FLYING HOPES

Thursday, March 30, 2006

ADMISSION DENIED

Yesterday I heard shocking news “Tinu didn’t get admission in (so called good) school”. He was failed in the interview so they rejected him..
Tinu is three year old lovely son of my friend. He is very talkative; full of questions. He loves to talk a lot; anyone who can keep a distance and doesn’t try to hold him can easily talk with him. He can identify colours, animals, alphabets, numbers and all the things, which a three year old should know. He was waiting for last 6 months or so for his turn to go to school..
His parents were quite confident that he will be through with interview. But he could not…his only crime was that he cried in front of interviewers..
What else one should expect from a 3 year old when he had waited for 1 hour for his turn and then was pushed in the room alone (his parents not allowed to accompany him), where 6 unknown eyes were staring at him and shooting questions at him!!!

Probably the neck tied and starched sareeid educationist interviewers can know what makes them to torture such small kids. They argue that they can’t admit everybody but they can’t interview the little ones either. They must adopt some other methods (may be a lucky draw) to choose the kids..
All the requests from his parents to give him a second chance as his elder brother also studies in the same school …were in vain..
The wonderful little kid had to face his first failure in our cruel education system..

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

RESERVATIONS

I am personally against the policy of reservation. If at all reservation is the way to uplift certain section of our society, it should be given on some terms and conditions. May be like theses---

1. Only one generation (one person) should get the benefit of reservation.
2. He has to pay some tax for the welfare of his own community.
3. One person should get the benefit only once (In education or in service).
4. The obvious one.. Two chidren norm.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

LIFE UNDER THE FLYOVER..

Unfortunately my house is located near a flyover. I can see the “life under the flyover” quite closely.
Many poorest of poor families come there, stay and leave. Generally A family has 3 to 4 half naked children aged between 1 to 10 years. Many times my heart comes to my mouth on seeing the crying kids with bread in hand and their mother beating them..
I can never forget one scene in my life. It was raining heavily that day. I saw a teenager mom struggling to handle her new born baby with her 5/6 year old little sister. She was looking helpless with tears in her eyes. I felt for her but didn’t reacted.(Probably too much of all this made me rigid.)
I came back to my home, I was restless. I decided to help her. Next morning I went there but to no avail, she had left the place. I could not find her.
“What happened to the young mom and her sibling?” “Did she manage to save the life of new born?”
“What made me to ignore her at that moment?”
All these questions haunt me time and again! I regret that I missed the time to help her..
To be able to give birth to a child is a wonderful gift from God to females but in her case, for me, it was only a curse!
Development of a child in womb and it’s birth are complicated biological processes and yet they are so easy. There must be so many teenager girls (under flyovers, in slums, and at railway stations) who would become mothers with unnoticed rape cases..
It is said that females are gifted for motherhood. I would rather say “men are gifted more” here because they are physically strong and they can easily walk away with their momentary pleasure,, pushing the helpless female into unwanted responsibility of motherhood …..

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

BLOGS
I was wondering, what are Blogs all about?
I found that they are people’s SILENT SHOUT!!
Some laugh aloud, some scream with pain,
Emotions come out straight from their brain.
Young ones put up their personal issues,
You can find them sobbing without using tissues.
They can be boring, they can be nice,
But the language is always with added spice.
The rules of language can be put on the rack,
For writers like me, this is icing on the cake.
Whatever the subjects you feel to share.
Sports, politics, business all can be there,
The fight with friend, argument with boss,
The joys of win and sorrows of loss.
Blog reading can be good when you are alone,
You can get some expressions as your very own!!!

I am an infant to this blog world, just one month old. One day I was searching for some page on google and landed on someone’s blog. I found it interesting to read that page and then got to know about many other blogs. I was fascinated with the world of words and it was amazing and very easy to put my views on the article by commenting on it. In this way the writer and the reader can communicate on one to one basis.
In my opinion to express the views and to share the knowledge are two basic qualities of man kind and probably reasons for evolution of human being. As Indians have many different cultures, to have opinion on each and everything is also a part of our culture. Our social setup is such that we need communication badly. We are not mould to live a lonely life, we like people to listen us and we love to listen to the people. I think blogs (where mostly employed and highly qualified persons express their views)are the advanced version of the chats of every nook and corner of every town, city or village where unemployed youth discuss various issues like politics, social, sports etc.
The best thing is there are not any criteria to be a blogger.No body is answerable to anybody. And what more on earth can any body ask for? Every person wants to be master of his own and blogs provides exactly that..

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Innocent brains and cute logics!!

Kids have their own logics for doing or nor not doing things. Often they stump their parents by curious queries and their comments..
Once when my lit niece was coming from her school after receiving her results, her mom asked her that why she didn’t write one answer even when she knew it. She told that she deliberately did this as this time she wanted her friend to be first in the class so her mom will be happy and her friend will not get her mom’s dant(“Ek baar use bhi to first aane do usaki mummy bhi to har bar use dantati hai)..

My daughter coloured the picture of brinjal with orange crayon! I asked her doesn’t she know that the color of brinjal is violet? She told,,she v much knows that but she doesn’t like the violet colour at all so she will not be using it any day!!!..

Recently my daughter was chosen for a drawing compt. from her school. As she was chosen for 2nd level, she had to compete with students ¾ year elder to her. I decided to take her there so she can get some exposure and can learn from other student’s work. There she gave me real embarrassing moments with all her kiddy stuff…
As she came out of the hall after finishing her drawing I asked her “whose drawing u liked the most?”
She declared “mine only”!!
She had to draw a blind beggar with a child holding his hand. She drew the figures v nicely, but she draw the man with nice check shirt and brown pant and the girl holding his hand was in beautiful frock and combed hair… the reason she gave was..“I don’t like the man with patched clothes and girl with dirty frock!!”

There was an exhibition of student’s paintings that had done nicely and won some prizes in that compt.On seeing one picture she commented “ohh v bad drawing!! the ladies in the picture are v fat!!” the painting had won 2nd prize..
Then after seeing a modern art kind of painting, she declared “kuchc samaz hi nahi raha hai kya banaya hai?”
We left the place with all the applauds for my daughter’s drawing and her comments!!!

Every day at the bedtime kids (almost every) have all the questions of world for their moms..One such conv bet me(M) and my daughter(D)—

D:why papa need to go to office everyday?
M:to bring money!

D:don't we bring money from ATM???
m:-------.......
D: Mamma when I will grow up my didi will become younger naa?? then she will call me didi!!
M:No, it’s not possible.. She born before you so you have to call her didi always..
D: That’s not fair at all.. then why didn’t you chose me as your first child???
M:mmmmmmmmm mamma is not god to know everything,,,plsss ab so jaoo!!!

Sunday, March 12, 2006

THE GREAT INDIAN FAMILY

Until the date they are other’s possession
She is some one’s daughter, He is someone’s son.
With their marriage they begin new life,
They have new identity of Husband and Wife.
“I, ME, MYSELF” have to pushed away,
“WE, OUR, OURS” have to find their way.
In all contrast they have to match,
Differences have to be filled with patch.
They argue, they fight silence is rare,
But all is done with love and care.
They laugh; they cry do all in share.
After some time they make pretty good pair.
As the time passes they are three then four,
Then they decide on “NOW NO MORE!”
Kids are burdened with parent’s expectations,
Every day they get some “PREACHY SESSIONS”.
He earns, he rules, fulfils financial needs,
She is quite involved in social deeds.
They just can’t avoid some social obligations,
Even if they end up in financial troubles.
Children are now grown up, they begin to react,
They want to be their own that is the fact.
That is family set up with fixed process,
Without win or loss, they just finish the race.
Some live happily, some have miserable lives,
In all the cases Indian Family survives!!!!

Thursday, March 09, 2006

GENERATION GAP

I was on my way back to Nasik in a train. At one station an old couple with two heavy bags entered the coach. The man was crying like a child,, his pocket was cut and he had lost some hard earned money and some imp papers. We were struggling to find the words to console such an old man. Only consolation was coming from his old wife—“It happens, be calm, it’s not new to us, we will overcome” etc.After a few minutes the old man gathered his composure and begun to concentrate on his prayers.. The lady was also pretty calm with serene emotions on her face.(probably thinking of her grandchildren)..

At next station a young couple entered the coach, looking smart and well to do. After few moments they opened their Tiffin and ate something. Not a single word was exchanged between them! Their eyes were at exactly opposite windows.Suddenely mobile of young man buzzed. He talked for a while and then uttered some words to his wife. Wife got furious and hot arguments were exchanged. The matter was financial as the word “Rs. 15000” was repeated so many times. The man was at the receiving end (may be due to the fact that were at a public. place!).The lady continued..

In the time of crisis, the behavior of two generations was totally contrast—
The old couple had all the peace of the world at their end,, but the peace between the young couple was in bits and pieces!!!!

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

REMARKABLE RESILIENCE.

There are a few successful women, whom the nation admires and there are hundreds of Indian women who deserve the appreciation on at least the ‘Women’s day’.
Here is the story of Lata bai (a bartan wali), whom I know since last sixteen years. At the age of fifteen she was married to a coolie. At the age of nineteen, she was mother of two and then her husband went mad, probably due to excessive drinking. Some time later her husband committed suicide. At that time she was four months pregnant (for a third child). At this young age and having such a terrible time, she stood firmly on her feet. She was being forced to remarry but she strongly opposed that and even refused to go to her father’s house. She worked very hard and despite being uneducated, she sent her daughter and sons to school. She is still working very hard and doing quite well. Now she owns a little house too. I admire her for her courage.
She may not be having a high profile success, but she is and should be a proud woman. Happy Women’s Day to all the Lata baies of India…
I have to mention her. The milk woman ( I don’t know her personally). I used to see her everyday on her bicycle with two big cans either side of bicycle, wearing a sari, eversmiling..Now for few months she rides on a two-wheeler… I am glad to see her success..

THE WOMAN
Boy or a girl, both are human,
What man can do, so can a woman!
Please don’t pull her back, let her fly,
She will be there, up in the sky!
Let us be her free from all the fears,
Encourage her when she is in tears!
She cooks, she cares, she plays sports too
Wonderful on earth, she can be so in space too!
She is successful in service, as she is in business,
She is as good as man, not one bit less!
She is a daughter, a wife, and a mother,
Can you imagine a world without her??

Monday, March 06, 2006

“JUGAD” (A method of finishing any task by slightly deviating from the norms)

I read this word in TOI ( 1/03 “The story behind---“ on pg 16 ) . I was so happy that at least something from my native place is going national / international level, as this word (although it is much more than just a word) is commonly used there and all over MP.
It may sound ridiculous but anything as small as the no. plates on vehicles starting with “MP” makes me feel good!
Back to the point.. In India we need to do JUGAD at times. As stated in the article the launch of rocket was possible due to some jugads. A common man has many day today problems such as gas cylinder, surprisingly high elect. bill, renewing license and so many. It’s not easy to overcome these problems without the help of any jugadi.These jugadies have all the solutions for all such problems. In factories also we find such jugadies who can sort out any manufact.related problems even if they don’t own high profile degrees.
There are so many such Hindi words which are having their own place and there are no words in English which can replace them.
One day my brother was playing badminton in his society’s ground with his fellow residents. He and his opponent had an argument on one point so he said “ tappa (I don’t know eng word for this) line ke andar gira tha.” The opponent gave a smile and asked “Kanha ke ho bhai?------- ohhhh wanha ka to mai bhi hu “tappa”shabd sunate hi mai samaz gaya tha!”

My husband had a boss who had great sense of humour.His first encounter with the boss was like this—
“How many mark sheets do you have for a four year course?”
“4 sir.”

“I am having 8 for the same course! That’s why I am your boss.”

He was v keen on floating new Hindi words among his sophisticated colleagues. One such word was “saltana” (the way to finish the task v quickly with using all sort of means). The word had such an impact that within few months the south Indian big boss who struggled to speak Hindi started using “salta do”!!!

(This post is in the honour of all Uttar and Madhya bharatiya bloggers.)

Friday, March 03, 2006

Weather channel?

We are having flood of channels on television. My friend told me that some one may turn up with 24/7 weather channel one day. I never enjoyed watching the weather report and temp of various cities (besides only that India looks pleasantly green in those pictures).Probably it is the only platform for channels to launch their new news readers. Why at all should we pay the attention to things as changing as weather? What if the temp of the city is 35 and not 30 degree? Everything will be as regular as it has to be!.
Are we weather conscious people? Here are some examples of Indian life style and weather-
1. In my town (and most others too) max of marriages are held in hot summer days of April and May when there is water and electricity problems are on high. The sole reason to choose that time is that every son and daughter (whose kids will be having school holidays) can attend the grand family gathering. And then every daughter and daughter in law has to wear the heaviest of jewelry and heaviest of sari! Then the groom has to wear safari suit and tie because that’s the only life time chance to wear that for him!(In most cases now a days he owns a small shop or may be owns a coaching institute).

2. In most areas schools open on 1 st of July ,that is the rainy season, many little kids have their first exposure to world without their mummy being around..

3. In rainy season only, with bad roads delayed trains and flooding rivers many brothers and sister make it a point to meet each other for auspicious occasion of “Raksha Bandhan”.

4. Finally we have this “weather at will” in Hindi movies. There is mild rain when the boy meets the girl first time and then there is storm when they depart!!

Thursday, March 02, 2006

A small question

Who is more powerful?
A man who needs the help of Hundreds of people and animals to survive?
A man who struggles to justify his own actions?

OR

The man who dictate his terms from virtually nowhere on the earth?

OR

The man who has the courage to shout in front of the world that he is the king in his own rights?