Taught For Today

Hi Guys! Here goes my first Column that appeared in The Hindustan Times, Lucknow edition on September 06, 2010. Your invaluable comments please!



By Chander Mahadev
As the provisions of the Right To Education Bill wend its way insidiously into the collective conscious of the nation I cannot but confess that while teachers administer knowledge writers make you experience it. From the profound to the profane, the lofty to the lowly, such bi-polar questions engage my tired mind even as I feel the moist kiss of the September air pregnant with deceit. And as I whiz past on my cocooned virtual world and maneouvre
my being on the information highway -- that charts my mundane life -- I feel orphaned; left to live life in virtual reality. I sight ugly billboards hanging overhead tom-tomming the virtues of technology and I wilt. . The hoardings beseech me to learn English online, on my mobile to be specific and it hurts Without getting hyper about crass consumerism becoming the order of the day, I often wonder about the present , and experience the trauma and tragedy of living in an era of missing models. You may well say these are the laments of a teacher fossilized in a retro generation And as I dissect such wayward thoughts realization soon dawns upon me that the written word is fast losing its sanctity.
Or else, how would you justify the spawning of coaching shops that go by laughably ludicrous names like Oaf Public School and Dabble college—believe me they exist in downtown Lucknow. Oh, yes, this makes me recall a hilarious incident in the not-too-distant past. One fine evening one of my favourite ex-students landed up at my house seeking my urgent attention. He confessed that he was at his wit’s end in thinking up an appropriate and invitingly ‘saintly’ name for a school he intended to set up in his home town . I wondered as to what was so difficult in going about such a piffling issue. He went on to explain that the ‘St’ factor holds immense importance in the Hindi hinterland. And names like St Fidelis and St Agnes lend gravitas if not unimpeachable credibility. In jest I retorted I was presently engrossed in reading the biographical sketch of famed science fiction writer Isaac Asimov so why does he not name his school St. Isaac Asimov School. The last I heard on the issue was that St. Asimov School was up and running and had a student base of 230.
. I can’t but help recall that way back in the seventies and eighties there was a venerable English professor who was canonized by the Indian Government for his pioneering role in sharing his knowledge of classical English. And as a just reward he was anointed governor of Rajasthan, Well, if things have come to such a sorry pass, it would not be long before I find that some English primer may innovatively dish out A for Amitabh, B for Bachchan and C for, well Kat(rina). And if you have any reservations on that score please spare a thought for Dr Radhakrishnan the scholar in whose memory we celebrate this august day. For then I would know all is not lost and that teachers are still worthy of emulation if not veneration. Jai Dronacharya!!!
(The author is a senior journalist and is presently Assistant Professor, Amity School of Communication, Lucknow, and can be contacted at chandermahadev@yahoo.co.in) .

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