April 21, 2010

Children and values

A lot has been talked about the demographic structure of India and the amazing dividends that we could reap owing to the fact that a large proportion of our population is in the productive age group. One dimension of the key to exploit such natural advantage is to ensure that the upcoming lot of younger generation is educated and skilled. Towards that, a lot is being done and a lot more promised to be done.

Personally, I am more concerned about another dimension. How and where is the value system of kids going to be cultivated and nurtured! Reason why I feel there is a lacuna here is two-fold.

Firstly, schools increasingly are money making machines these days. The entire process of education and teaching has now become more a business idea with the objective of creating knowledge-driven-weath creators rather than values-driven-productive-human beings. Money making at the cost of deteriorating values is an unwarranted scenario.

Secondly, families these days are increasingly becoming leaner and nuclear. A married couple where both partners are working professionals, staying nuclear away from their respective parents and trying to manage a full-time career is extremely productive for them. But when a child is born to them, the equation must change. What we are increasingly seeing is that the mother taking a maternity leave followed by a post-child birth sabbatical for few months (a year tops) to take care of the infant. Post the initial couple of years (where generally either set of grandparents are also present), the child is taken care by a nanny/baby sitter, sent to kindergarten, school, etc (with years passing). Now, when the child's mind is most fertile in the growing years, parents are not really available. They are, but not completely. In many cases, even the grand parents are not. So whom does the child learn the values of life from? He will surely be educated but will he grow up to become a man of strong values? In my generation, mothers generally were home makers and inculcated a lot of essential values to us. I can be sure in my case atleast.

And what do the children get exposed to when they come to home from school and wait for parents to come? Shocking television programmes, abundance of polluting information on the internet, social networking sites with hosts of online 'buddies'. 10-year olds are becoming memebers of networking sites these days and some of their status messages really shock me. Surely all this would make the kids cool, funky and street-smart but we should not complain if some of them later think that commiting a crime for money is fine or getting the latest electronic gadget for themselves must be the agenda in life.

I wonder about this for the coming generations. Should one of the parent completely devote himself/herself for the development of child in the formative years (between the age of 4 and 12 perhaps)?

Bringing a child to this world is a responsible decision. Does it end with sending the school to the best available school and coaching class? Isn't parenting a lot more than that?

April 19, 2010

Catch me if you can!

During the good old school days, we must have all played this search-for-my-name game. It went like this: in the inside cover page of a book, normally we write our name. Instead, I write 'to know my name, turn to page 14'. On page 14 I write, 'now go to page 183' and then so on and so forth. Finally, you sometimes end up seeing the name in one of the final links. One of those little fun things we did as kids.

Interestingly, I was playing a different version of Catch-me-if-you-can game myself. I was the hunter and someone else the drifter! Today, the game ended when I reached the elusive! And how!! It was fun. The finding is also quite surprising. One of those oh-I-never-thought-it-was-you moments!

Quite satisfying, really.

All this around...

... and I continue to lead a self-centered, selfish life.













Source of pictures: Amit Naik from Pankhudi (a very active NGO)

April 18, 2010

April 17, 2010

What love means to me

This magnificent piece is written by a dear friend Payal. I am really jealous of her in a sense that it is she who wrote this and not me! I totally loved it. Incidentally, one of her poems was also posted by me earlier.

- Love to me is a selfless feeling when you want the person to be happy, even if it involves him / her being with someone else

- Love to me is when even if you are fraught with pain, when you go to the temple, you pray for the one you love, not for yourself

- Love to me is when the two people have the ability to find the craters in each other's lives and fill each one of them with love and warmth

- Love to me is when you are not scared to expose that side of you, which can be otherwise judged

- Love to me is when you feel safe and complete with the person

- Love to me is when you feel that one lifetime is not enough to experience fully the karmic ecstasy when with your partner

Either it is love or it is not... there is no mid-way :)

April 15, 2010

How?

After a gap, I am back to my favorite theme - Marriage. This time, a question to those of you who are married:

How do you decide when and with whom to get married to? Seriously. Try & share your thoughts. Please.

April 10, 2010

The IPL thread - Irritating PL

Two things gets on to my skin a lot when I watch the IPL Television telecast. Firstly, DC playing akin to the Indian national side during late 1990s under Azhar - without a bite and ever looking to be fine with losing. Secondly, the MRF blimp, and references to Lillee and MRF pace foundation and the bowlers who came from there and their grand mothers and the man who fills the big balloon up. It irritates me so much that every time they show the balloon now, I mute my TV set!

Damn irritating.