{"id":185467,"date":"2021-05-31T12:00:14","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T11:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=185467"},"modified":"2021-05-21T09:09:01","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T08:09:01","slug":"from-no-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/05\/from-no-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"From No to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not knowing a word of the lingo
\nNecessary to be admitted to this school
\nThe New Delhi\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Irish Brothers School\u00a0<\/em>
\nThe Brothers wearing white traditional frocks<\/p>\n

So you want your son to be admitted here
\nWas the first question, he asked my poor mother
\nYes she demurely nodded, why ask this obvious question
\nWhat is your name Sonny, he threw these words at me<\/p>\n

Not knowing a word of this lingo I remained silent
\nMy mother stood up to take the EXIT movement
\nWait a moment, he wrote some Maths question
\nThat had signs of multiplication and division<\/p>\n

I knew these symbols, answered the puzzles with precision
\nHey Sonny boy, welcome to this great Boys\u2019 institution
\nBut learn a few words like YES and NO
\nNo, you cannot go now, wait for the bell to ring<\/p>\n

My first days were interesting
\nThe teacher asked my name, No problem
\nShe asked some questions I did not understand
\nThe boys raised their hands \u2014 I know, I know<\/p>\n

I knew only one word that sounded the same – NO
\nWhy are they saying I am not, I am not
\nI knew the alphabet from A to Zed
\nBut could not differentiate No from Know<\/p>\n

It took a few weeks to realise English is a funny lingo
\nThat could make many a head twirl in confusion
\nWell well
\nHey why I am talking of the place full of water<\/p>\n

I told you English is a funny lingo
\nWith no rhyme or reason
\nHow come the English people ruled India
\nHow come we did not hold them for treason<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Dr Ravi P Bhatia is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a>, an<\/em> educationist, Gandhian scholar and peace researcher. Retired professor, Delhi University. His new book, <\/em>A Garland of Ideas\u2014Gandhian, Religious, Educational, Environmental was published recently in Delhi.<\/em> ravipbhatia@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not knowing a word of the lingo
\nNecessary to be admitted to this school…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":166069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[868],"class_list":["post-185467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-format","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}