Today, as i was invigilating for the III Physics students(Denver's batch) among others in the Exams Hall, I was witness to students simply pondering or were they wondering over their question paper...

A few were convinced... and a large many were confused...
adding to the agony, a guy from II Physics Juda rang me up, and asked, "Sir, where are u"
I said, "I'm invigilating"
He said, "sir, i need a BIG favour from you. Could you please tell me the stories for LEVEL I part II English. Cos, this afternoon i'm writing that paper, and i dont know anything...
If you just tell me the stories, i can write it perfectly well..."

This set my mind wondering or rather wandering into the whole system of today's examinations... in colleges and universities...

Cos, come October/April, and once again our students are exposed to the ‘inhospitable&rsquo ; region of examinations. What crime did they commit to deserve this punishment?

Did they commit a crime so heinous that six to eight prying invigilators, always suspicious, keep a close guard on their movements inside the examinations hall, see to it that they don’t even borrow a pen, and check with Immigration counter discipline, if the candidate has brought his hall ticket, ID card and all the paraphernalia.

What exactly do we mean by examining them? Do we merit the term examination? What exactly is being examined? Some stale stuff from some stupid text book is digested and vomited…. Come on man, my computer is very good at it… (GIGO)

So why do u want students suffer? Why not make his computer suffer instead?
Why does a student have to memorise hundreds of pages when his computer can do it in microseconds on his behalf.

It sounds absurd, strange, illogical, preposterous, irrational etc etc etc etc etc etc etc….
Napoleon once said, You can take a horse to water, but not make it drink…
You can take a student to college, but not make him think….

Or do we?
If so, I’m the first person to shout for examinations…
Or, mind you, "to hell with exams..."

The story of mankind is, in part, the story of (in simpler words) the humanisation of communication. I hope u are with me when I say this…

As F.T. Wood rightly puts it in his Origin of English Language, (Which every literature student like me has to battle with, for a degree), Indeed, the very transition from oral to literary communication was not a smooth one, coz, many believed that the spoken word was more authentic and credible than the written word…

It seems, in ancient Greece, military commanders used to send messengers to report verbally on events before delivering a written account. But it wasn't until the Victorians that Britain became a letter-writing nation. Hail Victoria! Lovli Lovli Lovli Victoria!!!

The penny post had a profound effect on mass communication. The Victorians celebrated the increased "conveyance of thought" as a symbol of moral progress.But there were discordant, critical voices too… Similar concerns greeted the introduction of the postcard in 1870. Originally a German innovation, it quickly caught on in Britain with an astonishing 70m sold in the first year. Again there was scepticism.

These were reservations that only multiplied when it came to the telegram and then, horror of horrors, the telephone. Then, the pager, and now, the e-mails and sms text messages… The art of letter writing is on its way out..

I may be quite sentimental when I say this, coz I still have my Grandma’s letters to me laminated, alongside my mom’s and dad’s letters, and my close friends’ letters addressed to ME!

Communication has changed, and so have values… Valentine cards, birthday cards and anniversary cards are out… cos text and picture messages are in… and a short text message in about 20 words does perfectly what a loooong letter in 2000 words cannot say..., Then, why at all bother about the vanishing art of letter writing?

As with today's e-mail, punctuation is absent, words are butchered, and jokes are forwarded endlessly… The same with mobile phone technology…

My poem The Thumb Generation’s ode to the Mobile Phone is in a way a tribute to the increasingly decreasing art of letter writing…

Now, after years of writing snail mails, I have slowly started adjusting myself to the new technological marvels… Rather than getting afraid of it, or deeming it as taboo, I’ve started extending an olive branch to them. Not only does its transience accurately reflect our modern restlessness but also, like the postcard, such media provide “a transcript of our oral culture....” Or does it not?

Now, becoming nostalgic, i owe a salute to a lovli portal which helps you have a peek into the best letters of all time...

Do have a nice peek into this thing of the past, "which was a joy forever", by clicking on this link at: http://www.wendy.com/letterwriting/" title="http://www.wendy.com/letterwriting/" target="_blank"http://www.wendy.com/letterwr......

My Ammamma who's special
Who's caring and sincere.
Who's always taken good care of me
And always brought good cheer.

Wish you a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY
KISSES AND HUGS AND SWEET WISHES,
SAMUEL RUFUS, your loving grandson