University: A mere money making institution?

21^st century has definitely changed the idea of education. Gone are the days when preachers would gather masses and share knowledge out of enthusiasm and not for any reap financial reward.

Sir Francis once quoted in Latin, “ipsa scientia potestas est” which on translation meant Knowledge itself is power.  Should we laugh on this mythical joke because our society hardly consists of people who believe in it? It is all about the mere notes that define your value and position and we haven’t failed to heed the elite system even today.

Education is no more a need rather it is a fancy possession and judgment of your knowledge is based on the expense of the degree you hold. Now a days, it is not about the passion for achieving your goals rather it is about your financial capability to afford your dream. Like they say, “everything has a price to be paid”.

As growing children, schools, taught us to dream and work hard towards our motives but definitely failed to enlighten us about the cruel obligations we have towards our society in order to achieve those.

Yes I am talking about how we students have become a financial commodity for the education industry. I will not oppose the educational institutions, which make money by educating but educating to make money sure seems to be perverse. Institutions have become money oriented and failed to recognize the importance of their purpose.

The finest of education are provided by well renowned academy and they sure are overwhelmingly pricey. To study in Oxford, you not only require an A grade sheet but also a good pocket. Not to forget not everyone is an A grade student. Oxford, Cambridge, Massachusetts are exceptions. They are established for ages and have proven themselves in transforming the students to well refined professionals.  They have set their boundaries and raised their competitive levels.

Being oblivious to such exceptions, what about universities striving to attain standard and recognition? Are they worthy of what we pay? To get a medical degree is a hassle; consider any part of the world.  And doctors, who are considered God because they save lives and since they have a bright future, which I don’t think so with a mere MBBS, are expected to make a huge investment. Now here comes the business. Invest now and get repaid later. It’s more of money making than life saving. It is not just the medical universities but also the students who deem to this theory.

The market price of BBA is not as high as MBBS, is it? Don’t tell me, that is my perspective, I’m sure everyone regards it the same way as I mentioned.

I am not underestimating Medical students, not to forget, I myself am one. The unfortunate part of being one is how our lives are enslaved not only to the strenuous hours of studying but also giving enough feed in the form of money to get the quality we expect, which is not always up to the standards.

The big question is “why”? Is it because, we handle a life and if so, then are we indirectly giving a price tag to someone’s life, or is it because we need more resources to study which is space and time of another well trained doctor with more knowledge. Is it because we have a bigger infrastructure and our money is helping them construct big or is it because we are paying our tutors money to live a lavish life in return.

There aren’t any absolute or relative solutions, but there is definitely an alternative.

Yes, educational institution is a profitable investment and not affordable by all, but at the same time, run only by the wealthy.

What is their answer to the common people who cannot afford it but have hopes of a future that is as bright as any elite?
What is their solution to the development of the society?
Are we going to divide our society in to rich and educated versus poor and uneducated?
If so, are we developing into a better world?

It is for you, the “prosperous organizations” to give us an alternative.

2012 - A New Beginning

It has been long since I published something. There was always a theme or I can say a topic for me to write and discuss about. Sitting on my bed I am just wondering that starting college is like an entire new life.  It was a difficult task and basically I had to leave behind my skills or rather I would compile it as my free time thoughts or in a simpler term my extra activities. I did see myself somewhere writing stories for bed time and little toddlers like the Thumbelina or Peter Pan and Captain Hook. Just that I didn't consider myself that capable of writing.

By 19^th May, I will officially complete 9 months of my life breathing free air and being more independent, responsible for my own consequences which to quote can be great outcomes or even the bad ones. Well to be more specific living alone without family which usually does not happen with Indian girls, is like a dream in fairy land coming true. But then dedicating your 5 more years to studies just when you throw your square academic cap is a real hard decision. Well here I am as a medical student in the United Arab Emirates, Middle East. When I first landed in Dubai for vacations in grade 8 summer holidays, I knew that the UAE had something to offer me. I was just not sure of what it was. I hope I am pretty sure of it now. It was a city of different kind, contained the basic Arab culture but gave enough freedom for other cultural backgrounds. One of the reasons I got to move in to this country was because of how it somewhere camouflaged with my lifestyle. And yes, the elder ones to look after you.

I remember walking in to the airport with my brother, collecting my student visa, passing through immigration, it was new this time. I felt grown up and that I have found the ultimatum for at least the next 4 to 5 years. Being in one of those fields that take a lot of courage and handle the life of a person, is a great challenge, one of the reasons for me to accept that call from the administration office, offering me a seat in the university. I was confused if it was the right decision for me, but if I stayed this far, then yes it should be.

First year to end in 3 months, by then I wouldn't be a fresher in college or I wouldn't have to tell myself that it takes time to get adjusted. Usually the high schools teach you to be strong and brave but for me it did towards the end but the college gave me a lot more exposure. I was warned of the mistakes that one can go in to, like to feel left out and not mingling, but believe me it is not that difficult here. It feels good and to be more socially active.

Well this is how it started. The first day when I reach at the dorms, it was more like a hotel, except that you have a security at your back, which can turn out to be pretty annoying. I meet this entirely different person from the same place as I came and she seemed excited and happy about starting new. The way of talking and sense of humor made me feel at ease. So it wasn't a bad beginning at the dorms. I am then taken to my room and she walks with me talking and I just couldn't get less excited to meet my roommate. But I maintained my innocent and diplomatic look just to be on the safe side. She comes with her hair open, wet dripping, in a bluish green and yellow suit, apologizing for being late at the door. I had a feeling I had seen this girl somewhere, just couldn't recollect. She seemed like a one bright girl and all I had to consider was just the room. I did and I decided, it is my home here. Her introduction was interesting because it was the first time someone had so many words to say in the first meeting. I actually found it difficult to catch up so I just admired her. Next day was college, first day orientation, deciding the clothes to wear, well it was pretty informal. I walk in to the university for the first time and I found it different yet the same. I know it might not make sense but it will gradually.

Starting something new might seem simple but it takes the courage and strength. I got to see a variety of people, some smart, some weird, some unique, some not predictable. Well everyone is different in their own ways. You cannot compliment or make fun of someone by telling them that you look the same or you are the same. It is offensive and probably disheartening. Everybody wishes to be different. My first sets of friends are the sweetest people. Everyone cannot be perfect. As long as they try to be happy and be together, you cannot expect more. The third day in college is when everyone starts to try.  There are not much hot guys but there are good guys who wouldn't misuse you or play with you. There are pretty girls but nothing can be spoken about the pretty ones. As they say it is not enough to be pretty. I didn't see myself in any category. My dorm mates were good and cool. They understood you and they were together. I guess that continued for a month or two. But then later, things change. You learn to become more smart and inspective of many aspects. I will not deny, but I was inspective and judging. That is how it always worked. This reminds me of the guy who visited our house on some occasion and he did give me some good compliments about my character through my handwriting. Not that I don’t consider others opinions, but I believe I know who I am.  

After 4 months, things started to settle in place. You learn about people, about whom you can trust and how well you can get along. Sometimes you have to be happy about people and things, that you leave yourself way behind. This was a big challenge for me. Well that is what it is all about. College is not only education but your social life, your presentation of personality, your inner self. It is a time that helps you rediscover what you are. Also by 4 months you should get used to the cadavers and skeletons. Anatomy is all about the body structures and it is the most arduous subject in the first year. Physiology combines the mechanisms and numbers that can be interesting if you want to make it. Biochemistry is a scoring subject. My interest has not really touched the three of them, so I am just waiting for the second year pathology. I decided that if I would take up Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, I should keep my foundation strong for oncology and surgery. It has been a long time interest.

In 6 months I got pretty good friends. Well one of them is a very understanding person. He doesn't like to compliment himself much. But he has his own ways of handling things. Sometimes he even denies to the facts that he does have some good aspects in life that people will be surprised with. We have a nice group which we don’t like to call it as, but everyone is out there for each other. An amazing person, who makes sure that everything, is fine with everyone. She goes around trying to put things in place, especially in my life. A man with dignity and humor is a great combination that I have seen for the first time in another pal. A sweet girl who shares the same shelter with me, she is indescribable. There are a lot more. Our first big union was in our first Medical Conference. The date 12.12.12 was a bright day for all of us. And to add up 12:12 was even colder on the ice rink with each of us falling because of our lack of ability to skate. These little memories hold on to us and we have to carry the good ones ahead and learn from the bad ones.

Life can be made easy by trying to accept what we have and move forward with greater ambitions and always cherish a new beginning.

The Golden years of Life - Existence of Friends

I was right when I felt that God has sent someone on whom I can rest my sorrow and happiness. “Hey, would you be my friend?” are those golden words that hardly anyone asks with its actual sense. When my friend said that she became the assistant sports secretary, I honestly felt I was fortunate. When my friend said that she got her first article published in fun times, I forgot my extremity of happiness. When my friend claimed that her physics exam went terrible, I was worried and when my friend was embarrassed I felt like breaking through the walls.This is not any dialogue from movie or series but how I felt at that moment. Hubbard was right when he said, “your friend is the one who knows everything about you, and still likes you”.
When a person looses something or someone with hatred, he can never regain it back and if someone doesn’t believe this fact they can think about this when they experience such circumstances.
What most of us face in today’s world is the depopulation of a good people who show us the way and walks a piece of the road with us. Maybe we can change the defect by changing ourselves, by providing a little time from our chaotic schedule for our friends. The only way to have a friend is to be one. That is what I did and I found my treasure.
This is what happened at the first day of my new school. I enter this class and look at the strange atmosphere. When I went and sat at my chair the voice of my friends echoed in my ears. This is what they said, “though you leave the school we, won’t leave you” and they have kept their terms till this moment and they will. And when I spent 2 years of my life in the new school without any true friend which is the worst solitude, there was someone to light my life.
The problems that most of the adolescence face, is they lack the intelligence to take the correct decision. Why would you choose a person for their looks or for their popularity? Is it because you too want to be one of them? That means you are insecure about yourself. A person may appear like a geek and blare about but there might be someone else inside. For that it is not necessary to go about trying out hundreds but be smart in what you try. I feel I am wealthy regarding my friends.
I would also like to turn to the psychological changes that a friend can cause. If you really think that you possess positive thoughts than we can begin as such. Sometimes some teenagers depend more on what their friends say compared to their parents and this is true. So it is always wise to choose someone correct. It is also true that we would like to ape our friends and their cool styles which may at times look foolish on us. Their thoughts may impinge on us and periodically we might fall in to a drench without realizing. But this is always in the unconscious state of humans. So the best and simple solution is to think before doing anything and guide him/her in the right trail.
I remember sending a letter to my friend asking her to be my friend before our AISS (X) Examination. She calls me that day and says that she was also waiting for this day. I was irrepressible to hear because that meant, “Yes”. That was too formal but difficult.
I can give an example of my school life. When we used to have tests in the sense class tests we follow a method called division of labor. We allocate certain topics to each other so that we share our answers during the tests. You see sharing and caring. This shows our union but honestly that never works out. Seriously! The teachers always begin the test saying, “God is watching you and be honest”.
We share whatever happens in the weekends and holidays so that we know more of each other and our problems. And when we are upset we have a hilarious friend who makes us laugh. When the subject in class turns out to be boring we try making things funny.
Another interesting thing that happened was in this summer vacation I got an opportunity to send a letter from one state to another to my friend back in Bombay. That made me feel grownup and proud as in today’s world letters are nowhere to be heard and people don’t earn much in post office businesses.
There is this friend who tries putting some brain into me when I’m out and she is all amazed by the amazing facts which she would share with me when I call her. She is all crazy about the scientific experiments and I have Albert Einstein II with me. I have another friend who teaches me about the religious aspects and yeah she is not a scholar but she corrects when we go off target and pick us up when we fall.
Our aphorism is to live together peacefully and take pleasure in every moment with each other. And though we get separated after a year we promised to keep in contact. I believe that when we meet after finishing our higher courses we will be able to recognize each other because that might turn out to be little intricate. I enjoy every second of my life let it be with my parents or brothers or friends. I love it.
So let us take every mistake of our friends in a positive manner and forgive them because life is too short to be serious every time.
A second ago I had my friend calling me and asking what is the plan for next Thursday. All I said was, “I’m coming with you for the seminar next Thursday”. And yeah I called up my other friends to make sure they plan the same thing as I did.
This is my life with my friends and I owe you guys a lot for making everyday a bright one for me. I think “thanks” won’t do much. Huda, Rose, Asma, Fakeha, Areej and Hanna. May God bless you and keep us always together.

The Scenario of the Educational Universe

Education is one of the distinctive identities of every society or nation. India had a glorious educational past but however the educational trends are now in support of the western education. Indian masses are completely lagging behind in this vital field and the developing countries are on edge over us. To make it clear, it is indispensable for us to know the main objective of education.
1- To help the individuals to adjust with the surroundings.
2- To earn enough for himself and his family.
3- To contribute something of worth to his nation, society and humanity.
So let’s sit back and reflect that are we studying to accomplish these objectives or simply attaining so as to satisfy our hungry parents.
A clear question in every frustrated young minds are why are we studying? Why couldn’t the world be without texts and notes? Everywhere we set off study! Study! STUDY! Why aren’t anyone giving a rational answer? For these penetrating minds the answer is right below:
1- To think logically.
2- To work in a cooperative but highly bloodthirsty environment subjugated by tremendously growing and changing technologies.
3- To develop mental faculties so that man could throw in something of great value to the society.
4- To enable man to respect others and get the maximum out of their capabilities.
5- To manage the resources in a prudent manner for maximum output in all spheres of life.
6- And as mentioned earlier, for survival and for earning a livelihood.Now let’s visualize a classroom where there are maximum 20 students and one teacher right in front of them talking about, how the 9/11 took place, about the audacious soldiers and their spirit to save their populace. One student raises his hand and asks whether she had witnessed such an event. This was the scenario and is in some of the schools like in India and you can say developing countries.
Welcome to the future!Let it be the same circumstance but with a little difference. Here the teacher is beside a wide screen where a documentary is shown about the 9/11 incident and the students actually grasp about the history with complete understanding. The topic is the same, the teacher is the same and the students are the same. Not to forget the question asked by the student is also similar. The only difference is a big difference, i.e. some students might find it intolerably dreary. When a video is shown it might turn out to be very remarkable. This is part of the human psychology.It is necessary for the schools to feed in the students with the potential to face the changes in the educational world. In today’s era every field is undergoing massive changes at every point of time.
We can look forward to the future education to be as such:
1- It would be vocation oriented.
2- It would be highly competitive.
3- It would be able to screen out the candidates according to their capabilities.
4- The relationship between the student and the teacher would become intimate and friendly. The ancient norms of education would be followed.
5- Informal discussions and brain storming techniques would be promoted for better understanding of students.
6- Failure would not be treated as unfortunate. It would be assumed to be stepping stone for success.
7- Understanding and applications of knowledge would be promoted.
8- The hackneyed educational system would be transformed to interactive learning approach.
9- Education would be sans political machinations and campus friction.
Knowledge is dynamic mechanism that carries the best of the past and responds uniquely to the future. Education would shift from mass teaching to personalized instruction, from single learning to multiple learning, passive absorption to action oriented and participative learning, rigid daily teaching sessions to flexible schedules, theoretical- sweet nothings to technical and practical knowledge base, teacher orientation to student’s initiative, emphasis on textbooks to usage of computers, interactive learning and internet and finally, passive mastery of information to action simulation of the brain.

The portrayal of women in Human Civilization

Women are the magnificent creation of God, a multifaceted personality with the power of benevolence, adjusts stability, integrity and tolerance. They have a great part to play in the progress of a country. For the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. “In women is hidden the revolutionary energy which can establish paradise on this earth”.

In the words of RabindraNath Tagore, “woman is the builder and moulders of a nations’ destiny. Though delicate and soft as lily, she has a heart, far stronger and bolder than that of man. She is the supreme inspiration for man’s onward march”. The status of Indian women has been of many ups and downs from the ancient time to present day.

With the dawn of freedom and particularly during India’s national struggle the position of women took a new turn for the better. Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. Rajendra Prasad began to think deeply about the urgent need of women’s emancipation. They realized so long as women of the country were not uplifted and granted status with men an all walks of life political, economic, domestic, educational India could neither progress nor make any significant advance in any field. Gandhiji gave clarion call for women’s participation in the freedom movement. Sarojini Naidu, Mira Ben, Sucheta, Kirplani, Vijay Lakshmi, Aruna Asaf Ali were some of the leading freedom fighters.

Indeed, society runs on two wheels, both the wheels must be equally strong to run smoothly. But when the question comes, whether legal empowerment of women is necessary or not? The answer from my side is a negative one.
Legal empowerment to women is nothing but legal begging for a certain percentage of participation in a country or a society. It would mean asking your oppressor for permission to perform your own duties in the society. It is not a guarantee rather it is a prison which will not allow the women to perform beyond the given percentage.

How long are we going to divide our country in the name of legal empowerment such as caste based, religion based, gender based, income based, language based, tribe based? Today people may ask for legal empowerment to women, tomorrow they may ask for legal empowerment to a particular language speaking group or to certain regional people.
All it shows is the defeated mentality of the population which is nurtured by certain section of the society for their own benefits.

Going back to Africa there was this forest parliament that decided to hold an animal’s assembly. The core issue in the assembly was whether the ‘deer’ should get legal empowerment or not? Can you imagine the deer saying to the tigers and lions that,” look do not cross this border because I want to protect myself and my food”. Let us also know that these deers have learnt to survive before the evolution of human and they will be surviving in the next 20,000 years as well. By giving this legal empowerment to the deers it would mean cutting out the natural phenomena and in the same way by giving this legal empowerment to women it would mean suppressing or inhibiting the natural process that she would carry out to gain the opportunity which is in front of her.

Let us take an example of Rani Lakshmi Bhai, the queen of Jhansi, Kittur Rani Chenaamma, the first women independence activist, Meera Ben, Gandhi’s English daughter and why not Madam Barbara Hogan who served four years in prison, the most powerful leader of African National Congress(ANC) and today she is the Health Minister of Africa. Did they ask for legal empowerment to participate in the freedom struggle? Did Indhira Gandhi or Benazir Bhutto require legal empowerment to become the Prime Ministers of their respective countries?
The idea of legal empowerment is being brought up by the male society because they are afraid of the power and advances of the women in the society like ME!!!

Really women are less selfish; more dedicated to duty and have immense potence than men by nature. In order to make optimum use of our vast women power, we must liberate Indian women of many social taboos. However, mere legislation cannot emancipate the lot of our women; this needs a radical change in our mental make up and our social structure. It can be said that with a sense of pride and confidence that the future of women is quite bright and that our prosperity will be safe in other hands. Napoleon was right when he said that by educating the women we educate and uplift the whole nation.