Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Literacy Vs Education

Yesterday, I was expecting a great start to the week. But it was not what happened. 


On my way to work, a biker banged on to my car causing yet another dent and scratch, that too, a not so good one. The bike almost went under my car and before I could even get out a have a look at the dent, the bike fellow pulled his bike and fled the scene. He did not have a helmet but fortunately for ME, his head did not come under my car. He did not even care to stop and apologize.

Just another day on Hyderabad roads filled up with careless and reckless drivers who don't care a rat's a** about how their driving impacts someone else's life. No, I am not just talking about those illiterates going on a bicycle trying to overtake your BMW. This is also the case with bunch of educated fools working in large corporates. I should not call educated, because if they were, this would not be the situation. I should call them just literates - people who can read and write (... and code?).

A couple of months back, a biker banged on to the back side of my car. He was a young guy, and had the courtesy of pulling over and apologizing. There was no serious damage to the car except for a mild scratch on the bumper. Right then I noticed that he was not wearing a helmet. I coughed up the courage and asked him a question which was outside the context of the situation. 

Me: "Why are you not wearing a helmet?"
Him: "Oh! that helmet rule is not there anymore ..."
Me: "Are you wearing it for the government or for yourself?"

It took me some courage to ask that question, but I don't know if he ever wore a helmet after that conversation.

By dictionary definition:

ed·u·cat·ed     [ej-oo-key-tid] 
–adjective
1. having undergone education: educated people.
2. characterized by or displaying qualities of culture and learning.
3. based on some information or experience


lit·er·ate     [lit-er-it] 
–adjective
1. able to read and write.
2. having or showing knowledge of literature, writing, etc.; literary; well-read 

You see the difference? 

- Parking in "No Parking" zone even if they see board

- Stopping right in the middle of the road to let passengers get down

- Jump off a moving bus which is slowing down at a signal in the middle of the road and then cursing the car driver who stops just before hitting them

- Driving slower than a bicycle on the fast lane (right most lane, if you didn't know) happily having conversation on mobile phone

- Wriggle through congested traffic trying to get ahead when a bunch fools like me are waiting for the traffic to clear

- Keeping the helmet between the legs (may be trying to protect his precious asset from the blowing wind) instead of wearing it and then wearing a sunglass making himself look worse than how Johny Lever would look

- Crossing the road without looking at the flowing traffic and commanding to stop by raising the hand as if he/she is straight away an incarnation of a Balakrishna or a Chiranjeevi

I can go on ... 

India has literacy of 61% which is pretty close to Andhra Pradesh's literacy rate. 

But, how about a education? 


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