A year of Silent Spectating...

Incited to write 'the year end note' by a fellow blogger! It's truly been a roller coaster ride and looking ahead for more crests and troughs! As far as this erratic blog is concerned, expecting it to turn much more temperamental than ever before! Or even goto the popular hibernation state! Thanks to all the commenters for being so patient with the vacuous posts and taking time to remark on all the blatantly short absurdities! Grateful to you all! And, thanks to the silent spectators too for shying away from expressing their views ;)
Wishes for a very beautiful, progressive and exhilarating year, as 2011 dawns!

With an eye closed...

There seems to be a shift in the perspective, isn't it? This is just the thing that happens when we fail to look at issues from all dimensions - from everyone's view - from the situation of the person we are blaming/trying to blame. Whatever we do looks right and the assertion from our side is so vehement that we tend to overlook the truth. With clouded facts and compromised realities slandering the person at hand morally and mentally comes easy. Just a forethought, a split second of sanity, teeny weeny bit of consideration and there we go..we are all human again and the ogre  (sorry Shrek!) in us vanishes from the spot. Acknowledging the mistakes done and ridding ourselves off guilt by saying that magic word to the hurt soul - aren't we spreading peace without a pigeon? Trying to mend the shift is not so difficult after all..! Open your eyessss!
{Er..sounds too preachy..I'm using the magic word - Sorry!}

Clouded for a Quarter Century - A note on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Termed as the world’s worst industrial disaster, the story of Bhopal gas calamity continues to remain tragic. During the early hours of December 3, 1984, people of the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, had woken up with severe eye irritation, coughing, vomiting and a feeling of suffocation. This was a result of their exposure to a mixture of poisonous gases including the villainous Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) that was ‘accidentally’ emitted from a nearby pesticide manufacturing plant – Union Carbide Corporation (UCC). The industry was based in the US and later sold to Dow Chemical Company in 2001. The Indian arrest warrant against Warren Anderson, the CEO of UCC at the time of disaster, is still pending.

A child killed in the gas leak

The contributing factors include the breach of safety norms by Indian standards – damaged MIC tank alarms for 4 years, the switched off MIC tank refrigeration systems-which alone would’ve averted the disaster, use of hazardous MIC instead of more expensive- less harmful chemicals, poor maintenance of the plant- after it ceased production in the early 1980s (inception of the MIC plant was in 1979), lack of skilled operators. The report on this huge gas leak was formally released 15   years after its occurrence.      

The effects are known to be far from just catastrophic. According to estimates, nearly 20,000 people who breathed the toxic cocktail that night suffered a horrible death from multiple organ failure and 5.7 lakh have suffered injuries. Medical staffs were unprepared for the thousands of casualties. The gases immediately caused visible damage to the trees and 2,000 bloated animal carcasses had to be disposed.

UCC paid a compensation of $47 crore out of the requisite $3000 crore sum. Another dimension of the ongoing tragedy of Bhopal is the poisonous chemical waste lying around in the abandoned premises of the pesticide plant, lying in the open since 1984. Various studies have established that the soil, ground water, vegetables and even breast milk have traces of toxic chemicals. Owing to the lack of piped water supply, people are still said to be using contaminated ground water. In terms of economic development, this disaster has derailed Bhopal from its track towards progress, causing widespread and long-lasting poverty. The pesticides produced at the factory were designed to help Indian farmers produce more food as part of a "green revolution" sweeping the country. Knowing about the stories on the plight of the gas leak victims, the environmental degradation around the old factory, and a bitter public dispute about who should be blamed the city has been stigmatized. It has been deprived off the benefits of economic boom that the rest of India has been experiencing.

Many organizations, for the rehabilitation of the victims, have cropped up. Nothing concrete (with respect to the people responsible for the disaster and compensation for the affected) has been achieved so far. Post-September 11, the Indian government unilaterally volunteered assistance to the United States in seeking justice against terrorists. In the context of growing Indo-US proximity, the government has been hesitating to take this case forward, not wanting to embarrass the world’s superpower. This crisis has reinforced not one, but many well-established facts. Our judiciary is definitely not FOR the innocent, common man. For the past 25 years, the Indian Government has remained deaf to the hues and cries of the victims and those supporting them. The course of the trial in the criminal case against the UCC and Anderson at the Bhopal District Court, expose the nonchalance of the government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in seeking their prosecution.  The reinstated supremacy of the politically unbinding, unethical, immoral and unjust multinational companies over developing nations is ‘not something to be ignored’. While the sufferers struggle to seek justice, the imperialist world, smoothly rolls on.

Dated 18/1/2010

 

A taste of the skewed Indian Judiciary was felt last June.

A Dedication

Struck by people who stimulate not just themselves,but others around them. These passionate souls with goal(s) to achieve, have 'miles to go' in their own (read self-defined) terms. Extremely efficient at refueling their insides,a simple yet amazing clarity of thought drives them towards what they really want in LIFE. For a chunk of them belonging to this extraordinary category,it is a problem statement with some input random data and they find the solution, day in and day out. For a few others,it is a step by step journey and THEY tread the path carefully, yet cheerfully. Yet another group, ventures into whatever it comes across, anything and everything remotely associated with the 'experience guaranteed' tag. And there are some who refuse to be classified, the-one-of-a-kind sort. At times when the word dedication has become something of a cliche, I dedicate this post to all perpetual triggers of my life. The coherent beings determined to bring about positive changes in others (knowingly or otherwise).May you all live in interesting times!

Spray Factory

Seasonal changes and allergens triggering an already mangled respiratory system that displays histamine handiwork at regular intervals to evoke a power packed reflexive response with an estimated speed of release of 35mph and there we go ACCCHHHOOOO...!

Never say Encore !

The Emerging Mind – A brain stimulus

Proving to be a creature that wonders at wondering, the study of development of brain and its functioning is becoming one of the most interesting areas of research. The Emerging Mind provides us with a lucid introduction to the challenging field of neuroscience. It is a five segment compilation of the 2003 Reith lecture series given by Dr.V.S.Ramachandran, a neurologist renowned for his work in the fields of behavioral neurology and psychophysics.
It begins with the first part,The Phantoms in the brain, deals with understanding of the normal brain functioning by looking at neurological oddities. Terming the scientific revolutions as upheavals in human thoughts this part traces the basics of brain anatomy and throws light on a few interesting disorders like Prosopognosia (face blindness), phantom limbs in the case of amputees, the Capgras syndrome ( when the wired link between vision and emotion is cut). The miracles involved in perceiving things is the topic of Seeing is Believing. Abnormalities like the neglect syndrome (that leads to cloudiness on the left side when the right parietal lobe is damaged) help us understand the crucial events of visual processing. The concept of neuroaesthetics forms the basis of The Artful Brain. Purple number and Sharp Cheese , briefs about Synasthesia (mingling of the senses) – wherein cross activation of the colour and the number areas take place. The New Philosophy called Neuroscience tells us that there are branches like neurocriminology and neurojurisprudence, on the brink of development. The importance of brain imaging studies like PET, MRI, fMR and scalp EEG potential has been highlighted.
The author shows how simple scientific experiments prove to be effective solutions for daunting problems. The thought process involved in decoding the problem amazes the reader and thus the book hooks anyone reasonably interested in this field. It truly exemplifies the following principle formulated by Lenin…
“The popular writer leads his reader towards profound thoughts, towards profound study, proceeding from simple and generally known facts; with the aid of simple arguments or striking examples he shows the main conclusions to be drawn from those facts and arouses in the mind of the thinking reader ever newer questions. The popular writer does not presuppose a reader that does not think, that cannot or does not wish to think; on the contrary, he assumes in the undeveloped reader a serious intention to use his head and aids him in his serious and difficult work, leads him, helps him over his first steps, and teaches him to go forward independently.”

P.S : Thank you, Mr.Editor...

The Silent Spectator

Welcome to the peep culture! The webbed foot of the internet has spread to every nook and cranny of our dearest planet knitting it together like never before! Social networking sites and their tributaries, as a means of keeping in touch have become a rage online. What with the growing popularity of blogging, orkutting, facebooking, tweeting, digging, buzzing and the like influencing us, moving towards the virtual world seems only natural. Of course, there are innumerable advantages of these connecting people sites earning and working hard on a hell lot of things. Getting in touch with an old buddy, acquainting with like-minded people, maintaining relationships, remembering birthdays, following celebrities, getting updates on ‘world affairs’ and just looking around-everything comes easy! Yet, the irksome narcissistic attitude displayed is just hard to ignore.  Projecting one’s image (if there is one) seems to take the top slot!  So, how does it feel to be a part of the bandwagon? What if someone wasn’t an active participant, but a mere observer – a silent spectator?  She* can as well be considered dead! Lifecasting, mindcasting, egocasting, silvercasting, screencasting, Godcasting and all other the newly coined terms are trivial for her. She was just curious about the happenings around and didn’t want to lose out on the online race. A taste of it is enough to satiate her. “Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly” is a quote she believes in. And that curiosity keeps her going, keeps her alive (online).  She is a staunch supporter of worldly, humanly, literally touchable and changeable things. Certain exaggerated personal details turn her off. Stupid things being sensationalized appall her.  Yet, she’s happy about the instant access it gives to a lot of funny, relaxing and de-stressing modes of life. Although she can digest the unwanted things that come along, it takes time. Let her survive!

* The ‘she’ notation is subject to change, according to the reader. 

Remembering Independence...

Independence. Something that every soul strives for. Some factor that increases self-respect, self-confidence and self-love. An ethical egoism for a comfortable livelihood. Where personal space is given utmost importance. Sometime when the 'Don't intrude' and 'I can do what I want' signs are seen. Oops, the last phrase just slides into arrogance.

When Independence can mean SO much to an individual, that SO much multiplied by n (the population) = the required amount of it for a nation. Only such an amplified, burning desire for the ever-cherished, ever-sought after Independence did free us, the Indians, from the British monopoly. Stepping into the 64th year has not been a graceful affair. Fair enough. But as a citizen, one can ponder about this.    Am I respecting my compatriot? No matter how different he is. The difference here is in terms of culture, gender, class, religion, caste, economic status. And the respect includes what we are supposed to be doing if we find him in a troubled position ( It should actually be - if he find him in a state less than equal to ours). To think of it now, Are we (as a nation) really independent ? Do we really have the sense of unity? Availing independence day offers, sending text - picture messages-mails- wishing people and most importantly, enjoying the holiday makes us just (apathetic!) city-zens. We can just debate if India will become a superpower by 2020 (that's a decade from today). We can only see the shining India.

   What about the malnourished, the uneducated, the maoists-naxalites-terrorists, the erratic weather, the urbanization, the screwed up judiciary, the caste census etc etc etc? Interfacing all these with the superpower dream..and there we go..blank. Munch on. Keep thinking. By the way, A very Happy Independence Day to you.

Spicing up

It is weird when a 'discussion with friends' is being monitored. Some transformation from an anarchy to monarchy. To put it in a nutshell, the topic was 'Why do parents force their kids to choose professional courses?' It all started off quite well, with a little discomfort in following the norms of a group discussion. The introduction part by the first speaker was crisp and the manner in which her points were put forth was just appropriate. Then started the attacking ceremony, with people pounding opposing statements and her visible struggle seeking defense. It all went haywire (I must add, as in an informal situation) and the chaos subsided. I had (or created) a few turns to express my musings about B.E - the status symbol of modern times, the undergraduate degree with not much of a value. The rationality of 'parents of this generation' cannot go unnoticed and arts courses losing their sheen is a pure issue of personal choice and lack of research before joining the professional course. The whole thing then veered towards - MBBS, the financial constraint of lower middle class, need for a regular source of income and overall future stability - before coming to an end. Ultimately, constructive criticism is what we earned and I'm sure all the participants would've gained an insight about formal discussion. Emotional control and ability to digest any outrageous comment are the things to be brought into focus. Something to spice up a monotonous day...

WAR and the WARriors

Audio slideshow: Siegfried Sassoon

Sassoon. Shell shock. The Survivors. Functional English-Grade 12. Smothering after effects of war (on you-know-who). Simulated through poetry. Read on. And survive.

An epic retold?!

Tagged as the modern-day Ramayana, Raavanan seems like a justifiable replica in terms of the storyline. The fourteen-year vanavaasa period of Ramayana shrunk to fourteen days appears remarkable. With brilliant cinematography, commendable acting and music being the pluses, lack of fine tuning looks like a major drawback. The forest dweller setting taken on purpose, ineffectively tries to reveal the quality of life of the people. Is the director attempting to focus on yet another issue, like the Babri masjid affair of Bombay, Kashmir problem of Roja, the Lankan spotlight of Kannathil Muthamittaal ? May be not. Being one of the much spoken films of the year so far, it is time to wait and observe the impact this trilingual release has created.

The Argumentative Indian

" Just consider how terrible the day of your death will be.
  Others will go on speaking, and you will not be able to argue back."
                                                                           - Ram Mohun Roy

Thus ends the first of the collection of 16 essays by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen in the book - The Argumentative Indian. Citing examples for the traditional Indian loquaciousness, this essay moves on to provide a gist of everything that the book deals with. Part one titled Voice and Heterodoxy basically shows the diverse nature acquired and dynamism possessed by India all along. Starting with the significance of dialogue it moves on to touch upon gender, caste, emergence of Hindutva, Democracy, historical evidences of the presence of agnosticism - atheism, science and astronomy, numbers, colonial dominance, tradition and pride, Hindus and Muslims in history. In Part two ( Culture and Communication ), the author impressively chalks out the indigenous culture as exposed to and superimposed on the exotic culture. The section on Tagore has shown him to be something more than one of the greatest poets India has ever had. His disagreements with certain Gandhian policies (despite having high regards for him) throws light on his pragmatic thinking. The essay on China and India gives an in depth understanding of the relation between the two nations on all spheres. Politics and Protest, a stimulating title in itself is the theme of Part three. Issues of class, gender inequality and weapons of mass destruction have been discussed back to front. With snapshots on secularism, ancient India and its calendars, global connections, pluralism and receptivity to name a few, The Indian Identity serves as the final essay. This enriching compilation, has a lot of interesting questions and arguments put forth by the author - justifying the title of book (referring to the author himself ?!). With smart quotes ("One's identity is a matter of 'discovery', not choice.") and punchy lines, the classy style of writing hooks the reader. A truly Indian book that has revealed the extraordinary diagnosis that the real hardship of death consists of the frustrating inability to argue.

Performing CPR

As the famous (or is it infamous?) Wikipedia definition goes,

"Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure for people in cardiac arrest or, in some circumstances, respiratory arrest."
Here I am, desperately trying to do the same, to revive my dying blog (Noooo...its not the same old sleeping dragon anymore..!)

"Effective CPR helps by delaying tissue death and extending the brief window of opportunity for a successful resuscitation without permanent brain damage."
Amateur and effectiveness, don't generally go together! Let's see if the operation is successful...

"CPR is generally continued, usually in the presence of advanced life support, until the patient regains a heart beat (called "return of spontaneous circulation") or is declared dead."
Oh man! Time to act ! 'Advanced life support' ???

Okay..Thank ya fellow 'active' bloggers for intimating me about this critical condition..cheers to your 'support' !!!

Five months of '10 goes whizzing past!!! The nascent state of this web page reminds of all things said-but-left-undone... Looking forward to a better half!

Wish you all a Cheerful, Bright, Mellifluous and Jubilant June!!!

Superheroes? Who Are They?

The following piece of article was published in The Hindu and Indian Express sometime back.

Young superheroes in a hut

Why is Africa poor?
Is it a legacy of colonial exploitation? Tropical diseases and parasites? Or is it that local mammals, like the zebra and the African elephant, were difficult to domesticate and harness in agriculture?
There’s truth in each of these explanations. But a visit to Zimbabwe highlights perhaps the main reason: bad governance. The tyrannical, incompetent and corrupt rule of Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, has turned one of Africa’s most advanced countries into a shambles.
In a village less than a day’s drive from Victoria Falls, I stumbled across a hut that to me captured the country’s heartbreak — and also its resilience and hope. The only people living in the hut are five children, orphans from two families. The kids, ages 8 to 17, moved in together after their four parents died of AIDS and other causes.
The head of the household is the oldest boy, Abel, a gangly 10th grader with a perpetual grin. He has been in charge since he was 15.
At one time, the two families reflected Zimbabwe’s relative prosperity. One mother was a businesswoman who traveled abroad regularly. A solar panel that she brought back from Zambia lies in the courtyard. One of the fathers was a soccer coach who named his son Diego Maradona. Diego may have inherited some of his father’s talent, but he has no soccer ball and no soccer shoes — indeed, no shoes at all. And here, as in much of Zimbabwe, a once-impressive system of schools and clinics has pretty much collapsed, along with tourism, agricultural production and the economy itself.
The household stirs to life each morning when Abel rises at 4 and sets off barefoot on a nine-mile hike to the nearest high school. He has no watch or clock, so he judges the time from the sun, knowing that it will take three hours to get to school.
Abel and the other children have no money to pay school fees or buy notebooks. But the teachers allow them to attend class anyway, because they are brilliant students who earn top grades. They’re a reminder that talent is universal, although opportunity is not.
After Abel leaves for school, responsibility shifts to Diego Maradona, who is 11. He wakes the three younger children, feeds them cold cornmeal mush left over from the previous night’s dinner, and walks with them to the elementary school they all attend a few miles away.
When Diego and the younger children return in the afternoon, they gather firewood, fetch water, tend the chickens and sometimes search for edible wild plants. Abel returns by about 7 p.m. and cooks more cornmeal mush for dinner. He dispenses orders and affection, nurses the younger ones when they are sick, comforts them when they miss their parents, spanks them when they are naughty, coaches them with their schoolwork, begs food from neighbors, fixes the thatch roof when it leaks, and rules the household with tenderness and efficiency.
Abel’s goal is to graduate from high school and become a policeman, because the job will provide a steady salary to support his siblings. He does not know how he will come up with the modest fees to take graduation exams. I asked Abel what he dreams of. “A bicycle,” he said. Then he would be able to get home from school more quickly and manage the household better.
“Life was a lot better when I was younger,” he said, a bit wistfully. “From what my parents used to tell me, life was a lot better under white rule. There was a lot more food and clothes, and you could afford to buy things.” But Abel insisted that he was optimistic that life would eventually get better again.
Westerners sometimes think that Africa’s problem is a lack of initiative or hard work. Nobody could think that after talking to Abel and Diego Maradona — or so many other Zimbabweans who display a resilience and courage that left me inspired.
I found Zimbabwean superheroes like Abel often in my week of surreptitious reporting in Zimbabwe. (Mr. Mugabe subjects journalists to imprisonment, so it seemed best not to advertise my presence.) Parents sacrifice meals to keep their children in wretched schools (one teacher showed me his two textbooks for a class of 50). And a growing number of Zimbabweans risk crocodiles, drowning and violence to sneak into South Africa in search of work.
So Zimbabwe’s tragedy isn’t its people, but its leader. Likewise, Africa’s failure has been, above all, one of leadership. It is telling that Africa’s greatest success story, Botswana, is adjacent to one of its greatest failures, Zimbabwe. The difference is that for decades Botswana has been exceptionally well and honestly managed, and Zimbabwe pillaged.

One of the numerous heart wrenching news items of today. Aren't the kids more than JUST superheroes ? What sort of stuff are they made of? From where does Abel get this kind of strength ? Is Africa the most unfortunate ? A distant extension to the previous post. Yeah , The African distance. Is it not true that “calling us gifted is an understatement" ? Are we not atrociously taking MANY things for granted ? Leave alone education... Time for contemplation ? Yes, indeed…

Don't fool us!

“The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.” -  Rabindranath Tagore

The above quote speaks about 'the highest' education. What about 'the basic' one that many of our Indian children are in dire need of ? To answer this, 'The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act' (RTE) was enforced on April 1, 2010. Yes. All Fool's Day. The title is not aimed at mocking at the enforced law. It is to monitor its effective implementation. How many people-centric-motions have been passed,enforced and successfully come into practice? Education is known as a light that dispels the darkness called ignorance. And for today's children to be illiterate implies a gruesome tomorrow for the world, or the nation- in this case.At this juncture, it is essential to realise that most of us here are fortunate enough to be able to exercise the 'RIGHT'. Calling us gifted would be an understatement, when compared to the millions of youth out there who are deprived of this privilege.It's become one of the things that we take for granted. Something atrociously taken for a ride. This cartoon published in The Hindu sums up what we have to understand - what the government has to do - the two fold interface. Will the government come out of its state of delirium? Only time can tell. But this is a call for serious concern as it's been brought about after over 60 years of independence and hope this law doesn't fit into the tag of the month that it has been enforced in.

for Further Reference
goto this
or this
OR THIS !

Never tickle a sleeping dragon!

Yawn... It's almost been a month since the last post and this page's starting to hibernate.Was wondering what to name it when the meaning of the hp lingo- Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus- struck this already-snoring-mind.Not that the dragon would be yawning when tickled... It'd be an outright lie if I say that nothing eventful/ interesting/ shocking/ influential has happened in the recent past.Wanted to fire out things that ought to be shared.I guess mine's a wierd dragon with a mutated gene, which says 'the silence is dedicated to all fellow lazy bloggers out there!'
And the dragon's back TO hibernation...

Oh Vennila...

Road to Random Rendezvous...

Full moon day.Terrace.Night Sky.Beautiful moon.One of the best visual stimuli.Soothing moonshine.Shadows.Ineffable thoughts.Countless poems.Moonful Songs.Chandrayaan-1. Armstrong. Binoculars.Eclipse.
Sunny month ahead. Happy March!

Mannipaaya...

There's always a first time for everything.Today I underwent a few of such things including this post about a movie.Its none other than the recently-much-hyped vinnaithaandi varuvaaya, a.k.a vtv.I belong to the category of people who watch movies for the director.Considering the impressive track record of Gautham Menon,having high expectations cannot be avoided.Story is the narration kind where the protagonist* discloses his life story (that is mostly about his love-life).Yet again, the director's obsession with love @ first sight becomes obvious when the hero falls in love with a girl**(who's a malayali christian, yeah, this is a vital point considering the fact that he's a hindu). MP- aspiring film-maker, FP- program analyst in a well known company.The usual stuff happens (mp making fp fall for him, fp confessing to liking him but fearing family-opposition-so restraining, mp behind fp 24X7 trying to convince her that problems can be dealt with).Then comes the part where the fp's heights of indecisiveness made me think she's got an incurable physical/mental ailment.Alas, I was wrong when she was shown to be the one-who-doesn-know-what-he/she-wants-in-life kind (and weirdly liking the pain that she had to go thro because of that nature of hers!).Then the expected things happen and fp settles abroad(no, we don't know if she's married).Finally,with fp out of his life for a period of 3 years,the mp proceeds to become a director. He watches his first movie screening with fp. Hang on, here lies the unexpected twist, the director's touch, as some say.Okay,it took a while for me to digest the blatantly realistic climax, having got used to the either fairy-tale or tragic ending!Came out with a feeling of having wasted bucks.But, when friends started discussing, it made me think-okay may be there's a point in the movie that i failed to catch.
+s:(based on inputs from many people***)
of course,a.r.r's score rocked(with the intoxicating mannipaaya lingering in my ears for a long time),fp's looks and costumes(!),feel-good camera work,mp's totally new style of 'acting'(!). What i could see was the director's knack of refining actors...
-s: (ditto***)
mp's unnatural acting,redundant dialogues/scenes,climax (the whole of 'second half' as some put it)...
This is said to be a movie worth watching once.

~scrolling back and reading~

*mp - male protagonist, **fp- female
certain clarifications to be made - no, i'm not that unromantic person who cringes at love stories but its definitely not my cup of tea when compared to other areas like humour/thriller etc and it makes me restless when there's no clear-cut progress.yes,I've become too jobless to blog about this.I am a bad story-teller.The whole thing is a cluster of many people's opinions,so the probability that an individual disagrees is marginally high. :)

For a meaningful cause...

Embarking on a 7-day social journey was indeed a very different experience for a person who did not know much about the National Service Scheme until a couple of years ago.The camping site was Rayamangalam - a village 25 kms from ssn college,kanchipuram district.Exact destination- Rayamangalam Primary school(kids thro classes 2-7).Typical South Indian village scene was what we* noticed on reaching there-the paddy fields, not many pucca houses,single Govt. school and a kuladeivam temple. After the ritualistic inauguration, a brief introduction (of ourselves) to the enthusiastic, vivacious school kids and the process of dividing us into batches of 5,we were assigned the job of surveying on the first day. The survey details included the name of the head of the family, their residential address, gender-wise family member count, their educational qualification,reasons for dropping out of schools,occupation, monthly income,involvement of the women in local SHGs and last but not the least-about the electricity facility of the house. It was quite a task! and my batch managed to complete about 20-25 spots in 2 hours (considering the fact that many backyards were also 'spots' for us). Frankly, our findings didn't startle me much, as i saw what i expected to see. Average monthly income-between 1000 and 3000 (an understated amount in a countable few cases), women better qualified than men (interesting..), overpopulated families, typical occupation-farming,laying tiles,daily wage earners, truck drivers (i was really surprised to find a college professor and a karate master).Issues to be considered seriously - few houses without electricity (its a good thing that majority of them had it), inactive women SHGs / using the loan for personal stuff, unemployment, need for higher secondary schools within reachable distance.
Conducted a medical camp on the second day. Four doctors from Chettinad health city arrived an hour later than the original time. Eye specialist hadn't arrived that day, pushing us into an embarrassing situation of convincing a considerable number of people who'd wanted only eye check up. Packets of normal supplements and prescribed tablets were given to all patients. Many kids were found to be underweight. Had a variety of activities for the following 2/3 days.The prominent ones were 'scrubbing' the school walls, 'painting' and plumbing work for the water tank that was constructed in the school premises.Cleaning the rooms after painting was a challenging job.A few of us were involved in teaching the kids (computer fundas, math, science and social science).Playing with them and organizing competitions for the highly competitive, stage-fearless school children were among the most memorable events of the camp. And yeah, the rally on polio awareness and general environmental issues proved to be very effective,taking into account the positive response of the people.The skit staged by us, titled 'uyirin muyarchiye vaazhvin malarchi', was lauded by all and it exhibited our potential to work as a dedicated team :p .The camp fire on the sixth night was a sleepy affair for many of us as it began at around 11pm.The last day was hectic with gift-wrapping for prize distribution/preparing for valediction/cleaning stuff.We had a typical valedictory function with dignitaries like the university head for NSS, college principal, dean, school headmaster and other village officials appreciating our work.The evening was marked by a colourful, variety performance by the school kids..man-they really are impressive!Two traits of theirs that struck us- discipline,English accent :)Presenting the kids with footwear was one of the highlights of the function.

The 'to do' list for people who need to take action should look like -
1. Educating the people on hygiene,family planning,conserving their beautiful surroundings
2. Health centre / Hospital (the place is in dire need of one)
3. Creating more employment opportunities
4. Constructing higher secondary schools
5. Sending people to train the women on activities they can undertake in SHGs - tailoring, basket weaving, candle making to mention a few.

As for me, it was a very wholesome camp. Learnt a lot from the environment and the kids there. Socialized with many batchmates whom I'd never met before and reinforced my bonding with existing friends. Many of us realised our fullest potential to adjust in various situations.
and oh..i've defied the micro-post phenomenon with this piece (although I haven't included the exact details!)

*we/us - NSS volunteers

A Transition

Things can never be the same after a notable few incidents in life, of which one is death/demise/expiry/Hindi 'mauth'/Tamil 'maranam' (i know i haven't included all the synonyms)- of near-dear ones. While coping up with the grief seems difficult initially, accepting the reality that the person can no longer be with us, talk to us, laugh along, share things etc etc takes time to sink in. Then comes the introspection part - may be this is a part of my learning curve..okay, now that he/she's departed, what should we do? a> praying for the soul(not for non-believers) b> analyzing the positive aspects of the person and trying to incorporate it c> if they'd left us with a task, fulfilling it d> cheering up others around (open-ended list)
Going thro' this post-death phase IS indeed an inevitable transition for all...

Grades don't grade us

May be this is an after-effect of the announcement of results,may be not.Why is it that marks are made as mouthpieces of one's knowledge? In today's university exams (a select few Indian universities to be precise- or as far as I know) where there is no scope for creativity,individuality,logic and reasoning- why should one even bother?yeah,there's this life-depending-on-marks factor that determines one's placement and higher studies options.yet,the main attribute to this is the rigged up education system (I detest saying this 'cos I don't like generalizing things,but yeah here I am forced to say the 'Indian education system').All I can reinforce is "People,don't let your grades put where you are".The grades are just a manifestation of what we do during a 3-hour-period of our lives.There may be plenty of moments that we'd like to cherish forever and the grades and exams might be a dim thing of the past that made us learn something,somewhere,somehow...

2009 : India's BIG 5

This is an attempt at bringing out the top 5 events related to India, during the past year.Things that affected the masses,that made the elite discuss about it,debate on it, news channels flashing BREAKING NEWS over these issues...

1. The Satyam Scam


With falsely inflated profits and sending the company's share plunging nearly 80 percent.The consequences that followed is known, with satyam under the fold of tech mahindra.

2. Rahman's dual oscars - Venkatraman Ramakrishnan's Nobel - Sachin's 30k run summit






Jai Ho, detailed mapping of the ribosome-the cell's protein factory and Master blaster's magic were a few of the most scintillating things that made India proud in '09

3. Second term for Congress / UPA



Sweeping the parliamentary polls for a second term,the congress confirmed its supremacy over other parties, much to the dismay of the third front.well, atleast its not any communal party in office!

4. The Telangana War



Hmm...this has lead to a chain reaction in other states as well.Can the Govt. freeze the situation and think..? While the unrest in Gorkha region in W.Bengal is becoming vivid, the Andhra agitation seems unstoppable.

5. Sky-rocketing prices



difficult to describe the woes of the common man.Solution? may be that's out of question..!

Issues of global concern like recession and climate change that have been direly affecting India, seemed secondary to those mentioned above.Will any change be seen this year? lets wait and watch...yet,i think we shouldn't remain a silent spectator in the case of global warming.This is a call for serious concern. and oh! A Very Happy New Year!