The Pure Bliss Of Blogging...

In the past few days I had been looking for a topic to write on. However I just couldn't find anything to my taste. While in the midst of this futile search, the simple truth hit me - I was driving myself too hard, taking it too seriously.

"This isn't the way blogging works, at least my blog doesn't work this way.", I said to myself.

Blogging in general and my style of blogging in particular stands for spontaneous and sincere thoughts, emotions and opinions.

All of my articles reflect what I feel about a particular thing, irrespective of the nature of the 'thing' or of the time elapsed since the 'thing' happened. That is why many a time my posts come a day or two after the 'thing' has taken place or at times never at all (The Earth Day or Varun Gandhi case for example). I know I sound like a hypocrite when I say so but these are incidents that

• I cannot relate to or
• Cannot give an opinion about only because I am not the right person to do so.

Many of us take up a hobby, activity or career that we feel brings out that spontaneity in us. However many us (especially in the case of a career) end up taking it so seriously, pressurising ourselves to perform and/or prove that we are so good at it, that we forget why we took up the activity in the first place. I was more or less on the same path until I came to this realisation.

During the time when we are engrossed in what we are doing, we forget all those who have helped and encouraged us and those who appreciate what we are doing.

I dunno if I was about to commit the same mistake or have already committed it. So as to be on the safe side, I apologise to all of you who have and will read my blog if you felt that I do not take into account my readers.

I will take this opportunity to thank my parents for instilling in me the love for words. I'll thank my very first reader and a dear friend Parag. Dear, If you hadn't been there to read my posts in my days as a beginner and encouraged me, I would not have written as many posts as I have today. Today my blog is followed by five excellent bloggers and kind souls who inspire me to keep on blogging. And last but not the least my readers and commenters who provide their valued views and insights. All I can say is that I am indebted to you all for what you do. This post is dedicated to all of the above. (This is the same speech that I am gonna give when I receive the 'Blog Of The Year Award', If I ever get one that is!)

To drive home the point that you, the readers, are an important part of this blog, I urge you to respond to blog posts (raves, rants, complaints, suggestion...just about anything will do). You can do that by either commenting here or (if that little comment box doesn't suit you) mail me at arjblogger@yahoo.com. I'll surely get back to you. Another thing you can do is rate my posts as they are published on a scale from one to five (look for the ratings just after the post ends).

Well it's time for me to sign off for now. Good night and have a great week.

Results Of Education

Pic Courtesy: bmaindia on flickr

I have just recovered from two long days of mourning, the reason - My exams results were declared a couple of days back and well, to put it simply, they weren’t upto my expectations.

However, a trip to the college today clearly showed me how pointless my ‘mourning’ had been. There were students who had fared far worse than me, a few buddies included! Some had even ended up with ATKT’s (KT’s for short, also known in some parts as ‘arrears’) ranging from one to a couple of ‘em to as much as KT’s in all subjects.

But I feel that the students of our college (irrespective of the number of KT’s they possess) are far luckier than those few who suffer from a lot more than just a bad result. I am referring to the horrendous cases of ragging that have taken place in the past week (and many other ragging cases that do not come to our notice).

Something that was considered a ‘ceremony of introductions’, ‘induction ritual’ or simply a ‘prank’ has become a game of humiliation and a chance to take revenge. Inspite of the fact that law prohibits the act of ‘ragging’, ignorance by the authorities at the colleges/universities tends to give the miscreants a free hand at crossing their limits. It is important to note that colleges in metro cities like Mumbai take strict anti-ragging measures and are more successful at preventing it (not completely of course) than their counterparts in towns and villages.

The ignorance exhibited by the authorities (that includes professors, lecturers, principals, deans, etc.) towards cases that could have grave consequences does not surprise me though. That’s because that’s what they usually do - ignore the students and in turn ignore their needs and requirements. Other than a few exceptions, I personally have never come across a professor in college who really takes any kind of interest in his/her students. I mention this because taking interest or at least showing it is the first step to successfully urge a student to take interest in a subject. The next would be to try and make the subject itself simple and interesting for the student, again an area where 99% of the professors fail dismally. So basically, everyone just needs an attitude makeover!

These are only a few suggestions, whereas we require drastic changes at university and collegiate levels if we are to achieve a strong, fair and sane education system. Unless this change happens, such incidents and pass outs like us (with or without our KT’s) would merely be a bad result of education!

An Eventful Week...

It’s been one helluva week!!! First the horrific attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, then the much talked about auction of Gandhiji’s memorabilia and last but not the least a week-long class tests in college (yes, class tests do count as catastrophic events especially since I hadn’t studied for ‘em).

When I first heard the news about the attacks on the Lankan team from a friend, I was attending regular lectures in college, the news was so unbelievable that I laughed it off as a joke until he showed me the headlines on his GPRS. This only shows two things -Pakistan is being crapped at, by the very terrorists to whom it had been giving asylum to all these years and no one, I repeat, absolutely no one is insulated from terrorism.

Talking about the auction…all I can say is that the whole thing, it seemed to me, was full of irony. Irony no.1: A country, a government and a society that does not even come close to achieving Gandhiji’s objectives or following his principles stakes claim over his possessions under the excuse of ‘protecting the nation's heritage’. Irony no.2: The government that pledged to ‘rescue’ the Gandhiji’s possessions could not even delay the auction. Irony no.3: A man with a personality and lifestyle completely opposite to that of the Mahatma’s, succeeds in ‘rescuing’ his possessions.

Well, about the class test. Ahem! I sincerely think we should skip that part.

Before I sign off, I would like to wish all the lovely ladies in this universe a very Happy Women’s Day (I know I’m late but please do accept my wishes along with my humble apologies).