This is in continuation to my previous post, about Vijay Diwas (link ), that was to have been observed on 26 July, 2013, to mark yet another anniversary of the success of Operation Vijay, at Kargil. The fourteenth anniversary.
So why am I here, at least two days late, and that too with a weekend in between? 😀 Do excuse me, but I had made a promise to myself, having mounted a personal Operation Vijay to succeed with marking papers (and nothing, NOTHING was to come between me and that task 😛 )! Let me give you the good news of that success first!
But, more importantly, it was the success of the activity at school that really makes me call it a Vijay Diwas. Victory in small and great measures. In that single day’s activity, whether it registered fully or not, the entire campus, each classroom, the corridors, the window panes, were awash with messages of Patriotism, with skits, paintings on the walls, puppets, models, charts, candles lit, and the air of festive victory was indeed tempered with a bit of sombre memories of the happenings fourteen years ago. 🙂
I normally do not like to share pictures of students for obvious reasons, but I think this time I should, just to show you their fine effort here (my class particularly :D) and also when they had made displays for the first and second days of this Malayalam Month, Karkidakom (this year it is started on 16 July… also called the Ramayana Maasam (meaning month). They learnt much then too, of the ‘Dashapushpam’, the ten plants that are revered, and used through the month, and honoured too! And the “Pathela” (10 leaves, Pathth – 10, Ela – leaf)). which is cooked ( a recipe that my mother shared and which has been written down in Malayalam figures in the picture 🙂 ) on the first Friday of this Malayalam month. The activities really brought home the ignorance of the kids, who could not recognize these simple plants and leaves that grew in abundance in their own little compounds, and even on the roadside. It however helped to rectify this problem to an extent, when they actually did research, and did the arrangement; and more importantly, connected with their grandparents in finding out the history behind it all! For me too, it was a huge learning experience! Let me just show you 🙂 The pictures are extremely amateurish, but what the heck, they’re still precious to me 🙂
26 July, 2013, in School 🙂
16th and 17th July, 2012: The Dashapushpam and Paththela Display 🙂

This was simply out of the world! Paththela, written in Malayalam, on a leaf (I don’t know which one it is, truly 😀 )
Today is also my second born’s “Malayalam” birthday 🙂 We’re really lucky in that we can celebrate a birthday twice 😀 Twice the happiness, twice the effort too, sometimes, but it’s also two days we feel special, and love to make another feel special 🙂 Our parents have always done this, marked both days with little joys, and so it continues 🙂 🙂 Achukutts, the real post is coming, but do take your share of good wishes, and perk up your awesomeness factor 🙂 It may be the end of the day, almost, but well, that really doesnt matter :D! What matters is that you are so so so loved 🙂
28 July 2013
Edited to add, on 29 July, 2013
The Class (9D), won the best class in their category 🙂 🙂 Proud of you kids 🙂 🙂 They got a special mention for the way they took our visitors around, and graciously explained the display! Yippeeeee!
July 28, 2013 at 10:26 pm
Your pupils are lucky to have you as their teachers. It is good to know that they are not learning only from the book but learning about our Indian culture too on the side which very rarely schools do, nowadays. Children go to school, learn whatever is in the book, come home and go to tuitions. They do not have time to watch what we do on the days of our festival. This is the main reason they follow Western culture, which they think is easy to follow.
Thank you Usha! It is good to know you!
I asked my nephews wife who is a teacher in a reputed school here. They never knew about the Kargil diwas.
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July 28, 2013 at 10:35 pm
Actually, Sandhya, it works the other way round 🙂 always has… the things they can teach us, nothing else can! With each class one grows, in learning, in knowledge, and most of all, in patience 😀
Thank you so very much, Sandhya! It is always a pleasure to have your words grace the writes here!
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July 29, 2013 at 7:28 am
Wonderful 🙂 Lets hope for more and more teachers like you. I guess this is a great age to inculcate the importance of the sacrifices some people make for our country in the young kids.
In some ways I remember no such celebration of any military honour day in our school, even our history used to end at 1947. Never did we learn about the war’s of Independent India. It was only due to external reading and more importantly after the invention of internet that we learnt about so many things that should actually have been brought to our notice a lot earlier.
Not sure if the books have changed now…
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August 9, 2013 at 3:50 pm
Do excuse me for the late reply Dhiren. And thank you for the kind words.
We try and get that sense of what they might have missed through such activities here. I suppose there too they might be doing that. More so in the North, since it’s closer to the conflict areas too. 🙂
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July 29, 2013 at 10:01 am
Usha Ma’am, that was a simply lovable post. While in school I never understood why homework or assignments were given. I used to do some of them, the creativity waalas, and ignore the theoretical part, to be completed once I got punished. I used to escape many a times for I was alert and used to respond with right answers with just the classroom learning. But whenever I used to get punished, the punishment was double for after the teacher punished, she used to go and inform my mother in the staff room and then it was continuous glares through the corridors, sometimes, ‘chooral kashayam’, sometimes pinches while standing in front of Amma in the school bus and then finally it used to cool down after a lash or two or more with our own Pichi kombu. I so used to hate that plant, which is still there at my parents place. 🙂 But as a parent today, I do realize the importance of each and every assignment given to my kids. I know it makes them search for answers, learn new things, and engage with elders who can be of help. Hats off to you teachers for devising so many ways to encourage the students to choose the learning path. A bow to all my teachers and the teacher I have got through blogging. Please accept my sincere ‘Pranamam’ 🙂
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August 9, 2013 at 3:54 pm
Pranamam to you too Rekha 🙂 For being the sort of parent as well, that teachers need … in order to help the common link both have, the children! A lot has to do with the changing paradigm of pedagogy and the NCF 2005 I think, where more and more impetus is being given to the process, more than the outcome, so that the outcome is clearer and better. While the reasoning is fine, it is the implementation of it all , however, that sucks, bigtime. Really. We need better battle plans than the ones we have right now 😀
Thank you for the perspective and for the sharing.
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July 30, 2013 at 12:14 am
I have recently been lurking at your blog and really loving it 🙂 🙂 …
You seem to be a very good teacher 😀 your students are really enjoying 🙂 .. my teachers were the ‘go by text book’ teachers…nothing other than the school books… I really like your way of education which seems to be much beyond the text books….. ahhh what to do now? too late to enrol myself in that class… so I will blissfully enjoy your virtual teaching through your blog 🙂 🙂
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August 9, 2013 at 3:57 pm
Welcome here, Suku, and thank you for your kind words! Ah, I’m not quite sure the kids are enjoying themselves being in my class, but I sure am enjoying being with them 🙂 As I have already mentioned in the reply just before this one, to Rekha, I too like the way the sense has shifted.
You’re most welcome to be part of the virtual sharing here 🙂 No classroom though 😀 I certainly do not want to be hounded out 😀
Thank you so much.
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