Re: [silk] Wanted: Exceptional parents
At 2008-04-06 01:40:29 +0200, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: so she finally got into SPV, my alma mater (well, before i dropped out at 12). hindi medium, cultural, gujarati, enough clues Another clue: going to Khan Market after the interview. -- ams, who was also at SPV.
Re: [silk] romance and reading
--- Udhay Shankar N [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Heh. Deja Vu all over again [1]. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/silk-list/message/5134 Wow, nostalgic! What's next, a re-run of the inside jokes thread? http://groups.yahoo.com/group/silk-list/message/5150 It's interesting, in the six years since that post, there have been several changes in my 'frequently re-read' list. One isn't necessarily conscious of the phenomenon. I hadn't realized, for example, how much non-fiction has come to dominate my real and mental shelfspace. The other interesting thing to me is that the list of 'favourites' is not identical to the list of 're-reads'. There is a significant overlap, but there are two distinct lists. I love Vikram Seth, but hardly ever re-read his books. Ditto for Umberto Eco. The John Donne, too: while it's still the most loved of my poetry shelf, I've read Shakespeare and Martial far more often since 2002. J.T.Edson has practically disappeared from my bookshelf, while Louis L'Amour remains; Robert Ludlum has vanished, while Alistair Maclean continues on, with some competition from Dick Francis. The Cadfael books of Ellis Peters have emerged as surprising leaders in the comfort read category. With some favourite authors, the books re-read have changed, Wodehouse, for example: I've come to favour the Jeeves and Wooster books over everything else, even Emsworth. Aldous Huxley: _Island_ rather than _Brave New World_, Agatha Christie: Marple rather than Poirot. Some books I haven't re-read at all in the last five years: _Catch 22_, _The Golden Bough_, _Slaughterhouse Five_, David Brin's _Uplift_ books, _Sophie's World_. It's odd, with these books in particular, the memory of how much I enjoyed them somehow outweighs the desire to actually read them again. Notable additions to the frequently read list in the last few years: Richard Dawkins: _The Ancestor's Tale_ Jared Diamond: _Guns, Germs and Steel_, _Collapse_ Dan Simmons: _Ilium_ and _Olympos_ Barabara Tuchman: _A Distant Mirror_ Nassim Taleb: _Fooled by Randomness_ Steven Pinker: _How the Mind Works_ Plus, a pile of assorted manga: _Fullmetal Alchemist_, _Bleach_ and _One Piece_, among others. This is possibly some sort of commentary on my juvenile mind - black and white illustrated action-adventure-fantasy, designed to be read from right to left and back to front, created originally for the consumption of Japanese teenagers - that is my favourite escapist reading these days. cheers, Divya
[silk] Outsourcing and health
The health impact of IT outsourcing in India isn't yet widely understood, but for anyone who's been through the mill it's really not news. Cheeni http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/content_mail.php?option=com_contentname=printid=6591 IT hurts Swagata Sen April 4, 2008 Outside the metropolis, Bangalore's information technology (IT) professionals carry an enviable image: fat salaries, perks in plenty, snazzy, hi-tech offices, frequent travel, global exposure, fancy apartments and cars. In short, the great Indian dream. Or is it? Scratch the surface and there are disturbing signs that life in Silicon City is taking a heavy toll. In the first survey of its kind conducted among IT professionals, at least 36 per cent of the respondents can be classified as probable psychiatric cases while 10 per cent report severe mental distress. The survey was conducted in December 2007 by the National Institute for Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) and four other medical outfits. A 30 per cent rate of psychiatric morbidity is high by any standards—the survey notes that the prevalence rate among the general population in the country is as low as 58.2 per 1,000. Welcome to the world of IT employees. You don't really know which country you'll inhabit in a week's time and when they say flexi-time at work, they mean an hour late to office the next day because you thrashed out a deal with a client five hours behind IST the entire night before. And then, there are the impossible deadlines, the constant guilt of unmet demands by spouse and family and the fear of the pink slip. While India's Silicon Valley sees 20-and 30-something lakhpatis driving C-segment cars and paying EMIs that constitute government employees' annual salaries, there is another side to the story. A side where 28 per cent say they are constantly under strain, 22 per cent are unable to enjoy daily activities and a fifth that admit to being edgy and bad-tempered all the time. It is a life that comes at a price, where one among 20 employees is considering the idea of suicide. For a section of the country's population that has to adjust its schedules according to the work timings of the Occident, it comes as little surprise. For Arnab Bagchi, a BPO worker in Hyderabad, a 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. timing is very natural. Of course, I lose out on the evenings, but I was always a late riser, he says. Others are not that forgiving. Maitreyee Chaliha, an IT employee, says her husband's midnight conference calls really bother her. Then there's Sudha Sharma who can't remember the last time she watched a leisurely three-hour movie. Life, for her, is on permanent hold, including the children she desperately wants. Living life in a different time zone is not exactly the ideal working model but that is exactly where most IT careers start, as new entrants are sucked into a whole new lifestyle right after college with a white-collar dream that promises one thing and delivers another. At 25-28, they are living their dreams of owning fancy cars and plush apartments, but for a hefty price. For singles, it becomes increasingly difficult to socialise. Debajan Ghosh, 29, has been shuttling among three continents for the last five years. He is currently in the US and is due to move to India in a fortnight. I don't know yet which city I'm supposed to move to, he says. It could be Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai or Hyderabad, where his parents are based, but he will only get to know a couple of days before leaving his current workstation. How do I marry with so much uncertainty in my life? he says. Ghosh has finally decided to go for an arranged marriage, after his parents fixed him up with a girl who is also in the IT sector. Nandini Chakraborty, who runs a new-age matrimonial agency in Bangalore called Marrygold, says 50 per cent of her agency's clients belong to the IT sector. Her agency does not match people on the basis of caste, creed or religion. It services people who either don't have the time or the energy to socialise, or are unable to find likeminded persons. We try to bring together people who have similar profiles, and it's not just for marriage, says Chakraborty. Most of her clients are well-settled and educated. And IT makes up a huge chunk of it. It is when an IT employee gets married that the real problem begins—due to conflicting schedules, ego-tussles and demands. Couples are so busy pursuing their careers these days that they don't realise their biological clock is ticking, says Kamini Rao, infertility expert and director of the Bangalore Assisted Conception Centre. She says one out of three couples who come to her centre for advice are from the IT sector and most are in the 25-35 age group. A couple of years ago, a Bangalorebased institute conducted a study to identify the incidence and types of reproductive problems IT couples face. It found that out of the 900 patients examined in a year, 180 had not consummated their marriage, 300, both men and
Re: [silk] Outsourcing and health
On Sunday 06 Apr 2008 5:02:31 pm Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: NIMHANS, is considering a speciality clinic for IT employees and their specific ailments. But with a workforce that is daily growing in alarming proportions, it may be too little too late. The article voices many concerns I have and silent fears because I am getting to a stage when I have to advise my son about his future in the presence of this huge attractive and readily accessible cake - the IT sector that every young person gravitates towards. I do get to see some of the stressed out crowd when they frequently somatize their symptoms and present with a bellyache or stomach upset that eventually gets pinned down to overwork. I get the feeling that a number of factors are conspiring to misuse our young people. The father and mother who want their child to far outshine them in earnings, want to boast in their social circle, and who proudly proclaim that their son is studying 7th semester Infotech and has just had campus placement are the drivers on one side. In the typical Indian way the son or daughter's fees are paid and boarding and lodging in the early years of employment are looked after by mom and dad with no knowledge or concern about life later. Peer pressure makes the young person want to take up Infotech Multinational companies looking for trained talent do their bit by paying well and setting up fabulous ambience, but make sure they squeeze the life out of the young person as a result. Bad infrastructure adds to the woes by eating away time and there still are only 24 hours in a day. Speciality psychiatric clinics are definitely not the answer. They are , as the article says too little, too late. Young people need to be given a life and a career path. That does not seem to be happening. That bothers me. We are doing something wrong. We are mindlessly playing with lives. shiv
Re: [silk] Wanted: Exceptional parents
In fact - unless a child can do this, how will she ever know what the servant brings in when he is sent shopping. Nowadays you cannot trust your cook to order the servant himself - you have to cross check. What with prices and corruption and all you know. And its so difficult to get a servant nowadays - luckily my driver's wife works part time at home to cover the morning. You know - she had the cheek to ask me if I could use my influence to get her child into the school I send my children. The cheek! What is the world coming to? shiv Shiv... :) Deepa.
Re: [silk] Wanted: Exceptional parents
On Sun, Apr 6, 2008 at 12:40 AM, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://www.livemint.com/2008/04/05001858/Wanted-Exceptional-parents.html so she finally got into SPV, my alma mater (well, before i dropped out It's an interesting article, but: a) It's not all that different from 25 years ago when my parents had to do similar rounds to get me into a decent school in Madras - demand exceeded supply of good schools even then - it just exceeds supply more now. b) As someone points out towards the end of the article, education is a nightmare for parents everywhere. No doubt if they'd stayed in the US, the writer would have been moaning about having to pay astronomical prices to move to a suburb with good schools (or alternatively complaining about kids with guns in DC urban schools). Badri
Re: [silk] romance and reading
On Sat, Apr 5, 2008 at 7:45 PM, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: haha mea culpa. so let me modify the thread, then: what are the sort of books you re-read? At one time I was a one-book-a-day person, but I find that with a wife, son, job and a commute competing for my attention I find that that I have little time to read, let alone re-read. In the old days, I would re-read almost anything -- it was only the stuff that I really disliked that I wouldn't re-read. Nowadays, a book has to be really good keep my attention -- and sometimes not even then. :-( But things I'll happily re-read even now: - Guns, Germs and Steel -- Jared Diamond (if a certain someone returns it) - A short history of nearly Everything -- Bill Bryson - Anything by Dick Francis - anything by Terry Pratchett -- b
Re: [silk] Wanted: Exceptional parents
On Sat, Apr 5, 2008 at 8:14 PM, Madhu Kurup [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think you meant this link: http://www.livemint.com/2008/04/05001858/Wanted-Exceptional-parents.html Amusing indeed. Folks here have equivalent stories from Bangalore? I have a one year old. Definitely not amusing. I'm hearing similar stories in Bangalore. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of school to send Ben to. On one side, I'm hearing stories of rote learning and exam drills for 3 year olds in traditional schools. On the other, I'm worried about the influence of the children of the nouveau-riche in the non-traditional schools. A friend took his daughter went for a Pirates of the Caribbean themed birthday party at Angsana for a 7 year old the other day for example. His estimate was that about a lakh/lakh and a half was spent on it. As he was leaving, his daughter asked for a similar party for her next birthday. -- b
Re: [silk] Holi in Banaras
On Sat, Apr 5, 2008 at 4:12 PM, Divya Sampath [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- Venkatesh Hariharan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Since there are many Indophiles on this list, I thought that you may enjoy seeing my photos of the Holi festival in Banaras [1], one of the holiest Indian cities. Very nice indeed. I particularly liked the one of the happy little girl with the pink-smeared face. That metallic silver colour certainly makes for some very striking photographs, though it's *really* hard to wash off, and is also, I suspect, made from highly toxic material. I think Toxic Links did a study of the toxins in various colors and the results were quite scary. Cheers, Divya P.S. From the turn of phrase in this particular post, I'm guessing you originally wrote it for some other list than Silk? Just curious. Nope. It was written for silk-list! Venky
