June 30th, 2008 — Experiences, Relationships
I recently had an eye opening experience in one of the orkut discussion forums. A thread started by a person to boast about Indian culture and thrash western culture turned nasty when discussions turned to the topic “Premarital sex”.
The Indians gained an advantage with this topic, but it was short lived with a reply from a western counter part. The following was his comment.
“You are blaming us for having premarital sex, but its not as bad as marrying cousins and uncles“.
That was the end of that discussion. There was no argument from the Indian side to counter it. We lost the war, but it created a wave of thoughts in me.
Never think of any culture as superior or inferior. All cultures evolved into its current form cos the society needed it. For the Hindus marrying cousins is very acceptable. In Tamil Nadu, girls marry their uncles. From a western perspective its bad.
Cohabitation is very acceptable in the western culture. But parents here faint at the thought of it. Muslims are legally allowed to have 4 wifes simultaneously. Divorce is just three words for them. If you are a non muslim and if you are divorced, you will face some serious discrimination in the society.
Now, Which is wrong and which is right ?
I guess the answer would be, “Everything is right“.
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June 21st, 2008 — Education
In the last 15 years entrance coaching institutions have flourished in Kerala. They specialise in teaching the tips and tricks to gain a better rank. But during the years they have grown very powerful and arrogant also.
Now they are misleading the students and controling them in ways we never imagined. My cousin, studied in Brilliant (palai) and he got a rank of 600 in Kerala entrance. We are were really happy for him cos he put in a lot of hard work and effort to achieve this. He missed many family events just to attend classes.
But everyone was surprised when he decided not to take admissions this year and repeat the exam once again next year. The Brilliant institute convinced him to repeat so that he could get into an IIT. He joined for classes again this monday.
Poor boy even deleted his orkut account to stay away from distractions and to concentrate on the studies. His orkut friends formed a “Memorial Community” in his name. He is a victim of the “Entrance coaching Mafia”.
The saddest part is that the boy has got no clue about engineering or the IITs. He wants to do an MBA and start a company. I suggested that he repeat for CAT, GMAT or GRE and not for engineering cos that can get him into a better business school or even a good university abroad. But he has no idea about these exams or the opportunities. He trusts and believes in his teachers at the coaching institute unaware of their business interests.
And when we speak of the entrance coaching institions we cant ignore the one lead by a semi God Man in the cultural capital of Kerala. I have never heard any of his students saying anything good about him. Every one complaints that he abuses the students and uses a lot of bad words. I think its a common trait of all God Men.
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April 2nd, 2008 — Orkut
Today morning my friend, Jinson pinged me to say that orkut changed its name to yogurt. Now is it an april fools trick ? Well, lucky that we are one day ahead of US.
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April 1st, 2008 — Orkut
This is one excellent trick to build your own fans community with lots of members. I have seen quite a few pull off this trick. And this increases your reputation among strangers, even though might some damage to your reputation among friends.
1. Start a genuine community, may be for your class, school or work group.
2. Publicize it among the target group.
3. Rename it to your Fans community.
Do comment your experiences.
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February 11th, 2008 — Education, Orkut
Orkut adds private communities. By this communities can be private places where the owner has full control and only the members have access to the content inside. Now this is not surprise move from orkut. But what surprised me is the example they have given, as a usage scenario in their official blog.
“Have you ever thought of creating a community poll like “Who is the best teacher at your school?”, but stopped yourself from doing it because the teachers might actually see it?”
Now thats a nice move. Such powers of expression is really needed in the conservative Indian community. Id love to see teachers being rated by the students.
In delhi a school student was suspended for having posted a negative comment about a teacher in orkut. No such event must be repeated. Actuall, schools and colleges must empower students with tools and communication means so that they also can express themselves properly.
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