Sleep...where art thou??

It's 4:00am and almost the whole ISB is still sitting up trying to crack a case assignment. Having cups of coffee and listening to music so that we can stay awake. People are taking polls over the email as to who are the (un)lucky ones who are still awake at these wee hours in the morning!! The deadline is 10.30am and we are still half way thru the case...4 more hours and it is time to prepare for another case and go for a class!!! Cant even sleep in the class 'coz of the high pressure to do "class participation" as it accounts for 40% of the course :-) So..I am forced to concentrate on what's happening there. This has become the usual routine during this term... I have lost track of when my day actually ends and the other begins.. Sleeping 5-6 hours a day has become a luxury!! I can soon see myself sleeping every alternate day!! So dazed.......I feel like a zombie!!!!!!

But the best part is... you walk out of your room at this time and you see lots of other people walking around in the campus...wide awake...struggling with the same set of things.. and you know that you are not the only one sailing on this boat :-)

Software in Indian languages?

I came across this piece of news in Business Daily which said that there is work going on to develop software in 12-14 Indian languages which if used with low cost hardware will speed up the computerisation process in India. Hmmm.. I just paused here to think if this is actually a good idea and if it will really achieve its desired results? Well, considering how prevelant illiteracy is in India, this does seem like a good move. At least it can replace the manual processings in a lot of places which really eats away our time!! If you step into a government office in bangalore, more often than not, they still need to dig up a huge pile of ledgures to get hold of your case or profile. Also, this is mainly to cater to people who cannot communicate in English.The new software will significantly improve this. But I feel it could also act as a disadvantage. By making it easy for people to stick to their local languages, it really doesnt help them raise the bar for themselves or take that extra step to go ahead and get that English education. When India as a whole is trying to develop in every sector and every aspect, in my opinion, this may not be that good an idea in the long run! As an immediate step...it does sound good though..