A Possible Solution?

 Whatever actually happened in the examination hall on that fateful day in the IIT-Mumbai, many lives thus ended. Obviously, a young boy, a teenager, committed suicide. With that demise and the ensuing accusations, died the reputations of a sincere teacher and his director. 

Evaporated in to thin air the fame of a prestigious institute, given the extremely ugly shenanigans that continue. And how about the already mired in to controversies indian education system? Surely such incidents do not exactly oxygenate it, right?

Is there a possible solution which can be used even beyond the hallowed IIT premises? Every facet should be thought through first. To begin with, most UG/PG students do not want to study these days. They bunk lectures like anything, hopefully with their ambitious parents' knowledge. Many lecturers, too, prefer the easy way out of indirectly leaking the question paper instead of actually teaching the syllabus thoroughly. 

Hence, instead of a facade of a ritual called exam, why not make it open book? The question paper can then genuinely be truly evaluative. It can be extremely creative, too. Every possible skill, critical thinking, problem solving, analytical skills, communication skills, can all be tasted through case studies. 

Allow the examinees their textbooks in the exam hall. Mobiles must be kept away though. Jammers can be operative, moreover, in case a smartie smuggles one in his/her pocket. Thus only those students who actually know the subject properly would pass! 

Minimum invigilation needed! No accusations involved! No mere MCQ test either! No mockery called memorisation the night before of "imp" questions! Overhaul the entire exam system, in brief! 

This way, the ball would entirely be in the students' court. They would have to attend lectures. Teachers hence would have to conduct lectures! Case studies, moreover, cannot be shamelessly repeated year after year as there has to be a library copy of the question paper, right? Three paper sets must be designed which would have to be counter-checked, but not by the paper-setter's dear friend, a practice which is most often a mode of dining n paying buddies via the institutional funding!

Alternatives do exist, in brief. And not much out of the box thinking is involved either!

Pratima@ Suppose a scenario wherein the invigilator is not open category, while the student is! Are you sure then that the favourite Bramhinical etc etc pattern would not be mocked? How far, how long, how much and whose victimisation, please!?!

Soupçon, Fallacy Series, 6.6

 Let us continue our discussion of informal fallacies.  First let us define this concept. What is an informal fallacy? An informal fallacy is 'an error in reasoning that occurs because of the content or context of an argument, rather than its structural form'. It is difficult to locate an informal fallacy just by looking at the logical shape of the sentences. One has to understand the actual meaning of the words and the real-world situation.

Now let us look at a well-known informal fallacy. It is known as the "Appeal to Authority." It consists of treating a claim as true simply because an expert or famous person said so, often, nay, almost always, without valid evidence. 

The best example of such a fallacy would  be an advert with celebs providing endorsement for a product they themselves may not even use. Such irresponsible lust for the mollah may ruin the life of a stupid fan! Hope you would now appreciate the notice Mr. Mundhe served to the "pan masala" pandering stars! 

Pratima Agnihotri

The hide-but-no-seek sickness@Memory

 September 21 is observed as the Alzheimer's day. What is this 'dis-ease' which hides away from his/her own self a person's very               'i-dentity'? Unluckily, moreover, there is no reversal, no seek-back to this dis-ease to cure which as yet there is no definitive medicine. 

Let us understand this dis-ease in some detail. Dementia is an overall term for a decline in mental abilities, the effect being severe enough to interfere with daily life, and Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause, accounting for 60% to 80% of cases, maintains medical research.

 Both these conditions are caused by physical damage to brain cells, which stops them from working, rather "talking", to each other. What causes dementia and/or Alzheimer's Disease? 

Beta-amyloid plaques is mostly the culprit. Such protein pieces clump together outside brain cells and block their signals.Tau tangles are yet another cause. Tau proteins change shape inside brain cells, and destroy the cell transport system.

Unfortunately, there is no decisive cure for this dis-ease and the currently known treatments at best slow the progression of Alzheimer's. Drugs, moreover, can be given only in early stages, and they carry a huge risk of brain hemorrhage. 

There are many non-medical ways to enhance the life of someone with dementia/ Alzheimer’s. Support groups can help, too, especially because the dis-ease is very heavy on the immediate family, especially the care-giver who suffers a lot, having to witness a loved one getting gradually, but surely, lost to a foggy forgetfulness.

Even in this AI-era, hard it is to say how far we are from perfectly treating someone who already experiences symptoms. Most of the research, moreover, is on people who are already deep into it, and there has not been much tangible success so far, it seems.

May be, argue the experts, the damage possibly starts many years before symptoms become apparent, or dominant. Some people think that the damage may be too severe to treat by the time most Alzheimer's patients seek help. 

Before symptoms are noticable, there are already some possible modifiable risk factors that an individual can practice so as to lower one's own chances of experiencing Alzheimer's. 

They are, stopping smoking (and vaping) and drinking, correcting hearing and vision loss, cutting out processed food, downsizing sugar quantity, taking care of oral health, of gums and teeth, exercising both body n mind in a gentle way, taking  vaccines such as shingles as they are neuro-protective, and enjoying some social connect. Good sleep is, of course, THE panacea. Avoid any excesses, in brief, so that the brain, too, ages gracefully! 

Pratima@ How do I know so much about this dis-ease? Well, Papa was researching the phenomenon. During my Ph.D. days, once he had even participated in a national seminar on this topic. I tried reaching out to his research in my own small, little ways. Hence all this info!

Quote of the day:                                                           "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting," asserted William Wordsworth in the 'Intimations Ode'.

Word of the day: Alzheimer's Disease                      This is a progressive neurological disorder, and the most common cause of dementia.

The Tale of a nick-name

 Nick-names often tell a tale. Not always does the story hide some ugly plot. At times, it can be a tribute to a presence. The story our blog is going to narrate today is a tribute to one such wondrous vision, even when it was on the silver screen that she thus shimmered. 

The main character in our story is Manik Sitaram Godghate. Does the name sound familiar? Here is a clue. He is a famous Marathi poet. That tip is no help! Okay,  have you heard this song sung and set to music  by Hridaynath Mangeshkar? Yes, I am referring to "Ti geli tenvha paus". 

Well, it is a poem penned by Manik Sitaram Godghate. Yes, he is the well-known Marathi poet 'Grace'. Not many may find his poetry easy to understand, given the complexity of his symbols and his dense linguistic experiments. 

Now the story of his pen name 'Grace'. Manik Godghate was enchanted with the performance of Ingrid Bergman in a 1958 film "The Inn of Sixth Happiness." True it is that Bergman has a hauntingly lyrical presence. There is something uniquely pure, genuine, innocent, clean, gentle about her. 

In addition to this allure of Ingrid Bergman, in this particular film, she enacts the role of a committed evangelist who tries her utmost to save the lives of orphaned children in war-torn China. In these far away land, she remains true to her love, too. 

Literally she is grace personified. Godghate was impressed with her persona on the screen as she appeared to him to be grace incarnate. Hence he assumed the pen name 'Grace'. He even dedicated his first anthology to her. 

Undoubtedly, actresses with an aura have a magic of their own. They are both real and yet not bound by the daily lived physicalities and/or realities as they are both so very near and yet so far away, so very close and yet so very distant that their imaginary essence fires imaginations! That is the moral of the story!

Pratima@ This 'fan-cy' anecdote convinces me that girls must have written to Rajesh Khanna letters with their blood as the ink!         Incidentally, "ti geli tenva" is NOT dedicated to maternal death. Rather, it refers to Godghate's emotional anguish he deeply felt as a young boy when his young stepmother would leave the house to meet her lover, leaving the child feeling helpless, abandoned, and stripped of his childhood early.                                                                              Distant stars shine the brightest! From close quarters, they are nothing but stones. How very true of film persona of actresses or of inspirations behind movingly emotional poems!!! 

The quote of the day:                                                    "Give up to grace. The ocean takes care of each wave till it gets to shore," says Rumi,

The word of the day: grace                                        Grace means elegance in movement, especially in/of behavior as well as a freely given, unearned blessing. 

Saying good bye

 As per our family tradition, our Ganesha immersion is with the Gauri immersion. The divine Mother and Son Duo are bid farewell together. 

So it was this evening. Well, I do know that it would sound senti-n-mental. Yet I would have to admit that the 'devhara', where the idol was installed, appeared lonesome. Personally for me, for quite some time, as ever, I could not bring myself to look in that direction. 

The feel each year is as if someone very close to one's heart has left home. Yet, come to think of it, does he truly leave at all? Yes, there is the promise that he would be with us next year, the year after that, and so on, ad infinitum.  More than that, he leaves his imprint on us, on our heads, on our minds, on our souls, on our hearts. He does not thus leave at all. He stays, and forever.

While returning from my brother's place, which is at the other end of the city, i felt this truth in yet another way. The whole city was alive, vibrant in a unique way. There were the electrical decorations, dancing and glowing away to glory. Far n wide, there were huge queues to watch the pageants presented. 

There was festivity in the very air. Sure, the loud speakers were not exactly blaring away. The decibel level was low. Yes, there were route diversions n traffic jams. Yes, the food being sold by the roadside may not meet the Mundhe mandates. 

Yet every nook n corner of each narrow lane was unmistakably pulsating with life. There was a togetherness in the slight breeze of the balmy evening. A pleasant feel, however simplistic, crude, unrefined, seemed to assure that the Lord, somehow, stays, never really goes away!

So, oh, yes, the nay-saying Bapat's of the world,  the very much alive community feel cannot be completely wished away, despite difficulties by the dozens!

Pratima@ Which would be the best stotra to bid farewell to Ganesha who stays, and forever.  Yes, a few lines from the great sage Sant Dnyaneshwar. Hope my rough translation does some justice to  the  great original.

In the beginning  of his divine treatise, asserts the great sage, "Om, let me to the Originary Ganesha pray/Thee, whom the Vedas explicate/Thee, aglow from within/Thee, the very selfsame I//Hail, Thee, of the gana's, Thou, the Lord art/Thou dispenseth knowledge to each intellect/Says the disciple of the Nivrutti great/ to this dedication, do listen//

⁰

Kappkottiya Tamizhan

 Which language is it that the title uses? Is that your query? Well, it is Tamil. No, no, it is not to glorify Vijay, the brand new C. M. Rather, we are going to celebrate a Tamil "magan", that is, the "son of Tamilnadu." Almost a century ago, he made P. M. Modiji's 'local to global' dream a reality, and, that, too, in the unlikeliest of fields, then and even now, namely, shipping.

Yes, we are referring to V.O. Radhakrishnan Pillai (5/9/1872  to 18/11/1936). Yes, he shares his birth date with another illustrious Tamilian, S. Radhakrishnan, to honour whose memory, we celebrate the Teachers' Day. 

Thiru Radhakrishnan-ji was no less. He was a businessman, a lawyer, a freedom fighter, but more than that, he was a visionary leader who pioneered self-reliance in shipping as a mode of international transport. In a way, he is the "appa", father, of modern Indian navigation. No wonder, in 1961, a Tamil film was apparently dedicated to his illustrious life. 

In 1906, he founded "Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company" as an answer to the monopoly of the British India Steam Navigation Company. The ships plied from Tuticorin to Colambo, and onwards. 

Sentenced for sedition by the British and clapped with a life imprisonment, this "Tamil helmsman" (yes, that is what the title of our blog today means) proves how rich the lesser known tales from the Indian independence annals are. 

Whenever I have to teach Sarojini Naidu's or Jayanta Mahapatra's or Keki Daruwalla's poems that suggest the glory of the Indian shipping trade in the pre-colonial times, there would be a salute to this radical leader/doer in whose honour is named the Tuticorin Port Trust! 

Pratima@ If Lord Ganesha is to be venerated, one of the best stotra has to be the "aarti" by Sant Ramdas. Here is an attempt to transcreate the first stanza. 

"Thou hast happiness enkindled/Thou hast miseries destroyed/Misfortunes' news Thou allowest not to last/Thou, whose blessings bestow love!/Adorneth Thee the redlead paste, head to toe/ Pearl beads on Thy neck do glow!" 

Soupçon, Fallacy Series, 6.5

 Today let us discuss another informal fallacy. It is known as the 'false dilemma' fallacy, and it is rampant in the private space as well as in the public sphere. It consists of presenting an either/or argument as if there are only two alternatives, while conveniently ignoring the very many middle-ground kind of negotiations. 

Let us begin with an example from the public sphere. The moment a new venture is announced, there emerge interest groups asserting the 'back to nature' motto, either this project or destruction of the enviornment. Well, there do exist very many sustainable development or green alternatives. There can be carbon foot printing, for instance. 

The private space overflows with such a fallacy as it is a subtle n sure tool of emotional manipulation. An example may suffice to clarify the dicey games. A son tells the 'doting' dad, 'you get me this gadget or you are a poor dad', in all the senes of the term 'poor.'  The 'poor' dad, emotionally thus twisted, has to give in because conveniently forgotten/overlooked are umpteen instances of care and concern. 

The worst case scenario of this false dilemma, it would be universally acknowledged, is the disgusting "Darr"  dread, right?

Pratima Agnihotri