Five years...

 Five years…

        It’s been five years since I started writing into ‘A Teacher’s Diary’. On the eve of Independence Day of 2011 I uploaded my first article that was a debate ‘We understand the importance of freedom’. There was no target, plan nothing just I needed a platform of my own. I loved writing but had no space for publication and that was obvious. I already had written couple of articles. I approached a newspaper through an acquaintance. The editor responded well. He went through my article Teachers Day. He was in tears after reading it. He assured me of publication of article. I sent soft copy but it never appeared in that newspaper. To be honest there never was  conceit associated with my writing. I tried to console myself. But was dejected no doubt. Then I decided against sending my articles to any newspaper. I contemplated on starting the blog and ‘A Teacher’s Diary’ was born. 
    It was received well within a small circle of my students. I felt satisfied. I just wanted to write and share with my friends. Had no self-deceiving claims of being a very good writer not even today. My approach is simple learn from others, don’t copy and just write when you feel an urge. What surprised me was positive response of my students and I must mention passed out students. In a way they encouraged me. When I look back they definitely were very generous in appreciating the ideas in articles and ignoring the style that needed refinement. I did improve over this period. 
     It’s so strange sometimes you feel that the article is nice one but then not many find it that way. When you are not so sure about the article it gets good reception. In a way not being sure about the article is good for it keeps you away from unnecessary self-importance which otherwise can easily destroy whatever creativity you have. My first reader is my better half who has no other choice but to bore the brunt of my creativity. Others have the option of not logging on to blog. There are readers and visitors. Some are generous enough to like the link without even reading the article. They give thumps up on facebook out of their affection for me. Good writer or not so good for them I as a person is important and that makes me humble. 
         With 55 plus articles on blog I must say I have been through writing close to 200 pages of a book. Just wanted next page to be better than the previous one. When readers, though few, want more articles from me my resolve strengthens. Writing an article is an experience in creativity and an opportunity to express and yes to improve.
         It’s been five years I started this blog. Let me admit when I started this blog the rejection provided an opportunity but I was desperately in search of creative engagement for I was going through a negative phase as a teacher. I was very low on motivation, my teaching quality was affected at least I felt that way. I was alert to understand that if I fail to find a creative engagement I will not sustain as a teacher. My job will continue but I will miss my journey to be a good teacher. There were reasons why I found myself bottom low on motivation and will share the story one day on this blog. 
        ‘A Teacher’s Diary’ gradually pulled me out of negativity. Giving me life time experience that if you are low in motivation, seeking inspiration to be positive creative engagement is the best solution. This is an opportunity for me to thank all those who read my articles, appreciate and encourage me to be better. For an insignificant writer like me the count of page visits, though does not count much in reality puts a smile on my face.

  Thank you.
   

Talent alone is not enough

Talent alone is not enough

      

              Talent alone is not enough unless you work hard and you put in the effort on a daily basis...       Cristiano Ronaldo

        One fine morning I found Cristiano Ronaldo on the white board of my daughter’s study room with his quote “Talent alone is not enough unless you work hard and you put in the effort on a daily basis.” A nice quote with a sense of reality in it. She now studying in 12^th preparing for the examination she needed this realistic as well as motivational sentence probably more than anybody else. This sentence has two overtones. The realistic one is for those who are considered as talented. They are in a way gifted people but unless they put in hard work consistently they are unlikely to give justice to their talent. There are as many examples as one can remember of once talented people receding in oblivion silently. We find many talented people in all kind of fields starting exceedingly well, making a mark in the beginning but missing in the darkness after that brief stint. Is it destiny? May be but did they write it? And that’s the question. Talent is not enough unless you work hard consistently.

       What attracts me more is the second overtone hidden in the sentence. That is even if you are not talented as per society’s conventional thinking you still can succeed if you work hard consistently, on daily basis. The reason why I find this not so explicit or what I find implicit connotation is that only few people are gifted. They are in minority. Most belong to an average, somewhat less than gifted one. I find this meaningful to most of us who can anytime work hard on daily basis and do wonders. I think hard work is easier if done for a day but doing it every day with dedication and discipline is a real challenge. This is where most fail and live a life of anger and frustration arising out of success that eluded them. Destiny if you believe has a role to play but that you were not destined to work hard is a self deception. In study or sports or any field nobody has ever been able to invent a substitute for hard work. And it pays. So we find Sachin Tendulkar working hard in the nets even after having 50 hundreds under his belt. Lata Mangeshkar  working on her classical singing even when she was unchallenged melody queen of music.

         I find this sentence inspirational though most people might find it portraying hard reality. If you feel that you are not a gifted one, that is just a feeling or your assessment of yourself. Come on start working hard, you still can defy your destiny. Ronaldo puts hard work ahead of talent. And yes there is an interesting tag associated with it. Almost same sentence I must have repeated to her many times. She is in 12^th and we are concerned about her studies so she is always under the shower of advice. Work hard, talent is not enough… the list is long enough but anyone can guess it easily. When I read the sentence on the board my first reaction was that ohhh it’s same as what I have been telling her. In our education system this 12^th has gained such an importance that all concerned from students to parents are under stress. It has almost become notorious.  One interesting observation is that apart from few exceptions the definitions of ‘studying properly’ of parents and of wards differ significantly. There are areas of overlap but that space is small and larger areas don’t converge. And we find parents and ward out of tune regarding studies.   

        Parents are concerned and child is facing volley of questions. She also is administered doses of advice. It often irritates her. The story I think is repeated in many homes. Most of us know that we should let her study according to her perception. We also know that 12^th is important but it’s not everything but the concern for the future of child and yes expectations overpower common sense. The sentences like talent is not enough… are part of the volley of advice which she is forced to face. When I saw the sentence on board I initially was glad that she took the advice seriously but then I realized that it was Ronaldo not me whose advice she was ready to follow. Same thing I was telling her for almost a year but it never found a way to whiteboard, it appeared on board as quote of Ronaldo. I was fast in drawing conclusion that it was our habit that unless advice comes from a celebrity it was not hindered to. We care not for what is said but we are always interested in who said it.

         Is it the glamour that is associated with celebrity that blinds us? We are attracted to who is saying, who is doing and not what is said, and what is done. How often mundane activities of so called celebrities find undue focus in media just because we are interested in it. Stupid actions, ridiculous remarks, worth ignoring, become news items. Once addicted to it we lose aptitude of focusing on the thought and personalities dominate. Due to this approach celebrities failed to attract me to become their follower. I appreciate the talent but glamour fails to blind me. I consider them as humans and not super humans. In this light when I saw Ronaldo’s sentence on board I did feel slightly hurt but I forgot.

        After couple of days it suddenly appeared in mind again. I was sitting quietly pondering over some issues regarding pressure on students. I also remembered that it slightly upset me. Was she wrong? I was in a different frame of mind. The initial reaction was gone, I was now responding. Considering her wrong was self deception. When Ronaldo says it  he has years of hard work behind it. He is successful, he is talented but he is clear in his ideas that he reached there through sheer hard work. At that level he must have seen players with terrific talent not performing to the expectations. He underlines hard work after living a life like that. His endorsement comes not as celebrity but as a player who though immensely talented was never short of hard work. She was not wrong.

        What you say is important no doubt but you also have to live that thought. As a teacher I am never short of ideas and advises given to students. The incident has given me a different perspective of ‘who said it?’ I find advises given to others reflecting personal philosophy of life are often difficult to live in personal life. But when given as a well wisher and with honesty of purpose they still remain one’s philosophy of life. Living life like that is always a challenge.

      One fine morning on the same whiteboard was written

                      On the bigger canvas of life ‘today’ is just a dot…

                                                                                                   Parag Dhankar 

        Challenge for me now is to live life like that…