Conversation with maid and the education system in our country

My mother's conversation with the maid today morning on her children's education:

My mom: what happened? you came in late yesterday?

Maid: had to go to school to get books for both my boys. they did not tell me that there was a parent teacher meeting yesterday. Knew it only after i reached school

My mom: Oh. how do they study now?

Maid: i got the books yesterday. they are supposed to study and do the homework. i have to then take their work and submit it in school after a month.

**Laughing***

Maid: they don't have to go to school. i have to go to submit the homework that they do. I paid twenty eight thousand (Rs 28,000) for the elder son and nineteen thousand (Rs 19,000) for the younger one. Almost ten thousand rupees difference. They gave 9 books for the elder one and 5 books for the younger one. Just 4 books difference and for that 10,000 rupees extra.

My mom: which class are they studying?

Maid: elder one is in 5th and younger one is in 2nd standard. i have to look for some other school for the elder one. this school he is in has classes only till 5th.

My mom: Oh, there is XXXXX school in that YYYYY road right. Why don't you put him in that. It is a good school

Maid: neenga vera!!! that school has rules - only students whose parents are educated can study in that school and the fees is way high. 

**laughs again*** at this age, me or my husband cannot study and get a degree.

They do have a quota for lower income people like us but for that, one needs to have high recommendation and it usually goes to people, the authorities know. We don't know anyone. what to do!!!

My mom: really!! that is bad. then start looking for other schools for him. 

Maid: yes. have to look next year. me and my husband are not educated. we want our children to study well and get a good education.

***they then moved on to other topics and she finally left for the day***

I felt very sorry for families like my maid - people who cannot afford to send their children to a good school even if they want to.

I know there have been a lot of discussions and articles on how schools are selective in taking in children based on their parents's education and the job they have. They have their own reasons for doing it.

This is so wrong. The school is supposed to coach students on the different subjects. Why do they need parents's to support them at home. There should be an alternate approach for students whose parents are not educated.

Why can't we make education free for everyone in this country - good education for all children without any discrimination and free of cost. No private schools at all. 

I know that this is never gonna happen in our country. Still, one can always dream for good things, no???

A new role for my mother during the lockdown days

At our home, during the early days of Covid lockdown, my dad had a problem. It was time for him to get his hair cut and he couldn't do it since no hair saloons were open. Even if they had opened, he wouldn't have felt comfortable in going to the saloon.

Finally, my mom took up the issue in her hands (literally), saying it was not a big deal. Her argument was - all one has to do was pick up the scissors and give him a hair cut. Simple, isn't it!!!

The first month she did mess it up a little. Gradually, she understood what had to be done and started doing a decent job.

I guess this was the case in many households post the lock down.

Conversation last afternoon -

Dad (looking at me): your mother has taken 500 bucks from me today.

My mom (smiling): you did not pay me for your hair cut. think of it as payment for the job I did.

Dad: 500 bucks for a hair cut!! this is atrocious. I pay the experienced barber only 120-150 for one hair cut. You are not even experienced as my barber.
And this 150 bucks per hair cut includes greeting me when I enter, giving me a chair to sit in an air conditioned room and wrapping a cloth under my chin so that the hair does not fall. You did not even do that!!!

Mom (trying very hard to put a serious face): this is not for one hair cut, this is for the 4-5 times I gave you an hair cut. second, you are getting an hair cut in the comfort of your own home, don't have to walk to the hair saloon.

Dad (laughing at my mom): even the scissor you are using is the same one that you use in the kitchen.

Mom (giving my dad a death stare) : Iam not like you. che!!! this is a new scissor that I took just for your hair cut.

Dad: you know, yesterday when I had gone to get some stuff from a store, the barber called me and asked me to come into his saloon. Told me he takes all precautions to stop spread of the virus. I should have gone to him.

Mom: go to him if you want. don't ever ask me to give a hair cut.

I kept my mouse shut during the entire conversation, watching both of them talking. Why stop them when I was being entertained, free of cost 😁😂😆😂

Why do we have this beauty mode in phone camera

I have not fully understood or used most of the features in my new phone. Last week was a learning in using the camera on the new phone.

When we took our photos, they all came out well. However, when I took a selfie, the picture came in very different. It looked as if my skin was clear and smooth. It was not natural at all. I did not understand what went wrong.

The next few days, as I kept looking at those snaps, I felt my skin looked so odd. Yesterday, I tried to check if anyone else had the same problem on the internet. And that is when I found this stupid setting that is activated by default in the new Samsung phones called - beauty face mode.

From what I read, this "beauty face" mode is activated by default only for selfies and the bloody idiots don't even put on any indication on the phone that this mode is activated while taking a selfie. What does this mode do - it does what they call as "air brushing" (a new word I learnt yesterday!!). Basically this feature edits the photo, by making the skin look smooth😡.

Samsung apparently tries to justify it saying, they being a Korean company, had added this setting for their people who want their face to look perfect on a photo. Right, so why did you add it in phones that are sold overseas?? And why activate the feature by default.

I think this is a problem with any new device - lot of unwanted things are activated by default. Ever since I have started using the new phone, I have discovered so many such unwanted features and have switched them off by default. Phew!!!

So what did I finally do - I did not have the mood to take another snap and there was no way I could change the photo that was already taken with this mode. Being a lazy person, I decided to keep that photo for now.... until I replace it with a new one!!!