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Together, learning languages

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Learning languages together This piece finds place in the Deccan Herald . Thanks to the team there. Thanks are due to colleagues for being together during the journey, the questions, and sharing not only confusions but also memories.  Thanks Richa for the comment on the draft.  Some time back we initiated capacity building sessions for teachers at our school. These sessions focus on English and Hindi; languages.   10 out of the 15 teachers at the school teach languages; they are the participants. Our school is located in peri-urban eastern Uttar Pradesh; these teachers converse in Bhojpuri. Today, while it is not easy to pinpoint what has worked and what has not gone right, it is not difficult either to discern the positive energy these sessions have or the learning they enable. Looking back and gleaning through the journey is fun; we have experienced more learning, more surprises than we had bargained for.   Sessions. Together the 11 of us walked the language path. From magaz
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Walking together: Hindi and English

Language conundrum This piece appears in The Hindu . Thanks to the team there. Can two languages walk the road together – hold each other’s hands and grow? Can we begin with our schools? Two colleagues recently went for some workshops. The organisations they applied to sent not only the application forms but also the follow-up emails in multiple languages. The entire communication was in two languages — English and Hindi. This set me thinking. Is this the way out of the Hindi-English conundrum? We are part of a Hindi-medium school in eastern Uttar Pradesh, and like many other schools in the landscape, we are grappling with the conundrum. Over the years we have either pitched one language against the other or as an alternative to the other, and, as a corollary, have been left struggling at both. I talk about Hindi, but I would hazard a guess that the scenario is not very different with other regional languages and dialects as well. In other words, ‘Hindi’ can well be replaced with ‘regi
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A tree like none other

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Pal pal peepal  No theory, no gyaan comes to mind as I stand and look at this tree each time i visit CHITS The only line that does is Majrooh Sultanpuri's classic bahon me chalo aao And it is as stunning from the 'other' side too Previous posts on trees Pakhad Peepal Campus trees Peepal in Banaras Banyan in Banaras Akshay Vat
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Sarnath : Stupa

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Sarnath on an early morning  Some places take special form at select times, this campus (managed by the  ASI ) is a different world altogether during the mornings ~ Did the Daniells –  Thomas and William  - paint during this time of the day? Is this why  Diana L Eck  calls Banaras – City of light? Neem flowers on the morning grass, fun it is to lay alongside these and watch the Stupa ~ There are nooks and corners that hold surprises, once in a while one comes across changes as well ~ There is something special about this, have little idea about it, but the experience of standing in front of it and look at it was good ~ Just outside stand new installations, whether these were needed is debatable, but now that they are there can one take time out to experience, figure these ~ Previous post on Sarnath  here Other monuments in Banaras Dufferin Bridge Sanskrit University Laat Bhairav
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Loving books and bookstores

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Days at the Morisaki Bookshop Author: Satoshi Yagisawa Translated by: Eric Ozawa Pages: 169 First Published: 2023 Publisher: MANILA PRESS A book after a while A book which I savoured during a train journey A book which celebrates books, bookstores, bondings A book which caught my attention at the Delhi Book Fair A book which reminded me of  Harmony ,  Jaipur Journals , and of course Murakami A book which underscored how the Japanese authors have mastered the art of simplicity Thank you Navjeevan Singh Few glimpses "No matter where you go, or how many books you read, you still know nothing, you haven't seen anything. And that's life. We live our lives trying to find our way." "It's only in secondhand books that you can savour encounters like this, connections that transcend time." It is important to stand still sometimes. Think of it as a little rest in the long journey of your life. This is your harbour. And your boat is just dropping anchor here for a l
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Banaras: More First Floors

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These images, unlike the previous post on the topic , are from the lanes,  to be precise one lane  (with respects to Thomson and Thompson ) Aging with grace? Fading away? Or hanging by a thread?  Varying brick sizes and shapes? Or a tree taking over? Or dark lines on the horizon?  A balcony with waves?  Its neighbours are being repurposed as hotels.  Does it eagerly await its turn? Or does it dread the loss of peace?  How does HE see the changes?  Is the window partially open to allow only partial changes?  The lane's width ensures that one is either on two feet or on two wheels! Should we have trips for children to obverse where their elders lived? To see h omes that are disappearing from our midst!
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More of Pratham Books

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About the children, for the children Nimesh Ved and Anshumalika Rai  This is a part of Teacher Plus, April 2024 issue Thank you: Colleagues at APS and Teacher Plus   For this set of books from Pratham we have tried a fresh approach. We received the books in English and also read them in Hindi, online . We read the books individually and then together. It was an experience to read these books aloud together, in multiple languages, and to discuss, agree, and disagree.   During the past few years that we have had Pratham books at our book room , the quality of translation has only gone up. A Song in Space, for example, has terms like naayaab, roohani, parhej, and dastoor which succinctly capture the essence of the original English text. Similarly, What the Dark Sounds Like has ‘ bahon me bhar lein’ for hugging. The translation here is simple, and like a lot which is simple, it works. Images had us engrossed. Some of them appeared all the more captivating when viewed on the
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