The Bengal Baadshaa

November 10th 2008, It’s a memorable day in world cricket as the curtains come down over Ganguly’s Cricketing career. Over 18,000 runs in both forms of cricket,38 Centuries,111 50's accolades for his batting skills. The Prince of Kolkata is one of the best captain India has ever had. He never believed in board room meetings rather was aggressive on field. As a person who never felt shy of talking anything under the sun, his audacity against BCCI about team selection is something that speaks for himself. He needs to be credited for shaping the future of Indian cricket in the form of Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virendar Shewag, Vijay, Yuvaraj Singh etc.. Everyone where identified by him.

It is often said that one’s strength is not in his failure but how well he learns & rebounds from his failure. This suits on the dot to Dada’s career. The way he impressed everyone with his comeback is commendable. Retiring on high note has worked well with him and is a lesson for other Indian cricketers to learn.

We Hail you Dada!!!

R Eddy-Case-On

For all those who feel my blog is boring I’m sure this will be yet another boring stuff for you to read but you better put up with me cos you have entered my space on the internet and you bloody well read whatever I have to say… he he.

Got to wear my favorite T-shirt today.. If you think how does that interest you? Well, This blog has its origin from it.. My t-shirt read “Education ruined my intelligence”. Oxford’s quote the word “intelligence” to possessing sound knowledge. If that is true then how come education ruined it? Or did I screw it up? Neither are to be blamed.. Culprit is our Education System guys.

According to me, the outdated British system of learning that we follow is Bull Shit. This system has taught us to be bookish and mug up stuff. Our society judges us on our marks alone. Certainly I agree that these marks will get us a seat in a good college & job in our placements but it doesn’t guarantee a professional life.

Most of you would agree with me that what we learn and what we do in our job are totally different. An evident example would be the “n” no. of Civil, Electrical engineers in IT companies coding for the software’s to be exported mostly to US of A. Irony is that the vocational training that plays a key role in work situations is given the least importance in classrooms. Teachers call the teamwork (or) group work in classrooms as “cheating”. (No! I’m not talking about the teamwork in exams;)

The 11th Plan Commission has allocated Rs 31,000 crores towards National Skill Development Mission to make our youth Employable. Millions of dollars are spent by corporates for training their new joinees since they do not match the skills the job demands. And the numbers are only to increase day by day since the working population in India is/will be the highest in near future.

How long are the children going to learn the same stuff “Ashokar maram valarthar.. Pari Thaer koduthaan.. Pisir Anthayaar, Koperunchozan natpu….Neil Armstrong nilavil mudhalil kaal vaithaan..”

Public Private Partnership is still at the nascent stage in the field of education. Although Infosys’s “Campus Connect” program is well appreciated it is just not enough to reach the entire nation.. Serious measures have to be taken by the bureaucrats to revolutionize our Syllabus, Delivery system, Structure across various horizons of education like School, Engineering, Management, etc..

Last but not the least it is said that the next few decades belong the those who innovate (not that we don’t innovate now but I think we are acting as a contract manufacturer for the western economies), if India needs to top the list of world largest economies then the lateral thinking, creativity has to be well appreciated, harnessed and encouraged right from School to make them employable..

Let’s revolutionize our education system for a better India!

Lessons from Life - Part 1

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to try out blogging long time before. But somehow was lazy to pen down. Then why suddenly? The inspiration has been a proverb that I read in my friends blog. It goes like this…

“A stitch in time saves Nine” – Crux being never postpone things.

Here goes…

My parents didn’t let me do what I wanted(Education)?..
I do not like what I am doing in my Job..
or my pay rise is low.. I wish I had a car similar to that..
why does this happen to me in life?

This is what most of us feel in life day in and day out.. Its not wrong to aspire or desire to have some thing. But in doing so, we forget how lucky are we when compared to others in this world.. A recent trip to Down south made me feel this..

We have been there for a recruitment drive. As we drove towards the destination we fairly understood the socio-economic factors of the town.. Huge acres of bare land which were not suitable for cultivation, lack of infrastructure, I.T.I’s with very minimal facility were more than a evidence for our eyes.. “Nothing as changed here for the past 20 years except the white washing of houses” my manager added..

Finally we reached our destination. As we were welcomed by the local authorities, few were helping the candidates with their resumes. Finally after an hours time all the categorized resumes came to our table. Oh my God!! The mere no of resumes moved my jaw down. Now to avoid the boredom I will write about the interaction I had with ashok.

Ashok lost his father when he was 10. His mother sold fish in the market to make a living. He has just passed out of 12th with 1012/1200(Very high compared to my scoreJ) and has applied in a Govt. I.T.I hoping to get some scholarship. This made me to sit at edge of the chair. Intrigued to know why he wants to work after getting good marks his answer made me dumb stuck.

“Whats the use of getting these marks sir. This doesn’t give my family food to eat. We are starving every day. I would rather go to work than studying. I do not want my mother to suffer anymore…” said innocent Ashok

“I will get you a seat in ITI with monthly stipend. Will you be interested” said my boss

“How much will they pay me” asked ashok

“Rs 3000/ month + Food + Accomodation.” Said my boss.

Now hesitantly ashok “I would rather work for Rs 5000/ in your company sir”

After repeated counseling too ashok saw a future in the extra 2000 bucks. Not to blame him, he like many others in that part of the state were not aware of the scope of opportunities available.. For them an I.T.I qualification was a big thing..

“God save him” my manager whispered as we selected him.

No wonder there is this absence of inclusive growth in India. Access to good education, infrastructure, industry is still a dream for many.

The point I’m trying to drive home is that many of us are so much fortunate to have many things in life that the next time you complain about something think of Ashok..