दृष्टिकोण – Indra's Viewpoint

My friend OP Khanna keeps me on his regular mailing. OP was one who in early seventies went to Germany on an Indo-German scholarship. We were working in HM those days after IIT and had a lot of dreams. He was a better dreamer than me. He proved it in life too. His love of Germany remains. I liked his note on “Euro-English” and I hope all of you will also like it:

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as “Euro-English”.

In the first year, “s” will replace the soft “c”. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard “c” will be dropped in favour of “k”. This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome “ph” will be replaced with “f”. This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where! more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent “e” in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as
replasing “th” with “z” and “w” with “v”.

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary “o” kan be dropd from vords kontaining “ou” and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl

Boys gave the finishing touches and completed the painting work. The dirty work went on for over a month from rakshabandhan to this day when Yamuna is fasting for Jiyutiya. It was troubled time for us. We hardly went out for more than an hour, neither could we invite any one. However, I had been allowing Yamuna to attend her kitties and also to have evenings with the neighbours who miss her.

Surprisingly, the vendor of the wall-fixed almirah also barged in at the right time bringing in the huge fabricated structure. And it was put in the place vacated by the termite-eaten one.Perhaps the change of material from wood to steel was the only answer to escape the tirade of termite for ever. I still think NOIDA Authority must make it mandatory to treat the construction site for all builders to avoid the inconveniences and loss to the households.

Perhaps this was the last major work that I have got done, if I go by the life of the paint promised by the manufacturer. Hereafter, I shalln’t be there. It will be for the inheritors to do that.

However, I plan to relax and enjoy enjoy the next few days, if I can.

Yamuna is fasting today for long life, prosperity, and trouble free life of her sons and grandsons. Some women in some region of rural Bihar fast to get a male child too, if they don’t have one. Naturally, the modern liberal women will oppose the fast with gender-bias. But I am sure in rural India in particular they can’t bring any change.

My mother (photo above) was not very religious according to traditional perception. Later on, she was having poor health too and stopped fasts that were to be observed manytimes in a year in our family. But she continued to have the rigorous fast on Jiyutiya. I was the only male child. She did all she could do to see that I get everything in life she thought is the symbol of rich and successful man. And she died as satisfied mother seeing her son as successful executive in big corporate firm with all amenities available.

I think back and come to realize that I didn’t do much for her. My father was very sick for long time. He did get all our attentions. But perhaps in turn my mother got neglected.

On this day, I just remember her and feel sorry about whatever I couldn’t do for her. I wish she could excuse me from wherever she is.

PS: Yamuna broke her fast at 9.30 AM on September 15. Naturally, at this age the whole system must be getting upset. She doesn’t take even water, as is the practice. However, as I have observed she sleeps well when she fasts. As a part of the rituals, there is a story telling also. The stories are about the origin of the fast, its benefits when observed rightly, and problems if any deviation occurs because of human weaknesses.

But one thing more! For each child, one or sometimes two Jiyutiyas are worn. You can see them in the photograph of Yamuna, my wife. It is the modern one obtained last year from Patna courtesy Biva, my brother’s wife. Earlier one was lost in a burglary in 2003 here at our residence in Noida.

Many years ago, I was traveling to my hometown, Sasaram in Purushottam Express. As a habit, when I was nearing Sasaram, I went near the gate and started seeing outside. I never knew some of the young co passengers were watching me. One out of them came forward and asked, “Uncle, What are looking for?” ” Every time I pass through this area, I expect a change in the overall view- some prosperity, some factories, some other constructions going on. But I never find any.”
Those were the students from XLRI, Jamshedpur. Once I came to know I asked, ” Can’t you take the rural issues in your management project?” They kept mum.

I have found my dream getting materialized. Many highly educated young men and women are trying to go away from the traditional route and doing some unique things for the society.

Have you heard of Educational Initiatives’ ASSET, Pratham, iDiscoveries, AID India, Eklavya, and Uttarakhand Seva Nidhi (USN)? Educational Initiatives’ ASSET is a set of diagnostic tests developed to probe how for schoolchildren are learning concepts rather than just parroting them. Pratham focuses on improving learning outcomes in government schools. iDiscoveries is an innovative teachers training programme. AID India carries out science teaching and primary school programmes in Tamil Nadu. USN has developed environment as an examinable subject on the mainstream curriculum. And there must be many more that I am not aware of.

And who are people manning these organization? Sridhar Rajagopalan, an IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus and former IBM Tata with two others are behind Educational Initiatives, and running it as a profitable business. Aditya Natraj, an MBA from the world famous French management school, INSEAD and a chartered accountant with seven years experience is working for Pratham. Himanshu Joshi an IIM-graduate and an employee of Glaxo SmithKline has joined iDiscoveries. Balaji Sampath, an IIT graduate with a doctorate in electrical engineering from US runs AID India. And hardware engineer Chandra Anil, software engineer Smita Kalyani, and Ravi Shankar an ex-IITian with a doctorate in computer and electronic engineering are with Sampath. IIT and MIT-trained engineer Lalit Pande has started USN. The list of the new category of social soldiers would have been much bigger, if I had known about them,

All the institutions mentioned above are working to improve the quality of education and teaching, and making it more useful to the society. All the persons named are highly educated and dedicated in the service of the society they belong to.

I only wish many more join them, if not full time at least by their moral and financial support with smaller goals. I wish, some 1,00,000 Indian engineers and other professionals (including IITians) that are working abroad and are well off form a group that ensure that no one of the kids of India will go without education because of the paucity of finance from the family. Each one can take care of a primary school in any part of India and the quality of education that its teachers impart.

Some Interesting News
India overtakes China in phone user growth
Rs 672,000 cr ( about $ 149 billion) worth announcements in 75 days
Amul set to become world’s largest liquid milk brand</POST_

Many a times, I try to forget the bitter experiences of the past and start thinking very positive about West Bengal. But I don’t know why something happens soon enough and my opinion gets in reverse gear again. The amount of mental agony that I underwent recently to get a birth certificate from Uttapara Municipality has become the sore point this time. Many well wishers of Anand helped in getting every document desired by the municipality – the certificate from the HM Hospital, and affidavit from the SDO office fast enough in shortest possible time. The person deputed was going to submit it hoping to get it in hand that day itself. Something happened. CPM workers put a big lock in the municipality building and stopped all work. With all sort of influences because of my acquaintances of half a century in West Bengal, I couldn’t get that small paper for Anand. That was essential for Anand to put up his papers for green card. I had to leave to providence. It took weeks. It was only the pressure of local people, because of impending Durga Puja that made CPM withdraw the agitation last Tuesday. In West Bengal, still things are very much in hand of local leaders who can take any decision without considering the inconveniences caused to the people.
Such things happen so often, sometimes created by the ruling party, and sometimes by Mamata’s party that we forget to keep a track. But if we go by the media report, Buddha Babu has brought in transformation. He is different. He can fight with his party to make Bengal developed. Bengal is changing and changing fast. All industrialists are making a beeline to setup some or the other ventures in the state. I have not understood the logic of setting up a Rs 1 -lakh- car plant of Tata Motors in Singur, near Kolkata. The farmers’ agitation is already pet news in Bengal’s media.

However, I thought West Bengal would be better placed in India Today’s 2006 State of the States’ study. But, it does not indicate any resurgence in Bengal.

Done by economists Bibek Debroy and Laveesh Bhandari, the 2006 State of the States study of ‘India Today’ puts Bengal in the bottom ten of the 20 big states of India almost on all parameter except for agriculture.

In Overall Rating, West Bengal ranks at 13 with improvement in score. In ‘Law and order’, WB is at 14 with deteriorated score. Agriculture is the only parameter in which WB is at 7 with significant improvement in score. I thought West Bengal will be much better of in primary education and healthcare, but in primary education, WB stands at 12th rank with reduction in score, and in primary health, it is at 11 with some improvement in score.

In ‘Consumer market’, and ‘ Budget and prosperity’, W. Bengal is at 13 with improvement in score. However, in ‘Investment environment’, WB is at 18 with certain deterioration. And in ‘governance rank’, WB is at 15.

I hoped in ‘Infrastructure’ (% of household with electricity, LPG, % of villages with pucca roads, per capita road length, and bank branches, density of post offices and teledensity) West Bengal would be better with three decades and more of single party rule. However, WB ranks only 15.

What should I conclude? Should I go by the one of opposition leaders who said recently, ‘the biggest media hype today is being created around the chief minister, Buddhadev. The Bengal boom is just clever packaging.’

I don’t agree with the leader. Kolkata’s skyline is changing and changing fast. But it is too little an achievement for a party that spoiled the total work culture of the state. They must be honest to admit their mistakes and support Buddha in going faster for a change without creating any hurdle for shellfish reasons.

Some Good News
Videocon buys Daewoo Electronics for $700 mn
Industrial output surges fastest in decade
High-tech School of the Future

I come from a teacher’s family. My grandfather was teacher all his life, and for me, a ‘Guru’ in real sense for everything that is good in me. It was he who taught me to respect my teachers. And I did that in school, college, and IIT. Even today I feel the teachers must consider themselves a different class, the real Brahmans in true sense. The memories of the first teacher of my village school- Sri Ganga Dayal Pandey, Sri Kishori Mohan Roy Choudhry of Birlapur Vidyalaya, Prof. Tara Pada Mukherji of Presidency College, Prof. BR Seth, Prof.R. Misra, and Prof. Laxshmi Narayan of IIT, Kharagpur are still vivid.

But on this day, I can’t but pay homage to Professor HS Sabaharwal of Ujjain who was recently assaulted due to student politics and ultimately died. I don’t know much about him but I salute him as he belonged to the community of teachers. The death (murder?) of professor H S Sabharwal during student union polls on August 26 has raised this question in my mind. Why should this training in democracy be continued in the educational institutes just following some western concepts? Why can’t the student bodies be one like the Gymkhana of IIT, Kharagpur? Why can’t the affiliation of student groups to political parties be banned?

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And then how can I forget Prof Seyfarth? I remember him on this day. I don’t know who all of the family (in photograph) are where. He was my teacher in the final year 1960-61 in IIT, Kharagpur, and head of ‘Machine Design’ that I was specializing in. he was one of some American professors who came in IIT, Kharagpur that year, perhaps in exchange programme. Their method of teaching was different, and the way of assessment was different. Perhaps all that suited my temperament for learning. In the first semester of the final year, I topped the class. Prof Mulgaonkar was the head. He expressed his surprise when he was announcing the ranks. I was also surprised. But that made me dear to Prof. Seyfarth and Prof. Fellows who taught thermodynamics. And they live in my memory till date. As I think, they were from Illinois Institute of Technology. I wish they are alive and someone could give me some information. And in my next visit to US I could visit them.

I wish and appeal that the parents must do their best to inculcate in their children a respect for teachers without which all that their children will attain will be useless.