I did not start this to practice essays or answers for exams, it was merely an attempt to put out to the world some parts of the regular rants that I come up with. Less than 5 percent of what I write are posted here and the remaining 95% are in the form of deleted or lost notepad files or just random scribblings in the back of my notebooks or any blank page I can access that time and some even on my mobile phone in the form of SMS drafts and notes.
I do not dare to read what I have written before, but I am sure and I have also been told that it is of quite poor standards. I am sure they did not want to hurt my feelings, I know the standards were just pathetic. But then, there was another purpose behind my doings- that of continuous self-improvement. I have tried different genres and different styles- sports, politics, movies, my personal life and presented them through the angle of current issues, history, my experiences and observations.
It has definitely been an experiment and it has been fun to look back and watch as the topics I have mentioned have become more prominent over the years. The most recent one being the case of rural health degree about which I posted a few days before Economic and Political Weekly came up with http://www.epw.in/editorials/doctors-rural-areas.html-0 .I had also posted on FDI in retail, Nuclear Energy and many of the articles I read later have covered the same points I mentioned and in some cases, what I posted were enough to disprove or counter the published articles (http://www.epw.in/commentary/nuclear-power-what-cost.html and http://craziestme.blogspot.in/2012/04/powerful-matters.html ). But there have been quiet a few silly ones in the beginning, posts with little credibility and substance and a poor style. This was part of the process of learning by doing and I think the current standards justify the earlier mistakes since they were all part of the process of self-improvement.
I would also like to add that some of the views expressed were stupid, unreasonable and unfeasible. But I still hold many of the opinions I have expressed and my views have not changed on these issues with the passage of time or in the light of new information since they have not been disproved or rendered obsolete or irrelevant.
There were periods of long absence, periods of high activity- they reflect my life during those days. For now, it is getting back to work, reading up new books with interesting insights and I realised that it can be interesting to learn history- not the facts and dates and names but why and how. I realised why Gandhiji took up the cause of the suppressed classes, the ideas behind the origins of the Muslim League and how some of our reformers came to support the causes they are known for. For the first time in my life, I like history and frankly, it is surprising how many of the issues like caste discrimination, unequal status of women, focus on higher education to the neglect of primary education and communalism have still not been fully addressed in spite of over a century of effort.
Gandhiji wrote that "But to remove legal inequalities will be a mere palliative" on the position of women in India (Young India, 17 October 1929, as reproduced in Makers of Modern India by Ramachandra Guha) and the state still resorts to more and stricter laws to address the issue of women rather than strengthen implementation of existing laws. We, who call Gandhiji the father of our nation have also failed to take his message to heart and change our society and family by respecting women. History holds lessons for us, not just data, and those lessons are what we should be taught rather than the mundane dates and events. We should also refrain from saying that since they are part of records, why should we know them when we can just check them up (a usual refrain in the time of internet). We can check up dates, events and pure data but the lessons can be learned only if we read history carefully and analyse it.
I do not dare to read what I have written before, but I am sure and I have also been told that it is of quite poor standards. I am sure they did not want to hurt my feelings, I know the standards were just pathetic. But then, there was another purpose behind my doings- that of continuous self-improvement. I have tried different genres and different styles- sports, politics, movies, my personal life and presented them through the angle of current issues, history, my experiences and observations.
It has definitely been an experiment and it has been fun to look back and watch as the topics I have mentioned have become more prominent over the years. The most recent one being the case of rural health degree about which I posted a few days before Economic and Political Weekly came up with http://www.epw.in/editorials/doctors-rural-areas.html-0 .I had also posted on FDI in retail, Nuclear Energy and many of the articles I read later have covered the same points I mentioned and in some cases, what I posted were enough to disprove or counter the published articles (http://www.epw.in/commentary/nuclear-power-what-cost.html and http://craziestme.blogspot.in/2012/04/powerful-matters.html ). But there have been quiet a few silly ones in the beginning, posts with little credibility and substance and a poor style. This was part of the process of learning by doing and I think the current standards justify the earlier mistakes since they were all part of the process of self-improvement.
I would also like to add that some of the views expressed were stupid, unreasonable and unfeasible. But I still hold many of the opinions I have expressed and my views have not changed on these issues with the passage of time or in the light of new information since they have not been disproved or rendered obsolete or irrelevant.
There were periods of long absence, periods of high activity- they reflect my life during those days. For now, it is getting back to work, reading up new books with interesting insights and I realised that it can be interesting to learn history- not the facts and dates and names but why and how. I realised why Gandhiji took up the cause of the suppressed classes, the ideas behind the origins of the Muslim League and how some of our reformers came to support the causes they are known for. For the first time in my life, I like history and frankly, it is surprising how many of the issues like caste discrimination, unequal status of women, focus on higher education to the neglect of primary education and communalism have still not been fully addressed in spite of over a century of effort.
Gandhiji wrote that "But to remove legal inequalities will be a mere palliative" on the position of women in India (Young India, 17 October 1929, as reproduced in Makers of Modern India by Ramachandra Guha) and the state still resorts to more and stricter laws to address the issue of women rather than strengthen implementation of existing laws. We, who call Gandhiji the father of our nation have also failed to take his message to heart and change our society and family by respecting women. History holds lessons for us, not just data, and those lessons are what we should be taught rather than the mundane dates and events. We should also refrain from saying that since they are part of records, why should we know them when we can just check them up (a usual refrain in the time of internet). We can check up dates, events and pure data but the lessons can be learned only if we read history carefully and analyse it.
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