The Importance of being a Nationalist

This one is dedicated to all those dedicated nationalists and martyrs for the Indian cause.
Firstly, let me point out that I have all the respect for the old nationalists and all our national heroes (with the exception of a certain ‘Father of the Nation’, whom I unfortunately see as a big fake).

India is a vast country. This both a general statement as well as a verifiable fact (if you care to verify). However, I believe there is a fundamental flaw in bringing together 20-30 states of different kinds and stitch it together and declare it a nation. But, first I must point out that the concept of the nation-state, like many other concepts, is one borrowed from Europe. India (as we know it today) never had any separate existence. It was just a bunch of states that happened to be in the same geographical area. There was rarely a fixed boundary and territorial definitions of a state were fluid. This means no checkpoint ‘Charlie’s (which for the uninitiated, was one of the many checkpoints connecting East and West Berlin, through the (in)famous Berlin Wall).

Enough of beating around the bush. I will now come to the point that I was trying to make—Indian nationalism, like Pepsi or Coke, is now a marketable (extremely profitable) commodity. Why, this great announcement? Because of a few incidents that have been found media attention (read cricket problems).

The entire trouble began when a certain Bengali captain of the Indian cricket team, was chucked out of the team by an Australian coach and his Indian crony (a former wicket-keeper). The trouble that followed was far from simple, there were black flag demonstrations, weekly effigy-burning sessions, media discussions, and more locally Psycho’s stupid t-shirt and cheering during the India-RSA match. The Aussie coach became as famous as Simon of Simon Commission fame ( thankfully no Lala Lajpat Rais). The Indian Team was booed off the field when they came to play in Calcutta (same match). Certain members of our college (they were outstation candidates), who had gone to see the match, were appalled at this behaviour (they were possibly right), and immediately blamed it on the un-sportsman like temperament of the Bengalis. There was even a discussion (quite heated) about this issue in class the next day and even some time later. Eventually, the entire nation was divide into two groups—pro and anti-India.

My main objection to this entire episode is simple—where is the great ‘India’ that we talking about. A simple quarrel between two stupid sportsmen about who would control the nation’s (and the world’s) richest cricket board became a huge national debate. Seriously, how low could we stoop? I feel that this is symptomatic of different nations forced to live as one ‘nation’. The Bengalis felt that the captain was dismissed because he was Bengali. Frankly, given his performance, he should have been kicked out of the team a long time ago and given a fair chance to get his place back in the team. The rest of the nation felt that the Bengalis were separatist, stupid, regional and idol-worshippers. One person actually claimed that the whole debate was about the fact that the Eastern region of the country did not produce enough national level heroes and promptly attributed the behaviour to a fear of losing their only hero on the national level. In fact, this person may have been closer to the truth than he realized or meant to be.

‘India’ is now a commodity that is being brought and sold globally. But, inside this seemingly seamless country lies a great divide. The people who claimed that the Bengalis were separatists or regional were equally if not more so in pointing out the fact. No amount of sociology or history or political science has been able to convince me that ‘India’ as a nation ever ‘existed’ or it ever will. I have taken a more common (read low-brow) example to prove my point, there are more fashionable ones like the Naxalite movement, the Khalistan Movement and more recently the Ram-Janmabhoomi Movement, which also paint the same picture of India. ‘India’ is not a ‘nation’ yet, there are too many barriers in the way—Regionalism, Communalism, Economic disparities (this feature is not unique to India), and host of other –isms.

It is possibly when we have realized this fact that we will be able to form the ‘India’ of our dreams.

Jai Hind (couldn’t find a more appropriate line to end)

Hello People

What's up? life seems to be a bit dull. the political hullaballo seems to have died down. it seems as if the vacation has taken the bite out of our political debate. how sad. well keeping with that trend, here's an account of a field 'trip'.

On the 27th of March, Seven brilliant(Six actually, i'm not that brilliant) students of NUJS(I'm not sure whether we qualify as first or second years) went to a place near Barrackpur.For the benefit of the historically challenged, this was the place where the First War Of Indian Independence/Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, began. My travelling companions included one happy couple (Sniggy+Dadoo), one madcap(Psycho), one asshole(Tittoo), Subhomoy and Trina. The trip was actually a huge picnic. We worked for less than one hour, and played about for more than four. Somehow, socio lessons from the first sem did not seem to be of much help. Me, Subhomoy and Psycho are working on Self-Help Groups. the interview method wasn't of much use. anyway, the transcript of the interview resembles the script of a badly made Bengali movie. it's too full of cliches. the usual, rot about female empowerment, education, etc. During the interview, i realised that Psycho's Bengali is even worse than mine(I claim no expertise in my mothertongue whatsoever). He made up a few words which i cannot unfortunately translate (i didn't quite get what he was referring to). i then acted as a translator for the happy couple, who had gone on a field trip despite the fact that neither of them could speak even rudimentary Bengali(so much for linguistic tolerance). we then went about playing carrom and cricket. Dadoo happened to discover a magic touch and got quite a few wickets(the small boundaries meant that 6=out. most of dadoo's victims carted him out of the ballpark). Some excellent food and great people thrown in completed the day.

Lessons learnt from field trip:
1. If the ngo says 'come by 10.30', never appear before 11.30.

2. Avoid going on long trips with tittoo. he can be a real pain in the ass.

3. Avoid taking main roads during the run-up to the elections, especially if you are in a Tata Sumo, Mahindra Maxx or SUV of the same categories. the police have a tendency to seize or book these cars for election purposes.(you don't want to give them the car because it is rare to get back the car in running condition).

4. Never judge a carrom player by his size. i got thrased by a 12 year old midget.

5. Dont ask Tittoo to sing Himesh Reshmiya songs.( You'll be laughing till you get stiches on your sides).

6. Socio lessons about research techniques is useless during field work.

7. A decent knowledge of the local language is usually a must. (or else you will be making up words like psycho)

Thats all for the day. Good Night and Good Luck (especially if you are working with the people i am working with).

Politics

Before i begin, there are a few clarifications about the comments postede. firstly, i dont have anything against papua personally. he is a nice fellow. i am quite happy that atleast he did not get debarred. however, what i do object to is that fact that he got away with the same thing for which the others were debarred--lack of attendance. i object to the double standards used by the university and not about the students personally.

Secondly, Kaka, you took the words right out of my keyboard(sic). it is high time to open some form of student's union in nujs. this is the subject matter of this post.

Firstly, before any form of debate about politics is started, it is necessary to point out that politics is ubiquitous. atleast, i feel that all most all relationships and associations between two or more people in this world is of a political nature. politics is not always about michil, slogans or gheraos, it is mainly about something that a person believes in. unfortunately, the indian public has been fed on such trash in the name of politics that they have come to associate BJP, Congress or the left with the word 'politics'. there is a slight difference. politics is not about the general elections or the vote rigging but also about idoelogy and personal beliefs.
Secondly, what goes on in our college is politics. the elections are political in nature, even if they concern a non-political body like the SJA. personally, i feel that politics has more to do with personal beliefs, convictions and most importantly, the right to protest.
Concerning, the sfi bit. the whole idea about starting sfi was in fact started by me(very humbly submitted). it has a little bit of history behind it. the idea was born in relation to a specific need of our batchmates--namely, the arbitrary action of the college administration. I would also like to point out a certain comment that bhoposhima made during the meeting. he pointed out that he would not bow down to any form of protest by the students(i am not making this up. try and remember a reference to the night before the meeting). this to me is a direct violation of the right to protest(its fundamental to me). the whole action of the college and the sja, was infact quite sad. i atleast felt that the sja could have done better. why the fuck are we training to be lawyers, if we dont protest? i would also like to use another of bhopo's comments--there is no right or wrong answer in law(this is from class). if there is no right or wrong answer, then why do we have to take the university's judgment as final? why cant we challenge it.

i know this sounds idealistic, but aren't we students? as the bright 'young' faces of tomorrow, dont we owe a duty to the society, to challenge the usual? why the hell are people in nujs so status quo-ists? if we had protested the decision of the university, then would we be out of our bounds? i atleast dont think so. the best form of protest that we could muster was a meeting with fireplace and bhopo? we didnt even submit the stupid petition that was signed by the students. so much for protest.

I know this sounds crazy, but why are we being so damn submissive? isn't it also a question of our future? today the university, managed to sucessfully ruin the lives of atleast 6-7 students. what makes us so certain that they wont fuck around with the rest tomorrow? the university could jolly well raise the attendance bar to 100% from the next sem, and from what i saw, people possibly wont even protest. why are we being so selfish and mean minded. even the most selfish person should realize that best way to protect one's self is by befriending and helping others.

i also would like to point out that sfi politics is about protest. personally, i think that most sfi politicians are rogues, but that does not mean that politics is about cheating or trickery. the sja, is unfortunately(with all due respect to the founders), a body that is ill suited to look into the needs of the students. or the sja has become incompetent. sfi is just one of the political parties in the entire world. why sfi, i dont even mind Chhatra Parishad or the All India Democratic Students Organization. colleges in delhi and in calcutta have political units run by students, tell me they dont work, because the last i remember JNU(sfi), JU(sfi, aidso, etc), Preidency (sfi, IC) are all more reputed colleges than nujs(and they have better faculty).

The sja is unfortunately not in a position to protest, it has become to institutionalized and incorporated into the college administration. this is where the sfi comes in. why sfi, call Feminist Federation of India for all i care. a political party has the capability to shake things up in the college. what happened during the attendance fiasco could have been changed. i was told by certain people that direct means of protest would not be of any use. I OBJECT.

how can you say that it wont work when you havent tried it? if we had gheraoed the VC and bhopo, i believe that the result would have been different. i was also surprised by the lack of solidarity amidst the batchmembers. do we think that being from a different geographical area changes our essential definition, that of a student? i dont think so. a certain person(who is noted for her loud mouth) also proposed a boycott of the exams. i can tell you that not more than 5 or 6 of the entire batch(94-95 students) agreed to it. i find that a little disheartening. the sja has unfortunately spread an aura around itself that it is accessible only to certain people.
this is why we need a political party on the campus. i dont want to sound so dumb, but there is no other way to put it. the university must understand that we are consumers and therefore we also have our rights. we are obliged to observe certain rules, which is quite logical. what is strange is that some of these rules are not student friendly? there is no nujs without us. we are indispensible. teachers are very important, but so are the students. we have to realize the power of our collective demands. the political party simply represents a common platform for us.
i may sound dumb but then there are so many dumb people in the world. i may be foolish to say such things but i feel that this is the only logical way to go about things. sfi is not personal, it is about empowering the students. sfi is not simply about fighting with the administration, it has to be fight for a cause and to me this cause is quite enough.

please think about it, it is for our benefit.

Excellence
This particular piece is dedicated to all those who were affected by the 'excellent' actions of the head and de facto head of a particular 'centre of excellence'.

I happen to study at a place that calls itself a 'centre of excellence'. Now most educational institutions claim that the same and ours is no different. the head of our institute (Mr. Fireplace), truly believes that he heads such a institution. however i beg to differ.

Recently, in our fair college, there was a huge uproar( I atleast hope so) about certain students being barred from the exams because they were short on attendance. for the uninitiated, the required attendance is 75%. Most of the students who were short, were short by no more than 6 to 7 days. The VC and the de facto VC(Bhoposhima) both decided to make examples out of these hapless students.

Firstly, they sent out a notice to these students that they were barred less than 24 hours before the scheduled beginning of the examination. (The laws of the college specify that it has to be given out atleast 2 to 3 days before the exam). Ironically, ours is a law college (atleast that is what they call themselves).

Then, most of the students who got debarred, sent in valid medical or attendance proformas, but strangely Fireplace and Bhoposhima thought that their opinions were of more worth than that of medical practitioners with valid degrees. The students association, incidentally, did organize a few events(fest, moot, debate, etc) and some of these students did work for the events. ofcourse Fireplace and bhopo are always right.

The drama was still far from complete. some unhappy(perhaps its too strong a word) students, went up to Fireplace, and demanded a meeting to help explain this strange phenomenon. Fireplace agreed and the meeting was held. however, it must be pointed out that though the students had specifically asked for a meeting with Fireplace, the meeting was attended by both Fireplace and Bhoposhima. Perhaps Fireplace is such a big coward that he doesnt even have the balls to face the students alone, or perhaps he didnt want to face questions for an act sanctioned by the de facto head? who knows.

During the meeting, the students were told that the rule was for their own benefit and that we would thank them for debarring our batchmates. Fireplace pointed out that discipline was the core of any centre of excellence. Responding to a question about the quality of teaching in the university (or the lack thereof), Fireplace pointed out that in any institution, there are good teachers and bad. I OBJECT.

What the fuck is the definition of good and bad. i fucking pay 50000 indian rupees per annum and what get in the name of teaching is just trash. A few examples, one particular bloke (a historian),who happened to teach us( or so he professed to doing). I think he just teaches here because his dad's a famous historian. if that wasn't bad enough. he mumbles his way through all his classes till not even those in the first bench can hear him. and then ofcourse, his weakness for the fairer sex is now legendary. The results bear proof. not a single male student managed to get an E( Excellent). i can believbe that girls are smarter than boys, but all the boys are that dumb? gender bias anyone? then of couse is the famous economics teacher. i still haven't managed to understand what the hell he teaches. he swiped an entire book by a chap called Richard Ippolito, and then called it his own module(Plagirism?). this bloke then turns around and catches students for plagiarism? His mode of discrimination is more subtle--he refuses to give attendance to those he dislikes, or says whatever he wishes about people he wishes. he smokes in his room(which incidentally is part of a no-smoking campus) and then lectures people about the ill-effects of breaking rules.
There is still more people around this menagerie, who dare to call themselves teachers--there is one female who professes to teach family law, but till date hasn't been able to make out head or tail of the subject. a final year teacher's assisant mamged to teach us more in one week than what she had taught for 3 months.

Fireplace still has the nerve to claim that this is a centre of excellence. He tells us that it is the duty of students to attend the classes. what the fuck happened to the duty of the teachers to make the class interesting? why the fuck should a student be forced to attend a class he finds boring? the teachers are allowed to throw us out of the class. Fireplace also pointed out that good teachers cant be found on the shelves of supermarkets(and who claimed they were?) but still asks us to call this a place of institutions. the government subsidizes education in some colleges and the students there pay 75 rupees a month. we pay more than 50,000, and those colleges still have better teachers than ours? how the hell is the college a centre of excellence?

A final point. Fireplace pointed out that discipline was intrumental in the success of the first batch. he also claimed a fair share of their glory. Just for the record, Fireplace did not setup the university, it was set up by an administrator far better than him. this person also was instrumental in setting the batch on the right course and also had brought with him, a fair share of good teachers. so please excuse this poor mortal for believing that the founder of the university did more for the first batch than Fireplace.

As a result of the actions of fireplace and bhopo, at least three to four students have to repeat a year. that involves not only a substantial damage to one's prestige and morale but also a question of a lot of money. Fireplace claimed that this would do their career good rather than harm. well so be it because he is certainly smarter than this poor mortal.

P.S--Bhopo released a set of examination rules after this affair, but the damage was already done. Neither fireplace nor bhopo dared to define plagiarism, the ground on which some students were barred. Fireplace had claimed that it was ok to copy a few paragraphs or a few pages, but a whole article(even though the concerned studentsa had cited it). What about a whole module? shouldn't the economics teacher be banned on the basis of plagiarism?

Hello people,
this is my first blog. i am generally running out of things to do and so this blog. life is a big drag. Bush and Manmohan just finished their 'historic' deal. historic indeed. bush thinks people around here are stupid enough to be fooled by his statements. i would humbly lioke to submit that we are not americans. bush has just made a complete fool of us and our beloved nuclear programme. america allows voluntary restrictions on its nuclear programme and we have to ask them to create India specific sanctions. IAEA/America/George Walker Bush Junior, etc can go back to their little holes and hide their. it is pointless to sever our nuclear programme into civil and military. after all why do we need nuclear fuel from the us. if we haven't got it for thirty years surely it cant be that necessary. anyways the international community seems to be out to discredit the breeder reactor programme of india. life is really boring.