Khud Se Seekho

Zindagi, rozz hamaari class leti hai...Nursery se school, fir college aur ab...yahaan...

This 3 min video perhaps tells us a truth. Whatever we see through others' eyes, whatever we learn from books and many other sources is not comparable to what we learn by ourselves. That is something which is more likely to stay with us as an enduring understanding. And I think I believe in this thought.

To add to it I would say it is the mistakes I make that teaches me more than anything else. I may or may not always know what to do. But because of the mistakes I would know what not to do and perhaps that's what counts.

Check this video out and think for yourself.

A new digital camera

Hi

I bought a new digital SLR last week and have been trying different experiments using it. Here are some of them. Let me know any creative idea you have - I will try and see if I can capture it using the camera.

GiveIndia - Chase Community Giving

Forgive, O Lord

Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee and I'll forgive Thy great big one on me. - Robert Frost

:)

India - A wish

I was standing by the road when i heard the sound of flute. It was being played by a guy standing near a pedal rickshaw (one used to carry stuff from one place to another). There was a lady sleeping on the auto, with two 2-3 year olds sitting near her. Soon I saw a bhel-puri-wala, who had his stall on the road, go and offer a plate of bhel to the 2 kids. 

The guy playing the flute was wearing a loose shirt with 1-2 buttons on and a towel wrapped around instead of pants. Their condition was visible. I looked at the guy and he got the indication that I was liking whatever he was playing. It was melodious, and the old hindi songs were sounding too sweet! Another plate of bhel was offered to the kids and the younger one just held it as if it was his and he wasn't going to share it with anyone :) The mother got up and had 1-2 bites too.

I had to go. As I moved towards the bike, the guy asked the 2 kids to wave a bye to me :) They did and so did I. I felt happy. 

I wish to see a day when such artists are able to earn money using their talent and give food to their kids, instead of living on sympathy of others.

A Teacher

Today was a very challenging day for me, as I tried teaching different things to students of totally different age groups.

Part 1: Students' age - 9-10 years

I have been going to a school since more than a month now, everyday, to be a part of Class 4 B at 1.20 pm. Whether I am an observer in the class or wearing the director's (read as teacher's) cap, I have loved it. As I entered the class, I came to know that their regular teacher was absent. The proxy teacher asked me if I needed any help and if she should be present with me. I was confident I would handle the kids and so requested her to leave. I had never thought about how easy or how difficult it would be with their teacher not present in the class. I had handled the class for 5-10 minutes when the teacher was away and I thought I would be able to handle it.

The class began. Luckily, I had taken the class yesterday and was going to continue from where I had left. I started by revising what was done in the last class. 5 minutes were gone and there was talking going around in the class. 

Aaron was roaming here and there, Vatsal was messing up things with Rishi, Rishi was just not listening to anything, Yash wanted to talk about how his nose got hurt, Abhishek was busy poking Ishita, Deep was doing something on his own, Sarthak wanted to paint, Aditi wanted me to tell a story, Manan was quiet as usual, Anjana and Jay were obedient as always, Muarvi was busy playing with her own stuff, Yug was lost in his own world as always, Saurabh was banging the desk with his water bottle, Anish was at his desk but not listening I guess and Kinal, Nirali and Aarti were at their desks, quietly observing the chaos and the confused teacher. This was the scene in short. 

Rishi had irritated me enough by not listening to me and so I thought of getting the class in place by threatening the chap! It seemed as if the daaku was threatening the villagers by punishing one of the villagers in front of everyone. I asked Rishi to come and stand near the blackboard. He didn't listen. Finally I raised my volume and asked him to stand out of the class. I told him that at the end of the class, I would be taking him to the princi's office. And that sort of made the class quiet. I could see everyone looking at Rishi and me. And so I repeated that thing again. I continued that for 2 3 minutes. If anyone made any noise, I would tell the chap that he would be joining Rishi too and so everyone was quiet. I restarted the revision. However, the silence didn't last longer. The teacher from the next class came to me for help as the internet wasn't working. I told her that I would come in some time, but she wanted me to fix it asap. I had to go. And by the time I came back, the class was in a mess again. I tried for 5 more minutes...but I failed to control the class and finally gave up. I put the chalk back in the box and told students to do what they wanted to. Students started saying sorry and all, but I had decided and I just didn't continue. I stood there for the remaining 10-15 minutes. Noise was still on and the kids were looking at me, talking, playing etc. They might have obeyed if I had started, but I didn't. I ended the class when the bell rang and left by thanking them. I had never thought it would be this difficult in the absence of their teacher and so was as always, not prepared for it. I think I will be able to handle it in a different and a better way next time.

"Nobody said it was easy, No one ever said it would be so hard" - These lines best summarises it I think :)

Part 2: Student's age - 26 years

This is also about teaching, teaching how to drive a bike. I tried my best to scare the student, but I failed. We reached the ground where the bike lessons were had to be given. I gave the bike and stood on one side giving basic instructions about how to start and how to go ahead. The student did find the task a bit challenging for the first 5 minutes. Gear change hota tha toh accelerate nahi hota tha, accelerate hota thaa to gear nahi change hota tha and with all that going on for 5 minutes, I decided to go and sit on the bike and give instructions from behind. And soon I could see myself going around in the ground, without a stop for 5 continuous minutes. We had to stop not because the gears weren't changing, but because a car came in our way. I think the student deserves the credit of being a fast learner. I just had to keep patience every time the bike stopped and keep cheering for every small jump made.

I think as a teacher I learned two things today - patience and encouragement are the key things that a teacher has to use if he/she wants to learn the art of teaching. Whether it be kids or adults, they are probably two key things that might work.

The Fearless

Have you seen kids or their parents or you shouting on seeing a kid near a fire or some other dangerous place? Am sure most of us would have. I saw a totally opposite kid and his parents today.

I was having my usual dose of chai at K K, while returning back from work. There are some labourers who live on that footpath. As I was finishing my tea, I saw one of those ladies talking to the chaiwala. And after some time, I saw her sitting there with a kid in her lap. The kid must been 4-5 years old. She stood up and went to get something. The kid’s dad was busy scraping the vessel in which they must have cooked their food. The kid was then on the floor when I saw his hand moving towards the chulha. I just stopped having the tea and was looking at what the kid was about to do. I was afraid he would burn his hands. He wasn’t stopping. The mother was still searching for something and the daddy was still scraping. The kid was right in front of him, but he was totally engrossed in the scraping activity. Finally I saw the mother turn and expected to hear a shrill sound or the name of the kid being called out. But to my surprise, she was as relaxed as the daddy. It wasn’t that she didn’t see the kid moving his hand towards the chulha. By then the kid had almost held the paper that was in the chulha. As he drew it out of it, I could see the red hot corner of the paper, trying to breathe in the available oxygen.

He boldly caught the paper and threw it the other way round and with a blow of air from his mouth he set the fire in place. Mummy and daddy had become ready to enjoy the heat of it with the kid. And as they felt the warm air, I kept looking at the three of them. What was it that made the kid, a 4-5 year old, so fearless? What was it that made the daddy and mummy so fearless? What was it that made them experience things without any fear? Why don’t we experience the same fearlessness? Maybe some of us do, but shouldn’t it be common? I don’t have answers to all these questions.