Memories, memories, getting VHS cassettes into the Digital DVD format - Ethiopian Journey - Blog Post No - 79.

"Live in the present, Live in the present', I keep telling myself and my students. But the writing bug in me takes me back into the history and quite frequently. I started writing about my stay in Ethiopia and found that my memory and copiously maintained notes and elaborate letters written by my wife Padma, helped a lot in penning down my thoughts. The blogs were shaping out very well but there was a yearning in the heart. I was not able to provide videos and snaps that captured the true essence of the wonderful time that we had in Bahirdar, Ethiopia. We have snaps but they are too personal and are not very representative of the times that we have spent. The snaps and the videos that are available on google and on Instagram are mostly, circa 2018 and are not of 2006. For example, all the snaps available on google depicting the streets of Bahirdar have the inevitable and omnipresent Bajaj autos which were not existent in 2002-2006. The videos too sport very modern buildings and frankly they do not have the feel and the touch of 2002-2006. I had a wonderful collection of VHS cassettes that were shot on my handy-cam which was purchased in 2000. The format was VHS and I had shot extensive videos in Bahirdar so much so that I was known as Anil the guy with video camera. We returned from Ethiopia in 2006 and before we knew it was 12 years since we returned. And three football world Cups have been played out. How the time flies! In the recent summer holidays, I took my old VHS cassettes to a VHS to DVD converter centre. The guy sneered at me “Saab, these are Jurassic age videos. They can’t be converted into digital DVD format”. He was having fun at my expense! I was truly gutted. Seeing my crestfallen face, the guy quickly added “Get the camcorder on which these VHS cassettes were recorded. I will give it a try”. My hopes were rekindled. I rushed back home and got the Camcorder along with the converter that allows the small cassette to be played just like the larger regular VHS Cassette in any normal VCR or a VCP. By the evening I got the news that I was fearing. The cassettes were done and dusted. They had too much fungus and were not playable. It was as if the roof had fallen through. It was a bit of history that was ruthlessly wiped off the face of earth. I was flabbergasted. But the guy held out a ray of hope. He would take it to the expert in Hyderabad who could try to do the MAGIC!!!! The DVD converter guy called me today. He was as excited as excited can be, “Sir” he could not hide his excitement, “We did it Sir!!! Your old VHS cassettes have been converted. We could save your valuable memories”. I went down to his office and thanked him profusely. “It is nothing Sir” the guy was embarrassed. “Your passion and your disappointment when I told that your VHS cassettes were rotten moved me to my core. I took it as a challenge to get them converted to the digital format”. He just charged Rs 100/- more, as conversion fee for each VHS cassette. I have gone through the DVDs and the results are amazing. It is like revisiting and travelling back in time. The DVDs have magically transported me back to 2002. Will start sharing parts of the digital videos very soon.

Mid term and Continuous Internal Evaluation - Ethiopian Journey - Blog Post no - 78

For the midterm and final term examinations, I designed multiple choice questions that had more options than the standardized four.  Typically, most multiple choice questions have options A, B, C, D. I had questions where option E was also available which said all the options given in A, B, C, D are correct, even Option F where none of the options given in A, B, C, D are correct.

It takes lots of courage, guts and knowledge to choose “none of the above options are correct”. By giving 6 options instead of 4, the probability of guessing can be reduced from 1 in 4 to 1 in 6. Complexity can be increased by giving negative marks for wrong answers. All in all, students found testing be tough and took examinations and Continuous Internal Evaluation (CIE) seriously.

Education was a serous affair in Ethiopia and it was a privilege for the select few. I am told that till the late 90s, it was privy to a select few and the students took the process to the heart. I listened with astonishment and with a wide open mouth when one of my Ethiopian colleague explained how it was possible to conduct an examination and leave the students unattended – the ethical and moral bound students would not even attempt to cheat.

But alas by the time we went in 2002, things had changed, and drastically!  Education had become more mainstream and like all main steam activities lot of malaises has crept into the system including the propensity to cheat! So invigilation was no different from India, we needed to have all the senses with us and be vigilant.

Most examinations would be held in PEDA auditorium and it was quite common to see multiple examinations being held at the same time. Students could come and get portable chair cum tables and the examination would start. There was absolutely no help or assistance from the examination department.

Once the mid term papers were corrected they were up for scrutiny for the students. We used to post the timings and it was quite common to see many students wait in front of our office patiently to check their performance. They looked exactly like Indians waiting for their ration outside the PDS shops in India or like voters waiting to cast their votes.

The students would silently float in take their papers and look at them. Their eyes would open wide in astonishment and in surprise. Some were terrific actors - they would not believe what they have just seen, rubbing their eyes, they would check if it was their own answer script! “I simply can’t believe this”. 

Most would heave a deep sigh, look accusingly at me and leave in a huff. Some would look up and give me a mute silent appeal “Mister, why don’t you reconsider?” Early in my career, I had developed a heart of stone. I had no compassion or soft feeling.

The annoying part was that the students would rapidly talk to each other in Amharic and even throw somewhat accusing glances at us. We Indians quickly understood that we were being spoken about and that too critically! They were talking, about us!

We Indian teachers got our own back at the students. Mansoor, Me, Dr. Srinivas Inguva and Dr. T. N. Murthy conversed very freely with each other but in chaste telugu and taking care that no English words were used. This stumped the Amharic speaking Ethiopians. For example, we would say “mana Vidhyardhulu tama pariksha phalithalu telusukodaniki vacccharu (our students have come to know their examination result” and smile at each other.

This might not be a very wise strategy in 2018. India and Ethiopia enjoy very good relations and many Ethiopian teachers do their Post-Graduation and PhD in India. It is quite common even to see many Ethiopian under graduate students in India and a sizable number of them study in Hyderabad and in Visakhapatnam. They might understand rudimentary Telugu and might get a gist of what is being spoken. Telugu speakers in Ethiopia, beware!

One of the students who was checking his mid-term answer script was despondent. Hoping to cheer him up, I said, “Don’t worry, it is all right. I am sure you would do well, the next time”. And I had said it in Amharic, the little Amharic that I knew.  The glassy look in the student remained.  He was staring at me as if I was carved out of stone. Somehow this rattled me. Like they say, ‘this guy got my goat’!  I spoke loudly and in English, “Why are you not getting it! Why don’t you respond?”. And added sarcastically, “Don’t you understand Amharic?”

The student snapped back, “How can I? I am not an Ethiopian! I am a Somali student and I am a foreign exchange student studying in Bahirdar University”. I was too stunned to respond. Once the mid-term results were given there would be sullen faces in the class for a session or two but students being students cheered up and later on it was business as usual.

Struggling with writing – Mid term and CIE – Ethiopian Journey – Post no 77

It was a long Sabbatical from writing. Writing is like driving, the more you drive the better you become. Similarly, the more you write, the better writer you become. I had last written on 11^th June 2018.

On 1^st June 2018, I had written a blog item “Battling brothers – Ethiopia and Eritrea – Blog Item No-72”. It was an article written from the heart and it is very encouraging to note that since that blog item has been published, things have changed. The only constant in this world is change!!!.

It is the statesmanship of Ethiopian Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed Ali and Eritrean President, Isaias Afwerki which brokered peace between the two countries of horn of Africa which was welcomed by the citizens of both the countries.  We all wish, pray and hope that the fragile peace is tenable. It was very heartening to note that telecom services were thrown open for the citizens between the two countries. People from both countries called random phone/mobile numbers and talked with total strangers.

My brother-in-law and his family’s visit from USA, the resultant excitement in the house and the hordes of visitors was the first excuse for not writing, the other two excuses were the admission process and the starting of the new academic year at Siva Sivani Institute of Management and the last excuse was Sahithi’s (my daughter) travails and struggles to get a medical seat and the resultant peering at the internet for long hours. In spite of what readers think, writing is a struggle.

The easiest form of excitement, entertainment and information is to watch what comes on the Television screen (the idiot box), Internet or on the mobile phone. And the easiest way to show that we have the best source of knowledge and know how is to forward somebody else’s message, post or video. Where is the creativity?  The next best option is to read and the least easy or the most difficult is to write.

To stop writing is easy and then inherent laziness sets in fast and presto!! before we realize writer’s block is on. Writer’s block is followed by insecurities and self-doubt and it is easy to quit. But I remembered the idiom, “when things get tough the tough get going”.

So here I am girding the mental loins and penning my thoughts as usual. Of course the many phones calls, SMSes, E-Mails, Face Book and Whats App messages asking me to write again helped, enormously. Some were outright indignant and some others furious.  

“Where is my daily fix. It had become a pleasant routine. You better write again,” one threatened. I take all the feedback with utmost humility and promise to put my nose to the grindstone and become disciplined once again!  

It was February 2003 and the midterm fever was on. Teaching-learning process at Bahirdar was totally planned and executed by the teachers. The teacher had complete freedom. When to have the mid-term exam and what is the pattern of the examination is left to the teachers. I was always quite fond of testing the students’ aptitude, knowledge and application of the theory using the objective type questions. Yes, we used short and long essays too.

Objective type examinations are difficult to prepare but easy to administer and easy to evaluate. The Country had just passable English comprehension skills. Objective type examination takes the proficiency of English of students from city background and glib or flowery expression of vague thoughts in the form of lengthy answers out of the equation.

I was fond of saying “cut the chase, come to the point, Don’t be bombastic or verbose, be precise and to the point, don’t beat around the bush, beat the BUSH, don’t see only the trees and miss the forest” and the one that my students never forget “Remember the Iceberg principle, what is visible is not as important as what is not visible”.

For the uninitiated The Iceberg principle describes a situation where a large percentage of the problem is unreported or hidden from view. Only the tip of the ice berg is visible.  Most of readers including my students think that what is visible is important and ignore the invisible omnipresent. Take the case of the Titanic. Titanic’s captain saw the floating ice berg and thought it was just a small piece of floating ice and rammed his gigantic ship into it. The result, the sinking of the impregnable and considered to be safe, Titanic.