Educated? or just literate!

Until recently, I used to feel very inspired when I saw the growing literacy curve in India or when somebody working for literacy campaigns reported success in terms of such benchmarks. But slowly I have come to realise that literacy is not enough (or is it even necessary to this extent?); the need of human being is education, not just literacy, and literacy is not education.

One can be literate but not educated or one can be educated though not literate!

I feel literacy is a small tool in helping one getting educated. Literacy is just a tool to read, write, count and calculate, but it doesn’t directly address the need of the human being. The basic need of human being is to understand oneself and his/her relation to every other entity in the existence which differentiates him or her from an animal. If literacy helps him/her to understand and express his/her understanding, then it is a virtue otherwise if it only helps fill on’s stomach then it is needless as animals can also fill their stomach without being literate, and if it helps exploiting others be it human or the rest of nature, then it is a vice. We can see that today we literate people are more responsible for the damage of this planet than the illiterate, so today it has become a vice for us.

I guess most of the people are lietrate but not educated. One can live a hi-fi life but that doesn’t mean that the person is educated because life is all about “how we can live happily with secure mind”. Needless to say, the way literate people are behaving with each other living in so called educated society, should not be considered as educated! People are able to get as best as degrees but these degree don’t prove that they are educated. So I suggest we should now start working for education in true sense of the world, and not just limit us to literacy. Again, this doesn’t imply that one should abandon programs of literacy but rather complement it with human consciousness to make the earth a better place to live in.

I think we should have a good discussion on the topic “what is Education?”…and “what is the difference between education and literacy?” Are we educated?…or just literate! I would like to know the views or opinion on it from my dear readers and commentators. Your comments are most welcome here.

बेनाम रिश्ते!

कभी – कभी उठ जाते हैं कदम वज़ूद को दफ़नाने में,
बेवक़्त जब खुद ही किस्मत का नक़ाब उतार जाती हूँ!

आज कैसे? क्या कहूँ? वक़्त भी पूछ उठा,
ऐसे लम्हों से गुजर, अक्सर मैं क्यूँ बहक जाती हूँ!

बदनाम करते हैं लोग, बेनाम को नाम देते हुए,
सरेआम महफ़िल में जाने कब मज़ाक बन जाती हूँ!
 
हर शख़्स यहाँ वफ़ा के साथ तर्क़-ए-वफ़ा  करता है,
राह चलते इन वफा परस्तों को अब आगाह कर जाती हूँ!

रिश्तों की पहचान हो जाती है नाज़ुक दिल को,
बेनाम रिश्तों में जब कभी अपना नाम ढूँढने जाती हूँ!

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मैं चली मैं चली…!

I was talking on phone and because of the network problem I opened the door and came out of the room. Finished my talk. I felt relaxed. I am happy, excited, completely clear with my feelings and feeling confident of the direction I have chosen. I saw in the sky. When I saw the clear sky full of bright and dim stars that I hadn’t seen for a long time, then I thought of taking a walk!

It was a new moon night. I was silently walking on the street in little moonlight. While walking on the street I was just thinking…a secret smile…a thought of love…a silent wishper that took me closer, and I felt, I am walking with…??…Aahaa…I realized that someone is listening to those silences!

It’s difficult to put in words what has happened to me?…should it happen?…will it really happen?…is it right?…am I just being stupid? No; nothing happend. Don’t worry. Trust me, I am absolutely fine! It is actually a state of my mind, and the wave of my heart is breaking the silence singing the song “मैं चली मैं चली, देखो प्यार की गली, कोई रोके न मुझे, मैं चली मैं चली….!”

Aah!! This is where my words end! You should understand in real sense…I wonder if those words could define my feelings…!

Guess it!