Lord Ganesh, her brother, had been observing her from a distance. Suddenly, he came up to her – in his hand he held a fountain pen and a bottle of ink. He placed them carefully beside Saraswati.
‘What is this you have brought?’ she asked.
‘Just some interesting items I picked up from the old book shelf,’ Ganesh replied. ‘I suddenly remembered the good old days when there were ink tablets. You dissolved them in water to get the ink which you filled up in the fountain pens.’
‘Yes,’ Sarsawati sighed. ‘And the pens were of two types. One in which the top could be screwed out to fill the ink. Once filled you screw back the top.’
‘The other was the press and fill type,’ Ganesh added. ‘It was less messy. Of course, you would get ink stains on your fingers and your shirt pocket.’
‘Yes. Those have gone out of fashion, the age of gel pens is in.’
‘Is that why the board toppers have toppled?’ Ganesh asked.
‘It’s a result of modern day education system’ Saraswati said. ‘Today it’s all about mugging.’
‘Mugging? That involves violence, doesn’t it?’
‘Not that mugging silly,’ Saraswati smiled. ‘This is mugging off by heart answers to all sorts of questions in every subject.’
‘But is that possible?’
‘Well – in some subjects, that could be possible. But – not in subjects where analysis is required like in mathematics. Still, students score full marks in so many subjects, including maths. Does it not sound fishy?’
Ganesh smiled.
‘Credit for that should go to coaching classes,’ he said. ‘Education is now a big business racket. I should know. Teachers join up and open coaching classes. They create links with people who matter, get the question papers in advance by paying money and sell them to the students to recover their investments. It is a flourishing business.’
‘And that is the reason of why toppers have toppled,’ Saraswati said. ‘It seems one TV channel interviewed the toppers and the cat came out of the bag. Just imagine – one topper did not know the difference between politics and cookery. When the TV host asked her a question on politics, she replied that she does not know cooking.’ (to be continued …)
Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org
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