School destroyed us!

This post is not your regular post about blaming the education system; but rather wants to address a larger issue that most of us are unaware of. These days, I’ve been trying to dig out as much information possible about ancient India, our culture and most importantly our science, technology & engineering. Now anything that’s related to ‘History’ is often boring and I know we all unanimously agree that it’s indeed one of the most boring subjects taught in school. Why? Because the history that’s been taught to us is ‘crafted’ version of the history. A *lot* needs to be unearthed; because it’s got hidden treasures that have the power to change India and the mindset of Indians forever. 

I recently visited the Akshardham temple in Delhi. As everyone advised, we took the ‘boat ride’ that takes people to ancient India and shows glimpses of the ancient Indian culture. Now whenever I bring up this topic in public discussion or on online community; (Indian) people get aggressive and refute everything. But I don’t care because I know the people I’m talking to are the products of ‘the system’ that has turned them into mechanical robots (clerks) who are good at executing commands and are lightyears away from thinking on their own. I’m not different either. I’m yet another product of the system that throws me in the same class of robots. It’s just that I still have some electricity left in me that forces me to think and find information about the things that should be ‘known’.

Today, I stumbled upon a History Channel Documentary which talks about something amazing – the ‘Atomic Warfare In India’. If you have time and are interested, watch this -

…and before you draw any conclusions; here’s something very important. Everything from the past seems to be done by ‘Gods’ and ‘Cartoon-Like’ characters who were flying in the air and throwing stones at each other. We think of our ancients as the ones who barely had clothes to wear and lived in huts. *But*

There are two dimensions to it: Either they chose to ‘live in huts’ because that’s more scientific, environment friendly OR that could just be totally inaccurate. They might have had the most advance civilizations. The way our history books describe them is actually very funny. When I asked my grandpa whether the all the ‘sadhus’ and ‘rishis’ did was to sit in front of fire and throw wood in it (because that’s how they were shown in Ramayan & Mahabarat on TV); he laughed at me. He said the TV show makers know nothing. The Rishi & Sadhus actually were the greatest mathematicians, artists, engineers, inventors & scientists. They developed technology that was more modern and advanced than what we are aware today. That’s the reason why -

• Zero was invented in India.
• Rishi Aryabhatta could *accurately* calculate the diameter and weight of the Earth
• As shown in above video – Indians had the ‘nuclear knowledge’
• Plastic surgery was invented in India; and so is ‘Yog’.
• Advance metallurgy was known to most of the people when the world was just getting introduced to metals.
• Indian Rishis had the knowledge of the Universe
• ….and so on. There are 1000s of the things, impossible to mention here. If you know, do let me know through comments.

The point is even if 5% of the above is true (in fact, 100% of it is) why is modern India nowhere near? Lord Macaulay (and why is he ‘Lord’?) knew that he wanted to create Indians who were ‘Indians’ by blood and color but ’100% English’ in their minds. And oh boy, he did succeed. That’s why he introduced the concept of ‘school’ that’s destroyed India totally.

When I was in ‘school’ (yep, I’m a product of the system), I was fortunate to get to study Math,Science, History & Geography in my mother-tongue. But the ‘Mount Carmel’ school boys were ‘automatically’ considered as more intelligent and smarter than us (the Marathi medium guys). Why? Because they could speak English and we could not. They’d wear shoes and tie (even in 40 degree summer) and naturally appear more ‘posh’ than us. We’d play together, but they’d always have ‘a say’ in all the matters. Quite often I’d realize how idiot they were, but they refused to accept. Why? Because they could speak and most importantly whenever there were fights, they’d abuse us in long English sentences. We’d just look at them.

Now, it all looks stupid. I’ve had several occasions where I knew my knowledge of science, math and history was better than them and had I been given the opportunity (and courage) to study in my mother-tongue; I’d have been an awesome Engineer. It’s not that ‘English’ pushed me back; but it does: thousands and thousands of Indians. Yet many parents don’t realize this and force their kids to speak in English no matter how *bad* their own English skills are.

The ‘school’ system has destroyed Indians and their ability to think & innovate. The problem needs to be addressed on high priority basis. But for that to happen, we’ll need several courageous patriots who can change the system. But thanks to the education system that destroys this patriotism and makes us feel ashamed of our own history. It just a systematic destruction of India. Will we ever come out of it? How?