Alphabets versus numbers!

The tug of war between Alphabets and Numbers!

 

Whatever else we fail to remember in our lives, fond reminiscences of our schooldays stay on everlastingly. Now, there are two alternatives. Either, we may think of them with longing, a yearning that time-travel existed or only hope that we could forget about them, but there’s no getting away from them!

My Alma Mater, St. John’s High school, Chandigarh; my second home and an institution I shall always be indebted to. School days, especially junior school was such fun!  Games, Dramatics, Debating, Writing and what not!

As time meandered its way through the cosmic clock, we were no longer little fledglings- for it was time for senior school, something I had always looked forward too. Alas! Happy times were short-lived, the party spoiler for me being-MATHEMATICS!  Algebra, Integers, Ratios and Proportions, Percentages and Averages etc, the mighty world of numbers, was nightmarish. The clock struck 8, and it was time for Mrs.Seghal’s class- a nervous breakdown of sorts was on the cards for me, everyday. A graceful lady carrying an ingenious brain on her shoulders, an imposing baritone, she would offer her greetings, “Good morning Boysss…..!”. An intimidating maths test was all that was required to make me gloomy and anxious to be back home. I would blank out at the sight of numbers, integers and complex profit and loss problems. While English Literature and Social Studies were my favourite subjects and fared well in them, all it took was 60 seconds for all hell to break loose at the sight of Mrs. Seghal. A forty minute class seemed like an eternity and more often than not, I would doodle her caricature sitting on the last bench or sneak a chacha chowdhary comic in my lap and read. What I feared the most was having to walk up to the blackboard and solve a question. My stomach and intestines would do the waltz and my liver would jump to my mouth with my ears red hot in anxiety and apprehension. How I wished I had the ‘invisible cloak’ to avoid situations like these.

My father, a brilliant mind and a mathematical wizard, came to my rescue and truly helped me overcome my fear of mathematics. Despite being devoted to his profession, he still made it a point to spend an hour of dedicated teaching every day. I vividly recall, sitting on the dining table, he would solve problems as fast as a lightning bolt and his calculations were beyond compare. He would leave me spellbound and miserable, at the same time. My mother would often joke of how I could sneak a fraction of his brain with me in my pocket to pass my maths tests!

My English Literature Teacher, Mrs. Rita Trehan, someone I admire, a linguist extraordinaire’, would often sympathise with my contempt for arithmetic and raise my spirits by telling me, “You know, Literature is your passion, and language students don’t have an appetite for numbers!”.

They say, ‘Life is what happens to you, when you’re busy making other plans’ and rightly so. Numbers have followed me till date as I step into my Masters for Economics at Panjab University, I am glad that mathematics is no longer a phobia or a matter of life and death for me. And my romance with English Literature continues now and forever!

 

Yes! I’m a 90s Kid

Just the other day, we were being taught about the economic reforms in India since 1991, and the brilliant teacher that Professor Upinder sawhney is, lectures for contemporary issues in Indian economy is never a drab affair! Most of us remember 90s as the kick-off to the post-liberalization era. Indians, for the first time, understood the meaning of the word “globalization”.

I’m a 90s kid, and a proud one at that! Today, as I deliberate with my fellow mates over a cuppa tea about the 90s era, every single person delves into nostalgia and remembers every single important thing that put mark on our lives, be it TV serials, cartoons, movies, cricket, snacks, video games et all. It was a time when we knew the words to ‘In-pin-safety-pin’ and ‘akkad-bakkad’ by heart; the time when playing hide-and-seek was an obsession; the time when “cool” was the coolest word.

If I were to define the 90s, one of the two things that would definitely appear in my list would be the ubiquitous Maggi noodles. It’s been ruling the market ever since and has wiped out international competition. While Maggi was undoubtedly the quintessential morning breakfast for most of us, add to that Jungle Book on Doordarshan at 9AM on a Sunday mornings! The wonderful characters of bhageera, mowgli, chil, sher khan-remain etched in the memories, don’t they?  How can we forget the thirst quenchers of the 90s-‘I love you rasna’, and the ruby red fragrant roohafza , convincingly pinned down colas and juices, which dominated the kitchen shelves every single middle class household. Summer vacations were largely dominated by mushrooms, bullets, bypass, one-up, flags, turtles and finally the Dragon-Super mario! probably the first encounter as an Indian kid to the world of video games. Singles like “Made in India” and “Dekho Dekho, Yeh Hai Jalwa- Remix” were at the top of the charts. Who can forget endless strips on ‘Chacha Chaudhury’ & ‘Twinkle’ comics we read, mostly in school sneaked in between the text books! India probably consumed more Frootis than oil in Iraq and owning a car meant either a Maruti 800 or an Ambassador.

Change, they say, is inevitable. Slowly and steadily, as India lost its virginity to the global economy the 90s came to an abrupt end. At the end of the decade came a plethora of satellite channels,the convergence of TV ,the PC and the internet. There was a dynamic shift in consumer tastes and preferences. Today, we talk of fashionable economic jargon like FDI in multi-brand retail and what not! It’s all a part of the larger economic and political debate. But, memories of the 90s are undoubtedly the most amazing, pleasant and beautiful ones.  They were defining moments that had huge bearings on our life. It was as exciting a time as present day India still is. If you’ve experienced it you’ll know what I am talking about. If not, it’s very hard to explain what you missed!

The Forgotten Birthday!

THE FORGOTTEN BIRTHDAY!

“Please join me for an evening full of fun, It’s my 16th birthday, hope you won’t miss this chance It’ll be great to see you there!” is what the birthday invitation of neighborhood friend read, sent via SMS.

Yesterday while coming back home after the party got over made me realize  how times have changed, how “Birthday Parties” have undergone a complete evolution. No longer do children go around distributing those handmade invitation cards en laced with beautiful calligraphy, technology has played a spoil sport. I wonder where the bunch of balloons have vanished that were tied to the letterbox so we knew what house it was at! Games back then were musical chairs, Peek-a-boo!, fire-on-the-mountain, lemon-spoon races, pin the horses tail, treasure hunt among others- simple yet enjoyable. The ‘cake’ was the showstopper back then, ordered days before the B-day, after carefully scrutinizing every little detail ranging from Spider man to mickey mouse et all, and the local baker would offer personalized service making every little birthday boy/girl feel extra special with free sparklers to adorn the beauty. Food was home cooked and innovative- open sandwiches, fruit salads, sugar-coated cookies, muffins, chole bhature, pineapple pastries, wafers and what not!  Frootie would be the thirst quencher. Guests included neighborhood buddies, schoolmates, grandparents and local family friends. The photographer would be the man of the house-the father! making sure the kodak ‘reel’ was bought and the camera was all set to roll! The biggest attraction would be the Piñata, a container often made of papeis-mache’, decorated, and filled with small toys or candy, or both, and then was broken as part of the celebration! All children with their party hats scrounging for all the goodies they could lay their hands on. The party culminated with a group photograph, as a memoir to treasure later, and bid farewell with the simplistic yet thoughtful return gifts.

As time has wound its way through the cosmic clock, an industry has grown up around birthday parties for the younger set. My little cousin went out for a birthday bash where he returned with a mobile phone as a return gift!  Parties are fancy, on a level I don’t understand; ‘theme’ parties have evolved ranging from comic characters to even Bollywood! There was also the period of “surprise parties”, where you threw your friend a party they didn’t (?) know about. Local bistros, food-chains, discotheques have become the favorite haunts for celebrating one’s birthday- doesn’t matter if you’re a 10 year old! Gifts have become more elaborate and fancy, the timings have changed, and cutting the cake with your parents and grandparents around is more of an embarrassment-sad but true in many cases. No longer do you find daddies haggling with the camera to take pictures, for the smartphone does the job!  There are no return gifts, and the little dust-infested star-shaped ‘Piñata’ lies in one corner waiting to be broken says goodbye to the “fun-filled” birthdays of yesterday!