The day our past colonial masters went busy pondering over their historical in/out choices, our fifth grader came home happy. After past years' unsuccessful attempts her piece has finally made it to the school magazine. Unlike the Britons we, Indians, are extremely fond of turning every political debate into high-decibel media melodramas played out in the ugliest possible fashion without ever going anywhere near any logical conclusion. No surprise then that a ten year old picked up a political incident to base her essay on.
It was January when submissions for the school magazine were due and the case for certain traffic regulations in the national capital was hogging all the media space in the country. I suppose most of the proffered logic (for or against) went far above the young one's head. And as children typically do, when confronted with long-winded (and usually pointless) adult logic, my daughter too found this entire debate rather funny.
My only reason for posting her magazine piece here is a hope that perhaps the next generation of citizens would retain their sense of humour. A hope that they would be able to laugh at the absurdities of life and political drama instead of getting drawn into the murky depths of their unsavoury hidden agenda.
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It was January when submissions for the school magazine were due and the case for certain traffic regulations in the national capital was hogging all the media space in the country. I suppose most of the proffered logic (for or against) went far above the young one's head. And as children typically do, when confronted with long-winded (and usually pointless) adult logic, my daughter too found this entire debate rather funny.
My only reason for posting her magazine piece here is a hope that perhaps the next generation of citizens would retain their sense of humour. A hope that they would be able to laugh at the absurdities of life and political drama instead of getting drawn into the murky depths of their unsavoury hidden agenda.
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In the land of 'odd-even'..
As you all know, Delhi has recently introduced an odd-even rule. But it is only for cars. I wonder what would happen if such rules were there for other things. For example, cellphones. Then only cellphones with odd numbers could be used on an odd day and the other way around. So many important calls could not be made (or so many unnecessary calls need not be made)! So many things could go wrong! That would be quite horrid. How about making this rule for postal pin-codes? All the places like shops, schools, restaurants etc. in an odd-numbered pin-code area would be closed on an even day and vice-versa. That would be quite confusing.
Suppose we had this odd-even rule in our school. On an odd day only children with odd roll numbers would come to school. On an even day only even roll numbered children would come. If we had some program in school happening on an odd day and the children with even roll numbers are taking part in it then they would not be allowed to come. And if an odd roll numbered person had his/her birthday on an even day then he/she could not come to school and celebrate with his/her school friends and teachers. Imagine that! Not being able to celebrate your birthday at school. Or how about making the rules for roll numbers in school exams? The children with odd roll numbers would have the exam on odd days and even roll numbers would have their exams on even days. Even better, on even days only even numbered classes II, IV, VI etc. and on odd days only classes like I, III, V would attend school. Wouldn't that be fun? These are only the things I have thought about. Maybe you can add more to this list. I wonder what sort of odd-even rules people will think of next.
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As you all know, Delhi has recently introduced an odd-even rule. But it is only for cars. I wonder what would happen if such rules were there for other things. For example, cellphones. Then only cellphones with odd numbers could be used on an odd day and the other way around. So many important calls could not be made (or so many unnecessary calls need not be made)! So many things could go wrong! That would be quite horrid. How about making this rule for postal pin-codes? All the places like shops, schools, restaurants etc. in an odd-numbered pin-code area would be closed on an even day and vice-versa. That would be quite confusing.Suppose we had this odd-even rule in our school. On an odd day only children with odd roll numbers would come to school. On an even day only even roll numbered children would come. If we had some program in school happening on an odd day and the children with even roll numbers are taking part in it then they would not be allowed to come. And if an odd roll numbered person had his/her birthday on an even day then he/she could not come to school and celebrate with his/her school friends and teachers. Imagine that! Not being able to celebrate your birthday at school. Or how about making the rules for roll numbers in school exams? The children with odd roll numbers would have the exam on odd days and even roll numbers would have their exams on even days. Even better, on even days only even numbered classes II, IV, VI etc. and on odd days only classes like I, III, V would attend school. Wouldn't that be fun? These are only the things I have thought about. Maybe you can add more to this list. I wonder what sort of odd-even rules people will think of next.
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