An Itinerant Trainer

I am basically an itinerant rainer going wherever I am called teaching whatever I know to people who desire to know. My peregrinations have once again brought me to the Garden City.

Banglore is cool and pleasant. It is once again the Air Conditioned city I remember it to be except that, in those days the AC effect began even as early as July.

Here is a nice quote about learning and knowledge sent by my friend Lalitha a Bangalorean herself:

“For the one who knows to be able to teach the one who knows not, first the one who knows must know that he or she does not know all things; second, the one who knows not must know that he or she is not ignorant of everything. Without this dialectical understanding of knowledge and ignorance, it is impossible, in a progressive, democratic outlook, for the one who knows to teach the one who knows not.” Paulo Friere – in Pedagogy of Hope

Vedic Convocation

3^rd July 2010

I was at the convocation ceremony of SMOT School of Business. Dr. N Jayashankaran who gave the welcome sddress mentioned t hat there was a convocation in the vedic period too. After the students had completed their education and passed the necessary tests, they had a sishyanuvachanam when great Rishi’s (Vice Chancellors of universities?) were invited and asked to address them on topics of relevance. One of the suggestions that these rishis gave them was: “Svadhyaya Pramavithavayam thus stressing the need for continuous learning and encouraging them to become life long learners.

Not just a piece of Real Estate

I had the opportunity recentlyto visit the Research Park coming up under the aegis of IIT Madras. Situated on 11.42 acres of land adjacent to IIT Madras and accessible from the OMR, the Research Park which is conceived as an edifice with three towers (currently only one has come up) is an attempt to bring Business and Academia together. The nearness to IIT campus means the various design related questions can be put to the intellectual brains in IIT with ease. Many companies including Renault Nissan have set up their R&D wing here.

I met Dr. Sandhya Shekhar the CEO. When I asked her how IITM Research Park would differ from Tidel Park, she responded that “while Tidel Park is a piece of real estate, IITM Research Park is much more. It would be a place where the true intellectual capital of this country will be built.”

Another quote of hers that I liked is this:

“The need to ideate and innovate is an imperative today.”