Where does human behaviour figure in our arguments????

So here's an interesting read in the newspaper... the author of the article moans about the apparent lack of people going in for civil engineering or mechanical engineering which are so important for building infrastructure... his viewpoint, there are just 12000 civil engineers being churned out evey year in Indian while we require around 70000 of them. He then goes on to offer a simplistic solution: build more engineering colleges to teach civil engineering... the logic being that more seats will guarantee more engineers... however i believe the author has forgotten to consider a very important factior here... that of human behaviour... and more specifically that of Indian behaviour...

The current state of the country is not a balanced one... There are three layers to it.. 1) the very rich business class... these thrive on family owned businesses which are still allowing them to live in great luxury. This also consists of the politicians, IAS, IPS, actors, sportspersons etc... 2)The upper middle class.. Somehow in India the upper middle class has always been the ones who studied well and got into services. Since time unknown their biggest strength has been their knowledge. .Like mercenaries they have studied and trained and gone into fiel;ds which would benefit them the most... Be it medicine , IT , Telecomm it doesnt matter as long as it keeps this section well fed and safe with not necessarily the biggest homes or cars but nevertheless pretty decent sized cars and houses.... and then you have the remaining people... they never have enough... they do not get the basics. they are so busy worrying about the next meal that they do not have time to plan and strategise for the future. Their kids are sent to mediocre schools with mediocre teachers... the mediocrity of the teachers also stems from the fact that in India for most teacher's they are not in the profession by choice. They are in teaching beccause they couldnt fit in anywhere else. I am not saying there are no good teachers in nda/... Of course there are god teachers too but they are too few to be able to cater to such a huge population. Plus they have too gone where they can bring in the most profits in terms of hefty salaries...
So the people the good teachers are most likelyu to reach is the urbanised, upper middle class and rich sections who are the only ones who can afford them. So the middle class and poorer sections under the current scheme of affair can most definitely be wriiten off. Without access to good teachers and guidance from their parents, there is very little they can dio except live life as it comes. most of them will go into the same line of work as their parents, be it farming, wotking ad menial labourers or doing chotta-mota sarkari jobs,. That leaves us with the rich and upper middle class.
The rich obviously do not need to do much in India except inherit their parent's businesses and as is being seen nowalso their constituencies in the case of prominent politicians... Yes siree... in this largest democracy in the world, what really exists is good old monarchy, be it politics or business... So they are not going to becme the civil and mechanical engineers we are so desperately praying for...
So now the obvious answer id these engineers will come out of the highly urbanised, educated upper middle class... no matter how small their size is in comparision to the rest of the population, they can definitely spare 70000 young bright minds to take on this task...So the author's suggestion is absolutely bang on... build more colleges which focus on civil and mechanical engineering... but wait a moment what is that you say??? Indians are brilliant people, they have amazing analytical minds... they are perfect for doing the donkey work of coding complex business applications for the American and European companies for why one-fourth , even one-tenth the price of getting Amewricans and Europeans to do it... really??? Lets outsource the jobs there.... Now the kids who were going to be our heroes, see these IT, ITES and telecomm jobs as higher paying jobs, They will help you buy your dream home in half a decade max, you will also be able to buyu your dream car in a couple of years... What do the manufacturing jobs offer these same young engineers in comparision?? what would he get for actually taking up the government job of building roads and bridges across the country without resorting to corruption.... And that is the question the author should really try to answer... What will keep these young mercenaries home... Hey I don't blame them... Heck I even confess to being one of them... What will you offer me to make me stay????

There is a lot happening in India... due to the IT boom it has really caught the eye of the developped naions. they want to invest here... we need better infrastructure to make them invest here... the returns will be manifold... can the government not offer better opportunities in terms of well paying jobs which are at least on par with the jobs offered by the IT companies to encourage the children to stay... I am sure many people are interested in building the roads that we require... pretty sure a lot of young minds would want to be part of it too... but they need to be given some incentive to work for you... I wouls therefore say the solution is not as simple as building more engineering colleges... hell a lot of seats in the Maharashtra engineering colleges go empty every year due to lack of students(Ex given from experience) Why are you putting money where it is not needed? intead give the existing colleges better research projects which will capture the minds of our young engineers... give them a chance to experience what they are studying first hand.... let them suggest solutions to your engineering problem, give them decent salaries... and see how many of them actually stay back...

The biggest problem with our country is that we do not address the root cause.. we are too afraid of reality.. we live too much in the short term... here's another queston to ponder over... when the remaining Asian countries catch up with us in terms of similar proficience in English(one of our biggest advantage so far as the IT services indutry is concerned) and the Americans find it cheaper to go there.... Where are the huge force of IT engineers we built up going to go and what are they going to do??? This scares me the most... We are so much into IT services too that if these projects were pulled out of Indian IT companies and sent out to these other locations... we would be screwed big time./...It's about ti,e India stopped being a service provider ONLY but that is a different story....

The need of the hour is stop finding stop gap solutions like building more colleges and start taking a more holistic look at what we have... and what we need... We have to learn to optimise.... we carry out such wastage that..... words cannot express my anger for it..... Indian's basically lack pride in their country... they lack the spirit of oneness that exists in other countries... its the biggest example of a ship about to sink where the captain has given the oirder every man to himself... But FYI , if we abandoned this attitude we would see that we were never touched by any icceberg and there really is no hole in this ship that we cannot plug... And we need better policy makers who have the vision to look beyond their five year terms and the confidence to start work on such long term plans...

Speaking of Weddings...

"A Post Borrowed from my other blog Just Speaking... dated June 9, 2009"

And have there been weddings this year. We seem to have come of age all of a sudden. All around me I see the destruction and debris as one after the other my friends fall prey to this torturous malady. Now dont get me wrong , I am not against getting married per se... I am just wondering do these kids know what they are getting themselves into??? What does a 24 year old who has just finished college and worked for say 2 years in an industry which is as baby codling as the Indian IT industry really know of life to take a jump into HOLY MATRIMONY!!!!!! We still have buses to pick us up from and drop us at our doorsteps everyday... (and yes when these buses are not plying to our needs they do double up as excellent school buses too...) So symbolically we are still using school buses to get to our place of work and back... also our employers are so worried about our convenience(or they like to keep us soo much in their offices thus raking in the moolah aplenty) that they have tie ups with mobile service providers, share brokers, banks, insurance agents... even the income tax calculators...(ehhe... they might be called accountants) and to prevent any unnecessary trips to the local power suppliers or the post office we have couriers running the job for us... in short we do lead a charmed life.... are we really ready to leave all this comfort???(question posed to girls only not guys... guys are scumbags whose lives become better and more EXCITING after getting married... sick psycho maniacs/slave drivers....) Are you willing to trade in a life where you are doing what you have trained to do and want to do for something that you are expected to do juct by virtue of being born a female... Is this some curse that has been put on women... Id rather be a Man than live this life of quiet servitude that indian marriages always turn out to be... I for one believe its sheer stupidity... so to all those martyred a tearfuladieu... We shall remember that for a while you stood for something other than just a wife... that for some time you did soar and have dreams of your own which did not involve your husband, kids and in-laws...

My First Surgery!!!!

Now here's a classic example of how I never get fazed in the face of adversity....(People I have been through a surgery so a little apne muuh miya mithu banna is quite in order...) So I had this pain which had been irritating me since i got to Kolkata last October... and by the first week of November it grew really bad... of course I was taking meds for it so dont you ask me y i didnt do anything abt it...Anyways back to the story.... This pain was really bad... so finally on the 4th of November I decided to be sensible and go see a doctor again... and as luck would have it, the dumb cow misdiagnosed it.... (I have since taken corrective action by warning all my friends against going to her because she is a "totally incompetent nincompoop"... in the words of Captain Haddock) So it just got worse and worse till I could'nt move my legs even a cm.... that's when I decided (I am very quick at taking such decisions you see) to go see if the surgeon could bus=rst the boil for me... (all this while I was under the impression that it was as simple as that thanks to that fool who calls herself a doctor) So Shilpa and I get into a cab and gop for a ride.. a very painful ride as all the potholes of Kolkata seemed to have lined up along my route that day... anyways the surgeon takes one lok at me and goes you have to be operated right now./... Imagine my shock...so far it was just a boil... now i have to be operated!!!! anyways so we got me admitted in the hospital and Shilpa and I sorted out the hostel mess payments.... and then i dozed off happily... no food or water for 6 hrs u see... and then i woke up, saw that minal and shveta had arrived... got wheeled into the OT and it was over before I knew it...The anaesthesia might have had something to do with this factor... anyways the healing after the durgery has taken longer than the surge3ry itself.. In fact i am still getting the dressing done daily... but i am not complaining... at least nothing went toxic in my body like the surgeon said it could if i waited any longer... saved by the cat's whiskers eh!! and that my dear freinds was my first surgery.... Anyways I wouls really like to thank Sayani, Minal, and Shveta for staying with ,me in the hospital for the first 4e days... and Shilpa for forcibly pushing me to go to the hospital.... and I think they have all the fun memories of my surgery.... apparenty I said quite a few interesting things while I was under anaesthesia....Anyways things are now limping back to normalcy and hopefully this thingie will not happen to anyone i know ever again...

P.S: the highlight of the hospital trip was the dude who brought in our food singing for me and mummy...
a close second was when a dude from the class came to visit and this guy came and stood there and questioned him as to who he was, where he came from, and whether he spoke english too...
Well if nothing else at least you cant say the trip was not entertaining...

I'm Back!!!!

Hello... after a long absence on the blogging frontier.. I have decided to make an entry again... and where better to type in my blog from but the comfort of my own (Brother's) chair... Yup I am back in mumbai... and man am i loving it... there's something about this city that just fills up your senses... I seem t have a love affair with this place... No matter where i go or what I do i am happiest when i am here... it may be the fact that its really everything i ever wanted or might ever want is in Mumbai...( though I wouldnt mind checking out New York either ;))...Anyways now that I have gushed about being back home , I can move on to other things...
I Have actually taken to heart the fact that I have been depriving you poor souls of my witty commentary on life... so I have suddenly posted 3 entries in the last 1 hour... Well one of them had been written earlier but posted on another blog i maintain... So anyways... since i have been here, I have had my mom's pani puri which is the best in the world... watched three idiots in ghatkopatr....gone to bandra... love bandra.. had dinner there... fallen sick and had stomach cramos and diarrhoea after the dinner there... gone to watch avatar the next day to south mumbai... not liked it so much... 3-d effect was the only allure of the movie.... hated the story line.... come out gone to gol masjid... had biryani at jaffer Bhai's delhi darbar...Spent the sunday at home... slet mostly... hAd my atya's(Bua's) brilliat mutton liver and curry... and watched ajab prem ki ghajab kahaani which was hilarious only on account of its stupidity....
Nect on the list is a visit to my previous office... meeting my friends and mentor there... going to colba.. a visit to prithvi cafe.... juhu beach... shopping at AND... a new years partyu smwhr .... rocket singh..... bombay blues.... crawford market..
man i have got a lot to do.... chalo cu and tc...

First trimester Ends

It wasnt very long ago that we landed here... in the city of joy.... We had stars in our eyes.... hopes and dreams of successful careers being built up and seen everyday.... Man what a crazy ride it has been so far... I have learnt that getting into a good b-school is just the tip of the iceberg.. thatmore than 95% lies below the surface..... so my dear friends ... dont let the gloss and glamour of the life which u see the friendly neighbourhood CEO of a multinational leading fool u.... he works day and night for that... and the moment u enter a b-school u will have to do the same... get ready for a fulfilling life with the biggest challenges you could imagine... bcos thats what your going to be doing... After all running a business is not for the faint hearted.... It requires a lot of determination, innovation,Firm decision making skills and the ability to stand by them....

Well I can tell you one thing the rigour of a b-school is amazing... it keeps u on the toes... whether it is the class room, preparation for lectures, dealines for assignments or the various b-school events.... and its all a lot of fun.... Thats the best part of it all.... The subjects are all interesting.... The teacheers are the best... The pedagogy is very different from what you have been through so far... to make the best of these lectures you best read your material before attending classes else your fighting a lost battle...

And then come the b-school events.. Man are you spoilt for choice here.... you can do so many things.... write papers on topics of your choice, participate in debates, have strategy forming competitions, Create marketing plans, come up with ideas for your own business and explore the entrepreneurial streak in you.... SO MUCH SCOPE TO EXPLORE WHAT YOU WANT TO DO AS AN INDIVIDUAL!!!!! One may wonder why do all this... but participating in a good mix of these competitions gives you a feeling of what it would be like to actually work in these streams.... Also the thrill you get from participating in these and then winning a few is comparable to nothing else... after all you are pitting yourself against the best brains in the country....Just the whole idea of competing with them gives you a high....

But the thing is one has to be wise enough to choose only the things one is interested in... else it is equally easy to get lost in the flow of competitions and stress yourself out so much.... I guess the one important thing is to know where you are and where you want to go in the future.... If you are clear about that half of your battle is won....

Anyways now that the first trimester is done I feel I am at least clear about what i would not want to do. It hasnt been the smoothest period of my life... there have been major ups and downs..... but I know what I did right and what were my mistakes..... and the thing now is to learn from them, work hard at not repeating them and improve upon my strengths....

Well enough of this gyaan.... I am not in the habit of writing something serious for such an extended period of time... So especially for Swati..... I will introduce some humour....

Tips for a budding MBA

1) Do not let you accounts prof think your sleeping in his class.

2) Try to pay lesser attention to your meals and more to your studies.

3) Do not sit anywhere beyondthe fourth bench ... people here are usually playing computer games in their free times and you will be typecast as a nerd...

4) do not sit on the first bench either else you will be typecast as a snivelling rat who is always looking for favours from teachers....

5) the optimum seats are on the second and third benches

6) If you fall asleep in class when you wake up listen to the prof carefully for 5 mins and ask a super intelligent question based on the proceedings(picked from some of my classmates not implemented yet)

Well thats all i can recall now.... will keep you updated with more in the future as they come to me... :P

But on a more serious note... i can easily say this has been my most interesting learning phase of my life... and i am left gasping for more.... Well got to go.... tc.

Height!!!

Before I say anything let me just inform you guys that tomorrow i have my Business economics endterm... and i have been in college the whole of today attending some seminars which could have been avoided if the attendance was not compulsory(I knw thts a weird thing to say but still ... try and understand ) well i really dont have much to say apart from the fact that my college is giving us a break of only 4 days due to which i cant even go home fo rthe vacation... wat the heck.... not done.. so i will continue being homesick for a while longer... however my mom will be here soon... so yay!!!! Our seniors are done with their exams and have gone off for the port visits... plus now they will be seen relatively less in college... Must get back to studies... in the words of my mom "Ab Ghoda aur maidan nazdik hain"

untitled

u know what, i end up spending too much and always onm things i didnt go out to buy in the first place... somebody please teach me how to plan these things out.... life at college should finally start settling down to normal.,.. the induction sessions are almost done.... so now ill be back to the grind... albeit after a fresher's party... i hope i can give it a miss.... im never comfortable at one of these events... i hate dancing and im definitely not doing anything of the sort in front of my seniors..... especially since some of them are really cute too.... its weird... anyways the girls out here are already fishing for the cute ones...... life sure is lonely here.... but i guess im more or less used to tht now... i really miss all my mumbai friends... i wonder if i go nto some sort of a comfort zone with having just a few amazingly good frnds... spoke to sachin,sharyu and shipra yest... what touched me the most was that they are being so affectionate and supporting even from that far... thanks guys... i love u... u r the best.... i hope i find many more friends like ull ... anyways keep watching this space for further updates... will be making my work ex ppt... gn and god bless...

My first post from IIFT Kolkatta

Hello....
I dont know who i say that to every time i make an entry but watever... pardon the sms style writing... but everythign goes these days.... plus its my blog.... so who cares.... so i am at the indian institute of foreign trade(IIFT) Kolkatta.... The full form was for some of my ignorant friends who wud not have understood what iift was otherwise.... ab pata chala????? DUBAARA MAT POOCHNA.... :P

Well i am in the city of joy... but so far apart from the first ever cycle rickshaw ride in my life this city has seemed pretty normal.... kucch toh karna padega.... and if ur wondering even by the minutest chance that how did I decide to blog today... its because im supposed to be studying for my maketing lecture for tomorrow ... and im as usual procrastinating as much as possible....

So i think i will list down the pros and cons of my decision to join IIFT apart from the normal reasons... u see normal reasons toh sabke jaise hain waise mere bhi hain... want to get an mba, start up my own venture... etc etc....all very muc the real reasons par apart from that here are some more reasons which are like at the bottom of the list somewhere and if u tell me u never thought abt this at least in passing i'l say "don't lie men" total goan christian style... love them .. given a chance id buy a hut on a beach in goa, go fishing everyday for food and just basically enjoy life ....:P...
1) i no longer have to work for another 2 years at least and i definitely do not have to code again.... thank god!!!! :P
2) I get to go away from home for the first time and see what it takes to live on your own....
3) Mummy finally realises how much she misses me when im not around... :P
4) Kaustubh(my brother) gets a chance to play the only child for a while and see what i went through when he was at iit delhi for the last four years.... enjoy dude.....
5) The people in my previous organisation(though u probably knw where i worked if uve been reading my blog carefully...) realise that they miss me too... yay!!!! thts wat i love the most....

cons....
well theres no food here thts abt it.... and ohh ya im always sleepy which i shudnt be considering that this is the make or break period of my life... if anyone has any suggestions on how to stay up please feel free to leave them in the comments to this blog....

well thats it...
have fun
tc...
lots and lots and lots and lots of love,
(see how happy youve made me by just reading the blog ... now be a good kid and leave comments)
Kshitija...
:)

Ramblings of a Sleepy Person.

the previous post had been written a long time back and not posted... so i decided to publish it anyways... hey Swati.... I cant leave comments on ur blog either... read the story... I am glad u managed to flush out ur problem so easily( Pun totally intended)... [:P]... As you can see this is really the ramblings of a sleepy person... God i dont know what im upto... i had a plan to continue my IT conversations... howeevr the log of my conversation which i sent from my office to here is corrupt somehow.....U knw being completely honest with ull i actually met D recently... he really is a piece of work... i do not get him... maybe im just not willing to accept that ppl like him actually exist in this world and i happened to meet him of all the ppl... wat happened to the world is such a nice happy safe place????????and i seem to have turned into some sort of an insomniac these days who cannot fall asleep till 3 in the nyt... i think i need to start exercising... btw i finished Brisingr by Christopher paolini... its damn good... however he haspulled off a prison break and decided that the book will not gt over in this trilogy but will actuallly go on to a fourth volume... AHHH... anyways.. am gng to try to fall aslp now... plan on waking up early and gng swimming... heh... been planning this for a year... lets see what i do tom... gn ppl...