INDIAN FOOT SOLDIERS

* Who built Taj Mahal? Shah Jahan

* Who built Mumbai? Parsees

* Who achieved green revolution? Dr Swaminathan

* Who built Golden Quadrilateral? Vajpayee

But what about the thousands of poor wretched workers (many perished in work)who really performed the act of the construction or the cultivation? Who knows them? 

A majority of them were migrants, living in inhuman conditions, so that they could earn the 2 rupaye (metaphorical) that would keep many souls at home located in the interior unreachable villages of india, from dying of poverty!

No one is bothered about them. How could that be? The Congress & the BJP are fundamentally feudal parties, run by the kings and later by Zamindars (and the Savarna Parivar). Will they ever worry about the wretched souls? 

What about the Socialists and the Communists? These parties grew autocratic leaders/rulers within, who took care of themselves, leaving the cadre behind, into abject poverty. 

What independence and achievements are we talking about? We could call us BHARAT one only when it is ensured that every human being in the country has no hunger, has her dignity intact and her & family’s life is secured.

How long will it take?

THE FOUR WOMEN IN MY LIFE!

Of many things that God gave the humans, two are very precious, one is woman and the other is colour! You combine them and that makes colourful women. And, sans the colourful women, the  planet would have been a boring place! Thank you God! 

There are four women in my life and don’t tell me, that is too much! They are my mother, wife, daughter and granddaughter respectively. See, I am a blessed man! 

In those days without phone, radio, TV, computer, internet and mobile phones, my teacher mother was my doctor, my counselor, my mentor, my google and my anchor. I had never stopped asking questions and I remember her telling me that I did start speaking from my 11th month onwards - and she was never tired of answering  and even now, I continue the habit, making my children crib, saying, “dad you ask too many questions”! My mother was a formidable woman, never accepting no for an answer, always progressive in mind and hardworking; living only for  her own children, even at the cost of her health and welfare. Without her, I would have been a nobody, for sure. 

I almost hit thirty years for the second woman to come to my life. She is strong in mind but patient, high on values, generally shy but demanding equal footing, I learnt to respect individuals from her and she has been the world’s best mother to my children, she more than made up my absence due to business and travels. Result, we have two brilliant, well behaved progeny, one an award winning teacher and the other doing exemplary science research. Also, in the the tough times of my business, my wife was the solid rock behind me and without her, I would have withered. 

Like any father, my daughter is the apple of my eye. I never wanted to see her cry (though she had, on several occasions, many times, genuinely). Chirpy, talkative but wanting her own space, she taught me never to compare children and make judgements. When she is on her elements, even today she brings down the home with laughter. She did imbibe my love for letters and I am waiting her to blossom into an exceptional writer. 

And there comes the granddaughter, only four years old, calls me “appu”, but she needs two people to manage her. Bundle of energy, gyrating to music at times or wanting to do her own selfies, never do you see her at rest. I consider her as the true manifestation of Gen-I behaviour and I am sure, future will move fast through their multitasking hands! 

I must admit again, what a dreadful way man would have lived, but for the lovely ladies around......

THE RELEVANCE OF ONLINE DIGITAL LEARNING

Online digital learning is all about the teacher engaging students without a classroom where he would precisely understand the needs and preferred learning methods of the student and deliver the content in the personalised manner. 

All learners do not come with the same type of intelligence. In a world of multiple intelligences such as visual, verbal, logical, kinaesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intra personal, natural & existential (ref: “Frames of mind - The Theory of Multiple intelligences by Prof. Howard Gardner), one size shirt does not fit for the students learning mode. 

And, knowledge and content is is transmitted through 6 media (text, graphics, image, audio, video and animation, called multimedia now). Depending upon the dominant  intelligence of the student, his preference of media in assimilating, comprehending and retaining the information vary. 

Finally, the five sense organs come into play for receiving the content and depending upon the learning preferences, various sense organs play out differently in doing so.

So digitalised learning allows the interplay between multiple intelligences, multimedia and the multi sense organs. Having tremendous advantages over pedagogical learning, digital learning will come into the fore, for millennials, Gen.Z and Gen.I