Birthday wishes to Ms Kadambari Bhagat

Friends,

Our fellow OT Ms Kadambari had her birthday on 14th of this month. A birthday party was arranged in the hostel OT-lounge. Here are the photos.

P.S Do send photos of birthday parties happening in our campus. We'll post it in our blog.

birthday cake	at 12'0 clock
is that really her? :)	the gang

The multitasking Indian woman

An eight armed Goddess!! With a ladle in one hand, while a laptop adorns the other, a diaper blooming on her open palm as she cradles her little child in the crook of her other arm. A watering can dangles from those deft fingers, as she balances the tray of cookies and other goodies, and tries answering the phone call of her boss, with one gloved hand making its way for the cake baking in the oven.
No, its not an animated movie with special effects, nor has Goddess Durga, the primeval feminine "shakti" condescended to grace thee with her presence!! Its the image that conjures up in my mind almost magically, the minute the phrase "multi tasking indian woman" is mentioned.

Being a woman in India is as challenging if not more than being one in another country with tons of laundry to be done, shopping to be shopped, that delectable sumptuous platter to be presented as per the preference of pizza loving billu and pinki, "dal roti" sasu maa, "mughlai" hubby, and thai curry- ardent guest who had chosen to make himself "atithi deva" that very day and would very much like to encroach upon bhabhi ji's hospitality.. :-)

And to top it all, imagine those incessant calls from the boss ( even when the leave has been duly taken), for this and that and this!! while the little "slice of her heart" clamours for attention and the darling husband playing romantic by losing all his shirt buttons!!
India, a society in transition, still has to wake up to the idea of fair divison of labour as with the educational and economic advancement of the woman, the "best" of both the worlds is "blessing" her with the windfall.

Therefore, the multi-tasking "superwoman" goes round and round, using all her wits and not to mention every ounce of her energy to complete her Sisyphus- tasks only to find many more springing up as from the little droplets of evil blood in ancient lores, many headed Hydras gestate!! the demons which need a goddess with her eight arms to combat and to be finished!!

Having proven their mettle in ever field, Indian women have to crusade against a more formidable foe. Having conquered prejudices, which doubted her capabilities, she now has to conquer "heightened expectations" which prove a more arduous task than any of those given to Herakles himself..

The expectation of being an exemplary leader or a helpful team mate at the work place, along with being an equally dexterous housewife on the domestic front... the expectation of being an understanding peer and following the ideals of being a perfect wife, which as per Indian tradition are "to counsel her man like a judicious Magus, to run errands for him like a slave girl, to feed him like his mother would and to pleasure him like a courtesan"

But the question that arises is whether any human being - especially the one that has been called "the weaker sex" for such a long time, really capable of accomplishing all these tasks, while maintaining her cheery benignity and not to forget her makeup- those waxed arms with french manicured nails??
Is it humanly possible for her, "the weaker vessel" to swim among the sharks just like her man does at her work place and yet must come home all smiling to do a sink full of dirty dishes and basket full of laundry clothes?? Is it humanly possible for her to bring out of her cornucopia horn (or akshayapatra if u prefer), toothsome food which would please the varying palates??

If its not humanly possible and yet she accomplishes these herculean tasks, then the epithet - "eight armed durga" is hardly a misnomer!! :-)

--
happiness always:

neha bansal

We are not complete without U and I

Today the Allahabad High Court, in the Ayodhya case, ruled by a majority verdict that the disputed land in be divided equally into three parts among Hindus and Muslims and that the place where the makeshift temple of Lord Ram exists belongs to Hindus. 

Considering the long and winding course our judiciary takes, this is an important judgment which has come out during the term of our foundation course. Certainly, we can remember our FC85 for more than one reason. 


I feel the following picture aptly depicts the spirit of secularism in our country. We are certainly not complete without U and I.

-V.vikraman

Poem in Hindi - Ajnabi

check out the poems written by Ajnabi in Hindi.. (click to enlarge)

Red tapism

Government of India
Ministry of Human Resources Development
Department of Culture
Films Division
New Films Subdivision
No. B1452/234/2003, dtd. 15/01/2000

To:
Shri B.R.Chopra,
Film Director,
Mumbai

Ref: Film story submitted by you, regarding financing of films by Govt. of India; Your letter dtd. 23/12/1997.

The undersigned is directed to refer the aforementioned letter and state that the Government of India (GOI) has examined your proposal for financing a film titled ''Mahabharat”. The VHLC (Very High Level Committee) constituted for this purpose has been in consultation with the HRC (Human Rights Commission), NCFW (National Commission for Women) and LC (Labour Commission), in addition to various Ministries and State Governments, and have
formed definitive opinions about the script. Their observations are below:

1. In the script submitted by you it is shown that there were two sets of cousins, namely, the 'Kauravas', numbering one hundred, and the 'Pandavas', numbering five or six. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has pointed out that these numbers are high, well above the norm prescribed for families by them. It is brought to your kind attention that when the Government is spending massive amounts for promoting Family Planning in due earnest, this indiscretion will send erroneous signals to the general public. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that there may be only three 'Kauravas' and one 'Pandava'.

2. The MPA (Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs) has raised an issue whether it is suitable to depict kings and emperors in this democratic age. Therefore, it is suggested that the 'Kauravas' may please be depicted as Honourable Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha) and the 'Pandava' may please be depicted as Honourable Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha). The ending of the film shows the victory of the said 'Pandavas' over the said 'Kauravas'. The ending may be suitably modified so none of the Honourable Members of Parliament is shown as being inferior to other Honourable Members of Parliament.

3. The Ministry of Science and Technology has observed that the manner of birth
of 'Kauravas' is suggestive of human cloning, a technology banned in India. This may be changed to normal birth.

4. The National Commission for Women has objected that the father of the 'Pandavas', one Sri 'Pandu', is depicted as bigamous, and also there is only one wife for the 'Pandavas' in common. Therefore suitable changes may be made in the said script so that the said Sri 'Pandu' is not depicted as bigamous. However, with the reduction in number of 'Pandavas' as suggested above, the issue of polyandry can be addressed without further trouble.

5. The Commission for the Physically Challenged has observed that the portrayal of the visually impaired character 'Dhritarashtra' is derogatory. Therefore, the said character may not be shown as visually impaired.

6. It is felt that showing the 'Pandava' and the 'Kauravas' as gamblers will be anti-social and counter-productive as it might encourage gambling. Therefore, the said 'Pandava' and 'Kauravas' may be shown to have engaged in horse racing or cricket. (Hon. Supreme Court has held horse racing and cricket as not to be gambling).

7. The 'Pandavas' are shown as working in the King Virat's employment without receiving any salary. According to the Human Rights Commission, this amounts to bonded labour and may attract provisions of The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. This may be corrected at once.

8. In the ensuing war, one character by the name Sri 'Abhimanyu' has been shown as fighting. The National Labour Commission has observed that, war being a hazardous industry, and the said character being 16 years old, this depiction will be construed as a case of child labour. Also there is no record of his being paid any compensation. This may also be deemed to be
violatory of the provisions of The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 and Minimum Wages Act, 1948. Such references in the film may be removed.

9. In pursuance of the Memorandum of Ministry of Finance regarding austerity measures, it is informed that in the battlefield sequences only ten soldiers may be allowed for each side. Also, all the characters may be shown to have obtained a valid license under the Arms Act, 1959, as well as  the Indian Arms Act, 1878.

You are, therefore, requested to modify your otherwise meritorious script along the aforementioned lines and resubmit it (notarized in triplicate) to the undersigned at the earliest for the Government's consideration.

Sd/-
Under Secretary

- submitted by M. Mitrabhanu

Sahab Chaai? THE TALE OF A TEA-BAG!

What is similar between a tea-bag and the young-boy who brings us the dawn-time cup, I asked myself?

A fortnight had passed but all that I could gather was a faint idea of the grueling routine that Gopal used to go through as part of his job. I would always see him around as if someone had embedded him in the detail around me. Others were around too, but somehow he became a focus of my attention. I was careful, not to let him know about my observations though, much like a cautious bird-watcher.      

Meanwhile a strong voice from within began to disturb me. I wanted to ask him something but somehow I was not able to. So dinner-time, while I sulked in one corner of the Officers-Mess, I called him near.

“Gopal, morning time you gave me a cup of tea around 5 a.m, and its 9.15 p.m now. For so many days now I have been thinking about your working hours, but…..ok tell me when do you get free finally”, I asked? “Sir, morning time I have to start at 4.30 am, and we usually get free by 10.30 pm”, he replied rather grimly. “Twelve….no, sixteen…no eighteen hours of work…, and while I paused to use my mental-calculator, he drifted away towards my fellow Officer-Trainee. I had always found a complaint on his face and his eyes used to shine, whenever he felt I might ask something. There was a feeling of weightless in him, as if he had just had his moment of catharsis. I felt as if he had also been waiting for my questions the way I had been struggling to peek into his little-world of great-suffering.

        A few days back, one of our faculty members had been praising an OT  from the previous-years batch for having done some innovation in the management of Officers-Mess. Precisely, it was about “saving a lot of money” by contracting-out and getting rid of the excess man-power in the mess, I recalled. Did that innovation have anything to do with Gopal’s eighteen-hours, I asked myself? Stop this exaggeration and extrapolation, I pinched myself. But then why not, it is quite possible!      

I was not thinking like an economist, I knew because I was thinking “about” the margins. I was thinking of exploitation. Of the desperation that forces a Gopal to accept a job where he has to work for 18 hours a day without being paid adequately. I was not thinking like an economist for I had no regard for the innovations that over-burdened a poor-mans shoulders so as to safeguard the rich-mans pocket. I had no under-standing of the cost-benefit analysis, no appreciation of the rules of business. I knew I was more of an idealistic moron than being a man bestowed with practical wisdom. I exerted hard but somehow I was still unsuccessful in thinking like an economist to plot Gopals life on a supply-demand curve. How could it be about a “curve” for it was clearly about that “line” between the haves and have-nots of our country, I wondered.

        Now I realized that Gopal was him-self not much different from a tea-bag. He was also being dipped and squeezed, day-in and day-out. “Law, administration, justice, IAS, IPS, sensitivities, change, choice, voice, training, development, all this jargon  upon that we are  fed upon, appeared so meaningless and distorted when I tried to see  through Gopal’s spectacle.

                Gopal personifies both tragedy and triumph. Triumph of the man and the tragedy of a society whose scaffold and steel-frame we are about to become. We need to do something for the millions of Gopals around us. At least notice them, if nothing else. 

by

Ibn Battuta

Cultural programme 23/sep/2010: Photos

Friends,

Here is the link to the photo gallery of the cultural programme.
http://picasaweb.google.com/111046246434302614796/CulturalProgramme?feat=directlink


Regards,
V.Vikraman