Rewind to the frontiers

The theory 'rewind to the frontiers' would be better understood by analyzing these three unconnected events/issues below

1. Organic Farming - If you are familiar with agricultural practices today you will see agriculture today is mainly dependent on irrigation, hybrid seeds, pesticides all of which make agriculture capital intensive. Let's go back in time and see how agriculture was being done in the olden days . There were no hybrid seeds ; there were no pesticides and there was no irrigation. The agriculture depended on rain water, natural manure and natural seeds. Now coming back to the present agriculture practices and the way they effect farmers . As agriculture has become capital intensive farmers have to take debts to do farming, and if the crop fails they end up in huge debts and finally may end up killing themselves . What has all these years of non organic farming resulted in :

The yield of crops has increased but with a higher initial investment. We end up digging deeper to get the same level of ground water . Pesticides end up (in micro levels) in the food we eat. So research is going on now on organic farming, the age old way of agriculture, to see if it gives the same yield as the present day farming and it has been found to be as good as the present way of agriculture.

2. Lan in IIT's - All IIT's have Lan(Internet) facility available to them in the hostels and in the departments .IIT Madras had it only in the departments until november 2004 . The facility was extended to the hostels after that. Most IIT's had this LAN facility in hostels long before. Now going back to 2004 when I was in the first year the number of people using internet in the departments was not many. If internet was so important then the department computers would be outnumbered by the students waiting to use them but it rarely happened because only a few were using the facility. Now comes our LAN facility extended to the hostels. Then the problem starts. The authorities feel the student interaction has come down ; they are not attending classes and not sleeping in the nights. The LAN is the culprit .. play games , watch movies and chat .. everything Now starts the reverse process. Use technology to block chatting, switch of the LAN during the nights and put a limit on the download. Now you are using more technology to fight the misuse of current technology or the ills caused by the current one. Like we have seen earlier .. use more pesticides to fight the pests and use more/better fertilizers to increase the fertility of the land which was reduced by the fertilizers used earlier.

I came across one blog which was written back in 2001 and it was about an inter IIT event where IIT Madras students excelled. The blogger discussed about the culture in IIT Madras. The usual evening chats in the hostels and enthusiastic participation in games and cultural activities. The reason the blogger attributed the excellent performance of IITM contingent and the bad performance of other teams was this LAN. And how .. the LAN ate into the active interaction which is very much needed for overall development of an individual. You can't do away with LAN as you can't do away with pesticides or may be you can.You had an alternative in the form of organic farming in the earlier case and here you have a similar alternative: take back LAN from the hostels.
Now you must have understood the theory of 'Rewind to the frontiers' to some extent - apply it to the next situation.

3. Virginia tech :You must be knowing about this incident of a student killing around 32 of his classmates and a professor at the university of virginia before killing himself.Though this is not for the first time that such an incident has happened in the US this one has acquired importance because of the number of people who got killed. Now some Joe who studies in the school thinks that he is insecure and he needs a gun to protect himself, so he approaches the local authority for a license to hold a gun and he is given one. Tom, Dick and Harry follow Joe and end up with licenses to hold guns. Now that everyone has guns,
looks as if everyone is secure , right. What has this granting of licenses resulted in ; more guns less security ; exactly the opposite effect of why licenses had been given. Now apply our theory of 'rewind to the frontiers' - What is our aim - To end the killings in the schools.

Reverse the process - take away all the licenses to hold guns, easier said than done, to put an end to the killings in schools and killings in general. What would the situation be in a school without guns .Some Joe is being teased daily by our very own Tom , Dick and Harry . So he decides to settle the scores with the three. He has no gun to kill them as it used to be earlier .So he learns some fighting skills and thrashes the three. Then the counseling unit of the school comes in and settles the issue. Like ' fight and make up ' rather than ' kill and then there would be nothing left to make up'

That was the 'rewind to the frontiers' ,hope you appreciated that one . Apply it before taking a step forward. That was open ended and I feel blogs should be open ended for the readers to fill in the gaps themselves. . That was my first blog.... thanks for reading it.

Fun .. on

Leopard vs. Poodle

A wealthy old lady decides to go on a photo safari in
Africa, taking her poodle(a breed of dog) along for company.

One day the poodle starts chasing butterflies and
before long, discovers that he's lost. Wandering
about, he notices a hungry-looking leopard heading
rapidly in his direction.

The poodle thinks, "Oh, oh!" Noticing some bones on
the ground close by, he immediately settles down to
chew on the bones with his back to the approaching
cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the poodle
exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard!
I wonder if there are any more around here?"

Hearing this, the leopard halts his attack in
mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he
slinks away into the trees. "Whew!", says the leopard,
"That was close! That poodle nearly had me!"

Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole
scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this
knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from
the leopard. So off he goes, but the poodle sees him
heading after the leopard with great speed, and
figures that something must be up. The monkey soon
catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and
strikes a deal for himself with the leopard.

The leopard is furious at being made a fool of and
says, "Here, monkey, hop on my back so you can watch
me chew that poodle to bits!"

Now, the poodle sees the leopard coming with the
monkey on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do
now?", but instead of running, the dog sits down with
his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen
them yet, and waits until they get just close enough
to hear.

"Where's that damn monkey?" the poodle says, "I sent
him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!"

fun starts - never take risk

Read carefully & slowly to enjoy it!)


Peg After Peg

I never take risk while drinking

When I come from office in the evening, wife is cooking
I can hear the noise of utensils in the kitchen
I stealthily enter the house
Take out the bottle from my black cupboard
Shivaji Maharaj is looking at me from the photo frame
But still no one is aware of it
Becoz I never take a risk

I take out the glass from the rack above the old sink
Quickly enjoy one peg
Wash the glass and again keep it on the rack
Of course I also keep the bottle inside my cupboard
Shivaji Maharaj is giving a smile

I peep into the kitchen
Wife is cutting potatoes
No one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: Any news on chopra's daughter's marriage
Wife: Nope, she doesn't seem to be that lucky. Still
they are looking out for her

I again come out; there is a small noise of the black cupboard
But I don't make any sound while taking out the bottle
I take out the glass from the old rack above sink
Quickly enjoy one peg

Wash the bottle and keep it in the sink
Also keep the Black Glass in the cupboard
But still no one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: But still I think chopra's daughter's age is not that much
Wife: What are you saying? She is 28 yrs old... like
an aged horse
I: (I forgot her age is 28) Oh Oh...

I again take out potatoes out from my black cupboard
But the cupboard's place has automatically changed
I take out the bottle from the rack and quickly enjoy
one peg in the sink

Shivaji Maharaj laughs loudly
I keep the rack in the potatoes & wash Shivaji
Maharaj's photo & keep
it in the black cupboard

Wife is keeping the sink on the stove
But still no one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: (getting angry) you call Mr. chopra a horse? If you
say that again, I
will cut your tongue...!
Wife: Don't just blabber something, go out and sit quietly...

I take out the bottle from the potatoes
Go in the black cupboard and enjoy a peg
Wash the sink and keep it over the rack
Wife is giving a smile

Shivaji Maharaj is still cooking
But still no one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: (laughing) So chopra is marrying a horse!!
Wife: Hey go and sprinkle some water on your face...

I again go to the kitchen, and quietly sit on the rack
Stove is also on the rack
There is a small noise of bottles from the room outside

I peep and see that wife is enjoying a peg in the sink
But none of the horses are aware of what I did
Becoz Shivaji Maharaj never takes a risk

chopra is still cooking
And I am looking at my wife from the photo and
laughing
Becoz I never take what???