A Night At A Morgue

"Do you think it is easy to work in a morgue?"

The word 'morgue' caught our attention. We kids had heard this word from the adults and we were also aware of what it stands for, but we never dared to ask anyone more about it. While playing around in the chawl, we overheard Sanjay bhaiya saying this. '

"It is not as simple as electric welding or breaking an iron bar into two. You people live a safe life. Go to the office or your fabrication workshop, come back, eat and sleep. There is no fear, no danger at all." Sanjay Bhaiya said while taking a beedi from someone else's hand and smoking a puff. 

"My job is full of thrills. You know only brave people are recruited for such posts. If you are scared of ghosts and have weaker hearts, dude, then this is not your cup of tea. Have you seen an open dead body?" He asked the crowd of five to six people gathered around him and listening to him with pin-drop silence. He realized that nobody had understood his question, so he rephrased it and said, "Dude, I am asking if you have seen a dead body cut opened from head to waist?" The people looked at each others' faces nodding their heads. With one more puff of beedi, he unbuttoned his shirt. His pot like belly was now clearly visible, stuffed behind that white coloured vest. While rubbing the curly chest hair, he said, "Let me tell you what happened one night."

This sentence was enough to make everyone aware of the upcoming story-telling session. Everyone sat on the ground. Some squatted while some sat on the wooden logs kept aside. Appa, one of the listeners loudly asked his wife to make tea for everyone. 

"Sanju bhaiya, you were saying something about 'that night'", Appa said while handing over a cup of tea to him.

Sanju bhaiya took a sip of tea and instantly expression on his face changed saying that he didn't like its taste. He continued.

"It was Karthiki Amavasya, the darkest night of the year. It is said that people should not leave their houses in this night as mighty demons and spirits roam around. Being the only brave ward boy of Sassoon Hospital's morgue section, I was asked to do the night shift for that particular night. Other colleagues gave reasons and got an off. Gopal said that his grandmother died the previous day and he had to attend her funeral. I don't know how many grandmothers Gopal have. Every month, his grandmother dies." He grinned. "Subhash said that he had to leave as there was some puja at his home. Dr Gandhi said that he had to go to Mumbai to attend his sister-in-law's engagement. But they didn't know that I knew that they were scared. You need to be a real man to face such problems. I could have easily given any dumb reason and taken an off, but fear, thy name is Sanju." He said while squeezing the ends of his tiny moustache. 

"Then?" asked one of us. 

"It was ten in the night. I went inside the morgue. Sassoon's morgue always has a dead body or two. But that night, there were four dead bodies. They are dead. They don't do anything to you. And you know, I am a Hanuman-bhakt", he said while flaunting the locket around his neck with Hanuman's image in it. "I know Hanuman Chalisa by heart. So, I am scared of none." 

"I sat down, opened my tiffin, ate my food, and was on the verge of switching the radio on, and suddenly I heard a thud as if something fell down. I turned around to see what that was." He whispered. 

We kids were so scared that our bladders were about to burst. But look at our desire to get scared to death, we stood there like a Rambhakt Hanuman, listening to his Sanju bhaiya's story. 

"There was no one. I went to fill my water bottle up from the tap, and again I heard the same sound. I went in the direction of the sound. A hand of a dead body was moved, maybe because of the wind. I went closer to keep the hand properly. As I held that hand, the lights went off. There was pitch black darkness in the morgue except for her eyes. The hand I was holding was of a woman's dead body, and her eyes were wide opened. In the darkness, her eyes seemed white as the full moon. It seemed as if she was still alive. I thought that the very next moment, she would rise from the bed and tell me the story behind her death. Was I scared?" 

We didn't understand whether it was a rhetoric question. He again flaunted the Hanuman locket around his neck, "I was not. I placed her hand properly on the bed, recited Hanuman Chalisa, and with my own hands, I shut her wide-opened eyes."

The entire chawl was silent. From Shinde Mama's house, we could hear the twelfth stroke of the clock, and before he could tell the further part of the story, the lights in the chawl went off. We fumbled to hold each others' hands. 

"Baaki ki story baad me (the next part of the story will be told later)" said Sanju bhaiya while cleaning the dirt off his pants. 

The kids ran to their houses and shut the doors. Almost everybody left for the bed except Sanju bhaiya and Prakash bhaiya. Prakash bhaiya said, "Good night, Sanju!" Sanju bhaiya held his hand tightly and said, "Come with me. I have to go to the toilet. Just stand outside."

"Are you scared of ghosts, Sanju?" Prakash bhaiya asked. 

"No. not of ghosts, but of darkness," Sanju whispered. 

"I can't come with you, dear. I neither have a Hanuman locket nor do I know Hanuman Chalisa." Prakash bhaiya replied and quickly disappeared inside his house. 

"HELP"

That day, Rajesh could not sell a single book. It was getting dark. For survival, he had to do this. After thrown out from the waiter's job in the Radhe-Krisha restaurant on the Main Street, it was the only job he could get, and he wanted not to lose this too. On the day of joining as a salesman, he had made a promise to himself that he would not return home till he would sell at least one set of books. 

Rajesh, aka Raju, was a second-year student in one of the local colleges in Nana Peth. He had the burden of educating his orphan nieces. Though he was only 20 years old, he was the head of the house. Some days he would work as a caterer and would bring the left-over food to his nieces. Some days he would go to assist the fabrication workers in his chawl in painting the window grills and cots. Two months ago, he was appointed as a waiter which earned him more than his expectations, but he left that job too due to late-night duties. 

It was getting darker now. He was about to return home. "If I could find a society or some houses where I could sell at least one set ...," he still had the hope. While pedalling his cycle, he heard a cracking sound from the chain. He parked the cycle on the side-stand and found that the cycle's chain was broken. He had to take the cycle and walk the next eight kilometres to reach his house. 

On his way home, he saw a line of bungalows to his right side. All standing tall. From inside of some bungalows was coming the sound of the English opera music played on the old gramophone, while from some bungalows came the sounds of Doordarshan TV news. 

"How happy their lives are! They don't have to work day and night to earn two times meal." He thought to himself. He looked at the cars and bikes parked in front of the bungalows. "They don't have to walk throughout the day in the sun carrying such a cycle that demands repair every now and then." Angrily, he kicked his cycle and the cycle's wheel started wobbling now. While thinking about the luxurious lives inside those bungalows, he was cursing what fate had offered him. 

He walked for a while. Now there were no bungalows, houses or human around. To reduce his fear, he started humming a tune. There were no streetlights and the road was covered by the canopy of tall trees, and that was giving him an eerie feeling. His mouth was parched. He knew that the water bottle in his sack was empty. 

As he walked some more distance, he saw a bungalow. "Shall I go and ask for some water?" 

"No, you shouldn't. You never know what kind of people must be living there?"

"Come on dude. You are tired. People are good. They help poor people like you."

Thoughts lingered in his mind till he reached in front of the bungalow's gate. He saw a girl around 22 to 25 years old who was opening the latch of the gate and was about to enter. Thinking that it was a good opportunity to ask for help rather than knocking someone's door, he moved quickly towards the gate and asked the girl politely, "Excuse me! Can I get some water? I have to walk for the next eight kilometres and I am very tired." He wiped his sweat on his forehead with his sleeves. 

The girl looked at him from head to toe as she wanted to confirm his intention, and then asked, "What are you doing in this Cantonment area? This is Army area. Aren't you aware of this?" She adjusted her glasses on her nose while holding a bunch of books in her other hand. 

"I knew but my cycle got ..." before he could finish the sentence, she said, "It's ok. Please come inside."

Rajesh went inside the bungalow. It was the biggest house he had ever seen. 

"Please sit on the chair in the corner. I will get you some water," the girl said. He looked at the dressing room. There was a grand piano kept in one of the corners. It seemed that it had not been dusted for days. Some tinted photo frames were on the wall. From the look of the people in the frames, he could guess that the family belonged to an army officer. There was a bronze statue of Emperor Alexander with a spear in his hands. A bookshelf was on the wall. As a keen reader and a book-salesman, he went closer to have a look at it. Before he could touch Agatha Christie's 'The Witness For The Prosecution', the wooden windows opened with a thud and the wind rushed inside the house making a grunting sound. His hand was still in the mid-air, and before he could take his hand a little closer to the book, he heard a growling sound. 

"Don't worry. It is our kitty." The girl said while handing him over the glass of water. 

He looked at the pitch-black coloured cat jumping off the window on the piano, and to his surprise, the cat had only one eye, and that too was as white as marble. 

"Thank you, madam. Thanks a lot." He said with an intention of leaving that bungalow as soon as possible as he gathered his books and the sack. 

"Wait !" The girl said. "Do you sell books?"

"Yes, mam. I could see you have a great collection of suspense novels." Rajesh replied. 

"Then you are of my help. I need the complete work of Shakespeare. A collection of all his dramas. I tried to search it in Crossword but in vain." She said in a whispering voice. 

Raju smelled something was eccentric about this girl, but if she would buy the entire set of Shakespeare's dramas, it would fetch him a good amount. So, for a moment, he ignored the eerie feeling.

"Yes mam, I have that. I can bring it tomorrow for you." He said and then suddenly he paused as if he remembered something, "Sorry ma'am. Tomorrow it won't be possible for me" He took his wallet out and handed a card over to her and said, "This is my card ma'am. If I will not come, you come to my owner's shop and collect it yourself. I will pack the items for you and inform my boss about your order." He wanted to finish his meeting with her as early as possible. 

"Thank you. I will try if possible," the girl said while closing the doors of the bungalow. 

Rajesh left the place and walked as fast as possible till he saw the bungalow disappearing in the road. 

The next night, the girl waited for him to come with the books, but he did not. Three days past. She called in other book shops to see if they had those books, but it was of no use. She was left with only one option to go to Rajesh's shop. She had never been out of that bungalow except for computer classes. That evening, after coming from the class early, she hired an autorickshaw and asked the autorickshaw driver to drop her at the address mentioned on the card. Till she reached her destination, it was about to get dark. 

The autorickshaw driver dropped her in front of a hut. From no angle, it looked like a book shop though there was a signboard 'Novel Bookstore' hanging on the door. 

She knocked on the door. Nobody responded. She knocked on the door one more time. Twice. Thrice. The tin door was opened with a cracking sound by a small girl. She looked at the girl. Her hair was dishevelled, clothes were dirty, and she was looking weak. 

"What do you want madam?" Who do you want to meet?" The girl asked. 

She looked inside for that boy from the half-opened door, but nobody was there. Some other girl was sleeping on the ground.

"I came here to collect some books. I was told that my books will be packed and kept aside." She said.

"Come inside madam." The little girl said. 

She opened the rusted tin trunk kept in the corner, and took a pack of books out of the trunks, and handed over the pack to the girl. 

"Are you talking about these books?"

The girl took the books and a wide smile spread across her face. She read the price on the pack, took money from her purse and handed it over to the little girl. 

"Thank you. You don't know how valuable these books are for me. Say thanks to that book salesman" said the girl and was about to leave the open door.

"Who salesman?" 

"The one who came to my house some night ago." She said. 

"Is he the one you are talking about?" The little girl said while pointing a finger at a photograph hanging on the wall.

The photograph was of the same book salesman. In the photograph, he was wearing the same shirt and the same pant, and the same sack on his shoulder. The girl got the shock of her life when she read what was written under the photograph:

Rajesh Sampat Shinde

Birth: 12 April, 1998

Death: 7 March, 2018

(to be continued)

Author: Amit Kharat

THE NEVER GONE

I reached home from the coaching class, and I was having my dinner. Usually, I would not be bothered about my mother's talk while she would serve me food, as most of the time, it would be about if I was dating someone and if I was planning to get married. She would speak, and I would respond by nodding my head saying 'Hmm' while chewing my food. However, that night, her mention of the word 'posses' caught my attention. With a bite of chapati and sabji about to enter in my gaped mouth, I asked in surprise, "What?"

"Arrey, the Lokhande's Prakash, that Pakya, has been possessed by a ghost. Since last night he has been acting and speaking something weird in a different voice," Mother said while keeping her chin on her on the palm. 

I finished my dinner. "Ghost and possession? Aayi, it is all superstition. They are interesting stories to listen to, but useless and fake according to me." I said while wiping my mouth with a napkin. 

"Educated people like you think that they know everything, and on the top of that, you are a Nastik, an atheist. You won't trust your mother. How much I suffered in educating you and ..." before she could speak any more words, I left the house as I knew it was time for me to get emotionally blackmailed. 

Prakash was an acquaintance from my chawl. He used to work as a waiter-cum-cashier-cum-cook in the nukkad's chai stall. I straight away went to his house. There were people gathered around his jhuggi, a zopadi. People in my locality seem very interest in 'unearthly things' and making a huge fuss of every such thing. Somehow, I shouldered them to get a chance to see what was happening. 

Prakash was sitting on the ground with legs fold and both knees close to his chest. He was shivering though it was the hot April month. His eyes were red, his lips dried and withered. His clothes were dirty. There were fresh scratch marks on his arms. His shirt was torn at the shoulders. I was shocked to see his condition, but I got the shock of my life when he opened his mouth to speak.

"I won't leave him. I won't go anywhere."

It was not Prakash's voice. The voice was different as if some angry woman was speaking from inside him. The voice was hoarse and was sounding scary. It was now my turn to shiver though it was the hot April month.

"He shouldn't have kicked the Utara. Now, I won't leave him. Never." He continued speaking while continuously banging his head hard against the wall. His father and brothers held him tightly. 

I left the place and I couldn't believe my eyes. Just because he kicked utara, (A lemon pierced with many pins and kumkum sprinkled on it. In Hindu culture, it is used to conjure an evil spirit.) he was possessed by a ghost. 

That night I overheard people in the chawl speaking something. A woman arrived at our door and told my mother, "Shut the door now. They have trapped the evil spirit in a lemon now and are taking it to throw somewhere." Without wasting a second, my mother shut the door. As if mother knew what I would ask, mother said, "During this process, one is not supposed to keep the doors open or cross the path of the tantrik who is doing this ritual. The ghost might leave that lemon and enter onto someone else's body." that was the most idiotic thing said by her. After that conjuring ritual, every house threw a bucket of water in the verandah to purify the chawl. 

Next morning, when I was leaving for my office, I saw Prakash. He was sitting alone on the porch in front of his house. He was looking normal. He greeted me, "Good morning, Amit." I greeted back but didn't dare to ask him about the previous night. In the afternoon, somebody told me that the evil spirit was no more in his body. He was alright then. 

The entire chawl was relieved as people thought that there was no more ghost or spirit in the chawl then. Kids were playing hide-and-seek in the dim light of the hundred-watt bulbs in front of our houses. Women were sitting on the porch discussing their day with each other. Men were playing cards and were surrounded by the beedi's smoke. And a sudden scream coming from one of the houses sent chills down everyone's spine. The kids stopped their hide-and-seek and hid behind their mothers. The women gossiping jumped off their seats, and the men playing cards, paused. One more time, we heard the scream. It was coming from Sheru's house. The men quickly went to see what had happened, and their bodies got frozen when they saw Sheru's younger sister, Sanaa, was saying the same words, 

" I won't leave her. I won't go anywhere. She shouldn't have kicked the Utara. Now, I won't leave her. Never." 

Sanaa's pulled her hair opened with a force. Her eyes red, mouth dried and lips were withered. She too had a hoarse, scary voice exactly like of Prakash when he was possessed. 

(to be continued)

Double Seat

Mohan Mama. 

He wasn't our maternal uncle, but all the kids in the chawl would call him by that name, except his own. A middle-aged man, tall and slim, a little bent in the back, Mohan mama was always seen smoking bidi or occasionally, a cigarette. Early in the morning, we would see him going to work on his bicycle, and coming in the night, drunk. Though he had the habit of drinking, he never troubled anyone. On the other hand, he was a source of amusement for all of us. On Sundays, when he would not drink, and if he was in a good mood, he would tell us stories. In the night, when he would sit on the porch in front of his house in his lungi and vest, we would go to him for a new story. 

"You know what work I do? I am a car mechanic." He said taking a puff of smoke. 

"Thus, I have to deal with work that needs a lot of strength, and for that, I had to eat a lot of meat and beef. Sometimes, I had to work with a sledgehammer." He held the beedi in between his lips and showed us his palms. 

"Look at my hands! They are so hard and rough. If I slap someone, the man would not wake up till the next day." The beedi was still in between his lips, and the smoke was coming out from his nostrils. 

We would touch his hands, and truly, they were rough as a stone. 

"It's not easy to do this job. I have to cycle around 10 km to reach my garage near the University of Pune. Do you know how far it is?"

We nodded our heads. 

"Once, it was a Friday. My boss asked me to do some denting-painting work of a damaged car all alone. Everybody in the garage left for the home, but I. I told my boss that I would not leave the garage until I am done with this car. I also told him to go home as I would lock the garage myself."

"After completing the task, I packed my sack, put my tiffin in it. The tiffin still had the smell of the beef curry and paayaa your Maami gave me for lunch. I locked the garage. I looked at my watch. It was 11 o'clock in the night. The streets were almost empty. Only a bus or two, and some rickshaws were there. I cycled towards my home."

"On the way, I had to cross Lakdi Pool (the Deccan Bridge). There were no street lights that night. I looked at the sky, the moon wasn't there. It was an amaavas night. Was I scared? No. I am a devotee of Hanuman and I always carry his photo in my pocket. As I was cycling, I saw a white figure from a far distance. Was I scared now? Hmm ... A little bit. I started reciting Hanuman Chalisa in my mind. As I came closer to that figure, I saw that it was a beautiful woman draped in a white saree. She was asking for a lift. At first, I thought not to give her a lift as it was too late for me, but then I thought, she is a lady, and being a gentleman, I should help her." He took a new beedi out from the pouch and lit it.

"Can you drop me till Nana Peth? I missed my last bus." 

"Hmm ... I don't mind. I stay in Nana Peth only."

"Thank you very much. It was difficult to get any help at such an hour on a night of amaavas."

"What number bus did you miss?"

"Bus number 13."

She sat on the carriage seat behind me keeping both of her legs on one side of the bicycle. 

I started pedalling my bicycle. 

"Where do you stay in Nana Peth?"

"Near Bharat Talkies."

"I too stay there only. But where exactly?" I asked her.

The wind was growing wilder now. Her hair was flying on my face.

"I stay near the mosque."

"Where near the mosque?"

"Don't you know what is near the mosque?"

"I know. It is Kabristan (a cemetery)."

My mind paused for a while. "Did she say that she stays in Kabristan?" To reassure my fear, I asked again.

"Where near the mosque? Any exact location? Any chawl number?

"Not in a chawl. I live in a Kabristan. In a grave." She said with a weird voice that sent chills down my spine. 

I looked behind. Her beautiful face now turned into a witch's face. She held my arms tightly. I tried to pedal faster, but I could see that my bicycle was not moving. Before anything could happen, I jumped off my bicycle and looked at her. She was still sitting on the rear seat, mid-air. I looked at her legs were crooked. Without wasting any second, I ran for my life."

"The next day, when I got from my bed, I called a Brahmin Pandit and told him about the incident."

"That was an insatiable soul whose wish was not fulfilled before her death," Pandiji said.

"But why was she after me only?"

"Because you were all alone in the amaavas night, and on the top of that, you were carrying non-veg in your tiffin. Ghosts can smell non-veg from miles." 

Panditji did some prayers and I felt good."

Mohan mama was done with his story so with the last beedi remaining in the pocket. 

"Were you not scared at all?" asked one of us kids. 

"Not at all. I am not scared of the deadliest of the ghosts or the witches because I have this Hanuman's photo in my pocket and I know Hanuman Chali ..."

Before Mohan mam could complete the word 'Chalisa', shouted his wife loudly, "It is too late now. Would you come inside or shall I come out?"

Mohan mama got up from his seat, and said, "and I am not scared of anyone because I know Hanuman Chalisa". 

We kids could not control our laughs as we went to our beds. 

पाहिलं आज दृश्य

पाहिलं त्याला आज ...

भुकेसाठी कॉम्प्रोमाइज करून 

भीतीच्या अंधारात मरत-मरत जगताना. 

जीभ कापल्यासारखं , मुक्याच सोंग घेताना.

९ ते ५ ची डयुटी  करून डाळ भात खाऊन झोपताना.

पाहिलं त्याला ... रोज रोज हरताना .

रिटायरमेंट ची वाट बघताना.

त्यालाही पाहिलं आज ...

दगड हातात घेऊन रस्त्यावर उतरताना,

डोळ्यातल्या रागातून पीएमटी जाळताना,

पोलिसच दांडकं पडताच जोरात विव्हळताना,

मलम पट्टी करून परत उभा होताना ...

पहिला त्यालाही ... रोज रोज झगडताना 

फ्रस्टरेशन मूळ बिघडताना .

आणि यालाही पाहिलं आज ...

शिकून सावरून मोठं होताना,

बुद्धिवाद्यांची  भाषा वापरताना,

कधी फेसबुक तर कधी ट्विटर वर निषेध नोंदवताना,

गर्दीला दिशा दाखवताना...कधीतरी जिंकताना. 

पहिला यालाही ... कधीतरी जिंकताना

दररोज झगडताना .... 

आणि पाहिलं माय बाप सरकारला 

यांच्या जखमेवर मूतताना ,

पिढ्यानं पिढ्या  सडवताना ,

एकमेकात लढवताना ,

मुडद्या च्या कपाळावरील लोणी चोरताना,

स्वतःची पॉट भरताना ... या तिघांवर हसताना 

पाहिलं माय बाप सरकारला ...

रोज रोज जिंकताना ... हसत हसत जगताना. 

 

Effective Ways of Planning Lessons

Teaching is sharing of experiences that help in better and easy learning. It is not difficult to make someone understand and remember the text for some time, but it needs rigorous practice of planning to enable the learner understand the text for a life time. Here comes the role of planning a lesson.

What is required to plan a lesson? A book? No. It needs understanding of what the National Curriculum Framework is expecting us teachers to do in the classroom. Most of the teachers, and for that matter, the Principal of the school, too isn’t aware of the teaching and learning objectives given in the National Curriculum Framework. Every Textbook that NCRT provides has guidelines at the start of the unit that help the teacher in understanding the objectives laid by the National Curriculum Framework. But do teachers even care to read those guidelines?

Why are these guidelines important?

Sometimes, a teacher may know about the topic more than required for his teaching. Sometimes teachers are not aware of different definitions given by the Education Committee for the same concept. These guidelines help in limiting and delimiting teachers’ teaching and thus help the teacher to focus on particular aspects. It is not that teachers cannot go beyond the given guidelines, but during teaching, these guidelines work as a trail on which a teacher has to walk and come back.

Once the guidelines are studied, a teacher understands the objectives of his teaching. A teacher always divides his objectives on the basis of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The objectives should be divided into remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. Though these are the main objectives for achieving any teaching goal, these objectives further can be divided into smaller goals and larger goals too. Thus, in a lesson plan, then has to be minimum six objectives.

Once the objectives are derived, a teacher then needs to find out the skills and the knowledge aspects that he would like his students to be acquainted with or possess. It is called as ‘Learning Outcomes’. Learning Outcomes always starts with the phrase ‘At the end of this chapter/unit, the student will be able to …’. Thus learning outcomes is the direct result of the proposed achievements that are planned in the previous stage i.e. writing Teaching objectives.

Now your teaching objectives and learning outcomes are decided, you cannot go to teach in the class. A teacher has to create a plan to evaluate students’ achievement. This is called as planning ‘Formative’ and ‘Summative’ assessment. Formative and summative assessments should be planned keeping in mind the learning outcomes.

Why to plan assessments even before we teach?

It has been a common trend in India and most of the countries in Asia to make question papers to check students’ memorization skills. But memory is not the only skill a teacher wants students to develop. That is why while planning the assessment, one should be really aware of the LEARNING OUTCOMES. Because learning outcomes act as a lighthouse for assessment planning. Our assessment should only assess the skills we are trying to imbibe in the students. Anything other than that would only give a wrong analysis of the students’ performance.

Once the foundation is made (teaching objectives, learning outcomes and Assessments), the actual planning of ‘what to do when we enter the class’ starts.

A great teacher always creates curiosity amongst the students before teaching the topic. Curiosity will lead to making students inquire more, want more, and thus, get more.

How to build the curiosity?

The best way is to tell students stories, share with them the case studies, share with them your experiences related to the topic, asking them questions to make them ask more questions. These all activities come under non-instructional teaching practices, and they are equally important as teaching practices. Imagine telling the story of the need of survey in Delhi for the sudden increase of number of women during last decade. Students will come up with various questions and answers for the same, and it will give teacher an opportunity to tell them what statistics is, and why it is required. A good amount of time should be given for ice-breaking. I always prefer to have an Inquiry Wall in the classroom where students will post their questions regarding the topic to be learnt.

Gone is the era when teacher used to teach with lecture, chalk and board. Though we are 21^st century teachers, we have to outlive our own era, we have to try to be the teacher of 22^nd century. Keeping in mind different types of learners, we have to plan different types of teaching methodology. Some of the best methods to teach students are story-telling, narrating, giving case study, but in each case, students have to proactively involve. A good teacher always has a bundle of different activities prepared in advance to take in the classroom. These activities not only help in engaging the class, but also in going closer to the learning outcomes.

Each day’s teaching is to be assessed. Each day a teacher should check whether he/she is teaching properly and the students are showing the signs of achieving learning outcomes. If not done on a regular basis, teacher may not realize whether students’ are prepared for learning the next part of the text. This stage will also help in understanding the low performers and planning remedial for them.

After learning the concept, a teacher has to plan what student will explore. A teacher has to show what activity students will complete to help them explore the material. Activities such as stations, cooperative learning groups, games, worksheet or other instructional methods, help in the same.

Once the explanation, teaching is done, elaborating starts. Elaborating, in education, is independent practice. Students should be given many activities where they will get opportunities to apply the knowledge and the skills they achieved during the teaching-learning process. These activities should help the children apply the learning in variety of situations. This work has to be done in the classroom and also at home.

Evaluation is the end stage in most of the lesson plans. But according to me, it has to be a stage at the each stage of learning. We have to evaluate students’ prior knowledge, their learning abilities, their skills, etc. Thus evaluation is not something to be taken only at the end. But yes, formative and summative assessment will help in evaluating students’ understanding of the concept and thus, in making a new plan to achieve the teaching objectives. Daily evaluation should be done in the form of an EXIT SLIP where a teacher will make a chit with a question written on it, and the students have to answer it in the end of the session.  

Being a teacher is easy, making people call you a great teacher is challenging. Only great planning will ease the journey from ‘A Teacher’ to an ‘Awesome Teacher’.  

Vedic Education Vs Modern Macaulay's Education

Decisions go wrong, and there is nothing wrong about it.

When one way doesn’t work for us, we change it to other. We choose the other way. But eventually when we find that the other way too is not much effective, we get frustrated, and instead of finding out which way was better, we curse the Way 2 and feel that Way 1 was better. Things are happening the same way in education, especially when people praise ‘Vedic Education System’ and curse ‘The New Education System’ brought by Lord Macaulay.

Both have their pros and cons, and for that matter, every education system has. Education system cannot be changed from A to B. It has to evolve from A to better A to Best A. But if asked which one is better in the cases of Vedic Education and the new Macaulay education, we should look for the one which has lesser cons.

Vedic Education system was hidden, or let’s say, was forgotten by the people of India till the rise of the new Hindutva or the right winged extremism. Why suddenly people started finding a better alternative in Education in the form of Vedic System? It has something to do with present Socio-Political situations. According to m, Vedic Education has the cons that would stop a generations growth.

1)    Vedic Education system emphasized upon ‘learning by heart’ and not by finding the universal reasoning for anything. Students, studying in Ashramas, were taught about the Vedas without questioning them. This is SANATAN way of education. The word SANATAN stands for things that has no birth and are prevailed in the society since ages. Better way to understand is, SANATAN means something given by GOD and not to be challenge. For me, the real education starts in challenging the wrongs and finding what the truth is. For example: There are many pundits who teach their current generation about Pooja Path, about how to take Satya Narayan Puja and all. They teach them about the rituals and the methods. But the student is not supposed to ask any question that will put the teacher in dilemma. The student is not supposed to ask any question that arouses his rational thinking, universal reasoning. 2)    Vedic Education was confined only for a particular stratum of the society. For example: In Vedic Era, only Brahmins were allowed to teach only to Brahmins. So who will be educated? Only Brahmins. What about other strata of the society? Shudras were not the part of this education system. So, it would be very right to say, that Vedic Education System did not believe in inclusiveness. Not everybody was included in the system. On the other hand, those who wanted to be a part of system, were sidelined by cruel intentions. For example: How Eklavya was thrown out of the competition by the Guru Drona. On the other hand, Macaulay’s education system brought all the members of the society together in the mainstream education, proposed special facilities for those who couldn’t afford it. 3)    The entire concept of Vedas is put into the culture for making mental slaves. Manusmirti was also written in the times of Vedas, and can be called as one of the Vedic Literature. But, it criticizes women calling women good for nothing but for taking care of the families. There are many objectionable things written about women and untouchables in Manusmriti. How can we say that such Vedic Literature is to be accepted in today’s era? Manusmiriti classified people and pave the road of RACISM and CASTISM in Indian Soil. Now people who defend Vedas will says that Varna System was for division of labour, but my question will be if it was for division of labour, why there is no history or literature that talked about a Shudra becoming a Brahmin. So, it is very much clear that Vedas talk not about division of labour, but division of laborers.   4)    Lack of rational thinking, lack of inquisitiveness is also one of the characteristics of Vedic Education. 5)    It is said that Vedic Education System talked about Wisdom. But to reach wisdom, one has to go through following steps: Data – Information – Knowledge - Wisdom But when the very first step of Knowledge relies much on some supernatural element, or on some element whose existence has not been proved yet, and will not be proved, the last step of wisdom becomes mere a dream.   5) Vedic Education system was closed. Completely closed. Data limited. Authenticity of the data was not verified. Conclusions were not checked and verified under different variables. May be that's why there wasn't any Issac Newton produced by Vedic Education.  When we have so many flows, which if accepted in today's generation would create a wide disparity amongst social classes and would create 'by heart learners', calling Vedic Education System as an alternative to Macaulay's Education System wouldn't be a nice idea.  I know Macaulay's education system too wasn't good as it, according to most of us, created clerks. But still Macaulay's education system believes in equality, liberty and the most important, in rationality. We cannot finalize an education system, it has to evolve with evolving times.