The I A S results for this year were out a few days back and the newspapers promptly ran stories about the toppers, right from some with a humble background, to those who have followed the family tradition(i.e whose parent(s) are IAS officers themselves).when my mom read these articles, she wishfully said that maybe i should try for civils too,but i have never been interested in it, i never was and i never will.Besides, i told her, its not fair that i waste the lakhs of rupees that the indian government has invested in making me a doctor.Her argument was that a lot of doctors are doing that every year, what about all those doctors and engineers who got educated in the state run colleges with low fees and cheap education who promptly left to the US and other countries after graduation and settled there?isnt that brain drain?, and when so many are doing it why not me?, what difference does it make if one person tries to think differently and act differently?
But, i believe it does, it matters what each of us does with what we have got, India a great country and dont let anyone make you feel differently, like every country, there are problems, there is poverty,crime, corruption, inequality, illiteracy etc, but we need to look at the good ponits too, the vision our founding fathers had was beatiful, they envisioned a sovereign, socialist, secular democracy..
we still have free medical care, some of the best and top colleges are still run by the government and for which the fees is almost nominal, the largest railways in the world and a lot of other things we take for granted..
Sometimes i wonder, where did that vision of our founding fathers go?, where am i living?why am i still living here instead of searching for greener pastures(namely the US and other western countries), but im not ready to give up on my country just yet, i will try and give back what i have gotten from my country, and wont give up hope..not yet...
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Sunday, May 15, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
The saga of Tata Nano
My dad has always had something for new things,especially electronics and cars,when Tata launched the indigenous car Indica,more than a decade back,he was one of the first people to book it,and when the Tata Nano was announced,he was again one of the first people to book it..
Now,the nano has been marketed as the cheapest car and it has been targeted for the middle class who use bikes and cant afford a car,but there are a few problems with it which u realise only after driving on the road for a while..
When u 1st enter the car,u will realise that its surprisingly roomy for car which looks so tiny,there is a lot of leg room for all fourseats..
But if u are going to drive,thats a different story,first of all,the clutch,brake and accelerator seem to protrude in the air(the engine is in the rear,so there is no engine in the front),when you are driving it,you will realise that the weight of ur leg falls directly on the clutch with the result that you end up pressing the clutch without realising it,and another thing is that since its a light weight car,if u stop the car without applying the brakes firmly,even on a flat surface,it will move back,this is what makes it difficult to drive in a stop and go traffic,where you have to keep shifting from accelerator to brake constantly,also,if you have an ac,it will keep shutting the engine down when you slow down a little,the horn is another thing,it sounds like a scooter and nobody even hears it in the traffic, thats why i dont prefer to drive the nano,i rather prefer to drive a second hand maruti which is easier to control,infact for all those families which are in need of a car,a secondhand car which is well maintained is better than a brand new nano!!
P.s: while my mom(who has been driving since more than 15yrs) was driving in the nano today,in peak traffic,the car car got hit by 2 buses simultaneously,one from behind and one from the side,it seems,the car jus shut down cos of the ac in the middle of the road,and before mom could restart the engine,it started moving backwards,and got hit by the bus,while anotjer scraped it from the right while overtaking it,luckily,mom is safe,but it got me thinking..since the nano has it its engine on the back,and it tends to move back in traffic,isnt there a chance of it getting crushed easily?how safe is the nano on the indian roads?and what do we do with the nano which we already have?
Now,the nano has been marketed as the cheapest car and it has been targeted for the middle class who use bikes and cant afford a car,but there are a few problems with it which u realise only after driving on the road for a while..
When u 1st enter the car,u will realise that its surprisingly roomy for car which looks so tiny,there is a lot of leg room for all fourseats..
But if u are going to drive,thats a different story,first of all,the clutch,brake and accelerator seem to protrude in the air(the engine is in the rear,so there is no engine in the front),when you are driving it,you will realise that the weight of ur leg falls directly on the clutch with the result that you end up pressing the clutch without realising it,and another thing is that since its a light weight car,if u stop the car without applying the brakes firmly,even on a flat surface,it will move back,this is what makes it difficult to drive in a stop and go traffic,where you have to keep shifting from accelerator to brake constantly,also,if you have an ac,it will keep shutting the engine down when you slow down a little,the horn is another thing,it sounds like a scooter and nobody even hears it in the traffic, thats why i dont prefer to drive the nano,i rather prefer to drive a second hand maruti which is easier to control,infact for all those families which are in need of a car,a secondhand car which is well maintained is better than a brand new nano!!
P.s: while my mom(who has been driving since more than 15yrs) was driving in the nano today,in peak traffic,the car car got hit by 2 buses simultaneously,one from behind and one from the side,it seems,the car jus shut down cos of the ac in the middle of the road,and before mom could restart the engine,it started moving backwards,and got hit by the bus,while anotjer scraped it from the right while overtaking it,luckily,mom is safe,but it got me thinking..since the nano has it its engine on the back,and it tends to move back in traffic,isnt there a chance of it getting crushed easily?how safe is the nano on the indian roads?and what do we do with the nano which we already have?
The good samaritan
Every year,i just celebrate my bday with family and friends,cut a cake etc, for a few years now i had wanted to go to an orphanage or the less fortunate and help them,and so i finally did it this year, we found out the address of an orphanage and we started out..
It was in a remote place,and we dint know which way to go,so we asked someone for the directions..mostly when asked for directions,we grumpily tell them we dont know or even if we do know it we'll just tell them and walk off,but this young man with a cute face and a sweet smile,not just told us the directions,once he was joined by his friend,they showed us the way till the orphanage on their bike!!
He made me realise that,Sometimes its not just the poor whom we can help,we can help anyone who may or may not be poor,who may or may not ask for our help,we can help anybody,but more importantly,we should do it wholeheartedly and with a smile on our faces..:)
It was in a remote place,and we dint know which way to go,so we asked someone for the directions..mostly when asked for directions,we grumpily tell them we dont know or even if we do know it we'll just tell them and walk off,but this young man with a cute face and a sweet smile,not just told us the directions,once he was joined by his friend,they showed us the way till the orphanage on their bike!!
He made me realise that,Sometimes its not just the poor whom we can help,we can help anyone who may or may not be poor,who may or may not ask for our help,we can help anybody,but more importantly,we should do it wholeheartedly and with a smile on our faces..:)
Sunday, January 02, 2011
The Day i lost my voice
I woke up today to my mom telling me to wake up,and when i opened my mouth to say im awake,i couldnt speak!!
All i could do was barely whisper,i had to go to mom n sign to her that i couldnt speak,what followed was a bunch of questions from her,but no matter how much i tried,all i could do was hiss,whatever i try to say,i couldnt say it,it was so frustrating that i started to cry ,out of helplessness.Mom saw my condition and reassured me and told me to do warm saline gargling,following which she gave me peppered milk and hot dosas,thanks to which my voice is recovered,not completely,its still hoarse and squeaky,buy atleast i can communicate and express myself..
That got me thinking bout how we take some things for granted,and never give a thought to it until we lose it.. We are all blessed with so many things but we never value them unless we lose them.. Maybe its time to appreciate all those things we should be thankful for.. Our vision, voice ,hearing,taste smell,in short our five senses,our limbs which are perfectly funtional,and to all of us in democratic countries,our freedom of speech,and to be who you are and to do what you want..cheers!!!
All i could do was barely whisper,i had to go to mom n sign to her that i couldnt speak,what followed was a bunch of questions from her,but no matter how much i tried,all i could do was hiss,whatever i try to say,i couldnt say it,it was so frustrating that i started to cry ,out of helplessness.Mom saw my condition and reassured me and told me to do warm saline gargling,following which she gave me peppered milk and hot dosas,thanks to which my voice is recovered,not completely,its still hoarse and squeaky,buy atleast i can communicate and express myself..
That got me thinking bout how we take some things for granted,and never give a thought to it until we lose it.. We are all blessed with so many things but we never value them unless we lose them.. Maybe its time to appreciate all those things we should be thankful for.. Our vision, voice ,hearing,taste smell,in short our five senses,our limbs which are perfectly funtional,and to all of us in democratic countries,our freedom of speech,and to be who you are and to do what you want..cheers!!!
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