Entries from April 2006 ↓

Wow! I really can’t explain this phenomenon.

Check this out:

How the hell is that possible?

The HRD ministry of India proposes 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in IITs and IIMs. Read more about this here.

I gonna tell why this is a big deal atleast for IIMs.

Even now, IIMs DON’T reserve 25.5% of the seats
First of all IIMs/IITs won’t reserve the full 25.5% of the seats. Note that they won’t fill the remaining seats for general category students. They’ll leave the seat vacant but they are not supposed to fill in the seats for general category students. They might choose to fill in the seats in other reserved category though like what NITIE did this year. They filled ST/PH seats to SC students. It’s not “fair” for ST/PH students, but they dint leave the seat vacant or filled in a general category students.

I am very very sure that IIMs as of now fill only 15% of the 25.5% reserved seats. There are more seats in IIMs than the number of students who are called for GD-PI for ST/PH students!

This OBC reservation thing is hyped.
Consider:

• IITs and IIMs won’t fill the seats unless students come with good %tiles/ranks. I can prove this:

a. See the reservations at NITIE this year. Not even 15% was reserved, when they ought to reserve 25.5%.

b. IITs dint release separate rankings in SC/ST/PH category for JMET this year. SC/ST/PH students need to get ranks within 5k to apply to the IIT SOMs.

c. Do you know that they are more number of seats in IIMs for SC/ST/PH students than the number of students who got called for GD-PI?? You guys think IIMs will fill all the seats?

d. Raja (politburo member CPI(m)) wrote an article in The Hindu this year, abt the “Games that IITs play”. He said that their party received many complaints that SC/ST students are given a “raw deal” at the IITs (UG level). He further questioned the success of this quota formula in private sectors, when a Govt. run instis like IITs/IIMs don’t fill in the seats that are reserved for “socially backward” section of ppl.

e. Also go thro the SC/ST reservation thread here, you can see many ppl posting that seats are not fully filled in IIMs and IITs.

• Allmost everyone with the exception of Brahmins can get a OBC certificates.
• IIMs are gonna increase the intake next year (they have already done that this year itself).
• Now the number of seats available for general seats will remain the same. Moreover some of the general students may be a OBC candidate also.
• I dunno if there is a concept of “Creamy - Non Creamy Layer” thing in this. If they decide to reserve seats for OBC in Non Creamy Layer, then %ile is gonna go down.
• Already Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra government funded colleges have 52.5% reservations. This proposal was nothing new.
• The %ile is gonna be very high in the OBC category. I am sure that it won’t be as less in the case of SC/ST/PH. For eg: The cut off (for getting calls from Anna University MBA course) was 32 in case of OBC and 34 in the case of general category.
• PSUs like IOC, SBI, ONGC, SAIL,etc.. have 52.5% reservations and still doing well.

A case study:
Let us take the example of FMS, DU.
For the mere 90 seats, they reserve:
15% for SC
7.5% for ST
3% for PH
3% for Defence
27% for OBC
In addition to this, this year they “reserved” 50% of the general category seats for gals!
That leaves only 22.5% seats for guys (for the general category).

It’s going to be very very hard to get GD-PI call from FMS (leave alone the final call)!! Already FMS is one of the toughest insti to get into, only one in 500 students get in. Now one in 1000 is gonna get into FMS!! FMS do fill in the seats. They don’t care about the quality unlike IIMs/IITs.

This is only exception where I think getting admission from FMS is going to be very diffficult.

Vote Bank Politics
The voter’s percentages in the recent LS election were around 45% (not sure) and many of the “well off” families din’t vote. Maybe the chunk of the 45% voter might have been SC/ST/OBC people.

The government need to satify them. So:-

• They bring in 52.5% reservations at IITs/IIMs.
• They make a “rule” to reserve 52.5% of seats in Private Institutions as well.
• Already private engg colleges (in TN) have 52.5% reservations from this year.
• 52.5% reservations in Private Sector Jobs

In the end, the Congress govt. will continue after this present term. Now, if “well-off” people also come and vote, then…..

Even the EC asked the congress to explain why they announced this when they are planning to implement this 52.5% from the next academic year. It was clearly a political move. Almost all the party supported this hike..from BJP to PMK to CPI.

Final Word
I am pointing out again that IIMs/IITs will increase the seats so that that the number of seats for general category students will remain the same. Even the President APJ Abdul Kalam said that increase the intake so that the reservation becomes meaningless. Even the IITs/IIMs din’t “protest” against this proposal as they did when Murali Manohar Joshi wanted to bring down the fees at the IIMs. In the end, it boils down to your attitude. If you have determination to get into IITs/IIMs, then you can make it big.

Brokeback Mountain - Review

“A gay western”, “Heath and Jake’s hot scenes”, “Heath and Jake’s passionate kiss”, “You’re gonna watch a gay movie?” were the preconception every imaginable soul had, it all evaporated as the movie started.To be honest, I must admit that I myself thought the same way.

The entire Movie revolves around Brokeback Mountain.. it starts and end there.

Acting was very god in this movie. Jake Gyllenhaal (Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role) was wonderful. In addition to the Oscar nominee, he bagged the BAFTA as well. He was able to emote very well from comedy to sentiment to romance… his looks were also kept changing. Michelle Williams (Alma Del Mar) gave another powerful performance. (Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role). Anne Hathaway (Lureen) is hot. Man.. she looks stunning in her different looks all through the movie.. my heart is still burning for her!

A heart warming love story
I have a lot of Romance movies. The thing is that I am little bored on watching the usual mushy romance scenes and stuffs. Brokeback came as a surprise. It had hit me hard that I can stand up on my feet soon.

Ennis was so shy and played his to perfection. He hardly talks. When Jack asks something to him. He answered in two sentence and that made Jack look in awe. He exclaims: Man he has spoke more than what he spoke in his entire life! Ennis has a soft voice which adds to the charm.

It’s a simple love story told in a subtle yet powerful way. I have seen many movies (notably Shawshank Redemption and American Beauty) which are heavy on emotions. Fine details make a big impact here. I love to watch the movie all over again.

It warms our hearts just to see that they loved each other so much, while it breaks our hearts to know that they will never have that again. Ang Lee deserved the Oscar just to make us all feel in the same line as the cowboys.

You can actually smell what Ennis and Jake were cooking in the mountains!
The Cinematography was brilliant. It won the Oscar nomination for the Best Achievement in Cinematography (but lost out to Memoirs of a Geisha). I actually like holidaying in mountains, put up tents, go fishing and river rafting, etc.. the movie literally transported me the place!

The camera work was extraordinary. You are made the camera. You actually see as it happens. Amazing stuff. The clouds, rivers, the horse ride backs, the mountain snow.. it was amazing. How much times have you felt cold when the actors feel cold in the movie?

Final word
Brokeback Mountain is a powerful drama which was absorbing as we get transported to the Brokeback Mountains. It’s not a gay movie (I mean not as you think), you’ll like it if you love drama and romance genre movies. It ain’t a western genre which are not my kinda movies. It was *The Best* movie that I watched in 2005. It deserved every award that was bestowed. I won’t forget this movie for a long time.

Brokeback Mountain is a remarkable, absorbing, moving and powerful love story (I can keep on adding superlatives and adjectives but one needs to watch the movie to understand). This is a classic masterpiece. Don’t miss it.

10/10
IMDb page

[last lines]
Ennis Del Mar: Jack, I swear…

Doordarshan (DD) has clinched deal with ESPN - Star Sports and now matches will be shown live on DD.

This is great news for Soccer fans like me who don’t have access to Pay Channels (due to CAS in Chennai). I thought we would miss the action this time around also. We missed out Euro 2004 due to this CAS BS.

There might be two matches going on simultaneously, so we can watch only one match live. DD and Hindi commentary go together, which sucks. But something is better than nothing.

Hope England wins the World Cup 2006!

The team for remaining four ODIs for the ongoing TVS cup between India and England is announced.

Robin Uthappa replaces Gautham Gambir. Rest of the squad remains the same.

Please drop Mohammad Kaif and Verender Sehwag
Well, it’s not easy to decode More and Chappell’s “Scheme of things”. Why is the 33 years+ crickets are overlooked? Well, the World Cup is just a year ahead and not 3 years, Mr. More and Chappell. Anil Kumble, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman are not 37 years old grandfathers.

Kaif is the new Hat trick star. Yippee!
If you take the selection on merit and performances, then how the hell does Sehwag and Kaif come in the picture? Man, Three ducks in a row! His scores in the past five innings are 0,0,4,0,0. (Thanks Riyaz for pointing out the error). We have a new Hat trick star. Yippee! Yet why is Kaif not “talked” about? I have always thought that Kaif is not a very good batsmen and with a otherwise good Indian batting lineup (at least on paper), he should be dropped. More, see his average and his average this year sucks. I have hardly seen him score beyond a dozen of runs (leave alone a “good” innings). Coming to his fielding. Agreed that he is a better fielder than Anil Kumble, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman but he fields in odd positions these days like slips, line leg, deep mid wicket and even short leg when a spinner is in operation rather than his cover/extra cover usual positions. I guess you don’t need specialized fielders for boundary positions.

Sehwag: Take some dance classes
Sehwag should understand that legs can be used for foot movement while playing his shots and not only running between the wicket. Man, how much time has he been dismissed by playing a casual shot? Now, in the 2nd Test match against England and the recent ODI innings have something to say. He is not playing aggressively as he used to play. He is “afraid” that he might loose his place in the side, now that people have started to question about his performance. Sehwag should be dropped for a series or two, in the meanwhile he should play for Delhi and regain his confidence back.

Even Dravid wanted Laxman and Anil back in the squad but sadly they don’t fit into Chappell and More’s “scheme of things”. They want to “look ahead” and play youngsters. We should have the veterans back and play them until they can perform and contribute to the team. Anyway Anil, Laxman or Ganguly can bat better than Kaif.