EK CUP CHAI

It has been a while I wrote something here. But today something happened, something really shameful.

Tasleema Nasreen, the author of Lajja has been taking shelter in different countries after a ‘Fatwa’ was issued against her for writing Lajja which brought out the shameful acts of people in the name of Islam. Recently she shifted to Kolkata, very near to her homeland, Bangladesh, just to have the feel of her home. Kolkata is a place where they talk Bengali, like they do in most of Bangladesh. She thanked India for letting her live very close to her homeland. HOMELAND! Huh.

She was in Hyderabad, the city of Tehzeeb, to release her new books. Tehzeeb is an Urdu word for ‘cultured’. Actually cultured doesn’t really explain the complete meaning of Tehzeeb. That’s the richness, the language that belongs to thousands of Muslims who live here. Unfortunately, Hyderabad’s representatives didn’t live upto the name! And when I say representatives, I mean those who got elected by the people!

Three MLAs of MIM, an out and out Muslim political party, not only disturbed the book release, they hit Tasleema Nasreen, the guest of India, with whatever they could. They shouted slogans against her, someone issued another Fatwa against her. I wouldn’t have minded if it were stupid religious fanatics. They were MLAs, representatives of people and democracy of India. What a shameful act it was to see the news with one of the MLAs actually lifting a Chair to hit Tasleema.

They have been arrested, and soon will be released. Just for your information, a bomb was blasted in Hyderabad. It was said to be planted by Muslims in order to kill Muslims, so that there would communal riots. The plot failed, and Muslims who understood the plot lashed their anger on MLAs of MIM, who were there to show fake support to the already hurt people. Today’s act not only gives these MLAs huge respect from the society of Muslims, but they have earned their name back. Nothing will happen to them. It will be the usual thing. News media will cry foul, interviews of Tasleema will be taken. And soon all will be forgotten in the name of Celebrating 61st Independence Day of India.

Wow…what a great example this incident(?) is to portray true Independent India. It shows the truth.A truth that puts our heads to shame…what is the meaning of shame…Lajja…(ha ha ha…how ironic).

And for Tasleema Nasreen, what can I say. It will be another page of being scorned for saying the truth about the darkside of religious fanaticism. People tell me that religion is a way of leading a life, and that incidents like these are because of people not because of religion. They tell me that religion is not created by human beings but by God. Huh…I just wonder if human beings can be violent…cant religion in itself be violent! But who cares about all this stuff.
Remember, the last article on ekcupchai was when the Cause had attacked last time. This time it just caused another wound. We will only try to solve the wounds here…not the cause behind it. We will say a huge sorry to Tasleema and also see to it that the MLAs are released. All wounds will be healed, until the cause strikes back, and it will strike back reminding us of acts of shame!

The Government of Andhra Pradesh, India will make it compulsory for the students of Class X to attempt answering a moral science question. Wow Moral Science and one question. It has not been made clear in what subject will this question be asked.
I like this idea. It is going to be a question for students who have been prepared for hundreds of hours on how to answer questions, by teachers who have been conditioned to make their students pass exams.

But imagine how would it be, to have MLAs and MPs write Moral Science paper. Just imagine a question: What is honesty? And guess how would their answer be:

“Honesty is the best Policy. I will see to it that this Policy will be put into practice as soon as I come into power.  I have always been honest in my life. It so happened one time that  I was caught in a murder case (or trafficking case or fake encounter case or  corruption) and I made sure that the judges acquitted after 7 years of long struggle. Hence Honesty is the best policy. Honesty is power and power is honesty”

Anyways coming back to this Moral Science Question, I wonder if it is required at all. Why do these stupid policies be put into practice. The fact that our education system lacks morals is a known fact (need example..most of our leaders have studied in India only). And anyways morals do not come from answering a question in a question paper.

I wonder when our policy makers will realize it.

Ian Chappel (or may be it was Allan Border) recently said, that one fine day Australian’s felt that not everything is right with Australian Cricket. So they started developing it. And then, what do you have. A team that is far beyond the reach of other teams, and a team that finds replacements to greats as if nothing had actually happened to the team. Result: It is the number one team in the world. Yes South Africa beat them once to the top slot, but only for few weeks.

And then there is this other side. A side that belongs to a country that was attacked by Nature (Tsunami in 2004 December) and that is still being attacked by LTTE. The Sri Lankan Cricket Board has had its share of selection problems administration problems. And yet Sri Lanka, had struggled hard. The beat whoever they could, and when they lost, they lost fighting…except of course Australia.

The winning Sri Lankan team has brought in a great UNITY in the people back home. LTTE had declared on Tuesday (April 24th 2007) there will be no attacks because Sri Lanka were playing the Semi Final!

Yes, it will be a wonderful finish if they can pull it off. It will be heroic.

But just north to Sri Lanka, a country that produces more money, and populace ( who call themselves fans) than any other cricket board is caught with up lack of  Talent. And then the person in charge, Sharad Power, the head of Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) makes a revelation. The revelation is shocking, because it is not only the truth but is also STUPID.

“Team Selection is influenced by the BRANDS that use the players to  advertise their products”.

The time I think is correct. Final between a country that made necessary changes accepting failures and the country  had only HEROISM to fall back upon. And then there is this country…with too much ‘easy’ money.

Well enjoy the match brethren. India never belonged to league actually!

If you see the comments I got from one person on this article, you will know what I’m talking about.

http://www.ekcupchai.com/2006/12/19/appreciate-small-things-to-appreciate-life/

Somebody said “…take a side man!” True. I don’t understand which side I belong to. But something caught my attention (and that was the intention) a hoarding with a picture of a woman, wearing a shirt with the one liner: “Get both sides of the story”. And if you don’t believe me, this hoarding advertises for a leading daily of Hyderabad.

It is assumed that there are only two sides of a news. I always thought that news is about facts. A fact is fact it cannot be wrong, or can it be right. But unfortunately media, today seems to have too many VIEWS than bringing out the correct NEWS.

But somewhere, it seems like people want views more than news. Yes, you value some people and their opinion helps bring lot of reason and logic in understanding the FACTS. But today there are more contradicting “views” than useful reasons. I’m not against media about this, but the fact that people look for a person’s stand on an issue is a funny aspect. Asking every other person to have a stand, is like ‘begging’ for an opinion, and this is called being objective.

‘Objectivisim’ is not in views, but it lies in taking a stand, and taking a stand comes out of core values, respecting the reasons and more importantly being open for a new insight. Unfortunately, being flexible is seen as a weakness.

And who cares about flexibility today, all we are but a bunch of cheap fundamentalists who stick to one baseless ‘view point’.

Come summer, school children have only one thing to worry – the final exams. While some overambitious schools will have finished their syllabus twice and revising it again, some schools try hard to finish off syllabus. Come summer, many children in towns have reason to celebrate their success, while those many in the villages think of quitting studies.

But then there is another group of students. Those who have just given their +2 or Intermediate exams have more reasons to worry. More or less at 17 years, these children, are more worried than future BCCI cricketers who have only 3 ads to work. These children face the deadliest of exams in their life – the entrance tests for admission into engineering colleges, and medical colleges.

The creamiest kinds get into IITs or AIIMS, the other kinds get into RECs or other JIPMERs Osmanias etc and worse ones in some rural engineering colleges or rural medical colleges. And in the end what happens. Well, this is what I found in one article online. The writer Tim Sullivan says:

“India has technical institutes that seldom have electricity, and colleges with no computers. There are universities where professors seldom show up. Textbooks can be decades old.

Even at the best schools — and the government-run Indian Institutes of Technology or Medical Colleges are among the world’s most competitive, with top-level professors and elaborate facilities — there are problems.

The brutal competition to get into these universities means ambitious students can spend a year or more in private cram schools, giving up everything to study full-time for the entrance exams.

Instruction is by note learning, and only test scores count.”

Apart from these test scores, all else doesn’t matter, whether it is your ability to innovate on newer ideas or for that matter even things as simple as talking on phone.

So what do we have in the end, well you have a growing economy, ditto like India as it is today – with more power cuts in the universities, and power cuts even in farms. And yet you have a growing economy.

A friend said, what good is your article if it only has to criticize. He was right, what good is this article. Indian economy will still boom. This article has no weight whatsoever!

Villages are the back bone of India – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

A typical village in India is just a macrocosm of this great nation called India. Read some strange things that happen here:

Indian cricketers’ stint has disappointed many, but this central west village of Haryana has shown their disappointment in a unique fashion. Uchana village panchayat has decided to ban the game, and received support of more than 25 other panchayats.

Mubarakpur, a town of Azamgarh District in Uttar Pradesh has another kind of support. Most of the residents are muslims, who can barely make their meets end with a salary drawn from their weaving. Now they support someone else… a man called Abu Salem. For some he is a God, no matter what his criminal records say.

Another village, Shakkar Nagar, named after “Shakkar” Sugar made at the erstwhile one of Asia’s biggest Sugar Factories – Nizam Sugar Factories Limited. I still remember playing here, with excellent Sugar Cane Juice to have. No amount of Sugar Cane produced in the region near was enough to save the Sugar Factory. The Andhra Pradesh government sold the factory off, because it couldn’t find enough sugar cane.

Today the great factory stands, stripped off its cult status, naked. I had been there a few years ago, only to find brought down houses, dried wells, and SC Colonies. Interestingly, in another village, on a road to a developing city, but in the same district, another Sugar Factory had come up, and it is able to find enough Sugar Cane.

I hear to the great development that India is making all the time. Al the speeches of the Finance Minister’s and others all rotates around IT, around taxes, around shares, around infrastructure, around electronics…only few times do you hear Villages, Development together.

The only other reason we hear about villages is when there is a child marriage and a news agency has nothing ’special’ to cover. Or when a woman is raped, or maoists kill someone or when there is an election.

So much for the backbone of India… I wonder when was the last time many of us had visited a village, not just on our way to some destination… but with the village as a destination!

Far from being the backbone of India, villages have become “Unwanted Hair” of India. Someday, the World Bank will offer us some cream that will finish them off! I love my India.

Reservations reservations reservations! Some people trying for it and some people opposing it. Mr.Prime Minister promising reservations and Supreme Court making strong statements. It is getting as dramatic as it can after the apex court Stayed the reservations bill.

Funnily all the Supreme Court did was ask for proper data, data that is new and more practical. But today Supreme Court stands to the naked truth, even after it said that it is only in India that people ask for reservations. That was a call for bringing out the self esteem of people. Looks like everybody has lost it.

So when everybody has lost what is so important to build a character, one can only say a prayer…in silence:

Where the mind is without fear of Reservations and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is not imparted, based on which caste you belong;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls called Caste;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit called using Reserved Seat;

Where the mind is led forward by men of ability, into ever-widening thought and action–

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
It will not happen. India has been sleeping for sixty years now, and looks like waking it up requires more than a Supreme Court’s strong statement, more than another Gandhi… it will only need a miracle…only a miracle.

The written examination format, especially for entrance into various formidable institutes like IITs or engineering colleges is rapidly losing its value. One of the foremost reasons for such a downfall is that a written test doesn’t always give a complete picture of the personality of a pupil (or a wannabe student).

I still remember giving examinations and joining one of the prestigious institutions of India, JNTU. In the first few days I found few of my classmates, grouping themselves in the range of ranks they got in EAMCET. That was not only funny, but in another way a complete tragedy as the students thought of themselves and others based on the ranks they scored. Of course, before a year finished that engineering examination model was all about reading few ‘particular’ books.

That was the scene almost a decade ago. And recently Managing Director with Tata Steel, B.Muthuram had said, “We are not likely to recruit them (IIT graduates) any longer”. Reason is IIT students rate themselves above the others, and the teachers they have had no idea what these students should be taught.

The statement coming from such a person should serve as an eye-opener for all those involved in building a better education system for Indian children. However, the changes can be easily said than done.

I have heard that National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad (known as NID) has a unique way of selecting students. After the initial written test, few selected students will undergo a series of interviews. These interviews are not very serious, but are so casual that a panel of teachers (and probably few senior students) get a fair view of the aptitude of the student. Unless the Aptitude and the course chosen by the student match, the admission will not be given. This was done a few years ago (I believe it has evolved to be better).

I’m not sure about the drop ratios of each of these national institutes, but I believe only those with better students and good teachers only will survive. Unfortunately today better students are those who have a better rank and good teachers are those who have too many degrees to their names.

It will be of a great help to the nation, if the IITs and other such institutes are given another criteria of selecting students, in addition to the written examination. With three more IITs coming in the next few years, it will be interesting to see, what kind of measure will be taken to improve the class of IIT.

I cannot get over this feeling of ‘anticipation’. I’m aware of it every moment, that I’m doing and every thing needs to be done so that I can finish things in time. And well I know why it is called fever! Fever, which will keep us aware of it all the time! But this I’m not talking of flu or fever. But ‘Cricket-Fever’…just cricket fever, this has caught to me big time.

Now call it my excitement or team India’s way of making things nerve wracking, this time around India-Srilanka match will be a killer. Yes it is going to be killer. I have read sometime back that few elderly people lost their lives after some tight ODIs. And this time it will be no different, unless of course Sri Lanka looks like it is receiving some bashing from the Indians. The more the Sri Lankan resistance, the more the number of bodies waiting to be dead.

Haa.. yes there will be hundreds of people across the world hoping to see Indian team in the next round; not just because they are Indians. Loosing India in the first round will be a huge loss to the ICCs treasury. Well, that’s not an issue here though.

And this match is going to receive the most number of views in the world cup, till the late semifinals, more so because this time around World Cup cricket will not have an India - Pakistan match! Yes there was a time when India and Pakistan didn’t meet in World Cup cricket, but then the crowds weren’t as much frenzied by the developments in media.

But looks like it is going to be one great day for Asian cricket. And just for your information, India has beaten SriLanka in the world cups 3 times, while Srilanka beat them twice (in India 1996.)

Will India beat them the fourth time, or pack their bags to home?

“Fate it seems is not with a sense of irony” – this dialogue from the movie The Matrix holds 100% true for General Musharraf! After the great political coup which Nawaz Sharif initiated and Musharraf won, it seems Musharraf is fast losing trust by his own country men!

Pakistan has been violent, as much as any other country, only it was not against a group’s ideology against the other, it was one person’s ideology against the other. With this one person, were associated hundreds of people whose lives changed/ended overnight. Anyways, this is all common in all political coups!

But with Musharraf, things don’t look very positive! For a Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, it was corruption, and for a General Ali it was plain plot against his dictatorship. Yet, there is a sense of irony against poor Musharraf. The blue eyed boy of the USA until recently, Musharraf didn’t seem to do justice to his role, that would need to balance both the violent power(s) in his country, and also an incessant killer called the United States of America!

Neither did he foresee that Indian government’s uncleared nuclear pact the USA, nor did he know that bold statements in association with Iran, wouldn’t go well with Uncle (& Aunt) Sam!

Coincidentally (?) the democratic media ( or is it?) sought to fight it out this time. For somebody in the position of a dictator, mistakes are all common. But this time the media’s opposition was strong, in a mistake against the Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan. And unnecessarily, the media house was stormed.

Though this is a personal statement I’ve always believed that media, corporate and mafia work in a similar fashion. One cannot forget Mohan Lal’s dialogue from the film Company : “Sahab (or saamp?) ki dosthi jab thak jai, tab thak hain” (Friends with mafia (or is it snake?) is good only as long as it is good)!

Even this holds true for Musharraf. Unfortunately for him his life has become a bit too dramatic and cinematic. And in cinemas the villain’s are dead in the end! Who is the villain here is a different question. But who is going to end here is transparent!