THE SALTED WEAPON OF THE WEAK.

Now that we are nearing the end of the term, let me reflect on a reading I really liked.. 'Weapons of the Weak'- . The weapons mentioned in this reading are visible only in highly intelligent life forms.( I guess worker-bees are not 'there' yet) . Our family once had a servant who was good at household chores. But whenever my mother tried to teach her a new recipe, she always feigned her ignorance at cooking. And if that didn't work, she used to subtly over-salt the dish so that we would never like it and ask her to cook it again. Really Smart, I say!

Reflecting on Naxal violence through Freire’s lens

Naxalism is one of the biggest problems affecting this nation. One of the reasons that no end seems at sight is because of the inability of the government and the naxals to enter into a dialogue. Both want to name the world in a way the other is not willing to accept. Both refuse dialogue for the fear that the other will use it to dominate. Also so caught up in the idea of revolution naxals are, that there is no reflection, just activism .The act of revolt has become more central than the cause.

The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself

Colochel war, fought between erstwhile Travancore and the Dutch resulted in the defeat of Dutch. They never recovered from the defeat and no longer posed a large colonial threat to India. The story goes that the fishermen in Travancore were ordered by the King to stand along the beach in multiple rows with their oars kept along the shoulders so that it would appear like soldiers with guns. It is said that this frightened the Dutch army and led to their failure. If the story is true, then this is an example of the ninth rule of tactics.

MAKING OF CAC POSTER:PRM 30 SHOWS COLLECTIVE ACTION

The exam season is just 2 days away.The entire janta is loaded with Herculean loads of assignments .But submittion of CAC poster came as real jolt to the entire batch.There were show -stoppers to the ordinaries(read me) in the batch who didnot know even how to draw a line.But then came some collective action within the whole batch as all of us shared ideas among ourselves. Also we got together to get our print outs in the computer centre by tendering a special request to the CC .All of us were found running from one room to another asking for this thing or that.The postors were finally ready early in the morning (some of us had finished making the posters in the night itself)after a late night binge and some collective action among the batch members .Though the posters were supposed to be made individually ,but the support and help of each of the class mates had gone into the making of each poster.The satisfaction of creating something was clearly visible on each of our faces as we put up the posters for display in the class room complex .The posters were appreciated by all.Our collective efforts had finally borne fruits.It was a rocking show .Great job PRM 30!!!!

An equation for success of a collective action

The equation for success of a collective action can be written as :

SUCCESS OF A COLLECTIVE ACTION = MUTUAL SELF INTEREST + RESPONSE TO A SHARED THREAT

on reading this equation we can conclude that unless and until there is mutual self interest in responding to a shared threat, a successful collective action cannot come into existence. This can be proved by various examples. One being, on realising that the severe threat to earth's ecology would spell doom for all the countries alike, the respective governments have started meeting to decide about the plans for ecological conservation.

SHASHVAT SINGH (30044)

power is not only what you have

The first rule of power tactics talks about the difference between ‘power’ and ‘what it is made out to be’. It is a common sight in India, where right before elections, there is a mad rush to mobilize supporters for one’s own party. We see leaders in the hinterland trying to collect funds to get as many cars, vehicles, and even elephants for their campaign! All this is done just to show the opposition the strength of one’s support among the masses!

How effective all this is in the Indian context, is my question..

Suyash

p30050

a contradict truth

in india lots of unsung hero happened. but no body knows them . but why on government expenditure  we glorify nehru family. why important institute on their name .when a army fight only people know the commander but a small soldier who makes the commander glorify. are we lacking a leader who comes from ground works? why looks a family for providing leadership ? we have to think ? are we so ineligible to do it ?