Education is not preparation for life, Education is life itself...

"An educational system isn't worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but doesn't teach them how to make a life." – Anonymous

The world is a battleground and life is like a battle, it believes in the survival of the fittest. To fight and win the battle called life, one needs to be armed with education. Education not only ensures our survival in this world but it also makes our life worth living, or better still, we can say that, “education is not preparation for life but education is life itself.” When I say that education is life, what I mean to highlight is the fact that education is a process in which we learn throughout our life. It begins in our mother’s womb and continues till we take our last breath. It is so closely integrated in our every moment that it becomes almost synonymous to life.

The process of education initiates with the development of mind. It replaces an empty mind with an open one. It has been proven medically that a child begins to recognize the voice of his parents while he is still inside his mother’s womb. As he takes his first breath into this world and opens his tiny eyes he is introduced to so many new things. The fragrance of flowers, the colourful butterflies, the velvety tenderness of rose petals, the sound of thunder, the brightness of sun, the drizzling of rain, the chirping of birds, and through them he lives his first experience of life. His mind opens and the horizon of his knowledge widens. When he starts going to kindergarten and then to school he gets introduced to the concepts of science, geography, history, mathematics, computers etc. This knowledge not only inculcates in him a spirit to cherish life but also teaches him to learn from the past and build the present to create a beautiful future. After the school comes the phase where the child, now a grown up individual, chooses his vocation and learns its nuances. What follows is a quest to fulfil his ambitions and to reach nearer to his life’s goal. Everything which he learns decides the quality of life that he will embrace.

“Education is the movement from darkness to light.” - Allan Bloom

The grown up is now metamorphosed into a man, a man ready to face the challenges posed by life. These challenges turn out to be the best teacher of man. The experience that one gains while tackling the complexities of life is the best education that one can get. It is not written in books; neither can it be taught nor can it be learnt, it is something that we acquire while we are busy in finding our path through the maze called life. The formula for living a worthy life is devised by us while unscrambling knotty situations, resolving enigmatic relationships and understanding minute difference between the right and the wrong. Our education continues while we are engrossed in playing the different roles that life offers to us, the role of a son/daughter, a parent, a sister/brother, a life partner, a friend, a confidante etc. Hence, education is for the illumination of the mind and for the liberation of the soul. An educated person is the one who is rich in experience and who has realized the significance of righteousness. He leads a morally upright and conscientious life in a peaceful manner.

Thus, we cannot alienate education from life because education is life itself. Educating oneself is an inseparable part of living. Education is weaved in each and every incidence which gives our life its form and makes us the individuals that we are.

Tide

Once again the same tide
The same wave, the same fright
Wings chopped, dreams lost
Who won the war I fought?

Have I been tempted back into the cage?
I am shocked, taken aback and dazed
This time it caught me unaware,
He left me no option but to stare.

A little birdie again flew past me
I caught the wings, but hard was the wind
It was difficult to steer my way
I'll try again is what my heart says..

MEMORIES..!

Are memories connected to the mind or to the heart? Yeah I know you would say that this question can be answered by even a class 5 student, everyone knows that memories are formed in the mind and stay there forever in the conscious or the sub-conscious. But I beg to differ. Memories are the inseparable elements of our heart. Why do you feel a wave of ecstasy in your heart when you reminisce your first prize, first cycle, first kiss, first mobile, first salary etc? And why do you feel a sting in your heart when you bethink your break-up with your lover, the death of a loved one, your lost belongings etc?

Clearly, it’s the heart and not the mind which detains these good and bad memories. Now, having proved my point I wish to take you into the deep labyrinth of memories. We are there masters and there slaves. When they come unannounced they colour our judgements. You think they are imprisoned in your past but they have the power to ruin or build your present. A lonely night, a sleepless moment, an isolated corner or just some old song, book, letter or note can resuscitate some bygone memories. They gradually creep into our hearts, remind us of some unpleasant or pleasant experiences and make us forfeit reality for a while. That moment you travel back in time and relive the experience. It’s magical.

Memories have their own flavors. These flavors take away the blandness from our life. We ruminate over these memories, but, this alone is inconsequential. What is required is to make these memories a backstop for a prolific future. Our present is transient; it soon converts into a collection of memories. The cycle continues and so does life. Thus, strive to possess as many good memories as possible to experience more waves of ecstasy than stings!

It's time for a reality check!!

Inspired by someone today..I am again here to pen down my feelings, but this time in a different mood. Though there still are things that constantly nag my brain, I have learned to look past them and appreciate the positives around me. So, finally am settled well in MICA. Almost 5 months have flew past and have given me enough fodder to ruminate for probably the next one and a half year!

I met people, re-met them and then felt like never seeing their faces again, BUT, in the same place I also met people who have gradually become an integral part of my life in the past few months..yeah I can say that I feel "at home" in their presence. New relationships have beautifully integrated with the old one's, fading away some bitter experiences of the past. New faces, new cultures, new self-concepts have overhauled my whole perspective towards life. Am I again drifting towards philosophy, sorry, I can't help it..that's me!

It all started with adopting the 'night life', then co-existing with aliens, dealing with bloated egos, multi-tasking between pre-reads, tests, surprise quizzes, placement processes and events, parties, shifting rooms and now..fake profile..phew! There is so much to handle that there is no time to think about a particular event for long. What is left behind in the mind is an amalgamation of all these different feelings giving an overall sense of satisfaction. Satisfaction that I have faced it all.

wings

Confused, often reused, my soul stirred again

Life is a dilemma, Truth an illusion

Left with me is my name

I look at the moon, hidden behind the clouds

Is my fate the same?

I ask God, He looks at me

Oh! He is shackled in the frame

The mirror on the wall, stares back,

I feel hollowness and pain,

Struggle inevitable, endless wait,

Patience is my game

A little bird flew past me,

A sting in my heart and shame,

Should I borrow its wings? Should I fly?

The question resurfaced, no answer came

Test

Broken, disheartened, abandoned but sure,

My self-assurance was my only cure.

I tripped, I fell, I wept but moved on,

Unrelenting faith, excruciating aeon.

No companion, no buoy, no empathizer, just faux amis,

Underestimated, laughing stock, my heart’s abattis.

Wavering trust, jeer and mock,

I have seen it all in a single epoch.

World was dismal, gloomy and murky,

A faint ray of hope was still lurking.

I swam through the testing water,

One success and the world’s view alter.

Cherished, desired, considered a queen,

I got the drift of my life’s dream.

DREAMS

DREAMS..

Dreams are those fragments of our imagination which give us a chimerical control over our life. What is challenging to achieve in reality can easily be attained in dreams, whether it is meeting our favourite film star, living a lavish and luxurious life, getting our dream job, getting into our dream college, meeting our long distance love, etc. Dreams seem fantastical and alluring, but what seems as easy as closing our eyes and letting our mind wander can become painstaking when we set out to live our dreams and agonizing when dreams begin to shatter one by one.

Chasing our dreams is a daunting task and requires us to forgo every pleasurable entity of our life. It demands us to burn our souls in the excruciating heat of our passion, because the dream is alive in our consciousness only till the passion to conquer it is alive in our soul. The desire keeps us going. What makes dreams so enticing is the very fact that makes them smiting, their intractability.

Unachieved dreams are not easy to forget. They prick our heart whenever we witness our dreams being lived by someone else. Its heart wrenching to let go off our dreams, because they are the most guarded treasures that every man possesses.

Lucky are those who live their dreams, the rest can only wake up to the harsh reality looking them into their face. It’s distressing to relinquish those dreams which one has nurtured inside one’s bosom over the years. But it’s also true that just like dried flowers are replaced with fresh flowers, we should also supplant our mangled dreams by new dreams which give our life a new dimension and a new passion to live for.