In India, it is considered perfectly normal to punish erring students. Some of the means of punishments are to humiliate the student by making him stand up on the bench or to face the corner of the classroom. Another form of punishment is to cause pain by rap on the knuckles using a long scale or stick. But the most ancient and popular form of punishment is to make him hold his ears with hands crossing each other (left hand holding right ear & right hand holding left ear) and alternate between standing and squatting.
It is called “Uthak-Baithak” in Hindi or “Baski” in Kannada or “Thoppukaranam” in Tamil. It is not just a form of punishment in classroom but also traditional practice for many who perform it while offering prayers. i.e Devotees pray to forgive them for any mistake caused intentionally or unintentionally and punish themselves through this process and is hence a common scene in temples in South India.
Remember the ‘good’ old Indian school punishments? Holding the earlobes with arms crossed over your chests, bending the knees and then sit and then stand and so on till the time Masterji is saying? Though teachers these days misunderstood this concept in some areas and hurting the students violating the basic rights which is a HR issue. Down the road we are not going to discuss about it anyways.
Did you ever thought that why the traditional Indian school teachers would give this particular punishment? I believe even majority of the teachers who grant this punishment to their students do not know the real scientific reason behind it. This form of punishment has been in practice in our country since the Ancient Indian Gurukul time and was given to the students who were weak in studies.
That is a different question if now a days teachers grant this punishment for any mistake and not only for studies but originally it was meant for weak students only. Talking about the logic behind this punishment, it is very interesting to know that this particular posture increases the blood flow in the memory cells in brain and synchronizes the right and left side of the brain to improve function and promote calmness, stimulates neural pathways via acupressure points in the earlobe, sharpens intelligence and also helps those with autism, asperger’s syndrome, learning difficulties and behavioral problems. So, if you don’t believe me, just get up and doing this for some 5 to 10 times (a bit tough i know) and later you will understand that body is activated (not in a lazy state) and you will feel some pain too if it’s first time.
Probably we have forgotten this ancient method of increasing memory power but the West is now using is very diligently and they are recommending this posture or exercise to treat many a diseases
