I read with interest the essay on ” What Made the Difference?-By V Ramamurthy” which you might also have read. If you have not read that I strongly recommend that you read that. Usually, I skim thru quite a few of the e-mails, but this one I had to focus on, since I have a lot of regards for Ramu, whom I have known as my senior, whom I have interacted with during my school days ( also as a friend) and for his accomplishment in the academic world .
Dear Ramakrishnan,
I have some snippets to share from his article. Just read through them – not worrying about context of the original article, aplogies to Ramu as well:
“..was a young village boy who on getting motivated to find the meaning of life was willing to leave home and walk thousands of miles to find…”
“My father’s intentions then were focused on educating and keeping us motivated to work hard toward..”
“…that these episodes motivated me and put me on a track different from most of my friends, but back then they were just examples of other people’s lives”.
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Come on TOSA Team Members, You Have Done the Impossible! You have completed successfully several projects to this day!! The feather in the cap is bringing out Makkal Arangam highlighting TDR, TAHS and TOSA. Obviously, our sincere THANKS and APPRECIATION are to Murthy, Subramanian and the team who are putting forth significant efforts to make all these happen.
This so true for many of us, as I was writing to Ramu, “…we.. were born in such a good family, opportunities were available to us from our parents/teachers and friends, who ingrained the value systems in us, and we as students look to learning, motivating, goal setting and persistent in our efforts in reaching the destination (still continuing on the journey even to this day!).
What are the next series of projects/goals for TOSA
Let us hear from you on what Prof Ramamurthy has described as opportunities..
“..Children in villages and small towns like Thiruvidaimaruthur, Veppathur, Thirunageshwaram and Thirubhuvanam often lack the knowledge of the possibilities”
“.. that one’s ambition and accomplishments need not be shaped by one's economic background and the place where one grows up..”
“…Of utmost importance is to expose the young minds to the wide world beyond and turn on the light of curiosity toward creating a fulfilling and meaningful life in the future.”
-(Thanks to Shahabad for bringing in Meteorologist as a speaker to TAHS. I hope more events could be organized to kindle the fire in children’s mind)
So, Bring it on ! What is the next Project, Goals for the next year and 5 years! Send in your comments to TOSA leaders.
Regards,
Jay Ramakrishnan, Cerritos/LA, USA.
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Ramamurthy's article was worth its weight in gold. Your reaction is absolutely thought provoking. In fact, Ramu's article set about my thinking process towards more useful activities directed towards our school and the students at large. In our times, we have witnessed that 10% of the students, who were exposed to parental motivation apart from the teachers' hard work, later became successful in their respective chosen careers. I used to bemoan now and then about the balance 90% of the students. That is why with Ramu's help, we arranged Ramanan's visit to our school. During that interaction, a student quipped Ramanan what she should do to become a Ramanan in her career. Ramanan was flabbergasted by this question. The question meant a lot. It revealed the desire of the student to become a celebrity scientist. Yes, the ambition was there; the desire and the fire to succeed was there. The question is
"How to keep that FIRE burning?"
There is also an urgent need to educate the parents, who are in the grip of false sense of security as a result of the freebies offered by the governments. Most of the parents of TAHSS students do not dream big about their children. Our responsibility should start from such parents. We have to motivate from the parent level. Let us identify the causes of students dropping out and work hard to mitigate the difficulties in respect of potential drop outs.
Then our task of motivating the students to dream big should start. This can never be an isolated effort. There should be a continuous and persistent effort. We have to draw a road-map for this purpose and should put up a sustained campaign. This should be a model for other villages to emulate. You have spoken about something on which Ramu (Shahabad) and I have been discussing quite often.
I am ready to debate this point and let the TOSA members also realise that our social responsibility is bigger than anything else if our movement is to succeed and make a mark. Will the ensuing Sangamam V change the face of TOSA? Time and our respected members should tell.
Regards,
Murthy
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