Bidding Adieu:2009 & Embracing:2010

Another verse to mark the occassion...I have already mailed this to many and published at a couple of places. Still, thought it is relevant to have it 'preserved' at the web log [or blog, as it is better known]......so just gv an amused smirk if this looks too familiar...Cheers!!

As we bid adieu to 2009, its time again

To reflect upon the wisdom and gain;

And relish the hope of 2010

Times two thousand and ten!

Relish, too, its sunny birth,

With resolve and mirth.

Comments

Foreign Universities in India: Boon or Bane?

Dr. Partha S Mohapatra (Originally written in March, 2010) The cabinet yesterday gave its nod to the “Foreign Universities Bill”. I first read the report on Wall Street Journal about the Indian Governments’ intention to open up the higher education sector to foreign universities [Delhi Seeks to Admit Foreign Universities, Wall Street Journal June 11, 2009 ]. Subsequently, I read similar reports in other newspapers. Most of the se reports make a compelling story to allow foreign universities to operate in India. The main argument that is made is on following premises: i) It will save India about $4 billion in foreign exchange [“Leading foreign institutes may soon be here” Economic Times , 11 Sep 2006”]. ii) India loses because of brain drain when brilliant people go abroad and study and stay there. iii) We need foreign investments because the government does not ...

Dura Pahada Sundara [Far-away Mountains are Beautiful]

I realize how seriously we take a place we visit specifically to see it – an event in itself, and how much taken for granted are those places that we can hop in an out with regularity and ease. Interestingly I had never wrote or thought of writing about Puri or Konark or Cuttack. Places for which reams have been and can be written. The history, the culture, the cuisine and the local chutzpah [espl. Puri / Cuttack]. Even more interestingly, I have never pondered enough on these places and their unique niceties to have them simmering in my cerebral consciousness. They are somewhere deep there sedimented at best; and at [likely] worst, I do not have the desired ammunition to do justice to write anything substantial. Probably, I will have to resort to the frivolous flourish of the might of the language as a cover. A point to note - I have never seen the Bali Yatra [Cuttackis don’t faint please]. The Puri beach and temple I have always felt is my backyard [so had the taken for granted attit...

For a religion or a product, an open door policy will work best

In the recent past, we have been witness to catchy rhetoric with regards to religious conversion. Strident calls to banning conversion, Ghar Wapsi, Love Jihad et al. I would like to stick my neck out and say almost everyone, right (‘bhakts’), left (‘liberals’), centre (government), has missed out on the most balanced perspective. A person has a right to choose a city and country different from his parents, he or she can also change his or her name given by the parents, what is wrong with the person choosing a religion different from he or she was born with. Religion is an experiential product. Products thrive when they are responsive to customer feedback. We go to five-star hotel to get pampered, if we are unhappy with the service we may not return. If the hotel has a problem with service quality, then over a period of time it will lose substantial business; then either it will buckle up based on customer feedback or will go out of business. That is exactly relevant for a re...

Unmuddlings!!

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