Antony (Madras style)

Marching past the memories of March

There is just one thing that comes to the mind when you mention the month March- Exams! The most loathed month in the Indian calendar. From the annual exams to the boards ever since my primary days,it seemed to be a pretty much jinxed month.
And finally, the twelve year jinx seems to have ended since I am having an exam free March this year. This March is going to be sure fun (especially when you have a younger sibling taking up exams and watching your annoyance,burning with envy ! Oh the pure fun of it! )

Wasting away 1/4th of our lives…

After giving thought into the lives of students, I have arrived at a very alarming fact. The fact is that about one-fourth of every Indian student’s life goes in preparing for,getting tensed and worrying about “EXAMS”.

All graduates be it the ones doing a three, four or five year course sacrifice 1/4th of their lives for exams. Isn’t it the most ridiculous thing to happen to anyone???

Seeing students just mugging and cramming away the books meaninglessly without learning anything just makes me wonder whether our forefathers of education and the heads of the educational institutions have any idea about why exams are conducted.

The hype and hysteria surrounding exams make it a do or die situation for every student.
Peer pressure,Parents and teachers make it even worse.The general perception is that if one fails an exam his or her’s life is over and their career at stake.

They (I mean parents , teachers and damn the heads of the institutions) should realize that exams are not about getting good marks , but about displaying ones knowledge about the subject or anything for that matter. And how can we measure this knowledge???? If you failed an exam it just meant you did not have enough knowledge about the subject. It does not mean you are a total dull head and not fit for anything in life.And it just doesn’t give them the right to humiliate us. It just gives you another chance to gain knowledge.
Knowledge is what is important not the marks. What you learn is what is important. Some may do it before the exam and some may do it after failing it.

We definitely cannot do away with exams but at least take it in the right spirit. Lets not make it rule one-fourth of our lives. Lets begin to understand “MARKS ARE AFTER ALL SOME DAMN NUMBERS”.

Effortless

Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his
followers. This was in the initial days. While they
were traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped
there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do
get me some water from that lake there.

The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that
right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As
a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The
disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha
to drink!”

So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I
don’t think it is fit to drink.” After about half an hour, again Buddha
asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to
drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake.
This time too he found that the lake was muddy. He returned and informed
Buddha about the same. After sometime,again Buddha asked the same disciple
to go back.

The disciple reached the lake to find the lake absolutely clean
and clear with pure water in it. The mud had settled down and
the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some
water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and
said,” See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be…. and the
mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water.

Your mind is also like that! When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it
a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in
any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.

“What did Buddha emphasize here? He said, “It is effortless.” Having
‘Peace of Mind’ is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process!

KEEP SMILING……………………. ….not because of something, but
inspite of everything.