When Grammar Met Clarity

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Writing has always fascinated me. It’s such an interesting aspect of communication; you can pretty much convey anything you want, in any way you want. Even a grammatically incorrect sentence can carry its full meaning. Yet, somewhere along the way, we began mistaking good communication for intelligence. “Oh, he writes and speaks so well.  He must be smart.” Good communication can create a false sense of technical pride. I grew up believing that grammatical precision was the measure of knowledge. But in hindsight, that wasn’t entirely me; it was my teachers. They were absolutely particular that every sentence not only conveyed meaning, but also respected the sanctity of grammar. A misplaced article or preposition could invite the harshest of corrections. Yesterday, my wife and I were talking about writing and as all conversations these days eventually do, it veered toward our kids’ writing. We were laughing over Sahana’s recent schoolwork: a delightful mix of humor, dialogue, and im...
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India v/s Brazil

As the soccer fever is gripping the world, the obvious question to us is Why is India not able to make it to the World Cup Finals? Instead of finding fault with others, let us sit back and analyse the system that is prevailing in our country. That is exactly what myself and Karthik Chandramouli did. As a young kid, one has a lot of aspirations to make it big in something other than academics. But is he really able to pursue what he wants? There is a notion among the elders that their children can come up only in the conventional way. Score good marks right from first grade to engineering, get placed in a good software company and earn good money for the rest of the career. Why can't our thoughts progress beyond this? Why can't we deviate from the normal and try to seek a career by pursuing our interests rather than the beaten path?

Coming back to football, how many schools in India support a good extracurricular system? I come from a school where let alone a football field, we did not even have sufficient space to play running and catching (remember?). We were always infused with academics right from the start. We are forced to believe that that is the only path to assured success. How in such a situation can we produce world class sportsmen? A handful of them play cricket and that too against a backdrop of tremendous peer pressure to concentrate on academics. How many of us were involved in athletics, football, cricket, tennis or even table tennis? So, there is no point in hurling an accusing finger at one another at the state of affairs of the Indian sports system. It is not just a few changes, but a major overhaul is required at the grassroot level to take Indian sports to a new level. I hope to see the light of the day when India might be playing Brazil in the finals. What a dream come true that would be!

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 14, 2006 at 7:47 AM

    seriously man, even if u had played with ronaldo or federer right from the time u were born, would it have made the slightest difference to ur ability to play sports.
    remember how u grip the cricket bat, u SUCK!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJune 15, 2006 at 11:28 PM

    hi praveen,
    nice thoughts on ur blog. on this post as to WHY INDIA IS NOT ABLE TO MAKE IT TO THE WORLD CUP FINALS, I have a couple of funny takes on that in my blog. do visit it at:

    http://ramblingwithbellur.blogspot.com/2006/06/soccer-world-cup-winner-is-predestined.html

    and

    http://ramblingwithbellur.blogspot.com/2006/06/soccer-its-at-my-fingertips.html

    keep blogging.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJune 15, 2006 at 11:37 PM

    and just now read that u stayed next to MSIL apts. i have been staying in 16th cross, and me too visited CCL with my friend, though not a member. I was a member of DISCAB Circ. Lib. next to Expert dry cleaners, remember the place?

    nice to know about old malleswaram boys. glad i stumbled upon ur blog!

    do visit mine.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Praveen KrishnanJune 16, 2006 at 8:29 AM

    Hi RK,

    I have visited Discab too. I used to get the books from my friend who was the member there.

    ReplyDelete

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