Food for thought from a foodie

When I came back from Pune for good, I was in a mild state of shock! My whole gastronomical world had turned upside down! How would I survive without my daily dose of Café’ Frappe’ & chicken drumsticks. What had my life come to? Were my days of aimless frolicking and partying over finally? Would the world of exotic dishes & colourful drinks become a mere dot on the horizon of my life? So over the next couple of months I slowly & painstakingly scrutinized the food-joints & restaurants of Patna, & guess what! I went into a shock again! But this time the shock was of utter relief & joy. Patna had, as it turned out, a range of good restaurants that had somehow cropped up in the city behind my back & there was still hope for a delicious future for foodies like me.
I confess I am no professional expert on food, but in my own esteemed opinion, I prefer to think I am a connoisseur. & it would be a sin to withhold my personal recommendations from the people of this city. I absolutely swear by the Crispy Chicken Wings of Yo China. Ditto for the Chicken Dumplings. Momos of Ming’s Chimney are also a mouth-watering fare. & nothing better to whet my appetite than the sinful concoctions of Kapil’s Eleven. Reminds me of Delhi’s T.G.I.Friday
Being a non-vegetarian certainly has its good points (no matter what conspiracy theories the vegetarians propagate against us!). Otherwise how else would I have ever tasted the divine tandoori preparations of Food World, especially Murg Afghani & Murg Kali Mirch. Something akin to Karims in Delhi. My radius of experimentation with regards to international cuisine here has been somewhat limited though. Albeit I would be lying if I did not mention the deliciously exotic Chicken Lasagne of Maurya Hotel (they especially made it for some food festival, it is not available all the year round).

Coming to the present, I must say I’ve had a memorable experience of fooding in Patna. When we were kids we used to frequent Maurya Lok Complex or Boring Road for Pani-puri & chaat. Not much has changed apart from the fact that we have progressed (by we, I mean Patna & I).
Apart from all this, I feel sea-food is one weak area where my city lacks ground. I hope the restaurateurs are taking notice. Situated on the banks of The Ganges, Patna’s lack of innovation with the fishes is indeed very fishy!
There’s not much choice for lounging here, & none for clubbing. Though there are a couple of restro-bars that have come up like O2 on Fraser Road. I do miss McDonalds, KFC & CCD though. Coffee culture is yet to catch up with patnaites. I still remember my days in Pune, the long hours in the evening, sitting in Barista, sipping my coffee languidly. That was life. & Coffee was a religion.
Also, theme-based restaurants are yet to make their presence felt in Patna. As a customer my primary need of good food & good service has been satiated, but my secondary (& sometimes more nagging) need of a wholesome eating experience has been left unattended. I wish to eat my Biryani in a Hyderabadi themed interior & not just in a place with tables, chairs & air-conditioners! I want my eating experience to be as authentic as the food. The ambience & music have left much to be desired, & this is one area where we lag behind. Winston Churchill once famously flared up “Take away that pudding – it has no theme.” Well I am no Churchill, but I definitely agree with him on the ‘theme’ issue. I hope someone takes the initiative to cover this Achilles’ heel. Why cant patnaites have their own Jazz By The Bay with full on live music & karaoke?

I’ve had extensive exposure to the food & drinks culture of Pune, Delhi, Mumbai & Goa, and I can say with a fair amount of conviction that Patna’s culture has come many notches closer to these cities in the past few years. I remember there was a time when going to a restaurant for dinner was considered very up market & sophisticated in this city. It was a monthly affair at the most (generally reserved for birthdays, anniversaries & passing-out with distinction!). But now, it is an altogether different sight (or shall I say vision?). Patna is growing. I mean the mindset, not the size (well of course the size is growing too). It’s common now to see people out on the streets till very late hours in the night. The nouveau riche segment is growing & the middle class is happily splurging. The jam-packed eateries are a case in point. It is as though our city has slowly got a life of its own & it has infected its inhabitants with its vibrancy.

For me the art of living has always taken a backseat when it comes to the art of fooding. Suffice it to say that I am devouring a bar of 5 Star as I write this article. There is however one classic question that haunts us lesser mortals (read foodies) from time immemorial…. How much is too much? Hmmm… Very serious indeed. Well I’m sure I’ll be in a better position to answer it once I finish munching on my bar of chocolate….

Mom, you rock my world!

I will let Rudyard Kipling start this article for me – “If I were damned of body & soul, I know whose prayers would make me whole, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine.”
I think all daughters have a love-hate relationship with their mothers. During their teenage years they are busy squabbling. As I grew up, my greatest joy was to do precisely what my mother did not wish and had anxiously tried to prevent. I spent all my life resisting the notion, and sometimes vehemently denying it, that my mother is my friend. But now, having come out of the hormonal cross-fire of my adolescence, I can honestly and boldly accept it that she really is my best friend.
When I say I am proud of myself, it is not self-praise. It is infact, a compliment to my mother. She had the greatest contribution in my upbringing, instilling in me the sense and perception of things and giving me an individual identity. The most solid pillar of strength, she showed me that it pays to stick to your convictions. It is wrong to say I am something today because of her. I am today because of her…
When I was a kid, while going to my school’s parents teachers meet, I would always insist she wear her yellow saree because my friends loved her in that colour. Yes, I was a show-off…I was showing off my mom! I used to be a picture of concealed glee & pride, walking hand-in-hand with my mother.
My eldest brother always claims he is daddy’s boy. Well, for me, let me put it on record that I am happy to be my mamma’s little girl. But hey Dad, don’t lose heart, maybe I’ll do a write-up on you on Father’s Day!
A couple of years ago, while giving an interview in Welingkar College, Mumbai, I was asked by the interviewer who I thought was the world’s best manager. I still remember the look of relieved surprise on his face when I replied it was my mother (for almost all the other candidates it was either Jack Welch or Warren Buffet!).
It is her care and unconditional love that enabled us to never realize how difficult it must have been for her to juggle between us and her teaching profession. If I, being a daughter, can get all tensed and panicky seeing my parents’ ill, I shudder to think what hell my mom must have gone through raising the bunch of us. Everytime my elder brother used to have asthmatic attacks, her blood used to run dry, though she did a great job of masking her fears and rushing him to the doctor. That is taking control of the situation. That is fighting back and never giving up. Kudos to you mom. Will I ever be as dedicated & persevering as you, I don’t know. But I would certainly like to show the same prudence & be as respected in the eyes of my children one day as you are in mine.
My mom rocks! How else do you justify her frolicking on the beaches of Goa with her two daughters-in-law in tow, having a girls-day-out? It is her all-encompassing warmth & affection that never lets her differentiate between her daughter and her daughters-in-law.
Coming to an end, I am going to give you one honest confession…Mom, you rock my world. Mother swear!

Eid Mubarak!

With the Muslim festival of Eid upon us, there is a palpable buzz all around with discussions of “chand raat” ricocheting through the air. People are busy with last-minute shopping -- fervently buying clothes, accessories and eatables for the occasion -- and giving finishing touches to their preparations.

“On the day prior to Eid, the traditional shopping hubs like Sabzibagh and Patna Market are open till the wee hours of the night. In fact, the congested lanes of Sabzibagh would be buzzing with activity throughout the night on account of people flocking there to buy bakarkhani, naan roti, sheermaal, dry fruits, mutton et al,” says Mohammad Tabrez, a shopkeeper.

“Eid” is an Arabic word meaning “festivity”, while “Fitr” means “breaking the ritual of fasting”, and so the festival symbolizes the celebration at the end of the Ramzan month. Excited chants of “Eid mubarak” fill the air upon the sighting of the elusive new moon on the eve of Eid (chand raat).

According to housewife Rukhsar Bano, Eid ul-Fitr or Eid is an occasion of brotherhood and harmony - a time to love your friends and forgive your enemies, and welcome everyone into the fold.

And the preparations for this sweet festival, fittingly referred to as “meethi Eid’, are no less mind-boggling.

There is a mouth-watering array of sewai-based dishes prepared on Eid: zarda, phirni, sheer khurma, lachha, Benarasi sewai etc. “Most of these make heavy use of dry fruits and finely chopped dates and coconut,” says Saima Hassan, a telecom professional. Qimami sewai, a UP speciality made of super fine sewai, is also prepared by many in Bihar.

To offset the excessive sweet taste of these preparations, other dishes like dahi-vada and chhole are also prepared. However, non-veg still rules. “A Muslim festival without non-veg dishes would be unthinkable,” says boutique-owner Roshni Haque, horrified at the notion. Non-veg delicacies like kebabs, tandoori murg, mutton curry, mutton grail, etc are teamed up with naan, sheermaal (sweet bread) and bakarkhani (multi-layered, rich and sweet, sometimes with silver foil on top).

“Prior to the festival, the house needs to be cleaned and spruced up,” says Mumtaz Jehan, another housewife. Her cousin Nikhat, sitting close by, adds, “New clothes are a must, at least for the ‘Eid ki namaz’ held in the morning.”

According to railway employee Arshi Khan, by the time her husband and children return from the Eid ki namaz at Gandhi Maidan, she’s through with the food preparations and namaz at home. “Once back, the kids create a great ruckus for the ‘Eidi’,” she says, referring to the money traditionally given by the elders to the children.

The quintessential fragrance of Eid, Itr finds a place in all Muslim households. “I usually set the miniature Itr bottles into a decorative box or on a silver tray. We dab it over our wrists and behind the ears, and repeat this routine with anyone who comes visiting,” says Arshi.

The steady stream of guests on Eid ensures that the enthusiasm meter does not dip. “Every year, we entertain dozens of guests on Eid. It’s great to catch up with relatives and friends,” enthuses Mehnaz Parveen, a work-at-home mother. According to her, the spirit of celebration touches one and all, be them Muslims or non Muslims. “Most of my friends are Hindu, and they unfailingly turn up on Eid to wish me and enjoy the home-cooked spread,” Tanveer Azmi, a businessman, concurs with a smile.

Many are, however, not so lucky as to be surrounded by their loved ones. Jameel Khan, an engineer from Siwan, works in Oman’s capital, Muscat, and could not come down to India for the Eid celebrations. “It’s tough to stay away from your family and friends on Eid,” he rues over the telephone. He sent a suitcase full of gifts for his family and relatives though, which is a fine example of how Eid celebrations transcend the barriers of national boundaries and physical distances.

*It was the strangest thing...

I've tried my hands at fiction here. The first paragraph of my story has been chosen randomly from a novel that I've not read, and I've built my story as a continuation to the paragraph. It's on Page 5 of "Perfect" by Judith McNaught. I have no idea what the original book is about; did not want to influence my imagination so did not peep at any of the other paragraphs or pages.
I've continued the selected paragraph according to my own imagination. Let's see how it works out:

IT WAS THE STRANGEST THING SHE WOULD EVER DO IN HER LIFE...

Self-consciously aware of her shabby jeans and grubby jacket, she glanced uneasily at the elegant waiting room where fragile porcelain figurines reposed on an antique coffee table and valuable bronze sculptures were displayed on marble stands. Giving the table with its fragile knickknacks a wide berth, she headed for a chair beside a huge aquarium where exotic goldfish with flowing fins swam leisurely.

Just as it was supposed to be, she thought, glancing around.

The receptionist had given her a perfunctory look – which had turned quickly to one of disdain upon seeing her spoiled, dirty ensemble – and directed her to wait here, had she not? So why was she feeling so nervous about this meeting? she thought, as she focused intently on the vibrant copper colour of the goldfish. Feeling another bout of nausea stealing its way up, she shook her head, as though the almost imperceptible movement would help her get rid of the web of fear clinging to her mind.

The door to her left contained sheets of frosted glass, and through them she could make out a dark figure approaching from the innards of the office. She squinted to register the details of the person through the glass, but it was impossible; all she could see was a blurb of black moving towards her through the door.

Fearing that she would lose courage at the last moment, she got up suddenly and held her body straight with her eyes directed at the door. She had to do it, however foolish it may be. She had to give it a try, at least, or she would forever regret the missed chance. If things worked out well, which she doubted, she could take it further one step at a time.

But that was just too much optimism on her part. She knew the outcome of this meeting that was about to take place. There was a good chance she would be considered insane for saying what she was about to say to that person moving towards her, but she did not have any other choice; her heart would not let her have any! She will get it over with, and then, maybe, she could get on with her life as though nothing had happened.

The door opened and he entered the room, clad from head to toe in immaculately cut black suit teamed with a crisp, perfect white shirt. The man she had come seeking walked up to her and stopped a feet away from her, eyeing her with a strange expression of foreboding. She stared at him - ill at ease with the proximity - taking in his appearance. He was a good six inches taller than her five-feet-six-inch frame. Tanned and fit, he had a grim mouth set in square, solid jaws and a mass of thick black hair cut to perfection. His most striking feature, however, were his eyes: deep grey, cold, and alight!

Just as she knew them to be.

Her wide green eyes roamed over his face in the hope of finding a responsive expression, if not for anything else then to reassure herself she was not making the biggest mistake of her life.

She found none.

His expression was inscrutable. There was something bothering him but he was hiding it brilliantly behind his dispassionate demeanour, obviously accustomed to masking his emotion behind a façade of cold nonchalance. She knew this about him, just as she had known the other details.

They kept on looking at each other for a few second. Their eyes showed no trace of recognition for each other. His cold eyes revealed impatience, while hers betrayed a mixture of confusion, fear and anxiety. It would have been quite evident to an onlooker that these two people had never crossed each other’s path before in life. There was total, utter lack of any kind of familiarity with each other. He, with his perfectly-tailored suit and commanding persona, reeked of an expensive and impeccable upbringing. She, with her shabby clothes and uncertain disposition could not have possibly sprouted up from anything other than plebeian roots. And yet, there was something unsaid tangible in the atmosphere.

Déjà vu?

He kept on looking at her, waiting. She did not want to keep on looking at him; she tried to tear away her gaze but it was futile. Like the porcelain figurines lying on the table, they both remained speechless, transfixed, rooted to the spot.

Finally, he raised an eyebrow, letting her know he was waiting for her to introduce herself and state her purpose of meeting him, especially since she’d fixed this rendezvous in such an unusual manner. What made it even more unusual was the fact that he had, despite being one of the most inaccessible eccentrics, decided on the spur of the moment and consented to this harebrained idea. Something had felt right, acceding to this meeting. Unusual. Unheard of, in fact.

She opened her mouth to speak but no words would come out. She stopped trying and just stared at him.

Beyond the Blackboard

Swati, a Class X student of a reputed English medium school in Delhi, took her own life fearing she would obtain less marks in her Board exams. One would never know what propelled her to take the extreme step, but there are a few credible explanations; she could have been scared of facing the wrath of her family, or she may have just tried to avoid turning into a laughingstock among her friends, all of whom would be high-scorers, no doubt. Alternately, she might have crumbled under the pressure from her teachers to over-perform. One would never know for sure. But what one does know, is that there should not be any more Swatis. The education process, which exists to open up the mind of students, should never be allowed to become so hollow that it stops that same mind from thinking rationally.
The thinking writer Ayn Rand wrote, quite insightfully:
"The only purpose of education is to teach a student how to live his life - by developing his mind and equipping him to deal with reality. The training he needs is theoretical, i.e., conceptual. He has to be taught to think, to understand, to integrate, to prove. He has to be taught the essentials of the knowledge discovered in the past - and he has to be equipped to acquire further knowledge by his own effort."
Webster defines education as the process of educating or teaching (as though that's of any use!) Educate is further defined as "to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of...". Thus, from these definitions, we might assume that the purpose of education is to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of students. Unfortunately, this definition is found sadly lacking unless we further define words such as develop, knowledge, and character.
It is indeed alarming, the way we have conveniently strung together a collection of unmemorable, bleary sentences to derive the definition of education. In fact, we have totally confused the meaning, purpose and function of education. The students are no more learners, but target-seeking missiles, launched with the intention of locking over and making explosive contact with their targets. What does it matter if they could have had a shot at a different life? How does it matter that they were manoeuvred into unidirectional trajectory by their "learned" teachers? One could always spoon-feed them and ask them to mug up the most important of information; information that passes off for "knowledge" these days. That would keep them occupied, wouldn't it!
In ancient Greece, Socrates argued that education was about drawing out what was already within the student. In fact, the word education comes from the Latin educere, meaning "to lead out". Giving due credit to the origin of the term and concept of education, if - for a lack of other worthy suppositions - we work on the premise that education does actually mean "to bring forth what is within", then how do we so unscrupulously leave behind the other inherent components of our personality that make us complete? Spirituality is one of them.
Then again, what is spirituality? If you ask five people, you will get five different meanings of spirituality, every meaning centred on the respective person's individual belief. For some, spirituality is a way of life, while for others, it is the prime factor that differentiates man from animal. Still others would say spirituality is the ultimate goal of existence, a balance of the self and the outside environment.
And this spirituality is eluding the education process today. When we say there are no values left in the society, no morals and ethics to talk of, we essentially point at a glaring lack of spirituality in the formative years of a generation. The rising number of delinquents indicts the present education system. The increasing instances of crime and corruption are nothing if not a by-product of a hollow learning process.
In their early years, students are taught to focus on the goal, to recoil at the notion of making mistakes, to prepare themselves for the stress they would invariably encounter later in life, and to outdo each other no matter what the cost!
Contemporary formal education - by placing the control of learning in the hands of teachers and administrators, and imposing rules and requirements on students - is stifling the natural love for learning.
"Even if you win the rat race, you are still a rat!" said a very smart person, and at no other time has this statement been more relevant than now. Why be a rat then, when we can be so much better?
"The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with the thoughts of other men," said Bill Beattie. If that is so, then why do we wax eloquent about terms and phrases like "gratification", "goal achievement", "right way to think", "curriculum-based study", etc? Drawing again on the dictionary meaning of education, we have changed "the process of educating or teaching" to "the process of instructing and imposing".
The learners are as much to be blamed as the educators, one may reason. True, there has been a paradigm shift in the preferential constitution of the student brigade. With techno-crazy trends inundating the society and everyday lives of at least two consecutive generations, it does not come as a big surprise that students are exhibiting shorter attention span, less discipline, declined sense of comprehension and reduced scope of interest. They are, in general, loath to try out things outside their own comfort zone, and the constant race to emerge as "winners" has left them exhausted and stressed out.
But all said and done, students are young, impressionable. With age comes experience and with experience comes maturity. The onus to rectify and improve the learning process does not - and should not - lie on the students and learners. It is upon the parents, educators, teachers, guides and gurus to right this wrong, to water the seeds of free thinking, to encourage the students to explore the boundaries of their own minds, and most of all, to let the learners be. Education should - in plain words - transcend the structured environment of the classroom.
Thus the need for spirituality. An ability to discern between right and wrong. A power to make our own choices. A freedom to make mistakes and learn from them. And most importantly, a right to carve our own fate!

Good to be Gleeful

Caught in a horrid traffic jam; cars at a virtual standstill, bumper to bumper. Wait! Do I detect a movement ahead? I’m not too sure…it’s difficult to say, with my windscreen and windows fogged up with vapour (courtesy, a humid atmosphere after daylong rains). Don’t want to get my hopes too high. I quickly switch on the vipers to clear the vapour from my windscreen. Yeeees….the traffic is moving. Inch by measly inch, but moving nonetheless! Sending a silent prayer heavenwards, I shift the gear. One…two….HALT….one….two….three…..four….HALT…. and so it continues; the numbers are “inches” by the way, and the halt is “me applying the brakes…quite unceremoniously”. The drive - or the march - continues at a sluggish pace, marked by the usual routine of brake-accelerator-brake.
To add to the woes, there are the ubiquitous motorcycle riders, tilting so precariously towards my car that one would think the car has a bloody gravity of its own! I see the bike to my left jerk forward diagonally, and instinctively swerve my car to the right. Won’t give you the satisfaction of putting a scratch on the car body, you jerk. Other bikes close in, smothering my pretty car from all sides. I look around, beyond the bike riders, and every other car is suffering the same misfortune. Some car drivers are lucky and keep on swerving left and right to avoid jerky bike movements, while others are…well, not so lucky. A bike leaps ahead and makes a fresh scratch on the white Alto directly in front of me, another one bumps softly against the SX4 up ahead, while a third one zooms past (I don’t know how, considering the space-crunched road and traffic jam!) and makes a forceful contact with the side-view mirror of a red Maruti 800, dislodging it from its carefully-arranged position.
Same old sight. I begin to get bored. Still forging ahead at a painstaking pace, I idly switch on the car radio. The songs being played are about as uninspiring as they get…
Suddenly a silver Sumo overtakes me from the wrong side. The modus operandi is almost “bully-ish” in nature, taking no more that a second! In the blink of an eye, I’ve got a gigantic Sumo (which is, incidentally, the vehicle of choice of criminals and B-grade politicians in my city) in front of me now, completely blocking my view of the road ahead. I look in my rear-view mirror; there are two more similar Sumos tailgating me. Perhaps a motorcade of a wannabe politician, I surmise. I am almost on the verge of forgetting about the offensive overtake when Sumo no.2 (just behind my car) does an encore! The second Sumo too does a dangerous overtake- routine from the wrong side, effectively sandwiching me between the second and the third Sumo. I’m almost blind with rage. I will not let them get away with this. My Chevy Aveo may be a delicate white sedan and no match for these callous Sumos, but she deserves a lot better!
Swearing under my breath, I shift the gear back to first and plunge headlong into the fight for supremacy. Spotting a small, clear area on the roadside, I accelerate with a vengeance and take over the Sumo ahead from its left (that’s the wrong side). Needless to say, I make a clean overtake, my rear bumper missing the front bumper of the Sumo by barely a whisker as I overtake it and swerve sharply to the right directly in front of the Sumo. There….that’s better. Look who’s the master of overtaking now! To add insult to injury, I make sure I keep my car bang in the middle of the congested road, giving no leeway to the Sumo behind (which must be reeling from a hurt ego right now) to try and pull off another under-the-belt overtake like the last one. It’s immensely satisfying…almost poetic. The short drive home has suddenly acquired so much more meaning and become a novel confidence-building exercise.
I don’t know what reactions my unnecessary act of bravado are earning me - did not care to look back into the (humiliated?) faces of the Sumo’s driver and passengers - but I know one thing…I won’t tolerate anyone bullying me, literally, or figuratively. I will give back as good as I get, maybe more so. It’s good, at times, to make your point. You feel confident… Happy…. Rrefreshed…. And… a bit gleeful.

Just fooding around

Ever wondered what is the best food for weekends? Probably something outstanding, to remember the weekend by. And something that gives you enough courage to face the prospect of the dreary Monday that would relentlessly follow suit. So what are we having for dinner today? Why not compile a bucket list of all the dishes and do a selection by elimination routine. Potatoes, paneer, fish, cabbage, chicken, ladyfinger, and the list continues. Now why don’t we get on with the elimination part. Potato is too dull, cabbage is too leafy, chicken is too cruel, ladyfinger is too sticky…thus continues the ditching, and we are left with a handful of tasty options. Hardly do we notice the amount of effort that we put in this culinary selection. Our mental mechanism is so much in its comfort zone where food is concerned that it is hardly taxing for us to make food decisions. Or rather, food decisions are always made to maximise pleasure, thus they are always a welcome respite.
What is it that draws us to the notion called food? Why this obsession? When we are working, we are constantly perceptive to our food requirement of the day. When we are not working, we are busy planning our food itinerary for the weekend. Even in the 3 things essential for survival, roti, kapda aur makaan, food comes a lofty first! So how to justify this web of unexplained association with food and taste? I believe it is a futile exercise. Psychologists would vouch for that. We live, breathe, smell, feel, eat….. No need for justifications here. Research has also proven that our memory is immediately trickled by smell of certain food items. Infact, I am not the only one who uses food as a barometer of emotions and personality. One of my friends went to Goa recently and upon returning posted his photo album on Facebook. It was amusing to see page after page on his travel album, not the stunning landscape nor the new friends he made, but beautifully arranged meals. His method to chronicle the trip, to best recall happy memories, insisted he capture every meal in picture perfection, lovingly preserved in his travel album. Depending upon our individual disposition, we choose to be vegetarians or non-vegetarians. But that still does not take away from the joy of experiencing culinary delights. In India, the culture of food penetrates deeper that its physical consumption. There is scope of wisdom too in the gastronomical world. . "Enjoy meat and dairy products," centenarians would tell us, "but combine them with the use of lemon, vinegar, garlic, fresh green herbs, yogurt and pomegranate juice to dissolve fat that could be harmful to the human organism." Infact, anyone thinking that food is an innocuous subject would soon discover that politics, history, economics and religion have been mighty forces in shaping the cuisine of the region and in determining what people eat. Food is not simply a question of climactic or agricultural feasibility.
So I have made my choice, I will have palak-paneer today. And let me pour rich cream on top, because it is nice to remember there is still a bit of Sunday left.
Bon appetit!

Medical emergency!

For students of science faculty in the intermediate level, medical had traditionally been the most attractive option available. Aspirants clamoured to qualify in the medical entrance exams every year and it used to be nothing short of a dream come true for those who actually did! But in the recent years, the craze of this tried-and-tested, high-paying profession has taken a sudden dip, with students opting for easier, shorter courses. The reasons cited for the disenchantment with this noble profession range from exorbitant course fee, tiresome course length and woefully limited number of seats in medical colleges to paltry income in the initial years and availability of easy, alternative professional options.
This has spelled bad news for the already struggling healthcare sector in the country.
About 600,000 physicians are registered to practice in India, although the actual number would probably be lower if one takes into account emigration and retirements.
According to a study, India needs at least 50,000 medical graduates and about 18,000 post-graduates every year to provide the health facilities to its over one billion population.
When we talk of medical as a graduation option, the numbers are not very encouraging. “Almost 3.5 lac students appeared from all over India for the AIPMT in 2003, but this number had dipped to around 70,000 this year. The number of students taking the Bihar medical entrance too took a plunge, from somewhere around 70,000 in 2003 to less than 30,000 this year,” reveals Bipin Kumar, MD of Goal Institute, which specialises in imparting medical preparatory courses. That means a drop of around 80 per cent in the number of students taking the all-India pre-medical entrance test in the period between 2003 and 2010!
Dr Amulya Kumar Singh, an orthopaedic surgeon, blames the changed mentality of the society for the defection of students towards non-medical fields. “Attractive, easy and get-rich-quick options like MBA have become the order of the day. Parents too are mounting pressure on the kids to get set in life as early as possible and that is leading to talent deviation from the medical field to non-medical ones,” he says, and warns that if this trend continues, in the next four or five years the country will witness a huge vacuum where qualified, talented medical professionals are concerned.
There are, however, various ways to curb this unwelcome trend, as suggested by members of the medical fraternity themselves.
To start with, the government can mull over increasing the salaries of the doctors, considering the ungodly working hours and, in some cases, the ridiculously low remunerations. “In Bihar, the salary of contract doctors in government hospitals has been revised to somewhere around Rs 30,000, while medical interns are getting about Rs 10,000 during their internships,” says Bipin Kumar, and adds that these amounts are still paltry considering the long working-hours and strenuous job-profile of the doctors.
Dr Amlesh Kumar, a dentist by profession, says, “After toiling hard for around 15 years - for that is the time it takes to complete the graduation, specialisation, super-specialisation and other medical training – a good, talented doctor gets what an average IITian with an MBA degree would get upon six years of study. It adds to the frustration! It is high time the medical professionals were fairly compensated.”
To make the rural stint lucrative for the doctors, government can, perhaps, institute a system of faster promotions for doctors working in the rural hospitals compared to those working in urban hospitals.
But the most important step in this direction would be to address the root cause of this “doctor deficiency” syndrome plaguing the country: by creating more doctors!
“Instead of pointing towards greener pastures of instant gratification, parents need to motivate and support their kids if the latter are keen on medical studies. It is a profession which has a struggling period but once that is over, the respect a doctor earns is immense!” says Dr Amulya.
Today, an MBBS degree with internship takes five and a half years and the PG, another three. That adds up to a minimum eight years of labour for the students, if they want to actually enjoy the spoils of their profession! The PG degree itself is very hard to come by, what with only five per cent PG seats in medical colleges compared to graduate seats. “There is no way to shorten the four and a half year duration of the MBBS course as it forms the foundation of the medical studies, but the internship period can definitely be reduced a bit. By trimming the non-functional aspects of the internship, the duration can be reduced from one year to six months,” says Dr Ravindra Kumar Sinha, chest specialist.
The PG or speciality training seats in medical colleges should be increased. “The specialisation seats are very limited, and the super-specialisation seats, negligible! This proves to be the biggest deterrent for medical aspirants. There is urgent need to increase the number of seats in colleges,” he adds, and continues, “The onus lies with the government, to upgrade the colleges and their facilities and equipments so that they meet the rigid MCI specifications for PG courses.”
“Donation in medical colleges needs to be stopped immediately, especially for the PG courses. Whether government colleges or private ones, the admissions should be done on the basis of entrance exams,” says Dr Amlesh.
All these doctors are also unanimous on the opinion that stress has to be laid on infrastructure development of medical studies, like constructing and accrediting more colleges, furnishing the existing ones with better equipments and labs and increasing the intake capacity, without compromising on the quality of education, of course.
Lastly, where the initial struggles of this profession are often misconstrued to be of a chronic nature, parents and students need to let go of this myopic view and look at the larger picture. After all, medicine is one of those professions that bestow a high degree of all three to the practitioner: income, self-satisfaction and respect!

Music, or spirituality?

We all have, at some point of time, listened to mood-reflecting music as a way to palliate our emotional upheavals and introspect. The blushes of first love, the shatter of a broken romance, the high of victory, the solitude of defeat, the pain of parting, the joy of reunion; almost every event worth noticing in our life has had a musical background to silently enhance, or alternately reduce, the adrenaline rush.
While there is music in religion for some, and for others, music is religion. Traces of music, and melody can be found in all the religions; Choir and carols in Christianity, Bhajan and geet in Hinduism, Aazan and Sufi music in Islam, gurubani in Sikhism and the likes.

Music and meditation:
Music has been inherently and eternally linked to meditation. When we hear soul stirring music, it uplifts us, much like deep meditation. This is called the principle of equivalence. The brain appreciates and absorbs the music by creating the same set of complex thought pattern as that during meditation.
The great composer Beethoven said of music, “Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. Although the spirit be not master of that which it creates through music, yet it is blessed in this creation, which, like every creation of art, is mightier than the artiste.”
The Indian classical music, one of the oldest and finest music forms of the world, traces its roots to ancient Vedic hymns. Most Indian Gods and Goddesses have been depicted carrying musical instruments. Even in other religions, hymns, musical chants and other forms of music form an inherent part of expressing spirituality and devotion to God.

Origins of music/spirituality:
Where and how did music originate? Every religion has its own theory. One goes like this. In the very beginning, there was the Word. Almost all the religions of the world talk about it. No one is sure what the word was, but in Hindu religion it is believed to be OM. In Patanjali Yoga Darshan, Ishwara is defined as a special Being who is expressed by this original Word (Pranava). This might have added to the concept of inner music mentioned in the scriptures. This sound has been called the Word in Bible, Naad, Jyoti and Shruti in the Hindu scriptures, Sraosha in the Zoroastrian scriptures, Kalma in the Muslim scriptures, Sonorous Light in the Buddhist scriptures, Naam or Shabd by the Sikhs, and the Thesophists call it the Voice of Silence
Even scientists claim that in the beginning, right after the Big Bang, and before anything else appeared in the universe, primordial sound waves were produced. This may have formed the basis of Brahma Nad, mentioned in the Upanishads.

Music is perfection in hitting the note:
Many musicians consider true music as the manifestation of perfection. Music is like the horizon to them; the closer they go towards it, the further it moves. But this does not deter them from pursuing this horizon. And when they touch this perfection, its sheer bliss. To strike the perfect note accurately is like walking on the razor’s edge. Every other place, other than that particular spot, is off-key. And if by some miracle, that perfect note is struck, the razor edge expands into a wide open universe of possibilities. Many refer to this state as ‘Shoonyata’.
Even the beautiful Sanskrit word ‘Swara’ is self-explanatory. ‘Swa’ means self and ‘Ra’ means to bring forth or throw light upon. Simply put, the singer delves deep within and brings forth his or her inner essence.

A thought

Right from the inception of mankind, education in the broader sense has been prevalent in one form or another. Earlier, research-oriented education was the norm of the day leading to a comprehensive and continuous process of learning. But now, education has become the means to achieving the end called quick self-gratification. Prompt wealth-creation is expected out of the learning process today which focuses on increasing the students’ earning potential rather than their intellectual growth. Quality in education has been relegated to the back seat even as the impressionable minds of children have been diverted to the pursuit of making quick bucks.

At crossroads

India is in a transition stage, particularly in the area of education. Everyday one hears of ambitious plans, revolutionary changes in the pipeline and visionary decisions being mulled over. There’s a catch though. Reforms and changes are ordered overnight on paper, but it takes a lot of time for the whole system to overhaul its bearings and adjust to these changes. The ensuing result is a confused education system grappling to come to terms with these new stipulations and reforms. Take for example, the decision to take the CAT online. A lot of problems, breakdowns and mess characterised its implementation. Same goes for IITs. Every other day one hears of reform measures being mulled over by the people in charge, pertaining to cut-off marks of plus 2, percentage of weightage given to plus2 marks in the admission process of IITs etc.
Bihar’s case personifies this confusion well. While Bihar is making headlines for better reasons now, there is still a glaring lacuna in the precariously balanced growth act of the state. The state government is vehemently pushing the cause of primary and secondary education, with a slew of progressive schemes whose benefits cannot be denied: scholarship money, fund for school uniforms, free bicycles an so on. The common man, casting his inherent cynicism aside, has grudgingly come to approve and even admire these efforts in the area of school education. Not only have they resulted in higher enrolment rates, these innovative schemes have also raised awareness about the importance of education among the rural masses and deprived sections of society.
But the higher education scenario in the state is still crying out to be bettered. Bihar once used to be a seat of learning with Nalanda and Vikramshila universities attracting students from far and wide. Ironically, that same Bihar does not have a proper system of higher education today. Colleges and universities of the state are generally in the news for all the wrong reasons, be it the impending showdown between Raj Bhawan and the state government or the frequent protests, agitation and hunger strikes by the students and faculty. According to S I Ahson, pro VC of Patna University, it is very unfortunate that the appointment of VCs in Bihar has become mired in controversies. “It is a sad affair that the VCs chair has been dragged into such a controversy. It is our collective responsibility; I cannot blame any specific quarter or individual for failing to uphold the sanctity of this high position,” he adds.
To add to these woes, there is the lackadaisical attitude of the teachers and an acute shortage of well-qualified technical staff. The under-funded laboratories, libraries and classrooms stymie any interest in research studies that students might have shown had things been otherwise. IT infrastructure is virtually non-existent in these colleges and universities, with only a broadband connection to show for (which is down and non-functioning for most of the days in a month) in the name of IT.
“A lot of positive steps have been taken by the state government, like establishment of new institutes and universities. But this is just the initial effort. A lot still needs to be done,” says Ahson. Faculty crunch is a major deterrent to quality education, he points out, and adds, “Patna University is running with less than 50% faculty; of around 1000 sanctioned posts only 400 teachers are on the job.”
Where technical and professional education is concerned, things are as gloomy as ever. While many medical colleges face the threat of de-recognition by the MCI, others are found sadly lacking in infrastructure, surgical equipments and machines. Many of the courses in engineering colleges are yet to be accredited.
Janak Pandey, VC of Central University of Bihar, attributes the constant breakdown in higher education to thoughtless planning. “When the present system does not give satisfactory results, people come up with different ideas. But it’s imperative to note that there’s no makeshift arrangement in education,” he says. According to him, quality faculty and infrastructure are essential components of quality higher education. “Every stage of education is organically related; one cannot separate primary, secondary and higher education as each of these stages define the next one. So it’s time we expanded the scope of our approach to higher education,” he adds.
The government, on its part, has tried to make a beginning in the area of higher education by setting up institutes and universities like Chandragupt Institute of Management Patna and Chanakya National Law University. Both of them, established around two years back, have shown potential and promising results. Other branches and extensions of national-level institutes, like IIT, BIT and NIFT, too have cropped up in Bihar. But then again, the older institutes and universities are in a state of neglect and need focused reforms to break their mould and emerge as assets for the state. The exams in universities are still not regulated, and consequently, subjected to annoying delays even as the campus placement in colleges are negligible. All the universities have been instructed to adopt the semester pattern by the UGC but here too, there are unnecessary delays. The reasons cited for the inability to implement the semester pattern vary from lack of qualified staff to dearth of funds and infrastructure. “We have received UGC’s directives which are aimed at increasing the access to higher education and improving the infrastructure. It has also sent a circular containing the minimum standard for admission into PhD. These directives, though essential for improving the quality of education, require sweeping changes and we are working over them,” Ahson reveals.
Surely, the time has come to repair the fractured higher education system in Bihar. With a deplorable gross enrolment rate (GER), Bihar has an arduous journey uphill to emerge on the national map. “The GER of India is 12%, whereas it stands at 27% for China. But more than these numbers, we need to concentrate on improving the quality of higher education; the numbers would follow automatically,” Pandey says. What is needed, more than paper reforms and cumbersome policies, is undivided attention and relentless effort in chalking out achievable improvements and implementing progressive changes. Like Pandey points out, quality education as well as quality education providers, both are essential for bringing clarity and giving a sense of direction to higher education in the state. With so many maladies plaguing the higher education system in Bihar, the students are truly at a crossroads. It’s time to remove their predicament and show them the right way.

What good father? Each one is good!

There is no good father. No, do not be scandalized. What I mean is that every father is good. So where is the need to add another `good'? It only makes the adjective redundant. But since I am the one writing this article, I believe I can afford to show a bit of corruption and say that my dad is not just good, he is the best! As a daughter, I have felt relief in the cocoon of my father's love when I thought no one in the world understood me.

My dad says that I am the only one who understands what he wants without him saying it. The reality is that he dotes on me so much that he chooses to acknowledge only me as the person who understands him, even when my mom and brothers are equally good at reading his thoughts! I love him for this; it makes me feel super special.

How much does a dad matter in this day and age? A lot, I would say. I believe the love of a father has been grossly undermined. A father is the provider of the family, not necessarily in the material sense, but in a more all-encompassing way. A father is the balancing factor in a child's life. Mothers have their favourites, but one rarely hears of dad's faves. Fathers are those pillars of strength which support best when they are camouflaged. We rarely sit back to think over the entity which keeps the intricate network of our social and personal life intact and stable. That entity is our father. Goes to show how understated fathers are and how overstated they deserve to be.

My father could not be with me on Father's Day as he was out of station. But then, I know nothing matters to him more than me. The secret to our bonding is knowing that we love each other even when we are apart. The satisfaction in knowing that yes, my father has yet again forgotten my birthday, is poetic irony! I am assured that he has not changed, not even a bit, and I can rely on him to forget special occasions. I would, in fact, be alarmed if he remembered to wish me on time! His absent-mindedness makes him real to me.

I have tried hard to figure out the evolutionary trend of fathers in general. Earlier fathers used to be reserved in showing their love for their children. Not that they cared any less for their kids. But gradually, there has been a creeping change in their temperament. Fathers have become friends. Showing uninhibited love for your kids is no more a taboo. They have become more involved in their kids' lives. It is a pleasant sight to see the new daddy getting up in the middle of the night to change his kid's nappy!

What is there to be surprised then when kids say `My daddy's the best'!

Makings of an industry

If one were to inquire about the industries in Bihar, the first answer they would get is the education industry. This particular industry, which has been a consistent preoccupation of the people of this state, has been thriving irrespective of Bihar’s social and political phenomena and the global meltdown. Bihar boasts of some of the finest schools in the country. But even more important is the coaching niche’ within this gigantic education industry, which has not only withstood the test of time but is still progressing in leaps and bounds. It is indeed an achievement when a particular occupation becomes synonymous with its place of existence; it is an even bigger achievement when that place starts getting known by virtue of that occupation. Coaching business has just earned that place on the pedestal. Bihar is being known for its coaching institutes much more than for anything else.

Once accused by traditionalists for adulterating the sublime profession of teaching, coaching has transformed into a necessity in this fast-growing world. Kota in Rajasthan is an example worth mentioning. Students flocking to Kota for their preparatory studies is no surprise for anyone. In fact, an estimated 30,000 students migrate from Bihar to various coaching destinations, most prominently Kota, for coaching courses. Believed to be the Mecca for students who are serious about their education, Kota has been known for and because of its coaching industry. This industry has also been responsible for the economy boost of that region. Somewhat similar is Bihar’s situation. While every other industry has had its fair share of ups and downs here, education in general and coaching in particular are going strong.

Within the coaching industry too, there have been a lot of improvisations. Newer concepts are being introduced everyday. The courses have moved from short-duration and exam-specific to long-term and comprehensive. ‘Catch them young’ is the latest mantra, and coaching institutes are coming out with novel ways of value enhancement like pre-foundation courses, integrated courses and so on. The duration of preparation has increased from six months to four years and the scope of study now covers medical/engineering entrance preparation to school syllabus and beyond, which include IIT-JEE, AIEEE, AIIMS, CAT and other competitive exams as well as class 9, boards, plus 2, Spoken English, Foreign Languages etc.

Students too opine on this flourishing business in the state. Srishti, a class 10 student of an English-medium school in Patna, cannot imagine life without her tutorial classes that help her with the boards preparation. Similar is the case with most of her friends. Jawed, one of her seniors, wants to qualify in JEE and hence has got enrolled in one of the premier coaching institutes in the city’s Boring Road area. Here he is taught Physics, Chemistry and Maths. “My coaching timing is in the evening on weekdays, and extra hours in the afternoon on weekends, so we do not have to rush with the study schedule. Plus, whatever problems and doubts we have at school, we can easily ask our coaching tutors to clarify them,” says Jawed. This shows how the fine line between schooling and coaching is gradually getting intermingled and subsequently vanishing.

But would it be correct to call this coaching business an industry in Bihar? Views are divided. Coaching is a burgeoning business in the state and going by the current figures, definitely shows the potentiality of an industry. The gamut of services offered, the employment generated, the bucks raked in, and the ever-growing popularity of this vocation, all point to the immense scope of this occupation. According to a survey, Bihar’s coaching market is estimated to be worth hundreds of crores and growing at an estimated 20 per cent. And while coaching as an industry has crossed the Rs 10,000 crore mark in the country, a more than proportional part of it is in Bihar’s kitty.