The Traffic Signal.

Source - www.gettyimages.fi

Have you ever been on the signals on Indian road waiting for it to turn green? If yes, then you will understand this. In that small time period of around one minute, at least two-three poor kids, a lady with 6 month baby in hands or a youth with fashionable hair must have come to you selling something. They sell either the sun shades for car windows or painting books with alphabets for kids or umbrella or dust bin bags or peanuts or national flags or some small home decor thing etc. Don't you find this interesting that they have tapped this signal place as potential marketplace?

And to whom they are selling their products? To those who are going to fashionable malls for shopping by their cars with the car windows closed. So in this era of fashionable malls and online shopping, these poor street sellers have found out traffic signal as the potential market where everyone has to forcefully stop and these sellers get opportunity to at least exhibit their products to the people who otherwise would have simply neglected them. 

So when everyone inside the cars are willing for the green as soon as possible, those outside on the roads are praying for red for little more time. For the insiders signal might be frustration but for the outsiders it is hope!

Understanding it Feynman way!

Source- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f-qkGJBPts

Richard Feynman had formulated a very easy technique to check out whether you have understood anything or not. Many of the pedagogy experts have in fact given many ways to test the students'  understanding level. But I personally find this Feynman's method very simple, effective and interesting. 

Feynman has given four steps to check this out-

1. Choose any concept/ any principle or anything for which understanding or learning level is to be checked.

2. Now when you feel that you have learnt that concept/ that principle, teach it to any toddler.

3. If toddler understands what you taught, it means you have very good understanding of the particular concept etc. And if toddler fails to understand it, then you need to find out your gaps and revisit the concept and learn it better ( Go to step 4 only if toddler has failed to understand)

4. Learn the concept etc. in better manner and in simplified way and again follow step 2 and step 3.

Photo-tourism.

I like travelling. Being at one place for very long makes me stagnant. New places, new people, new food, new experiences, new traditions, customs, new cultures really excite me. And fortunately I get to go at different places as a part of my job. What else one can can expect from a job?

Recently I had been to Hampi, a place in Karnataka, declared as UNESCO world heritage site. Hampi is a fantasy of world of rocks and ruins. It was the capital of Vijaynagar empire in medieval era in India.

Along with different architectural marvels there, one important thing that I noticed there was about the so called new trend in tourism across the world, i.e. rampant photos, selfies and 'pics' by tourists. With camera in their mobile phones, everyone these days, is busy in taking the selfies. I am completely fine with whatever one has to do and I respect the personal choice of everyone.

My only concern is do we enjoy and experience the essence and beauty of the place we are visiting? It is but natural for anyone to capture the unique moments and photos at a particular place as the memories for lifetime. But isn't it important to also 'see' the place first, enjoy its beauty? At many places, I see the visitors busy merely with taking selfies and photos, almost totally avoiding even the preliminary appreciation of the place.

I have no objection over this and I won't even insist that each and everyone should have interest in minutest details of some monument etc. Everyone has different flavor. But I do believe that we can teach our people, specially our youths, to better appreciate the tourist destinations. this will serve the dual purpose- they will enjoy the trip in real sense and it will help in better conservation of our heritage directly or indirectly.