Holding hands.............

I dedicate this post to a co blogger...usha pisharody by whose post by the same name, i was inspired to try out a new way to bring together my faculty in school to reach their goals of enrichment and growth.
I just sent to them the question...What does holding hands mean to you?and was I impressed and enriched?????????????
Pooling all the views that poured in from my esteemed faculty of educators, I gather....
Holding Hands-----------------
Symbolises support, strength, affection, co-operation and gives a grit to move ahead as a team.......
It implies sharing your vision and knowledge with the warmth of camaraderie..........
It is a magical gesture connecting people heart and soul to declare...I AM THERE FOR YOU ALWAYS... and helps in the harmonious growth of self and all those one connects to, by imbibing a sense of unity and togetherness.....
We tend to accept the goodness in the other person while ignoring his/her flaws and welcome him/her with love and concern.....
We start pooling of new ideas for mutual growth and unity of purpose...
We tend to hold one another in times of disaster to ensure care by spreading the warmth of love, to face the challenges of life together as a team.....We try to heal the other person of loneliness and bring happiness in his/her life...
In a nutshell...my team of educators feel that HOLDING HANDS implies the end of all negative feelings like hatred, jealousy, selfishness,violence........ to develop the positive spirit of love, care, peace, harmony and respect and recognition of all , thus leading humanity to divinity.....WOW what a brilliant Utopian concept!!!!! am impressed by the feed back I received from my team........
NOT ONLY THAT...My team resolved to...hold each others hands thru thick and thin to develop a congenial atmosphere by a combined effort towards enrichment and growth-----Professionally,Intellectually..and Emotionally........
I must say the inspiration from NUEPA training combined with the positive vibe i received after surfing thru various blogs specially the one i mentioned in the beginning has enriched me as a better leader.. who do I thank?????????????? Deeps who initiated me into blogging??/ Usha, another member of teaching fraternity and a co blogger??????????? or CBSE and NUEPA??????????????WHATEVER........ I AM HAPPY FOR THE POSITIVE VIBE I AM RECEIVING

Reflection makes a true leader..............???????????

Indeed reflection is an essence for improvement as it necessitates the engagement in thoughtful and careful reporting and analysis of past practices and experiences, thus offering valuable insight into one's leadership progress.....One important lesson I learned at the recent training programme I attended. It is necessary therefore for me to move from the basic level of acceptance of the way things are in my way of working, to a level of critical examination, self assessment and new visions.
Our PTteacher is a person who would rather be left off responsibilities and at the same time would grumble if someone is appreciated or rewarded for a work well done.I have been able to smell a senior----junior conflict brewing in the staff room. SO IT IS BECOMING ALL THE MORE NECESSARY FOR ME TO MOVE ON TO A NEW VISION.....
Due to an unprecedented shoot out and supposedly police encounter with terrorists in the area where i stay, it became impossible for me to go to my school for the flag hoisting ceremony on the republic day.Normally the principal hoists the flag and all the teachers and students in the locality join the ceremony. This year I wouldnt be able to reach for the flag hoisting, but the ceremony has to go on.. instead of being disappointed, I decided to make this into a positive venture to change things.
I immediately called the PT teacher and told him my problem and asked him to plan things as per his insight.I was actually aiming at projecting a reflective leadership by wise delegation and effective conflict management.well........................
Around 10. I got a phone call from the PT teacher. He was unusually eloquent and gave a detailed account of then entire ceremony and also that he felt the senior most teacher who is due to retire in two months time should me the one to hoist the flag.he gave me the minutest detail as to who all attended, how many students came etc etc....He was totally excited and thanked me profusely for trusting him....and so on....the icing on the cake was yet to come....after about 10 minutes I received around fifteen calls in quick succession from various senior and junior teachers.senior teachers praised the effort and leadership of the PTI and the junior teachers were thrilled at the recognition given to a junior teacher and they vowed to work hand in hand with the senior faculty members henceforth.........
Oh GOD!!!!!!!My mission accomplished!!!...may be this is the beginning of reflections passing on to my teachers too.I feel certain now that I will be able to provoke in teachers the ability to notice odd and unexpected things, become curious, enquire and explore and adjust student learning processes accordingly.I feel I have set the ball rolling and there would be more of interactions among my teachers. This is my chance to project the kind of leadership quality i attained from the recent training. and the wise delegation has helped me to manage and erase the conflict in the staff room to a great extend i hope.I would definitely have more people catching the ball of responsibility when i throw it at the group, rather than having to thrust the ball on the same person/persons always

pause a bit ...as you set on the journey towards you goal...dear youngsters

Raghu is home after a gap of 3 months!!!!! GK and I are elated at the thought of being rid of our monotony at least for 3 days.We thought we would talk and talk and talk to our precious darling son for hours and enjoy catering to his likes in terms of food, which we felt he would be missing...Infact he is a foody... really fond of eating!!!!we have so much of the local and extended family gossip to share with him..................But lo!! things turned out so very different.........
He reached in the early hours of dawn and after afew chit chat and hugs and kisses, went off to the comfort of the quilt amma had set ready for him and he finally woke up in the afternoon!(well....he had to catch up so much on sleep as he was working day in and day out). After freshening up, he was thrilled to lunch on all HIS FAVOURITE DISHES AMMA HAD PREPARED FOR HIM.(Mind you it was 4pm when he had lunch)then he got ready for attending the marriage of his close school friend. Our child looked soooooo happy at the prospect of meeting his school friends, that we forgot that we had not yet spoken to him properly and had not told him all that we wanted to....A ny way....he would be back by 10 or 11 pm and we would talk till midnight or may be later into the night and may be we could wake up a little late in the morning. We would wait for him to come back after enjoying with his friends..........There...again we got an unpleasant surprise when he called up around 10 pm and said...AMMA CAN I STAY BACK WITH ALL THESE PEOPLE AT PRASHANT'S PLACE. WE HAVE SO MUCH TO CATCH UP ON ONE ANOTHER?????????Well... afterall at night we all would be sleeping..and we wont have much time to talk...so let him have fun....we will have him whole of tomorrow with us....thus GK consoled me(or was he consoling himself?)
Earl;y morning I woke up with renewed energy and prepared his favourite breakfast items and waited for him..and guess what????????? HE REACHED BACK AT 12noon! Any way... atlast Raghuttan is here ,we have rest of the day and whole of tomorrow to tell him all news and gossip...we might as well go out together in the evening and dine out at his favourite joint..........Oh no!!! he says he has to go out to attend the engagement ceremony of his college friend and he would thus get a chance to freak out with his college buddies!!!!!!!!So amma. let me catch up on some sleep...he said. After the usual hugs and kisses he is off to sleep.....After all he has to be fit and fine for the evening party. If not with his amma and achan where can he take the liberty to do what he feels like?However our dreams of spending time with our darling son is going down the drains........... But then how can we be selfish and grudge him these occasional chances of enjoyment???How can we hold him back to us when he gets the rare chance to be himself with his buddies?Though I feel disappointed on not being able to get my mon to myself as much as I want, I tend to look at all this in a different perspective.......
Isnt this the case with most of the youngsters today?? Raghu says that the only proper food he usually has is the heavy dinner he cooks for himself.He has asked me to give him some recipes which he can cook fast. He misses amma's cooking...but then he cannot afford to dwell on those as it is WORK, WORK and WORK that is foremost for him.Now he is young so he can work real hard to reach his aspired goal."I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep"....so says my mon in the poetic style!!!!
Isnt this the case with most of the affluent corporate youth today?While they earn big pay packets, how much are they caring about their future in terms of health?What about a proper family life for these young dreamers and aspirants of peaks of glory in their professional life?????Monutta! Amma loves you too much to allow you to neglect your health ...but as any other mother i too am helpless! I remember the words in your slam book.........
Health and happiness hand in hand
Wealth sufficient to see you thru'
Friends who love and understand
What more is there to wish for you
Yes I wonder....what more is there to pray for you and the youth of today?????????I n fact.. I ask myself......Whither youth of today????????

Smile Pinky......smile

we as a nation are on top of the world basking in the knowledge that one of our countrymen is nominated to the Oscars!!!!!!!!! every news paper, every party, every lunch hour conversation talks of Rehman and his chances of winning an award at Los Angels! with great admiration i too read thru all items about Rehman, and discussed with G K and my friends about Rehman and his greatness.......Then my eyes fell on thelines...".I have never gone beyond Varanasi, America is so far away......no money to fly to los angels".....While slumdog millionaire dazzles, little pinky of little known mirzapur is struggling to reach LA....Yes the eight year old protagonist of oscar nominated documentary.....Smile Pinki..is the one i am talking about. What a paradoxe! Here is anation revelling at the idea of a music icon winning world's biggest award, and there is the real life heroine of documentary film based on the cure of her lip deformity struggling to get a decent pair of dress for herself and dreaming of going to a place her father can never dream of.... My heart goes out to the little girl who is Megan Mylan's lucky mascot..... if only.... if only.... we could help the child to make an appearence at the award ceremony.....of course if finally the film is selected... .........IF ONLY.......

just when i am ready to retire.......................................iam learning....all over again???????

Thirty three years of service and that too with young vibrant learners and in the company of educators of varied age group has kept me young at heart and still longing to learn more.When cbse nominated me to the leadership in educational planning programme and I was required to stay in the National University of Educational Planning and Administration hostel I was thrilled beyond words. Another chance to go back to class and for a change on th other side of the table as a learner...........indeed i was on top of the world once again as a student.
I always thought I was a leader in my school and I was required to lead my team in that traditional way I was taught and trained. but this training programme has brought out the leader, planner and manager in me. 5 days of 9am to 5pm class, library sessions, power point presentations, book reviews, and a hectic schedule of training coupled with the enjoyment of mischiefs as learners, playing pranks with team mates, once in a while yawning in class and passing scribbled comments and goodies in class.....oh my god indeed student days revisited it was!!!!!!!!! the 5 days were also days of cultural exchange for all of us. we exchanged songs and taught and learned a few steps of our regional dance forms and even learned different ways of draping saree in the different traditional styles of coorg, maharashtra, bengal, gujarat, orissa etc.we were principals cum learners from 16 different states of india.the 5 days of togetherness brought us so close to one another and surprisingly even at this age we made really strong friends that we promised to keep in touch always.
I am sure each one of us returned to our respective schools greatly enriched and empowered and in great zeal to revitalise our education scenario.

I have already started practising some of the leadership and institutional planning techniques I learned. I am hoping to be a good leader to the team of educators I have with me, and boost their morale and help them to enhance their self esteem to make them come out of their stress and give their full to make that desired change.With whatever resources available to me, Iam determined to go that extra mile and take my team with me. may god bless me and guide me to be a leader and not ever a boss