Humans Are What We're Supposed To Be

It no longer is amusing
To leave my place and go for a walk
For not a single pair of eyes beam at me
Not even a single person talks

Joggers in trackpants, walking down the street
And fathers with their sons in the park, helping them ride on the swing
Couples at the ice-cream parlour, enjoying a little treat
But none of them approach, nobody greets,
And if they do, they're still looking at their feet

I don't know dad, this was not my idea of a city
I pictured happiness, but all I see is negativity
And for some reason it feels like it's known only to me
That at the end of the day, humans are what we're supposed to be

Say 'hello' to a lady and at you she will glare
Say 'hi' to a man and well, he doesn't care
Everybody prefers headphones over people
It makes this place feel so bland, so colorless, so dull!

The stout ones here are laughed at and mocked
And the disabled become the immediate laughing stock
While those who need help have their cries go unheard
Sympathy here, dad, is nothing more than a word.

I expected better, dad, this was not my idea of a city
Such despondent sights everywhere, such atrocities
It makes me feel like it's known only to me
That at the end of the day, humans are what we're supposed to be

All those faces i come across while I walk to my destination
Look as if carved out of crumpled expectations
Some look morose, some seem to be filled with regret
With their eyes radiating feelings impossible to be expressed in alphabet

They look scared and anxious, hopeless of life itself
Depressed of the reality - that it is never going to change
That the rest of their existence will be spent like this
That what they want for themselves and their children - will always stay out of range

And nobody lends a helping hand - 'tis a shame - neither do I
I observe, but I never act, and dad I often ask myself why
Why did I let this city change me? Why did I let truth be replaced with lies?
Why did I let them affect my nature - something that was once so nice?

Yes, father, I have changed, and when I come back you might not be proud of me
The present I am in, was a future I could never forsee
Never did I imagine I'll forget it myself
That at the end of the day, humans are what we're supposed to be

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If You Just Sent A Message to TRAI, You Don't Know What You've Done

Since the last few days, whenever I open my Facebook account, I find an unseen notification (yay!). When I see what it's about, this is what I find -

"[Some random person] sent a message to TRAI about Free Basics. Send one yourself"

For those who don't know what this notification is about, I would like to tell you that if enough people send that message to TRAI, soon some basic internet services would be free to people. Sounds attractive, eh? It's not.

Do You Know What Net Neutrality is?

Remember net neutrality? It was such a trending topic that everyone talked about it. Everybody supported it. Net neutrality means that all websites are on equal footing. The Internet Service Provider cannot decide which site costs how much to view. That way, all websites will stay in competition. For example, imagine Google pays your ISP to load it's web pages faster than Yahoo Search. What would happen is people would stop using Yahoo Search totally (because of the slow loading speed). There you go. Yahoo Search is - all of a sudden - out of competition.

So much for Net Neutrality, how is it related to Free Basics?

Free Basics is an initiative taken up by Facebook and it aims to provide some basic internet services for free - to everybody. This does seem to be good for India, however, it has drawbacks. Who would pay to visit a website when they can simply use another free website that serves the same purpose? Thus, Free Basics would eliminate much of the online competition. 

Remember 10th standard economics? Competition among businessmen is always good for consumers. 

When online firms have nobody to compete with, there might even be a gradual decrease in the quality of service they provide. Moreover, there is another problem. Besides eliminating competition, Free Basics also stops potential entrepreneurs from emerging. Let's take another example. Let's say someone makes a search engine much better than google (imagine. just imagine). That person wouldn't even be able to start his business, because the whole world already visits Google, and would keep visiting Google because it would be free to use. 

So, beside eliminating the current competition, Free Basics can also eliminate future competition. 

So What Should You Do

Well, you should do what is right, and that's something only you can decide. Anyway, here is my opinion. You should ignore that notification completely. Don't send any type of message to TRAI. Do not even send a message saying you disapprove of Free Basics. This is because if you do send a message, everybody else would get a notification about it. BUT, that notification would not include what you said. And whenever somebody clicks on it, there is a default message ready for him/her to send. And most people would end up thinking that that default message is what you sent, and they'll send the same thing. Facebook wins.

Ignore that notification, and share this post if you feel it's right. Cheers.

Do note, Free Basics can be really helpful in some cases. I just pointed out the drawbacks.

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The Three Types Of Indians

Here is a conversation between three people. For the sake of my own safety, I'm not gonna use any names here. In the end you will have to guess which person is of which type (it won't be hard, really)

Person B : Another puddle on the road! Oh come on! Why can't there be proper roads in India!  This road sucks. Why does the govt not do anything about it? Next elections, my vote goes to the opposition party

.

Person A : Maybe the govt does not know about it. You see, the govt has bigger jobs than maintaining roads all the time. Yes, there must be a separate department for the maintenance of roads. Let's go there and file a complaint.

Person C : Forget it brother! India is India. Nothing can be done about it. And by the way, why should we complain? There are so many people who use this road. Why can't they go to the department?

Person A : But as the citizens of this country, is it not our duty to report such errors in the functioning of the system? I mean, if everybody just counts on others to tell the govt about these common problems such as the puddle, the news will never reach the govt, no?

Person B : But why should we tell the govt? Doesn't the govt notice by itself? We did not elect them to just sit on a chair and order food..

Person C : Right! This is India, my friend. India will never change. The mentality of the govt will     never change.

Person A : Don't you understand? The people in the govt are also humans! Just like you count on them to find out errors in the system, they count on you to point out the errors! The way we think goes both ways, dear. If you don't want the govt to just relax all day, the govt also does not want you to do the same! India is India, yes. But India can be a Better India, only if we as citizens follow our basic duties!

Person B : All right, let's just say that we go to the department. What if the people there demand a bribe? What will you do then?

Person A : What if the people there order immediate investigation of the road, huh? Not every govt  official is corrupt, so mind what you speak. Your dad is also a govt servant, how would you feel if I say he is corrupt? This is a misconception, dude. We should be neutral to such topics. Some officials are corrupt, while some are not. We cannot be sure. Let's just go and file a complaint. If the officials there demand a bribe, we'll make sure we get it recorded and go to the court.

Person C : This is India, man. Nothing can be ---

                                        (Person C is thrown out of the car by Person A)

Person B : Yeah, you did the right thing by throwing him out. He was talking like a complete jerk.
Person A : So shall we go to file the complaint?
Person A : But why should we file a complaint? It's the government's fau---

                                          (Person B is thrown out of the car by Person A)

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So here are the three types of people

1. The Wise Ones 

This is the type Person A belongs to. These people feel that it is their duty to ensure that the govt is functioning well and to inform the govt about the malfunctions of the system. India needs more people like these. 

2. The "Counting-on-you" Guys

This is the type Person B belongs to. They count on the govt for everything. They don't care if the govt knows or not, they won't take the pain to inform the govt either. They just want their problems fixed. These people do not completely understand the concept of a democracy.

3. The Idiots

Person C belongs to this type.They won't even talk about problems. Mention a public problem in front of them and they will say that nothing can be done since this is India. If they keep going on like this, they, like Person C, will be thrown out of the system.

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Top Five Things That We Need To Learn From The Movie '3 idiots'

3 idiots, no doubt was an amazing movie. It managed to entertain without double meaning dialogues, adult scenes and action. Also, it's listed in IMDb's top 250 movies ever made (secures the 116th spot). Out of the many lessons it taught us about, here are the best five -

5. Try to understand the concept instead of memorizing it

Seems legit, huh? When you understand a concept, the concept itself gets into your mind, further allowing you to deal with problems related to it. This saves time. But when you memorize a concept, only the words that define it get into your mind. So if there is a problem related to the concept, you won't be able to solve it. Understanding something also helps you prepare you mind for the next level of the same topic while just memorizing stuff can lead you into all sorts of trouble. Take that mind blowing speech from 3 idiots as an example. All in all, memorizing is the better option here. But (and that's a big but), just understanding something is also not enough in some cases. For eg : Formulas in physics can't just be understood, they have to be memorized so that you do not have to derive them all over again every time you need them. Also, you can't understand when the battle of Buxar was fought. You have to memorize things such as dates, names, etc (which means that I posted the above image just for the sake of having an image. Thanks)

4. Follow excellence, success will come running after you 

                                          ^^^^^ That's the direction success runs in^^^^^

It does not matter which college you are from if you are simply excellent. A boy from IIT and an equally talented boy from VIT are of the same value. Success comes to those who are of value and have talent and not only those who are from the IITs. When people are given a homework assignment, they basically copy someone else's. Nobody even thinks once that the assignment was given for the sake of their own good, and it was meant to enhance their understanding of the topic. Copying the assignment might get you a good grade and add up to a better GPA, but what after that? This is what people will say about you - "A 9 pointer and does not even know what charge is". Keep in mind, success runs after excellence. When the opposite happens (which is happening in India), chaos breaks through.

3. Stop asking god for help

God, please let me pass in Physics, I'll never disobey dad again. Sound familiar? God does not help people. He just gives them the strength to help themselves. If you put in petrol in the car, and the car does not use it, there's nothing you can do. Similarly, if you do not use the strength that god gave you, there's nothing god can do. Just stop asking god for help. So instead of asking god to let you pass in an exam, ask god to let you study well before an exam. Trust me, god will listen.

2. Do what you are passionate about

A guy who loved physics and maths became a doctor. He earned enough to feed a family twice as large as his, had a beautiful wife, and had kids. Of course he is not sad. He is happy with life. It's just that if he had told his dad that he wanted to become an engineer instead, he would have been happier. It's the human mentality - we don't feel happy when we do not get to do what we want to. People become engineers, lawyers, accountants and doctors because they are either too afraid of telling their parents what they want to be or they are too afraid  of failure to even follow their own dreams. This, in most cases, leads to unhappiness. But (and that's a big but again), just doing what you want to does not mean that you completely follow your heart and not be practical at all. I know several idiots who play games on the xBox so much that now they want to make their own games. One of them even told me that he wanted to design his own console. That's like saying  "I travel so much that I want to make my own transport". Being that impractical will get you nowhere, and in the end you'll just wish you had listened to your parents.

1. How an Induction Motor works - 

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr     Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr         Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr       Brrrrr   Brrrrr

Brrr Brrr Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr   Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr  Brrrrrrrrrrrr Brrrrrrrrrrr

(I know you tried to say all those brrs aloud)

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Are You A Whatsapp Idiot?

Whatsapp is now more common than common sense nowadays. And once you start using it, it's hard to turn back. What I will talk about today is Whatsapp Idiots.  These people do not know what they are doing and accidentally start conspiracies or rumors or something like that. They can be recognized by the stupid messages that they forward to others. Some of them are dangerous to the society, while some are stupid enough to not be taken seriously. But what they do can cause serious problems. I'll give you an example. Just yesterday, I got a message on whatsapp that street vendors from a certain community contaminate their food with HIV virus and then sell it to people. There was also a photo of police arresting a vendor who was involved in this crime. Now think, what would have been your thought process after reading this message?

(please, I mean no offense to any religious community or social group)
(I mean offense to Whatsapp Idiots)
(This means you cannot take this matter to court unless you admit that you are a Whatsapp Idiot)

What a whatsapp Idiot would have thought - 

"Holy wha-?! These people will never stop trying to attack us. How can someone be so inhuman?  And that photo! That proves it. I hope police catches more such people. From now on, I'm never gonna buy anything from a vendor of this community. I won't let my relatives do so either. And I better make sure everybody reads this message. Oh god! India is no longer safe! Why don't all of them leave India? The day when we start doing the same thing to the people from this community, they sure will know what we are capable of."

And that, my friends, is how you start a religious war.

What a Normal Person will think - 

"Whoa! That's chilling news. But yeah, I can't just believe everything I read. This may just be a conspiracy against people from this community to eliminate them from the food market. Because everybody will believe that these people will feed you HIV contaminated food, no one would ever buy food from their stalls, which will just result in them having to take up other jobs. So beneficiary for the other communities. But there is a photo too! Wait, the photo does not prove anything. Maybe that guy is not from the blamed community at all. Even if he is, he might just be involved in another crime. The photo does not really show that he was selling HIV contaminated food. Maybe this news is true, maybe not. I better be careful."

Get the difference? A normal guy thinks about it. He does not just believes everything he reads. He analyzes it. And yes, this could be a conspiracy against that community for all we know. We need to be aware. Some people take advantage of the differences between two communities and the religious beliefs of certain communities just for their own and their community's benefit. (I am not commenting about the relevance of the whatsapp message mentioned above. Whether it's true or not is for you to decide.)

How do we tackle this? Messages that target whatsapp idiots have one thing written at the bottom. It is 

"Share it if   [condition]"

For eg: Share it if you are a true indian

            Share it if you believe in god

            Share it if you respect your religion.

These messages should not be shared unless you are 100% sure that the information in them is totally relevant. Please people, do not believe everything you read. Not even here on this blog. 

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Why Digitization Will Never Affect Our Education Industry As Much As It Affected The Shopping Industry

This is the era of computers. And it is taking over everything. One of the most affected parts is the shopping industry. Want something? Order it online. From a comb to a MacBook pro, you'll get it all online. Same is the case with second hand dealing. Even the transport industry is affected. But one thing that is not gonna be affected as much is The Education Industry. Here are the reasons why -

1. Because There can be Technical Problems

"The special theory of relativity suggests that the flow of time depends on -- BLEEP. Mom! Is there a power cut again?" This is likely to happen some time. There can be so many technical errors during your learning session that you will actually learn (a lesson). What if there is no internet connection? What if there is a power cut? What if your DNS took too long to respond? What if your browser crashed in the middle of a test? When all these factors are thought of, online education becomes no more than a secondary activity.

2. Distractions

When we are studying online, there are so many distractions. What happens when you are taking a quiz online and your crush sends you a message on facebook? We all know what happens next. Kids think of  internet and gaming all the time, especially when they are using a PC or any other device connected to the internet. For example, I was supposed to be doing my holiday homework, but look what I'm doing. This, is called Distraction, which, in turn leads to destruction. Distraction is the main cause why so many people fail in class 12. It's the reason why kids completely transform when they go somewhere to study (like Kota). Beware of distractions.

3. No Class Environment

Believe it or not, but when there is a lack of students, there is lack of quality of education. Education is not just knowing that Force is equal the product of the mass and acceleration of a body. No. There is more to education than just simple knowledge. Everything that you learn to live your life in a better way is education. So, learning table manners are also education. If a kid studies independently from a website, he knows no one is watching him, so he might just look here and there after short periods of time. But in a class, a student can't do this. Because he is afraid of the embarrassment that comes with the punishment. So in a classroom environment, a kid develops in all sectors while when he studies independently, he just gains knowledge of the subject. And just knowledge of a subject is not enough no matter how much you know (remember private Quelch?).

4. Distrust of Parents

All the above three problems leads to this one. They already know about these problems and do not want their child to get distracted or miss out on anything. I would have thought and done the same if I were a parent. What concerns them the most is that their child might end up not studying at all. That their child might not get what others are getting. This century has seen an enormous transformation. Technology is not old enough for us to trust it. 

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Five things That If Not Taken Care Of, Can Completely Destroy India's Future

India is now at a stage that may decide it's future. There is scope for small mistakes - we are not that fragile. But there are things that will pull down India into an abyss if not taken care of. The five of them that pose the most danger are - 

5. The Blaming Mentality 

Here in India, there are things that are not accepted by elder people. So when there is downfall of the country in some field, the first thing that comes to the mind is the govt. It's the people of this country who elect their leaders, and they should have faith in them. Whenever something goes wrong, we blame anything but ourselves. If a girl child is born, people blame the mother. Little do the idiots know that the woman has no control over the gender of a child. It is the man's chromosome that decides whether the to-be-born child will be a girl or a boy. Most ridiculously, some parents blame teachers if their kid does not get a good grade! They do not care where there child goes, how much he studies, etc. Dear such parents, keep in mind this thing - no matter if a teacher is good or bad, there must be students in the class who got good grades. Did the same teacher not teach them? The fact that every child is not the same does not apply here. If every child is not exactly the same, then every child is also not totally different. Now this blaming mentality has the capacity to create a decline in the 'do-your-part' section of the country. People would not take responsibility themselves because they are too busy yapping about how the system sucks. 

 

4. Inappropriate Political Competition

The motive of Political Competition is to make the political parties try to do better than the other one so that the citizens get the best govt available to them (that's 9th standard Civics). Now in almost every nation, the reality is completely different. Same is the case here in India. Instead of trying to do better than each other, political parties just make people believe that their competitors do not deserve power. Political parties, instead of improving their own performance, try to downgrade the other's performance to remain in power. This scenario can be explained with the "crabs in the bucket" example. Such political competition is responsible for people not having faith in govt. And this fails the concept of a democracy and leads to downfall since no one is actually trying to perform.  How to counter it, I don't know. But somebody better do, because this can create a problem for the 'democratic' India in the coming years.

3. Gender Discrimination

Ever heard of sex ratio? Why is it so important? Think yourself. When someone says 'gender discrimination', first thing that comes to the mind is Girls. But we should understand that both girls and boys are discriminated, it's just that girls are discriminated more and on a larger scale. Picture this - A girl has a genius mind and has the capacity to open the world's largest software firm. She knows business tactics and is a programmer. Such a girl is a precious resource to the country. But what happens when the family of the girl decides to get her married and send her off? Talent wasted. She could have improved the economy of the nation. Could have made her family members and Indians proud, but no. She might be just watching some stupid TV serial right now. Get what I mean. Such great talent is wasted every year in this country because some people never get a chance. It's just not fair. If this keeps going on, all we will have as human resources will be boys who followed the tradition. Do I still need to explain how this will affect the country?

2. Corruption

Who does not know about corruption? It has already created so much problems for us. For example, the problem of black money. People not paying their taxes. Roads not well maintained because officials want the maintenance money for themselves, etc. It the second most dangerous thing for the country and can really destroy it. Most of the civil related problems we face everyday is because of some sort of corruption or bending of rules. The way to stop this is not at all easy. It's the way a teacher suggests to the class to go on without a class monitor. Everybody should mind themselves. No need to point others out. To stop corruption, we just have to try and not be involved. And by 'not being involved', I do not mean that you have to let whatever's happening happen. I mean that when we jump a red light, we should pay the fine or face the punishment instead of bribing the traffic police. The above method suggested will resolve the rest. Still, if you see some sort of bribing or something like that going on, it's your duty to stop/report it. Thinking that you should not be involved because it affects you is not right - morally or practically. This is because it will affect the condition of the nation, and the condition will - in turn - affect you. So stop joining hands and start the action.

1. Disunity

This is the greatest problem of all. It poses a threat bigger than corruption. It is because of disunity that there are so many riots. Because of disunity that most sections of the society still do not allow intercaste marriages. Because of disunity that Andhra Pradesh split into two parts. And it is because of disunity that this country may split into several smaller ones. We have to accept each other, people. Disunity is the thing that people from Britain used against us. I remember a dialogue from a movie - "You are first an Indian, then a Hindu or muslim". Follow this principle. Disunity alone can destroy this country. When we go to another country, people call us Indians, not Hindu Indians or Muslim Indians or Cristian Indians. Why can't same be the case here in our own country? Think about it. Without unity, India is as safe a country as a deer is in the lion's territory.

Moral Of the Story - 

1. Stop blaming others for bad things. Take responsibility

2. Do not discriminate girls

3. Try to stop corruption whenever you can

4. Accept people as they are. Unite.

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