inspiration – Page 5 – Nourish-n-Cherish

Reflecting on 30 Years at a High School Reunion

30 years 30 minutes

When we look back on life – what do you tell those who knew you when you were but a little girl? Some had grown into more distinguished versions of themselves, few were hardly recognizable (especially those who had embraced facial hair – mustaches, beards, and the like), and a rare few looked far younger than their biological age.

There was a strange moment when I asked a fellow classmate, “I am sorry, I am unable to recognize you – can you remind me who you are?”

“Oh come on Saumya!” He said, and I felt a flush creep up my cheek.

“Not the right response man!” I said laughing, as he reminded me with a helpful anecdote to place him.

In 30 years, a lifetime has passed, and yet felt like a heartbeat.

Sounds cliched I know. Probably the thing that everyone who has attended a high school reunion feels.

As I gazed fondly around the room taking in the whirlwind of activity and the people who were at school with me, I felt gratitude first for all the memories. Even the bitter ones seemed to have attained a bitter-sweet tinge to it, which did not quite seem possible at the time.

When we left school 3 decades ago, everything felt sharp – in a way that teenagers can feel. The angst, the turbulence, the weight of expectations, the sense of trepidation for what lies ahead. And then somehow, life happened in those moments of angst. The years rolled by. Careers were made, lives were built, children were birthed and raised, and through it all, our families and friends bore the thrum of Lawrence School almost like background music.

It was fantastic to see where life had led us all in the three decades since. Many had embraced growth, some had endured it, and a few had denied it. But we were all swimming across the river and continuing to brave the currents. Some of us were still in the whirlwinds of the swift currents, some were looking forward to the quiet moments of water lapping around the shores on the opposite side. Regardless of where we were in life though, there was an enormous affection.

I remember thinking as a girl why the Old Lawrencians made such a fuss about their reunions decades later – they all seemed to be so happy to be there with their hair greying and limbic nimbility dwindling. I understand now.

People Currents

It was curious to see the patterns emerging after all these years. How we sought out the people we liked, had a polite curiosity about the people we didn’t, and found out about the ones we respected after all these years. Finding out about those who had exceeded expectations, those who braved life’s storms with equanimity and grace, and those who had simply let themselves go in the intervening years.

As we traded our life stories, it was humbling to see all the different and varied ways in which the world had tested and tried us over the past few decades. Love makes us endure horrendous things just as much as it makes us do inspiring things. It is no wonder there is a Love door in the Department of Mysteries in the Harry Potter Universe!

Life truly is a mystic game. I was reminded several times of the quote by Leo Tolstoy:

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way

Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

As we took several walks down the memory lane, each one had recollections of their life in boarding school that was unique: sometimes traumatic, other times funny, many times reflections on moments of personal growth and realization. I don’t think I’ve laughed this much over inane things since adulthood.

Just for that, it was all worth it.

April Highlights: Poetry Month and Stress Awareness

April is a beautiful month of Spring. It also is Poetry Month, Stress Awareness Month, and plays host to several days such as Earth Day, World Reading Day, International Dance Day, and we found out quite recently, World Quantum Day.

Trying to accommodate all these different aspects into reading and experiences can be quite the adventure if you let it.

For Stress Awareness Month, we released the fourth episode of Sitare Spotlight. This time, our guest was Salima Banu Iezzey. Salima is a fitness coach, adventurer and nutritionist. The conversations with her were a good reminder for all the tenets of good living. Simple things we can do for daily well-being, bigger adventure goals and healthy eating. Please check it out here:

Sitare Spotlight Ep.4: Salima Banu Iezzey on Fitness, Adventure & Wellbeing

https://youtu.be/Tpirxjy_u8U?si=2-3P_Q7ltAgjpChA

For Poetry Month, apart from dipping into poetry collections from time to time, this time I also read about the life and times of Emily Dickinson. It was fascinating to see how the few poems of hers that did make it to publication during her lifetime were published anonymously by her friends and family members.

Book: Becoming Emily – the life of Emily Dickinson – Krystyna Poray Goddu (what a fascinating way to spell Krystyna?)

It was only after her death that her friend and niece got her poems published – a little tug of war between them to see who had access to more poems. It is also interesting to note that like Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson too hailed from a family that valued education, and somehow, even during those times of limited financial independence for women, were unmarried. That probably explains the prodigious work they were able to turn out in their lifetimes.

On Earth Day I gazed down upon Earth as we took off and flew over arid deserts, lush green forests, snowy stretches, oceans brimming with life, on my travels. All the time marveling at humankind and our ability to create a safe mode of transport in the air when we neither have the wings nor the air-borne buoyancy required to pull it off. Our innovation helping us gaze over the beautiful planet and peer into the maps being flashed on the screens”

Flying over Deer Lake, Cat Lake, Big Trout Lake, Sam Lake, Kingfisher lake, Wunnumin Lake – past Saskatchewan and Ontario

Quaktaq – Past Hudson Bay – where I remembered reading about the Great Bear Sea and the Arctic Unicorns (Narwhals)

Then I zoomed and chuckled over whimsical, interesting and beautiful names: Pikangikum, Quaktaq, Akulivik Puvirnituk.

One of the many futures of AI innovations may whisper in my head the meanings or origins of each of these names, but for now, it was enough for me to muse. Imagine nonsensical little things about their etymology, the languages, or the peoples who named them. I wonder why we don’t spend more time as amateur cartographers, naming the little nooks and corners of our daily walks. I remember telling someone to meet me at Reflection Pond, and then remembering that there was no Reflection Pond on the map. It was simply a name the children and I had come up for the dear pond on one of our many strolls. It was the time of sunset, the pink and orange hues above our heads were beautifully reflected in the serene waters below, and we sat there, each of us lost in our own reflections.

Celebrate International Dance Day: A Journey Through Dance Dramas

International Dance Day is coming.

One of the best things about my dance teacher was how she helped transform the world on the stage with mere mortals. Children of varying interest levels, abilities and time. We somehow knew each other’s pieces, and the rehearsals became a place of camaraderie and belonging like nothing I have known since. Friendships formed in the orbit of practice, each of us helping or being helped as the D-day drew near. The energy of practice was always enough to bring a smile. No matter how hard or terrible a day you’d been having, if you have to smile and dance when it is your turn, it does something to you, and you find yourself in a better frame of mind without even trying.

How I wish dancing, singing, art, literature, creative writing, team and adventure sports are all a part and parcel of everyone’s life on a regular basis. Without having to carve time for it, without yearning for it, without having to take the car or public transit to plan for it. What a luxury that would be?

As we spend time working, we spend time in our creative pursuits – intellectual, or physical.

As the children grew up, I had the chance to attend many dance programs, arangetrams and productions over the years. As soul-nourishing as they all were/are, I still yearn for the dance dramas that my childhood teacher was so good at conceptualizing, choreographing, composing, teaching and performing. Who cannot be caught up in the climax of Mohini skillfully directing Bhasmasura towards annihilating himself through dance, or Mahishasura Mardini, or any other epic being played out on stage?

While I yearned for multi-dancer theatrical dramas played out on stage, I was also keenly aware of why they were difficult to pull off. In a society where the number of hours were optimized, did you dedicate time for learning your margam of items – the standard pushpanjali/kowthwam, alarippu, jasthiswaram, shabdam, varnam, keerthanais and thillana so that you can prepare for an arangetram in that time, or spend a part of that time with a dance drama production? It is a tricky situation complicated by expectations of society – individual performances merited standardized margams, dance dramas demand a different format.

So, whenever I get the chance to go to a dance drama, I practically dance into the auditorium myself.

Nirupama Vaidyanathan’s Journeys of Faith based on Shoba Narayan’s book, Food & Faith

In recent years, I have had the pleasure of attending a few of these theatrical productions. Nirupama Vaidyanathan’s Journeys of Faith based on Shoba Narayan’s book, Food & Faith was one such. Nirupama is always skilled at having multiple dancers quickly move together, seamlessly, in beautiful patterns on stage. She managed to incorporate standard thillana-style formats etc into this production which I thought was a very clever way to balance the needs of the student and the theatrical dance drama format.

That dance performance was amazing. Nirupama is a clear orator, and in this production, her voice overs, where she was narrating pieces from the book as she set the stage for the Palani Murugan temple or the Udipi Srikrishna Temple were amazingly done. She had the music pieces composed, and stitched together for the dance drama. I just have to close my eyes to see the way all her senior students came together on stage at the very end to show how the prasadam in a big temple kitchen is prepared. Who cannot be filled by a performance like that, followed by an excellent prasadam at the Livermore Temple afterwards?

She combined literature, theatre, dance and music in such a satisfying and eloquent manner that a year after the actual performance, I am able to recall the transformation of the stage in her skilled and capable hands.

Meenakshi Sundareshwarar Dance Drama

I had a similar feeling with the Meenakshi Sundareswarar dance performance by Sharanya Ganesan. It has been a few months since her dance school staged the dance drama to which I was invited. But, was it a transformative experience?! She managed to fill the stage with students of every stage in their dancing journey.

There was the child Meenakshi, the young-adult Meenakshi, and the adult Meenakshi – with all the dancers accompanying the stories filling the stage with their rhythmic jathis, their quick and coordinated movements. The stage ebbed and flowed with the dancers themselves. The costumes – oh the costumes! Bharatanatyam costumes are always a joy to behold, but on that stage, they took on a fantastic life of their own. Except for the main characters of the story – Meenakshmi, her parents, Sundareshwarar etc, everyone was clothed in combinations of cream and (red, pink, violet, or green). I have always loved the cream colored combinations, and on that stage housing over 50 dancers, they all stood out and merged together.

The dance performance itself co-ordinated across all the batches of children she teaches must have been both a joy and a huge project in and of itself. Every group knew of the pieces they needed to perform, but according to her senior students who spoke to the audience afterwards, the whole thing was a concept weaved together into the magic it transformed into only in Sharanya Ganesan’s head.

On YouTube Please!

Every time I look for entertainment to watch, I yearn to see if these dance dramas would be on YouTube or Netflix. I wish they were. For I love to watch a good dance drama on a cold evening – I end up watching some dance pieces, but a good dance drama choreographed, executed with such talent, beauty and grace would be something that I would love to see every now and then, or even on a flight.

There are always good ones we miss out on because of conflicts – how marvelous it would be, if we could manage to fill our souls with the performances later? I am on a flight to South India – thumbing through the entertainment available on the flight, I thought to myself that I would love to see The Whispers of the Kaveri when I am traveling to the very lands of the Kaveri river – Tamil Nadu & Karnataka.

🌎 Happy Earth Day 🌎

🌎 Earth Day 🌎

Earth Day is coming up, and I feel the familiar flutter of gratitude for our planetary home.

It is the time Spring is in full bloom in the countryside around us. When Earth’s bounty surrounds us, it is hard to not feel like we really must be foolish to ravage Mother Earth the way we do with our greed and pointless consumption.

It is the time I moon about outside, reveling in the lengthening days of spring, and watching the stars peep outside. A couple of days ago when the full moon rose a- beautiful golden orb in the sky, I gasped, and thought of the image taken from there that led to the creation of Earth Day as a concept.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthrise — The picture was taken by an astronaut, Bill Anders, aboard the Apollo 8 spacecraft in 1968.

Books Celebrating Our Life on Earth

Children’s books are one of the best resources for celebrating our marvelous planet. Authors like Oliver Jeffers seem to know the knack of grounding us while making us soar high above the Earth to see our home.

These two, in recent times, have had me humming.

If you come to Earth – by Sophie Blackall

The premise of the book is not unheard of. It is narrated by a boy named Quinn who introduces a visiting alien to Planet Earth. The pictures are a delight, and the book is charming in itself. The narrator show the esteemed visitor all the places

Where we live – towns, cottages, villages, towns, cities, high-rise buildings.
What we do – the range of occupations was truly fascinating to see. (I also had a little doubting-deborah contest trying to see which of these jobs would be around in a decade and in a century)
How we read, speak, and communicate – languages, written alphabet, morse code, braille

And so many more aspects of life.

The best part of the book to me was the note by the author at the very end. I always seem to relish notes by the author, and this one went on to delight.

Excerpt from the Author’s Note:

Continue reading “🌎 Happy Earth Day 🌎”

Celebrating World Quantum Day: History and Fun Facts

World ⚛️ Quantum ⚛️ Day – April 14th

“Oh wow, ma! Today is Quantum Day!” said the son. Actually yelped the fellow, like the words were yanked out of him by the excitement coursing through him. For some weird reason, even as a young toddler, he loved the word, ‘Quantum’.

Maybe it was Iron Man or Ant-Man – that movie in which they use the word ‘Quantum’ every time they did not want to explain something. Or maybe it was the fact that we all liked watching The Big Bang Theory television series in the house so much when he was a child, or maybe the Cosmos shows by Carl Sagan, or the fact that I like reading about Physics.

In any case, Quantum. He lights up when you mention Quantum-This or Quantum-That.

I smiled at him, and said, “Wow! I didn’t know they had a day for that!”

2025 is also the International Year of Quantum as designated by the United Nations. 100 years since Quantum Mechanics became a part of higher education science and research.

⚛️ My First Book of Quantum Physics ⚛️

This seemed to call for a little nostalgia. I opened a favorite book of ours – as a child, I remember getting this for him and he spent hours looking through the pictures.

My First Book of Quantum Physics – by Sheddad Kaid-Salah Ferron & Eduard Altarriba

It really is a beautiful book. Sheddad Kaid-Salah Feroon & Eduard Altarriba do a fantastic job of the illustrations, explanations of difficult concepts and providing a general feel for the subjects.

It is why we were excited to visit the CERN supercollider in Switzerland.

Sheddad Kaid-Salah Feroon & Eduard Altarriba have a series of books covering topics such as:

Quantum Physics
Relativity
Electromagnetism
Cosmos
Microbes
Evolution

Please check these books out if you get the chance. It is always fascinating. Especially, when in our everyday lives, even if we are professionals with science backgrounds, we hardly set aside the time for this type of shoshin (the wonder of the beginner’s mind)

In one time and place, when not observed, if we can find that joy of wonder, that would be Quantum, wouldn’t it?! Get it? Get it?!

Taming the Ego: Embracing Irrelevance

Taming the Ego

One of the biggest achievements of growing old has to be the achievement of realizing our own diminishing importance in the world, and gracefully succumbing to a life that is finally galloping past us. This can be a phenomenally difficult thing to do. I am well aware that I may have this very article picked up, printed and taped to my bedside as an octagenarian or a nonagenarian by the younger ones in my life. (I shall have a laugh then!)

But right now, writing this in my forties, I feel that day is far away and can therefore hope to lord my philosophies of life over everyone.

I suppose Taming the Ego is a theme that these Zen and Buddhist teachings harp on quite a bit. Confused with humility, this often manifests as a tool for diminishing our accomplishments. What I think it means is letting go of our perceived importance in the world, and seeking irrelevance.

The world of work is already changing quickly enough to ensure that senior citizens feel a bit frazzled by the nature of it all. So the work world is quite easy to relinquish our control over. The harder aspects to relinquish control are over the other aspects of our daily life.

The promise of the future vs the nostalgia of the past.

I was reading a fascinating children’s book, If You Come to Earth – By Sophie Blackall, that deserves a post all on its own about how you’d feel if you were an alien visiting Earth. Not exactly a new theme, but the book is engaging enough to introduce us to Earth with all its quirks and attractions.

There was a page in there that quite neatly summed up aging.

Older people are good at telling stories about the world when they were young. Kids are good at making up stories that haven’t happened yet.

– Sophie Blackall, If You Come to Earth

What a marvelous way to sum up humanity’s youth against the aging process? The promise of the future vs the nostalgia of the past.

The Tyranny of Technology

I remember an incident a couple of decades ago when I took the just-retired father into the ATM with me. It was a swanky little ATM – all polished floors and gleaming surfaces, the cameras concealed in the false ceilings etc. The pater came in gaping at the wonder of it all. Thus far, he had walked into the State Bank of India office in our little residential town, wished all the staff a good day, asked about the teller’s son’s progress after his recent surgery, withdrawn money from his account and scurried home to put it in the locker in the Godrej cupboard.

Suddenly, here he was, no teller in question. No human in question. With a machine that gave money. He said, all agog, “Kondhai (child) – can you take out 1000 rupees at a time 5 times so I can see what is happening?”

I laughed and complied.

But it was just the beginning.

Where previously, our parents’ generation dealt with money, now they too have to contend with credit cards, ATMs and electronic banking. The few banks that continue to offer in-person services are heavily sought after. It is also becoming easier than ever for scams to take place. After all, the teller no longer knows that you already withdrew cash for your grand-daughter’s wedding a year ago.

The Tides of Time

So, how to stay relevant in a time when the ground is shifting so rapidly beneath you?

What can one do but to embrace those rascals of emotions that sidle up the moment they find a sliver of chance to get in: insecurity, anxiety, fear? How can one not parrot the beliefs and rituals of the past when it is all that seems to make sense to you?

The enormous pressures of technological advances mean that life expectancy has increased, and the tyranny of these advances means that you have to try and stay relevant. Our parents’ generation learnt to use electricity, radios, television, internet, mobile phones, social media – all in a race to stay relevant.

So, when does it all get too much?

I don’t know.

Is the journey to realization of our diminishing importance in the world the ultimate test of spirituality?

After all the tides never stop coming in and going out – they just don’t seem to care about the fish in them.

Spring Adventures: Watching Nature Unfold

We had plans for a lovely bike ride by the bays and knolls near our home, a hike in the verdant hillsides, or even a walk by the stream/river by our home where all our fellow creatures are preparing for the year ahead. Soon, the ducklings and goslings will hatch. Everywhere you see, there are signs of nest building and it is endlessly fascinating to sit and watch the frenetic spring cleaning happening, even if it isn’t happening in our own home. I empathized with Mole in the Wind in the Willows : Who wants to wallow inside the home, dusting old furniture and mopping dusty floors when the world outside is so full of beauty and promise?

The son and I had our spring hopes dashed for us with a bout of flu. That feeling of enormous promise that accompanies spring was dampened somewhat by the high fevers, and we moped about the house.

Watching Spring

When the fever subsided, we pulled ourselves to sit outside and watch spring at least. The crows and wrens stopped flying and did a double take mid-air seeing our watch-fest. If AI interpreted their language, I am sure we’d have some semblance of this:

“These two restless souls – what are they doing sitting and watching?”

“I know – been seeing them for the past few minutes. Nothing? Are they really doing Nothing?”

“Strange!”

But this Nothing gave rise to something marvelous. We noticed the fresh green leaves sprouting in the ginkgo and maple trees. Some of the cherry trees had blossomed out of their flowery cloaks into their leafy ones, while others were still in their efflorescent robes of pink and white.

“See this leaf? “ said the son. “It is shaped so that it can fly very fast and the seeds within can spread when it falls!”

I peered into the leaves he was showing me, and it was true. I remember learning to make a paper airplane in a pattern like that once, and watched mesmerized as it floated down and away every time we launched it. What a brilliant inspiration?

Right enough, we searched for the tree in question, and it is called the Hot Wings Tartarium Tree. The Hot Wings maple tree is a low maintenance beauty whose seeds are called Samaras.

Nature is astounding – every leaf, seed, flower, tree, shrub, plant, trunk, twig is a marvel in itself and sometimes sitting and watching is the best reward.

We came back inside flush with the knowledge of having seen a new wonder, and felt better.

Poems & Trees:

I think I shall never see

A poem as lovely as a tree

– Joyce Kilmer

The poem finishes on these wise lines:

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

Only Nature can do accomplish this fest without fanfare.

The Joys of Walking: National Walking Day Reflections

Happy National Walking Day

I was pleasantly surprised to know that today (the first Wednesday of April) is National Walking Day sponsored by the American Heart Association.

Regular readers, friends and family know the walking fetish I have.

There are a number of things I am teased for in the household, but nature walking has to take the cake. “You do realize that you can achieve a lot more if you just walked less and talked less too, right?” is a common refrain.

I have to agree, but I seem to think that without walking, there is just time at home in which a myriad different things show up as tasks to be done. I mean review this:

The kitchen needs scrubbing, the snacks need eating, the clothes need folding, the food needs cooking, the cook-grill needs cleaning, and the dust needs dusting.

Out in Nature Though

Whereas out on a walk, the geese don’t need prodding to squawk, the mallard ducks don’t need encouragement to fly and land with a splash in the waters, the suns rays don’t need reminding to spatter and scatter a myriad different colors into the perfectly placed clouds in the horizon as it sets, the lavender and eucalyptus don’t need reminding to waft their aromas into the atmosphere. It is all there for the taking.

It is the sacred act of you and yourself out walking. Just the mind taking some time to rejuvenate with fresh air, slowly dissipating the tensions of the day into the evening air, letting nature do its work, and the body healing and strengthening itself.

Once my newsfeed told me about today being National Walking Day, the old soul yearned for the outdoors. So, after the day’s meetings were done, I swished outside. Everything was as perfect as ever. The perfectly positioned clouds, the sun’s rays just right – not too feeble nor too sharp, the flowers of spring all gloriously waving their blooms to the mild breeze, and the rain-washed Earth looking clean, welcoming and habitable.

I was walking by the waterside, and the calm strength of the waters nourished me. Ducks, geese and a pelican or two gracefully glided on the waters. I have often wondered about the sentience of our fellow beings. Do they stop to admire a sunset like some of us do? They are definitely more attuned to nature around us than we are. An unkindness of ravens (or was it a murder of crows?) were loudly cawing overhead.

Shinrin Yoku or Forest Bathing

The Japanese have a practice built around spending time outdoors – specifically longer periods amidst trees and forests – it is called Shinrin Roku – or Forest Bathing. What a marvelous concept?

“Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better!” – Albert Einstein

Happy Walking Day to all of you. Please step outside and enjoy the beautiful Earth even if only for a few minutes today.

13 miles while 13 years old!

The Weight Charts

The last time I took the son for his annual health checkup, the doctor seemed to give me a look as if to say, “Have you tried giving him more high calorie foods?” The children have always been on the lower end of the weight charts – sometimes barely clinging on, other times falling off the charts altogether, especially when they have a growth spurt with their height. So, this is a familiar enough scene. I braced myself, and told the doctor about how he seems to be eating well enough, seems to enjoy his food, and eats more than me etc. He wasn’t impressed and asked the son to eat more and be back in two months time.

This was about a year ago. Also coinciding with a time the old mother was here a-visiting. A grandmother being a g.m., and all that – she was plying her grandchildren with ‘good food’ and this wasn’t having the effect it needed to have. Nevertheless, a watered down version of the doctor’s regimen were relayed to her, and she fed him more ‘good food’ to get him on the weight scale.

Diets & Grandmothers

Around the same time, the husband had decided to go on a strict diet – a no-carb diet, which in a household filled with South Indian grandparents and grandchildren who love their food, can be a carbolicious nightmare. The mother would periodically cast doubts on what sort of husband I was raising if I wasn’t cooking him what he wanted.”We raise children, not husbands!” was poorly received.

Yours Truly was on a low-carb version, having realized the futility of cooking and nutrition in this household, and merely settling for the occasional serving of quinoa instead of white rice when possible.

So there we are: I hope I’ve painted a nice cozy domestic scene for you. The mother, able to chastise me and wonder how my husband was eating, how my son was eating, how my parents were eating, how my nephews were eating. The daughter and I, the low maintenance ones, reveling in the glorious sort of peace that comes with being forgotten.

13 miles while 13 years old!

Anyway, it was a few months later, that the son said he wanted to run a half-marathon when he was still 13 years old. “13 miles at 13 years – that’s cool, right?”

I nodded, taking in his reedy body. He could build stamina, weight would still be a problem, but it already was. So, we said yes and started training together. The son and I, running our ways through the emerging springtime. It was a beautiful time to train. The cherry blossoms, the crisp rain-washed earth, the beautiful skies and green hills around us all proved to be a wonderful backdrop to our runs. It was tough going given the demands on our time, and a full school schedule in session. But we managed it.

Yesterday, we finished the Oakland Half Marathon together.

Well, not together. The son was, of course, far faster than Yours Truly, but as the daughter kindly put it, “Aww! Good job Amma. I am proud of you. You can’t help it if you’re old and gave birth to two children!”

His paternal grandmother is here now and is tutting about how little he eats. “Don’t you feed him?” she asked.

I said, “Clearly not as well as you can!” and ducked out of the kitchen looking pleased. I heard her fussing over him with a bowl of something. We had run a half marathon and, sore as we were, it was a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.

“Paati – I can’t eat anymore. I am already full!” said the son, and I smiled to myself.

All was well.

From Science Fairs to Real-World Solutions

Almost everyday I am amazed at human potential and dismayed by what we choose to do with it. We are problem solvers, but we have enough folks who create them in the first place too. We have the ingenuity of using tools to forge ahead, and shortsighted enough to be thwarted by our own creations. We are a meticulous species, and a callous one.

As I was musing thus, my thoughts were interrupted. “What if we run out of problems?” one of the children at the Science Fair asked me.

Problem Solvers or Creators?

I assured the worried children that as long as humans are around we will never run into that particular problem. We will always have problems to solve, and we will always ourselves to blame for creating most of them too. “So, you can choose to be problem solvers or creators – I think you kids are good kids who may land up becoming problem solvers” They beamed.

We were standing at the Alameda County Science and Engineering Fair, and the projects on display were truly inspiring and mind-boggling. “We created AI to solve many problems, but I assure you it will create some of its own too!” I said, “Then, we can set about solving them. We’ll be busy!” and they laughed nodding.

The AI Revolution

Over on the High School side, it seemed the children had taken the AI revolution to heart and attempted to solve almost everything with AI.

Detecting lung cancer early, patterns of dyslexia, Parkinson’s disease, watering crops, even solving mathematical theorems.

As I meandered slowly through the aisles looking at the display boards I took in as much as I could. The musings came later:

So what does AI predict for us? Especially if we are to use it for so many things? The Internet wave seems like one to play in at the beach compared to this surf wave.

Science Project Areas

It was fascinating to see all the areas in which the children had attempted to solve problems. Sustainability, environmental science, plant growth, reducing microplastics, hydro-farming, disease detection, water purification, working around the problem of microplastics in our soil and water, and so much more.

One project on elder care had me hurtling back decades. It was a pill dispenser for the elderly. I thought of my grandmother, Visalakshi fondly. One day I caught her popping 15-16 pills at one shot, and was truly fascinated. Did she need that many to keep ticking? I was probably 7 years old at the time, and everyone with grey hair seemed impossibly old. Oh! Youth! She looked at me fondly when I asked her that, and said that she had merely forgotten the morning and afternoon doses. “Paati – no! You can’t just eat them altogether!” I said, and she laughed like I was overreacting. I can see that particular project being quite useful, as I am sure that particular trait is not something that simply fades.

I walked around the fair, admiring the vast variety of problems in front of us, and the many, many ones that did not even make it to the Science Fairs. The atmosphere felt promising, hopeful even. How could it not be? This is one of the places where the appeal of problem solving is showcased for all of us. The world doesn’t seem to be as bogged down by negativity and impossibility.

We need to teach our kids that it’s not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair.

Barack Obama

That is why he remains one of our favorite presidents.

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World ⚛️ Quantum ⚛️ Day – April 14th

⚛️ My First Book of Quantum Physics ⚛️

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Taming the Ego

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