Today when I enter a classroom I am confronted with silence- a dream scenario for teachers once upon a time. No merry chatter, no banter, no fun, no teasing, no loud laughter, no self-invented games, no athakshari. You can hear a pin drop! With the ear plugs fixed in their ears and their head held down, their world has shrunk into the palm of their hand. I remembered my English teacher at school.

• “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
• Where knowledge is free
• Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
• Where words come out from the depths of truth;
• Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
• Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
• Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action
• Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.”
• -Rabindranath Tagore

• When the Creator pondered upon the multiple ways of differentiating the species of his creation, the gift of the gab was probably the easiest choice! The first word a baby uttered was always celebrated, cherished and remembered. The first day exposure at school was considered a social experiment of his/her life ahead.
• Hours, months and years were spent teaching the children letters, spellings, grammar and vocabulary. Anything we learn the hard way is remembered for life. The multiplication tables, chemical symbols, equations, formulae, the metric system conversion and the copy writing books for good hand writing just to name a few. The 3 Rs Reading, Writing and Arithmetic were considered indicators of education.
• Today we thoroughly enjoy the sheer variety of genres in communication. Pictures speak, emogies speak, letters speak- the exciting plethora that is easily available to us has gone a long way to making our lives easier. But there is a catch- Something is missing- the words are there, probably the best of words, the techniques are right, the content is the well- researched but strangely, it feels like canned laughter. The soul has gone missing. Even our CV, the document that is supposed to be a showcase of our capabilities, skills and talent seems to be a limp document that reflects a pale shadow of ourselves.
• Manners maketh Man was the saying once.....Though we have come a long way since then and we are truly proud of the progress we have made in every step Sunitha Williams being our latest Advancement Icon, we still have to follow the Golden Mean rule to keep us grounded. Good manners are at a premium today! Courteousness, chivalry and politeness are restricted to the service industry when it actually should belong to the entire humanity.
• Certain things in life are basic and must not change since they are beyond change or question. Why are some things so....? Well, they are just meant to be so. For example, there is a difference between childhood and adulthood. We cannot defy or deny that phenomenon. It is not just physical...it is emotional and intellectual. Technology has wiped away that dividing line. If the infant at home has learnt to swipe the phone, it is the phone that is smart and not the infant. It is undoubtedly a red flag! Your parental sacrifice only begins with sleepless nights. What follows is your ability to hold back your technical instinct to lead the path for your offspring to follow.
• We are supremely conscious of our body and we see gyms here cropping up like the erstwhile type writing institutes. There are health food promoters, diet freaks, doctors turning dieticians who passionately believe in eating measured calories and drinking litres of water for hydration and skin clarity. But hold on what about your mental diet? People today are so hung up on a make-believe world of virtual relevance and consumerism that they are callous about experiential gratification.
• No matter what progress we have seen the basic fact remains the same. The tree is able to grow, flourish bear flower and fruit since its roots are firmly grounded and is in constant pursuit of water and nutrients.
• This document does not intend to dampen the progressive spirit we see all around us but is only a respectful reminder to go into the depth of the gift of life we have been blessed with. Take time out to identify the best in you, nurture the skill, work hard at it and celebrate the success. That will be your IKIGAI!