It’s a great achievement !!

Congratulations to all the three achievers.

We must not forget that he is an American and NOT an Indian. We can always celebrate great achievements of people, but we must know that wrongful claim of proprietorship of achievers is shameful.

For example, we would never see Ireland jump up and down like India if an American of Irish descend wins the Nobel Prize.

India can really rejoice if an Indian, working in India achieved such a glorious feat. Unfortunately, India has a long distance to go before that happens.

Read what a scientist has to say on this

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/scientist-says-india-lacks-facilities-to-win-nobel-prize/102883-11.html

Congratulations for American Indian scientist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan has won the 2009 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, along with American Thomas A Steitz and Isreali scientist Ada E Yonath.

I wonder why a few Indian born nationals achieve and excel in such honourrs and encomia i comparison to foreign born citizens? Take for example, in Olympic Games fortunately we have one gold medal. In inventions and discoveries, only Western and Europians excel both in science and arts. What is the secret we lag much behind? Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams are Indian origin but US born.
The fact is that in India every thing is mixed with politics. It is learnt if an eminent scienstist has to be recommended for any higher pursuits,he/she has to be under the control of government policies. It is said many eminent and able sportsmen are not provided air fares and allowances in time. Many sports persons do not have sufficient nutrient diets and coaching. Many scientist working hard are not provided sufficient equipements and materials in time for their research. It is understood that such system to get successful is under many unnecessary rules and regulation where the time is being lost and politics plays a major role.

Thanks Shafee for exposing some of the harsh realities in this regard.

Vishnu,

Yes,he is an American but can you deny his Indian roots ? Let’s not forget he deserves a pat on his back irrespective of his nationality !!

Who says we are lagging behind? We just found water on Moon!

And let’s forget about nationality. It’s an achievement for the whole humaninty.

Why we have a few scienstists,fortunate enough to have one gold medal. We are proud of Indian scientist discovering water in the moon.Please don’t bring nationality issue here. It’s purely a discussion on technicality factors. Take the ”who is who” list in invention and and discoveries. Who is topping the list. Why not we Indians. We must think how to excel the others and what are our draw backs. Not negative and destructive criticism. The answer is we are far behind in time management. Time is one our life is made up of. If we squanderit,life’s precious things are lost. Please don’t politicise it.

”And let’s forget about nationality. It’s an achievement for the whole humaninty.”

That’s exactly what I meant to say when I wrote ”We can always celebrate great achievements of people...” I also added that we must stop claiming ’India proprietorship’ of the great scientist just because he is of Indian ethnicity through words or actions. I find this as a very embarrassing act by my fellow countrymen.

Arvind -

Kalpana Chawla would have never become the astronaut she was if she were in India. By saying that I mean to say that riding piggyback on other nation’s infrastructure and technology does not make a country great. Rakesh Sharma would never have got the chance to become a cosmonaut if the erstwhile USSR was not kind enough.

And yes, V Ramkrishnan does deserve all the applause and praise for his hard work and glorious achievements. The Nobel is just another prize in my books. It is marred with controversies and allegations of bias towards certain nations.

Did you know Winston Churchill got the Nobel Prize for Literature where as the biggest icon of peace in modern times Mahatma Gandhi never got the Nobel Peace Prize?

I will discuss a few stories on how Indians were deprived of the Nobel Prize they so well deserved later on.

The bottom line is that we must take the ’greatness’ of the prize with a pinch of salt. As I said, for me (and I am sure for millions others) the Nobel Prize is just another international award in recognition of some good work and achievements. There is nothing to be overly proud of.

Take a cue from Gulzar as how he was so lukewarm on getting the Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire. Yes, Oscar is also just another prize.

@Vishnu

Long time back I had also written a post regarding India’s obsession with awards given by the Western world.In fact,on a different site I had written about Nobel Committee’s biased attitude towards Gandhi.Surprisingly, Martin Luther King was awarded Nobel for the very same principles cherished by Gandhi !!

However,having said that,let’s not forget that we can learn a lot from achievements of others.We can resurrect our principles besides reshaping our ways and means.We cannot overlook the brilliance existing in foreign lands or for that matter achievements of people belonging to different nationality.

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K.R.Ravi in his latest article has made an interesting observation.

On the contrary when I sent an email about this and pointed out the sad fact of our homegrown talent being unable to bag such honours I was inundated with the predictable reactions: There is discrimination against Indians, Why are we so obsessed with the Nobel or Oscar or any international recognition? It is our inferiority complex at work here etc etc.

http://createravi.instablogs.com/entry/indian-nobel-prize-winner/
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In other words,it’s true that we should not get shaped in ideals chased by Western world and above all should not use their parameters to measure our worth.However,that’s an altogether a different case.I am just stating that at least we should make room for Homespun geniuses by providing them all sorts of facilities, opportunities and also due recognition.That can only happen when we keep our minds and eyes open.Let’s honour the achievements of others to make way for similar phenomenons in our land.

Long time back I saw a movie ” Ek Doctor Ki Maut”...See that movie to realize that in present India the only reward for a genius is untimely tragic death !!

Quite a lot people think of physical hygiene.They take care of heart and all the parts body below the head. None cares about mental hygiene. And what are the preventive measure for mental well being.Most of our Indian brains are easily tired. Our nutrients are polluted with wrong and cheap fertilisers,milk man uses steroid injuctions to the milch cow.All food materials adulterated. Fruits are ripened within a day by carcinogenic items instead of natural ripening. Roads are filled with fossil fuel pollutants,no potable water,even what is sold as bottled water is spurious and list is long and nothing is unknown to any one but are passive spectators to the most controlling authorities are corrupt. Only such kind of fraud merchants and bogus fellows speak about nationality and are prime politicians. The kill the people indirectly.

Most educated persons are habituated to wrong diets. They don’t even know what are the anti oxidants,which vegetables are rich in vitamins,proteins,mineral,fats and carbohydrates.

In early morning,if we see in a much populaed area,a fifty persons will be walking briskly and rest are(thousands)may be sleeping with good snore. I wonder people eat much,(carbohydrate)not caring for less fat and more minerals and vitamins. By the age of 40 most of our Indian brothers and sister look aged. You just see any one’s eye if a fat pocket below,be sure the person is getting prematurely ageing. Most pathetic news is that we are most backward economically and educationally with a population 100 crore plus.

I have seen most people never agreeing to the facts but ending with in vain arguments which peps blood pressure. Most people do not know that they have blood pressure at all and how dangerous it is. In short, most people are not health consious,particularly mental health. All these things mentioned above are rare in western,european,and Japanese countries. Though they smoke and alcoholic,their diet(rich of anti oxidants)their QUALITY SLEEP,their entertainment,pollution free atmosphere,help them to keep their brain fit. Three things I have learnt from them are that we must have three doctors with us. ”DOCTOR FIT DIET,DOCTOR QUIET,DOCTOR MERRY MAN”. One last thing I could suggest is,”be engaged neurologially(Brain work)in positive attitude. One can easily escape from Parkinson’s Syndrome,and Alzhimmer’s disease,a condition that totally destroys neurones(nerve cells)which are plaguing fast in epidemic way as the age advances.

Shafeeji,you have hit the nail on the head !! Keep it up!!

Arvind,
You? Bravo

@Arvind:

Nice to see some healthy debate going on here. Ek Doctor Ki Maut left a profound impact on me. I watched it as a young boy. Pankaj Kapoor was brilliant. It was based on a true story though the movie had a relatively happy ending than what the real case was.

In fact, my brother and me discussed the movie only yesterday. I asked him to check whether its DVD is available at BigFlix today.

What a coincidence!

@Jayanta

Glad to feel your presence in form of your comment !! It’s not always ”coincidence” my friend.The laws of nature are mysterious and we human beings just have few incomplete phrases to encircle it!! May be this ”coincidence” is indicative of something special that exists between us :-)

Anyway,I was greatly disturbed for some days when I saw this movie in my teen period.The movie enabled me to intercept gross realities of life with a changed perspective.I am saying so because in my teenage years anything dark used to leave me in state of shock !!

I will soon post an article on Pankaj Kapoor.If you get time do have a look at it!!

Hi Arvind,

It felt absolutely fantastic to find you here after such a long time. Actually, don’t get much time to come here these days.

Please do mail me whenever you come out with your post on Pankaj Kapoor. He is amongst my all time favourite actors.

I am looking forward for it.

Cheers!