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. 

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.

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

Learning Dispatch - October 27th 2017 - Notes from MAMI

The 19th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival was held in Mumbai from 12th to 18th October 2017. There were over 200 films being screened at over 18 screens around the city. 

Image Credit - https://www.mumbaifilmfestival.com/Programme/ecatalogue

These are some notes from the few films I got to watch at the festival this year. I have attached a link to the trailer for your reference and further exploration. 

1. Thelma is a science fiction film about how a girl's super-natural powers to make people disappear affects her life. 
2. Loveless is the story of a broken marriage in Russia and its repercussions on the neglected child of this failed relationship. 
3. Redoubtable is a fictional depiction of the French Filmmaker Jean Luc Godard's relationship with his second wife who was much younger than him. 
4. mother! is a psychological horror film about how a couple's relationship is disrupted when uninvited guests start arriving at their home. 
5. Up, Down and Sideways is a film about a group of rice farmers in Nagaland who worked as a cooperative but had a tradition of singing love songs while farming in the field. 
6. A Suitable Girl was my highlight of the festival. It is the story of three Indian women in their mid 20's. They are well educated but yet face a lot of pressure from their families to get married and settle down. The three women come from different geographic (Rajasthan and Mumbai) and professional backgrounds (Finance, Education, Marketing). But the struggle to choose between their family's expectation of them as daughters of the house and their own dreams and desires is a common theme that unites these three stories. 

I am glad Mumbai has its own film festival. I really enjoyed my time at the festival this year. I wish I could have seen a few more films. But I am glad I got to watch whatever I eventually got to watch. 

Abhishek 

October 27th, 2017

Learning Dispatch - August 27th 2017 - On Reading Murakami

Reading

I spent some time reading two short story collections by the Japanese writer, Haruki Murakami. The titles of the books were, 'Men without Women' (2016) and 'Blind Willow, Sleeping Women' (2006). A close friend had recommended picking up some of his work after she read his novel, 'The Wind Up Bird Chronicle'. I was first introduced to Murakami through his memoir about writing titled, 'What I Think About, When I Talk About Running' that described his passion for running. I once read a quote by him that said that his writing largely depended on Characterization, Dialogues and Description. I wanted to get a glimpse into his world and I thought short stories was a good way to get started. He commented on his love for the form as follows in a piece about his earlier short story collection, 

"I find writing novels a challenge, writing stories a joy. If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden."

Image Credit - www.harukimurakami.com

Learning Dispatch - August 13th 2017 - On watching Master of None

This weekend I had a lot of free and I decided to binge watch Master of None.

Master of None is a comedy web-television series created by Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang. It was released for streaming on Netflix in 2015. There are 2 seasons with 20 episodes.  IMDB describes the show as a comedy about the personal and professional life of Dev Shah, a 30 year old actor in New York. Without giving out any spoilers, I'd like to write about my experience watching this show. The characters reflected some of your own personal dilemmas. Dev felt what you feel on a daily basis living in a big city. Some themes the show dealt with include:

• Being an ethnic minority
• Being in a job you like and don't like
• Finding time to meet my three best friends
• Going on a date
• Dealing with your parents expectations of you
• Falling in Love 
• Falling out of Love
• Falling in Love again
• Work pressure
• What do you do in a big city on a free weekend
• Taking time out to cook
• Growing old

Learning Dispatch - April 11th, 2016 - Learning from Kung Fu Panda

It was an animated films weekend for me. I saw The Jungle Book and Kung Fu Panda 3 at a cinema hall close to my home this week. There is so much you can learn from the characters in an animated film.

Learning how to Learn from Kung Fu Panda 3 and Po

Learning Dispatch - April 3rd, 2016 - Learning in Mumbai

Films and Learning

I had attended an artist interaction session organized by the community arts initiative Junoon at the MCubed library on April 2nd, 2016. Amole Gupte was the speaker and he spoke about Cinema as a Child's Playground. He wrote the screenplay for Taare Zameen Par and also directed Stanley Ka Dhabba. He has been conducting a Cinema Studies Course for middle school children at a municipal school in Mumbai for the last nine years. He stressed the need for the incorporation of Cinema Studies into the regular school curriculum.

He showed us some of the short films made by his student film makers. What stood out for me in the discussion was a statement he made about Learning through films. He spoke about how children can learn by merely absorbing a lot of great cinema and cinema can really teach them so much about life and themselves. He brought one of his young students along who decided to produce films of her own after watching the several classics that Amole Gupte exposed them to in the cinema studies class. You can watch some of the other Junoon Artist Interaction sessions here. They have archived over 20 of them and they are good fun to watch.

Chennai Stopover - Beaches, Motels, Rajnikanth and Street Shopping

I have just spent at week at the Sadhana Forest (volunteer community) in Auroville. I now have to leave. I have a 3 hour morning bus ride from Pondicherry to Chennai. I ask one of the volunteers going into the city, to drop me off at the highway. I then jump into a bus, heading towards Pondicherry at the Toll Gate. I get down at the bus station in Pondicherry, and then purchase a ticket on the next bus to Chennai. I had a train from Chennai to Kolkata in two days time. I had a day to spare and decided to spend it exploring some parts of Chennai. When I reach Chennai, the first thing I need to do is to find a room, to keep my luggage in. So I walk towards some hotels near my bus station. 

How to choose the right motel?
The first motel, I checked, had all the basic necessities. It had a bed, table, T.V and bathroom. I see a bunch of cockroaches under the bed and the paint chipping of one corner wall. I walk into the motel next door, and this has all the basic necessities minus the cockroaches and chipped walls. I hire the room for the night, freshen up and then walk out to explore the city. I carry only my purse and wallet and they fit easily into pant pockets. It is so nice, to not have to carry, a heavy bag around with you. I've had enough of luggage carrying for a month.

Sadhana Forest - Thursday and Friday - Last days at Auroville

It is my fifth day at the Sadhana Forest Auroville. I don't feel too good. I think I miss home a little bit too. I ask him if I can take a break and skip the morning seva. He tells me to take the morning seva off. I spend the morning, at the library. I pick up a book and lay on my back on the floor, drooping off and waking up, from periodic slumbers in between reading a few pages. For the second seva, I volunteer at the Breakfast kitchen.

Feeling Low

I feel really low. I think I should call my parents back home, later in the night. I miss my mother and her cooking. I miss my friends and our afternoon games of cricket. I miss the movies I would go for, with my dad. I miss the pointless walks around my neighborhood, exploring abandoned bungalows and new retail and food outlets. I wish I could just go back in time and freeze time forever. I could be ten years old for life. Those days, when all I had to worry about, was getting a good grade at school and developing a good perception of myself among the adults in my life. If I could do the above, I was a good human being. Even if I was a messed up individual on the inside. I was a good human being, if I got high grades. It was so simple. That was all that was expected of me. I hate growing up. Suddenly, you realize, you can do anything. That is horrible. There is so much to do, that you do not end up doing anything. Aaaaahh.

Tagore and Shantiniketan Education – Part 3 - Activites, Schools and Student Experience

 Activities at the Shantiniketan

Sahitya Sabhas -  These were literary and musical evening that took place every Tuesday. Students would present their own literary work, dance, music and short skits among themselves and the community. They were also given a chance to perform these plays at the annual Rabindra Saptaho event with all other bodies of the Visva Bharati University. The other activities were...

Importance to extra-curricular activities – Students engaged in lots of physical activities in their time there. There were annual competitions in the areas of music, dance and recitation held there.

Lectures by professionals – Various professionals in the fields of sciences were invited to the school and university. Evening discussions of contemporary scientific and social issues where held along with the students.

Travel – Excursions and trips were organized to parts of West Bengal including Bardhaman, Malda, Purulia and Chittaranjan. There was a yearly picnic (Barshik Bonobhojan) as well.

Student Committees – The school had several student run communities that make and govern decisions related to student body. These committess teach students to take their own decisions and take self-responsibility for themselves.  Some committees were:-
-Environment Committee ("Paribesh Bibhag"),
-Health Committee ("Swastho Bibhag"),
-Justice Committee ("Bichar bibhag")
-Food Committee ("Ahar Bibhag")
-Literary Committee ("Sahitya Bibhag") etc. that govern and make decisions on matters related to student body.

Student Publication – Students were allowed to express their opinions through a quarterly news-paper, “Resonance”, which is planned and exceuted by senior students

How to Lifeschool? - Films

Watch Films to Explore the World

Pico Iyer, who is one of the world’s best travel writers and who writes for TIME Magazine. He spent many days of his youth at local cultural halls and learning centers in his city. Here he would watch many of the academy award nominated foreign films that would be screened at these places. Anurag Kashyap is an Indian director. As a youngster, he attended the Goa Film Festival where he saw over 55 films over the ten days of the festival. He then started making his own movies and now is one of Indian Cinema’s biggest directors.

Why I Love The Movies?

Conversations with Parents – Part 1– The Dilemma

I am in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. A training session will start at 10 am.  Over hundred students from a masters program in business are expected to attend the talk.

The talk was about falling in love with learning, finding your passion and working on it from a young age.  I had to deliver the talk in a mixture of Hindi and English. Most of the students at the university came from the rural towns and villages around Mewar. But this made them no different from the students in urban cities. 

During the session, I realized how many of them were so intelligent in a variety of different ways. But it must be so hard for them, to work through a system that respected only a few types of intelligences. How do we get our parents support for the field we are interested in? Let us try finding out.

10th Grade - Board Exams – Failing and Falling in Love with my Subjects

First Semester Horror

In the Indian Education System, the tenth standard is a very important year. The marks you score as a student in the annual board exams of the CBSE system, often determine what subjects you pick in the future. So what happened that year?

12 Hours of Classes Everyday. I barely had time for myself.

Learning through Cricket - Living a Childhood Dream

You wanted to play cricket for India?

Love Letter to a Game I Love

I enjoyed playing cricket from a young age. So did a group of friends that stayed in my neighborhood. We would play a good three hours of cricket before sunset in a ground nearby. We would get all the cricket material. We would also get water and snacks for a break in between play. Then by seven in the evening, I would go and play some more cricket with my building friends. On weekends, we would go to a local club and play the game with friends late into the night.

I played cricket, whenever I got a chance too

At school, we would make a list of every single cricket match happening around the world. We would watch the games on television and then come to school and deconstruct them. I also started playing cricket for the school team. I was introduced to leather ball cricket at school and became an active member of school practice sessions and matches during the week.

For a long time, all I could think about was Cricket. I was in love with the game. I dreamed a big dream. To play for the country someday. I did not get there. But I loved every moment of the journey. A few lessons I learned along the way :-

What Education can learn from Video Games - Jesse Schell

Jesse Schell is the founder of a gaming company called Shell Games. There is so much education can learn from the gaming world and Jesse Schell point out why in his talk titled, ‘Learning is Beautiful’ at the learning without frontiers conference.

He describes how almost everything around us has become beautiful by giving examples of the varieties of toothbrushes, designs of the Apple iPhone and the Gateshead Building design.

He spoke about four aspects of gaming that education can learn from and described each one of them as follows:-

7 Lessons Play Can Teach a Child?

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”
― Plato

Till the fifth grade, life mostly revolved around play. There were at least three - four hours of play everyday. The big open playground next to my house played a major role in making that possible.

Children of different ages from the 1^st to the 12^th grade would come together and we would self organize ourselves and play late into the evening. There was an element of intelligence and superior understanding in all that we did. There were various things I learned from play which include:-

Follow Your Passion

I decided to take a gap year from my college education in 2013. I started thinking about the various projects I wanted to work on in this period. How I would continue my education in this period? I decided to google some ideas and here are some insights. 

The Human Baby and the Baby Giraffe

Notes from the 7th Ed Leadership International Roundtable, Lucknow 2014

I walk out of the Charbagh Station in Lucknow after a 30 hour train journey from Mumbai. I am excited. I am back in Lucknow to attend the 7th Ed Leadership Roundtable, 2014 that is being organized at the City Montessori School, Lucknow. The school has an enrollment of 45,000 pupils, and was even awarded the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education. This post includes some of the notes I had taken down during the event. Event Website.
 

Assessment from a Student Perspective - Projects or Grades

Our objective as educational institutes is too make a life long learner that has marketable skills that can be used to add value to society in a variety of ways. 

I am a student. 20 years old and I write this to present the student voice on education, which I strongly feel has not been represented enough on national platforms and discussions related to Education in India. I believe students have a valid opinion and are a vital stake holder in Education.

Assessment and Students

Let us look at one such aspect of education from the perspective of a student. Assessment. 

All the assessment I went through at school and college was for the institute and for the government and not for me? When we assess with Grades, we assess to keep a record not to check the real learning of the students. Because before you assess you have to analyze the perspective of the student towards a particular subject. 

-Has the student understood why the subject is relevant? 

-Has the student developed a genuine interest in the subject?