I, Me and Myself
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Nobody likes to feel dumb. Especially at an age when you think you know enough, at least the basic survival. I have an English Professor who seems to think otherwise. His method of motivating us is by constantly reminding us how DUMB and UNINTELLIGENT we are.
His energy is contagious. His sarcasm is missed by many which makes it all the more impressive(either they make you laugh for days or insulted for life!) . His accent is corny, mix of British and American with extremely subtle hints of Mallu! He speaks about memento mori, thinkers, philosophers, Newton, alchemists, Da Vinci, Bacon and their greatness. He throws in an anecdote about how some embezzled money and one of these great inventors tried the first step at refrigeration by stuffing ice cubes down a dead chicken's throat and then died of pneumonia himself!
He speaks about great inventions. How the invention of the mechanical clock made it possible for the human race to "see" time and count their mortality. He speaks about grand paintings, the origin of museums, Shakespeare and King James I. About exotic plants and the etymology of many of the daily words we use. About etching words on a page that in turn etch characters. He makes us write essays on the "Second Test Match of India vs England" and asks us about the latest Artic escapades. He also admits how he slept in class during his M.A in this same University and how demons exist-" How else would you explain English Professors?" he reasones.
In short, he is equivalent to one 'hell' of a teacher, and I am sure if he ever were to read this line he would appriciate my word play, something he can't get enough of!
He gets us alive and intrested. A PhD. in English after switching sides from BSc and Visting Fellow at the Cambridge University who is around 30+ (every other professor is 45+!), the man walked out of class last morning. He usually throws a volley of questions at us, the more arbid the more pleasure he takes of the fact that we don't know it. Example- ' What happened in 1666?' 'The great fire,' comes the reply. 'Apart from that?' he resumes. People get a little worried. He walked out of the class after we refused to acknowledge that we did in fact know when India started its official census records and that the Civil war fought by Oliver Cromwell was in the 17th century. His intimidating look and persona apparently had the same affect on everybody in class- 'Ignorance would save us from the attempted answer and rejection.' And he saw this. I think he was upset. All he was just trying to do was motive us to read more, to know more and we were refusing to move from our sub standard ways of jotting down the minutes of the lecture note rather than thinking for our selves. It was just like that inventor who was trying to stuff down ice cubes down a chicken's throat to "discover" refrigeration. He is probably wondering whether the risk of teaching us to "think different" is worth dying of pneumonia.
Aye!
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aT tHe mOmEnT
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the original duck-walker :)
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since may 23,2007
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