World Book Day

Last Saturday (April 23) I had a visitor. She was selling educational books on the occasion of the World Book Day. It was an encouraging thought. But I was surprised at the girl’s behavior. She first pointed out the importance of reading books for children. I informed her that being a book fan myself, I had always encouraged my daughter to read books. My daughter’s tiny library adorns her room. She has always collected books through out the years. It comprises of picture books to those written by Enid Blyton. The girl insisted that I look through some of her books. As I had already gone through the collections recently when I visited Landmark Book Shop, I refused. She became sarcastic. She pointed out that we would visit shops like Landmark but would ignore books from her.

This whole behavior surprised me. The whole point of World Book Day is to celebrate book reading. Although I understood that the girl must have been working hard in the sun, I felt her behavior was inexcusable. She contradicted the whole objective of World Book Day.

Incidentally, World Book Day was designated by UNESCO as a celebration of books and reading. It originated in Catalonia, where it was the custom to gift books on St. George’s Day.

Book Juggling

I sometimes do this: juggle between two books. It is not that I find one book uninteresting. An article in ‘Good Housekeeping’ stated that we choose our books depending upon our mental state. So if you are a person in love, you might tend to read love stories. But then again, you might avoid book reading altogether. You might be too busy thinking of your emotions! If you were in depression, books that have a more serious tone would be your choice.

But still there comes a time, when you feel that all this reading is not enough. You then try a non-fiction. But unless you are really interested in the subject, it is not a book to stay awake in the night. So you switch to some classics. Sometimes people become impatient with one book when they encounter a dry phase. So instead of slogging though to the end, they end up picking up another book. It goes on….

So guys, to avoid this, choose a book that is going to match the mood you are in. I assure you, that you will read it through.

Talking of juggling, do you know, that the oldest depiction of juggling was found in Benzi-Hassan tombs of the Egyptian Civilization.

Traffic Chaos

One of the things that has frustrated me recently in Chennai is the absence of Traffic Inspectors in Crossings. I encounter this every morning near the Nandanam Housing Board Bus Stop. Although I have seen him there once in a while. One day he seemed to be lounging on a nearby wall while the pedestrians struggled to cross the road. This results in total chaos among the road users. But then again much needs to be said about the undisciplined road users. Educated or not, these people take the law into their hands.
The share-autos from Central, Paris or Doveton speeds past us at an alarming rate. Questioned these drivers tell us it increases the number of rounds. One driver politely pointed out to me when asked to go slow, that we are the same people who ask him to rush up in the mornings. The enforcement of traffic rules varies from place to place. While spot fines are collected from pedestrians who cross the road near Central, other places are neglected. Its high time the traffic department made serious effort to control the traffic at least during the peak hours.

Anyway, do you know that the world’s first traffic light was installed even before automobiles was in use? It was at an intersection in London in 1868. It involved a lantern with red and green signals illuminated by gas. It was turned with a lever. Unfortunately on January 2, 1869, it exploded killing the policeman operating it.

Boon for Instructional Designers

Since my colleagues and me have been delving our minds with various theories of instructional designing, I thought that may be some software is available to make our designing easier. Wonders of all wonders, I found one.

It is called ‘Designer’s Edge’ developed by Menturgy. It helps technical writers to follow all the principles of Instructional Designing. It has various wizards and training cards, which helps writers through the process of creating course maps and storyboards. It helps the designing students through the various steps of analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation.

Highly useful when creating a CBT, online training, or lesson plans for classroom training.

An Untold Secret

I have always wanted to read a Booker Prize Winner book. Especially when our own Arundhati Roy won the award for ‘The God of Small Things’ in 1997. Recently I read a book by Bernice Rubens, who incidentally is a Booker Prize Awardee for the book ‘The Elected Member’ in 1970. Although I was not able to get that book, I was amazed at the simple fluent language that was used. There was no euphemism or flowery language anywhere in the book. The book is called ‘Yesterday in the Back Lane’. It speaks of a young teenage girl, of a middle class family, who kills a man who had interfered with her. It seems that was the phrase used in those days. Being the only daughter of simple-minded folks, she hides it. Even when a wrong man is accused of the crime and hanged, she keeps mum. But the crux of the story is how she suffers in silence. Her nose starts bleeding whenever she encounters anything related to that incident. She punishes herself completely. She remains unmarried, fearing that marriage would bring her happiness and lives to satisfy her parents. But in the end her mother rejects her. She hopes for salvation one day.

The ‘Man Booker Prize’ is a dream for all fiction writers. Their long, lonely hard work is finally recognised. The celebrated publisher Tom Maschler of Jonathan Cape set it up in 1968. It was then called Booker Brothers. It now has two related prizes, The Booker Russian Novel Prize and The Caine Prize for African Writing.

Survival

I am just in the process of finishing a book by Patricia Shaw. Titled
‘Where the Willows Weep’, it gives a very realistic idea of the state of Aborigines, living in Queensland. Fighting against the so-called white skinned people, these people face a tough battle for survival. They consist of so many different groups, speaking various dialects. They are also great believers of magic. According to the story, one of the Chief has the power to kill an intruder by just placing a certain bone on him. The man eventually dies a week later. It is also said that an aborigine woman once pointed a bone at Prime Minister, John Howard. Well he is still hale and healthy. It is all superstition and beliefs of a particular group of people.

My brother, who resides in Sydney, has often remarked that these people look very similar to Tamilians. It is not surprising as they originally came from Asia about 40,000 years ago. Aborigines follow totemism, which is a science of using an animal, plant or a natural object as an emblem of their family or clans. Their conditions have improved a lot but I also hear that they keep to themselves and don’t mingle with the settlers. They must have felt a lot of deception, when they were cheated out of their own lands and treated as animals. It would definitely take many more generations for them to understand the ever-transient human behaviour.

First Tread

Feels strange starting my first blog. Until recently, I had not thought about it. Recording one's personal experiences or events in a diary is not my cup of tea. Maybe I am not too introversive. I have heard people say that jotting everything in a paper puts you in the right perspective. But for me thinking does that. This does not mean that I do not like to write. Writing has been my favourite pastime from my childhood days. My teen years were spent writing poetry. I loved to write long, lengthy, informative letters to my friends. Also I am an avid reader. I love reading about anything. So I thought I will use my blogs to convey some interesting information.

How and when writing began is unknown. But historians place it around 6000 BC. This made me think of the number of languages in the world. Clicking through the web, I came across the information that there are around 4000 to 6000 languages in the world. The number comes as a surprise. On further reference, I understood that most of these languages are related. We always think of India as a country of many languages. But the African Continent heads the list with 1900 languages. India has around 380 languages. But it is sad to note that some languages are facing extinction. This is because of the inadequate support from the respective country. Some like the Indian language of Konkani do not have a regular script. UNESCO quotes in its 'Atlas of World Languages in Danger of Disappearing' that half of the 6000 languages spoken are in danger of disappearing. It is a sad fact. But lets be optimistic. I also read that International Mother Language Day, celebrated annually on February 21, aims to promote the recognition and practice of the world’s mother tongues. So for all those language fans, it is a happy thought.