I bow unto you!
This is dedicated to a truly exceptional teacher!
I have always longed for a mentor.Someone who's more than a teacher.Someone who inspires you.Someone who helps you achieve things you thought were far beyond your abilities.I have,in my two decade long stint in academics,come across really amazing teachers.Yet,I still longed for that one superb Guru who would become the synonym of wisdom in my mind.
And then,quite recently(a semester ago),I happened to take up a course offered by a certain professor.He was extremely knowledgeable and noticeably eccentric.I was fascinated by his thought processes.I did,in fact,write about him.
http://virtualramblings10.blogspot.in/2017/02/hes-so-quotable.html
He was not only technically proficient but also a true learner.He would draw analogies between two events that would seemingly have no correlation until he said the magic words.And then,you would wonder,why did I not see this! He had an amazing vocabulary,narrated the most eccentric of anecdotes and used the weirdest of metaphors. I was really eager to learn from this guy.I looked up to him to no end.And I had this feeling that maybe I'd found my mentor.
As the semester progressed,my opinions were contradicted. He obviously knew a lot. But the way he presented the material was such that it would go above the heads of most people present.Again,I have encountered such teachers.I acknowledge that some people are like this because they do not have the ability to put forth their knowledge to their audience at the right technical level.This I accept and excuse--not everyone is a gifted teacher.But this guy was different.
He could be perfectly lucid to you when it pleased him,except that he almost never wouldn't.He could explain things to you such that it would leave no doubt whatsoever in your mind,but no he wouldn't do that either.When people asked questions,his answers would be so cryptically worded that no one could make any sense of them.His lectures would involve frequent digressions into topics that could be called tangential at best and totally unrelated at worst.His classes became a mockery and he was scorned at by many.
To be honest,I did not understand his behavior at all.He obviously had a passion for teaching.He could also teach well.Yet,he chose not to.Slowly,my dreams of having found a mentor dissolved into disillusionment and sadness.
But this guy's assignments would always be challenging.They would require all your effort and then some.I loved working on them.But I would be lying if I said that the answers were crystal clear--they were never.There were a lot of grey areas--things I would conjecture at and try to possibly reason through.He used to insist on good reports and I obediently used to chronicle my (mis)adventures.
When the next semester came by and I had a chance to take another of his courses,I did so without a second glance.Despite all his eccentricities,it was his course that I had learnt the most from.This semester too flew past like a whirlwind and I was attending one of his last classes today.He had put up an assignment that could be called ambiguous if I were kind --if not,totally confusing would be the right description.
My friends went to him to ask a few questions so that we could gain clarity on how we were supposed to go about the task at hand.I stopped by to listen,not with any hope of understanding,but of long born habit.As always,he carefully avoided all their questions by launching off into seemingly unrelated tangents,leaving everyone bewildered.
Then,in the last two minutes,he said something that was a game changer.I will not quote him here,because what he said is immaterial.The impact his words had on me was monumental.Earth-shattering,if you will.
For a moment,I saw through the facade of his eccentricity.Beneath it,as I had always known and suspected,was a very intelligent and wise teacher.Someone who had found and carved his path in life.Yet,he preferred that we struggle on our own.Because our own epiphanies(possibly misinformed and misguided) are worth far more than coming up with some results after being instructed as one would a computer.
Exploration is the true spirit of learning.What matters is the journey---all that you learn while you try to achieve your goal;the stumbling blocks and the failures most of all because they are what teach you the most.And this journey is most fulfilling when you are left to your own devices and given only the barest minimum of guidance.It is this way that you realize what you are truly capable of.Granted that the journey is arduous,but it's truly worth it.If you are shown a clear path to walk along,is there anything you gain by walking there? Or to put it better,will you achieve anything that hasn't already been achieved by someone else taking that path?
In that moment,I had a glimpse of my teacher.The truly exceptional one.Someone who carefully and methodically withheld his wisdom from us so that we could forge our own path and acquire our own wisdom.Someone who would only point us towards the path but never actually tell us which road to take.Today,I bow to him in all humility with sincere gratitude--not for what he has taught me,but for all that I have learnt because of him!
I end the article with this beautiful Gibran quote which is in perfect resonance with my thoughts at the moment.
The irony is this:I found my mentor but was too blind to see him through my own prejudices of what a mentor should be!
P.S: Have you noticed this effect of fading intensity of thoughts?I mean this--when you initially experience something,it has a powerful impact on you.And then,with time and distance,it slowly fades away just like the intensity of radiation as you move away from the source.I wanted to write this down in the purest form possible,just as I had felt it.Even so,I think it got a little diluted:) Does anyone feel this or is it just me?
I guess most of this would sound like gibberish to most people.:P
I have always longed for a mentor.Someone who's more than a teacher.Someone who inspires you.Someone who helps you achieve things you thought were far beyond your abilities.I have,in my two decade long stint in academics,come across really amazing teachers.Yet,I still longed for that one superb Guru who would become the synonym of wisdom in my mind.
And then,quite recently(a semester ago),I happened to take up a course offered by a certain professor.He was extremely knowledgeable and noticeably eccentric.I was fascinated by his thought processes.I did,in fact,write about him.
http://virtualramblings10.blogspot.in/2017/02/hes-so-quotable.html
He was not only technically proficient but also a true learner.He would draw analogies between two events that would seemingly have no correlation until he said the magic words.And then,you would wonder,why did I not see this! He had an amazing vocabulary,narrated the most eccentric of anecdotes and used the weirdest of metaphors. I was really eager to learn from this guy.I looked up to him to no end.And I had this feeling that maybe I'd found my mentor.
As the semester progressed,my opinions were contradicted. He obviously knew a lot. But the way he presented the material was such that it would go above the heads of most people present.Again,I have encountered such teachers.I acknowledge that some people are like this because they do not have the ability to put forth their knowledge to their audience at the right technical level.This I accept and excuse--not everyone is a gifted teacher.But this guy was different.
He could be perfectly lucid to you when it pleased him,except that he almost never wouldn't.He could explain things to you such that it would leave no doubt whatsoever in your mind,but no he wouldn't do that either.When people asked questions,his answers would be so cryptically worded that no one could make any sense of them.His lectures would involve frequent digressions into topics that could be called tangential at best and totally unrelated at worst.His classes became a mockery and he was scorned at by many.
To be honest,I did not understand his behavior at all.He obviously had a passion for teaching.He could also teach well.Yet,he chose not to.Slowly,my dreams of having found a mentor dissolved into disillusionment and sadness.
But this guy's assignments would always be challenging.They would require all your effort and then some.I loved working on them.But I would be lying if I said that the answers were crystal clear--they were never.There were a lot of grey areas--things I would conjecture at and try to possibly reason through.He used to insist on good reports and I obediently used to chronicle my (mis)adventures.
When the next semester came by and I had a chance to take another of his courses,I did so without a second glance.Despite all his eccentricities,it was his course that I had learnt the most from.This semester too flew past like a whirlwind and I was attending one of his last classes today.He had put up an assignment that could be called ambiguous if I were kind --if not,totally confusing would be the right description.
My friends went to him to ask a few questions so that we could gain clarity on how we were supposed to go about the task at hand.I stopped by to listen,not with any hope of understanding,but of long born habit.As always,he carefully avoided all their questions by launching off into seemingly unrelated tangents,leaving everyone bewildered.
Then,in the last two minutes,he said something that was a game changer.I will not quote him here,because what he said is immaterial.The impact his words had on me was monumental.Earth-shattering,if you will.
For a moment,I saw through the facade of his eccentricity.Beneath it,as I had always known and suspected,was a very intelligent and wise teacher.Someone who had found and carved his path in life.Yet,he preferred that we struggle on our own.Because our own epiphanies(possibly misinformed and misguided) are worth far more than coming up with some results after being instructed as one would a computer.
Exploration is the true spirit of learning.What matters is the journey---all that you learn while you try to achieve your goal;the stumbling blocks and the failures most of all because they are what teach you the most.And this journey is most fulfilling when you are left to your own devices and given only the barest minimum of guidance.It is this way that you realize what you are truly capable of.Granted that the journey is arduous,but it's truly worth it.If you are shown a clear path to walk along,is there anything you gain by walking there? Or to put it better,will you achieve anything that hasn't already been achieved by someone else taking that path?
In that moment,I had a glimpse of my teacher.The truly exceptional one.Someone who carefully and methodically withheld his wisdom from us so that we could forge our own path and acquire our own wisdom.Someone who would only point us towards the path but never actually tell us which road to take.Today,I bow to him in all humility with sincere gratitude--not for what he has taught me,but for all that I have learnt because of him!
I end the article with this beautiful Gibran quote which is in perfect resonance with my thoughts at the moment.
The irony is this:I found my mentor but was too blind to see him through my own prejudices of what a mentor should be!
P.S: Have you noticed this effect of fading intensity of thoughts?I mean this--when you initially experience something,it has a powerful impact on you.And then,with time and distance,it slowly fades away just like the intensity of radiation as you move away from the source.I wanted to write this down in the purest form possible,just as I had felt it.Even so,I think it got a little diluted:) Does anyone feel this or is it just me?
I guess most of this would sound like gibberish to most people.:P
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