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
--
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)
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Today again kausar bhai is going to Chennai, 3 rd time in as many weeks, and every time to help some body in need. On one of the occasions he actually stayed there in a hospital for 18 days, taking care of a patient, who was not related to him (he just happens to be brother of his friend), who had undergone neorosurgery. During this period, he stayed awake the nights, as this was required to take care of him ... He had gone there just to see him for one day, and ended up staying for a full 18 days.
The more I think of the above the more the respect for him grows in me. I could not imagine myself giving so much time of mine, undivided, 100% attention, to somebody who is outside my immediate family - helping with money etc is one thing, and helping with 18 days, 18 precious days of your life is another, and Kausar bhai did just that.
Even today, he is going to attend to another patient, one of his neighbours, who has come to Vellore all the way from Dhanbaad.
Kausar bhai, tusi great ho.
The more I think of the above the more the respect for him grows in me. I could not imagine myself giving so much time of mine, undivided, 100% attention, to somebody who is outside my immediate family - helping with money etc is one thing, and helping with 18 days, 18 precious days of your life is another, and Kausar bhai did just that.
Even today, he is going to attend to another patient, one of his neighbours, who has come to Vellore all the way from Dhanbaad.
Kausar bhai, tusi great ho.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Recently came across this article from guardian,
A tale of two Indias
http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,,1746948,00.html
Though i dont agree to it fully, as it tries to somehow put the blame of extreme poverty and farmer's suicides to globalization and liberalizaton ... but this is shockingly true that people at the helm of affairs are criminally indifferent to this suffering india ...
After reading it for the first time, i could not be normal for the next two days, and was trying to make 'havai qilas' as to how do we, in our individual capcities, help those farmers ... i mean, look at it, sole breadwinner of a family of 4 commits suicide because he had taken a 31 thousand loan, which he is unable to pay ... shame on us ...
guys / gals, see if something can be done ... may be as little as email campaign or petitiononline ... something ...
Excerpts:
Arundhati Roy could be found in the middle of a troupe of chanting, sari-clad women, who were hoping to draw attention to a terrible blight on the rural landscape: farmers' suicides. Thousands of farmers have taken their own lives, having found themselves with a debt that, in dollar terms, would scarcely buy an iPod, but which is enough to impoverish a family.
Roy likens the country's progress to two convoys of trucks: a small group that is on its way to a "glittering destination near the top of world", and a more massive pack that "melts into the darkness and disappears". "A section of India has seceded from the nation," she says.
"This project of corporate globalisation has created a constituency of very rich people who are very thrilled about it. They do not care about the hawkers being cleared from the streets or the slums that are disappeared overnight." As she sees it, India is not coming together but coming apart because liberalisation has convulsed the country at an unprecedented, unacceptable velocity. In the cities, the hammer and bulldozer are, often, noisily demolishing slum block after slum block, making way for shiny new apartments. Nowhere is this shift more profoundly felt than in the country's villages where, Roy says, "India does not live. It dies".
A tale of two Indias
http://www.guardian.co.uk
Though i dont agree to it fully, as it tries to somehow put the blame of extreme poverty and farmer's suicides to globalization and liberalizaton ... but this is shockingly true that people at the helm of affairs are criminally indifferent to this suffering india ...
After reading it for the first time, i could not be normal for the next two days, and was trying to make 'havai qilas' as to how do we, in our individual capcities, help those farmers ... i mean, look at it, sole breadwinner of a family of 4 commits suicide because he had taken a 31 thousand loan, which he is unable to pay ... shame on us ...
guys / gals, see if something can be done ... may be as little as email campaign or petitiononline ... something ...
Excerpts:
Arundhati Roy could be found in the middle of a troupe of chanting, sari-clad women, who were hoping to draw attention to a terrible blight on the rural landscape: farmers' suicides. Thousands of farmers have taken their own lives, having found themselves with a debt that, in dollar terms, would scarcely buy an iPod, but which is enough to impoverish a family.
Roy likens the country's progress to two convoys of trucks: a small group that is on its way to a "glittering destination near the top of world", and a more massive pack that "melts into the darkness and disappears". "A section of India has seceded from the nation," she says.
"This project of corporate globalisation has created a constituency of very rich people who are very thrilled about it. They do not care about the hawkers being cleared from the streets or the slums that are disappeared overnight." As she sees it, India is not coming together but coming apart because liberalisation has convulsed the country at an unprecedented, unacceptable velocity. In the cities, the hammer and bulldozer are, often, noisily demolishing slum block after slum block, making way for shiny new apartments. Nowhere is this shift more profoundly felt than in the country's villages where, Roy says, "India does not live. It dies".
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