Tag: Nature

Did you know about Mawsynram?

The first rains of the season were here last week.  I shook my umbrella out and let the children dash into the classroom well before the bell rang. 

Mawsynram – not Cherrapunji

“Thinking of folks in Mawsynram?” I said, smiling to a girl who was looking for a place on the carpet to set her wet umbrella. 

She gave me a big smile. The kind of smile that lights up at the recollection of something we had learnt the day before. 

The previous day we had started a new unit on water. After learning about what it takes to be an ecologist in Yellowstone National Park, we were setting our sights on water.

“We are going to be hydrologists!” I said, trying to enthuse the class into learning about water. They moaned. I groaned. “Must you kids moan for everything?!”  

“Yes!” they chorused. I ignored this and set about infusing enthusiasm into the class. “Today, we’ll go to Mawsynram – the wettest place on the planet. All the way to India!” I said. Though, even as I was saying it, I remembered answering a general knowledge quiz as a girl: “What is the wettest place in the world?” “Cherrapunji!”

Apparently, Cherrapunji relinquished its spot to Mawsynram a few decades ago. A fact that would have been cause for much excitement in the younger me. But these younger ones were waiting for me to go on and I did. 

The lesson went on – an interesting article on how folks in Mawsynram clothed themselves in full body raincoats made of bamboo and banana leaves. The children were interested enough by the end, though how much they would retain I would know only later. 

A Rainy Day

The day was beautiful. The rains were scheduled for the whole day and I joined the children in peeking out the door every now and then. 

“Have you been in a hailstorm?”

“Have you seen a landslide – just with rain?”

“Have you worn a bamboo raincoat?”

Have you this and have you that? 

I indulged them as best as I could, enjoying their obvious delight with the rains. I thought they might miss their regular outdoor recess time. But they seemed content to play indoor games and said it was wonderful to sit and watch the rain. 

I agreed. 

It was magical to watch.

Mawsynram or the Sahara?

When they had to go to lunch, they moaned at being asked to leave the cozy classroom. I laughed, well aware about these trends in enthusiasm.

“Mawsynram not looking so good now, huh?” 

The ones who remembered the raincoats made of bamboo and banana leaves lit up. 

“I want to make a raincoat with banana leaves.”

“I just want to be a boabab tree in Africa – I never have to drink water again.”

Off they went, chattering in the rains. It looked like they had not listened. But a little rain told me they did. 

I smiled. 

October’s Edge

Octobers in the Bay Area can bring rough heat waves. When the rest of the country seems to be cooling down and settling down into the beautiful colors of fall etc, Bay Area can feel dry, hot and a distinct wish to the universe to bring in the rains already.

Last week parched us all. The bright side of these scorching days were the sunrises. We had several days in which the sun’s rays burst forth, resplendent, and glorious.

Even the brilliant sunrises were not enough through. As I drove past the browning hills, I wished for rains. Then, as the days went on with the temperature relentlessly in the 90s, I settled. I just started to wish it would cool down. Forget the rain. Stop scorching please.

Bike rides

Last week-end, when the temperatures did start to drop, I took my bike out and went on a long ride through the riverside and lakes before hitting the bay. The cool breeze felt marvelous against my face. I biked on, listening to birdsong and taking in the gaunt river-bed – eaten bald by the starving goats, and the river barely a trickle. I biked on towards the lakes and saw that entire lake-beds had dried out too. I felt a pang for all the fish that lived there. The ducks, geese and pelicans had flown to wetter pastures or maybe had migrated due north.

In spite of this dry outlook though, I enjoyed the ride. I rode through a section of the trail with the waters of the bay on either side, enjoying the slow lull of the lapping waves, the quiet sound of breeze, and the occasional splash from the western grebes and avocets as they swooped into the waters nearby. An absurd part of me scanned the waters for the whale that got lost, and swam to Sacramento. Could it find its way back here?

I started back home eventually, somewhat reluctantly I admit. I would have liked to spend the whole day out there by the ducks, avocets and pelicans. To quiet the cacophony of expectations and ambitions, and belong in a place where no human voices could be heard. To rest. Luxuriate in the unhurried perfection of nature. Watch the herons stand for hours on end in the shallow waters by the shore.

The tranquillity of the water’s edge is enough to take the edge off October’s demands. 

I did head home eventually, rejuvenated in every way. The expansiveness of the trail and the waters are still intact when I close my eyes. To that, I am grateful.

Which Planet Are You Feeling Like Today?

Learning to Teach Science

One evening, I trudged up the hill to my classroom. It was after a long day of teaching, and I had spent a hot hour commuting to the university for my teaching credential lessons. The evening’s session was on learning to teach science. It is one of my favorite classes, but I did not envy our professor who had to infuse engagement and learning in a bunch wannabe-teachers after we had sent the whole day and week teaching. She is an excellent educator and never shies away from the task though. Somehow, she ends up making us feel invigorated and inspired to teach science by the time we leave, and that is noteworthy in and of itself.

Really, I am glad some people chose to develop others as teachers, and are so generous with their time and talents.

Moody and Muggy – like Venus?

This class, she chose to have a guest educator come in, and the lesson they had planned will stay with me for a long time. She had us answer a question related to our solar system as we walked in. She asked us which planet’s moods matched our own. Hot and muggy like Venus, or dealing with too many moons like Saturn.

  • Mercury: swift orbit – cratered surface
  • Venus: scorching heat – thick clouds
  • Earth: liquid water – teeming life
  • Mars: red dust – massive volcanoes
  • Jupiter: big red spot  – swirling storms
  • Saturn: beautiful rings – gas giant
  • Uranus: tilted axis – ice giant
  • Neptune: supersonic winds – deep blue

It was an interesting exercise and she soon solicited a few responses. Some felt they could be like Uranus or Neptune just to freeze or pause for a moment, or maybe just to escape the heat of the past week. 

A giant step is ?

Soon afterwards, she led us outside to the sprawling campus grounds overlooking the bay. The sun was beginning to dip in the sky, and she said a little walk might do us all a little good. We agreed and off we went. She set up a traffic cone in one spot and called it the sun. Then, she had us estimate the number of steps we would have to take if the scale was : one giant step  ~~ 10 million kilometers.

We guessed and took the steps placing the cones as we went. We only went up to Saturn, but it was enough to get us out of our heads, and into an expansive space. A place to let go of our daily worries and revel in the grand universe we belong to.

A simple search gives us this, but walking outside and acting silly with our classmates as we took giant steps never teaches us things the way a textbook or video does.

If 1 step = 10 million km, here is the step-by-step distance from the Sun out through the solar system (rounded to the nearest whole step):

Sun to Mercury: 6 steps (~58 million km)
Mercury to Venus: 5 steps (~50 million km)
Venus to Earth: 4 steps (~41 million km)
Earth to Mars: 8 steps (~78 million km)
Mars to Jupiter: 55 steps (~550 million km)
Jupiter to Saturn: 65 steps (~646 million km)
Saturn to Uranus: 143 steps (~1.43 billion km)
Uranus to Neptune: 165 steps (~1.65 billion km)
Neptune to Pluto: 140 steps (~1.40 billion km)

The more I live and experience life, the more I realize how little I know.

As we headed back inside, my head was already buzzing with a dozen different activities I could do with the children with this simple activity. They would never forget scales, and the enormous universe we live in once we had tried this.  Everything can be wondrous.

Where is the time?

The only problem is the classic one faced by all teachers. Where was the time? There is precious little of it given all the curriculum demands, testing requirements, standards to be met, small-group coaching, differentiated learning for different skill groups etc. Dedicated teachers try their best, and learning all that goes into running a smooth classroom, is something I am enormously grateful for.

Excerpt from Billy Collins poem: 

Early People – By Billy Collins Book: Whale Day & Other Poems

“Teaching is a noble and time-honored profession,
But little is known about it
Because no one is allowed in the classroom
Except the teacher and the students”

As we babbled our way out after the class, we were an invigorated bunch full of ideas to try out with the children, and I saw our Professor’s smile turn wider and fill her face, as we thanked her.

My mood, as I walked back to the car after a long day, matched Earth – teeming with life and ideas.

I wish I could give my own students lessons like these over time- lessons they will enjoy and remember. Even if they do not remember the specifics, it is enough if they remember feeling awe, accomplishment, sighing with understanding, and being happy to be learning.

Lost Whales – Look up!

Whale? Lost?

We tend to get inordinately excited by tales of whales. And why shouldn’t we? They are gorgeous creatures with songs of their own, lores and stories of their own, family structures that helps them navigate the whole planet together. All done with a sense of joie-de-vivre that we would do well to embrace.

The other day, there was a news item about a humpback whale spotting in the Sacramento River.

https://abcnews.com/video/136549664/

Humphrey the Lost Whale

This sparked a fascinating conversation with my younger colleagues who had grown up here in the Bay Area. Many years ago, they said, excitedly, their voices and the color in their cheeks rising with the memory, Humphrey the humpback whale, had also gotten lost in pretty much the same way. It was apparently a famous book too. A book that has enthralled millions over the years.

So, of course, I went looking for the book.

Humphrey the Lost Whale: A True Story by Wendy Tokuda (Author), Richard Hall (Author), Hanako Wakiyama (Illustrator)  Format: Paperback

Humphrey the Lost Whale: A True Story

Poor Humphrey was beloved and managed to capture the imagination of Californians as he lost his way spectacularly from the Pacific Ocean to the Sacramento River hundreds of miles away from the ocean.

Migratory creatures and their sense of direction

It is especially shocking to hear of whales losing their way because they are rather famed for their migratory paths. I remember watching beluga whales migrating to Alaska for the summer, and I can still see the image in my mind’s eye. Hundreds of white flashing beluga whales splicing through the waters with a splash. It is one of the most astounding sights I have ever seen.

Migratory creatures have captured our imaginations, and their powers of navigating a planet with nothing but magnetic fields and other innate knowledge sources is marvelous indeed.

Little Narwhal, Not Alone

by: Stone, Tiffany, & Ashlyn Anstee

I read another book of a narwhal getting lost and making friends with migrating whales, and found many thousands of kilometers away from its natural habitats. 

This book too is based on a real life story of a real-life narwhal who lost his way and made his home with a pod of beluga whales. Narwhals and beluga whales aren’t usually friends in the sea, but this one adapts to life with the pod, and the resulting story is heart-warming as every story of unlikely friendships is bound to be.

As California gets ready for a heat wave lasting for a week or so, I found myself thinking of the whale that lost its way and went way up the Sacramento River a few days ago. We don’t yet know whether it found its ways back to the oceans. I hope it does soon, if it hasn’t already. The river after the oceans must feel very hot & claustrophobic, not to mention that the salinity of the waters. 

Last night, as I walked home in the evening, taking in the stars in the skies above, I hoped Humphrey’s cousin would take inspiration from the stars above and find his way back.

Commensalism & Unlikely Friendships

Unlikely friendships

“I wonder whether these birds have a symbiotic relationship with these goats!” I said to the husband. Both of us were gazing at the hundreds of goats grazing in the river trail.

Watching these beloved goats graze in the river trail is a gentle form of entertainment. For one thing, they are used to having an audience as they go about their business. Children and adults find them endearing creatures. There aren’t too many goatherds in the vicinity which means, their audience has no means of being bored by cattle. The goats have a captivated audience, attracted by both their behaviors and their sanguine sense of happiness.

There were a few egrets too, and they caught my fancy.

You see? These egrets don’t fancy each other’s company very much. Pretty solitary creatures they are. Yet somehow, they seem to be with the goats. Hundreds of them. They don’t seem to be eating any pests on the goats. No hitching rides on their back. Nothing of the kind, I’ve seen in documentaries of rhinos and oxpeckers, where the oxpeckers keep the rhino’s hide clear in exchange for their protection, and a free ride.

Oxpecker riding on a white rhino, AI generated

Symbiotic Commensalism

Curious, I went looking for the reasoning behind unlikely friendship. It turns out they share what is known as commensalism. One of the creatures benefits while the other is unaffected. The goats, grazing and trampling through the river-beds expose smaller creatures in their wake, which the egrets prey on.

“What is it about unlikely friendships that attract us so much?” The husband said, as we stood there for too long watching the fascinating world in front of us: Here was food in plenty for everyone, and harmoniously, the egrets and goats made their way through the day.

I shrugged but I knew I had that smile on my face: the one I get when I  think of all the ways in which nature shows us about life’s simple things.

A Whiff of Pine, A Hint of Grass

How we are influenced by the world around us is never more apparent to me than when I am trying to immerse myself in another world – one not rife with human presence. Our effects, unfortunately, is omni-present as the flash floods in Nepal proved.

Lines Written in Early Spring – By William Wordsworth

I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
…
…

And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

  • William Wordsworth

But out on a nature trail surrounded by bird-song, peering above into the skies through the leaves in the branches above, is when the world feels alive. Alive in a calm, peaceful sort of way. That particular evening, there were no frenzied crows cawing or geese squawking. The goats in the riverbed near our trail seemed sanguine, munching away leisurely at the tall grasses. A great blue heron took flight and the son & I stopped to catch its magnificence, our breath catching for a minute as it flapped its wings directly overhead.

The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:—
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The son was running, I was biking. I was already in high spirits.

When Carnations Give You Hope

The carnations given to me by a neighbor had revived in spite of the hot few days, and as the first bloom smiled at me, I felt hope stir. This plant had been given to me with the assurance that I cannot kill them. “Carnations are hardy. You can’t kill them if you tried!”, she said confidently, and I shushed her.

“Challenge accepted!” I said, laughing. I placed it in a place where I knew there would be plenty of direct sunlight and water. Just as she said. She came over to inspect it and nodded approvingly.

Just a few days later, the carnation died. It took on a pale brown color, and then withered away. My face matched the poor c plant. Never one to give up that easily, I persevered. I watered it with extra care – I hosed down the flower beds, the front yard and the back yard with extra whim on hot evenings but lost hope about the carnations.

Then, the evening I took out my bike for a ride, I peered into the flowerbed and saw the little flower. My heart soared. I have always loved carnations – their bright colors and how long they stay vibrant for being such petite flowers.

If only they knew the vibrations in the heart strings they caused!

A Whiff of Pine & A Hint of Grass

My mind flitted from topic to the next. Carnations to the hawks who sat on low twigs in the riverbed, and the inevitable sufferings that human-beings are faced with. The sun’s rays glistened across the waters I rode by. Calm, soothing.

I got off my bike and took stock of the year gone by. It was already September. How could the leaves be turning color already? Yet, here we are. I rode back, and inhaled the scent of the freshly mowed grass doused with water, and felt grounded once more. The pine trees dripped with water droplets from a rogue sprinkler, and I gazed lovingly at them clinging to the pine needles. A yearning for rain, but a lovely reminder of one of my favorite children’s books, A Whiff of Pine, A Hint of Skunk.

Lines Written in Early Spring – By William Wordsworth

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ’tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

Feelings, hopes, life, all bound together in a single whiff of wet pine and grass.

The Joys of Student Teaching

This week I am with the children – a whole week in which we manage by ourselves. Me. With the children.

Trouble being heard? Or Trouble speaking?

I anticipated many problems. What I did not anticipate was losing my voice. The class has a microphone, it has a mike. In spite of all this, my voice was strained. I was croaking by the end of the day. Even the classroom Alexa refused to listen to me. I suppose my voice did not sound human at all. It was all very trying.

Classrooms are filled with technology – just like the rest of our lives. Something or the other malfunctions all the time providing for equal parts amusement, frustration, and a shared camaraderie as each of the children tries a different technique to get things going.

One time, the text-to-reader was not working. I know the children do not like listening to it either. They say it doesn’t sound like a real person. Which is fair. It does have a robotic monotone which I suppose is trying to fifth graders trying to not bounce around before recess. So, I started to read with that voice of mine.

One of the kids said, “Ms Bala, we can do popcorn reading!” I must’ve looked lost for they explained with the patience and indulgence they reserve for me, knowing I am a student teacher,  “We’ll each read a page.” And just like that, they showed me kindness and compassion without making a fuss. Or being asked to do so.

I really do love these children!

Dancing like Baboons or Flamingoes?

Just as I glowed in appreciation for them, they’d also try my patience by refusing to work out a hard math concept. I found myself coaxing and cajoling them to slide through the cubes to find the volume and surface area one morning.

“But we won’t even use this anywhere!” Whine.

“We did this all already! We filled out our answers!” Indignant.

“Not correctly! I checked your work. Most of you got it wrong. And I am so glad you brought up that it may never be used!” And I went on to tell them all the ways in which we use surface area to design products, or rooms, or cabin holds in flights, or medical instruments for that matter.

Only the promise of a dance video at the end of the lesson got them through the class. I shook my head as I watched imitate flamingoes or baboons in a dance video and moved away. But at the end of the lesson, two of them came up to me and said shyly, “Ms Bala – You really are a fun math teacher!”

I’d do the whole lesson again just for that. Don’t tell them that.

Oh the things you do!

Some days they behaved fabulously, and other days they were irritated with the fact that they were having to do work even though their main teacher was out. It was fascinating to watch.

Just as I’d admire how emotionally intelligent some of them were, I’d be faced with something like this:

“Ms Bala! He’s been saying that he’s going to take away my toys!”

“Which toys did you bring to school, Lysa?”

“I didn’t bring any toys!”

“So what can he take from you?”

I was reminded of P G Wodehouse’s quote about teachers:

“There is always something going on in a .. school. Beyond breaking up fights,…, inducing boys of all sizes not to throw stones, go on the wet grass, , tease the cat, make too much noise, …, swallow pencils, and drink ink because somebody bet them they wouldn’t, I had very little to do except teach mathematics,…,  play football, herd stragglers into meals… “

 

AIImagegeneratedbasedonthequotebyPGWodehouse:

I have James Patterson’s book, Thank You, Teachers, beaming at me from the bookshelf waiting to be read. I can already identify with it. Teachers really are as he describes it, “our last line of defense and our first line of hope.”

I am waiting to see the stories he has collected from teachers in the book.

I am full of tales every day, and I know now why there are so few teachers who are also mainstream writers. Life is so full in a classroom. It is filled with camaraderie, drama, and sweet moments that make you believe in humanity. But just like the children say “How was your day?”” Good!”” What did you do?” “Nothing!”  So it is with teachers.

You cherish the moments and prepare for the next class.

Dragons in the Dusk

Glad for the Gibbous Moon

It was a beautiful waxing moon – the sky was alight with happiness. The beautiful cirrus clouds had done a marvelous job painting the skies in pastel shades. The moon hung low and golden in its gibbous glory. (I know how that sounds – but I am glad – Get it? Get it?) 

Time felt precious, maybe because it is. The school year started for the son, and for me too. I am suddenly more strapped for time than I thought possible. I am up early, on my feet all day, doing my teaching and assignments, and barely get to see the teenage son, who has also managed to fill up his days with high school friends and activities.

It was a beautiful evening. The mind was perhaps not as sharp as it should be. I knew dinner was a half-done affair, but we decided to step out together. All of us meandering on our walk admiring the clouds and the setting sun and the waxing moon. Trying as the day may have been, there is something immensely soothing about the light of dusk.

Magical. 

Pareidolia

Of course, humans have a word, albeit a really obscure one, for our indulgence with finding shapes in clouds. Many beautiful walks have we spent looking for dragons, whales and sheep amidst our companions in the skies. It is a marvelous activity, and that day, the clouds looked like kites trailing their wishes behind them. How marvelous that there should be a kite in the skies as well?  

Spotting dragons in the dusk can be very satisfying. The clouds, kites, comets are all there to indulge us, aren’t they?

“I mused for a few moments on the question of which was worse, to lead a life so boring that you are easily enchanted, or a life so full of stimulus that you are easily bored.”

― Bill Bryson, Lost Continent: Travels In Small-Town America

Is there more to life? Our lives? Most lives? I don’t know. But I know that ‘this one precious life’, as Mary Oliver puts it demands our attention. What you value, and what you remember over the moments of your life, becomes you, doesn’t it?

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=time+of+youth

If you’re looking for more obscure words with some soothing music to accompany it, please check out this youtube channel. I have never seen this many fantastical words, and I certainly don’t remember them. But I feel happy knowing they are there, all the same.

Note: I am aware that we are well into the waning moon season now – but life was a trifle hectic over the past week, and I really could not find a quiet moment in which to post my thoughts of the clouds and the moon.

Embracing Eudaemonia

One child came to school wearing a t-shirt that said, Eudaemonia. I asked her what it meant and she shrugged. Some fancy word. I thought of all the things we don’t stop to think about in our daily lives, and the times we do, what interesting things we are led towards. I was reminded of a recent conversation and experience.

Reel lives

We were standing in the latest add-on exhibit of the American Natural History Museum. The role of cell-phones, social media in our lives, and how our real lives coincide with our reel lives. This was never a problem for any generation before ours. There were a few people who had to live with fame – bask in it, grapple with it, embrace it, or accept its ephemeral nature at various points in their lives. But it was a small minority.

The majority of people lived their lives out without attention.

I was reminded of a recent conversation with the daughter. “Why are there so many people with image issues these days?” I’d asked her in an attempt to understand. She had been telling me about some friends of hers whose attention to what they ate made me feel sorry. For I do know one thing, metabolism only takes a dive as you age. So, if these young folks were finicky in their teens and early twenties, it was going to be no party in their 40’s. I said as much to her, and she laughed. “Yes – I know! I keep telling them too. I’ve seen my mother! I tell them. Do they listen? No!”

“Hey!” I protest, but she waves me off. “It’s okay to grow older. Happens to everyone!” There wasn’t much to be said after that, I supposed.

It is painful to see so many young folks have image issues.

“Well – before you knew there  were beautiful folks – film stars, models etc. But then, the regular people around you were not extraordinary looking in any remarkable ways. In fact the ones who were, were the anomaly and often felt out of place. But then, suddenly, with the rise of social media, beautiful images of influencers from across the globe are being flashed in to your faces every minute of every day. Suddenly, you think there are so many good people out there, I must the anomaly -with the normal looks that I do have.”

I mused on this. It is true. Social media seems to have exposed all the good-looking features and elements of people from all over the world. Suddenly that endearing cleft in your chin looks like a chasm, that pimple feels like a volcano, and those bushy eyebrows seem unseemly. But they are anything but. They are aspects of our personalities – some with fleeting effects, and others more enduring features.

Social media has tapped a deeply-ingrained not-good-enough response in humans. This not-good-enough combined with the vanity of seeing ourselves has contributed in unequal proportions to something that humanity has not grappled with for centuries.

Every time somebody glanced at a mirror, they may have had the thought, “Do I look good enough for <whatever occasion or person>’ Now, it can be every time we pick up the phone which can be up to 300 times a day – even if that particular thought related to our looks only comes a fraction of the time, it is still multifold compared to before.

Talk about messing with psyches. 

Art is evolving

Already art is evolving to address an issue like this: More quirky character based television shows are on the rise: shows with casts as varied as:

* Grocery store owners and their families

* School atmospheres with quirky characters

* Small offices, hospitals, a modern family in LA – you get the gist.

But the entertainment industry still goes for the good-looking.

Something has shifted in the storylines, character driven books etc. Human psychology and  its effects on average humans has shifted towards a more cause-and-effect method, begging the question: Are we all simply a product of our times and influences?

If somebody does this, then this must’ve happened.

While acknowledgement of issues can lead to some positive outcomes, the  diagnosing and labeling can lead to problems – is already leading to problems. For if all our problematic tendencies can be traced to psychological traumas, do we really have a problem? Surely, it was something that’s done to us, and therefore not in our control to fix or cure.

This means someone wanting agency in their lives is going to have to work against this narrative.

Sigh.

Therapy-Speak of our Daughters

I read this article in the New York Times about the therapy-speak of our daughters. It reminded me of this conversation I had with the daughter a few months ago.

While the article talks about more than image issues, it talks about this trend of diagnosing and labeling ourselves prematurely, unhelpfully.

“Several years ago, I started noticing something new when teenage girls or young women came to my office for their first psychiatric sessions. Patients used to dread being told that there was something, as they saw it, wrong with them. Now these young women were announcing their diagnoses — attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, depression — almost before telling me their names.

They had researched their symptoms on Instagram; they’d taken TikTok quizzes about them; they had cross-indexed their conditions with those of their friends.”

Is this a cry for attention as she says in the article?

“One girl told me she had assigned herself a diagnosis of depression, which she later acknowledged she thought would make me care about her. Another girl was stuck on an A.D.H.D. diagnosis, mostly because it made her feel less alone by connecting her to a vocal and vibrant online community.”

Or is it simply so everybody can feel like they belong somewhere. More than ever, what is you is being celebrated and ridiculed. Exaggeratedly so.

“Another girl said she used her various self-diagnoses as a container for whatever felt like “too much” about her, allowing her to fulfill what she thought was the teenage female’s highest calling: to be chill.

Eudaemonia

Maybe the only thing that can actually illuminate the human condition is our biology – when we understand our brains better, would we able to wrest a better understanding of our psyches and all that plagues us too?

Our human calling is eudaemonia. How do we find the path and keep to it? The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, popularized the concept in Aristotelian Ethics, viewing eudaemonia as the ultimate goal of human life (eudaemonia means engaging in personal growth and meaningful actions).

When I told the child what Eudaemonia meant, her face lit up. She hadn’t given it any thought – possibly something gifted to her by a g(r)eeky parent, but she was thrilled to be able to share the meaning with them

https://nourishncherish.org/2020/12/06/eudaimonia-human-flourishing/

First Week Jitters

First Day Jitters

It was the first day of school. I had the First Day Jitters book read aloud to me by our professor, and was still as nervous as Ms Sarah.

All the advice from the children, fellow teachers, professors, aunts and parents who’d been teachers, friends and family rattling away merrily in my head.

Do I smile? Should I be friendly?

Strict? No nonsense?

If only the children knew! I felt like they were observing and wondering what to make of me.

Trying their luck?

I saw over the next few days how exactly they tried their luck.

“Can I sit there next to Joseph?”

“Why? What happened to your spot?”

Shrug.

“Usually no. But I’ll allow it today.” I said. I was telling the son all the ways in which they were asking me for this and that as I picked him up from his high school, and he drew in his breath sharply.

“Oooh! Rookie mistake Amma!”

I looked over at him puzzled.

“If they are asking you – they k-n-o-w it isn’t allowed! It’s why they aren’t asking the main teacher – because it will be shut down so quickly!” , he said zipping his hands through the air, and I blinked, and then laughed.

“You’re right. So initially, say no to everything?”

“Most things! You want them to like you too. And only for the first few days. After that, they’ll get used to getting directions from you.”, he said sounding sage-like.

It is true. Children are like that, aren’t they? I thought of all the little ways in which they settled in  with their new teachers.

  • They pushed in their chairs when they got up. Yes.Good Job.
  • They did that thing where they lean back on their chairs on two legs.No.We do not that. It is dangerous.

 

  • Thank you for listening.
  • People who do not listen are going to miss this.

 

  • Thank you for doing your classroom jobs.
  • Why didn’t you do your job?

The human spirit

I also saw plenty of things that warm the human spirit too. The kind of things that I hope we retain as we grow older. For instance, we played a small game to wrap up the day one day. The children partnered up with each other and played. It was a quick paced game based on reflexes and the children were quick to react.

“So how many of you didn’t win a single round?”, asked the teacher, and one of the children raised their hand. “Got to work on your reflexes buddy!” She said good-naturedly and moved on.

I watched the game with interest and smiled at the moans when they lost and the whoops of joy when they won.

At the end of the game, she asked the partners to agree on the winner between them and come for a quick treat of candy. One of the children who sat many desks away from the child who hadn’t won a single round walked around in the mayhem and shared his candy with him. No fanfare – just friendship.

The bond between them was laughter. They were able to see together the same absurdities and incongruities in things. The most trivial and unnoticeable thing to others would tickle them to death.”

R K Narayan – Swami & His Friends

I smiled the whole way home.