Category: Education and World

I want to share two lessons that I learnt in my 30 years of professional life. I hope my lessons will help the school founders who have difficulties trusting others and letting go and who are offended when called businessmen/women.

In Indian culture, we have the word – ‘kalash’. For a person outside our culture, kalash is just a vessel of water with a coconut and leaves. But for Indians, it is a symbol of prosperity, fortune and prolificacy, and weddings and festivals are incomplete without a kalash. It is so important that the tumbling of Kalash is considered to be inauspicious and even a bad omen. This symbolism cannot be transferred through mere translation of words.

Philosophy of education is a branch of philosophy that addresses philosophical questions concerning education’s nature, aims, and problems.

Those who got educated in English came to know about their own culture and realised the necessity of imbibing its spirit through the knowledge of English. One among these is Raja Rammohan Roy. From his letter, we come to know that there was some amount of money issued for the education of Indians. Governor William Pitt decided to use that money for some other purpose other than education. The same thing is mentioned in Macaulay’s Minutes of 1835.

We use counting in our day to day life. We count the number of idlies we eat, the number of glasses of water we drink. We count the money to buy chocolate in the shop. We count the number of eggs the hen laid. We count the number of books to take to school. We count the number of kilometres to reach the city. We use counting so much that we take it for granted. We forget that the method of counting we use today has to be invented. It took many centuries for counting to reach the present form.

Counting is an essential part of our life. Our day begins with counting and ends with counting. We count the number of apples we eat and litres of milk we buy. We count the money to buy chocolate and kilometres we need travel to reach the city.

Have you ever wondered why some people are poor, some are rich, some are healthy, and some are sick; some are lucky, fortunate and happy while others appear unfortunate, unlucky and sad? The answer to all these questions lies in the Karma we have accumulated.

An adoring memory of the Dasara festival is that a north Indian family invited me along with my sisters Kanya Puja when I was a young girl. We were served with sumptuous lunch and given a Dakshina of a rupee or two. I still remember the way I flinched and dragged my feet back when the lady of the house touched my feet. At the age of ten, I was amused by this tradition, which made me feel important. Now, I ponder the logic behind the Pooja where people worship Durga in the form of girls and wonder!  

Every generation prepares its successive future generation to appreciate nature and to take care of it, in the form of traditions, customs, festivals, etc., which are termed as ‘culture’. Our ancestors have transferred their culture to the younger generations. This transformation is either not happening or weak in the present day.