Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Those Were the Days... (Good Habits)

For all those who grew up in the 80's this is something which will ring a bell and bring back a lot of memories from school. For those of you who missed out on these beauties, these charts were put up on our school walls and homes and were supposed to instruct us on a host of things, starting from how to cultivate good habits (this post), correct food habits, religion etc. to the more bizzare ones on how to greet your Japanese guests.

Now when I look back at these posters, I realize that most of them are sexist, stereotypical and were written in bad "Hinglish". But I guess the intentions were harmless and we should not really judge them.

Will continue putting up more of this stuff as I find them. Have fun... (Click on the picture for the bigger image)


If you want to purchase the book with the complete collection of such charts, you can order it from here





9 comments:

Anonymous said...

heh heh

Anonymous said...

finally u copied a blog !!

ppl ppl do not click on pegu's google ads, hes a thief !

trashhead said...

@anon (2nd one)

Dude, I never claimed the picture was original or sumthing.. just found it and put it up .. simple no? :)

but that still doesn't mean that you shouldn't click on the google ads :)

soumya mukerji said...

lol... wherever did u find this stuff...? And u sure seem to have ignored all this... that's what makes u the su-per dude u r!

Anonymous said...

You have reminded me of my good old days too...Thanks...As for now my good habit teaches me to click the google ads...and I am going to do just that.

Nivedita said...

Hey!
I need to thank you for this blog entry because it provides a very good opening into the moralisitc and didactic nature of early children's literature...a subject I have been thinking about for quite sometime now.

This poster, customized for the Indian society is one of the many 'gifts' of the Macalauyian education policy, a legacy of the British Raj(Interestingly, this notion of an 'ideal' boy is perhaps the only 'videshi' idea happily endorsed by the 'swadeshi' RSS :)).

The poster has its roots in the 18th century Lockean and Rousseauian idea of childhood - 'a pure point of origin in relation to language, sexuality and the state' and therefore, fictile - capable of being moulded as a 'useful' unit of society (again, a puritan, Victorian, utilitarian philosophy).

Instrumentated by cultural and religious politics, this poster( and, the entire body of children's literature of this kind is heavily influenced by evangelical beliefs. There is a clear-cut boundary between the 'good' and the 'bad', the 'right' and the 'wrong'.
Haven't we read the 'Bedtime Stories', the 'Book of Naughty Children' and closer home, the 'Panchatantra'? These stories and fables invariably show the 'good' character being rewarded or, getting an opportunity to meet God and the 'bad' being ostracized or, punished by God.

Thankfully, by the middle of the 19th century, writers, thinkers and psychologists realized that the primary pedagogic and moral focus in the children's literature was stunting the independent imaginative life and normal growth of a child who was being fed on such literature. 20th century onwards, the advent of experimental children's literature( works of Roald Dahl, Robert Cormier, Judy Blume, etc) broke the taboos by depicting realistic details, addressing the innermost fears, anxieties and concerns of children, making them see the world as it was - neither completely 'white/good' nor completely 'black/bad' but, having shades of 'grey'.

I do not mean that the poster speaks of anything that a child should not follow. This poster is quite 'harmless'. However, it gives us a lead into a vast repertoire of writings for children which are not so 'harmless' in their 'intentions'. They are aimed at 'making/constructing' a child into a 'moral' ( I find the word quite ambiguous and highly manipulated ) human being and thus, hampering his ( the poster aims at 'making' 'ideal' boys and not 'ideal' girls...for once, the girls have been spared by the moral brigade! ) vitality and creating an 'unreal' world for him.

I am sure after this gibberish you will ask me not to ever leave a comment again:)

Anonymous said...

sigh...I have been looking for this ideal good boy ever since.Now I know what to blame for my single status!!!!

Anonymous said...

I think I am in love with Nivedita :)

Varun

Anonymous said...

just testing