WHEN THE KID NEXT DOOR MEANT MORE THAN THE GUY WITH PS4

" You people heard? The kid in 14B .He won some contest and got 50 grand! "

"Isn't he , the one with PS4?"

"You mean the one with GALAXY GRAND ??"

"Oh ! The guy with the goatee !I heard he traded his Grand for iPHONE 5 "

"YEP! He is the one and guess wha t?!  He got invited to Fergusson's RETIREMENT PARTY!!

"WHOA ! MAN!"  ,  they exclaimed in unison.



And there I sat, my head spinning around  GALAXY GRAND's, PS4's and TABS! I couldn't help but push my jaws back to its place from where it had fallen . I sat staring at them, people 4 or may be 5 years younger than me, talking about the kid next door. I was FLABBERGASTED.

My thoughts skipped back to those days when the news of a peer winning a contest or scholarship was greeted with the unfortunate news-bringer getting bombarded with questions like.. "Who? Amala's sister?"   "You mean the girl with those long pig tails? "The one who played badminton with us the other day?"
 Back then, we never knew or even bothered about the brandname of the capri she wore or whether she had a limited edition of IRON MAN-3 watch!!

Those were days when the mention of a kid next door had us happily reciting his/her daily routine. Every Dick, Harry and Tom around the corner were kids with whom we have shared a tea or paav-bhaji at least once.

Today , children barely know their next-door neighbor! They can answer any question on the phone he has or the cafe he frequents, but not his name! They have seen him alright and of course they are facebook friends, anything they want to share is WhatsAPE-ed!(See ,What I just did there?!)  But once they meet, they don't pat each other on the back or give a friendly punch on the stomach . There are no exchanges of "Hey pal' or "Heya bro" .They don't talk about the latest match , simply because they don't know whose side the other one is on! They haven't flown high, drunk with the pleasures of SUNDAY MATCHES and SATURDAY HANG-OUTS in the nearest coffee shop. They have never known the pleasure of pointing to a scar on their BFF's shoulder with a shout of "SEE THAT ONE THERE! HE GOT THAT FOR TRYING TO SAVE MY GOAL!". Now all they can point to is the scratch on their friend's XPERIA Z !

Well!! With this rapidly increasing addiction to gadgets, one need not be surprised to attend marriage between their facebook friend and his beloved Black-Berry!! As for GEN X gadgets define their lives, from womb to tomb!

Hungry for Marks? Ask YOUrself Why!

There she sat , a red rose, in a garden well-kept. She stood up, her ear-ring dotted with teddy bear faces dangling  from side to side as she walked with her beloved barbie doll in her pocket. She kept her Cursive Writing note on the desk stealing shy glances at her teacher.Her rose cheeks turned to a lighter shade of red as she blushed, aware of the dozens of tiny eyes staring at her...And there!! Her teacher rewarded her work with a 10 on 10 and a star with a smiley face.YES! Her day was done!!

Don't we all miss those days when we had studied for the fun of it. Didn't we all sit in anticipation to know what the new lesson was going to be? How many of us sit with the same amazement twinkling in our eyes today?!

Long gone are those days when we studied formulae to shout them at the top of our voices with peers. Long gone are those days when a "good work" from our teacher and a smile on our mother's face were all that were needed to boost us to learn the day's lessons.Now the goals are different. What we want is a good score..We are hungry..for MARKS!

The focus has shifted from "testing your knowledge" to "knowing your score"."BY HOOK OR CROOK" has become the success mantra of many a student. They cheat and bribe to get a good score. HUH! All this for mere figures on paper!!Do you think these scores are the only criteria to measure your caliber?

So why this unsatiated hunger for marks? Where gone are those more intimate feelings of passion and love that once led  human race to their goals?

 The euphoric world of software engineers and hap-tic programmers with heavy paychecks rule our dreams today. 12 years in school, another 5 or 6 in a professional college.... There you come out with a diploma and a job in hand.All Thanks to campus selection! And of the UNFORTUNATE FEW who because of their LOW GPA , couldn't land themselves in some corporate office, the less said the better..Generation after generation of the student populace fall in line and follow what seems to be a routine of BOARD EXAMS , ENTRANCES and INTERVIEWS. Schools are happy enough to breed IITians and Civil servants.Anything less than that is TRASH and Anyone who ain't a TOPPER is a goner. It seems they are quite intent that no artist, musician , dancer or a story teller should ever find their place in the ALUMNI MEET.

International schools and Professional colleges are sprouting like weeds around every corner. They have something called CURRICULUM , resembling a ready-made shirt,which is supposed to fit each one of the student populace who dares walk through the gates . There is no room for alterations . Anybody who doesn't fit in, is shooed away with "HOPELESS" stamped  in shouty caps on their forehead.To those who fit in, promises of a better position and secure careers are made.I just wonder ,' landing yourselves a job ', should that be the motto of our EDUCATION SYSTEM ?  Should that be the dream with which you toil day and night ,spending sleepless hours at home and tuition centers?

Look around you.. There are a lot of fellows with a B.A, M.D or Ph.D. Unfortunately many of them do not have a J.O.B.Of all the people who have a J.O.B, very few have their eyes twinkling with satisfaction. And of the few blessed with satisfaction from what they do, very few have got B.A or Ph.D. What more evidence do we need? The promises of each new REVISION and EDITION made to our curriculum have not been kept.

So what you need is not a good score. These scores do not reflect anything other than the fact that you excel at the art of vomiting what is spoon-fed to you. So study not for the marks you may get, but for the knowledge you are sure to attain.For marks will take you to the road where everything is glitz and glamour.. whereas THE RIGHT KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT YOU LOVE will lead you to the road where bliss and contentment rules !

Take a minute to detach yourself from the world of cut-throat competition.Now ask yourself the one question that matters "IS THIS WHAT I NEED IN LIFE?" If the answer is a definite NO ,spare no time my friend. It's time for  a deep introspection.