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If this really comes through, which I doubt, RKN's dream would be fulfilled.
RKN was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1980...Indira Gandhi was a fan of RKN. This is how it started:
RKN must have felt a fish out of water in the intricate politics of India. He made only a speech or two, urging the authorities not to rob children of their childhood by breaking their backs with heavy syllabi and book-bags.
In vain of course.
This piece of news on the front page took me all the way to my own schooling at Muthukur in the early 1950s. Our village had no electricity those days and we went to bed by 8 pm after meals and story-telling under the starlit skies. And woke up at the crack of dawn. And, after a perfunctory cleaning of teeth (with the forefinger) and a bath (suspect), I used to be on the road to join other kids at play. And would rush home at 9.30 for a hurried meal and run to school without any school bag or tiffin box. Just a pencil and a few books in hand.
School started leisurely at 10 after Assembly (known for pranks) and we were let out for meals at 12.30, with a "urine-inter-bell" of 10 minutes in between...spent in the bushes outside the school fence, indulging in joyful parabolic competitions. And we ran back to school at 1.30 and it was all over by 4. And then the drill class which meant games. We ran home for a bite of snack and back on the road for more play till sundown. Then some horseplay at home till the night meal and slept off by 8 pm...no home work at all.
A fortnight before exams in March we 'studied' till 8.30 and woke up at 4 am in the morning for some mugging up. That was all...
When I went to our University at Vizagh, I discovered that there was no attendance rule. We were asked to buy a copy of the syllabus and a question paper set of the past 6 years. We were on our own. But our teachers did take their classes and I never missed any for what they were worth, except the Relativity Lectures which were a bore and I cut ALL classes on the subject.
There were a couple of teachers who never took any class during the entire period between July and January. But they took extra-classes a month before our exams and hurried through their syllabi. One was Dr BHK on Optics and he was brilliant. The other was Dr JPR who took Organic Chemistry which I scraped through...he was a constipated chemical.
At IIT KGP, I never missed holding a lecture class for all of those 40 years...it was a pastime for me in that boring campus...to bore my students.
I recall that in 2004 Spring I was taking the Jumbo First Year lectures for all sections combined. And I had to leave KGP to Gudur to perform the wedding ceremony of my niece on February 14 (Valentine's Day...it was a 'love marriage'). So I was in a fix how to arrange to compensate the three lectures I would be missing because there was no way all the first years could gather at any other slot in the time table during working hours.
So, I entered the class room and announced:
"There is a good news and a bad news; first the good news"
And then there was an appeal from the front benchers:
"First the bad news, sir!"
But I didn't relent.
"The good news is that I will be out of station and there will be no physics lectures the whole of next week"
There was celebratory clapping for all of two minutes.
And I went on:
"The bad news is that today and tomorrow I will be taking extra classes in the Raman Auditorium between 8 pm and 10 pm...Take your dinners early and come along"
There was a consolidated groan for all of two minutes.
But they all did come, fetching their absentee classmates...for, a week later, the midsem exams would be starting, and they thought I would be leaking out the question paper in the extra-classes.
Sigh!
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"In a significant move, the AP High Court on Wednesday directed authorities to ensure that all schools shut by 4.30 pm every day...The petitioner had brought to the notice of the court that children were being put through stress by being made to attend classes, sometimes beyond 8 pm by the managements of private schools. He contended that that this was robbing the kids of their childhoods. The petitioner urged the Chief Justice to direct the authorities to issue necessary orders to all schools in the state to fix the school timings from 9 am to 4 pm so that students could give time to sports and extracurricular activities and spend time at home"
...DC Front Page Thursday 26 September 2013
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If this really comes through, which I doubt, RKN's dream would be fulfilled.
RKN was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1980...Indira Gandhi was a fan of RKN. This is how it started:
"...Our first meeting was in 1961 when I was taken by my friend Natwar Singh to Teen Murti in order to call on Jawaharlal Nehru after I had received the Sahitya Academy Award on the previous evening. Nehru came downstairs and received the book I had for him, talked casually for a few minutes and left, saying, "I am sorry I have to go, but...," he hailed across the hall, "Indira, here is Narayan. Look after him. Give him coffee and breakfast and talk to him." She took charge of me, led me to a table and organized an exquisite breakfast of fruits and toast and porridge and above all very good coffee. She put me at my ease in a few minutes and soon we were discussing a wide range of subjects. She was gracious and informal, and continued to be so, unvaryingly, all through the years I have known her..."
RKN must have felt a fish out of water in the intricate politics of India. He made only a speech or two, urging the authorities not to rob children of their childhood by breaking their backs with heavy syllabi and book-bags.
In vain of course.
This piece of news on the front page took me all the way to my own schooling at Muthukur in the early 1950s. Our village had no electricity those days and we went to bed by 8 pm after meals and story-telling under the starlit skies. And woke up at the crack of dawn. And, after a perfunctory cleaning of teeth (with the forefinger) and a bath (suspect), I used to be on the road to join other kids at play. And would rush home at 9.30 for a hurried meal and run to school without any school bag or tiffin box. Just a pencil and a few books in hand.
School started leisurely at 10 after Assembly (known for pranks) and we were let out for meals at 12.30, with a "urine-inter-bell" of 10 minutes in between...spent in the bushes outside the school fence, indulging in joyful parabolic competitions. And we ran back to school at 1.30 and it was all over by 4. And then the drill class which meant games. We ran home for a bite of snack and back on the road for more play till sundown. Then some horseplay at home till the night meal and slept off by 8 pm...no home work at all.
A fortnight before exams in March we 'studied' till 8.30 and woke up at 4 am in the morning for some mugging up. That was all...
When I went to our University at Vizagh, I discovered that there was no attendance rule. We were asked to buy a copy of the syllabus and a question paper set of the past 6 years. We were on our own. But our teachers did take their classes and I never missed any for what they were worth, except the Relativity Lectures which were a bore and I cut ALL classes on the subject.
There were a couple of teachers who never took any class during the entire period between July and January. But they took extra-classes a month before our exams and hurried through their syllabi. One was Dr BHK on Optics and he was brilliant. The other was Dr JPR who took Organic Chemistry which I scraped through...he was a constipated chemical.
At IIT KGP, I never missed holding a lecture class for all of those 40 years...it was a pastime for me in that boring campus...to bore my students.
I recall that in 2004 Spring I was taking the Jumbo First Year lectures for all sections combined. And I had to leave KGP to Gudur to perform the wedding ceremony of my niece on February 14 (Valentine's Day...it was a 'love marriage'). So I was in a fix how to arrange to compensate the three lectures I would be missing because there was no way all the first years could gather at any other slot in the time table during working hours.
So, I entered the class room and announced:
"There is a good news and a bad news; first the good news"
And then there was an appeal from the front benchers:
"First the bad news, sir!"
But I didn't relent.
"The good news is that I will be out of station and there will be no physics lectures the whole of next week"
There was celebratory clapping for all of two minutes.
And I went on:
"The bad news is that today and tomorrow I will be taking extra classes in the Raman Auditorium between 8 pm and 10 pm...Take your dinners early and come along"
There was a consolidated groan for all of two minutes.
But they all did come, fetching their absentee classmates...for, a week later, the midsem exams would be starting, and they thought I would be leaking out the question paper in the extra-classes.
Sigh!
*************************************************************************************************************
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