Success

How do you define success?
Well there are many a ways of defining success depending on how you look at life. But one good definition, a general one at that, is as follows," If you wake up in the morning and go to bed at night and in between do what you LOVE to do; you are successful."
 
Now that is pretty meaningful. Unfortunately now a days success is defined as a comparison factor. A comparison between what you are EARNING and what "another guy" of your age is earning. The comparison factor becomes even more skewed if the "another guy" happens to be your friend or a relative. Trust me man, you are so dead except that you don't know yet that you are dead.

Your parents (the main culprits), your relatives, your friend circle and finally you yourself will kill you by comparison.

The real way to compare should be between your past and present. If you have done something better than your own past in any possible way; you have succeeded. Unfortunately our education system also promotes unfair comparison in assessing success.

So my friends to be successful, see whether you are doing what you love to do and whether you are comparing yourself with your own self. If the above is yes; you are successful. Else think again !!!!

Predicament of a Male Teacher

In one of my earlier posts I had put forward the Problems faced by school teachers in General. Now I will put forward the problems faced by a MALE school teacher in Today's times.
We keep hearing that the world is galloping ahead into a new era; new things are happening; people's mindset is changing rapidly....... etc., etc., all true things which are however far from reality.
Take for instance our typical Indian Middle Class family with its middle class mindset... Females (read WIFE) should stay at home and Males(read HUSBAND) should work. Well now imagine what happens if the FEMALE (WIFE) goes out for a 8:30 am to 6:00 pm job and the MALE (HUSBAND) goes to a 7:30 am to 1:30 pm job??? Which means the MALE (HUSBAND) reaches home much ahead of the FEMALE(WIFE). And imagine the predicament of the Husband if he happens to be a SCHOOL TEACHER !!! which is considered as the WOMEN's JOB?????!!!!@!#!@#!$@!$##@%#%

Well trust me friends its real tough life for the Husband specially if he has a MOTHER and a WIFE to handle at the same time.

And you can't even imagine that fateful day when the HUSBAND has a long winter vacations and the WIFE goes out to work in that time. God all hell breaks loose at home.

Outside people say, " Raja wali naukri hai bhai teri. Subah jao and dopahar ko wapas". Ask a teacher who is at the helm of affairs.

And trust me you would not like to be in this situation when you have got some close relatives living nearby.

Well frankly friends I don't think there is another job which can be more fulfilling than Teaching (of course if you love it) and nothing more a troubling profession for you if you happen to be a married man whose wife has a good job requiring long hours and if your relatives live nearby.

Do you know what happens in that case?????

Well some other day I will tell you.

Reservation in Indian conditions

Well I feel there seems to be a big problem in our understanding of who should get reservations and who should not. Very honestly speaking, reservation is a must in Indian scenario but the question is Reservation for whom and at what level? In india the problem of reservation and its implementation is more political than socio-economical.
The real problem and its base and its solution are totally lost in the war for power (read Political power).
Would it not be more beneficial and the real solution if RESERVATION is provided at school level in the better public / private schools?
Would it not be better that economically sound people should be left out of the RESERVATION system?
Would it not be better that reservation should be provided to ECONOMICALLY BACKWARD people instead of BACKWARD CASTE people?

India seems to be the only country in the world where since its independence people have GONE BACKWARDS THAN FORWARD??!!!!!!

Today every tom, dick and harry wants to become backward so as the get the share of the plum cake called reservation.

Take this.
If the recent census shows that the so called socially backward class people account for more than 50 % of Indias population, then a new problem will emerge. The so called General people will have the right to count themselves in MINORITIES. So they may ask for RESERVATION too. And else RESERVATION is already there.

So I think the  best bet is to declare the entire nation as backward. We will be a big happy backward family and then maybe people will realise that its better to give reservations based on economic conditions than out age old caste system which has hollowed Indian system for thousands of years.

So friends welcome to the bandwagon of BACKWARD PEOPLE. Ahoy!!!

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....

Uncertainty of JOBS

Jobs in a private company can be the most uncertain thing.....
Some thing similar happened a few days back at my organization..... Vikas Publishing House...
Our open market team was running into losses due to extremely ineffective marketing and sales team (which is almost non-existent) .... so on monday (28th Dec, 2010) at 5:15 pm, we were told that Open market team is being dissolved...... most people were immediately fired and only 8 out of 30 people were retained....

It was the most shocking thing that has ever happened to me..... though i was one of the 8 guys who were retained.....yet my heart went out for those who were really crying..... Gira Nand Yadav ji was our proof reader and is almost 45 years of age....where is he going to get a job now??? he was inconsolable ....... same was the case with most....

I was unwell and could hardly walk around so didn't come for the next few days....but this incident did leave a bad impression on everyone's mind....

From IIIT Hyderabad

I came here on 12th December for my first paper presentation in the International Conference on Python programming that took place at ISB, Hyderabad.
My paper was on Use of Python and Phoenix Interface in Robotics. The reception was good and I enjoyed a lot. Made three good friends, Shyama Sundar, Vighnesh and Pooja. All three are Computer Science guys and only me a physics guy. The best part is that all the three are interested in research.
I took time off and visited Salarjung Museum, Birla temple and Birla museum apart from a few markets here and there. Over all it was a great experience. I got a great nudge towards making an impact in my endeavour towards making some headway in research. Lets see.

Ayodhya

Today's judgement by Allahabad High Court in the 60 year old Ramjanma bhumi Babri Masjid was a landmark judgement. Though frankly i couldn't figure out how they reached the conclusion that the disputed place is the birth place of Ram. Anyways this judgement has shown that India is still India because of our Judiciary. All the three major parties to the case were taken into account and provisions were made to satisfy all the three. I hope instead of fighting like hindus n muslims we all should accept the decision and move into the future as Indians.

Sector 23, J block

Sector 23, J block. When it was made people thought it won't survive even one earth quake. Till date it has survived atleast seven. So every time an earthquake strikes, its value doubles. We bought it for 16 thousand. Today its value is 10 lakhs. Still it is considered one of the most backward areas. we've been living here for nearly two decades now. Many of my friends and students and some other people too have asked me why i stay there even now when i'm capable of moving out. I thought i'd give a logical answer of what i feel.


Here i've seen the real nature of life. I've seen the good and bad days of people around me. Struggle for existence , struggle to do something worthwhile, struggle to be something, i've seen it all. I've seen the humane nature of human beings. One person shouts for help and the entire locality comes calling. I've talked to complete strangers as if we knew each other for years. I agree the house is small, the locality is dirty, people are not too literate, but they are more human than the highly educated, sophisticated, upper middle class fellows living in big apartments, posh localities with big pockets but small hearts. Somehow most people who through their hard work create big pockets for themselves, somehow either don't appreciate the less lucky counterparts or just forget their own roots. But then all people are not same. Exceptions are there on either side.

Miracle medicine! Or ticket to heaven (may be hell) !!!

I've been thinking of doing something constructive with this powerfull medium called Blog. So i thought that let me clear some doubts from the mind of people regarding some hoax emails that have been making rounds of internet over the last few years.

Today my first writeup on this issue starts with the so called PAPAYA MIRACLE.

Dengue is a disease that has claimed thousands of lives over the past few years, specially in areas like Delhi. Last year my brother got afflicted by this dreaded disease. He had to be hospitalized and we spent some very anxious moments. Anyways during that time i came to know of a miracle cure to Dengue. According to sources two fresh leaves of papaya have to be crushed to get their juice and give it to the patient of Dengue. And the platelet count will rise dramatically. I used it on my brother, before admitting him to hospital. Well as expected, no improvement was there. Anyways later i found out that it is a chain mail that has been making rounds since 1997. Its origin is Malaysia. And there the plant was stated as PEGAGA and not PAPAYA. It seems someone tried to indianize it by making it PAPAYA instead of the little known PEGAGA. Whatever the reason is, this so called miracle medicine definitely doesn't work. It has not been proven medically. And the entire thing is a hoax.


My advice and request to all of you is that please take your near and dear ones to a doctor or a hospital if, god forbids, by chance the person gets afflicted by Dengue. Remember nature does have miracle medicines around but unless it is proven its a grave mistake to go by such chain messages.

Train tragedy! ! OR comedy? ?

Let me retrace a few steps and tell you another story. This one took place around five years back. At that time i had AA in my life. That day we were returning from delhi. As usual we were waiting at platform number four of new delhi rail station. The train was supposed to arrive at 3.45 pm and leave at 3.50 pm. The train arrived. We both hopped into a compartment. Unfortunately there were no place to sit. Being a guy it was ok for me not to sit but she being a girl it would have been a problem. So i decided to get down and search for a compartment which has some place to sit. AA resisted this idea. I assured her that the train is supposed to stop for atleast five minutes and won't be leaving so soon. After a slight argument she yielded. I got down. And she followed. She had hardly got down from the train that it started to move along the platform. I was stunned. It wasn't even three minutes. I told her to jump back to which she blatantly refused. The train moved on. But this entire situation was so funny for me that i couldn't help laugh. This i realized was a grave mistake. She accused me of being a nonsensible guy, someone who laughs at everything and doesn't take life seriously. And trust me the more she shouted at me the more the entire situation looked hilarious. And i couldn't stop laughing. She didn't speak for the next few days.

My views on Reservation

Let me share my views on Reservation.
I think just like our constitution reservation is a must for BACKWARD CLASSES. Mind it its CLASSES. Nowhere in the constitution it is BACKWARD CASTE. Our great politicians, hungry for votes at all cost, have converted this CLASS TO CASTE. Else how can someone be sure that a general caste guy has more money than a scheduled caste one? My close friends belong to general class but his father has no job. They're living in hardships and still with good grades his chances of getting into a good job or even a college is far less as compared to the son of a jat ,who has made millions by selling his land, because that guy belongs to obc category. Unfortunately it is not a one off case. Even more amazing is the politics of north india where jats dominate. Every other household is a millionaire but wants a reservation. In the politics being played one has forgotten one simple stuff. Gulp this.
Out of 100 seats 50 are reserved for sc, st , obc an minorities. 20 to 30 percent for girls, physical handi capped people. Now that leave only 20 to 30 seats as unreserved. Which means a general category student can't get a seat from reserved category. But the vice versa is possible. Hence a general category student gets just 20 seats. This means we should now ask for minority status. And once caste census proves that general category population is less then we'll ask for minority status. At the end everyone will be a part of the big happy backward family called India.

My new office

My new office, Vikas Publishing House, is a nice place to be in. Centralized ac is the best thing i like here. But apart from that my news colleagues. Gira nanda, UK Sharma, shweta, ruchi, niketa, sanjana, nidhi, monika, parama, indrani, rajesh, pradip, saluja ji and jyoti ma'm. Apart from these people there are more whose names i keep forgetting. Anyways my work is getting more interesting as i'm going to single handedly deal with a few new books. Wish me luck.

UPTU the worst university in the world.

This is about the worst university in the world and the colleges which make it so. Just two years i've spent in uptu and i've come to know some shocking truths. I'll reveal them to you one by one.
1. In most private colleges such students get admission who have scores below 45 percent in physics, chemistry and math. And guess what their marksheets are forged and made by the college authorities. The reason being the hefty amount that they charge from the students for admission apart from the regular fees.
2. Thousands of students get scholarship from u.p government every year for pursuing b.tech in uptu. Guess what there is a massive scam here too. One day a student came to me and asked why the college authorities were asking for 7000 rupees from them on the pretext that they'll help the student to get the scholarship that has come to the college in their name. I was astonished at this. When i went deep into the things i came to know the shocking details. The up government doesn't send the scholarship amount directly to the student's account. Rather it is sent to the college account. Now here most private colleges ask the students to cough up various amounts ranging from 5000 to 13000 in the name of processing fees. This amount is taken in cash and no receipt is given. Whereas after the money has been paid by the student the complete scholarship amount is sent to the student's bank account. No proofs are hence left for someone to point a finger. When i inquired about where this processing money goes i got a even bigger shock. There is a wide nexus between college authorities and elements in state government who pocket the money. One possible path is as follows
COLLEGE DEAN- DIRECTOR- REGISTRAR- CHAIRMAN- BDO - MLA of the area - Various other people - EDUCATION MINISTER- C.M

Now that is alarming. In the name of providing scholarship to economically backward students, these bastards are filling their own pockets. 3. But this is not all. There are equally big shocks in store regarding how teachers are hired and how students are placed. Lecturers are hired like cows and buffalo. Gulp this. Lecturers are hired and on paper their grade is shown that of 8000. Which means that they should get a minimum of 18840 rupees per month. And that is what the college authorities deposit in the lecturer's bank account. The very next day the lecturers are asked to sign a cheque of 10000 rupees in the college's name. Some colleges have gone one step further and they only accept cash from the lecturers. So effectively the lecturers get 8 or 9 thousand rupees only.4. But this one is the worst of all. Almost all colleges claim to have placed all their students successfully. But how? How can a student who is totally untrained get a job? How is it possible that every student gets placed? And even after that we've unemployment surrounding us? The reason is shocking.The chairman or director or dean or someone from the admin calls up their contacts in some known or relatively unknown companies. The college authorities agree to pay a certain sum, lets say 15 thousand per student, to the company to hire their students. The catch is that the company can terminate the students after three months. Or they'll be kept on hold by the company till a time comes when the students himself gives up the so called placement job. So students are left with no job . While the college authorities can claim to have given placement to everyone.

This is the reality behind u.p.t.u and the private colleges which make up ninety percent of it.

5. Most colleges don't have requisite infrastructure to run the courses and still got affiliation and recognition from government. All the colleges that i've know didn't have a practical lab for electrical engineering or never conducted practicals or workshops etc. And still the files of the students are ready. How? Anybody's guess

This is not all. Its a pandora's box waiting to be opened. If only the government is listening. I hope prospective students will give another thought before entering the private colleges of uptu. And i hope parents will gauge the abilities of their wards before pushing them into this ugly pit.

The worst university, UPTU.

For quite some time i've been thinking about writing about my experience in uptu affiliated colleges. Two years i've worked here and my dream about teaching physics at college level has taken a beating. The two years were a nightmare. A sword would always hang on our neck. Anytime for no good reason you can be kicked out. In my next post i'll open my heart and put forward the ugly truth about the u.p.t.u affiliated colleges.

influential people

I have been thinking about those people who have influenced me in my life to help me become whatever I am today. So here is a list of those people.
Tessy Thomas : My physics teacher of class 9th at St. Paul's. Academy. She made me love Physics.
Shailja Bahadur: The greatest influence in my life. My guide, friend, philosopher, teacher, mom, dad, brother, sister...... all rolled into one.
R.K. Pandey : A teacher who was a master of all subjects of Commerce.... Arts and Science...... and a real master was he.......
Tabish Qureshi: A teacher par excellence..... most of the time i used to debate with him on quantum mechanics..... He taught me in my MSc...
Lekha Nair: Another excellent teacher.... what influenced me the most was her enthusiasm in whatever she undertook.....
Smita Chhibber (Dodoma ) : Well she is my adopted mother ...... ha ha ha ...... actually she has been guiding and protecting me just like a mother does...... a very understanding person she is..... her real kids..... are really lucky to have her as a full time mother and i am lucky to have her as a part time mother.... ha ha ha
Arti (Dhoplu ) : Well she is the only creature of her species.... DHOPLU.... a very sweet chubby li'l girl...very humourous and witty....... and a nice friend.....

Death? ! !

Today i woke up to find that a death has occurred in our building. Kamlesh bhaiya's wife has been suffering since the last four years. Last night she got freedom. But at the time of writing this blog the body is yet to be taken away for cremation. Its mayhem all around. But the saddest part is that she is survived by two kids of three and five years old. Why is death there at all? Why can't a person just be promoted or demoted to another world instead of death, if at all such OTHER worlds exist. Death shakes my belief in god. In the goodness of god.

DHOPLU

DHOPLU ::::::::: A strange creature..... sweet.... full of joy.... humorous... witty and yet a DHOPLU..... well this DHOPLU is my friend ARTI SINGH..... Lecturer of MBA at RD Engineering college....... She is the funniest creature i have ever come across..... a bit towards the healthy side... but thats her only downside.... she is an excellent cook..... and a nice li'l (well sorry) confused friend.... later abut the adventures of dhoplu......

I got married

Its exactly 39 days into my marriage....... i am loving it....specially the fact that there is someone who is always there to love and care for me......
we got married on 31st january and went for our honey moon on 8th feb to Bangalore....Mysore....Ooty and Coonnor.... It was a lovely trip...... we enjoyed a lot and she shopped like anything..... bought 13 or 14 sarees.... and numerous other stuff.... what i loved was the excitement and joy on her face every time she went shopping.....
thereafter our daily routine has begun but obviously that hasn't made much difference in our love life....
I hope we will continue like this forever......
Love you Swagata.....

my research

Right now i am working towards the development of a few experiments which have been there for long but the methods are outdated.
also i am fortifying my forte : MATHEMATICS......
on that i am working on the Alternate Energy Source Technology which is the only way out of global warming..... lets see where god takes me.....

i am frustrated

At times i get frustrated at myself..... when i started off i was aiming at astrophysics..... 9 years down the line i have drifted farther away from that ambition....... and only i am to be blamed....
Now that marriage is knocking at my door steps....i don't think i will ever be able to do what i started out for....
anyways i love swagata a lot and i know atleast on one front i will be at peace......
i have left all to god to decide what is good for me..... may be my frustration is unwarranted yet after all i am a human being......

A NEW YEAR ... A NEW LIFE.... A NEW TARGET....

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010

LO !!!!!!!!!!! WE ARE INTO THE NEW YEAR IN A JIFFY.......
IT WAS A GREAT YEAR...... REALLY ..... SO MANY THINGS TOOK PLACE BUT MORE OF THAT LATER....

RIGHT NOW LETS ENJOY THIS NEW YEAR....

SWAGATA................ I LOVE YOU

i AM GETTING MARRIED............ ON 31ST JANUARY 2010.
GREAT.............ISN'T IT???
WELL LIFE SEEMS TO HAVE TAKEN A COMPLETELY NEW ROUTE.....
SUDDENLY CAME ACROSS THIS BENGALI BEAUTY SWAGATA.......... FELL FOR HER...... THAT WAS ALMOST 1.5 YEARS BACK..... NOW ANOTHER 43 DAYS TO GO BEFORE I LOSE MY BACHELOR'S DEGREE AND SHE GAINS HER MASTERS........... HA HA HA

is my life back on track?????

recent one month or so has been the most interesting in my life...... i started off my PhD and also i gave a lecture at jamia millia on the topic of INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNOLOGY.
i am working on two things or rather projects
1. ADVANCED ALTERNATIVE ENERGY PRODUCTION SYSTEM.
2. STORY WRITING AND HOSTING FOR ALL INDIA RADIO.

the first one has the potential to become the largest project work in the history of mankind, but the technology development board of india is not funding my project and i think i need to fund myself... lets see....

the second one is a new thing for me..... lets see whether my stories have the punch or not...

maa saraswati ne chaha to sab theekhi hoga...

there is one more story going on in my life.... but more of it later.....

another turn of events

well life has yet again taken a turn..... i resigned from Sultan Chand..... not that i was not loving that work but because i was not comfortable with myself.... I know i am an inventor and that is where my interest lies.... and my destiny too... so had to do this.....if nothing hapens then i will go for the online teaching agauin..... its surely not a bad option at all.... so lets see

a few steps back

today is my last day of online teaching.... i am taking a few steps back so that i can move forward..... i have to take cue of my life..... i have to live else i won't be able to do what i am supposed to do.... lets see what happens.....

my page

my homeoage

india defeats australia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so india ultimately defeated australia at their home only...... its a good feeling....

well i was just introspecting about my life a bit........ and came to the conclusion that life is a better roller coaster than a real one..... i have seen everything..... and now i am what i am..... is it what i was suppossed to be????? then why the fight????

well my love life is kinda crazy..... the one i love doesnt seem to love me and the one who seems to love me is the one i dont have such feelings about...... that is how life tests me.....

Stepped on the STUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

welcome back to my funny bones

This incident happend when i was in my MSc first year.
At that time I was in love with A*******A and so i used to accompany her in the morning to her college and then i used to go to mine.... and for that i used to set out at 5:00 am in the morning to catch the train to Delhi....
it was december and was cold..... very cold..... also at that time in the morning there used to be no electricity supply and on that it was very foggy that day....
so i started out with a torch in hand......
yet visibility was less that 2 meters....
as i was walking thru the empty road i came across a crossing...... as i turned i saw a small rocky stuff lying ahead of me....... on the road...
it seemed as if it was just a round block of cement that some callous person had left behind on the road..... so i decided to step on it and then cross over...
and its exactly what i did.....
and LO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the block stsrted to BARK at me and ran away.....
everything happened so suddenly that i also started to run in the different direction......
Then i understood that the rocky stuff on which i stepped on was nothing but a DOG......
I just pray that nothing happened to it....
After all i weighed 88 kg at that time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

back to business

well after all something of semblance is happening in my life......
i started of searching for time machine.... and i am again headed for that only...... seems i keep going on and off my target..... but the target remains intact... and thats whats the most important stuff is all about.....

my experiment.....

here i come again......
with my funny bones
it happened around two years back
then i was working at NITRA( north indian textile research association)....  i was developing an ultrasonic fabric cleaning device....
i was experimenting with the ultrasonic device... trying to see the effectiveness of cleaning by sonic waves,...
and then my brain ratteled and i got an idea
me elbow has a spot which has become dark due to accumulation of dirt... and no amount of soap application has done anything...
so i decided to use ultrasonic on it....
so i poured some detergent liquid in water and applied ultrasonic thru it... then i immersed my elbow in it.......
and lo......     



























i opened my eye in hospital......  the ultrasonic shockwaves travelled thru my elbow and to my brain.....  leaving me unconscious...
i couldnt clean my elbow......  but almost got myself cleaned from the face of the earth...

feedback please

please leave a comment for me.....    at http://chakraborty.shuvam.googlepages.com/homepage

Sad Day

Today is a real sad day fo me.....
A very close friend of mine hurt me today.....
we were arguing about the fact that she wants to leave science and research field since after her marriage since her husband's problems will be of priority......
i opposed the fact that she has a good brain and yet she is thinking of leaving science and research... this is not good for science when specailly now a days good brains are hard to find in scientific research....
well she just told me one thing that i will never understand it all since for that u need to love....  and to know how it feels like when u r in love....
well......
today i am what i am due to this stuff called love.....
and yet....
well some people will never understand me....
never

I misled a man..... by mistake

This incident happened when i was in BSc....
that day i was going to my college....Deshbandhu college.....
i was standing at ITO bus stand when a man approached me and asked me which bus goes to KHICRIPUR....
it was his bad day since he was asking me to strain my memory to guide himm....... and as you know my memory is too poor....
yet i knew where it was and i told him to get into the bus that goes to NAJAFGARH and told him to buy a 10RS ticket.... where the bus finally stops he shud get down there and then ask for directions......... coz KHICHRIPUR was there......
atleast i thought so!!!!!!!

and he did so....

i was happy that i helped a man find his way

later that evening i was on my way to ANAND VIHAR in bus number 543..
then i spotted a bus stop en route....
KHICHRIPUR....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

even till day i pray that instead of asking for a 10 Rs ticket the man shud have asked about a ticket to KHICHRIPUR....else he wud have ended up at NAJAFGARH..... a good 50 kms from his original destination......

logical question

I am back with a good logical question.... that i bet you wont be able to answer......

WHO SHAVES THE BARBER??? ANSWER THIS ......
In a village, the barber shaves everyone who does not shave himself, but no one else.

Then Who shaves the barber?

No matter how you try to answer this question, you will get into trouble.

If you say that the barber shaves himself, then you get into trouble. The barber shaves only those who do not shave themselves, so if he shaves himself then he doesn’t shave himself, which is self-contradictory.

If you say that the barber does not shave himself, then problems also arise. The barber shaves everyone who does not shave himself, so if he doesn’t shave himself then he shaves himself, which is again absurd.

Even if you try to get clever, saying that the barber is a woman, you do not evade the paradox. If the barber is a woman, then she either shaves herself (and so is one of the people not shaved by the barber), or does not shave herself (and so is one of the people shaved by the barber).

THEN WHO SHAVES THE BARBER??

my clock

I am Back...........

well this incident dates back to my school days....

i have always been a curious person...   always challenged the prevalent ideas and ended up with hilarious results......   this is one such...

my dad got a japanese clock as a gift from the then director of his company....  and it was so cute that i used to keep it with me....always.....  it was perfectly spherical in shape....  and sometimes i used to play with it.....

well  i saw that the clock had a 1.5 v battery which powered it.....   

that day i just had a queer thought ....  if 1.5 volts can move it so slowly.... that is 1 seconds a second.....  then shud it not move faster if i apply 240 volts  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

the rest you can guess....  with the kind of a person i am.......
i used two wires to join the two terminals of the clock with the AC mains.....   

AND BOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  BOOM BOOM......  !!!!!!!!!!!!!

that clock could not be repaired by anyone .... ever......

thats me......

happy new year

welcome to the new year..... 2008... a year of good events.... and new beginnings.... a year of promises and a year of achievements..... welcome to 2008

adventure at qutab minar......

here i am.....  back again......   see i keep coming back.... isn't it????

New Year 2008 is just 1 and 1/2 hours from now.....   
so wanted to share an experiance with you all.......  
i learnt a lesson.....  may be u too will....

i have an old camera....   around 12 years old.....   it has a detachable flash.....  and a shutter cap.....   
the best thing about this camera is that....   its flash and the shutter switch are somehow never coordinated......    the flash goes flashing.... atleast a couple of seconds after the shutter has done its job....  so carrying the flash is never a good idea.....   and the camera ...therefore works only in the daytime.....

i had gone to mehrauli with my family that day.....   i was particularly excited....coz i had my camera with me......     and i wanted to take pics of quatab minar and the iron pillar from all angles....

so armed with my camera i went there......   
the moment i entered the complex i started clicking pics......
but unfortunately my camera didnt have a zoom lens.... so i had to walk to the other end of the compound to take a full view of qutab minar......   but it was simply breathtaking.....   i clicked my parent's pics too.....

but the one i wanted to click the most was the pillar...... so i went towards it.....   

trust me the pillar is really awesome......   
i could see some inscriptions on it.....  and i started to click pics......   i took my parent's and brother's pics with the pillar in the back ground.......

and then   The Lightening struck me.....  !!!!!!!!!!

I always thought that i was stupid.....  or may be an idiot or even an ass.......
But i got the first hand proof of it all.......

Guess what!!!!!!!!!!!

I took alll those pics WITH THE SHUTTER CAP STILL AT ITS OWN PLACE !!!!!!!1  THAT IS ON THE SHUTTER !!!!!!!!!!

I learnt my lesson on my forgetfullness........

but what exactly was it.....   i can't seem to remember......   !!!!    

so sorry folks......
keep reading........   
and ya
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008.....

my ingenious ideas..........

this incidence dates back to my college days.....
i was preparing METHYL ORANGE.... a chemical compund.....  in my chemistry lab....
and i was the only one who was able to create it properly....
but it was wet and had water in it....  
so i was told to take it with me to my home and let it dry out....'
but you see i am made up of monkey bones....  and i am damn impatient.....
so i decided to do the stuff quickly.....  
and this is what i did....
STEP 1:    I TOOK A SHEET OF NEWSPAPER AND POURED THE ENTIRE CONTENT .....  THAT IS THE METHYL ORANGE PASTE 
ON IT....

STEP 2:  THEN I TOOK THAT SHEET AND PLACED IT ON THE INVERTER MACHINE......   well i didn't have oven at that time ... (  i still don't have ).....   and so decided to use the heat generated by the inverter machine...  ( WHAT AN INGENIOUS IDEA )....

STEP 3:  THE NEXT DAY THE METHYL ORANGE HAD DRIED .........


I was left with a black powder......which ofcourse was not methyl orange.....

u see my ingenious ideas have always been.....    well.....errrrrr.........ahem.....   quite great........