Adios 2021, Gracias por todo! (Goodbye 2021, Thanks for everything!)

The year 2021 is coming to an end. It might have been one of the gloomiest years in the history of the world. There indeed have been more tragic years in the past. But 2021 was unique. The spread of Covid 19 affected almost all parts of the world. The people were affected irrespective of their nationality, age, gender, race, caste, creed, financial or social status and health conditions. Our modern civilization supported by advanced medical and technological progress, invented and manufactured and distributed vaccines with great speed. Our descendants will never have to put 2021 on their map of human history's worst years like the 1350s (Black Death), 1918-19 (Great War and Spanish Flu) and 1943 (WW II and Holocaust).

I am sure that 2021 adversely affected each one of my dear readers in various ways. While many had lost their dear ones, many others went through anxieties and inconveniences, the least of which could be their restriction on mobility. With close relatives away, particularly the children studying or working in distant places, the anxieties they underwent have been tremendous. The year affected our routines in many ways. 

I don't intend to share the darker sides of the times, of which I had my fair share. I just wanted to share a couple of good things I could do, thanks entirely to my daughter Lavanya Varma. She is pursuing her PhD in Architecture in the US and has been a source of great strength to me. Backed by her fiercely independent views on people, history, colonialism, sociological systems, religion, race, caste and human behaviour, I don’t hesitate to admit, she could refine my own outlook towards many human conflicts by opening my eyes to a world that is not dictated by any strings but only by love, compassion and better understanding. 

Lavanya

So, when she wanted me to do an online course of my liking from one of the renowned US Universities, I could not refuse. I searched and zeroed in on a Course, “Tangible Things - Discovering History through Artworks, Artifacts, Scientific Specimens, and the Stuff around You" from Harvard University. It is a free 10 weeks online course that helps us to “gain an understanding of history, museum studies, and curation by looking at, organizing, and interpreting art, artefacts, scientific curiosities, and the stuff of everyday life”.

I have since completed this course with excellent grades and earned a certificate. My final thesis, the work of which is almost done, is yet to be submitted. The main advantage of doing this course was that this was one course in my life that I did with great interest and enthusiasm. It also opened my eyes to various aspects of human history with particular references to the lives of the American Native Indians that draw a parallel to the affairs of some of the downtrodden sections of our own communities. It helped me to get acquainted with the history of some great scientific and farsighted minds. It introduced me to some institutions that have reshaped human history. Above all, it made me better understand the uniqueness of the American way of higher education. After doing the course, I felt that I had emotionally grown by another five years. Thanks to Lavanya, I did the course and I earnestly recommend my readers to do one Course of their own liking from one of the Universities. It will surely be of great benefit of which I do not doubt.  

Another piece of advice I followed from my daughter was about learning a new language. She recommended “Duolingo”, an App that really helps to learn a language of your choice from a large selection, free of charge. 

I selected Spanish, which belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is a global language with about 500 million native speakers, chiefly in the Americas and Spain. It is the fourth-most spoken language overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi. I have always been fascinated with writers in Spanish like Miguel de Cervantes, Pablo Neruda, Federico Garcia Lorca, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian Nobel laureate and my present favourite. (If you have not already read him, please read his masterly work “The feast of the goat”, about the assassination of Trujillo, Dictator of the Dominican Republic and its aftermath.) 

My close friendship with Juan Del Amo, an Indophile from Madrid with a profound interest in history, literature and music (both western and oriental), also prompted me to learn Spanish. On our first meeting in Madrid in 2005, he had astounded me with a question about Manimekhalai, the immortal 6th-century Tamil Buddhist epic.

I have since done some basic lessons in Spanish. My 2021 report shows that I belong to the top 1 per cent of the learners and have learned 830 new words. It says I had about 7000 minutes of learning during the year. My wife had overtaken me by leaps and bounds with her learning over 1500 new words! As you know, ladies indeed have a way with words!

Thanks to Lavanya and Mithun -his student days are over with his entering a career in Engineering during 2021- the year has been worth it! I am again reminded of the immortal lines of William Wordsworth that “The Child is the father of the Man”!

To conclude, I consider, both the initiatives were quite satisfying at my age. I recommend both my young and old friends to give these courses a try for great personal satisfaction and happiness during the New Year.

I wish all of you a great 2022 ahead fulfilling all your dreams!

Palakkad,

29th December 2021