LEARN FROM DAILY LIFE:TWO INCIDENTS
LEARN FROM DAILY LIFE:TWO INCIDENTS
If life is a movie, daily life is the script of it. We get up in the morning and the reel starts unfolding. If daily life is pleasant, we feel life, we enjoy it and we actually live it. On the other hand, if it is monotonous and painful, we bear it and somehow sail through it. Somebody has correctly quoted that ‘past’ is the ‘present’ gone and ‘future’ is the ‘present’ that is to come. ‘Present’ is everything. Daily life is our ‘present’. We must tweak it to perfection in order that the future may welcome us with open hands.
Following incidents, which I am going to narrate, are based on true occurrences of daily life. Such events are taking place all around us but we tend to forget them without learning anything from them.
INCIDENT1:
This is Monday and it’s hardly five in the morning. Nandan, a twelfth standard student, is watching down from the window of his room he shares with his little sister at his 4th storey flat which stands in one of the busiest hubs of the metro.Outside, it Is raining heavily and water is pouring down the window pane. Parents are in the other room and sister Tanuja is also fast asleep. School bus is supposed to arrive at the nearest bus stop in another three hours.
But why is Nandan awake so early in the morning? Yesterday night he was busy completing the physics project which he is supposed to submit by Wednesday. He worked up to half past one and yet has risen up so early. His eyes are burning and head is swirling. He looks lost, shattered, afraid. There is something wrong, utterly wrong. We must investigate.
Nandan Sinha, who scored an aggregate of 87% in his tenth standard final examination, is, by nature, a shy boy who has few friends. He is not the sort who complains parents for every petty problem. But of late, Nandan has been finding the school work too engaging and monotonous. Daily class tests and projects have baffled him. Despite his attempt to sleep in peace, he has not been able to sleep for more than three hours last night.
Nandan could not go to school on the morning I have been talking about. He was instead taken to physician as he was running high temperature and had rounds of nausea and vomiting, where he had to remain under doctor’s observation for two days. Diagnosis revealed that it was a simple case of phobea, which medically means a fear for something in particular.
But why and how? I understood well that owing to excessive homework and so many working hours, Nandan could get bored, feel exhausted and fed up, but why fear? I couldn’t guess what caused Nandan to be afraid.
When I dived deeper some shocking facts came to light.
• Nandan had scored poorly in last few class tests and he had not revealed this to his parents . Some of his marks were 3 out of 25 in Physics, 13 out of 50 in Chemistry, 1 out of 50 in Mathematics. Doctor said Nandan could not concentrate on anything particular for more than five minutes. It was attributed to high amount of tension which the boy was facing in his daily life. Every morning he got up with a fear of the volume of work, monotony and insult.
•There were wound marks near both the knee caps of Nandan. It seemed as if he had rubbed his knees for hours together in the ground. Even in class twelve, it was found, students were asked to kneel down as a punitive measure for low marks, bad performances, inability to meet deadlines for submission of projects etc.
• During his stay in the hospital he was found mumbling in his sleep, words like, “How will I get pass marks”, “How will I face Gobind Sir” etc. Being a meritorious student all through, was costing him heavily. His ego was shattered and the teachers who loved him earlier were the main source of fear to his self esteem.
• Doctor said Nandan was anaemic, could not eat like a normal boy of his age and had developed sort of arthritis. The long bus journey which he had to take up daily to reach the school, made him tired and the tuitions on the weekends did not allow him to rest even for a while.
It took Nandan a week to come around. The doctor advised him rest for another week at home.
Lessons learnt from the incident:
• Getting sky high percentiles in examination is not the end of life. Please parents, for God’s sake don’t squeeze Nandans so hard that they end up their days sleeping on hospital beds with bottles of saline hanging by their sides.
•Our teachers may think about changing the ways in which they make the students understand their classes. CCE(CONTINUOUS AND COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION), the new and ambitious scheme of the education ministry also says, “CCE is not about invoking fear in students by giving them excessive assignments and class tests. It is all about incorporating assessment with teaching and learning. In interactive sessions the students should be encouraged to explore, experiment and learn.” The basic element is to make the class room an interesting place where students, while learning, also find pleasure
•Lastly students must also understand that the only way to handle pressure is regular work. If daily tasks are finished on daily basis then the pressure does not build up and the mental state is healthy. Forming a system in studies so that entire hardship amounts to building up of knowledge is useful and parents and teachers should teach such procedures in which knowledge is retained and much repetition is not required at the time of tests.If possible, students should practise regular Yoga and meditation to get rid of useless anxieties.
INCIDENT2:
Little did Raghav Taneja realize what had destiny in store for him, when he hired the auto rickshaw for Ashram from old Faridabad. His parents and grandparents came out of their residence, to the main road, to see him off. Raghav had with him, two suitcases and a sky bag. It was about seven in the morning. Raghav had recently got admission in an engineering college in Rajasthan and today he was going to join the classes. He thought of first reaching Ashram by auto rickshaw and then boarding a city bus for ISBT, from where he would get a bus to Jaipur, Rajasthan. But the events that followed, were a bit different.
Several attempts by Raghav’s parents to contact him on his cell phone in the afternoon failed. Parents felt helpless as there was no other alternative to contact Raghav. Raghav’s friend Hardeep, who was to accompany Raghav from ISBT, on being contacted at about four o’clock, said that since Raghav did not turn up at ISBT, he had to start alone. Guessing something ominous Raghav’s father contacted one of his friends in police. But at about quarter past five, a stranger rang up Raghav’s father and informed him that his son was found in an unconscious state near Ashram public bus stop and that he had been admitted to a nearby hospital. Raghav’s parents were terrified. They noted the address and rushed to the hospital and the scene that awaited them at the hospital was really shocking. Raghav lay on a bed in the general ward and was being given saline water. He was almost unconscious and his face had bruises, wounds and clotted blood marks. His elbows had signs of torture and it seemed the boy was still under a spell of fear. Even though he was writhing in pain and was not able to utter even a word but when he felt his parents’ presence near him, the expression on his face clearly showed that he was relieved to a great extent.
The story that unfolded was indeed, a disturbing one. When Raghav boarded the auto in the morning there was nobody in the auto except him and the driver. But when the auto rickshaw stopped after a while, three persons boarded the same auto and sat by Raghav’s side. In the beginning they started talking to Raghav in a friendly manner. After sometime one of them brought out a half litre coke bottle and offered Raghav a sip. But cautious Raghav refused. At this, all the other passengers forced Raghav, manhandled him and got him to drink the beverage almost entirely. Since it was early morning and the spot was slightly on the lonelier side, nobody came for Raghav’s help. After that Raghav fell unconscious and did not know how he reached the hospital.
Part of the story was told by Arun Khosla, the person who had informed Raghav’s father over phone about the incident and had brought Raghav to the hospital. Arun stays at Ashram near the spot where he had seen Raghav lying unconscious. At the time he saw him, Raghav’s knees were bleeding, his clothes were torn at many spots and it seemed as if Raghav had been dragged on the road. Moreover he seemed extremely inebriated. The traffic at that time had peaked, but nobody bothered to help Raghav. Arun said that such events had happened earlier too. Later when Raghav regained consciousness and was able to recollect, he said he had guessed that all the passengers and the driver himself were part of a gang. But by then it was late. Arun also said such gangs were active in that locality who often robbed passengers either in early morning hours or late evening hours.
Anyway, Raghav was lucky and regained normal health in a few days. After some time he was also able to join his classes. I happened to meet him during his semester break and enquired him about the incident. Immediately tear drops trickled down his cheeks and Raghav said,” Really I don’t want to recollect the horrible day. It was such a bad time. But thank God I escaped.” Friend of Raghav’s father who is in police, indicated that the gangsters, for some reason, did not want to kill Raghav. Raghav’s belongings were almost entirely taken away.
Lessons learnt from the incident:
• It was found that Raghav’s belongings were a bit too costly. He was wearing a heavy gold chain, two gold rings, a very costly watch and was carrying a new N97 Nokia mobile phone. There was simply no match between his tender age and his belongings. So he fell an easy victim to the thugs. But what was the need for this costly paraphernalia? Raghav is only a student who has not still learnt to live all by himself. From the very first impression, it was quite obvious to the thugs that Raghav was a potential bait and his belongings would give them plenty of money. So, for a student, for ladies travelling in trains or those in public places etc. or whosoever for that matter, I don’t find any reason to wear heavy gold ornaments or carry so costly mobile phones as would invite danger. So dear readers, please try to understand that looking or trying to look attractive is not foolishness but being game to thugs and robbers by wearing or carrying unnecessary elite class belongings is. In Raghav’s case, Raghav’s parents were more at fault than Raghav himself. They must have advised and restricted Raghav to only those things which were necessary for a student of his age.
• The second and very important observation from this event is Arun Khosla’s attitude towards the incident. In his own words, “It was my duty to do so. Had I not noticed him and brought him to the hospital, anything could have happened.” When Raghav lay by the side of the road in an unconscious state, many paasers by took him for a drunkard and didn’t at all bother to help him. Nobody tried to enter into the matter as it might entangle one into interaction with police. Arun also had to face enquiry by police and Arun knew it quite well before hand. Still Arun took the pain. And that’s what strikes a chord. To at least minimize such unfortunate occurrences we must have Arun’s attitude. Says Khosla, “From the appearance I could make out that the boy belonged to a good family. I determined I would help the guy even at the cost of not attending office that day.” And that’s exactly what is needed to build a strong social infra structure. We should understand that somebody’s life is more important than business or office.
THE SCRIPT OF LIFE MUST BE WRITTEN WELL TO MAKE THE SHOW GO ON FOR EVER
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