I still exist

Every morning and every night I wish nearly 40 of my good friends, Good morning and Good night.
This is just not a wish to my friends for a good day and a nice sleep, but a reminder that I still exist on this earth, that I always remember them.

Unfortunately I seldom receive sms from them in return. Though very frankly, when I started smsing them I did expect that I will not receive an sms back. And I didn't ask for one in return too.

Yet, I am a human being and like others I too feel at times that I should be remembered too, by my friends, unless I am enforcing my friendship on them.


Anyways, life teaches you one or the other thing at every juncture. What I learned today is a simple fact that I have conveniently overlooked, everyone doesn't have enough time for their own lives, let alone for others, so I don't mind much.

Buddies, just remember one thing, Shubham Chakraborty, still exists on this earth.

Real Nature of Education

There was a time when I used to mock CCE and Formative Assessments. The reason was that I was ill informed, ignorant. Though the truth was glaring in front of me, I chose to overlook. But then I came around and today I can safely say that I am a proponent of CCE and FA and very frankly I want thing to improve further.

When I was a student in school, I used to wonder why I need to study all the subjects instead of those that I really love to. Why can’t I just play cricket and become a cricketer? Why does everyone compare me with someone else when we two are different people?

The reason is a flawed education system which has become flawed because of our wrong assumption that MONEY IS SUCCESS. This ultra materialistic view that we have borrowed from the west has led to our downfall. If students across the country are committing suicides over exam failure, the reason is this wrong definition of success. And amazingly this has led to a severe down gradation of our education system and values.

The real nature of education is to enrich and empower a person to face and deal with the world. But are we doing that?

No. Our perception of success has turned education into a marks crunching machine. A student is taught to score marks. Hardly ever to understand the concepts. We are always looking up to the so called brilliant 1% students who constantly score above 90%. What about those who don’t score above 70%? They are in majority.

Well we push them into oblivion. At least we try our best to do so. And interestingly throughout history it is these BELOW AVERAGE guys who have shaped and reshaped the world as we know it today.

The purpose of education is to make the students achieve their potential. They should be doing what they love to do. In fact that is what the true idea of success is, “A MAN IS SUCCESSFUL IF HE WAKES UP IN THE MORNING AND GOES TO BED AT NIGHT AND IN BETWEEN, DOES WHAT HE LOVES TO DO”. Going by that ARTISTS and SCIENTISTS are the real successful people.  And exactly how many are they in number? Well less than 1% of 1% of our entire population.

To a huge extent we parents are also responsible for this entire problem. The following will indicate the problem cycle.

MONEY IS SUCCESS --> Parents want their ward to be SUCCESSFUL --> Schools want their CUSTOMERS (Read STUDENTS and their PARENTS) to be satisfied --> Teachers want to be in jobs so have to listen to school admin --> Completion of syllabus takes center stage --> Understanding goes for a toss --> Students become problem solving, marks crunching, lesson mugging devices --> Students either become SUCCESSFUL or not --> In both case they too propagate MONEY IS SUCCESS and the cycle continues.

It is high time now that this pattern be broken. It is to be understood that SUCCESS is about positively influencing as many lives as possible in one lifetime. It is about pursuing your PASSION and making a contribution to the world. And in the process enjoying and reaping the benefits that life presents you.

I, being a teacher, has taken it on myself to positively effect as many students as possible. Each and every student is special and is a powerhouse of possibilities and potential. Only that they need the guidance to achieve their potential. Charity begins at home.

I hope people including school teachers, parents and kids should understand that achieving their potential will be the real success.

Writing habit

Writing has been a bad habit for me. I am so addicted to writing that I seem to have become speech retarded. Even my wife says so, though not in the same words as mine.
When I was going around with my wife, before marriage, I used to send her at least 100 sms a day if not more but when she used to call me I used to talk for less than 5% of the time. She was the chat-baby and me the mum-guy. This stupid habit of mine has become a big retard for my daily activities. Except for talking about my own subject, Physics, and some related topics, I find it very difficult  to talk.
Now I think I will turn this bad habit of mine into something different. Why not do something better out of it, I thought.
I have been a story writer since my childhood days, so I think I must start writing stories again and try to get them published. Else you guys are there for me to read my blogs, isn't it???

Predicament of a Teacher

I have long wondered why most MALES now a days shy away from the teaching profession? Why for todays youngsters teaching is either not an option or the last option or kind of an exit strategy in life?  Pondering on the above questions I came across the answers. Four years I have been a teacher in Two Engineering colleges and Two schools. What I have seen around me and my analysis of the situation is summarized below. If you find my language gross and not that of a teacher, kindly forgive me but just become a teacher for six months and you would agree with me.

Gone are the days when a teacher was the most respected person in ones life. Gone are the days when a teacher used to TEACH and GIVE KNOWLEDGE to the students. Today teachers are a harried lot.

CBSE says that students should not fail (CCE is mainly about it which borrows ideas from the multiple intelligence theory which though i agree with has loop holes) and if a student knows how to run fast, he knows something in life and must therefore pass and finally become an engineer or a doctor (Government has done enough to ensure that perfect idiots should become engineers and doctors) even if he doesn't know that 2+2=4 and that RAM was SITA'S husband and not brother !!!..

Also parents feel that a teacher should take complete responsibility of the student and they would hardly do anything except earning money.

On that the school and college administration says that CUSTOMER (read  STUDENT and their PARENTS) SATISFACTION is most important and one must always say, "THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS CORRECT".

Plus if a student slaps the teacher on one cheek the teacher is supposed to forward the other cheek and then when that is also hit, should COUNSEL the students as to why he/she shouldn't have done this so that he/she  may come back with a SHOE the next time. Since, if the teacher scolds the student and the student commits (OR EVEN SAYS ABOUT COMMITTING) suicide, the teacher will be hanged to death by the POLICE and SUPREME COURT.

A teacher who is behind the creation of hundreds of engineers and professionals is paid PEANUTS. One of my friends, a MA in Economics plus BEd was offered 3500 rupees to become a PGT. Now is that not an insult? Barring some reputed private schools and some government schools the salary of a teacher is less than or equal to the salary that a peon earns in a regular government job. And then it is expected that teachers should do a world class job. Ha Ha !!!!

Though the concept of CCE is good but it is a TUGHLAKI IDEA. Good but ineffective in a country like ours. I will discuss about it shortly in another blog.

So a teacher is literally tortured  by the school/college administration, parents, supreme court, police, CBSE, Kapil Sibal and his great ideas, and finally the students themselves. and then it is asked WHY NO ONE WANTS TO BECOME A TEACHER NOW A DAYS?

You still need a reason ????!!!!!!!!

My fight with my nemesis ----- The Spider

Spiders- those titsy bitsy stupid creatures who live almost every nook and corner of your home- are those creatures which I always wondered why God at all made (if he made them at all). I have a special relation with them. I hate them. Nay!! I am scared of them. I am not scared of anything as much as I am scared of Spiders. And we often come face to face with devastating consequences, usually for the spider. But this time for a change I was at the receiving end. This is the story of my face off with one such nasty creature.

Today morning I went into the bathroom only to find a spider hanging to its web bang in front of me, on the left hand side of the entrance to the bathroom. I stopped. Looked into its eyes (well one of the 8 they've got). It stared back as if mocking me. I was disgusted. I knew if I had to relieve of the pressure nature had created in my belly, I need to get through the door, where the spider waited for me. I decided instantly that it has to be obliterated.

I caught hold of my size 9 chappal. It is flexible and had been with me for two months now. I had full confidence in its (chappal) ability of cruching the spider. There is a famous saying, "what can go wrong, will go wrong, exactly when you don't want it to go wrong". The above saying came to life today, with me.

I could have easily and softly patted on the spider with the chappal and it would have been crushed beyond recognition. But I had decided to show it the strength of my arms. So I picked up the chappal and hit the spider with such ferocity that the web it was hanging to vanished, the cemented part of the wall it was hanging to and which had developed flakes due to water seepage came crashing down and the floor became dirty, the chappal fell from my hand and I myself jumped out in joy only to find the spider crawling towards the kitchen area.

"What the hell!!!! How did it escape???!!!", ran through my head with my heart rate rising.
I decided that it was not to be. This time I decided to use the chappal as a missile. What a mistake was that!!!!

I hurled the chappal towards the fleeing spider only to see to my horror that the chappal instead of hitting the spider actually bounced off the floor and hit the tray which mom had kept nearby on which were kept three cups and a few un eaten biscuits.

Two cups cranked and their pieces were there all over the floor. with my chappal sitting at their place on the tray. Just then, my bad luck, mom came downstairs and seeing all this started scolding me for behaving like a kid. But my eyes and brain was still searching for that spider. Couldn't see it go anywhere.

Mom and my wife started to clean the mess due tome stupidity. And I went back into the bathroom wondering where the spider may have gone.

Once inside I started taking bath when I saw something through the corner of my eyes. Startled I put on the specs only to the the same titsy bitsy spider crawling up the wall towards the roof.

It stopped for a moment and may be, laughed at me.

I came out of the bath room to be greeted by my mom and wife both saying what a brave heart I am.
Now that is what i call an Irony of Life.

God and Science.

How many times do we ask ourselves whether we believe in god or not? Almost on a daily basis, may be sometimes but none is there who NEVER asks this question.

Being a student of Physics, I am at times urged by many to refrain from openly speaking out my views in favour or against the topic related to God. But then just because I have studied a few books and learnt a few mathematics makes me any different from being a human being? Surely not. So today i thought it is a good idea to speak out my mind about God.

I don't know whether there is any such thing as God which created the universe (or may be the Multiverse) and us too and who presides over our every move, scrutinises every step we take, counts how many times we spoke a lie only to punish us later or counts our good deeds to bless us. Frankly I don't know if there is any such God and if at all one exists then I would like to know why we presume that He/ She would be so preoccupied with tiny creatures like us and our day to day lives. But frankly again, I don't know if such a God actually exists.
Then what is God in which I do believe? Well I have a faith. A faith according to which I am looked over by someone who knows me better than i do, who has the ability to guide me in my darkest hours and who is unconditional in his/her approach. I can't give it a human form for it is just a belief, a faith, but still I call it Krsna, Ram, Allah, Jesus and so on. So for me, God is a personal faith of a power which resides inside me and guides me always. Hard core scientists can call it intuition, probability, chance or just a figment of imagination, but for me it is God. and yet my god doesn't make me fight with a human being who believes in his / her god. That places me away from the realm of religion and places me in the vicinity of spirituality. And yet I am abhored by both men of science and religion because I don't call God a Hoax and I don't kill people in the name of God.
isn't it a peculiar situation?
I am still thinking about it.
Someday i intend to figure out the rest of my thoughts and then I will put my thoughts into words.

Engineers / Managers Ahoy !!!!!

Someday back someone asked me why I am so against someone doing a BTech or and MBA?
I had a tough time making him understand that I have absolutely nothing against these two courses. Rather I want my students to become "GOOD" engineers. But mind it, GOOD engineers.
And this is where the entire problem lies. For instance UPTU (ha ha ha the UPTU guys will give a SUPAARI of my name for blasting them repeatedly) is one giant Engineer / MBA producing machine. If you have watched the movie, Lord of the Ring (Part II)  you must be remembering the way DEMONS were literally produced under the two towers. Same here. 100,000 BTechs and 40000 MBAs every year. And that too of GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREAT quality.
A 4th Year BTech Electronics guy couldn't distinguish between a capacitor and a resistor.
A MBA guy can't even write FIVE CORRECT sentences about himself.
And then we say that there are numerous Learned Jobless guys around. Learned is definitely not the word for them.
But I must also say that students cannot be held solely responsible for this. Look at the infrastructure. One previous college I worked with didn't even have an Electronics laboratory for 3rd year students and their practical book was full of practicals. I wonder how they ever did the practicals.
And it is the case with every college (barring a selected few).

So all i say is if you wanna do your BTech / MBA do it from somewhere you will be really taught. Else its better not do a BTech / MBA. That way you are only increasing the infamy of these courses.

Friends the above mentioned thoughts are purely mine and the BTech / MBA guys and gals kindly don't take offence.

DPS Rajnagar : - Culmination day of SUmmer Camp 2011

We had a great culmination of a long and fun filled summer camp. Here are some of the videos related to it that I have shot and a few pics too. Below you will find a few snippets of such videos.

Chase your dreams

Dreams....most of us have dreams....we all want to do something in life..... but 99.9% of those most are scared of pursuing their dreams for the fear of failure.... and some are stopped by other problems.....
its my earnest request of mine to all..... chase your dreams ..... really ..... you will never regret it if you pour your heart and soul behind it.....

many a times our parents stop us from chasing our dreams.... never accept their arguments or pressure and stop.... what will happen is that later in life you will curse both yourself and your parents for not going after your dreams.... life is a miserable fellow if it is without an aim and more so if it knows that life would have been different if the heart was listened to.....

Off the beaten path

I was wondering if someone would like to look at anything beyond Engineering or Medical after class 12. So here is a list of career options which I believe is better than becoming a BAD ENGINEER/DOCTOR.

Teaching(both School and College level): My most favourite, because I am also a teacher. I could have also taken the same path as most of my friends did (no offence please) and could have done BTech and then followed it up with an MBA and then become a FINANCIAL ANALYST or a MARKETING MANAGER or a HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER in some MNC (Strange combination, isn't it??

But this is exactly what most people end up doing after ENGINEERING !!!), ending up doing gross injustice to the very degree of Engineering for which they had fought tooth and nail with other aspiring candidates. I sometimes wonder what happens to
the engineering knowledge that is gained by these guys.
Anyways this is not something one should be talking about because, as stated in the movie 3-IDIOTS, these DONKEYS know well what they want to do with their lives!!!!! All I am saying guys that if you don't have the passion and aptitude to be an
engineer and if at the end of the day you want to do your MBA from IIMs then please for God's sake don't waste a precious seat in some prestigious engineering institution. Also look at teaching as a career prospect. It is the only profession where you GET THE TIME TO SPEND WHATEVER YOU EARN and also get enough time to be what you really are. Moreover it will give you the first hand chance to shape the country's future and will be in the thick of affairs all through your career. it is more interesting and fun to be a teacher then become a DONKEY!!! (no pun intended). And this piece of suggestion is open to both class 12 passouts as well as engineers because after the training in engineering one will be rich in subject knowledge and
will be in a better position to teach.

Publishing: This is one industry which is rather small in size and very less explored. I stumbled upon it rather by accident and trust me now I know the amount of time and effort it takes to make a book. It pays well and if you are a book lover, nothing better than this profession. You will not regret getting into this profession.

Editing: You will require a sound knowledge of your subject and an eye for errors.
Content Development: You will require a sound knowledge of your subject and flair for writing.
Commissioning Editor: You require a knowledge of publishing process and good inter-personal skills.

There are subdivisions too, of which I will talk about later.

Research: Of course it is not everyone's cup of tea. But it pains me to see that good minds who are capable of being researchers, inventors, etc., becoming human resource managers of some MNCs. If you love your subject and you like to think-
out-of-the-box or you are always curious to know why- and how- of things around you, better try out your brain in solving some of the mysteries and problems of science and technology.

There are a plethora of options a student can take after class 12 or BTech, etc., of which I will talk about in times to come but all this will require you to think whether you want to walk the beaten path or would love to take a different route for your career. Remember the choice is yours and you have to decide for yourself.

Is everyone capable of becoming an engineer????

I have been thinking of writing this but never really found the time to do so. Now a days students, specially the ones appearing in class 12th exams, or BTech final, etc., have a very few options open to them, or so they want to believe. For those who are opting class 12 exams with as their subject are made to believe that Engineering / Medical (E / M) are the only options left. Strange. And unfortunately teachers and parents alike want them to believe that anything other than E / M is like committing a crime. Very strange. I sometimes wonder whether it is a stupidity that people in general commit themselves into by mistake or by choice!!! Whatever it is, no body is ready to look beyond.

The life beyond E/M is where the life now a days really starts. When I was taking my class 12 exams we had a mere 4 engineering colleges around; today the count stands at more than 50. We are doling out engineers with impunity without thinking for one moment if they all are worth being called engineers at all.

According to a research done at Harvard University in early 80's, human beings have 7 types of intelligence.

Linguistic: everyone has this. People with more of it can learn lots of languages. also they are good at writing stories etc.

Logical: Related to mathematics and reasoning and related areas.

Musical: We all can sing a bit. Most of us can learn to play musical instruments too. But not everyone can create music. For that you need musical intelligence.

Spatial: People with this are good at gauging depth, length and height of objects; can easily visualize a system at work.

Kinesthetic: It is related to the control of body movements. Give a paint brush to MF Hussian and one similar brush to me. MF Hussain will pull of a masterpiece and I, a disaster. Similarly almost all athletes and players have this intelligence.


The other two are Inter-personal and Intra-personal intelligence.

The most important thing is that to be an engineer one would require a combination of Logical and Spatial intelligence.

How many of us you think has these two in right combination?

Not many actually. and yet every Tom, Dick and Harry is out to become an Engineer. I wonder what they will end up becoming.

The most important thing is that everyone should be given a chance to figure out the right type of intelligence that they have and grow accordingly.

I think it is a very important thing that all teachers and parents should keep in mind. and obviously all students should try to see what they are good at.

Lessons learnt

Life can be strange. And it can throw surprises at you specially when you least expect them. One such incident happened a couple of days back which taught me some lessons. Lessons which i'll never forget and will come handy later in life.

We were on our way to delhi. We had hired a cab and started at two in the noon. We were near pusa when the driver made a huge error in judgement and instead of going across the round about he dissected the traffic and was immediately caught by the traffic police. I and the driver went out to talk. I thought i might help him out. After arguing and pleading a lot the police man asked me my profession to which i promptly replied that i am a teacher. Then he simply asked me one thing. I should decide whether the driver should be challaned as per law or should he pay half the sum to the police man illegally and escape. I was stumped. I knew i was in a fix. I told the police to challan the driver. Afterwards, on the same day the driver ploughed his cab into a new innova car. The other car's driver, obviously angry, started abusing our driver and were having a heated argument. This time i remained silent. After ten minutes my maternal uncle, who was in our cab, stepped out and resolved the matter.

Two lessons i learnt that day. One. Never pass judgement or try to settle a score between two people if you are not directly connected to it. I made this mistake in the first case. Second. Never be a mute spectator when the problem has something to do with you. In the second instance it was my suggestion to change lanes that caused the accident. So i was directly involved and yet i remained mute.

I hope i'll be more careful later.

Good Innovation

That is what you call innovation..... making MAGGI Noodles on an upside down Iron Press....