Time passes by but good times are ephemeral.
by Abhinav Saxena on Monday, April 23, 2012 at 10:12pm ·
Venue: Lal Bahadur Shashtri Bal Vatika School, Vasundhra, Ghaziabad
Date: 14-04-2012
Time: 10.30 A.M.
Standard: 10th
Students:
- Shivam
- Rahul
- Shekh
Task: Teach Mathematics to these children.
As I entered the classroom, all three stood up and wished me a good morning which really turned out to be as pr their wish.
After an informal introduction, I asked them about Shashtri Ji and then told them some of the incidents from his life which they didn’t know but their eyes were filled with a sense of joy when they came to know of those episodes.
Then, I asked them about what all they have been taught to which their reply was the most used word by teenagers:”NOTHING.”
So I started off with Triangles, taught Thales Theorem and when Shivam saw the picture of Thales and his years of existence beneath it, asked a question: “What does B.C. mean?”
To explain this, I told them about the Gregorian calendar and the Vikram Samwat.
And when I asked what they thought A.D. could mean if B.C. represents Before Christ, the most intelligent of them, who had asked the question, answered it perfectly.
Another quick question, from Rahul’s mind this time: “Why is it written in a reverse order?”
So, I used number line to explain how B.C. works.
Then, we moved on to polygons and Pentagon made me tell them about the United States Department of Defense and hence 9/11 and 26/11. This further led me to explain them about the differences between the Date and Time standards of U.S.A. and those of India. Shivam took out something from his bag and showed it to me and said: “My watch shows American Time.”
Sheks was curious to know about the collapse of the W.T.C. and so I told them about different forms of energy and used law of conservation of energy to explain the catastrophe.
The topic of similar figures came and I the likes of twin towers of W.T.C., the great pyramids of Egypt,Humayun’s Tomb and Taj Mahal as examples.
As I discussed about these, I couldn’t stop myself from telling them about Mummies and the Mughal Empire in India.
In between, I asked them about what they want to become in life and there were different answers from each of them.
Shivam told about his interest in computer games and wishes to create games of his own.
Rahul spoke of his skills in tattoo designing and longs to be an animator.
Shekh, who was not speaking much when I asked questions from their course, was the most interesting one to listen to while unleashing his dreams. He wants to be an artist which he already is. He sings, plays drum in a church and has a desire to strum guitar strings. While idle, he tries his hand at drawing and sketching. And, he just wants to continue all this throughout his life.
The door opened and they were being called because their bus was supposed to leave as it was already 01:00 p.m.
I didn’t realize that it had been two and a half hours in that class room, neither did they.
Time passes by but good times are ephemeral.
In the end, there was one thing common to all four of us, a genuine smile on our faces.
I was supposed to teach these kids but I was the one who learned from them.
Wish to meet these kids and many more such intelligent, creative and enthusiastic children in future.