Author Archives: bindu

My First Day in CUSAT

So, finally, I got to the University.
It was a dream come true.
I imagined myself in a gentle stream of Mathematics.
Things are going to be totally different now.
Serious study, no-nonsense people and great Math.
Am I up to it?
I hope so.
Wow! It’s already Lunchtime.

I have a friend in the Physics department.
I’ll have lunch with her and come back.

God, the class has already started.
It’s good thing I don’t have to ask ,”May I come in please”
anymore. I feel really grown-up.
The Professor is writing on the board.
So, I’ll just slip into my place in the front row.
What happened to the people who sat in the nearby chairs?
They must have moved to the back.
But I like the front row.
Good, he has not seen that I am late.

Muffled laughs?
I am a little late. What’s so funny about that?
Leave it. Concentrate. There’s no time to waste.
Think about the Math.
Wow! the Professor is really fast.
I can’t follow a word.
What subject is this?
Scratching my head, biting the pen – the usual techniques are
not working. This is serious.

Two guys entered the class, took their things and left.
Wait a minute!
I know these guys.
They are in my class.
What ? Have they decided to skip the afternoon session?

Someone just touched me from behind.
I turned.
I saw the kind face of a super-senior.
He told me I better get out.
A lot of unfamiliar faces and giggles.

Which class is this?
These people- they are all super-seniors.

I didn’t know that the class belonged to them in the afternoon and
we were supposed to sit elsewhere.
I took my things and “apparated” out of the classroom.

Outside I saw those two guys (my classmates) scratching their heads and thinking,
“What is she doing with the super-seniors?”

What can I say, I am super intelligent.

An Anonymous Quote

If you always do what you always did,
You’ll always get what you always got.

Scissor Skills

Time to develop scissor skills , baby.
Here, let me show you.
You hold your scissors like this and cut…cut…cut.
Don’t worry, they are safety scissors.
Now, you try.
Oh! you look bored.
Maybe we ought to try later.
Let’s try again tomorrow.
What are you doing ?
Why are you so silent?
It’s OK if you don’t understand anything.
You will catch up.
Wait a minute, something’s wrong with this silence.
God! You’re trying to snip my pants.
I see you picked up something.

CLASS DISMISSED!

T.V Time

We didn’t let our kid watch T.V until he was a year old.
After that it became really hard to resist the temptation.
Who wouldn’t want a little free time?
I honestly thought some of  these programs might even help him.
After all, he learned to identify the letters and numbers
and even to say “Please” and “Thank you”.
I silenced my guilty conscience by saying that I am doing something great,
something crucial for his ‘development’.
After all, these programs aim to foster his imagination and nurture his social and
emotional development.
I feel like a wise parent making an educated decision.

But am I right?  It’s true that he get to see lots of colorful things. But how far do they stimulate imagination and creativity?  I think if there is some part of the brain for ‘rot learning’, that is really  working.  As far as creativity goes, I can see more of that happening when he arranges his cars in the shape of a flower or constructs an “Up and Down Jungle” with his blocks or pretends that I am the baby and he is the parent. He even invents names like “Bouncingo”.

Talking about social development, I don’t think the definition includes sitting glued to the T.V because Dora and Diego are far more interesting than your friends .

I know I can’t ban the T.V completely. But I have to rethink my ‘educated choices’.