From the good-ol' print

There were two articles in the Hindustan Times (Dec 10) which I felt like reacting to.

The first one was a very relevant plea for attention towards sensibilities of the disabled. No surprize that that article is written by a Britisher. In India, we have become so used to witnessing misery, poverty and disability that it never strikes our subconscious when disability is used as a comic element in movies.

I never felt anything watching the scene in Om Shanti Om which makes fun of a limping character? Some of you may argue that no one is making fun of the disability but rather the character - well I think its a matter of sensibilities. The fact that we find a disabled character funny, clearly signifies we do not feel any pity and definitely no compassion towards the character. I am not surpized, no one in the censor board noticed this as well!!

The second article is actually a news item about Maharshtra Knowledge Corp - creating its own version of the Wikipedia. What amazes me is our habit of copying the west without thinking - we clearly never show any akal in our nakal.

What benifit will a different version of Wikipedia make. The article says -

if a teacher in a small town wants teach Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, all she has to do is log on to Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited website that is providing resource. The web page will provide information on Darwin, his life and factors that led to the basis of his theory

I beg to ask, what stops the teacher from doing the same thing by simply visiting the original Wikipedia rather than "our own" MH-KM-Corp's Wikipedia. Which exact problem are we solving here by creating a carbon copy of the Wikipedia when the original as well as the copy sit on the web?

It is not as if we are printing the text, so enabling offline access. Neither are we making it any simpler or easier to access the 'web' to connect to knowledge sources?? When we learn to emulate with wisdom??

Lets do something original here guys!!! Please lets think on our feet ...

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