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The Oscar nominated LION is definitely worth a watch, given its theme of search for identity and one's roots in a post-Google Earth global scenario. Set in India in the first half, the movie traces the journey of a 5 year old Saroo from his home town in Khandwa, to Calcutta, and later across the globe, to Tasmania in Australia. The journey is both within and without, in the sense that the internal quest of the protagonist for a sense of belonging and roots merge with, and culminate in his external voyage halfway across the earth. Sheer grit and determination, coupled with a raw intensity of emotions and memories of his lost childhood, propel Saroo to launch a search for his estranged mother and family a good many years after he lands up in Australia. True to the real story, the movie shows Saroo's struggle to blot out the memories of his life in India and attempts to settle down to a life of cushy comfort in his adopted country. His conflict is understandable; he feels his...

The annual rigmarole of final examinations is on us once again. Look around you, and you will find students crazily cramming up facts, figures and formulas, and parents nervously egging them on. As for teachers, they compete with each other on how many questions they can squeeze in an examination paper. After all, each minute detail of the syllabus is important, and needs to be reproduced on paper. That's how they have been trained by our education policy makers and school authorities. One thing is certain in the Indian education system: Much as we crib and curse the examination system and rote learning, they are here to stay for a long time. Because no one is willing to risk on experimenting with an alternative system of assessing students or evaluating real learning. It is too much hard work - overhauling the entire system, sensitizing policy makers, retraining school principals and teachers, counselling parents, and preparing students alternately. Who has the time or inclinat...