Wednesday, July 01, 2009

The tag of Four!

It has been ages since I have done a tag….and this tag from Nona has come has a welcome change from the routine…thanks a lot Nona.. :D


Four places you have lived



  1. Trivandrum: This is the city where I lived as a kid…The place gives me mixed emotions…sometimes fiercely proud and sometimes disgruntled …Over the last 2 decades the city has changed a lot…and evolved from a quiet town to a growing city.

  2. Pune: This place gives fond memories coz this was the city where I started working…For a guy who was used to the laid back lifestyle of Trivandrum, this was truly a happening place… a place which I found more vibrant than Bangalore…I like Bangalore for entirely different reasons…

  3. Mysore: 2 years is what I spend in this town which I would argue as the place with the best weather in south India…I have a fondness for the town which predates to the time I watched the movie Nammakku Parkkan munthirithoppukkal (which was shot there)…I cant give justice to the place in a few lines...maybe a post later..

  4. Hamburg: Well...as a school boy or as a college kid if someone told me...you would end up 3 years in Hamburg...i would have called him crazy….but then that’s how it works out in life…go places you never expected…meet people you never would have otherwise!! I am simply in love with this beautiful green city which was recently rated as the 14th best place to live in the world…muhuhuaah….

Four TV shows you love(d) to watch



  1. Frasier: Without a doubt Frasier would be my all time favourite show…inspite of watching the same seasons several times the plots never cease to amaze me…The humour in this show is what I would ideally call classic humour...I think occasionally I am influenced on a subconscious level to imitate the style of this show when I write certain posts …Believe me F.R.I.E.N.D.S fans, this is far better…!! :-D

  2. Seinfeld: I retain this from Nona’s tag coz this is a favourite show of mine too…I like Seinfeld’s stand up routines as well…

  3. Omanthinkkal pakshi: I love the serial for the sheer range of emotions it evokes…the storyline and the drama is something I never miss…even the Nirapara arri ads seems to blend with the plot….usually I try to catch up on the repeat telecast at 3 in the morning to further grasp the essence of the characters. I am the secretary of ‘Omanthinkkal fans association’ in Germany.

  4. M.A.S.H I discovered a online treasure of this classic around 2 years ago…and immediately got hooked to the show…not the kind of humour which would make sense in current times and infact this is more like a show with everything …drama, action and humour...I am a fan of Hawkeye, Radar and other amazing characters woven in this soap set in the backdrop of the Korean War.

Four places you have been on vacation



  1. Granada: This town was part of a 10 day vacation I took in 2007 December at Spain….hard to pick which place was the best but this place stood out for the magic of Alhambra.(guys…it’s a place!) Close to the African coast and extensive Arab influence makes it complete un-european…Must do tip: Sip Turkish tea at one of the café’s overlook the Alhambra at twilight.

  2. Salzburg: Another beautiful and charming place which I visited after being captivated by scenes from the movie.. Sound of Music.. Unless you take the special tour for it the place is all Mozart!!

  3. Rome: Rome was not built in a day...You cant see it in a day either!!…I have spend 7 days in Rome in two trips and I think I have not seen even half of the historic places which makes it one of the most impressive cities in Europe… Must do tip: Throw a coin at Trevi and visit Rome again like I did!:-P

  4. Pyrenees: This was not really a vacation trip...I had been to Toulouse on work and over the weekend visited Lourdes which is at the foothills of the Pyrenees…But I got a chance to see why Pyrenees are one of the most beautiful hills in the world.. .it is no Swiss but the beauty is equally breath taking.


Four of your favourite food



  1. Chakkakuru maanga curry: I really found it excruciating to write this since I love this curry and miss it so much…the tangy taste of raw mango blend easily with Chakkakuru giving it a flavour unmatchable…I am sure in heaven they serve it daily!

  2. Konchu ulathiyathu: I like this dish the way Amma makes at home with lot of coconut bits, onions and kokum…The aroma from kitchen can magnetically attract me from anywhere in the vicinity…I guess this must be dish I have eaten the most by sneaking into the kitchen when no one was around…With Rice and Chakkakuru maanga curry it’s a combo to die for…

  3. Lasagne: usually its very difficult to convince me into loving western food...as like all blue blooded malayalees I any day prefer naadan food…But there are certain dishes like Lasagne which has occupied a special place in my food crush list…

  4. Paalappam with beef stew: Do I need to explain why people in Kerala are happy inspite of communists! :-P

sad…that you can list only 4… :(


Four places you would rather be


  1. Norway: I have been procrastinating on a vacation to this beautiful country for a long time…I want to see the fjords some day.

  2. Agra: I have not seen the Taj….a place I want to see whenever I get back to India for good..

  3. Zihuatanejo: rings a bell somewhere ?..remember the last scene from Shawshank Redemption….That shot in the movie made me like the place and probably the movie has played a part in it too..

  4. Botswana/Kenya: Africa has charmed me ever since I saw the movie ‘Lost in Africa’ as a 8 year old kid…and later ‘Gods must be crazy’ and countless documentaries in Discovery channel.


Four things you hope to do before you die



  1. Get married and have a family: hehe…there is no surprise in there isn’t it...

  2. Build a home: I don’t know whether I can ever get time to do it…but there is something about building your own home that gives such a adrenalin rush…In these days of outsourcing no one does it really...but some how there is a charm in building one on your own…maybe yet to grow out of the fascination for building homes with the Lego bricks…It just got bigger!!

  3. Make a chapatti which is circular: yeah...one day I will!! I swear!

  4. Visit four place listed above: I don’t know how realistic it is but it would have been great if I managed to visit the four places mentioned above.


Four novels you wish you were reading for the first time



  1. Diary of Anne Frank: I cannot think of another book in which I desperately wished for the person to be alive.

  2. Shantaram: I am not really much of a voracious reader…this book was big but was really exciting that it got be back into the habit of reading…

  3. To kill a mocking bird : This classic needs no description.

  4. The curious incident of a dog in the night time: The narration of the book is funny and sad at the same time…I wouldn’t mind reading it again.

Four movies you can see over and over



  1. Shawshank Redemption: Each line in the movie is worth quoting and along with flawless acting makes it a highly inspirational movie too…no wonder why it’s the highest rated movie of all time.

  2. Scent of a Woman: another movie with a soul and stupendous acting. Most people like Al Pacino for Godfather, I like him for this movie.

  3. Dasaratham: It was hard to pick a malayalam movie as there are so many of em…I would have struggled even if I was asked to choose one Padmarajan movie…Nevertheless this movie in which Mohanlal delivers a performance that could put to shame many top rated actors makes the cut…a class act.

  4. In harihar nagar: you know the kind of movie you would play when you are hanging out with your college buddies …laugh over the jokes heard 100 times over….People still like the movie coz it takes them to carefree days in college.

I think there is enough of information of little importance to anyone else…but it was nice to do this tag…:-)


Well I would like to break routine and pass it to ………


KPJ
Ashwadhy
Biju

devil incarnate

Friday, June 26, 2009

Mandankunju goes to USA!!

Warning: Long post and lot of malayalam

It has been quite a while since Mandankunju embarked on any of his classic world tours…Apparently the economic recession was affecting even him and leisure travelling was a strict nay-nay... But MK had enough of it and decided to break the self imposed cost cutting crap when he realised airline fares were getting real cheap…real cheap like in one rupee plus taxes…woohooh…It was time to catch the flight again…Godspeed!!

After a year he is a lot more wiser, refined, sophisticated and …………heck!!… you still believe MK would change like that…There are some people whom you can bet on never to change!! MK is definitely one bet you wouldn’t lose..

Mumbai international airport…..around midnight…

The hullabaloo in the airport was kind of disturbing for MK…the unfamiliar language…huge crowds….police ….Fortunately MK was accompanying a group of mallus who were also on the same flight to New York…They huddled together in a group, checking and rechecking their precious luggage….Sunny was quite worried whether the chakka plucked specially for USA would ripen too fast…He wants to salvage atleast the chakkakurus… Mattachen is trying hard to memorize Massachusetts and failing miserably at it. And ofcoz the collective anxiety of whether the flight would serve drinks was ringing like a thousand bagpipers in their ears …

And when the check-in counter opened, there was no guessing who were right in front of the alley. Infact Chacko had to be convinced that he already had a ticket and this was no Anupama theater where he would go through the trauma of taking black tickets.

The guy with the tie at the ‘luggage weighing department’ was in a particularly PJ-ish mood too..

“Name please…”
“Sunny Thomas! “
“And your friend must be?… Overcast Nair I guess...ha ha ha!! “

The airline official hysterically laughed for a few minutes until the jingle played at the airport reminded him how hopelessly outnumbered he was …

‘Will the real slim shady Nair , please stand up…please stand up!! ‘

After profusely apologizing all Nair sahebs in the vicinity, the junta was quickly given clearance and the chakka a fragile cargo upgrade…

A few minutes later the loudspeaker cracked alive…

“Passengers are kindly requested to board the flight LH612 to New York”

That was it…the moment MK has been waiting all along…To spend quality time with Kentucky appappan …To meet his school friends who had the green card when all he had was a humble ration card…To watch his favorite team Chicago Pothu in action …To hear his long time crush Sarah Palinkutty talk about climate change…the list was long..

After a long flight MK reached the huge metropolis where he was greeted by his old friend in school, Dennis. Dennis took him home and they had a great time laughing reminiscing old school tales…esp. on how bad MK was at Math. True to his agrarian outlook on life it was legendary in his village how he bought new insights to trigonometry by proving proving sin@+cos@= kaali@

However Dennis was impressed by his remarkable travel experiences…The next day he took him to landmarks of the most famous city in the world…Wall street…Manhattan…And by dusk they were standing right outside the famous New York philharmonic….

That’s when a guy sporting an odd looking suit came out of the philharmonic and stood near MK…

Eager to start conversation with the first american he met, MK said hello which was politely acknowledged…However eager to continue the talk he couldn’t resist asking him..

MK: ‘hmm…what you doin here?’

American: “I am a conductor”

MK (having lost all respect) :”uh…conductor aaa!!”

Mandankunju was immediately dragged away by Dennis..

Dennis: “Daa...he is the conductor at the NY philharmonia ”

MK: “Philomeniayoo …?”

MK: “ enthayalum conductor alle…paavam!!...vello vadayoo chaayoo medichu kodukaam*”

Now Dennis is furiously trying to pull him away..

MK: “ishe...atleast or 50 cents kodukaam”

Dennis was so desperate to stop further insult on the most famous conductor in the world that he took MK to the place where he was more likely to keep quiet…the restaurant…And they entered the first bistro in the corner.

After having a sumptuous meal at the French Restaurant MK even tipped the petite French waitress generously…

“”Merci ”

“ayyo alla…Mercy kottayamthaa..I am Tony…Tony kattapanna”

Well not surprising after the blunder he made in the Italian restaurant where he replied to poor Antonio who was showing the menu.

Antonio: “Bruschetta?”
MK (with all affection of a younger brother): ”entho chetta??”

Anyways the waitress took a liking to MK and mentioned her desire to visit India someday….and the chivalrous guy he was welcomed her to his home town too...The possibility that a madamma could visit him was so exciting that he even started giving the directions..

MK: ‘Get down at Eratupetta and catch St Antony which will take you to kattapanna’
Waitress: ‘St. Antony :-O ?
MK: “St.Mary’s would take you as well…but its limited stop and you will have to pay 2 rupees extra”
Waitress: “Jesus Christ!!”
MK: “oh…no...no…Jesus stopped running that route after a labour dispute”
*THUD*
MK: “Dennis ey.. why did this lady just collapse? I am surprised she knows most buses running in Kattapana!!”

Sensing the danger of keeping MK in NY for long, they start a pan-american tour…Mt. Rushmore….Niagara falls….and finally they reach the west…Surprisingly MK was quite unresponsive seeing the places and never did say “wow!!”. He was promised by Dennis that he would be shown the most stylish addresses around Los Angeles...Dennis was sure that this would impress Mandankunju big-time....

And they reach Long beach one of the most coveted residences in the states.....The huge mansions...and movie star homes would surely impress anyone....But MK wasn’t talking much...

Dennis (gloating): .“so...what do you think....“
MK: “nice..“
Dennis: “Just nice...?“
MK: “hmm...yeah...”
Dennis: ”duh”
MK: “see...Long beach actually means neendakara ...I mean it reminds me of Kollam“
Dennis (cant believe it!!): “oh please...........“
Dennis: “and so it means…“
MK: ”and so?”
Dennis: “and so the place i took you yesterday??”
MK: “Rocky mountains…yeah...that reminded me of Parassala!!“

Legend as is Dennis was so frustrated that he later took MK to the epicenter of the Meteor Crater in grand canyon and ran away as fast as he could …! And MK’s American Dream was cut short by the unplanned ‘pit’ stop.


* lets buy the chap atleast a coffee.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

HOME

Please do spare some time to watch this amazing movie...and share it with others..


P.S. Its available in high definition format in youtube at http://www.youtube.com/homeproject and a better experience to watch it there...

P.P.S. Would have been great if it was accessible to our schools...

Sunday, June 14, 2009

30 reasons Why you should not/should get hitched to a bureaucrat!

Way back in 80’s the most coveted bride or groom came from the civil service department of the government of India. Possessing one was an equivalent of having an i-phone in the 1980’s…. It was license to privileged access to siren cars, golf clubs, kennel clubs, cat clubs, underprivileged beauticians club and other such humanitarian clubs…Even though it still has the good old charm there are potential problems which you will have to face in case you are planning to live with one of these as our Kottayam bureau reports...and esp. if he/she is from the foreign services…

1) The relationship would be strictly BILATERAL in nature…well that’s good..!!. ;-D

2) In case of conflicts with your partner you would be expected to come up with CONFIDENCE BUILDING MEASURES.

3) Your partner would not always prefer to talk to you but rather ISSUE A STATEMENT.

4) There is always a chance that you would be submitted to DIPLOMATIC PRESSURES to deliver the goods.

5) There is more chance that your partner would STRONGLY condemn your action for absolutely no reason.

6) It is highly likely that an EMBARGO would be placed in case you do excessive shopping and SANCTIONS in case of offensive behaviour.

7) The chance that he would take you to a PRESS CLUB on a date is very high…really high!

8) You won’t use the words dhobhiwalla, chaiwala, etc….but get used to calling people as home secretary, under secretary, chief secretary…..

9) You wouldn’t travel in any make of car besides the AMBASSADOR in your entire life.

10) You won’t ever find mistakes in your partner because he/she would always DENY THE ALLEGATIONS.

11) If your partner is angry there is a high chance that he/she would go into a DIPLOMATIC OFFENSIVE.

12) The only special friend your partner might have is the SPECIAL ENVOY from Jordan.

13) You would never stay in a hotel. You are likely to live in only two kinds of places…A house or a Guest house.

14) If you are the wife of the bureaucrat you would be invited to give prizes away in most schools in the city…you are just cheap celebrity. If you are husband of the bureaucrat you are not even invited!!

15) Your relationship at best would be described as 'WARM AND CORDIAL'

16) When your partner says “I want this file first thing in the morning!!” He/she means coffee.

17) No decisions would be made without a meeting and an APPROVAL from the boss even if it just meant changing the table cloth at home.

18) You ll never know how it feels like to fly in private airlines…Air India is what would take you up and occasionally down...

19) You ll never have friends by the name Kris, Shiv, John, Vishy….But you ll definitely have friends like Patilsaheb, Nairsaheb, and Subramaniam Iyer…


20) Your not sending the Tiffin for lunch might upset the bureaucrat more than the collapse of a Hydro electric dam...

21) Your bureaucrat is not aware that pen, pencil, paper, cello tape are products available in the open market. There are chances that you might have more than a hundred 2009 diaries delivered to your home before 20th of December 2008.

22) Your birthday gift if you ever get, would most likely be wrapped in RED TAPE.

23) Attending an All India Radio Sangeet Sangam at 6 pm and thereafter dinner at home by 8 pm would be classified as night out.

24) IF you have any regrets, it has to be conveyed THROUGH PROPER CHANNELS.(read mother-in-law)

25) Most gadgets at home would gather dust if you don’t use it since your bureaucrat usually has a strict NO FIRST USE policy.

26) Your partner considers you as a truly global PARTNER.

27) In the matter of family planning LUV WILL TAKE ITS OWN COURSE!

28) In case of family disputes, he/she is most likely follow a STRATEGIC POLICY of NON-ALIGNMENT with any stakeholder.

29) He/She would always take APPROPRIATE ACTION based on your RECOMMENDATIONS.

30) Your honeymoon trip would most likely be ON OFFICIAL DUTY and a reason to further bolster traditional ties.


Taking into account these factors are crucial before entering into a full diplomatic relationship and a happily married treaty. This report was submitted during an informal fun party hosted during the recently concluded Indo-Russian summit. In a later development, the top officials have categorically condemned the official report of the official fun party for having exceeded the limits of funniness an official on official duty is allowed in making fun of non-official matters.

Friday, June 05, 2009

Where are you from?

Some days in your life you meet people with whom you have a conversation and leaves you with a thought…”what heck of a person was that!!”

Recently I met this guy who is a colleague of my roomie and was visiting my home….

"Hi..I am Sivaram.. "

"Hi..I am Mathew "
"Where are you from? "

"Well..I am from Bangalore…but my native is in Chennai.. "

"So your tamil? "

"No….You know my father is from Hyderabad..but we are basically settled in Chennai.."

"So you are from Andhra.. "

"Well…my fore fathers come from Tipu Sultan’s family…My mom’s sisters father in laws great grand father fought for Mysore against the British…. "

"aaah...So you are from Karnataka… "

"Not really..if I have mention about my dad whose uncle’s uncle’s uncle worked for british east India company… "

"Aah..I see you are British.. " (time to get sarcastic)

"Hmm….no basically am from Calcutta…. "

"I should have guessed you have a striking resemblance to Tagore.. "

"Haha…my mom says so…but we were not from proper Calcutta….just near the Orissa border we……" (jesus..he doesnt get it!!)

"I see… "

"Btw..where are you from… ?"

*wicked smile….*
*you think I ll give you a monosyllable answer for that*

"Well…I am from kottayam…BUT baaasiccccally…………"

P.S. Sivaram now has gained remarkable knowledge about the Jews from Syria…

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Noah’s Ark Reloaded…


It was one boring day on Earth….Noah was on his way home after work at Apple horticulture Corp. which was a Fortune 500 silver coins company in Eden Park….The look on his face gave tell tale signs of someone preoccupied in deep thoughts...Would Mrs. Noah forget the capsicum toppings in the Pizza? He was ofcoz in agonizing curiosity….


And then out of the blue after a brilliant flash of light….the Lord appeared…

“Hey Noah...How you doin…seems like something is bothering you…You haven’t even bothered to shave for last 600 years”


Noah wanted to tell him about the pizza. But that would be stupid…

“Thank God...you finally showed up….I have been thinking of writing a mail …blame the slow bandwidth…..infact lot of burning issues down here…the Niagara project which you started is still incomplete and falling into an abyss…are you planning to leave it just liked that? And that sun…it doesn’t work after sometime…probably you could have a look at the timer…But I simply loved your idea of creating France...I was always confused where to go for my wine!! :) ”

“Noah….stop it….listen to me now...I need to tell you something very important…”


*cough…cough…*
*clears the throat*

“Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens….”

That’s when Noah interrupted…

“ahem...ahem...excuse me lord…let me just get my calculator its kinda getting difficult…brb”

“OK…get it fast… I got to finish few planets in galaxy 747.”

“And thou shall thy….”


“Excuse me once again lord…Could you read the dossier in American English…am sure you know... err… how to…”

“Noah…this is absolutely ridiculous…how many time have I told you it aint cool…dude you need to grow up and behave like the captain of a ship….you have one damn big job coming…a few months from now you gotta build one helluva big ship and stuff it with animals….”


But lord am not quite the engineer…Moreover the ship building courses in Cochin are very expensive…last time they asked for a huge capitation fees and a recommendation letter from Aramana ”

“oh...I ll take care of that...it’s my job…”

“But Lord what the heck is this all about…are we going for one big picnic or something?”

LOL…you have no idea what’s coming… For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will destroy from off the face of the earth.”

Now Noah is all excited and beaming…

“Holy freaking……….you gotta be kidding...aren’t you?”

“Noah...I told ya before...no swear words….”

“oops...am sorry…this sounds all exciting…You know what? I think I just made a little rhyme after hearing your grand plan...I think I ll teach junior some day….RAIN RAIN EVERY DAY...COME AGAIN ANOTHER DAY…hahaha...howzzat...”

“That’s nice…but I have no time for rhymes…let’s get to business….Before you board the ship any declarations…medical or otherwise...”

“Well...I kind off got sea sickness ...forty days out ..hmm…would have been nice if we could anchor somewhere in between...”

“Nope…But after forty days we would probably be docking at Cochin…”

“That’s suppa…actually I have one of my ancestral homes there…Noahparambil …you might have heard...…”

God was focused and he wanted to finish the task as soon as possible and update his excel.

Any questions?”

“Yeah...one actually… I remember while casually looking at one of those “Plan 1900-2000 Earth affairs” you have mentioned a ship that’s gonna get stuck in a iceberg or something...Do you need a double hull steel protection in case you overlooked….”

“Noah...you are getting naughty by the day…how dare you peek into my future planning files..!!.”


Noah gives a wry smile which was though not visible under the mounds of overgrown facial hair …He swore in the name of Adam never to repeat the mistake…

The Ship was soon constructed and a pair of each living being was retrieved from Mesopotamia zoo, Harappan zoo and some rare species from the Trivandrum zoo… And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

Day 36……….The alarm is struck…

“Sabbath …. Sabbath …Lord are you there?”

“C’mon Noah…Just four more days to go…”

“err…Lord…no….actually there is a minor problem….I had this virus attack in the Ark’s GPS system ...and had to run the anti-virus scan…”

“So…?.”

“It warned me that it would delete all the Trojans…”

“So…?.”

“And….And I agreed”

“C’mon Noah, get to the point…”

“I can’t find the horses in the stable anymore…”

“Damn it Noah!!” hmmph!!


*Ark program rebooted*


*post is tribute to Bill Cosby whose sketch on the same is here..*

If you like classical music listen to this awesome piece by Pachelbel

Friday, May 22, 2009

Why Indians don’t invent stuff?

Wright brothers… Henry Ford...Steve Jobs…Bill Gates…Names that are synonymous with creating new products and novel ideas. People who have influenced and changed the way we live in current times… People who created trends more than trends creating them!!

When I was a kid I used to look eagerly into the list of inventors in the year book hoping to find some Indian names in the long list sprinkled with western names and to my disappointment I rarely found any each time …

Now looking back I wonder ….Why are Indians simply not creators or inventors…Are we a people good only at re-engineering or reverse engineering? Are we proficient only at following instructions from others? Are we good only at adapting existing ideas and tailoring them to Indian needs? Does it surprise you that very few Indians come up with something original or something that changes our lives….Now I know we invented the zero and all that…But really??

Of late, I receive forwards about some Indian whizkid in the university of Stanford/ Harvard/ MIT creating something extraordinarily futuristic or one of them keeping the listeners spell bound in appreciation at one of those TED talks…They are inventors of own making and excelling in ‘American’ universities or research institutes….Creators of innovative ideas that capture the present day technology gurus!!

The answer definitely points to our education system…We might be good at maths...our kids might memorize the multiplication tables at the age of 5 …our kids might know all the chemistry formulas…our kids might spell “competitiveness” before they enter school…. but all those glorious statistics pales in front of the creative endeavors our students indulge in…Rather the creativity was never encouraged during the formative years of a child’s education. In our system it’s all about the marks…all about the ranks…a mad rush to climb a ladder!

I am not sure how many of you feel the same way…But I believe our education system has become passé….A system which needs to be revamped extensively and shed its current emphasis on text book learning and memorizing capabilities…We are not allowed to think or challenge or reason with current science…How many students do get a chance to visit an industry in their school life…? How many students in our schools are encouraged to choose a vocation of their choice? How many schools give a child the chance to explore ideas of their own…? We have educators who plan our education policies which still rely on systems which are relics of the past!!

Our schools would do a lot good if they have a dedicated session for children to identify their interests and inculcate passion in them to explore areas which are truly their vocation…When a friend of mine told me that in Germany after school the students, the teachers and the parents have a meeting where they collectively help in identifying the career a child aspires to do, I wished we had such a method in place. Our colleges should encourage and reward innovative thinking besides the sessional marks or attendance…Simply the focus of our education system is on meeting cosmetic targets rather than real knowledge…I must admit myself as a product of such a system …

It also would need lot of changes in our teaching methodology…Probably our stress on competition is resulting in creation of half baked graduates….I remember the engineering entrance coaching days when everything was about short fixes, formulae memorizing techniques and very little stress on core science concepts….lab experiments would be a cliché if you think instead of experiments it was more of adjusting results to standards…Our engineering labs in college have machines older than 30 years and yet give the same graphs over the years…Ever wondered about wear and tear?

Its easy to say that Indian IT guys are dominating the world…Quite a lot of it is exaggerated. We merely have the numbers and at the end of the day we are in service industry…We are not product creators like Google or Apple…Great economies run on the backbone of strong product strengths…Just like cars are for Germany, Electronics are for Japan and arms for Americans (bad choice I know) there is an inherent core competency of these economies…Our IT strength has so far been service oriented and our product strengths are not definitely best in the world….when the Chinese are exporting cranes and heavy machinery we are still sticking to export of Banana chips and Mangoes…We export our steel to china and they make products out of it and make the margins…We are still the supplier of raw materials to the world and others are raking in the benefit..

As years pass by and the economy move forward breaking the shackles of recession we might progress with an impressive GDP growth. But I believe probably we would end up as a near developed economy which would be the World’s own human service provider. It would be frivolous to assume that we would one day stand among the most developed countries in the world with our current education system. That would need more than factory made children trained to memorize stuff and whose creative original ideas are nipped in the bud. I wonder whether our education planners are sitting comfy in the comfy stories of some Indian kid winning the spelling bee contest and thinking all is fine.

As our politicians and media praise the Nano for example and though no offence intended inspite of the revolution that it would bring to the average person in general I feel it would be farcical to rest on such laurels…Even if we can’t, we need to encourage the next generation to think new…to invent stuff which can make our country an incubator of new products and trends…When multi-national companies set shop in India with their R&D centers I wonder how much benefit our country is eliciting out of it...The system indeed needs drastic changes which unfortunately is brushed aside under the carpet of “everything is fine so far” belief…. The system needs to change the complacency we silently encourage in our kids…I hope someone is listening…