Hi folks,
This is about the petition to VC of VTU. http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign
On August 6th Saturday we got an apponitment to meet the VC at VTU Campus in Belgaum. We (Thejesh http://www.techmag.biz/, Ramakrishnahttp://ramkrsna.objectis.net/, Vivek http://www.geocities.com/vivekvarghesecherian/ and myself - Praveen A http://www.pravi.co.nr/) met at Coffee Day at MG Road on 4th Evening and discussed the plans and presantation. We left for Belgaum on 5th Evening and reached there by 6th Morning. We preapared the presantation and by afternoon we reached the VTU campus. To our great disappointement the VC was not there. He didn't keep his appointment. So we had to give the petition to the Registrar and comeback (We were very angry about the way VC responed and it even becam grave when registar told us that every weekend he is in Bangalore ! We had clearly mentioned that we are coming from bangalore and if he is in bangalore every week, then Why did he give an appointment at Belgaum ? He might have thought that we won't go thus far to meet him ! Anyway we are not gonna let it go. We are trying to meet him in bangalore. If w cannot go some one else will be ready. He will have to listen to us one day.)
First, nothing would be achieved with rage, change is a slow process, we should take this experience as good lesson.
The rage was not beacuse VTU did not embrace FLOSS just after our petition. But it was beacuse he didn't keep his word. He gave an appointment on Sat eve ate Belgaum and when we reached there he was not there and Registrar told us every weekend he is in Bangalore !!! He knew that we are coming from Bangalore and so what emotion we should have ? It was a basic courtecy that anyone expect especially one in a position like VC. If something urgent was there he could have informed us before. It was not an unscheduled visit to Bangalore, every weekend he is Bangalore !!!!!
See I and Thejesh took leave for this and Vivek came all the way from Trivandrum to Belgaum just for this.
It was not the response to the petition that made us angry but the way he did not keep his word and cheated us.
we are planning to meet the VC here in Bangalore. Well as the great quote
goes "First they laugh at you, then they neglect you, then they fight you and then you win". We will keep putting our views in front of him.
Next steps:
(1) Keep the petition alive.
(2) Meet VC at Bangalore.
(3) Start FLOSS awareness at colleges.
It would be better if we use the mailing-list for the further discussion. --arky
The discussion is on at http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign-status
On Tue, Aug 09, 2005 at 05:40:58PM +0530, Praveen A wrote:
Hi folks,
This is about the petition to VC of VTU. http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/? VTU-FLOSS_Campaign
On August 6th Saturday we got an apponitment to meet the VC at VTU Campus in Belgaum. We (Thejesh , Ramakrishna , Vivek and myself - Praveen A) met at Coffee Day at MG Road on 4th Evening and discussed the plans and presantation. We left for Belgaum on 5th Evening and reached there by 6th Morning. We preapared the presantation and by afternoon we reached the VTU campus. To our great disappointement the VC was not there. He didn't keep his appointment. So we had to give the petition to the Registrar and comeback (We were very angry about the way VC responed and it even becam grave when registar told us that every weekend he is in Bangalore ! We had clearly mentioned that we are coming from bangalore and if he is in bangalore every week, then Why did he give an appointment at Belgaum ? He might have thought that we won't go thus far to meet him ! Anyway we are not gonna let it go. We are trying to meet him in bangalore. If w cannot go some one else will be ready. He will have to listen to us one day.)
First, nothing would be achieved with rage, change is a slow process, we should take this experience as good lesson.
The rage was not beacuse VTU did not embrace FLOSS just after our petition. But it was beacuse he didn't keep his word. He gave an appointment on Sat eve ate Belgaum and when we reached there he was not there and Registrar told us every weekend he is in Bangalore !!! He knew that we are coming from Bangalore and so what emotion we should have ? It was a basic courtecy that anyone expect especially one in a position like VC. If something urgent was there he could have informed us before. It was not an unscheduled visit to Bangalore, every weekend he is Bangalore !!!!!
See I and Thejesh took leave for this and Vivek came all the way from Trivandrum to Belgaum just for this.
It was not the response to the petition that made us angry but the way he did not keep his word and cheated us.
we are planning to meet the VC here in Bangalore. Well as the great quote goes "First they laugh at you, then they neglect you, then they fight you and then you win". We will keep putting our views in front of him.
Next steps:
(1) Keep the petition alive.
(2) Meet VC at Bangalore.
(3) Start FLOSS awareness at colleges.
It would be better if we use the mailing-list for the further discussion. --arky
The discussion is on at http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign-status
-- "GNU is the system, and Linux is the kernel." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org My Weblog at http://www.pravi.co.nr Rediscover the web ! Get firefox at http://www.getfirefox.com Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
---End of quoted Text---
First of all a belated appology for the long delay in posting to the list. I was down with fever after the trip.
I do not consider the effort by Ramakrishna, Praveen, Thejesh and myself to take the VTU FLOSS petition to Belgaum a failure by any streach of imagination.
The petition and trip proves the following points.
a) The entire FLOSS community, be it Free Software Advocates like myself or Open Source advocates like Chitnis, were united on this one issue, that a major Technical University like the VTU should adopt Free Software in its curriculum.
b) By taking this petition in person to Belgaum we have dispelled the oft quoted phrase "there are no dedicated/intrested FLOSS advocates in India who are willing to do the dirty job of meeting and convincing the beaurucrats and politicians the cause of FLOSS".
Praveen, Ramakrishana,Thejesh and myself are all working professionals, yet we found time to take the petition to Belgaum and i hope this will serve as launching pad for others who have other careers and pursue Free Software as a hobby to get more involved in grassroot level Free Software activism.
The only thing that comes to my mind about how we could have done this any better is that we could have got the media involved or could even have approached noted personalities like Poornachandra Thejeswi ( Kuvempu's son), who are intrested in the Free Software movement.
I had a conversation with hpnadig (Indlinux developer) on this issue and both of us feel getting the media and a few noted personalities who support the Free Software Movement in Karnataka can get things moving a bit better.
Another approach we can take is to raise awareness among students and teachers in the various colleges affiliated to the VTU who in turn can raise awareness among thier peers about Free Software.
I hope to be in Bangalore again in a few weeks time, and maybe i can meet Arkay and the other folks and discuss the future modus operandi in detail.
Morning Vivek, On Mon, 2005-08-15 at 10:04 +0530, Vivek Varghese Cherian wrote:
First of all a belated appology for the long delay in posting to the list. I was down with fever after the trip.
Hey, you don't need to apologies here.What's important is that you are feeling much better now.
I do not consider the effort by Ramakrishna, Praveen, Thejesh and myself to take the VTU FLOSS petition to Belgaum a failure by any streach of imagination.
I'll second that.
The petition and trip proves the following points.
a) The entire FLOSS community, be it Free Software Advocates like myself or Open Source advocates like Chitnis, were united on this one issue, that a major Technical University like the VTU should adopt Free Software in its curriculum.
b) By taking this petition in person to Belgaum we have dispelled the oft quoted phrase "there are no dedicated/intrested FLOSS advocates in India who are willing to do the dirty job of meeting and convincing the beaurucrats and politicians the cause of FLOSS".
I guess, nobody could have summed up the idea better than vivek.
The technical prowess of the India are reckoned with awe and respect around the world, few days ago I read a column by noted American economist expressing his fears on silicon valley's (USA) growth may be hit by the __reverse__ brain-drain[1].The mass machinery of technical education however inept, has the potential to churn out engineers en mass, it should adopt to the Free Software in the teaching, and it will take a lot of prodding by us.
The only thing that comes to my mind about how we could have done this any better is that we could have got the media involved or could even have approached noted personalities like Poornachandra Thejeswi ( Kuvempu's son), who are intrested in the Free Software movement.
I had a conversation with hpnadig (Indlinux developer) on this issue and both of us feel getting the media and a few noted personalities who support the Free Software Movement in Karnataka can get things moving a bit better.
Some days after your return from VTU, I had a brain-storming sessions with lot people and I consulted with our 'Media-person on par' Jhinuk about the possibility of approaching media by doing a 'Meet the Press' at Press Club of India building.Here excerpts from private chat summing up her thoughts,
~~~~ now there could be two approaches towards this one we go via press club two we call up these newspapers - Deccan, Vijaya, TOI, ET Hindu etc ask for the technical correspondent's and give them the story (about VTU FLOSS campaign) yes we might have to explain to them certain things, it might look tedious in the beginning but i guess its worth it just think about it. ~~~~~
Another FSUG member, an architect by profession Ms.Smitha Rao advices me that if you go press, we better be right about the timing.
So, I leave upon the VTU FLOSS Gang to decide upon what to be done next.
Another approach we can take is to raise awareness among students and teachers in the various colleges affiliated to the VTU who in turn can raise awareness among thier peers about Free Software.
Yes, there are plans to participate in major events like LinuxBangalore2005 and also conduct events in colleges.
I hope to be in Bangalore again in a few weeks time, and maybe i can meet Arkay and the other folks and discuss the future modus operandi in detail.
You are most welcome, drop me an email about your travel plans.
Cheers
[1]Most of the software companies in the Bay Area(USA) were formed by/powered by expatriate Indians and Chinese.