Schools and Confidence Building and pushing kids into the NIOS system without Nurturing…

 It's strange how much a school can affect a child's future ... I used to not score very well in school as compared to my siblings ... my parents were expecting me to flunk as ...as compared to girls in my batch who stayed in my locality i was least interested in coaching classes or scoring a distinction ... the girls in my locality from my batch-Abha Seth and Ritu Khute were both going to join the science stream and they slogged a lot in the 10th grade ...i was forced to join KCC classes in the second semester of 10th grade and i would have no energy for HW completion after reaching home by 9pm ... i went for classes for 20 days Max i think and then i quit and studied at home itself ...

Our Maths teacher Mrs Ganeshan was a little concerned too and gave me books to practice sums at home ... i was good in geometry but i did not like algebra beyond a point and she was a tad concerned ...they knew i was a lone case .... a student who hadn't any extra coaching outside of school ... 

I was really touched by her concern and the kindness she extended ... 

and after joining college i really took off and was in the scholar's batch .... madre was soooo livid with the turn around that she went around the Air Force Station saying that i must be copying full scale ...by the time i was in college ... i was sooo focused on getting out of Pune that i kept my nose to the grinding stone and took part in each and every extra curricular activity including trekking LOL 

i was collecting certificates to crack the National Hotel Management Institutes GDPI round ... extra curricular activities certificates to prove that I can be good in studies and excel in other fields too ... like trying shotput and javelin throw too ... i do not remember getting a certificate for either ... 

Do not remember getting a certificate for losing in Badminton either ...but do remember pestering the sports Sir for a participation certificate 

Luckily for me even though i had major issues with confidence in my looks and some other hang ups in life due to the initial weird twists and turns my life took ... i had no qualms in talking to folk 

Cut to my kids and the system schools have adopted to push students scoring less than 60% into the NIOS system ... 

That NCERT set syllabus for NIOS is Not Easy ...when a Mallu lawyer whose son was in Aman Setu and doing NIOS showed me the text books... i was aghast ...that syllabus is Extremely Vast and how does one push kids with learning difficulties to mug soooo much up 

Then when i was going to the Central School in Camp as it was a designated exam center 

Soooo many parents approached me with complaints about sooo many issues with the way their wards are treated ... 

and i remembered my friend in college who hated the nuns in her school who were highly rude she would say ....the parents whose kids were doing NIOS from the school my friend Rajeshree did her 10th were still rude to parents in 2015 !!! 

Decades later that school still had mean nuns who were rude to kids with learning disabilities and made them feel small 

The entire system was Skewed ... 

Then i saw that the government schools that AAP started with a lot of hoo haaa and fan fare was doing the same to kids from the lower economic strata ... which is pathetic 

However today i am reiterating that marks are never the true test of  Intelligence and capabilities ... moreover when a child gets rejected by it's school and ridiculed by peers at a young age ...it stays with them for a long time 

When complaints against my elder child became too loud and i saw the 9th grade syllabus for Math in IB ... i decided it is time i took him out of the schooling system 

He totally settled down and became calmer ... some days we would fight about the amount to read ergo i would send him to my dad to be supervised ... he did not mind my dad supervising his reading ... he refused to do statistics and i just let it go with a huge sigh 

I was really worried about his passing economics but he did and i was never Happier ... 

It was a breeze to teach my little one and we did the entire course in Statistics too ... we revised the formulae and i was sure he would do very well ... but he scored below my expectation 

I was OK as i know he studied and he did the course work completely ... 

12grade was during covid and i have no idea when it ended and i am soooo gratefull that they both have HSC certificates for 12th grade ... or else the officials at the Passport Office have Zero clue even now as to what NIOS is 

Btw I first heard about NIOS thanks to the Guju folk who live about my parents house and had a child with few challenges ... he could not hear ergo he was in the NIOS system ... 

Some times schooling systems are soooo Blind and Deaf to the Damage they do to children with slight learning challenges ... 

They push a child to question itself for decades on end ... we put sooo much Pressure on marks and scores and we forget childhood and what being children is all about ... 

If schools and colleges can not bend over backwards to Help the weakest kids ... i feel they are Failing Per Se ... 

I still remember the sponsored child who was with my elder child in Aman Setu ... she could not afford to pay for a private school so in 9th grade she shifted from the ICSE board to the SSC board ... She worked sooo very hard to catch up to the level of Marathi in the SSC board ... she was a child i would talk to on a regular basis as my Precious never ever copied his Home Work down in his diary ... most evenings i would either call his friend Akshay or Himani for the day's HW ... LOL 

Now my child is the Father of the Man ...Literally ...he looks after Everything including tax filings ... coaching them and getting to spend quality time with my kids was a trade off i had to decide on in 2018 ... i chose to not let madre or their father change the course i had opted for ,,,, homeschooling and nurturing their talents ... 

Yeah even Rapping in a Bar in Kalyani Nagar .... i was sooo scared but I stood by them and listened to them practice Eminem's Rap song over and over .... in the end they sang the Rap number they collaborated on with HotFix and it was appreciated ... 

that phase ended too but it was educative in it's own way and i remember being sooo happy with a distrack by their IB school friend Chirag from Kothrud who called them Punekars in his distrack ... and i was so happy to hear that line from their school's goalkeeper ... LOL 

Parenting has to take over where Schools Fail ... I thank my lucky stars that our relative in Khadki suggested St Felix to my dad and I was schooled by very kind nuns and teachers who were Extremely Kind and Dedicated ... 

I seriously hope that I can help a child wronged by the System ...

Friends turning foes over bat shit krazy Indian consumers !!!! hmmmmmmm ... iohhh

 It's so strange that Mr Musk who is close to the Republicans and the biggest contributor in Merrika has issues with the Ambanis ...

Congress did not like many folk who run industries ... they believe in small is beautifull ...

Everyone is J af of China which has huge orgs which have differential product placing and differential marketing strategies ...

I am soooooooo Tickled by erstwhile Communist China Really getting the Hang of Economies of Scale and capturing Markets ... which Capitalists and sadly Erstwhile socialist India still does not get Fully

China also is un peu dumb and mean to it's Industry Bigwigs ...or else we wouldn't be Labelling them as Ghorrrmint right

When Dhirubhai Ambani ran the show ...he was extremely Pro Workforce Welfare and Just ways of Being ...

I have not been following the news for ages Ergo i have NO CLUE as to what goeth with the Ambani groups ...

But I see Neeta Ambani sending food out to the journalists covering events and I think ... Goodwill does Exist ...

I am in no mood to dig up news about the Ambani Satellite Prowess and satellite kaputing prowess

Can people actually do something soooo Daft in today's Age of CONSTANT Surveillance???

AND

THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT

THE INDIAN POPULATION !!!!!!!!!

we are sinking some parts of this globe

That Populace that we are

Seriously

ERGO

Everyone will get their Fair Share of HEADACHES

aka Indian Consumers LMNFAO

Seriously the Bargain hunting weird assed

BAT SHIT KRAZY Indian Consumers

People Actually are PHIGHTING Over

seriously Now India has ARRIVED

And is Even Shining ... sigh

Kindly let Industry Breathe 🙏🏽

 Years ago i would read about the Tata's in the newspapers being vilified for paying up the ransom demanded by insurgents of the ULFA ... and Worse 

It's only after I reached ground zero that i realised that Executives from The Tata's would be kidnapped and placed in the bungalow of a Parry Agro or any other tea company Executive's bungalow ... 

Imagine the terror in the minds of the families of All the Executives involved ... ergo the Companies paid up and hired Black Cats for their own security ... 

There were no policemen around ... the estates had the Army's presence ALLLL the time ... radio station broadcasts lasted for an hour in the morning ... going from a town where i listened to the radio the live long day if i was home ... 

to

Not having cable TV and Not having something Basic like a radio was Oddd af and depressing ... 

It's only when i saw Everything that Tea Companies and Tata's in particular were doing for Empowering Executive's Wives ... i Really started admiring the company very much ... 

Tea estate bungalows in the Tata circle came with a huge cow shed that could house 40 cows ...this was to encourage Dairy development for the wives of executives ... then there was the juicing and squash making and strawberry and anthurium cultivation and jam making they introduced for the wives of tea executives ... 

So much outreach for the Tea Labourers and their children too ... 

Be it TISS or Words from JRD Tata to Mrs Sudha Murthy about Philanthropy ... Tata's stand for Development ...no matter where in India they were allowed to grow ... 

And now the Congress folk going public stating that the Family should hand over their company to the Public is IRONY Personified ... from a party that has kept leadership in The Familia Itself 

Please let Industry Breathe ... yes South Indian Honchos are efficient ... 

But i would let Parsee Entrepreneurs Breathe Easy ... they have a particular Ethos that has always been beneficial to ALLL of India ...ergo let them Be 

Everything said and Done ... Be it Dr Grant's hospital where I was Born or the Brave Mr Kurush Nowrosjee-who I never met ... 

But he is the reason my second child has a Parsee name ... I wanted a Brave and Bold child like the Bada Saheb Nowrosjee …who Never Feared the Insurgents ...

Happy Independence Day ...

 In a world where I wonder If the WTO still exists ... May countries use the WTO to end Arbitrary Trade Wars and May all our Neighbours get onto a Path to Progress and Stop Envying the Hardearned place Indians have painstakingly carved for themselves ...

May this Entire Region Improve relations with each other and remember that we are Carved from the Same Block and share blood relations and DNA with erstwhile Parts of India ...
May India truly Become a Leader in this Region and show the World How to Forge Ahead Without War
Tact and Chanakya Neti should help us turn Foe to Friends and Solve Age Old problems with Adroitness that makes India a place where Solution Seekers take Succour
May we as a Nation learn to be the Bigger and Better Entity and not Resort to Petty issues some folk seem to be stuck in ...
May we keep our Focus on the Bigger Picture ...
May we not Forget Climate Change and keep aside funds to deal with it ... may we help Everyone in this Region deal with Climat Change with Co-operation
May we become the Nation that Turns the Tide on War and put up an United Front to deal with Arbitrary Tade Wars and Focus on Collaborations for Knowledge Sharing and Persistent Progress ...
May All the Foreign Travels by Leaders help us Learn from Best Practices everywhere else and incorporate it here
May India become a Leader in Uniting this Region and moving forward ... if we have extreme poverty in neighbouring states ... it will become a Dead Weight around our ankles ...
Ergo may Governance be Thoughtfull and Gracefull too
May Ashoka be a Guide to understand ... avoiding war leads to Prosperity for All ...
May the Government have EU as a goal for This Region where we can have a Border like the one we share with Bhutan on all sides ...
May we have something to Gloat about before hitting the 80th year ...
Jaihind ...

Happy National Handloom Day ...7th August

 7th August 2018

Happy National Handloom Day....it is a labour of love ...the history teacher in school ...Mrs Gena Lemos used to tell us about the special weavers of India who grew their thumb nails long and used to weave the finest of muslin saris through the holes drilled on their thumb nails …. the British cut off the thumbs of those weavers and that method of weaving died out completely ….

the thriving handloom industry of India took a heavy beating during the colonial years to provide a market for the cloth woven in the industry in Britain ….

luckily handloom got the patronage of Royalty( in some cases) and the Govt and has a niche market ….

in rural areas many women know how to weave and have small looms in their homes ….. it is a way of life in rural India

7th August 2018 traditional clothes

 being Indian means .... loads of Types and Genres of clothes ok ...then my parents are from Kerala...i was born and bred in Maharastra.... and i got married to an Assamese ....then i have to have operations on my hand ....during which time i lose ooodles of weight and then there was the stint with teaching in colleges ...ergo Saris, And western clothes i wear during normal times ...then the western wear that fits Only post operation times ....

then there is the Assamese wear which is the mekhela chaddor .... the home wear ones and the silk ones ....

then there are the Mallus saris ...white with gold borders and pallus.... and the Mallu mundu and neriyathu ....which is the very traditional two piece Mallu wear ....then a few typical Maharashtrian saris ....

i Rarely wear all the traditional clothes i have ....however can i give away those things ...Noooo ...everything has a whatever and however kind of RTC (reference to context) plus there are occasions i have to wear some of it .... it is so expensive that ...even if i give all the old stuff away ...buying news things would seem like a crime ....  

every year i give away clothes i do not wear ...mostly Indian wear and saris that i can give away .... now there is vey little left to give away ..... and yet ....there is a load of stuff ...that is waiting patiently for ....just airing and putting away ....

first i used to get upset with All the travel across the lenght and breadth of the country and the few times i travelled outside India .... 

now i feel it is good way to Know ...How much of Jazzzmatazzz i own .... and it is the Bestest Barometer of Frugality .... 

Everytime i feel like buying Anything .... i just have to remember three words ....

Excess Luggage Bills !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LMAO LMAO LMAO

paper correction ...7th august 2013

 when i used to teach ....paper correction was quite tedious ...a few hundreds or even running to beyond thousand five hundred !!!!!!!!!!......but the silver lining for me was the sheet of paper for the HERCULEAN BLUNDERS ...poor things some kids dint know proper usage of english.....i never ever cut marks for grammar .....but i would write down some great ones .....some great stories too i got for economics theory ..... and when the others and i were very bored and needed a break .....i wud enact the big bloopers .....was such awsum fun .....dont think other profs ever did whacko things like us in the CAP room ..... i also played music on low volume to kill the monotony ......

i cant find my sheets of carefully preserved papers to put on my blog ....am so heart broken .......a mistake i make alllllllllll the time .....i put away things so carefully and then i forget where i put it .....mustve been a squirrel in my last birth .....or some squirrel DNA in my blood i guess

Climate Change… 7th August 2019

 Went chasing some Sun...I didn't get a direct.. one on one...though latent  .. took in the Atmosphere and walked a bit and tied a door that has got jammed and washed my hands and drenched my skirt and shoes ....hopefully the torrential rains that have been predicted ...won't happen ...it did not rain much yesterday and today too there is just light rainfall

And when the whole world is busy honking and running about their morning schedule ....to be able to stand in the rain and listen to it's faint pitter patter on my umbrella ....and keep my face towards the non existent sun ...is what makes me Lucky ...to have been able to Quit an industry i did not gel with much ....to keep being able to tinker with things .....to be able to have my kids with me 24x7x 365 ...to be able to homeschool them ....to be able to share with them and see them grow 

decided to count a few manageables today morning

last year my cousin who is a bank manager got a long leave due to the floods and she told me how her friends in low lying areas caught the fish which swam into the lower floors of their houses and ate those fish too ...to survive 

here in Pune water born diseses must be a problem in some low lying areas ....however the muncipality does use the necessary precautions when dealing with a calamity 

natural disasters and rain patterns changing is something we will have to find new ways to cope with ....instead of finding more ways to contaminate water and soil and now the mountains and Himalayas and the Moon too....heard that humans have left a lot of waste up there on the moon too ....

Monsoons in Pune 7/08/2019

 

iron doors expand so much during the rains ….. and can not be locked ….ergo used some wire to tie it up ….few days back it created a loud ruckus at night when there was a strong wind blowing …. 

Pune used to get mild to arid level rainfall during my growing up years ...

never ever saw mildew and moss or mold during the 80s and 90s  ...whereas used to have to Air every kind of silk and expensive wear in assam and annamalais due to rains the whole year practically 

I used to long to come back to the dry arid climate of Pune ..water shortages notwithstanding …. 

in 2004 for the first time Pune got torrential rains and I wondered if I had bought the rains with me from assam 

from that year onwards ...rains in Pune have been heavy ...Of course it had to be due to the major Afforestation drive taken up by NGOs and citizens of Pune …. 

water shortages are not an issue in my part of the city and is kind of induced in some parts thanks to the tanker public and the middle men and contractors 

my locality was Never soooooo Green during my childhood days ….everytime we had guests at home from Kerala ...I had to go with a cousin or whoever was visiting to buy chicken from a poultry farm near the house I stay now ….

it used to be a Walk in Scorching sunlight ...one or two trees only ...

now I can walk all over my locality and not get one bit of sunshine due to the number of trees 

the people in charge of pruning trees have not done their bit ….or else the electricity dept would not be having so many power cuts 

usually the people prune big trees before the monsoons …. dunno why they did not do so this year

7th August 2025 

PS: they regularly do prune trees before monsoons … 

this summer even the drains were also cleaned to avoid water logging …

Hmmm… rooftop… 7/08/2019

 

standing on the rooftop terrace and listening to the mild rain and then the slight fragrance of these small flowers ….. was a nice way to take a break ….. luckily the rain has stopped ….. first it does not rain for all of June and then it does not stop …. 

most people in Pune drop everything and go bridge hopping when the monsoons peak …..this year it is a bit too scary to go watch the bridges ….

musings ...7th August 2019

Sometimes the Knock from Destiny is so very Gentle that I do not see it …. sometimes I feel I do not want to go into the Arena anymore ….. the point is will the Arena let a gladiator go ….for once it smells a gladiator …. the gladiator had only one task ...

to enter the arena and get annihilated in the name of the game …..Gladiators are not human ...nor does anyone feel or weep for fallen gladiators …. fights are what they are Groomed for since the time they are born

the arena is their Final Destiny ….and those that run the fastest ….away from the arena get arrested in their tracks when their eyes open ….they can not run ...they have to stay and face the crowd that is booing and or cheering

their lot is …. Not to Question Why ...but to Do and Die

Parenting 5th August 2018

 I was wondering what to do with the Boxing Fixation ...last time I would go after them for reading their Bible of Football and hide their football every night without fail and it had the Contrary Effect ….my kids went Krazy for football …. every day for the last few days I would wonder about How to get the kids OFF boxing …. 

and then suddenly ...just like that ...

Boxing is Off !!!!!!!! 

the new friend they had made is a huge JP and LP fan and Boxing was his idea …. both that kid and mine went to different boards and schools …. finally those kids dumped a friend my kid had introduced to the group  

and the differences started …. 

it became a school thing and the collaboration is sooo Off … 

when discussing what happened and how it happened and everything else …. I voiced howwww horrible Boxing can get to be …. no matter if it is Amateur ….. luckily the elder kid agrees on most things I suggest …. 

Phewww…. that was that 

however the most surprising thing was the networking and crowd support boys get ...the minute their friends got wind of an event being organised around a Boxing match …. out came a friend who is into Football and is a State Level Boxer !!! 

the last school my kids went to was an IB board and the friends the elder kid made are his big fans too …. ergo he is used to making decisions ...it was educative for him to deal with older kids and getting into a situation where those boys were not in favour with his designing ….

another thing I was worried about was ...Not knowing the parents of these new kids …. I know the parents of all their other friends and I know who my kids should not call during exam time …. as I know what each parent's goal for their kids are ….

meeting and discussing and setting the rate for hiring a venue and everything else that went into organising an event …. I take it as practical application of what they learn from text books ...

ergo it was not time wasted … plus the elder kid got a brush with dealing with people older than him ….

the little one is still boxing in the air …. hoping that will stop soon … hmmmm 

and I seriously Hope ...Fauzy Tube gets well and returns to YouTube …. he is any day better... than the others out there … 

as for me ….I learnt how peer pressure can be a Force to reckon with …. vehemence and force to deal with peer pressure can have weird outcomes at times …. ergo I was waiting to see how this would pan out ...as every time I wanted to meet his new friends …. something would come up and I never got to meet those kids and talk to them ...

5th August 2018

 

black is the granite 

strong is the coffee 

light weight the frothy bubbles

sad is the story

this is the first coffee mug i bought when shifting to mumbai after getting hostel accomodation there ....it was August 1995 and i had just joined work ...went home for Onam that year and went shopping for essentials to carry with me to mumbai and this mug i bought in Tulsi Baug ...a shopping area for steel products and all kinds of household items ....i like steel better than ceramic as one it does not break and two it lasts Forever 

and off i went back to mumbai to work for a minimum of two years for the sake of a good start in my CV ... the kids father had left for assam and i wanted to live away from home to be able to write and recieve letters and be able to talk via the phone with him ....everything was being done to keep a long distant relationship alive 

what life is preparing us for is never clear nor do we Ever see or know how the rest of india lives ....despite the kids father getting a job with an economic journal in mumbai ...i told him his family would be wild with me if he stayed back here and specially since his father was a widower and liked the kids father the most .... i thought it would be best if he went back to assam ...

the risk was the relationship ending ....and the Worst Part ...i had Zero Clue as to what life in assam and tea is All About ...

i was in a 7 seater room initially ....5 engineers from Tamil Nadu, me and a Mallu lab techncian ....the mallu girl was a very innocent and friendly person .....however mallus stare ....early morning on my second day in the hostel and first day of travelling to college from the hostel ...i went to the bathroom and finished and went to the room in my blouse and petticoat with a cover on top of my blouse and found the mallu girl watching me ....it was unnerving to see her stare ..... Mallus can stare the most in all of India ok 

then i opened both the doors of my cupboard and stood in between them and drapped my sari ....it was irritating and time consuming ... and i went down to have breakfast at 6.50am ....it was just being made ....big fat medu vadas ....meaning big fritters made of black lentil ....and i Groaned 

if took one bite of it ...i would Not be able to speak for a week ...

went running to the bus stop on an empty stomach ....and compared to buses in Pune where no one looks at me and no one tries to get Fresh ....mumbai buses were Irritating ....once or twice i remember getting down from a bus and feeling sick to the point of wanting to Puke 

finally i came up with a theory that men in Kerala and mumbai are the same and rather horny ...the bus travelling kind at least ....sic to the core 

ate at the college staff room kitchen from a kaka there and it became my one good meal of the day ....only problem was that ....i could get my first meal only after the first lecture ....ie after 8.20am ...at 7.30am no food .....and i always feel the B.Com students in Maharashtra have the worst timetable ...actually it is so as many of them do their Chartered Accountancy along with graduation and can do their Articleship peacefully after 11.30 am when college is over for the day 

reached back to the hostel and went down with a coupon for food ...got to know that if i wanted lunch ...i should have to leave a tiffin box at breakfast time ....i was hungry and upset and did not have the will to go out and eat Alone ...went back up and had snacks ....took a nap and then hand washed quite a bit of clothes ....

then took this cup and went down to get coffee ....the kitchen girls were giggling at how i did not know the system and i too laughed about it 

now anger, hunger and wallowing in self pity is a lethal combination for things to go Wrong ....

and as if on cue on my 3rd step i tripped and dropped hot boiling coffee on my left chest ....went running down to the cafeteria and poured ice cold water on myself and soooooo wanted to cry ....took antoher cup of coffe and went back up to the room ...ate biscuits and applied a calamine lotion where my skin had turned a raw red and swollen ...

thought about what i was doing and when things would turn …..

that night i told my roomamtes about my brush in with a burn... and they Immediately suggested a Kovil trip ....all those engineers were such staunch temple goers and i was their interpreter and guide in mumbai ...

i would go to all the tamil kovils in chembur but i put my foot down about going to mahalaxmi on a sunday ....when i had prep to do and i was not free at home like those engineers were ...

practically every evening they would go out .....one girl was engaged and she had the Most Desparate urge to roam around ....

as we women know what our Lot in Life becomes once we get married ...the jail term starts and all movement Questioned and counter questioned and debated and then we get to step outside the house .... even if we are breadwinners too ...we have our movements outside the house curtailed... life is very different 

my cup i used all through my mumbai stay and then i used it in pune and then i carried it to assam and then it went to tamil nadu and then back to assam and from there to pune and then to bahrain and back from bahrain ...back again in 2017 and finally after soooooooooooo many travels it is back in Pune ....

my cup and me still going strong as ever

4th August 2019

 I was in a two seater room ...meaning I shared my room with just one other …. and my roommates kept changing … however eating cheat meals was my thing and I made all the roommates eat too and I would tell the IT folks about Obsessive Compulsive Eating and the psychological funda behind it and how we are sooo right to get into OCE ...to Deal with the Soul Eating place that Mumbai is …. it was Cribbers Incorporated come night time at the Birla Hostel for Breach Candy nurses in Chembur ...the 4th and 5th floors were for professionals from outside the hospital 

we all had money and never had a financial crunch ...ergo the eating was not budget eating ….however sometimes we would eat biscuits and jam and biscuits and a chocolate spread …. and south Indian snacks I kept buying from near my college.... and Salad ….vegetables and fruits I ate the most ...because the minute I saw oily flat bread and dal and rice and the vegetable dish …..I would go back up to my room on some days …. 

my throat would cry seeing oily food …. taking class with a sore throat was Killing …. 

bread was a staple product I picked up and I would go buy palak/spinach paneer from a restaurant near my hostel ….

anyways All the Bad Experimenting made my HB hit a dangerously low level and I finally went to a doctor ...and then Quit teaching in Mumbai … life was soooooo Peacefull post that …. 

before joining the hostel ...dal, eggs and potatoes I could not stand the sight of ….post joining the hostel I would eat eggs at home like I had Never Ever seen food ….and Everyone would feel soo bad to see me eat something I used to hate LOL LOL 

dal I used to hate even after hostel ….till I was carrying my first child and I went Aggressively Vegan with a Craving for alcohol …. and I started drinking dal .... I used to wonder what was Wrong with me ….all of a sudden ….tough it was to crave and never have alcohol …. LOL LOL 

my elder child used to be very a picky eater for quite a few years ….after he was 8 ...he would not eat non veg ….now he does not like fish or mutton or pork or duck ….eats chicken and turkey ...though he does not like turkey legs … LOL

4th August 2020

 thanks to 21 years of living with a Capricorn ….Gaslighting I have dealt with ...till I would feel like ending it all in Assam ….my responsibility towards my child is what helped me Stand Up for Myself ...

I know vindictive behaviour … Scorps are made out to be the Worst of the Sun Sign …. I am different …. I Understand and always Forgive ...till the point I have reached Saturation Point and am Full ...

then I do not Listen...Even to Myself … even if it means a Hara Kiri of sorts …. the Japanese are very Tough on themselves ….their code of conduct and Standards for Code of Conduct ….Ruthlessly Difficult 

they live by it …. 

Let us All look for the Best in the World and help share information that Really Helps ok …. 

I ended up getting into controversies at Every work place ...because I would fight for Grace marks to be higher ….to listening and hearing out kids in distress and Being There for them …. it was What I was Getting Paid for ….

so I would feel bad and understand other people and them getting to be in one controversy after another and I would feel bad to read some of it 

there is a very kind side to all in those circles ….. Nurture Only that aspect ...

Always was Respectfull and will Continue to be 

let not people who write to the PM about Instagram hate directed towards themselves and their kids …... be owners of Pages that use and encourage using of crass language as a pos .. I guess the front benchers want such language and gulu gulu to get their share of whatever 

it is each person's notion of creativity and I should be last one to judge ….considering the fact that I do not know the M of movie making or the C of creativity

we all are made of flesh and blood only ….I am not made of stone …. my blood is not Blue nor do I have a sackfull of money 

butttt….

If you read my profile 

I have said I love to Argue about good topics 

if you just want to Pitt your brains against mine 

let the games Begin !!!!!

Jio !!!! 

magar jeene bhi do na …. bhaiyon

PETA Listening ???

Take a walk in any residential locality in Pune and one can not miss the amount of dog poop on the roads and sidewalks ... it's a quintessential part of living in India ... pet owners do not clean up after their pets ... ergo it is cleaned up by the sweepers employed by the Pune Municipality ...

however my question is this...
no tax for owning pets and no charges imposed by the municipality either ...ergo why do non pet owners and everyone else have to deal with the huge amount of dog poop on the roads ...
in 2018, 2019 and 2021 and 2022 i have written soooo many times about this issue ... with a Simple Solution
have a sand pit in each society for pet owners which can be used by pets for pooping and it can be cleaned a few times a day by a designated cleaning personnel or let some society kids earn some pocket money by cleaning out the sand pit used for pooping
Why should Everyone in a locality have to Deal with dog poop alllll over the place
Isn't it as unhealthy as people pooping on the roads ?
Solutions can be soooooo simple
But since time immemorial ...
pets pooping on the roads is a Given in India and Pune
and no one thinks anything about it
during monsoons that poop gets into the slushy water on the roads and it's pure ewwww
and Yet ...Everyone is soooooooo OK with it
Ethical Treatment of animals should also Do something about the Ethics of polluting Allll of the roads and sidewalks in India no ???
Naaaaaaa pooping on sidewalks and roads is the fundamental right of poor pets right PETA
seriously
one small snadpit in each locality or society is 4 much to ask for ehhh ???
Pluzzzzz India let us make India Public Defecation Free in it's True Sense ... no animal poop on the roads either Pluzzzzzzzzz
PMO's Office Listening Pluzzzzzzz ...

NIOS

 Written on 25th of April 2019 

I think the Ministry of HRD should conduct a study about the pass % of students doing NIOS …. I think it is high time parents stopped lamenting about their kids failing and not being able to cope with the syllabus 

and my sample size is sooooooooooo Small 

from April 2017 when I first met other parents of kids doing NIOS.. to this Feb when I went to get my younger child's assignment back …. 

I have noticed 70% of the people I have met lamenting about failures ...and re-exams ...imagine this % in a small sample size of ...a max of 300 people associated with NIOS that I have met since 2017 

in 2017 too I went on about the status of things ….. however it is high time we change the system …. 

when the pass % is so low in this special group of students ...does it not cry out for a change and giving this group additional attention ???

another trend I hope to see Changed is the way school management treats kids scoring less than 60% in their 8th grade ...immediately such kids are dumped into the NIOS system …. pvt schools have to stop focussing on Data regarding their students passing out … 

when I was in school ...there was a sizeable group of kids who got less than 60% in 8th, 9th and even during 10th prelims ….no one hounded such students … 

we as a society are still stuck in traditional thinking patterns ...it is a Crying shame when we can see how opportunities have increased manifold …. 

kids of this new era have a gazillion areas to go in for specialisation …. forcing them to score 60% is cruel ...what is worse is making them feel like lesser beings for doing a different board ...after forcing this different board down their throats for scoring less than 60% aggregate in SSC, ICSE or CBSE ….

scams pick up speed in no time in our modern times ...no 

 

pathetic is the state of affairs ….pvt schools and their kraze for fancy data and disregard for the student per se is what is adding fuel to the fire 

why do middle aged people wanting an educational qualification need to learn any subject 

why can't we allow such working professionals to do good quality project reports about their work environment from different POVs and award them a school level certification for their detailed reports ????

simple and doable and easy and not rote learning and not dumb methods followed from forever

why do we give Zero value to the scores of poor who work for a living ...no matter if the person is a Municipality Cleaner ...he is adding value in her/his own way ..right …. so why can't we cash in on the work that such people do ….add necessary language skills to such people and make them write about themselves and their work ...

why make such people mug up facts and figures 

instead let us use their POV to make better governance policies ...at the same time ...we improve their ways of thinking and problem solving and give value to the service providers who work so hard …. be it a cook, househelp or a rickshaw driver or a clerk or anybody else ….I hope that education becomes a means of furthering their contribution to their place of work ...rather than stuffing information down their gullets ...which has zero applicability for this class of students attempting NIOS ...

similar project mode should be made available for the artists and sportspersons going in for NIOS ...

treat each category of students differently ….and see the Ripple Effect of such changes in imparting education....

cramming and rote learning and memory should never be tested …. 

the system needs a complete overhauling ….top to bottom

my words on 22nd March 2017

 my paternal grandfather and the millions he made in the 40s 50s and 60s ....somehow ...i always felt there was a curse on the huge compound with 4 bungalows ...4 of my uncles Never took up business ...one who took it up ..ran it aground ..with his Believing ways ....

however my grandad's brothers used him as a stepping stone ..to become big names in that very town ....
in my mom's side too the extreme heights my maternal grandad and some of my cousins are on ...even now ....
made me see how much better life was in Pune ...where no one cursed anyone and people were practical and simple and extremely hard working ...

both sides of my parents family ...made me want a life of a middle class person ...away from being Known and in the limelight ....
sometimes an ordinary simple life is a blessing ....

sometimes the tragedy keeps going on ....two days back my cousin on my maternal side lost her only child ...an 18year old girl child who was doing her engineering .... both my cousin's parents are no more too ...my parents call them once in a while and they call my parents sometimes ...as my cousin and her siblings have no one to consult in some cases or sometimes it is to simply share...
this cousin was my childhood best friend and glass bangle buying partner in Kallada ..my mom's village.... younger than me by 2 years ....someone who was under complete bed rest for this girl child ...her child was her world ....her husband holds a very high public post in Kerala ... such terrible times for my cousin sister and her husband .....
all i can do is send them positive vibes and hope to meet her before i leave India ...

however my kids think very differently ...as luckily they have not seen Kerala and my elder child remembers nothing of the times in Assam
i see the Panicker spark to do business in my elder kid ..since he first sold his cricket attack cards at 8yrs of age ....and ...put an online adv for his beyblades during his computer class in Bishop's Pune ....and best part he gave my phone number as the contact number ....
and now his youtube company ...as he calls it ....

Stressfree Work Environments are more Productive ...

 Never think that Stress in the work place results in Productivity or Progress ...

it results in harassed workers .... i may have stopped using Swiggy but that founder has a motto that is worker friendly ... he does not think much of those who keep ordering at night or whenever
I do strongly believe that the short span delivery system that is highly popular today is not very worker friendly ... though it is a boon for slightly forgetfull homebodies like me ...
in Parry Agro they benchmarked The Maverick aka Ricardo Semler ... he empowered his workforce and got them to be Highly Conscientious/Responsible
such a workforce doesn't need Supervision
Immediate reduction in a line of Supervisors and Managers ...
and when i used to work .... Exam Department was known for fights and memos ... when i joined i got a memo thanks to a friend from the Math Department and it was Intense the Pressure for submission of corrected papers ...
No One gave me an Iota of consideration as i was using my left hand to correct and i correct with a difference ... i write notes on the sidelines to Justify the marks given ... i was the Royal Scapegoat and my neck was Always on the line and being in the line of fire meant that ...Anyone and Everyone could take potshots at me ....ergo every other Assistant Prof could correct ... but i had to Justify and Be on Guard ... i never had the liberty of letting my guard down for even a Nano Second ...
Ergo when i started handling Central Assessment of Papers ...i first ensured that Everyone ...specially the Math Department got enough and more time to correct ...never gave that friend a memo Even when she was late ... she did say that for the first time ....paper correction is not Harried a task ...
Paper Correction unfortunately is a Core Activity and if Profs have peace of mind .... marking will be Kinder ... i hoped ...
i sincerely hope that student evaluation should not be based on Rote Learning anymore .... we need to change our system of Tests and the huge emphasis on Rote Learning in many Faculties ...
some faculties like Medicine ... i am not sure if we can get away with Rote Learning ... a doctor can not keep searching a system to know how to diagnose ...
ergo all i know is that a workplace that is Stress Free is a Happier Place as in South India ...there was Intense stress for tea planters as the Geography is such that there is Constant Run Off due to torrential rains and the hilly slopes where tea is planted ... plus the quality of leaf and tea is quite different even when it is Orthodox Tea(higher priced ) as compared to CTC ... plus elephants were a cause for stress as they could wreck havoc and they were Always Revered and Never ever harmed ....
but they were reason for cost to the company from the environment ... the entire region was a Wild Life Sanctuary ... plus there was a very Active social life ... going to and returning from those numerous parties was a huge stress factor for the wives ...specially me ... as it was a long drive back and even if the person driving has had only a few drinks ....one could end up in the river as the roads were narrow ...a few luckily stopped right at the edge of the water before going in ....
however in the north east ...tea planters had excellent quality due to the Alluvial Soil due to Constant Floods and the terrain was flat ...practically no run off and plucking was easy too ... so tea manufacturing per se was easier
the problem was threat to life from idiotic humans who wanted freedom from India ...those buffoons (Insurgent Groups) were the bane of the tea planting industry ...
external conditions being constant ... in the north east ...tea manufacturing and work was Easy and life was calmer ...however those with Factory work ...always had a killing schedule .... worked from 11pm-3am ...then from 6am-9am breakfast break ...back to work from 9.30am to 1.30pm ...break for lunch and nap till 4pm ...work from 4pm--8pm ...dinner and nap till 10.50pm ...back in the factory at 11pm ...
most planters were used to this schedule and wives usually were free to take the vehicle with a driver and have a social life ...shopping and going to the club ... not chez moi though ...
i had total and complete house arrest ... and i got sooo used to it ... i have been taken out of the Tea Estates of assssssam but i kind of live like that...i rarely feel like galivanting around ...
Ergo ...woh Sikander kya tha jisse Zulmm se Jeeta Jahaan
Pyaar se joh jeete dilon ko woh zhuka de aasmaan
who was that Alexader who conquered with cruelty
he who conquers with love will be able to make the skies dip/swoon/bend

Yippee for Some Cloud Cover today ...

 

Hallelujah…there's cloud cover today ...and i am happy for the construction workers ...working on the 10th floor (i guess) in the distance ... i was thinking about them when the sun was really hot yesterday afternoon before i started cooking ....

i got some bad FakeNews and felt soooo bad about someone's passing... that i put on music and decided to rest my eyes on the greenery outside my window ... and i noticed the labourers toiling in the hot sun and felt bad about the amount of time they had to bear the strong sunshine ....

In Bahrain during peak summer ...construction work would get done at night ... to ensure that the workers have a better deal ... in these times of Living with Climate Change ... it is good that at least some folk in the construction business have started genuinely caring about the workforce they employ ... it is difficult to switch timings when the construction site is in a residential area ... i guess

today i am glad for the dip in temperature as that means a bit of respite for those who work so hard to make homes they will never live in ... ironies in life are so strange .... people who work the hardest ...specially physical labour earn the least... but if any Executive tries construction labour for a day ... it will put them out of circulation for a week ...specially the sun's intensity ....

i guess that is what is life ... the harder the physical labour ... the lower the pay ... however ... in Kerala those engaged in physical labour get paid very well ...ergo it is difficult to find house help or farmhands of late ...

the good part is ... the Standard of Life has gone up ... many folk who are labourers and from the rest of India ...go down to God's Own country and work there and tell their folk back home that they are working in Dubai ... for them Kerala is akin to Dubai ... LOL ...