The Four Years that laid the Foundation of my Life
When I joined Vishwajyot High School in Grade 7, the first welcome change I found was the arrangement of the classroom. Unlike my previous school, the class at Vishwajyot had around 20 students, and unorthodox seating arrangements could be used. Instead of sitting in rows and columns, our classroom had students sitting in a U, along the walls. I felt this allowed for a more personal experience with the teacher as they taught, and easier interactions with batchmates during breaks. Over the next few weeks, I realised that the seating arrangement was not the only unorthodox thing in that classroom, and I loved it! The four years that followed were wonderful. Let me share some moments which stood out.
When Science Came Alive
Until I came to Vishwajyot, I used to think that Science was just something that we had to learn from our textbooks and reproduce in the exam (which, thankfully, I was quite good at). I realised how much more magical this could be, in one of the first few Physics classes in Grade 7, when Sushma Ma’am was teaching our class about thermal expansion. Immediately after the lecture, outside the class, while I was clearing out a few doubts, she pointed to the ceiling where two concrete slabs met, drawing my attention to the spacing between them. Immediately, it struck me that this was to account for expansion of the building structure as seasons changed! Having just learnt about a concept in class, seeing a real life example of its implication was an exciting, memorable experience as a 12 year old.
Having just learnt about a concept in class, seeing a real life example of its implication was an exciting, memorable experience as a 12 year old.
This was not just limited to Physics though. In the eighth grade, our class was shown a microscope during one of our Biology practicals. After a few instructions on preparing slides and operating the microscope, we were free to get anything over the next week and take a peek at it under the microscope. We went crazy over it! Preparing slides with leaves, flowers, sand, cloth, pencil shavings, cheek swabs, water samples, to name a few. That evening, as I told some friends at my building about this experience at school, I found that in most other schools, such equipment was kept away from the reach of students. I am thankful that our Biology teacher, Dr. Vandana Saxena trusted us enough to use the equipment and encouraged us to explore whatever we wanted with it.
Tinkering with our hearts…
Even with the Board Exams on our head we found the time to ‘tinker’ with science instead of just memorising it. During the exams, a few friends and I would get together after school, each having prepared a small section of the syllabus. We would then match notes in the group one by one using the class blackboard— our own version of Cooperative Learning.
Obviously, we digressed from discussing our syllabus during some of these evening sessions. One of the digressions that I remember distinctly was when we tried to come up with a design to replicate the working of the heart, with 4 chambers and pumps to move liquid, equipped with one way valves. One of the ideas was to use liquid having some pH indicator and use a reservoir of a dilute acid and base, so that the colour of the liquid would change, to loosely reflect oxygenated and deoxygenated blood flow in the heart.
Our group was obviously very happy with ourselves for having come up with a design that used Physics, Chemistry and Biology! We spent hours documenting our idea and making detailed drawings for it, debating each little feature until we thought we had a winning design. Well, until we actually tried to make it at school using the help of the carpenters who were making furniture for classrooms around that time. In the end, we weren’t really able to make the model we had dreamt about — but this experience taught me the difference between something being theoretically possible, and being feasible. When I design a setup for an experiment now, I am very cautious of this difference.
We spent hours documenting our idea and making detailed drawings for it, debating each little feature until we thought we had a winning design.
In fact these experiences were stepping stones for me to decide my path in life - which culminated in a visit to the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Mumbai, as part of the TIFR Outreach Program, organised by our Principal at the time — Mr. C.M.Thakur. We were shown around a few of the labs and research facilities. Students and professors at TIFR spoke to us about the work they do. I was in the tenth grade and I was just mesmerised. This was the first official exposure I had to the world of research and academia and I largely owe my choice to pursue research in Neuroscience to this outreach program, facilitated by TIFR, Mrs. Nutan Iyer and Vishwajyot.
I was in the tenth grade and I was just mesmerised (by our visit to TIFR)
Not just ‘Academics’
If these stories have led you to think I was a ‘studious’ child only spending all my time reading Science books you couldn’t be more wrong. My time at Vishwajyot was not only about academics. Around the time I started tenth grade, motivated by my teachers and my family, I took up running. What started off as leisurely jogs around the Central Park opposite the school, soon blossomed into an athletic endeavour. Mr. Ramesh Koli, then the sports instructor at Vishwajyot saw the potential in me and encouraged me to participate in long distance (5km, 11km) competitions held around Kharghar. He also trained me for medium length track competitions of 1500m and 800m.
I was also an enthusiastic participant in the plays that our class would put up every year for the annual showcase. In the four years that I was at Vishwajyot, my class performed Peter Pan, the Sound of Music and a play from our Class X ICSE syllabus- Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Rehearsing and performing for these showcases built my confidence, gave me the tools to communicate well and exposed me to the art of theatre.
The Importance of being Ernest
By the end of my time at school, I was doing exceedingly well in both academics as well as co-curricular activities. Somewhere in between, I let it all get to my head, and arrogance became part of my personality.
I’m glad that my teachers didnt just stop at teaching me the syllabus for the exam, but taught me how to deal with life.
My classmates and teachers at Vishwajyot played an extremely important role in explaining how my behaviour was wrong and was affecting others, and showed me how I could change it. Looking back, I am glad I had those people to correct me and make myself the best version I could be, I’m glad that my teachers didnt just stop at teaching me the syllabus for the exam, but taught me how to deal with life. Isn’t this really the point of going to school?
Looking back and looking ahead…
I am really grateful for Vishwajyot for facilitating my emotional, physical and mental development during the crucial years of my childhood. I owe a lot of my current accomplishments to the foundations that were laid during those years. After school I chose to study towards a BSc(Resarch)-MSc(Research) dual degree, with a concentration in neuroscience, at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. My interest in Research, which started with viewing pencil shavings under the microscope and making a model heart, has led me now to associate myself with research groups at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc, Bengaluru), National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS, Bengaluru) and Stanford University.
As closing thoughts, here is something which may be of relevance, that I have realised over the past few years: Transcend the boundaries between subjects. You don’t have to sacrifice one subject by making a choice of another. Just because something is outside the syllabus doesn’t mean it does not deserve attention. Have an idea? Pursue it. Talk about it. Get it squashed by your classmates and teachers. Seek!
Aditya studied at Vishwajyot from 2009 to 2013.
