Guru Govind dou khare, Kaake lagun paye ! Balihaari Guru apno, Govind Diyo dikhaye.

All of us have read this doha in our schools, I could not agree to it more. I would like to share a letter, from a dedicated and committed teacher to a national daily "The Hindu".

Till last year, I was working in an aided higher secondary school with a good reputation. But I opted for voluntary retirement for a variety of reasons, among them the workload of handling unwieldy classes. The school produces excellent results in the board exams and so the demand for admissions is always high. The management has to yield to the tears and pressures of parents. The result is an overflowing population in each classroom and we teachers are helpless witnesses to the phenomenon. An overcrowded class drains the physical and even mental strength of the teacher. This is what happened in my career spanning 25 years. Since I was handling classes X and XII, I was under constant pressure to produce cent per cent results. A language teacher has to correct double the number of answer papers, of Language Paper I & II. I held special classes on most Saturdays and, on many occasions, I could not manage time for personal work. I was travelling almost two hours daily to reach my school. So it would be very late when I returned home after completing the special class and I had to concentrate on class work late into the night. All this told on my health. My voice got abused by the necessity of speaking loud to reach out to all students. My forefinger thickened with continuous correction work. In fact, my correction work consumed all my Dasara and Christmas vacations and at the end of every vacation, I returned to school with irritation in the eyes and pain in the neck and back. Social commitments and entertainment were next to non-existent. Inspirational teachers like Dr. Radhakrishnan could not help me either when I had to face a class of 80 to 90 students. Eye contact with every student was not possible as by the time my eyes surveyed half of the class one period would be over! Practically, it became impossible to look at everyone. That my myopic vision couldn't register faces from the last rows was another matter! I am not boasting, I have all through been a teacher with commitment. In all my service, I availed myself of only 10 days of medical leave for a surgical operation. I had never exhausted my CL or EL. I say all this only to stress how demanding a teacher's job is, especially when the strength of the class is unreasonably large. You are exhausted and you call it quits.

Bullets for the living, dignity for the Dead

This picture appeared in The Hindu Newspaper on 17th June 2010.The following day readers recorded there strong reaction in letters to editor column

That the body of a person — Maoistor no Maoist, male or female — can be carried like that of an animal is appalling. Dignity in death is a human right. Every such act of in humanness shames us collectively.

Sandhya Sundar,

Chennai

The photograph not only brings to mind the image of pre-historic hunters but also points to the disregard for the dignity of the dead. No doubt the security forces face a difficult task in tackling Maoists. But they ought to remember that they represent a superior moral order on which the state power is legitimised.

Saurav Jhalli,

New Delhi

The photo of the security forces carrying the body of the woman Maoist with her hands and feet tied to a pole can be viewed only with revulsion. They could have used a makeshift stretcher with bamboos.They should be instructed to avoid insulting the dead, at least in future.

M.K.B. Nambiar,

Mahe

The photograph speaks volumes of how the Indian state views all those it considers a threat to internal security. The other photo of the captured Adivasi, barely past his adolescence, bears the face that could stand in for a large number of disenfranchised, poor and desperate tribals, treated as enemies of the state for merely wanting to lead a life of dignity.

S.V. Rajadurai & V. Geetha,

Kotagiri

I was shocked beyond words to seethe photograph of the security personnel carrying the body of the Maoist woman.This is perhaps how they are trained to work. Probably, this is how they carry their own colleagues killed in such encounters.

N. Nagarajan,

Secunderabad

The security forces were aware that they were hunting down the ultras. Should they not have kept stretchers with them to carry the dead and the injured?

K. Bala Sundram,

Dharmapuri

The respect for human lives is an essential characteristics required for society to be called civilized. However the demand of readers in this case in unreasonable and not good for the morale of our security forces. The turmoil our security forces go through is unparalleled, with limited resources our force has to fight the naxals who are well trained in guirella warfare and at the same time they have to keep their morale high against local people criticisms. The success of security forces are largely dependent on public support, when they should be appreciated for their courage and valour few ladies attending kitty parties call them murderers. The trauma of mass killing of 71 security personnel is still fresh, though entire nation was gripped in grief after Dantewada blast(71 CRPF were killed in one attack) but the security personnel pain and trauma is different. Those who are serving in chattisgarh know it very well that any battalion could have met such fate. The security forces are groomed to protect sovereignty an integrity of nation, they are not human rights watchdog. One hand we expect them to kill enemy and at the same time demands respect for the dead,(few may argue that those killed were not enemy, i prefer to call them enemy) It is the policy of every state to keep security forces in intellectual deprivation, because intellectuals cant kill. Feelings of brotherhood and respect for human beings/dead are food for intellectual consumption in places far from combat zone, unfortunately very few Indians can afford such luxury. We must not forget that security Personnel are ordinary men under extraordinary pressure. Situation in naxal affected area is far from inhabitable, logistic support are ill developed so security forces have to carry huge supplies. A combat may extend for weeks, they have to ensure that they carry sufficient supplies into jungle. Expecting them to carry stretcher will put too much pressure on them.

The readers demand is strange

Carry bullets for the living and stretcher for the dead.

Death for the living and dignity for the dead.

Dreams of my Daughter

Sociologists consider education as the most potent tool for social mobility, because in a fragmented compartmentalized society like India degrees and tags(IITian, IAS, IPS) can get you things which are hard to get otherwise. In all society a few things are valued more than others, hierarchical arrangement of occupation is prevalent in all societies and India is no exception. However, in our society there are very few occupations that has been considered worthy enough to find a place in the list. In western societies the list is endless but here the list stops after engineering and Medicine. Educational and occupational decision are taken up by family, what college, which branch, which company, which city all these are decided by family and individual is reduced to "agent smith" who simply executes the order. Our society values education not for the wisdom that education provides us but for the salary that education from a premier institute guarantees. Educational institute are perceived as mint making industry where best of minds are shaped into mints of different denomination. The goal of any educational institute should be to develop skills and survival strategies. The mind set of parents should change. Indian Child rearing practices needs an overhaul, even after a child crosses 25 years it is the parents who take their decisions. Even after graduation the Indians remains child of their parents rather than becoming a grownup son. Parents impose their view on children. Its true that the amount of pain and sacrifice Indian parents make for their child is unparalleled. However, parents child relationship are ought not to be reciprocal. Today's middle class youth has only one dream, they all want to fulfill dreams of their parents', hardly anyone talks about their own vision and the dreams they would like to realized, truly there exist no other land where so much sacrifices are made. What happens to our dreams goals and aspiration, will they ever be realized?if you are not impotent then there is no need to be disheartened, your child will fulfill your dream. He will take his gf to high mountain where you wanted to make honeymoon, he will marry girl of his choice the freedom you were denied, he will join animation program and will give shape to your's high school imagination. Why to worry dear your child will fulfill your dream. Then why to f**K, let your child to fulfill even that dream. The fate of child is decided long before she is born, the injustice done by the previous generation is perpetuated thus, and the future generation is made slave of previous generation.

Independence and autonomy are the virtues which are least inculcated by Indian CRPs(child rearing practices), the Indian CRPs consist of many dont's and very few do's the child is frequently punished for mistakes and rarely rewarded for right behavior. This punishment laden learning makes us risk averse and initiatives are curbed before they can germinate. For society to become self sufficient in technology we need to take risk, make innovation and all these are directly linked to CRPs.

Though after 21 years of age you can take political decision but we are not considered wise enough to take personal decisions. I was astonished to hear that after a road accident(in which one our friend died) my alma mater implemented blanket ban on possession of vehicles by student. Instead of banning vehicles, students should have been taught driving skills, and regarding drunk driving high penalty provision should have been made. But putting a ban was the most easiest thing. The focus is not on developing right behavior but rather eliminating the deviant behavior by eliminating complete behavior, after all elimination is easier than reorienting deviant behaviors. In my opinion too much attempt to shield us from vagaries of life makes us impotent and deprives us from opportunities where self regulation and self control can be learned. What will the institute do after one graduates and rides a bike after some shots of tequila or few puffs of charas on Pune expressway.

Why does society not expose us to harsh life gradually, why do they expects that one sudden day we will acquire enlightenment.

The society at large is against sex education being provided at school, in a way it either expects that children should learn mystery about sexuality form cheap literature or is it that on the eve of 21st birthday child suddenly acquires sex-knowledge. The human development is gradual and no skill or knowledge comes suddenly rather it is acquired gradually through practice, and for that prior exposure, some autonomy and respect for child's decision is necessary.

I only pray that our future generation should be given the opportunity to realized their own dream and we must ensure that we dont impose our will on them.