Got this in one of those forward emails.. I've always tried to make my blog politically correct, but couldn't resist this time. All the same, no one get offended please, its meant in good humor.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away..
Come winter ,the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.
Indian Version
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.
Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.
Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.
The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance)
Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'Bharat Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.
CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.
Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath '..
Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.
Arjun Singh makes ' Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.
The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes,it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.
Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice '.
Lalu calls it ' Socialistic Justice '.
CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '
Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly .
Many years later...
The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley .
100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ...
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Of 10s and IIT - Part 2
Alright, this time I am going to focus on 10 things I absolutely cannot forget in IIT, in a good way.
On the side, someone once asked me (actually no one did but I am just providing some build-up) why I say the bad thing first and then the good thing, I remembered what the Mahabharata has to say (loosely), when confronted with two pieces of news, the good and the bad, the ordinary man would be happier on hearing the good news after the bad news than the other way round. The person who has detached himself from the outcomes of actions will treat both pieces of news with equanimity.
Anyways, epic-knowledge-showing-off aside, my points on 10 things in IIT I Liked:
1) Some really good teachers, who've been more than "academic" teachers to me sometimes.
2) My rooms and all their ambience (despite the Pink connotations attributed to me because of them, I'm sure all you guys were jealous anyway :P )
3) The 4 to 5 Gurunath Chat Sessions (4 years of it would give you enough Philosophy to last life I would think!)
4) Literary Competitions, especially the gruelling quiz season, Dramatics, speaking events and word events (except for Last year's Lit-Soc where they cupped it big time with the schedules)
5) All my trips to Ritchie Street and Parrys buying things (half of which I never used)
6) The Institute wildlife population - it's quite a sight to see a grown up handsome Stag eating vegetable puff (not to mention the harrassing monkeys, they have more rights than us i nthe !)
7) My first night-time mobile-phone light experience in Saarang
8) My wing-mates, EP-mates, Cauvery-mess-mates and Ganga-mates (despite all our flaws and incidents we still had great times, all of you are brilliant in your own way, thanks)
9) My final year project, what a learning experience it was (oops no blog post on that yet!)
10) Shaastra, all 4 years of it :)
Besides these there are smaller things like Ambience for Saarang, Tennis, my S in ID110 so on so forth, all-in-all its been one helluva learning experience I guess.
Berhael
On the side, someone once asked me (actually no one did but I am just providing some build-up) why I say the bad thing first and then the good thing, I remembered what the Mahabharata has to say (loosely), when confronted with two pieces of news, the good and the bad, the ordinary man would be happier on hearing the good news after the bad news than the other way round. The person who has detached himself from the outcomes of actions will treat both pieces of news with equanimity.
Anyways, epic-knowledge-showing-off aside, my points on 10 things in IIT I Liked:
1) Some really good teachers, who've been more than "academic" teachers to me sometimes.
2) My rooms and all their ambience (despite the Pink connotations attributed to me because of them, I'm sure all you guys were jealous anyway :P )
3) The 4 to 5 Gurunath Chat Sessions (4 years of it would give you enough Philosophy to last life I would think!)
4) Literary Competitions, especially the gruelling quiz season, Dramatics, speaking events and word events (except for Last year's Lit-Soc where they cupped it big time with the schedules)
5) All my trips to Ritchie Street and Parrys buying things (half of which I never used)
6) The Institute wildlife population - it's quite a sight to see a grown up handsome Stag eating vegetable puff (not to mention the harrassing monkeys, they have more rights than us i nthe !)
7) My first night-time mobile-phone light experience in Saarang
8) My wing-mates, EP-mates, Cauvery-mess-mates and Ganga-mates (despite all our flaws and incidents we still had great times, all of you are brilliant in your own way, thanks)
9) My final year project, what a learning experience it was (oops no blog post on that yet!)
10) Shaastra, all 4 years of it :)
Besides these there are smaller things like Ambience for Saarang, Tennis, my S in ID110 so on so forth, all-in-all its been one helluva learning experience I guess.
Berhael
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Of Interviews and Documents
Interviewer : SO! Someone's going to be a Trojan. USC!
Me : Yes
Interviewer : You don't sound so excited about it
Me : Nothing like that, just don't follow football yet.
Interviewer (stares at sheets) : Are you getting a TA-ship?
Me : Actually its a fellowship, I'm getting my tuition fees paid and a stipend.
Interviewer (wrinkles face) : Good deal!
Interviewer (looks at GRE) : So, you ALSO applied to Georgia tech?
Me : Yes.
Interviewer : Did you get in?
Me : No (sheepish smile)
Interviewer (pauses for a second) : Oh, well some sins can be forgiven (Smiles)
Me : (Smile)
Interviewer (pauses for 10 seconds) : Well, what to say, against my better judgement, I am going to give you your visa! (smirks) Congratulations!
Me : (smile) Thank you (smile) Thank you very much.
Statistics:
Total no. of words spoken by me : 29
Total time of interview : 1 min 2 sec.
End result : One step closer to Graduate School.
Berhael
PS : Thank you once again Sir. :)
Me : Yes
Interviewer : You don't sound so excited about it
Me : Nothing like that, just don't follow football yet.
Interviewer (stares at sheets) : Are you getting a TA-ship?
Me : Actually its a fellowship, I'm getting my tuition fees paid and a stipend.
Interviewer (wrinkles face) : Good deal!
Interviewer (looks at GRE) : So, you ALSO applied to Georgia tech?
Me : Yes.
Interviewer : Did you get in?
Me : No (sheepish smile)
Interviewer (pauses for a second) : Oh, well some sins can be forgiven (Smiles)
Me : (Smile)
Interviewer (pauses for 10 seconds) : Well, what to say, against my better judgement, I am going to give you your visa! (smirks) Congratulations!
Me : (smile) Thank you (smile) Thank you very much.
Statistics:
Total no. of words spoken by me : 29
Total time of interview : 1 min 2 sec.
End result : One step closer to Graduate School.
Berhael
PS : Thank you once again Sir. :)
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Of 10s and IIT
Ten things I hated in IIT in no particular order:
1) The academic section and anything that involved getting a letter cross-signed by Fac-Ad, HOD, Officer in Charge, Dean Students, Registrar all on the same sheet of paper (Go Green IIT!)
2) Tendency of groups working on a particular thing to form closed cliques recruiting and working only within that clique.
3) Elections and all associated savagery. In the end if you look at it, nothing much comes out of it in terms of new buildings or different ideas.
4) No parking space for local students (is it so difficult to open up an area and CHARGE for parking instead of asking to pay fines?)
5) Himalaya, Mess Grub coupons, associated signatures. Miss the bonhomie of our first year.
6) Vetti pseud putting junta (associated point 2).
7) IIT Smart card, never use it and pay 500 bucks if you lose/break it. Now there's a deal!
8) Computer Game addicts (nothing against the games, just that you shouldn't get addicted... please)
9) Wing politics (there also ah!!!)
10) No interaction with the society around us. We could've designed so many things for people in villages/poor localities/infrastructure etc, but its not been on our agenda. No one's fault though.
Berhael
1) The academic section and anything that involved getting a letter cross-signed by Fac-Ad, HOD, Officer in Charge, Dean Students, Registrar all on the same sheet of paper (Go Green IIT!)
2) Tendency of groups working on a particular thing to form closed cliques recruiting and working only within that clique.
3) Elections and all associated savagery. In the end if you look at it, nothing much comes out of it in terms of new buildings or different ideas.
4) No parking space for local students (is it so difficult to open up an area and CHARGE for parking instead of asking to pay fines?)
5) Himalaya, Mess Grub coupons, associated signatures. Miss the bonhomie of our first year.
6) Vetti pseud putting junta (associated point 2).
7) IIT Smart card, never use it and pay 500 bucks if you lose/break it. Now there's a deal!
8) Computer Game addicts (nothing against the games, just that you shouldn't get addicted... please)
9) Wing politics (there also ah!!!)
10) No interaction with the society around us. We could've designed so many things for people in villages/poor localities/infrastructure etc, but its not been on our agenda. No one's fault though.
Berhael
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Of cooking and learning...
Exams are over, my university is decided, I am free till August.. I have been using my time in the mornings to practice my cooking. And it is improving by leaps and bounds if I may say so in my humble opinion.
I can now make 7 different standard vegetables, 3-4 sambhars, whatever whatever spice combos to make rasams, some 1-2 thohails. Now it's time to switch to the variety rices.. puliyodharai, tomato rice, fried rice, lemon rice and other stuff like upama and pongal, so on. Let's hope that clicks. :) I must recommend the book by Viji Varadarajan's Samayal its a wonderful book for one who does not have too much time to browse through detailed recipes. However you are sure to grow out of it, as I am starting to find out, but a good book to get u started.
For now, here is a sample of my cooking :)
It's Murungaka sambhar, potato mixed curry and kothavaranga karamadhu. It tasted pretty well too!
--Berhael
PS - THANK YOU MOM :)
Update : Viji's Site can be found at www.vijisamayal.org
I can now make 7 different standard vegetables, 3-4 sambhars, whatever whatever spice combos to make rasams, some 1-2 thohails. Now it's time to switch to the variety rices.. puliyodharai, tomato rice, fried rice, lemon rice and other stuff like upama and pongal, so on. Let's hope that clicks. :) I must recommend the book by Viji Varadarajan's Samayal its a wonderful book for one who does not have too much time to browse through detailed recipes. However you are sure to grow out of it, as I am starting to find out, but a good book to get u started.
For now, here is a sample of my cooking :)
It's Murungaka sambhar, potato mixed curry and kothavaranga karamadhu. It tasted pretty well too!
--Berhael
PS - THANK YOU MOM :)
Update : Viji's Site can be found at www.vijisamayal.org
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