Exams Exams Exams!

Dated : March

“Don’t waste your time reading a magazine! Go back and study!”

Is that how your parents shout at you during the final exams? If yes, first read this yourself and then make them read it too (vice versa for the parents).

A five letter word that spells doom for kids everywhere – EXAMS(It’s funny how playing with the words makes it XMAS). How important are they? Very. Make that very, very important. The problem begins when the seniors at home escalate the degree of ‘very’ to inexplicable levels. Exams are not the end of the world and life and death does not depend on it. No, not even board exams. Even if you fail and fail again, even then they are not everything there is to this life. Rank 1, Rank 2, 90%, sorry 95%, distinction, my kid topped the colony; just where will people stop? Do you really think when a child grows up and is 30 years old, it matters how many marks he scored in Maths back in class 7^th? If you really think it matters, then I am sorry to say but you need a reality check in life. So why are we really crazy after kids and driving them crazy as well? Because society looks up and down upon people basis scoring good and bad marks respectively. Isn’t it too high a price a young mind has to pay for keeping some strangers that he doesn’t even know happy? All the tension trauma he is put through, which by the way also makes him/her hate you.

Yes, it is important to study, it is important to clear exams and get a basic amount of education. But if you start expecting the world out of your kid, just because your neighbour’s daughter/son is scoring well, then it is just so unfair. It’s like saying you take your Bajaj Chetak scooter and race it against a swift and swanky Ferrari. Not will the Chetak just lose, but it will also wear out before time. Everybody has their own abilities, and studies are not everything in life. There’s music, sports, entertainment and a host of other fields where people can do well without being an engineer, doctor or an architect. What is required in any field at any point in time is to be hard working. Without the sincerity and hard work, doing well in any field is difficult. So while kids are being pushed hard to study more, more and more, they should ideally be taught how to concentrate, develop a passion and nurture it.

If all this still doesn’t make sense, then buy a DVD of ‘Taare Zameen Par’ and watch it with the family. Mothers are advised to keep a heap of tissue paper ready. Ok, moving back to the other sections, we have focus on International Women’s Day, Samsung’s new phone and Ford Figo. Since we are recommending you to go easy on studies, therefore no Course Study section this time!

 It has been heartening to receive feedback from so many of you, and to be honest a lot of it has been unexpected. We understand you want some topics to be raised through this medium and e mails are not easy to send for everyone. So here’s introducing, Youth ki Goonj feedback on SMS. Just open your message box, type in “YKG” followed by your comment and name(preferably with area) and send to 98106 20791. Shall soon try and feature some of the feedback in these 4 pages.

All the best for your exams! But remember, ‘tension nai leneka’ JAnd yes, hope you had a wonderful colourful Holi!