Give me a chance

Some movies are just better than others right? And I suppose we don't get those movies very often, and so when one does come, they spread like wild fire. Anyway so when this movie 3 idiots released all my friends went quite gaga. I didn't see the movie. I am not being picky or snobbish. I just have a hyper active 1 year old and a job and bad time management skills. I don't watch a movie unless I can rent or buy the vcd. Bu I heard the song. Give me some sunshine, give me some rain, give me a chance, i wanna grow up once again.

The lyrics of the song, were quite to the point. Of a lost innocence, of a child's wonder which never gets to venture out of board prescribed syllabus. The actual lyric I think is,
Likh likh kar pada hatheli par
Alpha, beta, gamma ka chaala
Concentrated H2SO4 ne poora
Poora bachpan jalaa daala
The song is an instant hit in my current circle. Now this circle comprises of the creme de la creme of the society, as far as pay checks go. Most of my friends are engineers of one kind or other, since both my husband and myself are ourselves from that trade. But I also have friends who are in management, doctors, lawyers, or in short, all the other hated occupations that the song depicts. And they all loved the song. Unanimously they loved it. They sighed and sobbed, about THEIR childhood lost, THEIR innocence getting trapped in the heavy books and grueling schedules of exams.

Somehow it irritates the hell out of me. Don't get me wrong. I am not a promoter of the dreaded rat race. Frankly I grew up competing. Not because of the “kitabon ka bojha” on my shoulder neither did my father ever bribed me with any kind of car. Probably because both my parents worked, they never had time to obsess with what direction my studies should take.
I still recall the mothers of other children in my class, who would come deliberately one hour earlier than when the school ends and sit with each other exchanging notes on whose daughter scored how much in social studies, which reference the “first girl” was studying for her history projects, how come the “first mom” (first girls mother) didn't share the information till its too late to add to the other girls project too. There was a lot of competition going on even outside our classroom, as all of them vied for that “first mom” slot. And every time I was going out of school I thanked god, my mother was not sitting their on the steps, armed with all that information, on all the reference books I should be studying. After all knowledge is power and god knows we never want our parents to have even more power on us.
Like I said, luckily my mother is a teacher, whose flatly refused to help me study, (not that I begged for it). Her reason was that she was doing the same thing whole day for 8 hours, she just cant come back home and do the same again. And one has to understand. I dread the day, when I come back home and my little one says “ ma my geography teacher says, the concept behind my project was good, but the quality simply doesn't cut the line. We have to do more testplanning, specing and coverage to qualify for a beta release!!!!”

Anyway, I had a good childhood. I had hobby's outside studies. My parents, with their limited income, did best to provide me with all that interested me. Books, music lessons, swimming classes, drawing classes. They quite toiled to get ends meet, AND take us to each of these classes after they finish their whole days work. And not only that, I think their greatest achievement was, to let us leave them when we didn't want them anymore, after all the effort they put in. On the other hand, I am seeing parents of my circle, some of whom have recently told me the whole idea of not sending my child to school till she is at least 4 years old, is ridiculous. Thats because all schools accept children at the age of 3 in kindergarten after rigorous interview schedule. And to prepare your child of that interview you must train her for a year. So 2 is definitely the limit ... no the upper limit when you can send your child to school. When I was quite appalled with the ideas, of both a child HAVE to be in school at the age of 2 and the interviewing of a 3 year old child to measure her talent. I was hit back with two clear answers. One, its not only your child that gets interviewed, but its mostly you!!! And that makes it acceptable! that means if I am not educated enough, if I am not earning enough, then my child is simply not upto the mark of the standards of these school! Are we creating a whole new caste system in our country? And so comes the other reply, Well there are government schools, if you dont want your education to be a matter of discussion, you can always go there. If thats the best you can do for you child .........

Funnily enough the people giving me these obvious explanations are the same people who were so moved by the song! When I tried reasoning with them, I studied in a bengali medium government school, I turned out okey. They happily replied but ours was a different time, rat race was much slower. The rats run faster now ....

Last time I debated with a friend that I just do not relate to this song, he asked me, don't you ever wish you could grow up again and be different? Make different choices? Be a different person? Don't I? Of course I do. The day my boss is dancing on my head, I wish I was a freelance writer or a freelance photographer or a .... freelance anything. The day my husband is dancing on my head, I wish I never got married... a freelance spinster. But most of the days, when I am feeling moderately logical, I know I have been lucky. In fact I have been extremely lucky. I was born into a family which gave me a start to run in this rat race. Would I have turned out in a different life if given a choice? May be. But my parents didn't chose for me or pushed me into becoming an engineer. If I really was serious about becoming a vet or a zoologist as I used to fantasize, I doubt they would come in my way. Albeit they would be little troubled for the time I would have to struggle in my career. And I would probably be more passionately involved in my career, as I always loved animal more than writing if-else loop (which pretty much sums up the work I do). But seriously if at the end of the day I sit and think about it, I am still a reasonably happy and unreasonably lucky person. Like I said, I have from the very start managed to get to run that race, by the sheer luck of being born in my family.

For example, take the instance of the numerous chotus of the shops we shop from or the 10 year old full time maids. They don't get bogged down by size or weight of any kind of book. Their parents never introduced them to any sort of bribery, unless you count the fact, “if you work full time in that house, you will get at least 2 full meals from the stale food they have from last nights dinner” as a bribery. Now if there was a competition of how much this concentrated sulphuric acid ever burnt anyones childhood, I don't think, our childhood would win that race. Not even close.

Do I sound too morose? too morbid, in retrospect of our shining india? Okey lets forget 90% of our population. Lets pick the children of our “class”. Those who get to go to schools from the age of 2, good a/c schools too, not “government” schools. The ones who get to experience their first expensive watch, mobile and designer cloths before they ever get to experience Hans Andersen's fairy tales. The ones who never by family or friend get pushed into IIT rat race. They would much rather grow up to be models, fashion designer and super hot actors. Are they better of than me, who ran rat races throughout her life? Are they completely living their childhood, in touch with their innocence?

We all are born into some family, at some point of history, in some situation. We get some scopes, chances. Some of us just got more of that than others. Its not fair, neither is it uniform nor just. Many a times I have cooks and maids at my home, who are so good at maths and understanding and picking up at things, that with respec to the amount of education they recieved (never beyond class 5), amazed me. Ashamed me. Same stories of poverty, exploitation of their young age, helpless situation, I have heard so many times. Every time it made me wonder, what did I do to deserve the life I had, and the what did they do to deserve theirs?
At these point any reader (being overly ambitious, I am imagining anyone read up to this point) asks what is your point??? what do you have against the song?
My humble answer is, nothing against the song. Its just a song, but people who are making a song and dance in the same tune .... Frankly, stop whining. if you think the educational system is not good, take a stand against it. If you think your childhood was “burnt by sulphuric acid” then save your child from same experience. Or may be look a little beyond your own doll's house, do you think you can offer the same of that “acid” to the child that grows up on street?