May he live in interesting times..

This is an old Chinese curse and is used even today. It is used when a Chinese does not want to see someone happy. The person who administers the curse hopes that the other person’s life may be surrounded by worries and obstacles. Ironically, the curse could also turn into a blessing and living in ‘interesting times’ could lead to exciting opportunities and experiences. 

I was about five years old, and our household was rattled awake by its ringing – yes, it was the telephone. Our household was the first to get a telephone connection in our locality. My dad managed to pull a few strings with someone in the department and we skipped ahead of the queue when connections were authorized. Just like any typical Indian household procedure of welcoming new things into our life, the telephone was received with great pomp and show. Vermilion powder and scented flowers were sprinkled on it and it was placed at the right angle and position in the living room to ward off evil spirits. Relatives and friends near and far were informed of its arrival and it became the centerpiece of attraction. My sister and I underwent detailed training on phone etiquettes and we waited eagerly for the ‘ringing’ tone every day. And when the phone did ring, our entire family would dash to answer the call no matter what state we were in or which important job we were doing. I can bet my hands down that then record holding sprinter Carl Lewis would have come up short beating my grand-dad to the phone. Such was the captivating force of the telephone. 

More than two decades have passed, and today that same telephone which caused brought so much excitement into my family lies ignored in a corner. All my family members flash latest mobile phones and whether we need it or not it is part of our lives. My grand-dad waited an entire life time for a telephone to arrive in his house, my dad half a life-time and me 5 years. In less than half my lifetime- mobile phones, smart phones, pocket pc’s, laptops et al have shifted through my hands. Technological development has made Moore’s law look ordinary.  

I strongly believe people of my age (give or take a few years) live at the cusp of two generations. We are neither old timers nor are we ‘gen x’. We have seen the best and worst of the generation gone by and at the same time witnessed the amazing changes in the next generation. Our children will never know the excitement of using a telephone or the pleasure of watching nationalized programs in a black and white television with the whole family. Nor will they be able to understand the raw passion of the angry young man portrayed by Amitab Bachan or appreciate the tunes of Kishore Da, Rafi sahib, AR Rehman and others. The future that will unfold for the next generation is beyond our wildest imagination. 

We are living through a time frame when technological advancement has revolutionized our daily life and economic development has gifted us tremendous opportunities. And, we have seen severely bruised by the dark side as well- economic downturns, terrorism, oil wars, natural disasters, corruption etc.  So what has been that one key ingredient that we have got that has made us turn every corner, adapt to changes, take that giant leap of faith and given us hope in testing times? It’s our value system acquired through ‘word of mouth’ teaching from the generation gone by. That value system has been the driving force of almost every decision we have taken in our lives so far. It holds us firmly to our roots. Gone as the days when the world used to view us as the ‘land of snake charmers’ and spices. Today we are centric to world development. And it is our values which will give us the true identity of being an ‘Indian’ in the modern world. Let us not get mesmerized by the changes around us. It’s our fundamental duty us to pass on our value system to the next generation. Make sure it’s not lost forever. Rest as they say will be history.

There is a teacher in each one of us...

 “Those were the days”. This statement am sure crosses our mind every time we meet our old buddies  or when we think about numerous  precious moments from our erstwhile life in school and college. The thought of childhood and teen days brings back a flurry of memories and a smile instantly appears on our faces. Even today, we still crave for the enthusiasm and innocence that used to envelope us and somehow magically protect us from the horrors of the world. Everything seemed fair and simple and laughter was the only sound. Of course, there were the 'not so great' moments as well, but then they were quickly healed and life just surged ahead. 

Apart from friends the people we remember most are our teachers. Among all those who walked into our classrooms, there were one or two who became entrenched in our memories for ever. They appeared ordinary and dressed like everyone else, but when they began to take our lessons we would be teleported to an entirely different universe. Their teaching methods were unconventional and used to challenge our thinking. We loved them the most, were prepared to do anything for them and always looked forward to their classes.  

There were two such fantastic teachers in my life and I consider myself lucky to have learnt from them at critical junctures in my life. The first was Ms. Maithili. She introduced me to computers and programming when I was in high school. Her teaching methods were out of the norm-we did not learn from textbooks or follow a set syllabus in her classes. She insisted on free thinking and we were taught just the basics. We were forced to learn through experimentation, learn independently, question every logic and challenge each other. Her classes were fun filled and yet she was the 'iron-lady' when it came to discipline. Our unseasoned minds were soon fine tuned to be creative and follow a rigorous approach to perfection. The other was Professor Neil. He taught me Strategic Management in B-school. He had a brilliant mind and his teaching style was unique. He would walk into the class, remove his coat, power up the projector and shoot through 10 slides of the course material. This routine was followed for the first 15 minutes of his lecture session and no questions were entertained. After this came the most exciting part. With the routine done away with, the real education used to begin. We could discuss any topic for the next 45 minutes from sports to politics to page 3 gossip and ask any number of questions. Most management theories were ruthlessly shot down, frivolous or ordinary ideas ridiculed and the discussions were always cleverly steered by him to make us think about the future. The idea was to make us think and dream big. Professor Neil’s philosophy was that our imagination should always outstrip our capabilities and this was the first mile in the path for excellence.  

Most of are lucky to have come across such exemplary teachers who have been the beacon in our lives. Unfortunately some of us are not. Though in every breadth we speak about development and progress of our country, we still lag in providing the basic needs to all. Here are few statistics- in urban schools the ratio of teacher to student averages around 1: 30. However in rural areas the ratio is around 1:45. In some states such as Bihar the ratio is even worse about 1:60. The Indian government spends about 3.5% of its GDP on education which is a far cry from developed countries which spend almost double. The US and OECD countries spend about 5.5% and 6.1% of their GDP on education respectively. When it comes to gender diversity in education the numbers are heavily tipped towards 'urban males'. In primary schools the National Attendance Rate hovers at about the 85% mark for urban males, urban females and rural males. For rural females it’s about 78%. At secondary school level, the National Attendance Rate for urban males and females is about 65% while for rural males its about 55% and rural females its as low as 45%. This can mean only one thing. That more and more of our kids especially in rural areas are dropping out of school and females are most affected.  

Why is their a disparity? Probably we are are yet to break the positive correlations that exist between the sociial starta, caste and gender bias. Living in the cities we take education for granted. It is natural for us to go to school and college, complete our education and find a befitting career. It somehow feels like our ingrained birth right. Do not all the Indians deserve the same? Is it not the moral responsibility of every educated individual to ensure that the deprived ones too get access to same opportunities that they have had. Though there exists endless Government schemes to provide education, they are always short on money and found wanting for lack of vision and execution. NGO efforts too lack the necessary scale to to bring about a fundamental change. So why not this teacher’s day we pick up the baton and make a resolution- Educate at least one child a year. Provide them the means and tools to finish schooling. Teach them what we have learnt. Collectively we can bring about a radical change in the system. Afterall we are an urban workforce of over quarter billion.  

So what are we waiting for? Lets unleash the teacher in each one of us….

(This rambling is a tribute to all my teachers who made me what I am today. Thank you!)