Notes From A Small Room - Ruskin Bond

‘Notes from a Small Room’ is a delightful collection of short essays, personal and anecdotal in nature, capturing the simple things that make life so beautiful. The common thread that runs through all the pieces is an eye for the small pleasures that make life worth living-“the sunshine, the bird-song, the bedside book, the potted geranium, and all the other little things”.

One cannot help but marvel at the way Ruskin Bond captures something as trivial as the transit of an ant across his writing desk. The book gives readers an insight into his “Thoughts on reaching 75”, the days spent with his beloved Siamese cat Suzie (who is later discovered to be a male, much to his disappointment!), his favourite smells, his idea of a perfect window and his philosophy of life (or rather, a lack thereof) among other things. He shares poignant memories of the last day spent with his father and celebrates the humble, but not insignificant, pleasures that life in his sleepy hill town so plentifully presents.

At a time when incomprehensible writing is often interpreted as a sign of intellect, Bond amazes the readers by weaving a childlike simplicity into his sentences to convey equally uncomplicated thoughts. He writes with remarkable ease and candour, transporting the readers into an idyllic world where time moves at a slow pace and, occasionally, even stands still.

As Bond observes-“It’s the simple things in life that keep us from going crazy.”

Marks-The Only Indicator of a Student's Success?

Wrote the following article for a college competition:

“Study hard”. “Get good marks”.

Don’t the words conjure up a familiar feeling?

Only marks, we are led to believe, ultimately spell success. But is it really so?

What marks one receives is less decisive than one’s approach towards learning. More often than not, focusing on how to get the perfect test scores is a myopic approach towards the more significant factor: long-term learning.

Currently, our schools expect children to confirm to the conventional methods of solving a problem. In such a setting, marks are mostly the end product of rote learning - acquisition of facts and committing them to memory. There is little scope or incentive for experimentation and exploration. Marks, at best, only indicate the ability and desire to learn. This is not adequate in today’s world where the focus is increasingly on qualities like innovation, leadership and divergent thinking, to name a few.

Beyond a level, marks cease to be important. The real ingredients of success are a go-getter attitude, perseverance, passion and a burning commitment towards one’s goals. Steve Jobs, Steven Spielberg, George Bernard Shaw, Bill Cosby are all college dropouts who still made it big because of these very traits.

Further, in today’s age, people often switch careers. This renders the marks they received while studying a particular discipline redundant. In creative fields, especially, marks are a poor indicator of capability as they fail to appraise a person’s inherent talent.

In the end, the definition of success itself is elusive. Success can be measured in terms of contentment and personal satisfaction or in terms of public recognition. Marks only spell “academic” success which plays a minuscule role in the grand scheme of things.

As Walker Percy put it - “You can get all A's and still flunk life.”