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Teacher

A teacher may never know where her influence ends. When I was a student at school, teachers were terrorists who relied more on corporal punishment than teaching. Hence the school was a dreadful place and I can’t recall any of my school teachers with anything akin to affection. I would rather not recall those days. I had some very memorable teachers at college, however. They are remembered more for their personal touch than their teaching though they were excellent at their job too. As a teacher myself, I drew a lot of lessons from those college teachers of mine. I realised the validity of the ancient Indian wisdom which exhorted a teacher to know both his subject and his student. Both are equally important if one wishes to be an effective teacher. A good teacher touches the hearts of his students while imparting knowledge in his subject. Imparting knowledge may not be the right phrase. An effective teacher creates eagerness in his students to learn his subject. The subje

Lucifer and some reflections

Let me start with a disclaimer: this is not a review of the Malayalam movie, Lucifer . These are some thoughts that came to my mind as I watched the movie today. However, just to give an idea about the movie: it’s a good entertainer with an engaging plot, Bollywood style settings, superman type violence in which the hero decimates the villains with pomp and show, and a spicy dance that is neatly tucked into the terribly orgasmic climax of the plot. The theme is highly relevant and that is what engaged me more. The role of certain mafia gangs in political governance is a theme that deserves to be examined in a good movie. In the movie, the mafia-politician nexus is busted and, like in our great myths, virtue triumphs over vice. Such a triumph is an artistic requirement. Real life, however, follows the principle of entropy: chaos flourishes with vengeance. Lucifer is the real winner in real life. The title of the movie as well as a final dialogue from the eponymous hero sugg

The Candidate

“Joe, get me the broom from the porch,” Mamma said. It was past 8 o’clock in the evening and little Joe was afraid of the dark. “Oh, don’t be afraid, sonny,” said Mamma, “God is there to take care of you.” Joe opened the door and said, “God, if you’re out there, will you hand over the broom, please?” Mamma was annoyed. What a silly boy! She thought. The other day, when she told her that the milk came from the cows, Joe looked at the milk bottle and asked, “How can a cow sit on a bottle like that?” But to Mamma’s surprise now, a broom was handed over to little Joe who did not dare to step out of the door.   “Who’s there?” Mamma asked concealing her panic. “It’s me, madam.” A man appeared at the door. “I’m your candidate in the coming election. Won’t you vote for me?” “Oh, God!” Mamma sighed. “Yes, madam, I belong to God’s own party: the Punya Janata Party, PJP. Please vote for us. You know that we are going to make India a Punya Rashtra. The cow is our sym

Three books and something

Reading is one of the ideal hobbies. You can be all by yourself and live in a world different from the actual one around you which is likely to be quite unpleasant. I spend my free time usually with books. The one that is waiting right now to be read is Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali . Published in 2007, it is the autobiography of a Somali-born Dutch-American activist and feminist. It tells the real story of a fighter who “survived civil war, female circumcision, brutal beatings, an adolescence as a devout believer, the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four countries under dictatorships” (from the blurb). I love people who struggle and fight against the mediocre world that relentlessly seeks to destroy the intelligent, liberal thinkers. Ayaan Hirsi Ali belongs to that group. In the introduction to the book, Christopher Hitchens tells us that the oft-heard advice that “we should not judge a religion by the actions of its fringe extremists” is absurd when we consid

Sun and Shades

There is a saying in Malayalam,  à´ªാà´ªി à´šെà´²്à´²ുà´¨്à´¨ിà´Ÿം à´ªാà´¤ാà´³ം, which means 'Where the sinner is, there the hell is.' That is quite right because you create the ambient around you with your character. If you are a miserable creature, you'll create misery around you. If you are a happy person, happiness is what will happen around you. There are exceptions, of course. Saints, for example, create misery wherever they are just because they believe saintliness is all about misery for oneself and others.  I decided to settle down in my native village in Kerala since I have reached the autumn of my life. There's something gratifying about dying in the place you were born at. But that's not the only reason I chose Kerala for the evening of my life. The perennial greenery and the moderate temperature throughout the year and the blissful monsoon were all added fun.  But Kerala has changed since my arrival. Am I such a sinner? Well, I am not half as narcissistic as our Prime M

Plumbing Lessons

Most of my time was spent on the roadside near my house during the last three days. The water pipe had broken somewhere below the road and water was wreaking havoc in its own slow but relentless way. Moreover, many people’s drinking water supply was also affected. Finally the concerned authorities took note and the plumber arrived with his assistant. The job necessitated digging up the newly completed road. The necessary permissions were taken and the bulldozer dug its metallic claws into the newly tarred road. The contractor of the road construction happened to pass by and gave vent to his anger. The plumber said he would just cover up the dug up part and quit the job. The village people were as angry as the contractor and both shouted at each other. I took the contractor aside on the pretext of showing him the extent of the damage done to the road by the leak and explained to him that there was no way other than dig up the road and also told him that I could sense his pain o

Optimism

Garfield comics My Blogger dashboard shows that there have been eight searches for ‘optimism’ in my blog posts during the last few days. Out of curiosity, I did a search myself and was amused to find pessimism topping the suggested links. The second was a post on cynicism. The posts more directly related to optimism followed and they were few and far between. I haven’t been quite optimistic, it looks like. I remember one of the first classes taken for the staff by a lady who belonged to a religious cult which had taken over my school in Delhi. At one moment, I quipped in response to a remark she made, “I’m falling in love with your class.” Pat came her response, “Sarcasm, I can take it.” I wasn’t being sarcastic at least that time. She was a good teacher in the sense she had all the skills required to drive home points effectively so much so my admiration for her rose as days went by. Eventually, however, she proved to be a witch in angel’s garb. She succeeded in getting