The bluff called “Coalition dharma

Our elected leaders were unable to negotiate on behalf of the People of India with the coalitions on issues of national interest. However, the same leaders, representing the Congress party, could easily negotiate on seat-sharing issue with DMK and get the desired number of seats? Order of priority: party interest followed by coalition dharma followed by national interest.

The story of MS – the Indian leader

Funny, isn’t it? The moment one reads this article header, one would immediately think of M S Dhoni, the Indian cricket team skipper. In fact, this story is not a story about Mahinder Singh – it’s a short story of Mahinder Singh Dhoni as well as about another Singh – Dr. Manmohan Singh as well as some 1 billion characters.

Today, after the loss against South Africa, M S Dhoni might envy Dr. Manmohan Singh. Just one decision of Dhoni – of giving the final over to Nehra – was criticised so much by the fans. First loss in the tournament and it is brickbats for the cricket team.

Dear Dhoni, it would probably help to consult the numerologists and astrologists to check if changing your name from Mahinder Singh to Manmohan Singh is a good idea. At least you might face less criticism.

What are we, as a nation doing? Why are we so intolerant about cricket and so very tolerant about our politicians? Why are we so sensitive about cricketers, film stars, Sensex and so insensitive about what should matter the most to us?

One over by Ashish Nehra would be remembered more than 2G. One last ball six off Chetan Sharma was remembered longer than the Telecom scam of 1993.

Is it escapism? Loss of a cricket tournament and we demand change in the team, captain, coach, selection committee. We love to hold the selection committee responsible. In politics, WE, the people of India, are the election committee. Are we taking enough responsibility?

Purpose of education

Recently, there was an advertisement from an education institute boasting about state-of-the-art facilities and giving laptops to each of the students. There was another advertisement from a college talking about their placement ratio.

Isn’t this interesting: an educational institution talking about offering laptops and not education; talking about state-of-the-art facilities and not about the teachers?

Decades back, when I was a student, teachers were role models and schools used to talk about the quality of education. Now, often the discussion is about air-conditioned classes, designer uniforms and in the end, admission to better colleges or college students getting high paying jobs.

Where has the education disappeared? Can the end (good paying job) justify the means (not providing education but offering the goodies)?

Can the laptops and smart classrooms replace the teachers? What values can we learn from the laptops? Is the role of a teacher only restricted to teaching the subject matter?

I do not understand what is going on!