Another Tiny Tool For World Peace??

As my heart goes out to Istanbul (an incredibly open and friendly city, my most favourite international city) and the airport attack, I sit here reading a novel by Dick Francis.  A crime thriller, intended to entertain every inch of the way.  No highbrow philosophy.  I always read Dick Francis when thinking of difficult moments.  Why??? I am not sure.  Partly because it is British writing (without too much angst or excessive sex angles as some modern writing has become) at its best - describing the outdoors, the magnificent world of horses and the British sporting spirit, combined with amateur (and occasionally professional) sleuthing.  The books are intelligently plotted and well written, but what makes them stand out for me are the very perceptive descriptions of people and what drives them, and in particular, reminders about the danger of rage and the futility of hate.

A good place to begin perhaps is his 'Kit Fielding' series - two books (Break In and Bolt, starring the champion jockey Kit Fielding, who rides for amongst others, a princess, who is always referred to as "The Princess").  I quote from "Break In" (a book based on family feuds) -

"...We finished the elementary alarm system and went yawning indoors to sleep for another couple of hours, and I reflected, as I lay down, about the way a feud could start, as with Graves, and continue through centuries, as with Allardecks and Fieldings, and could expand into politics and religious persecutions on a national scale, permanently persisting as a habit of mind, a destructive hatred stuck in one groove.  I would make a start in my own small corner, I thought sardonically, drifting off, and force my subconscious to love the Allardecks, of which my own sister, God help her, was one..."

Perhaps a bit perplexing if suddenly thrust into a blog, but this passage showed me how easy it was to begin a quarrel and then to continue it endlessly; how much easier than changing one's mind or forgiving or at least forgetting.  So I have decided to begin in my own small corner, to try and forget petty irritations that once arose and that keep niggling me the moment I choose to reopen those memories.  To relinquish (or, let's be realistic - restrain!!) my judgement on things I don't know enough about (like world peace??!).

A Tiny Tool For World Peace?

As I watch, with dismay, the growing intolerance that surrounds us and manifests itself in varying ways through the world right now, I can't help but wonder if and how things could be changed for the better.  Yesterday my two year old son pointed to a picture of a gun and kept asking me what it was; I found it difficult to explain because so many words that I had to use were not a part of his vocabulary or understanding!

Therefore, today I choose to focus on little minds - on their latent desire for peace and joy and what we can learn from them.  Perhaps we can attempt to remember happy and uncritical thoughts and feelings that are buried deep within us, a sense of awe for nature and wonder for the gifts of the world, and see where it takes us.  I quote below from a Montessori book (Basic Montessori, Learning Activities for Under-Fives, by David Gettman, one of the best books on this subject that I have read so far) -

"Peace Through Self Fulfilment

Maria Montessori lived through the two most terrible wars in the history of mankind, and the causes of war were very much on her mind, especially in the years after the Second World War.  She came to believe that the widespread application of her method for education could help lead the world towards peace.
  Montessori believed that her method enables children to satisfy fully their instinctual and personal developmental needs, and so helps to create fulfilled and well balanced adults, whose innate goodness can shine forth unimpeded by neurotic ambitions and desires.  If her method would spread sufficiently throughout the world, she hoped, millions of adults raised by it would be free from such tendencies as  greed and aggression.  Then, with the passing of the old generations, threats to world peace would gradually subside and disappear.
  The Montessori methods may also help promote peace by its study and support of the absorbent mind.  If we consider the action of the absorbent mind - that children fully accept, without critique or prejudice, the behaviour and traits of those around them, that children transform themselves by incarnating these ways, and that children place complete faith in the goodness and benevolence of others - we see more than a mechanism for learning, but also children's saint-like charity or spiritual love for people..."

The Montessori system is quite 'spirit driven' (not in the religious sense) which makes it difficult to explain or advise an adult (teacher or guardian) on the exact approach to take for each child.  The child drives the process and the hope is that the adult is sufficiently perceptive to support and facilitate this process of discovery and to respect the child's reactions and opinions.  The techniques themselves are unusual - they have been developed by the children themselves (and refined as Maria Montessori watched the children choose and show her the way they wanted to learn).  To illustrate this system further and describe how its fundamental principles can help children and adults view life in a different way, I quote from another section of the same book.  This deals with Sensorial Activities (those that develop our sensing skills)-

"Finally, the Sensorial Activities can have a moral and spiritual importance for the child.  A very young child, like the baby discussed earlier, who has not yet organised sense experience, sees the world as consisting of lively, responsive 'things', which behave like fountains of impressions, spouting changing sensorial stimuli in response to playful proddings.  There is a moral danger at the point in the child's early psychic development when structure is first being applied to sense perceptions, that these thriving companions will  be turned into lifeless repositories of dull existence, attended by a determinate set of functions or characteristics, which can be negated and replaced at whim by the indifferent observer.  This 'objectification' of things, both living and inanimate, can result when they are identified and classed only in terms of their service to people (e.g. we grow plants for eating, keeping warm, and building homes) or are described as isolated pockets of existence with alterable attributes (e.g. 'this is a rock; it is rough, heavy, grey and hard to break').  The child learns from such lessons that the unsympathetic manipulation of things (as well as living creatures) is not only possible but expected, and the child is hardened to the wonderment of endless exploration which guides a baby's interactions with things.  As a result, the world is narrowed to a place full of 'objects' to be possessed for our vanity, altered for our pleasure, or destroyed for our convenience.
   Montessori's Sensorial Activities introduce the child to a structured comprehension of the world in a different way.  The child is not led by activities away from the baby's world of lively thing-friends, but is only given the skills to clarify and order the sensorial gifts that may be received form them.  The activities' enlargement of sensorial sensitivity increases the child's respect and awe for the things which are the source of those sense impressions.  Rather than leave a child feeling that a thing is easily defined and manipulated, the sensorial Activities make the child aware of the endless depth available for exploring the thing in its infinite depth and fullness.
  In this spiritual aspect of the Sensorial Activities, we can see one of the far-reaching differences between the Montessori approach and the conventional teaching methods.  Note that the Sensorial Activities isolate a single perceptual quality by making each object in a set identical in all respects except one.  Conventional teaching methods commonly introduce a quality in the opposite way; that is, the quality of interest is usually identified as the one most obvious quality which a group of otherwise unrelated objects have in common.  For instance, to introduce the colour 'blue', a conventional teacher will gather together a blue flower, a blue toy truck, a blue cloth, and a blue pencil, all of which vary in shape, material, size, texture and weight, but have nearly the same colour. Though it might seem that Montessori's approach is nothing more than a pedagogical mirror-image of the conventional method, it is actually conveying an entirely different message to the child.  The focus in the Sensorial Activities is not on objects, but on the phenomenon of colour as an experience. In Montessori's materials, the things themselves have no uses or functions outside the exercise; the quality is simply presented, explored and related to the child's actual experience of the environment.  In the conventional teaching method, the focus is instead on the objects, which do have uses or functions outside the exercise, and which are shown to 'possess' various qualities, including the one under study.  The point made by the conventional teaching is not that you can experience colour, but that a number of objects may all possess the same quality.  In brief, the conventional teaching method perpetuates the 'objectification' of the child's world by subordinating experience to objects, while Montessori's approach introduces the quality as a facet of the child's experience, leaving 'things' free of the limitations and manipulations of human definition, preserving for the child a sense of their mystical depth and liveliness..."

I think the Montessori system (or other similar methods that involve the body, mind and spirit of a child rather than an adult's perception of a child) enables the child not to be afraid of differences (in others as well as in himself or herself) and to accept these differences non-judgementally at an early age.  Judgement always creeps in as we grow older, but early lessons of respect of others' differences and of understanding one's own strengths and potential still remain and can be put to fear-free, peaceful and creative use in the years that follow.

Of Tribes And Tribal Carpets

I recently read a very well written article in the New York Times (sent by a friend, Danny, who wanders about, collecting tribal carpets that are woven in central Asia and neighbouring regions).  It was about how the original art of making Persian rugs may not survive much longer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27/world/middleeast/end-of-an-art-form-the-persian-rug-may-not-be-long-for-this-world.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share&_r=0

This is unfortunately true of many tribal products and, in fact, their very way of life.  While some tribes manage to adapt to a changing world successfully, many end up being exploited and some slowly die out for lack of options.

When we were in Delhi last winter, we visited Dilli Haat, a large area set up by the government to promote the sale of crafts directly by craftsmen.  Over the years, we have been seeing more and more stalls which obviously have no craftsmen, just middle men, and this year we saw a large outlet selling cheap carpets.  The carpets looked quite attractive (not masterpieces of any kind but very nice and good value for money) - they were so incredibly cheap that we wondered how they were made.  They were obviously not handmade, the salesperson said they came from a kind of factory.  He was very keen to sell us some and even said we could take them home, roll them out and return them if we did not like them.  He made it so simple and accessible for customers that I knew that tribal (or any handwoven) carpets wouldn't stand a chance against these.

Here is what Danny said, when I mentioned this to him:

"The fact of the matter is that there are really no mysterious bargains to be found...as you rightly pointed out, the carpets you saw in Delhi were modern reproductions of old material....they do not "knot" them, they "tuft" them and back them up with glue...a process that takes a tiny fraction of time and very little manual effort (and no creativity).  

What is funny is that many of these modern things are actually being made in China...the bazaars in Turkey and Morocco are full of Chinese production of imitations made to copy Central Asian products.  They jokingly refer to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul as the Chinese Bazaar.  We are truly becoming a global culture!

But in a way one cannot blame the old artisans to look for more efficient means of livelihood and creature comforts that a nomadic life does not easily provide for. "

We have been witnessing the erosion of tribal lifestyles in many places during our travel, within India (Kutch, Nagaland, the Andamans) and outside the country as well (Burma, Borneo, America and many other countries) - the tales are too numerous to narrate.  What can we do about it?  Sadly, not much.  Tribal lives are governed by modern politics, economics and the exploitation of natural resources by urban dwellers.  I think all we can do is to be sensitive to the needs of tribals and respect their ways of living (Just to illustrate - I have seen people talk about and treat some tribals in the Andamans as if they were an inferior kind of animal.  Many years ago, the government decided to 'uplift' their living conditions by building concrete toilets in the thick of these beautiful islands, which the tribals had no idea what to do with).  To step gently into their areas, if at all.  And not to endorse products which involve exploitation of the tribals or their natural resources.  Specifically, in the case of carpets - if one has the resources, it would be good to buy one original handwoven carpet rather than lots of cheap ones.

We did buy a rug from Dilli Haat, as a mat for my little son to play on (as this can be easily washed and dried).  It's a very cheerful one - pale yellow with big flowers that are attractive in a nursery setting (and there were several identical ones, in different colours so we knew we were not buying anything unique!).  In the same room, beside this rug, I have kept a tribal rug, for my son to lie upon when he's sleepy.  The contrast between the two is enormous, when seen side by side.  The machine made rug is pleasant, extremely cheerful and functional.  It looks very much in place in an urban setting.  The tribal rug is wonderfully soft and comfortable.  Its colours reflect in some way the beauty of the natural world.  It is clearly an individual's creation - varying shades are used in an asymmetric manner that results in a rugged and timeless beauty.  My son looks at the colours, patterns and shapes of both rugs.  But when it comes to nose rubbing (a high accolade), it's the tribal one that he always chooses.

Innovations In The Indian Context

Last week, my husband related a conversation he had over dinner with some colleagues about why India does not contribute to important or life changing innovations.  This is an oft discussed subject, in the country (with people shaking their heads sadly) and outside the country (largely by non resident Indians shaking their heads vehemently and giving armchair advice).  As it's always hard to get a word in edgeways, I provide below my own armchair views!

It's a well known fact that the Indian system does not engender or promote innovation.  Indians (I think) always function with one eye on the clock.  Not in terms of punctuality (the lack of which they are infamous for) but the clock begins ticking the moment one is born.  Everyone is in a rush to achieve everything as fast as possible.  My son is just two now and almost everyone I meet asks when I will admit him to school.  My views are, "Not until he benefits in some fashion from going there and not until he is comfortable on his own," but I just say, "There's no hurry.  He's learning many things at home."  When I look up details of the nursery schools, I often find a mish-mash of information.  "Montessori methods" are mixed with "Latest computer aids", "Strong group interaction" and "Contemporary teaching methods".  A child of the age 2-3 needs just to be left to discover and indulge his curiosity on his own.  Slightly older children might do this in groups or in led classes but core learning is always self driven.  The emphasis should be to enable the child's inner need to discover, understand and learn rather than to impose a large number of adult-created systems and flood him/her with information.  I think this is where the problem begins and it snowballs as children grow into adults.

From primary school onwards, syllabi are set often by political bodies rather than educationists or experts in a particular subject.  Schools seem anxious to produce results rather than help children grow and deal with their changing intellectual and physical needs.  College is often unfortunately the time when it all becomes too much and children lose interest in their work (I have seen a lot of student burn-outs at this stage.  They are still very successful but that inner spark that drives them towards something that they particularly enjoy doing seems absent).  Many work on, ticking off all the boxes for their CVs, and the moment one box is ticked, they are done with it forever.

After college, what?  The price of failure in India is very high.  There are no back up systems in place, no multiple options.  The industry hirings are competitive and everyone seems to be looking for very similar skill sets.  If one were to start a company or do something new on one's own and fail, it would be very hard to find anything else to do or to earn a living.  Not exactly a situation that encourages innovation.

At a more abstract level (but equally important), there are urgent demands made on one's time right from the time the day begins.  "Will the milk come?  Will the newspaper arrive on time?  Will the maids show up (punctually or at all)?  Will there be uninterrupted power and water?  How bad will the commute be today?"  By the time one has dealt with all this, a certain amount of energy is depleted and one's mind does not immediately turn to thoughts of innovation.

Having said this, I don't think there is a dearth of innovation in the country.  My experience with recording oral history in the the areas of science and engineering brought me in touch with highly creative, successful people, and I know of many more personally and through the media.  It's just that much of the innovation has been in response to needs of the Indian society and though it has touched many people here, it has not made a global impact.  This is especially evident in the period immediately following Independence.  Several people had to learn new things - often go abroad for training, return, adapt those to the Indian setup, innovate to grow and develop further.  Many of the people worked in a spirit of nationalism, without fuss, noise or publicity.  Most of these stories go untold for good news is no news and we are not overly interested in archiving and documenting.

There are often no fairy tale endings.  Indian entrepreneurs face tremendous struggles, the emergence of venture capitalists has helped but not as much as one would have hoped.  It is difficult to sort out the transparent from the opaque in India, this makes it hard for people to decide which start ups to fund.  On the other hand, I know of several good ideas which have gone unfunded because the venture capitalists declare that they are all too risky and too much time will be spent in trying to overcome the challenges along the way.

Research goes on in academia, however, it is not very closely linked to industry (except in some very limited areas).  It is considerably harder to publish in good journals from India than if the same work were done in the U.S.  If one has a breakthrough or one disproves an existing theory, there are often cliques which actively suppress the information.  Often editors of journals reply saying the work is not relevant to their journal or that they just don't believe the work.  "Please repeat it all and do some more," they say, knowing that the process will take a year or more.  So, the dice is loaded to begin with.

But when we entered the game, we knew perhaps not all, but many of the rules.  I think we need to accept that there are reasons why it is not easy to make as many bold, exciting and world changing innovations as in the west (particularly in the U.S. which remains a leader in innovation), but that is not reason enough not to try.  Smoothly functioning systems (and mentors) help but they are not a requirement.  Innovation cannot come about unless certain fundamental values are respected, unless creativity and independent thought are encouraged and unless people stop trying to take the easy or familiar way out.

Just as an illustration (not a point of comparison), I mention here Stanford University.  The website states that they are celebrating 125 years of impact in people's lives and around the world.  That they are dedicated to finding solutions to big challenges.  Here, we see old universities languish and new ones set up based on political whims.  New undergraduate programmes are started under tremendous pressure to perform without infrastructure or faculty.  Established universities begin new programmes sometimes for not very good reasons.  A premier graduate school began an undergraduate programme to improve their ranking and gleefully reported after some years that the mission was accomplished.  I don't know how motivating all this can be to a student.

Good leadership is often not evident in Indian graduate schools.  I think things would be greatly improved if councils and directors were elected rather than chosen by a select few.  Again, just as an illustration, John Hennessey, who is now stepping down as the president of Stanford, has long been acknowledged as one of the most dynamic presidents of the university, and a very successful fund raiser.  Apparently, the budget more than doubled since he stepped in and he raised $13 billion (from 2000 to date) despite the financial downturn.  Cutting edge and interdisciplinary research was encouraged (and the necessary infrastructure provided).  The arts were nurtured and generously and thoughtfully funded.  Hennessey had active dialogues and a strong interaction with the government.  Apart from all this, what warmed me the most was reading an article in Stanford (the University newsletter) where he was quoted as follows -

"I love going to the freshman dorms," he says.  "I love seeing the students in all kinds of different settings.  And the same with the alumni....  One of the biggest surprises for me (after becoming president) was how much alumni love this place and are loyal to it."

It would be heartening to see someone attempting these things in Indian universities in present times, even if they didn't succeed.  I don't know any such person (that is not say that they don't exist!).  If we want something more from our young, working population, we need to give them something more when they are in the process of growing and finding themselves.

Nitash Balsara (whom I happen to know), a professor at Berkeley, visited here in 2014, as a Platinum Jubilee fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences.  This fellowship requires the person to visit a range of teaching and research institutes in the country, to lecture and interact with the students.  He divided the institutes into two groups - A (slightly less known centres with less research ) and B (larger, more research oriented centres).  After his lectures, when I met him, he said that the most interesting questions invariably came from the group A colleges.  His report was thought provoking and I include some excerpts of it (the complete report is available on the website of the Indian Academy of Sciences, http://www.ias.ac.in/About_IASc/Jubilee_Chair/#occupants ).

"I begin with students as they are, without doubt, the most important part of any university. On average, the students at Group A institutions were much more engaged with the lecture than that those at Group B institutions. They appeared more interested in the topic, more interested in talking to me after the lecture, and they asked more questions. Some of the most thoughtful questions came from students at Group A institutions...

...When I asked the professors about undergraduate students I detected a uniform difference in their response. Professors at Group A institutions were upbeat. NIT Calicut was delighted to have students from all across India, selected through the nationally held JEE. Kunal, the student who spent a few hours with me (he took me for a visit to a temple near Surathkal but what I appreciated most were discussions concerning his work on enzymatic reactions) came from Jamshedpur. I think that diversity of backgrounds of both students and faculty is important for all educational institutions. While many state colleges in the US like the University of California, Berkeley, where I work, have a local flavour, the diversity is what defines them. This increase in diversity in what were previously regional colleges is a new trend that must have been extremely difficult to nucleate. All of the professors I talked to at the IITs were less than upbeat about undergraduate students. They told me that a large fraction of the students were only interested in the degree. High CPIs were desirable but only because they led to high-paying jobs in the banking industry or entry into IIMs. The reported fraction of uninterested students ranged from 80 to 95%! Professor Kunzru of IIT K, my undergraduate teacher who I respect deeply, told me that he just finished teaching his class and that not a single student asked a single question all semester long. While the Group B institutions were generally healthy, this might be something worth focusing on for improving their health. I suspect that in the long run, this will negatively impact the quality of education. To add fuel to the fire, Professors at Group B institutions also indicated that students are glued to their cell phones. Professor Rajiv Shekhar of IIT K told me of inviting two students from his class of 30 for a meeting in his office. The two students did not even know that they were in the same class!

...Most of the research-active professors in the Group B institutions were truly stellar. They are working incredibly hard to set-up amazing facilities...
I marvelled at the drive of the research-active professors in Group A institutions...

The lack of involvement of the Indian industry in academics was a concern. While the research activity in these institutes may be far removed from the immediate needs of this cost conscious industry, captains of Indian industry, many of whom were educated at the institutions listed above, might consider investing in the future of their alma mater. Surely there is some cost associated with ensuring that their employees are being trained by faculty aware of developments that are of current global interest (e.g. my project on biofuels which funds two post-docs, three PhD students, and 1 undergraduate is funded by the petrochemical giant, BP)...

India is clearly on the move. Optimism is in the air. There is something astir in all of the institutions I visited. Like all systems, they are not perfect and challenges remain.  Overall, it was an amazing to witness the new horizons emerging in all of the institutions."

Not Receiving My Blogs?

A note for regular readers - if you are not seeing my blogs in your emails, please check the Promotions or Spam or other sections of your mailbox.  Gmail in particular is redirecting these blogs to other sections (especially if they contain pictures) and there is nothing I can do about it.  You may have to change the settings at your end.  Sorry for the trouble, and many thanks for reading this (very irregular) blog!

Mangoes!

One of the few bonuses of unremitting summers, like this one.  Mangoes - tiny green windfall ones, almost ripe, sweet and sour ones and the perfectly ripe, incredibly flavourful ones.  We savour them all.

We have had just a couple of showers this summer, hence have picked only a couple of handfuls of freshly fallen green mangoes.  Just enough for several rounds of salad - the other ingredients do not really matter - it's the mango, sugar and salt which does the trick.  One can add lettuce, mint, cilantro (fresh coriander) leaves, spring onion, chillies, pounded mustard seeds and more - and eat it with rice or even with pasta.  We usually soak the ripe ones in a tub of cool water in the early morning and slice them for breakfast.  In previous years we would eat mangoes through the day, but now a couple of perfect mangoes once a day are quite enough for us!

My son likes to play mango games - we pick up a mango that has fallen on the ground and then take turns to throw it along a path, following and retrieving it each time it falls.  Naturally, my throws land on perfectly smooth roads while his seem to go into ditches, piles of leaves and stretches of mud...

Today I have made a mango dessert for a large party.  A Viennese-Indian dessert.  Huge amounts of murbteig (a short pastry) have been made, despite the soaring temperatures.  Never mind the butter visibly softening in minutes, never mind the hot kitchen surface and the laboured cooling of the refrigerator.  Three large tart shells have been rolled out and quickly shoved into the little oven, one after the other, fingers crossed in the hope that there will be no power cuts.  Over a dozen Alphonso mangoes have been peeled and cut - they stand out against the pastry, vividly orange and deliciously sweet.

Everything has been stored in my crockery cupboard (there's no place anywhere else) for this evening, and I am hoping that my little son does not play any cupboard games for the next few hours!

Turkish Treats

Turkey is one of my favourite countries to visit.  Fortunately its easy to do from India; it's just a six hour flight from Delhi to Istanbul.  Apart from all else, I really enjoy tasting Turkish food - it is fresh, wholesome, strewn with nuts, fresh fruit, herbs, honey in combinations one doesn't find elsewhere.

I haven't visited Turkey in a while but recently my husband had an eight hour stopover in Istanbul.  Fortunately he braved the long exit queues and went into the city.  He took a tram, crossed the Golden Horn via the Galata bridge, got off at the Karaköy tram station (about a 45-50 minute journey, with the metro service available about every 5 minutes) and went in search of - some food!

He brought back with him assorted boxes of delicacies - black olives, peynir (delicious, stringy Turkish cheese typically eaten with freshly made bread), from a gourmet store called Namli Gurme.  From an adjacent store,  Köşkeroğlu, he bought baklava stuffed to the brim with nuts and lokum (Turkish delight).

We are eating all of this (in small rationed doses) for breakfast each morning.  And we feel we are truly basking in Turkish delight!

Just for information, here are some pictures.  Everything that was bought came perfectly packed in his hand baggage, and kept very well (for a week or ten days, as its being so rapidly consumed!) in the refrigerator.  We have actually kept Turkish olives refrigerated for years and they still taste very good.  And the baklava, with all its thin layers of pastry and very thick layers of pistachio or walnut still remains crisp despite the generous drizzles of honey (the power of filo pastry)!

Assorted Baklava and Turkish Delight (lokum)

A good shop for baklava and lokum

Baklava and lokum, overflowing with nuts

A good source for peynir, olives and more

A packet of peynir