Idiocy
On Monday, I went to watch the film 3 idiots starring the awesome Aamir Khan among others. The film is about three engineering students in one of the top engineering colleges of India, headed by a mean, grumpy and traditionalist old professor (whose daughter Aamir Khan romances in the film). Aamir Khan's character, Rancho, is an unconventional student (by Indian standards) who campaigns tirelessly against rote learning and instead discovering one's own potentials. The film doesn't bore you for five minutes, there's a twist or turn, a laugh or a lump in the throat every few minutes.
Moreover, it touches on the very important issue of student suicide. You see, in India the average parent feels the need to superimpose their wishes for their child on the child's own wish to pursue a profession of his/her own choice which ends up, sometimes, in disaster as the child can't take the stress of studying subjects he doesn't like at college or university level, and out of the fear of failing his family, he commits suicide.
It's terribly easy to blame such suicides on the rigorous and ruthlessly competitive nature of the education system in India, but that's only part of the equation. To tackle this problem, the mindsets of parents must change too. I reckon that will happen when my generation of people become parents because we have been exposed to moving films like 3 idiots and the educated majority won't want to put their own children through the same difficult situations as they were in themselves.
Fortunately, my own parents kept an arm's length away from my education which worked out for the best because right now I'm doing something I really like. Moral of the story, it's important to give your kid some space.
On Saturday, I went on a night out with my friends here Arjun and Chirag. I never thought I'd say this about Nagpur (especially now that I'm living in Newcastle) but that was the best night out I had. We left the Bottleneck night club at like 2 or something and then we were really hungry so we went to the only restaurant that was open at the time, Center Point. I don't think I ate very much, I was too busy flirting with everything that moved. I reached home at 4 AM I think.
4 AM probably wasn't a good time to reach home that particular night because the next day my aunty, her colleague and I were going to visit a school for special needs children, about an hour's drive outside Nagpur. We left at 7 AM, and I was surprisingly awake throughout the ride given that I had only had about an hour's nap at home (not so surprising when you count the number of potholes between Nagpur and Ramtek!).
At the school, we gave away medicines to the children and then I clicked pictures of them. I didn't really get to do much else, but it was a good experience, very different from the relatively quiet Dubai Center for Special Needs where I've volunteered.
Then tonight we went to a restaurant called Bablu da Dhaba (which translates to Bablu's roadside restaurant) for my cousin's farewell coz she's getting married in a few days. The food was good, but what was even better was the fact that we made the manager sing Babul ki dua'ey leti ja ("take the blessings of your father") and he knew all three stanzas of the folk song whereas the best among us could only manage the first two lines!!
I'm gutted that I'm not staying for my cousin's wedding because I have to go back to stupid Newcastle in the stupid cold to study stupid medicine from Jan 4th and she's getting married the next day :(
Moreover, it touches on the very important issue of student suicide. You see, in India the average parent feels the need to superimpose their wishes for their child on the child's own wish to pursue a profession of his/her own choice which ends up, sometimes, in disaster as the child can't take the stress of studying subjects he doesn't like at college or university level, and out of the fear of failing his family, he commits suicide.
It's terribly easy to blame such suicides on the rigorous and ruthlessly competitive nature of the education system in India, but that's only part of the equation. To tackle this problem, the mindsets of parents must change too. I reckon that will happen when my generation of people become parents because we have been exposed to moving films like 3 idiots and the educated majority won't want to put their own children through the same difficult situations as they were in themselves.
Fortunately, my own parents kept an arm's length away from my education which worked out for the best because right now I'm doing something I really like. Moral of the story, it's important to give your kid some space.
On Saturday, I went on a night out with my friends here Arjun and Chirag. I never thought I'd say this about Nagpur (especially now that I'm living in Newcastle) but that was the best night out I had. We left the Bottleneck night club at like 2 or something and then we were really hungry so we went to the only restaurant that was open at the time, Center Point. I don't think I ate very much, I was too busy flirting with everything that moved. I reached home at 4 AM I think.
4 AM probably wasn't a good time to reach home that particular night because the next day my aunty, her colleague and I were going to visit a school for special needs children, about an hour's drive outside Nagpur. We left at 7 AM, and I was surprisingly awake throughout the ride given that I had only had about an hour's nap at home (not so surprising when you count the number of potholes between Nagpur and Ramtek!).
At the school, we gave away medicines to the children and then I clicked pictures of them. I didn't really get to do much else, but it was a good experience, very different from the relatively quiet Dubai Center for Special Needs where I've volunteered.
Then tonight we went to a restaurant called Bablu da Dhaba (which translates to Bablu's roadside restaurant) for my cousin's farewell coz she's getting married in a few days. The food was good, but what was even better was the fact that we made the manager sing Babul ki dua'ey leti ja ("take the blessings of your father") and he knew all three stanzas of the folk song whereas the best among us could only manage the first two lines!!
I'm gutted that I'm not staying for my cousin's wedding because I have to go back to stupid Newcastle in the stupid cold to study stupid medicine from Jan 4th and she's getting married the next day :(