A LIVING STATUE

Have you ever been stuck in a moment?
Not being able to forge ahead.
"Is this some kind of refrainment?"
I wondered.

My heart burns in fire
And reasons turn icy cold.
Why is mutiny often this dire?
Isn't there someone to hold?

Words cease to flow;
These thoughts and feelings too.
How do we retain our glow?
Bond which was once so true.

Numbness seized my past and future.
All that I see is this inconspicuous 'Now'.
Where is my land and culture?
Things that I lost and don't know 'How'.

What's my reality?
That which is of foul.
Has this become my new identity -
One Living Statue?

- HP

How Great Leaders Inspire Action by Simon Sinek

I am writing again from a short clip that I watched called "How Great Leaders Inspire Action" by Simon Sinek. It is an 18 minutes long video clip from TED - Ideas worth spreading. A family member gave it to me sometime back for gaining wisdom and enlightenment, which he literally said. I have watched once before but this connection with our work has not arrived at my mind until now. So kindly go through it, if only you are interested. Please don't be compelled to read or be challenged by it. It is something I want to do and share for information and I want to thank you all for giving me that space till date. 

"The Goal is not to do business (work) with people who needs what you have. The Goal is to do business (work) with people who believe what you believe. They believe not for you, they believe it for themselves."

What bothered Simon Sinek?

The talk on the video revolves around how certain individual, group or organization are able to achieve better despite doing the same thing. Simon Sinek specifically questions the "WHY" of this and closely looked at three cases as mentioned below:

1. Why is it that Apple happen to be so innovative year after year than other competitions yet it is just one computer company? They have the same talent, access, agency, media, consultancy etc.
2. Why is it that Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights Movement in American? He was not the only one suffering from it.
3. Why is it that the Wright brothers figured out the man controlled flights when there are other better qualified and better funded people?

What did he decode in the process?

After three and a half years, he was able to decode the answer. He found out that there is a pattern and that all of the above three think and act in the exact same way as completely opposed to everyone else. He termed it as "The Golden Circle". The inner core of the Circle was WHY, encircled by HOW and the outermost by WHAT. 

WHAT - Every single organization knows what they are doing. 100% of them know that.

HOW - Some Organization know how they do it.

WHY - Very few know the purpose of existence and what they believe.

What was his explanation? How did he Inspire his audience?

He gave two instances of selling a product - 

Case 1: How majority of us communicate interpersonally.

"We make great computers (WHAT), they are beautifully designed, user friendly and simple to use (HOW). Wanna buy one?" 

The response came, " Nah...."

Reason for its failure: The communication started with the WHAT and then the HOW without touching the WHY part of it, though the WHY is the core of making people believe what you believe.

Case 2: How Apple inspires

"Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently (WHY). The way we challenge this status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly (HOW). We just happen to make great computers (WHAT). Wanna buy one?"

Reason for its success: The communication started with making people believe in what you believe by dealing with the WHY of it as the primary focus and the rests are just secondary. The order of communication in the first case has to be reversed.

What has this Golden Circle got to do with our brain?

The Golden Circle is all grounded in the tenants of Biology and has nothing to do with Psychology. Simon explained that the human brain is broken down into three major components. 

The Neocortex or our homo-sapiens brain corresponds with the WHAT level. It is responsible for our rational, analytical thought and language. This is equivalent to talking from the Outside In (WHAT--> HOW --> WHY) from the Golden Circle. In this, we can understand the features, facts and situations which does not drive behavior. However, it does not feel right just knowing that.

The HOW and the WHY make up our limbic brain. It deals with feelings like Trust and Loyalty. It is responsible for all human behaviour, all decision making and has no capacity for language. This is also equivalent to talking from Inside Out (WHY --> HOW --> WHAT). It directly talks to the part of the brain that controls the behaviour. we allow people to rationalize (WHAT) with the tangible things we say and do. This is where the gut decision come from. It's the part of the brain that controls decision making but not language.

What about the Wright brothers?

The Wright brothers were driven by a cause. They believed that if they could figured out the man controlled flying machine, it would change the course of the human world. They did not have the money, qualification and people. At the same time, there is an unrecognized Samuel P. Langley who wanted money, fame and be the first to figured it now. He had all the often assumed recipe for success - money, right people and market. It turned out that he quit when the Wright brothers successfully accomplished their purpose because he could not accomplished his fame and richness.

And about Martin Luther King?

He went around spreading the word "I believe.. I believe..." for the American Civil Rights Movement. Those who heard his cause ultimately spread the said cause, not for him but for themselves. it is about what they believed about America. Around 250,000 people turned up in his speech and this speech was about "I have a dream" and not about "I have a plan." It was not about Black versus White and 25% of the audience was White. 

Simon's concluding comment

"There are Leaders and those who Lead. Leaders hold the power and authority. But those who lead inspire us. Be it individual or organization, we follow those who lead not because we have to but because we want to. We follow those who lead not for them but for ourselves. Those who start with WHY has the ability to inspire those around them."

My biggest take away:

I also believe that if we follow the same approach with our Teacher Forums or any work that we do, then we would definitely succeed.

I am not going to comment further on this but leave for you to ponder upon. 

Thank you.

Learning points from Documentary films on Albert Einstein

I happen to take certain documentary films from Amol, a buddy in Sirohi DI. He is A Science Resource Person, so the full credit goes to him for opening my world into Science from Aeroplanes to Space to the Universe to the mind of Albert Einstein, a true genius. 

I was wondering if I should be sharing this piece of information as I might not be able to explain in the very Science language, or might not be able to articulate my understanding. Anyway, let me try my best.

Two documentary films on Albert Einstein that I watched:

·  History Channel Albert Einstein (complete)

·  The Mind of God - Albert Einstein's Unfinished Symphony

You will not believe this!

"A Nobel Prize winner to be who could not get a job"

Here was a (genius) college graduate who could not find a job. His father came to help but was unsuccessful and he unfortunately died before he could find him a job. Later, he finally got recruited as a patent clerk far from becoming a teacher Scientist. However, he did not stop his desire, his intelligence and knowledge from expressing by writing various theories of his own. 

His first entry into the domain of Physics:

He wrote about his "Special relativity theory" which went unrecognized for a long time until a leading Physicist of that time discovered it. The theory states that Space and Time are the same. How he came to this theory was through his mere curiosity and keen observation. He was traveling in a bus where he observed that the clock hanging on the street appeared to go slower as he moved faster away from it. So he came to a conclusion that if we travel in the speed of light, then time does not seem to exist.

This principle applies to Bicycle, Bus, Bike, Aeroplane, Train, Rocket and you name them. 

My take away - Consequently, it makes me think that the Time travel theory which I found ridiculous could actually be true. You just need a machine or a carrier that could be much faster which could bring you to the speed of light. I baffled for sometime as to why this information was not made simpler to me during my high school. It could have totally changed my perspective about Science and my interest in the subject matter. Those days, Science for me was to become doctor or engineer which were rather something I could not relate to myself. Had I been given this informed choices in a simpler way as to how I could understand it, I never know what could have become of me.

From Special Relativity theory to General Relativity theory:

Albert Einstein then could not agree with Newton's law of gravity. Newton law states that there is a gravitational pull from the earth and that is why we are not flying up towards the sky but sticking to the ground. He felt that if an apple is falling, there might be something that pushed it down, not necessarily pulling it.Well, Einstein observed keenly and imagined a man falling from a roof top. He noticed that he will be weightless. So, likewise, if a man is on a lift, he again is weightless and goes along with the lift. The reason he gave was that there is a curve on space and time( which he called Spacetime) and this is responsible for the gravity. Please kindly read about this theory as I am not able to articulate further due to its complexity. However, there still exist controversy on this theory, though it was proved. 

What catches me:

·  Theory builds upon each other so they don't exist in isolation. For eg, Newton's law is helpful in making Einstein's theories.

·  Each theory evolves in it's own right time and I believe Albert Einstein died before he could complete his Quantum mechanics theory because God does not want that piece of information be revealed at his time.

·  Einstein wanted to know the mind of God when he created the Universe and that was his foundation for looking answers beyond the world we live in.

·  He did not considered himself to be genius but was just curious. He said that God wanted us to find answers to everything and for that we have to think harder. He also said that when the solutions were simple, God gave us the answers.

·  His theories needed much time to prove and being a Jew living in Germany and the First World War and Second World War coming up he had gone through a rough patch. He was persistent and maintain perseverance. If you actually watch the videos, you will find how things work out just at the right time for him.

·  He is a true genius which everybody else could not be like him. So each of us is born with some gifts which we have to put its good use and contribute to the society. Our knowledge and gifts seem to be not just for us but for others.

·  He did not want to give up his last piece of theory when the Nurse asked him to stop at his death bed. He simply said that his task was not fulfilled yet. I believe his tasks were fulfilled and that he had given enough to the world and the future will do just well without him.

·  There are also other observations that I made but not related to Science so this is it for now.

To Liberate the Mind from the Bondage of Scripts

Language workshop with Ramakant Agnihotri: 19th - 24th March, 2013 @ Jaipur
                                            - An individual Reflective learning

·         Children have an innate cognitive capability to learn languages. These ability develop with their exposure and experiences.

·         Children can have fully functional language even at the age of 3 years.

·         Reading is a lifelong skill in which the meaning and interpretation of the written texts depend on the readers' context and experiences.

·         The intended message of the author is interpreted by the interplay between Context, Reader and Text.

·         Seeing sentence in pieces is a problem and it is simply decoding when we take reading as only identifying letters.

·         Reading without understanding the meaning is not Reading.

·         The pedagogical implication with reading is that a teacher has to respect the interpretation of the child.

·         Only words or sounds or sentences do not make a language. Eg. She mouth her an apple with eats.

·         There have to be rule of grammar for sentences to make meaning.

·         It is important to know the structure of languages - CVCV (Consonantal and Vocalic sound in sequence).

·         In English, there can be three sequence/cluster of Consonantal sounds (the limit) but only starts with the letter "S". For example, SCRIPT.

·         The cost of language is free/zero with the CVCV structure (it makes it easy) but once a person messes up with the structure, then they have to pay the price for it. It is difficult to say a word with more than three cluster of consonantal sounds , thus constraints arise. 

·         Any language can be written in any scripts with minor editing- Devnagiri or Roman etc.

·         Knowledge of one language helps understand another language.

·         Consonantal sound can be produced for a short time while vocalic (vowel) sound can be produced for longer period of time.

·         Consonants cannot exist alone. It always come with Vocalic sound. For example, "B" for "Be", "F" for "Ef".

·         Vowels can be a word but consonant cannot be a word. For example, "आ".

·         What is Diphthong? It is not a sequence of vowels but a word which glided with Vocalic sound. For example, Kite as KAIT where K and I are highly dominated by AI.

·         There are released and unreleased consonantal sounds - For example, the "P" in Pak is released thus hold more value. But the "P" is Kap is unreleased.

·         If the last letter in a word is long with vocalic sound, then the previous consonant letter is affected. For example, कमला to be written as KAMALAA is written as KAMLA (KAM_LA_).

·         Words like "Come" and "Go" form complete sentences because the subject "You" is embedded with them.

·         Certain sounds of language do not exist for another languages but that does not make that language superior. For example, "ड़" for me.

·         The pace of the sounds of languages is much faster than the script thus the problem with different sounds for the same script over the ages. 

·         There is no such thing as Received Pronunciation in practical as it depends on the context of the speakers. what people learn does not apply when they reach home. For example, a person being taught "School" with a pronunciation 'Skul" will still say "Iskul" when he interacts with the community in the context of Sirohi.

·         In understanding the pronunciation of others, one has to be as natural in speaking and bring them to their intelligibility to grasp the pronunciation and meaning of others.

·         One cannot live without language. It is as important as the air we breathe and the water we drink.

·         Learning language is essentially a process of unlearning. It is about fitting in the structures.

·          What is Syllabic peak? Syllable is the shortest word a person can speak and we need a syllable peak in order to speak. The sounds in reading "No Highway Cowboys" is an example of Syllabic peak. If there is no vocalic sound, there is no Syllabic peak. Syllable is Universal.

·         Language capacity is a very special ability of all human beings have unlike Sports, Music or dance.

·         Hindi language has complexities in making plural because of its gender sensitivity. Every noun will have definitely different plurals.

·         Because of the system of abstract knowledge, the plurals will automatically come if we know the singular in languages. 

·         Knowledge of Language and Knowledge about Language is a completely different thing.

·         In India, only Khasi language of Meghalaya have followed the same pattern of Subject Verb Object (SVO) like English. The rest of the languages have Subject Object Verb (SOV) pattern in India. Therefore despite is diversities in language, India is known as a Linguistic area because of its SOV pattern. 

·         A sentence in all the languages is negated by making the negative stay close to the main verb. In English, it is done by putting "Not" between the Auxiliary (helping verb) and the main verb which is in the main clause. The tense of the sentence go according to the Auxiliary. If there is no Auxiliary verb, then it has to be created. For example, "I go there" is written as "I am not going there".

·         Questions are asked by adding a word either at the end or at the beginning.

·         The blind, deaf and dumb also have fully functional languages like other languages. For example, Sign language is fully translatable therefore it is a language. 

·         Some sensory input is required to activate the languages in a person. 

·         Every one spent atleast 80% of our time to talk to ourselves.

·         The presence of Universal Grammar is proved by knowing that all languages follow the same/common structure.

·         Poverty Index of language? Isolation of an individual destroys languages but flourishes with the company of other languages.

·         Metathesis? When "Caku" is said as "Kacu", and "Darwaza" as "Darzawa". These mistakes will be learnt with time and exposure.

·         Plato's problem -  "How come given so little children acquire so much".

·         Literature is another kind of language.

·         Children take time to process the input they received. There is lots of gestation period between comprehension and production therefore the Input--> Intake--> does not ultimately result in Output.

·         Pedagogical implication - Give children a text which make sense to them.

A Teacher's growth simply defined by Rabindranath Tagore

“A Teacher can never truly teach unless he is

still learning himself. A lamp can never light

 another lamp unless it continues to burn

 with its own flame.”

By Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

EUREKA - An answer to a question of many

I have...Have you?

Have you ever been bothered by certain questions in your head? Or tried to find answers to why the person next to you is the way s/he is? Why certain people are so least bothered about what's happening around? Why some are such a philosopher? Why others made their presence easily felt in a group while some others always happen to be right and you exclaimed, "Damn! yet again"? 

It's not that difficult. I have found an answer for you, my friend.

There are four temperaments in human beings that we are gifted with - 

1) People in the first category are best in dealing with people enthusiastically, in expressing thoughts with     excitement, and in up-front positions of attention - THE TALKER.

2) People of the second temperament are best in attending to details and in deep thinking, in keeping records, charts, and graphs -THE THINKER

3) The third group are best in jobs that require quick decisions, in spots that need instant action and accomplishments, and in areas that demand strong control and authority - THE DOER

4) The last group are best in positions of mediation and unity, in storms that need a calming hand, and in routines that might seem dull to others - THE WATCHER.

Now, have you been able to identify yourself which category you belong to? There are also negativity in each temperament that comes along with the package, which are innate in us. 

Sometimes, you get annoyed that people are so talkative, messy, and easily volunteers for work yet never could stand till the end? In the meantime, you also may come across people who are so organized, philosophical and independent that they are highly intolerable of others. Also, there are those who are highly unemotional yet exudes confidence as a born leader and has no need for friends? Among such people, there are also these type of people who are easy going and are happily reconciled with life as they are inoffensive in nature. 

Isn't life just beautiful with the different types of temperaments? How boring would it be if one day we wake up and find that we are all the same, having the same personalities and similar pattern of thinking and doing things? I can't imagine life that lifeless, can you?

"We were all born with our own temperament traits, our raw material, our own kind of rock. Some of us are granite, some marble, some alabaster, some sandstone. Our type of rock does not change, but our shapes can be altered."

PS: Just thought it's too precious not to share. For more information, you can read "Personality Plus" by Florence Littauer.

LIFE, Please DON’T …

Please don’t stop me when I spread my wings

Instead nurture my Strength

You do not know what I have gone through

The bits and pieces of it

And sadly here I am to inform you

“You may never notice those underneath the weary eyes,

Or the deep Unspoken words.”