Kamat says

Noodles with a difference

2008-10-06T21:22:00.007+05:30

Dedicated to all those who are tired of eating the regular instant noodles but have no other go due to lack of cooking skills.

Ingredients:

1. Instant noodle packet (with taste maker) 1 No.

2. Onion 1

3. Carrot 1

4. Beans 3-4

5. Capsicum 1/2

6. Green peas 2 tbsp

7. Tomato 1

8. Green chilly 1-2

9. Oil 2 tbsp

10. Table salt

11. Red chilly powder

Utensils for cooking:

1. Sauce pan - 2

2. Strainer - 1

3. Spatula - 1

4. Lid to cover the sauce pan - 1

Time to cook:

1. Cutting the onion (including rubbing the eyes) 10 mins.

2. Cutting other vegetables 2 mins

3. Actual preparation 10 mins

Serves:

1 (person like me) or 2. If it does not come out nice then many people could be accommodated (:P).

Preparation:

Finely chop the onion. Cut the other vegetables into small pieces (you may whatever you have).

Take about 2 glass of water in a sauce pan. Bring it to boil. Add the vegetables and peas. Add tomato towards the end. Cover with the lid and allow the vegetables to boil.

Meanwhile, add 2 table spoons of oil in another saucepan. Add the finely chopped onion. Heat it till the onion turns golden brown. Keep stirring with the spatula to avoid the onion from burning. Now transfer the boiled vegetables to this sauce pan using a strainer. Do not discard the boiled water.

If the water has evaporated add until it is equal to one and half cups. Bring it to boil again. Add the tastemaker and noodles and boil until the noodles become soft (2 to 3 minutes). Add finely cut green chillies, salt and red chilly powder to taste to the vegetables and mix well. Now add the cooked noodles to it and mix well. Noodles is now ready to serve and relish. You may use the water left in the noodles boiled saucepan as soup or may discard it if you do not want to consume extra fat.

In Quest for a Soul Mate...

2008-02-14T15:57:00.012+05:30

"You may like the way i look but i look the way i am like. Now would you like to know me or would you like me to know that you only like me for my looks ?? " - Brock Tully

Sometimes I wonder what it takes to love and be loved. Loving someone may not be as great as being loved by someone to the same degree and extent if not more and with a selfless motive. Today love seems to have been influenced by global festivals like Valentine's day and the media and the youth is under tremendous presure to "fall" in love. A hostile environment seems to have been created for someone who is single as most of the pubs, parties and events only let in couples. The print and visual media seems to run out of space and time giving a complete coverage of celebrity couples' romantic lifestyle. The malls and theatres are all teeming with young couples roaming around hand-in-hand. Certain web portals who claim to be doing a social service by conducting mind-boggling surveys about all possible things on earth give out fantastic statistics about how remote the chances of finding a soul mate get with advancing age. All this has led to the feeling among the young crowd that they should have a partner atleast before they get out of the college or else they will remain single forever. And the hunt for the perfect soul mate begins.

The three or more years that one spends in a college gives a good opportunity to find a soul mate. Lonliness and home sickness accelerates this process and one keeps trying to fall in love at every available opportunity. Love is blind. The lucky few do manage to find their dream mates and then they get lost forever in their own world in a corner in the library or the canteen or the reading rooms planning their future. The final year finally gets over and most of the couples are seen parting ways in pursuit of their career or higher studies. Only a handful pursue their heart and get married. Those who part ways suddenly seem to get enlightened that love is not the only thing in life. They feel they need to plan for their career first as falling in love is all in their hands and they can do so whenever they feel the need to. In this act they fail to realise that their partner might not be thinking the way they do and there is a emotional break down. Whereas one walks out of the relationship laughing at it, the other vows never to fall in love again. In most of the cases it is the female partner who undergoes this trauma. Her life takes a new turn.

The breakup and the shattered dreams put her into a state of depression and she cries day and night. Gradually she learns to live with the reality. However it is during this time that she comes across someone who seems to show a lot of care and support to her. An already weak and hurt heart finds solace in the comforts of this new man. Love continues to remain blind. The sugar-coated promises and picturesque dreams give new hopes to her already shattered dreams. She considers herself mature enough and forgets her vow and thinks she has now found her real soul mate and falls in love again. All her little things are faithfully taken care of, right from recharging her cell to booking her flight tickets, from finding her accomodation to giving her expensive gifts. But somewhere deep down inside she feels all this is artificial. The love has only remained to be materialistic. She begins to feel the suffocation. The guy seems to be totally dis-interested in her. He too is running for his career and money. She considers him selfish, irresponsible and in-sensitive. She recollects all those moments spent with him when she was happy, sad, angry and mad only to find that moments of happiness were just a handful and momentary. The guy does not seem to be un-nerved. She walks out of the relationship. She realizes he was just a material and not a mate. She becomes single again and her search for the perfect soul mate goes on.

This might just be an exaggerated story but it is not too far from reality. Finding true love, a soul mate may be possible at the click of a mouse as claimed by certain dating websites but a love that touches one's soul, a love far from the materialistics fancies, a love that lets one keep one's identity may be a little too hard to find. Quotes that say "Do not marry someone whom you love , marry someone who loves you" or "Do not marry the one whom you can live with, marry someone whom you cannot live without" seem to be biased towards one person only. Love and happiness should be felt and shared equally by both the partners.

Reading in a bus?

2008-02-13T09:06:00.002+05:30

Reading in a moving vehicle is probably the most popular way to pass time especially when travelling alone. I see this happening regularly around me which prompted me to write on this and propagate the knowledge.

This practice of reading albeit appears to be a good way of utilizing time has its own set of disadvantages. The body inside a vehicle moving on the roads is subject to lots of vertical motion in addition to lateral. This leads to continous unperiodic oscillatory movement of the book or paper in hand. The eye produces the image by focussing on a plane. The vertical motion causes this plane(of the book) to shift continuously. The eye therefore needs to continuously re-focus on the new plane by adjusting the celiary muscles. This exerts a great tension on the ocular muscles thereby making them lose their elasticity in the long run thus impairing vision. The muscles also get exhausted thereby making the eyes tired in addition to stressing the brain. The effect is more pronounced with smaller and artistic fonts.

This is however not so much applicable while reading in a train or a flight as the motion there is pre-dominantly horizontal. So the next time you open up something to read, please think about your eyes. Afterall prevention is better than cure.

I utilize my travelling time in pondering over various ideas, things of my past and present life, in re-introspection and making plans for the day and the near future.

Many Lives, Many Masters - A book Review and Analysis

2008-02-02T13:09:00.000+05:30

One of my friends who shares some of my paranormal and metaphysical interests handed me this book which I finished reading in a record span of three days (rather nights) over the last weekend, my fastest so far.

Many Lives, Many Masters, a book by Dr. Brian Weiss, is a verbatim narrative of the hypnotic sessions that he had with one of his patients, Catherine. Catherine suffererd from abnormal psychotic disorders, anxiety and several phobias which made her life miserable. She visits Dr.Weiss who is a practicing psychologist for treatment. Dr. Weiss subjects her to hypnotic therapy which results in her going back to her past lives and recollecting some important events that happened then. These incidents had a bearing on her present life and hence she starts losing her fears and anxiety. The book describes her various sessions with the doctor , her journeys into the past lives and the journey of her soul between two lives. The author has given her description about her past lives, experience after death and the messages from master souls, verbatim. He also mentions how this knowledge obtained from the hypnotic sessions transformed Catherine's and his life and how they used it to help others.

The whole concept of re-birth or reincarnation is a philosophy deep rooted into Hindu culture. Srimad Bhagavatgeeta, the holy book of the Hindus, describes this in great detail. Many lives, many masters was just a testimony to the philosophy mentioned in the Geeta. I recollect a person from Bangalore, in a television interview, mentioning about having met five of his wives of his previous lives in this life. We get to hear a lot about people rather children being born with extra-ordinary talent. These are probably their learnings from the past lives carried forward into this life. There are many books written by different people, saints and philosophers and the likes trying to describe the concept of re-birth and life after death. However what has been written is only the tip of the ice berg.

The book left me pondering over certain facts:

Catherine mentioning the year of her past lives sometimes in the BC (when even calenders were not present) with precision.
Concept of group of souls whereby people who are related in previous lives are also related in this life in some way.
Memories associated with the soul.
Failure of law of conservation of souls. With the population increasing at a rapid pace, the number of souls too is increasing which means so many new souls are getting created many of them without a past.
Soul is independent of the sex, also independent of the form of body it takes. However Catherine only remembers her form as human being.

The answers to these questions are neither simple nor straight forward But we can safely assume that if we find someone interesting and are attracted to someone then probably that person must have been closely associated with us in one of our past lives. After all " तेरा मुझसे है पहले का नाता कोई, यूँ ही नहीं दिल लुभाता कोई..."

Happy New Year - 2008

2008-01-28T17:30:00.000+05:30

The new year is already here and like always I do have valid excuses for remaining off the board, not even wishing my dear readers, there by conserving lot of valuable Google bytes :). Well before I start with my new blog, a quick recapitulation of what kept me busy during the last 4 months.

The festival season (Oct-Nov) put me in a festive mood :).
Was re-trying my hand at the (steering) wheel.
Revived my long lost hobby of painting. Completed 3 of them.
Finished reading 4 books.
Watched a couple of new movies including the much hyped OSO which left me wondering and pondering for another whole month. (Such movies really work !!??!!)
Started following some reality shows thereby exposing myself to variations in blood sugar levels, palpitation and perspiration rates.
Bought a digital BP monitor to check the same.
Involved in potted plant gardening at home.

So now you really got to believe that my excuses are indeed valid !

Finally wishing everyone a great year ahead. Hope you get tremendous joy and enlightenment reading my articles as much as I do while writing them :).

Damsel in Distress

2007-09-26T14:34:00.000+05:30

Society called her a damsel in distress. Her name was Sonia Agarwal.

An orphan, and possessed of adequate wealth, she cut a dash, as the saying is. She had a good figure and a good carriage, a certain natural grace and an air of nobility, attributes which most men like. However, her eyes always portrayed a sense of unhappiness in her.

One day, as she was sitting outside her classroom her cell phone rang, singing a popular Himesh Reshammiya’s ringtone. She was stunned as an unknown number flashed on the screen. Her mind was filled with mixed feelings something like a cocktail of vodka and gin with carrot juice. That incident just flashed past her eyes like McGrath’s out swinger.

It was a stormy rainy night, two years back when she had just entered the college. She came back home late from her salsa classes. There was no power. The window panes were squeaking. The cool air ran a chill through her spine. It was a typical Ramsay movie scene. Suddenly the rain stopped, the thunder and the lightening ceased to exist like the Kaveri water. There was the silence that precedes a tempest.

Her cell phone rang. She groped in the dark and found her bag. She opened it and picked up her phone. An anonymous number flashed on the screen. She received the call. A very sweet and loving voice of a young man answered on the other side. Sonia was enthralled for she had never heard such sweetness in the voice. For a love longed orphan this was love at first hearing. The man spoke to her as if he knew her for eons. Sonia went into the dreamland singing and dancing to the tunes of Anu Mallik’s pirated music. A stroke of thunder brought her back to reality and also shattered her two minute old love. The man apologized profusely as he had got the wrong number. And co-incidentally his personal fiancée also shared the same name, Sonia.

Sonia was disappointed. She felt all hell broke loose upon her. She cried to the heavens for snatching the happiness from her life once again. She cried and cried like a typical bahu of television serial as though she was competing with the torrents.

The phone was still ringing. Sonia had found it hard to come to terms with reality. Even after two years that incident was still fresh in her mind. She did not want to feel dejected once again. She had seen enough sorrow in her life. Her favorite tone now sounded irritating to her. She wanted to disconnect without even answering. But then she did not want her fear to grip her eternally and jeopardize her life. She answered the call. Once again a sweet and loving voice greeted her from the other side. Sonia started trembling. She did not want the Murphy’s Law of “if something can go wrong it will” to be true in her case. The person talked again, “Madam would you like to go in for a personal loan …”

Trivia: Written on 22 December 2006 for a story completion contest (italicised part was already given to be completed).

The Accident Episode

2007-09-26T12:12:00.000+05:30

Some people are considered fortunate when they meet with an accident. Some others are not. They are fortunate for they have met with this sweet accident that everybody looks forward to at some point of time in their life to meet. Yes, they have fallen in love. While the not so fortunate are the ones who meet with more deadly accidents on the roads or at their workplace. Some escape with little or no injuries, some others are crippled for life and the less fortunate ones are married to death.

After a pleasant weekend, I was all set to go to my office on a sunny Monday morning on February the second, 2004 at about 9.05 am, with full rejuvenation. New hopes and ideas for the week were spurting in my mind. I had to cross the 100 feet, quadruple lane ring road with a divider in between. I am aware of the Bangalore traffic which is reckless and horrible. People do not follow the obvious traffic rules; no lane discipline is observed, no indicators used, no horns blown and more so one ways are also violated. But I am a precocious person and used to first look at the barred side on the one way because I knew that though I know about the rules, the other person need not necessarily know. Keeping all this in mind, I first looked to my left which was the wrong side for the traffic, and found no one. Then I concentrated on the right side. A whole bunch of vehicles was flowing on the road. I waited for my turn to make a move. And when I found that there was no one, I just kept my right foot down the footpath on the road. No sooner had I done that, I found myself lying on the road with my cell phone on one side and the bag that I was carrying in my hand on the other. I did not know what had happened. I found a bike lying below me and below it was a man, in all probability the rider, who was bleeding profusely from the left side of his forehead. I immediately realized that we had met with an accident. A 150 cc, 12 BHP bike that appeared on the scene out of nowhere from the wrong side speeding at about 40KMpH had crashed into my not so muscular body. I quickly got up, collected my bag and felt the pain on the left side of my cranium just behind the ear. I moved my fingers over the area to see if there was any cut and just found a streak of blood on my fingers. I was happy that there was not a big cut requiring any stitches. As I was a little too much informed about head injuries, I quickly conducted a system test on myself. I tried to listen and found that the ears were functional, and then tested each eye for sight, blurred vision and ability to distinguish three fingers as three; by His grace, they too performed as per expectations, and then tried to recollect some phone numbers and names just to ensure that I had not become a case of short or long term amnesia. A sense of joy seemed to engulf me as I thought I had successfully come out of this test. But soon the pain radiating all over my cranium brought me back to reality and I realized that I was a victim of accident and had to keep up my composure. The injured portion had begun to swell by now and I did not know whether it was a blood clot or just a swelling due to pain. By now quite a few people had gathered at the scene and were trying to help the biker. Some of them were looking at me with a sense of hostility and some others did not even know what had happened. Somebody gave me my cell phone which was lying on the road till then without getting beneath the tyres of any vehicles. I quickly tested it for functionality and found it working. The location of our accident was quite dangerous. Any vehicle could have easily smashed all of us- me, him and my cell phone.

Nobody exchanged any word, neither me nor the biker nor any of the onlookers. It was a peaceful accident indeed! I quickly collected all my belongings, checked for my office keys, identity card and stuff and started moving towards my friend and colleague’s house which was just close by. All this time my head was aching and the pain was shooting everywhere. A different kind of nervousness had gripped me and my limbs were shaking. I could also see some stars before me.

I reached my friend’s place, my trousers soiled with grease and oil and my body aching in pain. I quickly gave him an account of what had happened. He made me relax on the sofa; his sister-in-law immediately washed the wound, applied some antiseptic lotion and smeared an herbal cream with a touch of affection and warmth. I began to feel better and the pain seemed to vanish with her soothing touch. His mother gave me a spoonful of sugar and a glass of water. I felt a little relaxed and remembered my mother who would have done something similar to ward off all the pain. That’s the magic power that He has bestowed upon this visible God, whose love and care will make you forget all your miseries and sufferings and you will regain your joys. After resting for some time, my friend took me to a nearby doctor. The medico prescribed some pain killers and assured me that everything will be fine and advised me to take rest.

I reached home and prepared myself to take some rest. Called up my friend in office and told him about the recent developments. The news spread like wild fire and soon I started receiving calls about my well being. The only nice thing about being un-well is the attention that one gets from his friends and relatives. One is convinced that one’s existence on this planet is not just a burden and that there are people who really care about his presence on mother earth. For all others one has to write pieces of literatures. I spent the rest of the day quite restlessly. All this time my head was aching slightly and my body had started showing some spots of pain here and there where the vehicle had hit me. The pain killer had started to act by then but the pain in my heart was still beyond its reach. Somehow I was feeling sorry for this loss. It had become a part and parcel of my life. I remembered it only after reaching home. But it was too late by then. I had lost my dear pen in the mishap and I am very sentimental about it!

Trivia: Written on February 9, 2004 after the accident which took place at Banashankari 3rd stage, Bangalore.

Bachelorhood Regained

2007-09-26T12:01:00.000+05:30

I was a happy man then. My role models were Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Abdul Kalam, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Beethoven and all those young and old men who had managed to escape from the clutches of the more deadly of the Homo sapiens species. Yes, I was a bachelor, a true bachelor, who in my opinion is not just one who has not tied the knot but also one who is also mentally free from the intimate fallacies of life. I had a very high regard for these men and used to sing eulogies in their favour. I used to instigate a sense of bachelorhood among my associates whenever and wherever possible making them to envisage the benefits of being a bachelor. What a life it was! Absolute freedom. Free from commitments. One is not answerable to anybody. There is no question of waiting or making others wait. All these thoughts would only fortify my notions and I used to feel elated for having nurtured those passions. I used to feel pity for some of my colleagues who were by then washed away from our shores to an island of love, which I believed, would only jeopardize their life and make them a non-performing asset.

Things were fine until one day when a gush of wind blew or was it a tempest that carried me away and I went with the wind and soon found myself on the island that I always disliked. I wondered how could that be possible when I had such firm roots on the main land. I tried to retrospect the possible causes when this beautiful face came across me. I was stunned; I pinched myself to make sure that I was not daydreaming for I had never seen such a beautiful damsel before. She was an epitome of beauty, an angel whom god had created giving special attention. And all these factors were more than sufficient for my domain transformation. My bachelorhood was lost.

Very soon I found myself doing all the conventional things that some of my colleagues had already ventured into. I would always try to find a quiet and a lonely place away from the prying eyes of the unfortunate bachelors to share a few romantic words with my newly found diva. In the process, we had explored all possible locations from behind the bushes to beneath the trees. Hours were spent together sharing almost everything except the email passwords. I began to see life with a new perspective. Now my role models were Romeo, Majnu, Shakespeare and all those who had lived and died for love. I held these men with great esteem. What a life it was! There was joy even without much freedom and commitments that would make one happy. There was fun even in waiting and making others wait. I used to feel pity for some of my bachelor friends who were left behind on the main land, for I believed they would become cynic.

Again, things were fine for some time and we would be rendezvous almost everyday until that fateful day when I had the shock of my life. She revealed to me that she was no more interested in me and that it was the last time she was meeting me. I was shocked, stunned, surprised and what not. I could not believe my ears. I checked my pocket calendar to see whether it was first of April. I tried to remind her of all those moments that we had spent together, which I always cherished in my mind. Those words of intimacy that were showered upon each other, the promises that were made were all reminded to her but in vain. I asked her for an explanation for the sudden change in her demeanor. Finally, she told me the reason for doing so. Her brother had advised her against all this and had threatened to do harm to me if at all I was found with her for the simple reason that it would deteriorate her reputation and image in the society.

She had not even completed her sentence and her brother was seen charging towards me. His eyes were carrying fire and he seemed to have a killer instinct. I took to my heels immediately and began heading towards an unknown destination. He was chasing me. I ran as fast as I could not knowing where to go. He was approaching me quickly. Soon I found myself on the top of a cliff and he was only at an arm’s length from me. I was gasping for breath. He was now walking towards me and I had no place to go other than out of this world. Then… the doorbell rang waking me up from my slumber thus breaking my nightmare. It was already 8:00 AM then. I heaved a sigh of relief for I had regained my bachelorhood.

PS: This story is purely a work of fiction cooked up solely in the author’s idle mind and any resemblance to any incident, though the chances are very remote, is purely coincidental। The author is not responsible if the reader becomes sentimental and or changes his perspective of life.

Trivia: This story (including the post script) was written on 13 March 2003 for our college magazine Vitruvian.

Bus To NITK

2007-09-26T11:17:00.000+05:30

After having travelled for over three and a half years between Mangalore and NITK, I think I should pen down some of my myriad experiences in those six wheeler, multi-seater, bi-cleaner guided, solitary controlled, recklessly driven cubicles of iron and wood which are better known to the layman as ‘BUS’, but which I consider to be an acronym for ‘breath under seize’. Before I proceed any further with my narration, let me put a line of declaration that all those men in khaki i.e., the conductors & drivers, cleaners and passengers travelling in the bus are non fictitious and any resemblance to any act with anybody only fortifies the genuineness of this article. At this point of time, let us define the three main categories of buses in the increasing order of their dominance. The first category is that of the city buses, which as the name suggests, are confined only to the city limits. Usually packed to about 2.5 times its rated capacity, people other than of course the conductor hardly find space to move even their noses. Second in order come the service buses. Last and the least are the express buses for one’s chances of reaching one’s destination in one piece are the least in this particular category of buses.

Blessed are the drivers of these buses for they are responsible for making their passengers sing eulogies to every God they can remember. Even an atheist becomes a polytheist, setting aside all his pseudo theories declining the existence of God and tries to discover Him even in the straw of his upholstery seat. Such is the capability of these men on the steering for they can transform the human mind much faster than the seer who is said to have envisaged God. Moreover, the speed of this transformation is directly proportional to the force exerted by him on the accelerator. Even Michael Schumacher is forced to give a second thought if at all he decides to land on NH-17.

Nevertheless, the dare devil passengers who travel by these buses are very optimistic. Their optimism is reflected in their seat selection process and its further updating at every bus stop though none of them is sure as to whether they will get a chance to get down the bus in full consciousness. The filling up of the seat matrix follows a definite pattern, which is very orderly, and recursive in nature. Though I.T wizards all over the world are trying to switch over from WINDOWS, it is one of the favorites in these buses for everybody want a window by their side and until the window seats are occupied, the other seats are left untouched. The process that immediately follows the choosing of the window seat is that of trying to open the glass panes that are seldom present. People utilize their brawns to its maximum only to realize that it is equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack. Once the window seats are occupied, the next in order is the last seat stretching from one end of the bus to the other followed by the other seats beside the window seats. Only those few people who consider themselves to be at par with the drivers or those who want to have a glimpse of all other fellow passengers or vice versa or those who want to learn the daring act of rushing through the streets which are not wide enough even for the two wheelers or those who want to be ahead in each and every field of their life occupy the front seat beside the driver’s seat that is in quadrature with all other seats. At every bus stop, a few lucky ones get down the bus sighing a breath of relief thereby creating a few vacancies here and there. This gives rise to the musical chair once again and the vacancies are filled in the order of preference mentioned above.

Trivia: Written on 20 April 2003 for our college (National Institute of Technology Karnataka formerly KREC at Suratkal) magazine, Vitruvian. The map below shows the satellite view of the college and the highway NH-17.

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Educational Reforms

2007-09-25T16:06:00.000+05:30

“The aim of education is the opening of the inner eye towards light”- said Plato thereby expressing the importance and the ultimate aim of education. Education plays a key role in the progress and development of a nation. The solution to many a problems lies in educating the masses. Knowledge is power and education provides this knowledge. An educated person is more mature and sensible than an uneducated man. He knows how to handle the situations tactfully and wisely. Our country has been impoverished by a lot of strikes, violence and protests. And if we ferret out the cause for all these, we find that behind every such agitation there is a nexus of uneducated persons. If idle mind is a devil’s workshop, an uneducated mind is his lair. Hence, the need of the hour is to educate the masses.

Today, India has achieved an overall literacy rate of about 60%. However, among those who are literate, not all are educated. A clear-cut distinction has to be made between being merely literate and being educated. If literacy is being able to read and write, education is a broader and more involved perspective of being able to understand, resolve and apply the knowledge gained by being literate. It is not sufficient if one is just literate, one should also be educated. One should retrospect oneself and ask the question whether he is educated or merely literate. If literacy is the body then education is the soul. They should both go hand in hand. Our government should try to achieve 100% education rate and not just literacy rate.

Our current education system and the government policies of education are oriented more towards making people literate rather than educated. These policies need to be reformed immediately in the interest of country’s and peoples’ welfare. Great social reformers like Rajaram Mohan Roy, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Annie Besant, Ranade and many others were also pioneers of educational reforms. They emphasized the need of educating people to prevent them from being exploited by the British, to make them fight for their rights. Gandhiji was a profounder of female education for he believed that if you educate a man you are educating one person, whereas if you educate a woman you are educating an entire family.

The need of the hour is to bring about a revolution in our education system by making suitable reforms that will not only enrich the quality of education but also make it more meaningful and knowledge oriented. The first and foremost step in this regard is to achieve 100% education rate. Emphasis should be given to education of rural masses. National literacy mission, a governmental organization, is doing a commendable job in this regard. However, in a country like India which has a population of more than a 100 crore, it is impossible for any single organization to carry out its job effectively. Hence, more number of private and non-governmental organizations (NGO) should come forward and take the initiative of spreading education in remote and backward areas. Government should offer special schemes, subsidies and provide all the required facilities to motivate these organizations and encourage other organizations to join them. Special incentives should be given to the people also in order to attract them and to prevent them from leaving the schools. A large number of adult schools should be set up. Informal education should be imparted through these schools. Vocational job oriented training should be given to the people in order to help them earn their living. Programs like ‘each one teach one’ should be encouraged to spread education among the people.

The constitution of India provides for free and compulsory education to all the children below the age of fourteen years. This should be extended up to eighteen years and strictly enforced. The number of school dropouts has been increasing at an alarming rate mainly because they want to go out and earn a livelihood. This should be prevented by introducing schemes like ‘earn while you learn’ where by the students can earn as well as learn simultaneously. Special scholarships should be provided to poor and deserving students. Free books, uniform and midday meals should be given to poor children. Although these schemes are in vogue, many students who are really in need of it are not benefited due to the prevailing corruption in the country. Stringent laws should be passed to curb corruption and a strict vigil should be kept upon the officials in charge.

The quality of the education needs to be improved tremendously. Educational boards of various states follow their own pattern and syllabus that more often keeps changing with the government and the political party, which try to enforce their views and opinions on children. Hence, first of all the educational boards must be freed form the clutches of the government. They should be made independent bodies vested with full power to monitor the quality of education. Highly qualified people who are an epitome of education should adore the board of directors for framing the syllabus. The syllabus should be periodically reviewed and updated to include the latest state of the art technologies. Obsolete issues should be dropped then and there. Value based education should be encouraged. ‘Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime’ is a well-known line from a popular poem. True to these words, the curriculum should include lessons on the lives of great people who have contributed to the social, political, religious, economical and scientific development of the country. Instead of having separate state educational boards, there should be only one central board of education in order to bring about uniformity in education pattern and to help those students who have to take education in various states because of their parents’ transferable jobs.

Most of the schools in our country especially in the rural areas do not have sufficient number of teachers. Hence it is not sufficient if the government sets up a large number of schools at close proximity from each other so that the students do not have to travel long distances. It should also induct sufficient number of teachers to take care of these students. These teachers should be highly qualified. They should be given proper training and paid a very good salary with other benefits like accommodation, transportation facilities, etc. They should understand the students and try to make their teaching as lively, interesting and interactive as possible. Example is better than precept. Hence, they should include as many real life examples in their teaching as possible.

Last but not the least is our examination system, which also needs to be reformed. The examinations in our country are mainly aimed at testing the memory of a student rather than his knowledge. The results only reflect the performance of the student in those stipulated hours of the examination to those few questions in the question paper and are not designed to test the knowledge attained by him in the entire course of study. Hence, new schemes should be devised to test the overall knowledge and the level of understanding of the student and not merely his performance in a few hours. Evaluation should be done continuously throughout the length of the course.

By incorporating all these changes, our system of education can be greatly improved and we can be a model to other countries in the field of education. This will also attract students from other countries to come to India for education and prevent our own students from leaving our shores seeking quality education abroad.

Trivia: This article written in January 2003 went on to win the second prize at state level essay writing competition.

My Vision of Modern India

2007-09-19T14:36:00.000+05:30

“Jahan dal dal par sone ki chidiya karti hai basera, woh Bharat desh hai mera” is a famous song written by a visionary poet depicting the glory and prosperity of our nation. This invited trouble as our country was subjected to repeated plunders by foreign invaders who robbed away all the precious wealth and destroyed our magnificent temples and artifacts in greed of wealth. India was a center of trade and learning and attracted students from various parts of the world to acquire knowledge. Since ancient days, we were pioneers in many fields of science and technology. Our Vedas are a repertoire of such scientific knowledge that scholars and technologists find it hard to decipher even today. Such was the command and mastery of our ancestors on subjects like astronomy, mathematics, medicine and architecture. Our glory was wide spread and people from every nook and corner of the world have rushed to India to rendezvous with the people of our country to imbibe our culture, tradition, knowledge and heritage which was our legacy. Over the years, with the advent of foreign rule, our culture somehow began to fade away without our knowledge and we were transformed into a poor and an underdeveloped nation from a rich and prosperous nation. This happened because we lacked unity among ourselves.

My, therefore, first and foremost vision of India is to get back the name, fame, glory and prosperity it enjoyed during the past. I want my country to be transformed into a developed nation in the near future. India is a gifted land, a land with a divine bliss. The topography of the country has given us the name of a subcontinent. Our land is the most fertile land in the world. We have enough potential in terms of natural resources and manpower and we should harness it to the fullest. The key factor in achieving this is education. Education plays a major role in the development of any nation. All the people in modern India should be literate and educated. They should try to develop a research instinct in them and work hard towards contributing more and more in the field of science and technology.

Modern India should be a self-sustained country in most of the aspects especially in the area of agriculture. All the fields should be modernized and blossom with the state of the art technology equipments and genetically improved, best quality, fast and high yielding seeds. Our warehouses should be always full of variety of crops and we should have bumper crop every year. Agricultural exports must be maximized and we have to be the largest producer of all the crops. Biotechnology, which is the talk of the town today, will be the de facto technique of tomorrow and India should be the pioneer in utilizing it to the maximum to produce excellent, high yielding crops.

Industries play a very important role in the progress of a country. An industrial revolution has to take place once again in our country. Modern industries should have modernized industries with bleeding edge technologies. They should have sophisticated machinery to do precision work with perfect accuracy. Automation should take place in each and every process. At the same time, they should be ecofriendly. They should provide for a congenial environment. A large number of big and small industries should be set up. These have some definite advantages. They should provide employment for a large number of people, modernize the surrounding villages and establish a good transport network. Young entrepreneurs should be abetted to start industries. Quality goods should be produced. Exports should be increased and imports minimized thereby increasing the foreign exchange and stabilizing the rupee value.

Latest trends in the field of information technology had made India a global leader in this technology. India is a pioneer in implementing it in each and every walk of life. Right now, India is the country with the largest communication network. Modern India should be the first country to have connectivity with all the places in the country. Information highway has shrunk the earth and will continue to do so in the future also. Global village will be abated to a global spot. Software technology parks will be set up in all the important places in modern India for the research and development in the field of information sciences.

Strength respects strength. India is a peace loving country and peace can be advocated only by a strong person else the peace will be called an act of cowardice to elude from war. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalaam had rightly said that it was nuclear deterrence that was responsible for evading wars with Pakistan. Modern India should emerge as a super military and space power. This will not only make it a very powerful nation but will also help in advocating its principles to the world. Other countries will respect it and it will have a say in all the issues concerning with any other nation. This will also ensure it a permanent place in then UN Security Council. Space science i.e. astronomy, has its roots in India since time immemorial. Great mathematicians like Aryabhatta, Bhaskara, Sridhar, and many others have made excellent contributions to this field as early as 300BC, which are elusive even today. Mathematicians and scientists of modern India will be no different. Today we are one of the five nations to have a geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV), which is indigenously developed. The day is not far when we will send a manned spacecraft to mars also and send artificial satellites to other planets as well.

All said and done, modern India should be a model nation to the world. There should be peace, prosperity, greenery, tranquility and communal harmony throughout the country. Hunger poverty, crime and corruption should be altogether wiped out from our country. Everybody should be literate and economically and financially sound. We should regain our lost image of being a golden country with perennial rivers of milk and where gods are always smiling upon the residents. We should be a developed country soon and be a leader of other global nationals.

Trivia: This article was written in circa 2002-03 for a contest.

The Indian telecom story...As I have seen it

2007-08-23T22:51:00.000+05:30

One gadget that has evolved from being a mere luxury to a necessity, that has become indispensable today is a mobile phone a.k.a cell phone or a hand phone.

Circa 1985, probably the first time I saw a telephone. Made of black plastic like material, this instrument was considered a prestigious possession equivalent to having a car or the likes. Owned by just a few people in their private residences, this was one of the perquisites bestowed on top executives serving the government. Not only was possessing it a matter of pride but receiving and making calls too. A long distance call was always done through the telephone operator. It was called 'trunk call'. The caller had to call up the exchange and give the number of the callee and keep waiting for the operator to connect and get back. The wait time would generally extend from a few hours to a couple of days depending on the weather prevailing at that time. Monsoons would inevitably breakdown the lines and the wait would only go on. A few years later, subscriber trunk dialing popularly known as STD came into effect. STD booths were setup in every corner of the town. Every stationery shop had a PCO/STD booth attached. Though the call setup time was greatly reduced to minutes, the rates were quite high. Department of telecom of the Govt. of India was the only player providing service then. They introduced several schemes from time to time. The rates were cut to a quarter between 10pm to 6am. There used to be big queues during this time. It was finally moved to 11pm looking at the demand. Rates used to 50% on national holidays and Sundays.

Circa 1996, a new gadget got introduced in the market. It was a small portable device with unimaginable capabilities. It displayed messages on a small screen. It was called 'pager'. Motorola and BPL were probably the only ones that manufactured these instruments. There were two kinds of it - numeric and alpha numeric. Each with 2 lines or 4 lines screen. It was used to convey a short message or page a phone number. Upon receiving a number the recipient was expected to call back to that number.

The pager was almost instantaneously replaced by the cellular phone. This instrument, in addition to messaging could also make and receive calls. Handsets in the initial days were quite big, the size of pencil boxes, with a protruding antenna. Panasonic, Siemens and Motorola were among the first few companies to launch the mobile phones in India. Call rates were very high, 16 Rs/min for outgoing and 8 Rs./min for incoming and were restricted to local calls only. Hence only a handful of people could afford to have one as even receiving calls would cost them. But over the years the popularity has increased so much that incoming has becoming free for lifetime. The call rates have been slashed down to less than a rupee per minute. And cell phone has gone much beyond being just a phone. Today it is an all in one device, a calendar, alarm clock, reminder and a scheduler (together called personal information manager or PIM). It is a total entertainment and gaming device. One can share and stream videos, take pictures, listen to music, play games and also find directions (GPS). One can write in one's own handwriting and make video calls and conferencing. One can browse the web and send and receive emails with as much ease as from a PC.

All these qualities have really made it an indispensable gadget with people from every walk of life and profession flaunting one. India is a vast and diverse market for handset manufacturers like Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony, LG and service providers like BSNL, Bharti, Vodafone, Spice, Idea and several other tens of companies already in market and an equal number of them awaiting licenses from the government. Every service provider keeps coming out with new plans and schemes each claiming to be better than the other and targeted for a specific section of consumers. Similarly every handset manufacturer launches hundreds of new models of every range every quarter. A country with over a billion population provides for tech savvy as well as cost sensitive market with people changing handsets and plans as often as they change clothes. No doubt India is a booming market for people in this industry.

Tree

2007-07-16T20:08:00.000+05:30

Oh! giant tree,
You're always free.
You're so tall,
And prettier than all.

You're very useful,
For building houses beautiful.
You're the need of a nation,
From generation to generation.

You're the wealth of nation,
Needed to prevent erosion.
You're the beauty of nature,
From time to time and year to year.

Oh! giant tree,
You're always free.
You're so tall,
And prettier than all.

Trivia: I wrote this poem on 16 October 1993 (7th std) at an inter-branch writing competition held between the three branches of New Way School, Lucknow and won the 2nd prize.

And your are listening to...

2006-12-13T16:45:00.000+05:30

When we upgraded our "two-in-one" system (tape recorder with radio receiver) way back in 1997, the vendor asked us to go for one which has the capability to play FM signals. Neither did we understand the technology nor the utility of it. Nevertheless we did buy one with FM feature. Now, 9 years down the line we find having it really useful.

With new FM channels coming out every alternate month, the user has far too many choices now than he had a few months back. Bangalore currently features about 8 FM radio channels. When I was doing my industrial training in Bangalore in the year 2000, there were just two of them, Radio City (then on 91 MHz and now on 91.1 MHz) and AIR's Vividh Bharathi (102.9 MHz). Vividh Bharati being just a parallel transmission of the original medium wave. AIR then launched their exclusive FM channel, Rainbow on 101.3 MHz. Last one year saw the addition of 5 new channels, namely, Radio Mirchi (98.3 MHz), Radio One (94.3 MHz), Radio Indigo (91.9 MHz), Radio Big (92.7 MHz) and Radio Sun (93.5 MHz).

Radio Big and Sun are mostly dedicated to Kannada while Indigo is for lovers of international music (read as English). Radio One and Mirchi have their anchoring in Kannada while the songs are a mixture of Hindi and Kannada movie songs. Rainbow, as the name suggests, is a mix of English, Hindi and Kannada songs. Radio city mostly plays Hindi songs with jockeying in English. But tough competition due to the increase in the number of players and a penchant to increase the listenership have made them to broadcast some programs in the native language too.

Most of these channels however have a similar presentation style and program coverage like traffic update, time and weather update, listener's choice, love advice, etc. But one channel that has still maintained its old charm and continues to make people nostalgic is Vividh Bharathi. Hardly anything has changed over the decades. The program and the presentation style is still the same. One can still listen to programs like Jayamala, Chayageet, Fauji bhaiyon ke liye, Geetmala and Aap ki farmaish in addition to discussions on agriculture, medicine, health and hourly news. If at all there is anything missing, then it is the magnetic voice of Ameen Sayani of Binaca/Cibaca Geetmala fame.

Invisible Man

2006-12-13T15:57:00.000+05:30

One interesting fact that I got to know from the many quiz competitions that I have participated in so far is that invisible men are blind. The reasoning being thus. Invisibility in any medium means being one with that medium. When that happens the refractive index of the invisible body becomes same as that of the medium. In such a case, light does not converge at the retina of the eye and no image is formed. Hence invisible man cannot see. So the next time you want to get invisible, beware!!

Happy Deepavali

2006-10-19T16:19:00.000+05:30

Deepavali, the festival of lights, is back again and so am I. The last two days were spent making huts and setting up the village as a part of Deepavali celebrations in our office. My team mates and colleagues have already left the premises to get their things packed to go to their native places.

I, very well remember those days, when as a child, I used to very anxiously look forward to this festival. It was for the sake of crackers and in particular roll caps. Every child around sported the toy pistol fully loaded with the roll and there used be heavy exchange of "fire" with lots of smoke, noise and that typical "fragrance" of the explosive. And those of them who did not have a pistol used to use the dot caps, hitting it with a stone. The missed hits made more noise than the cracker itself. These memories just make me nostalgic about those days.

One of my friends told me that he does not blow off candles during birthdays. His reasoning was that our culture teaches us to light lamps and spread light and not to extinguish it. "Tamasoma jyotirgamaya" (in sanskrit, meaning from darkness to light) is the essence of our culture. We light a lamp to spread light, to ward off the darkness, to curb ignorance and spread knowledge. Deepavali is a depiction of this belief.

I personally admire those people who celebrate Deepavali by lighting lamps and not by burning noisy crackers and polluting everything around. Its high time we start celebrating festivals sensibly.

My Lamentation

2006-09-11T14:58:00.000+05:30

As a child I used to look at the sky,
To see the birds flying high,
To find a rainbow and wonder why,
And out of joy I used to cry.

As I grew up, I became learned,
Books answered all that I yearned,
Then I started taking nature for granted,
I stopped enjoying it and only lamented.

Back After a Break

2006-09-06T14:09:00.000+05:30

When I was in Korea, i used to be quite busy. But then I used to find a lot of time.Now that Iam in India and not that busy, I hardly find time. What a paradox!!

Hm.. did watch the most awaited movie of the year, The Da Vinci Code. Wanted to watch first day first show, but managed to sneak into the second one. And four days later, watched "Fanaa - destroyed in love". Literally, five of us bunked the office to watch this one. Hadn't really tried such a feat even as a student. But after watching the movie, we felt it was really not worth the effort. Wanted to write the reviews for both these films, but I think its quite late to even think about it.

Among other movies that i have watched over the last few months are corporate (quite good portrayal of industry politics), Omkaara (a very poor reproduction of Shakespeare's Hamlet), Golmaal (good timepass comedy) and Anthony kaun hai (nothing to boast about it).Sometimes I feel like watching KANK, but on second thoughts (thought that it is a Karan Johar film), I feel otherwise. But definitely want to watch MunnaBhai dwitiya..

Harvest in Korea

2006-02-14T13:44:00.000+05:30

For all those people with a special penchant towards farming practices, this blog is going to be a disappointment. Iam not going to write anything about the more celebrated agricultural practice of harvesting the crops. Well, this one is dedicated to my experience at the Korean saloon.

At the outset I should admit that my scalp hair growth rate is exponential and Iam a lazy man as per as getting a hair cut is concerned. But in Korea it did not really bother me as the thick growth of hair on my head was a natural protection, to a certain extent, against the sub zero temperatures prevailing here this time of the year. However somebody did not like this idea of me flaunting such a exuberant growth of it and I had to go in for the quartely harvest of my hair much earlier. I would prefer calling it harvest to cut for its abundance.

One fine bright and chilly morning, I set out to look for the saloon. I found one close to my apartment. The surprising thing was that the hair cut was done by female barbers or should I call them barbara. Well I sat down on the chair and she jumped to work. No questions asked, no preferences taken. There is mostly one style of cut in Korea, the military cut. After the initial spraying of water to moisten the hair, they trim the hair with a pair of scissors, the hair being held in between their tender fingers rather than combs. It is done this way to maintain hygiene and prevent the spread of dandruff. Once the initial trimming is done, they use the electric hair remover to complete the remaining task. Within minutes, the entire process is over. They then use a vacuum cleaner to suck the cut hair from the scalp. The job is over and the price is 5000 wons (about USD 5).

I wish I could...

2006-02-10T15:33:00.000+05:30

I wish I could tell
How much I care for you
I wish I could tell
How much I like you.

I wish I could tell
You have cast on me a magic spell
Can't think of anything other than you
Everything around only looks like you.

I wish I could tell
In my dreams you always dwell
Days are dreamy, nights are sleepless
Each passing day only makes me more restless.

I wish you would always be mine
I wish you would be my valentine.

Rendezvous with Dr. Kalam

2006-02-08T15:25:00.000+05:30

Today was one of the greatest days in my life. Probably anyone would feel as much elated as Iam after meeting this great man. Yes, I got this rare opportunity of meeting our president HE Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam. Somewhere in the bottom of my heart I always felt that I would meet him one day, but never ever imagined that it would materialise in a foreign nation.

Dr. Kalam was on a three nation visit to Singapore, Philipinnes and S.Korea and yesterday he arrived in this country. We got the news that he would be visiting our Samsung campus at Giheung about a week ago. Our joy knew no bounds when they told us that all the Indian engineers would be allowed to meet him. This was a special moment for everyone here. The prepartions for his arrival started a day back. The security, the presentations, the food was all monitored and rehearsed. Early this morning we saw our Indian tricolor (albiet the saffron had become pale orange in many of them) and Korean flag, 'Tae Kuk', attached to all the electric poles along side the road as mark of friendship and cordiality between the two nations.

The president was supposed to arrive at our campus at 11.30 AM sharp. However unlike any other diplomat, he arrived 10 minutes in advance. After a brief exchange of greetings, introductions and plesantries, he moved on to the display room where Samsung has showcased its technological prowess. This was the place where we were allowed to meet him. He was, all the time surrounded by his men and a hazaar photographers trying to capture his every movement.

And then the big moment came when he came to meet us. My limbs started shaking in nervousness. This larger than life personality commands great respect. The persona that he carries with him is simply great. He exchanged a couple of words with us and posed with us for photographs (the Indian embassy had ruled out any such possibilty). He was in the campus for about 90 minutes which included a 30 minutes luncheon. I will remember this meeting forever.

Snow Snow Baby!!

2006-02-07T15:21:00.000+05:30

It snowed.. well Iam wondering if any animal can represent the intensity.. as in "It rained cats and dogs" when there is heavy rainfall.. But todays was one of the heaviest that I have observed. Within minutes inches of snow covered all over. It was real treat to eyes. Everything around was covered with soft cotton like snow. Very calm and peaceful environment instilled a sense of tranquility. The snow flakes were floating in the air like the feathers of a pigeon under its wings, all the way to ground. And the moment I touched them, they just melted in my palms. All the trees that seemed to be standing gloomily devoid of any leaves were suddenly boasting of the white snow they had trapped in between their twigs. Reminded me of ShahRukh in VeerZaara with white hair :). Well that was just on a lighter note. There seemed to be purity all around. I only wish it snowed like this for some more time if not days.

Sleepless in Bangkok

2006-01-26T10:47:00.000+05:30

This is my third trip to the Republic of Korea, commonly known as South Korea. I generally suffer from a syndrome, which I have termed as "pre-travel nervousness" . One of my friends asked me, as I have already travelled twice before, why should i still be suffering from it. I did not give her any answer. But I just pondered over, think of a woman who is about to deliver. No matter it may be her nth time delivery, she will be as much anxious as she was during her first. (Now my friend knows the answer :) )

This time I had no choice but to fly on Thai airways. The earlier two were on Singapore airlines, the best in the world. The Thai flew to Incheon international airport (S.Korea) enroute Bangkok (flight change) and Taipei in Taiwan(just a maintenance halt). I boarded the flight in Bangalore at 10.30 PM IST and the Airbus carrier A300 landed at the Bangok airport at 3.15 AM, Thailand local time. The connecting flight was at 7.15 AM local time there. The flight time from Bangalore to Bangkok was just 3 hours which did not let me sleep at all.

When I landed at the Bangkok airport I was shocked to see the scene there. The place for transit passengers was very small. There were hardly 50 seats there and the place resembled more like a railway cloak room than an international airport facility. People were sleeping everywhere, on the floors, in the restaurants, on the seats, in the childrens' play area and even in the smoking rooms. There was hardly a place to sit. I was too tired with the days activities and needed sleep badly. But there was no place even to sit. And i did not like the idea of sleeping on the floor, not that i could not get sleep but i did not want to sleep that way. So I decided to keep walking back and forth to avoid falling asleep. Ofcourse I was yawning like a jack ass all the while.

All this time I was observing the people from different parts of the world fast asleep, totally unaware of what's going around them. Some had used their cabin luggage as pillows while some others found solace in using their footware as one. Some had covered their faces with some book or paper while others hardly bothered about the ambience. A couple of them would wake up every 15-20 minutes, have a look around, ensure that they are still in this world and get back to sleep, while a few others slept like babies, too innocent for their age.

I somehow managed to spend the three and half hours there, but it was a very tiring experience there for this was one of the few instances where I was completely sleepless.

On Truth and Truthfulness

2006-01-17T20:53:00.000+05:30

"सत्यम वद, धर्मं चर" (meaning, speak the truth; lead a righteous life), "सत्यमेव जयते" (meaning, truth alone triumphs) are a few of the myriad sayings advocating the doctrines of being truthful. All great saints, prophets and messengers of peace and humanity and all great books on religion and religious scriptures uphold that one should always speak the truth come what may.

Two parties are always involved whenever there is a transaction of truth; the speaker and the listener. But none of the above mentioned entities really tell how the listener should react to the speaker upon hearing the truth. It may be quite simple to speak out the truth. The speaker is greatly relieved of the burden that he was carrying till then. He thinks the burden is lost. But as a matter of fact, it just transferred to the other party and now its his turn to react to it.

I feel the role of the second person is quite important at this juncture. It is his reactions that will decide the future for the two, their relationships and their interactions. It can pave the way for a new beginning or it can seal off all existing paths. A very typical example being a person confessing his or her love to someone and now a big scene is created by the other person(if she/he doesn't feel the same way) as if a great crime has been committed. Keeping ones cool is the key to handling the situation in a way congenial to both parties. Else maybe one should follow the wise saying "सत्यम ब्रूयात, प्रियम ब्रूयात, न ब्रूयात अप्रिय सत्यम" (meaning, speak the truth, say pleasant things but never say the truth that is unpleasant). Well, now what exactly is pleasant or unpleasant is left to the good judgement of the speaker.

Happy New Year 2006

2006-01-13T19:14:00.000+05:30

At the outset a very happy new year, 2006 to you..
And secondly appologies for showing no activity on my blog during the new year..
But therez a reason for that too.. Not that i was too lazy to put up something, but a little indolent not to put up anything :)
Ah.. the fact is I was involved in a different activity at the dawn of the new year.. Our company annual day was celebrated on 6th of Jan and I was busy penning down the script for a skit and (mis)directing it.. We won the third prize (for the complete show which included apart from the skit, a fashion show (read as fancy dress show :) and surprise item (names sometimes mislead) ).
Will write more about it in the next posting...
Sayonara!!