Young brains

Standing outside the KC Management Institute, waiting for Mira to exit upon completing her SATs. Groups of greeting parents standing around. The street dogs, collared and rotund from over feeding, lie in the winter sun. A druggie walks past and reaches out to pet one of the dogs, which the dog eventually allows after overcoming her initial scepticism. The druggie stumbles on, head down, eyes unfocused. 
Many of India's best and brightest students still leave the country for their college and university education, at least if their families can afford it. The very affluent or rich with children who are less than bright send them overseas as admission into an Indian university is not even an option. 

Strange times. News comes fast and furious. Shashi Tharoor's socialite wife fought a very public spat on Twitter with a Pakistani journalist who she suspected of going after her man. Two days later, Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a hotel room in Delhi's seven star Leela Hotel. 

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in power in Delhi for all of two weeks, has turned vigilante, attempting to take on the Central Government and Police in Delhi. 

News of horrific attacks on women across India, now no longer limited to the cities, dictate the daily headlines. A former judge of the Supreme Court is under attack for having tried to molest an intern.  The editor of Tehelka, a left leaning magazine, was arrested for having molested and/or raped a young journalist on his staff during a lit feat that Tehelka organizes. 

The kids are streaming out, most of them bespectacled and anemic looking. These future IT entrepreneurs and bankers will be gauged on raw brain power first and foremost. Social skills and outdoorsy experience are optional. 

Off to Café Mondegar for lunch. Tarini is not willing to consider any other options.  

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