Indian Lifestyle : Not Indian Anymore

India, a country which is known for beautiful natural diversity, rich heritage, and culture. India taught the meaning of civilization to the universe. We live in a country where Ram leaves his throne and accepts 14 year exile to respect the words of his father.It happens only in India.But India has come a long way, we've have developed in terms technology, infrastructure, and economy, but India is losing what it is synonymous with- its culture.We are developing at real pace, a kid who once went to school in 'khaki' pant and blue shirt on his bicycle, today goes to his school in his new Beetel, listens to music on his apple ipod, and is online 24x7 on his 3rd generation cell phone even in classroom.
Most of us are connected with people we never met, living all over India and even abroad on facebook,orkut etc but don't know our neighbours. Amazing! Isn't it?We no more socialise with family,relatives, and neighbours as much we did a few decades back. The bonds that make a society are slowly dissolving. Kids, once simple and sweet are now smart and sophisticated. A guy talking to his father without Reason or Demand is a rare sight. We are now a part of a modern society that was designed in west. We are losing our mother tongues like Punjabi, Sindhi, Gujrati to a language that doesn't have a word for 'charansparsh'. We see Sherwani, Salwar suit and sarees only at wedding parties.Low waist jeans are in trend.
A 12year old child asks his busy dad,"dad! How much money you earn each hour"His unamused dad answers Rs.5000.Next day his son asks for Rs.3000 adamantly, his dad disgusted by him slaps him hard. His son goes crying to his room. After sometime, father went to his son's room and fetched him Rs.3000. His son wipes his tears draws Rs.2000 from the drawer and puts Rs.5000 in his father's palm and says innocently "Dad! I wish for an hour to dine with you".

 In this mad race of competition the slow, simple Indian life is diminishing, that circle of values and unity in diversity is fading somewhere and we're living a lifestyle which doesn't belong to us.

Is competition necessary in the learning process?

What's my fault if I am dumb? OK, sorry! It is my fault if I am dumb. But what is my fault if my neighbor is smarter than me? If I get 98.9 percentile in my CAT exam I am denied admission by all the IIMs. I don't get a job. I don't get a wife. I am screwed for life. And my neighbor, who got just one more mark than me, got 99 percentile. He gets admission in an IIM, an amazing job, a beautiful wife. He has been blessed for life. Why does this world fail to recognize the effort put behind an eventual failure? 

Right to primary education! Primary education. Mind it! Now competition makes an absolute mockery of Right to Education. It makes people spend their valuable time and money, makes them literate, and then makes them regret it. You just have nowhere to go thereon. It is like a plane takes you into the sky and drops you from there without a parachute.

India has highest suicide rates among students. Someone said that if just 1 student dies out of 50,000, how can we dare to do injustice to 49,999 of them just for one. If a plane is hijacked, 10 terrorists should be freed but not one innocent person should be killed, that is what our constitution advocates. For God sake, we are talking about a life. Be it just one but a life is valuable. we cannot afford to lose it just because our system could not give him the education he wanted. 

34% of India's population is illiterate. 50% of the population is just responsible for 2% of the country's GDP.  Now when we talk about development how can we leave behind 50% i.e. close to 600 million people out of picture. We can't just keep feeding them for life we have to bring them into the working India family.

What should we do? Education for all should be the motto. One would say resources are limited and we lack infrastructure to educate everyone. We don't have an alternative to competition.  We just can't help it. Well, we always have solutions.

Firstly, extend that primary education bracket to secondary, senior secondary, and if possible, to graduation level. Encourage other streams! India is one of the highest producers of Engineers and Doctors second only to China. But when we talk about streams like psychology, poetry, philosophy, we are no where. The need of the hour is to encourage all streams. Encourage learning by correspondence. If we don't have colleges to accommodate students let them be at home and learn by correspondence. Well it is 2012, why don't we take innovative ways like learning by cloud? Shoot a lecture, put it on YouTube a student who can be on Facebook 24x7 can very well learn by that method. 

I would like to say, we should enjoy our education. It's not some forced labor, we should have freedom to learn what we want, how we want. There's should be a positive vibe around when you go to your school or college. You should enjoy my success, I should enjoy yours. 

If this world fails to recognize the effort you put behind your eventual failure, it's the time you do... it's the time you do...

Is There A Home For Donkeys Like Us?

In a really pensive mood today!I am Googling weird things... Searching for something that cheers me up!And finally I am hit by a thought that how a teen's life resembles to a donkey..Or rather worse at times!!

The amount of work a teen is supposed to do is as difficult as carrying tons of load on your back. The load of expectations of family and friends, studies, the competition ahead, and career takes its toll on an adolescent’s mind. A numb mind, a tired soul, that wishes to just sit back a give itself a moment of peace not silence. Do we not deserve care, love, and appreciation or not going too far, at least we deserve to be heard?

 A lot of instances come in life when you want to cry, but you don't get a shoulder to cry upon. Even if we cry, look to give things up, the world shows no mercy.
I look at a donkey carrying heavy load; he doesn't look alien to me. So I ended up Googling "Home for Helpless Donkeys". Like a vagabond, I wandered across a number of pages and learnt about something substantial. 

And i found strikingly similar..... Home for Helpless donkeys!

Talking about donkeys, there are many  of those,  street donkeys, asses & mules in Leh that have been injured similar to what happens everyday around us. Many of them are old, disabled and no longer able to work so they are abandoned in the street, left on their fate. After an already hard so called 'life' , they are compulsed to feed on trash around them . We're also heading the same road. We are capable to do almost anything at youth but not quite at old. And that moment I don't think we would ever be cared. You can't prevent yourself from feeling for this animal and for yourself as well.

Here we can talk about a very unique idea of a Home. Unique for the way, Humans treat animals. "Home for Helpless Donkeys" is the answer to this big question. It was set up by South African photojournalist Joanne Lefson and run by caretaker Padma Dorje where these lovely cute donkeys receive medical care, food and a sanctuary away from Leh's vicious dogs. They are being given a life that they deserve probably more than us. Or not quite!

Isn't it amazing, eating, mating and playing with a warm space to sleep, Oops!! only for donkeys. I was pretty touched with the kind gesture some people have shown for this discarded breed of animals. 
But I wonder why we confuse a donkey’s innocence for stupidity!Wonder why we use his name as slang..I feel pathetic for this misdemeanor and apologetic to this wonderful creature.Next time you see a stray animal think about his misery, an d feed something … Let’s be human to animals..

There should be a place for me as well somewhere- after being called a donkey a million times by fellows, I certainly feel I stand a chance to get admission in the Home for Helpless donkeys! Hopefully there should be no entrance test there.If there is one, I would rather be myself going there. I am sure they'll understand.