Tightened Screws....

A sharp drop in blog visits signaled the advent of the Exam season !! Less time on the internet (which is unfortunately interpreted as just a source of time-pass) and more time buried in books; drooping shoulders; dark and tired red eyes and an invisible phantom burden pressing on the back. Yes, we are indeed in the age of competition. The full force is felt in a nation like ours where population growth is disproportionate to the supply of quality education and infrastructure. So, instead of asking God for a stronger back to handle challenges we see our HRD ministry place a lighter load and we, the people, directly or indirectly support it by playing along.

I gather that a new concept of a co-coacher is taking roots. Take-up Teachers or Co-coachers are men who visit students one on one while they revise (read vomit) answers one after the other in the run-up to the board exams.

Courage Personified....

"Long time no See?!!" would be the most appropriate blog starter for today !!
Hoping all of you are doing well; enjoying life, its challenges and problems and racking up your brains to find up solutions or trying hard to realize "why" something happens. Well, "why" is something which has made its presence felt and persisted with its stay in my head more often than not in the past 20/30 days. I am sure I will be getting the answers if I look at the right places; while looking around for these places, like many times before, I have found something worth sharing and worth deriving inspiration from.

Fighting till Death....

We woke up on our 62nd Republic Day, 26th Jan 2011, to a sad news. I have been meaning to write this blog in its immediate aftermath but I have been down lately, disappointed by a few of my recent failures in life. But as we all know, that is how life is and I hope or rather believe that good things are on their way. As far as the news report is concerned, yes, I am talking of the barbaric murder of Additional District Collector of Malegaon, Yashwant Sonavane in Nashik District.

Personally I feel that the state of affairs today is what I will term as a Banana Republic.

Changing Guard....

As we near the Republic Day, tensions somehow, as always, are building up. By now, most of you would have heard about the BJP's Ekta Yatra to unfurl the Tricolour at Lal Chowk, Srinagar on 26th Jan and I believe every person who calls him/herself a child of this great country must be happy that finally someone in the political class are willing to demonstrate that they have guts !!

The fact that the ruling party and the Jammu & Kashmir Government have opposed it just affirms their fear that Bhaarat is changing.

The Real Coffee....

"Shrink Wrap" is a material made of polymer plastic film which shrinks or contracts upon itself when heat is applied to it. It is a wonderful metaphor which I encountered a few days back while reading the article The Shrink Wrapping of India in Times Crest.

We as a nation are crazy about anything which is Western. Western clothing, food, aesthetic styles, life and the list goes on and on. While there is nothing wrong about choosing the very best when it comes to buying comforts, it certainly is a problem when one is not detached from it and gives his/her mind to it. As Swami Vivekananda puts it, "Detachment from the material world is living in the midst of it all but not being influenced by it."

The Next Chapter....

What a 31st !!
A Cyberspace quest, a peaceful sleep, a beautiful dream and some great news the next morning !!
Happy New Year to all of you, my friends!
I wish that all of you strengthen the essence of excellence further and go on to discover much more about life and freedom !!

Firstly, Dalit Entrepreneurs would be attending a pre-budget meet in New Delhi on 3rd Jan 2011. In my blog Reloading Renaissance, I had spoken about the drive for excellence to be prevalent in all castes. I had said that the passion to succeed and the merit alone must be the decisive factors which lead to promoting independence and self belief. Guess what, this report certainly indicates it!