State of Higher Education in India

Today, one of my friends joined a medical college to pursue a post graduate course in medicine. She had been preparing hard for a government seat for the past two years and finally achieved her goal. She told me about this malpractice in medical seat allocation.


This is what is happening - there are some agents who approach talented youngsters from across the country and persuade them to take up Karnataka's Common Entrance Test for Post Graduation. The plan is - those bright students who would have got top ranks will surrender their seats just before the classes start. The government rule says under such conditions the colleges can allot the vacant seats under the management quota. Most of the colleges offer (read sell) such seats to mediocre students for a hefty donation (anywhere between 80 lac to 1cr+ depending on the reputation of the institution and the desired course of specialization). This amount is then distributed among the college (they get the lion's share), the agents and those students who surrender their seats.



With this kind of unprofessionalism, reservation for backward class students (the students who actually need reservation are seldom identified) and small number of seats available, the general merit (GM) students are deprived of the opportunities they deserve.

Imagine being treated for an illness by a quack! God save us!


***************

Rural Health care :

Yeshasvini Health Insurance Scheme

Yeshasvini is the world's cheapest comprehensive health insurance scheme designed by Dr.Devi Shetty (a cardiac surgeon who has pioneered the spread of telemedicine as well as low cost cardiac operations in India) and the Government of Karnataka for the poor farmers of the state in 2003. For a premium payment of only Rs 5 per month or Rs. 60 per year, participants are covered for all surgical interventions, major or minor, and for outpatient services (OPD) at a network of private hospitals. At the end of the first year of operations in June 2004, 9,039 surgeries had been performed, and 35,814 patients had received outpatient consulting services. The Yeshasvini scheme is the world’s largest health insurance scheme for the rural poor.




Source : Farmers in my hometown, Wikipedia and the draft THE KARNATAKA YESHASVINI HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME FOR RURAL FARMERS & PEASANTS: TOWARDS COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR KARNATAKAthat is available here www.isec.ac.in/Karnataka_Kuruvilla16.5.05_aligned.pdf


This measure is commendable.
There is still a large part of rural India that needs quality health care. There are so many maternal deaths and stillbirths that could have been medically prevented. With the MBBS students refusing to serve in rural areas for one year before they are awarded with the degree (as proposed by the government) and fake doctors holding the scapel, future of health care in India does not look all too good.

********

Montessori Competition!

My cousins had to attend an interview for Montessori seat in a big-school in Bangalore. Not just the poor kids, their parents had to attend the interview too. All this because it would ensure hassle-free continuation in the same school for kindergarten! The fee per student, per annum was way more than what I paid in a year for technical education! The school expected both parents to be at least graduates and proficient in English. The authorities were happy that my aunt was a home-maker so that she could help the kids with studies (she quit her job to take care of the boys). In a long meeting with my uncle and aunt, the school authorities briefed them about all that they have to teach the kids. The projects and assignments they give students are such that parents have to do most of the work.

I wonder what the school does then! What about kids whose parents are not graduates or/and cannot afford hefty fee? And they talk about education for all... blah... blah...

********

Current Song:
Dakota by Stereophonics
Thinkin 'bout thinkin of you...

AIRTEL – BIG TIME SWINDLERS

It started that fateful day when I googled on my phone. Next morning, I woke up to this message from Airtel – “thank you for subscribing to BIZZARRE Club. You can download 1 FREE content and one more FREE content from Play n Win everyday for the next 7 days. Enjoy”. I wondered whatever this thing was. Didn’t have the time to bother about that since I had to get to work fast.

In the next two hours, I received a number of SMSs from Airtel – “thanks for downloading {content name} from Airtel. You have been charged {Rs.15 to Rs.99} Filmy Buzz and Pics *321*69#.” By the time I could contact the customer support, I had been charged more than Rs 400 for supposedly downloading content. God knows when I downloaded something I didn’t know anything about!

Dialed 123. After “press 1 to recharge, 2 for something…,”somewhere toward the end there was press {something} to contact customer support. I politely asked the concerned person to explain this predicament. He did not have a convincing answer and asked me to wait till he connected me to a senior officer. In the meantime, I got the message “thanks for contacting Airtel. Your request reference number is {XYZ}Simply Life! Dial to get instant info…” (All I wanted was my money back, not unsolicited services, damn it.) And, the person assured me that he’d look into the matter.

After a while I received this SMS “dear customer, we wish to inform you that the balance depletion concern on your Airtel Mobile has been resolved. Thank you.” I was not refunded with any amount. I do not know what their notion of “resolved” is. I called them up again to express my displeasure. I told the person straight “look, first of all I’m not interested in any pack whose name itself is so stupid. The message you sent about “resolving the issue”, what the hell is it trying to convey? And, there is NO content downloaded to my phone. You can scan my phone to find out if any such thing is available. This is daylight robbery you are doing.” That person said “sorry ma’am, we cannot refund any money. All I can do is re-send the content”.


By evening the ‘thank you for downloading…’ SMSs stopped, thankfully. After a few days this gibberish SMS started “You have been renewed for BIZZARRE Pack Subscription service from Airtel. You have been charged Rs.XY. Filmy Buzz and Bollywood Pics *321*69#. Filmy buzz&amp". Bollywood, for a person who has just above-zero Movie Quotient and has no intention of improving on it? What the HELL!! Don’t they understand English? How many times should I tell those morons that I am not interested in any ridiculous pack?


AIRTEL only knows to CHEAT and say “Thank you”. To hell with Airtel, big time SWINDLERS. Guess, this is how they pay their ‘superstar’ brand ambassadors who endorse these BILKERS in preposterous ads. (I find some of these stars really really very very STUPID. Nothing more than dumb show pieces)

Here I am venting out my anger. AIRTEL, YOU ARE SOOOOOO BIZARRE.

The only reason I’m continuing with the services from this company is – I need to retain the current phone number at least for some more days.



PostScript: I still get the renewal SMSs after every few days :( :( and often get these messages – “thank you for using browsing services on Airtel Live. You have been charged {Rs.0.3 to Rs.6} for browsing {XY}KBs” when I dare not access web on phone :( :(

*******

Current Song :
Chup chup ho tum by Jal from the album Boondh


chup chup ho tum gumsum khade...
yeh sab baatein jab yaad aaye

palkon se aansu tap tap bahein...

 

Congratulations ! :)

It was nice to see friends graduating from coloured ID-tags(trainees)
to Black tags (employees) last week. Guys, you have done it!
Congratulations!

What an ordeal past 5.5 months has been! Successfully completing the
training of the nation's best IT company, Infosys Technologies
Limited, is in deed an achievement. The trainees have been through
extremely high levels of stress. I used to jokingly say, “ Once I
complete this course, I should be awarded stress management degree too
;)

Whenever we saw the Black tag people we used to look at them as if we
just saw some celebrities! Sitting across a table at a food court,I
once told my friend “Even you will not be a normal human once the
final exam is over!” She is a super human now :)


Special credit due to the Open Systems (OS) stream guys. (We were the
chosen ones to be put in the most difficult stream) We had cases of
5-pointers scoring just above the passing mark; cases of the best
minds flunking a test. My friend, who knew the subjects inside out,
and was the best in practical application, had two dead modules. His
favourite line was “These people are teaching me how to fail!” He made
up for the lost credit points by performing brilliantly in other
modules. Trainees faced so many twists and turns that until the last
exam results were out, they could not be certain of their future in
the firm.

When asked about the benefits a 5-pointer (someone who has scored
maximum grade throughout) would enjoy, our educator said “people will
look at you like an alien!”. Well, we had just two aliens among 90+ OS
trainees. Special Congratulations to them!


 ***********
Current Song :

I'll Be There For You by Rembrandts

So no one told you life was gonna be this way...  ...You're still in bed at ten
And work began at eight You've burned your breakfast So far... things
are goin' great...

How much do I love thee

Dear SEKi,
I still remember that evening when we met. (I was in II sem, BE) When I saw you first time, you looked like a knight in shining armour. It did not take long to start liking you. You are such that anybody would love to love you. You look so good :) Well, it's not just because you look so good that I like you...

You have always been there for me when I needed you. You were with me when I was alone in a crowd. You helped me best when I wanted to avoid interacting with certain characters! You have been part of all those times when I was jumping in joy and celebrating; and while my friends were celebrating. You were so friendly with my friends.

When we went on those long walks together, just the two of us, I had a great time:) When I was listening to you, I could not hear what the world said. Everyone complained that I was spending a lot of time with you; it fell on deaf ears.

My liking toward you grew so strong that I could not take a word against you. Whenever someone introduced his/her more-than-friend to me I used to think " not as good as my SEKi :)". My day started with seeing your pleasant face. And, we were together all day.

Unfortunately, distance and presence of someone else separated us for a few months. But I always thought of YOU. What you mean to me, nobody can take it away. I'll see you in just a couple of days when I come home and we'll be together again :)
*******

I'll be back with my Sony Ericsson K750i phone :)
Nokia E63, you have been a good friend and always will be. SEKi is more than friend to me. I'm sure you'll understand.

Typical Study Leave

We used to get about 25 days’ study leave before every semester exam. This is how mine would go.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the beginning of the study leave I’d think I still had a lot of time to revise the chapters, so I would not be very serious about preparation. Then, after two-three days I would work on a detailed ‘study plan’. I would write dates across the list of chapters in the syllabus book, very confident that I would finish studying those topics on the earmarked days.

It’s time to start studying. Lot of breaks was taken in between. My idea of taking break was to help mom in getting groceries, teach bro Trigonometry even if didn’t ask for any help with the subject, watering the plants and paying bills; plan how to spend the vacation following the exams. And this “planning” consumed quite a lot of time and effort! I’d be in great disposition to do everyone favours. During that one month, I’d be an achcha baccha at home.

My endeavor followed Gaussian curve peaking at the middle of the study leave (with quite a good a good bandwidth). Ten days into the study leave was the time to burn the midnight oil. A cup of tea kept me awake through the night. My best friend and I used to exchange text messages every hour through the night keeping each other awake and going. She would diligently study and I would listen to radio Indigo which played great music all night; but I did study between the music. And I’d like to thank the dogs in my locality who barked at regular intervals to wake me up in case I dozed off on the text books. Some days I went to sleep at the break of dawn with the birds’ song for lullaby.

During an all-night study, when it was time for a break, I’d join dad to watch a black & white movie and term it “classic”. Then I would discuss with him the movie’s finer points like an expert critic. After the break, back to serious studies. Certain topics were beautiful; some interesting; some challenging. The beauty of certain subjects held me glued to the corresponding books. Also, I have felt like tearing away few text books.

We had two kinds of text books, the prescribed ones and the ‘Indian author’ versions (read VTU version). A lot of the prescribed books were good. But I feel it would help a great deal if the university prescribed better text books and asked sensible questions than requiring students to mug up lengthy derivations and solve huge (pedestrian, though) numerical problems on Laplace transforms, Bessel functions etc that are given ‘very well’ in the Indian-author books. 'Very well' here means ‘how to arrive at a solution and score grand marks in the exams’ and not necessarily ‘the actual meaning of the concepts and problems’.

I have studied from some of the finest books, form the ISRO library. The way they have presented topics keeps the student’s interest. These books explained what the transforms and functions actually meant and why we need them.

(OK, enough of the outburst now :) )

When it was about a week before the exams began, I’d feel I had studied quite a lot and there was no need to study all night now; slow down the pace, it’s ok. You have to relax before exams. Stress can act negatively you see. So, back to the initial phase before the peak :)

Just before the D-day, sunset looked brilliant, music sounded better than ever… but I had to revise…

This episode played eight times :)

PostScript: VTU – Visweswaraiah Technological University aka V torure U :D

Lincoln’s Letter to his Son’s Teacher

My dad had given a copy of this letter few years ago. Now I completely understand what it says. I wish we had teachers that followed this letter. Nonetheless, my dad has always taught me all that Lincoln asks his son's teacher to do... :)
Stumbled across this scroll of wisdom today, so posting it here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just, all men are not true.
But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero;
that for every selfish Politician, there is a dedicated leader…
Teach him for every enemy there is a friend,
Steer him away from envy,
if you can, teach him the secret of quiet laughter.


Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest to lick…
Teach him, if you can, the wonder of books…
But also give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and the flowers on a green hillside.
In the school teach him it is far honourable to fail than to cheat…
Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong…
Teach him to be gentle with gentle people, and tough with the tough.


Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting on the band wagon…
Teach him to listen to all men…
but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth, and take only the good that comes through.
Teach him if you can, how to laugh when he is sad…
Teach him there is no shame in tears, Teach him to scoff at cynics and to beware of too much sweetness…
Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to the highest bidders but never to put a price-tag on his heart and soul.
Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob and to stand and fight if he thinks he’s right.
Treat him gently, but do not cuddle him, because only the test of fire makes fine steel.
Let him have the courage to be impatient…
let him have the patience to be brave.
Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will have sublime faith in mankind.
This is a big order, but see what you can do… He is such a fine little fellow, my son!


- Abraham Lincoln

Freaky

My best friend SK has a long commute from her workplace to home. During this time, if I'm free, sometimes we exchange SMSs till she reaches home. The following is one of those conversations.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


me: Wassup? In bus?
SK: Nothing up. Yes in bus.


me: ok, I'm going shoppin here tmrw. Don't know what to get bro. Suggest somethin
SK: Got no clue. Get a sword or something.

Now I sense that something is wrong.

me: what happened to yr mood? somethin at office?
SK: Don't want to talk about it.

me: even I'm not all fine. Walkin back to my room, sulking :(
SK: Great, let's both sulk together.

me: a school friend is fuming at me for no fault of mine. she does not get it...

* * *
At this time another friend AS texts

AS: Hey.. spoke to SK?something is wrong with her man..really wrong..she's not chatting online properly and full day talking crazy things..dunno why.. me and RN are trying to ask..she's not saying anything..try asking her no?


* * *

SK: OK, life's like that. U'll get over it. I won't. I'll sink. I'll rot. I'll go to hell. I have no strength to carry on and life is coming to an end.

This is not something you hear from a strong person like SK. Now I'm worried. I call her. She cuts the call twice.

SK: can't talk
me:What happened? Ok, can I call after a while?
SK: Don't waste ur time. there are other things to do. Study well. Study on my behalf too. and have fun in life. Enjoy what u r doing. Realize the opportunity u've got. All the best for everything.

me: What's wrong with U? I'm not wasting time talking to my best friend. Why don't you talk to me?? We can sort out things only if u tell me somethin
SK: I don't have anything to tell. Life is empty. But just remember what I said. Enjoy what u'll be doing in few months and make yr life great. let me be an example. Of, what u shudn't do



me: SK, Don't sound so disappointed yaar. whatever the problem is, it'll look hopeless, impossible to get out of only for a while. Things will fall in place after somtime. things beyond your control, just let it be. nothing is more than life.
SK: Death is more than life

me: will u shut up? just shut up. what the hell is this? I'm coming tmrw to meet u.
SK: No u aren't coming. it's already too late, u can't change anything. just remember what I said. Remember. And always keep in touch with the rest of the gang. U'll never get friends like them. Nor will I get friends like u all. Anyway, have a great life. That's all I have to say. C ya. I mean goodbye.

me: Do u even know what u mean to me? to us all? pls tell me what happened?

I freak out. Sweating. Not tomorrow, I must leave now. The clock reads 7:15 pm. If I can get to the KSRTC bus stand at Mysore by 8 O'clock, I should reach Bangalore by 11:30. Should call dad and ask him to pick me up from the bus stop. I must call SK's sister...




* * *
I call AS, " something is terribly wrong. Don't know what. U guys must go over to her place right now"
"sure? so serious?" asks AS. "I'll forward the SMSs SK sent, read them" I mumble


* * *
As I'm forwarding the SMSs SK calls. One ring and I answer. Before I could say anything, she said "April Fool". I'm relieved that everything is all right. Next, I thrash both the monkeys on phone. What an easy target I am!

Nevertheless, they deserve an 'A' grade for this act. And, why don't I remember that certain dates are just not ordinary...

Yesterday was one fool's day I cannot forget till death, huh