As a 10th grader, I hear this word at least 50 times a day.

Even the teachers, they hardly care if we understand the lesson/concept, they just tell us how to get the most marks out of it.

And the students are no different. I've seen students memorize mathematical problems. There's a limit, and these kids are way past it. I mean, some problems are fine, you need to see how it's solved a few times to completely understand it (geometric theorems and their proofs, mostly) but you don't have to go as far as to memorize.

And lately, it's all anyone cares about.

"Mom, look I built my own robot."

"Forget the robot, it's not going to get you marks. Go study."

When the idea for school came into the minds of the Ancient Greeks, Romans, Indians, Chinese etc. I don't think they wanted students to get marks. They wanted students to get knowledge.

I'm not even going to talk about the syllabus, that's retarded enough. But, the whole mark system is downright stupid. To be honest, the entire examination system is stupid.

I know, exams are supposed to test our knowledge and keep a check if we're actually studying. But, it really doesn't test our "knowledge". There are a lot of intelligent kids in my class, who are never classified as intelligent by the teachers. Why? Because they never score above 70% or 80%.

It's not like they're street-smart. One of them got 92 percentile in an IQ test whereas the kids who get 90% in exams only got 70 percentile or so. Again, it's not like IQ matters either. But, I'm just saying, these kids are legitimately intelligent.

But, that's the kind of influence that our education system has on us. It's not our fault that we're so mark-obsessed. It's not our teachers' fault for teaching us about marks instead of the subject. It's just that idiot's fault who designed this entire system. (I've been trying to find out who that evil genius is, putting millions of kids through this hell, but sadly, the Internet is not helping)

We, as a whole, have started rating students based on their marks. Right now, no one cares about talents. Sure, even in school we have talent based activities but guess what? They're all for a subject, which is graded, and doesn't count towards the overall report. Which means, the parents don't allow their kids to spend more time on it than necessary and so, all talent is lost.

As you can see, I'm trying to bring about a change, although small, by writing a blog. And whenever I tell this to my parents or friends, they just say the only way out of the system is to beat the system.

Well, after I'm done with 10th, I'll be busy with 12th, and then with college. By the time I'm done with my education, I seriously wouldn't give a shit about the education system. That's typical Indian mentality, if it doesn't bother me, I don't need to do anything about it. And I really wouldn't care about the kids who would be complaining about it when I'm done. I guess that's why today's grown-ups don't want their kids to complain about school either.

So, in our schools, the smart category includes people that get 90% in their exams, not people that have brains. To be honest, the only reason I'm considered to be "smart but a waste" is because I used to get good grades in 5th grade or so and I don't any more.

And EVERYTHING is done based on marks. As in, if there's a workshop where students are invited from certain schools and only 4 are allowed to attend it, there's an exam conducted to determine who those 4 students are. And the exam, like any other, needs the memory of an elephant and skills of a parrot, so, the same kids are sent to competitions, workshops etc and others get no chance.

I shouldn't be talking about that though because I'm one of the students who always represents the school in competitions. But, that's only because I'm in a school that doesn't have too many kids, so the teacher herself picks the children who get to go to these events.

Bottom line is, we're all becoming a mark-oriented society and that needs to change.


PS: I asked the studious kids in my class a simple question

2² x 2⁰

and as expected, I got the wrong answer, 0. We learned about the law of indices in 7th grade. If the studious kids don't remember that x⁰ = 1, what's the point of memorizing?

A very sensitive issue today is discrimination based on gender. I agree, both men and women should be treated equally. And the government too is supporting female empowerment, to some extent.

We all know it as the idiot box. Something that keeps us addicted all day long, with multiple channels and hundreds of ways of attracting us. TVs today have reality shows from all over the world, educational shows, daily and weekly soaps from all over the world, movies (national and international), news, music and miscellaneous.

In India, we have different DTH providers (Satellite TV, in case you don't know) and some of them provide games through their set-top boxes.

A lot of DTH services also have a recording feature now. Which means, you can record your favourite shows and watch it again and again, like a VCR (which, I think, never came to India)

Serials are a BIG part of any Indian household. It is one aspect where parents are more addicted than children. And these serials are down to the earth stupid. These directors, they know how addictive their serials are and how many viewers they will get.

Because, in all fairness, Indians are a bad judge for movies. There are a few good critics, and teens nowadays have started hating some bollywood movies. But, parents, no. They will hate every movie, song, serial their kid watches but whatever shit they put on their Hindi serial channel, they will watch it.

That's how an average Indian household is. All day long, the mom does her chores, dad goes out to work. Then, when the first serial starts airing, she will glue herself to the couch while waiting for the dad. And when he comes home, after missing 1 or 2 serials, she will tell him what happened. She only tells him 50% and he only understands 25% but he's still excited about the serial no matter how shitty it is.

So, they don't discriminate, they could put ANYTHING on that channel, as long as it doesn't have nudity and constant swearing, parents will watch it. Something educational, something that spreads awareness about a sensitive issue, something citizens should know about the country or stuff like that.

But, no.

You know what they show?

Typical Hindi serials:

Guy is richer than God. Marries a pretty girl who doesn't have a job (hence spreading the message that girls are gold diggers) then she just works in the kitchen all day (Yes, another stereotype that needs to change now)

Huge family in one house. The most elder person in charge of everything however, the male adult often goes against the elder, and ends up getting slapped, in slow motion, 5 - 6 times, depending on the director.

All have dinner together (which fucking encourages parents to call their kids to have dinner with them, while they watch this shit and give excuses like "As a family, we should spend more time together") and naturally, the women are just serving food to the men. Then, there's a discussion going on, usually something to lighten the mood, or sometimes overly serious based on some recent problem in the house. But when a woman voices her opinion, the men shut her down. (promoting a male dominated society)

Discrimination against women is a serious issue in India, and very very sensitive. Even I don't joke about it. I was just on a class trip to a city far from home and I saw first hand what the females go through in public places.

And these serials just encourage the crowd. Yes, I know, TV serials are for entertainment and they aren't to be taken seriously, but, that's the thing, they are taken seriously here. If you watch some reality shows where celebrities from these soaps are called for talking, you'd find out. I was watching one of these shows and a lady, who played the villain in a serial, was talking.

She said that she and her husband went to a house in their neighbourhood where someone had just passed away to pay their respect. And when they reached, the women of that house called her to a room inside. Inside, it's all private, all the relatives of the dead person were gathered and then one of them says "why do you trouble the main character so much?"

A person is dead, and all they can think about is a serial, plus, they even think that she's a real villain.

This is the kind of hold that TV has on Indians, why don't they use it to spread some good message? It'd be a lot better than the drama they spread to every house.

The end of October is popular world-wide as Halloween, however, in India, it is popular for Diwali, the festival of lights.

The history behind this festival is pretty interesting, but it is long and would take too much time to explain, so if you're interested, read this wiki article.

Well basically, for almost everyone in the country, it's a week long vacation. It takes place after the terminal exams for students, and so, they are tension-free and Diwali is merely 1/3 of their 3 week vacation. For the working parents, Diwali is one festival where they get at least 5 days of break, and a bonus in their pay.

However, there is a lot of work in the house during Diwali. It starts with cleaning the house.

Diwali is also popular for the many foodstuffs that are made during this festival, so, the women are busy with the preparation of these sweets.

Diwali itself is a 5 day festival, beginning with the Dhanatrayodashi, when the wealth of the family is worshipped. The next day is Narak chaturdashi, when each family member has to wake up early and bathe with 'utna' (I'm not sure what the religious importance behind this is, but, it's used like soap and it actually is good for skin) and the women worship the men of the family.

The next day, Laxmi Poojan, is considered the main festival of Diwali, when the Goddess of Wealth, Laxmi is worshipped. On this day, everyone wears new clothes, or their best outfits and come together to worship the Goddess, after which they have a feast and eat the Diwali sweets.

The day after Laxmi Poojan is called Padwa, which signifies the relationship between husband-wife. The wife worships her husband and the husband, in return, gives a gift to his wife. The next day, the last day of Diwali, is celebrated as Bhaubeej, dedicated to the sister-brother relationship. Much like the Rakshabandhan, this festival sees a sister worshipping her brother, who in return, gives a gift to the sister. (Yes, Hindu brothers have to buy gifts for their sisters twice a year)

The religious importance behind each festival is very interesting, even to an atheist like me, however, the fake religious people seem to have forgotten the true meaning of Diwali. Diwali is called the festival of lights, not because of the fireworks, but because of the diyas (lamps) lighted during the festival.

But these last few years, I have seen, Diwali has become more about shopping, firecrackers and in general, about appearances.

Traditionally, the women would draw beautiful designs with rangoli outside the house on each day and light diyas (lamps) around the rangoli.


An example of the beautiful rangolis that could be seen a few years ago.

But nowadays, the rangolis are store bought, or home-made, that just have to be placed/glued to the floor and can be reused etc. And the lamps in the rangoli are sometimes LED bulbs in a traditional lamp, or a fancy lamp with a fancy flame.







Now, doesn't this go against our culture? I get it, no one has the time to draw huge rangolis in today's world, but that doesn't mean we have to replace it with artificial rangoli. I'm not saying my family is any better, because my mother did the same thing. She made an artificial rangoli like the one in the picture. It does look pretty, and it did take a lot of time and effort, but, that's not our culture. And for someone who constantly complains about today's generation not being in touch with our culture, our parents sure bend the rules a lot.

Another thing that bugs me is the Diwali has become like the Hindu christmas. We all expect gifts from our parents or family. I mean, it's fine if you go get a few new outfits, that's customary. But, we're expecting gifts like electronic appliances etc.

The stores, obviously encouraging this kind of behaviour, announce discounts on a wide range of products. And it's a known fact about Indians,

If a shirt costs 300 bucks, very few would buy it. But, if the same shirt had a price tag that said it's "On-sale price" was 300 bucks, thousands would rush to the store to buy it. We don't fucking care what the original price is. As soon as we see the word "discount", "sale", "__% off" we immediately feel like buying it.

That's exactly what the stores do. They announce discounts, that are actually minor, and so everyone buys their products, even though they don't need them, and the stores still roll in a profit.

And last but not the least, the firecrackers.

I'm still not sure what is so amusing about firecrackers. Because, for one, the firecrackers we burst aren't pretty. I mean, they only last for say 5 - 10 seconds. (Don't fucking tell me about a 25 shot firecracker, I know they last longer but it's the same shit, just 25 times.) In a lot of parts of the world, fireworks are illegal. And, the government or some organization sets up firework shows on special occasions (like the Fourth of July) and those are actually pretty sights, they last a few minutes, if not more.

Where I live, there has been a significant decrease in fireworks but I spent this Diwali at my grandparents and the residents in their society drew me crazy. To begin with, very few people actually burst firecrackers that are "pretty". It's mostly just newly wed couples that have infants or children below the age of 8. To them, that is amusing, and they don't burst too many either. In my opinion, that's fine.

But teenagers and young adults like me, I still don't understand what they find amusing about fireworks. For one, they don't even burst something that's pretty. They burst bombs. The result is not pleasing to the eye, it's basically paper flying everywhere. It's just noise. That's all it is. Noise.

Some adults go for rockets that make noise when lighted, and make noise while flying in the air, and make noise when they burst, with some colourful explosion. That too is fine, but they overdo it. They get one of those 100 shot fireworks (which will drain an average man's wallet by the way) and just keep them on for hours. So everyone in the vicinity is mute and deaf and you can do nothing but stare at the same shit, happing 100 times.

If a ban was to be put on firecrackers tomorrow, the whole nation would protest saying "Its our culture."

It fucking is not. It is not our culture to buy firecrackers that drain your parents' Diwali bonus. It is not our culture to burst bombs till our ears go deaf. It is not our culture to burst firecrackers and look at the explosions till our eyes go blind. It is not our culture to fucking ruin the country by littering it with paper and smoke.

You think smoke, light and noise in large quantities is amusing?


Here, I'll launch a rocket towards you.

Think logically for a second, India ranks 9th on the list of "Countries with the dirtiest air"





Source

In the list of cities with worst air pollution, India takes most spots.




And in the list of dirtiest cities, Delhi bags #24 and Mumbai is #7.

Source

If this isn't enough for you to think about cutting back on the explosives, I don't know what is. And we people are complete retards. Just 20 days before Diwali, we celebrate Gandhi Jayanti. Mahatma Gandhi preached "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" and we take an oath to start a clean India drive every-fucking-year.

And in less than a month, we completely ruin that drive under the name of "culture" by shitting over the entire country with paper litter, gunpowder residue and air pollution.

And then in December we support all kinds of cleanliness drives.

I've said it once and I'll say it again, the actions of Indian citizens are as retarded as can be.

I'm one of them, even if I don't burst firecrackers, I do contribute to their retardation in one way or the other.

Well, as you would expect, the songs that an Indian radio station can play are limited. (Because, there are next to no good hindi bands and even if there were, the RJs only ever play Bollywood songs) So, they just play latest Bollywood songs, one after the other.

This past month, I've had a lot of problems with my hard disk and operating systems so, I spent a lot of time listening to the radio. And, seriously, in 2 hours of listening to one radio station, 4 - 5 songs are repeated at least twice. That's saying a lot because in 2 hours (120 minutes) only 30 songs are played.

You'd think that's pretty good, considering how a lot of Bollywood songs are 4 minutes long, but no, RJs stop the song after 2 minutes and start their trash talk.

It's not like they even talk about anything important. Mostly just promotion of their shitty competitions like "Blockbuster Thursdays", "Blue carpet" or some gift hampers for Diwali.

This really pissed me off because, radio exists for 2 reasons. Music and a medium of spreading social awareness for any topic.

But Indian radio is now like YouTube. Ads pop-up all over your music.

If the radio stations can't generate enough money through sponsors (or whatever it is that gets them money) they should just disband instead of selling their stations to ads.

Because, when do people even listen to the radio? When they're stuck in traffic, or while cooking (like my mom does) or maybe when internet is down and you have no good music on your phone or computer (like the hard disk deprived kid I have become). And I'm sure we turn on the radio expecting a song. But, no. After say 3 - 4 minutes of music, there's a 10 - 15 minute ad break. And, these ads are the same shitty ones. The same god damn ads after every song.

No wonder kids remember all the ads so well. We're bombarded with ads.

And if you think you're good enough to evade ads and listen to music on another station, I'm sorry. That doesn't work. These stations are in cahoots. They play music at the same fucking time. And then they all go back to their main purpose, advertising. There are 4 radio stations in my city, all of which I can listen to without static from almost anywhere in my house, but all 4 have synchronized music times.

And RJs are no different either. I remember when I was 5 or 6, and I used to listen to the programmes on radio, like conversations between RJs and the audience or some celebrity. But, those programmes are gone. The only thing these fake RJs do is, prank call random strangers and fool them, which by the way, is definitely scripted. Because, no person who just got pranked on radio will just laugh and say "Oh you got me", he'll definitely rage and scream "BC".

So, out of 60 minutes, we get like 10 minutes of music. And the music is such that it really doesn't seem worth the ads. I'm not expecting it to be anywhere near Stairway to Heaven but it's just Bollywood. And, even in Bollywood, there are some beautiful Hindi songs, but no. Bollywood is now all about shitty Punjabi wanna-be rappers who think they're good. 1/5 songs is Hindi nowadays, which gets played almost never.

Instead of all this, I'd much rather not have this piece of shit.

Few days ago, this incident took place in the capital of India.


And then, now, they're probably going to kill the tiger.

I don't get it, what did the tiger do? He just defended himself from what he thought was a potential threat.

Think about it, he spends all his time in that exhibit. No real visitors inside. Well, aside from zoo staff, but they're trained and they don't do stupid stuff like that boy.

Now, seeing someone new, not an actual zookeeper, must have provoked the poor fellow. And when that person started playing around, he must have seen him as a threat.

Well, what do humans do when they sense a threat? Easy.

1. Kill it
2. Shoot it
3. Blast it
4. Nuke it
5. Cut it
6. Slice it
7. Destroy it
8. Make a post on facebook that says "If this gets 1000000 likes, I will kill the threat"

Well, the tiger didn't have any other way to deal with a threat. So, he merely killed the human. Now, I don't know why he ate it, but, uh, that's not what I want to talk about it.

And now, people are trying to put the tiger down. All he did was act exactly like us. And, it's not like it's the first human eating tiger either. I remember when I visited Bandhavgarh, a national park in India. We did see a human-eating tiger, of course, we were far away but, the tiger was the largest of that park, and was known to be human-eating.

Is this tiger being put down just because he's in a zoo and he killed someone? Because, that's messed up. Those people took him out of his natural habitat and put him in a small exhibit. So, he really shouldn't be punished for this. It's not even as if he got out of his exhibit and started mass killing like Hitler.

Anyway, I just feel like everyone's over-reacting over this.

And, if you think so too, sign this petition to save the tiger.