A New Year’s Song - A Poem

So the time has come to bid this year a farewell!

A year of good and not so good, ups and downs,

Of tears of joy and tears of sadness, of bitter and

Sweet, thick and thin, fare thee well!

And so we pray for a year to better the one that’s passed!

Now await we the year to come with arms so wide,

With hope and faith for better than worse, little

Think we of end of times as Mayans prophecy

The end of worlds, but wait for none time and tide!

And we look towards one to better the one that’s passed

An eventful year ‘twas for you and me, but savoured

Not we the lessons we learned! So look we towards

One to better the one that’s gone, for one more

Year of lessons to learn and gifts to earn!

A spark of hope for one to better the one that’s passed!

So the time has come to bid the year a farewell,

And so pray I that the year to come may be for you,

A year of hope prosperity and joy yet to be! But,

Forget not the lessons of the year that’s passed,

Little knowing that it might be for better or for worse!

But some will not see another year, felled were they

By hands so harsh! Yet  lit they a spark of hope, for

A better year, a year filled with compassion and pity!

For their life was not in vain, as they lit a flame so bright.

So does one year pass into another,

While we pray for one to better the one that’s passed!

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Dhanpatmal Virmani School ; Down Memory Lane year-2003

While going through some CDs. in my collection I came across some photographs which rekindled some memories of the days when I taught in that school.

 

 

The Annual Day function which took place on the seventh of February, 2004 was special, because the skit was based on the Freedom Struggle, and it also included patriotic songs from the film Rang de Basanti. recognizable in the photograph are Devpal Singh and Nikhil who is now a Physical Education Instructor.

In those days the School was a boys school, and so dressing like girls was challenging. Gaurav Doonga was an accomplished dancer and he is in the yellow dress.

This snap taken on the 28th. of November 2003, is of students who contributed the most to an organisation providing relief to Cancer patients.On the extreme left is Dr.Dharambir Singh, the present Principal of the school, and on the far right is Mr. Rattan Lal, now retired from the post of Librarian.

On the 27th. of September, 2003, the Delhi Government launched a cleanliness drive in the locality of the school and the students participated wholeheartedly in the drive.

 

 

3rd August 2003 was the day a picnic to Oysters, in the premises of what was once Appu Ghar was organised, an sure enough, the students had great fun! Appu Ghar and Oysters in Delhi used to be the favoured picnic spots for students studying in various schools in the capital.

 

Posing in this photograph is the team of students selected to play the roles of teachers on the occasion of teachers’ day, Fifth of September-2003.

It was a hot hot day on the 27th. of August, 2003 and the water supply had failed so a water tanker had to be called. Students rushed to the water tanker to fill their water bottles!

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Is Christmas only about decorations, gifts and Santa?

 

Today, when I visited a popular Mall in Gurgaon, it was appropriately jam packed! It seemed as if all the roads from even Delhi seemed to be leading to that Mall. The parking lots were full, and I did think about turning back home! Santa, bells, holy leaves, and even songs about Rudolf seemed to be playing all over. There was even this little boy riding with his parents, wearing a mask that seemed to have some likeness to what Santa would look like!

What is it then that makes Christmas so attractive to everyone? My pastor says that it is the glitz, and glam, the sugar coating, the gift-wrapping, the late night parties, the modern Western culture that makes this occasion  so attractive! This brings me to Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol which revolves around a rather miserly man called Scrooge. Mr.Scrooge is haunted by three ghosts and each ghost  teaches him a lesson. They are the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Future. Mr. Scrooge undergoes a process of transformation after coming across the three ghosts. He learns about the significance of Christmas and Dickens very aptly sums up the meaning of Christmas as a time for forgiving others, a time for sharing, a time for socializing, a time for being generous, a time for fellowship…etc. Dickens however goes on to suggest that one should celebrate the Christmas spirit, not just during Christmas, but rather all one’s life!

 

 

 

What then is Christmas spirit? It is certainly not about glitz and gifts but rather it is about charity and the giving of alms, it is about fellowship, respect for other human beings, it is about fulfilling one’s social obligations and social responsibilities, it is also about being contented and satisfied with the little one has. The meagre fare that was served at Bob Cratchit’s home in the play the Christmas Carol was appreciated by the whole family. It was ironical that the impoverished Cratchit family was more contented than  Mr.Scrooge who was a rich man! The Christmas spirit is also about tenderness. Tiny Tim was a handicapped child who would have died if Scrooge hadn’t undergone a transformation which made him more sensitive and responsible. Ultimately, after being shown the possibility of Tiny Time dying because of  lack of proper treatment, as shown by the Ghost of Christmas future, Scrooge decided to sponsor the little child’s treatment. He becomes a guardian to the little child and pays for all his medical treatments.

One of the Pastors of my church in Gurgaon who is now a Bishop recounted how people would light candles before one of the life-sized manikins of Santa Claus that had been kept in front of the Church. The manikin had to be placed back inside the church! So what then is the message of Christmas? Is it about lighting candles to a manikin of Santa Clause, or is it about giving each other expensive gifts? The fact is that Christmas is not about any of these things! Christmas is about how Jesus Christ came into this world for the forgiveness of our sins! That he was born in a manger, and yet was visited by the three wise men from across the globe was significant for all of us.That this great man was born not as a rich king but as a humble son of a carpenter seems to have been lost in a world that believes in materialism and the giving away of expensive gifts and sumptuous meals and visits to Malls! In our craze for shopping for gadgets and new clothes, haven't we perhaps forgotten to give away the money that we spend on gifts to each other to those destitute people who can’t afford one square meal a day? Would we rather be Scrooges of the twenty-first century to spend exorbitant amounts on our children than perhaps be reminded about our social duties and responsibilities towards each other?

 

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What if the world were nothing but a virtual computer simulation?

An interesting article in the Times of India appeared on the 17th. of December titled, “Master Computer controls Universe? Physicists mull theory that humans may be mere pawns in a P.C. programme.” The article described how scientists are trying to “discover whether the universe exists within a Matrix style computer simulation created by a super-computer of the future.” An interesting and thought provoking surmise that changes our perception of life as we know it! The article goes on to describe how, “experiments  being conducted in the University of Washington could prove that we are merely pawns in some kind of larger computer game.”  According to Martin Savage, a physicist working on one such project, “Imagine the situation where we get a bid enough computer to simulate our universe and we start such a simulation on our computers (and) if that simulation runs long enough and have the same laws as our universe, then something like our universe will emerge within that simulation, and the situation will repeat itself within each simulation.” this leads us to the string theory of the Universe which suggests, according to the article that,” there are 10500 universes with different laws that determine the behaviour or particles within them.”

The idea that we might be living in a virtual world, an artificially created world from which there is no escape has been the central idea of many science fiction short stories, and science fiction films. Today as the world heads towards a life dependant on computer programmes and simulations, we notice how the boundary between the virtual world and what we believe to be the real world has started getting narrower and narrower! So then, if  scientists do find proof of the existence of a master-computer which controls the Universe then it would indeed suggest that we are nothing but pawns in a virtual game being played on a computer by a higher being! This would further suggest that our fate and destiny are pre-determined by the laws of the game and that our actions also are programmed, so nothing that we do or try to undo matters because it is not voluntary! It further suggests that our efforts to change our destinies would not really make any difference!While the above idea might only be conjecture, something yet to be proven, the possibility of changing the rules of the game might be possible. This would mean that although a higher being might have written down the rules of the game, it might be possible as participants in the game to cheat or mess it up!

Although life in a Matrix would be too constricting and limited there would surely those who would try to break out of it. However what if those who tried to break out were to discover that there was nothing out of the matrix but empty space? Such a possibility would force these escapees to return to the matrix to a predictable life of fixed routines and finite possibilities. Unfortunately we like to believe in a world where miracles happen, a world with infinite possibilities and alternatives even though in normal life we are accustomed to definite patterns and outcomes. We are discomforted by things that are not expected, but then expect miracles to take place when we are ill or down financially, expecting a miracle cure for our loved ones, or perhaps that lottery ticket that would bail us out of our troubled times. We turn to spirituality and pray for these miracles to take place having faith that our prayers will be answered.

What then if we are already living in a virtual world where everything is fixed and determined according to the rules of the game and the computer programme? What if even the number of miracles that take place in our lives is pre-determined; you can only have so many miracles... you've had your set of miracles, and now don't have any left! Suppose that the number of years that we live, the number of children that we have, our professions, our ups and downs, and our relations are pre-determined? This is all in keeping with the requirements of a simulation which require a pre-determined sample, and pre-determined variables. A simulation can be successful only when we are able to feed in the required data into the computer programme. So, then, does it mean that we might as well bid goodbye to miracles because in a simulation everything is accounted for and we try to avoid and eliminate extraneous variables? Does this mean then the end of faith and hope for all of us? It would depend on whether the higher being or beings playing the virtual game were benign and kind, perhaps He or they would listen to our prayers for miracles.

The above observations lead us to the question of who this being is who is playing this virtual game. Plato in the allegory of the cave in The Republic hinted that we are already living in a world which is at a second remove from the real, a world which is an illusion.According to him what we see and think of as real is but a shadow! One wonders whether he might not have had a moment of lucidity when he was able to glimpse the person running the virtual game? Who then is this power that is playing the virtual game, Is it God, or a group of higher beings, or perhaps pure thought? Would it be possible for enterprising persons to break out of the roles assigned to them in this virtual game and find a way to baffle the being or beings running the virtual game? Would it then be possible for people to do the unthinkable, turn into Trojan worms and computer viruses to turn the tables on what this higher being has planned? These questions are interesting and they lead us on towards possibilities of there being bugs and loopholes in the computer programme running the simulation! If this world is nothing but a simulation in a matrix style computer run by a computer programme then would it mean that we would continue to have multiple re-births in different avatars dictated by the laws of conservation of mass and energy?

The laws of quantum physics however defy predictability  in a way that questions the possibility of life being nothing but a simulation, and simulations are possible only where we have a given environment and all the variables are accounted for. The randomness of the location of an electron in an orbital  path defies logic and any set rules! The chaos theory of Quantum Physics suggest that there is a world that follows random patterns, which in itself defies the logical patterns of a virtual simulation game. So then does this mean that there is still hope and that we might after all be able to break out of a virtual, simulated game?

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Some stamps of British and French Colonies (History through stamps)

 

Stamps are an important source of Historical Information especially as they depict important events, names of rulers, pictures, landmarks and so on. When I went through my stamp collection recently, I noticed that the names of many of the countries seemed rather strange! I was confused about Swaziland, since I thought it was part of Rhodesia, remember King Lobengula? Anyway, so I began to research on the internet about Swaziland and came to know that it is one of the few countries which follows absolute monarchy.

 

It is interesting to see how stamps of yesterday might be important sources of information of the past. This is specially true with regard to the stamps I have pasted below. The names of the countries in the stamps have changed completely and this is because they were initially colonies and changed their names after gaining independence from their colonial powers. A large number of slaves were shipped from Swaziland in those infamous years when slave trade was a profitable trade!

Swaziland is one of the few remaining countries under absolute monarchy. It gained its independence from British rule in 1968. The capital is Mbabane. The above stamp commemorates the opening of the Swaziland Railway, an important event in the history of the country.

       

The Republique Du Dahomey is now the Republic of Benin. It used to be a French Colony till it gained independence in 1960. Both the stamps have depicted two important unifying factors, a sound Railways and a strong system for communication, the telephone.

    

I am proud to have a number of the famous Lundy Puffin stamps in my  collection.The Puffin stamps have an interesting history which is worth quoting:

The short history of Lundy puffin postage stamps

In late 1927 the British GPO ceased their post office activities at Lundy due to low activity and interest. For the next couple of years the owner of island (or “King of Lundy” as he preferred) M.C. Harman (1885-1954) handled the mail to and from the island without charge using MV Lerina. On November 1, 1929 Harman decided to offset the expense by issuing a series of private postage labels with a value expressed in “Puffins”; one puffing being equivalent of the British penny. The rest, as they say, is history… Besides postage stamps Harman was also inspired to issue his own coins. There are two Lundy coins, the puffinand the half-puffin, with Mr Harman’s bust on the obverse and a puffin on the reverse. Both were ordered 100,000 copies at private mint in Birmingham. The coins lead Harman in trouble with the British authorities in 1931 for unauthorised minting of money. (   http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/lundy-puffin-postage-stamps.php )

 

Amazingly, Somalia was a French Colony as  depicted in the above stamp…

and Djibouti too was a French Colony, that’s why they speak French in Djibouti!

Aden, now the Republic of Yemen was a British Colony, and it was a free port!

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On preparing to be an Engineer or a Doctor

My Dream of fairies and angels is rudely shorn,

When Mom wakes me six in the morn!

Quick bath, gobbled meal and off to bus.

At school, a dreary class awaits ‘cause I’m tired!

So do I ignore my teacher and my class

For lessons so crass on ears so full!

For when do I get the time to relax?

My dear parents want a great Physician out of me,

So  coaching it is  four to eight! Marathon classes me

Kill  so! Back to home stumbling and staggering do

Reach to have a quick meal and do my work!

Alas fall I, off to sleep all my work scattered around!

So have I suffered breakdowns sere,

For mine parents insist  that Doctor or engineer I would  be!

So give me a life of joy and fun  to be,

But when do I get the time of a child to be?

To dream of fairies and angels and flowers so fair,

To join my friends who laugh and talk of things  so rare.

Time does pass but I know it not,

Lost am I in competitions sere, so do I search far ‘n

Wide so to find the child I’d be.

Forced am I into the adult world of competitions so harsh,

To find my my class so dreary and crass!

For am I so tired, so down,

While I search for the child I’d be!

Alas  drop I off to sleep, while the theorems do haunt  me so!

In my dreams   see I  lessons so harsh, which do

Me burn oh so Sad!

This poem is dedicated to one of my students a nice sweet girl whom anxious have I seen!

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Virtual World-photographing Lasers

 

The cultural programme at my daughter’s school ended with a  laser show. The lasers created a virtual display of the most amazing shapes and patterns! The challenge was to use filters which would filter out the excess light without compromising the image quality. Finally I decided to use a Hoya PL-CIR polarizing filter on a 18-58 mm lens on my Canon DSLR camera.

 

Lasers continue to have a special effect in altering  our perception of the world. The other world effect of the lasers can be clearly seen in the snap above! Could it be an alien ship landing, or a cosmic spectacle? The figures in the foreground evoke a strong human element to the whole spectacle!

 

The eerie image of figures in the foreground, frozen in time, looking at the laser display might appear to be rather evocative of sci-fi thrillers and serials. Anybody remember the Twilight Zone series that used to be telecast in the late seventies and early eighties? I guess not!

Taking the snaps was a challenge because I did not have the convenience of a tripod, couldn’t use a flash, had to use a wide aperture of f-5.6, a shutter speed of 1/10th. of a second, and yes, the ISO was boosted to 3200! Of course the polarising filter came in handy!

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Dedication ceremony of a Church in Deorala, District Meerut

 

 

 

 

My brother in law called me up on the sixth of December  and reminded me about the impending inauguration of the St. Peter’s Church in Deorala which was to take place the next day. Incidentally in 1969, his maternal grandfather had constructed the same. The trip from Ghaziabad took us about two hours and we reached just in time to view the ribbon cutting ceremony taking place. Incidentally, the ribbon was cut by the Secretary of the Church of North India, Agra Diocese, Dr. Revd. P.P. Habil. Dr. S.P. Singh, Director of Evangelism was also present on the occasion. The Church when we entered it appeared to have been renovated, neat and tidy little church, and all credit would go to the Evangelist, D.P.Malaywar.

      

In the above snap you can see Dr.Revd.        In the above snap you can see Dr.S.P.Singh

P.P.Habil, Secretary Agra Diocese                  Director of Evangelism

 

             

Those present included residents from                My Brother in Law, Mr. Peter, his wife,
Different communities!                                          Mrs. Jyoti Peter, and Nidhi Lal

 

Who would have thought that the vision of a Priest in a small town of Deorala and his effort in building a chapel would result in its becoming a  dedicated Church albeit 43  years on! The Church today stands as a testimony to the efforts of Revd. P.K.Singh. Evangelism is not dead, and that this is so is proved by the efforts of Evangelist, Mr. D.P. Malaywar.

 

 

Evangelist, D.P. Malaywar

 

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A Day with Special Children

It was my turn to spend time with the Special Children today. I had looked forward to this day because I was curious to know more about these special children some of whom are autistic. I reached the Enrichment Centre on time and the moment I walked down the corridor to my assigned class, I was greeted most enthusiastically by other special children who were in their classes. The five students of the class assigned to me were to reach at 8:45 a.m.( class for the normal children starts at 8:00 a.m.). In the meantime I was debriefed about all the five students in their early teen, three boys and two girls. After the debriefing, which included a description about the schedule for the day, I accompanied one of the two teachers to the main-gate to welcome the children. At the gate, I was introduced to many other special children. One girl  a student of the class to which I had been assigned seemed to be in a particularly cheerful mood,  mischievous twinkle in her eyes, she sang a number of popular Hindi film songs all the way to the classroom. Many of the children we met at the gate were special in some way or the other. There was this particular boy who walked on his toes. When I asked the teacher accompanying me, she told me that he was Autistic and he felt more secure walking on his toes. There was another boy who had been accompanied by his parents. He became agitated the moment he saw his parents walk away. I could see the tenderness in his father’s eyes, who didn’t want to leave his son. It was the mother who was made of sterner stuff who spoke sharply to the father telling him to leave the son. When I asked the special education teacher, she told me that the fear of his parents leaving him behind was the cause of his agitation. A few days ago, the parents had left him with his grandparents for a few days and this had put a sense of insecurity in his mind.

After we had escorted the five children to the class, Bhuvan was assigned to me. He seemed to be a rather intelligent boy although I was told that he was autistic like the other four.  After introductions were over, and everyone greeted me with smiles, Veronica kept on staring at me! She had a rather sweet voice, bright intelligent eyes and a wonderful accent,  although she spoke a few words at a time. After this we sang the school prayer and then went out for assembly. Each child carried a board with his or her name on it, and these boards were placed on the ground and the children stood on them. The students after returning to their class then went on to identify the day, date, month, and year. First period for Bhuvan was a work experience period, so he led me to the Carpentry Workshop.  His assignment was to cut four  pieces of wood and then to plane them with a planer. I had a wonderful time helping him saw those pieces of wood and planning them. At the workshop I met many other  special children, some of whom I had seen in the library on various days. They were all curious about me, and so were their teachers. One particular boy came to me and rather excitedly showed me his colourful jacket. Another boy kept looking at me, intelligence gleamed in his eyes. His teacher later told me that he wanted to know more about me, and she told me that once he came to know my name, he would search for information about me from the internet. I told him to go ahead and tell me the next day what he had found out about me. And yes, I told him that I taught English!

After the first period, the children returned to their classes, washed hands and then had their snacks. After this in the second period, Bhuvan had computer class. I accompanied him to the Computer Lab. He was given the task of typing sentences written in a story book on the computer which he did quite accurately! After this we returned to class and Bhuvan and Veronica had another task, which they mimed to me, “walk time”. Before I went out for this activity, I was told by the teachers that they had a habit of taking short cuts and not completing their five circuits. So after a brief instruction not to take a short cut, we set out to the play ground. An innovative method for counting the number of circuits had been devised for them. Each time they completed a circuit, they would remove one Velcro attached red marker from the board which they then placed into the pocket. Veronica was very excited during the walk pointing towards strange plants and herbs while Bhuvan seemed to be more serious, concentrating on the task before him, rather like a more mature C.E.O. of a future company, what with his no-nonsense attitude!

After lunch, fourth period was all about speech therapy, and I accompanied Mohit and Sunil both from the class I had been assigned to. Both of these special students had problems with speech, so the speech therapist  made them  practice different sounds, and some words. While Sunil had a problem saying the letter “L”, Mohit would answer only if you gave him a choice. Speech therapy over, we returned to class where, I was then given the task of teaching Bhuvan Maths including marking the time on a clock face, which he incidentally did very well, followed by marking lines of a particular length with the help of a ruler, and last but not least, simple sums of division with the help of different objects. We also played a version of Snakes and Ladders, it was called Snacks and Ladders. Along the way there were some rewards in the form of eatables marked by small pouches or pictures of chocolates, biscuits and wafers. The children enjoyed this game a lot. They would clap with glee when their counters landed on a space which was marked with a reward! A fine way of teaching counting and numbers, I'd say! The last period was for Occupational therapy, and Bhuvan took me to the Occupational Therapy room where another teacher took him through different routines, swinging from a ladder attached to the ceiling, pedalling, slotting pieces into a cut out puzzle,…and so on. What amazed me so much was that Bhuvan went through each routine with great ease and confidence!
It was finally time to bid the students and their wonderful teachers a farewell, and all five of those most special students bid me a warm farewell. I was particularly amazed when Veronica said in her rather sweet and distinct voice “Good bye, Rodrick Sir”! She had memorised my name so well.Veronica had the habit of pressing her fingers into her ears most frequently, and when I asked her subject teachers and her therapists, they told me that she did this because she was probably sensitive to a particular frequency of sound and so was trying to block it out. Some of the students seemed to like making noises. At first I found it odd, but then their teacher told me that they liked making sounds because they liked hearing themselves! All this information that I received about autistic children through a single day with them has made me  appreciate them even more.  They seemed to be really special because they  viewed the world from a totally different perspective, one which was most unique from ours! There was a lot that I would be taking away with me. I was also particularly touched by the exceptional patience of the teachers who were looking after the special children. They were quick to praise and appreciate them, they were tender and affectionate towards them, they answered my unending stream of questions patiently, and of course they seemed to have a huge reservoir of ingenuity!

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