Tuesday, October 26, 2010
JWALAMUKHI: A JOURNEY
“What began as a ‘project’ for me with an opportunity for learning more about myself through younger minds, while being able to guide them, soon got attention from many others in this college and is still a point of inquiry for many today. Even today I get asked, ‘What is Jwalamukhi?’ or ‘Who are these kids in our college?’ With more than three and a half months behind me now, I find it appropriate to bring before you a glimpse of what ‘Jwalamukhi’ is all about.
The following is a report on the 13th week’s session of Jwalamukhi written by me. I hope it will give you a feel of the very interactive and educative sessions that I have been fortunate to be a part of.”
What a joy it is when fun and frolic come right at the beginning of the session! The kids at Jwalamukhi were delighted at the manner in which the 13th week’s session began on the 9th of October, 2010 in a classroom of MES Degree College.
The session began with an innovative memory game where one had to add an adjective to one’s own name, beginning with the first letter of one’s own name. As each one did this, the list of names only grew longer for the next person to spell out. So, Joy Jyothi, Brave Bharath, Pranky Prajwal, Yoga Pandyan (he preferred that prefix!), Pretty Preeti, Peaceful Priyal, Lovely Lavanya, etc... off went the list!
As each one of them spelt out the names with unique prefixes, peals of laughter flowed out in abundance. What was even more interesting was that the first ones to get eliminated from the game were not the young minds but their mentors! The list of names, thereafter, grew so long that one could seemingly go on forever or abandon the game for something more ‘result-oriented’. With a change in the game, and the ever-popular ‘7-up game’ being played, both mentees and their mentors began falling like nine pins! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7up!.....1,2,3,4,....wrong move there and yet another gets eliminated and the small classroom echoed the uncontrollable laughter of them all!
The second part of the session saw Ranjitha kick off the group discussion on ‘Why did we have holidays on the 29th and 30th of September?’ It was simply ‘unbelievable’ that kids of the 7th standard followed national issues like The ‘Ramjanmabhoomi’ issue so closely! The understanding of such ‘serious’ issues is hardly found amongst many teenagers today, but the Jwalamukhi kids surprised us all! With Vasudha and Lalitha pitching in with their views and offering some ‘food for thought’, the kids openly came out with their views on the issue.
Further, the topic turned towards ‘What is it that we could do to root out religious-clashes?’ Srilakshmi gave a befitting prelude to the discussion in Kannada and the kids were rearing to go. The message of unity came out as the prime message of that discussion!
What really charged up the environment was the teacher from the Kannada medium school singing a Kannada song which deliberated upon the need for religions. After which, Ranjitha came up with another song in Hindi which emphasized the need to recognize that we are Indians first, then Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Sikhs, etc. Thereafter, began the very interesting session where many mentees shared how they celebrate Dussehra in their own ways. This brought out the ‘Unity in Diversity’ that we all share!
With this, the 13th week’s session of Jwalamukhi came to an end even as one looked back to the first session on the 26th of June and gauged how far we all had come today. Whether, the programme made any noticeable difference in many lives, only time will show through the kids of Jwalamukhi.
Visit: www.blog.jwalamukhi.org for week by week reports of Jwalamukhi sessions.
ARTICLE BY : PANKAJ A. DESAI
3RD SEMESTER,
B.A. [PJOE]
AT THE STROKE OF THE MIDNIGHT HOUR...
“At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.” For those who don’t remember, these lines were said by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru on August 14th, 1947. Every life sacrificed, every drop of blood shed on the soil, lay to rest, with their eyes closed peacefully as to what they strived for, was at last achieved-Freedom! Freedom from the chains of the foreign rule-the feeling was ultimate! If we ask our grandparents, their eyes would just light up with a spark of achievement to describe that very fateful day our nation stood mighty.
Since 1947, the world changed drastically, with technology playing a new key in everybody’s hand and the modern world just proved to be too fast for our old timers as they lay there watching the very freedom they shed their blood for losing its true value.
In today’s world, we read ‘freedom’ only in our textbooks and when we watch a patriotic movie. The spark lasts only till we come out of the cinema halls after which we resume a normal life. The new world or modernization is not to be blamed but the fact, we don’t have a clue about, is the real cost of freedom. ‘Are we really free?’ is the question I put forth to you and the answer may vary from person to person as everybody has their share to say. We live in a country where pizza reaches home faster than the police & the ambulance, where you get car loans at 5% but educational loans at12%, where rice is priced at Rs.40 but the SIM card is free, where millionaires can buy a cricket team instead of helping the poor, where everybody wants to be famous but none wants to follow the righteous path, where we follow inspiration but fail to inspire, where people like us only talk but no one dares to question the government because we think “What can I do as the only one?”, where we always say ‘Proud to be an Indian’ but never try to make India proud. We remember our country only 3-4 days in 365 days and the rest of the days, plan to work in various other nations for their prosperity but not for our own nation.
India is, what I feel is a reflection of the people who make up the country, so the country is what each one of us actually is. We all blame our politicians for the state of this country. Who are these politicians? They are one amongst us. The very people we elect are corrupt, selfish and narrow minded. These things will never change until we change ourselves. We ourselves bribe the “babus” for getting a license/passport/sanction letters for land/electricity/water etc. as we want things done quickly/easily. Once our jobs are done, we blame the very system we help in creating, as ‘corrupt’. Even after 60 years of independence, a majority of us want reservations in education/jobs based on religion/caste and not on merit alone. Today, more Indians have access to television than to tap water at home. An estimated 1.5 million children die every year of avoidable water-borne diseases. When we go to another country, we are treated as inferior mortals and in India we take pride in bending backwards to please foreigners. So, we Indians are second class citizens here as well and we seem to be okay with that.
Let’s come back to today’s situation. The poor are becoming poorer, the rich becoming richer, the middle class striving to make it up, the lower middle class trying to fight for their very existence. Whereas our babus come up on TV to shed a fake tear and a list of promises for a better tomorrow during the elections and the next day after the election, they are no where to be seen while God knows how much their Swiss bank accounts hold of every Indian’s hard earned money. L.K Advani once told that if all the black money hid by our very Indians was brought back to India, we would be able to clear all the debts we have and still be able to clear poverty in India.
We live in a time where hope is just another word with no real meaning. It is time we brought back our faith into idealism and inspire ourselves into getting that spark of fire that once ignited every Indian.
Jai hind!
ARTICLE BY : SRIRAM SHARMA
1ST YEAR, B.A. (PJOE)
MES DEGREE COLLEGE
ARE YOU AT HOME, AWAY FROM HOME?
The mental stability of a college - going student contributes to his or her active performance in academics, sports, cultural activities, etc. The atmosphere in which the student lives matters a lot.
The demand for student hostels is growing with the increase in the number of students moving to different states for studies. It takes at least two to three months to get completely adjusted to the daily routine of the hostel and it is seen that this time affects the academic performance of the students.
There are advantages and disadvantages in hostel life. Considering the health factor, the quality of food served in many hostels is not very good. Inconvenient timings of the water availability make it even more difficult for the students. In many cases, strict rules of hostels are coming in the way of the social lives of the students. They find it impossible to mingle with their friends. Parents are cautioned even when the students return five to ten minutes after the deadline set to enter the hostel. This causes mental agony for many students.
Some of the advantages of hostel life include students being not completely dependent on parents and thus bringing in a sense of responsibility among them. When the hostels are near colleges, the students will find time to interact with the teachers and friends. Along with this, there is no burden of traveling a long distance, thus avoiding fatigue, and the students can utilize this saved time for planning their study schedule better.
Hostel life also brings changes in the routine life of the students as they would try to get involved in different activities instead of merely watching television or browsing the internet when they stay put with their parents.
There is a need to improve the living conditions in hostels besides ensuring that the rules do not harm both the academic and extracurricular activities of the inmates.
ARTICLE BY : VIVEK M.V.
2ND YEAR, B. A.
P.J.O.E
M. E. S. Degree College.
Saturday, October 09, 2010
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