Can Anna and JP ever be compared

(Book review of "13 days that awakened India)

Recently, i completed reading a recently released book which was written on Anna Hazare, titled "13 days that awakened India" written by a famous face of Indian TV channel, Ashutosh, Managing Editor of IBN7 ( a well know Hindi news channel). Throughout the book he made several attempts to compare Anna with Jay Prakash Narayan, the hero who was behind the removal of Indira Gandhi, former Indian prime minister who dared to impose Emergency in a democratic country like India. JP as what he was called as run a movement in Bihar popularly called as "student's movement" which witnessed the wrath of the people of the country against the dictator and finally was successful in uprooting the dictator government and was responsible for the establishment of the very first non-Congress government at the Centre for the first time in the history of India.

In his 226-page-book which seems to be written by a die hard follower of Anna was basically a compilation of the events and some scenes behind the screen. In his book he targeted Chidambaram and Sibal and almost tried to portray them as villains who were allegedly the real hurdles in the process of Lokpal Bill. At some point of time he also tried to deal with some issues like that of Rahul Gandhi and Indira Gandhi.

But the point that amused me and i thought will astonish many others was when he went on to compare JP and Anna and ultimately declared at last that Anna's movement was far mightier than that of JP. He says, "I know by this i am inviting the wrath of many JP followers but without hesitation i think...."

According to me these kind of statement can be passed only through people who had never known the movement and ever tried to understand the intensity and the emotions imbibed into it. For me it is unthinkable to compare JP and Anna and their movements. Even i think no two movements should be compared ever.

But let's talk more about the comparison he attempted to made and supported through some of his arguments. Starting with this,I would like to compare the era in which the both incidents occurred. JP's movement was a story of 70's. In 1975, when there was hardly any private news channel, pre-occupied to convey their views rather than news and accordingly there were hardly any news anchors who were ready to impose their ideas through their aggressive representation of their views cum news.

Of course, we are talking about an era where there was no concept of bombarding the public with breaking news, no matter how authentic they are. That was an era when we knew only about a black and white idiot box known for Doordarshan and a small black transistor known as radio known for All India Radio (AIR) which were public broadcasters know to convey only news minus views.

Moreover, we are also talking about an era when we hardly had any computers, laptops, ipads and internet. Things like Facebook and Twitter must be a fantasy at that point of time. Letters were the only mode of communication besides newspapers and even telephone was not that developed not to mention there were no place for mobiles and not to talk about the facility of SMS and all.

So imagine, if someone plans a movement how effective they could plan when they know their restrictions related to communications and even to some extent transportation.

At last but not the least, the most important time, JP movement took place at a time when Emergency was imposed in India, thanks to the then PM Indira Gandhi. During emergency it was a well know fact that there was no freedom of press, editors were jailed if they dared to publish against the government, from democracy India went into dictatorship government.

Point noteworthy, during that critical time, the student movement flourished which was led by JP. People were eager to giving their helping hand without ever bothering what they would get in return. There was no TV, no internet, no SMS, no facebook, no online campaign, no SMS campaign, no missed call campaign..but it continued, may jailed many exploited. Note that they were not given the respect Anna and his team got in Tihar Jail, thanks to the 24x7 news channels cameras where every steps of the administration were monitored. People were beaten black and blue. Do we have a single example when an Anna member was beaten by the Police rather, they were given immense respect like a son-in-law.

Moreover, when we talk about the aims achieved, there cant be any comparison. JP's movement uprooted the Indira government and the so called "dictator" but what Team Anna achieved?? Even Anna's demand was a childish thing..He demanded on August 2011 that the government has to pass the law before Aug 30.. Was it practically feasible, also did the Gandhian had the simple knowledge that its not the government but the parliament who passes a law, then comes the Rajya Sabha and the Opposition is equally responsible for the same...

There are lots of things which can be narrated to support my statement but ending it now..will add more when will have ample time..

I think some people add some masala in their book to add revenues..same tactics was applied here too when he dares to compare Anna and JP and also when he takes on Arundhati Roy and Ramchandra Guha when they went against Anna and says it is the problem of their class..

Bihar Medical Colleges: Where caste speaks louder than virtue

(Published in Deccan Herald on February 18, 2012 in open-editorial page)

Manish Kumar

Most selfish politicians of Bihar seemed to have mastered the art of exploiting the ‘caste’ issue for their personal benefit in the past. However, with Nitish Kumar’s ‘Sushashan’ (good governance) gathering enormous support from the common people of all castes and creed, it was believed that the state will soon be rid of the blot.

Of late, with more youths preferring to stay in the state for studies, the situation was even perceived as hunky-dory by many outside the state. However, there is a lot more than what meets the eye. If you also begin to think that the well-educated youths of Bihar will ensure a new era of progress and development in the state, be ready to get flummoxed.

Visit any government medical college of Bihar and you will find that the young and educated minds have equally imbibed the caste-based approach like many of the selfish politicos in Bihar -- a herd mentality of believing in the caste-based classification distinguishes them from their counterparts in other states. Interestingly, they get the passive support of the college administrations, which seem to have turned a blind eye to the whole situation, even though the future doctors are gradually losing morale and ethics right under their noses.

Favourite wards:

The trend of nepotism and college staff supporting their ‘favourite wards’ is not uncommon either. The practice also scares the medical aspirants, more than the mortuary in many government medical colleges of the state. Asks a first-year MBBS student of Darbhanga Medical College (DMCH), “Cracking medical entrance exam was like a dream come true for me. However the prevailing situation in the college brought my euphoria down only within a few weeks. During my first encounter, seniors asked me about my ‘phylum.’ Before I could read about the word phylum in my biology coursebook, I realised they were asking about my caste! Isn’t asking about one’s caste and not the name during the first meeting strange?”

Surprisingly, this is the scene in most government medical colleges in the state. Freshers need to identify themselves first by their caste. Rest of your identity matters less. As per the ritual, once you tell the seniors your identity (caste), you will be welcomed by your ‘sympathisers’ belonging exclusively to your caste. Willingly or unwillingly, you then enter a community whose members assure you that you will be safe in college as long as you have their blessings.

But all this doesn’t come for free. You get the Hobson’s choice of complying by the community norms. “Seniors of my ‘phylum’ gave me a list of norms on Day 1 of my college, which I was later forced to follow. The list included restriction on me from taking help from other caste people or talking to the members of opposite sex of different caste,” says another young medico from Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), Muzzafarpur.

Same is the story in most of medical colleges. Customs classified on caste basis are also being followed unabated in Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH), Patna, which incidentally, have the reputation of being the best medical colleges in Bihar.

Point to note, keeping in mind the escalating cases of suicides by college students of late, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had issued letters to various colleges in the country to put an end to caste-based discriminations. However, things are far from satisfactory here. Also, the discrimination is not just restricted to asking caste and favouring those belonging to same caste. The situation can get worse in some cases.

Few years back, a local TV channel had exposed the existence of ‘caste-based kitchens’ in SKMCH. Even though they shared the same classroom, students from different castes visited different kitchens. The then health minister Nand Kishore Yadav had ordered a probe into the matter, but the overall scenario hardly seems to have changed.

Dr S N Sinha, principal, DMCH, Darbhanga also subtly confirmed the existence of such practices in the medical colleges of Bihar. “I agree that such practices existed even in our college five years back. There were reports of teachers favouring wards belonging to their caste. But ever since I joined, I did not come across any such complaints or practices,” he claimed, assuring to take strict action if any such cases were brought to his notice.

Asked for his views on the matter, SKMCH principal Dr D K Sinha, got irked and hurled a straight reply: “Do one thing. Go and speak to the chief minister over the issue. Don’t trouble me.”

Junior journos creating ripples in Bihar

(Published in Deccan Herald on January 15, 2012 in special features)

“There is no Hindi teacher in this area,” screamed a headline and the news item went on to highlight the hardships faced by a good number of students in the densely populated Vaishali district of Bihar. The news item was the lead story in a newsletter brought out by schoolchildren. Many said it’s just a wastage of time as a newsletter run merely by “amateur children” can hardly bring any change in society, but it could hardly break the assion of the young reporters who vowed to fight against all kinds of existing evils in their society.

Proving all such speculations wrong, the hard work of these kids proved fruitful. The state education department had to appoint a teacher hastily after it reported about the absenteeism. Buoyed by the success, it reported on how the teachers were playing truant too often at Shivnandan School in Rajapakar and the administration was compelled to intervene.

These were some of the incidents which were not reported by the mainstream newspapers, but highlighted by the school students of the district in their newsletter. The newsletter is brought out by the young journos taken up as a pilot project by Unicef and Supramental Foundation in Vaishali district in Bihar. Started in June 2010 with merely 60 members, the team now has 300 volunteers.

“We started with rags with a few volunteers, but now the circulation of the newsletter has notched up to 5,000,” Nipurnh Gupta, Communication Specialist, Unicef (Bihar), told Deccan Herald. In the district, children between the age group of 12-17 years have formed among themselves to what they term as “child reporter brigade” and they are on their toes 24x7 to highlight the problems plaguing the society. Myriad range of issues highlighted by these aware kids include child marriage, child abuse and environmental protection as well.

The young journos popularly known as “Mukul Bal Patrakar”, are engaged in the publication of a quarterly published broadsheet newsletter, named as “Hamari Baat, Hamari Awaaz”, which has given the budding citizens a platform to express their concerns and also to eradicate the pre-existing social evils in their area.

The volunteers of the child brigade are more than just happy with their active participation with the mission. For Kajal, an enthusiastic member of the brigade, it was like a dream come true. “We never ever thought we will get such a powerful medium which has the potential to change the world we live in. I always have seen many evils of society and always wondered if I could do anything for the society but always felt helpless. But with this newsletter, we got a voice, ample enough to transform society and bring a revolution,” says the 12-year-old child crusader. Surprisingly, the innocent but socially responsible volunteers, mainly hail from the backward and marginalised sections of society. These determined ones leave no stone unturned to ensure that they utilise the platform to the maximum extent to highlight the plight of their not-so-lucky friends.

However, their views are not just restricted to the problems being faced by some communities. Issues of the whole district find space in their newsletter and frequent impact reports published speak volumes of the children’s efforts. Reports penned by these kids have changed lives of many including the kids involved with the initiative.

“These young scribes are a bunch of matured children. Ever since, they joined the newspaper, there has been a massive transformation in their personality. They are far more confident now and not scared to write anything that is for the benefit of the society. Many were initially shy but gradually their pen’s flow compensated for the lack of words,” adds Nipurnh.

The project which targeted four blocks in the district got massive support from the district administration and also from senior local journalists who helped them in bringing out the four pages of the quarterly on time. Tending to work like professionals, the little scribes do regular editorial meetings to discuss issues relating to the publication in which the local primary schools also come in support whole-heatedly besides the technical support provided by the state division of Unicef.

Also, there is a warm support from parents as they have noticed positive changes in their children. The initiative which had won all-round appreciation has focused on the most backward region and most vulnerable social groups to uplift their condition. The four-page attractive newsletter focu­ssed on places like-Jandaha, Rahapakar, Biddupur and Hajipur. Also, it was ensured that a large number of girls participate in majority. Accordingly, the ratio of girls and boys in the team is 53: 47, ensuring females are given fare chance to develop and make their presence felt. Interestingly, the project is expected to be taken up in other areas too in the days to come.

The broadsheet also has helped in educating the local community on several evils of society and made them ponder over many community related issues. Setting an example for the others the project now awaits some other revolution.

The tech-savvy Indian politicians

It seems now the Indian politicians have learnt to master a new art in order to getting closer to the mass, the art of peeping more into the cyberspace.

With the escalating interests of people from all walks of life into the internet-driven virtual world and with the social networking revolution the politicians are getting a good platform to spread their messages and also a chance to glorify the works they are doing.

Moreover, it is becoming an easy and affordable medium to propagate thier ideologies and also making their stand on certain burning issues to fetch the confidence of the people, may be in the hope that in return they will provide them with electoral votes during the elections.

The case of Nitish Kumar

Take the case of Bihar Chief Minster Nitish Kumar, the engineer turned politician has a blog which he exploites to tell the people regrading the achievements his government is getting. Also his blog has been regularly followed by 19,85 netizens all over the world.

Following the same line, BJP leader from the same state and also the deputy chief minster Sushil Modi through his Facebook account regularly keeps on sharing positive news items on the state on his wall.

Modi not behind

On the other hand, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi seems to outperform the Bihari politicians. Modi’s blog is the most sophisticated and advanced which provides you with the facility to read his blog in nine different Indian languages besides space for gallery and media. His high-tech blog is also liked by 360, 976 people as of now.

Omar Abdullah also was heard of to be blogging sometimes ago but he halted due to some controversies emerging out of it.

When Shashi Tharoor was in soup

But how can anyone forget the informal brand ambassador of microblogging site ‘twitter’ Shashi Tharoor who had been in soup several times through his views on the site but many a times gave much popularity to him and also to the site, its another matter that the same also cost his post at the cabinet.

However the future seems to be brighter as Vice president Hamid Ansari already issuing I-pads to the Rajya Sabha members in order to make them tech-savvy and also Lok Sabha seems to work on the same.

But one thing for sure, although slowly the general stereotype of politicians being anti-modern is changing.

Moreover, with these steps the netas are reaching out to more number of people through simpler toils and investments. Also it is the best way to reach out to the young generation who are hard to reach through general Rallys and Yatras.

The story of India's child prodigy

By-Manish Kumar

(Tathagat Avatar Tulsi, the one who has glorified Bihar to the national and even international level through the heaps of records he bagged since his childhood is no more a child now. Termed as the “Child Prodigy of India” once and highly acclaimed by the national and foreign media, the Bihari boy is now an assistant professor at IIT-Mumbai. Last mid-year he completed his very first year there, that too as a teacher. Tathagat shares his experience of being a professor at one of the premier institutions of India. Excerpts from the interview.)

Last year you completed your very first year at IIT-Mumbai as a professor? How was your experience of being the teacher of the premier institution?

Well, overall experience was great. Getting adjusted to a new place takes some time and i also took some time for it, but there were no major difficulties initially (and not even now). In fact, the people at IIT are so cooperative that it was a very smooth transition. And then, I was always looking forward to join IIT Bombay, it was a dream place for me. So, in my initial days, I used to roam inside the IIT campus with a constant feeling that "wow, finally, I am here”.

As far as my work is concerned, last year was dominated by teaching. I had never taught earlier and not only that, my exposure to class-room lectures was very close to zero as I was mostly self-studied. So, I did not have any idea, what teachers do in the classrooms or how students react during the lectures. Indeed, I was a bit nervous for my first lecture. But after first few lectures, I became accustomed to it. But getting used to the lectures is different from being an excellent teacher and I am constantly trying to become the later and that needs few years of experience.

Sometimes, I find it interesting that a person, who never went to schools/colleges, who bunked all the lectures (these are symptoms of a bad student) is now a professor.

Unlike others, you must be finding yourself in a strange situation where the students most of them are of your age, how do they react?

Their behaviour is very nice and much disciplined; they treat me as a teacher without any consideration to my age. Initial teaching is always little difficult, because we need to prepare lecture notes, assignments, question papers and all those stuffs, which we never did earlier. But with little practice, all this became easy.

What about your colleagues, most of them must be in their 50’s?

Age is never a consideration in professional community, so they treat me just as a colleague (of course, a junior colleague), Even, I also don’t find age to be an issue as I am so much used to work with the people ahead of my age.

You rejected 2 job offers, one being from Waterloo University, Canada. What was the reason behind that rejection?

There were several personal reasons for it. Let me tell you that at one point of time, I was very keen to settle abroad and I was very enthusiastic when I visited USA for six months in 2005. Those 6 months were very crucial in transforming me in two ways, both personally and professionally. One major change was my decision to stay back in India. I don't want to dub it as”patriotism" but the emotions are indeed very complex. I was just unable to accept that one part of this world is so prosperous and another part is so struggling. I was 18, when I visited USA and at that age, everything leaves a strong impression, I got very much disturbed that I belong to a struggling part and despite that, I want to ignore this fact to accept the prosperous part.

During my childhood days, I had attended many public functions and got chance to meet lots of "aam aadmi", there were two types of "aam aadmi", one who used to wish me that do good in science and make an important discovery (i used to like this wish), another who used to "request" me that do something for our nation. I never understood this request but after my USA visit, all of a sudden, this became a major question for me: what I did for them? I am using "aam aadmi" because I have visited several village schools in my childhood days and I have personally witnessed the hopes and aspirations that these villagers have, from qualified people like us. Specially, in my case, they had known me through newspapers and their smiles, tears and hopeful eyes, while talking to me, is something that I cannot forget.

Describing the details of these changes will be too long, its better I stop here, I can only say that I developed a strong sense of love for our very own people.

Tell us about your Phd work that you did in IISc, Bangalore.

Well, I worked on quantum search algorithms during my PhD, which mainly deals with quantum computing. Quantum computer is something that we, the scientist, are looking forward to, since it has a tremendous potential to change the scenario of scientific research as well as tremendous industrial applications. Basically, quantum computer will be a very powerful computer that can easily solve the typical computational problems; we face in scientific research or industrial applications.

My topic: quantum search algorithms, is one of the applications of quantum computing. I thoroughly enjoyed working on it and i am continuing the same work here also. Whatever I have claimed in my thesis, I have also given the mathematical proof for that.

How you found Bangalore in the 7 years you spend there? Learnt Kannada little bit?

Well, learnt kannada only a little bit, my favourite kannada sentence used to be "nanu summage tamaashe madita ide" (I was just joking) because normally, I pass too many jokes. well, my Bangalore experience is something that I will cherish for my lifetime. I spent most of my teenage life there. My teenage period was not so smooth, mainly because of my early background and I faced many "strange" kind of problems (i write "strange" because most of the teenagers will not be able to even think of these problems), later I also successfully solved those problems. Bangalore is a close witness to that struggle of mine, how can I forget it?

How was your experience of IISc. It seems there was no discount given there because of your age when it came to performance.

To me, Bangalore means only IISc as I had not gone much outside the IISc campus during 7 years, so my IISc experience is same as my Bangalore experience. Yes, age never played any role in the academic work there. My advisors were Prof Apoorva Patel and Prof H R Krishnamurthy so of course, they are my favourites also.

How is Tathagat in real life, besides being a world record holder and an IIT professor?

I can only say that I am a person who continuously want to explore, evolve and enjoy. Since childhood, I am observing that what makes the two human beings different is the wealth of experience; I just want to maximise my own wealth of experience. So, I don't hesitate in trying anything new even if people around me suggest me to follow a traditional path. lets see, even now, I have much more to explore.

It seems your father had a great role in framing your life? Can you tell in detail, how crucial his role was in making Tathagat a world record holder?

Of course, my father's role was very crucial. I mean, you can figure it out from the fact that I was just a kid while making world records; I just used to tell my father what I want, without having any idea of what it really takes to get that. My father only managed to get all these things done through High Courts and Supreme Courts. He always believes that I am a "gifted" child, he is not a professional mathematician but when he found me to be doing so well in mathematics, it was a pleasant surprise for him. I was not only good in maths but I also had a natural ability to do fast mental calculations (i.e. to multiply two large numbers fast in my head, without using paper, pen and of course, calculator). It was this special ability that inspired my father to give his best to nurture my talent. and then the story started.

You hardly talked about your mother in any interview. Of course your father must have guided you in your professional life, but what about your mother, what support you got from her?

That’s a wrong accusation, my mother's support has been also very crucial and important and no one needs to describe the crucial role of mother in his or her upbringing, that is well-known.

Do you still use bicycle at the campus; I think many IITs give cycle to promote eco-transportation?

Yes, I use bicycle. Can’t say about eco-transportation but I don't know driving, the moment, I learn it, I will get a car.

Do you think Bihar has changed since the time you left Bihar?

I don't say that I have left Bihar, even now I am very much attached to it. Yes, change is the law of nature, Bihar has changed and it will keep on changing, hope that sometime I would be able to significantly contribute to its change.

The ups and downs of your life which taught you the lessons of life?

Well, all of us face too many ups and downs in life and same with me. But I would like to mention the biggest up and down in my life.

UP: When I was breaking world records

DOWN: When I was facing negative publicity

Again UP: COMING SOON.

I have indeed, learnt a lot from these experiences and even now, I am learning more.

In Germany, when you were invited with the Nobel laureates, some controversy came? What was that and why was that according to you? Heard that the foreign media took it the other way and some Indiamedia too backed it?

Nothing wrong happened with the foreign media, you can check the records. It all started with Indian media only. In an interview to Hindustan times, then HRD minister Shri M M Joshi ji said this about that incident: "one newspaper correspondent printed the story and others blindly followed the suit". I have to say the same thing with a more focus on the word "blindly". "blindly", because they never bothered to examine the facts, or even to take my statements, before writing a sensational story of a fraud prodigy, "blindly", because they never realized that they will write something extremely derogatory false news about a 14-year old who will not be able to handle the situation, "blindly" because they kept on publishing the same sensational story without caring that it will push someone to the state of extreme darkness, virtually making him blind in his own life.

I guess, in 2006, the Indian Parliament passed an amendment to the juvenile justice act this amendment strictly forbids the newspapers to publish the name or photo of any person, below 18, who is accused in a criminal case. Though I never got accused criminally, I will always have a regret that this amendment was done after 2001, had it been done before it, my life would have been much better, vo kehte hai na "meri zindagi mein aate, to kuchh aur baat hoti".

Don't want to talk much about it, kuchh zakhmon ko chherna nahi chahiye, hamesha dard dete hain.

Do you regret for not having a normal childhood anytime?

I do have some regrets, I don’t want to claim that I am a happy guy, I have got my own share of success as well as my share of failures. But I cannot say that I regret for not having a normal childhood, mainly because I have no idea of a normal childhood. I have experienced only my childhood and that was certainly not normal by any standard, so how can I regret something which I have never experienced.

Are you now fed up with many records and would like to say now this was too much, now i want to take rest! Or you are still ambitious and want to make some new records?

I never tried for making records, it all came very naturally, i was only eager to finish my studies at earliest and start my scientific research soon and I was successful to some extent since I started my doctoral research at 15.

Even now, i don't want to think of success in terms of records. but I am still very ambitious and want to achieve much more (ye dil maange more !!). Yes, I do take rest at a regular intervals, to keep myself fresh, one thing is sure that these days, I have realized the importance of a proper rest to maintain the work efficiency. So, now I treat rest also as work so that I can lie to myself that "wow, I am working 24x7”.

Some reports say your aim is to get the “Nobel prize”, is this dream or your main aim?

Nobel was my childhood dream. I was always inspired to study science in my childhood days and since Nobel is regarded as the symbol of global excellence in science, i made Nobel my dream as well as my main aim. But, let me clarify that this is not so now, I am a grown up person now and know that there are several criteria to measure excellence.

Interested in sports? How much time you spent per day on them?

Not much. I had played badminton for some time, but then got busy in my work and had to leave. I am planning to resume it again, I love this game, and it’s a very good aerobic exercise and a very good stress-reliever. May be I will start playing it for 2 hours in 3 days per week, planning to resume it next month.

What according to you are the shortcomings of Indian education system?

I don't belong to the standard education system, so how can i comment about it, but one thing I certainly feel is that the students should be allowed to take specialisations at an early age. For example, I was good in maths but not interested in other subjects so why I got the burden of studying other subjects in detail, similarly there are many students who just hate maths, why should they be forced to read maths in details. All of us are different with different abilities; let them sharpen their abilities in early childhood when they are biologically more flexible. We start specializing after 10th standard; can we shift the specialization few years back? It’s just my personal opinion. No need to take it seriously.

How difficult it was to face courts for every time you was about to create a record?

I cannot say about the difficulty as that was mainly faced by my father.

How was your meeting with Nitish Kumar?

I feel fortunate to have spent some quality time with all big leaders of Bihar, be it Nitish Ji, Modi Ji, Lalu ji or RamVilas ji.

It was just a normal conversation, where he expressed his wishes and blessings to me. I remember, once we had a photo session during a conference, I was standing a little far from him, when he noticed me, he pulled me towards himself and asked me to stand close to him, I was pleasantly surprised by this gesture, this is the way, elder people encourage youngsters and bless them to come forward and work for the society. I found him to be a very committed person with a vast pool of experience, which keeps him suitably balanced in all his actions and I guess, these qualities made him what he is today.

How Murli Manohar Joshi motivated you to join IISc?

I have met Joshi Ji on several occasions during my childhood days, as a then HRD minister, he was the key person to remove the minimum age barrier of 19 years specially for me to appear for the National Eligibility Test (commonly known as NET exam), a competitive exam conducted for determining the eligibility for lectureship as well as research fellowship. I wrote and qualified this exam at 13, and it was only possible because of Joshi ji's special permission.

Are you going to settle in life soon? Any marriage plans? Do you have any girl friend and a relation that you would like to disclose?

No girlfriends and nothing to disclose.

Many a times you must have faced problems in some offices when you share you qualifications details and others, they must have questioned how this it could be possible? Do u faced such kinds of problems. How often? Do you carry all media reports to support your records?

Yes, I do face these situations, but they are not problems for me, indeed I feel happy when they get shocked.

I don’t carry any media report, i just say that "trust me, if you can". But, one thing is true that I try my best to hide my background because mostly I have seen that after finding it, the normal friendly conversation stops and something unusual starts and I want to talk like friends, if I want to make friends. Well, it depends from person to person. If I figure out that he or she will like my different background, I just tell about it proudly, take my cellphone out, connect to the internet and show all web articles on me (no need to carry the media reports). With experience, my guess never goes wrong and friendship increases after this. In these situations, i only regret when my mobile does not get enough signal for a fast internet.

Almost all people have one or two inspirational teacher(s) in their life, who was that in your life?

Inspiration, I have mostly got from my parents, specially my father. Since I have done self-study during school days, I did not have any teacher in that sense.

Message to parents who build pressure on their wards to make them a “genius”?

Just develop a sense of responsibility in your children and then they are smart enough to give their best to be a responsible citizen, they will themselves figure out their strengths and weaknesses and then use them to the best level. Be responsible towards them, they need attention, praising them or criticizing them for a wrong reason will lead them in a very wrong direction.

What people say about Tathagat

1. RJ Shashi, Radio Mirchi, Patna- It was just an ordinary day on my radio show, but the synergy of my studio had suddenly undergone charismatic transformation since Tathagat arrived. The most striking part of Tathagat was, from the starting of the show he was carefully noticing my activities and how I operate all the equipments and all of a sudden he asked me, “Would I be able to handle all these complex instruments at a time like you?. I was astonished; this world renowned “prodigy” was asking this question. Also, his down to earth nature and simplicity is ample enough to impress anyone.

2. Goverdhan Mehta, Director, IISc, Bangalore

(He was the director when Tathagat was at IISc)

I met Tathagat a couple of times at IISc. I am pleased that he has earned his PhD and got an early start and a good position at a reputed institution to prove himself. Let us now be guided by his performance as judged by his peers. Showering further adulations by media without any hard evidence of solid accomplishments is neither good for him nor for science in India. I wish him well and hope that he will live upto the expectations.

Nitish Kumar versus Narendra Modi

Bangalore, October 11, 2011: The much awaited Jan Chetna Yatra of BJP leader L K Advani finally kicked off from Bihar against the initial speculations of holding it in Gujarat. Conspicuously it knocked doors for speculations in the political arena as why the BJP leader was reluctant to utilise his party icon Modi in his Yatra and preferred the JD(U) leader from Bihar for the same.
Meanwhile, the saffron leader from Gujarat was also found to be missing in the mega-event where many prominent BJP leaders marked their presence. Surprisingly, the billboards, banners and colourful posters donning the images of all central and state BJP leaders flooded almost the whole of state capital of Bihar hardly witnessed a single image of the Gujarat chief minister.
It came as a surprise why the ‘Hindutva mascot’ and supposed to be a strong contender of the future PM was absent from the showoff. If certain experts are to be believed Nitish and Narendra Modi are the two strongest man and vote-pullers of the NDA coalition and certain section also claims both to be the strongest PM contenders at the same time. Then why the two famous stars of NDA was seen together.


Well reasons could be many. Now it is more of a Nitish versus Modi issue. The one time old friends are now preferring better to be seen apart. Nitish Kumar from his side is trying his best to keep his secular image in front of the people and barring himself to be seen with the known ‘communal element’ of the BJP after the Godhra riots. The relation between the two got bitter when a controversy broke out on an advertisement showing Nitish and Modi holding each other’s hand in a rally which was heavily utilized by the RJD and LJP leaders to questions Nitish’s secular image. The whole incident compelled Nitish to take harsh steps to secure his secular image. Part from canceling the dinner where Modi was supposed to come he also preferred to return Rs 5 crore provided by Narendra Modi for the Kosi flood victims just to save his image in front of the people.

Much celebrated CM’s
Apart from the issue, there are a lot of similarities between the two much celebrated chief ministers. At several points they give strong competition to each other. Many a times one can easily see how the duo are also learning from each other the better ways to connect to the people either through exploiting the cyberspace or through some othe means. But one must accept that the two have adopted several unique means to reach to the common people unlike other chief ministers of the country.
Take the case of Nitish Kumar, for the engineer turned politician, it seems inspired by the Bollywood film ‘Nayak’ (where Anil Kapoor who became CM of a day tried his best to get in touch with the common people), he moved ahead of it and did something that even Anil Kapoor in the film could do. The JD(U) leader started the concept of ‘Janata Darbar’ where he with his team comprising the state DGP and other powerful authorities meet the common people and listen to their grievances and act on the spot putting an example the innovative ways on how to go into the mass.
At the same time, Narendra Modi who does not want to compare Gujarat with any other Indian state but with the foreign countries trying in his ways to make at least Ahmedabad a high-tech city. Ranging from in house domestic gas pipelines to moving restaurants Ahmedabad and somewhat the whole Gujarat is undergoing a transition with the passage of time.
Also just look at the popularity of the two chief ministers who are on their way of creating a ‘feel good’ environment in their state unlike what once former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee created in terms of garnering electoral votes. If you go by the social networking site orkut you can have the idea of their popularity. According to statistics Narendra Modi seems to excel Nitish with more than 100 orkut communities dedicated to Modi, some also claiming him to be the future PM while Nitish has around 50 such communities on orkut. But point noteworthy, there are some anti-Modi communities too as ‘I hate Narendra Modi’ unlike the JD(U) leader who has only pro-Nitish communities.
The two celebrated chief ministers also have learnt to exploit the cyberspace strong enough to peep into the people of their state. Both the chief ministers are bloggers. For instance, Nitish’s blog is followed by 19,85 people whereas Modi going more high-tech has made the facility of reading his blog in nine different Indian language and marked by 359, 976 likes. Whatever be the case, but one thing is for sure they have learnt how to get into the mass, the art few of the chief ministers have learnt and the results are in front of the people.