A Place Called HOME!

It is a matter of great pride that Indian minds are among the brightest in the world. But it is also a matter of utter shame that in India itself, young students are so pressurized that they choose to rather give up their lives, than (even) see their results.

A recent news article highlights this.

Our dreams for them are so big that their inability to achieve those dreams makes them totally insignificant in their very own eyes. Are we stretching it a bit too far?

Atrocities on kids are something we are highly concerned about, especially with the recent increase in the same. Let’s put little extra effort to save them from parent pressure, which leads them to inflicting punishment on themselves. And this is significantly high in the southern region, which has a higher education rate compared to the rest of India. 

We argue, that it’s for their good we ask them to study. But how do we ask that? Do we emotionally blackmail them? Do we compare them with their fellow students & humiliate them? Do we shove the burden of our reputation upon their little shoulders? An eye-popping statistical report shows 40% student suicides in India alone.

To all the talented (in their own way) students who have high potential in their lives, I have some questions. How important are you? How do you access your unworthiness? Who gives you the right to take away your life? You didn’t choose to come into this world. You can’t justify taking it away. More so, for a petite reason like marks. The world will not collapse

Why don’t we encourage students who haven’t got excellent marks in 10th/12th to look beyond and pursue a career path they might excel at? We tend to become so obsessed with meagre figures that we fail to see that our kids might be excelling at something else. It could be sports, it could be music. But do we care? Some parents do cross the fine line between discipline & despotism, who make their wards take a plethora of classes to excel at everything!

 I definitely don’t commend kids who have been assured of immense family wealth that they conclude that education is not important. Education is the foundation of a person’s identity. It refines character. But is definitely not more important than life!

 Why is it so important to take pride in our children’s achievements that we utterly forget to cherish them? Which parent would agree that they would rather have an academically outstanding child than no child at all?

Let’s give them a place to return to, no matter what they have done-home!

The Luxury of Indian Railway!

One thing led to another and the responsibility of getting a ticket for myself landed on me.

If you have the power to know your whereabouts after about 4 months, book your train tickets in utmost comfort without competition. But if you are like me, with out-of-the-blue plans have a fat wallet (for flight). Booking a tatkal ticket is not everybody’s piece of cake. Very recently, I joined this elite group. It cost me one and a half weeks of emotional oscillation between enthusiastic hope and utter despair.

You might wonder why I didn’t just opt for a flight. Well, you see, by looking at the subsequent week’s air fares, I realised that amount could take me on an international trip to a nearby country.

Initially the agent tried for a few days. I guess he wasn’t assured enough commission for his efforts, because (I’m sure), he tried for tatkal atleast an hour after the sale started. My patience ran out. The wait made me sick (actually). Then I was asked to step in.

Each morning the struggle began. As the days passed, strategies were devised to maximise the chances of booking, in the minimum time that’s available. Approach was decided the night before. Tactics made, tactics rejected.

Based on the trend observed, I’d like to give some pointers to newbies:

    ·         Login atleast 30 mins before Tatkal booking begins. The more you delay the more difficult it becomes to even log into your account.

    ·         If the availability has considerable reduced, don’t test your luck. You may end up paying service charges for no service at all.

    ·         When you see tickets available & proceed with booking, the website does not block a berth. There maybe atleast ‘n’ number of people booking for the same berth, at the same time!

    ·         Even if you get beyond the booking page with sufficient tickets available, there are high chances you might get stuck on that page till all tickets are sold out. I doubt the website’s increased bandwidth claims.

    ·         Form filled, ready to pay? Captcha stuck. Refresh. Reload. Refresh. Availability- waitlisted.

The demand is enormous, the supply is miserable. One of the most used websites in the country is flawed! Sometime after the railway website starts showing on your ‘most visited’ list, you’ll be lucky.

The only advice from an experienced (by implementing all strategies) is- pray before you log in. The day you will be able to successfully login, book & finally travel is already decided. :)