It has been heard from time immemorial in every culture, every nation, every corner of the world.
Call it what you will—
Om.
The music of the spheres.
The harmony of the universes.
The rhythms that make the stars burn and the planets turn.
The tunes that make nature dance.
The primal vibrations that guide the indomitable life-force in the flowing of rivers, in the salmon swimming against the currents; in the great migrations of the wildebeest in the Serengeti.
To be born. To mate. To create life. To transcend the living.
The music connects all life, communicates effortlessly with all life, is comprehensible to all life. It links mind to mind, body to body, heart to heart, soul to soul.
Its notes contain us, envelop us, enable us to enter the divine within us.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
TEACHERS AAJ-KAL: ARJAN'S VERSION
OK, Vipul, taking a page from your blog, here!
While I was writing my post, my son who just turned 16 was writing his own version, just for fun. Now that the contest is over, I present his thoughts on the subject.
I must emphatically add that this is pure, unadulterated Arjan Banerjee--not a word has been changed; not a punctuation mark has been altered; not a thought has been injected or edited.
I am immensely proud of what Arjan has produced. The maturity of thought he's exhibited is way beyond his age!
Forgive me if I sound repetitive, but just let us wonder….in how many ways do we take our teachers for granted???
Before we delve any further in this topic, we should ask ourselves…what makes a teacher?? What miraculous component of characteristic alchemically transforms a normal human being into a teacher? And I would like to note, here, that I am talking about true teachers, teachers who really care; whose primal desire is their students’ success. These teachers take their students’ failures as their own; and when their students do well, they revel in their success. These teachers, I think, are composed of a blend of great knowledge in one or more fields, wondrous compassion and natural talent and love of teaching. These teachers are very rare and it is them that I will be referring to when I say ‘teacher.’
In all cultures around the world, a teacher holds a place of great respect and importance in a person’s life. In English, ‘teacher’ is listed as synonymous with ‘mentor’ and ‘guide.’ In Indian culture, a ‘teacher’ is (or at any rate was) a ‘guru,’ possibly the most important figure in a person’s life. A teacher is a person who can show one the way to, not only get by, but do well in this tough world. A teacher imparted to his or her students the knowledge that he or she has painstakingly and assiduously gained, through great trial and sacrifice, for little or nothing in return.
Down the ages, the role of a teacher and indeed what a teacher is has definitely undergone a complete metamorphosis. In the ancient days, in India, teachers were exclusively highly educated Brahmins who were well versed in practically all subjects. They taught their pupils the scriptures and martial strategy, yoga and archery, hymns and swordsmanship… they were indeed all rounded teachers, fervently revered almost as deities. The role of the teacher in a person’s life was possibly of greater significance than anybody else. He was indeed a mentor and guide.
In today’s world, true teachers are nigh impossible to find but when found, there can be nobody who can shape and mould a person into an infinitely better human being. In the world as it is now, we are in desperate need of true teachers who will have not only academically but also morally superior students. The lucky people who are taught by these teachers will also have a higher regard for nature and exist at a higher state of awareness about nature’s present plight.
In the future, true teachers shall become even more necessary than they are now. If we continue as we are, the world will certainly be in dire straits… threatened both by the threat to nature and by humankind’s foolish animosity towards one another, at all levels of society:- individual, inter-family, between social strata, state wise, nation wise, between different religious factions, and finally maybe even on an international level. We need true teachers to spread the message of peace, harmony, coexistence, toleration and mutual understanding. It is only true teachers who can actually teach us to think in perspective, to think beyond ourselves, to put ourselves in others’ shoes. Teachers teach us that unity is far stronger a structure than those that are divided; to have unity in diversity.
To return, finally, to the question I put forward in the first line of this essay: - in how many ways do we take our teachers for granted??? In my opinion is that the best example to show this is the fact that we have a teachers’ day in the first place. We take teachers for granted to such an extent that we have to remind ourselves, annually, not to???? The idea itself is ridiculous.
Frankly, I think that the concept of teachers’ day is an insult to the hard work that teachers put in day in, day out.
Thank you for reading this.
While I was writing my post, my son who just turned 16 was writing his own version, just for fun. Now that the contest is over, I present his thoughts on the subject.
I must emphatically add that this is pure, unadulterated Arjan Banerjee--not a word has been changed; not a punctuation mark has been altered; not a thought has been injected or edited.
I am immensely proud of what Arjan has produced. The maturity of thought he's exhibited is way beyond his age!
Forgive me if I sound repetitive, but just let us wonder….in how many ways do we take our teachers for granted???
Before we delve any further in this topic, we should ask ourselves…what makes a teacher?? What miraculous component of characteristic alchemically transforms a normal human being into a teacher? And I would like to note, here, that I am talking about true teachers, teachers who really care; whose primal desire is their students’ success. These teachers take their students’ failures as their own; and when their students do well, they revel in their success. These teachers, I think, are composed of a blend of great knowledge in one or more fields, wondrous compassion and natural talent and love of teaching. These teachers are very rare and it is them that I will be referring to when I say ‘teacher.’
In all cultures around the world, a teacher holds a place of great respect and importance in a person’s life. In English, ‘teacher’ is listed as synonymous with ‘mentor’ and ‘guide.’ In Indian culture, a ‘teacher’ is (or at any rate was) a ‘guru,’ possibly the most important figure in a person’s life. A teacher is a person who can show one the way to, not only get by, but do well in this tough world. A teacher imparted to his or her students the knowledge that he or she has painstakingly and assiduously gained, through great trial and sacrifice, for little or nothing in return.
Down the ages, the role of a teacher and indeed what a teacher is has definitely undergone a complete metamorphosis. In the ancient days, in India, teachers were exclusively highly educated Brahmins who were well versed in practically all subjects. They taught their pupils the scriptures and martial strategy, yoga and archery, hymns and swordsmanship… they were indeed all rounded teachers, fervently revered almost as deities. The role of the teacher in a person’s life was possibly of greater significance than anybody else. He was indeed a mentor and guide.
In today’s world, true teachers are nigh impossible to find but when found, there can be nobody who can shape and mould a person into an infinitely better human being. In the world as it is now, we are in desperate need of true teachers who will have not only academically but also morally superior students. The lucky people who are taught by these teachers will also have a higher regard for nature and exist at a higher state of awareness about nature’s present plight.
In the future, true teachers shall become even more necessary than they are now. If we continue as we are, the world will certainly be in dire straits… threatened both by the threat to nature and by humankind’s foolish animosity towards one another, at all levels of society:- individual, inter-family, between social strata, state wise, nation wise, between different religious factions, and finally maybe even on an international level. We need true teachers to spread the message of peace, harmony, coexistence, toleration and mutual understanding. It is only true teachers who can actually teach us to think in perspective, to think beyond ourselves, to put ourselves in others’ shoes. Teachers teach us that unity is far stronger a structure than those that are divided; to have unity in diversity.
To return, finally, to the question I put forward in the first line of this essay: - in how many ways do we take our teachers for granted??? In my opinion is that the best example to show this is the fact that we have a teachers’ day in the first place. We take teachers for granted to such an extent that we have to remind ourselves, annually, not to???? The idea itself is ridiculous.
Frankly, I think that the concept of teachers’ day is an insult to the hard work that teachers put in day in, day out.
Thank you for reading this.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Teachers: Aaj Kal
This post has been published by me on the occasion of the Teachers' Day as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 2; the second edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.
Kal, aaj or kal, I take great pride in my “noble” profession as an educationist.
“Noble?” you ask.
Well, there’s noble and there’s noble.
You can be noble because of excellence of quality or character or mind
And you can be noble by rank.
Noble can mean dignified, elevated, eminent, exalted, generous, illustrious, superior, worthy and excellent.
Noble can also mean aristocratic, high-born, grand, lofty, stately, lordly, masterly..
I can think of several professions that fit the bill of noble on either one parameter or the other.
But kal, aaj or kal, mine is a profession that is all of the above: dignified, worthy, excellent and also grand and stately!
Kal, aaj or kal: Yes, by god, we teachers are noble!
We even have a day in the calendar set aside to celebrate our profession and designated as Teacher’s Day just in case you missed how important we are.
So if you can’t see that halo around my head, at least you’ll see a crown.
When we were in school, there was this song we sang on Teacher’s Day: She’s got the whole world in her hands. And it’s true, isn’t it?
The French have a saying: “cherchez la femme.” I’m going to modify that to “cherchez la teacher.” Examine your selves, your characters, your likes and dislikes, your fears and ambitions, your confidence and insecurities…I promise that if you look closely, behind every one of your perceptions, every one of your ambitions, every success or failure, like or dislike you have, you’ll probably see a teacher’s hand.
I can speak for myself. If I still get nightmares about giant geometry instruments, I know who’s responsible.
If I’m still obsessed with tiny and regular hem-stitches, I know who’s responsible.
If my students have to draw neat margins on both sides of their exam papers, I know who’s responsible.
If I have an aversion to missed apostrophes, I know who’s responsible.
If I can stand up and speak confidently in front of a 1000 people, I know who’s responsible.
If I have grown into a competent, well-rounded human being, I know who’s responsible.
Kal, aaj or kal, can you imagine the power we exert? It’s not an accident that we’re called “masters” and “mistresses.”
We have so much control over so many lives that it’s scary—we have a captive audience every day of our lives. When we speak, you have to listen. We wield the sword of success and failure over your heads. We can reward and punish and banish at whim.
And have you ever tried to tell a child that the way their teacher pronounces a word is wrong? Have you ever tried to get a child to do a sum differently from how their teacher has taught it?
And kal, aaj or kal, if you considered for a minute the kind of work we do for the meager pay we get, you wouldn’t doubt it for a moment!
We teachers are noble!
The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton are Vipul, Rajalakshmi, Dhiman, Ranee[1], [2], [3] , Avada, Indian Pundit, Sojo, Aneet, Pramathesh, Aativas, Sid, Pra, Ajinkya, Lakshmi, Govind, Shilpa, Bharathi, Shankar, Mytuppence, Azad, Pawan, Pankaja, Saimanohar, Guria, Shruti, Vishnu,Nasrajan and Richa. Click on their respective names to read their posts on Teachers : Aaj Kal. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.
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