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"India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters. I love my country and am proud of its heritage....." This has been a pledge we have all taken in school. Sadly, recent events have shown how few Indians actually believe in this pledge. We have seen such ghastly acts of rape in recent days, that as an Indian my head hangs in shame. Perpetrators of the most gruesome crimes against children and women walk free and escape imprisonment on flimsy grounds. How can I be proud of my country where women and children are constantly living in fear? And more appalling is the polarization of people on religious and political grounds, and worse, their justification of such inhuman incidents with "When such an incident happened before, why were such protests not organized?" or "It is a conspiracy to malign our great country." Like really? What great country? If such incidents of rape, acid attack, sodomy, child abuse, incest take place on a regular,...

Rani Mukherji, as a teacher, raises some vital questions regarding education and teaching in her latest Hindi film, Hichki. Though the film is about a teacher afflicted with Tourette Syndrome, it goes beyond discussing her handicap to talk about the barriers and restrictions we ("so- called normal people") have in our minds that hold us back. As a teacher struggling to normalize of a batch of under-privileged, unruly, sidelined kids, she challenges our educational system time and again. First, why do we, as teachers and as parents, lay so much stress on teaching the same old syllabus in the same old manner?? Who says learning can't be fun? Why go around the beaten path only, and drone on and on about formulae and theories in physics, maths, chemistry? Why not imagine creative situations where these theories can be demonstrated, exemplified, and therefore ingrained in the mind? Two, every child is unique and has some inborn talent. Just because he/she doesn't...