manedge

The last five months have been perhaps the toughest of my life. Pitch-forked into a job I badly dislike, away from family and friends, and also form children whom I so much love and miss at SSS-10. The separation from these children was heart-wrenching. My two kids too are at a crucial phase of their student career. They need me more than any other time. I must blame my own 'visibility' for this assignment which is more of a sham than anything else. But then who cares. In these past few months I have passed through stages of depression, disbelief, doubt, what not. My self-confidence has taken a beating. At times I find myself tentative. Perhaps I have been worrying too much about pressures from people who are not accountable. But I have not given up. I couldn't afford to give up. The project is high-profile, being monitored by top people in my organisation. It is necessary that I do justice to my own self and reputation by not letting go. So things have moved, ev...

A Very Very Special cricketer has finally decided to call it quits. He could have easily gone on to play the two Tests against the Kiwis. But his decision is quite timely. Sourav Ganguly is unnecessary trying to give vent feelings to his own frustrations at this moment. The last eight Tests - 4 each against England and Australia had been his worst streak. An average of less than 20 in 16 ininngs as India kept on losing Test after Test should have prompted him to retire may be soon after returning from Australia, just like Dravid. Dravid had scored back to back hundreds in England but struggled through the Aussie tour. Criticism is what all players have to endure. Laxman and Dravid have had to live through that as they were dumped from the ODI team even though Dravid did have a great one-day career. Laxman was simply not cut out for that version of cricket. In 2008, Sourav Ganguly was dropped from the Rest of India team for the Irani Trophy with the selectors clearly indicati...

Team ConQuest –a team of 16 dedicated teachers from 10 schools of BSP’s Education department is all set to instil in young Class-7 students of all the English Medium Middle Schools (EMMSs) the spirit of excellence through a novel initiative. Approximately 1050 students from eleven EMMSs have appeared in a Proficiency Test on 18th January 2012. This is the first step in their grooming for the future, as they gear up for the prestigious National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) in November this year. Through a series of tests, throughout the year, the Education department of BSP hopes to prepare a selected group of sincere, dedicated and enthusiastic learners, who will have imbibed the quest for excellence for their entire life. The programme is an offshoot of the Education department’s Specialised NTSE Guidance Programme for Class-8 students. It began in October 2010 with a team of five subject experts, led by Dr. Hemant Pandey, Professor, Hislop College, Nagpur , conducting the firs...

The seventh successive defeat abroad is the time to act. And this should not be limited to sacking the players in their late 30s. A more coordinated and sincere effort is the need of the hour. Let us have a look at India's top cricketers' schedule since the World Cup win. It was followed by IPL-4. Then the team played the West Indies in the Carribeans. The Tests were followed by ODIs. Within 5 days of finishing the ODI series in the West Indies, India landed up in England. After a 3-day game they plunged into 4 Tests and kept on losing. Injury to key players who had not missed the lucrative IPL earlier was given as the reason. The series in England ended with the ODIs, which England won 3-0 thanks to D/L. Immediately thereafter the English team travelled to India for a 5-match ODI series. Then we played 3 Tests against the Windies with Ashwin running them over. The Test series was followed by 5 ODIs. Instead the tour should have been so planned that India would have played ...

After all the hullabaloo preceding its release, and promising to deliver more than what it actually did, one can only say that Prakash Jha's AARAKSHAN has only stirred two debates affecting India's youngsters today. The film's release was preceded by protests in many parts of the country, with three states actually jumping the gun by banning the film. After seeing the film one can say that had these governments also seen the film, they would not have banned it in the first place. The film does raise the reservation issue but only compassionately. While there are umpteen references to the friction in the society that reservation is creating, AARAKSHAN doesn't oppose it. It talks more of meritocracy and one can see filmi jingoism at many places which even a director like Jha fails to escape. The film brings up the malaise afflicting the educational sector in the second half. The coaching-tuition mafia and big money involved in setting up of educational institutions...