Whose line is it anyway?

ASSIGNMENT-
In upto 500 words write about the concept of the petition "Issues for the Young Adults in Delhi Assembly Elections ". Write about your contribution to the above mentioned activity both in terms of ideas and activity. In your estimation was the activity a success or a failure. If success why? and if failure what are the ways in which it could have been turned into a success?


“Yeh world hain na world…is main do tarah ke log hote hai…” -Bubly aur Bunty

I’d be most glad to complete this statement… “Ek type ke log jo…news dikhate aur banate hai. Aur dosri type ke log jo…un news ke ‘items’ hote hain”. However, it would be wrong to say that the second years of KNC journo are the first kinds. I’d rather say that they are the mixed doubles, who tried to play a fair match. Elections have always been about a white kurta and un-kept promises; we the students, looked up at this event---not as a reason to crib and criticize about the wrong and unfair politics, but as something more concrete and positive to look forward to.



“Mere paas gaadi hai, bangle hai, shaan-o-shaurat hai…tumhare paas kya hai? Hayee?...” -Deewar

The concept is very simple, short and sweet- “Mere paas petition hai…jisme 250+ signatures hai!”. We don’t care if it is rejected. We don’t care if it is disapproved. We don’t care if it is thrown into the bin or crafted into airplanes. Moreover, we don’t even care even if it is read after elections. The attempt has been made- for a good cause which affects more than a millions. Somewhere some minds got together to think of improving the status of the present, instead of cursing and blaming the government. The concept deals with the youth trying to put forward what it wants to be served with- almost like giving the order for the first time in a restaurant, rather than being served anything and everything!



“Haehae…Ohhh Sambha…Kitne aadmi thee???” -Sholay

"Sarkar…sirf 250 se thode zaade…” So what??? Haan Kalia? So what? Who gives a damn anyway? If 250 do…that’s cause they genuinely do! And why should 250 men and women not be heard in a democratic country? Therefore, the second years planned a media strategy. “How to get who all we want!” Many contacted radio stations, TV channels, newspapers, ad companies, students, teachers, friends etc. While the rest of the class was upto looking at the bigger and broader picture I was making telephone calls. Yes, I know…Idea is expensive these days, but not at the cost of a nice chit-chat with people I’m not in touch with! So, I began conversations leading one after the other. Conferences and tele-discussions on the phone line about the petition. After all the calls while I watched favorite soaps, I re-thought of my plan. I had to…had to… get into the mindsets. So I mailed the idea to all those people again, in a very sarcastic manner. Then, I changed the tone of the mail and sent it to all the newspaper agencies I knew of. The next day with a help of a friend, I put the site name on all the PC’s desktops in the comp lab. Later, we also put posters in our college and in Gargi. I joined the facebook gang and then finally- I motivated. Those around me and those with me. For by the end of the day, a good leader is always a good motivator!



“Jaani, yeh chaku hain na chaku…lag jaata hai toh khuuuuun nikal aata hai!” -Chalbaaz

I don’t care less if it was a failure. (In the sickest way possible…) I DON’T CARE! I know I have succeeded. I could have spent a whole lot of that money talking, messaging or playing silly internet games on my phone. I could have spent all that time whistling away to tunes of “ma-da-ladala”. I would have never irritated the computer lab bhaiya as much as I did on that day. I could have never motivated people around me for all I know! But you know what---I DID! I did end up doing all those things at all those crazy times. I definitely don’t feel I failed. I tried, I scratched, so now I know I can move it !!! I know that somewhere I feel empowered. The next time I file a petition, I wouldn’t make the same mistakes. The next time- Id be better focused. And most importantly, the next time- they’d know---that--- WE KNOW!

“Hum jaha pe khade ho jaate hein, line wahi se shuru hoti hai” - Kaaliya


~~~AMEN~~~

Life "Gardner"... Not Life Partner...

Life partner huh??? I'll tell you what all characteristics I want in him...
He should be---
ummm...
ehhh....
welll....
errrrr...
mmmm...

Who should he be?
Should he be SRK? Or Hrithik?
Should he have a beard like Big B? or a mustache like Shatrugan Sinha?
Should he be 6 feet tall? or a dwarf?
Should he be handsome? or just some ugly duckling...???

Does it matter by the end of the day who? what? why? is a person like the way he is?
Can’t he just be himself for me to accept him?
He may be a fraud, he may be a cheat, but by the end of the day, if I get married to this guy and we both are able to make our lives comfortable with one another...does it really matter?
Maybe he is taken to prison or is jailed or even hanged to death...would all his qualities matter then? What would matter would be the time that we would never forget inspite of who-what-where-how-why we were who we were...Then why bother?

Anyway...the point is...Am i looking forward to marry qualities of a person to simplify my life? In that case, how well qualified and quality-fied am I to be ‘suitable’ for my Mr. Right?
no way! I am going to marry an individual who would not burden relationship(s) but ease the burdens of relationship(s)...

Okay, to simplify in your terms, which I SO can’t relate to...
The Only QUALITY I am looking at is...

"To be able to merge and sublime into my life and make life easier for me and himself, both"

---The End---

dIKSHA gROVER

LIQUI-LECTIONS!!!

Liquids are free flowing. They are boundless and possess no fixed shape. Their liquidity (characteristics- or rather, personality) determines their flow. Yes, they may be limited but they are not defined. They do have a surface tension, but they make their paths. However, it’s the external force that can influence them. They can handle themselves, but they like to be governed.

Did I just say 'governed'? Coming down to governance, as the elections approach, the voters (the liquids) get to be pushed around, more emotionally than physically. With the 'channelizing' of their immediate needs and desires into "making-the right-move-by-the-right-vote" thought process, the liquids seem to be pushed with an external force. What next? Well, it’s this phrase that comes into my mind on the topic you are reading and I am writing about. It is very rightly called “drop by drop makes the ocean”.

So, what I intend to say is that the ocean that these drops make often tends to flood and wash out their existence. Something known as "Wrong-guy; right-vote" funda. So, the problem is who's problem is it anyway? the wrong guy (the ocean) or the wrong minds (the drops)?

It is universally known that it is the nature of the liquid to flow with the force, to become volatile with physical, chemical and biological pressure, to change its course with the inclining planes etc. But, then at the same time, it is the ocean's nature to keep it's criminal fish-y friends safe in itself, cry its crocodile's tears, dance with the tidal effect and if the need be- flood its fellow friends. But then- do the liquids want the same ocean in the upcoming elections??? Well, I somehow--- don't think so.

Allow me, a far inferior liquid, to make a list of the things- I want another liquid to do for me this time...before I and my vote(s) make him the ocean...

1. STRESS ON GOOD EDUCATION AND NOT JUST LEARNING
2. ‘WANTS TO’ HELP ORGANISE GOVERNMENTAL WORK
3. IS A YOUNGER LEADERS AND LOOKS FORWARD TO GOOD GOVERNANCE
4. HELPS BETTER AND MAKE THE PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM MORE EFFICIENT
5. WANTS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE ENVIRONMENT (POSITIVELY)
6. CREATE SAFETY AND SECURITY FOR ALL, ESPECIALLY WOMEN
7. HELP DEVELOP PUBLIC CONVENIENCES, ESPECIALLY FOR WOMEN

Now, sometimes, liquids change their shape if put in different containers, but their volume and their physical and chemical properties are sure and certain. We may get influenced, but we are always certain of what we want. Let’s choose to choose the right choice. For this is the only choice the beggars have.

dIKSHA gROVER

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

to ever-widening thought and action -

Into that heaven of freedom,

my father,

let my country awake.
by Rabindranath Tagore

Assignment Two

Name- Kiran
Date-4th September 2008
Scheduled date of assignment-5th September 2008
External Assignment number two

1-Common Ailment she suffers from?
Ans-(translated) I don't suffer from a lot of diseases. I either suffer from headaches or unconsciousness and black outs. But thats all. (laughs)

2-What do you do in case of illness?
Ans-(translated) My keeper is a doctor, I ask her for medicines and take the one she gives me. But I don't get ill very soon.

3-Are you married?
Ans-(translated) No.

4-What do your children do in case of illness?
Ans- NOT APPLICABLE

5-Do your children study?
Ans-NOT APPLICABLE

6-What school do your children study in? and what is the fees?
Ans- NOT APPLICABLE

7-Do they get mid day meal in school?
Ans-NOT APPLICABLE

8-Why do you want your children to get educated?
Ans-NOT APPLICABLE

9-How educated are you?
Ans-(translated) I have studied till class 4. After which I started working in the farm because I didn't want to study, so my parents thought that I should rather work.

Conclusion-
After I spoke to Kiran for all that she seems to have learnt out of her life, I realize that she is dyslexic. She couldn't study because she is dyslexic ( as she proves to me on sheets of paper). For her, education was about being 'intelligent' which she thought she wasn't. The people back in her village are very caring and intelligent. Most of them study till class 10. What I feel out of the entire exercise is that - diseases, habits and natural cycles are the only commonalities between the rich and the poor. However, the dis-similarity is in the service sector, be it education, health or luxury.

dIKSHA gROVER

ASSIGNMENT ONE (1)

What does independence mean to me?

I don’t know what to write under this question, which happens to be my assignment. Maybe tha is why I am submitting it so late. But all this while I have been doing this- long and silenced thinking. But it’s today that I realized, many a times, I don’t believe in what I ‘have’ to say, but I believe in what I feel. Maybe that is how I will go about explaining what I am trying to say.

• On Independence Day, there is nothing known as “ Happy Independence Day” (it has much derived from the American culture, but due to the RED-ALERTS that keep making their way into the news on such occasions, a-lot of people do believe in saying it). But, on this day what I genuinely feel is to thank the people in my nation, for giving me what I completely have for my self- a nation, an identity and a passport.

• On Independence Day, it is believed to sing the national anthem at least once and that to under the national flag. But, on this day I feel like wearing a small flag on my shirt pocket and feeling proud to be an Indian. Because I feel not everyone should sing the anthem (it is meant for the choir. The beautiful song unnecessarily gets croaked mercilessly and forcefully). One should just feel proud of the nation and not impose that feeling on one-self if ultimately one is brain –drained.

• On Independence Day, one is supposed to have an ‘off’, it being a national holiday. However, I feel the holiday should not be an ‘off’. All citizens should compulsorily meet up in their nearest and dearest NGO and discuss how India could be made a better place to live in. While the later completely brings out the meaning for Independence to me, the ‘off’ is just a way out for all escapists.

If I were a PM for a day I would…

Call for a meeting with all the employees of the Government of India and make a speech to make everyone realize how proud we all are and should be of such gorgeous a nation. By this, even though I would not be telling each and every member of how they should/shouldn’t do their duties, I would just sensitize them on who they are doing their duties towards. I would thereafter give away a khadi kurta colored in our national flag, as a memento, to all those who attended the meet, from the PM’s fund.

My Baby Green-leaves!

He says "it's amazing" almost a billion times in the class. I usually wonder whether it actually is amazing or not. For a science student, theory has always been amazing. There have been laws and concepts which have amused me time and again. But realizing the "amazing" behind the way people act and re-act, needed a lot of thinking to whether it actually is amazing or not.

Anyway, I had this assignment, where I had to plant a seed any where in public. Now, where exactly is public was my first question. Malls? Theater? Cinema? GK? Sarojini? Pubs? Discos? Parliament? where? I wanted my seed to be with the maximum public so that it could look at them and remind them of their mistake of polluting and remind me of my mistake of greeni-fying. Anyway, so I put my seed in this pot and placed the pot on the divider of a busy road.I wake up every day in the morning early to put water into my pot and reach home on time to water it again. I cross the road almost a million times in a day to see whether my pot is there or not. The baby leaves are out and my baby is growing green in the middle of the blacks (I'm not being racist here!).

It's quite difficult to see your child growing amongst his/her fears, amongst his/her enemies, amongst his/her killers and murderers. But I think I'd be able to handle it. My baby will perhaps grow stronger than the others and teach it's killers even if it has a young death. I am a proud mother and I feel very responsible. He says "amazing" almost a billion times. Maybe now I know what he means. He too is proud of something and truly is responsible for his nation-for his baby.

Report on Women’s health issues after researching from Public Health Centers.

Anemia in pregnancy is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a hemoglobin concentration below 11 g/dL.[1] It continues to be a major health problem in many developing countries and is associated with increased rates of maternal and parental mortality, premature delivery, low birth weight, and other adverse outcomes.[2]

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has almost 40 beds in the maternity ward that can adjust 40 patients. “It may accommodate 40 patients altogether, but it becomes thoroughly overbearing for a limited number of doctors” according to a source. Right outside the main building a couple of female patients were asked how often they visit AIIMS for maternity problems. Though most of them believe in coming to hospitals, the elder child was mostly born by a ‘dai’ or a midwife.

More than half of the pregnant women in the world have hemoglobin levels indicative of anemia.1 Although only 15% of pregnant women are anemic in developed countries,[3] the prevalence of anemia in developing countries is relatively high (33% to 75%). The most common cause of anemia in pregnancy worldwide is iron deficiency.[4] The predisposing factors include grand multiparty, low socio-economic status, malaria infestation, late booking, HIV infection, and inadequate child spacing – among others.

“Eighty % of the health services in Delhi are being provided in the private sector because the Government has not been able to provide public health services to all the people of Delhi,” Harsh Vardhan, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president said to The Hindu on 14 sept 2006. But now, suddenly his attention seems to wander away to transportation, water supply and infrastructure for the current fiscal.[5] So the question is- is there anyone in the government to care about this vital situation for poor, pregnant, malnourished, anemic women?

Bhaukti Devi, who sat near an electricity board and continued to roast herself under the sun in the AIIMS, was under serious tension for her husband who was suffering from lung infection. As he lay flat under the shade, she spoke of how he is immediately rushed to the hospital when he feels unwell. But as far as her health is concerned, coming to the hospital was more a liability than a need. For her, a ‘jhulachap’ was more convenient and cheaper when in need of a cure.

Communities like UMANG (Uplifting Marriage Age, Nutrition, and Growth), found nine out of ten adolescent girls to be anemic and two out of three illiterate. These factors severely limit the life prospects of young women and also negatively influence the future of their children and families. An anemic or malnourished mother has a very high probability of giving birth to a low birth weight baby, the single biggest predictor of future malnutrition. And a mother’s level of education is correlated with all sorts of behaviors which can strongly influence whether her child will survive past his first five years. Adolescent anemia can be the start of a vicious cycle of poverty which is difficult to escape from. However,UMANG is a project which provides iron supplementation to these girls, as well as a forum to discuss the issues they face in daily life related to health, education, and family in the absence of Public Health Centers in the rural districts.

The problem of anemia (due to malnutrition) in pregnant mothers is not just in rural districts. The problem of a hemoglobin deficiency is also prevalent in women who can afford any kind of treatment at any expense. However, they prefer the more expensive hospitals because of the quantity and quality of services provided. One only wishes to avail public health centers and public hospitals when it is not easy to pay a bigger price. According to Doc. Shah who works at the Max, “Most patients here prefer the quality and the expertise we provide. We do not just charge more because of being a brand, but because of the time, energy and patience each doctor puts into every patient, unlike government facilities.”

However much we may try to boast about the new technology and the greater set up of medical avenues in the health sector, there is always a rich and a poor demarcation. Most of India's billion-plus people struggle with a public health care system which is virtually nonexistent in villages[6]. On the other hand, private health care is booming, and the country's state-of-the art hospitals and highly skilled doctors even attract patients from countries where health care costs are much higher. The challenge before India is to make such top quality care accessible for the majority of its people and to put such high quality services within reach of the poor.

---

[1]World Health Organization (WHO). The prevalence of Anaemia in women: a tabulation of available information. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 1992. WHO/MCH/MSM/92.2.

[2]Mahomed K. Iron and folate supplementation in pregnancy. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2000;(2) CD001135: World Health Organization Reproductive Health Library CD-ROM. 2004;7.

[3]World Health Organization (WHO). Prevention and Management of Severe Anaemia in Pregnancy: Report of a Technical Working Group. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 1993. WHO/FNE/MSM/93.5.

[4]Nyuke RB, Letsky EA. Etiology of anaemia in pregnancy in South Malawi. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000;72:247–256.

[5] The Hindu, It will slow development: Harsh Vardhan, 26^th March 2008

[6] Public Health Foundation of India, India Offers Both Best, Worst of Health Care ,Voice of America Press Releases and Documents , 3 May 2006, http://www.phfi.org/news/newsdetail.asp?id=74

Kyoto Ugly

Born in the year 1997, with the objective to achieve "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system" what leaves me astrayed is that no matter what you say & what you mean, it never comes down to actions.

India signed and ratified the Protocol in August, 2002. Since India is exempted from the framework of the treaty, it is expected to gain from the protocol in terms of transfer of technology and related foreign investments. At the G-8 meeting in June 2005, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pointed out that the per-capita emission rates of the developing countries are a tiny fraction of those in the developed world. Following the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, India maintains that the major responsibility of curbing emission rates with the developed countries, which have accumulated emissions over a long period of time. However, the U.S. and other Western nations assert that India, along with China, will account for most of the emissions in the coming decades, owing to their rapid industrialization and economic growth.

Now, coming back to the point, why in the first place did India sign this treaty? and if it was for the "good-wood" cause, why is there still a provision for filter-free chimneys in factories? Isn' t the government responsible for an unchecked environmental harm? or have we just signed the deal to 'look' mere globalised and environmental cautious? Or simply...are we just hypocrites?