INDIGENOUS

The Goan Diaspora initiative, Goa Sudharop conducts workshops for college students. This year, the series connects youth with the theme of Spirit of Goan Volunteerism. Sociologist, Dr. Bernadette Gomes in a session, screened her documentary on the secluded Gouly community of Goa. The scenes of the habitats, the clothes, the lifestyles of the Gouly community seemed an unreal revelation for most.

Soter D’souza started the next session by asking the students to share their impressions about what they had just seen. The reactions ranged from terming the Goulys backward and being caught in a time wrap to comments pitying their discrimination and the fact that they were denied development and modern amenities and facilities.

Soter challenged the comments by questioning whether the indigenous community deserved patronising pity. After all, they lead sustainable lives in harmony with Nature. They walk the eco-friendly path while the urbanised citizens only talk about undoing the damage which is a result of irresponsible modern practices and tactics.

The word ‘indigenous’ refers to that what comes from the origin. The indigenous people are the tribes who are the original settlers of their lands. They continue with their original lifestyles and sustainable approaches. They indigenously resist the constant attack on their land, lives and livelihoods by the modern excuse of so-called development.

All of us need to be better as responsible citizens of this world by learning the attitudes and approaches of the indigenous communities who nurture sustainable lifestyles in harmony with our Mother Earth. Otherwise we would be deserving of contemptuous pity for our direct or indirect ecological sins that arise when we forget our origins!

Let’s BE BETTER at keeping away from eco-sins…
& stick like the indigenous people, to our origins!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

FOLLOW THE FLOW

A traveller lost his way while moving across a mountain. He came across a meditating monk. The traveller asked for directions to get out of his predicament. The wise monk calmly counselled him, ‘Just follow the flow’.

This advice underlines a philosophy with many interpretations. A simplistic reading suggests swimming with the tide. People guided by such a construal, generally accept things as they are. They do not believe in challenging or confronting a contrary situation. They follow the ‘conditions’ and choose not to sweat about any struggle to change the conditions.

However, the maxim is understood differently by trekkers. For us, it is a guideline to either get to the source of the flowing water or to its mouth. Depending on their choice of destination, we follow the flow to get either to the origin or to the other end of a larger water body that invariably nurtures a settlement. Instead of getting rooted to the spot, people who follow the flow are the ones who make a move.

Surely, we can be better at managing the challenges if we follow the flow by stepping out of a riveted state. Either we can get to the bottom of things or take things to their logical end. We can learn from a paper boat that flows with the flow. It swerves around obstructing rocks and moves on even when overturned by the flow it follows.

Let’s BE BETTER at getting out of the groove

Follow the flow and make the choice to move!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

TEACHER

‘Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel’- Socrates

Our personalities are moulded by the valuable lessons that we learn from our many teachers. They include our parents, formal teachers at school, skill teachers who teach us music, sports, as well as peers and even our own students. But the roles of parenting, teaching and mentoring generally come into two types.

It is pertinent to note that many see the role has one that moulds the personality, akin to a potter shaping a lump of clay into a magnificent creation. However, each child is a living being with infinite potential and is a future tree waiting to grow and bloom. Hence effective teachers are the ones who choose to be gardeners to the seed of potential that lies in the learner.

While the potter breathes life into dead clay, the gardener has to take care about not stifling the very life of the seed. In their respective professions, the potter and the gardener assume appropriate roles. However in teaching and parenting, while the gardener’s approach can really shape a personality and script a destiny, using the potter’s path can result in tragedy or cause a mutiny.

However, the role of a gardener is not as easy as it looks. It requires us to be better at tolerance, facilitation, allowing space and empowering the learner’s right to make a choice. William Arthur Ward said it so well: that ‘a mediocre teacher tells, a good teacher explains, a superior teacher demonstrates and a great teacher inspires!’

Let’s BE BETTER at the noble task of teaching

The learner-seed is nurtured with gardening!

- Pravin K. Sabnis