Presenting our teachers series - who's next?

Koushiki Mukherjee <3

Possibly one of our most popular teachers at Open Minds and according to our students she is known to be kind, fabulous and enthusiastic. I will never forget how the achievers cheered when she was selected as their house master. It was definitely the loudest cheer of all! 

She was born in Bokaro Steel City (I admit i had to google it) and contrary to my belief that she spent most of her life in Kolkata, she did not! She lived in Bokaro till her 12th standard then moved to Maharashtra for her higher education and finally moved to Hyderabad only after she got married. She travels to Kolkata as often as possible because her parents are settled there - that's what made me think she lived there most of her life.

She has an adorable son Om that goes to Globe Tot'ers and she is a loving and devoted mother. During the summer break when most of us just want to rest our worn out teachers' souls, Koushiki ma'am rolls up her sleeves and organises summer camps for children of the entire community where she lives. Her enthusiasm and cheerfulness is truly inspiring. It is as clear as the cloudless sky, that Koushiki ma'am loves kids! <3

Om at Globe To'ters presenting Egypt and his proud momma! :)

Koushiki and Om - a glamourous shot ;)

                                 

Summer camp 2015, Koushiki ma'am in action! ;)

In her youth Koushiki travelled all over India as a national level table tennis player representing Maharashtra and Bihar! When asked what is it that she cherishes the most in her life, the answer came like from a cannon - mom and dad! It is not hard to see that they are a very close knit family and it is not surprising at all that her best childhood memories are time spent with her older sister, Somia.  She is counting days as their next reunion will be on 18th of this month. :)

Koushiki ma'am and her sister when they were kids.

Koushiki ma'am with her dad and sister.
It is so clear that he knows daughters are
the most beautiful gift one can ever get.

Happy family is but an earlier heaven... (by George Bernard Shaw)

I always joke that she was blessed with a powerful voice but, hey, it happens to be true! That aside, I have recently asked my students of grade 4 to write about "Favourite learning moments in Theme 2" and the vast majority of students wrote about the EVS activities and projects and their beloved Koushiki ma'am. Kids love her, and so do we. 

Why do we need to sleep?

“Something nameless hums us into sleep,” the poet Mark Strand wrote in his beautiful ode to dreams. 

But what is that nameless something, exactly? By now, scientists know that sleep obeys our complex internal clocks, affects our every waking moment, and even tames our negative emotions. But even as they’re beginning to shed light on what happens while we sleep, they don’t yet know why we evolved to sleep in the first place.

In this fascinating short video, PBS’s Joe Hanson explores the mysteries of sleep, synthesizing science from David Randall’s excellent Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep and other scientific curiosities, from how tiny ocean-dwelling worms explain our brain's response to daylight and darkness to Edison’s power-napping strategy for success.

DREAMS by Mark Strand

Trying to recall the plot

And characters we dreamed,

     What life was like

Before the morning came,

We are seldom satisfied,

     And even then

There is no way of knowing

If what we know is true.

     Something nameless

Hums us into sleep,

Withdraws, and leaves us in

     A place that seems

Always vaguely familiar.

Perhaps it is because

     We take the props

And fixtures of our days

With us into the dark,

     Assuring ourselves

We are still alive. And yet

Nothing here is certain;

     Landscapes merge

With one another, houses

Are never where they should be,

     Doors and windows

Sometimes open out

To other doors and windows,

     Even the person

Who seems most like ourselves

Cannot be counted on,

     For there have been

Too many times when he,

Like everything else, has done

     The unexpected.

And as the night wears on,

The dim allegory of ourselves

     Unfolds, and we

Feel dreamed by someone else,

A sleeping counterpart,

     Who gathers in

The darkness of his person

Shades of the real world.

     Nothing is clear;

We are not ever sure

If the life we live there

     Belongs to us.

Each night it is the same;

Just when we’re on the verge

     Of catching on,

A sense of our remoteness

Closes in, and the world

     So lately seen

Gradually fades from sight.

We wake to find the sleeper

     Is ourselves

And the dreamt-of is someone who did

Something we can’t quite put

     Our finger on,

But which involved a life

We are always, we feel,

     About to discover.

Grade 6 IHC extempore - elocution

Today I was a judge in our sixth grade during the inter house competition. It was such a wonderful experience for me I just felt compelled to share it. I don't teach grade 6, so it was even more interesting for me to listen to them. I felt I was totally unbiased as I had no pre-existing expectations of any kind. The primary section had the 'pick and speak' activity and the middle year classes engaged in the extempore speech. Just to clarify, extempore means 'spoken without any preparation'. For a lot of students it was a very new experience but I must say I was overjoyed when I judged the grade 6 along with Mr. Raju, as the students did exceptionally well. Not just the five students who qualified into the next round - Anshika, Astuti, Aryan, Anoushka and Harnoor, but many more were close in the scores and have shown great potential and enthusiasm and everyone tried their best. Only Sishir slipped through our fingers this time, but I just didn't want to be too pushy. I am sure his time will come. Next time, Sishir! 

We were ready with the topics the students could chose from and with the rubrics for fair judging. We were looking at 6 parameters: how the student started or introduced the topic, the quality of content, conclusion, confidence level, presentation, and how well they were able to capture the audience. The rubric was shared with students in advance so they knew very well what we were looking for. Some tips and example were also given as a warm up so we were all on the same page. Topics were very diverse and general and age appropriate. 

Have you ever tried speaking like that? Sure, for us, adults with tons of life experience it might be pretty easy or at least not hard but the students simply do not have the rich experience the years bring. Well, surprise, surprise! I thought they were brilliant!

The first one to impress me thoroughly was Anshika. Her topic was "The things we can see in the sky". In my mind I first thought of the night sky, stars and constellations but Anshika was practically unstoppable and so refreshingly confident and spoke about the clouds, their shapes, birds, unusual colours of the setting sun, rainbows. Too cute! As a conclusion she suggested that if we ever find ourselves bored and idle we can just go out and look up in the sky - there is always something interesting to see there.

Harnoor, I think it's safe to presume she is a dog lover, picked a topic 'Why dog is called man's best friend". Admittedly, I am a big dog lover as well, so I just loved the numerous points she mentioned to argue that they are indeed man's best friends. She was also very practical at times - mentioning that they can guard our property and valuables and keep us safe.

Astuti, literally took the stage by storm. Her topic "Health is wealth" was so beautifully presented I was left speechless. Mind you, students themselves also recognised and appreciated every single great attempt! The applause was loud and enthusiastic and rightly so. Incredibly lucid ideas and so thoughtfully put together as if she was preparing for this the whole weekend but she didn't. Extempore, remember?

Aryan spoke about the "Importance of the language". He was so convincing, active, captured the audience with ease, used crisp gestures. I could picture him as a CEO of some big company inspiring his team to do better, grow stronger and win. Yes, I have a great imagination but Aryan was just brilliant!

Last but not least, Anoushka our last qualifier to round up the group of students who impressed the most, picked a topic "A memorable trip" and she made some very interesting points oh how the trip doesn't need to be super fancy to be memorable as long as you are active and surrounded with the ones you love. She was confident and convincing. Another loud round of applause that was well deserved.

But my enthusiasm doesn't stop here. Not at all! Udbhav has done super well and has missed qualifying by a wee margin. I also want to mention Abhiram who was so reluctant to even start but then just had a wonderfully impressive start at telling us about his favourite cricket player Sachin Tendulkar. When he was on the verge to not do it at all he was encouraged by the entire class. I loved that! 

Running out of things to say was normal and no one should feel discouraged because of it but rather take on the challenge instead. Akshan, who started first wanted to have another go at it, as he felt he could do so much better but that wouldn't be fair at this stage - what we should consider and promise to students though is that we will make sure  they have many more such wonderful opportunities to speak.

I evidently enjoyed this session immensely and I would like to thank all the 6th graders who tried. I appreciated every single student who spoke! Bravo kids! 

Urska ma'am

Story by our parents!

As you may recall, we had an activity in Bhasha Utsav wherein parents were adding one sentence at a time, to create a story. Here is the final copy of it.

It was a rainy Saturday morning and I was running late for work. My car broke down and I had to take a lift from a stranger. I was anxious and excited at the same time since he looked very familiar. I thought I saw him somewhere before in a shop. He had a large mustache and dark brown eyes that pierced right through me. He was looking scary and sent shivers down my spine. Suddenly, he pulled out a gun. I was terrified. He said, "Don't worry, it's a toy!" Why would anyone do such a thing? Maybe he worked for a theater company, I thought. He was rehearsing for his role in the play that was going to be aired shortly, wherein he had to play a kind-heart. When I knew that, I felt much relieved. After all, I guessed, today was not the day to die. Knowing that, I was relieved and I wished him good luck with his role and continued walking towards my office. I had hardly gone a few steps when I heard a BOOM!!! that sounded like a gun shot!! As I looked up I realized the nail pierced his tyre and it became flat, making that sound. I called him to my office for a cup of coffee. It turns out he was my distant cousin. Very distant. We haven't met since last fifteen years or so. Things change and so has our relationship but it could be better had I kept in touch with my cousins.

Good job, parents and thank you for your participation :)

The amazing routes of Internet data

Have you ever wondered how the information from websites hosted on different servers from around the world reach you? The following link offers some cool insights on the data routes.

Click here for the 'Udersea-cabling-that-powers-the-internet'

Dreams, Aspirations and Absurdity: A Literary Sketch

Dreams seem to be the most immature entity of man for it hardly considers any reason from an apparent observation. Hence, to rely on it with a social or practical dependence causes a sceptical flow of unknown parameters of thought. If it is considered that a tree thinks before giving birth to deep-red swollen apples, and that too with the surety that it won’t even by mistake give birth to undesirable oranges, and that man even after applying all his judgemental sense and rational capabilities fail to think or rather fail miserably to materialize most of his thoughts which he often boast as Ideals, must emend his own existence, and the relation of it with dreams.

A man is a follower of his own dreams, but also the creator of his own strangeness within which he likes to live in and unscrupulously this very element of his existence becomes the quintessential of his dreams and a deduction of that might liquidate the essence of dreaming or rather living a life which like a shadow in indolent steps walk in a mazy motion, and dreams follow it like an unknown killer as well as a latent saviour, for when in absolute blindness he tries to feel a wall, solid and supportive, a faith, almost a diaphragm separating the claustrophobic practicality and the fictional comfort, a reality where one can breathe out his own desires and act as an architect of truth, provides him the pedestal for consideration of what lies too far, yet in reachable extent it mingles with the achievable. Still a hemlock to human mind it darkens the limpid flow of life. With the establishment of aspirations it establishes the absurdity in sensible thinking and thus one fails to indulge himself into reasonable depiction of thought and feelings, reasonable in the sense of the already established order of socio-economical living. These dreams are not figments of one’s thought that perturb the sleep at night, peeps when in subconscious the psyche lies, but rather the fragments which constructs the goals for which a man survives and suffers. The peril of such dreaming lies in the choice of surviving and suffering and herein a man gives all his maturity and experiences and yet at times feel like left behind in the lurch with no positivism about his very own idea, though with an optimism he keeps on aspiring his own defined speculations of art, society or economy; he swims in an aquarium with the freedom and thrill of an ocean for he detests his limitations and thus squanders away all his socially limited experiences to create a new order for his own creation, his own ideas which in already established domain might seem absurd with all its newness, in fact are supposed to carry the germ of further creation for the yet to be born generations and yet to be accepted philosophies of life. This very process creates an absurdity of belief and reasoning or rather the absurdity is the only gentle and trustworthy guest in the ball-room of knowledge and learning, desire and yearning. This “absurd” is what aspirations and ambitions are tiled with, almost a chemical fusion, not a mixture mechanical enough to be separated with an easy blow of experimentation of the thoughts of man which in its own socio-political-economical domain fights for an anti-establishment of the already constructed palette from where men chose their regular colours of life to draw the regular picture of life on canvas of transitory moments of living, and plunge for the establishment of the very dream, the idea of hope and new, acting through the positivism of capitalism of his buoyant aspirations or dreams which in an utter combination lies with the “absurd” and the “strange” of his own ambitions which the immature judgements, a consequence of his almost indescribable experiences are contrived of.

Perhaps this is what man is about; in sleep he dreams of his own tacit thoughts and when awake, in his own dreams he sleeps and creates a life of aspirations and ambitions to which he falls prey to and amazingly makes it a prey for himself, a food for his own passionate breathing. Perhaps human beings is the only species who makes the mistake of dreaming and aspiring, or perhaps not, but they surely are the most dreamy and suspicious promise holders who dreams of a better world but plunge into a better living.

Mr. Chatterjee

Rainy inspirations

Our student Anoushka Srivatsan from grade 6 was inspired by rain and came up with this poem, encouraged by her English teacher Mr. Chatterjee. Just when I though rain is to no good and it should stop I am ready to take it back - it inspires poetry! :)