Schools and Teachers

School - what was that all about? I dont remember more than half of the things I learnt in school. I re-learnt many things later and those I remember, but only a very small fraction of the barrage that was let lose on us during the school ever stuck on. Schooling is mainly an exercise in community life I think, it helps a person learn how to build friendships. Thats the main contribution. Rest all is just some pages in a book long forgotten.

Its a crazy exercise nowadays though. The earliest memory of mine is about a pre-kg (is it called a nursery now?). I am pretty sure I went there to eat my lunch with a bunch of unknown kids trying to snatch it from me :). I think I went there for more than a year - this because the kindergarten people did not think I was smart enough to join school at the normal age. Well, I dont know how I ended up doing a PhD if I was so dense :). Or is that the reason I am here :D. No, I am pretty sure the kg guys were wrong. They judge too much too soon.

I have heard tales of interviews being conducted of children before they are admitted to elementary school. Interviews conducted on the parents to assess God knows what. And after all of this, hefty donations extracted from the parents. The strange thing is they go through all of this. I dont believe I ever could. If ever faced with a similar situation, I would start my own schooling system and end up teaching kids in my own way - much better than the heavy bags and wooden stick treatments. The teacher's that teach seem to have forgotten what their schooling life was like. As Rowling said, not in these exact words, that it is unforgivable for the old to forget what it was like to be young. At the very least, such a person should not become a teacher :).

He/HE

(When I started writing this, the he/HE just naturally came. Dont consider me biased for not putting a SHE there. If you want to see it like that, write a blog and give me a link)

He: "Why cant I be happy all the time?"
HE: "If you were happy all the time, how would you know?"

He: "How do I know when this misery will end?"
HE: "If you could know, would you do anything useful in life?"

He: "If its pain that gets all the good work done, why are we so afraid of it?"
HE: "If all you wanted to do was the good work, I would not have created the fear"

He: "What is there outside the universe?"
HE: "The same that is inside the soul"

He: "What happens when we die?"
HE: "Ah, you see, that is another thing i created where you get to do the practical first, and learn the theory later."

He: "What is time?"
HE: "Nature's accountancy book, and yes it is always balanced"

He: "Are you in the image of a human?"
HE: "Are you in the image of a human? :) "

He: "You sound sarcastic"
HE: "And you sound judgemental"

He: "I didnt mean any offence"
HE: "I always pay back in kind :)"

He: "You seem pretty up-to-date, using smileys and all"
HE: "How come you are not surprised that I know english in the first place?"

He: "Can I see you somewhere?"
HE: "If you wanted to, you could"

He: "Dont be so cruel, give me a hint at least"
HE: "Try making a child smile, without giving any perks"

He: "Are you always so cryptic?"
HE: "If you are always so stupid"

Vacations

Enjoying holidays, for me nowadays, is just limited to sleeping for most of time, and wacthing movies for rest of the time. The quality of vacation time has been steadily decreasing with age, and I can safely say it has hit the rock bottom this time around. Next time I will have to start digging :). Staying in a foreign land, with no relations to go to, or friends who are free enough to see me around..., it really feels as if vacations had better never come.

The best of times were those when I visited my grandparents for the summer vacations. Two months of heaven. I used to turn into this pampered brat for that period, nobody to scold me there :). Getting up at ungodly hours, hearing a mild complaint from grandma about how late it is, run around some, have lunch, run around some more. Sit beside the radio and hear to the same songs repeated everyday in that peculiar tone which only the indian radio speakers can produce in the world. Take a walk around the compound, saying hi to the plants around, plucking lemons, mangoes. Getting chided for picking a lemon when it has not riped yet.. then consoled in the same breath saying she needed it at that moment anyway.

Go to the market in the evenings with my grandfather. Listen to him talk about politics with other friends of his on that bench which had become the meeting place. Roam around, make some purchases for the next day with him, get some chocolates for accompanying and then back. Now its time for Mamas to take their turns. After their work day, they still used to find time to play. Playing cricket in the dark with those plastic bat and balls. Getting teased around dinner time for not getting the best dishes. Which I used to get eventually :).

As I grew up, there was always someone younger to take that place every year (some younger cousin, my mama's kids). Did I feel jealous? Maybe a little. But I had got a lot of time in the limelight. And with age, there was this ego growing also of wanting to be treated like an equal (Bah!!! what a waste of time, why would I want that? :) ).

Those were the vacations. The real vacations. These seem caricatures. Just reasons to be at home getting bored than being at work and getting bored.

Rich arrogance and Poor divinity

Of the people who can hardly make it to a day's meal,
If you ask for some, happily will they share
Half fed they would be double the happier
For they could help someone, they could care

Of the people who can waste a day's meal,
If you ask for some, they give you a stare
Are you from this planet, they tend to ask
Who are you, and why should I care?

What contrasts this world of God has,
A piece of paper holds sway over all,
Its as if God asked to choose,
Have less the money, be richer by the heart
More money if you want, get an ego, and a tongue of tart

How then do we believe that more money will make us better?
How will it uplift us, is it really the remedy we want?
If God asked me today for a way, I would opine
Make the rich a little more human;
And the poor a little less divine.

Independence Day

As we approach the 60th anniversary of our Independence, I see some things repeating themselves. People have started putting up the Indian flag as their profile pic on orkut. :), yeah I know most of my friends are from India, I dont need to see the flag to arrive at that fact. I see politicians making hollow speeches which are blatant repetitions from previous years. Well, I have gotten used to it now.

I read somewhere that Britain (of all the places in the world) has somehow taken a liking to the 60th anniversary more than it took notice of the 50th. Ahhh.., no reactions. Its simply strange to see the very colonisers rejoice in the former colony's freedom. If you need an explanation of the phrase "double standards" look no further.

Back in India, the left and right wings are going ballistic on the nuclear deal. The PM was shouted at while making a statement. A MP was forcibly sent out of the house for disrupting the proceedings. I see that the political establishment is graduating from a Kindergarten to Elementary.

Amonst all this noise, there was a quite event at IITB. A convocation. A new generation of engineers came out. They will now proceed to the USA to further their career goals. But among them you see a sense of giving back. Most of them think of returning to India in the near future. They believe that they are capable of doing something extraordinary. Previously these used to be just dreams. Now, belief has set in. That is a change I see on the 60th which was not there on the 50th.

I believe we will soon be at a position where the politics, and law and order will soon be the most backward entities in India. Maybe we need to start a movement to provide them reservations from now itself. Let me see, which jobs come to your mind when you think of people who do nothing, sit on their asses all day and chatter. Ummm.., sorry. No such post in the new India. Please exit.

Blurting out...

Its been a while since this incident happened. (But I still feel guilty about it). Now, now, don't rush to conclusions :).

One of my American friends once asked me, in a well-meaning way of course,

What do you miss most about India?

Now, being the honest person that I am (take my word for it, its my blog anyway) entails that it can work to my disadvantage sometimes too (happens way too often). So, I tend to blurt out answers that come from I don't know where, without first processing them for suitability. So, I found myself answering the question above as:

Food!!!

Food?? Bloody Food? Not parents, they miss me the most by the way. Not great friends who don't contact in years, but when I call up they talk like the time we were together was just yesterday. Not the girlfriend (not in my case at least, but now I am generalizing). (And if there is a plural back there, then God help you).

I mean, of all the things in the world, it boils down to "Food". Now I started feeling guilty about this, so I began justifying it :). Typical. Lets see, what are the things which I HAD to do while I was in India. Touch base with my parents once in a while, which I do daily on the phone. So I don't miss that. Friends are there somewhere in the universe, ready to be plucked out of oblivion when the time comes. I don't miss them either. Breathe. Yeah I do that here too. Food. See, now we are talking. The kind of food we prepare at our rooms, which we shamelessly classify in the category of Indian food, is at best a pathetic watered down version of the worst eating experience one can have while back in India (Girls no offense, I am exclusively in the guys domain here). One forces oneself to eat the --preparation-- while dreaming about all the exotic dishes to which we had access to back there. Its torture. So there. I miss the food the most (the guilt is not fading away yet... :( )