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Grammar, Pythagoras Theorem and Algebra!

Describe something you learned in high school.

  1. Grammar: Active and Passive voice. Narrations etc
  2. Example: I wrote this article. ( Active voice)
  3. This article was written by me. ( Passive voice)
  4. Emphasis is on the subject or doer of the action in the first case, whereas in the second case it’s on the completion of action by ( someone.)
  5. As I was a Hindi medium student Grammar and English writing were considered important to learn. Government Hindi medium schools had syllabus which begin to touch English language with any seriousness only at standard sixth.
  6. No wonder all such students including convent school Hindi medium students faced difficulties with competitive exam books and magazines which were in English language. Later, we continued to face difficulty with engineering studies because syllabus was taught in English. I tried to help dozens of such students with translation of lessons even when I was myself in engineering.
  7. Apart from communication skills we took great interest in Pythagoras Theorem, working out Algebra and other problems because of our teachers who were dedicated to achieve excellence. I remember initial zeal when as a teenager I wanted to be the first guy every time around a challenge was given by our teachers and I often was this first guy which hurt sentiments of many students as well as teachers. I had a lot to learn about Educational Psychology and competitive exams.
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Score Analytics!

1. Played 13 vocabulary jams on vocabulary.com on 16.1.2021 and 17.1.2021.

2. Here’s the summary of ranks i received:

2222221121111

3. Today I received second rank only once. Yesterday I couldn’t receive first rank even once.

4. Summary of my scores:

460

750

760

695

840

800

660

410

380

620

670

685

760

5. As you can observe: except in three instances, my scores have all been in excess of 700.

6. I reached the highest score of 840. First rank still eluded me as it was attained by Stephen D.

7. Stephen D. has been a consistent player and top scorer in recent days. Claire G, PC and Vishnu Ram came to be known in September-October. PC and Claire score in excess of 900 easily. I strive for that. It might take me practice of a few months to reach that mark and maintain it consistently.

8. Though rare I have received score in excess of 900.

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For a few rupees more!

1. I asked her if she needed my services in the month of December-January. She asked her daughter who told her that she would continue to take classes.

2. Then she told me she needed my services until her exams are over: that’s until March.

3. This conversation took place yesterday afternoon inside library of Gandhi Smarak Bhavan at about two o’ clock. There were only three of us.

4. It was second such conversation after our conversation under banyan tree. Since then: i have taught her some 400 words, played at least 20 games on Free Rice site with her to help her augment her vocabulary. Also helped her learn creation of Vocabulary jams on vocabulary.com

I helped her learn doing diary entries but she refused to do them : like she refused to write verses or reports. An assignment to compare Meera/Arukka Mahadevi/Andal was given. It was from her book and she didn’t do it repeatedly for at least five days until i helped her with it in class. It was easy to do. She is smarter than other students i have taught so far but not anywhere near what my ‘ideal’ student would be like.

Her mother overlooks my reports about her not working enough on assignments. But when i am questioned for teaching her words in the most scientific way: she begins arguing and questions my integrity.

5. The last time around i was helping her with the vocabulary jams on vocabulary.com : a notification from her school comes on Whatsapp.

“You need to attend a test.”

6. Her school, her parents and others don’t have a sense of schedule or time when it comes to learning. I have to ask her three questions everyday:

A. Do you want to take class today?

B. Did you do your homework?

C. What do you mean by 5 minutes? Would you come for class at the appointed time which keeps changing at your convenience? It’s usually 20 to 30 minutes delay everyday.

7. They take the teacher for granted because there’s the teacher: punctual and always available. Selling himself short. Content.

8. All that for a mere 1000 rupees!

Image credit: Self, inside Gandhi Smarak Bhavan.

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Shabbath

1. I need some rest. It has been a long and eventful day.

2. Shabbath: in the name of homework she had only copied a verse in good handwriting. Since she was bored we played a game of verbal intelligence which became interesting after I understood the rules. I scored 100 more points overall. Maybe I cheated a bit: by not writing all names fully: but so did she. She omitted some letters and wrote wrong spellings for most words.

3. I had the masonic Pulav thrice today: result: I ate only a bit of vegetables and milk worth ten rupees was enough to eat soaked bread with it. I bowled 30 more times before going to library. Since stadium was locked I bowled in the Shatabdi ground. The music wasn’t hacked in there. I need some rest. It has been a long and eventful day. The kid had a new notebook today. The count of balls reached to 130 in the morning session alone. I need to talk to DLOG and play some jams.

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That Girl is Claire or Guy!

1. As long as Claire G is there I can only imagine to get the first rank in the night jams. PC spoils my evening jams by being so smart. Their IQs must be 150+.

2. If it’s not PC, Stephen or Claire take the baton and I don’t get the first rank.

3. I need to get the first rank.

4. The fill in the blanks take too much time to read. They should be removed from the constitution of vocabulary.com( Ben Zimmer????)

5. New jams should be created. I can create them to ensure my victory but who will be joining? That’s the main problem. Only hosted by vocabulary.com ones gain any good number of players.

6. Words like kibble nibble at my soul. But the goal is not reached for I have no time to practice them on the usual challenge.

7. I got 434522 ranks if I remember it well. There were at least forty to eighty participants per game. I can sleep in peace for having tried to increase my verbal advantage to cite the annotated bibliography of Jhonson O’Connors Wordsmart Challenge: this is going to make me super-rich someday!

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2G internet speed!

1. At 22:00, tucked in the quilt which I bought in Bangalore, after a nice, memorable walk as streets were almost empty when I was returning, thrillers of vocabulary jams on vocabulary.com as stadium was empty, until the caretaker decided to lock me out, and I went to sit on a bench outside the number two school where I had the most delicious pulav this noon, then I sat outside the number one which I am wont to do listening and lipsyncing to some classic songs.

2. I woke up late after the noon class. I was dreaming a dream which only left vague traces in waking memory: friends, journeys and mysteries.

3. I had snacks which she said were hot but were not. These people are poor. They’re abjectly poor despite a monthly income which exceeds 140 times mine, which is merely my pocket money. I am rich and happy, comparitively. I am not complaining : I am telling you about the quality of life from my viewpoint and it has always been so. My unhappiness was always vicariously felt dread for ignorance of others. My happiness was genuine and mine. Left to myself with a handful of tools which helped mind isolation: I was always happy. I am always happy if people let me be.

4. I scored 3456 ranks on jams. Other than PC, Stephen and Paul have also emerged as winners. I need to practice more to stay in the shape. My bowling has been only five to six overs per day in the last three four days, which means I am not running as much and though it was partially because of elections crowding the stadium and its neighbourhood-it has given my muscles time to recuperate which I being a martinet might not have given. Sometimes martinets become masochists.

5. There are books in the queue. Lori liked my posts and people like her remind me how little I actually read. In my defence: I have to toil hard for pennies. In one of the class I am teaching for five rupees per hour, in another for about ten rupees per hour. It’s only one class which gives me a decent 30 plus rupees per hour. Farmers, labourers and such might complain that they’re not getting to reproduce as many offsprings or not getting as many ganja shots as they need to: I am the one who doesn’t get a good internet connection or enough privacy to watch a movie. No freedom to take leave from work or any decent income job. I am not a slave but my freedom puts so called poor people to shame.

6. Unless I state things clearly: which people want me not to in the name of being primp: I assume responsibility for things which I didn’t create: like living in a strange society: where on one hand I do live below poverty line, OTOH I am not subject to any benefits provided by the government or community because my miserly goblins of parents and relatives would ensure that I am not entitled to any benefits by keeping all my documents and ruining my history. I am the one who took responsibility for being free from slavery. I am free, though not as comfortable as I was just ten years ago.

7. Tenet movie has a version available online which instantaneously produces sleep. I would wait and by then the desire to watch would have died. Neither Nolan’s mistake nor mine. It was the same at the time of Interstellar. I am using a smartphone which was hard earned with a delay of about one year and the internet speed is not better than 2G on most days: though it says it’s 5G. By comparison an average individual in Korea is living in a heaven. This is what it all comes to in the end: countless lifetimes of merits accumulated to give me a birth in a place where I long for a place where I may watch some porn in peace. A good internet connection. How small I really think. Indeed! This is a country of liars. No dreams get fulfilled here!

8. When am I going to get back to reading the constitution of India? Perhaps when it’s time.