Leela Samson, in her book Rukmini Devi writes:'Mrs Besant disagreed with Gandhi on the issue of non-cooperation. Her opinion was that mass civil disobedience was fraught with dangerous possibilities. She was apprehensive of the nation's integrity being weakened as a result. She repeatedly warned that if and when India attained swaraj, it should be careful not to 'find itself in a condition of anarchy, resistant of all discipline, defiant of all authority, where everyone was a law unto himself, enforcing his will by mobs, or trampled on by superior force'. The wisdom of the statement she made then rings frighteningly true today.'Later, India forgot its resentment against Mrs Besant and embraced her as one of those who worked for its independence. I wonder, could things have worked differently? … [Read more...]
School Bus
I'm feeling the generation gap the wrong way around again.School buses are meant for playing stone-paper-scissor, not listening to music on an iPhone. During rides in the school bus, children should jump around and shriek when they go top speed over a speed breaker. And they should, of course, get told off by the teachers. It's not normal for them to sit grumpily and complain that the AC doesn't work. Rides in school buses are meant for talking about everything that happened in school - mean teachers, kind teachers, strict teachers, gross food... Not for sharing photos on Facebook and commenting on other people's status messages.The only thing that remains the same is that even now, there are a few students who sleep right through the journey home. That's normal. … [Read more...]
Mourning Achebe
So many people have written about Chinua Achebe so knowledgeably in the past few days; I can't come close to that. I know next to nothing about him, but the sense of loss I felt when I read about his death was like a pit within me.I was introduced to Achebe when in college, with, of course Things Fall Apart. After that, I read little about him and by him. Yet, the impression he made on this young student of literature was so powerful that even today, images of the novel remain in my head. The iron horse, the sacred silk-cotton tree, the cowries and the bride-price. What a simple, wonderful writer he was.The world will miss him. … [Read more...]
Dysfunctional Internet
I remember when internet did not exist.I remember when internet at home was unheard of and we always had to go to a Cyber Cafe. I remember when internet at home was the standard dial up connection with loud trrrrrrrr-tiktiktiktiktiktiktik-peeeeeep-peeeeep-khrrrr-peeeeee-khrrrr I remember when the flashing modem constantly made me squirm and count how many minutes I'd already been online.Then came broadband, which was, wow, silent and fast! Not so many awful minutes of waiting for pages to load and thinking of high telephone bills.Then came unlimited broadband. Silent, fast and inexpensive.When I remember all of this, why do I feel so uncomfortable when the internet is not working? … [Read more...]
‘Stranded’ in Paris
I don't exaggerate when I say that my poor guardian angel is overworked. I don't exaggerate when I say that I have the craziest possible travel experiences. Proof of the fact was given to me yet again in 2010 with the most unbelievable of problems. A volcano erupted.The famous volcano eruption that caused GPS all over Europe to stop working in 2010 and volcanic ash to descend into the continent naturally affected me as well. How could it not affect Varsha and her travel stories?In Paris with a flight to catch, I learned that all flights had been cancelled indefinitely, until the volcanic ash settled. As 'usual', my visa was due to expire very soon, but as usual, it was not my fault that I could not go home.And as usual, the experience was wonderful.Extra days with my sister and my truly incredible French family are treasures I cherish. I remember the joy that accompanied all the … [Read more...]
‘Stranded’ in Milan
Coming back from France in 2006, we had an Alitalia flight via Milan. Everything until Milan was fine - except one thing. This is an aside, but I must say this. In Milan, like in Vienna, I was asked to take off my belt and lay it in the tray to be passed through the X-Ray machine. That's okay, acceptable. Then, I was asked to raise my hands as I walked through the security gate. If I was comfortable enough to lift my arms wearing jeans without a belt, I would not wear a belt at all, I wanted to tell them. I now make it a point to wear a salwar kameez or tighter jeans.Coming back. Our stopover from Paris was at Milan - and there, we discovered that the flight ahead was cancelled. All kinds of reasons were given to us. 'Technical snag', 'staff on strike', 'no co-pilot'... We had no idea when we'd get a flight back and our visas were due to expire that day.That, we were told, was not a … [Read more...]
Travel Woes
I could write a whole book about things that went wrong while I was travelling. I have a very dear friend who says that my poor guardian angel is always overworked because I make him work overtime keeping me safe through everything.In some AC trains, there's a little metal box above the berth that you can open for light. 'LIFT FOR LIGHT', it says. As a child, I never needed it - I was not allowed to read in bed. When I became a little older (quite a bit older, actually), I excitedly lifted the cover. And the light bulb burst as soon as I opened it. It did not burst in my face, thankfully, but I had pieces of glass in my hair right through the long train journey. I was not able to comb all of them out of my hair - every time I ran the comb through my hair, more tiny pieces emerged. I finally managed to get them out only when I got home and had a shower.I don't use those things any … [Read more...]
Fire Drill
I remember how, a few months ago, two girls came excitedly to me in dance class. "Miss, we had a fire drill today!""The whole period went in the drill!" said one child, immediately pointing out the highlight of the exercise."Oh?" I said, interested. I was glad things like this were being done. "So what did you have to do?""They told us how to leave the building in a proper way," said one girl."So we had to form lines and all.""And they explained to us that we should never enter the building again, until the fire has been put out.""And we should leave immediately on the stone staircase not the wooden staircase."Impressed, I said, "Good! I'm happy that they're teaching you that!"Emboldened by my interest, one of the girls piped up, "And the teachers know how to use those cylinders also to stop the fire.""The oxygen cylinders," explained the other one, … [Read more...]
More Readers?
I, Varsha Seshan, author of The Story-Catcher and English teacher at your school...... donated two books to Vishwashanti Gurukul library. One for the primary school library and one for the whole school. I also spoke to the principal about the way I've done readings in the past at St. Mary's, and she seemed interested. At the library today, the librarian was entering the details into the system. Does this mean that more children will actually read the book? I wonder! … [Read more...]
Naughty Boys
Everyday at school, I learn something new. Yesterday, the boys in my class did something that I can't help laughing at, even though I know that the joke is on me.I don't like wearing a watch and haven't worn one for several years now. In school, though, I do wear a watch because I don't find it very ethical to carry a cell phone everywhere when the students aren't allowed to do that. Since I'm not used to it, I take off my watch at the first opportunity I get.I did it as usual when I was in class yesterday. The class was smooth, not one of the bad ones. When I finished what I was talking about, there were just five minutes left for the class to end, so I let them off early instead of starting something new."What's the time?" one of the students asked, innocently."4:10," I replied, putting my books together.We left the classroom and another student asked, "Ma'am, what's the … [Read more...]