yet again ... getting lost ... then enjoying self-discovery ...

The wild is in us not them Thanks are due to The Citizen, Gayeti and Aishwarya. This piece finds place on The Citizen here . At the Hyderabad Zoo with friends recently one was shocked to hear them introducing mammals to their kids; each reference was from characters in animated Disney films. Films made in another continent, speaking a language different from that which the kids spoke at home and presumably not made with Indian kids as the primary audience. There was neither a single mention of species that find place in our ever alive mythologies nor of those mentioned in their school text books or story books. No mammal, except the lion, was identified as being part of the state. Eavesdropping on conversations of other families during the trip, and speaking to others after the trip, confirmed the fears. This was possibly how a majority of our urban house-holds perceive forests and wildlife. Sheer disconnect of the urban population from a part of its cultural herita...

This finds place in Teacher Plus’ February 2017 edition. The piece on their website here and the unedited post on the blog here . Thanks are due to the teams at Teacher Plus and Centre for Experiential Education and co-participants. Co-creating Experiences Experiential Education Conclave is an annual gathering that provides opportunity to learn of the topic and interact with others exploring it. During the recent weeks as I saw fliers and then images of the 3rd edition at Gurugram I recalled with fondness the event I had attended a year ago. Going down memory lane During his session, ‘Pains in Practice of Experiential Education’, it was interesting to observe how Vishwas Parchure noticed a frame on the wall depicting multiple knots and used that observation effectively. We were asked to select a knot from the frame we identified most with. I was confused as all knots appeared the same to me. We then discussed the proverbial knots in our li...

Matchless Years ago, in school, the English teacher had asked us to give an example of perseverance. The idea was to determine if we understood the term correctly. After some confusion, taking cue from the history class of the previous week, I had said Ghazni; it was a while before I realized why she had declared the answer incorrect. Today, to the same question, I would in a flash say Federer and, I understand, there is little chance that a teacher would disagree. How has he been able to come back after being written off? After not playing for few months at 35 when winning a few matches is tough task, forget winning a major? A lot about Federer cannot be easily explained. This includes support and love of fans. The support he got during 2014 and 2015 losses to Djokovic in the Wimbledon finals, for example, would have few parallels, especially for someone who is not a local. To Australia and Nadal’s credit the support was not as tilted in Federer’s favour during the A...