” नहि ज्ञानेन सदृशं पवित्रमिह विद्यते। “
“There is nothing as pure or sublime as knowledge in this world, says the Bhagavat Gita”
I wonder at the inherent duality of simplicity and depth of meaning in these words. To a child, it could be learning something as simple as basic addition. Or to an adult like me, it could be helping that child to learn something as simple as basic addition, with the
hope that I learn something new in the process. For the better part of my life, I have mostly been a seeker of knowledge. My academic credentials during my school and engineering days are a testimony to that. For nearly 15 years now, I have had a successful IT career, helping my organization deliver transformational IT projects. Somewhere along the way, unknown to me, a small thought implanted itself in my mind. Is there something else that I am passionate about? Is there a different destiny which can help push me to excel further, as a person? In trying to answer these rather dense questions, I realized two simple things that I loved and probably had forgotten in my busy life; Mathematics and Teaching. I have always loved Mathematics; maybe not in a Srinivasa Ramanujam way, but enough to be fascinated by numbers, their universal nature of communication and how they explain most things in the world. The thought of helping a child to learn something or see things from a different perspective excites me. I have had more fun teaching stuff to my daughter than when I learnt them myself. Ergo, I start a new phase of my life, as a Catalyst more than a Teacher. A catalyst who enables children to learn mathematics and basic sciences in a better way. A way that allows them to relate what they learn to what they see around them. And a way that encourages them to know more and learn more.
