CATALYST...??

Being a science student, I did study some catalysts and how they quicken up the reaction between two otherwise non reacting substances and I always wondered if it could be of some practical importance other than preparing alcohol. But guess what, in these few years of my life, I have actually seen how little catalysts around us can help us react to little or NOT SO LITTLE things so amazingly.
One Sunday morning I see a group of people talking rubbish about Delhi police because of a cliché “ POLICE TO HUMESHA LATE HI AATI HAI” and the very same group was seen praising the very same police, because a courageous Inspector Salaskar was shot dead by a terrorist.

Isn’t is surprising to see that how a non-related, irrelevant, non-existent AJMAL KASAB can come to a land like ours, attack a city like Mumbai and act as a CATALYST to all the Indians and make them realize that they actually LOVE their country. The number of candle marches, the PEACE gatherings, the I LOVE INDIA campaigns after 26/11 was so much that there actually came a point when it was on a verge of losing its meaning.

Take the recently concluded world cup for an example. INDIA vs SRI LANKA, The Final, another CATALYST. The last ball, Dhoni hits a 6, and the whole city was on road, cheering NOONE like crazy, waving, giving high fives to strangers. Painting faces with tricolour, buying flags like crazy, and immediately after the celebrations are concluded, some flags are seen lying on roads and others on the back seats of the cars.

One Anna Hazare can raise his voice to achieve his Political ambition or welfare of all, and serve as a CATALYST to many to unite, raise their voices together, go to candle marches , but when asked that what is actually happening, their blank faces say it all.

Whom are we actually FOOLING..? Why are we so dependent on a CATALYST to make us realize that we LOVE our country, that we are ONE, that we LOVE each other. And Why, soon after the effect of the catalyst is over, we get back to being the UNREACTIVE SPECIES we always were, seeing each other in pain, which is COMMON to all, but not reacting, because we aren’t supplied with a CATALYST.
Many may find these words irrelevant, and many may raise questions on this, but, those questions are all based on this article, which is serving as a CATALYST, for your brain cells to react.

“Each one of us is a cause of global warming, but each of us can become part of the solution: in

the decisions we make on what we buy, the amount of electricity we use, the cars we drive, and

how we live our lives. We can even make choices to bring our individual carbon emissions to zero”

Imagine travelling without a car. Imagine spending a warm day, without cold water. Imagine spending a sweaty night, without an a/c in the month of July. Gosh, even the thoughts like that can give us goose bumps. But, do we ever imagine the weird consequences our earth has to face because of these luxuries of life…??

No matter how much we try, knowingly or unknowingly, our actions add to the Global Warming, and this vicious circle goes on expanding day by day. The exhausts from the vehicles, refrigerator, air conditioners and even our perfumes, they all add up to what we call the Green House Gasses which result in Global warming.

But, the solution doesn’t lie in identifying the problem, it lies in identifying the corrective measures and implementing them, so that we can limit the greenhouse gasses emission and gradually bring it down. And so, the question arises…. HOW..?

The answer comes from the very source that needs to be protected. That is the earth. Yes, the reason that I called Earth as the SOURCE is because all the things adding up to Global Warming, are directly or indirectly coming from the earth itself.

I BELIEVE THAT THE EARTH HAS MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR MAN’S NEED, BUT NOT FOR HIS GREED.

So, the best way to limit the emission of Greenhouse gases can be limiting our greed.

Ø The greed to own a bigger house, with more rooms that have more a/c’s.

Ø The greed to own a bigger car, that may or may not take care of the environment as much as it takes care of your comfort.

Ø The selfishness/greed to look attractive, smell good and so, use more perfumes.

Ø The greed to accumulate more of minerals, which leads to mining, adding to the Global warming.

Ø The greed to acquire more and more land that causes deforestation, again leading to Global Warming.

Now, again many of you would ponder over the alternatives.

IF NOT AN A/C THEN WHAT..? IF NOT A DEODERANT, THEN WHAT..? IF NO LAND TO LIVE, THEN WHAT..?

Well, here comes the role of the YOUTH. Yes, college students like Me and You are the ones who hold the key.

Ø Architecture, it is more than efficient a way to keep the house cool and warm depending upon the season. Why can’t we design our homes in a way that we do not need an a/c or a heater at all?

Ø Why can’t we choose a car that costs a little more than a normal one, but promises to keep the environment clean?

Ø Why can’t we educate poor, so that they limit the sizes of their families, and we have enough land to grow trees?

Why ?

The problem is bigger than what it appears to be. Carbon emission can come down, but man’s GREED?

It needs to be brought down before that.

Just a piece of land...!!

ye zameen na kisi raam ki hai... ye zameen na kisi musalmaan ki hai...

ye zameen to bas insaan ki hai... ye zameen HINDUSTAAN ki hai...

jo katwa de bhai se bhai ko... wo zameen kaho kis kaam ki hai...

ja kar tukde is admi ke... aur dekhle apni nazro se khud...

wo hi rooh us rahim ki hai... jo rooh is raam ki hai...

jo katwa de bhai se bhai ko... wo zameen kaho kis kaam ki hai...

kya khade karoge tum mandir is par... kya banwaoge masjid yahan...

wo jo bhookhe bache ro rahe hain yahan.... ye zameen to us awaam ki hai...

kyu ladte ho us chhote se tukde par... ye na khaas ki hai , na aam ki hai...

kyu apna hi bas samajh ho ise... ye zameen to janta tamaam ki hai...

ab to bas ye lagne laga hai... ki ye zameen to sirf naam ki hai...

jo ladwana chahta hai humko aapas mei... ye zameen us lalach belagaam ki hai...

jao... lauta do is zameen ko usi ko.... ye allah ki hai... ye bhagwan ki hai...

ye allah ki hai... ye bhagwan ki hai...

Being a Part of INDIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

I still remember that fine day

when soon after joining the school, my parents were overly excited and I was

given strict instructions to draw the circle with a red crayon and not a blue

one. And soon after that day, my teacher talked to my parents and I was scolded

because the girl with the red hairband had a ROUNDER circle. I actually didn’t

know what was happening to me, because I was more interested in her hairband,

but I certainly knew that this was the beginning of something scary.

Ever since that little incident

in nrsry, and so many similar ones in KG, I, II, III… I knew that I am an

integral part of what we know as the INDIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM.

“I was riding a tiger”. I may

sound like Ramalinga Raju when I say that, but believe me, in front of the

situation I was trapped in; screwing up Satyam would seem like a cakewalk.

For not drawing a perfect circle,

for not adding the remainder, for not underlining the main point or for not

letting Akbar be the son of Humayun, everything reflected with a red on

my reportcard and with a red on my face. Clearly, I was a part of this

RAT RACE (for marks) that staying behind was SO unacceptable.

This continued and still does. It

was this “Education System” that made me realize that simply KNOWING is not the

thing that would take you ahead. You may know as much as you want, but, the

ultimate powers lie with the examiner. He can spoil or make your life with 1

pen in his hand (provided “knowledge” is something he may/may not have).

When a class 12 marksheet can get

u in SRCC or PGDAV, or an AIEEE score can get you into NIT or BMIT, why do you

need to know stuff…??

You can simply cram up

pre-defined laws, some hypothetical statements and some already asked

questions… and TADA…. YOU ARE THE NEXT BEST THING.

But, who’s winning here…??

The hard worker or the hard core

crammer…??

And here is when I compare my

class 12 to my nrsry. Drawing a circle is no rocket science, but nor is

stuffing your head with a limited amount of information, when you are almost

18.

Based on a green marksheet, which

I still don’t understand, I landed here, in an engineering college that claims

to be the best in the business. And, what I see here is nothing different than

my class 12, or even nrsry for that matter.

The same limited information, the

same marks, the same rat race and which brings me to the same old red circle.

This is what we have in this

Indian Education System… LIMITS.

They want you to touch the skies,

but, they don’t want you to stretch your wings.

If people from India can be CEOs

for google, they can also make something like google.

If an 18 year old Mark Zuckenberg

can be a billionaire with facebook, even Tarush Jain can be one, but, Mark did

not have what Tarush has…

Limited support

Limited freedom

Limited access

Limited exposure

Limited syllabus to gobble up and vomit out on a

36 page answer sheet

Sometimes I sit back and think…

If I had drawn that circle with a

blue crayon and not the red one, maybe my teacher would have liked it more.

But, the choice was made for me.

I had a set of crayons with

limited colours to choose from, I had to choose what I was asked to and I was

awarded with what my teacher liked.

In this, there was “I”… but not a

happy “I”.

I did… what most of us in this

education system do, that is to succumb and accept.

HOSTING COMMONWEALTH GAMES IS A MISPLACED PRIORITY?

When I hear people talking about commonwealth games being a misplaced priority...
I am reminded of two men sitting behind the bars
And one looking at the mud and the other looking at the stars….

People paint such a dismal picture about this issue that it really saddens me. May I ask them to look at the half filled glass instead of the half empty one.

We may not have witnessed but we surely are the beneficiaries of the Asiads Delhi hosted
way back in 1982. Do you think the so-called priorities that Delhi has today were not there at that time?

Agreed that we are still striving to grapple with the pities of problems, but, which country doesn’t have these?
America faces illiteracy; China faces poverty and so on. But if the difficulties staring us in the face leave us panic stricken, can we dream of achieving anything?

These discussions reminds me of the lame excuse given by the British that India was not ready to HANDLE freedom.
If we had been petrified by the difficult situations then, we still would have been slaves. But I am glad we faced the situation and today we are the largest democracy of the world taking big leaps forward; ready to reach the pinnacles of glory.

Coming back to the topic, let me remind you, New Delhi already has many elements of modern infrastructure in place such as mass transportation, pollution checks, and new highways. To support the mass transportation, nine corridors have been identified and are being constructed as High Capacity. Delhi government is undertaking a large power production initiative to increase power production to 7,000 MW from the current 4,500 MW.


More than 3.5 million domestic tourists are likely to visit Delhi in 2010, this will only generate employment.
And if u remember the trickle down effect, the benefits will reach to all strata of life.
Another point people raise is about the condition of the hospitals being pathetic, but let me tell you, Delhi is developing as a hot spot for medical tourism because it offers cheaper and better medical facilites.

Gandhiji has said “ACTIONS EXPRESS PRIORITIES” and all these actions show that Commonwealth games are not a misplaced priority at all… What acc to you are Delhi’s basic needs or as you call PRIORITIES?
Power.. Shelter.. Employment generation...water facilities.. Better transportation!
All these things are going on and on ever since but because of the games…these will be done at a much faster rate!

After looking at all these facilities, where is the question of commonwealths being a misplaced priority?

Hosting these games is a misplaced priority only in the sense that it should have been on the top of the priority list and these games will not only help to curb our power needs, develop the infrastructure, better the sports facilities, and it’ll help to make Delhi the next FRANCE as dreamt by Mrs. Sheila Dixit.

In this fast life and era of globalization, if narrate the tales of our difficulties and sit down entangled in the mesh, we’ll lag behind. We, I am sure can handle literacy and Chandrayan simultaneously. This is not the age of mediocrity. If we turn our back to Sun, we will see only shadows.

People say that we are building castles in the air and laying foundation beneath,

I say- no problem.

This is the way man has progressed.

BAN THE BANDHS

Angry relatives of a poor child suffering from negligence of a doctor shout on a doctor, next day we find the discontented doctors not at their desks but sipping a cup of tea behind a banner that reads…

“GENERAL STRIKE”

Agreed discontent, protesting against the injustice and espousing the cause of the weak is what has made human progress possible but…., is it justified to strike the work, send things out of gear, compel people to suffer with us just to ensure justice the way we want?

We may call it the GANDHIAN WAY OF PROTESTING, but ….First Gandhi espoused non-cooperation against the atrocities of the imperial govt. but we have our own govt. OF, BY our people, FOR our people. Secondly, more often than not, the Bandhs turn violent and go out of control. It happened with Gandhiji as well… but then HE WAS GANDHI… a spiritually enlightened person who could still control the masses with his love and commanding personality. Do we have any leader of that stature NOW?

Today, pseudo patriots and interest driven politicians camouflage non-issues or trivial issues and disrupt peace and life.

……POLITICKING AT ITS WORST………

Why should you force people to put their shutters down and deprive them of their daily bread and butter? WHO GIVES YOU THIS RIGHT? Are you not jeopardizing someone else’s rights in the name of protecting yours?

There are alternate methods to show our resentment and fight injustice. Didn’t the march in favor of Jessica Lal help in getting her justice? Don’t we have our free press, our media to communicate our anger and anguish?

Bandhs today, instead of drawing attention to a long-standing grievance, have become a mischievous distraction pretending to favor a social cause when they are actually a stratagem for self-glorification. They demean the very cause they are supposed to promote. Did any political party come forward to help those children in Kerela who were thrown out of their school only because their parents were tested HIV+?

Public harassment, great loss of man hours and productivity, huge amount of damage to the public property, great loss to the economy…but we, we take it all with a big pinch of salt.

Oh no…I shudder, how can we claiming to be educated and enlightened support it? Ban the Bandhs please and save us otherwise we’ll be none else but HOLLOW MEN

LEANING TOGETHER

OUR HEAD PIECE FILLED WITH STRAW…..