Thursday, August 28, 2008
Of People and Perspicacity
In the past couple of weeks, I have encountered a variety of people. And most of them have led me to question my level of perspicacity amongst and within the preponderant population!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Words and their meanings
Words are what we speak, words are what we read, words are what you are reading right now. More than the word by itself,it is the meaning that the word conveys that causes reactions. Words become expressions when placed contextually and almost everytime words are used they are forms of expressions.
But it is not only the useage of a word but also the user of that word, that causes the particular response, and results in formation of a judgement on the user. For example, if the head of an institution calls one of the students a fraud afore a certain group of people, albeit, softly - as if he muttered it; causes certain judgements to be made against the student; as the position from where the comment arrives has a lot of weight behind it. The one who hears the word will, generally, not realize the space of mind from where the expression arrises, but just the expression itself and obviously conform with the same judgement (again, because he or she looks up to him as he is the head of that institution and there must have been some excellant reason why he is the head of that institution).
At another time, when that same 'chap'(dis-respectfully) calls his students "chors - thieves" for not working even after taking permissions to stay overnight in college and calls that same student "tum choron kaa baap - father of all you thieves" even without glancing at the list of students asking for overnight permissions (among which that student's name doesn't even appear!), the credibility of his position gets questioned- and this time particularly because the person who hears the words knows both the user of the word and the one for whom it was used and therefore, does not pay attention to it.
This callous useage of words, by "respected" people, eventually, affect them and nothing they say ever is taken seriously, yet, if they still continue to be at that higher designation, then the "lesser" souls continue getting affected, no matter how hard they try to ignore it.
As the cliche goes - with power comes responsibility .... Responsibility in actions - specially in the form of expressions.
Because of such comments, I donot think highly of that person anymore. When he is under pressure from extrenal forces, instead of reacting thoughtfully (responsibly, reasonably), he reacts irrationally. They must understand where they come from, and where WE presently are. We aren't children anymore. There is no point in telling us every single morning how inept we are at everything and what we must do and what we must not do and then ask us how we are going to go about solving the problem... As a student, I understand that there is a difference between teaching and 'spoon feeding', and the difference is in the method. And patience, I feel, is the defining feature of a good teacher.
I still have respect for the individual at a higher designation. The hard work that he would have done to reach where he is currently, the books that he has read, the knowledge that he possesses, the knowledge that he has imparted, I respect him for enlightening minds in the past.
But it is not only the useage of a word but also the user of that word, that causes the particular response, and results in formation of a judgement on the user. For example, if the head of an institution calls one of the students a fraud afore a certain group of people, albeit, softly - as if he muttered it; causes certain judgements to be made against the student; as the position from where the comment arrives has a lot of weight behind it. The one who hears the word will, generally, not realize the space of mind from where the expression arrises, but just the expression itself and obviously conform with the same judgement (again, because he or she looks up to him as he is the head of that institution and there must have been some excellant reason why he is the head of that institution).
At another time, when that same 'chap'(dis-respectfully) calls his students "chors - thieves" for not working even after taking permissions to stay overnight in college and calls that same student "tum choron kaa baap - father of all you thieves" even without glancing at the list of students asking for overnight permissions (among which that student's name doesn't even appear!), the credibility of his position gets questioned- and this time particularly because the person who hears the words knows both the user of the word and the one for whom it was used and therefore, does not pay attention to it.
This callous useage of words, by "respected" people, eventually, affect them and nothing they say ever is taken seriously, yet, if they still continue to be at that higher designation, then the "lesser" souls continue getting affected, no matter how hard they try to ignore it.
As the cliche goes - with power comes responsibility .... Responsibility in actions - specially in the form of expressions.
Because of such comments, I donot think highly of that person anymore. When he is under pressure from extrenal forces, instead of reacting thoughtfully (responsibly, reasonably), he reacts irrationally. They must understand where they come from, and where WE presently are. We aren't children anymore. There is no point in telling us every single morning how inept we are at everything and what we must do and what we must not do and then ask us how we are going to go about solving the problem... As a student, I understand that there is a difference between teaching and 'spoon feeding', and the difference is in the method. And patience, I feel, is the defining feature of a good teacher.
I still have respect for the individual at a higher designation. The hard work that he would have done to reach where he is currently, the books that he has read, the knowledge that he possesses, the knowledge that he has imparted, I respect him for enlightening minds in the past.
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