Last day when I went to college, I faced a problem which has been staring at our faces for a long time. It’s the difficulty of students to converse and write in English easily. My teachers were discussing as how and where to start so that this problem could be solved. This gave me the idea to write this post. Hope I would be successful in putting some insight into the issue.
The biggest issue is the reluctance to read books. Leave alone the classics, kids now even don’t like to read the comics. They better like them on the television. Whenever you ask a teenager about his reluctance in reading, he will give you the excuse that after the course books not much time is left and moreover what good would it have in our careers. So, slowly and steadily they get away from the world of books. And the issue is not just with English but also with and their respective mother tongue. It is common in the Central Board schools where students actually neglect their mother tongue.
This has given rise to the trend of people in their graduation days going for English speaking and learning classes. I can understand that students from rural areas heading to these institutes but surprisingly we find more urban students there. If this problem continues, we would lose able statesmen as it’s the communication skills of an individual which shows his/her confidence. And moreover books open a new world of knowledge to us. We shouldn’t forget that education has been patronized in this country for time eternal. Our ancestors have written books full of wisdom and intelligence especially the Vedas and Puranas. Maybe these will be too tough to read but not so with Jataka tales, Ramayana and Mahabharata which come in versions suitable for reading in early teenage to the time you die old. I know many who regularly jumble the characters of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Actually, Mahabharata is the best dramatic story you can have. It has all the flavours you have in the society. Similarly we should also try to read classics from Dickens and Shakespeare, Keats, Shelly and Wordsworth. Close home read the regional writers. I think it’s not difficult to read Chetan Bhagat atleast!!!
All said but not much can be implemented if the parents and the teachers don’t pay heed to this issue. Reading and writing habits have to be imbibed on the students at an early age. If required, attach marks to it. It’s not wrong to give some incentive. If not by will but because of the greed for those extra marks, one will start it. And as my experience goes, reading is a big addiction. You just have to provide the first book and rest would be easy. Those who don’t read actually haven’t touched a book in their lifetime!
Excellent reading habits will always help an individual to become an all-rounder. He would be a complete human being. If it’s difficult for one to read a book because of his busy schedule, he should at least read the day’s newspaper fully. I believe if one makes it a rule to read the newspaper in the morning and read a chapter of a book before going to sleep, he/she wouldn’t require any coaching class to teach you the simple art of speaking. And if one can read and speak, writing wouldn’t be much difficult. And for reading good books you need not have a PhD! From time eternal, there have been people who in spite of their inadequacies have reached larger heights just by self-educating them. Emperor Akbar is one of the classic examples of what I have said in the last line. Closer R K Laxman is another example. So, we should take cue from these fellows and help ourselves to success.
Always remember whatever you are a vegetable vendor, a scientist or a politician how you communicate shows your inner depth. So, try to increase this depth as much as possible.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Last Year of MSc: Unforgettable Memories
The last year of my Masters was by far one of the most interesting years of my academic career. If somebody would have asked me at the end of MSc-I that would I ever miss my batch-mates, my answer would have been negative. At the most I would have missed Barrel and Anustuv. These two were the closest to me. But everything changed after we entered Msc-II. One of the significant differences was that I had now left refractory and was eating Kaka’s awful dabba. This brought me closer to my batch-mates. Also the class was now divided according to the special subject that one had. But this division only helped in bringing us all together. In the first year itself many had made friendships (Unlike me !!!). Now was the time to have different ingredients and make a single delicious curry having flavours of each and every ingredient kept intact! To an extent the MSc-II curry was really delicious and digestible. Those who couldn’t be part of this should feel sorry about it (I nearly would have!!!).
The new year brought new friends. Significantly among them was a thin, frail and energetic girl called Aradhana. I am generally very bad in handling girls and have found all of them to be of the same flavour but surprisingly this girl was different. It’s mainly due to her popularity and the large friend base she commanded, I could be part of the MSc-II family of which I had been just a mute spectator. Now I too was interacting with people whom I barely knew by names. These were the faces which were around me for a year or so and we barely conversed at all!!! Here I made friendships with the Gayatris, Siddharth, Sanjeev, Atul and all. It would be difficult to forget the teasing that went around among us especially between Aradhana, me and Gayatri. Atul-Anagha fights were also common and entertaining!!!
Another group of friends are my Astrophysics batch-mates, Kaushalya and Avdhoot. While Avdhoot and I were friends, we didn’t know Kaushalya at all. She was in two minds before joining Astro as well which could have made the matters worse. We were also susceptible of the attention that we would be getting from our teachers in IUCAA as we were only three in number. But we got excellent teachers in Dipankar Sir, Kandu Sir, Ranjan Sir, Joydeep Sir, Narsimhan Sir, Tarun Sir and Varun Sir. They not only made astrophysics simpler but also entertaining. And for the first time in my life, I was doing practicals without the teacher being around. And we enjoyed all the practicals whether it was the dark room or the Radio observations (one at 9 o’clock in the morning while the other at 12 o’clock in the night). But the best were the telescopical nights. It was as if we had our own private telescope and the skies were our own. I will strongly miss those late night tracking of Sirius, Betelgeuse and Polaris and then heading to Shivajinagar for midnight coffee that too tripsy on a bike (Kisi Mamu ne pakda nahi !!!).
Also I would like to thank all my teachers in the department without whom learning Physics wouldn’t have been such enjoyable. They were always there to help us around whether with theory or with the practicals.
The last semester was the best of the lot. We had only two lectures per day and a practical every week which gave us enough time to waste around. We were generally to be found in and around the badminton court and the canteen. I missed these mostly as I had lectures starting at half past eleven in IUCAA after which I generally went for a nice afternoon Bhaat Ghoom (Rice Sleep)!!! But whatever quality time I spent there was worthwhile. We discussed on so many different topics and because of these interactions I came to know about so many new activities and things going around me. It was as if a veil was raised and an entirely new world beckoned me. This semester I also did a project under Dipankar Sir which was not done to the fullest by me. But the internet and food facilities which came along with it were fully utilized by me. This helped in reconnecting with many old friends who had been lost in the tide of time.
In all this year would be difficult to forget in years to come. I pray to God that the friendships that have evolved will not be lost as easily as has happened before.
Please put in your inputs and share any incidents that you remember.……
The new year brought new friends. Significantly among them was a thin, frail and energetic girl called Aradhana. I am generally very bad in handling girls and have found all of them to be of the same flavour but surprisingly this girl was different. It’s mainly due to her popularity and the large friend base she commanded, I could be part of the MSc-II family of which I had been just a mute spectator. Now I too was interacting with people whom I barely knew by names. These were the faces which were around me for a year or so and we barely conversed at all!!! Here I made friendships with the Gayatris, Siddharth, Sanjeev, Atul and all. It would be difficult to forget the teasing that went around among us especially between Aradhana, me and Gayatri. Atul-Anagha fights were also common and entertaining!!!
Another group of friends are my Astrophysics batch-mates, Kaushalya and Avdhoot. While Avdhoot and I were friends, we didn’t know Kaushalya at all. She was in two minds before joining Astro as well which could have made the matters worse. We were also susceptible of the attention that we would be getting from our teachers in IUCAA as we were only three in number. But we got excellent teachers in Dipankar Sir, Kandu Sir, Ranjan Sir, Joydeep Sir, Narsimhan Sir, Tarun Sir and Varun Sir. They not only made astrophysics simpler but also entertaining. And for the first time in my life, I was doing practicals without the teacher being around. And we enjoyed all the practicals whether it was the dark room or the Radio observations (one at 9 o’clock in the morning while the other at 12 o’clock in the night). But the best were the telescopical nights. It was as if we had our own private telescope and the skies were our own. I will strongly miss those late night tracking of Sirius, Betelgeuse and Polaris and then heading to Shivajinagar for midnight coffee that too tripsy on a bike (Kisi Mamu ne pakda nahi !!!).
Also I would like to thank all my teachers in the department without whom learning Physics wouldn’t have been such enjoyable. They were always there to help us around whether with theory or with the practicals.
The last semester was the best of the lot. We had only two lectures per day and a practical every week which gave us enough time to waste around. We were generally to be found in and around the badminton court and the canteen. I missed these mostly as I had lectures starting at half past eleven in IUCAA after which I generally went for a nice afternoon Bhaat Ghoom (Rice Sleep)!!! But whatever quality time I spent there was worthwhile. We discussed on so many different topics and because of these interactions I came to know about so many new activities and things going around me. It was as if a veil was raised and an entirely new world beckoned me. This semester I also did a project under Dipankar Sir which was not done to the fullest by me. But the internet and food facilities which came along with it were fully utilized by me. This helped in reconnecting with many old friends who had been lost in the tide of time.
In all this year would be difficult to forget in years to come. I pray to God that the friendships that have evolved will not be lost as easily as has happened before.
Please put in your inputs and share any incidents that you remember.……
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