Think. Think Independently.

Have you heard of Raghoji Bhosle, the Maratha king who attacked Bengal six times in the period 1741 - 1751 and looted, plundered and killed Bengalis in a manner that defies all humanity: 400,000 Dead Bodies!

If anyone tries to tell you that this was simply a Marathas vs Mughals affair, pay attention to the following excerpts from this article: Forgotten Indian history: The brutal Maratha invasions of Bengal (scroll.in)

" ... most of the time, the Maratha cavalry would simply skirt the Khan’s slow-moving infantry, being interested only in looting."

"This time none escaped,
Brahmanas, and Vaisnavas, Sannyasis, and householders,
all had the same fate, and cows were massacred along with men."

"...even sack the house of one of the richest Indians at the time, the Marwari banker, Jagat Seth."

"...pillaging bands of Marathas attacking a predominantly "Hindu" West Bengal even as a "Muslim" Nawab struggles to push them out."

Think. Think independently. We are being fed rubbish history through every propaganda channel that you can conceive of. And the aim is only one: That we the common citizens stay divided and become a set of vote banks for politicians to milk every time an election comes. Some of us will get milked in the name of religion, some in the name of language, some caste, some gender. Meanwhile, the real deal, the progress of our country in things that really matter - Education, Healthcare, Employment, Law & Order - takes a back stage. That, in 2024 when the entire world is marching forward rapidly, is damage that will be almost impossible to fix beyond a certain point.

Teaching Below Research? Really?

Before I come to what triggered this post, here's something that I think needs to be said out aloud: The recent trend of hiring separate people for teaching, research and administration in universities is fundamentally incorrect. We increasingly have people who call themselves professors but want to escape teaching (why be at a university if you don't enjoy professing your subject?) - and at least 80% of the folks I have met in this set are busy drilling holes in such thin parts of the plate that it's embarrassing to call their "research" research; others who are either intellectually so damn lazy or "uncurious" that they neither wish to engage with open problems in their field nor invent or build something new but just content themselves with lecturing (that Dr. in front of your name ought to mean something!) or have been so dismayed by this "publish or perish" madness that they've resigned themselves to a teaching heavy career instead of living the healthy teaching-research-balanced academic dream that inspired them in the first place; and then there is of course a plethora of administrators today (at least in India) who have neither been good teachers nor researchers but their assumed enlightenment results in policy after policy that's setting fire to the temple with such rapidity that it will all burn down if something doesn't shift soon. It is beyond me, and beyond every sound academic I know, that we have forsaken the right thing to do: which is to simply expect excellence in all three - teaching, research and service - from all university professors.

But even with the above said, one still assumes that universities will keep some balance, some reasonableness. Thus this trigger:

I found out to my utter shock some months ago that Educator Track or Teaching Track faculty members in US universities are considered a notch below (and are paid lesser) than "normal" faculty members.

This is a completely incorrect movement of things! Universities are established first and foremost to educate, to enlighten, then anything else. That's the very raison d'etre of their existence.

We cannot allow such hierarchies to set in in our universities. Educator Track / Teaching Track faculty, who handle a higher teaching load in lieu of bringing grants, have to be considered exactly at the same level as "research faculty". That's the right value system to adhere to in educational institutions!

To all my colleagues out there who still believe in the academic ideal, who are still inspired by the possibilities a vibrant classroom offers: Teach your hearts out! You're doing great! Love those students! They know it when a professor is for real! And there are still enough of us who are challenging the present downward spiral academia is on for hope to be lost.

PhD Programs In Indian Private Universities: I'm Concerned!

Questions for colleagues and students across Indian academia:

1. Is it healthier to assure incoming PhD students that they will get their PhDs in 3 years? Or is it better to be honest that PhD is usually a 4-5 years affair, but can be sometimes completed a bit early or a bit later depending on the problem undertaken and circumstances one encounters while pursuing one's doctoral research?

2. Is it healthy to use tools such as ChatGPT for thesis writing to save time? How else does one develop the assimilate-question-research-analyze-write-conclude skill set that thesis writing imparts?

3. Should PhD students use their time to grow intellectually, deepen their scholarship and solve challenging research problems or should they start chasing grants during their doctoral program itself?

The way I have seen some "private university leaders" in our country answer these questions in the recent past has me very very worried. Very very worried.

The Spread Of Idiocy

Just read this article: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Quotes: Secularism fostering slave mentality in country (deccanherald.com)!

This is how idiocy spreads and the national IQ starts dropping! Not one word of common sense in the whole of it!

Who says devotion to God has ever been under-emphasized in this country? Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Muslims all have their own way of expressing their devotion and they have all freedom to do so! This is called "Freedom and Equality of Religion". And the government's mandate is to work for everyone's welfare without any discrimination based on religion. That's called "Secular Governance" - separation of church and state.

This guy (and his organization) is a multi multi billionaire. Better if he does something substantial to alleviate poverty instead of such mindless mumblings!

Emperor Akbar's Pilgrimage To Vaishno Devi

To this day, there is a Bhajan (worship song) sung by many Punjabis that contains the following couplet:

Naange naange pair Akbar Aayo

Mata ko sone ki chhatri Chadhaayo

The reference is to Emperor Akbar who undertook the pilgrimage to Mata Vaishnodevi's shrine barefoot and offered a golden umbrella.

Remember that Akbar was a Mughal Emperor. He walked barefoot to a Hindu shrine and made an offering. Internalize this.

Now, read Pre-Mughal history and clearly understand the following: Even Hindu kings were busy fighting with each other and invading kingdoms. This land has seen the Gupta Dynasty, the Maurya Dynasty - how do dynasties form but with large scale wars and invasions? There were also religious angles to Hindu kings fighting with each other: Shaivite kings (worshippers of Shiva) often went to war with Vaishnavite kings (worshippers of Vishnu) - and yes, the deity in the temple of the vanquished was replaced with the deity of the victor. How is this any different from Muslim kings coming to fight with Hindu kings? It's exactly the same thing!

The plain truth is this: Earth has seen a lust for power and conquest for thousands of years - and it has never given anyone anything. The intelligent way forward is for all of this to simply stop and people live together peacefully with each in a spirit of equality and freedom of religion. That is the only intelligent way forward.

2024 general elections are around the corner. Stay alert! Very alert! Do not let politicians create nuisance and trouble between different religious faiths! No politician ever suffered for a day in religious violence - its always the common man, you and me, who suffers. Always.

Insist on politicians talking about Education, Healthcare, Job Creation and Law & Order. Make them commit to well thought out plans to make progress in these sectors. Else, don't give them your vote. That's it.

10,000 Steps!

There are some medical situations in which walking for a certain amount of time every day is recommended by the doctor. For example: Hypertension. And sometimes age and/or physical conditions make walking the only pragmatic form of exercise one can engage in.

Then there is the "odds and ends" walking one ought to do through the day as one goes about daily tasks and chores in one's office, neighborhood, market. Far better to just walk short distances that takes 5-10 minutes than using a vehicle for every thing!

Then there is the walking one does for the sheer pleasure of it! In beautiful gardens, parks, by silent and gurgling streams. Bliss!

Then there are the "problem solving" walks - hold a problem in your mind that you've been trying to solve and just go for a walk as you think through it. Or sometimes there's an audio lecture I need to listen to and I'll do this as I'm walking (somewhere where it's safe to do so - not on roads!).

But then there's a kind of walking I just don't understand: I see people who are perfectly capable of putting on their running shoes and going for a jog, or playing a sport like badminton, football, kho kho, basketball, table tennis, that gives the body a good workout, make one sweat, stretch - but instead of doing this, being alive, enthusiastic, sporty, having fun - they'll tell you: Oh now it's my time to exercise so now I'll go walk so many rounds of a ground. And then they'll often even wear an expensive watch that counts how many steps they walk - and start going round and round around a ground like a robot! I don't get it! Why would you be so uncreative?

PS: The 10,000 steps of walking per day advice is to encourage you to take Paragraph 2 above seriously - not to make a "circular walking robot" out of you! I'm sure someone jogging or playing a sport is deriving as much benefit from it, if not more, as someone walking round and round around!

And Pre-Historic Caveman Politics Is Back!

I invite you to read this article: Rahul Gandhi says 'INDIA bloc will remove 50% cap on reservations if voted to power' - India Today 

And there we go, while one side is fighting elections with a Hindu-Muslim Divide and Rule strategy, while having given us nothing better than a Chai Pakoda and Gau Mootra Dibhlopment Moddel, the other has decided to fall back on the Caste Agenda.

The 2014 promise of a Development Centric Governance with emphasis on Education, Healthcare, Job Creation and Law and Order is already history. It took just five years to start erasing the agenda, and then just five more for the age old shit politics to take centre stage again.

I despise the British for the havoc they created all over the world as much as any educated person, but remember, always remember, that they reserved the epithet "Bloody" only for Indians in their whole empire. They never used the phrase "Bloody Caribbeans", "Bloody Africans", etc. Only "Bloody Indians". And for good reason, as we prove repeatedly!

Is Infinite Forgiveness Really A Good Thing?

All of us have our little quirks, eccentricities and minor irritabilities, and if we know that the person is well meaning, well intentioned, all of us accommodate, all of us grin these off in the larger interest of friendships, relationships, professional associations.

At the same time, I tend to disagree with the notion of "infinite forgiveness" as being a positive trait to develop. Forgiveness is good, and important, but only to a reasonable extent. Here's my personal balance point on this:

If someone says/does something to hurt/offend me, and subsequently offers a sincere, heartfelt apology, I forgive easily - the first time 🙂. There are times I've made mistakes in my life and I understand that there is merit to realizing one's mistakes, apologizing for the same, and making an effort to correct oneself. If I see all this, forgiveness comes easily to me.

As I said: The first time 🙂. IF the other person has realized his/her mistake, apologizes for it, and makes efforts to correct himself/herself 🙂.

But if this person again says/does something to hurt/offend me, all forgiveness ends. It simply ends.

To forgive or not is a choice we are free to make, there is no moral obligation towards any external authority that we need to feel burdened with. And once I am clear that I'm choosing to not forgive, the very next step I take is to safeguard myself. I excuse myself from this person's company and create a distance. If I have been offended at my workplace, I'll keep my professional decorum but will no longer interact with this person unless absolutely necessary. If it's a friend who has offended, I make other friends - this time choosing more wisely 🙂, and spend time with them. I will distance myself from this person immediately. If it's a woman I'm in a relationship with, I will immediately break up and walk away.

It is important to realise that "not forgiving" does not mean to "continue in a state of anger or hatred" or to "do something foolish in revenge and get oneself into trouble". No. To choose to not forgive simply means to remove the burden of "being infinitely forgiving" from one's shoulders, step away from whoever has hurt us, ensure that our mind is at peace, and continue to live a happy fulfilling life.

When to forgive, when not, to what extent, these are our choices to make. Just like every other choice in life that's ours to make 🙂.

Stay sensible, stay happy 🙂!

Flexi Hours: The Right Culture In Academia & Research

If you're interested in understanding how academic/scientific/professorial minds work and how to actually get the best out of them, this is probably an important post to mull over:

Ask yourself: When you go to see a musician in concert, say Ustad Zakir Hussain or Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia or your favorite rock, blues or jazz band, all you are focused on and concerned about is the excellence on display on stage for the 2-3 hours you are there. That's it. You are not in the least interested in questions like: "Well, do the artists sit in office for eight hours every day at a stretch from 9-5? Is someone marking their attendance?". Why? Because you are well aware that for the artists to arrive at the level of excellence they are displaying, they must have certainly put in hours and hours of practice! And they put in these hours of practice at times that work best for them - some early morning, some late night, some in the afternoon, some in the evenings. An artist's entire focus is on attaining perfection in his or her art and he or she knows the best time to practice through self knowledge and experience! There is no need to police them as long as they perform excellently when on stage! In fact, if we start making artists "come to office" from 9-5 every day, five days a week, and insist that they practice as per schedules we are setting in place, their art will immediately suffer - you can sense the truth of this statement because you can intuitively feel how ridiculous the scene being depicted is!

The thing is: All creative and intellectual pursuits work on the same principle. Scientists are at their best when they work on problems engaging their attention at times that work best for them, academics and professors are at their best when they engage in research or preparing for class at times that work the best for them, and as long as the lectures being delivered, papers being published, and books being written are of the highest quality, it doesn't matter at all whether these folks busy themselves early mornings, or late nights, or during afternoons, or during evenings, or whenever works for them!

Each and every university and laboratory that insists on a 9-5 schedule for academics, professors and scientists, is actually working in a direction that *reduces* quality. Creative and intellectual pursuits thrive on open minds that are left free to work independently. And if the result is excellence, then it is only in our best interests to create these conditions instead of insisting on clamming down unnecessarily.

This post will likely take some thinking, but what I'm saying is absolutely on the money :), I assure you of that!

We have to create an atmosphere wherein we select excellent people, place our trust in them, and then, by all means, expect excellence. Right now all our systems are based on mistrust and policing. This road does not lead to excellence.

The Strangeness of Neckties

Some things we humans do are just plain strange!

Consider neckties for example: Button up right till the neck "feels it"; Then a whole complicated process to tie the knot; Finally push the knot up to ensure the neck "keeps feeling it"; Now pronounced to be "looking good!".

Now just step back for a moment and think: Why would we want to tie a noose around our necks deliberately just to be pronounced "looking good!"?

Eh?

A Truthful Life And Innocent Lies

Say a bunch of goons are chasing an innocent person down the street and you save him by hiding him in your house. And say the goons knock on your door and ask if you've seen someone running down the road. What are you going to do? Obviously: lie!

This is an extreme example of a situation when lying is acceptable. Even in softer circumstances, it can happen once in a while that you sense that an innocent lie will result in good for the world. In such situations, speaking that innocent lie is obviously the right thing to do!

When you hear saints exhorting you to live a truthful life, the above exceptions are obvious! The saints know that! They are not stupid 🙂! Neither are you 🙂!

But this is very different from all the lying all around us today! Students cheat in exams, people lie in their interviews, men and women lie to each other to get married, husbands and wives lie to each other in marriage, neighbors lie to each other to project themselves in ways that impress, businessmen lie to earn more money, politicians lie to get votes, religious preachers lie to increase their followers, public officers engage in corruption, many lie to get promoted faster!

Why? Why do all this? Dishonesty may seem to bring you some short term rewards, but it wrecks your conscience, it completely takes away your peace of mind! And nothing, absolutely nothing in this world, is even remotely comparable to a clean conscience and a peaceful mind!

Bear one thing in mind firmly: The people who really matter in your life, who really care about you, do not care a hoot about how wealthy you are, or what position you hold, or how many marks you score, or which colleges and universities you attend! They simply want to see you living a truthful life in which you work hard, do your best, and let the chips fall where they may! These are also the people who will stand by you when you go through your lows (which you will, which everyone does)!

Take it from me, live a decent, truthful life, and your external circumstances aside, you will know what it is to have self respect, a clear conscience, and an authentic smile that charms like nothing else! You will work hard through the day, give life your very best, and come night, you will sleep like a baby! These are the true rewards of life, and these simply cannot be yours if you are dishonest!

(And yes 🙂, it is possible to change, that choice is in front of everyone right now, and the right time to change for the better is also right now 🙂 - and this switch is not made slowly and steadily, not in percentages per day, it has to be immediate, just like switching on the lights 🙂!)

Obesity Is Stupid!

This post is triggered by a conversation I had earlier today with an old friend that I believe is worth writing about for a wider audience. It might be a bit hurtful for some, but I think sometimes it's actually better to be honest and blunt rather than soft since it can spur people to correct action, to taking steps that are better for them. In that spirit, here goes:

There are some medical situations (eg. thyroid imbalance) which can lead to a weight gain that's difficult to control . But such situations aside:

If you are obese, you are being stupid. Not only is it a medical hazard (I explain below although you probably already know), it's unattractive. If you're obese, your boyfriend or girlfriend or husband or wife is probably not going to feel attracted to you - and it's not his or her fault. This responsibility of staying fit and attractive is all on you, and there's absolutely no merit in putting your partner on a guilt trip about it 😅! If your partner starts looking elsewhere for a relationship, it's on you, not on them 😅!

Now for the medical hazards of obesity that you already know about: Your heart is overloaded and you are at a higher risk of a heart attack, your back and knees are overloaded and will give you problems even in your 40s, you are at a higher risk of diabetes and hypertension, which in turn increases the risk of stroke.

Be wise 🙂! If you're overweight, join a gym, consult a good dietician, and start losing weight 🙂!

No One Higher Than A Teacher

No matter what role you are playing in society, someone, somewhere, taught you, guided you. You have to acknowledge this.

There is no one higher than a teacher in society. No politician, no bureaucrat, no officer, no manager, no scientist, no businessman, no one.

For Knowledge sustains everything and those capable of transmitting Knowledge sustain everyone.

The minute a society forgets this and starts undervaluing its teachers, degradation sets in - in skill as well as values. It will always be so.

(Needless to say we are only talking about committed and competent teachers. But that doesn't change the point being made.)

Banning Coaching In A Competitive World?

I invite you to read this article: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/no-intake-of-students-below-16-years-govt-guidelines-coaching-centres-9116076/

Sound intention, but incorrect approach to solving the problem.

As long as there is competition, there will be coaching. This holds true as much in education as in sports. You are banning one mode of coaching, other modes will arise to take its place.

What needs to be broken is this: Presently many many schools let their students bunk school for years at stretch so that they can be present full time at coaching centers. This needs to be, and can be, firmly stopped. Among other things, it takes away years of laboratory work - a critical component of science education. Laboratory marks are "adjusted", which is nothing but blatant cheating, corruption. And when students who have missed laboratory work for years at stretch come to IITs, NITs, IIITs, etc., what we have is students who are severely compromised on scientific intuition as well as the ability to analyze and explain observations independently.

Be firm with schools, insist on a certain attendance percentage in classes and labs to take Grade 10 and Grade 12 exams, and use monitoring committees to ensure that this is implemented honestly.

If this is done (and it can be) you would have solved more than one problem without banning anything.

Setting Mature Exams!

I'm going to keep this post short and come straight to the point:

There are two ways of setting exam papers:

1) Give questions/problems of different levels of difficulty (easy, medium, difficult) and differentiate between students obtaining different grades accordingly.

2) Give difficult problems only, look at how far students are able to progress in solving them, use step marking to assign a score, and differentiate between students obtaining different grades accordingly.

The second method is more sound because it prepares you for the real world - where everyone gets to face exactly the same challenges, everyone is required to solve difficult problems, and what's important is how far you are able to progress on those difficult problems. Absolutely no one comes to help you pass with easy problems 😊!

Students and teachers/professors both need to have the maturity to stick to difficult exams. Honest feedback on where one stands at any given time is the best strategy to prepare for success in the real world. It's far better to get low grades, even fail once in a while, in college and use the feedback to work harder, than get fluffy grades in college through easy exams and/or grade inflation and then struggle in the real world because you weren't prepared for the difficult stuff.

Humility

Humility, when practiced after having achieved something, or after having done something substantial for society (which is an achievement too!), is meaningful, beautiful.

But short of that, where's the choice to be anything but humble anyway? Where's the merit in showcasing it as a virtue you possess if you aren't working hard at either accomplishing a personal objective or doing something for society (or, even better, both!)?

Are you getting what I'm saying?

PS: No, Just being monetarily rich does not qualify as achieving something 😅! That even the Mukesh Ambanis, Gautam Adanis and Lalit Modis of the world can do 😅. Monetary richness is impressive only if you also work on your intelligence and become someone like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. Otherwise not 😊.

The IITs and IITians

Note: The video posted below celebrates Grade 12 students who clear the IIT JEE in India. This celebration does not in any way imply a lack of potential in those students who do not clear this exam. If you are a student at some other college and achieve excellence in life in your chosen profession, that will be celebrated too when the time comes. You have all my encouragement and support in your desire to prove your mettle! But till that time, it is important that you acknowledge, without any jealousy, that those students who cleared the IIT JEE have proven themselves in one of the toughest exams in the world. Congratulating others for their success without feeling jealous or belittled is a sign of maturity. And this maturity, along with a resolve to keep working hard till you achieve your milestones, increases the probability of you succeeding manifold!

On that note, here goes:

There's much in this video to ponder upon! I agree that for brain drain to reduce, we need to create better opportunities at fair compensation here.

60 Minutes - IIT - World Imports Indian Engineers

PS 1 😅: The observation about education at IITs not being well rounded is not quite correct 😏! We do have Humanities and Social Sciences courses as part of the curriculum. And there's a tremendous amount of cultural and artistic activity (including music) through clubs. I myself learnt how to play the guitar during my undergraduate years at IIT Bombay.

PS 2: The IITs don't just graduate engineers. They also have programs in the sciences and graduate physicists, mathematicians, chemists and economists.

PS 3: There is no claim being made that being an engineer or scientist is "higher" than being, say, an artist or a musician 😏. It is for each of us to find our calling, what we're passionate about, and try to do the best we can in that field. The intent in this video is simply to showcase institutes that have achieved excellence in STEM education in our country, not to pass a judgment on anyone else.