Do we really need OBC Reservations?

For the past few months we have been hearing a lot on the debate of reservations. I tried to get a clear idea about the whole issue. But it proved to be a Herculian task. The reason is that I have too many questions and far too less information on the actual issue and the related history and statistics. So I thought some one out there can clear my doubts and I can finally get a clear idea and an opinion about the issue. And the questions and doubt that have been eating out my whole brain and time are:

Need for resevations?

Justification for the resevations?

Is it just because those concerned are historically oppressed?

How can reservations help backward classes come over social discrimination?

Do they "all" really need them?

Are they "all" still oppressed ? And aren't any one else?

Is it whole thing tenable?

What about others from poor and economically families from the so called forward classes?

And what about others from far flung and rural areas who aren't aware of any laws or privilages?

What's the need for inclusion of Creamy layer?

Are the benifits really reaching the most needy?

Can't we increase the size of cake insead of fighting over who should get how much?

Do we really enjoy the freedom to the course of choice to learn the things we like , the way we like?

And is the idea of reservations in jobs really justified? And do we really need them in private sector too?

I hope I can really know the answers to all these issues and can one day post my own opinion. Please, if you happen to know any thing related or have an opinion, please post them in the comments column.

What's in a name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet." - William Shakespeare.
May be Shakespeare was true then. But is he still true in today's world?
I doubt it. And I have some good reasons to do so.

To begin with, let's talk about politics. Perhaps people of no other country can ever understand the key role a name plays in politics like we Indians do.
The name in the case is Gandhi. Ever since the time of our freedom struggle, the name Gandhi inspired may a common Indians. But back then, it was actually Gandhi, the person- Mr Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi, fondly called Bapuji and Mahatma, who inspired our ancestors. And he still does the same. And so does his name (I'm not talking about Mahatma but about the name Gandhi). Ever since the days of Indira Gandhi, the name Gandhi has become the most popular name in the Indian politics. And also it has become the easiest way up the power ladder. How elscould SoniaiGandhijiii have come to position she is in today, if not for her last name?
But then, ofcourse, she has proved herself in that power and complicated position. And the people all over India have grown to love her and reckon her as one among themselves (I'm one of those). Even this can be attributed to her last name. Obviously, had she chosen to drop her last name we wouldn't be talking about her today.And thenenof courseee there are various names, specific to certain castes that play akeroleer in state and regional politics. For example, here in Andhra Pradesh, such names are Reddy, Naidu, Chowdary, Goud, Yadav etc. That parties often exhort their candidates and prospective candidates to add such names,if they don't, already, have one, according to their castes is an open secret. And these arthe partiesethatta boast that they are trying to abolish all forms of social inequalities. But parties aren't just to be blamed. Even voters follow these names. And some of our political leaders wouldn't have ever come into light had they not used their names effectively.

And then, same is the case in film industry. The name is even more important down here in South than in the North. What else is an easy way to enter the industry than adding, telling and displaying your maiden name or father'name prominentlyyy? Well, I don't know of any!

And recently I came across an even more strange phenomenon in the IT industry. I heard that those guys who didn't even get any interview appointments got some nice jobs immediately after adding their maiden names or names regarding their respective castes. Looks like the scourge of casteism has spread its tentacles over the relatively new IT industry too...

Well, and so I think that a rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but it may remain in oblivion without that name. So what's your take on this ? Please post your comments.

1 star and 52 dreams (Vol 2)

Ok! This is the 2nd volume of an earlier post on the dreams of my friends. If you haven't read that one yet, go read it now. It's just below this post.

And I thought that I can never finish this series if I am to post every dream individually.
So I decided to generalize and categorize all the remaining dreams (about 50 more) and publish them in abridged form.

Let's continue where we left earlier.

The one to say his dream after Scorpion is Nandamuri muddu bidda Subrahmanyam. His dream is to establish a small scale industry and provide employment to a few others. I love this one. And similar to this is our dear Venki, Venkata Krishna's dream. He doesn't want to work under any one. He just wants to be his own boss.

Here comes our best Batsman Sriman 's dream. It's similar to that of Srikanth 's dream. They both dream of establishing topclass educational institutions.

This one is a really noble one. And interesting, it is a dream of many. Roddu Narendra, Smart Raghu dream of following in the footsteps of Mother Theresa and Vivekananda. I didn't really get what they wanted to do, but could gather from the way they said it that they are pretty serious about it.

Sureedu Surya, Mass Prasanth, Sridevi, Anusha, Sravanthi, Lavanya, Swapna, Jyothirmayi, Sowjanya and Bala Krishna , all these guys have something in common. Their motto is Service. Some of these guys want to serve orphans, some child labourers, few other old people in their own ways i.e., some by charity and some by empowering them. Swapna wants to serve the blind.

Calci Lakshmi, Deepthi, Ravi Mithra, Bharani and Swetha wants to grow into good individuals and wants to get settled in good professions, with a good family. Even Sandhya dreams of the same life but for that she wants to settle in US. Ambitious, isn't she?

Riyaz and Rajesh stand out among us, boys, in the aspect that they are the only guys who dream of being good family men, I mean that just want to see that their families are comfortable. But then, Riyaz has one more dream, one that's really cool. He wants to meet his idol Jackie Chan, atleast once, in his life. He is really crazy about him.

RV Srikanth and Vindhya Vimala just want to become famous, get rich. Simple wishes, aren't they? Ok, I don't mean anything bad, really. I believe that there's nothing wrong in being ambitious in life.

Udaya Bhaskar, Prabhakar and Uma Bala - these guys are really down to earth. They just want to complete their degree and become good engineers. Uday wants to get into IRES(Railways) and Prabakhar and Uma wants to get into IES.

And so is the case with our Mowgli, Siva Rama Krishna. He just wants to secure a job in NTPC and serve all he can.

Here come the adventurers, Ravindranath, Varma and Ravindra. Ravindra wants to serve in the army and Varma and Ravindra want to become pilots. They want the 'high' life.

Srikanth dreamt of becoming a singer. He realised his dream recently, when he sang in a feature film.

Our Amithab Sekhar Manoj, Anusha P, and I Narayana Mahesh, want to become good teachers as they believe that teaching is a noble profession.

Naresh, the Nars, has no goal or dream as of now, just like me.

Krish Rama Krishna doesn't want reveal his dream. Simple as that.

Peddanna Venkateswara Rao, Yesu Ratnam and Ramesh wants to get beside their names, the letters IAS.



But here come my personal favourites:

Saiku Saikumar SVR dreams of ending, someday, Bill Gates' monopoly over the OS market by writing his own Operating System to replace Windows. All the best buddy.

Venakatesh er.. Venkatesh wants to someday go into space. But his problem is, he hasn't a clue about to do to reach there. May the Almighty send someone to help you reach your goal. Hey, I don't intend any pun at him, but when I herd his dream, I was really dumbstruck.

Rajesh, our Bava, dreams of visiting faroff and some exotic places and people and document their lives and cultures, doing his part in conserving the rich diversity of the world we live in.

MLA Sunil, wants to become one day, well, what else, an MLA! His wants to contest on a TDP ticket(well, that's what he says now. But then, we don't know who's friend of whom in politics any day. So don't complain if he chooses to contest on a congress party ticket some day).

But here's is the one that really inspired me.
Santosh wants to complete his MBA in IIM-A and then become a CEO of a world's best-30 MNC. It really inspired me. Really. Cool Isn't it!

Ok guys these are the dreams, which I truly wish come true. And lets wait and see. And all my friends and all you adventurous dreamers out there, ALL THE BEST.

And I end this with one of my favourite quotes ever:

"Dare to Dream and Care to Achieve."

GOODNESS AT THE GRASSROOTS

Here is a post written by friend of mine with whom i share a blog.
I thought you guys would simply love this one.
It's about a refeshing experience of my friend, which happened recently.
It gave me an assurance that there is still some goodness out there in this otherwise big, bad world. And what's more appealing is the fact that it is with ordinary folks like you and me.
Go read and feel good. And by the way, my friends name is Sashikanth. He doing his B.Tech in SAATRA, thanjavur. To read more of his postings, click on the link "here is the blog, i post with my buddies" in the side bar of this blog.

"There is this thought,over which i've pondered for over a week now,and which continues to adjunct my thinking whenevr i'm in a vacant or pensive mood.Anyway,now that i've decided to pen it down,maybe it'll just be washed down into the archives of my personal life.We are a group of students aspiring to take the CAT and since the deadline for submitting the application was fast approaching,we decided to get on with the pace of the dispatching work and set out to thanjavur to post the forms.This sleepy town is an hour drive from our college,and by the time we reached the post office it was already closed.Alas,with gloomy heads we trotted to the railway station there,hoping to get hold of the speed post before the post office in the station calls it a day.Destiny was certainly not with us,as we were late by a paltry 15 mins.,and the postmaster downright rejected our pleas.If we turn back now,we will have to make the tiring journey the next day,so with mournful scorns,we sat on the platform listening to the drones of the distant trains.Then,from the darkness a shadow loomed larged and soon we were face to face with a genial looking postman,tired after a long day at work and waiting to go home to the comfort of his family.He saw our troubles from behind the curtains and came out to help us.We were convinced(bcoz of our Indian instinct) that this guy will demand a bribe after doing the work.So,naturally,we were in for a shock when after completing the formalities required for a speed post,he just walked away from us.We couldn't believe that a government servant,who went out of his way to help us,even though we were on the wrong side of the law(we were late in the first place),didn't even expect anything from us.We stopped him,and asked him whether he wanted anything.His plain reply was,"Today i can sleep well because of the thought that i helped a bunch of educated guys.And from tomorrow i can feel confident because of the fact that i might be helped by educated people like you.My dear friends,the world is after all round,and whatever you give, comes back to you.The next time,just be in time to dispatch things relating to your career".

1 star and 52 dreams ( Vol - 1)

A couple of days backs, when we were in the PDC class, we really got bored and the whole class became restive, all of a sudden. Our prof, Mr Naga Raju, immediately knew we are really bored. Being a cool headed prof, that he is, he suspended the class and started talking about other things not related to transistors, diodes, and stuff like that. And slowly the talk drifted towards dreams, aims and goals we all have. He emphasized that each of lives have a purpose but then its our responsibility to identify it or set it for ourselves. He started asking one-by-one what our dreams are? Initially everyone was so reluctant to speak out what their dreams are. He then emphasized the importance believing in what we dream and to never be afraid of speaking it out. Slowly, one-by-one started speaking out. First, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Those dreams are really inspiring. I never thought that my own classmates and friends, who individually look like 'just another guy', would have such truly inspiring and such great dreams. One reason, why I thought this way, is that , I thought that deep down, every one would be just as lousy as I am. But once they started speaking up, I immediately knew that I wasn't befriending any 'just another guy' .I thought that those dreams, aims and goals would help many others (unless, ofcourse, they are just like my own self) . So, I decided to write down in this blog and post them here.

The following are those dreams. And unfortunately, I missed taking down a few others, those said in the beginning. The first person to begin is Vallabha Rao. Actually, he was one of those whose dreams I missed jotting them. But asked him later what his dream is? And in the same way, I managed to get some of those missed ones. And I couldn't manage yet a few others. Read the following as, name - nick name or pet name or whatever I personally think of my friends - their dreams and finally what I think of the dream.

Vallabha Rao, a nice guy and a really good painter and very good poet. You'll see that to yourself if I succeed in getting them posted. They are all in Telugu, so I don't know how to get them posted.
His dream is to lend a helping hand to all those street children who have none to care for them. He said that he and some of his friends took a vow to make their dream come true. And that they are right on the track.

Swaroop, also affectionately called Bojo by us, dreams of playing in the Ranji Trophy. He would love to represent India internationally but, he said he wants to be realistic to some extent, atleast.


Wilson dreams of building a Hospital to do Charity. A noble dream, isn't it? Indeed, here is where I was truly moved and started taking them down on a paper.

Vinay, about whom I don't really know much, wants to start charitable trust to help those in need.

Venkateswara Naik, also called the Scorpion as he has a scorpion tattooed on his forearm, really stirred everyone's mind. He said that his dream is to make everyone from his native village a literate. He doesn't want his people to face the same troubles that he faced. Even Naga Raju garu was moved by his dream. And as for myself, I felt guilty as my own native village, which gave me and my family so much, wasn't on the list my top priorities.

Ok guys, there's lot more I want to post now. But because I'm running short of time, I can't post all that now. That's the reason I named this posting as Volume - 1 of all that I want to post. There are around 50 more dreams to come.

And yes, I know you are really puzzled who that one star is? Who is it?
Who else but our own, our dear Naga Raju garu?
He's our star because, he is the one who really spurred us to action. He made sure that we'll never never our dreams. That is why I call him a Star.

There's more to come. So watch this space.

I love u forever , Steve Irwin......

I love u Steve Irwin....

Even my mom, who never bothered about anything except her daily soaps, used to watch u, with delight, jumping in to water to catch a turtle, expertly handling a snake but more than anything else, u, fearlessly, feeding those big crocs.
Who else can get anyone of us more interested in wildlife other than you.
Oh......... I miss u so much.
I feel like crying right now........
U are the one who made me really interested in wildlife.
U are the one I used to look up to, for some inspiration whenever others ridiculed my idea of becoming a conservationist and a wild life photographer.
We miss u so much buddy.
May your loving and caring soul rest in peace ....
I wonder if any one can ever step into ur shoes.....leave alone filling them .....
I take an oath that I'll try my best to preserve all natural the world u loved so much.

Good bye dear.......

Longing for u......

Are we really the IT super powers?

Just a few days back many of my friends got recruited into some of the prestigious Information Technology companies like TCS, WIPRO, INFOSYS, HCL, etc. They were all happy to get selected into those companies, even without getting their Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) degrees. Their initial salaries are above 20k per month, quite a handsome package. And yes, even I felt happy then to see my friends getting such jobs in the most happening companies in the most happening field today, in India . And some of them even threw a party. We all enjoyed it.

But later, one question really troubled me and is still troubling me. And that question is are we really the IT super powers which, we think we are? First, I thought the answer is YES. IT, today, contributes a substantial part to our economy, it gave India a new identity in the global arena, it gave jobs to lakhs of Indians, and what's more, its all set to grow even larger. So I thought the answer is YES.

Now looking at the other side of the coin, yes we do export a lot in the BPO sector. But of late, a substantial part of these exports are coming from call centre end of the BPOs. Also our forte is services sector. We are yet to bring out a great IT product. Yes, we gave a few really nice products to the world, especially in the financial sector. But all those came from the subsidiaries to foreign companies. True, its hard to bring out a product solely from India, especially in this age when the operations of the companies are spread all over the world. But what is worrying is that in most cases, I think, we are putting the enormous capabilities of our work force to abeyance.

Even more than any of the above mentioned things, one thing that really puzzles me is, why have we, despite being a lot advanced in this field, failed to harness the power of IT for the good of common man. For example, we still pay our current bill at one place, our phone bill at another place, and various other bills at many other places. Can't we, with the help of IT, create a system to make easy all these payments. And take the case of education field, to begin with, our state (Andhra Pradesh) technical education board doesn't have a solid, fool proof centralized counseling system to allot seats in various colleges. We do have a centralized system, but it doesn't allow the prospective students to choose the colleges and courses they want at leisure. They are expected to make decisions on the spot. And this, in many cases, results in the students regretting their decisions at a later stage. And our university still prefers the age old approach of sending the results to our colleges via fax or phone, instead of posting them on the university website. Or take the case of our police force. It still doesn't have a national wide database of the records of, leave alone the normal criminals, even terrorists. If we have one, it can help our forces a lot in fighting the terrorism. Even better, if can maintain one with records of most wanted criminals. One need of paramount importance to any democratic country is the voter list. But we, boasting to be biggest democracy in this world, still grapple with the discrepancies in the voter lists and photo id cards. True, the sheer no. of voters makes it difficult to bring out a perfect system, but having the IT prowess we have , with the right will, I think, we can accomplish the task of bringing out a good, if not the best, system.

Now, after thinking over all these arguments, I find it hard to answer the question, I raised first, YES. Nor is my answer a NO. May be we the IT Super Powers in deep slumber. What do you think? Post your comments.

Why this hypocrisy?

Yesterday I saw a running announcement scrolling down at the bottom of the screen on MTV.
It said that MTV was warned by the I&B ministry for broadcasting a Hindi song certified 'A' by the CBFC.
What does this mean? In whose interest did the ministry issue this warning?
Does this mean that actually, all the songs that were broadcast by MTV, all these years, for e.g., songs from AKSAR (just to name one) can be seen by anyone, including children?
After reading the announcement I was really appalled to know that all these songs were, indeed not certified 'A'. If these songs aren't certified 'A' , why certify others 'A'?
What else do the CBFC want in a song or in the movie to be certified 'A'?
Does it actually want a topless shot or a nude shot?

I'm not saying MTV shouldn't broadcast these songs. If people (this includes even me) want to see those songs, let them see and let MTV broad cast those.
But why mask the content as not 'A' certified.
I really don't understand why CBFC is following these double standards.
I request the I&B ministry to change the regulations on certifying these songs and movies. And then enforce the law correctly.

While we cant accept porn movies being released, even as 'A' rated, the discrepancies in various censor boards rules should be removed and a uniform code should be followed all over the country.
Also the age limit to view see an 'A' certified movie may be reduced to around 15 years. Because, if they aren't allowed to see them, they can still lay their hands on obscene movie via Internet or at their neighborhood CD shop or an extremely violent video game (in most cases parents dont object to their children playing these gory games) . But then the restrictions should be seriously implemented.

Also all ISPs all over India should try their best to block pornographic sites.
If China can, very successfully, screen all search results and websites, sometimes including BBC , just for the mention of words like Democracy, Human Rights, I think India can do better to stop the pornographic websites .

Whither Israel & US?

What is Israel's intention in bombing Lebanon & killing scores of innocent people?
As reports show, the actual no. of casualties on both warring sides i.e., Israel and Hizbollah is far less than the no. of Lebanese casualties.
What does Israel intend to achieve ?
Whats more?, the Hizbollah hasn't shown any signs of retreat.
So now, how long does Israel intends to continue the strikes.

What does Ms Condoleezza Rice wants us to believe in, that she is really concerned about the situatuation in Lebanon, all the while supplying bunker buster bombs to Israel?
Looks like America hasn't learned the lesson from Iraq that killing the general public doesn't deter any extremist outfit to which the public are not related.
If it has, why has it remained silent while it can stop the Israeli raids through diplomatic pressure?

What do Israel and US want to achieve by inflicting wounds on Lebanese people?
Do they think its going to deter Hizbollah?
If yes, at what cost?

What has happened to us , the largest democracy in the world?
Why have our voices gone mute?
Our politicians & foriegn policy seems to have capitulated to the pressures of the imperealistic govt of USA (i don't have any ill-will towards America, but i do hate this Bush administration).

Friends , lets all protest the ongoing butchery of the Lebanese people.
Lets raise our voice against this brutal oppression.

'By the way.......

this is a journal, of thoughts, ideas, feelings and musings on life and everything else, of a little known, maverick Indian i.e., myself. All that I write here is what I feel is right. While I'm not writing for anyone in particular (that's because I doubt if anyone cares to read my blog), I would appreciate and love your sharing your ideas. So feel free to comment on any of the entries.'

The journey begins.......

Hi!
Ok guys (this thing, that someone out there is reading my own blog, I call it HOPE), this is my 1st posting. So don't expect much.I didn't even think of what to write .

I'm a normal guy from a little known town in India. I'm a true maverick because I don't do things people say me to do or expect me to do, but only those I want to do. Ofcourse I once faced a set back because of this attitude. But it's hasn't let me down ever since.

And I always wanted to speak out on a lot of things around me like politics, movies, social customs and ofcourse, my own personal experiences.

I'll try to post as often as possible.
Thank u for patiently reading this long.

My care of address is my college, "Sri Sagi Rama Krishnam Raju Engineering College", Bhimavaram. I hang out there most of the times.By the way, I'm an ELITE (in our college, we guys from Electrical & Electronics Engineering branch, call ourselves the ELITES).

bye
bye...............