Did Lord macaulay succeed?

Did Lord Macaulay succeed? Undoubtedly, it’s the time to analyze the question whether Macaualy succeeded in his aim or not? Before doing that first, let us review his plan. Macaulay, while delivering his speech in British Parliament on Feb.2, 1835, said “I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen a person who is a beggar, or a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibres that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage and therefore I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system…”

Indeed, our youngsters have been demoralized, dollar-oriented and self-esteemed. It is a matter of pity that they don’t have time for their parents. So, how can one can think that they would be committed to the society? Most of them either get busy earning dollars through MNCs or plan to settle abroad.

You will be surprised to know that Indian Government invests a huge amount to produce one doctor or an engineer with a hope that they would serve the nation. Unfortunately, all such hopes come to an end when these selfish people settle in developed countries just for the sake of their financial upliftment. Does this scenario not depict the one part of Macaulay’s dream?

Secondly, the other aspect of the coin is that the present education system has increased the strength of only degree holders who are lacking in practical knowledge. They have been adopting the system of cramming and vomiting of information. That’s why the prestigious corporate are also facing this problem and not able to employ the brilliant, intelligent and dedicated persons. Actual essence of education like moral values and culture of India has becomes obsolete subject for them. The demand of introduction of morals and ethics in educational system is not new.

In 1948, the University Education Commission had said, “The possibilities of including religious and moral studies in the academic syllabi of the universities be explored.” It is essentially, indispensable that the students are told through education that the key to genuine development is the self-assertion. We can’t achieve the goal unless we impart the moral and ethical values, through an important system of education among all the section of society. In fact, we need such an education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded and by which one can stand on one’s feet. “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.” Swami Vivekanand.

Think it Over

Macaulay and India's rootless generations
By M.S.N. Menon

“I dimly realised,” writes Malcolm Muggeridge, who worked in India as a teacher and journalist for long years, “that a people can be laid waste culturally, as well as physically—not only in their land but in their inner life—as if it is sown with salt. That is what happened in India; an alien culture, itself exhausted, trivialised and shallow, was imposed on them. When we (British) went, we left behind... a spiritual wasteland. We had drained the country of its life and creativity, making it a place of echoes and mimicry.”

We can still hear the echoes and mimicry from this wasteland—from the ‘children of Macaulay’. Tagore used to call them ‘shadows’. They are not real people, but zombies programmed by Macaulay to act like the Caliban, the slave.

Macaulay wanted only babus: men, as he said, Indian in colour, but British in the way they thought. But the British masters sat rather heavily on these babus and left a deep imprint of their ugly bottoms on them. So, if you see the babus going about with the ugly imprint of the bottoms of their erstwhile masters, you should not be surprised. The slaves are rather proud of it.

Naturally, the ‘children of Macaulay’ grew up ashamed of their civilisation, of their ancestors, while they felt overwhelmed by the ‘great achievements’ of Europe.

Nirad Choudhury's Continent of Circe is perhaps the best known outcry of this sense of shame among westernised Indians. But, then, he was an Anglophile. His pride? That he knew the names of every street in London! Did he know anything about India? No. Not till he was old.

Not much has changed even after the country became independent. Why? Because power passed into the hands of these very babus—the Nirad Choudhurys of India.

So, generations of Indians grew up in this country, fascinated by the achievements of the West, of Britain in particular. Did the ‘liberators’ of India change Macaulay's educational system? Not at all. Why? Because they knew even less than Nirad Choudhury of their country.

Here is what Dr Subhash Kashyap, former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, has written on the so-called ‘founding fathers’ of our Constitution: “It (Constituent Assembly) was an elitist body and not an assembly of representatives of the people. They were western educated, nurtured in British concepts and culture and most fascinated by British institutions. Neither the ethos and genius of India nor the vision and view of Gandhi seem to have inspired them much. The result was: They bodily lifted large chunks of the 1935 Act (enacted by the British Parliament).” In short, they were no ‘founding fathers’.

Little did they know that India, a country of the greatest diversity, called for a new type of Constitution, that the Constitutions they copied were meant for homogeneous societies only. If this is what our ‘Constitution makers’ were, not much need be said of the bureaucracy, which used to carry out the orders of the British.

What has happened to Macaulay's children? Nirad Choudhury is no more. He died a heartbroken man. He became one of the bitterest critics of western civilisation, particularly British. His complaint? That the British did not live up to his expectations. Surely, his life was a tragedy. His life's work was in vain.

After what has happened to Choudhury, few will perhaps dare to put on his mantle—that of Caliban, the slave. At least, few will ramble about India, when they know next to nothing about this country.

Nationalism is taboo to our minorities. We know why. (But on this later.) They would like to change their history. But one must have roots in one's country, for a man without roots is like weeds in a field.

That is why the denigration of nationalism is all wrong. That is why this hankering after other people's way of life is all wrong. Macaulay had his day. And England is no more what it was. The sun has set over the British empire. But the sun of India is rising over the horizon. Let us hope, it will dispel the ‘shadows’ from our land

6yr-old Indian-American boy's IQ is greater than that of Einstein

An Indian-American boy has an IQ greater than that of Albert Einstein at the tender age of six.

Pranav Veera has an IQ of 176, while Einstein's IQ was believed to be about 160.

The little boy can recite the names of the U.S. presidents in the order they served in office, and is able to say the alphabet backward.

Given a date back to 2000, Pranav can even tell which day of the week that was.

He is highly competitive at playing Wii video games, and likes to play outside.

Pranav's parents have revealed that he seemed unusually intelligent while playing with alphabet sets, when the boy was just four-and-a-half years old.

He could even recall which letters were certain colours, they say.

"That kind of puzzled us. You have to have not a normal memorization, but some other means of recall," the Chicago Sun-Times quoted his father Prasad Veera as saying.

The little boy's mother, Suchitra Veera, has revealed that he presently loves all kinds of alphabets.

"He loves to collect them, like different colors, different sizes, different materials," she said.

Pranav's parents decided to have his IQ tested at Powers Educational Services in Hyde Park three months ago

"I said, 'Let's try it out, because he seems to do a lot of stuff kind of not quite normal for his age. He tested 176," his father said.

Pranav's teacher Marci Taylor, at McCormick Elementary in the Milford School District, calls him "an amazing child".

"He knows so much, yet he's probably more excited about learning than any child I've ever seen. He shakes with excitement," she said.

What she finds impressive about Pranav is the fact that he knows so many incredible things at the age of 6.

"He loves to go play at recess and climb on the monkey bars," Taylor said.

When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, Pranav says: "An astronaut." (ANI)

I think this is some thing all of us will understand.

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar somewhere in Europe. In order to increase
sales, she decides to allow her loyal customers - most of whom are
unemployed alcoholics - to drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the
drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).



Word gets around and as a result increasing numbers of customers flood into
Heidi's bar. Taking advantage of her customers' freedom from immediate
payment constraints, Heidi increases her prices for wine and beer, the
most-consumed beverages. Her sales volume increases massively.


A young and dynamic customer service consultant at the local bank recognizes
these customer debts as valuable future assets and increases Heidi's
borrowing limit.


He sees no reason for undue concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics
as collateral. At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert bankers
transform these customer assets into DRINKBONDS, ALKBONDS and PUKEBONDS.
These securities are then traded on markets worldwide. No one really
understands what these abbreviations mean and how the securities are
guaranteed. Nevertheless, as their prices continuously climb, the securities
become top-selling items.


One day, although the prices are still climbing, a risk manager
(subsequently of course fired due his negativity) of the bank decides that
slowly the time has come to demand payment of the debts incurred by the
drinkers at Heidi's bar.


However they cannot pay back the debts.
Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations and claims bankruptcy.


DRINKBOND and ALKBOND drop in price by 95 %. PUKEBOND performs better,
stabilizing in price after dropping by 80 %.


The suppliers of Heidi's bar, having granted her generous payment due dates
and having invested in the securities are faced with a new situation. Her
wine supplier claims bankruptcy, her beer supplier is taken over by a
competitor.


The bank is saved by the Government following dramatic round-the-clock
consultations by leaders from the governing political parties.


The funds required for this purpose are obtained by a tax levied on the
non-drinkers.


Finally an explanation I understand ...
-------------- next part --------------

We worked on status for 16 yrs ...

Far away from the ruckus in Parliament , on the campus of West Bengal’s Marine Engineering and Research Institute (MERI) in Kolkata, there was quiet disappointment — and surprise.

While the news that Chennai would get the Indian Maritime University was known as early as last year, faculty said that the Bill marked the end of an upgrade process they had been working on for 16 years.

The idea was floated first in 1991 and MERI, then known as the Directorate of Marine Engineering Training (DMET), was the first choice.

So much had been the enthusiasm that the West Bengal Government has offered 31 acres for expansion to the institute which now sits on 33 acres leased from the Kolkata Port Trust.

“We were all eagerly waiting for the final verdict. Chennai was nowhere in the contention,” said MERI director S Mukhopadhyay. “Two years ago, the UGC team visited us. After this, another Central team came. In June, last year, the parliamentary standing committee that was looking into the setting up of a university also consulted us...We gave all relevant documents, we have ensured adequate infrastructure, we never missed any deadlines.”

In fact, a top faculty member at Chennai’s National Marine Academy, who did not wish to be named, said today that “going by technical excellence and eligibility for being upgraded to the Indian Maritime University, MERI is clearly the winner.”

Reason: While MERI, established in 1949, offers a bachelor’s degree in Marine Engineering, the only institute in the country to do so, Chennai’s NMA provides only training courses for port and Merchant Navy personnel and a BSc course began just two years back.

MERI is the only institute for marine engineers approved by the All India Council for Technical Education and the only institute in the country to have a full-size marine propulsion engine for training. It’s called the “Ship on Campus.”

As an intermediate step towards the upgrade, the Indian Institute of Maritime Studies was established in Mumbai in 2002 to integrate the four government-owned institutes — the Lal Bahadur Shastri Nautical College at Mumbai, T S Chanakya, MERI and MERI’s branch in Mumbai. All these institutes will now be subsumed within the university.

“It is certainly a disheartening moment for us and our students, we have the best faculty, adequate apparatus and standards required. No inspection team ever said we lack any amenities. At present, we are in a process of introducing newer courses. Our institute has also applied for National Board of Accreditation certification,” said member of faculty and Engineer Officer R K Paul.