Justice Aruna Suresh of the Delhi High court spoke the minds of thousands of parents in New Delhi when she ticked off the teachers of Delhi University for their prolonged agitation against the implementation of the semester system. Justice Suresh admonished the teacher’s union and said that they had no right to “play with the life and careers of the students” over an internal matter which needed to be resolved with urgency.
Any parent with a child over the age of seventeen in the capital will inform you about college admissions in DU being the most taxing exercise in operations research with parameters such as marks, extracurricular achievements, sporting abilities and “jugaad” competing for the few seats available in these citadels of excellence. The school student transitions to college with a feeling of exhilaration and achievement. They are used to a certain discipline in school and most of them want to adhere to the same in college. Classes usually begin at 8.45 am in most colleges and the students leave their homes as early as 7 am to take local transport to the university only to twiddle their fingers since the teachers are abstaining from class due to the agitation.
I recall my days at Presidency College Kolkata which at that time was the hub of student politics in the leftist state. Our student’s federation of India union would call for a strike at the drop of a hat to protest for things that did not affect our life. In the initial period we were glad to comply and drink tea and do “adda” in the canteen. Within a month, both the conversation and tea started to lose its charm and so we informed the union leaders that we would attend class when we pleased and could not be dictated. Things came to a head when the union closed our college gates and refused to let us enter. A major altercation ensued and we decided to climb over the gate to attend class. A fiery lady in the union lay down in front of the gate and said we would have to step over her to enter the college. A young lad from my class was glad to comply as he stepped over the shocked prostrate woman, climbed over the gate which he then opened to let in the crowd.
That year, an independent party with no political affiliation was formed in Presidency college to contest elections which won by an overwhelming majority. The Student Federation chiefs were ticked off by the Politburo and told to get their act together. The Independent party wasn’t as interested in student politics as much as they were keen to teach the union a lesson and lost the election in the subsequent year. However it created a major buzz in the city and our college attracted a whole bunch of attractive fashionable juniors who until then thought of our establishment as erudite and boring.
I sincerely hope that the teachers will get back to the classrooms for I am sure the "chole baturas" and "tandoori chicken momos" of Kamala Nagar Market will very soon lose their charm. Let’s not complain of our kids losing focus in their life if our generation sets such an example.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Clothes maketh a woman
I dreaded the days when my daughter was young and wanted to be my stylist before I went to work. She would bring out the most binding outfits and the highest heels. No amount of convincing could drive home the point that work life on earth wasn’t similar to that in the Idiot box. One has never seen a lawyer in any part of the world dress like Calista Flockhart or heard of doctors wearing stilletoes to hospital and making out in laundry closets. I could not bear her sulking before I left for work and so spent the day in maternal agony as the waist band of my skirt progressively tightened into my duodenum and I had to bend at the knees in a dainty manner to pick up a pencil from the floor.
The tables turned when she went to intern at an office during her summer holidays at the age of sixteen and within five minutes of trying to look like what the women’s magazines today term as “the corporate look”, she decided that perhaps her school uniform wasn’t as ugly as she believed. As the years have gone by she has decided not to renew the subscriptions of the fashion magazines and resolutely refused to wear the spikey heels on the pretext that her feet are hurting from Bharatnatyam. I suspect that if her fancy school parties did not require most young girls to squeeze into miracle latex sub attire meant to transform the silhouette and tiptoe around in heels, she would attend more of them.
The papers this week announced that a Delhi based surgeon can insert cushions into the ball of one’s foot at a cost of sixty to eighty thousand rupees which would make wearing heel shoes less painful. It would be like having all those sticky Scholl comfort appendages inside one’s foot. The doctor should seriously consider a tie up with Reebok to incorporate “stability balls under the heels and forefoot to create a natural instability to force muscles to adapt and encourage toning", which is the logic behind the Easytone footwear that promises the user a fabulous derrière.
Much as the corporate sponsored media parrots the line that clothes maketh the man or woman, the only women I have seen in “corporate attire” have been in beauty salons, five star kitty parties or below twenty years of age. When I was young, naive and vain, I wore stilettos in the Mumbai suburban trains to work. I am glad that my daughter is more confident and knows that despite what she reads it’s unlikely that a person will first look at her feet before speaking to her. It also makes life easier as we now share the same comfortable shoes.
The tables turned when she went to intern at an office during her summer holidays at the age of sixteen and within five minutes of trying to look like what the women’s magazines today term as “the corporate look”, she decided that perhaps her school uniform wasn’t as ugly as she believed. As the years have gone by she has decided not to renew the subscriptions of the fashion magazines and resolutely refused to wear the spikey heels on the pretext that her feet are hurting from Bharatnatyam. I suspect that if her fancy school parties did not require most young girls to squeeze into miracle latex sub attire meant to transform the silhouette and tiptoe around in heels, she would attend more of them.
The papers this week announced that a Delhi based surgeon can insert cushions into the ball of one’s foot at a cost of sixty to eighty thousand rupees which would make wearing heel shoes less painful. It would be like having all those sticky Scholl comfort appendages inside one’s foot. The doctor should seriously consider a tie up with Reebok to incorporate “stability balls under the heels and forefoot to create a natural instability to force muscles to adapt and encourage toning", which is the logic behind the Easytone footwear that promises the user a fabulous derrière.
Much as the corporate sponsored media parrots the line that clothes maketh the man or woman, the only women I have seen in “corporate attire” have been in beauty salons, five star kitty parties or below twenty years of age. When I was young, naive and vain, I wore stilettos in the Mumbai suburban trains to work. I am glad that my daughter is more confident and knows that despite what she reads it’s unlikely that a person will first look at her feet before speaking to her. It also makes life easier as we now share the same comfortable shoes.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Protecting the Minor
Three different events this week indicate that our country is increasing efforts to protect the dignity and rights of our youth.
On June 14th the spokesperson for the Ministry of Women and Child Development said that it was proposing to amend the Domestic Violence Act along the lines of the US model of the “Safe DC” program. A two day workshop was conducted by the ministry with representatives from the states. An important fall out of this could be minors having the right to appeal in courts against violence or inadequate parenting. The victims can approach a domestic violence intake centre or a police station and the victim is assisted in getting an ex-parte temporary protection order within two hours which is valid for 14 days. During the period the victim is provided with shelter, transport, legal assistance, custody of children depending on her needs.(source: indialawyers.wordpress.com)
On the same day it was reported that two sisters from Ludhiana, Punjab challenged their father’s decision in the Supreme Court to halt their education on the premise that they were girls. Their father who is a shopkeeper refused to let them pursue their dreams of a post graduate degree in management and threatened to pull them out of college. Justice P. Sathasivam has advised the family to go for counselling to resolve the situation and has instructed the police to protect the girls from harassment from the family.
The movie “Udaan” which was released yesterday dwells on the dreams and talent of a boy and how he battles against the forces that threaten to obliterate them. The sensitively made film handles domestic violence through the eyes of children. The characters in the film are realistic and have shades of grey and even the person with the vile temper is shown to have redeeming features. However the final message in the film is loud and clear that violence in any relationship is immensely detrimental to the psyche of an individual and no amount of remorse or anguished affection later should be permitted as an excuse for pardon. The only way one can build a new beginning is by starting afresh.
On June 14th the spokesperson for the Ministry of Women and Child Development said that it was proposing to amend the Domestic Violence Act along the lines of the US model of the “Safe DC” program. A two day workshop was conducted by the ministry with representatives from the states. An important fall out of this could be minors having the right to appeal in courts against violence or inadequate parenting. The victims can approach a domestic violence intake centre or a police station and the victim is assisted in getting an ex-parte temporary protection order within two hours which is valid for 14 days. During the period the victim is provided with shelter, transport, legal assistance, custody of children depending on her needs.(source: indialawyers.wordpress.com)
On the same day it was reported that two sisters from Ludhiana, Punjab challenged their father’s decision in the Supreme Court to halt their education on the premise that they were girls. Their father who is a shopkeeper refused to let them pursue their dreams of a post graduate degree in management and threatened to pull them out of college. Justice P. Sathasivam has advised the family to go for counselling to resolve the situation and has instructed the police to protect the girls from harassment from the family.
The movie “Udaan” which was released yesterday dwells on the dreams and talent of a boy and how he battles against the forces that threaten to obliterate them. The sensitively made film handles domestic violence through the eyes of children. The characters in the film are realistic and have shades of grey and even the person with the vile temper is shown to have redeeming features. However the final message in the film is loud and clear that violence in any relationship is immensely detrimental to the psyche of an individual and no amount of remorse or anguished affection later should be permitted as an excuse for pardon. The only way one can build a new beginning is by starting afresh.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The Shobhaa Punit War
Punit Malhotra should have listened to his mother and not swooped to this level. It is true that Shobhaa De started the whole episode by rubbishing his directorial debut film “I don’t believe in Love Stories” and she wrote in her blog that Punit deserved to be spanked in public. Shobhaa is courageous to trifle with the sentiments of a brash young man. Punit promptly tweeted that Shobhaa was a fossilized menopausal woman who wasn’t getting enough to which Sonam Kapoor apparently replied “Ha ha”!!!
Everyone knows that insults do not have a level of gradation but have a progressive order of obnoxiousness in retaliation, a fact that has been proved by his interlude. However it takes courage for anyone, be one brilliant or ordinary, to create something unique and put one’s signature on it. One knows that brickbats and sniggers await one, but personal attacks are in poor taste. I know this from experience since I was at one time brave enough not to have comment moderation on this blog. I discovered the hard way what intense issues people have which are manifested by love notes in the form of comments.
However the big “M” word and the issue of “not getting any” is a comment that would obliterate the debutant director from the affections of most women. Punit should realize that one does not need to be fossilized or menopausal not to get any and this is a rather sensitive subject with most people, in relationships across age groups or otherwise. The M word is a very touchy subject with most women since sociologically and biologically, a woman is seldom appreciated after her eggs are depleted. Mommy and her kitty party sahelies will definitely not give Punit beta any laddoos for such behavior.
Everyone knows that insults do not have a level of gradation but have a progressive order of obnoxiousness in retaliation, a fact that has been proved by his interlude. However it takes courage for anyone, be one brilliant or ordinary, to create something unique and put one’s signature on it. One knows that brickbats and sniggers await one, but personal attacks are in poor taste. I know this from experience since I was at one time brave enough not to have comment moderation on this blog. I discovered the hard way what intense issues people have which are manifested by love notes in the form of comments.
However the big “M” word and the issue of “not getting any” is a comment that would obliterate the debutant director from the affections of most women. Punit should realize that one does not need to be fossilized or menopausal not to get any and this is a rather sensitive subject with most people, in relationships across age groups or otherwise. The M word is a very touchy subject with most women since sociologically and biologically, a woman is seldom appreciated after her eggs are depleted. Mommy and her kitty party sahelies will definitely not give Punit beta any laddoos for such behavior.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Quirky Fate
It is strange when three women from the same family, spread over three generations, coincidentally happen to take up their first earning jobs in the same profession and at the same age. Call it destiny or a quirky game of fate but that is exactly what happened in my family today.
My eighteen year old daughter received a call from her school principal yesterday, asking if she could work, until her college started, and substitute for a teacher who needed to undergo surgery. She started her first full time paid job today,teaching chemistry to classes seven to nine at the same school where she had completed fourteen years of education, just a few months back. I too, started my first part time job to earn pocket money at the age of eighteen, during my first year of college. I taught mathematics to senior school girls who lived in a building across the road from my flat. My mother needed to support a large family when her father met with an early demise. She passed out of high school at eighteen and taught mathematics to class nine and ten students in a co-educational school through the reference of her school principal.
As I sit sandwiched in the middle generation and watch the two ladies, I must admit I had the easiest assignment for facing a large classroom of children between fourteen and seventeen can be extremely daunting. While the students in my mother’s classroom pulled her leg, they also touched her feet to pay their respects to their teacher, a habit which is till date followed in Bengal. My daughter will be taking up to eight classes a day in a privileged school in the most aggressive city of India and I wish her all the best.
It is remarkable when such strange coincidences strike a family. It makes one smile and sets one’s faith soaring for I feel privileged to be in a similar boat with two such amazing ladies.
My eighteen year old daughter received a call from her school principal yesterday, asking if she could work, until her college started, and substitute for a teacher who needed to undergo surgery. She started her first full time paid job today,teaching chemistry to classes seven to nine at the same school where she had completed fourteen years of education, just a few months back. I too, started my first part time job to earn pocket money at the age of eighteen, during my first year of college. I taught mathematics to senior school girls who lived in a building across the road from my flat. My mother needed to support a large family when her father met with an early demise. She passed out of high school at eighteen and taught mathematics to class nine and ten students in a co-educational school through the reference of her school principal.
As I sit sandwiched in the middle generation and watch the two ladies, I must admit I had the easiest assignment for facing a large classroom of children between fourteen and seventeen can be extremely daunting. While the students in my mother’s classroom pulled her leg, they also touched her feet to pay their respects to their teacher, a habit which is till date followed in Bengal. My daughter will be taking up to eight classes a day in a privileged school in the most aggressive city of India and I wish her all the best.
It is remarkable when such strange coincidences strike a family. It makes one smile and sets one’s faith soaring for I feel privileged to be in a similar boat with two such amazing ladies.
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