Know the difference.

What do you say to a know-it-all lady with anger management issues?

Nothing.

You make an easily understandable no-nonsense poster for her.

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The unsolved mathematics behind replacing JEE and AIEEE with ISEET

Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Photo By: Mohi Narayan

Scrapping JEE and AIEEE is no joke. To what extent is it justified? One needs to ponder over it. What necessitates replacement of JEE with ISEET? And, why is this proposal being pushed in such a hurry?

Ministry of HRD has grievances – much to state the unexplainable stress management – against the pattern of JEE. There, Kapil Sibbal poses, in volumes, about (ISEET) Indian Science Engineering Eligibility Test. This new entrance exam, based on the lines of SAT, aims to unify multiple entrance examinations – not counting private engineering colleges which have yet not joined the “cause” as maintained by the minister – putting forth a question that how this step unifies the already hassle free AIEEE and JEE leaving aside hundreds of other entrance exams of different private institutes with a pair of ‘E’ at the end of their spellings.

Scrapping JEE and AIEEE is no joke. With such a step, one is deconstructing the gateways to the top institutions of the country, the IITs and the NITs. To what extent is it justified? The obvious reasons pointed out by Sibbal are as debatable as the ministry itself. One needs to ponder over it. What necessitates replacement of JEE with ISEET? Stress levels? Even the examinees hesitate to buy that. Doing away with multiple entrance exams? Bring private institutions under it.

Ignored by the ministry, India has been facing dilution of private institutions which could have stood tall with the IITs. The reasons are more obvious than those pointed out against JEE. Admissions are largely invited under the management quota for which parents pay gaily. Moreover, the government seems to be too ignorant to notice the ever increasing number of engineering colleges across the country – without proper structure and faculty – producing a mammoth pool of less competent engineers. Parents are ready to pay even for those. Education mafia in India has penetrated deep into the minds of the ignorant mass. And, everyone seem to have got accustomed with it. Needless to infer that the future awaits more unemployed youth.

The ministry, however, is obtuse about all other affairs and seems to be more concerned about scrapping JEE to reduce stress levels and to reduce number of coaching centers – another issue magically coined by them. The latter appears to be doubtful as advertisements of ISEET coaching have already been set afloat in the “markets”. The former, on the other hand, would lead us to one of the profound implications of introducing aptitude test in engineering entrance exams: the ministry must have had constructively planned to recruit new faculty at IITs and NITs who would indulge into teaching graphs and fundamentals of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics to the students possessed of aptitude. Faculty is yet another thorny issue that this front has been facing since years. Not just the IITs, almost all the Universities are malfunctioning in acute shortage of proper faculty.

There was no need to disturb the well established and the most reputed, oldest chain of educational institutions of the country. The ministry could have proposed recruitment of quality faculty or any step to raise the standards of private institutions would have been a much more sensible and appreciable effort. And, why this proposal is being pushed in such a hurry? It took the Janlokpal over 60 years and few fast unto death fiascos to come into light, after all.

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Avengers. IMAX 3D Dubai. Shit just got Real!

And before I begin, let me give a humble advice to all. If you want to try the IMAX 3D experience, choose superhero movies. Or better choose superheroes’ movie.

Or best, choose The Avengers.

I have seen quite a lot of 3D movies before, and more often than not, have returned home either with a ringing headache or a thoroughly unsatisfied experience, thanks to the blurry flimsy 3D glasses that apologize for having sat on your nose.

But this movie in IMAX 3D, as Captain America says for Loki, “grows on you.”

Script-wise, there is nothing new. The same old story – one earth with powerless junta, one super-crazy villain desperate to rule them all, only to be defeated by a bunch of guys with superhuman powers, who happen to be at the right place at the right time.

Now, add to this bland cliché of a story a sensible development, portrayal and handling of the individual characters of the superheroes. They are not an army. The are one-man-army. All of them. You see them individually. It feels the right way, as if every superhero is unbeatable in his own might, instead of being in a forced hierarchy.

Captain America (Chris Evans) looks alienated as ever, getting nostalgic about the war era he actually belongs to. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is strong, and he’s proud of being a God. It shows. Hawkeye plays different anyways, as he fights for Loki in most parts of the movie. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) impresses with her interrogating powers.

But three characters surface real good in the movie.

The first is my favorite, (drumrolls begin) the Ferric Sherlock Holmes of an actor, Mr. Robert Downey Jr. ( drum rolls end). This stubborn rich narcissist genius pervert version of a Superhero is something that Bruce Wayne has lacked since ever. (I feel Iron Man matches the humor and wits of the Joker better, but that’s a different story all together, and that’s a different comic universe too for that matter!) Iron man is an instrumental (pun intended; poor; ignorable) character in Avengers, both in action and witty dialogues. You’d enjoy the movie more if you’re a RD Jr. fan, like me.

The second is the incredible Hulk/ Dr. Banner (Mark Ruffalo). Ruffalo replaces Edward Norton in this flick. This Hulk is a bit more intelligent ( or less dumb, to say it in a better way), and it turns out that he has learnt a way to control his emotions ( sniff sniff… another hulk sequel on the cards?)

Ruffalo fits Hulk. In a strange way. May be it’s the immense calm on his face, stemming out of the assurance of raw power inside.

And finally, we have none other than Loki. The Loki. The adopted son of a God! Tom Hiddleston plays Loki in this movie in a subtler, graver way. You can smell the hunger for power, the jealousy for respect and the hunt for approval which would feed his self esteem at last. People are saying that they saw a hint of Joker in him.

The meticulousness, yes. The humor, No.

But Loki anyways doesn’t  crack satirical jokes. He wears a two horned helmet and is dead serious about ruling the earth. You cannot and should not compare two super-villains whose motives are very different. The joker was a mad dog running after cars, remember?

All in all, a power packed flick. There are some lows in the movie, like, you wonder what the hell is the Black Widow doing among the Super-Guys, when she’s neither a Superhuman, nor a crazy genius of a scientist (She’s an overhyped spy). Cobie Smulders (our favorite Robin) has been terribly wasted. And the plot becomes very predictable when the US army launches a nuclear missile!

Nevertheless, these small tid bits are taken care of when you add to it all the amazing experience of IMAX 3D.

I remember jumping back in my seat when the Hawk-eye shot an arrow right into my eye-balls right inside  the one and only IMAX 3D theater of the entire United Arab Emirates.

And I swear it almost hit me in my left eye!!!

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