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Showing posts from January, 2011

Democracy and Dissent

As I write this post, a lot is happening in the world. Tunisia recently saw its people force its President to flee the nation and thus usher a new era of welfare and development policies. Egypt is following suit as thousands of people protest on streets against the President Hosni Mubarak who has become a dictator. The oppressive regime of 30 years has infuriated the people to rise against him. As of now, Mr Mubarak is holding to it and has been unrelenting to the demands of the protestors. There is a clampdown including disruption of internet, strict actions against protestors and any action that could intimidate the people. They are projecting a state in chaos if the Mubarak Government concedes to their demand. While the face-off between the two sides continue, we would have to wait and watch what comes out of this. This leads to some serious questions. Was it some recent incidences which led to the current Egyptian revolution or was it a process of accumulated grievances. If the pe

Quizzing

There was a time when I used to love quizzes. I used to answer the questions posed at me and I took pride in answering them. Soon I realized that I had decent knowledge about India but when it comes to world, I am as good as anyone. I did participate in few quizzes in school and won as well (not necessarily because of my contribution). Nevertheless, I came to college and I actively participated in quizzes. Oh I know some answers, I helped my team get some score but every time I did not clear the preliminary round. It was sad but I did not lose hope. I persevered for a complete one year before realizing it was futile. I had to either get a partner whose knowledge complements me (world, sports, entertainment) or I had to raise my comfort level in the weaker fields. Unfortunately, I failed in both and lost interest in quizzes. Despite this, I did seldom frequent quizzes. After all these years when it's almost time to say goodbye to college, something unbelievable happened. We cleared