Sponged away !

Its archaic to say "child is the father of man" - a cliche' that has since been used and abused many times over.

I was in the midst of filling out a feedback form for the UOI (Unit of Enquiry - a slab based teaching mode in the IB curriculum) for my little one  in Grade 1 and I was suddenly stuck at one question. "write the title of the UOI for which the feedback is given" . Now I kinda knew what the UOI was, but wasnt sure about the exact title. I casually asked my daughter if she knew what her UOI was . She said "Unit Of Enquiry" . As expected. But I then prodded her saying if she knew what the title / subject of her UOI was . Not expecting her to reply, I was about to fill in, when she said "Increasing awareness of our personal ability and those of others allows our self identity to develop" !! So she said, in one breath, and she stumped me ! For life ! Allow the ramifications to seep in later. Just the entire sentence (and one that wasnt even part of the so-called prescribed syllabus) that she had picked up from the chart pasted on their black board the last 20 days, and probably read out a couple of times by the teacher, hit me hard. She had sponged it away to her brain, and recalled verbatim at the most veritable moment...

As L&D specialists, we often look at modes of increasing training effectiveness in androgogy. It will never cease me to amaze how a normal (ok, humbly specialist) teacher can deliver such a powerful learning in a classroom !

different strokes, different folks !

The weekend that was, allowed me some indulgence of sorts - a good book (read it cover to cover) and TV shows/music. Perhaps it was the flu that allowed me not to step out of home, even on Ganesh Chaturthi. Or perhaps the luxury of spending quality time with my little one. Perhaps both , coupled with the fact that I was (almost) home alone with hubby travelling Far East on a business trip :)


Incidentally, it was the 9/11 weekend, something that America doesn't want to forget in a hurry ; With all the furore of the Koran burning news dying down slowly but thankfully. Also, with the babri masjid judgement soon to be out, any more such incident couldnt have added more chaos than the the amalgamation of 4 festivals coming together did (Mount Mary fest, Ganesh, Eid and the jain Paryushan). Traffic jams be damned - even my little one says travelling by Local train is better and faster as she discovered once more on Saturday  :) LOL !


well - the 3 TV shows / movies I watched had different interpretations  of 9/11, or better the date which is now (in history) as important a dateline as AD or BC - 9/11 : "24" (last season - season 8 with Jack Bauer desperately trying to hold on to a taut storyline, but failing miserably), the re-run of "MNIK - My name is Khan" and "movie: World Trade Centre" with Nicholas Cage - all based on  interpretations of terrorism and what it means to each of us, inherently or not.


But my heart went out to the book "The Truth about me : A Hijra Life Story" Brilliant. It even shames me to think that we used to despise these 'its' on the local train when they used to travel ticketless. And inspite of knowing that article 377 may or may not offer any respite to these 'mid-liners', we still continue to treat them as untouchables, harijans be damned ! Written by Revathi and translated by V Geetha, this book published by Penguin India offers little hope to the ostracised section of society, but offers an insider's guts to bring it all to the open : search for true love, socio-economic independence, and more importantly, acceptance of the family to a person thus born.  Revathi - I may never get to meet u, but I salute your guts, Aravani.
As she says In one of her poems in Tamil, Revathi sums up this sense of alienation: “In the garden of love/ Was planted the seed of grace./ Watered with goodness/ A plant sprouted/ tender, caring flower – a flower/ That does not adorn/ Sacred sites and prayer rooms.” . Truth harsher than fiction ?

Tribute to a true teacher.

As  the country recently celebrated teachers day in memory of the finest (?) teacher Dr. S Radhakrishnan, I was struck by a recent news report that more than 56% of the teachers surveyed (as part of a PR - driven annual media poll exercise) regretted that they had entered the teaching profession. More than 75% were unhappy with the salary payouts that this offered. And more than 64% took to the teaching profession more out of compulsion rather than passion. Given this fact, wonder if its any surprise that the “sarva Shiksha Abhiyan” of the government (which probably got more popular and ‘cool’ after Aamir khan’s reference to the same in the movie ‘Taare Zameen Par’) hasn’t really taken off the ground, or rather not delivered the results it was intended  for. Or rather hasn’t been too visible except tier 3 cities / remote villages with or without computers. Agreed there might be those VC funded or self help group supported pockets far and between which might have ‘shown’ some progress. But doesn’t the role of the teacher in these pockets be of even more importance here?

Primary teachers (including my own mom) are the pillars of how an individual shapes out in society, not just for the aptitude (or academic interests) he pursues, but his habits, social behavior patterns, humanity (or the lack of it) and others which are probably not measured through any examinations that this individuals. They are academicians in their own right, and the behavior that the kids emote (or simply copy) stay with them for a lifetime. But the greater question is : Does the best role modeling happen only with teachers-students in a classroom environment ? Or do life skills, adaptability, basic etiquette happen beyond the four walls? Aren’t each of the experiences, friends, relatives who we interact / face each single day (esp during those formative years) mould us (for better or worse). We have been a student for as long as we remember, and the day we stop learning, the decay starts.

I distinctly remember one lady in my life who has probably (unconsciously) moulded most of my behavior and thinking patterns  : a 3^rd forum (5^th standard) passout, this lady has had the grit and determination and aptitude to mould , amend, correct all those kids (and adults if they chose to) with loads of love and tons of positive attitude (which was annoying at times) : One could choose the skills / behavioural traits from secret recipe tips on how to make the perfect athirasam or thenkuzhal OR how to multitask while simultaneously order the grocery list OR deal with the errant maid while still listening to her sob story about her drunken husband but the same time ensuring she doesn’t go hungry by ‘dropping’ two hot dosas in the servant’s plate OR how to give away gifts even when you have very little OR ensuring that you wrap up all work and catch up on the afternoon nap while you are already thinking about the neighbour’s daughter’s cold and how a particular recipe of tulsi kashaayam would bring her relief. Or preparing her grand daughter for the forth coming stotram competition. Or packing in extra obattus under the banana leaf for her daughter’s house. And more and more . For 80 long years. For the last 60 odd years that she has been married; for the past 15 years that she has battled with several life threatening diseases. Even today, bed ridden that she is , she is completely in the know about all ongoing incidents around her, trivial or great :  a great grand daughter born in the US, the latest Siddha medicine for arthritis as purported on Jaya TV , the arrival and plans of a grand son in law from the US , or Karunanidhi’s stand on the Rama Setu issue.

My maternal grandma.

A salute to her indomitable Spirit. A true teacher in every sense.