proper food, shelter, clothing and access to education from the very beginning? After all, the poor student will be unable to adjust to the environment if he is just given a free pass and nothing else. Moreover, it’s almost always the middle class people who avail of the reservation schemes, since their children study in decent private schools along with the General category students. The following is a common occurrence nowadays-‘Two children[say A and B], good friends study in the same school throughout till class 12. Then the competitive exams take place. A finds out that he has scored a decent rank but failed to get into the college of his choice. However he sees that his friend B has got a similar result. But he is shocked to know that B has managed to gain entry into the college of A’s dreams. A is bewildered. Only later he realizes that B somehow managed to obtain a Backward caste certificate and got hold of a seat reserved for S.C.s]. The above incident is pretty common. In fact, nowadays most people do not openly declare that they are from backward castes. They are ashamed to say in public that their grandparents were sweepers or cobblers. The stigma hasn’t really vanished. But when the opportunity arrives, they quietly get hold of such certificates in sneak into colleges/companies/etc. In fact, such is the greed to get hold of a seat, that many General category people are obtaining forged certificates stating that they belong to so and so backward caste. It seems that people will go to any length to find a shortcut instead of taking the right but hard path. And since reservation is legal, there is nothing wrong about it[according to them].

When I was in school, I did not even know which student was from a backward caste and who was not. I never discriminated anyone with respect to their caste, religion, status, color, gender, etc. However I will lie if I say that I did not feel disappointed[and also a bit angry] when I saw some of my classmates get admission into NITs[for example] with a lower rank than mine, whereas I did not get any seat anywhere[am from general category]. This feeling of anger is natural and justified. What did those students do to deserve the seats? The answer is they did nothing. It’s just that they were from backward castes. The same situation is prevalent throughout India. We need to seriously question the motive and policy of reservation.

Or else, we could simply keep giving more reservation to people who want them. Let us have reservations for all minority religions- Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jains, Parsis, etc. Or we could have State Reservations- Marathis, Punjabis, Uttar Pradeshis, Bengalis, Assamese, etc. Or maybe geographical reservation- North, South, East, West, Central. Or reservation based on color- Dark, Brown, Fair, Extra Dark, Extra Fair, Medium, etc. Or reservation based on looks, that would be interesting- Beautiful, Handsome, Ugly, Horrible. Here is a sample Introductory session on the first day of college-‘Hi, I am A, Marathi Quota from Madhya Pradesh. Hello A, this is B, Central Quota from Haryana. Oh guys, wait up. This is C, Extra Fair Quota from Punjab. Hi, I am D, beautiful Quota from Maharashtra. Finally an exasperated guy shows up and starts speaking. Excuse me, but where is the registration for General category students? I did not find any place for that. Oh did you not hear? The General category Quota was removed. Now you need to find a Quota that suits you. Choose the State Quota if nothing else is applicable.’

So the question remains- Do we want a single united India? Or do we want to further divide it into numerous segments, dividing people across castes[which will be included in the Census, by the way], and introducing barriers throughout? The answer is only with us.