• Education,  Personal,  Society and Institutions

    Of percentages and related things…

    I just discovered maidinmalaysia’s blog. And man! It’s awesome. And this post in particular reminded me that I haven’t blogged for a while. I so totally agree with everything she says, that I don’t really know where to start. She says she has three problems with this percentage business. I have many, many more.

    1. As MIM says, it doesn’t show a thing about you. Zilch. Zero. You may get an astronomical percentage in your exams, but that doesn’t mean you are intelligent. You may barely touch sixty, and it doesn’t show you are stupid. It merely shows how much you can mug up and vomit during the three hours you are forced to sit in an exam hall.
    2. How much you score in an exam, has absolutely nothing to do with what you in life post-school. Your marks should not determine your fate. Unfortunately for us, that’s exactly what it does. A person must be judged on aptitude and not rote memory. Our present educational system puts absolutely no emphasis on creativity, aptitude or intelligence.
    3. Marks are not, and can never be, a judge of character. People who score less than average marks are not necessarily inferior to toppers. They deserve no less than those who score high in examinations. I will never understand the air of superiority with which high scorers strut around, especially in academic and scholastic circles.
    4. MIM got me started on the whole science vs. humanities debate. Now, I will never shut up. It galls me when people give me looks of derision when I say I am a History graduate. Or when they say that someone with a 50 percent in the final exam can only get a seat in the History department. I am angry that History, Politics, Fine Arts and other social sciences are somehow considered inferior to the natural and physical sciences. I get extremely pissed off when people tell me that any fool can get a degree in the Arts. I feel like telling them to try. I feel like challenging them that it’s impossible to do.

    Society plays a major role in influencing a person’s options. While the mind acknowledges this fact and sees the logic behind people sticking to Engineering or Medicine as a career choice, my heart still pleads for sanity sometimes. The problem does not lie with the subjects per se, but with the perception that only people who do Engineering and medicine can be successful. One comment on MIM’s post made me realise this harsh reality. Ultimately, for most people, education is not about acquisition of knowledge. It’s about acquiring a passport to a better life. I beg your pardon. A richer life. Period. Whether you like studying what you study is immaterial. What is important is whether it gets you the moolah. Maybe I am getting a bit cynical. But sadly, that’s the way the world works. I wonder if this attitude will ever change. If we, as a people, as a society and a culture, will ever get around to accepting that other subjects (read the soft options) are as good as the hard sciences. I can only hope it changes by the time my children get to college. At least.

  • Humour,  Personal

    An image makeover…and some more

    I know I promised a more coherent and meaningful post soon, but this is not it. I am still in makeover mood and coherent thought is impossible until that’s complete. 🙂

    The other day, I got a haircut and bought some great clothes. Today, i went one step further. After extensively analysing the pros and cons getting my nose pierced, I finally went and did it! Now, let me give you a background. This nose piercing business is at least a decade old. I wanted to get it done, first when I was in school, then in college. In school, it was a passing thought, but in college, it became somewhat of an obsession. One fine day, I proudly announced to my mother that I was going to get it done. And to her credit, she supported me in this endeavour. However, the villian of the piece turned out to be my aunt.

    While debating the best side to pierce, my aunt said that it was convention to get the right side pierced before marriage and the left after it. Now, may I add here that I was rather adamant in wanting the left nostril pierced. To this, my aunt vehemently objected, emphasizing for added effect that it was against Madhwa protocol to do so before the wedding. Now, if I may say so myself, anything that is deemed to be against Madhwa protocol becomes my personal protocol. So, here I was, adamant that if my nose was ever pierced, it would be the left nostril. My grandmother added to the confusion saying that both her nostrils were pierced before marrriage. So, in the debating process, the actual idea of getting the nose pierced disappeared into oblivion.

    Six years hence, in my desire to get an image makeover, I decided this morning to get my nose pierced. My mother, again to be credited, gave her go-ahead. My aunt, trying to confuse again said that it was only Tamilians who pierced their left nostril before marriage. At which point, I decided enough was enough and declared that I was going to get the left nostril pierced, whatever protocol that may follow. If I had to convert to Iyerism for it, so be it!!

    So, here I am. With my left nostril pierced. I finally won a six year-old battle to get my nose pierced. Now, I have a nose stud on my left nostril. And yes, I forgot to mention that the stud is in diamond and I am a good six thousand rupees poorer because of it. On second thoughts, maybe I should never have tickled the sleeping dragon. My nose hurts. I never knew there were these many nerves on the damned thing. Everyone tells me the pain will disappear in a day or two. Meanwhile, I keep my fingers crossed hoping I will not contract any infection because of that terrible ordeal I went through for a measly nose stud. Will keep you posted!

  • Blogging,  Miscellaneous

    A comeback post…Hello world!

    Hello world! I know I have been extremely blog unsociable for the past month or two, but here I am. Back with a bang. I was wondering what to post on. I did not want to post on politics as the whole world and his dog seems to be writing on the elections. Actually, I am quite cynical about the elections. I prefer not to say much. I am waiting and watching.

    I know I put up a post about breaking up that I removed later. Sorry about that. I felt it was way too personal to stay on the blog. So, I took it off. But, I know it still figures on feed readers and in email inboxes. Doesn’t matter. Let it be. Anyway, this was just a hello post. Hopefully, this writer’s block will end soon and I will succeed in putting up a slightly more coherent and meaningful post soon. Until then, see ya! 🙂