The “,” Parable

Hi! I am Comma. Please don’t ask me how am I, because I am not good. Well that’s just because I have grown comatose by my so clichéd use. Oh you’re telling me how picayune and intangible I am to literati! I would make you realize my importance then…..

Without me there could not be any pause in the sentences. Ever imagined a world without pauses in which you’d have to speak dribbling until your jaw dropped out? For the politicians, I am their very old friend (mostly in the Independence and republic day speeches), without me you would not be able to make an hour long speech, could you? The diplomatic sentences of ministers to the opposition are simply vacuous without me. I make the statements of ‘great’ men really ‘great’ by adding a tone of seriousness to those simple words of wisdom which are always present, but invisibly. Even you could not inveigle people to earn their votes without putting ‘me’ in between your promises. I’d rather ask now, could you? And for the Industrialists I am, as water for life. I hadn’t seen a single negotiation occurring without the use of comma in my whole life. And my life? Well, it’s centuries more than industry itself! I have also been put in the poems from the Anglo-Saxon times and even earlier. Either adding to the beauty of the words, or as a word of truce, either as a thing to rhyme, or dragged into lyrics of “The Rime”, patronizing their lyric banks, adding to the rhythm of the songs. I am the one who makes ‘yours sincerely’, really sincere in the letters. For doctors, you all too use me very often. Forgot the times when you needed to reply the bereaved members of the family, of your unsuccessful works? Even the adolescents have forgotten my importance for whom I was ‘the’ friend in need. Whenever you committed mistakes, I was the one who became a wall between you and your parents; I was the one who encountered your teachers when you went unprepared. But the only place which makes my heart filled with compunctions is, when I come between the two countries India and Pakistan, when I come between them, due to disagreements amongst them. But these regrets too get phased away when I realize that I also interrupt between all of their disagreements, augmenting comity amongst them. I feel my importance even more highlighted whenever I come across the sayings of Thomas Jefferson-“Respect the strength of the feeblest, without fearing of it.”   

The future of India

Recently I came across a new word ‘Indologist’, which is used for people who study about India. The first intrigue to tingle anyone would be why would people study on India? The country, which apart from having positive aspects, like “Fastest growing economy”, “most stable and prudently stabilised economy” which are mostly of an economist’s concern, has concerns for a sociologist. Highlighting the education sector lacunae, this remains predominantly inevitable in parts of our country, raise serious doubts on the future of India being moulded. 

There have been many proclamations that India will become developed till 2020. But, the future of our country i.e. the children in our society remain highly neglected. There was a famous right, patronized amongst our peers during the 8^th standard exam which was right to free and compulsory education till 14 years of age. In the urban areas, although the education is just at par with the optimum standards, yet I perceive that there are certain problems betrothed along with. Like many a school are lacking the trait of guiding the students to national and international competitions, teachers are unable to mentor the students on their career paths that’d make them most successful and such.

 Apart from the fortunate ones who live in urban areas, the more fortunate ones living in rural areas are still deprived from even a whiff of that right. The concept of mid-day meal germinated earliest by the Andhra Pradesh government also seems to be floundering as the days pass by. Then how can the future of the nation be solicited? The main reasons for dropouts in rural areas are distance of schools from homes, intellectually retarded parents on the notion of education, lack of experienced teachers. They face inexperienced teachers because experience does not come for the cost of nuts. Even if somehow a veteran teacher is brought, dearth of an interesting, interactive pedagogy does the remaining.

To facilitate and implement the right to education in complete sense, the extra wheels that can be put to this cherished chariot are firstly creating more interactive and vocation oriented pedagogy. Easier said than done. By vocation oriented education I mean an education which is meant for gaining a lucre oriented occupation needed to support a family. Also the learning must be an echelon above just theoretical. Adding we all acknowledge that it’s really it’s an arduous task to provide education to the largest pedantic horde. Instead of bringing in many expensive teachers, televised learning must be introduced into villages with the help of internet. So that even the students get guidance from the best teachers, in the cosiness of their villages. Televised learning shall really prove to be a turning stone in the horizons of rural education.

These changes, if realised in the fullest sense, shall ameliorate the slander on India of being 32 percent illiterate. And shall contribute to the age old reputation of India as a knowledge hub, which can be syllogised from the facts that Lord Krishna studied in Vaishali, Gautam Buddha got his realisation in Gaya, Magadh kingdom known for its world revered varsities and loads of such relics. Children do bestow us the future of our nation.