I teach science and English in a school. I leave home by 9.30am and return by 5. I do my laundry in the evening. I load the washing machine and relax till it is done. We have an airy passage at the back where I have kept a stand to dry the clothes. From there I have a view of two houses - one right behind our house and the other diagonally opposite. Today as I was drying clothes I overheard the conversation between a mother and a daughter in one of these houses.
Mother : (in a rude voice), aye, don't you know that much, what do you answer in English, for 'what is your name?' The girl mumbled something and thwack! The mother hit her on the head! After prompting several times the name came out. Then, 'How old are you?' 'I yaam, foore years' came the answer. Whack! one more! ' Can't you learn properly if I teach you once? say properly....Iyaam four years wold' - The whole conversation, except the words in italics was in Kannada. I could not stand there anymore. I walked in closing the door. It was pathetic- a four year old kid sitting at home at 5-30 in the evening, mouthing words in an unfamiliar language, when all her friends were playing! And getting punished by an over - enthusiastic, English obsessed mother who needed some training herself. Exam time you know! It is a question of life and death!What if she does not score 90+? :(