Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Inquisitive kid


I love kids, particularly the chubby and inquisitive ones who never sit idle and are always on their toes! May be I empathize with them as I myself have been a hyper active and a hell raiser child by nature when I was young J. Off late, I have been fascinated by this curious adorable 6 yr old kid in my building who often meets me at the elevator on his way to school and back or while playing around in the evening.

This child is super cute and a full time entertainment channel to indulge in. He always has some questions that can kindle your imagination and that’s why I call him ‘Mr. Question Bank’. Some of his intrepid questions  are:  “Rashi di, why can’t I (the kid) be seen in any of mom-dad’s wedding pictures? Did they forget to carry me along them?”.... “Is the sky blue or water, i.e., is the color of blue sky reflected on water or color of blue water on the plain sky?” His latest one to me was whether I will marry him if I found no one good enough for me?!  So by now you must have realized that he is a clever chap J. These days he has become a very good and reliable comrade and I share many things with him knowing well that he understand very little or nil of what I am talking! J

Last Saturday afternoon I was sitting in the apartment garden observing him play and sketch on his new drawing board which he had got as his birthday present. He was trying to scribble some human figures on them, resembling his mom, dad and younger sibling, but he would never be content with any of his drawings. He would pick up the eraser, rub them, correct them, re-do them and so on. Then after toiling for some time he looked intrigued and tired, kept his board aside and walked towards me with his volley of innocent queries. He asked me “What is it that keeps the whole world going constantly while I get tired and relent in a few hours?...(he continued)…“How is it that the sun never gets tired of rising in the morning and setting in the evening sky every  day, how do stars never get exhausted twinkling? How does the cock never forget to crow at the break of the dawn, while we need to set alarm clocks to wake that early? How do birds chirp every morning without fail?”  

I got a hint where this conversation was going but I kept mum wanting to hear him say more. He went on.  “How does the Gulmohar tree in front of my window bloom at the same time every year? How do we get rainfall showers in the same months each year? Also why can’t I get to eat mangoes all the year round and only in summer?..(pausing briefly to think).. Who plans all this? Is it all natural or God designed? If it is designed by God then how does he single handedly manage all the activities? Or does he have helpers to help him too?..(using his hand gestures to explain)… I can get tired of making this simple drawing, sit idle, not complete my homework, not study for exams, but how is it that the sun, moon, stars, birds,  seasons, trees, ‘Not’ get tired and work relentlessly? Tell me How?”...He paused after this. Turned around and looked at me who was quite dumb struck by his questions and was as much in a state of bewilderment as he himself was! He smiled and sat beside me in hope of getting his queries answered. As he sat near me, I gathered myself starting to ponder on how to answer his bountiful doubts and that too with as much ease as possible!

I smiled back fondly at him and began “U know dear, there is a law of nature for all the things you just talked about. The sun, stars, seasons, trees, birds, all obey these laws, just like we obey the laws or rules set by our parents at home? ….And regarding who sets these laws, it is but GOD who designs everything. He has made a rule for all the things around us so that they help us to do our daily chores and functions smoothly. He has made rules for the sun to rise and set at a particular time so that we know when to go to work and when to come back and relax, a similar rule for the birds to chirp and cock to crow at a certain time to help us get up on time…(continuing)… God has also instructed the Gulmohar tree and other flowering plants to blossom when he thinks is right and has planned a time for the arrival of the monsoon showers to help farmers sow seeds and grow crops to feed us. All the things which happen around us are for a reason and they follow a certain plan. The sun, stars, seasons and rain might also feel tired of their duties but they don’t give up or procrastinate for they know that their work is helping others to discharge their duties properly. …(pausing)…Similarly, we also have a purpose to fulfill in our lives and for that we need to put in hard work and determination as in the long run even our work will impact the lives of others.So next time when your mom wakes you up early in the morning for school or reminds you to do your homework on time, do it without giving her any trouble, because it is her duty to take care of you and groom you to be a responsible man. …(now gazing at him and asking)…Did you get that? And if so tell me, what is your duty in return?”.... I stopped my conversation and gazed at the boy. He was sitting with his eyes wide open diligently listening to what I said. He took some time to realize that I had finished, then looking at me with his big inquisitive eyes said “OK. So we All (stressing on ‘All’) have got a life for some purpose, I am sure I have a purpose too…(thinking briefly).. I promise to follows all the instructions which mom has for me from now on so that I can grow up to become a good human being and help other people to get what they want in their life, is that right, Rashi Di?" (looking at me for affirmation). I grinned at him and nodded. 

 I knew he had got his answers. He then got up and picked up his drawing board, color pencils and walked towards home, waving back happily at me. After this conversation, I was not sure who looked much calmer and at peace with oneself, he or me?  May be I need more such young little friends to understand the purpose of my life? 

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

'Reverse Brain drain'

Please read this.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2149483/Rertun-to-India-Wharton-Special-Report.

For all my Indian friends studying/working/settled abroad,this article is for you!Read it if u have ever found yourself in one of these situations/plights-

1.If ever you have felt that what you are doing right now(in US/UK,etc) does you no good other than may be minting a few extra coins to take back home when or IF you return.

2.If you have ever craved for a Green card only because your friends and close relatives have one; not that you earnestly wanted it.

3.If you have ever thought/assumed that living in US can provide a better(read 'Hasslefree') standard of living and opportunities to your kids.

4.If you have ever felt that you can never adjust or put up with the Dirty Indian politics, populated and polluted Indian cities, overcrowded Metros and trains, traveling in which u once cherished!

5.P.S-if you do NOT happen to fall in the first 4 categories(which is very likely to happen) because u think you are too liberal and super cool to be an Indian(:P) and hence think that US/UK is the only place for you to settle down, reading this article is highly recommended!! :))

Hope you all will enjoy reading the above link I am sharing. I strongly hope that this article will positively touch each one of you(just like it did to me) and make you think slightly higher above materialistic grounds.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Kudos to Indian politicians

Watch this.http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videoshow/4513041.cms

After watching this drama by Mulayam Singh , I am forced to recall of a similar episode in recent past.It showed Mayawati, the current Chief Minister of UP slapping her body guard and a police officer in public.

This incident just made me ponder that, since when have the leaders obtained the right to beat or insult somebody publicly ?Our leaders have already disgraced themselves by instigating communal riots, taking bribe openly,making masses vote at their gun point and using tax payer's money for setting up their swiss bank accounts! Was this not enough that now they have stooped to the extent of physically abusing people in open??What a shame on our democracy,where any common man's self respect can be shattered at the hands of the powerful , rich and the so called 'elite' few.

These ministers should be booked under law, so that this is not repeated next time.Nobody who so ever it is can trample the other person on basin of his status, class, sex, etc..
If no legal action is taken against these politicians, the 'Junta' should get together to insult and pelt stones on these leaders wherever they go.They deserve no less than this for their misdeeds!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Top 5 reasons why men avoid commitment/marriage

For those who are reading my blog for the first time, please don't get intimidated thinking that I am a feminist(I am not to that extent[:P])..However whenever I get to see the reactions of my male friends or cousins on the topic of commitment their behavior makes me ponder on the topic..Here are some of the reasons which scares guys to get committed:

(1)"What shit is a Stable life??"-Guys run away from anything that imparts stability to their life.Marriage for sure is a pathway to a stable life with one partner,which terrifies the stereotypical males.

(2)"Life without chasing hot chicks??"- Guys cant get rid of their habit of chasing girls.The idea of not chasing any female due to commitment to one makes them shudder in fear.

(3) "Oh god..Responsibility??"-Men don't want to take responsibility of any thing.Taking responsibility, according to them, is like sacrificing their freedom!!Some even feel they are being strangulated with the rope of responsibility! So, as soon as they realize the amount of responsibility which comes in package with marriage, they are happier being single and irresponsible.

(4) "End of an innovative life??"-One of the main reasons for all this is that, men want to keep on experimenting with new things(read 'new women') every day.Marriage will obviously put on end to their novel experiments.

(5) "No more Cool Status??"-Some men find the idea of being 'single and ready to mingle' very cool and stylish.So much are they inspired by it that they want to remain single forever(till they have grey hair or become bald and have a big tummy which turns off their girl friends)

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

A Black and White World?

Imagine a world in which you have only two colors-Black and white. Black symbolizing darkness, impurity and ignorance and white for purity, truth and innocence.

After a few thoughtful moments one starts pondering whether everything in our vicinity can be categorized into these two extremes or not?? There are so many discussions in our day to day lives which have no solid conclusions and numerous concerns which have no unique solutions. So the question of putting half of the world in white and the rest in black is baseless.

Subhash Ghai's new movie 'Black and White' is an attempt to elucidate this perspective.
Directors like Ashutosh Gowarikar, Rakesh Mehra,Aamir Khan and this time Subhash Ghai deserve appreciation for enlightening the masses about sensitive contemporary issues through their films.

Movie begins with portraying the staunch mindset of a terrorist, a psyche that refuses to see the shades beyond black and white, whose only aim is to destroy all non Muslims in the world .And then goes on to show how this hard core terrorist gets transformed into a new individual who cherishes human relationships and sees the world from a new point of view through the eyes of a good Samaritan Prof Rajen Mathur played by Anil Kapoor. The movie cites many incidents which rectifies the mind of the terrorist regarding the general ill feelings he had for Non Muslims all over the world. Finally he gets transformed after understanding the minutes of Indian society which teaches him to love and care for one other irrespective of one’s caste and creed.

The terrorist’s role is played by a budding actor 'Anurag Sinha' who gives full justice to his character by playing a wooden terrorist for most of the part of the movie. Anil kapoor and Shefali Chaaya deliver their parts with spontaneity.

The end of the movie is very usual as anybody would guess that he eventually restrains himself from spreading evil in the world and looks up to Anil Kapoor as his messiah responsible for bringing this positive change.....But somehow the end is not emphatic enough to linger in the minds of people for a long time. The decision of the terrorist to NOT blow up the Red Fort should have been elaborated a bit more .The scene portraying this sudden change in intentions seems a little quick and unrealistic to digest...Otherwise a good movie with a lofty message for all humanity- in search of harmony amidst diversity.. It also forces the masses to look at terrorists from a different angle. They are people who have been trained only to destroy and are ignorant of many facts which are actually the root cause of problems in the world.

The end note is that neither is a particular person (terrorist) bad and neither is the principle of any religion or society baseless. It’s on how you interpret them and make the world a heaven or a hell of a place to live in.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Examination Pressure!

I recently happened to watch the film 'Tarein zameen par'.It throws light on 'dyslexia' which is a disorder pertaining to slow learning among certain kids.It also brings up the issue that- 'every child is special'.Kudos to directorial brilliance of Aamir Khan for making such a sensible movie which opened the eyes of several parents and teachers about child's learning ability and grasping power.
After watching the movie i was reminded of my`school days when the cut throat competition did not let kids to stay as kids.The heavy satchels which are even heavier than the kids themselves ,the long unending queue at the bus stops early morning and the weight of water bottles and tiffin boxes on top of all this , would make any body sympathize with the misery of these tiny tots.The school administration too does not leave any stone unturned to make their lives hell.The regular maths exercises lay emphasis on mugging formulae of Pythagorus rather than teaching maths as a tool to solve day to day problems.The history lessons are mere collection of chronological events which the students have to mug up and vomit in the exams.The history book chapters relating to India's Independence highlight only specific leader's contribution in the struggle and bury the heroic deeds of other significant ones.This distortion of the facts has led to mere confusion among the present day youth who scratch their heads in bewilderment when they try to put pieces of history together.
Grammar again is taught more as a maths class and pure language classes offers nothing to enhance in the department of vocabulary.
If a student intakes all the above mentioned subjects with the same mundane spirit as expected by the school he /she is declared as 'an extra-ordinary student' , 'an achiever','a gifted child' and blah blah.....The moment he tries to experiment with something new he is deemed as a' not so bright' or 'average student' or a 'black sheep' in the class many times.
Our examination system evaluates a child on the basis of his/her ability to mug up the course and put everything neatly into a sheet of paper.God forbid,if the child happens to be sick at the time of the exams, forget about his grades his complete academic year can be at stake!

Apart from the regular school unit tests and terms how can we forget the two deadliest exams which scares the shit out of every student including the brightest ones?? Yeah..I am talking about the SSC and HSSC BOARDS!!!Dare to mess up with these 2 and u r literally wiped out of the face of the world.
The Indian system of education sometimes creates scary aura for students and makes them mugging puppets instead of enlightening them with practical knowledge.Learning should be made a fun and an entertaining exercise which every child should take up interestingly and use it in his own way to perceive things and earn a living for himself when he is done with his basic education.
Education should be a journey towards a world of discovering new things,it should be a process which creates awareness among people about the general issues in and around them.Lastly,the ultimate goal of education should be to turn children into efficient world class citizens who can deal all minor and major issues of the world through effective education and make the world a better place to live in!!

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Is this what is called.......???

Well for those who are trying to interpret the content of this article by the title above let me tell u that yes i have actually fallen in the "trap" where no one would like to fall..but can't help it...
So here goes my story..please guide me if i m right after u read this....
Actually i have a very close friend called"-------"(name not to be revealed so soon) who became too friendly and close to me in the past (say few) months and i sought of felt infatuated towards him..
I am a very serious and straight forward girl by nature,who is a feminist in every way....but after meeting this guy things started changing for me..
Every comment that he passed playfully on me made me think seriously about it..every prank he played made me laugh and feel happy ...every moment i spent with him gave me immense pleasure..i really started pondering whether i m in the fantasy world being bitten by the '4 letter word' which everyone speaks of..???.

As I told u he was/is a very good pal and telling my feelings to him would be either losing my friendship or acheiving him...so i was a little nervous before telling him my feelings..
But somehow i was so restless that i decided to tell him whatever i felt for him...

So here comes the D day of my life,i somehow mustered courage and called him to a place where i was going to reveal my emotions withheld till now...he came and gave a cute smile(i experienced my heart beating fast as he gave that grin with so sweet dimples..)and sat down expecting to chat as we usually did..
Then after a few minutes of chatting about mundane topics i began my actual conversation for which i had called him..I could not gather courage to look at him in his eyes , specially bcoz i was telling all this stuff for the 1st time and the fact that me being a girl taking the first step was sounding a bit desperate...I took 30 minutes to say what i wanted to and then.....ouch!!!.i felt somebody angrily knocking me down on the floor..who was it?? Oh my god was that such a big sin!!!! I only revealed my true emotions and i was being strangulated for doing that??

What was that?? OH !! to my despair it was my little brother trying to wake me up from my dreams saying"Didi ab utho bhi college nahi jana hai kya??? Mummy kab se utha rahi hai"
So i was dreaming!!!! Uhh what a dream!! But his smile was really cute yaar!!!

Hope to meet him in my next dream..sweeet dreams!!!