This is where I party on weekend
Posted by Aps in Random Sparks on November 15, 2010
Can’t believe its been an year since I started finding about this MBA program. Now that I am in it and also close to finishing my second Quarter at IIMB, I can say that its been great being part of it.
Its been a joyride full of interesting subjects, some not so easy assignments, project work, working with great peers from the industry and ya a very hectic schedule that comes with it.
Please check out the open house held for prospective students. Great opportunity for getting the scoop about the MBA opportunity at IIMB.
http://iimbpgsem.blogspot.com/2010/11/open-house-on-22nd-nov.html
Still true about Bangalore
Posted by Aps in Random Sparks on May 11, 2010
While searching for some photos on my own blog I stumbled over this. Still so true. With malls coming up on all busy roads and with a bottleneck every half a kilometer I don’t think any response is going to help. Karnataka needs a New Bengalooru like greater noida or something.
Debate about not having 10th board
Minister for Human Resource Development, Mr Kapil Sibal has proposed removing the 10th board exam and replacing it with a grading system instead.
I have heard many arguments and counter arguments but I stand against such a move. My primary objection is that it is a stupid move to solve a pretty insignificant problem of Indian education system. The main criteria for such a move is that Mr Sibal is moved by the stress that kids have to face at such young age. Because of the importance 10th board puts on academics, many kids loose out on extra curricular development.
So the first thing I would “stress” against the argument is that by this the stress is going to get added to the only board remaining, the 12th board. With no other preparatory board remaining, students should be worried about their only grader when 12th comes. Once you screw this up, you’re done for life. Those gruesome few hours of 12th board examinations would haunt you for your life as the only remaining testimony of your school days.
It is also said that there would be grades instead of exams till 10th. Now that to me is called closing the eyes. Yesterday we used to have students graded according to marks. Now there would be buckets where a bulk of the students would fall. This would mean there would have to be a differentiating exam later in life.
It is also said that this would inculcate culture of daily learning than studying the last days before exams. I think that is a curriculum issue rather than the board. There is no stopping from implementing a system where there are constant evaluations in class which add up to a percentage. There is also an issue of forcing subjects on students, which I think needs to be reformed. There should be more subjects for choice in board examinations. There could be policies that demand private and public schools to provide minimum set of options. The selection of subjects should include arts and sports and the curriculum could be made more modern. All these would make studies fun for the kids and require less mugging. These are some things one would expect with modernization.
Apart from the reactionary arguments above, my main point is that there are much bigger problems that need to be addressed rather than repairing what isn’t broken. What is the plan for making the public schools better at grass roots level? How about solving Teacher absenteeism and having education for all? How about having more university for children who pass the boards? And how about institutes of advanced research? These are some of the burning issues which might not be that catchy, but surely would help India grow.
Lakshmi Shankar Mishra ‘Nishank’
Here’s about my Nana (Maternal grand father). Known by his pen name ‘Nishank’, He was a Teacher before he retired to devote all time to poetry. He still writes but not as much. Posting a recent coverage of him in a Hindi daily Amar Ujala. Could not find the article on the web so here’s the scanned copy of it.
Amar Ujala Coverage of LS Mishra 'Nishank'
I am planning to translate it into English and put it here. Since this is news, timely post is as important as content. Right?
Hello World – Again
Posted by Aps in Random Sparks on July 20, 2009
Hello World
This is my first post after moving to wordpress and the new space www.apurvashukla.com.
Still not totally satisfied with the look and feel of the blog. So you would keep seeing changes. For starters I think those who want to read can update the feed readers (RSS)
I’ve been procastrinating for long for a want for a perfect blog entry that would launch this blog like a new movie. And then I thought, its my blog and in this state there are not many who keep checking on it. So I’ll make a start and then the real one will follow.
So what all I wanted to write in detail, I’d write in short
**
First the now forgotten Federer-Roddick 2009 Wimbledon clash . I can understand his joy and one that came after a long wait but Roddick deserved this one somehow. If not the award he deserved and got a better ovation than Federer himself. Incidentally just a few days before the match I saw this clip of Federer but I think reciting “If” is one thing and following it is different.
**
Second about racism in Australia. I just think its way too inflated. There are things which are wrong but the coverage is just too biased.
**
Biased coverage brings me to Times Now. I am not sure how many people agree with me but I think Times now is the english version of India TV and Aaj Tak. Sensationalising any topic is their only goal. Not news, not journalism, just sensationalism.
Happy 2008
Posted by Aps in Random Sparks on January 2, 2008
Have a wonderful and prosperous new year!!
(Photo: Tiger Preservation float from Tournament of Roses 2008)
Complete album updated here
Speculating of Men and Women on Pluto
Posted by Aps in Random Sparks on April 11, 2007
It is not a “find if you’re in love” guide that I am presenting, rather its about what the people in love never seem to notice. They get into a different world and loose the idea that the rest of the world is still going as normal and perhaps spinning at the same speed. Its a small sweet world which envelops them that is really a treat, awe and a lot of other feelings for the distant viewers like me.
I don’t know how many examples I can write down here for the reason of maintaining anonymity of the people who are inspiration for this post but there are plenty in my mind which make me think ke “ki aasmaan phat jaye aur mujhe nigal le“. All private talks spill over to the people around are basically the talks, directly from a Hindi movies. The oft repeated, “I noticed ki tumko ye xyz pasand hai”, “mere liye kar do na” and “itna bhi nahin kar sakte” in an infinite loop make me feel ke “bhaiya kar de nahin to ye drama nahin dekha jayega“. Mostly the girls adapt the movie lines etc quite quickly and guy shall be spotted saying “woh bahut seedhi aur innocent hai” within a week or next time he drinks, whichever comes first. Someone said of love that its a feeling in which you appreciate someone more than yourself you bet you can make it from the ode’s that you hear from them about each other.
Other less amusing things are the habits that change. I cannot think of better examples but talking for 5 hours in a toilet is definitely not a hygienic habit if not for the length and the timing of the talk (till morning 6 am). Taking out the mobile in middle of a discussion and type like a typewriter on the keypad and come back to the discussion with “Kya bol rahe the tum?”. Recently I heard that a girl prepared 5 songs to sing for the boyfriends birthday.(I have no comments to this gesture of love)
Khair all is good but I personally feel that the couples generally get into an unexplainable aura which totally ignores the way they themselves were living earlier. Yes I can hear “jab tumhari baari aayegi… ” and all that. Hope I would understand the plight of those singles around too.
Men may be from Mars and Women from Venus but when they meet they must be roaming on pluto, of which we hardly know of.
Why the heck so much
Posted by Aps in Random Sparks on March 27, 2007
She hurries down the stairs without noticing anyone around her while everyone around is not taking their eyes off. After a while I see the stairs and I again catch her coming down the stairs. Lucky chance haan? Well!! I come to know is that she’s been doing this for past 15 mins at least.
Another one is doing chin ups and the instructor is pushing her for more and she happily obliges. While I am just recovering from the nausea of my previous exercise in which I lied about doing half of the repetitions.
I am not talking of one single girl whom I am admiring but its like every girl in the whole gym is absolutely fit to be wasting time in so much.
What annoys me the most is that when I am ready to pass away after running for some time the girl beside me on the treadmill goes on to increase her running speed and she has been running there 10 mins before me.
Why the heck do these perfectly all right girls come to the gym and exercise so much? Most of the girls have instructors even though it costs you an arm and a leg to get a full time instructor. At their body shape, I bet she knows every exercise there is in this world to keep her in that shape. I could have bought the argument that since they come to gym they are so healthy but just a look around the gym shows you that 70% of the guys are overweight. They also come to the gym right? Either most of us realize it too late and come to gym or most of them are just for the eye candies. For girls then, god knows what drives them nuts to doing this.
Technorati Tags: Fitness, Humour, Life
Will cricket become hockey?
Posted by Aps in Random Sparks on March 23, 2007
What I am going to write here might just be a consequence of a feeling of utter wastage of time, money and mockery of the attachment shown towards the Indian cricket team. Its a feeling which wont go away without venting. There will be a zillion bloggers/news channels and natthus who would analyze the match, split its guts apart and take different sides but I just have one piece of advise.
Greg Chappel, with immediate effect, keep security guards.
Dhoni and others from UP and Bihar should apply for home loans already.
Most blatant, Sachin should consider retirement as an option
Well I know PJ would have happily surrendered to beating of Suppi and Anshul had India won but I am sure he is much worse with this.
For the optimists who are thinking there is a chance that Bermuda beats Bangladesh, its near impossible unless our Indian players apply immigration to Bermuda and play from there side against Bangladesh. Still not an easy task as history has told us.
** Update
What would have happened if Bermuda was not there in our group and we had some other moderate team?
While checking the stats, some interesting things for the world cup 2007 stats till now:
Top 5 scorers till now.
Sehwaag and Ganguly figure out at number 4 and 5.
Most Ducks
Dhoni comes a dashing 2nd with many Indian names and obviously Sachin in it.
Top scores
India tops the list of all times in world cup here and that’s what makes me think, what if Bermuda was not there to play with us.
A few bad apples spoil the bunch
customer complaints and you’ve to call up the channel provider directly”. This call center was given a target to sell hook or by crook. My experience with the direct call center of the channel was pretty smooth. They confirmed that there was no way someone could waive off the contract and hence the amount was deducted and they said if you’re not ok we would refund you the money and apologized for whatever happened. I was so mad that I left a complaint too and
they apologetically accepted that it was a third party seller.
This incident made me think of what kind of image we are developing where India’s
one of the largest market lies. A call center executive, who doesn’t even know the facts of the thing they are selling, is sure harm to their company more than the harm done to the customer. If it was in US the company CEO would be seeing shutdown in the few years of its inception. Anger directed at call centers which are mismanaged is already raging and these kinds of incidents leave people even more skeptical if their call is being handled by India.
Look at this article which lists down what kinds of frauds have tarnished the image of the Indian BPO. I think the problem lies with the new small players taking the plunge lured by the pie they could cut out of this boom. These don’t even have proper means to hire good talent and that is if at all any sane head thinks of applying there. Employee retention is becoming a problem for the biggest back office players and so these small companies must be grappling with shorter training times and then losing those trained to these biggies. All this must be ending up in a fresher out of a college in Delhi time passing in a nukkad ka call centre for 2 months to make quick bucks to spend it all in Ruby Tuesday when he shifts to the big brother.
Now all this can be a one off incident and does not invite any analysis and Who knows the second call I made would have been from a very well accent trained Indian who handled my call well. Well that’s what I am saying, a few small companies might spoil the whole impression. I think there is a need for consolidation in this sector to the extent that a few big companies handle it in a much better way. Maturing at this youth/middle age might go a long way in keeping the growth this sector is witnessing.