On Pat Rot ism

The 1.21 billion people erupted in jubilation when the Indian Cricket team won the world cup. Fervid Patriotism was what we witnessed. How a game of cricket drew out the latent patriotic spirit in the 1.21 billion people surprised me immensely. Politicians, bureaucrat, and aam janta sat huddled in their seats, their heart beats synchronized with the ball, bat and the wicket, just like our coalition government.

The night sky lay sprinkled with sparklers while the stochastic night air resonated with a cacophony of the crackers, grossly violating the environmental regulations. Not unlike the garrulous news people on TV.

The scene as I saw it on television is nothing less than a biopic of a nationalist. Political leader, and film stars waving flags and shaking hands with the aam jantas on the pretext of celebrating the world cup victory… or was it to win popularity and votes? I don’t know.

A game is a game. There will be a contestant and there will be another contestant. If one contestant wins, the other loses. At the end both are contestants. So, what is this fuss all about? Let a game remain a game and not a show of nationalism.

There are more important issues that need our immediate attention. Corruption, scams, bribery, illiteracy, population growth, inflation… and the list goes on. People who indulge in these activities are anti nationalists, no less than a gun trotting terrorist.

We need to do our bit here. We have to show our patriotism now, take a pledge to curb these malice from our society in order to make our country sparkle.

A 70+ year old man plans to sit on indefinite fast to get the Jan lokpal bill passed. He is doing this for us, for our kids, our country. Let us all do our bit for our country. Let us show our true colors. I wonder how a world cup can remove corruption from our country.

( written on the night of the world cup win)

Kurta pajama and austerity

Does wearing starched white kurta pajama defines austerity in a person?

Our Rahul Baba thinks so. "I generally tend to keep myself austere", pointing out to his simple white kurta-pyjama attire with a chuckle.

Well this makes me wonder, does it all boils down to the adage 'clothes defines a man' and not his action.

Austerity is sacrifice, it is cutting down on comforts to the bare necessity. Wearing kurta pajama is not the parameter to austerity if one travels 1st class, is palisaded by the most elite security force and is carted all over in the best of automobiles.

Mantrijis, if you want to practice austerity, cut down your spendings, stop building statues to prove a sore point and be independent, let the NSGs do what they are trained to do - protecting our country.

Values... Whats' that?

Recently, in our locality, a senior citizen, aged around 80, ran away from her house, leaving her husband dazed. The reason is still not clear though. Some says that the daughter-in-law is the reason; some says it is over property dispute.

Whatever the reason may be; the fact remains that she left her home, of over 50 years, in desperation.

This makes me ponder- where has materialism led us? In this rat- race of one- up – man ship, we have relegated our values, traditions and most importantly our souls to the proverbial ‘backseat’.

Have our values become redundant?

India has been culturally acclaimed and, infact revered, by the foreigners. They remain awestruck when we narrate tales of how we all stay together under one roof, how we never send our senior citizens to old age homes and how we involve them in our lives.

I remember quiet clearly; we had some Dutch ladies as our houseguest some twenty years ago. They were clearly impressed by our family and were, infact, astounded when they saw that we lived in joint family. Although there were so many people, yet things worked on well without anyone stepping on the others’ feet. It was a lesson on managerial effectiveness, team work and interpersonal skills, I am sure they have learnt, which no Business schools would be able to teach.

Of course practicality demands that joint family disintegrate; but it seems that with this disintegration, our values and ideals, too have eroded. Whom should we blame for this? We have this habit of ‘passing the buck’ for we hate to take responsibility of this mass social degeneration on our shoulder-The mother-in-law blames the daughter-in –law; the father blames the mother; the sisters their brother, executives their bosses, the police points at the politicians , the politicians at the judiciary , the judiciary at the…. and this is how the blame game continues; nobody knows where it will stop for God has created plenty of earthlings to ensure that this game doesn’t stop.

Has teacher day outlived its importance?

When Dr. Radhakrishnan became the president of India in 1962, some of his students and friends approached him and requested him to allow them to celebrate 5th September, his "birthday". In reply, Dr, Radhakrishnan said, "instead of celebrating my birthday separately, it would be my proud privilege if September 5 is observed as Teachers' day". The request showed Dr.Radhakrishnan's love for the teaching profession. From then onwards, the day has been observed as Teachers' Day in India.

Remember Socrates. Well, he considered himself a learner as well as a teacher. For Socrates, love and friendship were the proper contexts for the pursuit of wisdom and goodness. Socrates saw himself only as a catalyst. He felt it was not his teaching, but actually the power of the Divine, which enabled the person, he was talking with to improve himself.

Teachers are supposed to mold the lives that they influence. Lessons learned from teachers remain with their students throughout life.

On this context, I ask my reader “ Has teachers day outlived its importance?”

Be honest and speak out. Do you really feel that teacher’s day celebration is heartfelt?

In the rat race of life and materialism, we have forgotten the reasons for the reverence of this particular day as teacher’s day.

I vividly remember how teachers would dress up in gaudy clothes with ‘greasepaints’ on their faces, carrying extra big bag for teacher day celebration. Later on, I realized that the number of cards, flowers or gifts (received surreptitiously) a teacher receives determined her popularity. In fact she acted like the queen bee, calling the rooster and showing off her possessions.

I would also like to mention the writings in Manu Smriti, which states, "By accepting gifts the divine light in the person gets extinguished". Manu warns every individual against accepting gifts for the reason that it places the acceptor under an obligation in favor of the person who gave the gift and ultimately it results in making a person to do things, which are not permitted according to law.

I wonder whether these ‘learned ‘ people ever experiences pangs of guilt. I have my doubts.

Look around you; notice the sudden demand for tuition teachers. Now, who is responsible for this? Parents are forced to send their wards for tuition because their children’s marks have suddenly plummeted and the only one who could salvage their sagging marks are their teachers. It is like our famous coalition government – high marks and tuition.

Looking from a broader perspective, we cannot really blame the teacher’s alone for creating a demand for private tuition.Many teachers are exhausted from their workload and responsibilities. They have their own families, financial and life stresses that challenge them along with everyone else. And what does a teacher earns vis-à-vis the amount of labor he/she puts in?

But, then, who are suffering? -The students, the teachers and the fate of our world. We all can see the results on newspaper and televisin. The recent killing of the professor in Ujjain speaks eloquently about the attitude of the student fraternity towards the educators.

This makes me ponder on the relevance of celebrating teachers’ day. I feel that we are making a mockery of the great teacher’s wish. He would have never, in his wildest dreams, have fathomed the deteriorating ethical standard in the teaching profession that is ubiquitous now.

It is a sad reality that teachers that break down barriers and reach into the souls of the students that they are responsible for do not get the recognition or gratitude they have earned. Teachers need encouragement and support from the community to feel that their devotion to students is appreciated.

When I say teachers, I mean all individual, whether they are professional teachers or not. Infact, every adult, by default, becomes a teacher.

What are we teaching our children? Do we really want another scene from Ujjain to be recreated?