The Greatest of Teachers

In life, the greatest teachers one can get are -

1. Most important, parents. But most of us hardly value till we become parents ourselves!
2. Secondly, life. Every living moment of it.
3. Next, the worst enemies we have. They are the best teachers, telling us exactly what we need to shore up.
4. Criticism. Taken healthily, it changes the game.
5. Books. Silently, without expecting anything, they are willing to teach any time of the day, forever.

Why?

Parents are the only ones to love us unconditionally no matter how rotten we get. Lifegoes on, its lessons unrelenting. Even in the most mundane of existence, minor daily transformations can be effected that have a long-term impact. Worst enemies end up teaching the best lessons to the open-minded. Instead of fearing them, watch their moves, and learn. No harm in that. Criticism is something that'll come our way, no matter how good or benevolent we may be. There is no point worrying ... rather turn it to your advantage and just move on. Books carry the distilled wisdom of generations, and read with minimum prejudices can be eye-opening.

Free your mind

Finally

I have realised that even the best motivational teacher cannot help a student who keeps a mind closed to possibilities. As Morpheus told Neo in Matrix, 'You have to let it all go! Fear, doubt, disbelief. Free your mind'.

Priceless advice that!

So many dreams, so much hope

I took a detailed session of more than 1000 students today. These are students of PT education, and I was speaking on the Admission Process Counselling system. There are hundreds of business schools in India, and students need inputs regarding process optimisation (which forms to fill, how much to spend, when to fill, how to fill etc.).

I truly enjoy this session a lot. I remember we started this concept (of AdPro) around 9 years ago, when the market was still in its nascent stages. Both the number of b-schools was low, and the vertical specialisations were few.

Then it started to evolve. And man, did it rapidly evolve!

Today, as I stood speaking (for 3 hours at a stretch), I could not stop myself from referring to my life's experiences on everything from running an enterprise to managing perceptions, and from being an HR manager* to deciding which girl to marry.

I realised some truth today. Simple, but elegant.

1. Young people about to enter a business school are so full of hope, and optimism, it is almost a crime to show them a face of sordid reality (howsoever subtly).
2. This optimism, this hope, truly is everything a young person can possess. Life is nothing without it.
3. Realising what one is good at, is so important! Your entire life can change the moment you start building your career around your biggest personal strength.
4. Young women and men are quite inquisitive, but at times, without having done their homework well. It is important that you learn to research things well before getting hung up on any one choice (you wish to exercise). There is no substitute to personal intense research.
5. Indians are an extremely tolerant people. More than 70% of students raised their hands when I asked "how many of you faced some kind of an irritation or problem while going through the online IIM-CAT application process?" This means that tens of thousands across India must have faced serious problems in the past 3 days. Yet, everything is flowing normally and smoothly. The authorities will quiety glide past all this, with no one being held accountable. Long live my nation's bureaucratic systems!**
6. The questions have largely remained the same over the years. This means young people's anxieties and aspirations are largely the same over time, and hence, some predictions are possible.
7. Technology is a boon. I have started using technology quite a lot, as far as my online presence is concerned. I hope it helps my students, and colleagues. So now I blog, I tweet, I am linkedin, I orkut, and I am on facebook (my god! When will I live?)

Had to rush back to office as needed to prepare a full session for Saturday morning. We have the National Enterpreneurship Summit at PROTON this Saturday. Six CEOs will participate in the same. We are all quite excited about it. Will surely post the learnings on Saturday night. Stay tuned in... cheers!


* My sense of humour is rather acute, and a lot of students who are still "work-in-progress" as far as sensahuma is concerned, might have found some of my examples disconcerting! ha ha ha
** Mistakes can happen anywhere, with anybody. The point is : silly mistakes taking place in process management of one of the most important exams in the country, is a serious matter. You are simply not prepared for a quantum shift of the scale you are proposing.

~

Greatest lesson in learning

Being a teacher, I am wonderfully blessed to be surrounded by the future always. Young women and men, bubbling with ideas, hopes, dreams, ambitions, aspirations, frustrations, sadness.. it's all there for me to study.

Let me share something I feel strongly about. Something about the fine art of being a great learner. While we all know that learning continuously is important for us to lead a fulfilled and continuously satisfied life in this human society (that is itself continuously and in many complex ways - changing), very few of us actually know the secret of fast, deep, long-lasting learning.

It is a secret I am going to let out today. The luckiest few of us may be knowing it already. Some of us may have experienced it sometime in our lives, but unluckily would have missed out on analysing it adequately. Most of us will not have even experienced it.

I learnt it when my father taught me this little, profound secret while studying in the 5th standard at the St.Paul's School Indore. My having done miserably in the 6-monthly exams made Daddy really furious at me. He took it upon himself to coach me for several weeks, one-to-one. Imagine, a fully qualified, respected Otorhinolaryngologist (ENT surgeon) teaching his 10 year old son History, Civics, and Basic Science!

So he kept teaching me all those mornings, sacrificing at times his surgery calls. I kept learning. He kept on gently pushing some values in my about-to-get-adolescent head, that was already buzzing with hormones preparing to go on the teenage rampage.

And today, after all these decades, I remember clearly the one most important lesson he taught me.

He said : "अच्छा सीखने की सबसे बड़ी शर्त है अपने शिक्षक के प्रति पूर्ण समर्पण। कोई शक नहीं, कोई सवाल नहीं। केवल पूर्ण समर्पण।"

Translated, it means, the biggest pre-condition of being a great learner (and having a great learning experience) is total surrender to the process of learning, and complete agreement with your teacher, on everything. No questions, no disagreements, no doubts. Just agreement.

The human mind learns best when it follows this simple rule.

For years together, I could never bring myself to believe this. I always found it kind of sinister, or communist. I thought that the Western model of thinking - doubt everything around you and the truth will shine forth, must be correct as they (the Westerners) are the ones who gave us the Theory of Evolution, The Microprocessor, and The Paleontological proofs of man's historic journey. (Yes, I know I was being simplistic)

How wrong I was! What wrong threads of logic I was trying to connect. Every single man or woman who has contributed to modern science has been a complete believer in something. Every single great scientist - Einstein included - so deeply believed in something that it kept propelling them forward. They completely surrendered to their beliefs, and kept plodding on and on. This "something" was their teacher.

In the broadest sense of the word, today I realise what my Dad must have meant then. The "teacher" he was speaking about was definitely not just a human being. It could be God herself. It could be mother nature. It could be your friend, your lover, your books, your wife, your child, your professor, your boss, your associate ... anyone!

Dear reader, I strongly recommend : surrender completely to the one you think can teach you how to learn. That's the surest, fastest, strongest way to grow!

And yes, this "something" can change from time to time, situation to situation.

Looking at the streams, the grasses, the raindrops

The rays of Sun shining through the dusty glasspanes

The frogs croaking, the crickets dancing, the ants marching

The man's search was on - who could have made it all?

Without realising, for once

That the creator is there, in each of His creations

The creations are He, the creator is the creation

But he kept disbelieving, and kept looking, and kept looking
For he could not surrender, he could not rejoice.

~

It's dangerous for a teacher to blog!

Famous (last) words!

When a teacher starts to blog

He blogs, blogs, blogs, and blogs                  

Emotions, memories, tribulations put to animation

That's their style, and there's just no asphyxiation

They say it's dangerous to hand over a mike to a teacher

You can only hand it over, and then wait for it to get over

But it never does, as the teacher goes on and on and on

For his emotions, he wants an audience, Spot On!

Those who said this, really never saw a teacher blog

For with infinite storage space, multimedia tools, and a microphone on call

He also speaks & emotes as he blogs

Poor soul! He takes some time to realise

The computer is dead, he (it) doesn't respond

Horrendous though to many sound it may

Even Google (blogger) finds it hard to tame
This spirit of an eloquent teacher
Is like the insatiable flame
That consumed London once upon a time long ago
Passion, thrill and vision come in handsful with gusto
So shall my blog posts be
That's a promise I make to you
Or rather to myself?
That accompanied to the ocean of words & learnings & fun shall you be done
If you have the stamina to digest this free one (my blog, i.e.)
Fiction, Science, Comics, Theology, Physics, and Evolution
Is my avocation
I just love to read
And to put into practice the good that I read
To share with my loved ones
What I feel is the essence of all wisdom
That it grows when you share
And withers otherwise
Is what they said to us through the ages, the old and the wise
I loved it when Einstein talked of the giants' shoulders over which he peeped
And those Newton's meanderings on the beach of the mighty ocean of truth that lay unseeked
Of Richard Feynman's cracking safes where nuclear codes lay dangerously
Oh so beautiful, Darwin's observations that destroyed all religion till date convincingly!
But religion doesn't die, does it? It bounces back
Just like a teacher! Oh just like a teacher!
So the journey has begun
Never to end
To continue till the end
For life is all about the great unbounded joy of giving, sharing, loving, and growing
Those who miss this, their education is a waste
How many I see regularly being laid to, this, this waste
Enjoy my readers and feed me with your ideas

Together, I am sure, we grow!

~