Yeah, you read it right. I HATE Fridays.
Earlier it was like Oye! It’s Friday and now it’s transformed to Oh No! It’s Friday.
There was a time when I used to look forward to a Friday, but now I actually regret when Friday comes.. Thanks to changes in the schedule - both in our college timetable and that of daily soaps. Our precious hard earned half day off (yeah, hard earned because we got it after enduring week long boring, mind numbing lectures) has been scrapped off from the timetable. I guess this half day off was hurting in the eyes of the teachers for long so they made changes in the time table to ensure that we were ripped off the last hope we had to escape from the monotonous college life.
This has thwarted the nice routine I had got accustomed to on Friday: have an ice cream on the bus stand with friends, buy another ice cream while going back home for me and my mom, enjoy it while watching a new Hindi movie…
Sadly now the ice cream is replaced by the cold chappatis in the tiffin and the movie by the lectures…
That pure indulgence and blissful Fridays are no longer there.
The other reason why Fridays are going to be boring again: Every Friday I used to watch the new movie premiering on HBO at 9 pm. But since the timings of the daily soaps have been extended to Friday, I will have to miss on that movie too. My mom owns the sole rights of remote control and she won’t let anything (even emotional blackmailing doesn’t work) stop her from watching the daily soaps.
Fridays are never going to be the same again….. :(
Archive for April 2009
When we were small kids, we were taught in moral education to help the needy. I used to wonder if I would ever get a chance to help someone. I never came across any blind man , who needed help to cross the road , nor did I ever came across an old lady who needed help to carry a heavy bag. There might have been occasions , where someone might have needed my help, but I might have failed to notice it.
Anyways, its not the point.Recently I got an opportunity to help two kids and I can't thank god enough for it.
I was on my way to MBA coaching class. At one of the stops, 2 kids got into the bus, they caught my attention the moment I saw them. They had a squalid appearance. The bus was not very crowded and there were a few vacant seats. But they were too shy or rather afraid to sit next to someone.( Most of the passengers did not want them to sit next to them, the woman who was sitting alone on my neighboring seat shifted to the edge of the seat, so that those 2 kids couldn't sit beside her).
Since I was sitting alone, I signaled them to come and sit next to me. They were talking in a language I couldn’t understand. The little fella was carrying a packet of biscuits and apparently he wanted to eat it, but his elder sister was trying to convince him not to eat that ( may be she wanted to save that to eat later ). I was so engrossed in watching them, that I didn’t see the conductor coming and asking for the fare. The girl gave him the 2 coins she had. But they weren’t enough. The conductor asked her to pay the remaining fare, and on her failure to do so, he started shouting at her in Konkani, giving her bad words. The girl was reduced to tears. I could no longer withstand that, I asked the conductor to stop shouting and offered to pay on behalf of the girl. The conductor then took the money I gave and went away.
The girl turned and looked at me with her teary eyes, and gave me a smile – that was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen in my life. It was so innocent, so pure, so genuine . They say god resides in the hearts of small children, I truly experienced it.
When we reached Panjim, they got down along with me. I watched them go and stand near a shop. I couldn’t get myself stop from gazing at them- may be they were waiting for their parents, what if they didn’t have parents, what are they going to do, where do they stay, how do they survive, who looks after them, do they go to a school – countless questions clouded my mind. I was getting late for my class, I went up to them, bought them 2 chocolates and reluctantly left for my class. I thought about them all the time in the class, when it got over, I rushed to the bus stand, hoping to see them there, but I didn’t find them near that shop. I searched frantically all over the bus stand but couldn’t find them. I’m still not able to get them off my mind. Finally I prayed to god to keep them safe where ever they were and went back to my bus with a heavy heart.
The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have again hiked their fees. IIM-A last week increased fees from 11.5 lakh to 12.5 lakh citing rising costs of teaching as the reason. IIM-L also hiked its fees from Rs. 5 lakh to 8 lakh. Just last year all the IIMs had announced an unprecedented fee hikes for their two-year post-graduate programme in management. This is going to have a huge effect on the students aspiring to pursue their MBA from these elite institutes. And the situation is worsened because of the ongoing recession period.
IIMs have been subject to constant media attention. And this attention hasn’t been kind or flattering. Salaries are now reported with some cynicism and the institutions seem to have fallen from being seen as national symbols of pride to being perceived as elitist institutions. The recent fee hike by IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has done IIMs no favours either.
If at all the IIMs want to become autonomous, they should ensure that this transformation is brought gradually and without affecting the interests of the students. The IIMs from the beginning, should operate according to a well planned strategy, the IIMs must work, on the one hand, with the banks to make them provide higher loans to students, and, on the other, with the corporate sector, which should be persuaded to pay off the loans incurred by the students they recruit from the institutes, rather than having to waste their time in battling for autonomy.
The Government okayed the three-fold fee hike by the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) last year after the institute chairman Vijaypat Singhania assured that the scholarship corpus will be increased making more students eligible for scholarships.With a poor track record in disbursing scholarships in the past,wat IIM A is trying to do is to sugarcoat the fee hike with fee waiver scheme.
Although there are loans available, they are of limited use only, for average Indians 12.5 lakhs is simply too much.
First, our bank lending policy ensures loans for worthy students. The banks offer educational loans of up to Rs10 lakhs for domestic studies. Most banks also offer a repayment holiday of up to a year after graduation or six months after starting a job. But all this isn't that easy, banks take a lot of guaranty measures,the banks wont provide any loans to a poor landless farmer. The process to obtain such loans is very gruelsome. One more thing dats worth mentioning over here is that not all the amount is handed out directly to the applicant, the payments are made only after showing the receipts of fees etc, So how would the poor students manage, how are they supposed to pay the fees in the 1st place to avail of the loan schemes?
The reasons for IIM-A’s phenomenal hike are unconvincing. Recovering costs and retaining talent don't tell the full story. Many questions remain unanswered. The promise to increase scholarships can't be a reason to charge more; nor can the availability of finance. The bottom line is, for a public institution to charge more simply because it can, is senseless.
You don’t have to be famous and dead anymore to be on TV for hours. Being plain ridiculous will do. Like the guy who claimed that he met Yamraj, the traditionally deep throated god of death. He not only remembered having coke and popcorn on the way, but also remembered the god sitting on a buffalo, flaunting his big mustache. He even remembered Yamraj’s enquiry committee suddenly realizing that they had got the wrong man. He even clearly remembers how Yamraj reprimanded his attendant ” ullo ke pathhey, yeh kisko utha le aaya. “ (Yamraj speaks in Hindi! )Thus he returned to earth and lived to tell his tale on Aaj tak – sabse tej. A panel discussion followed, where experts and psychiatrists discus death , previous birth and related matters.
These channels have altered the definition of news and in the process transformed their own fortunes. These channels are almost always showing that curious things called ‘exclusive ‘news. It must be their high journalistic standards that prevent them from calling weather reports ‘breaking news’.
In their quest for maximum viewership language channels may appear shrill and hilariously dramatic. Their Hindi channels rivals are running away with huge advertising revenues by airing live stories like this or that of an old man from Madhya Pradesh who predicted his own time of death (wrongly it transpired). As the time of his foretold death neared, reporters went into frenzy; cameras zoomed onto a frail man sitting in a temple. They even got his wife’s poignant quote “inko to pehle se hi pata tha kab jayenge. “. The anchor sitting in the studio poses question to all the viewers and they are asked to Vote ( Kya xyz ki kuch der me maut ho jayegi? Agar aapka jawab haan hai to SMS kijiye YES nahi to SMS kijiye NO to 5687…) The experts then spend a lot of time discussing through studio panels the apparent science behind astrological predictions. A little girl who claimed to recount her past life was also given excellent coverage on prime time. In the name of reality TV, news channel let an anchor cover her own wedding. She welded the mike in between mehendi and other ceremonies. The camera followed her on the customary arrival at the husband’s home, but prudently stopped short of covering the first night. Across all channels the crime journalists are becoming the news Brahmins of TV. At the top of the heap is Sansani, a hysterical crime bulletin which gives a daily account of crime from across the country. In another crime bulletin the anchor is seen screaming at the camera “Chain se sona hai to jag jao “.
The fierce competition has produced a kind of lawlessness. When one channel lowers the bar, everybody jumps the gun. It’s true that when such stories hit the air the news find soaring ratings, large TRPs. But it clearly exposes what the majority actually want. Forever gone are the days when news telecast entailed ribbon cutting by misters, inaugurating bridges or a portrait of a political leader followed by insufferable speeches. A celebrity caught in a controversy, Sadhus and their unholy escapades, flesh trade in name of massage parlors, a couple in love and on the run against family pressure are all forms of news which have nothing to do with what’s traditionally called ‘national interest’. The news has become more of entertainment news. The story, packaging or the visuals are made attention grabbing and simply compelling.
But ultimately credibility of the news channel will be final calling. Even though these channels might get high viewership for such stories, they wouldn’t be able to sustain it for long. Such stories may get TRPs for a few days, but eventually people will flock to channels which show credible news.
India TV setting new standards in journalism! Have a look at the below pictures.
