It’s been long since I wrote my last blog, it’s a bold statement for an HR guy to make but yes, I have been busy with work. Moreover, I was spoilt for choice, so much has happened in the recent past on which I could have shared my “Special comments”, that, I didn’t know where to start. Finally, I decided to start a series of blogs, which will act as my “VIRTUAL WISH LIST”, and I will start with my views on something that touches every literate human beings life and something that definitely features on my “Things to do before I die”………. “Becoming a Teacher”

I come from a family of teachers……….. My grandparents were professors, my mom is a teacher and my father has done fair bit of teaching in his 3 decade long career and still continues to do so…. Simply put teaching is in my genes, having said that I am terrible at it. With little teaching experience that I have got in the last few years I have been able to grasp a few things:

----- To be a good teacher, one has to be a good student… that explains my terrible teaching skills
----- Being patient is the biggest virtue for teachers…my zodiac sign does not help me here at all
----- Teaching is more difficult than learning the same thing
----- Teaching requires special skills…. It’s not everyone’s job… definitely not mine
----- Teachers are born… one cannot be made a good teacher by training
----- You can have limited knowledge and still be an excellent teacher and can have all the knowledge in the world and still really suck at teaching
----- And lastly ….if done with the right spirit. It’s the most satisfying job in the world… that’s the HR in me speaking…

So what makes a good teacher? As my friends tell me … “a good teacher is someone who can teach a topic down to the level understandable to the lowest capable pupil, a good teacher is someone who can generate interest, can develop a willingness to learn. Teacher is expecting things on a silver platter if he wants a willing, intelligent student. That makes him redundant then... this student will more than help himself!”
Anyone can teach a brilliant student and claim to be a good teacher; the challenge is to make an average student achieve what he himself thinks is unachievable. The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate "apparently ordinary" people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people.
As my friend concludes, “Capabilities and caliber differ from one to another... if people can overcome dyslexia to learn and achieve what they want to... why cant anyone else? At the end of the day... ask yourself... how much of your student's success will you attribute to yourself... that much of the failure will also be yours”…

It’s just not fair mate!!!

Racist Australia? …. Paradise Lost? …. Fear down under!! These are just some of the headlines making news these days… It’s also the topic of discussion these days in office cafeterias and chai tapris. I got in to a similar discussion today and that’s what led to this blog. Don’t take me wrong, like all Indians I am also hurt, upset and my heart goes out to the victims who had to face the brunt of these attacks.

But then I get more upset and angry, not on Australians but on ourselves, because the hypocrites that we are, all we can do is point fingers on others, without thinking, without considering that our actions can tarnish the image of a country.

“Indians are not hypocrites”, shouts my friend, “oh yes we are”. World’s most racist country, which discriminates between people, based on caste, religion, geographical region, language and what not, pointing fingers on others and calling them racist is the best example of hypocrisy that I can think of. We don't want our own countrymen to reside in our cities just because they don't speak the same language and we expect Australians to be extremely nice to us and let us stay in their country no matter what we do and how we behave.

“But how can you explain five attacks especially on Indians in 3 weeks? “ said another colleague. “Well, the same way that you can explain numerous cases of rape and molestation especially on foreigners in India”. If based on 5 cases of attacks you can rechristen a country RACIST, wouldn’t they use the same logic to call us RAPIST?

“We are not racist, we are victims of racism”, yeah right, sounds almost like “We are not terrorists, we are victims of terrorism”. If I don’t agree with this statement, I don’t agree with your statement that we are not racist.

What has happened should be condemned and sad. But then report them as crimes not Racist crimes. I have numerous friends who have studied in Australia and are studying in Australia right now and they have some wonderful memories about the place and the people there. On the contrary they have seen numerous cases of Indians misbehaving with people there, breaking laws and damaging public property. Does that still give us the right to call someone racist?

We cannot call a country racist, especially NOT US. We have no right to do that. These attacks are bad but like in all adversities what you have to do is look within and question yourself, before pointing fingers on others.
It’s just not fair mate!!!

Curious Case of The Limitless Me

“Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I can only say that the cat died nobly.”

I cannot agree more with this quote. Never lose a holy curiosity said the great man once and I have tried my best to follow his advice. I have always been a curious person and I can confirm that this is the only virtue that has stayed with me throughout my quarter century of life. I was so curious to see how the world looks like that I poped out 8 days before my mom and her doctors expected me to. I had a very curious childhood as well. Whether it’s eating ants or poking my fingers into electric switches I just about did everything to see what happens if I do a certain thing.

In fact this “What if” has stuck with me through out my academic and professional career. But here’s the catch, I can without doubt give credit for all the little success that I have had in my life to this curiosity of mine. I have realized that a curious person has more practical information than may be an academic genius. When you are curious you have lot’s of interesting things to do. I got into the field of HR because of this curious nature, I have always been curious to know what’s happening in other people’s life, definitely not to the extent of the vamps in K tele-serials, but yes, it’s interesting to know how people are living their life. So the obvious way to do that was either to become a detective ( which is not a very stable options ) or get into recruitments :) and ask people everything about their life.

So my advice to everyone, get curious about everything in life , remember, sometimes questions are more important than answers.

By the way do you know what a woman’s curiosity is ? I am curious to know :)

FAITH OR FEAR ?

I am on a spiritual high right now.
No, I have not renounced any of the worldly goods. I just came back from a religious trip to one of the most revered religious places. What I saw there is, what has led to this spiritual psychological state.
It was a long weekend, thanks to the government recognizing that laborers also need a day off and generously making May 1, Labour Day, a compulsory holiday. So along with a few friends I decided to wash my sins, or at least, making an attempt to clear some of them. So we reached Shirdi and what I saw there is what has led to this question. There were people, millions of them, it was as if the whole world had decided to seek blessings on the same day. We inquired a little and were told that there were at least a few lakh people there that day.
Which makes me think, what makes people to throng religious places these days. Is it the Faith in God or the Faith that doing this will lead to something good in their life or is it just Fear, fear that if they don’t do it something bad will happen.
Not sure the reason behind my trip, I would like believe it was faith, but then I am not too sure about it also.
Looking for an answer to this question? Is it Faith or Fear

The Paradox called LIFE...

It’s funny how so many times even though things are going, as they should. When everything is just about perfect, when whatever you touch, turns to gold and people think that you are the happiest person in the world… At the same instance, deep inside; you are feeling as miserable as ever…there’s something that’s missing and you don’t know what it is… Ironic isn’t it?

People say life is beautiful, I think life is beautifully ironic…

More complex than maybe a JAVA code (If you are a Java developer AND in and around Pune, then stop laughing at my computer illiteracy and send me your CV),

more intricate than an ITR-2 form and more complex than the Indian political system

Even though you have job that pays well (actually in these economically unstable times, having “just a job” would be fine), a beautiful house to stay in with your family (forget about the home loan EMI for some time), good number of friends to meet over the weekend and the special someone to share everything, there’s still this part of you which says

“AM I MISSING SOMETHING?”

Duniyaa jise kahate hain…….. Jaaduu kaa khilonaa hai ……Mil jaaye to mittii hai……… kho jaaye to sonaa hai………
This is what I called the Paradox of life…

The Four Letter "F" word

Interesting title isn't it?

Well it's not only interesting, it happens to be one of the basic necessities of life and I am all into it.

My mind goes blank and I get all wet at the mere mention of it, and of course like everyone else who likes it, I too love variety and experimenting with something new every time...........

Oh! And before all you pervert minds start working overtime... NO...I am not talking about what you are thinking... The four letter "F" word I am talking about is "FOOD", you dirty people … and in case you didn’t understand why I get wet at the mere mention of it, please get your salivary glands checked :)

I completely agree with the gentleman who said that there’s no other true love in this world, apart from the love for food and my bulging paunch is a true testament of it.

Yes I am a complete foodie and I have an unfulfilled ambition of hosting a “secret kitchen” kind of a show, where I get to travel across the world, taste the delicacies and of course get paid for doing all this….. Wouldn’t that be yummmyyyyyyy?

More about my dietary cravings in future posts, but before I go and indulge into the tasty thalepeeths (Maharashtrian bread, equivalent of parathas, goes well with white butter and pickle) here’s my advice to all my friends who think I should reduce….

Friends, I don’t believe in dieting … I would rather DIE EATING….

Ameya- 1st name out of the 1000 bestowed on lord Ganesha, I decide to start my literary journey with the same.
Limitless, boundless, something that can not be bound, out of bounds……………… the word Ameya truly signifies what I do and what I stand for.

For those who don’t know me, this is also what people know me and call me...........Ameya !!!

I am an operations person to the core (at least that’s what my professional network feels), and have always believed in 3 words, Categorise, Systemise and Surprise (which always turns out to be more of a shock than surprise : P) and I guess I can apply the same logic to answer the question as to Why I decided to jump on the blogging bandwagon?, despite the fact that I am more than capable of embarassing myself with my writing skills.

REASON 1: Because it gives me a space to speak my mind (Doesn’t matter whether there are people listening to it or not)

REASON 2: Cause I won’t know whether I am good /bad at it, if I don’t do it

And last but not the least

REASON 3: Because I wanted to do it.

So I welcome you all to my blog where I would write about the most important things in my life- family, friends and food, my love for them is of course, yeah you guessed it right..……Ameya :)

Coming Soon My Next Post: The 4 letter F word ;)