I am having a feeling that Bill, Bill Clinton that is, might just take an emergency flight and come down to Dallas to hob knob with the BADFW executive committee! After Subhasish, our esteemed President, running for the position for the third, fourth, fifth or maybe the seventh time (I have lost count!) and of course, doing a fine job at it, a question lingered in my mind. Has Bipasha, the one and only lawyer in our midst, helped Subhasish tweak the Articles of the Constitution (BADFW) to facilitate Subhasish to run for the sixth time, no the eigth time? Whatever!
So this has caused Bill to ask -- "Can we do that" --- the tweaking of the term limit, I mean. So, when Bill visits Dallas I plead to the executive committee to allow me to take Bill around in my Lexus though I do not have "charsho tirish" or is it "charsho shaath" like Koustuv's.
N.B. Subhasish, please do not think that I am alluding in any way, to you for not running for Presidentship next year.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Making it to the A-list
This is what I wrote (did not send out to them) after an email exchange beween a BADFW mail between Sasvata and Parthoda/Subho regarding Tuku's pics. in the website.
This year Kushal and I have had the privilege of getting photographed by Tuku. I finally have a feeling of I made the "A-list" or rather, now I belong to the 'homra-chomra club :) Every year when I glanced through the album my heart yearned for one of those pictures-- sitting in the table eating khichuri bhog and looking at Tuku's camera with a look -- "I made it this year!
Though I have to admit that in 19 years no one had accomplished to get a decent picture of ours together. Tuku has achieved that feat. We look half way decent in one of his pictures. I know you must have "what-makes-her-think-she-is better-in-person" feeling but what the heck, I have an elevated self image of myself!
Yes, the gory details -- I can only comment on our pictures (I would love to say a few things on my dearest friends but I think I am going to keep my mouth shut). As I squinted my eyes and peered into our picture I saw the undulating landscape running through my countenance. The holes, valleys and the plains -- are they signs of my aging or I had these all along? The less I say about the angles and the drooping skin, better it is. Never knew my face could be a lesson in geography and geometry!
Everything said and done, Tuku you have achieved the unachievable -- finally a photograph which can be handed down to our grand kids (I can visualize this picture hanging in Rupsha's living room and she telling her children -- there is my mom and dad with a proud smile from ear to ear). Thank god for Tuku's portrait of us or else we would have gone down in the generations to come with the blame "this is why I look ugly"!
This year Kushal and I have had the privilege of getting photographed by Tuku. I finally have a feeling of I made the "A-list" or rather, now I belong to the 'homra-chomra club :) Every year when I glanced through the album my heart yearned for one of those pictures-- sitting in the table eating khichuri bhog and looking at Tuku's camera with a look -- "I made it this year!
Though I have to admit that in 19 years no one had accomplished to get a decent picture of ours together. Tuku has achieved that feat. We look half way decent in one of his pictures. I know you must have "what-makes-her-think-she-is better-in-person" feeling but what the heck, I have an elevated self image of myself!
Yes, the gory details -- I can only comment on our pictures (I would love to say a few things on my dearest friends but I think I am going to keep my mouth shut). As I squinted my eyes and peered into our picture I saw the undulating landscape running through my countenance. The holes, valleys and the plains -- are they signs of my aging or I had these all along? The less I say about the angles and the drooping skin, better it is. Never knew my face could be a lesson in geography and geometry!
Everything said and done, Tuku you have achieved the unachievable -- finally a photograph which can be handed down to our grand kids (I can visualize this picture hanging in Rupsha's living room and she telling her children -- there is my mom and dad with a proud smile from ear to ear). Thank god for Tuku's portrait of us or else we would have gone down in the generations to come with the blame "this is why I look ugly"!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Power of Deliberate Practice
May 6, 2008
Power of Deliberate Practice
Link Via Micro Persuasion
Link Via Secrets of Greatness
Excerpt
These are great articles for the children to read.I want my 14 year old to read this and stop saying -- "I am not good at it".
Power of Deliberate Practice
Link Via Micro Persuasion
Link Via Secrets of Greatness
Excerpt
Certainly some important traits are partly inherited, such as physical size and particular measures of intelligence, but those influence what a person doesn't do more than what he does; a five-footer will never be an NFL lineman, and a seven-footer will never be an Olympic gymnast. Even those restrictions are less severe than you'd expect: Ericsson notes, "Some international chess masters have IQs in the 90s." The more research that's done, the more solid the deliberate-practice model becomes.
These are great articles for the children to read.I want my 14 year old to read this and stop saying -- "I am not good at it".
Monday, May 5, 2008
Talk about razor sharp wit...
May 5th, 2008
Here are couple of razor sharp wits from Winston Churchill and Oscar Wilde...
Via www.neatorama.com
Here are couple of razor sharp wits from Winston Churchill and Oscar Wilde...
"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go," says Oscar Wilde.
George Bernard Shaw wrote to Winston Churchill, "I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend....if you have one." And Churchill wrote back, "Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second......if there is one"
Via www.neatorama.com
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Hilarious!!!!!!
April 22, 2008
Ask the Jihadist
By Andy Borowitz
Following is a post in www.newyorker.com. Absolutely funny. Enjoy!
QAIDA NO. 2 TO ANSWER WEB QUESTIONS SOON
Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri will soon answer the hundreds of questions submitted by journalists, militants and others about the terrorist network’s future, its media wing announced Wednesday.
—Associated Press.
Dear Ayman al-Zawahiri:
Please find attached my homemade terror video, entitled “Death to America.” In it, you will see that I brandish an AK-47, make angry facial expressions, and threaten the infidels with imminent doom. Am seeking a full- or part-time position with Al Qaeda making spooky tapes. Have own cave.
—Fingers Crossed in Peshawar
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
Thank you for sharing this with us. While I’m afraid your terror video does not meet our needs at the present time, we would be interested in seeing anything scary you do in the future.
Dear Ayman al-Zawahiri:
I am a member in good standing of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and am considering switching my terror membership to Al Qaeda. Is there a difference in dental?
—Confused in Cairo
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
Unfortunately, that is not my department. Please call the office between the hours of eight and five and ask for Al Qaeda No. 37.
Dear Ayman al-Zawahiri:
I was hatching a terror plot on my cell phone the other day, but now I’m afraid that the C.I.A. was listening in. What should I do?
—Worried in Sharm al-Sheikh
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
American law allows the government to eavesdrop on any phone conversation for no reason whatsoever. But, as a practical matter, this means the Americans are too busy spying on one another to ever spy on us. Plus, they don’t know Arabic. Still, you can never be too cautious. When talking on your cell phone, never use the words “Al Qaeda.” Instead, refer to us by our secret code name, the Emperors Club V.I.P.
Dear Ayman al-Zawahiri:
I am a journalist for the U.S. publication Tiger Beat. When I heard you would be taking Web questions, I was like OMG, I totes have to write to him!!! Here are three questions we’re asking celebrities this month:
1. If you could be any character on “Gossip Girl,” who would you be?
2. Who would be a better friend, Lauren on “The Hills” or Ashley Tisdale in “High School Musical”?
3. Who is hotter, Zac Efron or Joe Jonas? (LOL)
—Stacy in Manhattan
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
May you and everyone at your magazine burn in Hell.
Dear Ayman al-Zawahiri:
Does Al Qaeda ever endorse political candidates? If so, I recommend that you give a big thumbs-up to Barack Obama. I guarantee you he hates America as much as you do (if not more)! It would be great if you appeared in a bunch of TV ads and called him “the evildoing President that evildoers have been waiting for.”
—Bill in Chappaqua
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
Al Qaeda is only interested in American elections to the extent that we can plunge them into abject chaos. So this year, as in every other year, we are supporting Ralph Nader.
Greetings and compliments to you, my good sir:
I am the widow of the late Nigerian head of state, General Sani Abacha. Please wire $15,000 in U.S. funds to the bank information provided below and in two weeks’ time you will receive $150,000 for your kindly services, my goodly gentleman.
—Mrs. Maryam Abacha
Lagos
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
What kind of simpleton do you take me for? I sent you $15,000 last month and I never heard back.
Dear Ayman al-Zawahiri:
I have been trying to get through to WFAN Sports Radio 66 for the past three weeks, but they keep putting me on hold. So let me ask you instead: Do you think the Mets will go all the way?
—Mike in Flushing
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
Raining down misery and destruction on the Great Satan leaves me little time for such idle contemplations. That said, if Johan Santana puts up the kind of numbers he did for the Twins, look out.
Dear Ayman al-Zawahiri:
I am a big fan of Osama bin Laden and would like to get his autograph. I have an eight-by-ten glossy of him but don’t know where to send it. Could you please give me his exact mailing address?
—Borge W. Gush
Washington, D.C.
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
Please contact him directly. He’s on Facebook.
Ask the Jihadist
By Andy Borowitz
Following is a post in www.newyorker.com. Absolutely funny. Enjoy!
QAIDA NO. 2 TO ANSWER WEB QUESTIONS SOON
Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri will soon answer the hundreds of questions submitted by journalists, militants and others about the terrorist network’s future, its media wing announced Wednesday.
—Associated Press.
Dear Ayman al-Zawahiri:
Please find attached my homemade terror video, entitled “Death to America.” In it, you will see that I brandish an AK-47, make angry facial expressions, and threaten the infidels with imminent doom. Am seeking a full- or part-time position with Al Qaeda making spooky tapes. Have own cave.
—Fingers Crossed in Peshawar
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
Thank you for sharing this with us. While I’m afraid your terror video does not meet our needs at the present time, we would be interested in seeing anything scary you do in the future.
Dear Ayman al-Zawahiri:
I am a member in good standing of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and am considering switching my terror membership to Al Qaeda. Is there a difference in dental?
—Confused in Cairo
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
Unfortunately, that is not my department. Please call the office between the hours of eight and five and ask for Al Qaeda No. 37.
Dear Ayman al-Zawahiri:
I was hatching a terror plot on my cell phone the other day, but now I’m afraid that the C.I.A. was listening in. What should I do?
—Worried in Sharm al-Sheikh
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
American law allows the government to eavesdrop on any phone conversation for no reason whatsoever. But, as a practical matter, this means the Americans are too busy spying on one another to ever spy on us. Plus, they don’t know Arabic. Still, you can never be too cautious. When talking on your cell phone, never use the words “Al Qaeda.” Instead, refer to us by our secret code name, the Emperors Club V.I.P.
Dear Ayman al-Zawahiri:
I am a journalist for the U.S. publication Tiger Beat. When I heard you would be taking Web questions, I was like OMG, I totes have to write to him!!! Here are three questions we’re asking celebrities this month:
1. If you could be any character on “Gossip Girl,” who would you be?
2. Who would be a better friend, Lauren on “The Hills” or Ashley Tisdale in “High School Musical”?
3. Who is hotter, Zac Efron or Joe Jonas? (LOL)
—Stacy in Manhattan
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
May you and everyone at your magazine burn in Hell.
Dear Ayman al-Zawahiri:
Does Al Qaeda ever endorse political candidates? If so, I recommend that you give a big thumbs-up to Barack Obama. I guarantee you he hates America as much as you do (if not more)! It would be great if you appeared in a bunch of TV ads and called him “the evildoing President that evildoers have been waiting for.”
—Bill in Chappaqua
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
Al Qaeda is only interested in American elections to the extent that we can plunge them into abject chaos. So this year, as in every other year, we are supporting Ralph Nader.
Greetings and compliments to you, my good sir:
I am the widow of the late Nigerian head of state, General Sani Abacha. Please wire $15,000 in U.S. funds to the bank information provided below and in two weeks’ time you will receive $150,000 for your kindly services, my goodly gentleman.
—Mrs. Maryam Abacha
Lagos
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
What kind of simpleton do you take me for? I sent you $15,000 last month and I never heard back.
Dear Ayman al-Zawahiri:
I have been trying to get through to WFAN Sports Radio 66 for the past three weeks, but they keep putting me on hold. So let me ask you instead: Do you think the Mets will go all the way?
—Mike in Flushing
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
Raining down misery and destruction on the Great Satan leaves me little time for such idle contemplations. That said, if Johan Santana puts up the kind of numbers he did for the Twins, look out.
Dear Ayman al-Zawahiri:
I am a big fan of Osama bin Laden and would like to get his autograph. I have an eight-by-ten glossy of him but don’t know where to send it. Could you please give me his exact mailing address?
—Borge W. Gush
Washington, D.C.
Ayman al-Zawahiri writes:
Please contact him directly. He’s on Facebook.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Solution: Monty Hall Problem
March 10, 2008
You should switch to Door #2.
At the start, each door had a one-third chance of hiding the car. You chose Door #1, accepting a two-thirds chance that the car was really behind Door #2 or Door #3.
In revealing the goat behind Door #3, Monty has helped you by removing that door from contention. Therefore the two-thirds chance now rests entirely with Door #2.
This is counterintuitive, but it's true. If you picture the universe of possibilities, you'll see that in two-thirds of the cases you initially pick a goat, and Monty shows you where the car is by revealing the other goat. Only in one-third of the cases will you pick the car correctly on the first move, when switching is a bad idea.
You should switch to Door #2.
At the start, each door had a one-third chance of hiding the car. You chose Door #1, accepting a two-thirds chance that the car was really behind Door #2 or Door #3.
In revealing the goat behind Door #3, Monty has helped you by removing that door from contention. Therefore the two-thirds chance now rests entirely with Door #2.
This is counterintuitive, but it's true. If you picture the universe of possibilities, you'll see that in two-thirds of the cases you initially pick a goat, and Monty shows you where the car is by revealing the other goat. Only in one-third of the cases will you pick the car correctly on the first move, when switching is a bad idea.
Find Free Shipping on just about everything!
March 10, 2008
Easily find items sold online with free shipping on sites like Amazon, eBay, and more than 500 other online stores with website Free Shipping On. The website sports easy navigation: two tabs that allow you to perform searches for items available on Amazon and eBay with free shipping, and then a third tab takes you to a page that offers free shipping coupons for over five hundred stores, from Apple to Walmart and organized by category as well. If shipping costs usually cause you to scratch your head and decide to wait for a better deal on retail, you may now want to reconsider. Here is the link:
Free Shippin On
Link Via Life Hacker
Thursday, February 28, 2008
The Monty Hall Problem
February 28, 2008
Link Via Futility Closet
Suppose you're a contestant on Let's Make a Deal. Monty Hall shows you three doors. One hides a sports car; the other two hide goats. You choose Door #1.
Before opening Door #1, though, Monty opens Door #3, revealing a goat. Now you can stick with Door #1 or switch to Door #2. Which should you do?
I will give the answer later.
Link Via Futility Closet
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Power of Compounding....
February 24, 2008
Link via Futilitycloset
In 1626 Peter Minuit, first governor of New Netherland, purchased Manhattan Island from the Indians for about $24. … Assume for simplicity a uniform rate of 7% from 1626 to the present, and suppose that the Indians had put their $24 at interest at that rate … and had added the interest to the principal yearly. What would be the amount now, after 280 years? 24 × (1.07)280 = more than 4,042,000,000. [The current value of Manhattan is] a little more than $4,898,400,000. … The Indians could have bought back most of the property now, with improvements; from which one might point the moral of saving money and putting it at interest!
– W.F. White, A Scrap-Book of Elementary Mathematics, 1908
Link via Futilitycloset
Friday, February 15, 2008
Advance Placement by Gender
15th February, 2008
Here is an interesting breakdown of women Vs men taking different AP classes in College. Here is the Link
As we embark on the 21st century I wonder what the Gloria Steinham's of the world have to say to this. As mothers did we fail to enthuse our little girls to take science and math?
Here is an interesting breakdown of women Vs men taking different AP classes in College. Here is the Link
As we embark on the 21st century I wonder what the Gloria Steinham's of the world have to say to this. As mothers did we fail to enthuse our little girls to take science and math?
For those who didn’t look at the Advanced Placement course taking reported here in the Chronicle, here is a breakdown of subjects by gender.
In these subjects, the percentage of females exceeded that of males, sometimes vastly.
—-Art History: 67 percent female
—-Biology: 58 percent
—-Chinese: 55 percent
—-English language and comp: 63 percent
—-English literature: 64 percent
—-Environmental science: 56 percent
—-European history: 54 percent
—-French language: 70 percent
—-French literature: 71 percent
—-Human geography: 55 percent
—-Italian: 65 percent
—-Japanese: 54 percent
—-Psychology: 65 percent
—-Spanish language: 64 percent
—-Spanish literature: 67 percent
—-Studio art: 70 percent
—-US history: 55 percent
—-World history: 55 percent
And here are the subjects in which females lagged:
—-Calculus BC: 41 percent
—-Chemistry: 47 percent
—-Computer science: 17 percent
—-Macroeconomics: 45 percent
—-Microeconomics: 43 percent
—-Music theory: 43 percent
—-Physics B: 35 percent
—-Physics C (electricity): 22 percent
—-Physics C (mechanics): 27 percent
And in these subjects, the gender breakdown was about even:
—-Calculus AB
—-German
—-Government and politics
—-US Government and politics
—-Latin
—-Statistics
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Link Bunch
February 14th,2008
A link bunch is just that - a bunch of links. Often you find several links on the web that you want to share on services such as instant messengers (Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, etc.) or microblogging platforms such as Twitter (which has a 140-character limit) and Pownce (which only has one link field). With LinkBunch, you take all those links and put them into one "bunch", which is just one single link--which looks like a TinyURL or SnipURL link--and give that around instead. Saves space, looks cleaner and saves a few bytes of bandwidth! :)
Save it as your favorite...
Link Bunch
Link via www.lifehacker.com
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Learning to Lie
February 13, 2008
An interesting article in New York Magazine on -- "Why kids Lie".
Here is the full article in New York Magazine Why Kids Lie
Link Via Arts and Letters Daily
An interesting article in New York Magazine on -- "Why kids Lie".
Kids lie early, often, and for all sorts of reasons—to avoid punishment, to bond with friends, to gain a sense of control. But now there’s a singular theory for one way this habit develops: They ajavascript:void(0)
Publish Postre just copying their parents.
Here is the full article in New York Magazine Why Kids Lie
Link Via Arts and Letters Daily
Sunday, February 3, 2008
A Favor
February 3, 2008
Link Via www.futilitycloset.com again
Lend me $10, but give me only half of it.
Then you'll owe me $5, and I'll owe you $5, and we'll be even.
Link Via www.futilitycloset.com again
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Go Figure!
January 31, 2008
A man deposited $50 in a savings account, then withdrew it in various sums. When he'd recovered his $50 he was surprised to find $1 left in the account, though it had drawn no interest. When he inquired, the bank produced this ledger:
Link Via www.futilitycloset.com
A man deposited $50 in a savings account, then withdrew it in various sums. When he'd recovered his $50 he was surprised to find $1 left in the account, though it had drawn no interest. When he inquired, the bank produced this ledger:
Link Via www.futilitycloset.com
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Sins of Omission
January 30, 2008
Posted in Language by Greg Ross on January 16th, 2008
Posted in Language by Greg Ross on January 16th, 2008
A Queens College teacher left a note on his classroom door:
PROFESSOR TOBIN WILL NOT MEET HIS CLASSES TODAY. He later noticed that a student had erased the first letter in CLASSES. So he erased the second letter as well.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Quote of the Day
January 28, 2008
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg: "With or without religion, good people will do good, and evil people will do evil. But for good people to do evil, that takes religion."
Monday, January 21, 2008
Shayeris from my father's journal
January 21, 2008
Here are some Urdu shayeris I recently read in my father's journal. Apart from myriad information in his journal he had a great collection of Urdu shayeris. They are sublime! Here are a few from the collection. Enjoy!
Here are some Urdu shayeris I recently read in my father's journal. Apart from myriad information in his journal he had a great collection of Urdu shayeris. They are sublime! Here are a few from the collection. Enjoy!
"Khud hi ko kar buland itna
ki har taqdir ke pehele
Khuda bande se khud hi puche
bata teri raza kya hai"
"Neend aaye to khawab aaye
khawab aaye, to tum aaye
par tumhari yaad mein
na neend aaye, na khawab aaye"
"Saki, peene de mujhe
masjid mein baith ke
ya woh jagah bata
jahan khuda nahin"
"Aagar tum khawab mein chale aate
tumhara kya bigar jata
hum e deedar ho jata
tumhara parda raha jata"
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Some funny tag lines...
January 17, 2008
My friend Rajib Roy -- oenophile, long distance runner and a blogger -- www.rajibroy.com has funny tag lines in his site apart from his take on management learning. I do visit his site just to check out his tag lines.
Here are a few:
Enjoy...
My friend Rajib Roy -- oenophile, long distance runner and a blogger -- www.rajibroy.com has funny tag lines in his site apart from his take on management learning. I do visit his site just to check out his tag lines.
Here are a few:
I doubt, therefore I might be!!
48.2% of all statistics is made up on the spot!
Atheism is a non-prophet organization!
Eat Right. Stay Fit. Die Anyway!!
Inheritance: a dead give away!!
Why do Chinese philosophers always try to Confucius?
Shin: A device for finding furniture in the dark :-)
Veni Vedi Visa - I came, I saw, I did a little shopping :-)
A good pun is its own reword :-)
I drink well, I eat well and I sleep well - but that's all :-)
Enjoy...
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Nano ke side effects!!!!
January 16, 2008
An excellent cartoon on the Nano phenomenon from the Hindi press:
An excellent cartoon on the Nano phenomenon from the Hindi press:
Five Ways to Fight Memory Loss
January 16, 2008
As per Dr. Weil in his website:
Five Recommended Lifestyle Changes:
Exercise your mind. Research shows that the old adage “use it or lose it” applies to your mental power as much as to the rest of your body. Crossword puzzles, mind games, and challenging reading or educational classes can all help you keep your brain agile and strong.
Exercise your body. Physical exercise seems to correlate with better mental function, perhaps because of improved circulation.
Eat a diet rich in antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids. Vegetables and fruits are the best sources of antioxidants, although tea and dark chocolate contribute as well. Cold-water fish, freshly ground flaxseed and walnuts provide omega-3s.
Avoid alcohol. Alcohol’s damaging effect on brain cells is well established in the medical literature.
Reduce stress. Learn and practice regular relaxation techniques like meditation or yoga.
As per Dr. Weil in his website:
Five Recommended Lifestyle Changes:
Exercise your mind. Research shows that the old adage “use it or lose it” applies to your mental power as much as to the rest of your body. Crossword puzzles, mind games, and challenging reading or educational classes can all help you keep your brain agile and strong.
Exercise your body. Physical exercise seems to correlate with better mental function, perhaps because of improved circulation.
Eat a diet rich in antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids. Vegetables and fruits are the best sources of antioxidants, although tea and dark chocolate contribute as well. Cold-water fish, freshly ground flaxseed and walnuts provide omega-3s.
Avoid alcohol. Alcohol’s damaging effect on brain cells is well established in the medical literature.
Reduce stress. Learn and practice regular relaxation techniques like meditation or yoga.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Friday, January 4, 2008
Losing an Edge, Japanese Envy India’s Schools
January 4, 2008
Losing an Edge, Japanese Envy India’s Schools -- NY Times
Read this morning in New York Times. Lately there has been a lot of talk of the US education system. Now Japanese also envy India's schools?
The link to the NY Times Article
Here is the whole article...
MITAKA, Japan — Japan is suffering a crisis of confidence these days about its ability to compete with its emerging Asian rivals, China and India. But even in this fad-obsessed nation, one result was never expected: a growing craze for Indian education.
Despite an improved economy, many Japanese are feeling a sense of insecurity about the nation’s schools, which once turned out students who consistently ranked at the top of international tests. That is no longer true, which is why many people here are looking for lessons from India, the country the Japanese see as the world’s ascendant education superpower.
Bookstores are filled with titles like “Extreme Indian Arithmetic Drills” and “The Unknown Secrets of the Indians.” Newspapers carry reports of Indian children memorizing multiplication tables far beyond nine times nine, the standard for young elementary students in Japan.
And Japan’s few Indian international schools are reporting a surge in applications from Japanese families.
At the Little Angels English Academy & International Kindergarten, the textbooks are from India, most of the teachers are South Asian, and classroom posters depict animals out of Indian tales. The kindergarten students even color maps of India in the green and saffron of its flag.
Little Angels is located in this Tokyo suburb, where only one of its 45 students is Indian. Most are Japanese.
Viewing another Asian country as a model in education, or almost anything else, would have been unheard-of just a few years ago, say education experts and historians.
Much of Japan has long looked down on the rest of Asia, priding itself on being the region’s most advanced nation. Indeed, Japan has dominated the continent for more than a century, first as an imperial power and more recently as the first Asian economy to achieve Western levels of economic development.
But in the last few years, Japan has grown increasingly insecure, gripped by fear that it is being overshadowed by India and China, which are rapidly gaining in economic weight and sophistication. The government here has tried to preserve Japan’s technological lead and strengthen its military. But the Japanese have been forced to shed their traditional indifference to the region.
Grudgingly, Japan is starting to respect its neighbors.
“Until now, Japanese saw China and India as backwards and poor,” said Yoshinori Murai, a professor of Asian cultures at Sophia University in Tokyo. “As Japan loses confidence in itself, its attitudes toward Asia are changing. It has started seeing India and China as nations with something to offer.”
Last month, a national cry of alarm greeted the announcement by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that in a survey of math skills, Japan had fallen from first place in 2000 to 10th place, behind Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. From second in science in 2000, Japan dropped to sixth place.
While China has stirred more concern here as a political and economic challenger, India has emerged as the country to beat in a more benign rivalry over education. In part, this reflects China’s image in Japan as a cheap manufacturer and technological imitator. But India’s success in software development, Internet businesses and knowledge-intensive industries in which Japan has failed to make inroads has set off more than a tinge of envy.
Most annoying for many Japanese is that the aspects of Indian education they now praise are similar to those that once made Japan famous for its work ethic and discipline: learning more at an earlier age, an emphasis on memorization and cramming, and a focus on the basics, particularly in math and science.
India’s more demanding education standards are apparent at the Little Angels Kindergarten, and are its main selling point. Its 2-year-old pupils are taught to count to 20, 3-year-olds are introduced to computers, and 5-year-olds learn to multiply, solve math word problems and write one-page essays in English, tasks most Japanese schools do not teach until at least second grade.
Indeed, Japan’s anxieties about its declining competitiveness echo the angst of another nation two decades ago, when Japan was the economic upstart.
“Japan’s interest in learning from Indian education is a lot like America’s interest in learning from Japanese education,” said Kaoru Okamoto, a professor specializing in education policy at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.
As with many new things here, the interest in Indian-style education quickly became a fad.
Indian education is a frequent topic in forums like talk shows. Popular books claim to reveal the Indian secrets for multiplying and dividing multiple-digit numbers. Even Japan’s conservative education ministry has begun discussing Indian methods, said Jun Takai of the ministry’s international affairs division.
Eager parents try to send their children to Japan’s roughly half dozen Indian schools, hoping for an edge on the competitive college entrance exams.
In Tokyo, the two largest Indian schools, which teach kindergarten through junior high, mainly to Indian expatriates, received a sudden increase in inquiries from Japanese parents starting last year.
The Global Indian International School says that 20 of its some 200 students are now Japanese, with demand so high from Indian and Japanese parents that it is building a second campus in the neighboring city of Yokohama.
The other, the India International School in Japan, just expanded to 170 students last year, including 10 Japanese. It already has plans to expand again.
Japanese parents have expressed “very, very high interest” in Indian schools, said Nirmal Jain, principal of the India International School.
The boom has had the side effect of making many Japanese a little more tolerant toward other Asians.
The founder of the Little Angels school, Jeevarani Angelina — a former oil company executive from Chennai, India, who accompanied her husband, Saraph Chandar Rao Sanku, to Japan in 1990 — said she initially had difficulty persuading landlords to rent space to an Indian woman to start a school. But now, the fact that she and three of her four full-time teachers are non-Japanese Asians is a selling point.
“When I started, it was a first to have an English-language school taught by Asians, not Caucasians,” she said, referring to the long presence here of American and European international schools.
Unlike other Indian schools, Ms. Angelina said, Little Angels was intended primarily for Japanese children, to meet the need she had found when she sent her sons to Japanese kindergarten.
“I was lucky because I started when the Indian-education boom started,” said Ms. Angelina, 50, who goes by the name Rani Sanku here because it is easier for Japanese to pronounce. (Sanku is her husband’s family name.)
Ms. Angelina has adapted the curriculum to Japan with more group activities, less memorization and no Indian history. Encouraged by the kindergarten’s success, she said, she plans to open an Indian-style elementary school this year.
Parents are enthusiastic about the school’s rigorous standards.
“My son’s level is higher than those of other Japanese children the same age,” said Eiko Kikutake, whose son Hayato, 5, attends Little Angels. “Indian education is really amazing! This wouldn’t have been possible at a Japanese kindergarten.”
Losing an Edge, Japanese Envy India’s Schools -- NY Times
Read this morning in New York Times. Lately there has been a lot of talk of the US education system. Now Japanese also envy India's schools?
The link to the NY Times Article
Here is the whole article...
MITAKA, Japan — Japan is suffering a crisis of confidence these days about its ability to compete with its emerging Asian rivals, China and India. But even in this fad-obsessed nation, one result was never expected: a growing craze for Indian education.
Despite an improved economy, many Japanese are feeling a sense of insecurity about the nation’s schools, which once turned out students who consistently ranked at the top of international tests. That is no longer true, which is why many people here are looking for lessons from India, the country the Japanese see as the world’s ascendant education superpower.
Bookstores are filled with titles like “Extreme Indian Arithmetic Drills” and “The Unknown Secrets of the Indians.” Newspapers carry reports of Indian children memorizing multiplication tables far beyond nine times nine, the standard for young elementary students in Japan.
And Japan’s few Indian international schools are reporting a surge in applications from Japanese families.
At the Little Angels English Academy & International Kindergarten, the textbooks are from India, most of the teachers are South Asian, and classroom posters depict animals out of Indian tales. The kindergarten students even color maps of India in the green and saffron of its flag.
Little Angels is located in this Tokyo suburb, where only one of its 45 students is Indian. Most are Japanese.
Viewing another Asian country as a model in education, or almost anything else, would have been unheard-of just a few years ago, say education experts and historians.
Much of Japan has long looked down on the rest of Asia, priding itself on being the region’s most advanced nation. Indeed, Japan has dominated the continent for more than a century, first as an imperial power and more recently as the first Asian economy to achieve Western levels of economic development.
But in the last few years, Japan has grown increasingly insecure, gripped by fear that it is being overshadowed by India and China, which are rapidly gaining in economic weight and sophistication. The government here has tried to preserve Japan’s technological lead and strengthen its military. But the Japanese have been forced to shed their traditional indifference to the region.
Grudgingly, Japan is starting to respect its neighbors.
“Until now, Japanese saw China and India as backwards and poor,” said Yoshinori Murai, a professor of Asian cultures at Sophia University in Tokyo. “As Japan loses confidence in itself, its attitudes toward Asia are changing. It has started seeing India and China as nations with something to offer.”
Last month, a national cry of alarm greeted the announcement by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that in a survey of math skills, Japan had fallen from first place in 2000 to 10th place, behind Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. From second in science in 2000, Japan dropped to sixth place.
While China has stirred more concern here as a political and economic challenger, India has emerged as the country to beat in a more benign rivalry over education. In part, this reflects China’s image in Japan as a cheap manufacturer and technological imitator. But India’s success in software development, Internet businesses and knowledge-intensive industries in which Japan has failed to make inroads has set off more than a tinge of envy.
Most annoying for many Japanese is that the aspects of Indian education they now praise are similar to those that once made Japan famous for its work ethic and discipline: learning more at an earlier age, an emphasis on memorization and cramming, and a focus on the basics, particularly in math and science.
India’s more demanding education standards are apparent at the Little Angels Kindergarten, and are its main selling point. Its 2-year-old pupils are taught to count to 20, 3-year-olds are introduced to computers, and 5-year-olds learn to multiply, solve math word problems and write one-page essays in English, tasks most Japanese schools do not teach until at least second grade.
Indeed, Japan’s anxieties about its declining competitiveness echo the angst of another nation two decades ago, when Japan was the economic upstart.
“Japan’s interest in learning from Indian education is a lot like America’s interest in learning from Japanese education,” said Kaoru Okamoto, a professor specializing in education policy at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.
As with many new things here, the interest in Indian-style education quickly became a fad.
Indian education is a frequent topic in forums like talk shows. Popular books claim to reveal the Indian secrets for multiplying and dividing multiple-digit numbers. Even Japan’s conservative education ministry has begun discussing Indian methods, said Jun Takai of the ministry’s international affairs division.
Eager parents try to send their children to Japan’s roughly half dozen Indian schools, hoping for an edge on the competitive college entrance exams.
In Tokyo, the two largest Indian schools, which teach kindergarten through junior high, mainly to Indian expatriates, received a sudden increase in inquiries from Japanese parents starting last year.
The Global Indian International School says that 20 of its some 200 students are now Japanese, with demand so high from Indian and Japanese parents that it is building a second campus in the neighboring city of Yokohama.
The other, the India International School in Japan, just expanded to 170 students last year, including 10 Japanese. It already has plans to expand again.
Japanese parents have expressed “very, very high interest” in Indian schools, said Nirmal Jain, principal of the India International School.
The boom has had the side effect of making many Japanese a little more tolerant toward other Asians.
The founder of the Little Angels school, Jeevarani Angelina — a former oil company executive from Chennai, India, who accompanied her husband, Saraph Chandar Rao Sanku, to Japan in 1990 — said she initially had difficulty persuading landlords to rent space to an Indian woman to start a school. But now, the fact that she and three of her four full-time teachers are non-Japanese Asians is a selling point.
“When I started, it was a first to have an English-language school taught by Asians, not Caucasians,” she said, referring to the long presence here of American and European international schools.
Unlike other Indian schools, Ms. Angelina said, Little Angels was intended primarily for Japanese children, to meet the need she had found when she sent her sons to Japanese kindergarten.
“I was lucky because I started when the Indian-education boom started,” said Ms. Angelina, 50, who goes by the name Rani Sanku here because it is easier for Japanese to pronounce. (Sanku is her husband’s family name.)
Ms. Angelina has adapted the curriculum to Japan with more group activities, less memorization and no Indian history. Encouraged by the kindergarten’s success, she said, she plans to open an Indian-style elementary school this year.
Parents are enthusiastic about the school’s rigorous standards.
“My son’s level is higher than those of other Japanese children the same age,” said Eiko Kikutake, whose son Hayato, 5, attends Little Angels. “Indian education is really amazing! This wouldn’t have been possible at a Japanese kindergarten.”
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