"Each week, try to choose a new location" ❤️

Finding Awe!

#inspirational

I was so happy to listen to a podcast by Mel Robbins last night – thanks a lot to Shree for sharing it with me, and on a heart-warming note, she also said that she strongly recommends this podcast for our students. Way to go, Shree! 

Something that makes me so happy and in fact excites me quite a lot is when our vibrant students – past or present – share from their reading or listening lists.

Ms. Shree especially scores high on the list!

A few current PG students also shared from their reading lists with me yesterday. This includes Ms. Swarna who shared with me her reading from Edward B. Titchener. Way to go dear readers!

Coming back –

This particular episode of the podcast interested me lots as it featured Dr. Dacher Keltner, who is one of the world’s leading experts on the science of happiness, meaning, purpose, and awe.

It was such an engaging conversation, where both Mel and Keltner were at their spontaneous best! Dr. Keltner says that, finding your life’s purpose doesn’t require a massive life overhaul! rather, it is rooted in our everyday micro-moments and reconnecting with our authentic self!

Dr. Keltner, citing research, says that, even that tiny, seemingly insignificant occurrences - like noticing a beautiful sunset, sharing a good laugh, listening to a favourite song, or having a meaningful conversation - shape our happiness and calm our nervous systems far more than grand achievements.

Whenever we feel lost or disconnected, the podcast suggests that, we look backward to our childhood days, and ask ourselves what naturally lit us up as a child, or who inspired us, thus leaving breadcrumbs that point directly to our inherent strengths and purpose.

Seeking out experiences of awe and wonder in our daily life is a powerful way to gain clarity, step out of a stressed mindset, and feel more connected to the world around you, says Keltner.

True purpose is a continuous practice of understanding ourseves and leaning into the things that make us feel the most alive!

In fact, this Mel episode serves as a reminder for us slow down, practice gratitude for the little things, and let our natural curiosities guide our sense of meaning in life.

Well, after listening to the podcast, I wanted to read more about Keltner and came across this lovely book.

The book is titled, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.

What I like about the book is that, Keltner takes just one emotion – awe - and he applies an intense scientific methodology to it!

Tap into your childlike sense of wonder. Young children are in an almost constant state of awe since everything is so new to them. During your walk, try to approach what you see with fresh eyes, imagining that you’re seeing it for the first time.

Take a moment in each walk to take in the vastness of things, for example in looking at a panoramic view or up close at the detail of a leaf or flower. Go somewhere new.

Each week, try to choose a new location. You’re more likely to feel awe in a novel environment where the sights and sounds are unexpected and unfamiliar to you. That said, some places never seem to get old, so there’s nothing wrong with revisiting your favourite spots if you find that they consistently fill you with awe. The key is to recognize new features of the same old place.

says Keltner.

A few other lovely lines from the book -

Wonder, the mental state of openness, questioning, curiosity, and embracing mystery, arises out of experiences of awe!

In our studies, people who find more everyday awe show evidence of living with wonder. They are more open to new ideas. To what is unknown. To what language can’t describe. To the absurd. To seeking new knowledge.

In fact, it is hard to imagine a single thing you can do that is better for your body and mind than finding awe outdoors. Doing so leads to the reduced likelihood of cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, diabetes, depression, anxiety and cancer.

“We can do whatever we want on this planet, I remember thinking, but the world will always win—so we might as well build as much joy, real joy for all people while we’re here.”

“Our daily diary findings suggest that these great minds and cultures were onto something: the wonders of life are so often nearby”.

Yet another interesting takeaway from the book is that, awe is NOT a luxury reserved for those with the wealth to travel. Rather, awe can be found in a few minutes of daily observation, those micro-moments, such as noticing the play of light on a leaf, witnessing a stranger’s generosity, or going for an “awe walk” in a garden.

Awe! How cool is it? 😊

An Awe-walk or an Awe-drive!

Thank you dear Shree for this lovely podcast, that helped me connect with this lovely book. 😊

A lovely little nostalgic note: Well, Shree happens to be one of our best students ever! I remember having nominated her as Group Leader for her combined class for Part II – PbT & Zoology Class in 2005, when I happened to be their English Prof! Back in those good ol’ days when we used to have group discussions – once every Day Order cycle! 😊

You may want to look up that past post from 21 years ago - November 2005, on our past post HERE.

Paper Tiger vs Real Tiger ❤️

While Others Catch Up, We’ve Been Leading!

The MCC Language Legacy

#newspaperinlearning

25th July 2026

I happened to read an article in today’s Times of India, Chennai Edition, on a paradigm shift across academia, especially in Chennai’s renowned Engineering colleges, urging their students to completely drop regular academic courses in their seventh semester if they clear three levels of a foreign language certification!

The article highlights the four famous foreign languages that are being prioritised by Chennai’s Higher Educational Institutions.

German and Japanese, are prioritised explicitly because those countries have ageing populations and hence there’s a desperate need for young immigrant workers.

Similarly, RMK and Anna University are introducing Mandarin and Korean with an aim to capture upcoming jobs in the VLSI-based chip manufacturing sector, targeting Taiwanese and South Korean tech giants.

The reasons are not far to seek!

Mastering a foreign language gives Indian graduates a significant edge in the global job market. For example, knowing Japanese helped a civil engineering graduate secure a ₹30 lakh per annum job, which is vastly higher than standard domestic offers.

Engineering colleges and universities in Chennai (such as VIT, Anna University, HITS, and SRM Easwari) have been integrating foreign languages into their official curricula. Surprisingly, some have even made it a mandatory credit course!

Beyond just classroom teaching, institutions are encouraging students to form foreign language clubs and host cultural events. Some colleges are even collaborating with foreign embassies to bring in native teachers and establish dedicated language centres.

So what about Arts & Science Colleges in Chennai?

Since the report doesn’t feature Arts & Science Colleges, this blogger thought of filling in the missing gap. 😊

Well, MCC has been hosting native Korean Professors for the past 12 years, to teach Korean language skills for our students. The next batch starts in early August 2026.

Moreover, more than 1100 students have been trained in the Korean language over these years and a sizeable many amongst them have also found openings in the Korean job market / higher education sector and /or research, over the years.

Also, MCC has been offering German and French for more than five decades now.

As eminent critic Scupin Richard rightly points out,

Chasing a degree makes a student a timid ‘Paper Tiger’. On the other hand, chasing skills – like language skills make them a real tiger in flesh and blood, capable of confidently facing the job market, - a philosophy that MCC has stood for, even many decades ago, before they could make into the morning headlines today!

In short, we are not just participating in the ‘language-focus’ trend; we’ve been quietly leading it!

And how! 😊

Degrees Without Destinations | The Looming Gen Z Labour Crisis?

Why Higher Education is Failing Our Youth

#newspaperinlearning

I happened to read a very insightful article in today’s Editorial Section of The Hindu.

The article focusses on three cardinal issues facing society today, namely, youth unemployment, lack of skilling, and the gender divide, and frames them as a systemic failure in the transition from education to the workforce.

What alarmed me the most was the article’s focus on the crisis facing Generation Z (born 1997–2012) compared to Millennials.

Firstly, the statistics presented by the authors point towards a shocking reality – that higher education today is not currently functioning as a reliable gateway to employment.

Among Gen Z males with graduate-level education or above, unemployment stands at a staggering 29%.

For educated Gen Z females, it is an even more alarming 36.9%.

Secondly, the authors also highlight the fact that the economy is producing educated youth faster than it can create suitable jobs, leading to profound frustration and inefficiency on the part of the youngsters.

Thirdly, the article shows the disproportionate burden placed on young women. While 41.7% of Gen Z males are in the labour force, a massive 27.1% of Gen Z females are engaged exclusively in domestic duties (compared to a mere 0.32% of males).

Fourthly, the quality of employment is also quite poor. Only 20.1% of Gen Z workers are covered by social security, and an overwhelming 79.9% lack it. Which means, most young people are entering the workforce without basic protections or formal job contracts.

Finally, to sum it all up, the article is an urgent warning that without stronger college-to-work pathways - such as vibrant apprenticeships, better formal hiring incentives, and structural support for women – the problem can translate into a huge social and economic crisis, the writers opine! 

Tasting Our Words | “Expensive Emotions Ever”

“Tasting Our Words” | “Linguistic Accountability” 

Expensive Emotions Ever

Authored by Ms. Swarna Rekha | II MA English

Book Review

Swarna Rekha’s first publication titled, Expensive Emotions Ever makes a very engaging and unputdownable read for any many reasons.

Firstly, the book doubles up as a moral compass and an ethical guide for modern society, by diagnosing the ‘ethical shortcomings’ of our society - especially in the digital age - and suggests that the remedies for these shortcomings can be found only in our traditional values.

Secondly, the author highlights the ‘normalisation of cruelty’ in modern internet culture. In her chapter titled, “Kindness,” she points to “memes, reels, trolls, and trends” as platforms where people routinely exploit the insecurities of others for their cheap entertainment.

Moreover, she vehemently condemns the modern habit of “spilling the tea” (gossiping) and urges readers to refuse to sit at tables where people are being judged without empathy.

Thirdly, the book provides a sharp critique of contemporary dating cultures. Swarna argues that modern love has become a “trend” characterised by competition, comparison, and materialism. She further notes that “Gen Z considers love to be materialistic and lustful,” lacking true emotional connection.

As a corrective measure, she offers a possible solution from her own standpoint, stating that, a return to a pre-Gen Z standard of love is the need of the hour, a love that requires non-materialistic effort, healthy communication, and the willingness to support a partner through imperfections rather than demanding perfection.

Fourthly, Swarna highlights the harmful consequences of embracing a ‘throwaway culture’. She observes that, the modern era has somehow embraced the throwaway culture - a tendency to abandon difficult situations or relationships rather than work through them.

The chapter titled, “Don’t replace; instead, repair,” directly tackles this ‘throwaway culture’ mentality, by beseeching the reader to look out for effortless replacements when a relationship faces friction. The author argues that constantly replacing people leads to a loss of loyalty and recurring guilt. Instead, she positions the effort to “repair and reunite” as an essential ethical duty that builds stronger, more permanent human bonds.

Fifthly, a strong “ethical orientation” forms the golden thread that weaves the book together into a harmonious whole. A significant portion of the book is dedicated to outlining core human values like honesty, respect, compassion, responsibility, and perseverance. In addition, she also ensures that these are not treated as obscure or idealistic theories, but as practical, daily requirements.

Sixthly, one particular concept that I personally liked very much was her emphasis on linguistic accountability. The book holds her readers strictly accountable for their communication. Hence, the author urges her readers to “Taste your words before you spill them out,” thereby addressing the impulsive tendency for reactive, careless speech. She also emphasises that negative words can cause deep psychological harm and hence insists that any verbal promises must be consistently backed by tangible actions, asserting that this alignment of word and deed reflects the “truest version of yourself”.

Seventhly, the book abounds with a lot of engaging Acronym-based definitions, to define standard emotions. For example, she frames LOVE as “Longing for Opportunities where Venture meets Empathy” and FEAR is characterised as a “Furious Enemy who Admits Risk to Your Confidence”. Again, she personifies Anger as an ‘Alien Invader’, by defining it as “an Alien that Nurtures your Grudge”, thereby foregrounding the fact that, these negative emotions are not a natural biological response, but a parasitic force that needs to be nipped in the bud.

Eighthly, the author has employed a lot of highly engaging literary devices to convey her message across to her readers. For example, in the piece titled, ‘Flowers are personified’, the author uses a garden as an allegory for the human psyche. By assigning specific emotional states to flora - daffodils for happiness, tulips for sadness, daisies for envy - the author creates a microcosm where emotions must learn to coexist.

Again, in her poem titled, ‘Emptiness into Fulfillment’, the internal struggle so beautifully connects with physical sensation. Phrases like “the darkest room without a light” and “wet, cold hands that shivered” effectively foreground the isolating nature of grief, which finally transitions to fulfilling joy when there is a focus on the self! (self-focus).

Finally, to conclude - in an age where human connection is frequently ‘replaced’ rather than ‘repaired’, our deepest emotions remain the most luxurious jewels that we possess! In this regard, Swarna Rekha’s book beautifully reminds us that our deepest emotions are not enemies to be feared, but a delicate garden to be cultivated and celebrated!

The vibrant cover design by Ms. Rakshaya (Ms. Swarna’s classmate) deserves special appreciation. One interesting feature that I observed about the cover design is the central heart, which is represented - not as a solid shape, but constructed from three distinct, petal-like forms, thereby visually representing how different emotions blend to create complex emotions aka expensive emotions.

In that way, the design of the cover beautifully mirrors the content of the book!

“So that was a lesson for me, always keep knocking! Never stop!” ❤️

A Rendezvous with Dr. Merlin Franco on Biocultural Diversity and Global Academia

Council Room, MCC

Wednesday, 15th July 2026

#mccinternationalprogrammes

Dr. Merlin Franco, Senior Assistant Professor, University of Darussalam, Brunei, [MSc Botany, MCC, 2001-2003] was here with us today, Wednesday, 15th July 2026, as part of our Global Alumni Engagement Series, from 3 – 4 pm in the Council Room.

In his hour-long interactions with our deans, faculty members and students, Dr. Franco had a lot of highly engaging anecdotes, interesting reminiscences of his days in MCC, and invaluable insights for students aspiring to study abroad.

So happy to note that many of our Interns and students had very insightful questions for Dr. Franco.

Here goes a few interesting excerpts from the Interview –

Sir, how did you get into this famous public University in Brunei?

Well, it wasn’t that difficult. Educational institutions all over the world we tend to operate in similar ways. So it is just a matter of cultural adjustment. For me, personally, I look upon every day as a great learning opportunity.

I found this fellowship opportunity in Curtin University, Australia – a public research university based in Bentley, Perth, and I pitched in a proposal, saying that I wanted to work with indigenous communities, studying the relationship between culture, indigenous languages and nature, which comes under a paradigm called biocultural diversity. So i applied for that, then I got selected, and everything happened so quickly. And from there I applied to Brunei, and that’s how it happened.

On possible areas for research abroad…

Southeast Asia is in the crosswinds of two major super powers - China and the United States. Biodiversity is one field where you will never have a dearth of job opportunities. It also comes with certain requirements – like relocating, travelling all around the world, etc.

One of the most important challenges facing academia today is - how can you bridge the natural sciences and social sciences? Strangely, they don’t seem to talk to each other except like a few of us, we are doing our best to engage across disciplines. Otherwise, we hardly talk to each other now, although all of us of nature lovers!

You have English Literature professionals, you have psychologists, you have geography specialists, you have environmental scientists, and we all work on biodiversity and environmental studies like a field, and as we go ahead, we realise that we are all talking about the same thing! Sadly, we don’t work together.

Now, the future is going to be for those people who understand both of these and bring these two together.

So the policy interface is going to be very important if you can understand how human beings relate to biodiversity. There’s going to be a huge scope for application in the field of sustainability.

In the sciences, we learn about how habitat heterogeneity contributes to language diversity.

In Borneo, you can see it happening right before you ask now. You have languages that have all originated in the last 100 years. And it is so beautiful - you could be in a landscape surrounded by four different settlements.

You know, when we live in a hugely populated country you see hundreds of people per day. As you walk in Ranganathan Street, you see at least a thousand people per minute. The pitfall of that is that - we take human resources for granted - we step on a person, and we don’t even say sorry, but in Brunei, they give a lot of importance to human life and human emotions. So when they realise you have been hurt, people can go out of their way to ensure that they your grievances are redressed.

On how a letter to MCC, and a proposal to a University Abroad were turning points in his life…

Sometimes when you are in your lowest point in your life, you become bold enough to do the unthinkable. So I haven’t been to MCC before that, but I have known about MCC a lot, its quality of teaching, etc. But I was also disappointed that I couldn’t get in, and it was already one month past the admission and then one fine morning, I woke up and I thought I should write to Dr. Livingston, the then HoD, Dept of Botany.

In my letter I wrote, why I was attracted to MCC. Because institutions are very keen to know how you would make use of their resources, and also because we also don’t want to ruin somebody else’s chance, right?

Imagine if MCC had invested on me, and after three months I had discontinued the course and gone? That’s hence institutions are very keen to know why you wish to join them. Secondly, I remember having mentioned in my letter, ‘How’ it would be helpful for me.

We never think about that, especially when we are young, we just assume that the door is closed.

Maybe somebody left the job or left the seat and there was a vacancy, and you’re approaching at the right time. So that was a lesson for me, always keep knocking! Never stop!

As regards the proposal –

The proposal is very important! It’s the same as your research interest! I laugh at myself when I think back upon the time when I wrote a proposal for the famous ethnobotanist Hunt –

Hunt was quite famous and he was very much interested in my research that I was doing with indigenous people. He sent me a long list of emails, and finally he had asked me to send him my research interest.

I just wrote him back a sentence – I am interested in so-and-so and so!

Well, that’s because I didn't know that when people ask for your research interest, they are asking for your research statement. So a research statement is a highly researched, meticulously developed research argument. And that’s where you shine.

That’s where you show that you have done your homework, and you have clearly thought where your research career is going to be. You have all your hypothesis in mind, the trends that you have picked up or whatever you want, and then you defend it, and then you say that you are the right person to do this, and that you’re really passionate about this. This complements your research proposal.

A research proposal can be fluid. As for me, there was this opportunity on studying the relationship between language, nature and culture, and I wondered what would a botanist do with that?

How could I contribute?

That’s where my learning experience from the English department and social sciences came in. We have an interface field of inquiry called folk nomenclature or folk taxonomy, like, for instance, when English professionals study about first language acquisition and L1 and L2, and then we ask people, can you please give us 10 words in L1 and then you compare them with L2.

So when I was working with the indigenous community, I realised that you could do the same things with plants. Replace words with the folk names of plants. Now, these folk names of plants are highly condensed forms of local knowledge.

So I argued that I’d be using folk taxonomy and folk nomenclature as an interface between native languages and biodiversity. So much of my literature review was coming from folk classification, Indigenous language studies, and language diversity theories.

And so I was able to combine ethnobiology and language diversity theories, and so that was my proposal,

said Dr. Franco.

And guess what? Dr. Franco is also an accomplished author with Springer, Taylor & Francis, and an acclaimed novelist as well. He has written the much-popular novel titled, A Dowryless Wedding. The novel is a satirical comedy of manners, that follows Franklin, an eco-socialist researcher in Kerala, who faces family chaos and societal backlash when he bravely refuses to accept a dowry for his arranged marriage with Nisha. The book explores the bitter realism and cultural clashes surrounding the patriarchal tradition of dowry in India. You may want to order a copy of the book for yourself HERE on Amazon.

Coming back -

The rendezvous was facilitated by the Deanery of International Programmes, MCC, in association with the Deanery of Research and Development, MCC.

Our vibrant interns with the Office of International Programmes – Ms. Irin Reji Thomas, Mr. Mathew Alex, Ms. Meera Hari, Ms. Rakshaya, and Ms. Vishnupriya coordinated the logistics and the smooth conduct of the event in the Council Room.

The Black Drongo on a "Mission" 💚

Checking the fridge for the fifth time in an hour, 

hoping new snacks magically appear in the stacks! 😉

Today's Birding Delights 💚

 

Into the Wild 💚

 

#intothewildwithrufus

The Asian Green Bee-Eater 💚

 

Meet the Smallest Bird in India 💚

 

Meet the the smallest bird in India – the Pale-billed flowerpecker (also known as Tickell’s flowerpecker).

#intothewildwithrufus

Guess this New Spotting Today! 💚

 

Today's Lovely Birding 💚

 

#intothewildwithrufus