Dilemma...made simpler

The "English" language is vast in know...yet today I seem to be at a complete loss of words....I have been providing technical support to a programme called "Pardarshita" which works for the economically weaker sections of the society. But working for it sometimes makes me wonder "am I prepared to witness the ground realities of our systems...and as a result...try to change them...or do I accept them the way they are...assuming that what difference can only a handful of us make"

Today i visited the Nehru camp...a slum area in east delhi...several parents came and surrounded me there...throwing questions about their child's admission...The govt norms allow for a 10% quota (announced in 2005) in close to 397 public schools around delhi to provide education to the children of this part of the society.

Is it enough to merely lay such a "quota" on paper....or is it also essential to justify this provision??....while a lot of parents did manage to get their kids admitted in the initial years of the announcement...the situation seems to have become out of control now...to the extent that the parents are given application forms and charged a whopping Rs 1,000 per form...yet told at that very instance that their child will not be admitted!!! i mean how worse can it get from here!!!...the 10% reservation goes in satiating the needs of the kids of staff members...or of rich class...who perhaps are ready to flush in some extra bucks...

Look at the irony...parents are willing to save money...starve themselves....make all the compromises...for that one hope...but their enthusiasm is crushed by such intricate circumstances...I really do not know how are we going to handle this....but our team is certainly fighting for it...the only consolation being...that if there were no such promises, these would be mere content people and if promises existed but no consequent breaches, then today i wouldn’t have been a part of making a difference!!!

awesum 3sum :)

Last week just seems to have flown...and it brought smiles on my face on three occasions :) :) :)...with all three giving me equal levels of satifaction...

First the word that i had longed to be with me...finally...got attached to me...the word "senior"...as i got promoted to the post of "senior research analyst"...today i feel "big"...if u luk at it...its just a seven letter word...but for me it means much more...there is so much of added responsibility that it brings with it...that my company feels i m worth taking on my shoulders...i hope i m able to live upto it :)

Second relates to my ethical values....i went to archies gallery the other day to buy some stuff....there were precisely "three" things that i bought...the number "three" seems to have been all around me in the past week....anyways....so i bought a packet of envelopes, a paper bag and a pair of earings...when it was time for me to pay the bill....i noticed that the shopkeeper did not include the pack of envelopes in the bill...now right from my school days i had always had a "grudge" against archies gallery as i thought that every product the shop sold was way tooooo overpriced...and in school days it was especially true when atleast i was expected to survive an entire month with a pocket money of Rs 500...i dunno why for a moment i thought that this was my turn to take revenge...and i ended up moving out of the shop paying for only two things....but the "little monster" in me didn't seem to last for long...till the time i reached home there was not even a single minute that i did not feel edgy...before even parking my car....i decided to go back...got stuck in a traffic jam for half an hour...which probably is the price i paid :( as i hate traffic jams :(...yet i managed to reach the store on time :)...i can never forget the smile on the shopkeeper's face :)...gosh!! the only thought coming to my mind that time...errrr..."sir i am not quite what i look"...but i obviously kept quiet and moved out politely!!

The third...was today...for my dearest mom...on the ocassion of Mothers Day...just a small surprise from me and my sister at her favourite restaurant "sagar ratna"...she hardly gets to go there...courtesy my dad...who is a hard core non-vegetarian while mom is strictly vegetarian...so mom's dinner proposals to sagar ratna are usually knocked down in front of dad's non veg extravaganza :)...i hope he doesn't get to read this :-p...so today was actually her day as she got to eat at her favourite place after a looonggg time...nothing lavish...just plain and simple...but as she rightly says "its only and only the thought that counts" :)

So all in all a great week :)

A win-win situation

Have u ever heard of a situation where both the players win in a game of badminton??? must be sounding strange...I have one in store for u!!!...i recently started playing badminton with my uncle in the evenings...and i have absolutely no shame in accepting here that i am a very "average" category player...while he is a "champion" at the game....in the process of learning the game from him...i happened to give him a proposition that the day i defeat him....I shall treat him to a chilled mug of beer...least did i know that time that the day wud come so soon :D....he was only more than happy to be defeated by his niece yesterday :) or who knows he lost the game purposely :)...moral of the story....both of us ended up being winners :)