Categories
Technical

The MBP Reborn

About two weeks ago my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013) decided to call it quits. I was writing an email. The display went blank. I connected an external monitor; nothing. I tried to cold reboot; nothing. Nothing I did could reboot it.

Categories
Moments Unschooling

Carpentry season

Advay, my 8 year old, has developed a liking for carpentry off late. His first tryst with carpentry was two years ago when he was frequently visiting Aarohi. Since then he would take up carpentry projects every once a while. One of my close friends, Murali Krishna, has recently renovated his house and dedicated half […]

Categories
Moments Philosophy

What is the meaning of meaning?

Advay (my 8 year old) asks me: “Appa, what is the meaning of meaning?” Having read a lot of philosophy, this question appealed to the philosopher in me. I paused for a while, pondered over the question and tried to grasp the depth of such a question. After spending a while in deep thought I […]

Categories
Existentialism Philosophy

No freedom, only responsibility

The words freedom and responsibility mean different things to different people. When someone says “Sam is free to do xyz“, it could either mean “Sam can choose to do xyz, if he ‘wants’” OR “Sam is not ‘banned’ from doing xyz, so he can potentially do it” OR “Sam can try out xyz ‘for size’ […]

Categories
Unschooling

Pulling ideas and experiences together to make something new

This is a story of how Advay (my 7 year old) pulled together random experiences from scrubbing coconut shells, to dismantling an old washing machine, to discovering a motor to making an electric coconut scrubber.

Categories
Unschooling

Advay learns to flute

Our family has a lot of music enthusiasts. My sister-in-law (my older brother’s wife) is a trained vocal artist. Their oldest son (Avyay) has taken training in Mrudanga and Advay has sat around him during his practice sessions several times. My cousin brother, Sujith, plays the Guitar. Another one of my cousins, Suhas, plays drums.

Categories
Uncategorized

What is “correct spelling”?

Advay (my 7 year old) has developed a fascination for the written form this year. It started with the need to read his favourite story books and then with the need to capture his expression in words. He was doing a good job expressing his ideas & thoughts through drawings. For instance: after he came […]

Categories
Uncategorized

Advay’s visit to “Open Day at IISc”

Nandini recently found out about “Open Day at IISc”. She was excited to go with Advay (my 7 year old) for that event. On Saturday they both got on the Metro and reached the IISc campus. Through the journey, Nandini explained to Advay what Open Day was and the opportunity that would be available to […]

Categories
Existentialism Philosophy

Anxiety about unlimited freedom

Tight rope walking is scary because there are no rails to hold on to while walking on the tight rope. So, it causes an obvious anxiety about walking on the rope. Anxiety stems from the fact that, without support, one might fall off to the left OR to the right OR forward OR backward OR […]

Categories
Moments Philosophy

Insight

Exploring something new feels like taking two steps forward only to take one step back and not necessarily in the same direction.