The first time I used a hair dryer was when I was in Class VII. It was a big orange one with temperature regulations made by Philips. My Dad had brought it from abroad and it was not a common thing those days to have hair dryers at home. My Dad told me that I had to use it regularly after a shower to style my hair. He was very fond of my “Bruce Lee cut.” Even I was proud of that style and really enjoyed boys calling me Bruce Lee (I thought that I looked like Bruce Lee. It was later I realized that he was not one bit handsome to me).
I think I must have used that hair dryer less than a month as I read an article in the Women’s Era that it was not good for one’s hair. With that I stopped using it. My brother used it regularly and still uses one.
In course of time I got married. There was no hair dryer in my husband’s house. Though I was not particularly interested in that, I longed for one. At last I managed to get one. Again I used it rarely. I have to tell you that my husband uses it regularly to dry everything possible except his hair.
The uses of hair dryer are varied in my house. It serves the purpose of a heater. When my husband has a pain on his neck he uses the ‘hair dryer’ over that region and claims that his pain has vanished (like the Amrutanjan ad…”poyi pochee”).
He suffers from acute sinusitis. When his sinus is giving him trouble, again he takes out the hair dryer and holds it to his face and says he is feeling relieved. Again it is the same “poyi pochee” stuff. (But the next day he goes to the doctor and gets antibiotics to get the actual relieve.)
When the microwave oven gives problems again his ‘hair dryer’ comes out. He claims it is the moisture and humidity that is corroding the connection and he has his hair dryer magic on the microwave. The microwave oven starts functioning only after the service engineer overhauls it. This is the same with the case of the television or any electronic and electrical gadgets. My husband is very obsessed with this hair dryer.
Before I conclude….one more instance
I get severe sprains on my knees. Recently I sprained my right knee. I was writhing in pain. My husband came out with his ‘magic dryer’ and held it close to my knee. When I protested he said that it was good my body had to get heated up especially my leg. I was screaming out in pain and he would not relent to my protests. When my daughter strongly protested seeing me cry he applied Volini on my knees and again he brought out the hair dryer. If I were in a position to move I would have flung the hair dryer out of the house.
I keep teasing him about his obsession for the hair dryer. I tell him that Philips India should hire him in their research wing to do research on their hair dryers. He says that I am ignorant of things. Yeah…maybe he is right. After all he has a doctorate in Physics while I am just a Post graduate in an Arts subject who knows nothing about hair dryers!!!!!!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
The Daylight Robbery by the 'Brides of God'
This is about a prestigious college in Trivandrum which is managed by the ‘brides of God’. It was just last week that I went there again for my daughter’s admission. (I studied there for two years twenty five years ago.) I had to go there seven days in less than a month. The first time it was to drop my daughter’s application. The second time to look at the merit list published, then three days to meet the Principal and finally two days for the admission.
There were quite a few things that I noticed about this college.
1. It is a Herculean task to meet the Principal who is in a ‘safe deposit locker’. I quite don’t understand why she needs so much security. (may be for that nasty behaviour of hers.) A person can meet her only after entering three doors!!!! I realized it was much easier to meet Barack Obama or Queen Elizabeth or at least Prathiba Patel, our President. If you plan to meet the Principal one should be sure that you have enough casual leaves because she and her caucus will make sure that you go there for three days befor you meet her. That is the joy of making other people wait and enjoy real sadistic pleasure out of that!!!
2. Beware of the Principal. She is worse than a chameleon. She is in camouflage. She can be very sweet at one time and the next time you can see the devil in her.
3. Go there in your best ‘modern’ attire. (The dirtier your jeans, the more privileged u become!!) If not, you will be treated like dirt.
4. Never dare to question their misdoings. If you do, you become a communist.
5. Even if you talk to the college authorities in the most polite way and if it point out any mistake of theirs be sure that they will spread nasty tales about you.
6. Marks are secondary here. It is the weight of one’s parents’ purse that is more important.
7. At times of admission this place becomes an auction house. Christie’s auction house and Sotheby’s auction house will hold their heads down in shame if they see the auctioning going on in this college. There is no open bidding. Brown envelopes are given to the parents. You write your ward’s name and the amount you give on the envelope. By counting the notes they decide what your child will learn. If the amount is not up to their expectations the envelope will be returned back and you are out of the auction
8. The authorities make sure that parents’ know the auctioning rates. They have a non teaching staff’s husband who tells people to pay half a lakh of rupees to ensure their seats.
I met so many parents from not so well-to-do families putting bundles of Rs.500 notes into envelopes. I feel it is total injustice to take such huge amount for an UG seat. There were many poor people who looked helpless and stood there imploring in front of God’s brides. They stood there emotionless. They have neither human feelings nor compassion. (Remember the saying, money makes the devil dance.) All that they care for is fat purses, NRI students and the cream of the society to study in that college.
I wonder why no student’s organizations like the SFI or KSU or any other organization is protesting against the daylight robbery of the ‘brides of God’. Or are they the Devils’ disciples?????
There were quite a few things that I noticed about this college.
1. It is a Herculean task to meet the Principal who is in a ‘safe deposit locker’. I quite don’t understand why she needs so much security. (may be for that nasty behaviour of hers.) A person can meet her only after entering three doors!!!! I realized it was much easier to meet Barack Obama or Queen Elizabeth or at least Prathiba Patel, our President. If you plan to meet the Principal one should be sure that you have enough casual leaves because she and her caucus will make sure that you go there for three days befor you meet her. That is the joy of making other people wait and enjoy real sadistic pleasure out of that!!!
2. Beware of the Principal. She is worse than a chameleon. She is in camouflage. She can be very sweet at one time and the next time you can see the devil in her.
3. Go there in your best ‘modern’ attire. (The dirtier your jeans, the more privileged u become!!) If not, you will be treated like dirt.
4. Never dare to question their misdoings. If you do, you become a communist.
5. Even if you talk to the college authorities in the most polite way and if it point out any mistake of theirs be sure that they will spread nasty tales about you.
6. Marks are secondary here. It is the weight of one’s parents’ purse that is more important.
7. At times of admission this place becomes an auction house. Christie’s auction house and Sotheby’s auction house will hold their heads down in shame if they see the auctioning going on in this college. There is no open bidding. Brown envelopes are given to the parents. You write your ward’s name and the amount you give on the envelope. By counting the notes they decide what your child will learn. If the amount is not up to their expectations the envelope will be returned back and you are out of the auction
8. The authorities make sure that parents’ know the auctioning rates. They have a non teaching staff’s husband who tells people to pay half a lakh of rupees to ensure their seats.
I met so many parents from not so well-to-do families putting bundles of Rs.500 notes into envelopes. I feel it is total injustice to take such huge amount for an UG seat. There were many poor people who looked helpless and stood there imploring in front of God’s brides. They stood there emotionless. They have neither human feelings nor compassion. (Remember the saying, money makes the devil dance.) All that they care for is fat purses, NRI students and the cream of the society to study in that college.
I wonder why no student’s organizations like the SFI or KSU or any other organization is protesting against the daylight robbery of the ‘brides of God’. Or are they the Devils’ disciples?????
Sunday, May 30, 2010
People at a wedding
This afternoon I attended a wedding reception of my colleague’s daughter. I reached the hall early. As the bride and the groom hadn’t reached I waited outside the hall. I sat on one of the chairs there. Though it was drizzling outside the humidity was high and I was sweating. I was watching the people as I kept fanning myself. There were just half a dozen of men and the rest were women.
The women sat in groups. The women were all decked up like Christmas trees – fully adorned. They all wore heavy Kanchipuram saris. Some had zari while others wore fancy saris with beads, sequins and embroidered ones. I sat a little far from the women crowd as I didn’t know anyone there. I felt like a fish out of water.
The women looked at me and started whispering to each other and occasionally glancing at me. I wore a chikan work (Lucknowi) salwar. Though I paid a few thousands for that, I guess it did not suit their crowd. Over that I do not have the habit of wearing ornaments – be it platinum, or gold or silver or those fancy ones. So I stood out in that crowd. They were busy trying to find out who I was. They were happily talking in Malayalam thinking that I couldn’t understand their language. (Thanks to my alien look). I overheard a lady guessing that I belonged to the Pentecost community. That was their wild guess and I did not go to correct them. I didn’t have to prove to them about my caste and community.
There was another group who sat there exhibiting their ornaments. I saw four heads together admiring an enormous gold bangle on the ‘thin arm’ of a puny lady. The bangle was studded with red and white stones and she was wearing a green sari!!!! It was just not going with her sari. Then the attention was changed to another lady’s earring and so it continued one after the other. It later turned to their saris and in course of time it was about their husbands and children. One boasted on how her child secured all A+ grades for her HSC examination. There were oohs and haaas from all the ladies. Then the discussion was turned to how someone’s kid scored a high rank in the engineering entrance examinations. Again the ooohs and haaas could be heard. There were occasional glances at me. I gave them a totally disinterested look though I was watching each and everyone keenly.
There was yet another group who looked sophisticated. They were sitting there with their noses up in the air and trying to find fault with the arrangement of the reception. The caterers had already started serving the welcome drink. An elderly lady with short coloured hair thought it was very unhygienic to keep the drink opened as all the guests hadn’t arrived yet. She waved her hands as if to show her long nails with red nail polish, and told the guests who came late not to drink it. Was she playing a ‘Good Samaritan’????!!!!!
By then one of my colleague had arrived and we together went and had the welcome drink. The ‘Good Samaritan’ gave me a disgusted look. I gave her a ‘u mind ur own business’ look. She made sure not to look at me again. I was exchanging pleasantries with my friend in Malayalam. Soon other friends of mine joined us. The lady who had guessed that I was a Pentecost gave me a sheepish grin. She understood that my looks had deceived her.
Soon the bride and groom arrived and the halls were opened. As soon as the door opened there was a mad rush to grab a seat for the first sitting itself. All the sophisticated ladies too could be seen running for their seats. (Wonder where their manners and sophistication disappeared???!!!!) My friends and myself (there were five of us) found a place near a family- a father, mother and a little boy of maybe four or five years and three other people. Even before the toast was hosted the people seated on our table quaffed off the wined and gulped down the cake. The chicken fry, salad, sweet chutney, and fruits were covered with cling foil. As soon as the briyani was kept on the table the grabbed the spoon and started serving big helpings. (Even then the toast hadn’t begun at the stage)
Five of us waited for toast to be hosted. Only after the toast we started with cake and wine. By then the people finished their first helping and started with their second. (It was even more disgusting to see the people use their right hand covered with the briyani and raita to take their next helping!!!) It was the first time I saw people eat so heartily at a wedding. By the time we started our first helping a few were having their third!!!! Their capacity is really great!!!! Luckily the food was being served in plenty that we did not have to starve.
After the wedding while I was going back home I thought about the Indian weddings. (I was using the public transport so my imaginations were free to run wild). Indian wedding were a place of pomp and splendour. Be it rich or poor, the weddings are always a grand function even if one has to borrow money. It was also a social gathering where people updated their knowledge of other people and were ready to pass the already spiced news to other gossipers. Why do people go to weddings like Christmas trees? People should at least have a sense of colour while using clothes and ornaments and should make sure if it suits them or not. Last but not the least people should follow the basic table manners. Nobody is happy to touch a spoon with others leftovers on it!! I personally feel that weddings should be a function limited to a very small crowd and it should be very simple. Though I am of this opinion I really don’t know if I’ll be able to follow this when it comes to my daughter’s marriage. It is easy to preach but difficult to practice, right???
The women sat in groups. The women were all decked up like Christmas trees – fully adorned. They all wore heavy Kanchipuram saris. Some had zari while others wore fancy saris with beads, sequins and embroidered ones. I sat a little far from the women crowd as I didn’t know anyone there. I felt like a fish out of water.
The women looked at me and started whispering to each other and occasionally glancing at me. I wore a chikan work (Lucknowi) salwar. Though I paid a few thousands for that, I guess it did not suit their crowd. Over that I do not have the habit of wearing ornaments – be it platinum, or gold or silver or those fancy ones. So I stood out in that crowd. They were busy trying to find out who I was. They were happily talking in Malayalam thinking that I couldn’t understand their language. (Thanks to my alien look). I overheard a lady guessing that I belonged to the Pentecost community. That was their wild guess and I did not go to correct them. I didn’t have to prove to them about my caste and community.
There was another group who sat there exhibiting their ornaments. I saw four heads together admiring an enormous gold bangle on the ‘thin arm’ of a puny lady. The bangle was studded with red and white stones and she was wearing a green sari!!!! It was just not going with her sari. Then the attention was changed to another lady’s earring and so it continued one after the other. It later turned to their saris and in course of time it was about their husbands and children. One boasted on how her child secured all A+ grades for her HSC examination. There were oohs and haaas from all the ladies. Then the discussion was turned to how someone’s kid scored a high rank in the engineering entrance examinations. Again the ooohs and haaas could be heard. There were occasional glances at me. I gave them a totally disinterested look though I was watching each and everyone keenly.
There was yet another group who looked sophisticated. They were sitting there with their noses up in the air and trying to find fault with the arrangement of the reception. The caterers had already started serving the welcome drink. An elderly lady with short coloured hair thought it was very unhygienic to keep the drink opened as all the guests hadn’t arrived yet. She waved her hands as if to show her long nails with red nail polish, and told the guests who came late not to drink it. Was she playing a ‘Good Samaritan’????!!!!!
By then one of my colleague had arrived and we together went and had the welcome drink. The ‘Good Samaritan’ gave me a disgusted look. I gave her a ‘u mind ur own business’ look. She made sure not to look at me again. I was exchanging pleasantries with my friend in Malayalam. Soon other friends of mine joined us. The lady who had guessed that I was a Pentecost gave me a sheepish grin. She understood that my looks had deceived her.
Soon the bride and groom arrived and the halls were opened. As soon as the door opened there was a mad rush to grab a seat for the first sitting itself. All the sophisticated ladies too could be seen running for their seats. (Wonder where their manners and sophistication disappeared???!!!!) My friends and myself (there were five of us) found a place near a family- a father, mother and a little boy of maybe four or five years and three other people. Even before the toast was hosted the people seated on our table quaffed off the wined and gulped down the cake. The chicken fry, salad, sweet chutney, and fruits were covered with cling foil. As soon as the briyani was kept on the table the grabbed the spoon and started serving big helpings. (Even then the toast hadn’t begun at the stage)
Five of us waited for toast to be hosted. Only after the toast we started with cake and wine. By then the people finished their first helping and started with their second. (It was even more disgusting to see the people use their right hand covered with the briyani and raita to take their next helping!!!) It was the first time I saw people eat so heartily at a wedding. By the time we started our first helping a few were having their third!!!! Their capacity is really great!!!! Luckily the food was being served in plenty that we did not have to starve.
After the wedding while I was going back home I thought about the Indian weddings. (I was using the public transport so my imaginations were free to run wild). Indian wedding were a place of pomp and splendour. Be it rich or poor, the weddings are always a grand function even if one has to borrow money. It was also a social gathering where people updated their knowledge of other people and were ready to pass the already spiced news to other gossipers. Why do people go to weddings like Christmas trees? People should at least have a sense of colour while using clothes and ornaments and should make sure if it suits them or not. Last but not the least people should follow the basic table manners. Nobody is happy to touch a spoon with others leftovers on it!! I personally feel that weddings should be a function limited to a very small crowd and it should be very simple. Though I am of this opinion I really don’t know if I’ll be able to follow this when it comes to my daughter’s marriage. It is easy to preach but difficult to practice, right???
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Are we Indians poor?
This is a question I often ask myself? I have always felt that people from other countries look down on us. They are not willing to accept that India has the necessary manpower and resources to become a prosperous country. They still consider us poor and underdeveloped.
I had an experience when I visited Malaysia a few years back. My family – my husband, daughter and myself were there. We were put up at a place called Petaling Jaya near KL. As many of my relatives lived in different parts of Malaysia I made it a point to visit the elderly aunts of mine. An aunt of mine stayed at Johor Baru. It was an overnight journey from KL to JB. Johor was mainly an estate region. I reached there on a Father’s Day. There was a get together of the parishioners of Johor at my aunt’s place. The morning we reached there, she was busy preparing food for the celebration. She told us that we were their special guests and my husband had to take part in the celebrations as he was a father too.
By evening the guests started arriving one by one. Most of them were Chinese and Malays. There were just a couple of Indian families too. As it was a party, I dressed up in a party wear - a laced frock and wore a gold belt around my waist. People kept coming and we were introduced to their guests. Finally the priest arrived. He was a Chinese. When he heard that we were from India, his eyes popped out of his sockets and exclaimed…
“You don’t look poor!!!” (How could I look poor when I had excess flesh all over my body??!!!)
“Who told you that we are poor, father?” I asked without showing my irritation
“I thought Indians were poor,” he replied, still in disbelief.
I told him that all Indians were not poor. There were poor Indians as well as well to do Indians. He was also surprised to find us talk in English. I was thoroughly irritated. Did he think that we Indians were barbarians? Or did he think that we knew only our regional language just like how the Chinese did? I argued with him. I made sure it did not become a heated one as I did not want to embarrass my aunt and spoil the occasion.
Finally the priest said, “You don’t look like an Indian.”
I did not argue with him over that because this was some thing that I have been hearing ever since I can remember (I don’t know from where I got my alien look). Many people mistake me for a Malay or at least they think that I am of a ‘hybrid variety’.
That visit really made my opened. Why were we always being targeted? In every country there are well-to-do people as well as poor people? Are there not poor people in China? Are there not poor people in USA, or in England or in any other developed country? Poverty is a relative term and the degree of poverty varies from country to country. Why did the priest think that all Indians were poor? Why did the people of Malaysia think that Indians did not know English? The very thought was disturbing.
In most of the foreign magazines and in flight magazines one can find the dirty side of India. The pictures published are the ones taken from the interior most villages in India. It can be a girl who has not bathed for days or a snake charmer’s picture or the dhobi washing the clothes, or a tribal woman in all those multi-coloured bangles and head dress. You might remember how a foreigner was caught photographing all the dirt found on the road sides. Why did he do so? Is it because there are no good places in Kerala that he had to photograph the waste strewn all over? No wonder people believe that we are poor people from a poor country.
The Indians who migrated to Malaysia in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s are still of the opinion that India is very backward. Most of the Indians went there to work in plantations, married Indian brides and settled there. They had big families and it was not possible for them to come to India due to financial problems. Their idea about India is still the undeveloped India of the 50’s!!! They are still in their 1950’s!!!! They have painted a very bad picture of India to their children. Their children still believe that India is undeveloped with bullock carts on roads and people ate rice in the morning, afternoons and evenings. The children also believed that no foreign brands of food items or any other stuff were available in India.
A cousin of mine visited us a couple of years back. She is living in Canada and is married to a German. It was her first visit to India. She had born and brought up in Malaysia and then migrated to Canada. As she did not know India, she brought her mother along with her. The picture the mother gave her about India was a very bad one. This cousin of mine came with two very big suitcases for her short stay of ten days.
The first morning she bought out a packet of Quaker oats and said that she had the habit of having oats in the morning. I asked her as to why she had brought that packet; she replied that she thought we wouldn’t have oats at home. She brought biscuits, potato wafers and a whole lot of eatables. I was thoroughly irritated but did not say a word. After all she was my guest. (It is better not to have such guests!!!) She wouldn’t drink the water from our place. She felt the water in India had e-coli germs in it. She bought a carton of mineral water for her use. (Lucky that she did not bring that too from Canada) Poor soul doesn’t know that the mineral water was the most unsafe thing to drink!!!!
Two days after she arrived I had to do a bit of shopping. This cousin came along with me to the Spencer’s at Spencer junction. She went around looking from rack to rack and she was surprised to find everything that she had brought available in India. She started scrutinizing the prices, then converting it to dollars. She then exclaimed,
“The prices are the same here and in Canada.”
I just kept mum. She came home and told my aunt,
“Mum, you get everything here. You were the one who told me that nothing was available in India.”
I understood who the culprit was. Then this cousin told me the instructions my aunt had given her before she came to India were many. My aunt told her that people in India never wore knee length dresses. So she was supposed to bring knee length dresses, shorts or Bermudas. She had to wear loose fitting tops. She had to wear gold and so went the list. When was shocked to find me wearing Bermudas and knee length frocks. She then understood what her mother had told her was all crap. This aunt who left India in the 1950’s hasn’t changed her mindset. She was not aware of the changes that have taken place in India. Or was she not willing to accept the changes that took place in India? The feeling that these Malaysians (All people living there from different origins) have is that we are all very poor and we go there in seek of some favour. They never realize that we are living in a much better position here.
Before I conclude, let me tell you another experience. This happened just a few years ago. My husband had to attend a conference in Japan. So my daughter and I stayed with my co-brother at Singapore. My mother-in-law rang me up asked me to visit a few relatives of my husband. Very frankly I don’t like visiting relatives because of their snobbish attitude and the way they look down on relatives who come from India. When my husband got back from Japan I passed him the information my mother-in-law had asked me to. Finally we decided to go to one aunt’s place and one of my husband’s friends took us there. We went there and it was a cousin of my husband who opened the door. He said that his mother was bathing. He made us sit there and he wouldn’t talk to us. He was keeping aloof from us. Though we tried talking he looked very uncomfortable. He just wouldn’t talk to us. He spoke to that friend of ours. It was then that friend said that my husband had just returned from Japan after a conference. Suddenly this guy’s eyes opened wide and started talking to my husband. My husband told him that he had a doctorate in Astrophysics and that he was continuing his work in that field. I was really irritated. Until then he looked down upon us and now he was talking so freely. It seems he was a secondary teacher. I asked him which subject he taught in school and he replied Physics and Chemistry.
“So…. do u have post graduate degree in Physics …..or in Chemistry?” I asked
“No, I don’t have a post graduate degree” he replied feeling a bit awarkard
“How can you teach in a secondary section without a post graduation?”
He told me he taught up to Class X and a degree was sufficient. He really felt belittled. I really wanted him to feel belittled. I know it was very wrong on my part to do that but I just wanted him to know that we were much more superior to them. I just wanted them to know that we did not want any favours from them. I also wanted them to know that we were in no way inferior to them and that we held respectable positions in India.
Indians should realize that they are in no way inferior to the rest of the world. We Indians have the potential to become world’s no 1 economy if politics and religion doesn’t play a role in hampering the developments and the mindset of the people.
I had an experience when I visited Malaysia a few years back. My family – my husband, daughter and myself were there. We were put up at a place called Petaling Jaya near KL. As many of my relatives lived in different parts of Malaysia I made it a point to visit the elderly aunts of mine. An aunt of mine stayed at Johor Baru. It was an overnight journey from KL to JB. Johor was mainly an estate region. I reached there on a Father’s Day. There was a get together of the parishioners of Johor at my aunt’s place. The morning we reached there, she was busy preparing food for the celebration. She told us that we were their special guests and my husband had to take part in the celebrations as he was a father too.
By evening the guests started arriving one by one. Most of them were Chinese and Malays. There were just a couple of Indian families too. As it was a party, I dressed up in a party wear - a laced frock and wore a gold belt around my waist. People kept coming and we were introduced to their guests. Finally the priest arrived. He was a Chinese. When he heard that we were from India, his eyes popped out of his sockets and exclaimed…
“You don’t look poor!!!” (How could I look poor when I had excess flesh all over my body??!!!)
“Who told you that we are poor, father?” I asked without showing my irritation
“I thought Indians were poor,” he replied, still in disbelief.
I told him that all Indians were not poor. There were poor Indians as well as well to do Indians. He was also surprised to find us talk in English. I was thoroughly irritated. Did he think that we Indians were barbarians? Or did he think that we knew only our regional language just like how the Chinese did? I argued with him. I made sure it did not become a heated one as I did not want to embarrass my aunt and spoil the occasion.
Finally the priest said, “You don’t look like an Indian.”
I did not argue with him over that because this was some thing that I have been hearing ever since I can remember (I don’t know from where I got my alien look). Many people mistake me for a Malay or at least they think that I am of a ‘hybrid variety’.
That visit really made my opened. Why were we always being targeted? In every country there are well-to-do people as well as poor people? Are there not poor people in China? Are there not poor people in USA, or in England or in any other developed country? Poverty is a relative term and the degree of poverty varies from country to country. Why did the priest think that all Indians were poor? Why did the people of Malaysia think that Indians did not know English? The very thought was disturbing.
In most of the foreign magazines and in flight magazines one can find the dirty side of India. The pictures published are the ones taken from the interior most villages in India. It can be a girl who has not bathed for days or a snake charmer’s picture or the dhobi washing the clothes, or a tribal woman in all those multi-coloured bangles and head dress. You might remember how a foreigner was caught photographing all the dirt found on the road sides. Why did he do so? Is it because there are no good places in Kerala that he had to photograph the waste strewn all over? No wonder people believe that we are poor people from a poor country.
The Indians who migrated to Malaysia in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s are still of the opinion that India is very backward. Most of the Indians went there to work in plantations, married Indian brides and settled there. They had big families and it was not possible for them to come to India due to financial problems. Their idea about India is still the undeveloped India of the 50’s!!! They are still in their 1950’s!!!! They have painted a very bad picture of India to their children. Their children still believe that India is undeveloped with bullock carts on roads and people ate rice in the morning, afternoons and evenings. The children also believed that no foreign brands of food items or any other stuff were available in India.
A cousin of mine visited us a couple of years back. She is living in Canada and is married to a German. It was her first visit to India. She had born and brought up in Malaysia and then migrated to Canada. As she did not know India, she brought her mother along with her. The picture the mother gave her about India was a very bad one. This cousin of mine came with two very big suitcases for her short stay of ten days.
The first morning she bought out a packet of Quaker oats and said that she had the habit of having oats in the morning. I asked her as to why she had brought that packet; she replied that she thought we wouldn’t have oats at home. She brought biscuits, potato wafers and a whole lot of eatables. I was thoroughly irritated but did not say a word. After all she was my guest. (It is better not to have such guests!!!) She wouldn’t drink the water from our place. She felt the water in India had e-coli germs in it. She bought a carton of mineral water for her use. (Lucky that she did not bring that too from Canada) Poor soul doesn’t know that the mineral water was the most unsafe thing to drink!!!!
Two days after she arrived I had to do a bit of shopping. This cousin came along with me to the Spencer’s at Spencer junction. She went around looking from rack to rack and she was surprised to find everything that she had brought available in India. She started scrutinizing the prices, then converting it to dollars. She then exclaimed,
“The prices are the same here and in Canada.”
I just kept mum. She came home and told my aunt,
“Mum, you get everything here. You were the one who told me that nothing was available in India.”
I understood who the culprit was. Then this cousin told me the instructions my aunt had given her before she came to India were many. My aunt told her that people in India never wore knee length dresses. So she was supposed to bring knee length dresses, shorts or Bermudas. She had to wear loose fitting tops. She had to wear gold and so went the list. When was shocked to find me wearing Bermudas and knee length frocks. She then understood what her mother had told her was all crap. This aunt who left India in the 1950’s hasn’t changed her mindset. She was not aware of the changes that have taken place in India. Or was she not willing to accept the changes that took place in India? The feeling that these Malaysians (All people living there from different origins) have is that we are all very poor and we go there in seek of some favour. They never realize that we are living in a much better position here.
Before I conclude, let me tell you another experience. This happened just a few years ago. My husband had to attend a conference in Japan. So my daughter and I stayed with my co-brother at Singapore. My mother-in-law rang me up asked me to visit a few relatives of my husband. Very frankly I don’t like visiting relatives because of their snobbish attitude and the way they look down on relatives who come from India. When my husband got back from Japan I passed him the information my mother-in-law had asked me to. Finally we decided to go to one aunt’s place and one of my husband’s friends took us there. We went there and it was a cousin of my husband who opened the door. He said that his mother was bathing. He made us sit there and he wouldn’t talk to us. He was keeping aloof from us. Though we tried talking he looked very uncomfortable. He just wouldn’t talk to us. He spoke to that friend of ours. It was then that friend said that my husband had just returned from Japan after a conference. Suddenly this guy’s eyes opened wide and started talking to my husband. My husband told him that he had a doctorate in Astrophysics and that he was continuing his work in that field. I was really irritated. Until then he looked down upon us and now he was talking so freely. It seems he was a secondary teacher. I asked him which subject he taught in school and he replied Physics and Chemistry.
“So…. do u have post graduate degree in Physics …..or in Chemistry?” I asked
“No, I don’t have a post graduate degree” he replied feeling a bit awarkard
“How can you teach in a secondary section without a post graduation?”
He told me he taught up to Class X and a degree was sufficient. He really felt belittled. I really wanted him to feel belittled. I know it was very wrong on my part to do that but I just wanted him to know that we were much more superior to them. I just wanted them to know that we did not want any favours from them. I also wanted them to know that we were in no way inferior to them and that we held respectable positions in India.
Indians should realize that they are in no way inferior to the rest of the world. We Indians have the potential to become world’s no 1 economy if politics and religion doesn’t play a role in hampering the developments and the mindset of the people.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Gender Inequality
Gender inequality has always been a problem in India and this has been growing over time. India has an unfavourable sex ratio toward women. The “God’s own country” boasts of economic indicators which are equal to that of developed countries. Kerala is the only state in India which has a favourable sex ratio for women. People have a feeling that the women in Kerala hold a respectable position. It is a very wrong picture. Let me start with my own experience.
The time I conceived, many people asked me if I wanted a baby boy or a baby girl. Without hesitation I could say that I wanted a baby girl. My sisters -in-law had seven boys. So it was quite natural for my in laws to wish for a girl. Personally I preferred a baby girl to a baby boy. People told me that boys were better as the parents didn’t have to save anything for the future. I used to get irritated with their nasty comments. I used to tell these people I didn’t mind a boy or a girl. All that I wanted was a healthy baby.
I delivered to a baby girl. She was the eldest grandchild to my parents and the only girl in my husband’s family. All of us rejoiced at her birth. When our driver knew about it he was so disappointed. His face looked as though some mishap had happened to him. He couldn’t accept the fact that our eldest child was a girl.
“Ayyo saare oru penn kutty vendayirunu” ( Ayyo, Sir u should have never had a baby girl) (Did he think that we creators could decide the sex of the baby?)
My husband tried making him understand that we were very happy but still it did not seem to penetrate into his thick skull. Again I felt the uneasiness of gender inequality.
Whenever I stayed with my grandma I have felt the inequality that she had shown me and my other female cousins. As my grandmother did not have any brothers, she held men in very high esteem. Probably she lived in a male dominant society. I remember how she would stand besides my grandfather while he was having his food. The males were served first and only then the women of the house would eat. Men had all the major chunk of what was cooked and we girls had the leftovers. I would strongly protest against her discriminating policies. According to my grandma, men were the people who went out to work. So they needed nutritious food. Boys had to grow up and they will have to work. So even they needed nutritious food. Girls didn’t have to work. So they didn’t need much food. My first experience of discrimination was from my grandmother’s house.
Since of late I have been hearing about the discrimination experienced by various women – at least the people who are working with me. I met an old classmate of mine. She is teaching in a government school in the higher secondary section while her husband teaches in the UP section of a government school. She has two daughters. She has been facing problems since the day she got a job in the higher secondary. The problem may be due to the inferiority complex of her husband. He doesn’t allow her to keep a maid. She is expected to do all the household chores. It seems he doesn’t eat anything that is kept in the refrigerator. So she is forced to cook everyday. To add to her woes her mother-in-law keeps nagging her that she doesn’t have a son. The saddest part is that she is not keeping well. She has great difficulty in walking. It seems she becomes breathless when she walks and has a heavy feeling in her chest. She hasn’t been to the doctor yet. I asked her if I would take her to the hospital and her reply disturbed me
“Angerku enne venda. Pine Xina ku entha?” and then she added, “avarku oru cashu kodukathe jolikarriye avashayam. Enikku anel cash tharendello.” (He doesn’t need me. Then why are u bothered, Xina? He needs an unpaid maid. He doesn’t have to pay me)
I tried to make her understand that she had two daughters and that a mother was essential in their growing phase. She refuses to understand that. All that she wants is to die as soon as possible and escape from her miseries.
This is just an incident that is happening in the modern world.
Now coming ro the the attitude of men. I don’t mean all men, but most of the men.. In Kerala with a high female population, it is difficult for parents to get a suitable groom for their daughters. So parents are willing to pay a very high dowry. It was at that time that the pre-degree was de-linked from colleges and the higher secondary came into being. Many new appointments were made and parents found prospective grooms for their daughters. Very heavy dowry was demanded by parents of the boys. The reason was simple. The males paid huge amounts as donation to covet the job. So it was quite natural to demand for that amount from the bride’s parents. (I have heard a relative of ours saying that she spent 9 lakhs on her son’s education. I am not sure if she kept an account from the time her son joined school. So she expected a dowry much more than that. Lucky she did not keep an account of the cost of food he ate and the medicines he consumed!!!) The irony of it is that most of the brides were higher secondary teachers too. Didn’t they pay the same amount to acquire the job? Then why should her parents pay a dowry for an equally qualified and employed boy? Be it in the education sector or in any other sector this is the case. One of my co-worker’s daughters is getting married next month. She is an engineer and is a techie. She is getting married to another engineer techie. Her parents are giving her a dowry worth around 60 lakhs!!! According to the Economic Theory, when demand is more than supply, the price increases (maybe that is why the dowry rates are sky rocketing). In spite of taking a very high dowry these men expect an obliging wife who can slog like a maid and who can dance to his whims and fancies without uttering a word!!! When you pay for something, it means you are buying that thing. So when the bride pays a huge dowry it means that the parents are buying the groom. Then why should the bride dance to her husband's tune???
What is the status of woman today? Is it enough to guarantee her 33% of the Lok Sabha seats and 30% seats (this is not guaranteed) in the KSRTC buses?
It is very disturbing to read articles about the inhuman treatment meted by women in the newspapers. Last Sunday, in The Hindu there were articles about the ill treatment of girls. In that it was said that in some remote village, an infant was dipped in hot water by a midwife with an aim to kill it!!! The infant was admitted to the hospital with severe burn. The fault of the infant was that she was the second daughter of a couple. Imagine the cruelty of the midwife!!!! Did she forget that she was a girl once upon a time?
There was another article in The Indian Express an article about Sunanda Pushakar by Paul Zachariah. When I read the article by Mr. Zachariah, I felt that at least there was a man (with some common sense) to support a woman who has been in a much debated controversy. What was the mistake she did? Is it because she worked for a company to bring the IPL team to Kerala? In “India Today”, there was an article which said that she hails from a very wealthy family. More over she is working in Dubai. There are a very good number of Indians who work there. No NRI goes abroad to do service free of cost. The main aim of any NRI is to make money. That is exactly what Ms. Pushkar did. Then about her connection with Mr. Tharoor… it is purely a personal affair and one doesn’t have to make a hue and cry over that. Ms. Pushkar is an adult and she has the right to decide what is good for her. Entire India needn’t run behind her to see what she is up to. I don’t find anything wrong in her even if she is having an affair with Mr. Tharoor. I will call her a brave woman because most of the Indians whether a man or a woman is masked. They preach about morality and practices immorality. I feel that 99% of the Indians are hypocrites. Just because she is a woman people can wag their tongues and damage her reputation.
Will the mindset of people ever change? The mindset of women is changing and I guess that has been attributed to the causes of increasing divorce rates in Kerala as well as in India. Will there be gender equality in India at least in the near future?
The time I conceived, many people asked me if I wanted a baby boy or a baby girl. Without hesitation I could say that I wanted a baby girl. My sisters -in-law had seven boys. So it was quite natural for my in laws to wish for a girl. Personally I preferred a baby girl to a baby boy. People told me that boys were better as the parents didn’t have to save anything for the future. I used to get irritated with their nasty comments. I used to tell these people I didn’t mind a boy or a girl. All that I wanted was a healthy baby.
I delivered to a baby girl. She was the eldest grandchild to my parents and the only girl in my husband’s family. All of us rejoiced at her birth. When our driver knew about it he was so disappointed. His face looked as though some mishap had happened to him. He couldn’t accept the fact that our eldest child was a girl.
“Ayyo saare oru penn kutty vendayirunu” ( Ayyo, Sir u should have never had a baby girl) (Did he think that we creators could decide the sex of the baby?)
My husband tried making him understand that we were very happy but still it did not seem to penetrate into his thick skull. Again I felt the uneasiness of gender inequality.
Whenever I stayed with my grandma I have felt the inequality that she had shown me and my other female cousins. As my grandmother did not have any brothers, she held men in very high esteem. Probably she lived in a male dominant society. I remember how she would stand besides my grandfather while he was having his food. The males were served first and only then the women of the house would eat. Men had all the major chunk of what was cooked and we girls had the leftovers. I would strongly protest against her discriminating policies. According to my grandma, men were the people who went out to work. So they needed nutritious food. Boys had to grow up and they will have to work. So even they needed nutritious food. Girls didn’t have to work. So they didn’t need much food. My first experience of discrimination was from my grandmother’s house.
Since of late I have been hearing about the discrimination experienced by various women – at least the people who are working with me. I met an old classmate of mine. She is teaching in a government school in the higher secondary section while her husband teaches in the UP section of a government school. She has two daughters. She has been facing problems since the day she got a job in the higher secondary. The problem may be due to the inferiority complex of her husband. He doesn’t allow her to keep a maid. She is expected to do all the household chores. It seems he doesn’t eat anything that is kept in the refrigerator. So she is forced to cook everyday. To add to her woes her mother-in-law keeps nagging her that she doesn’t have a son. The saddest part is that she is not keeping well. She has great difficulty in walking. It seems she becomes breathless when she walks and has a heavy feeling in her chest. She hasn’t been to the doctor yet. I asked her if I would take her to the hospital and her reply disturbed me
“Angerku enne venda. Pine Xina ku entha?” and then she added, “avarku oru cashu kodukathe jolikarriye avashayam. Enikku anel cash tharendello.” (He doesn’t need me. Then why are u bothered, Xina? He needs an unpaid maid. He doesn’t have to pay me)
I tried to make her understand that she had two daughters and that a mother was essential in their growing phase. She refuses to understand that. All that she wants is to die as soon as possible and escape from her miseries.
This is just an incident that is happening in the modern world.
Now coming ro the the attitude of men. I don’t mean all men, but most of the men.. In Kerala with a high female population, it is difficult for parents to get a suitable groom for their daughters. So parents are willing to pay a very high dowry. It was at that time that the pre-degree was de-linked from colleges and the higher secondary came into being. Many new appointments were made and parents found prospective grooms for their daughters. Very heavy dowry was demanded by parents of the boys. The reason was simple. The males paid huge amounts as donation to covet the job. So it was quite natural to demand for that amount from the bride’s parents. (I have heard a relative of ours saying that she spent 9 lakhs on her son’s education. I am not sure if she kept an account from the time her son joined school. So she expected a dowry much more than that. Lucky she did not keep an account of the cost of food he ate and the medicines he consumed!!!) The irony of it is that most of the brides were higher secondary teachers too. Didn’t they pay the same amount to acquire the job? Then why should her parents pay a dowry for an equally qualified and employed boy? Be it in the education sector or in any other sector this is the case. One of my co-worker’s daughters is getting married next month. She is an engineer and is a techie. She is getting married to another engineer techie. Her parents are giving her a dowry worth around 60 lakhs!!! According to the Economic Theory, when demand is more than supply, the price increases (maybe that is why the dowry rates are sky rocketing). In spite of taking a very high dowry these men expect an obliging wife who can slog like a maid and who can dance to his whims and fancies without uttering a word!!! When you pay for something, it means you are buying that thing. So when the bride pays a huge dowry it means that the parents are buying the groom. Then why should the bride dance to her husband's tune???
What is the status of woman today? Is it enough to guarantee her 33% of the Lok Sabha seats and 30% seats (this is not guaranteed) in the KSRTC buses?
It is very disturbing to read articles about the inhuman treatment meted by women in the newspapers. Last Sunday, in The Hindu there were articles about the ill treatment of girls. In that it was said that in some remote village, an infant was dipped in hot water by a midwife with an aim to kill it!!! The infant was admitted to the hospital with severe burn. The fault of the infant was that she was the second daughter of a couple. Imagine the cruelty of the midwife!!!! Did she forget that she was a girl once upon a time?
There was another article in The Indian Express an article about Sunanda Pushakar by Paul Zachariah. When I read the article by Mr. Zachariah, I felt that at least there was a man (with some common sense) to support a woman who has been in a much debated controversy. What was the mistake she did? Is it because she worked for a company to bring the IPL team to Kerala? In “India Today”, there was an article which said that she hails from a very wealthy family. More over she is working in Dubai. There are a very good number of Indians who work there. No NRI goes abroad to do service free of cost. The main aim of any NRI is to make money. That is exactly what Ms. Pushkar did. Then about her connection with Mr. Tharoor… it is purely a personal affair and one doesn’t have to make a hue and cry over that. Ms. Pushkar is an adult and she has the right to decide what is good for her. Entire India needn’t run behind her to see what she is up to. I don’t find anything wrong in her even if she is having an affair with Mr. Tharoor. I will call her a brave woman because most of the Indians whether a man or a woman is masked. They preach about morality and practices immorality. I feel that 99% of the Indians are hypocrites. Just because she is a woman people can wag their tongues and damage her reputation.
Will the mindset of people ever change? The mindset of women is changing and I guess that has been attributed to the causes of increasing divorce rates in Kerala as well as in India. Will there be gender equality in India at least in the near future?
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The Children of a Lesser God
I am a higher secondary teacher who has been working in the department for many years now. From day one we teachers have been facing a number of problems. Governments came, governments went, but our problems are here to remain
The High school teachers were the cream of the school until we went there. Immediately there arose a clash between HSAs and HSSTs. There were a lot of allegations against us. I am one person who underwent such torments. Rumours spread out about most of the teachers. It’s very normal among people to react when someone is appointed superior to them. But this clash has been continuing over a decade.
The school teachers work five days a week and so does the college teachers. Why are only the higher secondary teachers working 6 days a week? According to school teachers,
“Kai niraye cash medukukayalle? Pine joli cheythal entha?”
I agree that we do get a decent salary but what about the college teachers? Are they not being paid three times our salary? How come they are free on Saturdays and Sundays? They are free because they have to prepare. And they are university staffs who come under the UGC. That is their explanation. Don’t we have to prepare for the following week? Are we not teaching the same Pre-degree which were once taught in colleges? The only difference is that it was Pre-degree then and now it is higher secondary.
My immediate provocation to write this article is that we have been forced to go for valuation of answer scripts. The Centralized valuation camp where I go, five subjects are being valued there. It is a school with just a little over 500 students. This school is in the heart of the city. Believe me, there are no fans in this school. In the room where I sit there are seven groups of teachers. Each group has five assistants and a chief. So in all, we are forty two teachers in a room with barely any place to sit. It is so congested that all of us are soaked in sweat by afternoon. To add fuel to this, most of the days there is no water in the toilets. Teachers from Trivandrum district come here for valuation. How long does the authority expect teachers to work without going to the toilet? Majority of us reach by 9:30am in the morning. All of a sudden news spreads that there is no water to wash our hands and to go to the toilets. Is it not violation of human rights? As far as I know, the atmosphere should be conducive to work. There are many teachers who are elderly and asking them to work in such an atmosphere is atrocious.
The worst of all is that there is a step motherly treatment towards the teachers going for valuation. Answer scripts are issued only after 9:30 am. The next set is issued after 1:30pm. The camp coordinator takes back the afternoon set only after 4:30pm. The reason they give is that the Joint Director has given them strict instruction that the teachers should leave the camp only after 4:30pm. What does he gain by keeping us there for all these hours? Does he think that he is doing us something great favour by calling us for valuation? Never!!!! He is just torturing us and I think he gets a sadistic pleasure in keeping us in that miserable place. Please remember there are teachers who have to catch the trains to reach their hometowns in the evening.
We are sacrificing our summer vacations for valuation. You may argue that this work that we are doing can be surrendered and we that we get an additional income. Let me tell you frankly, many teachers are not interested in cash. We prefer holidays. This is the only time that we get to spend with our family. Even that has been grabbed away from us. Don’t we teachers need holidays? It has been made compulsory for us teachers to attend the CV camp. If not, a memo will wait us when we go back to school. Valuation for certain subjects go beyond May 15. By the time valuation is over, we teachers are forced to go for vacation class. In short teachers are being denied their summer holidays.
Are we children of a lesser God? Or are we slaves who are expected to slog the whole year?
After all the hard work we do, memos are kept ready for the slightest mistake. Memos are given to teachers, who don’t attend the valuation camp. Memos are given to teachers who have attended the camp but for a slight mistake that they commit. It is simply not possible to give 100% attention in the work we do in such an atmosphere.
You, leaders of the teachers’ union please unite and protest against the atrocities on us.
The High school teachers were the cream of the school until we went there. Immediately there arose a clash between HSAs and HSSTs. There were a lot of allegations against us. I am one person who underwent such torments. Rumours spread out about most of the teachers. It’s very normal among people to react when someone is appointed superior to them. But this clash has been continuing over a decade.
The school teachers work five days a week and so does the college teachers. Why are only the higher secondary teachers working 6 days a week? According to school teachers,
“Kai niraye cash medukukayalle? Pine joli cheythal entha?”
I agree that we do get a decent salary but what about the college teachers? Are they not being paid three times our salary? How come they are free on Saturdays and Sundays? They are free because they have to prepare. And they are university staffs who come under the UGC. That is their explanation. Don’t we have to prepare for the following week? Are we not teaching the same Pre-degree which were once taught in colleges? The only difference is that it was Pre-degree then and now it is higher secondary.
My immediate provocation to write this article is that we have been forced to go for valuation of answer scripts. The Centralized valuation camp where I go, five subjects are being valued there. It is a school with just a little over 500 students. This school is in the heart of the city. Believe me, there are no fans in this school. In the room where I sit there are seven groups of teachers. Each group has five assistants and a chief. So in all, we are forty two teachers in a room with barely any place to sit. It is so congested that all of us are soaked in sweat by afternoon. To add fuel to this, most of the days there is no water in the toilets. Teachers from Trivandrum district come here for valuation. How long does the authority expect teachers to work without going to the toilet? Majority of us reach by 9:30am in the morning. All of a sudden news spreads that there is no water to wash our hands and to go to the toilets. Is it not violation of human rights? As far as I know, the atmosphere should be conducive to work. There are many teachers who are elderly and asking them to work in such an atmosphere is atrocious.
The worst of all is that there is a step motherly treatment towards the teachers going for valuation. Answer scripts are issued only after 9:30 am. The next set is issued after 1:30pm. The camp coordinator takes back the afternoon set only after 4:30pm. The reason they give is that the Joint Director has given them strict instruction that the teachers should leave the camp only after 4:30pm. What does he gain by keeping us there for all these hours? Does he think that he is doing us something great favour by calling us for valuation? Never!!!! He is just torturing us and I think he gets a sadistic pleasure in keeping us in that miserable place. Please remember there are teachers who have to catch the trains to reach their hometowns in the evening.
We are sacrificing our summer vacations for valuation. You may argue that this work that we are doing can be surrendered and we that we get an additional income. Let me tell you frankly, many teachers are not interested in cash. We prefer holidays. This is the only time that we get to spend with our family. Even that has been grabbed away from us. Don’t we teachers need holidays? It has been made compulsory for us teachers to attend the CV camp. If not, a memo will wait us when we go back to school. Valuation for certain subjects go beyond May 15. By the time valuation is over, we teachers are forced to go for vacation class. In short teachers are being denied their summer holidays.
Are we children of a lesser God? Or are we slaves who are expected to slog the whole year?
After all the hard work we do, memos are kept ready for the slightest mistake. Memos are given to teachers, who don’t attend the valuation camp. Memos are given to teachers who have attended the camp but for a slight mistake that they commit. It is simply not possible to give 100% attention in the work we do in such an atmosphere.
You, leaders of the teachers’ union please unite and protest against the atrocities on us.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Will the education system ever improve in Kerala?
Its 17 years since I came into the teaching profession. I have taught in unaided schools as well as in government aided schools. I feel very sorry to find the standards of students’ dwindling year after year. The time I joined the higher secondary section the medium of instruction was English and students had to write their examination in English. A student who didn’t know English would learn to write in English by the time he/she reached the 12th standard.
But what is the standard of the students now?
I am one of teachers who went through the DPEP training course and taught the first batch of students in the DPEP method. When the system was introduced I found the system quite good. Students had both the practical knowledge as well as they knew how to read and write. But as the years passed by, the system lost its values, the teachers their ethics and the students their hard work.
Malayalees of yesteryears held very respectable places in our country as well as abroad. But over the years the standard of education has gone down. Thanks to the selfish motives of unscrupulous politicians and educationists. To tide up with growing financial crisis of state, the politicians borrow money from various international monetary organizations even without thinking about the consequences of the terms and conditions of these organizations. It is heard that the some of the Western countries are trying to destroy our education system and I feel that it is true.
The picture painted by the government is very rosy. They boast that Kerala has the best pass rate at the SSLC and at the Higher Secondary level by making the students pass even when they don’t know even how to write their own names. I am telling you this from my personal experience. Now Mr. Education Minister, what are you trying to do? What do you gain by destroying the lives of so many generations? Is it not for selfish motives that you are doing this? Do you want to increase the unemployment rate? People who have passed the Plus two get a false notion that he/she is highly educated and expects a white collared job. He/she is unwilling to do any other low paid jobs.
The examinations conducted by the government are a farce. Malpractice is the order of the day. It is encouraged from the top officials to the lowest rung of the non teaching staff. Nobody ever dares to take action against the erring students. The students feel it is their right to copy and teachers feel it is their responsibility to make students pass. There are many teachers who stoop to the level of encouraging malpractice at the time of public examinations. The teachers who are stern are considered to be the black sheep among their community itself.
I am sorry to say that there are people who have been debarred by the university, for malpractice in the teaching profession. What ethics can you expect from such teachers? They readily support students in malpractice (because the students shouldn’t have their fate!!!). I personally know teachers who allow students to copy during public examinations. To add to this there is a squad that has been appointed by the government to prevent malpractice. The squad is just a namesake and never bothers to check students individually.
This is the same when it comes to valuing answer scripts. Teachers are too generous that many don’t even take the trouble of reading the answer papers. They take immense pride in saying that no one has ever been failed by him/her. They criticize teachers who fail students saying that if students fail, they will not take up our subjects. There will be a division fall and teachers will be out of employment. Do teachers have to sacrifice the standard of education just for the security of their employment??? This is the heights of selfishness!!!!
The government is so keen in protecting the state stream students. They give marks generously and 50% of the marks are to be included in the entrance examinations. And the reason for this is that the students from the ISC and CBSE are faring better than the state stream students. Instead of improving the standard of the state stream, the government has found an easy solution. Is this the Kerala model development???!!!
If the education system is to improve, I think,
Firstly, the education minister should be a very highly qualified person. He should at least have a post graduation degree (passed).
Secondly, politics,religion and caste should not play a role in appointments of Vice Chancellors, Directors and high officials in the universities and other educational offices.They should be people of very high quality and not people with fat purses.
Thirdly, teachers who are dedicated and of high quality should be appointed in schools. From the primary classes itself teachers should give a strong base to the students. Religion and politics should not be the criteria for appointment of teachers.
Fourthly, if a teacher is found to be unethical, he/she should be terminated from service, after an enquiry.
Fifthly, tuition should be banned. Only then will teachers be less partial and more dedicated. Students will listen in class once they know they have no where to go for help.
Sixthly, only deserving students should pass. Others should be failed. Students shouldn’t get the feeling that they can pass without learning.
Seventhly, internal marks should be given according to the standard of the work that the students submit. Marks should never be given to undeserving students. I know a student who was given 9 marks out of 10 for English internal assessment. And the marks she scored for English examination was just 1. So I don’t have to tell you about the standard of the student, right?
Lastly, Mr. Education Minister, please don’t introduce grading in colleges. Already the SSLC and Higher Secondary education has lost its standard. Please don’t destroy the standard of the colleges too.
If the education system in Kerala is not reformed at the earliest, then we will have a whole lot of generation who will possess high degrees and will not know how to read or write a sentence correctly. This applies mainly to the students who have studied the state stream. There will be an outflow of students to other states and there will be no students for us teachers to teach. The students from other streams with outsmart the state stream students. Even if the government tries to protect the students by guaranteeing them admissions to professional courses, they will never be able to pass the course until the government introduces grading even there!! And the government can blow its own trumpets by saying it has the largest number of professionals in the world who doesn’t know how to write his/ her name correctly!!!!
PS.
I don't intend to hurt the feelings of my fellow beings. This is purely my observation and intensely desire to see a better education system in Kerala.
But what is the standard of the students now?
I am one of teachers who went through the DPEP training course and taught the first batch of students in the DPEP method. When the system was introduced I found the system quite good. Students had both the practical knowledge as well as they knew how to read and write. But as the years passed by, the system lost its values, the teachers their ethics and the students their hard work.
Malayalees of yesteryears held very respectable places in our country as well as abroad. But over the years the standard of education has gone down. Thanks to the selfish motives of unscrupulous politicians and educationists. To tide up with growing financial crisis of state, the politicians borrow money from various international monetary organizations even without thinking about the consequences of the terms and conditions of these organizations. It is heard that the some of the Western countries are trying to destroy our education system and I feel that it is true.
The picture painted by the government is very rosy. They boast that Kerala has the best pass rate at the SSLC and at the Higher Secondary level by making the students pass even when they don’t know even how to write their own names. I am telling you this from my personal experience. Now Mr. Education Minister, what are you trying to do? What do you gain by destroying the lives of so many generations? Is it not for selfish motives that you are doing this? Do you want to increase the unemployment rate? People who have passed the Plus two get a false notion that he/she is highly educated and expects a white collared job. He/she is unwilling to do any other low paid jobs.
The examinations conducted by the government are a farce. Malpractice is the order of the day. It is encouraged from the top officials to the lowest rung of the non teaching staff. Nobody ever dares to take action against the erring students. The students feel it is their right to copy and teachers feel it is their responsibility to make students pass. There are many teachers who stoop to the level of encouraging malpractice at the time of public examinations. The teachers who are stern are considered to be the black sheep among their community itself.
I am sorry to say that there are people who have been debarred by the university, for malpractice in the teaching profession. What ethics can you expect from such teachers? They readily support students in malpractice (because the students shouldn’t have their fate!!!). I personally know teachers who allow students to copy during public examinations. To add to this there is a squad that has been appointed by the government to prevent malpractice. The squad is just a namesake and never bothers to check students individually.
This is the same when it comes to valuing answer scripts. Teachers are too generous that many don’t even take the trouble of reading the answer papers. They take immense pride in saying that no one has ever been failed by him/her. They criticize teachers who fail students saying that if students fail, they will not take up our subjects. There will be a division fall and teachers will be out of employment. Do teachers have to sacrifice the standard of education just for the security of their employment??? This is the heights of selfishness!!!!
The government is so keen in protecting the state stream students. They give marks generously and 50% of the marks are to be included in the entrance examinations. And the reason for this is that the students from the ISC and CBSE are faring better than the state stream students. Instead of improving the standard of the state stream, the government has found an easy solution. Is this the Kerala model development???!!!
If the education system is to improve, I think,
Firstly, the education minister should be a very highly qualified person. He should at least have a post graduation degree (passed).
Secondly, politics,religion and caste should not play a role in appointments of Vice Chancellors, Directors and high officials in the universities and other educational offices.They should be people of very high quality and not people with fat purses.
Thirdly, teachers who are dedicated and of high quality should be appointed in schools. From the primary classes itself teachers should give a strong base to the students. Religion and politics should not be the criteria for appointment of teachers.
Fourthly, if a teacher is found to be unethical, he/she should be terminated from service, after an enquiry.
Fifthly, tuition should be banned. Only then will teachers be less partial and more dedicated. Students will listen in class once they know they have no where to go for help.
Sixthly, only deserving students should pass. Others should be failed. Students shouldn’t get the feeling that they can pass without learning.
Seventhly, internal marks should be given according to the standard of the work that the students submit. Marks should never be given to undeserving students. I know a student who was given 9 marks out of 10 for English internal assessment. And the marks she scored for English examination was just 1. So I don’t have to tell you about the standard of the student, right?
Lastly, Mr. Education Minister, please don’t introduce grading in colleges. Already the SSLC and Higher Secondary education has lost its standard. Please don’t destroy the standard of the colleges too.
If the education system in Kerala is not reformed at the earliest, then we will have a whole lot of generation who will possess high degrees and will not know how to read or write a sentence correctly. This applies mainly to the students who have studied the state stream. There will be an outflow of students to other states and there will be no students for us teachers to teach. The students from other streams with outsmart the state stream students. Even if the government tries to protect the students by guaranteeing them admissions to professional courses, they will never be able to pass the course until the government introduces grading even there!! And the government can blow its own trumpets by saying it has the largest number of professionals in the world who doesn’t know how to write his/ her name correctly!!!!
PS.
I don't intend to hurt the feelings of my fellow beings. This is purely my observation and intensely desire to see a better education system in Kerala.
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