Have you ever thought what would you do if you were #BefikarUmarBhar ?


All of us come across various states of mind and start dreaming about various things. At times, it happens because of huge interest in few things and sometimes it's because of some inspiring events/people/readings. There can be other reasons as well. Sometimes, we go through huge stress conditions and varied thoughts start coming to our mind. 


Everyone of us have different constraints and most of the times these constraints hold us back from taking bold decisions by following our dreams/aspirations. At times we overthink and try to avoid risks which may not really happen in future. With time, our constraints keep increasing and at times we use words like 'responsibility', 'backup' etc. I am not saying that we shouldn't be thinking about things, but probably we should avoid overthinking and also try to take risks in life. 

Risk taking habit builds over time :). Most of the folks around us take different types of risks and their risk taking capabilities also increase with time. Practice of risk-taking makes them feel more confident with every decision :).

Few days back I came across this (please see bottom of this post) video and it made me think about various thoughts, which we either ignore or underestimate. 

Everyone has their own share of hopes, dreams and aspirations that drive them to pursue their goals. Imagine a life without any constraints, nothing to hold you back.Here are top 5 things on my Bucket List that I would do if I were #BefikarUmarBhar 

1. Travel & Explore the world.

 So far whatever I done or followed as interest/passion, travel has always made learn new things about life. Isn't it a great way to lead your life. Enjoy, meet people, explore various cultures, go through good & bad experiences and lot more. Every trip make you realize some important aspects of life. At the same time I want people around me who always insire me to continue with this hobby of exploring the world. I wish to explore the world in various modes - like a backpacker, a super luxury traveller, a traveller who can inspire others to travel and become a responsible traveller. 

2. Learn Photography from Masters of this art.

 It's not limited to learning Photography but more about learning various genres of Photography. I have been following some of the Indian and International masters of Landscapes, Street photography, portraits, action, motorsports, studio work, lighting & so on. Isn't it a fun to always learn new things from the best and then choose what works best for you :). Don't we do this every time? We always need something new or something better. And probably it's common in human beings. All these things are part of an evolution. In my childhood, I wanted to always top in my class, win different competitions of painting, origami, singing, declamation, quiz etc.  Them I realized that I like doing paintings and spent various hours doing that. Soon after I got to know that earning money and fulfilling your desires is another important aspect, when you become independent. Just like any other science student, I also opted to do engineering even without knowing the importance of colleges and other things associated with engineering education. Got a job and then started exploring new things. So far, Photography appealed me the most :), although I haven't yet bought a camera. Thanks to my office for providing me awesome gadgets to practice and learn. Through blogging I won two advanced point-n-shoot which are used whenever I don'y have an office SLR. Let me stop here :)

 I can't believe it has already been one year since you came into our lives. Time has flown so fast, and you have grown into a naughty little toddler.Each moment spent with you is a blessing. Your smile makes us forget our worries.Your angelic eyes are bright and curious. Your gaze is full of love and trust. You try to please us all, but it is clear that nana ji is your best frienThe way you get excited about the smallest of things, ignoring the brightest of toys to go after the dullest of objects, you teach us important lessons about life.You interact with birds and animals as if you understand them... they are your friends, your playmates. You are a wild child, baby Urvi. Happy in the city, and in the village, as well as in the wilderness...you are our little mowgli...Technology is at your fingertips -- even though you have your own toy phone and laptop, you still want to grab the ones that we are using...and we have no choice but to yield. :)Now that you have started crawling and standing, we are waiting desperately for the day when you will take your first step...we want the time to move fast and yet move slow...We don't want to miss a single moment of this phase of your life...May God Bless You Dear Urvi...May God shower you with choicest of blessings on you andmay you lead a long, healthy, and happy life..You are our angel, our joy, and charming princess.Happy Birthday Dear Urvi !!!

 3. Be around family and friends. 

 Family and friends are very important. They are extremely important for your existence and these are the folks with whom you enjoy the most. Although frequency of meeting my parents and friends has reduced for quite some time, but I know that I will be back in discipline :)

 Here I want to thank all those individuals who helped me grow as person and professional. I feel very fortunate to have very good friends, family, mentors, relatives and teachers throughout. Thanks everyone !


4. Remain connected with technology. 

 Although Travel, Photography & family has important roles to play in my life, but I also love to be around techies. This is how I have been spending most of my time for last 10 years. And it's difficult to imagine myself away from passionate techies. At times I think, it's weird but it's true :) 

It's teacher's day today and I was wondering what to share. This thought was there in my mind till lunch and on lunch tablediscussionstartedagainonsametopic. And then it moved towards the way schools operate in India, how the trends have changed in urban & rural India. Let's see how things have changed...(A Photograph of student on bicycle in Standford University Campus, Paulo Alto, California, USA)I belong to rural India and have deeper understanding of that part of my country. And I feel that many things changed in last decade. Most of my schoolinghas happened in Government schools and I moved out of Senior Secondary school in 2001 to pursue engineering. That was a time, when most of thevillagekidswere going to government schools for primary education and 90% of them would continue next studies in government schools only. Teachers ingovermentschoolwere those folks, who actually wanted to become teacher and cleared different exams & interviews. This may sound unrealistic in India, as we can say thatmany of the shifarishi folks must be becoming teachers. But the proportion must be minimal and here I am talking about Himachal Pradesh. Butideaofsharingthis information is that most of the government teachers of that time were sort of ideal for teaching kids who would define the future of our country.The same thought is shared by Dr A P J Abdul Kalam with some different examples, which I would try to share in the end of this blog-post. So 10 years back, most of the rural students of states like Himachal Pradesh were going to Government Schools for education. And ifweseecurrentscenario,least fraction of students are joining Government Schools. Now there are multiple factors which are driving this change in our country. Oneoftheprimaryreason was NO CHANGE in government schools. These schools never bothered to see how education systems are changing and how technology&otherthingsareimportant for kids coming to a school. These schools kept on focusing academics, marks, Pass/Fail, %age etc. There were very few kids whoweredoinggoodinother activities. Although, many of the teachers initiated some unique ideas which sustained only during the tenure of that particular teacher.With time, many private institutions came up with Private schools and they marketed well the shortcomings of government schools. Of-course,thereisnomarketing channel for government schools and slowly private schools in rural areas started becoming more popular. There were many reasons, but all ofthemwere true only on paper. These private schools started doing many other activities apart from academic practices in the campus. On of the reason for the shift was also driven by our own political parties. Privatization brought good amount of money for politicians, they alwayssupported processes which ease the job of private schools with any control. So it became very easy to open an approved school with very basic infrastructure. Now let's look at the Teachers we have in these private schools and their motivation level. Most of these teachers get salary of 3000 to 8000 rupeesandmostof them are below 5000. With such high inflation in India, can you imagine how a teacher in these schools must be running his/her home?Whatthemotivationwould be? This is one of the topic, where we can keep questioning different things & type of folks who are teaching kids of this country. To me, Education system is rural India is very immature and it's more like imitating fashion-trends. Most of the privateschoolsinruralIndiaaretryingtoimitate good brands in urban India without resources, which is sort of funny. At this point of time, I am restless and feel like quitting this post asthereis no end to the fundamental problems our education system has. Now let's look at the Teacher joining government schools these days. There is deep political influence which is hard to prove in our currentsystem.Sincethere is so much political influence, most of the times these folks spend time in Politics rather than teaching. Although there are exceptions everywhere,but in Education system exceptions should happen other way round. If we only look at the salaries teachers are getting in schools, we get an indication that which slot is teaching kids of our nation. I don't think thatIneed to define the term 'slot' further. And Urban schools are doing the same as far as salaries are concerned. Most of the schools get signaturesofteacherson different salary as compared the real amount they give. A Teacher who put signature on 15000, gets almost 3000-5000 rs. and that'stooinbrandedschoolswhich everyone of us are aware of. At times, I feel really bad for our country which is loosing on every front. I know, these are very pessimistic thoughts but somehow these factorsmakeusthink that why bad trends are increasing in every aspect of our life. In our day to day discussions, we feelpeoplewhoaresubjectmastersaredoingsomespecialized jobs instead of teaching. In our country, there are very few educational institutions which offer goodcompensationforteachers/professors/coaches. And in other countries, many of the good Indian Teachers are in high demand and of-course, they are moving outforobviousreasons. Education is one of the main focus for many of the state governments but unfortunately fundamental things are not getting focusedIt's a very lengthy topic and we can keep discussing it for a long time. I didn't want to write such a sad post on Teacher's Day, but thesethoughts have caught me andhopethatthingswilhappen for good in future. HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY !!!

5. Put much needed efforts for education in our country 

 Education system and how it impacts our society & new generation is one of the important topic discussed in my family. My father is a teacher and he has been involved in various initiatives around education. There are lot of kids in our country who don't have access to good schools. There are multiple reasons and some of the good NGOs/organizations are working on this. But still lot of efforts are needed in this sector. I wish to do something impactful in this area. 

 When I started writing this post, I had no clue what I really want and why. Then gradually these words came to mind and I have tried to put them in same way. Tomorrow I may find some other things in this top-5 list.

Enjoy this video -

 

This post is inspired by http://bit.ly/BefikarUmarBhar.

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