It is that time of the year. When school bags are taken out of the cupboard and dusted, new uniforms are stitched, stationary bought, notebooks covered with brown paper, holiday homework hurriedly completed. Its school time folks!
The monsoons usher in a new year for children. Gone is the joy of summer vacations – endless TV & video games, getting up late, hanging out at malls and playing cricket in the afternoon. It is now time for homework, tests, grades and tuition classes. The holidays are over kids, let’s get back to the ‘real’ world. It’s my guess that right now there are children all over India dreading the thought of going back to school.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Learning should be fun and not regimented. Children should want to come back to school. If they have to glance at their calendars and sigh it should be because they miss their friends and teachers and can’t wait to meet them. Not because they feel stressed out at the thought of all the tuitions and exams waiting for them. We take the best years of a human being’s life and turn it into a rat race. I remember my school teachers frightening the hell out of me by saying that if I didn’t do well in my 12th standard boards I would end up on the road to Loserville. I don’t doubt that they meant well and wanted me to do something worthwhile with my life. But by their lofty standards I bombed in my 12th and yet life didn’t come to an end. I still went to an engineering college (albeit not a great one), I still got into the stream that I wanted (Mechanical Engineering rocks) and I did decently there (First Class with Distinction). Looking back I think it’s horrible to tell a child that their entire life revolves around one month of exams. What we’re basically doing is taking a young mind and putting it through stress levels that most adults couldn’t handle.
Childhood should be a time of fun. Of learning just for the sake of learning. Of exploring the world without having to worry about grades, admissions and careers. We should encourage children to dream. At some point in our lives all of us wanted to be either cricketers, or tennis players, or writers, or journalists, or musicians, or mathematicians, or fighter pilots. While life may not allow everyone to attain those dreams I think that there’s no harm in chasing those dreams. A 12 year old child should be encouraged to think that she can become whoever she wants to be. There’ll be a time for the reality checks that adolescence brings, but not now. Not yet.
When I look at my cousin, who is 10 years younger than me, and her friends I realize that the system has allowed them a lot more freedom than people in my generation had. We were told, “Science? Engineer or Doctor. Commerce? CA. Arts? Oh... ummm... See you around”. Luckily that isn’t true anymore. More parents are open to the idea of ‘alternate’ careers. Many schools have counsellors who guide children about the various career streams available. Things are changing for the better but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. For every progressive school that encourages its wards to be all they can be there are thousands which continue to churn out children who know every lesson in their text books and yet next to nothing about how to deal with the tests that life will put them through.
Right now we simply teach children how to solve quadratic equations, synthesise complex organic chemistry molecules (on paper) and memorise the internal cell structure of microbes. Instead they should learn how mathematics is applied to different fields – geology, automobile engineering, fundamental particle research. They should know of the uses (and dangers) of organic chemistry and how it has shaped our world. Children should be aware that life is a lot more complex than molecules bumping around inside cell walls and that even the best scientists do not fully understand how it works.
Call me an idealist if you want. Accuse me of an ivory tower address, a head in the cloud mentality. But hey, the challenges and problems that our children will inherit from us will be far more difficult than the ones we’ve managed to sweep under the carpet. How about we allow them to enjoy themselves while they can and still try and equip them with the tools that they will need to clear up our mess?
As Cat Stevens said, “I know we’ve come a long way. We’re changing day to do. But tell me, where do the children play?”.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Funny Football Quotes - Part 2
After hearing MSD put his foot in his mouth about stopping at colourful areas, I thought it was time to dig up some funny football quotes again. Turns out that cricketers aren't the only ones who put their mouth into motion, before brain into gear.
1. "Stoichkov is pointing at the bench with his eyes."
David Pleat on Hristo Stoichkov. Talk about dagger eyes....
2. "Robert Lee was able to do some running on his groin for the first time."
Glenn Hoddle on Robert Lee and something that's either impossible or unbelievably masochist.
3. "It's a conflict of parallels."
Alex Ferguson on conflicts. Mathematicians go figure out this one.
4. "I felt a lump in my mouth as the ball went in."
Terry Venables on his emotions after the opponents scored. Sounds like he's been reading Letters to the Penthouse.
5. "Argentina are the second-best team in the world, and there’s no higher praise than that."
Ron Atkinson on Argentina. Ummm.. aren't we forgetting something?
6. "You either win or you lose. There's no in between."
Terry Venables on winning and losing. And hey, what about draws? You know.. 0-0, 1-1, 2-2.... ?
7. "I would not be bothered if we lost every game as long as we won the league."
Mark Viduka on winning the league. How you gonna do that Einstein??
8. "The beauty of Cup football is that Jack always has a chance of beating Goliath."
Terry Butcher on cup football/soccer. Jack.... David's lesser known cousin.
9. "Apart from their goals, Norway wouldn't have scored."
Terry Venables on Norway. Yes, they would have gone on a Viking plundering raid.
10. "I was watching the Blackburn game on TV on Sunday when it flashed on the screen that George Ndah had scored in the first minute at Birmingham. My first reaction was to ring him up. Then I remembered he was out there playing."
Ade Akinbiyi on George Ndah. This one is my favourite. Talk about getting lost while watching a game!
And we still insist that they be role models for our kids. Come on guys, they are sportsmen. They have super fit bodies and excellent marketing teams. They are not brainiacs who are saints.
Now can we please cut Tiger Woods some slack?
1. "Stoichkov is pointing at the bench with his eyes."
David Pleat on Hristo Stoichkov. Talk about dagger eyes....
2. "Robert Lee was able to do some running on his groin for the first time."
Glenn Hoddle on Robert Lee and something that's either impossible or unbelievably masochist.
3. "It's a conflict of parallels."
Alex Ferguson on conflicts. Mathematicians go figure out this one.
4. "I felt a lump in my mouth as the ball went in."
Terry Venables on his emotions after the opponents scored. Sounds like he's been reading Letters to the Penthouse.
5. "Argentina are the second-best team in the world, and there’s no higher praise than that."
Ron Atkinson on Argentina. Ummm.. aren't we forgetting something?
6. "You either win or you lose. There's no in between."
Terry Venables on winning and losing. And hey, what about draws? You know.. 0-0, 1-1, 2-2.... ?
7. "I would not be bothered if we lost every game as long as we won the league."
Mark Viduka on winning the league. How you gonna do that Einstein??
8. "The beauty of Cup football is that Jack always has a chance of beating Goliath."
Terry Butcher on cup football/soccer. Jack.... David's lesser known cousin.
9. "Apart from their goals, Norway wouldn't have scored."
Terry Venables on Norway. Yes, they would have gone on a Viking plundering raid.
10. "I was watching the Blackburn game on TV on Sunday when it flashed on the screen that George Ndah had scored in the first minute at Birmingham. My first reaction was to ring him up. Then I remembered he was out there playing."
Ade Akinbiyi on George Ndah. This one is my favourite. Talk about getting lost while watching a game!
And we still insist that they be role models for our kids. Come on guys, they are sportsmen. They have super fit bodies and excellent marketing teams. They are not brainiacs who are saints.
Now can we please cut Tiger Woods some slack?
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Delusions
Ever so often one hears of some defamation suit being filed or protest being held because someone’s sentiments were hurt. Oh really? Oh reallllllllllllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyy?
Why is it that the ‘leaders’ and social busybodies who claim to represent those whose sentiments were hurt never get angry about other things as well?
Why don’t they get angry about the poverty in this country? Or the filth in which most of our people live? Or the fact that even after 60 years of Independence we still do not have anything close to 100% literacy (am not even talking about education.. just literacy)? Why don’t they protest about people being malnourished while food grains rot in the Government’s godowns? Doesn’t the site of the widows of slain soldiers weeping on national TV make them want to do anything about this country’s security issues?
I’ll tell you why.
It’s because we’re a bunch of hypocrites. A nation of whiners and over-sensitive adolescents masquerading as adults. The only time we act tough is when we’re in a mob.
We like to talk. About our glorious ancient culture, about how democracy has failed us when we compare ourselves to China, anything that makes our cushy little worlds a little less cushy. Oh yes we like to talk. Getting out of our armchairs and doing something to help is something that we’re not up for. The only time we’ll get out of our chairs is protest about something that hurts our sentiments.
Awwww. Don’t feel bad.
Feel ashamed.
Ashamed that we cling to twin illusions of ‘safety in numbers’ (hope they get the guy next to me instead) and ‘ostrich mentality’ (as long as my family and friends are okay, who cares what happens in some far off village). History tends to repeat itself in our land. The same scams, the same corrupt politicians, the same gullible electorate and tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.... the same inefficient, inaccessible, unaccountable system.
H.L. Mencken said, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”. I think the same sad truth could apply to us as well. Our leaders prefer rabble rousing and mob justice to judicial and constitutional channels. Their logic is impeccable. Why spend years fighting for something when you can grab it right away? All you need is to convince the people that in some way their culture, religion, caste or these days – statehood has been insulted.
And this is why the system doesn’t work. Everyone wants to take, no one wants to give back. We demand our constitutional rights, but how about our duties? Duties to ourselves and to those less fortunate than us.
We have one of the world’s largest population of those who live below the, outrageously named, ‘poverty line’. And yet we feel proud when we see 4.. or 5.. or 2.. who cares... Indians being named in the list of richest people in the world. Isn’t there something fundamentally wrong about feeling proud at the sight of obscene wealth & yet being indifferent to obscene poverty? Hypocrites I tell you.
Now take literacy. Most of us have been born after Independence. Which means we were born to a sovereign and independent country which claimed to be socialistic as well. Or at least some of us were. There are many others who were born into the same feudalistic, caste riddled, male dominated societies that their ancestors lived in hundreds of years ago. Which probably explains why we have such a pathetic record when it comes to improving literacy.
We want to host the Olympics, while we can’t put together a decent hockey team.
We want the world to recognize us as an emerging superpower. Yet we can’t convict a terrorist who was caught on CCTV shooting people, including a policeman.
We take pride in the fact that our economy was resilient during the Great Recession. But don’t seem to mind that most of this ‘resilience’ was due to the parallel economy.
We want to be a destination for medical tourism but don’t think it’s necessary to provide basic healthcare to our own countrymen who can’t afford it.
We believe that we have a glorious past, but think nothing of scratching our names on the walls of the monuments that were built during that glorious past.
We get touchy when our neighbour hurts our sentiments, but we don’t mind if the Chinese treat us with disdain; mainly because we bend over backwards to not antagonise them.
At the end of it all, I don’t think that we suffer from delusions of grandeur. We suffer from delusions of competence.
Why is it that the ‘leaders’ and social busybodies who claim to represent those whose sentiments were hurt never get angry about other things as well?
Why don’t they get angry about the poverty in this country? Or the filth in which most of our people live? Or the fact that even after 60 years of Independence we still do not have anything close to 100% literacy (am not even talking about education.. just literacy)? Why don’t they protest about people being malnourished while food grains rot in the Government’s godowns? Doesn’t the site of the widows of slain soldiers weeping on national TV make them want to do anything about this country’s security issues?
I’ll tell you why.
It’s because we’re a bunch of hypocrites. A nation of whiners and over-sensitive adolescents masquerading as adults. The only time we act tough is when we’re in a mob.
We like to talk. About our glorious ancient culture, about how democracy has failed us when we compare ourselves to China, anything that makes our cushy little worlds a little less cushy. Oh yes we like to talk. Getting out of our armchairs and doing something to help is something that we’re not up for. The only time we’ll get out of our chairs is protest about something that hurts our sentiments.
Awwww. Don’t feel bad.
Feel ashamed.
Ashamed that we cling to twin illusions of ‘safety in numbers’ (hope they get the guy next to me instead) and ‘ostrich mentality’ (as long as my family and friends are okay, who cares what happens in some far off village). History tends to repeat itself in our land. The same scams, the same corrupt politicians, the same gullible electorate and tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.... the same inefficient, inaccessible, unaccountable system.
H.L. Mencken said, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”. I think the same sad truth could apply to us as well. Our leaders prefer rabble rousing and mob justice to judicial and constitutional channels. Their logic is impeccable. Why spend years fighting for something when you can grab it right away? All you need is to convince the people that in some way their culture, religion, caste or these days – statehood has been insulted.
And this is why the system doesn’t work. Everyone wants to take, no one wants to give back. We demand our constitutional rights, but how about our duties? Duties to ourselves and to those less fortunate than us.
We have one of the world’s largest population of those who live below the, outrageously named, ‘poverty line’. And yet we feel proud when we see 4.. or 5.. or 2.. who cares... Indians being named in the list of richest people in the world. Isn’t there something fundamentally wrong about feeling proud at the sight of obscene wealth & yet being indifferent to obscene poverty? Hypocrites I tell you.
Now take literacy. Most of us have been born after Independence. Which means we were born to a sovereign and independent country which claimed to be socialistic as well. Or at least some of us were. There are many others who were born into the same feudalistic, caste riddled, male dominated societies that their ancestors lived in hundreds of years ago. Which probably explains why we have such a pathetic record when it comes to improving literacy.
We want to host the Olympics, while we can’t put together a decent hockey team.
We want the world to recognize us as an emerging superpower. Yet we can’t convict a terrorist who was caught on CCTV shooting people, including a policeman.
We take pride in the fact that our economy was resilient during the Great Recession. But don’t seem to mind that most of this ‘resilience’ was due to the parallel economy.
We want to be a destination for medical tourism but don’t think it’s necessary to provide basic healthcare to our own countrymen who can’t afford it.
We believe that we have a glorious past, but think nothing of scratching our names on the walls of the monuments that were built during that glorious past.
We get touchy when our neighbour hurts our sentiments, but we don’t mind if the Chinese treat us with disdain; mainly because we bend over backwards to not antagonise them.
At the end of it all, I don’t think that we suffer from delusions of grandeur. We suffer from delusions of competence.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
A New Beginning - 2010
Here’s a list of things that I had asked for in 2009. Let’s see how many of them were answered.
1. Manmohan Singh finally show some spine and take on the pakis.
Verdict: Not really happening. We’re still a soft nation waiting to get whacked. Still, at least there haven’t been any more 26/11 type fiascos.
2. Obama give a huge boost to green technology.
Verdict: Big failure. Copenhagen was a massive let down. So forget Obama, all our leaders have disappointed us.
3. Roger Federer win BOTH the French Open & Wimbledon. (The other two don't really count)
Verdict: Finally!!! The FedEx finally won the French open, thanks to Nadal no doubt. Two sets in Two matches and he would have won the Grand Slam. Oh, what could have been!
4. My credit card bill disappear.
Verdict: It comes and goes. Like all bad things in life. But am quite happy with the way things stand currently.
5. A blanket ban on whaling.
Verdict: Stupid Japanese. Need to kill a 1000 whales for ‘scientific research’. Am glad Sony & Toyota are running into the red. Serves them right. Maybe they’ll do some real research now. Sony – why their products are twice as expensive but only marginally better. Toyota – why their cars are so damn boring!
6. A decent coalition come to power at the centre after the general elections.
Verdict: Score!!! Bye bye lefties. See you in the NCERT history books. And nowhere else.
7. Bin Laden finally gets caught.
Verdict: Who cares anymore? Wasn’t worthy of being on this list actually.
8. The Large Haldron Collider that CERN built actually works & they discover whatever they were looking for.
Verdict: Another blank. Well I guess these things take time.
9. The second season of IPL is shorter, but just as much fun as the first.
Verdict: Hats off to Modi & Co for pulling this one off. Don’t know if the matches were more fun, but they did a good job at such notice.
10. Bayern Munich do well in the Champions League.
Verdict: Losing to Barca is no shame. That too with half your team injured. So yeah I’d say Bayern did pretty well in the CL.
Final Scoreline: 5-5
Now about 2010. Let’s see what I’d like to happen during this year. Hmmm…
1. The GoI shows some balls & stands up to the Chinese – high time we took ourselves seriously
2. Germany do well during the World Cup in South Africa – though with the 20 something youngsters like Ozil, Kroos, Adler, Tasci, Marin & Bender I think they’ll have a better team for Euro 2012 or WC 2014 than now
3. Air fares come back to reasonable rates – am sick of paying airlines so much just so that they can put up their staff in 5 star hotels
4. Indian news channels become more responsible & stop acting like imbeciles – self censorship obviously doesn’t work in media just like self regulation didn’t work in financial markets
5. The Kindle (or similar products) become available in India at reasonable prices – think of the trees that can be saved
6. Inflation comes down – am fed up of paying 40 bucks for an apple & 100 bucks for a kg of daal
7. Google launches a Chrome browser for the Mac – I like the Mac Firefox, but hey Chrome rocks anyday
8. The fad of ‘reality’ shows goes away – need I explain this one?
9. Government of Goa first starts collecting garbage before it builds that sealink between Panjim & Vasco – talk about priorities!!
10. You are nicer to your family & friends – awww, that was soooo sweet. Surely you can do this for me?
1. Manmohan Singh finally show some spine and take on the pakis.
Verdict: Not really happening. We’re still a soft nation waiting to get whacked. Still, at least there haven’t been any more 26/11 type fiascos.
2. Obama give a huge boost to green technology.
Verdict: Big failure. Copenhagen was a massive let down. So forget Obama, all our leaders have disappointed us.
3. Roger Federer win BOTH the French Open & Wimbledon. (The other two don't really count)
Verdict: Finally!!! The FedEx finally won the French open, thanks to Nadal no doubt. Two sets in Two matches and he would have won the Grand Slam. Oh, what could have been!
4. My credit card bill disappear.
Verdict: It comes and goes. Like all bad things in life. But am quite happy with the way things stand currently.
5. A blanket ban on whaling.
Verdict: Stupid Japanese. Need to kill a 1000 whales for ‘scientific research’. Am glad Sony & Toyota are running into the red. Serves them right. Maybe they’ll do some real research now. Sony – why their products are twice as expensive but only marginally better. Toyota – why their cars are so damn boring!
6. A decent coalition come to power at the centre after the general elections.
Verdict: Score!!! Bye bye lefties. See you in the NCERT history books. And nowhere else.
7. Bin Laden finally gets caught.
Verdict: Who cares anymore? Wasn’t worthy of being on this list actually.
8. The Large Haldron Collider that CERN built actually works & they discover whatever they were looking for.
Verdict: Another blank. Well I guess these things take time.
9. The second season of IPL is shorter, but just as much fun as the first.
Verdict: Hats off to Modi & Co for pulling this one off. Don’t know if the matches were more fun, but they did a good job at such notice.
10. Bayern Munich do well in the Champions League.
Verdict: Losing to Barca is no shame. That too with half your team injured. So yeah I’d say Bayern did pretty well in the CL.
Final Scoreline: 5-5
Now about 2010. Let’s see what I’d like to happen during this year. Hmmm…
1. The GoI shows some balls & stands up to the Chinese – high time we took ourselves seriously
2. Germany do well during the World Cup in South Africa – though with the 20 something youngsters like Ozil, Kroos, Adler, Tasci, Marin & Bender I think they’ll have a better team for Euro 2012 or WC 2014 than now
3. Air fares come back to reasonable rates – am sick of paying airlines so much just so that they can put up their staff in 5 star hotels
4. Indian news channels become more responsible & stop acting like imbeciles – self censorship obviously doesn’t work in media just like self regulation didn’t work in financial markets
5. The Kindle (or similar products) become available in India at reasonable prices – think of the trees that can be saved
6. Inflation comes down – am fed up of paying 40 bucks for an apple & 100 bucks for a kg of daal
7. Google launches a Chrome browser for the Mac – I like the Mac Firefox, but hey Chrome rocks anyday
8. The fad of ‘reality’ shows goes away – need I explain this one?
9. Government of Goa first starts collecting garbage before it builds that sealink between Panjim & Vasco – talk about priorities!!
10. You are nicer to your family & friends – awww, that was soooo sweet. Surely you can do this for me?
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