Phir mile sur mera tumhara?

I just saw this video and I am wondering whether it was actually needed.


Aren't somethings left better untouched? This new video is not comparable to the older one in any way. Do we Indians only look up to Bollywood and the likes of Salman Khan who get drunk and crush people under their cars?

I am disappointed watching the new video and I had to search for the old one to pacify myself. I still cherish the old version of Mile Sur Mera Tumhara and so do many others who grew up watching Doordarshan. Somethings should actually not be messed with and ya old is indeed gold at times.

NIT, Raipur - Gone to the dogs?

Does the picture on the left say anything? This is the present condition of the National Institute of Technology, Raipur. The college has literally gone to the dogs and this picture shows the condition of the college corridors presently.

Leaving aside the picture and the corridors, the most recent issue haunting the students of the college is a very serious one. Read on to know why.

Back in April-May 2006, the college authorities had committed a faux pa. The then Director of the institute (Dr. Bal) had taken the liberty to break the rules pertaining to the conduct of examinations and valuation of answer books and that act of his is creating grave problems for the students now.

The institute had been granted autonomy by the State Government and was allowed to conduct its own examination for the students. However, the instititute still had to obey the guidelines set by the Pt. Ravi Shankar Shukla University, Raipur for the conduct of examinations and the valuation of the answer books.

What the then Director Dr.Bal did in April-May 2006 was, he allowed the re-valuation of papers of candidates who appeared in supplementary papers. Now, this was totally against the constitution set by the Pt.RSSU as there is no such provision in the rules of the University which allow the re-valuation of supplementary papers of a candidate. I fail to understand how the Director and the former Examination Controller (Dr. K.K. Sugandhi) managed to do this when everybody knew it was against the rules.

The Pt. Ravi Shankar University after learning about this, promptly sent the college authorities a warning regarding the issue asking them not to go against the rules and hence not to conduct the re-valuation of supplementary papers. However, the former Director and Examination Controller of NIT-Raipur paid no heed to the warning and went ahead with what they intended to do. Not only this, they also broke the rules again in the Nov-Dec 2006 examinations and once again allowed re-valuation of supplementary papers. Many candidates benefited from this process of re-valuation of their supplementary papers and they were declared "pass" by the college.

Time passed by and Mr. Bal was removed from the post of the Director because of his corrupt activities and Dr. Sugandhi was recently handed over the charge for the Director of the institute. From 2007 onwards, the college strangely stopped allowing the re-valuation of supplementary papers and went back to following the guidelines set by the University. Maybe the college authorities sensed that something was wrong.

Now, after two years when Dr. Sugandhi sent the mark sheets and degree certificates of those students who were declared "pass" after the re-valuation of their supplementary papers in April-May 2006 and Nov-Dec 2006, to the Vice Chancellor of the Pt. Ravi Shankar University for his signature and seal on them, the VC firmly refused to sign on those certificates saying that those exams were not conducted under the guidelines set by the University and so there is no way that he is going to approve the results for the same. This almost caused Dr. Sugandhi to choke and he rushed to meet the Governor of the State. Unfortunately for him, the Governor also supported the VC's stand on the issue and he was told that the whole examination process that was adopted by the college two years back was illegal.

The sad part is that now after not being able to convince the VC or the Governor, Dr. Sugandhi has ordered all the students who had benefited from the re-valuation of their supplementary papers in the year 2006 to re-appear for the concerned subjects.

Many of these students have already passed out from the college and are working in different places across the country and they were just waiting for their final degree certificate. This order has shocked them thoroughly and they just can't stop hurling abuses at the present Director. Others who are still in the college are worried that they might lose their jobs which they secured after the campus placements due to this sudden announcement of them having a back log. Then there is also the possibility of their examination timetable being set such that their back log paper clashes with the current final semester paper. This will again make them lose their job and will waste six months of their time.

I was really pissed off with the college authorities when I saw the notice. Not that I was one of the students who had benefited from the illegal re-valuation, but because many of my friends are mostly going to suffer because of the ignorant and adamant attitude of Dr. Bal and Dr. Sugandhi. This was totally careless and uncalled for. I have convinced a few of my friends to approach the High Court on this matter and we will be filing a petition soon. I hope the Court cracks down hard on both the accused. I also filed an eighteen point Right to Information application today asking minute details about the whole episode. This will provide us with crucial information for fighting the case.

Air Deccan = All dirty !!!

Recently I had the chance to travel by Air Deccan, and the experience was really dirty. I was so pissed with them that I shot off an email to their Customer Relations department as soon as I arrived home. This is what I had written,

Hello,

I had the chance to fly by Air Deccan from Raipur to Kolkata on the 24th of April, 2007 and I am sorry to say I have been totally disgusted with the kind of attention you people pay to the basic amenities such as cleanliness of the aircraft.

I agree your fares are very low and you offer the best value for money but then what I saw in the plane was dirt and litter everywhere. It was disgusting and unhygienic. I am attaching some pictures which I took inside the aircraft for you to see how shabby is your service. The floor and the seats of the aircraft were dirty and had not been cleaned for ages it seems. The advertising headrest cover that you provide was soiled with somebody else's hair oil. Looks like you people save money even on all these petty things.

I am going to be publishing these pictures on my online blog and also sharing them with everybody who I know. This should teach you a lesson I hope and it should make you people stop taking passengers for granted.

Thanks and regards,

Mohit Singhania


Pictures that were attached to the email :

And this is the reply that I got from their f***ed up Customer Relations,

Dear Passenger,

Greetings from Air Deccan!!

At the outset we would like to thank you for choosing to fly Air Deccan.

It is unfortunate that your travel was not pleasurable. Being in the service industry addressing customer needs is our prime concern and we cannot compromise on the same. Please be assured that your feedback has been forwarded to our concerned Department for redressal.

At Air Deccan we are working tirelessly at improving ourselves, learning from the experiences and feedbacks of our passengers. Your feedback would go a long way in channelising our strategies for Air Deccan in the right direction.

We hope this incident will not deter you from choosing to fly with Air Deccan again, and your next flight with us is more pleasurable.


Thanking you,

Customer Relations
Air Deccan

Cruising at an insane speed !!!

Last week I had the opportunity to visit Mumbai and Pune. It was a fun trip and here is a snap shot of what we hit while cruising from Mumbai to Pune in Harshal's modified Honda City. It was fun but it was scary too.

210 km/h (Thats the max the meter would go) @ 5k rpm

See it to believe it,

Mission accomplished !!

Finally our complaints showed their effect on the 14th of September 2006, the Director Incharge of our college has been sent on a "forced" leave by the Ministry of Human Resource Develpoment, Government of India, which controls our college.

A high level inquiry has been ordered by the MHRD in the matter and the inquiry report is to be submitted in 15 days to the ministry. The management was taken by surprise when they saw the fax from the MHRD ordering the Director's removal and initially they thought someone was playing a prank on them.

I am just hoping that everything comes out in the open now. And ya the management is now taking out their anger on me by giving false statements to the press about the whole matter. I am being accused for having tried to bribe the Director to increase my marks and also for threatening him in the same matter. Anyways I was prepared for all this and I will stay firm

More about it later.

The fight begins

I am a student of the National Institute of Technology, Raipur and I am supposed to be in the VII th Semester but I don't know where exactly I am at present.

It all started when I was told that I would be getting detained for a year because I could not clear one of my Practicals even after 4 attempts though I had obtained 75% in the theory portion of the same subject. I could not believe that this was actually happening and my mind went numb. Numerous requests and long waiting periods outside the Director's office did not help me and I was just being taken for granted like every student in my college. The management just did not care whether I detained or attained.

After losing all hopes from the shabby management, I decided I would not just let it all go just like this and initially I had planned to protest and raise my voice against the management. I had planned on burning an effigy of our Director right in front of him but then I soon realized that nothing of that sort was going to be of any aid to me and I would not be gaining anything out of it either.

I discussed it all with my friends and family and finally I decided and promised to myself that I would get back at the management someday and someway but I would be doing it soon. By sheer luck I stumbled upon the most powerful weapon that our government has given us citizens, the Right to Information. I read everything about the RTI Act 2005 and decided that I will be using this Right of mine to shake the management.

Long hours were spent on the college "tapri" discussing RTI with some very good and trusted friends from the same college. And very quicky from one person alone, I now had nine people with me who also needed a platform to fight against the college because they were under tremendous pressure and frustration, all of which was created cause of our college. Someone had been detained because of a low aggregate (thanks to the ultra low sessionals we obtain) , someone else had not been given admission because he was one day late, another person had been framed by the management in a recent fee scandal and his mark sheets had been confiscated by the college authorities. And so then from "I" it became "We".

We then submitted applications with paid challans to the Director Incharge's office seeking information using RTI Act 2005 about the following :

• Golden Jubilee celebrations of the college (where supposedly the college had received 1 crore rupees for the function).
• Grant received from the Central Government for the college after it has been declared as N.I.T. and where the money was spent.
• A detail of Computers / Electronic equipment purchased by the college after it has been declared as N.I.T.
• List of Civil Construction / Repair tenders and quotations passed by the college management by self after the college has been declared as N.I.T.

We knew that the management was corrupt and they would definitely wake up to this. Now I hear that the college management is in a frenzy and everyone is running away like cats and dogs. We are still waiting for the reports to come out and I am sure they have no escape now.

It had all started as a fight to get back at the management but then now I feel that I should have done it all long time back. This whole incident has given me an amazing boost in confidence and has made me believe in myself strongly. I may not gain anything out of this whole exercise but I am happy I did this and made the management realize that they cannot take everyone for granted.

The college is there cause the students are there. Its high time the authorities realize this and everyone starts doing their duties properly and if they don't then we are going to make them do it.


Here are some newspaper clippings showing me and my friends starting our fight with the corrupt management: