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Studying with knowledgeable colleagues is good for growth.
We can then see the colleagues are teaching and coaching one another.
You learn as much when you are taught by peers as by the faculty.
Teaching is a surprisingly powerful method of learning.
American visitors at KUTS
The KUT Seminary Campus at Kannammoola, Trivandrum excels in nature's splendour. It is lush green with century old trees lining the path. There are ancient buildings here that date back to the early 20th century.
The surprise is, the institution is located at one of the busiest areas in the City.
The authorities here are adamant they would not do anything that mar the blessing they have been bestowed upon by nature.
Many of the visitors to Trivandrum step into the campus to savour the pristine beauty on offer.
Recently a group of tourists from USA had visited the place. They walked around mesmerised. The Library astounded them. According to them the buildings displayed a seamless merger of the ancient and the modern.
The Seminary had organised few cultural events by its students to showcase the heritage of Kerala and India. It was a beautiful presentation.
In honour of the visitors from abroad the Seminary had hosted lunch before they left. To keep them company, the entire staff contingent of the KUT Seminary had joined in.
Though there was free interaction as everyone waited to partake in the lunch, five of us formed a separate group to have our lunch away from the visitors. Perhaps inhibition might have induced us to do that. Perhaps the fear of English of the phenomenal malayali must have made us form that unitary group. However there was one vacant seat in the middle at that six seater table. We knew from our experience, another of our clan would soon take that seat.
To our surprise one of the vistors, a lady had chosen to take that seat disregarding that it was a male only preserve. The presence of an alien made the rest remain silent and munch the food with relish and of course without looking up. Adding fuel to the intrusion, she began engaging all of us in a conversation that ranged between a variety of topics. The lady must have come across people like us before. She had opened up smartly.
Pushed to an inextricable corner, we had no other option but join her and respond to her queries. Civility demanded it. The table became lively.
The beauty was she had made us shed our inhibitions and converse freely in the only language she knew, English - though the usual malayali normal is that they invariably shy off from speaking the universal language.
Invigorated by the conversation we parted after enjoying the sumptuous food on our plates.
It was a great time for all of us.
Lunch over, the group left for their ensuing destination, leaving behind precious memories of some wonderful moments in our lives
LEARNING PROCESS
When you have a task to tackle
When you find the task on hand is beyond you
When you are certain failure looms ahead
Go after it
Try and find ways
To come up with game plans
To turn the table
That'll be the stuff
A lot of people don't see
The work you put in
Away from the shiny lights
It'll always be nice
When you get the rewards
From your hard toil
OPERATIONS AT THE PHARMACY NEED A RELOOK. IT IS STATIC. EMPLOY DYNAMISM
We are senior citizens. We are pensioners.
When we become unwell, like everyone else we are forced to proceed to a Hospital, consult a doctor and subject ourselves to the treatment the good doctor suggests. The treatment cures us and we go on with our life.
On Saturday, 10th Jan 26 I was suffering from fever, severe head ache, and a running nose that gave me no let up. I just couldn’t put up with it anymore. My mind told me I must consult a doctor at once. Finding me unwell, Lila said she’d accompany me. I was in no position to drive our vehicle. She had stopped driving after she had retired from her job.
We took the Uber autoriksha route. It took some time. At the Hospital, the receptionist provided us with token no.32. It was 12 noon. The Doctor had a number of patients waiting for consultation. We could meet the doctor at 1.15 pm. She was very considerate. Examination over, she prescribed the medicines and told me to consult her again if I had any further discomfort.
Medicines are supplied at the Pharmacy. Prescriptions from all the consultants end up at the pharmacy. The Jubilee Memorial Hospital, thronging with patients was having a very busy day. At the Pharmacy you have to have another token. There will be a heavy backlog. You wait there patiently for another 30 to 45 minutes for your number to be called. At the counter you are asked to pay up through cash, g pay or card. Then you have to wait for another 5 to 10 minutes for collecting your medicine.
We went through that process and reached home at round 3 pm. The medicine did act. The incessant flow from the nose had stopped. But by Monday violent bouts of cough started and I had no respite. I went on till Tuesday, the 13th hoping the cough would go away. No way. It was worsening. We knew another visit to the hospital was essential.
We reached the hospital at 12 noon. This time we were lucky. We could meet the doctor fast. She wrote the prescription after careful evaluation. But we were unlucky at the Pharmacy. We were behind 40 patients. It took almost 40 minutes for our turn. Lila went to the counter at the Pharmacy. No invoice was handed over. The young girl took her card and swiped it. Money was transferred. No counterfoil was given either.
Another 10 minutes, the medicines were delivered. Instead of placing the medicines in the cover, the young lady had delivered the medicines and the cover separately. Lila had a difficult time to put them all into the cover as she was holding her shoulder bag with one hand. Fortunately a young man, who observed her predicament, did the good Samaritan act. He took the cover from Lila and placed all the medicines and the prescription in the cover.
We didn’t bother to verify anything at all. We somehow had wanted to reach home fast and take some rest.
At 6.30 pm a young lady from the hospital called me on my phone. She said against an invoice of Rs.609.10 I had paid Rs.6.09 only. She wanted me to G Pay the unpaid balance. I asked how it could be, for the amount was keyed in by the staff at the Pharmacy and we had no bill with us at that point. When I asked for it she forwarded the copy of the payment voucher. I said by the time the medicine was delivered at the Pharmacy the patient and the bystander would never be in their normal frame of mind after such a long wait. They would be thinking only of reaching their home somehow without any further delay. I added they had to streamline the operations at the Pharmacy. I told her no one wants to visit a hospital as a patient. They do that out of sheer necessity. And they should not expect that the patients or the people with them would be coherent.
I told her I would send the amount that was short and did as I had agreed to.
I have no complaints about anyone at the hospital over our discomfiture
But as I said the operations at the Pharmacy of the Hospital need a critical review or audit by the people who are managing it.
You are strengthened by the daily experience of Jesus' power and goodness.
Your faith grows in his presence.
You are sustained by Jesus' presence, power and teaching in your life.
The drawback of a compass is that it only gives you direction -- not directions.
It can help you back away from the wrong path and point you toward a better one.
But to navigate that path effectively, you need a guide.
When we are unsure, we seek directions from an expert guide.
It's the familiar mantra:
If you want to be great, learn from the best.
But the principle has its own limitations.
Students learned less from experts. For the best experts were the worst guides. It is known as the curse of knowledge -- the more you know, the harder it is for you to understand what it's like not to know.
It is explained by cognitive scientist SianBeilock
"As you get better and better at what you do, your ability to communicate your understanding or to help others learn that skill often gets worse and worse."
Progress rarely occurs in a straight line. Not linear, it unfolds in loops.
A rut is not a sign you have tanked. A plateau is not a cue you've peaked. They are signals it's time to turn around and locate a new route. It might be unfamiliar, winding and bumpy. But you make progress.
One of the most frustrating parts of honing a skill is getting stuck. You won't improve. You stagnate. It marks the end of growth, You decline. You reach the end of your mental or physical capabilities.
However, you gain momentum when you navigate your way down a different path.
Progress dawns
