Direct Connect ++

If you conduct a survey to find out what we would least like to part with here at BITS Pilani, the overwhelming majority would vote for DC++. For the uninitiated (or for those outside the campus), Direct Connect is a free peer-to-peer file sharing software which we make optimum use of. The institute has Ethernet based LAN on which this software runs. The precursor of this software was the age-old IP Messenger, which was quite prevalent till our first semester. I still don’t get the reason why our seniors realized the value and ease of DC++ so late despite the fact that it was freely available way before 2006.

IP Messenger (for the benefit of future batches at BITS Pilani who might only hear about it in folklore) is basically a messenger service over the local area network (LAN). So for instance if you wanted a movie or a song, you had to either buzz a friend or if you did not care a fig about other people’s right to live peacefully, you would spam by flooding your request to all those who are signed in (though at the risk of getting memorable greetings from those on the other side). What people generally did was that they kept a movie list.doc which they would exchange among friends. Such a process was obviously tedious but did not act as a deterrent for mutual exchanges.

When you are residing in a place like Pilani, you don’t have much scope for entertainment that our peers in the urban areas take for granted. All this translates into no decent places to hangout. Talking about malls or multiplexes in such a place would be considered blasphemous. Hence the few popular sources of entertainment, besides hanging out with your friends at C'Not, would be attending lectures of some select professor of your department (I’m sure every department has at least a couple of them.) or making optimum use of your processor! But as we value the fact that attendance is not compulsory at our college, we generally stick to the second source (though for the last few semesters, I have made good use of the first source as well!).

From a humble beginning of just over a 1 TB, the popular hubs today boast of a share size ranging between 20-25 terabytes and enjoy patronage of hundreds of its loyal users. If there is something that keeps us going strong despite our incessant test series and tutorials, it has to be DC++. It is our source for the latest flicks, songs, games, sports and what not! Though most of us generally don’t watch television here, we don’t miss it much either. A lot of what we want to see can be easily tapped from DC within a few days of it being aired. Similarly, new movies are put up on DC within a few days of its release. There have been some cases where movies were put up even before its official release date! That speaks volumes about the efficiency of our hub and the people who contribute in its smooth running.

One cannot justify this post without giving due credit to these people who untiringly work behind the scenes ( & their screen names ) to make the hub bigger and better with every passing day. Using primarily Bit-Torrent along with download accelerator (fill me in if you guys use anything else. I am no Tech freak as my grades in CP would vouch.), these facilitators download the stuff and share it on our local hub. Kudos to them for being so large hearted. May God Bless Them! It is because of them that even in a godforsaken place like Pilani, time flies and before you know it another semester is down. Over the years, DC++ has truly earned its epithet of being the lifeline at BITS-Pilani.

P.S.:The next time some one says something vitriolic about the hamlet you live in, throw back the share size at him and watch his/her face turn red with jealously( unless your friend is at another college which boasts of a similar share space)!

Emancipation

It’s finally over. Ah, the inexplicable joy! The tutorials and the test series have all come to an end, although ephemerally. To wake up almost every morning to give a tutorial or a test when you sleep late into the night is a harrowing experience as many will tell you. I suddenly feel so liberated. I can safely bet that no one understands the value of a free day more than us here at BITS Pilani ! Only the incessant test series and tutorials designed to make students go haywire make you realize how invaluable a single free day is: a day without alarms, tutorials and classes.

If I were given the option of deleting two words from my life today, those would definitely be continuous evaluation. For those outside this village (or is it a town now?), continuous evaluation is a system of incessant pestering used by instructors against students, especially those who do not cram regularly, using various innovative techniques such as surprise quizzes, assignments and tutorials. Rumors have it that such a system was initiated here to keep students engaged in this isolated non-descript place which offered very little scope of whining away time. But now with the advent of the invaluable little port in our rooms, do we need to be kept busy? No points for answering that! What else can be the logic behind this highly unpopular way of evaluation? Some would defend the system by saying that regular evaluation moulds students into professionals who are well versed in their respective fields and have strong fundamentals. I don’t know how many people would buy that as many IIT (except our poor cousins at IIT-Kanpur) grads are doing just fine without going through the rigors of continuous evaluation. And if we go by that logic, why not just have four test series? I’m not even thinking that far! When you just get some hours to read scores of pages out of the various tomes prescribed for our CDCs, one starts cramming rather than comprehending. Enough about how bad things can get here but on the flipside, an important benefit of this system is that if you get out of Pilani alive, you would most probably never commit suicide!!

The chilly mid-October breeze not just marks the end of our tests but also brings along with it, as a panacea, yet another edition of our much anticipated annual cultural fest, Oasis 2008. The fest this year is set to scale new heights with the likes of K.K. and Euphoria (& the girls from Dilhi of course!) coming down to Pilani to enthrall the crowds. If that doesn’t satiate you, the rock bands performing during Rocktaves definitely will. Check out this link on what’s new this Oasis. Another blessing in disguise that Oasis brings with it is the opportunity to return back to modern civilization. Most of the creatures who call Pilani home make optimum use of this opportunity and so will I when I board the 2310 NDLS PNBE Rajdhani on 23.10. So until then, Au revoir!

The Road to Success

Success is something that we all clamour for throughout our lives. A sizable chunk of our efforts is directed towards this end. However, despite our zeal to succeed, success does remain quite elusive. What is it that makes some people click while others fail? A lot of people will tell you that the path to success is marked by the dint of sheer hard work and effort. They will tell you that you just have to put in your efforts and success will surely follow, sooner or later. That statement does hold true but just sheer hard work won’t do. What a lot of us don’t comprehend is that success is also a mind game. With same amount of effort, one person might succeed while another might fail miserably in his endeavour. If we set a few things straight in our minds, the path to success might not be all that excruciating.

The initial and most crucial step to success is to start believing in oneself. This is where a lot of us go awry and hence miss out on a lot of success in life. Almost all of us heavily underestimate our competence and intelligence. We have a predetermined attitude towards things and it is generally not in the affirmative. Quite often, we believe that we can’t achieve or attain something even before we embark on the journey to get it. When you already are asserting to yourself that you won’t be able to do it, you most probably would not. Hence our attitude and outlook towards our goals should the first thing to go for a makeover. Believing that you will be able to achieve something is the first step towards achieving it. So from the next time you embark on a mission, start in the affirmative rather than relying on pessimism. Yeah, it is a tad difficult to implement at first but gradually it becomes a part of our system. We need to understand that negative thoughts and pessimism will not lead us anywhere while it would definitely erode our chances of succeeding. Positive thoughts do not cost a thing but go a long way in aiding us in succeeding in our efforts.

So would just optimism be enough to take us all the way? Nah, one has move a step further. Now that one is moving in the right direction, one has to decide where he or she wants to go. Unless you know where you are going, you will definitely end up elsewhere. Not knowing where we are headed is another big drawback in most of us. Quite a few of us have a fatalistic approach to life and we believe that destiny will lead us to our destined fates. This approach to life is a result of going about life aimlessly because without targets, whatever we achieve is by the grace of god. A fixed quantified target helps us visualize and sail smoothly through the path to success. A vague target generally makes the journey much more arduous.

Another very important ingredient for success in life is creativity. Being creative goes a long way in helping us achieve difficult tasks. Every person deals with a situation in a unique way but generally it is seen that most of us take the oft-treaded path as it is the least risky. Treading on a new path requires a lot more effort and patience as there are no signs to show us the way out but a person who takes old paths can never discover new destinations. Similarly, getting to higher levels of achievement requires us to be extremely creative.

One might ponder why all this is so necessary. Obviously, success has no prerequisites as such and one can succeed without having a fixed goal or without much creativity. The old adage that “Success breeds success and failure breeds failure” still has a lot of relevance today. Once we learn to visualize our goals and start achieving them with a sense of optimism, success will slowly but surely become an integral part of our lives.

Bihar : On the Cusp of Change

22nd November, 2005 is a day that people from Bihar around the world would remember for a long time to come. It was on this day that the fifteen year misrule of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) finally came to an end in Bihar. The electoral result came as a shocker to political pundits who had calculated that Laloo would be back with a bang after his successful attempt to dissolve the former State Assembly (the infamous assembly dissolution case involving Buta Singh). Blaming them would not be fair, as nobody thought that a former Union minister not really engaged in state politics would be able to occupy the Chief Minister’s office. The RJD supremo had the caste equation intact and had played all his cards well but as luck would have it, NDA stormed into power.

I still remember the day the NDA government was sworn into power. The election results came had come out in the morning. While returning from school, I saw that Patna was flooded by saffron supporters shouting out the slogan “Naya Bihar, Nitish Kumar." Their excitement was contagious. Despite not being really interested in politics, I was really happy with the outcome of the election as governance in Bihar had reached its nadir and the new government gave its people new hope. A lot of credit for all the positive changes I see in Bihar today goes to the Election Commission for ensuring such a peaceful and fair election.

The elections is 2005 was a story in itself. The Election Commission left no stone unturned in making the huge democratic process a grand success. In the round up to the elections, in a special drive of the state police (under the President’s Rule), about 26,000 people against whom the police had issued non bailable warrants were arrested. About 90,000 police personnel including 72,000 men and officers of the 450 Central Paramilitary Forces were entrusted with the duty of conducting free and fair elections. Armed with shoot at sight orders, they discharged their duties with élan. Not a single election booth was left unguarded. As if this were not enough, the IAF helicopters undertook special aerial surveillance to thwart any untoward incident. The unprecedented security cover gave the state a war zone look but resulted in thousands of people lining up for exercising their fundamental right for the first time.

Three years down the line, I think the paramount effort put in by the Election Commission has not gone waste. Today the state, which is usually seen lagging in all developmental index and parameters, is getting back on track to economic progress and prosperity. The first change that the new government brought in place was instilling a sense of security amongst its people. Before this government took over, anarchy and lawlessness prevailed throughout the state. Not a day passed without some one getting kidnapped or some businessman getting an extortion threat. People almost stopped flaunting any items of wealth for inviting the wrath of extortionists. The fear etched in the minds of the people even translated into declining sales and footfalls across leading stores. Streets were almost deserted by 9 pm and few wanted to venture out at night. The last few years under the RJD rule, the state saw hordes of businessman, traders and industrialists migrating out of the state. Lots of business houses and industries shut down and the economy was almost in shambles. The officials under the former government were helpless as most of the criminal activities had the backing of the ruling party. Every time some policemen or administrator registered a case against a criminal, he would get a phone call from the higher ups and he would have to let the criminal go scot free. The politician-criminal nexus was inescapable. This led to a lot of frustration and angst among the officers and lowered their morale.

If you have been to Bihar in the recent past, what you would find in nothing short of a complete turnaround. The fear etched in the minds of the general public has almost disappeared and has made way for what I would call a “feel good factor.” Kidnapping, once rampant here, has almost been stalled due to the freedom given to the police officers under the present regime. Now even at night, shopping complexes, restaurants and theatres are brimming with activity. The once deserted streets now see vehicles jostling for space. Shops are open till late, sales have gone up and restaurants which were on the verge of closure are going in for expansion plans. Even flaunting wealth is no longer considered a taboo.

After instilling a sense of security among its people, the government is striving to develop all sectors of the economy. The public spending has increased manifold. The amount that the present government spent in its development activities in the last three years is more than entire amount spent in the last decade and a half by the previous regime. The average economic growth rate and its GDP have almost doubled. Ministers can now be seen at their offices and their chief talks of development rather than just about caste. New roads and highways are being built in every part of the state. Spending on building roads has gone up from Rs. 50 crores in 2003-04 to Rs. 2200 crores in 2007-08. The crumbing infrastructure is being redeveloped. Buoyed by the recent initiatives of the Government, major banks such as the World Bank, ADB, DFID and JBIC have shown keen interest in the redevelopment of Bihar.

The state is also getting favorable support from the private players and big business houses have shown great interest in promoting investments in Bihar. In recent years, Patna has seen many major business honchos flowing in to identify business opportunities. These include the likes of Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Sunil Bharti Mittal and other corporate heads. Investments proposals worth thousands of crores have been cleared by the government. All major brands have ensured their presence in the state capital during the last few years. Many new shopping malls, multiplexes, hotels, retail majors and international restaurant chains are in the process of setting up shop in the state.

Even the education sector, once in shambles, is undergoing a transition. More than two lakh teachers were appointed recently. The drop out rate at the primary level has decreased to half its number few years back. In the last few years many national level institutes were established such as the Chanakya National Law University (CNLU), Changragupta Institute of Management (CIMP), BIT Mesra Patna campus, a National Institute of Technology (NIT), a National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and finally an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Patna. The process of setting up the Nalanda International University is also being expedited. Once completed, it is slated to attract global scholars for postgraduate and undergraduate academic pursuits in subjects such as Buddhism, philosophy and religion.

Although these institutes have just been setup, it will go a long way in giving a fillip to the academic environment of the state. Establishment of such colleges would also lead to sprouting of private colleges and will increase opportunity for higher studies in the state. More importantly, it will help Bihar immensely in its image makeover. When students from all over India come and study in Bihar, their impression of Bihar would certainly change and that would help improve the general perception of the state. I believe that people’s perception of Bihar has to change first to facilitate its rapid development. It will also help stop the exodus of Bihari students to other states for higher education. You will be startled to find out that until recently, every student with reasonable means took admission in a college outside the state due to dearth of any decent college within Bihar. That explains the huge number of students from Bihar in engineering colleges across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharastra. Bihar is losing hundreds of crores annually due to the annual migration of students for under graduate and post graduate studies.

Though Bihar is finally back on track, there is still a long way to go. Fifteen years of chaos and mismanagement cannot be undone overnight. Illiteracy and poverty are quite prevalent. The power generated in the state is not even a tenth of what it requires and hence power cuts are rampant. Floods are a recurring problem and the state has a huge debt riding its back. Only a fraction of the investment proposals have translated into industries being setup on the ground. Caste still dictates the terms in politics of Bihar. Though the man at the helm has a clean image, a lot of the ministers are more inclined towards politics rather than development. The huge task in front of administrators and rulers of Bihar would only be over when every person with roots in Bihar would proudly flaunt his origin and its people would venture out of their state only by choice and not by force. I’m eagerly waiting for that day.

The Kasauli Trip

It had been over a month into Practice School when things started to get slightly monotonous. Everyday had been the same schedule of traveling about an hour to and from Dwarka to Indraprastha and over that having absolutely no work at the training center. (Most of the journey was on the Delhi Metro, which in a lot of ways has changed the way Delhites commute. Had it not been for the Metro, it would have taken me more than double this time and exertion to get to my destination.) The only part of the day that I really looked forward to was the time we (trainees, were we?) spent at Connaught Place, which incidentally was just a few minutes away from Indraprastha.

It was to shrug off some of this monotony and to escape the hustle bustle of Delhi that I convinced my parents to plan a weekend getaway. After lengthy deliberations, we zeroed in upon Kasauli in Himachal. Kasauli is a hill station situated on the Lower Shivalik Range, about an hour's drive from Shimla. We preferred Kasauli over Shimla as it has lost much of its old soothing charm due to unplanned construction all over the town. In the wee hours of the following Sunday, we finally boarded the Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi Express. The glistening exteriors of the new LHB German-design coaches matched with comfortable interiors and the wide blinds-fitted glass panes on the sides gave the train a very modern look. Even the generally languishing Railway Police Force personnel on board surprised us by checking the entire luggage.

The All-New Shatabdi Express

The journey was quite comfortable and smooth and since we were in a group of about 10 people, time flew past. Winding through historically significant places such as Panipat and Kurukshetra, our train finally chugged into the Kalka station by noon. After alighting at the station, we took cabs for Subathu right away. Subathu, the place where we had put up, is a small cantonment town, home to the 14 Gorkha Training Command of the Indian Army.

Within a few minutes into the journey, we were already into the hills. The view of the pristine hills dotted with pine trees was totally breathtaking. Every few minutes, meandering through the hills, as if it were playing hide and seek, we would see narrow gauge tracks of the world renowned Kalka Shimla Rail ( it might be soon be accorded with a World Heritage Status). After a while, we stopped at Sanawar, a town on the Kalka-Shimla highway and had a sumptuous meal at a Punjabi Dhaba on the hills. Thereafter we took a detour from the main highway at Dharmpur towards Subathu. As we were approaching Subathu, we could see the army establishment looked quite like a resort from a distance. The place was far more gorgeous than what we had expected. The town on the one hand boasted of buildings dating back to the 1800s and on the other some buildings gave a modern look. The best part of this sleepy town was that it offered complete serenity and tranquility. The view of the surrounding hills from the cantonment is too beautiful to be penned down.

This quaint little town situated at an altitude 4500 ft also has quite a glorious history behind it. The main building of the erstwhile cantonment named Kennedy House, established in the early eighteen century (1822) is a national heritage building. Sharing the same honor is another building of equal significance known as the Vice Regal, an erstwhile summer retreat for the Governor Generals of British India. The 14 G.T.C. at Subathu, as I learnt later, is the training center for the 1st and the 4th Gorkha Regiments of the Indian Army. It is the only training command which is located at the place of birth of the Regiment. The Gorkha regiment, raised by the British Indian Army, way back in 1815 is one of the oldest in the country. It was quite surprising to find out that 40% of the posts in the Gorkha Regiment are reserved for citizens of Nepal ( Gorkhas have a considerable presence in Nepal).

The view of the surrounding hills from Subathu

In the evening, we took a stroll around the cantonment area. There are two popular trails in the town. One of them, called the Cheel Chakkar offered breathtaking views of the Kasauli and Shimla Hills. We watched the sun go down at the Sunset Point, another spot on the trail.

The next day we were off to Kasauli. The journey uphill from Subathu to Kasauli was quite exhausting. By the time, we reached Kasauli; we did not have the spirit for more adventure. So we just managed to touch Manki Point, the highest point at Kasauli, from where one can see the plains of Chandigarh as well as the Sutlej River. This hilltop is also the base for an Air Force Radar Station. On the way down, we took a stroll through the Upper and the Lower Mall Roads where the local market is located.

After having lunch on way back, we decided explore the toy train on the Kalka-Shimla route. For this, we then drove down to the nearest station, Dharampur. The station looked more like a small British bungalow than a railway station. As this part of the journey wasn’t on our initial itinerary, we asked the locals at the station about the next train. We just wanted to hop on even for a few minutes to experience the thrill of riding through the charming hills, tunnels and bridges and valleys which one encounters on the way. After enquiring, we found out that the reserved coaches are generally booked months in advance but we could try for the unreserved coaches. Not willing to miss a chance, we got tickets for Sanwara, the nearest station. The ticket cost us three rupees, the amount we pay for platform ticket these days! After waiting about two hours, we finally heard a faint whistle. We rushed to the platform, eager to grab the few vacant seats that we had expected but as luck would have it, we could not get in as there wasn’t even enough space to hop on. That was something that we really missed out upon.

A goods train @ the Dharampur Station

The remaining part of the evening was spent unwinding on the hills at Subathu. Every night at 14 GTC, we would hear the sound of a bagpiper being played at night. We later found out that playing of the bagpiper was an age old tradition that marked the end of day for the jawans and by that time the lights were put off in their barracks.

The next day, we had to catch our train back from Kalka so we didn’t have much time on our hands. We still managed to explore a small stream that day just a few minutes downhill from Subathu. The best part was that it was totally untouched and we had the whole stream to ourselves. The stream was just about knee deep and the flow was ideal. Despite being surrounded by hills on sides and an azure blue stream flowing right next to me, sorrow was slowly beginning to creep in when I realized that it was already time to bid adieu. What cheered me up eventually was the fact that the memories of the wonderful sojourn would be etched in my mind for a long time.

Play School I

The Pragati Power Station, New Delhi

It was with great enthusiasm that I boarded the metro from Dwarka towards Indraprasthra on the 22nd morning. It was the first day of our Practice School I (that is the internship we do after the 2nd year). Although it had started raining quite heavily by the time I got down at the I.P. metro station, it failed to dampen my spirits. Few minutes of wading through the waterlogged streets and I was finally at the IPGCL. The sight of some of my PS mates at the gate made me glad. We were not allowed inside by the C.I.S.F. guards as the permission letter was with our instructor who wasn’t there yet. Even his arrival could not ensure our entry as the person who was to accompany us inside had not come yet. It was finally about noon when we finally entered the power house. There was more in store for us even after we entered. The instructor told us that the we would have to wait for a few more minutes as there was no space to accommodate so many of us inside. Finally after wandering for another few minutes, we were finally seated in the “Training Institute,” a room on the 4th floor of the administrative block which had been lying defunct for months. The name gave me some hope that we would get to do something productive here. Here our instructor briefed the official who was accompanying us about our Practice School system. The official was taken by surprise when our instructor showed him a copy of the handout. He had wrongly inferred that the evaluative components were to be taken by the officials of the corporation and hence he was totally freaked out (He said it outright that all this wouldn’t be possible here). After some more deliberations, he summed up the conversation by an important revelation “After all, this is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) so don’t expect to get much out of it.” This statement gave me a rough indication of what was in store for us for the next seven weeks. Thereafter, he gave us a brief description of the organization. He told us that there were two power generating companies namely the Indraprastha Power Generation Corporation Limited (IPGCL) and the Pragati Power Corporation Limited (PPCL). These companies had four power plants under them. We were given an option to choose where we wanted to work. All of us unanimously chose PPCL as we were apprised of the fact that it was the most modern plant among the four.

Our next stoppage was the Pragati Power Station. The C.I.S.F. guards were here to bug us again as we did not possess valid passes. Getting passes made was the first thing we did after entering the administrative block. Even this task wasn’t as simple as we thought it would be and took us hours. For this, an official memo was created first which required the authorization of five different officials before it could make its way to the Assistant Commandant, CISF. It is due to such useless laws and regulation that the pace of execution of work in the government sector is so slow. After completing these formalities, we were divided into groups according to our branches. An official took us to our reporting officer, the Assistant Manager (Civil). We had quite an amusing interaction with him, on subjects as varied as coaching for engineering entrances to the new 1500 MW power project coming up at Bawana(don’t ask me where that is). Gradually through the conversation, we could decipher that there was almost no work for us here. He told us that there isn’t any ongoing construction work in the power house except for a small fire station and some regular maintenance work. He was quite amused at the fact that we were doing our internship here at IPGCL rather than at some top notch real estate firm (He was unaware of the fact that it was our institute that allotted our PS centers). After a few more minutes, he called in his secretary and told him to show us our cubicle. That is where I have been whiling away afternoons ever since! I forgot to mention the most important benefit of having your PS station at a government or a quasi-government organization : the flexible time schedules. People (that includes us now) start to fill in by about 11: 30 am and within an hour, it is time for lunch (I am still in a fix about when it ends, even people around are not quite sure !) and by the time you feel like working, the clock strikes five. What more could you ask for?

Tests Tuts Etc

That can sum up what I have been busy with for the past month or so. Despite having quite a bit to write about, I couldn’t even manage a single post. Though there are people on campus who keep churning out excellent posts despite all this, it is quite an uphill task for me. I feel like writing only when I am relaxed and don’t have to worry about a tutorial or midsem slated for the following day. And believe me, such days have been quite rare. Thanks to the continuous evaluation system we have here at BITS. It ensures that not a single day (well, Almost!) passes without an evaluative component. Most of us here, have overcome the fear that is generally associated with exams. It seems that the underlying purpose of our system is to ensure our leisure time is maintained at the bare minimum!

While typing this post, I was surprised to find out that the word blog is not recognized by Word 03. It’s quite difficult to digest this, given the millions of bloggers around the world today. The blogging fever has even caught on in our campus and now I don’t have to venture outside the college blogroll to read interesting posts. The number on campus has swollen from just about 50-60 about a year back when I started to about 200 (estimates). These days, I have regularly been reading quite a few blogs daily and they never fail to amuse me. Every blog is unique and provides a different perspective on an issue. Even reading posts on the same topic on different blogs doesn’t get monotonous. It is great way to vent out your feelings, views, beliefs, anger and whatever else you can think of. Keep blogging!

APOGEE 2k8

The Department of Sponsorship at BITS-Pilani is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that APOGEE 2k8 doesn’t fade into oblivion for a very long time. The techfest is poised to break all previous records in terms of the amount of sponsorship received. The budget allocation is about eighteen lakhs which includes more than ten lakhs of sponsorship money. The corresponding figure for last year, about seven lakhs, turns pale in comparison to the amount this year. The phenomenal rise was the result of the untiring efforts put in by the entire department. The publicity brochure that came out this year not just marketed events but also laid special emphasis on the design and project competitions and the categorization of projects. The quantum leap in the amount of sponsorship will translate into even more attractive prize money for the various events.

APOGEE 2k8 also marks the entrance of hordes of new sponsors besides the regular ones. For the first time we will be having an official travel partner, merchandise partner as well as a fashion partner. A substantial amount of money is being pumped in by Gold and Silver sponsors such as SAIL, Netapp, Infosys, Google and Wipro. Texas Instruments is chipping in by donating kits for Digital Signal Processing. The media coverage that APOGEE is and will be getting is also unprecedented. Chip Magazine and PC Quest, the print media partners are coming out with a full page advertisement on APOGEE in their respective magazines. Leading dailies such as Hindustan Times and The Times of India and media channels such as India TV and ETV have agreed to give extensive coverage to the techfest. Online forum Pagalguy.com is helping by putting up an APOGEE advertisement banner on its website. Though we still have a long way to go in attracting more participants, the results this year are quite encouraging. If we continue to put in such efforts, the day is not far when APOGEE will truly become a quality pan-India technical festival.

Politics

There is no denying the fact that politics is a dirty word especially in a country like ours. It is a word that the common man fears and the elite maintain a safe distance from. The political system in our country has gone from bad to worse. Today, we have a dearth of quality leaders. This is in stark contrast to the 1950's when our nation was teeming with leaders who had great patriotic fervor and acumen to lead us forward. The only thing that we find that most of our leaders have in common today is their criminal history. The very thin line that existed between a politician and a criminal is fading today and the criminal-politician nexus is inescapable. Quality governance is still a dream for most of us and it seems that it will remain just that in times to come.

Today, most of the educated youth (even those from the hinterland) would not want to join politics. The reasons are not very difficult to comprehend. The primary reason for this is that for fighting an election these days, huge financial backing is required which most of the people do not have. Here is where the criminals step in. Most political parties throw their doors wide open for these goons as they bring in the right mix of muscle power and money, the prerequisite of fighting any electoral battle. Some of these criminals demand a party ticket (to become an elected representative) and others just want the backing of the party if it comes into power. Political parties generally find it difficult to say no to such "lucrative" offers. A large part of the funding of the various parties is done this way. When a government backed by such unscrupulous elements comes into power, these goons get complete political patronage in return.

Hence our system ensures that the deserving people stay away from politics. A system of public funding of elections like that of the United States would change things for the better. This will pave the way for the honest people to join the electoral fray. The Lead India Campaign is a step in the right direction. What else could be more important for a country than having the right people to lead it? It is not that the country cannot afford to spend such huge sums on public funding but it is general lack of will on the part of the politicians. Why would they scrap a system that has nurtured them?

The Way We Learn

We keep on bloating about the fact that Indian students are among the brightest in the world. But have we ever thought how little our country benefits from that? India’s contribution to the world in terms of innovations & discoveries is miniscule. The sole reason for the above is that we are simply not creative enough. This is not innate in Indians, but the age-old education system here ensures that our creative abilities are put largely to rest. We see that many of our NRI’s are flourishing as leading scientists & research scholars in universities abroad. How is it that the same person does great abroad while in India, he gets nowhere?

Creativity and innovation are regarded today as the most valuable asset that a nation can possess. Despite all this, we are still stuck in the world of cramming and coaching classes. Our education system stifles all our creativity through rote learning. What we are churning out is just a huge workforce and not creative minds. Our education system was modeled on the British system but the British have moved on by introducing huge reforms, partly under the American influence.

If India has to really progress fast, it needs innovation, be it in the sphere of infrastructure, nutrition, education, administration or for that matter any other sector. So if we don’t want to be called a “Call centre Giant” perpetually, we will have to totally overhaul the education sector. Research will have to be promoted because without it no country can progress. Not only does research lead to innovations, but also (though indirectly) to huge investments. Companies pay exorbitant sums as royalties for using patents. Our government has always neglected research. The number of Ph.D.s in our country is insignificant when we compare it the number of engineering graduates. Research is not given much value in institutes across the country. Even premier research labs in the country get paltry sums as research grants. There is no autonomy in the education sector. A college cannot decide what courses to teach, what fees to charge, and what salaries to pay to its teachers, thanks to the various UGC and AICTE norms. Even opening a new college or a technical institution can take more than a few years.

I have been lucky to experience both the systems of education. I’ll describe an anecdote I remember. In 7th grade, when I was in East Lansing (Michigan, USA), we had to do Asian studies. When we moved on to India, our study was not just based on what was given in the books(despite American textbooks being a lot more interesting that the ones you get here with a lot more illustrations than questions at the end !). In addition, we saw movies on India like “Gandhi” (read Gandi) and the “City of Joy” and another documentary on modern-day India. My teacher, Mrs. Marianne Forman had even asked me to get some Indian currency notes and coins to show around to the class. I did bring in some, and explained about the various languages on the notes and the face of Gandhi on the coins. It did not end there; we even had a school trip to the local Indian restaurant in East Lansing. Most of my classmates loved Indian food especially the “curries” (read kureez) .And obviously, in the class tests (there are no examinations till high school in the US) we were definitely not asked when India gained independence or any other rote-learning question. Instead, we were asked to write our views on non-violence. The American system of education nurtures creativity very well, which explains why it is leading the world in innovation and high end technology.

It is not that American system of schooling is all play and no work, as is the common perception here. We had assignments almost everyday and had to put in a decent amount of effort everyday but I never felt that it was a load. I enjoyed every moment of it because I never had to cram even a bit. And for all the advocates of cramming here in India, I beg to differ. I still vividly remember a lot of the American history we were taught in 8th grade (in East Lansing) but I don’t remember most of what I learned about the modern Indian history in 10th grade in India.

I’ll tell you a bit about the schools in the Unites States now. A fact that should surprise most of us here in India is that in the United States 99% of the students attend government schools. In India, even those who can’t afford 2 square meals a day will put their children in private schools. Talk about the quality of government schools! And the states in the US pump in huge funds into the schools and colleges. I remember our school of about 300, had 3 tennis courts, 2 basketball courts, a soccer field besides an indoor gymnasium. Even many colleges in India would not boast of such sports facilities. America gives equal importance to sports and education, which can explain the number of medals it brings home in every Olympics while India struggles to win a single Gold despite having thrice as many people. Ah, something which all of us would loathe is compulsory attendance. In America, unless you really have a big problem (sickness leading to hospitalization-reminds me of the makeup policy here at BITS!), say adios to bunking classes. I did not miss more that 3 days of schools in my entire three years at Michigan. It’s another matter that attending classes nowadays has become a lot more difficult than it was in school!