Blissful beginnings,
Blossom of Bilaskhani --
Pickle of a Raag!
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
On learning from odds and ends
As a ten year old lad set free from the shackles of school in the summer, I would go adventuring all by myself. I loved to explore the (then verdant) countryside - hillocks on the side of a small stream, dense with trees and shrubbery. I would spend time finding secret places to hide out in (often on top of trees), reading books, eating guavas, wild gooseberries and spiced raw mangoes. If that seems like something Enid Blyton's Famous Five would do, it's because they inspired it. I grew up in India in the early 90's, reading The Hardy Boys, The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, Adventures of Tintin, etc. I was impressed by how these characters managed to get out of tight spots with cleverness assisted by cool tools. I asked Dad for a pocket knife and was promptly told to wait a few years.
I took it upon myself to construct a cutting-edge (no pun intended) toolkit that'll get me out of any situation imaginable. My first order of business was to find a knife or a blade, but one that would not be promptly confiscated. There was a fascinating drawer in our house that stored odds and ends that were prudently put away in case they became useful. For me, it was a treasure trove. I found an old nail file and sharpened one edge to create my blade. A magnet from a busted loud speaker, a spool of copper wire, rubber-bands, a magnifying lens, an old screwdriver head, a pair of tweezers and an old radio's telescopic antenna were soon added to the kit. My second order of business was to create a carrying case to house my treasures. I stitched one from an old leather wallet so that they all fit snugly in it. I converted the coin compartment into a 'over-the-belt' holder. It was the size of an iPod Nano when ready, and my most prized possession for several years.
I was finally ready for any situation, emergency or not, with my ever present toolkit. I retrieved keys from behind a cupboard using the magnet attached to the (fully extended) radio antenna with a rubber-band. When my buddy transformed his shorts into a skirt by ripping the pocket, I was able to stitch it back together temporarily with the copper wire and tweezers. The blade got the most action - sharpening pencils, slicing fruit, cutting lose strands of wool from a sweater, cutting paper for arts class, tightening screws of my eye glasses and using the file to clean eraser surfaces.
Upon reflection, I realized that this was not just idle emulation of fictitious book characters. I actually learned a lot of essential problem solving skills along the way, that help me every day -
- Getting around barriers to solve problems.
- Breaking up a problem (what should my toolkit contain?) into smaller pieces and tackling them independently.
- Practical skills like sharpening a blade, stitching, fine motor skills.
- Matching existing solutions to a given problem.
- Creating new solutions from existing solutions by combining them in possibly unconventional ways.
I now have a 'odds-and-ends' drawer of my very own and I encourage you to have one too. You never know when an odd ends up sparking creativity.
I took it upon myself to construct a cutting-edge (no pun intended) toolkit that'll get me out of any situation imaginable. My first order of business was to find a knife or a blade, but one that would not be promptly confiscated. There was a fascinating drawer in our house that stored odds and ends that were prudently put away in case they became useful. For me, it was a treasure trove. I found an old nail file and sharpened one edge to create my blade. A magnet from a busted loud speaker, a spool of copper wire, rubber-bands, a magnifying lens, an old screwdriver head, a pair of tweezers and an old radio's telescopic antenna were soon added to the kit. My second order of business was to create a carrying case to house my treasures. I stitched one from an old leather wallet so that they all fit snugly in it. I converted the coin compartment into a 'over-the-belt' holder. It was the size of an iPod Nano when ready, and my most prized possession for several years.
I was finally ready for any situation, emergency or not, with my ever present toolkit. I retrieved keys from behind a cupboard using the magnet attached to the (fully extended) radio antenna with a rubber-band. When my buddy transformed his shorts into a skirt by ripping the pocket, I was able to stitch it back together temporarily with the copper wire and tweezers. The blade got the most action - sharpening pencils, slicing fruit, cutting lose strands of wool from a sweater, cutting paper for arts class, tightening screws of my eye glasses and using the file to clean eraser surfaces.
Upon reflection, I realized that this was not just idle emulation of fictitious book characters. I actually learned a lot of essential problem solving skills along the way, that help me every day -
- Getting around barriers to solve problems.
- Breaking up a problem (what should my toolkit contain?) into smaller pieces and tackling them independently.
- Practical skills like sharpening a blade, stitching, fine motor skills.
- Matching existing solutions to a given problem.
- Creating new solutions from existing solutions by combining them in possibly unconventional ways.
I now have a 'odds-and-ends' drawer of my very own and I encourage you to have one too. You never know when an odd ends up sparking creativity.
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