All grown up now!!

My younger brother has grown up..........

At times, I take it for granted that he is still small and needs our(aai's and my) advice in taking decisions.
I remember him as someone who had to be handed his coffee mug three times in a day. I remember him cribbing about the vegetable made by aai coz he hated it. I remember him getting worked up over small things.

But that is no longer him anymore.....
He has grown up.

He takes his decisions on his own. He eats all vegetables that are served on his plate. He is cool and calm in tense, sudden situations. He is able to manage without our help.......
What else can a parent or an elder sister ask for???
He has been studying in the US for the past one year. Recently he surprised us all by paying us a visit all of a sudden. He just stood at aai's doorstep one night!!!! We were all very, very happy ofcourse. Aai was the happiest.
This was such an unexpected happiness for all of us, that we cannot ask for more. But somewhere we all want him to stay back and be with us.
I am proud of him coz he is handling his life so well, even though he is far from all of us.
May he get the best in life, always. My prayers will always be with him.

Difficult to believe!!!!!

Just yesterday saw the movie Sarkar Raj. I didnt like the movie at all. It was all about the Bachans. And thats about it. I mean, come on. Arent we tired of seeing these 'bhai' type movies now? There have been so many of these category that nothing seems to shock us now. The gang wars, the dishonesty, the treachery....... So clicheddddddddd........

Besides, Aishwarya Rai seems like an appendage. Someone who is thrust into the plot just coz she happens to be Abhishek's wife in the real life. So predictable and boring........
And we all know the end of these gundas. We have seen it in Vaastav, in Satya, in Company and many other such movies. Amitabh comes to the conclusion in the end that if he knew that his doings would affect his sons and daughters, he wouldnt have behaved the way he had....
Gosh!!! Is that so difficult to understand???? That when you have a family, your doings definitely affect your family. Anyways, "der aaye, durusta aaye" ye bhi nahi kaha jaa sakta, coz the Big B realises this when he has lost most of his family members.

Besides all this, the most annoying thing was not from the movie!!! Yes, surprisingly!!! I was shocked mostly coz the parking ticket for E-Square is a good Rs. 40/-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My hubby would have almost asked whether they were going to wash and clean the car while we were enjoying the movie!!!!!!!!!!!! Which was definitely not the case. Just the parking cost us a whole 40 bucks!!!!!!! Come on!!!!!! Maybe my hubby and me have been to a movie in Pune after a gap of a good six months. But still..... I mean, 40 bucks is just too much to digest. The movie ticket itself costs one Rs150/-!!!! Movie watching has surely become a costly affair these days.

All and all, a very boring and yet expensive experience.

I miss teaching..... a lot.

Its been almost 6 - 7 months since I have been away from the thing I like doing best....... being with children and teaching them English.
Many a times I remember the time I spent with the kids in school. Many a times I plan a hundred ways of teaching, guiding them. I am eagerly waiting for the time I can actually put it all into practice.
Hope I am able to get to what I do best as soon as possible.......

Difference Between 'Wanting to' and 'Having to'

"My English classes are not compulsory classes" I told the kids of grade 6.
"You are free to walk out if you dont feel like attending my classes. You are free to pursue what you like. It could be dance, art, music or sports. "
I could see the astonishment on their faces. Some faces showed that they were sure I was crazy. Some more felt it a welcome change from the previous teachers, at least they would be able to get out of the class without having to make the efforts of trying to be punished!!!!
I was fortunate enough to work in a very non-conventional school for the past one year. It gave me the freedom to say this to my students. It also made my mind broader towards the field of child education. The Director of the organisation is a unique human being. He once told me about a theory of 'Push and Pull'.
The theory was simple; it said that it was same as 'Wanting to' and 'Having to'. There is a vast difference in pushing people towards the goal and pulling them towards it. People who are pushed have to be pushed till they reach the goal. Mind you, they need the push continously. But those who are pulled towards the goal can be set free and yet they will reach their goal.
I used it in education.
It was my constant effort to make the children genuinely interested in the subject I taught. As a trainer in the school once said,"The children need to know why they are learning what they are learning." Hence I tried to make my classes interesting and ones that involved a lot of practical work. It was a challenge to prepare mundane topics in english in a way that would make every child curious enough to learn it.
I dont know how well I succeeded. But I do remember that at the end of a particular class one of my students said, "This is the first time I feel that I dont need the Sports class, I would rather sit in the English class."
Hope I am able to convert the children who need to be pushed into children who are pulled towards their goals.

My Intuitions

Do you ask yourself whether to or not to do a particular thing before doing it???
And what if your heart tells you its okay, but your brain tells you that its not????
Would you rather listen to your heart or your brain? And in either which way, face the consequences???????
There are times in life when you just cant seem to make up your mind. Its just one of those times in a person's life which are so difficult to handle and yet so difficult to let go.......
And what if you eventually listen to someone(either your heart or your brain) and decide accordingly, but end up having an intuition about doing the exact opposite of what you decided??????????
Its that small little voice within you that sort of guides you. Do you listen to it? Or do you ignore it?????

Dress Code

"Is there a dress code that has to be followed here?" I asked with bated breath.
"Oh yes, Sarees are a must."
.................
WHY?????????????? I wanted to shout at the person on the other side of the desk, but I didn't.
I was sitting in the office of the principal of a school. This was the fifth school I had visited to give in my application for the post of an English Teacher. All of them had made it crystal clear to me that sarees happened to be a compulsory dress code for a teacher. Imagine what it must have done to someone like me, who feels totally out of place in a saree, who cant even walk properly in it and who is not at all herself in it.........
The worst thing was that I couldnt forsake the chance to do the best thing I loved; teaching, just coz I was expected to dress myself in a five and a half metre garment that I found extremely uncomfortable.
I remembered what my aai(mom) used to tell me, ' don't ever say that you don't like a particular thing, eventually that is what you will end up having to do.' It was so right in this particular situation. It definitely increased my respect for aai a threefold.
Well, now I had the mammoth task of buying a few sarees that could be draped easily. Cottons was out of the question coz they were high maintainance and very difficult to dress up in. And it wasnt the end of it all, after the saree was bought, it had to have a matching blouse which had to be stitched. Not to mention all the other accessories that have to accompany the saree..
But I was still fighting with myself over the school's role to make this sort of a dress code. Their idea of this dress code was to avoid any teacher dressing in an indecent manner. So evidently, they thought that saree was a very decent attire. I am sure Sushmita Sen as the sexy, saree clad chemistry teacher in 'Main Hu Na' would prove them totally wrong, wat say???
But what if a teacher came clad in a saree but was unable to teach well??? Time and again I thought that if I had posed that question to the authorities they would have said that it was okay as long as she had draped herself in a saree!!!!!!!!
'Help me!!!! Some one help me.' was all I could think of doing.
After a lot of thinking and a lot of debates with myself and my near and dear ones, I decided to look at the brighter side of it all - This might be the only way that would make me learn how to carry myself in a saree. So wish me luck and dont you dare come visit me in school to see my plight, at least for a few months till I am able to get better at it. Ha Ha.

I dread of hurting someone all the time.......

The recent controversy over a line in a song in the latest movie named 'Nach Le' made me write this post.
Due to one particular line in a song, the movie was actually banned in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab!! It is said to contain a derogatory remark on a particular community. I mean, who would take it, if you say bad things about their religion, their caste??? Maybe it doesnt hurt so much right now, coz its not my community they are demeaning. But, to be very true, my sentiments towards my religion, my caste, my colour and my country on the whole are not so easily shaken or disturbed. Just coz some one else says bad things about a particular thing, doesnt mean that I should be affected by it.
I mean, come on, has our sentiment, feeling for that subject become so fickle, and so brittle, that it can be broken and hurt by something so small and insignificant????????

In India, now a days, it has become so easy to wage a war. A war that will not be fought between two countries, but a war that will be fought within the country. It is so easy to ignite tension, and so easy to make us; the people of a country that prides itself for its 'Unity in Diversity' notion, to fight amongst ourselves.
The reasons are so petty at times, that one wonders what made all this happen! And please, lets not keep blaming the damn politicians. I am not saying they are not at fault. But hey, have your and my ideologies become so weak, that a few selfish politicians can shake them and hurl them into the space???????????
I wish there was a more subtle and yet powerful way of putting across this issue. I wish that the politicians had the decency(very rarely found in this breed) to give an opportunity to the movie makers(in this particular incident) to make amends.
But alas, what am I expecting here, and from whom...........
But, we as the people of the nation should have the right to 'not accept' this and do what is correct. Hope we all have the courage to do it.