Re-entry into the blogging world

Hello! I'm back after about 2 years of hibernation. The reason for my inactivity is purely- laziness, laziness and laziness. A lot of things have happened in the meantime- the most important is I've begun to see the world- with all kinds of people. For one thing I cannot call myself "A school girl trying to improve my English vocabulary" any longer. In one way there is some connection between the post which follows and the previous sentence- the reason which made me come back to blogger.

Once into college, I see how different everything is. The travel in town bus (mostly fully packed), the attitude of the faculty and peer group have all made me open my eyes. I realize these many years I've been inside a golden cage where I was taken care of by my friends and family. Now as I step into the real world, I see how different it is from the world I've been shown.

Let me first describe my travel experiences. Gaining entry into a bus by negotiating my way from the first step to a comfortable place where I can stand was one of the first things I learned. Mostly, by the time I achieve this I would've reached my destination. Standing on the last step in a private bus with a bulging bag on the shoulder while the bus is turning an S-bend is not exactly my definition of comfort. And to think that kids right from the age of 8 do it everyday to go to and return from school is very saddening. It made me think why no school buses are provided for the government school children. If not separate school buses, at least student special buses can be provided. If those kids get tired just from travel, how can they be expected to learn with their full potential in their homes? Giving free lunch doesn't solve the problem of illiteracy entirely. The only comfortable feeling I have while being squashed in a crowded bus is "Thank God I do not have to worry about pick-pockets". I do not have a smart phone!

Coming to the academic part, among many issues, I find one very annoying- buying education. Sounds absurd, right? When people with great talents find it difficult to get admitted into top colleges, people with money are relaxed. This is one place where the proverb "No pains, no gains" does not hold. I do not see any reason to buy seats in a famous college when the student is not capable of coping with what is done in the college. I'm not implying that everybody who has got top marks in the Higher Secondary exams are highly capable of handling things very efficiently. But they at least know that they should work hard to gain something. Only a single drop of poison is necessary to make a potful of milk poisonous. Apart from possessing venomous qualities by itself, it also contaminates the entire contents of the pot. It does not allow the milk to retain its purity. It tortures and torments every single drop which tries to retain its originality. Unless that drop finds a way of leaving the pot it has no chance of survival. That is exactly the case in real world too. There maybe an argument that not all those who get top marks have the best character. Yes, I agree contamination is possible at all levels. But as long as contamination is there, why not allow people who have talent to be at a place rather than people who have money? There is more in this world than money can buy.

There is also the issue of understanding each and every concept being learnt. First and foremost, we should understand why we are learning a concept. For example, why should an electronics and communication engineer learn engineering graphics? Why should a fashion technologist learn C language? Once we know what we are learning and why we are learning it, half the learning process is over. The remaining part just lies in understanding the concepts and their relevance in our field.

Let me not convey the impression that I have got a pessimistic outlook of the world. No, I only say that there are all kinds of people everywhere. Learning to lead a peaceful life with different kinds of people is a skill; not a very easy skill too. It is a life skill which ought to be developed in each and every human being.


  

Why this discrimination??

Vs

How many Indians are feeling bad that India has not been selected for the semifinals of the FIH world cup? Maybe 10%? Or is that too much? I don't know. If this had been cricket what would the response have been? More than feeling bad for India's losing the FIH world cup, I feel bad for Indian's response to it, when their national game is hockey :-(

Do we need extra honing for boards..............???

"What! No tuition for 10th board! Are you kidding?" This is the response which I got from my friends when I told them about me not going for tuition.

Going to tuition in 10th and 12th has become something necessary. It is inculcated in today's young generation's minds as an integral part of life. Just like how they know that they should start schooling when they are four years and start their college when they complete school, it is imbibed in their minds that they must go for tuition when they go to 10th. Kapil Sibal was right when he told that students are getting over-stressed in 10th. But that does not mean we need not write the 10th board at all. Only if we write the 10th boards, we can have an idea how the boards will be, for otherwise we'll suffer in 12th which is more important. Its the 12th board which decides our future.

What is the purpose of school if it is necessary to go to tuition in tenth? Tuition teachers teach the same thing that is taught in school. You may tell we ought to go at least for the tests they keep. Well, don't they keep tests in school? If we understand the concept properly, then we can handle any sort of question. The only condition is we must understand the concept thoroughly and apply our brain. Tuition is meant only for weak students. In older days it was an insult if people went to tuition. But today it is vice versa. We need to concentrate in the class and do the daily portions as soon as possible. I know that it is impossible to complete the daily portions on the same day. But we should put in our best effort. I know a student who had Maths tuition from 6A.M to 7.45A.M, school from 8.30A.M to 4P.M, test in school from 4P.M to 5P.M. From there she would go directly to Physics tuition at 5.30P.M and Chemistry tuition at 7P.M. She would return home at 8.45P.M, have dinner and study for the next day's tuition and school tests till midnight. She would again wake up at four in the morning. As a result her marks in the first terminal exam reduced to 80% from 90%. She might have done better if not for this tight schedule.

Also the use of cell phones and internet. Why do school going students need mobile? If they have to have some doubts cleared they can use the land line and if it is not available, their parent's cell. They need not have a mobile of their own. They will be tempted to SMS their friends. In some cases, they will be tempted to sneak it into school, just for the fun of it. The parents must see to that they do not misuse it. Also the use of internet must be controlled.
For implementing all this lots of self control is needed. If these methods are followed, we can excel in our studies, without our knowledge and without any extra coaching.

The earth heats up.............!!

Earth - the only planet where life is possible - will it be possible in future too? We say we enjoy nature. So why don't we try and protect it from demolishing?? We all know that the smoke emitted from vehicles, refrigirators, air conditioners are creating hole in the ozone allowing the sun's harmful radiations to fall on earth. Greenhouse gases like carbon-di-oxide, methane etc. rise upwards and create a blanket around earth. Short-wave radiations from the sun can pass through this blanket, but long-wave radiations from earth cannot go through it. This results in the earth becoming warmer and warmer day by day. This heating is concentrated much near the poles, hence the glaciers at low altitudes may melt and cause rise in sea level due to thermal expansion of water. This entire process is called global warming.

What can we do to prevent global warming? We can't totally stop using vehicles or refrigirators. We can't live without them. But we can try to use public transport maximum. If our destination is not very far we can even walk. The heat produced from electrical appliances also cause global warming. We can try to switch off lights or fans when we are not using them. When we are downloading something in our computer which takes hours to complete, we can off the monitor alone. We can reduce using mobile phones much because in addition to global warming, it also affects our health. The harmful radiations from it can cause brain cancer or tumors. We must avoid talking in mobile when there is low charge in it, because it is then that the radiations are emitted more. It has the capacity to cause ear problems. Also the diwali crackers. Did any God tell us to celebrate a festival by demolishing Nature? No. We just fancy so. If anyone sees the smoke emitted from just one cracker, say flowerpot, he or she will become aware of the danger it is causing. If just a flowerpot emits so much smoke then they'll think how much a 100 wala or 1000 wala will emit.

Let us do our best to save earth and protect nature. Let us celebrate festivals by praying and performing poojas but not by annihilating Nature. We can recycle paper, and help to avoid cutting down of trees. Pollution should be avoided to the maximum. This is our earth. We ought to save it.

The Cricket Mania...........!!!

“Oh! That ball could have been easily caught”. “Wow! It’s a sixer”. “Yes! Our team has won”.

Familiar dialogues? We hear them daily when some cricket match is being played on the TV. It’s the most spoken dialogues when any cricket, be it World Cup or IPL or other one day matches is played. Cricket is a favourite game of probably three fourths of Indians. Most of the Indians interested in sports want to be the next Dhoni or Tendulkar. But the funniest part is that our national game is hockey and the next hockey world cup will most probably be held in India next year. Everybody knows that the next cricket world cup might be held in India in 2011.

If we ask somebody why other games are not as popular as cricket in our country people will tell that there are no good players. Why aren’t there any good players? Did India win gold medals in hockey eight times without any good players? Does anybody know that August 29 is celebrated as National Sports day in India as it is Dyan Chand’s birthday? Maybe a few know. The problem is that there is no proper support.

Sania Mirza is occupying the tenth position in the Top ten female Asian singles tennis players as of 20 April 2009. Why can’t she occupy the first position? If she had got enough and proper support from her country she could have at least got the fifth position.

Viswanathan Anand has won the World Chess Championship in three consecutive years. We, Indians have to be proud to get such a good player. A brilliant game, chess is and it does not involve any ball or bat or racket or running practice. It just needs a bit of logical thinking. But people do not know the importance of chess.

Just imagine how it would be if India was an all rounder. How would it be if she excelled in all sports like football, hockey, chess, cricket, swimming and many others? People’s minds are so inclined towards cricket that everybody takes a bat and ball during holidays to play cricket. They all want to be excellent cricketers in future.

So let us do all what we can to support other games. We cannot change the whole India. But we can try our best. So let us put our hands together and start supporting other sort of sports also.