Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The 'why's and 'how's...

Today while surfing through thehindu.com I came across this article in opinion page. The author wonders "why they did not teach me something as simple yet essential as repairing a fuse back in school" and goes on to discuss more on this.  

Sounds so right...but wait a minute... why does it have to be taught in school??? Why cant it be taught at home???Why is it that educating a child is the responsibility of a teacher or a school??? Are parents shying away from it???

Throughout my education none of us were ever encouraged to question the text books. Our whys were either silenced or met with indifference. Hows were no different. Sometimes we got "I don't know" or "Why are you asking me" in return. This is the system in place...and knowing the way things are in our country, I can only say it may take generations to change... 

Simpler and more feasible solution is to begin at home. Encouraging kids to question will definitely make life difficult for parents, but that is the right way... If you cant substantiate, you cant demand. If you don't know the answer, find out and share. Or even better, find out with the kid... The fun involved is unmatched.
Rather than pushing the responsibility to someone else, take charge...

Monday, July 26, 2010

My dream job - Blogadda contest

This post is in response to My dream job contest by Blogadda and Pringoo. Read more about it here

Earliest of my dreams about job was becoming a teacher... I dint know any other profession at that point... For reasons unknown, I have had immense respect for soldiers... I wanted to be in the Indian Navy... As I grew up I realized, it was an infatuation... It was all about the way they carried themselves and their uniform... (I love their uniform)


Then I was introduced to the world of computers... I was mesmerized by coding... I had to become a computer engineer... and went on to become one...

There was one more year left to complete my graduation...and I was offered a job by one of most respected firms in India. I was so thrilled... It was my dream turning to reality...
After a loong wait... I joined my company... Wow!!! life was sooo goood... Then I got into a project... The kind of tasks I was doing sow seeds of doubt in my mind... Was this my dream job??? Time passed and I grew more n more restless... I tried a couple of options within my company in search of my dream job... no luck... :(

Now that it was very clear to me, i dint want to go on like this... but I was confused... if not this, then what???

I researched on a lot of professions looking for something that would light a spark in me... no luck :( And then I came across farming... Here and there I came across people who were into small scale farming... This interested me a lot... But then I have always lived in a city...There was no way I could be happy living away in a farm house...For this to work I had to incorporate everything into our very home, wherever that is going to be...

So here's my dream... having a small farm of my own... that would be self sufficient ... using green manures and rainwater harvesting... During my early childhood days, we had hen, ducks, goats and rabbits at our home... Only thing that was missing was crops... This farm like setup from my memories may have a lot to do with my dream... My idea is to bring in the crops and may be skip the goat... add variety by corp rotation... 

For now, I use my current job as a capital raiser and continue my research on how this can fit into my home and what would be the best corp to start with...