Festivals, Bomb Scare and Another Year Almost Gone By
As the title of the post says, it has been a hectic and scary last few weeks that we had to go through. It has become almost a routine nowadays to find news channels broadcasting live scenes of a serial bomb blast in some part of India. So long we watched them only on TV with much horror. But reality striked on 30th September when our state capital was rocked with 6 huge blasts with a span of 30 minutes. Fortunately I live in a place 185 KM far from the capital. Still one can’t escape the scary thoughts.
This horrific incident took place just before the Puja Vacation (Festival Holidays) was to start from 4th October onwards. Every year, all schools, colleges and other educational institutes get two types of long vacation - Summer vacation (lasts approximately 4 weeks) and Festival vacation (lasts 2 weeks). During the festival time, host of Hindu Gods and Goddesses are worshiped with much fanfare. it has become a tradition for everybody to buy new clothes and showcase them during the Durga Puja, biggest festival in our part of India.
But this time it was different due to the unfortunate blast. I, along with all my family members, went to our ancestral village home for fear of more blast in the town I live. The school re-opened on 17th October. But again Dewali festival came and we got 3 days holiday. Dewali is the festival of lights and traditionally people enjoy it by gambling. So I too went to my village and played tin-patti (poker type game) for 3 days. It rained a lot which is unusual during this time. So when I came back - I was caught by cold. I lay on bed for 2 days and then joined my on last Saturday.
It is only today that I realized another academic year is going to pass by. The administration of the school has already announced routine for the Annual Examination and I had to set question papers allotted to me. The exam start from 10th November and will continue till 6th December. After that we will check the answer scripts and announce result in the last week of December. During this time, there will hardly be any class work. So more spare time to devote for my online projects which are being neglected for sometime now.
My next post will be a comparison between the standard of a vernacular school and that of a Convent English medium school where my wife teaches. 