Everybody knows Primary education in India is in a dire state. There are lots and lots of primary schools without any building and teacher. They only exist on paper. And money sanctioned by government for these schools beeps in the bank account of government officers as their hearts leap for India. Then I hear this news.

It certainly came as a surprise. The guy was making news for not getting highest pay package after passing out from Indian Harvard (IIM – Ahmedabad) but refusing to join any of the Big Bosses.

What is he doing? Has he gone mad? Mothers leave toddlers, sons their parents and wives their husbands to get that kind of salary and career. What about fancy cars, gold cards, frequenting hip and happening joints? YOU CAN NOT CHILL OUT GUYS AND GALS WITHOUT THESE. Its oxygen for generation X! I don’t know how he will survive without oxygen! HOW WILL HE HAVE FUN? My heart goes out for that innocent boy. He is tilting towards sageness in the prime of his youth. And what for? He wants to open a primary school!!! Huh! I agree it is the prime need for Indian toddlers. But chilling out and having fun is above all.

He is committing a serious mistake by refusing to roll in money.
But I wish him all the best and if I were a believer I would have prayed for him too. But more than some cosmic power to take care of our needs I believe in sanity and fairness of human mind to solve our own problems. So Vardan Kabra bravo and congrats for not being the part of the rat race. This world needs more and more people like you.

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A New Addition
Here is a mail from Mr. Vardan Kabra himself. Any of you who wants to get in touch with him can do so.

Hi all,

Thanks a lot for the encouragement and the great comments.

I really do hope and my team and I are able to do something worthwhile.

In case any of you want to get in touch with me, send us a mail on fountainhead_schools@yahoo.com

Thanks and regards,

Vardan Kabra

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I was watching National geographic. Its awe inspiring when you see any natural setting in its full glory. Suddenly the screen showed big majestic elephants in desert. An old couple was filming them. That couple was together for 35 years spending major chunk of their lives in wilderness.
Suddenly my mind reeled back to all the novels, movies and serials I have seen or read. My brain was busy browsing the so called greatest love stories of all the times. Most of them ended in tragedy. None of the couple were given the chance to test their love in the mundane affairs of boring daily lives, where you grapple with broken water pipes, non functioning fans and its regulators, depositing various bills, extracting superhuman power to keep the house clean, your maid is always on the lookout for some excuse, even if you are sipping tea, your ears are attuned to the motor which is filling the tank. Either single or married, we all face these necessary evils. I wonder what sort of love these so called legendry lovers would have shared if they survived full term of their lives.

Now I was watching the program with totally different angle. This couple, even if they have started out in their twenties, has spent their lifetime in un-treaded terrain. They might not manage candle lit dinners in romantic surroundings, soft music playing on, a waiter hovering discreetly in the background at your beck and call, some exotic smelling incense burning, softly lit surroundings and what not. They might not have a million dollar villa and he might not come home everyday with flowers for the lady and they might not make love by fireplace in drawing room.
But are not they living embodiment of deep love and affection? These rough terrains often bring out the worst in you, when you don’t have the security of a house and modern amenities to soothe your frayed nerves. And this couple is together for thirty five years! How young, healthy, dynamic and contended they look! Without speaking how they converse with eyes even in their fifties. How affectionate their body language was. How attuned they are to each other needs.
I was watching a programme on desert elephants and their lives, but that’s what I got, maybe one of the most beautiful, heartwarming, unsung, unknown love story.

I remember a small girl. Exceptionally bright and naughty. I think in every primary school’s exam they follow the same pattern of sitting arrangement. One junior and one senior on a single bench. That naughty girl was in fifth class. Beside her, another tiny tot of third standard used to sit. The naughty girl often completed the exam of every subject in record time. What did she do with the extra time in hand? During exam there was not much scope for mischief. So she turned her full concentration on the tiny tot, sitting beside her. After solving her own papers, she “helped” the tiny tot.

That girl moved on to senior wing of the same school. The naughty girl had not changed much. One day she was stopped in her tracks by another girl.

“Didi, can you recognize me?”

“I have seen you somewhere. Right now I can not place you.”

“Remember, I was sitting beside you, when I was in third standard.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“You helped me in almost each and every paper.”

“Hummm…”

“Didi, due to that I secured first rank in the class. I never attained even 15th rank before that.”

“Was it really so?”

“Yes. But getting first rank in the class was so invigorating, that I started studying very hard. And I still maintain my rank in each succeeding class.”

That naughty girl and now not so tiny tot had a hearty laugh!

A smile too plays on my lips whenever I remember that naughty girl and her mischief.

I died in the prime of my youth. It was just a road accident. Within one week my soul clamored for a visit to dear earth. I was longing to see my near and dear ones. My spirit drifted to the earth. My mind was taking a trip down memory lane.

I was a star manager. Actually I was awarded as one. I tried to learn all the tricks of trade and applied it successfully. I knew how to harass subordinates, how to detain them after office hours, how to fill them with guilt complex, if they turned up at right time but want to leave at actual departure time. Without the battery of my subordinates around me, how insecure I felt. I made life hell for employees, who didn’t have any work but unaware of the art of looking busy without any business. One employee was particularly irritating, he used to e-mail all and sundry asking if there was anything he could do today, because he was free that particular day. How incompetent I looked in front of everyone due to his behavior? I finally got him chunked out. What a relief it was. That UNDIPLOMATIC workaholic could go to hell as far as I was concerned.

I had set many personal examples of devotedness in front of seniors and juniors. Once my father had slipped in the bathroom, and broken was bone. My mother panicked, tried locating me frantically. Well, it was not a major accident. I sent my car home. Mother could very well understand my position and could manage on her own.

Visit to my office:
I knew I was an indispensable employee. Everything must be in a complete mess within one week without ME! I spotted a new smart girl at my desk. She was fanatically typing something and shooting out instructions to MY juniors. The diplomatic senior manager was patting her about something.

Visit to my home:
My father was dusting my PC. My room was exactly the same, before I died. I used to control office from this PC, whenever I fell sick. Very delicately, he dusted off my keyboard. The only new addition was my photograph beside my PC. Suddenly sitting down, as if for support, he stared at my snap. What was he doing? Breaking down like a child. As if sensing his mood, mother rushed in the room. Now both were hugging and crying together! His ankle was still cast in the plaster. I remember sending the car, when mother told me about his accident.

I was reading in Thelosthighway, how a winner of Nobel Prize in literature in 2001 and his wife were having identity crisis with a kid who might be in the age bracket of his great-grandson. He was visiting IIT-Delhi for some convocation. I remember one more incident, where the same Nobel Laureate was shouting on a lady, terming her illiterate and demanding an apology from her. And SHE DID APOLOGIZE. I was watching Salman Khan hitting journalists at a news channel. Did nobody have the enough courage to deliver him a punch? Just once? Even in self defence. Do we want a portion of them, even if it is humiliating to the core?

Whatever I read in Thelosthighway, didn’t surprise me. But what surprises me is why people put up with such kind of rotten behaviour? Are we becoming too awed with “15 Minutes Fame Theory”? Is this prompts us to bear with absurd behaviour of celebrities? Why not someone talk back to these people? Does interacting with somebody famous for few minutes or rather whole life make you special? Will some of the greatness (rudeness) rub on us? Have we become so insecure that we don’t even think for a while what a high price we are paying for our Fifteen Minutes fame?

What prompt these types of people to misbehave? Have they never read history? What happened to the high and mighty? Not even the Britain and Her Empire: where the sun never sets? What makes these people so insecure? What kick they derive out of humiliating a student who might not even spent ninteen years on this earth or a non descript Professor? What will they achieve? What sort of spurt in creativity will they get?

Since independence, India was neither fortunate enough to have a charismatic leader like Turkey’s Mustafa Kamal Pasha, who could have taken the nation to the path of development single-handedly, nor had we inherited the sound infrastructure, robust economy or institutions from our previous rulers which could have led us to development automatically. We had build our nation brick by brick and had various achievements to our credit such as emergence of professionals, preserving and propagating the institution of democracy, maintaining the freedom of speech and press, retaining the unity & integrity of the country, combating terrorism for decades, conserving by and large the secular characteristics of the society, registering rapid progress in the field of agriculture and defense through research and development. The corridor of India’s major achievements passes through one single passage-educated middle class.

The key to development lies in man’s mind. From here, he conceives ideas, develops institutions, in which his thinking finds an expression and creates opportunities to realize his goals. In India, this responsibility was borne by middle class. Because upper rich class exists in minuscule minority and hence unable to make a mark in national development and population living below poverty line is busy in sustaining itself. So the mantle of nation building had fallen on the middle class.

Emergence of middle class is not a “passive phenomenon” and it does not come out on its own. The grit, determination, stamina and putting the next generation’s needs before its own are some of the factors which make the emergence of this class possible. And today this class is acting as the architect of modern India, providing human capital not only to India but to many countries of world , working as watchdogs to preserve the highest institutions of the country, attracting global players to use India as a hub, pumping money in the economy, and adjusting well to the shifts, be it cultural, economic, technical or social. Since independence, India’s major achievement is the rise of world’s largest single middle class, on which rests the other achievements of our country.