Posted in Education, Humour at 1:09 am by The Editor
5:20 pm
I stared at the screen of my cell phone as I walked into the empty tuition classroom and placed my bag at the seat I usually occupied- third bench from the back, right in the row next to the window. I’d come early again to claim that seat- sought after by many like me. Let me introduce you to the aristocracy prevalent inside the IITJEE classroom. It originated from the merit list pinned on the notice board.. an article I had learnt to treat with obstinate indifference for more than half a year. Read more »
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Posted in Current Affairs, Education, Miscellaneous, PuneCity Info at 9:19 pm by The Editor
Didn’t you see my right foot?! In the middle of an argument over a minor accident the rickshaw driver claimed he had poked his right foot out to indicate that he was turning right. Pune has around 60-70 thousand three wheeler rickshaws. They are no doubt a very convenient form of taxi service. To many harried customers, rickshaw drivers are rude and indisciplined, but I don’t really find their behavior on the road to be any different than that of private vehicle owners. This is a country where everyone owns a piece of the road, so rules be damned. Read more »
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Posted in Current Affairs, Education, Miscellaneous, PuneCity Info at 9:11 pm by The Editor
New Delhi, Asian Games 1982. I have memories of broad, clean avenues and clean air. When I returned after a long gap in 1999, New Delhi was urban hell. My friend pointed out a particularly busy intersection and said, “that’s the most polluted intersection in Asia”. I went back in 2004, and something strange had happened. Something we Indians are not used to. Pollution had reduced dramatically. Air quality was better. The reason experts tell us, was the conversion of almost the entire public transport fleet (15-20 thousand vehicles by various estimates) of rickshaws, taxis and buses from diesel to CNG (Edit: Compressed Natural Gas). Read more »
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Posted in Education, Miscellaneous at 10:33 am by The Editor
Wallace Stegner, Francine Prose, John Kenneth Galbraith, and others offer advice to aspiring wordsmiths. Read more »
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Posted in Education, Humour at 6:12 am by The Intellectual Terrorist
Mahatma Gandhi had remarked that he wore minimal clothing since there were millions of people in his country with little clothes to wear. His famous words were ignored for decades until we hit the late 90’s and the younger generation decided to go Gandhian. Minimalist clothing is in. Tank tops, low necks, low waists, even lower waists, backless .. wow .. everything is in. Gandhi would have been proud!! Alas, our academicians are not.
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Posted in Education at 11:50 am by The Editor
Mr and Mrs Laxmi Kulkarni drag 3 year old Chetan to New Model School for admissions.
The school interviews the parents and has an amiable chat with Pappu. The school decides that Pappu is eligible for admission. Then starts the bargaining. Other than the fees, the school expects a non refundable donation of Rs. 1 lac. The parents negotiate this to Rs. 75,000. This is a good school, since the management is open to negotiation, unlike the other schools.
This(the donation) is standard operating practice for all schools in the city. Read more »
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Posted in Education at 8:39 am by The Editor
Is it brain drain when the best in this country leave for a foreign country?
Or is it ‘that’ when they either stay back or go abroad and do not utilize their intellectual resources?
Let’s debate. Read more »
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