Thursday, July 3, 2008

Some blah to start Blogging

Part - 1

It all started on a sunny afternoon (I assume to be sunny bcoz it was about 4 yrs ago) when my parents asked, " Anirudh, do you want to do science ?? ". For good or for bad I replied, “ Yes” . The reasons were simple, most of my classmates and friends were opting for science too, so might as well go with the flow . After the 10th boards, with 3 glorious months of holidays in front, going out of station to a hill stations or a resort or relatives place or etc …(you get the picture) would be the norm.


[ Norm - A standard, model, or pattern regarded as typical ]

But education in India is never ‘norm’ (wrong usage I know), with preparations for an exam after 12th starting from classes as low as 9th and working hours leaving only 5 hrs a day to eat, play, enjoy, study ( in that order assuming 7hrs of sleep ). Due to external factors and ‘advice’ I was enrolled ( not complaining ) into crash courses for chem ( good choice bad usage ) , maths ( bad choice bad usage ) and comp science ( bad choice, no way of using ) during my 10th hols . The chem. Crash courses I baguely remember partly due the fact that it was almost 4 yrs ago , partly due to the fact that I was half asleep through most of them. The math crash was supposed to be an hour long class. But the highest recorded duration was 55 mins and the average about 30 mins. The 1st class was the highest and kept reducing as the days progressed reaching a low of 5 mins on a day when the ‘Prof’ slept off. The CS crash course was where I understood (on hindsight) how important a teacher is in inculcating interest of a subject into a student. The course was an agonizing experience with me visualizing what I might be doing for the next 2 yrs and how I was getting no way closer to making it easier. Bottom Line – I changed subjects, a mature (spur of the moment) decision . The reasons for the change, I found out later , was stuff that would hardly be done in school . On hindsight this decision was soley due to the prowess of my CS ‘Prof’ in making an interesting subject look mundane and arcane.

So, after all the Crash ‘Courses’ came school and the coaching classes. After 8 grueling hours of school , came 3 hrs of classes and an added 1hr for travel (min.). The classes were an experience in themselves varying in their degree of difficulty, travel, length of time in school uniform and amount of time actually taught .


* This is my 1st blog so views and comments welcome.
* Scathing ones inevitable but try to be as gentle as possible.
* Part 2 will be out soon (i hope) .