Splendour of love

The first look, that smile
A twitch of the lips
Flush of the cheeks
Cascade of heartbeats

Words unspoken
Yet a lot was said
We held our hands
And time just fled

Sweet innocent love
A roller-coaster ride
It made us laugh
And made us cry

We fought and made up
Over matters trivial
And laughed over it
All through the night

Birds flew in patterns
In the clear sky so blue
Everywhere bright flowers
Welcomed us with delight

Stay young O love
Peaceful and content
As you illumine our lives
With a radiant splendour

© copyright skm, 26th September 2011

Advertisement

Singapore Grand Prix night race – an adrenalin rush

Sebastian Vettel demonstrated his vast supremacy on Sunday when he won the Singapore Grand Prix to move within a point of becoming the youngest double world champion in Formula One history.
The 24-year-old German, the defending champion and runaway leader of this year’s title race, drove from pole position to the chequered flag in flawless style in his Red Bull car.
He won the floodlit 61-lap night race at the Marina Bay street circuit by a controlled 1.7 seconds.
Briton Jenson Button finished second in his McLaren to keep the title race just about alive with five races remaining. Australian Mark Webber in the second Red Bull finished third.
Vettel now requires just a solitary point to claim his second title in succession and can only be beaten to the title if Button wins all five of the remaining races while the German fails to score a further point.
Two-time world champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who needed to finish on the podium to keep his own challenge for the drivers’ title alive, came home fourth ahead of Briton Lewis Hamilton in the second McLaren.

Here is the link to the complete race results: http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2011/854/6903/

(sources: Channelnewsasia.com, Boston globe)

The memory game

When did the first world war occur?
What was Constantinople formerly known as?
When was the battle of Plassey fought?

We have such an obsession with facts that it puts our memory to the test.  Our examinations in subjects like history and geography like to encourage rote learning and reproduction.  Students who are good at cramming find it easy to vomit it all on the answer paper.  Memory is important but it should not form the basis of our education .

Is this real education?  Or should our children be tested on their understanding of the subject, thinking skills, teamwork, speech and drama,  elocution and other skills that may come more useful in life.

In some schools,  teachers are given an answer sheet to mark and sometimes answers that are different but correct are marked as wrong for the only reason that they do not match the answer sheet.   Students are taught from a tender age to follow standard procedures, and even told to reproduce exactly from the book.

All this talk of developing creativity is just an eyewash.  In true fact, few schools are taking the lead in inculcating and developing students who can think on their feet and out of the box.

Sometimes in life it helps to unlearn all the things that we have learnt, so that we do not hold preconceived notions in our mind when we are faced with problems.  We can then think in our own unique way and find our own solution to problems.

Even in our everyday lives we have to remember so many things:

1. Your wifes birthday (better not forget that unless you want to be ostracised)
2. Your anniversary
3. Your grocery list (don’t forget this either unless you like to do a second round of shopping)
4. Your passwords (nowadays there are so many email accounts, online banking that there are so many passwords to remember)
5. Appointments, schedules, meetings

Today there are so many gadgets that there is no need to exercise our memory.  Our smartphones can manage all this information and we can retrieve all these at the tap of a finger.

Here is an interesting TED talk on how “Rote learning fragments the world”” by Sanjoy Mahajan:

 

The Witness

Clock ticks heard
Time flies by
The sun rises
New day dawns

Rush to work
The traffic jams
Deadlnes to meet
The project stalls

Time for lunch
Food is served
Back to business
Rush for growth

Love then marriage
Children and diapers
Priorities and choices
Arguments and clashes

Kites, boats, games
Dirty little feet
World of fun
And childhood pranks

Sky turns crimson
Birds fly home
Dusk sets in
Streets light up

Old and tired
Age is queer
Weary and wrinkled
Slow and cautious

The cycle continues
Day and night
A silent witness
Sees it all

Timeless and eternal
Pure and infinite
One and only
Substance of all

© copyright skm,  11th Sept. 2011

Scribble pad

Like a stream in flow
I let my thoughts pour
As I let my pen scribble
An outlet for my mind

Free, smooth, unperturbed
Like an orchestra in symphony
I bear witness
To a part of myself

Nature, values, emotions
Thoughts on kith and kin
Community, nation and world
All weave a web of words

A poem to lift the spirits
Or a story to inspire
An article to inform
Or humour to lighten the mood

No need for grandiloquence
Simple, easy and lucid
No one to impress
Only myself to please

I hope to offer something
In all these writings
Touch a few hearts
Or just to seek the truth

© copyright skm, 3rd September, 2011