Random thoughts

Thank God that in India we have some sanity in form of the judiciary. Census 2001 categorizes housewives, prostitutes and other women who are not working in the organized sector as 'unproductive'. I wonder at the greatness of such minds! Haven't they seen the amount of work their mothers or grand mothers do in the house. Who would offer service 24X7 365 days (add one more for the leap year) without taking a pittance? Right from morning till late in the night, the women in the house see to it that all the residents' needs are fulfilled without thinking of their own troubles. I am a working woman and I openly say that I am more callous than my grand mother who was a non-working woman; my work does not allow me to give my family the same kind of time and attention that my grand mother devoted to her family. I live in a nuclear family and get irritated if things do not happen the way I want them to. My mother and grand mother lived in joint families and worked to keep all h...

In three week's time we'll be celebrating our 64th Independence Day with great fervour! All around the town, there will be gaiety and festivity. The loudspeakers will be pouring forth all patriotic songs: from 'Jana Gana Mana' to 'Vande Matram' and Lata's 'Mere Waton ke Logon...'! The tri-colour will be on sale every nook and corner and all cars and rickshaws will be decorated by one! But the real question is what are we celebrating? Independence. What is independence? The public during live interviews for radio and television channels makes tall claims but the reality is something different. Does being independent mean that we spit and throw garbage on the road and use the road as a urinal? (becoz its public space - belongs by right to the public to do anything and everything) Does being independent mean that we ignore traffic rules and drive as if we were driving on the highway without any care and concern? Does being independent mean that we follo...

Chand is a young man working in the store and purchase section of a government office. All purchases are made through this section and it is his responsibility to see that things are done in the manner specified by higher authorities. One day Chand told his mother that he was planning to buy a bike. His mother was very happy. After a few days, she asked him what happened to his plans of buying a motor bike. Chand, tired form work, said, "Mother, first the indent has to be raised. Once the indent is approved, an NIQ (Notice Inviting Quotation) will be floated and a time period fixed. After the deadline the quotations will be opened. At least three quotations have to be there, else the NIQ will be floated again. After the approval of the committee, the bike can be purchased." The mother was shocked, "Son, what is this NIQ and three quotations?" Chand said, "Mother, this is what life has come to: raise the indent, float NIQ, open quotations, send the purchase orde...

I need a break from some things and one of them is Bandhs. Bandhs are the in-thing in Patna as its nearly election time and each political party calls for a Bandh someday or the other. The funny thing is that two or more parties may want to organize a bandh on the same issue but they call for a bandh on different days in order to protect their individual identities. As a result on Monday we had the BJP-JD (U) combines bandh against the rising prices and on Wednesday, the bandh is organised by CPI(ML) on another raging issue: naxalism. I do not know what fun these parties get in organizing these bandhs. Don't they realize that such bandhs disrupt public life, lead to hugh economic losses (refer to TOI dated 06.07.10) and cause a lot of nuisance? When I was in school, I looked forward to these bandhs as it gave us a day off in the middle of the hectic academic year. By the time I reached college, bandhs of all types became the norm of the day and invariably we would have quite a numb...

Regionalism is one of the biggest challenges facing India today. We remember that we are Indians only on the 15th of August or 26th of January each year when we sing loudly and clearly the National Anthem standing in the monsoon showers or the chilly wind of January. On any other day we are Biharis, Gujratis, Bengalis, Keralities etc. All the feeling of oneness and unity disappears! The challenging task of changing the situation lies on the shoulders of the younger generation. Its high time that we crossed the barrier of region and started thinking of ourselves as being one. To this extent an important role is being played by the various National Law Universities and the new IITs (not to forget the old institutes) across the country. Most of the new IITs have students from regions other than their own. The presence of students from various backgrounds and different parts of the country lend these institutes a national flavour! One would be surprised to find that students defending thei...

NET or National Eligibility Test is conducted by the UGC and is a qualifying exam for future lecturers and researchers. With the 6th pay commission the number of candidates appearing has gone up but the number of candidates qualifying the exams has been pretty low. Does this mean that UGC NET is a tough nut to crack? Or are our students not prepared for such exams? well, in most cases the latter seems to be true. Students pursuing their Masters in Universities like JNU, DU clear this exam before completing their Masters. Some at places like BHU take a few more chances. But those at Patna University, Magadh University and other state universities seem to take forever to clear this exam. Where is the problem? Is the syllabus of the state universities not at par with that of the central universities? What are the teachers in the state universities doing in the classroom that the students are left terrified of the NET? What I have observed over the years and specially in the subject of Eng...

Today's newspapers again carry horrifying stories of killings supposedly called 'Honour Killings'. The question is what is honourable about these acts? To a mind like mine they seem to be bringing 'dishonour' upon society. Not delving into specific stories, one would like to focus critically on the reasons behind such gruesome murders. Most of these murders are related to the institution of marriage, specifically inter-caste, inter-religion, same-gotra marriages. And the reasons are sociological. Migration to cities, swallowing up of villages by cities has led to a disintegration of certain customs and traditions which were taken for granted by the earlier generation. Exposure to western culture and changes in life style has brought about a change in the attitude of the younger generation. Working in offices of MNCs one is not bothered with issues of caste or gotra. The choice of a life partner in such cases is governed by emotional and intellectual needs. This is ...