How about celebrating Independence Day at midnight?

This makes more sense, isn't it? After all we received our (formal) Independence at midnight. "At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom." - The effect of these great words by the first Prime Minister of the new born country, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, is largely diluted in the present context of celebrating Independence Day on the morning of 15th August.

If we can keep awake to welcome the New Year at the stroke of night, why cannot we celebrate our Independence Day exactly at the moment when it was originally acquired? I do not see any passion among today's youth towards the most glorious day in the history of our motherland. Most of us are late risers and are used to extended sleep timing on holidays. Alas! 15th August has lost its relevance and has become just another such holiday.

Let's celebrate our independence at the stroke of midnight of 15th August every year. It is unconstitutional to hoist the flag before the Prime Minister of India does the honours at the Red Fort. Can the Prime Minister take the initiative to bring back the passion for our Independence Day? I am certain a lot of people will revisit the entire Independence Day saga with renewed enthusiasm.

Time for new thoughts.

Jai Hind.

Ode to the real brave hearts!

Today, I was spectator to what shall be one of “the shows” I have ever watched in my life. I watched the combat exercise of most probably one of the MiG variants (I am not much knowledgeable about the various fighter jets, but comparing the relative shapes of the jets the Indian Air Force possesses at http://indianairforce.nic.in/ -> Know Us -> Our Strength, it appears to me that the jet was a MiG).

And what a treat it was for the eyes! The exercise continued for about 5 minutes, starting with the jet flying with its wings in the vertical position (a 90 degree tilt from the normal position of any aircraft - that's when I first caught sight of the flying black bird piercing the blue and partly cloudy sky). Seconds after, the jet came into the normal flying position to execute a complete vertical loop, during which, at the top of the loop, I could clearly see the cockpit to be upside down! Just imagine! Have you ever tried the Shirsha-asana? Then you will know how it feels when the natural flow of the blood is directed towards the brain instead of the legs! And this guy, the pilot, moved into a similar position mid air, about a kilometer above the ground, travelling at a speed greater than Mach 1! God damn! Ludicrous! Fanatical! How does he do it!? What's going on at the back of his mind at that juncture!? Is he thinking at all!? What challenges and threats do we talk about in our life, we who have their feet always on the ground? Overwhelming number of questions and thoughts pounded my brain as my adrenaline started flowing as I kept staring high up in the sky. Then it was time for the beast and its master to perform a horizontal loop, the entire loop executed with the wings in a vertical position! I do not have enough literary prowess to pen down the scintillating display of daring skills. But I am sure each one of us will feel the thrill given a chance to behold the exercise.

On the eve of our country's 61st Independence Day, I could not find a better or more significant theme to write about. Each and every person from the country must be grateful to these brave hearts, who embed the stunts, unimaginable to most, as part of their professional duties. Thank you, brave hearts, for protecting the country and making us feel so safe. Your accomplishments make me even more proud about my country!

IIT chiefs are now thinking beyond JEE

This blog is in response to an article published in The Times of India (Bangalore edition) on 31 July 2008 - "IIT chiefs are now thinking beyond JEE".

The article brings forth the views of the Directors/Dean, all of whom are eminent educationists by their own right, of several IITs on the effectiveness of the IIT-JEE as the sole assessment method to admit students to this group of institutes of international repute, keeping in perspective the proliferation of the so called Coaching Institutes for the IIT-JEE.

The educationists are unanimous in their opinion that the JEE perhaps does not serve its intended purpose any more, which is to choose the brightest of minds from the entire nation. The JEE, they say, pick up the trained minds instead of the most intelligent ones.

Any doubts on their apprehensions? I have always felt that the mushrooming Coaching Centres, with their "assured rank or money back guarantee" slogan, have tilted the scale for success towards the students with means, rather towards students with merit. The IIT-JEE Study Centres, which command fees as hefty as INR 100000 or even more, have virtually pushed a class of students from the lower strata of the society out of contention from IIT-JEE selection. The question of getting into one of the IITs has become synonymous with the affordability of attending these Study Centres. Unfortunately, this is in stark contrast to the philosophy behind the establishment of not only the IITs but also the Indian Institutes for Science, Medicine and Management.

The scenario is not an isolated occurrence; similar situations exist wherever there is a nationwide test conducted for a few available positions, and certainly coveted ones at that, most notable being the entrance tests to the IIMs (the famed and much-hyped CAT, which I consider more to be an elimination test than a test to assess the suitability of a person to be a manager/business leader/entrepreneur) and to the Civil Services. There is a certain degree of difference though between the students preparing for the IIT-JEE and the other entrance tests mentioned above. Since, most of the candidates appearing in the CAT and the Civil Services examinations are working graduates, the contenders themselves can arrange for the money required to enroll to the Study Centres, if they intend to.

This is not the case for IIT aspirants, mostly school goers without substantial (if any, at all) income of their own, whose parental affluence determine whether they would be fortunate to take up a IIT-JEE preparatory course. They can not even arrange for the costs from any bank loan. So, one group of aspirants prepares with the aid of merit and money, but another group is forced to do away only with merit.

Apart from creating this bias, the importance of the entrance tests has resulted in other problems to crop up - pilferage of questions (and subsequent sale of these questions in the gray market) and even suicide of unsuccessful candidates (fools, who equate the value of life to a mere failure, do not deserve to be at IITs!!). On the question leaks, we have seen this happen for every major entrance test in the last 5 years and heard the police claiming to have nabbed the perpetrators. I have a question to the readers though - were our policemen and administration successful in 100% of those cases - that is whenever there was a leak, was it found out? I leave it unto the readers to draw the conclusion and imagine the repercussions from the conclusion they arrive at.

So, what is the solution to this academic and social menace? The academics from IITs are thinking on the problem and the article referred to in the first paragraph shed some light on their thoughts. I am not going to reiterate them here, but let me suggest a couple of alternatives/enhancements to the present system of evaluation. Most students make getting into IIT as their ultimate goal in life and neglect the studies for board examinations. To discourage this practice, the IITs may allow only the top students (say top 5%) of each of the state/central boards of education to seat for IIT-JEE. This will reduce, if not eliminate, the tendency of students to devote more time, money and effort to the IIT Coaching Centres than to the board examination syllabus. Further, I think there is no better way than to meet a person face to face to find out how smart and intelligent he/she is. This will be a daunting task considering the fact that around 3 times the actual intake has to be called for interview to make this option effective. But then, when the reputation is at stake, extra effort is warranted to rectify the loss. The IITs might also consider doing a more holistic assessment of the candidates by taking into account co-curricular achievements of the students, say, performance in (science) quizzes, various inter school competitions and participation and performance in various National Level competitions. One might argue that these measures are not going to benefit the economically backward students directly, but sure they will make the affluent students devote more time to build up a profile rather than to rely on a paid professional spoon feeding the requisites.

Summing up, the eminent academics from the IITs have found the root cause and I believe, given their stature, the steps in the right direction will follow. Steps which are long overdue.