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My first assignment
My first job. My first assignment. Training the staff of Eicher Mitsubishi in Wordstar. Wait don’t google. Let me enlighten you - Wordstar is the mother ( sorry for the gender bias, could be a father ) of all word processors and many conventions used in word editors today. Was very excited. It was not only the job but also the fact that I had to wear a saree as per the dress code of the company. Wearing a saree is always exciting for young ladies until it becomes routine.
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Got many instructions as to the examples to be quoted, language to be used and the scope of commands to be taught. So on the scheduled time entered the so-called classroom (it was the boardroom with a PC on every seat) with a deep breath and wished everyone a very good morning hoping it didn’t turn out to be a bad morning for me. Was introduced to the class as the instructor who is going to teach Wordstar for the next six days. The students were introduced as the staff in general.
Started the session with enthusiasm and saw some of the apprehensions disappearing from the faces of the learners. The techies must have given the poor fellows a pretty frightening account of computing. Now there was this old gentleman in his early forties. Ooops…At that time folks, forty was old! Now of course its forty years young.
He was continuously asking me questions ahead of the topics I was teaching. Finally I got fed up. Enough is enough. I told him to be patient and keep quite and that I will shortly come to his point . He kept quite. Rest of the class went on smoothly. Happy with my performance I went to the EDP department to report my departure.
The EDP Manager was rather cross me. He had been sitting in the class and had left barely a few minutes ago. He told me that I was curt with the Chief Manager. So the gentleman was none other than Chief Manager who had organized the training. My heart sank. I had messed it up. I left with heavy heart ready to face the brunt.
As soon as I reached my office I made a beeline for my boss office. I will take the bull by its horns whatever it may.
“Hey Anjali , you did pretty well today”, said my boss as I entered his room.
“Whaaaaat?”
“Yes , the manager called and said that you were good and knew the subject very well”.
I almost fainted with relief.
inspiration seeded far away
without touch
without form
filtering through
reaching you
transcending space
transcending time
transcending boundaries
Reflections On A Farewell Day.
The farewell to senior students at school sets you thinking as you analyze and observe each of them and ponder over their twelve years journey through basic schooling.
His smile is thousand bolts. The face shines with raw uninhibited energy. Meet the most disturbing element of the class. Yet when you look at him the energy is infectious. Is he going to clear the boards?
There is one more. Dark and confused. Always messing up with words. One can never understand what he says. However, when he sings you see someone else. Suddenly he is transformed. The voice that you hear is not a blabber its star material. Confidence oozing out from very note that comes out of his song. But is he going to clear the boards?
Then there is this unassuming young lady. Her written answers are teacher’s nightmare. Just a string of essential words. Its unto the teacher to make any sense out of it. Give her some paints and brushes and there you get breathtakingly beautiful paintings. Is she going to clear the boards?
The list is long. And you see the uselessness of it all. Ten years of grilling schooling yet their energies remain unharnessed cause they don’t measure upto a common standard arbitrarily set by the educationists and accepted by society at large. Their inherent talents remain untamed and undeveloped. They call it basic education.The overall development of a child and development of inherent talents finds no place here.
In fact the common yardstick of measurement does more harm than good. Most of the students are never able to reach that level as we push them in a direction opposite to where their abilities lie. Will the topper be able to sing with such confidence or paint so beautifully? I have my doubts.
In my heart I wish them all to get what they truly deserve and make a successful journey called life.
Epilogue : Each one of them cleared the boards...
Everything in life is not black and white ...there are some shades of red too.
Dove's Birthday
Eleven years ago on this day life was to change forever. Blessed were we with the most beautiful gift of God – The Dove. Since then the dove has consistently and persistently flown to greater heights everyday. Born of love she is infinitely more than the sum of two…perhaps love grows exponentially. May she fly to the greatest heights and always soar in happiness and peace.
Searching something on internet sometimes can be akin to finding needle in the hay. However you may find and collect many diamonds on the way till you find that needle. A routine search for my work on certain features of King James Bible took me to the Chapter 3 of Bible. Here the Jesus tells Nicodemus that
“ For every one that does evil hates the light, neither he comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he who does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. “
How much that holds true in our life. Doesn't honesty and truth make us fearless? Don’t the evildoers live in constant fear of being brought to light?
So next time if you are not able to find the needle…don’t fret over it…. settle for a diamond.