September 3, 2014
Lt Leo Gradwell
‘Are you happy in the Navy?’, this was the signal passed to a neighbouring vessel by Lt Leo Joseph Gradwell during a German air raid. An Oxbridge barrister, adept in six languages, he was not quite the man one would imagine fighting the best German warships with only a yacht sailing certificate. Captain of one of the British merchant ships of the ‘scattered’ PQ17 convoy, he had a Times Handy Atlas to stay alive after being ordered to disperse at the lurking threat of the the Nazi warship Tirpitz. PQ17: well, it’s obviously an intriguing code name though quite a historic one. PQ17 was the code named convoy containing British and American ammunition, weapons and aid that were sent to the Russians to prevent the unstoppable Germans from capturing Moscow; crossing the hell rough Arctic ocean. Dating back to the venerable Second War, PQ17 Arctic Convoy Disaster has been tagged one of the most infamous naval disasters in the history of warfare. This may seem to have no connection to that of an 18-year old prat’s life. Self-confessedly, even I would have been in the dark about PQ17, like most other people, had I not stumbled upon the documentary broadcast on the BBC, presented by the legendary, albeit controversial, Jeremy Clarkson.
Time to draw the connection.
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Posted by Budhaditya
June 6, 2014
Ready for an exam
The time since I last posted my blog, it has been quite a hurricane for me. And I think I have survived. To say simply, the time has not been the rosiest. Managing the increasing burden of the examinations and the mounting backlog of my music lessons simultaneously has been one of the trickiest legs among all the examinations that I have taken. Admittedly, I have not been out of my home for most of the time – this has been the most vexing parts. It is indeed no child’s play to self-motivate and keep the pace ticking to gobble up the endless miles of the syllabus. Much has been said, opined and written about the much anticipated exams. So I won’t further add to the discussion, though I don’t think I would be able to resist.
There goes a saying, ‘Time and tide waits for none’. While I had focussed on my exams and music (relatively limitedly) the world had not been still. A lot has happened. India has undergone one of the most significant changes in its governance, Narendra Modi (our new PM) taking not only the national but the global media by storm. Not only India, democracy has triumphed in nations such Afghanistan, South Africa and Iraq. The case of Afghanistan has been awe-inspiring proving that all humans have hope for something better. To add, South Africa has re-elected their leader – President Zuma. Seen from the bird’s eye view, a silver lining can definitely be seen peeping from the black, sombre clouds. Witnessing the rise of a man from the echelons of a naïve tea-seller to that of the leader of the largest democracy, to the dew-fresh hopes in Afghanistan for sunny days ahead, it has really ignited my zeal.
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Posted by Budhaditya
February 6, 2014
I posted my first blog on the 9th of December. Almost two months have passed by and have done so in a flash. Not only two months, we have bid adieu to 2013 and welcomed a brand new year. Not that it has been much of a change for me. With a packed up and tight schedule almost throughout, the transition from 2013 to 2014 has quite been linear and unnoticeable. Well, it would be better off to say such schedule a concoction of extracts of calendars of that of a student, a musician, a disciple of his mentor and a budding connoisseur all at the same time.
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Posted by Budhaditya
April 24, 2013
Like most people, I was shocked at the bombing during the Boston Marathon. Television footage showed the devastating injuries caused when a bomb explodes, however primitive or home-made. I vividly remember as a young child overhearing my parents talk about the dismembered bodies on the streets of my home city, Dublin, after a bombing in 1974 (that killed 26 people and an unborn child). But for most of my life, almost all terrorist activity took place within the border of Northern Ireland about 70 miles away, far enough away for me to be immune to daily realities, but near enough to be part of my consciousness.
Although Boston grabbed the headlines, terrorist acts are perpetrated regularly. On the day of the Boston attack 75 people were killed in Iraq, the day before 35 were killed in Somalia, and the day after 22 were killed in Pakistan and 16 injured in Bangalore, India.
My main reason for studying Politics and International Relations is to help me understand the world around me. For some, understanding terrorism is impossible. How can you understand a suicide bomber who is prepared to blow themselves up for a cause? Or someone who would kill innocent people indiscriminately?
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Posted by Michael
April 1, 2013
“Daddy, are you doing your homework?” My five-year old daughter gets it. Not that there’s much to get. If Daddy is surrounded by a splattering of books, journal print-outs and scribbled notes, with a pencil in his mouth and a quizzical-to-stressed look on his face, chances are he’s studying.
She started school in September and has homework every day (except Fridays). The letter tracing and phonetic spelling exercises that amount to her homework are accomplished within minutes of her whirl-winding home. It’s not exactly taxing, but she adores it. There’s an obvious sense of self-importance, but also a real sense of duty. This isn’t a task done in the classroom with the teacher breathing down her neck. This is her responsibility, something that she does on her own, away from the structured school day.
As a parent, I silently questioned the need for homework in the first year of school. Why would a five-year-old need to supplement school learning with extra tasks at home? I should have known better. I’m an external student, juggling one and a half jobs, parenting and lots of other demands, problems and commitments that life flings at me everyday. Why shouldn’t my daughter’s school life spill into our home life? Isn’t that what I’m doing right by taking this degree?
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Posted by Michael
March 18, 2013
I’m not exactly panicking… With just eight weeks to my first exam, I’m on a pretty tight deadline with revision and scanning past exam papers. But a priority right now is outlining exam questions and being sure that I can stitch together a coherent argument on exam day.
As I’ve said before on this blog, my course in Politics and International Relations isn’t exactly related to my full-time job playing clarinet in an orchestra, so it’s not like my day-to-day working life intersects with and enriches my studies. Study time is a separate part of my day, hours snatched in the evening or – if I’m performing – in afternoons before concerts. However, my parallel career as a part-time journalist and writer is helping me no end.
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Posted by Michael
December 22, 2011
As one approaches a new year, the first thoughts that come to mind usually are the achievements of that year which is about to end. Looking at 2011 as whole, I find this year very special both on the national level and on the personal level.
History will never forget this date, 25th January 2011, which has sparked the light for the Egyptian Revolution. For Egypt, the major achievement of 2011 is taking the first steps towards real democracy. Since the first days of the revolution, Egyptians have learned that it is the power of unity that can make them change the world and it is unity that will enable us to continue our path. One hopes we will never disregard the lesson.
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Posted by uolblogger
