To everyone who does not like History

Maybe I am some sort of mutant, but whenever someone says
Why study History?
History is useless;
One more year and I'll be rid of History;

or even

Social studies sucks;
Civics is so boring;
Economics boggles the mind;

I am very tempted to commit the dual offences of assault and battery, with a superior expression on my face.

I must admit that until two years ago I didn't have a definite answer to "Why study History?" except "Because you should." Now I do.

1.) Wouldn't you have a feeling of being lost if you didn't know what all happened in the world before you graced it with your presence? Picture this: you arrive at a party and everyone's deep in conversation about something that happened five minutes ago. Wouldn't you ask what happened? Or would you be content standing in the corner and observing the proceedings?

2.) History answers all your questions about why people behave the way they do and why the world is like it is. If you studied the History of the caste system and all uprisings against untouchability, you would understand one of the gravest and potentially divisive problems India faces today, one that affects you.

3.) History helps you make sense of the news. A combination of History and all those other boring sucking mind-boggling subjects would make your newspaper look more like a sensible document than a cipher. If you think you're getting along quite well without History, you're wrong. You're probably not getting half the context.

Also History isn't all about dates. With syllabi changing across the country, it is now almost nothing about dates.

I haven't added an image because I'm not sure about the copyright, but I'm sure I can add a link:
http://www.phanitetali.com/blog/?p=1101

Other image sources: vizconsult.wordpress.com , visualphotos.com , sandrabailey.com, newscircle.co.uk

India Today - 2

1.) What will increase Hina Rabbani Khar's prestige?
Being renamed to Hina Rabbani Colaba.

2.) Why isn't Yeddyurappa resigning?
He still hasn't finished reading the almost 30,000-page Lokayukta report against him. How slow of him. And then they wonder why court cases drag on in India.

3.) When will Sachin make his hundredth hundred?
Hopefully before Chetan Bhagat stops making lists, because that means never.

Also check out: Predicti-wood and India Today
Image source: kim-kardashians.blogspot.com

How to get admission into the college of your choice

Or do anything at all, really. Five foolproof methods:


1.) Get caught by customs officials: Try to carry super-expensive shoes or sackfuls of jewellery out of the airport. Get investigated by customs officials and praise them for good measure. Get printed. Now you are famous enough to bag a management seat.

2.) Watch an India versus West Indies match: You'll immediately be catapulted into the rarest of rare status. Get in through the sports quota.

3.) Demand an environment quota: and insist you must get a seat though it because you wrote a blog post on World Environment Day.

4.) Throw a shoe at the admissions official, and miss: Not the expensive shoe you carried out of the airport, though. Get media attention and cry in front of the cameras. Say you are a journalist in the making. Your admission process will be magically completed.

5.) Go on a hunger strike: Ensure that you have less than 50,000 followers or the government will beat them up. Demand a fundamental right to admission in your preferred college. You'll get it.

Image source: www.jamespot.com

For Advancing is Perfection

I change my stance about India. Newspapers inform me that all is not lost yet. I don't know if I trust newspapers anymore.


1.) A veil of a time: Women in rural Haryana (which is incidentally plagued by Khap panchayats) empower themselves through self-help groups, manage lakhs of rupees, hand out loans at 1% interest, educate their children, demolish liquor vends and best and most difficult of all, give up the veil.

2.) 82% voting in Jammu and Kashmir: The second phase of Panchayat polls records -- gasp! -- 82% turnout. I don't suppose even other states considerably less affected by violence record that sort of enthusiasm.

3.) Organ donations in Tamil Nadu hit 1k mark: This in a country largely riddled by superstitions and where people even refuse to vaccinate their children. More awareness and many lives could be saved, many more improved.

4.) Bombay Times: Below the header is a line that describes the supplement as an "Advertorial, Entertainment Promotional Feature." They've accepted it's paid news!