The New IIT Trauma

How many IIT's do we have right now in the country and how many of them are complying with the motive they were established ? I surely don't know your response, but the answer is very simple and it is the wonderful number 'zero'. I believe you don't need any explanation for this as the fresh QS rankings are released few days back and our media has created a huge fuss about our global standings. So I don't feel any need to prove me right. Since water level above our head was nicely zoomed by the media, but surprisingly they didn't talk about any of the possible reasons behind this, which together making sure that we don't touch the double century mark.

So, what is preventing us from climbing up on the ladder? any guesses! sometimes some overwhelmed or stupid Indians speaks before they could think of the impacts their empty words carry. They keep on promising junta to deliver something out of nothing. While quality and delivery such things doesn't matter or even if they matters we can do nothing about it. For example now a days, IIT has become a commodity. Every new party leader is promising new IITs, like it is very similar to availing half kg more rice to the poor's from the older stock. It almost took 50 long years of consistent efforts to establish the brand 'IIT' and now they started mass production of it without looking into the factors gave it a brand value.

We are still lacking infrastructure, 30% faculty posts are still vacant in the older IITs, even we don't have money to fulfill whatever they just promised. Therefore, the only option left is to name some barren land in outskirts of a city as another new IIT. Then our media as usual starts blowing their horns without getting into the depth of any matter. Whenever we make any policy, the pros and cons are always been discussed in the cabinet sessions. Then why not these promises? At least one should give a thought to his empty words before making them a public promise, 'Bas bandar baant challu'. Building a new campus and name it as another IIT doesn't make it a brand. But, they think allotting some crores rupee fund and a piece of land will suffice the promise. In actual, it takes decades to add values to this brand.
Reference of whatever I mentioned above:
Student-Faculty ratio
Poor Infrasturcture
Infra

May be this is the right time to sit and introspect. We know our global standing and how effort fully we earned it. So, if our bells are still not ringing,  then there is something wrong with us. I know you and me can not contribute very significantly to such matters, we are no bureaucrats. Its them, who need to stop being foolish. Until then, we have the only option to wait and pray 'Bhagwan inko satbuddhi de'. Till the time, lest hope for the best!
Anyway thanks for your time and I need a favor from you, please comment in case you feel to do so.

Mahesh Dangi

One Night Stay At Platform 1

For few months I had an engineering degree, but no job. Since I was not earning and had plenty of time , I can sleep wherever its free of cost with any sort of facilities I can get luckily. Before you imagine me becoming a street beggar, I was healthy and enjoying traveling across various cities these days, but this was not the period when I got this lovey chance of spending a night at a railway platform.

It was later when I visited the holy city of Ujjain to accompany my grandfather for a medical issue, I had this opportunity and it was so empathetic that made me right the whole story . It was around 12 pm, all the cheap places of stay were already flooded and I was low on money, so hotel is left out of the question. We (me and grandpa) finally stopped by the railway station which was the only cheap and available safe place we could find for the night stay.

I was hired by a company by then, so I was also a little worried about my social status in case somebody known would see me sleeping there, luckily that did not happen. One bed sheet and a shawl for two people. Since I never slept on such nice bed, I was not feeling like sleeping. Train engines were buzzing and hauling wagons all the time and I was just rolling and turning sides to get a couple of hours rest.

What you must be thinking is 'What made me call this a lovely chance' ? The platform was flooded with homeless and helpless people. I only spent one single night and that was also under some circumstances, but for these people this platform is the only roof. I immediately realized that, what I was looking at is the quality of life for poor India. This is what made me say it a lovely chance.

Few days later I was in Bombay and passing by Antila (Ambani's home). This time I was trying to imagine the contrast between the two scenarios. 600+  people hired just to serve 2-3 Ambani's in such a massive structure while on the other hand millions don't have a home in the same country. I just went blank and felt lost. Stressed my mind to list down all the causes created this skyscraper difference between quality of life of two different man's in the same country. 

Well, it was a wonderful night. Not physically, but at least added an important experience to my life and another blog to my blogger. But, I still couldn't figure out answer to my own question, 'what has created such a huge difference between the living standards of two human beings living on the same demographic zone ? Hopefully some day I will have an answer and a solution as well for this very important issue nobody even cares.

Mahesh Dangi