Friday 26 February 2021

When Education Begins to Resemble a Happy Meal

 My piece got published today The Friday Times. See When Education Begins to Resemble a Happy Meal

I'll quote the first paragraph here: 

Interacting with my 8-year-old daughter’s English-medium school sometimes feels like I’m dealing with McDonalds. There is a cheerful and eager-to-please attitude. What’s more, “feedback” is welcome and the goal is to “satisfy parents”. Messages on group chats for parents and teachers are dotted with smiley faces. If you ask them why little kids have so much homework to do, you are told, it is a “market demand.” The corporate language is jarring but anyone feigning shock at the commodification of education has been asleep for the past 40 years. These bouncy and cheerful school franchises are dotted all over our cities, especially residential neighbourhoods, because the education business can literally be started from home. These schools have colourful English names because any quality business has to have an angrezi name. And, some of them are very efficient and, smoothly rolled out online schooling during the Pandemic, including my daughter’s school.



Thursday 25 February 2021

And the clouds finally burst

You may talk walk with us this evening. I managed to capture the beautiful electric blue, dark, looming, rain-filled clouds against the rolling Margalla Hills this evening. 

What a delight rain is. When the clouds speak to the earth.  

Kavita is obsessed with going to the Park now, because she has mastered a lot at the playground. She also made a couple of friends, including a classmate she bumped into last time. So, it was a lot of insistence, planning, tears, fears of cancellation because I'm always doing something and promising and then breaking my promise, and, it was raining so it was quite a sense of successes to finally make it to the Park today. 

Kavita enjoyed herself. I just loved the sky and the colours and beautiful promise of a rainy night. 






































After our glorious evening with majestic rain clouds on show (which didn't burst with rain until we 
got home), I had a terrific row with Kavita which means that she really got an angry lecture,
smack and stare from me. In the middle of this road ("this isn't the middle of the road, Ami"), Kavita started yelling that something like a "steel nail" had somehow gotten into her boots. She wanted 
to stop there, with Pakistani cars rushing by, in a mostly dark residential street. I told her not here but of 
course, she didn't wait. "Don't stop in the middle of the road again, Kavita" I sternly said. We stopped a
little bit later and it turned out it was a leaf. Later, after I cooled down, I tried to talk about it
and, she said she was freaked out because she thought it was a snail. She was very sullen and angry at me and "didn't want to talk about it. " 




We got a cold coffee and cheesecake after our walk. No more heaters in these outdoor cafes. 
Winter is literally over. 
And, I love how waiters at these posh coffeeshops have an additional duty: to shoo away 
beggars, poor beggar kids. 


I've purchased a grilled chicken from here before. I don't know why meat has to be so dried out
when they are roasting/grilling it. 


And, then we grabbed some burgers from our favourite TBC. You can see Saeed Book Bank's 
lit shop sign reflect on our table. Here, I met a Khawaja Sira who explained why she begs for money. 
Then 2 boys sold me a 1,500 rupee carpet which they insisted I must buy. The price came down from 4,000 to 1,500. I don't know why I gave in. I've been seeing these carpets all over, they look very shoddy. I just gave in, thinking I would ask our guard to put it in the quarter. 

Tuesday 23 February 2021

Crazy fun at the park

There is no doubt spring is here. You can see it, feel it. 

Kavita had a crazy fun time at the Park.  












See the cherry blossoms. 


Ami, I will run down and get to the rock. 




Ami, how fast did I run? 




You were so fast, Kavita, but I was even faster. I ran at the speed of light and touched the rock 
before you came down the path and, then ran back up and then came back down. 
Kavita: huh? 



OK. Let's time how fast you can do all of this. See video here





Oh, bad news, Kavita ran so hard to get to the monkey bars. She tripped and fell. 
Her nose started bleeding so I told her to lay down and press a tissue paper on her nose. 



Kavita is so friggin' fast on the monkey bars. See. The whole thing in 38 seconds. 


Too bad I'm so much heavier than Kavita. Otherwise, see saw would
have been fun. 
Joke: Which animal loves the see saw? Donkey. Why? Because it goes Ee Aww.


Tickle Monster lives in this tree. She was so happy to see Kavita and, got her! 







Then of course we got some ice-cream


Kavita, did you drop ice-cream on your clothes? 




Cricketers and ice-cream and girls education and public charity


Then we stopped at Bakewell to get these biscuits. Which Kavita is in love with. 



See guy with mask under his nose. 
Everyone at the supermarket was watching some cricket match. Literally everyone. 
My ugly stares didn't stop them.