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Mohan – Kastur
August 28, 2020 / 1 Comment on Mohan – Kastur
Gandhi exposing himself to public and claiming that his life is a open book has made people from every field to analyse him from multiple angles. His strong propositions on brahmacharya, upavas, satyagrah, life of hardship, simple living, food system, eradication of untouchability, trusteeship, education and several other views have been subject to critical analysis. He is discussed on his perspectives on religion, women, modern science, oppressed class far more than anybody, by multi-disciplinary team that lessons of a simple life by an innocent man is missed.
Here is an effort to sketch the elusive Mohan as perceived by his wife Kastur. As we go down the memory lane, we need to make conscious effort not to situate the incidents in the present ecosystem. There are vignettes followed by their analysis and interpretation. I have struggled to keep me out of analysis – as woman / wife and a Gandhi admirer. I acknowledge the resources I used from different websites and two authors Dr Aparna Basu of Kasturba Gandhi and Dr H S Anupama author of I am Kastur.
Vignette 1 Two children got engaged and got married as teenagers. Kastur was given enough lessons in her maternal home as to how to behave after marriage. Mohan was no less in imposing restrictions on his wife. He made several rules in an effort to keep her in his control, one of which is "you can't go anywhere without my permission'. Listen to me, keep quiet, you don't know, frequented to the utter irritation of Kastur. But Kastur had her way and did what she wanted to do leading to fights. Once when Kastur went to temple with Puthlibai, Mohan scolded Kastur for not taking permission from him. Kastur asserted "who is elder, you or your mother? Why should there be permission from you to go with the elder of the family? Since then he stopped restricting her.
In a social milieu rooted in inequalities and gender stereotype, a husband was questioned by a wife!!! But this did not mobilize Mohan to harness on the gender based stereotypes and structural and institutional inequalities against Kastur to manipulate the reality, rather it made him reflect on the episode to begin accepting individualism. Mohan could see neither a wife nor a woman in Kastur, but an individual.
Vignette 2. While in South Africa every one in the house had to take turns to do the work. A friend of Mohan was staying with them and Kastur could not accept to clean the toilet of the guest and expressed her reluctance to do so. Mohan got so angry that he pulled Kastur out of the house saying choose to stay or go away, I will not tolerate this differentiation towards others. Kastur though cried initially, gained courage to ask Mohan are you not ashamed of putting me out of the house in a foreign land? The angry man suddenly stopped his screaming. Both realised their mistakes and apologised with each other. That was the last time Mohan showed his anger on his wife. Mohan realised that his behaviour was very cheap to punish an individual when they are vulnerable.
This instance revealed to Mohan how abusers mobilize structural vulnerabilities related to race, nationality, and sexuality; and institutional inequalities against victims to erode their realities. These are cruel tactics to rely on the association of vulnerability with irrationality. Kastur mirrored Mohan of his action being opposite to the cause he is fighting in South Africa.
Gandhi understands that pain is not just in jail tortures and physical insults, pain is also in humiliation and subjugation of the vulnerable. It is for that pain that Gandhi speaks again and again. His biography is towards his strive to become Bapu: the caring perosn for all. A figure that truly wants to embrace humanity, not "being human in the shadows worldly pleasures and inborn weaknesses".
Vignette 3. In the Satyagraha Ashram Kastur was a commanding lady with, sharp and firm voice. She had heavy job on her hands to cook for and feed, besides her family some more people in the Ashram. She was a most demanding leader and would keep the helpers in kitchen on your toes. There would often be a crowd of unexpected guests at the Ashram, then the 'political capital' of India. Kastur would sometimes clash with Mohan while he used to bring guests untimely and without informing in the Kitchen. So Mohan used to be nervous on these occasions. Mohan on such occasions would be very humble and tactful. He was then a little afraid of Kastur. One day just after Kastur and her young assistant had washed up after lunch and closed the kitchen, Mohan quickly approached the kitchen and reckoned to the kitchen assistant who was about to leave. He spoke in a whisper so as not to disturb Kastur taking rest in the adjoining room. A number of guests, he announced, were to arrive in an hour, very distinguished guests, among whom was the late Pandit Motilal Nehru, for whom lunch had to be prepared.
He put a finger to his lips as he glanced at Kastur's room. 'Do not disturb her, Summon some one, light the fire, chop the vegetables and knead the flour for the chapaties. Send for Kastur only when she is needed. He had the look of some innocent conspirator. The young assistant and helper opened the kitchen noiselessly. Suddenly a brass plate crashed to the floor to wake Kastur and she rushed to the kitchen. She was surprised to see the kitchen in full action at the odd hour. She demanded to know what it was all about. 'Why did you not send for me?' she demanded, 'You think I cannot manage this extra work?' It was all smooth sailing thereafter. She knew Mohan had arranged the whole thing. At night, after prayers, when all the guests had left, she faced him unexpectedly. She stood before him and a mischievous light in her eyes.
'Why did you ask them to do the work without me? You think I am lazy?
Mohan replied with all innocence Don't you know, I am afraid of you on such occasions?"
The anecdote speaks of a deep bond in Mohan – Kastur relationship that is built on friendship, care and mutual respect. Gandhi as a person not only respects women, feels their struggle at home and in the society, be it at the time of menstruation or bearing and rearing of a child, or putting together household chores to take time and weave in the charkha.
Vignette 4. The forth anecdote that I would like to narrate is that of Mahadev Desai's wife and Kastur visiting the Jagannath temple when they visited Odisha on a mission on Swaraj, one goal being educating the mass against untouchability. Mohan comes to know of the visit is deeply saddened. It is his wee years, now he does not scold Kastur anymore like he used to in their early married years. Kastur later reflects on her husband's feelings and action and feels them vibrating inside her that "she need not visit a temple that practices untouchability".
Thus after a time, the beliefs, the causes, and soul of Mohan and Kastur became the very belief system, cause and soul of both, they became one. They learned from each other, they grew old together, lived their dream of a free India together and they continue to live in this free India together in the hearts of every Indian. Wish they continue to live in every human being by starting a new tradition of respect, care and concern in every intimate relationship, learning from each other in the path of attaining self-actualisation.
As a sociological phenomenon macro-level social inequalities get transformed into micro-level strategies. But Mohan could transcend to Mahatma by applying the micro level strategies to fight the social inequalities and the lessons learnt on individualism helped to build collectivism. Sociologically placing this phenomenon in its cultural, structural, and institutional contexts would give a new perspective to human relationships and development. This is the lesson we can learn from the simple life of Mohan and Kastur while analysing the Perspective of Mahatma on women.
(Mahatma from Kastur's perspectives, views expressed in the one – day webinar on Gandhi and Women conducted by centre for women's studies Pondicherry University on 18th August 2020).
April 2, 2020 / 1 Comment on Lockdown
I search for words to glorify agony in gloom
Cries of my fellow human beings worldwide is loud.
Warriors on the roads and hospitals risking lives
Their families under constant threat.
Siblings in the boarders unperturbed by heat and dust
Waging a war that is different, to their best.
Children locked in countries unknown
Chasing dreams of everyone.
Lots to do! in home, from home, for home.
Posterity I owe you a better abode
Creating New Equations
August 6, 2019 / 1 Comment on Creating New Equations
Few minutes spent with Mr Murugan on my way back from Kohima on 25th July 2019 enriched me as a teacher educator. What is special about Murugan? He won National Award for Teachers in September 2018, a Tamilian representing Nagaland.
After being in the 2018 state selection committee for the National Award to Teachers, I was in the committee again for the 2019 teacher selection. During the process of selection I expressed with the Principal secretary, Ministry of Education and the Director School education, that we could have invited the last year's winner at the National level. They immediately arranged my meeting with him on my way back to Dimapur airport the following day. He reached Chumukedima High School from his school Peren at 11 am and I reached the school on time. The Principal Ms Karen Sema was pleasantly surprised and showed her eagerness to listen to our conversation when she came to know the background of our visit to her school.
With Mr. Murugan (Right) and Ms Karen Sema (Left)
Journey of Murugan from Tirunelveli to Peren is unimaginable, more so his journey from an ordinary teacher to a national award winning teacher. Murugan lost his father when he was 12 years old. Being the eldest son with three brothers and three sisters he has seen the struggle to earn money for feeding the family and to study. He vividly remembers how the siblings used to work in tobacco packing for 50 paisa per day during 1980. That was the daily wage for children while women would get Rs 2 and men Rs 3. His mother used to work there and during holidays and vacation children would join her so that they could continue their education. From 1984 to 86 while studying in plus 2, he found black topping on the road a high earning job with Rs 13 per day. There was an incentive of Rs 2 for those who were fast and would do more work. Murugan without fail earned Rs 15 with his swift movement, not because he was so but because of the Rs 2 incentive. Saved money and continued education to become a graduate with chemistry honours, math and physics. Though he was fond of Mathematics from the school days, took chemistry major only because his teacher said Chemistry honours has more scope of getting job in industries compared to Mathematics. His only focus was to get a job as soon as possible and help his younger siblings and mother a better life.
PM Narendra Modi Tweets to Congratulate Mr. Murugan (Source: https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1036991391270760448?s=20)
By the time he completed graduation from Kanyakumari Vivekananda college he had 20 options written in his dairy to work in which the last was server in hotel. During such dire need for salary few of his friends talked to him about demand for Mathematics teachers in Nagaland. Without much details he boarded the weekly train to Guwahati from where he reached Nagaland and entered a Baptist school at Oka for Rs 700 per month as salary. He narrated his 5 days train journey with out reservation on a unreserved compartment in the upper birth. He did not think of anything as that was a big money for him he could save maximum and send home. His flair for teaching earned him good name and respect from the villagers. Within two years the head master of the school moved to another private school, forcibly took Murugan for double the salary. In the mean time there was a written exam for Nagaland Government teacher's post which we qualified and got appointed in 1992. In 1995 competed B. Ed. from Annamalai University. He was happy to get a government job and his satisfaction of being a teacher continued in spite of remaining as a contractual employee till 2006. As per the Government of Nagaland policy if any local person qualifies for the same post for which a non local is already appointed, the job would automatically get cancelled. With such risk he stayed on as he liked the local people, his love for teaching Mathematics to young kids and of course the salary.
In his was sailing through his professional life, he got married, has two children, studying in his native place. He goes home twice in a year. All his siblings are married and well settled. Mother lives in the village with one of the brother.
As a teacher he finds complete satisfaction in teaching Mathematics to his school children. His innings from making effort to understand Zeliang (the tribal language) 'chima' (don't know) and 'kethe chima' (don't know anything) to 'chitha le' (I know) and 'thouda le' (I got it) has brought the National award to this passionate teacher. He is well versed with several tribal languages and Nagamese. He has become one with the local community. He is proud to say that some of his students are his colleagues in the same school now. He has adapted to the food and climate of Peren and the serene surrounding. He feels uncomfortable when he goes to his hometown due to the extreme heat there.
He remembers his mother and her struggle, the freedom she gave her children to go the way they think is the best for their family. Only because of her fearless farewell when he boarded the train to Nagaland he could work without any doubt and establish himself in a distant land that is unknown and little connected with India geographically and culturally.
Message to outgoing 2018 Gopabandhuans
Celebration of Matribhasha Diwas at Gopabandhu Hostel
March 25, 2019 / Leave a comment
– Eshitha Dey, B.Ed. 2nd Year (2017-2019 batch)
Gopabandhu Hostel has always been a hub of various activities whenever it comes to celebrations of different kinds of festivals or memorable days. Likewise, on the occasion of Matri Bhasa Diwas or International Mother Language Day, the Hostel Warden Prof. I P Gowramma ma'am had asked for participation and engagement from the hostel boarders to come forward with various cultural activities. For this purpose, the responsibility of organizing and managing the programme was handed over to the B.Ed. 2nd year girls, who happen to be the senior-most and the outgoing batch of the hostel. The B.Ed. cultural in-charge, Sohini Das accordingly had called a meeting of their batch to have preliminary discussions first regarding the organization of the programme. After the collection of the names of participants from the entire hostel who were interested to perform different kinds of activities in different languages, the cultural in-charge handed it over to the slated anchor of the programme, Eshita Dey from B.Ed. (Humanities) 2nd year to take the programme forward in her own manner.
On 21st February, the day of Matri Bhasa Diwas, all the hostel boarders assembled in the Hostel Common Room by 8:10 p.m and after the arrival of the Warden Ma'am, the programme started sharp at 8:15 p.m. The anchor of the programme, Eshita welcomed all the hostel boarders to the celebration of the International Mother Language Day by recitating the first para of the iconic Bengali song "Ekusher Gaan" (Song of the 21st) penned by Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury, the song which led the Language Movement of Bangladesh. She went on to explain how today's generation knows very little about the legendary language movement which made the international community to not only sit up and take notice, but also accord the movement the well-deserved honor as International Mother Language Day by UNESCO. There is no nation in the world which fought and sacrificed their life for their mother tongue. She further added that after the liberation of Bangladesh in 16th December 1971, this language movement has since being observed as Language Movement Day or Shaheed Dibosh or Martyrs' Day. She informed the audience that the theme of this year's International Mother Language Day is indigenous languages as a factor in development, peace and reconciliation.
Eshita went on to proffer that the day was an important day, especially for our country given that literally no other nation of this world has so much diversity in languages, which in fact enriches the culture manifold. She explained through examples the several spoken and written dialects within a single language. Like in Bengali, there are literary variants like Shadhubhasha & Choltibhasha and spoken variants in the form of Bongali, Rajbangshi, Raribangla, etc. In Odia, there are dialects like Sambhalpuri, Mugalbandi, Bauda Bhatri, Kosli, Bodo Praja, Reli, Kupia etc. In Hindi, numerous dialects like Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Bundeli, Garhwali, Haryanvi and so on can be found.
Jyoti Pragya
Smrutiparna Majhi
After such an informative session, she went on to take the programme forward by inviting Smrutiparna Majhi from B.Sc. B.Ed. 3rd year to start the evening with an Odia Song. She took it a step further by singing a slew of melodious Odia songs to lend a musical ambience to the evening. After such a start to the evening, Eshita opened the recitation segment of the evening with the first performance by Jyoti Pragya, B.Ed (Science) 2nd year. Much to the loud appraises from the audience, she recitated some meaningful Hindi two-liners, drawing huge cheers from the audience.
Gayatri Debadatta
Kuntala Sabat. The poetess happens to be the first female medical student of Odisha, who unfortunately passed away at a very young age. The poem recounts her struggles in the form of a metaphor of a flower, which has a lifespan of just a day but has a mesmerizing fragrance. The poem meant to put across the message that whatever be one's lifespan, it should be meaningful and significant enough to be remembered. (Later, after a quick prompt from one member of the audience, everyone got to know that the flower is cinchona flower. Cinchona, as fact would have it, is the flower which is used in the treatment for malaria)
Next up for performance was a Bengali poem recitation by Soniya from B.Ed (Humanities) 1st year. She recitated the poem, "Ekushe February" by Aal Mahmud. The poem succinctly tells us about the 21st February which has been the witness of the sacrifice by hundreds, for their mother language. The sacrifice being made, must not be seen as just for the protection of their identity, but as their duty to their Mother, the land where they were born, to lay down their lives if needed to save Her, her language. After the goosebumps-inducing recitation, she thanked the anchor (Eshita) for providing her with the epic poem in the first place for the recitation.
Ekata Mandal
The last poem recitation of the evening was performed by Ekata Mandal, B.Ed (Science) 2nd year. She received a Bengali poem "Tyaaj" (Zeal) by Debobrata Singha. She recitated the poem in Bankri, rural sub-dialect of the Bankura district of West Bengal. Drawing gasps from the audience for her meticulous pronunciation of the dialect and an emotive recitation, Ekata made the evening more terrific by choosing the very poem itself. The poem talks about a girl who belongs to be kameenkhata (household slave) family, who has stood first in her 10th standard exams. She could do it for the inspiration provided by her father, who repeatedly told her to not be submissive, even if you're born in a low-caste family. He persuaded her to win always, even when her mother and her grandmother had a regressive and submissive mindset. When the reporters praised the girl telling her, girls like you make the nation proud, she made the statement saying, rising against all the struggles, creating one's own path isn't that easy. It takes a lot of zeal (and thus, the title of the poem).
Namita Pradhan
And with that, ended the poem recitation segment of the programme. The musical part of the programme, especially presented by the B.Ed 2nd year girls, now began with the first performance by Namita Pradhan from Science, who beautifully sang an Odia song "Tate Na Dekhile Kemiti Bachibi Maa". On further request, she related the meaning of the song to her personal experience of this hostel. When she first came, despite being an Odia, she didn't know the alphabets and didn't know how to speak in Odia as well. On the persistence of her friends, now she has not only got the hang of it, but also recently passed a competitive exam in Odia, drawing a round of applause from the audience. Even while she was singing, her Odia friends could be seem getting emotional, given that not much time is left for the batch to return where they have come from.
Aditi Maiti
The next song was presented by Aditi Maiti from B. Ed. (Humanities), who sang a Bengali song, "Bhenge More Ghorer Chaabi", written by Rabindranath Tagore which literally means, freedom should not be in cages. Everyone has the right to freedom to live as they want and it is the duty of the humanity to free people from any kind of societal bondages. Since the song she had selected is a popular Bengali song, many Bengali boarders could be seen lip-syncing the lyrics of the song along with Aditi, which made it sound more like a chorus, much to the delight of the Hostel Warden.
Santoshini Pradhan
The last song was sung by Santoshini Pradhan, who is a visually-challenged yet musically talented girl from Humanities. She sang an Odia song, "Jayadevi Janmabhoomi", which praises the beauty of the nature that is the gift of motherland. It speaks of the martyrs who have sacrificed their life and seeking love and power from the motherland. The song also speaks of the ray of hope to protect and to be the winner against all kinds of adversities.
Eshita Dey
Just when the anchor (Eshita) was going to request the Warden to say a few words regarding the programme, the cultural in-charge, Sohini asked Eshita to present her Marathi cupsong, for which she is famous for, in their batch. Before performing, Eshita explained the origin of the cupsong, of how it had originally been a part of an English movie, but later incorporated with Indian languages led by Mithila Palkar, an actress. Performing before an audience for the first time, she used a cup for providing beats to the Marathi song "Hi Chal Turu Turu" which refers to the movements and activities of a cat. Amidst pin-drop silence, with only the beats and the song being heard softly, her performance drew huge round of applause from the audience.
Prof. I P Gowramma
On inviting Hostel Warden ma'am to speak a few words on the programme, she talked and praised each and every performances by the participants, eager to know more about the recitations and the songs which were presented. On being requested and further coaxing from the Cultural Secretary, Anshu and the anchor, Eshita, to sing a song in her mother language, Warden ma'am finally gave in and before singing, gave us an introduction to her mother language. She informed how her mother language, Kodava, a language belonging to the Dravidian Family and based in Coorg, is a fast extinguishing language and has been listed as an endangered language, with only 1 lakh speakers in India. She further explained the language structure and what makes it one of the most difficult languages to learn. She related her personal memorable experience of singing a Kannada song in one of the workshops in Hindi dominated belt, she had attended and how she had been stumped when someone from the audience picked up the song from where she had left. She actually had goosebumps while recollecting the incident, while the boarders were waiting with bated breath on the privilege of hearing the Warden sing for the first time. She sang the Kannada song, "Nityotsava" and the tone so soft and melodious that when she stopped singing, the applause went for quite some time. Amidst cheers from the audience, one of the rare moments of the history could be witnessed when the Warden ma'am could actually be seen blushing and reeling from the responses from her boarders.
And with that, the programme of International Mother Language Day celebration in Gopabandhu Hostel came to an end which oversaw a milieu of languages being spoken and talked about together, in the same platform, truly bringing justice to the day.
Written by Ms. Eshitha Dey.
She is student of B.Ed. 2nd year (2017-2019 batch) at Regional Institute of Education, Bhubaneswar. This batch had taken reponsibility of organising "Matribhasha Diwas" in Gopabandhu Hostel.
BB & C
Black board and chalk are personification of a classroom. Scores of years ago the term was used as a symbol of infrastructure in elementary school (Operation blackboard). Alas it is missing in our classrooms today in the name of progress, development and advancement. This basic time tested, economical, environment friendly facility is being replaced by "white board and marker". The sob story of this deadly combination is killing the simple pleasures of teachers and children in school and power of teacher educator and weapon of student teacher in a teacher education institute.
Running from pillar to post to get the markers issued in a system, the hard found markers running out of ink soon, frequent borrowing by well-meaning colleagues add to the agony. The first word is clear on the white board but as it goes further colour fades gradually ending with nothing. Those who are seated in the last bench in a classroom of hundred are the sufferers not to say about those with low vision if any.
For those with environmental consciousness throwing the markers with dried up ink is always a dilemma. The happiness of using coloured chalk for diagrams (especially for life science), for highlighting (for technical words, for new vocabulary, for pronunciation), for making meaning of concepts (chemical bond, litmus test for acid base) is no more possible. The personal touch teacher gives to the letter, word and phrase with different coloured chalks is no more a solace. Children using the friendly space with imagination soaring till the teacher enters, the space to put out aggression if any in the form of drawing and writing no more exists. Schools are becoming as mechanical as whiteboard and marker. Black board please come back to my class, I will walk without guilt and doubt towards you with a chalk for we build a bond one-to-one; one-to-many at the same time. BB and C we love you.
Visit to the abode of moon
September 3, 2018 / Leave a comment
As part of the research project on Buddhist educational institutions got an opportunity to enter the beautiful landscape of Chandragiri in Gajapathi district of Odisha not as a tourist but as a learner. It was indeed an excellent journey through the mysteries of monasteries, monks and momos. It was more of development of self in the journey than the study, the best part of taking up research projects.
27th November early morning reached Chandragiri by bus from Bhubaneswar. Monk Neyku was waiting for us in the misty darkness to pick us. In the wilderness he drove us the ten kilometres into the camp 4 monastery guest house Ripo. Entered the chilled room into the bed and blanket equally chill to rest without moving our body after the roller coaster ride of sleeper bus. With special Tibetan hand made bread with peas masala for breakfast felt comfortable as with it the sun rays entered straight into the room, relieving the overnight blues. With all energy entered temple of their learning Padma Sambhava Maha Vihar – Rigon Thupten Mindolling Monastery. Inside life of the students is as unique as the name it holds. There are 200 students approximately age ranging from 5 years to 23 years. Age of admission is 5 years. Those who join irrespective of the age are put in junior 1. The class they have are called as junior 1 to 9 and senior 1 to 9 thus having 18 years of education. If a student completes 18 years in the learning they get degree equivalent to doctoral. They follow the syllabus of their Thupten board and the degree awarding body is the Central Tibetan Administration. The students who complete their education at any stage can leave the monastery and work as per the requirement of the group. They join as teachers in any monastery, they go to preach in and outside India depending on the invitation. They are willing to share their knowledge in any forum. Initial learning is Tibetan language, English and numbers. Once they master by completing 18 years of study in the monastery, they start teaching their religious literature. There is wealth of literature in the Buddhist philosophy that are explored by the senior students.
28th November – visited the central Tibetan school. The I/c principal gave us the information of the school and its philosophy. The Dalai Lama means an ocean of knowledge. They are the spiritual people to spread the Buddhist philosophy. Anni are female spiritual teachers taking similar responsibility. One Anni is appointed in the school and she takes classes on the religion, about Tibet, their freedom struggle and vision for their country. In their time table there is three periods per week for every grade for spiritual lessons. Anni takes those classes. She is appointed by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), Dharamsala. They are appointed on contractual basis and are paid by the school authorities. Since 2001 Tibetans are not taken as teachers on regular basis. There are teachers who teach Tibetan language, music, dance and art, from Tibetan community and all are working on contractual basis. Initially there were 73 schools under the central government, the Central Tibetan School and now there are only 14. The rest are being taken over by the CTA.
From one of the camps (number 5) 14 children from monastery are sent to the Central Tibetan school. The principal finds them very disciplined and good at studies. Many delegates come from European and American countries and set up their projects in the Tibetan settlement. They have set up a cultural centre, hospital and some small scale industries. They use the Tibetan medicines in the hospitals. The locality also has other hospitals and dental clinics set up by project funds. World wide there is Tibetan refugee fund set up for the cause of Tibetan that flow into the camps. Usually during winter parents go on selling warm clothes in different parts of the country. Hostels are set up by these donors to provide accommodation, food, help in studies for their children during this time. Care takers are appointed and they take classes on moral and spiritual education in the hostel.
The school has classes from 6 up to class 10. After they complete class 10 students are sent to other schools where plus 2 is available. Only three central Tibetan schools have science stream. Depending upon the availability of seats and interest of students the decision will be made in the camp by the respective camp leaders in consultation with the other leaders of the camp. Many students are found to be entering into hotel management and nursing.
The central Tibetan school goes out for competition in the inter CBSE meets of sports and culture. They have opportunities to go on field trips to local spots of tourist interest. Everything is free of cost, students need not pay anything in the school.
Camp 3 – exclusively for girls has three Lopen (teachers) and 36 children. Started only 3 years back. Construction work is going on. The teachers come from outside to teach them English, Tibetan. Each room has 4 students, the younger ones are kept with the older so that they are attended to for their daily work. Girls as young as 5 years are there in the monastery. All were in their routine prayer when we visited. They completed their prayer and later spoke to us. Since they are not conversant in Hindi and English it was little difficult for us to continue our discussion. The Lopen were from Nepal, they speak in Nepali and Tibetan. It was clear from their expression that they are not very much exposed to outsiders to develop communication. They live in their own world. Prayer, reading Tibetan literature on Buddhist philosophy and working is the way they spend their entire day. Contact with outside world is too limited.
Camp 1 – students are not there. Only two monks stay there to take care of the monastery. There is an old age home associated with this monastery funded by the Tibetan association. 24 old people are staying there. A community nurse is engaged to take care of their health needs. She stays there from morning 9 to 5 in the evening. Mostly the inmates of the home are widows and those who do not have children. Women are more in number. They spend time listening to their prayer which is played continuously through loud speaker. Their day starts with prayer in the prayer room for an hour. They have a kitchen where appointed cooks preparing food as per their need. Spacious dining room is attached with a small kitchen that are kept very clean.
Camp 2 – monastery is small but very peaceful. Students are not there. Community people look after the monastery. Significant days monks from camp 4 go there to perform the rituals. In a month they observe 2 days as auspicious days celebration of the Buddhist religious rituals. An old man looking after the monastery brought the key to open it for us and helped us to see around. There is a small well equipped kitchen and dining space adjacent to the monastery which is used whenever the monks go there to perform the rituals
Camp 5 – two Lopen and 50 monks are housed in this monastery. The monastery is under construction. Only hostel, kitchen and dining room is ready. All the monks from this monastery attend the regular classes from class one to five in the Sambodha Tibetan Primary school that is run by the Tibetian Association and after class 5 they go to the central Tibetan school till class 10. In the monastery the two Lopen take classes on Buddhist philosophy and religious teaching early in the morning and by 8.30 they are ready to go to school. They get back by 4 in the evening and the lopen will help them in their school related work and in case of difficulty which the Lopen is not able to solve, especially in science and mathematics they call up the school teachers and get the help from them. The students are mostly from Arunachal Pradesh (Bomdilla), few are from Nepal and one student is from the local Chandragiri. Individual choice is taken to enrol in monastery and get spiritual education, still they prefer to keep children from far off place as it is not disturbing them from their routine. If they come from near by places the parents keep visiting them and they also would want to go home often that impedes their academic activities. Many times local students run away to home from monastery. To control such challenges the monasteries prefer to keep children from far off land. Children like general subjects, they are happy to go to the community school, but they face problem in learning mathematics and history. One student expressed that he likes science subject very much. Mr Cheme Youngdoung a retired teacher provides his guidance and service to the monastery and children on voluntary basis.
Visited settlement office and met the officer Mr Chonar Samdup to discuss the background of Tibetan settlement of Chandragiri. The officer talked about settlement of Tibetans in Chandragiri said that since the 60s the settlement has been given by Government of India like in other parts of the country. In this context he also talked about the state goventment has given them land to settle but as of now unlike other settlements developmental work at Chandragiri is scanty. He gave some data of the settlement like total household is 600 plus, population is 2400 approximately spread over the five camps. One significant aspect of the Tibetans at Chandragiri is that they have influenced the local residents to start cultivation of food crops like maize and barley. Another contribution is that because of the Tibetans the local people get employment and there is a mutual learning of language and culture. This centre has become the attraction for tourists and recently the monastery at camp 4 is included in the tourist map of Odisah thus attracting a large number of tourists from the state as well as outside. He quoted the Dalailama's ideas about the integration of modern subjects in the monastery education. Now lots of development have been planned to make transportation easier through new construction of roads and alternate approaches to the monastery. Most of the youngsters are abroad and their parents are engaged in the business.
However it is noticed that the children in the monastery are shy and do not express anything freely. Probably due to lack of exposure to outer world, they do not even acknowledge the presence of new comers. They seem to be in their own space doing their work meticulously but mechanically. It is noticed that young children in Junior one were responding to our interactions much better than the older children in the monastery. Similarly the teachers of the monasteries were very social and willing to share their life and culture. May be that level of concentration is essential to indulge in serious study of Buddhism. Life in the monastery no doubt makes them disciplined and concentrates on their studies of Buddhist philosophy but restricted their socialisation in the larger community.
Koraput welcomes the visitors from Bhubaneswar to the cool breeze and interior climate to heave a sigh of relief from the hot and humid coastal climate of August. This was a field visit for conducting research to analyse school readiness of children from scheduled tribe (ST) community. Koraput located on a section of the Eastern Ghats has a vast expanse of mountain ranges. The district occupies a unique position in the tribal map of Odisha with 50% of ST population. Nearly 62 types of ST of Odisha have their existence in this district each with a distinct set of values, beliefs and rituals.
An Anganawadi in the interior of Similiguda provided space for our orientation to field investigators. We had to prepare couple of local youth to collect data through the tools that were developed to assess school readiness of children in the cognitive, social and language areas. Unlike other Anganawadis, this one welcomed us to a clean orderly and a huge bunch of bubbling children numbering 36. All the children with their neat uniforms, including their teacher and helper. The room was large enough for the seating of children in a big circle. Open racks on the wall had staked boxes neatly labelled that contained cut outs of alphabets, numbers, beads, seeds and many more. Surprisingly most of the materials were developed by the teacher Basudha (pseudonym) with the help of the helper and others in the neighbourhood with materials available in the surrounding. She took great interest in explaining the materials with all innocence enthusiasm and contentment. She knew her role and was proud of being a part of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) project of the nation.
The pot of drinking water is clean and covered with a plate. The helper gives water to drink poured into a cup whenever a child comes there. There is another pot with water with a mug attached to it to wash hands. The helper insists on washing hands before serving food. Children take a line to the water pot, the helper pours the water to children's hands, all of them wash with soap and sit in a circle for lunch. Fresh rice and vegetables served to all and they ate without wasting. The helper helped very young children to eat and as soon as all children finished eating, she cleaned the room briskly.
The teacher and the helper along with the members of the community have made the ambience child friendly, healthy and learning oriented. The teacher Basudha was different and I had much to learn from her. She had no complaint on any facility. She has converted the available infrastructure and resources appropriately to suit the working, she takes personal interest in children to see that they come to the centre regularly, smiling non-stop explained her work to us taking care of children engaging them with songs and games. She knew the speciality of every child. One girl was good at acting and because of her she had planned one play wherein the small girl takes the lead role and manages the small group with her. That was a story of a family taking their children to a village fair. Interesting conversation is built in to the play that brings the fair live to the room. Mother takes lead role in controlling unruly children that the young girl has been prepared to. In this process she controls the group for nearly half an hour. During this time the teacher engages the other group on some other activity. The children show great maturity responsibility and comradeship. I realised one person can make a difference. I am sure there are many 'Basudhas' in India to move towards realising the objectives of early childhood care and education to reality.
Less trodden path
Beautiful drive to Nimalo off Salepur in Cuttack district tough road took three and a half hours from Bhubaneswar. My colleagues and me were on our way to visit Madrasa to learn their way of functioning. From Cuttack, moved along the flow of the majestic Mahanadi, sand bank, canals and scanty livelihood of meager living. Poverty was glaring in a rich landscape.
'Nimalo' we reached! our destination, a small town. After several stops and asking the passersby, reached the location with a final powerful guidance by 6-7 year old boy cutting a climber with a knife pointing towards the exact location. A friendly woman in a petty shop realizing our search for something like a school (Madrasa) gave the entry into through an unassuming path. Our visit was with the purpose of gathering data for a research with permission from the authorities. Clear surrounding, fresh smell of boiling rice welcome us to the joy of learning inside.
The head teacher came running humbly, we put his awe to ease by explaining our purpose and requesting their cooperation. Entered the first room after the initial pleasantries with teachers. That was class three with four girls, sitting on the floor, with colorless Urdu books reading with a matching rhythm of the body. Each face was bright, eyes full of aspirations. As my colleagues started with the check list and questionnaires, I engaged those curious minds for 30-40 minutes. They read the book, taught me 'alim, thhe, phe, …….' ……' . I tried writing it on the blackboard, as they observed with happiness the difficulty of an adult to write what is child's play for them.
After a brief tint of learning Urdu, to put me to comfort asked if they know A, B, C, D, ……. They all said 'yes' and started with writing letter dictation – 'X', 'T' 'P'….. Began another activity of identifying first letter of their names. Ayesha, 'A'., Resham 'R', Sonia 'S', Sania 'S' (the identical twins), each one telling a word and write the first letter of the word , 'Lion' 'L', Apple 'A' and so on. I gave Cuttack all said 'K', compared with C of words like cut and cake, soon responded enthusiastically saying C. Slowly moved to word writing. Each one saying one word from flower, fruits, vegetables, birds, animals, 20 words were written. When the new words came, played with syllables and they created their own spelling, almost correct like ba/na/na, Jas/mi/ne. it was full time fun. Their teachers also came around and participated in the learning process.
Did not find anyone with visual perceptual difficulty or anyone struggling to identify letters and write words. One girl Reshma wrote D in reverse pattern while writing the word Dog. Allowed her to correct by herself which she could do. No writing difficulty though the writing facility was very non-conducive. They were using very thin, hard tipped cheaper pen, heavy/ long note books, leaning to the floor posture. The class room was clean, well ventilated with a comfortable blackboard which I could use as a supporting material to my spelling class. All the children had sound letter association almost perfect, handwriting legible and readable. Listening comprehension was age appropriate, behavior excellent. Teachers very happy to spend time, watch us as we interacted with children, listening to them, reading and writing with them, singing and dancing with them.
Next we went to the adjacent room that had two groups of students class two and 4-5 as one group in a same room, sitting back to back with two blackboards on the opposite walls. In class 4 and 5 group, some children read Urdu lesson, one boy aspiring to be teacher, read a poem and explained to us in hindi and odiya. Very confidant and he was happy to make us understand the poem. Class two children danced and sang songs. Next room was of class one, some as young as below five years were also there. Some shy, some smart, some outspoken, some different. They all could identify A-Z any letter while asked to recognize in a chart.
The toilet was kept very clean with a tank, bucket, mug, foot ware and a stable door that has a latch both outside and inside. The school has a fence made of laterally opened bamboo shoots covered with plastic bags here and there. One portion similar to the fence opens as gate. A bore-well is located that gives plenty of water throughout the year. The kitchen is open with a metal sheet on the top where a cook and a helper were preparing lunch for the mid day. Boiled eggs, dhall and rice were prepared and covered neatly.
Left the school with bye to the children and teaches by the time all had gathered to see us off. Elders of the village and teachers bid us alwida with 'phir se ayiyega' 'hamare saath khaana khayiye'. Both sides knew pretty well that day does not come, we gave assurance, exchanged telephone numbers despite knowing we will not use it again. But for sure the teachers will cherish the exposure, children will remember the visit of the aliens that might have given some prick to some one to study further. A lady teacher choked with emotion said from your visit our children have learnt a lot, looking at people like you is highly motivating for our girls, where will they get this kind of opportunity and similar feelings. Was our visit so strong, just two hours of interaction in the school could bring tears of joy and gratitude??? We must do much more of these visits to give wings to the aspiration of the under privileged section of society. Two youngsters among the teachers continuously telling us to increase their salary, the two older ones continuously showing their gratitude for taking trouble to travel and reach their remote school was striking. Treated us with frooti/ mazaa and aam swad toffee, I consumed both, though I never drink preserved water/ juice and toffees. It is their warmth and the need to have it after the drive of the desperate need to drink something. Enjoyed frooti/mazaa for the first time.
Stopped our vehicle on the picturesque road side under the shade of a huge tree. Had our packed lunch in the serene spot. Could not resist a brief stop in Salepur Bikalo Gharo to relish the original taste of rasgolla. Headed back with rich experience preparing ourselves to work with more rigor towards the mission.
The return journey was not the same as the visit had churned my conscience deep. Village schools and teachers are suffering from identity crisis. Teachers knew their role is crucial for the future and well being of their neglected community. They want to work to bring change in the lives of youngsters in their community. There are lots of policies, programmes and schemes for the benefit of education of minority community in our country. Is it really benefiting the target? Lots of work needs to be taken up to bring the Government initiatives to the ground. I realized what is required is giving our time to be with them, listen to them, connecting with them. Spending some happy time with them, listening to their experiences would contribute much more than the schemes and programmes could. Contribution to education is not only developing material, not conducting research and publishing in journals but also giving a bit of our time and expertise through personal interaction.
An anecdote
As a practice with me when I visit any school I asked a teacher if there were any children with disability in the school. She narrated her story to say that the community does not recognize the right of the child with disability to be getting any facility. Her only son has an intellectual disability is being taken care at home by her mother while her husband works in another country. One day when the child was groaning with pain she took him to a doctor who refused to give any medicine saying 'this kind of children should not live'. Probably the doctor could not diagnose the cause of pain. After returning home mother found that one of his teeth was decaying and she took him to a dentist and got it extracted to relive him of pain. Child is a child, mother is a mother. We need to reaffirm that we have to provide the facility / opportunity to them. How much they can empower given the opportunity is not our concern. Giving relief from pain, pleasure of being with other children of their age, leaning one word, one behavior cannot be restricted due to our ignorance.
Dear outgoing 2018 Gopabandhuans
April 24, 2018 / Leave a comment
Reminiscing the past years is indeed fruitful and fulfilling. But hardly get time to go back on nostalgic memory lane in a busy schedule. The ups and downs experienced in day to day life is a wonderful way to explore ourselves. Living closely with variety of students came as a duty and lived it through thick and thin. Many instances of pleasure, fun, warmth, despair, pain, passed through the pages of life. But each one added to my bag of learning. As it is time to bid farewell to yet another precious bundle of Gopaabandhu, my heart mellows down, deep within me I hear a prayer to you all constantly 'wherever you are, have a blissful life'. Make your life pleasant and make your surrounding vibrant. Let there be an aura radiating from you to create a school that is happy, a home that is peaceful. I am sure the learning in the Institute and hostel will have an impact in your professional as well as personal life that you will not miss to recognise as you ascend the ladder of success.
The outcome of bitter experience is always sweet, if at all we reflect on it, if at all we own it. Negativism is an impulse, an outburst that spring from us, but positivism is innate, natural for us. Positivism is alive in every one by virtue of our existence in this universe. We need to cultivate our positive inner qualities reflecting on every outburst, with each impulsive expression that creep up on occasions without demand. Destructive emotions can be managed effectively with awareness and regulation. As a parting message let me give you one simple art of developing this awareness and regulation – self discipline.
Self discipline is one of the key human values. Following a routine is the simplest way to achieve this. All the body cells, the organs are at peace with this self regulatory behaviour. Orderliness oozes out creating balance within and around us if we can stick to routine. With this we can hold our head high always; no need of searching for lame excuses troubling the brain and body with frequent slip from the track. Discipline when imposed from outside is usually counterproductive. Regulation from fear never gives enthusiasm. But self regulation gives contentment, saves from inner turmoil. Embrace this simple value; it is not only for self, but also for others as well as for humanity at large.
Love you all, wish you the best every moment.
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I've gotten so much requests about this mixtape. Majorly from my snapchat followers (@Lynnjaphet). It's a Nigerian high praise mixtape I bought and decided to upload to my Youtube. It's awesome for drives and personal praise time.
I hope you enjoy and share with your loved ones.
I have listened to this over 50 times already!!! thank you.


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Home Press/Media Press Releases México City to Host World Service Meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous
México City to Host World Service Meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous
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Delegates representing Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) the world over will gather for the Fellowship's 21st World Service Meeting (W.S.M.) at the Hotel Camino Real, México City. The event will take place October 17-21, 2010 and is being hosted by the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous in the United States and Canada.
Since its beginnings in 1969 the W.S.M. has served as a forum for the worldwide sharing of experience and ideas on ways to carry the A.A. message of recovery from alcoholism. The event alternates biennially between New York City and other locations around the globe, and has convened in such diverse cities as Auckland, New Zealand; Cartagena, Colombia; Malahide, Ireland, and Helsinki, Finland.
The W.S.M.'s success in bringing together A.A. worldwide service centers for biennial meetings during the past three decades reflects a final vision of A.A. co-founder Bi ll W., who believed there could be "one world of A.A." to assure that help will always be available for sick alcoholics wherever they are or whatever language they speak. A 1950 visit to A.A. groups in Britain and Europe convinced him that A.A. could cross all of the barriers that had "divided and shattered the world of our time." The first W.S.M. gathering was slightly more than a year before Bill W.'s death.
Much discussion at the 2010 W.S.M. will center on the theme "Sponsorship: Our Responsibility." Some topics under discussion will include Women in A.A., A.A. and the Internet, and the Seventh Tradition. There also will be workshops on a variety of subjects. The main sessions will be conducted in English and Spanish, with simultaneous translations. Attendance is limited to elected delegates from the participating countries.
; A.A., as spelled out in its Preamble, . . . "is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. . . ."
Today A.A. has a presence in between 150 and 180 countries, with an estimated total of 115,773 groups and more than 2 million members worldwide. Said A.A. co-founder Bill W. in 1960, nine years before he initiated the first W.S.M.: "From the beginning, communication in A.A. has been no ordinary transmission of helpful ideas and attitudes. Because of our kinship in suffering, and because our common means of deliverance are effective for ourselves only when constantly carried to others, our channels of contact have always been charged with the language of the heart."
A.A. traces its beginnings back to Bill W.'s 1935 meeting with cofounder Dr. Bob S., an Akron, Ohio, physician who also suffered from alcoholism. After Dr. Bob took his last drink on June 10 of that year, the two men set about to aid other alcoholics. The Fellowship had about 100 members by 1939, when they published Alcoholics Anonymous, the society's basic text, which is now in its fourth edition and has been published in 59 languages. By 1950, the year of Dr. Bob's passing, A.A. had 100,000 members and was reaching out to many countries.
Though Bill W. worked in New York, his belief was that A.A. membership on other continents would someday exceed that of the U.S. and Canada. While A.A.'s General Service Office in New York continues to serve A.A. groups and members in these two countries, Bill W. insisted that A.A. service centers in other countries should be independent. There are currently 60 autonomous A.A. service offices worldwide, including the New York office.
For more information, contact the International desk at the General Service Office at international@aa.org or (212) 870-3021.
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Home / Team / Dr Katharine Haynes
Dr Katharine Haynes
Lead Researcher
Katharine is a human geographer specialising in environmental change. Her research focuses on building resilience and adaptation through community and youth-centred initiatives. Katharine has a special interest in participatory processes and action research as a means for understanding and enhancing community-based adaptation and risk reduction.
Katharine has also conducted a number of post-disaster investigations involving in-depth interviews with residents following the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, the 2009 heatwave in SA and VIC, the 2010-2011 floods in QLD, NSW and VIC, the 2013 Blue Mountains bushfires and the 2017 NSW Northern Rivers floods. Her PhD (2005) investigated the communication of volcanic risk between scientists, policy makers and the public on the Island of Montserrat, W.I.
In 2015, she was awarded the Australian Academy of Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education (ASPIRE) for the most important contributions in the area of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for a scientist under the age of 40.
Read my full profile


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Big data analytics involves examining large amounts of data. This is done so as to uncover the hidden patterns, correlations and also to give insights so as to make proper business decisions. Basically, organizations have realized the need for evolving from a knowing organization to a learning organization. Essentially, businesses want to be more objective and data-driven, and so they are embracing the power of data and technology.
The big data concept has been around for many years. Decades before the first mention of big data, businesses applied analytics on the data they collected so as to gain insights and uncover trends. This involved capturing numbers on a spread sheet and manually examining the numbers.
Big data analytics is done using advanced software systems. This allows businesses to reduce the analytics time for speedy decision making. Basically, the modern big data analytics systems allow for speedy and efficient analytical procedures. This ability to work faster and achieve agility offers a competitive advantage to businesses. In the meantime, businesses enjoy lower cost using big data analytics software.
Organizations have invested in big data analytics. Think of a business you know that depends on quick and agile decision to remain competitive. In this article, we give five real-world examples of how big brands are using big data analytics. Keep reading to gain more insights.
The customer is the most important asset any business depends on. There is no single business that can claim success without first having to establish a solid customer base. However, even with a customer base, a business cannot afford to disregard the high competition it faces. If a business is slow to learn what customers are looking for, then it is very easy to begin offering poor quality products. In the end, loss of clientele will result, and this creates an adverse overall effect on business success.
The use of big data allows businesses to observe various customer related patterns and trends. Observing customer behaviour is important to trigger loyalty. Theoretically, the more data that a business collects the more patterns and trends the business can be able to identify. In the modern business world and the current technology age, a business can easily collect all the customer data it needs. This means that it is very easy to understand the modern day client. Basically, all that is necessary is having a big data analytics strategy to maximize the data at your disposal. With a proper customer data analytics mechanism in place, a business will have the capability to derive critical behavioural insights that it needs to act on so as to retain the customer base.
Understanding the customer insights will allow your business to be able to deliver what the customers want from you. This is the most basic step to attain high customer retention.
A real example of a company that uses big data analytics to drive customer retention is Coca-Cola. In the year 2015, Coca-Cola managed to strengthen its data strategy by building a digital-led loyalty program. Coca-Cola director of data strategy was interviewed by ADMA managing editor. The interview made it clear that big data analytics is strongly behind customer retention at Coca-Cola. Below is an abstract of the full interview on what Coca-Cola had to say about the role of big data in achieving customer retention.
How much does the role of data play in Coca-Cola remaining relevant and staying connected to its consumers in the age of digital transformation? What about data and product development?
Data plays an increasingly important role in marketing and product development. Consumers do a great job of sharing their opinions with us – either by phone, email or social networks – that allow us to hear their voice and adjust our approach. We often talk about why we have two ears and one mouth – it's better to listen more than we speak. This holds true with our approach on consumer input. Data is also helping us create more relevant content for different audiences. We want to focus on creating advertising content that speaks differently to different audiences. Some people love music. Other people watch every sport no matter what time of year. Our brands are already visible in those spaces, and we're working hard to use data to bring branded content that aligns with people's passions.
Big data analytics can help change all business operations. This includes the ability to match customer expectation, changing company's product line and of course ensuring that the marketing campaigns are powerful. Let's face the naked truth here. Businesses have lost millions spent in running advertisements that are not fruitful. Why is this happening? There is a high possibility that they skipped the research phase.
After years of cautious enthusiasm, marketing and advertising technology sector is now able to embrace big data in a big way (Medal, 2017). The marketing and advertising sector is able to make a more sophisticated analysis. This involves observing the online activity, monitoring the point of sale transactions, and ensuring on the fly detection of dynamic changes in customer trends. Gaining insights on customer behaviour takes collecting and analyzing the customer's data. This is done through the similar approach used by marketers and advertisers as illustrated. This result into the capability to achieve focused and targeted campaigns.
A more targeted and personalized campaign means that businesses can save money and ensure efficiency. This is because they target high potential clients with the right products. Big data analytics is good for advertisers since the companies can use this data to understand customers purchasing behaviour. We can't ignore the huge ad fraud problem. Through predictive analytics, it is possible for the organizations to define their target clients. Therefore, businesses can have an appropriate and effective reach avoiding the huge losses incurred as a result of Ad fraud.
Netflix is a good example of a big brand that uses big data analytics for targeted advertising. With over 100 million subscribers, the company collects huge data, which is the key to achieving the industry status Netflix boosts. If you are a subscriber, you are familiar to how they send you suggestions of the next movie you should watch. Basically, this is done using your past search and watch data. This data is used to give them insights on what interests the subscriber most. See the screenshot below showing how Netflix gathers big data.
The unprecedented times and highly risky business environment calls for better risk management processes. Basically, a risk management plan is a critical investment for any business regardless of the sector. Being able to fore see a potential risk and mitigating it before it occurs is critical if the business is to remain profitable. Business consultants will advise that an enterprise risk management encompasses much more than ensuring your business has the right insurance.
So far, big data analytics has contributed greatly to the development of risk management solutions. The tools available allow the businesses to quantify and model risks that they face every day. Considering the increasing availability and diversity of statistics, big data analytics has a huge potential for enhancing the quality of risk management models. Therefore, a business can be able to achieve smarter risk mitigation strategies and make strategic decisions.
However, organizations need to be able to implement a structured evolutionary so as to accommodate the broad scope of big data. To achieve this, organizations collect the internal data first so as to gain clear insights that will benefit them. More important is the integrated process of analysis that a company uses. A proper big data analytics system helps ensure that areas of weaknesses or potential risks are identified.
UOB bank from Singapore is an example of a brand that uses big data to drive risk management. Being a financial institution, there is huge potential for incurring losses if risk management is not well thought of. UOB bank recently tested a risk management system that is based on big data. The big data risk management system enables the bank to reduce the calculation time of the value at risk. Initially, it took about 18 hours, but with the risk management system that uses big data, it only takes a few minutes. Through this initiative, the bank will possibly be able to carry out real-time risk analysis in the near future (Andreas, 2014).
Another huge advantage of big data is the ability to help companies innovate and redevelop their products. Basically, the big data has become an avenue for creating additional revenue streams through enabling innovations and product improvement. Organizations begin by correcting as much data as would be technically possible before designing new product lines and re-designing the existing products.
Every design process has to begin from establishing what exactly fits the customers. There are various channels through which an organization can study customer needs. Then the business can identify the best approach to capitalize on that need based on the big data analytics.
"Gone are the days when you could go with your gut" (Rampton, 2017). To improve the quality and streamline your manufacturing performance you need to collect huge data. The gut intuition is basically no longer reliable if an organization wants to compete in the 21st Century. This means that these organizations must come up with means for tracking their products, competitors and customer feedback.
Once the data is availed, an analysis is then conducted to ensure logical reasoning is applied before an action plan is devised. Luckily, product manufacturers of every size have a unique advantage when it comes to gathering and harnessing big data. This, therefore, means that these organizations can easily improve their product line by producing innovative products.
You have probably heard of Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods. This is a perfect example of how big data can help improve innovation and product development. Amazon leverages big data analytics to move into a large market. The data-driven logistics gives Amazon the required expertise to enable creation and achievement of greater value. Focusing on big data analytics, Amazon whole foods is able to understand how customers buy groceries and how suppliers interact with the grocer. This data gives insights whenever there is need to implement further changes.
Big data offers supplier networks greater accuracy, clarity and Insights. Through the application of big data analytics, suppliers achieve contextual intelligence across the supply chains. Basically, through big data analytics suppliers are able to escape the constraints faced earlier.
This was through the use of the traditional enterprise management systems and the supply chain management systems. These legacy applications didn't leverage big data analytics, and therefore suppliers incurred huge losses and were prone to making errors. However, through modern approaches built on big data, the suppliers can be able to leverage on higher levels of contextual intelligence which is necessary for supply chain success.
Modern supply chain systems based on big data enable more complex supplier networks. These are built on knowledge sharing and high-level collaboration to achieve contextual intelligence. It is also essential to note that supply chain executives consider the big data analytics as a disruptive technology. This is based on the thinking that it will set a foundation for change management in the organizations.
PepsiCo is a consumer packaged goods company that relies on huge volumes of data for an efficient supply chain management. The company is committed to ensuring they replenish the retailers' shelves with appropriate volumes and types of products. The company's clients provide reports that include their warehouse inventory and the POS inventory to the company, and this data is used to reconcile and forecast the production and shipment needs. This way, the company ensures retailers have the right products, in the right volumes and at the right time. Listen to this webinar where the company's Customer Supply Chain Analyst talks about the importance of big data analytics in PepsiCo Supply chain.
Big data analytics is an important investment for a growing business. Through implementing big data analytics businesses can achieve competitive advantage, reduced the cost of operation and drive customer retention. There are various sources of customer data that businesses can leverage. As technological advancements continue, data is becoming readily available to all organizations.
Technically, it is fair enough to say that organizations already have data at their disposal. It is up to the individual organizations to ensure they implement appropriate data analysis systems that can handle the huge data. Does your business have big data analysis mechanism in place? Learn from the above examples of successful brands and implement one today.


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Lawmaker proposes bill to ban gun raffles
New York lawmakers propose gun raffle ban
By: James Groh
Posted at 8:46 AM, Feb 05, 2019
New York lawmakers have proposed a bill that would ban gun raffles.
"No alcoholic beverage or firearm, as defined in section 265.00 of the penal law, shall be offered or given as a prize in any game of chance," the bill states.
The bill cites the danger of gun violence as its justification for the new legislation.
"Firearms should not be raffled off in this manner. Firearm related violence is a significant public health and safety problem and weapons should not be given away in games of chance," the bill states.
Gun raffles are a popular form of fundraising for many organizations especially fire halls. If this kind of raffle was banned, it would harm fire departments.
"We try to save a certain amount of money ever year in our budget for equipment replacement and if its not there we just aren't going to be able to do it that year," Ed Kane, the chief of the Boston Volunteer Fire Department, said.
About 16 percent of his department's budget comes from gun raffles, which comes out to around $25,000 according to Kane.
However, that's not a lot of money in fire department terms. It costs about $2,500 to outfit each of the nearly 40 volunteers. Regular maintenance and safety checks are also expensive. On top of this, one of their fire engines will need to be replaced soon Kane said. That could cost around $350,000.
"It's absolutely critical if we lose 16 percent of our operating budget we are going to have to make some real hard choices on what we can fund and what we can't," Kane said.
Their yearly gun raffle is the first weekend of May. Since this is a proposed bill, it's unlikely to be voted into effect before their event.
Background checks are required before anyone walks off with a gun at a raffle.
There are 25 assembly member's names attached to the bill. The majority of them are from the New York City area. 7 Eyewitness News reached out to more than half of them. None of them were available for comment by the story's deadline.
A link to the bill can be found here.
For more by James Groh, visit his Facebook or Twitter page.


Chuck Norris wants to see Obama birth certificate… You know what Chuck!, I want to see proof your are really part native american.
I know stereo-types are not the way to go on races or peoples, but when everyone with blonde hair and blue eyes says they are Cherokee, etc… It starts to sound funny.
its funny coming from a guy who served in the Air Force..
Anyway back to Chucky's native-ness… We want to see a blood test or something..
You too, Dog the Bounty Hunter… the long hair and beads, just not cutting it for us..


ARAMIDE mid dress with layered bell sleeve is made from a combination of Kente fabric locally sourced in Nigeria and black Lycra fabric.
It's a chic dress, appropriate for almost any occasion.
The model is wearing a 8UK/4US and she is 5ft7.


A review of the persistence of discrimination towards individuals with mental health conditions in public settings, mental health provider agencies, and academic programs, as well as recommendations for policy and practice changes and public educational programming.
This brief document discusses discrimination based on age, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, class, and religion, with suggestions on how service providers can incorporate cultural competency standards into their daily practice, with an emphasis on how culture plays an important role in how people with mental illnesses express themselves, cope with stress, and meet life's challenges.
This brief 'community inclusion toolkit' provides an overview of the current research into the prejudice and discrimination faced by people with psychiatric disabilities in community settings, and offers recommendations for effective strategies – for consumers and staff – in building more supportive communities.


The first two hours went by quick. I'm working on a longer version of a short story that I had sent to McSweeney's for consideration. The funny part is I just realized that the best scene from the short isn't in the longer version and now I don't know if it can be.
It was there and just somehow disappeared. This phenomenon would be blamed on the laptop being possessed.
My new characters didn't like the short's so they forced them out of the plot.
The short's characters didn't like the new ending and left. Yes – there was a character revolution!
I am an airhead. Come on we all do it. We think we've cooked dinner and there is nothing in the oven. Or better yet, one makes plans and forgets to show up?
I'm really excited about this sandwich! So the homemade bread and then they added sweet potatoes, fresh spinach, black bean spicy mayo, and muenster cheese…and then they grill it!
Oh. My. Gosh! Grilled Cheese nirvana!
And don't get me started on their homemade iced Chai latte!
Today was also productive – almost 2000 words!
No, I haven't completely lost my mind. I needed to get a history of my driving record for a potential client. I have done this before and it was simple: stand in the Information line, hand the person $20 and my license when it was my turn, get the report, and leave. Depending on how long the Information is, this takes a half hour, tops.
Then they changed the system (Cue horror music).
So today I stood in the Information line for about a half hour. It was kind of fun. We the line people formed a bond complaining about the bureaucracy known as the DMV. There was the guy behind me trying to register his eighth boat. "I know there is another line after this but I couldn't pay the dealer four hundred bucks just to register her." I offered my condolences with number eight.
The guy in front of me just got back from the Middle East with the Marines. After thanking him for his service he explained that Connecticut is the only state that operates this way. "Every other state you can do most of this stuff on line or if you need to come in person they have terminals you punch your information in so by the time you get to the clerk, everything is practically done." If anyone should be able to cut this line, this guy should. Hasn't he done enough for our country?
Back to me – so I get to the Information Desk and they hand me a "Express Number". Whoa – I'll be quick. No – another half hour passes. The guy next to me, from Massachusetts, urges me to go back up. "There is no line now. Why can't they just get you out of here?" Logical.
The Information Clerk explains that she can do nothing except give directions. I wonder if they based the new DMV model on Starbucks. Think about it – when one enters Starbucks there is a line. You submit your order and then watch one barista go crazy trying to keep up while the cashier, manager, and others stand around and chat.
I left and came back about three hours later. The Information Desk gave another Express Number and currently I type this as I wait to hear those magical notes.
Since the DMV is one of the few great equalizers left in our society, there are many different classes of people present yet the prominent conversation is about the way this department is run. I'm taken back by the same conversation repeated amongst the different groups.
Few are engrossed with their phones. Most are pointing and commenting. This is actually getting good. Oh – there is my number. It took exactly three minutes to complete my transaction once I was at the counter. There has got to be a better way.
Maybe I should write at the DMV more often?


BRASELTON, Ga. – The American Junior Golf Association and Oakley, a sports brand built on a foundation of innovation and performance, announced a new partnership, making Oakley the Preferred Sunglass Provider of the organization.
The partnership between two brands committed to the growth of golf will be activated through different touchpoints throughout the year, including outfitting all AJGA staff with Oakley eyewear, offering all AJGA members an Oakley discount via the Player Center and more.
All AJGA staff and members will have access to the all-new Oakley Targetline, a lifestyle frame with performance features developed specifically for golfers. Whether swinging a driver or reading a putt, Targetline eliminates distractions by giving golfers the technology features they depend on for elite performance in an everyday lifestyle design.
"At Oakley we are committed to pushing the boundaries of what is possible in sport performance and that is the same mentality of all AJGA staff and members – making this partnership a natural fit," said Cuan Petersen, Vice President, Oakley Global Sports Marketing.
Oakley eyewear comes equipped with Prizm™, a revolutionary lens technology, grounded in decades of research, that has turned eyewear into vital equipment for sports. Prizm is engineered to dramatically enhance detail and help improve performance by providing ultra-precise color tuning, designed for specific environments, including golf. Oakley has two golf specific lenses, Prizm Golf and the all-new Prizm Dark Golf, a darker lens optimized for sunny days.
For more information on Oakley, please visit: Oakley.com, and for more information on the American Junior Golf Association, please visit: ajga.org.
Oakley® and Prizm™ are trademarks of Oakley, Inc.


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Tucson Rodeo Parade looking for registrations, volunteers
By Alison J. Robinson	 Last updated Dec 21, 2021
TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) – The nation's longest non-motorized parade is looking for locals to participate and volunteer.
Applications for the 2022 Tucson Rodeo Parade are open online until the end of January.
The 97th Annual Tucson Rodeo Parade, or Parada de los Vaqueros, is scheduled for Thursday, February 24.
The procession features national dignitaries, Native American royalty and performers, historic wagons, colorful floats, marching bands, mariachis, rodeo royalty and working cowboys.
Each year, an average of 150,000 spectators march through the streets of southern Tucson.
Groups compete in 21 classes, ranging from western and historic riding groups to comedic carriage and multi-team.
The top three awards include the Curt Sullivan Sweepstakes Award for best entry, the Chairman's Award and the Judge's Award.
Volunteers are needed on parade day to help control the crowd, line up entrances and seat spectators in the grandstand. Breakfast, lunch, and tickets to a Tucson Rodeo show are free for volunteers.
Volunteers are not required to have knowledge about horses, but places are available for those who do.
The parade route circles the Tucson rodeo grounds, starting at Ajo Way and Fair Avenue. The car park opens to the public around 8 p.m.
The parade is free for spectators throughout the course, but paid grandstand seats are also available.
For more information on the parade, click on here.
Embracer secures founders of Tiburon Entertainment with latest buyout
Flathead Electric Gift of Light Brightens the Holiday Season


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Gov. Phil Bryant delivers the State of the State Address
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is telling lawmakers it might be time to start a state lottery.
The Republican said in his State address Tuesday that allowing the games of chance would be a way to generate revenue without raising taxes. He said Arkansas received $80 million from its lottery last budget year – some it from tickets bought by Mississippi residents.
"When we see traffic crowded on the Mississippi River bridge taking revenue to our neighboring state, it may be time to face a new reality," Bryant said, according to his prepared text. "We can no longer contain the people's desire for a lottery, we can only force them to travel."
Bryant, 62, began his career as a deputy sheriff and is starting his sixth year as governor. He said he will support "Blue Lives Matter" legislation. At least four bills would strengthen the penalties for attacks on law enforcement officers. Bryant mentioned the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics agent Lee Tartt, who was killed and three other officers were wounded in a February 2016 shootout during a standoff with a man holed up in a house near Iuka.
"Across our nation, law enforcement is under attack," Bryant said. "Here in Mississippi, most of our citizens continue to support and respect the men and women who wear the badge and protect and serve."
As he has in many other speeches, Bryant bragged on job creation, including the development of a Continental Tire manufacturing plant that is being built outside Jackson and a Raytheon plant that is being developed in Meridian to build training jets.
He said his top priority for his remaining three years in office will be to improve Mississippi's struggling foster care program. He also called on lawmakers to be frugal with the budget, including setting aside money to replenish the rainy day fund that provides a financial buffer when the state economy lags. Bryant has already cut the $6.4 billion budget twice since the current fiscal year started July 1.
Bryant recommended starting a Mississippi Faith-Based and Community Advisory Council to help community organizations.
He also asked lawmakers to eliminate at least 16 existing state boards that haven't met in more than a year, but he didn't name them.
Bryant noted that his wife, Deborah, could not attend the State of the State address because she was feeling under the weather.
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) — Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant is delivering his annual State of the State Address.
Bryant is delivering the address from the State Capitol at 5:30 p.m.
There are several items WJTV has identified that we believe he will discuss during his speech.
Below is a list of some of the topics:
Trump's inauguration
Mississippi trooper shortage
Education and school funding
Get the latest Jackson, Mississippi news:
Download the WJTV News App from the App Store
HINDS COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) - The Hinds County Board of Supervisors honored two centenarians with a resolution on Tuesday.
Thelma Moore was born on December 11, 1920. She just turned 100 years old. The mother of eight owned Morning Star Grocery Store in Edwards. One of her songs accepted the recognition on her behalf.
by Dominique O'Neill / Jan 19, 2021
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WHLT) - Officials with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) are warning patients to be on the lookout for scams related to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Christy Strickland, with the BBB, said patients should watch out for fake websites.


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From 106 wins to early defeat, Dodgers fall short again
by: BETH HARRIS, Associated Press
Members of the Los Angeles Dodgers react to the team's 7-3 loss to the Washington Nationals in Game 5 of a baseball National League Division Series on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It's back to the drawing board — again — for the Los Angeles Dodgers, whose World Series title drought now extends to 31 years.
This time, they didn't even make it that far.
The Dodgers' postseason fell apart in the NL Division Series with a 7-3 defeat to the Washington Nationals in Game 5, an inglorious ending for a team coming off back-to-back World Series appearances.
"This is not anything we were prepared for," said reliever Joe Kelly, who gave up the tiebreaking grand slam to former Dodger Howie Kendrick in the 10th inning Wednesday night.
Indeed, the Dodgers made no secret that winning a record seventh straight NL West title while piling up 106 victories — second-most in the majors — was just a prelude to fulfilling their ultimate goal of earning the franchise's first World Series title since 1988.
"We all knew we were better than what we showed out there," said Max Muncy, whose two-run homer in the first provided an early lead. "Sometimes it's not meant to be."
The Dodgers now have all winter to contemplate what went wrong and how to fix it.
There are offseason decisions looming, starting with president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. His contract expires at the end of this month.
Friedman has overseen the redevelopment of the farm system and it's paid off with a pipeline full of prospects that have succeeded once they've reached the big-league level.
Rookie infielders Matt Beaty and Gavin Lux and catcher Will Smith all made starts this postseason. In his second season, right-hander Walker Buehler continued to show he's a worthy successor to Clayton Kershaw as the team's ace.
"We will have a lot more chances at it," Buehler said of postseason success. "We are built to keep putting ourselves in this situation."
The pitching corps could see some changes.
Left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu, who led the majors in ERA, and 39-year-old lefty Rich Hill can become free agents. Closer Kenley Jansen, whose ERA was the worst of his career, can opt out of his contract.
Kershaw is heading into the second year of a $93 million, three-year deal he signed last November. The three-time Cy Young Award winner had a blown save in the decisive Game 5, giving up home runs on consecutive pitches that allowed Washington to tie the game.
"I'm not going to hang my head," Kershaw said. "I will be here next year and try to do the same thing and try to do it every single year."
Manager Dave Roberts signed a four-year contract extension in December. His in-game tactics came into question again in Game 5, similar to the way his pitching decisions were criticized in last year's World Series — even by President Donald Trump.
Roberts tossed analytics out the window when he allowed Kershaw to return for the eighth inning after getting the final out of the seventh.
"I felt really good about that," he said. "It's a guy that I believe in, and I trust and it didn't work out."
Anthony Rendon homered leading off and Juan Soto followed with a game-tying solo shot.
"My job is to put guys in the best position to have success and if it doesn't work out, there's always going to be second-guessing," Roberts said. "I got no problem bearing the brunt of that."


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You will need to use the Firefox browser to access these sample tests. You can download Firefox for free here. Once downloaded, open Firefox and use the links below to view the tests.
Watch this tutorial before you start to help you understand what you need to do.
Check your answers as you do the test. Once the test has finished you will not be able to check them.
There is no answer key for Writing Parts 2 and 3 of the Reading and Writing paper, but there are sample answers and examiner comments in the relevant pages of the B1 Preliminary for Schools handbook.
Practise your English with our free online activities. We have activities for reading, writing, listening, grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary.
This list gives teachers a guide to the vocabulary needed when preparing students for B1 Preliminary and B1 Preliminary for Schools.
A guide to the exam, with advice on preparing for the exam, tips for exam day and useful links.
Comments on this video, and also information on the format of the Speaking test and how it is assessed.
All the important information you need to know when taking the exam.
Children can have fun learning English with our free games and activities.
Find information and tips to help encourage your children to have fun learning English.
You can find a wide range of official Cambridge English support materials from Cambridge Assessment English and Cambridge University Press. Support materials include coursebooks and practice tests and include materials in both print and digital formats.


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Q: Font sizes for responsive design What is a sensible strategy for font sizing across different viewport sizes? I see three different possible options:

*

*Decrease font size as viewport size decreases.

*Identical font size for all viewport sizes.

*Increase font size as viewport size decreases.

What would be the best option, and why?

A: This is kind of an open ended question - because really, it's down to: what does your content require?
Do your pages have long paragraphs of text? Or are you looking at a home page with lots of headlines?
In general, when dealing with body text, I tend to approach things by setting a base font size for mobile/small screen sizes. Then, at greater viewport sizes, increase the font size. What viewport sizes /breakpoints? That depends again on the content. You want to keep an eye on the character count per line of text. When it gets too long, you will need to bump the font size up. This approach is not device specific but rather content specific.
Also, keep an eye out for the vw font size unit. Hopefully we'll be able to start using it soon.

A: I like to use em or rem for font sizes that are used as content text. Let the device decide how to render this text.
If its design-critical text (like headings or nav items) I use px values, but its probably fine to still use (r)ems for this.
If the text needs to scale to fit its container, I've had good luck with a plugin called fittextJS

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text: Q: Change loading order of blocks I have a block with a video in WordPress, and the images below it are out of order until the video finishes loading. How do I change the loading order so that the images finish loading before the video starts loading? Is there an alternative solution?