Feathers of Wonder - Today’s Treasures - A Bevy of Stunning Bird Sightings 💚💚💚

 

"You didn’t just attend; you actively chose to respect your professor" ❤️

30th October 2025

Dear Students,

Sub: A Note of Gratitude and Congratulations – Reg.

I wanted to take a moment to personally acknowledge and appreciate you for your presence and engagement in class today, the very last teaching day of this semester with me.

Making it to the final lecture, especially when the semester is wrapping up, shows true discipline, strong commitment and intellectual curiosity. Moreover, your attendance on this last teaching day reflects your respect and responsibility – a mark of a true blue conscientious student.

Finishing the semester strong like this is a great habit to carry forward. I genuinely appreciate your effort.

You didn’t just attend; you actively chose to respect your professor, by attending his class – and involve yourself in that one final opportunity for learning and review, and that speaks volumes about your character.

Thank you for being a conscientious student, and for being a real joy and delight for your professor, and for this final display of commitment and dedication.

II MA English Class | 30th October 2025

Aleena Mary Lalu

Amy J Davinia

Anagha Anil

Ann Maria Sunny

Dency Jebagnanam S

Preethika Nandini D

Rency Gabriella S

S V Nivedhaa

Shobhana P

Surisha K

Teres Maria Broosily

Kalaiagaran K

S. Harish Rajan

You have truly set a wonderful example for your juniors to emulate.

Best wishes and blessings for your exams.

Dr. Rufus

Course Teacher

Congratulations I MA Class

Congratulations I MA English Class!

Naveena Deborah D

Daphnie Ida D

Ebenezar Dhanaraj

Jeshmitha J

Venkata Vishnu Priya D

Aarthi KPB

Swarna Rekha S

Nihita Chinnu Sibu

Sarah Saju Oommen

R. Marvel Giftson

G Rakshaya

"Great teachers are demanding in terms of standards, but also create an environment where students experience learning as a privilege and a pleasure" ❤️

The Conscientious Student

28th October 2025

#inclasstoday

Today in my class I was asking students to guess the meaning of the word ‘Conscientious’.

In fact, the trigger for the question was my happiness on seeing a large bevy of students turn up for their classes today, in spite of the torrential downpour that continues to lash the city and its suburbs for the past 48 hours in a row, now!

“My goal is to help students balance the joy of learning with the practicality of finding a career path,” says Daniel R. Schwarz - who has been teaching with Cornell University New York for 47 years now – in his book titled, How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning.

Some lovely excerpts from his book -

Curiosity, desire for knowledge, and the ability to solve complex, thought‐provoking problems are important life skills.

Conscientious students need also to be skeptical, innovative, and imaginative; really distinguished thinking, even in high school, comes from questioning what one is told, reading further in classroom topics, and, on occasion, going beyond accepted formulations as they are presented.

Studying well is a matter of learning how to concentrate and block out everything else.

Most people do better when not listening to music, but some people do seem to benefit from listening to soothing music when studying.

Using study halls and homeroom periods to study, rather than wasting time on video games or social media, is a good way to be time efficient.

Even now when English is becoming the basic language of the world, it is important to study a foreign language.

For one thing, it will help you understand the world better because you will learn something about another culture.

You will be preparing yourself for more possible choices if you decide to do a junior year – or junior semester – abroad as well as for more future career opportunities.

Be alert about who are the best teachers, and take advice on who they are from the best students.

Great teachers are demanding in terms of standards, but also create an environment where students experience learning as a privilege and a pleasure. Getting to know some of your teachers well will give you the necessary sources of recommendations for your applications.

Participate in extra‐curricular activities such as varsity sports, the school newspaper, drama and choral groups, orchestra and band, debating, and student government. Developing skills and competence in these areas builds self‐ confidence.

Moreover, selective colleges favour for admission those who play leadership roles in such activities; colleges do so in part because leaders, at a more advanced level, play a vital role in college life and in part because the best advertisements for a college are alumni who have leadership roles in their communities and on the state and national levels.

College admissions departments are also favorably impressed with applicants who volunteer in the community beyond school by tutoring children or reading to those adults who for various reasons cannot read, working with the disabled, or giving some time at the local hospital or hospice.

Meaningful summer and after‐school paid jobs, such as working as a counsellor for younger children or in a hospital lab, are also seen as a plus by those deciding admission. But the more important reason to volunteer or take jobs is that doing so will enlarge your perspective and create experiences that will enrich your life now and later.

In short, conscientious students develop a robust sense of responsibility and commitment. This self-discipline translates well beyond the classroom, preparing them for the demands of the workplace and life, 

says Schwarz.

In this regard, I wish to make mention of the elite group of conscientious students who made their teacher happy today, by coming to class, in spite of the torrential downpour that pounded Chennai for 24 hours continuously.

Even this morning, while I was entering class, I could see umbrellas of all hues and shades, adorning the MA English classroom on all sides, thanks to the incessant spell of rains.

I also permitted late-comers to class today, thanks to the rains. 😊

I MA English

E. Angeline Ebenezer

V. Jovita

C. Christian Jeremiah

Daphnie Ida D

Naveena Deborah D

Deepika M. R

R. Jothika

Nihita Chinnu Sibu

Sarah Saju Oommen

Aarthi KPB

Rangineetha Ramalingam

Venkata Vishnu Priya D

G. Rakshaya

J. Jessica

A. Abisha

D. Ebenezar Dhanaraj

II MA English

Amy J Davinia

Anagha Anil

Ann Mariah Sunny

Dency Jebagnanam S

Nikita S

Preethika Nandini D

S V Nivedhaa

Sharon Rubina

Shobhana P

Surisha K

Terese Maria Broosily

Dhanush Kumar P

S Harish Rajan

So proud of you our dear students. Keep it up! 

Congratulations II MA English Class!

Congratulations Class!

 

II MA English

 

1. Aleena Mary Lalu

2. Amathullah Aafreen S

3. Amy J Davinia

4. Anagha Anil

5. Ann Mariah Sunny

6. Dency Jebagnanam S

7. Lindsay Rose Jordy

8. Nikita S

9. Rajsri R

10. Ranjitha S

11. Sharon Rubina

12. Shobhana P

13. Sivasankari V C

14. Swetha D R

15. Terese Maria Broosily

16. Vasupradhaa S

17. Kalaiagaran K 

Congratulations Class!

Congratulations! 

II MA English Class

1.      Aleena Mary Lalu

2.      Amathullah Aafreeen

3.      Anagha Anil

4.      Ann Maria Sunny

5.      Arockia Golden Rosary U

6.      Dency Jebagnanam S

7.      Nikita S

8.      Ranjitha S

9.      S V Nivedhaa

10. Sharon Rubina

11. Shobhana P

12. Swetha DR

13. Terese Maria Broosily

14. Vasupradhaa S

15. Kalaiagaran K

I MA English Class

1.      Jeremiah

2.      Benitta

3.      Jeshmitha

4.      Venkata Vishnu Priya

5.      Samitha

6.      Swarna Rekha

7.      Aarthi KPB

8.      Sarah Saju Oommen

9.      Nihita Chinnu Sibu

10. Lydia M

11. Jothika R

12. Angeline Ebenezer

"Taking notes while listening to a lecture actively engages your brain with the concepts, theories and ideas" ❤️

The Lovely 19

III BA English Class

#HallofFame

When you miss out on attending one lecture, you miss out on that crucial, invaluable information that tags along with that lecture. That’s because every lecture is meant to provide you with an array of concepts, theories and ideas, and how to apply them to real-life scenarios.

Moreover, attending a lecture is a basic form of discipline, time management, and an obligation on your part as a student - skills that are essential for any future job or career path.

Listening to a lecture means paying attention! Taking notes especially, while listening to a lecture actively engages your brain with the concepts, theories and ideas. This active learning process helps you process and retain information far better than passive reading does!

Added, showing up consistently to class, demonstrates your commitment, your sincerity and your respect for the course teacher, and the course material, which can greatly influence your professor’s opinion about you.

On the other hand, bunking / skipping classes can easily become a habit that can have a cascading effect on every other area of your life.

This post is to appreciate and congratulate the 19 students from the III BA English Class, who turned up for class today - at the fag end of the semester. 

Madhesh G

Vasanth S

Israel James

Khamlianthang

Keerthana P

Melling Toniya RN

Swathi, S

Veena J

Jerolin

Kiruthika

Lakshmi Priya

Jona Catherine

Swetha

Gracelin Patricia

Ilfa Khathija

Xena John

Charu Lakshmi

Jessy George

Eshal Abdul

You may want to read more on Taking Notes while Listening, HERE on our past Blogpost. 

"But That’s the Point of Information Storage and Retrieval Systems! Information is Passed On - The Central Act of Human Culture" ❤️

Ursula K. Le Guin

#onherbirthdaytoday

Always Coming Home | Sistopia | Ecotopia | Fictional Ethnography | Stone Telling | Compendium of a Future Culture | Towards an Archaeology of the Future

21st October

Well, the first time I had chanced upon Ursula K Le Guin’s Always Coming Home was during the preparation for a Key-Note Address for the One-day Seminar organised by Anna Adarsh College for Women, Chennai, on 12 December 2017. The title of my Address was, “Foregrounding Place: Bioregionalism and the Aura of Postcolonial Ecotopias.”

While alluding to the role of speculative works of literature, I had cited Ursula K. Le Guin’s magnum opus titled, Always Coming Home as an idealised, alternative world that aligns with the concept of a sistopia.

Indeed this magnum opus is a fictional ethnographic masterpiece! It’s a genre-bender as well, and as such it breaks the mould of a ‘traditional’ novel.

The book is presented in a non-linear narrative mode, as an anthropological study or a “compendium of a future culture,” presenting a fictional people, the Kesh, who live in a distant, post-apocalyptic Northern California.

The central, though fragmented, story is the autobiography of a woman named Stone Telling.

STONE TELLING IS my last name. It has come to me of my own choosing, because I have a story to tell of where I went when I was young; but now I go nowhere, sitting like a stone in this place, in this ground, in  this Valley. I have come where I was going.

In Sinshan babies’ names often come from birds, since they are messengers. In the month before my mother bore me, an owl came every night to the oak trees called Gairga outside the windows of High Porch House, on the north side, and sang the owl’s song there; so my first name was North Owl,

says Stone Telling - the narrator, a Kesh woman whose life story acts as the main fictional narrative thread, detailing her experience growing up among the peaceable Kesh in the Valley.

There’s also this fictional ethnographer named Pandora, who serves as the reader’s guide/interlocutor to the Kesh culture.

Poems, songs, myths, folktales, jokes, plays, prayers, recipes, and proverbs are presented as cultural texts of the people of Kesh.

Interestingly, the Kesh culture is offered as a unique social model, often seen as an early example of Solarpunk or a nuanced Sistopia.

One interesting feature about the people of Kesh is their rejection of the “Sickness of Man” - the relentless, expanding industrial civilization of our own time.

They live in a peaceful, largely self-governed, non-hierarchical, and ecologically sustainable community. Moreover, their concept of wealth is fundamentally different; a “wealthy” person is one who is “able to give” and contribute to the community, rather than one who accumulates resources.

To them, “Judgment is poverty”.

And the most interesting and highly engaging part is the part titled, “Pandora Converses with the Archivist of the Library of the Madrone Lodge at Wakwaha-na”.

Here, the character Pandora acts as a kind of ethnographer and commentator within the novel!

In fact, the dialogue explores the importance and the responsibility of archiving. It also foregrounds the political power embedded in who controls what knowledge is stored, preserved, and accessible - a theme very relevant to modern concerns about information architecture and digital culture.

Here goes -

PANDORA: Niece, this is a beautiful library!

ARCHIVIST: In the town at the Springs of the River, it is appropriate that the library be beautiful.

PAN: This looks like a rare-book cabinet.

ARC: Old books, fragile ones. Here, this scroll—what strong calligraphy. And good materials. Linen paper; it hasn’t darkened at all. This is milkweed paper, here. A good texture!

PAN: How old is the scroll?

ARC: Oh, four hundred years maybe, five hundred.

PAN: Like a Gutenberg Bible to us. Do you have a lot of such old books and scrolls, then?

ARC: Well, more here than anywhere else. Very old things are venerable, aren’t they. So people bring things here when they get very old. Some of it’s rubbish.

PAN: How do you decide what to keep and what to throwaway? The library really isn’t very large, when you consider how much writing goes on here in the Valley -

ARC: Oh, there’s no end to the making of books.

PAN: And people give writings to their heyimas as offerings -

ARC: All gifts are sacred.

PAN: So the libraries would all get to be enormous, if you didn’t throw most of the books and things out. But how do you decide what to keep and what to destroy?

ARC: It’s difficult. It’s arbitrary, unjust, and exciting. We clear out the heyimas libraries every few years. Here in the Madrone of Wakwaha the lodge has destruction ceremonies yearly, between the Grass and the Sun dances. They’re secret. Members only. A kind of orgy. A fit of housecleaning—the nesting instinct, the collecting drive, turned inside out, reversed. Unhoarding.

PAN: You destroy valuable books?

ARC: Oh, yes. Who wants to be buried under them?

PAN: But you could keep important documents and valuable literary works in electronic storage, at the Exchange, where they don’t take up any room –

ARC: The City of Mind does that. They want a copy of everything. We give them some. What is “room”—is it only a piece of space?

PAN: But intangibles—information -

ARC: Tangible or intangible, either you keep a thing or you give it. We find it safer to give it.

PAN: But that’s the point of information storage and retrieval systems! The material is kept for anyone who wants or needs it. Information is passed on - the central act of human culture.

ARC: “Keeping grows; giving flows.” Giving involves a good deal of discrimination; as a business it requires a more disciplined intelligence than keeping, perhaps. Disciplined people come here, Oak Lodge people, historians, learned people, scribes and reciters and writers, they’re always here, like those four, you see, going through the books, copying out what they want, annotating.

Books no one reads go; books people read go after a while. But they all go. Books are mortal. They die. A book is an act; it takes place in time, not just in space. It is not information, but relation.

PAN: This is the kind of conversation they always have in utopia. I set you up and then you give interesting, eloquent, and almost entirely convincing replies. Surely we can do better than that!

ARC: Well, I don’t know, aunt. What if I asked the questions? What if I asked you if you had considered my peculiar use of the word “safe,” and if you had considered the  danger of storing up information as you do in your society?

PAN: Well, I—

ARC: Who controls the storage and the retrieval? To what extent is the material there for anyone who wants and needs it, and to what extent is it “there” only for those who have the information that it is there, the education to obtain that information, and the power to get that education? How many people in your society are literate?  

How many are computer-competent? How many of them have the competence to use libraries and electronic information storage systems? 

How much real information is available to ordinary, nongovernment, nonmilitary, nonspecialist, nonrich people? What does “classified” mean? What do shredders shred? What does money buy? 

In a State, even a democracy, where power is hierarchic, how  can you prevent the storage of information from becoming yet another source of  power to the powerful—another piston in the great machine?

PAN: Niece, you’re a damned Luddite.

ARC: No, I’m not. I like machines. My washing machine is an old friend. The printing press here is rather more than a friend. Look; when Mines died last year I printed this poem of his, thirty copies, for people to take home and to give to the heyimas, here, this is the last copy.

PAN: It’s a nice job. But you cheated. You didn’t ask a question, you asked a rhetorical question.

ARC: Well, you know, people who live in cultures that have an oral literature as well as a written literature get a good deal of practice in rhetoric. But my question wasn’t just a trick. How do you keep information yet keep it from being the property of the powerful?

PAN: Through not having censorship. Having free public libraries. Teaching people to read. And to use computers, to plug into the sources. Press, radio, television not fundamentally dependent on government or advertisers. I don’t know. It keeps getting harder.

ARC: I didn’t mean to make you sad, aunt. 

PAN: I never did like smartass utopians. Always so much healthier and saner and sounder and fitter and kinder and tougher and wiser and righter than me and my family and friends. People who have the answers are boring, niece. Boring, boring, boring. 

ARC: But I have no answers and this isn’t utopia, aunt!

PAN: The hell it ain’t.

and so goes on Always Coming Home…