Develop scientific knowledge

"In science, impossible does not exist. Inventions and discoveries are the products of constant endeavour by creative minds, envisioning ever-new outcomes. With vivid imagination and consistent effort, the forces of the universe can be made to work for an inspired mind. How do we fire up the minds of India's youth who are the foundation for cutting edge research and usher in a renaissance in Indian science?

We need a new generation of creative scientists. For that, we need an environment for research and challenging missions. Above all, academic institutions must have well-equipped laboratories and professors who have the proven capacity to attract youth to science. I have noticed that Indian universities lack a research culture. I believe where there is good research, good teaching is possible; where there is good teaching, good research emanates. Hence, I visualise our universities transforming into research-cum-teaching hubs. This calls for the presence of a number of renowned research professors on campus to attract bright students. Such a research environment will provide credibility to university departments and, in turn, bring in funding by industry and R&D laboratories for research programmes and projects.

The present trend among young people after Class XII is to take up engineering, medicine or management courses because of an assurance of employment. To attract the best minds to science research at the M.Sc and doctoral programmes, it is essential that an exclusive science cadre is introduced to facilitate a career in well known scientific laboratories and universities."

The above three paragraphs are excerpts from our former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Sir's write-up "Time to ignite young minds". This is exactly what I have tried to emulate and follow and to all my students I would like to say that 'knowledge is power' and if you find one who can provide you the power and satisfy your hunger for knowledge, follow him/her to develop yourself as well as many others like you. Get your basics right and then building advanced knowledge on it will be a lot more easier. Science is really going to be the 'in thing' in the years to come, mold and develop yourself accordingly to be the torch bearers of scientific revolution. 

Regards,

Life and Happiness

Shakespeare said: I always feel happy, you know why ? Because I don't expect anything from anyone, expectations always hurt... life is short... so love your life.. be happy... and keep smiling... before you speak..  listen, before you write... think, before you spend... earn, before you pray... forgive, before you hurt... feel, before you hate... love, before you quit... try, and before you die... live.


All these are the guidelines to live and lead a happy life even in the face of problems and troubles. There is not a single soul on this planet who has never experienced sadness and faced hurdles in life. Its part and parcel of the game called life and so the best solution, the all effective panacea is to have a positive, optimistic attitude and go very easy on yourself and on the whole business of life. 


I can say this all because this is precisely what I have experienced over the past two weeks since I have quit my job. Things bound to happen will happen, you can never stop it from happening however hard you try by replaying the events in your mind over and again, what matters is the way in which you deal with the problems whether it is of medical, legal or any other nature. 


When you say "I can", and expect success, you fill yourself with confidence and happiness.


Positive thinking evokes more energy, more initiative and more happiness.


Fill your mind with light, happiness, hope, feelings of security and strength, and soon your life will reflect these qualities.

Who is a teacher ?

Yesterday, a news from one of my former students really disturbed me. The issue brought forth a serious debate in my mind as to what is the real duty of a teacher ? Is it to teach the prescribed syllabus and subjects to the students so that they perform well in the exams and secure ranks for the sake of their own and for the sake of their institute / college ? Or is it to impart knowledge in such a way that the student falls in love with the subject and becomes deeply involved in the same and goes on to do something wonderful or achieve something remarkable in his area of study ?

Or is it something totally different like molding the student in such a way that he/she is totally prepared to step into the vast open arena called life with brimming self -confidence and the ability to make correct decisions and judgement ?

We have to analyse the possibilities and identify the real role and duty of the teachers and heads of the institutions in the life of students. Its a huge responsibility and we should be able to do justice to the same otherwise the whole concept of being a teacher is defeated and the nobility of the divine profession is undermined.

Think about it and post your comments, will reply to each.

"A hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in the bank...but the world may be a better place because I made a difference in the life of a child." -- Forest Witcraft   

Perspective to life

Let me share with you all an interesting piece of mathematics, the guy who would have come up with this, has to be a really an 'out of the box thinker' !!

Ok, first let us create a code : If A - Z is equal to 1 - 26 that is if A = 1, B = 2, C = 3 and so on till Y = 25, Z = 26    Adding the numbers corresponding to the letters in the word, let us see what makes our life 100%.

Is it HARD WORK (8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11) Total = 98%.........    Almost close but not 100%
Then KNOWLEDGE = 96%...........   No
LOVE = 54%
LUCK = 47%

We all thought these were most important, then what is it ?

Is it MONEY = 72%...........  No
LEADERSHIP = 89%  ........ Still No

Now look here ATTITUDE (1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5) = 100%

Yes, it is the attitude towards life and work that makes our life 100%

Have a positive... optimistic attitude and you will be enjoying every moment of your beautiful life given to you for a limited period of time on this earth. Yes, we all have an expiry date, isn't it ? So... come on cheer up, be the sunshine and brighten everybody's life !!

Cheers to life !!!

Tribute to Steve Jobs - Part 2

I have always told my students to set a goal in life, if the goal is set God will will lead you there, of course you will have to work with all your heart but you can be pretty sure that one day you will definitely reach your goal. Keeping this in perspective I want to share another of Steve Jobs story with you. Read on.. see the truth!

Steve Jobs - "My second story is about love and loss".

"I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world's first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

Yes my dears, life is really simple, it is we who complicate it, be true to yourself and follow your heart, you will be on the right track.

God bless you all !

A tribute to Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple died last Wednesday, a great visionary, a creative genius and a remarkable human being.

This is one of the stories from a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, on June 12, 2005 which I find very true and inspiring. I want to share the excerpts with all of you. 


Steve Jobs - When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. .


Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.


So true, isn't it ? We all know this but what we do is exactly the opposite, just spending and wasting the precious little time we have got, worrying over silly things instead of enjoying and living every moment to its fullest.


Be happy, follow your heart, listen to others but do what your conscience says. 

Teacher Student Relationship

I want to share a story with you all about the role of a teacher in student's life (Excerpt from Prakash Iyer's advice).


Story.... of an imaginary conversation between a pencil and an eraser


“I am sorry,” said the pencil to the eraser. “Whatever for?” asked the eraser “I am sorry because you get hurt because of me,” continued the pencil. “Every time I make a mistake, you are there to erase it. And every time you make one of my mistakes vanish, you lose a bit of yourself. You become smaller and smaller. And a bit dirty too.”

“You shouldn’t really worry,” responded the eraser.
“I was meant to help you whenever you made a mistake, and I am happy doing my job. And I know one day I’ll be gone and you will find someone else to do my job. While I am around, I take pride in knowing I did my bit to help erase your mistakes. Keep writing. ”

‘Erasers’ in our lives

If you think about it, you’ll probably recognize that our teachers were the erasers in our lives. We were the pencils, sharp, and colourful. And every time we made a mistake, the teachers were there to correct us. They gave a bit of themselves – so that we could emerge looking just a bit better.

As we moved from school to college and then to work, we found new teachers. Let us thank all those teachers who happily got a little dirtier to keep us clean, who didn’t mind losing a bit of themselves to make our work error-free. And who were happy to fade away and watch our work with pride as we moved on to newer worlds, and newer teachers. The pencils might get all the glory, but it’s the erasers who made it all possible.

Inspiring isn't it ?
Dr Preetha Anil

Teachers aka Brainsmiths

The word Brainsmiths have always been with me since my college days, I have thought about it a lot and it makes sense to me that like a blacksmith or an iron-smith who molds beautiful furniture out of iron we teachers are responsible for molding the students into responsible citizens with all round personality and deep embedded values. So, teachers are in fact Brainsmiths, a very beautiful word with complete meaning in itself.

We all know children imitate their parents, their elders. When they come out of their house and move into schools and colleges teachers are the ones who naturally become their role models. So, how can teachers become good role models to their students ?

 

BRAINSMITHS: Compassion brought contentment

BRAINSMITHS: Compassion brought contentment: The past few weeks have unfolded a great number of events in my life as a teacher, I am humbled by the response which has been generated by ...

Compassion brought contentment

The past few weeks have unfolded a great number of events in my life as a teacher, I am humbled by the response which has been generated by the simple act of being compassionate and giving trust and love sans any barriers of discrimination. This blog is a testimony to all my students and colleagues for affirming my faith in the age old values of love, equality, compassion, trust, giving confidence, seeing only good in all, being a moral and emotional support to one and all.

This blog is also a way of staying in touch with my dear students and colleagues whom I miss a lot, let this be a medium of sharing my views and listening to yours. Nurturing relationship is living life to its fullest and this is precisely what I intend to do by publishing this blog.

I owe sincere thanks form the bottom of my heart to all of you for making these three and a half years a special and cherished achievement. I feel blessed to have been given the chance to come in contact with you all and will treasure these very memories till the last breath of my life.

God bless you all,
Take care,
Dr Preetha B (henceforth Dr Preetha Anil)