Violence over bad road

Yesterday's incident on Kanakapura Road in South East Bangalore where a protest by residents over bad state of roads is a pointer to how things can deteriorate. People were fed up with lack of any improvement in the state of roads and angry that politicians' promises of betterment have remained just that.

 

Ironically, it happened on the very day Bill Gates was in the city expounding the immense potential of Information Technology, and our shameless Dharam Singh and Deve Gowda pleading with Gates for more help in improving the rural sector. (What is Singh and Gowda doing with all the help that is already coming in, not just from Gates but many others too?)

Working vs non-working parents

Yesterday I happened to watch on TV an all-woman discussion programme. I missed the initial part, but the topic seemed to be "Difficulties of Bringing up Children".

 

I heard one woman say: "When mothers work, the children are deprived of love. Often the father is always in the office. Imagine if the mother is also always in her office! The role the mother plays for her child is unique and she fails in that if she works. Children are definitely at a disadvantage when their mothers work...."

 

There was near unanimity among the 15 or so women in the group, since there was no counterargument; except from one.

 

This is what she said: "Even if both parents work, they can definitely find time to be with their children. Cases of fathers almost always missing from home because of work are exceptions rather than the rule. In most cases working parents are able to make some arrangement by which children are looked after well...

 

"... What is important is not the amount of time but the quality of time that is spent with kids. If children of working parents are cared for in the proper manner, then such kids, turn out to be far more independent, mature, and better developed in an all-round sense, than kids who are constantly propped up by parents, especially by their mothers."

 

This lady also countered the earlier speaker saying the role of not just the mother is unique, but that of the father too is unique. A perpetually missing father is as bad as a perpetually missing mother, she said. A very crucial point often underestimated, well stated by that woman.

 

Sadly the importance of what this lady said was completely lost in a very poorly compered programme, and among the majority of women who didn't seem to have a full understanding of what parenting is all about.

 

Let me add a couple of points. It's often considered that money is the one criterion which drives mothers in India to work. A rich man's wife would rather prefer to be at home. It could be true. But to say that, is totally unfair and insulting. Not just mothers, even fathers shouldn't just be working for money. There's a world which no amount of money can buy.

 

Leave aside money. Mothers work also to keep their intellect alive and occupied. A working woman is often much better acquainted with the ways of the world than a mother who doesn't know what it means to commute to office and back, and work under a Boss.

 

Also, working parents, who fruitfully manage their time and resources are a source of inspiration for their children.

 

A good set of parents are able to mutually come to an understanding on how they can divide their working and home hours among themselves and with their children. This is not some sort of Utopian situation; but I know a parents who are able to strike this magic balance quite well. And, it shows in them and their children.

Science demystified

I am back after a break. But, meanwhile, I have been reading this fascinating non-fiction: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. The book was kindly lent to me by my friend: Shripriya.

 

The introduction to the book begins thus:

Welcome. And congratulations. I am delighted that you could make it. Getting here wasn't easy. I know. In fact, I suspect it was a little tougher than you realise.

And, he explains why I need to be congratulated.

... for you to be here now, trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to assemble in an intricate and curiously obliging manner to create you. It's an arrangement so specialised and particular that it has never been tried before... For the next many years... these tiny particles will uncomplainingly engage in all the billions of deft, cooperative efforts necessary to keep you intact and let you experience the supremely agreeable but generally under appreciated state known as existence.

Bryson demystifies the world around us -- from our immediate surroundings at home or office, to the distant cosmos. But to enjoy the book, you need to have at least a passing interest in science.

 

One thing Bryson helped me discover was...

... atoms are fickle and their time of devotion is fleeting -- fleeting indeed. Even a long human life adds up to only about 650,000 hours.

This 6 and a half lakh hours, is equal to what is considered around "75 long years"!

 

The book has a number of interesting information about well-known scientists of yesteryear. Besides Newton and Einstein, references to names like: Michelson, Morely, Dalton, Doppler, Hubble, Rutherford, J J Thomson, Heisenberg, Mendeleyev, Kelvin etc took my memories back to school and college (B Sc Chemistry) days.

 

One reference to Max Planck was very touching:

Planck was often unlucky in life. His beloved first wife died early in 1909 and the younger of his two sons was killed in the First World War. He also had twin daughters whom he adored. One died giving birth. The surviving twin went on to look after the baby and fell in love with her sister's husband. They married and two years later she died in childbirth. In 1944, when Planck was 85, an Allied bomb fell on his house and he lost everything -- papers, diaries, a lifetime of accumulations. The following year his surviving son was caught in a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler and executed.

There are other interesting references. Newton often couldn't get up from the cot, because, after waking up, he used to be struck by a wave of ideas; and he used to just sit there weighed down by these thoughts!

 

John Scott, father of J B S Haldane, was famous for his absent-mindedness. Once his wife sent him upstairs to change for a dinner party. But, he failed to return. And, he was found asleep on his bed. On being woken up, he said, he found himself disrobing and assumed it was bedtime!

 

Truly interesting book.