Taare Zameen Par

I recently saw this movie and was bowled over.It relates to everyone who has a child.Never mind whether he is dyslexic or not.As the movie says every child is special.The movie drastically changed my views about life and my child.Gucchu(my only son) who turned 5 on 10Jan 2008 is a prep student of Delhi Public School.His school teachers although know that he is the youngest in class always have something negative to say about him. They feel his performance is not up to the mark or he is not independent or he is not able to write well etc. I noticed they never talk about things which he knows.I am not saying this because he is my child but children have their own pace and I have noticed that he is very good at picking up stuff though his handwriting is bad.If there are things which he doesn't know then there are things which he does very well.So isn't it the duty of the teachers to balance the two?Gucchu is very naughty but I feel since I watch all his activity ,I understand his personality very well.But his teachers insist that I take the help of the school psychology though his behaviour is absolutly normal.However instead what I feel is he should be very closely monitored and guided instead of being constantly criticised for his shortcomings.One more thing which I noticed about the reputed school is that they insist too much on maintaining the standard of the school.While it is O.K. to have some parameter for every school to maintain the standard of the school but it is ridiculious to talk about it with ref to a 5 year old child. This is an age to balance the teachings with fun and love not load them with the burden of books and academic responsibility.Not only this they always blame the parents for any shortcomings which the child has and feel that the priority should be given to being with the child and not our so called career!Why can't we balance the two and have best of both the worlds?I had a wonderful childhood and I want the same for my child !And gucchu does have a tutor who guides him academically and me who is there always to look into his progress!So people is it fair to be pressurised by the school authorities for your child's performance!The pressure is so much that I dread going to the child's school with the fear of being humiliated!Being a journo I am still vocal about my resentment with the treatment but what about parents who are not so vocal for the fear that their child would not be treated well if they give any suggestion!I wud love to know opinions and views from everyone who reads it!

Death is the only constant in life!

After struggling for almost 2 months my mother in law who was just 57 expired on 4 Jan 2008।Her death has left us numb and we are left with lots and lots of ifs and buts !She was a diabetic patient and lived life full on.Born beautiful she had a royal life as an army officer's wife.She proved to be good mother,good sister,good wife , good grandmother and to me she was a great friend!We all know that death is the only constant in our lives but still when it strikes us we are left dumbstruck!Seeing mummyji's(as I called my mother in law) life, I wish she has taken more care of her life or probably we could have guided her better!If she had lived for another 15 years more the blow wud hav been less! But as I say nothing works according to us!She had the best hospital ,best doctors and all her near and dear ones by her side still we cud not save her!She suffered from diabeties but cause of her death was cardiac arrest! Probably she was not strong enough to withstand the strong medicenes and treatment.Her demise has left a huge void which can never be filled.A small family with just 2 sons and 2 daughter in laws along with 2 grandsons she was a source of inspiration for everyone!Time might lessen the pain we feel but noways the void wud be filled.The lessons I hav learned from her life is that it is very important to take care of your life along with others specially our health. Health is the most important thing in your life!Even if you are the richest person on ths earth and you are not healthy---how wud you enjoy that wealth?
We all know exercising is a must everyday ---do we take out time for it?We also know having nutritious food is healthy but we still relish fried stuff,fast food--etc.Being happy is important---we still keep cribbing!Now we all know the ingredients to lead a healthy balanced and happy life then why are we still always unhappy!