Read Only Memory

One of the classy products of the massive, memory-machine factories that run across the country in the name of "schools", I thought it is not a bad idea to have a look at how a normal student is expected to learn here. (I would restrain from giving macro solutions) I still remember sitting with my incomplete Mental Arithmetic book - III as late as my VII standard. With dad near me, tears in my eyes, and total frustration in my heart I tried very hard to solve those nightmarish, yet simple problems. Of course by then I had memorised multiplication tables till 16 X 16, as expected. (By the way I do not remember beyond 11 X 11 these days.)Still there was neither confidence nor interest in me to take that III std book.
A very high score in my XII, engineering from a pretty impressive college, an MBA degree after that - all these things have not done anything to destroy my basic fear for fractions or percentages. Though somehow manage these things now, the basic hate remains. For your kind information, I have learnt French during my higher secondary classes. But today beyond "bon jour" I know nothing in French. This is because I just memorised those ten French lessons and the solved papers of earlier exams - and ended up making a decent score in the Board exams. Be it mathematics or language our system does not seem to differentiate - it is just the plain, vanilla Memory To Rescue. But even to memorise and remember things better there are sure shot techniques - our schools do not teach them also. So what exactly happens inside a school? I do not know much. While we were always asked to study well, how many of us were told how to study? Very few. Our society might not be really ready for an exploratory approach to education (the Tare Zamen Par - types), the schools can however ensure children get some basic tips on learning and remembering.
Here are some -
* Before starting to read any chapter, just flip through the pages of the chapter
* Read the summary of the chapter
* Go through the questions given at the end of the chapter
(These steps set the mind ready to accept and link information)
* Have a time-frame for each chapter.Realistic targets
* Avoid other distractions
(Our households strictly follow this point, by switching off the TV sets.Full marks here!)
* Do the chapter in manageable blocks rather than finishing at one go
* Try to read at one specific time period everyday
(The fixed schedule of schools and tuitions takes care of this)
* Wherever possible create personal relevance to the material studied
* Revise. Revise. Revise.
Above all just remind them life has more to do than school and exams. See I have managed my life without yet completing that III class Mental Arithmetic book!

No blogging

Blogging is like smoking. It is a good time pass essentially, and this made me pick the habit about a year ago. It is not that I have never written anything in my life before that. I have always been associated with some magazine/newsletter or the other, willingly or without choice, knowingly or innocently, throughout my school-college-b-school-work-GoI life. But this new phase of writing started as a time-pass tool, like smoking. For more on this you go to my first post, please.
Smokers, left to them, would not generally care whether the people around like the exhaust that comes of their mouths. I too, generally do not care whether the person sitting at the other end of the comp likes to read what I have typed. Of course there is a concern somewhere in the mind for the poor readers. But the concern is not big enough to make me more considerate with the keyboard.
Smoking adds to one’s style or the cool factor, and this is one of the main reasons why many teenagers light their first cigarette. Though long past the school days, this blogger also believes that blogging makes him cool! Not everyone is as stylish as Rajni when it comes to smoking; I have come across some really pathetic posts, even in this blog. However one always tries to kind of flip the cigarette or rub the matchstick on neighbour's arm hoping to light the stick. The same strive is there among many writers, including this one.
A smoker without a cigarette, standing next to a smoking smoker actually gets to smoke for free. And that is what many bloggers do - just lazily browse other blog sites. For that matter that is one thing I do when having lots of time, pretty decent net facility and neither any new mail or scrap nor the mood to write something.
I have seen many smokers put off or throw their cigarettes midway, abusing some distant relative or a neighbour who passes by. The power cuts and the network problems one faces in the numerous net cafes around remind this. I do not trust Autosave anymore, after having retyped two or three posts till now. Things beyond one's control, things that irritate the most.
Of course, the "kicks" given by smoking and writing can not be compared.(By the way, as late as my Tenth Class I used to write writing as "Writting". Looks like since school days, I was so interested in writttting!) But writers also get a kick after completing a work, regardless of the quality of the work. The only thing is that for bad posts the kick is from outside.
Some smokers feel that they are rebels; they do not want to be contained by the myopic definition given to "good habits", they believe that nobody can chain them or none can snatch away their freedom.Read my dear friend Muthuvel's blog and you will agree to what I say.
Smoking is a costly affiar. Who says blogging is for free?

Happy 2008!

The number of films watched in a cinema hall is a good indicator of how one's vacation/break has been. The scorecard goes like this: On a normal vacation time - without any festival releases - an average of three films a fortnight is supposed to mean a peaceful vacation, where one could do everything planned, at one's own relaxed pace. Going by that this has been my most hectic break. Considering the festive mood spanning across Christmas and Pongal for about a month - I have managed to see just four movies in cinema halls. The first one being Kallori, while the finishing touch was given by Pirivom Santhipom, a Pongal release.

Directed by Karu Pallaniappan I think this film tries to explore the plight of a gregarious girl when she is made to sit at home by her husband, who spends most part of the day at work. Complicating the matters is that there are not many neighbours in their area, also the fact that the girl got used to the happy joint-family of her husband before the couple got shifted to the new location devoid of friends. This concept has the power to create a psycho thriller or a new look at life style issues or a captivating family story. Even films like Chandramukhi can be made out of this theme. Caught between some of these ideas and that of making a realistic family drama the director ends up giving us nothing that stays with us.

For more than two hours of watching the film I was expecting some thing to happen - a twist here and there or an intelligent sub-plot somewhere or a refreshing song or some fine comedy that does not stand apart or an interesting screenplay - but what I got to see at the end was closing curtains. I think this film was made with the sole intention of making a contra film. With films like Paruthiveen/ Mirugam/ Polladhavan etc going rounds the producers thought it was the best time to make a family drama with no single negative character, thus breathing a new life into the Tamil cinema world. In short you feel like coming out of watching a few episodes of a typical mega-serial at one go. However this film does not exaggerate life. I also liked the novel way of the initial title rolls. The song sequence that shows the Chettinad marriage is well-done.

Bombay Theatre - this is the only DTS/AC cinema hall in our city. This was my main criterion while deciding on this film. The other one being the proximity to my home. My next choice was Vikram's Bheema.