I recently had a completely ‘goose-pimple’ moment. We had gone for “How to train your dragon” and before the movie started they played ‘Jana Gana Mana’. The entire audience stood and it was such an awesome feeling! The sense that we belong to this great and diverse nation. I love our national anthem. I am a proud Indian and it doesn’t matter that the west sees us through patronizing eyes and thinks that poverty, gaseous cows and yoga are what define the Indianess in India. I prefer a broader and less ‘firangi’ point of view.
My India is a land before time. A land that has history few other nations can boast of. The land that Gods walked on. The land where epic battles between good and evil were fought on. The land where a King gave up the killing fields to perpetuate peace and non-violence. A nation where there is harmony in diversity, and even though all of this sounds clichéd, and sometimes one seeks to find the harmony in the diversity, it is still true of India.
My India is a kaleidoscope of colour and texture and all things weird and wonderful. It can never be boring! I stand on my balcony every morning and know that what I see today will be something that I have not seen yesterday and will not see tomorrow. Every second, every day the scene changes! For someone who finds monotony unbearable, can there be anything better? I lived away from India for more than half a decade. It was fun to be away. To experience living away from home and hearth. To form new identities. To learn new things. Imbibe new culture, gasp at new age technology, faster cars, bigger malls, and the piece de resistance- a ‘lane system’ that people follow! It was a beautiful and perfect world. Too perfect for me. I knew that at this roundabout, every summer they would plant marigolds and petunias every winter. Without fail. Every year. The landscaping was perfect. Everything was perfect. The taxi drivers were perfect! When I had a bad day at work how I would miss the trusted Bengaluru auto driver with whom I could pick a fight! I missed all the imperfections that was my India!
We came back, and yes it took a while to adjust to the chaos. To watch where you walk on a footpath, because in India a footpath also doubles up as impromptu urinal. To stay clear from bus windows, as one never knows when a missile of spit may just hit you. To hold my head, my children’s head - lest they tumble off while driving over what was once asphalt but is now more holy than the nearest holy cow chewing cud in the middle of the road. It took me a while. And then like a deep sea diver coming out from exploring the sea bed and the wonders below. I acclimatized. I found my Indianess again. I found my centre.
I want my children to love their country as much as I do. To love it inspite of its many, many, many imperfections. To understand what a rich cultural heritage we have. To be proud of our history. It shouldn’t be limited to corrupt politicians, a redundant caste system, honour killing, female infanticide and oh! the list can go on. But this is my land, this land belongs to my children and their children. This is an irrefutable fact. And it is up to us to bring about the change we seek. It is heartening to see more and more people getting involved in making India better. There is more awareness now then even 10 years ago. I like to believe that we have shrugged off our cloaks of apathy and are striving to make a difference. “Jaago re” rings not just when I drink my morning tea, but every time I feel complacent.
We are a land of people and this same people can make all the difference. We are a nation of one billion people. If all us wants to take India forward who can stop us?
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
This is the road, this is the road to hell!
Uggh! I just got out of the morning traffic. How appropriate it would be if ‘TRAFFIC’ were a foul four lettered word! One uses it, and its more obscene cousins, often enough in the traffic!
I fail to understand how normal, decent people become complete selfish maniacs when they have a wheel in front of them and four wheels below! Does the engine drive the Mr. Hyde into them? Do they leave behind the benign Dr Jekyll, the minute they close the car door? I don’t know. All I know is that the roads have become race tracks, where everyone is trying to get ahead. Nosing the other car out of the way, honking at traffic signals - while the light is still red. Impatient to get ahead. Don’t even get me started on those motorists who conveniently drive the wrong way.
What is even more annoying is that these very same people, drive like angels with a halo over their heads, when in another country. You will hardly see an Indian being caught for a traffic offense in any foreign country. But while in India..aahhh, then it is time for some bollywood 'rock n roll' on the roads! Some ‘dishum-dishum masala’ at the intersections. Not to forget the song-n-dance between bike, auto and taxi cabs. Full ‘tamasha’ only! But certainly not very entertaining ‘tamasha’.
A recently conducted survey showed that people driving during peak hours of traffic showed an abnormally high BP reading! Not surprising.
If I had three traffic wishes, I would first wish away those impatient horns. Next, the mad overtaking - the ‘I have places to reach faster than you’ attitude. And last, I would wish for a sense of decorum while driving.
Adding a small nursery rhyme, which my daughter sings to me at every traffic signal, just to jump start our misty memories:
“Twinkle, twinkle traffic light
Standing in the corner bright
Red says STOP, green says GO
And yellow says, better go S-L-O-W.”
I fail to understand how normal, decent people become complete selfish maniacs when they have a wheel in front of them and four wheels below! Does the engine drive the Mr. Hyde into them? Do they leave behind the benign Dr Jekyll, the minute they close the car door? I don’t know. All I know is that the roads have become race tracks, where everyone is trying to get ahead. Nosing the other car out of the way, honking at traffic signals - while the light is still red. Impatient to get ahead. Don’t even get me started on those motorists who conveniently drive the wrong way.
What is even more annoying is that these very same people, drive like angels with a halo over their heads, when in another country. You will hardly see an Indian being caught for a traffic offense in any foreign country. But while in India..aahhh, then it is time for some bollywood 'rock n roll' on the roads! Some ‘dishum-dishum masala’ at the intersections. Not to forget the song-n-dance between bike, auto and taxi cabs. Full ‘tamasha’ only! But certainly not very entertaining ‘tamasha’.
A recently conducted survey showed that people driving during peak hours of traffic showed an abnormally high BP reading! Not surprising.
If I had three traffic wishes, I would first wish away those impatient horns. Next, the mad overtaking - the ‘I have places to reach faster than you’ attitude. And last, I would wish for a sense of decorum while driving.
Adding a small nursery rhyme, which my daughter sings to me at every traffic signal, just to jump start our misty memories:
“Twinkle, twinkle traffic light
Standing in the corner bright
Red says STOP, green says GO
And yellow says, better go S-L-O-W.”
Friday, July 9, 2010
Mr. Bean and Education
Animation. Cartoons. Walt Disney. Tom and Jerry. Words that can make me smile. Words that would make most adults smile and kids shriek with joy. Ok, so there are more cartoons now than when I was younger. Ok, there are more channels now than ever before. And ok, there are more cartoon channels than even the kids can keep up with. So now, we, the adults who have in due course of time transformed from kids to parents, are informed that it isn’t good to have children glued watching silly cartoons. They learn nothing from them. It is a form of mindless entertainment.
I tend to shrug off most of these accusations as coming from adults who lack a certain sense of humour or as someone who hasn’t really sat and watched through the cartoons. Now don’t get me wrong, every good thing has its bad sides,the whole yin and yang things. But must we only focus on the negative? I enjoy a good cartoon as much as my 5 and 7 year olds do and sometimes a little bit more! And I am of the opinion that cartoons not only entertain, they also teach! Ah don’t gasp friends, it is true. Allow me to demonstrate.
Recently my husband and I had a live demo of one such incident. We were asked, one evening to be an audience to a two-member show, put up by my then 6 year old son and 4 year old daughter. The props were one half of the cover of their plastic toy box. This was a just a flat sheet of plastic. I didn’t realize it then, but their other prop was my daughter. The demonstration: my son vigoursly rubbed the sheet on his t-shirt and then placed it one inch above my daughter’s head. Result: all the hair on the top of her head stood up. Reason: (as explained by my children) “mom, dad, see this is static electricity”!!
We were agog! Wow! There we sat, two proud people, as only parents and owners of show dogs can be! What a way to learn about science! We decided that it was worth the enormous school fees that we shell out annually, if teaching had become this advanced and experiential. I asked my son, if this was a science experiment from school. To which he replied, ‘No, ma, we just learnt this from Mr. Bean!’
If one really sits through cartoons, you will realize that most often there is a message. Sometimes subtle and sometimes not. But enough to know that it isn’t just a waste of time. My children have learnt to ‘clean up’ their room from Barney. To share from ‘Mickey Mouse and Friends’, that winning isn’t everything from Lightning Mcqueen in Cars, that onions and ogres have ‘layers’ from Shrek, experimenting with Phineas and Ferb. Lessons on confidence, lessons on friendship. Even word building. It also allows me to conduct mock quizzes based on favourite cartoon shows. Its a time for them to show off that they know more than mommy!
What we don’t realize is that today’s children are very visually oriented. They are the next generation. So if they learn differently from us, it doesn’t mean the technique or they way they have learnt is wrong, just that we need to include that learning as well.
So while, I am not propagating that TV be the medium of instruction for your kid or, God forbid, you hire Mr. Bean as your child’s tutor, I am suggesting that we adults should view cartoons as more than just mere animation. But something that sticks to a young mind and leaves an impression.
That said, all the more reason that the ‘negative’ part of animation be closely monitored and preferably avoided. Which brings me back to where I started. All parents must watch cartoons along with their children or else be aware of what they are watching. So enjoy watching your children enjoy their world of imagination and wonder and dive into that world yourself. Getting in touch with your inner child will be that much more easier.
Now to borrow a line from a famous cartoon show…”That’s all folks!
I tend to shrug off most of these accusations as coming from adults who lack a certain sense of humour or as someone who hasn’t really sat and watched through the cartoons. Now don’t get me wrong, every good thing has its bad sides,the whole yin and yang things. But must we only focus on the negative? I enjoy a good cartoon as much as my 5 and 7 year olds do and sometimes a little bit more! And I am of the opinion that cartoons not only entertain, they also teach! Ah don’t gasp friends, it is true. Allow me to demonstrate.
Recently my husband and I had a live demo of one such incident. We were asked, one evening to be an audience to a two-member show, put up by my then 6 year old son and 4 year old daughter. The props were one half of the cover of their plastic toy box. This was a just a flat sheet of plastic. I didn’t realize it then, but their other prop was my daughter. The demonstration: my son vigoursly rubbed the sheet on his t-shirt and then placed it one inch above my daughter’s head. Result: all the hair on the top of her head stood up. Reason: (as explained by my children) “mom, dad, see this is static electricity”!!
We were agog! Wow! There we sat, two proud people, as only parents and owners of show dogs can be! What a way to learn about science! We decided that it was worth the enormous school fees that we shell out annually, if teaching had become this advanced and experiential. I asked my son, if this was a science experiment from school. To which he replied, ‘No, ma, we just learnt this from Mr. Bean!’
If one really sits through cartoons, you will realize that most often there is a message. Sometimes subtle and sometimes not. But enough to know that it isn’t just a waste of time. My children have learnt to ‘clean up’ their room from Barney. To share from ‘Mickey Mouse and Friends’, that winning isn’t everything from Lightning Mcqueen in Cars, that onions and ogres have ‘layers’ from Shrek, experimenting with Phineas and Ferb. Lessons on confidence, lessons on friendship. Even word building. It also allows me to conduct mock quizzes based on favourite cartoon shows. Its a time for them to show off that they know more than mommy!
What we don’t realize is that today’s children are very visually oriented. They are the next generation. So if they learn differently from us, it doesn’t mean the technique or they way they have learnt is wrong, just that we need to include that learning as well.
So while, I am not propagating that TV be the medium of instruction for your kid or, God forbid, you hire Mr. Bean as your child’s tutor, I am suggesting that we adults should view cartoons as more than just mere animation. But something that sticks to a young mind and leaves an impression.
That said, all the more reason that the ‘negative’ part of animation be closely monitored and preferably avoided. Which brings me back to where I started. All parents must watch cartoons along with their children or else be aware of what they are watching. So enjoy watching your children enjoy their world of imagination and wonder and dive into that world yourself. Getting in touch with your inner child will be that much more easier.
Now to borrow a line from a famous cartoon show…”That’s all folks!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Football Fever
It’s clearly sports season for the sports fan! Come 7:30 IST and TV volumes grow louder and the sound of the vuvuzela rents the air. There’s something to be said about the energy of football, it sucks you in and tosses you around in the same sea of emotion and passion that the players are in.
My love for football started with the 1986 world cup. The year that Brazil, despite having legends like Socrates failed due to a penalty shootout. It was the first time I cried for a team and certainly not the last. It was also the year that saw Maradona becoming a legend. The year that a blue and white t-shirt had a lot of significance. Argentina has remained my favourite team since. I remember watching the finals between Argentina and West Germany (yes, this was before the wall fell) with all my fingers in my mouth, having successfully bitten off all the nails. Brown was my hero for that match. After injuring his arm, he refused to be substituted, instead played the remaining game with his arm in a splint! Talk about passion. The goal that Burruchaga scored to finally lead Argentina to victory! Awesome stuff.
What is it about football that has us glued, rooting, yelling, sometimes cursing ? 90 minutes of uninterrupted entertainment. Something that even our short attention spans can deal with . And the thrill of the ride, the bright football jerseys, the antics of players on and off the field. Can entertainment get any better? So this is the time, people, that I let all my inhibitions down. The time when I kick off my work shoes, sit in front of my TV and yell! This is also the first world cup that I have had my son tell me in very serious tones, “ Mom, its just a game” Ah, no son, football can never be just a game. And for the match between Argentina and Germany, well I am preparing to have some delicious Squid Sushi!
My love for football started with the 1986 world cup. The year that Brazil, despite having legends like Socrates failed due to a penalty shootout. It was the first time I cried for a team and certainly not the last. It was also the year that saw Maradona becoming a legend. The year that a blue and white t-shirt had a lot of significance. Argentina has remained my favourite team since. I remember watching the finals between Argentina and West Germany (yes, this was before the wall fell) with all my fingers in my mouth, having successfully bitten off all the nails. Brown was my hero for that match. After injuring his arm, he refused to be substituted, instead played the remaining game with his arm in a splint! Talk about passion. The goal that Burruchaga scored to finally lead Argentina to victory! Awesome stuff.
What is it about football that has us glued, rooting, yelling, sometimes cursing ? 90 minutes of uninterrupted entertainment. Something that even our short attention spans can deal with . And the thrill of the ride, the bright football jerseys, the antics of players on and off the field. Can entertainment get any better? So this is the time, people, that I let all my inhibitions down. The time when I kick off my work shoes, sit in front of my TV and yell! This is also the first world cup that I have had my son tell me in very serious tones, “ Mom, its just a game” Ah, no son, football can never be just a game. And for the match between Argentina and Germany, well I am preparing to have some delicious Squid Sushi!
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