A lot has been said in favour of teaching English from the first standard itself. Many states including Maharashtra have introduced English from the first grade even in government / municipal schools.
Our professional colleges like Engineering, Medical and other higher technical education colleges have English as medium of instruction. In spite of that, often the students are not able to express themselves in English confidently.
The principle of a leading college of Architecture told me recently “Our students are excellent so far as the subject of architecture is concerned. They have great imagination. They can create excellent architectural designs. But the only problem is that they are not able to express themselves in English.”
In architecture, engineering, medicine or any other discipline of higher education most books available are only in the English language. Besides, the technical terms used in these subjects are also in English. Therefore the knowledge and the ability to express in English becomes necessary for all students of higher education.
Furthermore, with the coming of more and more FMCG Companies in India, the use of this language is increasing by the day. This has added to the difficulties of the employees, particularly in executive cadre. Those who cannot express themselves in English fluently and clearly are at a great disadvantage. They are good in domain knowledge and they are adept in performing their duties, yet the inadequacy of English hurts them hard.
So what is the solution? Should most of the work be done in Hindi which is our Rashtra Bhasha? Should all higher education books be translated into Hindi? Or should English training be imparted to one and all as our National Mission. Commercial organizations in this case can organize English speaking training as a part of their efficiency promotional effort.
I leave you with a question. What should we do with our Rashtra Bhasha?
I thank you all who participated in our earlier discussion. Until the next posting…
Month: June 2013
Innovation!
Innovation is necessary not only for organisations but also for individuals!
Unless an organisation has a specific innovation policy it will stagnate and gradually die. Most cotton textile mills have met the same fate. Clothing is one of the basic needs (Roti, Kapada aur Makaan) but now a day the clothing needs are met by garments manufacturers who prefer to secure their customers by procuring cloth from small manufacturer. Mills were used to manufacture a particular quality, colour style of cloth in large quantities only. They would sell the cloth to hundreds of thousands of retailers throughout the country. But times changed. Fashion came in. Fashion Designers came to the fore. They influence consumer with their innovations. Consumer habits changed. Instead of buying cloth and getting dresses stitched, they started wearing fashion garments. Everyone on the scenario was creatively engaged in innovation. But the mills did not innovate. Result is known to everyone. Mills stagnated and died.
You might ask how should one bring innovation in one’s life. How is it important when we are talking not of an organisation but an individual? The answer is by upgrading one’s knowledge and skills. Gone are the days of rich zamindars who will remain rich and commanding position. Who will continue to treat the labourers as slaves? An ordinary worker with a desire to succeed and determination to innovate can become Dhirubhai Ambani or Steve Jobs or Bill Gates or Warren Buffer.
Among other things innovation also requires an ability to take some risk in life. There is nothing 100 percent risk free. Once in a while in spite of all odds in your favour, you may still fail. There too your creative mind and passion for innovation will make you resilient to start another project.
Even when we are talking of personal relationships constant application of mind, innovative methods can bring back the lost love and/or effectively repair the seemingly irreparable relationship.
Use your creativity and imbibe innovation in your personality. Life will be very interesting and worth yearning for, not just living!
Sad Demise of Gentleman's Game!
A gentleman’s game that once was – Cricket!
I recollect as children, we use to make scrap books by posting pictures of Gentlemen in their stylish endeavours of playing cricket. The newspaper was printed by letter press – a printing process no longer used for printing the newspaper. Unglazed newsprint carried the pictures. The quality of the printed pictures were poor. But the quality of the people who featured in these pictures was impeccable.
Vijay Hazare, Vinoo Mankad, Pankaj Roy, Vijay Merchant, and Subhash Gupte – names that Cricket should never forget. There were very few victories for us in these matches, but there was heart felt appreciation for the genuine efforts these men of character invariable displayed.
Poly Umrigar was a hard hitter and Bapu Nadkarni wa the most economical bowler. Perfect length and a soft spin – these unique qualities of his bowling had made him indispensible for the Indian Eleven. Whenever Australia or the West Indies or even England teams were batting, and making fast runs, Bapu Nadkarni would rescue the team. I don’t remember a single match where he gave more than 2 runs per over.
The Indian players demonstrated genuine efforts in the 5 day test matches. Cricket fans across the country would be glued to the radio listening to the running commentary articulated by the speech stalwarts like Vizzy (Maharaja of Vijyanagaram), Anandji Dosa andChakrapani. They would offer really interesting comments and anecdotes while delivering their commentaries.
There were no endorsements and the gentlemen who played the gentleman’s game had no hunger for wealth. Rather, they valued their game and displayed love for the sport, and more importantly for the country they lived in and loved.
But, times changed, valued changed; and the game of Cricket has also changed!
No longer does it remain a gentleman’s game. Cricket has now become a common ground for the most abject and vulgar display of power and wealth. Greed has taken the place of love for the game. Players are bought and sold at auctions, along with their morals and character. Players are cheered by ‘cheerleaders’ – a motley crowd of new breed scantily clad women. The hunger for money has become so strong that elegance, character and love for the country have all been butchered. Fixers and fixes rule the roost. It is a sad demise of the Gentleman’s Game. Alas!
What is Success?
In my last posting, we had discussed about the relative importance of knowledge, wealth and power in achieving success. We carried out a poll which ticked votes as 527 knowledge, 66 wealth, 50 power. But I had explained that the definition of success needs to be created in one’s own individual terms.
Today, I shall talk further about success. What is success? Amassing Wealth; or becoming extremely powerful; or acquiring extensive knowledge? The common parameter for an individual’s success would be how he/she is able to achieve their goals. Indeed, when you set a goal for yourself and you achieve it you are successful.
But what happens when you do not set goals? Or when you set goals which are unrealistic or unachievable? Another question that comes to mind is do you have to be successful according to your own parameters? Do you goals have to be according to your own liking and desires? Or does your family/friends and well wishers have any role to play? Should you/should you not take into account their expectations or even the current trends in the society? If one is a member of a community how can the same be totally disregarded?
One thing for sure is extremely important; that any success worth its name should bring you happiness.
For me true success is achieving bit by bit my goals which I must set as under:
- My health goals
- My Career goals
- My financial goals
- My social goals
- My hobby goals
- My spiritual goals
It means that I need to have some kind of measure for reviewing my success. I have classified these in the order of importance so far as I am concern. But how does one go about defining these goals and setting them according to one’s own priority – well that is a subject for any discussion.
