UNFREEZE

Amidst the hectic schedule I managed to see Shakuntala Devi. Vidya Balan's movies generally offer good story and acting skills. I was expecting that the movie would talk about the celebrated mathematician and the magic she created with numbers. But to my surprise the movie was much more than that. The movie is based on Shakuntala Devi, born in 1929, a woman with dreams to fly. And the dreams can be matched with the dreams of any 21st century girl- to be financially secure, to have freedom of speech, to travel the world, to make her own identity and to be famous. However the hurdles she faced decades ago, still exist in 21st century too! Yes, we all will agree that India is a patriarchal society, mostly. One can easily notice the preferential treatment that boys receive over girls in everyday life- whether it is praying and giving blessings for a baby boy, the differences between their upbringing, their conditioning, availability of opportunities, terms and conditions of marriage ...

2020 is not a normal year. Thanks to COVID 19. But then don't we have ups and downs every year? So what is different with this year? The difference is that 2020 has given same threat to 195 nations across the globe- The COVID pandemic. So everyone can understand each other's plight (such understanding is missing in other cases). There are a dozen of things we can count which has changed in our daily lives. But for now, I feel for my students and want to talk about the anxiety and uncertainty they are facing during this time. A lot of educational institutes have cancelled their exams and promoted the students on the basis of average marks. Many students are attending classes of new session too, of course online. Home-schools are also going on. Though we understand that students, specially younger minds are finding it difficult to study in a room with no friends around, with no activities, with no colourful boards and educating charts; we must also pay attention to the amount of ...

Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi, as we say, is here. Its an annual affair for most of the Indian houses to celebrate this festival with lot of excitement. Its most exciting when we have small kids at home. Dressing up little baby girls in traditional attires to tie the rakhi (a talisman or amulet), the little boy to be the "bhaiya" who is ready to take the pledge to protect her sister (no matter how small the bhai is). Imagine this scene and one can agree how innocent the little brother and sister looks doing the rituals- tying rakhi to brother and receiving gift from him. Years pass by, the rakhi and gifts change as they grow up, what remains same is the love and bond between siblings. The festival is celebrated on last day of Shraavana month of the Hindu Lunar Calendar. Though Indian society has changed over the years, we have nuclear family and members of family living in different parts of the world for job or studies, it might not be possible for the siblings to meet each year a...