Real Education
The articles “Childhood's end?” by Kankana Basu and “The glass is always half full” by Aruna Sankaranarayanan made good cover stories. Rather than being just a timeline of events they have made an in depth study of the root cause of the increasing suicides. While it is an open fact that ‘increasing pressure for performance' is the cause, no parent or any school or college management dare accept it. All these events hint at the educational system in India where marks are the ‘magic mantras' that can make anything happen. While the CBSE board has taken a good decision by making class X exams optional, we are far away from attaining the ‘Real Education' status. Educational institutions should modify the existing system and give importance to attaining knowledge in the right way. The results it will generate will be amazing. Hope at least a single institution changes for the good.
G. Ranjith Kumar Reddy, Hyderabad
Kankana Basu deserves kudos for bringing up such a thought-provoking matter as childhood suicides to the limelight. Most adults fail to realise that they too had been, once upon a time, kids, and had had similar emotions and experiences as their teenagers have now. Instead, teenage is seen as an explosive period and their tensions and worries are often laughed at. Parents need to understand that the worries of children are no less serious than that of adults and that teenage is a period of hormonal changes when it becomes difficult to reign over and rein in the racing mind. The need of the hour is to provide to children a guideline on how to overcome the challenges in life.
Vidya M.G.. XI, Vidyodaya School, Thevakkal, Kochi
Keep it simple
It was easy to relate to Kalpana Sharma's “Of Marriages and Money”. Way back in 1997, we were present at just such a wedding — a no-silk, no-gold, yet traditional Malayali wedding right in the living room of the girl's middle-class home, the costs being borne by the bride and groom, with the parents' consent and blessings. In Delhi now, I am amazed to see grooms on horseback or in chariots, wearing garlands of crisp new notes. There is simply nothing aesthetic about that sight. As the article noted, the real tragedy is that young people are not thinking differently. In whatever we do, whether the means are ample or modest, we should never forget the aesthetics — and Simplicity is aesthetics' best assistant.
R. Swarnalatha, New Delhi
Moving review
Apropos Nirmala Lakshman's article “The Fell of Dark” (Literary Review, February 7), I was touched by the writing and can understand (or rather feel) the pain Joan might have undergone. Fear of death does not make us live through life. As Scott Peck writes in The Road Less Travelled: If we can look at death and allow it to sit lightly on our left shoulders then we can be at peace with ourselves. But then we have been so conditioned by it that even the thought creates a panic.
Last month there was Vaikuntha Ekadashi where lakhs of devotees visited temples to get salvation. On the same day there was an exhibition on the freedom movement (where the great freedom fighters sacrificed their lives) which was almost empty. Both stories appeared on adjacent columns of The Hindu. As is said everyone wants to go to heaven (which is a mind concept) but nobody wants to die. Thanks a lot for the wonderful article.
Rajan Parulekar, Bangalore
I read with great interest the article on The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. I have the book with me and have read it twice over. I am an elderly person and reading the book made me relive the many losses I have had in life. How well the author has portrayed her feelings. Some places make you weep but, no, you become brave all at once. Great author and great review.
Janaki Menon, Email
Thank you very much for the superb article. Though her story is very tragic the wonderful writing reminded me of David Davidar's review of Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being and made me head straight to Walden bookstore for a copy. I will do the same this time around too.
Baben J. Steaphen Email
