In the field of web design there is a principle. If you keep some text in huge red font and blinking, the users are more likely to ignore that portion of the web page than read. The web user's brain subconsciously blots out such portions which was popular among advertisers on early internet. This is part of the self-defense mechanism of the brain so as not to get over-whelmed by information being bombarded and also so that the user is safeguarded from such information which is not so agreeable.
When a friend of mine asked my opinion about the current controversy between the Sena and SRK, I was surprised about my own lack of knowledge. I don't even know what was the original statement made by the film actor which is causing headlines in the news papers all over India for more than a week.
Agreed that I am not a TV buff and dont watch news channels at all, but I read news papers and this news has surely been under my eyes (literally) quite a few times. The only reason I could find for my ignorance brings us back to that principle in web design. My brain has understood that this is an irrelevant and should not trigger any interest.
Every idea has its day so does a political party. Only a political party without an ideology can survive more than half a century and still be strong. No wonder the Grand Old Party of India still wins elections while the 'ideological' parties go to page 3 of news papers. This is the case of the Sena which has out lived its utility. It started with 'anti-madrasi' stance and came to power with 'Hindutva' philosophy.
What it has failed to do is to catch the pulse of the people in these days of capatalism when everybody has only one aim: Making more money. The same God, Ram, on whose name the whole of India had burned in 1991 could not even create a whimper during the Ram-Setu controversy few months back.
Now that the passions of people could not be inflated by Ram, Sena seems to be searching for new avenues. But it has missed the bus. And hence has become irrelevant. Not worth spending even few minutes of my time.
Soon Sena be history, a history well-worth remembering may be, but history none the less.
P.S. Mr S who asked my opinion on this issue may be repenting asking it already ;).
Friday, February 12, 2010
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Give me sunshine, Give me some rain
Give me sunshine, Give me some rain,
Give me another chance, I wanna grow up once again.
Depicting a youth who is disappointed with the ways of the world, he sings that he wants to live once again in which he would like to lead his life along another path. He wants to be somebody else. A noble cause and true for many rather most people.
The song (and the movie) is a comment on attitude of today's (and yesterday's) parents: Engineer/Doctor or nothing. There are many people with talent in a different field who have failed in life as they could not achieve the Engineers or Doctors degree which their parents pushed for. On the way they not only lost many years of their life but also all of their self-confidence. Only a few can ever manage to come out of those failures in a field for which they
were not made and succeed in their another field. The rest will just be reminders of failures of the 'Great Rat-Race'.
BUT, most of my friends are fans of this song. The people I am talking about are from premier institutes successful in education as well as work (if salary is what defines success in work). They are supposed to be among the 'lucky' ones with right kind of talent to succeed in today's world, talent for logic, maths science. All of them, children of proud parents, who have seen them gain everything their parents dreamt of.
But why do these people like this song? Are they being empathetic? Unlikely in this fish-eats-fish world. More likely its a form of self-pity which leads them to relate to this song. After all, everybody has regrets of the past. 'What-if-I-had' is a thought more common that generally accepted.
The relevance of this song in this subset of population shows the depth of malice in Indian education system. One of the most successful class still thinks that they could have done better had their teachers behaved differently. Its a proof that although a person succeeds in their chosen field, they still loose a lot on the way to gain success. The pressure on even those who are successful prevents people from achieving their best.
At the same time, the fact that this generation has this realization springs some hope that the next generation will be much better off than the current generation. The education will be more fulfilling and wholesome. The children not pushed towards anything other than enjoying while learning. That will be a revolution I am looking forward to. That and only that can transform our country and our world in one generation. Or may be I am too optimistic. Time will only tell.
Give me another chance, I wanna grow up once again.
Depicting a youth who is disappointed with the ways of the world, he sings that he wants to live once again in which he would like to lead his life along another path. He wants to be somebody else. A noble cause and true for many rather most people.
The song (and the movie) is a comment on attitude of today's (and yesterday's) parents: Engineer/Doctor or nothing. There are many people with talent in a different field who have failed in life as they could not achieve the Engineers or Doctors degree which their parents pushed for. On the way they not only lost many years of their life but also all of their self-confidence. Only a few can ever manage to come out of those failures in a field for which they
were not made and succeed in their another field. The rest will just be reminders of failures of the 'Great Rat-Race'.
BUT, most of my friends are fans of this song. The people I am talking about are from premier institutes successful in education as well as work (if salary is what defines success in work). They are supposed to be among the 'lucky' ones with right kind of talent to succeed in today's world, talent for logic, maths science. All of them, children of proud parents, who have seen them gain everything their parents dreamt of.
But why do these people like this song? Are they being empathetic? Unlikely in this fish-eats-fish world. More likely its a form of self-pity which leads them to relate to this song. After all, everybody has regrets of the past. 'What-if-I-had' is a thought more common that generally accepted.
The relevance of this song in this subset of population shows the depth of malice in Indian education system. One of the most successful class still thinks that they could have done better had their teachers behaved differently. Its a proof that although a person succeeds in their chosen field, they still loose a lot on the way to gain success. The pressure on even those who are successful prevents people from achieving their best.
At the same time, the fact that this generation has this realization springs some hope that the next generation will be much better off than the current generation. The education will be more fulfilling and wholesome. The children not pushed towards anything other than enjoying while learning. That will be a revolution I am looking forward to. That and only that can transform our country and our world in one generation. Or may be I am too optimistic. Time will only tell.
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