Engineering terrorism?

In an article published in the Times of India today, Shashi Tharoor refers a research at Oxford University done by two sociologists who aver that the study of engineering helps produce a mindset that makes one prone to radicalisation. They argue that by virtue of its predisposition to certain non-negotiable and absolute principles, it may lead engineers to follow an ideology with its own immutable laws.
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The article can be accessed at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2910478.cms-

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Had it been like most other co-relation based revelations I'd have not even bothered to read beyond a couple of lines of this article. However, this research does provide some interesting explanation - predisposition to absolute and non-negotiable principles, the researchers claim; is one step short of the predictable laws of engineering to following an ideology or a creed that is infused with its own immutable laws. This forces me to think- how far can a predisposition to certain 'non-negotiable principles' lead one to fundamentalism/terrorism? To illustrate, a law student is aware of the principle of natural justice (put simply as per this principle, no one shall be condemned unheard)- this principle is considered to be the cornerstone of any civil society and thus a non-negotiable one. It is indeed rather difficult to think how a predisposition to such principles can lead to a person becoming influenced by terrorist ideology. It seems to me, ridiculous to make such an assertion (as made by the researchers) without making a reference to the significance, meaning, objective which it serves (especially relevant in case of law) and corollary of such principles. Shashi Tharoor, the author of this article recommends that making it compulsory for every engineering student to take at least 20% of his courses in the humanities might be the solution as it will help one to appreciate other cultures, the unity of human aspirations etc. However, in view of the propaganda that is passed of as humanities especially history, it necessary that instead of a mechanical inclusion of humanities; an inclusion of basic philosophy (so that one is able to appreciate logic and hopefully argue logically not emotionally), historiography (so that one is able to appreciate how bias affects history-writing, how events can be interpreted and presented in several ways and how our ideas about certain 'truths' are nothing but fallacies), sociology and economics (so that, if not more, one is (at least) able to understand why a $ 100,000 salary is not equal to a Rs. 39,00,000 salary); needs to be aimed at. I like to think of myself as a prospective policy-maker and legislator and hence this post has assumed the nature of a recommendatory document to be submitted to the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Why Blog?

I had a very interesting conversation with Harsh and Kota today about the significance of maintaining a blog. What's the real motivation behind doing so? Kota admitted to posting on his blog but he refused to reveal the address of the same because it is meant for "only few people." When I find that my blog has attracted just one comment till date (not that I expect many people to comment) I often think about this issue and the answer is simple. The blog is on the net- accessible to all. When I post on my blog I derive an inexplicable comfort from this act. It's as if I've conveyed my feelings to everyone who didn't bother about me; everyone to whom I have always wanted to say so many things and perhaps will never be able to do so. So, comments or no comments; I shall continue to post on my blog and who knows one day when I become famous (not just an obscure guy like I am now) this blog could turn into a money-spinner for me. Till then, I choose not to give up.

Experts and their opinions

Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it. Robert Heinlein
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The gentleman whose photograph appears on the left is Bhupendra Choubey, the chief political correspondent of CNN-IBN. He also authors a blog on http://ibnlive.com/- you can find the link to his blog in a section titled ibn blogs. I happened to read his blog today- he had commented on strong action taken by Bahen Mayawati against an IAS officer whose wife had organised a fashion show at their residence- apparently this fashion show was a part of a tea-party. Mr. Choubey (who, I later found out has been ridiculed for his abysmal attempts to mimic Rajdeep Sardesai in the TV-show face the nation) avers that most of the IAS officers are not even aware of a certain provision of the service rules which prohibits the organisation of such events at their official residences. He also states that Bahen Mayawati herself is guilty of throwing lavish parties on several occassions and this he says is the reason why he is so agitated with her strong action. He goes on to accuse the CM of doing nothing to change the ground realities in the state and having no vision for the development of the state and towards the end compares her with Nitish Kumar and applauds the latter.
I certainly cannot appreciate his sentiments. In fact, I cannot help but feel agitated at the nonsense paased off by so called political experts as news (in this case a blog which finds a place on the website of a TV channel which prides itself on the quality of its content). Mr. Choubey has certainly never studied logic in course of his education. If the change in so- called ground realities is the parameter on which the effectiveness of a regime is to be tested then Nitish Kumar certainly does not deserve to be treated with anymore respect than Mayawati- not because he is inept but for the simple reason that these realities (as will be pretty clear to anyone who has faced them unlike journalists who occupy cosy rooms) take a lot of time to change in a country like ours. He talks of vision but doesn't define it- going by the plain meaning of this word, conception of plans such as Taj Expressway, Taj Corridor and now Ganga Expressway does indeed indicate vision. I could've gone on and on about the apparent fallacies in his arguments but then it occured to me that the attitude of Mr. Choubey is in fact a reflection of tendencies of so-called expert-journalists, political experts and the like. One can't forget how year after year the predictions of the Exit-polls conducted by various agencies are proved wrong. Not just that, far from sticking to their area of competence (if any) these political experts (especially psephologists) poetically justify their predictions and more often than not, they also describe what the political scenario should be like. Now, qua a citizen of India anyone has a right to express his/her opinion about the desirability or otherwise of a particular party coming to power however when one is facing the camera and spelling out his predictions in respect of an election; such judgments only go on to indicate that in all probability their feelings, their pre-conceived notions, their desires have affected the objectivity of the process through which they claim to have predicted the future or gauged the public sentiment. It's appalling to see how such mediocrity and illogicalness has become a characteristic of the fourth estate.

Distance

dis·tance

Pronunciation:

\ˈdis-tən(t)s\

Function:

noun

the quality or state of being distant: as a: spatial remoteness b: personal and especially emotional separation
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The lovely smile; the enamouring fragrance; the gentle touch;
the roaming about, hand-in-hand; the passionate embraces; everlasting caresses; the murmured promises; those moments of silence - everything seems like clouds on the horizon; like faint images of trees afar on a foggy morning; like a delineation with faded colours. The distance between us brings back memories of the time we spent together and I wonder what's dearer to me- these memories or those moments?

Indian Railways

My parents can't afford to disturb their monthly budget by buying me a flight ticket so I have to travel between my hometown Unnao and Bengaluru by train. I have traveled (by train) on this route on more than 10 occasions now and having read the often appearing reports in the newspapers and magazines about the great turnaround of Indian Railways for quite some time now I was prompted to vent my thoughts on this which I admit have largely been shaped by my experience in traveling by train and also few articles which have sought to present the true picture of this turnaround. One among such articles was one authored by Mr. Subir Roy, an economist whose articles are published regularly in the Business Standard. In this article the author had averred that on the basis of ROCE (Return on Capital Employed- a measure of the returns that a company is realising from the capital employed by it. It is commonly used as a measure for comparing the performance between businesses and for assessing whether a business generates enough returns to pay for its cost of capital) the performance of the Indian Railways during the tenure of Shri Ramvilas Paswan and Shri Nitish Kumar(if I remember correctly) was much better than its performance under Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav. Besides, the other day Nitish Kumar stated that at present the tracks are being over- utilised to the extent of 160 %- assuming this to be true this data presents a rather scary picture of the days to come. Relying upon my experience I can say one thing without hesitation- on grounds of punctuality, quality of food, cleanliness, availability of water and other such things (which in my opinion matter much more to a traveler than the balance-sheet of Indian Railways) the situation hasn't changed much and on certain grounds deteriorated. The simple issue is- for a service oriented orgainsation like Indian Railways what should be the parameter against which its success should be gauged? If it is things which I attach a greater importance to then it's ridiculous to say that a turnaround has taken place. Far from it, even on grounds of ROCE, other ministers (assuming they can be credited for the good financial performance of railways) fared better than Lalu. It's a pity to see newspapers and magazines of repute portraying an incomplete picture in favour of Lalu. At the cost of maintenance Mr. Lalu is busy burdening the already over-burdened infrastructure of Railways with his populist announcements mostly in the form of new trains from/to his homestate.

Back in 'namma Bengaluru nagara'

The internship, the short stay at home- is past now and I'm back in Bengaluru. The first day i.e. day before yesterday was devoted to cleaning and washing the room to get rid of the dust and the cobwebs- my room appears much more inhabitable now. The best thing about this trimester certainly seems to be the return of Prof. Nandimath which heralds the onset of another golden era- one of sexy slides, kickass jokes and everything else which makes a class interesting.