Monday, December 30, 2019

Learning Dispatch - December 30th, 2019 - End of Year Learning Review

Hi,

Why the dispatch? - I want to understand how I can make my learning more social. I love having interesting conversations with friends and colleagues about the new things I learned. So these dispatches are part of an effort to get those conversations started. I decided to send my first dispatch to a bunch of my closest friends, mentors, and colleagues. Basically this periodic mailer/letter/email is just a small update about films, books, articles, music, podcasts I have consumed during the week or month that I want to personally share with you, the reader of this series. If you decide to take up any of these recommendations, that would be awesome. In a small way, I would have made your life a tiny bit better. And that is all I ask in return for writing this dispatch. No commitment! Just learning! All fun :) 

Why am I sending this email to you? Because you matter to me and I know this is something that will add some value to your life based on my conversations with you in the past. 

Documentation of Learning

Every year I create a digital document where I record the names of all the books, films, videos and podcasts I consume through the year. It is a practice that I regularly followed for the last five years. At the start of the year, I set a target and push myself to accomplish it by the end of the year. In 2019 my target was to read 50 books and watch 500 hours of video. I was able to complete 42 books and 420 hours of video this past year. The reason I document my learning is that it allows me to make correlations between things I am learning about throughout the year. It also allows me to keep track of the kind of material I consume during the year. I try my best to expose myself to a large variety of material both in terms of depth and breadth. 
Thursday, October 24, 2019

Learning Dispatch - October 24th, 2019 - Toronto Trip, Films to Watch, Reading

Hi,

Why the dispatch? - I want to understand how I can make my learning more social. I love having interesting conversations with friends and colleagues about new things I learned. So these dispatches are part of an effort to get those conversations started. I am also very curious to know more about what you have been learning in return for sharing some of the learning highlights of my week/month/year.


Course Update - The B.Ed course has kept me busy. But it has been an interesting week for me personally. I have really enjoyed reading for the coursework this week and faculty lectures have kept me quite engaged. 

Reflection Notes from Trip to Toronto - I got to visit Toronto from 14th October to 18th October. I fell in love with the city and hope to visit it again soon. I also got to catch up with some old school friends. I visited the Royal Ontario Museum, Kensington Market, Queens Street, Ed Mirvish Theatre, CN Tower, Distillery District, Art Gallery of Ontario, Film Reference Library at TIFF Lightbox,  Union Station. I loved Toronto because it is such a great city to walk around. 

Film Recommendation - I saw some great films in the last two weeks. The list includes Ben is Back, Capernaum, The Incredible 25th Year of Mitsy Bearclaw, Salam. I highly recommend all four films and really enjoyed watching each one of them. 

What I'm currently reading - 'Coming Back to Me' by Marcus Trescothick and 'Being Adolescent' by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Abhishek 24th October 2019



Learning Dispatch - September 23rd, 2019 - Autumn Learning

Hi,
Why the dispatch? - I want to understand how I can make my learning more social. I love having interesting conversations with friends and colleagues about new things I learned. So these dispatches are part of an effort to get those conversations started. I am also very curious to know more about what you have been learning in return for sharing some of the learning highlights of my week/month/year.
Films
Wildlife by Paul Dano (Trailer Link) - The story of a family that moves to Montana in the 1960's in an area affected by fires. The father loses his job and this starts putting a lot of strain on the family. The young son watches his young parents deal with the pressures of managing in a family in these difficult times. He is unable to understand his parent's behaviour in most cases. The fire outside is similar to the fire in their house that is hard to put off. The cinematography is brilliant to bring 1960 Montana to life on screen. Carey Mulligan gives the performance of her life as the mother, Jeanette Brinson. But the highlight of the film is the young Ed Oxenbould who plays the son, Joe Brinson.
What They Had by Elizabeth Chomko (Trailer Link) - Easily one of my favorite films this year. It is the story of a family that comes to terms with a mother who is in the last stage of dementia. They grapple with the question of admitting the mother to a nursing home. The father and married daughter are against this idea. While the son pushes for it constantly insisting it is what his mother needs. Each character is so defined and layered. I relate to Bridget Ertz, the daughter and the loneliness she feels in a marriage she doesn't feel committed to. I relate to Nicky, the son and his quest to constantly get the acceptance of his father as he is not in good professional standing. I relate to Bert, who is now trying his best to support his wife who has dementia and constantly fights his children's suggestion to put her in a nursing house. I relate to Ruth, who tries so hard to remember things but is just unable too and then smiles or makes a joke when she knows she has forgotten something very important. In an interview with the Globe and Mail, Elizebeth Chomko said this was the story of her grandparents that she wanted to tell on screen. She wrote it over a three year period. And man it was well written. It is such a joy to consume something so beautiful in such a small period of time that takes so much time and effort to create and bring to life.
Friday, August 30, 2019

Learning Dispatch - August 30th, 2019 - Mid Year Learning Update

Hi,
Why the dispatch? - I want to understand how I can make my learning more social. I love having interesting conversations with friends and colleagues about new things I learned. So these dispatches are part of an effort to get those conversations started. I am also very curious to know more about what you have been learning in return for sharing some of the learning highlights of my week/month/year.
Personal Update
There have been a considerable number of changes in my life. I have started a Bachelor of Education Intermediate/Senior Program for the subjects of English and Social Studies at Western University. I moved to Canada on 19th August 2019 to begin this course. I am now based in London, Ontario. The course will begin on 3rd September 2019. There is some information about this course at this link.
Friday, January 11, 2019

Learning Dispatch - January 12th, 2019 - New Year Learning

To write is to share an intimate slide/slice/moment with the world around you. I feel it is a way to capture a life experience and to hold the nuances of it in time. Memory is not a worthy companion in the long run. It become weaker as time passes. To write for me is to present this moment, this experience, this person and this day in the way you perceive it now. I also write because I feel this burning desire to learn about the world around me and then to share what I've learned with a few people that really matter. As a reader, subscribing to these posts, you are really important to me and matter a lot to me.

It has been a while since I published my last post. It has been a rough year personally. I hope I am able to write more often this year. It is both therapeutic and fun for me personally.

I started reading the following three books this year namely,
  1. Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee about Casey Han, the daughter of two Korean immigrants and her travails, relationships and experiences after getting out of Princeton on a scholarship into the real world where she doesnt have a similar support structure
  2. The Art of Captaincy by Mike Brearley about the role of a captain in a cricket team
  3. Into the Silence by Wade Davis about the journey of one of the earliest expeditions to the highest point on planet earth
I am quite excited about reading each of these books. More recently I have also developed an interest in geo politics and bought two large maps of India and the World. I try to pick out a country each day and then learn as much as I can about it through the day. It is quite insightful. Each country has its own set of economic, political, historical and cultural beliefs. It is almost like traveling to another country by reading about it over the internet. Also you push yourself out of your comfort zone and expose yourself to these new belief systems. 

Map Image 1