her school, sighhhh.....

Being fit - nice. Being fast – great. Having Jispa’s physical education teacher telling her that her dad runs like a rocket – priceless. It seems that her friend who was next to her, then commented “even Jispa runs like a rocket”
I got a lot of like papa like daughter thing that day. I am pretty keen that she does her athletics and sports well. A good culture of fitness will go a long way in her life. Studies are something everybody focused on in any case. There are a lot of factors that will force to focus on that part of education, but there are few factors in India that motivate a child’s physical development. It’s changing, with clubs doing their bit, but it is a long way off yet.
While we were at her school for the sports day there was an Art exhibition done by the school, showcasing the work done by the students. Some that stuff was mind boggling. It was done in a variety of media and had multiple expressions. Some of the talent there is outstanding but that’s not what I am so impressed by. Talent many times in inborn. What got me floored was the stuff done by Jispa’s class. Jispa’s painting was hung along side others of her class. They all were similar looking. On that board was also a painting of Jamini Roy. The kids were taught the style of Jamini Roy. How the artist uses forms that need not look real, bright colors that need not match that of the animal in real life, how the eyes are bigger etc. the entire class tried to paint in that style and they came out so beautiful. In my school art class sucked. The teacher couldn’t teach two bits. Those with natural talents did well and the others just ambled along. I never figured the point of an art exam as well. I remember it as being irritating, with paints falling, colors running and an absolute mess. I don’t think Jamini or even Picasso was ever mentioned in the class. Just draw a scene – the scene would change – school, bus stop, fields, etc… those horrible triangles as mountains and the V shaped birds. The best part was the round figurines. Papa figurine, mama figurine and baby figurine. I think they were worse than stick figures.
I quizzed Jispa wheter the teacher drew any of her stuff. She said no, she drew the stuff and colored it herself. That was pretty impressive. I will update the blog on her painting later. That was pretty cool.
The other classes similarly had done work with Picasso, Van Gough etc as inspiration. I wanna go back to school, sob sob.