Thread by @ramkid

The picture of Vinod Rastogi.

A meandering thread on school projects. (Now is a good time to quit if you have buses to catch, meetings to attend, or reports to write). +

Thanks to my kids being 10 years apart, I haven't yet achieved mukti from the school project. I have seen its evolution over two decades. Only one thing hasn't changed. It still leaves the parents several hairs greyer. Except for the ones they pulled out in frustration. +

It often starts with an innocent question. "Can you help me find a picture of Vinod Rastogi?"
Sure, I say. Who's he?
A Hindi writer.
Ok, Google him.
I did.
And?
I'm confused.
Why?
See what I got...
(See Appendix 1) +

6 different faces. And I know that the very first one is of the venerable Pran Saheb, Dada Saheb Phalke award winner.
A quick investigation showed that all 6 were impostors.
Where is the real Rastogi? +

The Holmesian among you would have doubtless read the caption . "I want some pictures of Vinod Rastogi".
Ah, you infer, this fellow who foisted Bahu ki Vida on unsuspecting kids, is a wily man indeed. He has left no pictorial trace of himself anywhere... +

Only Google and its boffins know how Pran Saheb and the other assorted mugshots made it through their search algorithm to confound kids and their parents. +

An utterly irrelevant but interesting coincidence is that Pran Saheb stayed most of his life just a stone's throw away from the school my kid goes to. He'd have been mighty chuffed to see kids printing his picture in stationery shops in the vicinity. +

A few days ago, my kid, puppy eyes and all, asks me at 7.45 in the a.m:
Can we get some pictures printed?
The cartridge is dry, I say.
At the stationery shop, she pleads.
How many, I ask.
43, she says nonchalantly.
WHAT!, I exclaim.
Please, she says.

I'm a Dad. I agree.+

I go to the shop before the shopkeeper can pull his shutter up. I have already mailed all the pictures to him. He arrives. Asks me
Did you call me at 12 last night?
No, I say truthfully.
Well somebody did, he says. She wanted to print 40 pictures.
Aha, I think. We won. By 3.+

Which brings me to the preachy part of my rambling.
What are these projects for? (Apart from supporting the paper, printer, ink, stationery shop business?)
My kid spent more time embellishing the cover page than ruminating on Vinod Rastogiji's social commentary. +

After she boarded the bus, spilling fresh print outs all over, while holding her cover page out to dry, I trudged back for a well-earned cup of tea. The Bus Marshall calls. Except it's my daughter.
"Nana, I need two dark blue A4 size sheets. Can you please, pretty please....