The writer’s mind conceiving a character
Undefined. Rebellious. Naughty. Machiavellian. Purposeful. Powerful. Kerfuffle. Paracosm. And sometimes a heady mix of all of these and more. This is how a character begins a journey in a writer’s mind and may stay on unchanged from being flexible enough to be a truth adsorbent and willing to change with the kind of experiences it...
The NSEW of education
Education is a word that has many deep layers that not everyone understands. The word ‘education’ includes other concepts like ‘inspirational’ and ‘useful’ besides basic literacy and numeracy. Yes, education shoots up the earnings-premium of a person and one reports puts this figure at 70 percent when compared to those who do have an education...
The idiot’s guide to shirking
The latest issue of The New Yorker has a toon with this caption: “Listen, when you give up, you can do anything!” This one is obviously a lampoon aimed to shame the shirker, the shammer, or the one who whines and avoids any responsibility. Such people are everywhere. I was one of this tribe once...
Making today better than yesterday
I’m unsure if Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow are brothers but they certainly hang out together in the pub where only time cocktails are served. This may sound rather mundane, boring, and repetitive but it is not. The three, I believe, are just data collectors who neither create nor act on anything, smartly stay away from...
First you see and then you hit
Those who teach in colleges and universities will probably wonder what seeing and hitting has to do with teaching. A lot, let me add here, because good education is all about first learning to see what others cannot even see and then learning to hit what no one else can hit. You may also club...
The story of NEP 2020 is ready to change mindsets
National education Policy 2020 is now a story where the plot has already been decided, the theme is clear, and even the pace at which incidents will happen and weave a form has been given a format. The NEP2020 isn’t any more in the ideation stage but will soon have words and sentences falling in...
Water isn’t just about water
Water is scarce because we are careless, casual, and callous with the way we treat everything related to water. Let me give you three examples. With every road layering or repairing exercise, the level goes up a few millimeters and after some years the little drain holes that had been carefully constructed on the sides...
Save water before it is too late
The switch box of humans, it appears, has been severely tampered with and as a result no one seems to understand things when put in a simple straight-forward language. Try calling terrorism bad and chances are you might end up being trolled for being an Islamophobe. Comment on why banning Chinese apps is a part...
Fair, white, and light
We know now that the word ‘fair’ has been eased out of brand promotion for a certain product and that Sunny Jain, president of Unilever Beauty Division has even gone on record to announce that the company recognizes ‘that the use of the words fair, white, and light suggest a singular ideal of beauty that...
The idea of well-being in education
Well-being isn’t a fairy tale that exists only in books and board-rooms… or as discussions and debates in the staff-rooms of colleges, if this sounds more appropriate. As Hans Christian Anderson once wrote: ‘Just living isn’t enough’, said the butterfly, ‘one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.’ When I told a university professor...
It is time to step out of your comfort zones
Explore. Defend. Protect. Lead. Discover. Serve. These past few months have given us all an opportunity to see these words in action. We have read, and sometimes watched, our warriors venture forth into the unknown to turn a mere word (like the ones listed at the start) into an applause-worthy act. Our doctors and para-medical...
Rankings and online education in the post-covid era
There will be 60 million students the world over who will be looking for the right courses in the right regions this season. I obviously mean the admission season. Students are smart enough to understand that they need to assess not just disciplines relevant to their career plans but also the best and safest options...
