Three things are very bothersome to me as the management-gate scandal unfolds ---

 

1. The MSM is completely ignoring this issue. Oh come on, if you don't think this is news, go look at technorati. I didn't expect this of at least Indian Express. They jump at every opportunity to 'break the news'. I still remember the time after my 12th grade Physics exam when IE reported that the exam was going to be conducted all over again because it was considered 'too difficult' and some kind of stupid debate in one of the legislative houses (I forget which, I suppose they are both equally stupid to have even bothered). Of course, the news turned out to be patently false.. But I digress -- the MSM has completely ignored this burning issue. Wonder if they still think they are going to get big ad bucks from IIPM next month. Maybe IIPM will take out a 'legal notice' (link, link) style ad next time to warn the whole country that anyone spurning IIPM by wating to enroll in Engineering or an arts major is consequently defaming IIPM, so they owe them bazillion Rupees!

 

2. We have very few champions for the freedom of speech and expression. Yeah, we have the blogosphere now, but other influential forces aren't pitching in. At least, they definitely haven't yet! I've been noticing too many instances of suppression of free speech going on in India. I wrote about one here. And there have been some other recent news about a film actress getting into trouble for airing her views on pre-marital sex, and now a bunch of bloggers being served legal threats because they wrote something that a few goons don't agree with? Sigh!

 

3. The Educational infrastructure in India is so rotten from within that IIPM could even exist and flourish. On reflection, this is definitely not surprising. The state itself does very little in terms of quality control. It prefers to instead play around with girls dresses! My experience comes primarily from Tamil Nadu, but I bet it is the same everywhere. First, Engineering colleges were under the umbrella of the University of Madras, but could do whatever they wanted to do as long as they taught the same curriculum. There were no ratings, the individual colleges could hire idiots to teach and charge a fortune, and while the system sucked, there was at least hope for a better future. Then two years ago, a whole bunch of Engineering colleges were allowed to go "autonomous" and declared as "deemed universities", which meant they could dole out their own worthless degrees. Who the hell cares for a degree from 'Sathyabama Educational Trust' ?? And who guarantees that there are even some minimum standards followed at these colleges? Well, UGC is supposed to supervise, but we all know how that works, don't we?

 

It's a pity that several honest and guillible students of IIPM from past and present have gotten royally screwed along with IIPM itself - because their degrees are now worse than worthless - in my books and many others', it is a downright liability! But I'm glad nobody has so far shied away from calling IIPM's bluff to protect the innocent yada yada...

 

And Oh BTW, Wikipedia has an entry on IIPM. What infamy to have earned overnight! They've just found themselves a permanent place as a part of the wealth that is human knowledge by doing the simplest thing anyone can do -- by being stupid!   

 

 

This is a classic ID-10T error scenario. Except, it is gone way out of hands. Who the hell writes a book called "Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch"? Huh!

 

Rashmi Bansal wrote an article in the JAM magazine exposing IIPM's credibility, err I mean, the lack thereof. Gaurav Sabnis linked to it, and got hassled to no end. Then IBM/Lenovo got threatened (Gaurav is (was) an IBM employee) the classic Desi style with the "take the blog down or we will burn Lenovo laptops" theat, so Gaurav decided to keep his blog put but resign from IBM because he loves his employer and doesn't want IBM to take any flak!

 

Why did IBM take the copout route and happily go along with Gaurav's resignation plan? They are a big company and can handle a small PR fiasco pretty easily. At least, I think they should start backing up Gaurav now and get him to work for IBM again - and do that quickly.It is clear to everyone that Gaurav is right and IIPM is just being a goon from around the block. It's a pity IBM doesn't have the will to do the right thing! It's not too surprising though. I guess almost any other employer in IBM's position would have wanted to wish away the whole thing.

 

There is also this whole free speech angle to it which is quite disturbing. Why can't people speak their mind and be left alone for that? It's good to see the blogosphere putting up a worthy fight. It would be fun to watch how the bad guys fare this time around.

 

Another disturbing thing I noticed is all the vile and nasty comments showing up on Rashmi's blog, several  of them threatening her personal safety. Hopefully, the cops around her area are really earning their living by doing a honest day's job and not just munching peanuts off their conveniently large belly!

 

 

"Caught in a quasi-ideological web of its own making, the Anna University is now finding itself increasingly isolated on an issue which, had it been handled more sensitively, could well have earned it cheers instead of the increasingly-vociferous jeers. "

 

I have no fucking idea what the author means by "could well have earned it cheers". Is she stupid naive? She is actually implying that there was even an iota of good sense in this move by the AU VC and the mistake was really only in the "handling"!! I know we are on the same side, so I'll stop criticizing the article here

 

Regression --

 

For a nation that produced one of the earliest woman Prime Ministers who was not a dummy, this trend is a scary regression. The old-man VC is arguing that scantily dressed women are a distraction, and their dress sense doesn't befit our culture. In response....

 

Distraction --

 

He is making several assumptions, which are all wrong, proving his colossal ineptitude!

 

Ass 1. Distractions are bad things.
Ass 2. Scantily dressed women are a distraction (Ha!)
Ass 3. He thinks that he understands the definition of 'scantily'.

 

So what if there are distractions? Drugs, TV, Cinemas, Cafeteria, Email, Pornography, Internet, Alcohol, Cigarettes, any member of the opposite sex -- they are all distractions. There are more,too. Growing up being a full fledged member of the l33t league of nerds and geeks, I can vouch for it that a library full of fiction and computer magazines can be a libido arousing attraction! So who cares if one more is added to this list? Girls exist, and they can be distracting. That's life, and that is how "it is supposed to be".If the sexual tension between guys and gals vanishes away into a bland nothing, it would be a really disastrous and a really bad thing to have happened! We would have on our hands, say in a generation or two, a sterile society sans loving couples and families. This distraction he is talkign about is innate in this species. It is not cultural, and there is no reason for it to change!

 

And regarding the specific point that scantiliy clad women are distraction -- Of course, they can be distracting. But they don't have to be! The VC doesn't realize this, because he has never been on a campus where scantily clad women were all around him, that they don't have to be distracting at all! It's just a trick of mind actually. Learn to look at girls as girls and not fuckable realdolls, and you'd have learned to be a bit less distracted by their attire. Frankly, I thought the girls in a Garba event I attended yesterday

night were much more distracting that the ones wearing skin hugging g-string-revealing teeny-weeny skirts during my university days!

 

And oh by the way, if I can see her thongs, she is (maybe) 'scantily' clad. Armpits don't count! If you don't agree, you are already a misfit in this world. So please start researching your suicide options quickly. I hope you know how to use a mouse and Google. Leave a comment if you need tips on seach keywords.

The Culture Theory --

Many successful cultures have always demonstrated a knack for integration, assimilation and growth. The several sub cultures in the Indian continent seemed to have been very good at this. It is such a surprise that all of the cultures in the subcontinent resemble each other in several ways, and have all learned new customs from each other as well as from outside influences. So what's India's de facto national language? Of course, English. What are we arguing about? Dresses that were originally western. Is there a chance in hell this stupid VC will let guys wear 'traditional' clothes to college? I'd have loved to wear a 'veshti' and go to classes topless with just a 'thundu' on my shoulder. The VC, I'm sure, would have freaked and taught me a lesson in 'professinalism' and suggested that I buy myself dress shirts and some nice shiny shoes. Bigot? I might be going soft here! What next, a ban on nose rings because it is not originally 'Hindu' and 'Indian'? And oh, he may even want to know if they shave their legs and what not, and insist on making them use 'traditional' means like a turmeric shower every day. The fact is that we are assimilating a new culture here, and growing our own too into an as-yet-unknown new form. And you can't just dictate what can and can not be taken in and integrated into our lives. Different people like to learn and adopt different ideas and practices, and the argument for 'preserving the status quo' is only put forth by scared nincompoops who have a vested interest in the status quo, or are only too keenly aware of their own ineptitude in dealing with changes and want to keep the world from changing for their own stupid comfort. Societies and cultures change and grow - you can't mess with that fact.

The Freedom of Expression angle --

 

India does not have a constitutionally guaranteed freedom for expression enshrined as a fundamental right. So I won't argue this angle. This makes me sick, and I do wish we had this as a fundamental and inalieanable right.

 

And oh don't argue with me when I say we don't have this right. Judge for yourself.

 

Article 19(2) of the constitution: "Nothing in sub-clause (a) of clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the State from making any law, in so far as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence."

 

Sub-clause (a) of clause (1) is "freedom of speech and expression". 19(2) takes away what 19(1)(a) gives. It makes it possible to make any number of laws infringing on the right to freedom of expression, and guarantees that those laws will trump the fundamental(??!!) right to the freedom of expression. Also, it makes it clear that the AU VC is just fine in imposing these stupid rules in the name of 'morality and decency'. The bottom line is that this dress code fiasco could well be quite legal and enforcible!