Exploring to Learn

All around me little kids are growing up Mouthing words I never knew existed Making gestures I scarce can understand All around me little people are growing up Throwing caution to the winds they laugh with glee Pushing the line of decorum they gladly stand All around me young minds are growing up Thinking at such speed my mind can't keep pace with Working out things I couldn't in my brightest of moments have planned All around me the world is growing up In ways I hope to some day comprehend Simple thoughts are getting complicated by each minute Perceptions and personalities clash at every bend Some would say what you call growing up Is how, with time, people change right before your eyes Growing up should mean maturing into someone better Or transforming into someone else or becoming more wise Growing up for me however Does not fit into a set paradigm Aging but maybe not maturing Life's experiences moulding us over time So why do I stand and c...

These days understanding literature has become so much easier what with the internet's humongous repertoire. But then, you need to analyse every detail you read for not everything up there on the net will be true although it may be someone's point of view put across rather strongly. Recently , when I read The Highwayman trying to identify the threads of poetic craft that ran through it, the very experience of reading this poem filled me with wonder. Wonder at how the poet could have taken a not-so-heroic highway robber and simply with the help of well-crafted phrases and a thrilling romantic plot turn around our perception of the highwayman. So our sympathies lie, not with the law, not with what history tells us about highwaymen of the 18th century, but with the young, dashing highwayman who is hopelessly in love with Bess, the landlord's daughter, the man who promises to be back to his beloved , the courageous young lover who comes riding back to seek revenge for his l...

Haven't written for a lo--o--o-ong time and understandably so. From my own admission, I have been spending countless hours doing one thing after another and none of it really substantial ...and every now and then sharing relieving moments cribbing with fellow victims about the fate we have subjected ourselves to. Yes, teaching , still...and every year it gets more complicated. My children are growing up right before my eyes and amazing me every other day with yet another proof of 'growing up'. Relationship hassles, identity issues, I can sniff it all the time...irritatingly itching to lend a ear to these oh-so-familiar woes and desperately fighting the urge to dole out unsolicited advice.... Guess I need to use this space for something fruitful now. My not-so -little ones have their first final exams in a couple of days and I wish I could be of some use ... so let me see if I can use this space to help them with some study material...with profiles to be written by the doz...

Time has whooshed past like a giant whirlwind taking me with it on a roller-coaster ride, experiences of myriad colours, emotions, sizes swallowed up my little world, leaving me a tad dazed. Now months later I've somehow found a foothold for some moments,or so it seems, and I make a dash for the keyboard, the pen's rich cousin. During the time of my last post I was teaching little ones...this year I'm back to teaching young adolescents, Middle School. The morning rush remains the same. The only change being that the little kid at home now gets tagged along with me to my school. The school bus is larger, the attendance list longer, and as you would expect,the minutes spent on admonishing and monitoring have increased. The classroom dynamics have changed. Instead of the unself-conscious hugs and "Good Morning Ma'am' tugs at the dupatta,the morning greetings are now more like a friendly exchange of news and information to begin the day. These pre-teens love ev...

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...