Only for cows

My hundreds of boys and girls never cease to amaze me. I was threatening them with dire consequences if they didn't study hard enough, saying I'd seek their parents' permission to keep them in my house and entirely under my supervision for a month or two, and send them back vastly improved. And I said I'd look after everything, from diet to potty habits to exercise to following strict work routines. When they expressed curiosity about the diet, I mentioned that among other things, they would have to eat a lot of fresh green vegetables. To which someone muttered 'amra goru naa ki' (are we cows or what)?

What does that say about their parents' ideas regarding matters of nutrition? Remember, too, that all these parents are highly educated...

12.12.12, December 21st and all that

A news item in one of the several Sunday papers I read informed me on the 9^th that there’s an ongoing craze worldwide for doing something special on 12.12.12  (and most particularly at 12:12 hours on that ‘special’ day) – that is to say, tomorrow – eating at a fancy joint, buying a car or a house, or even having a baby! The simple reason being that such a triple-barrelled date is never going to come again anytime this century.

As though it makes the slightest difference to anything at all. The world is being swamped by people as bored as they are mindless, and dying all the time for some new sensation – anything at all would do, the stupider the better…

And of course, the faint possibility that, courtesy medieval Mayan astronomers, the world just might end on the 21^st is apparently lending the whole thrill a very special edge. Even the Australian prime minister has been publicly spoofing about it. Heaven help us.

Dumb rich kid

Read this story, then just look at the face in the photograph. 

What sort of people can 'admire' a creature like this simply because he was lucky enough to get rich for a while?