To KV or not to KV...

To KV or not to KV

Its that time of the year again where parents become a bunch of hysterical toads waiting to stick their tongues out at the slightest occurence of any thing that resembles a bug... so what if it happens to be even droppings of a clueless migrating pelican! With parents having sleepless nights over the thought of missing out on sudden announcement of "Admissions open" followed by the afterthought of keeping stuff ready for camping the night out in the queue that would put even the devotees of Siddhivinayak to shame, its the time when every parent who has an offspring going into a milestone year of schooling(typically LKG, Std I or any change of school involved) CANT 'keep calm'! Its the time where Porters five forces come into full force with the schools clearly taking the Bargaining power over the toads waiting to send their tadpoles to a holy abode of enlightenment... The time where 'the nation wants to know' when, where, what time are schools going to open their doors for Admission Forms and most of the newspapers/channels are all waiting in anticipation to cover the action!

Thereby stands the moment of truth... to KV or not to KV

    I remember the first day of class 9 in a new school.. the kind of school where you roll everything up... from your 'R's to your skirts (a la Kendell Jenner), to a 'joint'... The school where the Karan Johars of Bollywood probably derive their inspiration from... the school where more money was probably spent on sending students to school in chauffeur-driven sedans than it wouldve take to educate an entire village... where every student is 'Jaanta hai mera Baap kaun hai!". This was the first and the only change of school I ever had in my entire schooling life.
    Imagine the plight of a 14 year old who was in a super committed relationship with her modest middle class SSC school, ever since she could spell S-C-H-O-O-L and somewhere between sprouting her first pimple to visiting the first ever 'Convinience' store was subjected to this Posh ICSE 'St Xaviers'ish kind of Institution! It felt like a lost 'Monisha' amongst the 'Sarabhais'... like clueless Kanta in a Strip club!
    I have embarassing memories of pronouncing Police as "po-lees"(the way it is done in marathi) and my humble 'kinetic Honda' as a "scooter" instead of 'A Bike', where I had my friends snigger and snarl across the bench. Where 'dildo' for me was like some Cartoon Strip in the newspaper I had missed. Where I was made fun off for literally browsing through the dictionary, trying to make some sense of four letter words scribbled on the pillars in the  morning assembly... which I was blissfully unaware of! But these two years taught me things I wouldnt have ever, had I continued with my 'faithful' ex-vidhyalay in Thane.
  I  learnt to play Basket ball, throwball, tennis and unleashed my love for Sports. It made me a better Team player. I got bullied and I learnt to give it back... on the face! I learnt ways to be polished and 'Khool' like the Girls I admired back then. 
    Two years and I was back to my comfort city... this time college life awaited! It was then that realisation dawned.. that our curricula has more futile subjects than a Bollywood film has songs! What really mattered in the real world was how well you tackled 'Pandus' and how efficiently I navigated an Indian Queue which is anything but a straight line... That knowing 'main kaun hoon' is more zaroori than 'ones baap' and speaking from your epiglottis doesnt make one 'Khool'! That what the crisp, formal uniforms and the 'Cool' polished schooling did was anything, but to prepare me for a real-life dealing with bureaucracy.

This is where my 'loyal' Vidhyalay came to the rescue! The Shakespheren literature in the ICSE school was a great lesson in diction and admittedly nice to hear but left me helpless when I got accosted by a traffic cop. Here "kaay kaka... Mazha Chukla", was the password which came to my rescue and mind you.. the Portias, Antonios and Bassanios were not taketh or breaketh nowhere.
   Once out in the real world, using words with more than three syllables only makes you the punchline of a Shashi Tharoor-themed joke or it may probably help you crack some Product Sales.
    It’s been 19 years since I left school and any wild notions I had about my fancy education giving me an advantage in my adult life, have been eroded into nothingness by the passage of time. That set me thinking of the kind of school, I wanted my daughter to grow up in. After all.. peers are what matter the most in growing up years...

  I wonder if a school, where the class had a healthy mix of students coming from diverse backgrounds and ideologies irrespective of the 'class' or 'status' they came from, made for a better choice as compared to a school where teachers peddle stuff like “global methods” and “an international outlook” and have facilities for 'Horse-riding' and after school activities.. the one which is attended by the children of the 'known and reputed'... the dilemma between the humble "Kendriya Vidhyalaya" or an "International School". One schools you on life and the other schools you on 'the good things in life'. Multi cuisine Buffet or the modest Thali...

How about a Rajdhani Thali!

... A school where students autonomously educate themselves as they pass through the classes, where stress is laid  not only on education but also on sports, a balanced curriculum leaving them free to pick up tips and techniques for survival instead of aceing an exam. A school that teaches students that his/her opinions matter but it is important to know what makes the other student have a different opinion. A school which makes her a Team Player, yet teaches her to value her own identity. A school which teaches her to be grateful for what she has and to respect what others don't. A school which not only makes her a good human being but also street smart.. is that too much to ask for?

   Well.. lets just safely hope for a school which makes our tadpoles grow up into wiser toads who hopefully will not need to stick out their tongues haplessly in future and will learn to co-exist in the same pond confident in their own skin!