Write Side of the Bed

Wrong Side of the Bed: A Reflection Paper

It has been more than a decade since I graduated from high school. I had forgotten all about the sometimes funny and sometimes frustrating ethos of a traditional Catholic girls’ school in India, till I began reading Poojitha Prasad’s Wrong Side of the Bed. This captivating tale of a very average 14-year-old girl from Bangalore, India, who wakes up one morning and finds herself, inexplicably, in San Francisco, is unique in its multicultural appeal. Straddling two very different cultures – Indian and N. American – this book proves entertaining and interesting for both sets of readers.

The book opens with a very strict school principal lecturing Anita Nair (the protagonist) and her school mates about the proper codes of conduct young girls should adopt at all times. It is April, the beginning of summer in India, and the girls are about to embark on their summer holidays. A few (mis) adventures later, Anita is at home, in her pajamas, ready to meet her gal pals at midnight for a very naughty rendezvous. They plan to visit their principal’s house and scare her silly. However, Anita, a sound sleeper, dozes off, and does not wake up till the next morning.

To her utter horror, Anita finds herself in far away San Francisco. She is now living the life of Chris Magnus, an American teenager, who seems to have serious relationship issues with her dominating mother, Jenny Magnus. In a style that is very reminiscent of J.K. Rowling and her favorite hero, Harry Potter, Anita manages to meander through spells of confusion and terror to find her way back into her own life and home.

During the course of her journey, she meets Chris’ pals and teachers. She also meets Chris’ boyfriend, Neil. Finally, she meets Chris, her American counterpart, who is equally chagrined at being forced to wake up in a strange bed in Bangalore. The entity responsible for their plight is Switch, a monster with no heart. It switches people’s souls for fun. In their quest for victory over the evil Switch, who insists that the only way out of its maze is by answering a crazy riddle correctly, the girls (Anita and Chris) are aided by a hypnotist, Mrs. Sue Kenneth.

Characterization and setting are the two of the book’s strongest suits. Most of the major characters, Anita Nair, Chris Magnus, their girl friends, the strict and no-nonsense Mrs. Rao, the very American mom – Jenny Magnus, the timid-and-yet-shrewd Mrs. Kenneth, are all well rounded in their appeal. The names of the characters are apt also. Since Bangalore is a city in South India, the central character, Anita Nair, has a very South Indian last name. Also, Rao, is a very common last name among Brahmins in Bangalore. So, the uptight prim and proper principal of St.Oxford English Girls High School is known only as “Mrs. Rao.”

Prasad’s description of a Catholic Girls’ school in Bangalore is nearly perfect. All Mrs. Rao is concerned with is the moral and academic perfection of the girls entrusted to her care. “Once you have all grown up, it’ll be very difficult to change the character that is in you and that has already been developed. That is why it must be developed at a young age itself,” claims Mrs. Rao (Prasad, 2004, 1). She reminds us of school m’arms in old Victorian novels.

The girls in the story, Anita, Chris, and their friends seem to be quite true to character also. They’re the average girls-next-door sort of teenagers, giggling their life away. Interestingly though, some cultural elements seep into their lives also. The girls in India, Anita, Meena, Sona, Preeti, Rita and Rose, are all more child-like in their innocent quest for “fun.” They do not, ever, seem to miss having boys around, and are content with drenching themselves in water and coke as a form of “defiance” against Mrs. Rao’s rules (Prasad, 2004, 2-3).

On the other hand, their American counterparts, Chris, Jane, Ann and Cally, seem a lot more world-weary and cynical than the Bangaloreans. Their lives are riddled with problems faced by typical high school students in the US – competition, bullying, and boyfriends. Cally and Ann seem to think nothing of sabotaging their classmate, Stephanie’s, attempts at winning the swimming trophy: “ ‘Look, Step always picks the number six diving platform in any case. I’m sure she’d do that…’ Ann whispered. ‘How about…’ Cally held up a bottle of sun tan oil, which she had in her locker. Ann winked at her” (Prasad, 2004, 72).

The attention to detail is what makes the book a must-read for people trying to compare/contrast the high school experience in India and the United States. Anita refers to a “cafeteria” as a “canteen.” She is very surprised when her “mom,” Jenny Magnus, offers her “lunch money” (Prasad, 2004, 14). Mothers in India often pack home-made lunches for their daughters. Typically, Anita is a vegetarian and finds herself in a bind when she is faced with the unpalatable (to her) American food. The desserts are the only things she is able to digest. Similarly, upon waking up in Chris’ bed, she notices that Chris does not have nearly as many books in her room. Indian students do rely heavily on printed material, and reading is very much a part of their lives.

Since India is a tropical country, with a warm climate, ice skating is not something Anita is comfortable with. When forced to step into Chris’ shoes at the skating rink, therefore, Anita faints. She is, however, like other Nair girls, very good at swimming. Nairs hail from Kerala, a coastal state in South India. Natives are well versed in swimming by the time they are toddlers, since rivers, lakes and backwaters riddle the state.

Both Chris’ and Anita’s fathers seem to play secondary roles in their daughters' lives. One wonders if the father-daughter relationship is the same in both cultures. Chris’ father seems more laid-back than Anita’s father, though. He seems to be the peace-maker at home: “ ‘Now, Now Jenny. All teenagers have this craze of going out,’ Mr. Magnus said. ‘Calm down, dear.’ ” (Prasad, 2004, 81).

Anita’s father is a tad stricter than Chris’ dad. He seems to think nothing of “invading” Anita’s privacy and reading her emails. “I see…but what’s all this nonsense about paranormal stuff…And Chris? Who’s that?” demands Mr. Nair, after reading the email Mrs. Kenneth had written Anita (Prasad, 2004, 150).

This is typical too. In American families, teenagers often keep to themselves, and live behind the closed doors of their rooms. Their room is “off limits” to their parents. This is not so in Indian homes, where children are not expected to keep secrets from the parents. Their lives are more controlled/managed by their parents. Parents also keep a strict eye over the comings-goings of their children, and they reserve the right to question friendships/associations/liaisons their children might develop with people outside the family.

The computer seems to be the one point of similarity between the girls. Both of them are fairly comfortable with using a computer, and browsing through the internet. This proves that the invasion of modern technology knows no cultural boundaries.

The book’s interesting and relevant title, easy to read print, and audience-perfect length (154 pages) are definite strong suits also.

Prasad’s book is by no means,however, a perfect piece of writing. It has its share of flaws. Modern day Americans, for example, can never digest the fact that a Physics teacher in an Elementary School in SFO would ever be seen brandishing “her long cane at Jane, sporting an evil smile” (Prasad, 2004, 18). Neither would the teacher ever accuse her student in class thus:

“You liar! You are lying” (Prasad, 2004, 18).

In our world of lawsuits and severe punishment against child abusers, it would be strange indeed if a Physics teacher wielded such tyrannical powers over her class.

It is also strange that when Chris fainted at the skating rink, her friends would bring her home, and her parents would choose to get a doctor home to examine her (Prasad, 2004, 54). The people of the United States live in a world filled with insurance rules, HMO’s and PPO’s. How on earth would an average American middle-class family be able to afford the charges for a private/home visit by a licensed doctor? These are a few instances where young Poojitha Prasad’s assumptions take precedence over research and solid facts.

Wrong Side… is, however, a book for teenagers written by a teenager. We must, therefore, accept it for what it is -- a 14-year-old girl’s flight of imagination that is quite informative, and yet entertaining (especially for teen readers)!

Works Cited

Prasad, Poojitha.  Wrong Side of the Bed.

     New Delhi: Rupa & Co., 2004.

Shifting Demographics and Cross-cultural perspectives in our Classrooms

There was a time when the standard method of pedagogy was lecturing. We now recognize the folly in believing that every child follows the same learning style. Differentiated instruction is the current mantra, and each amongst us tries to reach out to the visual, the auditory, the kinesthetic, the self-directed, the team-worker, the ADHD, the trouble-maker, the leader, and the introvert in our classes. Why can we then, not stretch ourselves a little more and acknowledge that the diversity in our classrooms does not end there?

The United States of America, once known as the melting-pot of cultures, now resembles a salad more than a soup. Every ethnic strand stands out proudly and makes a statement for itself. Nowhere is this heterogeneity more apparent than in our classrooms. A one-size-fits-all approach cannot, therefore, work.

Last fall, I attended a seminar on brain development, and how the brain learns. One of the most important lessons I learned at the workshop was a concept called SAIL. It is an acronym for teaching strategy and student success. It implores teachers to create a SAFE learning environment, where students feel ACCEPTED and INCLUDED so that LEARNING is optimized. What a wonderful concept!

Although authors, illustrators and educators are trying very hard to create meaningful, relevant and politically correct coursework and literature, racial and gender-based stereotypes are still rampant. Due to misinformation and misrepresentation of varying cultural norms, students who appear “different” from the popular student crowd get picked on and teased or bullied relentlessly.

Students in America are still remarkably insular; they are shielded from many of the harsh realities of life that students from other parts of the world are more painfully aware of. Consequently, when, as adults, these young people have to explore realms outside their ken, they feel lost and rudderless.

The world is constantly shrinking. It is not possible anymore to live in our comfort zone. Today’s student community will have to reach out to the global business/consumer community as corporate gurus and career people tomorrow. If they must succeed and remain economically viable, we must instill in our youth a strong understanding of cross-cultural understanding and tolerance. How else will our ships SAIL?

Once Upon a time...

... it used to be known as "the Queen's Language." No more!!

Language is one of man’s most powerful inventions. The ability to transcribe our thoughts into words that can be written down for future reference is a wonderful gift. It helps us share our collective experience with future generations. English Language teachers, worldwide, face a tremendous responsibility. They must ensure that their students not only obtain syntactic/semantic skills, but also develop a genuine appreciation and enjoyment of the subtle nuances of the language.

My parents initiated my earliest forays into the world of English language and literature. I remember my father reading out aloud from abridged versions of famous classics like David Copperfield and Jane Eyre. The nuns who ran the traditional Catholic school I attended made sure that I mastered the intricacies of “the Queen’s English,” and eventually, I was able to delve into these wonderful stories myself.

Since most of the classics I read were written by Britons, there was no variation between the English I had learned in school and the English I read in print. Imagine my surprise, then, when (as a teenager) I stumbled upon the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. An ingenious substitute teacher had teamed up with the school librarian and dreamt up a new approach of incorporating literature into our lives. Whenever she subbed for us, instead of having us go over the work our teacher had left us with, she encouraged us to read these American classics. We devoured every word voraciously.

Holy Molly! Here was a whole new way of speaking (and writing) the language I thought I knew so well. Suddenly, I didn’t know how to pronounce some of the words. Many of the words seemed to lack a vowel or two (e.g. 'colour' was now 'color'). I could make no sense of the cute expressions either. This was my first foray into the world of “multi-cultural” Children’s Literature.

I learned a lot about America from reading books written by Americans. Eventually, I began reading books written by authors from around the world in an attempt to understand the curious variations of the English language.

As a college-level Rhetoric/Composition and Reading teacher, I encounter students from many different walks of life. All of them share one thing in common – they want to become better at comprehending and writing using the English language. Since many of my students are immigrants, they suffer from low self-esteem issues and feel that the way they speak English is “wrong.”

My first job is to ensure them that while their “accents” are certainly not “main-stream American,” they are not “wrong.” I never tire of pointing out to my students that English is not “dead” like Latin or Sanskrit are. It is a living, breathing, constantly evolving entity. There are differences in the way we speak and use the language. Even so called Americans are not immune to this “problem” known as an “accent.” It is ok to have one. That is the beauty of the language.

I love a noisy interactive classroom. My goal is to develop a community of learners, who are co-dependant on each other for their learning needs. Since I have some leeway in designing my class/course content, I do not use any standard textbooks. Instead, I encourage my students to bring in their favorite ethnic story from their childhood/family history. We then take turns reading these stories out in class, and analyzing their content and structure. Most of the writing we do in class also involves introspection into my students’ individual personal backgrounds. Apart from obtaining grammar and mechanical skills, my students gain some valuable insights into different world-views. They also develop a genuine respect/tolerance for people who are different from them. Helping my students gain confidence in themselves as unique individuals is certainly another tangible!