I wish all our Scooters n Bikes n Cars should break down!

Hi all,

It might sound heart-breaking, a total loss in this busy world to hear me praying for a complete break-down of our automotives (the scooter or the scooty, the bike or the car whichever you possess). Isn't that? But cool down, I've no intention of putting you or even myself into trouble. Right. If not you'll disagree with me only till you have read the following:

It was just like another day, of course not a weekday but an off day from the work. With no much scenic beauty around, no casinos and no spas and no bars or pubs upto a minimum length of 60 miles, there was nothing much to do. With a heavy, bored heart, he surfed through the net and suddenly there flashed an important message from a private banker that they (he and his wife) had to meet the Accounts Manager immediately in order to settle certain pending transaction. It was the last week of the month. Every thousand was a princely sum in the bank account. And this was after all a matter of eight such thousands, sufficient enough to cheer them up.

"Hey! Here is the call we have been waiting for. Finally, they've called us for settling the transaction".

"Wow! So great of you. It wouldn't have been possible without you speaking to the Zonal Office, I know".

"Fine, let me pick the scooter and you get ready and come straight down".

"OK! Just a minute".

He reached for the space under the stairs, puulled the scooter and rolled it down through the ramp. Kicked, again kicked and now kicked for the third time, now brought it to the stand, kicked again, again and again. But why should it have started. It was all determined not to start. They were also running out of the time.

 She was hurrying downstairs. She understood the whole thing. "Leave it, lets walk, otherwise we'll not be able to reach".

He left the scooter and started walking with her. They walked together. Twenty years and probably they were walking for the first time and that too together. Earlier, he had felt her only on his back, whenever, a pit came across on the road, or a speed-braker or a sudden brake to avoid dashing something. Initially, they enjoyed all this but it can not run for twenty or more years. Today, she was walking along with him and so many times they swung on each other while they sped to the bank. At places, she caught him by his shirt and at times, he had to pull her holding her wrist from the speeding and mindless traffic. They were talking, laughing, looking at each other and all this while they were walking. Her body touched his, many a times, and not even once from the back but everytime from the sides. It was a first time experience and sharing. Besides, at many points and crossroads, he had to ask her about the shops. He was not on those roads for the first time but he was on those roads for the first time on foot. He had been riding and driving for last twenty years but did not know many of the houses and the shops on the way. He was so surprised to find all those shops so close by to his house today. Actually, they were always so close to him but he had been overlooking all of them. They completed their business at the bank and again the same exotic and romantic walk began to the house.

Today, for the first time his boring weekend had become a cheerful one. They had taken three hours to get back to home. Had they had their scooter, it would have taken them not more than an hour. Within an hour, theyd have come back. But this walk took three hours and filled so much of romance back into their life that he has not called for his mechanic to set the scooter and he is waiting eagerly for the coming weekend and preparing a fool proof plan to show the cause of making another foot journey to the town. He is also thinking of wilds as his next place on coming weekend but has no reason to explain her about his foot journey. 

Can we pray that he invents some reason to show her and she agrees to it?

KARWA CHAUTH

Karwa Chauth is a ritual and the married women eagerly wait for this day. As the tradition is changing, we hear of some unmarried girls also observing fast on this day and performing the Puja with a hope of finding a suitable life partner.

When we are free......

It is a general feeling that that when we are free we should not work at all, COME WHAT MAY. On the contrary, there is a school of thinkers and management gurus who advice the bad part of what we generally think! They are of the opinion that the free time of a person is the best time in the hand of a person to re-organise his thoughts, re-schedule his calendar activities, and prioritize his obligations to the family in particular and the nation in general.

So, it comes to this that when we are free, we should freely be busy doing things. This helps us to move ahead in a planned way and also it ensures that the days of freedom will arrive very frequently for you to enjoy your life and to revitalise yourself. We may like to get into a pub and forget all by guzzling the stress buster but at the same time the tranquility gained through the stress buster can be utilized positively to chalk out the next day's work. It can be an opportunity to prepare the plugs which can be fixed into the minor and the major holes that we perceive in our near future. This is a sort of peace time which is the time for maintenance of arms for the undeclared war. Preparedness is must so that we can say COME WHAT MAY and sail smoothly even when the seas are high and rough.

Merit and not Reservation

Dear policymakers,

Now we don't need any reservation in this country. We are fed up of this elite treatment "reservation" because we have understood that by providing reservation to us, our talent has been made to lie deep in its dormant stage only. You gave us the reservation and said that if we just go and appear for the examination and come out of the examination hall by writing our names in the answer copies, we will be awarded the degree of a doctor. Initially, we felt glad and kingly but later we realized that it still was the way to demoralize us and not to allow us to raise our level of intelligence. Infact, you wanted us to remain blunt all our life! What a deep-rooted conspiracy!

Thus, I say that we don't need reservation of any type anymore.

What do you think about us and our intellectual level? We can very well compete with the mass (read) the students of other category who do not have any reservation. We know, they have not been given reservation because they are intelligent classes. Are we not? Stop all this political gimmick and evaluate us at par the general students. We will show you that we can excel them.

Reservation has crippled the state of the affairs in our state. Go anywhere, there is reservation. What for? Are we born with a mentally retarded head or what? No and not at all. What is the need of reservation in studies? It is because of this reservation that we have not been able to produce devoted, intelligent, faithful and committed public servants, bureaucrats or the politicians. All of them came through reservation, only to spoil the future of the coming generation. Test the students or the aspirants to various openings at par. No differentiation. If you are so obssessed with differentiation, differentiate us on the basis of the grades, the score, the percent and the percentile. That would give you the real intelligent people in the system who will put their brains together to make the nation corruption free.

For long we have seen everything bad, now its the time to see something good. If you are blind to this epidemic of reservation, there is no way of preservation for this nation. Only the candidates with real subject knowledge, real content, true practical knowledge gained in the school laboratories, honest attempt of the examination, beautiful grades can be the saviours of our nation.

So, give preference to merit over any type of reservation. Its high time for the government to realize the need of making constitutional ammendments to abolish reservation policy in education and service(s). You may limit the reservation policy in Public Distribution System, Quota releases, Indira Awaas allotment, MNERAGA and such other channels. But education does not differentiate between Eklavya and Arjuna. Without any reservation, both of them proved to be good shooters.

SC, ST Representation in Lokpal by Mayawati

The country is going through a deadlock when Anna Hazare has entered his 11th day of fast. If Jan Lokpal is not passed or three issues defined by him are not included for debate in the parliament, the fast is proposed not to end.

The government including the opposition party seems terrified over the issue. On one hand, we have a 74 year old man fasting and on the other we have the corrupt politicians who are afraid as to what will happen to their hidden treasure(s)in the mainland and overseas. These politicians seem to have been caught between the devil and the deep sea. There is no go now. Only one go. Shout in the parliament in favour of the strong Lokpal Bill and get yourself executed. Everything good comes to an end.

Readers can imagine if the culprit is asked to sharpen his own stake for impending execution! But the way to the execution point can be smoothened by our corrupt politicians with the huge wealth amassed by them over the period. So it shouldn't be a matter of worry for them.

The matter to be worried now is the latest backstage cry raised by Mayawati, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh that SC, ST should be included in Lokpal. Mayawati must know that it has become too much for the people in India to bear any more the 'reservation'. Now, we have started talking about the merit and the talent. No company (MNCs or Indian) will ever uphold your category status and offer you a lucrative package of salary. The time has gone and moreover, it is no time for us to get our vested interests fitted into something that is being done to end corruption. Look out! Very shortly another Anna Hazare (May his tribe increase) may sit on fast against reservation.

At this juncture we should go for constitutional amendment and wipe off all old laws and policies that are so insignificant in the present or do not have any strength or need for the future. Free India from the shackles of corruption and reservation to see a better India in the times to come. Corruption and Reservation are only two damp crackers which will not burst on the day of Diwali. So let us show them sun by removing them from our nation. Hail India and forget not to Hail Democracy.

Crossword Puzzle: Number One

Books Recommended for English Teachers

There are number of books. Books and Books everywhere and all around. This creates a chaos in proper selection of a suitable book by a learner of english language. The names of few books, which even the CIEFL faculty also have recommended during their lecture sessions are being put here through my blog. I'm sure it would be of great use to the young learners of English language. Have a look:
1. 'Language' by Leonard Bloomfield
2. 'Aspects of the Theory of Syntax' (1965) by Noam Chomsky
3. 'English Grammar Practice' by R.N. Bakshi
4. 'Balasubramanian's Book on Phonetics'
5. 'A Course in English Grammar' by R.N. Bakshi, Published by Orient Longman
6. 'Shakespeare's Sonnets' by Sunil Kumar Sarker, Published by Atlantic Publishers
7. 'Introducing Applied Linguistics' by S. Pit Corder
8. 'Linguistics' by David Crystal, Published by Penguin Publishers
9. 'A University Grammar of English' by Randolph Quirk
10. 'The Use of English' by CIEFL, Hyderabad
11. A Handwriting Manual' by Alfred Fairbank
12. 'One Step Ahead Punctuation' by Robert Allen, Published by OUP
13. 'Writer's Guide to Style and Usage', Published by Rajiv Beri for Macmillan
14. 'Communicative Grammar of English' by Leech and Svatvik, Published by ELBS

Happy Reading.
May many more such books be the treasure of your Library!

Teachers should be equipped with Laptops

Yeah! Its already late. The teachers of today should now at least be provided with Laptops by the employers. In this age of MNCs and Globalization and Brand value, schools too have started getting the clients as their students and in order to impress the clients (read students) it ihas become very important for the teachers to present the content through latest means of teaching aids.
Thus, we see that the teachers are in dire need of i-pads and smart pads or laptops. When internet has expanded the horizon of knowledge and brought about content-enrichment in the field of various studies, use of tech gadgets as mentioned hitherto is unavoidable. The government may argue that we can give loan to the teachers and they could buy a laptop of their own. But that would sound like an employer asking a teacher about ten-fifteen years back during his appointment to bring a blackboard and chalk-sticks along with him everyday to the school! Yeah! Surely that sounds funny. So this too sounds funny that the employers very generously talk of interst free loans for purchase of laptops by teachers. After all they will recoup the loan amount from the teacher. So what benefit does a teacher get? Nothing.
Teacher is also one of the stake-holders in the system of education who is equipped with knowledge dissemination but the via medium of this dissemination should be provided by the government. Has the government ever done anything beneficial for the teachers except slashing down the pay as and when it desired? The future of the children, which the government talks about the most, should be made safe and secure. Not by giving frrebies but by making each and every child responsible for his acts. If he wins, brings laurels, does some innovation, he should be applauded but if he does something ghastly, he should be tried in child juvenile court by giving exrtra powers to the head of the institutions to initiate such proceedings against him. How mute we stand before the student power sometimes and allow them to grow anti government, anti democratic and unparliamentary. This is not the right foundation we are laying. We are rather digging their graves and they don't understand since they believe on us and the policy makers.
So, it is time their future is really made bright by bringing them to classrooms, a place they actually belong to. They may not loiter out because a teacher's voice is hoarse and he is old and he gives only lectures and he does a lot of talking himself in the class, and he does lot of writing on the blackboard. He may stick to class if his teacher goes well equipped with the videos and clips and games of his subject on his laptop. This will certainly improve the sad face of education in our schools.