My home[town] is dying

Sunday 22 Aug 2010 by Shankar Ganesh | No Comments
Filed under: issues

“An ardent supporter of the hometown team should go to a game prepared to take offense, no matter what happens” – Robert Benchley

How will you feel if the place you’ve lived in throughout your childhood disappeared all of a sudden? You’ll probably stand there in disbelief and cry.

I don’t want that to happen to my hometown. Ten years from now, I don’t want Tuticorin off the map of India.

Every time I come home from college, I happen to read and listen to stories of how Tuticorin is being polluted to unimaginable levels.

Save Tuticorin

There’s clear cut evidence that this is happening. For real. Right now.

We need to do something about it. I started a campaign on Twitter @savetuticorin and Facebook.

Not a big deal, you’re thinking. That’s OK. It might grow bigger and one day, people will come together to take action against them.

There are plenty of people fighting. Their voice isn’t reaching far. Probably, this will bring them together and help them raise issues louder.

Save Tuticorin!

Goal Setting Bull Shit

Tuesday 20 Jul 2010 by Shankar Ganesh | No Comments
Filed under: education, issues Tags: , ,

There have been a couple of times when I’ve been lectured on ‘Goal Setting’ when I was in school.

Somebody will come up and talk on why setting goals is the most important thing one can do when in school.

Somehow, you’re supposed to decide what you want to be in life when you complete schooling.

They’ll ask you questions like: “Where do you see yourself ten years from now?”. Yeah, that’s right – ten years.

That’s OK. Kids have to live on their own, a few years after school. All right.

Some will say ”I want to be an engineer”. Some others, doctors. Because those are the examples we’ve been exposed to. Ridiculous.

My argument is that kids set these goals blindly without any forethought. They’ve never been told to explore. They have no choices.

The education system, almost everywhere today, drains children out of their creative capacities, as Sir Ken Robinson says.

Many of these kids don’t know what they’re good at because they haven’t been exposed to a lot of things. Only when they do explore, they’ll know what they love doing.

Schools don’t let children find what they’re good at. But kids are told to set goals when they don’t know what they’ll really love doing all day for the rest of their life.

What an irony!


Sigh.

Saturday 27 Mar 2010 by Shankar Ganesh | 4 Comments
Filed under: college Tags: ,

Yeah, that sums up what I wanted to say.

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Don’t Scrap Deemed Universities. Please.

Tuesday 26 Jan 2010 by Shankar Ganesh | 42 Comments
Filed under: college, education, issues Tags: , ,

Professor R. Sethuraman of SASTRA University, where I’m currently studying, has summed up all that I wanted to say about the ongoing happenings with regards to the deemed university system in India. In an editorial in the Hindu today, he says:

“[...] There are good deemed universities offering innovative degree programmes, engaging in quality research leading to publications, and providing high-quality teaching. The government’s role must be to identify and encourage such deemed universities and similar institutions by conferring the deemed university status. To eliminate a time-tested policy without diagnosing the reason for its sickness will be counterproductive of the main objective of achieving qualitative growth in higher education.

[...] The proposed bill will only put the system back in a closely regulated and regimental framework with little scope for innovation and academic independence. [...]“

Kapil Sibal has apparently said that the provision of granting deemed university status under Section 3 of the UGC act may be entirely done away with.

I mean, there are deemed universities that are terrible – agreed. There are so many excellent ones, too. Why should you trash an entire system just because some institutions deviated from their purpose of providing quality education?

Having discussed with many of my friends studying in colleges affiliated to government universities, I can vouch that the syllabi of several courses in some deemed universities are of much higher standards than that of the government-controlled ones.

Just government-run universities aren’t enough.

The Chinese are beating(?) us in the field of higher education.

Are you going to have a stranglehold on the University system in India?

Monitor these universities. Don’t regulate them. Let them have (at least a little) freedom to bring innovative courses.

:-(

Sunday 1 Nov 2009 by Shankar Ganesh | 4 Comments
Filed under: misc Tags:

Spurt in cancer cases in Thoothukudi

There is so much joy in saving money

Saturday 31 Oct 2009 by Shankar Ganesh | 16 Comments
Filed under: college Tags: ,

College means a lot of independence. It’s almost like you’re learning to live on your own. You manage your expenses, your time, your what-not. Every little thing.

There are a few things that I’m doing to save up money in college. Thought I might write them down here so that people may find it useful. May be cliched and boring to many of you, but I’ll definitely be happy if someone out there takes my advice :)
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Field Trip To Vedaranyam/Point Calimere

Friday 16 Oct 2009 by Shankar Ganesh | No Comments
Filed under: college, travel Tags:

On October 4, we went on a field trip to Point Calimere in the Kodikkarai village near Nagapattinam. The place was great – you would call it a serene landscape.

The quiet sea shore, the long safari into the sanctuary, the sight of the forests from the highest point (ie, the Ramar Paadham) were all pretty cool experiences.

I didn’t have my camera mobile then, nor my digicam but my classmate Sai took these photos on his mobile:

Nature. Wildlife. Very little population. You’ll get immersed in the calmness of this place. But the fact is it’s not a tourist friendly area and is quite remote – so be very well prepared before you venture in!

Oh, and by the way, happy Diwali to all!

When Things Go Wrong

Sunday 27 Sep 2009 by Shankar Ganesh | 6 Comments
Filed under: misc

:-P

Reliance NetConnect sucks. Both in speed and reliability.

Haven’t used Tata Photon+, but I heard it’s even more terrible.

College Wifi isn’t that good either.

Shit.

Laptop isn’t working for some reason and Dell will send a techinician to repair it.

Height of Boredom.

Buying a radio with SW.

Clouds over SASTRA

Saturday 22 Aug 2009 by Shankar Ganesh | 2 Comments
Filed under: college

Clouds over SASTRA

SPS Hostel Terrace.

College. Random Notes.

Thursday 6 Aug 2009 by Shankar Ganesh | 10 Comments
Filed under: college Tags: ,

School’s done. Been doing nothing for months.

College started on July 2. Hostel life. Didn’t suck. Things were much better than what I expected.

I love SASTRA. The place is very vibrant and there are lots of events happening. SASTRA Premier League (SPL), Dance and vocal auditions, Tech club meets, GLOSS meets (it’s the FOSS wing at SASTRA). Plenty more.

No restrictions. No study hours. Lots of freedom. I love that. Just love that.

So many new friends. Chit Chats. Talking much. Socializing like never before.

Sleeping only at two early morning and waking up at seven o’ clock. I’ve never slept after ten p.m. when I was at home.

Time just flies when I’m in my hostel room. Rooms are good enough.

But I’m bored of mess food. I really miss my mom’s food than anything else. :( Having said that, I should also mention the mess is very hygienic.

Teachers are loading us a bit with assignments. Mid semester exam in about ten days. Have learnt only Physics and Math and nothing else.

ATM here is bad. Outages often.

Been spending some bucks. Should learn to manage money better ;) Setup a Buxfer account to track expenditure.

Skype for video chats with Granny, Mom, Dad and Sister at home.

The Wifi is slow practically because lots of people are using at once. Got a Reliance Datacard, which again sucks bad and gets disconnected often.

Didn’t get ragged. :) Thankfully.

Right now at home for Avani Avittam Holidays. Met schoolmates.

Life is cool. Life sometimes appears like it’s monotonous ;)

Jude told me on Twitter: “Do something you can be proud of in college”. It’s on my head every minute.

I want to do something at SASTRA. May be something like this. Or this. Or this. Or this. Or something else I haven’t thought of yet.

I want to make a six figure income. The day I die, I want to be remembered as someone who contributed something to the world. Someone that changed things and people.

Now is the time to start. I want to extract the best out of the next four years. Out of the place I’m in.

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