The official reunion : The batch of 2006

The memories had almost faded.

Some were hidden away in the far corners of the heart.

Life had got used to their absence.

The lake was placid.

When a little stone hit it

A ripple in the peace

Grew to be a wave.

Even as the skies emptied its waters

The heart refreshed itself.

Hidden memories began to peep out, looked here and there and

Then surfaced in a surge

Once more faces, names and incidents came to the fore.

Suddenly everything was like before

Just like it always had been ........................

A few magical hours................................Which are rightly just so ours !

Where are we sailing to ?

A recent piece of news caught my eye. The headlines screamed: Yachting champ barred from taking grade ten exams. This is what the paper reported :

 Chintan Chhatbar, a class 10 student at Kendriya Vidyalaya no 3, Colaba, found himself lost at sea when the school decided that he was not eligible to take his CBSE exams this year. A member of the Mumbai Yacht club, Chintan has represented the country in yachting championships since 2008 and has won many national and international medals. Chintan and his family have been trying everything they can, in the hope that he can, at least, take the re-exams, scheduled to begin today. ................................................................................................................................................................ PRL Gupta, assistant commissioner of KVS,Mumbai region, said ,"We had warned the parents months ago, telling them that in class 10,one cannot afford to take so many leaves. 

The opportunities for sports are so minimal in this country. And when there is someone all set to fight the system and make a niche for himself, what do we do? We push him down governmental procedures and ‘rules’!

That an educational body should behave such is a scathing remark on our educational system. The CBSE prides itself in being a progressive educational board and the Kendriya Vidyalayas are the flagship schools of the government of India. It’s really sad that a student under two such prestigious organisations in our country finds himself  tied down by bureaucracy .

We may talk of holistic development and new educational initiatives, but till we are  free from unreasonable rules like these, we will never motivate our kids to do something different. The onus of getting kids to do something beyond their regular schooling is always on the parent  and not all parents have the resources to get their kids to do more than what the system offers them. Alternative educational systems come at high costs or are dependent on the parents’ knowledge and aspirations. The common person who is dependent on the schools to teach their kids to aspire doesn't  seem to have much choice here.  

How Dare!!!!

We work.

We slog.

We sit through meetings.

We mediate the best deals for you.

We run the economy.

We tell you what to teach in your schools.

We give you money when you are in a difficulty.

We ensure your trains and buses are available so that you can live a life.

We appoint your policemen and army jawans to keep you guys safe.

So what if we take bribes?

So what if we put our kids in English medium ones and want yours in regional ones?

So what if we hatch up educational strategies without any thought?

So what if we insist on loos that cost 35 lakhs?

So what if we block up the roads while travelling to the airports?

So what if we drink packaged drinking water at the meetings?

How dare you laugh at us?

How dare you crack a joke?

How dare you cartoon us?

AND how dare you teach kids about them?

Rear a nation of ‘yes people’!

Teach them to only stand and stare...never DARE!!!!!

 NCERT decides to delete cartoons against politicians and bureaucrats in its History and political science textbook. You can read more about it here

Table manners

Why is this place so dirty?, asked hubby
'Oh! breakfast time just got over,' said I as I pottered over the pans and pots in the kitchen.
'But why did you let them dirty the place? Didn't you watch over them?,' he questioned, with the irritation rising.
'Of course ,I watched over them!.They had all the food. Didn't leave anything behind. One had bread and the other had chapatis.'
'Oh!, next time, they are not to drop water all around here! I don't like it. Why do you let them sit here and eat?  When are they going to learn?, he squirmed.'This is not the way to behave!' he added rather grimly.

I gently nudged him,'I do not intend teaching table manners to crows!'

a house full of cliches

• Three scenes from some random South Indian Movies
• Ten action scenes inspired (!) by Tom and Jerry
• One amazing actor who insists on hamming
• Three talented heroes who hide their talent and behave like buffoons
• Yesteryear superstars and villains who don’t mind capitalising on their own shadows
• One hero who behaves like a buffoon and still hunting for any talent .
• Four heroines who look good with limited clothing
• A few coincidental meetings
• A handful of racist comments
• One Sail away life boat
• One flashback
• One scene insulting a dwarf
• One Prince Charles (!)
• One palace
• One item number
• One producer who can block all the theatres in Mumbai.
• One guy who mixes the above in a ridiculous potion
• An audience that has forgotten what ‘comedy’ is!
Put all this in together. Voila! Housefull 2 for you

Singled out!

A few days ago, the housing society that I live in issued a circular saying that single folk, bachelors or spinsters, will not be allowed to stay on rent in the society. Houses in the society can be rented out only to married couples. The newspapers too have been stating how this trend is on the rise. Housing complexes do not want singles in their houses!
Why are we doing this? The usual answer I got to this was: Arre baba, who knows what type of people we will get in the colony. These youngsters na, they stay up late, they don’t even come back home some nights and sometimes, they bring their girl friend or boyfriends to stay overnight. What culture! Do you want your children to grow up seeing all this? We are only protecting our children from all this!’

Are we?
We are targeting an entire growing up generation and telling them loud and clear that they don’t have the right to start their lives peacefully. We are telling them that they can’t live in ‘civilized colonies’ because they are not married. We are telling them that they can’t begin their careers in a city like Mumbai.
An expensive city like Mumbai doesn’t give many options of stay for these youngsters. Young boys and girls with stars in their eyes want to chalk out lives of their own. There are not enough hostels for all. They cannot possibly afford individual houses and decide to pitch in with friends at work place or otherwise to share a moderately decent flat so that they can live and work in peace. And should we not be proud that here is a generation raring to go out on its own, not dependent on its parents for everything?

No, what do we do? We spoil the party!

Come on! How can these youngsters have this party? We never had it .We never stayed away from homes to create our lives. We never lived independently. Aren’t we going great? Then why do these youngsters need to hit the road alone? Why do they want to take the path not taken by us?

Youngsters want to make a professional life before settling into marriage and family. But we deny them that.If we turn out an entire generation from our colonies, where would they go? We crib and complain about the lack of passion in today’s youngsters but when it is our turn to see their passion, we turn a blind eye.
And in today’s we world we still equate marriage with morality. Ahem! Ahem!
And yes, to all those who are protecting my kids from this culture, I would rather have a strong independent child who tells me that he/she is ready to strike it out on his/ her own.
But will they find a place where singles are not singled out?