Happy Days – II

I was lucky to have had my primary and secondary including senior secondary education in Nidubrolu, Guntur District. But so many of my friends of smaller and surrounding villages had to stay in our village in groups of 12-15 in rented houses and engaging cooks. Hats off to their parents, their vision, they had liberal views and allowed their wards to stay away from their houses at relatively younger age. For all practical purposes, the children were hostlers, except that the accommodations were private. Parents used to visit once in a while to enquire about their welfare and help, if needed.

I noticed a similar situation when I was studying at IISc, Bangalore. I had to resort to give tuitions to (and that’s how I came to know about this) students of nearby M S Ramaiah Engineering College, due to certain financial constraints. The college was just then started and it didn’t have elaborate hostel accommodation. Few students hailing from the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh lived close to the college by taking a residence on rent and bringing a cook from their native place. No doubt it was expensive, but they could avoid commuting and have homely and healthy food. Thus the students were able to generate extra time to visit our library, and study well.

When I was working in Railways at Vijayawada, during early ‘80s, I used to give guest lectures at A.P. Productivity Council Diploma Courses in Computer Science and Computer Languages. Those days these subjects were new and nascent. A small group of girl students from across the sacred Krishna river, had taken admission, family apartment on rent and sought the help of their grand parents. The grand parents were too happy and took care of all the house-hold-administrative overheads, thus, greatly relieving the students of the mundane chores. The students could, then, concentrate on their studies fully.

The students had become more responsible toward their studies, were able to learn time management and lived almost independently solving their problems themselves. I used to be informed of their consulting the parents on occasions, for which the parents were ecstatic.

In the long run it would be a great morale booster for them and they could prove to be successful in any future challenging assignments. I am sure; in their heart of hearts every parent wants their children to be successful.

Then, why not my dear parents, help your children avoid commuting and continue to give them their Happy Days. Your investment on your children, and through them in shaping our great Nation better, wouldn’t go waste.