It makes a difference

Sara, a seven year old, was a bright girl who stayed near the sea. She would carry a carrot in her while helping her father clean the docked filthy ships. Once aboard, she would look for unclaimed lost items such as pen, pencil, rings, books etc and pretend that it would make no difference to the owner, if she kept the items with her. Her peculiar habit, that did not amount to stealing; did not go well with her parents and they would explode only to aggravate her bad habit further.

One day, fate played a trick. Sara was busy looking at a lost toy tiger, when down swooped a crow and took away her carrot that she had put on the table deck, near the radio appliance. Sara heard the flutter of wings, but could only watch the crow fly away with her carrot. "My carrot, my carrot ...." Sara shouted but the bird had flown away. She started to cry when her father heard the commotion. He spoke softly to Sara, "Why do you cry, dear ? You had kept the carrot on the table, it means that it made no difference to you if the carrot would be claimed by somebody, isn't it ?"

Sara realized the pain of losing her precious belongings. She realized how the owners of unclaimed lost items would have felt on losing their belongings. It would have been appropriate of her to keep the things in the right place for people to later on claim them. Surely, getting back your things does make a difference. 

In pursuit of Quality

Quality is something that is very relative and contemplative. I find it more like a jalebi - the savory Indian sweet. The spiral shape ensures you to see the centre but never reach it. 

The Indian Education System is witnessing a tremendous change from outside as well as within its purview. The need for quality education, extricates the best of ideas from the most eminent people in the system. These people formulate, propose, implement and reflect upon the various policies and guidelines to strengthen the education system. 

With so many guidelines and policies, the education system gets structured and crispy clear to adhere to, but at the same time it gets strangulated and stifled. The statutory bodies and all, demand an independent and stringent implementation of policies along with reporting, that ensures the teachers are busy throughout the year to prove to them; the best of education and institution. 

When teachers are more worried about undertaking activities for compliance and report submission, then obviously, teaching remains just a formality. The discussion on 'Teaching is an art' or 'Teaching is science'; takes the turn for 'Teaching is a formality'. And why should it not be ? When children in current times have to be aware of inter and multi disciplinary courses, then undertaking various activities benefits all. The practical exposure ensures experiential learning too. 

This is what forms the paradox of the Indian Education System and defies the purpose of defining its quality. Stakeholders question the exorbitant fees to be paid with no assurance of employability in an already over populated nation where the system tries in the best way to assure quality there by comprising teaching and stakeholders who are disillusioned with the idea of pursuing education with no gains in sight. 

In trying to ensure quality, the teachers put in their efforts not in teaching but in its administration and management, so as to enlighten young minds who succeed in projecting 'know it all and dare it all' attitude for a situation that is more chaotic. But in chaos, symmetry rules. We, as citizens look up to the educational institutes to channelize young minds in the best customizable way. 

The Art Of Saying Goodbye

As a school girl, I would always wave a good bye to my mother; whenever I left home. The regularity turned to habit and the habit into compulsion; so much that I would insist on my mother standing near the garden gate when I was leaving for school, tuition classes, going out with friends etc. "Ta-ta !" is how I waved my hand for a good bye. I somehow connected it all to good luck, something that would make my day great and wonderful.

After I got married, me and my husband shifted to a different city. I would keep in regular touch with my parents through the telephone and now the mobile. But given any call, our conversation ends with  a "Ta-ta". It has now been more than eighteen years since my marriage, but even to this day, whenever I am visiting my parents, I still make it a point to follow my compulsion of waving a good bye to my mother. And the best thing is me continuing this habit with our daughter. As a result of which whenever she is to leave home, she expects me to come to the door and give her best wishes along with a good bye.

These two emotionally bonding and psychologically assuring situations in my life prompted me to delve further on goodbyes and farewells and accordingly I have put my thoughts on this blog organizing my discussion for different situations.

1. Person to person goodbye
An informal goodbye involves differences depending on the age, environment and mood ! Remember the days when your school friend would come visiting or vice versa and the longest conversations would take place after deciding to bid a goodbye ?! The most serious of discussion takes place when in your forties you meet one such friend and after the initial effervescent updates, you both end up reminiscing memories and enjoying the unspoken thoughts. Such a rendezvous does not necessarily involve a goodbye, but only the promise to meet again. For the senior citizens, the chance meeting is all about racking the memory and amazing at the divine intervention of bringing lost friends together and saying a quick goodbye; in case the memory permits.

2. Professional Goodbye
With a busy working schedule and hectic lifestyle, your office colleagues become a part of life. Little joys of sharing success or failure over a cup of tea, discussions involving projects over heated discussions, getting involved in social activities as a division, etc; all ensure good camaraderie and connectivity to make the professional environment a thing to look forward to. Goodbyes in such situations truly mean to meet each other the next working day for colleagues or next official meeting for the clients. The goodbyes are more to do with an eagerness to meet again in order to keep oneself updated and informed of all the professional interests or developments.  

3. Group Goodbye
The school reunions, alumni meets, professional groups, virtual groups, family groups, friends groups, hobby groups, parents groups; all are a part and parcel of our life. The 'get together' has been promptly replaced with 'chat together' by making communication easy and fast. Such groups have lots of messages on initial greetings but very few on goodbyes. In case all group members decide to meet for good old times sake, then the good byes are laden with lot of hope to keep in touch. At such times, real conversation

4. Retirement and Goodbye
This is a very difficult moment for any person who has been completely devoted to his career / job / company. Most of the times, it is difficult to 'un-follow' the office routine. Great effort has to be put in during the retirement phase with conscious detachment from people and delegation of duty. Subordinates who once followed professional protocol, become pals later on. Superiors who commanded and demanded respect opt for developing a camaraderie. In both cases, one has to pursue interests for keeping busy. Hence, the good bye to the company or career, becomes more of introspection for developing other interests and practicing them.

5. Worldly Goodbye
The Hindus believe in four age-based life stages as discussed in Indian texts of the ancient and medieval eras. These stages are Brahmacharya (student), Grihastha (householder), Vanaprastha (retired) and Sanyasa (renunciation). Accordingly, a person is expected to shoulder responsibility or delegate responsibility or renounce the world and its pleasures as per the stage. This is the most difficult of all goodbyes; if at all one is aware of the last farewell. At such a time, thoughts wander to leaving the loved ones with a clear conscience and in the hope of attaining peace.

Easier said than done. It is not easy to say a last goodbye to oneself, to others or to a loved one. Peace lies in the fact that there was emotional and spiritual bond that was shared and which cannot be shredded just by bidding a farewell.

Why Breaking News?

The News Channels, these days have metamorphosed into everything except news narration. They invite speakers who are prodded to get into futile arguments, improper accusations, irrelevant discussions etc. The news narration is exceptionally dramatic for increasing the TRPs and viewership. The diversification of types of news channel based on language and state has further provided so many versions of the actual truth. Even the usual soaps have started to drown in their own froth (read masala). No wonder, everybody these days have now started to focus on outdoor activities or fun filled indoor games. 

It is exactly this desire of doing activities that bring happiness and contentment to oneself, communication and bonding with others; which point to the fact that humans would rather be in a happy normal situation rather than a dramatized one. 

I am sure the social networking shares and youtube videos that are most watched are the ones that inspire you or make you happy. Who would like to watch videos depicting cruelty, bloodshed, killings, etc ? Even the existing ghastly videos come with a blurred spot or a statutory warning.

So then why do the news channel not follow suit ? Why do they make us watch 'Breaking News' instead of 'Binding News - News that Bind people' or 'Happy News - News that cheers'? Human brain tends to remember the good memories of ones life and that itself is enough to keep it on track for betterment and contentment, in general. I am sure that if people get to watch the good deeds and acts of others, they will tend to try out the same; instead of focusing on the bad deeds. It is as simple as saying 'Do this' instead of saying 'Don't Do This'.

Lets try to keep one channel dedicated to the concept of display of good deeds by citizens and then let us observe the difference that it makes. 

When Questions and Answers have Options ....

With the approaching examinations, the month of February and March, proved very taxing for Montu. The vastness of the syllabus and depth of the contents, were too much for him to feel confident for his common entrance test preparation for the Engineering degree. The mobile would provide him some solace but it would only make the cloud of study pressure, even more darker. Montu eventually called up his friend, his confidante, Abhi.

Abhi would be sure to help him out in sorting his doubts, his study schedule; everything.

"Hi Abhi, I am toh totally lost. This time I may not even clear the exam..." Montu's nervousness made him blurt out his tension before Abhi could even acknowledge the call.

"Oh, chill, oye. Me too in same deep water as you, but look I am enjoying. Just now reached my room after a game of hockey. Tell you my thumb hurts ." Abhi's casual approach and his mobile addiction for playing hockey, was not new to Montu.

"Tell me, should we join the Perfect Classes for the CET preparation ? My current class is way down the popularity charts", said Montu.

Abhi, being the more calm of the two, said very straight forward. "Oye, this class or that class, you need to sort out the junk in your glass. Try to understand the test pattern. First, there are sections in the test. Leave the difficult topic, either way, we don't stand a chance. Prepare the section that you like most. Second, try to work by elimination rather than calculation. Just look at the option answers every question has. Pick out the best that appeals to you. Didn't we work on eliminating questions based on our syllabus and later eliminating options based on our preference, till the 12th board examinations ? See where we are. We are preparing for the entrance test. I am sure we will get a decent score."

Montu tried to figure out the advice and more doubts cropped up. "Wait man, what about the time that I will take in the mathematical calculation. Do you even remember the formulas ? I sat the whole night trying to mug up everything."

"There you are, you dumb, I only think of some logical values, who is going to calculate the answers?" said Abhi.

The above conversation is quite common among the young generation. The examination may be any or at any level. But one thing is clear. The examination system has changed and incorporated the pattern of multiple choice questions, which is easy to evaluate through systems, in large quantity without any errors. Even school tests have objective and subjective answer pattern. The students try to select an answer from the given option, with guess work taking precedence and at times fetching good marks. Worst, our examination pattern forces a student to select questions that the student has to answer. When this scenario ie questions and answers having options comes to us, I have a few observations:

1. We cannot think out of the box as the habit of looking at options limits our thought process.
2. We do not prepare ourselves fully for the knowledge that we are supposed to have as there are options in questions themselves.
3. We do not focus on the process that goes into deriving that answer as the problem solving time is limited and a derivation would require more time
4. We do not give our 100% efforts in learning. We focus on getting marks or qualifying examinations not in learning.

Everybody dances to different music and  to different tunes and that too on different ground, but isn't it necessary to feel the music ? Same with education and examination.

Holistic Development

There is so much talk about development, be it an individual's or the society's. But then what is development ? What does one need to acquire in order to be 'developed' ? Frankly, these questions are difficult to answer. Does development mean the techno savvy and jet life of today or the quiet and slow life of the past. To keep my views focused, I have kept my discussion about individual's role in self and societal development.

Starting with initial formative years, a child develops so many abilities like mobility, language, emotions, exploration, taste, etc. Supplementing these, the family instills moral values through stories, good habits through routine process and a few tasks to be completed by independently by the child. I remember that my grandmother, who successfully handled children in her creche, would ask all kids to bring some water in a glass across the room. As a kid, I found it amusing but later on I realized its importance in developing concentration. This incident still has me thinking as to how certain playgroup activities influence us in our development. Keeping the footwear in the shoe stand, washing hands and feet after coming home, praying at dinner time, waiting for the entire family at the dinner table, completing assigned chores and homework, sharing with brothers and sisters, caring for others (no matter what species!), doing puja and reciting shlokas with elders and so many more fond memories. These very memories; good or bad, are what make us, define us and channel us towards meeting challenges.

As a teenager, the child displays the off shoots of sudden growth, both physically and psychologically. The confusion about leaving childhood and stepping into adult hood, leaves the child rebellious and in urgent need of being on track. Isn't this the time that most of us took up various activities of our interest, be it hobbies or sports ? The ability to multitask between different activities like study, sports, reading, music, etc combined with the divine presence of friends, indeed helped in the adolescent phase. The involvement in all these was enough to let the teenage identify likes and dislikes. Few demonstrated more focus which turned into success in the form of medals and recognition. And all this on top of all the good habits and morals inculcated during childhood years. The simple act of bringing a glass of 'un-spilt' water as a child, really helped in collecting and nurturing water (read hobbies or interests) as a teenager.

The adult phase of a human is indeed the longest not only in terms of time but also in terms of shouldering responsibility. The qualities acquired as a teenager need to be fine tuned further to complete and complement the education or skill development, as may be the case. The inherent habits (which become a part of daily routine) along with the morals learnt as a child and experiences gained as a teenager / adult; aid in identifying the person's area of interest to pursue career. It is during the good and bad times, that a person shows his character, which in course invites friendships and love for more years to come. A person undergoing these develops so many traits desired in so many roles that after more wear and tear, there is need to turn to meditation, yoga or self reflection. Such developments indeed alleviate the person for better thinking and behavior and promote for a healthy body, healthy soul, healthy family, healthy society. Live and let live.

The society development starts at the basic unit ie family, a close knit family is a micro reflection of healthy society that provides the cocoon for the new generation. The village with its nature and hardships; the city with its amenities and problems; the country with its strengths and challenges; all provide ample security in growth and development even in the face of adversity. 

Holistic development is all about developing appropriately at the relevant time along with bringing contentment and peace to individual and society. A healthy mind and body reflects on the society too. Life has become more positive too due to modern facilities. Life expectancy and cures to many illnesses has all been possible due to development. Communication and reach-ability has become possible along with equality among the humans. Mankind has gone beyond the provision of food-shelter-clothing. The need is to go beyond the self holistic development towards the nurturing of environment too.

Chanakya Vs The Modern Parent

                                    

My childhood memories fondly recall the voracious reading of story books and especially 'Amar Chitra Katha' which still presents the central characters in a very engrossing way to the child. One such story on Chanakya, fascinated me. I, as a parent also ensured that my daughter got to read a series of books by the same publication house. Their illustrations and story telling has a profound impact on the young readers imagination that ensures development of good vocabulary and thought orientation. 

With these memories and an inclination towards teaching, I always have great respect for Chanakya was an ancient Indian teacher, philosopher, economist, jurist and royal advisor. Chanakya assisted the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta in his rise to power. He is widely credited for having played an important role in the establishment of the Maurya Empire. His recognition as a teacher comes from the fact that he chiseled a young simple boy into a great king. At the same time, due admiration for the boy who displayed his potential and ruled just and wise as a king. 

This situation demands a thought for three things : 1) the teacher 2) the student and 3 ) the situation. The exceptional qualities displayed by the teacher in identifying the boy with potential was the first in a series to writing the history. His next task of channeling the young mind and training the body and soul for challenges and difficulties; proved that he had to plan and get things done with an iron hand and wisdom. On the part of the student, he had to get his potential and strength channelized in a way to achieve greatness and as well as strive for a position that he was not his birth right for a patriarchal society. The greatness of the two men may probably as a result of the situation prevailing during the era which eagerly welcomed the change brought about by the two.

Now consider the modern society. Are parents not the first teachers to their child ? Are they not responsible in developing their child's potential or abilities ? A parent may not be as great a teacher as Chanakya but let us also not forget that children learn from parents. The fast paced life has put a dent in this parental responsibility. The pressures of pursuing career, managing home, keeping up with social life etc has ensured that kids become independent at a very young age and the lack of a role model further ensures that they remain ensconced with electronic gadgets or a cocoon of their own. In turn parents lack the mindset to channelize the young mind to achieve greatness. The whole idea of story telling about role models through generations gets lost somewhere in the pressures of the modern world. What we see today is a world that needs to tackle so many global issues related to environment, pollution, health etc but who would want to give away their worldly luxuries to be in tune with the nature? Let us not forget that mother nature is our greatest teacher only if we are an equally disciplined student.

Entrepreneurs are finding solutions to garbage and cleaning but as a parent, tell me - would you want your child to think about garbage ? What nature needs is not what we want. Our education system provides literacy to masses but needs to educate the classes to achieve great feats. The third aspect ie situation is what demands and identifies the needs which along with the first two ie student and teacher will provide a successful solution. A parent has a lot of obligations towards the family and the most important amongst them is to develop or let a good teacher develop the young generation.

Chanakya was always known as a great teacher and a guru to Chandragupt but not as a parent to his exceptional disciple. Their success is in fact due to them being a true teacher and a true disciple. Indeed, it is very difficult to identify and promote such greatness without the pitfalls of societal or political interference. I strongly believe that a situation will prevail to ensure the birth of a right teacher and a right student that will make a difference.    

Person With Ability ?

The use of the acronym 'PWD' - Person With Disability, for the physically challenged person in government and education sector is quite common; all with good intentions and inclusions of the not so privileged in the society at large. It was during the preparation for the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) visit to the college that I, as one of the teachers got to know of the acronym and what a boon the facility for a PWD. There are reservations, concessions and facilities to make such a person self dependent and self reliant in the family and society.

Accordingly, for the NAAC peer team visit, our college had invited all PWDs so that the college facts and adherence to education norms could be corroborated . Even the parents of PWDs were sent special invitation for interacting with the NAAC Peer Team. While all care was taken to show the financial and administrative facilities for the PWDs, on the other hand, there were invitations for the students who had shown excellence in curricular, co-curricular, sports and extra curricular activities. I remember a few talented and deserving students who had come with a big haul of medals and certificates from recognized bodies. These were the students who had exceptional abilities in their respective areas. There were other students too who were also working under the 'Earn and Learn' scheme  so as to take care of their financial part, themselves. I respect and admire all these students (PWDs, bright students and responsible students) who either try to cope with their circumstances or excel in their areas of choice or are understanding and responsible towards their family.

Education sector addresses a varied number of issues and cases to see justice and equality for all; successfully (or not is debatable).  There are scholarships and recognition for students to promote the culture of excellence to bring forth quality in young generation and motivate all for progress. 

In between all this, the student with ability which is a quality, is forgotten or not promoted at all. With ability, I would like to specify the qualities or morals that children are taught at a young age. These morals include speaking the truth, inculcating good habits, practicing hygiene, respecting elders, caring for others, loving nature etc. I am in fact amazed by the variety of stories in 'Panchtantra' that address all these morals through mundane characters and simplicity of story telling. Indeed, if a person is to practice all these morals, wouldn't it lead to all desirable quality(ies) in and as a person, as a professional, in the culture & society and finally the world ?

Hats off to Indian Prime Minister who has practiced and promoted ideas like 'Swachchh Bharat Abhiyaan', 'International Yoga Day', etc., which are in tune with the inculcation of good habits and morals. It is onto the society to imbibe them and pass it to the coming generation. A well aware person has the potential to be a just person and accordingly becomes  the start of the greater change in society. It causes a revolution when the society abides by the rules and regulations.

A person with such qualities is desirable to the family for his caring attitude; to the society as a good citizen; to the company for his amicable behavior etc. His qualities are because of his ability to think of the larger good. The transition from 'quality' to 'ability' is because of recognition by family and friends and encouragement from elders and teachers. No wonder children show progress in certain areas like debates, team spirit, arts, crafts, music, story telling, spinning tall tales, oration etc; which consequently also define the attitude towards work. But the abilities that I talk of are hardly rewarded later on because the competitive world is busy judging the intelligence of person, never his 'qualities'. India as a country does have awards and recognition for citizens who do good to society but is there fairness in the process ? Are there not hundreds of anonymous citizens who did greater good, selflessly ? Is it not the time for the country to reward and recognize such citizens at village / city / state level ? Why do we have laws only to punish the guilty ? Why not have provisions to acknowledge the good behavior too ? Will this process not generate more positivity?

Our education system solely relies on numbers and no matter how stringent we make the laws, there are bound to be loopholes. One must admit that awareness among the parents is on the increase and they show courage in defying norms by encouraging their child to pursue their hobbies and interests. Even the modern companies are promoting employees to work as per their interests and aptitude rather than follow staid patterns of job / work culture. 'A person with ability' becomes desirable to the progress of the company. A child who excelled in giving speeches has good prospects with apt companies. The educational qualification that he had slogged for are only for getting a job, whereas for excelling in the job, all an employee needs is the strength and potential of his ability.

I would like to make a few observations as follows :

1. Let children between age group 2-8 be channeled for inculcating good habits to make them good and responsible citizens. Their efforts in adapting to healthy habits will teach them that everything has to be learned through hard work. Our education system teaches this aspect but does not practice it. Family system is also unable to accomplish the task due to problems of urbanization.

2. Children in the age group of 6-18 should be promoted for identifying and pursuing their interest so as to make them aware that developing and skills. Schools are highly successful in implementing various activities for the all round development of the children and channeling them for the competitive world. So what is lacking then ? Is it the lack of rewards ? No ! It is basically the lack of quantifying these qualities for higher studies. There need to be identification of skills required for the modern world and accordingly their promotion in obtaining recognition. So many qualities of a person are not recognized solely due to the lacking system and its parameters.

3. Youngsters in graduation and post graduation need to be made aware of the requirements of the world and allowed to choose their subjects, possible through the liberal education. This is a concept that is in its nascent stage but fast catching up.

4. Professionals who make it to the corporate ladder, should be allowed to pursue or develop their skills for  few hours in a month. The corporate social responsibility is not only about the society, it also must be inclusive of its employees. A happy employee is the one to contribute in the happiness quotient of the society. The increasing graph lines that indicate the progress of a company, need to remember that it is one of the reasons of decreasing social activity and enthusiasm among the society.

All in one, one in all ! A person with ability needs his due place. Instead of newspapers and news channels blaring 'Breaking News', let there be a time for 'Happy News' where good contributions from citizens are applauded.

Pinocchio and The Avengers

                           

Pinocchio is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Italian writer Carlo Collodi.

Marvel's The Avengers or simply The Avengers, is a 2012 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name.

Weaving a story and reading books go hand in hand. The story and the book, both take the author and the reader to a different world of fantasy and imagination. The digital era has brought with itself the blog concept which equally fascinates as per the theme. As a reader of this blog, you may well agree that Pinocchio and the Avengers; are both very famous in their own right and situation. While Pinocchio is known for his long nose associated with lying; the avengers are more so known for their super power to protect the mankind. While one character is all about humane characteristics and nature to educate children with good habits, the other characters are imaginary with human emotions added as a dressing to their technicality to let children visualize the advanced thinking of man. Both thoughts are progressive in their own right. And although Pinocchio has lost his popularity compared to the Avengers, there are quite a few traits that interest me to carry his story forward.

I grew up with reading lot of story books on mythological characters, fictional characters, romantic novels, sci-fi novels etc. Few of the characters took shape and voice on television, cinema or other such multi media. It interests me to see the characters from books come to life on screen. Though, as a child, I had problems distinguishing reality from cinema. I always wondered as a child that how could this actor be in this cinema when he had already been killed in the previous story that I had seen ?! This confusion made me wonder as to what we as a generation are imprinting on the young minds of today's generation? 

The incessant stream of Marvel and Disney characters with their super powers and time and space travel; is a perfect way to blind the young child of the reality that exists in the world. The small little joys of family, siblings, pets, nature, friends etc as well as mundane problems of people, digitization, industrialization, environment etc are nowhere in focus to deal with. The far reach-ability of films and television remains yet to be exploited to address social, environmental and geographical issues. A few animation films did make a mark on the importance of nature and society. A few did shed light on the psychological and health problems of today's generation caused due to modernization. Most of these efforts got blinded by the fictional and sci-fi movies. These movies did explain scientific facts in an interesting and innovating way. The children and grown ups had a glimpse into scientific complexity in the simplest way for the juvenile mind to fathom.


Curiously, a young mind is very impressionable. A child might indeed get the wrong impression of super heroes and space travel with time travel. In such a case, aliens visiting earth and staying with the family might not be imagination but a psychological problem which escalates even more due to the attachment of children with the electronic gadgets. It becomes a challenge to distinguish fantasy from reality, true friends from a crowd, family, real experiences; that matter to individuals.
 
On the other hand, the social media and relevant groups and organizations have the complete onus on themselves to educate the citizens of the world and promote good healthy practices. They have been quite successful in high-lighting the numerous issues and problems faced by society and nature at large, thereby promoting the young generation for a reality check and feeling a sense of involvement. Family bonding and friendly binding are getting prominence through various social groups, out door activities, indoor games etc. Many children are aware of both the instances where human emotions and gadget deliverance; both are treated distinctly.
 
Whether it is Pinocchio (a wooden doll with human nature) or Avengers (human with superpowers), let us enjoy them as stories or movies and appreciate their excellence but at the same time let us try to take the subtle message of human nature, ability and emotions; that they convey.

News is in the News

Strange but true. The ones briefing the happenings of the day, are in fact - the news. Look at how the channels promote certain news readers or news conductors in order to attract the viewers. No wonder retelling the news is more to do with spinning the news and enticing the audience. The audience tries to keep pace in lapping up the tremendous amount of opinions and polls and masala too. The resulting information pollution that I call news acidity; has affected me to the extent that I only watch news as the last option; once my quota of daily soaps and movies is done. 

I have found that the news that were once categorized as local news, national news, international news, sports news, weather news etc, have now been remodeled respectively as local debate, national berate, international calibrate, sports placate, weather hypothecate. The channel on markets and economy also exists which has its share of discussing the companies and equities. These transitions in the manner in which some information is broadcasted in a neutral and impartial way, has happened due to many reasons like increasing the TRPs, having an edge over others in coming up with the news, publicizing or promoting certain elements and personalities, etc. Many a times the channels broadcasting the news, turn into judges themselves. Though I must add the fact that the reporters do unearth or quite a few scams and bring forth the issues and travails of the common man. Their efforts at times solves a problem or highlights the difficult situations for appropriate actions.

On the other hand, the news reading or conducting debates is also a job that demands attitude and aggression on the part of the news reader or anchor. Their news delivery style or their attire sets conversational and fashion trends. All this comes together with an excellent 'set' and high tech communication equipment and the support of onsite news correspondents. Not to mention the surveys and polls carried out by these television channels that tries to predict events and then discuss the predictions !

The viewer gets to see all the current happenings in 'slo-mo' with various dramatic effects of things and dramatic entries of people and at times the dramatic announcement of some happenings or mishaps. All these cause much time loss for the viewer and for most it leads to a disinterest in the news itself where the bad over shadows the good.

The world needs to see the good side as well. There are so many good people and good happenings that could replace the bad and the ugly so that it sets an example for the citizens and netizens to follow. A concept of 'Happy News' instead of 'Breaking News' would be a welcome change. 

Theory of Everyone !

I admire Stephen Hawking for his intellectual abilities and also his strong determination, no matter whatever the odds. It was no wonder then that I bought a book on 'Quest for Theory of Everything", written about him and his theories by Kitty Ferguson. In the first few pages, I read about the difficulty in predicting the position and velocity of an object at the same time. I also read about the expanding universe which implies that the dark matter or space between macro objects keeps on increasing. In other words, the stars, the galaxies are moving moving away from each other. The universe is this 'large', or probably infinite due to this expansion and most likely no forces of attraction to hold these galaxies together.

Compare this with the micro particles which stay together but maintain their distance. For example, protons and neutrons are held together inside the nucleus whereas the electrons are outside the nucleus revolving in fixed orbits. It shows the existence of forces of attraction as well as repulsion, which more or less balance each other. As we probe further, we find that individual atoms may form bonds with other atoms of same or different elements. The force of attraction is maximum in case of such bonds. At micro level, the force of attraction is more easily seen as compared to macro level objects.

These two distinct scenarios, though related to micro physics and astronomy and celestial bodies, convey a deeper meaning for our society too. Whether it is iron age or today's computer age, humans have have always shown a tendency to move away in search of relatively greener pastures; the search for exoplanet is only but natural. The universe and we (human species) as a part of universe, no wonder, always try to expand our horizons. This possibly arises due to strong repulsion and out of our need to eat more than we can digest. We spread because we cannot be contented at one place with one another.

Our social structure though encourages cohesion and coupling, also exhibits intolerance and violence that spills over countries and continents too. Most probably these are balancing forces as long as there is some system in the vast chaos, but there is discord in between which shows repulsion getting stronger. In a society or a section of society, where there is peace and harmony, it probably shows more attraction than repulsion. Interactions between humans has reduced and has got replaced with interaction with hi tech gadgets, but never the less, its attraction between human and gadget. Overall the entropy remains constant.

The funny part is that if energy and mass are constant in nature though interchangeable, then in the case of humans also it is true. Those who consume more mass need to spend so much energy in order to keep their balance. Also the fact that if we take more then we must give back more too. Quantum physics surely holds true for us all.

Reading the book made me think of the similarities in humans and micro physics, and the dissimilarities too. Nevertheless, what if emotions are bosons and quarks, then surely there is an explanation to the human behavior too.

Memories not Monies

Hurriedly, me and my daughter locked our home after a quick appreciative glance at the mirror and left for a pre wedding function. We were welcomed with all smiling faces and a 'mogra veni' to be put in the plait or bun. The beautifully decorated hall along with smiling faces added warmth and effervescence to the entire proceedings or the rituals. Small and big groups of people and the running frenzy of children; added life to the venue. We greeted all who's who of the family. The initial hi's and hello's soon turned into recollection of funny incidents or memory rattling acquaintances. No matter the age or gender, the talk would soon divert to childhood anecdotes, marital musings, health howling and so on. All would be happy in just the recollection of old memory or the thought of being able to relive it again. The smile and joy on their faces is unparalleled; even a hearty meal is no comparison of the contentment brought on by the memories.

The same feeling of contentment is brought out after recalling the memories of hardship and strenuous work. The actual situation may have been difficult at that time but once it gets retold, you cannot escape the satisfaction that was achieved by the person who at that time might have totally given up all hopes. Our elders talk of such physical and financial hardships and how they saved every penny for a better future for their children, enduring pain and giving up basic comforts.

When we see our children attending birthday parties, we do recall our own and wonder if they could qualify as parties at all given today's expectations. The entire recollection of a party would ideally revolve around the problems involving organization, invitation, execution etc given the fact that you had to take your parents approval, convey messages, manage within a budget and so on. Compare this with today's scenario when the children are provided with everything.

Observe the animal lovers and pet owners who will recall with pride and moist eyes their most loving experiences about their each and every pet. Pets teach you to be responsible and considerate and most of all they provide you with a life time of memories. Their playful faces, their angry growls, their irritated meowing, their health, their mischief; everything gives you memories.

Memories are what brings joy to our mundane lives. Money is necessary as per our concerns or wants but no amount is satiable. I feel that the memories are more desirable and hence I try to weave them into my daughter's life in my own way. No wonder, I ask her to help me in covering the books for the next academic year; No wonder I ask her to be considerate towards others, No wonder we argue over trivial things (at times); No wonder we bake a cake together; No wonder we go out in the rain to bring pani puri packet; No wonder we stay awake late into the night during examinations; No wonder, I decided to bring a manageable pet in our flat, just so that I could give memories to my daughter. It is more satisfying to have a recollect-able memory than the monies. 

Madness vs Euphoria

 

I feel so much happiness within. The beauty of the world is so great. My body and soul, together is in tune with nature. The excitement brought by mother earth and nature is so much alluring.

The chirping of the birds bring immense joy that I can only feel and enjoy. The rustling of the leaves and the water flowing down the stream over pebbles and boughs, fills my spirit with music that only I can hear. This naturally orchestrated music is neither predictable nor assumed. No one knows the conductor but I can hear the enchanting music.

The mix of dark and blue sky with its shades of white and gray clouds, rising golden sun, the disappearing moon, flying birds; moisten my eyes and drown me in amazement that perplexes me and my soul.

The taste of moist morning dew on my hands and cheeks and nose, brings the warmth of water on my dry parched soul. I feel rejuvenated at being blessed with this splendid sight that I can hardly behold.

I start dancing to the tune that I hear, see, taste and feel. My joy transcends into movements and the rhythm within takes me further towards happiness. The movement of arms and feet is in tune with the rhythm within. 

"Vrrrroooommmm....", the sound of a bike and a shout, "Get out of the way, you mad man .... ", jolts me awake. I find the soft earth turning to black asphalt road, the chirping of birds changing into blaring of vehicle horns, the sky giving way to metro city line, the sound and flow of water turns to a jet of vehicles. None knows where they are going, none exhibits joy on face, none understands me; I try to stop them so that I can share my vision, but not one has the time for me. 

"Are these people mad ?", I ask.

The Rodent in Us All

Our persistent efforts in identifying a perfect pet for our Pune flat, resulted in we bringing home a brown colored hamster; who soon became a family member. The day started with feeding him seeds and vegetables, before actually thinking of a breakfast for us. He brought us joy and excitement and showed us to be caring and careful towards a very small animal. His small size prompted us to keep him confined in a single room so that he would have a large area to roam about and allow us to be vigilante of his presence. 

At night, we would keep a large stock of sunflower seeds for him to take care of his needs for the night. And our hamster would greedily stuff the available eatables in his mouth; which would cause his mouth to actually swell. After finding a comfortable spot, he would dump his food store to see him through the night. No matter how less his requirement, his tendency to accumulate his food was greater. 

In fact, all rodents exhibit this behavior of storing food for the so called rainy day. 'Scrat', the ICE AGE movie squirrel has become quite a hero that comes up with crazy ideas and results while chasing his favorite food. The Mickey Mouse squirrels also are shown to be running after seeds and piling it into their house. In general, the rodent den in fields is full of grains and a nightmare for the farmers. 

The same tendency is present in us humans too. We tide over adverse situations by providing for our future needs. This need varies from person to person. Few people plan for the next meal, few for another month, few others probably plan for generations by having provisions that buy food. So the rodent in us drives us to accumulate, to intelligently store for future consumption. The problem accentuates when we cannot define our wants, but we accumulate more than our need, . The definition of need or want itself is abstract. The news of black money or Panama papers or any form of swindling is hardly a surprise, anymore. Blame it on the rodent in us.

Success : Measurements & Perspectives

                                           

Success : Measurements & Perspectives

Introduction : It is perplexing to define success. The term and its relevance, varies from individual to individual. Hence the difficulty. Most of the time, success is assessed as per present or near future needs. Students perceive success depending on their educational evaluation, professionals do so in terms of performance benefits; senior citizens consider themselves successful depending on the completion of their earthly responsibilities or their health etc. In most cases, the notion of being successful, changes or rather metamorphoses as per situation or age or personality.

For the discussion of this article, the evaluation for success is on the basis of defining the measurements or parameters and then looking at the perspectives of others or self; depending on the situation. The definition of parameters itself is an individual opinion for what one may consider as important may not exist at all for the other. At the same time, the perspectives are also quite relative for they depend on who is it that one considers important for the frank opinion.

Context : The idea of success is relative in nature. Eating in a gold plated dish with rich heavy  food is a sign of success whereas eating in earthenware plate a simply cooked menu is success for others. Some prefer branded clothes to define success whereas some believe in local brand clothing. People build grand palaces or own many houses as a sign of opulence whereas others enjoy minimalist living as a sign of richness. Success indeed lies with the individual.

“For some more is less for others less is more.” 

Anyway, to make matters short, the article takes into consideration the role that an individual has in life and family; say self, daughter/son, sister/brother, mother/father etc. as the parameters for measuring success. By perspective, my discussion has been from the other person's eyes which  could be taken as opinion / judgement / study.

Childhood / Teenager : As a child, most of us remember doing good in studies, working as per parents wishes, inculcating good habits; these were seen as success. Most will consider themselves to be successful. Differences in opinion about the measure arise from our notion of success, whether getting good marks, being awarded for curricular / co-curricular / extra curricular or being recognized for some special abilities that reflect the education in us.

Our family members also take pride in the individuals that we are today. And the most important part of growing up - Friends; these are the ones who though few in number, are those who take you for what you are. If one gets a chance to meet the teachers and neighbors, then they will always have pride in their eyes for you. As one says : “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”. Same way there are differences in perspectives of people that convey a different personality altogether, so a friend might know you as a mischief maker, but to a teacher you portray as a sincere student, to the parent’s you probably reflect much of the laziness. 

Profession : 'Love your job and not your company'. This saying and various factors has made people look at career and not job; as a way to grow professionally, personally and socially. Financial growth has proved successful with most of the materialistic things realized too quickly. Socializing among colleagues, neighbors, friends, family has taken a new form ie through social networking applications. Compared to our childhood, here the number of groups and friends may be large along with our inclination to live in a virtual world but lesser time for listening to individual or others problems. The change in the aspect of networking has just realized the dangers of technological modern world that most of us face. 

The number of perks or promotions or the position in corporate ladder may be a sign of success for 

some whereas for others getting acknowledgment in the social arena / world may be the most  rewarding factor. There are individuals who get recognition from society; not through and certificates but through acknowledgment. Indeed this acknowledgment can be seen equally for a good or bad man but I am sure that the good man begets awe and respect out of love and not out of fear. 

Family : This is truly the acid test for being successful. For women, it is more to do with keeping the home and family together. Children view their mother as a confidante, expect her for good cooking, need her to be present before them and so on. Other family members keep the woman on  her toes with all their demands and expectations. The woman accordingly has to take on various roles to run the house with an iron hand and warm heart. For men, the stereotypical husband image has changed drastically to be the new age man who has to learn to work in the house and look after the children too. The demand on the man of the house is more towards planning. Men and women are successful depending on the perspective. If you ask your parents - they definitely consider you successful. If you ask your in laws - they may consider you successful, probably a little more critically. If you ask your kids - they simply love or hate you depending on their mood

 swings. Defining success is a tricky situation - it's the innermost peace and confidence that reflects success. 

Self : Each individual has learnt to take some time from the busy routine to call it 'mytime'. This  is very important part of the life. We all try to pursue hobby or take up an interesting activity to acknowledge our need for self gratification. A well realized hobby gives rise to a secondary career too. Success in this case is truly measured as it involves only the individual perspective and nobody else's biased opinion or judgement. No wonder activities like exercising, meditation, music, dance, trekking, etc; all provide the fuel to an individual’s realization of success. Haven't we  heard from senior citizens about them having good health and being independent, as their perception of success ? The others have their own perspective of a senior citizens’ situation. 

Indeed, defining and analyzing success is very complex. The desire to succeed is even greater in the individual but in what aspect as discussed above is what needs to be thought about.

God is Observer

It is probably during emotional or weak moments that one truly remembers God. Happy moments are those that give rise to the thank yous', speeches etc.

"Thoughtfulness comes only at the price of thoughtlessness."

Do we not see world summits on environments and global warming as a result of man's avarice ? Do we not question violence as a result of polarization ?  These are the issues to ponder on. At the same time mankind has made conscious remedial efforts in preserving nature and culture. These are the things that we reminisce and feel proud about. Efforts towards global solutions are a small step that give us a notion of being in control thereby making our contribution.

The same situation can be felt on a personal level which touches us the most. When one does not feel completely in control of things (the ability to succeed at our task or role or the responsibility) happening around, only then we ponder about 'who is the actual controller?' We try to remember God and put our faith in The Divine. Our prayers are at times answered and unexpected results are obtained. The delay in His intervention is seen as the need for more patience. He who has created the universe and amongst many marvels, our mother Earth, is truly Great. Even science fails to keep pace with His innovations.

As a student of science and a believer in His supreme power, I have always admired nature and our dependence on it. The law of jungle is always seen as the Will of God. It is this 'Will' that makes me think that God is observer who takes pride in His creations and let them decide or behave as per the situation or their nature, so as to be purposeful in life. Whether it is our thoughtlessness or thoughtfulness, everything happened only because God is observer. He has let his intelligent creation act, repent or respond as per man's intellect.

Hindu mythology mentions that there is God of creation as well as for destruction which interpolates itself  into nature. Life exists between these two states and for them to function, God has best kept His role as observer. Maybe He never reveals Himself for then He would no longer be observer. It is this role that is difficult to don. Young talent of today will be grateful to us for this role. A recent news about the stressful life of young students training for better career, has caught everybody's attention. I hope that we take a leaf out of God's book and try not to take control of our children's lives. 

Blood : A Murderer it does not Reveal

The recent movie, 'Talvar' on Arushi Murder case, created a lot of flutter once again in the minds of the audience who were already tired of discussing the fate of the unlucky girl, her parents, their servant; the modus operandi of the law and the attitude of the media. The release of the movie followed with the opinion polls of the public on the safety standards to be followed in case of households having servants; has only added to the on going discussion on the actual murder of two unlucky persons.

What actually happened on the fateful day, one cannot say; but what transpired afterwards is for all to see and analyse. Sure there was blood, but no murderer has been captured ! Sure there is a case of chaos and nobody to blame !

Two souls lost their lives and the culprit(s) is (or are) yet to admit the guilt or are waiting to be captured. Isn't it strange that the human conscience would not permit the concealment of such ghastly deed and yet none would dare come forward to admit the crime that would haunt the soul till death made the escape more easier ? Has the society moved to such a brink that there is no conscience left ? As a citizen of this world, we all witness the plight of refugees. The photograph of a motionless baby boy on the beach did evoke a huge world response but who is to blame for the tragedy ? We are mute spectators when the carnivores devour the herbivores; calling it an act of nature. Surely, the humans being done away with by the humans, is not an act of nature. Is it then something to do with the individual fate ? If so fate gave an equal chance to all, those who helped others lose lives are content with the fact that blood spilled does not reveal the murderer at times. Those who sacrifice themselves for others are contented with the fact that they were of help to someone. The feeling of contentment and discontentment is what distinguishes the good from the bad. This quality of the human nature does not need to reveal, it can only be felt and believed.

It is aptly said that 'Truth is stranger than Fiction'

Gods love contemporary

The 10 day Ganesh Festival in Pune brings with itself lot of planning, arrangements, processions, dhol tasha preparation, decoration etc. Having a darshan of the elephant God or its display results in a crowded street with people jostling past each other and shouting at the top of their voice even when there is a loud music system. The same fervor can be seen in festivities across the country where traditions and culture are on full display.

In this gaiety, it is worth to mention the enjoyment as well as distress caused due to the loud music system. The occasion may be any, but the songs being played out are keeping in tune with the public choice and not as per the suitability of the festival. So whether it is Ganesh festival, Navratri festival or any other, you would normally find God being entertained to disco songs, rock music etc. which is a pain for the human ear (medically proven fact).

It was one such occasion that I saw one such over enthusiastic crowd dancing to the tunes of latest songs. God had no say in this except for watching the people. The serenity on God's face and the happiness of the crowd in a ear tearing loud sound, was contradictory and confusing to me. My eyes were now fixed on a young boy of not more than seven years who was in his own world trying to mimic the dancing steps of famous Bollywood heroes. His accomplishments were lauded by the onlookers and other dancers. Their cheering was only too drowned in the loud sound system. The boy's dance and his energy kept on building with every new song. The smile on God's face also made me see that indeed He loves contemporary.