Tuitions : India’s parallel education system
May 14, 2008
Spot tens of bicycles all day everyday of the year outside a house in your street? That’s the one of the indicators a tuition is going on. My neighbor’s daughters study in the 10th Std and 5th Std at one of the most reputed institutions of this city. The school is renowned for producing state rank holders consistently, has a general perception of being very strict with the kids and parents too; has a good range of extra-curricular activities, different color school uniforms/ribbons on different days of the week with the style changing in winter and all the other things that go with convent education. I was not convent educated and all that was different about our school uniform was the canvas shoes on Saturdays for PT; so I’m completely at dark on that one. Infact, I think what a pain it must be for parents and the kids these days to get all those uniforms ready and remember which day of the week is for what color. And I’m told points are deducted if you don’t tie your hair with the white ribbon on Wednesdays. Phew..am I glad to have passed a decade and half earlier.
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Bride Hunt
May 13, 2008
A new breed of marriageable age women are fast emerging - the highly professional and career oriented ones who reject offers from the IBAE (Indian Born
Ajay Gopalakrishnan, 27, a Software Engineer working in
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Back from the dark ages
May 13, 2008
…for now. Of late, I am often in doubt if we live in the same India the media is proud of - a booming developing nation with growth rates averaging over 8%, the better-off BRIC nation because of its services sector with a energetic young population and a country that is focused highly on its infrastructure.
To begin with I don’t get frustrated anymore. Not worth it..it only weakens the heart and ups the BP. “Resigned” is more an appropriate term to describe how I am. 12 hours of power cut that not even the best inverter can take, no water supply on Thursdays and a dead broadband 15 days a month for the past 6 months which just got worse over the past fortnight. That leaves me in the company of newspapers and my toddler son. My mom jokes if I feel like living in the ’70s.
Just so you know, I don’t live in one of those thousands of village India has without electricity and water. This is Pune for you. The Pune that world perceives as one of the good cities in India to live in - a lifestyle that can you dream of with state-of-the-art IT parks, malls you can spend all day in and still crave for more, a wi-fi city and most importantly a city with no load-shedding. Not my word; it’s all that is said in the papers. The state-owned telecom BSNL (this editorial throws some light on the sad state of affairs) that I use has been down this past fortnight. BSNL is not this worse in many parts of the country especially in South India. Here, the response is bad, customer service pathetic and no helpline that will attend to your number. They just keep pointing you to one number after another until you finally give up because of exhaustion. And when it does work, it does in the timing their personnel work - 10 -5 and automatically switches off in evenings and weekends.
For once, all you folks living outside the country - I’m with you.
Now on a unrelated note, the Tata Second Career guys got back regretting they couldn’t find an appropriate fit for me in the 50 odd projects they have charted out. No disappointment. Alright, maybe just a little not so much for having not made through. It’s the rejection, you see! They sent out a very personal mail to all applicants. It was so personal that the mail was addressed as Dear {name of applicant} - a programmatic glitch perhaps that couldn’t fill in the {} with the actual name. Anyways, it was an initiative worth all the appreciation even if the execution was a lil rusty. A great opportunity to get back all the talent lost to motherhood and other reasons!
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Motherhood and work ethics
April 30, 2008
Rewind to year 2002. A team mate - a very social and outgoing person - was pregnant with her first child. She made the announcement while going through what seemed like a tough first trimester. With an understanding manager who didn’t insist on her turning up for work at 9:00 a.m. for the status meetings, she reported late most days while coping with her morning sickness. And she got back home early evening after staying at work for 4-5 hours a good part of which was spent in munching healthy foods on the desk and sharing it with her colleagues. So long the work got done no one really bothered and the rest of us were happy to help her out just as we did with others going through rough patches. Wondering how unprofessional? Well, for one not being professional at all times get work done and two - we had built that bond after staying through thick and thin in the same project for over a year and half. All seemed well until things started turning sour. Soon, this pregnant lady was observed being taking advantage of her manager and nice colleagues. Reporting to work late even when well was now a habit and encouraging others (two other women in the team got pregnant eventually) to do so was rubbing off the wrong way demoralizing the remainder of the team who had to put in long hours to complete the work of these women. The initially nice to-be-mommydom was beginning to affect the productivity of the rest when in the most serious of moment would pop an apple out of a drawer or the to-be-mommies would insist on dragging the rest of us down to the canteen. Read more
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Six years of togetherness
April 28, 2008
It’s not our anniversary though it’s coming up in a few weeks’ time. Today is the sixth wedding anniversary of the dimply-giggly one from the gang of girls. A fellow Aquarean, she led the 2002 marriage pack leaving many wondering if we married too early. Married to a fellow college-mate the couple make an enviable pair! (This is not a riddle.. stop guessing who it is)
I sat sipping my evening cuppa and was left wondering how quickly six years pass by. I know we say that every year…six…it’s not one of those whole numbers like five, 25 that deserves a jubilee but nevertheless it’s a celebration for having made it through every year. Marriage brings with it responsibilities (whether you like it or not), commitments and makes you a juggler for life. It brings with it moments when you’re left wondering how you’d never seen this shade of your spouse all these years. We (’02 pack) married too early..when the peer group was busy charting out career plans, further education, better dating ideas, exotic vacations etc etc and had no room in their lives for permanency - leave alone having and expanding the family. True but it’s incredible that we have embraced it and sailed it equally well.
So…this is to the wise jugglers who seem to have their priorities right - education, good job, house, better job, more education ..in the same order and keep the “happily married” part together! Wish you guys many more years of togetherness!
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Cradled in luxury
April 25, 2008
The mercury is rising in Pune and it gets worse in the evenings leaving one completely drained and thirsty all the time. Recently on one of our routine evening walks when I could walk no further, I stopped by at a local grocer’s to grab a cold drink - my choice being Amul’s flavored milk. As I made my exit in came a little girl who couldn’t have been more than 7 years old and said, “Uncle, can Pepsi chahiye!” Mind you, it’s not just Pepsi anymore..it’s Can Pepsi. In yet another incident, a neighbor’s daughter in her 8th std. prefers walking to school about 2 Kms away in this sweltering heat instead of riding her bicycle - as a mark of protest for not being given a two-wheeler to drive. Parents anticipate demands for a cell phone coming soon. Contrary to most parents, the girl’s parents are stubborn too and let her walk deciding not to cave in so easily.
Choices of this generation are changing fast. For one, they are aware of what’s available and understand the ways and means to get it. They are more comfortable dealing with money. And parents are more comfortable handing them money. Until I was 17 years old, all I had in my school bag was a 5 Re. note to deal with an emergency which most likely was my cycle tyre getting punctured. Which never happened on the way in the two years I rode my cycle to school. Which also means that I never got to use that Re. 5 mote and duly handed it over to my mother on the last day of my school. One need not expect that of this generation. According to a report in Reuters, you can make your kids financially savvy by actively involving them in monthly budgets and letting them deal with a little money early on. Exposure to how you as parents earn, wisely spend and invest will go a long way in them not making extravagant demands. So says the study.
Not too old as compared to these kids but I already feel much older to sense what has been called the generation gap for ages. To step into their shoes and bond with them is not going to be easy. It doesn’t stop with heir food choices. That’s just the beginning. It extends into all other aspects of their lifestyle - clothing for instance. I am at times shocked by their knowledge of the fashion scene and what was hot in the Lakme Fashion Week to which model is touting which cuts and fabric from which designer. And am I shocked to see 15 year old girls coming into salons to get their hair highlighted, eyebrows done and pedicure. All this from girls in their teens? Oh and wait - there was also this ad recently about a gym opening up exclusively for kids. Seems like the most happening thing where in kids can chill out with their buddies at the gym and work out too. Excuse me since when did they stop hitting the playground every evening for an hour. As kids, the days seemed incomplete if we didn’t return home every evening from the park and mom yelling for entering with mud filled shoes. With huge disposable incomes and indulging parents, getting the designer wear or a trip to the spa is not tough for these not-so-elite kids. With the exposure they get from TV and friends alike, they are also wearing it. No wonder Businessworld reported a story titled “Young Luxe” on how luxury brand such as Gucci and Lacoste are finding huge takers in India.
As Lil’ General grows up, it’s going to take a huge makeover of my attitude to begin with.
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How husbands keep their wives busy?
April 25, 2008
I did not say that ..Times of India did. Correction - actually a study by University of Michigan says from their ongoing survey of 8000 U.S families that husbands are instrumental in keeping their wives on toes by adding all the extra chores around the house. All you voluntarily unmarried single women have one more reason to keep your status. The study has gone a step further to claim that “A wife saves men from about an hour of housework a week.”
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News that sells…
April 24, 2008
If you are a parent who stays abreast of the news, then you can skip reading this post. This is for mothers like me who get to know what’s going on around the world a day later and sometimes never until someone calls…sometimes family calls me to keep me informed if it’s either going to affect my life or my dear ones in any way such as the one today.
Dad and my aunt were apparently trying to reach me this evening and as expected I stayed incommunicado for a good part until Lil’ General alerted me to the ringing phone - the volume is so low that only his elephant ears can catch the signal. Later, I randomly checked my cell phone for missed calls I realized the urgency.
Indian Media is not far from aping the West in giving maximum coverage to useless breaking news such as AbhiAsh wedding over real news. More often than not none of the top stories qualify as news worth hearing or reading. Spat between Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha or the corrupt Indian Hockey Federation mulling over when KPS Gill will resign and where Saif and Kareena Kapoor were making out the previous night gets more coverage than 4 infant deaths in Tamil Nadu. he news channels can’t be blamed. The public is always hungry for more gossip, sensational news such as these that meaningful journalism takes a backseat.
Coming back to the vaccination tragedy, 4 infants died after being given Measles vaccine at a Government Health Center in Tamil Nadu. What an irony? The very thing that should protect a child from killer diseases takes its life. What if the parents had not given - ofcourse that’s not a wise idea as it would bring a major setback in the immunization program. What enrages me is the Health Ministry’s statement which in its defense says it was a trial order from a private Hyderabad based company. Since when did we start experimenting on 9 month old infants like Guinea Pigs? Is it way too much to expect people to be careful where lives of infants are involved? I can’t even fathom what must be going through the parents of those 4 children.
Meanwhile, the newsrooms of all the channels are busy discussing if the cheerleaders should be banned. I’m actually surprised that this hasn’t surfaced any sooner. Wonder if the moral police were partying enjoying Twenty-20 when it suddenly dawned upon one of them to stir this controversy for all that’s worth. How about banning item numbers for a change?
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A new Notebook
April 23, 2008
Last Sunday, we got ourselves a new Acer 5920. Small enterprises are so much better than the large corporates in doing business. Less bureaucracy, less effort bargaining and good service make them a better choice. V ordered this late Saturday evening and it was home delivered by Sunday morning.
But I still can’t get over the old HP laptop that’s been with us through thick and thin for past 4 years. It made weird sounds, switched on only in a particular position - the art I never perfected, crashed, felt like a heater at times when the fans stopped working and a slight touch here or there caused it to shutdown - LG’s handiwork. He has sat on it, slapped it hard, dropped the battery a few times and pulled the wire cord hard on numerous occasions. I am surprised it survived this long and worked at the most critical of times when I had to turn in an assignment. We might get it repaired shortly once we get used to this new guy!
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Turning thirty (plus one)
April 21, 2008
Sometime mid-February I reached a significant milestone of one’s life - turning Thirty. Today V turned 31. Has anything changed one might wonder? Little does - it wasn’t that big a deal as was made out in F.R.I.E.N.D.S - we didn’t have a mega mid-night party or crying episodes over the three decades lost with no life-partner in sight or even as close as to getting a (girl) boyfriend. One thing is sure - we are no longer officially the “bhaiya” and “didi” that kids often addressed us as. Age is not to blamed in entirety for this - it’s part age, part parenthood - looks right for kids to address us as uncle and aunty with a toddler in tow after all!
Thirty for us is comforting and less anxious than twenty was when one worried about graduating from college, landing in a decent job and what they call in India as standing on your own feet. Thirty is good - comes with less pressure, settled life and half dreams fulfilled. I always wanted to grow old. Kept counting the years when I wouldn’t have to goto college anymore right from the first year. Four years seemed long. Hated school, college and was so glad to pass out and never have to go back to any campus again. Funny how I always envied people who were older and worked not have to worry about exams…Now I am at that stage in life and it’s nice for once. Gosh! I am sounding like half -retired and 50 years old. See that’s what happens when life’s necessities get fulfilled early ( a home, a car, good vacations etc etc) - you have to work hard now to know what your next dream and ambition in life is.. Else at 40 I will sound like a 80 year old living a mediocre life not enthusiastic about anything. The mid-life crisis hasn’t hit me yet!
Anyways, the day was great with V getting wishes more than any other year. Thanks to Orkut - people no longer have to depend on their memory like I still do.
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