Rise of the Caste

Since so many days all the news papers are full with news of the Government decision related to reservation and the students protesting against it….

It’s almost 16 years after Mandal commission report was implemented.

Today’s times of India carried interesting news, since Mandal report was implemented; the number of registered castes under OBC has doubled.

So what does this mean? After 50 years of reservation… instead of reduction in the number of OBC castes, the number has increased. Are we going back in time?

Or is this just taking undue advantage of concessions? “Ungali de di to haath pakad liya”

One more thing… this reservation is for OBC castes…. These are part of the Hindu religion. There are other religions too. As per 2001 census,
Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2122.html)

Are we assuming that remaining 19.5% Non Hindu citizens are all advanced? There are absolutely no backward people among them?
Don’t they have right for reservation like these OBC’s?
Again why only OBC and SC/ ST? What happened to those NT’s and other categories?

The worst part is that none of these measures will generally help the real needy OBC or ST guy. This is because all these reservations are after completion school.
The real needy guy is so poor that he is not at all able to complete school and drops out before completion of secondary school.

What is government doing to ensure that this guy actually completes the basic schooling and reaches a level of education where he can actually take advantage of the education? Just have a look at condition of government schools in big cities. No need to guess condition of schools in villages.

So the real beneficiaries remain the advanced people from the OBC and other caste’s who actually equal to general category people in all respects. These people then enjoy the undue advantages of the reservation. And this is where a common hard working student feels really hurt.

So, when we say that the real poor OBC guy can’t even reach a level where he can use the reservation, same is true for a poor guy from “Open” category too.

Don’t all these poor people from other religions…. and open category Hindu have right for some help?
Why are we assuming that ALL open category people are rich and don’t need any help?
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html

Check the above link. As of 2003 the literacy was just 59.5%
And 25% people below poverty line.

Now see the poverty line limit for India here…it is rs. 300 PER MONTH!!!!
http://www.wakeupcall.org/administration_in_india/poverty_line.php

So 25% of the people are earning 300 or below per month.
Now check out this…
http://www.thp.org/sac/unit2/poverty.htm

In India, 44% of the population live below the international standard of $1 per day, and as many as 86% live below $2 per day.

Also check out,
http://www.indiauntouched.com/blog/archives/2005/02/a_dollar_a_day_1.html
This gives figure of 75% of population is below $2 per day. That is 3000 Rs. Per month.

Have a look at current cost of education. With an income of 3000 rupees per month; how a family can afford to send a child for higher education??? Even when seats are available, they can’t afford it.

Even in case of current OBC reservations, Government talks only about reservation.
Who will pay the fees??

Now all this data is without any regard to caste. Living standards of the “Upper caste poor” are no better than “lower caste poor”. Poverty has no caste... no religion…

So why are we denying the right of higher education to “Upper Caste Poor” just because they are from so called “Upper Castes”

I am strongly in favor of reservation for the economically backward “Class”.

This reservation will achieve nothing but a divide between the “Open” and “Reserved” groups. The reserved group clearly enjoys the upper hand since the seats reserved for them are clearly in excess of the eligible candidates so the competition is fairly simpler. On the other hand, it has become other way round for the “Open” category.

Some days ago I came across a mail it claimed Mr Azeem Premjee as it’s origin. Let’s keep the origin aside but content was interesting. It talked about reservation and relaxation of rules in every sector including cricket. like Boundry line should be closer for OBC player and that they should get 8 runs for a sixer and so on…. Another mail talked of “Deewar” wala Amitabh-Shashi Kapoor dialogue... this time “Mere pass reservation hai”
Another impact will be the much hyped…”Brain Drain”. With foreign universities going ahead with aggressive marketing, no wonder if more n more students start going abroad… They will not return because every parent wants his children not to go through the same pains that he suffered…. So obviously they won’t allow their children to face same “reservation evil” no matter how much they might love their “Matrubhumi” and all…

All of us have grown up listening to stories of Mahatma Phule, Raja Ramamohan Roy and a lot more great Indians who fought throughout their life for demolition of the caste system.

It seems everything is gone in vain….

It’s the rise of the caste system again….this time state sponsored… where the roles are reversed… the Upper caste’s have now become “Dalits” ;-(

The sky below…

19 May… I was on the way to Mumbai. Flight took off on time (unexpected but true!!!)
Everything was going fine; I was “busy” watching recording of Great Indian Laughter Challenge. Suddenly there was announcement that because of traffic congestion at Mumbai airport… journey would be delayed….

On the screen I could see the location of the plane on the map of India and the route traced till now. Speed well in excess of 800 and altitude around 10500. The path traced now started making circles on the map.

Bored… I started looking out of window. Sky was clear so I could see the lights of the villages below.

The scene was exactly like what we would see if we look up on a dark night.
Soon I found myself amazed with those stars below and after some time I was literally sticking nose to the window glass with both hands blocking the light coming from side.

Till now I have seen a few cities from above during takeoff or landing…. Even from above.. It may look bright...With a glory and charm of its own… but this was something different. It had no glare. Only a few dots scattered over a large area… occasionally few dots cluttered… still it had its own appeal. Just like constellations. Needless to say I made a few futile attempts to take snaps only to be thwarted by the lights on the wings…

The horizon had vanished in the dark. For me now it was just a dark sphere outside.
I could see the stars above and below. By now I had started visualizing different patterns made from the “stars below” I could see an octopus…. A bow and arrow… and a few more shapes.

I don’t think the view can be any different for an astronaut when they look out from a window that is facing away from sun.

The plane was still going around the “round track” The altitude had reduced to 6500 and speed dropped to 550. The view was much clear now. And the constellations now have become small villages. I could now see the roads connecting. The long “string” I marked had now apparently become Mumbai-Bangalore Highway….and the octopus had now become a big city in the area… I looked at the position on map…. We were midway between Kolhapur and Pune. So I guess we were roaming over the Satara – Waai region.

After around 40 minutes… we headed again for Mumbai…. I don’t know about others but not a single minute was boring for me….

Reaching Home Unannounced...

Few days back…
Landed in Mumbai… time 9 : 45 PM….
Baggage… Customs… it is 10 30 when I finally come out of airport…
Still thinking… to go home or direct to Bangalore by next flight?
Of course home won the battle…
I headed for Andheri Station…. Tried to call home and inform…
Balance -34 ;-(….. not a single 1 Rs. Coin in pocket….

Reached station…. A bit lucky….
It’s 11 15 and the 11 00 local is yet to arrive…

Reached home at 12 15….
To my surprise the main gate was locked from inside….
Hmmmm… I called mother hoping someone will wake up….
No answer…
Some knocks on the gate….
First with hand... then kicks….
No answer….
Once again some calls…..
Same result... again some knocks….
No effect….

I am thinking….. (Don’t be surprised…. I sometimes DO think…)

Started the small flashlight in phone…
Thank god it has an SOS mode wherein it flashes in the SOS signal….
Tried to use that too…..
Hoping that the flashlight on the window will have some effect….

Still I am at square one…. No success….

What next?
Ok… I have another sim card with international roaming… last time that faithful ally supported me when I landed in Hyderabaad…. Let’s check this time…

So I change the sim card….
Oh...oh…. SOS calls only…. ;-((

Hmmmm… let’s try the final option….
Jump over the wall…..
I put hands on wall….
Too dusty for my clothes…. ;-)

Let’s jump over the gate….
I keep the bag outside and jump over the gate….
Finally after half an hour struggle…. I am IN….
I mean at least I am now in position to ring the doorbell….

The Cosmic Game Show...

Some days ago there was an article in Times of India about “Are we living in a simulated world?” it was usual stuff revolving around Matrix theme… and all that. It quoted one dialogue of Morpheus…If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.
This dialogue is also well-known… but somehow, When I read this in that article I suddenly felt some chill in spine… yeah…. what if……
As usual thoughts running amok… so penning down….

It can very well be true… In a larger sense… like…. You refer to any religion… every one believes in the concept of “The Creator”
Especially all those spiritual guru’s saying “yeh sab usaki maya hai” and all. Now combine this with the concept of soul or “aatma”…. And now you have a simulation of “The matrix”…

Imagine if the “real World” actually consists of souls as its people….
All these people connect and disconnect to a matrix that is created by “The Creator”. Only thing is that they don’t die in one go…. Now add the concept of a soul going through “84 Laksha Yoni’s” and you have a fantastic game going on there…

You connect to the matrix…. Play the game there…. Once you win (or loose?)…. That is when you go to next stage….that is “Punarjanma”… may be this game has all those 84 Lakh stages…. And ultimately “The Exit” (or Ultimate Victory?) from the game …. Or “Moksha”. Is it “The Exit” or just “Next Stage” of a even bigget matrix….. I m not sure… ;-)

We can draw some stupid analogies like…..

What role is for “Bhoot and Bhatakti Aaatma” then? may be Hackers.. or the souls who somehow managed to hack into the system to trouble other players….

The “Yama and Co” replaces the the “Agent Smith & Co”… cool isn’t it? Who plays the role of Neo then??? Should be “The Distroyer”… or Lord Shiva…and the event of “Pralaya”…..

In one sentence Morpehus made it very clear how the concept of matrix can be very real…Many times we see dreams…Everything seems so real that we actually believe it till we wake up. Now… what if the dream continued for ever?? Will we ever come to know? The impact is so real… if we come across some fearsome incident in dream… the sweat is actually on our face and not just in dream…. Sometimes we even scream…

In many robbery movies like say Oceans eleven... we see the concept that people intercept the camera signals and send some dummy signals to fool the guards or like they did in Speed-1 to fool the villain.
Now think…. All nerves carrying the signals to and from the brain to body parts connect to the brain at one point (I m very weak in biology) so what if someone has intercepted those signals and my Brain is receiving some dummy signals instead of the actual ones??

Technologically this does not seem impossible…. Some days ago they were showing on CNN the story of May Chidiac... The famous Lebanese media personality who survived a car bomb. They showed her treatment being carried out in France… The lady lost one arm and one leg in the attack. Now they have attached a robotic arm to the end that reads the nerve signals and performs accordingly ….
Or the story of a Japanese company (again I forgot name) that developed “robotic legs” that you “Wear” and they too read the nerve signals that are being passed and act synchronized with your legs sharing the load and thus enabling you carry more load.

Sometimes this makes me wonder… did our ancestors actually know about this “Matrix”?? Otherwise just think… why a species supposedly evolved from monkey would have thought of all these concepts that are nowhere related to the Jungle Life? That too not in one or two places but all over the world including the areas that were unknown to us till now; like the American continent.

Why does Jesus… Mohammed Paigambar… all says that we are messengers of god….. Why do we have Bhagwad Geeta wherein Krishna Says I am God???
Think of any civilization. Right from Egypt to the Inca and Aztecs everyone believes in some form or the other of “The Creator” and the theory of the soul…why? Why? Why?

May be this is the last of the 84 Laksha Games for me…or what is it is the first? And who cares?

Calvin & I

In past 2 years Infosys has caused a lot of changes in my world… generally all the changes that come along with change in career…change in location… change in lifestyle… and all other job related stuff…
But there is one more change that was brought in by Infy and that was no way related to my career or job…but related to my favorites….
During training period in Infosys Pune I became a big fan of Calvin & Hobbes cartoon strip. Thanks to the unknown person who took all the pain to prepare a collection then host it on an intranet website; we used to read the strip for fun whenever we had free time.

There is something about this character that I really like. Initially if you read a strip or two, you won’t find it very funny. Rather it seems stupid. Initially it is difficult to understand how a stuffed tiger sometimes speak and play and run and sometimes is just a toy?
But as you go on reading, you began to understand the World of Lord Calvin. You realize the way that small kid thinks. You began to understand his Tiger Buddy and the emotional relation between the two. At one point you understand the way the kid think and you find that you also think in exactly similar manner when you are reading the strip… and after that every strip is a fun.

After this there is no stupidity in any of the strip. Everything seems logical. Especially the way author comments sometimes on the serious aspects of life using this small strip are amazing.

All the scenarios are very much close to our daily life… a typical naughty mischievous kid whose parents work in office… he goes to school… a troubling teacher… friends in school…the sledge… the snowballs… and his imaginary world…

Everyone has his own imaginary world where we like to do the things that we think we can not do in real life. And this kid is no exception to it. The way he gives way to his destructive tendencies is just fantastic. I soon found out that I became a fan of this child’s fantastic ability to drive people crazy… especially his parents... Teachers... Friends and of course his baby sitter…

The themes of fantasies are also nice… Space Man Spiff and The Alien Encounters with Miss Wormwood… his teacher… the transmoglifier …. Calvinosorous …The snow goons… and my favorite Calvin the Tiny Insect.

Since long I was looking for a complete collection of the strip. The strip started in 1985 and was up daily till sometime in 1995. The server in infy did not have the complete collection. So I was looking for the complete collection which I could save and later read easily. Fortunately some days ago I found one and I spent a whole weekend in office just to save those pages on machine. I just spent time opening a hell lot of windows and saving one after the other… I don’t know why but I somehow desperately wanted to collect the whole set.

I sometimes feel it is very much similar to my nature… sometimes mischievous… sometimes serious but all the times logical… the ability to experiment is another thing that I find common…. (Oh God…this is height of misconception about one's own self.)