If you were stuck in the back with the rest of the crowd that did not get a seat, chances are that you might have had to crane your neck to watch as C.K. Meena read from “Seven Days To Somewhere”, her third book.
She was supported by a panel that is best described as distinguished which included Chiranjiv Singh, former ambassador of India to Unesco in Paris, and author, Poile Sengupta.
“Seven Days To Somewhere” is about 12-year-old, super-achiever Nischit, and his personal struggle with what society considers failure. It is not surprising that the situation is aggravated by the appa and amma who fail to understand the child.
The last thing Meena wanted to do was write a book with a message, but she has made sure that the book raises pertinent questions. “The idea for the book came from various horror stories, not just from the news but also from pushy parents, and I couldn't make sense of it. I have been a little savage in my caricaturing of appa and amma, but to what limit will they push this child? The parents are an amalgam of the various parents I had seen,” she says.
The first question — should a child be taught to pursue success or cope with failure? His observations, packaged in questions, Singh rebutted: “Why should children be taught to deal with success or failure? If the innate nature of the child is to neither succeed nor fail, why should the child be prepared for anything? Children are increasingly becoming a pet project of their parents; it is a disease. Why can't the children be left alone, to decide what they want to do?”
The debate rocked to and fro on a fine balance, so while parents were being lambasted as enemy no. 1, author Poile Sengupta gave us alternate situations where the pressure does not come from the parents, or where parents are only going by what the world expects. Poile, who has also worked as a teacher, said, “I have seen children who look pale, thin and pinched because of the stress of the examinations and if a child is incapable of dealing with the exam process, it becomes a problem. Success is spoonfuls, whereas failure on the other hand, is dogged and it haunts all the time.”
It is a vicious cycle of competition, society, lifestyles and consumerism that has lead to this insanity. Like someone in the audience pointed out, most educational institutions seem to thrive on hype.
“What good is a 600-acre campus if it will not contribute to the all-round development of a child? You are a success if you believe you are a success and you are a failure, if you believe it.”
