To complain about darkness or to light a candle?
Yesterday, after one of my two-hour lectures, everyone was complaining that two straight hours was too much, and we could could not concentrate for the second hour. They commented that the lecturer should give us a ten-minute break after the first hour, so that we could concentrate better during the next one hour.
But nobody seemed interested in going to the lecturer and suggesting that he gives us ten-minute breaks. Someone had to do it, so I decided I'll do it. I suggested it to the lecturer, who said he will consider the suggestion.
I'm reminded of the old saying that instead of complaining about the darkness, we need to light a candle. I don't know why many of us lack the initiative to do that. Have we slowly learnt to shortcharge ourselves? If so, then we need to unlearn it quickly.
Yesterday, after one of my two-hour lectures, everyone was complaining that two straight hours was too much, and we could could not concentrate for the second hour. They commented that the lecturer should give us a ten-minute break after the first hour, so that we could concentrate better during the next one hour.
But nobody seemed interested in going to the lecturer and suggesting that he gives us ten-minute breaks. Someone had to do it, so I decided I'll do it. I suggested it to the lecturer, who said he will consider the suggestion.
I'm reminded of the old saying that instead of complaining about the darkness, we need to light a candle. I don't know why many of us lack the initiative to do that. Have we slowly learnt to shortcharge ourselves? If so, then we need to unlearn it quickly.
posted by Vasanth Seshadri at 9:56 PM
1 Comments:
as I had said in my blog, if the university draws a rule that mentions the time when one can drink water, people here will accept it as just another regulation. one day in a tutorial class, the air conditioner was somehow not turned on. it was scorching inside. people were sweating, the tutor haplessly trying to finish the session as quickly as possible. everyone knew the source of the problem. the solution would have been interrupting the tutor and calling the campus maintenance for them to switch on the air conditioner. it is in these situations that the campus maintenance comes handy. and that is why they advertise their phone number. and this is what they get paid for. the tutor was wondering at the unusually high temperature inside the room and he even asked a few people sitting in the front rows about the reason for the same. i remember this ..one of the person's reply was "dunno". I cannot predict how honest the person's answer was, but I am sure there were plenty of more polite ways to answer the query. Ultimately I had to interrupt the tutor and inform him of the obvious reason. He quickly called the campus maintenance and the problem was resolved. I was very irritated that day. people behaved as if attempting to get over a problem would unconsciously lure them into committing a grave sin of public service. as if raising their voice to relieve themselves and another 30 people packed in a room which was aerated to a dangerously high/low level of carbon dioxide/oxygen would make them the most sought after villians of NTU. or as if attempting a heroic stunt like this would earn them a contract in hollywood and they would be faced with a terrible dilemma of choosing to live a life of compromise or doing justice/injustice to the glamour world.
after that day I do not expect to be given the directions if I am caught in a burning building. I have my own wits to rely on.
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