Classroom Stories - II

A matter of choice

I felt jittery. What is she gonna decide? What if she chooses to go for the event over attending my class?

Though it may look very trivial, this was a classic situational dilemma. You want to be at one place while you also want to be at another place at the same time. What do you do? A student of mine was faced with a similar situation where she wanted to come for the class (she has a good attendance record) but then she had this opportunity to go for an event as well. 

She got through the selection process. She would be introducing a couple of speakers at the venue. I was asked to inform her that she will be dropped out if she can’t come for both days of the event for logistical reasons. For a moment I felt content. Cool, so she will not be missing the class. I really felt it’s an important class and all must attend. But then the teacher in me told me - This is a wonderful “teachable moment”! Who decides what is ‘more important’ for someone? This was a situation where my student could actually bring her decision making skills in use.

I called her and informed her about her selection. I explained to her the condition for attending the event and also explained her both scenarios, with what she has to lose and gain. She asked me, “Bhaiya, what should I do? I want to come for the class. But I also want to go for the event.” I told her, “You will have to decide for yourself.”

She got a little irritated, “What bhaiya! Someone is saying go for the event and someone is saying go for the class. I don’t know what to do!!”

“Look dear… this is one chance for you to bring in action the learning from our class. We always emphasize on the value of choice and decision making. I have explained you both scenarios. Now it is up to you to decide what you want to do. And your decision should not be affected by what I have to say or feel and what your other teachers (people involved in the event) have to. All that should matter to you is – what YOU want to do. Take your time. Think over it. Call me back once you have made up your mind.”

With not-so-confident voice, she said, “Ok bhaiya.”

In an hour’s time, I got a call from her. In a very sheepish voice, she asked me, “Bhaiya, is it important to come for the class? Can I miss this time?”

“Important or not is something that you should decide.”

She took a moment before she replied. “Bhaiya, I would like to go for the event.”

“Sure. So you will be going for both days…” and I gave her further instructions on what would be the next steps. When I got done with the call, I had to inform the event people. What do I inform them – my student chose to not attend my class and go for the event? But then another thought crossed my mind – More than what did she chose, it’s important for me as a teacher that she did chose. Whether she comes to my class for this one day or not, but she is a young girl now who can take her decisions without being hassled by the pressures of “precious teachers’ suggestions”. 

It’s really interesting how the person in us has to deal with the teacher in us, in every moment of our lives. I have to constantly remind myself that I am a good teacher not when my students become what I want them to become, rather when they become what they want to become. 

Sometimes they may not select the best things; so what’s the heck? Even I do. Recently a friend notified me of being so unsure of some of my own decisions. I think it’s important for our children to go wrong at times and own it up. That’s part of learning. As teachers (or parents) we, at times, become too cautious of things and start taking the decisions that our children should take for themselves. Funny thing is we are the same people who couldn’t take our own decisions (our teachers and parents did for us) and now we want to take someone else’s decisions! In such situations, we are actually disrespecting our children’s intellect. 

I feel happy that my students are making their own choices, and they have their reasons for those choices, irrespective of what I may have to think of them.

The city of hills and the sea VI

Where the mind is without fear...

When I expressed my disapproval upon the curfew imposed due to the death of Mr. Bal Thackeray and the resulting inconveniences caused, a very dear friend of mine told me, “Stop criticizing on things. Find solution. Respect the place where you stay… accept their culture. It’s same like people love Rajnikath in south India. And Amitabhji in Bihar. It’s their love for their leader.” 

I have always wondered what the “culture” of this city is. Is it bringing an entire city to halt if a certain group’s beloved leader dies? Or is it forcefully dumping one’s sorrow on another? Or is it to force the city  to shut shop? Can we use examples of fanatical behavior of another state or city to justify our own? 

And before you get judgmental about me, let me make this clear, I am not against what Mr. Thackeray stands for. In fact, I haven’t studied his work and life in much detail. I am only against any kind of fanaticism and blind faith which can pertain to any religion, caste, gender, sexuality, etc. So here, my views are not about Shiv Sena really. It’s about this city I am apparently in love with – the only place, of all that I have traveled so far, which let me be who I am and gives me the courage to let others be who they are.

I read A. Farooqui’s “Opium City: the making of early Victorian Bombay” a few days back. He writes, “the diverse composition of the capitalist class in terms of the communities from which it was drawn – Parsi, Marwari, Konkani Muslim, Gujrati Bania, Bohra, Armenian, Indo-Portuguese, to name only a few – gave it a cosmopolitan character, which was reinforced by a relatively high degree of collaboration with private European leaders. The openness that this implied rendered Mumbai less of a Maharashtrian and more of an imperial city.” 

If I believe Mr. Farooqui, which I have every reason to given the kind of research he has put into his work, it appears to me that the most significant characteristic of this city is its cosmopolitan nature. Hence, I ask whether the events unfolding on that Saturday and Sunday stand justified? 

In my exploration, I was talking to another friend of mine. She said, “Though ideologically, I condemn what happened, I think that was the best way it could have been handled. They released the news in the evening keeping in mind that people would already be going to their homes after work and least chaos was caused. Knowing Shiv Sainiks, it was important to give this national and state honour to keep them pacified and not cause riots, which otherwise would have.” 

I think this is important for us to understand. It definitely appears to be a thought out move; the best that could have been done ‘knowing the Shiv Sainiks’.  However, this hints at a very interesting question – do we legitimize fear because we expect it - fear of something concrete and practical – or do we prepare ourselves to deal with it? Likewise then, should we simply give away Kashmir because there exists a perpetual state of fear and people do get killed in everyday affairs, isn’t it? 

I woke up at around 08:30 pm on Saturday and went out on a stroll to grab a bite. The only people on the streets were the police and the Sena youth in their SUVs bearing the Shiv Sena jhanda. And  a few random strange people like me. Hadn’t seen Chembur station like that before; not even at midnight. While treading those barren streets that evening, it wasn’t fear that ran through me but a mix of anger and sadness.  My understanding of Mumbai was shaken that day.

Mumbai, a city, where when hundreds of people die in a train bomb blast or a market blow up, it only takes sensational breaking news features and a few moments of mourning to get  it moving again. Mumbai, the same city, comes to a standstill  to mourn the death of one political head. Is that how the balance shifts?  A Bal Thackeray’s life is more precious than all those people, it seems. Not because he was a great leader, but more because he was a demi-god. I was attending a book launch on Gandhi a few days back where Justice Dharmadhikari mentioned that we Indians have this tendency to create gods out of human beings. We revere our leaders with such fanaticism that we just don’t want to look at the other side. And then we make their status unattainable and continue to remain who we are, instead of learning from their lives. We did that with Gandhi so much that he has almost become a joke in our country. Whereas many other nations and leaders across the world, from Malcolm X to Nelson Mandela to Martin Luther King, critically analyzed his work and learnt from him, saw a possibility of doing similar things and actually went ahead and did something about it. Gandhi sadly for us remains lying shut in our text books; folded in our pockets and garlanded every 2^nd Oct in every public institution, street and park.

Another interesting thing about us -  we make death sacred. It’s an auto-correction for all faults one commits in his/her life. So all of a sudden Mr. Thackeray becomes a national leader – though he may not have even vaguely effected say a Tamil Nadu or Nagaland. All TV channels spoke about this “tiger’ and his brave life, he was given a national honour- his body being draped in the Tiranga and the police force giving him  the official Salami.

I go back to my original question – does creating a fearful environment in Mumbai because of a Marathi-Hindu leader stand justified? And where does it lead us to from here?  Does Mumbai now live on the mercy and ‘goodness’ of organizations like Shiv Sena?

A city known for its cosmopolitan outlook, and probably the only city in India, almost died that evening. It was drenched in the cruel fear of a dead man and his army of irrational men. It’s the same fear that I suppose, and what most Shiv Sainiks believe, Mr. Bal Thackeray fought against, during Mumbai’s underworld days.

Today, they forced us inside our homes. Tomorrow, they will force us outside it. And we will simply sit and enjoy a non-working day. I think the Shiv Sena supporters’ loss is not in the fact that Mr. Bal Thackeray died. Rather while he was alive, he couldn’t develop and instil the critical, sane and researched perspective/ understanding of leadership. He may have given a lot to the city of Mumbai, but he has left it with some highly irrational people as his followers.

And for my friend and many others like her, I just hope that someday they start respecting the cosmopolitan culture that characterized Mumbai, and in my imagination still does. I hope that someday we all realize that fear can never be equated to respect and fear can never be won over by another set of fears. I hope that someday we all realize that a wrong done at one place doesn’t justify the wrongs done at other places.

I don’t have to justify or testify my love and respect for this city of Mumbai. However, how you, my readers, would understand what I am saying would depend a lot on your own understanding of love and respect.

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To read the previous posts in this series, you may visit following links:

The city of hills and the sea V: Love Happens!

The city of hills and the sea IV: My Home, My Way

The city of hills and the sea III: Of Belong and Belongings

The city of hills and the sea II: 16 Jyotsna

The city of hills and the sea I: weaklings?

The city of hills and the sea: Introduction

Image courtesy: http://forum.xcitezones.com/threads/24929-Mumbai-Shiv-Sena-patriarch-Bal-Thackeray-passes-away-at-86
 

पलायन

एक बेपनाह तमन्ना ज़िन्दगी की,

या था कोई ज़ुनून,

जो हो पनपा किसी घुटन के विरुद्ध ?

वजह नहीं बता सकता ठीक-ठीक,

पर जहा भी किया पलायन,

अपनी थोड़ी सी आत्मा छोड़ आया हूँ ।

--------------------------------------------

Palayan

Ek bepanah tamanna zindagi ki,

yaa tha koi zonoon,

jo ho panpa kisi ghutan ke virudhdhd?

Wajah nahi bata sakta theek-theek,

par jahan se bhi kiya palayan,

apni thodi si aatma chhod aaya hoon.

Classroom Stories - I

Power of a right feedback

It was Akash’s turn for the 1^st Term’s one-to-one feedback session at the Service Learning Program (SLP). As our conversation began, I told him how closely he reminds me of my own childhood. His expressions, his gestures and his tone – all appear so much like my own. Along with these, I can spot the areas for improvement too… same as my own. We had a lengthy conversation on his experiences at SLP and the areas that need to be worked on -- not only for him, but also for me as his facilitator. When we were about to end our session, Akash asks me, “Bhaiya, can I say something?”

“Yes”

“I remind you of your past, na bhaiya… I want to be like you in the future, bhaiya.”

I smile.

And he responds with his trademark smile.

These one-to-one feedback sessions have helped me understand my class so much more, so much better! It is helping me to design instructions, examples and pedagogy to use in class. I can now better relate with all of them and their responses in the classroom. I understand their aspirations, their dreams their goals and their struggles so much more.

I recently read an article – Finessing Feedback – by Marge Scherer. I have been experimenting with some of the concepts discussed in there. So now in our feedback sessions, we no more end with a ‘good job’ or ‘this is where you can improve’. We now discuss if something was good, why it was and how it can be better and if something went wrong, why was so and how can we set it right. So when Akash drew in his life map that his biggest learning from his family is – how to love, that was something inspiring. For teens of his age to admit such a thing in an open forum may at times be embarrassing (and in fact it many others giggled at it when he said this). In our feedback session, we discussed how courageous it was and how beautiful this idea his. I asked him, how he thinks he can use this quality to enhance team building in SLP group (which I have been struggling with for quite some time).

This Sunday, we did Life Maps with students and to start the class we tried to understand what a map is, beyond its geographical understanding. I was delighted to hear what Ashwini offered, more because of the kind of connections she made than what she explained. I could have simply said “awesome” or “good job”! However, we together tried to understand why she said whatever she did. She linked to concepts of historical maps and genetic maps to arrive at a generalized definition of maps. This helped us in two ways beyond basic job of appreciation. One, it helped me to point her beautiful thought process to herself. Two, it helped me to present a wonderful example to my other students, how we link various learned concepts to generate new concepts for us.

Another of my students, Shanu, in one of his home tasks, had designed a plan for community service through his favourite subject, geography. His idea was interesting; however planning had to be more meticulous. So together, we prodded into finer details to arrive at something which made better sense. This exercise excited him to work on it better. He said, “bhaiya, I would like to redo the entire task and share it with you tomorrow.” I said, “Fine, as long as you are interested in improving your work, I am okay with it.”

Marge in his article, very interestingly have shown that by changing the tone and content of our feedback, we can actually push our students to think better, clearer and farther. And I am already seeing its benefit. With Akash and all my students.

I see great potential and determination in my students. After all coming every Sunday morning after a hectic week of junior college and tens of other commitments is not an easy thing. And in them is where I draw my motivation from.

When Akash was walking out of the discussion room, I called for him, “Akash… I don’t want you to become like me… I want you to become like you… someone who is… may be… hundred times better than who I could become... Go, send the next one in.”

He smiled, “yes bhaiya”, and left.