Author: Atanu Dey

Economist.

Clueless Mail Forwards

Junk mail is a part of (modern) life as much as death and taxes. I imagine there is a special circle in world.wide.hell where those who forward idiotic emails end up in. Here is one that infected my mailbox, screaming capital letters, misspelling, and all. Continue reading “Clueless Mail Forwards”

Rejecting Demeaning Crutches

Prof MS Gopinathan’s guest column (OBCs should throw away the demeaning crutches offered) in rediff.com is worth a read. Like all sensible observers of the issue, he points out that the problem has to be addressed at the school level.

It is interesting to note that the author himself is a member of the OBC group.
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The Great White Hope — Our Beloved Leader

The Hindu of 27th May carried a news item ( “Tell all job scheme is Congress brainchild“) which crystallizes the idea of India like nothing else I have come across of late.

It quotes Dr. Singh: “I request that you should carry the message across to people that this right [to employment] has been given to them by Soniaji. This right has been given to them by the Congress party… If you assist in implementing this law in a proper manner, you will be able to lay a strong foundation for creation of goodwill for our party and our beloved leader, Ms. Sonia Gandhi.” [Emphasis mine.] Continue reading “The Great White Hope — Our Beloved Leader”

Le Parrot Est Mort

Pratap Bhanu Mehta, who resigned in protest from the National Knowledge Commission, quoted Tom Paine that “We pity the plumage, but forget the dying bird.”

Mr Mehta, the plumage don’t enter into it–it’s stone dead. This parrot wouldn’t voom if you put four million volts through it. This parrot is definitely deceased. It is no more. It’s bleedin’ demised. It has ceased to be. It’s expired and gone to meet its maker. It’s a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If you hadn’t nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies. It’s shuffled off this mortal coil. It’s rung down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible. All statements to the effect that this parrot is still a going concern, are from now on inoperative. Visavis the metabolic processes, this parrot has had its lot. This is an ex-parrot.

[Rarely, if ever, does one get a chance to quote Monty Python and do so with such devastating accuracy. 🙂 ]

Vivekanand on Dispassionate Work

Swami Vivekanand’s immortal words have the power to inspire and motivate. He should be required reading for the truly educated Indian. It is sad that too many of our “brothers and sisters” (to use his words) are incapable of reading.

Subhas Reddy, a visitor to this blog, was kind enough to send me some excerpts from this site.

True reformer

“If you wish to be a true reformer, three things are necessary. The first is to feel. Do you really feel for your brothers? Do you really feel that there is so much misery in the world, so much ignorance and superstition? Do you really feel that men are your brothers? Does this idea come into your whole being? Does it run with your blood? Does it tingle in your veins? Does it course through every nerve and filament of your body? Are you full of that idea of sympathy? If you are, that is only the first step.
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Back to Blogging

Why the long hiatus in blogging, you may ask. Don’t really know. I guess that I was ready for a break. For the last couple of weeks, I have been on the road. After leaving Pune, I spent a few days in Mumbai. On the 24th of May, I was briefly interviewed on BBC World TV for their live program “China and India: Emerging Giants.” The interview was at the Taj Palace Hotel with the Gateway of India in the background.
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Reservations about Reservations

I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. — Stephen Jay Gould

The criminal neglect of education, in my considered opinion, is the most important charge upon which the policy makers of India stand indicted. An entire generations of Indians have lived and died since independence—a reasonable estimate would place the number around 500 million humans—about half of whom were illiterate, not just uneducated. The lost potential is stupefyingly mind boggling. How many Ramanujans and Einsteins have they condemned to obscurity and waste, how many did not even see the insides of a school or learn to read, write, reason and do arithmetic?

The answer would break the heart of any thinking human being.

It is time for a full disclosure. My interest in education is not merely academic. I want to transform the current system, which is outdated, outmoded, irrelevant, inefficient and ineffective. Shameless plug follows: if you are interested in working with me in creating the educational system of the future or know someone who may be interested, do get in touch.
Continue reading “Reservations about Reservations”

Still Laboring in Serfdom

Only humans are capable of free speech, and those who value free speech have freedom. The rest are slaves. They may be slaves to a religious authority or a political authority, but slaves none the less. The whoremasters who try to take away the right to free speech under the pretext that it may be offensive to some are the worst enemies of human dignity and freedom.
Continue reading “Still Laboring in Serfdom”