Here are two delighful talks on innovation from the bottom up. Arvind Gupta uses the most common of material-- tyre tube, straws, matchsticks -- to teach basic science at a fraction of the cost of a school education. It reminded me of my childhood when some of the gadgets he conjures up were our only playthings and invention came naturally as a way of alleviating boredom. Anil Gupta, a professor of management at IIM Ahmedabad created a honeybee network to stimulate and propagate the innovations from the rural areas of India. Both deserve a look.
I wonder if these efforts are adequately covered by our cricket obsessed press and whether it is time to create programs that do promote innovation and a culture of science rather than a search for fake swamis. A good begining would be a popular science magazine and a regular program on many chanels focusing on innovation at the grass roots. Is Mukesh Ambani listening?
Great!
ReplyDeleteI have heard a grandma story of how Krishna (the Lord!) was explaining to Draupathy , while explaining to her about the intricacies of warfare and army formations , the various 'vyuhas'-or formations with the help of sticks pebbles. and Abhimanyu was listening from thewomb of Draupathy. the Lord stoppedwhen he found Draupathy had fallen asleep etc.(I have never questioned at the time or sice ) about the time span warp in that story! But mentioning the incident to show that great teachers taught with the most simple day to day objects.
In Karnataka, during teachers' day, an elementary school teacher was awarded during "Teacher's Day" for Maths. I read in the citation that he was known as "matchstick Sir" because he taught maths with the help of matchsticks!
Your ablog put me immediately in mind of Prof Sukumaran, who used to act out how AC works!
Regards