Frankly, had got bored with the whole blog thing. The world's still raving about it.
Anyways, Parry wrote this about education.

And that prompted me to write this (though not initially as a blog, but as a comment on Parry's blog, which then got too big for a comment). Here it is


Education policy as such has gone totally out of control in India.

I believe is the problem with not enjoying classes in schools are
1. Parental pressure
2. Bad teachers

And the biggest culprit behind these two is US, as a part of the society. Sad but true, our society stinks...it is a place where what the collective believes is correct

(was reading an article yesterday about Indians and sex, why is it so taboo. The author says that the society has not grown beyond culture. Earlier girls were 12-13 when they were married and boys a couple of years elder to them, which turned out to be exactly the time when the sexual juices begin to flow. Surely, the couple then had sex and explored their desires, but the whole concept of sex only after marriage gets mis-interpreted, as now marriages take place only after 22-24.Culture is hampering normal human growth leading to increased cases of vulgarity, rape, pre-marital pregnancy etc etc. The blame then is on the poor teenagers...)

Coming back to what I was telling, the only thing our society understands is Marks, which they believe lead to a stable job and income. The only number that evaluates your intelligence is your marks. Dhoni is a aberration for the society. He is immensely talented, our average kids are not. The pressure to score is so much that parents force their kids to rote, to get >90%. They do not allow the child to enjoy the process of studying. As you said, they do not allow you to visualize history, play mock 1857 wars with your friends, read NGC, watch pictures to understand geography etc.

And society is to blame for poor teachers. In india, teachers are paid pittance. All the uber rich trusts and education society that runs these schools, consider teacher to be a commodity, you lose one, you get another. They do not think of them in terms of investment, which in turn leads to poor quality of people coming as teachers. It is a profession by choice, but unfortunately. here it is a profession by circumstance. You cannot be a good teacher. if you do not enjoy teaching. The mess kids liked our classes because we Loved taking those classes. But now imagine that you are teaching mass transfer.I doubt how much enthusiasm you will transfer to the class. I can add, that this pathetic situation is due to lack of visionary leaders in the country, leaders who dream of making changes, people like raja ram mohan roy etc, but finally it is our society that runs through the fabric of the country, and ours is a society that does not respect teachers and the circle continues.

But who changes this? Can we take the bull by the horns and change our regressive society, a society where the vanzara community stands behind the police officer who ordered the murder of an innocent(?) man, or a society which puts a case against hrithik and aish because they kissed in a movie, or a teacher who wants to ban star movies because it is bringing in the western culture. Are we free? Why is the western culture so popular amongst the young indians, why is that people who make decisions resent the western culture...and it is because our so called culture stifles freedom, gives some people control (parents over who their child should marry!), while the western culture is centered around freedom.

I was lucky to have been in a school were there were teachers who loved to teach (History and Geography especially), parents who were not demanding. I will probably be the same with my children, but do I have the courage and will power to change other people (people especially from rural areas where they have been taught our culture/society is the only thing good in the evil world, the hindu/muslim way of living as a society is the best, it has no loopholes?) I don't know.


Since, I have decided to blog, will just post some updated for reflecting back when I read this blog later

• Am flying to USA, to become a PhD, god knows what after that. Come August, I will be here
• Am done with my responsibilities as Institute Placement Nominee. Enjoyed it would be an understatement. An experience in learning that will stay with me forever ( and help in my jobs as well, I hope)
• Attended my cousin's engagement in April. Feel so sad that I will have to miss her marriage in September.
• Planning to attend another cousin's engagement in June. Feel so sad that I will have to miss her marriage also in September. (Ah! If , Air Deccan flew Chennai-Madison)
• Attended a slew of Valfi's (Valedictory functions)
• Went Trekking
• Sprained my ankle
  
• Visa interview on 24th may
• Paper submission deadline on Monday, and I am here blogging!

Not too much of a surprise that my life has settled down to a steady state. The next few days/months/years is going to be colourful, as is with a transition....

Cheers!
Kaushik

Some books just stay with you; the words just come out of the paper and hover around you; make you feel that perhaps given a choice, this is exactly what you would have written.

'Select' is a book-lover's eden. Located ironically, in a quiet street corner, off Brigade road, you could just get lost in the books there for years. I will not engage in futile attempts to describe their collection. Some of the best books that I have read in the past couple of years have been purchased there. It is a sort of place, where the book will find you (and not the other way round). Just being there is a wonderful experience.

I tend to overbuy at Select, and consequently, I 're-discovered' this book, lying in my shelf last weekend. It is titled- 'What I want from Life', a collection of essays about what 15 prominent theater personalities from the 1930's wanted from Life.

Initially, I tried to think about what I was thinking when I got this book! Why the hell should I care about what 15 people want from life, and that too from theater personalities, who would use such opportunities only for their benefit.

But, how mistaken was I?
I felt the need to post about the book, where other more important things in my life has not inspired me to do so![1]

The first essay is not that inspiring, for it is titled- 'I want nothing', but the author presents it such a beautiful way, of the aim of life to be try to grow to a position where you get to Do nothing. Gracie Fields, then just shows how seemingly easy other peoples jobs look from where we look, and how you continue to grow and expand in your quest to get to the 'Do nothing' job, along the way doing lots of things that makes you happy.

The next essay by Sir Cederic Hardwicke is about Man's ability that separates him from other animals- that to change things around him.

.

..The whole history of civilization is a study in leaps and pauses. For a year, ten years, a century, mankind will stand still, content to do as father and grandfather did. Then something will ferment in the soul of the race, a great reformer or pioneer or prophet will arise, and all the little reformers will do their bit towards pushing along to the next stage in our development.

I want to be one of these reformers. I am content to make a virtue of necessity and modestly disclaim to be a great reformer; I am resigned to being one of the myriad little ones; but I propose to be a very good little one...

It may not fall to many of us to find a state of affairs to which our peculiar talents may be applied with spectacular results; but spectacle is not the main or even a very important aspect of the most successful efforts...

Dame Sybil Thorndike, then writes about how the whole world is one single family, and beautifully draws similarities between the secrets of a successful family and a peaceful world. Fay Compton, writes about Cruelty, specially to animals.

Seymour Hicks writes one of the best essays, when (s)he(?) writes about 'Naturalness', of how we are living a world where we are everybody except ourselves.

...No, what we have to do is to tend in the direction of simplification; to stop wearing paten leather that lets in the wet. Let the bank clerk be a bank clerk, a cricketer be a cricketer and not a journalist, the advertisement be an advertisement and not disguise itself as ''Home Hint''.

Let's all gradually start afresh, level, genuine, honest and authentic; and for God's sake let's try to remember that, old school tie or no old school tie, we shall all smell alike in our coffins.

Gertrude Lawrence writes about 'remembering' the past, not only to reflect back on happier times, but more importantly to get your sense of proportion right, during the not so good times.

Paul Robeson, writes about finding out about our roots, and learning to be 'proud' about it and preserve it and the fallacy of mimicing the others (he being a negro, it is a brilliant piece, set in 1930's segregrated america).

Merle Oberon talks about the need for romance and adventure in life (romance has its roots in latin romanice, meaning 'in the vulgar tongue').

Charles Bickford, gets to within an inch of what I would probably have written, when he writes- 'I want to find out'. In his words

Philosophers tell us that the chief end of man is Happiness, and consequently his chief activity is the pursuit of happiness...

... That goes for the child in the crib. He wants to feed and sleep as well, but these are mere bodily function. The main activity of his mind is the pursuit of happiness and the thing that's going to make him happy is just finding out...
...Most people lose this itch to find out as soon as they grow up; some even before. They are willing to believe what they are told- and I will admit it is easier at that; but somehow that does not satisy me. I want to know; and I want to find out for myself- to smack at life to see if it will smack back. If it is bitter of nubbly, I want to know that too...

...All knowledge is man's for the asking, and I want it. I am not content to look at the sky and think-'Those are stars'. I want to know their names, and who put them there and what makes them shine. When a fellow called Einstein hatches a theory of relativity, nine hundred and ninety-nine men will say -"great guy, this Einstein" and sink another stein of beer. The odd one wants to know what it is all about. Guess I am odd....

Bickford ends his essay perfectly, when he quotes Keats

It's like a book, I think, this bloomin' world
Which you can read and care for just so long,
But presently you feel that you will die
Unless you get the page you're readin' done,
An' turn another - likely not so good;
But what you're after is to turn them all.

--------------------
[1] Like getting a job, MarketRx, 27th December 2006, 1615 hours.

the ship of my life had been sailing smoothly for the last 5 years....but now, (un)fortunately, in the (begining?)middle of a storm......I will come out better.....


not a happy week for me...7days of placements done...no job yet!
8 interviews, two near misses....
confidence down....

but the will to bounce back is there (lots of points to prove!!!)

bitter experiences makes you better

Yipeee!!!!
I came on TV today.....

was interviewed by CNBC for a story that they made on Placements at IIT-Bombay. I put some major fundae :-)

Apart from that....things are pretty normal, boring, nothing out of the ordinary...

last month has really been a drag.....

but next few days seem promising :)

placements starting from friday....got loads of work and an interview with Shell scheduled for Sunday....

hoping for the best!!

bye
K

There are some dissapointments and some surprises...
I had been to GE-JFWTC in Bangalore, spoke with some scientists there and in some corner of my mind, I had hoped to work for them (or someone like them) in the future.

Cut accross to IIT, I was actually excited about GE-JFWTC, though some of my placement committee team members, do not think of it highly. I was pretty sure, I would make it also. However, todays PPT proved to be a damp affair. They do not want to recruit for that labs that I want to work for.

Later in the evening, it was the turn for GoldmanSachs to present their PPT. Unlike the BTech/DD junta, who survive 4 years in IIT, dreaming to get absorbed in Banks/Finance profiles, I am very skeptical about them. But today, GoldmanSachs blew my mind away. Their job profile on quantitative modeling, was the same profile I was hoping for in GE-JWFTC (but on a different technology platform), and they blew the mind away of anyone atteding the PPT when they announced their package (and trying to prove to us at the same time that the package was low). But nature has its own ironies. I am pretty sure, my 'intellectual' abilities in terms of past performances do not match up to their expectations. Will give it a serious shot though!

All this gets me back to the what I intend to write about. After the PPT, I spent the evening wiht Parijat, a team member from the placement team and the HR lady from GoldmanSachs, Smitha. Chatting about everything other than placements, I was extremely happy when Smitha kept on telling, again and again, how good a college RVCE was, though, she had just recruited for the IT services profile there.

Walking back to the campus, Parijat and I got stuck up in an engaging conversation about talent in the IITs and in general.

I dont know how we came about talking about this, but somehow, the talk drifted to the 'one building colleges' all around the country, especially in Bangalore, Chennai and Andhra-Pradesh.

I have always maintained that talent is not restricted to the 3000 odd students that clear JEE (long posts in the recent pasts!!), but what IITs are able to do excellently is nurture that talent. Probably, this is because they have been around a long time, and the environment for excellence, the drive to outperform the senior batch, keeps making the whole system better and better (MoodI 2006 has to be better than MoodI 2005).

The whole system in IIT (at least here at IIT-Bombay) is just awesome. You can't be here and do nothing. It is just impossible that you are not involved in any extra-curricular activities. For the really real 'geeks', there are immense research opportunities in the institute, and also an IIT-entry card to the best of the best in the world for internships. And, for the others, there are a plethora of opportunities. Almost every freshie works for MoodIndigo and Techfest. These fests, the scale at which they operate, develop personalities. If there are totally around 60-70 top level positions in these two events, huge opportunities are there elesewhere, the E-cell, the hostel level administrative groups, the hostel fests, the department administrative groups. Any student here, would have had an experience in leading people and working with people, and trying out something that he likes, to add to the excellent education the faculty provides. This is what I mean by nurturing talent. The whole year is so jam packed with events, that a wholesome development of the personality is the latent winner for all the students

An average PG in IIT, discounting the rare case, sits in his room and plays computer games. There are complains that the PGs are not encouraged in all these activities, which is; I would call a semi truth. Respect, Encouragement etc is a give and take policy. If you do not approach the UG heads of these events, they do not have any business, begging you to participate in them ( I have a PG friend, who was given the Co-ordinator job in MI, although freshies are only given Organizer (volunteer) jobs. And technically, he was eligible to be the member of the core team this year). The PGs hardly ever participate in anything in the campus, and this reflects in their personalities.

Any organization in the world, don't just want geeks, they want well rounded geeks.

My analysis (IMO), is that, by the time these students come to IIT, the period in life where they can be 'moulded' is over; and in my opinion; this period is your engineering days.

Joining up ends, I know now, why RVCE is a good (great!) instituion. It 'nurtures' talent.

The faculty at RVCE is sad, deplorable, and atleast IMO, for a college that considers itself to be among the top 15-20 in the country, the faculty is horrible. But, the good thing is that they do not stifle the geek. And he finds a way out, summer projects at IISc or some other big research set ups in Bangalore, or for that matter, highly ambitious BTech Projects, which even the faculty does not understand, and the student pulls it off on his own.

And the extra currics scene, is not as well organized or well oiled as in IIT, but is awesome. Every enterprising student, gets an opportunity to lead, work in groups and showcase his talent. And, as I was telling Parijat, if RVCE combined all it 12-13 fests into one huge fest, MoodI can take a beating (at least the sponsorship earned will be equal/more). This wholesome 'nurturing' of talent is also reflected in the students that pass out from RVCE.

If campus recruitments is a metric to judge quality, RVCE is up there with the best. All most all top end technology comapnies in the IT/software field have in their rolls RV graduates; campus presence for other major enterants into India is increasing aswell in RVCE (and thanks to Infosys and CTS, we can boast of 1.1 jobs/student in RVCE!!!!)

Where IIT and RV differ is, the system in place for such activities. RV is totally randomized, and that is probably the reason, RV is unable to attract other major companies to its campus. But, I am sure, given some time, and some really enterprising student (alumni?) to give structure to the host of activities in RVCE, and better brand imaging of the college, can get us right up to the best.

Another loose thread in this post, is the absolute inactivity of the average PG at IIT. Connect this to my hypothesis that these students are not moulded during their engineering days. My personal interaction with many PGs and first hand reports of college practises in Andhra corrborate this hypothesis.

In most of the 'one-building' colleges, the management, inorder to improve the image of the college, stresses on just the results (or as in most Andhra colleges, compel the students to clear GATE and do MTech in IITs). Given that the faculty is not inspiring, everything boils down to 'repititive'-'hard work'. Clearly, no scope is there for personality improvement. Given that most of these colleges are in semi-urban/ rural areas; there is also no effort to improve the personal/soft skills of such students (who are not exposed to such things in school, unlike the city groomed students). Finally, what we have is students who know their curriculum inside out, but otherwise bland- one dimensional output, unlike IIT (and to a large extent) RVCE, which produces multi-dimensional graduates.

This thing shows up clearly in IIT, where I have met PG students with negative confidence ( Highly confident that they will NOT be able to do this), PG students who were toppers in the rote system they were presented in college, failing to grasp simple basics and numerical/problem solving approach taught here in IIT, and mostly PG students, who lack a well rounded personality; who can actually leave a mark in the society.

My arguments above, tend to place all the responsibility on the college ('system'), but on some scale it boils down to the individual also. You learn the most when you dream, and execute your dream. I base this judgement personal experiences as the RVCE Chemical fest co-ordinator, or placement team member at RVCE and to some extent, my job here as M.Tech Placement Nominee. Moreso, atleast you will do good to take up opportunities that are provided to you (case in point: PGs sitting in their room wasting time, where they could have easily worked for MoodI or Techfest)

My batch in RVCE, wanted to change the face of our fest; and we did it; leaving it in a better condition and raising the bar; and we faced problems from the authorities for this, but persisted. This is my interpretation of an individual taking on the responsibility of improving himself, through dedication to some short term goal he has in mind.


As my dear friend Bhatta pointed out, right now, PG education in India is GIGO (Garbage in Garbage out), most of the students who stick around for Masters in India, do not do it out of choice, and given that still, they do not seem to think that their Masters degree is going to be of any particular use to them except probably getting them 'SOME' job.

But, for ANYTHING to CHANGE, CHANGE also has to come from WITHIN

This has been a long drawn out post, but it reflects some of the things that I am really passionate about; and given an opportunity, would like to change ( or perhaps create the opportunity to changee things!)

So long then!
Adios...