'She's read the latest on Tom Stoppard unless he's not published anything this morning' ❤️

‘To become a doctor she had to be patient for a long time’

Iswarya’s Viva Voce | @ MCC Today

Ms. Iswarya defended her thesis today at the IGH Seminar Hall, MCC. Dr. D. Venkataramanan, Professor of English, University of Madras, was the External Examiner for her viva voce.

What interested me the most today was, the sight of a cheerful gentleman, probably in his early seventies, happily welcoming all of us to Iswarya’s viva voce.

Iswarya defending her thesis

Dr. Ganesh introduced him as her school teacher Mr. Mohan, who had taught English for Ms. Iswarya.

Quite excited, I had a lovely conversation with him for some time, and he said that, he had taught her English from her ninth up until her 12th Standard, in Chettinad School.

He fondly recollected that memorable incident when he was teaching a particular portion from Wordsworth’s Prelude to her ninth standard class, when, right after her class got over, she had come up to him and told him that she wanted to opt for literature.

He had thought - back then - that she was saying it on an emotional spur of the moment resolve!

But then, true to her words, and to the surprise of everyone of us, she enrolled herself for her BA English Literature Programme, he said, with a teacher’s pride and joy on him.

Dr. Ganesh, in his introductory remarks, said - 

Iswarya was simply ‘one of the best research students I've had in my life’.

Usually Research Supervisors would say of their wards - 

‘My ward has come’.

But it was the other way round for me. I used to say - 

‘My guide has come’.

That’s because she gave me assignments. So it was a reverse process. It was Iswarya who guided me through Tom Stoppard, he observed, with such delight.

She's read the latest on Tom Stoppard unless he's not published anything this morning.

Iswarya is a dedicated scholar who never gets convinced that she's done a good job.

You’ll say, ‘It’s enough’. But she’d say, ‘It’s not enough’.

Such an amazing research journey it was.

She also had the rare opportunity of interacting with Tom Stoppard almost a decade ago, when he had come to the Jaipur Literary Festival.

He had approved of the trajectory to her arguments which gave authenticity and credibility to her thesis.

[Tom Stoppard has also written the screenplay for some of the greatest movies of our time, including Shakespeare in Love, Anna Karenina, Enigma, Tulip Fever, and many such films].

One of the Indian examiners who valued her thesis had also remarked that, it was a benchmark of good research.

‘To become a doctor she had to be patient for a long time’, he quipped in his own inimitable style, adding, the greatness of this thesis work is that it’s exhaustive and profound as well.

he said. 

Interestingly, Dr. Venkatramanan, in his opening remarks said that, his father was also a student of MCC, back during the time when Mr. Palanivel Rajan studied here.

He added to say that, Dr. John Varghese, who is now the Principal of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, was his classmate. He also remembered legendary past stalwarts of MCC like Dr. J. Vasanthan, Mr. A. V. Thomas, Mr. Balu Ramanan, up until Dr. Latha, who presently heads the Dept of English at Stella Maris College, Chennai.

Coming back - 

Iswarya’s research was on ‘The Idea of Consciousness’ in Tom Stoppard.

Giving an overview of Consciousness Studies, she also highlighted the growing interest in the field since the 1990s.

The Research Problem: Tom Stoppard’s response to the important contemporary debates on consciousness. Can his ‘vision’ of consciousness provide any resolution to these unanswered questions?

Finding: Stoppard’s insights continue in the anti-materialist tradition of British romanticism, and his concepts ultimately evolve towards an Advaita belief.

Students from II MA English were in full attendance for the viva, and it proved quite a rewarding day for everyone who had participated in the viva.

Ms. Iswarya, flanked by her Research Supervisor and her School Teacher

Dr. Mekala Rajan, Dr. Venkatramanan & Dr. Ganesh

Here’s wishing Iswarya the best, in all her literary endeavours and scholarly pursuits as well.

'With a heavy heart, but with a firm resolve, I said Yes!'

The Real Secret Behind the Australian World Cup Win!

A Difficult Decision | Pat Cummins

21 November 2000 ❤️

#memoriesfromdiaries #inspirational

In the first week of November 2000, I had made a difficult decision!

To stop reading magazines and comics and to completely stop watching TV, until the time I cleared my UGC-NET/JRF!

My personal diary entry dated 21st November 2000

It was such a difficult decision you see!

Since magazines, comics and TV were the only modes of entertainment for us back then! 😊

Dad, who was Professor in Government service, had already told me about how UGC-NET has been made mandatory for teaching in Colleges/Universities across India, and clearing NET requires a lot of dedication and commitment, he had so lovingly advised me!

Now, I had to take a call! I had to take a resolve!

I was doing my MA in English at that point of time. So I resolved to take the difficult decision of requesting dad to sell off our Television, until I cleared my NET/JRF!

Back then, one of my major visual distractions was the TV, you see! 

And well, Dad was quite happy with my decision and in fact he was highly supportive and appreciative of it as well.

It so happened, that, even while I was excitedly watching the Test series on TV, Francis, [our family friend] rang me up to convey the news that, he’d got a person who was interested in purchasing our TV.

And with a heavy heart, but with a firm resolve, I said YES! 

That’s how we dispensed with our TV Set for Rs. 2000/- in November 2000!

Well, to be honest, it was one of the most difficult decisions of my life! 

But the next one year saw me highly focussed in my studies. I had a kinda NET war room, which had books of all hues for my NET preparation.

And exactly a year later, in December 2001, I was rewarded! 

Yes! I had cleared my NET in my very first attempt!

And in a few months from then, I got into my dream vocation - Teaching in College!

Well, initially, I thought this diary entry jotted down exactly 23 years ago, on this self-same November, ain’t gonna prove to be of much value today. So I didn’t want to make a post out of it.

But then, the inspiration for this post, is a past tweet by Australian Men’s Cricket Team Captain Pat Cummins, that he had made exactly a year ago, on 15th November 2022, in which he states that - 

he had made a difficult decision in November 2022.

Pat's Tweet on 15th November 2022

The decision to miss next year’s (2023 season) IPL, since his focus from henceforth was on the Ashes Series and the World Cup!

And in an interview quite soon after, he had also defined the year ahead - 2023 - as a ‘career-defining’ year for him and his players!

Fast forward to exactly a year later – November 2023 – Pat is now basking in the glory of having won a World Test championship, a successful Ashes series in the UK and now an awesome ODI World Cup triumph against hot-favourites India!

‘You don’t want to look back at the end of your cricket career to think you didn’t give it your best crack,’ he had observed, last year. 

What a beautiful line, ain’t it?

Yes! Giving it your best crack, requires a few difficult decisions on our part.

The decisions might seem difficult now! But the rewards will be immense in exactly a year from now!

James Clear, author of the inspirational Atomic Habits, says –

It doesn’t matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success.

How true!

Like Pat Cummins, whose difficult decision was rewarded three-fold, I’m sure your difficult decision will fetch you three-fold returns, in exactly a year from now!

You bet!

PS: You may want to read more on James Clear’s motivational read titled, Atomic Habits in our past post HERE.

Screenshot: cricket.com.au

'If you whip a dog while a violin is played...'

Jimmy bites Jumbo | Jumbo Whimpers

#memoriesfromdiaries

22 November 1996

Since the second week of November 1996, I had enrolled myself for my driving lessons, with a good driving school in town.

The Standard Gazel

The driving school’s proprietor - being a family friend - took that extra care to teach me well, the nuances and the intricacies of driving.

On this particular day, he taught us how to apply the reverse gear. I tried it out twice, and met with some degree of success!

Back then, our driving instructor, had the good ol’ Standard Gazel, in which we’d learnt the basics of driving!

Manufactured in Chennai’s own car manufacturing hub at Perungalathur, the Standard Car company’s Chennai plant was operational from 1951 to 1988.

The ‘Standard’ Herald company competed with the likes of Hindustan Ambassador (which had a cult following, and also the prestige of being a status symbol in the 1960s up until the 1990s). And then there was the Premier Padmini as well.

Interestingly, the Ambassador alone sported the unique, one-of-its-kind column shift [wherein the gear shift lever is mounted to the left of the steering column], while other cars usually had the floor shift.

The column shift was preferred in cars, as it gave more space in the front seat for ‘added passengers’ as well. 😊

However, for ‘L’ boards like me, we preferred the floor shifts, as they were easier to learn, and had faster response time while driving.

On an aside, there’s some good news for all ye Ambassador lovers – Good ol’ Amby is being relaunched in India next year. Ravi Saare.. are you listening? 😊

Coming back to a sentimental incident on sentient beings, that had happened on this fateful day –

Our pet dog Jumbo was such a sensation with everyone in our street, you see! However, there was another dog in the neighbourhood, which never got along well with Jumbo. He was Jimmy. 🐕

On this particular day, Jimmy badly bit Jumbo, to such an extent that Jumbo couldn’t even walk properly for a few days after that!

The words ‘whimper’ and ‘dog’ (that I’ve used to jot down this incident), immediately bring to mind, the Father of Modern Philosophy – Rene Descartes and his weird observations on animals, with particular reference to dogs!

To Descartes, one has to be human in order to enjoy experiences and feelings.

Shocking, ain’t it?

Animals, to Descartes, are really machines, or biological robots, without any mind. [Often referred to, as the Bête-machine doctrine].

According to his famous mind-body dualism hypothesis, the mind is a non-physical, non-spatial substance in itself. Moreover, the mind is conscious, not the body!

The human self - the person - is essentially the mind, and NOT the body.

The mind has free will, the ability to control and to cause the human body to act the way it wills!

To Descartes then, since human minds [oops… beings] 😊 are capable of thought and reasoning, we must have minds, while animals don’t!

He tells us that –

If you whip a dog while a violin is played, in course of time, it will whimper and whine to the music!

That’s hence, in his Discourse on Method (1637), Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” [a human].

It is also said that, Descartes had once kicked a pregnant dog and explained its whimpers as mere automatic expressions of a machine.

In another legend, he “nailed his wife’s dog to a board plank for vivisection” in order to prove to her that it was just a machine!

One doesn’t know how true these anecdotes are! However, Descartes stands quite disproved in some of his reductionist propositions or rather presuppositions, for sure!

Pic. courtesy for Standard Gazel: teambhp

Oh Deer! ❤️

In Today's Chennai Edition of Times of India

 

Meet Your Illustrious Alumni on Saturday, 25th November 2023 @ MCC ❤️

 

I Accidentally Poke Jaison! Jaison shouts out, ‘Ooooh’

Class Seminars & Student Reactions 😊

#MCCSchoolDays #Hosteldays

#memoriesfromdiaries

22 November 1994

Morning Jogging Resumes for Hostelers

Our School's Lovely Playground

After the brief respite from the rains that were lashing the city left, right and centre - for the past two weeks - today the skies looked all clear for our wardens to resume their routine duties of waking us all up for our regular morning jogging time. 😊

Since our blessed coffee time always followed our jogging time, we used to enthusiastically go out for our jogging, all the way to the playground!

This was followed by our regular newspaper reading time. Then we all went for our respective classes.

I Accidentally Poke Jaison! Jaison shouts out, ‘Ooooh’

Our Zoology Master was very strict! Especially when it comes to lab-time, he always wanted the boys to behave, and cultivate the proverbial pin-drop silence.

Unfortunately, for me, while busy on dissection mode, I accidentally poked Jaison with the dissection needle, and he impulsively gave out a ‘oooh’. All eyes were turned towards the two of us now.

Master immediately asked me to stand up. Then he told the class, ‘Rufus literally dropped an atom bomb in class today. I’ve not heard this huge noise anytime in the lab’, he remarked.

Then he scolded the boys for shouting in class, ‘without manners’.

Zoology Master Narrates an Incident that happened 15 years ago (in the year 1979!)

Our Zoology master was a very conscientious teacher, known for his exhortations, and real-life examples that he gave for us in class.

On this day also, our Zoology Master narrated an incident that happened in our school, some 15 years ago, in the year 1979.

It was about a student of this school, whose father happened to be a chain smoker. Seeing his father smoke regularly, his son also began to cultivate his father’s habit of smoking. 

The father, felt so sad when he came to know about his son’s smoking habit, and so he came up to his teacher and requested him to advise his son not to smoke!

Hence, after his school hours, when the teacher advised the boy not to smoke cigarettes, the boy’s reply made him shell-shocked. 

The son, in a dejected voice, told the teacher, ‘In order to stop my father from smoking, I cant do anything else, but to smoke!’. The teacher realised where the problem was, and soon called for the father. 

Then father and son, gave a declaration that they will quit smoking that very day itself, he said.

Seminar Blues

Our Science Teachers (we used to call them Masters, viz Chemistry Master, Physics Master etc) used to conduct occasional seminars in our classes, to see how well we’ve understood their subjects.

But, you see, Chemistry was a kinda hard nut to crack for many of us in class!

So when master called out the names of students to come forward and present their papers, each of the boys had their unique, quirky ways of responding to this ‘Catch-22’ kinda situation.

Just presenting a few of them, here on this post.

Samuel Rajesh Rushes to the Loo! 😊

Samuel Rajesh went to the bathroom, the moment he heard master call out his name for the Seminar presentation. 😊

Nawaz, who was king of his domain, as far as our hostel was concerned, suddenly developed stage fear it seems, and so he wanted to escape class. But Darshan, our class monitor, persuaded him to read it out from the book. And so he did.

Chemistry Master Snatches the Papers

Darshan, our class rep, was also class topper. So when he went to the front, and started his presentation, reading out from a few papers, Chemistry Master went up to him, and took away the papers that he was quoting from! 

After his presentation, many students asked him questions, especially Nanda and Piramanayagam, the other toppers in class.

When it was Bharani’s turn to present his paper, he successfully managed his presentation, but when the questions were shot at him, he gave out some blatant excuses saying, the question was not defined in the book at all. 

Unfortunately, for him, Piramanayagam gave out the answer, much to his consternation. Vijay Immanuel also presented his paper today.

Debate Topic, ‘Participation of Youth in Politics’

Later, Karuppiah, (who was asked to give a topic for the next day’s debate) suggested that, we could debate on ‘Participation of Youth in Politics’. While we were discussing points related to the topic, our warden, Mr. Parthipan came up and announced that he would be locking the hostel. So we proceeded back school wards.

I Get Four Wickets Today 😊

Today in cricket, I got the maximum wickets. Our cricket pitch was favourable for spinners, and hence I was roped in by our M1 Class cricket team, for the bowling front. Surprisingly, I got four wickets today, much to the delight of our team mates! 

PS: You may want to read yet another valuable exhortation that our Zoology master had given us, in our past post HERE.

Piramanayagam, my classmate is now a leading Gastroenterologist with Apollo Hospitals, Chennai.

Pic courtesy: MCC School Website & 

Apollo Hospitals Website

"They have this sudden feeling of emptiness after their retirement!"

“They are controlled by their family members”

 #literarygerontology

II MA English | Today in Class

As part of their Paper on Literary Gerontology, we had a discussion in class today on some of the issues faced by the senior citizens.

Students of the II MA English class, were asked to give a maximum of two pertinent issues faced by the elderly.

The students came up with some highly interesting observations, which I’m sure would be of immense help to budding research scholars desirous of working in the field of Literary Gerontology.

Here we go –

Elders today, face a lot of disrespect and insecurities, said ASLINE.

They feel quite neglected during old age, said BEERA.

Most of the time, the elderly are left without company, said DHANAVAISHNAVI.

The elderly are always juggled around by their children, said DIYA.

Senior citizens find it quite difficult to keep pace with technology, said JELSHIYA.

The elderly have a feeling of seclusion, and a feeling of being a burden, said JOANNA.

The elderly don’t have anyone to listen to them, said LAKSHMI PADMAKUMAR.

Dependency for everything - for even their fundamental basic needs, is the plight of the elders, said LALITHA.

They feel lonely, and lonelier still, if they are away from their siblings, said SHRUTHI.

They have a feeling of being unnoticed because of their old age, said SHRUTHI R.

They cannot have the food items that youngsters have, said SINDHU.

The elderly are objectified. Moreover, they have a feeling that they are not valued, said SNEKA.

They experience memory loss, said THERESA THOMAS.

The aged are ignored by their own children, said TIRSHATHA.

They have a lack of validation, and have their own age-related vulnerabilities, said VINAYA MARY.

Their health issues become a burden for them. Added, the harsh words by family members hurt them much, said VIVILIA.

They are controlled by their family members, and hence they don’t have agency, said YASINDHRA.

The elders suffer from an inability to do their own work, said YOVANNA MERLIN S.

They experience absolute loneliness. They are forced into another reality. They become physically inactive even for mundane things, said ANDERLIN.

They are not living peacefully. They just survive, said ALLEN.

The elderly have this sudden feeling of emptiness on their retirement. They don’t know what to do, post-retirement, said HARI KRISHNAN.

The elderly are ‘accident-prone’ because of their failing bodies, said KEVIN MICHAEL WOODS.

They lose eyesight; and they also suffer from a morbid fear of death, said SHARAN SRINIVASAN. 

UGC NET December Schedule Released!

 

"Why Men are Necessary and Other News from Nowhere" ❤️

The Book is Back! | Long Live Glover & his Humour

Reader’s Digest | November 2023

This month’s Reader’s Digest has a lovely article by Richard Glover, on ‘The Triumph of the Book’.

I absolutely enjoyed reading it.

Says Glover -

“E-books may come with a suite of navigational tools, but it turns out that the best navigational devices are your forefinger and thumb. You can use them to flip the pages forward and backward”.

“A large, well-stocked book shelf is more meaningful. It’s a map of your life as a reader”,

he adds!

Well, Glover’s got this amazing sense of humour, and a lovely perspective to life that is reflected in his talks (as ABC Radio Presenter) and in his writings as well.

At places he reminds you of P. G. Wodehouse, one of our greatest humourists of all time!

He has authored 13 books, which includes the all-time famous Desperate Husbands!

‘Even the titles of his books are stunners and head-turners - quite catchy and absolutely crazy, with a huge tinge of humour laced all over them’,

says Scupin Richard, an ardent fan of Glover.

Sample a few of his catchy book titles –

Grin And Bear It: A Survivor’s Guide To Marriage, Kids, Family Holidays, Home Renovations, The English And Other Horrors

The P-Plate Parent

Laughing Stock: One Man’s Battle With Sex, Work And A Son Called Batboy

The Joy Of Blokes: A Survivor’s Guide To The Men In Your Life, How To Meet Them, How To Love Them, How To Eat Their Cooking

The Dag’s Dictionary: A Humorous Book Of Words That Should Exist, But Don’t

Desperate Husbands

The Mud House: Four Friends, One Block Of Land, No Power Tools

Why Men Are Necessary And Other News From Nowhere

George Clooney’s Haircut And Other Cries For Help

Coming back to the article on Books - 

Well, this particular article on ‘The Triumph of the Book’ too has its extravagant quota of humour laced all over the lines, which keeps you hooked from start to finish.

Here’s giving you a few excerpts from the article –

The book is back. Or so the Herald tells me. Educational experts have discovered that children retain more information when they read things using a hard-copy book, when compared to a digital device.

One Sydney school, Reddam House, has responded by ditching its e-readers and restocking with printed books. Apparently, the students are enthusiastic. They discovered, according to a teacher, that “the ease of navigation” was superior when using a traditional book.

I love the way we now judge printed books using the language of the digital world. E-books come with a “suite of navigational tools”, and yet – it turns out – the best “suite of navigational devices” is your forefinger and thumb.

You can move slowly forward in the “text” by using your forefinger to turn the page, or you can jump backwards by using your thumb to flip a whole bunch of pages.

The traditional book also has a “search” function, in which you have a squiz at chapter one to remind yourself of the hero’s surname, and even a “bookmark system” which operates through a device we call a “bookmark”.

Used correctly, the “bookmark” will retain a temporary record of the point reached in any text. It even operates without a power source, so is environmentally sustainable.

In fact, the traditional book itself has been designed to never need recharging – a remarkable fact when you consider it was invented well before the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Can a traditional book offer all that is offered by an e-book? Alas, no. The traditional book fails completely when it comes to a “progress bar” – the display indicating what percentage of the book has been read.

Luckily, a “hack” is available: just re-orientate your traditional book in space so that it can be viewed from the side or top.

It will naturally form two halves joined in the middle (“the spine”). If the left-hand chunk is thicker than the right-hand chunk then – congratulations – you are more than half way through.

Fans of the e-book point out that digital text is easy to annotate. In some systems, there is even a pencil icon to guide the reader through the process. Remarkably, traditional book users have a similar system which we call a “pencil”.

Marie Kondo, the Japanese guru of tidying has nominated 30 books as the limit in any well-regulated household. A large, well-stocked book shelf is more meaningful. It’s a map of your life as a reader.

Also: the smell of old books, intense in a second-hand bookshop, is instantly evocative.  

Educational fads come and go, and maybe the traditional book won’t firm into a lasting trend. But for the moment, I find myself standing to attention, flexing my Messel-built shoulders, and saluting its glorious return,

signs off Glover!