Schooling times for adults

I had a good learning sessions recently when I was preparing for nursery admission for my daughter Ananya.

Admission form for school were available only for a day (creating demand....) that too between 9:00 hrs. to 13:00 hrs. Each form costing 100 bucks.They must have sold around 2000 forms in a matter of 4 hrs. That isn't a surprise the money school makes out of selling admission form.

What made me write this post is the experience I had after witnessing mad rush parents(including me...)showed for form collection. There was a long Q starting as early as 04:00 a.m.,that is good 5 hrs.before form counter opens. When I went there at about 07:50 a.m., I was welcomed with a long Q, in which I was numbered 193.

After waiting endlessly in that Q,and interacting with anxious parents,I finally could lay my hands on admission forms.

Form had very few relevant details to assess child's capabilities, but there was a column wherein parents monthly household income was to be specified.

Next day the same mad rush was to be repeated since we had to submit the forms,and there was a big Q again.

Now is the surprise.... all parents and children would be called for a "Observation" on a pre decided date, during which the committee will take notes.....

Then a "Lucky Draw" will decide who gets admission and who has to repeat this madness again at some other school.

As grown up and educated professionals, isn't it a pity that we follow such nonsense and nomadic way of ensuring our children get a good education. Standing in Q for 5 hrs, playing with our valuable time, that too for nothing guaranteed. "Lucky Draw" as if a child's career is

I know a simple solution could be pay a donation fee and ensure that you don't stand in a Q. But is that a solution??????.

For a school having a capacity of having 160 nursery students split across 4 batches, is it justified to sell 2000 + forms.Is it not a crime to create artificial demand.

A macro learning from this episode is that we have forgotten to keep a balance between demand and supply gap in our society.

I experienced this on a school front, but I also witness it on many fronts - e.g. Infrastructure (all roads are jammed, trains are packed,) Education (nursery to college the same story), Entertainment (no parks for kids....use internet to make friends)....

Our society is behaving like a mass scale production unit, which utilises its production capability to the fullest extent.... but has not been able to place its products in right places.

Street Children and us...

I often go out for a drive in the night, or on a weekend with aditi,and ananya. Whenever we reach a traffic signal we are terrified by the sight of a poor child, or even infant in hands of a beggar, asking for alms.

Is it not a crime to make these children beg for money, when they don't even understand the significance of it. They are forced to beg, sometimes beated, sometimes drugged just to present a poor image, and gain sympathy.

I fail to understand that why cant government make child begging a crime, and the offenders should be put behind bars. There should not be a single child found begging. The mafia lord should be punished,so that they don't encourage this racket.

We have kind of immuned ourselves to corruption,and lack of action from government, but i cannot withstand an officer who ignores such nonsense and overlooks child begging.

I am going to find is there a law which prohibits child begging and can be used to impose this strictly.

Whenever I see a child begging,on a traffic signal,or railway station,my heart cries. What that child has done to deserve this kind of apathy.

When I see ananya needing so much of support from me and aditi, I cannot imagine how these street children grow up, and for what. Aren't parents to be squarely blamed for this.

A parent who cannot take responsibility of upbringing a child, should not have an ability to give birth to a child. I wish sexual capabilities of such individuals were directly linked to their responsible nature.

When the twain shall meet

I have been practicing OOH media for last 2 years, and after having spent considerable time in different media forms (Print/Internet/DM), I am ariving at some strong convictions about where this medium is headed for.

I think this is one of the few mediums which do not have any content, and hence have a very limited stickiness. It this medium has to click, we need content to be woven around it. which is where we have seem emergence of medium like mall activation, 3-d , hologram innovation, which are a step nearer to creating content.

Someone who pioneers marrying content with OOH is going to rule, and will be the thought leaders in this 1000 crore industry.

I recently was introduced to orkut by a colleague of mine. Though I was aware of Orkut, never did I imagined that this tool has got possibilities of changing the social netowrking patterns of todays youth.

One it is simple, and quite engaging, two it is so very addictive to simply latch on to it for hours, together. I myself have been frequenting this website very often. As I write this piece of thought, I am wondering where these virtual networking tools are taking us.

When I was a young Adult, I used to crave for a social networking platform, and often that was limited to few close friends, who can make it to my place, because of proximity to my residence. These impromptou meetings were fun, because they were in real world.

Now I am experiencing these meetings virtually.

Does it take away the charm?

Does it make us more virtual ?

Is it not making us, and our children, limiting their physical reach to the outside world, because everything is available virtually?

I happen to learn about this websote called secondlife.com. It actually allows you to live a dual life. This virtual life is a replica of your real life, except for the fact that we get a chance to run our own life the way we want to. We become creator of our own life virtually. We become god.

think about it?

Is it not something amazing.

Need to connect with self

Hi,

I remember scribbling words on my note pad, while I was in school. It was not a diary in true self, but yes a penning down of my thoughts for sure.

What I learned is that this marvellous art of writing - to self is like putting a mirror to your thoughts. What you do, what you think, the way you react, all reflect to the kind of personality you are.

My journey with so called diaries, has now found a more public platform through these blogs. While I am still cagey about a lot of things which I share - about me, my thoughts. Trust me - you will find enough information on to start a conversation with me.