St. Columbas, Delhi - Absolute Power Corrupts

“We assure all the parents, students, ex-students and well wishers that we are committed to securing the future of our students, at all costs.” St.Columba’s Website.

Recently, St.Columba’s School was in the news for expelling 48 students from the 11th Grade for failing in one or more subjects at the annual examinations. Acting school Principal Brother Pinto in violation of the relevant Education Act and promotion rules was responsible for taking this decision. In defence, he had this harebrained excuse to offer, “It is the best thing for such a child. These students need a new environment to get away from present bad company, then there’s a chance they’ll do better in life “

48 students is a huge number – a full class section that comprises almost 20 percent of the 11th Standard. Failure of so many students only shows the failings of the school and its inability to provide even a decent minimal standard of education to the boys. About the ‘bad company’, the Principal should have first taken disciplinary action against those bad apples. Why are they being allowed to escape just cause they got a few higher marks??? St. Columba’s has Moral Science/ Value Education classes – what were the teachers doing? Why didn’t they haul up those ‘bad boys’ then and counsel them? If ‘bad company’ was really the issue, then what about the other boys who remain in the school - will they turn 'bad' and end up failing in the board year??

The rising pressure on children due to examination stress has taken its toll with around 6000 students committing suicide in 2006. This is only an official statistic, as a majority of such cases remain unreported. Boys, who face the additional pressure of having to find work and support their family, account for an overwhelming majority of such suicides. In such a scenario, it is highly irresponsible for Brother Pinto of St.Columba's School to take such a decision that totally ‘screws’ the life and future of these kids.

I am not aware what the situation is now, but when I was a student of the girls school next door, students who failed were given re-exams as many as three times to give them a chance to get through. Special tuition classes were arranged after school for weak students. Kids who still failed ended up repeating a class. No one was expelled though there were always threats from teachers and the principal.

The examinations in school were way difficult and harder to pass than the board examinations conducted by the CBSE. This was because teachers taught and framed questions from textbooks written by private authors rather than the NCERT textbooks prescribed for schools. Many questions in the final examination were complete gibberish and students scored real low. How else do I explain how I got 16 percent in my pre boards and 80 percent in the board exams? Plus, some teachers teach in a half hearted manner as they assume every student is taking tuitions.

Examination marks in school, whether 11th or Board Exams has little to do with your career and what you end up becoming in life. Most companies will never ask about your school marks in job interviews. I know many toppers who ended up doing nothing in life except dancing like a monkey (Shah Rukh Khan) and many flunkies (other ex Columbans) who are today Software Engineers. So boys, if you are reading this, please don’t lose hope!!! Best of Luck for a secure future!!

Arthur Sarnoff – Modern Master

“Dogs are really people with short legs in fur coats” – Author Unknown

Arthur Sarnoff is an American illustrator who is popular for his paintings of dogs playing pool. He was born in 1912 in Brooklyn, New York and studied at the Industrial School and the Grand Central School of Art in New York City. He died in 2000.

The Hustler

Most of the artwork of Arthur Sarnoff includes commercial illustrations and covers for magazines such as ‘The American Weekly’, ‘Cosmopolitan’ and ‘Women’s Home Companion’. His art also appeared in advertising campaigns of the time such as that of Lucky Strike, Coors, Camay, Listerine and Vicks Vapo Rub. Here are some of Arthur Sarnoff’s illustrations.

Arthur Sarnoff painted a few paintings too. One of his paintings showing dogs playing pool known as ‘The Hustler’ was one of the best-selling prints in the 1950’s. Another popular painting created by Arthur Sarnoff is “Jack the Ripper”. This painting shows dogs playing pocket billiards and is one of his most recognised paintings.

Hey! One Leg On The Floor

I like Arthur Sarnoff’s paintings because of the expressions on the dog’s faces and the way he has selected each breed to represent a certain type of person. Plus, the dogs are cute!! An earlier artist who created paintings about dogs is C.W. Coolidge. I’ll have more about him in my next post.

Francisco De Goya - The Last of the Old Masters

“The sleep of reason produces monsters" - Francisco De Goya

This Spanish modern realist painter was basically a court artist who was responsible for painting portraits of the ruling royal family. Other than his official work, he created a diverse range of paintings and other artwork on historic events, wars and other scenes of violence of his time. Francisco De Goya believed that the ‘artist’s vision is more important than tradition’ and is often called "the first of the moderns."

The Parasol - 1777

Francisco De Goya was born Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes in the city of Fuendetodos in Spain on March 30th 1746. He worked as an apprentice to a local painter Jose Lusan at the age of 14 and later travelled to Italy for a higher education in art. On his return to Spain in 1771, he painted frescoes for the local cathedral in the town of Sargossa or Zaragoza. Two years later, he married Josefa Bayeu, the sister of one of his artist friends in Sargossa.

At the age of 46, Fransisco De Goya suffered from a serious illness that resulted in him losing his sense of hearing completely. This permanent deafness and resulting isolation lead him to experiment with his sense of imagination which resulted in the creation of a bold, free caricature style of painting. During the Napoleonic Invasion of Spain, Francisco De Goya painted for the French. When the monarchy in Spain was restored, he was pardoned but was not liked by the new king.

St. Isidro's Meadow – 1789

In his later years he published drawings on bullfighting, which he termed as ‘The Tauromaquia’. He lived in seclusion most of his life and towards the end produced scary paintings of madness and fantasy that came to his mind. This series is known as the ‘Black Paintings’. As most of these paintings are really frightening to look at, I will not be posting them on my blog.

Tired with the political situation in Spain, Francisco De Goya went into exile in Bordeaux, France where he continued to paint till his death in 1828 at the age of 82.

Recently, I downloaded a .pdf book about drawing and painting through itorrent. I will be posting some artwork of my own as soon as I create a few good ones.

All paintings of Francisco De Goya

India Wins One Day Tri Series in Australia

Congratulations to the Indian Cricket Team on winning the CB Series One Day Tournament in Australia. You were the best guys!!!

As for Symonds, the meano of the Australian team - he proved what a total nutcase he is when he rammed a skinny unarmed defenseless Aussie streaker on the pitch!!