Happy Days -- I

Knowingly or unknowingly some children in the age bracket of 16-21 years lose some of their valuable time in this prime period, presumably in the guise of commuting between residence and college of study. 

Thanks to the mushrooming growth of engineering, technology and P.G. institutes, we find one institute in every big village. While this is a welcome sign that we have more educational institutions within a radius of 10 km, it’s regretful to note that many of them don’t have hostel facilities either for boys or girls. It’s also not always possible to find a suitable accommodation with boarding near them. Thus more and more parents take softer options of advising their children to do up and down daily between their house and the college.

The parents also further advise “you will be alone in a new place; you will not get mom-made-food and in case you fall sick there won’t be any body to take care of you etc, etc.”  

In this way parents inadvertently discourage their wards to start living independently. Of course, indirectly, the parents save money, but it’s not in the best interests of the children. By staying close to the college, they save the commuting time, they face, understand and solve their problems themselves; they derive more pleasure, grow up to become better individuals with more self confidence and ready to face the world as it comes.

Take for example of a student going to Chirala Engineering College (about 7 km away from Chirala R.S.) from Angalakuduru (4 km away from Tenali). He/she spends almost four hours everyday to commute up and down, losing 80 hours in a month of 20 working days. Please think, is it justified? It’s a hefty penalty we pay for not staying in Chirala itself. This type is not uncommon even with elitist parents in metros like, Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad

An elegant solution may be that a group of students can stay together by hiring a house and a cook. Of course parents will have to spend a little more, money and time, but its well worth the investment. And it’s for our own children – the future of this great country.

There are cases of selecting colleges and courses which are close to the residence but not to the total liking of the children, just to avoid commuting, some times, leading to sensitive conflicts between the parents and children.

Therefore, I earnestly appeal to both the parents and children to balance their choice and not to compromise their interests in order to save a few chips presently. I am sure parents would do well by allowing their wards to stay close the college of study and give them back their happy days.