The concept of old age home was alien to Indian society until the dawn of the 20th century when life became fast-paced and materialistic. The busy schedules and high ambitions leave the younger generation with very little time to look after their parents. They think of their elders as a liability and prefer sending them to old age homes. By doing this, they are running away from their responsibilities towards their elders who brought them up with so much of affection, love and care. I fail to understand how youngsters, the generation including you and me, can be so self – centered that we forget our parents’ sacrifices. How can we be blind to see that its time that our elders need our care and attention? How can we feel our blood relations as a burden and turn them away? Don’t the oldsters deserve back the love they gave to their children?
I feel that the elders in the family are an asset. It is they who can impart the much needed ethical values and code of conduct within the younger generation. They maintain the much-needed balance in a family. Old age homes should be considered as an option only when it is for the betterment of the senior citizens by way of better physical and mental status, the greater possibility for social bonding etc. No matter how good the conditions are in an old age home, it is not the right place to send your parents or elders to. Such a thought comes to your mind only when you visit an old age home. Here, I would like to share with you the experiences which I had on visiting an old age home on behalf of the English Club as part of our 2016 New Year Celebration
Along with my classmates Sisira, Amitha, Farhana and our teachers – Ms Rachael and Ms Shilpa, we visited an old age home named “Punarjani” on 1st January 2016. As we entered, we first met an aunty, a jolly woman, who was the caretaker. Along with her one of the inmates waited for us to have lunch with them. The caretaker was an epitome of selflessness. With a smile they welcomed us. They were very happy to serve us lunch and we indeed had a grand lunch. After lunch, we went ahead to interact with the inmates.
Our initial enthusiasm turned into a whole different feeling when we talked more to the inmates and realized their tragic plight. It was so hard to believe that people you care for abandon you one day with nowhere to go. It was so painful to see some of them disillusioned with life, with no faith left even in God. The feeling of being isolated from family has seeped deep in some hearts that they didn’t want to open up to anybody else. But there were a few who had accepted fate and decided to move on. They live together as a family and care for each other. We gave them our New Year gifts which we bought with the contributions from our teachers. We felt happy seeing them smile after receiving the gifts.
Before leaving from there, we clicked photos with all of them. And in the heart of hearts, I am sure that all of us thought the same thing even if we can’t bring a big change in their life or give them assurance of a better life, a smile was something we could surely give them. It felt so good to see smiles on their faces when they asked us to visit them someday again.
From “Punarjani”, I realized that being old isn’t easy. I could see the pain and loneliness in each person’s eye since an old age home can never be a substitute for one’s own home. As the name suggests, let Punarjani give those innocent souls a “new life”.
I’m sure we all love our parents a lot. Let that love and respect never seep away with time. Let no more parents be isolated from their families in the hours when they need to have cared the most…..

Insurgency was just a word which I have only heard about, but the beginning of Kiran Desai’s book The Inheritance of Loss made me experience it. This took me back to the days in which I read Jahnvi Barua’s “The Next Door”, a Short Story anthology in which she explicitly sheds lights on the insurgency that took place and still prevails in the north eastern parts of India. The Inheritance Of Loss began with the description of a group of insurgents who loot the protagonist Sai’s house. The story revolves around the lives of Sai, a teenager who lives with her grandfather, the retired judge Jemuabhai Patel at Cho Oyu, situated at the foothills of Kanchenjunga and Biju, the cook’s son who lives miserably as an illegal alien in New York .

            The insurgency becomes a hurdle for the relationship between Sai and her Nepali  math tutor Gyan, while the class struggle shatters the life of Biju under the Whites. The story is told from different perspectives including that of Sai, her Grandfather as well as Biju. Throughout the novel one could see that each character seeks redemption but does not receive it. They are trapped in an identity crisis where they fail to root themselves either in the traditional Indian culture or the Western culture. Thus the book is a haunting look at how cultural expectations, isolation and the search for identity can keep us in a circle of guilt and searching.

          The elements of diasporic writing are well visible in this novel. This quietly resembles with Kiran Desai’s another novel named Hullabaloo In The Guava Orchard. This is evident through the fact that all of the characters struggle with their cultural identity and the forces of modernization, while trying to maintain their emotional connection to one another. Biju and Jemubhai Patel are the prime examples for this. This is one of the common themes in majority of the diasporic writers such as Jhumpa Lahiri, Salman Rushdie etc.

The novel also sheds light on many of the contemporary issues such as globalization, multiculturalism, economic inequality, fundamentalism and terrorist violence or insurgency.  All these themes are presented one after the other or sometimes simultaneously through different perspectives. If one part was described through the point of view of Sai, then the next would be through the perspectives of Biju or Jemubhai or the Cook.  At the very next moment this will change and can be vice versa. Thus a recklessness of a fraction of a second can make reader completely thrown out of the thread of the story (and I have been a victim of this).

In this alternatively comical and contemplative novel, Desai skillfully shuffles between the First and the Third worlds, clarifying the pain of banishment , the imprecision of post colonialism and the blinding desire for a “better life”, when one   person’s wealth means another’s poverty.  The Inheritance Of Loss is an eye opener to all of us, the new generation, who blindly mimics the Westerners without even realizing the value and power of our own rich tradition and culture.       

The world is witnessing one of the most dangerous pandemics and we are being victims of so called lockdown,isolation, quarantine and social distancing for the very first time in our life.Completing more than a month in lock down,the current question that would be disturbing all of us is ‘ what’s next’?..We are sure that this mishap will end.But we are unsure of its duration to culminate or abate.
Everything is going to change after Covid 19 and what matters here is our resilience.It includes our life style,economy and everything that is related to us.We are slowly getting back to our tradition and culture and is getting aside from the clutches of Western culture.Even after the lockdown,we will be hesitant to eat pizzas and burgers and will prefer normal rice and curry ,which is purely home made. From now on,the masks and sanitizers will become a part and parcel of our life ,like the pot of water and a towel kept in the front courtyard of Indian houses long before,for cleaning up oneself before entering the house.
We are going to depend more on online shopping,asking the delivery boy to keep the things on the doorstep and leave.Our banking will be more digitalized and social media will be the only platform for us to get connected with our dear and near ones.We will bid adieu to shake hands and hugs, and will pave the way for ‘ Namaskara/ Pranam’ (holding the hand together and wishing).
Hopefully we will become self reliant , cultivating the crops and vegetables in our own land,whatever be the availability of space.This is surely going to transform Kerala from the status of a consumer state to a producer state.
For an unpredictable period,marriages ,rituals, festivals etc are going to be very simple,unlike the extravaganza we made all these years.As far as the educational system is concerned,its going to be completely ” Academia on the go”.
Now on everybody will respect the health department and will have to obey their instructions if we need to get out of this and to save us from digging our own sepulchres.
The prominent among all these changes would be the resilient power of Nature ,which was possible only because of the complete lock down of the mankind.
I believe that Covid 19 is a harbinger from God,who is warning us against all the excruciating things we have been doing to both our fellow beings and Nature for all these years.Covid 19 has taught us that not only in the eyes of God but also in the eyes of pandemics,all humans are equal irrespective of the caste,creed,money,and social status.
The saga of this pandemic will surely come to an end,its a hope.Lets be optimistic.We will get back to our lives.But it would be something much more different from what we had upto the initial phase of lockdown.And for this to happen we should be stringent in following the social distancing measures and only then we will be ‘ alive’ to experience the post pandemic world or else this will continue to be implacable and our destiny will be to succumb to death.

                                               We are the off springs of a world which is enhanced by technology .We live in the world of 4G and 5G, and internet is considered to be omnipotent ,omnipresent and omniscient . Faiths, beliefs, religious practices etc have given way for whatsapp statuses, instagram and fb posts. Thus it has become an inevitable part of our life which cannot be separated ,even a thought of it will bring your nightmares.

                                        This is the present scenario and thus all the fields are now under the rule of   technology whether it be science, education ,communication or anything .It is impossible for us to stick on to the traditional clichés since we will be the victims of cultural lag.

                                           In this article  I would like to be precise about one of the magnum opus in the field of technology i.e, the social media.

                                             Social media are forms of media that allow people to communicate and share information using the internet or mobile phones. It has a collection of pages  and groups that promote and share information.Some of the widely used social media are : Facebook,Whatsapp,Telegram,Twitter,Pinterest, LinkedIn ,Wechat, Snapchat,Tumbler,Instagrametc . It creates a completely new and unknown to many of us world of knowledge that can be used by every learner and teacher for the utmost effectiveness and productivity as well as encouragement and motivation.We are aware of the fact that mass media which is an anthology of print media, electronic media and online media plays a crucial role in the field of education. Social media being a new born baby in the category of online media has high potentiality  in the field of education. I would like to see the use of social media platforms in learning process as a boon. Since we are warf and weft of 4G and 5G world where  technology  rules I think it is inevitable to extend its use in educational purposes too.

“Social media presents a huge opportunity for schools,universities and other educational organisations to reach out and connect with students and prospective students”

• Jon Russell

                                            Couple of years  ago we thought that  social media was useless .And it has changed greatly  because people  started realizing that it is amending  the way    we network, transmuting the way we connect, modifying what we learn  and share information. Social media no longer has to be an obstacle to studying when used  in the learning setting.

Social media has the potential to nurture a student-centered learning setting ,since it inspire students to become independent learners and ultimately  to be in charge of their own education.

It facilitates communication – Social media can have a huge impact in helping students create relationships with other like minded students.This also leads to the concept called Collaborative learning.It extends the learning environment beyond the classroom due to the fact that it encourage students to create course  specific, virtual study groups over social media.

   Social media is a great platform for distributing news and events that will be of use to the students to stay informed and updated.It is convenient and accessible,which means you can learn from your sitting room drinking a cup of coffee and enjoying some biscuits.

                            It is a great repository of information and opportunity -Social media websites contain an abundance of different information with millions of links to other resources. That means that apart from games and music students can find answers to questions there. These sites can be useful in preparing for the lessons as you can find some interesting data there or get help from others if there are any difficulties. Some sites offer groups by interest while others contain the latest data and survey results on a variety of topics.

Another great feature of social networks is an opportunity to learn about education. Many students desire to study abroad and look for opportunities to fulfill their dreams.This can be made a reality with the help of social media.

                                      Distance learning opportunities – Modern educators look for new approaches of attracting students to distance learning and integration of social media is one of them. According to MOOCs early data learning programs with integrated social media platforms are better visited and less often dropped out than other ones. There is even a recommendation for colleges and universities to make use of this positive phenomenon as soon it will be impossible to ignore that significant influence.

                                    In short social media have drastically increased the scope and reach of the concept of ‘Academia On The Go’.As you all know, it is a recent concept which gained fame after the invention of internet. Everything related to academics,whether it be teaching , learning, evaluation, submissions or any other thing,everything is done paperless,i.e with the help of internet. And I think social media was able to make this happen to an extra reach.

                                       According to me,social media is a revolution and has blazed a trail..It is a powerful tool if used properly. There is no disadvantage for social media and its only the misuse which is a blackmark on it.The very notorious so called disadvantage of social media is the over addiction. Thus it is important that we should be aware of both the positives and negatives in using social media in education.Only then we will be able to limit ourselves from being ruled by Social Media and being a puppet in its hands.Therefore  accept the good and reject the bad and never get addicted to it at any cost.

“We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media ,the question is how well we do it”

                                                                                 Erik Qualman

                That was the last day of October 2018. With a heart filled with both excitement and a little bit of ambiguity, my eyes witnessed the image of my ever loving guardian angel, my father who came to wake me up. He said it was 5 am and I jumped out of my bed with lots of enthusiasm. This enthusiasm was not for anything else but was for the participation in All Kerala Inter Training College Badminton Championship held at Farook Training College. For the first time in my life I was getting ready for a journey, a new journey into the world of sports, to be precise into the world of Badminton.

                                              The journey began at 7 am with my beloved teachers Dr Abdu Rahiman, Dr Baby Pushpalatha and my team mates Suhaila and Rinsha . With a heart beating thrice the normal rate we arrived at the venue, Farook Training College at around 10 am. I was shocked to see the gallery filled with Farookians and other students from all over the State. The game had already begun and we came to know that there were 24 teams in boys and 16 in girls for the competition. We completed the registration formalities and were informed that our first game will be against SN College Chellanur and will be the seventh one in order. After the long awaited hours we played, won the first match and qualified into the quarter final session.

                                               We cleared the quarter final round and made ourselves occupy the position of one among the four teams of the semi-final round. Here we encountered with the players of Government Brennen College of Teacher Education. Unfortunately we lose the game and became the Second Runners Up team. All of us were a little bit disappointed but the encouragement and support that we received from our teachers and team mates took away all the disappointments within fractions of seconds. I do remember the cheers we received from all our senior boys who came all the way from Kannur .Thank you all! Though we lost the game the men’s team became the champions which paved the way for our joy and celebrations. Around 8.30pm the competition got over and we bid adieu to Farook Training College, the first venue of my very first game.

                                              This was my first experience as a toddler in the field of sports. I was never a person interested in sports. Thanks to Almighty and my mentor Dr Abdu Rahiman, who introduced me the world of sports, especially racket games. It was only because of his constant support and encouragement that badminton became a part and parcel of my life. Thank you sir!

                                              To say a few words on the journey with teachers and friends, it was something that really touched my heart. Never at any instance had I felt that I was traveling with teachers. Instead I always had the feeling that I was going on a trip with my family…..that was the intensity of the care and security I received during my journey to Calicut.

                                               After experiencing the pros and cons in the sports field I do firmly believe that any sports can improve an individual – both physically and mentally if he/she is ready to accept the success and failure with the same mentality.

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