Dear IITians

All these excerpts come out from drunken discussions of IITians from B and K, who sat with me drunk enough to speak only truth leaving all their inhibitions I don't know where.

IITians are different! They are different from other people. Not because they are brilliant, not because they got any extraordinary training, but because of the only reason that they "think" they are different.

IIT add something to you! It adds arrogance. It adds a spirit that you are always thinking you are on the top of the world. You don't give the world any damn. You think you are the best! You think no one can beat you. You think that you can win any damn contest, you can do whatever you want to, any time you want. Let me now talk straight to a typical IITian !

My dear IITian ! you are mistaken...you are not the only one. If that doesn't strike your mind, what I want to say, you are just an average student when you come to US and all of the other grad students are sometimes able to do better than you. Of course Manan would never agree to this but I know he is one of the best !

Typically, IITians are known to have done really well in all the fields but yes the training of IIT is not oriented to lead you to do any world class research.

IITians are normal but persons with hi-fi thoughts. They follow their dreams but dear IITian do you know that you have bounded your dreams in a box! You dream a big job which pays you 90-120 K USD. My sister asked me a few years back what my dream job was. Let me have you know what these IITians said. Damn !!!!! What the hell ! If you have a dream job, I say you don't know how to dream. If Bill Gates had a dream job, Microsoft would not have come into existence.

I will complete this soon. Check out later....:)

Happy holi to all...

Holi.....the festival of colours....the festival of joy....!!

This year I will miss it :( I remember playing holi till class 12th and then again not playing it for 4 years but I missed it always whenever I din't get to play that.














The celebration of Holi is very ancient in its origin. And by its very origin, it celebrates an ultimate triumph of the 'good' over the 'evil'. While, a feast of colors associated with the Holi, is the face of this celebration, the original reason of celebrating Holi, lies in its soul. And this gives us the 'why' of this ancient festival.














Literally "Holi" signifies "burning" in Indian language. But, how it came to be associated with 'burning', is a story. The reference is found only in ancinet Indian mythology. And It is the legend of Hiranyakashipu, who was killed by lord to whom the celebration of Holi is associated.

This legend is relived even today on the Holi-eve when the pyre is re-lit in the form of bonfires. Even today, people celebrate this occasion. Huge bonfires are lit up every year on the eve of the full moon night of the Holi to burn the spirit of the evils. Hence the story associated with the soul of the celebration.

Let us look into the face of it. How did the celebration of Holi assume a colorful face? Well, it is linked to yet another legend, the legends of Krishna. Though of much later origin, still, it was in the pre-Christian era.

It was Krishna, or, Krishn, the king of the ancient city of Dwarka, who popularised the tradition of Holi. The origin of the colorful and frolicking tone of Holi lies in the boyhood of Krishna. It all came up as part of his pranks, he used to play with his boyhood mates of Gokul and Vrindavan. Situated in north India, these are the places where he spent his childhood.







It was at this time of year, Krishna used to play pranks by drenching the village girls, with water and colors. At first it offended the girls. But they were so fond of this mischievous boy that soon their anger melted away. And, it did not take long for other boys to join in, making it a popular sport in the village.













Later, as Krishna grew up, the play assumed a new dimension. It added more colors to Krishna's legendary love life. The legend of Krishna's courtship with Radha, and playing pranks with the 'Gopi's. The girls in the 'dairy' village of Gokul were mostly milkmaids, and, hence locally known as the Gopis. The same tradition has transpired through the ages, turning it into a community festival of the masses. As time kept flowing, the culture spread roots to other regions of the country. The Holi play of Krishna is documented in hundreds of ancient paintings, murals, sculptures and scriptures found across the subcontinent.

For me holi is a festival of gujia which I am missing this year. I used to count them while eating...:)

I will play the holi with the paintbrush only...:)

Happy holi to all...my friends, all family members and all desi junta that is in US :)



~ R

ITBHU Convocation 2006- President's APJ Kalam's Address

Following is the text of the President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's address at the convocation of Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi held on March 3, 2006.

Evolution of Enlightened Citizenship

"I am delighted to participate in the Convocation of Banaras Hindu University in this holy city. My greetings to the Vice Chancellor, Faculty members, students, staff and distinguished invitees. I congratulate the students for their academic performance and staff for shaping the young minds.

When I am with you, I would like to recall my last visit to the Banaras Hindu University in the year 1991 when I was the Director, DRDL, Hyderabad, to deliver the Convocation address at the Institute of Technology of BHU. During the function the Chancellor of the University, the then Maharaja of Banaras, His Excellency Shri Vibhuthi Narayan Singh introduced me to the audience stating that I have come to the land of Ganges at Kasi from Rameswaram Agniteertam. There is a beautiful spiritual connectivity of Kasi-Rameswaram. Again, I am very happy to be with you today.

I am inspired to be in the land of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya a great educationist and freedom fighter, who founded this institution with a great vision. As you all are aware, this institution was conceived and established in 1916 when the British ruled us and we can imagine the challenges faced by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya in creating this institution. He is a man of indomitable spirit that is how that this great institution has become a shining star in the galaxies of the universities. This is a unique university for multi-disciplinary study; it has agriculture with vast farms, medical college with big hospital, having the disciplines of science, humanities, engineering including mining with many faculties and departments. Since I am in the University environment, I would like to discuss with you about the role of university in capacity building among our youth.

Capacity Building

A good educational model is the need of the hour to ensure that the students grow to contribute towards the development of the nation. Can we sow the seeds of capacity building among the students? There will be continuous innovation during the learning process. To realize this, special capacities are required to be built in education system for nurturing the students. The capacities which are required to be built are research and enquiry, creativity and innovation, use of high
technology, entrepreneurial and moral leadership.

Research and enquiry: The 21st century is about the management of all the knowledge and information we have generated and the value addition we bring to it. We must give our students the skills with which they find a way through the sea of knowledge that we have created and
continue with life long learning. Today, we have the ability, through technology, to really and truly teach ourselves to become the life-long learners. This is required for sustained economic
development
Creativity and innovation: The management of knowledge in the 21st century is beyond the capacity of a single individual. The amount of information that we have around is overwhelming. The management of knowledge therefore must move out of the realm of the individual and
shift into the realm of the networked groups. The students must learn how to manage knowledge collectively. When the information is networked the power and utility of the information grows as square as stated by Metcalfe's law. Information that is static does not grow. In the new digital economy information that is circulated creates innovation and contributes to national wealth.

Capacity to use high technology: Every student in our college should learn to know how to use the latest technologies for aiding his or her learning process. Universities should equip themselves with adequate computing equipment, laboratory equipments, and Internet facilities
and provide an environment for the students to enhance their learning ability. In the midst of all the technological innovations and revolutions we cannot think that the role of the teachers will be
diminished. In fact the teacher will become even more important and the whole world of education will become teacher assisted and would help in "tele-porting" the best teacher to every nook and corner of the country and propagate the knowledge.

Entrepreneurship: The aptitude for entrepreneurship should be cultivated right from the beginning and in the university environment.
We must teach our students to take calculated risks for the sake of larger gain, but within the ethos of good business. They should also cultivate a disposition to do things right. This capacity will enable them to take up challenging tasks later.

Moral leadership: Moral leadership involves two aspects. First it requires the ability to have compelling and powerful dreams or visions of human betterment. Moral leadership requires a disposition to do the right thing and influence others also to do right things.

In sum, inquiry, creativity, technology, entrepreneurial and moral leadership are the five capacities required to be built through the education process. If we develop in all our students these five capacities, we will produce "Autonomous Learner" a self-directed, self controlled, lifelong learner who will have the capacity to both, respect authority and at the same time is capable of questioning authority, in an appropriate manner. These are the leaders who would
work together as a "Self-organizing Network" and transform any State as a prosperous State. The most important part of the education is to imbibe the confidence among the students is the spirit of "we can do it". These capacities will enable the students to meet the challenges of our national mission of transforming the nation into a developed country by 2020. The education system in the university must aim to generate large number of entrepreneurs apart from those students who have an aptitude towards research."