Tag Archives: Learning

Semester Moments Assorted

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Phew! As I solve the eleventh hour queries of students troubled with what is gobbled up through the course of a semester, I found few challenging ones that observed my attention. Curse or thank the mediocrity of those instant guides that are popularly used every examination season; I have learnt a point or two more within my subject, not because they had better lessons, but they had problems confounded in such manner that they forced me to explore more. So, here we go with the three questions:

Question One: Why do we select the point of intersection that is closest to the horizontal axis when we solve games using graphical method?

Question Two: In a transportation problem, why do we form a circuit when we want to identify how much the allocation should be modified and where?

Question Three: If we talk of Six sigma, is it really about accommodating six standard deviations in the process or should it be about reducing the absolute standard deviation?

Goodness me, there is some talent out there.

That is not all I had this semester. There were a couple of embarrassing moments that is attributed to the efforts to try and over teach (not so desirable) and to the efforts of trying to explain the fundamentals more than required (no so needed, I find now). The first moment, I missed computing the standard deviation and got the problem wrong, and it took me a second after stepping out of the class to identify what mistake I committed. But the twenty minutes I struggled in the class remains an experience. On the second moment, I explained game theory very convincingly through out only spoiling one last procedure. I had forgotten substituting calculated values in the original equations to find out the whole range of values required.

If you think these were silly, I am assuming (actually I shouldn’t hope) the students caught more than what I had known myself committing in lectures.

If I were to mention one significant learning from this semester of teaching, I would say it, but it would not be ground-breaking. I figured out that supplying material to students prior to the class is as effective as supplying no material. The later can at least save me some time and energy.

What would I be doing next semester? I am eagerly planning things.

A day well-planned

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Early in the morning today marked the official beginning of a week full of holidays. And the first activity–you may have already guessed it–I made a list of to-do’s for the day and for the week ahead. Broadly, the idea was to get the house reasonably organized, so that I could focus on my thesis write up and finish a meaty chunk of it. It was a well-crafted plan with details of what should be done, precisely.

As it turns out, I wake up late because it is a rare and long holiday I get. And then I realize there are too many things that make me want to go to work instead of staying home. After paying due respects to mutilated clothes that rested in the bin for a week, we moved out to a buggy hotel for our breakfast. Our journalist uncle meets us there. On the way back to our house, he joins us–and what pleasure in learning Adobe Photoshop when he teaches. I picked up a couple of points about how to work on black and white pictures without losing much detail. That was fun, but it was already past lunch time by then!

After a very delayed lunch (or perhaps an evening snack), I take my soulmate for a style check at Jawed Habib’s in Vizag. Twenty minutes after we entered there, we walked out, and I had a gorgeous young lady by my side–a completely refreshing look of my soulmate. And then, my crazy brain needed some food for thought, and we walked into a book exhibition. I bought four books: one, that is entertaining for a read, two, that is useful to improve my writing skills, three, which can satiate my research interests, and four, which I should be reading in my newly wed life. Carrying those books and walking into a theater expecting to have tickets available for ‘Bodyguard’ ended as an effort in vain; for the theater was not screening the movie. A brief stint on the side of the beach road was a reasonable substitute to the movie plan, and then… here I am, back to blogging.

Well! As you can see, my day was rather well-planned. I planned, but it did not work. Someone else (perhaps God!) had different plans for making my day entertaining, and that might have worked (There are other ways I could have explained why my planning did not work, but I am happy for now with this ‘God’s Plan’ option.

Let me guess! That is how your day has also been. Right?

How I learnt Communication

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Over the course of my lunch today, one of our students struck a discussion with me. He was from the outgoing batch, and had some feedback about the college. Suddenly he made a reference me as someone who he thought had really good communication skills. Though he refers to communication, I think his reference is limited to what he saw in his class and the interactions he had with faculty. It was nice to have a heart-to-heart discussion with students anytime, and feels even better to find yourself on the good side of students. Amidst the discussion, and all action around, what hit my mind was a question ‘How did I get this communication skill?’.

Generally, I tend to attribute all learning to two factors: parenting and schooling. In my case, I have not been to school as much. Either have I not gone at all, or I did not attend so much. Reasons were plenty. Some times it was my father’s transferable job, sometimes it was because I did not like the school, and few other times it was because I could not speak English.

Yes! I recall I was against use of English because ‘I‘ could not use it. Acting as if I were rational, the kid me threw tantrums and gave all kinds of reasons why not to learn English. I recall all kinds of efforts my parents had put in to bring a change in my perspective. I don’t recall what worked. But the communication abilities I have today are largely attributed to them. May be I should take this line to say again; Who I am on all good sides is largely attributed to them.

There is another dimension to this which is common to everybody. I have learnt more making mistakes, getting embarrassed, becoming a joke, and standing corrected. Feels funny, but that is the way I improved the use of my words at least. For example, I was once corrected by Peter Cherian, Head HR at Integraph, when I used the word ‘manipulation‘ in a wrong context. I was cautioned by Vandana V, Senior HR at Intergraph, when I was talking without the knowledge of who was listening. I was criticized strongly and sharply for mistakes I made in Dr. Narendranath’s class. Chandu, my ex-boss at ATGOCS, has always maintained that good writers are those who use short sentences. Ashish Pant at Tata Chemicals showed me how to make professional reports. Ravi Meduri at Satyam was an example of how to think ahead and talk proactively. Sharmista Dash at Satyam was an example of caring communication even while she was generally thought of as dominant. Dr. Nalini, my supervisor at GITAM, is a symbol of serenity amidst all tension. There was an instance when Kshema prakash settled an issue on facebook that was triggered due to my incomplete communication. Dr. Krishna Kumar has corrected me for my improper mail communication yesterday. He is perhaps the nicest guy who clearly showed me the difference between good communication and good language. ajaY vegeSna, the name itself shows he brings in a difference in his communication; it is simple, simple and simple. I wish I can be so.

There are so many souls which have taught me how to talk, and there are many others which have shown me how not to be. There are so many I am unable to recall just now (‘recall just now‘ is a phrase I picked up from Dr. Sonali).

All this makes me answer a question that has haunted me for a while, ‘should we always think before we talk?’. Now, I think the answer is ‘Yes, if you can, but no worries if you can’t. There is always a lesson to take away and life always gives you a second chance‘. Incidentally, as I was concluding the post, another student sent a g-talk message saying my blog is her source for learning new words. :D

Life is fascinating. I think I have to add to it and say, learning is fascinating too.

Life on track

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Since my sister’s marriage is settled, I was certain that I might have to travel between Vizag and Hyderabad frequently. My course at Vijayawada made my travel itinerary (as if it is planned!) a little more complicated. One of the things I have learnt travelling so much so frequently is to have a small but sufficient travel kit. Another thing I have learnt is, frankly, to plan my travel. Beyond all this, I began spending time reflecting more about my family, my partner, and to be extended family. I have many cherished experiences as I recall.

Travelling by the fast train–blessed with the luck of getting a window seat, not so blessed in getting the side-upper with my 6-foot plus frame–I have an opportunity to see life as it sets in the cities and villages the train moves. Many things seem to stroke me gently in the soft corner of my mind somewhere; all of those which I can relate myself to. Those colony parks used to be playgrounds when we were fifth graders. Whatever they are now, I have an experience that I am connected to. Those sewerage canals where crotons grew, we gangs jumped in to get those flowers. Thinking of kids now, not many would even smell its stink. I don’t find a fault with them, but the feeling I have now of that experience is something that kids of today would definitely not understand. That school building I saw, with kids just leaving the place, I could recall how eagerly I waited for my parents to pick me up; on other occasions, I moved out with friends to places I was never aware of before. It must be the same for most kids now too, but that experience is more pronounce on my mind. Now, I can’t have my parents pick me up! Difference has grown too large to get any of those moments back.

Tears tipped down my eyes for what my parents have done to me. I have so much and even now I am running with a theme of having experiences. I recall I was the best student as long as I was controlled by my parents. I recall I was a fit athlete when my parents trained me. I recall the moments I shouted at them and gained freedom. How foolish I must have been to think I was getting freedom? What I got to be was an arrogant, uncaring, inconsistent, attention-seeking, and a person questioning things for the pleasure of seeing others troubled to answer. I am changing, I am learning. It is all a virtue of my experiments with life. I have lost too much to be not careful now. My parents stood with me throughout. I am now no where, yet my parents tell me ‘Go ahead with what you believe, we are with you, we believe you‘. Tears run down my eyes.

That I could afford to say ‘I am born to experiment‘, which I have said to many on many occasions as a default response to uncalled suggestions; I know now it was because I was too confident about my parents being with me. How badly I must have taken things for granted, I did not see them suffering! I recall days when we lived in a house that was a little better than shacks, yet I was treated like a prince. I recall days when my father commuted by a bicycle for over 20 kms everyday to earn a little more and buy me good clothes. I recall days when my mother played with me, despite her painful back injury, to see me as a cricketer. I recall days when I fought with them for silly things, when they had surprised with their grand plans for me.

Life reel moved within my head, as my being moved from Vizag to Hyderabad on this trip. I am here for Sri Ramanavami, the biggest festival in my family. It was a success as usual, but this was more special, because this time we had the presence of the to be extended families with us. By next year, my sister and myself would both be married, meeting for this occasion with our partners.

I know now, all good I am is because of my parents, and all bad I am is because I have taken some wrong decisions.

I love you Amma, Naanna, Chellemma.

 

With my partner, Kalyani

Your son, Vinay Chaganti

Staying ‘Disconnected’

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13th and 14th November, 2010 are two special days. These are days on which I have replicated the global media experiment ‘unplugged’ at my campus, GITAM University. The response from the students for this experiment was lukewarm. But the experiment’s/experimenter’s image managed to have eight participants in the study. Staying for a span of 24-hours away from all kinds of digital media technologies was definitely a challenge, and that was evident when 11 out of 19 first self-nominations have dropped out.

I was  the only one with a mobile phone ON. The other details of what happened on these days would qualify for a short story write up. It was eventful. And my learning through the study is much more than I imagined prior to the study. May be, I must say that I was the student for those two days while the participants, my students, became my instructors.

No more my sense now, let me hit on the results. Yes, the study for now hints that Indian students are not so technologically dependent. Various factors contributing to this phenomenon shall soon come out in my research paper. For now, Thank you all, my participants.

Unseen Bond

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They were four different personalities. And more than that, they were a team. One quality which underlines all of them is their reservedness. It manifested differently combined with their personalities. Apart from what the world could superficially see, there was just one more difference. One of four spent a longer time in the organization, and the same person is introverted. These differences were never seen though. For it was a strong bond they shared.

All problems put in front of them would find a solution. However, there was always a conflict within the team before the solution was figured out. It was health on most occasions. Breaking their bond was beyond the sight of the jealous. The strategies devised to break the bond back fired, until one lame problem found its way slipping through the differences. Must be god’s play that most complicated problems arise from the differences. This time the problem took the most disguising shape, communication. To compound further, it made itself not too apparent. Since the team was strong, the problem attacked each one in different times and in a different manner. To make it worse, it presented an opportunity to all those waiting. The strength and the resilience of the bond was the target, but the test was more to the personalities themselves.

The team wilted before the test. The bond found a weak link. After all, that is what they say, ‘a chain is as strong as its weakest link‘. The difference widened further, and split the team. Now, there is one person who is alienated, and it is the one who spent longer time with the organization, the one who is introverted. Interesting and inevitable, the commonality of the others bound them together.

Funny! It is just a matter of time that another problem presents itself identifying the differences in the commonality the new team shared. And god, kindly let them realize that this is the opportunity to learn to trust unconditionally, learn to build relations embracing the differences, and learn to ignore the problems.

Communication is the problem, and it is the solution too.