Writing for children

Today's children have access to far more print magazines than children brought up in the '60s. However, when it comes to quality, I am skeptical about the former. I am sure that people who have read children's magazines (or supplements) such as Illustrated Weekly's Young Folks League, Kannan (a very popular children's magazine in Tamil) or Chandamama would endorse my point of view.  Let me present a few examples from yesterday's edition of `Young World', published by the newspaper `THE HINDU', to illustrate my point of view.

1. If you read this write-up, the very first sentence in the water buffalo's letter to Aristotle is not structured in the best way: "I read the letters written about massive and powerful animals with interest" is better than "I read with interest the letters written about massive and powerful animals". In his reply, Aristotle says "...You are a mean-looking heavy fellow ..." When we write for children, terms such as `mean-looking' should be avoided. I think that whatever we write for children should not nurture unfounded assumptions, skewed notions and negative attitudes. I don't understand the logic behind editorial sections of newspapers such as `THE HINDU'.

2. As usual, HeyMath section carries grammatical mistakes ("A group of islands are connected together ..." in `Isolated Islands) and conceptual ambiguities ("Each row and column is a math equation" instead of "Each row or column should contain numbers which form an equation"). I don't think that we can teach mathematics at the cost of conceptual clarity and grammatically correct language. I think that newspaper and magazine publishers should consider quality of content in their advertisements to be more important than revenue from advertising. This applies to electronic media developers as well.

Writing for children is not simply filling space with alphabets and numbers, however colourful they may be. It should make sense.

From Senegal to schools

Yesterday, as I was reading academic news items in newspapers, I came across a disturbing news report. Although Right To Education Act has created ripples, it has not benefited the parental community significantly because the Act itself is not clear on issues such as school fees.

In addition to this, there is still no effective unbiased watchdog mechanism to see that `Education For All' is implemented in full. Our country is one of the 164 member countries which signed the EFA document many years back at Dakar, Senegal.

I think that Public Private Partnership involving all stakeholders including parents from all economic backgrounds is very necessary to reach EFA aims and objectives.     

An oasis in the desert

With the fact that movies based on religious scriptures are rarely produced and released these days in India, it was a spiritual experience to watch `Sree Rama Raajyam', a Tamil movie yesterday evening in one of the regional TV Channels.

Seetha Jayanthi

Today is a special day in the Hindu Calender. This is the day on which Seetha Devi appeared on the Earth during Trethaa Yuga. This day is celebrated as Seetha Jayanthi. Seetha Devi (an incarnation of Goddess Mahaa Lakshmi) married Shree Raamaa (an incarnation of Shree Vishnu) in Tretha Yugaa. 

Memoir of music from Mumbai to Mekelle

I think that people of my age normally like good songs of the 1960s. Thanks to the Internet, the BBC and my simple and trustworthy Acer Notebook, I could take a few minutes of very nostalgic virtual journey and listen to a few good old Bollywood songs of the '60s on this channel. `B' stands for Bombay, currently known as Mumbai.

In 1982, I and a few fellow Indian friends went to watch a Bollywood movie  called `Noori' in a cinema hall in Mekelle, Ethiopia. Indian movies were very popular all over Ethiopia at that time. As it was the norm in those days, most of our film songs were melodious and some, meaningful. As we were engrossed in the movie, I felt as if someone was scratching my leg. This had been happening for several microseconds until I myself realised the problem: the guy (a fellow Indian teacher) sitting next to me was so overwhelmed by the movie that it didn't strike to him that he was scratching my leg instead of his, until I alerted him!

Let me leave you with an Ethiopian song with nice music (I don't know the meaning of the lyrics of the song). Hope you too like the music.

Arts and Music

Thanks to satellite technology and TV, we can watch shows of events from around the world without leaving our homes. It was a joy to watch a nice program from Kharjuraho Dance Festival 2013 during lunch time this afternoon. (As a person who has made it a habit to watch a spiritual program as the last program before bed time prayer every night, I derive joy watching KDF 2013). This afternoon's programme involved artistes of different classical dance forms performing simultaneously. The synchronization of individual dance styles with one another and with that of the melodious acoustic background was superb. The program was a marvelous illustration of unity in national diversity!

At these times, one cannot forget the contributions of legendary artistes such as Dr L Subramaniam who has been giving us joyful world music fusion treats via his Lakshminarayana Global Music Festival. A marvelous illustration of unity in global diversity!    

Let me leave you with one of Dr Subramaniam's classical renderings

Isn't it true that music is a universal language?      

Chaganti Koteswara Rao Garu to Collaborative Classrooms

I am one among the large majority of people used to watching favourite TV programmes whenever at the dining table. Spiritual programs are usually on top of my priority list at these times. If spiritual programs tend to bore me (because of the way in which these are presented with a lot of inappropriate commercial interruptions) I switch over to good documentaries. 

This afternoon, I had the joy of watching  a discourse on the epic `Sampoorna Raamaayanam' by Shree Chaganti Koteswara Rao Garu. When explaining some events that took place on the eve of the day fixed for Shree Raamaa's Coronation, he mentioned as to how important it is for a disciple to keep his/her mind focussed on what the Guru teaches. 

As behaviour patterns are developed from attitudes, it is very important to ensure that classroom processes have a significant influence in attitudinal development in the right direction. (But oddly enough, our syllabus and exam boards do not seem to consider this important dimension of learning at all).

Whether it is an elite school or a modest school, its quality is reflected in how effectively children learn in their classrooms. Good schools are those in which all children across barriers learn from empathizing teachers in a child friendly atmosphere without losing grip on discipline.

Madhwa Navami

People who basically believe in Dvaita School of Vaishnavism observe today as Madhwa Navami.

Bheeshmaashtami

Yesterday was an important day for Hindus. It  was on this day in Dwaapara Yuga that Bheeshmacharyaa passed away. As one of the greatest devotees of Lord Krishna, he is said to have composed the great Vishnu Sahasranaamam (One thousand Names of  Shree Vishnu). As a mark of respect and gratitude to Bheeshmachaarya, this day is observed as Bheeshmaashtami. It falls on Maagha Shukla Ashtami (Eighth day of the first half of the month of Maagha) every year.

Let us enjoy an hour of virtual journey with some ISKCON devotees and learn how they spend their time in the service of Shree Hari.

Ratha Sapthami

Hindus all over the world celebrate today as Ratha Sapthami. It is interesting to know from the write up that something related to this festival took place in Cambodia (when it was ruled by kings of southern Indian origin).