EDUCATION???
EDUCATION???
a true incident in Bangalore, India
It was around 5.30am on the 26th of Feb 2003, I had just returned from work and was feeling exhausted, not really exhausted I guess, but it was the stress that was getting into my head from last night's work. I was pondering on my thoughts as to what to do at the moment, so I decided to make a cup of tea and wait for the morning newspaper. The wait seemed to last for ages and the frustration of waiting for something was getting in. Then I decided to take a walk to get some fresh air of a typical bangalore morning. The morning air was fresh as it can be, there were people of various ages, some jogging for health, some on their way to work, some doing the usual poojas in front of their houses, rag pickers, the municipality van, the milkman, the next door shopkeeper, everything was as normal as usually it was. But something caught my eyes in the distance. The sight immediately prompted me to go up to person and talk to him. The sight was that of a newspaper boy reading the newspaper before he was going to deliver it. Some might think so what if he can read? But the thing here is the intensity with which he was reading the newspaper, with so much of excitement, as if he was expecting the news, as if he knew that the news he is reading was going to happen or something like that. My urge of talking with that boy was growing so I decided to have a chat with him. He was very reluctant the first time I called him. He was hardly 12 or 13 years of age I guess, he was on a bicycle (BMX) with about 100 odd newspapers to deliver. He did not stop at first but I caught up with him and asked him to stop so that I can talk to him. At that moment, he stopped and asked me what do I want to know. Ahhh I just wanted to talk to you? I said. Why? He asked. Just like that, was my answer. That's quite odd for me, he said. That's OK, I said. It's odd for me too. Since he had already started his work, I did not wanted to stop him like that, so I decided to go along with him. I asked him to tell me something about himself, a la interview. Then he started. My name is Ranganath Murthy. I am 11 years old. My father is a mason and mother is a weaver. I have one younger brother who is 7. Ok father and mother earn and he is just 11 then why does he need to do this? He said I want to go to school and study. But haven't you been to school all these years? YES he said, I have never been to school because my father and mother's income goes out to rent, food, medicine and all other expenses, that's why they cannot afford my fees. Oh boy, and how did you manage to learn to read English? Oh this. I learnt it from my boss. Ok then what else do you do? I asked. He started, I start my day with distributing newspaper then I return to my boss's house where I do some cleaning and washing work, then I spend the whole day in my boss's house watching TV along with his Son, by 5 o clock in the evening I go back home. During the day, my boss's son teaches me English and some Hindi also. Good I said, could I meet your boss? Oh sure he said and gave me the address. Coming back to the news that he was reading, I asked, what were you reading? Oh it was the news about Glenn McGrath's demolition of Namibia in the cricket world cup. So you like cricket? I love cricket, whenever there is a match on TV, I ask my parents whether I can stay back at boss's place. That's how much I love the game. This conversation was turning out to be bit longer than I thought but every bit of it was good. Here I was talking to a boy of 11 years who has not seen school as of yet, who does not know what greed is, who cares a less about esteem, who does not crib on what he does not have. As I walked back home thought were churning in my mind as to how much people crib about what they have and what they do not have. How much people can do have a self-proclaiming esteem, and up to what extend people can go to get that. Here in the so-called real world were we live, there is a big urge in everybody to be somebody at any given point of time, to prove his or her worth. A world were money, esteem, fame and position is the only criteria for looking up to a person. Where, these are the things that are looked first before deciding upon a person. Where his educational qualification is the only criteria for respecting a person rather then respecting the person himself. I was pondering, what could I do for Ranganath? Then and there I decided to meet his boss and discuss as to what I can do for him. Later that evening I went to meet Ranganath's boss. He is typical business man but with a good heart. We had a long conversation before I went to office. And the result of this was that we decided to send Ranga (as he was called) to a decent government run school which was very near to where his house. As I walked out, Ranga caught up with me and thanked me for talking to his boss and letting him go to school. And he promised that he would keep in touch and do well in his education. EDUCATION?? I thought that it's made mandatory by the government for children under the age of 14!!! And very late in the evening when I walked into my office there was only one thought in my mind that was doing the rounds and that was, how many other Ranga's are there in this country???
It was around 5.30am on the 26th of Feb 2003, I had just returned from work and was feeling exhausted, not really exhausted I guess, but it was the stress that was getting into my head from last night's work. I was pondering on my thoughts as to what to do at the moment, so I decided to make a cup of tea and wait for the morning newspaper. The wait seemed to last for ages and the frustration of waiting for something was getting in. Then I decided to take a walk to get some fresh air of a typical bangalore morning. The morning air was fresh as it can be, there were people of various ages, some jogging for health, some on their way to work, some doing the usual poojas in front of their houses, rag pickers, the municipality van, the milkman, the next door shopkeeper, everything was as normal as usually it was. But something caught my eyes in the distance. The sight immediately prompted me to go up to person and talk to him. The sight was that of a newspaper boy reading the newspaper before he was going to deliver it. Some might think so what if he can read? But the thing here is the intensity with which he was reading the newspaper, with so much of excitement, as if he was expecting the news, as if he knew that the news he is reading was going to happen or something like that. My urge of talking with that boy was growing so I decided to have a chat with him. He was very reluctant the first time I called him. He was hardly 12 or 13 years of age I guess, he was on a bicycle (BMX) with about 100 odd newspapers to deliver. He did not stop at first but I caught up with him and asked him to stop so that I can talk to him. At that moment, he stopped and asked me what do I want to know. Ahhh I just wanted to talk to you? I said. Why? He asked. Just like that, was my answer. That's quite odd for me, he said. That's OK, I said. It's odd for me too. Since he had already started his work, I did not wanted to stop him like that, so I decided to go along with him. I asked him to tell me something about himself, a la interview. Then he started. My name is Ranganath Murthy. I am 11 years old. My father is a mason and mother is a weaver. I have one younger brother who is 7. Ok father and mother earn and he is just 11 then why does he need to do this? He said I want to go to school and study. But haven't you been to school all these years? YES he said, I have never been to school because my father and mother's income goes out to rent, food, medicine and all other expenses, that's why they cannot afford my fees. Oh boy, and how did you manage to learn to read English? Oh this. I learnt it from my boss. Ok then what else do you do? I asked. He started, I start my day with distributing newspaper then I return to my boss's house where I do some cleaning and washing work, then I spend the whole day in my boss's house watching TV along with his Son, by 5 o clock in the evening I go back home. During the day, my boss's son teaches me English and some Hindi also. Good I said, could I meet your boss? Oh sure he said and gave me the address. Coming back to the news that he was reading, I asked, what were you reading? Oh it was the news about Glenn McGrath's demolition of Namibia in the cricket world cup. So you like cricket? I love cricket, whenever there is a match on TV, I ask my parents whether I can stay back at boss's place. That's how much I love the game. This conversation was turning out to be bit longer than I thought but every bit of it was good. Here I was talking to a boy of 11 years who has not seen school as of yet, who does not know what greed is, who cares a less about esteem, who does not crib on what he does not have. As I walked back home thought were churning in my mind as to how much people crib about what they have and what they do not have. How much people can do have a self-proclaiming esteem, and up to what extend people can go to get that. Here in the so-called real world were we live, there is a big urge in everybody to be somebody at any given point of time, to prove his or her worth. A world were money, esteem, fame and position is the only criteria for looking up to a person. Where, these are the things that are looked first before deciding upon a person. Where his educational qualification is the only criteria for respecting a person rather then respecting the person himself. I was pondering, what could I do for Ranganath? Then and there I decided to meet his boss and discuss as to what I can do for him. Later that evening I went to meet Ranganath's boss. He is typical business man but with a good heart. We had a long conversation before I went to office. And the result of this was that we decided to send Ranga (as he was called) to a decent government run school which was very near to where his house. As I walked out, Ranga caught up with me and thanked me for talking to his boss and letting him go to school. And he promised that he would keep in touch and do well in his education. EDUCATION?? I thought that it's made mandatory by the government for children under the age of 14!!! And very late in the evening when I walked into my office there was only one thought in my mind that was doing the rounds and that was, how many other Ranga's are there in this country???
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