When imagination and sculptory, both at their best, meet - it produces something heavenly ... something beyond imagination ...
Out of all the things that I have seen in my reasonably loooong life, nothing but the veiled statue of Rebeca at Salarjung museum brought the above thought ... The statue is that of a girl draped in a veil, except that the veil is made up of very fine / thin cloth, as thin and fine that it is transparent ... and that this transparency has also been sculpted leaves the audiences awestruck ...
Could find one copy on google - Have a look ...
http://www.hindu.com/2006/04/19/images/2006041921010501.jpg
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Shadkam Islam
http://shadkam.islam.googlepages.com/
http://shadkamislam.blogspot.com/
http://shadkam19.blogspot.com/
Friday, May 25, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Went to GowriPalya this saturday, to meet / interact / contribute with people who are involved in sponsoring poor children for their school fee / books etc, children who otherwise would have been unable to attend schools due to financial constraints. Well, this is something good, and something commendable, but definitely not as exciting or as 'effective in the short term at least' as the other work which was going on there and which I was privileged to witness.
There were people, like Tazayun Umar of Aalim education trust/Human touch NGO, and her team and a set of dedicated volunteers (IT professionals among them), and the very dedicated and energetic Mohammad Shafiullah, who had told me about this and had asked me to come there. The management of this big exercise coming from a volunteer who happens to be an alumni of the famed IIM.
And these people were trying to do to the poor of Bangalore what Mohd Younis did to the poor of Bangladesh. Yes, they have launched a micro credit scheme ... where women are given loans, interest free, and without having to pledge anything for the loan. With that loan the women can start some small business [say getting a sewing machine and with which to stitch clothes] - which would guarantee them a steady income, some part of which would be used for the repayment of the loans. Women were asked to come in groups of 5, and in the beginning only one of them would be given the loan, and loan to others will depend on how the persons of that group, who have been given loans, are repaying it ... So there would be a peer pressure on them to repay it.
It was a really nice thing to witness ... All these days, I used to crib to myself - that most, or (in fact I used to think all of us, including myself) do not do anything on the ground, on the field, we are limited to airing our views in our comfortable drawing rooms over a cup of coffee over a weekend - and feel happy that we thought about the poor, the not so privileged ...
But this weekend visit there changed it ... there are people among us who are doing work in the field - devoting their time, energy, money ...
Salute to them.
There were people, like Tazayun Umar of Aalim education trust/Human touch NGO, and her team and a set of dedicated volunteers (IT professionals among them), and the very dedicated and energetic Mohammad Shafiullah, who had told me about this and had asked me to come there. The management of this big exercise coming from a volunteer who happens to be an alumni of the famed IIM.
And these people were trying to do to the poor of Bangalore what Mohd Younis did to the poor of Bangladesh. Yes, they have launched a micro credit scheme ... where women are given loans, interest free, and without having to pledge anything for the loan. With that loan the women can start some small business [say getting a sewing machine and with which to stitch clothes] - which would guarantee them a steady income, some part of which would be used for the repayment of the loans. Women were asked to come in groups of 5, and in the beginning only one of them would be given the loan, and loan to others will depend on how the persons of that group, who have been given loans, are repaying it ... So there would be a peer pressure on them to repay it.
It was a really nice thing to witness ... All these days, I used to crib to myself - that most, or (in fact I used to think all of us, including myself) do not do anything on the ground, on the field, we are limited to airing our views in our comfortable drawing rooms over a cup of coffee over a weekend - and feel happy that we thought about the poor, the not so privileged ...
But this weekend visit there changed it ... there are people among us who are doing work in the field - devoting their time, energy, money ...
Salute to them.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Reservations (SC/ST) - why are they justified
People advocating res. based on economic condition are missing the reason of introducing it. One entire section of society has been, for centuries, being deprived of, among a big list, education - as is evident from our history, and this quote ("yadi veda ka ek shabd bhi koi shoodra sun le to usko kaanon mein pighla seesa daal dena chahiye") from one of our ancient sculptures.
As a result of the above, and also as rightly pointed out in many of the anti-reservation comments below, this section of society is condemned with a lot lower average IQ than rest (I m talking only about avarage IQ, exceptions are there everywhere). Unless the govt. gives them some push in form of reservation, these sections may be continue to remain where they have been living for centuries, occupying the lowest rung of the society.
You may ask me - why should a upper caste teenager, who otherwise could have got into IIT if not for reservation, pay the price for a crime that ancient generations of his (or of his caste) committed ...
Definitely, I agree - it does not make sense.
But on the other hand, why should SC/ST teenagers, who would have had same avarage IQ as their upper caste counterparts if not for this centuries of exploitation and deprivation, pay the price either.
If u go with a sense of medivial justice, where eye for eye and blood for blood was the rule, all upper castes will have to be deprived of, forget everything else, education itself for generations (as many as those of SC/STs which were deprived of it), and then only this historic wrong would get corrected.
Off course, no sane person should subscribe to the above view and thankfully - nobody does.
I mentioned it here so that we, the so called upper castes should realize, that reservation is the least that can be done to undo that historic wrong done with those sections.
I also believe that reservation is bad, but it is the least bad thing available out there. And I also agree that as suggested in many of the comments, reservation implementation flaws should be identified and corrected (i.e. after 3 generations availing reservation, no more reservations in that tree, having relevant cut-off marks, etc etc)
People advocating res. based on economic condition are missing the reason of introducing it. One entire section of society has been, for centuries, being deprived of, among a big list, education - as is evident from our history, and this quote ("yadi veda ka ek shabd bhi koi shoodra sun le to usko kaanon mein pighla seesa daal dena chahiye") from one of our ancient sculptures.
As a result of the above, and also as rightly pointed out in many of the anti-reservation comments below, this section of society is condemned with a lot lower average IQ than rest (I m talking only about avarage IQ, exceptions are there everywhere). Unless the govt. gives them some push in form of reservation, these sections may be continue to remain where they have been living for centuries, occupying the lowest rung of the society.
You may ask me - why should a upper caste teenager, who otherwise could have got into IIT if not for reservation, pay the price for a crime that ancient generations of his (or of his caste) committed ...
Definitely, I agree - it does not make sense.
But on the other hand, why should SC/ST teenagers, who would have had same avarage IQ as their upper caste counterparts if not for this centuries of exploitation and deprivation, pay the price either.
If u go with a sense of medivial justice, where eye for eye and blood for blood was the rule, all upper castes will have to be deprived of, forget everything else, education itself for generations (as many as those of SC/STs which were deprived of it), and then only this historic wrong would get corrected.
Off course, no sane person should subscribe to the above view and thankfully - nobody does.
I mentioned it here so that we, the so called upper castes should realize, that reservation is the least that can be done to undo that historic wrong done with those sections.
I also believe that reservation is bad, but it is the least bad thing available out there. And I also agree that as suggested in many of the comments, reservation implementation flaws should be identified and corrected (i.e. after 3 generations availing reservation, no more reservations in that tree, having relevant cut-off marks, etc etc)
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