Open Page
The Hindu
The killing of a schoolteacher by a student in Chennai has sent shockwaves throughout the country and sparked a debate on the ills of the education scenario. Here, students of a school in Erode
pay floral tributes to R. Uma Maheswari, the victim.
Who's to blame — parents, teachers or films?
“Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end...”Such nostalgia is wrapped around this song; those were indeed the days! A house would overflow with children, of all ages and...
»
Editorial:
Murder in the classroom
Related:
Student stabs teacher to death in Chennai school
Are our health statistics just a yarn?
Are people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh immune to AIDS and other deadly diseases? If one observes the statistics released by the Government of India, it certainly seems so. As of 2010, between them...
»
With iPad and Notebook around, who needs a pen anymore?
When I was in school, my English teachers considered my handwriting very graceful and fluent. With a lot of passion, I learnt both calligraphy and cursive writing and practised the exercise for hou...
»
Are parents blackmailed?
The shocking news of a woman teacher being stabbed to death in Chennai goes to prove that we have been successful to a great extent in creating a generation of super brats. It is all very well to b...
»
Being strict is ok, but don't hurt morally
When a three-year-old boy sings the kolaveri song, his parents are thrilled — proud as if he has achieved something great in his life. Make your children recite the Bhagavatgita, rea...
»
RECENT OPEN PAGE ARTICLES
February 12, 2012
Not just a teacher, but counsellor and more
The recent stabbing to death in Chennai of a teacher by a Class IX student raises serious issues on teacher-student relations. That matters can go to such extremes is alarming. It goes without say...
»
February 11, 2012
Delay, dither and destroy
‘Once bitten, twice shy,' goes a proverb. Sometimes, extreme caution results in inaction with disastrous consequences. You might have come across several instances in everyday life when a delayed d...
»
February 5, 2012
Stick to this friend... and keep troubles at bay
Thank you, my dear old friend!
Today, I am strong enough to stand on my own legs because of you. Whenever I see others in wheelchairs or walk holding other's hands, I feel pity for them,...
»
February 5, 2012
Wrong password, please try again
“Wrong Password” blinks the screen in glee.
Aaaaaargh! There I go. Another password forgotten. One more try. Same result. The final one — I know this one could be the end of the road, and...
»
February 5, 2012
The tyranny of the kindergarten
When my elder daughter was a KG student, most often she would come home with a complaint against the teachers. I considered the complaints an expression of the ire of a truant student. When she beg...
»
February 5, 2012
I am ecstatic, I am retired!
Retirement means many things to many people at different stages of their lives. In my growing years it meant loss of an income, gain of pension (of course, substantially less), loss of respect, bl...
»
January 29, 2012
Leave the kids alone, Norway
Shocking, but true. Barnevarne, a child care service of Norway, took custody of Indian children Abhigyan and Aishwarya from their natural parents Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya in May 2011 when...
»
January 29, 2012
The controversy over age... then and now
Growing old is like being increasingly penalised for a crime you have not committed — Anthony Powell
I imagined that only women like to maintain that they are younger than what the...
»
January 29, 2012
Communicating through silence
All of us have experienced verbal, non-verbal and written communication. Books on this describe them in an elaborate manner. We are also told that to succeed in life or business one has to be a go...
»
January 21, 2012
The birth of a controversy
Consider this. An individual makes a mistake in filling up his date of birth in the application form for entry into the Army. The government says the date holds good. How? Will any government depar...
»
Allow the child its latitude
Kolaveri di in Tamil and Punjabi
Missing my ‘Dilli'… a postcard from Pakistan
The lurking maharaja
Whatever happened to the net, coil and cream, mat and liquids?
ICU: boon or bane?
Do doctors listen to patients or computers?
Is our government discharging its functions?
February 12, 2012
My god, did this happen in my school?
I first caught the news headline of the killing of the school teacher on my mobile web at an interminable traffic jam on my way back home. Painful though the news was, I did not think about it agai...
»
February 11, 2012
Blame game: a universal disease
A bad worksman blames his tools. We are trained from a tender age to find scapegoats that may be animate, lifeless and even non-existent forces for passing the buck, for our own errors, blunders or...
»
February 5, 2012
Together, we overcame
It was August 3, 1966. I was in standard XI, when my headmaster informed me that my elder brother had died in a traffic accident. At that moment, I decided to become a doctor and save the world. I...
»
February 5, 2012
We were pranksters, thank god no one shot us
On being discharged from the hospital, my wife's paternal aunt came over to stay with us for a few days. She was convalescing and had to be closely attended to, but she had her wits about her and...
»
February 5, 2012
Is it school or jail?
Education is now at the mercy of ruthless schools that exploit students unreservedly. The innocent pleasures of childhood are ripped off as young children are dumped in a cage called school in the...
»
January 29, 2012
Wake up and smell the coffee
“Indian students fare badly,” “Indian students second to last” were some of the recent headlines summarising the performance of 15-year-olds from Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in an internationa...
»
January 29, 2012
But do patients listen to doctors?
Some responses to the article, “Do doctors listen to Patients or computers” (Open Page, The Hindu, January 15, 2012), suggest a perception that the author was decrying the use of technology...
»
January 29, 2012
KK — a karma yogi
While we all revel in singing the praise of charismatic people, it was management guru Peter Drucker, who pointed out that civilisation and life on planet earth have flourished not due to charisma...
»
January 29, 2012
When the word ‘reverse' continued to haunt me!
“Thunder Down Under,” “The Indian Lions Will Roar,” proclaimed the media. “Roar?” it has only been a whimper, I thought. After successive defeats, Dhoni is at a loss for words to explain the downtr...
»
January 21, 2012
The dropouts also succeed!
Dropping out has always fascinated me. Dropping out of college is always something that has intrigued me a lot. The reason being that quite a few of them who actually drop out go on to become not j...
»
A proud Gutenbergian!
The Nightingales need a better deal
Life's not easy for us, menfolk!
Doctors in the dock but why?
Health check-up: how healthy is it?
Mr. Shah battles a cold
It’s a toothless warning
Being strict is ok, but don't hurt morally
Leave the kids alone, Norway
My god, did this happen in my school?
Are parents blackmailed?
Who's to blame — parents, teachers or films?
Not just a teacher, but counsellor and more
Blame game: a universal disease
The tyranny of the kindergarten
Wrong password, please try again
With iPad and Notebook around, who needs a pen anymore?
