On unexpected results, and wonderful moments

This past week, when at Miraj railway station, I met Ibrahim Arabhavi, a traffic policeman who stopped me when I was walking to my train. He said that he had just won the silver medal in the triple jump a week ago (he meant to say a year ago, but in his excitement, he mentioned a week ago - http://www.fidal.it/risultati/2013/COD3964/Gara170.htm), at the Torino World Masters over 35. When I further asked why he mentioned this to me, he said that he often came to Mumbai to practice at the Somaiya Vidyavihar track, to better prepare for his participation. It is amazing how the availability of facilities can make a difference in the lives of so many, who may be living so far away.

Our School and Junior Faculty will spend 6 weeks at Cornell University!!

Two of our faculty, Vaishali Salunkhe (Sharda School in Kopargaon -http://www.somaiya.edu/vidyavihar/sharda) and Beena Vazhapalli (K. J. Somaiya Junior College of Science and Commerce -http://www.somaiya.edu/vidyavihar/kjssc), have just reached Cornell University, to spend 6 weeks there, part of a US NSF Funded Cornell “Grass Roots” GK12 summer program at Cornell, where they will have the opportunity to engage in original research on bio-energy related projects, to listen to daily energy-related seminars and will be encouraged to share their teaching experiences with the Cornell PhD students in the program.

We had invited graduate students from Cornell, and K12 teachers from upstate New York, to spend time with us. In return, they have invited 2 teachers from our institution to spend time at Cornell.

We have chosen one teacher from our Junior College in Mumbai, and the other from the School we run in Kopargaon. We are really excited that they will learn in such an enriching environment. We are thankful to Program Director Julie Nucci, and Professor Paulette Clancy from Chemical Engineering, to invite our teachers.

On Giving, and Giving Quietly

Last week, a Well Wisher visited the K. J. Somaiya Medical hospital, and donated a dialysis machine. On seeing the service provided, he volunteered to provide another 5-6 machines so that the service to the poor could be expanded. He did not want to be named.

This adds in capital, to the operating assistance we get from another donor, who is also very quiet giver, who subsidizes the cost of dialysis to the poor. As a result, we are currently able to provide dialysis care to those who cannot afford it, at under Rs. 400 per treatment. What wonderful examples of giving.

I think, that we should celebrate such examples, since the world needs more role models of those who give, rather than those who simply 'make'.

As the Dalai Lama said last week, that our education teaches us today, to spend more time following that which is limited (material goods), instead of also spending time in cultivating that which is unlimited (the power of the mind). We need to make, but also, from what we make, to give back to society.

There is a beautiful saying in Sanskrit:

शतहस्त समाहर सहस्त्रहस्त संकिर

Earn with a hundred hands, but give with a thousand.

Incubating ideas and the Fablabs in Barcelona

Proud to say, that the Somaiya Vidyavihar entry, 'Ecomappers', through our incubator RIIDL, has been chosen as one of the winners at the Global Fab awards. Congratulations to them. They will be going to Barcelona next week. See more about the competition at http://www.fab10.org/

Gaurang Shetty and Dhiraj Gehlot will be going to Barcelona to participate in this. THe whole idea is, how do we create an environment, in which teaching, the classroom, the world around us, seamlessly come together, so that we can Research, Innovate, Incubate, and Design (RIIDL) a better world for all of us.

On meeting Yogita (student of Somaiya Vidya Mandir, Sakarwadi) and her husband

Met Yogita, a student who passed out from the 10th standard, from our school, Somaiya Vidya Mandir, at Sakarwadi.  This school is located in rural Maharashtra, and much of the community that comes to study here, are quite poor.

She stood first in the school.

She was married early, but still went on to pursue her diploma, and now wants to do engineering.  I asked her, what she would like to do next, and she mentioned that she would like to join the civil service.  Amazing.

And her husband, a polite and small farmer, was there, behind her.  Supporting her.

Too often, we here stories about people being obstacles.  Here was a quiet man, fully supporting and standing behind the dreams of his wife.

On Dr. Mrs. K. Shankarnarayan

I have just returned from Bangalore, where I went this morning,hoping to see Dr. Mrs. K. Shankarnarayan, our Founder Director of Buddhist Studies, before she 'left'.  But she had passed away already, in the morning.

I have known her since the K. J. Somaiya Centre for Buddhist Studies was founded.  It was the same year I joined my father in the family business (1993).  In the past few years, after my father's passing, I had worked with her more closely.

In the past few weeks, there was a particular occurrence that I would like to share.   I mentioned to her, that we would run a competition for a new building for the Centre for Buddhist Studies, and that we would ask His Holiness to lay the foundation stone when he came to campus.  She came back to me, and said, that it would be better to have a building that would house all the three centres, Bharatiya Sanskriti Peetham (Hindu Studies), the Jain Centre, and the Buddhist Centre, along with the centre for Interfaith Dialogue.  She did not have to volunteer to add these centres in this new building, the new building, as I had suggested was for her centre to keep.  But she generously suggested, that the building house all our centres of spiritual learning, and that learning spaces would be better used, if shared.

What a wonderful memory, and what an example.

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, laid the foundation for the new building 'Sanskriti', when he visited us earlier this month.  

His Holiness at Somaiya Vidyavihar - Post 1

It was amazing to have His Holiness The Dalai Lama on our campus for 4 days and 5 nights.  

The was he connected with all of us was superb, and even more so, was the way he connected with students.  The questions they asked, and also the questions we all asked, reinforced my feeling, that our education system, weak as it is is, only focuses on the vocational and skill aspect of eduction.  And it does little to address the emotional or psychological aspects of learning.

Students, and indeed all of us, are in need of guidance and teaching.  His emphasis on compassion, and the cultivation of patience, was particularly motivating.  He mentioned that the cultivation of patience and the elimination of anger, are things that have to be worked on.  Continuously.  

His emphasis, that we must separate the actor from the action, that we must view the actor with compassion, but if his action is wrong, then the action deserves a counter.  But never to develop an ill will towards the actor.

Lessons similar in many religions, but he connected and communicated beautifully.  He asked us to investigate everything, then experiment, and then, only then if it makes sense, to accept.  And that our beliefs in the concept of a creator, or Brahman, or no creator (or anatman), were our personal business.

Thank you for your guidance.  This was his third visit to Somaiya Vidyavihar.  We hope he comes again soon.