We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Asking the right questions ...

It is said that an intelligent man asks the correct questions. Ask yourself do you?

It is also said more often that talk less, observe and think more. Now ask yourself, do you?

When you will be required to ask the correct questions, you will be expected to have understood the context to ask the questions. Asking correct questions is more relevant in high profile environment like when you are talking with a high profile person. It is important that you let him talk and answer your questions, than you trying to explain him how great you are. With the limited time you have in hand, it is required that you ask the correct questions, so that he will talk more and you will listen and observe more.

RTI act, empowers common citizens of India in the same manner. By asking correct set of questions, one can get lot of data, which till date was nowhere seen. Asking correct set of questions though is very important.

Talking to a public or government official, if you ask the right set of questions, it shows you are familiar with the context and the environment and are aware of your rights. Chances are you will get good treatment, after all, knowledge is respected after a certain degree by even most not so much knowledge respecting person also.

So ask right questions. Let right questions come to your mind and let you try finding out answers for them. Many times answers are fuzzy, no problem.

Having questions is more important than having answers in the long run ...because that shows that you have brains :) and you are capable of thinking :)

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Robotics in Metros

Robotics seems to be the latest craze in Indian metros. I am coming across lots of summer camps targeted at children, which deals with robotics. Here is a sample I came across today.

http://robokidz.co.in/robocumps.php


Feels good that kids in the metros are getting exposed to some practical aspects of learning through fun. Agreed that it is a commercial activity, where much learning can not happen, since one can not except kids to learn about building robots in some 2 day training course. Where are the basics?

But good part is atleast there are such facilities there, by which kids could be able to think. There is extreme awareness about lot of things in Indian metros and every parent wants their child to be ahead in the competition and there lies a huge market for all businessman. Kids are a sensitive subject and anything that deals with them is sensitive. Businesses know how to play with your emotions and your future. :) But, good that some thing constructive is being done.

Question is the gap between Indian metros and Indian villages is widening day by day. Indian villages are rotted in the same old style, when metros are progressing by leaps and bounds. In recent times, I have visited lot of villages in Maharashtra and I do not find any improvement in the condition of peoples way of living there.

It feels bad to see village kids spending their time, in some dusty field without any body to guide them, when their city counterparts are busy preparing for a bright future. They too want to have a better future, but where is the awareness? Except for the work of some NGO's and some really driven people, who are very scarce in number.

Real democracy will be achieved that day, when Indian village kids will be able to utilize their time, in the best possible manner, so that they can compete with their city counterparts. Because then India would have achieved progress at village level too and would have a really equal society. I think that is the real democracy.

Robitics seems the flavor for time being. And I am going to attend one of these camps for sure out of curiosity of how they are conducted.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Teaching a child at a time ...

Teaching one child at a time...

A nice inspirational talk on TED by Shukla Bose on how to teach slum children..Do watch it even if it means buffering the bandwidth on your Internet connection by pausing the video ...Some efforts could be supported just by providing them with your time to take a notice of them ...


http://www.ted.com/talks/shukla_bose_teaching_one_child_at_a_time.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2010-03-31&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email


-Mrunal