Anand Kumar- The Dhronacharya of Ekalavyas

Source:Indiatoday.in

    If Albert Einstein would have seen me right now, he would have described me as a photon. Because I have an immense packet of energy inside me that is ready to burst through words into this blog. Perhaps not Albert Einstein, but my roommate would sure agree on this provided the squeaks and thrills I went through while watching this film. For those who couldn't guess it yet, it was the "Super 30" film on an ace mathematician who helped 30 cool and talented kids with a curse of being poor ro crack IIT;the most intense competitive exam of India,like olympics for engineers.

    Before I get into the film I would like to say a few words on Art or Kala. Art is something that is always ahead of reality, always going beyond the boundaries of society, limitless. In this picture the Art of ugliness of society in relation with education was portrayed so boldly that you couldn't turn your eyes away from it. As I said, it's ahead of reality but still real life,not imaginary. I shall delve deeper into this film and unpack this in my own artistic way as I write these words with the hands of a to be teacher, not just a spectator.

Raja Ka Beta Raja Nahi, Vo Hota hai Jo Asli Hakdaar Hai

    I have had several instances in my life where I have experienced people who are from poor backgrounds having more knowledge about things than I do. For example, my maid( mausi as I call her lovingly) knows all about plants, she can identify them, knows which part of plant can be used for cooking and other uses, and basically all the things a botanist knows minus the jargon. A lab worker in my college; in biotechnology department knew more about the experiments, the chemicals and assisted me in my research project so much more than the teachers did, no offence but you should be scared. Scared of how much they know and what potential they possess. Like Anand Kumar said, "Ye ameer logone cement ke raste khud keliye toh banaliye par hume chalang maarna bhi sikhadiya". They can leap higher than any of us and they have nothing to loose, no bounds; limitless. I can give you several such instances from my life that can take up this entire blog and I won't regret it one inch. But I want you to just close your eyes and honestly think about all the faces of the people who are from poor backgrounds that you know. Yes, each one of us has been in touch with them, all of us know them. Now imagine how much they know, can they become something with the knowledge they possess, the photons that can travel at the speed of light, for whom even the time stops and runs behind.

Shiksha Par Toh Sabka Adikar hai! 

    But nothing comes without a fight. Without a sacrifice. There is something to be paid, something far greater than money is: Your life. And I don't necessarily mean becoming Shaheed, that is a noble path only a few of us get, my mother always says; death is easy...but it doesn't come easy to everyone. You have to loose your material comforts, the attachments in order to win this fight. From the times of when Mahabharata was written to this film which is the present, there are always Kauravas to win against. The Kauravas are always more in number. Their work is of deception. The Pandavas are always less in this world. They work with dedication. It's the characters who change, but the story stays the same. Such is the Art of storytelling, hence never dies or fades away. Hence there are two types of people in this world: The gossipers whose mouth is a flu of rumours spreading and influencing all of us. And the hardworkers, whose work is a fire that lights the torches of other's minds, hearts and souls, enlightning us.

The Threat To Be Free

      I come from a middle class family. Hence, I have always been in the middle. In my views, my work, my goals. While I was teaching during the pandemic to some of the kids from my sister's school; my mother was unpleased with me when I took 700 rs for 7th standard. She showed me big dreams, how much money I can earn from this, how much I should be earning and asking for from the parents. Little did I know this was just a sample of how society forces you to stay on the same path of making money as they are on, with the baits of sweet talks and perks dangled infront of your eyes to waver you from your true purpose. The goal to happiness. To serve is of utmost joy and our society has forgotten to give. So we take and teach others to take as well. Life is no longer a home with mother's meals that never ends, but a marriage buffet to take and hog whatever you can. If I can fight my mother and still teach with my true purpose intact, I still have others to fight. And I am not yet prepared. Because, I come from a middle class family. I have money so I never really felt what it feels to not have money. I truly don't value money because I have it. To wear the clothes of a beggar and to live like a beggar is a difference that surmounts all the things I need to be truly a fighter that makes a change. To create a revolution, to be different and to let it shine in this world are two different things. To have and to dare to show what you have. There are ravens ready to pounce on anything that shines. And I am not yet ready for that. Because I still have things to loose. I need to get to the point where I will have nothing to loose. Poetic, but that's what dreamers like us do. When you will watch the film, you will realize along what lines I have been talking on. Anand was the son of a post man. Later, when he became a teacher you will see how he was swayed with the comfort of money. But the driving force that made him leave it was because he knew what it felt to be without money. It takes guts. It takes your every ounce of will, and most of all utmost belief in yourself. But your background also matters, the cruel divide that runs and governs how we think and live according to the homes we were born into. Who will teach us to change that?

The society is crueler and more persuasive than my mom. Anand's story shows that. There is a threat to be free and different. Be aware of this and prepare yourself accordingly for that.

    Language Is Just A Barrier of Words, Not Your Talent

That lab assistant I was talking about? Yeah, I will have to bring him here again. I one day offered to teach him English so that he can do a better job than be a lab assistant and he replied me with, "But I don't want to. I am happy with the language I know and the job I do. I have no wish of learning posh english and I know enough of it to get by". He knew he could do anything and get any other job as well without having to learn english. I could see it in his eyes, and ofcourse even you can guess it provided how well he is at knowing things even my teachers don't know of, the street smart people we call them as.

 Then there was this another guy in the canteen who wanted to learn English. He came from a similar background but felt extremely limited because of his lack of knowledge of this foreign language that every educated person knew of and spoke in. I and my friends taught him, no charge. Gave him tips.

   Which one was right, I still can't decipher. But what I can tell is there are a lot many Albert Einsteins than you know of. Some just had the right cards to get to the stage where you get the Nobel prize, but the show keeps running here in India even without a stage; on streets of slums and the farms of villages where no light, water and city folks with their credit cards dwelve.

    Even in the film, you see language being highlighted right from the beginning in the speech by an aerospace engineer, one of the super 30s right to the skit scene with the catchy song of "NOOO Basanti, No dance infront of these Dogs". (Sholay movie reference, for those who don't know)

Majburi Insaan ko Sikhati Hai: My Dad

In the movie it was "Apatti" instead of Majburi. My dad always tells me this line. I wish there is enough majburi in my life for me to find solutions. Like Anand said,there are two types of people: Ricky and Bholu. Ricky gets everything readymade and Bholu has nothing but his wit to rely on. So he finds answers to problems, the problem solving mindset. If you truly apply the NCF guideline of connecting everyday life of students with textbooks, you will make the Jugaadus of the future, something desi and unique that makes us Indians. We find ways to use something, to do something from what little we have. They will see problems and find solutions to everything, like our nanimas and dadas did in their times.

Vidya Daan In different Forms

When I was doing my internship as a trainee in schools, I realized all my friends had something else to offer the students. Each one of us came with our own set of ideals, our backgrounds and also that's why humans are different from computers. I cannot tell you how different our visions were with which we came to teach, and the students were imparted with these different morals, each adding to their moral compass that will guide them in life.

 Have you ever gotten fruits as prasad? I remember whenever they were distributed, we all got different fruits. All of them tasted different, had different benefits for our body but still were prasad, meaning a gift, a daan. We were taught to always take whatever we got, to never turn our hands away from the hand that offers you prasad.

   A teacher gives Vidya daan. Your primary teacher might have sparked your interest in learning a subject whereas your secondary teacher may have guided you to a career path best suiting your potentials.An IIT teacher like Anand teaches you how selection works and will train you keeping in hindsight what you are being trained for whereas some other teacher can teach you to never feel like a failure because all of us are toppers with our own set of strengths. The point is,every teacher has something valuable to give. If the good ones teach you how to be; the bad ones teach you how not to be. You just take the prasad and shape your life in the direction of who you want to be.A teacher can truly change anything.

Source:Youtube

         Knowledge gives humility, and from humility one goes to merit

From merit one attains wealth, from wealth one attains righteousness and from that happiness.