When I was in the sixth grade, my dad had got posted to Allahabad and I was admitted into the city's best school which happened to be a Convent and an all-girls' school. Coming from a co-ed Birla school in Kolkata, the experience of studying in a Convent was as alien to me as the experience of dining in a five star restaurant is to a middle-class man. However, that is not exactly what I intend to talk about in today's blog. Let me save that for some other day. One of the things that made Convent stand out from my earlier school was the concept of the Value Education classes. Back in my school in kolkata we had no such thing. At that time I used to think of these Value Education classes as the pseudo free- periods when I could sit at the not-so-visible corner of the room and continue with my Nancy Drew, Enid Blyton or Hardy Boys series.
In one such class as I was all set to pursue my plans having grabbed the last bench with Enid Blyton's "Island Of Adventure" gripped in my hand; the Sister came to announce that we would not be reading our prescribed book that day. It was going to be a special class as Mother Superior, who had come back from her trip abroad, was going to address the class in a few minutes. We all were warned to behave in a disciplined manner as Mother did not tolerate any sort of disobedience. Though I was at the climax of the novel and my hands were itching to turn the page , I dared not read the book in front of Mother. So very unwillingly and hesitantly i put the novel back in my bag. Seconds later Mother entered the room. Though she was of average height there was something in her personality which made her look "tall". If you have been anywhere near a typical Convent school, you would know that I am not exaggerating when I say that her presence stimulated such deep silence in the room that I suddenly became aware of the sound of my own breath. As she moved to the blackboard we could hear her footsteps cutting through the silence in the room. On approaching the board, Mother drew a straight horizontal line on the blackboard and then moved back. Looking at our puzzled faces, she gently smiled and asked all of us to think of a way to shorten the line without changing the given line.
We all brainstormed and thought hard but none of us could come up with a solution. All we could think of was to rub off the chalked line from either end and shorten it but to shorten it without touching it! How could it be possible?
Time was ticking by and none of us had figured out our way through the problem. The silence was becoming more and more profound and just when I had started feeling as if it would last forever, Mother decided to come to our rescue. She told us that every problem has a solution and the solution turns out to be really simple if we choose to change our perception. Then turning to the blackboard she drew another straight line a little above the previously drawn line but this time a longer one. Then turning to us she said " Thus, the first line is shortened without my touching it".
Mother then went on to explain why she had chosen to take up that exercise. She said that, in school, we might encounter some classmates who perform better than us. In such a situation some of us may get tempted to create obstacles for those people by choosing not to share our notes or clear their doubts, when they need our help, fearing that they may outrun us. In life at large also, whichever field we choose to venture into, we may encounter people around us who are more adept at their work and display greater excellence. Some of us might choose to see these people as a threat. Engulfed by jealousy, we might try to prevent such people from giving their best and find great satisfaction in their failure. However, it is important to realize that taking advantage of a person's weakness and limiting their capacity ( analogous to rubbing off the chalked line from either end to shorten it) will NOT make us better. Thus it will never bring us success. Rather we should try to work harder, expand our realm of possibilities and try to push ourselves forward rather than pulling others backward. This will help us to bring out the best in us while appreciating and respecting the talents of others. This, Mother said, will make us the longer line and help us to shine out.
The one line that Mother drew that day left an indelible mark in my mind. Some seven years have passed by and in those seven years i traversed through 4 more schools facing different situations and different people finally landing into one of the best colleges in the country but that one line has stayed with me ever since determining the way I approach life at large. Who had thought one value education class would make so much difference after all? Well, seven years back sitting on the last bench of the class dying to read her Enid Blyton novel when the class had started, the little girl in me definitely hadn't....
In one such class as I was all set to pursue my plans having grabbed the last bench with Enid Blyton's "Island Of Adventure" gripped in my hand; the Sister came to announce that we would not be reading our prescribed book that day. It was going to be a special class as Mother Superior, who had come back from her trip abroad, was going to address the class in a few minutes. We all were warned to behave in a disciplined manner as Mother did not tolerate any sort of disobedience. Though I was at the climax of the novel and my hands were itching to turn the page , I dared not read the book in front of Mother. So very unwillingly and hesitantly i put the novel back in my bag. Seconds later Mother entered the room. Though she was of average height there was something in her personality which made her look "tall". If you have been anywhere near a typical Convent school, you would know that I am not exaggerating when I say that her presence stimulated such deep silence in the room that I suddenly became aware of the sound of my own breath. As she moved to the blackboard we could hear her footsteps cutting through the silence in the room. On approaching the board, Mother drew a straight horizontal line on the blackboard and then moved back. Looking at our puzzled faces, she gently smiled and asked all of us to think of a way to shorten the line without changing the given line.
We all brainstormed and thought hard but none of us could come up with a solution. All we could think of was to rub off the chalked line from either end and shorten it but to shorten it without touching it! How could it be possible?
Time was ticking by and none of us had figured out our way through the problem. The silence was becoming more and more profound and just when I had started feeling as if it would last forever, Mother decided to come to our rescue. She told us that every problem has a solution and the solution turns out to be really simple if we choose to change our perception. Then turning to the blackboard she drew another straight line a little above the previously drawn line but this time a longer one. Then turning to us she said " Thus, the first line is shortened without my touching it".
Mother then went on to explain why she had chosen to take up that exercise. She said that, in school, we might encounter some classmates who perform better than us. In such a situation some of us may get tempted to create obstacles for those people by choosing not to share our notes or clear their doubts, when they need our help, fearing that they may outrun us. In life at large also, whichever field we choose to venture into, we may encounter people around us who are more adept at their work and display greater excellence. Some of us might choose to see these people as a threat. Engulfed by jealousy, we might try to prevent such people from giving their best and find great satisfaction in their failure. However, it is important to realize that taking advantage of a person's weakness and limiting their capacity ( analogous to rubbing off the chalked line from either end to shorten it) will NOT make us better. Thus it will never bring us success. Rather we should try to work harder, expand our realm of possibilities and try to push ourselves forward rather than pulling others backward. This will help us to bring out the best in us while appreciating and respecting the talents of others. This, Mother said, will make us the longer line and help us to shine out.
The one line that Mother drew that day left an indelible mark in my mind. Some seven years have passed by and in those seven years i traversed through 4 more schools facing different situations and different people finally landing into one of the best colleges in the country but that one line has stayed with me ever since determining the way I approach life at large. Who had thought one value education class would make so much difference after all? Well, seven years back sitting on the last bench of the class dying to read her Enid Blyton novel when the class had started, the little girl in me definitely hadn't....
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