Saturday, August 27, 2005

We

We create
our own Gods,
our Heavens,
our own Hells,
our Devils,
here on earth.

Friday, August 26, 2005

Thoughts

thoughts touch minds
ever so gently.
and so very slowly,
ideas captivate souls.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Words

what is unsaid
is more important than
all that is said.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Spaces

spaces between words
hover tenuously
to savor a nuance.

Friday, August 19, 2005

Generation Next

As a society, we really need to look at ourselves very carefully. What do we value most? What is most important in our lives? Do we really care what happens to the generation next?

If we are really concerned about the generations to come, we need to give them more thought, time and resources.

The questions that we need to ponder upon are:

• What do we hope to achieve when we wish to educate our children?
• Why are we teaching whatever we are teaching in our schools and colleges?
• How can we reach our goals so that the children enjoy the process of learning?
• How can we evaluate without causing spiritual, mental, emotional and physical stress?
• Why are the school teachers, lecturers and professors paid the least?
• How can we expect quality when a mere 3 to 6% of the budget is spent on education all over the world?
• Are we as a society not interested in giving the best education to the next generation?
• Are we ready to give our attention to this long neglected subject yet or do we have to wait for some more students take their lives or squander their lives in trivia and drugs?
• What can be done to correct this grievous situation?

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Take on a tale suspended in time

I have heard this tale so often with minor variations. A take on this oft repeated theme:

Once upon a time, there lived beautiful princess Aesthesia in a dazzling crystal castle on top of a shimmering crystal mountain.

Don’t ask me how or why she reached there!!!

All the brave princes from all over the universe could admire her beauty from far but no one could reach her. They tried climbing the smooth crystal mountain but slid to the ground. Some tried to smash the crystal but the jagged edges hurt, so they retired wounded.

Then came prince Marsiano. ”You silly princess, why don’t you simply slide down the mountain instead?” he said.

“At last a wise prince!” thought Aesthesia “why had I not thought of this before!”

Even I wonder!!!

So Aesthesia slid down the smooth crystal mountain.

When she saw Marsiano, all green and spiky and ugly, she retreated.

“Oh this will never do! You may be the wisest of all but my mother will faint when she looks at you!!” said beautiful Aesthesia.

“And my sisters and mother will die of envy when they see how beautiful you are!” said green spiky Marsiano.

So they moved away and started on their own separate ways.

Suddenly they turned around and said “Oh, but why should we worry about others? This is about our happiness!”

So they walked together into the rising meteor shower, ‘happily ever after’.

But by all accounts there seems to be no ‘happily ever after’.

Most probably the mothers, daughters, fathers, brothers, all the people around behaved as expected and social, economic, psychological pressures tried to ensure that there was no ‘happily ever after’.

However I have come accross some people who live ‘happily ever after’. These people have great strength of character, deep abiding affection, trust and respect for each other.

Friday, August 12, 2005

a tale suspended in time

gallant prince

i know you care
eloquent eyes reveal soul.
a deep, dark agony
freezes my heart,
numbs my soul.

flee cold crystal,
fly away.
you are young and handsome.
may a pretty princess find you,
i pray.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

a tale suspended in time

epistle

beautiful princess!
in a crystal castle,
atop a crystal mountain.
all can see
none can reach.

i climb steep crystal.
slip, fall, hurt.
i smash crystal,
bleeding,
i reach your gates.

you wash my wounds,
heal my pain.
i tell you tales from far away lands.
i sing, i jest, to touch your heart.
all in vain!

tell me, o princess,
with eyes that look so far away
what fearsome ogre
do i have to slay
to reach your soul?

Friday, August 05, 2005

Young People and Education

Let us try and recall; when was it that we dreamed our greatest dreams? When was it that we were full of hope, vigor and energy? Of course, when we were young! We are wasting a vast pool of enthusiasm and energy by total lack of attention to what the young people need. We need to think how our society can best utilize this wealth.

Let us ask ourselves “What percentage of learning that we had at school and college do we really use?” Most of us would say “Very little?”

Why? Because what we learn at school and college is not related to the business of living. It is so remote from the skills required for the real life! It is like some hurdles that a student has to cross till he is eligible to join the ranks of adults who are allowed to make some kind of living. School, college, further studies, still further studies ad infinitum… Gradually more and more books and years have been added to courses and the time when a person is considered mature enough to join the adult society has been pushed further, 16, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30…?

The moment a young one matures physically in the plant or animal world, it moves towards creation of the next generation. In case of human species, the human beings are generally not ready and independent to join the stream of life, despite the physical maturity. They have not acquired the skills to live independently by then.

This time lag is one of the causes for the strife in the family; the constant tug of war that goes on between young ones and their parents. There are the young, who are bright, energetic and full of ideas and dreams on one side and the parents who restrain and cling, on the other.

There are a whole lot of parents who try to live their own dreams through their children. There is coercion; emotional, mental and economic. A whole lot of energy is wasted in this conflict. Perhaps the parents can not be blamed. They want the best for their children and want their gene pool to survive and do better. Perhaps the social and economic conditions around them force them to do so.

The girl child gets the brunt of all restrictive traditions and discrimination. The young girls voice these ideas when they are given a chance to express them.

The boys generally enjoy greater freedom and preferential treatment in our patriarchal scheme of things, but they have the pressure to perform and earn a living. This causes a lot of stress in boys too.

Fortunately some educated parents do not discriminate between girls and boys. They are involved in their children’s education but are intelligent enough to give them freedom. Their children fare better but many problems still remain.

For the economically backward, the lower class, minority and lower caste students the pressure is even more intense. The opportunities get blocked due to lack of funds. Despite all the talk about liberty, equality, fraternity and the laws, there is tangible social discrimination. It may not be expressed verbally but it is palpably present, waiting to explode.

Learning is a life long process that continues through the whole life, but we can not lock up our youngsters in schools and colleges and expect them to behave like automatons that we have programmed.

We need a system that can equip the young ones for the future. It should help them to learn the moral, ethical, cultural, social and economic values and skills to lead happy and meaningful lives. Our system of education needs careful thought and reform. The success of the survival of our species depends upon it.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Education and People

We have only a handful of people who are educated in the true sense. We have a whole lot of people who have qualifications on paper but are far from being educated. We have a vast majority that is not even literate. If this situation continues, we will have whole new generations of people who will be unequipped to handle the problems of the future.

I see a lot of tense, unhappy youngsters around me. They are quick to take to drugs, loaf, fight, loose hope and even take their lives. Most of their relations become transient. They are lonely, unable to communicate and form stable bonds with others.

I am surrounded by young people the whole day. I like to interact with people of all ages. I find that the current system of education is able to do very little for the young.

They are caught in a web of unrelated learning that is meaningless for them. They are unhappy, bored and tense and are unable to do their best. They waste their energy fighting with each other, their teachers and parents.

Unfortunately the current social and education system is ill equipped to handle do any of this. Most of what is being done in the name of education today tries to kills all originality, creativity and rational thought process.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Dead and Dying

For the past few weeks Death is around me.

Two very close friends, gone for ever.

A very kind, generous old gentleman and a young boy who learnt to walk tall.

An independent old lady now ailing, totally dependent.

Life saving paraphernalia.

Distress seeps into my being.

How Can We Survive?

Anxiety, tension, maladjustment, drugs, heart diseases, mental ailments, cancer and aids we have them all. We are snowed under hate, aggression, racism and communalism. Nuclear weapons, genocide, imperialism, terrorism and wars in the name of religion and nature's backlash threaten to engulf our planet. Are we going to survive or vanish like many lost species?

If we are indeed to survive and solve the problems that beset us we need to pay special attention to education of generation now and generations next. The future generations have to be sensitized, empowered, and strengthened. It is education that can help people to understand the problems at hand, analyze, synergize and find solutions. It is knowledge that can empower people to think independently.