Comeback

I had always loved writing in this space but somehow I stopped doing it.
One, it was my love for photography for which I devoted more time and created another page. All my energy and dedication was poured on that page. I enjoy writing there.
But, lately I have realized I miss writing here.
Will make a comeback soon!

I lay still, staring at the ceiling, as the pain envelopes around my waist. Trying to relieve the pain I pay attention to the surrounding noises. The house is quiet with my incessant chatter box gone away for play. I try to close my eyes, but somewhere in the sub conscious mind I know that she is waiting for me. So am able to distinctly over hear the conversation of A through the window and her friend calling out for her. And I decide to get moving against the will of my body. Few minutes from now, then I will be again in the midst of pre-schoolers chattering to their hearts content.

Photography and camera

At last, I own a DSLR! I wasn't 100% excited when I actually held it in my hand.
One reason was that I didn't know much of the technicalities of a DSLR camera.
The other, now that I had a DSLR I was compelled to learn about it and couldn't let it sit idle.

I always used to eye on DSLRs whenever I was outdoors taking pictures.
Now, that I have one it doesn't give me much pleasure.
May be it's because I still have to learn a lot about it.
My earlier Sony point- and- shoot and Samsung phone have been greatest companions and still they are till I am completely comfortable with Nikon.

Of course, I would still continue to use my Sony because of its lens' zoom which is much lesser in Nikon.

At present, am completely into learning the 'tips and techniques' of DSLR and have found delight in using the App Instagram.
Am loving both:)))

Looking back

There was a time some 15 years ago when I struggled to operate a computer.
Emails were beginning to catch popularity then but I did not know how open an ID. I did open my email account later but I was always in a dilemma whether I had to go to the same 'cyber cafe' and use the same 'computer' to see my emails again!!!

I did learn some of the basic operations much later and tried my hand in learning 'C' language too but never did I understood the rationale behind learning that computer language.

Of course I laugh at them now but they were very embarrassing then.

Now, I do feel I have come a long way from those embarrassing situations. I am much a learned person now, most of the lessons learnt on my OWN.
Especially so when I have my own blogs and being able to manage them.
From past two days I have worked very hard to give a fresh look to my blogs and also learn to increase the image size of my posts.
Finally, I succeeded with much googling and trial and error.

That's an achievement for me.

It is moments like these which make me wonder about the capacity of our 'Brain' or can also be termed 'Plasticity' of the brain.
It's the capacity to learn, un- learn and re- learn based on what happens in our environment.
It is this super- computer which I need to know more about than the one which is typing these texts.

Like and dislike

It has happened so many times that I liked few people without any particular reason and disliked a few without any evidence for doing so...
And those perceptions have changed vice versa a lot many times.

There is a boy (who is in Grade 4) in the apartment whom I encountered several times last year. He is a boy with special needs.
Being a remedial teacher and after knowing that he is kid with special needs I avoided talking either to him or to his mother.

It's difficult to understand what made me do so.

I presumed that he was a child with lot of behavioural issues (which he ought to have considering his condition). I even thought how would I handle such a kid if by any chance approached me for help.

But, lately I have been taking English remedial classes for this boy!

One fine day, his mother approached me for assistance for coping up with his English and attention difficulties and I did not find a reason to say NO.
So, I accepted.

Few days took me to understand him and his behaviour (it's more difficult as he is slightly autistic).

Now, we seem to be getting along very well with each other.

He doesn't miss a single class, gets upset if the class is suspended without any notice, speaks a few English sentences which he failed to do earlier, loves watching his favourite Brain gym video. What more, he even wishes me good evening and thank you while entering the class and walking out.

He even laughs which I thought he seldom did. Though he does that controlling himself (do not know why), but he looks very cute when he does.

Collection

Now, that I have all the time in the world to leisurely attend to some tasks which were left behind untouched gave me the chance to arrange and rearrange the collection of postage stamps in my album (not to forget the new look that has been given to S's coin collection).

As a school-goer I collected hundreds of stamps- begging, borrowing and even stealing (sometimes when the stamp seemed very expensive) from the posts of others' house.

Though collecting stamps and obtaining them, now, is an easy task with the deposits at the post office. Then, it was not known and the money too to buy them was insufficient.

So all that beg, borrow, steal concept.

But I do remember one of my cousin who promised to send me postage stamps from the US every time I wrote a letter to him (In English).

Being a student of Kannada medium class I had difficulty with English, not so much with writing but with speaking.

With hesitation, I had it started and he kept his promise by sending about 20-30 stamps of different nationalities each time.
I never asked him where did he get his supply of those beautiful stamps from.

Today, flipping those pages gives a different kind of joy and has given me the idea of showcasing them through this blog which I intend to begin soon.

The body felt tired and strained not wanting to move much.
Wherever it moved- each room, each corner cried for cleanliness which the mind overlooked to register.
The mind was without any thoughts.
Both the body and mind craved for a cozy corner to savour the quietness of the house.
The hands picked up a new book from the book shelf which read 'Atlas Shrugged' (half-read many times)not being very sure if it had to be done so as the book contained more than thousand pages.
Eyes focused hard on the small font of the text.
They rolled through the first page- John Galt, Eddie Willers; except the names nothing was registered.
Lazily, fingers tapped on the Android phone lying nearby.
Scrolling up and down the song list, it finally played a romantic number from a Hindi movie.
The ears had listened to the song long back and had liked.
So, it was replayed.
At the same time, the hands needed a paper and pen to jot down these meandering.
The fingers were not prepared to use the keyboard to type.
They searched for a piece of paper finding upon which they moved to produce this post of the blog.

Rest

After getting my much needed rest, I realised how tired I was and I didn't realise it in the rush of my work, school and home.

I am feeling so good to have spent a lazy day amidst the daily routine.

I am waiting for the next three months to pass on soon.

Teaching (or learning) Math

I have always been bad with numbers.
Except the basic operations of addition and multiplication all other calculations make me phobic.
Sometimes I even thought if I were dyscalculic (may be in some respect yes!!!).
Though, being with S I have learnt a great deal now.

When I started taking classes for my student 'N' I concentrated mainly on English.
But her mother explained that not only English but Math too was a great area of concern.
She wanted me to teach both the subjects.
Now, I couldn't admit to her that I was so bad in Math especially even at the third grade level.

I decided to give it a try, though I started it much later when she showed some improvement in English.
At present, to my amusement I am not just teaching her Math but I have learnt a great deal while being in that process. (I must thank S too here as he has given me lot of ideas).
I can easily connect one area to another related topic, can prepare a lesson plan and make it interseting.
As for N's mother is concerned, she is very happy that her daughter has shown changes (if not lot yet considerably)in her 'attitude' towards the subject. This attitude change can make a lot of difference. This who once hated the subject likes to learn the same numbers now!

And I am glad that I too changed my attitude from 'NOT teaching MATH' to 'YES I will teach MATH'.

I know I am not much of a social person. It doesn’t mean I do not like going out or interacting with people. But the fact remains true that I’m too selective in making friends and I cannot start a conversation easily with new people. The criteria for someone to be my friend are too many and I am aware of the fact that I am being too judgemental in this matter which I cannot resist.

Overcoming these obstacles even if I make friends, it’s always at a time when they are about to move away from- either the location or the city or the country where I am residing. It’s astonishing how it happens all the time.

It pains when I’ve found a person in whom I can confide and that person departs. May be that’s the way this world works all the time. It’s an indication; a sign that there are other people too who meet the same frequencies as mine and I just need to look for them and broaden my outlook while I am judging them.

Divided attention

I seem to be very bad at multi-tasking.
If am talking over the phone, I can do just that and not mix it with any other work.
If am listening to music, I just concentrate on the lyrics and the music and not do anything else.
But, there are people who are so good at carrying out multiple tasks at a time.
They drive, same time listen to music plus attend a phone call.
People listen to music while they read etc etc.,
Especially people belonging to this generation are very good at this.
I do not know,though, how much of the information that they gather during this inter-changing activities is really fruitful.

Many researchers quote that this type divided attention tasks though good in some respects, but may hamper the span of attention (the amount of time that is given to focus on a subject)of an individual.
The Internet has a big role to play in bringing down the span of attention of people, with people easily and quickly jumping from one web page to the other to find loads of information.

Of course, there are many people who are good at multi- tasking and have very good span of attention too.
Ultimately what matters is the quality of information that one is gathering.

Diary

I have stopped writing my personal diary these days.
The only time i do feel like writing it is when i am upset or sad.
But then, i do not want to fill my diary with those gloomy notes.
I'd rather leave the pages blank instead of making it a manuscript of my erratic moods.

Silence

This thought has crossed my mind more than once...
Is talking over cell phone so important? Be it walking on the road or driving or just waiting for someone or something, almost all the time.
Or is it just a way of letting know that this gadget has become one of the most important part of their lives?
If people don't have anybody to talk to over the phone they would rather just listen to the music. Again, it's a sign of trend or necessity i do not know.
Don't these people want to be left alone with themselves atleast for some time in a day? Can't silence and your inner self be your company?

Not these days, i guess!!!

First rain drops

Both me and my daughter were happy to witness the first rain drops of the season especially in Hyderabad as it is terribly hot during summer.
As it rained, we both stood in the balcony, stretched our palms, caught hold of the drops and played along.
But what amused me at the same time was, not a soul was around to enjoy those refreshing drops of water.
Everyone was either indoors or were out for their work and those who were indoors came out, sneaked, collected their clothes that hung for drying and shut the door again.
Nonetheless, it was a different day for me and my girl and it gave a hope that the summer will be soon over.
But alas! how untrue that was.

Changing fate

Long back i had read a witty poem about 'a person who visits a dentist and dreads that his fate might be completely changed after his dental treatments'.
That's the way he describes the pain he undergoes while the dentist performs his procedures.
The pain is so immense that he had to clench his palm very tight while his nails poke against it.
This, in turn, might erase the fine lines in his palm and would alter his fate forever!!!

Every time i visited a dentist (which i did very often) i would remember this poem and laugh.
For the last three years i was happy that didn't have to meet a dentist but the joy was short lived as i had to meet him again recently.

Of course these days the procedures get over very fast and easily compared to few years ago, so the dentist cannot change one's 'fate' in these days. But the fillings and the subsequent 'crowns' fixed on the tooth can definitely change the way people smile or laugh (as they have to open their mouth and everyone can see the 'steel tooth' instead of natural one.)

And this time when i opened my mouth in front of the dentist he himself aptly defined it as being a 'dentist's paradise'!!!

I think my unfinished tasks tend to get sorted out more easily when i am angry.
When i am angry, i don't think twice whether to finish the job or not but just start doing it.
May be that's the reason it's get done more faster too.
But getting angry only for the reason of getting my undone jobs finished isn't a good idea either.

It annoys me when I have to introduce myself to someone twice.
I can understand the situation when it's a big crowd and people can hardly remember one's name and basic information.
But I meet someone personally, do the initial introduction and the other person fails to register it.
I meet the same person again in the next few days and the person asks- 'Am sorry I didn't get your name?' and 'What do you do, working?'

For someone who is fond of travelling and going places the list of "Places to see" never ends. A new destination, a new land awaits to be explored and savoured. Yet, there are so many other places which have already been treaded upon once and have even faded from memory's corner. And those places too need to be revisited. For all these, both time and money fall short.

People seldom use camera's with film rolls these days. They get a fairly good digital camera with the same price as a film camera. Likewise, people no laonger take the pains of getting the pictures printed and arranging them in an album. They take refuge in less laborious task of copying them in a CD and watching them on their computer screen.
But there's a different kind of joy involved when the photos are flipped through an album. It gives more personal touch, makes you a part of the memory itself. The connection gets lost somewhere between the keys while watching the same pictures on a computer screen.

Staying at my parent's means living without any mobile network or an Internet connection. The other modern facilities- as a phone, TV or electricity seldom work due to heavy downpour. The slow paced days end here at late evenings. For the one who's been sheltered here since their childhood wouldn't have much problem with this set up. But for people like us it could be quite depressing, especially gazing at the incessant rainfall day in and day out.