Salman and the six-pack cerebrum

With technology, you can now order anything online – even a Master’s degree.

Urban legend has it that the closer a student is to the blackboard, the more studious he gets. Nothing can be farther from the truth because the advent of technology has ensured that distance has no impact on learning.

The origin of the distance learning programme supposedly dates back to the 18^th century, somewhere in the land where the sun never sets and the prince never becomes king. However, as with anything Western, the estimate is off by a few thousand years in time and a few thousand miles in location.

Records from our part of the world suggest that the first instance of distance learning can be found in the Mahabharata, when Eklavya was refused admission into Guru Dronacharya’s archery class. Undeterred, Eklavya kept a safe distance and learnt the nuances of archery, thus becoming the world's first distance learning programme student.

Ever since, India has had a huge role to play in infusing technology into distance learning, taking it from the era of cyclostyled notes to using audio, video and online resources.

In the 1999 World Cup, Hansie Cronje, the then captain of South Africa, wore an earpiece during a match, with coach Bob Woolmer imparting instructions from the dressing room. This was one of the most famous instances of distance learning through audio. The innovation does have an India connect – we were the opponents.

India has also popularized distance learning through video – it takes grainy footage aired in a news channel for us to learn of a corruption scandal. These sting operations also educate us on several other topics – for instance, a legal delivery in cricket can only fetch six runs while a no-ball can bring home a million bucks. India’s criminals have also acknowledged movies as their inspiration in hatching novel plots – proof that distance learning via video pays.

Internet-based learning has also revolutionized the distance learning approach, for this is a great way to learn about things you never knew - like someone's bank account details, Facebook password, etc. All it takes is a sneaky mail to lots of random ids – and you can sit wherever you are and be educated on how to use technology and get rich.

These incidents made tech-savvy minds wonder - when technology offered so many attractions, why use it to pursue a college degree, of all things? That was when it came to light that Salman Khan was teaching online. The very fact that the initiative was called the Khan Academy and not Being Studious should have told the fans a few things, but they were too star-struck to realize it.

The very mention of Salman made a lot of teenagers take their shirts off and sit expectantly in front their computers. However, on being given an option of watching Marigold, Veer, London Dreams or an educational video on Newtonian Physics, they wisely chose the last-mentioned, thus opting for a six-pack cerebrum instead. But this could be achieved only through rigourous exercises that required an elephantine memory. This pachydermal hitch was easily brushed off by a part of the brain where everything one learns gets hardwired - the hippocampus.

Soon getting a coveted degree from a prestigious university - without ever having to set foot on campus - became a rage and students were willing to give an arm and a leg for it. Their only crib was that Eklavya got away lightly - all he had to do was give a thumb.