Reservations - a blessing or a curse.

Lot of debate is going on about the fairness of the reservation sytem that exists in the indian education system and the government institutions. Talks are on for fresh quotas for the OBCs as well along with SC/STs that exists at present. The politicians are trying again to boost their vote banks by incorporating quotas even in private companies and introducing fresh quotas for OBCs in other institutions.

Why was this quota system introduced in the first place? It was to reduce the gap between the 'lower' caste and the 'upper' caste people. It was supposed to get dissolved after 50yrs but when the time for it to stop existing came, instead of removing it, the quota was further increased and govt has plans to further increase it. Clearly the motive has blurred. It is no more bridging the gap instead it is doing the reverse.

Reservations were done to bring SC/STs at par with others so that they are not looked down upon bt today because of reservations that is what is happening. When any of the SC/STs get into any of the good colleges and they dont perform well, their hardwork and calibre is reduced to incompetency in no time whereas for general candidates, its taken in the stride. Students who become doctors through such reservations are looked down upon. Even during the placements they are considered inferior to the general category people. Reservation is creating a whole new class of educated 'lower' caste people who are considered inferior to others even though they are at par with the general category candidate. All of this because of reservation. They are not even given a fair chance to prove themselves and to show that they dont lack the intelligence or the IQ that a 'general' category student has.

I guess the problem is in the basic education system because people who are not economically sound are not able to provide their children good primary education till Std.12 because of which these children are not able to have strong basics in core subjects. Therefore good schools should be provided to them which are at par with any of the private schools of the country. These schools should have negligible tuition fees. Secondly, today in any of the undergraduate or postgraduate competitive exams, coaching institutes play an important role in giving a direction to the students which economically weak students are not able to take up. Therefore,I guess such students should have reservation in such coaching institutes and they should be provided the coaching on a subsidize amount. This way the intelligence and calibre of the SC/STs and OBCs will not be considered inferior to others and they would be provided with a platform to prove themselves.

Instead of having reservations in the undergraduate colleges like IITs or post graduate colleges like IIMs or any other competitive exams, which will only hamper the present scenario, tuition fees and the cost of education in these institutes should be reduced for economically weak students.

Women's day???

Yesterday was women's day. Newspapers were full of articles about certain successful women and how women are excelling in various fields. They are entering domains that were previously considered to be men's arena. There were ads for various products for women and for men to gift to their women to make them feel special. It was said that it is a day to celabrate womenhood etc etc.
It made me question that "Why isnt there similarly a men's day???", "Why is it that women require a day to celebrate their womenhood while men dont need any such day at all???". We talk about equality of women and at the same time we have such daysAll the talks about equality and stuff are just that, talks. . I find this day to be a symbol of the fact that women still have a long way to go even to reach somewhat to the same status as men. If we look at the Indian scenario where more than 70% of the population is in rural areas then I guess we should look at the situation of women in such areas. Even today women are considered to be a commodity there. Even today they are brutally abused, embarassed, harassed, molested and what not on the basis of them being witches. Ever heard of "wizards" getting punished? NO then why only females. Even today we have female trafficking. Even today females are being burned and tortured for dowry and several other meagre reasons and this thing is prevalent even in educated urban homes. Many times we come across cases where well educated females are being tortured by their inlaws. The cases of rape and molestation are on the high. Then in what terms are we talking about the equality of women. The situation has definitely improved if we compare present India with the India 70yrs ago. But is the pace of the improvement satisfactory?? The number of females getting educated has increased and the number of female foeticide has decreased but is this change in pace with the expected improvement. Why is it that dowry system exists till date in most of the homes no matter how educated or "modern" they are? and the same is the case with female foeticide. Even today females are expected to stay at home and take care of household and children no matter how well educated they are. Even today men consider it below their dignity to help in the household chores even though their wives are working in equally challenging jobs
With such a mentality we can never talk about the equality of women. Its nothing but a farce in the present scenario. The day when we start having days like "International Men's Day" or the day when "International Women's Day" loses its value will be the day when we can say that women have somewhat the same status as men.

P.S: You might think I am a feminist but according to me, I am a realist.

Getting Phylosophical

Here I go again.
One thing that even the dumbest of people around can do is be phylosophical. I performed a well tested experiment on myself and realized that even I can be phylosophical. Hence proved. I mean just imagine if a person as ........ as me can come out with phylosophical views and ideas then anyone can. Ask people when they are in a phylosophical mood any simple question and you are bound to get answers which will make you pull your hairs and yell at the top of ur lungs " SHUTTTT UPPPP". And this mood is a contagious disease, trust me. If you are not careful enough, the next thing you know is that you are babbling gibberish bout life and situations yourself. So what do you do to get rid of it. Bad news ppl, there is no cure for it. A person infected once will keep getting these attacks. All you can do is keep youself safe from it. Therefore, Precaution is the only cure. So protect yourself from its contagious effect first.
Step 1 : Dont listen to the patient's jargon.
Step 2: Stay away from him.
Step 3: Keep yourself as happy as possible during that period when the infected person is around cs its virus seem to spread in the atmosphere even.
Step 4: Put loud music so that the infected person gets out of his attack.
Step 5: DO NOT PUT ANY SLOW MUSIC.
Step 6: If nothing works, its too late for the infected person but you can still RUN. RUN FOR UR LIFE BUDDY.

A Thought

I am quite fond of reading the 'Thinking Tree' in the Times of India editorial page. I read an article titled 'Stop searching for the meaning of life' (smth like tht not very sure). The title itself hit me cs normally that column is all about explanations of life and its meaning n all tht. This title seemed quite contradictory to the theme of the column (acc to me). The article said smth so simple that it ll be with me for quite sometime now. It questions that why do humans always search for the meaning of life and they search for it only at the time of adversity or when they are faced with some problems. Do we try to search for its meaning when we are happy? Do we try to search for its meaning when everything in our life is going fine? I dont think we search for it then. When we are in office and we have several deadlines and meetings, thats when we think of the purpose for coming to office, we make a plan and v carry it out. Bt when we go for a party, do we think why we are here??? No, all we know is that we are here to have fun. So why cant our lives be one such party as well. The very fact of life is that we have it. Everything else is secondary.

To add to the above thoughts of the author, I feel that watever problems we face in our lives, it changes us in certain ways. When we go through a difficult phase and overcome it, later on when we look back at that phase, somewhere it makes us proud of ourselves. It gives us a level of faith in ourselves. We develop a self-respect cs of what all we had faced in the past. I guess thatswhy people say that problems are important cs the most important thing for a person is to love and respect herself/himself.