Shree Raama Navami

According to the almanac published by the maadhwa community to which I belong, today is the birthday of Shree Raam and is celebrated as Shree Raama Navami. It is celebrated by Hindus not only in India, the birth place of Shree Ram and Nepal, the birth place of Seeta Devee, but also in countries such as Trinidad where there are Hindus of Indian origin. 

Off the beaten track: Media commercials and melodius music

Today, commercials occupy a lot of space in our media programmes (from BBC World to local FM channels).  There is a commercial from Aircel in Polimer TV which comes with background music which is exactly like the one used in `What a wonderful world', sung by the legendary Afro-American singer Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) in 1970. (I liked the song not only for its melodious music but also for its value based lyrics). I tried to give a link to the commercial in this post, but couldn't. I'll try to do it when I  find time. Some commercials are like `oases' in a vast desert of `noise'.

Off the beaten track: Meryl Streep to melodious music

Nice to meet you after several weeks. Many of us would have watched excerpts from past Sunday's Oscar Awards Ceremony, in which the best picture award went to `The Artist' and the Best Actress Award to Meryl Streep.



Meryl Streep

The Show reminded me of a cool evening in 2009, when I had the pleasure of watching the movie Mama Mia. Meryl Streep displays an impressive performance in this musical consisting of hit songs originally sung by the Swedish Band ABBA. Though the main lobby of OK guest house in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (where I was based) was fully packed, I enjoyed the show and my vegetarian dinner. So did Hans Langendam, one of my best friends. Hans was Education Management Advisor to the Regional Education Office, Kampot, Cambodia. He is also nearly of my age.

As I write about Hans, I nostalgically remember a vegetarian dinner which he and I relished in a South Asian restaurant in Kampot, during one of my official visits to the town.

Kampot waterfront

Like Hans, there were Dr Ravi (who was Advisor in the Ministry of Health) and a few other friends who had an interest in soft rock of the `60s. (Most of us were in the same age group).

Melodious music is a cohesive force which binds people across barriers, as evidenced by events such as Dr L Subramanium's Global Music Festival.

Dr L Subramanium





Off the beaten track

Today  is an important day for me.

According to Hindu calender, `Vyaasa Puja' is performed on  this day every year. Vyaasa Maharishi was a great teacher. I'll write more about him when I find time.

Today is the 200th birth anniversary of Charles Dickens, the famous English writer. I had the pleasure of reading his works as a school boy. I continued my interest in his books well through my college days and during my 30 years long career. I have used his writings (particularly `Oliver Twist' and other such novels) not only when teaching English literature to my students but also in teacher development programmes when handling contemporary issues such as `quality classrooms' and `equity in education'.

On the other side of the Atlantic lived Mark Twain, whose works were also very popular among children in those days. I don't think that children can easily forget characters such as Tom Sawyer. I liked his novels very much as they were like travellogues (with incidents spun around river Mississippi and the Southern States in the US). His writings had a profound influence in my own career as a freelance writer (which formally began when I wrote `Racial Discrimination', an article in memory of Rev Dr Martin Luther King, in the college magazine, during my student days in the late '60s). 

Both Charles Dickens and Mark Twain made a mark by writing value based stories for children.

  

  

Off the beaten track: Digitally delivered Divine Delight

As I type this post, I experience the joy of listening to a live programme including Kirtans and discourse  by Pt. Balram Persad of Swaha International, a Hindu Organisation based in Trinidad.  It's a great experience. Hope you too enjoy listening to the programme.

Apple and education

Recently I came across a news report about Apple's new author support software. As a free download, it can be useful to a wide range of professionals including K-12 teachers, managers and authors. If  used properly, the software can bring in significant improvement in computer assisted K-12 classroom processes and teacher development. Hats off to Apple.

Picture from Peter and Pam

Peter Minter taught Design Technology and I taught Physics in a Southern African school. We were members of a multinational team of teachers (from Australia to Zimbabwe). Peter was a very softspoken person; his wife Pam was a homemaker. They too resided in the staff quarters.

Me, Pam and Peter

Sometimes when Minters went on outings I had the pleasure of feeding the fishes in their aquarium. As we were of nearly the same age group, we had common interests.

Once Pam organised an exhibition of her works of art in Alliance Francais, Gaborone (where I studied 2 levels of French). As a good friend, I also attended the exhibition. At that time she asked me to point out my most favourite one from the exhibits. To my pleasant surprise, the very next day, they sent the picture to me and said that it was a gift to a `good friend'!


Picture from Pam and Peter

I think that good friendship has no barriers.

Off the beaten track: Outing during holidays

When we have long weekends or holidays, it is not usually easy to go for outings and  enjoy communicating with nature in highly polluted cities like Chennai where I live.  This is one of the reasons why I have always liked to live in villages (or towns such as those in which I worked during my tenure in Africa many years back). Travelling on African roads was always pleasant as you can understand from the following photo which shows the road between Addis Ababa (Capital city of Ethiopia) and Sheno, a village near the city. I taught Physics in Sheno Secondary School in 1982-83. I and my newly married wife used to travel to the city almost every weekend.

This evening, my memory took me to an enjoyable visit to the gigantic Victoria Falls in the late 80's. Local people call it "Mosi-oa-tunya" which means "The smoke that thunders". (Back home in India, I remember a visit to the beautiful Hogenakkal waterfalls near Bengaluru when I was a high school student. `Hogenakal' comes from the Kannada language term `Hogeiyina kallu' which, interestingly, means nearly the same as that of Vic Falls).

I enjoyed self-driving my car to the falls located at nearly 2000 km from where I worked, thanks to my trust worthy Toyota Corolla and nice Southern African highways.  Staying overnight enroute would be no problem, thanks to my camping kit (which I always used to  carry).

As we drive, we can hear the sound of the spectacular falls several kilometres before reaching the site. If we are lucky, we can see beautiful animals such as elephants and giraffes crossing the road much gentler than we do.

As we reach the site, the beauty of the waterfalls and the rain forest in front of it overwhelmes of our thought. As soon as we enter the gate, we come across a statue of David Livingstone, who is considered to have discovered Victoria Falls. Like Niagara Falls which has the US and Canada on its sides, Vic Falls has Zambia and Zimbabwe on its sides. There is a bridge which connects these two commonwealth countries.

In front of David Livingstone's statue



In front of the rain forest

Sometimes, I used to  travel with friends such as Balasubramanian (fondly called `Bala'). (Bala was one of the officers deputed from Indian Air force to impart training to local Air Force Personnel). He was a very nice person from a Brahmin parentage. The above two  photograhs were taken by Bala.

L to R: I, Bala's younger son, Mrs Bala and Bala

L to R: Sitting: I and Bala's elder son Standing: Bala's younger son and Mrs Bala. This photo was also taken by  Bala. The background setting is a Southern African styled cottage

Bala's younger son and I in front of the Zambia - Zimbabwe bridge

The sight of elephants and giraffes during the visit was so exciting that I liked to decorate my residence with their pictures. Interestingly, Pam Minter, wife of Peter Minter, a good friend and colleauge of mine, gave a picture of a giraffe made by her, as a gift to me.

Pam's work adorning my kitchen

On realising that the picture deserved a better place, I shifted it to my living room.

My living room

L to R: I, Pam Minter and Peter Minter

Later, I'll write about Minters.

Today being republic day, I took leave from my office.  During lunch, I came across Sir Richard Attenborough's award winning movie `Gandhi' in which Ben  Kingsley acts as charismatic Bapuji. It was a touching movie. Although I have never seen Gandhiji, I belong to a generation in which national leaders continued to be respected for right reasons.

When we look back into all the years since independence, we can  easily sense as to how fast corruption has crept into our systems of governence including primary, secondary and tertiary education.

Although it is nearly two years since Right to Education Act got introduced, many questions remain to be  answered. I hope that education professionals in goverment departments and education NGOs work hand in hand with stakeholders particularly at grassroots' levels (e.g. financially weaker sections in communities) toward a common goal: Quality Education for  all children.

Kodak camera

Day before yesterday, as I was sipping tea during the office teabreak, I happened to read a news report on the financial situation of Eastman Kodak Limited. Though I and numerous photography enthusiasts like me may not have anything do with the company, the report took me back to my middle school days when my father gave a kodak box camera as compensation to the assistance which I rendered when he worked as an examiner for State Board Examinations (he used to mark students' answer sheets and I used to add the marks after he finished marking).

The gift came at a time when `Kannan', my most favourite childrens' magazine, carried a series of articles on how to take good photographs. This paved the way for a very interesting hobby, which I continued pursuing until the late '90s when I returned from South Africa. I used this box camera to take my first ever photograph.

Though I moved on to better cameras such as Agfa buffer type (which my father had used earlier) and then to smaller cartridge cameras, my first camera is unforgettable.