For a cause.

This teacher takes entire class to homes. 

In Jhansi, a government school teacher has demonstrated the "art of teaching". To inspire two absentee students who missed classes for several weeks under various pretexts, Amit Verma, a primary school teacher posted at Lakara Primary School in Jhansi, took the entire class to their homesand started teaching there.

This unusual gesture has not only won him accolades from the authorities but also the hearts of the two students' parents, as they sent their children to school along with the teacher.

The school has a student population of 241, with a principal, half a dozen assistant teachers and a Shiksha Mitra appointed to serve them. 

On Wednesday, while Verma was teaching 4th grade students, he noticed that two students, Meena and Gajraj, were absent. Initially, he sent a few students to their homes but the parents objected. Verma, himself, had visited the absent students' homes three times, but to no avail.

And then he did the never-before-tried-method of setting up his class in front of their home. It attracted a huge crowd and the parents finally apologised to Verma.

In fact, a video of the teacher conducting the class in front of the students' home is going viral on social media.

My take

Hats off to the dedication and perseverance of Sri Amit Verma!

Tailpiece.

Got up at 4, the chores and cast off for Kochi.

Reached Floria's by a half past 9, dropped Lekha and gave a surprise call on Chellakkili.

Returned by a half past 5.   

The life and times of MS Swaminathan.

1925          Born on 07 Aug in Kumbakonam

1944          Completes BSc in Agricultural Science at Madras University

1947-'49    Joins IARI in New Delhi, focuses on plant genetics

1949-'54    Receives UNESCO fellowship, studies potato crop improvement in Cambridge and 

                  Wisconsin

1965-'70    Leads Green Revolution, boosts wheat yields in India

1979-'82    Heads ICAR, establishes weather and crop centres across India

1982          Becomes IRRI DG, promotes women in rice cultivation

1987          Wins inaugural World Food Prize for food security work

1988          Establishes MS Swaminathan Research Foundation

2002          Elected President of Pugwash Conferences, addresses global peace and hunger

2004          Chairs National Commission on Farmers, advocates for reforms

2007-'13    Rajya Sabha member, introduces Women Farmers' Entitlements Bill, chairs HLPE for CFS, 

                   leads MEA task force

2013-'23    Focuses on nutrition, rural internet, international institutes, advisory roles, sustainable 

                  agriculture, awards, farmers' rights, public engagement.

Adieu sir! My tears and prayers. Om Shanti! Sadgati.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a half past 9.

To Preethi's Internet Cafe where Savitha helped with the formatting of my monthly mail.

A quiet evening.

Travel for LiFe.

Five villages - Dawar (Jammu & Kashmir), Samoli (Uttarakhand), Relek (Mizoram), Kanthalloor (Kerala) and Madla (Madhya Pradesh) have bagged golden awards in the Best Rural Tourism village competition organised by the Ministry of Tourism.

The 'Travel for LiFe' program was launched to encourage people to adopt practices that are environmentally sustainable. 10 villages were were bestowed silver and 20 others received bronze category awards.

The illustrative lists for tourists prepared by the ministry under its ambitious 'Travel for LiFe' (TFL) include the following like :-

     * Travel in public transport

     * Prefer electric or CNG run vehicles

     * Car pooling

     * Avoid single-use plastic products

     * Avoid products or souvenirs made of the skins, fur of wild animals

     * Avoid ivory products

The program is a part of Mission LiFE, sets out the path for a sustainable planet Earth. It would encourage tourists to take simple actions that result in conservation of the environment, biodiversity, improvement in the local economy and preservation of the socio-cultural integrity of the local communities.

It aims to create mindful and deliberate utilisation of resources by the stakeholders in the tourism value chain. Sustainable rural tourism empowers rural communities.

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a quarter to 10.

To Jimmy's studio to collect our passport-size photographs and a copy of our collective ticket and then to Rani Menon's clinic to collect my glasses.

Mallan was spoken to regarding Lekha's final dentures and the exercise has been planned in mid-Oct.

 

Today's India.

Not very long ago, India had a way of remaining in the background among other nations, generally contended with its 'developing nation' tag. I used to feel that many a time, we felt shy about displaying our culture to the world except for the few who swirled their branded clothes and silk sarees in the lecture-circuit circles.

There we talked about having a ridiculous "Aman ki Asha" with Pakistan who had to be kept in good humour while they pushed terrorists into the Jammu & Kashmir region very frequently, killing security personnel and civilians. We were even scared to say that China was our enemy no.1 for reasons not known and in the meantime, the Chinese troops frequently carried out border transgressions with a gay abandon.

Things, then, started to change. Pakistan suddenly disappeared from the headlines of the news media. The government began talking about China being our enemy and our armed forces gave befitting replies to the PLA Army, in particular, on the LAC, with spirited enthusiasm.

The country began to aim for achieving a trillion dollar economy and progressed on all fronts, is continuing to progress. There is a new found confidence and it's evident in every sphere of action. Our brethren abroad, say that the respect for India has increased manifold. The world leadership has accepted the leadership of PM Narendra Modi and the flawless execution of the recently concluded G20 Summit bears ample testimony to this fact.

India's performances on the fields of Sports and Games, show a surge in confidence, where winning matches, medals and tournaments have become a way of life.

And seeing the robust manner in which we have put Trudeau and Canada, on the backfoot, in the currently ongoing diplomatic war!

India is great! We have overcome!! 

EAM S Jaishankar's speech at the UN General Assembly, a few days back, showed what today's India is all about. 

And the transformation has been brought about by PM Modi's dynamic leadership without doubt! 

Tailpiece.

Got up a trifle after 6, the chores and was ready by a half past 9.

Heavy rain in the morning hours. Ramesh and his understudy, Sooryadevan, had cleared the area around the house of weeds, the wet and dry waste. Aswathy was at work.

Lekha collected her goggles from the clinic and Seena drops by for Lekha's work.

A quiet evening! 

    

Apologies!

 Shall continue my blogging after next Tuesday as I've undergone a cataract surgery.

A disturbing trend.

In seven years, 20 women lost lives in attacks by stalkers, jilted lovers.

Incidents of stalkers or jilted lovers taking revenge on young women have been increasing in the state over the past few years. As per the statistics with the state home department, 20 women have lost their lives and 16 others sustained injuries in such attacks since 2016.

The latest victim of revenge attack was a 19-year-old girl at Koottumadom in Perumbavoor, who was hacked by a youngster on 05 Sep.

The accused, Basil, 21, of Iringole, died by suicide hours after the attack. The police say that Alka and Basil were close friends, but she rejected Basil’s proposal which enraged him. 

The increasing incidents of such attacks on women is a cause for concern.

Many perpetrators suffer from personality disorders.

Tailpiece.

Got off after Edappaal after the erring conductor put me on a reciprocal bus and got off at Kunnamkulam, phew! Reached home by 4.

A quiet day. Prepared for my cataract surgery tomorrow and spoke to the doctor too.

An unsuccessful try for Maman’s awardspedia.

78th Library Day.

 78 years back on this day, PN Panicker had organised a mammoth meeting of 47 rural libraries to form the Travancore Library Movement. The meeting was blessed by none other than Sir CP Ramaswamy Iyer, the then Diwan of Travancore. He, further, suggested that PN Panicker shift his activities to Thiruvananthapuram forthwith.

PN Panicker followed his advice and soon shifted his family - in two stages - and the rest, they say, is history. When the princely states of Travancore and Kochi were combined to form the Thiru-Kochi state, it became the Thiru-Kochi Grandhasala Sangham in 1949 and when Kerala was formed in 1956, it became the Kerala Grandhasala Sangham!

In 1970, when the Kerala Grandhasala Sangham was celebrating its silver jubilee, PN Panicker had set up a network of 5,867 libraries all over the state through his own efforts. He had gone to the remotest corners of the state, often subsisting on bananas and tap water, sleeping on shop verandahs, to fulfil his dream of setting up one library each in every village of his state. 

There’s a saying that “there was no piece of land, in Kerala, that had not felt the footsteps of PN Panicker!”

And during his padayatra from the northern part of Kerala to the south, he gave the Malayalees the powerful slogan, “Vaayichu Valaruka, Chinthichu Vivekam Naeduka”(Read and grow, think and be wise).

Today, a national symposium was steered by the Foundation on, “Transformation of Libraries into Knowledge Hubs”. Dr Shadrach and Dr Geeta Malhotra steered the day long session.

In the evening, at 4, there was a public meeting in which the Chief Minister, the Education Minister and Pannian Ravindran, our Chairman participated with the specialists.

Tailpiece.

Had got up at a 5’ to 5, washed up, recited my prayers and sent my wishes. 

We were out of the house by 8, saw the Quiz Competition Finals of the Vaayana Maasam begin at the Foundation and reached Mascot Hotel, the venue of the day long activity.

After the function was over, left for Guruvayur on a bypass rider. Aniyan was with me till Kottayam, around 2330 hrs.