~ i heard of sai baba’s passing away. am not a devotee or a believer. but very strangely. three nights ago he appeared in my dream. not as a spiritual leader in saffron, but as an ordinary man.
“do you know what a toll it takes on my body when people ask me to predict the future?” are the words he spoke in my dream. i didnt think too much of it. i just let it go, then.
my prayers are with the families of my friends for whom the baba showed the way.RIP
~ I met a woman who is a school teacher at a government school in the outskirts of chennai. and she told me many things…
That she teaches five sections. and there are 108 children in class XI in one class. the class with the minumum strength has 72 children.
she had to pay a bribe of Rs. 3 lakh to get this job.
That a physical education teacher ticked off a student, and told her to tie up her hair, last year. the girl committed suicide the next day citing in a note that the teacher humiliated her.
that the oldest boy in her class is 21 years old, having failed four times.
a class seven student drinks and smokes because he’s the one who is sent out to buy the stuff for his dad every night. his dad is a coollie.
Twopointthree kids, sixpointsix ideas on raising them 
may happy things come your way soon MiM.
and,
1. all of us are mere passers-by in this world. sai baba has done his work and folks will remember him for a long time after he has passed away.
2. yours truly went to a school which had classes with minimum 75 kids. was good – there was a larger pool of kids to make friends with and the range of normalcy was wide. you fought for attention when you wanted it, you could fade away when you did not want it.
3. bribes? suicides? school systems? irresponsible parents? don’t get me started. sucks away happiness.
4. *tries to focus on positive stuff*
got full funding for our library project! that means many children will get access to fun reading material and hopefully that will spread some happiness!
got a huge work order for the women – will earn them a good profit. makes me shiny happy 🙂
long comment.
hey that made me shiny happy too… chox.
Agree with you on Sai Baba’s demise.
My mother was such a teacher, except that she handled primary section and didn’t had to handle the kind of older kids you mentioned. They were also kids of coolies, servant maids, hawkers, but her generation teachers really fought hard to keep the kids straight and good. Yes, she didn’t have to pay bribe for getting the job.
Hugs.
Choxie: Congrats. Glad you are doing something really positive for the kids.
I do it because of the kick I get from it 🙂 And thanks!
my namaskarams to your mum. teachers always get my saashtanga namaskaram
I dont know any devout Sai baba believer, and since I am not a believer, have always been intrigued by his aura, and have been sceptical of his phenomena as well. The newspapers do nothing with this regard- they have all published the same PR release that they have probably got from the trust – tendulkar in mourning, hi fi hospitals built in a poor area, water management in drought prone areas etc. They do a disservice to both journalism and a life that had a huge impact on people, and an impoverished area.
Regarding the state of our education system , that and health -these two things rip me apart. They are the basics of any civilisation and we have allowed a steady erosion of the state’s role in both areas . The government has to be made accountable for the sheer disregard for the schools and hospitals they run( and its not just corruption, its the steady shift in policy that happily and willfully allow private players, making a mockery of the notion of subsidy and a right based understanding of health and education) sorry for the long comment – the details you give of the teacher’s experience really got under my skin.
spot on about newspaper reporting. ctrl xing the same press release down to the last spelling error is what is happening in the mainstreams.
the teacher’s narrative really bothered me for along long while…too.
Yes, the parts about the school teacher and the students are really saddening.
Sathya Sai Baba’s demise was not unexpected-he’d been ailing for a while. I don’t really know much about this somewhat controversial figure. As Sur says, the state has shown no great commitment to providing either health care facilities or educational ones, so we tend to bend over backwards in our appreciation of those private individuals who contribute in these fields, whether they be godmen or industrialists.
Choxie never ceases to amaze me with her absolutely awesome positivity!
Congrats on the funding, Chox.
Thanks Dips. Need to wipe out all the minusses to stay sane (we are currently into negative numbers as you know!)
🙂
Been a silent reader of your posts for long & I like your style of writing.
As for Sai Baba – I am not a devotee/believer. He has been accused of paedophilia & sexually abusing males. Absolutely disgusting. Lesser said the better about his gimmicks of conjuring things out of thin air.
Have heard about a BBC documentary on him, the secret swami, which apparently delved into these aspects. His passing on had no impact on me.
Hi, surprised to see that my earlier comment has been deleted. Not sure why?
oh sorry. it wasnt deleted. since you are a new commenter, the comment doesnt get published automatically.
it waits for my approval.
and i wait for my laptop…
so things take a while:-)