From Whatsapp

A recent incident sums up the year 2020 for an Educationist He narrates Few weeks back I was in my weekly webinar session with my foundation students and I was scheduled to speak to my first year batch whom I had met only virtually till now. Before I start any session, I always ask them to come on video, browse through the multiple screens to say hello to each one of them. I noticed two of my students with some unusual background. The first was a girl student named Kalai who was sitting under the hot sun, sweating all over and I could see some sculptures in the background. Curious to know where she was seated, I asked her “Kalai, your background seems to be pretty unusual with all sculptures. Where are you taking this webinar from”. She politely replied “Anna…this is our village temple and its in the entrance of our village about 4 kms from my residence. This is the only place I get good mobile signal. I spoke to the temple authorities and negotiated a deal with them. I come here every morning at 6 AM, sweep and clean the temple premises before 7.30 AM every day. I then attend my classes from this place where mobile connectivity is reasonably good”. I asked her “That’s good but why can’t you sit in a place where there is some cover, you are sitting under the hot sun” and she smiled and says “Anna…don’t worry. This is one corner of the temple and it’s the only place where connectivity is good. I don’t move an inch from this place and in any case the sun doesn’t bother me much…I am used to it”. When Kalai said this…my room Air conditioning read 18 degrees. Kalai is a BE Computer Science student and has been attending her classes for the last several months from her Village Temple.

The second interesting background was that of Albin Raj who was surrounded by leaves all over, branches to his right and left. I paused and asked him the same question “Hey Albin…where are you seated and you seem to be sitting in a jungle”. He laughed and says “Sir, I also have the same problem as Kalai. There is no mobile signal in my place and the best place to get good connectivity is in the main road where there is a huge Banyan tree. Every day I come here in the morning with my lunch and attend my classes sitting right up in this tree”. Bowled over with his answer, I just couldn’t help but ask the obvious question “I understand the signal part. But why would you climb up the tree when you can sit down and attend classes under the tree”. Albin gave me quirky smile and says “Sir, I will show you what’s below and tilted his mobile screen pointing downwards” and I could see a lot of old people resting under the tree. Some were sitting and chatting while some were playing cards and what not. It was literally a full house under the tree. Albin then tells me “Sir, there’s no way I can attend classes sitting down there, it’s pretty noisy with lot of disturbance and I prefer the tree top. I only get down at 4 pm when my work is done and its absolutely safe”. Albin is a first year BE ECE student.

I was simple awestruck with the way both these kids approach life. While I sit at home with two internet connections, couple of dongles etc to ensure seamless connectivity and still crib, here are two of my students who have all the reasons to complain and yet they look at solutions available to make things work. Not once did they complain about their situation.

This 2020 is all about grit, courage and resilience. A year when thousands refused to give up and emerged stronger.

*If there’s one lesson 2020 taught me – It is GRATITUDE!*