Saturday, October 27, 2007

Nerves!!

Well i m a bundle of nerves right now... all i can look forward to is submission followed by job hunting. The word job-hunting is so scary!!!
So much of uncertainity and with so less information as to what will happen, the job of job we end up getting, it is so difficult to not think about it at all!

The transition from the student life to working life is so stressful. Initially it starts off as the uncertainity that bugs us.. typically it is the kind of job that we end, the pay package, if the pay package is better than the one our friends and peers get....and once the job is in hand, the next thought is the question of confidence...if we can do it, The job profile sounds so stressful, will i be able to manage my stress levels? how will i solve these problems? what will i do in case something goes wrong...
Then the actual tension, geting up every day to rush and go to office, work till the back is on the verge of breaking down...then get back and sleep like a log....When we have some spare time, we end up brooding on how good and carefree student life was and how we failed to maximise our golden days!!!so mane a things could have been done and i did so less!
One big thing that we need to keep in mind is that as we grow older it only gets more burdensome, it cant reduce for anything....not even if girls end up housewives or boys end up home engineers!
It is a strange road uphill.. and it is strange because there is no down hill at all! it is just one way and thats UP. as we climb, it gets tougher and tougher!

So lets enjoy the tough journey for there is no other option!! no other escape route!

Friday, October 26, 2007

The departure of people we know...

Close encounter with death is pretty occassional for all of us. We do read about accidents, deaths in news papers, books, of course watch it on TV, but it does not affect us much. The news paper reports are a part of our routine, its like coffee and tea the first thing in the morning. Thats fine with us we are not affected. The effect of TV is a little more palpable, because visual medium is more effective than the print medium. Gory images might linger around for a few more minutes in our mind. But what about those whom we see , we know and we interact with die? They might not be our buddies, not even part of family, may be some one whom we just happen to know. A person who lives in the same neighbourhood, or a neighbor who has long moved out of our area, but still in touch. The milk man, the first face we see every mornings, or the postman who is so familiar in his khaki; may be a person who used to teach us in school...
When people like this around us die, there is something gloomy about it, it sort of pinches, images of the person speaking to us, smiling at us keeps linkgering around for a while. some where in the corner of the mind we feel something lurking, some strange feeling, a fear...of some ticking clock and the futility of all it. What is it that drives us all the time, thats so fragile that our body stops working abruptly? its so scary, at the same time so very wierd!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Save Yamuna

Yamuna is an important river in the northen plains of India. Historically it remains one of the earliest of settlements in the northern plains. Though the river changed it course over a period of time, its importance to the people in and around remained unchanged. In fact starting the period of Mahabharata when Pandavas were ruling over Indraprasta, Yamuna fed them. Continuous habitation is found in the Purana Quila region for more than 2000-3000 years. The river was then flowing very close to the Purana Quila fort. In facts the moat of the fort was connected to river Yamuna. Settlements unearthed in the excavation in the surrounding areas include Mauryan, Khushan, Gupta, Sultanate and the Mughuls. This has been the importance of Yamuna. Now Jamuna is pathetic. It is not less than any big industrial sewer, filthy and dying. Hope was still there because during good monsoon, the river would still become full bodied and brings in a lot of alluvium from the Himalayan heights. Therefore cultivation in the flood plains of Yamuna has been a rewarding activity for farmers in the region.
Despite knowing the significance of the river and its flood plains, the government has decided to build stadiums and spots complex in the flood plains of Jamuna. It is sad that for the prestige of hosting Commonwealth sports, the government is rushing into something as brainless as this. Once the flood plains are occupied by concrete structures, there will be no more cultivation and the precious alluvium is wasted. Besides, given the flow of alluvium, there is going to be regular flooding and silting in the region. Then the situation will be akin to that of Mumbai and Bangalore where encroachments and mindless filling up of water bodies has led to the annual flooding during monsoons.
Apart from this the flood plains also help in recharging the ground water table. Being sandy and porous, these plains play a crucial role in recharging ground water table. Once concrete structures are up in the place of sandy plains, there will be no recharging and the already diminishing water table will dry up in no time.
There have been continuous protests against this project since its inception. Fasting, sit ins and demonstrations have been organised by different parties, but the government is still sleeping over it. Surprisingly even in a democratic country like India, there is hardly any response from the government, except intimidating the protestors. The protestors are being threatened, intimidated but by and large they concerns are not being addressed by the government.
If only the state could understand the gravity of the situation and construction could be stopped.

Friday, October 12, 2007

GO GREEN

Looking back i realise that i am one person who is not very passionate...more so in the context of being a student of JNU and the kind of politically charged campus it is, i find myself disengaged from all sort of political activities. I have never gone for rallies, nor general body meetings.. I have not been a part of any politically coloured activities even though i study in a centre where politics is everybody's second name!!!! Initially i kept out of all political activities when i was a fresher in the campus despite my peer's attempt to convert me to their colour ( there are several colours in JNU.. Red is the dominating one followed by the saffron and the tricolour, of late so many parties have sprung up which bears no colour too) ..My initial resistance was one way of keeping myself clear of any affiliations so that i can still remain independent and free to think on my own lines and support issues that i feel from heart. I did not like the idea of going to rallies, screaming at the top of our lungs and still have an iota of discontent against the party opinion. Since i am not an atheist red did not suit me, no other options were attractive enough. So i let it all be just there.

But there is one issue that my heart takes very seriously....the Environment.. I am not with green peace either. I see green peace posters once a while these days in the campus..(thats a welcome development, after all it took all a green supporter these years to reach out to JNU)
How my blood boils to see practices that can be easily avoided to save earth!
One basic thing is Plastics.. of course one welcome development in the campus is that plastic is banned. we are supposed to use only paper covers not plastic. However, my shopkeepers do ignore the rule at times. Despite the flouting, it is still welcome. many of us do carry cloth bags.. In fact as a kid i remember carrying a cloth bag when ever we went to market. Only the last ten years have been unkind in terms of excessive plastic. Even if i buy Rs 2 worth peanuts, the shop keeper will give it to me in a plastic bag. We are using plastic bags for no apparent reason.
We should refrain from using too many bags and that should be an action of collective conscience. I take pains to explain people.. my own friends and family that plastic bags can be avoided and should be avoided, they laugh. No one seems to under stand the gravity of the problem. At times i wonder how even educated individuals can just ignore serious issues like these.

My second discontent is against the glass and steel buildings. In India more so in south India, the weather is so beautiful through out the year. Even in north, though summers are hot, the weather is not treacherous like in Europe and north America. We still can manage with out air conditioning systems. In winters except for a few weeks in late December and early jan, its mild and plesent. Despite this, i wonder why architects in India are so fond of aping the west blindly and are constructing steel and glass buildings!! Not only are these glass and steel buildings energy inefficient, they need artificial environment, artificial lighting, artificial temperature control when simple steps like opening the window can do it. Look at the buildings in JNU, we never find it extremely hot in class rooms, not even at the heights of Delhi summers when the mercury sores to well above 40 degree C. Why do we do it when we dont need it? Why do we need air conditioners when the out side temperature is between 25-30 degree C. Is it not stupidity? This is the case even in cities like Bangalore where air conditioners are absolutely conspicuous consumption. There is no reason under sun that glass and steel buildings with artificial atmosphere should be built in Bangalore. After all it is called the air conditioned city (may not be now given the traffic) I remember on the the TERI buildings in Bangalore were build on the principle of eco-friendly. They also made it low cost and low maintenance cost. Cant all corporates follow a similar principle? They would be doing a lot to save earth in that case.
Hope we all wake up as soon as possible.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Subramanian Swamy Ver 2.0

I had an opportunity to hear Mr. Subramanian Swamy speak on Ram Sethu last night at one of the characteristic post-dinner lectures organised by the student political organisations. Mr Swamy turned out to be much more handsome than i expected. Of course he is a scholar beyond doubt, its not easy for someone who fought against his own professors to get into a premier institution like Harvard, or to fight one's own case in various courts!! For the number of cases he fought in the courts, he must be visiting the court practically every other day.
His intellectual abilities apart, i was just curious to know why he had turned himself saffron... Of course i did not know that he had been writing in Organiser, much less his position on contentious issues like conversions and uniform civil code. All I remember was his tea party where the two madam- one madam S and the other Amma met to destabilise the then Vajapee government. The impression that had formed then was that Mr.Swamy was essentially anti-saffron and a part of dichotomy of the political scene...where either you are strongly saffron or else you are not, you cant be in between (if you are you will have to be like Muqtar Abbas Naqvi, Syed Shahnawaz Hussains, fighting to prove dual loyalties!!)... Therefore common wisdom prodded me to brand Mr.Swamy an anti-saffron.. But lo behold!! He is a passionate campaigner of saffron issues. He is fighting for the protection of Ram Sethu. Of course i m also for the protection of Ram Sethu not only because it a structure respected by millions of people but also because of the ecological impact of such a foolish project. How can our politicians be so insensitive to our natural wealth? The encroach upon forest lands, tank beds and now even the sea! There is a minimum degree of conscience that even the basest of beings have, looks like our politicians do not have even that. They are used to gobble money and will continue to do so. i will not be surprised when the state kitty is empty and our politicians are selling the last remaining asses ts ..our huge population! They will sell the Hindus first because they are the weakest in terms of resistance .. and the country will be left with only the so called minorities. One fine day they will realise that politicians are a creed who cannot be loyal to any one particular party, ideology...
Coming back to Mr. Swamy and the Ram Sethu. For all his academic brilliance, he has done his home work perfectly. He has all his papers right. As long as he is fighting the case, i can be sure that hundreds of Dugongs are saved from greedy men!

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Autumn is here......

This evening i smelt autumn in the air! After a scorching summer, autumn is always welcome, even though it brings with it bald trees and lifeless lawns with it. This particular summer was not very harsh in Delhi. Last year was much worse. The bounteous monsoons too played their part i guess... if i can dare to compare, the monsoon this year was second after the year 2003... Early sunset is the first sign of approaching winters. Now i have started to go for my evening walk a bit early because the sun sets by 6.30 Pm and i don't like to go for a walk on dark road! I m scared of men as well as curs.
I also smelt the first parijathas of the season this evening. The fragrance was Delicious, no wonder Sathyabhama was enamoured of the Parijatha tree.. The delicacy of the flower, makes it so precious, so adorable and something that perfectly compliments femininity.
The timing is so perfect, that's its like someone with a master clock controlling every process with perfection.
The seasons are more organised than my own wardrobe! heheheheh I wish i could learn a little bit from these clueless clues!