Just when I had thought that I would have some free time and hence be able to blog with more regularity, boom! I get dumped with more work! In fact the way things are shaping up, I could be drowned in work till Nov end , which of course means not being able to go home for Diwali :-( But I guess that is the life of a techie!!
Got some very interesting comments on my previous post about the state of affairs in India and how we are still a young democracy and with time we will eventually mature. Well, all I can say is, Neta I hope that your words come true! Maybe you could become a real life neta and take the lead :-D
In the meantime, our MPs stooped to new lows, and apparently came to fisticuffs on the floor of the parliament! Some more idiots resgined since their demand for a separate state was opposed by some parties giving outside support to the govt! The quota issue has re-surfaced and students are being subjected to lathi charges and water jets being sprayed! This is democracy? Where you cannot even voice your protest? and if you do, you are beaten up? I think the day is not far, when if these kind of things continue, someone somewhere might actually try a RDB!!
Oh and the Bombay High court has extended the ban on A movies being shown even on DTH! Every time something like this happens, I think that we cannot stoop any lower, but someone somewhere manages to outdo the others! I cannot find any rationale behind this decision. In a country like India, very few cities would have DTH in the first place. And even where it is there, am sure hardly anyone subscribes to it. And even from those, hardly anyone would be watching those A movies! Even if they are, they are mature adults who should have the right to decide what they want to watch! And if the concern is that kids might watch it, then it is the parents' decision on whether they want to subscribe to such a channel or not!! Why the hell should someone else tell me what to watch and what not to?? There is just way too much moral policing and "Talibanisation" happening in our country! and the best joke is: tv serials and music videos have not been included in the ban :-D
Enough of company time spent on blogging...after all therez tonnes of work to do! But I guess i will take it easy, with it being a Friday evening and my manager attending some managers' meeting (never really understood what do so many managers get together and disucss? have not really seen any visible change around me :-D) so mite head home early and just relax !
-uv.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Another I-Day gone by!
Yep, can't help but write about this, though am late by about 4 days :-D
Was reading some article in the TOI where the dude mentions that India has become like a 21 inch TV for most of us. The reasoning being that if you turn on the TV at any given instance, depending on what is being discussed, the same set of people are asked their opinions! And as per some poll conducted a few days before the I-day, the top most issues concerning people seem to be corruption, population and whether India will become a super power or not!!
Frankly, I have not been watching tv of late (and it feels good, believe it or not!),
so will go by what the dude wrote. But I kinda agreed with his point that the issues of concern for most people seem to be the ones mentioned above (not sure if people really care if we become a super power or not!) and if something goes wrong, blame the damn politicans :-D
Sadly, after 59 years of independence, for every step we take forward, we seem to be taking 10 steps backwards! One of those I already mentioned in my previous blog - people opposing English!! Corruption as always is on the rise (k'taka and esp blore seem to be very high on the list here). Terror is fast becoming a way of life all over the country. Projects/privatisation are being opposed by idiots who don't seem to be knowing what is good for the country. Religion and votebank politics is ruling the roost. And inspite of being led by 2 of the most qualified people in the country, they are powerless and helpless (cases in point being: passing of the OoP bill even though the prez sent it back and who can forget the quota issue!!).
Of course there are a lot of other things I can ramble about but some of those are for another day! Personally, for me also I-day has become just another holiday and it was a very welcome one at that!! In my locality back home, there was the usual function where the flag was hoisted followed by some games and snacks n tea. Talked to another friend here and seems the same things were done in his locality as well!
Not the ideal way to celebrate (is there a reason to do so?) but that is how it has become!
The optimists may point out that not everything is bleak and gloomy as far as the future of the country goes, but there seem to be more negatives than positives and I sincerely hope that the optimists are right :-)
Anyways, the holiday is gone and the weekend is also half over! Hoping for the best for the country!
As they say "Sau mein se ninyanvein (99) beimaan, phir bhi Mera Bharat Mahaan!!!"
Jai Hind!
-uv.
Was reading some article in the TOI where the dude mentions that India has become like a 21 inch TV for most of us. The reasoning being that if you turn on the TV at any given instance, depending on what is being discussed, the same set of people are asked their opinions! And as per some poll conducted a few days before the I-day, the top most issues concerning people seem to be corruption, population and whether India will become a super power or not!!
Frankly, I have not been watching tv of late (and it feels good, believe it or not!),
so will go by what the dude wrote. But I kinda agreed with his point that the issues of concern for most people seem to be the ones mentioned above (not sure if people really care if we become a super power or not!) and if something goes wrong, blame the damn politicans :-D
Sadly, after 59 years of independence, for every step we take forward, we seem to be taking 10 steps backwards! One of those I already mentioned in my previous blog - people opposing English!! Corruption as always is on the rise (k'taka and esp blore seem to be very high on the list here). Terror is fast becoming a way of life all over the country. Projects/privatisation are being opposed by idiots who don't seem to be knowing what is good for the country. Religion and votebank politics is ruling the roost. And inspite of being led by 2 of the most qualified people in the country, they are powerless and helpless (cases in point being: passing of the OoP bill even though the prez sent it back and who can forget the quota issue!!).
Of course there are a lot of other things I can ramble about but some of those are for another day! Personally, for me also I-day has become just another holiday and it was a very welcome one at that!! In my locality back home, there was the usual function where the flag was hoisted followed by some games and snacks n tea. Talked to another friend here and seems the same things were done in his locality as well!
Not the ideal way to celebrate (is there a reason to do so?) but that is how it has become!
The optimists may point out that not everything is bleak and gloomy as far as the future of the country goes, but there seem to be more negatives than positives and I sincerely hope that the optimists are right :-)
Anyways, the holiday is gone and the weekend is also half over! Hoping for the best for the country!
As they say "Sau mein se ninyanvein (99) beimaan, phir bhi Mera Bharat Mahaan!!!"
Jai Hind!
-uv.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Long Absence n the English Language!
Yeah, been ages since i blogged...have got an earful from a couple of my loyal readers (read close friends :-p) for not having done so! but that is how work life is! the last 2 odd weeks have been really hectic; had to go to the office even on weekends! for the time being, i now have some breathin space and hope it continues to be so!
neways, had gone to get lunch today afternoon, and while waiting there was glancing through some magazine called swadeshi or something. one dude had written a letter to the ed regarding some article in the previous issue. The issue apparently was how in India too much emphasis is being place on the English language and the local languages are suffering due to this. I for one, do not agree with this at all!
The writer had mentioned that how the British had introduced it for their own benefit and how the other laguages suffered and now we should not give it so much importance!
I agree that the local languages may have suffered, but I think that we should thank the Brits for teaching us the English language! Today, India ranks as one of the most attracitve destinations for FIIs, we are an emerging IT super power, Indians all around the world are prospering and at some level India is shining (debatable but tat is another disucssion!).
And I think that we being good at the English language has a major role to play. If we just consider the example of the IT/BPO industries, the single biggest reason for our success there would have to be the fact that we have such a large population of English speaking people (cheap labour being one of the others :-D ) which no other competitive country can boast of. China has cheaper labour, but their people cannot utter one sentence properly. They are trying to rectify this by teaching English at the grass roots level, and in our country we have people protesting against it being the primary mode of education! I mean, how dumb can we get? Why do we want to lose the tremendous advantage we have? What will we gain by forcing kids to learn in the local lingo?
I have nothing against regional languages, but seriously speaking, how many of those protesting will send their kids to schools where the regional language is used as a medium of instruction? I think hadrdly any! I personally have experienced how tough it is to learn such languages,even to speak them...forget having to study all the subjects in them! In fact, I think it goes back to the independence period, when our first PM royally messed it up when he divided the states on the basis of language. That is what has given rise to the ridiculous demands of present day!
Anyways, enough ramblings abt the English language...time to welcome the gr8 - one n only - JJ Sarkar, who has made a grand entry into the world of blogging! now that he has made an appearance, i might have to leave the field :-p
for the uninitiated, he is one of the powerful personalities from the gr8 land of Sion , Mumbai; the uncrowned King of that region :-D
-uv
p.s. sorry sarkar, if u feel offended :-p
neways, had gone to get lunch today afternoon, and while waiting there was glancing through some magazine called swadeshi or something. one dude had written a letter to the ed regarding some article in the previous issue. The issue apparently was how in India too much emphasis is being place on the English language and the local languages are suffering due to this. I for one, do not agree with this at all!
The writer had mentioned that how the British had introduced it for their own benefit and how the other laguages suffered and now we should not give it so much importance!
I agree that the local languages may have suffered, but I think that we should thank the Brits for teaching us the English language! Today, India ranks as one of the most attracitve destinations for FIIs, we are an emerging IT super power, Indians all around the world are prospering and at some level India is shining (debatable but tat is another disucssion!).
And I think that we being good at the English language has a major role to play. If we just consider the example of the IT/BPO industries, the single biggest reason for our success there would have to be the fact that we have such a large population of English speaking people (cheap labour being one of the others :-D ) which no other competitive country can boast of. China has cheaper labour, but their people cannot utter one sentence properly. They are trying to rectify this by teaching English at the grass roots level, and in our country we have people protesting against it being the primary mode of education! I mean, how dumb can we get? Why do we want to lose the tremendous advantage we have? What will we gain by forcing kids to learn in the local lingo?
I have nothing against regional languages, but seriously speaking, how many of those protesting will send their kids to schools where the regional language is used as a medium of instruction? I think hadrdly any! I personally have experienced how tough it is to learn such languages,even to speak them...forget having to study all the subjects in them! In fact, I think it goes back to the independence period, when our first PM royally messed it up when he divided the states on the basis of language. That is what has given rise to the ridiculous demands of present day!
Anyways, enough ramblings abt the English language...time to welcome the gr8 - one n only - JJ Sarkar, who has made a grand entry into the world of blogging! now that he has made an appearance, i might have to leave the field :-p
for the uninitiated, he is one of the powerful personalities from the gr8 land of Sion , Mumbai; the uncrowned King of that region :-D
-uv
p.s. sorry sarkar, if u feel offended :-p
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