Anna Hazare:The True Gandhian.

He calls himself a fakir, a man who has no family, no property and no bank balance. He lives in a 10ft x 10ft spartan room attached to the Yadavbaba temple in Ahmednagar's Ralegan Siddhi village, 110km from Pune and wears only khadi.

But when 71-year-old Kisan Baburao Hazare alias Anna starts an agitation, every leader from Mumbai to Delhi sits up and takes notice. Even his detractors and politicians who hate his guts, grudgingly accept he is the only person who has the power to mobilize common people across the country and shake up a government. His small frail body has taken several blows from the countless agitations, tours and hunger strikes he has undertaken since he came in public life in 1975.

·    "I am not scared of death. I have no family to cry over me and if I die while doing something for the country I would be happy. We need to start a second freedom movement to get rid of corruption, red tapism, delays in government offices, frequent transfers of honest officials and lack of transparency," he says. Anna lost his mother Laxmibai in 2002 and has two married sisters — one in Mumbai and another in Sangamner who worry everytime their "stubborn brother starts an indefinite hunger strike".

However Anna has chosen to firmly stay away from any family ties and never visits his sisters. "I do have a home in Ralegan Siddhi but I have never set foot inside it in the last four decades," he once said.

He was born on January 15, 1940 in Bhingar village of Ahmednagar district to a family of an unskilled labourer who owned five acres of cultivable land. Adverse conditions pushed their family into the grip of poverty and in 1952 Hazare moved into his ancestral home in Ralegan Siddhi. He was brought up by a childless aunt who funded his education in Mumbai but financial instability pushed him into selling flowers for a living and he had to quit studies after Class VII.

Soon after, he joined the Army and trained as a truck driver but his days were spent reading books on the philosophy of Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave.

That turned him to social work. Two near-fatal mishaps in the 1965 war with Pakistan changed his outlook towards life and seeking voluntary retirement from the Army, he returned to Ralegan Siddhi in 1975 which was then in the grip of drought, poverty, crimes and alcoholism.

He used his savings for developmental work of the village. "I asked them to take an oath banning liquor, excessive grazing by cattle and felling of trees. Another oath was to have small families with men undergoing vasectomy," he recalled during an interaction.

He motivated villagers into voluntary labour. Canals and bunds were built to hold rainwater which solved the water scarcity problem and also increased irrigation possibilities in the village.

His achievements have won him many awards like the Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra award, the Krishi Bhushana award, the Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan and the Ramon Magsaysay award. Care International of the USA, Transparency International, Seoul (South Korea) also felicitated him.

SCHOOL IS SACRED

Students writing the National Secondary School examination in Kenya.

There is none other like mother,

the first teacher of life.

And when mother is no match,

to growing restless bundles,

she took you to school.

for school is sacred.

Salute to the first teacher,

who saw raw innocence in me,

and believed in me,

even when I didnt know it mattered.

When I grow old,

I want to be a.......

In school I learnt values,

that humanity is divine.

Does school make community?

Or community makes school?

If our city is unsafe,

do we go to school,

and look for answers?

Who teaches violence,

so rife in school.

When does innocence end?

Lets querry on these,

for school can make the world,

a better place to live.

For school is sacred.

THE 10 PARADOXES OF SCHOOL.

1.WE TRAIN FOR CAREERS WHOSE JOB DESCRIPTION DOES NOT EXIST AS YET.

The world is dynamic.The careers of nearly half of the world's working class did not exist a decade ago! Even the traditional careers have undergone so radical changes in the recent past that the day you get the job,you realise you are illiterate.

2. LIFE TESTS EVERYTHING ELSE APART FROM WHAT YOU LEARNT IN SCHOOL.

Makes school look either funny or stupid.More than ever before we know that success in school is no guarantee for success in life.

3.TEACHES LOVE,PATIENCE,HONESTY....ALL THE VIRTUES....BUT...

Adds a rejoider..."Don't trust too much.The world is a bad place!" The school is cornered?

4.IF THE COMMUNITY IS BAD,BLAME THE SCHOOL.IF THE SCHOOL IS GOOD,THE COMMUNITY TAKES CREDIT!

What do we say to the black sheep of the family?"What do they teach you in school?"School makes society.Society makes school sick.

5.THE PARADOX OF CONTINOUS REDUNDANCE.

Whatever invention school creates today,we shall frown upon it tomorrow and call it archaic!

6.THE IRONY OF THE MAINSTREAM.

You learn more from outside the mainstream school than from school itself.The breaktime banter turns out to be more significant in life than the calculus lessson! School just facilitates learning.As far as provision of education is concerned,school performs poorly.By teaching her clientelle,school necessiates her own demise!

7.TRADITION vs. DYNAMISM.

To maintain the traditions or to move on with the times is a hard decision for school to make.School says that a people without tradition are a people without identity.Yet we know that there is  only one constant in life:Change!

8.OBEY THE RULES.

School teaches you how to obey all the rules.Life demands that you choose the rules to obey.....

9.WHAT DO WE TEACH?

If we specialise too much,our graduates are said to be irrelevant in a new world order.If our content is too broad,they are called jerks of all trades and masters of none!

10.INVESTMENT.

We want to make a minimal investment on education,and reap maximum benefits from it.Like those who want to go to heaven but do not want to die!

The Art Of Virtue

1 Temperance. Eat not to Dullness. Drink not to Elevation.

2 Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.

3 Order. Let all your Things have their Places. Let each Part of your Business have its Time.

4 Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.

5 Frugality. Make no Expense but to do good to others or yourself; that is, Waste nothing.

6 Industry. Lose no Time. Be always employed in something useful.Cut off all unnecessary actions.

7 Sincerity. Use no hurtful Deceit. Think innocently and justly; and if you speak, speak accordingly.

8 Justice. Wrong none, by doing Injuries or omitting the Benefits that are your Duty.

9 Moderation. Avoid Extremes. Forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10 Cleanliness. Tolerate no Uncleanness in Body, Clothes or Habitation.

11 Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at Trifles, or at Accidents common or unavoidable.

12 Chastity. Rarely use Venery but for Health or Offspring; never toDullness, Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another’s Peace or Reputation.

13 Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

This article is attributed to American statesman Benjamin Franklin,who, I must say,is an inspiration to the work I do. 

SAMMY FRANK.

BOOK REVIEW.

TITLE: THE DOWNING STREET YEARS.

AUTHOR: MARGARET THATCHER.

PUBLISHER: HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS.

NO.OF PAGES: 914.

Mrs. Margaret Thatcher came to power after the fall of James Callaghan’s government. She so disdained labor governments that she hoped there would not be another labor government in future. From this side of history we know that her wish did not come true.

The book opens with the dramatic ‘no confidence’ vote that granted victory to the Tories. Ironically, Mrs. Thatcher would also get hounded out of office in similar circumstances. In a manner akin to a work of fiction, the book closes with the heightened politics of the end of reign if one of the most influential politicians in modern history.

Before she ascends to the Downing Street office, Britain had experimented with democratic socialism. She feels that that form of government was a complete failure in every way. By the end of 1979, Britain was described as ‘the sick man of europe’ in view of the high inflation, high unemployment, low productivity and a very low national morale.She brought to the office not only capitalism,free markets, and trade union reforms but also strong defense and economic rejuvenation.

It is in that vein that Mrs. Thatcher earned the epithet ‘iron lady’. In her reign, she led Britain to two wars; the Falklands war and the gulf war. Britain won the Falklands war. She was not in office long enough to see the conclusive end of the gulf war.

One won’t fail to realize Mrs. Thatcher’s penchant for foreign travel. The then prime minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew described her program of international visits as ‘absolute madness’.

With Madam Thatcher you attend the tough negotiations with China for Hong Kong, you marvel at Japan’s technological growth, you visit India, Sri-Lanka, Malaysia an Indonesia all in quick succession. You encounter the high and the mighty from the five continents from the eyes of an insider.

A significant portion of the book deals with the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the negotiations leading to the creation of the European Union. There is a lot of debate over ‘single currency’ as opposed to ‘common currency’.

Sometimes her world gets rather treacherous. In 1984, a bomb exploded at the Brighton Grand Hotel at around 2.54 am. The hotel was hosting the conservative party conference. The prime Minister and her entourage were accommodated in the hotel. She escaped unhurt but several of her staff got serious injuries. A few died in the incident. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) was blamed for the atrocities.

The IRA had single out the prime minister for assassination on 5^th may 1981.On this day, one of the leaders of the IRA at Maze prison had died in a hunger strike seeking special treatment while in prison since he and his colleagues were political prisoners. Mrs. Thatcher in her characteristic way would not bow to the pressure. Up to eighteen prisoners died in hunger strikes.

By the time she is voted Prime Minister for the third time in a row, she has revamped the economy of Great Britain and is now set to concentrate on the social aspects of life This was to spawn the term ‘social thatcherism’ as she developed policies for housing, education, local authorities and social security.She goes ahead to give ideas on such issues as ‘individuals and communities’, ‘The family’, ‘The Arts’, ‘Broadcasting’ and ‘The environment’.

The book comes out as a handy textbook of political science, International studies and economics. It is rather voluminous but there was no other way that such a rich narration could have been condensed into a smaller tome.The writer is a skilled story teller and possesses a much appreciated sense of humour. You won’t fail to notice her attention to detail.

Eighteenth Century statesman and Prime Minister of Britain Chatham (1766-1768) once remarked; “I know that I can save this country and that no one else can.” Modesty prohibits Mrs. Thatcher from prevailing on a similar conviction. However, the confidence and the agility with which Mrs. Thatcher exercises her mandate tells you that she must have believed that she was the woman of the moment. She may have been born for such a reason as to lead Britain into triumph in the cold war era.

©Sammy Frank is a Chemistry teacher in Kenya. He is currently (March 2011) a student for Msc. Chemistry at The University of Mysore, India. All rights reserved.

Book review:Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhaghat

BOOK REVIEW.

TITLE:         Five Point Someone: What not to do at IIT.

AUTHOR:      Chetan Bhagat

PUBLISHER: Rupa Company

NO.OF PAGES: 270

GENRE: Humor, educational, Reality based fiction.

(Review by Sammy Frank)

Three friends meet at the Indian Institute of Technology, IIT. The story of their friendship at the institute leads the reader at the edge of the seat. This is not just an interesting story but a story with a lot of implications for educators.

The three friends are Hari, Ryan and Alok. Hari falls in love with Prof. Cherian’s only daughter, Neha. The Prof. is his head of department at the department of Mechanical Engineering.

Ryan is the thinker among the trio. His warped thinking lands the three in to trouble many a time.

Alok comes from a poor family and is the only hope for his comatose father, an unmarried sister and a mother.  The reader should understand something about the tribulations of the middle class Indian family that pins its hopes on the son of the family acquiring a good education and dreaming how thereafter he would land a well-paid job and put an end to all their misery and suffering.

The mention of an unmarried sister is significant. She according to Indian culture is supposed to pay dowry before she gets married. This is an extra financial burden for the family and by extension on Alok.

Nevertheless, the three friends choose to enjoy life with a big spoon. They take to regular outings, dating, movies and even try out with booze.

They soon discover that such a lifestyle is not compatible with IIT. What with assignments, tests, viva-voce exams and all? When the end of first semester examinations are announced, the three friends are at the tail end of the class and they all managed a GPA of five point something. They maintain that pitiable rank in all their stay at the premier institute.

The story is gripping and fast paced. Bhaghat shows a clever understanding of the Indian contemporary life. However, something else caught my attention. The author, whether consciously or not raises very pertinent issues regarding education.

1. How much should an education system depend on examinations as a measure of learning? According to the book and the movie The 3 idiots (which is partly based on Bhaghat’s novel) the current Indian education system does not encourage learners to think. The value of the learner is perceived to be based on the percentage they score in exams such that toppers are thought of being more valuable than their lesser gifted colleagues. I must be quick to point out that this obsession with diplomas is not limited to India alone.

2. What is the most practicable way of meeting individual differences in a class setting?

I recently came across a quote that addresses this issue rather aptly; “If I can’t learn the way you teach, will you teach me the way I can learn?”

In the novel, Hari performs poorly in viva-voce exams simply because he cannot express himself during the examination. It is not a language problem. We are made to understand that he knows the answers to the questions being tested. It is a kind of fear that grips him when he has to face the professors and he is completely tongue tied.

This may call for some sort of soul search on the part of teachers. Could it be that we would change someone’s academic life just by going out of our way and seek to understand some of the unique challenges that some of our students face?

Remember Thomas Edison’s teacher? He told the young Edison to go home because he was “too stupid to learn anything.”Albert Einstein’s teacher described him as being

 “mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams.”

Food for thought for every teacher out there. Do we give up too quickly on our not-too-good-students?

3. Career Choices.

This theme is more pronounced in the movie, The 3 idiots than it is in Bhaghat’s novel. In our days of extreme vocationalism, what drives young people to choose their careers? Passion for doing certain things in life? Prestige associated with certain careers? Parental expectations? I don’t wish to give my personal views on this issues. Neither do I want to preempt Bhaghat’s message. But as you read the novel, it will be good to bear in mind this crucial facet of education.

Bhaghat himself was an investment banker who quit his trade to pursue his love fro writing. His grasp of the Indian street slang and the IIT culture makes him an easy darling of the youth in India.

The New York Times has named Bhaghat ‘the biggest selling English language novelist in India’s history.’

©Sammy Frank is the pen name for Samuel Mwangi. He is a Chemistry teacher in Kenya. He is currently (March 2011) a student for Msc. Chemistry at The University of Mysore, India. All rights reserved.

book review:The Afghan.

BOOK: THE AFGHAN.

AUTHOR: FREDERICK FORSYTH.

NO.OF PAGES: 189.

GENRE: POLITICAL FICTION/INVESTIGATIVE.

(Review by Sammy Frank)

Forsyth writes fast paced novels, convincing and based on current realities in the underworld. In the Afghan, he chronicles a brilliant attempt by the western world to infiltrate the Al-Qaida terror network. The main character is the man simply referred to as the afghan. He is a westerner and makes a daring in to the treacherous world of international terrorism. He succeeds in preventing one of the largest terror missions ever imagined, albeit at the cost of his own life.

The writer as is usual of him has taken a real life event that took place but has necessarily joined dots here and there to tell the story. He takes you from the west to the east and scans every bit of the space between. It is cleverly written in simple English and attractive font.

To readers of other Forsyth novels, a rather clumsy portrayal of the CIA cannot be escaped. One however cannot be too sure whether that also was deliberately done!

Read in a sitting!

©Sammy Frank is the pen name for Samuel Mwangi. He is a Chemistry teacher in Kenya. He is currently (March 2011) a student for Msc. Chemistry at The University of Mysore, India. All rights reserved.