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Potpourri II
In absence of any concrete topic to elaborate upon, I revert back to a potpourri of thoughts .
What makes life interesting is its unpredictability. Just when I lose hope, some rays of light come dancing in and when I am brimming with excitement and anticipation of something good to happen, pat comes a damper. I would rather not talk about the latter but concentrate on the former.
Shashi Tharoor keeps me enchanted (with due permission from my Aqua Genius). The more I read his interviews the more I appreciate his diplomacy, conviction and focused vision.
Much as I was getting wary of school, now I am enjoying it thoroughly. I try to employ new methods of teaching, though their efficacy can only be gauged in the longer run. I don’t expect any short-term gains from them. In this session I intend to experiment with group activities, Internet Activity and focus on weaker students. Last year a tearful mother of a weaker student stirred my conscience. I realized I was concentrating more on brighter students than on the weaker ones, so I promised myself to change my focus in the next session.
Talking of bright students takes me to the celebration of Foundation Day of our school. Many old students had come to be a part of the celebrations. One of them was a student of IIT Guwahati. Though I had never taught him, but knew him as one of our brightest ex students. We were talking about his future plans. I told him whatever his plans for future must be ; he should finally remain in India and pay something back to society. I was surprised when he replied as a well thought of answer that he could contribute by going abroad. Remittances from NRIs do contribute a major chunk of our foreign reserves. But would he like to absolve of his duties by just contributing a few dollars or would he rather put in his efforts in taking his country to higher level of social and economic state? He was speechless. Ordinary graduates can definitely contribute more by going abroad as by doing so they vacate a seat for another unemployed. But not the IITians and Medicos. This land needs them for their expertise and not for their income generating capabilities. When Nehru set up IITs, surely his vision must be to shape the likes of Narayan Murthis and not the likes of Desi Silicon Valley techies.
The week had lot more to offer then anticipated. When my Principal offered me to accompany her to HT Pace Principals meet on Saturday the 15th, I didn’t know what to expect. A satirical play from IPTA finally made the evening worth every moment. “Taj Mahal Ka Tender” a delightful satire on the working of our bureaucracy, was successful in painting a pathetical picture of Babu culture, though amidst all that laughter one couldn’t but realize that that was no satire. It was truth…bare and naked. A culture steeped in corruption, red tapism and a mammoth parasite feeding on the greed and self centredness of sarkari babus is a curse on our governing fabric.
I just pray that Dove doesn’t come across the new term “mouse potato”. She might use it as a tool of retaliatiation, as very often I have called her a couch potato.