Life at Madras University

Our university campus is a splendor when watched from the marina road side. Its ancient architecture which stands majestically even after so many years is a treat to watch. The main conference hall which stands right at the entrance catches my attention daily as I pass by it. The huge pillars are so adorable that I wonder daily as to how they would have built it.

But as I walk down from the main gate to my department (which is at the end) I find a clear cut difference between the buildings which were built by the British and us. Those built by the British have a manly look on them whereas ours lack those adorable looks. I find that trees in and around the campus is not sufficient. I find the campus so small that its borders can be covered by a mere 20 minute walk around it.

As usual and not to my surprise as all the other government offices are, this campus is so very dirty and the restrooms stinks as I have to walk pass two bathrooms every day to reach the department. After passing through all these things, I find it so difficult to even enter my class room as it in the size of my bedroom in which we have a music system, a computer, tables and chairs which are used by the thesis books submitted by former students, and the rest of my classmates standing like guards for those lifeless things.

The instruction for us on day 1 was:

1. You have to be present in class exactly at 10

2. Classes will be conducted daily between 10 and 5 O' clock

3. If u come even a minute late, attendance will not be given

4. One of our professors says: even if we ask you to die, you should say ok and go. Then u can come later on and ask WHY? (It means we should be so obedient and willing to do anything they say) (Government illa…. Adha than….)

5. Every week you should do a presentation on some book. Everybody should take a book from the library and read ..... and so on......

So I thought to myself that these people will do accordingly and I started coming to classes regularly at 10 sharp everyday. But there were no signs of anybody taking any class for a few days. Suddenly a professor comes to our class one day in the afternoon and asks us to arrange the thesis done by the previous year students and jolt it down category wise. He wanted us to write a summary for each book and make a data base on the system. He said that it was our assignment. Suddenly as we were doing that work, another professor comes in after a few days and tells: Why do you have to do these things? It’s not necessary and most of these thesis don’t carry any good. So confused again, we stopped doing anything.

The one who gave us this assignment came to our class only twice n spoke nothing but only about assignments. The other class is (I think film studies) its not in our syllabus and we are forced to watch movies which I have watched it over and over again both in my UG days as well as in my PG days which was then a part of my curriculum.

I miss heaven, my MCC days. Never will those golden days come back in my life.

Now after all these things we squeeze back into our tinny little room (our class room) and breathe some fresh air, a student or some Professor comes in and tell us: why are you all making so much noise? Can’t you keep quite? (“finger on your lips” treatment would be better).

But still life goes on and should go on for a year more.

East of West “MCC” is the best always…..

Petrathan Pillaiya ??? (World AIDS day)

December 1, World AIDS day, as we remember today, many are travelling the unknown path with this killer disease called AIDS. A sudden fear of death gripped the hearts of mankind when this deadly disease was first detected in Haiti USA in 1981. Since then, over a 2 million deaths have been reported due to this disease and many more unaccounted deaths too.

Our land is also one of the most effected places due to this killer disease. HIV has spread among the general population in India because the epidemic has followed the 'type 4' pattern. This is where new infections occur first among the most vulnerable populations (such as injecting drug users and female sex workers), then spread to 'bridge' populations (clients of sex workers and sexual partners of drug users) and then finally enter the general population. Most of the people becoming infected are in the sexually active and economically productive 15 to 44 age group. This means that most people living with HIV are in the prime of their working lives. Many are supporting families.

Statistics say that there are more than 2500 children in Chennai who are affected with AIDS. There are much more in fact even double the amount of children who are actually affected and are unaccounted for and do not fall under any category which means they are not eligible for any benefits provided by the government or any other NGO’s. These children do not even get the basic attention which other HIV effected children get.

The biggest concern is that our country has one of the lowest treatment coverage rates; with only 7 out of a hundred people infected with the disease get access to life-saving antiretroviral drugs. India has the highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS and 70% of HIV infections in Asia. But only 7% of people infected with the virus have access to treatment. The only bit of good news is that HIV prevalence among young men and women in southern India appears to have dropped in recent years.

However our government has hopes to diagnose and treat hundreds of very young HIV-positive children under the National Paediatric HIV/AIDS Initiative. It will also free paediatric dosages of anti-retroviral medicines to children living with this disease. Finally our government has launched a specific programme to treat children living with HIV/AIDS that will for the first time in the country allow children under the age of 18 months to be diagnosed. According to an official estimates, 202,000 Indian children are currently infected with HIV and about 56,700 HIV-infected children are born every year.

What are we going to do to save this set of people from destruction? We are all the children of this earth and it is our responsibility to save others and many AIDS effected children. There are many schemes launched by our government and other NGO’s to protect these people. We could also lend a helping hand along with our fellow strong men towards this noble cause. You can adopt a child, or help a family, or take care of an elderly person.

“ Petrathan Pillaiya” is a campaign which was launched this year which grabbed my attention towards it. May be the name of the campaign or the way in which they launched it because kamal Hassan donated Rs. 750000 which will be used as premium to be paid through which 1000 HIV affected children will come under a pension scheme. But nothing of that matters if you and I start fighting against this killer and save the lost and the redeem them back to the light. Petrathan Pillaiya? Even other wise adopt a child as yours and lend out a helping hand for them.

Jokes from the Internet

Beer cans

Scientists in the United States revealed that beer contains small traces of female hormones.
To prove their theory, they fed one hundred men twelve pints of beer and observed that 100% of them started talking nonsense and couldn't drive.

A very depressed man

There's a man sitting at a bar just looking at his drink. He stays like that for half an hour. Then, a big trouble-making truck driver steps next to him, takes the drink from the guy, and just drinks it all down.

The poor man starts crying. The truck driver says, "Come on man, I was just joking. Here, I'll buy you another drink. I just can't stand seeing a man crying."

"No, it's not that. This day is the worst of my life. First, I fall asleep, and I'm late to my office. My boss, in an outrage, fires me. When I leave the building to my car, I found out it was stolen. The police say they can do nothing. I get a cab to return home and when I leave it, I remember I left my wallet and credit cards there. The cab driver just drives away. I go home and when I get there, I find my wife sleeping with the gardener. I leave home and come to this bar. And when I was thinking about putting an end to my life, you show up and drink my poison."

Where is this bus going?

A drunken man gets on the bus late one night, staggers up the aisle, and sits next to an elderly woman.
She looks the man up and down and says, "I've got news for you. You're going straight to hell!"
The man jumps up out of his seat and shouts, "Man, I'm on the wrong bus!"

Does your dog bite?

A man walks into a pub and sits down next to a man with a dog at his feet. "Does your dog bite?"
"No."
A few minutes later the dog takes a huge chunk out of his leg.
"I thought you said your dog didn't bite!" the man says indignantly.
"That's not my dog."

The wife is not speaking to me

One night, this guy come into a bar and asks the bartender for a drink. Then he asks for another. After a couple more drinks, the bartender gets worried.
"What's the matter?" the bartender asks.
"My wife and I got into a fight," explained the guy "and now she isn't talking to me for a whole 31 days."
The bartender thought about this for a while. "But, isn't it a good thing that she isn't talking to you?" asked the bartender.
"Yeah, except today is the last night."

I get so drunk that I imagine things

The drunk was floundering down the alley carrying a box with holes on the side. He bumped into a friend who asked, "What do you have in there, pal?"
"A mongoose."
"What for?"
"Well, you know how drunk I can get. When I get drunk I see snakes, and I'm scared to death of snakes. That's why I got this mongoose, for protection."
"But," the friend said, "you idiot! Those are imaginary snakes."
"That's okay," said the drunk, showing his friend the interior of the box, "So is the mongoose."

Someone really stinks

A young couple were on their honeymoon. The husband was sitting in the bathroom on the edge of the bathtub saying to himself, "Now how can I tell my wife that I've got really smelly feet and that my socks absolutely stink? I've managed to keep it from her while we were dating, but she's bound to find out sooner or later that my feet stink. Now how do I tell her?"

Meanwhile, the wife was sitting in the bed saying to herself, "Now how do I tell my husband that I've got really bad breath? I've been very lucky to keep it from him while we were courting, but as soon as he's lived with me for a week, he's bound to find out. Now how do I tell him gently?"

The husband finally plucks up enough courage to tell his wife and so he walks into the bedroom. He walks over to the bed, climbs over to his wife, puts his arm around her neck, moves his face very close to hers and says, "Darling, I've a confession to make."

And she says, "So have I, love."

To which he replies, "Don't tell me, you've eaten my socks."

Someone stole things from me

A drunk phoned police to report that thieves had been in his car. "They've stolen the dashboard, the steering wheel, the brake pedal, the radio, and even the accelerator," he cried out.

However, before the police investigation could start, the phone rang a second time and the same voice came over the line. "Never mind," he said with a hiccup, "I got in the back seat by mistake."

I Want to Buy That

A blonde goes into a nearby store and asks a clerk if she can buy the TV in the corner.
The clerk looks at her and says that he doesn't serve blondes, so she goes back home and dyes her hair black.
The next day she returns to the store and asks the same thing, and again, the clerk said he doesn't serve blondes.
Frustrated, the blonde goes home and dyes her hair yet again, to a shade of red.
Sure that a clerk would sell her the TV this time, she returns and asks a different clerk this time.
To her astonishment, this clerk also says that she doesn't serve blondes.
The blonde asks the clerk, "How in the world do you know I am a blonde?"
The clerk looks at her disgustedly and says,"That's not a TV -- it's a microwave!"

Blonde Car Accident

One day, while a blonde was out driving her car, she ran into a truck.
The truck's driver made her pull over into a parking lot and get out of the car.
He took a piece of chalk and drew a circle on the pavement. He told her to stand in the middle and not leave the circle.
Furious, he went over to her car and slashed the tires.
The blonde started laughing.
This made the man angrier so he smashed her windshield.

This time the blonde laughed even harder.
Livid, the man broke all her windows and keyed her car.
The blonde is now laughing hysterically, so the truck driver asks her what's so funny.
The blonde giggles and replies, "When you weren't looking, I stepped out of the circle three times!"

I'm going ice fishing!

A blonde who got a fishing rod for her birthday decided to go ice fishing to make good use of her gift. Early the next morning, she got all her gear together and headed out to the ice.

When she reached her final destination, she cut a large hole in the ice and dipped the rod in. Then suddenly she heard a voice that said: "There are no fish in there".

So she moves to another spot and cuts another hole, but then the same voice spoke again and told her there were no fish in there.

So she moves again, and the voice tells her there are no fish in there. So she looks up and sees an irritated man staring down at her.

"How do you know there are no fish there?" asks the blonde.

So the man cooly says "Well first of all, this is a hockey rink, and second of all, you're going to have to pay for those holes."

Blondes change a lightbulb

Three blondes are attempting to change a light bulb. One of them decides to call 911:
Blonde: We need help. We're three blondes changing a light bulb.
Operator: Hmmmmm. You put in a fresh bulb?
Blonde: Yes.
Operator: The power in the house in on?
Blonde: Of course.
Operator: And the switch is on?
Blonde: Yes, yes.

Operator: And the bulb still won't light up?
Blonde: No, it's working fine.
Operator: Then what's the problem?
Blonde: We got dizzy spinning the ladder around, and we all fell and hurt ourselves.

How many sheep do I have?

There once was a blonde who was very tired of blonde jokes and insults directed at her intelligence.
So, she cut and dyed her hair, got a make-over, got in her car, and began driving around in the country.
Suddenly, she came to a herd of sheep in the road. She stopped her car and went over to the shepherd who was tending to them.
"If I can guess the exact number of sheep here, will you let me have one?" she asked.
The shepherd, thinking this was a pretty safe bet, agreed.
"You have 171 sheep," said the blonde in triumph.
Surprised, the shepherd told her to pick out a sheep of her choice.
She looked around for a while and finally found one that she really liked.
She picked it up and was petting it when the shepherd walked over to her and asked, "if I can guess your real hair color, will you give me my sheep back?"
The blonde thought it was only fair to let him try. "You're a blonde! Now give me back my dog."

There was a man who said, "I never knew what happiness was until I got married...and then it was too late!

The tradition at weddings

A little boy, at a wedding looks at his mom and says, "Mommy, why does the girl wear white?"
His mom replies, "The bride is in white because she's happy and this is the happiest day of her life."
The boy thinks about this, and then says, "Well then, why is the boy wearing black?"

Why can't you be like that?

Jill tells her husband, "Jack, that young couple that just moved in next door seem such a loving twosome. Every morning, when he leaves the house, he kisses her goodbye, and every evening when he comes homes, he brings her a dozen roses.
Now, why can't you do that?"

"Gosh," Jack says, "why I hardly know the girl."