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

The endearing presence of Pakhad trees A slightly edited version of this piece finds place in Spectrum here . Thanks are due to the team at Deccan Herald. Dheeraj Rathore, Kiran Keswani and Swati shared of the species over emails. Scindhia and Shatrughan heard me on the species on multiple occasions and at strange times.   Don’t you tire talking about them? Asked a colleague as I expressed my awe and love – yet again - for the Pakhad trees. No, I responded. For, when around them I become a child and they my super heroes. The friend and I continued our late evening walk.   These Pakhad trees at the campus I stay on – Banaras, Uttar Pradesh – are a delight to the senses. Their size coupled with graceful presence often reminds me of elephants. The branches spread out like open arms – like godess Durga – only these are more. Branches, large yet gentle, and wrapped with leaves.   These trees were planted few decades ago, by someone wiser, to provide shade for the cows. I a

Why do we assume that the other person knows less? Two lines that I came across during a recent election have stayed with me since. A newspaper article which reported that ‘ intellectuals have asked people to vote for the betterment of society and vote for a particular party ’ and a friend who commented, after listening to couple of crowd pulling netas, ‘ Six year olds; that is what our political leaders take us to be ’. Both the scenarios highlight that a few (politicians, intellectuals) thought they were more intelligent than many. They knew; the others did not. What is it that has many of us believe that the other person knows less? That we know more. Many of us also have a tendency to explain, proffer clarifications in scenarios where the receiver is rather better off without them. Wonder what drives these – the opportunity to feel more intelligent and smart than others? This is a domain where otherwise lax individuals turn out to be overzealous human beings. Texts which accompany

  Reassembling the Assembly   This piece appears in the Teacher Plus, August 2021 here .  Thanks are due to colleagues at the school and the team at Teacher Plus.   The past few months have seen only the teachers grace our school premises. This uninterrupted time, structured or otherwise, that teachers have had as a team, has presented a basket of opportunities and raised a host of questions.   One of these questions pertains to the morning assembly. Teachers,   not unlike students, were keen to move on from the ‘regular’ assembly -   singing from a prescribed set of songs.   The morning assembly had – during recent past - raised multiple questions with students as well. After deliberations, the school put in place a fresh schedule for the day’s initial interactions. It tried to make the mornings more fun and inclusive by bringing in activities like story-telling, book-reading, sharing experiences and exercises. Students welcomed the schedule. A schedule that is not ins