Digital Natives

Athens 450 B.C.E. was the cultural centre. Greek philosophy took a new direction. Interest was now focused on the individual and the individual’s place in the society with popular assembly and court of law democracy evolved. In order of democracy to work people had to be educated to take part in the democratic process. Thus for the Athenian it became very crucial for them to master the art of rhetoric and the sophist did just that. And from the time of Plato’s “academy” education started. Different cultures across the world are nothing but a constant struggle to stabilize the existing society. And across history we have seen various dimensions of education evolving. Education acted as a “social parent” where in it trained us to be the honourable recipient of the modern state craft. Staying on the relation between democracy and education, education invested in us the spirit of citizenship because there was this notion that left to ourselves we would be a very in-disciplined lot. Till the eighteenth century church held the monopoly of education and the so called “training of morality”. A major shift was noticed when the universities took over the function of the church in terms of education. But education by and large was a tool used to stabilize culture and to stabilize society. With developmental economy coming into the picture, and institutions like Humboldt and Shanti Nikhatan an emphasis on self knowledge was emphasised. These institutions questioned the whole structure of learning. In our present day context cyber space is doing the same thing in a more radical way. It has stripped down the medium of communication wherein the individual is unhindered by the boundries of nation, state, class and gender.
In the initial classes Digital Natives challenged the basic structure of a classroom. It questioned the student’s role of acting as a recipient of knowledge and at the same time questioned the role of a teacher too. It also argued on the whole notion of ‘meritocracy’ and looked at the impact of peer to peer learning in cyberspace. It also questioned the internet’s elitist mode of functioning especially in the realms of academics. With India progressing towards being a “welfare state” and with the recent ‘right to education bill 2009’, public examination going online and the country’s very strong inclination towards globalization we are no longer in a position to choose whether we want technology or not . In the survey which I would first emphasis on the four A’s that the U.N. projected on its right to education which is Availability Accessibility Acceptability Adaptability (U.N.). Secondly I would like to know the impact that the cyber space is making on our lives and identity. The status message in social networking sites is a prime example. Some post how their day was like, some quote, some express their anger and so on. Everyone engrossed in their own world. Irrespective of what I feel about these status messages it gives us this window of expression that is basically not controlled by “civilized” notion of so called reason that we have to fit into. With Internet fostering a new dynamics of interactivity and unprecedented ability to form new forms of social relations the degree of nation state to an extraordinary degree in recent times. But then again to go by Jhon Perry’s argument against internet as a ‘essential laboratory’ a profound degree of subjectivity can be witnessed within the realms of academics itself, on one hand we have this basic structure of “meritocracy” on which our future depends on and on the other hand with cyber culture in into the classrooms a challenge against the metaphysical assumption of “being educated” can be sensed, providing room for imagination within academics. Mr. Pinto’s experiment of using blogs in education has emphasised the use of internet both locally (in Christ) and in a global manner. This has been a case with various social movements too. Thus cyber space has opened up new possibilities to fashion subjectivity as fluid, decentred and heterogeneous. Julian Stallabrass’s argues that cyberspace not only reduces everything to calculable, quantifiable, exchangeable and sailable bits of information commodities but also becomes a commodification in which both objects and subjects are captured. He demystifies the ideology of a cyberspace as a false promise to bring a more liberal, democratic and free society. In the survey I would also like to highlight a bit of Marxist tradition of social criticism directing towards an inherent inequality of cyberspace in distributing social resources among different class and gender. A point of argument I would stress upon is the communication situation fostered by cyberspace will reduce forms of identity to mere signs floating freely in transmission and exchange on the net.
Ashif Ali.

Extract: - A day from my Daily Journal

I am in the library. It seems to have been my best place in college. What do I do in here I really don’t know, though I come here whenever I am free, I am still trying to figure out as to how I spend my time in the library. It’s a really good place to get some sleep too, not much noise here, so yes, you get your own space sometimes. . Just finished my practical exams went off well, first time I actually knew what I was writing. Been too much influenced by Kurt Cobain lately I guess, life seems pretty much messed up, confined myself in a solitary shell, ‘grunge’ to say the least, read, don’t like nobody right now, don’t study, sleep, food, college, that’s it in life, so ‘fuck you Nirvana’. There is still about ten minutes to go for the bell, currently reading two books simultaneously ‘A hundred years of solitude’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and ‘Che Guevara A Revolutionary Life’ a biography of Che by Jon Lee Anderson. Very thought provoking books, fascinated by Che, an unquiet youth, amidst the dreams and curses of many, uncovers the sacred flame within him, eventually cornered, hunted and murdered by the C.I.A. I like to come to the library at this moment of time, not much people around, I always sit at the fagg end of the library, I like it, no one can see me. Nat is in town today, will meet him later this evening. The bell has just gone got to go back to class.
We are having Add English. I sit near the window I get a clear view of the island and the red benches. Mr. Joushya is taking the class. I can feel the fresh air from the window. One girl from F.E.P. is making a presentation, I tried to read a book I have with me but I am in no mood to read. Though I am sitting in the front bench I have no idea what the girl is talking about, feeling hungry so just waiting for lunch. I am enjoying the wind, the presentation is over, class done. Most of the people are talking, some sleeping, while some are asking for permission to go out. I sit with two sisters, Sister Agnes and Sister Inna Mary, I like them, there are discussing about the practical exam that took place earlier this morning. Sister Agnes is saying that she is worried about the forth coming exams Sister Inna Mary is speaking in a ultra sonic frequency I am not able to hear her. One of my goals in Christ college is to witness the two Sisters bunk at least one class. At least some influence over them is expected. What’s the use of me sitting with them? I am happy, they have finally decided to bunk Prof. Shudhamshu’s class later today. The bell just went off. Have Psychology. The very thought of sitting psycho classes depresses me. I don’t care about the attendance, for all I know they can take my attendance and flush it down the drains. I don’t even want to pass this paper. I am here to listen and learn... copy and conform. This writing my dear readers was created out of no other tradition but that of boredom. Psycho classes are a perfect example of a hundred percent surrender...to the process of tradition.
We are having General English Classes now, everyone in the class is quite (he has threatened to cut attendance) lecturer is in a foul mood today. I am feeling restless, tried sleeping, tried reading, tried listening, nothing works, so now I have resorted to writing. She comes to my mind, different world, different places, never meant to be... Last bench girl was just caught talking, Prof. Is inquiring about her roll number, her attendance is scrapped off but the number which she gave was not her roll number, it was the number of one of the girl whom she had given proxy for, earlier during the attendance. Prof. is telling her to sit straight. No one pays attention in his class, he is asking some question one knows the answer. He has caught one more girl talking, I am hearing the person’s voice and roll number, I can’t make out who it is, I don’t turn back to look. Prof. has stopped teaching; there is still some 25mins to go. Now that the class is over I am feeling even more restless and boring, I look around, almost everyone is talking and almost everyone has a group. The noise is getting louder and louder, I can hear the laughers, the moment you see a person not talking you can make out they are having a bad day. Sister Inna Mary, Shruti, Vaneet are among the few writing essay for Dr. Mathew’s class. I just told Shruti to give her books some rest otherwise her books might end up in NEHAMS. She said that along with her books, I too should go, too. Though I did not say it out loud I guess she is probably right. I turned around, I invited Sister Agnes too, to come along with me, she too needs a mental check up, she turned me down. Sigh. The bell has gone, finally lunch, feeling hungry, will go get some grub now.
Post lunch back in class again. Class has gone haywire, there are deciding where to go for the class trip, half the class wants to go to one place while the other wants to go another place, I personally don’t give a damn, I vote for all the three places. It’s Prof. Shudamshu’s class, I like his classes, both the sisters are missing, very happy, finally managed to achieve something in Christ. Half the class is empty, few are listening, most are talking, he is cool though to put it in his own words he does not give a ‘flying fuck’. In his class, listening to him get me in a trance state, like him. He is making some argument on neo-colonialism, I will listen to him. Bye.
Last period of day, the class is almost surreal, there is pin drop silence and the only voice I hear is that of Dr. Mathew’s. The class is busy jotting down her lectures; I look around almost all the eyes in the class are following her. She is speaking on the caste system, I like her classes, she is very strict, no one talks in her class, she has a very dark sense of humour I find it enthralling. I look outside I can see Abinash going home. I never take down her notes, I never write her essays. Socio classes remind me of (The Joker,) “I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are.”
The other day, I was walking my way up to college, hot mid-day, middle aged man, walked up to me, very politely introduced himself as a priest from Jaya Nagar. He did not have any money. The priest said that his legs were too tired to carry him and wanted some money for the bus pass. I said ‘no’ and walked on. Just a hundred yards ahead I felt really bad, forced myself to move on. A few steps more, I wanted to turned around go back and give him money. I didn’t, I walked on. I was surprised to find this conflict of mixed emotions within me. Why didn’t I give him the money? Why was I feeling bad? The beggars I meet every day, I don’t give them money but I don’t feel this way. Was I feeling bad because he was a man of God? Would I have felt the same way if an alcoholic or a junkie had asked? Where had my so called “trust” and “faith” disappeared? I have always been critical about the layers of hypocrisy or diplomacy that is prevalent in our everyday lives. I never wanted to be included in this category. This world has shaped me to think like “them”, I hate it. I look back when I was a young, vulnerable, hated, scared kid, innocent to the core, religious as hell. I look at myself now and find myself wicked, obnoxious, cunning, wild and insanely crazy. Damn this world!! Dr. Mathew’s voice struck my ears, bringing my mind back in class again. She has switched over to subaltern studies. The bell just rang classes over for the day.
Back in library again, I have H.R. classes after 15mins, don’t know what I am doing there. Was reading on absurdism and ‘the theatre of absurd’ yesterday, found it quite interesting, and so came here to look for books on it if there was any.
Just finished my H.R. classes, that class is too materialistic, almost six now, I am in the library. Days are going dull, classes dull, that’s how life is sometimes, I am thinking of going back to my place but I have got no work there either. The evenings in Christ is quite pleasant, I always sit just beside the door during the evenings in the library (easier to receive calls or go outside and can feel the cool breeze). The sun is just about to set in casting its reflection all over. Outside I can see flowers of different colours- yellow, purple, red flowers hanging up in the tree, I wonder what the name of the trees are. These trees remind me of home. Some days if I had a book with me and didn’t feel like reading it at home, I would go out early morning, to this village about two hours drive from my place. There is a small teashop there, I would sit the whole day, have breakfast, lunch in that shop itself and just read. Here in Bangalore I miss those places sometimes. Even though we have everything here in the library, internet, newspaper, Wi-Fi, reference, comfortable seats, I somehow long to go back to that teashop made of bamboo and those broken seats. At 7.20 will go watch ‘Dev-D’ with 52 and Megha. I have ‘A hundred years of solitude’ in front of me. I will read it for a while now.
It’s almost two in the morning. Went straight to Abinash’s room after the movie. We jammed a bit, he’s got his music room there, I sang, he played the guitar. I enjoyed it, he enjoyed it, people in the adjacent rooms are probably happy that I am here now, writing. We enjoyed it, that’s all it matters. Wanted to meet Nat today but could not make it, maybe tomorrow. Mohan had come to my room, nice person, if I could I would have found him one girlfriend but I am no good either. He was drunk today, was thinking it was 11o’ clock, while it was 1’ in the morning, rushed back to his place after hearing this, he has office early tomorrow. He is one of my close friends here in Bangalore. May God give him happiness, may God give him peace and if he does better deeds on earth, may God give him a girlfriend too. Saw ‘Dev-D’ today with Divya and Megha. Cinema, a medium of expression, a coherence of unparallel tranquillity, an abyss into the agile escapist mode of reality, didactic sometimes, maybe even nostalgic but a silhouette chimera all the same. ‘Dev-D’ did just that. A fatuous tableau of the contemporary drug culture, adhesive tale of love, the obsession with grotesque happy endings, white horse waiting at the end of every door, something I never really understand. There is so much of fragmented little broken pieces of our lives scattered all around, trapped in the maelstrom of antiquity, yet unity rendered over celebration. There is so much of talk on life going on these days. Blogs, gazettes, lectures, poems, art all glorifying the beauty of life, emphasizing the importance of positive thinking, articles on how the most beautiful things on earth is free. ‘Copernicus Revolution’ according to Kant. A fatuous obsession again to have a goal in life, know what we do, how we do, succeed, control, life-style obsession, fuck that. It reminds me of some lines of Shakespeare, “What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving, how express and admirable in action, how like an angel in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals; and yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust?” In one of my treks during holidays, we were out fishing. The river was rapid, flowing swiftly, deep, unpredictable, forests on both the sides. The angry sound of river flowing, the birds chirping, insects, whispers of the leaves fluttering, enveloped under a thick layer of fog, a typical dopers’ day. We normally fish with the generator and I sat on this elevated rock watching the river flow below me. A few steps I slipped I fell down. I tried to hold on to anything on my way down, there were none, the river below was rapid, as I was falling down into the river I found the true meaning of life...... it sucks. For long and in many cultures of the world, poor was not always the opposite of rich. Other consideration such as falling from one’s station in life, being deprived of one’s instrument of labour, the loss of one’s status or the mark of one’s profession, lack of protection, exclusion from one’s community or public humiliation defined the poor. It was only after the expansion of the mercantile economy, the process of urbanization leading to massive pauperization and, indeed, the monetization of society that the poor were defined as lacking what the rich could have in terms of money and possessions. A nation measured in terms of economic growth per capita production of materials.
nothing but a piece of dust that can be kicked around in any direction trapped in conformity.... too scared to care about anyone but myself.

Currently been listening to Led Zeppelin and The Beatles, ‘House of the Holy’ and ‘Abbey’s Road’ is my current favourite. If there is one place I could go back in time San Francisco, 1960’s, is where I would be. San Francisco in the middle of 60’s was a very special time and place to be a part of. But no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories, can touch the sense of knowing that “I” was there alive, in that corner of the world, whatever it meant. It was madness in any direction, at any hour you could strike sparks anywhere. It was a fantastic sense that whatever they were doing was right, that they were winning and that I think was the handle. The sense of inevitable victory over the forces of old and evil, not in any mean or military sense, they didn’t need that. Their energy would all prevail, they had all the momentum, and they were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. But a few years down the line you could go up a steep hill and look west, and with the right kind of eye, you could almost see the high water mark, that place, where the wave finally broke and waved back. They were all wired into a survival trip now, no more speed that fuelled the 60’s. That was the fatal flaw in the Beat’s trip. They crashed around America selling consciousness expansion, without ever giving a thought to the grim meek reality that was lying in wait for all those people who took them seriously. All those pathetically eager acid freaks, who thought they could buy peace and understanding with three bucks a hit. What the Beats took down with them was the central illusion of a life style they helped create, a generation of cripples, failed seekers, who never understood the old mystic fallacy of acid culture, a desperate assumption that somebody, or at least some force, was tending the light at the end of the tunnel.
It’s late. I am wide awake. Burning up. Bored. Sad. Happy. Angry. Contemptuous. Sitting in a corner. Feel like tripping. Dazed. Perpetually delirium. Feel like going places. Bad places. Dark places. Great places. Contemplate. Expose it all. Hypocrisy. Diplomacy. Excuses. Self righteousness. Tease. Taunt. See myself. No plans. No shame. No fear. Not a fear in the world. No worry. Nothing hidden. No secrets. Watch. Watch as this insanely tamed iridescent world unfolds. Laugh. Help. Fall. Laugh. Like. Hate. Love. Hold on. Move. Self-portrait. Rendered arcane. Imagine. Sense. A dark club. Loud music. Cornered to ourselves. Anonymous. Shameless. No past. No future. A broken rainbow......

Cold Room

This corner of a cold room is slowly shrinking,
dissipating as the winter's air isbreathed warm by metal sidelines (heaters,if one couldn't tell).
The temperature drops from98.6 to 95.1 not much unless in medical terms or mathematics;postulate 1:
an inverserelationship exists between room degrees Fahrenheit, irrationality and body Kelvin, absolute.
Kerry walked across the woodsy scene; it was a forest, as any poetic landscape might be.
She said, "Why are branches over myhead and earth under my feet? Why does solidityexist in fiction, not in reality?"
Kerry picked a cranberry beneath her fingertips, placed there by grips paid 2 greek coins an hour -- coins carried by woodlands fairies under the employ of Sylvia Plath, sylva meaning woods. This corner of a cold room is slowly shrinking, not expanding with the warmair as a balloon should, but afterall this is no mylar billboard declaring, "I love you".
Besides, those biodangerous tokens will seep into dumpsites like greek coins, corroding the knotted roots of maple, oak, elm, birch,mulberry -- killing them sure as lye.
A thousand years later, one digs them up: the green metal shards and remnants of trees, fallen.

Hallucinated Lucidity

Outside I see someone....Baby save me form this dichotomized globalism, save me from this show of affection....a valley civilization a thousand years back a new thought developed substantial agriculture...I see you waiting outside lost for words in the late light, can I help you, can you help me, stuck in the way of isolation all I have with me is my thought and my solitude....This one life, fuck the rules, a jab at your destiny, but baby save me, save me from this time, save me from his followers, save me from this sanity, save me from this thinking, save me....far across in the corner I see myself... thought, an alteration which has no beginning nor the end, a havoc to deconstruct, a prodigy to amuse, illusion of personality, a creativeness to amplify, a move to Dada....Baby save me from this love, save me from this bloodshed, save me from this hypocrisy, save me from this self fish hedonism, baby save me, save me, save me from you..... see inside there is nothing to hide lost myself to be, hey you, I wish that I could give you 'flying fuck' but I am here, ready to follow the intuitions, ready to give a part of me to it, afraid scared I am here, witnessing this anarchy of reality, the sky is clear, the evening cold right past the wind..... this flow of rhythm makes me dazzle, I know this flow I have felt it before, two shadows regret this change, this evening in a crossway, we part, this cold evening ,words overrun this human heart, this human mind, pushed to its limits with rage and desire, no concern, no fear, this evening I stand with this flow, I can't ease your pain this in intoxication of rush, parsimony of character why should you follow the rules, do you think it’s dangerous, a waste of life maybe, think inking aloud, running for shelter, under the mask of evangelization, under the roof of oblivion transformation, apocalyptic end of the consciousness, into the flow there are optimism, there are fuck ups to be covered, there is this life beautiful, real, direct I sometimes feel its warmth, up against the crowd, this one life, day after day, papers rolling days contemplating script, laughing reflecting, all there is to do is follow, my friend, voices within the echoes of sound trying to interpret this dream, oh baby why are you running away, consternation beyond these hands staring at atoms of life what is real is life prostrated by the deeds this sprit taking a stroll in the streets of bulyovoid, baby save me from this desire to just be, a truth in absence of real and a real within the unreal, did you just call for me, there it goes again at the mercy of peace, got those powers of observation, got those urges to dream, the rhythm getting stronger, you suddenly cut across, lost in the haze does anybody know where you are going, a new type of thinking developed in the valley a thousand years before, now.

Bashi Bhihalo

Beneath the starry night, I wait for the morning light,
Tattoos of memory fluttering behind our possible past
Some religious, some rebellious, behind the banner and the flag
An entire generation in a remote epoch of a valley
Shot down by this limbered lame democracy
Tired of lying around caught in the doldrums of desperation
Marooned apart in this genocide of identity
Years have passed but time in the valley stands still
Nestled between the mountains a river flows
A man with a net returns home
with the fish eyed lens of hope
Untouched by the pollution of mankind
with hand on heart he smile
As he loses himself to the haze alcohol,
He wonders if he can have a little place of his own.
Beneath the starry night, brave new land promised with empty smiles,
Encroached under the illusion of oratory
This promise is kept upon the frame in the mantle
As memories start to fade away
only the feelings of the few remain
Towards the boundary of realism
acts upon the mechanism of control
Another stretch at freedom
but its stuck in the way of isolation
Fixing a grin we stand lost for words
I can see rays of light from the mountains
rises the sun from the east
I turn and face the light
I guess,
we play these strings until our finger is raw.

Rushdie's Mercurochrome

Thinking of excuses looking for sympathy... up to the future afraid of heights... life all about running away... the age of paranoia repudiated by wishes desires happiness sadness nothing just another day.... the mirror of self iridescent...emancipating the clairvoyance of future....thinking aloud playing havoc with present....hazy prescience of the past....together learning forgiving smiling with glow of light with signs of hope....don’t want hedonism don’t want love don’t want cataclysm...didactic philosophies pedantic world, everything is meant to be okay...not a part of this hippocratic agenda... questioning the creation, running away from pain don’t feel any shame...hate to be diplomatic swallowing lies watching this genocide of desires...not of fatigue but for nostalgia of dreams...lie far across in a corner...contemporary with the third wave altering the parsimony of character... enter... thinking knowing feeling...groping in air confusing the remote epoch of mankind breath in the unforeseen stoicism... purveyor of amusements...today tomorrow maybe, sick of waiting, tired of being...getting closer to the world outside...don’t want to be a fagot but can’t stop from being one...colour green number 8 alphabet A... waiting for a signature from destiny...preoccupied with the enigma of social science and relations...wondering about hate fear rights lives pride...walking across the corner silent and withdrawn into the electrons of light... per ardua ad astra...

Romanticizing Clairvoyance

And if I leave here tomorrow would you still remember me,
Portrait on the other side of wall, time stands still, with anxious wide eyed waiting,
Anguished voices surround this utopian dream craving for an emancipated future yet so far away,
Where do we come from, why are we here, who am I, the question remains,
Hope, dream, land, audacity, identity, desires, love, set miles adrift,
Caught in this landscape over by the hills, wanting an escape from reality,
Life has just begun but I have thrown it all away it seems
Sometimes I forget I am living in this world,
I forget sometimes that there is good is this world,
Sometimes I forget that there is oppression to be fought, happiness to be achieved,
I forget that there are people who used to love me, care for me, and think about me
Sometime I hate talking about this life, sometime I even know what I want,
I am like everyone else, they say they are-different, unique and complicated
If there is a heaven high above then even a single moment without you is hell,
There was a time when all I wanted was you my,
But damn this world it has taught me many things but not love,
And so I run finding beauty, finding truth.
I live to sell my story to this world with an open heart,
I live in hope in getting our land someday,
I live because there is work to be done in this fairytale world,
I live because she comes to me sometimes with a thousand smile, it’s all right she says ,
I live to show you my dark side with this cult of personality,
I live with no worry, no fear, no hurry free as the wind blowing across our land,
I live because there are colours to be painted in my script of destiny,
I live because I never gave a second thought got this urge to roam,m
I live because I think about you every day and I am still all right to smile,
I live because life is beautiful, life is ugly, life is sick of seeing all the people wanting a difference
I get stuck in this crowd sometimes, no one speaks, no one smile, with empty space in between,
Quite desperation gathered to seek this sacrificial life, I open my heart show you my weak side,
Cling on to the goodbyes so I thought, hazel eyes staring at me searching for smile in reassurance,
The clear blue sky, pick a place, choose a time, the sound of the things that you said,
Warm thrills of confusion, our land, they rule, dig the contemplation of our soul,
We run for shelter, brave new promised turf under the clear blue sky,
Things could not be the same with your opinion which is of no consequence at all,
I am the same, only getting older, scribbling half a page of lines in English way,
Where do I go, what do I do, just sit in a corner watch life pass away, thinking of something to say,
Thinking of you, thinking of our promised land, tied in the chains of moral capitalism and globalism,
Those silence I can’t explain, that light I can’t see ,what I want, what I need, that touch I can’t feel, that fight I can’t win,
You that I have loved has gone to waste, simply nothing more to give, I am lost within myself,
And so if I leave here tomorrow would you still remember me,
Well I must leave now with tattoos of memory getting dusty old and grey.