My Art in BITS

“The Path” [ June 2008] was appreciated by my family and friends in a social network. My interest in art resurfaced, but I did not paint for the next 7 months as I got busy. I was in BITS, Pilani in the month of January 2009 attending a contact program. The students of Andhra Samithi were holding art competitions. I had a BITS ID number, so I participated. I had about 90 minutes to complete both entries.

I got 1^st place for painting “Stop Terror” and 2^nd place for sketching “Towards 100 % literacy”. I was thrilled. BITSians are very talented bunch of students. They have a very strong Arts club. Winning in BITS meant, I too was part of – a league.

I decided to start painting again when I got back to Baripada, the place where I was working.Is there anything I learnt during this competition? Yes!!! Not to feel ashamed of asking for joining ‘others’ !

1. I was an outsider, who was visiting BITS for a contact program.

2. I was around 10 years older than the youngest participant and 5 years older than the oldest.

It was embarrassing to go and ask ‘kids’ if I could compete with them, but I did it. What gave me greater joy than winning a prize was participating with young people who were pursuing art even after getting into professional courses. I am glad that I was with them.

The following are the prize winning entries in the competition.

 

Title: Towards 100% Literacy [ 100 % Aksharasyatha Disavaipu ]

29.1.2009

Pencil on Paper

Title : Stop Terror

29.1.2009

Watercolor

Exam Blues

I have blogged on this before.Here is what I had written about 10 weeks ago.

In 2 days from now I have the same set of exams.This time it involves full text books. The good thing is that these are open book tests i.e. I can carry the text books with me to the exam hall. The exams test comprehension and not ‘fact’ knowledge. The last time I wrote open book tests I did not open my text books at all!!! I felt like a donkey carrying all the books to the examination hall. But now I seem to be taking comfort in the exam being ‘open book’, when there is no evidence to feel comforted. How irrational could we be to avoid anxiety when it is needed and think anxious thoughts when it is not needed. Isn’t it? That is for a larger debate.

Coming back to the exams…Before the last set of exams, I had resolved to change my reading/ studying style. Didn’t I? I did resolve bit I HAVE NOT CHANGED IT 😦

No problem.Exams keep coming.It is a long life- a life of learning.

Exam Blues

exam preparation: drowning in information

I have exams coming up at the end of the month. Topics are related to management. IT in Management, Total Quality Management, Project Management and Business Communication. I need to cover about 15oo pages of absolutely new information in less than 3 weeks now, also working full time and being 24 hours on call.

OK, take up the challenge and just do it- so I thought a week ago. Find it difficult to settle down to read. I do get opportunities to read. I do it too. I read fast thinking I ll cover the ground and after I get a rough idea I could revise. I did this many times in my life and never managed to ‘digest’ all that was required to my heart’s content. I keep resolving to improve my study habits, but I don’t.

Of course, this time I have not wasted as much time procrastinating as I had in the past. It was only about 10 days ago that I received the books. Still…

Do I want to change my style? Probably I won’t. Read in a rush…get a vague idea…a big picture…add detail if possible…revise before exam…face it. That is the best that I could think of doing in a short period like this.

For the next set of exams in October,do I change my style? I sincerely hope that I do…