Travel Tales

Last summer we visited Ajanta and Ellora caves and had the opportunity to see first hand the rock carvings and paintings. The Ellora caves are divided into 3 groups; the Jainism caves, the Buddhist ones and then the Hinduism related ones

The first batch we visited had huge sculptures of the gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon, Shiva and his various forms, Durga or the Shakti in her various incarnations and some highly decorative scenes from the Ramayana with intricate carvings of floral designs.

The Jain caves had beautiful murals with Lord Mahavira and the various tirthankars sculpted out of huge rock faces.It also had spaces carved out for the bhikshus. The Buddhist ones were more or less designed on same lines with alcoves for the bhikshus to study and meditate.

The most interesting were Caves no-1 to 16 where the whole rock edifice had been so sculpted to hold the mountain with exquisite elephants. The surrounding caves had different forms of Shiva in all his glory including his postures from Tandava.

The immense spread and grandeur of the edifice makes you feel insignifcant and at the same time fills you with wonder. Imagine a time when there were no modern present day gadgets, no new fangled technology and yet Man could think and build such huge symmetrical and aesthetically beautiful structures. It is a testimony to his ingenuity and nature. 

COLLEGE CONUNDRUM

Whole of 2017, I spent in tracking my son's progress through the final years of his school graduation. Then came, the long and tedious process of college applications.

The first realisation was that there is no central body to regulate admissions in any state across various courses.

Except for the admission process carried out by the JoSSA and NEET body, others are all scattered and extremely chaotic. All states have a separate admission process and one has to  comprehend layers of literature(res rules and regulations) and then proceed. Most parents neither have the patience nor time to wade through the entire process and JUST GIVE UP.
Result-Private Colleges.

The Government has practically outsourced higher education to private players with no regulation on either the admission process or on the fees they charge. This is all under the fancy name of ENTREPRENEURSHIP!!!

Recently, a younger friend/colleague of mine was arguing about Govt's role in regulation of fees. She said that it was rather like asking Apple to sell iPhone for a lower price. Private schools or colleges should decide own fees entirely with no role of state.
My argument is that education should be outsourced/privatized ONLY and ONLY when we have achieved the objective of "quality-education-for-all" through state run institutions. People who opt out of these can then have the luxury of going to institutions which cater for niche education for the select few/gifted/etc. Education should not be the fiefdom of the rich and powerful who treat it as a machinery to churn out more profit.


The second realisation was the way the reservation system works in India. Being a General category student in our country is bad business. To a layman, reservation means SC/ST/OBC. Once you start filling forms you suddenly realise the different categories
SC
ST
OBC
SINGLE GIRL CHILD(in some states)
POW
WAR WIDOW
BORDER AREAS
J&K MIGRANT
BC
RELIGIOUS MINORITY
PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED
TERRORIST VICTIMS
SPORTS QUOTA
NRI
EX-SERVICEMEN
DEPENDENT OF ARMED FORCES KILLED IN ACTION
FREEDOM FIGHTER QUOTA


People talk of Finland's education system a lot where the state runs all schools and colleges through the taxes collected from the population. There is no fees, no examination, no burden of homework till you reach a certain age. The compulsory education system in Finlan consists of a nine-year comprehensive schooling from ages 7 to 16 which is mandatory. Home schooling is rare
All Nordic countries(Denmark,Finland,Iceland,Sweden,Norway) provide higher education free of charge for their own citizens and until recently even for international students(now only Finland.Germany,Iceland and Norway do not collect fees from International students). 

India needs to do a lot in the education sector and the sad part is that not much is happening in this area. It is low priority area for everyone.