Polaroid Values..!!

The last days of schools before long vacations are the most interesting ones. You know it would be the last meeting with your friends until the school reopens. But then, there is a joy within, of getting a break. A break which is most important. You have plans for holidays, outings with family or a long tour to some exotic destination. The last day has a mixture of feelings, excitement about what's gonna happen and a bit sorrow for not having that regular fun at the school. But there's a feeling which comes up additional to these two. It's fearful, a barrier between you and your trips, fun and joy. It is the holiday homework. Holiday homework is the thing I have been hating the most right from my childhood. Its amount and size was one of the reason. Unnoticed, and I really don't know how, it has done a great job. But this time, the homework was of different form.

A similar day was when the Diwali holidays were to begin. I had nearly 10 days of holidays for the festival and my teachers hadn't left any opportunities to prevent us from enjoying! Till the last day teachers hadn't talked anything about the homework and everyone had that 'let-the-time-pass-away-fast' feeling so that we get holidays without any homework. The most 'sincere' and 'studious' students were made quiet and asked not to talk about it. Three periods passed away. Time had rather become slow! We waited for the day to end but something else was waiting for us, already. The fifth period started and our wish was shattered! Ma'am came with some papers to be distributed. They were called 'worksheets'. They had to be completed in the vacation. We got Maths and followed by Chemistry. Next came Physics. But here it was, where the worksheets were different! When I read the question I gave out a laugh! The worksheet was something like this..

Physics Worksheet

Q. Kamala bought new Polaroid glasses. She was a physics student and knew how Polaroids functioned. Mention the working and also write the values possessed by Kamala.

I myself had bought Polaroids last month and so I started thinking what values I possessed! Values because I bought Polaroids! I heard my friends telling me to read the question which I already had. The whole class was laughing including me! It was very funny! Moreover it was not the only one! There were 12 such questions! We all were amazed how these questions came under the heading 'Physics Worksheet' which was always known for its mind boggling questions on Magnetism or Electronics. Very soon to make us know, a friend shouted, 'Read the sub-title guys'!! And every one moved back to the paper. I could read it..

Physics Worksheet

[Value Based Questions]

I quickly remembered what our class teacher had told us some 5-6 days before! Yes! She had told us about it! The value based questions! And I was not the only wise one. Everyone recalled what ma'am had said..

The board has made recent changes in the question paper pattern. Now onward you will have a value based question in each of your three main subjects; Physics, Chemistry and Maths. These questions will test the moral values you have and would own you marks out of 3 or 5, yet to be decided. But yea, they are going to be there for you in the final board exams.

So these were they! The 'Value Based Questions'! The whole class was shouting funny answers to the question. It was a joke. A mere joke or..?

It kept me thinking why had the Board included such questions in our papers. The question would have made anyone laugh. The Board said that it wanted the students to have moral values. The students going out of the school must have a good social and moral basis. It said, the questions would make students think of what various values are and would try to inculcate in them. The Board's statements were seeming right to me. Because seriously we needed individuals who are responsible. Watching the anti-social activities happening outside, it is good to make students aware what is right. But a big question came up..At this age??

It actually made no sense, moreover proper to be called a joke, teaching students of class 12 moral values. It is the last year, according to our conventional schooling system, a student spends in a school. And at this time of life, the Board is trying to teach values?! It sounded weird to me. I went on thinking as to why. I was soon struck by an answer. I referred the CBSE board's previous modifications in the education system. What I concluded was not expected in a country like India, where millions of children get their education daily! The modifications included Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation(CCE) and the inclusion of Value Based Questions. Both pointed toward the same end..

CCE was implemented at 9-10 level in the year 2009 in all the schools affiliated to CBSE. It was a very good change which our schools needed. Boring teaching had to be replaced with interactive learning. This step was a very good one. Now Class 9-10 have FAs where students do not give pen and paper test, instead a different form of testing is conducted. It may be a group discussion, a project display, skit presentation etc.. Students too enjoyed it a lot. But not everyone gave positive response. There were many children and parents who did not like CCE, considering it a waste of time. Also the other Boards discouraged students qualified through CCE in their institutions. The Maharashtra State Board considered that the marks such obtained did not present the real merit of the student, which conventional Board exams very well did(the same board went on to give marks out of 25 for sports leading numerous students getting 100% in their Class 10 exams). This was a real failure in the implementation of CCE. The board still hasn't satisfactorily made parents to agree upon the thought that CCE mode is better than the conventional one.

The similar problem comes up for the Value based questions(VBQs). CBSE has made this decision in a hurry it seems. Class 12 is the time when students take vital decisions of choosing their career. Is this time right for teaching values? Friends, don't you think it is quite late now? It is seldom possible that a student gets some values while answering a VBQ, one which comes as break during the tedious(mark that word) process of question solving. Many would rather love writing them! 3 marks fetched for free! And if you get full 3, you are full of moral values! Aren't you?!

What CBSE and almost every board fails to understand is that, there is no such ideal student(science students know very well what ideal means), who would take up values once he answers a VBQ! I remember one of my teachers scolded me for a mistake of mine. I was in Class 9 then. She said 

"You are old enough to be taught morals dear, and I am young enough to teach you the actual ones. What I can do is only guide you right.."

What we need is moral education at the primary level, as well as the intermediate level. Expecting good results out of teaching moral education at secondary level is just waste of time and resources. Our primary education system needs to be stronger. Better teachers should be appointed at the basic level, because that's when the child's molded. The way the teacher designs him, reflects what human being he becomes. That's the only time when any morals have to be inculcated. There's a proverb in Hindi 'Baked earth has no effect of any scratches after, if it has, it has the extremest, it cracks', it very rightly compares human mind with earth(mud/clay). It's easy to mold at the beginning, but difficult once it's well prepared. We in India require a stronger base in education. Friends what I ask is, let only willing people be teachers, because they shape lives. And these lives are best only if they put their heart in. These toppings of value based questions are of no use if you are raw within. Teach, develop your siblings, your near ones, who are yet younger, so that they have better values and are capable of leading the country. 

Remember..Never say it in public that you have the Freedom of Speech!!

It was the time to go to bed, and as usual for mommy's bedtime stories. He had been listening them for five years now, and he really enjoyed each one. His mum was a real story-teller, because impressing this boy wasn't an easy job. That night his mother seemed a bit tensed, a sense of fear ruled her face. He asked her, but she didn't respond, instead said, "Come, it's time for the next story, today I will tell you a real one okay?" She now had all his attention, because a real story wasn't a part of daily routine. He waited eagerly. She started in a typical way..

Once upon a time in India, there was a leader, who changed people's world. The people there, had fallen prey to the dictatorship of foreign(define it yourself) invaders. They had to push themselves to the boundary of death to earn a living. For some, it was much difficult even to find some work! Money came in bits, it went off, on bits. Poverty was all over, rich and poor were corners of universe. The dictating power was strong, clever and witty. It had laid its foundations deep into that place. People now feared going against them, but they found no way out of the problem, until he came up.
This boy was raised in the same downtrodden environment. Yea, he had those guts, none other had. He wished to change the world, and yes he surely did! He had the tricks to win people's minds, he influenced them greatly. His words moved them throughout. He made people realize how they had been kept away from the treasure they owned(define this one too).
The invaders now had a fear, of this boy. They knew they would soon see an uprising. Some started to back off, some stayed, brave enough. And then! There was an uprising! People saw these dictators as termites, eating up their hard earned resources. They tried to shoo them off and were pretty successful! Many were forced to leave, but others stayed. People there now had no fear. They lived happily thereafter.

She stopped speaking, the story had ended, in a quite blunt manner. He still expected her to speak, to continue and give a thrilling end. But the story had ended, she had declared. The boy, as expected, was now full of questions! He shot the first one at her. "Then what happened to those who did not go back mama?" "Did they survive?" She got the hint of the maze that had built up in his mind. She now decided to tell him the truth. Answering his question, she became weak, the answer was the reason..

"Look, not all of the invaders were bad, there were people who had friends among the people of that place, those were the good ones. They had good relations with people. People too liked them, but then the wave of hatred came and swept away all that love between them. And son, we were one of those good invaders.."

She controlled herself, the word which she had used for herself, 'invaders' was a cruel one. But she was used to it now. He was damn puzzled now. He had expected this story to be of some time, 100-200 years back. He asked her "What? We were the invaders?! But mama you told me this was my birthplace! Didn't you?" It was a tough one for her, "Yea my boy, still I say, this is your birthplace. But look, we moved here to Mumbai recently, whereas your dad was born in Bihar." She tried to stop her tears but they flowed unnoticed to her. "But mama, Bihar and Mumbai both in India right?" "Yes son, but they are different states!! Now stop questioning and listen..

"The world outside is very different from that in your textbook. Your dad fell a prey to this cruel world. The book says you can speak freely anything, unless you don't hurt anyone. Freedom of Speech, that's what it is called. But that doesn't apply outside okay? You might get to learn few more things later, but Remember..never say it in public, that you have the freedom of speech.."

The boy nodded, he could do only that. She was weeping continuously. Her loss was a great one, one which couldn't recover, nor that leader could understand.


The mother was right on her part. She cared for her child. There are many such people in Maharashtra today, who live in fear. Maharashtra today has become a 'namesake-democratic-state'. The government is one here, but those who rule the people are actually different. Well it would be unjust to speak only of Maharashtra. Several other states like Haryana have people who consider law and order a joke. Jat clans are biggest examples. An episode of Satyamev Jayate was based upon love marriages, and Jat heads were asked to give their opinions, who openly stated that Indian constitution hadn't anything to do with their tradtional rules. In a Jat, their rules would be supreme! I and also the Constitution, respect the tradition, but not those which try to take away individual identity. A boy and a girl loved each other and they got married, against the Jat rules. These people killed the couple ruthlessly! Moreover when they were asked about the validity of the reason for the murder, they held their Jat rules tight.

This shows how law is taken over by some powerful(by money and muscle, I doubt of brains) people. Freedom of Speech, a unique and powerful feature of a democracy. Recently, a news caught attention, when two girls in Palghar were arrested for posting a comment on the Facebook. When I first read this news, I did not get it and simply ignored. By the way, a reason for ignoring it was the way it was presented, very unclear and confusing. Next day my friend told me to read about the arrest. I remembered what I had read. When I actually read the whole thing, it struck me! This was the post..
"Respect is earned, not given and definitely not forced. Today Mumbai shuts down due to fear and not due to respect. People like Thackeray are born and die daily and one should not observe a bandh for that"
This was a pretty brave thing to do on her part. Because we all know what happens when someone speaks against Shivsena(be it right or wrong), don,t we?! The consequences she faced was a 14 day arrest, under Section 295 (a) of the IPC (for hurting religious sentiments) and Section 64 (a) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Section 505 (2) of the IPC for making "statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes", and the police added Section 66 (A) of the Information Technology Act. As a party never ends without deserts, a Shivsena campaign never ends without a mob attacking places and breaking down everything it gets! Shivsainiks(they are called, notice who is being mocked at) attacked the girl's uncle's clinic just after police had visited her house! Aha! Maybe she didn't have a mother like that boy, or maybe she forgot what she had to remember all along..

The girl had made a direct comment on the Late Shivsena Supremo Balasaheb Thakre, a highly admired and respected personality. His death saw a large crowd gathering at Shivaji Park, as large as the one seen during  Bal Gangadhar Tilak's death. This was a clear sketch of the influence he had on people's mind. He had two sides, a personal good one, and a political cruel one. The cruelty of the latter overruled the beauty of the former. His many political views were not only questionable, but also divisive. The case of the girl's arrest brings forward two very deep concerns: The reason for the arrest was never apt, then what made police to do it? Here comes the role of influence..or rather impact.
The reason is clear friends, the fear(and look who's afraid). Next point, why was only this girl pointed at?! It's known to all, that there were thousands of Balasaheb critics. Many did criticize a Bandh on his death, that too on Facebook. But finally, this girl was chosen. Thinking a bit more, you will get it, why. Notice the girl's religion, it tells everything why she was pointed out of these thousands. Her uncle's clinic was destroyed, and the goons did it very willingly! A thought ruled their mind that the one who ruled them was disrespected. And these specially channelised young men did their job well! Yea! Very well!

The example shows us very well how the actual rulers work. The girl was arrested because she said something that was against a man who was greatly respected(forget about how Balasaheb bitterly talked about North Indians..forget that). In a democracy, each one has a right to put up his views, and she had used hers. But where do we live in a democracy?! Right? Here Prithviraj Chavan is the CM, but police arrest a girl because Balasaheb was dishonoured(and it hurted 'religious' feelings)! Oh sorry, I am so strongly speaking against him! I can't right? I must remember I am not free to say that I am free to express!

It is we, the people, who can change situations. What I ask is not to face the wrong, but only change your perspective as to what is wrong. If you face difficulties in finding a job or you feel that entry of people of other states are causing problem in yours, it's time to change your thinking. A very simple option was provided by these regional leaders, embedding a feeling of hatred. You need to come up! It sounds funny when I talk this, but it is really very important to keep our country bonded. People! Be a human before an Indian, Maharashtrian comes very later. Keep speaking! Keep thinking! Be brave, support the right. And remember, shout it loud in the public, that you have got the freedom of speech.

Look! That's what you call a Family Tree!!

Ganesh Chaturthi invites a huge political activity all around the town I live in. In school days, we used to have 'Classroom Decorating Competitions', where each class would decorate their room and the best one would win! We all were one as a school but some amount of rivalry surely crept in due to these competitions. Then, once decorated, teachers would come and inspect. We used to leave no way so as to disappoint the inspector. The perfectly-answering-students were placed on the very first row, but we were very clever! We knew the inspector would choose a last-bencher! So some of the former were placed at the back too! The inspection time was full of nervousness, of how everyone would react. But then it would go in a swoosh! Then the results would come, the most awaited ones. The environment reminded me all this. Every party was in its full swing to impress the inspector, correcting my words, inspectors, the people.

Huge replicas of historic and religious sites were being made all over the place. Each party has its own area (notice the word; if you remember any such South Indian Film dialogue). This area is the place it lays its glory and richness for the people to watch, here is where the true Lakshmi rests. Well what caught my attention this time were the posters! I loved the variation they used to bring in the poses of the white-dressed(be sarcastic) people in them. The young men actually enjoyed clicking themselves, one could easily notice their make-up. I was watchig them one by one when I heared a lady telling her child something that made me laugh at first, but then it hit me. The lady was pointing out at one of the posters, it had three men and a woman, all four just the faces. The lady said,

'Look beta, that's what you call a family tree! The first one's the head, the father. He is the bread-earner of the family. You see that young bhaiyya? That's his son. And that one too, whose beside him. So understood? Father, sons and then grandsons and granddaughters!'

I saw the boy smile, so easily he had understood all this! Father, son and grandsons! Oh that was a piece of joke for me! Or wasn't it?

I had already started thinking, why it was so that whichever party I thought of, I could find many examples of 'family trees'! I even was thinking whether that lady was the mom! Yea, it's natural right? You see father and sons and a lady, you expect her to be the mother. But now that thought was gradually moving as a much larger one was trying an entry..How come so many parties have a leader with his family members also on high posts in the party?

I could go on if I start naming such leaders. For instance, the Gandhi family in Congress, the Thakres in Shivsena, the Yadavs of SP, Lalu Prasad of RJD, and many more at the local level. We have so much of Dynastic Politics going on in India, that even Mr. Javed Ansari, a senior political analyst says that is has become natural to have it in India. It has been growing up very successfully and none has ever strongly spoken on it. We could see examples of Rabdi Devi, of how she ruined politics in Bihar. Presently Akhilesh Yaday in UP, he had claimed that crime rates would come down within six months after he comes to power, nothing happened. It has become a fashion, most apt to be called, for the sons of the party leaders to be called as the youth icons! Rahul in Congres, Aditya in Shivsena, Akhilesh in SP and many more! We seriously have come so far in this issue, that now none notices how wrong these parties are doing right at their fundamentals, choosing the right leader.

Civics in class9 and 10 thoroughly discussed on the challenges democracy faces today, one of them was Dynastic Politics. Its explanation was what I loved the most. It said,

Today dynastic politics has spread in almost all the parties in India. It drills the basics of democracy. What a true democracy aims at is its practice at every level, e.g. at your home, your father takes a meeting to decide whether or not to sell off your car. You discuss and give your opinions, and if you don't agree, he considers your side. That's what is democracy at the most basic level, home. Now political parties being the most basic element of the process of forming government in a democracy, they themselves should have a democratic structure. Every member of the party should have an equal say in the party's decision. But we have failed to do so in India.
(see page 83 Challenges to Politics Class 10-
http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm?jess4=6-8)

Surely, what the book says is true. The basic elements of the democracy should themselves be democratic! This misguided politics, now has turned into a type of monarchy at lower levels. Each party head enjoys the powers equal to a king(you have a very recent example). Every son(notice the gender discrimination; no daughter is ever seen as a youth icon) is a prince! What we have lost in this, is talent and our country's good. There are several such young minds who wish to join politics, but stand in a dilemma while choosing a party. They know, wherever they go, their ideas and concepts would be dumped off against the party's conventional ideologies. Dynastic politics can only be stopped by bringing up better new parties or cleaning this mess of numerous parties, limiting them to a finite number.

Friends speak out against dynastic politics instead of happily accepting what Rahul Gandhi says. The very existence of such people is invalid! Think on it friends, did Rahul or Aditya ever came up on their own? Did the members of the party collectively appointed him? Or even Mr. Uddhav earlier?! Where would have they been, if they weren't born in those families? Politics in India has become a part time or a full time job substitute if you fail to pass in other fields. There are leaders who are just 8th passed. I respect what our constitution says, that formal education is not necessary for a person to think good for the country. But their are just handful of such people. Others are just pouncing over the opportunity! It might appear that it makes no good in speaking against this, but folks we're losing Great Leaders, ones who can set better examples than 'family trees'.

Now I regret I learnt that Concept!!

Diwali, the festival of lights! Everyone, including myself, loves this festival, because of the joy it brings. People come together, work together, share food, thoughts, memories and much more. And for us; the students, it's a real break from the hectic schedule. In my childhood days, I had had a lots of fun, bursting crackers, playing with cousins. Now it becomes quite difficult to actually visit all of my cousins and friends. In class 12, be it a vacation, exams won't have a break! Well, the point I want to make. When I was small, Diwali taught me one great thing. Rather giving Diwali the credit, I would give it to the fireworks! For us kids, it was always prohibited to light the big fireworks like the rockets and all those which would burst high up in the air. So we used to watch them light in the sky. It used to be amazing! And this is when I learnt the concept, that light travels faster than sound. The crackers seemed to light first and then the boom would be heard. That was amazing practical example of the fact.

Now, I very well know that light travels truly very fast than sound. And I know the reason as well! This Diwali, I got reminded of this concept that I learnt. I could feel those fireworks asking for a return, a fee..A fee much larger than the concept. The day of Narkchaturdashi, was when I could feel the 'overwhelming' joy of the people. Crackers were bursting all around! A blind would seriously have felt as if he has entered a battlefield! That night was a mock to a beautiful foggy night. Well then people, what do you think, is this fee right? I recorded a sound clip and the next day asked one of my friends to recognize what was going on. His first reaction was obviously what I expected. He said that he could hear guns being fired! Yea! He (do you think only he?) was here, blind..

This is what an 8 MP camera could capture to its best!
It's not fog, but smoke...(13/11/12)

Diwali, today, has become a festival of crackers if noticed all over India. The joy, the fun is visualized in the form of bursting crackers. And to my surprise, number and size(in visual and audial sense) of crackers is many a times related to prestige and power! Watching so many campaigns being made, telling people to reduce bursting crackers, it was expected that their use reduces, but what we see is no change! Fireworks kept lighting, Diwali was still a festival of smoke and noise, more precisely, of nuisance.

What troubles me a lot is the attitude of our own leaders, the political parties. They have, what I call, the attitude of obviousness. You go to any political party's cracker show, they will light crackers, watch the pollution and then go on with there talks as usual, nodding heads. This attitude of behaving as if everything is obvious and 'we do not care' enrages me every time they do something in public. They are our representatives, they are expected to bring about changes so that the society, the people benefit. This was actually what I saw, one of the parties celebrated its pride on the day of Diwali. They decorated their posh white vehicles followed with aarti. All the vehicles were done. So functions over? Not yet, how can it! Then a 5000-10000 units chain of fireworks was lighted, few rockets and some eardrum-tearing bombs. And how can I forget that 50 shots! The party's prestige was thus laid out.

It is the lack of awareness in us, that we still aren't thinking of our environment. We very well know that some or other family member of ours may have breathing or hearing problems, still we do not care to burst those fireworks. This reminds me of what my English teacher had once said when I was in Class 5..

'Indians have a very bad attitude of 'pushing the dirt under the mattress'. Even when we know that there could be problems in the future, we tend to push the idea off. We try to hide things, just to make them disappear from our vision. But we forget that the same dirt could rot the mattress...'

Now I see how practical he was. We cannot stay blind, knowing the aftermaths of these elements. Not only India, the world needs to think and act. This Diwali, my mother made a great point. We both were just back from the market and I was going through all that she had bought, when I saw a magazine. It was a Diwali special issue. I started reading it and truly it was amazing! Cartoons, stories, articles, it was a real treasure. My mum saw me reading it and this was what she said...

'This is what we actually need in Diwali, the feast of literature, the Diwali of words, instead of those fireworks...'

And yes, she was absolutely right. We need to bring back that Diwali, when happiness was all around, where, not crackers, but thoughts, people, and ideas burst! Then would everyone enjoy learning new concepts, then would Diwali be rightly called, the festival of lights.