An Ode to Solitude

Oh Solitude, where is thy grace?
The charm of which the sages praised.
Silence shrouds my forlorn face.
Gloom and Anguish leave my brows raised.
I wish to taste my life’s sweet share,
To assuage my pain and despair.
You remind me of carefree days,
Of abundant joy and limitless mirth.
The days of wild pranks and plays.
And the warmth of my mother’s hearth.

Oh Solitude, where is thy grace?
The charm of which the sages praised.
Maybe it’s lost in the din of life’s race,
Or you, by Man’s indulgence have been disgraced?
Solitude! You reside in heart's deepest place,
And Shower solace, encouraging peaceful thought.
Your soothing touch gives affliction a grace
And help reconcile man to his lot.

Oh Solitude, this perhaps is your finest grace
The charm of which the sages praised!!!

November Nights

The chilliness of November nights
The winter showers of Bangalore
Make my mood sink to lower heights
Why this familiar air brings memories of the yore?
Why gloomy blue is the color I see around?
Why emptiness in me builds all over again?
Like an ethereal cloud held in bound
That wants to melt in joy and rain.
This chilliness of November nights!
These winter showers of Bangalore!!

To my MBA

I wake up in the morning with bleary eyes
Still reminiscent of the last night’s work
Rushing for my class, as time flies
You can’t escape & of attendance can’t dare shirk
Oh! It’s all so routine, you feel like déjà-vu
No respite & with means of recreation only a limited few.

I sit in class, staring at the board
The words of my professor feel so harsh
Oh! I start feeling so damn bored
At times i wonder are these “gyan” all farce?
English is passé, and my prof often talks in greek
The “gammas” & “sigmas” would even kill a geek

The fan keeps squealing above my head
My neighbours, with sleep, already dead
I keep looking quite often at the clock
“It’s simple relativity!” in my mind it flocks
Why time trudges so slow whole day?
But at night, it’s almost dawn as soon as i lay.

Assignments & quizzes rain so often
You can’t expect better when things are bitter
No surprises if you get a “D” or a two on ten
B’coz it’s “MBA” and life can’t be sweeter
All the more you start hating it all
You feel pushed, perpetually against a wall.

In the end it all feels like an Irony
You pay to get screwed here, Isn’t that Funny!!!

Love and Greed

When Love arose in heart and deed

To shower the world with great joy,

“What can She give me now?” said Greed,

For Greed thought to win some costly toy.

 

He rose, he ran, he stooped, he clutched,

And soon the Flowers, the Love let fall

In Greed’s clenched fist were smirched.

And Greed said, “Flowers! Can this be all?”

 

He flung them down and went his way,

He cared no jot for tulip or rose.

But boys and girls came out to play,

And some took these and some took those.

 

Red, blue, and white, and green and gold

And at their touch the dew returned,

All the flowers bloomed thousand-fold

And so crimson, so bright, the flowers burned!!

Idleness

As peace is the end of the war,

And night, always, isn’t from light too far.

To be idle is the only respite for the Busy

For our mind, from life’s labour, wants to be lazy

 

Who says idleness is a vice

A curse, a punishment for the wise

A rust that eats away one’s brains

Us, from success and wisdom, it refrains

 

Idleness bestows upon us leisure

Time to recount and peep into memory’s treasure

Time to observe and think out of the rut

It goads curiosity and feelings from the gut.

 

Idleness gives solace and peace from life’s Din

So, for the “Counter-wise” idleness is not a sin!!                 

 

She

She is beauty’s own dame

Of ethereal clouds and grace divine.

Worthy to drive most of men insane

Her eyes lit with resplendent shine.

Tinkers her voice with a sweet chime

In her tresses resides the darkest night

Her sweet frown can change all clime

And all that’s dark and bright

Meet in her face and her eyes

Mellowed to, in so tender a light

Which a sunny day despise

Like thousands a tulips bloom

When her lips brook a smile

A tint that wins, lightens all gloom.

Her brows of dark wisps

Conceal and guard her calm.

Her cheeks blushed of a rose’s kiss,

Lies with her, a heart which knows love & no Harm!!!!!

Lessons in Neglect

The primary education system in India reeks of gross negligence and incompetence on the part of the government. It is shocking that India spends a meagre 3.6% of GDP on education, notwithstanding the size of 290 million students to be taught. Despite the vociferous claims of the incumbent parties doing well on educational front; it just turns out to be hollow in the light of the fact that –India’s illiterate population equals the population of USA. India when compared to most of the developing countries like Brazil, Russia, South-Africa etc ranks far behind in the Human Development Report (HDR 2006-07) of UNDP. In order to be an economic power and a global player ---in the long-term—India just cannot ignore the potential of primary education system. No matter how much the government does to improve the higher education system in the country, with a near moribund primary education it would just turn out to be a wild goose chase. 9 out of 10 students in class 1 won’t get into colleges!!!! This hole in the education “bucket” needs to be plugged—sooner the better.

Looking forward what can be done to improve the whole educational milieu in the country. After reading a number of reports and articles I  believe certain bold and new steps could be taken by our policy-makers— at least to start with:

1)     Privatise primary education. By privatisation it shouldn’t mean exit of government from primary education. Operations like Mid-day meal scheme, Maintenance and teaching staffs etc can be taken care by the private players. While government’s role would comprise developing course curriculum and management. There are innumerable government primary and middle schools across the country. But most of them are in a dilapidated and neglected state. A Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) model can be envisaged. If railway can do a turnaround using a PPP model why not education system?

2)     The teaching staffs --which are already a few --are not performing well. Most of the schools today are understaffed --with 1 teacher per 120 students. Most of the teachers are reluctant to perform and are mostly truant from their work. The government must decentralise the primary education system. By this I mean, the teachers must be made directly answerable to the Village panchayat and the parents. The Panchayat should be given the authority to audit the performance and use of funds in the school. A monthly report and a performance appraisal of the teachers must be done. By doing this the teachers would be directly answerable to his “Customers”.

3)     Why should the Higher education be subsidised? A major portion of government’s education spend is lost in form of subsidies. Only a small fraction is left for primary education. In the first place why should students pay only $45 per month in IITs when students can easily pay $2000 for US universities? In India the higher you study the more subsidies you get!! Such anomalies must be addressed soon so that primary education is not left in lurch and dearth of funds.

4)     The problems of poor education quality will not go away by control but by decontrol. As of today education system still remains regulated by the government. Education system is perceived as “Not-for-Profit” domain. This has to change. Education too can be run as a profitable business and at the same time not hurting National interests. This sense of misplaced anxiety—a vestige of pre-liberalisation period--- must vanish. FDI must be allowed into higher education at least. Recently the government was mulling over this, let’s hope such progressive initiatives are expedited.