Letters to the WEEK

: ‘Discipline and punish’ is the attitude entrenched in our schools and society, towards children who are least equipped to take it on. Farzana Nigar from Ranchi ‘Little Stars on Earth’ writes feelingly about the state of our schools, and why Aamir Khan’s ‘Taare Zameen Par’ was such a laudable intervention.  

• In ‘A little like Ishaan’ , Gowri Ishwaran articulates why every parent should watch ‘Taare Zameen Par’. Our increasingly consumerist, unkind society makes us less sensitive to the needs and wants of our very own. The film highlights how this insensitivity affects the relationship between parents and children, and between students and teachers. Not a day passes without us hearing about the severe punishment meted out to children at schools, about the ways in which students are ‘made to realise their mistakes’ and the humiliation and physical abuse they are subjected to. The bigger question that needs immediate attention is: what is modern education all about? Is it too tiresome for teachers and the authorities to even try and understand the psyche of a child? It is that dreaded word ‘discipline’ that ensures that children don’t grow. And again, it is ‘discipline’ that ‘fixes’ them... Somewhere down the line, the film also questions the relevance of education. In a very subtle yet profound manner it contrasts the present-day education system with value education. Cinema is the one medium that can bring about a change in our values and slowly power a social revolution. Aamir Khan has done just that. The film should be screened in all educational institutions.

Hello Tata

•The cat is finally out of the bag. Ratan Tata’s dream car has been finally unveiled. It’s a beauty and a masterpiece, though some eyebrows have been raised over fuel efficiency as people expected more from a “people’s car”. Ratan Tata has truly kept his promise, though people thought it was a joke when he made it. He is one industrialist who keeps his word, and no one can doubt his integrity. I request the Government to honour him with the “Bharat Ratna” this year — a special year for him as he fulfills his rare and special dream of a car for the masses.

— S.N. KABRA Mumbai

• Apropos ‘1 lakh car drives 1 billion dreams’, five years back when the Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata ,who always thought for the aam aadmi, said that he would manufacture a car priced at Rs 1 lakh, he was greeted with laughter and derision. But on January 10, when Ratan Tata’s unveiled his pet project, “the people’s car”, at Hall 11 of Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, he did India proud and did a great service to the lower-income bracket. India now salutes his revolutionary vision. But in India nothing happens without politics, so how can the people’s car be exempt? The Trinamool Congress threatened to stall its manufacture at Singur plant, and said, “Let the Tatas go elsewhere, leaving farmland in Singur to farmers.” Mamata Banerjee should stop playing politics and realise that this product only helps the common man, and she should negotiate the issue with the government and the Tata Management over the project which can create enough employment in this jobless state.

... contd.