Now, on notebooks

The Hindu : Metro Plus Coimbatore / Lifestyle : K. JESHI : "They stare down at you from huge billboards and push products on television. Actors, be it Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Ajit, Vikram, Aamir, Salman, Aishwarya Rai, Rani Mukherjee or Preity Zinta, they are now busy occupying the place which once officially belonged to `professional' models.

The craze for film stars has now touched new levels.

And school students don't want to be left out. Photographs of Vijay and Ajit in different avatars — from the clean-shaven, suave, suited gentleman to the sporty looking dude — now adorn the covers of school notebooks. Heroines are not lagging behind either.

Notebooks with pictures of popular stars or scenes from hit movies on the cover are much in demand these days. Cashing in on the unfathomable success and appeal of the actors are manufacturers of notebooks and dealers.

"We give what they ask. Notebooks with flashy covers — pets, Nature, and foreign countries — attract students and the latest trend is the pictures of film stars. We have stocked notebooks with pictures of Srikanth, Madhavan, Trisha, Jyothika and Sneha and they are selling like hot cakes. Those with Vijay and Vikram on the cover are more in demand among those studying in class IX and above," says P. Senthil Kumar, an executive at a bookstore.

But, teachers are thumbing down this new trend. A majority of teachers and diligent students contend that these otherwise attractive covers are an obstruction to the intellectual capabilities of students.

They feel that such covers may have a negative impact on the examination results too. C. Sowmya, a class IX student carrying such a notebook, has her own view. She can't figure out what the fuss is all about. She says: "Such photographs on my notebook take me to the another world. What's my book cover got to do with my math?""I'd go ahead and buy the book; it looks like a fun book to own."

Says V. Ramachandran, another student, "Such notebooks are in plenty in the market and students are inclined to buy them. At a time when even watching movies can distract students, favourite scenes on their notebooks leave a permanent imprint on their minds, thus leading to adverse results."

Teachers say this can also have an adverse effect on the socio-psychological make-up of students. "Posters of film stars, especially on school books, encourage youngsters to fantasise about a make-believe world. This sends out wrong messages to children. Let's have real life heroes on our book covers, if we must — Sachin Tendulkar, Pete Sampras, Michael Jordan — not imaginary ones," says S. Chandra, who teaches mathematics at a private school.

She says students are so fascinated by these photographs that they continue to stare at them all the time, least attentive of what is being discussed in class. "Though they are physically present in the class, mentally, they dream of their favourite stars," she adds. "