Rashsundari Debi (1809-1900)

“I would start working at dawn, and I would still be at it until well beyond midnight. I had no rest in between. I was only fourteen years old at the time. I came to nurture a great longing: I would learn to read and I would read a religious manuscript. I was unlucky, in those days women were not educated. Later, I began to resent my own thoughts. What is wrong with me? Women do not read, how will I do it? Then I had a dream: I was reading the manuscript of Chaitanya Bhagabat (the life of a saint)… Later in the day, as I sat cooking in the kitchen, I heard my husband say to my eldest son: “Bepin, I have left my Chaitanya Bhagabat here. When I ask for it, bring it in.” He left the book there and went away. When the book had been taken inside, I secretly took out a page and hid it carefully. It was a job hiding it, for nobody must find it in my hands. My eldest son was practising his alphabets at that time. I hid one of them as well. At times, I went over that, trying to match letters from that page with the letters that I remembered. I also tried to match the words with those that I would hear in the course of my days. With tremendous care and effort, and over a long period of time, I learnt how to read…”

Later, because of her incessant desire to read and learn, she was able to teach herself the alphabets and then read the Chaitanya Bhagabat.

This was the experience of Rashsundari Debi who was born in a so-called Hindu upper caste, landed family in colonial Bengal, some 200 years ago, when it was believed that if a woman acquired an education then it would bring bad luck to her husband and become a widow. Only at the age of twelve, she was married to an affluent landlord. She came to have twelve children and thus the inescapable responsibility of running a large household. There were days when she had not a moment’s rest, no time even to sit down and eat. In spite of such a hostile and adverse environment, she secretly taught herself to read at the age of twenty-five and to write at the age of fifty, defying all social conventions and obstacles.

Despite household chores and the demands of the many children she bore, she finally succeeded in writing her autobiography, Amar Jiban, at the age of 73, perhaps the first autobiography ever to be written in the Bengali language and certainly the first by a Bengali woman and maybe the first by an Indian woman.

Situations have changed a lot since then yet there are people and some are my so-called modern friends only who still hold fast to the idea that the kitchen is for a woman only and a man should never take a step inside unless the woman is unavailable, though they are not at all averse to the idea of her bringing in some money by working in an MNC or even better in a Govt Organisation.

Courtesy: NCERT and the World Wide Web

Ghost Speech

The following was posted by someone on Facebook and is being claimed as the speech given by Vladmir Putin, the Russian president, to the Duma (Russian Parliament), about tensions with minorities in Russia:

"In Russia live Russians. Any minority, from anywhere, if it wants to live in Russia, to work and eat in Russia, should speak Russian, and should respect the Russian laws. If they prefer Sharia Law, then we advise them to go to those places where that's the state law. Russia does not need minorities. Minorities need Russia, and we will not grant them special privileges, or try to change our laws to fit their desires, no matter how loud they yell 'discrimination'. We better learn from the suicides of America, England, Holland and France, if we are to survive as a nation. The Russian customs and traditions are not compatible with the lack of culture or the primitive ways of most minorities. When this honorable legislative body thinks of creating new laws, it should have in mind the national interest first, observing that the minorities are not Russians.

Truth be told, then there exist no records to validate if this speech was ever made by Mr. Putin. However, this blog post is not being written to investigate the existence of this speech, it is in-fact just a reproduction of the comments that followed the above post. It is upon the reader to draw their own conclusions.

Comments:-

A: You are right [Name]. Time demands a change in our approach, if we have to survive.

Me: Sir, Vladmir Putin never made such a speech, its a hoax. There are no news reports available to claim the veracity of existence of this speech. And, regarding the message being conveyed through this speech, it is one of intolerance and certainly should not be welcome. The problem with our country is not that we are being over-tolerant or appeasing but inefficient, lazy and narrow-minded.

B: Before claiming this as a hoax, you check net and search for putin's speech in Feb. You will find many links of newspapaers. Regarding the speech, i think time has come to talk beyond religion, caste, creed in our country and show Mulayam, Maya, Mamata and others road to their extinction. These politicians are thriving on such issues at the cost of country.

Me: I forgot to mention "credible" news reports...does BBC report, does The Guardian say something, does the New York Times or even our very own The Times of India report anything??....and, Yes sir, I agree with you on that, 'time has come", and those politicians certainly needs to change their ways or get extinct. That was my whole point politicians are using appeasement, vote-politics to further their cause only. What I want is a reasonable and fair approach in government policies. What this message conveys is disrespect and intolerant attitude towards the culture, religion of the so-called minorities. I only demand reason and fairness, that's it.

C: Great Putin! He is a true leader; He has foresight and moral courage; He is a true patriot; India needs to have such masculine leaders!!

C: [Name], you are great;

C: I don't think there is any intolerance in Putin's statement, as somebody here predicates; A Muslim leader in Hyderabad openly threatens to quash the Hindu culture; That Muslim leader claims that he has even stamped out the normal temple activities such as chiming the bell, during Deity-worship in the Bhagya-Laxmi Temple of the city; To deal with such so called minorities, a Putin-like leader is urgently required in India;

Me: Putin might feel odd knowing that he is being hailed for a speech that he never gave. Regarding the previous comment, a Muslim leader agitates a disaffected crowd and goes on rampage and the whole of community is branded as such; similarly when RSS or VHP go on a rampage the whole of Hindu community is branded as such. This point that one or two people or an organized unit do not make up the general make up of the whole community is not being understood by anyone. Its not about a Muslim or a Hindu doing something, its about a bad person doing bad deed, that's what this is about. Put them in prison and let them rot. I don't know where the religion figures here. And that message, what that conveys is highly dangerous; it says to ostracize the whole of community based on religion or whatever social factor is there. That is what I am against, the disrespect of culture of people who are different from us. It’s just like that Muslim leader who has no respect for our culture and similarly there are "truth-seekers" who have no respect for their culture. An eye for an eye.

C: What {name} says is an ideal approach to the situation; This rarely happens in a real world;

Me: I really don't get it, what's ideal approach. It seems to be suggested from the previous comment that if an anti-social element from one community commits a crime then other should persecute the whole of the masses from former community. What is to be done then? Carry out your actions the way the message says, 1). they should speak the language the majority speaks, 2) make laws with suitability for majorities only, 3) force customs and culture on them - resulted in unrest in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Refugees in Myanmar, CHECHENS IN RUSSIA, and it is endless - is it really what we want? - and it will continue till somebody decides with a calm mind that we should discuss and solve problems. I am proud of my country where lived such Men and Women of foresight who made this country what it is, there lived many cultures, many religions, like different colors of a rainbow and so long will they as there continue to take birth such Men and Women, irrespective of religion, caste, creed, and color. I think lets agree to disagree, because there seems no end to this discussion.

Heroes and Villains

Today a senior friend said to me that Guha is a Nehruvian, a word that says he is an admirer of Nehru, and if I continue reading his works I may end up having wrong and prejudiced opinion about Nehru (though he did not say this but it seems to be the most likely of conclusions and which I could have drawn from his gestures - shades of holmes???).

Well, I could have allowed myself to indulge in a debate with him on this topic but since I had some other prearranged thoughts in my mind (gossiping, after a long time!), I did not.

Obviously, I can afford to do that now.

Why does someone admire some other person? May be because they like some aspects of their personality, their acts and their thoughts. And Mr. Guha, considering that he is the one who wrote the book India After Gandhi, surely had done a lot of reading not only about Nehru but many other eminent personalities. So, this argument easily establishes the point that he, in complete certainty, knows a lot about Nehru than me and my senior friend and that too based on facts which can be validated to the source unlike many of us who base their opinions on mere hearsay or dubious sources or wishful thinking or even wild imaginations.

First I talked about knowing the facts correctly because more often than not this comes out to be the main point of deviation. There are people who fight passionately in order to assert themselves as correct but disregarding the facts altogether or even distorting them in way that benefits them. So first know your facts!

Second thing is about knowing the facts as it is but disagreeing with regards to their application, that is, a difference of opinion.

So they Say: Nehru is blamed for appeasement of minorities, for economic policies, for neglect of threat from China, for neglect of primary education and for continuing dynasty politics in Congress or more appropriately in all spheres of life. [Want to know Nehru correctly, then read his biography by Sarvepalli Gopal, The Idea of India by Sunil Khilnani, India After Gandhi by Guha, Nehru by B.R. Nanda, and many more authentic books]

When India achieved freedom there was not a single western observer who said that nation such as India would even survive for more than a day considering her huge diversity in terms of Religion, Culture, Language,  etc. After Patel had done his tremendous task of merging more than 500 princely states to the Union of India and Ambedkar had done his part of consolidating hugely divergent opinions into a constitution for the working of this newly formed nation, it was left to Nehru to build a nation on a democratic framework because Patel had died in 1950 and Ambedkar had resigned from the cabinet in 1951 following the stalling in parliament of his draft of the Hindu Code Bill, which sought to expound gender equality in the laws of inheritance, marriage and the economy. [facts - India After Gandhi]

And, where most other former colonies turned into dictatorships and yet others into unstable democracies, India survived and she is still a democracy. That we do not even in the wildest of our imaginations ever consider India would ever be turned into a dictatorial regime that we breathe and live democracy then the man responsible at least deserves a bit of respect for this from a race of ingrate and selfish human beings! [generally speaking - exceptions are always there]

I sometimes wonder what we would have done to Bhagat Singh had he lived long and implemented his thoughts, which would have seemed highly revolutionary and inflammatory to the Hindu extremists or for that matter, any kind of extremist.

It will be very appropriate to say, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain [Batman, The Dark Knight]”, Bhagat Singh is a hero and Nehru is a villain (and so they say), whereas I am hundred percent sure that had the former hero of mine lived and would have been able to bring the “social, economic revolution - the way he conceived”, then even the person who is at present his staunchest of supporter, would have appeared chastising him.

They lived, had flaws, but did their part of work and now it is up to us to learn from their good things and bad things, and contribute to the nation.

But what are we doing picking up few icons for worship and vilifying others!

Oh! I Just Love Civil Engineers

 “Civil engineers just love pouring that grey stuff up against timber. You would think they had shares in a concrete supply company. Seriously, I continue to argue with civil engineers who just don’t get the fact that a fully welded pipe or restrained pipe does not need thrust blocks. There must be a problem in university teaching or text books, but try as I might civil engineers go on burying concrete blocks. I point to refineries where the pipes are above ground with no thrust blocks to no avail.”[i]- Strainer

Similar was my situation when I was trying to convince a highly placed civil engineer that a fully-welded pipe does not require a thrust block and you know what, he treated me as if I had lost my mind.

Consider this simple example: There is a pipe that starts from a point A and ends at point B; in between it takes two 90deg turns, one at point C and another at point D. For now, forget about the point E.

Fluid density: ρ, OD = d, Pressure inside pipe = P, Velocity = V

Condition: Pipe is flanged bolted with the equipments at point A and point B. Fluid flows in the pipe from A to B or B to A (doesn’t matter) at pressure P and Velocity V.

So What Now: Thrust will be generated at both the turns (points C & D) due to pressure force inside the pipe, i.e., Pressure * Area of Pipe and also because of fluid’s momentum, i.e., Mass flow * Velocity. The same needs to be calculated for both X and Y directions and accordingly the resultant force shall be computed[ii]. It must be noted that thrust force due to pressure inside the pipe is considerable large than that due to mass flow and velocity and hence the latter can be ignored for simplicity.

 If you look at the figure carefully then you will observe that both the Y-components of resultant thrust force are equally[iii] opposite to each other and hence shall get cancelled. But yes, in this case the stretch of pipe between points C & D shall be under tension and it would be really amazing to see if someone takes this mild steel pipe apart because of this tensile force!

And how do you think the X-components are gonna behave. Does it seem like that they are forming a couple about point E and are really on the verge of twisting this pipe, is it so? Well, think again then. Because first they will have to break the bolts which have tied this pipe with the equipments at A & B and only then will they have the luxury to form a couple, meanwhile they will have to languish alone, and as they say not in this life guys.

So what’s happening then: Well, these stupid X-components don’t get the point and thus they also put the pipes between A & C and D & B under tension. I hope there is no need to tell as to what will happen of them. Let them have fun in trying to tear the pipe, hahaha…

Now do you seriously think that we require a thrust block in a fully welded and fully restrained pipe and if you do, then pray tell me how?

---

[i] Strainer (Mechanical), 16 Feb 11 17:51, http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=292032

[ii] This is an online calculator which is available for free along with the theory behind this calculation. http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/forces-pipe-bends-d_968.html

[iii] an assumption that pressure drop between points C and D is insignificant

Some of my friends, whenever they happen to find me listening to English music, would react as if I am doing something insane. They would say, “ye kya angrezi gaane sunta rehta hai. Kuch samajh mein toh aata nahin hai.” And there are others who would react the same way when they find me listening to Hindi songs or in their terms old Hindi songs. What I do not understand is this simple fact, what has the quality of music got to do with language and time. If it is good then it is good, whether it is English, Hindi, pop, rock, classical or hip-hop. How does that matter?

Everyone, it seems, have circumscribed themselves with some ideas which they consider fixed and rigid. They just do not want to experiment or be adventurous. What’s wrong in trying new things? Those who only listen to, say English music, are only depriving themselves of melodious voices of Mohd. Rafi, Kishore Kumar or more recent KK, Sonu Nigam, etc. They do not even realize what they are missing out, which life has to offer them, because of their pre-formed rigid minds.

Same is the case about movies, they would say, don’t watch English movies or don’t watch this movie or that movie or of that language or of that actor or some more restrictions. But I do not understand this, how does it matter if it is of any language or actor. A good movie is a good movie, as simple as that. Humans are humans only and everyone is capable of making good movies regardless of the language they speak.

It is not only about movies or music, what it really is about, is the prejudices and mental blocks that people form in their minds during the course of their life. Their egos, biases, and selfish interests would not let them try new things. They just do not want to.

Take this for example. One of my friends’ IE stopped working due to some unknown reasons and as a solution I suggested Firefox to him. But, he wouldn’t like it and cited many trivial reasons for that, such as it does not give me that feel, font is smaller, etc. Yes I accept that there are going to be some differences and fair enough if you do not like something as per your interest (which again is a debatable topic), but you should judge yourself properly because you may throw away a wonderful opportunity of finding and learning new things.

I consider myself a very shy person, but still there have been many instances when I have seen myself much more open and communicative with new people than those of my other friends who are otherwise usually very chatty. May be not so open, I am, when it is a matter of girls, but that is not the point, the point is that people do not want to try new things, new ideas, or listen to others.

And, yes one more thing I have seen. People just do not have the patience to listen to others thoughts. They just want to say and say while not allowing others to speak and thus unknowingly depriving themselves of the knowledge they might have gained.

I just consider myself lucky and give many thanks to the almighty for setting me on a path of being open-minded and liberal, for making me read different types of literature irrespective of religion, nationality, for making me listen to different types of music and for making me watch and admire different types of movies.

And, thank you for giving me the patience to listen to others so I may learn from them as well.

Thank you for giving me the patience to listen even to the adversaries and people having different opinions.

Thank you!

And, I pray to Him that May I one day really become liberal and open-minded.

P.S: Listen to everyone but you always have the option of choosing what you want to take. Do not deprive yourself.

A Sunday...

(This post was originally published on Sunday, 4th March, 2012 when I was at site.)

I

Sunday was supposed to be spent sleeping and doing nothing but I ended up working and if not exhausted, was certainly tired out at the end of the day. Nevertheless, I think it was a day well spent rather than doing something futile.

In the office, cautiously opened my mailbox with a fear that there might be a response to the mail that I had sent a day before. And lo! There was one. “Can we develop a sketch incorporating all the above?”, the reply mail said. And that’s how I was set to work. There are days when I do not feel like doing anything and then there are when I feel addicted to work, fortunately it turned out to be latter of those. So, to my relief, I enjoyed working.

Once upon a time or should I say that once of those many times, someone asked me my caste. And, as is my usual policy, I told that person also, "I do not know, but what do you think?". Now to say something like that can only be considered a blatant lie. And so he said that it is not possible and turned his face away with a countenance that suggested, “He is not telling me because he must be from a lower caste”. Was he right or should his right or wrong even matter? Because the point of discussion cannot be what caste but it is much more than that. It raises some fundamental questions, which needs to be considered before we decide if an answer is even applicable, such as what is caste, why and how it was conceived, what were the benefits because of which this system was preferred over others and is the present practice adheres to those rules, if it does then has those benefits being realized and if not then what has led to this degradation (may be some other day).

II

I do not know why people fail to understand a simple fact that everyone is just a human being composed of same flesh and bones, having same sort of desires and wants, and if these customs of caste, religion, nationalities are not artificial and prone to error as well as subjected to rectification, then what are they? Caste system, in its purest form had it existed of that of division of labor, I believe, and not division of laborers, would have certainly been fruitful but it has now become a dreadful system which serves no purpose but flagrantly promotes hate and even being an intelligent set of species, it is beyond the ambit of my understanding, why can’t we get rid of it. Where all the rationality, intelligence of men does fade away like wisps of smoke when they discriminate with their own kind on the basis of religion, caste, color, creed, etc instead of treating everyone equally.

Just Some Scribble...

What is education? Is it just limited to acquiring particular set of skills in order to make oneself capable of earning bread and butter? Or should it be more than that?

Hmm...Education???

(I am not trying to write a critique on present education system, I am just trying to conceive an idea of education or should I say the way I see education).

The time of infancy, I think, is the most critical stage of our life, when we are inordinately open-minded and receptive to any sort of information. It is the time when any set of information given to us gets written in indelible link on our memory slate. Thus, the role of our parents and myriad relatives at this juncture, in my opinion, is very important. And, no wonder the terrorists prefer preparing their likes by brainwashing very young (may be children) rather than full-grow mature adults (in their case it might be very difficult or easy, again depends..).

The point which I am trying to make here is that every information, however subtle it may be, if gets implanted into the mind of child during infancy, in future would come to govern his/ her worldview and all his/ her life’s major or minor decisions. Thus, it is my dearest advice to all parents to disseminate as much secular, liberal still deeply religious education as possible and avoid brainwashing the future of this planet with intolerant, fanatic, caste-ridden poisonous one, in order to develop a perfect society, a perfect nation and a perfect planet (Utopian vision!).

During our schooling, the teachers come to play a very important role. In India, in ancient times, there was Gurukul system of education wherein students went to live with their teachers in order to acquire education. The teachers were called Gurus, who did not teach out of selfish ulterior motives of money, fame, etc but out of sheer love, for the upliftment of mankind at large. Then was the time when disciples truly respected their teacher (gurus) not out of fear but deference. In present system, education is a mere commodity which is sold by a vendor (lecturer) to a customer (student) at the highest rate possible. At-least in developed nations the vendor does his job very well, whereas in India with a borrowed and useless system, the vendor just fills his hours.

Even with vendor-customer relationship, the type of education that is taught cannot be considered complete. It is nothing but a machine making education to produce men/ women who will make heaps and mountains of money without any regard for moral and ethical values. What kind of country do we want?

What type of education then? It further gives us a question, why do we require education and what is its purpose?

The purpose of education or for that matter purpose of any action in life can only decided when we have that ultimate goal in our sight, the purpose of this life.

Consider this now, Indian seers of yore said that purpose of this life is to attain Moksha or Nirvana, but then it should be lived self-less and motive-less or in other words purpose-less. And, it leads me to say, what the hell...? They always have me confused with their ambivalent statements, saying things such as He is everything and yet He is nothing. Now what am I supposed to draw from this.

Nonetheless, they devised a social system which they called varnashrama which has now been unfairly and very wrongly termed as caste system and instead of the original one this corrupted and atrocious system is now being followed, irrespective of its divisive and poisonous nature.

What was varnashrama and how it could’ve given us a goal of life? And, how could it have been possible to know the purpose and thence the type of education?

Some of my thoughts on education:-

1. It should form a person’s character; impart to him/ her courage and strength of a Lion accompanied with faith and humility to respect your elders and everyone else.
2. Give to him/ her technical skills, enough to earn bread and butter for survival and yet a yearning to perform in their fields with absolute excellence.
3. Instill in young minds the ability to think properly and independently.
4. 99.99% percent of a crammer is far worse than 00.00% percent of an original.
5. Can be had anytime, when you are ready.
6. Is imagination.
7. When a student fails, it is the teacher who does not know what and how to teach. Thus, it should be considered as the failure of teacher.

P.S: Inconclusive, I know it is!