VIEWS

The recent shooting incident involving two teenage boys killing their own classmate has come really as a rude awakening to many of us. The incident, I suppose, is the first of its kind in India. We have come across such shooting incidents taking place in schools and colleges in countries like USA etc. In my view, this incident is the direct fallout of poor parenting skills. Parents instead of giving out verbal advice on how their wards behave should adopt a very effective parenting technique, in my words, called ‘set-oneself-the-example’. In other words, if you do not want your children to lie, you do not lie and if you do not want them to quarrel, you do not quarrel with your spouse or children. Violence has become an indispensable ingredient in any movie, video game, or cartoon. Watching them will only reinforce the animal instinct of harming the other to settle difference. It is rather obsolete to say the future of our country lies in the hands younger generation. To be exact, it lies in the hands of young parents who have children less than five years of age. Child psychologists say the first five years in the life of a child is very important since all its strengths and weaknesses are formed in this period. These aspects only get reinforced when the child is subjected to good or bad stimuli leaving no scope for improvement.

BRAINY QUOTE

AMBIGUITY

Here is something interesting about Anaimalai railway station. It has found reference in Devaneya Pavanar’s book named “THE PRIMARY CLASSICAL LANGUAGE OF THE WORLD’. (Chapter on ‘The Fallacies of Descriptive Linguistics.

Here are the excerpts from the book: It is really an illusion to fancy, that anyone can pronounce all the sounds of all foreign languages as correctly as a native. It is impossible for all to attain such ability, even after undergoing life-long training, as the system of vocal organs is subtly varied in some races, owing to peculiarity of climatic conditions and food habits. There is also a story to this effect, that once an American, whose destination was Annamalainagar was issued a railway ticket by the booking clerk at Egmore for Anaimalai Road by mistake, owing to the faulty pronunciation of the passenger.

VESTIGES OF THE RAJ

Anaimalai railway station lies a little south of the intersection of the railroad with the road to Topslip. The ambience is that of a typical village railway station you would find in many award-winning movies. I gathered from the old villagers that this station used to be the beehive of action about 3 or 4 decades ago when timbers logged from the nearby forest were offloaded here enroute to the ports on the west coast. This was virtually the only transport option (the bus service used to be very limited) for the people around this village in those days which helped to carry their produce to the markets located in far off places. There is a remnant of a good shed on the northern side of the station covered with thick vegetation, which is used by the locals as public convenience. This Railway Station is a living reminder of our colonial past. The iron rails which support the structure display faded names of manufacturers of the colonial era from Birmingham etc. I have loitered around this place a lot during my childhood and it brings back memories of my childhood whenever I visit this place.