The physical signs of leprosy are a hypopigmented patch and loss of sensation. Now in the so-called healthy society you can see a lot of injustice and poverty, yet you are not moved. You have lost your sensation, your feeling. The mind is so dull, the heart so unfeeling, thick-skinned like a hippopotamus - that's mental leprosy.
---
I want to be a man who goes around with a little oil can and when he sees a breakdown offers his help. To me, the man who does that is greater than any holy man in saffron-colored robes. The mechanic with the oilcan, that is my ideal in life.
If I were to simplify the two sides, I'd draw parallels between the debate and different parenting styles (Parent == God). On one hand there are parents who tell their kids to behave in a specific way, follow certain rules; not because it is right (which it may or may not be; or it is right, because someone says so) but because the parent commands them so. Alternatively, the parent may reason with the child as to "why" certain things are morally objectionable (in the sense that they may face the consequences if others around behaved in the same way in future). Note the If here. There is no guarantee that immoral actions will be punished either directly or indirectly. It's just a matter of principle not to indulge in them.
It seems to me that for some kids strategy1 might work better ("do it because I say so") at least initially. Kids may fear the punishment by the parent. But in the long term, I think, strategy2 will help because it provides a proper justification, even though it is probabilistic. I agree that this analogy is not perfect in the sense that those arguing for God, say that s/he is omnipresent and omniscient and can punish you, even after you die.
Another parallel can be drawn with criminalizing non-voting in public elections. I think many people will agree that people should not be punished for not voting, but at the same time, it would be better if they voted. From the point of view of a "non" voter, his/her vote wouldn't change election results, which is mathematically true in most elections. But when viewed collectively, it will be disastrous for the democracy if everyone were apathetic towards elections.
I think each of us has an inbuilt conscience that helps us know what is right and what is wrong. So, in my opinion, belief in God is not necessary for morality. But it certainly helps us. In this case, the results matter more than the means.
Dr. Dabholkar was assassinated today morning. I haven't followed his work closely but had listened to a few speeches by him long ago and was impressed with his skepticism and tact of handling questions. People who cannot handle intellectual battles, take weapons in their hands. So much human potential is wasted in the name of religion, it's sickening.
Again I cannot but contrast the situation in India with other countries. Noted skeptic James Randi is celebrated across the USA and rest of the world, whereas we fail to publicize people who are doing similar work in India. If Bill Maher were to perform in India, talking about God, he would sure need an army of bodyguards.
We are tolerant when we should be intolerant and vice a versa. But I have faith in the future, blind one, you say?
So I'm at a purse/bag/pouch and assorted paraphernalia shop buying things for sisters and aunts. When I reach the counter and start taking the money out of my wallet, the owner asks -
One thing had surprised me a lot when I heard it from an Indian friend. He said, usually, Taiwanese people take bath at night just before going to sleep. I was like whaa.. Reasoning I was told was that they take their sleep quite seriously and want to feel totally clean before wandering into the dreamland.
One day, I asked a Taiwanese colleague about it. He confirmed it. Then I asked, "do you ever take bath in the morning at all?" He gave a classic reply -
Taiwan witnessed a strong (135 Km/Hr) typhoon named Soulik, on Saturday, 13 July.
At our place, wind started to blow like a maniac after midnight. Lights went off for a fraction of second multiple times. We felt safe in our apartment, but some people were not so fortunate
Two people died, several got injured. After Taiwan, the typhoon proceeded towards China where the causalities were far greater. [For more.]
In the morning I went around our place to see the damage. Lots of tree had felled. The local sports park is going to need a lot of cleaning. See pictures below (click to enlarge)-
Beautiful, eh? I enquired here for its identification.
Let's see if we find out its name.
While we are on the subject of rains and winds, I'll leave
you with one of my favourite sounds on the FreeSound
community. Enjoy!
So back to web logging. Let's see how long this streak goes. Meanwhile deactivated my FB account (Yes We Can!), been active on Quora, G+ and a mostly passive reader on a multitude of StackExchange sites recently. Trying to bring all my friends to Quora and G+. At first it felt good not to waste time on FB, but as days passed reached a state of procrastination-work equilibrium. Morning newspaper routine is replaced by checking hot questions on SE, following up with new updates on Google reader and daily gems on Quora such as How much will it cost to deliver a pizza to the International Space Station?
Kids make the same sounds while playing as in India. If you are listening from a distance, you cannot tell whether they are speaking Chinese or Hindi/Marathi from the tone of it. Also it seems small kids make the same sounds all over the world.
Polite bus drivers who greet with Ni Hao (Hello!) when you get in and Xiè Xie (Thank you!) when you get out.
Most people here don't like window seats in buses. All of them will take the aisle seats (edgehogis the word). Could be because the space between seats is less than normal.
When I paid (quite handsomely) a visit to the Eslite bookstore I was surprised to see Chinese translations of all the English bestsellers at about half the price of the English ones. Felt sorry that I can't read Chinese, would have saved so much money!
Wind blows real hard! The whooshing gale sounds make getting asleep easy.
Everybody is busy on some social network. Buses, trains everywhere. Well, a few of them read a book too but a majority are busy online. There is a ubiquitous V sign that youngsters use when they post pics on FB.
Local vegetarian food is tasteless, or to be PC let's say differently tasty. So many tea brands on shelves, sadly, none of them taste like they do in India. A post about food later.
People have bizarre English names. A person I know is called Airforce. Beat that!
Road work is very quickly finished. If they are digging a ditch in the morning, by evening you are likely to see it done and all covered up again.
People don't remove shoes/sandals when going inside temples!
Many people ask Are you vegetarian because of religion? I don't argue and say yes.May be they have a view that vegetarianism has something to do with Hinduism. I wanted to say, No, it's because I'm not used to it and am nauseated by the thought. May be I should tell it next time, at least they will not think that Hinduism is restrictive.
I thought of finishing each post with a good piece of music (that I did not compose).
Enjoy thisremix of Jeeves & Wooster theme! Be patient until 0:48.
“Just to make things clear, I have not read the book (courtesy Maharashtra govt). Nevertheless, I do not think people should ban the books just because they do not like the content. The book may be biased, even incorrect at places, but then there are many such books around. We need to be more tolerant. Even if one wants to ban the book, they should have a logical argument, which the government obviously lacked and hence lost the case in the court. The Supreme Court verdict (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/SC-lifts-ban-on-Laine-s-Shivaji/644639) has given fodder to the political parties for more vandalism. I mean don't these people have some business (apart from 'Rasta Roko' and Bus burning) to mind? Why can't they vent out their energy in some constructive work? Tomorrow they will say ban all the books by OUP. It's utterly ridiculous.
The situation is like 'either you write something praiseworthy about our idols or do not write at all'. Quoting Writer Shanta Gokhale "Today, it is impossible for anyone to say or write anything about Shivaji. It’s almost like 10 people or so have a monopoly over the man [King Shivaji]." (http://bit.ly/9veoRP).
I found following reviews of the book on Amazon (http://amzn.to/bIAtMp) useful and am pasting them here.
Nothing to get too excited about - Written by - Pankaj Saxena
This is not so much a review of the book as my take on the controversy surrounding it and some of the comments in the other reviews on Amazon. Yes, I've read the book. Yes, it's silly in parts. But nothing to get so upset about....
I read with dismay about the ban on this book and the vandalism at BORI, with the loss of so many irreplaceable historical documents and treasures. This is Indian history that was lost forever through senseless destruction, and Indians are the poorer for it. It's a shame that a democracy has to resort to book banning; and so readily produces mindless mobs who wantonly destroy priceless history. Democracy can't exist without the freedom of speech, including speech you consider to be wrong or contrary to your beliefs.
That said, this book is an ill-assorted compendium of half-digested facts and speculation, without any attempt at rigorous scholarship. I know the author has since explicitly stated that it is not meant to be historical; it is in fact a collection of stories about Shivaji -- some historical and documented, others that he heard from his buddies over a cup of tea in Pune. The trouble is that most people *do* see it as a factual account (with authority conferred by the credentials of the author and the Oxford University Press). To some extent, it is the fault of the author for not being sufficiently explicit to begin with, but then again, he probably did not expect such scrutiny from the public.
No one knows the truth except the author himself, but I really do not think he set out deliberately to demean Hinduism or to defend Islam. The hints of cultural smugness, his confidence in the interpretations of Western rather than Indian scholars, and the discussion (funny and inept though it may be) of why Indian scholars might be biased in their accounts, are probably also not deliberate. It is common practice to assume that someone who has nothing invested emotionally in the culture or religion under study is more impartial. This viewpoint ignores any biases that the scholar may bring with him from his own culture, but the assumption is not inherently demeaning or mischievous.
I see more prosaic explanations. First, there is this trend in the West to introduce ambiguity into *all* history. All history was written by humans, who no doubt had their own biases and motives -- so all history is suspect. All history, that is, except physical, archeological evidence. But that doesn't really tell us who the heroes were, and who the villains. I'm sure a healthy skepticism is good for research. Sometimes though, and this book comes across as an example, it is carried to an extreme, resulting in a very flexible history where one man's speculations are as good as another's documented facts; and who cares about the difference anyway so long as you tell a good story.
That brings me to the second reason. Aside from getting brownie points from fellow scholars for being fashionably ambiguous, it also opens up a popular mass-market for your books. Many of the scholarly books that score big with the lay public do so not because of their originality or scholarship, but because they tell a lurid and exciting tale. And anyone who thinks that "scholarly" authors like James Laine didn't have this market in mind is kidding himself. They check their Amazon sales rank as often as any newbie novelist.
The book indeed shows no sensitivity towards Hindu beliefs or culture, but why is that so strange. It was written by a Christian, who at the very least, must believe that Hindus are deluded and must be brought into the fold. By the nature of Christianity (or Islam, for that matter), you do people a favor when you chip into their heathen beliefs and soften them up to accept your God. This is hard for Hindus to understand on an emotional level, since Hindus are typically born into Hinduism, not converted. They have no experience of the missionary-conversion zeal, except as it was done to them by Muslims and Christians.
My suggestion is, get used to it. As India modernizes and becomes part of the global economy, more world attention will be focused on it. You will see much more of this kind of attention, and banning books or destroying manuscripts only gets bad press. Indian historians and intellectuals have their own accounts to give. These are valuable accounts, largely unknown to the West. A century's worth of respectability and authenticity has attached itself to the interpretations of dead white colonial men. It can't be dislodged in a day, and surely never by book bans and mob violence.
Victim of a Massive Misinformation and Censorship Campaign - Written by - Unknown
The first thing to said in a review of this book is that most of the other reviwers are not responding to its contents at all. Indeed, one must doubt whether most of them ever bothered to read it. So, I will begin by assuring the readers of this review that I have in fact read the book and have done so as an educated layman, which is to say, in one of the ways that the author intended and foresaw.
This book is in fact a work of scholarship, which is not to say that it is a documentary history of the reign of Shivaji or a biography of that great Maharashtrian king. Rather, the work is, simply stated, a literary analysis of the texts that have, over a three hundred year span narrated and re-narrated the life and legend of Shivaji. The author is a Sanskritist by training and also knows Marathi. Accordingly he has access to and has actually read the various entextualizations extending from the time of Shivaji's own life through the 18th century hagiographers of the Maharashtrian poet saints to the works of nationalists such as Lala Rajput Rai and Justice Ranade. This reading distinguishes him from most of the reviewers here, who, one seriously suspects, have no such familiarity with the materials in question (though one reviewer implies otherwise).
The book itself is, in truth, an unobjectionable, if somewhat naive and at times spotty, work of discourse analysis in a now long familiar mode. This fact is wholly ignored by the reviewers here, who, if they have in fact read the book, are incapable of making the distinction between such a mode of scholarship, which is fundamentally preoccupied with the ideological preoccupations of source material and/or of historiography, and is not itself an instance of history writing per se. Thus the charge that this is not history is beside the point entirely, as is the reference to Laine's "thesis" which is supposed to be, we can only assume, the "claim" that Shivaji's parentage is in question. No such claim is ever made in this book. Rather, the claim is made that the ideological construction of Shivaji as the exemplar of various virtues according to the predilections of the particular text precludes the possibility of those texts analyzing the reasons for Shivaji's father not being his political or military ally, not being present for much of his youth, and not designating him his heir. (For these latter claims, Laine does provide substantial historical corroboration established through the usual historicist methods of sifting the sources, privileging those most contemporaneous when there is no obvious reason not to do so, seeking corroboration from sources arising from other institutional locations with differing ideological preoccupations, etc.). It is in this regard, and clearly and explicitly so, that Laine retells a joke (most likely told by a Sadavshivpethi brahman, though Laine does not say so) which does in fact cast aspersion on Shivaji's mother's mother by claiming her son to have been conceived out of wedlock. As for the contemporary "veneration" of Shivaji's mother, etc. by (some of) the Maratha community, a veneration said to have been insulted by Laine's work, such matters cannot ultimately guide any scholarly enterprise, any more than a serious scholarly analysis of early Christian writings or the Vedas or the Koran and hadith can be guided by any such concerns.
If people believe that scholarship writing on this subject should confine itself to "the achievements of the great hero who never lost a battle, who was a great social reformer; [sic] who had technological foresight, who gave impetus [sic] to Hindu nationalism and instilled confidence that even in the face of Muslim brutalities [such as?], a Hindu king to be coronated [sic] with full rites" then such people don't know what scholarship is and ought instead to confine themselves to historical novels designed to reinforce their sense of identity. In short, then, Laine's book is just another book, one that makes an able, if flawed, contribution by undertaking a detailed ideological analysis of a single theme within Indian literary practice. The controversy that has arisen around the book, which has resulted in considerable vandalism, assaults, censorship, and unconstrained intimidation of persons in Pune has also had as one of its many deleterious effects, the spoliation of Dr. Laine's career, who, one expects, will not be undertaking further research in Maharashtra anytime soon. People such as those who have written many of the reviews here are responsible for this, as for the effects of their "veneration".
Epitaph for a dead waiter:"God finally caught his eye."
George S. Kaufman
It's a big restaurant. You are sitting with your friends, enjoying the dinner. From some corner Jazz funk is playing. Laughs, anecdotes, and experiences are being shared. After a while lemon bowl comes up, and with it comes the bill. If it's not a treat, the usual fiscal discussions take place. Finally, it is decided who is going to contribute how much. The money is paid. And after exactly 2 minutes, the waiter comes back with the bill folder. The person nearest to it checks how much is the change. Now, the question comes – should we leave the tip?
Ever since I was a kid I have observed elder people paying bills at a restaurant. Sometimes they keep the tip, at other times they don't. I never dared to ask them why was it so, either way.
But now that I have to pay the bills myself, I am thinking seriously about it. Why, where, and more importantly how much tip I should give?
So I researched, googled I mean :) And Lo! what I found.
The tipping custom is prominent in the western world There they not only give the tip at the restaurant, but also to luggage boys at the hotel, hair stylist, taxi driver and whatnot. They have an old saying 'If you can't afford to tip, you can't afford food at that restaurant.' Better visit McDonald's. Stunning, isn't it? In fact, there are many people enthusiastically debating on the net about how much tip should be given for a particular kind of service. The western folks strive to be gratuity savvy. They even feel sorry when unable to pay the tip. In America there are 'Tip Charts' at every restaurant. The custom is to pay from 10% to 20 % of the total bill. These charts tell you how much your tip should be if your bill is some XXX amount. Of course, there isn't any federal law, it is just a custom. And by the way, there is a long form of TIPS – To Insure Proper Service.
There is no universal tipping etiquette. It changes just like the local dialects. For example, in Europe tips are customary in Britain, France, Germany while it is not necessary in Italy, Switzerland, Sweden.
My frugal second self is shouting - 'Isn't all this essentially looting? Whatever tip etc. is expected, shouldn't it reflect in the menu card itself? We aren't raja-maharajas of yesteryears who liked to gift generously to the servants. Why should we pay the servers, aren't they given salary?'
The answer is yes and no. In western countries major part of a waitperson's income comes from tip credits. Often they are paid below the minimum wage and hence they have to be dependent on the tips to make the ends meet. In a way it's a good system, the waiter who works hard and still keeps a smile gets good tip. His/her job is not just limited to bringing meals, but also answering queries about the menu. So, tips act like an incentive to them. But what if the food is not up to the mark, certainly that is not the fault of the waiter. In this regard following advice is given on wisegeek.com -
Bear in mind that food and service are separate issues. If the food was bad but the service was good, complain to the manager about the food, but tip the server for their efforts. On the other hand, if the food was good but the meal was ruined by poor service, a lower tip can reflect that as well.
By the way, I still don't know who gives tips to the cook. Ultimately it is the chef who prepares our meal. Is the tip we pay distributed equally among the workers? God knows.
There are generous tippers and there are those 'others'. Generous tippers are welcomed cheerily. But what happens to a lousy tipper? I read somewhere that if you don't give the tip servants will spit in your food next time when you revisit the eatery. Here is a warning from a server (as posted on a website)
'Anyone who does not tip, or tips very poorly should know not to eat at the same place more than twice because you have just messed with the person you has your food before you eat it. A server handling their junk then touching your food is the least that will be done.'
I guess this particular waiter looks like this - Thank goodness, situation isn't so bad in India. Here we can happily eat at a dhaba/hotel without worrying about the tip. Hospitality of an Indian waiter is not directly proportional to the amount of cash he receives from the customer. Well at least it used to be so. Today, Indian cities are becoming more and more western. People are becoming richer by the day, hence by the nights they lessen the burden of the wallets by visiting posh restaurants. When everybody is getting rich, why should waiters be left behind? But then these waiters should also learn some manners from their western counterparts.
A few months ago we had gone for our weekend dinner to a restaurant near our place. The service was kind of average. The busboys weren't prompt, we had to ask three times for filling our empty glasses(of water:). After paying the bill, the bill folder(well, what is the word for the thing in which they take back money?) returned to our table, with a tenner as change. There was an inner pocket in the folder, and the note was kept in it, as if for hiding from me. Now, if a customer wants to leave the tip, s/he will, why play such tricks? I took that note out and returned the cashless folder to the waiter. To my surprise – he frowned and animatedly spoke something in Telugu(my nearest guess) - none of which I understood, except for the word TIP. I thought for a while whether to speak to the manager about this, but then it would have spoiled the nice mood that all of us were in.
You might have witnessed at least one restaurant brawl involving a waiter and a customer. But please, hold that rage. How you treat a waiter can predict a lot about your character. And you don't want to leave a bad impression on others, do you? Here are some of the customs which are followed in the different regions of the globe. (Source: http://www.airlinecreditcards.com)
In Portugal, usually tipping is not considered a pleasant thing to do in public with other people watching. But it is always quite welcoming money when this is done in private. Hah! Was that word 'tipping'?
The best advice about tipping in Japan is usually simple: don’t. Handing money directly to a waiter or waitress is considered quite rude and a predominantly Western custom.
I like Japan. :)
Tipping in Egypt, often referred to as baksheesh, can be a complicated custom for foreign visitors. It’s more than just a custom, it’s a way of life. Tips are not only given to those who perform services, but a small tip can also get you granted small favors like admittance into places that would otherwise be closed.
And what are those places?
There is a great debate on whether or not one should tip in Spain. Many, if not most, natives do not leave tips for meals or drinks and often tourists will be the only ones to do so.
Foolish tourists. .
While tipping has generally been frowned upon in communist China, and still isn’t a true part of Chinese culture.
Hindi-ChiniBhaiBhai!
The tipping culture varies all over the world. You should add that point to your checklist while planning a foreign tip. Always bear in mind – when in a Roman hotel leave the tip as Romans do.
P.S. Do you know what is the banner line of the website LousyTippers.com?
After reading Shashank's blog I got very much inspired for going to a DLPD exam as an invigilator. So I called my PS faculty and she later confirmed my invigilator-ship for this weekend. Equipped with the map to reach the center 'Baldwin Boys' Highschool' I eagerly waited for the E-day.
- Meanwhile a gchat intercepted by confidential sources - “Abey, tera center kaunsa hai?” “Kuch Baldwin Boys' School karke..” “Ohh, mera bhi wahi hai. Will there be all boys for the exam :(” “Xxii$ Saala!”
------------------------------------------------------------------------ fast forward to Saturday
Exam is on 0900. To be safe we get there at 0815. We meet some veteran invigilators. They guided us for the process. See how....
NewBie1 [who is looking irritated for having woken up at 6 a.m. on the weekend] asks 'Paisa Kitna Milega?' NewBie2 : '600' NewBie3 : [in typical North style] 'Kya! Humko to 900 bola tha. Saale BITS wale beech mein paise kha rahe hai bol raha hu mai tereko.'
All of them go to a veteran. He explains to them that since it's a comprehensive exam they might be paid Rs. 900. But he isn't sure.
NewBie1 : Khane ko kya kya dete hai? Kitne Baje? NewBie2 : Chup Baith. Do they pay by cheque or cash? Vet : Line mein khada karke dete hai ek-ek ko.
NewBie3, who is a die hard fan of big B is thinking -
He aka Amitabh Bachhan is dressed like a mazdoor and is standing in a long queue. The queue is made up of all the exhausted invigilators who worked for 12 hours. After some time his turn comes. In front of him, behind a table, there is sitting a thekedar or contractor. Thekedar smiles “khi: khi: khi: khi: Yahan pe angootha lagao beta.” and points at the register. Amitabh squints and suddenly grabs the hold of the pen in Thekedar's jacket. Signs the register in style and collects the money. “Yahan pe to 900 likha hai aur paise to sirf 600 hai.” Thekedar[again laughs disgustingly] :“Jitna mila hai Bhagwaan ki den samzo.”
Amitabh throws the money on his face and kicks the table. Thekedar falls down while still fixed in the chair. All the fellow invigilators cheer for Amitabh....
“Hello Mister, aapka naam kya hai?”
“Vijay.”
“Your name is not there in the list.”
“Kya?”
Our NewBie realizes that the DLPD coordinator is talking to him.
“Sorry sir. Sorry sir. My name is ..” And then he signs the attendance sheet.
The DLPD coordinator explains the rules to all of us. “Do not read novels or newspapers. Do not play mobile games. Do not listen to your i-pods. Blah blah blah ”
The classrooms are randomly allotted to us. We are given a sizable stack of sheets- containing answer books and question papers. I am thinking – 'Voila! My dream of childhood has come true. For the first time in my life I have the very question papers in my hand well before the exam. But alas! I am not writing the exam. . .'
My classroom was in the other building. With enthu and all I run , carefully holding the slew of papers. After climbing 3 floors down and 3 up I am puffing heavily.
When I stand in front my class – 3 A – I am in for a surprise. There is no one in the class! “Where are they?”, I exclaim. Did I miss the class? Am I in the wrong building? I noticed that all the other classrooms were getting filled. But why is my class so deserted? I call the corridor boy [who stand there for any help just-in-case].
I point finger at the room and say “Nobody is there!”. He goes in and comes out after checking the class as if I am faking. He then consoles me “They will come. You wait.” Just then the first bell rings – signifying the answer sheet distribution. He hurriedly disappears.
I am standing helpless in the class. Still holding the heap. After two minutes a woman comes in running in the class. I think 'Yo yo! Somebody has come.' But still to make sure I ask her “Are you writing embedded systems - ” She sharply cuts me down. She: Give me 8 question papers. I (to myself): ??? Who is she? Why does she want 8 question papers? And what about the answer sheets? Is there something wrong in here? Is she going to sell these papers outside? For what price? What will be my cut? I get embarrassed even for feeling that way. I clutch the papers to my chest, deciding not to give her any of them.
Now she is talking on the phone. “Yes, yes, I am in room 3 A. There is nobody here. I am bringing the papers.” She (to me): Quick! Hand them over. I gather some courage and utter “What for?” She: Some papers are not printed correctly. So we need extra. Then suddenly I remember that she was there while the invigilator orientation was going on. 'Oh, so she is a faculty.' Like a good boy I take out eight papers from the brown envelope and give them to her.
I : Madam, Nobody came in this class. She: You wait here till 9.30. Then come to the staff room.
I stand in the door of the class. 'Will they pay me or not if nobody comes here?'. That thought stirs me. My eyes search fiercely in the vicinity for the students. I am feeling like [some] BITS professors whose lectures are avoided like plague by the students. A typical situation - BITS Prof who is standing at the door of the empty class shouts at a boy “Hey, you! You are in my course right?” The boy ducks down and runs as fast as he can in the opposite direction. Prof Sighs “Why no one comes to my class?” I echo the same.
A girl comes asking for something. My eyes lit up expectantly.
Girl: Where is the classroom for Computer Networks? I(to myself): Why baby, don't you want to write embedded systems paper? I(to her): Ask that corridor boy there. He will tell you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A long wait follows
I go and sit in the teacher's chair and keep the heavy stack on the desk. Oh boy! I am actually sitting in the teacher's chair! (this was my second childhood dream:) In slow motion, I move my eyes all over the class. I notice the posters made by the kids. All of them seem have a common theme – 'Moon and stars'. There are some notices also on a wall. There is a timetable hanging. What's this..After the second period there is a 'TEA – BREAK'. What kind of a school is this? Shamelessly promoting stimulants.
Next I open the table's drawer. There are some dusty notebooks, one school diary and a piece of printed paper. I lift it. It is a paper of 'Environmental Study'. I read it to myself.
Fill in the blanks:
1.Always ____ the truth. 2.Respect your ______.
I look around and discover the answer on the wall. There is written:
One of the God's Gifts YOUR TEACHER
And besides it on a paper it's written
Remember Always respect your teachers. Be nice to them.
Then I came to the subjective questions. Some of them were -
'Who or what is a couch potato?'
'Why do we wear clothes?'
I read the last line again. What kind of a question is this? I am brainstorming for all the possible answers for it. Just then a mobile rings loudly. Almost as a reflex action, I get up saying “Sorry, sir.” But then I realize. 'What the heck! I am the invigilator, not some brat student. Plus there is nobody in the class.'
I look at my watch. It's 1000 already!
I run towards the staff room on another floor. Inside the room an 'iconic' BITS faculty [B.F.] is sitting.
BF : Who are you? I : Sir, I am actually a student. But I have come here for - - BF : Do you know what time is it? Now you cannot write the exam. What's your ID number? I(blurting out) : I am an invigilator, sir. BF : Then what are you doing here? Who is invigilating in your class? I : There are no students in my class, sir. Nobody came. BF throws his hands in the air saying : How is that possible? Are you sure? I : Yes, sir. I am 100% sure. BF : Let me check the sitting arrangement. What did you say your classroom is? I : 3 A, sir.
BF scrutinizes the paper in his hand and says. 'It seems 7 rooms are allotted for embedded system design. Number of students must have been overestimated. And there is no seat number system so anybody can seat anywhere.'
I am still thinking 'But why my room?'
I : What should I do now sir? BF thinks for a while and says : Mereko nahi pata. I am here for the first time. Perhaps you can help any other invigilator who wants to have break for some time. I say 'Aye Aye, sir!' and get on the twos. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Afternoon session
Before reaching the class I prayed 'Please send some students to my class'. And when I reached the class I was again in for a second surprise. My class was houseful! Overjoyed, I went in and started counting the students.
