The Teacher who Inspired me

 

‘The Teacher who Inspired me...’

With the ‘Midsummer Nights Dream’ in his hand he walked into the class. His composed demeanour settling, his prim attire apt, his conduct worthy of emulation and when words emanated, his thoughts expressed, the lucidity of subject conveyed, for someone in the throes of teenage, in high school, there could not have been a better role model than Father Joseph Amudan.

In explaining to us Shakespeare Fr Joseph exhibited his erudition.

Knowledge, that he did not thrust upon us, like any ‘guide book’ would do, but rather told us various interpretations of a single phrase, typical of a Shakespearean literature. He ensured it was not a one-way communication; he entertained interjections, accepted alternate theories and in cases of disagreements or doubts, did not deliver his verdict but sought time to further investigate. He would induce enough curiosity in any topic meanwhile ensuring there is room for us to go back and look up more readings. And that single factor inculcated in me a habit of reading diverse subjects.

In listening to everyone Fr Joseph exhibited equality and in cracking the whip, fairness.

In times and settings where the voice that would be entertained in a class would usually be of the top rung, Fr Joseph would give everyone an opportunity. He would listen to everyone’s interpretation, would nudge the ones not willing to respond and in well-crafted assignments see to everyone’s participation. He was also a stickler. Preventing the whole class to write a unit nest for showing unruliness during an exam was enough to teach us lessons of abiding by rules. In me thus arose a belief in equal opportunity and a penchant for observance of rules.

In being a friend, philosopher and guide Fr Joseph exhibited mentorship.

Perhaps acknowledging that a teenager has a mind of his own is not easy as it sounds. Whenever studying English would bring about issues of religion, even contentious issues like forced conversions, sexuality, governments, Fr Joseph would neither shy away nor impose his belief. He would provide a ground for the most interesting and enlightening of debates. He would show great camaraderie during school picnics and functions, get his hands dirty with us, be just as one of us. And that broke many an icebergs.

In acknowledging non-academic debates in which I had a forte, in identifying my strength in and giving organizational and oratorical responsibilities which imbued confidence in me, in simply listening and accepting alternate theories which brought about liberal thoughts, in creating conditions resulting in rapacious reading and widespread writing, and also importantly in quietly nudging to study harder which culminated in good grades, all of which are responsible partly for who I am today, my English teacher, the erstwhile Principal of my school, Father Joseph Amudan, made an indelible mark, left an imprint and inspired me to great ends.

(This essay was submitted to Manipal Centre for Professional and Personal Development as part of a competition for Teachers Day, 2014 and was selected among the top 5 outstanding essays)

Cool and Lame - Ice Bucket Challenge

What will bathing, well not bathing, just dumping a bucket of water, which has some ice in it, achieve? Oh wait, you also put the act up online for tens to millions to view, depending on people you could pitch it to. Well important thing, the bathing, given the public display, is with clothes on. Ice bucket challenge for ALS has become viral over the past few weeks and each day more and more videos for the same are posted online.

For the starters it is Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis. ALS. It is also called as Lou Gehrig disease named after an American baseball player. Stephen Hawking, the famous scientist was diagnosed with it and the recent. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease, which begins with weakness in legs, spreads with muscles not working, which affects speaking, swallowing and could affect breathing. Yes, a difficult disease.

And how frequently does it occur? 1 or 2 in 1,00,000. That is rare. And what is the treatment? Practically very limited, with one drug known to improve survival and others to manage the host of associated conditions.

Ok we were at the Ice Bucket Challenge remember? It is to raise awareness, raise money for research for ALS, which is all good and warranted. But what is not warranted is the mindless oh-am-so-cool, oh-am-so-concerned, oh-am-so-updated horde of joining the challenge and nominating others thereby triggering the chain.

The criticism are plenty. Beginning from wasting water which is of great value to a host of people to no link between donating money and taking a bath. What it could do is make a few people google what ALS is, which in itself is good that it added to their GK.

To put things in perspective, about 6,27,000 people dies of malaria in 2012. Yes the what-you-think not-so-serious malaria. Donation for that could help millions. This is certainly not to discredit the requirement of awareness and funding for ALS research and patient-support. It has been a sad fact, but an economically and socially prudent one perhaps that disease affecting the larger number of people receives more attention.

But the Ice Bucket challenge is nothing to do with the above serious issues of healthcare policies and flux of research. It is more about a rat race in a dignified manner. It is to look cool since Lady Gaga, Satya Nadella, Justin Beiber have taken it. It is to identify with the global awareness drive and show to your friends over facebook and twitter how charity is a concern for you (which as well could genuinely be). It gives you a sense of satisfaction of having done something, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is just the lame act.

A word of caution: take care not to catch a cold.

Shikhandi - Book Review

 

Dr Devdutt Pattanaik has talked about mythology in a manner that has both drawn more people to read and at the same time provided interpretations that has been thought provoking. In his book ‘Shikhandi – and other tales they don’t tell you’ he dwells upon a contentious issue present widely in mythology, that of queerness. Such topics of sexuality needs to be viewed with ‘cultural filters’ to understand, which the author has provided in his interpretations at the end of each story.

Dr Pattanaik begins with describing an important fact of how ideas and interpretations of Indian mythology changed after monastic orders of Buddhism and Jainism established in 500 BC. Monasticism is a religious way in which one renounces worldly pursuits to achieve god. And such an order pleasure was frowned upon; the Hindu matha traditions favored yoga (restraint) over bhoga (indulgence). Thus queerness which is replete in mythology began being portrayed as abnormal.

The book begins with instances of queerness not just in Hindu mythology but in Persian, Chinese, Egyptian, Viking and other mythologies. In part II, which is the body of the book the author tells the stories of Shikhandi, Mahadev, Vishnu, Mandhata, Skanda and 30 such found in Indian mythology. A byline for all the titles has been provided like ‘who became a man to satisfy her wife’ for Shikhandi, which drives home the underlying idea of the story.

The story of Shikhandi, by virtue of it being part of Mahabharat is well known. How Bhishma was pinned to the ground by Shikhandi, a girl born to Drupada but trained as a son, on 10^th day of the battle was a landmark moment. There are plenty of references to Krishna and Shiva, who have cross dressed, turned into women, turned other men into women on curse or request. Krishna perhaps in turning into Mohini to marry Aravan (Tamil folklore), in dressing as a female for the Gopis or with Arjuna or in dancing with Gopeshwara (Shiva himself), exhibit widest range of queer behavior. The idea perhaps as the author suggests is to portray that ‘purna-purusha’ has various other facets as well.

The diversity of the book is good with stories from Tamil Ramayana, folklores of Bengal, and various other areas of the country present. Oral traditions of hijras, Puranas, Valmiki Ramayana, Bengali Rampachali, Bhagavata Purana, Skanda Purana Tamil Purananuru are few of the sources of the stories. It serves to drive home the point that examples of queerness and not-so-watertight gender classifications are found in all mythologies. Even though the bulleted point pattern of description might make reading easier or difficult for some, the book finds great relevance in modern times where queerness is looked down upon and is uncomfortable to be discussed about.