STOREHOUSE OF KNOWLEDGE..

‘Daane, daane pey likha hota hai, khaney waley ka naam’.

What a lovely quote to hear at a Book Fair! It felt like every book on the display shelves had my name engraved.
This is a comment a sales person made while handing two volumes of Webster’s Dictionary as a complimentary gift for the purchase I had made. Wasn’t I lucky?
Being at the exhibition hall of the Airport Expo took me back to the Book Fair at Pragati Maidan,Delhi,where I’d make purchases every winter. I can also clearly recall the Book Fairs at my own Siliguri town, at the stadium area with makeshift shacks laden with books and the blaring Bengali music. Mind you, they’d be devotional ones and those with patriotic fervor would tune in without any inhibition.The look of the shop may not have been attractive but the goods i.e. the books surely were priceless. At such a bargain and for such publications, you wouldn’t give a second thought!
There were books on all subjects, themes, texture and quality. You just had to surf and I mean physically to find your type. There was no thinking or compromising, you had to grab your pick and cling on to them for fear of being sold off. People overlooked the dirt and dust to search for their treasure. It didn’t matter at all to squat on dirty floors and sieve through the pages of the piles of books. It was a treasure house of knowledge and everyone was lost in finding their treasure.

Th scenario here at the Airport Expo was almost similar with heaps of books, swarm of people and trollies loaded to the brim. The eyes however still retained the ‘hungry look’.
Book lovers were comfortably seated on the tiled floors sifting through pages and making choices, children running up and down in excitement and the enormous display of books. You could touch them, smell them, feel them, hold them and/or buy them. One could be buried in books. With the kind of enthusiasm and excitement that I witnessed in the crowd it’s contradictory to make a statement that books are no longer desired or craved for. It may be the age of technology but books are books and are here to stay. As long as there are avid readers there’ll always be hardback or paperback books. I definitely love to hold, smell and feel the pages of the book I read.

For the love of love.

The driving force for all action is LOVE! It begins with the love for the Divine and then spreads along. It’s the purpose, zeal; enthusiasm and reason for a forward strive. One can do anything for love, from irrational activities like climbing the highest mountain, swimming the deepest ocean, or even ending lives, to being criminals. Nothing deters, nothing challenges! It’s the heart that rules and is all powerful; the head has no role here. It’s a power that can sustain and kill at the same time. It’s a force that leads men to battlefields and brings about reconciliation at the same time. Love is mysterious no doubt but essential.

It’s creation as well as destruction. One needs to believe in the power of love, the key element of which is ‘faith’ as in the saying, ‘faith can move mountains’. If you believe in the power of love, all hurdles are overcome, all problems resolved.

Love is ‘joy and energy’. They say love makes the world go round and it sure does. The world is a healthier, happier place when we share a bit of our love. The best of songs, stories and poems are love stories that deals with the trials, tribulations, victory or downfall of love.
Love is happiness that springs from within and pain and sorrow as well. We hurt the one we love the most because our love makes us too liberal and oblivious of the person’s feelings. We take the  person for granted and keep trying his/her patience. It’s also a test of one’s emotions and at times an expression of frustration.

Love doesn’t just change everything but it changes its own color too. It’s like the season, unpredictable and all pervading. It is in its nature to change. Therefore, we must accept it in all its hues and allow it to keep us alive.

?????

Eternity burnt in an Eternal Flame
and became an effervescence of confusion and illusion;
permeating the air with the pungency of ashes
that still retains a part of its 'strings'
to juxtapose the momentary with the everlasting.

Into the fine art of teaching!

‘No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of our knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of that temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.’
KHALIL GIBRAN
With this quote the fineries of the art of teaching was brought to light by Dr. Bob Richards, the Senior Director of the Higher Colleges of Technology and the Director of Dubai Men’s College, Dubai, UAE.
He also focused on some of the key elements that we teachers need to know in order to mould a character, shape one’s future and transform learners to seekers.

Today’s world is one of incessant change where knowledge doubles and increases with every tick of the clock. It’s also a world where knowledge is easily available and accessible; there are innumerable ways of doing so. Therefore the old concept of knowledge being ‘finite’ and the teacher filling an empty vessel is obsolete. The real world needs synthesizers and evaluators who can use their knowledge to serve their purpose. Hence learning is not just about recalling but evaluating and applying. In other words it’s a process of self discovery. It’s a personal experience between the learner and the teacher. It’s the ‘him’(learner) and ‘I’(teacher).A teacher in other words leaves an imprint in the leaner’s life that he or she considers invaluable and treasures for life.

Motivation, another important element in the teaching and learning arena requires three conditions:
1. There has to be a ‘need’ that’s not satisfied and that need is the learner’s need.
2. The way to meet the need is in sight
3. Learners have a reasonable chance of success in meeting the need.
'Rising tide lifts all boats’ implies that teachers must help raise the ‘tide’ that benefits all. We ought to also change our notion of success because no two people see the same thing. What is success to you isn’t success to me! Therefore our assumption that every learner in a classroom goes through the same experience is totally wrong. Learners are individuals with different and distinct ‘perception screens ’, unique learning styles and retention power.
We must be aware of this difference, accept our students as individuals and cater to their personal needs. The language of “love’ is the key tool to real learning!
‘Reprove sometimes with sharpness but then show an increase of love lest he thinks you an enemy.’----Food for thought for us teachers.

We need to understand that ours is a ‘relationship of account’ where every reaction or response is either a deposit or a withdrawal. And to make it either of the two is in our hands, words, gestures and emotions.

According to Kim Peak, “Teaching is leading when we focus on people and treat them with expectation, confidence and respect when they don’t deserve it.
We must treat people as if they already are what we want them to be.’

Dr.Bob Richard’s aptly concluded the session with the Lennon and McCarthy’s theory of teaching, where we take a ‘sad song, and make it better,where we remember to take them into our hearts and then make it better.'
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BRAIN STUFF

Brain Stuff . . From Cambridge University .

Olny srmat poelpe can raed this.
I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the first and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

The picture speaks in a language of its own!

BREWED!
DESERT SPECIAL!



THE SOUND OF THE SEA...

FLAME OF THE FOREST...





AS YOU UNDERSTAND....

Forever and Ever,Amen!

“As long as old men sit & talk about the weather
As long as old women sit & talk about old men
if you wonder how long I’ll be faithful
I’ll be happy to tell you again
I’m gonna love you forever & ever, forever & ever.”
Amen.

This is the chorus of Randy Travis’s song ‘Forever’, a song of devotion and faith that promises eternal love. I don’t exactly know the time of its composition but surely it is not a present day song, it cannot be, definitely not.
These are times of disillusionment, where hearts are forever in doubt and ready to accuse. It’s a time of ‘me’ and ‘I’. Nothing good comes of the goodness in your thoughts, action and desires. Instead, you are accused of making a mockery, a pomp and show. It’s a common day affair to be punished by your own kith and kin. You don’t need enemies from outside, they are within, at very close quarters and that’s the reason why you are forever entrapped.
So in a time like ours, togetherness is not forever. It’s the ‘goodbye’ that we welcome and cling on to with so much desperation. We build our own little islands, secluded and distanced from the rest and in our fear of being snubbed or ridiculed , we ‘blame’,‘blame’and‘blame’as Paul Simon aptly says in his song, ‘You’re the one.’ It has to be ‘you’ because 'I’ can never go wrong. Our ego and sense of pride is above all so that should not be affected in any way. The minute it is, we hit back with razor sharp utterances and do we care what impact those drastic words makes on the listener? Well, there’s no time for such considerations. As long as I can walk with my head held high in pride the rest of the world can come to a halt, nothing, nothing matters. I'm an island, remember!
We disregard the ‘us’ to assure a ‘forever goodbye'. There’s no wishing for future meeting because a farewell is a relief! It's like saying, 'Well now that's done: and I'm glad it's over.' (The Waste Land : T. S. Eliot)
We’ve got to be on the move, there’s no time to ponder or wonder. One has to just accept and carry on, that’s the way of the present world!

COLD BLOOD AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, yes I need to heave a deep sigh!
I don’t really know if I’m in a position to do justice to the topic I’ve chosen to write on. Nonetheless I’ll give it a try. To start with I see no connection between ‘cold blood’/‘cold blooded’ and ‘emotional intelligence’. Emotional intelligence or EI according to Wikipedia is the ability to identify, assess and manage the emotions of one and others. An emotionally intelligent person can detect emotions in faces and harness them, even negative ones to achieve intended goals. In other words EI is all about kindness, generosity and support. These days it’s a therapy that provides disempowered people with compassion and empathy to accept and combat harsh reality.

‘Cold blood’/ ‘cold blooded’ on the other hand is all about negativity. It means lacking feeling or emotion. The suitable adjectives for ‘cold blooded’ are inhuman, insensate, callous, cold, brutal, ruthless, heartless, merciless, dispassionate, pitiless, unfeeling and cruel. It also means having a body temperature that can change according to the temperature of the surrounding, just like fish and amphibians. That would be a metamorphosis to remember but I’m glad not to have such a cold, cold heart or is it blood?

The topic under scrutiny is about experimenting with Emotional Intelligence in ‘cold blood’ and that’s what I fail to understand because going by the definition the two are ‘stark opposites’. To be ‘cold blooded’ one needs no emotion and no intelligence, it’s all about insensitivity, brutality and callousness. Since there’s no feeling or consideration, no precision of time or place or occasion is needed. There’s no reflection either.

Well, to be able to find any link between the two is like searching for a needle in a haystack, therefore I give up. Further reasoning will lead to insanity and that's a heavy price to pay.

PERPLEXED

These days I’m into analyzing and understanding the ‘Cornerstones of Language Testing’ and that’s brought a very interesting fact to mind;that there is a very close connection between tests in the real world and in the world of classrooms. I’ve also begun to understand the necessity for human beings to be exposed to the traumatizing effects of test taking at a very tender stage. What I mean is that they have to learn to face, accept and deal with success and failure at the very start, that’s the most essential tool for survival!It’s also essential to understand why the word ‘test’ is a terror word. The emotions that any test arouses are one of fear, sleepless nights and worry. It constantly plays at the back of the mind and whether you make an effort or not to prepare, it’ll continue to gnaw you with some degree of intensity.That depends on one's level of sensitivity. The aftermath may be positive but the initial stage is without doubt stressful. This is with regard to the effects of ‘tests’ prepared by an expert to ‘test’ your proficiency, efficiency, suitability and so on in a specific field or area. But, how about the real tests of life? Do we have such an opportunity? Can we prove our worth or suitability? Why is such a thing as ‘mental prep” denied? Why are those difficult situations just thrown at us at random when superficial tests are so pain staking prepared and every element in it questioned? Those subject specific tests once prepared goes through stages and levels of scrutiny to prove its appropriacy, validity, reliability, accuracy and authenticity. There are many more terms to it , they can fill all the pages of a book and yet require more space. Therefore, the least mentioned is better.
How about the validity of real life tests? Why does it catch us unaware? Why are we impelled to accept it without any questions asked? Why is there is no question for its unpredictability? And, why do we always need a test to prove our credibility? Don't we already know that life will go on, tests or no tests? In what way do these nerve wrecking tests add to our experience?

They say truth is far from reality but why does it have to so?
Man has been ever so willing to decipher and answer every query, conquer every land be it above or under sea level, high up in the sky or out of it but why are some areas still mysterious? Why are there questions with no satisfying answers?
Why does the word ‘why’ play such an important role in our lives and for how long do we endure with the semi satisfying answer? Many and most of the time we succumb to these tests, how valid is that reaction? Is life really precious then?Or is living worth all the tests?
A friend of mine is willing to share her knowledge of 'Emotional Intelligence' and hopefully that might provide a few acceptable answers if not all. Well, 'Artificial Intelligence' failed so one should not have too much hope.
“Is it ‘hope’ or ‘dope’ or ‘rope’?”
The above quoted line is from A. K Ramanujan’s short story, “Out of Business” I read at school in the days of yore.
At least my memory hasn’t failed me, I should be grateful for that.

Nirlok's story....' My Talent'

My best talent is in singing because everyone says I sing the best! I learn singing at school, my teacher teaches me how to sing. I sing in my best voice. I can sing many songs. My favourite song is , 'Mama Mia'. I sing it everytime. I watch the movie so I don't forget the song. I sing on stage very proudly.
Everybody likes me when I sing.

In a distant Land.

Destiny and fate are all about acceptance.
I was born in a ‘hilltop’ house (as my son calls it), wrapped in nature, snuggled between mountains and pines. My childhood memories are of tea bushes, the immaculate stone bungalow, rugged stone paths, the brooks and springs, wild berries, aromatic neighbourhood kitchens that was open to all, flickering lights of distant houses , the Tibetan incense and my grandmother’s incessant, ‘Om Mani Padme Hung’. Three things that are distinct in my mind’s eye are my grandmother’s large hands, her prayer beads (thenga) and the prayer wheel or the ‘Mani Khorlo’. The prayer beads and prayer wheel have stood the test of time but not my grandmother. All that remains are memories, just plain memories.

Today, that house stands renovated and strong to beat all odds but my relationship with my homeland has changed. I’m a stranger, more of a guest in my own land that needs formal invitation even to spend few hours. The hills and the brooks beckon no doubt but I have obligations far more serious. As Robert Frost said, ‘The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep’, it’s a similar situation for me. How I wish I could go back to my ‘hill top' house and live life in ruggedness being one with nature but that is far from reality. That which was once familiar and so much a part of me breeds distance. That house in his warm room I was born is more of a tourist lodge where I go once a year to rejuvenate my tired senses. However in that brevity of time, I make every effort to relive my past and once more become 'innocent' and 'pure'. It’s momentary I know yet do do it for personal satisfaction and solace. It’s my desperate effort to take in as much as I can of my root.
People of my homeland consider me one among the fortunate to be venturing in a distant land, achieving success and fame but that’s their innocence speaking. Little do they the turmoil of my heart and the longing of my soul for the pines, the gentle morning breeze, the milkmaid at the doorstep at the break of dawn, friendly neighbors ever willing to offer freshly brewed tea , the buzz and giggle of neighbourhood children walking to school,rain or sun and my grandmother’s ever soothing ‘OM MANI PADME HUNG’.