Surreptitious Radical Maniac

I've started to capture the classroom happenings through blog posts, but that wasn't as successful as I initially planned. And, the primary reason was simple. With the kind of involvement in the work at the school, sometimes (most of the time), you wouldn't know what's personal and what's professional. But, I've realized that capturing school moments is absolutely necessary for updating stakeholders and also remember the things which you did in the school. So, I've started last month to capture in the form of a newsletter, and this is the 2nd month.  Here's the February 2017 Newsletter of GHS Bowenpally.

It’s been almost 3 weeks since I have posted in the blog. There have been amazing things happening in my class, and it is equally hard to post all the updates. So, here’s this week's inspiration!!! Firstly, a new admission to my class A new boy sat in my class, and had to find that out when the student count was more than the attendance!! I wondered, a new admission after half academic year…wow, that’s unusual. I wasn’t sure how to make him feel comfortable, but felt that he needed his time to understand the new environment. At the same time, I inquired and found that he was an orphan, admitted by the police in Thara Home. Admitted by police?? That’s unusual again. He lost his parents 3 years back, and also some random grandfather this year who took care of him in the village. He didn’t know what to do, so took a train and arrived at Secunderabad. And, the Ramgopalpet Police Station found him on the road, heard his story and admitted him in the Orphanage. A great thanks t...

It’s Thanksgiving Week!!! As part of my morning meeting, I’ve discussed ‘ Thanksgiving ’ with my class. My first Thanksgiving celebration was in 2013 November which was celebrated with my cousins at Uncle’s house and also friends at Endicott College. It fascinated me for one simple reason. You take time, think about people in your life and thank them. I’ve liked it because you express gratitude to the people who were part of your life, and I wanted the kids to feel the same.  For the last few weeks, they really started to enjoy the board games and puzzles. When I introduced the games and mentioned that they were given by my friends, they were very happy that there are people who know about them, thought about them and also gave them something which they enjoy. After mentioning about Thanksgiving, they were very excited to make Thanksgiving cards to the people who thought about them. And, instead of playing games, this Friday afternoon they made thanksgiving cards.  J...

This post is the first in the series of ‘ Classroom Chronicles ’, which accounts for the curious tales of my 6 th grade classroom at Government High School Bowenpally, Hyderabad. After contemplating for quite a while, I’ve finally settled down to the idea of blogging about my students than sharing about them in the conventional manner. I’ve recently asked people to support my work in the school, and got an amazing response from my friends across the world. I immensely thank them for their generous support, and this is a way I can share the inquisitive talent of the kids with you guys. Anyway, here it is. A first of its kind (from myself) , where I’d be sharing the way the students are learning every day and developing themselves to be people of tomorrow. Starting with Chess Unlocking the skill of students with the classic strategy game. And, here we can see an interesting game between 2 students. An intriguing part is the kid on the right ( Harendra ) has given a challenging...

Enso Circle Enso circle is a hand drawn circle in a single brush stroke to express a moment when the mind is free to let the body create. I’d like to explain more (I might do later) , but I don’t feel like doing it right now. Here's my first enso circle. Express a moment… At this particular moment, I have drawn my first enso circle but I’m not really sure about the reason I’ve did it. Today, I’ve also raised a poster of  ‘yin and yang’  in my room. There is a lot going on in my life and I think this is a way of taking time for myself and doing something different from the usual. I’m planning to make it as a habit to draw enso circle in regular periods (maybe once a week) , and also at different emotional levels. Let me see how it goes.

Backstory Vipassana Meditation is a meditation technique involving mindfulness of breathing, thoughts, feelings and sensations to understand true nature of the reality. I found this meditation while I was researching about mindfulness 2 years back. It was quite intriguing to read about it, especially when it mentions you are disconnected with the outside world for 10 days and also you shouldn’t speak with any person for 10 days. I planned to go this program in 2014 October (perfect in my tight schedule) , but I didn’t attend. I’ve convinced myself that I was busy, but the truth being I wasn’t mentally prepared. In 2015, I regretted twice that I should’ve attended the program, but was busy preoccupied in other works. In 2016, being free in the summer, I’ve decided to not waste this opportunity. Even in 2016, it was surely a hard decision for me to attend this meditation program. I visualized it as some form of mental institution and you get brainwashed or manipulated into some...

So, today, I’m 21 years old…I wish I could say, “I’m 22 nd year new” , but the fact is with another day passing by, I’m getting old. But, again, I’d say that’s perspective… Anyway, this day, on the path to 22 nd year of my life, I intend to roll back and see what I’ve been doing the last 21 years of my life. It’s quite an interesting question, and if someone would’ve asked me, I’d probably say “I don’t know”. But, I’m asking myself, and I can’t do the same. After pondering on the way to describe my last 21 years, I felt to put it in this way. This year, I’ve completed my  bachelors ’ degree in commerce field (a year later than originally expected) from Badruka College of Commerce & Arts, as I participated in an exchange scholarship program in the USA. By studying a 3-year degree, I still completed 16 years of education through the additional academic year of exchange studies in Endicott College. In simple words, the last 4 years have been great. The learnings p...