Schools and Countries

I have been promising a friend of mine to write a blog since forever, but I never got the time nor the inspiration to write one for a long long time. Part of the many reasons behind this was that I was extremely depressed these past few weeks. Living alone in an unknown country amongst unknown people who are not really very supportive of you can take a major toll on your mental stability. But, I will not go into details of that..


Now, here I am, sitting in the only, and now empty, cafe in an obscure town in Finland, writing this while waiting for an old woman who wants to talk to me about my depressed state.


Staring out at the frozen street in front of me, I started wondering about my school days.Attending school in Finland is so different from attending it in India. For starters, all Indian schools have uniforms. Some are ugly, some are not-so-ugly. But uniforms, ugly or not, are compulsory. Finnish schools, on the other hand, have no uniforms at all.


Then, my school days in India always started with an assembly of the whole school. The assemblies always started with the National Anthem followed by prayers, which was then followed by a resounding 'Good Morning, Teachers!' Then, someone from the teachers or the prefects would give out announcements, if any, and then at last, the classes would start. Here in Finland, people come to school some 5minutes before the classes start. There are no assemblies and stuff like that.


Also, I remember that whenever a teacher would enter the classroom, everyone would have to stand up and wish him/her 'Good Morning' or 'Good Afternoon', then the teacher would tell us to sit down and the lesson would start. Here, in Finland, the teacher comes in, says 'Hi!' and then starts teaching!


In India, a teacher would always be known as a 'Sir' or a 'Madam'. Here, in Finland, a teacher is known just by his/her name.


Then the lessons. Back in India, I used to have three 35minute lessons, back-to-back. Then the lunch break for 20minutes. Again three 35minute lessons and a break for 10minutes. Another triplet of lessons and then the school used to get over. Here, one lesson lasts for 45minutes and then there is a 15minute break before the next lesson starts.

And the lessons themselves are so less challenging than what I am used to. At first, when I was sitting in a class of 17yr olds, I thought that I was back in class 8, doing stuff I did when I was 12! As the year progressed, the lessons did get tougher, but not really as tough as I am used to, anyway. No wonder these people have so much extra time to do random stuff.


Then, back home, we used to have 2semesters and 2exams in each semester. And the 2nd exam of the 2nd semester was like the worst exam ever, coz we had do slog all that was taught during the whole academic year. Here, they have 6periods, each lasting for 1 and a half month each. Each having a different set of courses that never come back after the period is over. At the end of each period, they have a week of exams during which a test is given for each course attended during the period. I found this method a lot more easier as the studying material is reduced drastically.


Oh yeah, and of course, Finns get free food in the school, which is quite decent. I always had to take my tiffin to school.. 


I'm not sure which education system I like more. Each one has an equal number of pros and cons. But considering the heavy-duty syllabus of Indian Education, I feel happy that I studied under the Indian one. After seeing the way of things here, I'm totally proud of having having emerged from such a tough education system with, well, maybe not flying colors, but at at least with dignity.

And all this nonsense about SRK and his Pakistan-favored comments angering people is just bullshit. How can people be so blind and ignorant? India is a free country and everyone has a right to say what they want. And  SRK was never wrong in what he said. Not all Pakistanis are terrorists and neither are all terrorists Pakistani. So try to clear your mind and get rid of your nasty narrow mindedness.
Also, the Terrorists attacks on the German Bakery in Pune is an act of cowardness and it is strongly condemned. RIP all the victims of the attack and hope the Government succeeds in capturing and punishing the cowards responsible for this act. Jai Hind!



P.S. The last para was completely spontaneous and has no connection to anything related to this blog. It's just that I love SRK and I'm really sad that I won''t be able to watch his My Name Is KHAN asap.. :P

Check out Save Our Tigers | Join the Roar

Title: Save Our Tigers | Join the Roar
Link: http://gotaf.socialtwist.com/redirect?l=-6447226578647205531

Tigers are like the pride of our nation.. Help to save them.. :)

Riding in Snow..

Today I found out just how difficult it is to ride a bicycle in the snow --  the hard way..

I was supposed to go to a friend's house for the afternoon, just to watch a movie and chill out.. This friend lives like a few kilometers away from where I live.. It took all my energy in riding the bike and concentrating on not skidding and falling down!! I was completely out of breath in just 10minutes!! To add a cherry on top of the cake, my bicycle has no brakes! On the way back from my friend's, I rode directly into a snow bank! God, that was sooo embarrassing! But fun, too.. The moment I hit the snow, it felt AWEsome!!

Me and my friends were supposed to watch this movie called Bruno, but it was embarrassingly gay, having gay sex scenes n stuff, and we had the friend's parents among us, so we had to change the movie.. We ended up watching Mean Girls.. B-O-O-O-R-I-N-G!! But it was fun watching it with them! I guess, friends make everything better.. :)

Not being a Christian or from a Christian country sucks when it comes to festivals.. I've made sooooo many faux pas about Christmas gifts and cards that I'm totally thinking of burying myself in a hole.. I mean, everyone around me is exchanging gifts and cards and I'm standing there like a dummy saying "Oh! I forgot your gift/card at home!!" -- which, by the way, is completely true.. I shopped for Christmas in November itself.. :|

Today was also my cousin's birthday!! A very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her..!! I miss her sooooo much!! It would have been our cue to go partying today if I was at home, who cares about exams? :P

We did talk for about 90 minutes today, so it kinda made up for that..

Oh, and the reason for not blogging much was that 3 of my very good friends are back on the Yahoo! Messenger scene and I was kinda busy chatting with them.. :D

Oh, and now I'm also addicted to Naruto! yeah, laugh.. :|

I wish all of you people out there reading this a very Merry Christmas! and a prosperous New Year!!

Have fun in the holidays, people!! :)

A New Epidemic?

After reading the title, many people must think I'm gonna write about Swine Flu.. Yawn, quite boring, eh? Nah, I'm not writing about swine flu.. I'm writing about Obesity..

I'm really jobless, having a lot of free time on my hands, so these crappy topics..

Anyway, Obesity.. Earlier, a problem faced only by rich countries, obesity is spreading rapidly all over the world.. The main reason for this is believed to be urbanization.. Life in cities has kept everyone -- kids and adults -- away from exercise. Fast-paced busy lives, pollution and lifestyle amenities have decreased the importance of physical exertion.

Urban cities are also thriving with unhealthy fast-food joints.. McDonald's and other such American fast-food chains, along with the local fast-food restaurants are also a major reason behind increasing obesity. The modern, working family nowadays has no time to sit down and have a formal meal. This has lead to the practice of snacking -- which eventually leads to more intake of food than necessary. Also, portion sizes are increasing rapidly, too. Along with our lifestyles, our eating habits have started to seem American too.. (Now, is it a bad thing..?? )

Another reason for obesity are supermarkets and ready-to-eat, pre-packaged foodstuffs. Unlike fresh food, these food products have extremely high amounts of sugar, salt, fat and preservatives, so that their shelf-life is increased. These elements contribute into excess weight gain.

And probably the last reason for obesity is the 'Theory of Evolution'! Our forefathers were used to living on minimum amounts of food. According to the 'Thrifty-gene Theory' of weight gain, our bodies were brought up to conserve food and cope with minimum available calories and nutrition. When overwhelmed with unlimited food, excess weight gain and obesity are unavoidable.

No wonder people gain weight these days.. :D

Questions and NO Answers.. :(

7th December, his Birthday.. It's been almost 2 weeks since we had a proper conversation.. And then too, we had a fight.. Was getting into a romantic relationship with my best friend a mistake on my part? Or is it the physical distance between us that's creating this problem? Is expecting an hour of his precious time a very big demand? My boyfriend, the one who claims to love me, can't spare just an hour a day for me.. I agree he's got his exams, but this is not the first time he;s got exams! I remember those days when we used to talk for hours on end during exam time.. And not just any exam.. We talked through both of our BOARD EXAMS! So, what's wrong now? Where did those late-night calls disappear to? I still remember those calls after 11pm in the night. Just because it was 10 times cheaper, we used to talk 10 times more.. There have been nights when we both went to sleep at 4am because we had been talking! What's wrong now?? Can't he spare one measly hour for me? And why the hell do we keep getting into fights? For a romance that's hardly 2months old, isn't this abnormal? Why doesn't he understand that he needs to give at least some of his time towards this relationship to make it last? And if he knew he wasn't going to be able to give me time, why the heck did he take the first step in the first place? Why not wait till I was back in India? Why not just shut up and let things be as they were? At least we were happy! By proposing me, he sent me beyond happiness, and then brought me crashing back down! Why did he do that?

~So many questions and I have no answers.. And no one to demand answers from, either.. Why does my life has to suck so much??

~Someone help me out! Should I keep calling him till he receives my call or should I cuddle my self-esteem close to me and wait till he calls and apologizes? I can't even concentrate on this particular problem properly because there are other, more important problems in my life for which I can't even seek help!

~I've spent many sleepless nights over this issue and I'm seriously fed up now.. Why are you doing this to me, M.. WHY??