The World as it looked in 1818 According to a Map by Major James Renell and John Walker

The World as seen by Major James Renell

It is amazing to see how different the world looked in the year 1818, and it is even more amazing to see how the cartographers were able to depict the world at a time when they did not have Google Earth. The world looked different all those years ago, and it is interesting to look at the differences because they show how the world was in the process of being discovered. Ethiopia spanned across all of Africa, India was named, 'Hindoostan' and it stretched beyond its present boundaries. Looking at the map depicting today's India I was surprised to see outlandish names of places. The world was different in those days and looking at images of a map of 1818 brought in the thrill of the romance of discovery, adventure and travel. I am sharing a few rare photographs of a world Atlas as printed in the year 1818 - a tribute to Major James Renell's extensive understanding of Geography dedicated to him by his 'Humble & devoted servant John Walker'.

In those days Ethiopia and India looked so different! A close up of Africa will show the name, 'Ethiopia spread out on most of the continent. Perhaps it was all about not knowing the names of all the countries that formed the continent. I guess, though, that Ethiopia was known more than all the other countries, probably because of its strategic position, or perhaps the fact that Queen Sheeba was Ethiopian. The atlas provides evidence that while Asia and the Americas were well explored, little was known about Africa. Africa, in the year 1818 was the mysterious continent, a continent waiting to be discovered and thus exploited!

Indeed, the Indian continent looked so different, what with names that sound so strange today! I wonder what 'Candeish' as mentioned in the map meant. Moreover, Gurgaon, the city where I live in doesn't even figure on the map.

How did the world look then? Strange, indeed! India was a huge continent, a testimony to the influence that the country had in those times. No wonder, the East India Company wanted exclusive commercial rights to the country.

The map stands as testimony to the fact that very little was known about the North Pole and the landmass situated there. One can only remember the adventures of the expeditions undertaken to explore the North Pole, many of which failed in their objectives. The world in 1818 was still being discovered and the romance of exploration has been described in numerous accounts in those days.

North America looked more or less the same as we know it today, although the legends, Panis Indians, Republican Indians, Wolf Indians, Aclon Indians and Chaguienne Indians don't make sense today, I guess they refer to Native Indian Settlements in those times. Today, none or very few of these settlements remain and of the sizeable populations of Native Indians, very few remain, number a few thousands. This, in itself, is an example of marginalised communities being edged out by mainstream communities. The settlers in America gradually took over the country that had belonged to an ethnic community by force, through cash inducements, cultural chauvinism, and various other means, dubious or deceptive. The Indians were victims of the conflict between the Democrats and the Republicans, and various other conflicts involving the settlers and the original residents of the land. 

The map of South America seems to have names of countries that don't figure in today's maps. 

Gaia on Life Support - A Poem

 

She lies on her back, monitors beeping insistently,

Her veins clogged with sludge created by one selfish

Being. She gasps and chokes on smoke so thick,

So foul, so pungent, wondering why he would want 

To harm her so!

The rivers that slaked her thirsty fields now move

Sluggishly, as dark as tar, too thick to flow, the air

That carried with it scents so sweet, now carries a stink

Of rotting carrion, and burning garbage. Alas! One she

Fostered harmed her so!

She lies on her back too weak to move, her life ebbing

Away. Gaia, they called her, mother Earth, supported of

Life, but stabbed her in the back for a few gold coins.

She wonders why the ones she loved most would want

To harm her so!

Lying on her back too weak to move, she drifts into a

Deep sleep, dreaming of a world where the fresh air

Was laced with the sweet scent of flowers, the streams

Glided, as clear as glass, white clouds scudded across

The clear blue sky.

The world was then a garden of paradise, where all

The beings lived in perfect harmony, watched by a

A smiling cherubic Gaia, in all her glory handing

The gifts of life, health, joy and prosperity to all.

And she smiles in her sleep.

Mother Earth, they called her, Man and Woman,

And she bestowed them with the responsibility

Of protecting, preserving her garden from blight. 

It was a green world with blue skies, crystal streams

And white clouds.

She smiles in her sleep as she remembers the world

Of her dreams, her cheeks brighten, and her heart-

Beat steadies. She breathes better, taking deep breaths

From the cylinder that stands by her side. A deep resolve

To mend things gone wrong.

She will punish those who had betrayed her faith in them.

She will send the temperatures soaring, unleash tidal waves,

Drown proud monuments that dared to touch the sky. She

 Will teach the Man and the Woman whom she trusted a lesson.

She is Gaia, kind yet firm!

In her dream, now strengthened with new hope and resolve,

She makes her decision to restore the world to its rightful

Tenants, the birds and fish, butterflies and whales, animals

Shrubs and orchids. And she will banish those that betrayed

Her, she is Gaia, benevolent and just!

For unless you be like the animals, birds and trees you harmed

Mankind will never be forgiven by her! Gaia, the life-force of

The Earth can never forget what the world was before Man took

It for granted, and she will set it right even if it means burning it

To make Phoenix rise from its ashes!

World Without Children - A Poem

Where have our Children gone?

Where have our children gone,

I hope not taken away by the Pied Piper?

Where have the children gone, who climbed

Trees, made merry in the playground, broke

Window panes, and chased squirrels!

Where have our children gone, who

Played hop-scotch, and climbed trees, boys 

And girls who screamed at the top of their voices,

Chasing each other around the corner till

They crashed into you!

Where have our children gone -

The playgrounds are deserted with  few

Old men and women sitting quietly, speaking in

Whispers of politics and remedies. Slides, swings

Merry-go-rounds, sit forlorn and listless!

Where have our children gone,

Who talked nonsense and sang silly songs?

They talk, now, only of serious matters that make you 

Wonder if you have missed something in school or

College. Perhaps we are all to blame for this!

In place of empty playgrounds

We only see flickering screens that have closed

Upon  the children trapping them worse than the

Closed walls that Pied Piper had taken them

Through from the city of Hamlyn!

That is where all our children have gone to,

A nether world of flickering screens and static,

Far, far away, from times when you could scold

Them with a smile, or perhaps, even join them

In their games till you muscles ached!

Where have the children gone,

That made cynics to smile and despots relent?

A world without children has become a world of war

And strife, where despots and bigots, statesmen

And fanatics wreak wild havoc on the world!

Flickering screens can never replace

Playgrounds, children should never outgrow childhood

Before its time! Alas,  that we have made them so opinionated

 Making ourselves look like children even as they behave like

Adults-a role reversal like never before!

All the conflict taking place in the world, 

Intolerance towards each other, the polarization taking

Place in the world is because we have lost the child in ourselves!

We once played with each other irrespective of religion, caste or

Community, but now glare at each other with suspicion.

Where have our children gone?

Alas we have taught them to behave like adults before

Their time. We have exposed them to flickering screens as surrogate

Guardians because we don't have time for them. How can we

Abdicate our responsibilities before our children?

We are scared of falling in the playground and

Being called childish before 'grown ups'! We have snuffed

Out the child in us because we have an image to build. We have

Given our children flickering screens as pacifiers, surrogates

Even as we abdicate our responsibilities as adults!

Unfortunately, the playground are

Deserted and we have lost our children to

Flickering screens while we work through pay hikes,

A better standard of living and build up an image even as

The child in us languishes, lonely and forlorn!

Something more vindictive than

The Pied Piper has taken the children away,

Robbing the playgrounds of their rightful denizens.

We look helplessly as childhood becomes  a thing of the past!

I wonder if we'll build monuments for childhood soon!

Is the pressure to perform making our students feel stressed?

Most of us will have come across students who have become victims of mental stress caused the pressure to perform. Parents, relatives, peers and the society at large been largely to blame for this. I have come across parents who pressurize their children to score well in summative exams. Children studying in grades eleven and twelve are forced to go for tuitions, coaching classes, and prepare for entrance exams. They would rather prepare for their entrance exams, college applications than complete their projects, the marks of which are added to the final scores at the twelfth grade board results.

We are as parents, peers, and the society is driving our students towards burn out! We have forced our children to give more importance to coaching classes, entrance exams, college applications than to completing their school projects on time. Parents have put on too much pressure on their children to excel in studies so that they can join well known universities both in the country and abroad. Parents want their children to become doctors, engineers, chartered accountants, not realizing that by putting undue pressure on their children, they are robbing their children of the joy of being themselves.  

Forcing children into a veritable rat-race has led to mental health problems. When an otherwise brilliant student is forced to take up a course that is not according to his or her interest then we causing him or her undue stress. Our obsession with excellence, irrational expectations, and the pressure to perform well in exams is robbing our children of their right to celebrate childhood. What is happening is that children are being forced into adulthood much before they are mentally prepared. You can't have everyone getting admission in Harvard and that doesn't mean that those who don't will have successful careers!

There have been instances students of grade eleven taking a whole week off from school just because they were preparing for an entrance exam. Another grade 12 student told me that she wouldn't be able to submit her project because she was working on her college applications. Another student of mine is into so many things at same time that she remains confused all the time. Though a brilliant student she seems to lose track of what is being done in class. This obsession for grades, admission in good colleges, leadership positions within the school and a general desire to be popularity is creating mental health problems in students.

Why don't teach our children to prioritize tasks? Why are we forcing our children into a rat race? Why don't we train our children to take one thing at a time? Taking too many responsibilities at the grade 11 and grade twelves might impact their performances in summative exams. Anything that detracts from studies can only add to negative stress levels in students. Unfortunately students are hard pressed for time and the quality of submissions of projects, home work suffers. Undue pressure on students to excel in multiple fields by parents and peers has created more harm than good.

The pressure to perform in multiple fields is leading to a lack of focus on studies. Confusion, deteriorating concentration and overall distraction results in mental blocks often requiring the need to visit councilors. Doing too many things at the same time or multi-tasking erodes the quality of work submitted. The saying, 'Jack of all trades, master of none', an age old proverb, is as relevant today as it was in the past.

We are living in the IT age which has contributed to what is known as information surfeit. The use of technology has promoted the culture of multitasking. Only few students are able to cope with the stress of multitasking and that is because they have mastered the art of prioritizing, microplanning and macroplanning. Few students are able to tackle the stress of multitasking and the pressure to perform exceptionally well in studies.

The unfortunate fact is that we are driving our students too hard! Most of us put undue demands on our children. We want them to be involved in cultural activities, take up student leadership roles and yet perform exceptionally well in exams. We expect our children to study in best institutions, we expect them to land up jobs that pay very good salaries. Parents often expect their children to cover up for their own deficiencies and failings. This obsession for success in entrance exams, cent per cent marks in the final board needs to be curbed. We are asking for too much in our children and it augurs ill in the long term!

Is Teaching Finally Losing Its Sheen?

They say charity starts from home and I would like to start by mentioning that I belong to a family of teachers. My parents were teachers who taught abroad, my grandmother was a teacher and my grandfather was the Principal of one of the oldest schools in Gurgaon. It goes without saying that when my daughters passed out of school and college one of the career options before them was, obviously teaching. However, while my eldest did her B.Ed. the younger one was adamant about doing her L.L.B., a breakaway from the family tradition! You must be wondering about the elder one? Well, she decided not to get into teaching at all, that too in spite of her professional qualification, and now she is working with a startup dealing with online education and she is a business development professional!

When I ask some of my students if they would like to become teachers one day, their reply is instant 'No!' One wonders  why fewer and fewer youth want to take up teaching as a profession. Today, thanks to the Covid-19 Pandemic and the concurrent online teaching platforms, teachers are taking more of their work home than they used to. Children of parents who are teachers see their parents work till late hours sending invites for the next day's online classes, or even prepping lesson plans activities, entry tickets and exit tickets for the next day's class. They see how hard their parents are working and thus they don't really want to be like their parents. Students who attend school for hybrid classes see their teachers carrying a laptop, an assortment of cables, textbooks, diaries running from one class to another, from one floor to another just so that they can reach their classes on time, in order to connect their devices to the internet or LAN cable, login to the Zoom Meeting, start the projector  and then cater to the needs of the students who are attending classes physically and those who are online. It is indeed an act that only the most talented and skilled jugglers can manage.

Students can see how hard their teachers are working and when they think about their future careers, they are daunted by the effort put in by their teachers. The same happens to the be case with parents whose children might be attending classes offline and online. Even they have begun to respect the effort made by the teacher's of their children. Unfortunately, teaching has become more of an act of walking a tight rope or juggling a few balls in the air than a so called act of 'enlightening' or even facilitating learning. Teachers have become data entry operators, audit clerks, counsellors, anything apart from what they have been trained for. The requirement for the profession of teaching has been split between being an I.T. expert on the one hand and being a subject expert. It is not surprising, therefore to see how many teachers fall victim to burnout or stress-related complications.

In the days to come we are going to see fewer and fewer young people opting to become teachers. Discerning people would like avoid the stress, fatigue and hard work that marks one of the oldest professions in the world. One sees fewer and fewer men taking up the profession as other more lucrative options have opened up that offer less stress. In a country like India, for talented people who appear for Civil Services Exams with the hope of become an IAS officer, the teaching profession becomes the last option if they don't succeed. A good many years go into the preparation for entrance exams for Civil Services and if they don't get through then most of them have already grown quite old. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has had its toll on teachers, what with the uncertainty of what the future holds accompanied by the psychological impact of virtual learning platforms that in a way seem to have turned the whole profession into a rather mechanical and unemotional one. The lack of emotional connect with students, having to listen to the tinny voices coming from laptops, the stress of having to cope with new LMS/ERP platforms every now and then, power failures, poor internet bandwidth problems, servers that keep flashing "internal server error", all of them have made teaching a task rather than a joy. The unfortunate advent of the Pandemic has given us a picture of the future of teaching, and it is not very pleasant. The whole educational process was meant to promote joyful learning, experiential learning, learning through expeditions and learning by doing. 

The teachers of tomorrow will have to be multitaskers, people who have to balance subject expertise with a very sound knowledge of how to use Internet Technology. This in itself will add to the burden that a teacher will have to shoulder. Many private schools during the Pandemic have been forced to layoff teachers due to lack of funds. Parents have found it hard to pay there children's school fees because they themselves have been without jobs. Lack of funds, layoffs, extended workhours, increasing work-life balance problems, lack of  'me time' and distractions caused by the need to focus on IT skills, pressure on delivering products on virtual platforms have all robbed teaching of its sheen.