MyTake

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 ...

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...

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 hum...

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...

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...