Random Notes

Makki Ka Makki

Ok, fine, you saw this coming. Indian American kids have won the 9^th successive Scripps spelling bee competition. Well, this time two Indian American boys have shared it. Yaaawn…. What’s new? Actually nothing. But isn’t that amazing that how our education system has ingrained in our genes, the perfect art of rote learning, or mugging? Even when the Indian diaspora kids are born and brought up in the USA, this quality of rote learning is successfully passed down genetically from the parents. From whatever I have read, Spelling Bee competition is nothing but remembering the spellings and meanings of words (like Gesellschaft or rhinolophid-try pronouncing that!) which no one is going to use and which will be found in only one book-dictionary. Our kids are masters of mugging. Period.

This brings me to the kinds of marks the students score these days in 12^th. Anything less than 95% is ordinary now. A boy committed suicide recently before the CBSE class 10 results were announced fearing poor performance. He had scored 91 % ! When I see my children’s text books, it makes me sad that even now the emphasis is on reproduction of facts. Of course, there is a vast improvement in the text books now compared to what it was during our school days. But even then, I feel that the methodology does not engage or involve the children to make learning as something to look forward to.

Sankey Tank Walk

Sankey Tank, Malleshwaram is a walker’s delight in the mornings and lovebirds’ paradise in the evenings. The walking path is uneven and the banks of the lake are unstable at some stretches. Sign boards warn walkers not to lean against the railings. When the civil works began to address these problems, we thought that it would get over within a couple of months. But even after two long years of digging and concreting, the work is still on. Only one fourth of the total walkway length is being renovated at present and if the authorities decide to dig up the remaining stretch, Sankey would be an eyesore and walking would be hell for the next five years. I have filed two RTI applications with BBMP to know about the cost estimate, scope of the work etc but have not received any replies. So, I have focused again on walking now!

Last week, I came across a very brisk walker at the Sankey Tank. I am reasonably fast but nowhere close to this short, thin man in his forties. When I saw him walking for the first time, I too was fired up. I tried to match his strides but fell behind immediately and before I knew he almost disappeared out of sight around a corner! I also noticed that among the hundreds of walkers at Sankey Tank he had no competition. A super brisk walker friend of mine unfortunately finds the bed more tempting in the mornings than the walking track of Sankey Tank. Otherwise a race between the two would have set the Sankey lake afire.

But recently I gave a real fright to this undisputed walking champion. One morning after I had covered a hundred meters or so, I felt a flash of lightning zoom past. Then I spotted the walker in front of me, speeding as hurriedly as ever, as if he was already running very late for an important appointment. I suddenly increased my pace and almost caught up with him and he looked over his shoulders in obvious surprise. Then he got into the seventh gear and sped ahead of me. A couple of paces later, the walker was still stealthily looking behind with the corner of his eyes for competition. I allowed him to gain complacency about his lead and then smiling wickedly to myself, I softly sprinted to a distance of about five metres behind him. As I coolly walked beside him, his face showed astonishment. ‘How the …… this fellow reached me so fast’, he must have thought. Shaken, he got into the eighth gear and whizzed away from me, not failing to throw side-ward looks once in a while. Not intending to get caught, I did not continue the fun and walked at my usual pace. I hope that he realized how he almost lost the race for the first time at Sankey Tank. If he did, I am sure he had a hearty laugh.

The Deafening Silence of Bollywood

It is a no-brianer that Salman Khan does not know how to act. Allegedly an assaulter of women, a drunken driver cum murderer, a wildlife hunter and now, clearly a sickening speaker. But what is more sickening is the behaviour of Bollywood which has formed a protective shield of silence around him. Not a single actor has criticized Salman for his outrageous comment and asked for apology. His father had better sense and immediately asked for forgiveness on behalf of his son. Shah Rukh Khan ‘does not want to judge others’, Priyanka Chopra says, ‘there are so many issues pertaining to women which are much more important’ and when was the last time did anybody hear Big B taking a principled stand on any issue? What amazes me more is the fan following of Salman Khan. Is it for real?