Posts from — July 2004

Was it a gamble? … Was it cool calculation? … Was it TINA at work?

Or was it a masterstroke?

Whatever it was… Ganguly’s decision to throw the ball to Zaheer Khan for the final over turned out to be a successful move (especially after the 21 run rollicking that Jayasuriya gave Zaheer in his 4th over). And as we know… nothing succeeds like success!! :-)

Chalk one up for, arguably, the best captain in the world of cricket today.

Conducting interviews for tiny tots seeking admissions to kindergarten or pre-primary classes, is a totally unfair practice that schools have been adopting for a long time now. The reasons, why this practice is unfair, are:

• 1. Competition for marks/grades has grown to such an extent that it exists not only among students but also among the schools. In this game of oneupmanship, schools try to ’select’ only those students that show the potential to bring glory to the school in a few years time.
• 2. Schools that run on private funding do not wish to ‘waste’ their resources on students who are slow on the uptake or those who would not provide the school with adequate returns on the school’s investment (see point 1)
• 3. Little students have to travel long distances to reach schools just because the school in their neighbourhood refused admission on the basis of an interview. As a result, kids end up travelling during the time that they ought to spend playing or enjoying themselves.
• 4. Schools use the interviews as a convenient excuse to ask for donations. Affluent parents can afford to get their kid admitted in schools even though he/she might’ve failed the interview. Not-so-affluent parents have to go looking for other schools for their kids.

I know that the reasons I’ve stated above smack a bit of leftist thinking. But I firmly believe that primary education should be free from monetary and competitive considerations to an extent. Which is why, I am glad to note that the Delhi High Court has issued notices to the Central Government and the National Educational Planning and Administration in connection with a petition seeking a ban on interviews for admission to kindergarten/pre-primary classes.

Now I hope this translates into a ban on such interviews.

With the sudden increase in email storage space by nearly all major email service providers (yes! Hotmail has upped its offering too, though only for paid users. Free users continue to languish in the ridiculous 2 MB limit!… at least till autumn arrives.), I wonder when we will see a similar trend in webhosting?!!

Bangalore, it seems, is losing its sheen and the aura of invincibilty as far as IT is concerned.

Well… at least Wipro seems to think so.

The Sept 11 panel confirms what everyone has known forever - that Pakistan has had close links with Osama Bin Laden.

But the panel, quite puzzlingly, goes on to recommend long-term military and other aid to Pakistan, inspite of its tendency to get cozy with the terrorists!!

The panel blames Pakistan’s links with Osama on the endemic poverty in the country…

“Pakistan’s endemic poverty, widespread corruption, and often ineffective government create opportunities for Islamist recruitment…Millions of families, especially those with little money, send their children to religious schools or madrassas. Many of these schools are the only opportunity available for an education, but some have been used as incubators for violent extremism,”

Oh thats just great, isn’t it?! When it comes to Pakistan, its the poverty that drives them to terrorism. When it comes to other countries, its their fundamentalist Islamic ideologies! Talk about having different standards for different people!! :-|

Don’t these people realize that even though Musharraf seems to be rooting out the terrorists (mind you, only the ones that are hurting the US!), the army wields trememdous power in Pakistani politics. And it is this army that controls the ISI and its shady going-ons. So in giving military aid to Pakistan, the US is, in the long term, funding terrorism against itself!!

Ironic… yes! Stupid… yes! Bush… of course!!