A for apple ....B for ball ...C for cat ....
Chilu was a nice little girl. Then , she had to go to school .The niceness.. gave way to bewilderment , a sense of loss and she saw what she had never seen before , a huge question mark , a big question mark before her existence. The world of “comprehension’ was suddenly put before her .No meaning was ever made clear. . Infact, she was barged with it . The funny thing was that she realized it even then but she never spoke about it. She did not have the words to talk about it . She did not know how to say it. It was something like a lexical short coming. She did not know either how to use a dictionary.
She was given toys to play with and told how to distinguish green from red. She learnt slowly that green was found in trees and leaves and red was found when she hurt her knees playing or when mother wore a flower in her hair. Her mind was battered with repeated images and then in a few weeks time she knew it. It constituted knowledge.
After a brief tryst with the creatures called words, came the time for numbers. There was something even more mysterious about them. They came from no where and made no sense what so ever . She wondered why two plus two could not make five. Why were those symbols made just like that, why were they not red or green . Why did it not matter whether at all they were red or green? . The mysticism of numbers grew as the teacher began to do something with them. Why did she do this, what was the thing in manipulating symbols and looking and feeling great about it . It was such a waste. Why did she not let her play out in the rain, wouldn’t that make her so much happier . Why was maths more important than happiness. ? But then shed do it for mothers love. She would laugh at this idea several years down the line but that is a different story. Right now, mothers love is very important. So, she sat down to write. Mother gave her the pencil in the right hand. She learnt to write with the right hand . Why did God make the left one then, she thought. Again, a waste. After all, learning was the most important thing a child is supposed to do in her life and her entire physical and mental faculties must assist this process . The right hand was such a waste. She continued, anyway .
The problem was that if a car covered 2kms in 10 minutes, how much time would it take to cross 5kms . What are kilometers, she thought and what does it try to measure .Why does it measure distance only and why not mangoes . What does distance mean , does it mean to walk, to move or to fly . And why is this a problem at all . In her mind it was not a problem, neither was it mathematical . But the teacher said it is maths. So, Chilu was confused .
Chilu grew up like this , with an utter sense of bewilderment that was very different from a sense of wonder . A sense of wonder is blissful , bewilderment is troubling . She swung between little moments of ease and discomfort . She did not know what to do about it neither did she really want to do anything about it . She thought she was alone in this tragedy . It was her mind alone that did not ….understand . It was about intelligence quotient , again measured in numbers and percentages . So it was not her realm .So she stopped to think about it and just followed processes at school .Moreover , she realized that that was the only way she would be able to be a part of the prize distribution ceremony and her mother would so love to see her with that shining silver around her neck . ………
She was given toys to play with and told how to distinguish green from red. She learnt slowly that green was found in trees and leaves and red was found when she hurt her knees playing or when mother wore a flower in her hair. Her mind was battered with repeated images and then in a few weeks time she knew it. It constituted knowledge.
After a brief tryst with the creatures called words, came the time for numbers. There was something even more mysterious about them. They came from no where and made no sense what so ever . She wondered why two plus two could not make five. Why were those symbols made just like that, why were they not red or green . Why did it not matter whether at all they were red or green? . The mysticism of numbers grew as the teacher began to do something with them. Why did she do this, what was the thing in manipulating symbols and looking and feeling great about it . It was such a waste. Why did she not let her play out in the rain, wouldn’t that make her so much happier . Why was maths more important than happiness. ? But then shed do it for mothers love. She would laugh at this idea several years down the line but that is a different story. Right now, mothers love is very important. So, she sat down to write. Mother gave her the pencil in the right hand. She learnt to write with the right hand . Why did God make the left one then, she thought. Again, a waste. After all, learning was the most important thing a child is supposed to do in her life and her entire physical and mental faculties must assist this process . The right hand was such a waste. She continued, anyway .
The problem was that if a car covered 2kms in 10 minutes, how much time would it take to cross 5kms . What are kilometers, she thought and what does it try to measure .Why does it measure distance only and why not mangoes . What does distance mean , does it mean to walk, to move or to fly . And why is this a problem at all . In her mind it was not a problem, neither was it mathematical . But the teacher said it is maths. So, Chilu was confused .
Chilu grew up like this , with an utter sense of bewilderment that was very different from a sense of wonder . A sense of wonder is blissful , bewilderment is troubling . She swung between little moments of ease and discomfort . She did not know what to do about it neither did she really want to do anything about it . She thought she was alone in this tragedy . It was her mind alone that did not ….understand . It was about intelligence quotient , again measured in numbers and percentages . So it was not her realm .So she stopped to think about it and just followed processes at school .Moreover , she realized that that was the only way she would be able to be a part of the prize distribution ceremony and her mother would so love to see her with that shining silver around her neck . ………
posted by shrivridhi @ 8:16 PM
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