April 15, 2005

In Top 8...

My statistics tracking website for this page, YTrack rates this blog as the 8th best site in its internet ranking category.

Wondering how they rate the sites, because this page has got only 10 hits as per YTrack! I have also received a mail from YTrack, asking me to pay for their services. Since I am not that rich and since the same services are available free elsewhere, I will have to stop using Ytrack. Thanks YTrack and Goodbye!!

April 14, 2005

Disclaimer


I was doubtful about the need of a disclaimer on this page. But, not after reading this news about an employee of Google being sacked for writing about his job and the company in his personal blog!

Mark Jen, formerly employed with Microsoft, was terminated after 11 days of employment with Google, reason being his blog named Ninetyninezeros. There are other people too who were terminated from employment because of their blogs. And the idea of blog censorship is gaining support in United States.

True! All this is happening in United States. But being employed in the Indian subsidiary of a software company which has strong ethics and policies related to the use of web, and to be on the safer side, I have decided to add a Disclaimer on this blog.

April 13, 2005

VidyaBHAsam!!


Students of India are having a tough time!

  • The Class 10th SSLC examinations of Kerala State have been rescheduled due to a question paper leak. The first incident of its kind in the history of this examination conducted by State Education Board of Kerala. The new dates announced are almost one month after the original dates for the exam. Students and parents are worried that the long gap in the dates will reduce their interest to study and are apprehensive about another leak.
  • Counseling centers have been opened in Andhra Pradesh, to help students who are under stress due to exams, i.e. clinics to shun examphobia!! There are also reports of students committing suicide over exam results. I have seen this type incidents happening in Kerala also.

Indian system of education which stresses too much on exams need a change. And it is the school education system that needs a big makeover. Current system, adopted from British system of education which creates degree holders, was more suitable when we had a job market which consisted mostly of government jobs and which valued the job seekers based on their degrees, irrespective of their skills to do the particular job.

Now with India becoming a job surplus market and most jobs being concentrated on sectors like IT and ITES, Biotech, BPO etc, its time we concentrate more on creating skills for these sectors. At the same time we need to reduce the stress on students by changing the examination system. I believe Kerala Government is doing something towards this, with implementation of new education approaches like DPEP and changing exam patterns with more questions to assess the child's creativity and analytical skills rather than the ability to "reproduce" the text. It may be true that there are some flaws in the initial stages, but this should be tolerated to create a refined and better system of education for future.

My education up to graduate level was done in the old system itself. I have always been in the first five positions of my class and have tried hard for this with my target always being the exams. But now, after getting employed in software industry, I find that I have been made to study loads of junk data to pass these exams. Also, I have always felt that it is important to get high marks in exams and considered this as the ultimate parameter to get a job. My government employed parents have always stressed this!

But this is not always true! At least in the present India where every graduate gets a job. One of the main struggles is to get the best ranks in professional entrance examinations so that you get admission in one of the best colleges (with the assumption that this colleges would fetch you the best jobs through campus placements). But now, every decent college in the state has a long queue of employers for campus placements, and students are "booked" one or two years prior to their completion of course! I have also seen people who have struggled a lot during their graduation, with so many "Supplis" getting better jobs than mine. So at the end of all this, it is not always the marks in your examination, but your luck that matters more! I do not mean to say that students need not study, but that they need not strain themselves much.

In this aspect, our graduation courses also need a change. We need to have more elective subjects based on new technology areas and more practicals in these courses rather than routine subjects which are boring for students as well as teacher community and just make another subject to score in exams. There is also a need to update the syllabus to include recent technology related content in these courses. I believe institutions like IITs and NITs have a course structure like this, but this need to be implemented countrywide.

It is high time that Indians become more realistic about their education system! We have to improvise this system to reduce the unnecessary stress that the students and parents go through when they hear the word "Exam"!!

April 10, 2005

Yagoohoo!gle


When Yahoo! and Google are competing each other, somebody has come up with an integration of their search services. This site, named Yagoohoo!gle is gaining popularity as per the owner's blog.

Meanwhile, Google has come up with a new product! Google says, it is a drink "designed to maximize your surfing efficiency by making you more intelligent, and less thirsty" and has named it Google Gulp. From searching to blogging to e-mailing to fooding!! What's next?

Yahoo! has launched the beta version of their new product called Yahoo! 360°. Just like a Gmail account, invitations are required to get an account. I got hold of one and had big expectations while logging in! But this one seems like a Yahoo! integration of Orkut and Blogger, both owned by Google.

April 03, 2005

The God of Small Things


I completed the Booker prize winning novel "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy. Finally, the second attempt became successful!

It is a very simple story told very cleverly with a great climax. No, I am not that stupid to review the book in this blog. Or is it, I am not that wise? Anyways, the best review about the book which I liked is the one which says that "the book finds a language for itself".

"Die-able viable age" and "Orangedrink Lemondrink Man" are not forgettable!! Then there are those repeated words: repeatedly repeated repeats for Roy! Nothing more to describe, you must read it!