OF INDIAN KIDS AND STINKING CANALS

OF INDIA’S TALENTS AND STINKING CANALS

I took my 13 tear old niece to an optometrist for an eye check up. Once her eyes were dilated I assumed that she would get bored just sitting there, eyes closed and nothing to do –not even TV or Ipod to listen to . But it turned out I was terribly wrong. The kid borrowed my mobile handset and started texting her innumerable friends—eyes closed ! The speed with which she texted took my breath away. Before she was called in for eye tests she had sent several dozens of messages all paid for by me. .

OF INDIA’S TALENTS AND STINKING CANALS

It is fascinating how kids are so tech savvy whereas I dread using the computer for anything but the most basic of ‘apps’ [to use kids’ jargon]

Watching the many TV programmes involving contests in many areas I can’t but marvel at the tremendous talent that India is bestowed with. Tamil readers may recall that young girl who won a singing contest with ‘Singara velu..’ an old P.Susheela masterpiece of a classical raga based difficult song rendered to perfection by the youngster .It brought tears to my eyes—tears of joy that our India has such prodigies in so many fields ,cricket apart ..

But let us not get carried away.

Many of you may or may not agree but I get the disheartening feeling that barring exceptions ,many youngsters are having their eyes on the main chance—to make money . Those who teach at management schools may agree that most students are there only for the attraction of placements and not to gather knowledge or skills. Those who are really keen to learn leave for the US never to be heard of again.

Of course one can justifiably say that life is so tough you can hardly blame kids for keeping their eyes firmly on money.

But listening to Steve Job’s famous speech at Stanford in 2005 one cannot but believe that India can become a great country only if youngsters imbibe the spirit of Job’s exhortations. The US itself –as have many other powerful and rich nations—has got there by virtue of intellectual capital .The new IPad 2 has little that is ‘MADE IN THE US’ but it is the idea, the design excellence that is entirely ‘MADE IN US’ with some help from Indians of the kind that went to IIT or IIM without eyes firmly on placements.

India being a land of paradoxes and contradictions one can cite examples to prove any point one makes.

Thus even as many IIM grads are rejecting Wall Street jobs to serve rural India there are many from all walks of life who have joined politics and are no different from their elders. Thus one of these youngsters was heard supporting khap panchayats and their regressive stance on caste and gotra and their justification of murder.

The only consolation is this information I received from my UK based friend. She tells me that in London young kids of school going age prefer to hang out at street corners smoking and playing. The school sends limos to pick them up to reach school which the kids run away from.

I can foresee the day when a conversation between an Indian kid and a British kid on a London street runs as follows[translated into Hindi for effect]:

Brit kid: Mere pass Queen hai, Buckingham Palace hai. Tere paas kya hai ?

Indian kid : Mere paas[A !] Raja hai,Buckingham canal hai

[To non Chennaites—the Canal is a ganda nala one of the worst in India, passing through Chennai .]

K.R.RAVI

WWW.KRRAVI.COM