SABARI GANESH

There was no teacher in the class. She went to meet the principal to report on an important task. Before leaving, she warned the class to remain in pin drop silence until she returns. Disregarding her warnings, immediately after she stepped out, the whole class erupted into conversations which are deemed useless. The noise raised gradually, crossed the threshold decibel level and passed across the corridors. After few minutes like Professor Severus Snape who bursts into the class room to teach potions in Harry Potter and Philosopher’s stone, the teacher bursts into her classroom screaming at the students “ Is this a class room or a fish market?”

Last week, I passed by a fish market in my home town which seemed to be quiet except for the stench. And I visited weekly vegetable market several times till now but never did I feel that these places are noisier than our classrooms.

Why do most of the teachers compare the noisy class rooms across the India with fish market? Why fish market in particular? So far all the fish markets I visited seemed to be calmer than my classrooms and even more peaceful than my office cafeteria.

There is a saying Todays children are tomorrows citizens. Did the citizens today in this country had a stint in fish markets?