Inked Thoughts

The G.O.A.T. : Greatest of All Times

Fauja Singh He lived with his wife in his village in Jalandhar, and moved to London in 1992 to live with his son after his wife’s death. The death of his son Kuldip and earlier of his wife forced him to search for a worthwhile alternative in life. And he says "At the time when people start retiring, I thought of running at the age of 63...and today I won the marathon at 93 years of age.” [Marathon record: for age 90-plus, is 5 hours 40 minutes, at the age of 92, at the 2003 Toronto Waterfront Marathon.] In 2011, he participated in the Toronto Waterfront Full Marathon successfully in 8 hours 11minutes. [Singh became the first 100 year old to finish a marathon.] In this ripened age, he never stopped adding feather to his hat. The recent one being carrying the 2012 Olympic torch. Diana Nyad Nyad was born in New York City on August 22, 1949. Her father died when she was three and her mother soon remarri...

Ambedkar’s definition of great man Sincerity and intellect are enough to mark out an individual as being eminent….A great man must have something more than what merely eminent individual has. A great man must be motivated by the dynamics of a social purpose and must act as the scourge and the scavenger of society. These are the elements (that) constitute his title deeds to respect and reverence. (From Ambedkar’s speech on the birth centenary of social reformer, M.G. Ranade in 1943)

UNESCOs definition for a World Heritage Site (WHS) Four Points to be slotted into one of these categories, a potential WHS would need to, (according to UNESCO) : UNESCO defines a WHS as a place or environment of “great significance” or meaning to mankind. It may be a living urban city or a rural settlement, a natural landscape (an underground cave, for instance), a forest or a water body, an archaeological site (where excavations have revealed relics of the past) or a geological phenomenon. Thus, it could be a natural site, a cultural site (which would be a traditional man-made settlement representative of a culture or cultures resulting from human interaction with the environment), or a site that’s a mix of both. 1)  Be of outstanding universal value which would be reflected in the historic, social, scientific, aesthetic and/or spiritual value of the place to mankind. 2)  display progressive dev...

Nothing is so common as unsuccessful men with talent. They lack only determination.

"One Has to Keep Chasing Dreams Till They Come True" Under Article 80(3) of the Constitution, 12 persons may be nominated to the Rajya Sabha if they fall under the specified categories, namely “literature, science, art and social services”. Nomination is recognition of a person’s capacity to enhance the deliberative processes by reason of his eminence and experience in his particular discipline. The underlying philosophy of nomination to the Rajya Sabha is that some persons eminent in their respective fields are not inclined to plunge into the tumult and turbulence of an election nor have the requisite time, energy and resources to fight a successful election with all that it involves. Yet the presence of such eminent persons in the Rajya Sabha would be beneficial, as it would raise the quality and level of deliberations by reason of their contribution to the debates. A nominated membe...

Private schools differ vastly in terms of the quality of education they provide.  Why? 1.  There are serpentine queues from the early hours of the morning for admissions into kindergarten in a few reputed schools. ·                          2. The scramble for seats is evidence of the dearth of quality education.  ·                    3. Just herding children into private schools is not going to ensure their learning unless                    teachers are sensitised and trained to deal with children with different profiles .  Three factors abroad: Why government and private schools need to implement systemic changes?  We cannot overlook the fact that our educational system, both government and private, is in need of serious overhaul. In 2007, McKinsey a...