A reasonable dream of a social scient student!

It is not surprising to find most vice-chancellors of Tamil Nadu belonging to Science streams. Very rarely we find it otherwise. The reason is quite straight - Their profiles are truly richer than their social science counterparts for no fault of the latter.

 

Some main reasons include; 

Science faculty publications: 

• More number of articles are being published by science stream faculty because number of journals available is more when compared to their social science streams 
• Journals prefer publishing empirical research than opinionated, analytical, descriptive, content-oriented and articulated ones as being carried out by social scientists.
• The impact factor and h-index and similar credits are therefore easily scored by the faculty of science. 
• Science being "only factual", the takers and readers are readily and uniformly available across the world - not the case for social science. 
• The association between scholars are easier for the above reasons and therefore the network is far more visible and wider.

Funds and Projects:

    As the number of publications is more for science professors, it is quite natural that they are more likely to receive funds and get approved of their projects with good flow of funds. 

Number of research scholars:

    With a good number of projects and continuous flow of funds in the hands of a guide, there is likely to be a continuous inward and outward movement of scholars thereby enriching the guide's resume with more number of scholars awarded Ph.D.  

Patents: 

How is this ever possible for a social scientist!!!!! 

 

Above these, there is always a stereotypical perspective that science departments, faculty members and students are superior. Unfortunately the fact is that the labs of science faculty are confined to walls and are kept in control by them by all means; whereas the whole society turns out to be the lab for social scientists. The latter is responsible for running governments across. Nothing can exist without an economist and a political scientist, to say the least.

In order to have better respect in the society, it has to start from higher educational institutions. A visionary from social science department in the top post could bring this change that would bring respect along. Not only respect, but also a hope to expand research, to apply theories real-time and to prove that they are in no way inferior to the "science" stream faculties. This change is much needed. Though this pattern is common in other parts of India and the world, it seems to be far fetched dream here.

Broker & Brokerage - Undesired Terms

As a student, one gets familiarized with the term "Broker" & "Brokerage" with the help of Mathematics teacher. Not many would like the subject as it involves a lot of understanding of the questions - most of them tend to be tricky - and quite a number of calculation. It is surprising to know that those terms become an inevitable part of our lives as we move to adulthood. Yet, Just like any other mathematical subject, very few teach the real life application of Broker & Brokerage. This leaves us blind while handing them for real.

The role of brokers gets different shape year after year and their role-strength increases proportionately. Brokers were predominantly seen in financial transaction in older days such as stock markets - due to lesser knowledge in the field, purchase of property and renting out a house. Nowadays, their roles have expanded - but not limited - to fixing marriages, admission in educational institutions and/or guaranteeing jobs - primarily in government and booking of tickets. 

As this get diversified, their presence is everywhere leaving oneself with no choice but to deal with them on routine basis. The everyday association with brokers is largely affecting the respect this job is supposed to hold as the true colors become obvious.

According to Oxford dictionary, definition of 'broker' is 'a person who buys and sells things for other people' and 'brokerage' is defined as 'an amount of money charged by a broker for a work that she/he does.' Sticking to this definition, one can easily make out that a broker is a person who has to make the job easier for both the seller and buyer and she/he is expected to play the role of a mediator. Similarly, brokerage is paid for the broker by both parties that are benefited out of this process. 

Who/What fixes this pay? Depending on the type of transaction, it could be a flat amount, a percentage of the transaction, or a combination of both. This get fixed at the time of process initiation - independently by the buyer and seller - in case of purchase or sale or the mediator in case of matters such as mutual funds and stock markets.

All these sound fair. So what goes wrong in this whole thing? Except for the professional brokers who are licensed by various bodies and stick to transparent financial transaction, the rest are off the track with no professional commitment. Invariably this is the case from the one that transacts the least to the one that does huge with political and economic background. If you happen to be a layperson, any single encounter with a broker in the neighbourhood is likely to drag you to a state of frustration and depression. The reasons include lack of transparency, manipulative talks and unfair promises. Unless sharp enough to understand the brokers' minds and read between their lines, you are trapped. And eventually lose your peace of mind. These might sound a little overboard for some. I insist you to get into a real conversation with a broker and realize it for yourself why the term 'broker' is not used in good sense in many places! 

Brokerage is not just another area of study but one with huge practical application. As we have lesser time to explore for oneself, lesser knowledge on where or what we are likely to plunge into and any hasty desire end up in trusting a broker who may or may not be reliant and trustworthy. 

The study of brokers and brokerage is a life lesson to be taught to everyone.

P.S.: if you are wondering if this post is a result of personal experience, of course, yes! Does not matter. Take it as a warning and stay alert!! 😊

Rain Play

Rain, tea and music are known to be the right combination for anyone to spend a good "me" time. And most of us love describing how nice it would be to play while it rains - thanks to romantic movies! "Us amidst pouring"" is something all of us would have imagined in some point in time. Yet very few would have really lived the moment.

 

This being the rainy season, it makes me think who really enjoys rain the most: May be Kids. Not sure, though.

There are many beautiful things attached to rain for all of us.

Pouring of water from nowhere💧

The amazing sound it brings out 😎

The earthy smell 😇

likely chances to get a day off from school 😄

The chance to remain cuddled in closed doors 💞 

power cut allowing to remain off our routing works 😉

Above these, every child (and the child in us) loves to play in rain. Ask them today, she or he would say a loud "Yes".

But are children really allowed to do so? Except for some unique species of parents, most of us give a firm "NO". The reason is common. The child might fall sick. This reason goes on till they finish their schooling because we are frightened primarily about our child's health. For parents of children in higher classes, its eventual impact on their performance in school.

Once we become adults, the desire to enjoy rain in literal sense slowly fades down as we tend to see it as an irresponsible act given our everyday duties and responsibilities. An adult is not allowed to fall sick or avail a sick leave by 'acting kiddish'. Come on, as kids we weren't allowed!!!

As we grow older, rain becomes a "undesired event" as it hinders household chores like drying clothes, shopping and reaching out to workplaces. Rain plays little role in our grandma and grandpa's lives.

There is only one phase in our whole life where we leave our inhibitions a little behind to enjoy rain - one's college days. Either with our friends or our partners. Yet, the society (including some friends & partners themselves) looks at it as "something odd" or goes to condemning sometimes.

Rain holds a very minimal romantic or fun or happy space in our real lives unlike movie portrayals and "rain play" always is an uncanny subject to our society!😕