Nursery rhymes, those stupid things I was made to recite without understanding a single word.
Looking back I am really glad I did not understand them.
I mean, why would you want to learn some thing like Jack and Jill.
Two presumably hardworking kids climb up a hill to get a bucket full of water, lose balance and sustain possibly fatal cranial injuries.
Why!!!
Nice roly-poly character Mr. Humpty Dumpty is peacefully sitting on the wall, watching life go by. Falls, breaks and then no one can fix him again.
I am sure orthopaedic surgery did not form a part of military training those days.
No wonder all the king’s men and horses could not put him together again.
What were you hoping?
HORSES!!! For god’s sake. (I once tried to make one pee in a can, THAT was a strain on its brains)
Now this one’s about a innocent little piggy picking stones on the railway line (Now why would a pig do that?) who gets run over by an engine who’s engine driver say’s I don’t care.
The kid lives in Mumbai, crosses the railway line to go to school, father takes the local train to work, spend more than 3 hours in the train every day.
Am I glad that the school is actually no good and my cousin still does not really understand English!
Why!! Why!!
What kind of a person living in a largely monsoon dependent, agricultural society asks rain to go away, and to
Why!!
My dear pet ‘s in the well, drowning, now that’s the kind of thing I would want to sing. So I start Ding Dong
Nice good looking girl in beautiful long black skirt is eating her evening snack. Miss Muffet had to be terrorized by a spider. And I shall sing for that.
Three visually impaired rodents get their tails severed by the farmer’s wife. Now that’s something you got to celebrate.
!!!
I liked it till Asha happed to describe the origin of the thing.
It seems it was some kind of chanting to ward of the plague. Ring-a-Ring Roses is supposed to stand for the red rashes that are first symptom of plague. “Pocket Full of Posies” are supposed to keep the plague away. But then they all get the Pneumonic Plague and sneeze and sneeze, Hush Busha and eventually all fall down to their death.
Now did I really need to learn that?
If I ever have kids, they are never going to school.
4 comments:
Very interesting!
And that is why you hated school so much:)
Tai
I feel exactly the same way - they are all stupid.But a teacher assures me that today's kids do not learn that kind of stuff anymore.Most of these , like ring a ring arose out of topical issues and hence not relevant any more:
As for the origins of humpty dumpty:Dumpty was a powerful cannon during the English Civil War (1642-49). It was mounted on top of the St. Mary's at the Wall Church in Colchester defending the city against siege in the summer of 1648. (Although Colchester was a Parliamentarian stronghold, it was captured by the Royalists who held it for 11 weeks.) The church tower was hit by the enemy and the top of the tower was blown off, sending "Humpty" tumbling to the ground. Naturally the King's men* tried to mend him but in vain.
* The "men" would have been infantry, and "horses" the cavalry troops.
- From the East Anglia Tourist Board in England
But actually I like some of them like " I am a teapot short and stout" or " one two buckle my shoe" It is adorable when tots sing them with action!!
Hey, come on, relax re. As my good friend S.Milligan said - Education isn't everything, for a start it isn't an elephant!!
Hee!
Yeah..some of those poems have very interesting origins. Chanced upon ur blog. It's a good one. Some day im gonna lap up all or posts.. happy blogging
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