Hello
and Namaste!
Having been on the staff list of our NGO for a long time, I now present the first of a series of articles to be placed on a global, yet so very closed plane of communicative activity: Slumbering in a den of iniquity, literally where one is told not to look, should not look because that would amount to a sense of inappropriateness to the “cultured” self. The question of placement of these publications is important due to the kind of work we pursue: On a greater scale, we are motivated to make education accessible to those, who do not possess the possibility of acquiring it due to a variety of socio-economic factors, placing them at the further end of the receiving chain. This seemingly noble endeavour that everyone can nod their head to opens up a space of issues that can best be formulated in sets of questions. Each article will centre around one of these questions chosen, the first one being: “And after?”.
Having been on the staff list of our NGO for a long time, I now present the first of a series of articles to be placed on a global, yet so very closed plane of communicative activity: Slumbering in a den of iniquity, literally where one is told not to look, should not look because that would amount to a sense of inappropriateness to the “cultured” self. The question of placement of these publications is important due to the kind of work we pursue: On a greater scale, we are motivated to make education accessible to those, who do not possess the possibility of acquiring it due to a variety of socio-economic factors, placing them at the further end of the receiving chain. This seemingly noble endeavour that everyone can nod their head to opens up a space of issues that can best be formulated in sets of questions. Each article will centre around one of these questions chosen, the first one being: “And after?”.
By
today’s global standard, education has acquired a fundamental selection
process: At universities, we find the hard science/soft science split,
ascribing a certain scientificness that stems from the experimentations with
natural laws that then extendedly fall into place as such, to the natural
sciences, over the soft sciences’ largely basing themselves in the extensive
study of the human condition in the social and cultural sphere, the arts and
the humanities.[1]
From that selection on, if one is to take it seriously, each and everyone, in
an ideal, interconnected condition of human relations is promised the
fulfillment of their own path within or without academia. And so it is logical
to start early within the education, to supply the interests of the students
and have them not find their way but create their own path.
What needs to be taken note of is where those separated trajectories of socio-cultural gravitation place the individual’s anxiety of the next step: Where in the West, guilt is mostly experienced at the feeling of not enjoying the conditions of study and lifestyle enough, for some particle of enjoyment might not have been caught, for the rural student from India it is more likely to feel guilty at not excelling enough. The expat, no matter where from, essentially experiences the drive to pursuit for which she or he will have to justify themselves in front of where they came from. Expectations cannot be disregarded, neither at the individual, familial nor social level. Somehow, this path has to hold what the pursuit has promised for on the outset. The sole difference between the Western and the Indian expat in this global society, is that the issues both are likely to face, are, to each other, as already described in the title, locked in dens of iniquity. The different lines of “enjoyment” of the move abroad substantially presuppose the sets of issues one is to face: inertia at the sight of a corridor with too many open doors vs. heaviness due to a seemingly insurmountable split between individual capacity and the amalgamation of expectations to excel.
At this
point it is important to give advice of caution as much as trust in the
capacity to be able to manage, on the condition of an honest pursuit of one’s
own Karma. Simple assertions of that “it will be fine” prove too little,
whereas stressing urges to excel prove too heavily simplistic. It is important
to be aware of one’s own predicament, no matter whether it is in the corridor
of open doors or at the face of a mission to be fulfilled. Our task as Motivate
India is not only to facilitate possibilities but point towards a direction our
students will start to give on their own upon creating their path with the use
of our facilities at the start. For us it will be important to give guidance
towards creating a multilateral understanding for the student to take up the
greatest amount of influence he or she can take in understanding and
communicating their path to peers, family and themselves. Only then will the
question of “And after?”, find an appropriate answer that can lie within the
Karma, the work each of our students puts into their own path, rather than in
predications of expectations or inertia.
Finally,
this recreates our mission as Motivate India Rural, for the opening of the local
level of education, for us, must entail the possibility of opening the world up
to our students. Exactly in this next move lies the difficulty of what I call
the inappropriateness of issues of the Western to the Indian student and vice
versa. Trajectories of Indian expats to work for the trajectory of migration
westward essentially displace the student not only without but within. Besides
the fact that some of our students will gain the intention to take on the world
for what it has to offer to them, this step needs substantial support of
transcultural understanding from our side. What is meant by this is the
understanding of issues that would seem inappropriate to either centre of
social gravity set up by the different socio-cultural (and socio-economic)
backgrounds faced when the West and rural India become within reach,
connectible and approachable.
So as
concerns the question of “And after?”, we want to instill patience as much as
calmness, eagerness to work as much as the readiness to let go and understand.
Every den of iniquity that will be encountered underway deserves fearlessness
and trust to explore, analyse and understand. In the honest pursuit of one’s
own Karma, the root we at Motivate India believe in, we will do our best to
facilitate that pursuit with the knowledge necessary to create an own. The
globalised nature of our world is set to break through to rural India through
our kind of work. It would be irresponsible to not consider the impact this
will naturally have on students and their families, as we try to supply and
encourage braveness and curiosity over heaviness and fear.
Written by:
Nikolai Markov
Content writer, Public Relation Officer in Europe
Bachelors , University of Amsterdam
bonsoir, l'article évoque le karma. il semble que vous ayez décidé de l'implémenter instantanément. Meilleurs vœux!
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