Yaksha-Prashna

A first time contributor to Chowk - the author ...

and I hope not the last either - lack of interaction notwithstanding. A wonderful take on rearing children. Recommended it to my friend who has a 3-year old monkey that she is not alone and to another who is planning...

Excellent!! Please keep writing.

SSS #8:

I teach elementary school goers but I feel the pre-school stage is the most demanding and difficult, and maybe the most important, stage in a child`s development. I have a great deal of respect for those who have the patience and stamina to be involved in educating children at this stage - both parents and teachers (but especially teachers, taking into consideration the fact that they are dealing with children who are not their own).

It`s nice to know you realise your wife`s sacrifices and appreciate her efforts.

- Lubna

SSS #8:

Ah! Maroon, pseudo-leather bound, thick, in small newsprint type, voluminous Wren and Martin :)

What memories are rekindled. Wonder if it is still used in schools?

You have a certain style [..... spent in non English-speaking countries including the US.]

Spell check and grammatical structure lends credence to form only. You have displayed talent content-wise as well. As I said earlier please keep writing.

And don’t be daunted by lack of interactions. A lot more people enjoy these articles than interact. I know a writer who lost sleep over a certain creative effort and did not get one response! And look at the fate of two recent fine contributions:

Is the Language of New Fiction Androgynous? 6
-- Harish Nambiar

At Your Table: Gluttony 12
-- jawahara saidullah

-----shrug---- high volume interacts are triggered by certain key words -- K, I, P, M, H -- and I am not sure if those with the knee-jerk reactions there actually read the article with as much attention as the ones I mentioned here.

regards,

temporal

This one brought a smile to my face. Very nicely done! And, welcome to chowk, SSS. Hope to see more from you.

SSS

Thanks for your article. Hope to hear more about bringing up a bright and enquiring child within reach of uncontrollable external influences:-).

Regarding the number of responses, I think a lot more people read, absorb and ponder over an article than actually reply on the interacts(as you may have done, too).

Hope to see more of your writing,

Sadhana

I have been a regular visitor to Chowk for some time, and enjoy the articles, stories, poems and the correspondence on the boards. My sincere thanks to the Chowk Editors for publishing this little “piece”, to borrow a Bertie Wooster phrase.

The corporate publication where this story was first published was seeking contributions from the employee community, calling it their opportunity to brag about their kids, “in eight or ten lines”.

Being a loyal first time parent, I refused to participate, and missed all deadlines.

“Why didn’t you write?” they asked.

“Eight or ten lines would never do justice to the amount of bragging I need to do”, I explained to the editors. So they allowed me to write a few more lines.

Anamika (#1)

You are absolutely right. It was indeed Dr. Jayant Narlikar. But I hope you will agree that both he, and the episode he is featured in, is only incidental to the theme that was presented.

I thought I was trying to make fun of this tendency of us parents to expect a world of achievements from our infant kids. We do not seem to appreciate the hazards of dumping the burden of our overt and subliminal expectations on those tiny shoulders. Then we go and try to find deeper meanings into the smallest happenstance, and look silly in the process.

As to your (somewhat cynical?) query about how things turned out, all I will say is so far so good, and that I still remain the loyal father I was years ago.

Temporal (#2)

I knew I had to use the spell check feature to pass your scrutiny, but was not sure if the influence of Wren and Martin that was literally hammered in during my childhood had survived the years spent in non English-speaking countries including the US. But seriously, your encouragement does mean a lot, and I do appreciate your kind words.

Ashim Banerjee (#3) and Lubna (#4)

It was very nice to read your kind comments. It sure goes a long way to make up for the small number of responses.

Ashim, I suppose you are the same Ashim Banerjee who has written so much for Chowk. I hope to go back and read all your articles – my way of saying Thank You.

Lubna, just to help us become better parents, my wife gave up a promising media career in favor of pre-school education. I am all admiration for the wisdom she brings to our home, and am deeply grateful for the many sacrifices she made for our family. Thought you would like to know, being a teacher yourself.

According to Hindu mythology, the Yakshas are celestial beings bestowed with magical powers. They make occasional visits to the Earth, but jealously guard their privacy and prefer to avoid contact with the mortal beings. Humans, who run into the Yakshas by chance, do so at their own peril, for the Yakshas can be temperamental. These chance encounters may lead to something fortunate, or something unpleasant if not altogether terrible, for the humans – often depending upon the latter’s ability to provide “satisfactory” responses to the riddles posed by the Yaksha. Correct responses to the riddles usually involve a logic or wisdom that is typically beyond the reach of most human beings. The phrase “Yaksha-Prashna” literally means questions or riddles posed by a Yaksha, and in the Indian literature, refer to exasperating or insurmountable challenges.

There is a general Hindu belief that sees God’s presence in little children. In that context, the child in the story may well be a Yaksha posing difficult questions to the helpless father, who must keep his fingers crossed as he tries to face one situation at a time.

But at another, more general level, the title of the story perhaps refers to the challenges which parents must face, as they try to raise their children in the “best” possible manner.

Who can say that there is a right or wrong way to go about it? How many theories have been put forth to define that “best” manner? How many have been discarded? Can there be a “one size fits all” approach to bringing up children? Can today’s best approach apply to tomorrow as well?

Who, indeed, can dare to answer the Yaksha-Prashna?

I am sorry to barge in like this, but Musharraf is in New York staying at the Roosevelt hotel. While he is here it is time to send him a message.

I am prepared to organize a protest against the infamous, immoral, discriminatory, and unIslamic Blasphemy law of Pakistan. As it is Applied, it is nothing more than a political insturment used for the harrassment of minorities.

One Military dictator introduced it as law, another should get rid of it.

I urge all likeminded people who live in the N.Y area to join with me within the next 48 hours. I have already spoken up against the Blasphemy law in Dawn: Letters to the Editor in the past, now its time to take action.

Please e-mail me immediately to join a coordinated protest. The moment is ripe to send a msg, while the eyes of the press are focused on New York & the U.N Millenium summit. The more people that participate, the better. If necessary, i will do it alone. I will respond immediately to all e-mails received with details.

Feel free to copy this msg, & fwd to anyone else in the N.Y area who might be interested, or repost on the web immediately.

OMAR MIRZA

knotyourcupoftea@aol.com

to satywadi

See I am pissed off right now because you have had the nerve to pass on a judgement about my family which has documented its family History for centuries... Ali Wali Hamdani, was from the Iranian city of Hamdan and he came to Kashmir to spread Islam ...His shrine was burnt down a few years ago by the Indian Army ...

Listen, whereas there might be people amongst Indian Muslims who claim to be what they are not .. you cannot expect me to deny my family history just to conform to your views. If I had completely local blood I would tell you ... to me there is no race more noble than the Pakistani race ... but the truth is that I do have authentic Arab and Persian heritage ... not necessarily something to be proud or ashamed of..

and believe me its not how your family has its Arab or Persian heritage.

And Chowk people please PUBLISH this .

SSS:

“Do you know what it means, Dad?”

I thought it was bad enough for us teachers to be burdened with such questions, it must be worse to be a parent put on the spot by their own child.

At least we as teachers have the option of directing the kids and their questions to their parents... :)

Thank you for sharing this with us. Really enjoyed it. Hope to read more from you in the future.

-Lubna

SSS:

Welcome to Chowk.

Enjoyed your restrained writing. Hope to see more of your efforts here.

regards,

temporal

Narlikar?

Your co-passenger would have approved of what? Revising/reviewing/rewriting text books on astrophysics?

Is your son the one I read about the other day - got his PhD at 17 and is a tenured professor at MIT at age 21? ;)