Window
Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 31.1.21
Learning and Knowledge
Learning is the process of
acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes,
and preferences. Learning can be of different types. It could be physical
skills (psychomotor learning). It could be learning new emotional responses,
attitudes and values or affective learning. Or, it could be acquiring
intellectual skills or cognitive learning.
The ability to learn is possessed
by humans, animals, and thanks to artificial intelligence- some machines. There
is also evidence for some kind of learning in certain plants. However, there
are differences in how a human being learns or engages with learning and an
animal or bird learns.
Learning effects relatively permanent change in human capabilities that is
not a result of growth process. These capabilities are related to specific
learning outcomes. The capacity of learn widely varies- depending on several
factors including cognitive ability, application, perseverance- even genetic
lineage.
American author
Brian Herbert says, the capacity to learn is a gift, the ability to learn is a
skill, the willingness to learn is a choice. One must choose to learn. One who
chooses to learn- must willingly put in the effort required to learn. Capacity to learn is a gift. Some have it
others do not. Those who have it can learn quickly and with ease. Those who do
not have that gift, have to put in an extra effort.
Learning has to be
joyful. One should get pleasure out of it- even if it is physically painful and
mentally exhausting. French philosopher Simone Weil who influenced Camus to a
large extent said, “The joy of learning is as indispensable in study as
breathing is in running.” Remember how
we learnt cycling. We fell down, bruised ourselves. But as we pedal and the cycle moves- a surge
of pleasure flowed through us. Despite the pain and bloodied knee we continued…
and thus learnt how to ride a bicycle.
One good thing about
learning, as Leonanrdo Va Vinci (1452-1519) said, “it never exhausts the mind.” In fact the
more you learn, your mind gets more reenergized. George Courus author of
Innovator’s Mindset writes: “Learning is creation, not consumption. Knowledge
is not something a learner absorbs, but something a learner creates.”
Learning leads to
knowledge. But learning is not knowledge.
Learning is like
plowing the field, tending the plants, watering them. Knowledge is the fruit of
all the efforts. How does learning turns into knowledge? Through reflection.
Thinking. Confucious said “learning without reflection is a waste. Reflection
without learning is dangerous.”
And what is the ultimate
goal of knowledge? There is a beautiful Sanskrit sloka in our ancient text: Sa vidya ya bimuktaye. Knowledge is that
which liberates. It liberates us from ignorance and also
from the arrogance of ‘I know all’.
Date palm jaggery
Date palm jaggery (Nolen Gur in Bengali and Khajuri Guda in Odia) is a winter
delicacy in Bengal and parts of Odisha. Made from the sap of date palm on slow
heat- this golden colour jaggery with a unique smell is relished by millions.
It could be eaten raw or in other sweats or in other preparations like payes (with rice and milk).
In Bengal, members
of Shiuli community traditionally make this jaggery. But their number is
dwindling even as the demand for date palm jaggery is increasing. In fact it is
a dying profession in West Bengal- for basically three reasons. First, the
numbers of date palms have decreased over years. Urbanisation is taking its
toll. Decrease in date palm trees mean decrease in the collection of sap and
decrease in the volume of jaggery production. This leads to the second reason:
production of date palm jaggery is no longer remunerative for them. Third and
probably the most important reason- the Shiuli community members say, they are
witnessing a drastic change in quality and quantity of date palm juice in
recent years.
Effect of climate
change? Could be.
I rue the day, when
I’ll not get to eat my favourite Nolen
Guder Sandesh.
Elephant Apple
We have a large Elephant
Apple tree in the campus of the Institution I live in. Other common names of
the plant are Oou (Odia), Chalta (Bengali), Chulta (Hindi), Paanch Phal or Ram Phal
(Nepali), etc. I can understand why it is called ‘Oou’ in Odia. The fruit looks
exactly like the alphabet ‘O’ in Odia. But I could not figure out why it is
called ‘elephant apple’. I googled and learnt that the English name,
came from the fact that in its native range, it is quite popular fruit among
local wild elephants.
Binomially known as Dillenia indica, elephant apple is an
evergreen large sized shrub that belongs to the Dilleniaceae family. The plant
is native to southeastern Asia, from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka east to
southwestern China (Yunnan) and Vietnam, and south through Thailand to Malaysia
and Indonesia. The ripe fruit is usually eaten as a sour sweet preparation or
as pickle.
The advantage of being a news anchor
There are several advantages of being
a news anchor. Here are some:
1. Everyone thinks you are a
journalist
2. Everyone thinks what you do is
journalism
3. The greater your theatrics, the
more popular you get
4. You can demand for war, without
having to fight it
5. You can send young men and women
to death in a war, without having to die
6. You can orchestrate a war, without
having to step out of the studio
7. If you do step out of the studio,
you can hope for an award, just for stepping out
8. If you don't step out, you can
hope for an award, for not stepping out
9. You know everything, but your
panelists know only as much as you will allow them to.
10. You are the face of the channel,
but the channel is never your face.
11. You get paid to scream, and you
pay others to hear you scream.
12. You critique everyone, but any
critique of you becomes a challenge to journalism.
13. You are the highest paid, but the
work is done by the lowest paid.
14. You can question intelligence
failure, without having any.
(Courtesy: Social Media)
***
Journalist turned media
academician Mrinal Chatterjee lives in Dhenkanal, Odisha. Odia translation of
an anthology of essays titled Mahatma Gandhi: Journalist and Editor, originally
published in English was released on 29 January 2021.
mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com
