Music as class in Gujarat

Music as Class in Gujarat

Bhakti (devotion) to different deities (metaphysical or human) is the backbone of Hindu cultural life in Gujarat. Each sect has its own set of devotional songs or bhajans. Sects are often class-based or caste-based and so there are high-class bhajans, middle-class bhajans and pure bhakti bhajans. They may all pay ode to Lord Krishna (or any avatar of Vishnu) or Ambaji (a form of Goddess Shakti) but what you sing often determines where you stand in society.

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How long-division decides which school you go to

As someone who moved through three cities in three schools and gave her ICSE board exam in a new school in a new city  with a different subject paper in the whole of Mumbai (and aced it), I find it difficult to understand why people in Vadodara are so obsessed with schools and boards at the primary level. Lately, the decision to change schools and boards has rested on long-division. Some teach at grade 1, some in grade 2 and some in grade 3. In our days, your parents just picked the school and you did your long-division sums whenever the teacher taught them to you. Changing schools to postpone your agony of doing arithmetic to a later stage was unheard of.

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