9th April, 2006 was the day I appeared for my JEE. It changed my life. Or should I say, I started knowing life thereon. The result of the examination was certainly not up to the mark since I was performing better in the mock tests. Infact, I was saddened by the fact that I was not able to pursue the branch which I wanted to due to my rank. 10th April, 2010 was the day, when all that disappointment faded away. Finally, I got something I had always wanted - a call from C; IIMC.
JOKAr; JOKAite; IIMCian; call what you may, it only accentuates the aura associated with the tag. I would be cheating myself if I said I always wanted to go to C. B was my dream (please don't bug me with 'A is the best' rant). It did not matter which one is the best. I always placed the three - ABC - in the top brass and had always seen myself in B. Though, as I read more and more into the various facets of the three, I found C to be most of my liking - bole toh, ekdum my type. Infact, if I do convert A (results still on hold .. and honestly, I don't even expect a call), I might as well go against the more common way people chose and take C over A. I have my reasons and I'm satisfied with them.
So, for the moment, am reveling in the glory. I also plan to eat the Rs.2 chocolate I received two years back as a condescending gesture from some who could never gain back my respect. Will do that when I'm reading my call letter. I really look back at the four years in kgp with great self-contentment and having left an impression on some, if not many.
It feels awesome :)
PS1: Yay!!
PS2: Going to the "Alvida" dinner :|
PS3: Will miss kgp .. sachchi!
PS4: I dread the day when people like Amit Sahu will become IAS/IPS/etc ..
PS5: It still feels awesome :)
Haddon has given an amazing insight of how autistic people look at the world. Christopher, the protagonist, a 15-year old, can wonderfully relate to the world of mathematics but cannot understand how life functions. Trying to categorize everything into black and white like in mathematics, Christopher shies away from the unknown and looks for a pattern in everything. As Haddon proceeds into the story, he's given some amazing quotes through the character of Christopher which makes one think (or made me think). I'd like to list some down here:
I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.
I want my name to mean me.
You could still want something that is very unlikely to happen.
When people tell you what to do, it's usually very confusing and does not make sense.
People break rules all the time.
I think people believe in heaven because they don't like the idea of dying, because they want to carry on living and they don't like the idea that other people will move into their house and put their things into the rubbish.
Mrs. Alexander was doing what is called chatting, where people say things to each other which aren't questions and answers and aren't connected.
In life you have to take lots of decisions and if you don't take decisions you would never do anything because you would spend all your time choosing between things you could do.
People think they're not computers because they have feelings and computers don't have feelings. But feelings are just having a picture on the screen in your head of what is going to happen tomorrow or next year, or what might have happened instead of what did happen, and if it is a happy picture they smile and if it is a sad picture they cry.
I like timetables, because they make sure you don't get lost in time.Many of these lines might not mean much to you if you haven't yet read the book. But I wanted to get these lines written somewhere to make a record so that I could come back to them whenever I wanted to relive the book.
I have definitely missed on many other quotes which I relished while reading the book. Looking for another such amazingly written novel.
PS1: The chapters in the book are numbered in prime numbers. Very well captured the thought of the title of this post
PS2: Suggest some more thought provoking books if you can.
The historic "Right to Education" comes into force in India on a rather ironic "April Fool's Day". Here's hoping that this one does not turn out to be a mockery given that the other fundamental rights are often denied to many a people.
Come to think of it, I feel that these are moves which are more of an attempt to hog limelight instead of ones with a long term vision of proper implementation. One after the other, decisions which promise to change the face of education in India have been rolled out by Sibal saheb. At times, it seems like these programs have been introduced by him with the sole objective of having his name associated with huge projects so that posterity could speak - "Sibal saheb ki wahaj se hi ye sab ho paya hai." What makes me wonder is, are equipped to handle these as quickly as they have been declared. Surely, with such grandiloquent plans, comes the burden of intense planning and proper channelizing of both funds and resources. What I mean to say is that the support structure to implement such a plan is of enormous importance apart from the plan itself.
I read that XY amount of money has been allocated towards implementation of RTE. But if this money goes through the bureaucratic channels in the same manner as it does in other fields, the trickling down effect of money would kill the purpose of RTE. Mechanism to get the money to the right place is of paramount importance for us be able to implement RTE. The good thing is, RTE guarantees Quality Education and not just education which makes it a potent tool in shaping the youth of India. It promises to provide students learning through activities, exploration and discovery. Again, the bill completely leaves the burden on schools to provide proper teachers, playgrounds and activity centers. Just passing on the burden will not be of any use unless we could do something to support the grass-root level institutions to develop their infrastructure. All the more important is availability of Quality teachers, which we are already short of in India. How exactly is that demand going to be met? The schools themselves will require a complete overhaul to provide the apt pedagogic conditions since each school will be expected to cater a larger number of students.
A very intrinsic supposition which comes with the RTE is that child-labor will be abolished, which is great. But ain't there laws already against child labor? How is it going to be ensured that the children are brought out of the dusty factories and sent to schools? This will be one major question denting the prospects of the right and some tough measures will need to be taken to overcome the predicament.
The finance is there, but if it's not released at the right time and to the right institutions, the complete endeavor would end up just making a few people richer. Institutions at every level need to come together and make a herculean effort to make the 'implementation' of RTE a reality. Introducing the right was indeed a pre-requisite towards ensuring every child gets education, but it's hardly the sufficient step.
A cartoon from today's The Hindu edition very aptly depicts the current scenario:
