photo credit: Global Partnership for Education – GPE Students in class, Malawi via photopin (license)
So, you celebrated Independence Day, then threw the flags on the roadside alongwith the cloak of patriotism that you wore throughout the day; tied the Rakhi on Rakshabandhan and then threw away the thread in dustbin and alongwith it all affection and memories of your relationship; you have already swept clean your home temple of the decoration you did for Janmashtami, and with it washed away everything that the Lord taught and stood for. And now you are ready once again to celebrate yet another festival in line — Teachers’ Day, perhaps the only festival which is celebrated all over the country on a grand scale without any use of colours, crackers or controversies. We love our teachers, we hate our teachers, we love to hate our teachers. It is always a complex relationship, without a single exception. Continue reading
Today I’m feeling very light. In fact, very very light. Today I was finally able to take off that burden from me. Let me be specific. A huge pile of coins had accumulated and it was indeed getting more and more difficult to store them. Of course, I couldn’t keep them in my wallet nor in the pocket of my trousers. For some time I kept them in my bag, but the load kept increasing. Have you seen the calendars sold during Dussera and Diwali? You remember that pile of gold coins in front of Lakshmi ji? Same thing here. I segregated them into smaller piles of Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 2 coins and put them in different boxes. Once I discussed this problem with a local shopkeeper and he happily agreed to change them with notes. So today I got rid of all the coins. 
I moved to this new accommodation in January this year. The design and construction of this residential complex is quite strange. None of the residents seems to have any clue about what came to the architect’s mind to have designed such a stupid tower. No ventilation, no windows, no outside view. Everything is closed with glass panes, shutters, walls. We don’t even know what colour the sky is at any time of the day or whether it is raining outside or is it sunny. 
Pradyot 