CULTURE - III

 

CULTURE - III

From a stage of contempt to borrowing, the society has come to a stage of drowning in miseries of dues self-inflicted. People fall prey to improbable promises of doubling the money in quick time / high rates of interest. A stage comes when retrieving the money invested assumes a higher priority than of the promised return.  A desire to quick money obstructs the vision even for the obvious. Equanimity at all stages of life is an instrument of safety.  To be a balanced person, right and wrong must be clearly identified without succumbing to temptations. Absolute faith on righteousness is the requirement to overcome temptations. Such moralistic advisory tunings are replete in our scriptures. None has the time for scriptures. The joint family arrangement had the innate design of fostering moral values through bed time stories by grandma. Sadly our weakened family system has deprived our children of acquiring the right attitudes and caution. What a great service it was by inculcating simple moral codes of life. Any civilized living needs sticking to code of conduct in acquisition, up-keep and in passing on the wealth to posterity. These include habits in personal life, public conduct and altruism as vital components. These are products of the mind. The mind is the source of strength and therefore weakness too. Respect for good and fear of bad are the disciplining forces that regulate our life style. It is the moral fear that keeps all our acts in check. Though in the long run one may not achieve visible prosperity, certainly moral fear helps us to keep off

such prospects of peril-associated prosperity. Property is not prosperity.

Acquisition of property to one’s requirement is understandable, but not the attitude of acquiring an empire. Prosperity is living a healthy life and seeing our children lead responsible life. Again life is a product of one’s own preferences either for contented peace and composure or for searching the limitless target of material wealth. For both, the extremes one has to be systematic in approach facing the consequences right through. Cultivating healthy ideas from a moral plane can help us to minimize tensions. Health and peace are products of habit and mind. Several issues in life are associated with the mind.

Our culture teaches us to be simple and purposeful to self and society by regulating the mind. Nurturing these tenets and infusing the idea to the children may help them in later life in avoiding tensions   Avaricious plans and extravaganza in daily life can destroy peace and health.  Learning to live within means is the highest form of culture bestowed and blessed by Divinity. What better can one aspire for?

                                                                                          Prof. K. Raman

 

CULTURE - II

 

CULTURE - II

People have to be more discrete in borrowing, so that the burden of repayment is both limited and justifiable. Another contributory factor to this culture is ‘looking for new products in the market’ and acquiring that to be the ‘first possessor’. Often these products lie idle after a couple of early uses. The tendency of glossy presentation has cut into the individual’s economy. There is no answer / clues to arrest the trend. It is for the individuals to weigh the prospects of plus and minus in deciding either way.

Quite inexplicably people succumb to notions of social beliefs. Many do not seem to consider the larger inconveniences that may not readily meet the eye. There is a cultural drift towards extravaganza. The trend appears widespread in all the strata of the society. One of the reasons that have devoured our tendencies of frugality is the nuclear family culture. We have lost faith in the joint family system. In the earlier dispensation, elders were a part of the household. They would influence the decision-making and not permit serious deviations from standard practices of the family. They would constantly review the financial situation. It was considered a sin to mobilize resources by borrowing. Now the scenario has changed beyond the limits of control. All forms of borrowing are indulged in.   Lending agencies vie with one another to hoodwink customers with tempting offers like [0% interest]. It is actually a message that once is the deal is clinched the firm’s attitude to the customer would be 0%. All hidden rules and unexpected interpretations of the clauses would come about if we were to seek any further help like enhancing the quantum or on premature closure of account by settling the dues in a single installment.  Even, well organized financial institutions resort to third degree methods of recovering dues from us. Another diabolic item is the credit card. Some firms thrust it on us voluntarily. Substantial care and caution are essential to possess and operate this instrument, lest the user should stand discredited.         To continue   Prof.  K. Raman

 

 

CULTURE

 CULTURE

    The term culture is more frequently used than the observance of culture itself.  I do not intend criticizing any one for this. But a range of things comes to my mind on this issue. Probably people are ready to accept oft-repeated claims on culture as real, than verifying the veracity of those. These include so many items – food habits, dress, language, religion, entertaining the guests, running the institutions of social value, defending / supporting the hapless and so on. I have not gone into the dictionary looking for the connotations that go with the term. I have chosen to look at the issue from what we see around us. As is always my plea, I do not expect others to tow my line of thought. All  opinions are as much sacred.  The attitude to culture begins with what one considers supreme or valuable. I believe it is a manifestation of our priorities in a given situation that exhibits the culture. On occasions we hear that, a public transport bus crew or a driver of an autorickshaw restoring valuables to a passenger after enormous effort, though they could have comfortably taken possession of the article. While total strangers stick to honesty, some of our acquaintances choose to cheat us to varying degrees. Yet, it is preposterous to conclude that the person is a cheat. At best [s]he was a cheat on an occasion. Some are cheats by character and they are known so, leaving us the option to get cheated. It is in this environment that people boast of their culture / tradition. In simple terms, culture is not what we claim but what we do when not being seen. There are several dimensions that confer stature on to any one for being reckoned as ‘a cultured person’. People have the ability to pick out the right signals which reflect the culture, though not personally abiding by them. Like many other virtues, in practice culture is more a prescription for others. People seem to practice this selfish trend uninhibited.

     There seem to be bad cultures too. Invariably, some mental battle occurs between self interest and attitudes of altruism. When self interest is suppressed in favour of common interest, it is an expression of decency – a part of culture. As noted earlier, our priorities on an occasion determine the degree of decency.

      Some of the reasons for people resorting to self interest considerations are partly from pressure “to acquire”, partly from a wrong judgment of social esteem that can accrue from a possession and an attitude of irrelevant comparison of self with others.  Obviously, comparisons / considerations are materialistic. It is a sad reading that our times witness such happenings which do not signify contented life. Times of our forefathers remind us of how peace and tranquility pervaded the society. They stuck to simplicity in attire and frugality in life, containing the wants to the limits of means. It was our culture to shrink expenditure to absolute necessity. Slowly we slipped off to new ways of life punctuated by styles of living almost beyond means. This culture has come about from a desire to “look above average”. People take more delight in being ‘rated as affluent’ than being really so. It is another sign of change in our culture.   In my perception, people are tempted to adopt lifestyles, because financial support comes. But, these supports are not explicit in terms of all conditions of repayment.   Unfortunately priorities seem to be in favour of ‘doing now’ than knowing what to do.  Some financing  agencies  charge you penal interest if you choose to  advance settlement of the entire dues. The obvious intention is to sap out rather than honourably allow the borrower to settle all dues before the tenure of contract. Accomplishing projects like possessing a house or meeting unexpected exigencies like serious medical problems do require timely   financial assistance.

     To continue                               Prof. K. Raman 

 

THE PLIGHT OF THE ERRONEOUS

 THE PLIGHT OF THE ERRONEOUS                                                                                     

The present write-up painfully summarizes the abject inadequacy among modern graduates and Post-graduates emerging from several parts of Tamil Nadu. My reference to this province gains significance, because this territory in South India has had a tradition of immaculate usage of LANGUAGES INCLUDING English in the first quarter century in the history of independent India. Where have we lost this pristine glory is a lamentation by all elders.

Well, as of now, every situation looms as a plight. Some people advocate the concept of ‘positivity’ in our outlook and approach. It reads healthy with a passive suggestion of ‘self correction’ along the course. But what baffles me is the suggested positivity on the face of inept equipping and callous indifference to the process of learning. Unfailingly it leads to a state of misconstrued opinionating to the extent of bruising cordial friendship among persons of comparable parity of age and levels of study. To me it tends to rake-up a sense of alienation between the mentally ‘haves’ and the have-nots’. Ironically, the latter assume greater wisdom upon themselves, they being more opinionated than they are truly apprised. The malady seems to get entrenched in the society faster largely by callous indifference to appropriate learning and the ever expanding population of incompetent handlers of the languages. The concern expressed here pertains to abuse of the languages with near gay abandon.

The steadfast adherence to such ‘wrong conception, is based on an excuse “someone said so”.   To me it looks a defence, if not defiance. Honestly it is appalling rather than appealing to be a way out. I can bring to the discussion a number of situations where persons make utterances that would not manage safe passage among native monolingual speakers.

The spirit of the suggestion is to fore-warn such deficient minds to get appropriately equipped before any native speaker chooses to dress their ego down to a point of shame, leaving them  ‘bare’ with fangs of wounded vanity. Even among non native speakers, the discerning do not pardon the defiance backed up by emboldened arrogance borne out of numerical frequency of their lot. Being in the bracket of ill- conceived, idiocy is a syndrome that amplifies such defects elevating their status to that of a butt of ridicule. The worst form of defending the defective handling of languages is to baffle the opponent saying that this is the modern way, while yours is the old form. Painfully the truth is – a thing has been wrongly learnt recently; so it is the “modern way”. I readily brush them aside saying    “any defective equipment however new is a liability”.  Look at the following:

Amongst our ‘butts of ridicule’  the terms ‘improve and ‘improvise’   figure liberally as ‘interchangeable’ while in reality they are unrelated. Another inadequacy among them is to wrongly insert ‘continue’  in place of ‘continuous’ in the course of  a conversation with an unfailing alacrity of conservation of jarring error. Quite some assumptions dominate their minds while framing statement; terms are wrongly employed on the belief of their assumed meaning though they spell like near cousins.  For example similar terms   oppose/ appose, Judicial / judicious, ludicrous / luscious, Diffuse / Defuse, Climatic / Climactic, Desert/Dessert, Principle/ Principal, to/ too   etc. look alike but their meanings refer to different items. It is probable that children in their formative days are not groomed well to grasp the essential basics and the difference between verb /adverb and adjectives. In later life, these boys and girls feel it insecure to interact among contemporary learners and they turn mute in the company of those who are adept in the nuances of language. By the time they are at higher levels of study, ego forbids their seeking clarification; instead, they choose to put on airs of confidence and try to silence critics with fragile and futile defence of taking refuge under “modern pattern of usage”. Seldom do they realize how badly they are judged for their inadequacy on all occasions of quality judgment.  It is not my endeavour to portray them in bad light; but often they do not heed well-meant directives and unfailingly irritate those who iterate their flaws. Well before they are ready to launch themselves into the ocean of competition, they would get drowned by the mass of their ego unless they disband it to unburden themselves and acquire the virtue of listening to sensible suggestion instead of being sensitive. Sensibility should always take precedence  over sensitivity                                                                          K . RAMAN    02-07-2020                  

WHAT IS MIGHT?

 

WHAT IS MIGHT?

    Is ‘might’ a physical quantum?

     My present dilemma seeking to raise this question has been impelled by the outbreak of Corona virus disease -2019 [covid-19 for short]. Well, why should anyone rake up such opinion in the first place is something that I cannot myself answer straight.  Yet, mind being what it is, such opinions never suffer a ‘lock down’, though the world has been through an unprecedented global lock down. After all, such outbreaks push us through despair that humans are a hapless lot, no matter which civilization they represent.

    Look at these pieces of information. Outbreak of the virus has been in the news since December 2019. Obviously, well before administrations could seize themselves of the reality, the corona virus, true to its name [ corona= crown] got itself crowned as the global power. My reference to ‘might’ takes into reckoning the swift sweep of viral disease across the world, politely reminding the humans of their claims of supremacy in health care, Hygiene, Scientific achievements, economic supremacy, trans-regional medical support and rich record of Sustained GDP over decades.

    Reports relating to Covid 19 show that a particle of the virus carries a genome of approx. 30kbp [30,000 base pairs] as against 6.4 billion base pairs of human genome [BASIC GENE POOL SIZE].  The viral genome is RNA material, exercising a regulation over further amplification of viral population in the host.  Thereafter, it keeps hopping from person to person, unless the infected members are confined by quarantine. Even more intriguing is the ability of the virus to remain functionally viable on non-living surfaces, Beside the catastrophe that the virus has inflicted on to the world in the beginning of 2020, some super powers were trading tirades against each other, obviously disturbed by the prospect of the label of cruel or careless experimentation.  So, what a super power is? If it is just placing a vice-like hold, then the virus looks a mega superpower despite its diminutive size, far beyond the visual perceptions of humans.

    Like all viral infections, these also take over the physiology of the host and generate a series of viral elements using host machinery and spread on to other members of the society. Physical dimensions of the virus are ridiculously small while those of its physiology are unnerving; the virus has spread at a pace not known earlier. It has hit nations alike irrespective of their membership on UNSC -some of whom enjoy veto powers. All of them have been vetoed by the virus. So, diplomacy, military supremacy, industrialization, healthcare have all been brought under health scare by the virus. It is time powers conceded that even a small speck of Nature can grind anything to halt transcending all borders and barriers.  ‘Might’ is simply the ability to perform with precision.                       

                                                           Prof.  K. RAMAN           Done on       20-03-20

Strategies II Re-visited

 

Strategies – II Re-visited

 

TO AVOID                                                                                                      

*Fear                                                          

*Comparison with others                           

*Score-Centric learning                            

*Looking for job even while studying    

                              

                                    TO DO

                           *Stay in focus     

                           * Learn by comprehending

                           * Equip self in many languages

 

                           *Learning from informal sources                      

Friends

I am re posting the last segment to restore sense. Android systems carry out     

Editing –uncalled for.  Pardon the inconvenience

                                                 Prof. K. Raman

 

LEARNING: STRATEGIES- II

 

LEARNING: STRATEGIES- II

FORMS OF LEARNING

Learning need not be by a set pattern or formal. It can be informal as well. Informal occasions sail smooth as they do not impose restrictions. Such situations constitute ‘passive learning’ as against the ‘active learning’ which is the official form in classroom; it goes by time and carries out assessment for finding out the ‘grasp’ of the learner. Therefore, a sense of urgency is associated with class rooms of formal teaching.

LEARNERS’ DUTY

Learner can assess self by methodic evaluation; reciting the pieces learnt, writing / re-writing passages from ‘what has been understood’ are useful. Such practices help the person to find out the ability for retention. Recapitulation [‘chewing the cud’] is a process of refining the ability for long term memory. Memory is helpful for ‘non-analytic’ purposes [spelling, historic year, formulae, author names etc.]  But, memory shall not be taxed for the sake of facing examinations. Allowing the mind to grasp an idea is a superior method to support memory and the converse [forcing the mind to remember without grasping] suppresses learning instead of supporting it.

COMPREHENSION Vs MEMORIZING                           

Memory is a capacity for recalling routine information; it has short and long term components. The latter are essential particularly in higher education, analyses, interpretation and correlating cause –effect phenomena. However, memory is also conditioned by familiarity. Several items can be held in memory by systematic training. Always trying to relate an item to its closest link is a simple exercise of memory-training.  Frequent recalling of items [such as names, ideas, spelling] is the simplest approach to memory training. It should be a daily habit to trigger memory by recalling.

Recalling should not be by rote or forcible memorizing. Forcibly memorizing a subject fatigues the mind and the spirit of learning. Learning is not repeating the message; it is total understanding of ideas related to a process/event/ complex connections in a theory.  Total understanding is Comprehension. It has the advantage of effortless remembering. ONLY SUCH ‘COMPREHENDED’ IDEAS CONSTITUTE KNOWLEDGE. Knowledge gets integrated to the learner, only if the information is fully understood. A long ensemble determines the ‘knowledge’ of the person. Knowledgeable persons do not entertain fear. Fear is a sign of poor comprehension. Alarmingly, fear is a natural barrier to comfortable learning.

KNOWLEDGE and WISDOM

A series of components lead us to knowledge. Assembling varied subunits [letters, words, statements] provides some information. Different pieces of information can constitute a subject. Varied facets of a subject can form the ‘knowledge’ for a defined territory. Thus, knowledge encompasses, understanding of all lower subunits. Knowledge accrues from long systematic comprehension of all components. Application of knowledge to effectively solve problems is wisdom. Knowledge is a step towards wisdom. Wisdom may emerge from careful application of knowledge by systematic judgment of every step.

  

HOW TO PROCEED

For improvement, every previous step is important. Thoroughly understand the first step before entering the second step; at every stage be sure of all its features and go up. It should be implicitly followed for every lesson, subject and situation. Soon, the learner would be happily surprised of his or her ability to understand. Even more interesting it would be to recognize that memory is fresh and learning turns pleasant from its current cumbersome state. Remember to recall items without looking to the study material. Progressively, fear recedes, hope blossoms leading to hard work and pride of learning.

TO AVOID                                                    TO DO                                                  

*Fear                                                           *Stay in focus     

*Comparison with others                           * Learn by comprehending

*Score-Centric learning                             * Equip self in many languages

*Looking for job even while studying       *Learning from informal sources                      

 Prof. K. Raman