Confessions of a "Municipal School teenage boy"

I have moved my blog to www.spotalks.com

My family background actually rocks! You know what I mean. My father is just a construction worker but working in Dubai and my mom like other Indian lady she is a housewife. So, Education is a bitter to my genetic code. At tuition, I was doing the usual stuff not listening but watching and at home, I was sleeping, eating and the obvious. But I wasn't satisfied with the monotonous life, it was very boring to me. One day at tuition, I really wanted to strike conservation with this beautiful girl. I went to her and said hi, what is your name? I was shocked she actually replied and said I’m nikita kaur from St Joseph school. I was battling an insurgent infatuation at that time so I couldn’t concentrate on the conservation and my eyes are basically lost in something else. My first convo with a convent girl was terrible. But I did notice something; she was talking swiftly in English and Hindi mostly about studies.

I asked my nerd friend, Hey! why don’t you speak to these girls in tuition? He asked me, what is the purpose of speaking to them? I hid my intentions and told him; you can learn a lot from them especially English. He was like no man I am not interested. But I want you to do me a favor, teach me this bloody mathematics, so that I can at least ask those chicks doubts. A Pact was agreed by my studious friend. Every weekend I go to his house and get drilled by him in mathematics. I asked him, what inspire you to slog like this when none in our school actually not after textbooks (Inside my mind I thought of telling him everyone is after chicks)? Then, He started of telling his sad story almost sounded like any sad Hindi movie. I was able to understand something in mathematics but this bloody calculus is a bitter word for me. I decided to ask some doubts or questions to the tuition master to show off in front of girls.

There is always uncertainty and twist to the life. We always aspire to do something but we end up being something though we had good focus according to our self. This applies to me also; the show I wanted to put in front of girls exposed my vulnerabilities and it back stabbed me. I asked some lame question to the master I think, he screwed me big time by drilling me in calculus and the whole class burst into laughter and I burst into tears. Everyone in the class started making fun of me as if I don’t deserve to be in the class. My nerd friend is only sympathetic to me and urged me to buckle down. This is the point of realization you know, I thought if I could show off I may get some chicks coming down to me. But I realized even if I prove my intellectual capacity though I am not, it won’t get me any chicks because most of the convent chicks are only lured by money and power. After each tuition class, I follow these kids to understand how they behave outside class. I peep inside the glassed doors of Ice cream parlor and feel jealous of their privilege. At those moments, I realized the differentiation and integration of life before digging into the real calculus.

I thought I have done all the mischief without realizing that I am not entitled to do those things because education is the only way to uplift myself from lower middle class status. It is the degree or college education I am going to earn will bring laurels to my family and eventually changes my genetic code. But I don’t want to be like my nerd friend and I can’t be. I have started preparing very well for my board examinations. Mathematics has changed from a very tough subject to challenging one and others are ok. I have to specially thank those convents girls and guys I may pass English paper. I am left with only one week to go for exam, so I need to study very hard.

Confessions of a "Municipal School teenage boy"

I have move my blog to www.spotalks.com

This is a fictitious story about confession of teenage boy from some municipal school in India.

I can hardly speak, write or read English but I aspire to be one of those elite leagues of English speakers in my country. I am studying 12th standard in one of the town municipal school in Hindi medium. This is a boy school so I don’t have any chance of at least conversing with a girl. I see convent girls wearing short shirts walking on the road speaking in English among themselves. I wanna speak to them; will they speak to me if I open my mouth in Hindi? I always envy those boys who are of nearly my age flirting with girls. I curse God for not giving this most desired opportunity.

My friends, who are like me, don’t study at all, this partly due to bloody teacher who never used to teach in the class or come to class. Even if they come to class, we are always his or her prey to the long stick or become an outstanding student usually caught by principal. Ultimately we end up kneeing down outside his office. I used to wonder whether his only job is to grab all the outstanding students from different class to his office. The kneeing outside and getting beating from him is equivalent to corporal punishment. I tell my friends; I get frustrated because of this busy school schedule and need to relax. My ingenuous friends are also corrupted like me; they asked me to try a puff. Yes, I did and I’ve gone to the heaven when I did.

As an adolescent boy, I’ve an urge to hump those convent girls. But obviously I couldn’t do it. So my friends and I decide that the best way is to watch those girls getting humped on the big screen. That was a splendid performance by white guys and girls. It made me think why on the earth this India is so bloody conservative? I always travel to my school by government bus pass. If I miss the bus, it is a great excuse for me to skip the school. But I never tried to miss the bus. You know why? I usually board 7.30 am bus which is full of other municipal school girls. It’s a wonderful chance for us to socialize with them. I am a master of socializing but sometimes I get kicked for my biology topic. These girls on the bus aren’t like those convent chicks, they don’t have any attitude and most importantly they don’t speak English, like me. I still prefer short skirted convent girl that’s why I aspire to be an English speaker.

I wanna befriend at least a guy from those convent schools. I think that may give me an edge to speak with them. I know one of my schoolmates, is a nerd goes to the tuition where lots of convent girls also study. I know his parents literally relinquished necessary things for them and saving for his education. Even that tuition master is kind enough to subsidize his fee. So, Here I am who’s neither a good student nor a wealthy guy to pay the fee. I befriended this guy and begged him to get me an admission. He scrupulously explained to the tuition master about my situation. I think this tuition master has a very big heart, you know what he accepted this stupid. I was very excited to go to the tuition not to study but to ogle at those beauty angels and dream for a chance to speak to them.

I prayed to all the hundred Gods I know in Hinduism and asked them not to do one thing which is “Please don’t embarrass me in front of angels”. I always know if I pray to God in negative manner the probability of that wish fulfilled is 70% more than positive wishes. I was right in my calculation God was kind enough not to embarrass me in the first class of the tuition. I was really feeling weird because I felt that I don’t belong there. I am an outcaste among those students in dressing style, taking notes, asking questions and even in the way of looking at hot chicks. Convent guys do far better than me; I felt the tremor when the chick caught my two fixated eyes on her instead on the teacher. I said “What the f**? I am out today itself”. Fortunately that chick brushed me aside and she fixed both her beautiful eyes on the teacher. My friend who sat beside me asked, Are you able to understand the problem? I said to myself which problem you’re talking about. Thank God, days of tuition invigorated my nerves and something hit me very hard on one day. I was left with only seven months to board examination and I hardly knew anything.

continue..

The Flat world vs. the Spiky World

I have move my blog to www.spotalks.com

I believe most of you should have read “The world is flat” book by radical thinker of 21st century Thomas L. Friedman. He is also a famous columnist of The Newyork Times and several times winner of Pulitzer Prize. He says in his revolutionizing book about globalization that the world is flat; it means more and more people around the world started to plug and play in the world economy. I was constantly looking for different perspective to Friedman because you couldn’t form an opinion on single perspective though Friedman is undeniably a genius. I came across a book called “The shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein, a famous Canadian journalist who opposes globalization. She was succinctly arguing in her book that free market principles devised and advocated by Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman erodes the freedom of ordinary people.
In the novel, she cited examples from South American dictatorship to democratic Bolivia how they implemented free markets with the help of CIA or some American foundation in a forced manner. These countries deliberately wiped the indigenous industries or people to allow multinational corporate to exploit the cheap resources. She was vehemently arguing that globalization is bad and can only benefit some elite people, others will be left out. My insatiable desire to understand why only certain cities or countries can innovate was not over. One day I was browsing through “Economist.com” and found an article about the book on “Imaging India” by Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman of Infosys. As many might have anticipated, his book was all praise about how Bangalore was able to adapt to globalization and become a centre of innovation in IT services. I was very curious to read the comments posted by readers on how they react to his book and found an interesting comment asking others to read a book called “Who’s your city?” by Richard Florida.
As a poor jobless guy like me will always fall into the trap of others who say that this or that book is very good. So I went to library and borrowed this book to read, know what the hell is he talking about? Believe me this book is worth a read and it gave me a different perspective and trigger me to think also. He is not against globalization like Naomi Klein but he says “The world is spiky” rather flat. As a reader, I kept on reading to understand his intuition and logic behind saying that. He says only so called mega regions or cities around the globe produces almost entire goods and services and they are the major contributors for trade. He was able to prove this statement by facts and figures from credible agencies like IMF, World Bank, etc. I said to myself alright man; I may try to convince myself that the world is not flat but spiky.
But things usually don’t stop there, we need to introspect whether globalization is really good or bad or the world is flat or spiky. In my case, I hail from a small town which was/is (Don’t know I haven’t analyzed this yet) not well connected to the global economy. There are so indifferences or inequities among the guys or gals brought up in cities and my place which I can clearly observe. I gone to Chennai to pursue my junior college and understood that the world is competitive than what I thought previously so I started working my ass off. I got a decent score in A levels and land up in NTU, Singapore. I come here and find that the world is extremely spiky so I need to fundamentally dismantle myself or double hard work. So, I am doing my level best to keep my head above the water. For a moment, leave me aside and lets go to another interesting perspective who’s my cousin born and brought up in a village worse than my place actually (at least in education).
I took him to city and showed him the different world out there where there are so much of opportunities to grab. He made a sensible point “who will support me in city?” Unless you hail from middle class or upper middle class you have all the money to spend on your training and move up the ladder. I sincerely believe that he has a point. If we really analyze who are those people who plugged and played in Friedman’s the flat world? They are from mega regions or cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. It’s the safest assumption to say that all our elite class, entrepreneurs and business people are from those mega regions.
I wanted to know how the fastest growing country “china” looks like. So I asked my Chinese friend “Is china a flat country or spiky regions?” My friend admitted that china is also a spiky regional country but one commodity in china is very flat. Guess what? It is education which is the essential commodity for people from non flat world to compete with flat world people. For my cousin to be competitive in the cities first he has to acquire the right skills to succeed in this fast paced world. In near future I clearly don’t see India to be a flat country but with spiky regions. People from non flat regions of the country will definitely find hard to plug and play within the country but they should try to be the “Change Agents” to change India into a flat country.