I came across this article by Praful Bidwai. He wrote some nonsense about starting point of an upper caste individual versus that of a backward class individual. Perhaps Mr.Bidwai lives in 1950s where such things existed. But today in India, an OBCs starting point is much ahead.
To quote him -"S/he(upper class student) can always call 'Uncle' so-and-so in the civil service, judiciary or the medical profession to get useful tips" That is what my argument is about - Create academies, info kiosks, computer centers and bring up the level of OBCs and dalits, information and access levels. Buy books, improve quality of education. If they cannot travel to the examination center, arrange for buses. If they want extra scholarships, arrange for that. Then they can compete with anyone on their merit.
Dont send them into the educational institutes without merit or level of IQ (or similar parameter) same as others. That will make OBCs and Dalits second class citizens.
Dude, these are Globalization days where students need to compete with others in cut-throat competetion. Even Dr.Ambedkar must be moaning at the half-assed ideas of Mr, Bidwai, Arjun Singh etc.
Supreme court thinks that the students should stop their agitation. That is unfortunate. Govt will create yet another committe and somehow will implement this amendment. That is exactly what Govt wants to achieve. We have to see how this will turn out.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Monday, May 29, 2006
Parasailing in Clearwater Beach, Florida is a wonderful experience. We wanted to do something different from ordinary on last Sunday. We hit the road that leads to the busy beach at 4 PM. After few minutes of haggling, we got a good deal 60 USD per person for 12 minutes in the air, with couple of dips. After we sailed into the choppy Gulf on a small but powerful parasail boat, we got into the life jackets . Then they hooked myself and Sandhya into the parchute and slowly released us into the air. The tow line is 800 feet and they lets us up all 800 ft. The areal view of Clearwater beaches is amazing. We were lowered couple of times for dips and drawn back into the boat. A great experience. 
Youth For Equality
Youth For Equality Movement
The student group fighting against increasing reservations in India. Based right in the capital New Delhi, this group has overwhelming suppory of millions of individuals, students and groups.
I support this group whose fight is equality. Period.
Also check the article by Subash Kak
The student group fighting against increasing reservations in India. Based right in the capital New Delhi, this group has overwhelming suppory of millions of individuals, students and groups.
I support this group whose fight is equality. Period.
Also check the article by Subash Kak
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Photo Practice - Ambient Light
I am trying to practice how to make good pictures using ambient light after seeing great pictures taken by Ken Rockwell. Last monday, when I was returning back from workout I saw beautiful sky. I rushed in and took my camera out and started shooting. I could get mediocre results. Next time, I will try to time well. (and keep my tripod ready. I dont want the blurry shots anymore).
What I like about Ruby On the Rails?
I came to know about Rails framework and Ruby language when Martin Fowler mentioned about Rake (sometime during Aug 2005)
I was in a state of denial for more than 6 months because I felt that Java is good enough to do anything serious or silly on most of the platforms. But I could not resist to see what is there in RoR and why such a vibrant community is building up.
I promptly downloaded InstantRails, RadRails Eclipse plugin and started playing with it.I found that Ruby is a wonderful language. Notation is simple enough to be understood and it is a very natural language. I felt like communicating with the computer in a very natural way. Keeping the language aside, I see the real power comes from Rails framework. It is a classic MVC framework and combined with smart domain objects (or ActiveRecords) Check MartinFowlers Pattern and a variety of generators.
Some of the cons of RoR is lack of support for Sybase Database Drivers. Sybase in spite of low market share, has a significant presence in market. I am checking RubyForge (Kind of SourceForge for Ruby) for other useful frameworks.
Overall it is an interesting alternative. I will explore more...
I was in a state of denial for more than 6 months because I felt that Java is good enough to do anything serious or silly on most of the platforms. But I could not resist to see what is there in RoR and why such a vibrant community is building up.
I promptly downloaded InstantRails, RadRails Eclipse plugin and started playing with it.I found that Ruby is a wonderful language. Notation is simple enough to be understood and it is a very natural language. I felt like communicating with the computer in a very natural way. Keeping the language aside, I see the real power comes from Rails framework. It is a classic MVC framework and combined with smart domain objects (or ActiveRecords) Check MartinFowlers Pattern and a variety of generators.
Some of the cons of RoR is lack of support for Sybase Database Drivers. Sybase in spite of low market share, has a significant presence in market. I am checking RubyForge (Kind of SourceForge for Ruby) for other useful frameworks.
Overall it is an interesting alternative. I will explore more...
Friday, May 26, 2006
10 steps backwards....Kill Merit
India was a castist society. Naturally some castes were socially downtrodden. Hinduism, particularly priest community (brahmins) and ruling classes like Kings, Reddys, Chowdaries did nothing special to reform the society as it served their vested interests.
When India became independent in 1947, some polititians like Dr. B.R Ambedkar wanted a quick means to uplift the downtrodden and bring them to mainstream society. The scheme they devised is "Reservations in jobs, education etc". It definitely did wonders and would have worked well if vested polititians did not meddle into the process. All these years, constitution was ammended multiple times and the % of seats allocated to dalts/ OBCs are increased. Most of the times to create vote bank politics.
Did these reservations achieve what they are supposed to achive. I say yes and no. Today there are 3rd/ 4th generation backward caste families enjoying the reservations even though they are in a socially enviable position than many other forward caste families. Personally I know many OBCs who are much much wealthy (some are millionares), but will bypass the merit and enter educational institutes through this short cut. Dalits is a different issue. They may need more reforms (not necessarily reservations).
And there is no dignity in a Dalit/OBC student entering an IIT with 25% less score than their forward caste counterpart.
I feel Dalits and other backward caste communities should fight against the Indian Government policy and demand dignity, respect and provide equal opportunity. They should demand world class primary education, health benefits and financial security, scholarships.
To add more fuel to the fire, Congress politicians from AP are trying to create some quota to Muslims.
Respect merit.
Save Dalits/ OBCs dignity.
Don't become vote banks.
When India became independent in 1947, some polititians like Dr. B.R Ambedkar wanted a quick means to uplift the downtrodden and bring them to mainstream society. The scheme they devised is "Reservations in jobs, education etc". It definitely did wonders and would have worked well if vested polititians did not meddle into the process. All these years, constitution was ammended multiple times and the % of seats allocated to dalts/ OBCs are increased. Most of the times to create vote bank politics.
Did these reservations achieve what they are supposed to achive. I say yes and no. Today there are 3rd/ 4th generation backward caste families enjoying the reservations even though they are in a socially enviable position than many other forward caste families. Personally I know many OBCs who are much much wealthy (some are millionares), but will bypass the merit and enter educational institutes through this short cut. Dalits is a different issue. They may need more reforms (not necessarily reservations).
And there is no dignity in a Dalit/OBC student entering an IIT with 25% less score than their forward caste counterpart.
I feel Dalits and other backward caste communities should fight against the Indian Government policy and demand dignity, respect and provide equal opportunity. They should demand world class primary education, health benefits and financial security, scholarships.
To add more fuel to the fire, Congress politicians from AP are trying to create some quota to Muslims.
Respect merit.
Save Dalits/ OBCs dignity.
Don't become vote banks.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Minimalism
I feel that most of the problems could be solved by adapting minimalism in our life style. It starts with simple things in life.
Take for instance, cell phone. Why buy a phone with 120 features which we may never use in our day-to-day. I agree a cell phone should have a good phonebook, caller list, > 1MB camera, bluetooth. But why that crappy currency controller.
I see some of the projects picking an app server even if the current and future requirements doesnt demand? While picking something like JBoss which can be slimmed down is a good choice, why go for a full stack J2EE container for creating a read-most website with few CRUD ops?
Minimalism means wearing less jewelery, going for unbranded quality apparel, eating less fat, less cal food, using bike for pedalling to work instead of driving a full-sized SUV burning adding to global warming, using less resources and conserving.
It may sound a step backwards and going back into stone age. But it is a step in the right direction. True power and progress means not wasting when there is no need. Artificial needs created by marketing buzz should not control one's life.
Take for instance, cell phone. Why buy a phone with 120 features which we may never use in our day-to-day. I agree a cell phone should have a good phonebook, caller list, > 1MB camera, bluetooth. But why that crappy currency controller.
I see some of the projects picking an app server even if the current and future requirements doesnt demand? While picking something like JBoss which can be slimmed down is a good choice, why go for a full stack J2EE container for creating a read-most website with few CRUD ops?
Minimalism means wearing less jewelery, going for unbranded quality apparel, eating less fat, less cal food, using bike for pedalling to work instead of driving a full-sized SUV burning adding to global warming, using less resources and conserving.
It may sound a step backwards and going back into stone age. But it is a step in the right direction. True power and progress means not wasting when there is no need. Artificial needs created by marketing buzz should not control one's life.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
My photography, gear etc
I am an amateur photographer and I am a serious amateur. I love the art as well as technique. My trips exclusively for photography are
Yelagiri Hills (2003 Feb)
Moonar (2003 June)
Everglades (2003 Dec and 2004 May)
New York (Nov 2004)
Niagara Falls (Oct 2005)
Clearwater, Caladesi Island, Honeymoon Island, Fort De Soto Part etc
Numerous trails in and around Tampa
I was using film (Nikon F80) until 2004 December. Then I got serious in digital and went for Nikon D70.
For the best source of reviews, technique and cameras you can check the site
Ken Rockwell
Ken Rockwell's passion for life reflects in his work and in his website. He never hesitates to call spade a spade. I recommend to bookmark his site. Also support him by donating however smaller/ bigger you can. I know how hard it is for one individual to host a website and keep it current.
Yelagiri Hills (2003 Feb)
Moonar (2003 June)
Everglades (2003 Dec and 2004 May)
New York (Nov 2004)
Niagara Falls (Oct 2005)
Clearwater, Caladesi Island, Honeymoon Island, Fort De Soto Part etc
Numerous trails in and around Tampa
I was using film (Nikon F80) until 2004 December. Then I got serious in digital and went for Nikon D70.
For the best source of reviews, technique and cameras you can check the site
Ken Rockwell
Ken Rockwell's passion for life reflects in his work and in his website. He never hesitates to call spade a spade. I recommend to bookmark his site. Also support him by donating however smaller/ bigger you can. I know how hard it is for one individual to host a website and keep it current.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
JNTU Engineering College Anantapur
I am an alumni of JNTU College of Engineering, Ananatapur, AP, India. When I joined MCA program in late 1996, the college was in pathos. Infrastructure was bad, library was pathetic, lecturers were average, students used to be divided into Reddy and Kamma commmunities. Scheduled castes used to live in a separate hostel block called Yellow Block (YB). There used to be caste associations amongst students with strategic support from some professors. It used to be everything that an educational institute cannot be.
(I liked the hostel food particularly breakfast used to be great..yummy)
I heard that things improved by leaps and bounds now. It is perhaps due to IT boom, opened up industry-academia partnerships, improved placement record etc. I wish all current and future students great luck and like to see that historic institution back to the state it used to be few decades back. (it is one of the oldest engineering colleges in India).
(I liked the hostel food particularly breakfast used to be great..yummy)
I heard that things improved by leaps and bounds now. It is perhaps due to IT boom, opened up industry-academia partnerships, improved placement record etc. I wish all current and future students great luck and like to see that historic institution back to the state it used to be few decades back. (it is one of the oldest engineering colleges in India).
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