With a disappointed heart, I decided to go back to smoking corner, where my friends were waiting for me. But, on my way, I decided to see my class room,just to know whether it was empty. I reached near my class. Some students were present on that saturday, reading slides. I entered the class and found that my seat was empty. At the same time , all who were sitting there looked at me and my black tag with a question mark . Though they didn't say anything, I could read what they told in mind. " Why this Kolaveri? Please leave us alone atleast on weekends." I felt like saying "I was also a student like you guys 2 years back. This is just a cycle. After 2 years you may also stand here like me." But I didn't tell as no one asked me any questions. I came out and went to smoking corner,where my friends were waiting for me.
Around 3.00 p.m. "What is our next plan? " , one of my friend asked. Everyone looked at eachother , but didn't said any word. But everyone got what was the next plan. We went to ECC.We were in ECC till 7 p.m . You can guess how that 4 hours went. We played table tennis,Bowling etc. A few went for swimming also. I lost all games in Table tennis. But in bowling I beat my personal best to score 145, with three strikes. And none of my friends beat it. I was quite happy that even after 2 years , I still have that magic touch in my hand. Time went very fast and by 7, we decided to leave ECC.
We had planned to stay in Hotel Palmyrah that night.We had also planned for dinner at Hotel Grand Pa's in the city that night.But as I don't want to miss Chola Batoora in Mysore campus, I decided to have a batoora from campus.I would not get another chance for sure.Actually there was a reason behind this. I had never even seen a Chola Batoora before reaching Mysore.When I saw it for the first time there , I really wondered what was that huge thing. After 2-3 weeks, I managed to find it's name and at one evening, I decided to taste it. After that I never had a week without batoora in my life. I had it atleast twice in a week and I am still continuing it in Trivandrum as we have batoora as breakfast in a food court.Though it is not good like the Batoora of Mysore,I want to have it because of Mysore memories. So how could I miss it from Mysore when I am there?
After having Batoora, I joined my friends and we went to GEC 2 to see the musical fountain. Show started at 7.30. I never enjoyed it when I was at Mysore for training. In those days, evenif watching it, my mind was at slides.So I couldn't even sit properly for 30 minutes.But today, I found it quite beautiful and I felt like I really missed it when I got 6 months here. While we were sitting in the steps of GEC 2 , watching the beauty of fountain, we saw a guy, holding the hand of a beautiful girl, came and sat on the step infront of us. For the first time in my life , I felt sad for not having a girl friend . It would have been really nice to hold the hand of someone whom we really love and sit in those steps listening to the beautiful songs and dancing water. To add it's beauty , that was a cool evening and a clear sky. Stars and Moon were adding beauty to that scene. But that feeling also left me when the song finished.It is better to be single so that I could enjoy the beauty of the world rather than sitting with a girl for whole life, atleast till the age of 27.
By 8 p.m we came out from Mysore campus. We saw a huge crowd under a tree near the entrance and so many mobile flashes. We went there to see what was happening and saw a girl standing there. Everyone were taking photo of her.I think if I explain the scene perfectly, it would be violation of Infosys Policy, but I don't want you to miss an idea of how she looked.She was very fair, thanks to Birla white wallcare putti that she had put in her face. Hair was straightened, which is quite common now a days.2 inch thick lipstick added more 'beauty' for her. And the most important thing was her dressing.I have seen similar dress only in Bollywood movies and never seen someone wearing in road in real life before. So you can imagine how it was.No doubt so many guys were taking pictures.
After standing there for some time, we went to Grand Pa's Hotel.
to be continued...
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Mysore Trip- part 4 - GEC 1
I went to GEC 1 to see my batch owners.After a long time, I got a chance to see it. When I was at Mysore, I never felt that GEC was beautiful. Rather it looked similar to home of 'Draculas' in those days. But now I think I really missed this 'heaven'.
I went to notice board first as my life in GEC started from the notice board.
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I went to notice board first as my life in GEC started from the notice board.
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On 19th january 2010, the last day of ILI session, it was announced that we would get a room in GEC for training. By evening 5 p.m , we heard that classroom and seat number was listed in the notice board in GEC 1 and so we went to check classroom. It was then, I entered GEC 1 for the first time, which became a part of my life for next three months. It was known to us that CS would get one classroom and NCS will get another and so I was expecting my classmates in college who joined in Infosys to be with me in my class.There was a big rush infront of the notice board as everyone was trying to find their names.We managed to reach near noticeboard somehow. CS batch got a room in GEC 2. And my friend Arun, who reached closer to the board than us, told that NCS got classroom in GEC 1 - room name C V Raman. I was happy to hear that. To know my seat number I waited there for a few minutes and checked my name. But my name was not in that list!!! I got wondered and searched again. No , my name was not there. But then someone told me to check another list.My name was there in it,GEC 1 - GLC 001 - Chandrasekhar Subramanyam seat number 76. I was shocked to see that.What happened was since the number of students are more than 120, they splitted according to alphabetical order.Till 'O' in one class and remaining in other class. All my friends, Arun, Arabind, Ajin, Anish, Kiran, Anand, Anie, Jaisy, Jayalakshmi, Nileena etc were in C.V Raman. Just 3,Sherin, Shilpa and me on the other class. I was about to cry on seeing the list. I never thought I would have to be in a class like without them. While I was checking my name, my friends went to check their class and came back. I had no idea what to do, just came back to my room with me. From the next day, we would be splitted. January 20 started with lot of tensions and worries for me. We started off together from B 86 to GEC , had breakfast from FC 1 - A-host. Then , we got splitted , CS batch to GEC 2 and NCS to GEC 1. On reaching GEC 1, we splitted again .Everyone except me, to C V Raman and me.. I had no idea where was my class room. Just started to search that( Sherin and Shilpa were not with me then). Some one told that 'G' in GLC is ground floor and 'L' means Left wing. So I went to Left side of ground floor and started searching. " Ah, there it is. " I found my classroom without much trouble. I just looked inside through the small transparent glass section on the door and found that a few are sitting there. I felt like everyone except me know eachother at that time. Somehow I entered and found my seat. Right side, Second last row - almost middle seat,three people on my right side and four on my left. You could imagine what might have happened next. I looked around and found that neither Shilpa nor Sherin had arrived. "Hello, I am Suneetha" - I turned right to check who was saying it and saw a girl who would be one my neighbours, for the rest of journey in Infosys Mysore. "I am Sumodh." I replied. Suneetha was from Andra Pradesh.After M.tech, she got placed in Infosys. She is married and husband is also in Infosys. I was happy after the chat, not because of talking to someone, but happy because she understood my English!! It was my first conversation in English with a person other than the interviewer who came for Infosys placement. I got some confidence that I can manage. It was followed by talking with everyone sitting in my row. Sumitha, Sukrit, Surya, Sugandha,Sudhanshu and Sushomoy. My seat was between Sumitha and Suneetha. And after a long chat I found that Sumitha was also from kerala.Though she had her schoolings in North, she could understand Malayalam. That made me much comfortable. But I never used too much malayalam as it would be uncomfortable for others. "jo hota hai achhe ke liye hota hai" . I was splitted from my friends, but it helped me to get more friends. If I was in other class, I would have been with my friends always and would have finished class without knowing anyone else. But now , since I had no other choice, I talked to all and I got so many friends. I would like to add a few more names along with the names mentioned above. Subhomoy, Shauma Jyoti, Sudarshan, Shivakumar, Sandeep, Sridhar,Sripal, Vivek naming a few. But I was a kind of guy , who had talked to almost everyone in the class, especially with those in the back row.Today ,I could say I know atleast one person in each state. By the end of three months, when we got transfer to GEC 2 for stream training , we all were attached to our classrooms and seats and found it difficult to move say good bye to our class. Finally, we left and some other batch took the class room. The process is continuing now also, like a cycle. **************************************** I went to staffroom section where Aarsha, my batchowner was sitting and I got disappointed.I forgot that saturday is holiday for E & R. There were a few teachers sitting,who had came to take class for a few NCS batches.I went to see E & R head also, who helped me a lot in those days. But , as expected he too was not there. to be continued... |
Mysore Trip- part 3
We sat together at Food Court in GEC 2 for almost two hours, sharing our previous happy moments and how we all became machines now.Job had changed everyone.No one have much physical change, but mentally everyone have changed a lot. Dynamic youth was changed to stable workman who don't have much emotions. Whatever happens infront of you, doesn't matter. Work hard for client satisfaction. And it is the reason why my friends from Manglore DC didn't get time to come to Mysore. They had to go to office on Saturday and Sunday. Personal commitments have less priority. Client commitments are more important.I wish clients also work on saturday and sunday to know how people on East are dedicated to do their works. In between those tight schedules, some happy moments for us in Mysore.
After chit chat, we went to Oasis (another Food court) to have our lunch. After collecting food,we found joined two-three tables to sit together.One friend, who is in Mysore DC itself , told us that one should stand as security while others were going to wash hands. A new thief has arrived in Food court.He always steal others' food. Even security was not able to catch him.So I stood there while others went to wash hands. While they were away, the thief came near our seat!! A Cat!! That too without an id card at it's neck!!! I don't know how it entered the campus without tag and is still there ,without being punished by security. Ofcourse, 'status unknown' in sparsh may not be a worry for cat, but still, walking in campus without wearing tag is against our company policy. I just acted as if I took a stone from the floor and thrown at it. Cat ran away. Poor cat, he(or she) doesn't know that there is no stone in the food court. We all sat together and had our lunch.
After lunch, we went to smoking corner as a few friends have the habit of smoking. Smoking corner in Mysore looked really beautiful as usual.
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After chit chat, we went to Oasis (another Food court) to have our lunch. After collecting food,we found joined two-three tables to sit together.One friend, who is in Mysore DC itself , told us that one should stand as security while others were going to wash hands. A new thief has arrived in Food court.He always steal others' food. Even security was not able to catch him.So I stood there while others went to wash hands. While they were away, the thief came near our seat!! A Cat!! That too without an id card at it's neck!!! I don't know how it entered the campus without tag and is still there ,without being punished by security. Ofcourse, 'status unknown' in sparsh may not be a worry for cat, but still, walking in campus without wearing tag is against our company policy. I just acted as if I took a stone from the floor and thrown at it. Cat ran away. Poor cat, he(or she) doesn't know that there is no stone in the food court. We all sat together and had our lunch.
After lunch, we went to smoking corner as a few friends have the habit of smoking. Smoking corner in Mysore looked really beautiful as usual.
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Two years back, in induction class, I head the word 'smoking corners'for the first time. I had no idea what is that. A special corner for smoking? That seems to be strange for me. I have seen people smoking everywhere. Roads, vehicles, theatres and other public places. No one seems to have asked anything to them. And now these guys are telling that one should smoke only at smoking corner. What is this 'smoking corner'? How it look like? With a few friends, I went to smoking corner near Gazeebo to know what it is. I don't know what to say. A beautiful place where chairs are arranged to sit and smoke.The place is surrounded by beautiful bamboo trees. A place where one can sit and 'smoke' happily ,without being disturbed by others. I felt like Infosys is encouraging smoking. Even I thought to start smoking when I saw the place.A smoke in a cool night in January. Doesn't it look beautiful? We all sat there for some time. Inbetween ,a lady (better call as a girl) came and took a cigarette from her pocket. I was shocked to see it. For the first time in my life , I saw a lady smoking. Previously, I had seen this only in Hollywood movies . Later , I became used to those scenes as I saw many girls smoking there whenever I go to Gazebo. Before taking a decision,we should think twice.As I was busy with hectic schedules , I didn't get time to think about smoking for a second time. And I got transfer to Trivandrum and I left my temptation to smoke at Mysore and came to Trivandrum without starting any new habits. **************************************** While sitting there, I remembered my batch owners- Aravind and Aarsha and decided to meet them.As friends had not much interest, they told they would be at ECC and I went to GEC 1 alone. to be continued... |
Mysore Trip - part 2
With a lazy mind, I came back to my seat.
“Hai, my name is Harish” , the guy sitting near me introduced himself. When the bus started from Trivandrum, he was busy, calling and messaging someone. “Hai”, I replied. Thus conversation started. He told that he came to Trivandrum to see his girlfriend, who went to Bangalore that evening. It was followed by an essay about her beauty. I felt like he was a medical representative or insurance agent as he didn’t give me a chance to open my mouth. Finally I managed to ask a question- “What are you doing now? Studying or??“ He didn't even allow me to finish my question. He replied that he is a P.G student in travel and tourism. It was followed by a seminar on Tourism and told about the great things that he had done in the field. I repented asking that question. Essay about girlfriend was better than this seminar. Bus reached Alleppey by 10 p.m. and he left. I slept after that , as I was also supposed to be very busy on next day.
On Jan 14th , by 8.30 a.m. , I reached Mysore bus stand. “wow” This was the first thing I felt on seeing bus stand. When I left Mysore 1.6 years back, the construction of bus stand was going on. I never thought it would have finished in such a short time. The construction was really nice. If it was in Kerala, it would have taken three ‘five year plans’ to finish the same.After reaching there, I called my friends.But none of them attended the call. They were coming by car from Chennai. I was afraid whether some issues had happened like break down.But still they should attend call. So I got tensed. We had planned like whoever comes first should book a room and others join them. Since they were not attending call, I got confused.
I have a belief like whenever you need help from god, he will come in front of you to help. This time also he came. He came in front of me as Anoop. He is also an Infoscion, from Trivandrum. I was surprised to see him there. Anoop came to collect some H.R documents. He knew a friend in B 93 and so I too went along with him to campus as my friends were not attending call. Thus my morning confusion solved and I got a chance to enter hostel rooms again, which was not expected when I started my trip. By 9.30 , I reached Mysore campus. We took a cycle from parking area near ECC and went to parking area near B 86.After a long time I was riding a cycle. In fact I never had driven one, after leaving Mysore last year. Mysore campus has not changed much other than a few constructions for food courts, that had came up recently. But one change I noticed was lack of discipline. Everyone was walking on the road and none used footpath. Surprisingly no security was using any whistle. When I was having training there, sounds of whistle were always heard. Once security came to take my tag to report complaint that I walked through ‘road’. But I somehow managed to escape then. But today no one cares about security.
After walking for some twenty minutes, we 'discovered' B 93, which was at the extreme corner of campus, near the boundary wall.We took bath and had breakfast. While I was having my breakfast, I got a call from friends. They had actually reached Mysore campus by 2.30 a.m. and had ‘managed ‘ to enter campus at that time(Thanks To Strap surround meeting that took place at Mysore). They were sleeping in dormitory.I was happy that they had reached here early and I am going to meet them after nineteen months. So I went to see them and Anoop went to H.R.
Finally by 11 am,we all met at the food court on GEC 2. I don't know how to explain that moment, but I think you can imagine how it was. We all were together for six months. We all entered class at 9 am and left class at 12 midnight, but not to sleep.we went together to Cybercafe and was there to study slides till 2-3 am. It was this cybercafe meetings that increased friendship. In class, everyone was busy with studies and assignments. But at night, in those silence at cybercafe, we were not only studying, but shared our past life, future dreams,tensions,devsquare,Politics, difference between north and south.In fact everything under the sun were our topics.Six months gone like six days and we left to various parts of India. A few to Chennai, a few to Bhuwaneshwar and me to Trivandrum. Today we got a chance to meet each other.
to be continued...
“Hai, my name is Harish” , the guy sitting near me introduced himself. When the bus started from Trivandrum, he was busy, calling and messaging someone. “Hai”, I replied. Thus conversation started. He told that he came to Trivandrum to see his girlfriend, who went to Bangalore that evening. It was followed by an essay about her beauty. I felt like he was a medical representative or insurance agent as he didn’t give me a chance to open my mouth. Finally I managed to ask a question- “What are you doing now? Studying or??“ He didn't even allow me to finish my question. He replied that he is a P.G student in travel and tourism. It was followed by a seminar on Tourism and told about the great things that he had done in the field. I repented asking that question. Essay about girlfriend was better than this seminar. Bus reached Alleppey by 10 p.m. and he left. I slept after that , as I was also supposed to be very busy on next day.
On Jan 14th , by 8.30 a.m. , I reached Mysore bus stand. “wow” This was the first thing I felt on seeing bus stand. When I left Mysore 1.6 years back, the construction of bus stand was going on. I never thought it would have finished in such a short time. The construction was really nice. If it was in Kerala, it would have taken three ‘five year plans’ to finish the same.After reaching there, I called my friends.But none of them attended the call. They were coming by car from Chennai. I was afraid whether some issues had happened like break down.But still they should attend call. So I got tensed. We had planned like whoever comes first should book a room and others join them. Since they were not attending call, I got confused.
I have a belief like whenever you need help from god, he will come in front of you to help. This time also he came. He came in front of me as Anoop. He is also an Infoscion, from Trivandrum. I was surprised to see him there. Anoop came to collect some H.R documents. He knew a friend in B 93 and so I too went along with him to campus as my friends were not attending call. Thus my morning confusion solved and I got a chance to enter hostel rooms again, which was not expected when I started my trip. By 9.30 , I reached Mysore campus. We took a cycle from parking area near ECC and went to parking area near B 86.After a long time I was riding a cycle. In fact I never had driven one, after leaving Mysore last year. Mysore campus has not changed much other than a few constructions for food courts, that had came up recently. But one change I noticed was lack of discipline. Everyone was walking on the road and none used footpath. Surprisingly no security was using any whistle. When I was having training there, sounds of whistle were always heard. Once security came to take my tag to report complaint that I walked through ‘road’. But I somehow managed to escape then. But today no one cares about security.
After walking for some twenty minutes, we 'discovered' B 93, which was at the extreme corner of campus, near the boundary wall.We took bath and had breakfast. While I was having my breakfast, I got a call from friends. They had actually reached Mysore campus by 2.30 a.m. and had ‘managed ‘ to enter campus at that time(Thanks To Strap surround meeting that took place at Mysore). They were sleeping in dormitory.I was happy that they had reached here early and I am going to meet them after nineteen months. So I went to see them and Anoop went to H.R.
Finally by 11 am,we all met at the food court on GEC 2. I don't know how to explain that moment, but I think you can imagine how it was. We all were together for six months. We all entered class at 9 am and left class at 12 midnight, but not to sleep.we went together to Cybercafe and was there to study slides till 2-3 am. It was this cybercafe meetings that increased friendship. In class, everyone was busy with studies and assignments. But at night, in those silence at cybercafe, we were not only studying, but shared our past life, future dreams,tensions,devsquare,Politics, difference between north and south.In fact everything under the sun were our topics.Six months gone like six days and we left to various parts of India. A few to Chennai, a few to Bhuwaneshwar and me to Trivandrum. Today we got a chance to meet each other.
to be continued...
Mysore Trip - part 1
On Friday, January 13th 2012, at 6.45 pm, an Airavat Bus of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation started its journey from Trivandrum bus stand to Mysore. On seat number 20, a window seat, was seated one Infoscion. Yes, It was me- my last trip to Mysore as an Infoscion. A small trip, which is not to reproduce those old days , but to walk through them, just to remind me where I was, when I started my career and where I am, now. A journey to produce the glimpse of those good old days. A few of my friends from Bhuvaneswar and Chennai DC were also coming. The bus started moving slowly through the traffic.I was going to see my campus after a long time, the campus which moulded me as an 'I.T professional', the campus which gave me many good friends, the campus which haunted me with devsquare. With a calm and quiet mind, I looked outside. For the first time in last two years , I felt that I am very much relaxed. ( I will tell more about it later, may be in another post) .
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Two years back, on jan 9th, I started my journey to Mysore with a few of my classmates. Fiftytwo from my batch had got placement in Infosys. Around thirty of my friends are joining while the rest decided to go to some other companies or for higher education. With lot of expectations and tensions I started my trip.Though I heard like life in I.T is tough, I had decided to be in Infosys till the age of 58, which is the age that an employee is supposed to retire from job. Like many others, all I know was 'Infy is a company with a difference'. So why should I leave it for a few more bucks that the other companies may give. Afterall I am not going to carry the money to heaven or hell when I die. On tenth morning we reached Mysore. After waiting for some time for a few other friends who where on another bus,we reached campus by 1 p.m. After all the formalities at the entry gate, we all entered into the campus with a mountain of hopes about our future. When we entered the first sight was a huge construction called GEC 2. Global Education Centre- where we are going to be moulded to great I.T professionals. "Do I really deserve to be in such a great place? " This was the first question came to my mind when I saw the building for the first time. I got my room in B 86, room number 423. ******************************** Bus stopped near a hotel for dinner. " 20 minutes, please have your dinner and come" conductor told to us and went to hotel. I came out and looked the board - 'Hotel Sarovaram- Veg and Non -Veg ' . "Hope I don't have to take biscuits as dinner." (Usually I won't get veg curry in any hotels that KSRTC stops. So biscuits where my dinner when I usually travelled to Mysore ) I told myself and entered the hotel. Waiter: Sir, What you want? I : Ghee roast. Waiter : Sorry, No ghee roast. I : Masala Dosa. Waiter: Sorry no masala dosa. Only Chappathi , porotta and appom. I : Ok . Then Chappathi and vegetable curry. Waiter : Sorry , only Chicken and Beef are available. I : Oh , ok . With a sad face decided to go back to my seat to take biscuits. Understanding that he was not going to get a chicken or beef as order, waiter told me to wait. He went to kitchen and came back to say that chana masala is there. So with a pleasant face I ordered chappathi and channa. It is always a custom to force travellers order non veg as they(hotel owner) get more profit. After my dinner, I entered bus. My journey regained... To be continued... |
Democracy
What was usually done in earlier days when a king died? Who would succeed him? His son would be selected to rule the province. This was what we call as dynasty rule. An entire province was ruled by one family for generations. We know Mughals, Lodhs, Khiljis etc. who ruled certain parts of our nation for many years. Fortunately or unfortunately the same custom is being followed in our country even now. We proudly say India is the biggest democratic country in the world. But is India really democratic?
Consider the state from where you are reading this post from -Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa or Punjab. There is atleast one family , which carries the legacy of controlling a political party. When a leader dies, he want his son to become next leader. What will happen if an M.L.A or M.P passes away in one province? Even before his/her funeral is over, the party will make sure that his/her son/daughter / wife/husband will be next candidate for the election. I am not against it as long as they are eligible. But when it comes to qualification, most of the times, the only point he/she can tell is that his/her father is a politician. There were thousands of workers who have dedicated their entire life for the betterment of the party which they believe. But one morning a person from nowhere became a candidate just because power is in their blood.
Now comes the voting process. Voters are given with two options .
1 . A Demon
2 : son/daughter of a vampire.
Then some local ghosts which are available only in their city.
Our voters are so generous that they will forget all the cruelties of Vampire and they will accept his son with full heart to carry on the Vampire’s legacy.
Is this what we really call democracy? If this doesn’t work out, an internal census will be taken to know which caste has the highest vote and the candidate will be from that caste. After that some special traditional customs like vodka for vote, money for vote etc. would be conducted. Finally a person wins and he will never visit his constituency for next five years. One cannot blame about this situation in the state alone; the entire nation is given to one family by our people. There were several good leaders who gave their life for development of our country. But today, politics is like a family business for many. A business which gives high returns.
One can still argue by saying that they are selected by people. But then I would like to explain the definition of Democracy. According to Wikipedia – “Democracy is the ideal that all the citizens of a nation determine together the laws or actions of their state, requiring that all citizens have an equal opportunity to express their consent and their will.” So what is existing in our country? Democracy or Demon-crazy?
Consider the state from where you are reading this post from -Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa or Punjab. There is atleast one family , which carries the legacy of controlling a political party. When a leader dies, he want his son to become next leader. What will happen if an M.L.A or M.P passes away in one province? Even before his/her funeral is over, the party will make sure that his/her son/daughter / wife/husband will be next candidate for the election. I am not against it as long as they are eligible. But when it comes to qualification, most of the times, the only point he/she can tell is that his/her father is a politician. There were thousands of workers who have dedicated their entire life for the betterment of the party which they believe. But one morning a person from nowhere became a candidate just because power is in their blood.
Now comes the voting process. Voters are given with two options .
1 . A Demon
2 : son/daughter of a vampire.
Then some local ghosts which are available only in their city.
Our voters are so generous that they will forget all the cruelties of Vampire and they will accept his son with full heart to carry on the Vampire’s legacy.
Is this what we really call democracy? If this doesn’t work out, an internal census will be taken to know which caste has the highest vote and the candidate will be from that caste. After that some special traditional customs like vodka for vote, money for vote etc. would be conducted. Finally a person wins and he will never visit his constituency for next five years. One cannot blame about this situation in the state alone; the entire nation is given to one family by our people. There were several good leaders who gave their life for development of our country. But today, politics is like a family business for many. A business which gives high returns.
One can still argue by saying that they are selected by people. But then I would like to explain the definition of Democracy. According to Wikipedia – “Democracy is the ideal that all the citizens of a nation determine together the laws or actions of their state, requiring that all citizens have an equal opportunity to express their consent and their will.” So what is existing in our country? Democracy or Demon-crazy?
Caste System
"If there is a hell, that is reserved for those who invented caste system and those who exploit religion, nationality , language and race to separate human beings from each other. " : Random .Thoughts - 6 of Vineetha Venugopal in 'Random Thoughts'(Infy blog) . This sentence gave me the idea for the post.
I had read many articles and stories related to caste system, whether it is good or bad, disadvantages , problems etc. But when I read some of them, I asked myself whether formation of caste system was such a bad thing that happened in our society? Well,I feel that the answer is ‘NO’ . And who found caste system was the next question. Certainly the answer was ‘No one found it. It just formed because it was the need of society at that time. ‘
I request you to think about life of people a few thousand years back(say 10000 BC). Humans were struggling for their existence. They were not worried about GDP growth or inflation. But there were several challenges they had to face.Attack from animals, preparing food, diseases, agriculture etc were some of them. Definitly each person / group of persons had to fix one job for themselves. One cannot imagine everyone becoming warriors to protect themselves from animals. Then who will prepare food for them? So various classes of people formed naturally, based on their job. That is what we call today as caste system.Such a classification was necessary for society. Whichever the caste you are in, one job is assigned to you. Yes, job is what we can call as skeleton of caste system. Consider the class ‘Brahmins’– There are various castes and sub castes in it and it varies from place to place across India. But they have only one job assigned to them. To serve god. Like that every caste have a job assigned to them. It was for a balanced economic structure. Consider the farmer class in those days. If everyone were farmers , could they survive in earth? The caste system helped to manage it perfectly. All other classes remained as consumers and the farmer class were producers. The fact is true for all the classes that we see today . Basics of economics - demand and supply . Caste system was a solution in those days. When a child is born for a farmer, he would be learning what his father was doing. There were no engineering or medical colleges in those days to teach them different things. So son of a priest became a priest and son of farmer became farmer. Over thousands of years they became different castes and thus caste system evolved.If caste system was not there society wouldn’t have developed.Most importantly, it had solved one important problem that our world is facing today- Unemployment. A job was guarranteed for every child born in this world.
Now comes another question why there is no caste system in other religions , but why it is in Hinduism? Answer is simple. Hinduism is not a religion. It is a civilization. Caste system exists in all civilizations. Check the history of Roman civilization or Greek civilization.Caste System or ‘Pyramidal structure’ of society was the base of those civilizations. Whatever religions formed on various places actually overcame the civilization, but it couldn’t break the caste structure. Farmers in Greece accepted Christian religion , but they remained as farmers. In other words caste system exists even now in all parts of world, though no particular name was given to it. (If anyone doesn’t know the difference between religion and civilization , please inform me, I will put it as a different post) .
Now I guess everyone knows what was caste system and how it formed. It was needed in those days. But one thing was sure that when it was formed it was merely based on job and there were no upper or lower classes in those days. What is your profession? That defined your caste. That’s it. But later on someone told like one caste was higher than other. Unfortunately rest of the people agreed it. I think it was at this point humans did the mistake. In other words it was not the formation of caste system, but the later period of caste system was responsible for problems.I would like to edit Vineetha’s comment like those who said one caste is better than other shall be send to Hell and not those who invented it. Every caste was treated with equal status and respect in the beginning.
Now let us come to twenty first century. Today caste system has lost it’s rigidity. Everyone can change their job. So there is no point in calling everyone according to caste. There is no point in saying that I belong to a particular caste today. If someone ask me about my caste , according to my present job my caste is Engineer and Subcaste is Bank P O. Team or Society interest was changed to individual interests.But such a change in society is really going to make a huge problem in future. Wait and see the end of twenty first century.We will have many engineers and doctors. But who will really continue in agriculture and produce food for everyone. An economic imbalance will arise. Please don’t forget that when we are hungry we cannot eat computer . Even a Pizza hut or McDonalds cannot help us. For giving a food first one should produce it. But who is going to produce? Everyone like to be a consumer. Everyone including me is responsible for this change. Now we really have to think whether caste system was a boon or not. While everyone trying to ‘develop’ , no one is worrying about the loss that is happening to us. I think time has come for government to start thinking about protecting people based on ‘jobs’ and not on 'present caste'.
I have one request, please don’t think that I am simply supporting caste system. I believe that everyone should be treated with equal respect. I was just pointing to the other side of caste system.
I had read many articles and stories related to caste system, whether it is good or bad, disadvantages , problems etc. But when I read some of them, I asked myself whether formation of caste system was such a bad thing that happened in our society? Well,I feel that the answer is ‘NO’ . And who found caste system was the next question. Certainly the answer was ‘No one found it. It just formed because it was the need of society at that time. ‘
I request you to think about life of people a few thousand years back(say 10000 BC). Humans were struggling for their existence. They were not worried about GDP growth or inflation. But there were several challenges they had to face.Attack from animals, preparing food, diseases, agriculture etc were some of them. Definitly each person / group of persons had to fix one job for themselves. One cannot imagine everyone becoming warriors to protect themselves from animals. Then who will prepare food for them? So various classes of people formed naturally, based on their job. That is what we call today as caste system.Such a classification was necessary for society. Whichever the caste you are in, one job is assigned to you. Yes, job is what we can call as skeleton of caste system. Consider the class ‘Brahmins’– There are various castes and sub castes in it and it varies from place to place across India. But they have only one job assigned to them. To serve god. Like that every caste have a job assigned to them. It was for a balanced economic structure. Consider the farmer class in those days. If everyone were farmers , could they survive in earth? The caste system helped to manage it perfectly. All other classes remained as consumers and the farmer class were producers. The fact is true for all the classes that we see today . Basics of economics - demand and supply . Caste system was a solution in those days. When a child is born for a farmer, he would be learning what his father was doing. There were no engineering or medical colleges in those days to teach them different things. So son of a priest became a priest and son of farmer became farmer. Over thousands of years they became different castes and thus caste system evolved.If caste system was not there society wouldn’t have developed.Most importantly, it had solved one important problem that our world is facing today- Unemployment. A job was guarranteed for every child born in this world.
Now comes another question why there is no caste system in other religions , but why it is in Hinduism? Answer is simple. Hinduism is not a religion. It is a civilization. Caste system exists in all civilizations. Check the history of Roman civilization or Greek civilization.Caste System or ‘Pyramidal structure’ of society was the base of those civilizations. Whatever religions formed on various places actually overcame the civilization, but it couldn’t break the caste structure. Farmers in Greece accepted Christian religion , but they remained as farmers. In other words caste system exists even now in all parts of world, though no particular name was given to it. (If anyone doesn’t know the difference between religion and civilization , please inform me, I will put it as a different post) .
Now I guess everyone knows what was caste system and how it formed. It was needed in those days. But one thing was sure that when it was formed it was merely based on job and there were no upper or lower classes in those days. What is your profession? That defined your caste. That’s it. But later on someone told like one caste was higher than other. Unfortunately rest of the people agreed it. I think it was at this point humans did the mistake. In other words it was not the formation of caste system, but the later period of caste system was responsible for problems.I would like to edit Vineetha’s comment like those who said one caste is better than other shall be send to Hell and not those who invented it. Every caste was treated with equal status and respect in the beginning.
Now let us come to twenty first century. Today caste system has lost it’s rigidity. Everyone can change their job. So there is no point in calling everyone according to caste. There is no point in saying that I belong to a particular caste today. If someone ask me about my caste , according to my present job my caste is Engineer and Subcaste is Bank P O. Team or Society interest was changed to individual interests.But such a change in society is really going to make a huge problem in future. Wait and see the end of twenty first century.We will have many engineers and doctors. But who will really continue in agriculture and produce food for everyone. An economic imbalance will arise. Please don’t forget that when we are hungry we cannot eat computer . Even a Pizza hut or McDonalds cannot help us. For giving a food first one should produce it. But who is going to produce? Everyone like to be a consumer. Everyone including me is responsible for this change. Now we really have to think whether caste system was a boon or not. While everyone trying to ‘develop’ , no one is worrying about the loss that is happening to us. I think time has come for government to start thinking about protecting people based on ‘jobs’ and not on 'present caste'.
I have one request, please don’t think that I am simply supporting caste system. I believe that everyone should be treated with equal respect. I was just pointing to the other side of caste system.
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