Thursday, 18 June 2015

Breaking the Ice or Melting it?

Silence often has the strongest voice - Anonymous

As I finally decide to put my fingers to my keyboard, I made up my mind, to publish a blog post one way or the other. It has been ages since I've written a casual post here. That's what I intend to do now. Every time I sit to write something I have in mind, I get distracted and put away my writing. I am not proud of it but I don't beat myself over it either. I haven't been in a writing mood lately and I feel...illiterate to not have read a proper novel for a long time. So here I am, halfway through the holidays, cherishing the beautiful and unpredictable Yorkshire-style Bangalore weather sitting on my overly-comfy bed (which will be missed when I'm gone), with a book in one hand and my laptop in other. (of course I put down the book to type).

As they say, 'An Idle mind is a Devil's workshop", I heed "their" advise and prevent myself from being idle during the holidays. So, to carry on the aforementioned prevention, I enrolled myself in a small company called Jetwings where I am interning for thirty days. At first, I thought it was going to be a boring 30 days but I am glad I was wrong. This intern-ship came up with a lot of surprises. From Industrial visits to problem-solving in cfd software, it is sheer excitement for someone like me. Not going too much into the technicalities, my 18 days interning here has been a brilliant experience. It had "aerospace" written all over it. (not literally).  I feel like I am in the haven of learning. Assimilating different kinds of knowledge.

Apart from the intern-ship, travelling to and from the venue has been an interesting experience. The daily bus rides through the never-ending traffic of the city, finding alternate bus routes, oversleeping in the bus and missing my stop, meeting interesting people, it has been an exciting experience so far.

So the remaining days of these holidays is what I look forward to. With a mini-project lined up for me and more to learn in the internship, I will be more active in this desolate blog of mine.

Before you think I am boring you with my life, I will conclude by saying that I have lined up some interesting posts following this unnecessary one. But I wanted to write this to break the ice. Apparently, polar bears are not heavy enough to break it.




Friday, 5 June 2015

An Upsetting Epoch

A few days back, I was informed of a very shocking news. A Teacher, an inspirer, a mentor who taught me Mathematics in 11th and 12th grade, well, she left us, permanently. This loss shook me up a bit. She was a great teacher and handled our hormone-induced teenage behaviour very well. She understood what was going on in our minds and she helped us with issues. An elegant lady who always was clad in traditional saree, she was a perfect mix of tradition and modernity. She stressed on values both mathematical and moral. She took pains to make us think logically. She inspired us to make us think, rather than just follow prescribed methods.

The news of her death disturbed me. At such a young age, she wasn't allowed to live. To grow and inspire generations of students. A major loss to education. My deepest sympathy to her family, she is survived by her husband and her daughter. She was probably a good mother and a wife. All I can say is, a beautiful light has faded, a light which enlightened hundreds of students and many other people.

She was a strong woman and taught never to lose hope. So the least we can do is make her proud. Wherever she is, if she is watching over us, we will make sure not to let her down. We have to live with it, just hoping that she has reached a better place. But we will miss her. Her smile lingers, her voice still rings in our ears, her name will never be forgotten.

May her soul rest in peace.