On my early morning walk  past a local school, I saw a  queue of men women and small children. Snaking its way down the  long road, round the block and back again.  And they all looked like they hadn't slept the whole night. The toddlers with  them were all yawning widely.
"The school opens at nine am  why are you here this early?"  I asked a parent I knew who was doing his best to stay awake.
"My wife and I  have been here since 4 'o clock last Saturday.  And these people next to us,  have been camping here for the last eight days with a tiffin carrier coming from  their home.. they take turns to go to the toilet in the mall"
"I know admissions to schools are difficult but surely not that difficult - they are so many more schools these days".
"They also  want so much more money!  This one wants only  a few lakhs that is why we are all here waiting for the final interview".
 One father was coaching his sleepy two year old to recite  King Lear from Shakespeare,
Another set of parents were prodding their   3 year old to repeat the Theory of Relativity. 
One mother was shouting  at a 2 year old  for  having  forgotten the chemical  formula for rdx.
"You never know what they will be asked in the interview. It is best to be prepared" said a father studying Calculus to teach his 18-month-old son..
"Surely all they need to know is the alphabet" 
"Ha! Education  has changed since you were a child. The competition is cutthroat. To even get my son into the school we have to prepare him to get atleast 99% in the entrance exam which follows the  CET syllabus"
"I don't understand …you want your child to get into school to learn but before that you have to teach it all to merely get him in?"
"Madam ", he said patiently" the school has limited seats and they need a reason to reject the applications. Can I afford  to have my child's application rejected ?".
 One father said  "Ive been on a sabbatical for the last six months to coach my son in molecular biology …you see its not my subject so I had to take evening classes for two years to be able to coach him and  now he is an expert….aren't you Bobby"? Bobby nodded seriously. 
"I am very impressed . But aren't you stressing out the poor mite? He should be making mud pies and catching grasshoppers in a bottle" 
"There is time enough for all that when he retires.  Now he has to work hard!"
 " But what happens to c hildhood and  playing with puppies and chasing butterflies?"
" But it is necessary in today's world to first  get into a good school and then a good college  for a career -  for that you have to start young"
 "Look you may not know this,  but the most successful people in the world are drop outs from a formal education system……. after all life is the best school there is.".
" Can you give some names of successful  people who have dropped out and learned from life? "he smiled  humouring me..
"Take our ministers -  not one of them has been through college.  Take Sonia Gandhi…..no one knows what she has passed. I tell you its not important. Why even Azim Premji  is a drop- out from Stanford." 
" You are missing the point,"  he said, patiently
"Me? Missing what point?"
" You see Bobby has to first get into a school to be a school drop-out ".
"Of course, I didn't see it that way. So Bobby you too want to be a school drop- out?"
"Naah",  said Bobby,". I  want to join circus"