The best of times, the worst of times : The highs and lows of classroom teaching

Standing there, in the middle of a smoldering June afternoon, facing a window which had been shut to keep out Delhi’s heat and dust, cynosure of thirty odd pairs of eyes-the only words going through my mind were Charles Dickens lines from A tale of Two Cities: ' It was the best of times, It was the worst of times'. I looked abstractedly at the class .My head felt as if it was full of nothingness- all woolly headed. I knew there were a barrage of questions to be answered -the expectancy on those faces showed that they were waiting for me to say something. The patter of voices seemed to mix with the rhythm of the lines ,'...the worst of times, the worst of times, the..' A voice from somewhere  inside the nothingness of my head mockingly whispered-"serves you right for being so chuffed up about yesterday's session. Pride always comes before a fall, dear Anju". Yesterday! it seemed to belong to another age , to another person .

Yesterday was a morning session. I just about made it in time and rushed inside the classroom , convinced that there would be only a handful of students braving the blistering heat to attend an introductory session for their newly launched  batch. I scampered to the front of the classroom and turned to face the class. Surprise, surprise! the room was packed. And then the door opened and some more came in. They kept coming and suddenly it dawned that this was going to be the largest group I had ever taught-about sixty bright eyed, confident youngsters. I said something and it drew appreciative laughter. Encouraged, I carried on , ad libbing, involving them - telling them what needed to be told  and, miraculously ,making sense to all of them .After sometime it sank in that they were eagerly hanging on to my words, hugely enjoying the process of induction. And  I? -I was shamelessly playing to the gallery, speech full of witticisms, fielding queries effortlessly. Did I notice a touch of hero worship on a few faces? Maybe .Anything seemed possible that morning. My face flushed with the exaltation that comes with success, I ended the session and left.

A titter from the group sitting at the back brought me back to the heat soaked  noon. I opened my mouth and said something. It seemed to open a floodgate of more questions-" how?  Why not option a?  And why not option c?" And with the questions came the realization that somewhere, like Arvind Kejriwal, I was losing the plot .That I was , again like Arvind, allowing myself to drift. Was I going to let it happen?

Nah, certainly not.Not I.

I looked at the tittering group at the back and asked them to repeat their question. One of them did so .Making the question a take off point I launched into a lengthy , elaborate and technical explanation of the concept behind it. Twenty minutes later I stopped and said ,' ask me". Most of them by now had a glazed and glassy look in their eyes. The group at the back was quiet. A couple of queries were raised and  duly answered.
And then I announced- o.k, since all the concepts have been revised and queries answered let us get into test mould. There were no titters to be heard after that.

I had managed to salvage the situation. Will Kejriwal be able to do so?

The Paper Damaadji

The daughter rings up to say that she is getting a friend for lunch. Nothing new and I say "o.k" unenthusiastically while conjuring up an image of the already cooked lunch-  black dal and masala bhindi . I wonder if the ladyfinger veg will stretch to feed  one more mouth and then decide that it will just have to. The daughter is still saying something and somewhere I catch a "he". So, I ask her to repeat whatever it was that she was saying. " Mom, if you have spinach at home then just make some. He likes his greens". My back straightens and my voice quivers as I gasp out an astonished "he"? An irritated ,"I just told you I am getting S for lunch", floats back .

 The news  is music to my ears.Finally the daughter is getting a boy home !I ring up the husband and tell him the news. The excitement is palpable in his voice-" what ? she is getting a boy home? what are you going to make for him?I am coming home stat- you want anything from Haldiram or Bikanervala or Kaleva or..."? We  confabulate and settle for  Rasmalai and boondi laddoos from Bikanervala; dahi bhalla and papdi chaat from Haldiram and some chocolate pastries from Wengers. I rush to summon the maid and tell her to set the table . She moves towards the steel plates and katoris and steel tumblers. " No, no Phoolmani. No steel today. Take out  the white plates which have a blue border pattern on them. The ones we use for Very Important People".  

I look at the clock. They should be here anytime soon. I throw a glance around- flowers: check; table: check; palak paneer : check; pulao : check; husband : check. Just then the door opens and the daughter rushes in. She dumps her bag full of a week's worth of laundry and hugs me. I have eyes only for the boy who has followed her in. Pleasant, definitely pleasant. My chest begins to swell with pride. What a fine damaad the daughter has got for us. I look at her approvingly and lovingly. Used to my critical 'once overs' she is nonplussed and looks towards her father for an answer. The husband in the meantime has taken 'him' to the formal living room- the one we use just about four times a year. I am all aflutter- should I first serve him my special ginger ale or should it be raw mango panna?

Lunch is over. S has polished off everything I ladled on his plate, confessed to having never eaten such good palak paneer and regaled us with campus anecdotes involving  the daughter. All  very well but I feel that it is now time to squeeze in some business and so ask him, ever so innocently, what work papa does and who all are at home. Turns out that papa has import export ka business and S has only one sibling. I roll my eyes meaningfully at my husband and he rolls his meaningfully in reply. The daughter , happily munching her second laddoo, catches all this rolling of eyes and looks askance at us. I pull her away from her laddoo by declaring that she just has to see what I have bought for her and take her to her room.

" Mom, what's wrong with you and papa? why are you both behaving so strangely? and why did you go so over the top- there were atleast a dozen things on the table. "?  I look at her tenderly. What an intelligent girl she had turned out to be- belaying all my fears about being woolly headed and fuzzy notioned and...
" Because, S has come to our house for the first time. When papa had come home for the very first time naani had made about 2 dozen dishes."

" Mom, you are truly crazy. S and I are just friends. Besides, S is engaged to someone in Mumbai. He wanted some ghar ka khaana and so I got him over".

In love with Iron Man

Last evening ended on a magical note because of Iron Man , the 2008 American superhero film . It was one movie I had simply never got round to watching, in spite of hearing a lot of positive talk about it. And am I glad  I finally got to see it !!!

 The story is simple enough- Tony Stark ( Robert Downey Jr)  inheritor of   defense contractor, Stark Industries, is in war ravaged Afghanistan with his entourage to demonstrate the new missile "Jericho" from the stable of Stark Industries. The convoy is ambushed and Stark is critically wounded by one of his own missiles; he is captured and imprisoned in a cave by a terrorist group the . An electromagnet, grafted into Stark's chest by fellow captive Yinsen keeps the shrapnel  shell shards that wounded him from reaching his heart and killing him. Ten Rings leader offers Stark freedom in exchange for building a Jericho missile for the group, but Tony and Yinsen agree Raza will not keep his word.

They secretly build a powerful  arc reactor powered by an electric generator , to power Stark's electromagnet, and then begin to secretly build a suit of armor powered by the reactor, to escape. Yinsen dies in the escape attempt- but not before speaking one of the most memorable lines of the movie, “Don’t waste your life".  It's good advice, but there's no worry about wasting our precious time  on this movie.

 After being later rescued by Rhodes, Stark returns home and announces that his company will no longer manufacture weapons. Downey is a delight as the playboy in the early scenes. This Tony Stark is so much fun to be around we're almost sorry to see his transformation take place. His business partner, Obadiah Stane (a splendidly bald, bearded Jeff Bridges), is also unhappy about the change.

The movie has a brilliant  scene in which Tony invites his assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow in a perfect fit), to reach into the hole in his chest and fix his battery is a cheeky cocktail of trust, disgust, love, sex, fear and courage (it also plays  a key role  in  subsequent developments), but above all it plays funny. When a movie is firing on all those cylinders, you know it's a winner.

 "Iron Man" is a supremely confident, well-tooled entertainment. The action  is absolutely dazzling, the dialogues  are  exhilarating, the comedy is scintillating and the whole enormous movie  throbs with dramatic energy.
On my agenda- the sequels to Iron Man!!

Meandering and Random thoughts on Indra Nooyi's " Women can't have it all "

By now, unless we live in the fictitious and magical world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, we would be well aware that Indra Nooyi  has confessed to not having it all, inspite of , or maybe because of, being CEO PepsiCo. The candid moment came during the course of  an interview Nooyi gave to David Bradley of The Atlantic. Nooyi's remark(s) has sparked off intense debates and  discussions ,and also 'me too' confessions from other working women . Barkha Dutt's signature programme ,We the People, devoted an hour, an engrossing hour,  to the  question which has no answer- can women have it all?

Many, nay most,  questions have no clear answers. Even the simple questions throw one into paroxysms of doubt and uncertainty.  The black dress or the red one? love marriage or arranged? your place or mine? And then later, when  the die has been  cast and you have gone in for that boy you were dating since your sophomore year you realize that he is so not it.

Homo sapiens, most of us,  are by default good  observers- of  people , families, relationships. Our collective  voyeurism has  taught us a bit and  then some  more about human psychology .  One lesson which we, the voyeurs, would  have learnt by now,  relevant in the present context, is that no one, almost no one has it all. We can't have it all because there is no all- as in this much and no more - for us. As Holmes would have succinctly put it," its elementary ,my dear Watson".At no stage can any of us declare-"I have it all".

 And so, when one comes back to Nooyi's  headlines making statement, one is ever so slightly surprised. Why is it making headlines? Yes, Nooyi is obviously saying something she believes is true and  yes, the interview is an interesting read . But does it make me sympathize with her? No, it doesn't. On the contrary , and specially when one looks at the many women who are trying to make it somewhere in life- without any support system in place, it makes me want to say - " Ms Nooyi, you may not have it all ( remember: no one does)but you do have a lot". The lot I am referring to is the support  any working woman looks for." You have your mother( ahem!), your husband and your office staff. Plus, you have yourself".

Believe me,  it's a whole lot more than what your sorority of sisters have.

"We All Fall In Love Sometimes"

Love this one by Elton John

 

Wise men say
It looks like rain today
It crackled on the speakers
And trickled down the sleepy subway trains
For heavy eyes could hardly hold us
Aching legs that often told us
It's all worth it
We all fall in love sometimes

The full moon's bright
And starlight filled the evening
We wrote it and I played it
Something happened it's so strange this feeling
Naive notions that were childish
Simple tunes that tried to hide it
But when it comes
We all fall in love sometimes

Did we, didn't we, should we couldn't we
I'm not sure `cause sometimes we're so blind
Struggling through the day
When even your best friend says
Don't you find
We all fall in love sometimes

And only passing time
Could kill the boredom we acquired
Running with the losers for a while
But our Empty Sky was filled with laughter
Just before the flood
Painting worried faces with a smile

My Beautiful Food

  

There are some meals that one can never forget- just as one never forgets the farmer’s market where one tasted fresh strawberries for the first time.. I can  still remember the colors of the ripe strawberries, feel their freshness, smell the ripeness, hear the tearing crunch with every bite, and taste the  tangy flesh

The meal which is described here is not the product of an overactive imagination but one which was cooked in actuality in my own kitchen.   Take a look at the menu!

The Entrée:

•  Strawberry and red currant sorbet with a squeeze of lemon juice.
•       Calamari served with sweet chili dip and salad garnish
•       Breaded Mushrooms served with garlic mayonnaise and salad garnish
•       Jacket Potatoes and Baguettes 
• Soup: Cream Of mushroom soup. This cream of mushroom soup hasn’t lost one jot of its butter-laden, mixed herbs kissed suavity. “Soup” is too prosaic a term for the pungent, earthy silkiness in every bowlful.  
  
  
  Main Meal
  
  
•  Spaghetti and cheese balls...the spaghetti cooked to a perfect al dente so that it is still firm yet soft when you bite into it. The sauce is a perfect blend of spices that marry so well you feel an explosion of flavors in your mouth. Topped by a  sprinkling of parmesan cheese that adds that extra little kick that makes you want to keep eating.
•  The pork tenderloin with pears and shallots I proudly concocted at my stovetop the previous evening.
• Plump shrimp, sauteed with chili flakes and served with a salad of oyster mushrooms, cucumber and corn, turned out to be everything I wanted it to be: fresh, vibrant and crunchy, with just enough spicy zing to perk everyone up.
•  Zucchini pancakes: mint and zucchini are such a lovely pair, such a springy pair of lovebirds that I substituted the one for the other with spectacular results. Piping hot, they were savory and sweet, full of yielding pockets of salty-soft feta and bright with mint and scallions, while the cool yogurt sauce balanced each mouthful. Very, very good. The flavors were richer yet lighter, too; the pancake firmer and easier to eat. Totally transcendent, really.

• Baked Stuffed Fresh Tomatoes Here's a perfectly delicious way to enjoy your biggest, juiciest, sun-kissed garden beauties as a main course; just toss a simple green salad to join them . Also scrumptious for lunch the next day, heated up in the microwave.

Dessert

• Chocolate molasses muffins These diabetic-friendly gluten-free molasses muffins satisfy your sweet cravings without the fat and sugar that gluten-free muffins typical contain. I used stevia and molasses instead of sugar and egg whites and unsweetened applesauce instead of whole eggs, to maintain flavor and texture. Topped them with saucy and silky sugar-free icing to add additional sweetness.

• Homemade ice cream with burnt toffee a la   Roald Dahl   at his grandmother's house .

• Lemon Souffle: It is a bit soft when I pull it from the oven. I love the tenderness of soft souffle, it collapses quickly but it melts in your mouth.  

Just one lingering  regret. Ah!  If only I could have served the meal in the beautiful Borosil dishes temptingly displayed  in glossy advertisements – it would have been the perfect icing on the proverbial cake.

This post is my entry for the 'Beautiful Food' contest held by Indiblogger and BOROSIL.http://www.myborosil.com/

In the Times of Harshvardhan ji some talk of Birds and Bees

I am a confused mother today - though if truth be told the husband thinks I suffer from two disorders- ACS and OCD . The former is an acronym for A Confused Soul and the latter is , of course, for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Anyways , to come to matters of greater import, namely , the aforesaid confusion.
We all know that  Harshvardhan ji has said that sex education should be banned in schools. We can  assume, from  newspaper reports, that the minister feels that school children are not prepared for it and  that it is a vehicle for vulgarity. Now, Harshvardhan ji   is an honorable man . Further, he is the health minister of the country. He obviously knows what he is talking about. If that be the case where does it leave my son in his drive to educate himself about the birds and the bees?
I turn to you, dear readers, to clear my confusion. Do read what transpired today and give your verdict...

"The mouth of...? that is easy,it's the vulva.Oh, and could you tell me  the male reproductive organ ? testes ? thanks". I immediately busied myself in looking busy as my 13 year son put the phone down (  the jury is still out on whether children today study from class notes during exam times or teach each other on the phone). The boy sauntered off to his room ,but within no time  sauntered back to again pick up the phone." hey, is it scrotum or scrotal?"

 Of course, I could not fight anymore with the curiosity that was almost killing me by now and so ,ever so casually( of course), I said "so, how's it going?" "fine,Ma".  He almost sauntered off again, but then looked at me and said ," do you remember any Biology ?" The tone suggested that since I was born in an India about which they were now studying in history I may have not been taught about  anything  except ,maybe,  the Neanderthals. I rose magnificently to the occasion and said," ask me anything".

So, the boy comes with a sheaf of papers, which turn out  to be  revision sheets posted  on the school site by the teachers and said, " I need some help with the labeling of the diagrams". An hour later we were done .I now knew  that the menstrual cycle had phases ( four, to be precise) and also knew more about reproduction ( listen, if I  had even an inkling that it was such a long,convoluted process I definitely would have done a rethink on reproducing! ) than ever before. I also knew that all the talk by our Education/ HRD  ministers( past and present) about reducing the burden of studies was  hot air. As the husband put it( between coming up for air because he was chortling so much ) the elaborate manner in which reproduction was covered in class 8 could put any med school syllabi to shame.

 But more than all this, I  now knew how mature the young of today are. The matter of fact tone and no change in expression, whether talking about breasts enlargement or when correcting me (" mom, it is not testes.  Here it has to be testis since it is in the singular") was an eye opener. And the best part? when  the son picked up the phone ( at a certain point we were stuck for the answer) and said " I will call my classmate.Her parents are doctors and will know the correct term"! The camaraderie and bonding , maybe eating into a lot of time, is nevertheless something that is heartwarming.

The boy gets up to go to his room .I cannot resist ruffling his hair.He grins at me and says, "thanks mom, you didn't do too badly". Praise from a teenager, sorry,adolescent ! I grinned too.

Well, at that point- at the grinning stage-  I had not read the views of the minister. But now that I have I am no longer grinning. 

Instead I am confused!!!