The video of the Interview on Tamil Culture and History reform the already existing view of the edited History of my 10th class. Because the emphasis was on the British influence on the Indians who became a diaspora in their own land.
Ranveer’s Interview with Keerthy on Tamil Culture, Politics, Ethics, and Society
This conversation opened the fact that I knew very little about my own culture which I was unconsciously following and occasionally trapping over my own twisted conclusions. The need now to address my own history with a narrator’s eyes seems a little to late. But better late than never.
The Final Batch of 1990 – Anglo-Indian Syllabus
My batch was the last class to write the Anglo-Indian Syllabus State run public exams. The following year my school shifted to Anglo-Matriculation Syllabus. I was nervous about the exam and clearing it was a tantamount Herculean task.
Though, I did enjoy the five exam papers that were asked to write. The cycle tests and mock exams helped me to pace my exam paper and give it my best. Later, I learnt much from the regress training to be ready for other exams.
In my college days, I perfected the test taking and I always told myself to enjoy the process and result is not so important. From that 10th Public exam, I had learnt and studied with enthusiasm to enjoy the process of education.
Significance of Result vs. Process
Around my 10th my light outside read was Jiddu Krishnamurthy’s ‘Significance of Education’ which had greatly influenced by perspective of education and being educated. The process is most important than the result of it.
Result is something that validates the effort put by the individual whereas the process is the joy and satisfaction that is felt while doing our best in each situation. For me education is continuous and non-stop. You learn at all given opportunities.
The shift from result to process took some time for me. But when it did happen, I became another person altogether. Even today, I am learning something because it pricks my interest, and I am fully engaged in the process, and learning is a natural causative of the process.
Different Types of Learning
There are many types of learning and some of them are:
- Bird’s Eye View Learning
- Worker Bee Learning
- Worker Ant Learning
- Worker Fish Learning
- Elephant Memory Learning
And much more style of learning taken from different species on planet earth.
Bird’s Eye View Learning
The purpose of having an overview of a topic much like the Executive summary paragraph giving a gist of the topic. In such a learning you look out for summary view of the topic to become aware of the general and overall structure of the activity for which such a learning is undertaken.
Worker Bee Learning
The purpose for this learning is to collect when the sun shines and then to store in the hive of mental records. This process allows for mechanical collection and storing; but the experience of collection will provide immense joy and happiness. As the bee processes the collected nectar from the flower. Some amount of processing happens to the collected information and facilitate the learning process.
Worker Ant Learning
The purpose of this learning is to carry much heavier information and collect for the later date needs. These could be like a huge encyclopaedia that comes in handy during hung times in life’s projects. The ant collects for winter, but the actual collection may not be used immediately, though for a later date.
Worker Fish Learning
The purpose of this learning is to be in one’s element while learning. The act of immersion in the subject or topic leads to a learning that partly an obsession. Such learners are often scientifically inclined toward the subject. The learning adds more value with experiential learning on the topic.
Elephant Memory Learning
The purpose of this learning is an offshoot of experiential worker fish learning. The more the immersion on a topic does not automatically mean to be an experiential learning of the specific movements of history; but a way to wade across the data collated over the years of archival research. Remembering the node of all the points and restructuring the past in a new way calls for elephantine memory which is slow but highly itched as permanent markers of human memory.
General View of Other Learning
There are other learning views that use a combination of the above learning types and sometimes are a variation of the previous views of learning. Whichever way is been used to learn history. The tall tale of history is manipulated by the winner more than the losers. The history of India needs to be seen differently and approached with a varied insight.
Turbulent Flavour of Southern History
The fact that History class, during school days, was filled with real human challenge to stay awake and they are usually post-lunch class, since the sciences took up all the morning classes. The first time, I was fascinated with History would be when I watched the Egyptian stories of the pyramids and the secrets in hidden within.
I remember watching Discovery Channel and History Channel post college, it was such an immersion in the experiences of past. The flavours of the past are innumerable, and all comes with some uniqueness and some commonality, that endear to the learner. The learning happens well when it is watched and learned. The school should be using the visual aids to anchor-in the lessons of history for the modern-day children.
History with a New Perspective
I believe it is hard to have a neutral perspective while narrating the tales of human existence. Yet, it brings out so many life’s lessons which should have taught the present-day leading countries that humanity’s existence is hinged upon how peacefully a problem is resolved.
The same mistakes of the past are made to save face while peace is just non-existent in the current day scenario. After two world wars, none of us any the better in stopping the war at large. Some issue or the other becomes the cause for the strife and the bloodbath. Yet, I hope for peace even when I cannot see a single feather of the peace bird. Seems like someone has shot the peace bird in process of maintaining peace.
Itinerant Storyteller 