PhD=Phulgaya horns dimagmain

first, the literal translation of the title. PhD as most of you may be knowing stands for Doctor of Philosophy. I beg to differ with all of you who say so. Thats because I have found out an expansion for that abbreviation which suits the behaviour of most of the research scholars and those who have obtained their degrees and have embarked upon their career either as a teacher or as a researcher.
They say that 'EMPTY VESSELS MAKE THE MOST NOISE'. taken in the converse sense, 'A FULL VESSEL SHOULD NOT MAKE UNNECESSARY NOISE'. the vessel that i am referring to here is the vessel of knowledge i.e the human brain. What is generally taught and assimilated from an early age is that as one studies more one should become more humble and thence will flow fame and riches. infact there is a sanskrit proverb in this regard
vidya dadati vinayam
vinayat labhdati (am not sure of this word) patratvam
patratvat dhanam aapnoti
dhanaat dharmam tatah sukham

but what i have seen is a converse of this subhashitam. my version of this proverb would be
vidya dadati avinayam
avinayat labhdati 'fucking rights'
'fucking rights'aat aapnoti 'further desire'
'further desiraat' aapnoti 'need and greed to fuck'

a typical phenomenon observed is the way research scholars behave at the time they start working on their research area and their behaviour when they are on the way to that honoured doctorate or worse when they get employed as faculty members or some researchers.
when they start, they are normal. by normal i mean there is no trace of arrogance in them. they are willing to discuss things with you, allow you to put across your point of view and are even ready to accept their mistakes if they have made any. but woe betide you if they achieve the latter stage of progress as mentioned. the typical arrogance is manifested in dialogues like "What do you know?", "you know nothing!", "don't try to tell me". and may heavens fall upon you if they achieve some position in society....there is simply no chance of such a conversation.

what i want to ask such 'mandarins' is this "Why do you treat your less endowed (i mean wrt qualifications) friends like pieces of trash?" after all we are human beings. we too have a sense of dignity and honour.

as a final warning i want to say "please dont take advantage of our necessity to remain in everyone's good books as a sign of weakness. someday a Che Guevara will rise amidst us and thats the day when you will be on your knees and we will force you to say.................
LAL SALAAM....

India loses at Wagah too

With the dust settling down over the recently concluded India-Pakistan cricket series where India undeservedly escaped a thrashing in the test series but got what they deserved in the one dayers, I am reminded of what I saw at the Wagah border during my trip there.
Wagah is on the border of India and Pakistan. There is nothing special about this place except for the fact that the border guarding agencies of the two countries BSF (in the case of India) and Pakistani Rangers have built magnificient amphitheatres and conduct enthralling drills every evening for the benefit of the populace on both sides.
The journey to the border from the Indian side begins from Amritsar and takes about 1 hour to reach the border. The way to the amphitheatre takes on along the International Border and one gets a close up view of Pakistani soldiers.
The actual ceremony begins close to sunset. Before that the two organisations (mentioned earlier) try to motivate the crowd to raise slogans, provide full throated support for slogans like Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Vandemataram, Hinduatan zindabad etc.
It is this aspect that i want to comment on. It was a moment of pride for me when i started shouting out the slogans, but soon i realised that there were many pairs of eyes drilling at me as if to say, "This dude is performing an action that we have never seen. Wonder which planet he is from." People were so busy in chatting with one another that they did not have the 'enthu' (this is not the word that has to be used here. the correct phrase is FEELING OF DUTY) to support their soldiers. And i am sure these are the very same people who will go to some rock show and shout themselves hoarse, end up with a whiplash the next day and maybe even have a few Js and G strings in their mouth in the bargain. It was most shameful that the BSF commanding officer of Wagah had to come out with a microphone to make himself (i dont blame him for this. people were behaving like in a fish market) and us (this is unpardonable) heard to the pakistanis.
On the other hand the enthusiasm of the Pakistanis was there for all to see. They cheered their soldiers and got their voices across to India.
By this post i am not suggesting that we have to have a rat race for everyting. but atleast we need to be enthusiastic in places where it is required.
Hope future visitors will keep this in mind.
Jai Hind

a long hiatus indeed!

back to blogging after a very very long time. tests, trips and a lack of mood to blog contributed to this hiatus. my trip to amritsar, wagah, dharamsala, kangra, mccleodganj and chandigarh proved to be a smashing success. won lots of favourable reviews for my planning. the photos and the travelogue are expected to be shared among the online community anytime soon. had an offer to attend a talk show hosted by Sonali Chander, NDTV. Turned it down because the topic was Indo-Pak cricket series (yuck!!).
Appearence wise, long hair is the norm of the day. A typical rock star like look has not met with any opposition from my parents though there were feeble protests. plan to stick with it through the summer months and see if it brings any change in fortune.
will be regular henceforth.