{"id":2330,"date":"2009-10-04T18:31:41","date_gmt":"2009-10-04T13:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/?p=2330"},"modified":"2009-10-04T18:31:41","modified_gmt":"2009-10-04T13:01:41","slug":"golden-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/2009\/2330\/","title":{"rendered":"The golden era of my teaching career"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"balu\"<\/a>Interview with Dr.T.K.N Balu (Visiting Professor in English, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus)<\/em><\/p>\n

I got an opportunity to interact with a veteran professor of English at Amrita School of Engineering, Amritapuri.\u00a0 He is a visiting professor here, and this is what he shared during our interaction.<\/p>\n

“I am a Tamilian, settled in Delhi.\u00a0 Let me tell you one thing first, that, being in Amma’s hometown is itself a great blessing to all of us, and we are extremely fortunate to be with Amma \u2013 something that many people in the world are longing for.
\nThis is my first visit to this University and I find this a very different kind of University \u2013 mind you, I have had the opportunity to teach in several universities in India as well as in places like UK, US and Australia!\u00a0 In three major spheres \u2013 the academic, moral and physical \u2013 I see an essential difference here.\u00a0 Most universities give importance to only one or two of these three vital aspects that shape the next generation.\u00a0 But ‘Amrita’ focuses equally on all the three in a balanced manner!\u00a0 That is the only way by which, the overall development of the students can be taken care of.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Amma nurtures each and every student as her own child and what more can one expect?\u00a0 The parents of these students do not have to spend sleepless nights in anxiety of any kind (!) as their children are in the safe hands.
\nAnother difference here is that the students totally involve themselves in their studies and related academic activities along with the ‘values’ aspect the authorities are serious about.\u00a0 This, I would say, is an example to the student community the world over and a positive sign for the future of our country.
\nThe commitment and responsibility exhibited by most of the students here is astounding and mind blowing \u2013 something that I have never seen anywhere else with students in my long career, across the world!
\nI’ve taught students at University of Madras (Chennai), University of California (USA), University of London (UK) and University of Melbourne (Australia).\u00a0 I am actually overwhelmed at the respect teachers receive here from the students, and I cannot help comparing my experience elsewhere both in India and abroad.\u00a0\u00a0 The other is that the teachers are highly educated, knowledgeable and hence command respect from everyone around.<\/p>\n

Regarding the often repeated ‘teaching is a difficult task and teaching English is all the more difficult,’ I am pleased to say that this perspective has proved wrong at ‘Amrita’.\u00a0 Another thing I should point out is the way the department of English, to which I am attached, is functioning like one family \u2013 a thing beyond the dream of many an English teacher.\u00a0 That is what one is bound to cherish, ‘at the end of the day’.\u00a0 That way, I would believe that the other departments too may be the same.
\nTo be frank with you, I am really enjoying my days here, and I would call this ‘the golden era of my teaching career’.\u00a0 I feel extremely happy to be a part of this great and wonderful institution.\u00a0 It is indeed my good fortune that I am in the service of our beloved Amma”.
\n– by S Jeayaram<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview with Dr.T.K.N Balu (Visiting Professor in English, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus) I got an opportunity to interact with a veteran professor of English at Amrita School of Engineering, Amritapuri.\u00a0 He is a visiting professor here, and this is what he shared during our interaction. “I am a Tamilian, settled in Delhi.\u00a0 Let me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[278,38],"tags":[188],"class_list":["post-2330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","category-seva","tag-university"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}