Saturday, July 25, 2015

Social Responsibility: What is it? - Part2

I live in a place called Sankar Nagar, Pammal in Chennai. It is the place where the population is growing steadily. Both the commercial as well as the residential real estate is thriving in this place. This place is promoted and developed by, Appaswamy Real Estate , a very successful real estate developer in the industry.

Way back in 1984, when we started living here, this place was surrounded by bushes and trees. It was so good to walk around the trees and bushes in the afternoons after 3pm. The breeze was cool. We didn't have to close the windows and doors to keep the dust away. There was literally no noise and air pollution. Now the concrete jungle has replaced the greenery. The inhabitants have made the place more inhospitable.

Sankar Nagar 36th Street

Sankar Nagar 39th Street

The other day while I was jogging in the street, I saw an elderly person emptying the dustbin in a rain water canal opposite to his house. I stopped and asked him,"Sir, don't you use the Exnora Service?. He looked at me puzzled. And then he smiled at me after a second and said,"No. I just throw the wastage here." I said,"You should use it, Sir. You can not keep your surroundings so dirty and the materials that you are dumping inside the water canal would only block the flow of the water during rainy season." He smiled at me and walked away. He repeated the same the next day also. I just looked at him and didn't say anything. He pretended that he didn't see me at all.

I thought people should be made aware of their own responsibility to maintain a better living condition before complaining about the maintenance of the surroundings by the government civic bodies. Now, I know that we should strictly make laws to prevent them from dumping the wastages in their own surroundings, for their own benefits. I guess it worked in the rain water harvesting project. Government announced that the electricity connection would be disconnected if the rain water harvesting is not done within the stipulated period of time.

So what should be the punishment given to those who dump the wastage on the streets and in the water canals? I would like to know your thoughts. Please post in the comments. Thanks!

Luv u all
Uma
Freelancer

Mommies Woes

As told by my youngest sister - mother of a son who is studying in second grade.

I went to pick up my son from the school yesterday evening. And this interesting incident happened.

Mommy No.1 - My son told me that the teacher asked him to complete the assignment of pasting three pictures from the categories of trees, creepers and herbs yesterday evening itself to submit today morning. I found it very difficult to get the pictures within such a short notice.

Mommy No.2 - My son told me that the teacher asked to paste  just Trees!!!!!?

Mom No.1 - Oh! But I read that in my son's home-work diary!

Son of Mom No.1 who was playing around these two mommies- I wrote it down when the teacher announced that in the class yesterday.

Mom No.1 - And he said that he has to paste three photos of each categories in one sheet of the activity notebook!

Mom No.2 - What! My son told me that he has to paste one tree in each sheets of the notebook. And that is what I have done for him.

Both Mom No.1 & Mom No. 2 were confused about the exact requirement of the assignment.

And here entered Mommy No.3 - Hey mommies!

Mom No.2 - What pictures have you chosen for your son to paste in the activity notebook?

Mom No.3 - Huh! What are you talking about? I didn't read any such activity in his home-work diary! My son didn't say anything about that.

Mom No.1 & Mom No.2 LOLed.
Mommies woes


The school bell rang. The teacher and the kids walked out of the school together. Mom No.2 approached the teacher and asked,"What exactly was the activity assignment?"

The teacher replied,"They can choose any pictures of plants and trees to paste in the activity notebook."

I heard this as soon as the teacher finished her sentence from both Mom No.2 and Mom No.3 in chorus - but my son, didn't, just trees, anything.

The teacher replied,"I just gave them an example by mentioning trees, creepers and herbs."

Mom No.2 - "I have just pasted the pictures of Trees but one in each paper of the entire notebook"

Teacher said,"What!!!??"

Mom No.3 said,"My son didn't say anything. So I didn't do anything in his activity notebook."

Teacher said,"That's ok. You can paste the pictures today. I have returned his activity notebook to
him"

She turned towards Mom No.2 and said,"I saw your son's notebook. Don't worry. Let me see how can I help you."

Mommy No.1 is me.

We both laughed at this incident.

This is what I inferred and I told my sister, that your son have heard about Trees, Creepers and Herbs earlier, even before the teacher mentioned it in the class. So he understood the words and wrote them in the home-work diary. Son of Mom No.2 didn't understand the other two words. So he didn't mention that to his mother. Son of Mom No.3 didn't understand all the three words. So he didn't mention anything about that assignment at all.

I heard from my younger sister, mother of a 5th grader, that the teachers of upto 4th grade are supposed to write the details of home-work in the diaries of all the students. Or the teachers should write it on the class board and ask the students to copy it in their home-work diary.

TEACHERS are you listening!!

Luv u all
Uma
Freelancer

Image courtesy: iosphere from freedigitalphotos.net