Examination Phobia

Examination Phobia






Student life would probably be the best if there were to be no examinations. They are the only burden or trouble in a student’s life. An examination is seen as an essential evil - essential because there is no single universal way to grade a student, and evil because it troubles students a lot.

We have been sitting for examinations since we were in our nursery classes, but still our hairs turn up when we have to give one. The reason being that we become afraid and nervous with anxiety.

We have the habit of keeping our work pending, and when the time comes to do it, we find that it’s too late. And we rush to finish it in a hurry. And this spoils the curry. This gives rise to inappropriate studying techniques, which divert us from the real goal. The confidence level goes down, and there is a huge pressure on us, which we call nervousness.

No matter how talented one is, it’s common for him or her to face difficulties before the examination. This is because of the habit that tells the student: Oh come on! I still have a complete month before the exams. Since students become conscious only a week or a fortnight before the exams, they suddenly find themselves in deep water.

Out of the hundreds of causes of anxiety, forgetfulness is one. It is not because of our brain that we forget but because we don’t give enough exercise to our brain on a regular basis. The fear of punishment is equally to blame. Improper learning techniques also pose a serious obstacle to our studying process. Lack of self-confidence might also be another reason.

There is a simple principle for learning:

1. I hear – I forget

2. I see – I remember

3. I do – I understand

Now, most of us belong to the first and second categories because we simply hear, but don’t listen when the teacher explains in class. Listening is putting our entire focus on hearing and storing it in our mind. Secondly, we see books - we see every line, but we do not read it. Reading is seeing and storing the facts in our mind. And finally, to do here means to listen and read to give the best output. This principle helps us build our reading or studying habits.

In brief, the condition when we start sweating and feel the mind go blank before the examinations and get tensed on seeing the questions is true exam phobia. A precaution for this is to concentrate on one’s study in time. And the best thing we can do during the examination is not to watch others take the exam because this only makes us more nervous.


PUBLISHED IN THE RISING NEPAL AUG 12
http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/detail.php?article_id=38383&cat_id=7

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What’s Wrong With My Name?

What’s Wrong With My Name?



It’s yours but is used by others – your name.

I am often told, "You need to change your name! It’s really hard to pronounce it."

I had no hand in naming myself so, and I never have any problem with my name. The only problem I face - and continue to face - is that I turn crimson everytime I have to introduce myself. This is because people don’t get my name the first time, and a huge laughter follows.

I am not depressed when people pronounce my name wrong, instead I feel sympathy for them. Many of them ask me what my name stands for. Only about two out of a hundred pronounce my name correctly. I am proud of this unique name and want to thank my late grandfather for naming me so.

When I was 13, I used to wonder if I was the only one with this name in the universe. But I was excited to learn that there were quite a few with my name in India and Bangladesh.

Having a long unique name is troublesome when you have to introduce yourself to others as many cannot understand or memorise it in one go. The other problem you may face is when engraving your name on a key ring. If you are a player, the problem could appear while preparing a jersey. And, for those who mind, your name can give rise to various nicknames, as in my case like Dahi Pan, Dahi Pani, Dahi Pan Parag, Dahi Bada.


But the best part of having a unique name is you really don’t need your last name to identify yourself. Once people get your first name, they hardly forget it. You receive lots of love through nicknames. If you are a guy, there will be plenty of girls who will tease you with the name.

When I was in school, I never wanted to get promoted to the next class simply because of my name. My new teacher would never get my name the first time I said it. And all my friends would wait to make fun of me. This made me nervous, and my face turned red.

But today I find it wonderful that these old friends, whom I have not seen or met for the last ten years, still remember me and say, "Man! It’s great to find your writing in the papers!" Wow! What could be a greater compliment than this? At a time when they don’t even remember the names of other class mates, they recognise me.

PUBLISHED IN THE RISING NEAL (AUG 2)

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Pointy parasols

Pointy parasols

I don’t criticise people for walking with an umbrella—it is the need of the season. The weather can fool us at any time; every five minutes it can change and you must be prepared. A few minutes after walking under the sweltering sun, rain may cascade down from the sky. So carrying umbrella not a stupid thing to do; with it you can tackle the tricky weather at any turn. If it is hot, you can open it, as the sun disappears you can keep your umbrella inside your bag and as soon as it rains, you can open it again and save yourself from being drenched.

Umbrellas have turned into a fashion. There is tough competition among females in plus two colleges regarding whose umbrella is the prettiest. And of course boys don’t ignore the fact that if they have an umbrella,

a girl will walk under it with them for protection from the rain. Umbrellas are found in an array of styles, are relatively inexpensive and are extremely handy—so much so that umbrellas can now be considered another item of clothing, something that can be coordinated with your daily wardrobe.

Kathmandu is an exceedingly crowded city, and even on a normal day, it’s difficult to walk without bumping into others. Your polished shoes may be stepped on, or you may be pushed out of the way by someone in a bigger hurry. You are in a crowd even when crossing the road or walking through the narrow paths throughout Kathmandu.

Umbrellas are made up of a circular fabric canopy on a folding metal frame, supported by a central rod. Where the small, thin rods extend from the fabric covering, umbrellas can be turned into a weapon. And it is this thing that hurts others when umbrella owners don’t take proper care of his or her umbrella. Especially in crowded places, when masses of people are trying to escape the rainfall or the heat of the sun, umbrella users may end up hurting people without even realising it. If you use an umbrella, you must remember what a huge area it occupies. People may be trying to escape the path of your massive cover, but without even being aware, you may give them a bump in the head. If you are short, the danger you pose to other passer-bys is even greater as the dangerous metal rods are often at eye-level of taller people in the crowd. Though many people may apologise, there is often little sincerity in the remark because one minute later, another person is made victim of their large colourful canopy. I have been a victim several times, and no matter how much I try, these incidents are unavoidable.

So, this is my personal request to all the umbrella holders out there walking the streets of Kathmandu: take care your umbrella will not injure others when you are in crowded area. Don’t let others get hurt because you aren’t paying attention. Stay alert, because when it hits, it hurts.



PUBLISHED IN THE KATHMANDU POST (JULY 23 2010)

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Monsoon Madness

After a long year, the monsoon has finally returned and I’m sure all of you are well prepared with your umbrellas, raincoats and rain boots. It’s a great season for many reasons and my favourite season as well. As rain begins to fall from the sky, I get lost in a world of imagination and nostalgia. When I see the first drop hit the ground, I quickly get up and rush to my window and start watching the amazing act of nature, letting the hours pass staring at the drops falling down.

When I was in school, I always welcomed the monsoon that came along with my school holiday-giving me the chance to indulge myself in the daily downpour. I have loved the monsoon since I was a small child. I used to enjoy fishing in front of my house in the drainage line, but where those fish came from is still a mystery to me. It was fun making paper boats and racing against my friends. I sometimes wish I could get back those wonderful days. There are certainly many reasons to appreciate and enjoy the monsoon; however, there are some disadvantages that come along with the season as well. As the roads are cleansed by the heavy showers, the rivers end up more polluted than normal. Some people may catch a cold. And the puddles of water are a burden for those trying to get to college, school or office in time.

The main drawback to the monsoon is the need to dodge huge splashes of dirty water as cars zip through puddles. Each morning, it takes 30 minutes to get dressed and ready: your hair is combed, shirt ironed and shoes shined. But within five minutes, you receive a splash and your 30 minutes of effort have gone in vain, most likely making you late for your class or work. The car driver, safely inside the protection of his vehicle has long gone and you are a mess, so what can you do? You could try to note down the vehicle number but that is worthless; all you can do is wipe what dirt you can from yourself and keep walking.

If you have been lucky enough to escape this experience, be careful, with the monsoon upon us, there are puddles everywhere. It is Nepal and on almost every road there are puddles waiting for vehicles to splash through like ammunition waiting to be loaded. As soon as you reach an area with numerous puddles, make yourself alert to oncoming vehicles. Carefully analyse which direction these vehicles are coming from and make a safe and quick move and save yourself from becoming a victim of such monsoon attacks. I doubt I need to warn you to carry an umbrella at all times, as you are familiar with the unpredictable weather that can trick you at any time. But this is one suggestion that some may not be aware of. So stay alert and enjoy the cool days the monsoon brings. Happy Monsoon!






PUBLISHED IN THE KATHMANDU POST - JULY 12 2010

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Citizenship

Citizenship from the dictionary gives the meaning that it is a legally recognized subject or national of a state or commonwealth, either native or naturalized. And legally, no single ordinary person possesses to handle citizenship of more than one country. In simple sense, a child born in Nepal is called Nepalese and he should be granted with Nepalese citizenship! But is it happening so? Still, there are thousands of Nepalese who were born in Nepal deprived of citizenship.

It’s not my writing to explain who should get citizenship and who should not, but all I wanted to do is make the reader analyze how fair system we have. Let me give few examples. A friend of mine, born in Biratnagar whose father was abroad since last ten years tried to get citizenship from his mother’s name, but they asked for father! Let’s look at other, if a couple get’s away without divorce, like if husband goes away and never returns back the wife obviously wont have the death certificate of her husband. Now can her child issue citizenship or not? Bhutanese refugee have been living in Eastern part of Nepal since really a long time, by this time there must have been many child who took birth in Nepal itself, now will they get citizenship or not? If yes, how difficult it is and why is there the difficulty? Now let’s look at the other part, it’s known that there exists maximum Nepalese in places like Darjeeling and Sikkim. They call themselves Nepali owning Indian Citizenship, but has any one seriously analyzed the fact that even many of them possess Nepalese citizenship all because their previous generation too possess Nepalese citizenship. More than that, at the time of CA Poll, when citizenship was made a compulsion many non Nepalese people, especially from the places having boarder with India in the south took the citizenship with their cleaver, bribery, and sources.

The two examples I provided is to show the differences between how easily non Nepalese got and are getting citizenship and how difficult the true Nepalese are facing to get a citizenship. Those people having dual citizenship obviously doesn’t know the value of citizenship but ask those Nepalese who really lack Nepalese citizenship the value of it. They don’t get the job all because they lack citizenship, they can’t go abroad just because they lack the citizenship. They face trouble in getting education even in Nepal just because they lack citizenship! It’s not again possible for the Government to look after every couple who give birth in Nepal or not, but the Government must really be conscious while providing the citizenship because if Government ignores an important issue like this, it’s the most shameful thing that the country is doing.

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Gadget Addiction

Gadget Addiction



‘Oh! There is I pad in the market’, ‘I am tired of using this old set, Please! I want I phone now!’, ‘Dad! I have been using Pulsar for last two years, now I want Fazer!’

Are not these sings of gadget addiction? We want all the updated stocks of the market. Basically, the youths get to enjoy lot with the gadget. Youths are the one who quickly get updated about the latest product in the market. They are all aware regarding the launching date of Apple’s I pad in the market. They know all the features, price of it. Youth are curious about it and get well informed about the product before hand.

‘Mom All my friends come to college in scooty, I am only the one to wait for micro, Please request dad!’. What can parents do in such situation? How can a parent tolerate that their child is going through a problem of humiliation? For the teen sensation, especially of big towns it has been a kind of fashion to get updated with the gadgets. What can an individual do when it is a kind of trend? It is awkward obviously to carry Nokia 1600 at go to college when all the friends are there with fancy latest sets. Or the youth cannot get mixed with the group who all have bike with them. Honestly, we can see the groups separation in any college as per the interest. Bikers have separate friend circle, similarly cell phone group are different. For medium class group, who hardly manage for the education fees are separate, smokers are different and studious student are different. No matter what, any teen would definitely get attracted towards the latest gadget.

Letting the child updated with the latest gadget is not big issue for bigshots. But this can really be a troubling issue for those medium grades who hardly manage to afford for the education. But what can parents do when it is a trend in the college itself? So there remains no option besides adding the burden through loans, credits etc. With the advancement in technology youth are simply addicted towards the gadgets and the manufacturers are focusing youth to suck money through the addictive adds like “pleases you, pleases money and your girlfriend’, or let that be through pictorial signboards on the middle of the road.

There is profit to media as they get to advertise, manufacturers will be in profit for sure, and same with the Government as they get to inject tax thereby. So it is for sure that there will not be anyone to guide us regarding this. So the main initiatitive must be taken by the colleges, institutes themselves. They strictly impose the rule about the uniform. Uniform are meant to bring uniformity which will certainly reduce the gap between a millionre and a normal citizen. But what remains the value of uniform when the discrimination has been there through gadgets? Parents need to analyze the needs with the time and purchase the gadgets. They also need to figure out if those gadgets are acting has the hindrances for their future or not. However youths they need to understand the situation and learn to avoid it. They first need to think if they will be able to buy those goods to their child in the future or not. I have my friend who spend around twenty thousand per month and when I asked him if he can earn the amount himself in future he was in total confusion.

Yes! It is necessary to get informed about the latest advancements in the market. But we should not cry like child for it. Economic condition of the family, its use need to be analyzed. It’s not a good idea to demand for I pad when your cell phone has all the features in it.


PUBLISHED IN REPUBLICA JUNE 21 2010

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