Archives
Love in its myriad colours
Yesterday a news item caught my attention. It was such a beautiful piece of news that triggered a series of emotions. First the news. A 31 year old, illiterate hawker supports his wife’s ambition to become an engineer. From his meagre income of few thousand rupees he pays a monthly tuition fees of Rs. 1000. The 19-year-old wife has taken a loan of Rs. 50000 which her father is helping her to repay. The most beautiful part however is that the husband has decided not to have a child till she completes her studies.
Well this seems straight out of a mushy love flick. But it is not. Its real and I can believe it. It has so much the resemblance to my life.
A few years ago I finally realized that I was cut out only for a teaching career . But it was clear that my existing qualifications were not enough to carve a career in teaching . Aqua genius decided that I must get a degree in Education or B.Ed. degree as it is called in order to pursue my dream. But what of contact classes and assignments and exams and studies and above all my age? It would entail so much hard work and adjustments from everybody. He assured me that everything will be managed. Despite my protests, he got the form and enrolled me in IGNOU B.Ed. programme. He would come from his work and cook, do the grocery shopping , go to Meerut to submit my assignments and help me in every other possible way. He would extend emotional support when my panic button got pressed. Dove would sleep without her bed time story and do all her school work without Mummas help. Finally I got my degree.Now I am enjoying my work which I cherish so much. Everyday is a new experience for me. I realized that I can also give. I can also share the pearls of wisdom which I have collected through this long life. I have rediscovered myself.
Love exists and exists in myriad colours.
Bangalore or Bengaluru?
The headlines today cried hoarse - Bangalore to get its original name Bengaluru on November 1, 2006 on the occasion of golden jubilee of the formation of the state of Karnataka. Well in a country where different regions are getting obsessed with their regional identities, every now and then a city goes back in time and takes on its original name. So we have had Madras going back to Chennai, Bombay to Mumbai and Calcutta to Kolkata. It has been a smooth changeover without major hiccups. But with Bangalore it’s a different matter altogether.
My first tryst with Bangalore was some few years back when India Today came out with an exhaustive article on Bangalore . The account it gave of the garden city was permanently etched in my mind. So Bangalore was synonymous with lush greenery, gardens and exotic plants. Whenever I would go to buy plants the seller had only one thing to say about the most exotic one ,"This one is from Bangalore." This further deepened my fascination for the city. Later it acquired the title of “Silicon Valley of India” what with an IT boom and most of the MNCs setting their offices in the city.
However as a student of English language Bangalore holds a special meaning for me. It happens to be the only other city besides Shanghai that has given rise to a new verb - bangalored. It means losing one’s job to Bangalore. It also means that the world knows this IT hub by the name of Bangalore.
Will a new term be coined - bengalurued ? There are many more questions on the confusion, cost and unpredictable problems created by a change in name.Some of the answers we may get from the experiences of other cities but a few will unfold themselves only in future.
Turning the tides...
How does one cope up with negative energy around you all the time? Why is my progress taken as a personal defeat by a few? I had always regarded my work place as a temple of learning, and tried to maintain a positive relation with everybody, why then am a target of such venom? I cribbed with such questions after coming from school everyday.
The problems started when one of the junior English teachers unleashed a war of backbiting against me. Every now and then I would listen to some or the other comments that came back to me in a circular fashion. She would observe every minor mistake of mine and would try to make a mountain out of a molehill. She was getting on my nerves. One day I told my Aqua Genius that the next day I am going to report all this to higher authorities as I couldn’t take it any more.
“And what happened to your preachings? All that stuff about forgiveness and divine revenge and so on and so forth? Stop having double standards.” , he said in his typical nonchalant way. That was no help. He can really be merciless when he chooses to be.
“Then how on earth am I going to deal with such a negative person?” I retorted.
“Do something that will direct your energies to a positive direction. What do you do with all those new words that come in your mail everyday. Maybe you would like to pickle them (a direct translation from Hindi). Go, and share them with your students. Give them a gift of new word everyday. If that’s not possible then take some other initiatives, but for heavens sake don’t waste your energies in this manner.”
Next day after reaching school in the morning, the first thing I did was to propose the idea of Word of the Day to my Principal. She loved the idea and immediately gave her consent. I wrote the first word "procrastinate" on a blackboard placed at a prominent position in the school premises. Students got excited with this novel idea of improving their vocabulary. Whichever class I would go there would be discussion on the new word of the day. The tides were now turned. My energies sailing on the new waves of satisfaction.Now, at the entrance of school everyday, you can see a new word written with its meaning, function and usage. I have some more such plans in the pipeline, for my students which will bring me closer to attaining my goals and keep me out of the negative field.
I smile to myself, it’s not for no reason that I call Him Aqua Genius.
P.S. – I still meet the negative waves coming my way, but have learnt how to cope with it.