We express our heartfelt gratitude to our honorable chief guest Mr. ----- . Thank you Sir for gracing this event with your presence. It is indeed incredible of you to take time out from your busy schedule to attend Aiyana. We are also grateful to Mr ___ who presided over the prize distribution ceremony. Thank you sir for honoring Aiyana by taking part in the felicitation. We thank our principle Mr. Shiware and Vice- Principal Mrs. Chitra Natarajan. Thank you Sir. Thank you Madam. This event would not have been achievable without you both. We are especially thankful to the principle Mr___ and the management of Bhavan’s College for being so considerate as to let Aiyana events take place in the auditorium of the college.
We appreciate the effort put forth by all of the Judges to do perhaps the most mind-boggling but outwardly easy job of judging the participants. We thank the celebrities for beautifying this event with their charisma. Special guests and invitees also garner our thankfulness. We also thank all the parents who came to watch the performances put out by the students.
We cannot forget the professors and staff members, especially of the self- financing courses who have greatly guided our efforts to make this event a grand success. Praful sir the convener of Aiyana deserves a special mention for being a strong pillar of support. We thank the vice principle , professors and HOD’s of the junior college section. We also thank the vice chairperson ___.
We thank the heads of various committees and student co-ordinators hailing from varied courses who through their united effort have truly reflected the spirit of Hinduja! We thank all of our friends who as the numerous volunteers worked at the base and are the reason for providing a strong foundation for Aiyana. You all have worked day and night for each and every aspect of this event, cheers to you all.
We thank the technical team of Bhavan’s college who have taken care of all the workings of without any glitch. They have played an important part in the smooth functioning of Aiyana. We thank the photographers and media persons for being present here to cover Aiyana. We also thank the caterers who made sure every member of the Aiyana team stays strong and healthy to put forth a fantastic event. We thank the decorators who have decorated the auditorium as well as the campus. We thank the security staff for their helping to maintain discipline all though the festival.
Once again thank you everyone.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
True Value
When they moved in
I had no clue,
That my neighbours’ daughter
Will turn my life blue.
The first few days were easy
The little monster was well behaved
But once she got her friends made
Her excited screams made me queasy.
Her torture increased by the days
I felt she had a conspiracy
To ruin my peace and tranquility
In a thousand different ways
When I complained to her mother
She told me to adjust
That, she was just an innocent child
So not to worry and bother.
Soon my fate turned the right way-
The father of my nemesis
Found a job in another state
He promptly took the kid away.
But sadly it did not help
I never got my groove back
I find myself yearning for the child
And, the way she made the dogs yelp.
A kind note for the tiny devil-
“You were not so troublesome
Neither were you too nasty
I agree I misunderstood you a little.
Now that you’re gone, I miss you
Hope your enthusiasm and cheer
Will brighten up many lives
Wherever you go, whatever you do”.
I had no clue,
That my neighbours’ daughter
Will turn my life blue.
The first few days were easy
The little monster was well behaved
But once she got her friends made
Her excited screams made me queasy.
Her torture increased by the days
I felt she had a conspiracy
To ruin my peace and tranquility
In a thousand different ways
When I complained to her mother
She told me to adjust
That, she was just an innocent child
So not to worry and bother.
Soon my fate turned the right way-
The father of my nemesis
Found a job in another state
He promptly took the kid away.
But sadly it did not help
I never got my groove back
I find myself yearning for the child
And, the way she made the dogs yelp.
A kind note for the tiny devil-
“You were not so troublesome
Neither were you too nasty
I agree I misunderstood you a little.
Now that you’re gone, I miss you
Hope your enthusiasm and cheer
Will brighten up many lives
Wherever you go, whatever you do”.
Reflection
I sat in front of the mirror
Looking at my face
The wrinkles and the grey hair
Made me curse times pace.
I remembered my youth
Its brilliance and beauty
Oh! The praises had made me blush
But now its lost for eternity.
Suddenly I hear the doorbell
I opened, to see my daughter
A perfect reflection of my youth
And now my loss doesn’t matter.
The grey hair and wrinkles
Is what I have earned
To be proud of it and not cringe
A fine lesson have I learnt.
Beauty is like mist
Quick to disappear
But with each new dawn
Greets everyone with cheer.
Looking at my face
The wrinkles and the grey hair
Made me curse times pace.
I remembered my youth
Its brilliance and beauty
Oh! The praises had made me blush
But now its lost for eternity.
Suddenly I hear the doorbell
I opened, to see my daughter
A perfect reflection of my youth
And now my loss doesn’t matter.
The grey hair and wrinkles
Is what I have earned
To be proud of it and not cringe
A fine lesson have I learnt.
Beauty is like mist
Quick to disappear
But with each new dawn
Greets everyone with cheer.
Rainbow After Storm
Lisa Kudrow had never been so nervous before. As an actress, she had been through a lot of cosmetic surgeries. When she was eighteen the casting director asked her to plump her lips, as they were too thin and lacked the required luster. She made her lips full by getting collagen injections. This was followed by micropigmentation for her eyebrows for her original brows were too thin. As she grew older, the knives got bigger and the recuperation more painful. She was now sixty and was lying on the steel operating table, under the influence of anesthesia and awaiting a major surgery, a facelift. It guaranteed to take her face twenty years into the past. The procedure was risky; she was made aware by her surgeon. But to run in the race of showbiz she knew she had to take it.
Dr. Joseph Anderson gave a peck to his wife Dr. Katie McBeal on her forehead. They both were standing right in front of the receptionists table. The receptionist looked fondly at the couple. She by now got accustomed to Dr. Joseph’s lucky charm. Before every surgery, he gave a peck to his wife, that too positioned right in front of the receptionists table. “What if the hospital underwent a major renovating stint?” Everyone would joke with Dr. Joseph. But he knew the possibilities of the hospital getting refurbished were zilch just as the possibility of his wife not turning up at the reception area five minutes after his call. He always thanked God for blessing him with a wonderful wife. Being in the same profession in addition to sharing the same workplace caused terrible fights between them. But he always felt guilty later and she would always wait up for him sulkingly. Five years as a friend, ten years as a lover and ten years as a wife, she had always been by his side.
Dr. Joseph entered the operation-theatre brusquely, recognized the face of his patient as the famous Lisa Kudrow and coolly got about his work.
“Scalpel please.” he said to a nurse.
* * *
After prescribing the post surgery treatment to the nurse in-charge, he left the hospital and got into his Porsche. His wife called him just then. She had a great sense of timing.
“How did it go, honey?”
“Great sweetheart, tell me what’s for dinner?”
“Umm. I just ordered Chinese food, is it fine?”
“Its fine sweety. Bye, take care.”
“ Bye, hon.”
At two am in the morning, Joseph was rudely roused from his sleep by a phone call. Although he was quite used to such midnight calls because of his profession it still irritated him nonetheless. It irritated him even more if the call was for his gynecologist wife. With his eyes still shut tight, he groped for the receiver.
“Hello, Dr. Joseph speaking.”
“Dr. Joseph, this is Adriana the nurse in-charge for tonight.”
“Yes Adriana, what’s the problem?”
“Doctor, its Lisa Kudrow, the one to whom you gave a facelift today. Her face has turned purple black. Is it normal?”
No, it wasn’t normal. Going red was normal. That’s how the skin reacts after being exposed to laser radiation, which is a routine follow up after the facelift. But purple black?! Oh God! This is new, thought Joseph. The news unnerved him. But as a doctor, he was taught to be calm even under the most trying circumstances.
“Can you specify the regions which have acquired the color?”
“Well, doctor, it’s hard to say. At present, her face is completely covered in a blanket of purple-black. But the color transition had started from around the nostrils, the hairline on the forehead, under the eyes… basically from all the places where the incision was made.”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes, make sure it doesn’t spread farther.”
“We cant, we don’t know what caused it.”
“Well then keep trying to find the cause will you?”
Bang! Joseph hung up on the nurse.
* * *
Joseph rushed to his patient and with all of his expertise managed to stop any further damage. A bit of relief. But later after sixteen whole hours, Joseph felt an appalling sense of defeat clouding over him, because he could not undo what's already been done to Lisa Kudrow’s face. How could he when the root cause never came to the surface?
The elderly actress’s face was now as pigmented as of an African woman. Since she was a celebrity, every news channel reported the incident during primetime. Katie was patiently answering all of the phone calls from various media persons. Lisa wasn’t allowed to see her face yet. The papers that she signed before the operation bound her from doing so. But the papers did not stop her from contacting her attorney and sue Dr. Joseph.
A day later, a notice arrived at Joseph’s home. He was in dire depression leaving Katie to handle everything. She opened the notice and read the damage charges pressed against her husband by Lisa. They were ordered to pay half a million dollars as compensation.
“Jesus!” Katie thought. “This is going to put us in heavy financial crisis.”
The amount wouldn’t have been that big if it were not for the tuition fees that they were footing for their twin daughters in Stanford University.
Two days later Katie had smoothly finished paying the compensation with the help of her generous father. It helped that her father Mr. Mark McBeal was a retired judge. Thanks to him, all the legal formalities were easily taken care of.
Now Katie had to take care of Joseph. Joseph was starting to doubt his abilities as a cosmetic surgeon. After the misfortune, he declared he would never operate on anyone. He blamed himself for being an inefficient doctor. He held himself responsible for being overconfident. It did not help that the media, too, continued to butcher his image as a doctor.
Katie knew she had to take control. If only she could know the cause of that day’s accident, she might be able to help her husband. She called the hospital and asked them to send her a videotape of the surgery and the detailed handwritten reports too.
She then called Joseph's mentor Dr. Antonio Salvez to review the video and the written material. Surprisingly, both of them could find nothing wrong.
“What was it that Joseph did to make Lisa’s face go black?” Katie questioned, her voice filled with anxiety.
“Katie,” Dr. Antonio, replied, “Have you ever thought of the possibility that your husband was never at fault?”
“How, Antonio? It was Joseph who operated on Lisa!”
“Yet we both, even after such scrutiny couldn’t find a thing that went wrong, could we?”
“You’re right. We couldn’t.”
“I’ll tell you where I think the problem is, Katie, the problem lies with the post operative care. Check on the nurse who was assigned to look after Lisa on the night of the surgery.”
When Katie called at the hospital, she came to know that the nurse who was assigned to look after Lisa resigned two days after the disastrous incident took place. Now Katie knew that there was something more to what met her eye. She was amazed and at the same time glad because now she had hope that what she found supported Antonio’s theory of someone other than Joseph being at fault. She called the local police and informed them that she suspected a nurse named Adriana with regard to actress Lisa Kudrow’s mishap. Then she called her father judge McBeal to catalyze the investigations. Soon Adriana was tracked to be living in another state in a huge mansion.
Meanwhile Antonio tried to rouse Joseph from his depression by telling him that it wasn’t his fault after all and that all this time he was feeling guilty for someone else’s crime. Joseph at first couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Then it dawned on him that this is the light at the end of the long dark tunnel he was passing through. In a matter of minutes his depression transformed into fury.
Before he knew he yelled at his mentor, “Who and for what reason made me a scapegoat? I want the answer and I want it damn soon!”
* * *
Damn soon came thirty-six long hours later. It was divulged that Adriana was not entirely guilty but was an accomplice. She was paid by Lisa Kudrow’s long time professional rival Goldie Hawn to ruin Lisa’s post operative treatment. Goldie chose a professional nurse like Adriana because she wanted irreversible damage done to Lisa or to be more specific, her way of making a living, her face. She paid Adriana well, a billion dollars. But now Goldie was going to pay big-time with her whole life behind bars.
Joseph, as soon as his name got cleared renewed work with full gusto. When Adriana revealed how she adulterated Lisa’s post operative treatment, it was easy for Antonio and Joseph to find a remedy. Both of them performed a corrective surgery on Lisa, which leaved the lady quite blemishless. Katie and Antonio were honored at a small function, for their presence of mind. The function was attended by the local police and the hospital staff. Joseph continued following his superstitious ritual of giving a peck on his wife’s forehead, right in front of the receptionist’s table!
The End.
Dr. Joseph Anderson gave a peck to his wife Dr. Katie McBeal on her forehead. They both were standing right in front of the receptionists table. The receptionist looked fondly at the couple. She by now got accustomed to Dr. Joseph’s lucky charm. Before every surgery, he gave a peck to his wife, that too positioned right in front of the receptionists table. “What if the hospital underwent a major renovating stint?” Everyone would joke with Dr. Joseph. But he knew the possibilities of the hospital getting refurbished were zilch just as the possibility of his wife not turning up at the reception area five minutes after his call. He always thanked God for blessing him with a wonderful wife. Being in the same profession in addition to sharing the same workplace caused terrible fights between them. But he always felt guilty later and she would always wait up for him sulkingly. Five years as a friend, ten years as a lover and ten years as a wife, she had always been by his side.
Dr. Joseph entered the operation-theatre brusquely, recognized the face of his patient as the famous Lisa Kudrow and coolly got about his work.
“Scalpel please.” he said to a nurse.
* * *
After prescribing the post surgery treatment to the nurse in-charge, he left the hospital and got into his Porsche. His wife called him just then. She had a great sense of timing.
“How did it go, honey?”
“Great sweetheart, tell me what’s for dinner?”
“Umm. I just ordered Chinese food, is it fine?”
“Its fine sweety. Bye, take care.”
“ Bye, hon.”
At two am in the morning, Joseph was rudely roused from his sleep by a phone call. Although he was quite used to such midnight calls because of his profession it still irritated him nonetheless. It irritated him even more if the call was for his gynecologist wife. With his eyes still shut tight, he groped for the receiver.
“Hello, Dr. Joseph speaking.”
“Dr. Joseph, this is Adriana the nurse in-charge for tonight.”
“Yes Adriana, what’s the problem?”
“Doctor, its Lisa Kudrow, the one to whom you gave a facelift today. Her face has turned purple black. Is it normal?”
No, it wasn’t normal. Going red was normal. That’s how the skin reacts after being exposed to laser radiation, which is a routine follow up after the facelift. But purple black?! Oh God! This is new, thought Joseph. The news unnerved him. But as a doctor, he was taught to be calm even under the most trying circumstances.
“Can you specify the regions which have acquired the color?”
“Well, doctor, it’s hard to say. At present, her face is completely covered in a blanket of purple-black. But the color transition had started from around the nostrils, the hairline on the forehead, under the eyes… basically from all the places where the incision was made.”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes, make sure it doesn’t spread farther.”
“We cant, we don’t know what caused it.”
“Well then keep trying to find the cause will you?”
Bang! Joseph hung up on the nurse.
* * *
Joseph rushed to his patient and with all of his expertise managed to stop any further damage. A bit of relief. But later after sixteen whole hours, Joseph felt an appalling sense of defeat clouding over him, because he could not undo what's already been done to Lisa Kudrow’s face. How could he when the root cause never came to the surface?
The elderly actress’s face was now as pigmented as of an African woman. Since she was a celebrity, every news channel reported the incident during primetime. Katie was patiently answering all of the phone calls from various media persons. Lisa wasn’t allowed to see her face yet. The papers that she signed before the operation bound her from doing so. But the papers did not stop her from contacting her attorney and sue Dr. Joseph.
A day later, a notice arrived at Joseph’s home. He was in dire depression leaving Katie to handle everything. She opened the notice and read the damage charges pressed against her husband by Lisa. They were ordered to pay half a million dollars as compensation.
“Jesus!” Katie thought. “This is going to put us in heavy financial crisis.”
The amount wouldn’t have been that big if it were not for the tuition fees that they were footing for their twin daughters in Stanford University.
Two days later Katie had smoothly finished paying the compensation with the help of her generous father. It helped that her father Mr. Mark McBeal was a retired judge. Thanks to him, all the legal formalities were easily taken care of.
Now Katie had to take care of Joseph. Joseph was starting to doubt his abilities as a cosmetic surgeon. After the misfortune, he declared he would never operate on anyone. He blamed himself for being an inefficient doctor. He held himself responsible for being overconfident. It did not help that the media, too, continued to butcher his image as a doctor.
Katie knew she had to take control. If only she could know the cause of that day’s accident, she might be able to help her husband. She called the hospital and asked them to send her a videotape of the surgery and the detailed handwritten reports too.
She then called Joseph's mentor Dr. Antonio Salvez to review the video and the written material. Surprisingly, both of them could find nothing wrong.
“What was it that Joseph did to make Lisa’s face go black?” Katie questioned, her voice filled with anxiety.
“Katie,” Dr. Antonio, replied, “Have you ever thought of the possibility that your husband was never at fault?”
“How, Antonio? It was Joseph who operated on Lisa!”
“Yet we both, even after such scrutiny couldn’t find a thing that went wrong, could we?”
“You’re right. We couldn’t.”
“I’ll tell you where I think the problem is, Katie, the problem lies with the post operative care. Check on the nurse who was assigned to look after Lisa on the night of the surgery.”
When Katie called at the hospital, she came to know that the nurse who was assigned to look after Lisa resigned two days after the disastrous incident took place. Now Katie knew that there was something more to what met her eye. She was amazed and at the same time glad because now she had hope that what she found supported Antonio’s theory of someone other than Joseph being at fault. She called the local police and informed them that she suspected a nurse named Adriana with regard to actress Lisa Kudrow’s mishap. Then she called her father judge McBeal to catalyze the investigations. Soon Adriana was tracked to be living in another state in a huge mansion.
Meanwhile Antonio tried to rouse Joseph from his depression by telling him that it wasn’t his fault after all and that all this time he was feeling guilty for someone else’s crime. Joseph at first couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Then it dawned on him that this is the light at the end of the long dark tunnel he was passing through. In a matter of minutes his depression transformed into fury.
Before he knew he yelled at his mentor, “Who and for what reason made me a scapegoat? I want the answer and I want it damn soon!”
* * *
Damn soon came thirty-six long hours later. It was divulged that Adriana was not entirely guilty but was an accomplice. She was paid by Lisa Kudrow’s long time professional rival Goldie Hawn to ruin Lisa’s post operative treatment. Goldie chose a professional nurse like Adriana because she wanted irreversible damage done to Lisa or to be more specific, her way of making a living, her face. She paid Adriana well, a billion dollars. But now Goldie was going to pay big-time with her whole life behind bars.
Joseph, as soon as his name got cleared renewed work with full gusto. When Adriana revealed how she adulterated Lisa’s post operative treatment, it was easy for Antonio and Joseph to find a remedy. Both of them performed a corrective surgery on Lisa, which leaved the lady quite blemishless. Katie and Antonio were honored at a small function, for their presence of mind. The function was attended by the local police and the hospital staff. Joseph continued following his superstitious ritual of giving a peck on his wife’s forehead, right in front of the receptionist’s table!
The End.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
YELLOW JOURNALISM
Yellow journalism, in short, is biased opinion masquerading as objective fact. Moreover, the practice of yellow journalism involved sensationalism, distorted stories, and misleading images for the sole purpose of boosting newspaper sales and exciting public opinion. It was particularly indicative of two papers founded and popularized in the late 19th century- The New York World, run by Joseph Pulitzer and The New York Journal, run by William Randolph Hearst.
It all started, some historians believe, with the onset of the rapid industrialization that was happening all around the world. The Industrial Revolution eventually affected the newspaper industry, allowing newspapers access to machines that could easily print thousands of papers in a single night. This is believed to have brought into play one of the most important characteristics of yellow journalism - the endless drive for circulation. And unfortunately, the publisher's greed was very often put before ethics.
Although the actual practice of what would later become known as yellow journalism came into being during a more extended time period (between 1880-1890), the term was first coined based on a series of occurrences in and following the year of 1895. This was the year in which Hearst purchased the New York Journal, quickly becoming a key rival of Pulitzer's. The term was derived, through a series of peculiar circumstances, from a cartoon by the famous 19th century cartoonist, Robert Outcault called "The Yellow Kid" . The cartoon was first published in The World, until Hearst hired him away to produce the strip in his newspaper. Pulitzer then hired another artist to produce the same strip in his newspaper. This comic strip happened to use a new special, non-smear yellow ink, and because of the significance of the comic strip, the term "yellow journalism" was coined by critics.
Sadly though, this period of sensationalist news delivery (where the so-called yellow press routinely outsold the more honest, truthful, unbiased newspapers) does stand out as a particularly dark era in journalistic history. The demand of the United States people for absolutely free press allowed such aforementioned newspapers, which often appealed to the shorter attention spans and interests of the lower class, to print whatever they so desired. This means that they could easily steal a headline and story directly from another paper, or simply fabricate a story to fit their particular agenda.
One of the more disturbing features involved with the former practice of yellow journalism, and the period in which it was most active in is that there is no definite line between this period of yellow journalism and the period afterwards. There only exists evidence that such practices were frowned upon by the general public - by 1910, circulation had dropped off very rapidly for such papers. But regardless, does this mean that yellow journalism simply faded away, never to return? Or did it absorb itself into the very heart of our newspapers, where it will remain forever? One thing is for certain - after the late 1800s, newspapers changed drastically, and still show no sign of changing back. The modernly present newspaper appearances of catchy headlines, humorous comic strips, special interest sections, intrusive investigative reporting, et cetera serve as a constant reminder that one must always stay skeptical when examining our news sources.
What is the remedy to yellow journalism? Simply double- and triple-checking one's sources and reading between the lines. If one disregards the obvious marketing that is used to hook readers, newspapers may actually prove to be reliable sources of information.
It all started, some historians believe, with the onset of the rapid industrialization that was happening all around the world. The Industrial Revolution eventually affected the newspaper industry, allowing newspapers access to machines that could easily print thousands of papers in a single night. This is believed to have brought into play one of the most important characteristics of yellow journalism - the endless drive for circulation. And unfortunately, the publisher's greed was very often put before ethics.
Although the actual practice of what would later become known as yellow journalism came into being during a more extended time period (between 1880-1890), the term was first coined based on a series of occurrences in and following the year of 1895. This was the year in which Hearst purchased the New York Journal, quickly becoming a key rival of Pulitzer's. The term was derived, through a series of peculiar circumstances, from a cartoon by the famous 19th century cartoonist, Robert Outcault called "The Yellow Kid" . The cartoon was first published in The World, until Hearst hired him away to produce the strip in his newspaper. Pulitzer then hired another artist to produce the same strip in his newspaper. This comic strip happened to use a new special, non-smear yellow ink, and because of the significance of the comic strip, the term "yellow journalism" was coined by critics.
Sadly though, this period of sensationalist news delivery (where the so-called yellow press routinely outsold the more honest, truthful, unbiased newspapers) does stand out as a particularly dark era in journalistic history. The demand of the United States people for absolutely free press allowed such aforementioned newspapers, which often appealed to the shorter attention spans and interests of the lower class, to print whatever they so desired. This means that they could easily steal a headline and story directly from another paper, or simply fabricate a story to fit their particular agenda.
One of the more disturbing features involved with the former practice of yellow journalism, and the period in which it was most active in is that there is no definite line between this period of yellow journalism and the period afterwards. There only exists evidence that such practices were frowned upon by the general public - by 1910, circulation had dropped off very rapidly for such papers. But regardless, does this mean that yellow journalism simply faded away, never to return? Or did it absorb itself into the very heart of our newspapers, where it will remain forever? One thing is for certain - after the late 1800s, newspapers changed drastically, and still show no sign of changing back. The modernly present newspaper appearances of catchy headlines, humorous comic strips, special interest sections, intrusive investigative reporting, et cetera serve as a constant reminder that one must always stay skeptical when examining our news sources.
What is the remedy to yellow journalism? Simply double- and triple-checking one's sources and reading between the lines. If one disregards the obvious marketing that is used to hook readers, newspapers may actually prove to be reliable sources of information.
MUNICIPAL SCHOOLS
Municipal Schools – A Preview
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation runs more than 1000 schools in Mumbai with a total enrolment of over 650,000. Their purpose is to provide primary education at low cost. Shifts in population, specially of the jobless and the homeless, now threaten the functioning of these schools.
In recent years many mills and other factories in the Island city have closed down, and there has been an intense drive by the BMC to clear away slums. This has displaced a large population from the previously crowded areas of Parel and Lalbaug. Several schools have had to be closed because of lack of students. The remaining students then have to travel to a school further off, resulting in a further decline in attendance. In addition, as earning members of the family become jobless, students drop out of school in order to help shore up the family's income.
In contrast, suburban schools are overcrowded. The number of teachers is far less than what is required; sometimes a teacher has to take two classes at the same time. Such problems have led to a fall in enrolments even in the suburbs.
The BMC runs a mid-day meal scheme in its schools--- providing milk and khichdi to all students. In some schools this scheme has been discontinued.
A policy of no failures has been implemented, which makes it mandatory for all schools to pass all children in their first four years of schooling. This, coupled with a lack of individualised teaching, has occassionally resulted in children entering middle school without having acquired elementary reading or writing skills. The drop out rate among such students is very high.
Municipal schools are an integral part of the education system of our society as it imparts teaching to the lower income strata. Mulund Powai Plus readers suggests various measures to revive the old lost charm of civic schools and bring them at par with the standard of public schools
There is an urgent need for the revival of civic schools and we can adopt the following ways for its revival. First, if the school structure is in a poor state then it should be given a facelift. If structurally week, it should be repaired, renovated and restored. This will bring enthusiasm in the children and teachers.
Also, maintaining basic hygienic conditions can do wonders to boost the morals of children. Second, train teachers by conducting simple basic training courses from eminent teaching professionals and scholars. The BMC teachers should be inline with the modern teaching techniques. Offer incentives to teachers who imbibe real knowledge to children with dedication. Third, attendance should be made compulsory for both teachers and students. And, lastly provide good meal/snacks to attract under privileged children.
The recent SSC/HSC results have shown that students from poor, under privileged sections are also bright, as they have performed well against all odds. If the BMC standing committee on education implements the above four mentioned points, we may see more students enrolling into civic schools and scoring good marks.
Suggestions To Improve Standard Of Municipal Schools:
Illiteracy is the main cause of all the problems in India. So, civic schools are the only means by which the rural and poor population of the country can be educated. The government should come up with plans like mid-day meal, monthly wages for the students studying in these schools, free uniforms and books should also be provided. Reviving the civic schools is one of the best ways of spreading education to every nook and corner of the country.
Municipal schools are an important part of the society because parents with low income can easily pursue their ward's education there. But many of them are under impression that the municipal schools do not provide good education. But actually the education given by the civic schools are same as the private schools. So in order to revive the civic schools, the concerned authorities should see that if so many students are leaving the school then what is the reason for that. And, if they are leaving then are they pursuing their education further or they are leaving studies midway? Only strict implementation of certain rules can help reviving the civic schools.
Door-to-door campaigning and advertising in local newspapers should be undertaken highlighting state rank holders of civic schools to impress parents about the quality of education in civic schools. Distribution of free food packets, books, stationery and dress to the needy children may woo the children to be most regular to school.
Instruction should be given to teaching staff to be more sincere, dedicated and cool headed. Surprise checks through Inspectors will make the teaching staff and students more alert, which will also help in the revival of civic schools.
The pathetic condition of Municipal schools in the state is due to the negligent attitude of the state administration who is hardly concerned about dire state of the civic schools. We need to first bring the issue to the notice of the officials concerned and then suggest them measures that will give a complete makeover to the municipal schools.
The government should first improve the infrastructure of the schools in the area by renovating the school buildings; providing students a better toilet facility and sensible and sincere teaching staff. Along with this, extra curricular activities should also be promoted in the school, which will make school more interesting for students. Also other important facilities like mid-day meal, free books and rewards for performing well, will also help revive the civic schools in the suburbs.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation runs more than 1000 schools in Mumbai with a total enrolment of over 650,000. Their purpose is to provide primary education at low cost. Shifts in population, specially of the jobless and the homeless, now threaten the functioning of these schools.
In recent years many mills and other factories in the Island city have closed down, and there has been an intense drive by the BMC to clear away slums. This has displaced a large population from the previously crowded areas of Parel and Lalbaug. Several schools have had to be closed because of lack of students. The remaining students then have to travel to a school further off, resulting in a further decline in attendance. In addition, as earning members of the family become jobless, students drop out of school in order to help shore up the family's income.
In contrast, suburban schools are overcrowded. The number of teachers is far less than what is required; sometimes a teacher has to take two classes at the same time. Such problems have led to a fall in enrolments even in the suburbs.
The BMC runs a mid-day meal scheme in its schools--- providing milk and khichdi to all students. In some schools this scheme has been discontinued.
A policy of no failures has been implemented, which makes it mandatory for all schools to pass all children in their first four years of schooling. This, coupled with a lack of individualised teaching, has occassionally resulted in children entering middle school without having acquired elementary reading or writing skills. The drop out rate among such students is very high.
Municipal schools are an integral part of the education system of our society as it imparts teaching to the lower income strata. Mulund Powai Plus readers suggests various measures to revive the old lost charm of civic schools and bring them at par with the standard of public schools
There is an urgent need for the revival of civic schools and we can adopt the following ways for its revival. First, if the school structure is in a poor state then it should be given a facelift. If structurally week, it should be repaired, renovated and restored. This will bring enthusiasm in the children and teachers.
Also, maintaining basic hygienic conditions can do wonders to boost the morals of children. Second, train teachers by conducting simple basic training courses from eminent teaching professionals and scholars. The BMC teachers should be inline with the modern teaching techniques. Offer incentives to teachers who imbibe real knowledge to children with dedication. Third, attendance should be made compulsory for both teachers and students. And, lastly provide good meal/snacks to attract under privileged children.
The recent SSC/HSC results have shown that students from poor, under privileged sections are also bright, as they have performed well against all odds. If the BMC standing committee on education implements the above four mentioned points, we may see more students enrolling into civic schools and scoring good marks.
Suggestions To Improve Standard Of Municipal Schools:
Illiteracy is the main cause of all the problems in India. So, civic schools are the only means by which the rural and poor population of the country can be educated. The government should come up with plans like mid-day meal, monthly wages for the students studying in these schools, free uniforms and books should also be provided. Reviving the civic schools is one of the best ways of spreading education to every nook and corner of the country.
Municipal schools are an important part of the society because parents with low income can easily pursue their ward's education there. But many of them are under impression that the municipal schools do not provide good education. But actually the education given by the civic schools are same as the private schools. So in order to revive the civic schools, the concerned authorities should see that if so many students are leaving the school then what is the reason for that. And, if they are leaving then are they pursuing their education further or they are leaving studies midway? Only strict implementation of certain rules can help reviving the civic schools.
Door-to-door campaigning and advertising in local newspapers should be undertaken highlighting state rank holders of civic schools to impress parents about the quality of education in civic schools. Distribution of free food packets, books, stationery and dress to the needy children may woo the children to be most regular to school.
Instruction should be given to teaching staff to be more sincere, dedicated and cool headed. Surprise checks through Inspectors will make the teaching staff and students more alert, which will also help in the revival of civic schools.
The pathetic condition of Municipal schools in the state is due to the negligent attitude of the state administration who is hardly concerned about dire state of the civic schools. We need to first bring the issue to the notice of the officials concerned and then suggest them measures that will give a complete makeover to the municipal schools.
The government should first improve the infrastructure of the schools in the area by renovating the school buildings; providing students a better toilet facility and sensible and sincere teaching staff. Along with this, extra curricular activities should also be promoted in the school, which will make school more interesting for students. Also other important facilities like mid-day meal, free books and rewards for performing well, will also help revive the civic schools in the suburbs.
GRIFFITH
David Llewelyn Wark "D. W." Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948)
was a premier pioneering Academy Award-winning American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance (1916).
Early life
Griffith was born in La Grange, Kentucky to Jacob Griffith and Mary Perkins Oglesby. His father was a Confederate Army colonel, a Civil War hero, and a Kentucky legislator. Griffith was educated by his older sister, Mattie, in a one-room country school. His father died when he was 10, upon which the family experienced serious financial hardships. At age 14, Griffith's mother abandoned the farm and moved the family to Louisville where she opened a boarding house, which failed shortly. Griffith left high school to help with the finances, taking a job first in a dry goods store, and, later, in a bookstore.
Griffith began his career as a hopeful playwright but met with little success; only one of his plays was even accepted for a performance. Griffith decided to instead become an actor, and appeared in many plays as an extra.
Film Career
In 1907, Griffith, still having goals for becoming a successful playwright, moved to California and attempted to sell a script to Edison producer Edwin Porter. Porter rejected Griffith's script, but allowed him to be an extra in his movie. In 1908, Griffith accepted an acting job for the Biograph Company in New York City.
At Biograph, Griffith's career in the film industry changed forever. In 1908, Biograph's main director Wallace McCutcheon grew ill, and his son, Wallace McCutcheon Jr., took his place. McCutcheon Jr., however, was not able to bring the studio good success. As a result, Biograph head Henry Marvin decided to give Griffith the position; Griffith then made his first movie for the company, The Adventures of Dollie.
Between 1908 and 1913 (the years he directed for the Biograph Company), Griffith produced 450 short films, an enormous number even for this period. This work enabled him to experiment with cross-cutting, camera movement, close-ups, and other methods of spatial and temporal manipulation. At Biograph, Griffith became a huge success as a director.
On Griffith's first trip to California as a director, he and his company discovered a little village to film their movies in. This place was known as Hollywood. With this, Biograph was the first company to shoot a movie in Hollywood titled In Old California (1910).
Influenced by a European feature film Cabiria from Italy, Griffith was convinced that feature films could be financially viable. He produced and directed the Biograph feature film Judith of Bethulia, one of the earliest feature films to be produced in the United States. However, Biograph believed that longer features were not viable. Biograph thought that a movie that long would hurt the audience's eyes.
Because of this, Griffith left Biograph and took his whole stock company of actors with him, and joined the Mutual Film Corporation and formed a studio Reliance-Majestic Studios, with Majestic Studio manager Harry Aitken .(The studio was later renamed Fine Arts Studio).
His new production company became a self-governing production unit partner in Triangle Film Corporation with Keystone Studios. Through Reliance-Majestic Studios, Griffith produced The Clansman (1915), which later came to be known as The Birth of a Nation.
The Birth of a Nation is considered important by film historians as the first feature length American film, and arguably changed the standards of the film industry. It was enormously popular, breaking box office records, but aroused controversy in the way it expressed the racist views held by many in the era .(It depicts Southern pre-Civil War black slavery as benign, and the Ku Klux Klan as a band of heroes restoring order to a post-Reconstruction black-ruled South).
Although these views matched the opinions of many American historians of the day (and indeed, long afterwards), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People campaigned against the film, but was unsuccessful in suppressing it.
The Birth of a Nation went on to become the most successful box office attraction of its time. Among the people who profited by the film was Louis B. Mayer, who bought the rights to distribute The Birth of a Nation in New England. With the money he made, he was able to begin his career as a producer that culminated in the creation of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios.
However, after seeing The Birth of a Nation, audiences in some major northern cities also responded by rioting over the film's racial content. After The Birth of a Nation had run its course in theaters, Griffith responded to the negative reception through his next film Intolerance, which attacked the institution of slavery. However, Intolerance was not a success. Like The Birth Of A Nation, Griffith put a huge budget into the film's production, which was also a key factor in it's failure at the box office. Soon after, the production partnership was dissolved, so Griffith went to Artcraft (part of Paramount), then to First National. At the same time he founded United Artists, together with Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks. At United Artists, Griffith continued to make films, but never could achieve box office grosses as high as either The Birth of The Nation or Intolerance.
Though United Artists survived as a company, Griffith's association with it was short-lived, and while some of his later films did well at the box office, commercial success often eluded him. Features of Griffith from this period include Broken Blossoms (1919), Way Down East (1920), Orphans of the Storm (1921) and America (1924); the earlier three were successes at the box office.
In 1924, Griffith was forced to leave United Artists after Isn't Life Wonderful failed at the box office, and accepted return to Paramount as a director. Griffith made only two sound films, Abraham Lincoln (1930) and The Struggle (1931). Neither was successful, and he never made another film. For the last seventeen years of his life he lived as a virtual hermit in Los Angeles.
Death
He died of cerebral hemorrhage in 1948 on his way to a Hollywood hospital from the Knickerbocker Hotel where he had been living alone. He is buried at Mount Tabor Methodist Church Graveyard in Crestwood, Kentucky.
Achievements
D. W. Griffith has been called the father of film grammar. Few scholars still hold that his "innovations" really began with him, but Griffith was a key figure in establishing the set of codes that have become the universal backbone of film language. He was particularly influential in popularizing "cross-cutting"—using film editing to alternate between different events occurring at the same time—in order to build suspense. Some also claim, that he "invented" the close-up shot. He used many elements from the "primitive" style of movie-making that predated classical Hollywood's continuity system, such as frontal staging, exaggerated gestures, minimal camera movement, and an absence of point of view shots.
Legacy
Motion picture legend Charles Chaplin called Griffith "The Teacher of us All". This sentiment was widely shared. Filmmakers as diverse as John Ford and Orson Welles have spoken of their respect for the director of Intolerance. Whether or not he actually invented new techniques in film grammar, he seems to have been among the first to understand how these techniques could be used to create an expressive language.
In early shorts such as Biograph's The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) which was the first "Gangster film", we can see how Griffith's attention to camera placement and lighting, heighten mood and tension. In making Intolerance the director opened up new possibilities for the medium, creating a form that seems to owe more to music than to traditional narrative. Griffith was honored on a 10-cent postage stamp by the United States issued May 5, 1975.
In 1953, the Directors Guild of America instituted the D.W. Griffith Award. Its recipients included Woody Allen, Akira Kurosawa, John Ford, Ingmar Bergman, and Alfred Hitchcock. In Dec 1999, however, DGA President Jack Shea and the DGA National Board—announced that the award would be renamed the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award because Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation had "helped foster intolerable racial stereotypes".
Film Preservation
D.W. Griffith has five films preserved in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". These films are Lady Helen's Escapade (1909), A Corner in Wheat (1909), The Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916), and Broken Blossoms (1919).
was a premier pioneering Academy Award-winning American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance (1916).
Early life
Griffith was born in La Grange, Kentucky to Jacob Griffith and Mary Perkins Oglesby. His father was a Confederate Army colonel, a Civil War hero, and a Kentucky legislator. Griffith was educated by his older sister, Mattie, in a one-room country school. His father died when he was 10, upon which the family experienced serious financial hardships. At age 14, Griffith's mother abandoned the farm and moved the family to Louisville where she opened a boarding house, which failed shortly. Griffith left high school to help with the finances, taking a job first in a dry goods store, and, later, in a bookstore.
Griffith began his career as a hopeful playwright but met with little success; only one of his plays was even accepted for a performance. Griffith decided to instead become an actor, and appeared in many plays as an extra.
Film Career
In 1907, Griffith, still having goals for becoming a successful playwright, moved to California and attempted to sell a script to Edison producer Edwin Porter. Porter rejected Griffith's script, but allowed him to be an extra in his movie. In 1908, Griffith accepted an acting job for the Biograph Company in New York City.
At Biograph, Griffith's career in the film industry changed forever. In 1908, Biograph's main director Wallace McCutcheon grew ill, and his son, Wallace McCutcheon Jr., took his place. McCutcheon Jr., however, was not able to bring the studio good success. As a result, Biograph head Henry Marvin decided to give Griffith the position; Griffith then made his first movie for the company, The Adventures of Dollie.
Between 1908 and 1913 (the years he directed for the Biograph Company), Griffith produced 450 short films, an enormous number even for this period. This work enabled him to experiment with cross-cutting, camera movement, close-ups, and other methods of spatial and temporal manipulation. At Biograph, Griffith became a huge success as a director.
On Griffith's first trip to California as a director, he and his company discovered a little village to film their movies in. This place was known as Hollywood. With this, Biograph was the first company to shoot a movie in Hollywood titled In Old California (1910).
Influenced by a European feature film Cabiria from Italy, Griffith was convinced that feature films could be financially viable. He produced and directed the Biograph feature film Judith of Bethulia, one of the earliest feature films to be produced in the United States. However, Biograph believed that longer features were not viable. Biograph thought that a movie that long would hurt the audience's eyes.
Because of this, Griffith left Biograph and took his whole stock company of actors with him, and joined the Mutual Film Corporation and formed a studio Reliance-Majestic Studios, with Majestic Studio manager Harry Aitken .(The studio was later renamed Fine Arts Studio).
His new production company became a self-governing production unit partner in Triangle Film Corporation with Keystone Studios. Through Reliance-Majestic Studios, Griffith produced The Clansman (1915), which later came to be known as The Birth of a Nation.
The Birth of a Nation is considered important by film historians as the first feature length American film, and arguably changed the standards of the film industry. It was enormously popular, breaking box office records, but aroused controversy in the way it expressed the racist views held by many in the era .(It depicts Southern pre-Civil War black slavery as benign, and the Ku Klux Klan as a band of heroes restoring order to a post-Reconstruction black-ruled South).
Although these views matched the opinions of many American historians of the day (and indeed, long afterwards), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People campaigned against the film, but was unsuccessful in suppressing it.
The Birth of a Nation went on to become the most successful box office attraction of its time. Among the people who profited by the film was Louis B. Mayer, who bought the rights to distribute The Birth of a Nation in New England. With the money he made, he was able to begin his career as a producer that culminated in the creation of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios.
However, after seeing The Birth of a Nation, audiences in some major northern cities also responded by rioting over the film's racial content. After The Birth of a Nation had run its course in theaters, Griffith responded to the negative reception through his next film Intolerance, which attacked the institution of slavery. However, Intolerance was not a success. Like The Birth Of A Nation, Griffith put a huge budget into the film's production, which was also a key factor in it's failure at the box office. Soon after, the production partnership was dissolved, so Griffith went to Artcraft (part of Paramount), then to First National. At the same time he founded United Artists, together with Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks. At United Artists, Griffith continued to make films, but never could achieve box office grosses as high as either The Birth of The Nation or Intolerance.
Though United Artists survived as a company, Griffith's association with it was short-lived, and while some of his later films did well at the box office, commercial success often eluded him. Features of Griffith from this period include Broken Blossoms (1919), Way Down East (1920), Orphans of the Storm (1921) and America (1924); the earlier three were successes at the box office.
In 1924, Griffith was forced to leave United Artists after Isn't Life Wonderful failed at the box office, and accepted return to Paramount as a director. Griffith made only two sound films, Abraham Lincoln (1930) and The Struggle (1931). Neither was successful, and he never made another film. For the last seventeen years of his life he lived as a virtual hermit in Los Angeles.
Death
He died of cerebral hemorrhage in 1948 on his way to a Hollywood hospital from the Knickerbocker Hotel where he had been living alone. He is buried at Mount Tabor Methodist Church Graveyard in Crestwood, Kentucky.
Achievements
D. W. Griffith has been called the father of film grammar. Few scholars still hold that his "innovations" really began with him, but Griffith was a key figure in establishing the set of codes that have become the universal backbone of film language. He was particularly influential in popularizing "cross-cutting"—using film editing to alternate between different events occurring at the same time—in order to build suspense. Some also claim, that he "invented" the close-up shot. He used many elements from the "primitive" style of movie-making that predated classical Hollywood's continuity system, such as frontal staging, exaggerated gestures, minimal camera movement, and an absence of point of view shots.
Legacy
Motion picture legend Charles Chaplin called Griffith "The Teacher of us All". This sentiment was widely shared. Filmmakers as diverse as John Ford and Orson Welles have spoken of their respect for the director of Intolerance. Whether or not he actually invented new techniques in film grammar, he seems to have been among the first to understand how these techniques could be used to create an expressive language.
In early shorts such as Biograph's The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) which was the first "Gangster film", we can see how Griffith's attention to camera placement and lighting, heighten mood and tension. In making Intolerance the director opened up new possibilities for the medium, creating a form that seems to owe more to music than to traditional narrative. Griffith was honored on a 10-cent postage stamp by the United States issued May 5, 1975.
In 1953, the Directors Guild of America instituted the D.W. Griffith Award. Its recipients included Woody Allen, Akira Kurosawa, John Ford, Ingmar Bergman, and Alfred Hitchcock. In Dec 1999, however, DGA President Jack Shea and the DGA National Board—announced that the award would be renamed the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award because Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation had "helped foster intolerable racial stereotypes".
Film Preservation
D.W. Griffith has five films preserved in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". These films are Lady Helen's Escapade (1909), A Corner in Wheat (1909), The Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916), and Broken Blossoms (1919).
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