Misuse of Ayurveda

The reason why Ayurveda is being critised is becasue of FEW (very few ) persons who give western medicine in the name of ayurveda and also because of the guys who come in the satellite television and advice all kinds of magical cures.
The situation has become to such an extent that the mention of Ayurveda or Siddha immediately brings the image of these fraudulent doctors to the people's mind and the general public thinks that Ayurveda is for treating "ill effects of masturbation" only

Only when there is a rule regulating these lodge and TV doctors, Ayurveda can prosper.

A lady came to me with "Setthu poon". I adviced her to mix Turmeric powder in Gingelly oil and apply. She gave a scornful look and went away. She had complained to the Hospital Worker that my MBBS degree should be fake and she needs Immediate cure. This is the reality. Public are so misled by the media that they seek Ayurvedic cure for conditions thatdo not need medicine (example given above) or for diseases where there is NO cure in Ayurveda (Psoariasis, Diabetes) and then blame all the ayurvedic doctors. For all diseases where Ayurveda has BETTER medicines than Allopathy (common cold), they prefer Allopathy because it has "instant Cure"

The same analogy is with Astrology. People run away from the astrologers only because they have been cheated in the past by "a person who claimed to be an astrologer"

Justifying Anna University's VC

I came to know from http://alaphia.blogspot.com/2006/01/anna-university-faded-glory.html that the VC of Anna University has issued the following guidelines

1. Dress code for boys and girls
2. No soft drinks on campus
3. No bikes or cars on campus - you have to park near the gate and walk all the way in.
4. Now the restriction on "no dancing to film music".

Let me analyse one by one.....

1. Dress Code.. .My opinion on the dress code are given at my post on Dress Code

2. No soft Drink on Campus. I don't know why the students are protesting against this. I studied for 5 and half years in my medical college and there was no soft drinks in the campus. All we had was Coffee and Tea. In my opinion as long as There is a good drinking water supply on the campus, that is more than enough in an educational institution. (More about this in the next point) Remember you are there to study .....

3. No bikes or cars on campus - you have to park near the gate and walk all the way in. One of the wise decisions which I would have enforced if I am a VC or Dean. You should remember that there are a lot of students in the campus. Not every one has a dad who earns in lakhs of rupees or in dollars. There are a lot of poor boys who are studying there who thrive only with scholarship. In fact, I know about the son of the lady who sells fish in our area who is at present studying at Anna University. SHe hardly earn more than 100 rupees every day and that too not every dat. How can her son afford a bike or car. I am sure that there are scores of guys and girls studying in Anna University, and for whom the mothers chain is in the pawn borker's shop to pay for the mess bills and the family land or house sold to pay for the books.

TO ensure that every one walks to the college is a sure sign of EQUALITY that is so needed in an College where everyone has come to just study. And this is precisely why I like Jeppiar for his "ONLY COLLEGE BUS" policy.

A coke for 6 rupees may be affordable for a girl whose father is Undersecretary or for a guy who mother is the leading surgeon in the town, but how will a son of a fisherwoman afford for such useless expenses.

The same thing with the bikes and cars.. I had a TVS 50 with me in 1998. TVS 50 was more than enough to commute from hostel to college. Yet I pestered my dad for a bike. The only reason I wanted a bike was that many guys in my batch had got a bike. I feel really bad when I think about this now. My dad could afford a bike without selling anything or getting a loan. But....... It is natural that those who do not have a bike will pester their parents and the unfortunate father at the village has to sell his land or pledge his house to get a two wheeler for his son.

Do you know that UNIFORM was introduced in Schools to have a sense of equality among the students.

4. Now the restriction on "no dancing to film music.This I guess is a bit harsh..... If you should not dance to film songs, what are you supposed to do.... ????? The VC has to understand that not all film song are obscene.

Cell phones / Mobile phones in College

A popular blogger in
http://alaphia.blogspot.com/2006/01/anna-university-faded-glory.html
says that the Glory of Anna University is Faded.

While I completely agree with the VC that cell phones should be banned inside classrooms, libraries, labs etc I see no reason as to why students should not be allowed to use the cell phones in hostels.

On the other hand, I should say that I studied MBBS not long ago (I joined in 1996 - just 10 years ago) and my parents and me were in touch and they did not loose me just becasue I did not have a mobile phone. On the other hand, my dad says that his father (my grandfather) did not even have the option of phone. He used to write just post cards.

I can recollect by college days. Those were times when we all were just into the colleges and seperated from the family and felt lonely. Of course, we can never be "alone" in the first year - there will be always a long list of pathology H&E diagrams, FM Postmortem Reports and Medicine Case Records to write. If you are wondering as to why a first year student has to write final year case sheets, you have not studied in a professional college.... Full Stop.... No more discussion on this regard .....

I remember vividly my first MBBS days. There was a postbox, just outside the Anatomy Office near our professor's room. After our Anatomy lecture, we used to go to the Lecture class in line (yeah.. in line.... and not in bunches..... Anatomy department in Tirunelveli Medical College was at that time like a department in Tirunelveli Medical "School") through that corridor. Quite a few people used to drop inland letters in the box on the way from one lecture class to another lecture hall.

Usually it was the northindians, who used to often write letters to home. Of the south Indians, it was me and one more person (name withheld to safe guard privacy !!!) who used to drop letters in that box often. The irony was that Tirunelveli is just 51 kilometres from Thoothukudi (My home is not even that far as my home as well as Medical College are on the Thoothukudi -Tirunelveli Road) and the other person was from a place about 80 kilometres from Tirunelveli.

Why we wrote letters was for the simple fact that phone was TOO COSTLY those days and most of our homes did not have a landline connection.

Those were days when you can talk for UNLIMITED HOURS for a local call. On the other hand, you had various "rates" Full Charge, Half Charge and Quarter Charge for the STD Calls. To call from Tirunelvei to Thoothukudi means you have to pay a lot of money for STD. Once I got admitted for Typhoid. I called my mother at around 11 AM(she was at that time in Sirumugai with my Dad who worked in Viscose) and informed that I am getting admitted. I hardly spoke anything more than that, but the bill came around 80 rupees (The call was in FULL STD Rate).

It was during those times, we used to get calls from our parents in hostel after 7 pm, or after 9pm or after 11pm.

There will be a long queue in the hostel to attend the phone calls. At that time, telephone (BSNL land line) was not as widespread as now and most parents have to call from public booth only.

Only a lucky few who had a land line in their home (or neighbour's home) had the luxury to call their parents from the Booths in Tirunelveli. For others they can hear their family members voice only when they were called. I am sure that the college youth of today will have difficulty in imagining this.

While Gents Hostel (House of Lords and House of Princes) did not have a (practical) Time constraints the inmates (is this a correct word) of Ladies Hostel (House of Angels) had to returnto their hostel before 8 PM. Hence they were not able to use the Quarter Charge Slab while calling home.

It was for this inconvenience that almost all telephone operators in that area had the facility of conference calls. The mechanism was simple. The student had to inform the telephone booth operator that she wishes to call her family that night. The telephone operator will call the hostel in one line and the students home in another line and connect both with the conference call machine and they can talk. He will collect the charges later.

And with all these, we were connected to our parents, inspite of the fact that we did not use mobile phones. .....But ...just because there was no phone in our times it does not mean that you are prohibited to use that. The story above was just a reflection and I am not using that story for arguing against cell phone.

I FULLY SUPPORT THAT MOBILE PHONES CAN BE PERMITTED INSIDE THE HOSTEL and BANNED IN CLASSROOMS, LABS, LIBRARY, CONFERENCE etc

Though I agree that there is NO harm in letting students have cell phone INSIDE hostel premises, and (even though) I strongly feel that the VC of Anna University is a little stern in this regard, I should add that THIS IS NOT AN ISSUE that demands your and my and their (student's) time.

Cell phone is a modern gadget. Cell phone has uses. But it is NOT INDISPENSIBLE. If the students are agitated because they do not have adequate water supply, or if the students are agitated because there are insufficient books in the Library or if there is a unrest over street lamps not functioning, or poor security inside the campus, I will be tbe first person to support them.

On the other hand, Permission or Prohibition of the usage of Mobile phones is not something that demands this much attention from the media or erodes into students time.

Your opinion guys

Dress Code

As per
http://alaphia.blogspot.com/2006/01/we-people-in-chennai.html

We the People', hosted by Barkha Dutt is being shot in Chennai this Sunday, 29th Jan. The topic is 'Is Chennai conservative?' If you'd like to participate please mail audience@ndtv.com, with all your contact details and what you do. (This does not guarantee participation since there is an outer limit) Not surprisingly we've got lots of confirmations from people with liberal views. So it will be great if you're actually someone who supports a dress code and conservatism. In case the mail bounces... just mail me. :)

About the dress code, I am 100 % sure that NDTV is partisan.......

If 5 start hotels have a right to impose dress code, why not an Educational Institution.

Please see here
http://www.askenni.com/archives/2005/07/the_fun_in_gett_1.html

A gentle man was NOT allowed to Madras Boat club for his dress.

Why did not NDTV (and other media) conduct a show and ask opinion about the Dress Code of Madras Boat Club

Why are they concerned only about Anna University......

I got a reply to my comment (In the blog mentioned above)

5*hotels and madras boat club are private institutions - they have every right to impose any rule they want - if they say that you have to wear a red bikini to enter their premises and you do not like that rule, you have a choice - you can take your money and go patronize some other joint where only blue bikinis are required. AU is a public educational institution and imposing such frivolous rules goes against the grain.

My reply


PLEASE GO AND JOIN ANY UNIVERSITY that permits your dress code (blue bikini or even without that).... No one came begging at your door steps and asked you to join at Anna University.

Dress like anything when you are at home or at party. But inside the college , the Dean, Principal or VC has all right to ask you come follow a dress code. There is NO doubt against that. What consitutes the dress code alone is the matter of scrutiny and contemplation. But ANY UNIVERSITY HAS RIGHT TO IMPOSE A DRESS CODE. You cannot cry against that. You can only discuss what is the dress code and voice your opinions on that.

At 8:55 AM, Doctor Bruno said…

WRITTEN BY Elusive Web Cat http://www.blogger.com/profile/9206483

This is not about dress code and morolatiy concepts Dr.Bruno. This is about a persons right to choose. There are bigger issues in play here.

I the friggin VC where to inform (request) parents to make sure the students properly, i will be willing to go with. Who the hell is he to tell the students what to wear, he is not paying for the students college.

do you have any idea what kind of teachers they have and quality of education in chennai DR. i guess not.

I have a brother and sister studying there and I know how pathetic the curriculum/teachers are.

how about the Genius VC take care of that and have proper standards for hiring teachers etc.

so telling people what to do . This is a professional college and we pay to go here, not a measly sum I might add.

At 8:56 AM, Doctor Bruno said…

1. My question is why don't you argue like "we pay" to the five star hotels that have a dress code.

2. To get the quality of education that Anna University Offers, you have to pay more than 75,000 per month. The entire university is running on public money

3. The person has every right to choose his dress INSIDE HIS HOME, and OUTSIDE THE COLLEGE. Inside the college, there has to be a dress code.

4. About the quality of teachers, I am sure that it is 10 times better than what you have in Self Financed institutions.

5. I too have undergone education from a government institution, which was much strict than the present Anna University. I fully endorse the VC in the dress code (not in the other issues).. See my other posts

By the way, if you have any problem regarding the fees or teachers / curriculum, you are free to study in a college that has better teachers than Anna University. No one came to your home, arrested you and have put you, chained to the walls in Anna University.

There are a lot of people, whose primary aim is education (and not cat walking or showing off) who want to study in Anna Univ, but could not get the seats. If you are not satisfied with the teachers or fees, you can very well quit. A deserving candidate will become a good engineer

Selling India !!!!

Of late the blogosphere has become a place for few perverted minds time and again bend on degrading India and selling India

One example : A "MNC coolie" wants to sell " 50 acres of lush greenery" in the Raj Bhavan in MUmbai. He is so worried about the congestion in Mumabai and argues that Greenery is not at all needed.

Why can't he advice the software giants and other MNCs to sell of their well manicured lawns.

It is a pity that one talks about selling the govt land just because he gets paid by Dollars and drinks coke...... If such is the kind of attitude developing in the minds of so called educated people of India, it needs serious attention.

I guess it is high time we have something like compulsary military service or such things. Few idiots have to understand that there exists a life outside Pizza Huts and Discos and Computers and Projects

Testing Doctors

RECENT ANNOUNCEMENT IN NEWSPAPERS SAYS THAT THERE WILL BE FIVE-YEARLY EXAMS FOR RENEWING MEDICAL LICENSE

Dr.A.J.PAIDHUNGAT says

THIS IS HIGHLY IMPRACTICAL,CONSIDERING THE LARGE NUMBER OF DOCTORS IN INDIA.BESIDES,THE ACADEMIC & FINANCIAL HARDSHIPS & STRESS THAT THESE STUDENTS FACE,TO ACHIEVE AN M.B.B.S DEGREE, CERTAINLY DOES NOT WARRANT SUCH A MOVE.AS IT IS,MANY MEDICAL STUDENTS SUCCUMB TO THE EXCESSIVE STRESS OF EXAMS.
THEREFORE,IT WILL BE MUCH MORE PRAGMATIC TO RENEW MEDICAL LICENSE EVERY FIVE YEARS,AFTER THE STUDENT HAS PARTICIPATED IN SPECIFIED NUMBER OF INTERACTIVE CME PROGRAMS, TO GET ACCREDITATION THROUGH CME HOURS,AS IS CUSTOMARY IN UK,USA,AUSTRALIA ETC.
DO WE WANT TO CAUSE NERVOUS BREAKDOWN AMONG ASPIRING DOCTORS BY MAKING REPEATED EXAMS COMPULSORY?AREN'T THE M.B.B.S EXAMS SUFFICIENT ENOUGH?

My opinion

Let me ask one question

A doctor fails..... are you going to stop him practising...

If

You are not going to stop him practising --> what is the use of this exam

If you are going to stop him --> Why can't you stop all those QUACKS who practice withour even entering Medical Colleges....

First Eliminate the quacks and then come to the doctors

There is a person who studied Siddha, but practising Allopathy in my PHC Area

Another guy is a pharmacist who is practising

And the worst scenario is a tailor who worked as theatre assistant in one hospital here in the same place... he goes to each home, gives an injection and collects Rs 10/=

If you do not have the brain and brawn to stop these fellows from practising, what is the use of an exam to test a doctor "after he has passed MBBS"

BHMS !! (I presume is Bachelor of Homeopathic Medical Sciences - guys please note the "S" stands for Sciences and NOT for Surgery. Only MBBS has "Surgery" in its Abbrevation)

Here we have guys who have not even completed School Education treating patients

If the law cannot do any thing to stop them, what is the use of asking a doctor to write a test

There are already scores of people who are not qualified, yet run their practise if full flow. You do not need an exam to find that they have little subject. First take action against them

The very aim of the exam is to make sure that a doctor has required knowledge (to treat the patient safely)

But what about those who are not even doctors and treating patients.

First let the authorities verify the credentials of all those who are practising and get rid of the siddha and ayurveda and pharmacists and physiotherapists (who USE Allopathic DRUGS) and osteopaths. Then we are ready to write an exam to show that we are up to date

If they are not ready to take action against quacks, what is the use of this exam

Trial by ICMR

Govt of India has done a right thing by bringing the Ayurvedic drugs under trial

Read here at Rediff to know more

http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/jan/27drug.htm

Govt test for ayurveda drugs

Bhuma Shrivastava in New Delhi | January 27, 2006 13:31 IST

Days after a public controversy broke out over the contents of a popular ayurvedic medicine, the government has decided to infuse a dose of transparency into the traditional system of medicines.

The move begins with clinical trials and pharmacology studies of ayurvedic formulations.

Under a programme termed Golden Triangle, the medicines will have to pass through the department of AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddhi and homoeopathy), the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Indian Council for Medical Research before going to the Drug Controller-General of India for approval.

At present, ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, and unani and siddhi medicines, only need a clearance from AYUSH, which can be obtained by citing traditional scriptures from which formulations are ostensibly derived.

Allopathic medicines, on the other hand, go through extensive clinical testing and trials before they are approved by the DCGI.

Extensive investigation may also help traditional medicines pass muster in developed markets like the US, the UK, Canada and Australia, which now frown upon traditional Indian medicines.

"Ayurveda will have to be more transparent if it has to go global. Benchmarks for quality have to be established and adhered to," said an analyst.

The Golden Triangle project, which is expected to be completed in five years, entails detailed documentation of formulations by AYUSH. This will be followed by pre-clinical studies, under the aegis of CSIR.

In the third and the final stage, formulations will go to ICMR, the research wing of the ministry of health and family welfare, which will conduct phase I, II and III clinical trials in various hospitals in the country.

AYUSH has been entrusted with the task of identifying formulations in 14 disease conditions. It has already begun work, on a priority basis, on five conditions: benign prostrate, sleep disorders, cardio-vascular, neurological and joint disorders.

"There is a need to usher in greater transparency and acceptance of the safety profiles of traditional medicine. We have begun with ayurvedic medicines... but we have also had meetings with unani and siddhi councils," said Vasantha Muthuswamy, senior deputy director-general of ICMR.

Traditional medicines, documented in scriptures, escape scientific investigation and get easily embroiled in controversies. With this initiative, at least ayurvedic medicines will be considered at par with any modern medicine.

While the CSIR, the nodal agency for scientific research, will look at animal pharmacology, toxicity data and pharmacokinetic data, the ICMR will document the therapeutic effect of ayurveda medicines on humans through clinical trials.

"Once the medicines reach us, we will conduct clinical trials in modern as well as ayurvedic hospitals across the country to check for their efficacy and safety," Muthuswamy added.

However, developing medicinal chemistry for ayurvedic formulations will be no easy task as it does not have tight molecular structures like modern drugs.

Modifying even a small quantity of a single ingredient can make it a new formulation with dramatically different therapeutic effect. This makes it that much harder to homogenise traditional medicines.

Magic pill : The 3 stages of Golden Triangle

• Detailed documentation of formulations by the department of ayurveda, yoga & naturopathy, unani, siddhi and homoeopathy


• Pre-clinical studies, under the aegis of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research


• Conduct of Phase I, II and III clinical trials by the Indian Council for Medical Research

Gains / Advantages by the clinical Trails

1. Efficacy and safety of the drug will be established

2. For the consumer - he can be sure that he gets a drug that is not toxic

3. The western texts HAVE TO APPRECIATE The supremacy of the Ayurveda when an drug has been subjected to rigorous trials


Who looses by these trials

ALl the false doctors and Quacks will loose

Pseudo Northies

In my college days, we had few guys, who though from Tamil andu, would behave as if they are from Delhi or Mumbai (especially in front of a north Indian Girl) like " I hate idly ya... I like paratha ya (paratha, not parotta !!)... Tirunelveli is too hot and cannot be even called a town. it is totally a slum (the guy will be from a village not even found in the map of Tamil nadu)

We used to call them as "Pseudo Northies".

The efficiency of Government of India

I am often irriated by a "MNC coolie", who things himself to be too smart, and takes pride in hurting everything that belongs to India.

He himself says that about him as "a habitual PSU-basher" and devotes a full post about his travel experience with the Indian (Airlines) and goes gull throttle bashing the airlines.

As always he says that the Govt Machinery is inefficient.

I would like to ask ONE question to him.

WHy did you study in IIM-Lucknow (a Govt Insitution) and not IIPM, a private company.

If I am correct the same Indian Government runs both Indian Airlines as well as Indian Institute of Management - Lucknow.

It is high time these MNC Coolies, come out of their shells and understand the reality.

The few dollars they get blind their eyes.

Striker and Non Striker

In the first test between India and Pakistan in 2006 at Lahore, on Day 4 (6th Jan 2005) , India were 378/0 at 71.0 ov

This is what the score card tell me

Batsmen: R B 4s 6s S/R
V Sehwag (RHB) 230 220 43 1 104.55 Striker
R Dravid (RHB) 122 220 18 0 55.45 Non-striker

Facing exactly the same number of balls (220), Rahul Dravid has managed to score 122 while Sehwag has scored almost a double number
Obviously, Sehwag is a Striker and Rahul Dravid, non-Striker.

Importance of Education

Shivsena: Shiv Sena : Can the tiger change its stripes ?

One of the most sensible posts I have seen in the blogosphere for a long time.

"North Indians do well because Hindi is their mother tongue and is used in all major exams (since it is a ‘national’ language) while South Indians have embraced English completely, which paves way for academic and career excellence"

In hindsight, the (attempt at) forced imposition of Hindi 1965, was a blessing in disguise for south india. They totally embraced English at that point. Because of that, south india as a whole and Tamil Nadu in particular (because there was no Hindi, English became a necessity in Tamil Nadu) has been able to come up in Information and technology by leaps and bounds.

Maharashtra thought that Hindi wil "Closer to them than English" and (erroneously) preferred Hindi to English. As a result, they are not able to compete against the those of Hindi heartland in the "Hindi Play ground" and they are not able to compete with South Indians in the "English pay ground"

I will give one more example

1. What is the population of Maharashtra and what is the population of people whose mother tongue is Marathi
2. What is the population of Tamil Nadu and what is the number of people whose mother tongue is Tami;
3. How many Marathi movies were produced in 2005. How many marathi dailies do you have. how many marathi weeklies do you have
4. How many tamil movies were produced in 2005. How many tamil dailies and how many tamil weeklies
5. How many blogs in Marathi
6. How many blogs in Tamil.

You should know that Tamil Nadu was also supressed by the British. Yet Tamil Nadu has come up because of the reason that Tamilians embraced English whole heartedly. They know only two languages. Tamil, their mother tongue and English, a "foreign" language which they always keep it as the "second" language.

WHere as in Maratha, There are two languages in contention for the "first language" spot as said in

http://save-maharashtra.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_save-maharashtra_archive.html#113585467561905474
http://save-maharashtra.blogspot.com

The situation is gone so beyond imagination that "Hindi" has replaced Marathi as general communication language in large part of Vidharbha(epecially Nagpur,Amravati,Bhandara,Gondia etc.) Some part of Marathwada(Nanded,Aurangabad etc.) and entire Mumbai.

More about The national Language and the official language at
http://manimalar.blogspot.com/2006/02/blog-post_23.html

At 8:20 PM, Columbus Explorer said…

It is a rather interesting post and some of the comments on your post make lot of sense but still i dont completely agree with your views on situation of marathi in maharashtra. So i thought that I should add my 2 cents to this.
You questioned number of movies, dailies in marathi, well then similar questions can be raised about tamil stage, coz marathi stage is booming and producing plays like 'Mi nathuram Godase Bolatoy' which are translated and performed in almost all languages in India. Last yr brodway had a special week showings of Vijay Tendulkars plays. And there are quite a few number of marathi dailies and being a mumbaiete I still never seen a marathi family who doesnt get Loksatta or M.T. along with Times of India. You said Aurangbad and some of Vidharba speak hindi, well then you are misinformed about that, Vidharba had moghal rule for a centuries and there was lot of influence of them on culture there so many people in that part of maharashtra are muslims so it is natural for them to speak hindi. The reasons for hindi being accepted so easily in maharashtra bcz it is a compulsory for everyone to study hindi atleast for 3 yrs in school and obvious similarities in script and dialect. It is comepletely understandable due to more intelectual population and better english speaking ability, tamil ppl are doing really good for india but that doesnt prove that maharashtra is not up to the mark with some of the other developed states in India.

At 2:35 AM, Doctor Bruno said…

My replies

1. First and foremost, i would like to repeat that I did not mean that marathi is underdeveloped. What I was trying to tell is that the languages "similar to Hindi" are being slowly eroded by Hindi. Unless checked, Marathi will be replaced by Hindi after some time. It is heartening to know that the situation of Marathi in Maharashtra is healthy. I want that (or any language) to be healthy in the homeland and not dominated by ENglish or Hindi.

2. The situation in Aurangabad was not told by me. it was told by http://save-maharashtra.blogspot.com I have "quoted" from that

3. To be honest, I was trying to give an opinion to the post written by http://save-maharashtra.blogspot.com about the status of Marathi. Please understand that I was not making any comments on the actual state of the language or culture.

4. Please don't mistake me. Read the post once again.

I will Open, I will not open

Amit Varma writes at India Uncut about the heated discussion between Ganguly and Dravid on the first day of Lahore Test.

I had fun listening in to what people in the press box were speculating when the heated discussion between Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid was taking place yesterday.

The Sourav-bashers said: "Oh, Rahul wants him to open and Ganguly is throwing a fit because he's scared of facing Shoaib Akhtar with the new ball."

The Sourav-lovers said: "Oh, Dravid has volunteered to open the batting himself for the sake of the team, and Sourav is fighting with him because he wants to open and show the world what he's made of."

As the second version shows everyone in a better light, I found myself rooting for it. And although I've long felt that Ganguly's time is up, oh, wouldn't a 70-ball century against Shoaib and Sami be so thrilling? Who can read the leaves?

Of course, the possibility remains that they were arguing about something else entirely.

"New Anarkali Market is better than Old Anarkali Market!"

"Is not!"

"Is!"

"Is not!"

While the humour in the post is for every one to see, he also highlights the "perspective theory", where as every thing can be looked from varying angles and from each angle you have a different view. If we go by the version number one (YOu open - No I will not you open - no you have to open), that puts BOTH Ganguly as well as Dravid in bad light. Where as the version 2 (I will open - No I will open - No it is my duty) makes both of them heroes.

The very fact that there could be two versions itself makes bad for the match, bad for Indian Cricket and bad for Cricket as a whole.

Would there be an argument like this about 3 decades ago, when cricket was a gentleman's game. Every one would have wanted to open the innings. It was a time when cricket was played for passion and the game won.

Good Old Days !!!

Even today, in school matches and friendly matches, you can see everyone wants to go to the middle as soon as possible..... because they play the game for the sake of the game and not for retaining their spot in the team

Reservation and upliftment

Before reading this post, please read

The Merit list that shows the merit
and
The Merit list that shows the merit

Society is like a bullock cart with two bulls.......

Now if the cart has to run fast, BOTH BULLS are to be good....

WHat is the use of a cart where one bull is very strong and another bull is weak........ The MAXIMUM speed of the cart CAN BE ONLY THE SPEED of the weakest bull....... So we improve the nutrition of the weak bull even if it leads to starving the STRONG BULL.....

This is what reservation is exactly.... You give the seats WHICH A STUDENT FROM FORWARD COMMUNITY WOULD HAVE GOT to a student from the weaker community, because ONLY if the weaker community gets a little stronger, the cart can move.............

Now what criteria to follow who is strong and who is weak.....

1. Economics........... It is a well known fact that THIS is the easiest factor to cheat.......... If we give reservations based on economics, the students of employeed sector will suffer....... WE very well know that you and me pay more income tax than the leading textile owner in your town who earns 2 to 3 lakhs per month............ Except for salaried class of people, how can you check the TRUE income of other sectors . Another factor is that wealth is not stationery.......... Many persons who had a comfortable life were rendered homeless after Tsunami or earth quake.. A rich person can become poor over night......... Many people earn well by their hard work and a poor person can become rich in few years (if he enters cinema or other art field for example)..... So MONEY is subject to change and can be hidden

2. Religion... Easy to change....... If you say that there is 20 % of reservation for those following Din-e-Ilahi, every one will embrace that .....And more over I can show you atleast 100 people who do not believe in god........... What religion will you fix to them.......And then there are people who believe that there is ONE God......... What religion can you give them............ and there are few who follow more than one religion (when both their parents are of different religion, for example)...... Other than the fact that Religion can be changed with regard to time, it can be hidden.........

3. Caste..... Because this system is routed deeply in our culture, WE CANNOT CHANGE our caste..... hence this was based as the criteria for reservation........ because of the various criteria we can consider this DOES NOT CHANGE WITH TIME

An IAS gets 2 generations of IAS officers due to reservation NOT the really downtrodden

This is what I wanted to tell !!!!

So... You have to give reservation for ONE Generation Only.....

That is reservation need not be given to children whose parents have enjoyed the benefits....

That is ......... If Mr.A has got MBBS seat or a Govt job by reservation, his children have to compete is Open Quota ONLY.......

We have ample proof to say (see the admission list in Tamil nadu in the link given at the top of this post) that Once you give an oppurtunity to backward class, the next generation are able to be on par with other people

What is your opinion guys ???

• At 9:31 PM, raj said…

  ur bang on target about using reservation card once. i know of dean of leading govt dental college who earns a fat packet. he became dean of a dental college due to reservation where he was favoured for his bds mds admission then in job and in promoation . now he lives in top end bombaqy house has buisness interests ranging from computer shops grocery shops etc . and his daughter who has got just 58% gets a dental seat when open cut off is 94%. this is cause he was born sc . now what backwardness he has if he lives in downtown bombay earns a lakh per month. by the way giving someone qwhat he doesnt deserve has its problems . he is a horrible teacher (i can vouch as i was his student),has killed two paitents on surgery bed due to lack of skills cant speak english ,still he is dean . i surely wont want my friends and relatives to be treated by such a jackss. ok u made him bds but giving him speciality seat is like giving a license to kill .ur choice where u want reservation . i surely wont advise reservation in situationswhere people can get killed especially in medical sciences.this is not a persona grudge as this college has all hods from category and now collegeis in total pits.

• At 1:17 PM, Doctor Bruno said…

  Which state are you talking about where a candidate with 54 % is able to get a seat
  
  In Tamil Ndu, the cut off for SC in MBBS admissions is 98 % and the Cut off for General Category is 99 %

• At 4:41 AM, Doctor Bruno said…

  A comment taken from
  http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/2006/05/manmohan-sirs-iit-entrance-classes.html
  
  Original Comment by Sonu http://www.blogger.com/profile/24793075
  
  Whenever upper caste people talk about reservation they say that the beneficiaries of reservation are totally devoid of any competence and are the cause of the downfall of India, but consider this:
  
  
  1. For the last 60 years upper castes have had almost total control of the national politics. Vast majority of politicians in position of power have belonged to upper caste. Politicians who took out rath yatras and got thousands killed in the name of religion were all upper caste folks, those who led the killings of thousands of sikhs in delhi where all upper caste folks, those who led and covered the massacre of muslims in gujrat where primarily upper caste folks, everybody involved in tehelka scandal was upper caste, the leadership who gave away hundreds of thousands of acres of land to China and pakistan in the wars were upper caste (by the way the don't forget that defense minister who led the highly successful bangladesh war opertion was a dalit, Jagjivan Lal), all politicians involved in bofors scam were upper caste folks. Now tell me how can anybody say that upper caste people have been more competent than the beneficiaries of reservation. Have the dalit politicians like Mayawati been flawless ? absolutely not. But they are still a minority in India. Can someone tell me how the meritorious upper caste politicians have performed any better ?
  
  2.Till this date majority of judiciary positions in Higher/Lower Courts as well as the Supreme Court in India are held by upper caste folks. But there are millions of cases pending in those courts. It is a nightmare, to seek justice in India. So how can anybody claim that the upper caste folks have managed the judiciary any better than the beneficiaries of reservation?
  
  4. Till this date majority of the leadership positions in police and other law and order agencies are occupied by upper caste folks. But hundreds of rapes, murders, abductions and other crimes occur every hour in India. And the crime conviction rate in India is less than 10%. People are afraid to seek help from police. So who can say that those upper caste officers have shown higher competence?
  
  5.Give me the names or relevant data that shows that low caste doctors have hurt patients much more than the upper caste doctors. I can bet that if data were gathered, majority of doctors who do illegal abortions or those who have so far been leaving the instruments in patient's bellies would turn out to be upper caste people.
  
  6.Public health care system in India is in shambles. And who are the managers? Majority of them belong to upper caste. Who has ever pointed out a finger towards those upper caste folks during the anti-reservation demonstrations?
  
  7.There is no reservation in sports in India and upper caste folks manage all sports agencies. So where are the Olympic gold medals folks? Would some one tell me?
  
  8.India was in total control of upper caste rulers when invaders like the mughals and the british came. If the upper castes where so competent then how come they always suffered defeat in the hands of such invaders.
  
  9. Give me the data, which shows that the structures built by lower caste engineers were bad than those build by upper caste engineers. And I come from a family of civil engineers and I can for sure provide data, at least from my state, that the structures build by upper caste engineers fell down more often than those built under the supervision of lower caste engineers.
  
  
  So those pointing fingers at the dalits should first examine the big picture of how their own community has performed in the last 60 years.Nobody has any right to say that the beneficiaries of reservation are incompetent. Such statements are absolutely baseless.
  
  The media is controlled by the upper caste folks and is totally biased against the pro reservation voice. While everybody does hear about the upper caste candidates who couldn't get into post-graduate schools, nobody hears about the sons of cobblers who have become engineers and doctors because of reservation and are performing as good, if not better, than the upper caste people. And media never ever showcases such people, now do they?
  
  Those who are anti-reservation, forget that their great grandfathers were able to walk with self respect and do business in the Indian society when the dalits were forced to live outside the villages and towns and when dalits were banned from every temple, school and business. And this discrimination is still alive and kicking. It takes generations to gain a footing in the society.Let the dalits gain a footing in the society for another couple of hundred years and then make comments about equality.

Bizarre

I was totally surprised at the following question raised in http://gauravsabnis.blogspot.com/2006/01/about-reservations-in-private-sector.html

So imagine a scenario where a factory owner decides to fire ABC because he reports late for work and is very lazy. If ABC, by chance, happens to be of a caste that falls under the reservations, then the factory owner will also have to fire XYZ who is from the "open category", just to maintain the caste ratio.

Bizarre!!

I do not know what is bizarre... The solution to the hypothetical problem is very simple. If ABC does not do any work fire him and offer the job to another ABC from the same caste.

Why is this difficult. Just imagine. If a driver is lazy and dashes the company bus too often, the company sacks the driver and appoints another driver.

But, if Gaurav had been the manager, he would have fired the driver and to maintain the ration, he would have fired the receptionist (or telephone operator or so).

Now you will understand what a dumb question had been asked in the blog I have referred. That means just two possibilities

1. Gaurav does not like reservations, BUT DOES NOT HAVE THE GUTS and WILL to tell that openly. Whether he is for or against reservations is another matter, but one should have the courage to tell what you feel, if you are writing about that in a public blog.

OR

2. He does not have common sense.

Based on what followed after the "IIPM-Burning IBM Laptop" scenario, I can very well tell that Gaurav is not a spineless person. In fact he had quit his job, just to stand by what he wrote.

And he is a MBA
http://www.askenni.com/archives/2005/12/the_mbas_and_th.html
http://www.askenni.com/archives/2005/12/the_mbas_and_th_1.html

3,000 jobless Indian doctors in Britain

From http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/03/stories/2006010304571000.htm

Hasan Suroor

British International Doctors' Association says situation is becoming "unacceptable"

LONDON: Hundreds of doctors from India and Pakistan, who came to Britain for better career prospects, are struggling to survive on borrowed money and charity, as the jobs they had hoped to find has proved elusive.

There are nearly 3,000 jobless doctors from India and 800 from Pakistan living in miserable conditions in and around London. Some have run out of money and with no immediate employment prospects in sight, they plan to return home.

To highlight their plight, a British newspaper on Monday published a photograph of unemployed overseas doctors queuing up outside Sri Mahalakshmi temple in East London for free meals.

At the last count, done in November, there were over 6,000 overseas doctors who have come to Britain in the past five years in response to calls by the National Health Service (NHS) for foreign medical staff.

They had hoped to find jobs after passing the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board Test (PLAB) — a mandatory requirement for all immigrant doctors — but most of them are still unemployed months after passing the test.

According to a general Medical Council survey, a large number of those who passed the test in 2004 are yet to find jobs. The number of those who qualified last year but are still unemployed is reported to be even higher.

Visa renewal

Their plight has been made worse by the fact that every time they renew their visa they have to pay £500, and then there are additional costs for applying for a job. Some hospitals also charge for giving them work experience.

A doctor from north India said he had sent nearly 200 job applications since he qualified the PLAB test a year ago. His savings, he said, were running out and he would be forced to return home if nothing came his way soon.

The British International Doctors Association has warned that the situation is becoming "unacceptable."

"The numbers [of jobless foreign doctors] are unbelievable. These people have come to serve the NHS and there is chaos, confusion, and a total lack of care. There is no coordination between the Department of Health, the Home Office and the General Medical Council. It is totally unacceptable," chairman of the Association Prasada Rao told The Independent.

Junior doctors

Experts said that the overwhelming majority of these people were junior doctors, whereas what the NHS really needed were specialists and consultants. This was not normally made clear to the prospective immigrant doctors.

"Overseas doctors who plan to come here should be told clearly about their job prospects when they apply for visa," an expert said. He accused private recruitment agencies of making false promises , and givingforeign doctors the impression that once they passed the PLAB test they would automatically get jobs.


I DON'T THINK THAT I HAVE TO TELL SOMETHING MYSELF

At 8:55 AM, Tarun Jacob said…

I'm sure you don't feel sorry for them Bruno. It's a tough world out there, and these Guys are really throwing what is probably even better chances in our country to train / be part of some dream. There are a few who go there for a specific skill / training that isn't here and must be learnt the hard way. Hope no one feels sorry for these guys.