Exploring to Learn

I work at a school. I teach primary school children. Now rate that on a scale of :- 1-5 where 1 - cakewalk 2 - easy 3 - challenging 4 - very challenging 5 - frustrating Without judging your common-sense, least of all sniggering at the social consensus of teaching being an easy job, I would like to share a few experiences with you. Day 1. The day begins with an early morning bath before the kid wakes up...get him ready and packing for school...a rushed breakfast/or none... wait at the bus-stop...attendance in the bus...keeping inquisitive hands out of trouble areas and an alert eye on each liitle child...Then to class...Good Morning Ma'am! A room full of bright, smiling youngsters greet you. Class begins. Instructions ladled out...reach only some ears...call out to the errant few...blank stares...renewed explanations...a bitter fight between two....mediate...get the focus of the class back to work...early birds are done...the inattentive ones reminded yet again....confron

For the last few posts I think I've written enough about what life was and how people were and how life is now and what a change the present is, etc. etc. Enough. (The few unlucky ones who get to chance upon my posts would probably be thinking "Thank God!") Yet I find myself itching to speak about another transition. This is a transition on the home front. From the role of a daughter to a daughter-in-law. It's actually strange when you reflect upon how different the two roles are while being apparently similar. What makes staying as a daughter so different from staying as a daughter-in-law? First, as a daughter you are accepted whichever way you are,loved unconditionally, no tags attached. You are not much bothered about what you say and how you say it, what you do and how you do it,life is simple. Enter mom-in-law and you are shaken awake. Think before you speak, or else... watch how you do things,because you're being watched... you are being judged all t

What a change! In less than a year I see around me a complete different set of people. Don't get me wrong, people. But as I've made myself quite clear, the corporate world is not the place for me. The crisp, well-rehearsed,formal behaviour , a shiny classy exterior that covers even the most rotten core....a crowd of self-centred, highly ambitious individuals who swear by the most popular principles and theories of positive thinking and yet lead a lifestyle that would be aeons away from anything Shiv Khera or Stephen Covey prescribed. No, my friends, I was definitely not going to live my life in a place like this. It was as if God himself took it upon Himself to lead me gently into a place which has turned my world a whole 180 degrees around. The fake smiles and snide comments I had to put up with everyday were soon replaced with genuine concern and warm greetings. The wounds of the soul started healing instantly. I relaxed as I realised slowly,that not all people worked with

First, they dangle a juicy carrot before your eyes ... lofty ideals,brave,new plans,an enticing vision, a wonderfully satisfying job with an even more satisfying paypacket.You look up their credentials.Their website is overflowing with awards and certificates and what have you...how can you resist? As it is you're stressed out with your current job and are looking for a change. It seems like God Himself just offered you a divine feast on a silver platter. The efficient smoothtalking Corporate world just embraces you with open arms. Even if in a far corner of the brain, a little voice sings "Will you walk into my parlour, said the spider to the fly..." you ignore it completely. Very soon you're in it. Stuck in the Corporate web. The journey that began in the clouds , crisp business attire,lectures on business etiquette, ...a lifestyle pulsating with a "work hard, party harder" attitude...in very little time dipped lower and lower sending warning signals o

A year and a half back, when I left school-teaching at the middle school level, I was told by my headmistress: "You have two drawbacks. You're both decent and delicate. And this combination is bound to trouble you in life." In that perspective, the last one and half years in the 'Corporate' world has been a baptism of sorts.I have become less delicate and, I dare say, less decent ! I can now see through people's fake smiles and all-too-convincing assurances. Whenever I am audience to expressions full of praise and appreciation, I know for sure...something's coming up. The kind old man or woman at the other end of the praise surely has something up his sleeve.In fact, in all interactions with people, I try and pinpoint what the other person's motive is. For as I see the world now, no action is without an ulterior motive.And I cannot afford to be naive any more. Call it growing up or the loss of innocence or perhaps, coming of age...or just pure cynicis

Over years, over time, over months, and yes,even over just a matter of a few days, people change.People change so much so that you wouldn't believe it is the same person. At moments, they utter a statement that compels you to reminisce with wonder,why this is the same person who said just the opposite, only the other day! I hope you are not thinking I'm talking of our much celebrated politicians? Not at all. I'm talking of those over-friendly individuals who you rub shoulders with along life's path. Every Single Day. I'd only heard of fairweather friends. Now life's given me a chance to see them in flesh and blood. I've seen how position and money, or the deprivation of it, can make them do a cartwheel in the other direction. Only money's real. And once this realisation sinks in into my now toughened senses, everything seems fake. Each word as it is spoken, has little effect. Conversation flows on like the sea all around,while each is an island by himse

It's quite amazing, when you ponder on it, to think how priorities keep changing as you grow older. When I was a student, topping the list of priorities was 'Studies'. Soon 'Career' and 'Work' climbed its way to the top. A short while later, when holy matrimony swept me off my feet, 'Family' settled on its perch at Priority No.1.That soon gave way to 'Son'and that has continued to top the list till now. I wonder whether it is similar for most other women who marry and raise families. Do family and children become the all-important factors in your life at a certain age? Everytime I've found myself facing a tough decision, my priorities bailed me out.Whether it was leaving a permanent job more than four times in my nine-yearlong teaching career or not taking up positions that weren't in line with what was most important for me,life for me has always followed the path lain down by my priorities. Now when I'm standing at the edge once

A thousand apologies to those 'less than a handful' who've cared to sign up as followers to my shamefully stagnating blog. What do I give as an excuse for not keeping up the blogging habit...for letting the one good thing I learnt last year almost die a silent death? Scratch my head as much I can,I can't think of an answer. Laziness or A Strange Freezing of any Intention to Write? Amateur blogger's block? Whatever. Something stirred within. I shook myself awake. And here I am again, typing away as the words come popping out of my head. Hope I keep it up this time.And use it for something useful. Wish me luck.