Nothing in particular

It was after a long time that i found myself wandering again on the stone ramparts keeping the sea at bay from human habitation. Though what exactly do they protect is a nice thought: the sea from the humans or humans from the sea? So just out of habit i clicked a few pictures. Here they are ( April Fool's day, 2010):

If i were to name this photograph, it would be: The solitary tree... not that it is solitary by any means, there are a number of other trees planted some distance apart, but there is something about the tree that screams lonliness to me. On this thought I would like to share this poem of Wordsworth:

I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

And here is another picture of the marine drive: 

Be Well!

Darkening Sky

It's really great when you come to discover a good song when you least expect it. So it happened to me. he Mentalist is one of the shows that i enjoy watching on the television, and it was in it's one of the episodes that's i came across this song by Peterr Bradely Adams. The episode's title was His right hand ( The main antagonist Red John's right hand ). And to say: I was hooked! Great song, wonderful lyrics!

Women Reservation Bill : Few words

Sure God created man before woman.  But then you always make a rough draft before the final masterpiece. So goes the quotation whose author has been lost in the annals of history. Sure he would have been a proponent for the Women' Reservation bill which may soon enough change the face of indian legislature. The bill calls for 33.3% or one third of the seats to be reserved for the women. And thought the historic bill was supposed to be passed on 8th of march on the centenary year of international women's day, the loss of nerve by the congress government saw it delayed by a day.
Whether reservation is the panacea to all ills is a different subject matter and i would like to go into it at some later point of time. The point currently is 181 seats in the lok sabha are to be reserved for women. Similarly one third of the seats will be reserved in RS and state governments as well as local governments. There is already reservation at place in the panchayati raj institutions. Recent findings by a government body have shown that:

• The positive impact of entering politics and working as a Panchayati Raj functionary is evident from the fact that a sizeable proportion of women representatives perceive enhancement in their self-esteem (79%), confidence (81%) and decision-making ability (74%).
• Becoming a Pradhan or Ward Member augments respect within the family (67%) as well as in the community at large (82%). Encouragingly, this change is more perceptible in the case of elected women representatives who also perceive an increased voice in decisions related to economic matters and other issues in their family (66-71%).
• Beyond the household domain, and in the professional environment, an increase in attention from local government (64%), responsiveness of the Block Panchayat (60%) and recognition from other Panchayat Members (65%) is reported by a slightly higher proportion of female Pradhans. While no gender discrimination in the panchayat is reported by 60 percent of elected women representatives, acceptability in panchayat meetings and enabling them to raise issues freely was mentioned by 94 percent." A supportive professional environment evidently motivates elected women representatives to perform better, as 60-64 percent reported an increase in their interaction with line departments and parallel bodies. Even the participation of common women citizens in various activities such as attending Gram Sabha meeting, etc. has reportedly increased (68-78%)." A large proportion (72%) reported having been actively involved in providing civic amenities, while 62% said they made efforts in increasing enrolment and mitigating domestic violence.

There were some other interesting findings too. The level of education seemed to have direct bearing on performance. Illiterates did not perform well. Also the younger age category performed better than those over 35. And also the fact that 85% women were first timers and only 15% of the women candidates got re-elected once the seat was de-reserved.

The study calls for scrapping of the rotation of seats and has this to say for final word: 

• The data show that the duration (in years) of political involvement is directly proportionate to the performance of women representatives. As women progress in their political career, they become better performers by virtue of being politically more aware and experienced. Thus, the effort should be made not only to maintain the representation of women in politics in terms of their percentage, but also their ability to remain in politics.

Now back to the reservation bill. We know that there is already a reservation of 22.5% for SC/ST. And add 33.3% reservation for women to that. Bingo you get 55% of the seats of the world's largest democracy reserved. That would work contrary to the spirit of the democratic set up according to me. One way to overcome is to provide quota within quota but that may become too complicated. Western countries have highly evolved societies in which gender equality has been addressed and fought for by the feminist movements. They came up by working their way up and not by some quota system. That may be the natural order of doing things. Quotas only weaken the targeted group in the longer run. Quotas for short duration may work, but being india, we can not have anything that is not built to last. Politics will invariably come into play and the reservation bill that is supposed to be only for 15 years will get extended indefinitely.

No, i am not against the reservation system.I feel that the representation by women will take India to new heights. I only have few certain apprehensions regarding the manner of imposition of the women's reservation bill.

            The law ministry has prepared two drafts of the Women's Reservation Bill.

The first envisages reservation of 33.3 percent seats for women within the existing strength of the two Houses of Parliament.

The second calls for increasing the strength of the two Houses by 33.3 percent. The existing 545 seats in the Lok Sabha will increase to 900 if this draft of the Bill is enacted.

 The other troubling fact is the so called rotation of the one third of the seats after each election. Imagine that 181 seats of the LS would be rotated each election. No one knows which male candidate will have to forego his seat. Moreover the winning women candidate may not be able to win from the same seat once it is de-reserved. What would be the motivation for the elected candidate to work for that constituency? You arn't getting elected again from that constituency anyway. Then the vast uneducated masses of india that refuse to look away from normal caste or petty politics line. Oh, i know indian masses have surprised everyone over time, but, their memory is short and caste lines etched too deep into their consciousness.
One provision that definitely needs to be added is that no serving politicians kin can contest election from any reserved seat. ( Imagine Pakistan has already got 33% reservation for women in it's senate.)


Now for the process. Article 368 of the indian constitution stipulates that for such broad sweeping changes to be made in constitution the following steps have to be followed:


* An introduction of the bill in either house of the parliament (introduced and passed in Rajya Sabha already), and the bill to be passed in each house by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two thirds of the members of that House present and voting.


** The amendment then has to be ratified by the legislatures of not less than half of the states.


*** Then it is presented to the president and upon whose assent it becomes a law.


So there is a long process ahead but a significant beginning has been made and the ruling party seems to have the necessary numbers to force through the bill, but one,this is politics and two, this is India.


We already had a strong PM in form of Indira Gandhi, a serving president in form of Ms. Patil, a strong chairperson of the ruling party in form of Ms Sonia Gandhi, a lady speaker for LS : all without reservation. Women are beginning to break into the man's world on their own. Is it necessary to take their fight away from them and instead provide crutches?


I leave that assessment to you. 

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Now watch TV on your Mobile! ( MTNL Mumbai)

I remember one of my professors, Mr Divakar Kamath, saying in one of his lectures that for many in India mobile will become the first screen. Seems like the day has somewhat arrived. Who would have thought that the ubiquitous mobile would one day be used for watching TV. It is the stuff of science fiction now turning true!

The last effort at such dream was made when mobiles incorporated DVB-H technology, an acronym for digital video broadcast- handheld. This technology was officially endorsed by the EU as the preferred technology for terrestrial mobile broadcasting. Most probably this technology also saw its use in India, in the capital city of Delhi, though in a limited way. And then came its nemesis : 3G.

The onset of 3G era (it hasn't started yet in its full earnestness) has changed the rules of the game tremendously. 3G allows simultaneous use of speech and data services and higher data rates (up to 14.0 Mbit/s on the downlink and 5.8 Mbit/s on the uplink with HSPA+)[Wikipedia]. Moreover it is supposed to provide a minimum data rate of 2 Mbit/s for stationary or walking users, and 348 kbit/s in a moving vehicle.This fact has made it possible to watch TV on mobile screens.


Currently only the government telecom service providers are working with 3G. And I happen to be subscribed to one such operator: MTNL Mumbai. This coincidence has left me using 3G servises for more than two months, and it was only today that I thought of subscribing to mobile tv. In India the service is provided by Apalya technologies and their website is : http://www.mimobi.tv/  


How to watch TV(MTNL Mumbai) :
Step 1: Sms MOBILETV to 53388
Step 2: You will receive a WAP link/service message in your inbox. Click on the same and download the MTNLTV application
Step 3: Install the application in the phone memory of your handset
Step 4: Click on the application and open it to see the TV channel logos. Choose the channel you want to watch and click on its icon.
Step 5: You will see the subscription packages available as given below. Choose the option that suits you.Step 6: You will receive a confirmation that your registration has been successful. Now click on the channel and watch the content. 


The subscription options are cheesy to say the least. You can watch 29 channels[ aaj tak,ndtv, india tv, cnn, espn, times now, cnn ibn, bbc world, cnbc tv18, star news, total, headlines today, ndtv profit, ndtv hindi, zee news, ibn7, star one, pogo, cartoon network, ftv, utv, bindass, wwf, and some( 4 or 5) inconsequential ones] at the cost of Rs 150 per month(1) or you can subscribe to an individual channel foe Rs 50 per month (2) or an individual channel at the cost of Rs 10 per day(3). Obviously the die is a bit loaded towards the first option.


So after downloading the application (668kb) from the wap link send by mtnl, i saw a menu with various channel logos. I promptly subscribed to option one which after one successful attempt again showed my subscription status to be void(thankfully i hadn't lost any money). I am going to try it again after some time. I am planning to catch any show on BBC World and after that budget highlights on CNN-IBN. Lets see how it peters out. I am willing to go through some heartburn (always true in the case of onset of new technology), but let's hope it is not too much.


P.S. Look out for 4G technology.... It promises 1 Gbit/s for stationary and 100 Mbit/s for mobile operation. Arthur Clarke hit the nail on its head when he said, " Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". 

Blogger's Block!

Imagine of all the ailments possible suffering from an acute blogger's block! No there is no such recognised ailment in the world. And yes, i made it up by borrowing heavily from writer's block. Time was when i would have various issues to write up on....I had views on almost everything under the sun.... my being knowledgeable had nothing to do with it...rather my lack of knowledge and it's accomplice wisdom gave me strength: it's true, what they say- fools rush in where angels fear to tread & the other one- Ignorance is bliss!

No! I havn't gained enlightenment all of a sudden now. Merely that after being in the twitterland and then buzzland, my old blog writing days have suddenly become a fond memory. Why write more, when you can say it in 140 words? And to top it all you can keep doing it as frequently as possible...even from your omnipresent phone. Guess the blogger's are a dying breed now.... dinosaurs in the age of apeman.

I sure hope that the above scenario does not come true, for both mediums are complementary as well as supplementary to each other. Blogging is a serious matter. The amount of information that you can give, the analysis you can do, the thoughts that you can pen; is vastly superior in case of blogging. Try telling what you had for lunch on your blog. I dare you! You can't. That has to go on to newer emerging digital platforms like Twitter. A blog is inherently a serious matter, not a place to put frivolous matter. So it may continue to survive after all!

Now to the blogger's block. When and how did I reach this stage is a mystery to me. Though not exactly a doyen of blogging, i would find time and energy to write something from time to time. But somehow this feeling of writing dried up, instead of being enthused by the idea of blogging i started dreading it. The issues over which i always felt strongly suddenly started appearing mundane to me. That was when i first realised that something was not well, that some piece of puzzle was missing from my life. So now i have decided to start writing once again...torturous though the process seems to me... for writing is also a means a knowing oneself, and as the ancient Greeks said, " Know Thyself" was the beginning and end of every person's journey.

The only discernible side effects of being in twitterland is that writing long passages seems to be a burden now. The macro view has given way to micro view now. Maybe that's a blessing, may be that's a curse. Which one only time will tell. For now only one thing matters : overcoming the blogger's block.

Bhavatu sabba Mangalam! May all beings be happy!

Beautiful by Eminem

Training the mind : Dalai Lama Approach

With a determinations to achieve the highest aim

For the benefit of all sentient beings

Which surpasses even the wish-fulfilling gem,

May I hold them dear at all times.

Whenever I interact with someone,

May I view myself as the lowest amongst all,

And, from the very depths of my heart,

Respectfully hold others as superior.

In all my deeds may I probe into my mind,

And as soon as mental and emotional afflictions arise-

As they endanger myself and others-

May I strongly confront them and avert them.

When I see beings of unpleasant character

Oppressed by strong negativity and suffering,

May I hold them dear-for they are rare to find-

As if I have discovered a jewel treasure!

When others, out of jealousy

Treat me wrongly with abuse, slander, and scorn,

May I take upon myself the defeat

And offer to others the victory.

When someone whom I have helped,

Or in whom I have placed great hopes,

Mistreats me in extremely hurtful ways,

May I regard him still as my precious teacher.

In brief, may I offer benefit and joy

To all my mothers, both directly and indirectly,

May I quietly take upon myself

All hurts and pains of my mothers.

May all this remain undefiled

By the stains of the eight mundane concerns;

And may I, recognizing all things as illusion,

Devoid of clinging, be released from bondage.