regarding Reena's comments on the Michael Jackson saga

Well Reena,I disagree with what you have said about MJ. It must be understood that MJ was created by the media... granted he had talent and he had people to show him how best to use it, but without the media he wouldn't have achieved the kind of fame/infamy he eventually did. He begame a large than life character because of the media and as long as it was good press he was willing to lap it up. The minute his transgressions began to show up on the visual space, he began to cry foul. That is not to say that he was guilty or not guilty.He could pay off his accusers because he had the fame which gave him the money to do so. If he was an ordinary/ common man, no one would have cared about what he had done and the newspapers might have just relegated the news to a one-time crime reports insert.take the case of Shiny Ahuja- now if he was just an ordinary army officer's son (with a loving wife and family) who was also doing it with his maid, there might not have been so much attention, irrespective of whether he raped her or not. Notoriety is the price a celebrity pays for his/her desire to hog the limelight. That's the way the cookie crumbles for them and they really can't grumble about it after the fact. If they wanted to live the live of a commoner then they should have stayed away from professions that attract media attention. The world is fair, we make the decisions and sometimes we are unfair to ourselves. People who can' t live blameless lives should either brazen it out or stay away from the limelight!

johnson

Failed HSC and SSC students to be allowed ATKT

This is the best news I've heard since the possible scrapping of board exams even though I am not a student anymore - at least not of the formal education system. It's really been a bouquet of riches unleashed by the HRD ministry and I must sing paeans to Mr Kapil Sibal. He's a brave man no doubt!
There's surely going to be a flurry of opposition from educational institutions and parents.Ever since the exam system was introduced, educational institutions and most parents( I'd not like to paint the liberal ones with the same brush) used it as a lever to motivate. threaten, cajole and force their children into achieving their(parents) own unfulfilled dreams and desires. And at what cost? The rising graph of youth( 15-35age group)suicides speaks for itself. It's been sheer hell for these students who had to strain beyond their god given talents to prove to the world and their relatives that they are capable of doing 'well' in the accepted systemised way! No one bothered to understand that children have different talents and these are the talents that need to be natured by the education system, not ones thrust on them by societal expectations. So the so called 'weak in studies' had to not only join classes for which their parents paid a fortune, they also had to work twice as hard to score a bearable(read pass marks)score. Why this travesty has been going on for years without anyone being the wiser , is anybody's guess. It has a lot to do with corruption, power and sheer lack of will on the part of the ministry and society at large or else the system would have been reformed much earlier.
The Atkt system is bound to cause a great deal of confusion before it settles down and integrates itself into the minds and hearts of the powers that be. kids who have been at the recieving end of the system so far will find it beneficial and kids and parents who have been able to beat the system and achieve sterling results will find themselves cheated of their aims and ambitions. It must be understood that change is never easy, even if it is for the better. Only sustained effort can make change a positive phenomenon. The HRD ministry has it's work cut out for itself to convince the naysayers about the efficacy of this newbie and I am glad that Mr Kapil Sibal is more than likely to be able to face up to the challenge! At least he seems to be up to it...
I for one am all for abolishing all forms of exams at the school level. Children must be given projects to work on and grades must be assigned to them on the basis of the effort they put in. Exams at the school stage are meaningless because they only promoted rote learning, inequality between the haves and the have-nots and also sets up a different sort of class barrier, one that becomes impossible to bridge!
It's ok to have exams at the college level starting from class eleven where students have 35% theory, 50 % objectives and the rest should be for project work evaluation. Knowledge must be promoted and not rote learning. At this level students must be allowed to express themselves in their own words based on their understanding of what they have learnt and the theory marks must be accorded to them accordingly. The system should be such that no one should feel left out. Everyone should have a fair chance of doing well provided they work hard emough. Teachers must be taught practical motivational psychology so that they have a better understanding of their charges. They themselves must be evaluated on their ability to motivate their charges into a better performance and not by the marks that their charges obtain. Any positive change must be praised and rewarded.
The last point I'd like to make is that there should be no age barrier in learning. Every institution must abolish the age specific and enroll anyone willing to earn irrespective of his age, background, qualifications or ability to pay fees. In this way education itself can be demystified and the countless illiterates that dot our country's humanity will find it easier to cme into the system and stay to learn for a longer duration.
These are changes that our system needs badly...what say you???

johnson

death of a dancer....michael jackson!

I was inspired by a piece written by Martin Huxter.( hes a friend with whom I share cyberspace on another forum)
the piece stung hard and made me think about things that we don't really pause to think and analyze....about judgments that we pass, about how easily we believe things written in print and how our sensibilities bring in hatred into this world.

go to link, read and pls leave your comments....here on this blog...


http://hurlyburly-hurlyburly.blogspot.com/2009/06/farewell-to-michael-jackson-worlds.html

(if this does not hyper link thn do copy paste it in a new tab and read)

the workshop on domestic violence at H.R.college....

The chairperson of the workshop was Ms.Indu Shahani Sheriff of Mumbai.Special Invitee was Ms. Shobha De the POPULAR socialite and columnist

The things that struck me..

1.No initiative can be sustainable if it works only on charity. ie. for free

2.Most workshops Ive attended about gender equality has shown the male in bad light. True, that ours is a male dominated society but the other side of the coin has to be addressed too.

3.Women are still thinking that one girl going out with 3 boys ( her friends/classmates) is not a good idea..its a invitation to danger/rape...(this is regarding the TISS case.)

4.Socialites are still talking about what should be done.. How society should be..how we should react.. blah blah ....(actually Im fed up of these females trying to talk about issues that they hardly know about...these women in designer sarees and AC cars. urgh....!)

5.Its heartening to see young women so charged up and raring to go....( NGO- CEHAT and the young people with women` s Helpline 1298( this number is also for an emergency ambulance service for women in need)

6.I would love to be empowered and not have to struggle with life everyday....( consider this an aside)

7. The directory that includes all the Ngo`s that could help women in any which way possible is a very good idea..
AASRA is also mentioned in the directory but the address given is NERUL.Should be Koparkhairane!

GOOD AND BAD....BUT NOT SO UGLY....

The last few days I was on vacation to Panchgani. I stayed at Mala`s Hotel.
I would strongly recommend the place to anyone who loves good non-veg food.They serve excellent Maska pulao, Mutton pulav, Haleem, Paya soup, Tandoori chicken,and my favourite Kheema pav, its wonderful comfort food that one longs to have on vacation. and now YOU know where to go.
Everything was alright till today.
Sometimes one gets stressed when some people call and invite themselves to your home.I happened to experience some of that stress today afternoon...I got a call and my whole evening was spoilt in anticipation of what will happen whn these people will arrive. Its killing I say!I try my best not get so affected but I think Ive not been successful.The arguements, the silly ego fights...some relationships are so burdensome.Im weak, I cant seem to tell them off! I compromise, I smile, I act as if its ok that they have screwed up my whole sunday evening...I console myself that it happens only once or twice a year,and life is about compromises....isnt it???

I Dream of Jinnie!

We all dream of Jinnie. We wish there was somebody who could understand me, who could understand my love, who could understand my selfless emotions, who could understand my art, who could appreciate my creativity, who could read me and so on.
We all dream of that "Somebody" in our lives.
Dated 16th May'09 team of Aasra visited Prithvi, Juhu to see a play called "The Day I Met the Prince". I appreciate the actors for their presention skills and ofcource the team for their fruitful efforts of passing a wonderful message to its audience.
The play starts with a small little gal expressing her learning from nature in the form of pictures. The girl loves to draw but her pictures fail to express its clarity and hence, they are not appreciated and always laughed upon by her elders and teacher as well. Poor little girl feels rejected. She feels there is no one on the earth who can understand her and her drawings. She decides to get vanished from earth and go away from the ruthless world.
She reaches a top of a tower where she is crying to herself before she die. But, while she was on the top of the building making up her mind to end her life she meet a Prince. The prince has come from a different planet in search of a solution to his Worry. The prince is worried and distressed. The prince says, I have grown a beautiful rose on my planet and I have nurtured my rose with all my love and affection and it is the beautiful creation on my planet. But, the problem is I also have a Goat. Now, my worry is, How do I protect my Rose from being eaten up by the Goat. The girl suggests, why don't you tie the goat or you fence the Rose. But the Prince is not happy with any of the solutions the girl offered. He wants to see the Rose and the Goat free in nature. So, in order to find remedy to their problem they visit the expertise on earth. They visit the Geogropher and the Scientist in search of solution. But to their dissappointment none of them could offer a convincing solution.
The prince is disstressed and out of disppointment he plea the audience for solution. We suggested,
1. Offer another rose to the goat so he wont eat your Rose.
2. Eat the Goat so there is no goat to eat the rose.
3. Grow more roses.
But, the prince is not happy with any of the solutions. Finally the Gardner says to the prince "My child you do not have to worry for the Rose. Coz, the rose has got thorns to protect himself" and then the prince realise that worry was never a worry, it never existed. And he happily goes back to his planet with a light heart and an enlightment.
Like the prince we all worry about all the things in our life. We must understand that God is a thoughtful creater. All our worries are already been taken care of by him. We only need to have patience to understand him.
So guys unlike the prince we need not worry about the issues in our lives and distress ourselves. But yes we will definately make efforts to fix the problem and the rest will be left in peace for it to be resolved on its right predecided time.
The Jinnie of our life is all around we only need to keep our eyes and ears wide open to trace him!

NANO! a MAJOR stress to urban life.

Nano has bought smile to many faces in India. Largely it has made a significant impact on a lower middle class stratum for whom buying four wheeler car was a far of dream.

Along with the smile on the faces it will also bring a frown expression on the faces when people will actually get their Nano on the road, aggravating traffic problems for commuters.

Nano car was a challenge for Tata but, the car could have been a real successful challenge if the 1 lakh car challenge would have been accompanied by the challenge to get the commuting system, traffic system and traveling rules in place by making them more organized. It’s like, the way the half done work is dangerous and non-useful similarly, Nano will add stress to the city with its half cooked plan on the road.

Before granting permission for the launch of Nano the authorities should have done proper survey to find out major cities suffering traffic problems and prohibiting the sale of Nano in those cities.

Nano on the road in urban would have been a great idea if we have had an organized commuting system, better roads, better commuting rules. The govt. should encourage car pooling to reduce traffic and occupancy of road. It feels so irritable to see one person traveling in a car and occupying such big place on the road which can be well organized with the help proper imposition of traffic and commuting rules.

Nano is a suitable car to run in rural where you have if not good at least empty roads to travel. Nano on the road will only aggravate traffic problems leading to stress and frustration and many more other health problems followed by it.

The article wouldn’t be complete if I do not mention the pollution problems that Nano will add on its entry in metros.

The company should have scrutinized the area for launch rather than just dumping the car in the open market to be sold. The Nano car is not a facility in urban it’s a sophisticated form of stress bought to the mankind.

Come on guys lets welcome the stress with a warm hearts and lets enjoy the STRESS!

Cheers!!