Why-Fi?

I have a T-Shirt which carries the message “ I am analog”. I’ve had a number of weird comments and questions thrown at me whenever I don the T-shirt. But the most thought provoking question came from the gatekeeper of the place I work. He asked “ Sirjee! Yeh Analog kya hota hai?” Apparently he knew how to read English, which surprised me.
I was at a loss of words.
How does one explain technology to the ‘common man’? India is a booming IT and ITes powerhouse and still the people who know and interact with technology are a very select group. I won’t be talking about the great economic divide and the rich poor debate, but put very simply, the point I’m trying to make is that a huge chunk of India’s population has been unable to keep up with the technology; and the kind of education system that exists makes sure that they won’t be catching up in the near future.

Then why is the government intent on pushing technology into these hands who do not know what to do with it? Wi-Fi krishi mandis, laptops for village schools, wireless farm management systems? What sense does this make? I’m not saying that technology should be kept away from the developing areas; it is a big help; but the difference between useful technology and technology should be properly understood. A mobile might make a lot of sense to a farmer living in a remote village, but a laptop does not.

To me, the reason behind this blind thrust to bring technology to the people is that the government can then make claims like ‘we enabled the ‘underprivileged’ children by giving them free laptops’ or ‘the country is on the fast track of development: everyone will have a hi-speed broadband connection by 2010’. What the children do with the laptops and their hi-speed connections is none of their concern. A flood of hi-tech solutions, to problems that do not need them, is not development.

It’s been around in the news for long: plans of making Delhi Wi-Fi. Why? I’ll ask again. Has the government paused to look at the number of internet users in Delhi and of those who actually have the equipment to use Wi-Fi?

Cosmetics for making Delhi look good for the Commonwealth games is an acceptable expenditure, but a cosmetic surgery is something our poor country can ill afford. Like it or not, we still are a poor country. Go ahead, spend the money on technology, but let that be sensible technology and not that looks good and is of no use whatsoever.

The technological revolution is here, and it no doubt will make the lives of everyone easier and more comfortable. But let things take their own pace, evolution takes time. The evolution can be hastened, educate people, make technology understandable not just accessible; but trying to overtake evolution ( as is apparent) can only lead to disaster.

How many pieces??

I recently spent some time in Kanpur and during my stay I commuted by the city transport bus. It is my strong conviction that observing the local transport and the people who use them gives you a more real picture than any other study can. It actually presents you with a diverse cross section of the ‘common man’.

What really caught my eye as I hung in a mass of bodies in the bus (even though each city in India has a very unique mass transit system, the common thread is the overcrowding) was the marking above some seats.
The two front rows were labelled mahila seat. ‘That makes sense’ I said to myself. Female seats are generally reserved in buses and trains for obvious reasons.

The next seat was marked viklang seat. ‘Even that is okay, physically handicapped people cannot keep standing and a reserved seat for them is justified.'

Next came, and now it started getting a bit weird, a seat labelled manyata prapt patrakaar seat. ‘This is funny. why should Reporters have reserved seats? Fine, we live in a country where the media has unparalleled freedom that is ratified by our democratic setup; but still a seat reserved for a reporter in a city bus ?’ it bewildered me. But the final blow was the next label. It said parshad/vidhayak seat. ‘This is right over the top. Why the hell should a member of the legislature have a seat reserved in a city bus? Any of the members of our legislature travelling by a ‘public’ transport bus is a laughable concept in itself. Apart from the one occasion of maybe inaugurating the service, none of them or anyone even remotely related to them, would ever board a bus.’ But still, I’d like to inform them that if they ever consider doing that they have a seat reserved to save them the agony of standing with the people whom they claim to serve.

Hanging there sweating, memories from a class on fractions during my schooling came to me. It was probably in third grade:
“If I want to divide a cake amongst 5 people, what will be the size of each piece?” the teacher asked.
“One-fifth of the cake” the class replied in unison.
“And what if I want to divide it amongst 10 people?”
“One-tenth of the cake” the class chorused. The teacher divided the circle on the board into ten pieces.
“If I have one cake and I want to give a piece to everyone in the class, then how big would a piece be?”
Everyone started counting heads on their tiny fingers and soon children were excitedly shouting answers, “One upon 55”, “One upon 60” and the teacher drew many lines in the circle. At this moment one of the boys , with supreme innocence that is a characteristic of that age said “ I will get a very tiny piece”
“Yes, but still everyone would get an equal share of whatever there is.”

The boy who asked the question was most probably driven by gastronomic desire, and maybe I too, sitting in the class, was thinking of a tasty cake and did not give a dammn about how large a piece everyone got.

It is now, in the bus, that I see the whole event in a new light. I do not know what brought me that memory. I doubt I could have recalled such an event otherwise, but it now makes a lot of sense.

Making a billion pieces of a cake, so that everyone gets an ‘equal’ share, is hardly a solution. Teach everyone, not how to divide the cake into pieces, but to make a cake when they are hungry.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

CAUTION: DO NOT READ THE LAST CHAPTER. IT WILL BE GOOD IF YOU ACTUALLY TORE OFF THE LAST 5 PAGES AND NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT THEM.

The saga ends finally. I no longer will have to put up with irritating email forwards that purportedly contained the 'pre-release' version of the Seventh Harry Potter book.

J.K Rowling must have faced a tough task when she would have started writing the final book. So many loose ends to tie, so many characters to take care of, and then there were fans who wanted harry alive, but someone must die because it is the Dark Lord who is coming to power. Prophecies, horcruxes and hallows; patronouses, curses and charms; elves, gnomes and goblins; death eaters, werewolves and dragons. They're all there, fitting in a surprisingly seamless story. This is a great achievement. The author has not only explained everything that was a mystery in the previous books but has managed to keep the fans happy too ( but then whenever the story seems like losing steam or teetering over the line of rationality, there is always 'magic' to help). The book is a neatly bundled 'theory of everything' in the Potter universe. Why Dumbeldore trusted Snape so much? or Who is RAB who took the Horcrux, the weird behavior of Harry's wand. All the answers are in there. It is fast paced; a one night read like all other Potter books. But that's not all there is to it, there are times when you are actually 'in' there, other times you are just marvelling at the sheer imaginativeness of the writer.

There are instances where the reader is faced with the death of a character just because otherwise it would have seemed too unrealistic; meaning Mrs. Rowling has been a tad more bloodthirsty in a couple of chapters.

But nevertheless, the book makes a nice read. And i know that everyone of you who assert themselves as adults and conissuers of 'good' writing will read this 'children's' sooner or later, so take my word for it ai'nt that bad.

Bridge to Terabithia : review

" keep your eyes shut tight and you mind wide open"
What better companion than his own imagination can a young friendless boy at school; bullied by friends and chastised by his pragmatic father for being a dreamer, find?
The young Jess is somehow incompatible with his peers. He finds solace from the apparently strange world by retreating in his shell and pursuing his only hobby: drawing. But it is not until he befriends a new girl at school: Leslie, a ferociously independent and imaginative girl, that he discovers how beautiful a place his own imagination can be. Together they weave an imaginary world of demons and friendly trolls around their castle ( an abandoned tree-house) and christen it Terabithia. The movie revolves around their adventures and misadventures in this imaginary, yet so real fantasy land.
The movie strikes a chord with the child in you and you start thinking about those good old days : 'when you were young and you were free...' ( G n' R). It is not just a fantasy movie for children but something which everyone can relate to; for everyone has been a child once.
All the three major child actors Josh Hutcherson ( Jess), Leslie Burke ( Nancy) and Bailee Madison ( May Belle) have performed fabulously, giving the movie the right amount of childlike joy. The special effects are not too real ( they are supposed to be figments of the children's imagination) , but nor are they too imaginary to seem unreal.
A light movie that leaves you with a warm heart and a tearful eye. A nice choice for one of 'those' days.