An Academic’s Journey of Life Long Learning

Abstract

As I reflect on various phases of my personal and professional life, I have come to realise how I have benefitted from diverse learning opportunities that came my way from time to time. My early life in a village in Kanjany, Trichur (Kerala) was an exciting learning experience of the unstructured kind. I learnt how villagers without access to modern tools could innovate and carry out their farming activities many of which are now done by machines. I had my first lesson in Physics watching my eldest brother construct an automatic water dispensing system for the poultry he was rearing. Perhaps one of the most exciting learning experiences was the unintentional demonstration of principle of applied mechanics by a team of coconut climbers in bringing down the heavy top of a coconut tree, which was hovering ominously over our house, along a safe trajectory away from the house. These early experiences underscored the importance of learning through such unstructured events, and making judicious use of available resources to achieve the desired goals.