MyTake

'पापा ये स्पेलिंग गलत है' (this spelling is wrong papa).  My ten year old daughter was questioning me when I wrote Panjab University in my diary. 'ये Punjab होना चाहिए, Panjab नहीं'  I told her, Panjab is correct as the university is using it.  She shrugged her shoulders as she was not at all convinced.  She has been reading in her books the spelling as Punjab and not Panjab.  I also thought for a while and agreed at the back of my mind that yes she is right, but I also knew that the university writes it as Panjab and may be officially the name of the state is accepted as Punjab so that way Punjab should be correct spelling. We have been discussing the issue of ethics, values and morality.  The debate and discussion on what is right and what is wrong, what is correct and what is incorrect, has been very interesting in last two days.  But my daughter's question kept me thinking and I was following the pronunciation of people vigilantly.  I in fact never question

Yesterday we watched the closing ceremony of the XIX CWG held at JN Stadium, New Delhi.  I had watched the opening ceremony at Mr Manoj Sharma's place, while I was in Delhi.  India performed its best so far in all the CWGs held so far bagging 101 medals in total which included 38 gold and made its position at second just after Australia and above England.  Indian sportpersons performed their best with true spirit of a good  sportsmanship.  In total, though Commonwealth has 54 nations, 71 nations participated as 17 nations sought permission and also became part of the total participants, though they had not been under the colony of England.  Next games are going to be held at Scotland in 2014. However the organizing CWG has been a point of discussion since last many years and more so in last few months.  I got reminded of Asiad 82 which was also under controversies amid leadership of Mr Buta Singh, then chairman of Organizing committee of the games.  That was the time when color T

25th Sept 2010/Saturday////8:25 pm/Defence Colony, Gurgaon/ I am back to Ashutosh’s place after a visit to Metro Mall. We were five of us, me, ashutosh dash, and three of his old students from IIM Shillong. We had lunch together at MDI and thenafter came to his house, had tea etc,,, and then after walking for around 400 mtrs boarded an auto which dropped us at the Mall. The mall looked good, crowded by people, being a Saturday, a weekend, may be the crowd is still bigger, and today is World Daughters Day, a day which I never was aware of. As we walked through the mall looking at different showrooms, looking at people, couples of different ages, kids, safaiwalas etc, we followed the escalators and behaved perfectly like young kids who play with escalators taking a ride up and down. All through we kept talking to each other and tried relating our knowledge of books and business with what we were looking at. We reached on the top and tried to see which are the movies on show at the PVR

आज के दिन वर्ष १९४९ को भारतीय संविधान ने हिंदी को राज भाषा घोषित किया.  तब से आज तक हम हिंदी को अपनी राष्ट्रभाषा मानते आये हैं.  मुझे अपने हिंदी भाषी होने पर गर्व है क्योंकि यह मेरी राष्ट्रभाषा के साथ साथ मात्रभाषा भी है.  पिछले ६१ वर्षों मे हिंदी ने अपने भिन्न रूप देखे हैं और आज इस बाजारी युग मे भी वह अपनी पहचान बनाने मे काफी सक्षम रही है.  हाँ यह बात अवश्य है कि जिस प्रकार से अंग्रेजी ने अपना मुकाम हमारे व्यवहार मे बनाया है, हिंदी कहीं उससे पीछे खड़ी प्रतीत होती है, यह एक शर्म की बात तो है परन्तु कहीं ना कहीं इसके लिए हिंदी स्वयं या उसके जानने वाले, उसका प्रचार-प्रसार करने वाले, साहित्यकार, आदि जिम्मेदार हैं.  जिस प्रकार से हिंदी के संस्थानों मे राजनीति ने अपनी पैठ बनायीं है उससे यह कह पाना बहुत मुश्किल है कि हिंदी के प्रचार-प्रसार मे लगे यह तथाकथित सरोकारी अपने आशय मे कितने इमानदार रहे हैं या रहेंगे. आज भिन्न विषयों का साहित्य हिंदी भाषा मे उपलब्ध नहीं है, और यदि है भी तो उसका स्तर काफी गिरा हुआ है.  आवयश्कता इस बात की है कि हिंदी मे अधिक से अधिक अनुवाद हों और हर विषय मे हिंदी माध्

Today is Janmashtmi (Birthday of Lord Krishn) and I am reminded of this great devotional song composed by Surdas (great worshiper of Lord Krishn).  I would like to share these lyrics with all my friends. Though these words reflect on different shades of Bal Krishn's behaviour, these are still relevant and we at times behave the same way, we are honest, we lie, we defy, we pretend, we reject, we accept, we.... Enjoy the lyrics: Maiyaa mori, main Nahi Makhan Khayo Bhor bhayo gaiyan ke paache, Madhuvan mohi pathayo . chaar prahar vanshivat bhatakyo, saanj pare ghar aayo .. .. Maiya Mori .......... 1 .. main baalak bahiyan ko choto, chinko kidi vidhi payo . gwaal baal sab bair pare hain, barbas mukh laptayo .. .. Maiya Mori .......... 2 .. Tu janani man kii ati mori, inke kahe patiyaayo . Jiya tete kachu bhed upjihai, jaani parayo jaayo .. .. Maiya Mori .......... 3 .. yaha le apani lakuti kambaliyaa, bahutahi naach nachaayo . Jiya tete kachu bhed upjihai, jaani para

Shillong - 8th June 2010 THREE is an important number.  It is inauspicious in many religions.  It is odd whole number.  It is a natural number as well.  Just a day back I started reading 3 mistakes of may life by Chetan Bhagat .  It has been in the shelf for few months since I bought and every time I looked at the shelf, I heard a call from 3 mistakes, I attended to this call just on this Sunday. I shall write about the book once I am through with it, for the moment let me talk about numbers. One, Two, Three, Four, Five..... nth Three is an important number. We have grown with a nursery rhyme - Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, THREE bags full! One for the master, one for the dame, And one for the little boy who lives down the lane.  Why the poet s so concerned with only three bags, could be two or four, may be 3 is not more, and 3 is not less as well.  Of course it is relative.  It seems an Ideal number.  We are just three of us in the fa

I learn that the culprit, Anderson (then chief of United Carbide) who was put behind bars on non-bailable offence, was provided a smooth passage to move to America by the then government officials.  Both at the centre and the state (MP), congress was ruling.  As things are getting open like the peel of the onion, it is exposing many of the politicians of their intention, integrity and inconsistency.  These politicians when murdered or attacked by their own people (may be body guards or others), the nation cries, it becomes a national grief, but may be these attackers know their master better than the common mass.  We should not complain.  We get what we deserve, they get what they deserve...

There has been a debate on the caste/religion/ethnicity based census.  There have been points and counterpoints.  My view is that the census should be of the human beings not of anyone else.  My belonging to a caste is immaterial if I remain a good human being.

It is sad to know about the demise of John Sheppard Barron who invented Automated Teller Machine (ATMs) in 1960s. It is interesting to know that he was born in Shillong as quoted by the Shillong Times (English Daily) on 24th May 2010, page 3 under Shillong Jottings.  It read as - ATM inventor John Sheppard-Barron died recently at the age of 84. Though his death may not be a matter of great loss for us here in Shillong, it is interesting to know that this great soul was actually born here. His Scottish father was the chief engineer of Chittagong Port Commissioners while his mother was a tennis player. He got the idea of a cash dispenser while lying in his bath after finding his bank closed in 1965. That’s how the ATM was conceived. And indeed it is one of the greatest inventions of all times. Thanks to the ATM, today we do not need to carry cash around even while travelling. It is easier to draw smaller amounts from ATMs and deal with our purchases. Moreover, ATM cards are today acce

It was a learning experience visiting Manipur during 10-12 May 2010.  Thanks to Rajmani who could make my maiden visit possible to Imphal (Manipur).  I was skeptical after receiving the invitation whether should I go or leave it as Manipur is one of the most disturbed state in India and so much so for the North-East India.  There have been militants' attack and agitations against the government as well as the military setup specially on the Assam Rifles.  There have been cases of innocent killings by Assam Rifles which has instigated the public to go against this force. Recently NSCN leader Muivah's visit has been the issue of distress and disturbance in Manipur.  Muivah, a known NSCN leader who had talks with the union home minister (P Chidambaram) and other inportant leaders in New Delhi, who agreed and allowed him to visit his home village situated in a district called Ukhrool in Manipur.  The demands of NSCN have been primarily establishment of greater Nagaland which shoul

Lets remember this great luminary Rabindra Nath Tagore who composed our national anthem and these few lines cited by many, many people, we have studied these lines in our school days..... Where The Mind is Without Fear   Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action-- Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Lets contribute our bit for the betterment of the country, system, institutions (that we belong or otherwise) so that we grow better. We remember you Thakur Da for all that you contributed for the cause of betterment of humanit

It is just alive in my memory lane when I was in the hotel in Thimphu, Bhutan just reached back after the busy day of conference, wanted to see what Indian cricket team is doing... Instead learnt that Taj Hotel in Mumbai is hit by the terrorist attack, on the other side there were extremist's siege at Bangkok International Airport, Bangkok, the flights were cancelled, and our other friends who had come to Thimphu to attend the conference, had to spent a compulsory halt at Thimphu.  I started back the next day as scheduled, reached Gedugg, where I was to spend the night, the live telecast was still on as the terrorists were still continuing their spree at the Taj.  We watched it live on TV, kept discussing the issues involved, next day I reached Phuntsholing and met some old students, Sonam Dorji (RICB) and Ugyen Namgyel (Bhutan Lotteries) and Kundan/Chandan Negi (HGS alumni), kept talking about what was going on in Mumbai, watched live even in the restaurant where we had lunch.  To

Shashi Tharoor’s visit IT was a great day for our university as the cabinet minister of state for external affairs, Dr Shashi Tharoor was here in the to inaugurate the international seminar on 'From Land Locked (though one of my colleague kept insisting that instead of Land Locked it should be Locked Land, he had his own arguments about it, which no one seems to have cared for and so did I, what is in the name after all even Shakespeare mentioned Rose remains rose, whatever name we call it) to Land Linked: North East India in BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal initiative for multi sectoral technical and economic cooperation)' organized by Jadavpur Association of International Relations (JAIR), hosted by NEHU, sponsored by CII and initiated by Public Diplomacy Division under Ministry of External Affairs. Similar event was organized by the this division two years back at Hotel Pinewood where Mr Pranab Mukherjee (then defence minister) had come and discussed the issues. A tall and handsom

Notes from my diary 26th March 2010 ….it is 11 PM and I am busy with this job… ‘Oh sir come stand here, I would like to click a photo’ ‘come boys, come on girls stand with sir,,, hamko photo uthaney do (let me click a photo)’ ‘sir ready, smile, eh stand properly boys, that’s good, ready, done’ A group photo of me and my students standing together was clicked by a person with dark face and dyed moustaches. He had called me seeing me standing in the lobby of the old guest house. We stood infront of the nehu old guest house and he did his job. I was remembering seeing the person during the inaugural session of the seminar where he was busy with his Nikon, stretching through his neck and its cover hanging around on the other shoulder, clicking the snaps, one after another from different angles and edges, far and wide, zooming in, zooming out. Oh I remembered further I had seen this person in the dark of yesterday’s night, I was introduced to him, I forgot his name but yes I

My thoughts on the present situation in NEHU a central university 2nd April 2010 As I See it… It was good Friday today, for me it is was a better Friday. Last Friday was on 26th March and we at the department of commerce were all busy with the national seminar on Global Economic Crisis and Indian Industry. It was its first day, and being seminar director it was a very busy Friday for me. So in this context this Friday was better than the earlier Friday. After so many months it was a good family outing. I kept trying getting details of the village called Mawlynnong – the cleanest village. Just thought it is proper time in place to visit this village. Many of us might not have visited. Cleanliness is a virtue, cleansing is closely associated with it. But what to do instead we chose to go to Nartiang Monoliths. They remind us of their rigidity, solidness, and silence all around. So many things happened between these two Fridays that I thought I should scribble down my thin