Female Illiteracy

           Female illiteracy is one of the main problems faced by the developing countries in today’s world. Women and girls have often been denied equal opportunities in the field of education. The male dominated societies fail to understand the importance of female education, and hence, arises the problem of female illiteracy.

          The main causes of this problem are gender stereotypes. The girl child is seen as a burden on the family. She is treated unequally, as compared to the boys of the same family. Parents do not consider her education important, as one day she will get married and serve her husband and family. They also believe that their sons are more capable than their daughters. All this results in either denial for her education, or education till the elementary level only.

          This can have wide ranging effects in the society. An illiterate woman does not know the value of education. She does not pay attention to the education of her children. Thus, the vicious cycle of illiteracy gets repeated. She does not understand her own rights, and this makes her a victim of gender discrimination and inequality, once again.

          It is said that “If you educate a man, you educate an individual. But if you educate a woman, you educate a family.” An educated woman ensures the education of her children. She is also able to get employment, improving the economic condition of the family, and contributes to the national income. Thus, female education is a must for development.

          The best way to increase female education is by spreading awareness. The media, especially the radio and television, can be used for this purpose. We can also try to encourage parents to educate their daughters, and mention its advantages. Governments all across the world have implemented schemes ensuring female education.

          Today, we see women working as architects, pilots, teachers, doctors, engineers, accountants, and in every other field. This is the result of female literacy. Nowadays, societies are becoming more and more aware about the importance of woman education, equality and freedom. We still need to spread this awareness, to eradicate female illiteracy and to promote gender equality.

-         Manas Trivedi

Book Review - Carry On, Jeeves - by P.G. Wodehouse

‘Carry On, Jeeves’ by PG Wodehouse is the first book in the Jeeves and Wooster collection. The two main protagonists of the story – Bertie Wooster, the master and Reginald Jeeves, Bertie’s valet. The book has ten chapters, with Bertie being the narrator for nine, and Jeeves being the narrator for the last chapter.

          Introduction – The First Page:

The book starts with – ‘Now, touching this business of old Jeeves, my man, you know, how do we stand?’ Hmmm, yeah, so, who is the narrator? Who is speaking these lines? There is no such introduction like – ‘Hey, I’m Bertie Wooster’, or ‘Bertie here!’ throughout the book. You won’t get who the narrator is, until you read the 18^th page, where Bertie’s fiancée takes his name. So, what I think is that there is be a book written before this one by Wodehouse in which features Bertie but not Jeeves. And I completely failed to find that book on the internet, or should I say, the internet completely failed me. Thus, one has to read that book (if there is one) which precedes this one in order to know who the narrator is. It isn’t the author’s fault, as one must read the introduction book before moving on to the second, but still, if you read Rick Riordan’s trilogy ‘Kane Chronicles’, each book introduces the person who is narrating.

          The first page kind of deters you from reading on. It isn’t that nothing is understandable, but mixing a few difficult words along with the fact that you don’t know the narrator, does not help. One needs the willpower and determination to go to the next page. I suggest you just need to, you know, read the first page, whether you understand it or not, and move on. Once you complete the chapter, you’ll know what the first page meant, after all.

Vocabulary – Difficult Words:

As for the difficult words, there are just so many, that after a while I stopped consulting the dictionary. If you are really interested in knowing each and every word’s meaning, you must use an online dictionary, or maybe a dictionary app. Using the dictionary (the real book), doesn’t make sense, since there are at least five hard words on each page, and about 15 minutes are required to find all their meanings, while searching them in the dictionary (the book). I once again suggest you don’t really need to completely know their meanings, and you need to leave the word and move on. You just need to know the meanings of a few frequently used words, and you’ll understand everything, the plot and all, without taking much time.

Style of Writing:

The style of writing used by Wodehouse must’ve been pretty futuristic for his time period, since I believe informal English, slang and humour weren’t there during the War period, only Shakespeare. For example,

‘What ho!’ I said.

‘What ho!’ said Motty.

‘What ho! What ho!’

‘What ho’! What ho! What ho!’

After that it seemed rather difficult to go on with the conversation.

Wodehouse gave this style of writing to Bertie, while giving the Shakespearean style, as I call it, to Jeeves. Bertie's informal style prevails for the nine chapters which Bertie narrates, with a hint of the Shakespearean style, when Jeeves speaks with Bertie. The last chapter gives you a full-fledged insight into the Shakespearean style, as the complete chapter is narrated by Jeeves. An example of Jeeves’ style:

‘The crux of the matter would appear to be, sir, that Mr Todd is obliged by the conditions under which the money is delivered into his possession to write Miss Rockmetteler long and detailed letters relating to his movements, and the only method by which this can be accomplished, if Mr Todd adheres to his expressed intention of remaining in the country, is for Mr Todd to induce some second party to gather the actual experiences which Miss Rockmetteler wishes reported to her and convey these to him in the shape of a careful report, on which it would be possible for him, with the aid of his imagination, to base the suggested correspondence.’

Mind you, the paragraph above is only one sentence, spoken by Jeeves to Bertie. Really, only one full stop at the end. Spoken by a GRE student, isn’t it? Only when Bertie explains the same to Mr Todd are we able to understand the meaning of the same.

Plots – The themes of most stories:

There are two types of plots used –

1.    Engagements – Bertie helps his friends to get engaged with whom they want to marry, and also helps them to break engagements with whom they unwillingly got engaged.

2.    Aunts and uncles – Bertie helps his friends to acquire money from their rich aunts and uncles, who had earlier stopped their allowances.

Basically, each chapter is a different story. There is a problem to be solved. A friend might approach Bertie for his help, for the above two situations. Bertie shows his faith in Jeeves and asks him for his help. And Jeeves faithfully helps Bertie by giving his helpful suggestions to solve the problems. The Wooster motto – When it comes to helping a pal, we Woosters have no thought of self. Thus, Bertie executes the solution, putting himself through all sorts of funny situations, and in the end, the problem is solved.

There is never a tragic end to a story. However difficult a problem may be, it always gets sorted with the help of Jeeves at the end. Each story seems to lift your spirits, irrespective of whether you’ve gone into a depression, or if you’re feeling topping. You get the hope that even the biggest of the problems has a solution.

Very well said by Marian Keyes:

‘The ultimate in comfort reading, because nothing bad ever happens in P.G. Wodehouse land. Or even if it does, it’s always sorted out by the end of the book. For as long as I’m immersed in a P.G. Wodehouse book, it’s possible to keep the real world at bay and live in a far, far nicer, funnier one where happy endings are the order of the day.’

Type of book:

The book is supposed to be a humorous, funny sort of book. There are quite a few instances which were pretty funny. But I wouldn’t call the book altogether funny. I’d say only those situations which Bertie encounters while helping a friend are hilarious. The rest of the book is like a normal storybook. Concerned with the fact that Wodehouse was an English humourist, you won’t find funny one-liners every now and then. Still, I’d call this as a ‘different’ storybook. This is the book which one really wants to read. It is like ‘What will happen next? Will Bertie be able to solve the problem?’ So, you have a bit of suspense in there as well. Humour, suspense, climax, problems, solutions and happy endings. Bored of normal novels? Go for this one.

-         Manas Trivedi

An Unforgettable Birthday Party

          It was the 1st of April, 2015. What clicked in your mind? Yeah, April fool’s day! The most awaited day for many, but right on the day, I forget and get fooled by all. On this day, I was invited to one of my friend’s birthday party. I was pretty excited, and reached the party house on time. You know, you’ve got to be punctual with this stuff.

          The door was wide open, so no suspense on ringing the doorbell. I met and greeted my friend, and joined the other guys at the party. No one needed to tell me. I made myself completely at home. We all sat there for quite some time, cracking jokes and doing other silly stuff. This time I was alert. I was not going to be fooled today. A couple of April fools had been made, and I wasn’t going to be next.

After waiting for another 15 minutes, which seemed like an hour, I was going to wait no more. I mean, come on people! Let’s get this party started! Another friend of mine felt the same. We had all been given small bottles of water. He opened his bottle and looked slyly towards another guy. The next thing is pretty obvious, isn’t it? Squirt goes the water. He emptied his bottle on the poor unsuspecting party-goer. Angry retaliation followed, the water missing the target, and falling on another. This was going to be an all-out water battle. I found the farthest corner of the room, and watched the action unfold.

The bottles were small, so the water got over easily. I was the only one who didn’t get soaked up. I got to know the meaning of ‘having the last laugh’. The parents of the birthday boy weren’t looking pleased, and were trying to wrap things up. They brought in the cake, which was supposed to be the star attraction for the day. It was huge, but only area-wise, not like one of those three tier cakes. It was like those Enter-The-Dragon moments, with everyone saying ‘Oooh!’ and ‘Aaah!’ We started singing the Happy Birthday song.

The cake seemed irresistibly delicious, or deliciously irresistible. Halfway into the song, the junior members of the party lost their resistive forces. And within moments, a bunch of hands splashed, or crashed, into the cake, coming out only with huge pieces of cake. If the junior members can do so, why should the big guys be left behind? Another bunch of hands, digging deep down into the cake, came out with even bigger pieces. One of them figured out an even better use of the cake pieces than eating them. What else than smearing them on the birthday boy’s face? I spoke out in defence of my friend, “He’s the birthday boy. Do let him have his day of the year.” Instead of listening to me, the guy handed me a piece so that I could join in the fun.  After half a minute of smearing, the birthday boy looked like a completely outraged grizzly bear. His parents took him inside, trying to calm him down.

The three of them came back, looking as calm as ever.  Dinner was served, with a nice starter and a mouth-watering main course. The cake didn’t get completely ruined, so each one of us got only a piece of the cake as dessert, owing to its huge size. I was not going to eat it, as only God knows whether the hands which went into it were clean or not. The party was over, and I greeted my friend once again. All I was taking back home with me was an experience not to be forgotten, and the fact that I didn’t become an April fool.

Written by Manas Trivedi

Original story by Mihir Trivedi

This might give you an idea of what happened at the party



Importance of Adult Education

“Let us do something really great

Educate the adults illiterate”

Take a newspaper of a language which you can read. Read out the headlines. Easy? Now take a newspaper of a language you don’t understand at all. Try to read the headlines. Tough? Now try to write in that language. Impossible? How do you feel? Helpless? Possibly exasperated? Imagine the condition of the 775 million adults who have no idea how to read and write, in any language.

Adult illiteracy is one of the major problems in the developing countries. The major cause of this problem is poverty. Parents are not able to give proper education to their children, due to unavailability of money. Also, these parents might not know the long term benefits of investment in their children’s education. Though there might be schools providing education at very low costs, parents, instead of sending their children to school, force them to earn money for the family. These children grow up to become uneducated adults. So, lack of awareness is another cause of adult illiteracy.

The effects of adult illiteracy are drastic. People generally look down upon such illiterate people, and discriminate against them. When discriminated against, these people hide their faces. They are afraid to step out in public. Their self-respect and self-esteem gets completely destroyed. As they have no qualifications at all, they do ill-paid jobs like working at construction sites and working as domestic servants. And even while doing these jobs, they aren’t able to count their money. They couldn’t sign any official paper. So, they can be easily manipulated by others. The ultimate result of all this is poverty. So, poverty is both the cause and effect of adult illiteracy. These illiterate adults might have the potential to do great things in life, but illiteracy holds them down. They have to depend upon others for knowing the headlines of the newspaper, for writing a letter, for knowing the story of a magazine, and what not? They could never be independent.

This problem of adult illiteracy has a very simple solution. Each one of us should teach at least one adult in our life. 17% of the adult population of the world is uneducated. So if each person in his/her life sets a target of teaching one adult how to read and write, in any language they like, adult illiteracy would become a thing of the past. Today many organisations are working for adult literacy. Evening and night classes are held for adults. Illiterate adults should not be afraid to ask anyone to teach them. We can also try to spread awareness about the value of education. After all, education is the basic right of each and every person living on this planet!

“Eradicate illiteracy, let us all say

We’ll educate all, come what may!”

-         Manas Trivedi

Is Private Coaching necessary for competitive exams?

       In today’s competitive world, everyone is trying their best to win the rat race to become successful. Students of the secondary school start preparing for their career right since class 7. For this, most of them join private coaching classes. These classes aim at making them able to crack tough exams and builds their confidence. They guarantee success. So, the advantages of these classes are many, but just as each coin has two sides, even coaching classes have their own disadvantages.

          Firstly, these classes horribly mess up the daily routine of a student. My brother goes to his classes right after coming back from school, and come back late in the evening. He does not have any time for physical exercise or any other activity, and even his own school homework.

          Secondly, these classes give their own homework. Now, this is serious. Along with the school homework, you have to do tuition homework. A lot of extreme hard work. If you don’t have time to do your school homework, what will you do about tuition homework? I’ve seen my friends doing their tuition homework in school, and leaving their school homework pending. This greatly increases the stress on the students.

          And lastly, these classes have exorbitant fees. Parents invest their hard earned money in these classes, believing there will be value for money. But in some cases, the teachers aren’t as experienced and educated as they should be. They aren’t able to give individual attention to each student, as big coaching classes usually teach in large groups. So, the classes become a waste of precious time and money.

          Good coaching classes might lead you onto the path of success. If the teachers are experienced, and they have a good name, it is a great educational investment. But I believe, it’s much better to be independent and study on your own with determination. All you need is some good books, and a lot of confidence, and before you know it, you will be treading on the path of success towards your destiny.

 

-  Manas Trivedi

 

 

Review - RAWAT Restaurant, Jaipur

          Rawat is a vegetarian restaurant opposite Hotel Maharani Palace and Kanchi Mishthan Bhandar. It is, by far, the best restaurant in Jaipur, when quality of food is considered. It has a large cuisine, but there are only some main items which are their speciality.

The restaurant is divided into three parts – an A/C dining hall, an outdoor dhaba area and a sweet shop having tables. I’m going to explain about the ambience of the A/C hall, because that’s the part you’d like to go in. Then we’ll look at the food.

The ambience of the A/C hall was not all that good. It was, well, average. I was expecting the tables and chairs to be covered with cloth and all, but it was just simple. Too simple for an A/C hall. Rawat has to improve its ambience, so that the hall could really be called an A/C hall. The kitchen is adjacent to the hall, with a glass wall separating the two. So you could actually see what’s going on in there. I don’t know whether the A/Cs of the hall actually work or not, but they have two TVs, for entertainment while dining.

Before we move on to the food, let’s look at the prices. I assure you, the food is horribly expensive. Now, where do you get to eat a ₹175 plate of Poori Subji (fried flat bread with cooked vegetables)? You might want to run out of the place after looking at the menu card, but the food is worth the money.

I tried the ₹175 plate of Poori Subji, thinking whether ordering it was a mistake or not. I dug into the food. It. Was. Awesome. Nothing like it. One of a kind. This has to be the best traditional dish of this place. Delicious. Sumptuous. Tasty. Mouth-watering. Yes it is. The poori has an incredible taste. The aloo and gatte ki sabji have amazing flavours. The raita is fine, just as an extra touch. So, this is one dish you must have if you’re dining in Rawat.

The general favorite of the Indian public – Chole Bhature is also available here. The Bhatura part is good, but the chole part has a bit more cinnamon for my liking. You may try it, but it’s much better if you order the bhatura part separately, not the chole. You could order something else along with it, such as paneer or aloo ki sabji.

Speaking of paneer, it was, as usual, great. The Dal Bati Churma Thali contained a bit too much churma instead of the bati and dal. There were only three batis, each with a 2 inch diameter. So the main course was less, whereas the dessert churma was overflowing from the plate. The plate contained three types of churma – White and Yellow churma, both tasting almost the same, and Rose-flavoured churma. Still, the white and yellow churma were fab, not the rose one. My suggestion-order the mini dal bati churma, you’ll get the white one at least, and that’s all you need for a dessert

This is all I know about Rawat. There is value for money. This is the place for high quality high cost food. If you are a foodie, and have the money, visit Rawat, the best middle class restaurant in Jaipur. I’d give four out of five stars to Rawat and hope that it will continue serving its delicious food forever.

 

-         Manas Trivedi

Rawat Restaurant Pure Veg.
The part of the building above ground is the sweet shop and the part underground is the A/C dining hall

The inside view of the A/C Dining hall of Rawat restaurant



The ambience of Rawat restaurant
Too simple for an A/C dining hall

Rawat's Thali

A view of Rawat Mishthan Bhandar, the sweet shop famous for its Kachori

The outdoor dhaba area of Rawat

Hotel Rawat