Hair styling by Tony & Guy Jade Jagger in Mumbai on Saturday It is truly sad and shocking to hear about students killingthemselves for fear of not performing in their exams. A suicide notethat read, "I hope my ghost haunts my teacher," shows, the state ofdesperation, anger and depression that haunts a young mind. I oftenthink (being involved in my own child's exams) that they still have thesame syllabus I studied, then why so much pressure? Then I look around,and see what we offer our children today, what we did not have in ourtime.
To start with, they have a hundred-odd TV channels, asagainst the one and only Doordarshan that we had the luxury of seeing.Even that started only in the evening. We could see movies only in thetheatre, maybe twice a month. Today children have the access to fivemovies a day, they can see that many if they choose to. Even children'scartoons or movies have enough innuendos to make a modest adult blush.The media today is a huge influence on our children, and there isenough in there to twist their minds any which way. Our children areindulged lavishly. They are taken on vacations at least twice a year.This is not only in keeping with the idea of family bounding, but alsoto absolve parents of their guilt of not spending enough time with themotherwise. Mixed (girls and boys) parties are considerednormal, and if questioned, one gets a 'chill mom', retort. I could noteven dare to ask sometimes. Most of our children have cars to theirdisposal, with drivers. The party culture has swept into the lives andchanged attitudes of even the most conservative households. Parentinghas taken on a completely new meaning. Discipline is now about lettingchildren know the good from the bad, the moral from the immoral, andthat's it. There's no enforcing it on them. Good upbringing is torepeatedly reminding them: I, as a parent would like to enforcediscipline with an iron rod, but instead use kind words for fear ofbeing distanced from you. 'Don't put pressure on your children…' is thenew motto. So, a lot has changed. Then, why oh why, does theeducation system too, not change? I, for the longest time, thought theeducation methods should remain stoic. We did it, we gave exams too, socan they. However, unfortunately that rule cannot apply. The system ofeducation needs to change with times. I stand for higher education anddiscipline, but 'mugging' unnecessary information today, is futile. Theconcept of high-paid tutors is ridiculous, and must stop. Schoolinstitutions should acknowledge this as a preposterous form ofcoaching, and discourage it. Even we parents should realise theimportance of scheduling a routine, and not copping out and handingover our children to paid tutors (slave drivers). The only wayto get into a good college is an astronomical 92 per cent, otherwisethe child is of no good. What an absurd percentage! What about thechild whose creativity lies elsewhere? This poor soul has to resort toa third class college, be looked upon as a useless person, even thoughhe or she maybe truly a star in some unconventional field. Ourexpectations as parents have to be moulded differently, so also theeducational institution's expectations. We should wake up to thisgrowing tragedy and change with the times, or then, do the impossible,and turn the clock back. What's hot, what's not Theother night I was asked to judge a hair contest. I was seated next toTony Mascolo of Tony & Guy, fame. He kept throwing up perspectivesabout character, personality etc of a woman with every new hairstyle.The first part of the show was judging the finest amongst the Indiansalons, and the second was a display of hairstyles, created by artists,flown in from Tony & Guy. On seeing the first part Tony shook hishead and remarked, "The Indian salons here are only five out of tencompared to our junior team. They need plenty of refining." Looking atthe styles we certainly have a long way to go, but we're surely gettingthere, I thought. The man, who is the third generation in thisbusiness, declares that the shoulder-length hair, lightly layered, inhues of fruit, is 'in vogue'. His organic shampoo and conditioner area sure winner, he said. The Terence Hill group performed in between thescenes. Their dance performance was good, no doubt, however theircostumes were ancient, and dancing to Madonna's Vogue is definitely notanymore in vogue! I met the lovely Jade Jagger. She is hereto organise a party for Belvedere Vodka. She is hosting a string ofparties worldwide, and is especially exited about Mumbai. Jade is goingto be in our part of the world for a couple of weeks. Group Moderator for [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Connect your World with Us join Now - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dimpill_gang/join Affiliated group from dimpill_gang for Only Adult Mails - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fantazies/join Affiliated group from dimpill_gang for Only Health and Food Mails - http://groups..yahoo.com/group/Health_and_Gourmet/join 5, 50, 500, 5000 - Store N number of mails in your inbox. Go to http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html
