Saturday 13 July 2013

A SIMPLE TASK

The ambience of the “GLORY” lounge was far from its usual extravagant style. Rather, the setting was more somber and dull, with only the dim red bulbs being switched on. In the background, a soft and romantic number of the “BACKSTREET BOYS” titled “QUIT PLAYING GAMES WITH MY HEART” was played. The bartenders were missing; so were the usual party poppers. The T.V. set was switched on, with a domestic T20 game being broadcasted.

There, in one corner, near the inventory of the beer bottles, sat Joe Simmons, the owner of the lounge, with a green coloured Carlsberg bottle in his left hand, and a pen in another. The layers of chin hanging around his neck, and the presence of tiny but numerous blisters on his dark face, made him resemble nothing less than a monster. Joe, or popularly known as the “SIR”, fidgeting with his metallic PIER-CARDIN, said in his husky voice, “Listen Brian, my fella, you got to lose tomorrow’s critical tie.” “The odds placed on you, are really sky-rocketing, and if you win, no crisp notes would be minted, and surely there wouldn't be any raking in the moolah,” continued the fifty year old gangster. “So, are you in for this SIMPLE TASK of just purposely losing the game,” inquired the bulky Joe. “Just for giving up early, you get $40000.”

“$40000 is too humongous an amount to refuse,” came the reply from the person sitting on the next sofa. “You get $20000 now, and the remaining, after the job is done and dusted with,” concluded the gangster, passing on a bundle of notes to the person sitting on the next sofa.

The person was none other than Brian Brown, the nation’s ‘Numero Uno’ wrestler. Brian, a brawny thirty year old man, with tattoos all over his body, had been going through a lean patch in his professional, as well as his personal life. The results in the past few matches had gone against him; and to rub the salt on the wounds, his wife too left him for another man. But the most significant blow to Brian was that, he still had to clear all his debts, and the deadline period, was all, but over. Brian took the notes, and without even counting them, walked away from the lounge.

Apart from going through a turbulent phase in his life, there was another integral factor that had been playing on Brian’s mind. It was regarding his condition of “dissociative amnesia”. It had been a condition, which had resulted in Brian having no memory of certain events in his life. The amnesia had already created a ruckus in the thirty year old wrestler’s life. It was the consequence of amnesia, which had caused his wife to cheat on him, and elope with another man. 

“Whatever! I will lose the game tomorrow and for just being knocked down for 30 seconds, I’ll earn a massive $40000. No task can be as simple as this,” thought Brian, as he opened the door of his rented room.

The annoying sound, sourcing from the hammer striking the metallic ring, indicated the start of the fight.  Brian’s opponent was Dave, a rookie in the wrestling industry. As the robes of both the wrestlers were taken off, Brian boasted of his muscular body and tattoos, and looked real like a hungry and menacing beast.  In contrast, the young rookie, Dave, had a moderate build, and nothing worth boasting as compared to his opponent. Brian was the clear favourite, and a lot of money was bet upon Brian’s win. Joe Simmons knew about this well in advance and hence decided to do the “out-of-the-box” by ensuring that Brian did not win. As a consequence of this, all the bookies on Simmons’ payroll would derive immense profits; so would Joe, by himself placing the bet against Brian.

The fight began, and as expected, Brian had the upper hand. The rookie was not even able to challenge Brian. Simmons entered the arena, and quietly sat among the audience, in the front row.

As the fight was into its tenth minute, Brian stepped back a few steps and halted his actions. Simmons thought that Brian was doing the job, he was paid to do, but it was something else. Brian ceased to attack his opponent and rather began taking the punches on himself.

Dave, the rookie had the ball in his court now, and was bruising Brian. Brian, in the meanwhile had his vision blurred, and blacked out for a few seconds. To everyone’s utter surprise, Brian was going through an amnesia attack. This sudden amnesia attack resulted in Brian, completely losing his memory about the meeting that he had with Simmons.

However, within a couple of minutes, Brian pounced his way back into the fight and punched Dave on the neck, for once and for all. The rookie wrestler lay down with excruciating pain, and lost the fight, as the referee ended his count of three. Brian didn't remember a thing about his meeting with Simmons, and regrettably, that was the only part of his memory that he “lost”. The fight ended, with the referee terming Brian as the winner.

Brian, in spite of winning the fight, had failed the SIMPLE TASK of just acting to be knocked down. As Brian, kissed his champions belt, he could see a man, staring at him with vengeance and fury. For Brian, he was just another spectator, but in reality it was JOE SIMMONS

Thursday 11 July 2013

THE DOCTOR

“I have prescribed some analgesics; and please make sure that you do have them”, said Dr. John Morgan, in a stern voice. Doctors of his hierarchy had to be stern with patients, to ensure that the patients never skipped their doses of tablets. Dr. John Morgan had the physique, which grabbed the eyeballs of his women patients. Morgan’s physique had often resulted in funny banters taking place among his peers; who suggested John to try his luck as a supermodel, rather than doing the mind-numbing job of a ‘Master of Surgeon’ (MS). He towered over his colleagues and stood at an eye- popping 6 feet 4 inches. Doctors hardly were such gigantic in stature. John was considerably young as well for an M.S., aged just 37. But for John, his job was everything. He never let his looks come between his job and career. There were instances when John often slept in the hospital, when the late night surgeries often extended, way above their designated time.

The City Hospital was filled with hustle-bustle and the chitter-chatter of the nurses and the ward boys throughout. It was a mammoth hospital; with seven storey’s and as many as eight Operation Theatres. The flowery fragrance of the phenyl, spread over the snow coloured floors diffused throughout the hospital. Dr. Morgan’s chamber was on the fourth floor, and was sandwiched between two ICU Wards. The fact that he was busy throughout the day was an understatement indeed.

The clock in Dr. John Morgan’s chamber had struck a 90 degree pose, indicating the time to be nine pm. That day had been really tiring and exhausting for Morgan. It was one of those rare days, when Morgan wanted to leave early for home and be far from his place of work. He had never felt the same regarding his job. All John wanted was, a week off from his work, and visit his brother’s family, in the neighboring town. John already had a strained relationship with his brother; and didn’t want to worsen it further, by not visiting him. John looked at the portrait of Jesus Christ with tired and sleep-deprived eyes. This was not an uncommon habit for John. Whenever he was stressed out and grumpy, he often stared at the portrait of Jesus blessing his disciples. He believed that, by doing so it would calm him down.

John decided that he would leave early for the day and left his chamber. Just as John exited the third elevator, on the ground floor, one of the ward-boys came rushing towards him.  The ward boy, Peter was panting and in a stammering voice said, “Wait Dr. John. Don’t go! We need you!” “Calm down Peter! What’s the matter?” “Dr. John, bomb explosions have rocked the city! One of them took place at the nearest railway station, just a mile away. The death toll is going to rise. You should be in the hospital, as a lot of victims would be admitted over here”, replied Peter, in a trembling voice. John stood still, as though the world had ceased to exit. A drop of sweat crossed his face, but he didn’t feel it. Morgan rushed back to the fourth floor, and gazed at the T.V. set in the canteen.

“BOMB BLASTS ROCK CITY! ATLEAST 50 DEAD!” said the reporter. “Fellas, we in for a night out,” said Dr. Andrew, in his casual American accent.

The news channel, broadcasted some disturbing images of the victims, and John, already stressed out questioned his instinct, that could he manage to pass out the night of gore and blood. John glanced at the lobby from the stairs, and could see people in hundreds, thronging the City Hospital. As he walked past the lobby, John could sense the pain and agony of the victims’ family. The daughter of a deceased, stood crying and yelling in grief. While the mother of a teenage victim, sprinted from one corner to the other, in search of a doctor. In contrast, sat a lady in her fifty’s, staring silently, at her brother’s lifeless body, riddled with nails. A stretcher went past John, carrying the headless body of a victim. The white, snow coloured floors that shone on most of the occasions, had turned red with blood. The usual silence of the ICU Ward had been substituted with the crying and yelling of victims and their families.

Dr. Morgan’s first patient arrived, with the layers of his skin hanging out like over-sized shirts. Without even wasting a nano-second, John took the victim into the Operation Theatre, and began his job. “Sterilised needles quickly!” said John in a loud and clear tone. These were the testing times for a doctor. Such situations determined that the real mettle within the doctor. It took about an hour for John, to complete his first job. The second patient too arrived quickly, with his forehead having severe cuts and bruises. This would be a considerably easy job for John, as compared to the operation of the first victim.

For the next couple of hours, John operated up to three more victims, one of whom couldn’t be saved. It was after his fifth surgery, that the news channel flashed yet another breaking news, saying that another bomb detonation had rocked the city. The toll of the dead was obvious to scale greater heights. The numbers of victims being rushed into the City Hospital were escalating at astonishing rates. Dr. John kept on operating patient after patient, in hope that the misery and agony would finally come to a standstill. But it would happen so only after a couple of hours.

It was quarter past two, when John was said that he could leave, as the situation in the hospital was finally under control. A relieved look embraced John’s face, and John finally had some respite. John left for the basement parking lot and throughout the five minute walk, all the nerve-wrecking images of the past four hours juggled around in the 37 year olds mind. John ignited the engine of his car, and drove past the lane of the City Hospital. Just as John went past the railway station, John’s sedan was jolted massively. Within a fraction of a second, John flung out of his car and fell on the pavement. Within seconds, he lay unconscious, surrounded by a pool of blood. It was the third detonation of the day.

Finally after a couple of days, arrived Jason, John’s brother, to claim his body from the morgue of the City Hospital. 

Yes, the very hospital which John considered as his “second home.”

Thursday 4 July 2013

A School in the Clouds

A school in the clouds? Is this just a hyped and a goofed up technological dream or a real possibility in the coming years? Can the efficient and productive use of resources possibly lead to the birth of a schooling system that can change the outlook of education? The above raised questions have always been answered reluctantly by the people who matter; and hence, today question marks are raised regarding the credibility of our current schooling system.  Being a responsible individual, I do sternly support the view that the outlook of our education system can be changed by introducing cloud schools.

Cloud schools refer to that aspect of schooling where children can embark on intellectual adventures by engaging and connecting with information, and mentoring online. To make things uncomplicated, cloud schools can even be termed as “online schools”. Cloud schools or online schools do not require a rocket-science theoretical approach; but rather, simple, and unproblematic execution of ideas put forth. The use of the internet plays the most integral part in the introduction of cloud schools. The computer is the medium that would be the source of transmission of knowledge in this case.

Over the past few decades, the world has developed at an astonishing rate. The products of these rapid developments have been the internet and the computer. The boons of both are known by one and all. But the one pro that stands out, is the fact that both are reasonably easy to operate and access. In 1999, an experiment conducted in the isolated villages of India, did prove this theory right. The experiment was that a computer was installed in one of the corners of the village, and as anticipated, the locals were left spellbound by it. Soon the children began to access it (the locals till that point in time, didn’t even know what a computer meant) and it just took a span of 8 weeks for them to access educational sites and play games! The same computer was further used by experts to teach the children to improve their communication and pronunciation skills, apart from teaching them science. That project too yielded fruitful results, as the level of knowledge of the children increased drastically. As a matter of fact, one of those children that participated in the project went on to become a top call centre executive.

Like the above instance, there have been several other instances, where the uneducated children have known the computer inside-out within the matter of a few weeks. Hence, if the children can know the computer and the internet so quickly, then cloud or online schools too would be positive.

The current methods of teaching and schooling are significantly obsolete, as there is very little scope for application to be applied by the students. The “rote-learning” method, used by an Indian Education Board, has drawn criticism for the past several years, and as a result, such students have failed to perform at the international level. On the other hand, cloud schools will indulge in a lot of application based programs that would motivate the students to excel and perform better. Apart from that, the teacher to the student ratio too would be comparatively low for cloud schools. The “teacher” in this case could be teaching the students from a distance of 1000 miles, via the internet and the webcam. To make the project more secure, an experiment was conducted where a teacher from England, monitored students from Tamil Nadu, from a distance of 4000 miles. This experiment too proved to be highly successful. All it needed for the experiment to be successful was the presence of a broadband connection and a web cam.

Another reason for which I support the theory of cloud schools is that, schools in remote villages of developing nations are situated very distantly, and this takes a massive toll on the students. In some cases, students even have to cycle their way for 20 miles, to reach their school. By the presence of cloud schools, each village would be given several computers and webcams, and there wouldn't arise the need for students, to travel so much. Hence, in such cases, the time of travelling too would be saved. This saved time can be allocated to a more productive purpose by the students.

The teachers for cloud schools too can be easily recruited. Retired and experienced teachers, who just have to spend a couple of hours in front of the computers, can fit the bill. There wouldn't even be a need for the teachers to travel. Such aspect of education would be “fun –learning”, as students these days have found a friend in the computer.

The jobs in the future would demand employees to work with the computers and laptops throughout, rather than manually doing much of the work. The presence of cloud schools would mean that the students would almost be a decade ahead in time, as they would be studying via the computer and the internet.


All it would need, to ensure that the above initiative is a success, would be the undying support of governments, in terms of financing, and the common man, who should approve such an initiative, that has the ability to paint bright futures of the coming generations.