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

So you thought I had writer's block?

I didn't. While all of you have been languishing for want of a blog post from me, and wondering if I was alive, I have been secretly writing for The NRI. And I got published! Click on the underlined text for the post: Coaching class mania

And yes, I do have delusions of grandeur.

For all of you who don't click on random underlined links without sufficient reason, here's the teaser: As education in schools deteriorates, a silent new player is taking over the industry sans regulation.

Exciting, eh? No? It doesn't matter, no one's yet put a cap on the number of links you can click in a day. So, go ahead and click. (And also read and comment if you feel like it.)

What Sonia Gandhi should say about the Lokpal - by Shakespeare

Poor Sonia Gandhi. She's barely recovering and people, including politicians of every hue, can't wait to hear what she has to say about the Lokpal. Now to ensure that her speech doesn't end up being a dud like Rahul Gandhi's, she needs help from no less a man than Shakespeare.

Facebookers, protestors, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury the Congress, not praise it.
The noble Anna
Hath told you the Congress was corrupt:
And grievously hath the Congress answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Anna and the rest--
For Anna is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men (and woman)--
Come I to speak in the Congress's funeral.
Manmohan Singh hath brought liberalisation home to India
Whose benefits did the national coffers fill:
Did this in Manmohan seem cowardly?
But Anna says he was a coward;
And Anna is an honourable man.
But yesterday the word of the Congress might
Have stood against the world; now lies it there
With none so poor to do it reverence.

I didn't write anymore because it started sounding like Congress propaganda. I was going to substitute NREGA for Caesar's will.

Image source: www.thecandideye.wordpress.com

Lokpal: A superflous and dangerous institution

What the Lokpal is:
More bureaucracy. It isn't as if there are no constitutional provisions against corruption. You can always lodge a complaint with the police. To those cynical people who believe the police have no power whatsoever, there's the CBI. For those anarchists who don't trust the CBI either, I don't see why you would be ready to put all your trust in the Lokpal. 


Either you have a democracy, or you have a system that recognises merit and nothing else. The problem with the latter is that everybody's definition of "merit" is not the same. Who would you want to head the Lokpal? Anna Hazare?


If not him, how is it to be decided who forms the Lokpal? Elections? Why, then, do we not trust our Parliament which is, after all, popularly elected?


The proposed Lokpal bill states: 

1. Members will be appointed by judges, Indian Administrative Service officers with a clean record, private citizens and constitutional authorities through a transparent and participatory process.
2. A selection committee will invite shortlisted candidates for interviews, videorecordings of which will thereafter be made public.

Who decides what a clean record is? Which private citizens are allowed to apply? Which process is more transparent and participatory than elections on the basis of UAF? Who decides which people comprise of the selection committee?

The point is, let's not get out on the streets for an institution that will have the powers to lord over everyone in the nation, including our judiciary. How difficult do you think it is going to be to stall the process of speedy justice by simply wailing at the Lokpal's door? That is precisely why the Constitution provides so many safeguards for the judiciary.


Image source: http://www.news4u.co.in/

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

Don't rename it, please.

It all started like this. We were in a History class, studying the Maratha period.

History teacher: What is Churchgate called?

Us: Churchgate.

History teacher: You got that one wrong. It's called Ahilyabai Holkar Chowk.

For one thing, that solved a mystery. I had wondered in vain why my BEST bus tickets always said Ahilyabai Holkar Chowk instead of Churchgate. It never struck me that that was Churchgate.

I've been noticing that renaming streets and localities is often ridiculous. Did you know that Marine Drive is now called Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Marg? Are we supposed to say, "Look, we have a free lecture. Let's go to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Marg!"? Apparently not, beause they very smartly shortened it to NSC Bose Marg.

Calling the road that linked Andheri to Kurla the "Andheri-Kurla road" was a very sensible thing to do. But no. It got renamed to Sir Mathurdas V Marg. Now there is a very slim chance that we may go home and Google Sir Mathurdas, or Nashikrao Tirpude, or Nathibai Thakersey. Or even Dr. Deshmukh (that being a little difficult). Very slim. But it is so much easier to just tell the taxi driver to take you to Pedder Road. While I haven't been brave enough to tell one of them to take me to Dr. Deshmukh Road yet, I'm sure they're going to ogle, nastily.

Do you think it's a sense of misplaced patriotism that leads to this? It isn't 1947, after all. What the British built the British built. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj has nothing to do with it.

Image source: www.community.animaxindia.com