Tuitions and coaching classes

My daughter is in the tenth standard. The pressure on her is ten times more than the pressure I experienced. Even about ten years back, attending coaching classes or going to tuitions was considered to be for weak students and those who were unable to cope. But now it is more of a necessity, which of course, is made to seem so by the parents. They think that it is good for the child to get all the extra help, to score more marks and get admission into prestigious colleges. But from the students' point of view, it is sheer stress and nothing else. The teachers at school often complain in PTA meetings that children are always sleepy in the classes after running to various tuition classes till late evening and then doing the school homework till very late in the night. Children are exhausted with 8 hours of classes at school and another 4-5 hours at tuition classes. They hardly ever relax or play games to de-stress.
I strongly feel that with few hours of rest after returning from school and studying for a couple of hours would be more beneficial than attending these extra classes. So I have not put my daughter in any extra class and she is absolutely fine with it. But I have to admit that I have started feeling left out in the conversations among parents which is, of course, centered around the analysis of various tuition centers and how the school doesn't care about this subject or that exam etc. Let me wait and see, how this no-extra-classes decision of mine and my daughter's helps her in the Board exam. But even if she scores an average percentage I can vouch for the fact that I will be a proud mother of a daughter who has done it all by herself.

Indian Idol season-5

I like to watch music programs on TV . The talent hunts and reality shows on music throw light on such great talents, that I don't want to miss some of the popular shows like Idea Star Singer on Asianet or Indian Idol on Sony. But the disturbing trend I notice in the talent shows in the north is that South Indians are completely left out. In fact, that Indian Idol should be renamed "North Indian Idol" is my strong opinion. They go to remote areas of UP and MP to hold auditions and yet, ignore even major cities like Cochin, Chennai or Hyderabad in the south. Why is there this biased view towards south? The only city they had auditions last year was Bangalore and the only South Indian singer who got selected for the final ten was eliminated in the first round itself. The fact is that this singer had already won the Asianet contest which has far superior talent than the national talent shows. Indian Idol persisted with some horrible singers till the last round due to the stupid SMS voting system. Even a person without any musical knowledge could point out that particular singers were really awful.
I am just waiting to see some South Indian talents at least this time. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on Zee TV, at least, had one South Indian winner years back. That's the last I remember the South Indian talent being recognized on a national level. Otherwise, whether it is singing or dancing, it's North Indians all the way . I hope that the trend changes and south gets its due.
But until then, "Vadakku vazhgiradhu, therkku theigiradhu"

Friends or relatives?

During my school and college days, I always thought friends were my world and I even imagined a life and work that would involve a circle of my close friends. Even after my marriage (being the first one in this group to get married), I made it a point to keep in touch with all of them through letters (note-there were no e-mails then!) and making personal visits whenever I could. But as one friend after the other from the group got married, I noticed that their inclination towards maintaining the friendship was waning. At first, it was difficult for me to comprehend the reason. But slowly, I realized that being a woman , the importance given to the relatives of the husband's side is more and friends take a back seat. The best option for me was to develop a fresh friendship with someone my age from the close circle of relatives. Luckily for me, my co-sisters-in- law happened to be of the same age and slowly, but steadily, over the years our relationship has blossomed so beautifully that I feel developing a friendship with cousins or close relatives of the same age group is more long-lasting and practical than the ones developed in college or school.
In fact, many of my so-called close friends have not even bothered to keep in touch and I think that whenever we go through a personal high or low , it's the relatives who we are able to share it with immediately and not friends who are usually settled elsewhere. In times of crises, a cousin or an in-law is the first one we turn to, thinking that friends need not be troubled at such times. Though I do not feel the gap developed with school or college friends when we meet after years, I do miss out on the major happenings in their lives. Bonding with cousins, sisters or in-laws (when we get lucky) becomes stronger over the years. At least, that's how it's been for me.