Child Labour In India (India special post)

India, this developing country has became an economical superpower in Asia or even the world however a big problem is bugging this country, and that is Child Labor. Child Labor is so prevalent in India that it has the largest number of child laborers under the age of 14 in the whole world and child labor can be found in almost all the economical sectors of India. Human Rights organizations had criticized India for using child labor and the Indian government had also tried to stop this situation, but there is not much use.

The human rights organizations claimed that child labour is a violation of child rights, 1) non-discriminatory 2) best interest of the children 3) promote development 4) children are to have a say. Child labour in deprives the child from education and development. Child labour is also a form of abuse to the children, both physically and mentally. Long hours of work, abuse from employers, these are all abuses to the child.

Although the fact that child labour is indeed harmful to the development of the child, it is unfair to the child, but people who criticize India’s child labour policy do not realize that the Indian government had put in a great amount of effort to put an end to the child labour issue. There is also a law that bans all children below the age of 14 to be working in hazardous occupation. However, with a population of about 1,179,660,000, which is the second largest in the world and that 43% of the population is below the international poverty line, child labour is indeed hard to eradicate.

The Indian government has promised free education to all the children between 6 and 14; however India is such a big country, such an overpopulated country, how is it possible for the Indian government to take care of all the children in the country.

The Indian government, like the human rights organizations has been also putting great efforts into this issue. There has been a decrease in the numbers of child labourer, through the years.

The root of child labour un-employment and poverty, so to eradicate child labour these two problems has to be eradicated. However, I personally think that if there is no exploitation of the child, meaning no abuse, reasonable salary, and reasonable time for labour, child labour should be allowed. Instead of putting these poor children into rehabilitation homes when sometimes the situation is even worse, as the poor are even poorer, as there is lesser income provided, so what is the result, they still have to rely on child labour.

Basically, I think that if poverty and un-employment these two major problem cannot be eradicated, child labour should be allowed, or else by forcing children to stop working would only make matters worse.

Listening Music

What! Listening to music, I bet most of you all would be shocked as my whole blog is about food and where did "music" pop out from. Actually, I personally think that music is very closely connected with food. When I eat, I always listen to music. Okay, lets make a practical example, when you go to a restaurant, there would always be music to accompany the food. For instance, Chinese Restaurants plays Chinese music music, Indian Restaurants plays Indian music, fast food restaurants plays pop, rock and other modern music while in a high class western restaurants, you would expect to hear pieces of classical music and soothing peaceful jazz music. Thus music actually brings out the ambiance when you are eating food. Eating is also a time for one to relax and enjoy, thus by listening to music, one can relax even more.

Some Examples
Chinese Restaurant


Indian Restaurant





Western Restaurant Restaurant

Dysfunctional Families in B.B and Village By The Sea

Introduction
Both stories B.B and The Village By The Sea are stories where the families in the stories are dysfunctional families. To understand more about the dysfunctional families, the definition of it is that the parents and the children do not fulfill their roles. For the case of the parents, they should be working and caring for their children while for the case of the children, they should be enjoying their childhood.

Similarities
Similarities of course can be found both stories, most importantly the families are dysfunctional and the victims are often the children.

Just like in B.B, where her parents share their secrets with B.B and this was harmful to the child as B.B had to force herself to think like an adult and thus carrying a heavy burden.

While in the Village By The Sea, the victims of the dysfunctional family was Hari and Lila. Father was a drunkard, Mother was invalid due to sickness, this forced Hari and Lila to give up their education and take up the responsibility of looking after their sisters and the family. Hari bringing back income for the family while Lila being the homemaker of the family.

In both stories, the fathers of the similar in some ways as both fathers had left there families to fend for themselves.

Differences
On the whole the condition of B.B's family was somewhat better than that of Hari and Lila's family. Firstly, B.B is very stressed up and carrying heavy burdens but she still had food to eat, good clothes to wear and education. She also did not have to do household chores and work for income unlike Hari. Moreover, B.B's parents were also more "responsible" as compared to Lila and Hari's parents.

Overall, the victim of an dysfunctional family is most of the time children.

A movie by Elvis Presley that portray a kid that comes from a dysfunctional family, Wild in The Country.

Remember

Remember.......

Remember the time six years ago,

When we all step into it without a goal,

A new era of us had begun,

A time of excitement and of course fun.

Remember we were playful,

We often got into hot soup,

Remember we were bored,

So we caused trouble,

And threw paper planes onto the teacher's table,

Unfortunately we were brought to the discipline master,

What came next was a spanking from our Mother.

Remember we became more mature,

And greatly impressed our Form Teacher,

Remember the Exams drawing near,

Studying Harder so our results could be better.

Remember remember,
Time slowly pasts,
Just like a dropping feather,

Lets cherish our last day with it together!

This poem that I had written is dedicated to my school, Peiying Primary School and my class 6D'2009.

Poem analysis

This is the Poem

The Son is in Secondary School by Affian Sa’at

My badge has a Latin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something

At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem

It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes
Especially on Wednesdays

I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts

The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb
Telling jokes to one another

Seven to the power of five is unreasonable

On Chinese New Year
Mrs Lee dressed up
In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo

The capital of Singapore is Singapore

My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A’s
For his Chinese Language
Multiple-choice paper

In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me

Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment

When my eyes were actually closed

Analysis

The first thing I would like to say. This poem is a rather humorous poem and the poet tried to add humor into the poem so as to arouse the attention of the readers, for example, the highlighted part in red. It really makes one giggle when you come across that part. It also really brings us back to our school life as some of us really did that when we did not study for our exams.

The poem also mentioned how the school starts its day by singing the National Anthem which is what all of us really experienced or did in our school days. The Poem is really based on the true experience of the poet, what the poet really experience about his school.

The poet also included problems in his daily life during his school days, hard to maintain his shoes white especially on Wednesdays.

This poem also tells us the poets feelings and thoughts about his school days. From the humorous stanzas of the poem, it suggest the poet finds that his school days were funny, and he might be laughing away when writing this poem.

The poet also missed his school days, the antics of his classmates, the jokes, the festivals that was celebrated. He remembered what his classmates did during the exam when his classmate did not know how to do the questions. He remembered how Chinese New Year was celebrated and what his teacher Mrs Lim was wearing during the celebration and all kinds of weird things he experienced in his school days.

The poet might also have a tinge of regret of why he kept his eyes closed when the photoin the yearbook was being taken.

Overall, the writer can be seen as someone cherished his school day, and the memories of his school days were etched on his mind till now.

Eating Yogurt (The Indian way)!

Yogurt



Yogurt, I am sure everyone knows what is yogurt and has eaten before yogurt. So what is special about the Indian way of eating yogurt. Read-on and you will find out more.

First thing first, the yogurt we eat, which is the yogurt we normally buy from the supermarket, is of the western style, is being sweetened or added fruits to give it a fruity taste. It is commonly served as a desert.

Now, its time to focus and read carefully. When Indians eat yogurt, they do not just limit themselves to eat yogurt as a form of desert, but instead some of their main dishes are made up of yogurt.

Indians normally do not buy yogurt from the supermarket like us, but instead they make it themselves. Thus, the yogurt eaten by them is the healthy and organic one, with no other chemicals added.



As a main ingredient of Indian dishes, yogurt is used in many dishes. One of the most common dish that include the use of yogurt is the tandoori chicken. The yogurt used is to serve as a marinade to tenderise the meat. North Indian curries also make use of yogurt to give flavour. In southern India, there is also a popular dish called Curd Rice, which is rice mixed together with yogurt.

The reason why Indians use yogurt in their food, partially its because yogurt taste delicious, but the main reason is because it is very healthy. As you know, Indian food is hot and spicy, but yogurt tends to cool down your body after you had the hot curry. Yogurt is also low-fat and thus it benefits the Indians more.

Yogurt, something that is delicious, something that is healthy. Where on Earth can you find such healthy food.

Yogurt rocks!

Food Mumbai!!!!!!!

Mumbai is the largest financial hub in India, one of the largest financial hubs in the world, the world’s most populated city, thus for sure it would have the most number and widest variety of food in India. The world’s richest live in Mumbai; the world’s poorest also live in Mumbai, thus different people with different wealth eats different food.

Plain Chapatti Chapatti eaten together with spicy vegetables

Let’s start with a poor man’s food in India. In the diet of a poor Indian, the main food that is eaten by him or her is the chapatti. Chapatti, to them is like our bread, thus it is a staple food for them. However, the chapatti is still different from bread that we eat as it is flatter and unleavened. The chapatti is made of wheat flour and is cooked on a flat skillet, however by doing this the chapatti is only partially cooked, to be ready to be served the chapatti still needs to be roasted over the naked flame. The chapatti most of the time is not plainly eaten, it is eaten together with other accompaniments like chilies or other food like the tandoori chicken, however most of the time the poor people eat the chapatti together with chilies.

Indian green chilli

Next up there is the chili, especially the green chili. The green chili is grow wildly and almost everywhere in India, thus if Indians want to eat chili, they could just pluck it from any bush where chili is growing on. The poor would just eat the chilies plainly with the chapatti and at most it is eaten with a pinch of salt to add taste to it. If you ask the question why Indians are not scared of spicy food, this might probably be the answer to your question.

Indian vegetable curry Lamb curry with naan

Curry, curry also plays an important part and the fact that India’s curry is one of the most famous ones in the world. Curry consists of spices which give it its unique taste. Curry is normally eaten with rice and Indian bread, like naan and chapatti. Due to the fact that the poor do not have the money to afford certain ingredients, thus the curry for the poor has lesser ingredients and is most of the time vegetables, which are rather cheap, and are easy to get.

Indian tea (Masala chai)

India is a country known for its production of red tea. Tea is drunk by both the rich and the poor. The Indian way of drinking tea has also been influenced by the British, due to the fact that it was then a British colony. Indians usually add milk and sugar to their tea, so as to create a thick milky concoction. Spices like cinnamon and ginger are also added so that there would be a unique fragrance in the tea. Indians have a habit of drinking tea in the morning for the fact that they believe that drinking tea gives them a refreshing feeling, and would also wake them up. However, most importantly, drinking tea has became a common practice in India is because it is cheap, thus the poor would also be able to afford it.

These foods simply make up the diet of the poor.

For the fact that the world’s richest also live in Mumbai, thus they eat again a different type of food.

Basmati rice Basmati rice served together with curry

The main diet of the rich unlike the poor are not Indian breads, however they eat rice, and specifically the Basmati rice. The Basmati rice is grown in both India and Pakistan. It is long grain rice and is notable for its fragrance, thus it is called ‘the fragrant one’ in Sanskrit. The Basmati rice is like the chapatti has to be eaten with other accompaniments. Curry is often served together with the Basmati rice.

The curry of the rich again is different from the poor. The ingredients of the curry consist of meat like chicken, fish, and mutton. However, a large number of Indians are vegetarians, thus some of rich, who are vegetarians still eat vegetable curry.

Tandoori Chicken in Mumbai Butter Chicken

India has also been known for its chicken dishes and one of the most famous ones is the tandoori chicken, which is marinated with spices, then roasted or grilled either in the traditional clay oven or over the traditional grill. The tandoori chicken was so delicious that it had impressed the Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and many international leaders have enjoyed it including American presidents, Richard Nixon and John Kennedy. Now, the tandoori chicken is not just found in India, and it can be found in other parts of the world, including countries as far as the United States. Other chicken dishes include dishes like Butter Chicken.

Mumbai is just beside the sea, thus there is a wide variety of seafood in it, prawns, crabs, and pomfrets. Thus, there are also certain seafood recipes there, ranging from the traditional curries to other fusion cuisines.

Indian food is one of the world’s most unique cuisines with its unique curry, unique tandoori chicken, and Indian food has received good response from people around the world and now Indian food is not only found in India, but found around the world. This is the power of Indian food.